| loud, wild, desultory carol of the Redwing might be heard throughout the whole night, which was now
clear, loud, ; ,

as light as day. Of all the northern songsters, perhaps ;
‘ ' for a sweeter song I never wish to listen to than the rich gush of

the Redwing stands first on the list, and is with

justice called the northern Nightingale ;

forth from the thick covert of a fir in the 3

ht, when all else in nature is at rest. As soon as the breeding-season com-
>

ged into a kind of call, ‘ twee-twee-twee-twee-tweet,’ ending with

i ‘silence of twilight’s contemplative hour,’ or more
melody it pours

often in the still hour of midnig
mences, the beautiful song ceases, and is chan
: ; ae
a little trill.’ (‘Spring and Summer 1n Lapland, pp: 120 & 283.)
P 7 eee / a ee < OPED
“In our long rambles through the boundless forest scenery of Norway,” says Mr. Hewitson, “ or during

2 .
our visits to some of its thousand isles, whether by night or by day, : ie
[ i al : us Inlike its ie Fieldfare, it was solitary and shy, and
song of the Redwing seldom failed to cheet Ue Oe its ally, the are, e ary ¢ y> anc
on our approach to the tree on the top of which it w !
thick of the brushwood. Throughout that part of the country which we visited, it is known by the name of
Nightingale ; and well it deserves to be so called, for a sweeter songster I have never listened to. Like the

the loud, wild, and most delicious

as perched, would drop down and hide itself in the

Nightingale of more southern skies, its clear sweet song would occasionally charm cs during the hours of
night, if the two or three delightful hours of twilight which succeed the long day of a Norwegian summer
can be called night. The birds, like the other inhabitants of the country, seem loth to lose in sleep a
portion of this delicious short-lived season.

“The nest of the Redwing, as far as I can speak from my own observation im Norway, is placed singly,
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, Fieldfare, and Ring Ouzel. Outwardly it is formed of moss, roots, and dry grass ; inwardly
it is cemented with clay, and lined with finer grass. Mr. Proctor informs me that ‘in Iceland, where there
is scarcely any wood except the birch-tree, and that stunted to a dwarf, weather-beaten shrub, the Redwing
builds among its branches, frequently supporting the nest upon those which overhang rocky ground.
Sometimes the nest is placed at the base of the tree’s trunk, and often upon a bare ledge of rock, like that
of the Ring Ouzel, which frequents similar desert wilds. The Redwing is the only Thrush in Iceland.’ It
breeds in single pairs: on the south of the island, the eggs are laid at the beginning of June, and about ten
days later on the north side; they are usually four or five in number, and sometimes, though rarely, six;
they are generally somewhat smaller than those of the Fieldfare, but at times do not differ from the eggs
of that species. They also closely resemble the eggs of the Blackbird and Ring Ouzel ; indeed, we have no
genus of birds in which the eggs of several species are so much alike.

“Mr. Wolley states that at Muonioniska, in Tornea Lapmark, the Redwing ‘ makes its nest near the
ground, in au open part of the wood, generally in the outskirts, on a stump of a log or the roots of a fallen
tree, sometimes amongst a cluster of young stems of the birch, usually quite exposed, so as almost to seem
as if placed so purposely, the walls often supported only by their foundation. The first or coarse part of
the nest is made of dried bents, and sometimes with fine twigs and moss; this is lined with a thin layer of
dirt, and then is added a thick bed of fine grass of the previous year, compactly woven together, which
completes the structure. Outside there is often a good quantity of the kind of lichen called reindeer moss,
and I found one nest entirely covered with it; while fresh, and the fine ramifications of the lichen were
unbroken, it had a most beautiful appearance. The nest of the Redwing can generally be distinguished
from that of the Fieldfare by the much smaller quantity of plaster used in its construction, none of which
is visible until 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 contained three young and two eggs, another five small eggs
recently laid, and which perhaps belonged to a last year’s bird; the third contained four nearly hatched.
On the 8th of July, I saw at the same place two nests with newly laid eggs, but they might have been a
second brood, or have belonged to birds which had been robbed of their first; there were five eggs in each
of these nests, and this appears to be the usual number.’ ”

Of the eggs figured by Mr. Hewitson, one is shorter and rounder than the other, and is of a pale olive-
green, very ean sprinkled with light reddish brown ; the longer egg is similar as to its ground-colour,
but has the reddish markings larger and more apparent.

As an article of food, the Redwing is in considerable demand. Hundreds are annually killed im this
coe oa ee ponent a is still more sought after with this view.

ale, the size of life

,» in the plumage of early spring Y k
: g arly spring, on a branch of the Buck-
thorn (Rhamnus catharticus). een ces

of BRE 4 a RS

nr ee ad