Birds and Birding's Guide to:

Watching THE SPARROW-LIKE BIRDS

THE SONG BIRDS

THE THRUSHES

Nesting Ground Thrushes

During the nesting season it apparently recognizes the protection afforded by the proximity to human habitations and is there fairly tame; but when the young are reared they congregate in flocks of a dozen to fifty or more and become very shy and difficult to approach. Their food in summer consists largely of insects, worms, snails, etc., but in winter they subsist on berries of the mistletoe, yew, service trees, and such insects as they chance to get. They mate early, usually the first part of February, and soon set about nest building, placing the bulky Robin-like nest in a tree, usually at some distance from the ground, and deposit four or five eggs, which are reddish gray or brownish olive spotted with chocolate. They are silent at this season unless disturbed, when they become clamorous and vigorous in the defense of their treasures, not hesitating to attack birds of large size; two or three broods are reared in a season. The Mistletoe Thrush is one of the few birds that sings during the winter and in the most inclement weather,”and it is this habit,”says Hudson,”and something in the wild and defiant character of the song, heard above the tumult of nature, which has won for him the proud name of Storm-cock.”Fieldfare. — One of the commonest Thrushes of the north is the Fieldfare (T. pilaris), which in summer occurs from the Atlantic as far east as Yenisei valley in Siberia, coming south in winter to Turkestan on the east and North Africa on the west, being especially abundant in Great Britain at this season. It is gregarious all the year round, often occurring in immense flocks during the migrations which are performed at night. It breeds in scattered colonies, usually placing the nest in low trees such as fir trees and birches, constructing it of grasses, pine twigs, and moss, with a shell of mud and an inner lining of fine grass; the four or five eggs are greenish blue spotted with reddish brown. The young at first are quite tame, but they soon become shy and in their winter homes are usually seen in fields and meadows if the ground is bare of snow, otherwise they repair to hedges and shrubbery, where they feed upon hips and haws. Their ordinary note is loud and harsh, but in summer they have a lower, rather indifferent song which is generally uttered while the birds are on the wing. In color the Fieldfare has the head and neck ashy gray, the back and wing-coverts chestnut-brown, and the throat and chin yellow streaked with black, while the lower parts are reddish brown spotted with black.

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