From the middle to the end of October, when the leaves are falling thickly from the trees, and the dull, dark days of winter are beginning to make themselves felt, we may be aware, while walking along a country lane or through a park, of a new arrival among our birds. There rises, probably from the ground, a dark-coloured bird, whose quick movement will at once catch our eye, and being in company with others similar to himself, we shall have no difficulty in recognising the Redwing. Tired possibly by his long journey, he will settle on the hedge a little in front of us, and begin diligently feeding on any berries he can find, as but little in that line comes amiss to our friend; and soon he will again drop to the ground, and we shall get a glimpse of the deep red feathers under his wings from which he has derived his trivial name. At this season of the year Redwings are essentially wanderers, moving about in flocks of from a dozen to thirty or more, stopping here and there where food is plentiful for a few days or weeks, and then moving on, always southward, as lack of food or the severity of the weather dictates. If the winter be mild, they may be found roosting in large numbers in thick hawthorn hedges or small plantations; for although fond of cover, and spending most of their time among undergrowth on the ground, they are not very partial to large woods, preferring thick hedgerows or small coppices. A cold north wind, accompanied by snow and frost, drives most of these birds away from our shores to sunnier climes: their place, however, is soon taken, if the hard weather be prolonged, by large immigrations of poor storm-driven birds from the north of the Continent, who reach us with barely sufficient strength to seek their food, and who receive, too frequently, an inhospitable reception. Such wanderers become exceedingly tame, and may be found hopping disconsolately round our gardens within a foot or two of us, and the mortality in such seasons as these must be very great. Happily this extreme severity does not often happen, and one is glad to think that as a rule our visitors, driven to us by hard weather abroad, find sustenance in our warmer, if still somewhat boisterous, climate.

In April, that strange homing instinct which animates almost every known bird, causes the Redwings to leave our hedgerows at their most beautiful time, and to seek a northern home where they may settle down and rear their young. There, where song-birds are scarce, his little warble, which would be unnoticed here in our wealth of songsters, is eagerly awaited, and eulogised as though it were the rich outpourings of a nightingale. His nest is built on the ground, or just above it at the foot of some bush, or even in a crevice a short distance up the trunk of a tree; but if so far north as to be beyond the limit of tree growth, a sloping bank or the shelter of some boulder will be selected as the site. The nest is substantially built of grass with a foundation of twigs, and is similar to that of our Blackbird, to which species also the eggs, though slightly smaller, bear a close resemblance. Two broods are sometimes reared in the season, especially in the more southerly parts of its breeding range, and after the duties of family life are over, the birds unite in small flocks, lingering in their northern home till autumnal storms drive them once more among us.

The male in winter is uniform olive brown above. Chest and chin pale buff, thickly and irregularly streaked with dark brown. Sides of face dark brown, a light buffish or white superciliary streak running from the base of the upper mandible over the eye. Flanks deep rich chestnut; remainder of lower parts white, slightly streaked on the sides with olive brown. Bill dark horn colour, legs pale flesh. Length 8·75 in.; wing 4·4 in. The sexes are similar in plumage, but the female is paler and duller in colour than the male. The young bird is spotted on the back, and after the autumn moult may still be recognised by the pale tips to the wing coverts.

Its breeding range extends north of 54° from the Yenesei westward to Scandinavia, and its breeding in our islands has not as yet been authenticated. In winter it is found throughout the south of Europe, extending eastwards through Persia and Turkestan.