Ruddock

The redbreast, “sacred to the household gods.” The legend says if a redbreast finds a dead body in the woods it will “cover it with moss.” Drayton alludes to this tradition—

“Covering with moss the dead’s unclosed eye,

The little redbreast teacheth charitie.”

The Owl.

Shakespeare makes Arvirʹagus say over Imogen—

“Thou shalt not lack

The flower that’s like thy face, pale primrose; nor

The azured barebell … the ruddock would

With charitable bill … bring thee all these.”

Cymbeline, iv. 2.

So also in the folk tale of The Babes in the Wood—

“The Robins so red

Fresh strawberry-leaves did over them spread.”

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.