232 MERULIDyE. 



of our southern coast, when preparing for their departure. 

 To the Rev. Robert Holdsworth, of Brixham, I am in- 

 debted for a series of letters containing notes on the Na- 

 tural History of Birds and Fishes in Devonshire. From 

 this gentleman I learn that flocks of Ring Ouzels appear 

 in October, for about a fortnight, near Berry -head, the 

 Bolt-headland, and the Start Point, and are then seen no 

 more that year. Further to the eastward, at the Island of 

 Portland, where these birds assemble, they are called Mi- 

 chaelmas Blackbirds ; and the Isle of Purbeck is another 

 starting-place. White of Selborne saw them frequently 

 when on their route in Hampshire and Sussex. These 

 flights probably go to France and Spain, and from thence 

 to North Africa, where they pass the winter. 



A specimen is occasionally obtained near London. A 

 female bird, in my own collection, given me by my friend 

 Mr. Arthur Vardon, was caught in a trap in his garden at 

 South Lambeth ; and a young male bird of the year was 

 shot out of a small flock on Wimbledon Common in Oc- 

 tober, 1844, by Mr. Larkham, of Roehampton. 



From our eastern coast these birds probably cross the 

 Channel to Germany. They are rare in Holland, but com- 

 mon in France. They breed in the mountains of Switzer- 

 land, and are seen on the higher mountains of Arragon. 

 They are sometimes abundant in winter at Genoa and in 

 Italy ; but a great portion pass over to Africa, Egypt, and 

 Syria. 



The adult male has the point of the beak almost black, 

 with more or less of yellow at the base ; the irides dark 

 brown ; the head, neck, back, upper tail-coverts, wings, 

 and tail-feathers nearly uniform brownish black ; the fea- 

 thers of the body edged with blackish grey ; the external 

 margins of all the wing-feathers grey, but this lighter colour 

 is broadest on the edges of the tertials ; the chin, throat, 



