THE BLACKBIRD. (Turdus Merula.)
“The smiling morn, the breathing spring,
Invite the tuneful birds to sing;
And, while they warble from each spray,
Love melts the universal lay.”
Mallet.
This well-known songster does not soar up to the clouds, like the lark, to make his voice resound through the air; but keeps to the shady groves, which he fills with his melodious notes. Early at dawn, and late at dusk, he continues his pleasing melody; and when incarcerated in the narrow space of a cage, still cheerful and merry, he strives to repay the kindness of his keeper by singing to him his natural strains; and beguiles his irksome hours of captivity by studying and imitating his master’s whistle. Blackbirds build their nests with great art, making the outside of moss and slender twigs, cemented together and lined with clay, and covering the clay with soft materials, as hair, wool, and fine grass. The female lays four or five eggs, of a bluish green colour, spotted all over with brown. The bill is yellow, but in the female the upper part and point are blackish; the inside of the mouth, and the circumference of the eyelids are yellow. The name of this bird is sufficiently expressive of the general colour of his body. He feeds on berries, fruit, insects, &c.
THE MISSEL THRUSH. (Turdus viscivorus.)
The Missel Thrush, so called from its feeding on the berries of the misletoe, differs but little from the Song Thrush, except in size. He is larger than the fieldfare, while the Throstle is smaller. The female lays five or six bluish eggs, with a tint of green, and marked with dusky spots.