232 THE BIRDS OF ESSEX.
Order LIMICOLAE.
Family CEDICNEMIDAE.
Stone-Curlew: OEdicnemus scolopax. Locally " Norfolk
Plover."
A somewhat-uncommon summer visitor to England, breeding only
locally. In Essex, although it seems formerly to have bred not un-
commonly, it now only does so in one locality, so far as I know, and
is best known as an infrequent passing migrant in spring and
autumn, though specimens have occasionally been met with in
Essex in winter.
Parsons says (21) :—"In Essex, probably from a want of sufficient open
country for it, it is only a passing and uncertain visitant." Speaking of their
occurrence in England in winter, he says, "A friend and neighbour of mine
residing at Shoebury in Essex shot one in a field near the coast in that parish on
Jan. 10th, 1832.* I have also known a few others killed in that part of the
county late in the season—one of them in the middle of November." In a later
note he adds, " In the vicinity of the Essex coast, I have known them to occur
in every month from September to March, and [they are] generally seen there
in severe frosts. Five about Shoebury, Dec, 1844 ; hard frost." Writing from
Epping in 1835, Edward Doubleday says (15) : "On calm, moonlight evenings
in spring we frequently hear the call of this interesting bird as it passes over at
a considerable height. I never knew of more than one specimen being killed in
this parish." With all respect to Mr. Doubleday, I cannot help thinking that
he probably mistook the curious nocturnal call of the Moorhen for the note of
this species. Henry Doubleday (10), mentions some which flew over Epping
in the middle of March, 1841, and English includes it (43. i. 24) as an occasional
visitor. Mr. Buxton says (47. 93) : "I saw this bird on the 21st April, 1883,
on one of the open 'plains' in the Fairmead Thicket [Epping Forest]. When
it rose it flew a few yards only and re-alighted. * * * A young bird of this
species was captured on the borders of the Lower Forest." More (33. 430),
in 1865, could find no authority for its breeding in Essex, nor, in all probability,
has it ever bred in the county since that date, except in one locality. That it had
previously done so, however, seems certain, for Mr. Clarke, writing of the Saffron
Walden district about 1845, says (24) it "occasionally breeds here"—meaning
presumably, on the wide open downs north and west of the town, round
Heydon and Chrishall. I am informed by Mr. J. P. Nunn, of Royston, that it
* This specimen, which is still in the Parsons Collection, is labelled as having been shot by
Mr. H. M. Mason in a ploughed field at Shoebury.