INSESSOKES. 35 



Green, says :* "On the 3rd of May, 1862, a Black- 

 bird selected as a site for its nest a hole in the 

 nearly perpendicular side of a ditch close to a 

 footpath at Willesden Green ; it was very carefully 

 concealed, and overhung by luxuriant grasses. It 

 afterwards contained four eggs ; but before they 

 could be hatched, the nest was taken. We more 

 than once saw the parent fly from the hole." 



On the 8th May, 1864, I found a Blackbird's 

 nest made entirely of green moss, and placed in a 

 yew-tree, ten or twelve feet from the ground. I can 

 only account for this unusual circumstance by sup- 

 posing that no other materials could be found, or, 

 there being no trees but evergreens in the neigh- 

 bourhood, the bird had made use of the green moss 

 more effectually to conceal the nest. 



Pied varieties of this bird have not unfrequently 

 occurred in this county. Three or four have come 

 under my own observation. 



KING OUZEL, Turdus torquatus. A passing visi- 

 tant, appearing in spring and autumn. I have three 

 specimens of this bird in my collection, all obtained 

 in the neighbourhood of Kingsbury; and I have 

 seen others that were killed at Kilburn, Hampstead, 

 Hendon, Edgeware, and Harrow Weald. Two of 

 those which I have, were shot as late as the 25th 

 April, and proved to be a pair. They had been 



* ' Zoologist,' p. 8947. 



