NOTES FROM OXFORDSHIRE. 97 



1893. 



March 28th.— The Cuckoo was reported by Mr. W. Wyatt, 

 of Banbury (who ought not to be mistaken), as heard by him 

 on this date. I confess I am not myself an unhesitating 

 believer in March Cuckoos. Swifts arrived on May 3rd, and were 

 numerous the next day. A Nightingale sang for about a fortnight 

 early in May, 1893, in the Bodicote Vicarage gardens; the Vicar 

 believed there were two. One took up its quarters in the Blox- 

 ham-gate Spinney, on the Bloxham Grove estate, as the owner 

 informed me. Formerly they were heard there annually, but this 

 is the first which has been heard since 1874. Mr. T. Bennet, of 

 Deddington, tells me that there were again some (as there have 

 been for the last few years) on the south side of that place. Some 

 have been heard also at Milcombe this year, as the Vicar informs 

 me. I have recently examined a Nightingale's egg of the Blue- 

 throat type, which was taken from a nest of four eggs at Islip on 

 May 5th, 1893. I have previously noted the occurrence of this 

 type in Oxfordshire (vide Zool. 1892, p. 245). Mr. M. Foster- 

 Melliar saw three Wild Swans (doubtless Whoopers, with which 

 the observer is acquainted) on the flood in a large meadow known 

 as Bestmoor, North Aston, on Jan. 24th, 1893 (in litt.). A Dipper 

 was reported to Mr. Fowler as seen on more than one occasion in 

 mid-August, 1893, on the banks of the Cherwell, in the Oxford 

 " Parks"; and he had information from another friend which put 

 the matter beyond doubt. For an account of the Marsh Warbler 

 breeding at Kingham, see Mr. Fowler's note (Zool. 1893, p. 303). 

 I received reliable information that, during the severe frost of 

 1890-91, a man who had been along the Cherwell with his gun 

 returned with no less than sixteen Kingfishers. 



July 8th.— The Rev. J. Goodwin told me he had seen two 

 pairs of Red-backed Shrikes at Milcombe this summer. One 

 night, about the third week in this month, I heard Godwits 

 passing in a south-westerly direction over Bodicote. 



Aug. 5th. — Saw a male Red-backed Shrike, much excited, in 

 the same small close in which I saw a pair last year. The bulk of 

 the Swifts departed on the 10th or 11th, and I did not see even a 

 straggler after that date. 



Sept. 1st. — Partridges exceptionally abundant, strong on the 



ZOOLOGIST, THIRD SERIES, VOL. XVIII. — MARCH, 1 894. I 



