20 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



and the Hawk following hit against a bough and lay stunned on 

 the ground for several seconds. 



6th. — Weather still very mild. Twenty-eight different plants 

 in bloom in the garden. 



19th. — Heard Redwings' notes overhead, at intervals, about 

 9 p.m. ; rather foggy, calm, with wind N.E. to E. 



21st. — Many Redwings and Fieldfares; these remained in 

 good numbers all the winter. 



22nd. — A female Partridge — a bird of the year, I believe — 

 with pure white horseshoe. Very cold. N.N.W. wind. 



23rd. — A Woodcock shot out of gorse on a hillside at Mil- 

 comb. News from Mr. Fowler that he saw half a dozen Cross- 

 bills in the parks at Oxford, on the 22nd. These birds have 

 been numerous this year in various parts of England. Deep 

 snow on the ground this morning, and more fell in the forenoon, 

 about five inches on the ground ; but thawing. 



28th. — Cold winds lately. Obtained an immature Barred 

 Warbler (Sylvia nisoria) here. (Vide ' Ibis,' 1899, p. 160.) 



December 11th.— Missel Thrush's joyous rollicking song. 



19th. — Very mild again. Violets, pansies, and primroses 

 blooming; also wallflower and alpine wallflower, to a small 

 extent. Our tortoise has foolishly emerged from a covering of 

 leaves and earth at the foot of a bending wall just where it faces 

 south-west — the spot it selected to lay up in. 



20th. — Frosty for a few days. 



28th. — Winter aconite in full bloom. 



Mr. H. G. Thomson reports Wild Ducks, Wigeon, and 

 Teal, plentiful this winter on Otmoor, owing to large floods. 

 But wildfowl are not so plentiful there as in former years. 

 Mr. Surman received a Cormorant from the neighbourhood of 

 Witney this month ; and he tells me he had one from Headington 

 Quarry in the winter of 1896-7. 



The following fragments of the history of two birds once 

 found commonly in Oxfordshire may be worth preserving. 



When I was at Kingham, in 1892, I interviewed Mr. Tom 

 Phipps, aged sixty-three, who had been postboy and postman for 

 fifty years. He had an excellent and accurate memory, was fond 

 of recalling the former condition of Kingham parish (then 



