ROBIN REDBREAST. 
99 
“ Ilk happing bird, wee, helpless thing, 
That in the merry months o’ spring, 
Delighted me to hear thee sing, 
What comes o’ thee ? 
Whare wilt thou cow’r thy chittering wing 
An’ close thy e’e?” 
Then it is, that this dear pet of our childhood, pre¬ 
suming upon the kindness with which his race has ever 
been treated, will alight upon our threshold, and becoming 
more familiar each day, may be persuaded to pick the 
crumbs from our table, and even to become a cherished 
inmate of our dwellings. 
“ Half afraid, he first 
Against the window beats ; then brisk alights 
On the warm hearth; then hopping o’er 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.” 
Amongst the oft-recurring memories of the past, there 
are few that come to my recollection with more undi¬ 
minished enjoyment than the events of a severe winter. 
Myself, and a brother who is now no more, were then 
learning our ornithological alphabet, and imbibing our 
first taste for natural history from the works of Bewick, 
one of the truest naturalists that our country has ever 
seen. Outside our window was a wide ledge, which being- 
kept thickly strewed with bread crumbs, attracted a con¬ 
stant succession of visitors, which we had no difficulty in 
identifying with the beautiful fac-similes before us; and 
such was the pinching influence of the cold, that at one 
time we had even rooks among the rest; but of them all 
none was so welcome as the Robin, and great indeed was 
our delight when we succeeded in inducing one to take 
up his quarters with us for the night. 
