mandible deflected and notched. Nostrils basal, lateral, oval, pierced in a
membrane, partly hid by feathers and hairs projecting from the base of the
beak. Wings rounded ; the three exterior quills graduated ; the first only half
as long as the second, which is shorter than the third ; the fourth, fifth, and
sixth longer than the third ; the fifth the longest in the wing. Legs—the tarsus
longer than the middle toe; the lateral toes nearly equal to each other in
length; the outer toe united at its base to the middle toe ; the claw of the hind
toe longer and stronger than the others.
T h e R e d b r e a s t is so generally distributed over the
British Islands, and so universal a favourite, mixed up as it is
with our earliest associations, that all are sufficiently interested
in the bird to make themselves acquainted with its
habits. These may be observed either in the wood, the
field, or the garden, since there is scarcely a hedge without
its Redbreasted inhabitant: and if Robins appear to be more
numerous in winter than in summer, it is partly owing to the
state of vegetation at the former season, which leaves them
more exposed to observation, and partly because they resort
to the habitations of man for food as they find it decline
elsewhere. During summer they feed indiscriminately on
earthworms, various insects in their different states, fruit, and
berries. In winter every country-house has its attendant
pensioner, who requires but little invitation to become an indoor
guest. Thomson has most truly described the halfconfident,
half-doubtful manner of the Robin when he ventures
to enter the cottage to pick up the proffered crumbs:
“ then, hopping o’er the floor,
Eyes all the smiling family askance,
And pecks, and starts, and wonders where he is.”
The sprightly air of this species, the full dark eye and the
sidelong turn of the head, give an appearance of sagacity
and inquiry to their character, which, aided by their confidence,
has gained them friends ; and the Robin has accordingly
acquired some familiar domestic name in almost every
country of Europe.
The song of the Robin is sweet and plaintive, but not
very powerful. White of Selborne says, “ Redbreasts sing
all through the spring, summer, and autumn. The reason that
they are called autumn songsters is, because in the two first
seasons their voices are drowned and lost in the general
chorus; in the latter their song becomes distinguishable.
Many songsters of the autumn seem to be the young male
Redbreasts of that year.'”
As the song of the Missel Thrush is said to foretell the
rising storm, so may the Redbreast claim to be considered a
part of the naturalist’s barometer. A writer m an early
volume of the Magazine of Natural History says, “ On a
summer evening, though the weather be unsettled, he sometimes
takes his stand on the topmost twig that looks up to
the sky, or on the house-top, singing cheerfully and sweetly :
when this is observed, it is an unerring promise of succeeding
fine weather.”
Miller, in his Beauties of the Country, page 31, says,
“ the Robin does not sing after twilight;” yet he is one of
the latest among birds to retire to roost, and one of the first
to be seen moving in the morning, requiring apparently but
little sleep.
The Redbreast, like the Spotted Flycatcher and some
other birds, is remarkable for the peculiarity of the situation
in which it sometimes builds its nest. A writer in the Field
Naturalist’s Magazine states, that a pair of Robins chose for
their abode a small cottage, which, though not actually inhabited,
was constantly used as a depository for potatoes, harness,
&c. and repeatedly visited by its owners. It closely
adjoined a large blacksmith’s shop ; but neither the noise of
the adjacent forge nor the frequent visits of the owners of
the cottage deterred these fearless settlers. They entered
through a window-frame, the lattice of which had been removed
; and in a child’s covered cart, which, with its horse