BIRt>S OF LEICESTERSHIRE. 23 



which relate to such species as the Dunlin, Redshank, Green- 

 shank, Whimbrel, Curlew, Lapwing, Grey Plover, Ringed Plover, 

 besides numerous Ducks, Gulls, and Terns which use this route, 

 with great regularity. 



It will no doubt strike the reader that Mr. Browne's book is 

 largely compiled, as he states in his Preface, from the MSS. of 

 the late James Harley, covering a period from 1840 to 1855. 

 His other correspondents appear to reside either in the south of 

 the county or in the east, so that for a period of thirty-five years 

 he has no notes relating to the district with which I am most 

 acquainted. Mr. Browne's own notes appear mainly to refer to 

 the country immediately round Leicester, where his time must be 

 largely taken up by the duties which occupy him as Curator to 

 the Leicester Museum. 



I think these facts, and also the fact of his contemplating 

 a second edition of his work, will make my notes of sufficient 

 interest to justify their publication. 



Before criticising in detail the birds enumerated, I should like 

 to call attention to Mr. Browne's treatment of two species, viz. 

 the Wood Warbler, Phylloscopus sibilatrix, and the White Wag- 

 tail, Motacilla alba. 



In the case of the Wood Warbler Mr. Browne's scepticism is 

 something surprising in the face of Harley's notes and accurate 

 description of the nest. There is not the slightest reason for 

 doubting Lord Gainsborough's observation, and I do not see the 

 necessity for shooting a bird when one is quite certain of its 

 identity.* That Mr. Browne has not seen a Wood Warbler in 

 the Midlands for twenty-five years proves nothing but his own 

 lack of observation. 



In the case of the White and Pied Wagtails he is even more 

 original. I cannot conceive it possible that anyone, having any 

 pretensions to ornithological knowledge, could mistake the "male " 

 of Motacilla Yarrelli for that of M. alba at a season of the year 

 when the difference is most marked. With reference to the 

 validity of the two species, I cannot help thinking that Mr. Browne 

 has got a series of skins incorrectly labelled, on which he has 

 based his conclusions. 



* Yet Mr. Browne writes that the records "have been unsatisfactorily 

 founded upon any other evidence than that of actual possession." 



