12 



go up the hills, where they take up their quarters among the pines at an elevation of 3000 to 

 5000 feet. Where they go in winter I do not know, but I never see them at that season 

 either high up or low down. They are very numerous, being quite the characteristic bird 

 of our woods." 



I have examined several Ring-Ousels from Turkey, all of which belonged to the present 

 species, and it is doubtless the species which has occurred in Greece. 



Mr. Danford met with the Alpine Ring-Ousel also in the Taurus Mountains in Asia Minor, 

 and states (Ibis, 1878, p. 13) that "flocks of Ring-Ousels were found at Zebil during the hard 

 weather of the early part of February. At the end of April a pair was met with on the 

 Karanfil-dagh, among a debris of loose rocks and gnarled old junipers. The elevation was 

 about 6500 feet. From their cries of alarm and general manner of conducting themselves it 

 was evident that they had a nest close by, though it could not be found." 



I do not find that the Alpine Ring-Ousel ranges further east than Asia Minor, for, as 

 stated below, the Caucasian Ring-Ousel is not referable to this species. Nor can I say whether 

 it visits North Africa in the winter season, which it probably does, but I may mention that 

 those I have seen from Morocco were true Turdus torquatus. 



In general habits, as may be surmised, the northern and southern forms of the Ring-Ousel 

 do not differ to any great extent, but they appear to do so in their mode of nidification, as also in 

 their song. Dr. Brehm remarks that the song of the Alpine Ring-Ousel is much louder and 

 more powerful than that of its northern congener, and this is confirmed by later observers. 

 Mr. Danford informs me that in Hungary it is the first bird whose note is heard in the 

 morning after the Capercaillie, as it commences singing about half-past three o'clock, and 

 finishes in the evening some time after sunset. The song is pleasant and has many 

 variations. 



Whereas the northern Ring-Ousel builds its nest on the ground or exceptionally in a low 

 bush close to the ground, the present species invariably places its nest in a tree, usually at a 

 considerable altitude. Messrs. Howard Saunders and Scott Wilson found its nest in trees in 

 the Jura Mountains, and Mr. Danford writes me that in Hungary the nest is built in spruce-firs 

 at from 15 to 40 feet above the ground, and is generally placed close to the main stem. He has 

 sent me eggs which he took on the 25th April last, and remarks that he took others rather 

 earlier, and that young birds in and out of the nest were abundant in May. I may here remark 

 that, according to Dr. Radde, the Ring-Ousel of the Caucasus does not nest in trees, but on the 

 ground under the rhododendron bushes, therein agreeing with the northern Ring-Ousel. He 

 also found one nest in the cleft of a rock. 



I am indebted to Mr. Danford for a nest and five eggs of this Ring-Ousel, taken by 

 him at Hatszeg on the 25th of April, 1894. The nest resembles that of the Blackbird, and is 

 externally constructed of stout bents, moss, and a few fine larch-twigs, and lined with fine grass 

 and rootlets. The eggs, five in number, are pale greenish blue, somewhat sparsely spotted and 

 blotched with reddish brown. Compared with my series of eggs of Turdus torquatus, they are 

 rather more blue in tone of ground-colour, and the markings are fewer and less bold, and 

 indeed they more closely resemble some eggs of T. merula than the general run of those of 

 T. torquatus. 



