ESSEX PRE-ORNITHOLOGY. 3
this aspect of ornithology in Britain has been derived from
documents of various kinds such as poems, bills of fare, histories,
household accounts, churchwardens' accounts, etc. One of the
more curious (it is given as example), is the Dyetery of Health
by Andrewe Boorde, of Physicke Doctor. Here are examples
from this work, published in 1562: "Quayles and plovers and
lapwynges doth nourysshe but lytel, for they doth engender
meloncholy humours. A crane is hard of dygestyon, and doth
engender evyll blode. A yonge herensew is lighter of dygestion
than a crane." It is clear that this writer at least understood
that the Crane and Heron were different birds: a point which
is not without importance.
I have introduced along general lines the subject and must
now bring to your notice what matter has been unearthed
relating to Essex. Geology or palaeontology is responsible for
the earliest information and the remainder has been derived
from books, including histories, and old documents, such as
menus, household accounts, feet of fines, churchwardens'
accounts, advertisements, etc. I feel that the most useful way
to deal with the subject will be to present it in a series of
periods, chronologically arranged, commencing with the geo-
logical evidence.
GEOLOGICAL.
As this is the first occasion that Essex fossil birds have been
treated separately, some introduction seems necessary. R.
Lydekker in his paper On British Fossil Birds, published in
1891, informs us that owing to the absence in the British
Isles of strata corresponding to the freshwater Miocene beds
of France in Gers, Allier, and the Auvergne, in which well-
preserved bird remains are of such common occurrence, the list
of fossil birds found in Britain is comparatively small. The
total number of species which had been recorded at the time
was only slightly over sixty and as some forty-five of these
belonged to existing species, of which the remains are found in
caverns, the fens and other superficial deposits, the list of
extinct forms which could be accepted fell short of twenty.
Lydekker held the view that in spite of the scarcity of material
the subject of British Fossil Birds was of much importance, as
the remains of the existing species which have been found in
the superficial deposits add to our knowledge of geographical