194 THE BIRDS OF ESSEX.
known in the neighbourhood as " Old Jubilee." It afterwards belonged to Mr.
James Spitty of Bradwell, but has since been lost overboard.
Another extraordinary bag is recorded by Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey in Shooting
(Badminton Library), p. 307. He writes :—
" A heavy shot at fowl is becoming a rare chance now on our shores, and is
only achieved in very severe weather. Some ten years ago, off the mouth of the
Blackwater, in Essex, a wonderful shot was made at Brent Geese. A vast herd of
these birds had collected on the ooze to feed. All the local punt-gunners, to the
number of a dozen, were attracted by the sight; and setting together to the
Geese, just as they were densely packed on the last bit of feeding-ground left
by the rising tide, aimed and fired by signal. The result was that the gunners
picked up close on 300 fowl. This incident was recorded in various sporting
papers at the time, and was related to us by a gentleman who had actually seen
the occurrence."
Possibly this is only another version of one of the occurrences described
above, but such is certainly not the case with the following :—Col. Russell, writing
to Mr. Hope in Aug., 1884, says : " One of the Mussetts of West Mersea was in
the Goose-shooting in the fog about Christmas last ; the lot got some 160 Geese
altogether ; only one young one. I thought there were no young ones by their
behaviour in Holland and on the Main." I have heard of even larger "bags"
than the foregoing, but probably they are apocryphal. Other references to the
great abundance of this species on our coast have been already given (p. 49).
In 1879, a number (the first seen that season) were observed making for the Stour
on January 21st (Chelmsford Chronicle, Jan. 24). In 1880, the first were observed
on the Essex coast on October 6th. On the 20th, a hundred or more, were seen on
the Buxey Sands (42). Mr. Hope writes : " They arrive about the 12th October.
I have never seen them inland except when lost in a fog. They leave about the
middle of May." Mr. Kerry, however, says (40. iii. 306), that in 1879 many
were still to be seen round Harwich on May 15th, when most of them had paired.
He fancied they might be breeding, but this is altogether unlikely. Many were
still about our coasts on May 25th (29, June 7). In 1882, the Rev. M. C. H.
Bird saw two off Canvey Island as late as May 2nd. Dr. Laver describes it as
" excessively numerous in some years "round Paglesham, and Mr. Benton, writing
of the South Hall Marshes at Paglesham, says (35. 440) " formerly great quantities
of Geese, locally called ' Scotch Brants,' which are something less than Grey Geese,
used to make choice of the surrounding swamps for feeding grounds, but they have
not been seen for some years."
As a rule they keep to " the Main " or the open sea, but Mr. Atkinson writes :
" I have occasionally seen a ' Black Goose ' in the larger arteries of the saltings
at Tollesbury." One was seen about the brook here during a spell of hard
weather in December, 1878, and a pair were seen to fly out of the brook near this
house on Jan. 10th following, while the weather was still severe. On October
14th, 1879, my brother Cuthbert shot the male of a pair feeding in the brook
Cann close to this house. I have the bird still. From their comparative tame-
ness, I can only think that they had escaped from some, preserved water.
Mr. Cordeaux, writing in 1887, says (40. xi. 152): "Some years since Col.
Russell sent me a fine White-bellied Brent, shot by himself on the Essex coast,
accompanied by some interesting and exhaustive notes as to the two races and
their comparative abundance and scarcity in various years." Essex specimens of
both the white- and dark-bellied varieties are among the birds collected by the
late Col. Russell, while some very interesting remarks upon the two races are