268 



PASSERES. 



TURDID.E. 



TURDIDjU. 



Vm W -'* • ^\~'^^W 



TuRDUS iLiAcus, LinnsBus*. 



THE REDWING. 



Tardus iliacus. 



The Redwing is a regular winter-visitor to the British 

 Islands, which comes to us in flocks from Iceland and the 

 nothern parts of the European continent, frequently arriving 

 by the middle or before the end of October. While in this 

 country, it chiefly aftects enclosures and parks that are orna- 

 mented with clumps of trees; and, like the Song-Thrush, which 

 it much resembles in external appearance, it seeks its subsis- 

 tence in mild and open weather in pasture-lands and moist 

 meadows, feeding principally on worms, snails, slugs and 

 insects. It is much less inclined to eat berries than most 

 of the other species of this genus ; and should its usual 

 resources be closed by long-continued frost and snow, the 

 Redwing is the first among birds to sufl"er, and during some 

 severe seasons, such as 1799, 1814, 1822, and the winters 

 of 1838- 39 and 1860-61, hundreds have been found 



* Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 292 (17G6). 



