40 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



winter visitant to Britain. Besides these two birds there are the Missel Thrus? , a fine large species, 

 which has of late years extended its range considerably in England, and the Fieldfare (Turdus 

 pilaris\ which arrives in that country with the Redwing in the winter, and leaves again before the 

 summer begins. These four species constitute the regular British Thrushes, but one or two European 

 and American species also have occurred within the limits of the British Islands. 



THE BLACKBIRD (Turdus menda). 



Although it is impossible to find any structural difference between a Thrush and a Blackbird, yet 

 the sombre hue of the latter, which prevails botli in the British species and in its allies throughout 

 the world, seems to divide the Blackbirds off as a distinct group of the genus Turdus. Besides the 

 species of true Thrushes mentioned above, England is inhabited by the common Blackbird and the 

 King Ouzel, the former resident, and the latter entirely migratory. To quote once more from the 



delightful work of Macgillivray : " The Blackbird, which is one of the most admired of our native 

 songsters, is a permanent resident, and occurs in almost ail parts of England and Scotland, although 

 it prefers the more cultivated districts, and is rarely met with in the centre and more elevated tracts. 

 Being, properly speaking, an inhabitant of bushy places and woods, it does not breed in the northern 

 and more remote Hebrides, nor in districts of the mainland destitute of sylvan vegetation. In winter 

 it frequents the neighbourhood of houses arid towns, resorting to woods, hedges, and gardens, and 

 generally keeping in the shelter of trees or bushes. At this season its food consists principally of 

 snails, especially Helix aspersa and //. nemoralis, the shells of which it breaks by raising them in its 

 bill, and dashing them against a stone or other hard surface. It also occasionally breaks them open 

 by pecking against the spire, in which the shell is much thinner. Like many other birds, however, 

 it has a large range of food.. Thus, having opened five individuals, I found in the stomach of one a 

 great quantity of seeds and husks of gramina, including wheat and oats ; in that of another, 

 coleopterous insects ; in that of a third, coleoptera, and seeds of various kinds ; in that of the 

 fourth, mollusca and fragments of shells; in that of a fifth, seeds, niollusca, and a few grains 

 of gravel, earthworms, larvse, berries, and seeds of various kinds. It is amusing to observe a 

 Blackbird searching for food on the smooth green of a garden, which one may easily do from the 

 window without being noticed. In December, 1832, I watched one in order to note its motions. 

 After looking quietly at a particular spot for some time, it hopped up, began to peck the ground with 



