FOR CAGES AND A VIARIES. 63 



cage and is then an attractive-looking bird, which is gener- 

 ally noticed at shows, but it is seen to greater advantage 

 in a large garden aviary. Heat is injurious to it, as well 

 as to the snow-bunting and the Bullfinch, and it should 

 never be exposed to this unnecessarily, but be kept in a room 

 without fire; or if out of doors, be provided with plenty 

 of shelter. This is readily obtained by planting the open 

 part of the aviary with elder bushes, which are rarely dam- 

 aged by the inmates; and if the common, -golden, silver 

 and parsley-leaved varieties are judiciously mixed, a very 

 pretty effect will be produced. 



Insects and berries are the ordinary food of the Field- 

 fare, but in hard winters it will eat anything it can find. 

 In confinement, it should be fed as recommended for the 

 Thrush; it is partial to breadcrumbs mixed with an equal 

 quantity of freshly-grated carrot, a dish that is readily 

 partaken of by all the other members of the Thrush family. 



As already stated, there is no reliable instance on record 

 of its nesting in a state of captivity, and the few cases 

 in which it is reported to have done so in a wild state in 

 this country, would be all the better for modern confirmation. 



The plumage of the Fieldfare is decidedly handsome, 

 and its figure graceful. Morris and other writers praise 

 its song, which the former describes as "soft and melo- 

 dious," but Bechstein calls it "a mere disagreeable 

 warble"; it may therefore be fairly described as something 

 intermediate between these extremes, or, in other words, 

 as nothing out of the common. The ancient Romans 

 looked upon the Fieldfare as a great delicacy, and the 

 bird was accordingly fattened systematically in large 

 numbers for the table ; modern epicures, especially on the 

 Continent, seem to be of the same opinion in this respect, 

 so that out of the myriads of these birds which abandon 

 their arctic homes for our comparaUvely milder climate 

 every autumn, hundreds only survive to return to their 

 native haunts in the spring, the rest having either suc- 

 cumbed to starvation or been devoured; of the remainder 

 many perish on the return journey, yet the race seems to 

 be in no danger of dying out. 



