NATURE'S CAROL SINGERS. 



THE BLACKBIRD. 



w WHO does not know 



^JB^ and love the Black- 



s' bird with his sable coat, 



orange bill, and pe- 

 culiar habit of 

 erecting his tail when 

 he alights ? In the 

 North of England the 

 bird still enjoys its old 

 name of Ouzel, and in 

 Scotland it is called a 

 Merle. 



The hen differs 

 somewhat in her ap- 

 pearance from the cock 

 in being of a dark, rusty-brown colour 

 instead of "so black of hue," as Shake- 

 speare has it of her mate. 



This species is common in gardens, 

 orchards, shrubberies, hedgerows, and 

 woods all over the British Islands. I 

 have even met with it breeding in a little 

 garden close to the Atlantic in the 

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