332 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Cuckoo, which deposited an egg in the nest. The young Cuckoo could 

 subsequently be seen in the nest very plainly ; but the foster-parents were 

 shy of feeding it whilst being watched. Eventually the young Cuckoo fell 

 out of the nest into the water, and was drowned. — Edmund A. S. Elliott 

 (Kingsbridge, Devon). 



Blue-headed Wagtail and Little Owl in Oxfordshire. — As the 

 publication of my report on Oxfordshire Ornithology for 1891 will be 

 delayed, I should like to place upon record the occurrence of two birds 

 which are new to the county list. Mr. W. Warde Fowler wrote me word 

 that on the 29th April, 1891, he saw among a company of Motacilla 7aii 

 in Port Meadow, Oxford, one which he " had little doubt was M.flava; 

 dark head, and back darker than M. rail, and altogether different from the 

 rest, including females." On the 2nd September in the same year, I saw 

 close to the same spot a Wagtail of this species. I got within three yards 

 of it, and watched it for five minutes as it caught flies in the shelter from 

 the wind afforded by some long grass and rank weeds. It was over the 

 moult, but the head had a decidedly grey tinge as compared with the back, 

 and was also darker than the latter ; white eye-streak conspicuous. It is 

 highly probable that the Blue-headed Wagtail bred there in the summer. 

 A Little Owl (Athene noctua), which I have examined, was caught in a 

 rabbit-trap in a bank near Thame, and sent for preservation on the 

 1.1th November, 1891. — 0. V. Aplin (Bloxham, Banbury, Oxon). 



The Marsh Warbler in Notts.— I feel convinced that, three years ago, 

 on 2nd or 3rd July, I heard a Marsh Warbler singing in an osier-bed near 

 Nottingham. I was then living at Attenborough, and had started to walk 

 down the Midland Bailwayfrom Beeston Station, where I had arrived by the 

 midnight train. Attenborough is about a mile and a half from Beeston, 

 and midway between the two places a large osier-bed extends from the 

 Trent to the railway, covering about nine acres. The night was close; 

 during the day a heavy thunderstorm had occurred, and everywhere was 

 reeking with moisture. On nearing the osier-bed I noticed that both the Sedge 

 and Keed Warblers were singing, but the song of another bird was so 

 different to anything I had heard before, that I stopped to listen as soon as 

 it commenced. It is always difficult to write down the song of any bird on 

 paper, but the song I was listening to appeared to be most like that of the 

 Nightingale, without the long-drawn plaiutive notes of the latter bird, and 

 with more of a ripple about it, sometimes not unlike that of the Sky Lark, 

 but with occasional harsh notes thrown in. It was far more musical than 

 that of the Reed Warbler, and not so hurriedly uttered as that of the Sedge 

 Warbler, as though the bird was conscious or its sweeter strains. It must 

 be remembered that both these species were singing close at hand; 1 had 

 therefore excellent opportunites for comparison. The bird appeared to be 





