14S H. LEWIS— NOTES OX BIBDS 



to Etna," and maintains that " unless birds be protected in Italy 

 tbey must perish, all over Europe, since so great a variety of races 

 Aviug their way to the south in winter" As "Ouida" also says 

 that "it is admitted by all who know anything of the subject that 

 agriculture would be impossible without the aid of birds, as the 

 larvae and developed insects of all kinds would make a desert of 

 tlie entire area of cultivated land," I think it well and quite within 

 my province to direct the attention of the members of our Society 

 to such an important question, especially as the craze of fashion 

 has even in our own laud filled many a shop window with the 

 wretched remnants and barbarous spoils of bird-life. 



I am unable in this report to make any additions to the list of 

 birds which have been observed in our county, but, through the 

 kindness of the Honourable AValter Rothschild, I have been favoured 

 by Mr. E. Hartert, in his name, with some interesting notes on 

 birds (some rare) which have been obtained in the Tring district 

 during the past year, specimens of all of which are to be found in 

 the Tring Museum. 



Grey Wagtail {Motacilla melanope). — This graceful little bird 

 was seen by Mr. Hartei't in December, 1894, near the Reservoirs. 

 My own acquaintance with this wagtail is but slight. Eor some 

 years I have noticed the arrival of the long-tailed wagtails on the 

 banks of our river Ver. They seem plentiful this winter. Mr. 

 Alatt E. Grossman, of St. Cuthbert's, Berkhamsted, wrote to 

 me in the winter: "During this hard weather I have seen 

 several grey wagtails ; the bird seems to be a fairly common 

 winter visitor to this part of Herts." It runs, with a buoyancy and 

 lightness unsurpassed in my opinion by that of any other of our 

 wagtails, after the insects which are its food, often alighting on the 

 floating weed, as it passes along, then flying off in graceful dips, 

 uttering " chiz-zit, chiz-zit " either when flying or when alighting 

 on the trees overhanging the water. The late Mr. Frank Buck- 

 land said: "The wagtails have different calls. The call of the 

 black-and-white wagtail is ' physic, physic, physic' . . Listen to 

 the first wagtail you hear, and you will find that he invokes the 

 aid of the medical profession." (' White's Selborne,' with notes by 

 Erank Buckland, p. 301.) Mr. Dresser ('Birds of Europe,' vol. iii, 

 p 251) states that "In Great Britain it is, as a species, a per- 

 manent resident, though individually a partial migrant" ; and our 

 President, Mr. Henry Seebohm ('British Birds,' vol. ii, p. 203), 

 says : " The grey wagtail is sparingly distributed throughout 

 England and Wales, breeding in the mountainous districts and 

 migrating into the lower valleys and into the plains for the 

 winter." I generally notice its arrival here in autumn, but Mr. 

 Littleboy alludes to the nesting of this species at the Tring 

 Reservoirs. 



Crossbills [Loxia ciirvirostra). — Some of these birds were seen ) 



and shot in the woods at Tring in December, 1894, and January, 

 1895. In Mr. Littleboy's register I find it recorded that early in J 



the year 1879 a flock of these birds frequented the Gorhambury 



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