48 BRITISH BIRDS' EGGS. 



number, they lie in the ample, neatly plastered, well-turned 

 hollow of the nest, a sight which makes the eager eye of 

 the schoolboy sparkle with delight ; but pity they should 

 be destroyed, when we remember that this gentle Thrush is 

 one of the sweetest songsters in our land. Where its nest 

 is built near a habitation, this bird will sometimes admit of 

 great familiarity, even to being fed from the hands of visi- 

 tors, while seated within the nest. (PL VI. fig. 31.) 



THE BLACKBIRD. Merula vulgaris. This is another of 

 our sweet songsters : early in the morning and late in the 

 evening, its notes gladden us in the retired scenes of the 

 country. Like the Song Thrush, the Blackbird often selects 

 in early spring some evergreen, or some secluded and shel- 

 tered retreat in which to build its nest ; which, coarse with- 

 out, and containing a quantity of mud in its structure, is lined 

 within with fine grass. The eggs, generally four or five in 

 number, are of a bluish-green, spotted or finely marked 

 with brown, especially at the larger end ; the tints of green 

 and brown vary a little in different specimens. Like the 

 Thrush, the Blackbird feeds on worms, slugs, and snails ; 

 to this fare it adds currants, raspberries, and cherries, with 

 certain w^ld berries, as those of the ivy, mountain-ash, and 

 holly. (PL V. fig. 25.) 



