152 THE BIRDS OF ESSEX.
female at Little Braxted, and that about two years previously he had seen one in
Braxted Park (31). Mr. T. Bramley, of 9, Winchester Street, Bethnal Green,
writes (23. 4895) that " a person employed on Tyler's Farm, near Low Leyton,
being engaged in catching sparrows, had the good fortune to capture a young
Hoopoe on the 7th of August last [1855]." It is quite possible that this may
have been a home-bred bird. One was shot at Ashdon about the end of Sept.,
3856 (23. 5319). Mr. P. Matthews, of Little Laver, still has a female which he
shot there about 1858 (Essex Chron., Ap. 27th). Dr. Bree records one (23.
8034) shot in the rectory garden at Erwarton, in Suffolk, on the Stour, in the
beginning of May, 1862. Mr. W. Jesse records one (23. 9627) seen by a game-
keeper at Woodbarns Farm, near Ingatestone, on and for several days after April
20th, 1865. Mr. Clarke records (24) that one, shot at Strethall in 1840, was in
the possession of the late Mr. Nicholas Parry of Strethall Hall, and that another
was shot in Peverell's Wood, Wimbish, in 1865. Dr. Bree records a male shot at
Mersea about the middle of Apr., 1871 (29. Apr. 22 & 32a). Mr. H. A. Barclay
records (34. 403;) that one was seen feeding for several hours on his lawn at
Knott's Green, Leyton, in company with Starlings, Blackbirds and Thrushes, on
May 3rd, 1874. It was very wild. Mr. Travis tells me that in 1876 he received
five for preservation. In the spring of that year, two men picking twitch beside a
wood at Ashdon, were followed all one day by a pair which ate the insects, &c.,
they turned up. The Rev. M. C. H. Bird inform- me of his having seen a pair at
a farmhouse at Basildon, where they were shot about the year 1878. About the end
of Oct., 1879 (Chelmsford Chronicle, Nov. 14) one was killed by some men at work
on the railway near Felstead. One was seen for several hours to frequent a lawn at
Great Bentley on April 24th, 1880 (29. May 8) and (strange to relate !) was not
molested. The Rev. J. Whitaker Maitland has informed me of one killed some
years ago at Walthamstow. Mr. Buxton says (47. 87), "One bird frequented a
garden at Knott's Green for several days," about 1881. One shot on September
20th, 1880, by Mr Elgie of the Oak Inn, Woodham Mortimer, on the confines of
that parish and Danbury, it having been observed in the neighbourhood for
several days (29. Oct. 2 & 42. 52). Mr. Travis records (44. iv. xii.) .1 young male
shot at Wimbish on Sept. 30th, 1882, and a female on October 9th following
at Horseheath, Cambs, on the Essex border. I saw one beside a wood at Sad-
dler's Farm, near Saffron Walden, on April 22nd, 1883—probably the same shot
shortly after near Royston. Lieut.-Col. Marsden has informed me of one shot
near Walton-on-the-Naze about the year 1885. Mr. Wm. C. Emson of Littlebury
informs me that his brother has a specimen shot at Wimbish about the year 1886.
A male was shot at Little Walden on April 7th, 1886, and preserved by Mr.
Travis (Chelmsford Chronicle, April 16). Mr. Reginald W. Christy of Boynton
Hall, Roxwell, has one which he shot there as it rose from a damp ditch in which it
was feeding, on May 3, 1886. Mr. Hope has one, shot in mistake for a Jay at
Forest Hall, Ongar, in May, 1886. He knew of three, all females, shot in Essex in
that year. Mr. W. R. Sackett records one shot at Grays early in Apr. 1888 (29.
May 5th). One was shot at Langford Park during the first week of Sept., 1886 (41.
ii. 33 & 29. Sept. 11). A male was shot at Willingale on Apr. 20th, 1888 (Essex
Chron. Apr.27th). Mr. Hastings Warren, of Little Dunmow, has one shot in
that parish several years ago, when it was observed in company with another.