Appendix No. 1. xi
was a great many years ago, it was a beautiful August morning, and
there was a splendid cloud of martins and swallows flying over the house
at the time. Colonel Russell had now got—he thought he told him 130
nests on the house; certainly some very large number. Therefore he
thought the sparrow must be, as Macaulay said in those days of the
Papists and Quakers, "beyond the pale of the widest toleration."
[Laughter.] Some people were sanguine enough to believe that the
stoppage of the destruction of birds in the Forest by the London bird-
catchers would greatly encourage several rare birds, which had now almost
disappeared, to breed again in the woods. There had been quite an
influx of nuthatches at Mr. Barclay's, at Monkhams, Woodford. It was
not, Mr. Johnston believed, at all a common bird. Mrs. Barclay was
accustomed, as he was, to hang out tallow candles for the tomtits in
winter, and the nuthatches had assaulted the candles. Then she put out
nuts, and it was most extraordinary the quantity of nuts they had carried
off. They were found stuck in the grooves of the bark of a semi-
deciduous elm, where the birds hammered away at them and then ate the
kernels. Mr. Johnston concluded by expressing a hope that Sir Fowell
might be able to come on some other occasion to make some practical
proposals as to the means to be adopted in carrying out his scheme.
The President thought the subject which had been brought forward was
one which, as a Natural History Club, they had every right to consider,
and he was very glad to see that they had among them several gentlemen
who were well able to give valuable assistance in discussing this question.
They had Mr. Harting, than whom no one was better qualified to discuss
the question of the preservation of birds; and he thought that they
might very well enlarge the sphere of the discussion, and not allow an
opportunity like that to slip for discussing the question of the preser-
vation of smaller game. He thought the question should be discussed on
broader grounds than the preservation of the vertebrate fauna, and the
presence of Mr. Johnston, one of the Verderers of Epping Forest, was
an occasion which should incite them to discuss the question with all the
vigour they could, from the naturalist's point of view. They had with
them that evening Dr. Cooke, than whom, perhaps, no greater authority
on pond life was to be found: he had worked the district himself, and
must have a great deal to tell them.
Mr. Johnston interposed to state that he was obliged to leave the meet-
ing, having another engagement, but he thought that if any communi-
cation from the Club were sent to the Conservators of the Forest, it would
receive the greatest attention, and that they would be obliged and thank-
ful for any hints. They were not a body appointed for their knowledge
of Natural History, but anything that came authoritatively and officially
from the Club would probably receive every consideration.
Mr. Could—Before you go, Mr. Johnston, I should like to ask how the
jays are caught; what kind of traps do they use ?
Mr. Johnston—I really cannot say. I have not happened to come