24 Oxford: Autumn and Winter. 



Before we leave the Parks I must record the 

 fact that an eccentric Jack-snipe, who ought to 

 have considered that he is properly a winter bird 

 in these parts, was several times flushed here by 

 the Cherwell in the summer of 1884, and the 

 natural inference would be that a pair had bred 

 somewhere near. Col. Montagu, the most ac- 

 curate of naturalists, asserted that it has never 

 been known to remain and breed in England ; yet 

 the observer in this case, a well-known college 

 tutor who knows a Jack-snipe when he sees it, 

 has assured me positively that there was no mis- 

 take ; and some well-authenticated cases seem to 

 have occurred since Montagu wrote. 1 



There are plenty of common birds to be seen 

 even in winter on most days in the Parks, such as 

 the Skylark, the Yellow-hammer and its relative 

 the Black-headed Bunting, the Pied Wagtail, the 

 Hedge-sparrow, and others ; though lawn-tennis, 

 and cricket, and new houses and brick walls, are 

 slowly and surely driving them beyond the 



1 A Jack-snipe picked up under the telegraph wires at Ban- 

 bury in July, 1885, was (Mr. Aplin tells me) in an emaciated 

 condition ; possibly an injured bird unable to migrate. 



