120 



KEARTONS' NATURE PICTURES 



YOUNG RING OUZEL. 



The alarm note is a loud, harsh 

 cry sounding like tac-tac-tac, which is 

 generally uttered whenever the bird is 

 disturbed, and most vehemently and 

 persistently if the young ones should be 

 considered in danger. 



Both parent birds are very bold in 

 defence of their offspring, and on several 



occasions I have witnessed a pair cou- 

 rageously drive a kestrel away from the 

 neighbourhood of their nest containing 

 chicks. 



During the spring and summer the 

 food of the Ring Ouzel consists of worms, 

 grubs, and other forms of insect life, but 

 throughout the autumn wild fruits of 

 various kinds are eagerly devoured, and 

 none more so than the berries of the 

 rowan or mountain ash. 



The colour of the male is dull black, 

 each feather being margined with grey. 

 The chest is marked with a broad crescent 

 of pure white. The female is browner 

 and greyer in colour, and her curved 

 band of white on the chest is duller and 

 less denned. 



Young birds of both sexes lack the 

 white crescent in their first coat of 

 feathers, the breast being spotted and 

 mottled as shown in our illustration. 



V, 



