Bird Life in Herts. 
(147) THE BIRD WORLD. 
incident. To mention that one has for 
the first time in one’s life heard a par¬ 
ticular bird give forth its song may per¬ 
haps strike some of you as- an attempt 
to “magnify the trivial,” but in this 
instance, at any rate, it is not so. For 
when I tell you that Macgillivray, the 
great Scotch naturalist, whose five- 
volume work on birds is one of the 
classics of ornithological literature, 
never heard the Tree Creeper sing; 
that Mr. W. Warde Fowler, of Oxford, 
one of the most distinguished of the 
field naturalists of to-day, and one of 
the most delightful writers on birds 
and their ways, has only once during a 
long life of observation heard the song 
of the Tree Creeper; when I tell you 
that Dr. R.Bowdler Sharpe, head of the 
bird department at the Natural History 
Museum of South Kensington, writes as 
follows in his “ Hand-book to the Birds 
of Great Britain ” :—“ The Creeper has 
been credited with a song, and some ob¬ 
servations have recorded the fact in this 
country. Although we have been ac¬ 
quainted with the species from boyhood, 
we have never heard a Tree Creeper 
sing in England, though the Continental 
birds undoubtedly do sing, and we re¬ 
member once hearing a bird in 
France; ” when I add that Miss Armitt, 
of Rydal, who knows so well, and who 
has written so. charmingly on the bird 
life of the Lake District, states:— 
“ Song, as far as my knowledge goes, 
the Tree Creeper has none, or if he has, 
he successfully hides it in these parts,” 
then I think you will agree that I am 
quite justified in recording the fact that 
here in Hertfordshire, in the year 1906, 
I have had the pleasure of hearing the 
Tree Creeper sing, although, as I have 
stated, I did not realise at the time the 
significance or the rarity of the occur¬ 
rence that came accidentally across my 
path. Needless to say, I shall always 
treasure the memory of what I now re¬ 
gard as one of the “ red letter ” incidents 
of my bird watching experiences. 
Red-backed Shrike (Lannius collurio). 
I think it is worth recording that I 
last year found the nest (containing five 
eggs) of this species, within 300 yards 
of the outskirts of Watford. It is the 
first nest of its kind I have found in this 
district. 
A Corner in a Pretty Aviary. 
