172 FIELDFARE. 



hither, they are loath to leave us, and remain till late in 

 April, while many tarry on the coast in flocks, and a few 

 here and there inland, so late as the middle or latter part of 

 May, and some even till the first week in June: the Rev. 

 Gilbert White, of Selborne, mentions one season in which 

 they remained till that time, and others have recorded the 

 like. 



The Fieldfare is associated in the mind of every one who 

 has been accustomed to go out with a gun in severe weather, 

 with the idea of frost in the air, and snow upon the ground. 

 Then these birds, usually so shy and wary, are subdued by 

 hunger to a greater or less degree of tameness, and may be 

 approached within gunshot, often within pistol-shot. They 

 are very good eating, though slightly bitter in taste ; and are 

 accordingly much sought after even now, as they were by 

 the Romans formerly, and are sold in large numbers in every 

 market. When the storm breaks up, they betake themselves 

 to a farther distance, and to more wild or retired situations ; 

 to mountainous districts especially, if any such be in the 

 neighbourhood; there they then find food more congenial to 

 them, the search for which nothing but the necessity forced 

 upon them by the rigours of frost and snow had compelled 

 them to relinquish. Throughout the winter however many 

 frequent the cultivated districts, the favourite berries of the 

 hawthorn supplying them in hard weather with food, and if 

 there be any hedges which have escaped the almost universal 

 low lopping in which high farming delights, there you can 

 approach under cover your once in former days so highly- 

 prized game, and find them in numbers. Everything seen 

 with the magnifying glasses of school days is unduly raised 

 in the imagination, and the Fieldfare looms large in the 

 distance of the landscape, and of the memory retentive of 

 former scenes of pleasure and temporary excitement 'labuntur 

 anni!' 



On trees or in hedges they are scarcely so suspicious as on 

 the ground, where you can hardly approach them within a 

 hundred yards, and if the majority fly off first, a few generally 

 'wait a little longer.' 



These birds, as mentioned above, would seem to migrate in 

 a north-easterly direction, and accordingly leave Ireland sooner 

 than Scotland on their return to their native lands, and 

 appear to choose moonlight nights for their flight. While 

 with us they leave the more northerly for more southerly 



