Alfred Newton

“ If it has not been corrupted from the German Weindrossel or some other similar name, it may refer to the soft inward whistle which the bird often utters, resembling the sound of the pipe used by the swineherds of old when collecting the animals under their charge. ”

“ The redwing breeds in Iceland, in the subalpine and arctic districts of Norway, Sweden and Finland, and thence across Northern Russia and Siberia, becoming scarce to the eastward of the Yenisei, and not extending beyond Lake Baikal. In winter it visits the whole of Europe and North Africa, occasionally reaching Madeira, while to the eastward it is found at that season in Persia, and, it is said, at times in the north-western Himalayas and Kohat. Many writers have praised the song of this bird, comparing with that of the nightingale (q.v.) ”