350 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



26th. News of a Fieldfare seen yesterday, and of a Curlew 

 heard flying over. 



27th. Saw a small flock of Fieldfares. 



31st. Observed in the valley just above Somerton a very large 

 congregation of Lapwings — from two to three thousand I calcu- 

 lated. The great flat open meadows were covered with birds. 

 Four or five Herons were sitting on the ground or walking about; 

 also Crows, Starlings, Fieldfares, and Meadow Pipits. Also ob- 

 served two Wigeon ; and near Nell Bridge eight Wild Ducks and 

 a bunch of fourteen Teal. Put up some Snipe, very wild, twelve 

 of which gathered into a wisp and flew round for some time. 



November. 



1st. A friend told me he had shot a Grey Crow, at Wickham 

 Mill, on the 30th ult. Also that he heard the note of a Quail, 

 " Ttvit-me-dick," there this spring ; and had lately heard waders 

 calling as they flew over at night. He hears them occasionally 

 in spring and autumn. In or about 1885 a Quail's nest was found 

 at Wickham. 



3rd. Examined a Brent Goose in the flesh, which was shot 

 by the Cherwell, close to Banbury, the day before. Breast and 

 belly lead-grey, clearly defined from the black of the upper 

 breast. 



7th. Observed a Pied Woodpecker in a line of oaks between 

 here and Barford. The * Oxford Times ' contains a notice of 

 Golden Plover and Tern, shot on Port Meadow on the 26th and 

 27th ult. 



13th. Examined a Common Buzzard at Mr. Coombs' shop, 

 in Chipping Norton, which was shot on Oct. 16th at Cornwell. 

 Also a Short-eared Owl, in the flesh, from Chadlington. They 

 are found on the stubbles at this season. 



16th. Heard the unmistakable whistle of a Grey Plover as it 

 flew high overhead between here and Banbury ; the weather was 

 very thick, grey, and cloudy, and I could not see the bird. 



21st. Saw an old Swallow at the end of Broad Street, Oxford. 

 Examined at Mr. Darbey's shop the following birds, of which I 

 had heard previously : — Peregrine Falcon, adult male, caught at 

 Islip in the top of a falling tree in one of the gales in the middle 

 of October; Peregrine Falcon, young male, shot at Stanton 

 Harcourt while in pursuit of a Pigeon, about the second week in 

 November ; Manx Shearwater, adult, found at Hazely in the first 





