SUMMER MIGRANTS. 
207 
have been at a standstill. The following day I saw three Whinchats 
(Pratincola rubetra), all hen birds. I omitted to mention in my notes 
last year that this species was unusually abundant. Their numbers 
with us vary very considerably in different years. Mr. Harting says, 
“ I have generally found that a cold or wet spring has so affected 
their migration as to cause them apparently to alter their plans and 
induce them to spend the summer but a short distance to the north or 
north-west of their winter quarters.”* The fine warm spring of last 
year would thus account for their abundance, and probably the worst 
of the weather this year was over before the time arrived for them to 
move, for they have been fairly plentiful. On May 5th the snow lay 
on the ground at 5 a.m., and there was a high cold wind ; nevertheless 
in the afternoon I observed a Swift (Gypseliis apus) in the valley, and 
also on the canal bank three Common Sandpipers (Totanus hypoleucus) 
busily hunting for food in the short grass at the water’s edge. These 
birds must spend but a short time in their breeding quarters, as when 
they visit us in May they never seem in a hurry, and stay sometimes a 
few days, and then they are often back again at the end of July. 
This year, indeed, I saw one at the stuffer’s on the 25th which had 
been shot the day before. It seemed as if all the Martins in the 
district were collected over Wormleighton Reservoir that afternoon, 
doubtless for shelter from the wind, and for the sake of the probable 
abundance of insects over the water as compared with the higher 
grounds swept by the searching wind. I did not observe the 
Wryneck (Jynx torquilla) until the 11th, when two in Banbury 
Cemetery were attracting the attention of passers by with their 
loud cries. A Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa grisola) appeared on 
the 14th, and on the same day the Swifts were uttering their 
welcome screams—nine days after their first arrival. On the 16th 
I observed the Corncrake [Grex pratensis) and the Garden Warbler 
{Sylvia hortemis) ; and on the 20th, a soft, warm day, Turtle Doves 
{Turtur communis) were numerous. The following day I was surprised 
to see a hen Wheatear {Saxicola cenanthe) ; this bird visits us rarely 
in March, but I did not observe it this season, and the above is by far 
the latest date in the summer that I ever saw it. I do not think it 
was breeding, and cannot account for its presence. Lesser White- 
throats {Sylvia curruca) are fairly common just here, though I did not 
come across one until this same day. About 9 p.m. on the 22nd I 
heard the “reeling” of the Grasshopper Warbler (LocwsfeZZa nteria)— 
a rather rare bird in North Oxon. My correspondent from Chipping 
Norton writes the following interesting account of one of these birds 
which he observed on 30th April:—“I was walking along the sunny 
side of a wood. . . Here I caught the unmistakable “ reel,” the 
ventriloquism of which was very obvious, but the bird uses a crescendo 
in the middle of a long spell at it, which betrays its position. 
Thinking that I might possibly get a sight of it I crossed the low 
hedge and got in among the grass and saplings up to the point where 
* Vide " Our Summer Migrants,” p. 10. 
