PERCHING BIRDS. 



wittingly placed in the best position for germination in 

 the clefts and crevices of the bark. 



The Fieldfare (T. pilaris) is as abundant with us in 

 the winter season as it is in every other part of the 

 kingdom. The forest and parks are more frequented 

 by them than the fields, the former being in many parts 

 thickly studded with hawthorn trees, while under the 

 modern system of farming, the hedges surrounding the 

 fields are rarely allowed to grow to the height at which 

 they usually flower, but are kept low and well trimmed. 

 These hawthorns are of great size and age, and rarely 

 fail to bear an abundant crop of berries ; indeed, in the 

 spring they are so profusely covered with bloom as to 

 appear at a distance like huge snowballs; while in 

 autumn, when the berries are ripe, they are masses of 

 scarlet. Of course such abundant provision is duly 

 appreciated, and attracts large flocks of fieldfares and 

 other birds ; I have also seen them feeding on the 

 berries of the mistletoe. When these fail, and when 

 long-continued frost or snow cuts off their insect food, 

 they are put to great straits, their usually wild and wary 

 character is exchanged for a bold and fearless one. At 

 these times they associate with the sheep in the turnip 

 fields, and frequent the clumps and plantations of beech 

 trees in Thoresby Park and the forest, where they 

 scratch through the snow into the heaps of withered 

 leaves underneath, to search for beech-nuts, of which 

 they are particularly fond. 



The earliest day on which I have noted their arrival 

 has been the 9th of October ; they generally leave us 

 about the end of April, seldom at that time appearing 

 in flocks, but in scattered pairs. In 1 847 I met with 

 several pairs on the 9th of June. 



