OBSERVED IN UERTS IN 1891. 65 



In this binl there is a striking- difFercnce between the winter and 

 the suininor plumage. YarrcU says : " Tlie ftMiialos of this species 

 appear to assume more perfect colours in the breeding-season and 

 to retain them longer than the males . . . The front and sides of 

 the neck, the breast, and all the under surface of the body arc a 

 uniform reddish chestnut or bay. . . The females are the largest." 

 'Mv. H. Seebohm says that the bird "breeds in Iceland, Sj^itz- 

 bergen, and in the Taimyr peninsula," and that "at their breeding- 

 grounds they are described as being very tame." They show the 

 same coutideuce and fearlessness when with us. But Hume, who 

 met with them in their winter quarters on the coast of Scind, 

 found them to be "very wary, rising en »iasse, and skimming along 

 the surface of the water for a couple of hundred yards or so, as 

 soon as the boat approached within a hundred yards of them." 

 Kumlicn says that ou the Labrador coast they follow the whales, 

 approaching them when they blow, to catch the small marine 

 animals which are disturbed, and that from this they are known 

 amongst the whalers as the "whale bird" and "bow-head bird." 



The Common Redshank {Totanus calidris). — Mr. Arthur Spary 

 informs me that " a redshank was picked up on the Midhmd 

 Railway between St. Albans and Radlett in the month of June and 

 brought to him to preserve." This bird has been reported on two 

 previous occasions, one having been shot in the Colne meadows and 

 two on the Tring Reservoirs. 



Mr. T. Vaughan Roberts, in a letter dated the 30th of March, 

 writes : "While on the little island at Russell Farm, between the 

 back-water and the Canal, 1 saw first a kingfisher. I often see 

 them here. IS^ext one of my dogs flushed a water-rail which flew 

 into a bush close to me and I had a splendid inspection. The 

 red bill and the exquisite brown plumage were seen in the 

 sun to the best advantage. The bird never moved until I did. 

 We then started a wild duck. I had seen a badger caught the 

 previous day in Cassiobury Park, so it was ' a red-letter day ' for 

 a naturalist." 



I will now make a few observations on some of our more familiar 

 birds, as it is equally interesting to study their song, habits, and 

 many charming ways, as it is to report a rara avis which is 

 generally shot or done to death as soon as it reaches us. 



The Redbeeast [Erithacus ruhecula). — This bird can greatly 

 vary its song. It has occurred to me when listening to it that 

 at times the bird is a mimic, simulating the song of other 

 birds. I have noticed its song in summer sometimes to differ from 

 its well-known autumn strain which it commences some time in 

 August. In July the robin, Mr. Seebohm states, is never heard to 

 sing. This bird is one of the first to " salute the happy morn," as 

 well as one of the latest to retire to rest. Besides its call-note it 

 sometimes, with others, utters a singularly plaintive note (as if in 

 trouble), with which the birds occasionally answer each other. 

 Mr. Ashwell informs me that in the summer a robin's nest was 



