MOTA 
lar to the flonechat, but a trille bigger : the head, neck, 
and upper parts of the body, are black ; but the feathers 
of the back, and wing-coverts, have tawny margins ; it 
has the white fpot on the wings, like the lad, but wants 
that of the rump ; the tail-feathers are all black; the un¬ 
der parts are white, which goes backwards on each fide at 
the lower part of the neck, like a half collar; bread ru¬ 
fous. Found at Madagafcar, where it is called fiterrt, and 
is faid to ling w'ell. 
201. Motacilla fperata, the Cape warbler: above green- 
idi browm, beneath and rump rufous grey; two middle 
tail-feathers blackilh, lateral ones obliquely half tawny- 
brown. Inhabits the Cape of Good Hope: fix inches 
long. There is a variety, which has the chin white, and 
bread rufous. 
202. Motacilla rubecula, the redbread, or robin. This 
well-known intruder needs no defcription. It is fuffi- 
cient to lay, that the upper parts are of a greenidi alh- 
colour; the forehead, throat, neck, and bread, rufous 
orange; belly and vent whitifh; bill, legs, and fides of 
the body, dulky. It is a condant inhabitant of thefe 
kingdoms, as well as the whole European continent from 
Sweden to Italy. It is in great abundance in Burgundy 
and Lorraine, where numbers are taken for the table, and 
thought excellent. It is remarkable that a bird which 
remains in North Britain all the year round Ihould mi¬ 
grate from France during the winter months. Such, 
however, is the cafe : in France the redbread frequents 
the hedges and dw'elling-houfes, for a diort time, in au¬ 
tumn and fpring; but regularly, in the dead of winter, 
when the hard frod commences, difappears. In his fpring 
vifit he makes but a Ihort day, hadening, as he then is, 
to enter the fored, that he may there, amidd the fpread- 
ing leaves, enjoy folitude and love. The ned is com- 
pofed of dried leaves, mixed with hair and mofs, and 
lined with feathers. The eggs are of a dulky white, 
marked with irregular reddilh fpots ; and are from five to 
feven in number. It builds not far from the ground, if 
in a bud); though it often fixes on an out-houfe, hole in 
the wall, or retired part of lome old building. The 
young, when full feathered, may be taken fora different 
bird, being fpotted all over. The fird rudiments of the 
red break forth on the bread about the end of Auguft ; 
but it is quite the end of September before they come to 
their full colour. 
The redbread deems to have been a favourite of na¬ 
ture; die has bedow'ed upon him feveral qualities, one of 
which would be fufficient to recommend him to the atten¬ 
tion of man. The prettinefs of his lhape, the beauty of 
his plumage, the quicknefs of his motions, his familiarity 
with us in winter, and above all, the melody and fweet- 
nefs of his voice, always claim our admiration, and have 
inlured him that fecurity he enjoys among us. In the 
brumal fealbn, impelled by the potent dimulus of hunger, 
he frequents our barns, our gardens, our houfes, and often 
alights, on a fudden, on the rudic floor; there, with his 
broad eye inceflantly open, and looking alkew upon the 
company, he picks up eagerly the crumbs of bread that 
fall from the table, and then flies oft" to the neighbouring 
bulk, where, by his warbling drains, he exprelfes his gra¬ 
titude for the liberty he has been allowed. The elegant 
Poet of the Seafons gives us a mod exaftand animated 
defcription of this bird in the following lines : 
Half afraid, he fird 
Againd the window beats : then, brilk, alights 
On the warm hearth ; then, hopping on the floor 
Eyes all the fmiling family alkance, 
And pecks, and darts, and wonders where he is, 
"Till, more familiar grown, the table-crumbs 
Attraft his flender feet. Winter. 
Its familiarity has caufed a petty name to be given it 
in feveral countries. The people about Bornholm in 
Sweden call it Tommi-liden; in Norway, Peter ronfmad; 
C1LL A. 99 
the Germans, Thomas gierdet; and we, the Robin red- 
breajl. 
