Page:VCH Rutland 1.djvu/107

 BIRDS 133. Tufted Duck. Fu/igu/a cristata (Leach). The commonest of our occasional ducks, and a regular visitor to the Ponds. The ear- liest record is that of one killed at Tixover in February 1865. Two have been shot on the Welland, one in February 1890, below Turtle Bridge, and the other near Caldecott in December 1895. 134. Scaup. FuUgula marila {L, n.), Occasional, chiefly at the Ponds, where several have been shot. One, a fully adult male, was obtained there about 1879, the other, an extraordinary fine female specimen, about the same date, and a fine pair were shot there on 8 November 1888. The male weighed 2|- lb. 135. Goldeneye. C/angu/a g/audort (Linn.). Not very common, but occurs most win- ters at the Ponds. One was killed at Tix- over in February 1867. Another on the Chater at Ketton on I 7 December 190 1. 136. Long-tailed Duck. Hare/da glacialis (Linn.). Mentioned by A. C. Elliot as occurring on the Welland. One was shot on the Burley Ponds in February 1900. 137. Common or Black Scoter. Oedemia nigra (Linn.). One was shot at the Burley Ponds about 1885. Four were seen at Exton Pond in 1889, and the species has been observed there since. 138. Goosander. Mergus mergamer^ Linn. Locally, Dun Diver. Has occurred twice. The late Mr. R. Tryon shot one in 1886 at Burley, and a s'-cond was obtained at the same place in December 1899. 139. Red-breasted Merganser. Mergus ser- rator^ Linn. Three immature birds were shot at Burley Ponds about 1878. Another was killed at Ketton in 1882. About 1888 two or three made a short stay at the Burley Ponds, and they have been seen there once or twice since. 140. Ring-Dove or Wood-Pigeon. Columha palumbus, Linn. Though it has increased since i860, it is not especially numerous except perhaps in the Normanton district. The late Rev. W. Turner found near Uppingham in 1844 a nest with three eggs, and another with three young birds. 141. Stock-Dove. Columba oenas, Linn. Has apparently never been very common, though it is fairly abundant at Exton and Normanton, and perhaps Ketton. On 7 June 1888 eleven were seen in one field at Pick- worth. Mr. J. M. Mitchell records a nest in a pollard elm close to the eggs of a wood- owl. 142. Turtle-Dove. Turtur communis, Selby. Was very uncommon in the district till about 1840, and the first nest was not re- corded till 1859. It is now plentiful every- where, and arrives about the end of April. Mr. W. J. Horn noted thirty or more in a field together near Uppingham about 1885. 143. Pallas's Sand-Grouse. Syrrhaptes para- doxus (Pallas). A rare and very irregular immigrant. There is no record for Rutland of the 1863 invasion. But in 1888 one out of several seen was shot on 30 May at Cottesmore, and another speci- men at Glaston. Fifteen were seen in Seaton parish, and four at Burley on 29 December 1888. Twelve were seen on 31 May and again on i June near Stamford, two of the covey being secured. 144. Black Grouse. Tetras tetrix, Linn. Has occurred twice in living memory. A grey hen was shot in Burley Woods in Janu- ary 1 85 1, and a second on 24 September 1896 in Greetham parish. It was feeding with pheasants in a field, and its crop con- tained acorns. 145. Red Grouse. Lagopus scoticus (Latham). A solitary example. One was killed in deep snow near Ridlington about 1870. 146. Pheasant. Phasianus co/chicus, Linn. The ' old English pheasant ' is probably ex- tinct in this county, present-day birds being hybrids with the different varieties which it is the fashion to introduce into the coverts, such as the ring-necked pheasant (P. torquatus), the Kallege {Euplocamus nycthemerus and P. versicolor. White specimens and hen birds in partial male plumage occur here as elsewhere. One splendid variety shot at Exton is thus described by Mr. Montagu Browne: 'Of enormous size, half as large again as an ordi- nary pheasant ; the head dusky-green, the breast like that of a pheasant, thighs of normal colour but very large, the mantle, back, and tail like those of the Silver Pheasant.' It was bred from imported eggs. Rutland is not an exceptionally good pheasant county. 71