59 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS. 
caught on the thorns, and the feathered architect could do 
nothing with it, and there it hung out of the nest-wall a thick 
tangle, inches long, and making the nest as conspicuous as if 
a flag had been stuck just above it. How the eggs vary in ~ 
shade, markings, size, &c., I have already noticed at a former 
page, and I am fearful of absorbing too much of my space by 
adding more.—f%g. 11, plate IT. 
44, RING OUZEL—(Twurdus torquatus). 
Ring Thrush, Moor Blackbird, Mountain Blackbird, Tor Ouzel, 
Rock Ouzel, Ring Blackbird. A bold abusive freebooter in our 
gardens in North 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 gentler twitter of the Swallow. I like to hear his attempts 
at song, reminding 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 aen, on whom and her 
nest I nearly trod in leaping a gully. Theeggs are usually our 
or five im number, and remind you of the Blackbird’s eggs in 
their general appearances but the blotchings or markings are 
redder, and often much larger or more pronounced than in the 
