RING-OUSEL. 207 



are recorded in which the young of a first brood have helped to 

 feed a later brood. 



The male is glossy black with orange bill and eye-rims, 

 blackish legs and dark-brown irides. The female is dark brown 

 with a pale throat and breast streaked with black, and with spots 

 on the lower breast ; her bill and legs are dark brown. The 

 young show pale shaft streaks on their brown plumage, and 

 the bills of young males, which often show black backs before 

 their heads change colour, remain very dark until the second 

 year. Length, 10 ins. Wing, 5 ins. Tarsus, 1*4 ins. 



Ring-Ousel. Tiirdus torq^uatus Linn. 



The typical Ring-Ousel (Plate 85) is a summer resident in 

 Scandinavia and the British Isles and winters in southern 

 Europe and north Africa ; with us it is also a bird of passage 

 in spring and autumn. It has been reported as wintering 

 occasionally, but statements that it has remained in the low- 

 lands are open to question since pied Blackbirds have been 

 confused with this species. The Alpine Ring-Ousel, T. t. 

 alpestris (Brehm), whiter on the flanks, breast and secondaries, 

 which occurs in the mountains of central and southern Europe, 

 has been identified as a bird of passage. 



The true home of the Ring-Ousel is moorland, amongst the 

 rocks and heather of our wilder hills. It has been recorded as 

 nesting in lowlands but such cases are exceptional and some ol 

 the records doubtful. Nowhere in England is it more abundant 

 than on the Pennines and Peak of Derbyshire, where it is 

 known as the Torr-Ousel ; it is common in Lakeland and on 

 many of the Welsh mountains, and in Scotland is widely dis- 

 tributed ; it is found in suitable localities in Ireland and on 

 Dartmoor and other high grounds in the south-west of England. 

 Roughly above the 1000 feet contour the Ring-Ousel replaces 

 the Blackbird, though often theijr ranges overlap and the 



