OBSERVED IN HERTFORDSHIRE IN 1906. 213 



of a Naturalist,' by Mr. J. E. Harting, a book published in 1906. 

 Briefly summed up, the line of argument is as follows : — 



(1) Many animals are attracted, if not fascinated, by a light 

 exhibited in the darlmess, e.g., moths by a candle, birds by a 

 lighthouse, deer enticed within rifle shot by showing a hght. 



(2) This being so, have any wild creatiu-es the power of 

 emitting a phosphorescent light for the purpose of attracting 

 and alluring their prey ? (3) The late Edward Jesse, in his 

 ' Grleanings of Natural History,' wrote : "It has been supposed 

 that a hght is emitted by herons from their breasts as they 

 stand in the water of an evening waiting for fish. I should like 

 to be assured of the accuracy of this supposition." (4) Are 

 certain portions of the plumage (of herons) luminous so that 

 they can illumine the water over a small area just in front of 

 them, and thus lure the fish to them ? (5) Mr. Harting thinks 

 that this is so, and he believes that the alleged luminosity of the 

 breast-feathers is to be correlated with the so-called " powder- 

 down " patches observed both in the Eiu'opean and American 

 herons and bitterns. Instances of this luminosity are then given 

 (in the book referred to), especially in connection with the great 

 blue heron of America (Ardea herodias). The whole subject is 

 a very difficult one, and I have yet to meet with the heron that 

 either by night or by day will allow any observer to get sufficiently 

 near to make close observations of this kind. I commend the 

 subject, however, to those naturalists who may be more fortunate. 



Bittern {Botanriis stellaris). — Judging by the frequency of 

 the records of this bird in the natui-al history papers, one 

 might almost call 1906 " a bittern year," and Hertfordshire 

 has not been left unvisited. Lady Ebury informs me that one 

 has been seen at Rickmansworth, Mr. W. Graveson (Hertford) 

 states that "there have been two bitterns in this neighbourhood 

 during the winter," and Mr. Hopkinsou has sent to me the 

 following note from the ' Hertfordshire Mercury ' of 27th 

 January, 1906 : — " Fight with a Bittern. — Wliile out shooting 

 along the river-side near Bulwell, Mr. Widdowson shot and 

 woiuided a fine specimen of the English bittern, now rarely seen 

 in this coimtry. When his keeper went to pick it up the bird 

 attacked him furiously for some time, and subsequently turning 

 on to the keeper's dog bit the animal severely. Eventually the 

 keeper killed the bird." I have also heard of a bird supposed 

 to have been a bittern, having been seen by some of the members 

 of the Bushey Golf Club on their links, but as other members of 

 the club who also saw it declared it to be a goose, I cannot 

 venture an opinion as to what this strange visitor really was. 



Wild Duck or Mallai'd (Anas boscas). — An occurrence which 

 I think constitutes an "early-nesting" record, even for this early- 

 nesting species, was brouglit to my notice in January (1906). 

 This was the nest containing ten eggs of a wild duck, and I saw 

 and photographed the bird on the nest on January 28th. Two 

 days later — so the keeper told me — all the eggs were hatched 



