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Dr. A. G. Butler,



never took the slightest notice of her, being only interested in

fighting his blacker relative.


Possibly, as these imported birds were hand-reared and

their song self-taught; as, moreover, my hen bird was extremely

wild, neither bird had any attractions for its companion ; in any

case the constant attendance of a lively cock English bird with a

very melodious song must have prejudiced the hen against the

dismal Gregorian dirge sung by the Indian bird.


After some little trouble we eventually captured and caged

the cock Blackbird : it was evidently unpaired, and had begun to

injure itself in its struggles to get at the Grey-wing: its removal

to a cage indoors left the latter free to attend to other matters,

and shortly afterwards, to my great astonishment, I discovered

that it had learned an excellent song closely resembling that of

our Song-Thrush, but with phrases from the songs of the Black¬

bird and Wren interspersed ; and sometimes varied by the self-

taught dirge of the previous year. Mr. Seth-Smitli writes me

that his bird “ sang splendidly last spring, and his song was

more like that of a Thrush than a Blackbird.”


To one who has hand-reared Blackbirds where they were

unable to hear the wild song, it seems most curious that, after

singing the wretched travesty of music invented by itself, even

for one year, this Ouzel should become an accomplished musician:

it tends, I think, to prove that the Blackbirds must be as capable

of mimicry in song as I, some time since, discovered the Song-

Thruslx to be.


Since the Grey-wing has become musical the hen Blackbird

has become considerably tamer: whereas previously I only had

to enter the aviary for her to exhibit the wildest alarm, and fly

tempestuously from one end to the other, she now remains

quietly on the branch of a tree at a little higher level than my

head, as I pass down the path with the daily supply of food: the

Grey-wing, being hand-reared, is of course quite friendly and

watches for my coming.


Although two pairs of Blackbirds have settled in my

garden, my captives have hitherto shown no inclination to build,

but I do not yet despair. In the same aviary I have a pair of



