BIRDS OF OXFORDSHIRE. 245 



and in other parts of mid-Oxon. Several nests were found at 

 Bletchington in 1890. Mr. Fowler always finds a few about 

 Kingham. Mr. Reeve, of Trinity College, kindly submitted for 

 my inspection a local Nightingale's egg, one of five found on 

 May 26th, 1890, of the variety of a bluish green ground-colour, 

 mottled over with reddish brown. This variety resembles the 

 eggs of the Blue-throated Warbler, and shows the relationship 

 between the species. The arrival of this bird at Oxford on April 

 20th, 1890, was noted by three observers in the * Oxford Times.' 

 One of them (Mr. P. Taplin) wrote, on May 10th, that four or five 

 could then be heard in full song on the northern outskirts of 

 the city. 



Stonechat. — Mr. F. W. Lambert informs me that the Stone- 

 chat is found in some numbers on Open Brasenose, a furzy 

 common between Cowley and Horsepath. He once found a nest 

 containing five eggs in the bank of a dry ditch in a lane leading 

 on to the Woodstock road near Begbroke. A male shot near the 

 Banbury Cemetery on Feb. 22nd, 1890, was probably returning 

 to its summer quarters. 



Wheatear. — I received from Mr. Fowler a male Wheatear, 

 shot at Oxford on March 26th, 1889 — a rather early date for 

 Oxon. It measured 6*3 in total length, and had almost entirely 

 lost the brown edges to the feathers. On May 10th, 1890, 

 I observed a beautiful large bright male in a meadow near Great 

 Barford. It sang, not only from the top of a tall hedge, but also 

 when sitting on the larger branches of a still leafless ash tree. 

 This, no doubt, was an example of the large race which passes 

 England on migration to its northern breeding grounds late in the 

 spring. Two (ordinary) birds appeared on the return passage on 

 a ploughing in this parish on Aug. 23rd, 1890. 



Reed Warbler. — A nest of this species, now in the University 

 Museum, was taken from a bush of Althrea frutex, six feet from 

 the ground, in the Botanic Garden in 1866. In this nest a young 

 Cuckoo was hatched. On May 31st, 1890, Mr. Fowler showed 

 me a nest of this species at "Parson's Pleasure," Oxford, placed 

 in a privet-bush at least six or seven feet from the ground, formed 

 of long grasses, hair, &c, and containing four eggs. The bird 

 sang nervously when close to us. The same day I heard two Reed 

 Warblers singing in a thick belt of willows (no reeds) at Osney 

 lock-weir, and another in the willows a little lower down stream. 



