THE BIRDS 01-' LEICESTERSHIRE. 65 



27.— The Cream Coloiu-ed Courser fC'Hrsoc/H.s- (jaUicm). This elegant 

 bird, a native of Africa, has heeu very rarely seen in Enj^hmd. 

 Morris only mentions six occurrences (inchiding the object of 

 this note) between 171tH and 1827, and none later. The bird 

 was killed on the l.jth of October, 1827, on Cham wood Forest. 

 It was the last bird ligured by Bewick, and Selby's plate was 

 drawn from the same specimen. 



28. — The Great Plover ( (Kdiciwinus crepitans). My authority for 

 includini^ this bird in a list of Leicestershire visitors is the late 

 James Harley, Esq., of Leicester, who says in a letter (juoted 

 by Morris — " It is a rej^ular summer visitor, but only very 

 localh' distributed, namely, on the north-east side of the 

 county, abutting on Lincolnshire." 



2'.l. — The Pratincole (GlareoJa pratincola). Mr. M. Browne informs 

 me that " there is a specimen in the Leicester Museum marked 

 in an old MS. catalogue as ' shot near Leicester.' " 



30. — The Golden Plover (CJidradriti^ pluridlis). A winter visitor, 

 rarely seen, and still more rarely obtained. Au occasional 

 small tiock may be heard passing overhead on a winter's day. 

 and recognised by their characteristic whistle. One was shot 

 this winter at Skefhngton, on 2(jth December, by Mr. Daven- 

 port. Four were killed at Smeeton some years since, and one 

 at Gumley. Sir G. Beaumont also mentions its occurrence at 

 Coleortou. No doubt it has been occasionally killed in other 

 parts, and notably on Charnwood Forest. 



31. — The Dotterel (CJiiinidriKs moruicUtts). A rare visitor in spring. 

 In March, 1879, I saw three on a fallow held. If I had had a 

 gun I could have secured one or two. There is a specimen in 

 Sir G. Beaumont's collection at Coleortou Hall. 



32. - -The Ringed Plover (Ch((radrius hiaticida). This pretty little bird, 

 common enough on the coast is yet a " rara avis " in the Midland 

 Counties. Mr. M. Browne writes to me : " I saw a specimen 

 of this in possession of a man named Turner, said to have been 

 shot in the Abbey Meadow, close to Leicester in 1881." 



('ro be cuntiitued.) 



Ilcbictos. 



The Se((ls (Utd Wlialcs of the British Seas, by Thomas Southwell, 

 F.Z.S. Ito. Loudon : Jarrold and Sons. 1881. Price, 6s. 



While the marine mammalia that are occasionally stranded upon 

 our shores or caught in our seas always possess great interest, not only 

 to the student of science but to the public at large, it may perhaps 

 he questioned whether they come within the special province of the 

 " Midland Naturalist." Nevertheless when Mr. Southwell tells us that 

 the Common Seal, Fhoca rituliiia, frequents the sand-banks left dry 

 at low water in the Wash, and that some years ago two Seals w-erc 

 killed in the Se\ern, wc may feel satislicd that the Natural History 

 Societies of Petcrboroujjh and Cheltenham, among those included in 



