66 
BIRDS OF LEICESTERSHIRE AND RUTLAND. 
scarcely to be distinguished from those of the Great Tit. Mr. Davenport found a 
nest containing five eggs, at Noseley, in May, 1882. 
In Kutland. — Resident, and sparingly distributed in wooded districts. 
Family T K 0 GL 0 D Y T I D ^ . 
WREN. Troglodytes parvulus (Koch). 
“ Jenny- Wren,” “ Kitty-Wren.” 
Resident and common. — Harley mentioned its well-known habit of congre- 
gating of an evening, in the winter months, and retiring to repose in out-houses, 
granaries, etc., etc. He said that, at one time, about a dozen Wrens were found, 
on a cold winter evening, secreted within the chimney of an out-house near his 
father’s residence. 
It builds in all situations : holes in walls, in ivy, in banks ; and the Museum 
possesses one built in an old hat, found in a garden on the Hinckley Road, in May, 
1884. Many nests apjiear to be begun in the spring, and are finished with the 
exception of the inner lining of feathers. These, which are commonly called 
“ cock’s nests,” are popularly supposed to be built by the cock for amusement, or 
from some exuberance of fancy. Dresser’s opinion is that they are used as houses 
of refuge in cold or inclement weather — an opinion shared, as he says, by many 
other naturalists (see ‘Birds of Europe’). Harley, however, believed that they 
are not built by the Wren at all, but by the Dormouse. 
In Rutland. — Resident and common. 
Family MOTACILLID^. 
WHITE WAGTAIL. Motacilla alba, Linnaeus. 
No authentic note of the occurrence of this form in the county is extant, although 
Mr. Macaulay states (‘Mid. Nat.’, 1881, p. 256) that it “comes and departs with 
Motacilla raii,” and “has been more abundant of late years.” I wish now to 
correct the error made by him of confusing this bird with the Pied Wagtail in 
spring plumage. Mr. Harting (‘Our Summer ^Migrants,’ p. 110), describes in a few 
words the reputed specific differences between the common form and the rarer 
M. alba, a climatic form, perhaps, of M. lugubris, common enough on the Continent, 
and which I have repeatedly observed and shot in Spain and Greece. 
In Rutland. — Lord Gainsborough reported, in ‘The Field’ of 2nd IMay, 1885 
(p. 581), the arrival of this bird at Exton Park, as if it were an ordinary occurrence. 
I cannot but think that his lordship must have seen a male Pied Wagtail in 
breeding plumage, but, as he has promised to procure me the next specimen he 
sees, no doubt this matter will be speedily cleared up. 
In connection with this bird, I am quite sure that many of the so-called occur- 
rences of M. alba reported in the various ornithological journals, are founded 
