BLACKBIRD. 53 



BLACKBIRD. 



PLATE CTII. 



Turdus merula, PENNANT. MONTAGU. 



Merula vulgaris, SELBY. GOULD. 



THIS species pairs in February or March, but 

 occasionally much earlier. Thus in the 'Yorkshire 

 Gazette' of the 8th. of January, 1853, it is recorded 

 that a nest with two eggs was found at Brompton, in 

 this county, on the 3rd. of that month, by D. Ferguson, 

 Esq. of Redcar. 



The nest is placed in a variety of situations, and 

 is frequently found in a heap of sticks, even though 

 placed in an outhouse, or most commonly in a bush ; 

 sometimes in a tree against a wall, or in a tree or 

 wall covered with ivy; an instance has been known 

 of its being placed on the stump of a tree, close to 

 the ground, and Sir William Jardine found one on the 

 ground, at the foot of a tree; another was also seen 

 in a similar situation, at the foot of a hazel bush, in 

 a wood, by my friend the Rev. W. Waldo Cooper, of 

 West Rasen, Lincolnshire: in the same wood he saw 

 another on the stump of a hazel which had been cut 

 down, and from which several stems had grown; it 

 was not raised an inch from the ground, but was quite 

 surrounded by the new branches. Another on the 



