190 SYSTEMATIC CATALOGUE. 



Family MERULID^E. 



MISSEL THRUSH, Turdus viscivorus. Common 

 in all parts of the county. Prefers small coppices 

 and plantations in the vicinity of a house to great 

 woods during the breeding- season. Such is the 

 pugnacious disposition of this thrush that two 

 nests are seldom found in the immediate neigh- 

 bourhood of each other. 



FIELDFARE, Turdus pilaris. A regular autumnal 

 and winter visitor. In severe seasons is abundant 

 in all parts of the county, but in open weather 

 principally affects heaths and commons. I have 

 known them detained by a backward spring as 

 late as the 3rd of May, but I never could detect 

 their arrival before the 1st of November. The 

 supposed instances of their appearance before 

 that time seem to have originated in a mistake 

 on the part of some observers who confounded 

 this with the last-named species. 



SONG THRUSH, Turdus musicus. Common 

 everywhere. 



REDWING, Turdus iliacus. Arrives rather sooner 

 than the fieldfare. Is less difficult of approach in 

 severe weather, but leaves us about the same time. 



BLACKBIRD, Turdus merula. Abundant ; espe- 

 cially among evergreens and fir plantations. 



