THE REDWINC,. 
63 
other. The two often migrate in compan}^ but the Kedwiiig 
very seldom remains in autumn after tlie supply of rowan 
(mountain ash) berries is exhausted ; althougli, if the weather 
be fine, and other food is to be procured in tolerable abun- 
dance, it occasionally lingers on for a week or more. It gene- 
rally arrives in fiocks of moderate size, but if the weather 
prove boisterous, merely in small scattered parties. I am not 
acquainted with any bird which so soon loses condition in 
hard weather, or so readily succumbs to its effects. Like the 
Fieldfare, it roosts in gardens, low down under shelter of the 
walls, where, indeed, aided by a lantern, I have taken them 
by hand as they sat upon the branches. I never knew it 
migrate by day. In spring and autumn, in the month of 
October especially, its shrill piping note may be heard high 
overhead on still nights. I have often thought that we are 
not unfrequently indebted to a contrary wind for unexpected 
visits from migratory birds, which would otherwise pass over 
without alighting. A marked instance of this occurred on the 
29th of October 1866, when, after the gale from S.S.W. and 
heavy thunderstorm of the previous night, immense numbers 
of Eedwings, Fieldfares, Blackbirds, and Mealy Eedpoles were 
scattered all over Unst and the northern half of Yell. The 
wind soon afterwards shifted to N.W., but continued very 
boisterous until the 2nd of November, when it fell towards 
night. The morning of the 3rd was fine, with light N. W. wind, 
and with the exception of a few Eedpoles, not one of the 
species above enumerated was to be seen. It is not difficult 
to imagine the simultaneous movements of a flock, but the 
perfect unison among birds of several species, scattered in all 
directions over an extent of some twenty miles, appears but 
little short of marvellous. 
Low’s suspicion that the Eedwing occasionally remained to 
breed in Orkney has, according to Mr Gray,* been confirmed 
by Messrs Baikie and Heddle. Although it is seen in Shetland 
as late as the middle of May, I have no reason to believe that- 
* Birds of the West of Scotland, p. 77. 
