FIELDFARE 



FELDFARE FELT FELTFARE BLUE-BACK BLUE-FELT. 



PLATE XCIX. 

 Turdus pilaris, .... LINNAEUS. LATHAM. 



T^IELDFARES, which are only winter visitants to Britain, 

 breed in forest regions of Northern Europe in large 

 colonies, as many as two hundred nests and upwards having 

 been found within a small circuit of the forest. The same 

 situations appear to be resorted to from year to year, as 

 with the Rooks. 



The nest, which is placed in pine or fir trees, at a 

 height of from four to forty feet from the ground, is made 

 of small sticks, grass, and weeds, cemented together with a 

 small quantity of clay, and lined with fine grass. It is for 

 the most part placed on the branches of the birch, alder, 

 pine, against the trunk of the tree, but sometimes at 

 considerable distance from it, towards the smaller end 

 >f the thicker branches. Single nests, however, sometimes 

 :cur. 



The eggs are from four to five or six in number, of a 

 lie bluish green, of different shades, spotted, mottled, and 

 streaked with darker or lighter reddish brown. "They 

 ire sometimes so closely freckled over that the colour 

 if the freckles predominates ; and there is a variety in 



VOL. II. 41 F 



