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SOME ACTIVITIES OF RESIDENT
IN WINTER.
BLACKBIRDS
BY
AVERIL MORLEY
" A THRUSH . . . sings . . . with greater vigour from late
November onwards . . . but with much greater vigour . . .
after about the middle of January. The Blackbird... is rarely
heard until February, and its best song is hardly heard till April
or May. . . . It would seem, then, that what we call ' song '
represents something different in the lives of the two species.
The Thrush's song seems to be its normal outlet for surplus
energy; the Blackbird's is . . . mainly used during the
breeding-season, and is probably more closely correlated to it.
Possibly the Thrush's territorial sense is stronger, and its song
may be more closely related to that, " (H. G. Alexander,
Brit. Birds, Vol. XXV, p. 101.)
For some time the Blackbird (Turdus m. merula) was the
species most accessible to me, and though a country ornithologist would put my notes to shame, still I think they support
that part of Mr. Alexander's statement which suggests that
the sense of territory is weaker in the male Blackbird than in
the Thrush—because the species has come to express much
of its emotions during the winter months in another form,
by communal gatherings.
From early winter to spring, mostly in the mornings and
evenings, an average of six to eight birds will collect together,
to indulge in chases and pursuits, in a kind of tourney or
fencing. At first it appears that the scene of these activities
is not fixed, but in about a fortnight the birds I watched had
confined themselves to a definite place. The gathering ground
fixed, it remains so until the break-up in April, unless unfavourable circumstances arise, such as undue attention from
cats (which will happen in a city). On downland I found the
gatherings took place around the scattered drinking and
bathing places ; elsewhere the ground seemed chosen because
several territories there met in a no-man's-land; sometimes
I did not know the district well enough to find out if there
was a reason at all for some particular stretch of lawn or field
being the scene of the meetings ; but they all had this in common, an open space (which could be four square yards or large
as a field) with cover near by. Because so much of the
activities at these gatherings takes place on the ground, the
birds will not meet in dense' undergrowth, thick woodland,
bracken and so on.
VOL. xxxi.] ACTIVITIES OF BLACKBIRDS.
35
Now the male Blackbird has been somewhat of a stumbling
block to those who believe that song and territory are bound
up together, for here was a bird apparently as closely linked as
the Song-Thrush and the Robin to his territory, which yet
did not sing in winter. But the male Blackbird is not so closely
linked, his interest largely shifts during the winter from the
territory to the communal ground, the gathering place ; and
surely it is this shifting of his interest which causes the absence
of the species from the singing band of residents in winter.
It is known of some species that if resident birds, through
natural causes, are forced to abandon their territories, or if
they leave of their own free will, they lose their combativeness
(cf. Huxley on Coot, Brit. Birds, Vol. X X V I I ; Howard on
Lapwing, Territory in Bird Life, p. 60-61). So, as the Blackbird
has changed some of its territorial combat into communal
tournaments at a gathering place, one would expect to find,
and one does find, a certain loss of vigour and energy, a
tendency for the encounter to become formal and conventional,
unwilling to turn to physical violence. This is most noticeable
when Thrushes and Blackbirds are active on the same piece
of ground at the same time. It would be interesting to know
if this tendency of the Blackbird to concentrate communally
at certain places is the first step to a prescribed courting
ground such as obtains in the Ruff and Blackcock.
Whereas in watching Moorhens (Brit. Birds, Vol. XXX,
p. 120) I was soon able to recognize individual birds both by
their temperament and appearance, I found Blackbirds more
uniform and with less distinct personalities. However, the
birds I most constantly watched were in a city, and my view
was limited to three trees in a road, one front and two back
gardens, so that the birds spent a great deal of their time
out of my sight on the other side of houses. This observed
area, roughly 836 square yards, was the greater part of the
possessions of a female which I could recognize as an individual.
She had a strong territorial instinct, more so than the male
which fed unmolested in the area. I do not even know
whether it was always the same male. At any rate he spent
much more of his time out of this region than she did; days
would go by and I would not see him actually in it, whereas
nearly every afternoon I would see the female feeding or
preening, until the dusk came, when gradually she became
more and more excited, would by fits and starts chuckle to
herself, until at last the noise of other birds drew her out of
her retreat, and I might see her no more that day.
