BLACKBIRD. 223 



same notes are too frequently repeated. This bird com- 

 mences his song early in the spring; and it has been 

 observed that he occasionally sings his best strain during 

 the continuance of a warm April shower. He continues 

 singing at intervals throughout the summer, and till the 

 regular moulting of the season commences. 



Like some other birds gifted with great powers of voice, 

 the Blackbird is an imitator of the sounds made by others. 

 He has been heard to imitate closely part of the song of 

 the Nightingale ; three or four instances are recorded of his 

 having been known to crow exactly like the Common Cock, 

 apparently enjoying the sound of the responses made by 

 the fowls of the neighbouring farm-yard ; and Mr. Neville 

 Wood, in his British Song Birds, has mentioned an in- 

 stance in which he heard a Blackbird cackle as a hen does 

 after laying. 



The Blackbird pairs and breeds very early in the spring, 

 generally choosing the centre of some thick bush in which 

 to fix and conceal the nest. The outside is formed of 

 coarse roots and strong bents of grass, plastered over or in- 

 termixed with dirt on the inner surface, forming a stiff 

 wall : it is then lined with finer bents. The eggs are four 

 or five in number, sometimes, but rarely, six, of a light 

 blue colour, speckled and spotted with pale reddish brown : 

 the eggs of the Blackbird are occasionally found of a uni- 

 form blue, without any spots whatever ; the length of the 

 egg one inch two lines, the breadth ten lines. The first 

 brood of young are hatched by the end of March, or early 

 in April. 



The Blackbird is very generally distributed. It is found 

 over the whole of the counties of the South of England 

 from Sussex to Cornwall ; it is common in "Wales ; and, 

 according to Mr. Thompson of Belfast, it is very common 

 and constantly resident in Ireland : it is found also in the 



