THE BLACKBIRD. 281 



Characteristics Artificial nests. 



the spring and summer time, at least four or five 

 months in the year; it is a stout hardy bird; and 

 besides his pleasant natural note, may be taught 

 to whistle almost any tune. The cock and hen 

 are not easily known by their colour while young, 

 but the blackest bird generally proves a cock: 

 the bill of an old cock-bird is of a deep yellow ; 

 in the hen the tip and upper part is black ; the 

 mouth, in both, is yellow within : the hen, and 

 young cock-birds are rather brown, or of a dark 

 russet, than black, and their bellies of an ash- 

 colour; but after the cock has changed his 

 chicken feathers, he becomes coal-black. 



These birds generally measure from the tip of 

 the bill to the end of the tail eleven inches, of 

 which the bill is one inch, and the tail four inches 

 long. When wild in the fields, they feed pro- 

 miscuously upon berries and insects; it is a soli- 

 tary bird, that, for the most part, flies singly. 



The blackbirds breed very soon in the year, 

 and have young ones by the end of March, or 

 sooner: they build their nests very artificially: 

 the outside of moss, slender twigs, bents, and 

 fibres of roots all very strongly cemented and 

 joined together with clay; plaistering the inside 

 also, and lining it with a covering of small straws, 

 bents, hair, or other soft matter; upon which 

 the hen lays four or five eggs, seldom more, of a 

 bluish green colour, full of dusky spots. They 

 build pretty open; generally in a hedge, near the 

 ground, and before there are many leaves upon 



VOL. in. NO. xxi. 2 N 



