een the Swiss birds and those of England, the Alpine birds being much lighter in colour,

escentic marks on the belly broader
varies very considerably in diffe
hich is otherwise similarly clothed to the male,

variation occurs betw
and having the little er

this country. The pectoral mark
hite in others; in the female, w
ig of the year is but faintly indicated. I am able to state this

imens sent to me in the flesh by Sir John H.

and more defined than those of the birds killed in
rent individuals, being small and dusky in

some, while it is large and snow-w
it is often suffused with brown, and in the your
areful examination of a number of spec
Crewe, Bart., who bad them shot at different periods for the furtherance of this oe The fgaues ol the young
birds in the accompanying Plate were drawn from examples obtained by myself in the Dee in Norway,
where the bird was breeding in abundance at an elevation of 5000 feet. In the neighbourhood of Jerkin
the young birds were just ready to leave the nest on the Ist of July; Ec ae by Sos a would have
become sufficiently strong to perform their southerly migration. The foador the Ring-Ousel, with us, consists
mainly of insects and their larvae: but, like the Thrush and Blackbird, it occasionally coe its oe with
fruits and berries, among which the Whortle, the Bilberry, the Juniper, and the Mountain-Ash are included.

The Duke of Argyll tells me that in Argyllshire “ the Ring-Ousel appears to be restricted in the breeding-
hich declines as you go north, “ike the snow-line. 1 never saw it here

with certainty, after a c

season to an altitude above the sea w
under an elevation of 1000 feet, except in autumn, when it comes down to eat the berries of several trees ;
but in Sutherlandshire I saw it along the wood-sides quite low down in spring.”

Thirteen nests of the Ring-Ousel, from the late Mr. Heysham’s collection, were all alike in form, and
constructed of the same materials—namely, moss, roots, long grasses, and mud intermingled, which, when
dry and hard, resembled the inside of a Thrush’s nest ; interiorly they have a warm lining of very fine grasses
for the reception of the eggs. These nests are of large size, some of them considerably exceeding that of a
Blackbird.

The eggs, which are from four to six in number, are regularly oval, and of a pale bluish green, freckled all
over with pale brown, so much like those of the Blackbird as not readily to be distinguished with certainty.

All writers who bave seen the ‘“ Mountain-Ousel ” in a state of nature, speak highly of its vocal powers ;
and their remarks to a certain extent are truthful; for, besides a series of chattering notes which it freely
utters on the approach of an intruder, its carol is pleasing and melodious, sweeter than that of a Thrush, but
less spirited and vigorous, unlike that of its near ally the Blackbird, but somewhat resembling in quality the
short but cheery song of Petrocossyphus cyaneus, the Merle bleu of the French, the ‘Sparrow on the house-
top” of Scripture. ‘I was delighted with the song of the Ring-Ousel, which was to be beard through every
clump of birch” (St. John, ‘Tour in Sutherlandshire’). ‘‘ Of all the Thrushes, perhaps the wild desultory
carol of the Ring-Ousel is the loudest and clearest” (Wheelwright, ‘Spring and Summer in Lapland ’).
“When alarmed, it utters a repetition of strong clear notes, like those of a Blackbird, but louder ; and its
song consists of a few simple loud and mellow notes ” (Macgillivray, ‘ History of British Birds’).

The adult male in the breeding-season has the bill yellow, clouded jwith dark marks on the upper mandible,
and the naked lash which surrounds the eye pale olive-yellow; the tarsi and toes are reddish black.

The colouring of these parts of the female is similar, but more clouded than in the male.

The young, when they leave the nest, are without a trace of the white crescentic mark on the breast, have
the under surface crossed with wavy lines of black and yellowish white, the inside of the mouth lemon-
yellow, and the legs and feet purplish brown.

The Plate represents the male, female, and young, of the natural size.