Dr. Stejneger gives a translation of the article in which Brehm sets forth the differences
between his Merula alpestris and the triie M. torquata, and with the series now before me in the
British Museum there cannot be a shadow of doubt that the two species are quite distinct; while
agreeing with the strictures which Dr. Stejneger passes upon European ornithologists for their
neglect of Brehm’s genius, I would add that, if he had as clearly defined the characters of all his
supposed species as he has done those of the two Ring-Ouzels,. there would have been less ignorance
in ornithological circles as to the distinction of the races of birds to which he gave native names.
Looking at the series of Merula torquata and M. alpestris in the Tring Museum, where, thanks to
the forethought of the Hon. Walter Rothschild, the Brehm Collection has been rescued from decay
and made available for scientific study, the differences are so apparent between the two forms that I
could not possibly have overlooked them had T had such material before me in 1872.
Merula alpestris is a bird of the alpine regions of Central and Southern Europe, in which
districts it breeds and migrates southwards apparently within a limited area, but it is by no means
such a migrant as the Northern Ring-Ouzel (M. torquata). The latter bird passes through the
countries where M. alpestris is resident, so that in many countries of Europe both species can be
procured, but the breeding-range of the two birds is quite distinct and is well defined.
My friend Mr. Ernst Hartert has examined with me the specimens of Ring-Ouzels in the Brehm
Collection at Tring, and has given me the following notes on the distribution of the species in
Germany. He writes:—| Merula torquata alpestris of C. L. Brehm breeds throughout the Alps,
Styria, Carjnthia, and in the mountains of Hungary, as also on the Riesengebirge. The Brehm
Collection contains adult specimens shot from April to July on the Rechberg, Mount Obie, and
Altenberg in Carinthia, and there are nestlings from Gartein and Mt. Obie. There are no specimens
from the Riesengebirge in the Brehm Collection and I have never examined skins from there, but
there can be no doubt that the form which breeds there rather frequently (according to Kollibay and
others) is M. t. alpestris and not M. t. torquata. I t certainly does not breed in the Harz, nor do I
think it breeds on the Feldberg in the Taunus near Frankfurt. I have twice been through the woods
around the Feldberg with the special object of finding it, but failed on each occasion; nor do I think
that it is at all likely that it breeds there, for the elevations that i t ’ occupies on the Riesengebirge
are higher than the altitude of Feldberg. There is only one record of its having been seen there, but
the birds were most likely the true northern M. torquata torquata on passage. There is also no
absolute proof of its breeding in the Thüringer Wald, for Brehm only received the true torquata
on passage from there. Specimens having been, or said to have been, seen later in May are no proof
of a bird’s actual breeding in a locality.”
In Transylvania Messrs. Danford and Harvie-Brown found it common everywhere, and to some
extent migratory. Herr Buda Adam says that it nests among the pines, b u t. he has never found
them breeding in the low country. He saw them in the oak-woods at Sztäna, near Klausenburg, on
the 10th of June. Mr. Dresser publishes the following letter addressed to him by Mr. Danford
from Hatszeg in Hungary:—“ I have just come down from the mountains, and the Ring-Ouzels
are still (Oct. 16) there, feeding among the juniper-bushes above the pine-woods. They come to
the low country in the early spring and soon go up the hills, where they take up their quarters
among the pines at an elevation of from 3000 to 5000 feet. Where they go in winter I do not
know, but I never see them at that season, either high up or low down. They are very numerous,
being quite the characteristic bird of our woods.”
