BIRDS were in full swing in my garden as early as 25 Feb., in 1901.' 13. Nightingale. DauRai luicinia (Linn.). A summer migrant, sparingly distributed and breed- ing. Mr. E. T. Loseby, of Leicester, has kindly furnished me with the following account of a night- ingale which frequented his garden on the ' Free- men's Common,' immediately over the first tunnel, close to the town on the Midland Railway : The bird began to sing apparently on 29 April, 1889, and sang up to 1 8 May, when it was reported to have been shot by a man living close by. When singing at night, the bird was quite fearless of its surroundings, and usually sat upon a branch of an elm on the railway embankment, often coming, how- ever, into the apple and pear trees in Mr. Loseby's garden, when it would sing within a few yards of his party. Its song usually continued for an hour or more, and neither trains, steam, nor whistles stopped it for an instant. Mr. H. S. Davenport informs me that on 14 June, 1889, a nightingale was nesting at Ashlands, and the Rev. H. Parry, writing from Tugby on 1 8 May, 1893, reported a nest with three eggs in that vicinity. In the spring of 1905 Mr. W. J. Horn noted twenty-five males singing near Market Harborough, where they had apparently taken up their quarters for nesting. Mr. G. Frisby, of Quorn, mentions one singing on 30 April, 1906. I heard one singing near St. George's Lodge, Swannington, at 4 p.m. on 10 May, 1907. 14. Whitethroat. Sylvia cinerea (Bechstein). Locally, Hay-jug, Nettle-creeper (both also ap- plied to the following species), Peggy, Great Peggy. A summer migrant, commonly distributed and breeding. The song of this bird has often been mis- taken for that of the sedge-warbler, which is fre- quently reported as ' occurring in great numbers this year,' but in 1887, however, I was enabled to bring one of my most positive informants and the so-called sedge- warbler ' face to face,' and the songster turning out to be the whitethroat, as I predicted, upset all the theories based upon the 'abundance of the sedge- warbler this year on dusty roads, far away from water.' Mr. W. J. Horn found a nest with one egg on 30 April a very early date. 15. Lesser Whitethroat. Sylvia curruca (Linn.). Locally, Little Peggy, White-breasted Fauvette (obsolete). A summer migrant, sparingly distributed and breed- ing. Harley considered it very local. It has occurred within two miles of the centre of Leicester, at Ayle- stone Mill, and a specimen is now in the museum. Mr. W. J. Horn writes : ' Arrives about the same date as the common whitethroat, but commences nesting operations earlier. On 24 May, 1892, I found a nest of this species containing four abnormal eggs smaller than the usual type almost round and peculiarly marked ; these I took on 5 June. I found about two hundred yards distant another nest containing four eggs precisely similar to the above and evidently laid by the same bird. Both clutches are in my possession.' On 7 Sept., 1895, Mr. Horn heard one singing. 1 6. Blackcap. Sylvia atricapilla (Linn.). Locally, Black-headed Peggy. A summer migrant, sparingly distributed and breed- ing. Mr. H. S. Davenport writes : ' I was lucky enough to get, on 24 May, 1888, a lovely clutch (four in number) of the pink variety of the eggs of the Blackcap Warbler.' The Rev. Hugh Parry found this bird nesting at Tugby in 1893, and Mr, G. Frisby saw it at Quorn on 23 April, 1906. The earliest note Mr. W. J. Horn has of its nesting is 9 April, 1 906. A nest and six eggs from Tugby were presented to the museum by the Rev. Hugh Parry, 31 May, 1893. 17. Garden-Warbler. Sylvia hortens'u (Bechstein). Locally, Greater Pettychaps (obsolete). A summer migrant, generally distributed, breeding, and more common than the blackcap. Mr. H. S. Davenport remarks that this bird was much less common during the three years ending 1887 than in 1884, when he found as many as five nests in the course of an hour about Keythorpe. He says it is the latest builder of all the warblers known in Leicestershire. Mr. W. J. Horn informs me that it is much commoner than the blackcap, a late breeder, and its eggs are not generally found before the end of May or beginning of June. A nest and five eggs from Tugby were presented to the museum by the Rev. Hugh Parry, 31 May, 1893. [Dartford-Warbler. Sylvia undata (Boddaert). This bird does not occur in the county, and is only now mentioned because it has, by error, been included in local lists as having occurred at ' Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire.' 8 Harley, however, who wrote a long MS. article about it, contradicted this and said that ' Mr. Yarrell's informant ' told him that the example of Dartford-warbler, which he had described as having been captured in the county of Leicester, was brought to him by a countryman, who subse- quently admitted having obtained it in Cambridge- shire.'] 1 8. Goldcrest. Regulus cristatus (Koch). Resident, but sparingly distributed ; more common in the winter months, when the native birds receive large additions on migration. Mr. Stephen H. Pil- grim writes that there was a flock of about fifty in Burbage Woods one evening about the middle of January, 1890. Mr. G. Frisby, under date of 15 Jan., 1906, re- ports a good number observed in Quorn and Wood- house. Mr. W. J. Horn states that in 1900 three pairs nested in Market Harborough, one pair in a garden in the middle of the town. [Fire-crest. Regului ignicapillus (Brehm). The late Dr. Macaulay reported (Mid. Nat. 1882, p. 63) a pair of these birds seen by Mr. Daven- port at Skeffington in 1890, and relative to this, 8 See each edition of Yarrell, Brit. Birds, also Macgillivray, Hist, of Brit. Birds, Morri, Brit. Birds, and Dresser, Birds of Europe, quoting Yarrell. 9 No doubt the late Mr. R. Widdowson, who was well known to both Harley and Yarrell.
