52 
THE ROBIN. 
that of joy and hope into despair, but seemed wholly inca- 
pable of comprehending or relieving the distress of his mate. 
In a second instance, I have been told that a female has 
been observed dead in the like predicament. 
THE ROBIN. ( Turdus migratorius.') 
This well-known bird, being familiar to almost every- 
body, will require but a short description. It measures 
nine inches and a half in length ; the bill is strong, an inch 
long, and of 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 black, edged with light ash; the 
inner tips of the two exterior tail-feathers are white ; three 
small spots of white border the eye ; the throat and upper 
part of the breast is black, the former streaked with white; 
the whole of the rest of the breast, down as far as the 
thighs, is of a dark orange ; belly and vent, white, slightly 
waved with dusky ash ; legs, dark brown ; claws, black and 
strong. The colours of the female are more of the light 
ash, less deepened with black ; and the orange on the breast 
is much paler, and more broadly skirted with white. 
The name of this bird bespeaks him a bird of passage, as 
