A HISTORY OF LEICESTERSHIRE 



Mr. Davenport subsequently informed me that he 

 shot a bird at Skeffington which may have given rise 

 to the above note, but although he thought at the 

 time that it was a fire-crest, he is now convinced that 

 he was mistaken. 



To prevent similar mistakes in the future, I may 

 briefly state that this bird is very easily distinguishable 

 by the two black stripes on each side of the head 

 the lower one passing through the eye and a white 

 streak under each, giving the head a striped appear- 

 ance.] 



1 9. Chiffchaff. Phylloscopus ruftis (Bechstein). 



Locally, Bank-jug (as also the following species), 

 Lesser Pettychaps (obsolete). 



A summer migrant, commonly distributed and 

 breeding. Harley remarked that two broods appear 

 to be reared during the season, he having seen the first 

 hatch on the wing early in June, the second in August. 

 Said by the late Dr. Macaulay (Mid. Nat. 1883, pp. 

 85-6) to have been seen at Langton, 21 Feb., 1882, 

 and also at Gumley, n Nov., 1882. The winter of 

 1 881-2 was the mildest ever known in the Mid- 

 lands, and it is possible consequently that the bird 

 may have arrived earlier than usual. I heard a chift- 

 chaff several times in a small spinney at Aylestone in 

 1 8 8 3 so late as 2 1 September, and on 2 2 Sept., 1897, 

 Dr. Macaulay and I heard it at Saddington Gorse. 

 Mr. G. Frisby of Quorn saw and heard one on 

 1 1 April, 1906. 



Mr. W. J. Horn writes in 1905 : '22 March, 

 1896, is my earliest note of its arrival. Three or four 

 pairs breed in Market Harborough.' All nests he 

 has found have been placed from 3 in. to 3 ft. above 

 the ground. I heard it at Cotesbach, 3 April, 1907. 



20. Willow-Warbler. Phylloscopus trochilus (Linn.). 



Locally, Willow-Wren, Yellow Wren (almost 

 obsolete). 



A summer migrant, commonly distributed and 

 breeding. I have received nests and eggs of this bird 

 from Aylestone, Belvoir, Bradgate, Knighton, and 

 other places in Leicestershire, much more frequently 

 than those of the chiffchaff. Apparently it is equally 

 common with that bird, and its nest is just as skilfully 

 concealed. Mr. G. Frisby of Quorn heard this bird 

 on 5 April, 1906, and the writer heard it in the 

 wooded part of Coleman Road, Leicester, 16 April, 

 1906. 



Mr. W. J. Horn, writing in 1906, says : 'The 

 most abundant of our summer migrants quite six 

 times as numerous as the chiffchaff. Nests in Market 

 Harborough ; 26 April, 1896, singing on the wing ; 

 7 Sept., 1895, singing.' 



21. Wood-Warbler. Phylloscopus slbilatrix (Bechstein). 



Locally, Wood-Wren. 



A summer migrant, said by Babington (Potter, op. 

 cit. App.) to be ' not uncommon.' Despite this the 

 writer, during a twenty-five years' residence in the 

 county, has not met with it, and the Leicester 

 Museum contains no local specimen. 



Nevertheless it is but fair to state that the following 

 letters have been received : On 22 May, 1891, the 

 Rev. Hugh Parry wrote from Tugby : ' Several (at 

 least six) wood-warblers have lately settled here and I 

 am hoping ere long to find a nest, and if I am suc- 

 cessful will let you have it for the museum. There is 



no mistake about them, as I have been watching them 

 carefully for the past three days, and I know their 

 note well, as they are common enough in my county, 

 Salop. I think I told you that I saw and heard a 

 pair in Knighton Spinney in May, 1889." Later on, 

 19 June, 1891:'! think you can hear a wood-warbler 

 any day at Stretton Hall, if you were to go over. 

 Yesterday I came here and was almost at once greeted 

 with its note,' and again on 2 May, 1892 : 'I heard 

 a pair of wood-wrens on Saturday here (Tugby) and 

 again yesterday. To-day they are quiet, I suppose on 

 account of cold.' Again, on 1 8 May, 1893 : 'I was 

 over at Belvoir Castle lately and heard and saw the 

 wood-warbler.' 



Mr. H. S. Davenport, writing on 15 May, 1893, 

 says : ' I have found a wood-warbler at last, 

 although I have invariably said I have never before 

 met with this bird in this county. I detected him at 

 I o'clock on Saturday, and the best of it is that the 

 chiffchaff and willow-wren were singing simultane- 

 ously. I think it was a great season for warblers, and 

 he is a straggler to these parts.' Mr. Stephen H. 

 Pilgrim writes from Hinckley on 6 May, 1 898 : ' A 

 genuine and undoubted wood-wren has put in an 

 appearance at the garden of my father's house here, 

 the Castle Hill.' 



Mr. W. J. Horn, writing from Market Harborough 

 on 27 April, 1899, says: 'You may be interested 

 to hear that I watched for some time and listened to 

 the song of the wood-wren this morning in some 

 trees at the top of the town. This is my first record 

 for Leicestershire.' He again records its occurrence 

 at Market Harborough on 2 May, 1903. 



22. Reed- Warbler. Acncephalui streperus (Vieillot). 



Locally, Reed-Wren. 



A summer migrant, breeding, but unevenly dis- 

 tributed. Harley mentioned it as occurring on the 

 banks of the Soar and the reed-beds of Groby 

 Pool, Dishley Reservoir, and Garendon, &c., but 

 the late Dr. Macaulay, though living near Sad- 

 dington Reservoir, where it undoubtedly breeds in 

 small numbers every year, had no knowledge of 

 its existence save on the authority of the Rev. A. 

 Matthews, who said that it occurred in the northern 

 division of the county, until I came to Leicester, when 

 in September, 1880, I took a few short walks for 

 purposes of observation, and during one of them came 

 to a spot in which I should expect to find nesting the 

 sedge, and possibly the reed-warbler. This spot was a 

 reed-bed just under the castle, and was very difficult of 

 approach to pedestrians ; accordingly the following 

 May, I, with a young friend, launched my canoe and 

 paddled through the reeds until we could find a 

 landing-place. The season being very backward, the 

 new growth of reeds was but just springing, and we had 

 an almost uninterrupted view of any birds we might 

 flush. Soon I had the pleasure of seeing and hearing 

 both the birds we came in search of; and in about 

 half an hour we had found eleven nests of four species 

 of birds, three of which were those of Acrocephalus 

 streperus. They were not, however, so forward in 

 construction as the sedge-warblers' or the other birds', 

 all of which latter had eggs. On 9 June, 1 88 1, a beauti- 

 ful specimen of a reed-warbler's nest with five eggs was 

 obtained from this place for the museum, and further 

 nests, all containing eggs, were found there on 1 3 June, 

 1885, and 15 June, 1888. 



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