4 EING OUZEL. 



Haunts. Gardens, orchards, well-cultivated and wooded 

 districts. 



Plumage. Glossy jet-black. Bill and eyelids orange-yellow. 

 Legs and feet brownish black. Length 10 in, Female sooty 

 brown, paler on under parts, and marked with dusky. Young 

 like immature hen birds, but feathers have dark tips, and those 

 of under parts are barred. 



Language. Song, mellow and fluty, uttered in a placid 

 almost dawdling manner ; generally breaks oft* abruptly, and 

 is followed either by a mimicking echo in the minor key or an 

 interlude of silence maintained for a few moments. When 

 alarmed it utters a harsh chuckling cry, especially at nightfall, 

 thus " chink," repeated several times ; then " chacka, chakca, 

 chack, chuck, chuck, chuck." Call-note, a shrill " tzeet." 



Habits. Pugnacious, and often fights desperately at mating 

 time. Fond of skulking under thick bushes, and is never 

 flushed without many loud and clattering remonstrances. In 

 flight, fairly rapid and direct. On alighting it always throws 

 up its long tailalmost at right angles to its body. It some- 

 times runs, though more usually it hops. It is a close sitter, 

 and if driven from the nest is most vociferous. 



Food. Worms, spiders, snails, slugs, insects, and larvae. 

 Soft fruits in season. In winter vegetable food and various 

 berries. 



Nest. March onwards. Several broods. 



Site. Generally low down in centre of thick bush, in trees, 

 shrubberies, trained fruit trees, faggot piles, amongst ivy, &c. 



Materials. Twigs, roots, coarse grass, leaves, moss, &c., 

 plastered with mud, lined with fine roots and dead grass. 



Eggs. Four to six. Greenish blue, closely spotted, and 

 mottled with red-brown. Variable ; might be confounded with 

 King Ouzel's, Fieldfare's, and possibly Missel Thrush's, and 

 Jay's. 



EING OUZEL (Turdus torquatus). 



Rarely resident ; generally migrating in autumn. Local, 

 though abundant in the North. Breeds in West, and in suit- 

 able localities in the Midlands, east and south. 



Haunts. Moorland and mountainous districts. 



Observation. Distinguished at once from Blackbird by white 

 throat band. 



Plumage. Generally sooty, with greyish white edgings to 

 the feathers. There is no complete ring ; it is a broad white 

 crescentic-shaped gorget. Bill yellowish tipped with black. 

 Legs brownish black. Length 10 in. Female browner, gorget 

 less developed and dingy. Young, back and breast barred with 

 black, and wing-coverts tipped with buff. 



