10 BLACKBIRD 
in 1901 a nest in a gooseberry bush close to an uninhabited 
cottage. The bird breeds in varying situations, often, with 
a great amount of confidence, in the hedges and standard 
fruit-trees of our gardens, where its young are very likely 
to fall a prey to cats. A nest was placed on a ledge of 
rock close to a well-frequented path down the cliffside at 
Port-e-Cooiley, Lonan, and it said something for the 
children of the neighbourhood that, though a manifest 
track had been formed to it, it was not robbed. Another 
nest was at the foot of the cliffs, and almost on the shore, 
near the Slock. 
The beginning of April may, I think, be looked upon as 
the usual time for the business of nesting to commence. 
A nest in a hedge of escallonia in a garden at Castletown 
was used for two successive broods in the same year. In 
Y. L. M. Report, 1904, Mr. Crellin describes a Thrush’s nest 
in a highroad hedge at Bishop’s Court, in which a Blackbird 
was sitting on three Thrush’s eggs and three of its own. 
The Blackbird, contrary to common opinion, is a great 
migrant, and large numbers appear at our lighthouses. Mr. 
Kermode records two hundred at Point of Ayre on 21st 
October 1879, and on 22nd November 1886 many thronged 
round Langness light during the darkness. On 20th 
February 1890 sixty-three were killed at Point of Ayre. 
Albinism is frequent in this species. There are several 
more or less pied specimens at Orrisdale; one has a few 
dark feathers only. Mr. Crellin records (Y. £. M., iii. 
491) in May 1898 a Blackbird’s nest near Ramsey with 
three almost full-grown white Blackbirds. On 9th January 
1899 he saw, in the neighbourhood of Douglas, a white 
specimen, and in 1885 he had another similar. In May 
1887 Mr. Kermode had a pure white nestling with pink eyes 
(Y. ZL. M., iii. 517). Mr. Allison tells me that white and 
pied Blackbirds are frequent in Maughold. 
