136 AlerulidcK. 



disposition, and solitary withal, never seen to congregate with 

 many of its species, and hurries off with a loud scream of alarm, 

 and buries itself in the nearest bush the instant it is discovered : 

 it has a fine full rich voice, with which it often favours us ; and 

 it is a matter of great dispute among connoisseurs whether the 

 blackbird or thrush has the finest song, though I think most 

 votes would be in favour of the latter ; but yet the former has 

 many stout partisans, and not without reason, for its notes are 

 very melodious ; it is also one of the earliest songsters we have. 

 Blackbirds appear to be especially liable to exhibit variations in 

 plumage, specimens continually occurring in pied and mottled 

 garb, sometimes in pure white, though the name of the bird 

 causes such a statement to sound contradictory. And here, per- 

 haps, I may be allowed to make one or two observations on these 

 albino varieties in birds, having examined the subject with great 

 attention, and stated the result in a paper published by the 

 Zoologist in 1853. I will not inflict on my readers the arguments 

 by which I arrived at my conclusions, as they would be somewhat 

 out of place here ; suffice it to say, that I conceive that physical 

 weakness either in the individuals themselves, or in their parents, 

 one or both of them, is the radical origin of the varieties in colour 

 so often seen ; and that the natural and habitual functions of the 

 bird are through debility so disarranged, as to have the effect of 

 withdrawing the pigment or colouring matter from the growing 

 feather, as it springs from the follicle sheath or capsule in which 

 it is enveloped, and where it is nourished by juices in which the 

 pigment is supposed to reside. There may be many exciting causes, 

 such as peculiar food, sudden fear, extreme rage, etc., serving 

 to develop this peculiarity in colour, or it may have existed from 

 the nest, but in all cases I apprehend that constitutional weak- 

 ness is the real root of the matter ; and as bright well-marked 

 plumage undoubtedly betokens good health and strength, so and 

 on the same principles I conceive that an unwonted variety or 

 absence of colour marks physical debility : and therefore I am no 

 admirer of these anomalous specimens, but rather look upon 

 them as miserable deformities and wretched abortions, the 



