A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



I should imagine is rather an unusual occur- 

 rence in the owl family. 



104. Little Owl. Athene noctua (Scopoli). 

 This is a species which should I think, so 



far as this county is concerned, be classed 

 under the heading ' introduced.' The first re- 

 corded specimen in Hertfordshire was obtained 

 near Ashwell in May, 1877. This example 

 passed through the hands of the late William 

 Norman of Royston. Some years after that 

 I believe the Hon. W. Rothschild turned out 

 a lot of these birds at Tring, where some of 

 them still nest. In 1897 a pair, which reared 

 two young ones, nested on one of Mr. T. 

 Fowell Buxton's farms at Easneye near Ware, 

 the nest being in a hollow tree, and in the 

 following year they nested again on this farm 

 but in the loft of a barn. I am sorry to say 

 that the birds on the last occasion were dis- 

 turbed and deserted their eggs, one of which 

 was presented by Mr. Buxton to the County 

 Museum at St. Albans. In addition to the 

 above records I am informed by Mr. Sainsbury 

 Verey that in 1898 a little owl was shot in 

 the early part of the year at Bull's Land near 

 Rickmansworth, while later in the same year 

 another was obtained at West Hyde in the 

 same district. The head keeper at Moor Park 

 also told me that in that year he saw a small 

 owl, about the size of a blackbird, there on 

 several occasions. This bird probably belonged 

 to the species now under consideration. From 

 the above facts it would seem probable that 

 the little owl is likely to become a permanent 

 resident in Hertfordshire. 



105. Hen-Harrier. Circus cyaneus (Linn.). 

 The first record I have of this species is in 



1845, when a pair were shot in the parish of 

 Sandon ; these birds passed into the possession 

 of the late Mr. Henry Fordham. On October 

 28th, 1883, and on one or two occasions 

 about that date, Mr. M. R. Pryor saw a bird, 

 which he is confident was of this species, at 

 Weston Manor near Stevenage. A hen- 

 harrier, which is now in the possession of Sir 

 V. H. Crewe, of Calke Abbey, Derbyshire, 

 was obtained many years ago at Tring, while 

 a female was shot there in December, 1884. 

 On November 7th, 1897, Mrs. Brightwen's 

 bailiff saw at Elstree reservoir a bird which 

 he stated belonged to this species ; it remained 

 in the neighbourhood for some days. 



1 06. Montagu's Harrier. Circus cineraceus 



(Montagu). 



This hawk has only been recorded in 

 Hertfordshire on one occasion, Captain Young 

 having obtained one at Hexton near Hitchin 

 in 1875. 



107. Buzzard. Buteo vu/garis, Leach. 

 This fine species is, I am sorry to say, only 



an occasional visitor to the county, although 

 in former times it was probably a fairly com- 

 mon resident. Nowadays it usually comes to 

 an untimely end. At Munden House there 

 is a buzzard in the collection of the Hon. A. 

 Holland-Hibbert, which was shot there be- 

 tween 1840 and 1850. This may have been 

 a representative of the buzzards which were 

 no doubt at one time to be found in Bricket 

 Wood. In 1877 a bird of this species was 

 obtained at Russell Farm near Watford, while 

 in 1879 one was shot in Hatfield Park. In 

 February, 1881, Mr. H. Cox procured an 

 example at Harpenden, and in the following 

 October a buzzard was seen near Royston, 

 which, on being fired at, dropped a rabbit it 

 was carrying. On the 1 5th of the same 

 month one was shot at Royston while in 

 pursuit of a pigeon ; this specimen measured 

 39^ inches across the wings and 19^ inches 

 in length. In the county museum there is a 

 bird which was caught in a hedgehog trap at 

 Cowheath Wood near Hoddesdon, and which 

 was presented to the museum by Mr. F. M. 

 Campbell. In September or October, 1897, 

 a buzzard was shot at Barrington, while in 

 the latter month one was seen flying over 

 Earl's Wood, Barkway, where also on October 

 7th, 1898, and October I4th, 1899, and 

 again in the early part of October, 1900, 

 this species was observed. 



1 08. Rough-legged Buzzard. Buteo lagopus 



(Gmelin). 



This bird was first recorded in Hertford- 

 shire in 1880, when one, which frequented a 

 high hill with a large tree on the top during the 

 greater part of October and part of Novem- 

 ber, was shot at Bennington on the ninth of 

 the latter month. This bird measured 4 feet 

 7^ inches across the wings and i foot 9 inches 

 in length. A second specimen was shot on 

 October 30th, 1883, within a few yards of 

 where the other was killed. On January 

 3rd, 1 88 1, Mr. T. F. Buxton, while out 

 shooting on the Rye Meads near Ware, put 

 up a bird of this species from the ground 

 where it had apparently been feeding, as the 

 remains of some bird were found near. A 

 rough-legged buzzard, which was eventually 

 exhibited by the late Lord Ebury at a meet- 

 ing of the Herts Natural History Society in 

 February, 1892, was trapped early in that 

 month at Bishop's Wood near Rickmansworth, 

 while in the following autumn a male and 

 female were shot at Tring, and a third was 

 taken alive, the latter living for some time in 

 the Hon. Walter Rothschild's aviary. 



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