THE RING OUSEL. ' 47 



THE RING OUSEL. 



ON the barren moor, where the mountain ash and 

 graceful silver birch are wafted with the health-giving 

 mountain breeze ; where huge boulders of rocks are piled 

 upon each other, by some stupendous convulsion of 

 nature, in endless confusion ; where the roaring mountain 

 stream rolls down in silent grandeur ; and where the red 

 Grouse and Merlin, true birds of the mist and heather, 

 find a haunt there too the Ring Ousel finds a safe and 

 secluded home. Amid scenes so desolate, yet so full of 

 solemn grandeur, he pipes his song and rears his young 

 in peace. What careth he for the shrieking winds as 

 they drive with fury through his haunts. 'Tis but music 

 to him, and his rugged fastnesses are preferred to more 

 pastoral scenes, save when our garden fruits are ripe ; 

 but even then he strays but little from his beloved home 

 until, by resistless impulse driven, he follows the sun in his 

 journey to the southern tropic, to his home in the sunny 

 south. Such is the Ring Ousel's home. We will now give 

 the bird our attention. 



The Ring Ousel is one of our spring visitors, and the 

 only Thrush which comes to our shores to spend the 

 summer. He arrives here the first week in April, some- 

 times in flocks of several hundred individuals, remaining 

 in flocks or parties, as the case may be, for a few days 

 frequenting the marshy ground in search of food. If 

 disturbed, they all rise, and after wheeling about in the air 



