114
NOTES.
The Barnacle Goose (Bernicla lucopsis, Bechstein) at Tollesbury.—On
passing Mr. Hall's shop, at the top of North Hill, Colchester, on 18th January
last, I noticed three specimens of the Bernicle (or Barnacle) Goose (Bernicla
leucopsis, Bechstein), shot at Tollesbury. These birds, which are common
throughout the North of Europe, are rare in Eastern England, being only
occasionally seen in severe winters. The Rev. F. O. Morris mentions a pair
as having been killed at Salthouse, in Norfolk, January, 1848, and ore in my
father's collection at Westleton, was shot by him at Ditchingham, in Norfolk.
Mr. Hele, in his "Notes about Aldeburgh," says that one "a very beautiful
male," was killed in the Orford River, on 29th January, 1886, and the Rev. Dr.
Babington in his truly valuable "List of Suffolk Birds," speaks of this goose
as "now a rare winter visitant. Only a few specimens have been met with
on the coast of late years." He records nine specimens killed at Breydon
and neighbourhood of Yarmouth, and one at Gedgrave, in Suffolk. I find no
note of any Barnicle geese having been killed in Essex, but an eminent
naturalist and ornithologist in Colchester, informs me that he has known of
several shot, as in the above case, in very sharp weather, and cautions me
not to cook that I bought of Mr. Hall's, they being tough, strong, and wholly
unfit for eating. He has known instances of the Barnicle goose being allowed
to pass without a shot (while more tempting fowl were within reach), on that
account.—Frederick Spalding, Colchester, January 21st, 1887.
The Badger ( Meles taxus).—Mr. Laver rightly speaks of the badger as well
nigh extinct in this country (Trans. Essex Field Club, ii., 164), and I have been
disappointed this year in obtaining a young Essex specimen, as I had hoped.
Three years ago a pair of badgers took up their abode in Mr. H. R. G. Mar-
riott's, Park Wood, Shalford ; two years ago one old ore and the five young ones
were taken, another pair were again there last year, and this spring the wood has
been visited by badgers, but I cannot hear that they have bred in the neighbour-
hood. Other members may know something of their whereabouts; if so, their
presence should be noted, as although once abundant, doubtless now the badger
is a rare animal in the home counties. They occurred regularly in the Braxted
woods a generation ago, and I have heard of them as being in the Woodham Hall
woods five and twenty years ago, but I do not think any have been seen recently.
They still linger in Hertfordshire (see Dr. A. T. Brett's note in Trans. Herts. Nat.
Hist. Soc, iv , 120; January, 1887).—Edward A. Fitch, Maldon, June, 1887.
Great Pipe-Fish (Syngnathus acus, Ray) at Maldon.—While fishing
in the Blackwater to-day (June nth) I was interested in getting a fine male
specimen of the Great Pipe-fish (locally called "snakes'). When drying on
deck, the abdominal pouch of the fish opened and showed the bright orange-
coloured ova quite plainly. This is the first time I have seen this, but I was
always interested in Yarrell's account ("British Fishes," ii., 435) of how the
male carries the ova in a large sub-caudal pouch. My specimen is a fine one, l6 1/2
inches in length, but only turned the scale at just over 1 oz. The abdominal pouch
which opened, apparently by contraction upon, or rather before, the death of the
fish, is 5 1/2 inches in length, and contains about 480 comparatively large ova. They
are globular, exceeding 2 mm. in diameter, of a pale orange colour, with a very bright
orange spot at the apex. About one-fifth (those nearer the head of the fish) are white
with the orange spot paler; the eggs are arranged in eight rows— four on each side-—
each row consisting of from sixty to sixty-three eggs, closely agglutinated. I also
caught to-day the finest "Father Lasher" (Coitus bubalis, Euphrasen, locally
called "Bull-rout") that I have seen in this river. It measures a good 8 inches,
and weighs 5 ounces.—Edward A. Fitch, Maldon, June nth, 1887. [It may
be well to add a few words on the very remarkable arrangement by which the
immature ova of Syngnathus are "nursed" by the male fish until ripe for hatching.
Mr. Day, in his "Fishes of Great Britain and Ireland," says that the male has
the abdomen from the vent to the anal fin broader than in the female, and there
are two soft, cutaneous folds or flaps, about two-thirds of its length, which when
brought together form a pouch. When Yarrell wrote, the manner in which the ova
are transferred from the female to the sub-caudal pouch of the male was un-