Kingfishers. 1 3 



Nightingale, or watch the Redstarts and Fly- 

 catchers in the willows, or feast our eyes with 

 the splendid deep and glossy black-blue of the 

 Swallow's back, as he darted up and down 

 beneath the bridge in doubtful weather. And 

 here of a winter morning you may see a pair of 

 Moorfowl paddling out of the large patch of 

 rushes that lies opposite the bathing-place on the 

 side of the Parks ; here they breed in the summer, 

 with only the little Reed-warblers as companions. 

 And here there is always in winter at least a 

 chance of seeing a Kingfisher. Why these beau- 

 tiful birds are comparatively seldom to be seen in 

 or about Oxford from March to July is a question 

 not very easy to answer. The keeper of the 

 bathing-place tells me that they go up to breed 

 in ditches which run down to the Cherwell from 

 the direction of Marston and Elsneld ; and this 

 is perhaps borne out by the discovery of a nest 

 by a friend of mine, then incumbent of Wood- 

 eaton, in a deserted quarry between that village 

 and Elsfield, fully a mile from the river. One 

 would suppose, however, that the birds would be 

 about the river, if only to supply their voracious 



