Birds of Leicestershire 117 



' ' Of the ' Picidce,' we have the green wood-pecker, 

 the greater spotted and the lesser spotted, but the two 

 last are rare owing to the scarcity of old timber in any 

 quantity, and the wtyneck, but the last belongs to a 

 different sub-family, and is very rare. The ' Alcedinidcc ' 

 family is represented by the kingfisher. We had, I am 

 glad to say, a brood hatched in Burbage in the summer of 

 1913. The hoopoe of the family ' Upupidce ' does not 

 occur with us, but Mr. Cope, of Osbaston Hall, has one 

 stuffed, which is supposed to have been shot at Nailstone 

 in 1828, and Harley mentions one shot at Stapleton in 

 1851, which is now in the museum. It only occurs with 

 any regularity in some of the southern counties, and is a 

 Continental bird. The family, ' Cuculidce,' includes 

 only the cuckoo. Of the ' Strigidce ' we have the barn 

 owl, the wood or brown or tawny owl (for they are all 

 the same bird), and the little owl, which was introduced 

 into this country by the late I/>rd Lilford some years ago, 

 and is not an indigenous species, though it has spread 

 rapidly and will not now, I think, be exterminated. I 

 do not know of either the long-eared owl which likes 

 fir woods and plantations, or the short-eared, both of 

 which are given by Mr. Browne. The ' Falconidce ' 

 family is an interesting one for the reason that it includes 

 Montagu's harrier,* a record for the county, shot in 1893, 

 since Mr. Browne published his book on the vertebrates 

 of the county, but he mentions it in the history of the 

 county. The bird was killed by Mr. John Powers of 

 Barwell, in the parish of Earl Shilton, and is now in the 

 Leicester Museum. The other species are the sparrow 

 hawk, the kestrel, the hobby, and the merlin (one having 

 been shot at Barwell in 1892). In 1913 a specimen of 

 the North American peregrine falcon was shot within a 

 few miles of here (near Desford), and was portrayed in 

 ' British Birds,' but this was, of course, only an accidental 

 straggler. One record of the peregrine falcon at Newbold 

 Verdon in October, 1891, is mentioned in the County 

 History. We now come to some families of birds of quite 



*The Marsh Harrier must now be included, one having been shot at 

 Upton since this paper was written. S.H.P. 



