BLACKBIRD.
TURDUS 31ERULA.
A RESIDENT in every part of the country where suitable woods or cover can he found, the Blackbird is common
from north to south. Large numbers of migrants from across the North Sea also reach our eastern coasts early
in the autumn, and continue to land for several months. I have observed the fields in the east of Ross-shire
perfectly alive with freshly arrived birds about the middle of September; and from the information gleaned
from the crews of the light-ships, it is probable that Blackbirds pan over the North Sea, one way or the
other, during most months of the year.
In my notes for 1S72 I lind the following entries concerning the capture of Blackbirds on the light-ships
off the cast coast:—On the 20th of November I hoarded the ' Ncwarp,' and learned that one female Blackbird
had been secured during the gale that commenced on the 11 Hi and continued almost without intermission
till the Kith. On the 11th the wind blew in furious gusts, with squalls of rain from north-north-east. On
the 12th the wind was oas t-north -east; 13th east; 1-tth east-north-east with hail-squalls ; 15th, after a lull
in the early morning, it came on to blow harder than ever from the east-north-east; on the Kith blowing
hard from east-south-east, with occasional blinding snow-squalls. But few birds had flown during this storm,
sis only having fallen on board, two of which were Petrels. During November and December, and up to the end
of January 1S73, but one Blackbird alighted on the ' Lemon and Ower.' l/irly in March a single bird was
captured on the * Dudgeon ;' and during this month and the first week in April two more were taken on
the 'Lynn Well.' On visiting the ' Newarp' again on August !)th, I found on board the wings of live
Blackbirds, being the total number that had struck the lights since the end of March.
I did not recognize the Blackbird on the Outer Hebrides; but on the Bass Roek and the Isle of may
several have come under my notice. To the May, I believe, tho birds are only occasional visitors; but on
the Bass there are in some seasons a nest or two among the old fortifications or the broken face of the clitr ou
the east side. When carefully searching the crumbling walls, known to the frequenters of the rock as the
ruins of the Governor's house, to ascertain if Thrushes had bred there, I came across the remains of at least
half a dozen Blackbirds' nests in the summer of 1ST t: having been built in sheltered nooks and crevices of
the masonry, several years would probably elapse before the old structures fell to pieces. On one occasion,
while Mulching a tine old male conveying food among the buildings, I discovered his nest suugly placed in
an old chimney.
In a garden near Brighton I noticed, in 1880, two Blackbirds (they could scarcely be termed a pair)
construct no less than five nests during the season. In every instance the nests were placed in a thick bush
of Cuprcmus macroctirpa. The first brood, when about a week old, early in March, warn dragged out and
killed by a cat. On Saturday, May 1st, the second brood died in the nest through exposure to the cold east
winds, and on the following Monday the third nest was commenced. On the 12th the old male was
unfortunately caught in a cat-trap (set for their especial preservation), and so badly Dipped that death must