Blackbirds and Berries. 31 



a Fieldfare. The walker round the meadow in 

 winter will seldom fail to hear the harsh call of 

 the redwing, as, together with starlings innumer- 

 able, and abundance of blackbirds, they utter loud 

 sounds of disapproval. There is one bush here 

 whose berries must have some strange ambrosial 

 flavour that blackbirds dearly love. All the 

 blackbirds in Oxford seem to have their free 

 breakfast-table here, and they have grown so bold 

 that they will return to it again and again as I 

 teasingly walk up and down in front of it, merely 

 flying to a neighbouring tree when I scrutinize 

 them too closely in search of a lingering Ring- 

 ousel. Who ever heard of a flock of blackbirds ? 

 Here, however, in November, 1884, was a sight to 

 be seen, which might possibly throw some light on 

 the process of developing gregarious habits. 1 



Rooks, Starlings, Jackdaws, and Sparrows, 

 which abound here and everywhere else in 



1 At Lulworth, in Dorset, when the berry-season begins, I 

 have noticed that the blackbirds will congregate on the hedge- 

 rows in considerable numbers, and abandon for a time their 

 skulking habits. This makes it often difficult to distinguish 

 them at a distance from the Ring-ousels, which are there about 

 the same time. 



