VERTEBRATE ANIMALS OF LEICESTERSHIRE. 337 
Pratincola rubetra, Gray. Whinchat (locally “ Utick,” as 
also the following species, from its sharp note).—A summer 
migrant, generally distributed, and common. Mr. Davenport 
reports the first ege of this species in 1883 on May 31st, but 
in 1884 on April 30th. Respecting this unusual date for the 
nesting of a bird, which is always a late-comer, I must say that, 
despite Macaulay’s contention as to its being a proof of the 
wintering of the Whinchat in Leicestershire, I consider that 
Mr. Davenport must have mistaken it for the Stonechat, upon the 
nesting of which he is silent. 
Pratincola rubicola, Gray. Stonechat (local name, “‘ Utick.”’). 
—Resident and generally distributed, but I consider it a much 
rarer bird than the Whinchat; nor have I any record of its 
nesting save that furnished by Harley in his MS. list of Leicester- 
shire birds, so often quoted. 
Ruticilla phenicurus, Macg. Redstart, “ Firetail.’—A. summer 
migrant, generally distributed, but not common, breeding. 
Harley notes the arrival of the males several days before the 
females, and adds:—“ With us it affects pollard willows and 
ashes, nesting on the crown of such unsightly trees. It will, 
moreover, take possession of the deserted hole of the Wood- 
pecker and Nuthatch, and such crevices in our forest trees as are 
produced by natural decay and wet.” Browne, Davenport, 
Ingram, and Macaulay have found the nests of this species built 
in other situations than those noted by Harley. 
Hrithacus rubecula, Gray. Redbreast.—Resident, generally 
distributed, and breeding in all sorts of situations, usually very 
early, and, being double or even treble-brooded, very late. The 
end of February and March, 1883, was very severe, during which 
time a Robin was sitting on four eggs in ivy growing beside the 
greenhouse in the garden of Mr. T. Lawrence, of Stoneygate, 
Leicester. A nest containing two fresh eggs was sent to the 
Museum on Oct. 22nd, 1884, taken from a shed in the grounds of 
Messrs. Harrison & Sons at Westcotes. In May, 1883, a nest 
containing three young birds (now in the Leicester Museum) was 
built in a broken bottle, surrounded with other bottles, in a tool- 
house in Mr. C. S. Robinson’s garden at Stoneygate. Another 
one, also in the Museum, containing four young ones and the 
parents, was found, on the 4th April, 1884, in the bank of a 
small ditch by the side of the road at Aylestone, only a few 
ZOOLOGIST.—SEPT. 1885. 2D 
