146 
BIRDS OF LEICESTERSHIRE AND RUTLAND. 
Obdek ALECTORIDES. 
Family G E U I D ^ . 
CKANE. Grus communis, Bechstein. 
Harley recorded, of this very rare straggler to the British Isles, that “ Mr. 
Chaplin, of Groby, shot an example on the banks of the pool in the year 1822.” 
I have no corroboration of this, and it must be remembered that many keepers 
and some few sportsmen are in the habit of calling the Heron a “ Crane,” and, as 
Harley, amidst the mass of verbiage with which he delighted in surrounding his 
statements, did not state that he actually saw this specimen, the record must rest 
upon its merits. 
Obder LIMICOL^. 
Family CEDICNEMID^. 
STONE-CURLEW. (Edicnemus scolopax (S. G. Gmelin). 
“ Great Plover,” “ Norfolk Plover,” “ Thick-knee.” 
Formerly occurring as a summer migrant, but has not been observed for 
many years. — Harley, who considered its visits rare and localised, stated that it 
haunted the heath-lands at Saltby, and prevailed also on the open park-lands 
of Croxton-Kerrial and Waltham, and he appeared to think that its range 
was limited to such spots by the presence of certain food which it could not 
obtain elsewhere. The late Mr. Widdowson noted it as having bred annually, 
many years ago, at Stonesby Heath, but none had been observed there of late. 
In Rutland. — As in Leicestershire. — Lord Gainsborough informs me that 
it has been recorded at Holywell by J. Evans ; that Mr. J. Montague of Melton 
Park, Doncaster, who formerly resided in Rutland, remembers frequently to 
have seen the Stone-Curlew about “ Stamford Field ” and high grounds above 
Ketton, between 1840-45, and that it has been recorded more recently at 
Aunby Heath by Rev. J. Reynardson. The Rev. Robert Hurt wrote me the 
following interesting particulars in July, 1886 : — “ Within the last three or four 
years I have known of a pair of ‘ Thick-kneed Plovers ’ on Ryhall Heath ; the 
nest with two eggs was destroyed by a cultivator in a fallow field preparing 
for turnips. Within the last fifteen or twenty years I have known of six or 
eight pairs of the birds passing the summer on the Heath, as it is called, and 
have shot several of the young ones — middle or end of September, when 
Partridge-shooting in the turnips. Am not aware of any of the birds there 
now, as I have never heard their cry on riding past. There is no heather left 
there now, though the district is still called ‘ Ryhall Heath.’ ” 
