162 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
then a list, by Mr. F. T. Mott, of ‘The Mammals of Leicester- 
shire” appeared in ‘The Midland Naturalist’ for November, 
1884, a contribution so amusingly vague, and dealing to such an 
extent with probabilities and generalities, that, for practical or 
scientific purposes, it may be passed over without further remark. 
Having had the opportunity since my appointment to the 
curatorship of the Leicester Museum of examining the whole of 
the MSS. (1840-55) of the late James Harley, and being now in 
possession of many additional notes acquired during my five 
years’ residence in this county, it has been suggested to me that, 
considering the imperfect nature of the existing lists, I might 
undertake the revision and editing of those MS. notes, together 
with my own more recent observations. In essaying this I have 
been of course greatly aided by Harley’s MSS., and by the 
generosity of Mr. T. Macaulay, of Kibworth, already referred to, 
who has kindly handed me his MSS. extending over twenty-five 
years’ observations. Our mutual friends, the Rev. A. Matthews, 
M.A., of Gumley, and Mr. H. 8. Davenport, of Skeffington, have 
also given me copious notes. To Messrs. W. Ingram, of Belvoir 
Castle, R. Widdowson, of Melton Mowbray, Theodore Walker, of 
Leicester, several members of the Ellis family, and to “Section EK” 
of the Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society, my grateful 
thanks are due for many valuable and interesting notes, especially 
on the avifauna of the district. 
The order in which the Vertebrata are noted in the following 
pages is that which has been followed in the arrangement of the 
collections in the Leicester Museum, and is generally founded on 
the lines laid down by Professor Flower, Dr. A. Giinther, and Dr. 
P.L. Sclater. The birds are, however, arranged as in the recently 
published “List of British Birds,” compiled by a committee of 
the British Ornithologists’ Union. 
In each class of the Vertebrata the most highly specialized 
form will be placed first, in accordance with general practice ; 
and I intend rigidly to exclude from this list all birds merely 
“seen” by unskilled observers unable properly to discriminate 
species. In conclusion, I would ask naturalists to favour me, 
during the publication of these notes, with any information on 
the occurrence of more species or varieties which they may 
consider of interest, together with notes upon little-known habits 
of the commoner forms. 
