ORNITHOLOGY OF OXFORDSHIRE. 459 



Brent Goose. — One, shot on the river. Mr. Newton con- 

 sidered this the commonest Goose on the river, and added that 

 in the Crimean winter a great many visited that locality, as 

 many as nine or ten being killed at one shot ; they were in very 

 poor condition. 



6th. — Saw a male Sparrow-Hawk near Wroxton. Larks 

 singing well. The season continues very mild, and the garden 

 yielded tender young green peas to-day. 



7th. — A white frost. 



12th.— Barley still uncut. 



28th. — Country very wet ; ditches overflowing, and water 

 standing in upland fields. In the valleys there are very big 

 floods. I hear of a flock of about two hundred Wild Geese 

 which passed over early in the month, and another of about 

 fifty, which settled on the south side of the village a few days 

 after. 



Eainfall, 1*38 in. on eleven days. 



December 1st. — Near Tadmarton, on a wheat-stubble, was 

 the largest flock of Linnets I ever met with ; it must have com- 

 prised several thousands. Also a large flock of Sky-Larks. 

 Some Meadow-Pipits frequented a field of mustard eaten off by 

 sheep. Cold and frosty weather the last two days. 



3rd. — Several Crossbills have been shot recently in this 

 parish. I have had three sent to me from over the Warwick- 

 shire borders. 



5th. — I spent some time watching the Crossbills which 

 frequent a small spinney, chiefly of larch, on the Grove estate. 

 Six had been shot from the flock, and there were about a dozen 

 there to-day. They were very tame, and lively active birds 

 even this dull foggy morning. When feeding in the tops of" 

 the larches they settle on the slender twigs, and either rifle the 

 cone there or bite it off, and fly with it to the upper side of a 

 thicker branchlet, when, holding the cone under their feet, they 

 pick it to bits or open the scales. Bits of cone were continually 

 dropping, and whole cones often tumbled down; so much so that 

 attention would by this be called to the presence of the birds on 

 a still day. The ground underneath the trees was littered with 

 rifled and whole cones which had been dropped. When biting 



2n2 



