116 BRITISH BIRDS. 



Fig. 3. — pigeon alighting, the left wing is 

 higher than the eight. 



BLACKBIRDS AND SONG-THRUSHES NESTING ON 

 THE GROUND. 



With regard to the notes on this subject (antea, pp. 74, 75), 

 it is by no means unusual to come across instances of both 

 Blackbirds and Song-Thrushes nesting on the bare ground 

 among the moorlands of north Staffordshire. On the rough 

 common they generally select a favourable site amidst the 

 numerous heaps of quarry-stone, or beneath an overhanging 

 ledge or rock, like the Ring-Ouzel. 



More rarely, but not by any means unusually, they will be 

 seen nesting far out on the open moor, sometimes at the base 

 of a small fir tree. Where rushes abound, however, one finds 

 many nests — some on the ground, others among the stems 

 very low down — from early April onwards ; they are mostly 

 those of Blackbirds, and, being well hidden, are in many 

 cases undisturbed. During the past spring alone, I saw five, 

 all within fifty yards, in a very small rushy valley near my 

 home at Whiston. T. Smith. 



RING-OUZEL AND BLACKBIRD INTERBREEDING IN 



KENT. 



On page 77 of the last issue Mr. Earwig notes the occurrence 

 of a Ring-Ouzel {Turdus torquatus) in Kent on June 7th, so 



