198 A VISIT TO AN ESSEX GULLERY. known these Old Hall Marshes for upwards of forty years, told us that in his young days he remembers seeing as many as thirty pairs of teal breeding, but they have for some time been gradually becoming scarcer. Last year he knew of two nests, but this year he feels certain there is not one on the 1,700 acres, or thereabouts, now under his supervision.3 During our walk over these marshes we visited two "Red Hills," one in the Ten Acres and one in the Cowhouse Marsh; these had been almost entirely carted away for manure, as is so commonly the case. We saw two much larger ones on Mr. Kingsley's Brook Hall Marsh, Salcott, but could not quite get to them. Ice Crystals during Fog.β€”In the hope that this phenomenon may be more profitably observed during the winter, I venture to send an account of the very beautiful display I witnessed in the Thames valley at Clewer, in December, 1882. If the occurrence is rare, it may, perhaps, be worth inserting in our journal. On the 1st of December the weather was very cold and foggy, after snow. On the morning of the 2nd, I noticed that the points, edges, and projecting parts of all objects out of doors, from the low shrubs to the highest tree-tops, were bristling with clustering spicules of clear ice, shining in the few fleeting gleams of sunlight with brilliant coruscations, forming a fairy-like scene not easily forgotten. There was a general but not very dense fog at the time, drifting almost imperceptibly from the south or south-west, whilst the air temperature was about freezing point. Innumerable spikelets of clear ice pointing in all possible directions and of all sizes up to an inch and a quarter in length, as measured by me, and doubtless longer, grew in nucleated clusters, or continuous lines of clusters from the projecting points and edges of every object exposed to the open air. Even the spider lines were encrusted with spiky crystals, and hung in festoons of glasswork cords; and it was surprising what a weight of ice they bore. Every leaf and twig was edged with a spreading fringe of sparkling spikelets, and so were the corners of every post and pale, and every wall and building. The more delicate trees, the birch and elm, were a marvel of intricate crystal tracery, and for quasi-symmetrical ornamentation the araucaria was conspicuous, while the scene amongst the trees of Windsor park and forest may be better imagined than described. The phenomenon lasted all that day and night, and part of the next day; but towards noon of the 3rd, a thaw with wind set in, which brought down the ice crystals in showers of spikes, which lay in masses under each tree till melted. There was no appearance of hoar frost, no opaque white rime to be seen anywhere from first to last, nor did I notice that the grass of the lawn was crystallized like the leaves and twigs as above described. On enquiry I found a few persons who had witnessed a similar sight before, though rarely, and my brother, the late Col. Russell, only remembered seeing it once in his life, some 25 or 30 years previously, I think he said, and then under very similar circumstances, namely, during a very slowly drifting fog in frosty weather. Perhaps some of our members can offer a more scientific explanation than I can of the beautiful phenomenon I have ventured to describe.β€”[Colonel] Brydges R. Branfill, Billericay, November, 1888. Otter at Earls Colne.β€”A fine female Otter, weighing 161/4 lbs., was shot on Saturday week [September 22nd] by Mr. Frank Hunt, in the river Colne, near Burrell's Bridge.β€”"Essex County Chronicle," October 5th, 1888. 3 The same thing has happened on Northey Island ; no teal have nested there for the last three years.