RING OUZEL. DD 
brown ; the head, neck, back, upper tail-coverts, wings, 
and tail-feathers, nearly uniform brownish black ; the fea- 
thers of the body edged with blackish grey ; the external 
margins of all the wing-feathers grey, but this lighter colour 
is broadest on the edges of the tertials; the chin, throat, 
breast, belly, and under tail-coverts are of the same colour 
as the upper surface of the body, but across the chest there 
is a broad crescentie stripe of pure white: the legs, toes, 
and claws, brownish black. 
The length of an adult bird is about eleven inches. The 
wing, from the carpal joint to the end of the longest pri- 
mary, five inches and a half: the first feather of the wing 
very short; the second equal in length to the fifth ; the 
third and fourth feathers also equal, and the longest in the 
wing. 
The female is rather lighter in colour than the adult 
male, and the grey margins of the feathers are broader ; 
the band across the chest is narrower; the white colour 
is less pure, and clouded with reddish brown and grey. 
Young males resemble the adult female ; but in young 
females the pectoral gorget is scarcely perceptible. 
Specimens without the white crescent have been called 
Rock-thrushes. White, and some otherwise marked vari- 
eties, are said to have occurred. 
The vignette represents the form of the breast-bone of 
the Common Dipper. ; 
