RING OUZEL. 19 



" rushes " on I2th-I3th October, between Teesmouth and 

 Spurn, during a N.E. wind, with fog ; at Redcar they were 

 associated with Thrushes and other small birds, and again, 

 in 1885, on 6th October ; while later observations prove that 

 large flights occurred in 1889, on 23rd October, and in 1891 

 and 1893 in the middle of that month. 



As a summer visitant in the wide area occupied by its 

 habitat, it is as numerous as it was two centuries ago, at the 

 time when Martin Lister wrote {ante). It is perhaps most 

 abundant on the rolling heather-lands of the south-west, 

 where the late William Talbot found no fewer than thirteen 

 nests during a walk from Hebden Bridge to Todmorden, 

 a distance of but little over two miles. 



The Ring Ouzel has on two occasions been observed as 

 early as 25th February ; in 1893, at Kilnsea, and in 1901, 

 when Mr. C. E. Milburn saw one on the lawn of Marton Hall, 

 Cleveland, and watched it for half-an-hour. It arrives at 

 some of its breeding haunts during the latter part of March ; 

 at Fewston it has been known as early as the 15th, but is 

 usually seen between the 17th and the 23rd of that month ; 

 in many parts it does not appear till the first week in April, 

 sometimes in flocks ; the cock is then very noisy, and is 

 heard pouring forth vehemently his stunted song from every 

 prominent crag or other coign of vantage. 



These summer visitants quit the moors in September, 

 even early in that month visiting the lowlands and the coast, 

 and, as a rule, they leave the country before October, though 

 a pair was observed at Arthington, in Wharf edale, on 2nd 

 November 1884. 



In the late autumn, usually during the closing days of 

 October, considerable numbers of these birds arrive on the 

 coast, and linger in its immediate vicinity for some days 

 (in 1882 a couple of weeks), frequenting tall old hedgerows 

 of whitethorn, where they feast upon the haws, the gizzards 

 of those examined containing no other food. The late J. 

 Cordeaux stated that they are also very partial to the acid 

 fruit of the sea-buckthorn, a shrub which grows plentifully 



