PASSERES. ( 32 ) TURDIDAL. 



THE RING OUZEL. 



ROCK OUZEL, MOUNTAIN OUZEL, TOR OUZEL, WHITE-BREASTED 

 BLACKBIRD, MOOR BLACKBIRD. 



Tiirdus torquatus. 



%^z IBling; Blachbirti, W^z 9^oor Blacfebirti, 

 Wqz Eocfe ^tarline;/ 



The soote season, that bird and bloom forth brings, 

 With green hath clad the hill and eke the vale. 



Lord Surrey. 



With the return of spring the Ring Ouzel makes its appear- 

 ance in small numbers in the Lammermuirs, where it usually 

 arrives in the month of April ; ^ and, after spending the 

 summer there, it migrates towards the south in September 

 and October, although one or two occasionally remain a 

 little later. 



In appearance it is very like a Blackbird, with a white 

 crescent on the breast, but it is a much wilder bird than our 

 yellow-billed favourite, being very shy and wary, except 

 when near its nest in the breeding season. 



It is found frequenting rocky deans and cleughs in 

 remote districts of the Lammermuirs, and seems to be partial 



1 It is called the Rock Starling about Byrecleuch. 



2 Mr. Hardy records its arrival near Oldcambus, on 24th April 1872. — Hist. 

 Ber. Nat. Club, vol. vi. p. 383. 7th April 1874— On heights above Dowlaw.— 

 Ibid. vol. vii. p. 279. 21st April 1876— In the Dean near Oldcambus. —76id. 

 vol. viii. p. 153. 15th April 1879— In Oldcambus Dean.— /6tc?. vol. i.x. p. 129. 

 18th April 1883— On Bell mW.—Ihid. vol. x. p. 564. 25th April 1884— 

 Dowlaw Dean. — Ibid. vol. .x. p. 570. 



