110 NOTES, ORIGINAL AND SELECTED.
gravels were not formed under the sea, I have failed to find evidence of the
presence cf the sea in Essex in glacial times, and it seems a pity that Mr. Dalton
does not mention one of the hundreds or thousands of sections which in his
opinion prove the deposition of the Boulder-clay and the subjacent sands and
gravels in the sea. I know that two marine shells were found in gravel near
Thaxted ("Memoirs of the Geological Survey, Sheet 47" [1878], pp. 33, 42),
and that many have been found in Norfolk, but the presence of marine shells is
not conclusive proof of submergence (A. Geikie, "Text Book of Geology [ 1885],
p. 897), and a doubt has been expressed whether these shells are contemporaneous
with the beds in which they are found (H. B. Woodward, "Geology of England
and Wales" [1887] p. 504).
In answer to Mr. Dalton's request for evidence of the passage of an ice-sheet
over part of the area between the Thames and the Humber I would refer to the
remarks of Mr. Skertchly in the "Great Ice Age," by James Geikie (1877), pp.
354-362, and to Clement Reid, "Geology of Cromer," (1882), p. 114, and H. B.
Woodward, on the "Glacial Drifts in Norfolk" Proc. Geol. Assoc. vol. ix. p. 122
(1885). —I am, etc.,
Horace W. Monckton.
3 Pump Court, Temple.
NOTES, ORIGINAL AND SELECTED.
Wild Swans inland in Essex.—For upwards of a month the "Sedgy Lea"
has been a solid highway for thousands of skaters and pedestrians. A good
long-distance skater might travel from Limehouse to Hertford, if he were oblivious
to rough ice and did not object taking to the towpath frequently in order to pass
the locks and clusters of ice-bound barges. On Monday afternoon, January
19th, about four o'clock, a striking phenomenon was witnessed by myself and
several other persons near Pigott's Lock, Edmonton. Suddenly, coming from the
east, appeared a flock of Wild Swans, which, with necks outstretched and shrill
clamour, flew low over the river,going west. It was a pretty sight, the rays of
the setting sun gleaming on their pure white plumage. Wild Swans (these were
probably "Whoopers," Cygnus musicus) are not uncommon, I believe, on the Essex
coast in severe winters, but it needs an Arctic climate, like that of the last weeks,
to induce a flock to venture so far inland.—Henry A. Cole, Buckhurst Hill.
[Under the title "Visitors from the North-West," a correspondent ("E. B.,
Wakes Colne Rectory"), wrote as follows to the "Essex Standard" on January
21st: "About four o'clock on Tuesday afternoon, whilst walking on Wakes
Green. I observed a remarkable flight of birds, travelling at a great height and a
rapid pace, in a south-easterly direction. On they came, all from the north-west,
glowing at that time with the ruddy fires of the setting sun, battalion after
battalion, forming a wide and sweeping semicircle. They had in every case an
advanced guard, and these also acted as a rearguard to the battalion in front, thus
keeping all the battalions in touch with each other. They did not make a perfect
semicircle, as the leaders formed a sort of wedge in front, clearing a course, as it
were, and showing the way to those behind them. Whence came they ? We can
hardly reply, in the language of Longfellow, in 'Evangeline'—
" 'Birds of passage sailed through the leaden air, from the ice-bound
Desolate Northern bays, to the shores of tropical islands.'