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BRITISH BIRDS.
[VOL. XXXI.
The biggest gatherings in the observed area took place in a
corner of the front garden where a rowan and a holly tree
may first have attracted the birds. The gatherings were never
very large, generally the number was five or six. This may have
been caused by the strong anti-social feeling often exhibited
by the resident female or by the fact that there were not
many birds to come.
On nearby downland nine or ten
birds were sometimes seen.
The few notes I have for October show that the territorial
instincts are, in the female, first shown by her desire to get
rid of young females (very likely in most cases her own offspring) which are still remaining in the territory. I have not
seen the male take part in these scraps, nor have I known a
territory where any young male Blackbirds have been present
at this season, besides the " rightful" owner, which at the
very beginning of their lives is, I think, a slight indication
of the female's greater love of home than the males.
In the first week of November, just as dusk falls, both sexes
begin to get excited, making a great deal of noise, uttering the
alarm cry, the chuckle, and a tinking cry not previously heard.
When in mid-November, 1936, the gathering place was fixed
to a corner of the observed area, the resident female often
objected, not only to the other females, but to the presence
of the males, and would drive them off when they advanced
towards her (and also when they were paying no attention to
her) in no uncertain manner, her attacks even as early as
November being noticeably more determined than the
tournaments of the males. A typical action of these, which
begins in this month, is the intimidation of a rival or interloper
by near presence ; the pursuer perches close to the pursued
which seems so afraid of the proximity that it moves a little
farther on, is again followed by the pursuer, and so on. I have
only one note of a female using this method, on open ground,
the pursuer making short flights after the pursued. In
November I was a few times lucky enough to see the male
coming in to roost in the observed area, and to see how other
males, evidently meaning to roost in the same place, darted
away when they saw it occupied, although the time just
previous to roosting was one of the most sociable of the day
and birds made a point of gathering together.
By December, Blackbirds are as noisy in the early morning
as they had been at dusk in November. Towards the middle of
the month there are indications that the male spasmodically
takes a greater interest in the female in the territory, away
VOL. xxxi.]
ACTIVITIES OF BLACKBIRDS.
37
from the communal ground. He will chase her in the trees,
she chuckling excitedly as she retreats with tail cocked up and
wings drooped, in an attitude tense and strained. So far it has
been noticed that the male is the first to tire and to fly from
the female.
At the gathering place the encounters seem to have little
or no territorial significance for males, and a bird will be
onlooker, then join in on one side of a pair of contestants,
then on the other, lastly to be himself attacked by both ; while
the roles of pursuer and pursued are frequently reversed,
sometimes by the pursuer flying over the head of the pursued,
and being now in front, becoming the chased one. Meanwhile
birds feeding at the gathering ground are entirely unmolested
and indeed ignored by males, whereas the resident female
would allow no bird but her mate (?) to feed in her territory.
The presence of males had an apparent attraction for strange
females to come into the territory, which, of course, brought
them into conflict with the resident female, and the subsequent fights showed all the seriousness and bitterness which
is not seen in the territorial combats of the males till the latter
half of February. Indeed, throughout January the resident
female in the observed area conducted her fights single-handed,
often against two or three birds, and I have seen her drive
away from the gathering place, two males and one female in
about two minutes.
As, however, some females, far from attacking the males,
make every advance and thrust themselves on the notice of
the males, so that the latter will fly away from them, I suppose
that the truculence of the resident female of the observed
area was caused by her possessing a mate and territory,
as otherwise I cannot see how these courting females, if
they had mates of their own, would be so eager to invade alien
ground in pursuit of the males.
At the gathering grounds the females have nearly always
been in the minority, not I think because of actual numerical
inferiority, but because as a sex they are more stay-at-homes
than the males ; yet that they recognize the implications of
the gathering ground is shown by their flying to it independently and purposefully, and beginning the tinking and
chuckling cry as if seeking to attract attention. This cry
attracts not only males but females, just as in late March the
rather similar excited tinkle of the female when her mate
amorously pursues her will draw, it seems irresistibly, other
unmated females to interrupt the actual mating. When at the
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BRITISH BIRDS.
