Mr A. Craig, Jan., on the Birds of GUniirquliart. 121 



Mavis {Tunlus mnsicus). 

 The same thinning of their ranks has taken place as in tlie 

 case of the missel thrush. During last May (1881) I did 

 not see more than six song-thrushes in a fortnight, whereas 

 in former years they could be heard singing in every wood. 

 They are evidently more tender and unable to stand tlie 

 rigours of winter to the same extent as the next species. 



Blackbird {Turdus merida). 



Common everywhere in the lower grounds, particularly 

 among the shrubberies at Balmacaan and the other large 

 houses over the Glen. They are most prolific birds, some- 

 times rearing as many as three broods in a season, much to 

 the annoyance of the gardeners, who hate them even more 

 cordially than they do the bullfinch. Happily they are not 

 so easily shot as the former, being endowed with much 

 greater ideas of self-preservation, which saves them from 

 suffering much diminution. 



EiNG Ouzel {Turdus torqicatus). 



On the rugged hill-sides of Abriachan, where birch and 

 hazel trees mingle with the broken masses of rock, on the 

 heathery slopes above the tree limit, in the ravines which 

 intersect the great expanse of moorland, in fact, amidst 

 scenes of extreme solitude and wild grandeur, the ring ouzels 

 make their home. On the rocky face of Craig-na these birds 

 build their nest amidst the juniper bushes, and on the banks 

 of a burn which flows out of a little tarn, called Loch Glanuy, 

 two or three pairs regularly take up their abode every spring. 

 I doubt very much if there is any moorland bird (except the 

 curlew) that gives an intruder a wider berth than the ring 

 ouzel. The only way to obtain a good view of them is to sit 

 quietly down near their haunts, on the chance of their 

 approaching, as on the slightest attempt to follow them up 

 they take alarm and fly off to a safe distance, usually alight- 

 insj on a stone or small eminence, mvinsj vent the while to 

 an angry "chuck-chuck" resembling that of the blackbird. 

 The male during the nesting-time often sits on a tree or rock, 



