VII. 
NOTES ON BIRDS OBSERVED IN HERTFORDSHIRE IN 1887, AND 
ON THE BIRDS FREQUENTING THE TRING RESERVOIRS. 
Ey THE LATE JoHH E. LlTTLEBOY.*' 
Read at Watford , 2 Oth March , 1888. 
It is with much pleasure that I present my ornithological report 
for the year 1887. Never before has it been my lot to lay before 
our Society a record of greater interest. Thanks to the assistance 
and information kindly afforded to me by the Hon. "Walter Roths¬ 
child, I am able to add the names of 21 birds to our county list, 
and, by so doing, to increase our Hertfordshire avifauna to a total 
of 201 species. I am also enabled to present a special report on 
birds frequenting the Tring Reservoirs, which appears to me to be 
of considerable local value. With one exception, the whole of the 
birds new to our county are reported from the Tring district, and 
they are principally from the neighbourhood of the reservoirs. I 
think, therefore, that it will be desirable to preface my report by 
giving a few particulars respecting that locality. 
Mr. A. M. Erown, of Tring, has been good enough to supply me 
with the following information:—“The Tring reservoirs are four 
in number, and, with the exception of about 10 acres, are all in¬ 
cluded in the parish of Tring. A group of three—Tring Eord, 
Marsworth, and Startop’s End Reservoirs—comprising a water-area 
of 87 acres, are situated near the village of Marsworth; they are 
the property of the Grand Junction Canal Company, but all sporting 
rights are reserved to the owner of the Tring Park Estate. The 
fourth, Wilstone Reservoir, formerly divided into three, is now 
merged into one, and comprises about 120 acres. It is about a 
mile and a half distant from the others. They are all situated on 
the Chalk Marl, near to its junction with the Upper Greensand, 
and are overlooked by the low escarpment of Totternhoe Stone 
which runs at the base of the main Chalk escarpment stretching 
from Wendover to Dunstable. They occur at an average elevation 
of 350 feet above sea-level, being about 70 feet below the summit 
of the London and North-Western Railway at the Tring cutting.” 
I think that the position of these reservoirs, placed, as they are, 
immediately at the foot of the Chilterns, their considerable extent, 
and the high level at which they occur, may be considered to 
account for the large number of birds which have been found 
to frequent them. 
In accordance with my usual custom, I will now refer to our 
new species seriatim,. 
1. The Marsh-Warbler (Aerocephalus palustris). —A marsh- 
warbler was shot near the Marsworth Reservoir in August, 1883, 
* This paper possesses a melancholy interest. It was read by its author when 
apparently in perfect health. The proof was sent to him in June ; but, owing 
to his illness, which terminated fatally on the 3rd of August, he has not read it. 
The paper therefore appears without having had the benefit of his revision.— Ed. 
