36 BIRDS OF MIDDLESEX. 



observed on an unfrequented tract of land, with 

 three others, for more than a fortnight previously, 

 and it appeared, from a close examination, that 

 both birds must have been sitting, inasmuch as the 

 breast of each was destitute of the soft down which 

 always covers it before incubation has commenced. 

 I found, moreover, rudimentary eggs in the ovary of 

 the female. I then regretted that the birds had 

 been shot, for it would have been interesting to have 

 established the fact of the Ring Ouzel breeding in 

 this county. The remaining three birds I watched 

 daily, in the hope of discovering a nest, until the 

 1st Maj'', when they disappeared. I have since 

 heard that, in 1861, a pair of Ring Ouzels were 

 killed at Hampstead as late as the llth May. They 

 were shot by Mr. Ward, in Mill-Field Lane, while 

 feeding on some ivy-berries within twenty yards of his 

 house. The Ring Ouzel appears to be very partial to 

 ivy-berries. A male bird, shot at Kingsbury on the 

 18th April, 1864, had the stomach filled with them. 



The note of this bird, when on the wing, has been 

 compared to the noise made by striking two large 

 stones together ; and this description is not inapt. 



GOLDEN ORIOLE, Oriolus galbula. A rare summer 

 straggler. In 1857, a beautiful male Oriole was shot 

 at the Well Springs, in the parish of Kingsbury, and 

 was disposed of to a dealer in London. Mr. Bond 

 has in his collection another specimen, also a male, 

 that was shot on the llth May, 1851, at Harlesden 



