204 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



Blackbird. Turdus merula Linn. 



The Blackbird (Plate 85) is found in most parts of Europe 

 and is partially migratory, wintering in the more southerly 

 parts of its range. In the British Isles it is at once a resident, 

 a summer and a winter visitor and a bird of passage, for many 

 of our nesting birds leave in autumn and large numbers come 

 to us for winter or pass through the country. 



Such a conspicuous and regular frequenter of the garden is 

 naturally well known, yet the elementary fact that the hen is 

 not black is often overlooked ; she is dark brown and her 

 rufous breast is striated and she is sometimes taken for a dark 

 Song-Thrush, causing reports of interbreeding. Though the 

 depth of colour of her under parts varies considerably she is 

 never so light as a Thrush. Confusion with the Ring-Ousel is 

 occasionally excusable, for no bird is more prone to variation ; 

 white or partially white Blackbirds are common. When the 

 white takes the form of a band or gorget on the breast there is 

 little difference between the two species, and reports of winter 

 Ring-Ousels or of these birds in the lowlands are usually due 

 to such "sports." Common as it is round houses the Blackbird 

 is just as plentiful in the woods and hedgerows, feeding in 

 winter in the fields with other thrushes, though usually at no 

 great distance from a hedge or spinney into which it retreats 

 with screams if alarmed. Nowhere is the bird more abundant 

 than on the rough hillsides and wooded cw7ns of Wales. On 

 the hills its range overlaps that of the Ring-Ousel ; there is a 

 zone where both species nest. In winter, though it is seldom 

 seen in large flocks, it is more gregarious, and on migration is 

 sociable. The Blackbird is cautious and suspicious but hardly 

 shy, it is apparently proud of its black dress and especially of 

 its tail, which, whenever it alights, is jauntily switched upwards. 

 During quarrels and courtship it is carried outspread almost at 

 right angles to its back. 



