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which hang in such tempting clusters from almost every twig. It is difficult to say when these trees 
look best—in the spring, when they look almost as white as the driven snow, and their delicate 
foliage shines like emeralds, or in the winter, when their rich red fruit sets off the leafless branches. 
Under the trees the berries lie in all directions, for the birds drop or knock off almost as many 
as they eat; and the stones are ever falling as they are dexterously shelled out by the feeding 
birds above. Тһе Fieldfare's summer food consists of insects, worms, caterpillars, and grubs, 
and, on its arrival at its breeding-grounds in high latitudes, of the various moorland berries that are 
preserved by the snows of winter. 
“Although the Fieldfare warbles occasionally during its winter sojourn amongst us, still its 
love-song is only heard amongst the wild scenery of its northern haunts. About the end of April or 
the first week in May the Fieldfare quits the British shores for the north ; and upon its arrival its 
love-song commences. This bird is not a free singer at all; and his song is for the most part 
confined to the pairing-season. It is often commenced when the bird is on the wing—a wild 
desultory warble, which he often supplements on his perch by notes reminding one of the peculiar 
chatter of the Starling. From all parts of the forest the birds are heard to sing; and their wild 
carols break the stillness of the daily lessening arctic twilight. Ву many persons the Fieldfare is 
thought to be a songless bird; others speak but poorly of his musical attainments. But the former 
have evidently missed the season of the bird's melody; and the others have possibly been too much 
accustomed to more ambitious songsters to do justice to his simple strains. Тһе Fieldfare's love- 
song is a pleasant addition to the thousands of songsters that make the Arctic summer so gay and 
lively. The call or alarm-note of the Fieldfare is a sharp chattering cry—a kind of laughing cackle 
—several times repeated, and uttered most frequently during the breeding-season; and in the winter 
it is often heard to utter a low guttural warble, usually at roosting-time. 
“ The Fieldfare builds its nest in the branches of the birch, the alder, or the pine at various 
elevations from the ground. Sometimes, though rarely, it is placed in outhouses, in situations 
similar to those which our own Blackbird would choose, or in heaps of rubbish or low bushes only a 
foot or so from the earth. Nesting-operations usually commence about the third week in Мау; and 
eggs may be obtained from that date up to the first week in July. This bird is very irregular in 
breeding. You may not unfrequently take young birds and newly laid eggs from the same colony. 
The nest is very similar to the Blackbird's or the Ring-Ouzel's in construction and materials. Тһе 
outside is made of coarse dry grass, with sometimes a few birch-twigs or a little moss interwoven, 
then plastered with mud and finally lined with a thick bed of fine grass. The eggs are from four to 
six in number, and, in rare instances, as many as seven or as few as three. None of our British 
Thrushes' eggs vary so widely as do the eggs of the Fieldfare. Тһе average type of the egg is bluish 
green in ground-colour, thickly marbled, speckled, and blotched over the entire surface with rich 
reddish brown, the spots being the densest on the larger end, in fact resembling a very handsome 
Blackbird's egg. Some varieties are pale greenish, with the spots and streaks distributed equally 
over the whole surface and very pale and indistinct, like the duller eggs of the Blackbird; in others 
the egg is paler in ground-colour, but thickly and boldly blotched with reddish brown, like typical 
eggs of the Ring-Ouzel; while yet, again, specimens are more rarely met with almost as blue as 
those of the Song-Thrush, and with but one or two streaks of liver-brown on the larger end. 
They vary in length from 1:35 to 1:02 inch, and in breadth from "9 to 7 inch. When their nests 
are approached the birds often become very noisy and behave like Mistle-Thrushes, flying round the 
head of the intruder, and endeavouring to drive him away from their haunt. This conduct is more 
noticeable should the nests contain young birds; but their constitutional shyness soon prevails over 
their parental instincts, and before you have climbed your second tree, all trace of the Fieldfares 
has vanished, except the sound of their tsak, tsak in the distance, 
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