FIELDFARE. 85 



pointed, when our attention was attracted by the 

 harsh cries of several birds, which we at first 

 supposed must be thrushes, but which afterwards 

 proved to be Fieldfares, anxiously watching over 

 their newly established dwellings. We were soon 

 delighted by the discovery of several of their 

 nests, and were surprised to find them breeding 

 in society. Their nests were at various heights 

 from the ground, from four to thirty or forty 

 feet or upwards, mixed with old ones of the pre- 

 ceding year : They were, for the most part, placed 

 against the trunk of the spruce fir. Some were, 

 however, at a considerable distance from it. Upon 

 the upper surface, and towards the smaller end of 

 the thicker branches, they resemble most nearly 

 those of the ring-ousel. The outside is composed 

 of sticks and coarse grass, and weeds, gathered 

 wet, matted together with a small quantity of 

 clay, and lined with a thick bed of fine dry grass. 

 The eggs are from four to six in number, and in 

 colour closely resemble those of the blackbird or 

 ring-ousel. Two hundred nests or more were 

 frequently within a small space." 



During the last year, (1837,) one or two notices' 

 have appeared in Charlesworth's Magazine of 

 Natural History, of the Fieldfare having bred in 

 Scotland ; but with every wish to pay deference 

 to the discrimination and accuracy of the writer, 

 we cannot help still feeling a little sceptical as 

 to the fact ; and it would be most satisfactory 

 if, during the ensuing summer, he would secure 

 a specimen or two of the old birds, and of their 



