REDWING AND FIELDFARE. 



does not generally sing, except the weather be mild ; 

 which is seldom the case in January and February, 

 without more or less wind and wet accompanying. 

 The missel-thrush is plentiful about us ; and its notes, 

 which are rather loud and powerful, come grateful 

 to the ear at a time when there is but little vocal 

 music to be heard in the woods. Many persons 

 mistake it for the common thrush, but its song has 

 not the variety which belongs to that of this last 

 species. It mostly frequents the tops of the highest 

 trees, where it sits singing on a naked bough for a 

 considerable time without intermission,* and like 

 the common thrush seems to delight in one particular 

 spot. Besides its regular song, it has a kind of hiss- 

 ing jarring note, which it uses as a menace during 

 the breeding season. 



REDWINGf AND FIELDFARE.J 



Feb. 20, 1827. THE stomach of a redwing shot 

 this morning was found to contain the remains of 

 coleopterous insects, earwigs, and spiders ; some of 

 these last were quite perfect and entire : there were 

 also a few shells of the Helix hispida. The stomach 

 of another individual, shot at the same time, was 

 almost entirely filled with the above shells, and 

 contained little else. 



The stomach of a fieldfare, killed at the same time 



* This peculiarity in the missel-thrush, of its song being carried 

 on continuously for a longer time than in most birds, has been 

 noticed by another observer. See The Zoologist, p. 492. 



t Turdus iliacus, Linn. J Turdus pilaris, Linn. 



