90 
REDWING. 
moss, and one nest particularly, which I have preserved, 
is entirely covered with it: when it was fresh, and the 
fine ramifications of the lichen unbroken, it had a most 
beautiful appearance. The nest of the Redwing can 
generally be distinguished from that of the fieldfare by 
the much less quantity of plaster used in its construc¬ 
tion, none of which is visible till the nest is pulled to 
pieces ; it is therefore relatively lighter, besides being of 
smaller .size. 
“ The birds appear to be somewhat irregular in their 
time of breeding. Of those nests which I saw near 
Muonioniska on the 13th of June, one had three young 
and two eggs ; another had five small eggs not long laid, 
and which, perhaps, belonged to a last year’s bird; the 
third nest had four eggs, nearly ready to hatch. On the 
8th of July, at this same place, I saw two nests with new 
laid eggs, but they might be second broods, or belong to 
birds which had lost their first; there were five eggs in 
each of these two nests, and five appears to be the most 
common number.” If further evidence was necessary, 
after the abundant information which kind friends have 
enabled me to give, Mr. Wolley adds, that on the 23rd 
of May, near Umea, he shot a Redwing, and took from 
it a mature egg, resembling those from Iceland and 
Sweden. 
