BIRDS 



On 13 June, 1889, I again visited the Castle reed- 

 bed, when numbers of men were at work cutting a 

 new watercourse which has since been made, entirely 

 destroying the reed-bed (subsequently built upon). 

 After searching for a considerable time without 

 success, I found two nests of the reed-warbler, one of 

 which, unlike any I had previously seen, was built 

 entirely of dry confervae or ' flannel-weed," from the 

 brook, and contained one egg (broken). A nest with 

 four eggs was found by Harry Throsby at the Roman 

 Bridge, Aylestone, on 25 June, 1889. Mr. W. J. 

 Horn writes in 1 906 : ' Several pairs nest every 

 year in a reedy portion of the Upper Welland ; on 

 9 June, 1904, a nest which I was able to examine 

 from the bank contained two eggs. This bird. also 

 nests in the reeds at Market Bosworth Park. In May, 

 before the reeds are grown up, this bird nests in the 

 upper branches of thorns, or in willows. I have a 

 clutch of eggs which I took from the fork of a small 

 tree 1 2 ft. to 15 ft. from the ground, and upon 

 another occasion I found in one morning five nests 

 fixed in the small twigs of the willow.' 



23. Sedge- Warbler. Acncephalus phragmitis (Bech- 



stein). 



Locally, Reed-Fauvette (obsolete). 

 A summer migrant, generally distributed and breed- 

 ing. Harley wrote : ' The sedge-warbler haunts 

 hedges away from humid tracts and appears to associate 

 more with the whitethroat than with its congener, the 

 reed-warbler, the personal appearance of which it so 

 much resembles.' 10 He further stated that he pos- 

 sessed a nest beautifully and ingeniously attached to 

 three twigs of osier, suspended within a fork about 

 3 ft. from the ground. Mr. Davenport, in June, 

 1883, found a nest of this species built at the top of 

 a 'bullfinch hedge,' quite I oft. from the ground, 

 near Shangton Holt, containing four eggs. I have 

 found nests at the Castle reed-beds built as described 

 by Hailey, both in reeds and forks of osiers and also, 

 as on II June, 1 88 5, in the middle of a small isolated 

 whitethorn bush, by a ditch at Aylestone. This nest 

 was extremely well-constructed, and lined with the 

 tufts of the reed. Mr. W. J. Horn says : ' I have 

 found scores of nests of this bird, but never one on the 

 ground. 7 May, 1900, singing on the wing.' 



24. Aquatic Warbler. Acncephalus ayuatlcus (J. F. 



Gmelin). 



This bird is noted as occurring in Leicestershire, on 

 the authority of Mr. J. E. Harting," who has a speci- 

 men in his collection which he received from the 

 neighbourhood of Loughborough in the summer of 

 1864. It was forwarded to Mr. Harting by a friend, 

 under the impression that it was a grasshopper-warbler, 

 but on examination it proved to be one of this 

 species, and the second discovered in Britain. 



25. Grasshopper- Warbler. Locustella naevia (Bod- 



daert). 



A summer migrant, sparingly distributed and breed- 

 ing. Mentioned by Harley as being very locally dis- 

 tributed, and most numerous along the skirts of the 

 woods of Newtown Linford ; also plentifully distri- 



10 See Browne, op. cit. p. 52. 



11 Ibii (1867), 468-9 ; the ame specimen is also mentioned 

 in Zool. (1897), 946 ; in Handbook of Brit. Birds, 105 ; in Our 

 Summer Migrants, 91 ; and in Yarrell'i Hist. Brit. Birds (ed. 4), 

 381. 



I 121 



buted in the wooded districts of Beaumanor, Garendon, 

 and Swithland. I have not met with this bird around 

 Leicester. 



The late Dr. Macaulay recorded (MM. Nat. 1881, 

 p. 255) a pair which built under a bush in the garden 

 at Gumley Rectory. Mr. Davenport found a nest in 

 May, 1879, in Skeffington Wood, with five eggs; 

 another in May, 1883, in a spinney near Ashlands, 

 containing six eggs, and a third on 21 May, 1884. 

 In 1886 it nested in Merevale Wood or Mirabel Hole 

 Wood, a fox-covert near Stockerston. On 4 June, 

 1887, the Rev. Hugh Parry, of Tugby, took from 

 under a brier-bush in Tugby Wood a nest and six 

 eggs, two of which and the nest are in the museum. 

 Mr. S. H. Pilgrim, writing on 5 June, 1891, says : 

 ' The grasshopper-warbler may be heard almost any 

 day in Sheepy Wood (part of Burbage Wood) or 

 Burbage Common, and about three weeks ago I 

 watched through my glasses a pair within 10 yards of 

 me which seemed to be contemplating nesting ; the 

 cock bird, while I was watching, came on the top 

 spray of the bush they were in, and "reeled" out his 

 song in full view for about a minute.' 



The Rev. Hugh Parry considers that during 1905 

 and 1906 this bird became very scarce in the 

 Tugby district. Mr. W. J. Horn, writing in 1906, 

 says: '8 May, 1896, one heard at Sutton Cheney. 

 Several pairs nest annually in the Burbage Woods near 

 Hinckley, and on 24 May, 1895, I was so fortunate 

 as to find a nest containing five eggs ; later in the 

 season I found another from which the birds had flown. 

 Both nests were placed in the heart of a large grass 

 tussock. Hearing one " reeling " on Burbage Com- 

 mon, I approached quietly and looked down upon the 

 furze bush from which the bird was singing.' 



26. Hedge-Sparrow. Accentor modularls (Linn.). 



Locally, Dunnock, Shuffle-wing. 



Resident and common ; sometimes double-brooded. 

 Harley remarked that it is liable to a tubercular disease, 

 he having seen the eyelids, base of the bill, and a great 

 part of the occiput, covered with small tubercles and 

 warts, a peculiarity which I have frequently noticed 

 in this bird, whose feet are also liable to be similarly 

 affected. C. Adcock informs me that in the sum- 

 mer of 1886 he had a pretty variety, the wings and 

 back being of a cream colour. 



The Rev. W. H. Marriott presented to the museum 

 a pied specimen (sex not ascertained) which was shot 

 on 27 Sept., 1889, in a field on the Glebe Farm, 

 close to the village of Thrussington. 



27. Dipper. Cine/us aquaticus, Bechstein. 



Locally, Water-Ouzel. 



Formerly resident but now very rare. Mr. Bab- 

 bington wrote (Potter, op. cit. App. p. 66) : ' Seen 

 in the shallow pools of the rocky rivulet which runs 

 from Kite Hill to the reservoir, when the forest began 

 to be inclosed.' According to Harley it occurred on 

 the brook which flows down from the forest of Charn- 

 wood by way of Grace Dieu Priory, and was also 

 observed by him on the brook which rises near Copt 

 Oak and flows by Belton and Shepshed and into the 

 Soar. Adams shot an example (in Harley 's time) on 

 the stream which passes through Bradgate Park. The 

 late Dr. Macaulay recorded (Mid. Nat. 1882, p. 63) 

 one which was shot some years ago out of a brook 

 near Noseley, and then in Sir A. Hazlerigg's collection. 



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