8 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH INLAND BIRDS 
BLACKBIRD. 
Urdus merula.) 
Ouzel, Black Ouzel. — The Blackbird supplies 
the most familiar and striking example of difference 
in plumage between the cock and hen birds of a 
species, the way in which this difference so greatly 
varies in extent being one of the most curious prob- 
lems in bird life. The Blackbird's song is softer 
and more fitful than the Song Thrush's, and he 
waits till he is sure of spring before he sings it. It 
is associated in the mind with the first violets and 
daffodils, rather than with the snowdrops and 
Christmas roses, like the Thrush's. No song is so 
deep and rich and mellow, and these qualities, 
together with its easy, almost indolent, delivery, 
make it easy to distinguish. The Blackbird is 
hardly so early a builder as the Thrush, not many 
nests of his having eggs before the beginning of 
April. The nest is very similar generally to the 
Thrush's, and is built in much the same situations, 
but it is lined with fine, dry grass instead of mud, 
and is often more ragged and untidy outside, while 
its average situation is at a less distance from the 
ground. A Blackbird's nest is more often built 
actually upon the earth in a hedge-bank than a 
Thrush's is, and a Thrush's nest is found more often 
