NOTES AND QUKRIES. 301 



old and worn appearance of the untipped feathers, and the glossy new-looking 

 condition and blacker tints of those beaming Hght tips, is common to all the 

 examples I have examined.— Olivkr V. Aplin (Bloxham, near Banbury). 

 Notes from Oxfordshire. — On the 3rd of December last a friend of 

 mine shot a Snipe, which fell into the river and which began swimming 

 towards the shore. Almost simultaneously with the shot my friend heard 

 a noise behind him, and looking round observed a Heron rising from a very 

 small pond which stands between this house and the River Isis. After the 

 bird had ascended some sixty or eighty feet, he was seen to drop something 

 from his beak to the ground. My friend went up to the spot, and found a 

 Pike of over a pound in weight, alive, and apparently none the worse for 

 the treatment it had received from the Heron. After the fish had been 

 picked up, the Heron returned to the spot, evidently much disconcerted by 

 the disappearance of its prey ; as for the fish, it was brought home, and 

 weighed, and eaten ; it tasted somewhat muddy, but the flesh was firm and 

 good. On several occasions a Fox has been observed located in a tree, a 

 willow, close to the river ; when the South Oxon Hounds came here some 

 short time since, Reynard was knocked out of his retreat, and after a run 

 across country he returned to his stronghold, which he still continues to 

 occupy. Not very far from the same spot, and in a thorn bush fourteen feet 

 from the ground, a Moorhen has made her nest, where she is diligently 

 sitting ; it is to be hoped she will bring off her brood. Birds and beasts of 

 all sorts have but a poor chance of escape along the banks of this river, in 

 spite of any assistance my keepers may be able to afford them here. 

 There are other enemies, however, besides dogs and bipeds, which make 

 the multiplication of birds somewhat precarious. I saw an example of this 

 on May 26th last. Close in front of the house, where every sort of bird 

 comes to claim protection, a Thrush had just hatched out her young; she 

 had a neighbour, a Jackdaw, who was engaged in the same pursuit in an 

 elm tree hard by. The Jackdaw had doubtless been anticipating the ad- 

 vantage of having such succulent young neighbours, and I happened to be 

 looking out of the window when he made his assault. He lit on the grass 

 plot and stalked in a dignified manner to the Juniperus thurifera, where 

 the Thrushes were ; he flew up to the nest, and brought down one of the 

 little delicacies in his claws. The terror and despair of the poor parents 

 was pitiable. They perched on an iron railing over and above where the 

 operation was going on, and watched the dismemberment and the deglutition 

 of their offspring in helpless "agony. Ever and anon they both flew at the 

 monster; the Jackdaw only deigned to turn his head and give a warning 

 look, when the affrighted parents retired. One after another the brood was 

 disposed of, and then the marauder disappeared. The poor Thrushes flew 

 down to the ground when he was gone, but nothing was left. It is possible 

 that the nest of a Sedge Warbler was robbed by a similar bird ; one day 



