204
THE BIRDS OF ESSEX.
Mr. J, H. Gurney jun., has the wing of one killed on Jul)' 22nd, 1884, at
the Swin Middle L.V. Mr. Robert Page has a pair, taken in his Decoy at Marsh
House. Mr. Pettitt preserved a couple of males, shot by Mr. Robert Pettitt,
of Paglesham, on the Hyde Marshes, North Fambridge, on Mar. 14th, 1890.
Teal : Querquedula crecca*
Best known as a common winter visitor, especially to the marshes
near the coast, but also a resident, breeding with us in small and
apparently decreasing numbers. In some seasons, large numbers
are taken in the Decoys.
To Harwich, in 1851, Lindsey described it (27. App. 62) as
" an early and constant winter visitor, making its appearance by the end of
September, sometimes sooner,and remaining till spring has made considerable pro-
gress." He adds that their numbers are " constantly recruited through the winter
months by additional arrivals from the northern parts of Europe, and our markets,
in consequence, obtain a regular supply from the various decoys and other modes
of capture."
King, in 1838, says (20) it was then " not uncommon " around Sudbury, and
Mr. Clarke, about 1845, described it (24) as being then " not uncommon"
round Walden. Mr. Andrew Marriage has one shot by himself at Little
Baddow in the winter of 1874, when in company with two others. Mr. Buxton
says (47. 97) "several frequented the Wanstead Park waters in the spring of
1883, and in the following spring, I saw a single bird on Connaught Water."
This bird was also observed by others (44. iv. lxxviii). Daniel says (6. ii. 472)
that he turned out some which he had received from the Decoys, upon the ponds
at Little Waltham Hall, after having pinioned them, and that they bred there.
As regards its breeding at large in the county generally, the Rev. J. C. Atkin-
son writes (36. 145) :—" When I was a boy, I heard of nests, almost annually, on
some of the [Essex] marshes I knew most familiarly." A nest of five eggs was
taken on the marshes near Tollesbury in June, 1883, by my brother. Round
Harwich, it is common and breeds (Kerry). In the Paglesham district, too, it
breeds " almost every season " (Wiseman). On our coast, however, it seems de-
creasing in numbers as a breeding bird. Mr. J. May, who has known the Old
Hall Marshes, Tollesbury, for upwards of forty years, informs me that in his young
days he remembered seeing as many as thirty pairs of Teal breeding there, but
they have for some time been gradually becoming scarcer. In 1887, he knew of
two nests, but in 1888 he feels certain there was not one on the 1,700 acres, or
thereabouts, under his supervision. It seems to be the same on Northey Island,
where Mr. Fitch states (50. ii. 198) that " none have bred for the last three years."
Its breeding in the inland parts of our county is very unusual, but in the
summer of 1886, a pair nested in the osier-ground beside the brook Cann at
Writtle. My cousin, Mr. R. W. Christy, saw the old birds repeatedly during the
early spring, and up to the middle of April. During the summer, the nest,
which contained broken egg-shells, was found by a man named Thomas Perry.
* The Bimaculated Duck (Querquedula bimaculata) is a spurious species, described from a
cross between a Teal and a Wild Duck, which used to appear on the British List. Yarrell says
(Zoological Journal, i. 585 ; and 14. iii. 166) that the male and female from which he took " his
description " were sent up from a Decoy near Maldon in " Essex, to Leadenhall Market in the
winter of 1812-13." They were there observed by Mr. George Weighton, a professional natural-
ist, who purchased and preserved them. They afterwards passed into Yarrell's own Collection,
and are now in the British Museum, labelled " ? Maldon."