leach] 
BRITISH ORNITHOLOGY 
343 
Lawson (Rev. Roderick), ob. ? 
The Rev. R. Lawson, of Maybole, was the author of The 
Homes and Haunts of Robert Burns and several other works on 
Scottish historical and antiquarian matters ; but the under- 
noted little work seems to be his sole excursion in natural 
history. The birds of Ailsa occupy a dozen pages, nine 
species being figured on p. 47. There are also some early 
notices of the birds quoted at pp. 15-17. In the “ eighties ” 
this writer was Rector of Upton-on-Severn, and contributed 
U pton-on- Severn Words and Phrases to the English Dialect 
Society’s publications. 
1888. Ailsa Craig ; Its History and Natural History. Paisley ( J. & R. 
Parlane) : 1888. 
Collation — 1 vol. post 8vo, pp. 80, map and ill. 
Birds at pp. 46-58. 
Idem. New edit, enlarged. 8vo, pp. 90. 1895. 
Leach (William Elford), 1790-1836 
Although principally known by his works on entomology 
and Crustacea, Dr. Leach was the author of one work on 
British birds. He also produced the Zoological Miscellany 
(3 vols., 1814-17) with plates by Nodder, which forms a 
sequel to Shaw and Nodder’s Naturalist’s Miscellany , and 
edited Low’s Fauna Orcadensis , 1813. He was a native of 
Devonshire, being born at Plymouth in 1790, and was origin- 
ally intended for the medical profession, but his zeal for 
natural history diverted him. He was possessed of a private 
fortune, so that when in 1813 he obtained the post of assistant 
zoologist at the British Museum, and found the national 
collections “ in a most disgraceful state of decay and neglect,” 
he did more in two years, says Swainson, to clear out these 
zoological sepulchres than his predecessor would have accom- 
plished in a lifetime. Of a slight form and delicate habit, 
however, although remarkably active when in health, he 
soon overworked himself to such a degree that his health 
and mind became affected and necessitated his retirement 
