TURDUS MERULA 9 



where hard frosts and heavy snow-storms occur, aud food in certain 

 seasons is unobtainable, these birds are rarely to be found in gardens, 

 or the immediate vicinity of buildings, and large numbers of them 

 often perish for want of food and from the inclemency of the weather. 



Unlike many of the Thrushes, the Fieldfare is essentially gre- 

 garious, and is nearly always to be found in flocks, although in 

 southern countries these flocks in point of number rarely equal those 

 commonly met with in more northern parts. The flight of these 

 birds is easy and rather undulating, and the approach of a flock of 

 Fieldfares is unmistakably proclaimed by the peculiar chuckling cry 

 they utter. Open fields and moist meadows are often resorted to by 

 the species for the sake of food, for, like its congeners, the Fieldfare 

 feeds largely upon worms and insects of various sorts, as well as upon 

 berries. The stomachs of the few specimens of the species I have 

 obtained in Tunisia generally contained small olives. 



That the Fieldfare at times roosts ixpon the ground appears to be 

 undoubted, although where trees are available for the purpose these 

 are naturally preferred. 



Both the Redwing and the Fieldfare are reported to have bred in 

 the Italian Alps, but in either case the statements seem to rest upon 

 somewhat slender evidence, and require confirmation, the true breed- 

 ing home of both species being so very much further north. 



Like the Eedwing, the Fieldfare is subject to occasional variation 

 in the colour of its plumage, melanic forms being probably most 

 frequently observed. 



TURDUS MERULA, LinncEus. 

 BLACKBIRD. 



Turdus merula, Linn. Si/st. Nat. i, p. 295 (1766) ; MaUierbc, Cat. Rals. 



d'Oh. Alg. p. 9 (1816) ; Whitaker, Ibis, 1891, p. 86. 

 Merula merula, Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mas. v, p. 235 ; Erlanger, 



J.f. 0. 1899, p. 246. 

 Merula vulgaris, Locke, Expl. Sci. Alg. Ois. i, p. 192 (1867) ; Koenig, 



J.f. 0. 1888, p. 211 ; id. J.f. O. 1893, p. 21. 



Description. — Adult male, spring, horn Italy. 



Entire plumage glossy black, the colour of the wiugs less intense. 



