VI. 



NOTES ON BIRDS OBSERVED IN HERTFORDSHIRE DURING 



THE YEAR 1895. 



By Alan F. Grossman, F.L.S. 



Read at Watford, \7th March, 1896. 



I HAVE not lived in Hertfordshire long enougli to know very 

 much about the distribution of the birds of the county ; but from 

 •what I have already seen, and from studying the former records 

 of the rarer species, I should think that our county, considering 

 its physical features and its position, would afford to the field- 

 naturalist plenty of opportunities for studying the habits of 

 many kinds of birds. There are certainly some birds breeding 

 in Hertfordshire which do not nest in the majority of the English 

 counties, or at any rate in such numbers as they do with us. First 

 among these, comes that splendid bird the great crested grebe. 

 Few counties, with the exception of I^Torfolk, can claim that this 

 bii'd nests with them in such numbers as it does with us at the 

 Tring Reservoirs ; while it is not everywhere that one can find 

 the pochard, tufted duck, and shoveller breeding. 



I have great pleasure in announcing that, owing to the repre- 

 sentations of the Hertfordshire Natural History Society, an order 

 has been made by the Home Secretary, under the ' Wild Birds 

 Protection Act, 1894,' adding certain birds to the schedule of the 

 Wild Birds Protection Acts, 1880 and 1881, and also protecting 

 the eggs of certain birds which are mentioned in the order. I 

 sincerely hope that these Acts, with the Order, will be enforced, 

 and that all the members of this Society will do their best to 

 spread a knowledge of them. All game-preservers should forbid 

 their keepers to kill the owls and hawks, as most birds of these 

 species do a great deal of good, in fact very much more good than 

 harm. Farmers also ought to protect these birds, as they are 

 extremely useful in keeping down mice and other small animals, 

 which otherwise would increase in such quantities as to become 

 a regular plague. 



Turning now to my proper subject, which is a report on the 

 Bii'ds of Hertfordshire for the year 1895, I have three birds to add 

 to the list. Two of these did not actually occur in 1895, but as 

 they have not yet been recorded in our ' Transactions,' it becomes 

 ray duty to mention them in my report. There is another bird 

 which 1 think should be added to our list ; of this I can, however, 

 find no actual record. The bird I am referring to is the great 

 bustard. In the ' Dictionary of Birds,' edited by Professor Newton, 

 under the heading of "Bustard," comes the following sentence: 

 " From other English counties, as Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, 

 and Berkshire, it disappeared without note being taken of the 



event " In Alorris' ' British Birds ' it is stated that Ray 



and Willoughby mentioned Royston Heath as a place frequented by 



VOL. IX. — PART III. 6 



