A HISTORY OF LEICESTERSHIRE [Bar-tuled Godwit. Limosa lapponica (Linn.). Finding this bird recorded by Mr. Babington as having been shot near Swarkeston, I, thinking that this place was in the county, included the note in my list, published in the Zoologist, 1886, p. 331. As Swarkeston is, however, in Derbyshire, it is the latter county which must lay claim to this record. The late Dr. Macaulay, writing under date 19 Feb., 1 892, reported one taken in a snare on the Sewage Farm, Beaumont Leys, on whose authority cannot now be discovered, hence this must ever remain a doubtful record.] 185. Black-tailed Godwit. Limosa belgica (]. F. Gmelin). A rare spring and autumn visitant. On the authority of Mr. (the Rev. Arthur ?) Evans, of Market Bosworth, Harley recorded a specimen shot near Market Bosworth, and a second at Osbaston. He said further that it was erroneously described by Mr. Evans, in one of our oldest local papers, as the ' red-breasted snipe,' or ' brown snipe ' of Jenyns and Y.irrell, and I record the fact lest this note of the ' red-breasted snipe ' should crop up at some future time and cause it to be added to the Leicestershire fauna. There is a specimen in the museum, in sum- mer plumage, marked 'Leicestershire, 1869,' but I am by no means sure that it is a local example. A specimen, in nearly adult summer dress, was shot by Mr. Thomas Beck, of Newtown Linford, at the reservoir, Bradgate Park, in August, 1887, which he has since presented to the museum. 1 86. Curlew. Numenius arjuata (Linn.). An accidental straggler from the coast. Mr. Bab- ington (Potter, op. cit. App. 69) said : ' Shot at Ben's Cliff; now at Rothley Temple.' Harley wrote : ' Before the Forest of Charnwood was en- closed this wader was very plentifully diffused over its uneven surface.' The museum donation-book re- cords the gift, on 2 Oct., 1865, by Mr. H. B. Cham- berlain, of a curlew shot at Desford. On 16 Aug., 1887, the late Dr. Macaulay saw one at Saddington Reservoir. A fine young male was shot out of a ditch by a small spinney at Arncsby, on I Nov., 1887, by Mr. A. Langton, and presented to the museum, being the only authentic local specimen, the 1865 one having disappeared. Mr. A. Dalby saw a curlew at Castle Donington in July, 1894, and as this is the last note appearing by him, it should be known that he particularly stated, ' All birds mentioned are from the Leicestershire side of the Trent.' Mr. C. Marriott told me in 1907 that he had seen specimens more than once during the past twenty years in the meadows bordering the Swift at Cotes- bach. 187. Whimbrel. Numenius phaeofus (Linn.). An accidental straggler from the coast. ' One shot near Charnwood Heath ' (Potter, op. cit. App. 69). Harley wrote : ' The whimbrel occurs occasionally in sparing numbers, as for instance in the meadows about Loughborough, at Bosworth, and elsewhere in the county. Killed near Leicester 23 April, 1856.' 1 88. Black Tem. Hydrochelidon nigra (Linn.). An occasional straggler from the coast, chiefly in spring ind autumn. Mr. Babington (Potter, op. cit. App. 70) wrote : ' The black tern frequently occurs in the vicinity of our rivers and pools during the summer months.' The late Dr. Macaulay re- corded (Mid. Nat. 1882, p. 80) that one was shot at Saddington Reservoir in December, 1865, by Rev. A. Matthews, and was in his collection. A black tern was shot by Mr. W. A. Heap, of Melton Mowbray, on 4 Aug., 1884, as it was flying about a ballast-hole filled with water, about two acres in extent, close to Melton. Mr. Heap said it kept darting at the water as swallows do, and every time it brought out a small fish (stickleback or minnow). Mr. Edward Bidwell, of East Twickenham, informed me that he bought a specimen in Leicester, which was said to have been killed in the Abbey Meadow many years ago. Among the museum specimens are two adult mounted ex- amples which were shot near Belgrave, 24 April, 1886, out of a flock of over forty. Dr. Macaulay reported two adult black terns on Saddington Reser- voir on 2 June, 1887, which were seen and identified by the Rev. A. Matthews, who watched them for over an hour. A most interesting example, an adult in change to winter dress having a white forehead, face, and throat, a partially black head, and a grey breast thinly barred with white was shot by Mr. R. Henfield on a flooded meadow at Nailstone, in Sep- tember, 1888, and presented to the museum. A young bird in the plumage of immaturity i.e. with forehead, face, throat, and remaining underparts pure white ; head and hind-neck black ; and with wing- coverts and some of the secondaries broadly marked with light-brown was shot in the Abbey Meadow during the first week of October, 1888, and passed into the possession of Mr. F. F. How, of Evington Street, Leicester. Mr. O. Murray-Dixon shot an immature bird in September, 1904, and Mr. G. Frisby saw one, also at Swithland Reservoir, 4 April, 1906, and writes that they are rare but regular visitants to the reservoir during the spring and autumn migrations. Mr. W. J. Horn writes in 1907 : ' On 3 May, 1903, I watched for some time through my glasses a single bird of this species in a flooded meadow near Lubenham.' [White-winged Black Tern. Hydnchelidon leucoptera (Schinz). A rare straggler, in spring, summer, and sometimes in autumn. Harley related that on 24 May, 1852, while driving close to Groby Pool, he observed a pied-coloured tern skimming over the surface of the water in pursuit of Tipuiidae and small dragon-flies. He was of opinion that the specimen referred to was either 5. leucoptera or S. fuliginosa, 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. The late Dr. 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 13 June, 1883, and Dr. Macaulay thought this must have been H. leucoptera, because one shot three days before on one of the Norfolk Broads was in company with another. I would remark, however, that both observers may have been correct in seeing a white and black tern, and yet it need not follow that it was the white-winged black tern in either case, the immature black tern being pied, as is also the adult in winter. Again, I should be chary of claiming this rare bird for the county.] 152
