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( 459 ) 
NOTES ON THE VERTEBRATE ANIMALS OF 
LEICESTERSHIRE. 
By Montacu Browne, F.Z.S. 
Curator, Town Museum, Leicester. 
(Continued from p. 421.) 
Fam. ORIOLIDE. 
Oriolus galbula, Linn. Golden Oriole.—-The only note I have 
on this species is one by the late Mr. Robert Widdowson, who 
wrote that one was seen about the Railway Gardens some few 
years ago. It is possible, however, that this may have been a 
brightly-plumaged Green Woodpecker. 
Fam. Lannup2. 
Lanius excubitor, Linn. Great Grey Shrike.—A rare winter 
visitant. Harley received one alive in December, 1848, which 
was found perched on the branch of a hawthorn bush. Its dis- 
covery and capture was attributed to a flock of Sparrows and 
Chaffinches drawn together by its appéarance. Some days later 
he received a second—a fine male—which was shot in the vicinity 
of Knight Thorpe. Its flight was described as remarkable, being 
undulating, and occasionally, also, like that of a Wagtail. The 
two birds quoted above were mounted for Harley by Widdowson, 
one of which he kept for himself, the other was given to Mr. 
Simson, of Great Glen. Since then Widdowson informed me of 
a specimen picked up dead by the gardener at Little Dalby Hall 
on March 25th, 1883. JI also purchased a poor specimen, appa- 
rently a female, for the Leicester Museum—already mounted— 
said to have been shot by Mr. Duffin, a keeper, between Syston 
and Queniborough in the autumn of 1882. I am informed that 
another was shot at Ansty some years since. Mr. Ingram writes, 
“One shot at Knipton, amongst Fieldfares, by Mr. Brewster” ; 
and we were fortunate to receive in the flesh, from the former 
gentleman, a fine female specimen, shot at Belvoir 8th February, 
1885. Its weight was a little over 24 0z. The measurements 
were as follow :—Wing, from carpus to tip, 33 in.; tarsus, 1 in.; 
tail, 43 in.; extreme length, from tip of bill to tip of tail, 
10 in.; culmen, in. The stomach contained foot and fur of 
field-mouse. 
