mentioned a curious occurrence related by Mr. Couch. A weasel,
followed by its young ones in training, was seen in eager pursuit of
a Blackbird on the wing, and though a very slight elevation in the
direction of the flight of the bird would have carried it over a hedge
and out of danger, yet so great was its terror, that it was unable
to mount so high, and consequently soon became their prey. I
have heard the Blackbird sing on the wing more than once. In the
most recent instance it had begun to sing on the top of a tree, and
continued to do so while flying to another one near.
This species pairs in February or March, but occasionally much
earlier. Thus in the 'Yorkshire Gazette' of the 8th. of January,
1853, it is recorded that a nest with two eggs was found at
Brompton, in this county, on the 3rd. instant, by D. Ferguson,
Esq., of lb-dear: and again in the same paper of the date of December
7th., 1801, (he following is given: ' A REMARKABLE FACT.—In Mr.
Elliott's garden, at Kaisthorpe, near Bridlington, a blackbird has built
her nest in one of his apple trees, and is now (Dec. 2) sitting upon
Inur eggs. About this time two years ago, much snow being then
on the ground, a Blackbird brought off a brood of young ones from
a nest in the same tree. Probably the bird now sitting is the same
that hatched (here two years since, or one of her brood at that time.'
Tin1 nest is placed in a variety of situations, and is frequently
found in a heap of sticks, even though placed in an outhouse, but
most commonly in a bush; sometimes in a tree against a wall, or in
a tree or wall covered with ivy, also against the side of a summerhouse
in the garden of Xunluirnhohne Rectory; an instance has been
known of its being placed on the stump of a tree, close to the
ground, and Sir William Jardine found one on the ground, at the
foot of a tree; another was also discovered in a similar situation, at
the foot of a hazel bush, in a wood, by my friend the Rev. W.
Waldo Cooper, of West Rasen, Lincolnshire; in the same wood he
found another on the stump of a hazel which had been cut down,
and from which several stems had grown; it was not raised an inch
from the ground, but was quite surrounded by the new branches.
Bishop Stanley mentions a Blackbird's nest built on the ground in
a tuft of grass or rushes close to the form of a rabbit. Another
['.mnd on the ground has been recorded in the 'Zoologist,' page
1028, b\ \\ . W. Spicer, Esq. Mr. John H. Blundell, of Luton,
Bedfordshire, has written me word of his having found the nest in
one instance on the ground, in the middle of a large plantation of
oaks. It is often placed in a hedge, and is commonly built at a
height of three or four feet, as also in a hole in a wall or rock, in
some instances it has been known, when placed in or against the
branch of a tree, to be in some degree fastened to it by a twining
and lacing of the larger of the materials of which it is composed, and
in one case, the space between the branch of a tree, on which the
nest was placed, and a wall, was filled up with straw and hay. It is
made of roots, small twigs, and stalks of grass, with perhaps some
lichens or fern, and is covered on the inside with mud, and lined
with finer parts of the other materials and grass; it is sometimes most
admirably hidden in a hollow in a bank, so as almost to baffle detection.
It is at times placed on the top of a fence or the summit of a
wall. The same situation is occasionally resorted to from year to
year. N. Rowe, Esq., of Worcester College, Oxford, writes me word
of a pair of Blackbirds which built their nest in the same spot in a
laurel tree that had been previously tenanted the same year by a pair
of Greenfinches, who in their turn had succeeded a pair of Thrushes.
The female sits for thirteen days. W. Bridger, Esq. has kindly forwarded
me a specimen of the nest.
If in fear for their young, Blackbirds will sometimes adopt the
stratagem of keeping close to one spot to make believe that the nest
is there, and so lure away intruders from its real situation. 'Mr.
Boyd, gardener to Mr. Fiulay, Easterhill, Glasgow, observed that a
pair of Blackbirds had begun to build a nest in the centre of a fine
azalea which he intended to bring forward for competition at the
show. The birds had got access to the plant in consequence of a
window in the hothouse in which it was placed having been left open
for air. The lower part of the nest was scarcely completed, and as
Mr. Boyd was not inclined to disturb the plant he allowed the building
deposits to remain. After the show, the plant, which had been
fully twenty-four hours away, was returned to the hothouse, but
placed at an opposite corner from the one at which it had been previously
standing. Strange to say, the Blackbirds returned to the
azalea, completed their nest, and a few days ago the hen was sitting
upon four eggs.*
The eggs are commoulv five in number, sometimes four, and sometimes,
though but rarely, six; they are of a dull light blue or green-
Mi brown colour, mottled and spotted with pale reddish brown, the
markings being closer at the larger end, where they sometimes form
an obscure ring. Mr. Hewitson, in his 'Coloured Illustrations of the
Eggs of British Birds,' figures one elegantly covered over at the
larger end with minute reddish brown specks, and likewise, but less
thickly, over the remainder—the green showing through; and a second
curiously marbled with irregular dashes and specks of reddish brown