XXIX. 



NOTES OX BIRDS OBSERVED IN HERTFORDSniRE DURING 



THE YEAR 1882. 



Br John E. Littlebot. 



Head at Watford, 20th March, 1883. 



It is once more my pleasant duty to bring before our members 

 a few particulars respecting birds observed in Hertfordshire during 

 the past year. There are, in addition to these, a few species which 

 occurred prior to 1882, but which, having been reported sub- 

 sequently to the reading of my last paper, will also claim our 

 attention. I am glad to announce that I have registered thirteen 

 additional 'species since my last report, and, in accordance with 

 my pre^•ious custom, I shall briefly notice these species seriatim. 

 Before proceeding with my task, I wish to acknowledge, with 

 sincere thanks, the valuable assistance that I have received from 

 Mr. John Cordeaux, Mr. John H. Gurney, Mr. Harting, and Mr. 

 Sharpe of the British Museum. Five of the notices I am about 

 to read are from the pen of Mr. Cordeaux, and for one our Society 

 is again indebted to Mr. Gurney. 



The Teee-Spaeeow (Passer motitanus). — Mr, A. F. Griffith 

 reports that the tree-sparrow is met with regularly, in small 

 flocks, in the neighbourhood of Sandi'idge. It also frequents the 

 willows by the side of the river Lea, near Brocket Hall. Mr. 

 William Xorman, of Boyston, informs me that it is not uncommon 

 near that town, and that he has several specimens in his possession. 



Mr. John H. Gurney has kindly supplied the following note : — 

 " The tree-sparrow is a wide-ranging species, extending, it is be- 

 lieved, all over Europe and Asia. It is by no means a parasite, 

 like the house-sparrow, and its distribution is probably the same 

 now as it was 500 years ago. In their habits the two sparrows 

 diff'er essentially. In this part of England the true home of the 

 tree-sparrow is in the marshes, and I suppose the examples which 

 I now and then see on the coast are migrants. That it is migratory 

 is well known, for instances are recorded of large numbers being 

 met with at sea, and in the North Sea I have heard of its being 

 several times seen. I know a locality on our I^orfolk ' Broads,' near 

 a venerable ecclesiastical building, or what remains of it, where 

 a colony of these birds nest in a cow-shed, not in large 

 numbers, but enough for their habits to be observed. They 

 frequent the thatch of the shed, and come down to the water's 

 edge to drink. I lately paid a visit to this colony and obtained 

 an egg and a nestling; the latter, though extremely young, was 

 distinguishable at a glance from a nestling house-sparrow. The 

 old idea that every nest in a tree was a tree-sparrow's is quite 

 exploded ; they generally nest in sheds, boat-houses, or pollard- 

 willows. In July, 1871, I was shown a nest in a hole in a low 

 thorn-bush about 3^ feet from the ground ; some young birds had 



