18
FLINT AXE FOUND AT PLESHEY, ESSEX.
By FRANCIS W. READER.
[With Plate 1.]
THE fine Flint Axe figured on the plate was exhibited at
the meeting of the Essex Field Club on November 25th,
1906, by Mr. Miller Christy. It was found by a shepherd boy
on the land in the neighbourhood of Pleshey, and is now in the
possession of our member, Mr. Reginald W. Christy, C.A., of
Boyton Hall, near Chelmsford.
It forms an important addition to the finely fabricated
implements, so large a proportion of which have been found in
East Anglia.
The shape, which is a good example of skilful chipping, is
unusually regular and slender, being 61/2 inches long and having
an expanded, functional end, which has been ground to a sharp
cutting edge. At this polished end it is 27/16 inches in width and
tapers to 7/16 inches at the butt end. Its section is flat and thin,
being, for the most part, about 11/16 of an inch in thickness.
Nothing quite like this Pleshey example is figured in Sir
John Evans' Stone Implements and, therefore, the present plate
will doubtless be acceptable to our readers.
ON THE BREEDING OF THE KITE (MILVUS
ICTINUS) AND THE BUZZARD (BUTEO
VULGARIS) NEAR MALDON IN THE FIFTIES
AND SIXTIES OF LAST CENTURY.
By MILLER CHRISTY, F.L.S., Pres. E.F.C.
[Read 20th April 1907.]
THE auction sale of birds' eggs and skins held by Mr. J. C.
Stevens, of King Street, Covent Garden, on 30th October
1906, was advertised to contain the following item :—
"Lot 482.—Two eggs of Common Kite ; British ; taken near Maldon,
Essex, 1854. Two ditto Common Buzzard ; British ; taken near Purleigh,
Essex, 1865."
When my attention was called to this fact by various friends,
I decided, naturally enough, to attend the sale and secure the
eggs if possible. Unfortunately, however, when the time came,
I was prevented by press of work, and the eggs in question were