BIRDS On 13 June, 1889, I again visited the Castle reed- bed, when numbers of men were at work cutting a new watercourse which has since been made, entirely destroying the reed-bed (subsequently built upon). After searching for a considerable time without success, I found two nests of the reed-warbler, one of which, unlike any I had previously seen, was built entirely of dry confervae or ' flannel-weed," from the brook, and contained one egg (broken). A nest with four eggs was found by Harry Throsby at the Roman Bridge, Aylestone, on 25 June, 1889. Mr. W. J. Horn writes in 1 906 : ' Several pairs nest every year in a reedy portion of the Upper Welland ; on 9 June, 1904, a nest which I was able to examine from the bank contained two eggs. This bird. also nests in the reeds at Market Bosworth Park. In May, before the reeds are grown up, this bird nests in the upper branches of thorns, or in willows. I have a clutch of eggs which I took from the fork of a small tree 1 2 ft. to 15 ft. from the ground, and upon another occasion I found in one morning five nests fixed in the small twigs of the willow.' 23. Sedge- Warbler. Acncephalus phragmitis (Bech- stein). Locally, Reed-Fauvette (obsolete). A summer migrant, generally distributed and breed- ing. Harley wrote : ' The sedge-warbler haunts hedges away from humid tracts and appears to associate more with the whitethroat than with its congener, the reed-warbler, the personal appearance of which it so much resembles.' 10 He further stated that he pos- sessed a nest beautifully and ingeniously attached to three twigs of osier, suspended within a fork about 3 ft. from the ground. Mr. Davenport, in June, 1883, found a nest of this species built at the top of a 'bullfinch hedge,' quite I oft. from the ground, near Shangton Holt, containing four eggs. I have found nests at the Castle reed-beds built as described by Hailey, both in reeds and forks of osiers and also, as on II June, 1 88 5, in the middle of a small isolated whitethorn bush, by a ditch at Aylestone. This nest was extremely well-constructed, and lined with the tufts of the reed. Mr. W. J. Horn says : ' I have found scores of nests of this bird, but never one on the ground. 7 May, 1900, singing on the wing.' 24. Aquatic Warbler. Acncephalus ayuatlcus (J. F. Gmelin). This bird is noted as occurring in Leicestershire, on the authority of Mr. J. E. Harting," who has a speci- men in his collection which he received from the neighbourhood of Loughborough in the summer of 1864. It was forwarded to Mr. Harting by a friend, under the impression that it was a grasshopper-warbler, but on examination it proved to be one of this species, and the second discovered in Britain. 25. Grasshopper- Warbler. Locustella naevia (Bod- daert). A summer migrant, sparingly distributed and breed- ing. Mentioned by Harley as being very locally dis- tributed, and most numerous along the skirts of the woods of Newtown Linford ; also plentifully distri- 10 See Browne, op. cit. p. 52. 11 Ibii (1867), 468-9 ; the ame specimen is also mentioned in Zool. (1897), 946 ; in Handbook of Brit. Birds, 105 ; in Our Summer Migrants, 91 ; and in Yarrell'i Hist. Brit. Birds (ed. 4), 381. I 121 buted in the wooded districts of Beaumanor, Garendon, and Swithland. I have not met with this bird around Leicester. The late Dr. Macaulay recorded (MM. Nat. 1881, p. 255) a pair which built under a bush in the garden at Gumley Rectory. Mr. Davenport found a nest in May, 1879, in Skeffington Wood, with five eggs; another in May, 1883, in a spinney near Ashlands, containing six eggs, and a third on 21 May, 1884. In 1886 it nested in Merevale Wood or Mirabel Hole Wood, a fox-covert near Stockerston. On 4 June, 1887, the Rev. Hugh Parry, of Tugby, took from under a brier-bush in Tugby Wood a nest and six eggs, two of which and the nest are in the museum. Mr. S. H. Pilgrim, writing on 5 June, 1891, says : ' The grasshopper-warbler may be heard almost any day in Sheepy Wood (part of Burbage Wood) or Burbage Common, and about three weeks ago I watched through my glasses a pair within 10 yards of me which seemed to be contemplating nesting ; the cock bird, while I was watching, came on the top spray of the bush they were in, and "reeled" out his song in full view for about a minute.' The Rev. Hugh Parry considers that during 1905 and 1906 this bird became very scarce in the Tugby district. Mr. W. J. Horn, writing in 1906, says: '8 May, 1896, one heard at Sutton Cheney. Several pairs nest annually in the Burbage Woods near Hinckley, and on 24 May, 1895, I was so fortunate as to find a nest containing five eggs ; later in the season I found another from which the birds had flown. Both nests were placed in the heart of a large grass tussock. Hearing one " reeling " on Burbage Com- mon, I approached quietly and looked down upon the furze bush from which the bird was singing.' 26. Hedge-Sparrow. Accentor modularls (Linn.). Locally, Dunnock, Shuffle-wing. Resident and common ; sometimes double-brooded. Harley remarked that it is liable to a tubercular disease, he having seen the eyelids, base of the bill, and a great part of the occiput, covered with small tubercles and warts, a peculiarity which I have frequently noticed in this bird, whose feet are also liable to be similarly affected. C. Adcock informs me that in the sum- mer of 1886 he had a pretty variety, the wings and back being of a cream colour. The Rev. W. H. Marriott presented to the museum a pied specimen (sex not ascertained) which was shot on 27 Sept., 1889, in a field on the Glebe Farm, close to the village of Thrussington. 27. Dipper. Cine/us aquaticus, Bechstein. Locally, Water-Ouzel. Formerly resident but now very rare. Mr. Bab- bington wrote (Potter, op. cit. App. p. 66) : ' Seen in the shallow pools of the rocky rivulet which runs from Kite Hill to the reservoir, when the forest began to be inclosed.' According to Harley it occurred on the brook which flows down from the forest of Charn- wood by way of Grace Dieu Priory, and was also observed by him on the brook which rises near Copt Oak and flows by Belton and Shepshed and into the Soar. Adams shot an example (in Harley 's time) on the stream which passes through Bradgate Park. The late Dr. Macaulay recorded (Mid. Nat. 1882, p. 63) one which was shot some years ago out of a brook near Noseley, and then in Sir A. Hazlerigg's collection. 16
