39 



he was assured by Mr. Blyth (according to a very good observer, the late Lieut. Trotter), it is a 

 regular winter visitant in large flocks. 



In its habits the Redwing is a true Thrush, differing but little from T. musicus. Respecting 

 its breeding-habits in Norway we give the following notes from our friend Mr. Robert Collett : — 

 " It never nests in colonies, each pair building alone in their part of the wood ; but though caring 

 but little for the society of others of its own species, it appears to seek that of the Fieldfare, 

 and wherever there is a colony of this latter species one is sure to find a pair of Redwings, who 

 appear to find protection in the neighbourhood of their larger and more numerous congeners. 

 In the eastern part of Norway one invariably finds the nests on bushes or low trees ; but in the 

 barren, treeless portions of our west coast the nest is often placed on the ground, between stones, 

 or on fences, or, on the fells, on the stunted birches. 



" Like all the Thrushes, the old birds show the greatest anxiety if one approaches their nest 

 or young, make a peculiar noise by striking together their mandibles, utter a mournful cry, 

 flutter on the ground, and allow one to approach within a pace or two of them. The foundation 

 of the nest consists of dried twigs and earth, and the nest itself of dry straws. The eggs are 

 almost always six in number ; they are deposited from early in May into June. I found the first 

 eggs in 1856, on the 9th of June; in 1859, on the 19th of May; in 1860, on the 27th of May; 

 in 1862, on the 8th of May; and in 1864, on the 2nd of May." 



Although nesting so far north, it has been known to breed even as far south as Galicia, 

 where it was found by Count Casimir Wodzicki, and in Anhalt, where Passler found the nest. 



The eggs of this species resemble those of the Fieldfare, but are smaller in size, and, as a 

 rule, not so richly marked, but approach somewhat in character those of the Blackbird. A series 

 in Dresser's collection, now before us, vary in size from f-J by f{y to l^y by f f inch. Dr. E. Rey 

 sends us the measurements of twenty-eight eggs in his collection, which average 26 T by 18'5 

 millimetres, the largest measuring 28 - by 18*5, and the smallest 23"5 by 19'0 millimetres 

 respectively. 



In the north of Finland, where this bird is common, Dresser repeatedly heard its song, 

 which, though sweet, is less melodious than that of the Song-Thrush, and scarcely good 

 enough to justify its appellation of " Nordens Naktergal" or the Nightingale of the North. It 

 consists of several clear, melancholy, flute-like notes, and is followed by a low twitter, only to be 

 heard when close to the bird. Von Wright very correctly gives the syllables trui, trui, trui, 

 tritritri, as representing its note. When singing, it is generally perched on the very top of a fir 

 tree ; and in the solitude of the northern forests its notes appear very sweet, more especially as 

 there are so few good songsters in those regions. 



The food of the Redwing consists during the spring and summer chiefly of insects, and 

 especially of the various species of Helix ; during the autumn and winter, however, they feed 

 on the various sorts of wild berries, and such insects as they can procure at that season of the 

 year. Thompson, in his ' Birds of Ireland,' gives the contents of the stomach of a Redwing 

 examined by him as consisting of the remains of insects, two shells of Helix cellaria, and one of 

 II. radiata; the stomachs of two, obtained in December, exhibited worms, vegetable food, chiefly 

 bits of grass, remains of coleopterous insects, and several Limacelli ; one had, in addition, two of 



