THE NIGHT CRY OF THE REDWING, 253 
difficulty in existing in woodlands or moors remote from villages, 
or even in villages on sea-coasts. The Redwing, however, seems 
quite indifferent. ‘rom its arrival in autumn to its departure 
in spring we may hear its “ seep’”’ at night anywhere. I have 
frequently heard it distinctly above the midnight babel of a 
London street, and it is a common voice over wide moor- 
lands, over grassy highlands such as those of Wales, or over 
wide estuaries and the ‘ Narrow Seas,” 
That so familiar a note should attract attention is inevit- 
able. Very many writers refer to the Redwing’s voice being 
heard over town or country ; and, in every instance, the comment 
or the implication is that the bird was engaged in its legitimate 
migrations. As a rule, the months of October and November 
are mentioned ; some observers mention March and April also, 
My own opinion is that the call may be heard any might from 
October to late March if the conditions are favourable for audition, 
Sometimes we may stand or walk for half an hour or more without 
hearing a call ; an entire night, again, may be blank, I estimate, 
from observations made in daylight, that the “ seep” 1s audible 
to my ears up to a distance of about 700 yards ; Kedwings may 
be on the wing half a mile away and thus be inaudible, The 
most extraordinary of my experiences was on the night of the 
24th March, 1922, when the calls were continuous from 11,0 
p.m. to 1.0 a.m. I found that in ninety seconds one hundred 
distinct calls were audible, at all heights and all distances within 
the range of my ears. This happened on the outskirts of the 
industrial town of Oldham, on the Lancashire- Yorkshire bound- 
ary. That night, a tremendous number of birds were on the 
wing. Many of the voices were quite strange to me, but I 
detected Golden Plover, Curlew, Black-Headed Gull (a strange 
call for night-time !), Sanderling, Blackbird and Redwing, 
This may, indeed, have been a real migratory movement. 
It is a well-ascertained fact that the Redwing does call on migra- 
tion. I shall not here give my observations on this March night ; 
but I was led to think that the travelling birds were not all moving 
in the same direction. All around, for miles, the cocks were 
crowing. It rather seemed as though something or other had 
upset the entire bird-population of this corner of England. The 
weather was wretched in the extreme, a gale with wet snow 
being succeeded at night by a swaying “ Scotch mist.” 