[VOL. XXXI.
gathering ground the attentions of the males becomes too
over-powering, the female flies away. She may be followed a
little way, but soon the males are back on the gathering
ground, and finally she must return also if she wishes to get
attention, so that it seems that unmated females must attend
the communal gatherings if they are to attract the males.
In a gathering ground in a field at Clevedon, which was
used by six to ten birds, the presence of a sea-mist every morning in February did not discourage activities. Here I may say
that a warm damp day, though it may be cloudy, is more likely
to produce activity than a sunny but frosty one, while a cold
blustery day is the worst of all for seeing anything.
Sometimes inactivity settles on the birds at the gathering
ground, and they will sit about, silently, among the bushes.
This seems to happen when one bird is dominant and extra
aggressive. If it persists in fierce attacks the others will, one
by one, fly away. At a gathering-place, which centred round '
a drinking and bathing place, a male was seen to object
strongly to others sitting quietly in cover, and to one engaged in
bathing, which is unusual, as birds at the gathering ground
which are engaged in feeding, preening, washing, etc., are
generally ignored by the others. It was on this occasion I was
able to see from what long distances birds come to these
gathering places, for an escaping male flew away until, a tiny
smudge in the sunlight, he dropped into some gardens at an
estimated distance of half a mile.
A female, after dallying with a male on the communal
ground, will become bellicose, and attempt to drive off other
females from the place, especially if they are being run after
by a male, thus demonstrating the awakening of the anti-social
instincts of the mated female. This anti-social instinct is
important; in February, 1937, in a garden in Gloucestershire
there was found to be only one male to three females—two
light-coloured ones continually disputing and a very dark
female half-heartedly objecting to both. She seemed more or
less mated to the male, but he frequently ran with lowered
head (an action used for expressing both animosity and
amorousness) after the light females and then after the dark
one. It was noticed that the light female which seemed his
fancy at the moment (I could not say if it was always the
same bird) took the initiative in scraps with her companion.
The position was somewhat similar to that on the observed
area in October. I think that the duty of getting rid of
superfluous females lies on the female in possession, and where
she is too old or lazy to do so, she brings on herself her own
VOL. x x x i ]
ACTIVITIES OF BLACKBIRDS.
39
partial or complete divorce, not only because her mate will
be attracted by the too close proximity of other females, but
also because they will never be able to perform the actual
marital act without the attentions and consequent interruptions of the extra females. I only know of one case of a male
consorting with a female which his mate had not got rid of
before she began to sit. I watched the trio in February,
but it was not till the end of April that the proper mate had
eggs—a serious delay caused I think by the extra female.
The female has a special soft note " sip " when she and the
male are engaged in " playing " in the territory ; while the
male (so far I have seen only him to do it) between the chases
repeatedly wipes his beak on a branch. This action seems
with some species to be a common accompaniment of the
male's courtship activities ; for instance, the male HouseSparrow invariably wipes his beak immediately just after or
just before coition. Hendy records it in the courtship of the
Woodlark (Bird Watching), Pycraft for the Lesser Bird-ofParadise (Camouflage in Nature). Significantly in these interludes if the male hears the cries of birds on the gathering
ground he will leave his mate and fly there.
At the end of February and beginning of March the male
Blackbird's dealings with other males becomes more serious—
off the gathering ground—and the " pushing " method does
not always act so that claws are more often used, and sometimes, both birds attacking, there is what we would call a
stand-up fight in a manner reminiscent of Song-Thrushes.
Some males, however, appear too weak to ensure the sanctity
of their homes, and their unfortunate mates are harried by
interloping males when in the very act of building the nest.
I have known only two cases of this, but in both the female
showed anger and intense dislike of the intruding male,
though in one case he was physically a far more splendid
bird than her puny, almost female-coloured mate.
