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 5j 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. 



