14 BLACKBIRD. 
range further north or east than the valley of the Volga ; being 
represented in Turkestan, Afghanistan, and Kashmir by a larger 
resident species or form, which Seebohm named Merula maxima. 
In winter its numbers in southern countries are considerably increased 
by migrants from the north. 
The usual nesting-places selected by the Blackbird are bushes, 
especially evergreens and hedge-rows ; occasionally the ground ; but 
the nest differs from that of the Thrush in being lined with dry 
grasses. The 4-6 eggs are of a greenish-blue, spotted and streaked 
with reddish-brown : measurements 1‘t by ‘85 in. Blue varieties 
resembling eggs of the Starling are sometimes met with, but 
Mr. R. M. Christie has brought forward (Tr. Norw. Soc., iti, p. 588, 
and iv, p. 582) some evidence indicating that the Blackbird and the 
Song-Thrush may occasionally inter-breed, and it has been suggested 
that these blue eggs may be the result of such a union. Several 
broods are hatched during the season, the first often by the end of 
March. THe old birds are much more shy during the breeding- 
season than is the Song-Thrush, but the cock, especially at pairing- 
time, is very quarrelsome. The food consists of worms, insects and 
their larve, slugs and snails, with seeds, hawthorn- and other berries 
in winter, and fruit in summer. The Blackbird’s powerful song— 
heard at its best after an April shower—makes it a favourite for the 
cage, and it is further gifted with a considerable power of mimicry ; 
while its noisy, rattling alarm-note, as it flits from the hedge-rows or 
copses to which it is partial, must be familiar to every one. A 
peculiarity by which the Blackbird may be recognized, even in a bad 
light, is its habit of sharply raising its tail the moment it perches. 
As in the case of the Song-Thrush, the young of this species some- 
times assist the parents in feeding the second brood. 
The adult male has the entire plumage glossy-black ; bill and 
edges of the eyelids orange-yellow; legs and feet brownish-black. 
Length 10°: in.; wing 5 in. The female is umber-brown, paler 
and more rufous on the throat and breast, with darker streaks—some 
mountain forms being exceptionally light-coloured; bill and legs 
brownish. The young male can be distinguished in the nest by its 
stouter bill and darker hue, especially along the carpal joint; and if 
a few of the first brown feathers of the breast be pulled out, these 
will be reproduced of a black colour. Later, the plumage is 
blackish-brown above, with pale shaft-streaks ; under parts lighter. 
Even after.assuming the adult plumage, young males of the year 
have blackish bills until their second year. Pied varieties and 
albinisms are by no means uncommon. 
