Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 4 (1900).djvu/31

Rh meet with them much later. Whitlock ('Birds of Derbyshire,' p. 31) records the finding of a nest on Aug. 2nd, 1885.

Materials of the Nest.—According to my experience, the typical Ring-Ouzel's nest has its foundation and outer walls constructed of bracken-stalks, with a stem or two of heather sometimes interwoven. In all the nests which I have examined there has been a layer of mud, and without exception they have been lined with fine bents. At times, however, the outer structure varies. A nest which I found in 1894 on the moors had this part composed of grass, moss, bracken, a leaf, a heather-stalk, and a rootlet. Another, which was placed in a crevice of rock in one of our dales, had a sort of loose foundation (probably intended to tilt it up on the outer side) of grass and moss. Upon this was an irregular cup of mud and moss, encircled round the top with a wreath of dry grass and dead stalks of some herbaceous plant (probably one of the Umbelliferæ). The lining, which was a quite separate structure, was of fine bents, with here and there a piece of leaf or of stonecrop (Sedum acre). The first spring which I spent within reach of the Peak district was that of 1887. It was not till then that I searched for Ring-Ouzels' nests; but during that season I found eighteen. Of these the seventh, containing eggs, quite deceived me at first. The outside was entirely made of moss, and I mistook it for a Blackbird's nest. There were five eggs in it, and I took two of them, as they were very beautifully marked. A day or two later I showed these to a friend, who at once said that he was convinced that they were Ring-Ouzel's eggs. Accordingly I revisited the nest on three occasions, and eventually had the satisfaction not only of seeing the old birds near it, but also of identifying the three young birds as Ring-Ouzels; for there is no difficulty in distinguishing a Ring-Ouzel from a Blackbird during their nestling plumage.

This shows conclusively that the nests of these two species are occasionally very similar; but I cannot agree with Seebohm when he says that "it would be almost impossible to discriminate between them were we not aware that the Blackbird does not haunt the wide open moor" ('British Birds,' vol. i. p. 247; the same words are used in his 'Eggs of British Birds,' p. 182). The range of the Blackbird overlaps that of the Ring-Ouzel. Only last year (1898) I saw a Ring-Ouzel fly from a likely place, and,