28 OUn NATR'E SONGSTERS. 



thrush, and yet it can be tamed more easily when 

 in captivity. Its powers of song render it a favou- 

 rite cage bird, but its notes are never so sweet as 

 in the green haunts wliich it loves so well, for they 

 are too loud for a room, and are sometimes a sad 

 annoyance in a neighbourhood where early rising 

 is not practised, and when the glad morning song 

 arouses the sleeper. But the pet blackbird may 

 be taught to whistle many a little air, and is so 

 good a mimic, that it can not only learn the notes 

 of other birds, but is said by Dr. Latham to imitate 

 the human voice. It has also been known to crow 

 like a cock, and cackle like a hen, ap])arently en- 

 joying the sound of the responses made by thr 

 fowds of the neighbouring farmyards. 



We need not describe the bird so well known 

 by its dark plumes, more black than even those of 

 the raven, and its yellow bill, and yellow streaks 

 around the eyes. The female bird, however, differs 

 in colour, and the black plumage has a brownisli 

 hue, which on the chest passes into brown. White 

 birds of this species are to be met with, and a 

 naturalist who found one, to avoid the anomaly, 

 calls it a wdiitc yellow bill. 



The blackbird is, during winter, mostly a soli- 