Arnold Latin proverb tells us, that two robin redbreads 
do not feed on the fame tree. We cannot vouch for the 
truth of this; but it is certain, that the redbread, not- 
withdanding its apparent familiarity, is a folitary bird, 
and that he does not live in much harmony and friend- 
fliip with thofe of his kind. During the feafon of nedling 
and incubation, the male makes the grove refound with 
his foft and melodious lays. His warbling is foothing 
and tender, animated occafionally with notes of a louder 
tone, and fometimes, too, graced with thofe touching and 
engaging accents, that feem to exprefs the ardour of hi 3 
love. In the fweet fociety of his female, he feems to be 
wholly abforbed : at the interference of other company, 
he becomes fretful and enraged ; for no dranger is per¬ 
mitted to intermeddle with his joy; even thofe of his 
own fpecies he purfues with rage, till he banidies them 
from the didrift he has chofen for himfelf. His love ex¬ 
hibits a drange mixture of jealoufy and attachment. 
There is no bird more aftive, none fatisfied with a fmaller 
portion of red, than this bird : he is the fird that appears 
in the w'oods at the break of day, and the lad that retires 
thither in the evening to enjoy repofe. 
There are tw'o varieties. ( 3 . Chin white; wing-coverts 
varied with white, black, and rufous; quill and tail-fea¬ 
thers black, edged with rufous. y. Entirely white. The 
rubecula fpecies is fpread over the whole of Europe, from 
Norway and Sweden to the Mediterranean. 
203. Motacilla troglodytes, the wren : grey; eye-brows 
white; wings waved with black and cinereous. Inhabits 
Europe and Afia. The Greeks gave this bird the name 
of troglodytes, from a fancied refemblance between its 
manners and thofe of a race of men who were faid to in¬ 
habit dens and caves in the earth ; and another fpecies 
of wren is called trocliilus, from a top, which 
comes from r^x u > to run or whirl. The Romans adopted 
thefe names trocliilus and troglodites; in Italian, reattino 
re dijiepe, hedge-king; in German, jchnee-koenig, win- 
ter-koenig , raun-koenig, thurn-koenig, muefe-koenig, zaun 
Jchlopflin, i. e. the fnow, winter, hedge, thorn, king; and 
hedge-flipper; in Swedilh, tumling; in different parts of 
France, bericlion, roi-bertaud, ratillon, ratereau, or petit 
rat , fourre-buijfun, and roide defroulure. 
This is one of the fmalleft of the Engli/h birds: in 
length only about three inches and a half. The bill is 
dulky brown ; irides hazel; head, neck, and back, reddifh 
brown; the back, as well as the wing-coverts and tail 
eroded with obfeure blackilh lines; cheeks marked with 
dirty white mixed with rufous; over each eye a pale red- 
difh-white ftreak. The under parts, as far as the bread:, 
of this lad colour; the red more inclined to browm, crofled 
with brown lines; quills barred alternately with reddilh 
and black 5 legs pale browm. In referring to the colour 
of this little bird, Buffon calls it the plumage of the 
woodcock in miniature. 
The ned of the wren is of a curious condruftion, in 
lhape almofl oval, and has only one very fmall entrance* 
it is chiefly compofed of mofs, lined within with feathers! 
In this the female lays from ten to fixteen, or even eigh¬ 
teen, eggs, which are almod white, with reddilh markings 
at the large end. She builds twice in the year, ijn April 
and June. The ned is frequently conflrufted in fome 
corner of an outhoufe, flack of wood, hole in a wall or 
in the thatch, if near habitations; but, in the woods 
often in a bufli near the ground, dump of a tree, in a 
bank, or on the ground itfelf. This inoffenfive bird is 
found throughout Europe. In England, it defies our 
fevered winters ; but in the colder regions it is lefs com¬ 
mon. To the north it is found both in Sweden and 
Ruflia; our lad circumnavigators met with it alfo at 
Oonalafhka. Its farthefl extent fouth is Aleppo in Alia. 
Its fong is much efleemed by connoilfeurs, being, though 
Ihort, a pleading warble, and is much louder than could be 
expefted 
