230 BRITISH BIRDS' XESTS. 



imitative, uttered very late in tlie evening aud very 

 early in the morning whilst the female is sitting; 

 call, rejiresented by some authorities as cliippoo, 

 and others as oicliit. Local and other names : 

 Red-tail, Fire-tail, Bran-tail, Fire-flirt. Sits ver}^ 

 closely indeed. 



RING OUZEL. 



Description of Parent Birds. — Length about 

 eleven inches. Bill brownish-black, with a variable 

 amount of yellow at the base, nearly straight, and 

 of medium length. Lides hazel. Head, neck, back, 

 wings, rump, and tail black, slightly tinged with 

 brown, aud margined, more or less, with grey, 

 esj)ecially on the wings. Chin, throat, and under- 

 parts blackish-brown, the feathers beiug bordered 

 with grey. Across the breast is a broad, curved 

 band or crescent of white, edged with a brownish 

 tint. The legs, toes, and claws are brownish -black. 



The female is l)rowner and gre3'er, and the 

 crescent on her breast much duller and less 

 defined. 



Situation and Local it/j. — Li clefts of rock, steep 

 banks, holes in stone walls, barns, limekilns, and 

 sometimes quite on the ground, in the mountain 

 and moorland parts of the North and West of 

 England, Scotland, Wales, and L^eland. The 

 illustration on page 233, procured in Westmore- 

 land, is a very typical example of the situation of 

 the nest. 



Materials. — Small twigs, roots, coarse grass, moss, 

 and mud, with an inner lining of fine grass. It 

 is a ver}^ similar structure to that of the Blackbird, 

 bat generally found in more lonely and secluded 

 districts. 



