348 THE BLACKBIRD. 



ingale, though intermixed with others wlrch are rather harsh. 

 In a wild state it sings from March to July, especially by 

 night ; but in confinement throughout the year, except in the 

 moulting season, and in so loud and joyous a tone as to be 

 audible at a considerable distance. Its memory is so good, 

 that it learns not only to repeat words, but to whistle several 

 airs without confounding them together. 



ADDITIONAL. In all the wooded and cultivated tracts of Eng- 

 land, Scotland, and Ireland, may the loud, mellow, clear song of 

 the Black Thrush, Garden Ouzel, or Merle, as this bird is vari- 

 ously called, be heard from the very beginning of spring to the 

 middle of July, and frequently very late into the autumn. 

 We quote a portion of MUDIE'S account of this familiar and 

 favourite songster : " The haunts and habits of the Blackbird 

 are nearly the same as those of the Thrush, only it is more fami- 

 liar, and, in proportion to its numbers, less seen. The disposition 

 of the bird is shy and solitary, more so than the Thrushes, as the 

 Blackbirds separate as soon as the young are able to provide for 

 themselves, and never again assemble, except in the breeding 

 time. It has been said that they do not all associate even then, 

 but that there are many solitary Blackbirds which pass the whole 

 year in a state of sulky celibacy. There is no reason for carrying 

 the matter quite so far as that : the Blackbird is as attentive to 

 its nest and young as any other of the tribe ; and its evasive 

 habit, or simply the facility with which it slips through hedges 

 and hi and below bushes, not probably so much from the wish of 

 hiding itself as in mere search for its food, is the foundation of 

 .the whole." 



Like the Thrush, the Blackbird commences its song very earlv in 

 the morning, and continues to sing late into the evening. MAC- 

 GILLIVEAY says " On the 1st of May, 1837, a Blackbird in the 

 garden commenced his song at three in the morning ; a fortnight 

 after, I heard one as early as half-past two ; and in the middle 01 

 the summer I have listened to it before going to bed, when the 

 twilight peeped in between the shutters upon the untired student, 

 thus admonished of the propriety of intermitting his labours. 

 The first morning song of the Blackbird is very singular, and 

 altogether different from that of the evening, consisting of repe- 

 titions of the same unmusical strain, performed with a harsh 

 screaming voice. It continues for a quarter of an hour or more, 

 and is not again heard until towards sunrise, when it is renewed 

 in a bolder, louder, and more joyous strain. In cold and cloudy 

 weather, however, this twilight strain is seldom heard, for then 

 the bird waits until it is full day before it commences its song. 



