BIRDS 



Reservoir, on 1 6 Oct., 1891. The Rev. H. Parry 

 presented to the museum a phalarope which was 

 killed one wing being cut off by flying against 

 the telegraph wires at East Norton in Tugby, on or 

 about 17 Oct., 1891. I saw three mounted speci- 

 mens in the hands of T. Adcock, one of which 

 he had imagined to be the red-necked, owing to its 

 having some trace of the summer plumage upon It, all 

 of which were said to have been shot in the district 

 during the stormy week in October, 1891. 



On 1 5 Oct., 1 906, Pinchen of Leicester showed 

 me a bird of this species, said to have been killed in 

 that neighbourhood and sent to him to be set up. 17 



[Red-Necked Phalarope. Phalaropus hyperboreus (Linn.). 



A mounted specimen, said to have been shot at 

 Birstall, near Leicester, was purchased for the museum 

 early in 1904. from a taxidermist. If correct, it 

 establishes a new record.] 



171. Woodcock. Scolopax rustlcula (Linn.). 



A winter migrant, sparingly distributed. Harley 

 remarked that it had bred in Martinshaw and also 

 in the woods at Donington Park, in the northern 

 division of the county. A nest found by Chaplin 

 in Martinshaw Wood contained four young ones 

 which were reared off. Sir George Beaumont wrote 

 to the late Dr. Macaulay that woodcocks bred some 

 years ago at Coleorton, and Dr. Macaulay stated (Mid. 

 Nat. 1882, p. 10) that 'a nest was found in Owston 

 Wood a few years ago.' Mr. Davenport shot a 

 very light-coloured example in Cold Overton Wood, 

 in December, 1884, and I shot at Aston Firs, on 

 29 Nov., 1887, a large dark-coloured female bird. 

 A notion prevails amongst sportsmen that the light- 

 coloured birds are males and the dark-plumaged 

 ones, on the contrary, females ; but such I do not 

 think is the case, no author having as yet differentiated 

 the sex by plumage, although it is well known that the 

 female is the larger bird. 



Mr. H. S. Davenport informed me that when 

 hunting on 5 April, 1889, at Rolleston, the hounds 

 flushed a woodcock. The Rev. C. H. Wood reports 

 one shot at Leicester by Mr. John Buck by the ceme- 

 tery gates in the old ' Occupation ' road (now Vic- 

 toria) a year or two previous to 1871. The Rev. 

 G. D. Armitage writes that he shot one in a turnip- 

 field of the Glebe at Broughton Astley on 29 Oct., 

 1890. 



Mr. W. T. Everard informed me that it bred at 

 Breedon Cloud in 1894, and on 20 April, 1905, the 

 Rev. Hugh Parry flushed a bird in Stockerston Wood 

 which was sitting on four incubated eggs in a nest 

 made under a small blackberry bush. 



Mr. W. J. Horn writes in 1907 : ' It was reported 

 to me that woodcocks were breeding at Noseley 

 Lodge Farm, and I interviewed Bottrill the tenant. 

 He said he had seen a pair of woodcocks in the early 

 morning twice recently feeding in a wet bottom by 

 the osier bed. It is possible these birds may have 

 nested in the Langton Woods a mile or so distant. 



V A specimen of Wilson's Phalarope, Sieganofui Wihoni 

 (Sabine), is said to have been obtained at Sutton Ambien near 

 Market Bosworth, and the occurrence was mentioned in the 

 Proc. Zool. Soc. (1886), pt. 3, p.'297, and in the Zoo!. (1886), 

 p. z;6, but the authenticity of the record has not been fully 

 established. 



A man named Tooms reported to me in 1904 that 

 he had heard and seen several woodcocks during July 

 and August flying to or from the Langton Woods 

 when he was fishing in the canal.' 



172. Great Snipe. Gallinago major (J. F. Gmelin). 

 Locally, Double Snipe, Solitary Snipe. 



A rare autumn visitant. According to Harley, 

 Chaplin of Groby shot one in Martinshaw Wood 

 during the winter of 1838. Mr. Davenport says his 

 father shot oneatTilton in December, 1861 and ate 

 it ! The late Mr. Widdowson's diary contains a note of 

 one killed at Little Dalby on 28 Sept., 1868. The 

 late Dr. Macaulay recorded (Mid. Nat. 1882, p. 10) 

 one killed near Lutterworth some years ago by Mr. 

 Sansome of that town and in his possession ; another 

 obtained at Noseley a few years since ; a third 18 which 

 was killed in 1879 near Smeeton by Mr. Elliott, 

 and a fourth picked up dead in 1881 at Billesdon 

 Coplow, which appeared to have died from starva- 

 tion. On 2 Sept., 1885, Mr. A. Ross of Leicester, 

 whilst shooting over the Garthorpe Estate near 

 Melton Mowbray, killed a great snipe, which his 

 dog pointed in a clover field, and, as is usual with 

 this species, at some considerable distance from water. 

 The specimen, a fine dark-plumaged one, was pre- 

 sented by Mr. Ross to the museum (Field, 12 Sept., 

 1885). I saw in the hand of Ludlam, a bird-stuffer, 

 a great snipe which had been shot by Mr. J. C. A. 

 Richards, in a field at Blaby, during the first week in 

 September, 1885. 



173. Common Snipe. Gallinago caekstis (Frenzel). 

 Locally, Full snipe. 



Generally distributed, but not so common as for- 

 merly, except at the Sewage Farms of Leicester and 

 other places, and although seen for the greater part of 

 the year, it is doubtful if it now remains to breed except 

 occasionally ; nevertheless, Mr. Robert Groves found 

 a nest and one egg which latter he presented to the 

 museum on 24 April, 1889. Mr. E. L. Ferrall 

 saw a snipe near Market Harborough on 1 8 May, and 

 at Rearsby in June, 1906. Mr. W. J. Horn writes 

 in 1907 : 'Nearly always to be found in the Wei- 

 land Valley in winter, where it has also bred just 

 beyond our borders. I have no note of its nesting in 

 the county, but on 12 June, 1904, I flushed a single 

 bird on the Upper Welland. It topped the hedge 

 and alighted on the far side, where from a distance of 

 but a few yards I had a good look at it through the 

 glasses.' On IO April, 1907, I flushed two snipe 

 near Bransford Bridge, Cotesbach, but I could not 

 gather that they had ever bred near there. 



174. Jack Snipe. Gallinago gallinula (Linn.). 

 Locally, Half Snipe, Judcock. 



An autumn visitant, sparingly distributed, and leav- 

 ing us early in the spring. I have seen some mounted 

 specimens which were shot by Mr. Samuel Bevans in 

 the Abbey Meadow, some time about the year 1877. 

 A specimen in the museum was caught in the ' allot- 

 ment gardens,' close to Lancaster Street, Leicester, on 

 20 Oct., 1884. Mr. Davenport informed me that 

 in 1885 he ' shot one out of some thistles at 

 Lowesby on 1 6 Sept., a very early date.' The late 



18 Dr. Macaulay did not see this specimen, but as he was 

 informed that it weighed J lb., he thought it must have been of 

 this species. 



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