INTRODUCTION. 17- 



the neiglibourliood of Stanton Harcourt. The Rev, A. 

 Matthews has obligingly answered numerous questions re- 

 lating to the birds of the county previous to his leaving it in 

 1854, thus considei-ably augmenting his papers in the Zoologist. 

 Mr. W. H. Warner, formerly of Standlake, has furnished 

 me with considerable notes of the more uncommon birds 

 occurring in that neighbourhood. Mr. T. Beesley has kindly 

 lent for my perusal an annotated copy of the History of 

 Banhury list, and also furnished extracts relating to rare birds 

 found in the neighbourhood of Banbury, from his note-books, 

 which extend back over a period of more than forty years. 

 To Mr. G. Arnatt, of Stanton Harcourt, I am indebted for 

 full particulars of the Oxfordshire specimens in his interest- 

 ing collection, and for notes on the former abundance of some 

 species now rarely met with. My brothers, Mr. F. C. Aplin 

 and the Rev. B. D^Oyly Aplin, the former at Bodicote, and 

 the latter during a two years^ residence at Chinnor in the 

 Chiltern district, have made valuable notes on the ornithology 

 of their own neighbourhoods, thus covering ground which 

 I could not have under my own observation. Mr. J. E. 

 Kelsall of Balliol College has obligingly looked up references 

 in several works and periodicals in the British Museum. From 

 Professor A. Newton, the Rev. H. Holbech, INIr. J. Whitaker, 

 Mr. J. R. Earle, Mr. J. E. Harting, the Rev. Murray A. 

 Mathew, Mr. Alfred H. Cocks, the Rev. J. W. B. Bell, Mr. 

 E. Bidwell, Mr. W. Newton, jun., Mr. A. B. R. Battye, Mr. 

 C. M. Prior, and numerous other correspondents I have re- 

 ceived valuable notes. For the great assistance thus rendered, 

 without which it would have been impossible for me to com- 

 plete this work, my warmest thanks and acknowledgments 

 are tendered. My thanks are also due to our county taxi- 

 dermists, Mr. W. C. Darbey of Oxford, I\Ir. W. Wyatt of 

 Banbury, Mr. Coombes of Chipping Norton, and Mr. Wells 

 of Burford, to whom I am indebted for the opportunity of 

 examining and recording the greater number of the rarer 

 avian visitors which have been procured in the county during 

 the past few years. Of all my correspondents, there were few 

 whose letters were more interesting than those of the late 



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