62 Oxford ': Spring and Early Summer. 



These eight birds, then, are the warblers which 

 at present visit Oxford. Longer walks and care- 

 ful observation may no doubt bring us across at 

 least two others, the Wood-warbler and the Grass- 

 hopper-warbler : the nest of the Wood-warbler 

 has been found within three miles. Another bird, 

 too, which is often called a warbler, has of late 

 become very common both in and about Oxford 

 the Redstart. Four or five years ago they were 

 getting quite rare ; but this year (1885) the flicker 

 of the red tail is to be seen all along the Cherwell, 

 in the Broad Walk, where they build in holes of 

 the elms, in Port Meadow, where I have heard 

 the gentle warbling song from the telegraph wires, 

 and doubtless in most gardens. The Redstart is 

 so extremely beautiful in summer, his song so 

 tender and sweet, and all his ways so gentle and 

 trustful, that if he were as common, and stayed 

 with us all the year, he would certainly put our 

 Robin's popularity to the proof. Nesting in our 

 garden, or even on the very wall of our house, 

 and making his presence there obvious by his 

 brilliant colouring and his fearless domesticity, 

 he might become, like his plainer cousin of the 



