NOTES AND QUERIES. 301 
in the soft ground on the brink of the runner. When thus hidden they 
remained motionless, and were most hard to discern. Now and then they 
uttered a squeak, but the cry was so ventriloquial that frequently we 
thought we had stepped on one, when it was in reality some little distance 
away. The old birds meanwhile hovered over us, and apparently directed 
the movements of the young ones by their cries. The young were most 
beautifully marked, displaying a tiny crest, and having a conspicuous 
white ring round the neck. Corn Crakes have been for some years on the 
decrease, but this season they arrived in unusually large numbers. During 
the winter many Kingfishers haunted the runners leading to the estuary. 
An unwonted number of Long-eared Owls fell victims to local guns. 
A Ring Ouzel was shown me that had been trapped in the lowlands; 
although they breed on the Fells, they are so scarce in the cultivated parts 
that the local birdstuffer was unable to name the specimen. There is a 
great scarcity of Wrens, probably owing to the excessive cold of the winter. 
Greenfinches, on the other hand, are extremely numerous. In the early 
spring several pairs of Woodcock bred in the neighbourhood. A keeper a 
short time ago observed a bird with young. She was conveying them 
across a stream, and carried them one by one, tucking up her legs so as to 
hold the little one securely against her breast—T. N. PostLeTHwalIte 
(Hallthwaites, Millom). 
Ornithological Notes from Oxfordshire.—Several young Black-headed 
Gulls came up the Cherwell Valley about the middle of July; in addition 
to the one shot on the 11th (Zool. 1885, p. 349), two were seen at 
Franklin’s Knob on the 28th, one of which was shot, and brought to my 
brother. Two more were shot in the first week in August at Upton and 
near King’s Sutton. On August Ist 1 saw one Common and three Green 
Sandpipers at the Reservoir. Wild Ducks had a good breeding season 
there; I counted a hundred birds on the open water on the 9th; Teal 
again bred there, as they did last year. On the 14th a Green Sandpiper, 
a young bird in moult, was shot on the Cherwell, and brought to my 
brother. A young Long-eared Owl, which I examined at the birdstuffer’s, 
was shot in Worton Wood on the 15th; it still retained a good deal of down 
on the back of the head and nape, and was undoubtedly bred there; as a 
breeding species it is rare in North Oxon. The bulk of the Swifts left on 
or about the 17th, but I saw two stragglers as late as Sept. 5th at Bloxham 
Grove. Mr. Darbey, of Oxford, wrote me word that a Manx Shearwater 
was captured at Stratton Audley about the end of August or beginning of 
September. About that time also he received two Common Terns, which 
had been shot on Port Meadow. Although occurring much earlier in the 
year, I may here mention that a pair of Ringed Plovers were observed on 
the banks of the Thames, near Standlake, on May 5th; the male was shot 
and taken to my informant, Mr. W. H. Warner. A considerable number 
