231 
OBSERVED IN HERTFORDSHIRE IN 1904. 
tlie bird sitting on its eggs. I have not the least doubt but that 
they are those of the same bird seen last year. This time the nest 
was built low down at the side of a rounded evergreen shrub and 
about 2£ feet from the ground. Last year (1903) it was built right 
within an evergreen tree, and was entirely screened from view. 
This time, however, the bird had formed a perfect little look-out 
for herself at the outer surface of the bush, and could be easily seen 
as she sat there. The eggs were exactly of the same glossy white 
appearance and unsymmetrical shape as those described last year, 
but, strange to say, the nest this year had a well-constructed dome 
above it, which had been made to fit perfectly into the upper 
surface of the space in the tree which the nest occupied. In 
striking contrast to that of last year, too, it was quite neatly and 
cosily built for a robin, a real little nest, not only from the 
ornithological but also from the domestic point of view. 
Nightingale ( Daulias luscinia). —This bird was undoubtedly in 
greater evidence in the Watford district than in the previous year. 
In connection with its song Mr. F. W. Headley raises an 
interesting point to which I hope other observers will devote 
attention during the spring of 1905. He states : “ The 
nightingales are always silent here [Haileybury] from 9 to 10 p.m., 
or till 10.15. Sometimes they take a rest about 1 a.m., but on 
warm nights sing without intermission from 10 till dawn. I should 
like to know whether these singing times are the same in other 
places.” 
Chiffchaff ( Phylloscopus rufus ). -— This little warbler again 
appears to have arrived in Hertfordshire both later in time and 
diminished in numbers, while its near relation, the wood-wren 
(.Phylloscopus sibilatrix ) only appears once in the year’s records. 
Mr. F. W. Headley states that he did not see or hear the latter at 
all in 1904, though generally a pair nest near the College. The 
same observer reports also that the reed-warbler ( Acrocephalus 
streperus ) did not nest anywhere in his district, though sometimes 
there are a fair number of nests to be found there. 
Of the Grasshopper-Warbler ( Locustella ncevia ), Mr. M. 
Vaughan, M.A., reports that he has not seen or heard a specimen 
for some years; Mr. Headley that he heard it only once during 1904. 
Pied Flycatcher ( Muscicapa atricapilla). —Mr. M. Vaughan 
reports that he has only once seen the pied flycatcher in the 
Haileybury district. That it is a scarce bird in Hertfordshire will 
be obvious when I state that only five other appearances have been 
recorded for the county, the last in 1898. 
House-Martin ( Chelidon urbicct). —Mr. D. Hill, our Librarian, 
Herga, Watford, sends an interesting note on this species :— 
“ About the first week in October, whilst working in my garden, 
I noticed a pair of house-martins hawking for flies. Seeing that 
they frequently flew up to the eaves on the north-east side of the 
house, I went to investigate, and found that they had built a nest 
there and had hatched off a brood. I watched them daily, and 
though I could see the young ones’ heads peeping out of the 
