20 THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
copy of a single paper of Addison's Spectator, No. cccx, for
Tuesday, March 4th, 1712, containing the following advertise-
ment: "Heyden in Essex, near Walden and Royston, the seat
"of Sir Peter Soame, Bart., deceased, situate on a gentle hill,
"with a very large and pleasant prospect, fair gardens, canals,
"fish-ponds, dove-coate, and all sorts of offices without door,
"woods of large timber, and where is all game in great plenty,
"even to the Bustard and Pheasant, is to be let, furnished or
"unfurnished, for 16 years. Enquire at Mr. Chus in Bartly
"St., Piccadilly or at Mr. Cooper's, at the Blue-Boar in Holborn."
This early reference to the Bustard is of much interest.
Now comes a reference from that voluminous author, best
known by his immortal story, Robinson Crusoe. Daniel De Foe
knew something of Essex, for he tells us in his Tour through the
Whole Island of Great Britain, published in 1724, that "The
"above Rivers, united, make a large Firth, or Inlet of the Sea,
"which our Fishermen and Seamen, who use it as a port, call
"Maiden-water. In this Inlet is Osey or Osyth Island, so
"well known by our London Men of Pleasure for producing
"such vast Numbers of Wild-ducks, Mallards, Teals, and
"Wigeons, that the Island seems covered with them at certain
"times of the year, aud they go from London for the Pleasure
"of Shooting; and often come home with an Essex Ague on
"their Backs, which they find an heavier Load than the Fowls
"they have shot."
In recent years we have made great progress in elucidating
the problems of migration, mainly as the result of ringing birds.
It is probable that Essex can claim the earliest recovery of a
marked bird. A Swan was shot on Foulness Island in February,
1776. It was marked with a gold medal fastened to its neck
with the inscription "Le Roi Dame." The inscription is supposed
to indicate that the bird was marked in Denmark. Miller
Christy draws attention to a document in his possession, A
Perambulation of the Parish of Chignal St. James and St. Mary
made on the 25th of May, 1797, in which reference is made to a
field as "Puttock's Lees." Christy shows that the name
endured to 1810, and deduced that the field had taken its name
from the previous presence of either Kites or Buzzards, both
of these birds having been called at one time "Puttocks."
We find in the pages of Rural Sports by the Rev. W. B. Daniel