98 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



wing and wild, and in some cases reported as " packed." 16th.— A 

 good many Meadow Pipits about. 



Oct. 1st. — A Chiffchaff in song in the early morning, and a 

 Chaffinch singing, imperfectly. It has been a " Quail year." 

 A nest of eggs was found near Deddington, as Mr. T. Bennet 

 informs me, and I have seen an egg from another taken at 

 Otmoor, near Islip, on May 22nd. Mr. Bennet tells me also of 

 one or two killed early in September at Deddington. Mr. W. 

 Warriner shot one in a cabbage-field at Adderbury on Sept. 30th. 

 and one is recorded in ' The Field' as having been killed in the 

 early part of October by a brother of the recorder, who lived near 

 Banbury. In the same newspaper (Nov. 11th), Mr. W. Kinch 

 records that seven were shot in the parish of Deddington in the 

 second week of September. Swallows and Martins took their 

 departure rather early. I could see none at Kingham or Bloxham 

 on the 9th ; and none at Oxford (where they usually stay so late) on 

 the 13th. 2 J st.— Saw a Turtle Dove|; late. 22nd.— Saw a Barred 

 Woodpecker. Received information from a friend, who knows all 

 our common birds well, of a little party of birds seen on a bare 

 barley-stubble, which, from his description of their appearance and 

 note, must have been Twites. I searched the field a day or two after- 

 wards, but could not find them. I have no authentic record of 

 the appearance of the Twite here. 28th. — Saw a Pied Wood- 

 pecker between here and Barford ; and a small hawk, which I am 

 pretty sure was a Merlin. 29th. — Disturbed a Turtle Dove, 

 drinking at the brook here ; as it was not two yards off when it 

 rose, and in its hurry entangled itself for a few seconds in the 

 tall thin hedge on the other bank, I had a good view of it. This 

 is a very late date for it to be here ; but it does not seem very 

 unnatural, for honeysuckles, single and double dahlias, heliotrope, 

 geraniums, auriculas, nasturtiums, sunflowers, stocks, canariensis, 

 roses, and other flowers were blooming in the gardens, and a dish 

 of raspberries was gathered the week before in the adjoining 

 parish. 



Nov. 7th. — Saw Fieldfares. 18th.— Severe snowstorm from 

 the north, of the " blizzard " order, and very severe frost at night ; 

 a man frozen to death near Wardington. More snow next day, but 

 rain and thaw at night. Nevertheless on the following day some 

 of the lanes were impassable, and had to be dug out, and remains 

 of the drifts were to be seen until Dec. 8th in sheltered ditches. 



