162 



THE FIELDFARE (Turdus pilaris). 



Flocks of Fieldfares were noticed during January at Felsted (Essex), 

 Ackworth (Yorkshire), in Warwickshire and North Wiltshire. From 

 the 1st to the 6th of February birds of this species were numerous in the 

 neighbourhood of Felsted, but no other moTement was recorded during 

 that month, though from the end of the month till the 9th of March 

 a few flocks seem to hare passed near Cambridge. During March the 

 only records received from the west were those of a single bird, procured 

 at Bardsey Light (Carnarvonshire) on February 28th/March 1st, and of 

 small parties seen in Monmouthshire during the middle of March, and at 

 Dowdon (Cheshire) at the end of the month, but in other parts of the 

 country Fieldfares were assembling in large flocks, numbers being re- 

 ported from Tenterden (Kent) on the 22nd, Felsted from the 1st to the 

 15th, Otterburn (Northumberland) on the 16th, Fakenham (Suffolk) 

 on the 19th, Bedfordshire on the 24th, and Loughborough (Leicester- 

 shire) on the 26th. 



At the beginning of April a general movement set in throughout the 

 country, which lasted up to the end of the month, though it was scarcely 

 noticed in the south of England. On the east coast small parties of 

 Fieldfares were noted at Spurn Head Light (Yorkshire) on the 9th, and 

 during the next few days considerable numbers were reported from 

 Fakenham, Hickling (Norfolk), Cromer (Norfolk), and Normanby (Lin- 

 colnshire), while at the end of the month there was an influx at Spurn 

 Head. About the same time small flocks were passing the coasts of 

 Lancashire and Wales, but the movement was more marked inland, large 

 numbers being recorded from Neston (Cheshire) between the 7th and 

 and 10th, Ulverstone (Lancashire) on the 13th, Oswestry (Shropshire) 

 from the 1st to the 8th, and Shrewsbury (Shropshire) on the 15th and 

 16th, whilst observers reported that Fieldfares were gathering in large 

 flocks in Yorkshire, Berkshire, Middlesex and Surrey. The only 

 southern light-records were one of a small number at the Caskets Light 

 (Channel Islands) on the 24th/25th of April, and of a single bird at the 

 same light on the 6th/7th of May. 



By the end of April the height of the migration was over, but 

 stragglers were observed in Breconshire and at Cheltenham (Gloucester- 

 shire) on the 2nd of May and at Spurn Head Light on the 4th/5th ; a large 

 flork was observed in the Eden Valley (Cumberland) on the 4th, and a 

 single bird was taken at the Skerries Light (Anglesey) on the 9th/10th. 



THE BLACKBIRD (Turdus menila). 

 The records of this species with but few exceptions came from the 



light-stations and were practically confined to the months of February 



and March ; when the nights were bright, there was an almost entire 



absence of returns. 



On the east coast large numbers of Blackbirds were observed at Spurn 



Head Light (Yorkshire) on the 12th of January, but after that date, with 



