Birds. 2423 



The Birds of Oxfordshire and its Neighbourhood. 

 By the Reverends Andrew and Henry Matthews. 



From the valuable articles which have from time to time appeared 

 in the i Zoologist,' a great and increasing impulse has of late been 

 given to the study of the various branches of Natural History, and of 

 Ornithology in particular. The lists already published from many of 

 the maritime and remote parts of the kingdom well prove the zeal 

 with which they have been explored. 



But while such care has been bestowed upon these more favoured 

 districts, the midland counties have hitherto received but little atten- 

 tion. To supply in some way this deficiency, we have been induced 

 to draw up the following list. It contains, as far as a careful research 

 and the experience of the last few years have enabled us to ascertain, 

 the names of all the birds which have up to the present time been 

 met with, either as visitors or residents, in the county of Oxford and 

 its immediate neighbourhood. 



It cannot be expected that so far inland the same interesting variety 

 of subjects will be found, as in the localities above alluded to ; but, 

 nevertheless, its inhabitants, such as they are, seem to have acquired 

 a more indisputable " right of settlement " than a mere visitor of our 

 coasts from the opposite continental shores can assert ; and it is on 

 this account we trust that a list of the birds of Oxfordshire and its 

 neighbourhood will not prove altogether useless or uninteresting. 



In collecting the materials for our purpose, we have received much 

 valuable assistance and information from Dr. Tomkins of Abingdon, 

 H. Roundell, Esq., of Fringford, Mr. Goatley of Chipping Norton, 

 and Mr. Kirtland of the Ashmolean Museum : where a species is in- 

 serted solely upon the authority of any one of these gentlemen, the 

 initial letter of his name is appended to the notice, to indicate from 

 what source our information was obtained : where no such distinction 

 appears, the notes are for the most part the result of our own observa- 

 tion. To Dr. Tomkins we are much indebted for the perusal of an 

 old manuscript list of birds, collected by the late Dr. Lamb, of New- 

 bury, extending as far back as the latter part of the last century. 



The plan we have followed in the arrangement of the species is si- 

 milar to that lately published in the ' Letters of Rusticus.' In pre- 

 paring a local list of birds, the classification of each species according 

 to its residence in that district clearly offers many solid advantages 

 over any system derived from their natural affinities : if this plan be 



