22 OUR MIGRANT BIRDS 



Plumage. — Upper parts ashy brown. Wings and tail 

 darker with paler margins ; under parts greyish white, 

 marked with elongated brown spots. Bill dark brown. 

 Legs blackish. Length 5} in. ; female similar ; young 

 more spotted. 



Language. — Song a faint utterance, composed of a few 

 rambling notes delivered in a sotto voce ; really a repeti- 

 tion, more or less varied, of the call-note, which much 

 resembles the Robin's. Alarm-note, " chick." 



Habits. — Fond of perching on a post, rail, or wire 

 fence, and making erratic little excursions therefrom 

 to catch insects, returning to same time after time — a 

 most distinctive habit. Flight rapid and undulating. 

 It returns year after year to the same nesting site. 



Food. — Insects almost entirely ; spiders, centipedes ; 

 fruits, and berries, sometimes. 



Nest. — June onwards. Two broods sometimes. 



Site. — In cavity in tree or wall, on rafter of open 

 shed, amongst ivy, in evergreens or trained wall-fruit 

 tree, and many other similar situations. 



Materials. — Small twigs, roots, grass, moss, and 

 spiders' web ; lined with fine grass, rootlets, feathers, 

 hair, and wool. 



Eggs. — Four to six. Bluish or greenish white, spotted 

 and blotched with reddish brown. Rather variable. 



REDWING {Turdus iliacus). 



October to April. Generally distributed. 



Haunts. — Cultivated districts and grass-lands ; roost- 

 ing in woods. 



Observation. — In appearance a lesser Song Thrush, 

 but differs in decided white eye-stripe and chestnut-red 

 on flanks. 



