THE REDWING AND FIELDFARE. 45 



Redwing in their company. The Stormcock is found 

 with them not unfrequently, for he, too, at this season, is 

 a decided berry- feeder. But when the snow has all dis- 

 appeared, and a few days of open weather follow, the 

 Fieldfares seldom stay if the berries are consumed, and 

 rarely, or never, seek the grass land with the Redwing. 

 There are few birds more shy and wary than the Field- 

 fare, for if once disturbed they invariably take ofif to 

 some considerable distance in a long straggling train, 

 and as they fly rapidly, and as a rule out of gunshot, 

 they are comparatively safe at a season when the poor 

 half-frozen songsters are so ruthlessly murdered. 



Like the Redwing, the Fieldfare, when with us at 

 least, is gregarious. They arrive here in flocks, and in 

 flocks return to the north, but of their nesting habits I 

 am unacquainted. Their nests, from specimens I have 

 seen brought from northern Russia, are very similar to 

 the Blackbird, and the eggs closely resemble those of the 

 Ring Ousel, with the exception that they are slightly 

 smaller. 



The Fieldfare is of such irregular habits that the ex- 

 act time they leave us would be difficult to mention. 

 Certain it is they leave us much sooner than the Redwing, 

 for I but rarely see them after the third week in 

 February, the state of the weather influencing con- 

 siderably their migratory movements. We are still in 

 ignorance as to many of the causes of migration, and 

 probably shall ever remain so. Here we have two 

 Thrushes, differing in no perceptible degree in their habits 

 and requirements from resident species, that leave us 

 every spring, and repair hundreds of miles to the north, 

 for the purpose of rearing their young. And what end 

 is gained by such procedure ? That some benefit is 



