BIRDS a dozen nests being built there annually. I am in- formed by Henry Long, keeper at Bosworth Park, that some years ago a single pair of herons built a nest there. Mr. G. H. Storer records a solitary nest built in Buddon Wood in 1885, and Mr. R. Groves another in May the same year at Bradgate. Mr. Ingram writes : 'Occurs winter and summer, and a pair have nested for several seasons in a wood at Belvoir.' On 6 May, 1884, I went over to Staple- ford Park, by permission of the late Rev. B. Sherard Kennedy, to see the heronry. I found the heronry had increased since Harley's time, from forty to fifty nests being built in high elms and firs on an island in the lake, to which the keeper rowed me. Nests and old and young birds were procured and are now in the museum. Harley wrote at p. 423 of his Synopsis: 'The most noteworthy and remarkable bird that appears to have visited Groby Pool of late years was a white heron shot by Chaplin a few years ago. It was purely white with black legs and a yellow bill, having also an elongated occipital crest like that of the grey species. The bird when surprised attempted to escape and rose on the wing with several other birds of the cinereous species ; but the albinism of its plumage, according to Chaplin, caused it to be singled out and shot. The bird must have been an albino variety of the grey heron or a white egret ; but the elongated crest and occipital plumes which Chaplin affirms the example possessed, denote, I conjecture, a close affinity to the former species, rather than to the white egret.' Whilst at p. 266 we find: 'The albino example of heron shot by Chaplin on the banks of Groby Pool, some few years since, and which he described to me very carefully, could not be Ardea alba, as I am assured by Professor MacGillivray, to whom I took occasion to communicate the notice of its occurrence. The "elongated crest and occipital plumes denote," observes the Professor, " its true affinity to ardea cinerea." ' Harley's opinion therefore appears to have been confirmed by Professor Mac- Gillivray solely on these grounds ; but as the size of the bird is not stated it might have been a specimen of Ardea garzetta but for the colour of the bill. Mr. Harting, who commented upon this in the Zoo!. 1886, p. 197, thinks it 'more likely to have been a spoon- bill,' but surely Chaplin, who appears to have been a fairly competent observer, would have noted the extraordinary bill of the spoonbill so utterly unlike that of any other bird and have described this pecu- liarity to Harley. Mr. G. Frisby writes, 30 Jan., 1906 : ' Herons are seen occasionally at Beaumanor Park, about half a dozen regularly at Swithland Reservoir.' He further writes, in 1906 : ' It is not unusual to see the heron mobbed by the rooks, and once this summer I saw one mobbed by swallows.' Mr. W. J. Horn writes, in 1907 : 'Frequently seen on the Welland.' 1 1 6. Night Heron. Nycticorax grlseus (Linn.). A very rare visitant, about which Harley, writing 1850-5, said: 'A fine example was shot by a countryman a few years since in the lordship of Ansty as it was sitting on the top of a pollard wil- low by a pool.' Harley examined it shortly after capture. He also mentions another bird which was shot in 1846, at Donington, and recorded by the Rev. A. Evans. 1 1 7. Little Bittern. Ardetta minuta (Linn.). An accidental summer visitant, which according to Harley ' has once occurred, namely on the banks of Groby Pool, at the close of the summer of 1863, as I learn from Chaplin.' Mr. Davenport wrote, in January, 1886: 'One was shot some dozen years ago by a Mr. Allen of Glen, sold by him to Potter and re-sold by Potter to the Rev. J. S epherd, the then curate of Billesden.' Potter of Billesdon remark- ing upon this, gives the date as November, 1867, and seems to be quite sure of the species ; but as the bird cannot be traced, the record must stand upon its merits. Since then Mr. W. J. Horn has called my attention to the following note in the Zool. of 1868, p. 1212, contributed by Mr. Theodore Walker : ' Little bittern, one shot at Billesdon Coplow in January of this year.' This he considers is the bird already referred to. 1 1 8. Bittern. Botaurus ttellaris (Linn.). A rarer visitant to Britain than formerly. Mr. Babington (Potter, op. cit. App. 68) said: 'One was shot near Ashby, in 1834, by the late Mr. Joseph Cantrell ; another, killed at Wanlip, is in the possession of C. Winstanley esq., of Braunstone Hall.' Harley wrote : ' The species occurred during the winter months of the year 1844 at Croft, and it has since been met with on the marshy part of Bosworth pool or " Big River." It has been met with also at Swithland. It occurred in the winter of 18545 at Carlton Curlieu.' He further recorded that it occurred in December, 1855. A notice appeared in the Leicester Journal of 29 Jan. 1847, of the occurrence of a bittern at Swithland a few days before. Mr. W. Brookes of Croft informs me that a friend of his shot one at Elmesthorpe somewhere about 1848. The late Mr. Widdowson informed me that he had known about six killed in his neighbourhood in about twenty- five years. Mr. Theodore Walker, writing in the May number of the Zool. for 1868, p. 1212, recorded that a splendid specimen was shot in the snipe grounds of Groby Pool in March. The museum contains a fine example (probably a male) shot at Enderby, and presented by Mr. William Simpson, 21 Dec., 1871. I saw a fine specimen in the posses- sion of C. Adcock, who told me that it was shot at Thurmaston on 28 Dec., 1878. A female bittern, presented to the museum by Mr. E. Willars on 4 March, 1885, was shot at Cropston Reservoir. The late Mr. Thomas Woodcock informed me that Mr. H. C. Woodcock, of Rearsby House, saw a bittern on the Wreak between Rearsby and RatclifFe Mill, on 26 Jan., 1892. 119. White Stork. Ciconia alba, Bechstein. Of accidental occurrence in Britain. Harley re- corded that one was obtained near Melton Mowbray in 1849, and the narrative of its capture was related to him by a resident of that place, Mr. Widdowson, who had the bird in his possession. One in the possession of Mr. T. Morris of Wycombe, near Melton Mowbray, was shot by his brother early one morning as it sat on one of his farm-buildings at Scalford Lodge in 1 8 5 1 . I believe this to be the one alluded to by Harley. Another specimen of this bird was shot in the Narborough Road, Leicester, on 6 March, 1873, and is in the museum. 139
