Along the west coast it is found right up to the Russian frontier in very large numbers. It is
described by Pleske (Uebers. Sâug. u. Vogel Kola-Halbinsel, p. 86) as being by no means rare in
Russian Lapland. During his journey with W. W. Lawrow, he noticed the species first at
Kandalakscha, on the Wolostnaja tundra, near the borders of the sub-alpine and alpine regions. In
the central portion of the Kola Peninsula, von Middendorff reports it as common up to 68^ N. lat.
Pleske himself found it at Rasnawolok on the 28th of July, 1880, with the young birds still not
full-fledged, and again at Masselga station un-fledged young were noticed on the ord of August.
The Fieldfare is very common in Kola Lappmark, according to Malm, and Bôhtlingk noticed it on
the small peninsula between the mainland and the Rybatschij Poluostrow (Fischer Peninsula), and
Lilljeborg on the Murman coast at Schuretzkaja. In Torneâ-Lappmark, von Wright states that the
Fieldfare is somewhat more plentiful than the Mistle-Thrush in those parts of the country he visited.
According: to Palmén it is very common about Muonioniska, appearing in the parish of Muonio
on the 4th of June. Wolley found it breeding in many places in I orneâ-Lappmark and West
Bothnia, some account of the nests being given in Dresser’s ‘ Birds of Europe, from the traveller s
original notes lent by Professor Newton. Von Wright has noticed the -species at Karesuando, Lagus
at Kuusamo, Grape at Enontekis, and according to Malm it is very common at Enare, TJtsjoki, and
on the shores of the Frozen Sea ; he noticed its arrival in the Enare district on the 12th of May. In
East Finmark, Schrader and Sommerfeldt both report the Fieldfare as very common in summer,
but disappearing in winter. All observers agree that the species is found throughout the
pine- and birch-regions up to the level of the eternal snow. It does not breed plentifully
at the latter level, but does so in considerable numbers in the birch-regions and pasture-lands
(Pleske, I. c.).
To Archangel the Fieldfare is a very common summer visitor, according to Henke (Seebohm,
Ibis, 1882, p. 276), and it seems to be found plentifully in Northern Russia during the breeding-
season. Seebohm observes :—“ As you go further north the colonies become smaller ; and as the
limit of forest-growth is approached beyond the Arctic Circle, the Fieldfare can scarcely be called a
gregarious bird. On the tundra, in the absence of birch trees or larches, it breeds on the ground,
choosing a niche under the turf on the edge of a cliff, exactly as the Ring-Ouzel- so frequently
does. In the valley of the Petchora we did not see the Fieldfare north o f 68°; it arrived on the
17th of May ” (Hist. Brit. B. i. p. 229). It nests near St. Petersburg, and Dr. Bianchi states that
he found it breeding plentifully near Utschaki in the Province of Novgorod (Biol. Nat. Uschaki,
p. 16). In Dresser’s ‘ Birds of Europe’ are the following n o t e s : 3 ‘Professor Kessler says that
it arrives in Podolia, Volhynia, and Kief in large numbers in October and November, and again in
March and April. ‘ As far as I know, none winter with us at Kief, but a few remain during the
summer.’ According to Professor Bogdanoff, it is very common in the Governments of Simbirsk
and Kazan. It arrives at Kazan about the same time as the Mistle-Thrush, at the end of March or
early in April. It nests on the edge of the forests, in bushes and near groves of non-evergreen
and conifer trees, as also in the woods of the valley of the Volga, as far as Samarskaia Lake.
Often several pairs inhabit a grove, building their nests a short distance from each other. They
leave later than the other Thrushes, about the latter half of October (old style), and even stay
till the early pari; of November, when the ground is covered with snow, should the mountain-ash
berries be plentiful ” (B. Eur. ii. p. 30).
I t has not been found nesting in Uman by Goebel. In Poland, Taczanowski says that the
Fieldfare is very common and nests there.
In the early part of 4the century the species was found breeding in Livonia and Esthonia,
and in Eastern Prussia Mr. Hartert says that it nests both singly and in colonies (Ibis, 1892, p. 358).
