after our Blackbirds and Thrushes had commenced their nidiiication. It was not until the end of April
that the last o f them took their departure from our neighbourhood. In a few days afterwards, on the 14th
of May, we enjoyed the pleasure of again seeing them in their own wild native woods, engaged so early
after their arrival in all the bustle of preparation for the production of other colonies to visit us in future
years. We had been out all day, rambling through those almost impassable forests; and after having climbed
many a tree to no purpose— to nests of the previous summer, which we supposed must have once been
tenanted by the birds of which we were in search—were returning home, weary and disappointed, when
suddenly the monotonous silence was broken by the loud harsh cries of a colony of Fieldfares, which, alarmed
at our approach, were anxiously watching over their newly established dwellings. We very soon forgot our
toils in the delight which we experienced at the discovery of several of their nests, and were surprised to
find them, so contrary to the habits of the rest o f the genus with which we are acquainted, breeding in
society. Their nests (two hundred or upwards of which were found within a small circle in the forest) were
at various heights above the ground, from four to thirty or forty feet or upwards, and mixed with old ones
o f the preceding summer: they were, for the most part, placed against the trunk o f the spruce-fir t r e e ;
some were, however, at a considerable distance from it, towards the smaller end of the thicker branches.
They resemble most nearly those of the Ring-Ouzel: the outside is composed o f sticks and coarse grass, and
weeds gathered wet, matted together with a small quantity o f clay, and lined with a thick bed o f fine dry
grass. None o f them yet contained more than three eggs, although we afterwards found that five were
more commonly the number than four, and that even six were very frequent. They are very similar to those
of the Blackbird, and even more so to those of the Ring-Ouzel and the Redwing, but do not vary so much ;
indeed so closely do the eggs o f the four species resemble each other, that a drawing of one would suffice
for all. They are all so closely freckled throughout, that the colour of the freckles predominates; they all
have a variety in which the ground-colour is most seen, the red-brown spots being larger and much more
sparingly sprinkled.”
Speaking of the bird in Lapland, Mr. Wheelwright says:—“ The Fieldfare was, next to the Brambling, the
commonest bird in these forests, and its hoarse laughing cackle followed us wherever we went in the fir-
fore st; and I never saw the Fieldfare breeding anywhere else. It did not breed here in colonies; for
although the nests are seldom far apart, we never found two in the same tree. I think no Thrush’s egg
is subject to so much variation as the egg of the Fieldfare; and it would be almost impossible to describe
it better than that it much resembles that o f the Blackbird, but is usually more highly coloured. We took
our first nest on the 25th of May, and our last on the 7th o f July, a t which time some o f the young were
able to fly.”
Mr. H. E. Dresser informs me that he “ found a nest ju st outside the town of UleSborg, on the 13th June,
1861, containing seven e g g s; and another close to it, containing five. So many as seven are, I believe, seldom
found in one nest.”
Desirous, like Mr. Hewitson, to see the Fieldfare in its native woods, I proceeded to Norway, for this and
other reasons, in the year 1856, accompanied by Mr. Wolf. We found the bird breeding on the Dovrefjeld in
abundance, and the only diiference from Mr. Hewitson’s description which we noticed was that all the nests
we saw were placed among the stunted birch-trees; but this was doubtless due to the circumstance o f our
being far above the pine-forests.
The summer dress o f the Fieldfare is much darker in all its tints, particularly on the breast, and richer in
colour in every respect than during its sojourn in this country. The sexes are alike in colour a t both seasons.
In the young the bill is very much swollen at the gape, and nearly white, blending into purplish brown
towards the t ip ; the tarsi and toes are also purplish brown; and the inside of the mouth brilliant yellow; like
young Thrushes, they have also very distinct triangular spots of brown on the abdomen. In confirmation of
what I have said as to the Fieldfare occasionally staying very late in this country, I may mention that
John Box, Esq., of White Place, near Maidenhead, allowed his keeper to shoot the fine examples from
which my figures were made on the 19th of April 1864.
Besides the countries above mentioned, the Fieldfare frequents all parts o f Europe, goes as far south in
winter as the Atlas range in Africa, and is also found a t the same season in Asia Minor and the northern
parts of Persia.
The figures on the accompanying Plate, and the nest, are all of the natural size.