Heordshire | Page 7

C. flexuosus in Dawley's Wood, Tewin.
Of the Liverworts (Hepatic?) forty-four species are known to occur; and the Stoneworts (Charace?) are represented by seven species--two of Chara, two of Tolypella, and three of Nitella.
The Alg? have been pretty fully investigated, especially the Diatomace?, of the 252 species of Alg? known to occur in the county, 156 belonging to that interesting family of microscopic plants. As an illustration of their minute size it may be mentioned that a single drop of water from the saucer of a flower-pot at Hertford, mounted as a microscopic slide, was found to contain 200,000 separate frustules of Achnanthes subsessilis, and it was estimated that these occupied only one twenty-fifth part of the drop. Both species of Chlamidococcus (the old genus Protococcus), C. pluvialis and C. nivalis occur; and the pretty Volvox globator has frequently been found.
Of the Lichens much less is known, only sixty-seven species having been recorded. The most noteworthy are Calicium melanoph?um, found on fir-trees in Bricket Wood; Peltigera polydactyla, on moss-covered ground in Oxhey Woods, Watford; Lecanora phlogina, in the Tunnel Woods, Watford; and Pertusaria globulifera, on trees in the same woods and also in Bricket Wood. As woods in the vicinity of Hertford and of Watford only have been searched for lichens, our list ought to be largely increased by investigation in other parts of the county.
Of the Fungi our chief knowledge is derived from lists of species collected at Fungus Forays of the Hertfordshire Natural History Society and from records of the Mycetozoa by Mr. James Saunders. The number of species recorded for the county is 735, of which fifty-eight are "myxies". Of the Hymenomycetes, or mushroom-like fungi, some very noteworthy finds have been made, nearly all at Forays of the county society. They include two species new to Britain, viz., _Agaricus (Nolania) nigripes, found in Aldenham Woods, Watford, and Ag. (Hypholoma) violacea-ater_, in Gorhambury Park, St. Albans (by the present writer). Hertfordshire has also furnished the second British records for Ag. (Lepiota) gliodermus (Broxbourne Woods), _Ag. (Leptonia) euochrous (Ashridge Woods), Ag. (Psathyrella) aratus_ (Sherrard's Park, Welwyn), and Paxillus Alexandri (Hatfield Park), this species having first been recorded from Hatfield Park, Essex; and the second and third British record for Agaricus (Clytocybe) Sadleri (Ashridge Park and Cassiobury Park). The very rare _Strombilomyces strombilaceus_ has been found in Grove Park, Watford, and the still rarer Peziza luteo-nitens on the Chalk slopes between Aldbury and Ashridge Park. Lastly it may be mentioned that Mr. Saunders added the "myxie" Physarum citrinum to the British fungus-flora from specimens found by him at Caddington and Welwyn.
The Birds of Hertfordshire have been carefully observed, and the appearance of rare visitors has been duly recorded. At a lecture delivered at St. Albans in 1902, Mr. Alan F. Crossman, F.L.S., F.Z.S., stated that 212 species had been known to visit the county, and mentioned, inter alia, that the kingfisher is more numerous in Hertfordshire than formerly, that the heron nested in the county for the first time in 1901, and that the appearance of the bearded titmouse had been noticed on but three occasions. During the last forty years the following birds, among others, have been noticed as occasional visitants: the storm-petrel (Procellaria pelagica), golden oriole (Oriolus galbula), whooper-swan (Cygnus musicus), snow-bunting (Plectrophanes nivalis), greater spotted woodpecker (Picus major), black tern (Hydrochelidon nigra), great northern diver (_Colymbus glacialis), herring-gull (Larus argentatus_), cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo), tufted duck (Fuligula cristata), hoopoe (Upopa epops), crossbill (Loxia curvirostra), sheldrake (_Tadorna cornuta), Guillemot[d] (Lornvia troile), Pallas' sandgrouse (Syrrhaptes paradoxus), rock thrush (Monticola saxatilis_), black redstart (Ruticilla titys), Dartford warbler (Silvia undata), grasshopper warbler (Locustella n?via)[d], waxwing (Ampelis garrulus), twite (Linota flavirostris), hen harrier (Circus cyaneus), buzzard (_Buteo vulgaris), redshank (Totanus calidris), greenshank (Totanus cunescens) and the little auk (Mergulus alle_).
The lapwing is thought to be increasing in numbers; the writer frequently observed considerable flocks during his recent rambles in the county. Finches are perhaps as numerous in Hertfordshire as in any other county of equal size; the large flocks of hen chaffinches that haunt the farmyards in winter being quite a notable feature. The goldfinch, it is to be feared, is rapidly becoming scarcer; as are also the jay, the woodcock and other birds much more numerous a few years back. Fieldfares and redwings visit the county in great numbers from the N. during the winter; one morning in the winter of 1886 the writer saw many thousands of fieldfares pass over St. Albans from the direction of Luton. The redwing, being largely insectivorous, is often picked up dead in the fields when the frost is unusually severe and food proportionally difficult to obtain.
The presence of many woods and small streams attracts a good proportion of the smaller English migrants; the nightingale and the cuckoo are heard almost throughout the county. Moorhens, coots and