208 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



it used to be. Nightingale ; none here. Garden Warbler ; 

 average. Turtle-Dove; scarce. Swift; below average. Whin- 

 chat ; very scarce ; only two pairs noticed. Ray's Wagtail ; 

 twice seen at migration time ; none seen breeding. Flycatcher ; 

 very few. Shrike ; none. Quail ; none. Corncrake ; none 

 here. One at North Aston. 



June 1st. — Visited Otmoor and found it unusually dry ; the 

 broad drains which last year were deep in water and impassable 

 were now dry. Almost the only water in the "lakes" was in 

 the big one called Fowls' Pill. The grass was late. We found 

 several pairs of Redshanks, which mobbed us as if they had 

 young. Several Snipe were " drumming," and others calling 

 " wittuk " in the grass, and we flushed two birds. I again 

 noticed Meadow-Pipits, two in song. There were a few pairs 

 of Peewits on and around the moor ; and a pair of Redstarts 

 about the old willows by the Roman Way. 



9th. — Mr. J. W. Palmer writes from Blenheim Palace to the 

 ' Daily Mail,' as follows : " A steamboat with a weed-cutting 

 apparatus is used on Blenheim lake to rid the lake of growing 

 weeds. This boat is engaged at intervals, and has been so 

 engaged for the last four weeks, sometimes steaming for as long 

 as four or five hours at a stretch. A pair of Moor-fowl have 

 built a nest in the stern of the boat, and the Moorhen has laid 

 seven eggs therein, and up to the present moment has hatched 

 out four birds ; the remaining three eggs are chipped and the 

 young will soon be afloat." 



13th. — Heavy rain has fallen. 



15th. — Went to North Aston Mill to visit the colony of 

 Reed-Warblers, and found six nests, all where there was a good 

 growth of reed (Phragmites communis). The birds do not breed 

 in the beds of bullrush {Scirpus lacustris) or frequent them 

 much. It was a brilliant early evening and I always noticed 

 the birds near the nests and heard the song as we approached. 

 The nests were all supported by reed stems (old and new) except 

 in the case of the fifth, which was supported by two slight reeds 

 and the stems of a Thalictrum flavum ; a curious circumstance, 

 as this is a very rare plant here, (i) Nest empty and I think 

 flooded by the rise of the river about the 11th ; (ii) Five eggs 

 slightly sat on ; (iii) Five eggs, hard set ; (iv) Four young, 



