Feb., 1892. 
NOTES FROM A WINTER JOURNAL. 
41 
ditch, which in an ordinary season would be running or half 
full at this season, as it carries off drainage from Crouch Hill 
and fields about there ; now dry. On the 11th it was a little 
running stream, in which state no doubt the wagtail expected 
to find it. 
15tli.—Large flocks of Fieldfares ; very numerous now. 
25th.—Sharp frost, morning ; N.N.E.—N.E. Considerable 
sprinkling of snow on ground and a very little in day. Turned 
cold yesterday, and to-day the long frost virtually commenced. 
27th.—Report from Oxford of “unusual numbers of Red¬ 
polls lately,” W. W. F. Bitterly cold; little snow. 
28tli.—Two or three inches of snow on the ground. Said 
to be the coldest day by 4° in any November for fifty years. I 
may here briefly mention that streams were frozen next day. 
A lull in the frost began on the 30th, but the first few days of 
December were cold. Drying easterly winds on 6th and 7th, 
snow on 8th. Then very cold ; and on 19th heavy snow, 
six inches on ground, which thereafter continued snow-covered 
until a few days before the final break up of the frost on 24th 
January. Thermometer not over 25° all day. 
29th.—Very sharp frost. Fieldfares, Redwings, and 
Starlings very tame. Robins and a Pied Wagtail fed within 
a couple of yards of us, where some men were moving mud 
thrown out of the Swere. A party of five Siskins feeding in 
alders at Bloxham. A flock of Redpolls in alders at Bodicote 
Mill. A great flock of Skylarks on clover lea ; the field was 
covered with their tracks and little places where they had 
scratched. An examination of the crops of some of them 
showed that they were not eating the clover plants. A pack 
of five-and-twenty Partridges in this field very conspicuous 
on the snow. One Snipe in the Swere. A Dunlin shot from 
a party of five in a wet ditch in “ The Marshes,” at Banbury. 
80th.—Some Redpolls and a charm of seven Goldfinches 
in the alders here. 
December 7th.—A snipe close to the railway station. 
Some Redpolls in the alders near the “ Pest House.” One 
was shot somewhere near here about the first of the month. 
In October I ventured to predict that, on account of the abun¬ 
dant crop of alder seed, these birds would be more plentiful 
than usual. Two Grey Wagtails in the village brook. 
11th.—A Red-throated Diver picked up alive close to 
Banbury this morning. 
13tli.—A Snipe in the brook close to the village. 
14th.—Very hard frost. Thermometer stood at 20° under 
a verandah between nine and ten a.m. Still harder at night. 
A Snipe and a “Jack” in warm spring near South Newington. 
Thick rime. 
18th.—Examined a Water Rail shot in “ The Banks ” 
