Blackbirds

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The blackbird (Turdus merula) is a species of true thrush. It is also called Eurasian blackbird (especially in North America, to distinguish it from the unrelated New World blackbirds), or simply blackbird where this does not lead to confusion with similar local species. It breeds in Europe, Asia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to Australia (where it is considered a pest) and New Zealand. It has a number of subspecies across its large range.

Quotes[edit]

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly… ~ Paul McCartney
Among twenty snowy mountains,
The only moving thing
Was the eye of the blackbird. ~ Wallace Stevens
  • A slender young Blackbird built in a thorn-tree:
    A spruce little fellow as ever could be;
    His bill was so yellow, his feathers so black,
    So long was his tail, and so glossy his back,
    That good Mrs. B., who sat hatching her eggs,
    And only just left them to stretch her poor legs,
    And pick for a minute the worm she preferred,
    Thought there never was seen such a beautiful bird.
    • Dinah Craik, The Blackbird and the Rooks; reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 71.
  • There always seems to be a kneejerk response to blame environmental pollutants, but collisions with infrastructure are very common. In a tightly packed flock, the birds are following the movements of the bird in front rather than actually interpreting their wider surroundings, so it isn’t unexpected that such events happen occasionally.
  • The birds have ceased their songs,
    All save the blackbird, that from yon tall ash,
    'Mid Pinkie's greenery, from his mellow throat,
    In adoration of the setting sun,
    Chants forth his evening hymn.
    • David Macbeth Moir, An Evening Sketch; reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 71.
  • Golden Bill! Golden Bill!
    Lo, the peep of day;
    All the air is cool and still.
    From the elm-tree on the hill,
    Chant away:
    * * * * *
    Let thy loud and welcome lay
    Pour alway
    Few notes but strong.
    • James Montgomery, The Blackbird; reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 71.
  • A man and a woman
    Are one.
    A man and a woman and a blackbird
    Are one.
    • Wallace Stevens, in "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" in Harmonium (1923).
O Blackbird! sing me something well
  • O Blackbird! sing me something well:
    While all the neighbors shoot thee round,
    I keep smooth plats of fruitful ground,
    Where thou may'st warble, eat and dwell.
    • Alfred Tennyson, The Blackbird; reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 71.

External links[edit]

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