Volume 4, Slice 1 Part 6 (1/2)
BLACKBIRD (_t.u.r.dus merula_), the name commonly given to a well-known British bird of the _t.u.r.didae_ 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 coa.r.s.e gra.s.s 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 sh.e.l.ls 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 c.o.c.k, 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 the Atlantic islands. In most parts of its range it is migratory, and in Britain every autumn its numbers receive considerable accession from pa.s.sing visitors. Allied species inhabit most parts of the world, excepting Africa south of the Sahara, New Zealand and Australia proper, and North America. In some of these the legs as well as the bill are yellow or orange; and in a few both s.e.xes are glossy black. The ring-ousel, _t.u.r.dus torquatus_, has a dark bill and conspicuous white gorget, whence its name. It is rarer and more local than the common blackbird, and occurs in England only as a temporary spring and autumn visitor.
BLACK BUCK (_Antilope cervicapra_), the Indian Antelope, the sole species of its genus. This antelope, widely distributed in India, with the exception of Ceylon and the region east of the Bay of Bengal, stands about 32 in. high at the shoulder; the general hue is brown deepening with age to black; chest, belly and inner sides of limbs pure white, as are the muzzle and chin, and an area round the eyes. The horns are long, ringed, and form spirals with from three to five turns. The doe is smaller in size, yellowish-fawn above, and this hue obtains also in young males. These antelopes frequent gra.s.sy districts and are usually found in herds. Coursing black-buck with the cheeta (q.v.) is a favourite Indian sport.
BLACKBURN, COLIN BLACKBURN, BARON (1813-1896), British judge, was born in Selkirks.h.i.+re in 1813, and educated at Eton and at Trinity College, Cambridge, taking high mathematical honours in 1835. He was called to the bar in 1838, and went the northern circuit. His progress was at first slow, and he employed himself in reporting and editing, with T.F.
Ellis, eight volumes of the highly-esteemed Ellis and Blackburn reports.
His deficiency in all the more brilliant qualities of the advocate almost confined his practice to commercial cases, in which he obtained considerable employment in his circuit; but he continued to belong to the outside bar, and was so little known to the legal world that his promotion to a puisne judges.h.i.+p in the court of queen's bench in 1859 was at first ascribed to Lord Campbell's partiality for his countrymen, but Lord Lyndhurst, Lord Wensleydale and Lord Cranworth came forward to defend the appointment. Blackburn himself is said to have thought that a county court judges.h.i.+p was about to be offered him, which he had resolved to decline. He soon proved himself one of the soundest lawyers on the bench, and when he was promoted to the court of appeal in 1876 was considered the highest authority on common law. In 1876 he was made a lord of appeal and a life peer. Both in this capacity and as judge of the queen's bench he delivered many judgments of the highest importance, and no decisions have been received with greater respect. In 1886 he was appointed a member of the commission charged to prepare a digest of the criminal law, but retired on account of indisposition in the following year. He died at his country residence, Doonholm in Ayrs.h.i.+re, on the 8th of January 1896. He was the author of a valuable work on the _Law of Sales_.
See _The Times_, 10th of January 1896; E. Manson, _Builders of our Law_ (1904).
BLACKBURN, JONATHAN (c. 1700-c. 1765), American portrait painter, was born in Connecticut. He seems to have been the son of a painter, and to have had a studio in Boston in 1750-1765; among his patrons were many important early American families, including the Apthorps, Amorys, Bulfinches, Lowells, Ewings, Saltonstalls, Winthrops, Winslows and Otises of Boston. Some of his portraits are in the possession of the public library of Lexington, Ma.s.sachusetts, and of the Ma.s.sachusetts Historical Society, but most of them are privately owned and are scattered over the country, the majority being in Boston. John Singleton Copley was his pupil, and it is said that he finally left his studio in Boston, through jealousy of Copley's superior success. He was a good portrait painter, and some of his pictures were long attributed to Copley.
BLACKBURN, a munic.i.p.al, county and parliamentary borough of Lancas.h.i.+re, England, 210 m. N.W. by N. from London, and 24 N.N.W. from Manchester, served by the Lancas.h.i.+re & Yorks.h.i.+re and the London & North Western railways, with several lines from all parts of the county. Pop. (1891) 120,064; (1901) 127,626. It lies in the valley of a stream called in early times the Blackeburn, but now known as the Brook. The hills in the vicinity rise to some 900 ft., and among English manufacturing towns Blackburn ranks high in beauty of situation. Besides numerous churches and chapels the public buildings comprise a large town hall (1856), market house, exchange, county court, munic.i.p.al offices, chamber of commerce, free library, and, outside the town, an infirmary. There are an Elizabethan grammar school, in modern buildings (1884) and an excellent technical school. The Corporation Park and Queen's Park are well laid out, and contain ornamental waters. There is an efficient tramway service, connecting the town with Darwen, 5 m. south. The cotton industry employs thousands of operatives, the iron trade is also very considerable, and many are engaged in the making of machines; but a former woollen manufacture is almost extinct. Blackburn's speciality in the cotton industry is weaving. Coal, lime and building stone are abundant in the neighbourhood. Blackburn received a charter of incorporation in 1851, and is governed by a mayor, 14 aldermen and 42 councillors. The county borough was created in 1888. The parliamentary borough, which returns two members, is coextensive with the munic.i.p.al, and lies between the Accrington and Darwen divisions of the county.
