114 
TURDUS MIGRATORIUS. 
fat, they are in considerahle esteem for the table, ao 
probably not inferior to the turdi of the aucienl^ 
which they bestowed so much pains on in feeding a® 
fattening. The young birds are frc<juently and easn, 
raised, hear the confinement of the cage, feed on brea"! 
fruits, &c. sing well, readily learn to imitate jiarts* 
tunes, and are very pleasant and cheerful domestics. 
these I have always obs<;rved that the orange ou 1® 
breast is of a much deeper tint, often a dark mahoga''. 
or chestnut colour, owing, no doubt, to their food 
confinement. 
The robin is one of our earliest songsters ; even 
March, while snow yet dapples the fields, and Hocks ® 
them arc dispersed about ; some few will mount 
post or stake of the fence, and make short and frefp'ty 
attempts at their song. Early in April, they are 
to he seen in pairs, and deliver their notes with 
earnestness, from the top of some tree detached 
the woods. This song has some resemblance to, 
indeed is no bad imitation of, the notes of the thrU'j 
or thrasher (turdfts rvfus)-, hut, if deficient in poi"* ^ 
p 
execution, he possesses more simplicity, and makes ''K 
in zeal what he wants in talent ; so that the notes 
blossoms, and breathing friigrance. By the usual as^ 
elation of ideas, we therefore listen with more pluas^^j 
to this cheerful bird, than to many others possessed 
far superior powers, and much greater variety. ,1 
his nest is held more sacred among schoolboys 
that of some others; and, while tliey will exuK f 
plunderiiig a j ay’s or a cat bird’s, a general sentinieu* f 
respect prevails on the discovery of a robin’s. Whet ' ^ 
he owes not some little of this veneration to the '' 
nftd 
bead tree (melia azaderadi) in such large (juantities, that, 
eating of tliem, they arc observed to fall down, and are readily ,p 
This is ascribed more to distension from abundant eating than t 
any deleterious fjualitics of the plant.” 
