THE ALPINE RING-OUZEL. 73 



comparing this specimen with skins in the British Museum, 

 I came to the conclusion that it was an undoubted example 

 of the Alpine subspecies Turdus torquatus alpestris, and 

 as such it is an interesting addition to the British avifauna. 



This handsome Ring- Ouzel differs from the typical 

 T. t. torquatus in having more white on the outer webs 

 of the secondaries, and large white centres to the feathers 

 of the flanks and breast. The under tail-coverts are also 

 broadly streaked with white. The form from further 

 east, T. t. orientalis, of which I have an adult male from 

 Egypt before me as I write, is intermediate between the 

 typical and Alpine forms — that is to say, the secondaries 

 are whiter on the outer webs than are those of T. t. 

 torquatus, but not so noticeable as in T. t. alpestris, the 

 under tail-coverts are as broadly streaked with white 

 as are those of T. t. alpestris, but the centres of the breast 

 and flank-feathers are only slightly marked with white ; 

 in T. t. torquatus the feathers of the under-parts are only 

 margined with white, and the under tail-coverts have 

 the shafts only white. In T. t. alpestris the white edges 

 of the feathers of the under-parts are very noticeable, far 

 more so than in either of the other two races. 



Turdus torquatus alpestris has a wide range. Roughly 

 speaking it extends, as a breeding bird, throughout 

 middle and south Europe to the Balkans. 



The occurrence of this form, for the first time on record 

 in Great Britain, is scarcely surprising. It is possible 

 that it has occurred before and been passed over as a 

 Common Ring-Ouzel. 



