8 
THE BIRDS OF HAMPSHIRE. 
7. Turdus torquahts, Bing-Ouzel. 
A regular spring and autumn visitor to the greater part 
of the county and Isle of Wight. 
Gilbert White notes ^ : " Some birds, haunting with the 
missel-thrushes, and feeding on the berries of the yew-tree, 
which answered to the description of the Merula torquata, 
or ring ouzel, were lately seen in this neighbourhood. 
I employed some people to procure me a specimen, but 
without success." 
Later,2 he writes : " It is remarkable that they make 
but a few days' stay on their spring visit, but rest near a 
fortnight at Michaelmas. These birds, from the observa- 
tions of three springs and two autumns, are most punctual 
in their return, and exhibit a new migration unnoticed by 
the writers who supposed they never were to be seen in 
any of the southern counties." 
At Christmas, 1770, they were seen in the forest of 
Bere, on the southern verge of this county. ^ 
In the Earl of Malmesbury's collection at Heron Court 
is a specimen shot by the second Earl, in Portfield, near 
Christchurch, in 18 18. 
Mr. T. Mansell, of Farnham, writes ^ : "At Aldershot, 
a village near here, the ring-ouzels appeared in some 
abundance on the 8th September last (1843), and remained 
about the neighbourhood until the 19th, after which none 
were seen." 
Bury says ^ it visits the Isle of Wight both in spring 
* Letter xii. to Pennant. November 4th, 1767. 
^ Letter xxiv. to Pennant. Selborne. May 29th, 1769. 
3 Letter xxxviii. to Pennant. Selborne. March 15th, 1773. 
4 "Zoologist." 1844. 
5 Notes on the Birds of the Isle of Wight." " Zoologist." 1844. 
