BL.A CKBI11D. 
201 
o’clock, the male fed them three, and the female four times; 
from five to six o’clock, the female fed them only twice; and 
from six to seven o’clock, she fed them three times. In the 
evening the male was almost entirely engaged in singing, and 
from seven to eight o’clock, fed them only once, and the 
female six times; and from eight to twenty minutes before 
nine o’clock, when they both ceased from their labours, the 
male fed them once, and the female seven times: the male 
still continued singing. Thus in the course of a single day, 
the male fed the young forty-four times, and the female 
sixty-nine times. 
While engaged in watching, from his place of concealment, 
this pair of birds, Mr. Weir observed that before they fed 
their young, they always alighted upon a tree, and looked 
around them for a few seconds. Sometimes they brought 
sufficient food for the whole of their brood one by one, and 
at other times only enough for a single nestling. The young 
birds often trimmed their feathers, and stretched out their 
wings. 
On a Wren accidentally coming so near as to detect the 
ambush, and giving a consequent note of alarm, all the birds 
in the neighbourhood flocked around at once, to endeavour 
to discover the cause of it, and the Blackbirds hopped round 
and round, and made every effort to penetrate the mystery, 
but at length gave up the attempt. One of the young birds 
having had the misfortune to be choked, the hen bird, on 
discovering the danger, set up a moan of distress. Her 
partner on hearing it instantly came to her assistance, and 
both made several attempts to dislodge the incubus, but for 
a time they were unsuccessful. At last the male bird most 
scientifically aided the process of deglutition, though only just 
in time, for the young one was so much exhausted, that it 
remained nearly three hours without moving, and with its 
eyes shut. The cock bird having alighted on a tree a few 
yards from the nest, poured forth a volume of song expressive 
of joy at the happy result of his endeavours. 
With the note of alarm, Mr. Weir adds, which any set up 
on the discovery of their enemies, all the different species of 
the little birds seem to be most instinctively acquainted, for 
no sooner did a beast or a bird of prey make its appearance, 
than they seemed to be anxiously concerned about the safety 
of their family. From tree to tree they usually hopped, 
uttering their doleful lamentations. At one time the Blackbirds 
