PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 327 



and huge flocks may sometimes be seen actually on their way. The species may 

 be seen in company with other species, allied and otherwise. Although mainly a 

 nocturnal migrant, it is less often taken at the lighthouses than are its congeners. 

 (For fuUer details see W. Eagle Clarke, Report Brit. Assoc., 1902, pp. 274-277 : cf. 

 also Ussher and Warren, B. of Ireland, 1900, p. 5 : and B. 0. C. Migration Reports, 

 i. p. 124 ; ii. p. 177 ; iii. pp. 179 and 188-189 ; and iv. pp. 171, and 181-182.) 



[A. L. T.] 



4. Nest and Eggs. The species does not breed in the British Isles. 



[P. c. R. J.] 



5. Food. Worms, insects, snails, berries, and in hard weather shell-fish and 



turnips. [F. B. K.] 



6. Song Period. The song is not heard in this country. Flocks may be 

 heard chattering together in the trees, especially before the spring emigration. 

 [F. B. K.] 



BLACKBIRD [Turdus merula, Linnseus. Ouzel, blackie. French, merle ; 

 German, Amsel ; Italian, merlo]. 



i. Description. The male is distinguished at once by its glossy black plumage, 

 orange-yellow beak, yellow rim round the eyelid, and black legs. (PL 35, 39. ) Length 

 10'5 in. [261 mm.]. The female is dark umber-brown above. The throat is white 

 relieved by dark striations ; the fore-breast (prepectus) is rufous, and mottled with 

 small, faint, fan-shaped spots ; the flanks and breast are dark grey, deepening to 

 the under tail-coverts, which are darkest. But considerable variation in the hues 

 of the under parts obtain, some birds being much greyer than others. Juvenile 

 plumage : the upper parts are of a deep chocolate-brown ; the feathers of the 

 crown and mantle are marked by pale rufous shaft-streaks, broadest on the back, 

 and lesser wing-coverts. The greater coverts may have rufescent tips, and shaft- 

 streaks of the same hue in the case of the inner coverts. The wing-quills are of a 

 uniform brownish black. The under parts are of a tawny yellow, darkest in the 

 prepectoral region. A lateral stripe of black runs from the mandible backwards 

 on each side of the throat, which is of a huffish white. The prepectus and flanks 

 are barred with black, the barring being heaviest in the prepectoral region, where 

 a few spots may occur. Under tail-coverts heavily barred with black ; abdomen 

 dull grey, or tinged with rufous. In the amount of the barring, and the hue of the 

 under parts, considerable variation is found. The male, in this plumage, is said to 



