NOTES. 25
It would be interesting to compare the state of the agricultural labourer in Essex
and elsewhere 60 years ago (or just before the enactment of the new Poor Law in
1834) with that here given by Arthur Young. No doubt the evidence would tend
to show that the earlier period was the more prosperous. At the same time the
records of crime and pauperism are conclusive as to a very considerable general
improvement since the days when George IV. was king. What would be the
result of a comparison between the power of the agricultural labourer to obtain the
prime necessaries of life now and those possessed by him 120 years ago is a ques-
tion to be solved best by those who are thoroughly familiar with rural life in the
present day. But with regard to what may be termed the secondary necessaries
— the means of intellectual development, and of moral development, so far as it
depends upon intellectual—the advantages of the present period over the times of
the Georges are manifestly enormous. Putting aside all mention of schools, books,
and newspapers, the railways that now cover the whole country, and the cheap
excursions by them that allow of a journey of 100 or 150 miles in a single day,
have tended to widen the experiences of our rural youth to an extent unusual with
the children of the wealthy before Queen Victoria ascended the throne. For Dr.
Arnold writing from Rugby in November, 1829, remarks that "more than half
my (Rugby) boys never saw the sea and never were in London, and it is surprising
how the first of these disadvantages interferes with their understanding much of
the ancient poetry, while the other keeps the range of their ideas in an exceedingly
narrow compass."
T. V. Holmes.
Albino Rabbit at Hazeleigh.—On Saturday, March 9th, I was walking
through Hazeleigh Hall Wood with my boys, when we saw the third and last
white rabbit—two others had been shot. To please them I stalked it across
"Loves Hill," into a hole in the fence on the far side. Upon looking in I could
just see a white speck, and by a little stratagem was able to drag the pretty fellow
out quite uninjured. It is an albino, perfectly white, with prominent red eyes and
exceptionally short ears ; after sulking a day or two it has commenced to feed, and
the children hope to keep it as a pet. Albino rabbits are of frequent occurrence
in a domesticated state, but are rare wild. There were three young albinos in
the wood last year, all of which are now accounted for.—E. A. Fitch, Maldon,
March 16th, 1889.
White-fronted Goose fairly decoyed at Tillingham.—On February 23rd,
1889, Mr. Robert Page was at his decoy (Marsh House) when his decoyman
reported that he had heard a strange bird in the pond. It was not long before
this "stranger" was fairly dogged into a pipe and caught in the usual way, with
several duck and widgeon. It proved to be a splendid male White-fronted Goose
(Anser albifrons, Scop). Eight or nine years ago a bird of the same species
attracted the decoyman's attention by his "laugh," and was eventually rat-trapped
in the corner of the pond it most frequented. Once in his experience also has he
killed a Brent Goose in the pond—probably a "pensioner." Never before has he
fairly decoyed a goose or heard of such a feat being performed.—Edward A.
Fitch, Maldon.
Wrens Nesting in a Dead Carrion Crow.—In the Essex Naturalist,
vol. ii, p. 205, was reprinted a paragraph from a local paper, giving some
particulars of the curious freak of a pair of wrens in selecting a site for their
nest. The accompanying cut of the nest is taken from the "Illustrated Sporting
and Dramatic News," of November 24th last, and the circumstance is there
described as follows :—" Some three years ago retribution and a charge of shot
overtook a hooded carrion crow. It was a keeper near Lexden, Colchester, who
executed vengeance on the depredator, and hung him up to a nail by a piece of