286 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Yellow Bunting was shot close to Oxford. An immature Lesser 

 Black-backed Gull was shot on Port Meadow, Oxford, on the i2th. 

 On the same evening a flock of Gulls, all immature and either 

 L. fuscus or L. argentatiis, passed over Oxford, flying north, high 

 up. Heav}' rain fell on and off from the 11th until the 14th; 

 wind N.E., backing to N.W. ; very large floods in the valleys. 

 Mr. Warner reports that during a stormy week in May (probably 

 the second) a flock of the Common Tern was noticed at New- 

 bridge in company with Swallows and Martins, playing about 

 over the surface of the water for a day or two. M. saw one in 

 the distance at Oxford on the 12th, and a flock of eight were seen 

 on the upper river near Godstow about the end of the month. 



June. — One specimen of the Lesser Tern was seen by M. 

 flying about over the river above Oxford on the 2nd. Four 

 immature specimens of the Common Gull were seen flying over 

 Port Meadow on the I'Jth. On the same day two large Gulls, 

 either L. fuscus or L. argentatus, were flying over the river at 

 Sandford ; weather cold, with wind in the east about this time. 

 M. saw a Grey Wagtail on the banks of the Cherwell near Islip 

 on the 26th ; it is extremely rare with us in summer. Although 

 common enough in the reed-beds of the Cherwell at Oxford, and 

 spreading thence into the thickets and bushes of the " Parks," 

 the Reed Warbler is decidedly rare in the north of the county. 

 On the evening of the 27th A. heard one singing in a large bed of 

 rushes at the upper end of Clattercutt, and in July detected its 

 presence also in an osier-bed on the Swere where it flows into the 

 Cherwell. A pair of Grasshopper Warblers probably nested in 

 the mowing grass of a meadow between Bourton and Hanwell, as 

 the male sung there nightly ; they are found annually on the 

 small remaining portion of Hanwell Heath, a short distance off. 

 A pair of Bullfinches, forsaking their usual habit of seeking soli- 

 tude in the breeding season, nested this year in a belt of thick 

 yew trees which border a much-frequented path in Mr. F. C. 

 Aplin's garden at Bodicote, within a dozen yards of the house. 



July. — Mr. W. Fowler having seen a Red-backed Shrike at 

 Kingham on the 8th, made a careful search for pellets, and found 

 among other things two portions of the shrivelled skin of a Water 

 Shrew {S. fodiens), each forming a complete ring. Mr. Warner 

 reports that, on the 13th, a young specimen of the Long-eared 

 Owl was seen in broad daylight perched on a fence near Stanton 



