230 The Blackbird. 



and in the summer it cannot be denied that it is a 

 great devourer of fruit, cherries, strawberries, and, 

 in fact, all small fruit, where not protected by 

 nets, suffering severely from its attacks. We 

 cannot, however, admit that it is such a deadly 

 enemy to the gardener as it is popularly supposed 

 to be, as it feeds for the greater part of the year 

 on insects and their larvae, together with worms, 

 snails, and slugs, thus doing him immense good, 

 while the time available for mischief is by com- 

 parison very short. 



Many gardeners, while refusing to kill thrushes, 

 will ruthlessly destroy blackbirds under the mis- 

 taken idea that, though both are fruit-eaters, the 

 former alone makes amends for the mischief they 

 do by destroying slugs and snails. As a fact, 

 there is little to choose between the two birds iu 

 this respect, the blackbird being as fond of shell 

 snails as the thrush, and adopting the same 

 method of obtaining them. 



Others, again, maintain that the blackbird is 

 more persistent in its attacks upon fruit than 

 its cousiu the thrush. In this also they are 

 mistaken, though the mistake admits of easy 

 explanation. The plumage and habits of the 

 thrush are all in its favour, as its colour enables 

 it to peck away at the fruit without being seen, 

 and when disturbed it steals away without any 

 noise. The blackbird, on the contrary, at once 

 attracts attention by its sharp cry of alarm, if, 

 indeed, its black coat and yellow bill have not 



