. The natural history of cage birds : their management, habits, food, diseases, treatment, breeding, and the methods of catching them . still alive in 1802, and the delight of its possessor THE BLACKBIRD. Tmdus merula, LiNNiEUs; Le Merle, Buffon ; Die Schwardrossel, Bechstein. This species, the most docile of its genus, is nine inches ancla half long, four of which belong to the tail. The beak is aninch long, and orange yellow; the iris is dark brown; theshanks are an inch high, and black. The whole plumage is ofa pure velvety black; the eyelids alone are orange. THE BLACKBIRD. 199 The female
. The natural history of cage birds : their management, habits, food, diseases, treatment, breeding, and the methods of catching them . still alive in 1802, and the delight of its possessor THE BLACKBIRD. Tmdus merula, LiNNiEUs; Le Merle, Buffon ; Die Schwardrossel, Bechstein. This species, the most docile of its genus, is nine inches ancla half long, four of which belong to the tail. The beak is aninch long, and orange yellow; the iris is dark brown; theshanks are an inch high, and black. The whole plumage is ofa pure velvety black; the eyelids alone are orange. THE BLACKBIRD. 199 The female is of a brownish black, with the breast of areddish hue, and the belly grayish; the throat is spotted withdark and light brown. It is also rather larger than the male,which has led some persons who were not well acquainted withit to make another species of it. The white variety is very well known; there is besides thestreaked, the black with a white head, and the pearl gray. Habitation.—When wild the blackbird is found all over the old world)as well as in Germany; it is the only species of its genus which does notmigrate thence. CATO S BLACKBIRD S CAGE In confinement it is kept in a large cage; it is better to keep it separatebecause, whether from spite or jealousy, it is often inclined, like the tits,to pursue and kill its little companions of the aviary or room. Food—When wild the blackbird eats berries, and, in winter, wheninsects are scarce, he seeks them near warm springs. In confinement he is satisfied with the first universal paste, but he alsoeats biead, meat, and anything which comes to table, such as a bit oi 200 THE RING BLACKBIRD. apple. More delicate than the song thrush, he would not digest merebran and water. He delights in bathing often, and should therefore befurnished with the means for so doing. Breeding.—As the blackbird does not travel he pairs early in thespring, and the first young are hatched by the end of March. The nest,placed in a thick bush, or
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