NOTES—ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. 235
osiers now grow, so I presume that would be the place." From other inquiries
I have made, I cannot learn of anybody who has any recollection of a Decoy
on New Moor, so presumably it has been given up for a considerable period.
But the record is noteworthy, and adds to the number (32) described in
Christy's Birds of Essex. In the list there given this Southminster Decoy will
come between numbers 1 (South Hall, Paglesham), and 2 (Grange, Tillingham),
see p. 59.—Edward A. Fitch, Maldon.
Garganey ("Summer Teal," Querquedula circia) in the Lea Valley.
—On February 16th, 1890, I flushed a duck from a reedy pond in the Lea
Valley, which, on being brought to bag, proved to be a fine male specimen
of the Garganey. The bird was stuffed, and is still in my possession.—
E. Jenard Wills, Nazeing. [This bird appears to be decidedly rare in Essex,
and Mr. Christy says that it is chiefly seen when on migration. No record
is given of its occurrence in the Lea Valley, nor indeed anywhere inland.
—Ed.
Spotted Crake (Porzana maruetta Leach) in the Lea Valley,
Essex.—In my opinion this bird is by no means so uncommon as is
generally supposed. For some years I was the happy owner of an abso-
lutely perfect spaniel who was particularly excellent for water work. During
the season of 1890, I obtained two specimens on a sewage farm near Lea
Bridge. On the 1st August, 1891, the aforesaid spaniel caught two, and
flushed another which I shot on the banks of the Lea near Roydon. On
October 19th, 1895, when shooting with Mr. J. Bryer, two specimens were
obtained from the rushes growing in an old sand pit, quite a mile from any
piece of water. During 1896, my game-book records nine spotted crakes, all
shut near Waltham Abbey. All these birds have been carefully identified,
and cannot have been mistaken.—E. Jennard Wills, "Snows," Nazeing.
Woodcock (Scolopax rusticula) in the Forest.—Mr. Sydney Butt, one
of the Forest Keepers, reports that he many times saw a pair of
Woodcocks during December and January in Black Bushes, and near the
Connaught Lake, and we understand that others have seen Woodcock in the
Forest during the winter.
"Double Snipe" (Great Snipe, Gallinago major) at Waltham
Abbey.—I shot the only specimen of this bird I have ever seen in Essex on
February 27th, 1897. It was flushed on a marsh near Waltham Abbey, and
weighed just 8 oz.—E. Jenard Wills, Nazeing. [According to Christy's
Birds of Essex, the "Double Snipe" is not unfrequently seen in Essex in the
autumn, but very rarely in the spring.]
Black-throated Diver (Colymbus arcticus) at Ramsden, Essex.—
Mr. Charles Smoothy, of Little Baddow, reports that a specimen of this bird
was found at Ramsden on January 18th, 1898. It appeared to be quite
exhausted, and was nearly dead, although in good condition, and, no doubt,
got lost in the late fogs, which would account for its occurrence so far from
the coast. It was a young bird in immature plumage. Christy (Birds of Essex)
says that "it is a somewhat rare visitor to the Essex coast in winter, and
individuals are occasionally found in an exhausted condition at place's far inland,
after high winds or storms." In Volume iv., of our Journal of Proceedings E.F.C.
two specimens are recorded—one at Chignal St. James and one seen by Mr.
Lister on the water at Wanstead Park.