220 TUE SMALLER BRITISH IttRDS. 



bill, closely pursued by the bereaved parent. The same observer gives 

 another instance of his predatory habits. "One forenoon/' he says, 

 "wlien going to my garden, I looked into the nest of a Thrush, and 

 saw that it contained four young ones nearly fledged. Having returned 

 in the course of a few hours I again peeped into it, when, to my 

 astonishment, I beheld one of them severely cut in the breast, and 

 almost at tho point of death. I could not imagine what had been 

 the cause of this sadden catastrophe. The gardener, however, told mo 

 that hearing the male and female Thrushes setting up the most doleful 

 screams, he immediately ran to the spot in the expectation of seeing 

 a cat or a weasel ; but in the place of them he beheld a Missel Thrush 

 in the very act of killing one of their brood." 



This bird feeds on berries of various kinds, especially those of the 

 mountain-ash, the holly, ivy, and yew. It also eats caterpillars, beetles, 

 slugs, snails, insects, and seeds. 



The adult male weighs nearly five ounces, and is about eleven inches 

 and a half in length. The beak is dark brown; the irides hazel. The 

 top of the head and back are clove brown. The wings and tail are 

 umber brown. All the under surface of the body is white, tinged 

 with yellow and spotted with black. The female is similar both in 

 size and colour. 



THE FIELDFARE, 



(Turdus pilaris.) 

 PLATE Xt\ r . FIGURE V. 



OF the various birds that visit the British Isles during the winter, 

 tho Fieldfare arrives the latest, not making its appearance until tho 

 end of October or the middle of November. About the end of April 

 it a^ain departs for the extensive birch forests of tho northern parts 

 of Europe, where it makes its home and rears its young. In Prussia 

 and Austria it dwells throughout the year, but in France, Switzerland, 

 and the other southerly parts of the Continent it is, as with us, only 

 a winter visitor. 



The Chesnut-backed Thrush, Feldfar, Feltyfare, Felt, Blue-back, 

 Blue-tail, and Blue Felt, are all names by which this species is known. 



