BOCK AND EIVEE OUSELS 



ALTHOUGH the rock ousel, as his name imports, is fond of 

 rocks and precipices, and commonly builds among them, 

 yet a pair may often be met with haunting ferny brakes 

 with only a few scattered stones, upon which they delight 

 to perch. When disturbed, they fly from stone to stone, 

 uttering a very grating chirp, which seems to be a note of 

 defiance. This summer (1842) a good number of them 

 came down from the hills to the garden at Lennie, and 

 did much damage to the fruit, especially the currants. 

 The gardener shot several, which he brought to me. The 

 ring of the males was very dusky, and in some there were 

 brown feathers interspersed. The females had no white 

 ring at all. They were timid birds much more so than 

 the thrushes and blackbirds, their fellow-depredators and 

 it required some caution to get a shot at them. 



A nest was found in the spring, near the foot of a thick 

 bush, on the bank of a rocky brook. They reared their 

 young ones undisturbed. I think it not unlikely that the 

 greater number of those that frequented the garden in 



