THE NATURALIST IN NIDDERDALE. 411 
_all around making a sweet melodious chorus; Swallows gone ; 
Martins flying about; Starlings gone; the last warm, soft, rose- 
coloured tint fading and darkening on the opposite cliffs. Four 
distinct Thrushes singing; Partridge noisy in the dale below the 
house. 
- *Caccabat hinc Perdix, hine graccitat improbus Anser,’ 
A troop of clouds that came over this afternoon have all gone, 
but there is a haze forming.” 
The Ring Ouzel has a sweet song, not unlike parts of a 
Thrush’s. It bas a beautiful note, which it repeats thrice,— 
not inaptly represented by the words “tree, tree, tree,’— 
smart, but extremely melodious. The Ring Ouzel does not 
ascend to the very highest hills, nor does it go below the 
heathery moors, and. even on these is not to be seen every- 
where. Its favourite haunts are broad . shallow valleys with 
humerous running “sikes,” and having on each side a flat 
ridge. There the ling grows long, and its nest may be found 
near to some running stream. I give descriptions of four of 
‘these from nature :— 
No. 1. May 13, 1869. Brimham Rocks (900 feet), in an east 
and west sike, on the northern side, under a tuft of heather.— Com- 
posed of sticks of heather and pieces of dry strong grass, rather 
loosely compacted, but strongly built, and lined with finer grass. 
The nest contained four eggs; light bluish green ground, mottled 
with dirty brown spots. 
No. 2. May 14, 1869. Pateley Moor (1000 feet).— Constructed 
like No. 1, and exposed to the east. Three eggs. 
No. 3. May 11, 1871. Moors near Kettlewell (1440 feet), ina 
cleft in limestone.— Made of grass, &e., lined with fine grass ; 
internal diameter, 4 inches; outside, 7 inches. Four eges; pale 
blue ground, faint blotches, pale purple and brown, thicker at 
upper end; length, 1°2in.; breadth, °9 in. 
No. 4. May 22,1871. Lodge (1075 feet), under a tuft of wood- 
sage in a vertical bank on a bed of sandstone.—Made of wiry roots 
and stems of bracken, pieces of moss and coarse grass, lined with 
fine grass; internal diameter, 4.inches, round. Four eggs; pale 
green ground, irregularly but somewhat thickly speckled with 
umber blotches of a pale tint, and less distinctly with pale purple, 
especially about the larger end; a few dark lines and dots at larger 
