48 



BRITISH BIRDS 



very generally diffused, and abundant in all suitable localities, but 

 he is attached to human habitations a bird of the garden, lawn, and 

 shrubberies. His music is much to us, his beautiful mellow voice 

 being unique in character in this country. But, more than his voice, 

 his love of gardens and their produce, and whatever else serves to 



FIG. 20. BLACKBIRD'S NEST. 



make him better known than most birds, is his blackness. Excepting 

 the crows, he is the only British bird in the passerine order with a 

 wholly black plumage ; and his bright yellow bill increases the 

 effect of the blackness, and, like a golden crown, gives him a strange 



