BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 35 



that they are equally " grand gobeurs " of many 

 kinds of insects as well, many of the most 

 mischievous insects to the garden, including wasps 

 (I have myself several times found wasps in the 

 stomach of the blackbird) forming a considerable 

 portion of their food, the young also being almost 

 entirely fed upon worms, caterpillars, and grubs ; 

 and when we remember that it is only for a short 

 time of the year that the Blackbird can feed on 

 fruit, which in most cases can be protected by a 

 little care, and that during the whole of the other 

 portion of the year it feeds on insects which would 

 do more damage in the garden than itself, it will be 

 apparent that the gardener has really no substantial 

 ground of complaint. 



As in England, variations in the plumage of the 

 Blackbird are not uncommon. I have one Guernsey 

 specimen of a uniform fawn colour, and another 

 rather curiously marked with grey, the tail-feathers 

 being striped across grey and black. This is a 

 young bird recently out of the nest, and I have no 

 doubt would, after a moult or two, have come to its 

 proper plumage, probably after the first moult, as 

 seems to me frequently the case with varieties of 

 this sort, though I have known a Blackbird show a 

 good deal af white year after year in the winter, 

 resuming its proper plumage in the summer ; and 

 Mr. Jago mentions a case of a Blackbird which 

 passed through his hands which was much marked 



