The Natural History of Cage Birds Part 30

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 not migrate thence.

In confinement it is kept in a large cage; it is better to keep it separate because, whether from spite or jealousy, it is often inclined, like the t.i.ts, to pursue and kill its little companions of the aviary or room.

FOOD.--When wild the blackbird eats berries, and, in winter, when insects are scarce, he seeks them near warm springs.

In confinement he is satisfied with the first universal paste, but he also eats bread, meat, and anything which comes to table, such as a bit of apple. More delicate than the song thrush, he would not digest mere bran and water. He delights in bathing often, and should therefore be furnished with the means for so doing.

BREEDING.--As the blackbird does not travel he pairs early in the spring, and the first young are hatched by the end of March. The nest, placed in a thick bush, or in a heap of boughs, is formed on the outside of stalks, then of moss and mud and lined in the inside with fine hay, hair, and wool. The female lays three times a year, from four to six eggs, of a greenish gray, spotted and streaked with light brown; when the young are hatched the males are always darker than the females, therefore bird-catchers can never be mistaken when they take the former and leave the latter. They are easily reared on white bread soaked in boiled milk, a little raw beef, and worms dipped in water. It is better to take them from the nest when the quills of the feathers are just beginning to develop, because, having then no idea of their natural song, they will retain more perfectly and distinctly the airs which may be taught them.

DISEASES.--An obstruction in the rump gland is their most common disorder, and must be treated in the manner described in the Introduction. It would doubtless be prevented by never omitting to furnish the means of bathing. With care, and a proper variety of food, this bird will live in confinement ten or twelve years.

METHOD OF CATCHING.--Timid and distrustful, the blackbird seldom enters the area or barn-floor trap, but it is easily caught in the winter with a noose or springe, by using service berries for a bait.

It sometimes falls into the large traps set for t.i.ts, when the berries are spread over the bottom; limed twigs put with the berries in a place cleared from the snow, will catch many also; it also goes to the water-trap, but generally at night-fall. Its call is "_tsizirr, tak, tak_."

ATTRACTIVE QUALITIES.--The natural song of the blackbird is not dest.i.tute of melody; but it is broken by noisy tones, and is agreeable only in the open country. When wild it sings only from March to July; but when caged, during the whole year, except when moulting. Its voice is so strong and clear, that in a city it may be heard from one end of a long street to the other. Its memory is so good, that it retains, without mixing them, several airs at once, and it will even repeat little sentences. It is a great favourite with the lovers of a plaintive, clear, and musical song, and may, in these respects, be preferred to the bullfinch, whose voice is softer, more flute-like, but also more melancholy. The price of these two birds, if well taught, is about the same.

THE RING BLACKBIRD.

t.u.r.dus torquatus, LINNaeUS; Merle a Plastron blanc, BUFFON; Die Ringdrossel, BECHSTEIN.

This bird is larger than the common blackbird, being in length ten inches and a half, four of which belong to the tail. The beak is an inch long, raven gray, yellowish white at the base of the lower mandible, and yellow at the angles as well as inside: the iris is chestnut brown; the shanks dark brown, and fourteen lines high; the upper part of the body is black; and it is the princ.i.p.al colour of the under part also; but the feathers of the belly and the coverts of the wings are edged with white; the quill-feathers, and the outside feathers of the tail are grayish white; a white spot, tinged with red, and the size of the finger, placed transversely on the breast, serves to characterize the species, and gives it its name.

The female is of a brownish black; the transverse band on the breast is narrower, and of a reddish ash-colour, shaded with brown.

Those individuals which combine the brown colour of the female with the pectoral band, large, and of a reddish white, are young males; the others, in which it is scarcely discernible, are young females.

OBSERVATIONS.--Though the ring blackbird traverses the whole of Europe, it builds only in the north[68]. It arrives in Germany and England on the foggy days of the end of October and beginning of November. It moves always in small flights, stopping generally in spots covered with briers and juniper bushes, where it may be caught with a noose. Its food, when free and in confinement, is the same as that of the common blackbird, with which it has the most striking resemblance in its gait, the motion of its wings and tail, and its call, "_tak_." Its voice, though hoa.r.s.er and deeper, is nevertheless more harmonious and agreeable. It is so weak that a red-breast may overpower it. It continues singing at all times, except when moulting. It will live in confinement from six to ten years.

THE ROCK THRUSH.

t.u.r.dus saxatilis, LINNaeUS; Le Merle de Roche, BUFFON; Die Steindrossel, BECHSTEIN.

This rare and striking bird is unknown in many parts of Germany[69].

Though its princ.i.p.al characteristics place it in the genus of the blackbird, it has more resemblance to the starling, both in its manners and gait, which are varied and agreeable. Its length is seven inches and a half, two and three quarters of which belong to the tail. The beak, an inch long, and the shanks, an inch and a quarter high, are black. The head and neck are grayish blue, or ash blue, lighter in the old, and darker in the young birds; the top of the back is dark brown, often varying to a lighter brown, the middle a fine white; the rump, of a dark brown, has the feathers tipped with white; the breast is dark orange, the belly the same; but, according to the season, more or less spotted and undulated with white.

