280 
W. BICKERTON — NOTES ON BIRDS 
a bird lias been destroyed. One wonders sometimes if the 
time will ever come when the passion for shooting every rare, 
uncommon, or unknown bird, or every bird that bears the 
remotest resemblance to “ a hawk,” will be allayed. 
Peregrine Falcon ( Falco peregrinus) .—The same recorder 
(Mr. Foster) also reports the appearance and death of another 
rare and noble bird as follows :—“ In June a female peregrine 
was shot just outside Hitchin. I 'was unable to find out the 
exact locality or the name of the ‘ sportsman,’ but was told that 
it was taken within a mile or two of the town.” 
Cormorant (Phalacro corax carbo). —Mr. C. Oldham reports an 
adult at Wilstone Eeservoir on September 4th. 
Common or Black Scoter ( CEdemia nigra). —There are only 
two previous records of the occurrence of this bird in Herts, and 
these were in 1881 (Bushey Heath) and 1884 (Tring). The 
following notes, contributed to 4 British Birds ’ for May, 1910, 
by Mr. C. Oldham, relate to one of the most interesting bird 
incidents of the year:—“ On the morning of April 10th there 
was a bunch of ten common scoters, comprising seven adult 
drakes and three grey-cheeked birds, on one of the reservoirs at 
Tring. Five more, three of them adult drakes, were on another 
reservoir, and at Weston Turville (Bucks), some four miles 
away, there were eleven, seven adult drakes and four grey¬ 
cheeked birds. One may perhaps expect to see common scoters 
on passage on our inland waters in April—I saw two on Ruislip 
Eeservoir on 24tli April, 1909—but the occurrence of such 
a considerable number of birds in a limited area may be worth 
recording. The wind, which had for some time previously been 
easterly, shifted to the N.W. on the 9th, and was light from the 
S.W. on the 10th. The advent of the scoters was probably due 
to this change. Hot one of the birds was feeding while I watched 
them, and their behaviour—dozing on the water or at the most 
paddling idly—suggested that they were resting after a prolonged 
flight. Their presence in the district was possibly only a 
manifestation of an extensive migratory movement, in which 
other species of ducks were involved, for at Tring there was an 
adult drake goldeneye ( Clangula glaucion ), accompanied by 
a brown-headed bird; three or four pairs of teal ( Nettion crecca), 
several shovelers ( Spatula clypeata), and scattered over the waters 
perhaps thirty wigeon ( Mareca penelope) ; whilst at Weston 
Turville there was a flock of eight restless wigeon that were 
frequently on the wing. I saw no birds of any of these species 
when I was passing the reservoirs on April 3rd.” 
G-oosander ( Mergus merganser) . —Mr. Oldham also reports 
two brown-headed birds of this species—a female and a young 
male—on Wilstone Eeservoir on February 27th. 
Corn-crake ( Crex pratensis) . —Mr. Oldham reports that these 
birds were certainly more plentiful than in either of the two 
previous years, and that he heard birds calling from May 10th 
to July 10th near Wilstone Eeservoir, Aldbury, Watford, and 
