20S 



CASSELL'S BOOK OF BIRDS. 



These birds mostly live and breed in the extensive birch forests that abound in Northern 

 Europe, and usually make their appearance in the central portions of that continent late in the 

 autumn, rarely wandering as far as its extreme south. They generally appear in Great Britain in 

 large flocks about March, when, should the season permit, they at once spread themselves over the 

 fields in every direction in search of insects, or if these have all disappeared, seek the berries that 

 constitute their principal food in our hedges and gardens. But should the weather prove so 

 exceptionally cold as to deprive them of the latter means of support, they are compelled to wander 

 still farther south, returning, however, to Great Britain again before the end of the winter. Under 

 ordinary circumstances, they remain with us till May, and have occasionally been known to breed in 

 Yorkshire, Kent, and some parts of Scotland. Mr. Hewitson thus describes the habits of the 



THE SONG THRUSH (Turdus musicus). 



Fieldfare when preparing its nest :— "After a long ramble through some very thick woods, our 

 attention was attracted by the harsh cries of several birds, which we at first supposed to be Shrikes, 

 but which afterwards proved to be Fieldfares. 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 the 

 genus Turdus with which we are acquainted — breeding in society. Their nests were at various 

 heights from the ground, from four feet to thirty or forty feet, or upwards ; 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 resemble most 

 nearly those of the Ring Ouzel ; the outside is composed of sticks and coarse grass and weeds, 

 gathered wet, matted with a small quantity of clay, and lined with a thick bed of fine dry grass. 

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



