206 BLACKBIRD. 



much larger than others, and they also vary much in colour 

 and in markings, as also in shape, some being much more 

 round, and others much more oval, than others: in some 

 instances the smaller end is rounded and obtuse. Archibald 

 Hepburn, Esq. found some which had two shells, the inner 

 one of the ordinary colour and markings, and the outer one 

 also marked as usual, but paler in hue. The first brood, for 

 there are generally two, is hatched by the end of March, or 

 the beginning or middle of April, and is abroad towards the 

 end of May; the second by the middle of July. Sometimes 

 even three may be reared, and in one instance, namely, in 

 the year 1837, four successive broods, seventeen young in all, 

 were reared by a single pair, on the island in the ornamental 

 sheet of water in St. James's Park, London. 



In Ireland also three broods are related by Mr. Thompson 

 to have been reared in one year, near Cromac House; the 

 last of which made their appearance on the 3rd. of July, and 

 a nest with eggs was seen on the 22nd. of February. But 

 this fecundity is not peculiar to Ireland, being outdone by 

 the Scottish Blackbirds, 'Hibernicis ipsis Hiberniores.' The 

 Rev. George Gordon, of Elgin, North-Britain, thus records in 

 the 'Zoologist,' p.p. 2297-2298, the following curious instance 

 of five successive nests having been made in a single year: 

 April 27th., 1848. The young leave the first nest; built in 

 a clump of ivy on the top of a wall; four in number, one 

 egg having been abstracted from the nest before incubation. 

 April 29th. Two eggs in the second nest, detected in a yew 

 tree. May 16th. The cock bird observed feeding the five 

 young, newly hatched, on the second nest. May 24th. The 

 hen Blackbird seen making her third nest in an apple tree 

 nailed to a wall. May 29th. Two eggs in the third nest, 

 and the brood leave the second nest and perch on the trees. 

 June 10th. The third nest forsaken; of the eggs, which were 

 five in number, two remain in the nest, part of the others 

 on the ground below the nest, and part of them found on a 

 wall some twenty yards from it. June 14th. The Blackbird's 

 fourth nest begun in a birch hedge. June 23rd. Of the 

 five eggs laid in the fourth nest only two remain; another 

 found on the ground below it: it seems to have been pillaged 

 by some bird in the same way as the third nest. June 26th. 

 Fifth and last nest of the Blackbird partially formed in a 

 vine trained at the end of the house. 



Thus, he adds, a single pair of birds had twenty-five eggs, 



