AN UNKNOWN WARBLER IN OXFORDSHIRE. 345 



leave Oxford a day or two later. This year (1903) I heard from 

 Mr. Medlicott, who was not in residence at Oxford, that a friend 

 had reported the bird as returned for the third time, and the 

 next day I spent two hours alone listening and watching, but had 

 to leave the wood entirely mystified. On June 4th I took two 

 young friends with me to look for a nest. In this we failed, as 

 usual, but we learnt a good deal more about the bird ; for 

 example, that it shivers its tail slightly when singing, but appa- 

 rently not its wings, as the Wood-Wren does ; that it eats green 

 caterpillars ; that it is the size of the Wood-Wren, or rather 

 larger and stouter ; and that it has a white throat and a dull 

 white or huffish white breast, the back being, so far as we could 

 see, rather a rufous brown. On the whole, it was rather more 

 like a Garden- Warbler, as seen from below, than a Phylloscopus ; 

 but its movements were more like those of the Wood-Wren than 

 any other bird. Yet assuredly its song had absolutely nothing 

 in common with that of the Garden-Warbler, and only the most 

 distant resemblance to that of the Wood-Wren. I may say that 

 during our many visits to the wood we never heard the song of 

 the Wood-Wren, nor its peculiar musical call. 



On June 17th I went again to look at a nest which had been 

 found by one of my helpful young friends ; it was apparently that 

 of a Willow- Wren, but was curiously large and conspicuous, 

 composed chiefly of moss, and lined with Partridge feathers ; it 

 contained one egg, of a pinkish white ground colour, with pale 

 red spots all over it. We spent much time on this occasion and 

 afterwards in watching this nest, and the birds belonging to it, 

 but were never able to connect either it or them with the bird we 

 were trying to identify. It was probably the nest of a Willow- 

 Wren. Mr. Aplin, to whom I afterwards showed one of the eggs, 

 did not feel confident about it, and was inclined to lend an ear to 

 my suggestion that it might be Phylloscopus borealis ; but, as far 

 as I can discover from books, no nest of that species has yet been 

 found with a lining of feathers. As far as the evidence of the 

 nest and eggs is concerned, I cannot attach any weight to it, and, 

 in spite of the most diligent search, we never came upon another 

 that could be in any way connected with our bird. 



I spent a long time in the wood on June 24th, and again on 

 the 30th with my friend Mr. H. G. Maurice — still unable to come 



