Mill. 

 TURDUS PILARIS, (linn.) 



Fieldfare. 



The great difficulty of obtaining the eggs of those British 

 bii'ds which resort to other countries to breed, had determined 

 me to pay a visit for that j)urpose to the north of Norway. — 

 It was, therefore, with peculiar interest that I watched the 

 prolonged stay of the Fieldfare in our own country, weeks 

 after the Blackbirds and Thrushes had commenced nidifica- 

 tion. It was not until the end of April that the last of them 

 took their departure from our island. In a few days after- 

 wards, on the 14th of May, we enjoyed the pleasure of again 

 seeing them in their own wild native woods, engaged so soon 

 after their arrival, in all the bustle of preparation for the pro- 

 duction of other colonies, to visit us in future winters. We 

 had, during a long ramble through those almost impassable 

 woods, met with many nests of a previous summer, which we 

 supposed must have been once tenanted by the birds of which 

 we were in search ; and after having climbed many a tree to 

 no purpose, were returning home disappointed, when our 

 attention was attracted by the harsh cries of several birds, 

 which we at first supposed must be Shrikes, but which after- 

 wards proved to be Fieldfares, anxiously watching over their 

 newly established dwellings, we were soon delighted by the 

 discovery of several of their nests, and were surprised to find 

 them (so contrary to the habits of other species of tne genus 

 Turdus, with which we are acquainted) breeding in society. 

 Their nests were at various heights from the ground, from 

 four to thirty, or forty feet or upwards, mixed with old ones 

 of the preceding 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 resem . 



