16 THE BIRDS OF KENT 



While bird's-nesting in Kent in 1875, Mr. A. G. Butler 

 gives the following notes respecting those and the eggs 

 he found : " Eodmersham, May 27 ; Sittingbourne, May 

 28 ; Bredgar, June 1 ; Banning, June 7, var. h, subcyhn- 

 drical, green, spotted with ferruginous ; Sittingbourne, 

 May 27, var. b, like some varieties of Missel-Thrush, 

 greyish-green, prettily mottled with ferruginous ; Sitting- 

 bourne, May 21, var. c, a brown zone at the large end ; 

 Bobbing, June 11." He also figures a white egg in 

 British Birds' Eggs, pi. xxxvii. It " was one of a pair 

 taken from an ordinary nest at Wateringbury, near 

 Maidstone." 



Among the Birds in the Neighbourhood ofBIacJiJieath, 

 Mr. C. Collingwood states that the " Blackbirds com- 

 menced their song on March .5, 1854, and recom- 

 menced their song on August 4." 



RING-OUZEL. 



T Urdus forquatus, Linnaeus. S.N., i. p., 296 (1766). 



The Eing-Ouzel is far from being plentiful in the 

 county of Kent. It may be that it is overlooked, on 

 account of its close resemblance to the Blackbird, and 

 there is no doubt that it keeps more to the higher hills 

 and elevated commons than to the low-lying districts. 



On November 18, 1905, Mr. E. Bartlett, when 

 returning from a walk round, through Ham Street, 

 caught sight of a King-Ouzel in a field close to the 

 Court Lodge at Kuckinge, which is on the slopes over- 

 looking Komney Marsh. The bird turned round and 

 stood looking at him, therefore he had plenty of time 

 to identify it. There w^as a number of Blackbirds and 



