BLACKBIRD. 
91 
/ iVCESSORES. 
DENTIROSTRES. 
MERULID JE. 
BLACKBIRD. 
Turdus merula. 
PLATE XXV. FIGS. I. AND II. 
In its time of incubation, and in the position of its 
nest, the Blackbird differs very slightly from the thrush. 
The nest, which is sometimes very much exposed, may 
be met with in thorn hedges, or single bushes, in ever¬ 
greens, occasionally on the top of a naked stake-fence, on 
the summit of a wall, or in a heap of dead sticks. I have 
seen it within a few inches of the ground, on the stump of 
a felled tree. 
It is formed chiefly of grass, with a few dry sticks, 
roots, and dead leaves, cemented together with mud, 
which it uses in a much greater quantity than the thrush, 
and is then lined with fine dry grass. 
The eggs, which are four or five in number, vary much. 
Figure 1. represents a common variety, although not the 
most typical I could have chosen. I have figured it to 
make the drawings—at the same time that they represent 
each species—illustrative of the whole genus; figure 2, a 
variety, much resembling eggs of the ring ouzel; a variety 
similar to the last, except that the ground colour is 
lighter, and the spots smaller, is not unfrequent. I have 
a beautiful egg of this species, of a clear spotless light 
blue, with the whole of the larger end suffused with red¬ 
dish-brown. The Rev. A. C. Smith has kindly sent me a 
