52 THE BIRDS OF OXFORDSHIRE. 



of the wMte^ pied, or other abnormally coloured varieties of 

 birds wliicb have been procured in the covinty. The subject 

 of abnormal variation is an extremely interesting one, but 

 from a local point of view the mere enumeration of such 

 varieties is quite valueless. 



Blackbirds are peculiarly liable to variation of this kind, 

 but a perfect albino of this species, which was caught near 

 Shutford in August, 1883, was such a beautiful bird as to be 

 worthy of some notice. The plumage was snowy white and 

 the feathers remarkably delicate; irides, feet, and legs pale 

 pink. The bill was the only part showing normal colouring, 

 and the yellow of this was curiously suffused with a pink 

 tinge. I may add that albinisms (i. e. examples in which the 

 irides, bill, and legs are pink or deficient in colour) are much 

 more rarely met with than birds which merely exhibit variation 

 in the plumage, while retaining the normal colours in the soft 

 parts. 



THE RING OUZEL. L- 



Turdiis torquatus. 

 The Hing-Ouzel is a passing visitor in spring and autumn. 

 At those seasons, the Messrs. Matthews write, it may fre- 

 quently be met with on the hills near Stokenchurch belonging 

 to the Chiltern range [Zoologist, p. 2541). The Rev. Murray 

 A. Mathew has seen it at Eynsham din lit.), and Mr. Prior in 

 the gorse at Milcombe {Banhiiry Guardiaii). In spring 

 it generally appears about the end of April. A specimen was 

 procured at Epwell on the 26th of that month in 1880, and 

 others at Williamscote and Banbury on the 24th and 27th in 

 1884. In 1886, however, a male was shot at Headington 

 Hill near Oxford quite early in the month. In autumn it has 

 been less often observed, but it probably occurs more frequently 

 than is supposed, as young birds of the year at that season are 

 only indistinctly mottled on the under parts with grey and 

 light brown, the white gorget being wanting, and in that 



