BLACK COUNTRY, THE, name applied to a district of the English Midlands including south Staffordshire with parts of Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The name is due to the numerous collieries and furnaces, and the desolation of scenery and agglomeration of houses consequent upon the mining of coal, ironstone and clay and dependent industries. The district is in tersected by canals now mostly -- derelict, and by numerous branches of the G.W.R. and L.M.S.R. For localization of in dustries see BIRMINGHAM, WOL