240 THE RING OUZEL. 



seldom is it seen there till November, and is often absent till the cold month of December, 

 when it makes its appearance in great flocks, searching eagerly for food over the fields. At 

 this period of the year they are very wild, and can with difficulty be approached within gun- 

 shot, as I have often experienced in my younger days. I well remember "stalking" a little 

 troop of these birds for several hours, being induced to do so by their extreme shyness, and at 

 last securing one of them by pushing the gun through a drain-hole in an old stone wall, get- 

 ting a rather uncertain aim through the dried grass stems, and sending the shot within an 

 inch or two of the ground. When the snow lies heavily upon the fields, this bird betakes 

 itself to the hedge-rows and outskirts of woods and copses, and there feeds on the various 

 berries that have survived the autumn. During this inclement season, the Fieldfare may be 

 approached and shot without much difficulty. Their shyness, however, depends greatly on 

 the amount of persecution which they have sustained. 



Although they collect in large flocks, the different individuals always keep themselves 

 rather aloof from their fellows, but as night approaches they close together, and nestle in 

 companies among the hedges or brushwood. They generally remain north until May or June, 

 seldom, however, prolonging their stay to the latter period. They have not been observed 

 to build, excepting in the northern parts of Europe, such as Norway and Sweden, where 

 their nesting is really extraordinary. A very excellent account of the nidification of these 

 birds is given by Mr. Hewitson. His attention was aroused by the loud shrieking 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 Turdus with which we are acquainted) 

 herding in society. Their nests were at various heights from the ground, from four feet 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 consider- 

 able distance from it, upon the upper surface, and towards the smaller end of the thicker 

 branches. They resembled most nearly those of the ring ouzel. The outside is composed of 

 sticks and coarse grasses, and weeds gathered wet, matted together with a small quantity of 

 clay, and lined with a thick bed of fine long grass. None of them yet contained more than three 

 eggs, although we afterwards found that five was more commonly the number than four, and 

 even six was very frequent. They are very similar to those of the blackbird, and even more 

 so to those of the ring ouzel. 



" The Fieldfare is the most abundant bird in Norway, and is generally diffused over that 

 part which we visited ; building, as already noticed, in societies ; two hundred nests or more 

 being frequently seen within a very small space." 



In their general aspect, the nests are not unlike those of the blackbird, and the eggs are 

 of a light blue ground color, covered with dark, reddish-brown mottlings. Although the bird 

 is essentially a winter visitant to northern countries, there are seasons when it is too cold and 

 stormy even for this hardy bird. In the year 1798, there was a terrible and lengthened storm 

 of sleet, wind, and snow, which killed thousands of the Fieldfares, and even dashed them into 

 the sea, where they were drowned, and their bodies thrown upon the coast for many days 

 afterwards. 



In its color the Fieldfare bears a decided resemblance to the generality of the Thrushes. 

 The upper parts of the body as far as the shoulders are ashen-gray, dotted with dark brown 

 spots upon the head ; the back and wings are rich brown, and the tail is dark blackish -brown. 

 The chin and throat are a peculiar golden hue, not unlike amber, and covered with numerous 

 black streaks ; the breast is reddish-brown, also spotted with black, and the abdomen and 

 under parts white, spotted on the flanks and Tinder tail-coverts with brown of various shades. 

 The Fieldfare is not quite so large a bird as the Missel Thrush, being about ten inches in total 

 length. 



THE RING OUZEL is also only a visitant of northern countries, but its times of arrival and 

 departure are precisely contrary to those of the bird just described. 



