A HISTORY OF LEICESTERSHIRE 



on Cropston Reservoir, are preserved at the Reservoir 

 Hotel, but he did not know the date and I cannot 

 obtain any further information. Mr. Davenport 

 informed me that on 2 March, 1889, 'as the wife of 

 a man named William King, living at Burton Overy, 

 went out at the back door to feed her ducks and 

 chickens she found amongst them a strange bird, 

 which she succeeded in capturing by throwing her 

 apron over it. It was kept for a few days, fed 

 fairly well on such food as could be procured for it, 

 did not appear to be at all shy, and although helpless 

 on the ground, when put into a tub of water its 

 motions were very graceful, and it swam and dived 

 with freedom.' Before it died, however, Mr. Daven- 

 port rode over to see it and kindly notified me of the 

 occurrence, thus putting me into communication with 

 the possessor, and enabling me to acquire for the 

 museum a fine male specimen of the red-throated 

 diver in winter plumage. 



A fine specimen an immature male was shot on 

 Swithland Reservoir on 10 Jan., 1907, by Mr. O. 

 Murray-Dixon, who kindly presented it to the 

 writer. 



206. Great Crested Grebe. Podicipes cristatus (Linn.). 

 Locally, Tufted Grebe, often called Eared Grebe 



by error. 



A spring visitant, sometimes remaining until winter. 

 The late Dr. Macaulay was the first to record its 

 breeding in the county at SaJdington Reservoir 

 whence he received, in 1874, a ma ' e an d female and 

 one young in the down. On 7 May, 1883, he 

 showed me a pair nesting at Saddington Reservoir, 

 which brought oft" their young. In the spring of 

 1884 a pair nested there and brought off four young, 

 which remained until late in the summer, but finally 

 left owing to the dry weather. In 1885 the same or 

 another pair nested again and laid five eggs, but three 

 of thorn being taken on 23 May the birds deserted 

 the nest and left the water entirely. In 1886 several 

 pairs nested at Saddington, and on i June a nest of 

 four eggs and a male bird were procured for the 

 museum. Mr. H. A. Payne informs me that he has 

 taken several nests on the Bradgate Reservoir, the last 

 being in 1 8 79. Mr. G. Frisby writes in 1906 : ' I have 

 seen eight pairs at one time on our reservoir, and one 

 day watched one land. No sooner was it out of the 

 water than it squatted down, being apparently unable to 

 walk, and stayed there until ready to take to the water 

 again. Young ones were successfully reared this year. 

 Always with us except in hardest frosts. Two families 

 of young grebes seen this year. On 2 May, 1 906, 

 eight pairs were seen at Swithland.' 



Mr. W. J. Horn writes in 1907 : 'Breeding on 

 all the lakes and reservoirs in the neighbourhood. It 

 appears to be greatly increasing in numbers. In one 

 week in May, 1905, I saw twenty-six of these birds. 

 13 May, 1895, one seen on Thornton Reservoir; 

 2 1 March, 1 900, five seen on Saddington Reservoir ; 

 7 June, 1902, two seen on Saddington Reservoir; and 

 I April, 1905, two were seen on Saddington Reservoir.' 



207. Red-necked Grebe. Podicipes griseigena (Bod- 



daert). 



According to the late Dr. Macaulay {Mid. Nat. 

 1882, p. 79), one was shot on Saddington Reservoir 

 in 1874, and it appeared from his MS. notes that it 

 was shot by Mr. F. Kemp in March. Thinking 



I 5 6 



there was probably some mistake and that the bird 

 might have been the little grebe in spring plumage, I 

 wrote to Mr. Kemp to ask if he were certain about the 

 bird, and was confirmed in my supposition by the fact 

 that he was unable to answer my query, merely saying 

 that he thought the date was 1876. After some 

 trouble Mr. Kemp having removed to Great Yar- 

 mouth he fortunately visited the museum in January, 

 1888. On looking around at the specimens, he could 

 not see one like his own, and said it certainly was not 

 the red-necked grebe, but seemed to think it might 

 be the Slavonian. Nevertheless, Mr. W. J. Horn 

 writes : ' I saw a red-necked grebe so recently as 

 Saturday, 18 March, 1899, floating upon the waters 

 of Saddington Reservoir. This is, I think, the first 

 record for the county.' 



208. Slavonian or Horned Grebe. Podlclpes auritus 



(Linn.). 



A rare winter visitant. Harley recorded that it 

 visited us ' in the severe winter months of 18445, 

 when a fine example was shot by Chaplin on the 

 waters of Groby Pool. The species has also been 

 met with by gunners and sportsmen on the waters of 

 the Soar, Trent, and Wreake.' The late Mr. Widdow- 

 son reported the occurrence of one, in immature 

 plumage, at Melton, but the claim of this species to 

 have a place in the county fauna rests upon an imma- 

 ture female specimen shot by Mr. W. A. Evans in 

 December, 1896, at Saddington Reservoir, and pre- 

 sented by him to the museum. 



209. Black-necked or Eared Grebe. Podicipes nigri- 



collis (Brehm). 



A rare visitant, usually in spring, and probably 

 Harley was mistaken when he wrote of this species : 

 ' Formerly more abundant and pretty well distributed 

 over the county. Occurs on the Soar and Trent ; ' 

 he most likely having been told of the ' eared grebe,' 

 which in gamekeepers' language means the great 

 crested grebe. Later, however, he recorded : ' 1 844, 

 December. This species of grebe has occurred this 

 winter on Groby Pool, since Chaplin has carried me 

 an example for private examination.' 



210. Little Grebe or Dabchick. Podicipes fuviatilis 



(Tunstall). 



Locally, Didopper. 



Resident, but sparingly distributed. Mr. Babing- 

 ton (Potter, op. cit. App. 70) said : ' Rothley, Groby, 

 &c. ; but not abundant.' Harley, however, appears 

 to have considered it common in his day, on the 

 Soar, Trent, Wreak, and other streams, as well as on 

 most large waters, as Saddington, Groby, and Bos- 

 worth Pools ; and remarked, under date 14 July, 

 1842, that 'young grebes have a shrill call-note, 

 which they almost incessantly keep up when they first 

 come abroad on the surface of the water.' I saw 

 one on Bosworth Pool, on 6 Dec., 1884, and shot 

 one a male at Belgrave, by the sewage weir, on 

 10 Feb., 1886. Mr. G. H. Storer informs me that 

 he saw a pair on the fish-pond at Ulverscroft Priory 

 on 28 June, 1888. The late Mr. Ingram wrote that 

 it ' breeds in Frog Hollow Pond, near Belvoir,' and 

 Mr. W. A. Evans presented to the museum a nest 

 and three eggs, taken by him at Thornton Reservoir 

 on 9 June, 1 88 1, when he found as many as five 

 nests in one day that were all placed on the roots or 



