CAGE AND SINGING BIRDS. 
119 
taken by Eng-lisli birdcatchers; who offer them for sale. 
When first captured they are very wild, and will sometimes 
refuse to eat, and die in consequence. After a time they 
.Qfenerally become very tame. 
THE BLACKBIRD, 
Or black thrush, as it ought, perhaps, to be called, is another 
very common and favourite species ; it is sometimes termed 
the garden ouzel, and such writers as have called the brown 
thrush the mavis, have generally spoken of this as the merle ; 
it is the handsomest bird of the thrush genus, with its jetty 
plumes and golden bill, and second to none in powers of 
song 5 its notes are, indeed, more rich and mellow than even 
those of its speckled-breasted congener, but they are not so 
various, nor so nicely modulated. When wild the blackbird 
sings from March to July ; it may be heard at all hours or 
the day, but more especially early in the morning and late 
in the evening. Like most of the non- migrating birds it is 
an early breeder, and often has young in its nest by the end 
of March ; this nest is somewhat bulky, composed of grass, 
moss, and other materials ; the inside is generally plastered 
with mud, and lined with fine grass, stalks, and hair ; the 
eggs are bluish green or gray, thickly speckled with brown. 
The young should be taken as soon as the tail feathers begm 
to show themselves, and reared upon bread and milk, with 
an occasional treat of chopped snails, grubs, or caterpillars, 
orbits of raw lean meat; the darkest in plumage are the 
males; they may be taught to whistle airs very perfectl^y, 
to imitate the songs of other birds, and even to articulate 
words. , 1 /V 1 1 
The merle is a shy bird, and generally difficult to catch ; 
it will seldom come to the barn-floor trap ; after dusk it may 
sometimes be taken in the water-trap, and in winter, when 
pressed for food, in the large tit-trap, and by means of nooses 
and springes baited with service berries, or limed twigs set 
round a space cleared of snow. When wild its food is the 
same as that of the common thrush ; in the aviary it will 
feed on the universal paste, or, indeed, almost anything that 
is given to it ; but it is best kept in a large cage, as it is apt 
to be tyrannical, and will sometimes, like the titmouse, kiii 
Wfiaker birds. It is fond of bathing, and therefore should 
