30 
ROBIN. 
a full yellow, though sometimes black, or dusky near the tip 
of the upper mandible ; the head, back of the neck, and tail, 
is black ; the back and rump, an ash colour ; the wings are 
berries have either fallen from their stocks, or have been already consumed by 
these and many other tribes that subsist upon them. Very few are quite 
solitary : during the breeding season they all separate, but after the broods 
have been raised, they congregate either in very large flocks or in groups of 
five or six. Those of smaller numbers generally either become more domestic, 
and approach dwellings and cultivated districts on the approach of winter, or 
retire entirely to the depths of solitary forests. Those that congregate in large 
flocks are always remarkably shy, suffer persons to approach with difficulty, 
and have a sentinel or watch on the look out, to warn them of danger. Their 
cry is harsh and sharp, or shrill and monotonous, except during the season 
of incubation, when they all produce strains of more interest. Some possess 
great melody, and in others the notes are remarkably pensive and melancholy. 
On this account they are universal favourites ; and the early song of the 
mavis is watched for, by those residing much in the country, as the harbinger of 
a new season and brighter days. Tbe true thrushes are all inhabitants of woods, 
and only from the necessity of procuring food resort to the. open countries. 
In distribution, they range over the world, and the proportion seems pretty 
equal ; India and Southern Europe may, perhaps, have the most extensive 
list, and North America will rank in the least proportion. They are often 
used as articles of food, and the immense havoc made among the northern 
robins of our author, will shew the estimation in which they are held as 
luxuries for the table ; in Spain and Italy, great numbers are taken for the 
same purpose, with nets and various kinds of snares; with the severity of 
the season, however, and the difference of food, the flesh acquires a bitter 
flavour, which renders them unfit for culinary purposes, and affords a tem- 
porary respite from their merciless persecutions. 
The title Merula, which Mr Swainson and several of our modern ornitho- 
logists have adopted, was used by Ray only as a sub-genus among his “ Tur- 
dinum genus” and contained that division to which the blackbird and ringousel 
would belong; Turdus being confined to those with spotted breasts. I do not 
consider the very trifling difference in form between the plain and spotted 
species to be of sufficient importance, and prefer retaining the generic name of 
Turdus , as one well known and long accepted. 
j Robin seems to be applied in America generally to several of the thrushes, 
some expletive going before to designate the species by its habits, as “ wood 
robin” “ swamp robin,” “ ground robin,” &c. Our present species is the 
hobin ; and, as the preceding was a favourite on account of its song, this is 
no less so from the unassuming and dependent familiarity of its manners : it was 
most probably this, joined with the colour of the breast, which first suggested 
