116 THE BIRDS OF ESSEX.
flocks of 200 to 300 at a time. They fed principally upon the seeds of the horn-
beam (Carpinus), and in winters like the present, when hornbeam seeds were
scarce and the weather very severe, they spread over the country to villages and
gardens in search of food." Dr. Bree, in a letter to the Standard (Jan. 28, 1881),
after stating that the bird had been more numerous that winter round Colchester
than he had ever known it before, says :
" I have known it as a breeder in this neighbourhood for the last ten years.
Ambrose, the local bird-stuffer here, tells me he has had upwards of thirty
this year. There are more than twenty now in his shop. He says they come
from all parts of the neighbourhood. One boy caught seven in a garden near
the river."
At the same time they were much more common than usual round Saffron
Walden, many being sent in to Mr. Travis from the surrounding villages, especi-
ally during the hard weather in January. A pair were also shot in our garden
at Lindsell Hall. On Mar. 19th, 1878, Mr. H. Corder saw a flock of about twenty
in a small wood near Writtle. Mr. F. Spalding informs me that his sister caught
one by hand in her bedroom at Shenfield, it having entered by an open window.
At Harwich it is "scarce," though some are seen most winters (Kerry). " T. F.
R." mentions (12. ii. 404) an egg, evidently of this species, found in July, 1829,
in a nest in an elm-hedge in Essex. Mr. C. E. Smith notes (31. 53) that "A
nest and eggs of this bird [was] taken near Felix Hall, by Mr. William Deal, keeper
to T. B. Western, Esq., M.P., during the summer of 1857." Mr. Hope says that it
breeds at Havering, where it is commoner than it used to be. Dr. Laver says it
breeds not unfrequently in the Colchester district. The Tuck Collection contains
specimens taken from nests at Audley End in June, 1858. In May, 1877, a
friend found a nest with eggs in a large old hawthorn in Danbury Park, and in
the previous year I found an old nest in the woods adjoining, where the bird
nests pretty freely, I believe. At Dedham, Mr. Rowland T. Cobbold informs
me that it is becoming increasingly common, being a constant visitor during win-
ter to his bullace-trees, easily splitting open the stones to get at the kernels,
and in summer to his rows of peas. The same might be said of many other
parts of the county.
Tree Sparrow : Passer montanus.
A resident, breeding more or less sparingly in several parts of the
county, I believe, though I never found a nest. In winter its num-
bers are largely increased by
the arrival of flocks from else-
where, and it is then fairly
common in all, or most, parts
of the county.
Mr. C. Parsons, writing from
Southchurch in 1834, says (13):
" This bird is a constant winter
visitor here. I have shot them re-
peatedly in severe weather in Janu-
ary, intermixed with the common
Sparrows in the farm-yards, and also
with Greenfinches, Chaffinches and
other small birds in the fields. About a fortnight ago, I caught one at night in a
folding-net in a corn-stack, when in quest of common Sparrows. I never saw one
here in the summer months."