BIRDS 



Grewcock, at Belgrave, close to Leicester, during a 

 snowstorm on 23 Jan., 1886. It breeds at Bos- 

 worth, ' Frog-hollow ' Pond at Belvoir, Groby Pool, 

 Saddington Reservoir, and other places in the county. 

 The museum contains a nest and five eggs taken at 

 Saddington in June, 1885, and another nest with ten 

 eggs which I obtained at the same place on 25 May, 

 1886. The Rev. John B. Reynardson, ofCareby 

 Rectory, Stamford, writing upon the habits of this 

 bird, gives me the following note: 'I suppose you 

 know when the water is rising from flood both birds 

 will work hard with leaves and grass to raise the nest 

 and save their eggs from being flooded. This interest- 

 ing sight I have seen.' I am not sure if it has ever 

 been recorded that the male often, during the breeding 

 season, arches his wings and ploughs through the water 

 in exactly the same manner as the swan. I am also 

 uncertain whether this singular habit is due to his 

 wishing to ingratiate himself with his partner, or as 

 a mark of defiance to other males. Mr. W. J. Horn 

 writes in 1907: 'Breeding at Market Bosworth 

 Park, Saddington Reservoir, and other places in the 

 county. I have never seen this bird on running 

 water.' 



[Crane. Grits communis, Bechstein. 



Harley recorded, of this very rare straggler, that 

 ' Mr. Chaplin of Groby shot an example on the 

 banks of the pool in the year 1822.' I have no cor- 

 roboration of this, and it must be rememberel that 

 many keepers and some few sportsmen are in the 

 habit of calling the heron a ' crane,' and as Harley 

 did not state that he actually saw this specimen, the 

 record must rest upon its merits.] 



161. Stone-Curlew. Qedicnemus scolopax (S. G. 



Gmelin). 



Locally, Great Plover, Norfolk Plover, Thick- 

 knee. 



Formerly occurring as a summer migrant, but has 

 not been observed for many years. Harley, who 

 considered its visits rare and localized, stated that it 

 haunted the heath-lands at Saltby and prevailed 

 also on the open park-lands of Croxton Kerrial and 

 Waltham, and he appeared to think that its range 

 was limited to such spots by the presence of certain 

 food which it could not obtain elsewhere. The late 

 Mr. Widdowson noted it as having bred annually, 

 many years ago, at Stonesby Heath, but none had 

 been observed there of late. 



[Collared Pratincole. Glareola pratincole, Linn. 



The only authority I have for including this bird 

 in the present list is that in the MS. catalogue of the 

 contents of the museum when handed over to the 

 Corporation on 19 June, 1849, one is mentioned 

 with the remark, ' shot near Leicester.'] 



162. Cream-Coloured Courser. Cursorius gallicus 



(J. F. Gmelin). 



Locally, Cream-Coloured Swiftfoot. 



A very rare autumnal straggler. Mr. Babington 

 writing of this species says that the third and last 

 specimen found in Britain was killed near Timber- 

 wood Hill, October, 16 1827. It is in the col- 

 lection of the Rev. Thomas Gisborne, of Yoxall 

 Lodge. Anxious, if possible, to obtain some 



1* The exact date was 1 5 October. 



particulars of so rare a bird Harley wrote to the late 

 Mr. Gisborne, and received the following reply: 

 'Yoxall Lodge, Needwood Forest, 4 July, 1840. 

 The example of Cursorius isabellinus respecting which 

 you inquire was shot in Charnwood Forest, near 

 Timberwood Hill, in October, 1827, by a tenant of 

 my eldest son. The tenant met my son incidentally 

 directly afterwards and showed and gave the bird to 

 him as an unknown curiosity ; and my son, who was 

 on his way to this neighbourhood, brought it forward 

 to me. Thomas Gisborne.' 



Mr. Dresser (Birds of Europe) mentions the Leicester- 

 shire specimen as being the fourth obtained in Britain. 

 According to Yarrell (ed. 4, iii, 240) the present 

 example was the sixth recorded for Britain, but the 

 mistake has been made of placing the year 1828 

 before 1827. However, Mr. Harting's Handbook of 

 British Birds, and a letter from Mr. Howard Saunders 

 to me, show it to be the fifth noted as occurring in 

 Britain. 



163. Dotterel. Eudnmias morinettus (Linn.). 



Formerly occurring in the county as a spring and 

 autumn migrant. Mr. Babington stated that five 

 were brought down at a shot by Mr. Tomlinson, jun., 

 at Charnwood Heath, and that Miss Watkinson, of 

 Woodhouse, had one, taken near Buddon Wood. 

 The Rev. C. H. Wood wrote to me with reference to 

 this specimen : ' That dotterel is still at Woodhouse 

 Hall (as they now call it).' The late Dr. Macaulay 

 reported (Mid. Nat. 1882, p. 65) a specimen at 

 Coleorton in the possession of Sir George Beaumont ; 

 and Potter, of Billesdon, reports two shot at Illston 

 by Mr. J. Allen, of Frisby Lodge, but no dates are 

 given, and the bird has not visited Leicestershire for 

 many years. Dr. Macaulay informed me that he saw 

 three on a fallow field in the parish of Tur Langton, 

 29 March, 1879. 



164. Ringed Plover. Aegialitis hiaticula (Linn.). 

 Locally, Oxbird, Ring-Dotterel. 



An accidental straggler from the coast, usually in 

 spring and autumn. Mr. Babington stated that it 

 had been killed at Groby by the keeper of the Earl of 

 Stamford. Harley recorded its occurrence in the 

 meadows at Belgrave, and elsewhere in the county, 

 early in the spring of 1841. The museum donation- 

 book records the presentation on 24 March, 1 869, of 

 one shot in the Abbey Meadow. Mr. Bevans showed 

 me one which he shot there somewhere about the 

 year 1875, and I saw one in the hands of Turner, 

 said to have been shot, in 1881, also in the same 

 locality, where the latter informs me that it was fre- 

 quently met with some years ago. I shot a speci- 

 men (an immature female) at Thornton Reservoir, on 

 25 Sept., 1884, and an adult and an immature bird 

 were shot in Stretton Fields near Leicester, in 1899, 

 by Captain Robertson-Aitman, all of which are in the 

 museum. 



Mr. W. J. Horn saw one at Saddington Reservoir 

 on 20 Sept. 1902. 



Mr. O. Murray-Dixon shot a ringed plover at 

 Swithland Reservoir on 2 Sept., 1905. 



[Little Ringed Plover. Aegialitis curonica (J. F. 

 Gmelin). 



A very much rarer bird than the preceding, and 

 Mr. O. Murray-Dixon would have created a new 

 record for the county when he shot what he supposed 



'47 



