A HISTORY OF LEICESTERSHIRE must therefore remain open to doubt, but if it was a specimen of M. flava which Dr. Macaulay ?aw, that would constitute a new record for the county.] 39. Yellow Wagtail. Motacilla rait, Bonaparte. A summer migrant, generally distributed and breeding. Common in the meadows of the Soar around Leicester. I procured one (a male) close to the abbey on 8 April, 1886 the earliest date for forty-three years, Harley having observed it, curiously enough, in the abbey grounds one day earlier in 1843. It usually stays with us well into September, my latest date being 27 Sept. (1887), when I saw several in the meadows at Kibworth. Although the bird is abundant in the meadows about Aylestone, and undoubtedly nests there every season, it was not found until 1886, when Wilson, haymaking in a field just off the road at Aylestone on 2 July, discovered a nest with six eggs, which I saw in situ and secured for the museum. The nest, which was built on the ground on the edge of a cart track, was formed of grass-bents and lined with hair, and contained six eggs, of a uniform drab-brown, suffused with a darker shade toward the large end. Mr. W. J. Horn writes in 1907 : 'This bird overlaps the grey wagtail, for on 2 Oct., 1892, I saw about a dozen grey wagtails and twice as many ray's wagtails, feeding in the meadows near my house. In the early spring, this bird is abundant in the meadows of the Welland Valley, and on 19 April, 1 905, just below the Market Harborough Sewage Farm, I saw scores, all males. I have several times found its nest in this neighbourhood, on railway embankments and, on 27 May, 1905, with young by the canal side.' 40. Tree-Pipit. Anthus trivialis, Linn. A summer migrant, generally distributed and breed- ing. Mr. Babington (Potter, op. cit. App. p. 67) wrote : ' Not very rare at Thringstone, and probably found elsewhere near the forest.' Mr. Davenport has found the nest near Billesdon. Mr. W. J. Horn writes in 1907 : 'Favourite nesting sites are railway embankments. The eggs vary very much and I possess, probably, twenty varieties.' 41. Meadow-Pipit. Anthus pratensis (Linn.). Locally, Moss-cheeper, Tit-Lark, Titling. Resident and not uncommon near Leicester, probably double -brooded. Mr. G. F. Frisby records its song April, 1906. Mr. W. J. Horn writes in 1907 : 'Resident, but much more numer- ous in this district in spring and winter, when flocks of fifty or sixty are occasionally seen. It does not breed in this immediate neighbourhood, although it breeds lower down the Welland Valley. In suitable situations I have found them breeding in colonies. Upon one occasion, this bird feigned injury, when I disturbed it whilst incubating. I frequently see it on the Little Bowden Recreation Ground.' [Golden Oriole. Oriolus galbula, Linn. Of very doubtful occurrence, for the only note I have of it is by the late Mr. Widdowson, who wrote that one was seen about the railway gardens (1 Melton Mowbray) some years ago.] 42. Great Grey Shrike. Lanius excubitor, Linn. Locally, Cinerous Shrike, Great Butcher-bird. A rare winter visitant, not remaining to breed in Britain. Harley recorded that he received a fine specimen, wounded but alive, on 4 Dec., 1848. Its discovery and capture were attributed to a flock of sparrows and chaffinches drawn together by its ap- pearance. Some days later (l I Dec.) he received a second a fine male. Both were shot by the same person at Knight Thorpe. Since then Mr. Widdow- son informed me of a specimen picked up dead by the gardener at Little Dalby Hall on 25 March, 1883. A specimen purchased for the museum, apparently a female, is said to have been shot by a keeper, between Syston and Queniborough, in the autumn of 1882, and I am informed by Turner that another was shot at Anstey some years since. Mr. Ingram, who informed me that one was shot at Knipton amongst fieldfares by Mr. Brewster, kindly sent me a nice female specimen " in the flesh, shot at Belvoir 8 February, 1885. Mr. W. A. Evans shot a fine female specimen (nearly adult) in a market- garden at New Parks, close to Leicester, on 23 Dec., 1885, and he remarked that its jerky motions and general shape and colour reminded him of a wagtail. This bird was brought to me for exami- nation. Mr. Joseph Young, of Leicester, had two brought to him alive in 1891 by bird-catchers. The first was caught at Eaton on I November, and the other on some allotments in Gipsy Lane on 9 November. The former was exhibited at a local bird show, and lived for three weeks ; the other suc- cumbed in three days. Both were presented to the museum, and were mentioned in the field of 21 Nov., 1891. One shot in Park Lane, Loughborough, was presented to the museum by Mr. W. Truman Tucker on 13 Feb., 1891, who also presented one which he shot on the wing close to his house in Park Lane, Loughborough, on 1 1 Jan., 1892. (See Zoo/. 1892, P- 76.) 43. Red-Backed Shrike. Lanius collurio, Linn. Locally, Little Butcher-bird, Red-backed Butcher- bird. A summer migrant, sparingly distributed, and re- maining to breed. I observed a fine male perched upon the dead branch of a tree in Narborough Bogs on 20 June, 1885, and on 15 July, 1886, I watched one for some time at Barrow-on-Soar. In 1888 I saw two specimens (male and female) in the possession of Mr. H. C. Woodcock, of Rearsby, who informed me that they were shot in this county many years ago, and were sent in the flesh to the late Mr. Wid- dowson. Mr. T. Howett, of Leicester, reported a specimen killed near Syston in 1 886. At Belgrave on 27 May, 1886, Thomas Adcock found a nest containing one egg in a hawthorn bush. He considers the species rare. Mr. Davenport, who also considers it rare, found a nest on 3 June, 1888, close to Ashlands, Billesdon, containing five eggs. Mr. G. Frisby, writing on 7 Sept., 1906, says that a nest was built in a hawthorn hedge close to the la This specimen is undoubtedly the form known as Pallas' s Great Grey Shrike, Laniut major, Pallas, and, according to most authorities, should follow the present as another species. Hav- ing, however, worked at this group, my examination of a number of examples convinces me that L. major and L. bomcycri the latter not yet recorded for Britain are practically indis- tinguishable from L. excubitor, and not deserving of even tub- specific rank. Since this was written, Mr. H. E. Dresser has endorsed the writer's conclusions, and has stated that L. excubitor and L. majar are one and the same species. 124
