246 ttiti zoologis*. 



Sedge Warbler. — Mr. F. W. Lambert informs me that two 

 were seen, and one shot, near Wood Eaton on Oct. 23rd, 1889. 



Grasshopper Warbler. — Mr. Lambert tells me that in the 

 spring of 1889 he saw about a dozen one morning on Open 

 Brasenose, where they breed. He has found a nest of young 

 there, and has also noticed the species near Marston Copse, 

 near Elsfield, and on the road between Stow Wood and Islip. 

 A nest, taken in Stow Wood some years ago, is in the University 

 Museum. The Grasshopper Warbler frequents Milcombe Gorse, 

 near Bloxham, annually. A nest with eggs was found there a 

 year or two ago, in the thick dead grass under a gorse-bush. 

 I heard the birds in 1890. This gorse is near, and must have 

 once joined, Tadmarton Heath. On July 19th, 1890, I heard 

 one of these birds "reeling" in some wheat fields in the flat, 

 rather treeless bit of country south-east of Bloxham towards 

 Barford. I heard it in the same locality in 1887 and 1889. 

 Mr. Lambert found a nest in a mass of dry grass matted with 

 brambles on Shotover Hill (from which the bird was disturbed), 

 on June 3rd, 1890. It contained three newly-hatched young, an 

 addled egg, and the egg of a Cuckoo. A friend of his found 

 another nest, containing two eggs, in a bed of nettles in the lane 

 adjoining Marston Copse, near Old Headington, on May 17th, in 

 the same year. 



Blackcap. — On Dec. 20th, 1890, there was six inches of snow 

 on the ground, and the cold had been intense for some days — 

 very hard frost on the previous night ; so that, on looking out 

 of the window of a friend's house in Bloxham, I was surprised to 

 see a female Blackcap feeding on the berries of a Cotoneaster in 

 the low shrubs close to the window, although I knew the Blackcap 

 was a fairly hardy bird. In view of its tameness, and almost 

 certain fate at the hands (or claws) of the numerous cats on the 

 premises, or from the gun of my friend's man — who was waging 

 a Sparrow war, and would in all probability take a little brown 

 bird like this for his lawful prey — the bird was shot and proved 

 to be very fat. It looked well and happy, but had an enlarge- 

 ment of one or two toes. I can hardly believe it possible that 

 this bird would have lived through the long bitter frost which 

 continued for weeks and killed so many resident and winter birds. 

 A good many Blackcaps attempted to winter in other parts of the 

 country. 



