344 



THE EEDWING. 



holly, and other berries, of which various kinds constitute their 

 food in spring, together with worms, larvae, pupae, and insects, as 

 well as seeds of cereal and other plants ; but I have never, in the 

 most severe weather, seen them in corn-yards, although they fre- 

 quently enter gardens in time of snow to eat the holly berries. 

 They employ a small quantity of fragments of quartz and other 

 hard substances to aid the tituration of their food, and utter, 

 when alarmed and flying off, a chuckling cry, resembling the 

 syllables puck, chuck, chuck, chuck." WHITE expresses wonder 

 " that Fieldfares, which are so congenerous to Blackbirds and 

 Thrushes, should never choose to build in England," nor even 

 think the Scottish Highlands cold and northerly and sequestered 

 enough for their purpose ; and controverts the opinion of MAC- 

 GILLIVKAY that these birds roost upon trees, where trees are to 

 be found. "They are seen," he says, "to come in flocks just 

 before it is dark, and to settle and nestle among the heath in our 

 forests. And besides, the larkers, in dragging their nets by night, 

 frequently catch them in the wheat stubbles ; while the best 

 fowlers, who take many Redwings in the hedges, never entangle 

 any of this species." 



140. THE REDWING. 

 Turdtis Illacus, LIN. Mauvis, BUF. Die Rothdrossel, BECH. 



Description. This bird, which bears a great resemblance to 

 the Fieldfare, is smaller than the Song Thrush. It is eight 

 inches in length ; of which the tail measures three inches and 

 a quarter. The beak is blackish, yet yellow about the corners 

 and the base of the lower mandible. The iris is nut-brown ; 

 the feet one inch high, and pale grey ; the toes light yellow. 

 The head, neck, back, rump, and lesser wing coverts are olive 

 brown. A yellowish white stripe runs from the nostrils to a 

 considerable distance behind the eyes ; and the cheeks, which 

 are finely streaked with yellow, are surrounded with a similar 

 stripe, which terminates in a dark yellow spot, on the side of 

 the head. The throat* and breast are whitish yellow, with 

 many triangular dark-brown spots ; the rest of the lower part 

 of the body white, somewhat spotted on the sides and vent 

 with olive brown. The sides, as well as the lower wing- 

 coverts and the pen feathers, are mottled with dark reddish 

 brown ; the feathers of the wing coverts being tipped with 

 orange, and the two hindmost pen feathers with white. Tne 

 tail feathers are greyish brown, rather lighter at the points. 



The plumage of the female is in general paler ; the stripe 



