324 



THE ZOOLOGIST 



sun was strong, and the temperature rose to 50°, so the snow 

 melted fast during the day ; much, however, still remained. 

 The Cuckoo was heard at Watlington and at Tadmarton this 

 morning, and a male Blackcap appeared in the garden in the 

 afternoon. Every nest that I knew of in the garden was deserted, 

 and the young, if hatched, perished, and numbers of Eooks 

 seem to have lost their broods. But, strange to say, a 

 Pheasant, which had a nest under some thorns lying against a 

 mangold-bury in one of our fields, sat right through the double 

 storm covered up with snow except for a small blow-hole, and 

 finally hatched off and brought up her brood. The storm was 

 one of the heaviest we have had since 1881, and possibly had not 

 a great deal of the snow melted as it fell it would have been the 

 deepest fall of modern years ; it certainly was the deepest spring 

 fall ever known. Some remote villages were isolated on the 

 25th, and the snow was seventeen or eighteen inches deep on the 

 level in some parts of Oxfordshire. 



27th. — A steady thaw, and a great deal of rain at night. 



28th. — Still some heaps of snow remaining ; a great rain and 

 the lower part of the village heavily flooded. The Thames Valley 

 flooded. A Swan's nest on island near Caversham Bridge carried 

 away. 



29th. — The warmest day this year — 56° in shade. Cuckoo 

 noisy ; a pair of Swallows here, singing ; Willow-Wren in song ; 

 but it is probable that a great many migrants have perished. 



30th. — A lot more rain last night and until noon to-day. 

 Great floods in the valleys, and upland fields with standing pools 

 of water. Lots of Swallows about the village. 



Kain (and snow) on about eighteen days this month amounted 

 to nearly four inches. Wind chiefly in the north-west. 



May 1st. — An extraordinary change to a summer day ; 70° in 

 the shade. Whitethroats, Kay's Wagtail, and Tree-Pipit had 

 arrived, and Swallows and Cuckoos are numerous. 



2nd. — Up to 72°, and blossom coming out rapidly in the hot 

 air, and everything seems in a hurry to make up lost time ; a 

 Thrush had a nest externally finished in the forenoon of the 

 29th. Two Garden Warblers here to-day. Kestrel had four 

 eggs. 



3rd. — Lots of House-Martins. A clutch of Carrion-Crow's 



