12 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH INLAND BIRDS 
RING OUZEL. 
(JT Urdus torquatus,') 
Ring Blackbird, Moor Blackbird. — Just as the 
Redwings and Fieldfares move south for the 
winter into the British islands, so the Ring Ouzel 
leaves our own moors and mountains and goes 
further southward still for the wintry half of the 
year. It is the moorland-loving bird of the family, 
and its summer haunts are the rough and hilly 
districts of Cornwall, Devon and Somerset, Wales 
and the Welsh border, and the Pennine range of 
Northern England, as well as most of Scotland 
and a large part of Ireland. It is to be seen 
fairly frequently in hilly districts of southern and 
eastern England when moving to and fro in spring 
and autumn, and a few pairs sometimes stay to 
nest on the Berkshire and Hampshire Downs, and 
in other counties not generally frequented by it. 
But it is a bird of the heather and the rocky 
dingles, in the main. The cock is black, with a 
broad white band across the breast, the hen dusky 
brown, with the white band less conspicuous ; after 
the breeding season the feathers show a tinge of 
grey. The nest is like a Blackbird*s in appearance, 
and is generally built upon some rocky ledge or 
bankside of the moor, often amongst heather, or 
