18 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



10th. — Sharp frost. 



18th. — Milder the last few days. 55° in the day, in shade. 



21st. — Frost again. 



24th. — Strong N. wind and snow. 



26th. — It has blown hard from N. and N.N.E. for three days; 

 some snow. Starlings building in hole over the granary door. 



27th. — Wind moderated, with rain. Much peach and apricot 

 blossom strewn on the ground. [Yet from one apricot tree I 

 afterwards thinned out over one hundred green fruit, and gathered 

 one hundred and twenty ripe fruit.] 



April 1st. — The first Chiffchaff appeared ; in song, in the 

 garden. I searched carefully in the most likely spots without 

 finding one earlier. 



7th. — Some (unknown) bird has in the last few days attacked 

 my black currant bushes, biting off the fruit buds and eating 

 them, although the leaves (many of which are strewn on the 

 ground) are as large as a shilling. I have never known this 

 happen before. We prevented further destruction by stretching 

 black cotton about the trees. And I may now add, that this done 

 early in the next season (1899) probably prevented a repetition 

 of the damage to the bushes. 



8th. — Good Friday. Saw a Swallow about the buildings at 

 Bloxham Grove. 



12th. — Several Willow Wrens in the garden. Redstart. 



17th.— Cuckoo. 



18th. — Swallows about the garden (the first on the 15th). 



20th. — Blackcap and Lesser Whitethroat. 



23rd. — Tree Pipit. Otter hunting in the Cherwell below 

 Kings Sutton. Killed a dog and bitch of 18 lb. and 16 lb. 



26th. — Sedge Warbler. As I passed in the train I saw a 

 Coot on its nest on a piece of water on the east side of the 

 G.W.R. near Wolvercot. Examined (and afterwards bought) a 

 nice red Crossbill, one of four received from Buckland in 

 December, 1897. Buckland is just inside Berkshire. Heard a 

 Nightingale at Wolvercot. 

 30th.— House Martin. 



May 1st. — Whinchat, Whitethroats, Wryneck, and Grass- 

 hopper Warbler. 



2nd. — Garden Warbler in shrubbery. Two or three Swifts. 



