78 THE LATEST ADDITION TO EPPING FOREST.
In all probability, the bird in question was a White-tailed
Eagle, specimens of which (generally immature) are not un-
common, even now, in Essex in the winter time5 ; while it is
quite likely that the Salmon mentioned by Newby was caught in
the River Stour, though, as it was dried, it may have come from
elsewhere. It will be seen on reference to Dr. Laver's Mammals,
Reptiles, and Fishes of Essex (p. 103) that the Salmon was formerly
a regular inhabitant of our principal Essex rivers and is, even
now, more or less polluted as most of them are, a not infrequent
visitor.
YARDLEY HILL, THE LATEST ADDITION TO
EPPING FOREST.
SINCE that memorable May morning seventeen years ago,
when Her Majesty the Queen granted the modern "Carta
de Foresta" by personally dedicating 5,500 odd acres to the use
and enjoyment of the public for ever, friends of the "free forest"
have recognised with gratitude and pleasure three notable
additions to the woodlands. These are "Oak Hill," Theydon,
"Highams Park," Walthamstow and Woodford, and the latest
gift, "Yardley Hill," Chingford.
It is to the generosity of Mr. E. N. Buxton, to whom the
public are indebted in large measure for the previous acquisitions,
that this last splendid addition to the forest is due. At a meeting
of the Common Council of the Corporation of London, on
Thursday, October 20th, the following letter addressed to the
Lord Mayor was read :—
" Knighton, Buckhurst Hill, October 18th, 1898.
" My dear Lord Mayor,—I have for a long time past been impressed
with the importance, it not the necessity, of securing the picturesque vantage
ground known as Yardley Hill as an addition to Epping Forest. It is a
timbered ridge which projects into the Lea Valley basin, from which river its
highest point is distant about 400 yards. From its prominent position it
commands many miles of the valley, along which a manufacturing population
is steadily assembling, as well as such distant points as Hampstead, Barnet,
and the high grounds near Broxbourne. A more practical consideration is
that it would connect that charming outlying portion of the Forest called
Gillwell-lane, at present, owing to its isolation, rarely visited, with the main
block near Hawkwood. My efforts, more than once renewed, have at length
been successful, and I have now the pleasure of begging your Lordship, as
5 There are two specimens in the Museum of the Essex Field Club.