Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/696

 676 BLACKBURN BLACKCOCK eye, and some of the smaller wing coverts slightly tinged with red. According to Nut- tall, this bird is found during the summer over the whole of North America from Nova Scotia to Mexico. It arrives in New York and New England about the 1st of April, preferring swamps, meadows, and low situations ; at this season it lives on insects and grubs, afterward on the young and tender corn. It begins to build its nest early in May, on an alder bush or tuft of grass in some marsh or meadow ; the eggs, from three to six, are white, tinged with blue, with faint purple marks. These birds congregate in such numbers in a very small space, that great havoc may be made at a sin- gle discharge of a gun. The flight is usually even ; on the wing the brilliant scarlet of the coverts contrasts finely with the black of the general' plumage. Some of its notes are agree- able to the ear. In August, when the young are ready to associate in flocks, they do consid- erable mischief to the Indian corn; they are then killed in abundance, and are very good eating. Such is their confidence in man, in spite of his persecutions, that when fired upon they only remove from one part of a field to another. III. The name blackbird is given in the northwestern states and Canada to the rusty grakle (scolecophagw ferrugineu, Wils.), and in other parts of the country to the purple grakle (quiscalus veraicolor, Vieill.) ; both be- long to the family aturnidce, or starlings. BLACKBURN, a town, parish, and parliamen- tary borough of Lancashire, England, 22 m. N. N. W. of Manchester ; pop. in 1871, 76,387. It stands in the midst of a barren district, con- taining a number of valuable coal mines, to which, as well as to its proximity to the Lon- don and Liverpool canal, the importance of Blackburn as a commercial place is mainly to be ascribed. Cotton goods, especially of the coarser kinds, are manufactured to a great ex- tent in the town and vicinity. Blackburn is irregularly built, but contains some fine edi- fices. In addition to a number of chapels, schools, public halls, &c., it has a magnificent church, rebuilt in 1819 at a cost of 26,000. BLACKCAP. I. A bird of the family lusci- nidce, or warblers (syhia atricapilla, Briss.), a native of Europe, migrating to the north in early spring. The male has the upper parts light yellowish gray ; the head black ; cheeks, neck, and lower parts ash-gray, paler behind and tinged with yellow ; wings and tail gray- ish brown; length to end of tail about 6 inches, extent of wings 9 inches. The female is a trifle larger, but is colored like the male, except that the upper part of the head is light reddish brown. It frequents woods and thick hedges, gardens and orchards. With the ex- ception of the nightingale, it is considered the finest songster in Great Britain ; its notes are full, deep, and mellow, and its trill is exceed- ingly fine; it will imitate very exactly the notes of the nightingale, thrush, and blackbird. Its song is continued from early in April to the end of June, the period of pairing and incuba- tion. This bird is shy, going by short flights from one thick bush to another; it feeds on Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla). insects, larvae, and berries. The nest, which is placed in the fork of some shrub, is made of dried stalks of grass, bits of wool, moss, fibrous roots, and hairs; the eggs are four or five in number, about two thirds of an inch long, and very nearly as broad, grayish white, faintly stained and freckled with purplish gray and blackish brown. Both sexes sit upon the eggs. II. An American species of titmouse, belong- ing also to the luscinidce (panus atricapillus, Wils.). It is 5 inches long and 8 in extent of wings. The bill is brownish black ; whole up- per part of the head and hind neck, and a large patch on the fore neck and throat, pure black ; between these a white band, from the bill down the sides of the neck, growing broader behind and encroaching on the back, which, with the wing coverts, is ash-gray tinged with brown; lower parts brownish white; quills brown, and, with the secondaries, edged with white, leaving a conspicuous white bar on the wings ; tail brown, white-edged. The Carolina tit (parus Carolinensis, Aud.) is almost pre- cisely the same, being only an inch smaller. The blackcap is better known in New England as the chickadee, which is an imitation of its note as it explores the trees in search of the eggs and grubs of insects, which form its prin- cipal food. It destroys immense numbers of canker-worms, doing in this way eminent ser- I vice to man ; in the winter it comes near the I houses, picking up seeds and crumbs which are i thrown out of doors. It is an exceedingly lively bird, running over trees in all directions, and thrusting its bill into every crevice where an insect might creep. The severest cold does not affect its vivacity or numbers. The eggs are six to ten, of a white color, with brownish red specks, and are generally laid in holes ex- cavated in trees by means of their bills. BLACKCOCK, or Black Grouse (tetrao tetrix, Linn.), a highly prized game bird, of the family tetraonidce, very generally spread over the