BLACK BIRDS. 7 



Eggs. — 4-6, greenish -blue, spotted, streaked and 

 blotched with pale reddish -brown, but sometimes 

 clouded heavily with orange-brown at the larger 

 end ; 1-1 X -85 inch (plate 121). 



Nest. — Of rootlets, coarse grass, plastered with 

 mud, lined with fine grass, and placed usually in 

 hedges and holly-bushes. 



Distribution. — General. 



The Blackbird is the only hiixl with plumage en- 

 tirely black ivliich habitually hops. It is a skulking 

 bird of the woodside, hedgerow, and shrubbery, but 

 best observed as a winter visitor to our gardens. It 

 then sneaks through fence or hedge-bottom, and hops 

 out on to the grass, tacking erratically to right and 

 left, and at each pause posing with head attentively 

 aslant and plumage tightly dressed. The object of its 

 search is generally a worm, which tlie bird shakes 

 vigorously ere bolting it whole. If seen in the act of 

 alighting, tlie Blackbird may be identified by tlie man- 

 ner in which the long, elegant tail is thrown up- 

 wards, as if the bird were overbalanced by it. When 

 detected in hiding, the Blackbird rushes out with a 

 wild, cackling ciy. It has another loud, more metallic 

 cry, alwaj^s to be lieard wdien the bird is about to settle 

 down for the niglit. It may be written 'Pick! j^ick ! 

 pick ! ' and is sometimes repeated scores of times in 

 succession. The flight is strong but low, and tlie bird 

 usually hugs the ground or a hedgerow for cover. 

 The song, consisting partly of short repeated phrases, 

 partly of a desultory warbling, is remarkable for the 

 lethargic ease and smoothness with whicli it is de- 



