THE REDWING. 
141 
delayed in the very late spring of 1837. Its average arrival in 
the neighbourhood of Killaloe is said to take place in the first 
week of November;* about Wexford, at the end of October.*}* 
The redwing is stated to be more common than the fieldfare in 
Kerry; and in the north it likewise prevails numerically over 
that species. They often associate together : both were remarked 
by an observant friend to be unusally scarce in the north-east of 
Ireland and south-west of Scotland, in the winter of 1838-39. 
What has been said on the haunts and occasional migration of the 
fieldfare equally applies to the redwing. In the severe winter of 
1813, these birds were so reduced about Youghal that several of 
both species were killed by my informant with a stick thrown from 
the hand. In the north, that winter was remarkably fatal to birds 
generally. I have never met with redwings roosting on the 
ground like fieldfares, but instead, in hedge-rows and thick 
plantations. A favourite locality in which they in different years 
came under my observation, was a dense plantation of larch-firs 
of about fifteen years growth on a hill side, where their con- 
certs, like those of grey-linnets, before going to roost were most 
agreeable. But in the morning and forenoon likewise, dur- 
ing fine weather, chiefly towards the spring, a flock of redwings 
from a hedge or plantation will sometimes delight us with a most 
agreeable concert, and a single bird will occasionally utter a few 
melodious notes. A friend, who has frequently heard these notes 
at Cromac (Belfast), compares them to those of the grey-linnet 
(Fringitta cannabina), remarking at the same time, that they are 
always uttered in a low subdued tone. When we know that the 
melody of this species has obtained for it the name of the nightin- 
gale of Norway, { what is here mentioned should probably be re- 
* Rev. T. Knox. f Mr. Poole. 
t Mr. Hewitson who mentions its bearing this name remarks : — “ In lour long 
rambles through the boundless forest scenery of Norway, or during our visits to some 
of its thousand isles, whether by night or by day, the loud, wild, and most delicious 
song of the redwing seldom tailed to cheer us.” Eggs Brit. Birds, p. 61. The same 
author informs us that “ the nest of the redwing is placed, like those of the thrush 
and blackbird, in the centre of a thorn or other thick bush. It is similar to those of 
the blackbird, tieldfare, and ring ouzel.” p. 62. 
