BIRDS 



Great Central Station at Quorn. One egg was 

 laid and the larder was well stocked. On 1 2 July, 

 1894, Mr. W. J. Horn saw a male bird with 

 food in its mouth between Sibson and Shenton. 

 He says that in this district several pairs nest 

 annually at about the same spot all on the road- 

 side. Other records are on 6 July, 1896, a pair seen 

 on the roadside near Wolvey, and 25 May, 1905, one 

 seen at Great Bowden. 

 44. Waxwing. dmpelis garru/ui, Linn. 



Locally, Bohemian Waxwing. 



A rare winter visitant, but not remaining to breed 

 in Britain. Harley stated that it appeared in 1827 

 in small parties of three and four individuals in a 

 group, and again in the fall of 1835-6, when it 

 became partially dispersed over the county, especially 

 in the more wooded parts. During the winter of 

 1850 it was again fairly plentiful, and numbers 

 were shot in various parts of the county. He 

 particularly mentions one, probably fully adult, which 

 was shot at Swannington, and which he describes as 

 having ' the barbs of the tail-feathers literally termi- 

 nated with a wax-like substance of a bright vermilion 

 colour, the same in substance which we find attached 

 to the wing of this species.' He adds that it ap- 

 peared to feed chiefly on the fruit of the mountain-ash 

 (Pyrus aucuparia, Gaertn.), the berries of the elder, 

 and the fruit of the hawthorn. 



In the Zoologist for 1850 (p. 2770), the following 

 are recorded as having occurred during January of 

 that year : One shot at Stoney Stanton, and in the 

 possession of Mr. Henry Townsend, of that place ; 

 another at Claybrook, three near Bagworth, and one 

 shot at Belgrave. 



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



p. gj) : I am informed by Mr. Bickley, of Melton 



Mowbray, whose late brother presented the collection 



of birds bearing his name in the Leicester Museum, 



that the specimen of this bird in that collection was 



shot near Melton Mowbray,' and no doubt this is 



the case, for the late Mr. R. Widdowson wrote to 



me : 'I shot one myself some years ago near Melton, 



and have had three or four since.' Mr. J. C. Bassett, 



of Ullesthorpe, has one in his possession which was 



shot at Arnesby about 1870 by Mr. S. Horton. One 



was shot at Belgrave about 1878-9 (Turner). Mr. 



H. A. Payne, of Enville, and a friend watched a pair 



for a long time near Bradgate House in the summer 



of 1883, and in connexion with this it is singular 



that one was shot at Anstey (close to Bradgate), at 



Christmas of the same year by Mr. Alfred Wm. 



Matts. I saw in December, 1888, two beautiful 



waxwings probably a pair mounted, and in the 



possession of Mr. W. T. Tucker, who shot them in 



the autumn of 1886, in some willow-trees close to his 



house in Park Lane, Loughborough. The Rev. G. D. 



Armitage saw one on the drive at Broughton Astley 



Rectory, but cannot remember the date. A fine 



specimen was shot at Loughborough by Mr. 



W. T. Tucker on 12 Jan. 1895. Mr. W. J. Horn 



reports the following : ' One shot at Arnesby in 



1868 by a farmer, while feeding on a hawthorn bush 



(Zool. 1 868, p. 1 2 1 2), and another shot near Laughton 



on 13 Feb. 1895 (Zool. 1895). 



45. Pied Flycatcher. Muscicapa atricapilla, Linn. 



A rare summer migrant, but there is no record of 

 its breeding. Harley wrote : ' A young male was 



shot by Chaplin on the banks of Groby Pool in the 

 autumn of 1840,' and under date 28 April, 1859 : 

 ' Examined to-day, at Collins the birdstuffer's, a fine 

 male example shot at Markfield.' Collins also in- 

 formed him that he once had a pied flycatcher, said 

 to have been captured in Bradgate Park. The late 

 Dr. Macaulay's note-book records a specimen seen in 

 his garden at Kibworth, May, 1859, 'apparently 

 weak and exhausted after long flight.' The date 

 (1870) in Mid. 'Nat. i88l,p. 256, is therefore ap- 

 parently an error. He also saw one which was shot 

 at Illston by Mr. Newcomb about 1875. Turner 

 gave me a note that about 1880 a male bird of this 

 species was taken in a barn at Wanlip (Zool. 1885, 

 p. 461). Since then the Rev. W. H. Palmer has 

 ascertained that a pied flycatcher was caught, as stated, 

 but the man who caught it having left the village, no 

 further information could be gained. Mr. Davenport 

 informs me that a pair of these birds were seen by 

 Mr. Kestin in his father's garden at Twyford on 

 5 May, 1883, and that they remained about the 

 place, probably with the intention of nesting. The 

 late Mr. Widdowson had one which had been killed 

 at Melton. I received an immature male, shot at 

 Bardon Hill by Mr. Ward, on 12 May, 1883, 

 and Mr. A. K. Perkins shot a fine male at 

 Laughton on 29 April, I 898. Mr. Charles Marriott, 

 of Cotesbach Hall, on 19 April, 1901, observed a 

 pied flycatcher in a field in that parish. He says 

 that it differed from the one in the plate of Morris's 

 Birds in having dark grey feathers at the base of the 

 back in place of black throughout, but in the 

 description given it is stated that the winter plumage 

 of the male bird includes grey back feathers. 



46. Spotted Flycatcher. Muscicapa griso/a, Linn. 



Locally, Grey Flycatcher, Gnatcatcher. 

 A summer migrant, commonly distributed, and 

 breeding even in gardens close to Leicester. The 

 museum donation book records that Mr. W. Gimson 

 presented a portion of a nest and three eggs, found in 

 an old elm-tree, apparently without any external 

 opening, on 8 Jan. 1853. Mr. Davenport writes : 

 'A chaffinch had its nest with five eggs in a laurel 

 bush bordering on the lawn-tennis ground at Ash- 

 lands in May, 1883, but being unavoidably and so 

 frequently disturbed, forsook it. Three weeks later a 

 spotted flycatcher appropriated the nest, laid four 

 eggs, and successfully hatched off ; repairing again to 

 same nest she laid a second batch of eggs. I found 

 three eggs of a pale-blue colour, with no markings, in 

 May, 1879, at Skeffington.' Writing again he says : 

 'In 1886 and 1887 (just as in 1879) I found a 

 nest both years containing four eggs e.ich, of a beau- 

 tiful pale-blue colour, without a speck or spot on 

 them. This seems a rather favourite variety of the 

 egg.' Every year this bird haunts the New Walk 

 at Leicester, and nearly every year builds its nest 

 in the ornamental stonework on the summit of 

 the Hollings Memorial. In the summer of 1887 

 I noticed one or more pairs about there, and in 

 August they appeared to have nested. During 1 906 

 it built again about the museum, and haunted the 

 whole length of the New Walk. The Rev. Father 

 Bullen, writing from Ratcliffe in 1890, says that he 

 found a cup-shaped and well-made nest in that of a 

 house-sparrow. Mr. G. Frisby, in August 1905, says 

 that on 14 Aug. he noticed a number of flycatchers 



125 



