BIRDS 



were in full swing in my garden as early as 25 Feb., 

 in 1901.' 



13. Nightingale. DauRai luicinia (Linn.). 



A summer migrant, sparingly distributed and breed- 

 ing. Mr. E. T. Loseby, of Leicester, has kindly 

 furnished me with the following account of a night- 

 ingale which frequented his garden on the ' Free- 

 men's Common,' immediately over the first tunnel, 

 close to the town on the Midland Railway : The 

 bird began to sing apparently on 29 April, 1889, 

 and sang up to 1 8 May, when it was reported 

 to have been shot by a man living close by. When 

 singing at night, the bird was quite fearless of its 

 surroundings, and usually sat upon a branch of an 

 elm on the railway embankment, often coming, how- 

 ever, into the apple and pear trees in Mr. Loseby's 

 garden, when it would sing within a few yards of his 

 party. Its song usually continued for an hour or 

 more, and neither trains, steam, nor whistles stopped 

 it for an instant. Mr. H. S. Davenport informs me 

 that on 14 June, 1889, a nightingale was nesting at 

 Ashlands, and the Rev. H. Parry, writing from Tugby 

 on 1 8 May, 1893, reported a nest with three eggs in 

 that vicinity. 



In the spring of 1905 Mr. W. J. Horn noted 

 twenty-five males singing near Market Harborough, 

 where they had apparently taken up their quarters 

 for nesting. Mr. G. Frisby, of Quorn, mentions one 

 singing on 30 April, 1906. I heard one singing near 

 St. George's Lodge, Swannington, at 4 p.m. on 

 10 May, 1907. 



14. Whitethroat. Sylvia cinerea (Bechstein). 



Locally, Hay-jug, Nettle-creeper (both also ap- 

 plied to the following species), Peggy, Great 

 Peggy. 



A summer migrant, commonly distributed and 

 breeding. The song of this bird has often been mis- 

 taken for that of the sedge-warbler, which is fre- 

 quently reported as ' occurring in great numbers this 

 year,' but in 1887, however, I was enabled to bring one 

 of my most positive informants and the so-called sedge- 

 warbler ' face to face,' and the songster turning out 

 to be the whitethroat, as I predicted, upset all the 

 theories based upon the 'abundance of the sedge- 

 warbler this year on dusty roads, far away from water.' 

 Mr. W. J. Horn found a nest with one egg on 

 30 April a very early date. 



15. Lesser Whitethroat. Sylvia curruca (Linn.). 



Locally, Little Peggy, White-breasted Fauvette 

 (obsolete). 



A summer migrant, sparingly distributed and breed- 

 ing. Harley considered it very local. It has occurred 

 within two miles of the centre of Leicester, at Ayle- 

 stone Mill, and a specimen is now in the museum. 

 Mr. W. J. Horn writes : ' Arrives about the same 

 date as the common whitethroat, but commences 

 nesting operations earlier. On 24 May, 1892, I 

 found a nest of this species containing four abnormal 

 eggs smaller than the usual type almost round 

 and peculiarly marked ; these I took on 5 June. I 

 found about two hundred yards distant another nest 

 containing four eggs precisely similar to the above and 

 evidently laid by the same bird. Both clutches are in 



my possession.' On 7 Sept., 1895, Mr. Horn heard 

 one singing. 



1 6. Blackcap. Sylvia atricapilla (Linn.). 

 Locally, Black-headed Peggy. 



A summer migrant, sparingly distributed and breed- 

 ing. Mr. H. S. Davenport writes : ' I was lucky 

 enough to get, on 24 May, 1888, a lovely clutch (four 

 in number) of the pink variety of the eggs of the 

 Blackcap Warbler.' The Rev. Hugh Parry found this 

 bird nesting at Tugby in 1893, and Mr, G. Frisby 

 saw it at Quorn on 23 April, 1906. 



The earliest note Mr. W. J. Horn has of its 

 nesting is 9 April, 1 906. A nest and six eggs from 

 Tugby were presented to the museum by the Rev. 

 Hugh Parry, 31 May, 1893. 



17. Garden-Warbler. Sylvia hortens'u (Bechstein). 



Locally, Greater Pettychaps (obsolete). 



A summer migrant, generally distributed, breeding, 

 and more common than the blackcap. Mr. H. S. 

 Davenport remarks that this bird was much less 

 common during the three years ending 1887 than in 

 1884, when he found as many as five nests in the 

 course of an hour about Keythorpe. He says it 

 is the latest builder of all the warblers known in 

 Leicestershire. Mr. W. J. Horn informs me that 

 it is much commoner than the blackcap, a late 

 breeder, and its eggs are not generally found before 

 the end of May or beginning of June. A nest and 

 five eggs from Tugby were presented to the museum 

 by the Rev. Hugh Parry, 31 May, 1893. 



[Dartford-Warbler. Sylvia undata (Boddaert). 



This bird does not occur in the county, and is only 

 now mentioned because it has, by error, been included 

 in local lists as having occurred at ' Melton Mowbray 

 in Leicestershire.' 8 Harley, however, who wrote a 

 long MS. article about it, contradicted this and said 

 that ' Mr. Yarrell's informant ' told him that the 

 example of Dartford-warbler, which he had described 

 as having been captured in the county of Leicester, 

 was brought to him by a countryman, who subse- 

 quently admitted having obtained it in Cambridge- 

 shire.'] 



1 8. Goldcrest. Regulus cristatus (Koch). 



Resident, but sparingly distributed ; more common 

 in the winter months, when the native birds receive 

 large additions on migration. Mr. Stephen H. Pil- 

 grim writes that there was a flock of about fifty in 

 Burbage Woods one evening about the middle of 

 January, 1890. 



Mr. G. Frisby, under date of 15 Jan., 1906, re- 

 ports a good number observed in Quorn and Wood- 

 house. Mr. W. J. Horn states that in 1900 three 

 pairs nested in Market Harborough, one pair in a 

 garden in the middle of the town. 



[Fire-crest. Regului ignicapillus (Brehm). 



The late Dr. Macaulay reported (Mid. Nat. 1882, 

 p. 63) a pair of these birds seen by Mr. Daven- 

 port at Skeffington in 1890, and relative to this, 



8 See each edition of Yarrell, Brit. Birds, also Macgillivray, 

 Hist, of Brit. Birds, Morri, Brit. Birds, and Dresser, Birds of 

 Europe, quoting Yarrell. 



9 No doubt the late Mr. R. Widdowson, who was well known 

 to both Harley and Yarrell. 



