1G4 THE BIEDS OF OXFORDSHIEE. 



W. Fowler). One shot at Heyford^ September^ 1886; one 

 shot from a flock at Steeple Aston^ 2nd September, 1887; 

 one seen in a flooded meadow in the Evenlode valley at King- 

 ham, 19th and 20th March, 1888 (W. W. Fowler). When 

 I was walking- with Mr. W. W. Fowler in the partly-flooded 

 meadows along- the brook at King-ham, on the 4th November, 

 1888, a dull cold afternoon following twenty-fonr hours 

 of rain and wind from the south-east, a sing-le Curlew passed 

 twice over us, uttering its loud whistle, conr-Uev, the second 

 time quite low down. Another was seen in the Sorbrook 

 valley, near Adderbury, a few days later. 



THE WHIMBREL. \ '^ 



Nianeiiius plueopus. 

 The Whimbrel crosses Oxfordshire on its vernal and au- 

 tumnal migrations, occasionally alighting at the former season, 

 when it has been procured in the county. In 1880 one was 

 shot at Bloxham on the 29th April, but the second week 

 in May is the more usual time of its appearance. In 1885 a 

 Whimbrel remained at least two days, 9th and loth May, at 

 Clattercote Reservoir, attracted by the rank vegetation which 

 had sprung up on the mud left dry wdaen the water was drawn 

 off the previous summer, and, on account of the small rainfall 

 during the winter, still not entirely submerged. At Thame 

 a female w^as shot on the 2 1 st May in the following year. 

 In 1887, I observed the Whimbrel crossing this parish on 

 its passage both to and from its breeding-grounds. A little 

 before midnight on the 15th May, the night being dark and 

 cloudy, with a light wind from north-east, I heard several 

 flying due north, constantly uttering their unmistakable seven- 

 times-repeated whistle, ' tee-tee-tee-tee ' ; again, on the 20th 

 August, about the same time, a calm cloudy night, I heard 

 them passing in a south-westerly direction. No instance of 

 the Whimbrel being shot here in autumn has come under my 

 notice. 



