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of a heavy thunder-storm, when the rain was falling thickly, and the lightning flashing at an 

 alarming rate ; and both this species and the Song-Thrush seem to regard the summer rains 

 with pleasure. The season at which the Blackbird is in full song commences about the middle 

 of February, and ends about the beginning of August ; but in calm and especially warm 

 weather, whether clear or cloudy, it may sometimes be heard in the winter and early spring 

 months. Thus in the uncommonly mild winter of 1837 it was frequently heard in the south 

 of Scotland in December, although the severe frost and snow which happened in January 

 following entirely put an end to its mirth for weeks. 



" It is not in the wild valley, flanked with birchen slopes, and stretching far away among 

 the craggy hills, that the music of the Blackbird floats upon the evening breeze. There you 

 may listen delighted to the gentle song of the Mavis ; but here, in this plain, covered with corn- 

 fields, and skirted with gardens, sit thee down on the green tuft by the gliding brook, and mark 

 the little black speck stuck as it were upon the top twig of that tall poplar. It is a Blackbird ; 

 for now the sweet strain, loud, but mellowed by distance, comes upon the ear, inspiring pleasant 

 thoughts, and banishing care and sorrow. The bird has evidently learned his part by long 

 practice; for he sings sedately and in the full consciousness of superiority. Ceasing at intervals, 

 he renews the strain, varying it so that, although you can trace an occasional repetition of notes, 

 the staves are never precisely the same. You may sit an hour or longer, and yet the song will 

 be continued; and in the neighbouring gardens many rival songsters will sometimes raise their 

 voices at once, or delight you with alternate strains. And now, what is the purpose of all this 

 melody '. We can only conjecture' that it is the expression of the perfect happiness which the 

 creature is enjoying when, uncarked by care, conscious of security, and aware of the presence of 

 his mate, he instinctively pours forth his soul in joy and gratitude and love. He does not sing 

 to amuse his mate, as many have supposed, for he often sings in winter, when he is not yet 

 mated ; nor does he sin- to beguile his solitude, for now he is not solitary; but he sings because 

 all his wants are satisfied, his whole frame glowing with health, and because his Maker has gifted 

 him with the power of uttering sweet sounds. 



'• The Blackbird pairs in February or March, and about the middle of the latter month, or 

 later in the season, according to the temperature or the progress of vegetation, begins to construct 

 its nest, which it places in a bush of any kind — a hawthorn, a laurel, a holly, or a willow, for 

 example, or among ivy, or honeysuckle, or even in a hole in a wall or rock. For the most part, 

 however, it selects the lower part of a hedge, or a briar or bramble thicket, or the concealment of 

 a fresh young fir or pine. The nest, which is bulky, is composed externally of stalks of grasses, 

 supported or strengthened by some twigs or stems of herbaceous plants, and interwoven with 

 mosses. This framework, coarsely intertwined, is lined with a thin layer of mud, within which 

 is a more neatly arranged layer of fibrous roots, slender stalks of grasses, decayed leaves, and 

 hypna. The interior is hemispherical, about four inches in breadth at the mouth, and three in 

 depth. The nests, however, vary considerably as to the materials of which they are composed. 

 In one before me, within a loose mass of grasses, roots, and twigs is a firm cup composed of 

 blades and stems of soft grasses rudely interwoven and compacted w 7 ith sandy mud, which has 

 been applied in pellets, and having a thickness of a quarter of an inch. Within this is a shell of 

 about the same thickness, composed of fine fibrous roots and slender grasses well interwoven, 