The female is dark brown on the upper part of the body, with edges of whitish gray to the feathers; those of the rump are rust-colour, with the same gray edge; the chin is white; the throat brown; the under part of the neck, and the whole under part of the body, of a dirty orange, with waving lines of brown and white; the tail is paler than that of the male, and the feet are dark brown.

HABITATION.--When wild it is found in the south of Europe and Germany, in Austria, and the Tyrol. In France, in Bugey, and more to the south; and especially in the Alps and Pyrenees, frequenting rocks or old ruined castles. In its migrations it visits bare rocky mountains, searching for insects which take refuge among the stones. Its departure is in September and its return in March.

In confinement it is furnished with a cage larger than that of the nightingale.

FOOD.--When wild it appears to live entirely on insects.

In confinement it is fed like the nightingale; but with every care it cannot long be preserved.

BREEDING.--The female builds her nest in an almost inaccessible crevice of the rocks, and lays five eggs. As the young are very susceptible of instruction, they are readily brought up when they can be obtained[70]; they are fed and treated like young nightingales.

MODE OF TAKING.--It is by fixing to the spots they frequent plenty of limed twigs, with meal-worms attached to them; it is said that in the Alps and Pyrenees they are caught with a bird-call.

ATTRACTIVE QUALITIES.--It is considered one of the most agreeable singers; and if caught young it soon acquires the songs of the other birds of the chamber, learns to whistle tunes, and even, like the starling, to repeat words. "It begins to sing," says Buffon, "a little before dawn, which it announces by noisy sounds. If its cage is approached during the night with a candle, it begins to sing; and when, during the day, it does not sing, it appears to be practising in an under tone, and preparing new songs."

THE SOLITARY THRUSH.

t.u.r.dus solitarius, LINNaeUS; Le Merle solitaire, BUFFON; Die Einsame Drossel, BECHSTEIN.

This bird is eight inches and a half long, three of which belong to the tail. The beak is an inch and a quarter long, rather crooked at the point, dark brown without, and yellowish within; the iris is orange. The feet are thirteen lines high, and brown. The whole plumage is brown studded with little white spots, with a faint tint of blue on the sides of the head, the throat, under the body, on the breast and coverts of the wings; the rump is brown without spots, and the tail blackish.

The female differs from the male in having the little spots of a dirty yellow, and more numerous on the breast than elsewhere, and in being dest.i.tute of the blue tint; and finally, in having the pen-feathers and the tail-feathers simply brown.

HABITATION.--When wild it seldom quits the mountains in the south of Europe; in spring, however, it advances as far as Burgundy, and returns in the end of August; it arrives, in the month of April, at the spot where it generally pa.s.ses the summer, and returns constantly every year to the place where it first took up its abode. Two pairs are seldom found in the same district. Except in the pairing season it is a solitary bird.

In confinement it is furnished with a cage like that of the blackbird.

FOOD.--When wild it feeds on insects, berries, and grapes.

In confinement it is treated like the song thrush, adding ants' eggs and meal-worms.

BREEDING.--The nest, made of blades of gra.s.s and feathers, is generally placed at the top of a solitary chimney, or on the summit of an old castle, or on the top of a large tree, generally near a steeple or high tower. The female lays five or six eggs. The young ones, if taken from the nest soon enough, are capable of instruction; the flexibility of the throat fitting it either for tunes or words.

They sing also by candle-light in the night. If treated with care they live in confinement eight or ten years. From the summit of a high tower or steeple the male utters for whole days the most beautiful and pathetic song, accompanying it by flapping his wings, moving his tail, and elevating the feathers of his head.

ATTRACTIVE QUALITIES.--His beautiful voice is in great repute in all the countries he inhabits; it is, indeed, very sweet and flute-like; his song, though musical, is somewhat melancholy, as is usual with solitary birds; many persons, however, are very fond of it. This bird, when tamed, fetches a very high price at Milan, Constantinople, &c. In some countries it is so much respected that it is considered sacrilegious to kill it or destroy its nest.

THE BLUE THRUSH.

t.u.r.dus cyaneus, LINNaeUS; Le Merle bleu, BUFFON; Die blau Drossel, BECHSTEIN.

This bird is rather larger than the common blackbird, its length being eight inches, three of which belong to the tail. The beak, fourteen lines in length, is blackish, the iris dark nut brown, the eyelids yellow; the shanks, thirteen lines in height, are blackish; the whole plumage is of an ash blue, but each feather has near its tip a transverse brown line, and the tip itself is whitish. The individual birds vary in the depth of the blue, according to their age and s.e.x.

The female is generally more uniform in colour than the male.

HABITATION.--When wild the blue thrush is found in the Archipelago, in Dalmatia, Italy, Spain, and other southern countries, always among steep rocks.

In confinement it is provided with a convenient cage, like the preceding.

FOOD.--When wild it feeds on all sorts of insects.

In confinement it is fed like the nightingale.

BREEDING.--Like the rock thrush it builds among rocks, on ruined or deserted towers, and the like. The young are reared in the same way as those of the nightingale.

ATTRACTIVE QUALITIES.--Its pretty plumage and fine voice do not const.i.tute its only attractions. It is very easily tamed, and is very capable of instruction, and amuses much by its natural gait and habits, which very much resemble those of the rock thrush.

THE REED THRUSH.