REDBREAST the name of a bird which from its manners, no less familiar than engaging, has for a long while been so great a favourite among all classes in Great Britain as to have gained an almost sacred character. The pleasing colour of its plumage—one striking feature of which is expressed by its ancient name—its sprightly air, full dark eye, enquiring and sagacious demeanour, added to the trust in man it often exhibits, but, above all, the cheerful sweetness of its song, even “when winter chills the day” and scarce another bird is heard—combine to produce the effects just mentioned, so that among many European nations it has earned some endearing name, though there is no country in which “Robin Redbreast” is held so highly in regard as England. Well known as is its appearance and voice throughout the whole year in the British Islands, there are not many birds which to the attentive observer betray more unmistakably the influence of the migratory impulse ; but somewhat close scrutiny is needed to reveal this fact. In the months of July and August the hedgerows of the southern counties of England may be seen to be beset with Redbreasts, not in flocks as is the case with so many other species, but each individual keeping its own distance from the next —all, however, pressing forward on their way to cross the Channel. On the European continent the migration is still more marked, and the Redbreast on its autumnal and vernal passages is the object of hosts of bird-catchers, since its value as a delicacy for the table has long been recognized. But even those Redbreasts which stay in Britain during the winter are subject to a migratory movement easily perceived by any one that will look out for it. Occupying during autumn their usual haunts in outlying woods or ...hedges, the first sharp frost at once makes them change their habitation, and a heavy fall of snow drives them towards the homesteads for such food as they may find there, while, should severe weather continue long and sustenance become more scarce, even these stranger birds disappear—most of them possibly to perish—leaving only the few that have already become almost domiciled among men. On the approach of spring the accustomed spots are revisited, but among the innumerable returning denizens Redbreasts are apt to be neglected, for their song not being powerful is drowned or lost, as Gilbert White well remarked, in the general chorus.
From its abundance, or from innumerable figures, the Redbreast is too well known to need description, yet there are very few representations of it which give a notion of its characteristic appearance or gestures—all so suggestive of intelligence. Its olive-brown back and reddish-orange breast, or their equivalents in black and white, may be easily imitated by the draughtsman; but the faculty of tracing a truthful outline or fixing the peculiar expression of this favourite bird has proved to be beyond the skill of almost every artist who has attempted its portraiture. The Redbreast exhibits a curious uncertainty of temperament in regard to its nesting habits. At times it will place the utmost confidence in man, and again at times shew the greatest jealousy. The nest, though generally pretty, can seldom be called a work of art, and is usually built of moss and dead leaves, with a moderate lining of hair. In this are laid from five to seven white eggs, sprinkled or blotched with light red.
Besides the British Islands, the Redbreast (which is the Mota-cilla rubecula of Linnaeus and the Erithacus rubecula of modern authors) is generally dispersed over the continent of Europe, and is in winter found in the oases of the Sahara. Its eastern limits are not well determined. In Northern Persia it is replaced by a very nearly allied form, Erithacus hyrcanus, distinguishable by its more ruddy hues, while in Northern China and Japan another species, E. akahige, is found of which the sexes differ somewhat in plumage—the cock having a blackish band below his red breast, and greyish-black flanks, while the hen closely resembles the familiar British species—but both cock and hen have the tail of chestnut-red. A beautiful bird supposed to inhabit Corea, the Sylvia komadori of Temminck, of which specimens are very scarce in collections, is placed by some writers in the genus Erithacus , but whether it has any very close affinity to the Redbreasts does not yet seem to be proved. It is of a bright orange-red above, and white beneath, the male, however, having the throat and breast black.
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