22 INTEODUCTION. 



will assist in preserving our native fauna for the pleasure of 

 future generations. 



It is a satisfaction to add that there are in the county 

 landowners to whom it is quite unnecessary to make these 

 suggestions^ and whose demesnes, while affording a sufficiency 

 of game, abound also with the more common woodland species, 

 and are not only the favoured haunts of some of our rarer 

 birds, but also harbour many a pair of Owls and Kestrels, 



The present account of the Birds of Oxfordshire comprises 

 242 species, in addition to six species the occurrence of 

 which is considered doubtful. The former number is made 

 up of 60 Residents, 71 Periodical Migrants, and iii Occa- 

 sional or Accidental Visitors. It must be here remarked that 

 some species, numbered ^\ith the occasional visitors, occur 

 with a regularity almost sufficient to warrant their inclusion 

 among the periodical migrants, and it has been found 

 impossible to draw the line between the occasional and 

 accidental visitors. In the number of species found within its 

 borders, Oxfordshire compares favourably with other inland 

 counties. Middlesex is accredited with 225 species by Mr. 

 J. E. Harting, Nottinghamshire with 238 by Messrs. Sterland 

 and Whitaker (a few more species have, however, been recently 

 added to this county list by the latter gentleman), "Wiltshire 

 with 235 by the Rev. A. C. Smith, and the counties of 

 Berkshire and Buckinghamshire together with 225 by Mr. 

 A. W. M. Clark- Kennedy. No less than 103 species have 

 been knovvTi to breed in Oxfordshire within the present century; 

 but of these, five are either extinct as breeding species or have 

 only bred accidentally, and six more have done so only very 

 rarely, leaving 92 as the nvmiber of species which breed 

 annually within the limits of the county. 



