136
THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
Dendrocopus major, L. (Greater Spotted Woodpecker.) Found dead under
snow, Weald Park, 29th January, 1887.
D. minor. (Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.) Male, near Romford, February,
1880; female, at Upminster, in 1888. Common.
Gecinus viridis, L. (Green Woodpecker.) Havering, 1874-76 and 1881.
Upapa epops, L. (Hoopoe.) Shot in mistake for jay, at Forest Hall, May,
1886. Female.
Athene noctua, Scop. (Little Owl.) Buckhurst Hill, 15th October, 1875.
Killed by flying against a tree.
Falco subbuteo, L. (Hobby.) Stratford, in the autumn of 1875.
F. aesalon, Tunst. (Merlin.) At Stubbers, in 1887.
Pandion haliaetus, L. (Osprey.) Heybridge Basin, January, 1880.
Botaurus stellaris, L. (Bittern.) At Ilford, Christmas, 1872; Harwich,
January 15th, 1886.
Bernicla leucopsis, Bechst. (Barnicle Goose.) Near Maldon, March, 1886.
Tadorna cornuta, S. G. Gmelin. (Sheld Duck.) Harwich, December, 1876.
Spatula clypeata, L. (Shoveller.) Two males on the "Main," April 27th, 1867.
Harelda glacialis, L. (Long-tailed Duck.) Two in summer plumage,
Maldon, February, 1879 ; a female, full plumage, at Harwich, Nov. 9th, 1887.
Somateria mollissima, L. (Eider Duck.) Immature male, on the "Main,"
November 2nd, 1882.
OEdemia fusca, L. (Velvet Scoter.) Maldon, February, 1884.
Tringa subarquata, Guld. (Curlew Sandpiper.) On the "Main," August, 1883,
male and female in full plumage, with two others.
Machetes pugnax, L. (Ruff.) Colne Beach. Spring of 1874. Males. One
on Rainham Marshes, August 17th, 1888, attracted by flood waters.
Sterna cantiaca, Gmel. (Sandwich Tern.) Two at Harwich, June, 1865.
Stercorarus pomatorhinus, Temm. (Pomatorhine Skua.) Harwich, August,
1876.
Mergulus alle, L. (Little Auk.) "Main;" picked up exhausted, but alive,
after a gale, January, 1881.
Colymbus glacialis, L. (Gt. Northern Diver.) Blackwater, January, 1880.
During the evening an Ordinary Meeting of the Club (the 91st) was held
in the Dining Room, Mr. Edward Fitch, President, in the Chair. The following
were elected members of the Club :—Rev. W.J. Bettison, Captain E. Dickinson,
R.E., Messrs. W. H. Dey, W. D. Gooch, C.E., J. P. W. Goodwin, Wilson
Marriage, James Murie, M.D., LL.D., F.L.S., Nicholas Parry, John Rogers,
Sydney Young, and Mrs. T. B. Linley.
A very cordial vote of thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Hope for their kind welcome
and hospitality was proposed by the President and Col. Brydges Branfill, who
said that, as a member of the Club, he had very great pleasure in seconding this
proposal, but also wished to add his personal thanks, as one of the Branfill family,
to Mr. and Mrs. Hope for their evident interest in, and the care taken of, the old
Hall. He only wished that everyone connected with like interesting old places
could secure such good and kind occupants as their host and hostess.
In reply, Mr. Hope said that it gave great pleasure to his wife and himself to
welcome the Club that afternoon, and he could only express the wish that, if
possible, the visit might be made an annual one.
Mr. Crouch exhibited and made some remarks upon the two specimens of
Pallas's Sand Grouse, already recorded in the Essex Naturalist (ante page 63).
Mr. J. E. Harting gave some very interesting details of the habits of the bird,
and compared its former immigrations into Britain with the present one, which
he considered as likely to exceed them all in importance. He had already heard
of three instances in which the birds had actually nested, and he most emphatically