XVIT. 
NOTES ON BIRDS OBSERVED IN HERTFORDSHIRE DURING 
THE YEAR 1886. 
By John E. Littleboy. 
Read at Watford, 22nd March, 1887. 
I have but little of interest to record as having occurred during 
the past year. No fresh species has been reported from any part 
pf the county since the date of my last paper, but I have received 
information respecting the occurrence, prior to the year 1877, of two 
birds, which constitute additions to our catalogue, augmenting the 
number of our Hertfordshire birds to 180 species. The species 
referred to are the grey phalarope and the whooper swan. 
1. The Geey Phalaeope ( Phalaropus fulicarius ).—A grey phala¬ 
rope was shot some years ago by Mr. Latchmore, at Grove Mill, almost 
close to the town of Hitchin, and was in his possession until quite 
recently. The grey phalarope was first described as a British bird 
in the year 1757, by Thomas Bolton, in the ‘Philosophical Trans¬ 
actions.’ It belongs to the class grallatores or waders. It is an 
irregular or gipsy migrant to the British Isles, but has occasionally 
visited our shores in large numbers. Mr. John H. Gurney, of 
Northrepps, records an important immigration of this species which 
took place between the 20th of August and the 8th of October, in 
the year 1866. Mr. Gurney estimates that during that period 
upwards of five hundred of these beautiful and harmless birds were 
slaughtered. The grey phalarope is a circumpolar bird. It breeds 
in Iceland, Spitzbergen, and on the islands and shores of the Arctic 
Ocean. Like others of its class it is driven southward during winter 
by the exigencies and necessities of life, but it retires with reluct¬ 
ance, and in mild seasons remains to winter among the Norwegian 
fjords. Its occasional visits to our coasts are probably the result of 
exceptional cold or storms. Mr. Gurney states that in September, 
1866, when so large a number of phalaropes made their appearance 
on the coast of Sussex, severe gales had previously prevailed, and 
icebergs came farther south than had ever been known before. The 
plumage of the grey phalarope varies in colour to an unusual extent 
in accordance with the period of the year. During the breeding- 
season its prevailing colour is a reddish chestnut brown, which, in 
winter, shades off to a delicate grey. Admirable specimens of this 
species, in both summer and winter plumage, may be seen and 
examined in Mr. Booth’s Museum, Dyke Hoad, Brighton. 
2. The Whoopee Swan ( Cygnus musicus ).—The Eev. W. Tyrwhitt 
Drake informs me that a pair of whooper swans frequented the 
water at Water End, near Great Gaddesden, during the winter of 
either 1875 or 1876. The whooper swan is a pretty regular winter 
migrant to the British Isles, and is met with, not unfrequently, in 
large numbers on the Norfolk coast. I have seen whoopers exhi¬ 
bited for sale on several occasions in Leadenhall Market. It nests * 
* Seebohm’s ‘ British Birds,’ vol. iii, pp. 85-86. 
VOL. iv .—part vi. 
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