ORNITHOLOGY OF OXFORDSHIRE. 283 



must have been hidden. They hide them in old thatched 

 roofs. 



22nd. — Very little song of any kind, except from the hardy 

 Hedge-Sparrow. 



27th. — Frost and snow, but a Blackbird sang a little ; no 

 Thrush song for some days. No Wren song all the cold weather 

 this month, and the Wrens I have seen look fluffed up and de- 

 jected. Although cheeiy and bright in the early part of a frost, 

 however severe, I doubt now if the Wren is a very hardy bird. 

 If the weather is cold it does not sing at this end of the winter, 

 and its habit of roosting in company in old nests and holes shows 

 that it feels the cold. A Herring-Gull shot at Somerton this 

 month (Tyrrell). 



28th.— Milder. A Wren sang. 



A very dry (less than half an inch of rain) and a cold month, 

 Frost on twenty-five days. 



March 2nd. — The Hedge-Sparrow's tarsi (male at all events) 

 now are a dull beefy-red, and it walks as well as hops. 



3rd. — Lots of birds feeding outside the window. The Green- 

 finches will pick up corn eagerly. 



13th. — Spring flowers a complete failure so far. A Turdus 

 nest partly built in a sheltered yew-hedge— a lot of old snow lies 

 on the north side of the shrubbery. Comparatively few Thrushes 

 about. 



16th. — The high ground about Tadmarton Heath is still a 

 good deal covered with snow, and the hills at the back of Swal- 

 cliffe and all along towards Sibford Heath and Epwell are white. 

 A Peregrine flew over a belt of trees at the Highlands, a Book 

 giving a grievous croak as it went over. 



19th. — The first night without frost for weeks. 

 21st. — A Blackbird's nest in the yew-hedge has one egg ; the 

 other nest has been abandoned. 

 26th. — A little apricot-blossom. 

 30th. — Peewits on fallows. 



Very cold up to the 19th. Frost on twenty-three days, and 

 snow fell or lay on ground on seventeen days. 



April 3rd. — Tawny Owl (breeding) hoots rarely now and then 

 in a soft tremulous way ; not with the volley of high clear hoots 

 we hear on cold moonlit winter nights. 



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