NOTES AND QUERIES. 73 
same word “migrant” isapplied. Now, if we do get enough evidence 
(and I am yet seeking it) to prove beyond doubt that these voices are 
nothing but the calls of normal winter migrants, we are faced with 
another and a stiffer problem: Why, of all our Oscines, is the Red- 
wing the only one that does not change its quarters silently? We 
have Thrush, Robin, Blackbird, Rook, Lark, Fieldfare, Chaffinch, and 
many others all amove throughout the year, and our ears are deaf 
to them. 
In the middle of January the North of England was deep in snow ; 
the Sky-Larks vanished to a bird from the fields. Presumably the 
Redwings moved also—I am not sure. In the South of England the 
weather was abnormally mild, and we seem to have had an influx of 
various birds. Night after night I stood out listening for the Red- 
wings, and did not hear a solitary note. Does this mean that they 
were not on passage? Why do they call most during the first week 
in November, when, if I am to believe the evidence of my eyes, the 
immigration is in full force in the previous month? Why are they 
comparatively silent during the spring migration? Why are they 
always at or about the same altitude, following (from the evidence 
of our ears) all the contours of the highest hills and the deepest 
valleys ? 
Observant friends and correspondents think, and some are posi- 
tive, that they recognize the admittedly similar notes of Thrush and 
Blackbird amongst these night calls. This will not do for an instant, 
for it leaves us waiting for some explanation of the silence of these 
two birds during July, August, and September—months when one or 
both species are under weigh. Notes heard when we had reason to 
believe there were no Redwings in the country would be worth 
chronicling. 
In answer to the second part of Mr. Power’s note (p. 481), I must 
say that I cannot think the song of the Redwing a very beautiful one. 
Possibly it gets polished up a bit in the memory of the tourist who 
has listened to it in Scandinavia. When I wrote my note I said it 
only sang in fine weather, but on Dec. 26th, 1911, an abominably wet 
and cold day, Mr. P. W. Horn and [ noticed many in full song near 
Theydon Bois. The best way to learn the song is to make a point of 
examining the hedgerow or other trees every time the chorus from a 
small flock of Starlings is heard. Very soon, with a little fortune, 
and by the exercise of sufficient wooderaft to keep from alarming this 
strangely timid songster, the observer may trace the apparent chorus 
to a single Redwing, and, when he has achieved this, it is a simple 
Gool, 4th ser. vol. XVI. February, 1912. G 
