NOTES.
271
Sand Grouse in Essex.—I can now give the following meagre records of
this interesting bird visiting our county, additional to those mentioned in Essex
Naturalist, ii. pp. 61-66. Mr. A. F. Gates (Marsh Gate Lane, Stratford)
writes in the "Zoologist" (1888, p. 264), that "A flock of about twenty was seen at
Barking Side on June 4th, and two were subsequently shot, which proved to be
adult males. I myself came across about a dozen of them in a ploughed field near
Blake Hall Station on the Ongar line, Great Eastern Railway, on June l0th." The
birds shot are those referred to by Mr. Crouch, and exhibited by him at the
Upminster meeting. On the same page of the "Zoologist" we also read "My
brother Mr. G. F. Mathew, R. N., informs me of a flock of five having been seen
near Harwich towards the end of May—Murray A. Mathew (Buckland Dinham,
Frome, Somerset)." Mr Ernest Smith writes me from the Limes, Southminster,
September 1st. : "The first time the birds were seen on Foulness Island was in
the beginning of June. I saw them myself on Saturday, the 30th of that month,
on a farm in our occupation called 'Shelford'; they were seven in number and I
immediately recognised them by their resemblance when on the wing to golden
plover. They rose within easy shot of me and only flew a short distance. I have
seen them once since but cannot say whether they have now gone or are still in
the neighbourhood, as a good deal of the corn is yet uncut." Mr. Fred Stallibrass,
writing from Foulness, under date September 8th, says : "The sand grouse I
believe, are still about in the Island" (a report confirmed later by Mr. E. Smith),
"I first saw them, nine in number, this year either on the 28th May or 4th June
on Great Shelford ; on the 18th June I put one out of the ditch by New House
Head." Mr. Stallibrass also adds the following hitherto unrecorded occurrence
relating to 1863: "My late brother John W. Stallibrass shot a sand grouse
on New Marsh Farm some time in June 1863; at that time there were seven,
he did not shoot any more as he was in hopes they would stop and breed ;
that year they were not seen on the Island after the middle of July." The bird
referred to was stuffed and is still in existence. When Mr. Walter Crouch and
myself were at Colchester on November 7th we saw two cock sand grouse
recently stuffed by Mr. W. D. Cole; these were shot out of a flock of four by Col.
Davis' keeper at Walton, on October 18th ; the birds were in capital condition,
and their crops were full of wheat, with a few small seeds.—Edward A. Fitch,
Maldon, December, 1888.
Common Crane (Grits communis, Bech.) at Elmstead near Colchester.—
On Friday, November 9th, some large birds were observed in a field on Elmstead
Hall Farm. One of these was shot, and it is now in the hands of our local bird-
stuffer, Mr. J. Pettitt, of Colchester. On examination it proved to be a specimen
of the Common Crane in immature plumage, being without the red mark on the
head, and with the wing feathers which cover the tail not fully developed. It
makes, however, a very fine specimen, and it is of interest as probably the first
specimen of the species recorded as having been captured in the county of Essex.
It has been secured for the Saffron Walden Museum.—Henry Laver, F.L.S.,
Colchester, November, 1888.
Seals in the Blackwater.—Several seals have been seen in the Blackwater
this summer. Yesterday, when down the river spruling, we saw one rise twice
within 60 or 70 yards of our yacht, and the second time Mr. Fred Cocks, one of
our party, had a good shot at it with a heavy charge from his eight-bore. The
seal was evidently hit hard, and we at once rowed to the spot, just above Double
South Beacon between Northey and Osey Islands, but failed to trace our
interesting visitor. We had a watch set all day, but at present there are no tidings
of a capture.—Edward A. Fitch, Maldon, October 16th, 1888.
Black Tern at "Warlies," Waltham Abbey.—You may like to note that
on the 18th of July last we had Black Tern on my pond here. I watched one for
some time, but two had been seen for two or three days previously. On turning
to the plate in Gould's "British Birds," I believe that the bird I saw was a young
one.—(Sir) T. Fowell Buxton, "Warlies," Waltham Abbey, November, 1888.