RING OUSEL. 31 
BLACKBIRD. 
TURDUS MERULA, Linnzus. 
Ousel. 
The fertile Plain of Cheshire supplies the conditions 
the Blackbird loves, and throughout the year it is one 
of our commonest birds. Although plentiful in the 
wooded valleys of the East, it is not met with so high 
up the hillsides as the Song Thrush. 
Hedgerows, evergreens, and the dense undergrowth 
of many of the game-coverts afford the Blackbird an 
abundance of suitable nesting-sites. Its staple food— 
worms, snails, and insects—abounds throughout the 
dairy-farming districts, where most of the land is 
pasture; and in autumn toll is levied on the fruit in 
gardens and orchards as well as on the berries of the 
mountain-ash, wild rose, and holly. When singing, the 
Blackbird usually perches near the top of a tree, but 
we have known the song poured forth from the ridge- 
tiles or the finial of a house gable. 
Examples with more or less white in their plumage 
are not uncommon, and such varieties are often errone- 
ously reported as Ring Ousels. In the Chester Museum 
there is a specimen from Ince which has the whole 
plumage pale French grey, rather darker on the ear- 
coverts and lighter on the throat. 
RING OUSEL. 
TURDUS TORQUATUS, Linnzeus. 
The Ring Ousel is a summer visitor, arriving at the 
end of March or the beginning of April, and remaining 
until about the end of September. It has been noted on 
