416 . RING-OUZEL. Class II. 



in some birds this is of a pure white, in others 

 of a dirty hue. In the females and in young 

 birds this mark is wanting, which gave occa- 

 sion to some naturalists to form two species 

 of them. 



Ring-Ouzels inhabit the Highland hills, the 

 north of England, and the mountains of Wales. 

 They are also found to breed in Dart-moor, in 

 Devonshire, in banks on the sides of streams. I 

 have seen them in the same situation in JVales, 

 very clamorous when disturbed. 



They are observed by the Rev. Mr. White, of 

 Selborne, near Alton, Hants, to visit his neigh- 

 bourhood regularly twice a year, in flocks of 

 twenty or thirty, about the middle of April y 

 and again about Michaelmas. They make it 

 only a resting place in their way to some other 

 country; in their spring migration they only 

 stay a week, in their autumnal a fortnight. They 

 feed there on haws, and for want of them on 

 yew berries. On dissection in April, the fe- 

 males were found full of the small rudiments of 

 eggs, which prove them to be later breeders 

 than any others of this genus, which generally 

 have fledged young about that time. The place 

 of their retreat is not known : those that breed 

 in Wales and Scotland never quitting those 



