OBSERVED IN HERTFORDSHIRE IN 1910. 279 
have been there for nearly three years, have disappeared, and as 
yet I know not where they have taken up their abode. I hope it 
may be on the estate of some kindly-disposed landowner who 
will instruct his keepers to protect such an acquisition to his 
estate, and to give the persecuted though handsome fugitives 
shelter rather than shot. 
Hooded or Grey Crow (Corvus cornix ).—The only record of 
this bird, again comes from the east of the county, Mr. Headley 
(Haileybury) having seen three in November. It is remarkable 
with what regularity the hooded crows visit the eastern side 
of Hertfordshire every autumn and winter, and yet here, in the 
Watford district, they are almost entirely unknown. At all 
events, I have never yet seen one here. 
Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus ).—Reference has already been made 
to the finding of cuckoo’s eggs in nests of the reed-warbler 
and the blackbird, the latter of which is a very extraordinary 
occurrence, and constitutes the first record of its kind for the 
county. Eggs have also been found in the nests of the hedge- 
sparrow. I noticed that the cuckoos were “ in song ” considerably 
later this year, and Lady Ebury reports that she heard them 
calling so late as July 20th. 
Little Owl (.Athene noctua ).—Again the reports are to the 
effect that little owls are on the increase, and I think they are 
now being regarded as a thoroughly naturalized species almost 
all over England. Dr. Langston Day, in fact, reports that the 
birds are getting so plentiful as to become a nuisance to game pre¬ 
serves, and adds : “ The little owl is a terror to other feathered 
life. It feeds on thrushes and takes young partridges, and has 
been known to enter a dovecot and take away the young pigeons.” 
Rough-legged Buzzard (Buteo lagoons ').—This very rare bird 
is reported from Hitchin by Mr. A. H. Foster as follows:— 
“ Towards the end of March (1910) a specimen of this bird was 
shot on the Hexton Park Estate. This, with one which was 
obtained on Norton Common (the present garden city) in or 
about the year 1885, are the only two records of the bird for 
this district. The present specimen was a female, measuring 
4 ft. 6 in. across the outspread wings. The crop was quite 
empty. On dissection several rudimentary eggs were found in 
the ovaries and oviducts. I examined the bird before it was 
preserved, and easily identified the species by the thickly- 
feathered tarsus, which reminds one of the true eagles.” So far 
as I can ascertain, there are only six previous records of this 
bird’s occurrence in Hertfordshire, the last being for 1892. 
It has never been known authentically to nest in the British 
Isles, but is the “ commonest bird of prey in the higher districts 
of Scandinavia, and—beyond the wooded region—in Russia.” 
When one recognizes, too, that it feeds “ to some extent on 
frogs, reptiles, and birds, but largely on such small mammals as 
lemmings, moles, and mice,” one can only have a feeling of deep 
regret that so rare, so noble, and so comparatively inoffensive 
