THE BLACKBIRD 



MERULA VULGARIS 



LOCAL names in surrounding counties : 



STATUS IN BRITISH AVIFAUNA : A common and widely 

 distributed resident, and increasing its range in many 

 localities. 



RADIAL DISTRIBUTION WITHIN FIFTEEN MILES OF ST. 

 PAUL'S : The Blackbird is almost as familiar in the 

 London parks and gardens as the House Sparrow is in the 

 crowded streets. It is a resident, and breeds regularly 

 from less than a couple of miles from St. Paul's, in St. 

 James's Park, in every spot sufficiently suitable to its needs, 

 garden, park, and pleasure-ground, right out to our radial 

 limits in the open country. Few are the private grounds, 

 orchards, and open spaces where the noisy yet sweet- 

 voiced songster may not be heard. I have frequently 

 remarked its exceptional numbers about the orchards 

 and gardens at Acton, Ealing, and Gunnersbury, also in 

 Battersea Park ; whilst its song, especially at morn and 

 even, is a marked feature in such leafy suburbs as Dulwich 

 and Clapham. In winter the bird may often be observed 

 in the squares, fraternising with Starlings and Sparrows. 

 I have seen it at this season in the Embankment Gardens 

 between Charing Cross and the Temple, as well as in 

 gardens near Euston Road. It is common in the 

 Botanical Gardens, and I lately saw it at the Marble 

 Arch. 



One of the first signs of the advent of spring to 

 dwellers in London is the Blackbird's resumption of 

 song. In a fairly open season the bird regains his voice 

 in February, and then the flute-like warble, all too short, 

 and interrupted by intervals of silence, may be heard 

 almost everywhere, wherever there is sufficient greenery 

 to afford the sable songster shelter. His song, with that 



27 



