Mar., 1892 . 
NOTES FROM A WINTER JOURNAL. 
61 
drinking trough of the spring in his cattle yard. This water 
has only been frozen once before this winter, viz., on the 
night of the 10th. 
20th.—Severe frost last night, for it froze in my room, but 
at breakfast time the wind was S.W., and felt warm. Rain 
in afternoon, and heavy at night, but by midnight sky was 
clear and it was freezing. 
21st.—Wind W. Hard wind-frost and roads very bad. 
The ground is so hard that none of the rain-water and snow¬ 
melt has been able to sink in. On the pools formed in the 
fields there is half an inch of ice ; rather large floods in the 
valley frozen over. A Barred Woodpecker, male, brought to 
me. 
22nd.—Sharp frost again. Ice on the rain-pools bears 
boys. Sprinkle of snow at night. Warmer later. An Otter, 
caught on outside of ice on the Cherwell, near Banbury, 
brought into that town. 
28rd.—Warm. Wind S.W. Rain in afternoon. Robin 
sang, morning and evening, for the first time since the frost 
began at the end of November. Barn Owl calling near house 
last night. We have had a pair of Crows here all the winter; 
I heard them calling early this morning. News of the fifteen 
Wild Swans seen in the flooded valley below North Aston. 
24th.—Rain in afternoon. Frost at night. Great floods 
in the valley. No water has been able to sink into the frozen 
ground, so all the snow-melt and rain has run down into the 
valley at once; also ice blocks the river. Ice in canal bent 
up in the middle like a span roof, with a crack down the 
middle and water over the sides. Saw two Kestrels. Half- 
a dozen Wild Ducks near the Weir Lock. Many Rooks and 
Starlings along the flood edges. Three or four Fieldfares 
near Adderbury. News from Mr. W. W Fowler, at Oxford, 
that he sees a few Bramblings with Chaffinches in rickyards. 
Bullfinches rather common here. 
25tli.—Coal Tit, with spring note “ if-he." Starlings 
singing. 
26tli.—Warm, some wet. 
27tli.—Ditto. Partridge, with spring call. 
28th.—Warm, some wet. Lark singing, a few seem to 
have come back the last day or two. Hedge Sparrow and 
Wren have sung a little, but I have heard neither Song 
Thrush nor Missel Thrush yet. 
80th.—Bright and sunny. Went to see the Wild Swans 
in the valley under North Aston. Saw five, all adult birds. 
They are Whoopers (C. viusicus). Sixteen Mallard and 
Duck on the flood. At night heard the call notes of Teal and 
Widgeon. 
