THE BLACKBIRD. 239 



ground or crawl out completely. An animating and interesting sights indeed, 

 it is to watch him seek his meal. As soon as he alights he pauses a moment, 

 then hops quickly forward and begins to dig for a worm, or snatches a 

 snail from the grass-stem. Then another pause with head erect, then a 

 few more rapid hops forward, and again he renews the digging motions, 

 drawing the worms from their hiding places, and, if they be too large to 

 swallow whole, breaking them in pieces. Now he is tugging away at some 

 tenacious worm, now exploring the heaps of manure in search of insects, 

 every now and then pausing in his labours to look warily around. In this 

 manner the birds will advance a hundred yards or more from their cover ; 

 but should any one of them utter its alarm-notes, the whole party 

 seek shelter, leaving the pasture in a straggling train, the boldest birds 

 sometimes tarrying until you approach them within gunshot. But all the 

 Blackbird^s food is not obtained from the pastures. Lurking amongst the 

 hedgerows are numerous snails inhabiting prettilj^-marked shells ; these 

 the Blackbird breaks by dashing them against a stone or even the hard 

 ground. Insects and grubs are also eaten, and in autumn the berries of 

 the mountain-ash, wild rose, and elder, and also wild fruits, as raspberry, 

 blackberry, and sloe. The Blackbird is also, to some extent, a gramini- 

 vorous bird, and will feed on grain and various seeds. The bird's love for 

 fruit also makes him but a poor favourite with the gardener, who is ever 

 on the alert to kill him for the cherries, currants, gooseberries, and peas 

 that he pilfers in the season. But the bird's thefts in fruit-time are amply 

 repaid by the amount of undoubted good he does at other times of the 

 year in ridding the garden and the orchard of many of their unwelcome 

 pests. A little watching in the fruit-season is all that is necessary. His 

 good deeds amply repay his little pilferings ; and his sprightly form and 

 tuneful song should be far more highly valued than a handful of fruit. 



In autumn the Blackbird is often found in the turnip-fields, seeking 

 the snails and worms which abound so plentifully in the damp loose 

 soil under the broad leaves. In such numbers do the birds congregate 

 that it is no uncommon thing to flush a dozen of them on an acre of 

 turnips. Ilere they are flushed with difficulty, always preferring to run 

 under the leaves than to take wing, unless absolutely compelled to do so. 

 In winter the Blackbird's table is the hawthorn, whose berries form its 

 favourite food. At this season of the year it also eats the berries of the 

 misseltoe and the ivy ; yet always, when the frost is absent, it fi'cquents 

 the grass-lands, manure-heaps, and little watercourses in search of the 

 various insects on or near them. 



The song of the Blackbird is first heard in the latter part of February, 

 and continues with undiminished power until the end of May, when his 

 notes are on the wane throughout June ; and in July his mellow pipe is 

 hushed during the autumnal moult until the advent of the following spring. 



