404 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



9.30. The water ran down off the hill, and we had the greatest 

 flood in the village that has been known. Fall 1*9 inches. 



30th. — Two Whitethroats here. Eainfall for the month 

 over four inches. 



May 1st. — Very big flood in the Cherwell valley. 



2nd. — A clutch of five Starling's eggs taken from an old 

 Woodpecker's hole — wo nest— some were quite white and the 

 rest only shaded with colour. Garden-Warbler here. Swifts in 

 the forenoon. 



3rd. — Blackcap (very scarce of late years) in the garden. 



6th. — The country is a quagmire, or a " gog " as they would 

 call it here. Some young Eooks could fly a little. A wet spring 

 often means early young Eooks. 



9th. — The month so far wet, foggy, dull, and cold, with one 

 white frost. I had seen no Swifts since the 2nd until this 

 morning, a little milder, when twenty or thirty in a thick flock 

 were flying over the garden {vide ' Zoologist,' 1913, p. 329). Very 

 few Cuckoos yet. Three young Starlings about this date were 

 in a nesting-box with no nest at all. 



11th. — The song of the two Chiffchaffs in the garden is 

 incessant. One pair have tried to build in a thick juniper. 



13th. — The mild damp winter and damp spring have pro- 

 duced, or helped to produce, the most glorious show of gorse 

 blossom on the hill here that I have seen in this district. 



14th.— In a walk from Heyford, by the uplands, back here, 

 noted twelve or fifteen Chiffchaffs, unusually common here this 

 year. Two Bedstarts and Nightingales at Dean Hill cover and 

 Deddington. Holly Blue here. A Moorhen breeding in a small 

 pond outside a now disused cattle-shed had placed her good cup 

 of a nest, quite exposed, on the top of a stump in the water. The 

 bird pretended to be wounded, trying to dive as if with a broken- 

 looking wing and much splashing. Then, in a most transparent 

 way, made a sham attempt to hide, which was an absurd failure. 

 No bird of course can hide better when it really wants to. 



19th. — Heard Whimbrel passing north at 9.15 p.m. ; from 

 the cries there might have been three or four birds, and low 

 down. Full moon on the 20th. Whimbrel passed on August 

 24th last. Turtle-Dove. 



20th. — On a roughly cultivated ploughed field, with stone 



