THE BLACKBIRD. 27 



The Blackbird is found in Berwickshire wherever there are 

 trees, but in the upland districts it is by no means so 

 plentiful as in the well-wooded parts of the Merse. Its 

 favourite resort is the neighbourhood of gardens and shrub- 

 beries which are bordered by lawns and grass parks, and it 

 also loves to frequent our bosky deans, through many of 

 which small streams of water meander. Numbers also fre- 

 quent tall bushy hedgerows in open weather during autumn 

 and winter. It often roosts at night during the latter season 

 in young fir woods.^ It is evidently a partial migrant in this 

 county, for many more are seen here during spring, sum- 

 mer, and autumn, than in the later months ; but it never 

 entirely leaves us, for a few remain here even through the 

 severest winters. In autumn and spring it is frequently 

 seen while on migration, at the Lighthouses on the Fame 

 Islands and on the Isle of May,^ and it is probable that, as 

 in the case of the Song Thrush, great numbers of our home- 

 bred Blackbirds, after being joined in autumn by those 

 which have come from the north of Europe to our district, 

 leave for the south on the approach of winter, and return 

 again in spring. Local migration also appears to take 

 place, numbers of this species betaking themselves in hard 

 weather to milder parts of the country.^ 



1 W^hen shooting Wood Pigeons with Mr. Pringle, Aytou Castle, in the young 

 fir woods there, ou the evening of 30th Dec. 1887, I observed great numbers of 

 Blackbirds coming in to roost in the trees about 4.25 P.M. They were constantly 

 flying about the trees and "pinking." 



" The following are the dates upon which Blackbirds were seen on migration at 

 the Fame Islands and Isle of May : — Autumn 1879. — Fames, Oct. 15th to Dec. 

 5th. Autumn 1880.— Fames, Oct. 21st to Nov. 26th. Spring 1881.— Fames, 

 May 22nd. Autumn 1881.— Fames, Oct. 2nd ; Isle of May, Oct. 14th to 24th. 

 Autumn 1882.— Fames, and occurred throughout season. Spring 1883. — Isle of 

 May, March 2nd. Autumn 1883.— Isle of May, Oct. 13th to 15th, and through- 

 out season. Spring 1884.— Isle of May, Feb. 20th to April oOth ; Fames, March 

 14th to 20th. Autumn 1884.— Isle of May, Sep. 11th; Fames, October and 

 November to 19th Jan. 1885. ^Extracts from Reports on the Migration of Birds, 

 from 1879 to 1884. 



3 See " Effects of recent Winter Storms," by Mr. Robert Gi&y.—Bist. Ber. 

 Nat. Club, vol. ix. p. 499. 



