PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 329 



markings are slight or altogether wanting. (PI. G.) Average size of 100 eggs, 

 l-14x-84 in. [29x21*39 mm.]. Laying usually begins in March or early in 

 April, and incubation lasts till the 14th or 15th day, and is chiefly performed by 

 the hen, but the cock may occasionally be found on the nest. Two or three 

 broods are reared in the season. The young remain about two weeks in the nest. 

 [F. c. R. J.] 



5. Food. Worms, insects, snails, berries, fruit, occasionally grain, and in hard 

 weather probably also shell-fish. "It is the most persistent fruit-eater of all the 

 British birds " (Newstead). The young are fed by both parents mainly on worms 

 and insects. [F. B. K.] 



6. Song Period. The regular period is from about the end of January to 

 the third or fourth week in July, but the bird is to be heard " occasionally 

 during the latter part of August" (C. and H. Alexander, British Birds, i. 369), 

 in September and October, and, on mild days, even later. [F. B. K.] 



RING-OUZEL [Turdus torquatus, Linnaeus. Moor- or mountain-blackbird, 

 crag-, tor- or fell-ouzel. French, merle a plastron ; German, Ringdrossel ; 

 Italian, merlo col petto bianco']. 



I. Description. The adult male is at once distinguished by its sooty-black 

 plumage, relieved by a broad semilunar gorget of white, and narrow, more or less 

 conspicuous, grey fringes to the median and lesser wing-coverts ; similar fringes 

 mark the rest of the body feathers after the autumn moult, but are gradually 

 reduced by abrasion. (PI. 37.) Length, 10 in. [254 mm.]. The female is browner, 

 and has a narrower, duller gorget, the feathers thereof having brownish fringes. 

 The pale marginal fringes to the feathers of the rest of the plumage are more marked 

 in the female. Juvenile plumage : the fledglings have the upper surface sooty- 

 black, the feathers being dark brown tipped with black, giving a slightly mottled 

 appearance. The wing quills are dark brown, with pale whitish margins. The 

 median and lesser wing-coverts are dark brown, with white shaft-streaks. The 

 throat feathers are white tipped with black. On the forebreast (prepectus) the 

 feathers are mottled with black and brown, a coloration formed by black feathers 

 with a subterminal, transverse buff bar. The rest of the under parts are spotted 

 and barred with black and white spots on the middle of the breast, bars on flanks 

 and abdomen. The under tail-coverts are black with white shaft-streaks, and more 

 or less well-marked buffish white tips. [w. P. P.] 