At the end of February, 1937, I left Bristol where was the
observed area, and had no more opportunities of watching the
Blackbirds I had lived with throughout the winter. It was
a great pity as I could not find out whether at this time of the
year the male Blackbird begins to desert the gathering place
and to cling more and more to the territory kept warm for
him, as it were, by the female. If he does this, it explains why
the song is again heard and why it has not been heard before.
Up to the date of February 23rd I had not noticed the male
presumably belonging to the observed area living in it more
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BRITISH BIRDS.
[VOL. XXXI.
than usual, but also there was no male singing in the area.
Occasionally there had been heard songs from other birds, and
I noticed these were always sung away from the gathering
place, which point I noticed in previous years, but none of
these birds or their territories could be watched by me daily
as those of the observed area. I have heard a male Blackbird
sing during the intervals of an encounter with another male,
but that is quite a different thing from the gatherings. However, I would not like to say the song is never sung at the
gathering place.
Towards mid-March the gatherings seem to get more
excited and persistent, and at the same time, less intelligent—
if one can use that phrase. The birds are like clockwork mice
running in all directions, chasing and being chased as they
cross each other's paths. Indeed, sometimes it seems that a
bird running after another is mechanically forced to drop
the pursuit if a third should come between, and perhaps turn
off at right angles to follow the fresh trail. Often the birds
grow too impatient to run, and use flight as a means of
progression, a low skimming flight just over the top of the
grass. An entire lack of what we would call constancy is the
characteristic of these meetings, any female is pursued by any
male ; yet in the territory when he is courting his mate prior
to coition, the male will violently repulse intruding females.
Towards the end of March many females are collecting
nesting material, yet these, if they venture near the gathering
place, are pestered as fervently as less obviously mated birds.
The female thus engaged resents and dislikes these attentions.
She runs at the objectionable male to keep him at his distance,
and flies away to continue her work in peace.
This increased activity at the gathering place would
contradict my belief that at this time the males begin to take
a greater interest in their territories, signalized by the
reappearance of their song, if it were not that I think some of
the males at the gathering place are birds which have no
mates and which indeed may not breed that year. Also that
those which will breed, having now so much greater energy
and force than in the winter owing to the physiological
changes in their bodies, are capable of attending the gatherings
and attending to their territories, first of all by short frequent
visits, which become more and more protracted until in April
a complete break is made—" and its best song is hardly heard
until April or May. " (H. G. Alexander) Moreover, ninety per
cent, of my records of male fighting male in private territory by
physical and not suggestive means occurs after mid-February,
VOL. xxxi,] ACTIVITIES OF BLACKBIRDS.
41
mostly in March. This is surely not accidental, but on account
of the increasing value the male attaches to his own home and
mate. Strictly speaking, however, as March is really spring,
descriptions of activities seen in this month do not belong to
an account of winter behaviour.
I should like to draw attention to one fact which was much
impressed on me while watching Blackbirds, that is, the great
importance of the female in preserving the standards and ways
of life of the species. There are signs that on her devolves the
duty of driving away all other females from the territory, and
that if she neglects this duty, as an individual she lays herself
open to partial or complete abandonment, while as regards
the species there may be the serious result of polygamy, first
of all countenanced by the weak female, and at last becoming
the custom for all. I think most ornithologists agree that
monogamy is a higher, better state of affairs, gives a better
chance to the offspring, than polygamy.
Also, from my experience with the resident female on the
observed area, it seems largely the female which reserves and
cares for the territory in winter, not relinquishing her share of
guardianship until it is time for nest-building.*
Now, it is this love of territory which makes the female a
perhaps unconscious stickler for monogamy, a love through
which the species is guarded from the evils of promiscuity, for
both males and females she drives away, thus getting rid of
temptation for her mate and herself. For so many male
Blackbirds I have watched have not seemed at all averse to
indiscriminate courtship, and therefore, presumably, to
indiscriminate mating; hence the female's sense of territory
is of great value to the Blackbird, for it is their sixth
commandment.
•There are good b u t inconclusive grounds for believing t h a t the
female sings in winter a sort of Thrush-like sub-song ; this seems to
take place always in heavy cover. Mr. W. B. Alexander thinks this
also, and he and I have heard one such song which was almost certainly
sung by a female, in Bagley Wood, Oxford.