124
RATS AND MICE IN ESSEX.
and unlamented; let us hope this plague may stay the hand of the
destroyer on some few estates in the county, if only out of consider-
ation for the tenants' produce.
Doubtless the great immediate cause of this unwonted injury
from these two destructive and prolific rodents—always acknowledged
as the farmers' enemies—was the wet harvest and the mild winter.
In Essex we had heavy rains from the end of July through August,
culminating in the great storm and tempest of September 2nd and
3rd. This drove most of the rats and mice more especially into the
traves and sheaves of corn, which were perforce left out in the fields
for a much longer period than is usual; these were used as the
rodents' homes and were carted home with their inhabitants. The
corn being in bad condition it was impossible to thresh it for some
time and the mice increased and multiplied throughout an unusually
mild winter. Some corroboration of this being the true explanation
is found in the fact that I have known stacks on frames (supposed to
be vermin-proof) to be as badly affected as any; doubtless the mice
were stacked with the corn. Let us hope this unwelcome rodent
plague is stayed, but it is nevertheless the duty of our members to
assist in writing its true history. Richard Jefferies' "After London"
(see pp. 9-12), is not yet.
An Albino Mistle-thrush.—Last week a lad brought me a bird which he
had killed with a stone, it turned out to be a white Mistle-thrush, about a month
old ; there are a few very faint markings on some of the breast-feathers, but in
other respects it is pure white. The specimen is in the hands of Messrs. Cooke
and Co., Museum Street, for preservation.—R. N. Arnold Wallinger, Writtle,
Chelmsford, May 20th, 1890.
Golden Eagle laying at Woodham Walter.—I have just had the pleasure
of blowing two eggs of the Golden Eagle, In markings, one very much resembles
the specimens figured in Butler's "British Bird's Eggs" (pl. i., fig. 1), but both are
more elongate ; the other is more streakily blotched with lilac-brown. These
were laid by Mr. Garratt's bird in March last, one on Thursday the 13th, the
other on the following Saturday. Mr. Thomas Garratt, of Bishop Stortford, had
the eagle when young, and kept her for seventeen years; upon his death, three
years ago, it was brought by his brother, Mr. Samuel Garratt, to Hoe Mills,
Woodham Walter, so it is now twenty-one years old. Last year, for the first
time, it laid an egg which was found broken in its aviary. This year the eggs
were removed, and two duck's eggs substituted in a nest ; there she sat well on
for a week, when they were disturbed and broken, apparently by accident. The
eagle herself is a fine bird, and Mr. Garratt is endeavouring to procure her a
mate.—Edward A. Fitch, Maldon.