NOTES ON OXFORDSHIRE ORNITHOLOGY. 445 



the sixties, and there is evidence in his "Egg Book" that he 

 was in communication with some of the best ornithologists of 

 his day. 



Such annotations as I have thought advisable to make are in- 

 cluded in square brackets. 



White-tailed Eagle (Haliaetus albicilla). — Many years back 

 one was taken alive in a fir-plantation at Fawley Court. [A small 

 part of the park at Fawley Court is in Oxfordshire.] 



Hobby (Falco subbuteo). — Frequently shot. In a few cases I 

 have had the eggs. The last eggs I had were the 20th May, 

 1862, viz. four taken at Kidraore End [five miles north of Pang- 

 bourne]. The female was shot from the nest. The top slender 

 branches of a tree is a favourite situation for the nest. [May 

 20th is an unusually early date for a full clutch of Hobby's eggs, 

 and four is an unusually large clutch in this country, three being 

 a more usual number. But in this case there can be no doubt 

 about the identity of the eggs. The Hobby still breeds, or tries 

 to breed, annually in Oxfordshire, or just over the borders. This 

 year (1903) the female of a pair was trapped a few miles south of 

 Oxford on June 9th; and another female was shot about two miles 

 over our Warwickshire borders on Aug. 15th. In this case, I 

 believe, the young had been reared.] 



Merlin {F. cesalon). — Has been shot on several occasions, 

 generally in the winter. The eggs have been taken twice. In 

 one case the nest was on the ground in a large field at Bolney. 

 The second was at Skirmett [on the hills in Bucks], when a pair 

 of eggs was taken in the first week in May, 1864. Eggs from 

 both nests are in my collection. [I hardly know what to make 

 of this note. It is an almost unheard of thing for Merlins to 

 breed in the southern midlands.* But Stubbs was such a good 

 naturalist that it is impossible to entirely discredit the record. 



* Mr. W. L. Mellersh, however, writing of the Forest of Dean, says : — 

 " The Merlin, on the other hand, which was formerly a resident, has in recent 

 years been shot in June amongst gorse on the open ground. This suggests 

 that the bird may still nest on some of the open tracts within or just outside 

 the forest, but no nest has been found " (' A Treatise on the Birds of Gloucester- 

 shire,' p. 37). And Mr. (now Dr.) R. B. Sharpe informed Clark Kennedy 

 that he had received the eggs from Woburn, a village about two miles to the 

 north-east of Cookham (' Birds of Berkshire and Buckinghamshire,' p. 108). 



