414 



REDWING. 



only it would sometimes stop in the middle, and say chippu, a 

 name by which it was generally called, and which it would repeat 

 every time I entered the room where it was, either by night or day. 

 In winter it would generally begin singing in the evening, as soon as 

 the candle was lighted, and would sing as late as eleven o'clock at 

 night. In spring, when it first arrives in this country, it mounts to 

 the top of the loftiest trees, where it will sit and sing for hours, begin- 

 ning in the morning by day -break. The earliest of their arrival that I 

 ever noticed was the 25th of March ; some years they come the begin- 

 ning of April, and sometimes not till the middle of that month. It 

 seems to be a very peevish and fretful bird, often shaking its tail, and 

 repeating a quick shrill note, as if it was in fear." 



Bechstein says, it chooses a hole in a wall or a tree whereon to build 

 its nest, which is formed of stalks of dog-grass, feathers, and horse-hair, 

 carefully put together.* 



REDWING (Turdus Iliacus, Linn^us.) 



Turdus Iliacus, Linn. Syst. 1. p. 292, 3.—Gmel. Syst. 1. p. 808. sp. 3.— Lath. 



Ind. Orn 1. p. 329. 7.— Kan, Syn. p. 64. A. 4 Will. p. 139.— Le Mauvis, 



Buff. Ois. 3. p. 309. — lb. pi. Enl. 51.— Merle Mauvis, Temm. Man. d'Orn. 1. 



p. 165 — Roth Drossel, Bechst. Naturg. Deut. 3. p. 360 Meyer, Tasschenb. 



Deut. 1. p. 196. — Frisch, t. 28. f. 1. and 2 Redwing, Swinepipe, or Wind 



Thrush, Br. Zool. No. 108 Arct. Zool. 2. p. 342. D. — Lewin's Br. Birds, 2. 



t. 199 — Mont. Orn. Diet Lath. Syn. 3. p. 22. 7.—Pult. Cat. Dorset, p. 10. 



— Wale. Syn. 2. 1. 199. — Bewick's Br. Birds, 1. p. 102 Low's Faun. Oread, p. 



57.— Red-wing Thrush, Shaw's Zool. 10. p. 183.— Flem. Br. Anim. p. 65. 



This species of thrush is in weight near two ounces and a half; length 

 eight inches and a half ; irides dusky ; bill dusky, yellowish at the base 

 of the upper mandible ; the whole upper parts are brown, lighter on 

 the edges of the quill-feathers and coverts ; over the eye is a whitish 

 streak ; breast and sides marked with dusky lines ; body under the 

 wings, and under wing coverts, reddish-orange ; the middle of the belly 

 white; legs pale brown. 



This bird much resembles the throstle, or comm6n thrush, but is 

 rather less ; and in that bird the spots on the breast are more distinct, 

 the colour under the wings not so deep, and it wants the white over 

 the eye. The Redwing is a migrative species, coming to us in great 

 flocks about the latter end of September, frequently in company with 

 field-fares. It is found in greatest abundance where the hawthorn 

 abounds, on the berries of which it feeds. When the weather is severe, 

 or their food becomes scarce, their flight is continued south. 



*" In the year 1822, during the first severe frost, which lasted 

 three weeks," says Selby, "large flocks of fieldfares and Redwings 

 were collected about the hedges, and on the outskirts of the woods, 

 where they lived upon berries of the hawthorn, which fortunately for 



