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. [Illustration: 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. [Illustration: FEMALE RING OUZEL COVERING YOUNG IN NEST DURING A SHOWER OF RAIN.] Although a comparatively shy, wary bird under ordinary circumstances, the Ring Ouzel is possessed of great courage, which it rarely fails to display in the defence of its young. I have on more than one occasion watched members of the species driving stray Kestrels away from the neighbourhood of their nests. They will fly close round the head of a human intruder, uttering discordant cries if their chicks are molested. The eggs are very similar to those of the Common Blackbird, bluish-green in ground colour, marked with reddish-brown spots. The markings are, as a rule, however, larger than those on the eggs of the above-mentioned species. Young Ring Ouzels have no white collar or gorget on the breast. Their feathers are brownish-black, edged with dirty white, and when they sit still on a grey limestone or under a ledge they are, in consequence, difficult to see. [Illustration: hills and stone fence] =THE TREE PIPIT.= [Illustration: flowers] We have three Pipits breeding in the British Islands--viz. the Meadow, Rock, and Tree, which are all very well named according to their respective habits. Owing, however, to, their similarity of general appearance, the two latter species are frequently mistaken for the first, and described as Titlarks.