FIELDFARE THRUSH. Ill 



Sheppard and Whitear, in the fifteenth volume of the same 

 work, have the following note on the same subject, " In back- 

 ward seasons, the Fieldfare is late before it leaves this country : 

 it has been killed in the neighbovirhood of Croma the first week 

 of June. On the 5th of May 1812, we saw Fieldfares in pro- 

 digious numbers, flying very high, and steering due north. 

 They were probably migrating at that time, as none were 

 afterwards seen. We observed a very large flock of these birds 

 on the od of May 1820 ; they were extremely tame, and 

 suffered us to approach within a few yards. They were ob- 

 served again on the following day in the morning, but were 

 all gone in the afternoon." According to various writers, they 

 retire in summer to the northern parts of the continent of 

 Europe, where they breed, forming their nests on the pine trees. 



The Fieldfare has been celebrated as an article of food, or 

 rather as a luxury, and I have satisfied myself that it has not 

 been undeservedly praised in this respect. The flesh is tender 

 and sapid, and there is generally a great accumulation of fat in 

 the cavity of the abdomen and under the skin. It is this species 

 that is supposed to have been the Turdus so highly esteemed 

 by the Romans, and which was fattened with a paste composed 

 of figs and flour. Great numbers are sold in the London mar- 

 kets, and in those of other cities, but beyond the metropolis, 

 the species seems to be little regarded ; and in Edinburgh, 

 Redwings and Blackbirds are as often seen in the market as 

 Fieldfares, these and other small land birds going under the 

 general name of Thrushes and Larks, while the small Gralla- 

 tores are named Snipes. 



As the species does not nestle with us, I am unable to describe 

 the nest, eggs, or young in their first plumage. In his " Notes 

 on the Ornithology of Norway," in the Magazine of Zoology 

 and Botany, Vol. II, p. 812, Mr Hewitson has the following 

 notice, " Of the thrushes, the Fieldfare is very common, al- 

 though rather local, not generally dispersed through the forests, 

 but occupying particular parts of them, to which it seems to 

 return year after year, nests of previous years being mixed 

 amongst those of the present. In these localities it abounds, 

 breeding in society. The nests (a hundred of which might be 



