BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 



ACCENTOR. See HEDGE SPAEROW. 



BITTERN. 



Has now quite ceased to breed in the British 

 Isles, and is only a rare visitor. 



BLACKBIRD. 



Description of Parent Birds. 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 than 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. 



