Mingling with the Song Thrushes on the lawn, but always recognisable by his much longer tail and darker colour, we may at all times of the year see the Blackbird. He is hardly so familiar as his neighbour the Thrush, and prefers to keep near the shrubbery, where, on the least sign of real or imaginary danger, he may retire, and by remaining motionless be secure from observation; but if we follow him, and approach too near, he will fly away, uttering his loud alarm-note of “Cluck, cluck!” He will not be long away, however, and if we remain quiet he will soon be back again, crossing the lawn with long, measured hops, stopping now and again to look round and to spread and “flirt” his broad fan-shaped tail. The Missel Thrush will be sitting on the eggs, and the Song Thrush will have nearly completed her nest, before our sable friend begins to think of matrimonial cares. Towards the end of February his clear flute-like notes will be heard from the shrubbery or hedgerow—a song which, if more mellow in tone, is far shorter and more monotonous than that of the Song Thrush, although the performance of some individual Blackbirds is longer and more pleasing. He will now sing almost continuously, with the exception of a few short intervals spent in chasing his mate, who, unlike him, wears a dull suit of russet brown. And he will have to prove himself a preux chevalier ere he can win his lady fair, for there will almost certainly be two or three other suitors to fight, and the victor alone can claim the lady, while the ousted competitors retire from the field. This extreme combativeness makes the species appear scarcer than is really the case, as each pair will claim suzerain rights over a comparatively large space. The nest is built low down in some bush or hedgerow, on the ground in a bank, in a furze bush or on a heath, and is formed entirely of grass and bents, with a little mud for the foundation, but well lined with finer bents; it is rather larger in diameter, and shallower, than that of the Thrush. The eggs, four to six in number, have a pale blue ground colour, thickly mottled with reddish markings, sometimes uniformly distributed over its surface, at others confined to broader blotches forming a ring round its larger end, or again, in some cases, the markings may be entirely absent. The young, like those of most Thrushes, are fed almost entirely on earthworms, though insects are also swallowed; two or three broods are reared in the season, and as summer advances and fruit ripens, visits are paid to the neighbouring orchards and gardens, the spoils from which form, during the season, a very large proportion of their diet, so there is no doubt that the gardeners’ complaints of them are only too well justified. With the advent of the migration season in September and October large numbers leave our shores, only, we fear, to be caught and eaten by our neighbours across the Channel, where members of the Thrush family are considered great delicacies. Many however remain, spending the winter in thick hedgerows, shrubberies, and woods, or anywhere in fact where there is a bush high enough to shelter them. Furze-covered commons are favourite localities, as are also the open heather-covered tops of low hills.