A HISTORY OF LEICESTERSHIRE 



Britain. Mr. Babbington wrote in 1842 (Potter, op. 

 cit. App. 67) : ' Several shot twenty years ago at 

 Swannington by Mr. Grundy, who kept a wounded 

 bird for some time in a cage. It lost all its yellow 

 and red plumage and turned brown, after being fed 

 on hemp-seed.' He further stated that the species 

 had since been killed near Glenfield, and that in 

 Jan., 1841, during a long snow, several were shot 

 at Castle Donington ; also that in the winter of 

 1843-4 it was very abundant, and great numbers 

 were shot in various parts of the county. It appeared 

 again in the winter of 1854-5. The museum dona- 

 tion-book records one presented on 29 March, 1860, 

 from Barkby Thorpe. Mr. Davenport obtained one 

 at Skeffington in December, 1880. In the winter of 

 1884 they were unusually numerous in Leicestershire, 

 and I received specimens in February and March from 

 Thornton Reservoir, Saddington, and from a field on 

 the Groby Road where corn was being winnowed. 

 Mr. W. J. Evans shot five (three males and two 

 females) at New Parks on I March, 1886 ; they were 

 consorting with greenfinches and chaffinches. Mr. A. 

 K. Perkins shot one at Laughton on 10 Jan., 1887. 



Mr. S. H. Pilgrim informs me that Puffer reports 

 one shot in a farm-yard at Aston Flamville and taken 

 to him by Mr. Goude, a veterinary surgeon at Hinck- 

 ley, some years ago. Mr. Ingram wrote on I 5 April, 

 1891 : ' There are large numbers of brambling feed- 

 ing in the Beech Avenue, about a mile from the 

 Castle ; they are in beautiful plumage. These birds 

 resort to roost to the evergreen shrubs in the woods.' 

 The Rev. G. D. Armitage reported two, shot in the 

 vicinity of Broughton Astley on 24 Jan., 1891, and 

 the late Dr. Macaulay stated that a male specimen 

 had been seen at Gumley on 25 Nov., 1891. Among 

 the museum specimens are one caught near Leicester, 

 presented by Mr. Oakeyon I 5 May, 1900, and two from 

 near Broughton Astley, presented by the Rev. G. D. 

 Armitage, 24 Jan., 1891. Mr. W. J. Horn writes 

 in 1907 : ' Gener.illy to be found where beech trees 

 abound. On 21 Jan., 1894, I saw one at Burbage. 

 In March last a pair was caught in the nursery 

 gardens, Market Harborough, by a bird-catcher. 

 About 1903 a pair shot in this neighbourhood was 

 brought to me for identification.' 



58. Linnet. Linota cannabina (Linn.). 



Locally, Brown-Linnet, Goss (i.e. Gorse)-Linnet. 



Resident and generally distributed. Harley occa- 

 sionally found a nest on the lateral branch of an elm, 

 some 6 or 8 ft. from the ground. I found a nest 

 on 13 June, 1884, containing five eggs (now in the 

 museum), built in a magnolia on the walls of Belvoir 

 Castle. A nest and four eggs were taken at Nar- 

 borough by Dr. Montague Gunning in or about 

 1900. Mr. G. Frisby writes on 26 April, 1906 : 

 'Over 100 still in flock, and singing in an ash tree 

 most beautifully.' 



59. Lesser Redpoll. Linota rufescens (Vieillot). 



Locally, Pea-Linnet, Redcap. 



Resident, and sparingly distributed. Harley met 

 with its nest and eggs in North Leicestershire, in a 

 rough place known at that time by the name of 

 ' Leake Lings." The nest was fixed in a thick gorse- 

 bush 5 or 6 ft. from the ground ; it was more com- 

 pact than the nest of the common linnet, smaller and 

 more elegantly woven. He also met with its nest at 



Bardon. Mr. Davenport found a nest with three eggs 

 in May, 1883, at Ashlands, and wrote Dec., 1887 : 

 ' Has built at Ashlands, in July, three years run- 

 ning.' According to the late Mr. R. Widdowson, 

 it often breeds about Melton. In June, 1883, a nest 

 containing three eggs was found at Kibworth, by 

 Mr. Stuart Macaulay, built on the end of a branch of 

 an elm tree. Mr.W. J. Horn writes in 1 907 : ' More 

 frequently seen in winter and early spring ; one or two 

 pairs remain to breed.' He gives the following re- 

 cords: 8 Jan., 1897, one seen at Market Harborough; 

 19 April, 1905, several feeding in large trees, Market 

 Harborough ; 21 May, 1905, a pair at Lubenham. 



60. Twite. Linota flavirostris (Linn.). 



Locally. Mountain-Linnet. 



A winter visitant, apparently of rare occurrence, 

 although Harley wrote: 'The Mountain-Linnet 

 appears here at times, at the close of the autumn. The 

 little migrant seems partial to wild tracts in which the 

 thistle prevails. We occasionally meet with it in 

 small flocks, its associates being the brown linnet and 

 goldfinch. We think it does not nestle with us, but 

 merely performs an annual, irregular inland migration.' 

 I have no other note of this bird, save that the 

 bird-stuffers, Elkington and Turner, say they have 

 received a few specimens ; however, I cannot vouch 

 for their accuracy and should consider it a rare bird. 

 I have no report of its breeding in the county. 



Mr. Pilgrim informs me that one was killed near 

 Hinckley, in the autumn of 1889, by some boys who 

 took it to Puffer. 



61. Bullfinch. Pyrrhula europaea, Vieillot. 



Resident, but unevenly distributed. Harley re- 

 marked that, although the nest of the bullfinch is said 

 by many writers to be built generally in hawthorn 

 hedgerows, thick bushes, and similar places, he had 

 met with it in some of our coniferous shrubs. He 

 also found a nest placed upon a lateral branch of a 

 silver spruce fir in one of the groups of plantations in 

 Charnwood Forest, and several times since 1825 he 

 had met with it in like situations. I have seen its 

 nest in rhododendrons at Belvoir, where this bird is 

 common. Harley appears to have considered that it 

 fed, at times, on the berries of the nightshade (Solatium 

 dulcamara). Mr. Davenport finds its nest and eggs 

 every year, and says that it occasionally lays six eggs. 

 Two clutches of eggs taken from Belvoir are very dis- 

 similar in shape, one being long, pointed, and spotted 

 at the large end only ; the other short, obtuse, and 

 blotched irregularly over the whole surface, but prin- 

 cipally at the larger end. 



The museum contains two melanic specimens, one 

 of which was caught in a net at Knighton. A nest 

 and five eggs were taken at Narborough by Dr. 

 Montague Gunning circa 1900. Mr. W. J. Horn 

 writes in 1907 : ' I have found the nest in laurels, 

 in ivy on the " elm-tree bole," and dozens in its 

 favourite nesting site a hawthorn hedge. I have 

 never seen more than five in a party.' 



62. Crossbill. Loxia curviroslra, Linn. 



An irregular and uncertain visitant from autumn to 

 early spring, but has bred in the county. Mr. Bab- 

 ington (Potter, op. cit. App. p. 67) said : ' In great 

 flocks in the winter of 1839, splitting the fir-cones at 

 " The Oaks," near Charnwood Heath ; and in some 



128 



