XIV. 



XOTES OX BIRDS OBSERVED IX HERTFORDSHIRE DIJRIXG 



THE YEAR 1892. 



By Heney Lewis. 



Bead at Watford, 2\st March, 1893. 



Last year I was unable to make any addition to our record 

 of Hortfordsliire birds. On this occasion, however, I am more 

 fortunate, having, I believe, three birds to add to our list, thus 

 augmenting the number which have been observed in Hertford- 

 shire from 202 to 20-5 species. 



We are again indebted to the Honourable Walter Rothschild for 

 all the interesting reports from the neighbourhood of Tring, which 

 include two of the additions to our list, namely, the long-tailed 

 duck {Harelda glacial i ft) and the pintail duck {Bafila acuta). In 

 a letter dated 'l8th Xovember, 1892, he says: "It may be of 

 interest to the readers of our Transactions if you mention the fact 

 that this year for the first time we have succeeded in hatching and 

 rearing young emus, although we have had them in Tring Park 

 since 1877, and they have laid regularly every year. We now 

 have seventeen emus in the Park." As all are well aware, the 

 emu {Dromceus novce-hollandiee) is a native of Australia. There 

 are two species of the genus. This one nearly equals the ostrich 

 {Struthio camelus) in size, its height being between five and six 

 feet. In its manners the emu bears a close resemblance to that 

 bird. It runs with great swiftness, and we are told that its voice 

 has a low booming sound. The eggs are six or seven in number, 

 of a dark green colour, and are much esteemed by the natives as 

 food. In the same letter Mr. Rothschild says: "In addition to 

 the male and female rough-legged buzzards killed last autumn, the 

 keepers caught a third alive, which I still have. He is in splendid 

 plumage, and a little time back killed and ate a fine female alhino 

 common buzzard in the same aviaiy." He further states: "We 

 have on our ground near Wigginton, in a covey of partridges, two 

 sandy yellow birds, but as yet I have not secured either of them." 



I will now proceed to notice the three birds which, it appears to 

 me, we may add to our list. 



1 . The Carolina, American Wood, or Summer Duck [Aix spo7isa). 

 — Mr. Charles Martin, a taxidermist, living in St. Albans, early 

 last year asked me if I would call and identify a singular duck 

 which was shot near Moor Mill by a Mr. Allen, in December, 1891. 

 After some little trouble I found that it was the American wood 

 or summer duck. 



Mr. Seebohm, in his ' History of British Birds ' (vol. iii, p. 563\ 

 states that this bird has been included in the British list; "but," 

 he adds, "as it is frequently kept on ornamental waters, there is 

 no reason to suppose that it has ever occurred on our islands in a 

 wild state." Mr. W. S. M. Durban and the Rev. M. A. Mathew, 



