20
NOTES.
this latter fish this summer, weighing respectively 16 1/2, 16, and 12 1/2bs. ; these
were all taken, like the mullet, by shooting the creeks with a peter net. I have
had three days of this work, but took nothing larger in the mullet way than a
three and a-half pounder, and I only got one small basse. The mullet are par-
ticularly wary fish ; I have seen them jump the nets like hares much to our sorrow,
as Couch relates, and I have patiently angled for them of an evening at Full-
bridge, but with no luck; it seems almost impossible to hook them. The largest
I have heard of weighed about 10lbs. Years ago mullet were much commoner in
this river than now ; their disappearance is to be accounted for, firstly, by the
disappearance of weed (Zostera marina). There has been a remarkable change
in this respect during the last thirty years ; then bargemen can remember catching
up the weed when at anchor and making it almost meet over their decks, and
fishermen have told me that they could not set a net in Southey without first
cutting the weed across. Now there is scarcely a vestige of any in the creek ;
the mud is accumulating fast—this may have smothered the weed. I can see a
palpable difference during the thirteen years I have been connected with the
locality. The mud round Northey Island is inches higher, and many pieces of
saltings that were constantly overflowed by the tide are now hardly ever covered.
It is the same outside, less weed and fewer black geese, which the late Major
Russel so much lamented. Another probable cause of the mullet's disappearance
is the prevalence of eel trawlers, etc., who go into every nook and corner they
can get, and so are constantly disturbing this shy fish.—Edward A. Fitch,
Maldon.
White Stoat near Roxwell, Essex.—I shot to-day (January 26th, 1888) a
white stoat (Mustela erminea, L.). It is perfectly white (and not of the yellowish
tint usual in such specimens) with the exception of the head, which is of the ordi-
nary colour spotted with white, and the tail which possesses its normal black tip.
—Reginald W. Christy, Boynton Hall, Roxwell. [In the first volume of our
"Transactions," page 67, Mr. R. Miller Christy records the occurrence of several
white stoats near Chelmsford, in 1880, and in our "Proceedings" for the same year
(vol. i., page 7) the late Mr. English reported having received several specimens
from Epping Forest, both in 1880 and in 1879, although previously he had not
seen one for twenty years. One of these Epping Forest specimens (from High
Beach) is now in the Club's Museum. It closely corresponds with Mr. Reginald
Christy's description of his specimen, but the white colour has a slight tinge of
yellow in it.—Ed.]
Eagle at Wyvenhoe.—For some time past there has been some excitement
in the neighbourhood of Wyvenhoe at the appearance of an eagle, which has been
ranging for several miles round. It has been seen, so it is said, to destroy and
eat pheasants and rabbits ; but owing to its keeping at a great height from the
ground, the attempts of gamekeepers and others to bring it down have not been
successful. It is said that it has, however, been struck with shot, which have
scattered some of its feathers, and from these it is believed that it is a golden-
crested eagle.—"Essex County Chronicle," December 30th, 1887. [Most probably
a white-tailed eagle (Haliaetus albicilla, L.) It was in December, 1868, that one
was frequently seen and shot at near Alresford, the adjoining parish at Wyvenhoe,
on the same side of the Colne ; probably the same bird was trapped on Decem-
ber 26th at Thornham, Suffolk. See Dr. Bree's note to "Field,'' reprinted in
"Zoologist," 1869, page 1558.—E. A. F.]
Goldfinches, near Epping Forest.—In the "Field" for December 17th,
1887 (page 944), in a paper on "The Distribution of the Goldfinch in the British
Islands," by Mr. H. A. Macpherson, we read, "My Essex notes refer to 1876,
when a few pairs nested in private grounds in the Chingford district. One
Cartwright, now deceased, used to net a good many on a common [Nazing
Common?—Ed. E. N.] some miles off, but of late years his 'takes' became
scanty."