BIRDS are reserved to the owner of the Tring Park estate, and, owing to the reservoirs being strictly preserved, they form a splendid home for three or four species of ducks, while the great crested grebe (Podicipes cristatus) nests there in numbers such as are to be found at few other places in the British Isles. In addition to this, they offer great attractions to birds passing on migration, which but for the water might never alight in Hertfordshire at all. Turning from field natural history to the more scientific side of the subject, we find that practically nothing has been done in this way for Hertfordshire. There is no really good collection of local birds in exist- ence. No doubt there are in the Tring Museum many specimens which have been obtained in the county, but they are quite a minor detail in a collection which is one of the finest in the world. Specimens of various sorts which have been procured locally are preserved in many parts of the county, but there are no organized collections, though now there is a county museum at St. Albans it is hoped to form one there. The most interesting lot of local birds is that belonging to the Hon. A. Holland-Hibbert, at Munden near Watford. This comprises compara- tively few specimens, but in it are included several birds of great local interest, most of which were obtained in the neighbourhood between 1840 and 1850. No history of the birds of Hertfordshire ever appears to have been published, but for the last twenty-five years a great deal of information has been published in the Transactions of the Hertfordshire Natural His- tory Society and its predecessor, the Watford Natural History Society. The late J. E. Littleboy, who lived at Hunton Bridge, was the first to collect any information about the county birds, and it is to him that we owe so much of our knowledge of the Hertfordshire avifauna. The re- cords contained in the annual reports to the above societies form the foundation of the following list of birds, and to this I have added all facts that I have been able to glean from any books and zoological journals bearing on the subject, as well as any notes of my own that seemed to me to be of interest. Having regard to this, it appeared best to me to put references to such records in the list as have been obtained from other sources than the societies' Transactions and my own notes, and this course I have accordingly followed. 1. Missel-Thrush. Turdus viscivorus, Linn. most red eyes, and was caught by a cat This species is a fairly plentiful resident belonging to Mr. Dickenson, of Harpenden throughout the county, but its numbers are Road, St. Albans, who I believe still has the at times greatly increased by immigrants, bird in his possession. A hybrid also of this This was especially the case during the winter species and the blackbird (T. merula) was of 1899-1900, when there was apparently a obtained at Tring on January 25th, 1886. very considerable influx into the county, as I This latter occurrence was reported to the saw them in many places in good-sized flocks, late J. E. Littleboy by the Hon. Walter 2. Song-Thrush. Turdus musicus, Linn. Rothschild, This is a common bird in Hertfordshire. 3- Redwing. Turdus iliacus, Linn. Albino varieties of it have occasionally oc- The redwing is a regular winter visitor, but curred. One obtained was white, with al- its numbers vary greatly in different years. 195
