224 BRITISH BIRDS. 



sky. The night may be a frosty one, snow lying thickly on the ground, 

 and the broad-leaved laurels bending under their snowy wreaths. But just 

 as evening merges into night, and the moon assumes her borrowed rays, 

 the birds come in flocks from the pastures, their wings rustling in the still 

 evening, and their call- and alarm-notes filling the air around with tumult. 

 Down they settle on the tallest underwood, choosing the sapling trees, 

 where they can best survey the vicinity ere entering the evergreens. One 

 by one they quit these perching-places, or drop quickly down from the 

 surrounding tree-tops, and seek their roosing-places, scattering the snow 

 from the branches as they enter, which falls like bits of ice upon the crisp 

 covering below. Numbers retire to the ivy, others to the yew, whilst 

 many seek the gloomy sprays of the holly. Now and then one will enter 

 the bush under which you are stationed, but, noticing your presence, will 

 quickly seek more suitable quarters. Others come up and perch so 

 silently close to your head that their presence is only revealed when one 

 of them utters its cry of alarm as it takes wing, and you see the sapling 

 quivering from its hasty departure. The air above is resonant with their 

 plaintive whistling call-notes as the birds continue to arrive to seek a 

 suitable resting-place. Almost imperceptibly they settle down to rest : their 

 cries become fewer and fewer; the birds are more rarely seen; and finally the 

 woods are wrapped in silence. During the night the Redwing is as much 

 gregarious as in the day. Numbers seek the same bush in which to roost ; 

 and you will often see them billing each other, sitting close together, and 

 preening each other's feathers, as in the pairing-season. 



The food of the Redwing, during its winter sojourn in the British Islands, 

 is composed of worms, snails, beetles, various insects, and berries. The 

 Redwing feeds on the open pastures, and never resorts to bushy places, or 

 the ground under hedgerows and near walls, as the Song-Thrush does ; nor 

 is it seen in gardens, unless on the evergreen trees and shrubs, or when 

 hard pressed for food. The partiality of the Redwing for worms and insect 

 food is no doubt the primary cause of its permanent residence in one certain 

 neighbourhood throughout the period of its stay ; and the bird is not nearly 

 so much a berry feeder as is supposed. True, upon their arrival we find 

 them regaling themselves on the fruit of the service-tree ; but this only 

 occurs for a few weeks, and then for the most part they are only seen on 

 the grass-lands. As a proof of this fact, the actions of the Redwing in 

 the severe winter of 1879-80 may be adduced. The lands which they 

 most love to frequent are the marshy meadows in which worms and insects 

 occur so plentifully. As these marshy places began to freeze the Redwings 

 were more and more confined in their feeding-range. Each little swampy 

 place was searched for food, and as surely abandoned when the frost closed 

 it. Manure-heaps were then visited by the distressed birds, until a heavy 

 fall of snow buried these places deep beneath it. All this time the Red- 



