452 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



14th. — Charlbury. Very heavy rain in forenoon. A strong 

 drag above Bruern Abbey, and put down three Otters near 

 Bledington Mill, of which we killed a bitch of 16 lb. or 17 lb., and 

 a dog of 21 lb. or 22 lb. Some Swifts still here. 



16th. — Sparrows eating apricots on a wall tree as fast as 

 they ripen. 



19th — Greenfinch and Goldfinch sing well ; the latter still 

 nesting. 



20th. — A Swift went into a hole under the eaves of a thatched 

 cottage and stayed there. 



21st. — Some Swifts. Of the Swallow tribe (now much in 

 evidence in the evenings) about this evening, four-fifths were 

 Martins. I think nearly three-fourths of the Swallows perished 

 in the spring. Song-Thrush sang, full and well. Goldfinches 

 sing all about. 



22nd. — Some Swifts. The features of this wet summer are 

 the general scarcity of summer migrants, especially Cuckoos and 

 Nightingales ; the great scarcity of Swallows and the comparative 

 abundance of Martins ; and the irregularity in nesting and in 

 the period of song. 



23rd. — Our few peaches are being eaten, unripe, by snails 

 and birds, and apricots have to be gathered unripe for the same 

 reason. Snails and slugs, which swarm, have eaten up all my 

 young lettuce and cruciferous plants. I have done some good 

 by turning young Ducks into the kitchen garden ; but why are 

 the resident birds — so numerous — apparently almost useless ? 



24th. — Torrents of rain. Seven Swifts together. 



25th. — Only 52° at 9.30 a.m. Swifts still screaming over 

 the garden. 



28th. — A Kestrel turning over old horse-droppings. 



29th. — Wheat and oat harvest now very general, the corn 

 having ripened fast the last few days. A good many Swifts. 

 Mr. Warriner tells me he put up three Snipe on the 22nd in 

 what is usually a dry meadow, but now fast becoming a swamp. 

 Also that early in the month he saw fifty or sixty Duck settle in 

 flooded hay-grass near the mouth of the Sorbrook. 



30th. — Chiffchaff in song. 



31st. — Stonechats have bred this year in Milcombe gorse ; I 

 saw both young and old to-day. 



Eainfall 3*51 in. on fifteen days. 



