BIRDS Great Central Station at Quorn. One egg was laid and the larder was well stocked. On 1 2 July, 1894, Mr. W. J. Horn saw a male bird with food in its mouth between Sibson and Shenton. He says that in this district several pairs nest annually at about the same spot all on the road- side. Other records are on 6 July, 1896, a pair seen on the roadside near Wolvey, and 25 May, 1905, one seen at Great Bowden. 44. Waxwing. dmpelis garru/ui, Linn. Locally, Bohemian Waxwing. A rare winter visitant, but not remaining to breed in Britain. Harley stated that it appeared in 1827 in small parties of three and four individuals in a group, and again in the fall of 1835-6, when it became partially dispersed over the county, especially in the more wooded parts. During the winter of 1850 it was again fairly plentiful, and numbers were shot in various parts of the county. He particularly mentions one, probably fully adult, which was shot at Swannington, and which he describes as having ' the barbs of the tail-feathers literally termi- nated with a wax-like substance of a bright vermilion colour, the same in substance which we find attached to the wing of this species.' He adds that it ap- peared to feed chiefly on the fruit of the mountain-ash (Pyrus aucuparia, Gaertn.), the berries of the elder, and the fruit of the hawthorn. In the Zoologist for 1850 (p. 2770), the following are recorded as having occurred during January of that year : One shot at Stoney Stanton, and in the possession of Mr. Henry Townsend, of that place ; another at Claybrook, three near Bagworth, and one shot at Belgrave. The late Dr. Macaulay wrote (Mid. Nat. 1882, p. gj) : I am informed by Mr. Bickley, of Melton Mowbray, whose late brother presented the collection of birds bearing his name in the Leicester Museum, that the specimen of this bird in that collection was shot near Melton Mowbray,' and no doubt this is the case, for the late Mr. R. Widdowson wrote to me : 'I shot one myself some years ago near Melton, and have had three or four since.' Mr. J. C. Bassett, of Ullesthorpe, has one in his possession which was shot at Arnesby about 1870 by Mr. S. Horton. One was shot at Belgrave about 1878-9 (Turner). Mr. H. A. Payne, of Enville, and a friend watched a pair for a long time near Bradgate House in the summer of 1883, and in connexion with this it is singular that one was shot at Anstey (close to Bradgate), at Christmas of the same year by Mr. Alfred Wm. Matts. I saw in December, 1888, two beautiful waxwings probably a pair mounted, and in the possession of Mr. W. T. Tucker, who shot them in the autumn of 1886, in some willow-trees close to his house in Park Lane, Loughborough. The Rev. G. D. Armitage saw one on the drive at Broughton Astley Rectory, but cannot remember the date. A fine specimen was shot at Loughborough by Mr. W. T. Tucker on 12 Jan. 1895. Mr. W. J. Horn reports the following : ' One shot at Arnesby in 1868 by a farmer, while feeding on a hawthorn bush (Zool. 1 868, p. 1 2 1 2), and another shot near Laughton on 13 Feb. 1895 (Zool. 1895). 45. Pied Flycatcher. Muscicapa atricapilla, Linn. A rare summer migrant, but there is no record of its breeding. Harley wrote : ' A young male was shot by Chaplin on the banks of Groby Pool in the autumn of 1840,' and under date 28 April, 1859 : ' Examined to-day, at Collins the birdstuffer's, a fine male example shot at Markfield.' Collins also in- formed him that he once had a pied flycatcher, said to have been captured in Bradgate Park. The late Dr. Macaulay's note-book records a specimen seen in his garden at Kibworth, May, 1859, 'apparently weak and exhausted after long flight.' The date (1870) in Mid. 'Nat. i88l,p. 256, is therefore ap- parently an error. He also saw one which was shot at Illston by Mr. Newcomb about 1875. Turner gave me a note that about 1880 a male bird of this species was taken in a barn at Wanlip (Zool. 1885, p. 461). Since then the Rev. W. H. Palmer has ascertained that a pied flycatcher was caught, as stated, but the man who caught it having left the village, no further information could be gained. Mr. Davenport informs me that a pair of these birds were seen by Mr. Kestin in his father's garden at Twyford on 5 May, 1883, and that they remained about the place, probably with the intention of nesting. The late Mr. Widdowson had one which had been killed at Melton. I received an immature male, shot at Bardon Hill by Mr. Ward, on 12 May, 1883, and Mr. A. K. Perkins shot a fine male at Laughton on 29 April, I 898. Mr. Charles Marriott, of Cotesbach Hall, on 19 April, 1901, observed a pied flycatcher in a field in that parish. He says that it differed from the one in the plate of Morris's Birds in having dark grey feathers at the base of the back in place of black throughout, but in the description given it is stated that the winter plumage of the male bird includes grey back feathers. 46. Spotted Flycatcher. Muscicapa griso/a, Linn. Locally, Grey Flycatcher, Gnatcatcher. A summer migrant, commonly distributed, and breeding even in gardens close to Leicester. The museum donation book records that Mr. W. Gimson presented a portion of a nest and three eggs, found in an old elm-tree, apparently without any external opening, on 8 Jan. 1853. Mr. Davenport writes : 'A chaffinch had its nest with five eggs in a laurel bush bordering on the lawn-tennis ground at Ash- lands in May, 1883, but being unavoidably and so frequently disturbed, forsook it. Three weeks later a spotted flycatcher appropriated the nest, laid four eggs, and successfully hatched off ; repairing again to same nest she laid a second batch of eggs. I found three eggs of a pale-blue colour, with no markings, in May, 1879, at Skeffington.' Writing again he says : 'In 1886 and 1887 (just as in 1879) I found a nest both years containing four eggs e.ich, of a beau- tiful pale-blue colour, without a speck or spot on them. This seems a rather favourite variety of the egg.' Every year this bird haunts the New Walk at Leicester, and nearly every year builds its nest in the ornamental stonework on the summit of the Hollings Memorial. In the summer of 1887 I noticed one or more pairs about there, and in August they appeared to have nested. During 1 906 it built again about the museum, and haunted the whole length of the New Walk. The Rev. Father Bullen, writing from Ratcliffe in 1890, says that he found a cup-shaped and well-made nest in that of a house-sparrow. Mr. G. Frisby, in August 1905, says that on 14 Aug. he noticed a number of flycatchers 125
