after our Blackbirds and Thruslies luad commenced their nidification. It was not until the end of April 
that the last of them took their departure from our neighbourhood. In a few days afterwards, on the 14th 
of May, we enjoyed the pleasure of again seeing them in their own wild native woods, engaged so early 
after their arrival in all the bustle of preparation for the production of other colonies to visit us in future 
years. We had been out all day, rambling through those almost impassable forests ; and after having climbed 
many a tree to no purpose — to nests of the previous summer, which we supposed must have once been 
tenanted by the birds of which we were in search — were returning home, weary and disappointed, when 
suddenly the monotonous silence was broken by the loud harsh cries of a colony of Fieldfares, which, alarmed 
at our approach, were anxiously watching over their newly established dwellings. We very soon forgot our 
toils in the delight which we experienced at the discovery of several of their nests, and were surprised to 
find them, so contrary to the habits of the rest of the genus with which we are acquainted, breeding in 
society. Their nests (two hundred or upwards of which were found within a small circle in the forest) were 
at various heights above the ground, from four to thirty or forty feet or upwards, and mixed with old ones 
of the preceding summer : they were, for the most part, placed against the trunk of the spruce-fir tree ; 
some were, however, at a considerable distance from it, towards the smaller end of the thicker branches. 
They resemble most nearly those of the Ring-Ouzel : 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. None of them yet contained more than three eggs, although we afterwards found that five were 
more commonly the number than four, and that even six were very frequent. They are very similar to those 
of the Blackbird, and even more so to those of the Ring-Ouzel and the Redwing, but do not vary so much ; 
indeed so closely do the eggs of the four species resemble each other, that a drawing of one would suffice 
for all. They are all so closely freckled throughout, that the colour of the freckles predominates ; they all 
have a variety in which the ground-colour is most seen, the red-brown spots being larger and much more 
sparingly sprinkled.” 
Speaking of the bird in Lapland, Mr. Wheelwright says : — “The Fieldfare was, next to theBrambling, the 
commonest bird in these forests, and its hoarse laughing cackle followed us wherever we went in the fir- 
forest ; and I never saw the Fieldfare breeding anywhere else. It did not breed here in colonies ; for 
although the nests are seldom far apart, we never found two in the same tree. I think no Thrush’s egg 
is subject to so much variation as the egg of the Fieldfare; and it would be almost Impossible to describe 
it better than that it much resembles that of the Blackbird, but is usually more highly coloured. We took 
our first nest on the 25th of May, and our last on the 7th of July, at which time some of the young were 
able to fly.” 
Mr. H. E. Dresser Informs me that he “ found a nest just outside the town of Uleaborg, on the I3th June, 
1861, containing seven eggs ; and another close to it, containing five. So many as seven are, I believe, seldom 
found in one nest.” 
Desirous, like Mr. Hewitson, to see the Fieldfare in its native woods, I proceeded to Norway, for this and 
other reasons, in the year 1856, accompanied by Mr. Wolf. We found the bird breeding on the Dovrefjeld in 
abundance, and the only difference from Mr. Hewltson’s description which we noticed was that all the nests 
we saw were placed among the stunted birch-trees ; but this was doubtless due to the circumstance of our 
being far above the pine-forests. 
The summer dress of the Fieldfare is much darker in all its tints, particularly on the breast, and richer in 
colour in every respect than during its sojourn in this country. The sexes are alike in colour at both seasons. 
In the young the bill is very much swollen at the gape, and nearly white, blending into purplish brown 
towards the tip ; the tarsi and toes are also purplish brow'n ; and the inside of the mouth brilliant yellow ; like 
young Thrushes, they have also very distinct triangular spots of brown on the abdomen. In confirmation of 
what I have said as to the Fieldfare occasionally staying very late in this country, I may mention that 
John Box, Esq., of White Place, near Maidenhead, allowed his keeper to shoot the fine examples from 
which my figures were made on the 19th of April 1864. 
Besides the countries above mentioned, the Fieldfare frequents all parts of Europe, goes as far south in 
winter as the Atlas range in Africa, and is also found at the same season in Asia Minor and the northern 
parts of Persia. 
The figures on the accompanying Plate, and the nest, are all of the natural size. 
