Dunnock system can be shifted from one that favours female success (polyandry), to one that promotes male success (monogamy, polygynandry, or polygyny). The dunnock builds a neat nest (predominantly from twigs and moss and lined with soft materials such as wool or feathers), low in a bush or conifer, where adults typically lay three to five unspotted blue eggs. Broods, depending on the population, can be raised by a lone female, multiple females with the part-time help of a male, multiple females with full-time help by a male, or by multiple females and multiple males. In pairs, the male and the
Common blackbird dark Places about it", and it symbolised resignation in the 17th century tragic play "The Duchess of Malfi"; an alternate connotation is vigilance, the bird's clear cry warning of danger. The common blackbird is the national bird of Sweden, which has a breeding population of 1–2 million pairs, and was featured on a 30 öre Christmas postage stamp in 1970; it has also featured on a number of other stamps issued by European and Asian countries, including a 1966 4d British stamp and a 1998 Irish 30p stamp. This bird—arguably—also gives rise to the Serbian name for Kosovo, which is