THRUSHES 41 



eyes of the normal colour and straw-coloured legs. 

 An interesting case is reported in The Field, Jan. 

 2, 1897, in which a pied hen Blackbird frequented 

 the same garden for four consecutive years, and 

 each year its plumage became whiter. In another 

 case three albinos, Avith pink eyes and yellow 

 bills, were found in the same nest {Zool., 1892, p. 

 400). That Blackbirds and Thrushes occasionally 

 run as well as hop, is a fact that may be easily 

 verified by any observant person, in spite of popular 

 belief to the contrary. As to the occasional inter- 

 breeding of the two species, see the remarks under 

 " Thrush." 



RING OUZEL. Turdus torquatus, Linnfeus. PI. 6, fig. 3. 

 Length, 11 in.; wing, 5 '5 in; tarsus, 1*3 in. 



Resident, chiefly in moorland districts, nesting 

 regularly in the hilly parts of the west and north 

 of England, on the Longmynds and other hills on 

 the Welsh borders, and throughout Scotland, as well 

 as on the mainland of Orkney (Trail, Zool., 1889, 

 p. 35). In the eastern and south-eastern counties 

 of England it is a spring and autumn migrant. 

 Reported to have nested in Essex (Zool., 1879, p. 

 267). Prof. Newton describes the Ring Ouzel as a 

 summer visitant (Yarrell, " Brit. Birds," 4th ed., i. 

 p. 287), but many remain here all the winter (see 

 Zool, 1879, pp. 174, 203, 266; 1886, p. 490; Han- 

 sel Pleydell, " Birds of Dorset," p. 22 ; Beckwith, 

 " Birds of Shropshire," p. 6 ; and Bull, " Birds of 

 Hereford," p. 9). The Rev. C. L. Eagles writes that 



