ESSEX PRE-ORNITHOLOGY.
15
"I sent you, wch was a dryed Salmon; wch be pleased to
"accept as a poore mite of ye affection of
"Yor Reali Freind and humble Serv',
"Fffra. Newby."
Christy refers this bird to the White-tailed Eagle, which is
probably as good a suggestion as could be made.
The study of natural history was commencing to take shape
about this period and we find two works on the subject which,
although not dealing peculiarly with our County, furnish refer-
ences to the question. From C. Merrett's Pinax Rerum
Naturalium Britannicarum, etc., published in 1666, we cull
the following :—
"Upupa, the Hoopoe---------in the new Forrest in Hampshire,
"and in Essexia, sed raro invenitur."
(Translation: Upupa, the Hoopoe,------------in the New
Forest in Hampshire and in Essex, but only occasionally seen.)
"Chenalopex, vulpanser, a Bergander, nusquam alias vidi
"nisi in Thamis fluvio aiunt tamen esse frequentem in insula
"Tenia vocata & illic in scrobibus cuniculorum nidulari, Turn."
(Translation: Chenalopex vulpanser, a Bergander (Shel-
duck). I have seen it nowhere else but on the river Thames.
They say, however, that it frequents an island called Thanet,
and that there it makes its nest in rabbits' burrows. Turn )
Two years later, in 1668, Walter Charleton published his
Onomasticon Zoicon, where we find a reference to the Lapwing.
"XIII. Vannellus------------the Lapwing or Bastard Plover.
In Essexia est Insula quaedem haud magni circuitus, quae ab
"ingenti avium harum copia, eo praecise ad diem Divo Georgio
"sacrum advolante, nomen suum, Foulness nempe, hoc est
"avium promontorium, sortita est: uti ex Fullero nostro
"notavit supra laudatus D Dr. Merrett. Huic Vannello
"congener est."
(Translation: XIII. Vanellus---------the Lapwing or Bastard
Plover. In Essex there is an island, of no great circuit, which,
from the immense numbers of these birds, which fly thither
precisely on St. George's Day, has obtained the name Foulness,
which manifestly means the promontory of birds, as the worthy
Dr. Merrett, following our Thomas Fuller, has remarked above.
This bird is of the family of the Vannellus.)