BIRDS 



98. Hen-Harrier. Circus cyaneus (Linn.) 



Formerly not rare but now almost unknown 

 in the county. An adult male shot near Alces- 

 ter in 1850 is now in the writer's collection, 

 and there is one in the Worcester Museum 

 in similar plumage from the same locality. 

 These are probably the ones referred to by 

 Mr. Chase in his list of the birds of the dis- 

 trict around Birmingham, dated 1886. The 

 latest record is of one, a female, shot in the 

 eighties on the estate of Mr. J. R. West, 

 near Stratford-on-Avon, and brought to Mr. 

 G. Quatremayne of that town for preserva- 

 tion. 



more recently, namely in 1897, a bird of this 

 species was killed at Ragley near Alcester. 

 It has been twice noted at Coleshill as stated 

 by Mr. Chase. 



I O2. White-tailed Eagle. Halia'etus albicilla 



(Linn.) 



An immature and very spotted example of 

 this bird was trapped at a place called Knaven- 

 hill, on the estate of Mr. J. R. West, a few 

 miles south-east of Stratford-on-Avon, on 

 22 November, 1879, and is now preserved 

 in the mansion at Alscot. A second was 

 seen at the same time which was not taken. 



99. Montagu's Harrier. Circus cineraceus 103. Sparrow-Hawk. Accipiter nisus (Linn.) 



(Montagu) 



An adult male was shot at Sutton Coldfield 

 in the winter of 1 839-40 and brought to John 

 Spicer of Warwick, where it was seen by the 

 present writer and secured for his collection. 

 It is an unusually dark-coloured example. 

 Sutton Coldfield in former times, when less 

 frequented than at present, was a locality for 

 many rare species of birds. 



100. Buzzard. Buteo vu/garis, Leach. 



The buzzard can only now be admitted 

 into the Warwickshire list as a straggler, al- 

 though even formerly it was not very rare. 

 The Rev. W. T. Bree, advanced in years 

 thirty or forty years ago, spoke of the nesting 

 of the buzzard at Allesley near Coventry ; and 

 an old keeper remembered taking the eggs in 

 a wild wooded place known as Snitterfield 

 Bushes, between Warwick and Stratford-on- 

 Avon. Waverley Wood near Stonleigh was 

 also at one time a haunt of the buzzard, 

 as were the woods near Alcester, on the 

 estates of the Marquis of Hertford and the 

 Throckmorton family. The most recent oc- 

 currences of the buzzard were in 1871, when 

 one was shot at Ilmington, and in 1877 when 

 one was trapped at Bishopton near Stratford- 

 on-Avon. The last on record was trapped in 

 December, 1887, at Ragley, the seat of the 

 Marquis of Hertford. Mr. Chase mentions 

 two localities where the buzzard had been 

 observed, Alcester and Sutton Coldfield. 



1 01. Rough-legged Buzzard. Buteo lagopus 



(Gmelin) 



There are several instances on record of 

 the appearance of this bird in the county. 

 In the autumn of 1845 one was taken at 

 Edstone near Stratford-on-Avon ; one at 

 Charlcote in the spring of 1881 ; and a 

 third at Oldpark, Warwick, in March, 1882. 

 In the early part of the winter of 1891 one 

 was shot at Ettington near Stratford ; and 



A resident species, which though still com- 

 mon is by no means abundant. An old nest 

 of a crow or magpie, or even of a wood- 

 pigeon, is almost always chosen as a foundation 

 for its nest, and in every instance which 

 has come within the observation of the writer 

 there has been a complete superstructure added 

 by the hawk. 



104. Kite. Milvus ictinus, Savigny. 



The late veteran Warwickshire ornitholo- 

 gist, the Rev. W. T. Bree of Allesley, many 

 years ago informed the writer that he re- 

 membered the kite nesting in some tall elms 

 near Allesley, but that it had long before that 

 time ceased to do so, and was no longer even 

 seen. In the autumn of 1848 a kite was 

 taken on the estate of Lord Leigh at Ston- 

 leigh Abbey, which is now in the Warwick 

 Museum. In the following year another was 

 shot near the same spot, which coming into 

 the hands of John Spicer of Warwick passed 

 into the collection of the present writer. A 

 later record is that of one killed at Alscot, 

 the residence of Mr. J. R. West, on 1 6 Feb- 

 ruary, 1884. That the kite 'has occurred 

 near Tamworth,' on the authority of Mr. 

 Chase, is the only traceable record of this 

 bird in the north of the county. 



105. Honey-Buzzard. Perms apivorus(L'mn.) 

 In the Warwick Museum are six specimens 



of the honey-buzzard, all taken in the county. 

 According to the statements of the keeper on 

 the estate of Lord Leigh at Stonleigh one 

 pair of these was shot in Bericot Wood. A 

 second pair was shot while engaged in 

 building a nest in Waverley Wood on the 

 same estate, on 12 June, 1841. The two 

 pairs above mentioned have been most care- 

 fully examined by the writer, but owing to 

 the absence of accurate labels neither the 

 pairs nor the sexes can be determined. There 

 is a notice of them by Mr. J. P. Wilmot 



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