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BIRDS OF LEICESTERSHIRE AND RUTLAND. 
In Eutland. — As in Leicestershire. — I have seen a fine, large, adult specimen 
in the possession of Thos. Allies, keeper to the Earl of Gainsborough, shot at 
Burley Ponds in 1886. 
ROSEATE TERN. Sterna dougalli (Montagu). 
A summer visitant to Britain. — I insert this rare species on the authority 
of Harley, who wrote : — “The author has an opportunity afforded him of recording 
its visit to his native county, the bird having been shot by Chajfiin on Groby 
Pool in the year 1836. The example was examined by us, and was correctly 
described shortly after its capture. The pectoral feathers down to the vent were 
of a roseate hue, denoting its distinctive race. Moreover there were some other 
peculiarities equally as obvious, belongiug to the example, which we were careful 
to examine, and the which could not be mistaken by us — we refer to its bright 
orange feet. The bird was shot about the period of the summer solstice. It was 
preserved, but was suffered to go to decay in consequence of the ignorance of 
the artist who prepared the skin, making use of improper ingredients for that 
puipose. When we saw it in the summer of 1840, four years after its capture, the 
bird, to our utter amazement, was nearly destroyed by the ravages of acari, and shortly 
afterwards, that is within the space of a few months, it became a mere mass of 
unsightly feathers and ragged bones, no longer fit for the cabinet. — Very rare and 
most unusual.” I cannot but think some mistake has been made, Harley probably 
not being aware that most of the white-breasted Terns have, when in breeding 
plumage and alive, or a short time after death, the breast suffused with a roseate 
tinge. The “ bright orange ” feet depend upon how far the orange-red was trans- 
lated by Harley in the direction of scarlet, the feet of Sterna dougalli being 
described by Dresser as “reddish orange.” Still, there is no reason why the species 
should not have occurred in common with other rarities, and Harley, in this case, 
may, perhaps, have the benefit of the doubt. 
WHITE-WINGED BLACK TERN. Hydrochelidon leucoptera (Schinz). 
A rare straggler to Britain, in spring, summer, and sometimes in autumn. — 
Harley related that, on the 24th May, 1852, while driving in company with 
a friend close to Groby Pool, he observed a pied-coloured Tern skimming over 
the surface of the water, in pursuit of Tipulidoi and small Dragon-flies. He was 
of opinion that the specimen referred to was either S. leucoptera or S. ftdiginosa, 
and not S. nigra, especially as S. fuliginosa had occurred on the Trent, in 
May, 1852, coincident in point of time with his pied Tern. Mr. Macaulay 
told me that Stafford, the water-keeper at Saddington Reservoir, described 
to him a white and black bird — evidently a Tern — which he saw there on 
13th June, 1883, and Mr. Macaulay thinks this must have been H. leucoptera, 
because one shot three days before, on one of the Norfolk Broads, was 
