BIRDS birds of passage, nineteen winter visitants, twenty occasional immigrants, or 135 in all. There are in addition the four extinct species: raven, kite, buzzard, and Norfolk plover. Species that have nested at one time or another number 105, besides two or three probable cases, such as crossbill and Montagu's harrier. Besides the above there is the great army of stragglers, which really belong to the ornithology of England as a whole. It is here that Rut- land is most deficient, owing to its smallness of size and lack of observers and early records. Only sixty-three species can be enumerated under this head, with a few doubtful cases, e.g. woodchat-shrike, eagle-owl, Montagu's harrier, purple heron, night heron, stork, bar-tailed godwit. The hoopoe and honey-buzzard may some day, when the shooting of rare birds is not only prohibited but prevented, become residents; in fact, the latter very likely did breed at Burley in 1905. The sand-grouse might breed on any of its extraordinary immigrations. The bee-eater seems actually to have bred on one occasion in the county, thus establishing a British record. The crossbill has possibly nested, and the short-eared owl, tufted duck, and pochard might do so at any time. Of the rest of the species in this section the little auk has been oftenest seen, and then the gannet, owing to the liability of these two species to be driven inland by gales. The visits of the osprey are most interesting, and almost entitle this bird to a place among regular birds of passage. It is only the lack of observers that has prevented the addition to the Rutland list of birds such as black redstart, golden oriole, (which nested on the Northamptonshire border of Rutland, at Milton, in 1903), the great reed warbler, little bittern, and certain crakes and grebes. The fire-crest must have occurred, and in fact there is some evidence of its actual appearance in the county. The marsh-harrier was, no doubt, a common enough bird formerly, but no record of it has come down to us. The facts of most importance for British ornithology in general to be gained from the Rutland list are these : the eighth instance, or so, of Bonaparte's gull ; the unique nesting of the bee-eater ; the repeated appearance of the pied flycatcher in this county ; the recent murder of two male bearded tits at Burley Ponds ; the late acquisition of the red- shank as a breeding species ; the early return recorded for the wryneck (28 February) ; and the early nesting of the corncrake. The following facts as to increase and decrease of certain species should be noted. Increased : Missel-thrush, great tit (somewhat), gold- finch (latterly), hawfinch, sparrow, redpoll (as a nester), starling (very much), rook, green woodpecker (probably), kingfisher (latterly), moor- hen, nightingale, sedge-warbler, red-backed shrike, nightjar (latterly), turtle-dove (greatly), redshank, great crested grebe (locally), gray wagtail, hooded crow (somewhat), tufted duck, black-headed gull, herring gull, pochard, and goldeneye. Decreased : Nuthatch, woodlark (apparently), magpie, long-eared owl, tawny owl, heron, lapwing, stonechat (no longer resident), martin, I 57 8
