A HISTORY OF WORCESTERSHIRE 



147. Turtle-Dove. Turtur communis, Selby. 

 This is now a common summer visitor to 



Worcestershire, and distributed all over the 

 county, but seems to prefer the alluvial tracts 

 bordering the streams to the clay districts. 

 Half a century ago it was by no means 

 common, and was not mentioned as a Wor- 

 cestershire bird by Hastings in 1834, and 

 several years subsequently to the date the 

 author remembers one being shot in the vale 

 of the Avon, which was regarded as a great 

 curiosity. It was found by a sportsman in a 

 stubble field, and as the tail was spread when 

 the bird rose, the white band at the end was 

 conspicuous, and in default of a more accurate 

 name the bird was designated a ' ringtail.' 

 The increase in numbers took place gradually, 

 and not by the influx of flights, or by a sudden 

 addition to the number of pairs. 



148. Pallas's Sand-Grouse. Syrrhaptes para- 



doxus (Pallas). 

 Mr. Willis Bund inserts this bird in the 

 Worcestershire list from one, and one only, 

 having been seen by the present writer and 

 his brother at Littleton, on May i8th, 

 1888. I transcribe the note I made at the 

 time, verbatim : ' A sand-grouse flew past my 

 brother, W. B. Tomes, and myself, as we 

 were walking along the line of the Liassic 

 escarpment, near North Littleton, and so near 

 that we could readily determine the sex to be 

 a male. The flight was remarkably straight 

 and swift, and in a south-easterly direction, 

 directly towards the Cotteswold Hills. The 

 pointed tail was very conspicuous, and a short, 

 sharp monosyllabic note, something resembling 

 " check, check, check " was uttered the whole 

 time the bird was within hearing.' There 

 does not appear to be any other notice of the 

 appearance of the sand-grouse in Worcester- 

 shire. 



149. Black Grouse. Tetrao tetrix, Linn. 



' Wyre Forest, near Bewdley,' and * is also 

 found on the Clee Hills, and in the woods 

 upon the banks of the Teme, near Eastham ' 

 {Hastings, p. 64). It is still found in some 

 numbers in the Forest. 



1 50. Red Grouse. Lagopus scoticus (Latham). 

 ' Inhabits Wyre Forest, near Bewdley ' 



[Hastings, p. 63). This is most doubtful. 

 The Brown Clee in Shropshire is the nearest 

 place where it regularly occurs, but an occa- 

 sional straggler may be found in the north- 

 west corner of the county. 



151. Pheasant. Phasianus cokhicus, Linn. 

 Plentiful in preserves but its continued 



existence as a Worcestershire bird depends 



mainly upon its preservation for sporting pur 



152. Partridge. Perdix cinerea, 'L?iX.\\?im. 



Is plentiful or the reverse according as it is 

 protected. 



153. Red-legged Partridge. Caccahis rufa 



(Linn.). 

 The same may be said of this as the two 

 preceding birds. So far as I have been able to 

 observe the present species continues to hold 

 about the same numerical proportion to the 

 common partridge as for some years past. It 

 is more common in the south than in the 

 other parts of the county, but it is nowhere 

 very numerous. 



154. Quail. Coturnix communis, Bonnaterre. 

 Hastings says that a few quails are met 



with at Spring Hill. It may however be said 

 to occur over the greater part of the county, 

 though perhaps irregularly. It is not how- 

 ever known except as a summer visitor ; in- 

 stances of its having bred in Worcestershire 

 are recorded. The writer has met with a 

 nest at Littleton, and Lees mentions it as 

 breeding at Malvern. 



155. Corn-Crake or Landrail. Crex praten- 



sis, Bechstein. 

 The abundance, or the reverse, of this bird 

 is easily determined by its loud raking note, 

 which there is no danger of confounding with 

 that of any other bird. There can be no doubt 

 that it is much less numerous than formerly, 

 for where one might at one time have found 

 several, one does not now hear more than one 

 or two, or perhaps none at all. The people 

 in the villages where the Cotteswolds break 

 into the vale of the Severn and Avon, believe 

 that as they hear the corn-crake on the hill 

 or in the vale, so they will have wet or dry 

 weather : if on the hills, wet ; if in the vale, 

 dry. In the disastrous season of 1879, when 

 the lowlands were in a more or less condition 

 of flood through the whole summer, the corn- 

 crakes were heard only on the higher ground. 



156. Spotted Crake. Porzana maruetta 



(Leach). 

 This can hardly be mentioned as being 

 rare, though it is only occasionally met with, 

 and generally in the summer. Mr. Willis 

 Bund speaks of it as becoming scarcer. Lees 

 mentions it as occasionally appearing around 

 Malvern. I have seen and examined several 

 specimens which were killed in the county, 

 and one which was shot by the side of the 

 Avon, near to the county boundary, at the 

 very unusual time of mid-winter. 



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