OBITUARY. 141
in conjunction with Mr. Gurney and Dr. Elliott Coues, of a volume on the
sparrow question, which appeared in 1886. He constantly advocated the claims
of his feathered friends for outdoor assistance in hard winters, and in his garden
could be seen contrivances in aid of tiny housekeepings, and nets full of scraps of
fat and biscuits, etc., temptingly displayed and fitting for the season or the whims
and fancies of his little pensioners. The place was indeed a veritable paradise
for all that dwell in nests or have the "gift of song." Colonel Russell was one
of the keenest sportsmen of his time, and few faces were better known, or will be
more missed, in the Blackwater estuary and main. It is now forty-five years since
he first came regularly to the river punting and wildfowling, and it is stated
that from that time to the present he only lost one season, when in America.
His first yacht was the "Greyhound" (16 tons), built for him at Heybridge
Basin, which he sailed for 15 years. Next came the "Sheldrake" (20 tons),
built at Harvey's, at Wivenhoe, which he used for thirty-two years (he
had this and the "Greyhound" together for about two years). Next the
"Champion" (28 tons) built at Mr. J. Howard's, Maldon, launched in Sep-
tember, 1886, without a name, but speedily christened by the Maldon Hythe
duck hunters, the "Black Goose," and the name still survives. She is a first-
class boat, and Col. Russell took great interest in her while building, superin-
tending much of the work himself. The year previous (1885) he had built at
Mr. Howard's yard a light punt, he and his skipper working at it themselves
during the whole summer, nothing to be touched except when he was present.
He was equally careful with his lifeboat built in 1884. Both boats were designed
by himself, and were very successful; the punt is an especially interesting craft.
The Colonel was always much interested in shipbuilding, and was constantly
inventing varnishes and glues and other appliances for his favourite work. So
skilful and much at home was he in the yard that strangers have taken him for
one of the regular workmen.
He was a remarkably good shot at wildfowl, having one of the biggest guns used in
the district, and was known to the Maldon gunners as a most fair-dealing shooter ;
however small the gun or bad the chance of one shooting with him, the "kill"
was always equally divided by the Colonel, always to his own disadvantage. He
was most patient and persevering in his pursuit of the black goose, and as
Gabriel Clark (who was with him all the forty-five years, and still lives at Maldon)
tells, it was wonderful how many hours he would wait and work for them, and
whenever he did get near the birds it was "all up" with them, their doom was
certain. His knowledge of the Blackwater Estuary and the main outside was far
and allowedly superior to that of any of the natives, and he was an authority to
the Marsh-bailiffs and oyster dredgermen on many points of river lore.
Colonel Russell was elected a member of the Essex Field Club just a year
after its foundation, in January, 1881, and he always took interest in its pro-
ceedings, several times attending meetings of the Society. It is a source of
great regret to those who have the progress of the study of natural history in
Essex at heart, that men like Russell, Gibson, Benson, Varenne, and others,
should have been so near the end of their lives before such a Society was suc-
cessfully established. A vast number of original observations and records have
doubtless been thus lost to the natural historians of the County, and where
are we to look for a new band of observers to take the places of the good
men gone?
Colonel Russell's frank and kindly nature made him welcome everywhere.