BIRDS 



157. Water-Rail. Ra //us aguaticus, hinn. 

 Although the water-rail is a resident bird 



in Great Britain, it is certainly to a consider- 

 able extent migratory in Worcestershire, there 

 being a great addition to its numbers late in 

 the autumn, mostly in November. Indeed, 

 as there is not up to the present time any re- 

 corded instance of its breeding in the county, 

 the question is whether it is not wholly mi- 

 gratory with us. 



158. Moor-Hen. Ga//inu/a ch/oropus {Linn.). 

 A common and resident bird, found in all 



our streams and ponds, where it breeds. It is 

 not generally known that the moor-hen will 

 feed freely on apples. A brook which passes 

 near South Littleton, and has orcharding on 

 its banks, is frequented by moor-hens, where 

 the writer has repeatedly seen them feeding 

 on the fallen fruit. Sometimes nearly a dozen 

 have been seen so engaged at one place. 



159. Coot. Fu/ica aira, Linn. 



The coot is common, but seems to need 

 some protection, being found in great num- 

 bers on ornamental water, rather than on 

 rivers on which there are pleasure boats, while 

 it is rarely seen on streams having a public 

 navigation. 



160. Crane. Grus communis, Bechstein. 

 The admission of the crane into this list 



rests solely on a statement made by Mrs. 

 Perrott, which is quoted by Hastings (p. 68), 

 and given verbatim when speaking of the 

 white stork. The heron {/i. cinerea) is locally 

 called the crane, and this probably gave rise 

 to the occurrence of the crane as a Worces- 

 tershire bird. 



161. Great Bustard. Otis tarda, Linn. 



'A straggler of the great bustard, Otis 

 tarda, was killed near Worcester a few 

 years ago' [Hastings, p. 70). 



162. Stone-Curlew. (Edicnemus sco/opax (S. 



G. Gmelin). 

 This bird is stated by Sir Charles Hastings 

 to extend ' its range just within the southern 

 limits of our county, a few breeding among 

 the stony barren parts of the Broadway and 

 Bredon Hills.' In a note he adds : ' A young 

 bird of this species was caught alive in the 

 summer of 1832, near Twining, and brought 

 to Worcester, where it was identified by the 

 curator of our museum.' The Worcester 

 Museum contains two specimens of the stone- 

 curlew which were killed at Eardiston. In 

 the near part of Warwickshire, in the vale of 

 the Avon, two specimens have been shot, both 

 of which came into the hands of the present 

 writer when freshly killed. 



163. Dotterel. Eudromias morine//us (Linn.). 

 The dotterel is so rare in Worcestershire 



that its occurrence is confined to a single in- 

 stance. A female or immature male was killed 

 at Welland, and presented to the Worces- 

 ter Museum by Mr. Turner, on September 

 6th, 1 861. A male in mature plumage was 

 shot some years since in the Avon valley, 

 in the near part of Gloucestershire, which 

 came into the hands of the writer. 



164. Ringed Plover. JEgia/itis /liaticu/a 



(Linn.). 



It is very seldom that this bird is seen in- 

 land, and is certainly rare in Worcestershire. 

 Neither Hastings nor Lees mentions it, but 

 the writer has seen one which was shot by 

 the side of the Avon at Offenham, and 

 several others on the same river in the near 

 parts of Gloucestershire. 



165. Golden Plover. Charadrius p/uvia/is, 



Linn. 



No single instance of the breeding of the 

 golden plover in Worcestershire has come to 

 the knowledge of the writer, but there is a 

 male which has partially assumed the black 

 breast of summer in the Worcester Museum, 

 which was killed near Droitwich. It appears 

 not uncommonly during the winter in flights, 

 generally associating with lapwings. 



166. Lapwing. Vane//us vu/garis, Bechstein. 

 A common and indeed an abundant resi- 

 dent, though not breeding very numerously. 

 After the disastrous floods on the Avon in 

 1879, which carried away so much of the 

 hay from the low - lying meadows and left 

 them in the condition of mud-flats, vast num- 

 bers of lapwings came upon them to feed, and 

 a perfect babble of their voices could be heard 

 all through the night. Towards morning they 

 left the meadows and rested for the day in the 

 open fields. 



[67. Oyster-Catcher. 

 Linn. 



Htematopus ostra/egus, 



Hastings did not include the oyster - 

 catcher in his list of Worcestershire birds, 

 but observed that it had been shot on the 

 Teme, near Ludlow. It has, however, been 

 killed more than once since that date (1834), 

 at several places in the county, but it can only 

 be recorded as a very occasional straggler. Ac- 

 cording to Lees it has been shot on the Teme, 

 and was seen flying about the Severn in Janu- 

 ary, i860. I have seen several which were 

 shot in the vale of the Avon, though not in 

 the county. 



165 



