A HISTORY OF LEICESTERSHIRE memory of man are now extinct as residents, and occur only as occasional migrants from abroad. Among these may be mentioned the marsh-harrier, hen- harrier, buzzard, goshawk, kite, honey-buzzard, peregrine falcon, hobby and merlin. Some of the foregoing always of occasional occurrence, in spring or autumn, are increasingly rare ; and no recent notes are to hand of the nesting of the hobby and merlin, although a few specimens of both birds annually occur. Of the Steganopodes, always of accidental occurrence inland, one, the shag, is a recent addition to the county fauna. Of the Herodiones the only resident now is the common heron. In the Anseres all those recorded are accidental, save the wild duck and the teal, which still breed in the county. Additions to the accidental list are the Bernacle goose, Bewick's swan, the gadwall and velvet scoter. Of the Gallinae the quail does not now occur, save as a very rare visitor, and the black and red grouse are quite extinct. In the Limicolae all are accidental visitants, save the lapwing and snipe, which latter, though far more abundant than formerly owing to the institution of large sewage works at Beaumont Leys, near Leicester rarely remains to breed. On this farm are usually to be found thousands of green plover and hundreds of snipe and golden plover, their numbers augmented very con- siderably in severe weather, for here there are always runnels of warm water which seldom freeze, and carry an abundance of food. Here also many rarities occur, so that examples of the ruff (immature), sandpipers, and others have been recorded. Amongst the Gaviae all are, of course, of accidental occurrence, but the little gull formerly of doubtful occurrence can now be added through a specimen procured at Bradgate Reservoir in 1889, and now in the museum. Of the remaining avi-fauna all are of accidental occurrence, save the great crested grebe and little grebe, both of which breed and are fairly common on all the great reservoirs of Cropston, Saddington, Swithland, Thornton, and the larger pools throughout the county. Until the publication of the Vertebrate Animals of Leicestershire and Rutland, 1 late in 1889, no complete work upon the vertebrates of Leicester- shire and Rutland had been attempted, although scattered notes had appeared in various natural history journals, and a few lists more or less imperfect had from time to time been published. Thus in 1840 Macgillivray, in his British Birds, printed a ' Catalogue of the Land Birds of the County of Leicester,' by James Harley. In 1842 Potter published in his History and Antiquities of Charnwood Forest an appendix including the * Ornithology of Charnwood Forest,' by Churchill Babington. It is probable that this last was written, if not published, previously to Harley's ' Catalogue.' In 1868 Alfred Ellis published (for private circulation only) Notes about Birds. Nothing further I believe was published for many years, until the late Dr. Macaulay contributed to the Midland Naturalist, for 1881-2
- A List of the Birds of Leicestershire,' to which I added a few notes, and a
few years later came my notes in the Zoologist for 1885-6-7. In compiling the following list use has been made of the MSS. of the late James Harley (1840-55), and thanks are due to correspondents and others who have supplied me with details concerning the birds of their districts. 1 By Montagu Browne, F.Z.S. 116
