THE BLACKBIRD. 



(March 9, 1889.) 



FEW British birds are better known than the black- 

 bird, the glossy black plumage and bright orange 

 bill of the cock being sufficiently noticeable, and 

 it is therefore wonderful that anyone should doubt 

 its right to a place in the list of birds of London. 

 Like the thrush, it frequents the Parks and large 

 gardens of the inner suburbs, but is not so 

 common or perhaps it would be more correct 

 to say, is not so widely distributed being some- 

 what local. The " flower walk " in Kensington 

 Gardens, for example, is one of its favourite 

 haunts, and there as many as five or six may 

 occasionally be seen together in the winter picking 

 berries from a tree, and in the spring and early 

 summer the cocks can always be heard singing. 

 Again, though it frequents the same localities as 

 the thrush, it is by no means so bold a bird ; it has 

 a great objection to going far from cover, and 

 when in the open has a curious, suspicious, 

 listening way, and is always ready, on the slightest 

 provocation, to dash back into shelter. When 

 suddenly alarmed, it flies off with a peculiar 

 startled cry, and, after a short flight, turns almost 

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