100 IN NATURE'S WAYS 



visitor, a haunter of wild and mountainous places, 

 sometimes called the mountain blackbird, with a 

 beautiful half-moon of white, the horns pointing 

 upward, about the throat. Among the rare thrushes 

 which occasionally appear from other lands is one of 

 special interest to lovers of Gilbert White, named in 

 his honour " White's Thrush," having been found 

 first in Hampshire, his own country, a straggler from 

 some far Siberian plain. 



The only note of the redwing we hear in this country 

 is a kind of whisper, expressed by the letters " syou," 

 as a migrating flock passes overhead at night this is 

 the call of the birds for keeping themselves together. 

 Many have compared the song which the redwing sings 

 when back in his own Scandinavian home to the 

 nightingale's, speaking in highest praise of its clear, 

 sweet notes ; but perhaps they mistook the singer, for 

 observers whom we may trust declare that the song 

 of the redwing in no way equals our own song-thrush's 

 melodies. 



They come to us about October, and stay till about 

 April, moving in flocks over the open country they 

 frequent. Wary and shy they are, like the fieldfares, 

 except when overtaken by cold and hunger. They are 

 birds of the open meadows, liking especially marshy 

 ground near rivers, but flying at evening to roost in 

 woods. Very thrush-like is their habit of feeding ; 

 you see the redwing standing motionless, wing dropped, 

 tail straight out, watching and waiting for sight of 

 worm, snail, grub, or other insect, then suddenly 

 hopping to make the quick gobble. 



In their own country they build nests in low bushes, 

 near the ground, nests cemented with clay, like the 

 blackbird's, whose eggs the redwing's resemble in 

 colour. 



