BIRDS 



lands in the south of the county, where game was 

 much less cared for than in other districts, the carrion- 

 crow was certainly more abundant. Mr. S. Shackel- 

 ford wrote to me: ' I was driving in May, 1884, 

 along the highway in Knaptoft Parish, when I saw a 

 crow about two hundred yards in front on the road- 

 side, which seemed to me, at that distance, to be fight- 

 ing with another, but as I drove within fifteen yards 

 of it I was astonished to find it trying to kill a mole, 

 and on my stopping it collared the animal with its 

 beak, flew over the hedge with it, and then com- 

 menced again.' 



Mr. Davenport obtained a very small dark-green 

 egg from a nest containing one other, near Rolleston, 

 in April, l88z ; a precisely similar egg in every 

 respect was taken at the same place in April, 1883, 

 from a nest containing four others. Both eggs are in 

 his collection. The old birds had frequented the 

 neighbourhood during the intervening winter. He 

 further records a third, also similar, taken on 1 3 April, 

 1885. Mr. Otto Murray-Dixon reports this bird as 

 nesting commonly at Swithland in 1906. 



Mr. W. J. Horn, writing in 1907, says that 

 there are many nests in the neighbourhood of Market 

 Harborough,and half a dozen about a quarter of a mile 

 apart on the Welland between Market Harborough 

 and Lubenham. 



76. Hooded Crow. Corf us corn'tx, Linn. 



Locally, Grey Crow, Grey-backed Crow, Royston 

 Crow, Saddle-backed Crow. 



A regular winter visitant, sparingly distributed and 

 not remaining to breed. Mentioned by Mr. Babing- 

 ton (Potter, op. cit. App. p. 68) as having been seen 

 near Charnwood Heath, and he himself had seen 

 specimens said to have been killed near Leicester. 

 Harley noted its first appearance at various dates, 

 commencing z 5 October, and extending over a period of 

 fourteen days, and remarked that from then until 

 about 21 March it might be observed on our uplands 

 and wilds, its range being chiefly limited to the forest 

 of Charnwood and the surrounding district. Mr. In- 

 gram wrote : ' Five or six pairs generally visit 

 Belvoir every November, remaining until spring ; 

 often near the kennels, the smell of flesh attracting 

 them.' The late Mr. Widdowson noted the 

 appearance of this bird close to Melton nearly every 

 winter. Turner reports one shot in the Abbey 

 meadow about 1870 ; and a specimen which I saw 

 in the possession of the once celebrated prize-fighter, 

 Joseph (' Mickey ') Bent, was said to have been shot 

 near Melton Mowbray, somewhere about the year 

 1873. The late Dr. Macaulay recorded one (Mid. 

 Nat. 1882, p. 64) obtained at Skeffington in 1875, 

 and saw one at Saddington Reservoir on 7 Jan., 

 1885. One in the museum was obtained from 

 Rothley Plain on 2 Feb., 1881, and another was 

 shot on 3 Jan., 1882, close to Leicester. Mr. Ellis 

 has seen a pair or two nearly every winter ; and I 

 saw two on 24 Feb., 1882, near Bradgate, sitting on 

 an old tree. C. Adcock informs me that he 

 mounted one which had been caught in a trap at 

 Bradgate in 1883, and Elkington has, in past 

 years, received several from Swithland. The Leicester 

 Chronicle and Mercury of 24 Oct., 1885, records that 

 a Mr. Bevin, of Dunton Bassett, found a wounded 

 bird there on 1 6 Oct., 1885. Since then it appears 



to have been unusually common. I purchased a 

 male, shot on the Cropston Road, 31 Oct., 1885, the 

 stomach of which contained large quantities of the 

 elytra of various beetles and some few uninjured 

 small snails. Another (a female) was shot at Cos- 

 sington on 6 Nov., 1885, and five others had been 

 seen there the day before. One was shot at Nar- 

 borough by Mr. Everard about the same time. Mr. 

 Davenport shot one at Skeffington Vale in Decem- 

 ber, 1880, and reports three seen at SkefRngton on 

 5 Dec., 1885. The Rev. A. Matthews reports hav- 

 ing seen two at Gumley. Mr. W. A. Evans saw one 

 at Kirby Muxloe on 28 Nov., 1885. One was seen 

 by Mr. H. W. Roberts at Sheet Hedges, Bradgate, 

 on 2 Feb., 1887, and another by the Rev. G. D. 

 Armitage at Broughton Astley in 1887. Among the 

 museum specimens is a female killed at Kimcote on 

 31 Oct., 1890. 



Mr. C. R. Smith writing from Loddington on 

 5 Nov., 1905, recorded one he had shot there. 

 Mr. G. Frisby writes 5 Oct., 1906 : ' First appear- 

 ance this season.' 



Two were seen by Messrs. P. Druce and S. Maples 

 on 3 March, 1907, at the sewage farm, Beaumont 

 Leys. 



Mr. W. J. Horn writes in 1907 : 'In ten years 

 I have seen but two in this district ; 8 March, 1902, 

 one seen in Welland Valley near Rockingham.' 



77. Rook. Corvus frugi/egtis, Linn. 



Resident and common, breeding in rookeries at 

 Stoneygate and Knighton, and .it Westcotes until its 

 demolition in 1887. Harley appears to have con- 

 sidered that most of the rooks bred immediately 

 around Leicester congregated and rested for the night, 

 during the autumn and winter, in Sheet Hedges 

 Wood, opposite the village of Anstey. He also re- 

 marked upon the hardships to which this species is 

 exposed during seasons of continued drought, such as 

 the summer of 1826, when numbers perished in the 

 fields for want of food. The eggs vary considerably 

 in size. Two taken out of a nest at Stoughton were 

 presented to the museum on 24 April, 1886, one of 

 them being of normal size, the other about the size 

 of a sparrow's egg. This bird is subject to much 

 variety. The museum donation-book records under 

 date 13 June, 1850, a rather uncommon variety, 

 ' of a pale brown colour, shot at Stoneyg.ite ' ; and 

 under date 25 May, 1885, a pied specimen from 

 Gopsall ; and one with white wings from Belvoir 

 was presented on 24 June, 1880, by Mr. Theodore 

 Walker. I saw an immature bird shot at Wistow 

 Park 20 May, 1885, the beak of which was yellowish- 

 white, claws white, several of the toes barred with 

 white, part of the head and chin white, as also several 

 of the primaries and secondaries. Mr. W. A. Evans 

 sent me an immature female specimen shot by him at 

 Ingarsby on 3 June, 1889, which has the basal half 

 of the setiform feathers of the nares pure white, as 

 are also many of the vibrissae, the setiform feathers 

 at the base of the lower mandible, the sides of the 

 face, the chin, throat, fore part of the neck with the 

 exception of five small black feathers in the region of 

 the chin the major covert of the ninth primary, the 

 distal third of the eighth primary, and the two inner 

 claws of the right foot. 



Mr. W. J. Horn writes in 1907: 'There are 

 two rookeries in this town (Market Harborough).' 



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