Tllli KING-OUZKI.. 185 



mountains, and some parts of Devonshire. It usuuU)' leaves tlie liritisli Isles towards 

 the end of September, but it has been oecasioually seen in Ireland durinj^- the winter. 

 A bird whose habits arc wild and shy, it haunts secluded glens and ravines of rocks, 

 making a nest amidst moss and coarse hcrbag-e on the ground, often sheltered by some 

 precipitous bank near a stream. The eggs are of a tine bhieish green, with blotches of a 

 darker hue. 



On any one approaching the place of incubation, the parent-birds utter loud cries, and 

 flying aromid the intruder, try every artifice to lead him from the spot. The males, it 

 appears, are disposed to be pugnacious. Mr. Thompsoft relates that, walking, on one 

 occasion, in Crow-glen, near Belfast, with a pointer dog in advance, two male ring- 

 ouzels pursued the dog with the wildest cries, and flew I'omid him so as to strike the air 

 ■within a few inches of his head. " Many an earnest and expressive look," adds the 

 narrator, " the dog gave me, as if desirous of advice in his extremity ; but finding it all 

 in vain, he at length ran up to me, when the birds, nothing daunted, followed and gave 

 myself, as well as two friends near me, the same salute, flying so near that we could 

 almost have struck them with our hands. At the beginning of the onset a female bird 

 appeared, as if inciting the males forward, and remained so long as they were attaiaing 

 the highest jjitch of violence, and then, lilie another heroine, retired to another emiaence 

 to be ' spectatress of the fight.' Had they been a pair of birds protecting their young, 

 or assuming similar artifice to the lapwing, in withdrawing attention from their nest — in 

 which the ring-ouzel is said to be an adept — the circumstance woidd, perhaps, be 

 unworthy of notice ; but they were both male birds in adult plumage. The chase of the 

 dog was continued a considerable way down the glen, and for fully fifteen or twenty 

 minutes." 



The male generally sits perched on some crag, or elevated stone, and there utters its 

 song, which consists of a few clear but powerful notes, which have been compared to 

 those of the missel-thrush. The actions and contour of the ring-ouzel closely resemble 

 those of the blackbird, but it is of somewhat lai'ger size. Its food seems to consist prm- 

 cipally of insects and their larvae ; in its winter retreats, berries are doubtless sought for. 

 The male ring-ouzel is generally black, wth an abrupt gorget, or crescentic mark of 

 pure white across the upper part of the chest. The plumage of the female is more 

 clouded with gray, and the white gorget is smaller. 



