A HISTORY OF LEICESTERSHIRE 



nest on 1 8 April, containing six eggs, at Slawston 

 Gorse. Mr. W. J. Horn writes in 1907: 'I saw 

 one a few days since perched on a tree in my orchard.' 



111. Osprey. Pandlon hallditus (Linn.). 



A rare autumn visitant. Babington recorded 

 (Potter, op. cit. App. p. 65) one shot by the Marquis 

 of Hastings at Donington Park, October, 1841. 

 According to Harley one was shot in Sileby Field in 

 1 840, while sitting on the shafts of an agricultural 

 roller. A third example was obtained by Adams at 

 Groby Pool; and in 1841, during the autumnal 

 months, Sir Oswald Moseley recorded that a fourth 

 was shot at Overseal. The late Mr. Widdowson in- 

 formed me of one, a male, fired at by George Hack, 

 of Edmondthorpe, to whom I wrote, and who said 

 that it was killed on 13 Nov., 1858. Mr. Widdow- 

 son told me subsequently that after the shot was 

 fired the bird flew about fifty yards, and Mr. Hack 

 thought he had killed it, but on skinning it there 

 was not a single fresh shot in it, but an old one 

 through the breast bone, in the cavity of the stomach, 

 and much coagulated blood. Mr. Widdowson re- 

 marked that he had ' no doubt the exertion killed 

 it, and that it received this wound at Stapleford 

 Park, where it was previously shot at.' I received 

 one shot at the reservoir, Bradgate Park, on 1 8 Sept., 

 1879, by C. Overton, keeper to Lord Stamford. It 

 was a fine female specimen. Overton, who had 

 several opportunities of observing it feed, saw it take 

 several fishes with hardly a miss. This specimen was 

 mounted for the late Earl of Stamford and Warrington, 

 and is, I believe, now at Enville. Wesley, keeper at 

 Bradgate, informed me that in March, 1887, he saw 

 a fine example at the reservoir in Bradgate Park, and 

 repeatedly saw it catch fishes. The Mid. Nat., Nov., 

 1882, records the following : One seen at Saddington 

 Reservoir on 1 3 Oct., one over Gumley Wood and 

 Pool on 1 8 Oct., and another seen by the Rev. A. 

 Matthews flying over his garden at Gumley on 



22 Oct. 



1 1 2. Cormorant. Phalacrocorax carbo (Linn.). 



An accidental straggler from the coast, and the 

 first record was that furnished by the late Dr. 

 Macaulay, who took me to see an immature bird 

 in the possession of Mr. J. Potter, station-master of 

 East Langton, who told me that it was caught alive 

 in a grass-field near Langton Hall on 6 Sept., 1883, 

 after a strong gale the previous day from the south- 

 west. 



The Rev. Father Bullen, of Ratcliffe College, wrote 

 in January, 1891 : 'A member of the community 

 assures me that he saw three young birds fly over the 

 square wood on the college property, in a southerly 

 direction, and this was in the first week of last August.' 

 The late Dr. Macaulay wrote : 'On 7 April, 1891, 

 I saw a cormorant at Saddington Reservoir. I had 

 my field glasses with me, and watched it for some 

 time on the wing. It came within fifty yards of me, 

 and I could see the colour of the head, neck, and 

 crest, and most clearly the white patch above the leg.' 



The Leicester Chronicle and Mercury of 2 1 Oct., 1893, 

 reported the capture of a cormorant in the grounds 

 of Belvoir Castle by a man named Thomas Holmes 

 about the middle of August. 



Mr. Otto Murray-Dixon saw one on 17 April, 

 1904, and another 7 Sept., 1905, whilst on 10 Oct., 



1906, he saw two others, all at Swithland Reservoir. 

 Mr. G. Frisby wrote on 1 6 Oct., 1906: 'I saw 

 them settle on Mr. Farnham's fishpond ; two days 

 later (18 October) one was shot. The man who 

 picked it up was followed for a long distance by the 

 bird's mate, ' croaking.' ' 



113. Shag, or Green Cormorant. Phalacrocorax 



graculus (Linn.). 



This, a new record for the county, is founded upon 

 the head and neck of an immature specimen presented 

 to the museum in 1890 by the Rev. Father Bullen, 

 about which he gave me the following particulars : 

 ' About thirty years ago, Mr. Goodman, the RatclifFe 

 miller, caught an immature bird (the head of which 

 you have) in a meadow by the side of the river 

 Wreake, near Ratcliffe village. He says it was wing- 

 tired. It only lived a few days in confinement. The 

 plumage was dark-brown above, and dull-white, mot- 

 tled with pale wood-brown below.' 



Mr. T. A. Macaulay reports that a shag was shot 

 at Saddington Reservoir on 20 Aug., 1892. 



114. Gannet, or Solan Goose. Su/a bassana (Linn.). 



An accidental straggler from the coast. Harley re- 

 corded that a young male of the year was picked up 

 in a dying condition on the borders of Buddon Wood, 

 near Quorndon, date unfortunately not noted. Mr. 

 Babington (Potter, op. cit. App. p. 70) supplemented 

 this by saying that it was in the possession of Miss 

 Watkinson, of Woodhouse. Potter of Billesdon 

 records a specimen caught alive at Houghton-on-the- 

 Hill, in September, 1869. The late Dr. Macaulay 

 recorded (Mid. Nat. 1882, p. 79) that an immature 

 bird of this species, which had been wounded, was 

 picked up half dead at Shangton in 1878, and that 

 he saw it, after it was set up, in the possession 

 of Mr. Ward, farm-bailiff, Wistow. Mr. Ingram 

 wrote : ' A young bird shot between Bottesford and 

 Scarrington, near the River Smite, is in the possession 

 of Mr. H. V. Fowler of Scarrington.' The late 

 Mr. Widdowson wrote : ' One killed at Somerby 

 near here ' (N.D.). Mr. A. Dalby, of Castle Don- 

 ington which is on the border of the county and 

 near the Trent has been very careful to distinguish 

 the birds shot in Leicestershire from those of Derby- 

 shire, and amongst other valuable notes gives the 

 following, under date 26 Jan., 1896 : 'An immature 

 specimen in its first year's plumage was found alive 

 in Tonge Brook, near here, and brought to me in 

 September, 1892. It died, and I had it set up, and 

 it is still in my possession.' 



115. Heron. Ardea cinerea, Linn. 



Locally, Crane (by error), Frank (in allusion to 

 its note), Hernshaw. 



Resident, sparingly distributed and breeding in a 

 few localities. A young male shot at St. Mary's 

 Mills, 7 Sept., 1 88 1, is now in the museum. Harley 

 recorded that it used formerly to build at Mere 

 Hill Wood near Cotes, placing its nest on the lateral 

 branches of the Scotch fir, from whence he had taken 

 its eggs. It also built in Martinshaw Wood, where in 

 the spring of 1 840 the birds were shot down and de- 

 stroyed. After that date he stated that the species had 

 but one habitat in the county where it nested, viz. at 

 Stapleford, the residence of Lord Harborough, and 

 even there it was not very abundant, only about half 



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