BIRDS Grewcock, at Belgrave, close to Leicester, during a snowstorm on 23 Jan., 1886. It breeds at Bos- worth, ' Frog-hollow ' Pond at Belvoir, Groby Pool, Saddington Reservoir, and other places in the county. The museum contains a nest and five eggs taken at Saddington in June, 1885, and another nest with ten eggs which I obtained at the same place on 25 May, 1886. The Rev. John B. Reynardson, ofCareby Rectory, Stamford, writing upon the habits of this bird, gives me the following note: 'I suppose you know when the water is rising from flood both birds will work hard with leaves and grass to raise the nest and save their eggs from being flooded. This interest- ing sight I have seen.' I am not sure if it has ever been recorded that the male often, during the breeding season, arches his wings and ploughs through the water in exactly the same manner as the swan. I am also uncertain whether this singular habit is due to his wishing to ingratiate himself with his partner, or as a mark of defiance to other males. Mr. W. J. Horn writes in 1907: 'Breeding at Market Bosworth Park, Saddington Reservoir, and other places in the county. I have never seen this bird on running water.' [Crane. Grits communis, Bechstein. Harley recorded, of this very rare straggler, that ' Mr. Chaplin of Groby shot an example on the banks of the pool in the year 1822.' I have no cor- roboration of this, and it must be rememberel that many keepers and some few sportsmen are in the habit of calling the heron a ' crane,' and as Harley did not state that he actually saw this specimen, the record must rest upon its merits.] 161. Stone-Curlew. Qedicnemus scolopax (S. G. Gmelin). Locally, 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 localized, 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. [Collared Pratincole. Glareola pratincole, Linn. The only authority I have for including this bird in the present list is that in the MS. catalogue of the contents of the museum when handed over to the Corporation on 19 June, 1849, one is mentioned with the remark, ' shot near Leicester.'] 162. Cream-Coloured Courser. Cursorius gallicus (J. F. Gmelin). Locally, Cream-Coloured Swiftfoot. A very rare autumnal straggler. Mr. Babington writing of this species says that the third and last specimen found in Britain was killed near Timber- wood Hill, October, 16 1827. It is in the col- lection of the Rev. Thomas Gisborne, of Yoxall Lodge. Anxious, if possible, to obtain some 1* The exact date was 1 5 October. particulars of so rare a bird Harley wrote to the late Mr. Gisborne, and received the following reply: 'Yoxall Lodge, Needwood Forest, 4 July, 1840. The example of Cursorius isabellinus respecting which you inquire was shot in Charnwood Forest, near Timberwood Hill, in October, 1827, by a tenant of my eldest son. The tenant met my son incidentally directly afterwards and showed and gave the bird to him as an unknown curiosity ; and my son, who was on his way to this neighbourhood, brought it forward to me. Thomas Gisborne.' Mr. Dresser (Birds of Europe) mentions the Leicester- shire specimen as being the fourth obtained in Britain. According to Yarrell (ed. 4, iii, 240) the present example was the sixth recorded for Britain, but the mistake has been made of placing the year 1828 before 1827. However, Mr. Harting's Handbook of British Birds, and a letter from Mr. Howard Saunders to me, show it to be the fifth noted as occurring in Britain. 163. Dotterel. Eudnmias morinettus (Linn.). Formerly occurring in the county as a spring and autumn migrant. Mr. Babington stated that five were brought down at a shot by Mr. Tomlinson, jun., at Charnwood Heath, and that Miss Watkinson, of Woodhouse, had one, taken near Buddon Wood. The Rev. C. H. Wood wrote to me with reference to this specimen : ' That dotterel is still at Woodhouse Hall (as they now call it).' The late Dr. Macaulay reported (Mid. Nat. 1882, p. 65) a specimen at Coleorton in the possession of Sir George Beaumont ; and Potter, of Billesdon, reports two shot at Illston by Mr. J. Allen, of Frisby Lodge, but no dates are given, and the bird has not visited Leicestershire for many years. Dr. Macaulay informed me that he saw three on a fallow field in the parish of Tur Langton, 29 March, 1879. 164. Ringed Plover. Aegialitis hiaticula (Linn.). Locally, Oxbird, Ring-Dotterel. An accidental straggler from the coast, usually in spring and autumn. Mr. Babington stated that it had been killed at Groby by the keeper of the Earl of Stamford. Harley recorded its occurrence in the meadows at Belgrave, and elsewhere in the county, early in the spring of 1841. The museum donation- book records the presentation on 24 March, 1 869, of one shot in the Abbey Meadow. Mr. Bevans showed me one which he shot there somewhere about the year 1875, and I saw one in the hands of Turner, said to have been shot, in 1881, also in the same locality, where the latter informs me that it was fre- quently met with some years ago. I shot a speci- men (an immature female) at Thornton Reservoir, on 25 Sept., 1884, and an adult and an immature bird were shot in Stretton Fields near Leicester, in 1899, by Captain Robertson-Aitman, all of which are in the museum. Mr. W. J. Horn saw one at Saddington Reservoir on 20 Sept. 1902. Mr. O. Murray-Dixon shot a ringed plover at Swithland Reservoir on 2 Sept., 1905. [Little Ringed Plover. Aegialitis curonica (J. F. Gmelin). A very much rarer bird than the preceding, and Mr. O. Murray-Dixon would have created a new record for the county when he shot what he supposed '47
