OBIGINAL SKETCHES OF BRITISH BIBDS. 11 



too wary for me, and just as it took wing, it again uttered that 

 well-known laughing cackle, somewhat more briskly this time, 

 which I have noticed is a common habit of the species on the 

 moment of taking flight. I admit that I was "let down," so to 

 say, very courteously in ' The Vertebrate Animals of Leicester- 

 shire and Rutland,' but there is no getting away from the fact 

 that my note therein is immediately followed by a reference to 

 the Mistle-Thrush being frequently mistaken by sportsmen for 

 an early arrival of the Fieldfare, so I can draw my own 

 conclusions. 



In the second case, I wrote as follows to ' The Field ' : " On 

 the afternoon of Oct. 3rd I heard, saw, and could have shot (as 

 the one closely pursued the other) two Fieldfares " ; and the 

 Editor appended the following note : " Although it would not be 

 exceptionally early for Fieldfares to arrive, the action described 

 points with more probability to the birds in question being 

 Mistle-Thrushes, and the more so because there were only two 

 of them instead of a small flock." This was rebuff number two. 



The latest date I recollect seeing Fieldfares staying in this 

 country was on May 12th, 1879. On that morning I walked 

 within gunshot of a cluster of five which were winging their way 

 northwards, and had settled for a few moments on the top of a 

 lofty poplar. With regard to the bird seen on Sept. 2nd, 1878, 

 was it a pioneer of others to follow, or was it one that had been 

 wounded and passed the summer with us ? At all events, there 

 seemed nothing wrong with its flight or general appearance when 

 I was gazing at it. 



I have found this species roosting in tall thick hedges, but 

 generally on the ground, and frequently in the furrows in the 

 open fields, for I have two or three times walked nearly on to the 

 top of them after 10 p.m. on dark nights; they cannot even then 

 resist a chuckle when thus disturbed. I think, though, the more 

 common roosting-place is on the ground in small woods and 

 plantations, and, after wheeling about for some time in a flock, 

 first alighting on one tall tree and then taking a flight and 

 settling on another, they will finally descend on the point of dusk 

 to the lower trees, — ash-pole spinneys being especially favoured 

 haunts at this hour. After resting for a few moments in the 

 branches, the birds drop silently down in quick succession to the 



