RING-OUZRL. 291 



a week, according to circumstances, feeding at this time 

 upon various berries, and occasionally visiting gardens. The 

 broods are now joined and mixed together, and the young 

 appear in their imperfect mottled dress." Macgillivray 

 mentions his having found the seeds and portion of the 

 pulp of berries of the mountain-ash undigested in the in- 

 testine of this species. De Montbeillard, the colleague of 

 BufFon, says that Ring- Ouzels feed largely on grapes in 

 France, and are then excellent eating. In some parts of 

 that country, as we are told by Salerne, this species is called 

 the Merle-terrier or Bmssonnier, from its lowly placed nest. 

 The song, according to Selby, is confined to a few clear and 

 powerful notes not unlike those of the Mistletoe-Thrush ; 

 its cry of alarm, when disturbed, is very like that of the 

 Blackbird, but louder and harsher. 



The adult male has the point of the bill almost black, 

 with more or less yellow at the base ; the irides dark brown : 

 the head, neck, back, upper tail-coverts, wings and tail 

 nearly uniform brownish-black ; the feathers of the body 

 edged with blackish-grey ; the external margins of all the 

 wing-feathers grey, but this lighter colour is broadest on 

 the edges of the tertials ; the chin, throat, breast, belly 

 and loAver tail-coverts are of the same colour as the upper 

 parts, but across the chest there is a broad crescentic band 

 of pure white : the legs, toes and claws, brownish-black. 



The length is about eleven inches. The wing, from the 

 carjjal joint to the end of the longest jirimary, five inches 

 and a half; the second primary equal to the fifth : the third 

 and fourth also equal, and the longest. 



The female is rather lighter in colour than the adult 

 male, and the grey margins of the feathers are broader ; the 

 band across the chest is narrower; the white is less pure, 

 and clouded with reddish-brown and grey. 



Young males resemble the adult female, but have the 

 feathers of the back with lighter margins, and in young 

 females the pectoral gorget is scarcely perceptible. 



