hes had commenced their nidification. It was not until the end of April

after our Blackbirds and Thrus
i e from our neighbourhood. In a few days afterwards, on the 14th

that the last of them took their departur
of May, we enjoyed the pleasure of again s
after their arrival in all the bustle of prepar

years. We had been out all day, rambling through those : at
—to nests of the previous summer, which we supposed must have once been

eeing them in their own wild native woods, engaged so early
Zz 5 ° oe .
ation for the production of other colonies to visit us in future

almost impassable forests ; and after having climbed

many a tree to no purpose
tenanted by the birds of which we were

suddenly the monotonous silence was broken by ‘ !
atching over their newly established dwellings. We very soon forgot our

at the discovery of several of their nests, and were surprised to

‘1 search—were returning home, weary and disappointed, when
the loud harsh cries of a colony of Fieldfares, which, alarmed

at our approach, were anxiously w
toils in the delight which we experienced ; sed t
find them, so contrary to the habits of the rest of the genus with vA we are eae 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
they were, for the most part, placed against the trunk of the spruce-fir tree ;
able distance from it, towards the smaller end of the thicker branches.

forty feet or upwards, and mixed with old ones

of the preceding summer:
some were, however, at a consider
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 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 of 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-
forest ; 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 of the Blackbird, but is usually more highly coloured. We took
our first nest on the 26th of May, and our last on the 7th of July, at which time some of the young were
able to fly.”

Mr. H. E. Dresser informs me that he “found a nest just outside the town of Uleaborg, on the 13th June,
1861, containing seven eggs; 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 difference 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 of our
being far above the pine-forests.

The summer dress of 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 at both seasons.
In the ee) the bill is very much swollen at the gape, and nearly white, blending into purplish brown
fomedhs he tip; the tarsi and toes are also purplish brown ; and the inside of the mouth brilliant yellow ; like
sonny Uhnushes, they have also very distinct triangular spots of brown on the abdomen. In confirmation of
what I have said as co 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 freque
winter as the Atlas range in Africa, and is also found
parts of Persia.

nts all parts of Europe, goes as far south in
at the same season in Asia Minor and the northern

The figures on the ac anyi ‘
g he accompanying Plate, and the nest, are all of the natural size.

ems: >