48 OUR NATIVE SONGSTERS. 



They may be heard with tlie redwings, p^e^^Ollsly 

 to their departure, all chirping together; but 

 little harmony exists in this noisy concert. 



The call-note of the fieldfare is unmusical, but 

 its song is soft and melodious, though Bechstein 

 thinks otherwise ; for lie says it is a harsh and 

 disagreeable warble. Many persons, however, 

 like its strains when in confinement, and it is 

 easily tamed. A still sweeter song belongs 'to the 

 Kedwing* {Turclus iliacus); and it is heard some- 

 times in this country, before the bird takes its 

 spring departure. This bird is called the nightin- 

 gale of Nonvay ; but its song, apparently, does not 

 acquire perfection in this land. Here it hardly 

 sings it out, but runs over its modulations in low 

 and gentle tones, as if afraid of pouring forth all 

 its joys, or as if practising against the season of 

 song, though the voice seems no better in May 

 than it was in January. Mr. Blyth, writing of this 

 bird in the month of March, says, — *'A day or 



* The Redwing is less than nine inches in length. The ■whole 

 upper parts are d;\rk brown ; whole under parts impure white, 

 tinged with brown on the breast and flanks, and studded with 

 chains of triangular blackish spots : the sides of the body and 

 the inner surfaces of the wings are of a fine pale red ; a streak 

 of pale brown passes over each eye: beak black; feet pale brown. 



