Jan. 1, 1870. j HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



13 



full of such "game," we had leisure to speculate 

 upon the extraordinary distance which the Fieldfare 

 must travel to reach this country, and upon the 

 causes which could lead to such a wonderful 

 journey. 



With us the bird is but a winter visitant, arriving 

 in October and departing in April. Its summer 

 haunts are in Sweden, Norway, Lapland, Poland, 

 Prussia, Russia, and Siberia,* where, unlike our 

 familiar resident thrushes, it is gregarious, and 

 breeds in colonies. 



similar to those of the Blackbird, and even more so 

 to those of the Ring Ouzel." 



Mr. Hewetson states (/. c.) that the Fieldfare is 

 the most abundant bird in Norway ;* and the late 

 Mr. Wheelwright has remarked that in Lapland, 

 next to the Brambling (Fringilla moniifringilla), it 

 is the commonest bird in the forest. 



Strange to say, in the latter country it appears to 

 depart somewhat from its usual habit in nesting, 

 for Mr. Wheelwright says : " They did not breed 

 here in colonies ; for although the nests are seldom 



Fig. 32. The Fieldfare {Tardus pilaris). 



Mr. Hewetson, writing of its habits in Norway, 

 says,t " The nests, often two hundred or more 

 within a small space, were at various heights from 

 the ground, from four feet to thirty or forty feet or 

 upwards ; 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 resembled most nearly 

 those of the Ring Ouzel ; the outside is composed 

 of sticks, and coarse grass and weeds, gathered wet, 

 matted with a small quantity of clay, and lined with 

 a thick bed of fine dry grass." 



The eggs, usually five or six in number, are " very 



* The Fieldfare, it appears, is not found in Iceland, although 

 the Redwing is a regular migrant there. — Prof. A. Newton, 

 in Baring-Gould's "Iceland; its Scenes and Sagas," Append., 

 pp. 408 and 421. 



t "Eggs of British Birds," i. p. 58. 



far apart, we never found two in the same 

 tree."f 



Some few instances are on record of the Fieldfare 

 having remained to breed in Great Britain ; but such 

 instances are very rare, and must be looked upon as 

 purely accidental. The counties in which nests are 

 reported to have been found are Sutherland (St. 

 John), Yorkshire (Yarrett), Kent (Yarrell), Surrey 

 (Bhjth), and Hants (Bree). 



In Orkney and Shetland the Fieldfare is a 

 regular winter visitant, and in the former island it 

 has occasionally been known to stay during the 

 whole year, although never found nesting there. J 



As a rule the Fieldfare arrives in England during 

 the third week [of October, and generally later than 



* See also Mr. Norman's " Nat. Hist. Notes in Norway," 

 Zoologist, lb64, p. 8865. 

 t " A Spring and Summer in Lapland," p. 282. 

 % Baikie and Heddle, " Hist. Nat. Orcadensis," 1848, p. 3 4. 



