T o r d u s p il a r i s , Linnæus.*
THE FIELDFARE.
Tardus pilaris.
T h e F ie l d f a r e is a well-known migratory Thrush coming
to us from the north-east, and usually arriving towards the
end of October, hut sometimes so early as September ; its
appearance partly depending on the temperature of the
season. I t is generally seen in large flocks, which, if the
weather continues open and mild, spread over the fields, and
especially pasture-lands, in search of worms, slugs and the
larvae of insects ; hut on the occurrence of snow or frost, the
birds take to the hedges, and feed on haws and various berries
1, or, failing them, even on turnips. At this time they
are shy and difficult to approach : the whole flock, taking
wing and keeping together, settle by scores on some distant
* Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 291 (1766).
f Iii Germany they are supposed to be extremely partial to the berries of the
juniper, and hence receive their common name in that country.
_AA_____ Ll-J—
tree, whence, if again disturbed, they wheel off in a body as
before. Should the weather become very severe, they leave
us to go further south, and are again seen on their return ;
then frequenting, as before, the open fields, and often remaining
until the middle of May, when they depart for
their northern breeding-places. White of Selborne says that
in the cold spring of 1740 they lingered till the beginning of
Ju n e ; and Mr. J . H. Ellis states (Zool. p. 9248) that a bird
of this species was killed in Leicestershire July 29tli, 1864.
Some supposed instances of the Fieldfare breeding in this
country have been recorded; hut not one that seems to be
free from reasonable doubt. Mr. Hewitson, who was the
first Englishman to publish from his own observation an
account of the Fieldfare’s nidification as noticed in Norway,
during the summer of 1833, by himself and his fellow-
travellers, Mr. John Hancock and Mr. Benjamin Johnson,
thus describes its habits, saying that, after a long ramble
through thick woods, “ our attention was attracted by the
harsh cries of several birds, which we at first supposed must
be Shrikes, but which afterwards proved to be Fieldfares,
anxiously watching over their newly-established dwellings,
we were soon delighted by the discovery of several of their
nests, and were surprised to find them (so contrary to the
habits of other species of the genus Tardus with which we
are acquainted) breeding in society. Their nests were at
various heights from the ground, from four to thirty, or forty
feet or upwards, mixed with old ones of the preceding year ;
they were, for the most part, placed against the trunk of the
spruce fir, some were, however, at a considerable distance
from it, upon the upper surface and towards the smaller end
of the thicker branches; they resemble most nearly those
of the Ring Ouzel; the outside is composed of sticks, and
coarse grass and weeds gathered wet, matted together with a
small quantity of clay, and lined with a thick bed of fine dry
grass; none of them yet contained more than three eggs,
although we afterwards found that five was more commonly
the number than four, and that even six was very frequent.”
Mr. Hewitson’s information has since been fully corroborated