THE RING OUZEL IN CAPTIVITY. 241 



reading and smoking for hours. In due time this produced the 

 desired effect, and on the 6th of July I had the gratification of 

 seeing one of them suddenly (as if hy inspiration) hop up to me 

 as I sat, and, after looking up into my face, seize the tag of my 

 shoe-lace and pull it with all his might. He then investigated my 

 tobacco-box, and seemed to take great pleasure in plucking out 

 the pernicious weed and strewing it about the floor, and at last, to 

 complete the reconciliation, he took a bath. The other bird was 

 more shjr, but from that day forward got gradually familiar once 

 more. They never became bold enough, however, to fly up on 

 my hand, although they would perch on my feet. 



Having cut a few quills from the wing of each, I several 

 times let them out into the garden to forage for themselves, but 

 the difficulty of catching them again made them so much wilder 

 that I gave up the practice, and, in fact, they continued in perfect 

 health without it. 



In appearance they differed slightly from each other ; one, 

 which I took to be the male, was a shade smaller than the other 

 (I have noticed the same thing in other species of Thrush), the 

 plumage was a little darker, and he had less brown on his throat, 

 besides which he seemed inclined to be " cock of the roost." As 

 regards colour they both resembled young Blackbirds, being of a 

 brownish black all over, with the exception of the breast and 

 throat, which was mottled with light brown, and some time before 

 the autumnal moult they each showed a few white feathers scat- 

 tered over the breast. On my return home, after a fortnight's 

 absence, on the 1st of August, I found, to my chagrin, that one 

 of them had died. This was the one I took to be the female, but 

 it was unfortunately too much decomposed for dissection, so that 

 I was unable to ascertain for certain whether my surmise as to 

 the sex was correct or not. 



On the 21st of August the remaining bird escaped through a 

 broken pane of glass, greatly to my regret. Some time before he 

 took his departure he had completed the autumnal moult, but 

 had not got the white " ring " (or, more correctly, " crescent ") on 

 his breast, though the entire plumage was considerably darker, 

 and the brown mottling had disappeared from the breast. He 

 was seen about the place for a week or so, and then finally dis- 

 appeared. I remarked three different descriptions of note :— (1) 

 the commonest was a short, sharp "chuck-chuck-chuck," very 