I t is doubtless M. alpestris which nests in Switzerland and the Pyrenees. Dr. Victor Fatio and
Dr. Studer, in their list of the birds of the former country, state that the Ring-Ouzel nests
throughout the whole chain of the Alps and in the mountains of the Jura, descending in winter to
the valleys, but being very seldom seen in the plains (Cat. distr. Ois. de la Suisse, p. 27,1892). I f
must also be M. alpestris which is the resident species in the Pyrenees and in the Sierra Nevada of
Southern Spain, whence Mr. Howard Saunders has received the nest and eggs, though M. torquata
is also a migrant through France and Spain. Seebohm believed that the latter species was the
resident bird of the Vosges, whence the only specimen in the British Museum certainly belongs to
M. torquata.
Mr. Howard Saunders (Ibis, 189.1, p. 162) observes :—“ I t was fairly plentiful in the Jura,
where some nests were still being built on the 23rd of May,' when a few already contained young
birds, and I saw. m brood on the wing by June 2nd. The nest is placed on the branch of a
spruce—generally one which is thickly hung with moss and lichen—and near the stem ; seldom as
low down as 15 feet, while often 40 feet or more from the ground—very different from the lowly
positions affected by the Ring-Ouzel in the British Islands. The adult male attracts attention by
sitting on the- top of a tall fir and uttering vigorously his scolding tett, tett, tett. The bill in this
mountain race is decidedly yellower than in average British examples, but much paler than the orange
colour of the Blackbird. In autumn the Ring-Ouzel may be seen on the rowan-trees, and among the
vineyards by the lakes, until the end of October.”
Mr. H. M. Wallis says that he met with Ring-Ouzels at the edge of the timber-line above
Gavarnie in the Central Pyrenees, and he saw young birds on the wing by June 16 (Ibis,
.1895, p. 64). An excellent article on the range of M. alpestris was published by Count
Salvadori in 1893 (Boll. Mus. Zool. Torino, viii. no. 152, May), from which we learn that it breeds
in the mountains of Italy and migrates to some degree in autumn, when M. torquata is also found
inhabiting the same areas. Count Salvadori’s article, as translated by Mr. Dresser, states that this
Ring-Ouzel “ is found in Italy on the mountains during the breeding-season, and partly migrates in
autumn, at which season it is found on the plains together with Merula torquata, which arrives then
from the north. I t is probable that to this species must be referred the specimens which during
migration occur even in Sicily, and especially on the island of Ustica (Doderlein). I t appears that
Merula alpestris breeds throughout the chain of the Alps. In Piedmont it nests most certainly in
the Orsera Valley above Viù, whence came some young birds which I saw in Viù in August
1877 : also I met with young birds in August at Monbarone, above the Serra d’lvrea. Early in
September I have seen them in the Valley of Graine (Valle di Challand o d’Ayas) and in
the Valle della Cinischia near Mont Cenis, and no doubt to this species must be referred the birds
which Abre {fide Giglioli) says breed in the mountains of the province of Cuneo, and which Bazzetta,
Guarinoni, Bernascone, and Galli Valerio say nest at Ossola, the Valsesia, and the Valtellina, as also
those which, according to Bettoni, breed in various localities in the Alps of Lombardy, and which are
resident and breed in the Alps of the Tyrol, Venetia, and Friuli (JBonomi, Ninni, Pellegrini, Molari,
issi, Delaito, Vallon). Moreover, the Alpine Ring-Ouzel is resident and breeds also in the
pennines, at least in Tuscany. Savi says that some pairs remain to breed, and makes mention of
one which he found in Mugello in August 1822, at which place Mr. Roster obtained a pair in June
1879 (Giglioli), and Fiorini states that it is resident on the mountains of Casentino {Giglioli). I t
appears that it also breeds on the mountains of Modena, as was stated to Doderlein, and it is not
improbable that such is the case. In conclusion, we have the Alpine Ring-Ouzel in Italy breeding
on the mountains and partially migratory, and we have the Northern M. torquata not breeding here,
ut wintering, arriving in the autumn and remaining till the end of March.”
Count Arrigoni degli Oddi writes to me :—“ M. alpestris is a common and resident species in
t e mountains of Piedmont, Lombardy, and Venetia, where it breeds regularly, descending to the
ower districts in the winter, but it is always rare in the plains. I t has also been observed breeding
m t e Apennines, but not commonly,^and towards the south it becomes less and less frequent.”
In the mountains of Bulgaria Prof. Otto Reiser has found the species nesting, and it is also