WOODPECKERS. 1 5 



I have never but once seen the Green Woodpecker in 

 Oxford, and that was as he flew rapidly over the Parks in the 

 direction of the Magdalen elms. If he lives there, he must be 

 known to the Magdalen men, but I have not had intelligence 

 of him. The fact is that he is a much wilder bird than his 

 near relation, the Lesser-spotted Woodpecker, who is, or was, 

 beyond doubt an Oxford resident. A correspondent of the Oxford 

 Magazine, 'E. W. E,' states that this bird bred outside his 

 window at Trinity a few years ago, ' but has not done so lately 

 for reasons of his own, of which I approve.' Another cor- 

 respondent, however, reports him from Addison's Walk ; and 

 Mr. Macpherson of Oriel, whose eye is not likely to have erred, 

 believed that he saw one in the Broad Walk a few years ago. 

 I myself have not seen the bird nearer Oxford than Ken- 

 nington; but I am pretty sure that it is commoner and also 

 less shy than is generally imagined, and also that the ornitho- 

 logist who sees it is not likely to mistake it for another bird : 

 its very small size — it is not larger than a sparrow — its crimson 

 head, and its wings, with their black and white bars, making 

 it a conspicuous object to a practised eye. 



Christchurch Meadow is a favourite home of the Titmice. I 

 believe that I have seen all the five English species here within 

 a space of a very few days : English, not British, for there is one 

 other, the Crested Tit, of which I shall have more to say in 

 another chapter. A family of Longtails, or Bottle-tits, flits from 

 bush to bush, never associating with the others,and so justifying its 

 scientific separation from them. Another family is to be seen in 

 the Parks; where they build a nest every year. These delightful 



