A Paradise of Birds. 



Our vast expanse of moist alluvial meadow 

 unequalled at any other point in the Thames 

 valley is extraordinarily productive of grubs and 

 flies, as it is of other things unpleasant to man. 

 Any one can verify this for himself who will walk 

 along the Isis on a warm summer evening, or 

 watch the Sand-martins as he crosses the meadows 

 to Hincksey. Snails too abound; no less than 

 ninety-three species have been collected and re- 

 corded by a late pupil of mine. The ditches in all 

 the water-meadows are teeming with fresh-water 

 mollusks, and I have seen them dying by hundreds 

 when left high and dry in a sultry season. Water 

 of course is everywhere ; the fact that our city 

 was built at the confluence of Isis and Cherwell 

 has had a good deal of influence on its bird-life. 

 But after all, as far as the city itself is concerned, 

 it is probably the conservative tranquillity and the 

 comfortable cover of the gardens and parks that 

 has chiefly attracted the birds. I fancy there is 

 hardly a town in Europe of equal size where such 

 favourable conditions are offered them, unless it 

 be one of the old-fashioned well-timbered kind, 



such as Wiesbaden, Bath, or Dresden. The 



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