THRUSH KIND. 6 C Z ) 



4. Blackbird, or Black-ouzel; 



Turdus merula. Link. 



Black ; bill and eye-lids yellow. Three other varieties ; one, 

 the head white; another, body white; a third, variegated black 

 and white. Inhabits Europe and Asia; frequents hedges and 

 thickets, and lays four or five blueish-green spotted eggs. The 

 blackbird has often been tamed, on account of its song. Its voice, 

 however, is too loud and harsh for any place but the woods. It 

 is said, indeed, to be capable of great improvement, from a faculty 

 which it possesses of imitating the sounds of any musical instru- 

 ment. Some, that have been well educated, sing part of an air 

 very justly. We have not, however, witnessed any instance of 

 their being able to retain a tune of any length or variety of 

 notes. 



In their manners these birds differ considerably from the song- 

 thrush : they neither travel, nor associate together in flocks ; but, 

 though more shy towards each other, they are less so with regard 

 to man. They are easily tamed by him, and reside, from choice, 

 near his habitation. Endowed with a piercing eye, and accustom- 

 ed to be always on the watch against an enemy so near, they have 

 acquired great credit for their cunning. On experience, however, 

 they have been found to be more restless than artful, rather timid 

 than distrustful ; for there is hardly any kind of snare in which 

 they may not be taken, provided the hand that lays it can render 

 itself invisible. 



When the blackbird is enclosed in the same cage with other 

 songsters of inferior size, his restless habits are changed into an 

 overbearing petulance : he incessantly pursues and torments his 

 fellow-prisoners. He should never, therefore, be placed in the 

 same apartment with smaller birds, nor allowed to enter a com- 

 pany to which his behaviour is so rude. 



It has been asserted by the ancient naturalists, that the black- t 

 bird never moults, because he is heard to sing during winter, a 

 period when the other birds are silent. Nature, however, seldom 

 acknowledges any race of privileged beings which she exempts 

 from her general laws. The more accurate observation of the 

 moderns has discovered the moulting season of this bird, which is 

 at the end of summer. Then they are seen, along with their 

 young, sometimes almost half naked. 



