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 the Atlantic islands. In most parts of its range it is migratory, and in Britain every autumn its numbers receive considerable accession from passing 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 sexes are glossy black. The ring-ousel, Turdus 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 grassy 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 Selkirkshire 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 judgeship 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 judgeship 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 Ayrshire, 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, Massachusetts, and of the Massachusetts
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 municipal, county and parliamentary
borough of Lancashire, England, 210 m. N.W. by N. from
London, and 2412 N.N.W. from Manchester, served by the
Lancashire & Yorkshire 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, municipal 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 municipal, 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 Blackburnshire, and as early as the reign of Elizabeth ranked as a flourishing 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 instituted 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.
BLACKCOCK (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 sexes offer a striking contrast, the male weighing about
4 ℔, 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
destitute of feathers and of a bright vermilion red. The female,
