204 OBSEEVATIONS ON A PAIK OF BLACKBIRDS. 



past has fretted the skin and made a sore place, the colour- 

 ing cells once destroyed are not renewed, and though the 

 hair grows again, it grows white. A scar on a negro is white 

 from the same cause. 



But to return to the blackbirds. About the end of 

 February 1 began to notice a hen blackbird frequenting a 

 corner of the garden where a laurustinus, an aucuba, a lilac, 

 and a walnut tree form a small shrubbery. My suspicions 

 were aroused, but not till I saw her one morning dis- 

 appear into the bushes with a tuft of root fibres in her 

 beak did I feel sure that she had decided to baild in our 

 domain. 



On the 13th day of March I discovered a substantial 

 foundation of a nest about four feet from the ground, lodged 

 in a forked branch of the laurustinus ; but the bird was very 

 dilatory over the business, and the work made slow progress, 

 her movements exactly resembling those of a labourer who 

 is paid by time and not by the piece. It is possible however 

 that the dry east wind which prevailed at the time had made 

 it difficult to procure soft mud, so necessary for lining the 

 interior. 



She almost always approached the nest by a circuitous 

 route, and with an easy nonchalance^ assumed for the pur- 

 pose of not attracting attention. 



She evinced a strong dislike to other birds building in 

 her vicinity, and but for her unneighbourly behaviour, I had 

 hopes of a robin's and a thrush's nest in addition to her own. 

 I observed her on one occasion viciously eject a thrush who 

 had secured an eligible building site in a yellow jasmine 

 trained against the wall. 



On March the 22nd she was sitting close most of the day, 

 and, anxious to find out whether she had laid an Qgg^ I took 

 a lantern in the evenip"". and went to the nest, honi-^'^- ^-r^ 



