204 MERULID.E. 



warm April sLower. He continues singing at intervals 

 throughout the summer, and till the regular moulting of the 

 season commences. 



Like some other birds gifted with great powers of voice, 

 the Blackbird is an imitator of the sounds made by others. 

 He has been heard to imitate closely part of the song of the 

 Niditinffale ; three or four instances are recorded of his 

 having been known to crow exactly like the Common Cock, 

 apparently enjoying the sound of the responses made by the 

 fowls of the neighbouring farm-yard ; and Mr. Neville Wood, 

 in his British Song Birds, has mentioned an instance in which 

 he heard a Blackbird cackle as a hen does after laying. 



The Blackbird pairs and breeds very early in the spring, 

 generally choosing the centre of some thick bush in which 

 to fix and conceal the nest. The outside is formed of coarse 

 roots and strong bents of grass, plastered over or intermixed 

 with dirt on the inner surface, forming a stiff wall : it is then 

 lined with finer bents. The eggs are four or five in number, 

 sometimes, but rarely, six, of a light blue colour, speckled 

 and spotted with pale reddish brown : the eggs of the Black- 

 bird are occasionally found of a uniform blue, without any 

 spots whatever ; the length of the egg one inch two lines, 

 the breadth ten lines. The first brood of young are hatched 

 by the end of March, or early in April. 



The Blackbird is very generally distributed. It is found 

 over the whole of the counties of the South of England from 

 Sussex to Corn Avail, it is common in Wales ; and, according 

 to Mr. Thompson of Belfast, it is very common and con- 

 stantly resident in Ireland : it is found also in the northern 

 counties ; and in Northumberland, Mr. Selby says that 

 about " the beginning of November vast flocks of Black- 

 birds make their appearance upon our coasts, from more 

 northern countries. They remain but a few days to recruit, 

 and then resume their flight in a south-westerly direction." 



