Robins
In Redwall
- Alignment: Good
- Nicknames: None
- Appearance: Robins look like robins in our world, and occasionally
wear some clothes- usually no more than a hat.
- Diet: Robins are gluttons, if the one robin in the Redwall series
is any example. They eat anything, it seems, but mostly nuts.
- Habitat: Robins live in trees, in nests.
- Typical Personality: Unknown- but the one robin in Mossflower
was gluttonous, greedy, and a spy by trade, but reasonably good-hearted.
- Habits: Unknown.
Outside Redwall
- Classification: Order: Passeriformes; Family: Turdidae; Species: Erithacus rubecula
- Other Names: English robin; robin red-breast
- Appearance: Robins are plump little birds with brown backs and red
chests with white stomachs. They are 5.5" in size.
- Diet: Robins are mainly insectivores, eating beetles, larvae, bugs
and also on spiders and snails. They also love fruits and berries,
however, as well as nuts, and are known to have a sweet tooth [beak?].
- Habitat: Robins live in woods,
hedgerows, parks and gardens. They are very territorial. Nests
are domed, made by the female of grass, dead leaves and moss in an isolated
place in a bush, hedge, hole in a tree, wall or even a ledge in a garden
shed.
- Typical Personality: The robin is pugnacious, fighting with
its own kind and attacking other birds, but sings even while fighting.
Yet they are known to be friendly when it comes to humans, probably because
they are well-loved by the British and often fed by them.
- Habits: Robins sing all the time, even at night. Sometimes
they may even attack red objects, mistaking them for intruders of their own
kind on their territory. They are migratory, and usually start to
migrate south in October.
- Life Cycle: 3 to 6 eggs are laid per clutch in late winter or early
spring and hatch 13 or 14 days after being laid. The eggs are white
with red-brown spots or blotches. Chicks, fed by both parents, leave
the nest after two weeks. There are usually 2 or 3 clutches per year.
- Sites for Further Research: