BIRDS 



the little river Orton near that place ; they 

 were in a bed of reeds, but a pair allowed 

 him to approach quite close and observe their 

 movements. This record also appeared in the 

 Zoologist for 1849. I am indebted to Mr. 

 Miller Christy's book on the Birds of Essex 

 for the third record, as he states in that book 

 that on July 1 2th, 1888, Mr. Taylor of 

 Bishops Stortford recognized a male bearded 

 tit on the Hertfordshire side of the river Stort 

 near that town. This bird therefore I think 

 we can rightly claim. 



32. Long-tailed Tit. Acredula caudata(Linn.). 



This pretty little bird may be found com- 

 monly all over the county throughout the 

 year, but is perhaps more conspicuous in the 

 winter on account of its going about in family 

 parties. 



33. Great Tit. Pans major, Linn. 



The great tit is a plentiful resident in 

 Hertfordshire and builds its nest in a great 

 variety of situations. 



34. Coal-Tit. Parus ater, Linn. 



Considering the number of these birds that 

 one sees in the winter, I can only imagine 

 that we have a large immigration at that 

 period, as the birds which remain with us 

 during the summer are not sufficient to account 

 for those about later. A curious nesting-site 

 chosen by this bird was a letter-box near 

 Stanmore. In this case however the bird was 

 unfortunately killed on the nest and the eggs 

 broken by some mischievous boys. 



35. Marsh-Tit. Parus palustris, Linn. 



This is also a pretty plentiful species in 

 Hertfordshire. One habit I have noticed 

 about this bird is that it more often than any 

 of the other tits pecks out a nesting-hole for 

 itself in a decayed tree or post instead of 

 taking possession of a ready-made home. 



36. Blue Tit. Parus caruleus, Linn. 



This is another common species, which 

 also varies very considerably the situations it 

 chooses for its nest. Mrs. Brightwen informed 

 the late Mr. Littleboy that a pair of these 

 birds near Stanmore took possession of and 

 held against all comers a cocoa-nut which had 

 been hung up for the birds to feed off. The 

 same lady also mentioned an instance of this 

 species attacking bees at a hive, a habit which 

 it was a matter of some difficulty to cure them 

 of. Amongst other curious nesting-places of 

 the blue tit that I have records of so far as 

 Hertfordshire is concerned may be mentioned 

 a pump, a letter-box and an old boot. 



37. Nuthatch. Sitta c<esia y Wolf. 



The nuthatch is certainly a very plentiful 

 resident in all parts of Hertfordshire which 

 are well timbered. Ashridge Park I may 

 especially mention as a favourite place for 

 them, and I have no doubt many of the other 

 large parks in the county are the same. 



38. Wren. Troglodytes paruulus, Koch. 



This is a very common species, but it 

 cannot, like the tree-creeper, be accused of 

 shyness. It chooses all sorts of situations for 

 its nest and does not seem to be affected by 

 even the hardest weather. 



39. Tree-Creeper. Certhia familiaris, Linn. 



This bird is also pretty common, but on 

 account of its shyness is no doubt less fre- 

 quently seen than it otherwise would be. 



40. Pied Wagtail. Motacilla lugubris, Tem- 



minck. 



This species is plentifully distributed all 

 over the county, staying all the year round 

 when the weather is not too hard, but leaving 

 us in severe winters and reappearing about 

 the first or second week in March. I have 

 on several occasions found a cuckoo's egg in 

 the nest of this species in Hertfordshire. 



41. White Wagtail. Motacilla alba, Linn. 



It was not until 1895 that this species was 

 actually recorded in Hertfordshire, although 

 no doubt it had occurred here before. How- 

 ever, in that year Mr. H. S. Rivers called my 

 attention to the fact that the bird was fairly 

 plentiful round Sawbridgeworth during the 

 spring, and later I saw several of them at 

 Tring and Berkhamsted. In April of the 

 same year Mr. Rivers examined a nest in his 

 garden and found it contained twelve eggs ; 

 this nest appeared to belong to two pairs of 

 birds one being M. alba and the other M. 

 lugubris. Later in the same year I saw a pair 

 of these birds which, from their movements, 

 certainly had a nest. Since then I have on 

 several occasions clearly identified this species 

 in the county. 



42. Grey Wagtail. Motacilla melanope, Pallas. 



This is a regular winter visitor, arriving 

 usually in October and leaving again towards 

 the end of March. It has however on one 

 occasion been found nesting at the Tring 

 reservoirs ; the nest in question was placed 

 on a bank of clay under an overhanging ledge, 

 and was well concealed behind some grass. 

 During the present year (1900) I saw this 

 species at Berkhamsted on August I4th. 



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