2 
FIELDFARE. 
of Ci.ht «■ nine Fieldfares were notieed near Rin.ey (a few miles east of Penzance) flying towards 
““ TnSrrfrom tire information gained from tire Ilght-sirips, there is little donht 
of September and tiro end of April Fieldfares must be perpetually crossing the North Sea, either to o i 
our coasts. While shooting in the east of Norfolk in 1872 I made the following entry m my notes r- 
November 27. Heavy gale of wind from the south-west. Scarcely possible to work punts on the open 
broad, being almost swamped by the spray. Figeons and Fieldfares in immense numbers coiitinued flying 
west during the greater part of the day ; with the last of the light they were still passing over. It is probable 
that the whole of these birds were migrants from the north of Europe. On making inquiries of the 
light-ships shortly after, I received the wings of two or three Fieldfares taken on board the ‘ Lynn Well ’ 
during the last week in November. From April 1S73 till the end of May two birds were taken on each 
of the vessels—' Lynn Well,’ ‘ Hasbro’,’ and ‘ Newarp.’ 
In January 18G7 immense flights of Fieldfares passed from east to west for several consecutive days : 
though the frost was severe and the wind bitter from the north-west, the travellers appeared to suffer but 
little from the effects of cold and hunger. The storms early in December 1874 greatly reduced this hardy 
species, numbers being found dead after the breaking up of the frost. The mortality during this gale was, 
however, slight compared with the terrible losses inflicted on all our small feathered visitors hy the hurricane 
of January 18, 1881. While shooting in Pevensey level, at the time of the heavy storm of January 1867, I 
noticed Fieldfares on several occasions basking in the interior of the wreaths of snow that had formed 
round and, in some instances, over the thorn-hushes alongside of the marsh-dykes. When the sun struck 
down warm the birds were often to be seen stretching themselves out towards its rays, their snug snow 
shelter open towards the south affording protection from the cutting north-west wind. As a rule, large 
bodies of Fieldfares do not show themselves with the first fall of snow ; the less hardy birds, such as 
Larks, Thrushes, and Blackbirds, are the advanced guard of the approaching hosts. 
I have never seen it mentioned that this species roosts among the stems of the reed {Thragmites 
communis). In March 1871 I put up on two occasions large flocks of these birds, which, in company 
with Redwings, had taken up their quarters for the night in the large reed-beds at Somerton Broad, in the 
east of Norfolk. 
In parts of the eastern counties I occasionally heard Fieldfares termed “ Felts,” though hy far the 
commonest name for this species among the country people of the east of Norfolk is the “ Fulfer ” or “ Jay 
Fulfer. M hite or pied varieties of the Fieldfare are by no means so frejquently recorded as those of many 
other species ; [1, however, clearly identified and closely examined by means of the glasses a very fine 
specimen, perfectly white, which resorted for a couple of days to the marshes adjoining the river Adur, 
between Shoreham and Deeding, during the severe weather of January 1870. 
