NOTES. 75
be urged on the other side. "Lopping" and "topping" of pollards had been
stopped ; we had lost the beautiful effects of the brown leaves remaining on until
the spring greenery appeared ; while some of the best of the distant views were
hidden (as, for instance, from the spot where they were then assembled) by the
fifteen or twenty feet of growth that the pollards had now to bear. He feared
that this increasing weight would prove too much for some of the old stems, and,
as in several parks in Hertfordshire, they would be broken by wind or falls of
snow.
Mr. Gellatly seconded the vote of thanks, which was carried by acclamation,
and Prof. Boulger having briefly acknowledged the compliment, the members of
the party made their way in quest of tea to Copt Hall Green Farm (the "Rose
and Crown "), where, in a little hall in the garden (by the side of the Cobbin
Brook) that refreshing meal awaited them.
After tea, an Ordinary Meeting (the 132nd), was held, Prof. R. Meldola,
Vice-President, in the chair. The meeting was intended for the proposal of new
members, but a short discussion was initiated by the chairman on the growth of
the hornbeam after lopping, in which Prof. Boulger took part, and Mr. W. Cole
reminded the members the hornbeam formed a large part of the woodlands near
Monken Hadly, near Barnett, on the other side of the Lea Valley.
The meeting shortly afterwards broke up, the members walking or driving
through the forest to Theydon Bois, Loughton, Chingford, etc.
NOTES—ORIGINAL AND SELECTED.
Ancient Red Deer's Skull found at Colchester.—In excavating for the
new cellar of the "Nelson's Head," West Stockwell Street, Colchester, the work-
men came upon a quantity of pottery, building materials, and other rubbish of the
Roman period. Amongst this rubbish was the portion of the skull and antlers
of the Red Deer. This is, I think, worthy of a note, from its massiveness com-
pared with the heads of deer of the present day. The measurements are: circum-
ference of the permanent bony base, below the burr, 7 inches; just above the
burr, 9 inches; above the brow antler, 91/2 inches; around the bez antler, 54
inches; between the bases of the antlers, close to the skull, 3 inches; across the
occiput, just above the foramen magnum, 61/2 inches. I could not get a satisfactory
measurement across the eyes, in consequence of the damaged state of the skull,
but it must have been considerable. The circumference of either the brow or bez
tines, would be quite equal to the beam of the antler of a Scotch deer of the present
time. The development of these ancient deer may, I suppose, in a great
measure, be accounted for by the plentiful supply of good pasturage they could
obtain in the extensive forests of that age.—HENRY Laver, F.L.S., Colchester,
May 7th, 1892.
Rooks Deserting Old Homes.—Some four or five years ago, when an
estate near Great Bardfield changed hands, a group of oaks standing in a pasture
were rather conspicuously marked and numbered for felling. These trees were
the ancestral homes of a colony of Rooks, who, generation after generation had
built their nests upon the upmost branches, and year after year had reared their
families there. Can anyone tell me why, when the trees were marked, these
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