OUR THRUSHES. 89 



quaintance with them has been made in the fertile 

 and well -wooded counties of Southern England, 

 where the whole family can be 'heard and studied 

 to the best advantage. 



On the hills, and about the moors in the season, 

 you will find that shyest and most wary member of 

 the whole family, the ring-ouzel, called by the rustics 

 the " white-throated blackbird." 



Great clouds sweep over the hills, casting, as they 

 travel, moving shadows on the heather and bright 

 green turf of the moor. It is green, for summer's 

 fierce heat has passed ; rain has fallen at times just 

 enough to let us know that we may expect no more 

 settled summer weather. We need not regret this, 

 for autumn is clothing the hillside and the moor 

 with the richest broken tones of crimson, olive, 

 orange, grey, and buff. Rough gullies intersect the 

 moor in many parts, flanked on either side by high 

 banks; although these can hardly be called roads, 

 yet they are used for that purpose. They are, in 

 reality, huge masses of stone, covered with a thin 

 crust of peat soil. Changes in the weather have 

 affected some parts, causing them to crumble, 

 and laying bare a cliff of greystone covered here 



