STUBBS : THE CORNCRAKE IN ESSEX. 189
L. heterophylla is a species that produces spores very plentifully,
and is abundant in the Chingford part of the Forest. There
must be few places where its spores do not penetrate, and I
suggest that the plants growing amongst the Ptilidium had
germinated from spores. It will be interesting to watch the
struggle between the species for the possession of the tree
trunk. The struggle has already been going on some time.
The most interesting point about the Ptilidium is the cilia
on its leaves. At first, the strangeness arrests attention. With
acquaintance, the beauty of the plant, the velvety look of it,
and its delicacy grow on one and become a charm.
THE CORNCRAKE IN ESSEX.
By FREDK. J. STUBBS.
[Read 27 October 1917.]
THE present rarity of the Corncrake or Landrail (Crex
pratensis) in the south-eastern counties has been discussed
by numerous observers. Many communications on this subject
have appeared in recent ornithological publications.1 An idea
expressed pretty generally was that the species abounded
formerly in certain counties where it is to-day all but unknown
as a nesting bird, and that the decrease was, therefore, permanent.
Yet the bird is known to fluctuate numerically in districts
where it has been always, and is still, common, both in
Great Britain and on the Continent. In Essex, possibly,
it was never so abundant as it is to-day in parts of Wales,
in the north of England, and in Scotland, where one may
have half-a-dozen in earshot at once—that is, in good "corn-
crake years." The bird is extremely conspicuous owing to
its voice, and could hardly remain unnoticed during the nesting
season, either in Essex or elsewhere. During the rest of the
year, the Corncrake is almost, if not entirely, silent.
So far as Essex is concerned, we have two sets of records
of the dates of arrival of summer migrants, these relating to the
extreme west and the extreme east of the county respectively.
The first is Doubleday's list at Epping, from 1828 to 1845. In
his list of twenty-five species, the name of the Corncrake does
not appear ; and it occurs but once (for 1829) in a similar set of
1 See Zoologist, 1911. pp. 74, 114. 150, 237. 315, &c.; British Birds, viii. (1915). pp. 82-92.