220 BRITISH BIRDS. 



TURDUS ILIACUS. 

 THE REDWING. 



(PLATE 8.) 



Turdus iliacus, Sriss. Orn, ii. p. 208 (1760) ; Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 292 (1766) ; et 

 auctorum plurimomm Latham, Bechstein, Temminck, Naumann, Gould, 

 Gray, Bonaparte, Newton, Sharpe, Dresser, &c. 



Turdus mauvis, Mull. Syst. Nat. Suppl. p. 141 (1776). 



Turdus illas, Pallas, Zoogr. Rosso- Asiat. i. p. 456 (1826). 



Sylvia iliaca (Linn.), Savi, Orn. Tosc. i. p. 215 (1827). 



Merula iliaca (Linn.), Selby, Brit. Orn. i. p. 165 (1833). 



Iliacus illas (Pall.), Des Murs, Traite d"Ool. p. 293 (1860). 



Iliacus minor, Des Murs, loc. cit. (1860). 



The Redwing may be distinguished from the Song-Thrush (the only 

 bird in Britain for which it can be mistaken) by the conspicuous creamy- 

 buff or pure white eye-stripe, its reddish flanks, and its gregarious habits. 

 Redwings are perhaps the first winter visitants to arrive on our shores : 

 they are not hardy birds ; and their susceptibility to change of temperature 

 undoubtedly influences their migratory movements. They take the place 

 of the Song-Thrush, and give life to the almost otherwise deserted fields, 

 woods, and shrubberies ; and their pleasant evening chorus and regularity 

 of movement render them prominent and pleasing objects of the winter 

 landscape. 



The Redwing is a regular winter visitant to Great Britain and Ireland. 

 In the west of Scotland the bird does not arrive as soon as on the east 

 coast, and is not so numerous. This is owing to the fact that the birds 

 that winter in the British Islands, principally from Scandinavia, arrive on 

 the east coast of our islands and gradually spread themselves westwards. 

 Another reason that the birds are not so numerous is probably because the 

 districts of the extreme west are less cultivated and afford a less abundant 

 supply of food than the eastern counties. The Redwing is also a common 

 winter bird in the Hebrides, and is said to linger longer in these islands 

 than it does on the mainland. This bird is perhaps most numerous in the 

 midland and southern counties of England, where food and cover are 

 most plentiful. Instances of the Redwing remaining in Britain to breed 

 are on record ; but the gravest doubt encircles them all. Until satisfactory 

 evidence is forthcoming of this fact (the birds actually shot and the eggs 

 taken), the cautious ornithologist must question their truth and consider 

 the Redwing a winter visitant only. 



The principal breeding-range of the Redwing is at or near the Arctic 

 circle throughout the Palaearctic Region, though it appears to become 

 very rare east of the Yenesay river. It winters in western and southern 



