256 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



very shy and not easily induced to fly. Some of them, on 

 being disturbed more than once, mounted high into the air and 

 flew straight away towards the coast of Germany. 



Nest. A compactly-built structure, formed exactly on the 

 same lines as a Blackbird's, and built gradually, in the same 

 way. There is, in fact, nothing by which the nest can be 

 identified from that of the ordinary Blackbird, except its 

 situation, which is generally different from that of the last- 

 named bird- The Ring-Ouzel generally places its nest on the 

 ground, but also in bushes of heather or ling, especially on 

 banks where the heather conceals it. Occasionally a hole in a 

 rock is selected. 



Eggs. Four or five in number. Mr. Robert Read tells us 

 that in Scotland he has never found more than four in a nest, 

 though in the north of England six are often met with. The 

 eggs are generally like those of the Blackbird, but are more 

 richly marked, and with a clearer blue ground. Equal variation 

 in markings takes place to that which obtains in a series of 

 Blackbird's eggs. In some the ground-colour is pale bluish, 

 with the reddish markings small and distributed over the whole 

 egg. Others are brighter blue, and these have the markings 

 generally larger, and in the form of blotches. Others have the 

 ground-colour greenish-olive, and in these, again, the reddish 

 markings are large. Only a few eggs have a collection of spots 

 at the larger end, and in all the underlying spots are never 

 prominent, being of a lighter reddish-brown colour. Axis, n- 

 i'3 inch; diam., o'8-o - 9. 



THI<: BLACK-THROATED OUZEL. MERULA ATRIGULARIS. 



Turdus atrogularis, Temm., Man. d'Orn., i., p. 169 (1820); 



Newt. ed. Yarr., i., p. 276 (1872); Dresser, B. Eur., ii., p. 



83, pi. ii (1878); B. O. U. List Br. B., p. 2 (1883); 



Lilford, Col. Fig. Br. B., pt ii. (1886) ; Saunders, Man., 



p. 9 (1889). 

 Menila atrigularis, Seeb., Cat. B. Brit. Mus., v., p. 267 (1881) ; 



id. Br. B., i., p. 249 (1883). 



Adult Male. General colour above light olive-brown, the 

 wing-coverts Hke the back ; bastard-wing, primary-covers ancj 



