NOTES——ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. 203
phenomenon." And again Mr. French wrote on Nov. 16th : "A nest of Rooks of
about a fortnight old is now perched upon a tall elm tree in the village of Fel-
stead. The nest is evidently an object of much interest to many Rooks, who daily
visit it—partly perhaps on account of the untimely season, and partly perhaps on
account of the experimental situation of the nest ; this, with one exception,
being the only nest which has produced young ones on that clump of trees,
although experiments have been made annually for more than ten years. Its
exposed situation has always proved disastrous to the nest, and I have invariably
noticed that the twigs have been completely blown away before sitting commenced.
The one exception is the nest which produced the Rooks late in the summer of
this year, of which I have sent a notice. It escaped observation until quite
recently. The thick foliage as against the bare twigs of March seem to act as a pro-
tection, as the great storm of last Wednesday did not affect this nest."
Grey Phalarope and Common Skua at Bradwell-on-Sea.—Mr. R. G.
Owen, of Trent College, Nottingham, writes that single specimens of these un-
common birds were sent to him from Bradwell in the last week in October.
Oysters and Mussels in the Crouch in 1891.—"The oyster spat this year
has been, contrary to early prognostications, a very poor one. Mussels are found
everywhere in great abundance. Were they to confine themselves to their recog-
nised quarters, viz., the mussel banks some miles from the mouth of the river,
little cause would be felt for complaint. The oyster layings are, however, infested
with the mussels bunched together with rock, shells, and weed, which causes them
to gather large quantities of mud in their vicinity. If disregarded this would
speedily choke the oysters, and consequently much time has to be spent in lifting
them up from the deposit. The oyster, unlike the mussel, has no power to change
its position. The latter is capable of erecting itself on edge and going forward
with a slow laborious motion. If thrown into a lake separately mussels are some-
times taker, in bunches of many together. As an instance of the rapidity with
which these animals collect mud, a bushel of mussels was put down upon a clean
sandy foreshore, and at the end of two months they were found lying on the
surface of two feet of mud. The season for mussels is from July to October."—
Essex County Chronicle.
A Hunt for "Swallow-tails."—"On Saturday the members of the Felstead
School Natural History Society made an excursion to Wicken Fen, Cambridge,
which is about the only piece of wild fen of any extent left in England, and
almost the only known home of the beautiful swallow-tail butterfly in this coun-
try. The party, which numbered between thirty and forty, was conducted by the
Rev. E. Gepp, Hon. Sec. of the Society, and accompanied by Mr. J. F. Martin and
Mr. F. H. Meggy. The spoils of the day included about twenty specimens of the
swallow-tail (Papilio machaon), the hog's fennel (Peucedanum palustre), on which
the caterpillar of the swallow-tail feeds, the marsh fern (Lastrea thelypteris), great
spearwort (Ranunculus lingua), flowering rush (Butomus umbellatus),&c. Return-
ing by water to Clay Hithe, full justice was done to a substantial meal prepared
there, after which the party entrained, and reached Felstead about seven p.m.,
immensely pleased with the day's expedition."—Essex County Chronicle, July 10th,
1891.
Melampyrum arvense in Essex.—I have received from Mr. Edwin E.
Turner a specimen of Melampyrum arvense. It was found at Faulkbourne near
the Fairstead Road. This is an uncommon plant, only being recorded for two
localities in our county.—J. C. Shenstone, Colchester.
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