128
THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
Hills (now, happily, no longer an "enclosure") was also visited. At about half-
past five all assembled for tea at Riggs' Rooms at Theydon Bois.
After tea, the 115th Ordinary Meeting was held, Mr. E. A. Fitch, Pre-
sident, in the chair.
The following were elected members of the Club :—Messrs. J. Bellchambers,
H. F. Elliot, M.R.C.P.E., &c., William Rome, F.S.A., F.L.S, &c., Percy .[.
Sheldon, Ass. Inst. C.E., and R. E. Letch.
Mr. Powell exhibited specimens of Marchantia polymorpha found in abundance
on the Forest during the afternoon.
Mr. Fitch exhibited the moths, Clostera reclusa and Nola confusalis, and galls
of Aphilothrix radicis from roots, and those of Trigonaspis megaptera from stems
and twigs of oak trees, also taken during the afternoon,
Mr. Walter Crouch exhibited a specimen of the White-tailed Eagle
(Haliaetus albicilla), and made the following remarks on the same :—
" This Eagle was shot at Shoeburyness in the early part of the present century
by Mr. C. D. Knapping, half-brother of Mr. W. H. King, of 'Sutton's Manor,'
Shoebury ; and has remained in this fine old Caroline house until the present
time. Inside the case is a label which tells us it was stuffed by 'John Chubb, of
No. 11, Peerless Pool, near the New Turnpike, City Road, London.' In spite of
all endeavours, I have been unable to get the precise date when this bird was
shot.
" This bird appears to be the earliest of the species taken in Essex ;
and never to have had a printed record ; but it is undoubtedly the specimen
which is mentioned in the MS. diary of the late Mr. Parsons, 1832, 'one killed
at South Shoebury' (vide Miller Christy's 'Birds of Essex,' page 168).
" It remained in the possession of Mr. W, H. King until his decease in 1847,
when it passed to his half-nephew, Mr. Dale Knapping, J.P., of' Suttons,'who
died a few years ago.
" My attention has recently been called to this bird by my friend Mr. H. W.
King, Hon. Sec. to the Essex Archaeological Society, who remembers it at
'Sutton's 'for sixty-five years. It has lately come into the possession of his son
Mr H. W. M. King, of Wood Green, who kindly lent it to me for exhibition. It
has since then been better displayed in a handsome walnut case."1
Mr. Crouch exhibited some specimens of a new brackish water shell, found
last year by Mr. W. Allen, of Canning Town, and himself, on the Ulva in
ditches between Barking and Becton, Essex. This has recently been described in
the "Journal of Conchology" as a new species, Hydrobia jenkinsi, by Mr. Edgar
A. Smith, F.Z.S., &c., of the Natural History Museum, South Kensington.
He also called attention to an interesting paper in the April number of
"The Ibis," by Prof. Newton, on the young Pallas' Sand Grouse, hatched in
Moray, August, 1889 ; and which is illustrated by a beautiful coloured plate of the
young chick by Mr. Frohawk. A woodcut of this also appeared in "The Field"
of 19th April.
Mr. E. A. Fitch exhibited the eggs of the following species of Wild-fowl,
from the Old Hall Marshes, Tollesbury, an account of which paradise for birds
appeared in the Essex Naturalist for 1888 (vol. ii., pp. 193-198), under the
1 The following note on "Stiltons" by Mr. H. W. King, is also worthy of being recorded :
"The House and Manor have recently been purchased by the Government for the extension of
their gunnery works. The house was erected in 1681, and the lodge in 1673, both by Francis
Maidstone, Esq., whose initials and those of his wife are upon each. It is to be hoped that in the
vicissitudes of change, the exceedingly fine panelling of one of the rooms, probably an unique
example of the period, will be respected and preserved. The armorial bearings of the family
were emblazoned over the fireplace of the drawing-room."