ORNITHOLOGY OF OXFORDSHIRE. 63 



anywhere near the trees he frequented. But I could not find the 

 female or the nest, and I am inclined to think that the male had 

 strayed here alone. I may say here that I searched for it in 

 1902 in vain, and that I do not know any locality frequented 

 regularly by the Wood-Wren nearer here than Tew, about four 

 or five miles away, although I have observed it at Tadmarton 

 Heath spinney, not quite so far off. 



30th. — Thrush sang on the roof again. 



July 1st. — Goldfinches have young about the garden. 



5th. — Bullfinches bite off the tops, and bite open, the seed- 

 pods of the columbines, and eat the unripe seeds. 



9th. — A pair of Shrikes very noisy in a tall hedge close to 

 Milton Close, one of the favourite haunts of this curiously local 

 species. They had young out of the nest the next day. 



12th. — On two of the recent hot nights, once about 10 p.m. and 

 again about 11 p.m., a Hedge-Sparrow close to the house has 

 burst into a single strain of song. A pair have a nest with eggs 

 in a box-bush just there. In Uruguay I have known the Chin- 

 golo Song-Sparrow (Zonotrichia pileata) do much the same 

 thing. 



16th. — The collection of bird-skins formed by the late Rev. A. 

 Matthews, formerly of Weston-on-the-Green, was sold at Mr. 

 Stevens' rooms. I did not attend the sale, but the skins were 

 examined for use previously, and I afterwards handled a large 

 number of them and bought a few back into the county. With 

 the exception of a little series of the smaller Passeres (all obtained 

 at Weston in 1833 and 1834, and so labelled), the skins were 

 labelled with old parchment tickets. These (with few exceptions) 

 bore only numbers (doubtless referring to a catalogue). The 

 exceptions were a few with " Weston " or " Oxford " added. 

 "Oxford" evidently merely had reference to the place whence the 

 example was forwarded, possibly by some wild-fowl shooter, and 

 not to the actual spot where the bird was killed. And I have 

 little doubt that many of the birds were the examples referred to 

 in Messrs. Matthews' articles on the ' Birds of Oxfordshire and 

 its Neighbourhood,' which were published in this Journal in 1849 

 and 1850. 



The following specimens may be here noticed : — 



Night-Heron, " Oxford," adult. Doubtless the one killed at 



