THE RING-OUZEL 
MERULA TORQUATA 
Loca names in surrounding counties : 
Stratus IN British AviraunA: A regular summer visitor 
to the moors and uplands ; lowlands on migration. 
RapraL DistriBUTION WITHIN FIFTEEN MILES OF ST. 
Paut’s: London and the home counties generally 
scarcely come within the limits of the Ring-Ouzel’s migra- 
tion route to the northern districts of Great Britain, 
where the bird spends the summer. Nevertheless it 
has been known even to breed in Kent; whilst from 
time to time stragglers out of their normal course appear 
within the Metropolitan area. In Surrey the bird is by 
no means a very rare one on passage, especially on the 
higher grounds. In Middlesex it similarly occurs, and 
has been recorded from Kingsbury, Kilburn, Hampstead, 
Hendon and Edgware. It is seen occasionally in Essex, 
and quite recently an example was shot on the sewage 
farm at Walthamstow. Many years ago (in the autumn 
of 1889) I came across a small party of Ring-Ouzels, 
apparently a brood of the year, and their parents, close 
to Epsom. ‘They were feeding on berries of the moun- 
tain ash, on some open ground, and were comparatively 
tame. ‘This was the first time I had seen the Ring-Ouzel 
away from its summer haunts on the moorlands, although 
I have many times met with it in gardens and orchards in 
the northern shires when passing south from its breeding 
places in autumn. 
It is only a very fleeting glimpse that the Londoner 
can ever hope to get of the Ring-Ouzel. ‘T’hisis when the 
bird is migrating to or from its summer home on the wild 
uplands and moors of the north. It travels in flocks of 
varying size, sometimes composed of a hundred or more 
individuals. It is a somewhat shy, yet on occasion bold 
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