22
THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
many were then shot. He adds "a similar abundance is
"found at the same periods of their approach and retiring upon
"the Essex coast, especially in the large woods at St. Osyth,"
and he relates how "At Langleys, the seat of Mr. Tufnell, in
"Essex some years since, a Woodcock flew through the Hall
"window in the day time." Continuing on this species he writes:
"Young Woodcocks have been found in the High Woods, near
"Colchester." In his account of the Quail, Daniel writes: "With
"us they are birds of passage, some entirely quitting our island,
"others shifting their quarters, as it is said, from the neighbouring
"inland counties into the Hundreds of Essex, in October where
"they continue all the winter. If frost or snow drive them out
"of the stubble fields and marshes, they retreat to the sea
"side, shelter themselves among the weeds, and live upon what
"they can pick up from the algee, etc., between high and low
"water mark; their appearance in Essex coincides with that
"of their leaving the inland counties, and this same observation
"has been made in Hampshire, But however genuine this
"account is of the Quail's abode in the Hundreds of Essex
"formerly, there is good ground for discrediting the existence
"of the circumstance at present." His account of the wild-
fowl on the Blackwater, of which he had had personal experience,
is very interesting. After describing the methods of the punter
he continues "By this mode a man has brought home from
"fourscore to an hundred Wild Fowl, of various kinds, in one
"night's excursion; and this will not seem an exaggerated
"account, when the multitudes which in hard frosty weather,
"with the wind at East or North-east, haunt the Blackwater
"River are known: the numbers that are seen in their day
"flights, and the noises of the various kinds of a night, are
"almost beyond belief; to the Compiler, prepared as he was
"to behold amazing quantities, they exhibited far beyond what
"he was led to expect, and to others who have seen their throngs,
"the astonishment has been perhaps still greater. A Punt
"Shooter of the name of Bowles, has been known to clear
"upwards of an hundred pounds in a season by his gun; the
"Wild Fowl were sold to the Higlers, etc., at two shillings a
"couple, one with the other: allowing his expenses to be only
"thirty pounds, here were 2600 birds brought home; an
"immense destruction, when the whole period allotted for it does