278 
W. BICKERTON-NOTES ON BIRDS 
Brambling ( Fringilla montifring ilia). —These winter visitors 
are more frequently in evidence between January and April than 
between October and December. But I have only two notes 
of their presence during the year. Dr. Langston Bay records 
a party of fifteen near Baldock, and Mr. Oldham reports having 
seen them on many occasions, generally associated with 
chaffinches, in the western parts of the county. For myself, 
I have not seen a brambling for several years, and I am sure 
that on the whole they are much scarcer around Watford 
than they used to be. Mr. Oldham writes—“ In the spring 
bramblings often feed in the upper branches of larch trees and 
are then apt to be overlooked. On April 3rd I saw a flock of 
between twenty and thirty in the tops of some high larches at 
JSTorthchurch, and others again at Wiggington and in the district 
around. The note that attracted my attention to the birds was 
a rather harsh ‘ cleek,’ but once or twice I heard a bird utter the 
greenfinch-like ‘ wheeze ’ which, so far as I know, one only hears 
in April just before the birds leave for their northern breeding- 
grounds.” 
Crossbill ( Loxia curvirostra) .—One of the noteworthy features 
of the ornithology of 1909 was an invasion of Continental 
crossbills, which spread, more or less, over the British Isles, 
and some of which were found nesting in the various counties. 
I made reference to this in my last report. Young birds, in 
some counties, were hatched out in January. It seems as 
though the birds stayed in this country in greater or smaller 
numbers during the earlier half of the year, and then disappeared, 
for I have no record of any having been seen after April last. 
Mr. F. Be Ath records them from Elstree, Mr. Foster from 
Hitchin, Mr. Graveson from Hertford, and Mr. Oldham from 
the Watford and Tring districts. I also saw the birds frequently 
between Watford and Rickmansworth. I cannot obtain any 
evidence of nests having been found in the county during this 
recent invasion. 
Cirl-Bunting ( Emberiza cirlus). —As usual, our only record of 
this rare species comes from Mr. Oldham, who heard a bird 
singing on several occasions in June in the Aldbury district. 
Magpie ( Pica rustica). —I have had (as previously reported) 
a pair of these birds under observation during the past two 
years near Watford, and I am pleased to report that during 
1910 their nesting operations have been brought to a successful 
issue, a brood of six having been reared—the first brood of real 
Hertfordshire magpies I have either seen or heard of during the 
eleven years of my residence in the county. The nest contained 
seven eggs, six of which hatched out, and just before the young 
ones were ready to fly I brought them down from the nest 
and took several interesting photographs of them, afterwards, 
of course, restoring them to the nest. But, alas! during this 
present spring the woodcutters have been busy cutting down the 
brushwood, and, in face of this disturbance, the magpies, which 
