THE RING-OUZEL. 247 



gained a footing and almost completely shelter the nest from view. Like 

 the nests of all the Thrushes, that of the Ring-Ouzel undergoes three distinct 

 stages before completion, and is always well and compactly constructed. 

 It is made of coarse grass, with perhaps a few twigs of heather to bind the 

 materials together ; and a few withered leaves are sometimes added. This 

 grass-formed nest is then lined with mud or clay from the neighbouring 

 bogs or stream-banks. At this stage the nest is remarkably deep; but 

 the thick lining of fine grass which is now added brings the nest to more 

 even proportions. When examining the nest of this bird, its close resem- 

 blance to that of the Blackbird will be noticed. Indeed it would be 

 almost impossible to discriminate between them, were we not aware that 

 the Blackbird does not haunt the wild open moor. In the districts where 

 the habitats of these two birds adjoin (the boundary of cultivation and the 

 wild), nothing but a sight of the parent birds can make identification 

 sure. 



The Ring-Ouzel lays four or five finely-marked eggs, bluish green in 

 ground-colour, boldly and richly blotched with reddish brown, and some- 

 times streaked with dark brown. One variety is very elongated and very 

 pale in ground-colour, the markings being represented by small specks, 

 with a few splashes on the larger end. A second is almost round, 

 intense bluish green in ground -colour, boldly yet sparingly blotched with 

 surface-markings of purplish brown and pale dashes of purple. A third is 

 brownish green in ground-colour, blotched, clouded, and spotted with pale 

 reddish brown and light dashes of purple ; while a fourth is similar in 

 ground-colour, but has the brown markings chiefly on the larger end of the 

 egg, where they form a broad zone, and is also streaked with dark wavy 

 lines of brown. So closely do the eggs of this bird resemble those of the 

 Blackbird and the Fieldfare, that, were a series of the eggs of these three 

 birds mixed promiscuously, it would be absolutely impossible to separate 

 all of them correctly. Nevertheless, on an average, the Ring-Ouzel's eggs 

 have the ground-colour clearer, and are more boldly and richly marked, 

 than those of the Blackbird. They vary in length from T35 to 1*08 inch, 

 and in breadth from 0'9 to 0'78 inch. 



No birds defend their eggs or young with more matchless courage than 

 the Ring-Ouzel. Approach their treasure, and, although you have no 

 knowledge of its whereabouts, you speedily know that you are on sacred 

 ground, or, more plainly speaking, on the nesting-site of this bird of the 

 moor. Something sweeps suddenly round your head, probably brushing 

 your face. You look round ; and there the Ring-Ouzel, perched close at 

 hand, is eying you wrathfully, and ready to do battle, despite the odds, 

 for the protection of her abode. Move, and the attack is renewed, this 

 time with loud and dissonant cries that wake the solitudes of the barren 

 moor around. Undauntedly the birds fly round you, pause for a moment 



