OBSERTED Ilf nERTFORDSniRE IN 1882. 219 



to information forwarded, !Mr. Cordoaux writes to mo as follows: — 

 "I am much iutercsted iu what you say about the abundance of 

 jays in Herts. I have now received several communications of 

 unusual numbers seen at various localities between Flamborou2;h 

 Head and the Now Forest in Hampshire. It is interesting to find 

 one fact backing up another, and no observation, however trivial 

 it may appear, is altogether useless, but may help in some way or 

 other to strengthen and confirm others." I hope that testimony 

 such as this, received from so careful an observer as Mr. Cordeaux, 

 may encourage our members to attempt more continuous and care- 

 ful reports than have yet been made. 



TuE Saxd -Martin [Cotyle riparia). — Tt will be remembered that 

 on the 17th of June our members visited a large chalk-pit near 

 Harcfield. Their attention was at once arrested by a vast number 

 of sand-martins that were flying about incessantly on the face of 

 the chalk. A stratum of sand and gravel was observed to overlie 

 the chalk, and to be let down into it in many places in " pipes," 

 and in this sand an infinite number of holes, into and out of which 

 the birds were constantly flying, were readily observable. 



The Cuckoo ( Cuctdus canorus). — A cuckoo's egg is reported, by 

 Mr. P. F. Fordham, to have been found in the nest of a meadow- 

 pipit, near Royston. 



The Wood-Pigeon (^Columha polumhus). — Large flocks of wood- 

 pigeons have visited our county during the winter months. This 

 is almost invariably the case when beech-masts are abundant. Mr. 

 Henry Lewis, of St. Albans, forwarded to me 13 hedge-nuts which, 

 in addition to a number of beech-masts, he had taken from the 

 crop of a single pigeon. 



The Eagle-Owl {Bubo ignavus). — An eagle-owl was shot on the 

 23rd of December, 1881, on the Bayfordbury estate, about two 

 miles from Hertford, and was reported by Mr. George Shrimpton, 

 of Port Yale. Hertford. On making further inquiry, I ascertained 

 that an eagle-owl had escaped, about three months previously, 

 from the garden of Mr. Richard Hoare, Marden Hill, near Welwyn, 

 and it seems? more than probable that the bird shot at Bayfordbury 

 •was the fugitive from Marden Hill. Under these circumstances I 

 have concluded, with considerable self-denial, not to place it on our 

 register. Mr. Hoare informs me that he kept a pair of eagle-owls 

 in his garden for six or seven years, and that they laid eggs in a 

 small round hole on the ground, but never hatched young birds. 

 On the death of the female the male bird forsook the garden and 

 appears to have met his fate as already described. Under favour- 

 able circumstances the eagle-owl breeds successfully in confinement ; 

 Mr. Gumey writes to me that they have succeeded in breeding 

 more than twenty at Xorthrepps Hall, 



The Partridge iPerdix cinerea). — Partridges are reported, from 

 all quarters, as unusually abundant during the season. Pheasants 

 have also been plentiful, but, as raised at present, they appear to 

 come more properly under the head of " domestic poultry." 



The Heron {Ardea cinerea). — Herons are reported as observed 



