sters, and black or
red-purple fruits, each consisting of numerous succulent drupels crowded
on a dry conical receptacle. It is a most variable plant, exhibiting
many more or less distinct forms which are regarded by different
authorities as sub-species or species. In America several forms of the
native blackberry, _Rubus nigrobaccus_ (formerly known as _R.
villosus_), are widely cultivated; it is described as one of the most
important and profitable of bush-fruits.

For details see F.W. Card in L.H. Bailey's _Cyclopedia of American
Horticulture_ (1900).

BLACKBIRD (_Turdus merula_), the name commonly given to a well-known
British bird of the _Turdidae_ family, for which the ancient name was
ousel (q.v.), Anglo-Saxon _osle_, equivalent of the German _Amsel_, a
form of the word found in several old English books. The plumage of the
male is of a uniform black colour, that of the female various shades of
brown, while the bill of the male, especially during the breeding
season, is of a bright gamboge yellow. The blackbird is of a shy and
restless disposition, courting concealment, and rarely seen in flocks,
or otherwise than singly or in pairs, and taking flight when startled
with a sharp shrill cry. It builds its nest in March, or early in April,
in thick bushes or in ivy-clad trees, and usually rears at least two
broods each season. The nest is a neat structure of coarse grass and
moss, mixed with earth, and plastered internally with mud, and here the
female lays from four to six eggs of a blue colour speckled with brown.
The blackbird feeds chiefly on fruits, worms, the larvae of insects and
snails, extracting the last from their shells by dexterously chipping
them on stones; and though it is generally regarded as an enemy of the
garden, it is probable that the amount of damage by it to the fruit is
largely compensated for by its undoubted services as a vermin-killer.
The notes of the blackbird are rich and full, but monotonous as compared
with those of the song-thrush. Like many other singing birds it is, in
the wild state, a mocking-bird, having been heard to imitate the song
of the nightingale, the crowing of a cock, and even the cackling of a
hen. In confinement it can be taught to whistle a variety of tunes, and
even to imitate the human voice.

The blackbird is found in every country of Europe, even
breeding--although rarely--beyond the arctic circle, and in eastern Asia
as well as in North Africa and