_Robins and Wrens._--The robin is considered a sacred bird: to kill one is little less than sacrilege, and its eggs are free from the destroying hand of the bird-nester. It is asserted that the respect shown to it by man is joined in by the animals of the wood. The weasel and wild cat, it is said, will neither molest it, nor eat it when killed. The high favour in which this bird is held is usually attributed to the ballad of _The Babes in the Wood_. Few, however, among the peasantry of this district have even heard of it; and, however much that beautiful tale may have tended to popularise the belief, it is evident that we must trace the origin to a more remote source. One cause for the veneration in which it is held may be the superstition which represents him as the medium through which mankind are warned of approaching death. {165} Before the death of a person, a robin is believed, in many instances, to tap thrice at the window of the room in which he or she may be. The wren is also a bird which superstition protects from injury; but it is by no means treated with such reverence as the robin. The praises of both are sung in the old couplet:-- "The robin and the wren, Be God A'mighty's cock and hen." _Pigeons._--No one, it is believed, can die on pigeons' feathers. In the northern parts of the county, the same thing is said of game feathers,--a superstition also current in Kent.--_Ingolsby Legends_, Third Series, p. 133. _Wasps._--The first wasp seen in the season should always be killed. By so doing you secure to yourself good luck and freedom from enemies throughout the year. _Bees._--The superstitious ceremonies and observances attached to these animals appear to be current throughout the kingdom, and by no means suffer any diminution in this county. Among others of less common occurrence, we have the belief that they will not thrive in a quarrelsome fammily. The wild, or, as we term him, the _humble bee_, is not without a share of the superstitions which pertain to his more civilised brethren. The entrance of one into a cottage is deemed a certain sign of death. _Spiders._--The small spiders called "money spinners" prognosticate good luck; in order to propitiate which, they must be thrown over the left shoulder. T.Y. * * * * * Minor Notes _The Hon. A. Erskine._--In J. Reed's Copy of _Boswell's and Hon. A. Erskine's Correspondence_, 12mo. 1763, was the following note in Reed's autograph:-- "The Hon. A. Erskine was fourth son of the fifth Earl of Kelley. Mr. Boswell told me the 30th of May, 1794, that A.E., having spent all his property, in a fit of despair threw himself from a rock into the sea last winter, and was drowned. His body was found five days after, when it appeared it was a deliberate act, as he had filled his pockets with stones."