Redhead

“ Said Redhead: "At Utterbol all do the will of the Lord of Utterbol, and he is so lustful and cruel, and so false withal, that his will shall be to torment the damsel to death, and to geld and maim thee; so that none hereafter shall know how goodly and gallant thou hast been."
"Redhead," quoth Ralph much moved, "though thou art in no knightly service, thou mayst understand that it is good for a friend to die with a friend." ”

“ I fear me that thou art not so free as he would have thee think. Anyhow, were I thou, I would be freer in two hours space. Is it to be so?"
"Yea, yea," said Ralph. Redhead nodded: "Good is that," said he; "I say in two hours' time all will be quiet, and we are as near the thicket as may be; there is no moon, but the night is fair and the stars clear; so all that thou hast to do is to walk out of this tent, and turn at once to thy right hand: come out with me now quietly, and I will show thee."
They went out together and Redhead said softly: "Lo thou that doddered oak yonder ”

“ So out marched Tom, and away with him, without minding the shouting and cursing they kept up at him from the tops of the walls; and when he got home to the big bawn of the palace, there never was such running and racing as to see himself and the flail. When he had his story told, he laid down the flail on the stone steps, and bid no one for their lives to touch it. If the king, and queen, and princess, made much of him before, they made ten times more of him now; but Redhead, the mean scruff-hound, stole over, and thought to catch hold of the flail to make an end of him. ”

“ Nest.
And then, at last, come the days when the gray-headed youngsters, from hanging out of the window, boldly open their wings and launch into the air. Anxious times these are for old birds,—times when the watcher's admiration may be roused by heroic deeds of parental love; for many a parent bird fairly flaunts in the face of the enemy, as if trying to say, "Kill me; spare my young!"
One family of Redheads once gave me a delightful three weeks. When the old birds were first discovered, one was on a stub in a meadow. ”

“ All sorts of odd nooks and crannies serve the Redheads for storehouses—knot-holes, pockets under patches of raised bark, cracks between shingles and fences, and even railroad ties. Sometimes, instead of nuts, grasshoppers and other eatables are put away in storage. The wise birds at times make real caches, concealing their stores by hammering down pieces of wood or bark over them.
Beechnuts are such a large part of the fall and winter food of the Redheads in some localities, that, like the gray squirrels, the birds are common in good beechnut winters and absent in others. ”

“ Fiery Red Hair indicates a quick and fiery disposition. Persons with such hair generally have intense feelings—love and hate intensely—yet treat them kindly, and you have the warmest friends, but ruffle them, and you raise a hurricane on short notice. This is doubly true of auburn curls. It takes but little kindness, however, to produce a calm and render them as fair as a Summer morning. Red-headed people in general are not given to hold a grudge. They are generally of a very forgiving disposition. ”

“ Its inconsiderable forehead is crowned with turning sandy hair, and the deep concave of its long insatiate jaws is almost hidden by a dense red beard, which can not still abate the terrible decision of the large mouth, so well sustained by searching eyes of spotted gray, which roll and rivet one. ”

“ Range.--Southern New Mexico and Arizona, southward.
This beautiful Redstart is black with a large white patch on the wing coverts, white outer tail feathers, and with the belly and middle of the breast bright red. These active birds, which have all the habits and mannerisms of the common species, nest on the ground in thickets or shrubbery usually near water, and generally conceal their homes under overhanging stones or stumps; the nests are made of fine shreds of bark and grasses, lined with hair; the eggs are white, dotted with reddish brown ”

“ Miss Larches. But, Mr. Grey, I remember your finding fault with the powder on the head-dress of that marquise costume, because it concealed the red hair of the wearer. In such a case I should consider powder a blessing. Do you really admire red hair?
Grey. When it is beautiful, I do, and prefer it to that of any other tint. I don't mean golden hair, or flaxen, or yellow, but red,—the color of dark red amber, or, nearer yet, of freshly cut copper. There is ugly red hair, as there is ugly hair of black and brown, and every other hue. ”

