2 The Birds of Pembrokeshire. 
and on the approach of spring the birds assemble in the nearest 
tall trees, and sing in concert a low sweet song, the notes of 
which are very pleasing to anyone standing below. The Red- 
wings vary greatly in their numbers, some seasons being abun- 
dant, at others few are seen. 
FIELDFARE, Zurdus pilaris—A common winter visitor. In 
severe weather great numbers of Fieldfares used to appear in our 
neighbourhood. They seemed to be quite as susceptible to the 
cold as the Redwings. One very long-protracted frost, when 
the ground was deeply covered with snow, we caught and 
brought numbers of the starving birds into our kitchen; but it 
was all in vain we offered them various kinds of food; none of 
them ever survived longer than a fortnight. Flocks of Field- 
fares have remained with us until the end of April, when they 
were much tamer than they were during the winter, and, collect- 
ing on the tops of the trees, would keep up a not unpleasing 
chattering. We consider that in the north of the county Field- 
fares were every winter more plentiful than Redwings, the 
mountain character of the district being unsuited to the latter 
birds. 
BLACKBIRD, Zwrdus merula.—A common resident. Its numbers 
rapidly increase when there has been a succession of mild 
winters, but like all the members of the Thrush family, it suffers 
much in a severe frost. The Blackbird is exceedingly pug- 
nacious. One hard winter, when the snow lay for weeks upon 
the ground, and the temperature day after day was considerably 
below the freezing- point, our Blackbirds were nearly starved, and 
several times a day we put plates of barley-meal, bread, and 
scraps of meat at our dining-room window for their relief. 
Hungry as they were, the assembled birds, at least a score, never 
began to feed without a desperate combat, and the surface of the 
snow would be black with the feathers of the belligerents. One 
summer’s evening a fox was seen to jump up into the air and 
capture a Blackbird as it flew out of one of our small covers. 
