220 BRITISH BIRDS. 
TURDUS ILIACUS. 
THE REDWING. 
(Prater 8.) 
Turdus iliacus, Briss. Orn. ii. p. 208 (1760) ; Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 292 (1766); et 
auctorum plurimorum—Latham, Bechstein, Temminck, Naumann, Gould, 
Gray, Bonaparte, Newton, Sharpe, Dresser, &c. 
Turdus mauvis, Miill. Syst. Nat. Suppl. p. 141 (1776). 
Turdus illas, Pallas, Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat, i. p. 456 (1826). 
Sylvia iliaca (Linn.), Savi, Orn. Tose. i. p. 215 (1827). 
Merula iliaca (Linn.), Selby, Brit. Orn. i. p. 165 (1833). 
Tliacus illas (Pall.), Des Murs, Traité d’Ool. p. 293 (1860). 
Iliacus minor, Des Murs, loc. cit. (1860). 
The Redwing may be distinguished from the Song-Thrush (the only 
bird in Britain for which it can be mistaken) by the conspicuous creamy- 
buff or pure white eye-stripe, its reddish flanks, and its gregarious habits. 
Redwings are perhaps the first winter visitants to arrive on our shores: 
they are not hardy birds ; and their susceptibility to change of temperature 
undoubtedly influences their migratory movements. They take the place 
of the Song-Thrush, and give life to the almost otherwise deserted fields, 
woods, and shrubberies ; and their pleasant evening chorus and regularity 
of movement render them prominent and pleasing objects of the winter 
landscape. 
The Redwing is a regular winter visitant to Great Britain and Ireland. 
In the west of Scotland the bird does not arrive as soon as on the east 
coast, and is not so numerous. ‘This is owing to the fact that the birds 
that winter in the British Islands, principally from Scandinavia, arrive on 
the east coast of our islands and gradually spread themselves westwards. 
Another reason that the birds are not so numerous is probably because the 
districts of the extreme west are less cultivated and afford a less abundant 
supply of food than the eastern counties. The Redwing is also a common 
winter bird in the Hebrides, and is said to linger longer in these islands 
than it does on the mainland. This bird is perhaps most numerous in the 
midland and southern counties of England, where food and cover are 
most plentiful. Instances of the Redwing remaining in Britain to breed 
are on record ; but the gravest doubt encircles them all. Until satisfactory 
evidence is forthcoming of this fact (the birds actually shot and the eggs 
taken), the cautious ornithologist must question their truth and consider 
the Redwing a winter visitant only. 
The principal breeding-range of the Redwing is at or near the Arctic 
circle throughout the Palearctic Region, though it appears to become 
very rare east of the Yenesay river. It winters in western and southern 
