THE SPECKLED THRUSHES 7 



greedily swallowing the berries whole, throwing the stones 

 up as a second thought, ere they fly across the low red 

 disc of the setting sun to roost in a friendly holly-tree ; for 

 a hardy bird is the missel-thrush, rarely succumbing to the 

 frigid winters of the marshlands : he is too brave to die of 

 mere cold ; like the hero he is, he prefers to die fighting. 



T/ie Fieldfare, or ''Dow Fulfar,^^ as the fenman has 

 named him, is merely a visitor, coming over in large flocks 

 in autumn after the larks, and with the redwings, to fre- 

 quent the marshes. According to the fenman's simple 

 calendar, the old " dow fulfar " is to be seen directly after 

 the last morfra has carried home the yellow grain to the 

 stackyard ; and the fenman is right. He is a punctual bird, 

 as I have observed season after season. 



He is a lover of open spaces, merely taking to trees when 

 the heavy gales and hard frosts drive him there for food ; 

 and even there he perishes in numbers, his speckled breast 

 dotting the icy ground beneath the bare coppices more fre- 

 quently than any other bird; for he is a tender creature, 

 and lacking in character — a bird doomed to extinction, I 

 surmise. 



When an Arctic winter freezes the rivers, and he draws 

 up to the land a bit, you may see him looking about for 

 food amongst " newlays " and by marsh-roads. Then, too, 

 you may recognise his note, differing as it does from the rest 

 of the tribe, his winter voice being a harsh " sack ! sack ! " 

 whilst the redwing makes a " weeping" noise. He is much 

 bigger, too, than the redwing, and though hardly as in- 

 teresting or familiar, yet he loves the wild wastes. He 

 has, when delayed by a cold spring-tide, dropped his eggs 

 in England, but never in the Broad district that I know of, 

 though I have seen fieldfares there as late as May, sitting 

 on a pasture by the roadside. 



Lastly, the smallest of the family is the little Redwing, or 

 " FrencJi Mavish,^^ as the men here call him. He, too, is a 

 winter visitor, and at times mixes freely with the flocks of 



