In recording my observations on the Ring-Ouzel (Turdus torquatus), I have no expectation of writing anything original. But I think it possible that personal notes on this interesting bird may be acceptable to those ornithologists who are less familiar with it than I am. On certain points I am bound to disagree with well-known writers. Where I have not felt sufficient confidence in my own experience, I have consulted my friend Mr. David Peat, who has lived all his life on the Derbyshire moors, and who now lives in the midst of the best ground for Ring-Ouzels which I know. He is a most careful and accurate observer of birds. And I am glad to find that his experience entirely supports my own. I am inclined to suppose that the birds of one locality sometimes differ slightly in habits from those of another. It is for this reason that I have headed my paper "The Ring-Ouzel in Derbyshire."
I believe that most ornithologists agree with me in considering this bird a special favourite. There is something so romantic, so wild, so free about it and its surroundings. Macgillivray's lines on the Song-Thrush[1]—
"Far away, far away, far away
The haunts of men"—
seem specially true of the Ring-Ouzel. For we may walk for
- ↑ See: The Thrush's Song (retrieved 2018-12-21; Wikisource-ed.)
