240 THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 



During these early morning hours the Thrushes may also be 

 caught with success in large vertically-placed nets, like Snipe nets, 

 but having smaller meshes. In the course of the day these 

 Thrushes fly into the bush more at their ease ; sometimes, too, 

 when not watched, they will hop into it along the ground; but 

 one is never able to drive them into it like the Blackbirds. If one 

 approaches one of the latter, the bird tries at first to withdraw by 

 long bounds. A Song Thrush never proceeds in this manner ; it 

 sits still and erect until one approaches it too closely, when it 

 suddenly flies away. If it happens to be sitting close in front of 

 the throstle-bush, it will, under such conditions, fly vertically 

 upward and away over, but not into, the bush. 



The capture of Thrushes in the throstle-bush was formerly 

 i.e. before the change in the prevailing direction of the wind 

 already referred to had set in an extremely profitable occupation. 

 An old fowler Payens used often to catch as -many as five or six 

 hundred birds in one day in his bush. Once, in October 1824, he 

 actually caught as many as a thousand in one day. Nowadays, 

 however, a hundred represents an exceptionally good day's catch. 



The Song Thrush breeds abundantly from the Atlantic to the 

 Pacific Ocean. In Norway its breeding range extends to 68 N. 

 latitude. 



67. Redwing [WEINDROSSEL]. 

 TURDUS ILIACUS, Linn. 



Heligolandish : Giihl- Jiikked = The Yellow- Winged (Thrush). 

 Turdus iliacus. Naumann, ii. 276. 

 Redwing. Dresser, ii. 35. 



Merle mauvis. Temminck, Manuel, i. 165, iii. 89. 



This handsome Thrush visits Heligoland in much smaller 

 numbers than the preceding, and even of these visitors probably 

 only a small portion calls here of its own choice ; for the large flocks, 

 numbering from one hundred to two hundred birds, which descend 

 in October, sometimes late in the afternoon or towards evening, 

 with much noise, are invariably the precursors of bad weather i.e. 

 of violent west wind and rain. Endowed with a presentiment of 

 these impending changes, they break their journey at Heligo- 

 land, which would certainly not happen under favourable conditions 

 of weather. This phenomenon furnishes another proof of the 

 valuelessness of data as to the local appearance of birds during 

 their migration period, collected with so much zeal and in so many 

 quarters, if these are not accompanied by the fullest and most 



