TURDIDM— THR USHES. 



73 



breaking trucks down the incline on to the quay, a distance of half-a-mile. This 

 van, when not in use, is kept at the top of the incline, but it is left on the quay 

 daily for several hours, during which time it is shunted about various sidings. 

 On the beam underneath the Hoor of the van, a pair of Thrushes have built their 

 nest and laid three eggs. About two years since a Blackbird and his mate built 

 their nest in the same place and hatched their young " (see p. 74). 



Redwing : Turdus iliacus. 



A common winter visitor, especially abundant in severe winters. 



Mr. Buxton says (47. 85) : — 



" Large numbers roost in the denser thickets [in Epping Forest] during 

 hard winters, especially when there is a good supply of holly and other 

 berries. At sunset they come trooping in from all quarters, and sweep round 

 the trees in graceful flight before settling down for the night in the lower brush- 

 wood." 



Henry Doubleday, writing to Mr. Heysham in Nov., 1831, says (10) : " I 

 have now alive a Redwing I got last January, and in August it moulted ; but 

 instead of the usual colours, it has become a perfect lilaci." 



Fieldfare: Turdus pilaris. Locally, " Felf," " Felfer," "Jack- 

 bird," " Pigeon-felt " (E.A.F.) and " Felty-fare " (E.A.F.) 



A common winter visitor, especially during severe seasons, some- 

 times remaining until the 

 beginning or middle of 

 May. It usually arrives 

 about the middle of Sep- 

 tember, but the Rev. G. 

 H. Raynor records seeing 

 a flock of twenty-five at 

 "NVoodham Mortimer on 

 September 6th, 1880, a 

 date so unusually early as 

 to suggest the idea that the 

 birds seen were Mistle 

 Thrushes (29. Oct. 2.). fieldfare, 



{After Bewick.) 



Writing from Epping in July, 1834, Henry Doubleday says (10): "The 

 Fieldfare stopped here very late. I saw vast flocks on the loth and nth of May." 

 The following spring was very late and cold, and they seem to have again stayed 

 late, as Doubleday writes that they "remained in vast flocks until the third 

 week in May." On April 15th, 1888, I saw a flock of twenty at Good Easter. 

 Mr. Grubb says (39) that it " continues with us [at Sudbury] very late in the 

 spring, and is sometimes seen in the middle of May." In 1843, it remained 

 at Layer Marney until almost the end of May (Rev. John Atkinson — 23. 355). 

 Mr. Joseph Clarke, writing (24) of the neighbourhood of Saffron Walden about 

 1845, says that it is " more or less common most seasons." He also notes the 

 occurrence of a specimen in very dark plumage at Debden on April 28th, 1839. 

 There is also in the Museum at Saffron Walden a curious variety of this species, 

 shot at that place many years ago. The whole of the head and the upper part of 



