PERCHING BIRDS. 
wittingly placed in the best position for germination in 
the clefts and crevices of the bark. 
The Fieldfare (7. pilaris) is as abundant with us in 
the winter season as it is in every other part of the 
kingdom. The forest and parks are more frequented 
by them than the fields, the former being in many parts 
thickly studded with hawthorn trees, while under the 
modern system of farming, the hedges surrounding the 
fields are rarely allowed to grow to the height at which 
they usually flower, but are kept low and well trimmed. 
These hawthorns are of great size and age, and rarely 
fail to bear an abundant crop of berries; indeed, in the 
spring they are so profusely covered with bloom as to 
appear at a distance hke huge snowballs; while in 
autumn, when the berries are ripe, they are masses of 
scarlet. Of course such abundant provision is duly 
appreciated, and attracts large flocks of fieldfares and 
other birds; I have also seen them feeding on the 
berries of the mistletoe. When these fail, and when 
long-continued frost or snow cuts off their insect food, 
they are put to great straits, their usually wild and wary 
character is exchanged for a bold and fearless one. At 
these times they associate with the sheep in the turnip 
fields, and frequent the clumps and plantations of beech 
trees in Thoresby Park and the forest, where they 
scratch through the snow into the heaps of withered 
leaves underneath, to search for beech-nuts, of which 
they are particularly fond. 
The earliest day on which I have noted their arrival 
has been the 9th of October; they generally leave us 
about the end of April, seldom at that time appearing 
in flocks, but in scattered pairs. In 1547 I met with 
several pairs on the 9th of June. 
