I i • H season are added. As regards reproduction, the Robin may he said to have accomplished “ VI oL hTe l ordinary spring6 birds have arrived, and a second brood HR ready «0 compete
with the young of the migrants by the time insect life has become most abundant. W g B M U cbo!,e
I y I H N C :n the garden the ivied wall, the bank-side, an inverted ilower-pot, any
■ M I ■ wood the s tu b o f a tr e e , or on the ground, the side of a d i t e .
No place appears to be too quiet or too turbulent and noisy. Dr. Percy informs me that | Robin h a
b e e n k n o w n to lly through the flywheel of a eopper-rolling mill, with W arms
120 revolutions a minute; and Thompson mentions " th a t the noisy operations of the shipbuilder will
not prevent the selection of a place for nidificatioo in his immediate 8M S M he H H — j
a vessel under repair in the dry dock at Belfast, which was placed in a small round hole
timbers and during its,construction the deafening process of driving m the trenails was earned forward
occasionally close to it. To reproduce here the hundreds of anecdotes which have
the tameness and the pugnacity of the Robin would be useless, but 1 may be excused for t anscr.hu,g
following curious instances of the latter propensity f r o m Thompson s I Natnra History of Ireland
■' Robins being so wholly absorbed during combat as to be regardless of all else was ludicrously evinced
at Springvale by a pair lighting from the air downwards to the earth, until they disappeared in a man s hat
that happened to be lying on the ground, and in which they were both captured. Two caught fighting in
a yard at Belfast were kept all night in separate cages. Early in the morning one was set at liberty he
other, beingrtamer, kept with the intention of being permanently retained. So unhappy, howevei did the
prisoner appear, that it was set at liberty in the yard, which was believed to be its chosen domicile. The
other came a second time and attacked if, when my informant, who was present, hastened to the rescne,
and the wilder bird flew away. The tamer one was again eanght and brought into the house for safety.
The intruder was now driven off the premises ; and in the evening, when it was supposed that he was in a
different locality, the other bird was turned o u t; its wicked and pertinacious antagonist, however, still lay
in wait, a third time attacked, and killed i t: the tamer bird, though the inferior of the other ... strength,
always 'joined issue,' and fought to the best of its poor ability. Some years ago, atMerville(co. Antrim), a
Robin kept possession of the greenhouse, and killed every intruder of its own spec.eS (amounting to about two
dozen) that entered it. This had been so frequently done, that an examination of two o r three of the victims
was made, to ascertain the cause of death ; and a deep wound was found in the neck of each, evidently made
by the hill of the slayer. The lady o f the house hearing of the bird's cruelty, had the sharp point of its beak
cut off; and no more of its brethren were slaughtered; but it did not long survive this slight mutilation.
As an evidence that the Robin can appreciate kindness and evince gratitude, I may cite the following
a n e c d o t e communicated to me by Mrs. William Fowler, of Whittington Hall:—“ In the winter of 1 8 6 2 a
Robin was brought to me with a broken pinion; I bathed the injured limb with warm water for several
days and in ahont a month it was so far recovered as to be able to fly about the room. During this time it
would hop about, and eat from my hand, jump from the table to my lap, or, if on the ground, settle on the
skirt of my dress and sing. I t commenced singing on the third day, apparently m joy and gratitude for the
attention it received, and ultimately became completely domesticated.”
Besides being very generally dispersed over the British Islands to the outer Hebrides, Orkney, and
Shetland, the Robin is abundant in all parts of Europe, from Sweden and Norway to the shores of the
Mediterranean; it is also found in all the islands of that sea, the whole of North Africa, as far east as
Smyrna and Erzeroom, Madeira, the Azores, and Teneriffe—in which island I killed it in 1838, and the
specimen I then obtained still graces my collection. In many parts of the continent it is a migrant, and,
contrary to what obtains with ns, is there treated as a vagrant; for there is scarcely a country across the
water in which it is not shot down and eaten. . . . ,
The materials of which the nest is composed vary according to the situation in which it is placed ; but
moss and hair always form a part. The eggs, which are four or five in number, are dull pinky white, blotched
with pale reddish brown; they are about nine lines and a half long and seven and a half broad.
Some p e r s o n s a r e of o p i n i o n that there is a great difference in the colouring of the male and female; such,
however, is not the case. The young, at their first moult, which takes places about a month after they
arc able to fly, throw off the speckled plumage of immaturity, and assume the colouring common to both sexes.
A minute description o f the Robin is quite unnecessary, since a glance at the accompanying Plate will
surely be sufficient for the recognition of the male, the female, and the young, which are there represented
of the natural size. The principal plant is the common Ivy, Hedera Helix, Linn.