6 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



24th. — Ring- and Stock-Doves cooing, and other signs of 

 softer weather. 



26th.— A nest of the Long-tailed Tit, half finished, in a 

 broom-bush. 



29th. — Saw two Chiffchaffs, and heard one in song. The 

 hedges show no sign of green, and the aspect of the country 

 generally is quite brown. 



April 8th. — When Otter-hunting in the Cherwell valley, just 

 above Somerton, saw six pairs of Wild Ducks (all doubtless 

 breeding birds), a Snipe, and a Green Sandpiper. Mr. Foster- 

 Melliar told me he saw a Blackcap in his garden on March 19th ; 

 this bird had probably wintered there. 



15th. — Heard the Wryneck. Not for many years have we 

 had such persistently inclement weather in spring. No summer 

 migrants except Chiffchaffs and Wheatears reported as yet, and 

 the Chiffchaffis almost silent. 



18th. — Several Redstarts. Cuckoo. 



19th.— Swallow, Willow-Wren, Tree-Pipit. 



22nd. — Visited Clattercote Reservoir with Mr. A. H. Mac- 

 pherson, and saw there three Crested Grebes, a drake and two 

 duck Teal, Dabchicks, Coots, Moorhens, and two Common Sand- 

 pipers. Noticed arrival of Sand-Martin, Whitethroat, and Ray's 

 Wagtail. 



25th. — House-Martin at Charlbury. 



26th. — Visited Blenheim with Mr. J. Whitaker, and noticed 

 a good many Coots on the lake. Blackcap near Glympton. 



27th. — Mr. Fowler and I saw in Port Meadow, Oxford, seven 

 or eight Dunlins, and five Golden Plover on the wing. Mr. Darbey 

 told me he received a Grey Phalarope from the neighbourhood 

 of Oxford in the middle of February, and a Corn-Crake which 

 was killed by flying against the telegraph-wires on the 19th inst. 

 He also showed me two Crossbills (green and red), killed at 

 Pusey (three miles over our borders) early in the year. Noticed 

 the Sedge Warbler. 



30th. — Lesser Whitethroat. Mr. Darbey informed me this 

 month that he received an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull in 

 the early part of the year, which had been shot near Oxford. 

 Mr. G. W. Bradshaw has recorded an adult bird of this species, 

 shot at Caversham Lock on the 30th April, 1898 (Zool. 1899, 

 p. 136). 



