A HISTORY OF LEICESTERSHIRE 



memory of man are now extinct as residents, and occur only as occasional 

 migrants from abroad. Among these may be mentioned the marsh-harrier, hen- 

 harrier, buzzard, goshawk, kite, honey-buzzard, peregrine falcon, hobby and 

 merlin. Some of the foregoing always of occasional occurrence, in spring or 

 autumn, are increasingly rare ; and no recent notes are to hand of the nesting 

 of the hobby and merlin, although a few specimens of both birds annually occur. 



Of the Steganopodes, always of accidental occurrence inland, one, the 

 shag, is a recent addition to the county fauna. 



Of the Herodiones the only resident now is the common heron. 



In the Anseres all those recorded are accidental, save the wild duck and 

 the teal, which still breed in the county. Additions to the accidental list are 

 the Bernacle goose, Bewick's swan, the gadwall and velvet scoter. 



Of the Gallinae the quail does not now occur, save as a very rare visitor, 

 and the black and red grouse are quite extinct. 



In the Limicolae all are accidental visitants, save the lapwing and snipe, 

 which latter, though far more abundant than formerly owing to the institution 

 of large sewage works at Beaumont Leys, near Leicester rarely remains to 

 breed. On this farm are usually to be found thousands of green plover and 

 hundreds of snipe and golden plover, their numbers augmented very con- 

 siderably in severe weather, for here there are always runnels of warm water 

 which seldom freeze, and carry an abundance of food. Here also many 

 rarities occur, so that examples of the ruff (immature), sandpipers, and others 

 have been recorded. 



Amongst the Gaviae all are, of course, of accidental occurrence, but the 

 little gull formerly of doubtful occurrence can now be added through a 

 specimen procured at Bradgate Reservoir in 1889, and now in the museum. 



Of the remaining avi-fauna all are of accidental occurrence, save the 

 great crested grebe and little grebe, both of which breed and are fairly 

 common on all the great reservoirs of Cropston, Saddington, Swithland, 

 Thornton, and the larger pools throughout the county. 



Until the publication of the Vertebrate Animals of Leicestershire and 

 Rutland, 1 late in 1889, no complete work upon the vertebrates of Leicester- 

 shire and Rutland had been attempted, although scattered notes had appeared 

 in various natural history journals, and a few lists more or less imperfect 

 had from time to time been published. Thus in 1840 Macgillivray, in his 

 British Birds, printed a ' Catalogue of the Land Birds of the County of 

 Leicester,' by James Harley. In 1842 Potter published in his History and 

 Antiquities of Charnwood Forest an appendix including the * Ornithology 

 of Charnwood Forest,' by Churchill Babington. It is probable that 

 this last was written, if not published, previously to Harley's ' Catalogue.' 

 In 1868 Alfred Ellis published (for private circulation only) Notes 

 about Birds. Nothing further I believe was published for many years, until 

 the late Dr. Macaulay contributed to the Midland Naturalist, for 1881-2 

 * A List of the Birds of Leicestershire,' to which I added a few notes, and a 

 few years later came my notes in the Zoologist for 1885-6-7. 



In compiling the following list use has been made of the MSS. of the late 

 James Harley (1840-55), and thanks are due to correspondents and others 

 who have supplied me with details concerning the birds of their districts. 



1 By Montagu Browne, F.Z.S. 

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