50 Oxford : Spring and Early Summer. 



the alarm-note of some bird that was strange to 

 me. In July, 1886, I saw a large stoat playing 

 in Addison's Walk, when few human beings were 

 about, and the young birds, newly-fledged, were 

 no doubt an easy prey. 



One word more before we leave the Tree- 

 warblers. In front of my drawing-room window 

 in the country are always two rows of hedges of 

 sweet peas, and another of edible peas ; towards 

 the end of the summer some little pale yellow 

 birds come frequently and climb up and down the 

 pea-sticks, apparently in search of insects rather 

 than of the peas. These are the young Willow- 

 warblers, which after their first moult assume this 

 gently-toned yellow tint ; and very graceful and 

 beautiful creatures they are. I have sometimes 

 seen them hover, like humming-birds, over a 

 spray on which they could not get an easy foot- 

 ing, and give the stem or leaves a series of rapid 

 pecks. 



We have to walk but a little further on to hear 

 or see at least two of our first group, the Sylviae, 

 or fruit-eating warblers. As we pass into the 

 Park by the entrance close to the house of the 



