THE FIELDFARE. 19 



lauds in company with Eedwings, and occasionally a sprink- 

 ling of Missel Thrushes. It is then very wary, and a flock 

 on being alarmed at once flies off to the top of the nearest 

 high trees, or wings its way to some other favourite haunt 

 at a distance. 



When winter has fairly set in, and the first fall of snow 

 occurs, its peculiar cry of " Yack-chuck-chuck-chuck," ^ may 

 be heard coming from some flock passing overhead ; for it 

 is then more frequently on the wing than usual, and its 

 chuckling note readily catches the ear when — 



Thro' the hush'd air the whitening shower descends. 



Thomson, Winter. 



The Fieldfare feeds upon worms, snails, beetles, and insects 



of various kinds, as well as seeds of grasses and other plants, 



which it picks up in our pastures and stubbles as long 



as the weather is favourable. All kinds of berries form a 



favourite food in autumn and winter, and more especially 



those of the rowan tree ^ and the hawthorn. Its partiality 



for haws had been noticed by the poet Cowper for he says 



in the Needless Alarm — 



Not yet the hawthorn bore her berries red, 

 With which the Fieldfare, wintry guest, is fed. 



They suffered greatly from the effects of the unpre- 

 cedented severity of the winters of 1878-79, 1879-80, and 



1 The popular name of the Fieldfare in the Orleanais is the "Chacha."— Rol- 

 and, Fcmne Populaire de la France, tome ii. ; Les Oiseaux Sauvages, p. 237. 



■' The Mountain Ash {Pyrus aucuparia). The rowans remained long on the 

 trees in the Lamraermuirs in the Autumn of 1887, for, on December 2ncl, while 

 shooting with a friend on Cockburn Law, I saw a flock of Fieldfares feeding on 

 the rowans of a leafless tree on the hill-side opposite The Retreat. Dr. George 

 Johnston, writing of this tree, says :—" The Thrush tribe greedily devour the 

 berries. I have never seen these used in Berwickshire as a bait to snare the birds, 

 as Sir Robert Sibbald {Scot. Illus. ii. lib. 3, p. 6.] tells us was once the custom in 

 Scotland : ' Ex setis caudae (equorum) finguntur laquei, quibus appensis baccis 

 Sorbi aucupariffi autumno Turdelfe, meruli et rubeculfe capiuntur.' In our moor 

 districts the berries are called Reddens." — Natural History of the Eastern 

 Borders, p. 80. For an account of the superstitions connected with the rowan 

 tree, see The Borderer's Table Book, vol. vii. p. 183. 



