8 oxpoed: autumn and winter. 



the Pine-Grosbeak. It is short, wide, round, and parrot-like in 

 having the upper mandible curved downwards over the lower one, 

 and altogether admirably suited for snipping off and retaining 

 those fat young juicy buds, from which, as some believe, the 

 Bullfinch has come by his name.^ 



Parsons' Pleasure, i. e. the well-concealed bathing-place which 

 goes by this name, stands at the narrow apex of a large island 

 which is formed by the river Cherwell, — itself here running in 

 two channels which enclose the walk known as Mesopotamia, 

 — and the slow and often shallow stream by which Holywell 

 mill is worked. The bird-lover will never cross the rustic 

 bridge which brings him into the island over this latter stream, 

 without casting a rapid glance to right and left. Here in the 

 summer we used to listen to the Nightingale, or watch the 

 Redstarts and Flycatchers in the willows, or feast our eyes 

 with the splendid deep and glossy black-blue of the Swallow's 

 back, as he darted up and down beneath the bridge in doubtful 

 weather. And here of a winter morning you may see a pair of 

 Moorfowl paddling out of the large patch of rushes that lies 

 opposite the bathing-place on the side of the Parks ; here they 

 breed in the summer, with only the little Reed-warblers as com- 

 panions. And here there is always in winter at least a chance 

 of seeing a Kingfisher. Why these beautiful birds are compara- 

 tively seldom to be seen in or about Oxford from March to July 

 is a question not very easy to answer. The keeper of the 



' The name is said to be a corruption of hud-finch. But Prof. Skeat 

 (Etym. Diet. s. v. Bnll) compares it with T>ull-dogi the prefix in each case 

 suggesting the stout build of the animal. 



