OBSERVED IN HERTFORDSHIRE IN 1902. 
37 
consequent failure of the bird to obtain the necessary supplies of 
its favourite food. Personally I believe the main reason to be the 
persecution of birdcatchers. Thistles grow mostly on waste and 
common lands, goldfinches therefore mostly frequent such lands 
for the thistledown. Birdcatchers, knowing this, and having the 
free run of such lands, go there after the goldfinches, in spite of the 
fact that this bird is protected all the year round (and, unfortu¬ 
nately, is the only one so protected) by the Herts County Council 
under the Wild Birds’ Protection Act. 
With regard to the food-supply of the goldfinch, it may be 
interesting to state that on two occasions during the past three 
months I have seen this bird in company with redpolls and siskins 
feeding in the alder-trees by the side of the stream in Cassio- 
bury Park. 
Brambling (.Fringilla montifring ilia ).— I have not seen or heard 
of a single brambling during the whole Winter. Ho doubt the 
mildness of the season has enabled these birds to find food without 
travelling so far south. 
, Kingfisher (Alcedo ispida ).—This brilliant bird is, I am pleased 
to record, increasing in numbers in the Watford district. On more 
than one occasion during the past year I have seen five or six 
specimens on a single ramble. In May I was fortunate enough to 
observe one of its nesting-haunts, not many yards from one of our 
main roads. 
On one of the bleak, wintry days of February (1902) I noticed 
what was to me a new habit of the kingfisher, that, namely, of 
hovering. The river was partly frozen over, and one of the birds 
I disturbed, after flying a little distance away, suddenly poised him¬ 
self in mid-air for a short time over a particular spot on the ice. 
After an interval he moved further along and repeated the same 
performance, his wings beating rapidly during the whole period. 
Cucxoo (Cuculus canorus ).—It appears that the cuckoo has this 
year remained beyond his usual time, as Mr. H. Lewis reports that 
his call-note was heard near St. Albans so late as July 14th. 
Our President, Mr. Lewis Evans, reports that a cuckoo’s egg 
was deposited in a hedge-sparrow’s nest in a box-bush near a path 
in his garden, and that the owners of the nest promptly deserted 
it, leaving two of their own eggs along with the intruding one. 
Mr. E. P. Thompson (Elstree) reports the finding of the cuckoo’s 
egg in the nests of the yellow-hammer and robin. 
Heron (Ardea cinerea). — Last year I was much gratified at being 
able to report that during the Summer of 1901 a pair of these birds 
had nested on an estate near Watford, and that owing to the careful 
protection afforded them by the owner they had successfully 
hatched their brood. I have now to record the melancholy fact 
that practically the whole lot has been slaughtered by the keeper 
of a neighbouring estate—a sacrifice to the inhabitants of his trout- 
stream. 
Quail (Coturnix communis). —Mr. M. B. Pryor reports that this 
bird, which up to about fifteen years ago used to nest in the 
