CHAPTER I. 



Oxpokd: Autumn and Wintbe, 



T710E several years past I have contrived, even on the busiest 

 or the rainiest Oxford mornings, to steal out for twenty 

 minutes or half an hour soon after breakfast, and in the Broad 

 Walk, the Botanic Garden, or the Parks, to let my senses 

 exercise themselves on things outside me. This habit dates 

 from the time when I was an ardent fisherman, and daily 

 within reach of trout ; a long spell of work in the early 

 morning used to be effectually counteracted by an endeavour 

 to beguile a trout after breakfast. 



By degrees, and owing to altered circumstances, the rod has 

 given way to a field-glass, and the passion for killing has been 

 displaced by a desire to see and know ; a revolution which I 

 consider has been beneficial, not only to the trout, but to myself. 

 In the peaceful study of birds I have found an occupation 

 which exactly falls in with the habit I had formed — ^for it is in 

 the early morning that birds are most active and least disturbed 

 by human beings ; an occupation too which can be carried on at 

 all times of the day in Oxford with much greater success than I 

 could possibly have imagined when I began it. Even for one 



B 



