BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 
departs earlv in April for its more northerly breeding- 
quarters in" north-west Europe. Redwings are some- 
times found in large flocks, but more generally m small 
parties, and in some winters, as in 1907, are more than 
usually numerous. 
When the berry-crop has become exhausted, these birds 
subsist mainly on beetles, snails and such like, and it is 
quite astonishing how they can find so much msect-life 
in the depth of winter, when the ground is frozen and 
covered with snow. They would seem to suffer more than 
any other members of the genus in severe winters, as in 
1878-1879, when, as I am informed by Mr. R. Service, he 
found " four lying dead together in one rabbit hole." In 
the winter of 1894-1895 they also succumbed in large 
numbers. . ^ 
The song of the Redwing is particularly sweet and 
pleasing, and occasionally in April an isolated bird may be 
heard bursting forth into melody. 
THE FIELDFARE. Turdus pilaris, Linnaeus. 
Local names— Felty ; Feltiflier ; Snowbird. 
" If 'mid the tassels of the leafless ash, 
A 'fieldfare flock aUght, for early frosts 
"^"^^^jImes Grahame.— " British Georgics " (October). 
A common winter-visitant throughout the county. 
-Feldefares" were well known to Dr. Archbald, as he 
refers to them in his " Curiosities at Drumfriess," written 
circa 1684 * The species is also recorded m the StahsUcal 
Account of Scotland as a migrant to the parishes of John- 
stone,! Mouswald,J and Canonbie.§ 
* Sibbald's MS. Collections, p. 228. 
t Stat. Acct. Scot., Vol. IV., p. 226. 
% Op. cit.. Vol. VII., p. 294. 
§ Of. cit., Vol. XIV., p. 413. 
