Pale Ouzel Nesting in Korea
Pale Ouzel Nesting in Korea.:On May 25, 1957, in a grove of small cryptomeria trees approximately five miles north of the city of Pusan, Kyongsang Namdo, Korea, a female Pale Ouzel (Turdus p&dus) flushed from a nest in a tree directly over my head. The grove was located on artificially terraced, reforested mountain slopes surrounding a reservoir. The elevation was estimated as approximately 800 feet. The slope was grassy and swampy, and most of the trees ranged from 2.5 to 30 feet in height and were about six inches in diameter.
The nest was located on a small, heavily-foliaged, horizontal branch close to the trunk of the cryptomeria tree, approximately 15 feet above the ground. It was constructed of coarse dry grassand mud. The cup was lined with rootlets, dry green moss, and several dry, partly decomposed deciduous leaves. The nest measured in outside diameter 12.5~ 13.0 cm. and was 7.5 cm. in overall height. The inside diameter was 7x8 cm. across the top and was 5 cm. in depth. The nest contained four young with eyes still closed, probably two to three days of age.
The female flushed with considerable wing noise, flew to another cryptomeria about ten feet distant, and voiced apparent concern at my presence with frequent sharp “scolding” notes of a typical thrush-like quality. As I backed away to collect the bird, it followed me at a distance of 10 to 15 feet. The skin was deposited in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology.
The adult male was neither seen nor heard during the 45-minute period I spent in the vicinity of the nest. As far as I am able to ascertain, this is the first nesting record of this species in Korea.- CHESTER M. FENNELL, Seoul, Korea, July 16, 1957.
