it, had not that ray of sunlight fallen on the
nest and imparted a golden tint to the fawn-coloured plumage of the
nestlings which almost completely filled the nest cup.

The situation of this nest may be said to be typical, although cases
are on record of the nursery being placed on the ground at the root
of a tree, or on the ledge of a rock. Many ouzels' nests are placed
on the stumps of pollard trees, and in such cases the shoots which
grow out of the stump often serve to hide the nest from view. The
nests built by grey-winged ouzels vary considerably in structure.
The commonest form is that of a massive cup, composed exteriorly of
moss and lined with dry grass, a layer of mud being inserted between
the moss and the grass lining. This mud layer does not invariably
occur.

The cock ouzel remained for fully five minutes with one eye on me,
and then flew off. I seized the opportunity to approach nearer the
nest, and took up a position on the hillside level with it, at a
distance of about 14 feet.

In a few minutes the hen bird appeared. Her prevailing hue is reddish
brown, while the cock is black all over, save for some large patches
of dark grey on the wings. In each sex the bill and legs are reddish
yellow, the bill being the more brightly coloured. The hen caught
sight of me and beat a hurried retreat, without approaching the nest.

The young ouzels kept very still; occasionally one of them would half
raise its head. That was almost the only movement I noticed.

Presently the cock appeared, with his beak full of caterpillars. He
alighted on a branch a few feet from the nest, where he caught sight
of me; but instead of flying off as the hen had done, he held his
ground and fixed his eye on me, no doubt swearing inwardly, but no
audible sound escaped him.

Whenever I have watched a pair of birds feeding their young, I have
almost invariably noticed that one of them is far more alarmed at
my presence than the other. The ouzels proved no exception to the
rule. In this case it was the cock who showed himself the bolder spirit.
He remained watching me for fully ten minutes, his legs and body as
immobile as those of a statue, but he occasionally turned his head
to one side in order to obtain a better view of me; and I could then
see, outlined against the sky, the wriggling forms of several
caterpillars hanging from his bill. I hoped that he would pluck up
courage to feed his youngsters before my eyes; but his heart