THE RING-OUZEL 



and very noisy, bird, resenting any intrusion of its haunt 

 by a series of oft-repeated chattering cries. It visits our 

 islands to breed, spending the winter in the south of 

 Europe or North Africa. In its summer haunts it is 

 particularly fond of frequenting rocky places, the banks 

 of moorland streams, where heather and birch-trees are 

 plentiful, and where the gorse and bramble and bracken 

 are interspersed with huge boulders. Soon after arrival 

 the males commence their song, which is not so flute-like 

 as that of the blackbird, although equally short and broken 

 up by interrupted strings of harsh notes. It breeds in 

 May, making a nest exactly similar to that of the Black- 

 bird in a low bush or on the ground amongst the heath. 

 The four or five eggs also resemble those of that species 

 so closely that they cannot be distinguished from them. 

 At the nest it is very pugnacious. In its food, flight, 

 habit of elevating its tail upon alighting, and in many 

 other ways it closely resembles the more familiar bird. 

 It rears but one brood each season, and retires south in 

 September and October. 



The adult male Ring-Ouzel is nearly uniform brownish 

 black, except a broad white band across the breast, and 

 most of the small feathers have pale margins. Bill 

 yellow ; tarsi and claws brown ; irides brown. The 

 female is duller and browner, and the white gorget is 

 suffused with brown. Length about 10 inches. Nest- 

 lings are barred with black and buff on the breast and 

 back, and the wing coverts are spotted with buff. 



