BIRDS OP OXFORDSHIRE- 



257 



Mr. S. Sargeant, of Handborough, records in the * Oxford Times' 

 that he saw four Wild Geese feeding on the banks of the Even- 

 lode near there, on Dec. 10th, 1890. On the 25th half-a-dozen 

 were seen at Mill Bridge, near Adderbury, by a man named Brown, 

 who is well acquainted with wildfowl. During my absence from 

 home some Geese frequented this parish, between here and 

 Barford. On the 26th, twenty-four were seen on some young 

 wheat (snow-covered) ; the next day they flew over a friend's 

 head, quite low down, when he had no gun ; and on the 31st they 

 were round a waggon-load of pea-haulm standing in a field, 

 running about, said my informant, "like a lot of turkeys." 



Brent Goose. — There is a specimen (with a medium -coloured 

 belly) in the Oxford Museum, labelled " Kennington, Oxon, 1830. 

 C. Webb, Esq." It is in such a position that the label can only 

 be read by almost lying down on the floor, and I overlooked it 

 until after the ' Birds of Oxon' was published. 



Sheldrake. — One was seen on the Isis by Port Meadow, on 

 Oct. 8th, 1889, by Mr. Lambert (Zool. 1889, p. 453). I have 

 recently examined a specimen of the aduJt which was shot on the 

 Cherwell at North Aston Mill in the winter of 1889-90. 



Wild Duck. — A hybrid between the Pintail and Wild Duck 

 was shot near Standlake about the second week in March, 1851, 

 and was brought into Oxford Market with other fowl. It passed 

 through Mr. Osman's hands into the possession of the recorder 

 (Mr. A. M. Norman, Zool. 1851, p. 3175). 



Gad wall. — The Rev. Murray A. Mathew writes:— " I still 

 possess a Gadwall which was purchased in Oxford Market. It 

 was lent (stuffed) as a model to the artist decorating the walls of 

 the new debating room at the Union." In a later letter he 

 says : — " At the time (and ever since have) I considered it a local 

 specimen ; for, as you correctly state, no foreign wild ducks were 

 at that period sold at Oxford Market, and wildfowl of any kind 

 were rarely to be seen on sale. Immature Golden-eyes, Pochards, 

 and Wigeon, all of them known to town-gunners as ' curres,' were 

 not uncommon in my time on the Thames (or rather Isis), 

 especially along Port Meadow and above Godstow, and one or 

 two of them would sometimes be seen in the market." 



Shoveller. — A duck was shot from a party of four on the 

 river at Iffley, on Nov. 12th, 1889, and was taken to Mr. Darbey, 

 as he informed Mr. Arthur H. Macpherson. 



ZOOLOGIST. JULY, 1892. X 



