2 
RING-OUZEL. 
that was left open, as we had taken out several large stones and built up the trap, together with a rabbit 
recently shot, in the centre of tlio dry-stone wall It was improbable that the bait had proved the attraction, 
as, being fresh, it could not yet have produced maggots, often so fatal under similar circumstances m the 
soutli to blackbirds and Thrushes. Tliere was little doubt that the bird must have been forced to seek 
shelter among the cracks in the ruins to escape the swoop of a Falcon or a Hawk. Peregrines from the 
wild rocky clilfs further up the glen occasionally swept over the moors, and a Sparrow-Hawk now and 
then dashed out from the Meggernie woods, dealing death in his course while in search of prey; one 
or otlier of these pitiless freebooters was wdthout doubt the cause of the mishap to the unfortunate Ouzel. 
The Ring-Ouzel is evidently astir betimes in the morning ; wdiile driving between Gairloch and 
Dingwall on the 17th of May, 1868, we entered the Glen Docherty Pass, that lies a mile or so to the east 
end of Loch Maree, an hour and a half after midnight, and during the time spent in climbing the steep 
and dangerous track cut in the rugged mountain-side these birds never ceased tbeir plaintive calls till 
we had reached the high ground, though it was then not fairly daylight. 
* A wall built without mortar, the stones being cleverly fitted together and held in their places, when necessary, by chips inserted in the gaps. 
