MERULIDJE. 61 



weather comes on suddenly, many get too weak to 

 recommence their journey southward, consequently 

 dying of starvation. 



The food of the Fieldfare appears to consist 

 chiefly of worms, the larvae of insects, and other 

 soft -bodied animals; also (especially in frosty 

 weather) of berries : it does not, however, appear at 

 any time, even when under severe pressure, to feed 

 on snails.* 



" The nests (a hundred of which might be found 

 in a very limited distance) are placed in the spruce 

 fir, at heights from the ground varying from four to 

 forty feet or upwards : they are made of the same 

 materials and are much like those of the Ring 

 Ouzel."! 



The Fieldfare is so well known that a very 

 general description of it will be sufficient. The 

 hides are hazel-brown ; the beak dark horn at the 

 tip, base yellow ; the head and neck, as well as the 

 rump and upper tail-coverts, bluish grey ; there is a 

 streak of light buff over the eye; back, scapulars 

 and wing-coverts reddish brown, some of the feathers 

 slightly tipped with bluish grey ; throat and breast 

 rich buff, streaked and spotted with black; belly 

 white, spotted on the sides with black ; under tail- 



* ' Zoologist ' for 1865, p. 9534. 



f ' Notes on the Ornithology of Norway,' by Hewitson, 

 Magazine of Zoology and Botany, vol. ii., p. 309. 



