Seebohm has the following spirited description of the ring-ouzel’s action in the presence of danger to its nest: ‘Approach their treasure, and, although you have no knowledge of its whereabouts, you speedily know that you are on sacred ground.... _Something_ sweeps suddenly round your head, probably brushing your face. You look round, and there the ring-ouzel, perched close at hand, is eyeing you wrathfully, and ready to do battle, despite the odds, for the protection of her abode. Move, and the attack is resumed, this time with loud and dissonant cries that wake the solitudes of the barren moor around. Undauntedly the birds fly around you, pause for a moment on some mass of rock, or reel and tumble on the ground to decoy you away. As you approach still closer the anxiety of the female, if possible, increases; her cries, with those of her mate, disturb the birds around; the red grouse, startled, skims over the shoulder of the hill to find solitude; the moor-pipit chirps anxiously by; and the gay little stonechat flits uneasily from bush to bush. So long as you tarry near their treasure the birds will accompany you, and, by using every artifice, endeavour to allure or draw you away from its vicinity.’ * * * * * Besides the six species described, there are three thrushes to be found in works on British birds: the black-throated thrush (_Turdus atrigularis_), a straggler from Central Siberia; White’s thrush (_T. varius_), from North-east Siberia; and the rock-thrush (_Monticola saxatilis_), from South Europe, a member of a group that connects the true thrushes (Turdus) with the wheatears (Saxicola). Wheatear. Saxicola œnanthe. [Illustration: FIG. 22.--WHEATEAR. ⅓ natural size.] Upper parts bluish grey; wings and wing-coverts, centre and extremity of the tail, feet, bill, and area comprising the nostrils, eyes, and ears, black; base and lower portion of the side of the tail pure white; chin, forehead, stripe over the eye, and under parts, white. In autumn, upper parts reddish brown and tail feathers tipped with white. _Female_: upper parts ash-brown tinged with yellow; stripe over the eye dingy. Length, six and a half inches. * * * * *