FIELD NOTES ON ESSEX ORNITHOLOGY. 97
the conclusion that two birds on the water then were Grey Lags.
Even when in the hand the various species of Grey Geese are
often difficult to identify; but, at the same time, the birds seen
on these two occasions at South Weald could hardly have been
White-Fronted, the likeliest to occur in the district.
Once only have I met with the Sheld-duck in Essex, seeing a
party of a dozen or so far out on the sands (or is it mud ?) north
of Bradwell, in the winter of 1910-11. On the 14th December
1910 I heard the so-called "spring note" of a male Pintail
at South Weald, and had a good view of the bird—was it a wild
one? Three years later, in winter, I saw my second Essex
Pintail, also a male, on the lake at Navestock. My other field
notes on Essex ducks are too trivial for record; not only have I
nothing new to record for the commoner species, but all except
the Mallard seemed to be scarcer than the nature of the county
might suggest. Along the course of the Roding, where floods
are frequent in spring, a favourite nesting place of the Mallard
is in the crown of a pollard willow, or in a hollow tree. In
former years the Pochard was a numerous visitor to the pond
at Birch Hall, but since 1914 it has decreased annually, for some
unknown reason. On the 20th April 1919 there were three
Shovelers on this pleasant water, and the Tufted Duck is
not infrequent here.
Once or twice, in the interesting district inland from Purfleet,
I have heard the tri-syllabic whistle of the Quail. In this
locality I saw a nest containing 18 eggs of the Grey Partridge,
with one egg of the Red Legged species. In May, 1916, Mr.
Gordon Newton found a Red Legged Partridge's nest 16 feet
from the ground, in an ivy-covered tree at Theydon Bois. Near
Shonk's Mill a Grey Partridge was sitting on 19 eggs.
I cannot complain of any unfamiliarity with the Water
Rail in Essex, having had frequent and good opportunities for
observing the bird, nearly always in winter, although an empty
nest seen in the Roding Valley in 1915 probably belonged to the
species. The Rail takes easily to the water, bobbing the head
vigorously as it swims. The bars on the flanks are not at all
conspicuous, but the white under tail coverts are very showy.
Once I saw a Water Rail, far from cover, feeding on the drowned
earthworms left on a pasture after a flood. The bird can climb
through a bush with the agility of a stoat.