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NOTES—ORIGINAL AND SELECTED.
AVES.
Golden Orioles at Bowers Gifford in March.—General Branfill
having kindly mentioned the occurrence of this bird, we wrote to the Rev.
Henry Hasted, Rector of Pitsea, who courteously communicates the following
particulars:—" I think that there is no doubt about the Oriole. It was seen
in the grounds of Bowers Gifford Rectory by Miss Evelyn Williams, on
Saturday, March 20th. She had a capital view of it both sitting and flying,
and was about 15 yards from it. She describes it as a bright yellow bird,
like a canary, only very much bigger—about the size of a thrush. I had
heard that a strange bird had been seen near Bowers Gifford Rectory, and I
had asked the Misses Williams to look out for it. To the best of my belief
the female bird is or has been in this neighbourhood ; it was seen distinctly
by a woman in her garden some few days ago. She described it to me as a
yellowish-greenish bird, about the size of a thrush or a blackbird. A good
many years ago (I do not exactly remember the date, but it was about 1870)
Golden Orioles were seen in the gardens of Bowers Gifford Rectory. There
was no mistake about the fact, as a friend of mine, a great naturalist, saw one
of them."
We need hardly point out that the above date is a very early one for the
visit to our County of this beautiful bird. In the interesting account of the
species in Christy's Birds of Essex, the earliest observation given is April 29th
(with the exception of a somewhat doubtful record of November 20th, 1888),
and the bird is usually seen about the middle of May. There is no reason
why it should not breed in Essex, and we hope that Bowers Gifford Rectory
garden will have the credit of sheltering a Golden Oriole's nest this
spring—Ed.
Early Swallows.—Writing to us on March 26th, from Hazel Hall,
Shere, Surrey, Mr. F. E. J. Blackburne said :—" About noon to-day I noticed
a swallow hawking over the lake at Bury Hill, Dorking. I watched it for
some time in order to make sure of it. On passing the same spot three hours
later it was still there, and had been joined by two others. As this is an
unusually early appearance, it may be of interest to your readers that it
should be recorded." Since then Mr. W. Gibbs has informed us that he saw
some swallows at Ryde on the 25th ult., and that on the 28th, when he wrote,
they were fairly numerous. The Rev. D. R. Williams, Rector of Bowers
Gifford, Pitsea, Essex, wrote yesterday that he had that morning seen a
swallow hawking, although in his 70 years' observations he has never seen
one in March before. "Here," he adds, "they usually appear about April
17th."—Times, April 1st, 1897.
Since the above appeared we hear that Mr. Parson, farmer, saw two
swallows on March 29th, at Little Warley, Essex.
Merlin in Forest District.—In the report of the Epping Forest Bird
Protection League, it is recorded under the heading "Loughton Hall" that a
Merlin (Falco asalon) had recently been seen in Loughton Shaws. As long
ago as 1835 Edward Doubleday said of it that it was merely a visitor to
Epping in the autumn months and that it was also very rare, but Mr. Hope
reported in 1887 that it was not uncommon at Havering in the autumn. It is
to be hoped that this most interesting bird may now be more frequently seen.