ARDEIDAE—HERONS. 187
Wenden in 1826, one shot by Lord Braybrooke at Audley End in 1831, and a
female (now in the Audley End Collection) shot by Mr. G. Webb at Wenden on
Jan. 10th, 1849. Henry Doubleday, writing from Epping on Jan. 19th, 1832,
says (10) " a fine Bittern was shot here yesterday—a singular place for such a
bird." Edward Doubleday, writing in 1835, says (15) it "has occurred here but
once." " J. C", of Witham, records (12. vii. p. 511) one shot at Maldon about
Feb. 6th, 1834. He adds, "Bitterns are not unfrequently met with upon the
marshes by the side of the river which runs to that town." Yarrell says (25. ii.
541), "specimens are not unfrequently shot from some of the numerous beds of
reeds growing by the sides of the Thames on the shores of Kent and Essex." Mr,
H. Barclay records one (23. 2771) shot at Walthamstow in Jan., 1850. It rose
first from among some cabbages in a garden. Major Edward Taylor, of
Bishop's Stortford has one shot there about 1850. Mr. David Christy, of Patch-
ing Hall, has one shot by himself beside the Chelmer at Broomfield about the
winter of 1860. C. E. Smith, of Coggeshall, says (31. 52) that it was "heard
booming in the plantations that skirt the river [Blackwater] during the winter of
1856." Mr. Scruby informs me of one shot at Stanford Rivers about 1860. Mr.
Geo. Withers records a fine male killed out of a sedgy pond in the neighbourhood
of Wanstead Flats in Feb., 1864 (29. Feb. 20). One was shot at The Spieney
on the Chelmer, Dec. 23rd, 1879 (Chelmsford Chronicle, Jan. 9). One was shot
on the Stour about Dec. 15th, 1879, during a spell of hard weather, by a
puntsman named Chas. Porter, of Manningtree (Chelmsford Chronicle, Dec. 19).
One is recorded to have been killed near Tillingham in January, 1879
(Chelmsford Chronicle, Jan. 31). Dr. Bree records three killed in Essex in
the winter of 1879-80, one near the Musketry Station, Colchester (29. Jan-
10), now in Mr. J. Round's Collection. Mr. G. A. Thompson, of Fobbing, shot
one on the marshes below Tilbury, opposite Thames Haven, on Nov. 22nd, 1879
(2g. Nov. 29). One was shot near Maldon in March, 1883. Mr. Hope has a speci-
men shot by a miller at Ilford in the snow at Christmas, 1872, and another shot at
Harwich in Jan., 1886. Mr. Buxton mentions one (47. 96), "killed a few years
ago by the stream adjoining Wanstead Park.'' The Rev. J. W. Maitland, of
Loughton, has a fine male which he believes to be the last specimen killed in
Epping Forest. It was purchased at Doubleday's sale for 75s. and was shot at
Coopersale by the Rev. C. B. Abdy. Mr. Leonard Saunders, of Maldon, shot a
male in a wood at Woodham Ferris on Jan. 31st, 1886 (Chelmsford Chronicle, Feb.
6). Mr. E. A. Fitch informs me that his grandfather, Mr. Daniel Pannell, shot
three on Sturmer Mere, and his uncle, Mr, Thos. Pannell, another at the same
place, all about the year 1850. About 1882, Mr. Wm. Sewell shot one, which he
still has, on the Marsh Farm, Tillingham, and about 1886, another was caught
alive near the adjacent Decoy and was forwarded to the Zoological Gardens, where
I believe it still is. Mr. Walter B. Nicholls, of Lawford Hall, has one shot some
years ago on the Stour, and on Dec. 7th, 1889, Mr. Dale, of St. Osyth, shot a fine
male in good condition there (Pettitt). Mr. Thomas Aldham, of Ulting, has one
shot there, and Mr. Hance, of Maldon, a very fine one shot near that town by
Mr. R. Bygrave (Fitch).