5. 
RN л 
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further to the northwards it breeds at all altitudes above the level of the sea, and is found especially 
on the islands inside the polar circle. It occurs in Fast Finmark ; but it is uncertain whether 
it breeds there or not. In spring and autumn it visits the lowlands and remains here and there 
(as, for instance, at Christiania) through the winter .. .. In the western part of the country it 
appears generally to build on the ground, and in the eastern fells in low trees or bushes.” 
My own experience in Súndalen is that it only occasionally nests оп the lower grounds, in severe 
seasons such as that of 1899, when the snow remained very late on the mountains, and many of the 
fjeld-nesting birds, such as Mealy Redpolls, Bramblings, and Ring-Ouzels, reared their young in the 
valleys. The upper birch-woods, where the two former species love to nest, were comparatively 
deserted by them, and as a consequence they appeared in numbers at lower elevations. The Ring- 
Ouzel, however, though breeding at lesser heights than in previous years, was not to be driven from 
his beloved fjelds by a little extra snow, and so its nest was found not only in the valley but also on 
the snow-line, and it is probable that only after severe winters is the Ring-Ouzel driven to breed 
away from the alpine zone. Messrs. F. and P. Godman found it nesting in the mountains near 
Bödo. Mr. Henry Pearson and Mr. E. Bidwell noticed the species in the Porsanger Fjord (Ibis, 
1894, p. 228), and in Russian Lapland Mr. Pearson says it was observed in the birch-scrub near his 
camp, but none were seen inland (Ibis, 1896, p. 207). Dr. Pleske, in his work on the birds of the 
Kola Peninsula, observes :—“ The Ring-Ouzel has been found plentifully in Russian Lapland by 
Liljeborg at Schuetzkaja, and Mela appears, on the strength of this record, to have regarded the 
species as an inhabitant of the Murman coast. Lagus has observed it in Kunsama, and Von Wright 
between Aavasaksa and the river Tengelió. In East Finland it has been frequently met with, 
having been already recorded by Leem and Hammer, and more recently by Schrader, who observed it 
about harvest-time in the vicinity of the Varanger Fjord. According to Sommerfeldt it occurred 
only in the summer. Тһе nest was first taken in 1875 by Nordvis on the Varanger Fjord, and 
Westerlund further records the nesting of the species оп the island of Fuglö. Тһе vertical range 
of the Ring-Ouzel extends to the line of perpetual snow, where it prefers the upper part of the 
sub-alpine region, where Betula nana flourishes, or is found in stony districts sparsely covered 
with moss." j 
Seebohm writes as follows:—“ As the species is not recorded from Archangel, and Harvie- 
Brown and 1 did not meet with it in the valley of the Petchora, we may almost assume that rocks 
are indispensable to the Ring-Ouzel.” Тһе breeding-area of the species appears therefore to be 
limited almost to the British Islands and Scandinavia, for although, according to Schlegel, a few 
may breed in Holland, the nesting of the true M. torquata in Central Europe is not confirmed, and 
Mr. Hartert gives me the following note :—* In Germany, according to the observations of the most 
reliable observers, the Ring-Ouzel is known to occur principally during the autumn migration, 
especially in September and October. It is more frequently met with in the western districts than 
in the eastern, and is not so often noticed in spring, û. e. March and April. It does not nest 
anywhere in Germany." То Heligoland and Borkum the species comes as a spring and autumn 
migrant, and it also passes through Denmark. 
In other parts of Europe the Ring-Ouzel is known chiefly as a migrant, and the British Museum 
has specimens from the Vosges Mountains, Mentone, and Italy. Of its occurrence in the last-named 
country, Count Arrigoni degli Oddi writes to me :—“ It is mostly of rare and irregular appearance in 
Italy during the cold season; it is more numerous when the winter is severe, and is more generally 
observed in the northern portions of Italy. It is, however, certainly a resident species in the 
Piedmontese Alps, as I possess four specimens from Lanzo—three adult birds shot in April and May of 
1897,and a very young bird procured on the 1st of August in the same year.” In the Sierra Nevada 
in Spain Mr. Howard Saunders has procured both species of Ring-Ouzel, but M. torquata is doubtless 
