FIELDFARE —Tiirdus pilaris. 



year. They were, for the most part, placed against the trunk of the spruce fir ; some were, 

 however, at a considerable distance from it, upon the upper surface, and towards the 

 smaller end of the thicker branches. They resembled most nearly those of the ring 

 ouzel. The outside is composed of sticks and coarse grasses, and weeds gathered wet, matted 

 together with a small quantity of clay, and lined with a thick bed of fine long grass. 

 None of them yet contained more than three eggs, although we afterwards found that five 

 was more commonly the number than four, and even six was very frequent. They are very 

 similar to those of the blackbird, and even more so to the ring ouzel. 



The Fieldfare is the most abundant bird in Norway, and is generally diffused over that 

 part which we visited ; building, as already noticed, in societies ; two hundred nests or 

 more being frequently seen within a very small space." 



In their general aspect, the nests are not unlike those of the blackbird, and the eggs 

 are of a light blue ground colour, covered with dark reddish-brown mottlings. Although 

 the bird is essentially a winter visitant to this country, there are seasons which are too 

 cold and stormy even for this hardy bird. In the year 1798, there was a terrible 

 and lengthened storm of sleet, wind, and snow, which killed thousands of the Fieldfares, 



