NOTES.
93
not think that any advice would have been of service unless accompanied by a
reward, and as beer is a great power in dealing with Essex rustics, I promised to
send into the yard nine gallons of porter as soon as I was satisfied that the young
had been allowed to fly in safety. This has now occurred, and the coveted reward
has been duly consumed. The foreman stated that the same amount in money
would have been of no avail in his opinion, and I would, in spite of Sir Wilfred
Lawson, strongly advise those wishing to gain any influence with the rustics to try
the effect of a similar reward. The nest was formed in the perpendicular side of
a clay-pit containing some water, and within 40 feet of the huts in which brick
moulding was in constant action, and it was very strange to see so shy a bird
feeding its young in the presence of a number of men and boys in full work.
Authors tell us that the kingfisher takes possession of a rat's hole in the river bank,
enlarging it to suit her purpose. This statement, in my experience, is entirely
wrong. I have always found that the bird digs her own hole for her nest. I have
also heard that another kingfisher's brood was brought off in safety about two miles
distant in the same valley. In the yard was a disused iron pump and a Great
Titmouse (Parus major) reared in safety a family of eleven in the interior, enter-
ing by the spout. Also under one of the boarded covers used for protecting from
the rain the newly-formed bricks, a Pied Wagtail (Montacilla lugubris) built and
brought off its young. The "hake" cover was removed and placed on the ground
daily, but the bird seemed conscious of safety, and she did not leave her nest. In
every one of these instances the beer acted as a protection, and the boys working
in the yard have discovered that there is more pleasure to be derived from seeing
the birds and observing their ways than they could obtain from destroying the
nests. In fact, I hope that my promise has in many ways done good.—Henry
Laver, F.L.S., Colchester, June 25th, 1889.
Spotted Red-shank (Totanus fuscus, L.) at Tollesbury, Essex.—I saw last
week a specimen of this bird which was shot at Paglesham ; it was being "set up"
at Mr. Pettitt's, our local bird-stuffer. It was in winter plumage, and the occur-
rence of the species in our county may be of sufficient rarity to merit record in the
Essex Naturalist.—Henry Laver, F.L.S., Colchester, October 21st, 1889.
Cat Killing and Eating a Stoat.- One morning in October I saw our Tom-
cat "Pincher" intently watching amid the bushes in the garden, and on returning
to the spot after an interval of about twenty minutes, I found him busily engaged in
eating a stoat. He had apparently killed the animal by seizing it by the back and
biting it in two. The cat finished the whole body with the exception of the head
which I rescued. "Pincher" is a "mighty hunter," and like most sportsmen was
perhaps jealous of a fellow poacher.—H. A. Cole, Buckhurst Hill, October, 1889.
Colias in Essex, 1889.—At Walton-on-the-Naze, on August 29th, I saw a
specimen of a Colias, probably edusa, flying along the railway bank just outside the
station. Mr. Fitch informed me that the same morning he saw C. hyale near
Maldon. At Hole Haven, in Canvey Island, on September 4th, I observed one
C. edusa flying in a clover field, and on September nth, a single C. hyale, settling
on a thistle-head in front of me on the sea-wall at Leigh, was a tantalizing object,
as I had no net in hand. I may add that during a fortnight's sojourn at Leigh, in
the early part of September, the days, with two exceptions, being hot and sunny,
we saw no further "Clouded-yellows," although we traversed miles of clover and
lucerne fields in the neighbourhood of Leigh, Hadleigh, Eastwood, and Rochford,
and such has been the experience of all my entomological friends in Essex.—B. G.
Cole, Buckhurst Hill, October, 1889.
"Essex Calves."—Dr. G. Pagenstecher, the editor of the late Miss Fry's
"History of the Parishes of East and West Ham," has recently sent a letter to
the local papers, relative to the origin of the above phrase. He says, "Miss Fry
relates the following incident in connection with the proceedings concerning the
Forest of Essex :—' While the Court was sitting at Stratford Langton near Bow
—in 1639—there came a drove of calves passing through that town, and when
they were at the open place in that town, over against the justice seat, they
suddenly made a stand and a great bleating with such a united and immeasurable
noise that the court had to forbear speaking. Upon this occasion a knight of the