44 
NATURE NOTES. 
“THE EXTERMINATION OF BRITISH BIRDS.” 
AM sorry to have to question the conclusions of so true 
a naturalist as the Rev. H. D. Gordon, but so far as 
they relate to this county (Oxfordshire) they are really 
misleading. Nothing is easier than to make mistakes as 
to the variation in the numbers of different species at different 
times ; nothing, too, is easier than to ascribe such variation to 
the wrong cause. I should not venture to write to you on this 
matter if I had not been a daily observer for more than fifteen 
years, both at Oxford and at the village from which I write 
(Kingham), and if my conclusions w'ere not fully shared by my 
friend, Mr. O. V. Aplin, author of The Birds of Oxfordshire, who 
resides near Banbury. So far, therefore, as this county is con- 
cerned in the question, our evidence is pretty strong, and I am 
happy to be able to tell Mr. Gordon that with us the birds are 
not so scarce, nor is man so vile, as would appear to be the case 
elsewhere. I can only hope that his information may be equally 
incorrect for other localities, for I love my fellow human beings 
as well as the birds, and do not wish to think so badly of them 
as I am sometimes apt to do when reading Nature Notes. 
I will take the birds which Mr. Gordon says are rapidly 
becoming extinct, and state the facts as far as this county is 
concerned. 
The Kingfisher has of late years been growing steadily com- 
moner, in spite of the severe winter of 1878-9, wdiich reduced its 
numbers. I knew r of several nests last summer, and in the 
autumn I seldom failed to see the birds during any walk by our 
streams. I once saw three fishing in a single ditch. Of course, 
the late severe weather has worked havoc among them, both by 
starving them and by bringing them within easy reach of guns ; 
but I am not yet hopeless about them. I may add that I have 
seen this bird pretty often during short visits to other parts of 
England. 
The Redstart's increase in numbers has been one of the most 
striking facts in our ornithology during the last ten years. (See 
Mr. Aplin’s book, p. 56). In May and June we have had many 
scores of pairs building in and around Oxford, and here at 
Kingham the song is to be heard everywhere. This steady 
increase has been one of my greatest pleasures for several years ; 
and all the more so because I do not often see the bird on the 
continent. We may be sure that the redstart thinks better of 
English people than Mr. Gordon does. 
The Goldfinch has also been recruiting its numbers of late 
years (see Mr. Aplin again, pp. 19 and 92) ; even in the late 
severe weather, I have several times seen individuals here, and 
noted also a large flock or “ charm ” in South Wales. The 
cultivation of certain large fields of thistles should have done 
something to keep it away from these parts ; but I have observed 
no difference in its numbers. 
