REDWING 



KEE1) 



607 



(Turdiu iliacus), a species of Thrush 

 (q.v.), well Known in Britain as a winter bird of 

 passage. It spends the summer in the northern 

 parts of Europe and Asia; it occurs in Iceland, and 

 straggles even to Greenland : its winter range 

 extends to the Mediterranean, Persia, Northern 

 India, and SiU'i ia as far as Lake Baikal. In sue 

 it is somewhat smaller than the song-thrush or 

 mavis. Its (tight is remarkably rapid. The general 

 colour is a rich clove-brown on the head, upper 

 parts of the body, and tail ; the wing-featliers 

 darker, but with lighter external edges ; the lower 

 parts mostly whitish, tinged and streaked with 



Redwing ( Turdut iliacut). 



brown ; the under wing-coverts and axillary feathers 

 bright reddish orange. The redwing arrives in 

 Britain rather earlier than the Fieldfare (q.v.), 

 and, like it, congregates in large flocks, but i- less 

 numerous and less gregarious. Its food consists 

 of insects, small snails, and berries. It has an 

 exquisite, clear, flute-like song, which it pours 

 forth from the summit of a high tree, gladdening 

 the woods of the north. 



Redwood. See PINE. 



R*e, LOUGH, a lake in the centre of Ireland, 

 between Connaught and Leinster, is an expansion 

 of the river Shannon (q.v.). 



Reed, the common English name of certain tall 

 grasses, growing in moist or marshy places, and 

 Having a vpry hard or almost woody culm. The 

 Common Reed (Phriufiniles communi*, formerly 

 Aruiido Phrnymitet) is abundant in Britain and 

 continental Europe, in wet meadows and stagnant 

 waters, and by the hanks of rivers and ditches. It 

 grows chiefly in rich alluvial soils. The culms are 

 6 to 10 feet high, and l>ear fit the top a large, niucli- 

 hranrhed panicle, of a reddish-brown or yellowish 

 colour, having a shining appearance, from numerous 

 Ion;.' silky hairs which spring from the base of the 

 spikelets. The two outer glumes are very unequal ; 

 and the spikelet contains 3 to 4 perfect florets, with 

 a Iwrren one at the base. The culms, or stems, are 

 nsed for making garden -screens, for light fences, 

 for thatching houses and farm-buildings, for making 

 a framework to !>e covered with clay in partitions 

 and floors, for battens of weavers' shuttles, &c. So 

 useful are reeds in these ways, and particularly for 

 thatching, that it is found profitable in some places 

 to plant them in old clay-pits, &c. Probably they 

 might IK' planted with advantage in many peat- 

 mosses where they are now unknown. The plant 

 i not very common in Scotland ; but in the fenny 

 districts of the east of England it covers large tracts 

 called reni-roruif, and similar tracts occur in many 

 parts of Europe. Nearly allied to this is Arundo 

 donax, the largest of European grasses, plentiful in 

 the south of Europe, and found in marshy places as 

 far north as the south of the Tyrol and of Switzer- 

 land. It is 6 to 12 feet high, and has very thick, 



hollow, woody culms, and a purplish-yellow panicle, 

 silvery and shining from silky hairs. The woody 

 steins are an article of commerce, and are used by 

 musicAl instrument makers for reeds of clarionets, 

 mouth-pieces of oboes, &c. They are also made 

 into walking-sticks and fishing-rods ; and see the 

 article WRITING. The creeping roots contain much 

 farina mid some sugar. Of Arundo Karka (called 

 Sur in Sind) the flower-stalks are very fibrous; 

 and the fibres, being partially separated by beating, 

 are twisted into twine jiml ropes. The Sea Reed is 

 Ammophila, (q.v.) or Ptamma arundinacea. 



Reed, in Music, the sounding part of several 

 instruments, such as the clarionet, bassoon, oboe, and 

 bagpipe, so called from its being made from the outer 

 layer of a reed (Arundo satira or donax) found in 

 the south of Europe. The name is also applied to 

 the speaking part of the organ, though made of 

 metal. Reeds are generally divided into two 

 kinds the beating reed, used in the organ, clarionet, 

 &c., requiring to be placed within a tube to pro- 

 duce a musical sound, and the free reed, used in 

 instruments of the harmonium and concertina 

 kind. The Organ (q.v.) reed (fig. 1 ) consists of a 

 metal tube, a, with the front part cut away and 

 having a metal (brass, German-silver, or steel) 

 tongue, b, covering the orifice, attached at the 

 upper end, and bent forward at the lower end to 

 permit of vibration. The admission of a current 

 of air to the outer tube causes the tongue to vibrate 

 against the edge of the opening in the tube it. pro- 

 ducing a musical note, the pitch of which is deter- 

 mined by the length of the free end of the reed ; 



Fig. 1. 



Fig. 2. 



this is regulated by a strong movable spring, e, 

 pressing against it, the quality of the sound de- 

 pending on the length and form of the outer tube. 

 In the Clarionet (q.v.) reed the mouth forms the 

 outer tube. The reed in the drone of the bagpipe 

 is on the same principle as the organ reed, and 

 is made of a piece of reed tube a few inches long, 

 cut across a knot at one end so as to make a stop. 

 A slit is cut in it with a knife to make the tongue. 

 It is shown in fig. 2, a, in situ, the outer tube 

 being shown in section ; the air enters from the 

 bag in the direction of the arrow, the free end is 

 the stopped one. The double beating reed (fig. 

 2. 6) is that used in the bassoon, oboe, and the 

 chanter of the bagpipe, and consists of two reeds, 

 shaped so as to lie tied together in the form of a 

 tube at one end, either with or without the aid of 

 a metal pipe, to fit the end of the instrument, and 

 thinned away at the other end, where the two 

 meet with a little space between them in the 



