52 W. BICKERTON NOTES ON BIRDS 



Wlieatear (Saxicola cenanthe). — Mr. Vaughan, of Hailevbury, 

 reports the wlieatear as passing on March 28th, which, he states, 

 is an average date, and Mr. A. H. Foster, of Hitchin, reports 

 a small company of six on April 4th. Mr. A. W. Dickinson, 

 St. Albans, reports one on May 3rd. I saw one on Croxley 

 Common Moor on May 7th, and this is the first and the only one 

 I have ever seen in Hertfordshire. As the wheatear is one of 

 the first of the summer migrants to reach England, usually 

 arriving during the latter half of March, I hardly think the two 

 last-named specimens here recorded were " on passage." It is 

 not easy to account for their presence unless one concludes that 

 they were old unpaired birds. I may add that I have only heard 

 of one other record of this bird for our county during the five 

 years I have been acting as recorder. 



Of the smaller Warblers, Mr. Vaughan reports that on 

 March 25th he saw and heard five Chiffchaffs (Phylloscojius 

 riifus) in different places, and that he heard birds of the species 

 constantly after that date. The first Willow- Wren (P. trochilus) 

 he heard on April 4th, which is rather early. The Wood- Wren 

 (P. sibilatrix) does not appear at all in the records of the year. 



Stonechat (Pratincola rubicola). — I have for the first time 

 found the nest and young of this bird in the Watford district — 

 within 2| miles, in fact, of the town. 



Bearded Titmouse {Panurus hiarmicus). — I think most of you 

 will be astonished to hear that a specimen of this extremely 

 local, rare, and interesting bird has been seen on one of the 

 quieter waters in the western part of the county. The exact 

 locality I am, for obvious reasons, asked not to indicate. The 

 gentleman who saw the bird is perfectly familiar with it in its 

 native haunts in the Norfolk Broads (Hickling Broad especially), 

 the one district remaining in the British Islands where the 

 " reed-pheasant," as the Norfolk marshmen call it, is really at 

 home. There cannot, therefore, be the least doubt as to the 

 authenticity of the record, and the pleasure of reporting it is 

 doubled by one's being able to add that the bird was not 

 destroyed, as so many rarities are when they get beyond the 

 limits of their normal range. I am inclined to class this as 

 perhaps the most extraordinary incident in what I think has 

 been a somewhat unusual year from an ornithological point of 

 view in Hertfordshire, and especially so as we have only three 

 previous records of the appearance of the bird in the county — 

 the last one being in July, 1888. The specimen now reported 

 was seen during the last week of January (1905), and the 

 observer informs me that he only saw it on the one occasion. 

 As perhaps most of you know, the bearded tit has now for many 

 years past been practically confined to the district of the Norfolk 

 Broads, and even in that district fears of its absolute exter- 

 mination as a British breeding species have, owing mainly to the 

 greed of collectors both of eggs and skins, been entertained. 

 Happily, owing to more rigid protection, these fears have not 



