RING OUSEL. 99 



ties, it is no where abundant, and is generally 

 seen in pairs about some solitary glen or ravine, 

 or by some shelving cliff. At the commence- 

 ment of breeding, and during the time the 

 female is sitting, the male assumes the charac- 

 teristic site of his congeners, and may be heard 

 from the elevated rock singing his plaintive 

 melody, consisting of a few notes uttered in a 

 clear and warbling whistle. In these situations 

 he may be frequently heard long before the eye 

 can catch his form, for, perched on high, the 

 colours of his plumage assimilate with the grey 

 rocks, and some motion often first discovers him 

 to the sight. When the young are hatched, the 

 parents fly around with anxious cries, and will 

 venture to attack either a dog or other animal, or 

 feathered aggressor. The nest is placed mostly on 

 the edge of the ravine, or on some shelve of the 

 cliff or bank, among rank or matted herbage, or 

 under the screen of some brush, whin, or juniper ; 

 it is a comparatively careless structure, with a 

 base-work of slender roots and stalks, strength- 

 ened with clay or mud. The eggs are four or five 

 in number, so similar to those of the blackbird 

 as scarcely to be distinguished from it. These 

 birds arrive at their alpine stations during the 

 month of April ; but not residing in the immediate 

 vicinity of their haunts, we cannot speak to within 

 a week or ten days from actual observation. 

 They do not remain any where on the coast or 

 low lands for a short period before their arrival 

 on the hills in their northern range ; but we are 



