50 RURAL BIRD LIFE. 



battle, despite the odds, for the protection of her abode. 

 Move, and the attack is renewed, this time with loud 

 and dissonant cries that wake the solitudes of the barren 

 moor around. Undauntedly the bird flies round you, 

 now dashing into your face, or reeling and tumbling on 

 the ground in very anguish and despair. Who could 

 view such a scene unmoved. As you approach still 

 closer, protective instinct, if possible, works more power- 

 fully within her ; her cries, with those of her mate, dis- 

 turb the birds around ; the Red Grouse, startled, skims 

 over the shoulder of the hill to find solitude ; the Moor 

 Pipit chirps anxiously by, and the gay little Stonechat 

 flits uneasily from bush to bush. How great is her 

 maternal love ! How unceasing in his vigilance is her 

 mate! Let us leave them to their rugged haunt, to 

 attend to their duties in what the birds love best, the 

 absence of man and the presence of solitude. Even 

 when the nest is but half built I have known these birds 

 unceasing in their efforts to drive me away. I have even 

 struck the bird repeatedly with a fishing-rod, but, 

 undaunted, she has kept up the unequal contest, and 

 followed me quite out of the neighbourhood of her 

 unfinished home, and then returned in triumph to aid 

 in its completion. 



The food of the Ring Ousel is snails and worms, for 

 which they may often be seen hunting on the marshy 

 land peculiar to the moors : insects and beetles are also 

 eaten. When the bilberries are ripe the bird subsists 

 largely on them ; the gardens, too, near their haunts, 

 when the various fruits are ripe, suffer considerably from 

 their repeated visits. But soon the fruit is gathered, 

 and the Ring Ousels must see about their great journey. 

 They leave their haunts solitarily, or in little parties, but 

 as they journey southwards they congregate in flocks. 



