204 
It is a winter visitor to Turkestan and Central Asia. Russow met with it at Tschinas (Pleske, 
Mém. Acad. Imp. Pétersb. (7) xxxvi. p. 7), and the brothers Grum-Grzimailo at Morgol and 
Schao-Wan (id. Mél. Biol. xiii. p. 292). Przevalski procured specimens on the Saissan River and in 
Western Zaidam in December, and at Saissansk in March (Pleske, Wissensch. Result. Przev, Zool, 
ii. Vóg. p. 6). 
According to Jerdon the Fieldfare has once been procured at Simla in the North-western 
Himalayas, and a specimen said to be from Saharunpur, formerly in the India Museum, is now 
in the British Museum. Dr. Leith Adams says that the species was common in the oak- and 
pine-forests of. Cashmere; but I think there must have been some mistake in the identification, as 
no other collector has met with the Fieldfare in Cashmere, nor was it noticed by Colonel Biddulph 
nor by Dr. Scully at Gilgit. 
In its breeding-haunts in Scandinavia the Fieldfare is a bird of every-day observation, 
and its presence is easily discovered by the harsh alarm-note which the bird utters when its domain 
is intruded upon. І have found the nest in all kinds of places in Norway, the birds generally 
building in colonies in the lower valleys, especially in the small clumps of birch-trees which form 
spinneys near some of the farms; but on the higher grounds, in the birch-forests which clothe the 
mountains up to the tree-limit, the colonies are very small and generally consist of four or five 
pairs within a small area of wood, while still more often a solitary couple take up their abode and 
build their nest without any companions near. On the fjelds, before the saeters are occupied for 
the summer by the cows and the dairy-maids, the Fieldfares have the land to themselves, and 
build in the most exposed and often absurd situations. Where a solitary рше-шее stands in a 
birch-wood, it is almost certain to be selected by a pair of Fieldfares as a nesting-home, and this 
is especially the case in the higher birch-woods not far below the snow-line. I have more than 
once been surprised to find an isolated pair of Fieldfares nesting at a quite unexpected height in 
the mountains without any other sign of bird-life near; but, then, to a creature of such strong flight a 
few hundred feet on a mountain side mean nothing, and one may often see a Fieldfare crossing high 
in the air, from one side of a valley to the other. Хо nest is easier to find than that of the present 
species, for even if it be a little way off the path and liable to escape detection, the angry alarm-notes 
of the parent birds are sure to indicate its vicinity; and when there is a colony, the noise they make 
is quite remarkable, as they utter their harsh notes of expostulation at the intruder, who, however, if 
he be an English ornithologist, will be enjoying, perhaps for the first time in his life, an opportunity 
of studying this fine bird at close quarters. Nothing could have been more interesting than my first 
acquaintance with the Fieldfare іп its nesting-haunts in Norway. А thick mist had enveloped our 
party as we approached the farm-house on the mountains where we were to spend the night, arriving 
there six hours behind our appointed time and finding all the family in bed. The bustle of 
unpacking our luggage and stabling the ponies woke to life the House-Martins, Pied Flycatchers, 
and other inhabitants of the homestead ; but the noise of our arrival seemed to be resented most by 
the Fieldfares, who lived in a small wood behind the farm-house, and through the rest of the night, 
whenever І awoke, I could hear the “ chuck ” or the harsh challenge so familar to our ears in winter, 
uttered by the birds in the adjoining trees. These cries became more intense when the sun rose, 
aud a few of the birds commenced to sing a few notes, of no great beauty or variety, and sufficient 
to prove that the Fieldfare is not much of a songster. While breakfast was being got ready, I 
wandered into the little birch-grove, and was immediately the centre of attraction to the whole 
colony of Fieldfares. Nests were in every other tree, and all contained eggs, по doubt by this 
time (June 13th) highly incubated, but no young birds. In the centre of the wood was a solitary 
dead pine, on whose naked arms the Fieldfares perched, peering down at me in every attitude of 
conceivable grace, and I never saw anything which pleased me more than this my first experience 
