THE REDWING. 141 



delayed in the very late spring of 1837. Its average arrival in 

 the neighbourhood of Killaloe is said to take place in the first 

 week of November;* about Wexford, at the end of October.f 

 The redwing is stated to be more common than the fieldfare in 

 Kerry; and in the north it likewise prevails numerically over 

 that species. They often associate together : both were remarked 

 by an observant friend to be unusally scarce in the north-east of 

 Ireland and south-west of Scotland, in the winter of 1838-39. 

 What has been said on the haunts and occasional migration of the 

 fieldfare equally applies to the redwing. In the severe winter of 

 1813, these birds were so reduced about Youghal that several of 

 both species were killed by my informant with a stick thrown from 

 the hand. In the north, that winter was remarkably fatal to birds 

 generally. I have never met with redwings roosting on the 

 ground like fieldfares, but instead, in hedge-rows and thick 

 plantations. A favourite locality in which they in different years 

 came under my observation, was a dense plantation of larch-firs 

 of about fifteen years growth on a hill side, where their con- 

 certs, like those of grey-linnets, before going to roost were most 

 agreeable. But in the morning and forenoon likewise, dur- 

 ing fine weather, chiefly towards the spring, a flock of redwings 

 from a hedge or plantation will sometimes delight us with a most 

 agreeable concert, and a single bird will occasionally utter a few 

 melodious notes. A friend, who has frequently heard these notes 

 at Cromac (Belfast), compares them to those of the grey-linnet 

 {Fringitta cannabina), remarking at the same time, that they are 

 always uttered in a low subdued tone. When we know that the 

 melody of this species has obtained for it the name of the nightin- 

 gale of Norway, J what is here mentioned should probably be re- 



* Rev. T. Knox. f Mr. Poole. 



% Mr. Hewitson who mentions its bearing this name remarks : — " In 'our long 

 rambles through the boundless forest scenery of Norway, or during our visits to some 

 of its thousand isles, whether by night or by day, the loud, wild, and most delicious 

 song of the redwing seldom failed to cheer us." Eggs Brit. Birds, p. 61. The same 

 author informs us that " the nest of the redwing is placed, like those of the thrush 

 and blackbird, in the centre of a thorn or other thick bush. It is similar to those of 

 the blackbird, fieldfare, and ring ouzel." p. 62. 



