fafe BIRDS. 



one season, therefore, it may be palatable, and intolerable at an- 

 other. It seems to be no where in such request at present, as it 

 was among the ancient Romans. There are several varieties of 

 the song thrush in Europe, and three or four in America. 



3. Fieldfare. 

 Turdus pilaris. Linn. 



Tatl. feathers black, the outermost at the inner edge tipped 

 with white; head and rump hoary. There are three or four other 

 varieties ; as spotted with black ; the head, neck, and body be- 

 neath, white ; head and neck white, body as in the first, or white 

 with large blackish spots. The bill is yellow; and the legs of a 

 deep brown. This species forms a part of that unfortunate race 

 of warblers which are the annual victims of the bird-catching art. 

 They visit this country about Michaelmas, and leave it about 

 March ; and the bird-catchers attempt to take them during their 

 passage. They live upon the fruit of the hawthorn, and almost 

 every species of berry, during the winter, when they are seen in 

 flocks, sometimes of a thousand, on the same field. 



They are more easily tamed than the other thrushes, but reward 

 not, with their song, the labour bestowed on their education. 

 Linnaeus mentions an instance^of one that was tamed in the house 

 of a wine-merchant, that became so familiar as to drink wine out 

 of the glasses upon the table. The effects of this liquor made it 

 throw its feathers, which were renewed, after it had been confined 

 for a while in the cage, and had been obliged to lead a more tem- 

 perate life. 



The numbers, as well as the appearance, of these birds in this 

 country, seem to be determined by the rigour of the season ; and 

 they are said to have a presentiment of its cessation ; whence, as 

 long as they are in the field, the inhabitants of the country con- 

 clude that the severity of the winter is not past. Their summer 

 residence is Syria, Southern Siberia, or the neighbouring districts, 

 where they feed upon juniper-berries ; whence their flesh contracts 

 a bitterness, which some have thought agreeable. The young of the 

 missel, when put into the nest of the fieldfare, are adopted by the 

 female, and reared with the same care as her own ; from which it 

 has been rashly concluded that a mixed race might be procured 

 by the union of these two species. No such breed, however, has 

 ever been obtained, though many families of the former have been 

 reared by the maternal care of the latter. 



