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.