102 WITHIN AN HOUR OF LONDON TOWN. 



but that is another matter entirely; in nine cases 

 out of ten they never do. Other birds will come to 

 the fruit, but the three we have particularly men- 

 tioned are the chief culprits, and they suffer for it. 

 There is not the least fear of their getting scarce ; 

 we receive hosts from the Continent each season ; 

 they fly to and fro across the Channel. 



Thrushes are essentially the choristers of the 

 woodlands, but they will desert their quiet retreat 

 for a tempting gooseberry-bush in a cottage garden. 



The fieldfare, or felt, is the dandy of the tribe ; 

 for a member of the thrush family, he has a coat 

 of many colours. He is a migrant, shy and wary 

 to a degree, and the favourite game bird with all 

 young sportsmen. At any rate he gives them op- 

 portunities of acquiring the cardinal virtue of pa- 

 tience. They must indeed wait for him unless the 

 weather is very severe ; and that alters matters 

 considerably. I, and my companions, have tramped 

 many a mile after him in our young days, and 

 brought the gun home safely, without having come 

 to grief, but also without fieldfares. 



It is a well-known fact now, or it ought to be 



