ORNITHOLOGY OF OXFORDSHIRE. 



327 



(except apples) being gathered. Thrushes always leave earlier, 

 and do little damage. 



27th. — A Blackbird sang a little. 



29th. — Lark singing. 



30th. — No Swallows or Martins to be seen. Fine hot weather. 



Less than an inch of rain this month, though it fell on 

 nearly half the days of the month. 



October 7th. — A pair of Martins. Bullfinches have been 

 scarce this summer ; none bred here this year. 



12th. — Very fine warm season. Some Pipits in roots ; seem 

 to be on the move. Great many Song-Thrushes in roots and 

 hedges, where they feed on elder-oerries. I was standing at the 

 end of a spinney (chiefly larch) on South Newington Hill, which 

 the beaters were bringing along, when a Long-eared Owl flew out 

 low down, with its beautiful long wings held straight out almost 

 like a Shearwater's. Seeing me close by, it wheeled round and 

 settled in a partly bare elder-bush. As it flew past me its 

 "ears" were hardly noticeable, but directly it alighted it put 

 them up. When staying at Kainworth with Mr. Whitaker early 

 in the month I learned the hoot of this bird. It is a single cry ; 

 a rather long-drawn melancholy " who." They probably breed 

 in the spinneys about South Newington Hill and Great Tew, but 

 we have none about Bloxham. 



13th. — Wren sang. Few migratory Pipits this year. 



17th. — Blackbird sang a few notes. Fair lot of Pipits. The 

 flocks of Mistle-Thrushes have gone. A friend of mine saw a 

 Magpie carry a stick across a field and go to a nest in a tree at 

 Milcomb. Very fine warm season. The song of the Wren is 

 quite a feature of this autumn. 



18th.— A great many Song-Thrushes and Blackbirds now 

 about the hedges. 



22nd. — A Woodcock at the gamedealer's. 



29th. — A Brimstone Butterfly. 



30th. — Song-Thrush singing, a poor song. 



31st. — Small party of Redwings. Greenfinches now feed on 

 cotoneaster-berries ; eight in a bush by the dining-room window 

 at one time. 



A fine warm month ; rain only amounted to about *90 in. ; 

 but very heavy mists and dews. 



