OBSERVED IN HEETFORDSniKE IN 1896, 153 



norfh-wcst portion of HertfordshiiT. T am glad to bo able to say- 

 that this is uot uow the case, but that the tine bird may now be 

 considered as a fairly plentiful and incrcasinfj; resident. 



Goldfinch {Cardue/is elegans). — The g-oldtinch has been I'eported 

 to me as having- been seen on several occasions in the district around 

 Berkhamsted during the latter part of 1896, both in small parties 

 and singly. In April of that year I found a nest of this species 

 containing young birds in a small fir spinney just outside the 

 borders of the county; it vras placed at the end of a bough of 

 a small pine, and -was built of moss and lined "with what appeared 

 to be catkins. Although this nest was not actually in Hertford- 

 shire, it is interesting to know that a bird which is in some 

 districts becoming very scarce still nests at least near to our 

 county. Mr. H. S. Eivers tells me that he frequently saw 

 goldfinches about near Sawbridgeworth in 1896, and that he is 

 almost certain that a pair nested in his garden, although he could 

 not actually discover the nest. 



Tree-Spakrow [Passer montanus). — This bird, according to 

 Mr. Harting, used occasionally to be observed in small flocks at 

 Elstree during the winter-time. Mr. Numi tells me that during 

 the last few years the tree-sparrow has commenced to nest in the 

 neighbourhood of Eoyston, where in former times it was only 

 a -winter visitor. 



Mealy Redpoll {Linota linaria), — Mr. Harting, in his book on 

 the 'Birds of Middlesex,' states that a pair of these birds were 

 obtained near Elstree in 1866, and further that he had been 

 informed that the bird might be procured there in most years. 

 This bird has only been recorded in Hertfordshire on one other 

 occasion, when one was taken by a bird-catcher on the north- 

 western border of the county, towards I-vinghoe, According to 

 Mr. Howard Saunders the mealy redpoll is a regular winter visitor 

 to the north of the British Isles, but becomes less plentiful further 

 south. 



Lesser Redpoll {Linota rufescens). — Mr. Lucas informs me that 

 he has observed this species in the neighbourhood of Hitchin, and 

 he also says that he possesses some eggs which were taken in that 

 locality. Mr. Rivers states that on 29th July, 1896, he saw 

 a lesser redpoll on a birch-tree in his grounds at Sawbridgeworth. 

 This is the first occasion on which he has observed the bird in 

 that district. 



CiRL-BuNTiNG {Emheriza cirlus). — Mr. More, in the ' Ibis ' for 

 1865, mentions that on 4th June, 1864, the Rev. H. H. Crewe 

 found near Tring a nest of the cirl-bunting containing three eggs. 

 The chalk hills of Hertfordshire are mentioned by Mr. Howard 

 Saunders in his * Manual ' as one of the breeding-places of this 

 species, and in Vol. VIII of oux ' Transactions ' it is mentioned 

 as ha-ving been very plentiful around Tring in 1894, 



Jackdaw ( Corvus monedula). — Mr. Silvester informs me that on 

 10th March, 1896, his ploughman, who was rolling a meadow 

 on Hedges Farm, St. Albans, about ten o'clock in the morning, 



VOL. IX. — PART IV. 11 



