RING OUSEL. 
99 
ties, it is no where abundant, and is generally 
seen in pairs about some solitary glen or ravine, 
or by some shelving cliff. At the commence- 
ment of breeding, and during the time the 
female is sitting, the male assumes the charac- 
teristic site of his congeners, and may be heard 
from the elevated rock singing his plaintive 
melody, consisting of a few notes uttered in a 
clear and warbling whistle. In these situations 
he may be frequently heard long before the eye 
can catch his form, for, perched on high, the 
colours of his plumage assimilate with the grey 
rocks, and some motion often first discovers him 
to the sight. When the young are hatched, the 
parents fly around with anxious cries, and will 
venture to attack either a dog or other animal, or 
feathered aggressor. The nest is placed mostly on 
the edge of the ravine, or on some shelve of the 
cliff or bank, among rank or matted herbage, or 
under the screen of some brush, whin, or juniper ; 
it is a comparatively careless structure, with a 
base-work of slender roots and stalks, strength- 
ened with clay or mud. The eggs are four or five 
in number, so similar to those of the blackbird 
as scarcely to be distinguished from it. These 
birds arrive at their alpine stations during the 
month of April ; but not residing in the immediate 
vicinity of their haunts, we cannot speak to within 
a week or ten days from actual observation. 
They do not remain any where on the coast or 
low lands for a short period before their arrival 
on the hills in their northern range ; but we are 
