THE NIGHT CRY OF THE REDWING. 251
I hope you have received from Miller the dried specimens of those plants
which you asked for in your letter. Moreover, I return you my thanks for
the pamphlet which you have bestowed upon me, entitled "Flora Anglica,"
a truly learned work and by no means unworthy of you.
Farewell, most distinguished Sir, esteemed by me most worthily for your
learning.
Given at my house at Woodford,
The 8th day before the Ides of July, 1758.
[= 8th July, 1758.]
THE NIGHT CRY OF THE REDWING.
By FREDERICK J. STUBBS.
THE Redwing is a familiar British bird, peculiar in many-
ways. The following remarks, while directed primarily
to the nocturnal habits of the bird, will touch on several other
points ; two of these are, alas, controversial. For instance, there
is the scientific name, which is always important when the
student is in the habit of consulting the literature of past years
and other countries. The most ancient name for the Redwing
is Turdus iliacus, which was used by many of the ancient
writers prior to Linnaeus, and adopted by the latter systematist
in his famous 10th edition of "Systemae Naturae," which is
now accepted as the basis of our nomenclature. Some years
ago it was discovered that Linnaeus, rather hazy as to the dif-
ferences between Song Thrush and Redwing, had confused these
two species in his 10th edition. It has been suggested (cf
"Ibis," 8th ser., vol. 4, pp. 665-67) that this confusion was
nothing but a printer's error. At any rate, it was detected and
corrected by Linnaeus himself in the 12th edition. Unfortun-
ately, certain modern purists in nomenclature insist that no
allowance can be made for the error, and claim that we must
use the name Turdus musicus for the Redwing. T. musicus
is, of course, the traditionally correct name for the Song Thrush.
This is a subject on which I am not qualified to pass an opinion,
but I mention it here, because some modern writers when
using Turdus musicus are referring to the bird which we all agree
in knowing as the Redwing. To save time and space I propose
to use only the unambiguous English names in this paper.
The other controversy relates to the singing of the Redwing
in this country. The question first attracted notice in the