NOTES.
73
The Attempted Extermination of Jays in Epping Forest.—Is the Jay to
be exterminated in Epping Forest ? One does not now often hear its characteristic,
if harsh, note, or catch a glimpse of its beautiful plumage in the Forest, as one
used to do, and I hear that no less than three battues have already during this
year been devoted to its destruction. On one of these occasions there were no
less than twelve guns, and the birds were driven by a whole army of beaters. My
own impression is that this is altogether contrary to the spirit of the Epping
Forest Act, which, in decreeing the maintenance of the Forest in its natural
condition, practically meant free scope to the principle of natural selection, human
interference being alone an eliminated factor. As I some years ago described it, we
were to have the experiment of a gamekeeper without a gun; and, when I heard
that jays were to be trapped, I was simultaneously consoled by hearing that the
jays on Epping Forest were too cunning to be caught. Though we may for some
years see a general increase of individuals of every species of our avifauna, the
struggle for existence must come some day, and I would leave to the hawks the
duty of checking the depredations of the jays upon the game birds. "A fair
field and no favour," say I.—G. S. Boulger, April 23rd, 1888. [Prof. Boulger
will see from the report of our last Ordinary Meeting, that the destruction of the
Jays in the Forest was strongly disapproved of by the members present. The
club as a body, and nearly all its members individually, have always claimed and
taught that Epping Forest should remain for ever, in accordance with the clear
intention of the Act, a free open space for man and beast, where Nature should
have a fair field to work her own sweet will, freed from "all the adulteries of
art," and in especial the ridiculous and selfish art of the gamekeeper. The full
statement of the case is set out in the papers issued by the Club in 1883, forming
an appendix to vol. iii. of our "Transactions." These papers have been re-
printed in a pamphlet form, and may be had from the Librarian, and we venture
to think that the facts and arguments there given are well worthy of the attention
of all lovers of the Forest.—Ed.]
Yew Sapling and Birds in Epping Forest.—On the afternoon of May
13th I came upon a diminutive yew sapling in the midst of some thick beech
undergrowth near the Loughton Camp. Most of us who attended the meeting at
Theydon Bois the previous day, had passed close to the spot on our way home.
Can any member throw light upon the origin of this specimen, which is only about
fifteen inches high and perhaps one-sixth of an inch thick ? When did the yew
flourish in Epping Forest, and is this individual an accidental or a deliberate
introduction ? I have little hope of its growing to a large size, for when the
Conservators' ever-destroying and indiscriminating axe reaches that spot the yew
will either fall a direct victim, as in the case of a fine bird-cherry in Lord's Bushes
and most of the spindle and wild-service trees in other parts of the forest, or after
the removal of the sheltering undergrowth it will suffer like the spurge-laurel at
the hands of some passer-by. I may note, by the way, that during the whole of
yesterday afternoon I heard only one jay. In the letter read before the Club at
Theydon, Mr. E. N. Buxton, giving his reasons for slaughtering these beautiful
birds, suggested that the scarcity of owls in the forest might be ascribed to the
depredations of the jay. Is it probable that it would be able to steal the eggs of
a bird which is at home in the nest during the whole daytime and as capable of
self-defence as the owl must be ?—F.W. Elliott, Buckhurst Hill, 14th May, 1888.
Essex Plants.—In the "Report of the Felstead School Natural History Society"
for 1887, it is noted "that Bunias orientalis, a somewhat rare casual, occurred
in July in a clover field at Little Dunmow, its first recorded appearance in Essex ;
and that Stratiotes aloides ('Water Soldier') has apparently well established itself
in a pond in the neighbourhood of Felstead, where three or four plants were
introduced in 1S85 from Roswell Pits, near Ely."
Large Chestnut Tree.—"There is now in the neighbourhood of Dovercourt,
in Essex, on the estate of Sir T. Gaisford, a chestnut tree, fifty-six feet in circum-
ference, which flourishes well, and has had a very good crop of chestnuts for
many years."—From "The Mirror," vol. xiv., page 408, December 12th, 1829.