104 WITHIN AN HOUR OF LONDON TOWN. 



sistence round the edges of brooks in the low-lying 

 water-meadows, and pitied him many a time. He 

 suffers silently; there is no rush and flutter with 

 him, or any struggling to secure the scanty food ; 

 he only flutters from one spot to another, gets what 

 he can and makes the best of it. Sometimes he 

 will stay long enough to sing ; this takes place very 

 rarely, but he has done so, to my knowledge, in 

 some water-meadows. The bird was perching on 

 the willow-boughs when he sang. It was a wild 

 sweet note, different in all respects from that of the 

 others of his family; it might not have been the 

 full song of the bird ; he did not stay there, so no 

 definite conclusion could be arrived at. In one or 

 two instances he has bred in England ; this has 

 been proved in the most practical manner, but 

 these instances have been extremely rare. Some 

 winters the redwings are far more numerous than 

 others ; in mild winters, we have seen, compara- 

 tively speaking, few. No doubt the food -supply 

 influences them to a great degree, for I think our 

 favourite, the gentle redwing, is the most tender 

 of the thrush family. 



