4 THE REDWING 
dener shoots blackbirds and thrushes in fruit time. On the other 
they are protected. The latter yields always more fruit than 
the former. 
The Thrush holds a high rank, too, among birds as an architect. 
Its nest is usually placed in a thorn-bush, a larch or young fir-tree, 
a furze-bush, an apple or pear tree, or an ordinary hedge, at no 
great elevation from the ground, and not concealed with much 
attempt at art. Indeed, as it begins to build very early, it is only 
when it selects an evergreen that it has much chance of effectually 
hiding its retreat. The nest externally is composed of feather- 
moss, intermatted with bents, twigs, and small roots, and termi- 
nates above in a thicker rim of the same materials. Thus far 
the bird has displayed her skill as basket-maker. The outer case 
is succeeded by a layer of cow-dung, applied in small pellets, and 
cemented with saliva. The builder, with a beak for her only trowel, 
has now completed the mason’s work. But she has yet to show 
her skill as a plasterer ; this she does by lining her cup-like chamber 
with stucco made from decayed wood, pulverized and reduced to 
a proper consistence, kneading it with her beak. With this for 
her sole instrument, except her round breast, to give to the whole 
the requisite form, she has constructed a circular bowl sufficiently 
compact to exclude air and water, as true and as finely finished 
as if it had been moulded on a potter’s wheel, or turned on a lathe. 
The Thrush lays four or five eggs, and rears several broods in 
the season, building a new nest for each brood. During incuba- 
tion the female is very tame, and will suffer herself to be approached 
quite closely without deserting her post. In the vicinity of houses, 
where she is familiar with the human form, she will even take worms 
and other food from the hand. 
THE REDWING 
TURDUS IL{ACUS 
Upper plumage olive brown; lore black and yellow; a broad white streak 
above the eye ; lower plumage white, with numerous oblong dusky spots, 
middle of the abdomen without spots; under wing-coverts and flanks 
bright orange red; bill dusky; feet grey. Length eight inches, breadth 
thirteen inches. Eggs greenish blue mottled with dark brownish red 
spots. 
THE Redwing (called in France Mauvis, whence an old name for 
the Song-thrush, ‘ Mavis) is the smallest of the Thrushes with 
which we are familiar. It is, like the Fieldfare, a bird of passage, 
reaching us from the north about the same time with the Wood- 
cock, in October. It resembles the Song-thrush more than any 
other bird of the family, but may readily be distinguished even at 
some distance by the light stripe over the eye, and its bright red 
under wing-coverts. In some parts of France it is much sought 
