66 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 
wings appear much less inclined to feed on berries 
than most of the other species of this genus. I have 
generally found them, on their first arrival, in some 
hawthorn bushes, and have often watched them 
feeding greedily on the berries: there were generally 
also a few Song Thrushes and a stray Blackbird or 
two: an occasional Missel Thrush would come and 
bustle about, making everything else uncomfortable 
for a short time; but the number of Redwings by 
far exceeded that of all the others put together. 
The food of the Redwing also consists of slugs, 
beetles and their larve. 
In its summer residence the Redwing is said, by 
those who have heard it, to be a beautiful songster, 
so much so as not only to have obtained the name 
of the “Nightingale of Norway,” but also to well 
deserve the name ;* but the question whether it ever 
sings in England has given rise to considerable dis- 
cussion among Ornithologists, some asserting that 
they have not only heard it sing, but killed it in the 
act of singing; so that there could be no possible 
mistake as to the identity of the bird. The evidence 
on the other side is, of course, merely negative— 
namely, the witness has not heard it sing. I cannot 
myself help the subject further than by the same 
' 
* “The Redwing is called the Nightingale of Norway, 
and well it deserves the name."—Notes on the Ornithology 
of Norway, by Hewitson. 
