60 Baby Birds at Home 



suiting its habits, in the west and north 

 of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. 



During the spring and summer its food 

 consists of worms, snails, grubs, and beetles, 

 but in the autumn it varies this diet with 

 all kinds of berries, and is especially fond 

 of those of the mountain ash, for which 

 it will enter even the front gardens of 

 houses in large towns during its autumn 

 migration. 



The nest is built in all kinds of situations. 

 Sometimes quite on the ground, and at others 

 in a hole in an old stone wall, on a ledge in 

 a small cliff, amongst heather growing on 

 a steep bank, and, upon rare occasions, in 

 a holly bush. The structure is an exact 

 imitation of that of the blackbird, but is, of 

 course, found in more solitary localities. 



The eggs number four or five, of a bluish 

 green colour, freckled and spotted with brown. 

 The markings are, as a rule, larger and farther 

 apart than those found on the eggs of the 

 blackbird. 



The young ones in their first plumage do 

 not resemble either of their parents. There 

 is no white crescent on the breast, which is 

 a mixture of black and sandy buff. 



