The above drawing and description were taken from an ill-stuffed specimen in the Wycliffe Museum.—Bewick.
Bitumen, s. A fat unctuous matter dug out of the earth, or scummed off lakes.
Black, a. Of the colour of night; dark.
Black, s. A black colour; mourning.
To dye a good black.—First make your stuff a very dark blue: then make a very strong dye of strawall and walnut bark; boil the wool in this for six hours. Take out the stuff, and clean out the dye-pot, and make a fresh dye of strawall, logwood dust, or a good quantity of chips, with some madder and Brazil dust: boil in this two hours, and pour off your liquor. Clean your pot, and put in liquor again with the stuff, and when hot, pour in a quart of urine, at least eight days’ old, and boil in this half an hour. Having dissolved in some of the boiling liquor the size of a hazel-nut of copperas, lift out your stuff, and pour in this liquor—boil it well, and all is done. If any brown or purple should appear between you and the light, put down some clean water, and boil it, adding to it one, two, or three tea spoonfuls of salt of tartar, and throw in your stuff for a few minutes. This is a long way for black dyeing, but the best for fishing. Let your dye-pot be large, or it will run over when you add the copperas; keep your dye-pot constantly full of water.—Ancient Recipe.
Blackbird, s. The name of a bird.
The length of the blackbird, or ouzel, (Turdus Merula, Linn.—Le Merle, Buff.) is generally about ten inches. Its plumage is altogether black; the bill, inside of the mouth, and edges of the eye-lids, are yellow, as are also the soles of the feet; the legs are of a dirty yellow. The female is mostly brown, inclining to rust colour on the breast and belly; the bill is dusky, and the legs brown; its song is also very different, so that it has sometimes been mistaken for a bird of a different species.
The males, during the first year, resemble the females so much, as not easily to be distinguished from them; but, after that, they assume the yellow bill, and other distinguishing marks of their kind. The blackbird is a solitary bird, frequenting woods and thickets, chiefly of evergreens, such as holly, pines, firs, &c., especially where there are perennial springs, which together afford it both shelter and subsistence. Wild blackbirds feed on berries, fruits, insects, and worms; they never fly in flocks like thrushes; they pair early, and begin to warble nearly as soon as any other of the songsters of the grove.
The female builds her nest in bushes, or low trees, and lays four or five eggs, of a bluish green colour, marked irregularly with dusky spots. The young birds are easily brought up tame, and may be taught to whistle a variety of tunes; for which their clear, loud, and melodious tones are well adapted. They are restless and timorous birds, easily alarmed, and difficult of access. But Buffon observes, that, “they are more restless than cunning, and more timorous than suspicious, as they readily suffer themselves to be caught with bird-lime, nooses, and all sorts of snares.” They are never kept in aviaries; for, when shut up with other birds, they pursue and harass their companions in slavery unceasingly: for which reason they are generally confined in cages apart. In some counties of England, this bird is called simply the Ouzel.—Bewick.