FIELDFARE. 
85 
pointed, when our attention was attracted by the 
harsh cries of several birds, which we at first 
supposed must be thrushes, but which afterwards 
proved to. be Fieldfares, anxiously watching over 
their newly established dwellings. We were soon 
delighted by the discovery of several of their 
nests, and were surprised to find them breeding 
in society. Their nests were at various heights 
from the ground, from four to thirty or forty 
feet or upwards, mixed with old ones of the pre- 
ceding year : 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-ousel. The outside is composed 
of sticks and coarse grass, and weeds, gathered 
wet, matted together with a small quantity of 
clay, and lined with a thick bed of fine dry grass. 
The eggs are from four to six in number, and in 
colour closely resemble those of the blackbird or 
ring-ousel. Two hundred nests or more were 
frequently within a small space.” 
During the last year, (1837,) one or two notices 
have appeared in Charlesworth’s Magazine of 
Natural History, of the Fieldfare having bred in 
Scotland ; but with every wish to pay deference 
to the discrimination and accuracy of the writer, 
we cannot help still feeling a little sceptical as 
to the fact ; and it would be most satisfactory 
if, during the ensuing summer, he would secure 
a specimen or two of the old birds, and of their 
