1919-] Birds of the Canary Jslayids. 297 



Turdus pilaris. The Fieldfare. 



Tardus pilaris Linn. Syst. Nat. lOtli cd. 1758, p. 168 — 

 Type locality : Sweden. 



The Fieldfare is an Occasional Visitor to the Archipelago. 



It sometimes arrives in autumn and occasionally also in 

 spring, but is not by any means a regular migrant. 



The first authentic record is given by Meade-Waldo, who 

 saw a bird in the flesh which had been shot on the 19th of 

 March close to Orotava (Ibis, 1889, p 1), and he liimself 

 obtained a specimen, now in the British Museum, on the 

 15th of May, 1888, at the same place. 



Polatzek mentions a passage of these birds in 1903 and 

 gives the following account (Orn. Jahrb. 1909, p. 125) : — 

 '' On the 20th of October many [Fieldfares = ' Wacholder- 

 drossel '] came to Lanzarote with a strong north wind. 

 I found flocks of about fifteen birds under fig-trees at 

 Haria, and a few were in the fields. After three weeks 

 their numbers gradually decreased, and in the fifth week 

 (i. e. about the 25th of November) they disappeared 

 altogether. The brown tint on the breast was very vivid." 



Von Thanner considers it to be a wandering visitor in 

 Tenerife, and also recognized a specimen of this bird in the 

 institute at Laguna (Nov. Zool. xi. 1904, p. 431). 



I have never myself met with it in any of the islands. 



From the only records which Ave have of this bird it would 

 appear to occasionally touch the islands actually at the time 

 when the migratory movement from Europe to Morocco is 

 in course of progress. 



Range. The Fieldfare, which is so well known in north 

 Europe and north Asia, winters in central and south Europe 

 and in smaller numbers extends south to north-west Africa. 

 The Canary Islands are surely the most southern limit 

 reached. 



Turdus merula cahrerse. Cabrera's Blackbird. 

 Turdus merula cabrerce Hartert, Nov. Zool. viii. 1901, 

 p. 313 — Type locality : Tenerife. 

 A Resident subspecies. 



