THE RING OUZEL.
Mountain solitudes, with lonely crag-strewn glens and rough, deep gulches, “far removed from the busy haunts of men,” form the home of this brave, independent bird. If a few stunted rowan or whitethorn trees peep shyly from sheltered corners and crevices here and there the better will the situation be liked.
The Ring Ouzel arrives in this country in April and quits our shores again during September and October. It is about the same size as the Common Blackbird, and behaves more or less like a member of that well-known species. In colour it is dull black with an edging of dark grey to the feathers. Across the chest stretches a broad crescent-like band of pure white. The female is rather lighter coloured, and the white gorget on her breast is neither so broad nor so pure.
This species breeds in the West of England, in the six northern counties, and in suitable parts of Wales, Scotland, and Ireland.
Its song consists of a few clear, powerful notes that would sound out of place if heard anywhere but amongst the bird’s wild, lonely surroundings. During a calm spring evening the plaintive, lonesome notes of the Mountain Blackbird, as this species is sometimes called, can be heard at a great distance because the singer has a habit of delivering its music from a high boulder or cairn.
The alarm cry is a loud tac-tac-tac, which is uttered with great volubility and vehemence when the nest containing young ones is approached.
RING OUZEL’S NEST.
I have found the nest of the Ring Ouzel, which is a very similar structure to that of the Blackbird, amongst long heather growing upon a steep bank by a burn-side, amongst rocks in the face of small broken cliffs, under sheltering stones projecting from the ground, on steep hillsides, and in holes in old stone walls. I once discovered one amongst rushes on flat ground, but this is an exceptional kind of situation.
