202 THE BIEDS OF OXFOEDSHTRE. 



were in ^ companies ' of from a dozen up to fifty, and were a 

 pleasing sight as they wheeled about in the sun, the air being 

 full of the sound of their soft whistling cry. The latest date 

 in spring at which I have knowTi the Wigeon to occur 

 in Oxon is the 7th April, on which date, in 1888, I saw 

 a fine drake on the Isis near Eynsham. From his unwilling-- 

 ness to leave a particular part of the river, I think it possible 

 that it was a paired bird, and that the duck may have been 

 somewhere in the vicinity. Although, according to the editor 

 of the last edition of ' Yarrell/ the Wigeon has never been 

 proved to have bred in any part of England or Wales, 

 it is believed to have done so in Norfolk and some other 

 localities. 



THE POCHARD. t "v 



Fuligula ferina. 

 The Pochard is a ranter visitor, arriving about the end of 

 October, often to be seen in some numbers on Clattercote 

 Reservoir, where I have on several occasions observed from 

 twenty to fifty on the water; on the 2nd January, 1886, 

 I counted no less than sixty-five there. To Mid-Oxon it is a 

 frequent winter visitor, and I have known it killed upon the 

 upper Isis, On the night of the 9th December, 1881, a fine 

 drake Pochard was captui'ed in a very curious manner, 

 having dashed itself through the skylight of an outhouse in 

 Banbmy, where it was found quite uninjured. A faint light 

 from a window near was shining on the skylig-ht, which was 

 frosted over, and I imagine the bird mistook it for a patch of 

 water and pitched down on it. 



THE FEimUGINOUS DUCK. 



Fuligula lujroca. 

 The White-eyed, or Ferruginous, Duck is a rare visitor 

 to this country in autumn and winter, and has occurred in 

 three instances in Oxfordshire. Dr. Kirtland informed the 



