BIRDS. 185 
Doubt not, little though there be, 
But I'll cast a crumb for thee ; 
Well rewarded if I spy 
Pleasure in thy glancing eye ; ' 
And see thee, when thou 'st eat thy fill, 
Plume thy breast, and wipe thy bill. 
LANGHORNE. 
In the winter season, impelled by the potent stimulus 
of hunger, the Redbreast frequents our barns, our gardens, 
our houses, and often alights, on a sudden, on the rustic, 
floor; there, with his broad eye incessantly open, and 
looking askew upon the company, he picks up eagerly 
the crumbs of bread that fall from the table, and then flies 
off to the neighbouring bush, where, by his warbling 
strains, he expresses his gratitude for the liberty he has 
been allowed. He is found in most parts of Europe, but 
nowheresocommonly asin Great Britain. His bill is dusky ; 
the forehead, chin, throat, and breast are of a deep orange- 
colour, inclining to vermilion ; the back of the head, 
neck, back, and tail are of ash-colour, tinged with green ; 
the wings are somewhat darker, the edges inclining to 
yellow ; the legs and feet are the colour of the bill. The 
female generally builds her nest in the crevice of some 
mossy bank, near places which human beings frequent, or 
in some part of a human dwelling. Robins have been 
known to build in a saw-pit, where men worked every 
day, and in various other equally extraordinary places. 
The elegant poet of The Seasons gives us a very exact 
and animated description of this bird in the following 
lines : 
Half afraid, he first 
Against the window beats : then, brisk, alights 
On the warm hearth ; then, hopping on the floor, 
Eyes all the smiling family askance, 
And pecks, and starts, and wonders where he is, 
Till, more familiar grown, the table crumbs 
Attract his slender feet. 
