468 FIELDFARES BREEDING IN ENGLAND.. 



chatter of a "pigeon-felt" long after the flocks of this well- 

 known winter visitant had disappeared for the season ; and 

 suspecting, therefore, that it might possibly have a nest in 

 the dense hawthorn tree from which it flew, he was not long 

 in finding it there. The fieldfares, however, though daily 

 observed after this, were not disturbed, my friend (who is no 

 collector) expecting that I would first like to visit the nest as 

 it stood : but unluckily his message to me was forgotten to 

 be delivered, and it was only when I chanced to call on him 

 some weeks afterwards, that the circumstance accidentally 

 transpired, when we soon proceeded to the spot, in the ex- 

 pectation that the young were then about half-fledged. They 

 had flown, however; but the structure of the nest, which 

 was then taken, was of itself sufficient to remove all doubt of 

 the matter, being quite different from either that of the black- 

 bird, song, or missel thrush, (of all three of which, I may re- 

 mark, several nests were shown to me as we passed through 

 the garden), so that every evidence, except that of positively 

 handling the birds or eggs, concurs to substantiate the speci- 

 fic determination ; and what is more, the old birds have from 

 time to time been seen subsequently, but never shot at, in the 

 expectation that they would have built another nest, which 

 there is reason to believe has not been the case. The nest 

 (which may be seen by calling at Mr. Bartlett's, 47, Museum 

 St., Holborn) is chiefly remarkable for the great quantity of 

 mud with which it is plastered, rendering it extraordinarily 

 heavy ; in other respects, it agrees nearly with some of those 

 of the blackbird, and is plentifully lined with coarse dry grass ; 

 but it is considerably deeper, with more solid and better con- 

 structed walls, than I remember ever to have seen a black- 

 bird's nest, with a rim of plaster, half an inch thick, form- 

 ing its upper margin : it was placed nearly ten feet from the 

 ground, upon a thick secondary branch of a densely foliaged 

 hawthorn-tree, which stands alone at a considerable distance 

 from the hedge and from any other tree. As for missel thrush- 

 es, song thrushes, and blackbirds, each and all of these spe- 

 cies may be seen at any time in the locality ; where, some 

 years ago, I knew of four missel thrushes' nests in a short 

 double row of oaks and elms bordering the same field : and 

 I repeat (on account of the scepticism which certain hearers 

 have expressed to whom I communicated the incident with 

 its circumstances) that there is not the slightest probability 

 of a mistake being made concerning the identification of the 

 species. — Edwd. Blyth. — Aug. 15, 1839. 



