THE BLACKBIRD. 147 



In the stomachs of thirteen blackbirds examined by me in 

 November, December, and January, in various years, were 

 haws, seeds, and soft vegetable matter, coleopterous and other 

 insects and their larvee, earth worms, limacelli, &c. : in three were 

 land-shells, one stomach alone exhibiting six specimens of Buli- 

 mus lubricus, and ten of Helix radiata ; — the weather was mild 

 when this bird was obtained, as it was when another filled 

 with haws was procured. Minute Coleoptera were the most 

 abundant food. In summer, I have seen the Helix nemoralis 

 attacked by tins species. Daring frost, the blackbird suffers 

 much, and irrigated meadows are favourite feeding-ground: as 

 are ditch-banks, overgrown with brambles, in winter generally. 



In the winter of 1813-14, there was an extremely severe and 

 long-continued frost in the north of Ireland. At the commence- 

 ment of the thaw, above a hundred birds, chiefly blackbirds and 

 thrushes, were found floating dead on the stream flowing from a 

 spring at Ballynafeigh, near Belfast. It was believed that the 

 birds had been tempted to the place by the spring (which at its 

 immediate source remained unfrozen) and by the comparative 

 shelter of overhanging trees. Water was extremely scarce in the 

 neighbourhood. The birds were considered to have foundered 

 from time to time during the continuance of the frost, though 

 noticed only on its breaking up. 



Several native specimens of the blackbird variegated with white 

 — in some instances obviously the result of disease — have come 

 under my notice in Belfast ; the tarsi and toes were sometimes 

 marked with white. Correspondents mention the occurrence of these 

 varieties in all quarters of the island. A friend has remarked two 

 pied ones at the same time flying about Ins demesne. A few 

 notes on the subject may be given. January 20th, 1838. 1 was 

 shown by Mr. Wm. Marshall, of Belfast, a male blackbird, either 

 twenty or twenty-one years old, which had been taken from the 

 nest by a waiter at an hotel in Dungannon, and kept by him from 

 that period until a few days ago, when it died. Its entire head 

 was bald or destitute of feathers ; the wings displayed as much 

 white as black ; the quills being white, and the coverts black. 



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