unimportant difference of the Irish one being the deeper in tint, owing, it may be presumed, either to its being killed sooner after moult, or being less exposed to the sun and weather than the Nepal bird. The mere disagreement in size between them is not, I consider, of any specific consequence -, but the discrepancy in the relative length of the quill feathers to each other may be so considered, should it prove to be a permanent character.
THE FIELDFARE.
Blue Pigeon, or Big Pelt.
Turdus pilaris, Linn.
Is a regular winter visitant.
Appearing generally in the north towards the end of October or beginning of November. In 1840, they did not arrive at the Ealls, near Belfast, until the 9th of November, on the morning of which day a flock was seen there by Wm. Sinclaire, Esq., at a great height in the air, coming from a north-easterly direction : this gentleman is of opinion that in the course of the preceding moon- light night, they may have come in one flight direct from Norway. The first redwings of the season made their appearance at the Ealls, under precisely similar circumstances, after a fine moonlight night a month before. So early as the 24th of September, 1 847, I saw a small flock of fieldfares at Holywood House (co. of Down) and a larger flock of redwings ; they were quite separate. The first arrival of the fieldfare in the county of Wexford has been noted in different years from the 20th of September to the 2nd of November.* Mr. Macgillivray mentions its appearing in "the northern and eastern parts of Britain" (vol. ii. p. 108) at the end of October or beginning of November. Sir Wm. Jardine, writing from Dumfries-shire, remarks, that "its time of arrival is late in November" (vol. ii.-p. 81). I am assured by Mr. Eichard Langtry that early in September, 1838, he raised two or three fieldfares from among juniper bushes, at Aberarder, Inverness- shire. On the 28th of September, 1843, I saw several of these
Poole.
