Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 4 (1900).djvu/38

14 thatch coping of kitchen garden wall; feathers only just sprouting. The shells of some of the Robin's eggs lie at the foot of the wall.

17th.—A young Cuckoo (the third this year) about the garden; my man says it appeared on the 15th.

23rd.—Saw a Barred Woodpecker. The last young Cuckoo has emerged and frequents the garden.

August 3rd.—A young Cuckoo still with us.

22nd.—Many Swifts; very noisy.

23rd.—Some Swifts.

September 4th.—A big flock of Peewits.

7th.—Many Missel Thrushes about the fields, in small flocks. I shot a very heavy Red-legged Partridge at Milcomb; it was an old male, one of three very wild birds. Although in moult, and the spaniel in retrieving it (it was a runner) pulled out nearly all its tail, it weighed only a shade under 20 oz. I find that 17½ oz. or 18 oz. is a good weight for a full-plumaged November bird.

Partridges showing a pure white horseshoe have been much more common of late than was the case ten years ago. These birds are usually (? always) females. The following examples came under my own notice this year and in the previous autumn.

Moulted young one, sex not noted down, pure white horseshoe, Sept. 15th, 1896. Three females killed at Milcomb and Barford, January 4th, 15th, and 25th, 1897, two with pure white horseshoes, and the third white just marked with a few brown spots. Female with pure white shoe, October 15th. Female with large pure white shoe, November 6th. Female with small patch of brown on white shoe, November 9th. Another the same day, sex not noted, pure white shoe. Birds with the horseshoe chestnut and white mixed are often met with.

12th.—A Grey Wagtail by the Sorbrook at Bodicote.

18th.—About 8 a.m. (the sun just coming through the mist) a cloud of Swallows flew up above the roof in a mass, and went up high in the air; distinctly fewer to be seen about the village afterwards.

21st.—Many Meadow Pipits (migrants) in the roots to-day and yesterday.

30th.—A Turtle Dove at South Newington.

October 13th.—A good many House Martins and only one Swallow.