Area, 7432 acres.
Blackburn is of considerable antiquity; indeed, the 6th century is allocated to the original foundation of a church on the site of the present parish church. Of another church on this site Cranmer was rector after the Reformation. Blackburn was for some time the chief town of a district called Blackburns.h.i.+re, and as early as the reign of Elizabeth ranked as a flouris.h.i.+ng market town. About the middle of the 17th century it became famous for its ”checks,” which were afterwards superseded by a similar linen-and-cotton fabric known as ”Blackburn greys.” In the 18th century the ability of certain natives of the town greatly fostered its cotton industry; thus James Hargreaves here probably invented his spinning jenny about 1764, though the operatives, fearing a reduction of labour, would have none of it, and forced him to quit the town for Nottingham. He was in the employment of Robert Peel, grandfather of the prime minister of that name, who here inst.i.tuted the factory system, and as the director of a large business carefully fostered the improvement of methods.
See W.A. Abram, _History of Blackburn_ (Blackburn, 1897).
BLACKBURNE, FRANCIS (1782-1867), lord chancellor of Ireland, was born at Great Footstown, Co. Meath, Ireland, on the 11th of November 1782.
Educated at Trinity College, Dublin, he was called to the English bar in 1805, and practised with great success on the home circuit. Called to the Irish bar in 1822, he vigorously administered the Insurrection Act in Limerick for two years, effectually restoring order in the district.
In 1826 he became a serjeant-at-law, and in 1830, and again, in 1841, was attorney-general for Ireland. In 1842 he became master of the rolls in Ireland, in 1846 chief-justice of the queen's bench, and in 1852 (and again in 1866) lord chancellor of Ireland. In 1856 he was made a lord justice of appeal in Ireland. He is remembered as having prosecuted O'Connell and presided at the trial of Smith O'Brien. He died on the 17th of September 1867.
BLACKc.o.c.k (_Tetrao tetrix_), the English name given to a bird of the family _Tetraonidae_ or grouse, the female of which is known as the grey hen and the young as poults. In size and plumage the two s.e.xes offer a striking contrast, the male weighing about 4 lb., its plumage for the most part of a rich glossy black shot with blue and purple, the lateral tail feathers curved outwards so as to form, when raised, a fan-like crescent, and the eyebrows dest.i.tute of feathers and of a bright vermilion red. The female, on the other hand, weighs only 2 lb., its plumage is of a russet brown colour irregularly barred with black, and its tail feathers are but slightly forked. The males are polygamous, and during autumn and winter a.s.sociate together, feeding in flocks apart from the females; but with the approach of spring they separate, each selecting a locality for itself, from which it drives off all intruders, and where morning and evening it seeks to attract the other s.e.x by a display of its beautiful plumage, which at this season attains its greatest perfection, and by a peculiar cry, which Selby describes as ”a crowing note, and another similar to the noise made by the whetting of a scythe.” The nest, composed of a few stalks of gra.s.s, is built on the ground, usually beneath the shadow of a low bush or a tuft of tall gra.s.s, and here the female lays from six to ten eggs of a dirty-yellow colour speckled with dark brown. The blackc.o.c.k then rejoins his male a.s.sociates, and the female is left to perform the labours of hatching and rearing her young brood. The plumage of both s.e.xes is at first like that of the female, but after moulting the young males gradually a.s.sume the more brilliant plumage of their s.e.x. There are also many cases on record, and specimens may be seen in the princ.i.p.al museums, of old female birds a.s.suming, to a greater or less extent, the plumage of the male. The blackc.o.c.k is very generally distributed over the highland districts of northern and central Europe, and in some parts of Asia. It is found on the princ.i.p.al heaths in the south of England, but is specially abundant in the Highlands of Scotland.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Blackc.o.c.k. ]
BLACK COUNTRY, THE, a name commonly applied to a district lying princ.i.p.ally in S. Staffords.h.i.+re, but extending into Worcesters.h.i.+re and Warwicks.h.i.+re, England. This is one of the chief manufacturing centres in the United Kingdom, and the name arises from the effect of numerous collieries and furnaces, which darken the face of the district, the buildings and the atmosphere. Coal, ironstone and clay are mined in close proximity, and every sort of iron and steel goods is produced. The district extends 15 m. N.W. from Birmingham, and includes Smethwick, West Bromwich, Dudley, Oldbury, Sedgley, Tipton, Bilston, Wednesbury, Wolverhampton and Walsall as its most important centres. The ceaseless activity of the Black Country is most readily realized when it is traversed, or viewed from such an elevation as Dudley Castle Hill, at night, when the glare of furnaces appears in every direction. The district is served by numerous branches of the Great Western, London & North Western, and Midland railways, and is intersected by ca.n.a.ls, which carry a heavy traffic, and in some places are made to surmount physical obstacles with remarkable engineering skill, as in the case of the Castle Hill tunnels at Dudley. Among the numerous branches of industry there are several characteristic of certain individual centres. Thus, locks are a specialty at Wolverhampton and Willenhall, and keys at Wednesfield; horses' bits, harness-fittings and saddlery at Walsall and Bloxwich, anchors and cables at Tipton, gla.s.s at Smethwick, and nails and chains at Cradley.