THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. 103
Hall—[her heart is said to be enclosed in an altar-tomb at East Horndon]—
but more probably it is of a later date, and in some way connected with the
pulling down of Woodham Walter Hall, about 1700, by William Fytch, an
Alderman of Maldon, who presented the portrait of Queen Anne which still
hangs in the Council Chamber of the Moot Hall.
The supposed site of the Old Church, about 150 yards to the N. of the
remains of the Hall, was pointed out, as also the building, the last place where
the Duke of St. Albans, as Lord High Falconer of England, had his Hawks'
Mews.
A short rest, and then the walk (too long, perhaps, on such a sultry day) was
continued to the ancient town of Maldon.
"A struggling burgh of ancient charter known
And dignified by battlements and towers."
—Wordsworth.
And after a welcome cup of tea, the return to various stations in Essex was made
by the seven o'clock train.
Young Night-jars in Long Wood, Danbury.
Sketched by H. A. Cole.
Many birds and insects were noticed during the excursion, but none that call
for special mention, excepting the pair of young fledgling Night-jars ("Goat-
suckers" or "Fern-owls," Caprimulgus europaeus) that Mr. Smoothy pointed out
upon the ground in Long Wood. A few weeks before, when the spot had been
visited by Messrs. Fitch, Crouch, Durrant, and John Freeman, the eggs had been
shown, lying quite exposed on a bare "nest" on the ground, yet perfectly pro-
tected by the similarity of colouring to the surrounding soil ; now it was with
considerable difficulty that some of our members, not accustomed to bird observa-
tion, could be shown this attractive sight, so well were the young birds protected
by resemblance to the ground on which they lay. They were upon the bare
ground, with no attempt at a nest, although the broken egg-shells out of which
they had hatched were still lying beside them. The crouching attitude of the
young fledglings, and the solicitous wheeling around of the parent birds, much
troubled at our intrusion, were the admiration of all for some minutes.