6 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



RING OUZEL, Turdus torquatus, Linnaeus. Not unfrequently 

 seen in Berwick, on migration, in autumn, and sometimes also in 

 spring. The following dates, from my journals, may be of interest 

 for comparison : 



1882. Oct. 14, and for a day or two afterwards. Several noticed 



in the garden at Ravensdowne. 



1883. Apl. 25. One seen in garden, Ravensdowne. 



1884. Apl. 27. Two pairs near Scremerston, three miles south of 



Berwick. 



,, Sept. 14, and following days. One or two in garden, Ravens- 

 downe. 



1885. May 4. One in garden, Ravensdowne; a Pied Flycatcher 



seen there same day. 



1889. Oct. 20. An old bird on sea banks at Scremerston, which 

 my dog "winded" a considerable distance off. The 

 " gamey " smell of this species, to dogs, is pronounced, and 

 has frequently been remarked upon. 



1891. Sept. 20. Several about the plantation below New Water 

 Haugh on this and succeeding days. Were rather un- 

 usually numerous in the neighbourhood this autumn. 

 J 895- J an - 7- One seen by my brother amongst the trees at Scots 

 Gate, in the town. This was a very stormy day of rain, 

 wind, and snow, and the beginning of the severe frost 

 which continued without interruption until March. 

 The occurrence of the Ring Ouzel in mid-winter is very unusual, 

 though I had one from near Rock, in Northumberland, so late as 

 the ist November 1885; and saw another near Wooler, on 5th 

 December 1883 ("Hist. Berw. Nat. Club," vol. x. p. 388, and vol. 

 xi. p. 258). 



The individuals which visit us here in autumn are generally in 

 immature plumage, with pale margins to all the feathers, imparting 

 rather a light-coloured appearance to the birds ; gorgets on throats 

 of a dull muddy grey and somewhat inconspicuous. The quill 

 feathers of wings and tail in these immature specimens are sometimes 

 obscurely barred or spotted, a peculiarity which I have also observed 

 in some young examples of the Missel Thrush. 



WHITE'S THRUSH, Geodchla varia (Pallas). The only record for 

 the district, of this rare accidental visitor to Great Britain, is the 

 specimen killed at Hardacres, in Berwickshire, in December 1878. 

 (Brotherston, "Hist. Berw. Nat. Club," vol. viii. p. 518). 



WHEATEAR, Saxicola cenanthe, Linnseus. A common spring to 

 autumn migrant, and usually one of the first to herald the return of 

 spring. It often reaches us by the last week in March, my earliest 

 record, for nineteen years, being the 23rd of that month, 1893. In 

 autumn it congregates, in some numbers, about the vicinity of the 

 pier, and sometimes lingers there until October. 



