AMELANCHIER SPECIES IN EPPING FOREST 39
survival. The young ones are born in the month of June and during the
first few months of their lives are very difficult to keep in captivity be-
cause the fat content of seals' milk is as high as fifty-five per cent as com-
pared with about three per cent upwards in cows' milk.
The other seal frequenting our shores is the Grey Seal (Halichoerus
grypus), which grows to a larger size and is the one usually seen on the
west coast of England. The Common Seal is most numerous along the
Norfolk coast.
Amelanchier species in Epping Forest.—On 20 October 1951 Mr. Peter
Relph, a junior member of the Club, drew my attention to the highly decora-
tive autumn foliage of a shrub in the centre of Lord's Bushes, Buckhurst Hill.
This shrub comprises six stems rising directly from the soil, the tallest of
them being fifteen to twenty feet in height and between two and three inches in
diameter.
Upon investigation the shrub appears to be a species of Amelanchier (prob-
ably A. canadensis Medic.) Nat. Ord. Rosaaceae, of North American origin
and first introduced into this country in 1596.
In Knighton Wood, ten minutes' walk distant, there are several groups of
this shrub, which were undoubtedly planted by the late Edward North Bux-
ton, whose mansion was adjacent to the wood.
In a garden in Princes Road, Buckhurst Hill, there has existed for many
years a fine example of Amelanchier, which has the form of a tree rather than
a shrub, and it may not be the same species as that which is growing in Lord's
Bushes. A shrub of Amelanchier grew for some years in the same piece of
forest much nearer to Princes Road than is the subject of these notes.
Amelanchier canadensis has a remarkably beautiful appearance in the
spring when profusely covered with racemes of drooping pure white flowers,
but these very rarely produce fruit though it is most probable that the shrub
recently observed in Lord's Bushes has grown from a seed borne by a bird,
probably from Knighton Wood.
Many years ago (perhaps fifty) two shrubs of Amelanchier were growing on
an island in the pond by the road at the top of Goldings Hill. They bore a
little blossom each year but were overcrowded by other growths and I believe
have now disappeared.
The shrub Amelanchier canadensis Medic. is known as the June Berry.
W. Howard
Wryneck at North Fambridge.—When my brothers and I were schoolboys
around the early 1920's, Wrynecks were regular spring visitors and nesters in
this part of Essex. Gradually, however, their numbers decreased and eventually
the barren years arrived.
In the ten years 1940-50 I heard and saw only two for a few minutes on my
farm, so to us the bird had become very rare indeed. My eldest brother had
unfortunately not been at home at the time and had missed hearing the two
mentioned and he was of opinion that they were things of the past. I begged
to differ and jokingly remarked that by making likely looking nesting places,
we should induce a pair to nest in our small orchard.
In 1950 I pollarded two large willows and wired hollow elm stumps to the
tops. We also found two dead pollard elms with likely looking holes. These
we cut, brought home by tractor and erected in our orchard with great diffi-
culty and to everyone's amusement.
At 6.30 a.m. on 14 June 1951 I was awakened by the unmistakable call of
the beloved bird. I jumped out of bed and there it was, only seven paces from
my window, standing on the top of one of the prepared nesting sites. I called
my wife to see it and it remained on the stump for a few minutes calling