BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 



ACCENTOR. See Hedge Sparrow. 



BITTERN. 



Has now quite ceased to breed in the British 

 Isles, and is only a rare visitor. 



BLACKBIRD. 



Description of Parent Birch. — -Length about ten 

 inches. Bill of medium length, nearly straight, 

 and yellow. Eyelids yellow. Plumage uniform 

 deep black. Legs and toes brownish black, claws 

 black. 



The female is of a dark rusty brown colour, 

 bill and feet dusky brown. 



Situation and Locality. — Bushes, hedges, ledges 

 of rock, holes in and on projecting " troughs " of dry 

 walls, on banks, in evergreens, against the trunks 

 of trees, and occasionally quite on the ground. I 

 have upon more tlian one occasion found a 

 Blackbird's nest built upon an old Thrush's, and 

 vice versa. Common nearly all over the United 

 Kingdom. 



Materials. — Small twigs, roots, dry grass, moss, 

 intermixed with clay or mud. Sometimes bits of 

 wool, leaves, fern fronds, and even paper, lined 

 internally with fine dry grass. 



B 



