14 OXFORD : AUTUMN AND WINTER. 



knows a Jack-snipe when he sees it, has assured me positively 

 that there was no mistake; and some well-authenticated cases 

 seem to have occurred since Montagu wrote. 



There are plenty of common birds to be seen even in winter 

 on most days in the Parks, such as the Skylark, the Yellow- 

 hammer and its relative the Black-headed Bunting, the Pied 

 Wagtail, the Hedge-sparrow, and others ; though where will 

 these be, and where will the Skylark build her nest, when 

 the sixteen cricket-grounds are levelled which the cricket- 

 committee yearn for 1 But there are some birds which may 

 be seen to greater advantage, in another part of Oxford, and 

 we will take the short line to Christchurch Meadow, past 

 Holywell church, doubtless the abode of Owls, and the fine elms 

 of Magdalen Park, beloved by the Woodpigeons. 



All this lower part of the Cherwell, from Holywell mill to 

 its mouth at the barges, abounds in snug and secure retreats 

 for the birds. In Addison's Walk, as well as in the trees in 

 Christchurch Meadow, dwell the Nuthatch and the Tree-creeper, 

 both remarkable birds in all their ways, and each representative 

 of a family of which no other member has ever been found in 

 these islands. They are tree-climbing birds, but they climb in 

 very different ways : the Creeper helping himself, like the 

 Woodpeckers, with his downward -bent feathers of liis strong 

 tail, while the Nuthatch, having no tail to speak of, relies 

 chiefly on his hind claw. These birds are now placed, on 

 account of the structure of their feet, in a totally diflferent 

 order to that of the Woodpeckers, who rank with the Swifts 

 and the Nightjars. 



