194 THE BIRDS OF OXFOEDSHIEE. 



Bampton. On the 21st February, 1 864, four Wild Swans were 

 seen at Fawley, Bucks, flying westward over tlie Chiltern 

 Hills. [Birds of Berls and Bucks, p. 1 20.) Fawley is only 

 about half a mile over the county boundary, and the direc- 

 tion of the birds' flight would take them into Oxfordshire in 

 a few minutes. 



BEWICK'S SWAN. '\ U^ 



Cygnus bewicJci. 

 BEWICK^s Swan is also a winter visitor to England in severe 

 weather, but is rarer than the Whooper. In the winter of 

 1837-8, in which so many Wild Swans visited this county, 

 two examples of this species were shot near Oxford. [Zoolo- 

 y'X P- 2539-) 



THE MUTE SWAN. f^ ^ 



Ci-ignus olor. 

 The Mute Swan is found in a semi-domesticated state 

 on the Thames and the larger sheets of water in the county, 

 often wandering in winter along the streams to a distance 

 from their usual haunts. There is some reason to believe, 

 however, that really wild birds, migrants to our shores from 

 Eastern Europe, have occurred here. The Messrs. Matthews 

 wrote, ' several instances of the Mute Swan in an apparently 

 wild state, also occurred during that season [1837-8] ; these, it 

 is true, might have been tame birds, which had forsaken their 

 usual haunts, to join the wandering bands of their allies ; be 

 this as it may, in their habits they altogether differed from 

 the really tame swans, which often visit us in parties of three 

 and foiir during the spring.'' {Zoologist, p. 2539.) On the 3rd 

 February, 1884, 1 observed a Swan (identified as of this species, 

 with the aid of a glass) on Clattercote Reservoir, which had 

 every appearance of a truly wild bird ; it would not admit of 

 an approach, and, on my following it to the lower end of the 

 water, rose on the wing and flew away. The fact of this bird 

 flying of course proves nothing, as it is not unusual for 



