70 
British Birds. 
birds apart, though they are otherwise very much alike in size and general 
appearance. The Redwing is a common winter visitor to every part of Great 
Britain and at that season of the year is distributed over the greater portion of 
Central and Southern Europe. It breeds from Iceland and Scandinavia to the 
valley of the Yenesei in Siberia, and is, in northern Norway at least, a difficult 
species to observe during the nesting-season. In 1896 I could not see anything 
of the Redwing at 3500 feet in Sundalen, but in 1897 the young were observed 
in many parts of the birch-forests, and I caught several. During the period of 
incubation the birds were very silent, and the song of the male was not often 
heard, but when the young were hatched both parents were very vociferous, 
when the neighbourhood of their nest was approached, and came quite close when 
they perceived their young ones to be in danger. The nest is like that of the Black- 
bird and Ring-Ouzel, but is smaller, and is neatly constructed of grass, moss, and 
mud, lined with finer grass. The eggs are from four to six in number, bluish- 
green with reddish spots and blotches, and are distinguished by their small size. 
The Redwing suffers greatly in severe winter weather, and numbers perish 
during a prolonged frost. 
THE 
SONG-THRUSH. 
( Turdus tinisicus.) 
The Song-Thrush ( see Frontispiece) is one of the smaller 
species of T urdidce and is the most plentiful of all the Thrushes 
of Great Britain, being distinguished by its golden-buff wing- 
lining. It breeds everywhere throughout our islands, and a 
considerable number migrate south in winter, when thousands are caught during 
passage on the continent. It nests throughout the greater part of Europe to the 
Yenesei, but in southern Europe is only found breeding in the mountains. 
The beauty of the Thrush’s song renders the bird an universal favourite, 
excepting with those who cannot brook the inroads it makes upon fruit-gardens at 
certain times of the year. It nests very early in the year, if the season be mild, and 
the eggs are among the most beautiful of any of our British birds, being of a clear 
blue with black or purplish-brown spots. The nest is remarkable for the way in 
which the cavity is lined with powdered wood, said to be moulded by the bodies of 
the birds, until it presents a perfectly smooth surface; it thus differs in plan and 
finish from the nest of the Blackbird. Besides devouring a great number of worms, 
the Song-Thrush feeds largely on snails, the debris / of which can often be found in 
the places where the birds have broken them against a stone. 
This is the largest of our resident Thrushes, and is a very 
handsome species, with a number of boldly marked fan-shaped 
spots of black on the under surface of the body. The 
axillaries and under wing-coverts of the Mistle-Thrush are 
white, and this character will generally serve to distinguish the species on the wing, 
as the Song-Thrush and Redwing, which alone among the British Thrushes could 
be mistaken for it, always show in flight the golden-buff or chestnut colour of their 
THE 
MISTLE-THRUSH. 
(Turdus viscivorus.) 
