REDWING. 
hYSESSOBES. 
DENTIROSTRES. 
21 
MERE LID JE. 
PLATE L. 
REDWING. 
Merula iliaca. 
Towards the end of October, or beginning of November, 
vast flocks of this species begin to arrive from the north of 
Europe, where they have passed the summer months ; their 
appearance is usually, like that of the fleldfare, the precursor 
of increasing cold, from Avhich they are taught to flee by the 
unerring guide of nature. Their arrival in this our southern 
part of England does not exhibit the peculiar features that 
distinguish it in Holland, and other parts of the Continent, 
which may be supposed to be their first resting-place in their 
passage from the north to more southern climates. Here, 
their arrival and times of feeding are not confined to any 
particular period of the day ; in Holland, on the contrary, so 
regularly do the flights of this bird arrive after a night’s 
passage that particular hours of the day may be stated as 
the times when they alight to feed. So certain is this, that 
every child in Holland knows that eleven and three o’clock 
are the times when our traps must be visited for Redwings, 
and other migratory thrushes, which have been snared be¬ 
tween the hours of nine and ten in the morning and one 
and two in the afternoon. The construction of these traps 
Ave have already described in the account of the fieldfare. 
In fine Aveathcr, it is supposed that Redwings travel all 
