42 
BIEDS OF LEICESTERSHIRE AND RUTLAND. 
1864, to which, however, is appended the following editorial note: — “We 
decline expressing an opinion as to the supposed Eedwing’s egg, but we think 
the reasons for arriving at the conclusion that it is so are hardly sufficient.” 
IMr. Harting remarks, in his communication to me, that “ the description given 
applies very well to the nest and egg of the Redwing,” yet I am sure he will 
agree with me that little reliance can be placed upon the colour or appearance 
of an addled egg, and so the matter must rest. In some years the Redwing 
appears in greater abundance than in others, as noted by i\Ir. INIacaulay in the 
‘Midland Naturalist,’ under date 23rd Nov., 1882, “Redwings abundant (by 
thousands)”, and I imagine it to be more plentiful in Leicestershire than the 
Fieldfare. On 26th Dec., 1884, I was shooting at Knighton, and towards evening 
was in a “ spinney,” when a vast number of Redwings flew in to seek shelter 
for the night. Flock after flock arrived, uttering their harsh cries, deepening 
to notes of alarm as they observed me. I shot several, to be sure of the species, 
and this without frightening others, which continued flying into the thicket 
until quite dark. Although some of them alighted in the tall ivy-clad trees 
overhead, they flew down at the first opportunity, and rested in thick bushes. 
I had previously, in the daytime, observed their excreta thickly scattered under 
these bushes, and conclude that (as White and Harley state of the Fieldfare) 
this species roosts close to the ground. 
iMr. Davenport wrote me, on 4th Nov., 1887, that there were sivarms 
of Redwings in the country.” The first he saw on 2nd Oct. Like the fol- 
lowing species, this bird, when emboldened by hunger, will sometimes approach 
very near to the abode of ]Man, but the nearest I have seen it to the town 
of Leicester was on 30th Jan., 1888, and 7th Jan., 1889, when I saw 
several in a field on the Aylestone Road, opposite the Bedford Hotel — the 
stoppage-place of the trams — and next to the Recreation Ground, in a busy 
thoroughfare. They were within ten yards of the foot-path —so near that I 
could plainly distinguish the white eye-stripe and ruddy flanks, — and yet they 
took no notice of the passers-by, nor of the noise of the traffic. 
In Rutland. — A winter migrant, generally distributed, but not remaining 
to breed. 
FIELDFARE. Turdus pilaris, Linnaeus. 
“Felt,” “ Feltyfare,” “Pigeon-Felt.” 
A winter migrant, generally distributed, but not remaining to breed. — It 
appears about the middle of October, and usually leaves at the end of March 
or beginning of April, or even later should the weather be severe, Harley 
mentioning that he had seen a few stragglers in !May, and even onward till 
June. “The species, contrary to the well-known habits of its congeners,” as 
remarked by Harley, endorsing White, “ reposes during night-time on the ground, 
in such places as holms and scaurs, where tall grass and rushes prevail,” and. 
