16
THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
It is of much interest that we are able to include the name
of John Ray, although on the strength of a mere fragment. In
a letter, dated April 4, 1676, to Dr. Lister he writes: "These
"Birds, he saith, in some Countries are called Mevisses. I am
"sure his fourth (Wood Song Throstle) is so called in Essex,
"and I believe elsewhere."
From Black Notley on August 24, 1692, he wrote to John
Aubrey: "I never heard of any vulture seen in England, I mean
"wild and at liberty. They tell of Eagles about Tiptree
"heath, that come over in summer time, and sometimes have
"bred thereabouts; and I understand that Totham is not far
"from thence."
Aubrey to John Ray on December, 15, 1692: "In Mr. Wyld's
"woods at Totham, in Essex, an eagle was killed about eight
"years since whose wings extended nine feet long. Mr. Wyld
"has one of the feathers."
J. E. Harting, discussing these letters in 1908, suggests that
the birds mentioned by Ray were Honey-Buzzards, although
the bird described by Aubrey must have been some larger
species.
Any reference, however indirect, to the past history of the
Red Kite in Essex is of value. Miller Christy, who is responsible
for the following paragraph, states that it shows the former
abundance of the Kite in the county. One of the "Occasional
Meditations" of Mary, Countess of Warwick (1625-1678), of
Leighs Priory, is "Upon a Hen's flying undauntedly at a Kite
"that came to get the chickens from her and then covering
"them under her wings to secure them." It runs thus: "How
"daring and undaunted a courage has this poor hen expressing
"in her attempts to secure her little brood from being snatched
"from her and how wisely has she taken care by gathering
"them under her wings to keep them safe, lest, if they should
"straggle from her, the Kite might take some of them; but,
"by her covering them from his sight, she preserved those poor
"little harmless creatures who were much too weak to be
"secured by their own strength, and yet very safe being kept
"under the wings of the hen."
The late E. A. Fitch discovered what is the earliest reference
to decoying for the County. The information is derived from
an entry of the Maldon Courts of General Session No. 18, p. 173,