ORNITHOLOGY OF OXFORDSHIRE. 417 



Yellow Buntings numerous. I heard a Cirl-Bunting in a planta- 

 tion on the hills above Shirburn, which I could not go into. On 

 Watlington Down are some old wind-swept yew-trees, and there 

 are many along the Icknield Way which must make fine winter 

 shelter for the birds. I could see or hear nothing at Stoken- 

 church of the Wood-Lark, which used to be found there. The 

 immediate vicinity of that place is bare and wind-swept, gorsy, 

 and resembles one of the commons once one of the features of 

 these hill-villages, but now threatened by the land-grabber. 

 The enclosing of the woodlands has been going on for a long 

 time, and the advent of the motor has put the finishing touch to 

 the spoiling of what was not long ago a beautiful bit of wild 

 Oxfordshire. 



Perhaps the principal natural feature of the country is the 

 great beech-woods, and nowhere else in the county have I seen 

 so many Marsh-Tits ; their song, " tit-chit-chit-chit-chit-chit," 

 rather quickly delivered, was very noticeable. Beech is still 

 the predominating tree, though conifers have been introduced, 

 and many others are indigenous, the hornbeam and cherry being 

 perhaps not without influence on the avifauna, and the spurge- 

 laurel is common in places. The Mistle-Thrush is very nume- 

 rous, its loud song resounding in the wooded hillsides. Young 

 were hatched by the I4th, and I found two more nests the 

 same day. 



The number of old and new Blackbirds' and Thrushes' 

 nests one sees along the Icknield Way in small thin trees and 

 the ancient hedges, both ivy-grown, is extraordinary. The 

 Carrion-Crow and Magpie are being wiped out by the Pheasant- 

 rearers, but I saw one of the former and a few of the latter. 

 Jackdaws, on the other hand, abound, and probably may breed 

 in rabbit-holes, as also possibly the rather numerous Stock- 

 Doves. The Bed-legged Partridge is common on the hills, &c. 

 Of the Stone Curlew I saw only 'one bird, at the foot of Bald 

 Hill ; but about sundown I heard them calling on Swyncombe 

 Down. When they begin the call is almost a hissing sound, but 

 gets fuller at each repetition. It is very shrill, and the " lee- 

 ewk " very peculiar, with almost a Celtic U sound in it. The 

 call is sometimes almost "kurrr-lee-ewk." The birds were call- 

 ing just as the sun set, like a red ball. On the evening of the 

 Zool. 4th ner. vol. X., November, 1906. 2 k 



