VERTEBRATE ANIMALS OF LEICESTERSHIRE. 335 
quite dark. Although some of them alighted in the tall ivy-clad 
trees overhead, they flew down to the ground at the first 
opportunity, where they rested in thick bushes close to the 
ground. I had previously, in the daytime, observed the ground 
covered thickly under these bushes with their droppings, and 
conclude that (as White and Harley state of the Fieldfare) this 
species roosts close to the ground. 
Turdus pilaris, Linn. Fieldfare (local name, “ Felt,” “ Felty- 
fare,’ or ‘‘ Pigeon-Felt.”).—A winter migrant, generally distri- 
buted in Leicestershire, appearing about the middle of October, 
and usually leaving at the end of March or beginning of April, or 
even later should the weather be severe. Mr. Macaulay has ob- 
served it as late as May 10th, and Mr. H.S. Davenport once saw 
five near Skeffington Vale on May 12th, 1879. Contrary to the well- 
known habits of its congeners, as remarked by Harley, quoting 
White, it roosts at night-time on the ground in such places as 
holms and scaurs, where tall grass and rushes prevail. Although 
there is no evidence of this bird nesting in the county, Mr. J. H. 
Ellis, writing in ‘The Zoologist’ for 1864 (p. 9248), states that “On 
the 29th of July, 1864, a Fieldfare, T'urdus pilaris, was shot in 
the garden of Mr. H. R. Hurst, The Oaks, near Kirby Muxloe, 
Leicestershire. The bird had been about the garden during the 
summer.” 
Turdus merula, Linn. Blackbird.—Resident and commonly 
distributed, breeding even in gardens close to or within the town 
of Leicester. In 1884 I heard Blackbirds singing, together with 
Thrushes, on Jan. 2nd. Harley occasionally met with its nest on 
the ground, and once saw a nest containing five eggs which had 
been found on the crest and within the flower-stalks of a turnip, 
several yards from any fence or hedge. Mr. H.S. Davenport reports 
that in May, 1879, a Blackbird built its nest in some thick ivy on 
the wall adjoining the stable-yard at Skeffington Rectory, in which 
she laid six eggs, all of which were hatched, and the young fled. 
Shortly afterwards five more eggs were deposited in the same nest, 
and were also successfully hatched off. In July, 1885, a cock 
and hen Blackbird continued to feed their young in a cage after 
their removal in a nest from one side of a summer-house to the 
other. Two pied varieties are in the Leicester Museum. 
Turdus torquatus, Linn, Ring Ouzel.—Rarely observed, but 
is said to breed in the county. In Potter’s ‘History of 
