United States or Ireland ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
They were too weak to pull out the nails from his feet and hands; so they tore their little breasts in plucking the thorns one by one from the crown that had been set upon his forehead. Since then God has allowed their breasts to remain red as a remembrance of His gratitude. But their Christmas story happened long before, when they weren't robin red-breasts but only robins.
Certain it is that the whole story of the children and their cruel uncle was to be seen fairly carved out in wood upon the chimney-piece of the great hall, the whole story down to the Robin Red-breasts, till a foolish rich uncle pulled it down to set up a marble one of modern invention in its stead, with no story upon it.
And how should you and I feel at this moment, sitting here, if we had no recollection of walks in shrubberies, and no prospect of a home, and a lifetime to spend in it, to make this moment sacred? Look at those red-breasts: shall we change lots with them?" "No, no: let us look forward; but how? We cannot persuade ourselves that we are better than we are, for the sake of making the future bright."
At that time of the year there was little to be seen out of doors, but one curiosity the Wexfords described, to which they were very anxious to introduce their young friends: and this was a little group of robin red-breasts which had been hatched in their summer-house, and which now took shelter there every night, and were regularly fed by the family.
And hither and thither darted the little birds; red-breasts and sparrows, and yellow finches and blue finches, and blackbirds and thrushes, with their cheerful voices and soft waistcoats, and, indeed, every good quality but that of knowing how glad one would be to kiss them.
Especially do they revel on the lawns at Tahoe Tavern, their red-breasts and their peculiar "smithing" or "cokeing" just as alluring and interesting as the plumage and voices of the richer feathered and finer songsters of the bird family. Mountain quails are quite common, and one sometimes sees a dozen flocks in a day. Grouse are fairly plentiful.
Broad-meshed nets were hung on either side of a path on the fringe of a plantation, and in the middle of the path were placed cages containing the decoys, whose songs soon attracted all the birds of the neighbourhood red-breasts, white-throats, black-caps, nightingales, fig-peckers of all sorts.
Here everything is done at full gallop, and the chyle has not to go far before it is absorbed. I have before me a book, in which I am told that the wagtails eaten in France can be fattened in twenty-four hours, if you only know how to set about it, and these birds are not rare; they belong to the same family as the red-breasts, the tomtits, and the nightingale.
Broad-meshed nets were hung on either side of a path on the fringe of a plantation, and in the middle of the path were placed cages containing the decoys, whose songs soon attracted all the birds of the neighbourhood red-breasts, white-throats, black-caps, nightingales, fig-peckers of all sorts.
John and Frederick had scampered off with the young Wexfords, and presently returned with a pan of bread crumbs, which they had begged from the cook, and which they now hoped to see the red-breasts eat.
Word Of The Day