liclien called rein-deer moss, and one nest particularly, which
I have preserved, is entirely covered with i t : when it was
fresh, and the fine ramifications of the lichen unbroken, it had
a most beautiful appearance.” The first eggs (a second brood
being frequently produced) from four to six in number, are
laid towards the end of May, and much resemble those of
the Fieldfare, to be presently described, but usually have a
darker ground-colour and the reddish-brown markings fainter,
finer and more regularly diffused over the whole surface.
Occasionally the ground is of a pale cream-colour, hut almost
hidden by light-red streaks. They measure from L I to
•92 by from -8B to -69 in. When the young are hatched,
the parents fly suddenly towards an intruder, with an angry
note, snapping their bill and then wheeling out of sight.
Linnteus, in the account of his tour in Lapland, terms the
Redwing’s song “ delightful”, and adds that “ Its lofty and
varied notes rival those of the Nightingale herself.” Other
travellers have accorded the same high praise, which to some,
and among them the present Editor, seems extravagant. His
opinion entirely coincides with that of one, in whose company
he has often heard it. Wolley thus writes of i t :—“ A
string of three or four notes—tut-tut-tut—in a regularly descending
scale, and then a little inward twittering or warbling,
the former at about the ordinary pitch of the voice of
the Song-Thrush (whose music, by the way, is infinitely
superior), but the last part so faint and feeble as scarcely
to amount to a whisper, and only to be heard at a short
distance.” The constant repetition of this strain, though
a striking woodland-sound, becomes tiresome, and in a
land which re-echoes the melody of the Song-Thrush and
Bluetliroat, the name of “ Nightingale,” applied to the Redwing,
seems ironical. The inward twittering, which forms
the final part of the song, may often be heard in this country
in spring, and has been well likened to the combination of
sounds which may be heard from a flock of Linnets.
During summer the Redwing finds a home in Iceland also,
breeding there and occasionally straying to Greenland, while
on its passage to and from the former it occurs in the Faeroes.
Its range in Scandinavia has already been mentioned, and
thence it extends across the Russian Empire, especially frequenting
places where the juniper grows, to Irkutsk, eastward
of which it has not been recorded. I t has been found
in the North-western Himalayas, and in Ivoliat it is said to
be a regular winter-visitant. Menetries noticed it in the
forests of Lenkoran on the Caspian Sea, and Strickland at
Smyrna. It is said to he common in Greece and its islands,
but seems not to cross the eastern end of the Mediterranean.
In Sicily it is somewhat rare, but it occasionally appears
in Malta, and, according to Loclie, it is common in autumn
in Algeria. I t has also been met with in Madeira, while
in Portugal and Spain it is common at certain seasons, as indeed
may he said of it in every country in Europe. In North
Germany it is very abundant in autumn, and the numbers
captured far exceed those of the Song-Thrush, and there it
is occasionally hut rarely found throughout the year.
The hill is brownish-black, the base of the lower mandible
pale yellow-brown ; the top of the head, neck, back, rump
and tail uniform clove-brown ; wing-feathers darker, hut with
lighter-coloured external edges : lores and ear-coverts, clove-
brown ; over the eye a broad whitish streak: the irides hazel:
chin, throat, belly, vent and lower tail-coverts, dull white ;
sides of the neck, upper part of the breast, and flanks, dull-
white, tinged with wood-brown and streaked with clove-brown;
quills ash-grey beneath; sides of the body, lower wing-coverts
and axillaries, bright reddish-orange, whence the bird’s common
name : legs pale brown ; toes and claws darker brown.
The whole length is about eight inches and three-quarters;
wing from the carpal joint to the end of the longest primary
four inches and three-eiglitlis : the second feather equal to
the fifth ; the third and fourth also equal, and the longest.
The female is less bright than the male. The young in
its first plumage generally resembles the adult, but the
feathers of the mantle and upper wing-coverts are marked
with a subterminal lozenge-shaped spot of yellowish-white
tinged with rufous on the latter.