( 142 ) 
XVI. 
NOTES ON BIRDS OBSERVED IN HERTFORDSHIRE DURING 
THE YEAR 1901. 
By William Bickertoh. 
Read at Watford, 25th March , 1902. 
As only three weeks have elapsed since the Council of this 
Society asked me to take up the duties of Itecorder of Hertfordshire 
Birds in succession to Mr. Alan P. Crossman, I feel sure that you 
will not anticipate anything in the nature of a detailed report, for, 
until I have been able to place myself in communication with the 
various local recorders, and to tabulate the results of their observa¬ 
tions, it is obviously impossible for me to deal at length with the 
records of the past year. I will therefore only refer very briefly 
to a few records of more than general interest which have been 
brought to my notice during the year. In so doing I desire to take 
advantage of this opportunity to appeal to members of the Society 
generally to send to me whatever notes and observations they can 
about the bird-life of the county. 
I can scarcely hope to add many items to the interesting and 
practically exhaustive list of Hertfordshire birds compiled by 
Mr. Crossman as the result of the labours of his predecessors, his 
co-workers, and himself. Nor, indeed, should it be the only or 
even the main object of our work simply to record the accidental 
appearance of some stray visitor to our county, although such 
appearances are extremely interesting to the naturalist, and, may 
we say, as a general rule extremely unfortunate for the visitors 
themselves, which is much to be regretted. We should all like to 
know more, not only of the distribution, but also of the real life 
and habits of our feathered friends within the county, and valuable 
information upon these matters can be garnered and communicated 
by anyone who will take a little trouble and exercise a little 
patience. Let me repeat, therefore, that I shall be glad to receive 
any notes, however few, however casual, or however commonplace 
they may be; and I shall especially hope to be favoured with notes 
from different districts in the county, and from as extensive an area 
as possible. 
So much by way of preface. I will now give the few notes 
which I have to report. 
The first one is not only of a bird new to Hertfordshire, but 
apparently also to the British Isles. It is the appearance at Tring 
of a Baer’s Pochard (Nyroca Baeri), shot there on November 5th, 
and exhibited by the Hon. NT. Charles Bothschild at a meeting of 
the British Ornithologists’ Union on NTovember 20th. The bird in 
question is an Asiatic duck which has never before been obtained 
in the British Isles, and the only question to determine was whether 
this specimen was a truly wild bird or an escape. It had no 
appearance of having been in captivity, and Mr. Bothschild has 
