RING-OUZEL. 
9 
and autumn. In the spring the number is small, and its 
stay usually but short ; but in the autumn of some 
years it is more abundant and remains longer. 
More records ^ that a pair were observed during the 
breeding season near Bonchurch, in the Isle of Wight, in 
1852 ; at Freshwater, an adult male was shot in July, 1857, 
and a female was seen with it, and in the summer of 1856 
others were also observed. 
In his " Distribution of Birds in Great Britain during 
the Nesting-season " 2 he says : " the nest has occasionally 
been found in the Isle of Wight." Dr. Cowper writes 3 : 
" it may occasionally be seen in spring. I have seen it on 
Shanklin Downs, but it is only on passage, and does not 
remain long with us." 
Mr. Poole tells us it is a bird of double passage, visiting 
the district as a rule for a few days only in spring and 
autumn. One remained once for the greater part of the 
winter in some gardens in Shanklin, being seen daily and 
regarded as a variety of blackbird. 
Wise says ^ of the New Forest : " a few appear in the 
spring, but the greater body in the autumn, when they 
frequent the yews and mountain-ashes, being especially 
fond of the sweet berries of the former. They will hide 
and skulk, much as a blackbird does, in the furze and 
brambles and old thick hedges on the border of the forest. 
Mr. Rake sends me the following interesting note : * An 
intelligent working-man, somewhat, too, of an ornithologist, 
told me that a few years since he took its nest with four 
or five eggs, near Ringwood, having a distinct view of the 
bird as she left the nest' " 
We think the nest reported from Queenwood in 1874, 
' " Birds of the Isle of Wight." i860. "* Ibis. " 1865. 
3 " Hants Court Guide." 1897. New Forest." 1862. 
