me, as if desirous of advice in his extremity, but finding it
in vain, he at length ran up to me, when the birds, nothing
daunted, followed, and gave myself as well as two friends
who were with me, the same salute, flying so near that we
could almost have struck them with our hands. At the
beginning of the onset, a female bird appeared, as if inciting
the males forward, and continued until they attained the
highest pitch of violence.” He goes 011 to say that if this
had been merely a case of a pair of birds protecting their
young or trying to entice the intruders away, as the Eing-
Ouzel has been said to do, it would have been unworthy of
notice, hut the assailants were both cocks. The chase of
the dog continued a considerable way, and for about fifteen
or twenty minutes.
The nest is generally built 011 or near the ground, sometimes
on a bank by the side of a stream, occasionally under
a rocky ledge, at the base of a stone, stump or bush, or
among heather which serves as a shelter. The nest, according
to Mr. Hewitson, though differently situated, is very
similar to that of the Blackbird, being “ outwardly composed
of pieces of heather and coarse grass, with a slight layer
of clay, and thickly lined with fine dry grass” : the eggs,
four or five in number, are very like those of the Fieldfare
and Blackbird, but the markings have usually a bolder character,*
they measure from 1-3 to 1-03 by from -87 to -82 in.
The late Mr. Heysham has seen the young birds, near Carlisle,
fully fledged 011 the 15tli of June.
The food of this species is similar to that of the Blackbird,
consisting of earth-worms, slugs, insects, fruit, haws
and other berries, especially those of the yew and mountain -
ash in autumn, and of the ivy in spring. Sir William
Jardine, in a note to his last edition of White’s ‘ Selborne,'
says of the Ring-Ouzel:—“ In autumn and before their
departure they visit the lower country, and remain a day or
* Though it has been here attempted to describe the general appearance of the
eggs of each of these birds, as well as of tlie Mistletoe-Thrush and Redwing,
there are some specimens which would almost defy the best judge to refer positively
to any one of the five species.
a week, according to circumstances, feeding at this time
upon various berries, and occasionally visiting gardens. The
broods are now joined and mixed together, and the young
appear in their imperfect mottled dress.” Macgillivray
mentions his having found the seeds and portion of the
pulp of berries of the mountain-ash undigested in the intestine
of this species. He Montbeillard, the colleague of
Buffon, says that Ring-Ouzels feed largely on grapes in
France, and are then excellent eating. In some parts of
that country, as we are told by Salerne, this species is called
the Merle-terrier or Buissonnier, from its lowly placed nest.
The song, according to Selby, is confined to a few clear and
powerful notes not unlike those of the Mistletoe-Thrush ;
its cry of alarm, when disturbed, is very like that of the
Blackbird, but louder and harsher.
The adult male has the point of the bill almost black,
with more or less yellow at the base; the irides dark brown:
the head, neck, back, upper tail-coverts, wings and tail
nearly uniform brownish-black; the feathers of the body
edged with blackish-grey; the external margins of all the
wing-feathers grey, but this lighter colour is broadest on
the edges of the tertials; the chin, throat, breast, belly
and lower tail-coverts are of the same colour as the upper
parts, but across the chest there is a broad crescentic band
of pure white : the legs, toes and claws, brownish-black.
The length is about eleven inches. The wing, from the
carpal joint to the end of the longest primary, five inches
and a h a lf; the second primary equal to the fifth : the third
and fourth also equal, and the longest.
The female is rather lighter in colour than the adult
male, and the grey margins of the feathers are broader; the
band across the chest is narrower; the white is less pure,
and clouded with reddish-brown and grey.
Young males resemble the adult female, but have the
feathers of the back with lighter margins, and in young
females the pectoral gorget is scarcely perceptible.