184 



REDWING THRUSH. 



the belly whitish : legs pale grey : claws brown. 

 In the British Museum there is a specimen of this 

 bird entirely of a cream-coloured brown, with all 

 the markings of a pale colour : beak and legs nearly 

 white. 



The general manners of this bird correspond 

 with those of the Fieldfare, and like that species 

 it is migrative, generally arriving in this country 

 about the latter end of September j and should 

 the weather become severe, they will fly still 

 farther south. Montagu mentions, that in the 

 hard winter of 1799 vast abundance resorted to 

 the west of England, where a sudden fall of snow, 

 unusually deep in that part, cut them off from all 

 supply of food ; and being too weak to attempt a 

 passage over sea to a warmer climate, thousands 

 of them and their companions the Fieldfares were 

 starved to death/' 



This species is said to breed in the maple forests 

 of Norway and Swedjen, placing its nest in a low 

 bush, or shrub, and laying five or six blue-green 

 eggs, spotted with black : during the breeding 

 season its song is not inferior to that of the 

 Thrush : it is so abundant in Prussia, according to 

 Pennant, that excise duty was paid at Dantzic for 

 thirty thousand pairs, besides what were smuggled, 

 or paid duty in other places. 



