246 THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 



72. Fieldfare [WACHHOLDER-DEOSSEL]. 

 TUKDUS PILARIS, Linn. 



Heligolandish : Lanz (a name without further signification). 



Turdiis pilaris. Naumann, ii. 296. 



Fieldfare. Dresser, ii. 41. 



Merle litorne. Temminck, Manuel, L 163, iii. 88. 



It is surprising that the Fieldfare, which is everywhere caught 

 in such large numbers, visits Heligoland, famed for the richness of 

 its avifauna, so sparingly that no special method exists for its 

 capture. There is, indeed, the throstle-bush, designed as much for 

 it as for all its other near relations; but it only enters it in 

 extremely exceptional instances, and then, for the most part, only 

 towards evening with the intention of passing the night there. 

 During the day the flocks which make their stay here frequent the 

 pastures of the Upper Plateau. Even then, however, as also during 

 their migrations and local peregrinations, their social instinct 

 betrays itself, for although large companies of them may gradually, 

 while searching for foocj, get scattered over wide grassy plains, they 

 nevertheless all take to the wing at one and the same time, and 

 forthwith congregate into fairly dense droves. These, after flying for 

 some distance, suddenly and again simultaneously alight upon some 

 other spot. These birds are altogether of a very restless disposition, 

 and, unlike other Thrushes, make their loud call-notes heard con- 

 tinuously as they run or fly about, their unsettled bearing giving 

 one the impression that they were anxious to get off again as soon 

 as possible. This, indeed, is possibly the case, their flight to 

 Heligoland from their breeding places in Scandinavia being too 

 short a stage of the whole migration journey to evoke the desire 

 for a steady rest. In most cases, too, companies of this kind resume 

 their journey after only a few hours, while numerous large droves 

 pass the island both day and night without halting on their 

 passage. In the day they invariably migrate in close companies ; 

 and though these do not fly in such densely-crowded droves as, for 

 instance, the Starlings, they yet always keep close together. This, 

 however, is quite different on dark autumn nights, when, judging 

 from their calls, they travel singly and apart, although spread far 

 and near over the whole firmament. 



The autumn migration of this species seldom commences before 

 the end of October, continues through the whole of November, and 

 extends not only to the close of the year, but often even far into 

 January of the following year. Thus, in my diary for 1884, I find 



