330 THE FIELDFARE. 



plant that they have been called by its name. Insects of various kinds, caterpillars, and 

 spiders also, form part of the Missel Thrush's diet, and a partly digested lizard has been 

 found in the interior of one of these birds. 



The song of the Missel Thrush is rich, loud, clear, and ringing, and is often uttered 

 during the stormiest period of the year, the bird seeming to prefer the roughest and most 

 inclement weather for the exercise of its voice. 



Few birds have been known under such a variety of names as this species, its title 

 seeming to vary in different parts of Britain according to the locality. For example, in 

 allusion to its habit of singing during stormy weather, it is known in many places by the 

 name of Storm-cock ; in some counties it goes under the name of Holm Thrush, in 

 others it is confounded with the shrikes and called the Butcher-bird, while in others 

 it is actually termed the Jay. This curious misnomer holds good in several parts of 

 Ireland as well as in England, and I was once rather victimized by its adoption. In the 

 year 1849-50 I was engaged in collecting the eggs of the Wiltshire birds, and hearing 

 from a rustic that the " Jay-pie" built in the neighbourhood, I offered him a small sum 

 for every Jay-pie's egg brought to me unbroken. In a few days the lad came with two 

 hats filled with the eggs of the Missel Thrush, expecting and receiving the stipulated 

 sum for each egg. After that experience, I always made the narrator describe the bird 

 before I commissioned him to procure its eggs. 



The colouring of this bird is briefly as follows : The upper parts of the body are a 

 warm reddish brown, excepting the wings, where the brown is of a more sober hue. The 

 upper surface of the tail is also brown, excepting a patch or two of greyish white upon 

 the outer webs of several of the tail-feathers. The under surface of the body is yellowish 

 white, covered thickly with jetty black spots, triangular on the neck and throat, and round 

 on the chest and abdomen. In total length the bird measures very nearly a foot. 



ANOTHEE large example of the British Thrushes is found in the FIELDFARE. 



This bird is one of the migratory species, making only a winter visit to this country, 

 and often meeting a very inhospitable reception from the gun of the winter sportsboy. 

 Very seldom is it seen in this country till November, and is often absent until the cold 

 month of December, when it makes its appearance in great flocks, searching eagerly for 

 food over the fields. At this period of the year they are very wild, and can with difficulty 

 be approached within gunshot, as I have often experienced in my younger days. I well 

 remember " stalking " a little troop of these birds for several hours, being induced to do 

 so by their extreme shyness, and at last securing one of them by pushing the gun through 

 a drain-hole in an old stone wall, getting rather an uncertain aim through the dried grass 

 stems, and sending the shot within an inch or two of the ground. When the snow lies 

 heavily upon the fields, this bird betakes itself to the hedgerows and outskirts of woods 

 and copses, and there feeds on the various berries that have survived the autumn. During 

 this inclement season, the Fieldfare may be approached and shot without much difficulty. 

 Their shyness, however, depends greatly on the amount of persecution which they have 

 sustained. 



Although they collect in large flocks, the different individuals always keep themselves 

 rather aloof from their fellows, but as night approaches they close together, and 

 nestle in companies among the hedges or brushwood. They generally remain in this 

 country until May or June, seldom, however, prolonging their stay to the latter period. 

 In this land they have not been observed to build, but in the northern parts of Europe, 

 such as Norway and Sweden, their nesting is really extraordinary. A very excellent 

 account of the nidification of these birds is given by Mr. Hewitson. His attention was 

 aroused by the loud shrieking cries of several birds, " which we at first supposed must be 

 shrikes, but which afterwards proved to be Fieldfares, anxiously watching over their newly- 

 established dwellings. 



We were coon delighted by the discovery of several of their nests, and were surprised 

 to find them (so contrary to the habits of other species of Turdus with which we are 

 acquainted) herding in society. Their nests were at various heights from the ground, 

 from four feet to thirty or forty feet or upwards, mixed with old ones of the preceding 



