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H'i 



rU 





^:^x y\"'r:m 



*>^ '^^ 





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THE BLACKBIRD 



Every one knows that joyous fellow, even 



Parisians who have never much lived in the 



country, for it is the guest of all Paris 



gardens and squares. Every-where, in the 



Luxembourg and Tuileries gardens, in the 



. . ' '^^ Pare Monceau, you can see ihem skipping 



'^ and hopping about in the flowerbeds or on the 



lawns, nimble and alert, and easily recognized 



by their fine shiny black costume and their 



yellow bill. The female almost always accompanies the 



male, her costume is grey; she is as discreet, reserved 



and silent as he is talkative 



The blackbird is not a bird of passage, but a se- 

 dentary one; even in the severest cold it remains in our 



