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. From 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 night 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" is audible
to my ears up to a distance of about 700 yards ; Redwings 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."