52 
NATURE NOTES 
of the rest can boast. He also has an exceptionally large eye 
with a very conspicuous dark hazel iris. Ruby is emphatically 
cock of the walk. He assumes the airs of a god to all other 
robins wild or tame, and Big Boy alone occasionally under- 
takes to remind him that he, too, is mortal and a robin. Withal 
he IS the most exacting in his demands for cheese and attention, 
and if any window is open he enters boldly and perches on a 
chair-back to sing. He is devoted to his mistress in an un- 
sentimental way, and shows his regard by pretending to fight 
her fingers. Raggie, on the other hand, was always of the 
“ eternal feminine ” type, a little creature of w'arm heart and 
complex emotions. She would rush to meet her friends with 
such vehemenence as to dash herself against them, recovering 
her balance with a clutch at coat or hat brim ; and had a 
delightful way of snuggling down into one’s hand with 
coquettish upward glances expressive of the utmost felicity. 
Full of sudden impulses, she would sometimes display the 
most abject cowardice in her encounters with Ruby and Big 
Boy, at other times snapping her beak fiercely and fighting 
with the best. She was utterly without conscience in the matter 
of trespass, enraging Ruby by poaching at his windows, and 
concealing herself in Big Boy’s private laurel bush to waylay 
Miss Walton going to the greenhouse. On such occasions she 
was promptly despatched to her yucca, if the indignant Boy 
caught sight of her. Alas ! for the evil fate which compels me 
to speak of Raggie in the past tense ! Her short, happy life 
came to an end with the old year. One whole day she never 
responded to her mistress’s call : the next, her poor little body 
was found in the chestnut walk, stark and cold. Apparently 
she had strayed to that remote part of the garden and been 
pecked to death by strange robins. Carissime, valde deflende, 
you have your tiny grave under your mistress’s window, and 
a learned man has written your epitaph. This, for a little robin, 
is fame. 
Bien-Aime illustrates the gentler side of robin character. 
It is pretty to see him walking to and fro before Miss Walton 
in a perfect ecstasy of delight, gazing up at her and warbling 
the softest, sweetest little song of welcome. When Pouncer 
has a pious day, and makes himself correspondingly odious, 
so far as dull mortal thought can penetrate a robin’s mind, 
Bien-Aime seems to pour out his sorrows into her sympathis- 
ing ear. His voice grows shrill and agitated, and his look 
and attitude are eloquent of unrighteous persecution meekly 
endured. 
The New Year which knows not Raggie has added Cherry 
to the company, and Cherry’s sex is a matter of speculation 
to the human friends of these robins. Ruby was supposed to 
be Raggie’s husband, not an ideal spouse by any means, but 
they were often together, and though he knocked her about 
mercilessly, he took her part against other robins. After her 
