SAXICOLINJE. ERITHACUS. 
133 
quent woods, thickets, and gardens, but feed chiefly on the 
ground, where they hop with their wings depressed, and the 
tail horizontal. 
70. Erithacus Eubecula. Eobin Eedbreast. 
Upper parts olive-green, the quills and tail-feathers greyish- 
brown, the outer secondary coverts with a small brownish-yel- 
low spot at the tip ; anterior part of forehead, loral space, sides 
of the head, fore neck, and anterior part of the breast, yello w- 
ish-red ; a line of ash-grey over the eye and down the side of 
the neck. The female differs only in having the red on the 
neck somewhat paler, and the upper parts tinged with grey. 
The young have the upper parts dusky olive with a spot of dull 
orange on each feather, the secondary coverts largely tipped 
with dusky orange, the lower parts brownish-yellow, the tips 
and edges of the feathers dark brown. 
Male, 5/^, 9, 1, ^|, Female, 5j, 9. 
The lively, pert, pugnacious, and cheerful Eobin occurs in 
all the wooded and cultivated parts of the country, frequent- 
ing the neighbourhood of houses during winter. It has a short, 
rapid, direct flight ; on the ground hops, stands, and starts for- 
ward, in the manner of the Thrush ; feeds on worms and in- 
sects, berries, and farinaceous substances. Its song is lively, 
clear, and mellow. The nest, which is placed under a hedge, 
bush, or tuft of herbage, on the ground, or on a mossy bank, 
is bulky, composed of various materials, lined with hair and 
wool. The eggs, five or six, are of a regular oval form, nine 
and a half twelfths in length, seven and a fourth twelfths in 
breadth, reddish-white, faintly freckled with light purplish- 
red. Individuals sometimes enter houses in winter, and on 
being caught, soon become familiar. Its blood has a singularly 
nauseous and bitter taste. The Eobin is a privileged bird, 
spared even by Cockney sportsmen, every one looking on him 
as a friendly and pleasant little fellow, whose company is never 
tiresome. I have heard of a closet naturalist who, slighting 
the labours of a brother of the field, alleged that he could pen 
a volume on the Eobin ; but surely, if confined to the subject, 
written in the manner of the Classification of Birds in Lard- 
ner’s Cyclopaedia, and without the aid of fable, it would prove 
a duller book than Eobinson Crusoe. 
Eobin. Eedbrea^st. Eobinet. Euddock. 
Motacilla Eubecula, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 337. — Sylvia Eu- 
becula, Temm. Man. d’Ornith. i. 215.-— Erithacus Eubecula, 
Eobin Eedbreast, MacGiliivray, Brit. Birds, ii. 263, 
