116 SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR BIRD STUDY. 



on inner margin. The tail, which is 9 to 10 inches long, 

 shows very fine green and purple reflections. 



This bird is " extremely shy and vigilant when molested, 

 it is much less so in unfrequented places. It walks like the 

 crows, but occasionally leaps in a sidelong direction, emits 

 a chattering cry when alarmed, flies rather heavily, and 

 nestles in trees or bushes, forming a large nest of twigs, 

 covered over or arched, with an aperture on one side. The 

 eggs, from 3 to 6, 1^ inch long, ^ in breath, pale 

 green, freckled with umber brown and light purplish grey, 

 but varying in their tints." (MacG-illivray.) 



It is very destructive to eggs and young birds, levying 

 its toll upon the game preserves. Newstead (The Food 

 of some British Birds) reports : " 7 contained insects of 

 the injurious group ; 4 beneficial group ; 4 indifferent 



foup ; 1 wheat and oats ; 1 acorns ; 1 a holly berry ; 

 a field vole ; 2 pellets of sheep's wool. ... I saw this 

 species rob the nest of a song thrush of its young, but 

 I cannot say if this habit is at all general. The young 

 thrushes were only a few days old, and were carried off in 

 the direction of the magpie's nest and were probably fed to 

 the young ones." The bird is sometimes tamed ; it has a 

 great weakness for carrying off glittering objects. 



SONG THRUSH (E-.) . This bird is about nine inches long, 

 yellowish brown above, the head faintly reddish, neck and 

 breast yellowish white, feathers of breast tipped with a 

 triangular brownish spot. It feeds on snails, insects, 

 worms, but is also a great destroyer of fruit. A resident 

 bird and a delightful songster. Lines its nest neatly with 

 mud. Eggs generally five, about 1J inches long, blue, 

 sparsely spotted with blackish brown. Spots large or 

 small or almost absent. 



BLACKBIRD (R.)- In the male, which is about 11 

 inches long, the bill is yellow, and there is an orange- 

 coloured ring around the eye. Colour black. The female 

 is slightly smaller, bill dusky, plumage brownish above 

 and lighter below. A persistent robber of garden fruit, 

 but takes also worms, snails, etc. Song rich and mellow, 

 may be heard from early spring to middle of July. Nest 



