without such manifestations of its preseucu ; hut why these no.s, calls are uttered ■ by no means clear,
that they are emitted both when danger is near and when there is no cause for apprehemuon, I am certain.
At this season the bird again hecomes vigorous and bold, his flight is now dashing, and Ins turns into the
hedge or among the glades of the copse are quick, bustling, and determined.
The Blackbird being a more stationary species than the Thrush, seldom removes from the garden or the
wood in which it has taken up its abode. Great numbers occasionally arrive from the continent about the
time of the coming of the Fieldfare. Whether these migrants do or do not leave our island again when the
great vernal movement takes place among birds is somewhat uncertain.
To describe the nest and eggs of so common a bird is, in my opinion, so much use ess writing; they have
been described over and over again, from the time of Gilbert White to the popular ‘ History of British
Birds ’ by the Rev. C. A. Johns. Almost in every cottage garden the nest may be seen ; and an examination
of its'greasy lining will be sufficient to distinguish it from the clay-plastered nest of the Thrush, ju st as its
freckled olive eggs differ from those of that species. • „
Macgillivray, speaking of its food, states that in winter it j consists principally o f snails, especially
Helix mpersa and H. nemoralh, the shells of which it breaks by raising them in its bill and dashing them
against a stone or other hard surface; it also occasionally breaks them by pecking against the spire, where
the shell is much thinner. Like many other birds, however, its food is much varied. Thus in the stomach
of one I found a great number o f seeds and bosks o f Graminea, including wheat and o a ts ; in that of another,
coleopterous insects ; in that of a third, coleoptera and seeds o f various k in d s ; in that of a fourth, mollusca
and fragments of shells; in that of a fifth, seeds, mollusca, and a few grains of gravel. Earthworms, larvm,
berries, and seeds of different kinds have been found in others that I have opened. I t also greedily devours
slugs, worms, and fruits. When gooseberries are in season yon may see them feeding from sunrise to sunset
except when they betake themselves to a pond to wash. In winter they feed on the wild fruit o f the
hedges, and on slugs and worms in the pastures. The sides of hedges and walls are favourite places of
resort a t these times, for it there readily procures worms and snails. In hard weather it often eats the
berries of the Hawthorn, which it swallows whole, and betakes itself to the cornyards, where it picks up
seeds, chiefly on the ground.” •
On consulting the works of Selby and Yarrell, we learn that the Blackbird is generally d.stnbuted over
England. Macgillivray states that it is equally abundant in every part o f Scotland, even the Hebrides, but
that, owing to the absence of sylvan vegetation, it does not breed in those islands; and Thompson says it is
a common resident throughout the wooded districts of Ireland. On the continent of Europe it is as
abundant as with us, and proceeds as far north as Norway and Sweden, and occasionally to Iceland; southwardly
it occurs on the shores of the Mediterranean and Black Seas, and even beyond these waters, for I
have seen skins from Persia, Asia Minor, the three provinces o f Algeria, and other parts of North Africa;
it also forms p art of the avifauna of Madeira, the Azores, and the island of Teneriffe, where I found it
abundant, and shot specimens ; from further south than this I have never .seen examples.
The two sexes differ considerably in outward appearance, the entire plumage o f the male being coal-black,
while his bare eyelid and his bill are o f the richest orange, a hue which also pervades the inside of the
mouth and throat during the breeding-season; the female, on the other hand, has the general plumage
brown, and the throat grey, streaked with dark brown.
The Plate represents aline adult male and a hen sitting on her nest, with its frequent accompaniment, the
Honeysuckle, all of the natural size.