OBSERVED IN HERTFORDSHIRE IN 1884. 
213 
Species. 
Locality. 
Date. 
Observer. 
Landrail .. 
......... Elstree ................................. 
.. Apl. 10 
E. P. Thompson. 
(Grex pratensis) 
Hailey Hall, Hertford ... 
.. „ 20 
H. C. Heard. 
Hitchin ................................. 
.. May 5 
Hitchin F. C. 
Boyston... 
.. „ 20 
P. F. Fordham. 
Harpenden............................ 
... » 21 
J. J. Willis. 
Spring, 
Atjtumn, and Winter Yisitants. 
Bedwing .. . 
... Boyston ... 
King’s Langley................. 
......... Hailey Hall, Hertford.., 
...Oct. 16 
H. G. Fordham. 
(Turdus iliacus) 
... „ 23 
J. E. L. 
Fieldfare ..... 
... Aug. 25 
H. C. Heard. 
(Turdus pilaris) 
Hitchin ... 
... Nov. 8 
Hitchin F. C. 
Brambling .... 
........ Hemel Hempstead ........ 
... Feb. 23 
Mr. Banfield. 
(.Fringilla montifringilla ) (large flights) 
Hooded Crow ......................... Boyston... . 
.. „ 12 
..Mar. 2 
P. F. Fordham. 
(Gorvus Gornix) 
Odsey Grange ... 
H. G. Fordham. 
ditto ...................................... 
... Oct. 6 
H. G. Fordham. 
Hertford ........................... 
- „ 7 
N. Thrale. 
Boyston .... 
... „ 18 
P. F. Fordham. 
Short-eared Owl ...... 
......... Weston Manor, Stevenage May 11 
M. B. Pryor. 
(Asio accipitrinus) 
Woodcock. 
(a flight) 
.... Hash Mills........................... 
... Sept. 1 
J. Evans,D.C.L. 
(Scolopax Eusticola) 
Boyston................................ 
.... Nov. 1 
P. F. Fordham. 
Odsey Grange ................. 
... „ 17 
H. G. Fordham. 
Miscellaneous Notes. 
Nightingale (Daulias Luscinia ).— I am afraid that nightingales 
are generally becoming scarcer; they are certainly less abundant in 
the Hun ton Bridge district than they were ten years since. About 
a century ago William Cowper, our Berkhamsted poet, wrote as 
follows : — 
“ Thousands of warblers cheer the day, and one 
The live-long night.” 
At present the words are hardly applicable. In my own garden 
the notes of the sedge-warbler were quite as frequently heard 
throughout the nights of last summer as those of the nightingale. 
Great Grey Shrike (Lanins Excubitor ).— I am pleased again to 
record the occurrence of the great grey shrike; I have now done 
so for four consecutive years. Mr. Bowers informs me that a speci¬ 
men was shot on Tyler’s Farm, near Bushey, on September 23rd. 
It was mounted by himself. 
Bed -backed Shrike (Lanins collurio ).—These birds have not 
been numerous on this side of the county. I was not fortunate 
enough to obtain the sight of a single one during the whole summer. 
Mr. Norman. Thrale, of Port Yale, reports the nesting of four pairs 
in that neighbourhood ; three of them built in a hawthorn hedge, 
where he was able to watch them, and it was, he writes, very in¬ 
teresting to observe the old and young birds hunting together for 
their food. They disappeared about the end of August. 
Chaffinch (Fringilla ccelebs) ■ —Dr. Brett informs me that on the 
30th of January a chaffinch was found to be sitting on three or four 
eggs in the garden of Mr. Bicardo Palmer, at Bushey. The nest 
was built in a piece of cottager’s kale. 
