Editing Redwing (section)

==Taxonomy and systematics==
This species was first described by [[Carl Linnaeus]] in his 1758 [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'']] under its current scientific name.<ref>{{cite book | last=Linnaeus | first=Carl | author-link=Carl Linnaeus | title=Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata. | publisher=Holmiae. (Laurentii Salvii). | year=1758| quote =T. alis subtus flavescentibus, rectricibus tribus lateralibus apice utrinque albis.|pages=168|language=la}}</ref>

The English name derives from the bird's red underwing. It is not closely related to the [[red-winged blackbird]], a North American species sometimes [[nickname]]d "redwing", which is an [[icterid]], not a thrush.<ref name= Jaramillo>{{cite book |title=New World Blackbirds: The Icterids (Helm Identification Guides)  |last= Jaramillo |first=Alvaro |author2=Burke, Peter  |publisher=Christopher Helm Publishers Ltd.|year=1997 |isbn= 0-7136-4333-1}}</ref> The binomial name derives from the [[Latin]] words ''turdus'', "thrush", and ''ile'' "flank".<ref name = BTO>{{cite web|title=Redwing ''Turdus iliacus '' [Linnaeus, 1766 ] |work= BTO Birdfacts |url= http://blx1.bto.org/birdfacts/results/bob12010.htm |publisher= BTO |access-date=2008-01-28}}</ref>

About 65 species of medium to large thrushes are in the genus ''Turdus'', characterised by rounded heads, longish, pointed wings, and usually melodious songs. Although two European thrushes, the [[song thrush]] and [[mistle thrush]], are early offshoots from the Eurasian lineage of ''Turdus'' thrushes after they spread north from Africa, the redwing is descended from ancestors that had colonised the [[Caribbean]] islands from Africa and subsequently reached Europe from there.<ref name= reilly>{{cite book | last1 = Reilly | first1 = John | title = The Ascent of Birds| series = Pelagic Monographs | publisher = Pelagic | year = 2018| location = Exeter | pages = 221–225 | isbn =  978-1-78427-169-5}}</ref>

The redwing has two [[subspecies]]:<ref name=bwpc/><ref name=hbw/><ref name=thrushes/>
*''T. i. iliacus'', the nominate subspecies described by Linnaeus, which breeds in mainland Eurasia.
*''T. i. coburni'' described by [[Richard Bowdler Sharpe]] in 1901, which breeds in [[Iceland]] and the [[Faroe Islands]] and winters from western Scotland and [[Ireland]] south to northern [[Spain]]. It is darker overall, and marginally larger than the nominate form.