THE BLACKBIRD, 



He who makes field ornithology his study will not 

 fail to notice how each district, varying in its scenery, 

 possesses birds peculiar to it alone. Thus the Red Grouse 

 loves his lonely moor ; the Lapwing delights to soar in 

 reeling flight over the naked common ; the Woodpecker 

 loves the silent woods, and the Landrail his pastoral 

 haunt. Birds of the Thrush family, too, exhibit this pre- 

 ference in a marked degree. Thus we find the Thrush, 

 Blackbird, and Redwing inhabit, as a rule, our pastoral 

 lands and shrubberies ; the Fieldfare is a wanderer ; 

 while the family is represented by the Missel-thrush in 

 the woods and. wilder districts ; while, yet again, the 

 heath-covered moor and mountain-sides have their charm 

 for the Ring Ousel. 



It is in the shrubberies, where the laurels, the yews, 

 and the hollies spread their glossy branches, and where 

 the ivy climbs up the trees in wild confusion, that we 

 find the Blackbird in greatest abundance, especially so 



