Tlieir Eggs and Nests. 75 



nest-wall a thick tangle, two or three inches lon^, and 

 making the nest as conspicuous as if a flag had been 

 stuck just above it. How the eggs vary in shade, 

 markings, size, etc., I have already noticed at a former 

 page, and I am fearful of absorbing too much of my 

 space by adding more. — Fig. \\, plate II. 



RING OUSEL— (r?^;'^/7j- torquatns). 



Ring Thrush, Aloor Blackbird, Mountain Blackbird, 

 Tor Ousel, Rock Ousel, Ring Blackbird. — A bold 

 abusive freebooter in our gardens in Nortli Yorkshire, 

 and other similar localities. He's a beautiful bird, and 

 a wary, except when seduced by strawberries and red 

 currants. His wild and not unmusical note, though it 

 might sound harsh in a trim garden in Kent or Essex, 

 and to an ear not attuned to moorland sounds, is 

 always as welcome to me as the gentle twitter of the 

 S-wallow. I like to hear his attempts at song, re- 

 minding the listener of the Missel-bird's early spring 

 music. And I like to hear his wilder, grating call- 

 note, which is the usual warning the ornithologist has 

 that the Moor Blackbird has returned for the season. 

 His nest is very like the Blackbird's in design and 

 general structure. An inner lining of bents and fine 

 ling, a wall of clay, and an outer husk of moss, ling, 

 and such like moorland matters. It is not strongly 

 or compactly formed, and makes a great litter if kept 

 a day or two and subject to be handled or moved, 

 however carefully. It is always built on, or near the 

 ground, on the wild moor ; and I once trod the 

 feathers out of the wing of a sitting hen, on whom and 

 her nest I nearly jumped in leaping a gully. The 



