ORNITHOLOGY OF OXFORDSHIRE. 329 



where there is a good growth of reeds, I found a little colony of 

 Eeed-Warblers. I heard three birds singing, and saw a com- 

 pleted nest. This bird is rare on the Cherwell, sporadic in dis- 

 tribution, and apt to be found one year in a place and not the 

 next. A pair of Tree- Sparrows breeding in a girder-bridge 

 carrying the railway over the canal near there. I am told that 

 twenty- six dozen young Eooks were killed at North Aston Rook- 

 shooting. 



June 2nd. — A pair of Flycatchers (for which a careful look- 

 out has been kept) appeared in the garden on the 29th ult. 

 To-day the nest was finished and the first egg laid. A Black- 

 bird's nest, of which there was no sign on the 30th ult., is 

 finished to-day. All the building must have been done in the 

 very early hours of these long days, for the nest is in a rose- 

 arch crossing a most frequented path. 



11th. — Mr. Fowler showed me nest of Stonechat in bank by 

 roadside near Kingham Station. This pair of birds had a brood 

 in April. 



July 14th. — Heard a Quail calling about 9 p.m. 



27th.— A "Holly Blue" butterfly in the garden. 



The latter end of this month was very wet. 



August 10th. — Received from Mr. Fowler an adult female 

 Wood-Sandpiper, shot from a flock of about eight in a flooded 

 meadow* in the Evenlode Valley at Kingham on the 3rd inst. 

 Although stale, it weighed 2| oz. Both Green and Common 

 Sandpipers were noticed there about the same time, and one of 

 the former was shot. This is the first time the Wood- Sandpiper 

 has been proved to occur in Oxon so far as I am aware. Mr. 

 Fowler also sent me word that the pair of Stonechats had built 

 another nest, and probably reared young, by the roadside in his 

 absence. Examined a male adult Hobby shot at Tusmore on 

 the 9th inst. A Hobby was shot at Bletchingdon early in June 

 in the act of snatching up a Sparrow feeding on the food at the 

 Pheasant-coops. 



The following notes on the Swifts in this cold and very wet 

 month may be worth recording :— 



9th. — Our full lot and rather noisy at evening ; some young 

 out, and for some days early this month. But I think the old 

 birds have reared few this year on account of the cold and wet 



