NOTES AND QUERIES. 303 



and small. Fore legs silvery grey; hind legs slightly darker. Upper and 

 under sides of tail (which is flat) correspond in colour with the upper and 

 under parts of body, and is ciliated with strong white hairs. This specimen 

 has been mounted, and is intended for the collection in the Museum here. 

 The habits of this pretty little mammal render observation difficult, and I 

 have only occasionally met with the species before in this district, though, no 

 doubt, if properly looked for, it will be found distributed generally throughout 

 the county. — C. E. Stott (Bolton-le-Moors). 



BIRDS. 



The Marsh Warbler in Oxfordshire. — In August last year (Zool. 

 1892, p. 303) I described the discovery of Acrocephalus palustris in an 

 osier-bed near Chipping Norton. We did not succeed in finding the nest, 

 owing to the large area of the osier-bed, and the want of a point of vantage 

 from which to watch the movements of the birds. The osiers were cut 

 last winter, and the birds have not returned to it; their place has been 

 taken by Grasshopper Warblers, which in the hot evenings have been 

 making the air vibrate all around with their incessant reelings. On 

 June 20th it occurred to me to make a careful examination of another 

 osier-bed, about half-a-mile further up the railway line. Here the osiers 

 were uncut, and here, too, the embankment of the railway enabled me to 

 look directly down on them. I soon heard the familiar song, and saw the 

 birds once or twice. Next day, by watching from this embankment, I was 

 able to make a guess at the position of the nest, and penetrating into the 

 osiers, I found it at once. It was not yet finished, and during the next 

 two or three days I was able to watch its progress. It was about three 

 feet from the ground, slung between the willow-shoots in such a way that 

 they were not worked into the sides of the nest, but only through the outer 

 rim ; the nest thus looked like a little basket suspended by three or four 

 handles. It is rather a more solid structure than those I have seen in the 

 Alps; a quantity of green moss was added to the lower part of its exterior 

 after I first saw it. The body of the nest is, however, almost entirely of 

 dried grass, with a few horsehairs in the lining. On the 24th Mr. A. Holte 

 Macpherson came down from London to see it, and that night luckily the 

 birds laid an egg, which he found before breakfast in the morning. Next 

 day was Suuday, when the predatory ploughboy roams afield in quest of 

 eggs, aud we had to organise a watch during the whole of that long day. 

 Ou the 26th another egg was laid ; and as I was about to leave England 

 for three weeks, I decided to take the nest and two eggs for the Oxford 

 Museum. This has been successfully accomplished by cutting away the 

 saplings above and below the nest; aud I hope the birds may get over their 

 disappointment and build again. The eggs are exactly like those Mr. Aplin 

 and I found in Switzerland; greenish white in ground colour, with many 



