ON THE ORNITHOLOGY OF LAPLAND, 283 



The redwing {1\ iliacus, Lin.; "rodvinge 

 toast," Sw. ; " miestag rastes," Lap.) appeared to 

 foe nearly as common as the fieldfare, with which 

 they associated much in the breeding season ; and, 

 quite contrary to its habits in Wermland (where we 

 always find the nest solitary, and in the thickest 

 bushes), it bred here in company with the fieldfare, 

 and we always found the nest in the same situa- 

 tion — in a small fir, never very high up, and always 

 close in to the stem. The nest is smaller and more 

 neatly built than that of the fieldfare. Although 

 the eggs of the fieldfare vary much in size, it is 

 rarely that they are so small as those of the red- 

 wing, and I can hardly see how one egg could ever 

 be mistaken for the other. The egg of the red- 

 wing is always smaller, neater, and purer in colour 

 than that of the fieldfare. It has, moreover, when 

 fresh, a peculiar green tinge, which, however, fades 

 soon after the egg is blown. You rarely see an 

 egg spotted like that of the fieldfare — they are 

 (generally) of a uniform green colouring, which 

 soon fades to green-brown. Of all the northern 

 songsters, perhaps the redwing stands first on 

 the list, and is with justice called the northern 

 nightingale, for a sweeter song I never wish to 

 listen to when this rich gush of melody is poured 

 out from the thick covert of a fir in the " silence of 

 twilight's contemplative hour, 5 ' or often in the still 



