42
NOTES—ORIGINAL AND SELECTED.
ascertain the cause, and in the hollow of the tree he saw a fine, full-grown otter.
He fired at the creature, but only succeeded in slightly wounding it, and it bolted
down its run into the river. After an exciting chase, the otter was lost sight of
for nearly two hours, when Mr. Cocks again found it, crouched up among the
roots of the tree. With the aid of two men, the hole down into the river was
wired over, and Mr. Cocks once more took aim at the otter, and this time killed
it. It was found to be a male, and weighs 13lbs. Mr. Cocks has decided to have
it stuffed. P.C. Brown, of Heybridge, states that he has seen two otters about
the same spot."—"Essex Herald," February 16th.
Chelmsford.—"On Wednesday morning, Albert Wheeler, groom to Mr. Garrad
Baker, observed a young otter in the river Chelmer, which runs at the foot of his
master's garden. After one or two fruitless efforts, he succeeded in pinning the
animal down between the tines of a stable fork, and he then killed it by 8 blow on
the head. The otter weighed 81bs. On the same day Mr. A. T. Aldham, of
Tower House, Springfield, shot two otters, weighing about I5lbs, near the spot
where Wheeler killed the first otter."—"Essex Weekly News," February 19th.
"Eagles" in Essex.—Mr. French, of Felstead, writes (December 5th) :—
"An eagle has been seen (surrounded with a quantity of rooks) at Lindsell within
the last fortnight;" and, later (December 22nd), he reported that "the bird still
haunts the locality, and evades all efforts, backed with a £5 reward, for its
capture, dead or alive. It roosted several nights in Great Hall Wood, at Bard-
field, and folks were quite unable to conjecture what it was, as its wings appeared
to droop whilst perching. The conclusion come to was that it was an 'old sack,'
by some means transferred to the top of the tree. One person, name forgotten,
is said to have seen it swoop down and take one of his hens. It was seen on
Saturday last at Little Bardfield. Should not the county papers be asked to
make an appeal for the preservation of this noble bird? At present the only
care is to 'bring it down.' "
[It is probable that this is the bird referred to in the following paragraph in
the ''Essex County Chronicle" of December 11th :—"A large eagle has been seen
hovering over poultry-yards at Stebbing and other places in the neighbourhood
during the last few days. Several fowls are said to have fallen a prey to this
unusual visitor. The eagle is described as of a rusty-black colour. Attempts
have been made to shoot it, but we have not heard that any one has succeeded."
The species has not been determined, but it is quite possible that the bird was
a spotted eagle, two specimens of which have occurred in Essex—at Elmstead and
Leigh (ESSEX Naturalist, vol. v., p. 218). An unusual number of raptorial
migrants have been seen in East Anglia during the winter. A spotted eagle was
shot at Wickham Market, Suffolk, in November (see "Field," November 28th), and
the Rev. J. G. Tuck records (Zool., January and March, 1891) many rough-legged
Buzzards from Cambridgeshire and Suffolk, a Hen Harrier from Cambridgeshire,
Peregrines, a young Merlin at Bury, and a White-tailed Eagle at Rushbrook, &c.
Short-eared Owls have been abundant, and such an immigration of Rough-legged
Buzzards has not occurred since 1876.—ED.]
Raven at Felstead.—A raven has been observed here, at Felstead, within
the last month. The bird is so rare in the neighbourhood that many folks were
unable to tell what it was.—J. French, Felstead, December 5th, 1891.