212 THE BIRDS OF OXFORDSHIEE. 



The late Mr. Rodd gives a good description of the Cirl 

 Bunting^s song in the Birds of Cornivall (p. ^-^ — ' Its most 

 usual song is like the trill of the Yellowhammer, but without 

 the prolonged note at the end ; when concealed in the foliage 

 of trees its song is often more sibilous and rapid in delivery, 

 and at a distance sounds not unlike that of the Wood Wren 

 (P. sihUatnx) but stronger in expression/ 



Marsh Warbler (p. 6i). Mr. Fowler communicates 

 the following note : — 



' On May i8, 1888^ I noticed a Reed Warbler in a syringa- 

 bush just outside the Botanic Gardens, singing with such 

 extraordinary vigour and variety, that I stayed a long while 

 listening to it. The bird^ which was to all apj)earance an 

 ordinary Reed Warbler, vanished in the course of the next 

 day. This year (1889), on the 8th of May, it re-appeared 

 in the same bush, and stayed some days. Its outpourings 

 of song were astonishing, and were kept up in spite of the 

 noise of constant passers-by, and of a national school which 

 is but a few yards from the bush. No Reed Warbler that 

 I have ever heard coxild vie with it for a moment, and it even 

 attracted the attention of the gardeners at work in the 

 Botanic Gardens. I stole quietly under the bush and watched 

 it twice for half-an-hour at a time. The flesh-colour of 

 its legs, and the habit it had of perching on a twig, erect 

 and vigorous, as well as the character of the song, suggested 

 to me the possibility of its being the Marsh Warbler [Aeroce- 

 jj/ialits palusiris) ; but it disappeared after four or five days, 

 and it has not been possible to prove the fact. I hope to 

 make acquaintance with the song of the Marsh Warbler on the 

 continent this summer, and shall then be better able to judge. 



W. W. F.^ 



[Hairy Woodpecker (I), villosjis). In the Zoologist for 



1882, p. 69, I recorded the supposed occurrence of this 



American species between Hook Norton and Chipping Norton, 



about twelve years ago. It is very doubtful if the skin upon 



