Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/216

* ROBIN. 194 ROBINSON. table. The robin is a lively binl and a general favorite. The nest is built in trees or on rafters, siuinps, or fence-posts, of coarse grass anil reeds, plastered internally with mud ■ and lined with fine grasses. The eggs are 4 to 5 in number, uni- form grcenish-blnc. Two broods are jirodueed in a year. Its fond consists chielly of worms and insects, but it enjoys berries and fruit, and often makes sad havoc among cherries. The song of the robin, especially in the late afternoon or early evening, is very sweet and melodious, and it is a familiar friend on village lawns, where it searches for earthworms and cutworms with great zeal and cunning. A closely allied robin is found in Lower California, known as the Saint Lucas robin (Mcntla con/inis). It is much paler and a trifle smaller than the connnon robin. The Oregon robin (ncsjio'ocichlii na'iia) is a nearly allied species, called in liooks the varied thrush. The under parts are orange-brown, but there is a broad black band across the breast. This species is abundant in the Pacific Coast region from Alaska to ilexico. KOB'IN ADAIR', called Aileex Aeoox% or En.ixx Auoox. A song based on the old Irish melody "Eileen Aroou," which dates back to the fifteenth or sixteenth century. The air has been repeatedly claimed by the Scotch and the Vel>h, but is undeniably of Irish origin. Boiel- dieu introduced it into his Dame Blanche, and Beethoven arranged it for voices with pianoforte, violin, and violoncello (op. 108). Many songs were written to the old air. including Burns's "Phillis the Fair." "Had I a Cave," and Moore's "Erin, the Smile and the Tear in Thine Eye." ROBIN GOOD'FELLOW. A supernatural being belonging to English folklore and men- tioned by Shakespeare and his contemiioraries. According to .i MUlsKminer Xk/lit's Dream Robin is described as zealous in performance of household tasks for the sake of favorites, but inclined to play tricks on those with whom he is offended, or merely for his own diversion. He is said to take numerous shapes, into which he changes himself at will. He can also appear as a tire, and in this latter aspect is identical with the imaginary being called Will o' the Wisp, or .Tack o' Lantern. He is further identified with the fairy Puck, originally a term applied to elves in general. The conduct ascribed to Robin is not so much peculiar to his individuality as common to a class of similar spirits connected with the household, who were supposed to assist in domestic labors, such as cleaning the h.ibita- tion. spinning, and weaving, and who received a sort of worship, being regularly provided with sacritieial offerings of food. ROBIN HOOD. A legendary English outlaw. Sec Hood, Rodix. ROB'INS, Bex.j.mix (1707-31). An English mathematician and military engineer, born at Bath. In 1728 he confuted a dissertation by •lean Bernoulli, which attempted to establisli Leibnitz's theory on the laws of motion, a victory which gained him considerable reputation. For some years he taught pure and applied mathe- matics, but later became an engineer, devoting himself to the construction of mills and bridges, and commenced the series of experiments on the resisting force of the air to projectiles, which has gained him much celebrity. In 1734 he demolished, in a treatise entitled .1 Discourse Concerning the Certainty of Sir Isaac Newton's Method of Fluxions, the objections brought by Bishop Berkeley against Xewton's principle of ultimate ratios. His valuable work, Xcw Prin- ciples of (lunnery (1742), produced a complete revolution in the art of gunnery. In this Robins suggested two new methods for estimating the velocity of balls. He also discovered and ex- plained the curvilinear deflection of a ball from a vertical plane. He wrote several dissertations on the experiments and was in 1747 awarded the Copley medal. In 1749 he was appointed en- gincer-in-general to the East India Company and planned the defenses of iladras. His mathe- matical works were collected after his death, and along with the details of his latest experiments in gunnery were published under the title, iJdtiicmaticril Tracts (1761). Robins also re- vised and edited Anson's Votjage Round the IFocW (1740-44), and contributed extensively to the Transactions of the Royal Society. ROBIN SNIPE. A gunner's name locally ap- plied to various red-breast shore birds, espe- cially to the dowitchers (q.v.). See Plate of Be.cii Bied.-s. ROB'INSON, Agxes Mart Fr. ces (Mme. DrcL.ux, formerly ilme. Dakmesteter) (1857 — ). An English poet and essayist, born at Leamington, February 27. 1857. She studied at University College for seven years, devoting her- self specially to Greek literature. In 1888 she married .James Darmesteter, the Orientalist, re- maining in Paris after bis death in 1894. In 1901 she married Professor Duclaux, director of the Pasteur Institute. Among her works are: A Hand- ful of Honeysuckles (1878) ; The Crowned Hip- polytus, translation of Euripides (1881) ; Arden, a novel (1883) : Emily Bronte (1883) ; The New Arcadia (1884): Aii Italian. Garden (1886); Sonas, BalUids. and a Garden Play (1888) ; End of the Middle Ages (1888) : Retrospect (1893) ; A MedicBval Garland (1897); Froissart, in the "Grands ecrivains francais" series (1897); Life of Rcnan (1897; in French, 1898) : La Reine de y'ararre (1900) ; Grand,9 ^erirains d'outremanche (1901). Much of her work is scattered through the Rerue de Paris from 1898 onward. ROBINSON. Bexj.mix Lixcolx (18G4— ). An American botanist, born at Bloomington. 111. He graduated at Harvard in 1887. and studied at Strassburg and Bonn. In 1892 he was appointed curator of the Gray Herbarivnn at Harvard, and in 1900 liecame Asa. Gray pr'ofessor of systematic botany there. He is best known for his work of classification and as collaborator and editor of Gray's Synoptical Flora of yorth America (1878- 97); ROBINSON, Beverley (1723-92), An Ameri- can Loyalist, born in Virginia. He was the son of .Tohn Robinson. ])resident of the Council of Virginia in 1734. He served as major imder Wolfe at Quebec in 1759, and soon afterwards gained possession, through marriage with a daughter of Frederick Philipse. of large tracts of land in New York. At first he sided with the colonists against England, but. disapproving of the separation, be removed to Xew York in 1770 and organized the Loyal American Regiment, of which be became colonel. Later his property, together with that of his wife, was confiscated I