SHOOTING or SMALL BIRDS. 155 



coloured, and the throat and breast yellow, with regular spots of 

 black. The beUy and tliighs are of a yellowish brown^ and in the 

 young- birds more decidedly yeUoy. 



There are some varieties of this bird which display a somewhat 

 different plumage ; but these differences are not of a very im- 

 portant cast. They are mostly confined to the comparative laint- 

 ness of the black spots on the breast, or the greater predomiuance 

 of white ia various sections of the body. • 



The fieldfare is migratory, and arrives in this country commonly 

 in the first week in October; but this depends considerably on the 

 state of the weather. They are considered as prognosticators of 

 the forthcomittg winter. When they make their appearance early, 

 it is said that we shall have a hard season ; when late, a mild one. 

 They generally come here in lar^e flocks, and disappear about the 

 latter end of Eebruary, or the begiuning of March, and retire to 

 Russia, Sweden, Norway, and as far as Siberia and Kamtschatka. 

 Buffon teUs us, they do not arrive in Prance till December, when 

 they assemble in flocks of two and three thousand. Their food is 

 haws and other berries, andhkemse worms, snails, and slugs. 



The fieldfare is a shy bird to approach with a gun. When they 

 are in any considerable numbers, they appoint regular scouts to 

 give the alarm of danger. They can therefore _ seldom be shot, ex- 

 cept by stratagem, or by accidentally 'gettiug withui range of a flock 

 of them. The shot easily kiUs them, their feathers beiug loose and 

 their frames deHcate. 



Bewick says that fieldfares seem of a more social disposition 

 than the throstle or the missels; they are sometimes seen singly, 

 but in general form very numerous flocks, and fly in a body ; and 

 though they often spread themselves through the fields in search 

 of food, they seldom lose sight of each other, but, when alarmed, 

 fly off, and collect together upon the same tree. 



The T/irusk or Throstle {Turdus Mucicus, Linn.).— This bird is 

 often, in country districts, an object of the sportsman's attention, 

 more especially 'if he be a young one. It is larger than the red- 

 wing, but less than the missel-thrush, to which, in other respects, 

 'it bears a great resemblance, both in form and colour. A spaall 

 notch is found at the bill of the throstle, which is characteristic of 

 all the thrush species. The throat is white, and the spots on the 

 breast are very regularly formed, and are of a conical shape. The 

 inside of the wings and the mouth are yellow, so likewise are the 

 legs. The claws are strong and black. 



" The throstle is distinguished by its clear and harmonious notes, 

 and is one of the chief songsters of the groves, and takes the lead 

 among the feathered tribe : — 



"The jay, the rook, -the daw, 

 And each harsh pipe (discordant heard alone), 

 Aid the fuU concert, while the stock-dove breathes 

 A melancholy murmur through the whole." 



