BIRDS evidence collected Mr. Storer is convinced that the birds could have been nothing else but Syrrhaptes paradoxus. 150. Black Grouse. Tetrao tetrix, Linn. Locally, Blackcock (male), Grey Hen (female). No longer met with in this county. Mr. Babington, writing in 1842 (Potter, op. cit. App. p. 68), said : ' Near Charnwood Heath, Sharpley, &c., in tolerable numbers till the last two years. They are now nearly extinct.' Harley records its occurrence in Charnwood Forest and at Whitwick. Harley appears to have last met with the species in the spring of 1850. Mr. J. B. Ellis writes : ' Now extinct ; used to live in large woods by BensclifF.' Sir G. Beaumont informed the late Dr. Mac- aulay that he remembered killing black game in Charn- wood Forest about 1847 or 1848, and during the next ten years he shot several ' grey hens ' in South Wood, near Coleorton. The late Mr. Alfred Ellis, in his Notes about Birds, published for private circulation in 1868, wrote: 'Some years since I had the great pleasure of a day's shooting with the late Mr. Gisborne, and as we strolled over the heathery waste we flushed several of these birds, and one grand old cock got up so close under the walls of the monastery that we could not shoot him, if we had wished, without danger to the windows.' 151. Red Grouse. Lagopus scoticus (Latham). Formerly occurring but now extinct in the county. Mr. Babington wrote in 1 842 (Potter, op. cit. App. p. 68) : 'A brood at Tin Meadows, twenty years ago, some of which were shot by Mr. Grundy, when in search of black game. Since then Mr. Gisborne attempted to introduce the bird from Scotland and the Derbyshire moors, but without success, it being unable to bear the dust of the journey, as the game- keeper thought.' Harley wrote : 'Well-nigh become extinct,' and again : 'The red ptarmigan occurs in the county in much about the same ratio, as regards its distribution and its numerical diffusion, as its congener the black grouse. This species of ptarmigan, moreover, appears to affect alike the same locality Charnwood Forest a situation as yet the only one known to the author where it occurs in the county.' One was shot by the Rev. J. C. Davenport at Skeffing- ton, in the winter of 1860, whilst it was feeding on some hips on a hedge. I saw, circa 1885, a mounted specimen at Noseley, which had been shot there by Sir Arthur Hazlerigg, some years before, whilst it was sitting on a whitethorn eating the haws. It had been previously observed sitting on the top of a large ash tree. 152. Pheasant. Phasianus cokhicus, Linn. Locally, Old English Pheasant, Bohemian Pheasant (variety), Ring-necked or Chinese Pheasant. Resident and commonly distributed. The late Major Gregory Knight informed me that he had a pheasant sitting on ten eggs on 12 Sept., 1888. This would, no doubt, be owing to the extraordinarily inclement and late season. It is subject to much variation, owing to the crossing of the original stock with various foreign species, especially with the Chinese ring-necked pheasant, Phasianus torquatus (Gmelin), originally introduced from China some hundred or so years ago, and which has interbred with the collarless or 'Old English' pheasant to such an extent that it is now impossible to find either pure, except in China and Asia Minor respectively. What we must now term the ring-necked variety is un- doubtedly the most common. Lord Ferrers has, at Staunton, two hybrids between pheasant and grey hen ; they were bred in South Wood and strayed into one of the Staunton Woods, where the keeper shot them. Sir Arthur Hazlerigg shot at Noseley, some years since, a pure white variety, which I have by his per- mission examined. I saw in the possession of Mr. C. Marriott, ofCotesbach Hall, a mounted hen-pheasant shot at Cotesbach, circa 1898, in complete cock's plumage with the exception of the feathers of the head and the absence of wattles and spurs. Its tail is quite as long as that of a cock. 153. Partridge. Perdix cinerea (Latham). Resident and common. The Leicester Daily Post recorded that just after the great storm of 18 and 19 Jan., 1 88 1, a bricklayer captured a partridge in a hole of the damaged roof of a house in Lower Bond Street, Leicester. A still more curious circum- stance is recorded by Mr. Davenport, who wrote on II Dec., 1885 : 'I know of a covey of seven cocks and one hen reared this summer under a hen fowl on Mr. G. V. Braithwaite's estate at Stackley, which now come out of the fields to a whistle and are so tame as to feed out of the hand and perch on the shoulder of the lady of the house.' Writing again on I Feb., 1886, he said: 'Those partridges, reduced by one cock, come every morning to be fed, just as they did in September a marvellous sight.' The Leicester 'Journal, 27 Jan., 1888, reported that a partridge was observed on the Humberstone Road, near the London and North-Western goods depot, having apparently come over the railway from the direction of Evington. It ran off towards Brunswick Street, where it was caught by Mr. Andrew Birtlcs, of Upper Charnwood Street, who succeeded in throwing his hat over it. The bird was a fine one and in good condition. Mr. Birtles kept it alive for three months, but as it was very wild he had it killed and preserved. Mr. T. Woodcock, of Ratcliffe-on-the-Wreak, informed me on 3 Sept., 1886, that there were three white part- ridges, in a covey of nine or ten, on the Garthorpe estate, near Melton Mowbray ; and Mr. James T. Hincks told me in November, 1887, that there was still an old white one lef^ which was extremely shy and had until then escaped. I saw a curious light sandy variety in the possession of Sir Arthur Hazlerigg, shot at Noseley many years ago. An unusual variety was shot at Garthorpe on 8 Oct., 1890, and presented to the museum by Mr. T. Crick. The specimen is a female whose general coloration is a dull greyish-white, in which the normal markings can be traced, though faintly. The 'horse-shoe' barrings on the breast and flanks are of a faint buff-colour. Very small immature specimens are sometimes confounded with the quail, and I shot at Melton Mowbray in September, 1893, a specimen which was at first sight remarkably like one. 1 54. Red-Legged Partridge. Caccabis rufa (Linn.). Resident, but sparingly distributed. The call of this bird is quite different from that of the common partridge. 145
