RING OUZEL. 
93 
INCESSORES. MERULIDJE. 
DENTIROSTRES. 
RING OUZEL. 
Turdus torquatus. 
PLATE XXV. FIGS. III. AND IV. 
The Ring Ouzel is rather a local bird, and is much 
more abundant in the north than in the south of England. 
It is seldom seen except in the wild mountain districts, 
which are its favourite haunts. It breeds in several parts 
of Northumberland, and the wilder portions of Derbyshire ; 
and is abundant on some of the Yorkshire moors, espe¬ 
cially about Halifax. 
It builds its nest upon the ledges of the picturesque 
gray rocks, which are the peculiar feature of these moun¬ 
tain districts. It is very similar to that of the blackbird, 
and is outwardly composed of pieces of heather and 
coarse grass, with a slight layer of clay, and thickly lined 
with dry fine grass. It is frequently roofed over by a 
projecting ledge of rock, or a bunch of heather. 
The eggs are four or five in number; they are more 
like those of the fieldfare than those of the blackbird, 
and very rarely resemble the common closely freckled egg 
of the latter. They are frequently more closely marked 
than figure III. of the plate, and with much lighter spots 
of red-brown and purple, and in some of their varieties 
resemble the figure of the egg of the fieldfare. 
Figure IV. is a variety of unusual beauty and a good 
deal like the eggs of the missel-thrush. 
