VI. 
NOTES ON BIRDS OBSERVED IN HERTFORDSHIRE DURING 
THE YEAR 1885. 
By John" E. Littleboy. 
Head at Watford , 20 th April, 1886. 
Eor seven successive years I have had the pleasure of laying 
before our members particulars respecting the occurrence of rare 
birds observed or taken within the limits of Hertfordshire. Hitherto 
I have restricted such notices to occurrences that have taken place 
since, or inclusive of, the year 1877. I am now about to commence 
a new departure and to register all well-authenticated occurrences 
irrespective of a particular date. Eor the first time since I have 
had the honour of acting, as ornithological registrar for our Society, 
I have no species new to Hertfordshire to report as having oc¬ 
curred during the past year. I fall back on birds shot prior to 
1877, and I have been fortunate in obtaining a goodly number. 
Thanks to Mr. A. Holland Hibbert, I am able to record five 
additional species from the collection at Munden House. These 
birds were all shot on the Munden estate; only a few of the dates 
on which they were taken have been preserved, but Mr. Hibbert 
informs me that the collection was commenced by his great-grand¬ 
father, Mr. George Hibbert, and completed by Mr. Nathaniel 
Hibbert, and his late uncle, Mr. Parker Hibbert. Mr. Hibbert very 
pertinently remarks that “in the immediate neighbourhood of 
Munden are certain temptations which readily account for the visit 
of rare birds to the district, Bricket Wood being a wild, wooded 
locality of about 800 acres in extent, and the river running close by 
it.” He has most kindly supplied a number of birds from his 
collection for exhibition this evening. In addition to the Munden 
birds, which include the kite, the ruff, the lesser black-backed gull, 
the smew, and the red-breasted merganser, I have obtained infor¬ 
mation respecting eight others—the rock-thrush, the woodchat 
shrike, the roller, the white-tailed or sea eagle, Montagu’s harrier, 
the merlin, the oyster-catcher, and the redshank. These additions 
increase our Hertfordshire avifauna to 179 species, and, in accord¬ 
ance with my previous custom, I shall now briefly notice them. 
1. The Bock-thrush (Monticola saxatilis). — The occurrence of 
this very rare bird in Hertfordshire is recorded by Yarrell.* It was 
shot on the 19th of May, 1843, at Therfield, was mounted by Mr. 
Norman, of Boyston, and is now in the possession of Lord Bray- 
brooke. There is only one other authenticated instance of its 
appearance in England, but it forms the subject of an excellent 
illustration in the first number, recently published, of Lord Lil- 
ford’s 1 Coloured Eigures of British Birds.’ 
2. The Woodchat Shrike (Lanius pomeranm );—Mr. John H. 
Gurney, jun., writes to me that the Bev. H. A. Macpherson 
was fortunate in observing a woodchat, near Hertford, in May, 
* ‘ British Birds,’ 4th ed. vol. i, p. 292. 
