THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 253 



77. — Blackbird [Schwaezdrossel]. 

 TURDUS MERULA, Linn. 



Heligolandish : Swart-Troossel=jBZaci Thrush. 



Turdus merula. Naumann, ii. 326. 



Blackbird. Dresser, ii. 91. 



Merle noir. Temminck, Manuel, 68, iii. 90. 



Strange to sa}', in its manner and habits this Thrush, during 

 its visits to Heligoland, differs from the description by so unassail- 

 able an authority as Naumann, almost as markedly as we had 

 occasion to note in regard to the preceding species. Similar 

 observations made on many other visitors to Heligoland lead 

 ine to suspect that during the migi-ation the birds assume certain 

 special manners and peculiarities — manitres de voyage — which 

 are more or less at variance with their ordinary habits of life. 

 Hence inter alia we can in no way regard the Blackbird's manner 

 here as ' extremely distrustful, cautious, or clever ' ; on the other 

 hand, it would be equally inadmissible to call them simple or 

 stupid, as their elegant appearance would in itself contradict such 

 an assertion. For instance, when I step into my garden, which 

 is about eighty feet long, with a throstle-bush at its farthest 

 end, and happen to find an old male Blackbird sitting in the 

 middle of the garden, the bird will not on my approach at 

 once fly oft' with loud cries, but hop towards the throstle-bush 

 quietly in long leaps, and with frequent pauses. This mancBUvre 

 is performed with particular ease if the bird happen to be in 

 the straight path which leads to the bush, and which is bordered 

 by gooseberry and currant bushes on both sides. Under these con- 

 ditions, the bird will not infrequently even make a slight turn to 

 one side, in order to pick up quite leisurely some insect or worm 

 that it may have espied there. Nor must one by any means sup- 

 pose that this behaviour of the bird is due to its being fatigued 

 from its journey, or half-starved ; on the contrary, the birds are 

 almost always, particularly during the autumn migi'ation, actually 

 enveloped in fat. The Heligolandish fowlers' report in regard to the 

 Blackbird is to this eff'ect : ' A very sensible bird, which allows 

 itself to be driven to the throstle-bush without making much fuss.' 

 The reader -will perhaps remember how very differently the Song 

 Thrush behaves under similar circumstances. 



The spring migration of this Thrush commences very early in 

 mild weather; the first examples arrive as early as the end of 

 February, or even somewhat earlier. The main body, however. 



