456 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



width of the storm was very slight, but in its course large trees 

 were rooted up or snapped off, and many had the appearance of 

 having had their tops twisted out of them. It occurred at about 

 8.30 p.m. 



Rainfall 6*21 in. on twenty-six days. 



November 1st. — There was practically no frost last month. 

 The garden is full of flowers, including sweet peas and dahlias, 

 and scarlet runner beans are still gathered. 



4th. — A female Stonechat catching flies from a hedge in 

 Grove lane. 



5th. — Dense fog in forenoon. To Wallingford to see the 

 collection of local birds belonging to Mr. W. Newton, of Crow- 

 marsh Battle. The following information about birds in that 

 part of the county I received from him, partly then, and partly 

 in a letter from him to Mr. H. Noble, kindly lent to me by the 

 latter. 



Carrion-Croiv.— Still numerous in the Thames valley there. 



Hoopoe. — The bird recorded by Clarke-Kennedy as shot at 

 Wallingford about June 18th, 1867, was really killed at Ewelme, 

 Oxon, by Mr. J. P. Franklin. 



Buzzard. — Mr. Newton believed that a pair bred in recent 

 years at Swyncombe, as they were about there for some three 

 years in the early eighties, in the late Col. Ruck-Keene's time, 

 who was a great preserver of all Hawks and Owls. [I may add 

 now, that when staying a few days at Watlington, in the spring 

 of 1904, I was assured by the landlord of the ancient and famous 

 Inn where I lodged, that two Buzzards had been hanging about 

 the woods on the hills in the previous winter.] 



Kestrel. — He found a nest in a wheat-rick, where the Rooks 

 had pulled out a sheaf or two just under the eaves. A Rook had 

 been killed, and the carcase hung up to keep others away, and 

 the Kestrel was sitting on her eggs within a few inches of the 

 dead Rook. 



Osprey. — He saw one fishing in the Thames, and watched it 

 for some time, and saw it plunge right into the water three or 

 four times from a height of forty or fifty feet ; it did not, how- 

 ever, catch anything. From Mr. Newton's companion on this 

 occasion I learn that this occurred close to some big elm trees 

 near Benson lock, in the first or second week in September, 



