Wilson's phalarope — woodcock. 
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WILSON’S PHALAROPE. Stegampus wilsoni (Sabine). 
Mr. J. Whitaker, F.L.S., F.Z.S., of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, exhibited, 
at a meeting of the Zoological Society held 18th May, 1886, a specimen of 
this American bird, never before recorded for Britain, said to have been obtained 
at Sutton Ambian, near Market Bosworth, in Leicestershire. — The note was 
published in the ‘Proceedings’ of the Society, 1886, Part III., p. 297 ; also in 
the ‘Zoologist,’ 1886, p. 256, and in a local paper. Had IMr. Whitaker com- 
municated with me, I might have saved him the trouble of putting up this 
ornithological skittle only to be knocked down promptly, for, as I saw it before he 
knew of its existence, I should not have failed to secure it for the Leicester 
IMuseum if I had had the smallest grain of faith in its being locally obtained. To 
relieve the historian of the future of any further anxiety I may say that, being 
behind the scenes in this matter, I can emphatically state that Wilson’s Phalarope 
%oas not obtained in the county, nor in Britain. 
WOODCOCK. Scolopax rusticula (Linnaeus). 
A winter migrant, sparingly distributed. — Mr. Davenport shot a very light- 
coloured example in Cold Overton Wood, in December, 1884, and I shot, at Aston 
Firs, on 29th Nov., 1887, a large, dark-coloured bird (a female, weighing 13 oz.) 
which is now in the Museum. A notion prevails amongst sportsmen that the light- 
coloured birds are males, and the dark-plumaged ones, on the contrary, females ; 
hut such I do not think is the case, no author having as yet differentiated the 
plumage, although it is well known that the female is the larger bird. 
Harley remarked that it had bred in Martinshaw, and also in the woods at 
Donington Park, in the northern division of the county. A nest found by Chaplin 
in Martinshaw Wood contained four young ones which were reared off. Sir 
George Beaumont wrote to Mr. Macaulay that Woodcocks bred, some years ago, 
at Coleorton, and Mr. Macaulay stated (‘Mid. Nat.’, 1882, p. 10) that “a nest was 
found in Owston Wood a few years ago.” Mr. Davenport, who knows the district 
well, commenting upon this statement, says : — “ So it is rumoured, but I doubt it.” 
In Rutland. — As in Leicestershire. — Lord Gainsborough writes me that a nest 
containing four eggs was found in Barnsdale Wood about 1874, by G. Cunnington 
(one of his keepers), and further remarks that it is the only nest he has heard of 
in the county. 
In the ‘Zoologist,’ 1869, p. 1645, is the following note: — “I have an old 
oil-painting of a woodcock as nearly pure luhite as possible : the artist has depicted 
two sides of the bird, and there is hardly a coloured feather upon it. The picture 
bears the following inscription : — ‘ This very remarkable woodcock was shot by 
the Earl of Gainsbro’, Nov. 7, 1748, and painted from the bird itself, by 
S. Goodwin, of Oakham.’ From the handsome frame assigned to the production, 
and the trouble taken to give a double representation, this appears to have 
been thought a very great wonder at that time of day. — Geo. Dawson Rowley ; 
