FIELDFARE 11 



thorn bushes, the berries of which form their principal 

 food, and it is only in very hard and trying weather that 

 they become tame and easy of approach ; should the 

 winter remain mild and open, they are wild and difficult 

 to get at, on account of their keeping to the highest 

 trees in the vicinity of the food. They are the wildest 

 and most wary birds that visit this country, and must be 

 driven by very severe weather to come near or approach 

 the habitation of man, and their wild, rough, rattling 

 alarm-notes soon give notice to all other birds that 

 danger is at hand. 



In Boys' Birds of Sanchoich, 1792, the Fieldfare is 

 included among the birds. According to the Eev. J. 

 Pemberton Bartlett, who wrote in 1844, it was " very 

 abundant through the winter. They arrive in Kent 

 about the middle of October, and take their departure 

 about the end of April. Stragglers are occasionally seen 

 early in May." 



Mr. G. Dowker, in his Birds of East Kent, states that 

 it visits East Kent in large flocks in winter. In the 

 Maidstone district, Mr. H. Lamb says, "It is common in 

 winter. In hard weather this handsome bird may often 

 be seen almost in the town, on holly, yew and hawthorn 

 trees, feeding on the berries. I saw several flocks of birds 

 on January 11, 1879, pass over Maidstone, principally 

 Fieldfares." In the Higham district and in the Mailing 

 valley, the Eev. C. H. Fielding says it is " among our 

 winter visitors." Writing on the immigration of Field- 

 fares in the Zoologist, 1887, Mr. W. Prentis, of Kainham, 

 says: "On November 8 we were visited by numerous 

 flocks of Fieldfares, all flying in the same direction, from 

 east to west, the flights continuous and following each 

 other at short intervals. They did not deviate from their 



