BYGONE BIRDING (1906): WALLCREEPER, DUSKY THRUSH AND SURREY'S FIRST FIRECREST

From Volume VVI of the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club, September 1906

Mr Ruskin Butterfield exhibited a specimen of the Wallcreeper  which had been shot while climbing about the face of the cliff at Ecclesbourne, near Hastings, on the 26th December, 1905. 

The bird - a female - was taken to Mr. G. Bristow, of St. Leonards, and was shown by him to Mr. Butterfield before it was skinned.

Three previous occurrences of this bird in England had been made known, namely: 

1. An example shot at Stratton-Strawless, Norfolk, on 30th October, 1792.

2. An example obtained at Sabden, Lancashire, on 8th May, 1872.

3. An example, now in the collection of Canon H. B. Tristram, shot at Winchelsea, Sussex in Spring, 1886.

                                    

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Mr. P. C. Musters exhibited a well-mounted example of the Dusky Thrush  which had been shot by a market gardener named Mills near Gunthorpe, in Nottinghamshire, on October 13th, 1905.

The bird had been taken to a bird-stuffer in Nottingham who believed it to be a variety of the Fieldfare, but it was subsequently examined and recognised by Mr. Musters and Mr. J. Whitaker.

This is the first known instance of the occurrence of this thrush in the British Islands.

***

Mr. W. E. Renaut (on behalf of Mr. Alec Jones) exhibited an admirably mounted male specimen of the Firecrest which had been obtained at Wimbledon on the 31st December, 1905.

The interest of the exhibit lay chiefly in the fact that it was the first authenticated record for the county of Surrey, the specimen having been seen in the flesh by the exhibitor and Mr. James Sargent, another member of the club.