THE RING- OUZEL IN DERBYSHIRE. 5 



incubation. On June 2nd, 1894, I found a Ring-Ouzel's nest in 

 a hollow on the moors. The eggs were partly incubated, and the 

 cock was on the nest. I retired some distance, and then returned, 

 again to find the cock on the nest. I then sat down at a short 

 distance from the nest. The cock kept hanging around, and in 

 about ten minutes entered the hollow, and there remained for two 

 or three minutes. I had taken the eggs for a museum, so that 

 there was nothing to induce him to stay longer. They certainly 

 are shy birds. Gatke (' Birds of Heligoland,' p. 252) writes : — 

 ° They are here, next to the Missel-Thrush, the shyest and most 

 cunning of all the Thrushes." When disturbed feeding in some 

 lonely moorland field, on their first arrival here, or far from their 

 nests, or, again, when family duties are at an end, up they fly, 

 perch on a wall, and presently, if the unwelcome visitor does not 

 withdraw, they betake themselves to some distant feeding ground. 

 By stealing quietly up to a wall, and slowly raising the eyes 

 above its top, one may watch the Ring-Ouzels as they hop about 

 such a field, feeding after the manner of the other members of 

 their genus, hopping quietly for a few paces, then stopping as if 

 listening for some expected sound, and sooner or later bounding 

 suddenly forward, and with vigorous tugs hauling an unlucky 

 worm from its retreat. Seebohm states (* British Birds,' vol. i. 

 p. 245) that the Ring-Ouzel, like the Song-Thrush and Black- 

 bird, breaks snails' shells against stones. I should like to have 

 some further evidence of this. I can only say that neither 

 Mr. Peat nor I have ever witnessed anything of the sort. On the 

 moors there are very few snails, but in the wilder parts of the 

 dales great quantities may be found. 



There is no doubt that Ring- Ouzels are fond of berries. In 

 July and August their droppings are often stained as a result of 

 the bilberries and cloudberries which they have eaten. And at 

 times they take heavy toll on gardens near their haunts. 



But I must recur to their supposed skulking habits. When 

 the young birds first leave the nest they have a peculiar twitter- 

 ing call, not altogether unlike the song of the Wheatear. If, 

 attracted by this sound, an attempt is made to approach them, 

 and to observe them at close quarters, they will generally fly for 

 some fifty yards, and plunge into the heather. I have caught 

 many young Ring-Ouzels by marking the spot where they thus 



