instance, and may be 
seen hopping along 
under the bushes, and 
leaping up to 
snatch the ripest 
fruit. In the 
strawberry beds, 
too, it is very 
troublesome, 
unless they are 
netted over. 
And I have 
known it to be 
almost as destructive to cherries as the starling itself. But 
this mischief is counterbalanced in great degree by its 
slaughter of snails and insects. Here is its dietary for the 
year, as given by M. Prevost Paradol : 
“January and February, seeds, spiders and chrysalids ; 
March, worms, buds of trees and grubs; April, insects, 
worms, and grubs; May, cockchafers and worms; June, 
July, August and September, worms, grubs, all sorts of 
insects, and fruit; October, worms, chrysalids, and cater- 
pillars; November and December, seeds, corn and chrysa- 
lids.” 
The nest of the Blackbird is familiar to every egg-hunting 
schoolboy, for not only is it so big and so clumsily built that 
58 
