5O BIRD-LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 



Song Thrush is as markedly in the ascendent. 

 We do not hear much of the Blackbird's song 

 before March ; then the flute-like melody becomes 

 one of the commonest bird songs in the district 

 until the autumn moult, when it ceases finally 

 for the winter. The great amount of evergreens 

 in the gardens and pleasure-grounds, and the 

 number of lawns, suit this species admirably, 

 and its noisy pink or startling cry of alarm is 

 one of the most familiar evening sounds on 

 the hillsides. We heard of a remarkably early 

 nest of the Blackbird, during the exceptionally 

 mild winter of 1898-99. It was built in a hole 

 in a wall covered with ivy, in a garden in the 

 centre of Torquay, and on the i8th of February 

 contained young birds. Allowing for the period 

 of incubation, this nest must have been commenced 

 in January. We, however, have never heard the 

 Blackbird sing so early in the year as that; 

 possibly this nest may have been the result of a 

 songless union. We regret further to record that 

 this nest was destroyed by the boys attending a 

 neighbouring school. The familiar Robin is of 

 course widely distributed over such a congenial 

 spot for birds, and nests commonly enough in the 



