374 CLASS AVES. 



tail dusky-blue ; middle of back, head, front of neck, 

 and beneath, black. 



The Blackbirds, Merles^ (Turdus, Lin.) 



have the beak compressed and bent, but the point 

 does not make a hook, and its notches do not produce 

 a denticulation so strong as in the shrikes. Never- 

 theless, there are, as we have said, gentle gradations 

 from one genus to the other. 



The regimen of this genus is more frugivorous. 

 They live pretty generally on berries. Their habits 

 are solitary. 



The name of blackbird is more especially applied 

 to the species whose colours are uniform, or distri- 

 buted in large masses. 



The most extended is, 



The Common Blackbird T. Merula. Lin. 



The male, Enl. 2., is black, with a yellow beak ; 

 the female, Enl. 555, is brown ; above reddish-brown ; 

 underneath spotted, with brown upon the breast. It 

 is a bold bird, though easily tamed, and taught to 

 sing, or even to speak. It remains here the whole 

 year. 



This bird is sometimes found entirely white, or par- 

 tially varied with that colour, when it is the Merula 

 Leucocephala, Varia and Candida of Brisson. 



An allied species, but a bird of passage, which 

 likes mountainous situations best, is the 



