2o6 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



fugitive. I have seen a hen again and again drive a Starling 

 from food in winter, striking at it with both feet like a Game- 

 cock. Two familiar notes, expressive of various emotions, are 

 a metallic chink or 7nink^ and a rather deep tschuck^ whilst at 

 roosting time it is a monotonous and exasperating tac^ iac, tac. 

 The birds hop, flit and run, jerking their tails and wings, and 

 repeating this note as if they were mobbing a cat or other foe 

 from dusk until dark. The hunger cry of the young after they 

 have left the nest is a piping note repeated usually two or three 

 times in succession, not unlike early efforts at a song. The 

 food is similar to that of other thrushes, but in summer the 

 bird is too fond of fruit ; I have seen ten in one pear-tree, and 

 half a pear may be eaten at a meal. Even unripe apples are 

 spoilt and in raspberries the bird is very troublesome. Black- 

 berries, junipers, rowans, haws and other wild fruits are 

 greedily eaten, the last sometimes swallowed whole. 



The nest is in bushes or hedgerows, in trees or on the 

 ground ; it is large and similar to that of the Song-Thrush 

 though with an additional lining of grass above the mud. I 

 have found it in a hollow tree, on the top of the old nest of 

 a Song-Thrush and in a hole in a wall. Over one nest, 

 resting on small branches against the side of a trunk, a frail 

 but distinct dome of small twigs had been built, though in- 

 sufficient to give shelter or protection. Four to six greenish- 

 white eggs (Plate 79) profusely speckled or blotched with 

 reddish brown are as a rule laid in March ; two or more broods 

 are usual. A case came under my notice of a Blackbird 

 building in a pear trained against a wall, and a little above it a 

 Pied Wagtail had a nest between a branch and the wall. The 

 hen Blackbird constantly drove the Wagtails away from their 

 young, but not only fed both these nestlings and her own young, 

 but was on one instance seen brooding the Wagtails. As a rule 

 the cock does little to help building or incubation, but he has 

 been seen on the nest, and assists in feedmg the young ; cases 



