TURDIDAE—THRUSHES.
73
breaking trucks down the incline on to the quay, a distance of half-a-mile. This
van, when not in use, is kept at the top of the incline, but it is left on the quay
daily for several hours, during which time it is shunted about various sidings.
On the beam underneath the floor of the van, a pair of Thrushes have built their
nest and laid three eggs. About two years since a Blackbird and his mate built
their nest in the same place and hatched their young " (see p. 74).
Redwing : Turdus iliacus.
A common winter visitor, especially abundant in severe winters.
Mr. Buxton says (47. 85) :—
" Large numbers roost in the denser thickets [in Epping Forest] during
hard winters, especially when there is a good supply of holly and other
berries. At sunset they come trooping in from all quarters, and sweep round
the trees in graceful flight before settling down for the night in the lower brush-
wood."
Henry Doubleday, writing to Mr. Heysham in Nov., 1831, says (10): "I
have now alive a Redwing I got last January, and in August it moulted ; but
instead of the usual colours, it has become a perfect black."
Fieldfare: Turdus pilaris. Locally, " Felf," " Felfer," "Jack-
bird," " Pigeon-felt " (E.A.F.) and " Felty-fere " (E.A.F.)
A common winter visitor, especially during severe seasons, some-
times remaining until the
beginning or middle of
May. It usually arrives
about the middle of Sep-
tember, but the Rev. G.
H. Raynor records seeing
a flock of twenty-five at
Woodham Mortimer on
September 6th, 1880, a
date so unusually early as
to suggest the idea that the
birds seen were Mistle

Thrushes (29. Oct. 2.).
FIELDFARE, 1/4
(After Bewick.)
Writing from Epping in July, 1834, Henry Doubleday says (10): "The
Fieldfare stopped here very late. I saw vast flocks on the 10th and 11th of May."
The following spring was very late and cold, and they seem to have again stayed
late, as Doubleday writes that they "remained in vast flocks until the third
week in May." On April 15th, 1888, I saw a flock of twenty at Good Easter.
Mr. Grubb says (39) that it " continues with us [at Sudbury] very late in the
spring, and is sometimes seen in the middle of May." In 1843, it remained
at Layer Marney until almost the end of May (Rev. John Atkinson—23. 355).
Mr. Joseph Clarke, writing (24) of the neighbourhood of Saffron Walden about
1845, says that it is " more or less common most seasons." He also notes the
occurrence of a specimen in very dark plumage at Debden on April 28th, 1839.
There is also in the Museum at Saffron Walden a curious variety of this species,
shot at that place many years ago. The whole of the head and the upper part of