342 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Wigeon. Mr. A. H. Cocks records (Zool. 1891, p. 153) that two 

 Smews (adult and young males), out of a bunch of four, were 

 shot at Sunning, Oxon, about the middle of January, 1891. 



31st. Mr. F. C. Aplin saw three Gulls flying over Bodicote in 

 an easterly direction; wind about W.N.W. 



February. 



Oth. Examined the following birds at Mr. Darbey's : — 

 A Whooper, shot on the Upper Thames at Lechlade, Glouces- 

 tershire, on or about Jan. 10th, 1891, weighed 28 lbs. (see Jan. 

 19th). Pink-footed Goose, Water Eaton, adult; a tiny white 

 patch at base of beak ; bill very bright-coloured (see Jan. 7th), 

 and a Sparrowhawk, a small and peculiarly warm-coloured female. 

 Mr. Darbey said he had received many Bramblings during the 

 winter of 1890-91. Mr. J. Baldwin Young, of Trinity College, 

 told me of a Wild Swan (probably a Whoopei) seen before the 

 ice broke up, on the river about Iffly by a friend of his who knows 

 these birds well from seeing them in Scotland. Observed in 

 Christ Church meadow a flock of a score of Redpolls in some 

 large alders. Mr. Fowler told me of a Barred Woodpecker lie 

 saw in the Broad Walk just before the very severe weather. 



7th. Heard Chaffinches singing at Parson's Pleasure, but Mr. 

 Fowler had heard them for some days previously. At Cornwell 

 in the afternoon we saw one Coot on the ponds, and counted thirty 

 or forty Moorhens. 



10th. A Kittiwake was shot on the 3rd in Swalcliff Park, as 

 reported in the * Banbury Guardian.' 



15th. Two Chaffinches in song here (Bloxham) ; in a long 

 walk from Clattercote Reservoir yesterday Mr. J. B. Young and 

 I did not hear one, and neither of us remembered seeing one ; the 

 scarcity of this bird since the frost has been remarkable. Obtained 

 information about a large bird which came down stream, dead, 

 and w;is found against the wheel-grating at North Aston Mill; it 

 was seen on the 9th hanging on the mill- wall by a friend of mine, 

 but was gone to-day. From description given, and a sketch of it 

 made by the owner (who is a collector of birds in a small way), 

 however, I have no doubt at all but that it was an adult Red- 

 throated Diver in winter dress. Saw a Grey Wagtail in the pool 

 below the mill ; these birds (which were here in small numbers in 

 the autumn of 1890) entirely disappeared during the severe frost. 



