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BIRDS OF LEICESTERSHIRE AND RUTLAND. 
SINIEW. Mergus albellus, Linnaeus. 
A rare winter visitant. — Harley wrote : — “The Sinew occasionally occurs. 
The species appeared in the county during the severe, boisterous weather of the 
months of February and March, 1845. It was frequently met with in the society 
of Scoters, Pochards, and Wigeon.” He further added: — “Occurred at Giroby Pool, 
and also on the Trent.” Mr. H. C. Woodcock, of Rearsby, shewed me a fine male 
Smew, in fully adult plumage, which he assured me was shot by himself on the 
River Eye, in or near Wyfordby, in March, 1846. At the same time he shewed 
me a female which the late David North told him he had shot at Syston shortly 
afterwards. Mr. J. Whitaker, of Rainworth Lodge, Mansfield, has an adult male, 
shot at Thornton Reservoir in 1877 (see ‘Zool.,’ 1884, p. 52). 
Order COLUMB^. 
Family COLUMBID^. 
RING-DOVE. Columha pcdumbus, Linnaeus. 
“ Wood-Pigeon,” “ Queest ” = “ Cushat.” 
Resident, and generally distributed. — In the crop of a Wood-Pigeon presented 
to the IMuseum by Mr. J. S. Ellis, on 3rd Jan., 1882, sixty-one acorns were found. 
In Rutland. — As in Leicestershire. 
STOCK-DOVE. Columba cenas, Linnaeus. 
“ Blue Rock ” (by error). 
Resident, but not so common as the Wood-Pigeon. — Mr. Babington (Ap- 
pendix ‘ Potter,’ p. 68) wrote : — “ Mr. Grundy has shot ‘ Rock Doves ’ at Bardon 
many years back, which he thought came from the Vale of Bel voir. This would 
probably not be G. livia^ but G. oenas, which is still common in Bradgate Park, as 
I learn from Mr. Bloxam.” Mr. H. L. Powys-Keck informs me that it is common 
at Cotesbach in Leicestershire. 
Remarking upon the claim of G. livia to be identified with the fauna of the 
county, Harley stated that, formerly, he, in common with others, believed that the 
Rock-Dove frequented Charnwood, building annually in fissures of the slate rocks, 
but that “ subsequent knowledge dissipated such conclusions,” the mistake arising 
from tlie prevalence of the Stock-Dove. This also, he I’ecorded, bred in fissures of 
rocks at “The Brand,” in the spring of 1854 — an unusual habit for this bird, 
which, in wooded districts, breeds in hollow trees, as also described by Harley, who 
on 21st April, 1840, met with a nest in an aged oak pollard near the centre of 
Bradgate Park. The nest was placed upon a decayed part of the tree about two 
feet deep within the bole, the entrance to the nest being at a spot where a huge 
arm had been swept off suddenly by tempest. I, also, have seen it nesting in 
