2S
THE BIRDS OF ESSEX.
as by frequent visits to London, and return visits from Mr. Curtis and
other well-known London naturalists of the day. When in town, he
seems frequently to have called on Sowerby, Yarrell, Gould, and
other leading naturalists. Many interesting letters belonging to this
period still exist in the possession of Mr. S. W. Squier, J.P., of
Horndon-on-the-Hill, who acted as his widow's executor, and to
whom I am indebted for much of the information here given.
These show that he was in correspondence with the following,
amongst others :—John Curtis (1827—42), Edward Blunt (1825—26),
Messrs. J. and J. F. Ward (1828—34), T. C. Heysham, of Carlisle
(1838—39), Thomas Pain, of Great Yarmouth (1839—40), and
G. S. Gibson, of Saffron Walden (1851—65) with reference to the
Flora of Essex. In 1839 he was elected a Fellow of the Linnean
Society. His first published notes on Natural History seem to have
appeared in 1833 in the Field Naturalist, a short-lived magazine
edited by James Rennie. The first was a brief article " On the
Black-headed Gull" (13. i. 533), to which the editor added, "Other
communications from our intelligent correspondent will be accept-
able." He afterwards contributed to the same publication articles
on the "Migration of the Tree Sparrow" (13. ii. 153), "The Method
of forming a Rookery" (13. ii. 153), "The Dunlin" (13. ii. 154), and
"Hints on collecting Water Birds" (13. ii. 197). The latter espe-
cially shows him to have been a thoroughly practical, working
ornithologist, and especially familiar with shore birds. In 1844 he
contributed some remarks on the nude space around the Rook's bill
to the Zoologist (23. 937). Beyond these notes he seems to have
published little or nothing.
In 1827 Mr. Parsons and his father, who thoroughly shared the
son's tastes, killed the following (8) at New England on May 11,
and sent them to " Mr. Ward" on the following day :—1 Ring
Dottrell (? breeding), 2 Pewit Gulls, 1 Sandwich Tern, 1 Common
Tern, 1 Large Grey Gull, 1 Whimbrel, and 1 Grey Owl. On Jan. 21,
1829, Mr. Parsons and his father had "a famous day's sport" on New
England, killing 2 Golden Eyes, 6 Brent Geese, 4 Wigeon, 1 Pochard,
&c. (8). From a ticked MS. list of British birds, in his handwriting,
and dated 1833, it appears that he then possessed specimens of 166
species, and of the eggs of 93 species; but some of these he had
evidently not obtained at or near Southchurch. In all that
he did he was exceedingly painstaking and methodic. In 1840,
whilst residing at East Tilbury, he married Miss Anne Jane Silver-
sides, but, after her death, he was again married, in 1850, whilst he
was living at North Shoebury, to Miss Mary Benton, sister of