“ Redbud—she received this pretty name when she was a baby, and as usually befalls Virginia maidens, never has been able to get rid of it. Redbud is a lovely little creature, whom it is a delight to look upon. She has a profusion of light, curling hair, a fine fresh, tender complexion, deep, mild eyes, and a mouth of that innocent and artless expression which characterizes childhood. She is about sixteen, and has just emerged from short dresses, by particular request and gracious permission from Miss Lavinia, who is major-domo and manager in general. ”

“ The Americans or redskins were the only inhabitants of America at the time of its discovery. The two preceding species are the nearest related to them. The head is generally medium-sized, rarely short or long; the forehead is broad and low; the nose large, protruding, and often aquiline; the cheek bones are prominent, and the lips rather thin; the hair is straight and black; the color of the skin is ruddy, becoming sometimes copper-colored, sometimes whitish, sometimes yellow-brown, and sometimes olive-brown. ”

“ When a red animal is mated with a white, their determinants meet, and the young, taking a half of that offered by each parent, starts off with a determinant, one half of which is for redness, the other half for whiteness, thus: ●○, and its coat is a mixture of red hairs and white—that is, roan. The proportions of the two kinds of hair vary greatly: the white hairs being sometimes so few that the roan is almost a red, and the red sometimes so few that it is almost a white. ”

“ Sprightly in its actions, and more vividly coloured than many of our Summer Migrants, the Redstart cannot fail to attract attention in the districts which it frequents during its sojourn with us. It would be difficult, indeed, to find a more beautiful little bird than the male Redstart in his nuptial plumage. The pale grey colour of the head and back, relieved by a silvery white spot upon the forehead and 75 a jet-black throat, contrasts strongly with the bright chestnut of the breast, upper tail coverts, and tail. ”

“ Reddish grey, sometimes almost olive green in colour, with white blotches and sparse, coarse bristles, the animal has no comeliness, and yet when a herd frolics in the water, rising in unison with graceful undulatory movements for air, and the sunlight flashes in helioscopic rays from wet backs, the spectacle is rare and fine. ”

“ Rich as is the plumage of the Red Grouse, with its beautiful markings, and warm sienna tint, which prevails throughout every part except the snowy legs, yet we are inclined to give the preference to this, its close relative, for elegance of appearance. It is all over of a pure delicate white, except just the points of the toes, the larger tail feathers, the bill, and a patch on each side of the head, which surrounds the eye, all of black; there is also, as in every other species of Grouse with which we are acquainted, a semicircular patch, like a piece of crimson velvet over each eye. ”

“ With such a home as is prepared for their reception, it is not surprising that the little red-backs leave the nest as soon as they are hatched and freely run about. When frightened they readily conceal themselves by sitting on the ground and remaining quiet.
This species exhibits considerable variation in the color of its plumage. In the spring and summer it may be known by the black patch on the belly and reddish color of its back, which is mottled with white and black. ”

“ The ancient civilized nations passionately admired red hair. Greeks, Romans, Chinese, Turks, and Spaniards have given it to their warriors and beauties. Somehow among the Anglo-Saxon race it has a bad reputation. Both in novels and plays it is common to give the rascal of the plot “villanous red hair;” and in the English school of painters, the traitor Judas is generally distinguished by it. In the East, black is the favorite color, and the Persians abhor a red-haired woman. Light brown or golden hair is the universal favorite. The Greeks gave it to Apollo, Venus, and Minerva. ”

“ The Red Rhébuck “runs in herds, often exceeding twenty in number, and invariably frequents the summits of hilly and mountainous districts, where there are no reeds and where water may be miles and miles distant”; whereas the Reedbuck is found “either in pairs or in parties, never exceeding four in number,” only in low lying country along rivers which have reeds on their banks. “The one peculiarity common to both species is the fact that the males, when alarmed, give vent to a shrill whistle.” ”

