THE RING-OUZEL. 247 
gained a footing and almost completely shelter the nest from view. Like 
the nests of all the Thrushes, that of the Ring-Ouzel undergoes three distinct 
stages before completion, and is always well and compactly constructed. 
It is made of coarse grass, with perhaps a few twigs of heather to bind the 
materials together ; and a few withered leaves are sometimes added. This 
grass-formed nest is then lined with mud or clay from the neighbouring 
bogs or stream-banks. At this stage the nest is remarkably deep; but 
the thick lining of fine grass which is now added brings the nest to more 
even proportions. When examining the nest of this bird, its close resem- 
blance to that of the Blackbird will be noticed. Indeed it would be 
almost impossible to discriminate between them, were we not aware that 
the Blackbird does not haunt the wild open moor. In the districts where 
the habitats of these two birds adjoin (the boundary of cultivation and the 
wild), nothing but a sight of the parent birds can make identification 
sure. 
The Ring-Ouzel lays four or five finely-marked eggs, bluish green in 
ground-colour, boldly and richly blotched with reddish brown, and some- 
times streaked with dark brown. One variety is very elongated and very 
pale in ground-colour, the markings being represented by small specks, 
with a few splashes on the larger end. A second is almost round, 
intense bluish green in ground-colour, boldly yet sparingly blotched with 
surface-markings of purplish brown and pale dashes of purple. A third is 
brownish green in ground-colour, blotched, clouded, and spotted with pale 
reddish brown and light dashes of purple; while a fourth is similar in 
ground-colour, but has the brown markings chiefly on the larger end of the 
egg, where they form a broad zone, and is also streaked with dark wavy 
lines of brown. So closely do the eggs of this bird resemble those of the 
Blackbird and the Fieldfare, that, were a series of the eggs of these three 
birds mixed promiscuously, it would be absolutely impossible to separate 
all of them correctly. Nevertheless, on an average, the Ring-Ouzel’s eggs 
have the ground-colour clearer, and are more boldly and richly marked, 
than those of the Blackbird. They vary in length from 1°35 to 1:08 inch, 
and in breadth from 0:9 to 0°78 inch. 
No birds defend their eggs or young with more matchless courage than 
the Ring-Ouzel. Approach their treasure, and, although you have no 
knowledge of its whereabouts, you speedily know that you are on sacred 
ground, or, more plainly speaking, on the nesting-site of this bird of the 
moor. Something sweeps suddenly round your head, probably brushing 
your face. You look round; and there the Ring-Ouzel, perched close at 
hand, is eying you wrathfully, and ready to do battle, despite the odds, 
for the protection of her abode. Move, and the attack is renewed, this 
time with loud and dissonant cries that wake the solitudes of the barren 
moor around. Undauntedly the birds fly round you, pause for a moment 
