BLACKBIRD.
YIt ADKUYN DU. OBILIOG MWYALCH, OF THE ANCIENT BRITISH.
Turdus merula, PENNANT. MONTAGU.
Merula vulgaris, SELRY. GOULD.
Turdus—A Thrush. Merula—A Blackbird.
THOUGH sober and unpretending in plumage, yet, as thoroughly
associated with every sylvan scene, the Blackbird must always be,
as doubtless he always has been, one of our most favourite songsters.
When the ground is covered with snow, that of the day as white,
as Aristotle says, as that which has lain congealed for a thousand
years, then is our bird seen to the greatest advantage, a sable beauty
indeed, black as ebony itself, the dazzling wdiite contrasting well with
his dark garb, and each in turn setting off and heightening the
appearance of the other.
From the northern parts of Europe—Sweden and Norway, its
range extends over the whole of the European continent, through
Germany, where it remains throughout the year, and Greece,
Switzerland, and France, to the north of Africa, and thence to the
(Azores. In Asia it is also common—in Syria and other parts.
I t is found in greater or less plenty in all parts of England,
Wales, Ireland, and Scotland, the Hebrides, the Orkneys, and
Shetland. In the Orkneys it breeds, but not in great numbers, being
the most abundant there in winter. In the Hebrides, and any particular
barren districts of the north, it is said not to breed. It belongs to
Guernsey am! Sark also.
It frequents gardens, both walled and others, groves and shrubberries,
hedgerows and copses, moist places in woods, marshy grounds,
tangled brakes, the sides of walls, the margins of streams, especially
if bordered by wood, in mere or less abundance.