FOR CAGES AND A VIARIES. 61 



man as long as he can gratify his passion for the destruc- 

 tion of life and the spilling of inoffensive blood: for the 

 Golden Eagle is harmless and even useful. True he will 

 prey on rabbits and hares and will perhaps attack a sickly 

 lamb, but that is the extent of his ill-doing, and on the 

 other hand he keeps down the too prolific rodents which 

 without his aid and that of his compeers would multiply 

 exceedingly, to the great detriment of the farmer, already 

 so heavily handicapped. 



THE EIDER DUCK. See under Ducks. 



THE FALCONS. See under Hawks. 



THE FIELDFARE. 



This bird is a winter visitor, arriving about the be- 

 ginning of October. It is about the size of the Blackbird, 

 namely from 10 to io| or icf inches in total length; 

 it resembles its sable-coated relation in its gait and espe- 

 cially in its habit of flirting up the tail and clapping the 

 wings against the sides, when hopping about in search 

 of food. The birds travel in considerable flocks, and are 

 usually met with in companies of at least a score while 

 they remain with us. 



The male is more like the Missel Thrush than the Song 

 Thrush and has been not unfrequently mistaken for the 

 former. 



The bill, which is about an inch in length, is yellow 

 with a dark point; the legs and feet are brown; the eyes, 

 dark brown; the head, neck, cheeks and rump, ashen 

 grey; eyebrows, white; back, rusty brown; throat and 

 upper breast, bufrish yellow with heart-shaped black spots; 

 the remaining under parts are white with heart-shaped dark 

 spots on the sides, and longer ones towards the vent and tail. 



