196 THE BIRDS OF OXFOEDSHIRE. 



breed of Swans/ The Brewery is now known as the Swan 

 Brewery, and there is a public-house called ' The Swan ' close 

 by and verg-ing on the river ; there is also a small City pro- 

 perty named Swan Island. Mr. J. J. Bickerton, the present 

 Town Clerk, to whom I am indebted for these particulars, 

 kindly informs me that no customs are now kept up in connec- 

 nection with the Swans. 



THE RUDDY SHEIiDRAKE. 



Tadorna casarca. 



The Ruddy Sheldrake is a rare accidental visitor to England 

 from South-Eastern Europe, and North Africa. Mr. J. E. 

 Kelsall informs me that he saw, in a small bird-stuffer^s house 

 in Oxford, an example which was shot on Port Meadow on 

 the 3rd March, 1885. 



THE SHELDRAKE. 



Tadorna cornuta. 

 The Sheldrake is a rare visitor from the coast. The 

 Messrs. Matthews write, — 'We seldom pass throug-li the 

 winter without a visit from this fine bird.' [Zoologist, 

 p. 2539.) In the winter of 1880, it was stated, in a local 

 paper, that a Sheldrake was shot at Hook Norton, and a 

 male was procured on Port Meadow on the 24th January, 

 1885 (J. E. Kelsall m lit.). 



\% \ 

 THE MALLARD OR WILD DUCK. I - ' 



Anas hoscas. 



The Wild Duck is a resident, breeding* in some numbers 



on the larger sheets of water, as, for instance, Clattercote 



Reservoir and the lake at Blenheim, and sparingly along 



all our rivers and streams, where the nest is often placed in 



the head of an old pollard willow ; nor is it essential that the 



stream should be of any size, for I once surprised a young 



brood in the brook which runs between Great Bourton and 



Hanwell, and is there not more than four or five feet wide. 



