BLACKBIRD. 5 



you find eggs before the middle of March. The nest is 

 known to all of us, with its lining of clay and decayed 

 wood. The outside is composed of grass, straws, 

 small twigs, moss, leaves and roots. A favourite spot 

 for it is in some yew or holly bush five or six feet from 

 the ground in the garden shrubberies or against the 

 trunk of a tree, supported by some little branches. 

 We are all familiar too with the beautiful blue eggs, 

 generally four or five in number, with their deep brown, 

 almost black, spots on the larger end. Sometimes 

 eggs are found spotted at the smaller end. Some- 

 times, but seldom, the eggs are taken with no spots at 

 all. A Thrush's nest was taken near Ipswich on 2nd 

 May, 1880, with the unusual number of eight eggs 

 in it. 



The Song Thrush, like the Missel Thrush, can be 

 reared from the nest with a little care, and is one of 

 our favourite cage birds. 



BLACKBIRD. 



MERULA MERULA. 



Family Passerid^e. Sub-family Turdin^. Genus Merula. 



Black Ouzel — Amzel — Ouzel Cock— Merle. 



This beautiful songster is familiar to us all. Shy he 

 is ; more so even than the Missel Thrush, or the Song 

 Thrush, and like the latter he prefers skulking under 

 the laurel bushes and shrubberies to flying in the open, 

 so that when we get a view of him it is only as a rule 

 in the act of a hurried flight to some sheltering bush 

 or hedgerow. We all of us recognise too the harsh 

 scream which he utters when startled and driven from 

 his retreat. It is only the male bird that boasts the 

 beautiful shining black plumage which we know so 



