. Our bird allies . to hear the bird singing away merrilyat mid-day, although its vocal performances are insuch a case less continuous than when it has chosenfor its residence the heart of the woodland. Everybody protects the Robin, not on account ofits usefulness, but owing to the superstitious reve-rence with which the bird is almost universallyregarded. We learn in early childhood that The robin and the wrenAre Gods cock and hen, a somewhat meaningless couplet, which by many islooked upon as conclusive evidence in the birdsfavour. Similes, says a somewhat cynical modernwriter, are not argum
. Our bird allies . to hear the bird singing away merrilyat mid-day, although its vocal performances are insuch a case less continuous than when it has chosenfor its residence the heart of the woodland. Everybody protects the Robin, not on account ofits usefulness, but owing to the superstitious reve-rence with which the bird is almost universallyregarded. We learn in early childhood that The robin and the wrenAre Gods cock and hen, a somewhat meaningless couplet, which by many islooked upon as conclusive evidence in the birdsfavour. Similes, says a somewhat cynical modernwriter, are not arguments; that is why they con-vince people so. And nursery rhymes and proverbsmay rank with similes in this respect. WARBLERS. 67 Next, probably, we learn by heart a certain poemconcerning the robins proceedings in the event of anorth wind and a snowfall. We are told, too, of thelaudable behaviour of robins towards the Babes inthe Wood; and we mourn over the untimely deathof Cock Robin at the hands of the bloodthirsty. Ihe Redbreasi. sparrow. And so at last we come to look upon therobin as rather an ill-used bird, with some specialand undeniable claim to the kindly consideration ofmankind, which should for ever preserve it frompersecution or ill-usage. And the feeling is a just one, although foundedupon false and merely sentimental premises, for 68 OUR BIRD ALLIES. the robin is undoubtedly entitled to encouragementand protection as the friend of man. Throughoutthe year it devotes its energies to the slaughter ofthe various creatures whose powers of mischief areso disproportioned to their size, and its success inthe search for victims may be inferred from the ex-periment, now a matter of history, which proved thatthe bird, in order to maintain its health and weight,requires no less than fourteen feet of ordinary earth-worm in the course of the twenty-four hours, or anequivalent in other food. Quoting again from Prevost Paradol, we find thefood of the robin given as follows :— Jan
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1887
