FIELDFAEE 47 



Scotland, at the end of October, and in November. From the time 

 of their arrival until they leave us they are seen in flocks of twenty 

 or thirty to several hundreds of individuals. They do not, like the 

 redwings, attach themselves to certain localities, but wander inces- 

 santly from place to place, ranging over the entire area of Great 

 Britain and Ireland. Owing to this vagrancy, the fieldfare is an 

 extremely familiar bird to the countryman, and invariably its first 

 appearance, and harsh yet joyous clamour, as of jays screaming 

 and magpies chattering in concert, call up a sudden image of winter 

 ^cold, brief days and a snow- whitened earth, and memories of that 

 early period in life when the great seasonal changes impress the 

 mind so deeply. 



In open weather the fieldfares seek their food in meadows and 

 pastures, also in the fields. Unlike the missel-thrushes, that move 

 about in all directions over the ground, the fieldfares when feeding 

 all move in the same direction. In like manner, when the flock 

 repairs to a tree, the birds on their perches are all seen facing one 

 way — a very pretty spectacle. When their feeding-grounds are 

 frozen, or covered with snow, they go to the hedges and devour 

 the hips and haws, and any other wild fruit that remains im- 

 gathered ; if severe weather continues, they take their departure to 

 more southern lands. Their flight is strong, easy, and slightly un- 

 dulating, and before settling to feed the flock often wheels gracefully 

 about over the field for some time. 



The song of the fieldfare, described by Seebohm as a ' wild 

 desultory warble,' uttered on the wing, is not known to us in this 

 country — it is a song of summer and of love ; but in genial 

 weather, when the birds are faring well, they often burst out into a 

 concert of agreeable sounds just after alighting in a tree. 



In the evening when settling to roost they are extremely noisy 

 like most tlu-ushes, and their cries may be heard imtil dark. 



Blackbird. 



Turdus merula. 



Black ; bill and orbits of the eyes orange-yellow. Female : 

 sooty brown. Length, ten inches. 



Among the feathered inhabitants of these islands there is scarcely 

 a more familiar figure than that of the blackbird. Not only is he 