He also tells me {in epist.) that he has found it breeding in the county of Glatz in Silesia.
Major A. von Homeyer (Mitth. orn. Ver. Wien, 1885, p. 8) has given some interesting notes on
the nesting of the Fieldfare in Germany, proving apparently that its breeding-range has become
considerably extended during the present century. Mr. Hartert writes to me that he agrees
with E. von Homeyer and others in doubting the supposed extension of the breeding-range,
but rather thinks that it is somewhat erratic in its habits, often appearing in counties where
it had not been before, and again leaving others where it used, to breed, but he fails to see
that it has really extended its range southwards. Pastor Hintz found it breeding in the
Rügenwalde in Pomerania in the year 1820, and Seiffertitz near Herzberg, Wiese found a colony
nesting at Loburg, 40 miles west of Magdeburg, and Tobias at Lausitz. L.. C. Brehm obtained
nestlings in 1826 near Wittenberg on the Elbe, and they are still in his collection. Gloger
mentions a colony near Bredan in 1818. Since 1884 the species has been discovered nesting in
Bavaria, and the existence of several colonies was recorded by Herr Grashey in the above-named
year between Munich and Augsburg. Since 1853 Dr. Liebe states that it has been common in
Eastern Thuringia, and Hintz found many nests near Grabon and Stettin. Baron Kotz records the
occurrence of the Fieldfare in the Bohmerwald in July at 3000 feet, among the pine-trees. Herr
Capek is the authority for the breeding of the bird in Moravia, nests having been found near
Zarnrsk to the north of Kelc, at Dohnahl and at Milotic on the Becwa River.
To the rest of Europe the Fieldfare is principally known as a winter visitant, but, according
to Baron De Selys-Longchamps, a few pairs are said to nest in the higher Ardennes, and Schlegel says
that a few pairs have also been known to nest near Groningen in Holland. It is also believed to
build in the Italian Alps and in Switzerland, but no authentic records are established; but that it
breeds in the Pyrenees has not only been asserted, but seems very likely to be the case, as,
Mr. H. M. Wallis observed a Fieldfare at 5700 feet above Gavarine, in the Central Pyrenees, on
the 6th of July.
The migrations of the Fieldfare vary in extent with the severity of the seasons in the north.
Although they all seem to quit their extreme northern breeding-places at the approach of winter,
many remain in Scandinavia during the latter period of the year, descending to the lower grounds and
feeding on berries. Thus the birds are much less common in Great Britain in mild winters than
when the weather is severe in the north of Europe ; and the Fieldfare is the last of the Thrushes to
arrive on our shores, as it also is the last to succumb to the severity of a hard winter. It is
found everywhere in Great Britain during the cold weather, arriving generally in Octpber and
December ; but it has also been seen occasionally in September, and it has been observed as late as
May. As to the nesting of the bird in Scotland and other parts of Great Britain, there is as yet no
authentic evidence of the fact. There is no reason why the bird should not nest in the pine-woods
of the north, just as it does in Norway, but, so far, every nest sent to me to the British Museum
from Scotland as that of the Fieldfare has turned out to be that of the Mistle-Thrush.
The winter range of the present species extends to the Mediterranean countries, to Spain,
Portugal, Algeria, Marocco, and the Canaries, and it also occurs in Italy, Greece, Cyprus,
Palestine, and Egypt at this season of the year, as well as in Southern Russia, Asia Minor, and the
Caucasus.
In Siberia the Fieldfare ranges as far as the Yenesei Valley in the breeding-season, and has
been met with by Dybowski and Godlewski in Dauria and in the southern part of Lake Baikal,
but only in spring, and it is not seen on the autumn migration. It has been found nesting on the
Wiloni River by Mr. Paulowski (Tacz. Faun. Orn. Sibir. i. p. 289). On the Yenesei, Seebohm found
a nest in 69° N. lat. and noticed it as high as 70^°. Mr. H. L. Popham says that it is the
commonest of all the forest-birds on the Yenesei, colonies of several hundreds inhabiting the
willows on nearly all the islands (Ibis, 1897, p. 91).
v o l . I. 2 F