20 THE FIELDFARE. 



1880-81,^ when the thermometer iu Berwickshire fell as low 

 as from 8° to 22° below zero. Many of them perished from 

 hunger and cold, their remains, consisting of little else than 

 bones and feathers, being found in sheltered spots, after the 

 snow had disappeared. Mr. Hardy, writing of the effects of 

 the winter of 1878-79, says : — " Deceviher 9th, 1878. — Snow- 

 storm commenced, and continued more or less on the 10th, 

 when, in the evening, great assemblages of Fieldfares arrived 

 from the surrounding vicinage, to roost among the furze in 

 the lower part of Oldcambus Dean. I was not abroad every 

 day, but on the 14th the snow lay deep on the ground, and 

 extended in one continuous sheet to the sea- side, except 

 where washed by the tide. Fieldfares, in want of insects 

 and worms, were greatly distressed, and from their dis- 

 hevelled feathers appeared to be greatly pinched with the 

 frosty air. Many of them kept in the folds all the day, 

 hollowing out with their bills turnips which had been 

 broken by the sheep. Decemher l^tli. — More dead Field- 

 fares. December 17 th. — Frost still severe; Fieldfares were 

 following Wood Pigeons in turnip fields, to profit by the 

 morsels they left while picking holes in the turnips. They 

 were in great extremity, hopping before me and tumbling 

 over, with low dragging wings. Passing a wood-side, their 

 mutilated remains, as well as those of the Eedwing, were 

 strewn wherever a sunny bank had tempted them with an 

 ofier of support." ^ It generally leaves for its breeding 

 quarters in the north of Europe towards the end of April or 

 beginning of May, but a few birds sometimes linger later, 

 one being seen by me at Paxton in 1887 as late as the 

 15th of May. Mr. Seebohm says : — "The first visit to the 



1 On the night of the 13th Dec. 1878, the thermometer at Paxton fell to 8° 

 below zero ; and on 17th Jan. 1881, it fell at Blackadder to 22° below zero. In 

 both cases the instruments were fully exposed to the weather. 



2 Hist. Bcr. Xat. Club, vol, i.v. n. 124. 



