240 J. E. LITTLEBOT NOTES ON BERDS 



the days of our great uncultivated tracts of forest land, when game- 

 preserving was hardly thought of, was a numerous resident, this 

 species is only supposed to have remained to breed in one or two 

 very rare instances. Its food consists of I'abbits and other small 

 mammals. It doubtless preys largely on lemmings in Scandinavia, 

 which is its true home. jS^early all the specimens which are killed 

 in this country are immature ; examples which have in any degree 

 assumed the adult plumage being very rare. From the common 

 buzzard and the honey-buzzard, with which alone it could be 

 confounded, it may always be distinguished by its legs being 

 feathered down to the toes." 



3. The Ospeey {Pandion Haliaetus). — An osprey was shot in 

 Hatfield Park during September, 1880. I am indebted to Mr. 

 George Flatten, head gamekeeper, for the following particulars. 

 A large hawk had been noticed in the park for several days, but 

 special attention was at length directed to it by a striking exhibition 

 of its peculiar fishing propensity. It was observed to plunge with 

 great force into the broad-water, a portion of the River Lea that 

 flows by Hatfield Park ; to dive for a distance of 50 or 60 yards, 

 and, after swimming for a moment or two on the surface like a 

 duck, to rise into the air with a large fish, estimated to weigh at 

 least a pound, in its talons. Such an occurrence left no doubt as 

 to its species. It proved to be a remarkably fine female bird and in 

 splendid plumage. It was stuffed and mounted before I had the 

 opportunity of seeing it, but I am informed that its expanse of 

 wing measured five feet six inches, and its length from head to tail 

 is almost exactly two feet. The osprey, or sea-hawk, is extremely 

 rare in the inland counties. Yarrell reports it as only having been 

 taken in Oxfordshire, Hertfordshire, and Shropshire.* It breeds freely 

 in Scandinavia and iS^orthern Russia, where it frequents rocks and 

 cliffs on the sea-coasts and the neighbourhood of lakes and rivers. 

 It breeds also to a limited extent in Scotland, nests having been 

 fi'equently reported from the vicinity of Loch Awe and other High- 

 land lakes. It feeds almost exclusively on fish, the great strength 

 and sharpness of its claws enabling it to seize its prey with 

 unfailing certainty. Its method of capturing its food is well 

 illustrated by the incident in Hatfield Park. It is said f that the 

 osprey never condescends to pick from either land or water a fish 

 that it has once dropped ; when searching for its food, it hovers 

 over the water or glides slowly along with motionless wing and 

 but rarely alights upon the ground. 



4. The Bittern {Botaurus stellaris). — llr. Henry Manser, of 

 Hoddesdon, reports that a bittern in fine plumage was shot near 

 Hoddesdon, on the 24th of January, 1881. It measured 26 inches 

 in height to top of head, and 15 inches to shoulders. Pifty years ago 

 the bittern, the most beautiful of our waders, was in many parts of 

 England comparatively common, and was held in some estimation 



* ' History of British Birds,' vol. i, p. 24. 



t ' Encyclopoedia Britaniiica,' 8th Ed., vol. xvi, p. 743. 



