224 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



20th. Hardly any Swallows or Martins were to be seen after 

 the 8th, but to-day I saw about a dozen Martins feeding over the 

 village, and there were young birds still in a nest. The weather 

 was very cold in the early part of the month. 



22nd. Saw two or three Martins; a very sharp frost the night 

 before. A pair of Swallows built a nest this year in the passage 

 of the " Carrier's Arms " public-house, Adderbury, and, notwith- 

 standing the number of people going in and out, reared their 

 young in safety. 



29th. A flock of about a score of Fieldfares appeared. 



November. 



2nd. Redwings arrived. 



5th. A Bittern, shot at Headington on the 3rd, was found by 

 Mr. Fowler in Oxford Market. 



There was much rain from the latter part of October onwards, 

 and by the 15th of this month we had the biggest flood we have 

 experienced for fourteen years. A great many Gulls visited this 

 district. Mr. Wyatt had four Kitti wakes in the immature dress, 

 in which stage they are, I believe, not common on the east coast. 

 Mr. Bartlett had nine Kittiwakes (seven of them immature), and 

 two young Herring Gulls. 



17th. At Oxford Mr. Fowler and I saw a few Redpolls in 

 Christ Church Meadows. 



18th. We saw a Barred Woodpecker at Beckley. 



December. 



0th. Mr. Bartlett showed me a Knot in adult winter dress, 

 shot recently at Tussmore. It is a most unusual visitor to 

 Oxfordshire. Also a Crossbill, an adult male, of a very deep red 

 mixed with clear yellow, the rump being of the latter colour It 

 was killed in August at Banbury. 



21st. Mr. Darbey wrote: — "I had to-day sent me from 

 Witney a Barn Owl, a very fine bird indeed; and instead of the 

 breast being white, or buffy-white with dark spots, it is a deep 

 buff, and the spots only faintly showing. I never before saw an 

 English Owl with such a deeply coloured breast." 



1895. 

 I left England on the 28th December, 1894, and did not 

 return until the 28th June following. I therefore missed the 



