THE FIELDFARE 



TURDUS PILARIS 



LOCAL names in surrounding counties : " Felfer," 

 " Jack Bird " " Pigeon-Felt " (Essex). 



STATUS IN BRITISH AVIFAUNA : A common and widely 

 distributed winter visitor. 



RADIAL DISTRIBUTION WITHIN FIFTEEN MILES OF ST. 

 PAUL'S : The Fieldfare is by no means an uncommon 

 winter migrant to trie Metropolitan area, although, like 

 everywhere else, its numbers vary a good deal almost 

 every season in succession. This may not be altogether 

 due to the local weather conditions in the British Islands, 

 but to the fact of a successful breeding-season in the 

 northern regions or the reverse. During hard weather 

 this handsome Thrush may frequently be remarked in 

 the parks and open spaces within a few miles of St. Paul's, 

 whilst fleeting visits are often paid to many suburban 

 gardens and pleasure-grounds, a plentiful supply of 

 berries often proving the chief attraction. As we get 

 out more into the opening country, into the comparative 

 seclusion and quiet of the remoter suburbs, the Fieldfare 

 is, more frequently observed. So far as my own expe- 

 riences go, these remarks specially refer to the Streatham, 

 Norwood, Wimbledon, Richmond, Harrow, and Barnet 

 districts. The bird, however, is well known in many 

 others, especially in Essex, in the Epping area, and I 

 have records of its abundance in some years in the Kentish 

 Grays and many parts of northern Surrey. The Field- 

 fare, however, is everywhere a somewhat capricious visitor. 



Unlike the Ring-Ouzel, the Fieldfare is a visitor to our 

 shores in winter only, arriving early in November and 

 leaving towards the end of March or beginning of April. 

 It lives in flocks of varying size, which wander about the 

 open country largely in quest of the berries upon which 



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