8 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



be gone at rny approach. There is some old saying to the effect 

 that adversity makes strange bedfellows, and the truth of it 

 occurred very forcibly to me when one morning a winter or so 

 ago I found some Kedwings collected in a thorn-bush by the 

 roadside, sitting quite still, and apparently resigned to any fate 

 that might overtake them. Noticing a dark and much larger- 

 looking object in the same bush, and having my curiosity 

 aroused, I went up to it, and discovered that their companion in 

 misfortune was a Squirrel. The poor thing, tamed by hunger 

 and cold, was as confiding as the Eedwings, and seemed to be 

 sharing their frugal fare of hips and haws. 



I am of opinion, nevertheless, that this species is able to with- 

 stand the occasional severity of our winters much more readily 

 than the Fieldfare, owing to its Thrush-like habit of frequenting, 

 during hard frosts, hedgerow bottoms, and feeding on snails and 

 the pupae of Lepidoptera. Its haunts and habits somewhat 

 resemble those of the latter bird, and it arrives in this country 

 generally some few days in advance of its equally well-known 

 congener. In the autumn of 1894 I saw and heard both species 

 for the first time on the same afternoon, viz. October 15th. My 

 attention was attracted to the Redwing by its familiar " wheet 

 wheet" long before I perceived it, with a companion, perched 

 aloft on the dead branch of a tree in a hedgerow. I oppose the 

 doctrine that Redwings by nature are exclusively insectivorous, 

 and only revert to berries as a last resource ; on their arrival in 

 this country they immediately set to work in small flocks on the 

 hips and haws, though I admit that later in the year, in open 

 weather, they may frequently be seen in the pastures feeding on 

 worms and snails and other insects. They frequent the meadows 

 by day, and towards the close of the afternoon, just as dusk is 

 coming on, may be seen in little straggling parties repairing to 

 the shelter of shrubberies and plantations, where they spend the 

 night. The Redwing is easily distinguishable from the Song- 

 Thrush by a broadish white stripe over the eye, in addition to 

 which it is a bird of gregarious habits, which the other is not. 

 As an article of food its flesh is considered very delicate — 

 "better than the Fieldfare," I have heard a good judge of things 

 edible declare ; but this, of course, must be a matter of individual 

 taste. Personally, I should say that a fat Blackbird in the 