“ Face in life intensely red, with a purplish hue; nose and lower lip washed with brown; callosities and naked parts of the scrotal region purplish-red; sparse hairs of the face dark brown; general colour of fur dark brown, or yellowish-brown, or olive, darkest along the middle of the back, the hairs being ringed with yellow and brown, or black and brown; sides of head, breast, under surface of body, under sides of limbs, and under side of tail greyish ”

“ The nest is almost always placed in a hole of a tree or building, and contains from five to seven eggs of a delicate greenish blue, occasionally sprinkled with faint red spots. The young on assuming their feathers present a great resemblance to those of the redbreast (q.v.) at the same age; but the red tail, though of duller hue than in the adult, forms even at this early age an easy means of distinguishing them. The redstart breeds regularly in all the counties of England and Wales. ”

“ Her hair was red and her eyes were purple with fire in them; her lips were red as a flame-tree's flower, or maybe more red. She was slender without being slim and moved as easily as a pandanus leaf swinging in a little breeze. ”

“ In habit the two species are not unlike, and their ordinary notes do not advertise differences, even to the mildly observant. Those of the Red-eye are, however, higher in pitch, less mellow and soft in quality, and are rendered with more sprightliness of manner. Its soliloquizing notes are often uttered—always in single phrases of from two to four syllables each—while the bird is busily hunting, and serve to mark an overflow of good spirits rather than a studied attempt at song. His best efforts are given to the entertaining of his gentle spouse when she is brooding upon the nest. ”

“ The male is extremely dark in appearance and may be easily recognised from the Common Redstart by its uniformly black breast, the white outer margins to the secondaries, and black under wing coverts. The hen is much darker than our bird, especially on the back, which is of a uniform umber brown, but the unfailing characteristic of this species in all plumages and at all seasons is the dark brown or blackish under wing coverts. ”

“ But all reds have something human, even the most luminous scarlets and crimsons—the scarlet verbena, the poppy, our garden geraniums, etc.—although in intensity they so greatly surpass the brightest colour of the lips and the most vivid blush on the cheek. Luminous reds are not, however, confined to lips and cheeks: even the fingers when held up before the eyes to the sun or to fire-light show a very delicate and beautiful red ”

“ I am bound to say she stood out from the other women of Red Gap by reason of a certain dash, not to say beauty. Rather above medium height and of pleasingly full figure, her face was piquantly alert, with long-lashed eyes of a peculiar green, a small nose, the least bit raised, a lifted chin, and an abundance of yellowish hair. ”

“ Yet I noticed that there were no other signs of animal life in the valley. Not a rabbit popped up in the grass; the trees were fresh with foliage, but no birds flew among the boughs. All around us was silence, save for the soft crush of our own footsteps and our breathing, now quickened by our exertions. I called Redfield’s attention to this silence and absence of life, and we stopped again and listened but heard nothing. The night was without wind; I could not see a leaf on the trees stir, the air felt close and heavy, and Redfield told me that my face was without color ”

“ The nest, which is remarkably small, is described as being placed in the fork of an alder-tree, loosely constructed of dry grass and weeds, and lined either with the cotton of the willow or the pappus of some compound flower, stated by some to be dandelion, by others, thistle, but perhaps, in reality, coltsfoot. In captivity, Redpolls are prized for their liveliness and remarkable affection for each other, and, indeed, for all little birds who do not disdain their attentions. They can be taught many little tricks also. ”

“ There rises, probably from the ground, a dark-coloured bird, whose quick movement will at once catch our eye, and being in company with others similar to himself, we shall have no difficulty in recognising the Redwing. Tired possibly by his long journey, he will settle on the hedge a little in front of us, and begin diligently feeding on any berries he can find, as but little in that line comes amiss to our friend; and soon he will again drop to the ground, and we shall get a glimpse of the deep red feathers under his wings from which he has derived his trivial name. ”