FIELDFARE. 175 



Their song, which is soft and melodious, is sometimes heard 

 so early as the end of February and the beginning of March, 

 if the season has been mild and propitious. 



Their alarm note is a 'jack,' or 'chack, chack, chack,' which 

 whenever heard arrests your attention. They have also a 

 harsh chatter. 



Fieldfares build in societies, as many as two hundred nests 

 and upwards having been found within a small circuit of the 

 forest. The same situations appear to be resorted to from 

 year to year from some cause of predilection or other, as 

 with the Books. 



The nest, which is placed in pine or fir trees, at a height 

 of from four to forty feet from the ground, is made of small 

 sticks, grass, and weeds, cemented together with a small 

 quantity of clay, and lined with line grass. It is for the 

 most part placed against the trunk of the tree, but sometimes 

 at a considerable distance from it, towards the smaller end 

 of the thicker branches. 



The eggs are from three to five or six in number, of a 

 pale bluish green, spotted with dark reddish brown. The 

 hurried flight and loud harsh cries of the owners, if alarmed, 

 readily lead to their discovery. 



The young are not able ta fly until the first week in 

 August. 



Male; weight, four ounces; length, ten inches and a half, 

 to ten and three quarters; bill, orange at the base, most so 

 on the lower mandible, brownish black at the end; the inside 

 of the mouth is also orange; between the bill and the eye 

 there is a black mark, which follows also under it, and a 

 dark line passes backwards in a semicircle. Iris, dark brown, 

 the eyelids are yellow; over the eye is a streak of pale grey, 

 or buff, sometimes inclining to pale yellowish white; there 

 are bristles at the base of the bill. Forehead, slightly tinged 

 with brown ; head on the crown, ash grey, most of the feathers 

 having a dusky streak on their centre, most conspicuous in 

 the spring; on the sides it is also ash grey; neck in front 

 and on the sides, light yellowish red, thinly marked with 

 rather elongated triangular-shaped brownish black spots; nape, 

 ash grey; chin and throat, yellowish pale orange streaked 

 with black; breast above, light yellowish red, spotted with 

 triangular-shaped brownish black marks; it is paler, almost 

 white, on the sides, with larger and broader rounded spots, 

 and below it is white or greyish white tinged with red. Back 



