OBSERVED IN HERTFORDSHIRE IN 1905. 61 



and acting in precisely the same manner, as those I had been 

 watching only the week before on some of the sea-marshes of 

 Cumberland. I did not, however, see more than the one pair — 

 my informant had seen two pairs. It was, of conrse, too late 

 then to expect to find the eggs of so interesting a species, for the 

 redshank is an early breedei'— in fact, I was too late for them 

 even up in the north. But, personally, I have not the least 

 doubt that the birds had nested, and that in the rough, long, 

 partially water-logged grass of the area where they haunted, they 

 had their young ones. These I tried to find, but without success. 

 Eedshanks are extremely noisy during the breeding-season when 

 they have either eggs or young, and so long as an intruder is on 

 their breeding- grounds they will not cease to fly round and round 

 calling loudly and continuously. The birds I saw well maintained 

 the characteristics of their species in this respect. " Them cussed 

 yelpers," the Norfolk marshmen call them, for they alarm all the 

 wild inhabitants of the marshes as soon as an intruder comes in 

 sight. I can only again say that this is another of the unusual 

 incidents of the year, and that I, for one, certainly never expected 

 to be able to add the redshank to the list of Hertfordshire 

 breeding-birds. This, however, I can confidently do, and the 

 more confidently as Mr. R. B. Lodge, of Enfield, reported to one 

 of the natural history papers last year that both the redshank 

 and the ringed plover (^gialitis hiaticola) had been found 

 breeding in North-East Middlesex. I may state that I enquired 

 of Mr. E. Hartert, of Tring, as to whether the redshank had been 

 known to breed at Tring, and he informed me that it had not. 

 Considering that this bird has now been seen, and has nested, 

 both in Herts and Middlesex, it looks as if, in common with 

 some other species, it is extending its breeding-range to fresh 

 districts in which it can find habitats suited to its needs. If two 

 pairs nested successfully in Hertfordshire last year, there is no 

 reason why half-a-dozen pairs should not do so this year. May 

 one, therefore, venture to hope that landowners and their keepers 

 will give the birds every protection which lies in their power ? 

 May one also appeal to the members of the Hertfordshire County 

 Council who are interested in bird-life, and ask that they will 

 take such action as will result in having the eggs of the redshank, 

 as well as the bird itself, placed on the protected list as soon as 

 possible ? 



Black-tailed Godwit {Limosa helgica). — Last year I was able 

 to report that a bird of this species had been taken at Tring, and 

 that this made the second instance of the bird having been seen 

 in Hertfordshire. In the course of my remarks I further stated 

 that this bird formerly nested in our eastern counties, especially 

 in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Cambridge, and Norfolk, eggs being 

 taken in the last-named county until the year 1847. I have now 

 to report the following note from Mr. M. Vaughan (Haileybury) : 

 — " It may interest you to know that in all probability a pair of 

 the above tried to nest only twenty years ago. They were seen 



