OF SOUTHERN AUSTRALIA. 295 



new locality. As opportunity occurs acclimatization should 

 continue. No complaints have yet been lodged against them. 



THE BLACKBIRD, 



Merula iiierula, Seeb. 



The love of fatherland is deeply planted within us. The 

 Blackbird keeps pointing to it. In 1864 it was imported 

 from Great Britain, and " Golden-bill " now ranks among 

 the colonists. Generally speaking, it is to be found all over 

 Europe. When in the best-wooded gardens of the suburbs we 

 see a bird with a total length of 10 inches, plumage black, 

 and with a bright yellow bill, we know at once it is the Merle. 

 That is the male. The female is blackish and mottled 

 beneath, with age becoming greyer. The young are rufous- 

 brown with an amount of pale rufous mottling, especially 

 upon the throat. 



Except in spring it is a shy bird, seeking its food among the 

 evergreen thickets and other foliage. To startle it means to 

 get its chattering note as it flies away — beautiful, flute-like 

 notes. The species is not gregarious. 



The food of the Blackbird is insects and worms, with snails, 

 and occasionally a soft fruit. Under certain circumstances it 

 is forced to a fruit diet, and therein lies the trouble. Gardeners 

 immediately take away its good name, and without any 

 attempt to balance its finest qualities on the common scale of 

 " advantage and disadvantage." For the greater part of the 

 year it destroys large quantities of the injurious insects in our 

 gardens. To the great mass of people the sight of the bird, 

 and the pleasure of hearing its tuneful notes throughout the day 

 should compensate for the small amount of harm committed 

 in the gardens. It is their right to be welcome to a portion of 

 the fruit. 



