American Bittern Botaurus lentiginosus: an historic first for Essex
A. stellaris Com Bittern m Norfolk JhC
f Cambs Thos Smith
There is also a hand-written, pencil entry with no details:
A. lentiginosus American Bittern
If the qualifying note on page 156 is correct, then the Museum received its first Bitterns from Joseph
Clarke (Norfolk) and Thomas Smith (Cambs). These were both presumably stuffed by Stephen
Salmon 1833-34, as confirmed by both (A) and (B) above plus (F), Stephen Salmon's taxidermy
label below.
(E) 'Travers and Incidents' A hand-written, itemised, summary taxidermy bill
A thin, white rectangle of paper is glued to the back of page 4a entitled "Travers and Incidents". This
is a summary of other nearby taxidermy labels and lists in inked hand-writing birds mounted by
Travers, amongst which is a batch entry costing £1 0 0 including a Bittern:
Bittern, stone-curlew, Sil cock and hen & chicks. Grosbeak etc 10 0
No dates or other details are given.
Joseph Clarke's comment on the Crossbill label (C) was "An uncertain visitant. One killed about
1825."
Historically, therefore this must be the first reference of specimen #479 with Travers the taxidermist,
the £10 0 price tag and J.G (Jabez Gibson) all linked by this label. The 'expensive' £10 0 price tag
is also explained, as the Bittern was clearly part of a batch consisting of at least seven birds. The £1
0 0 price ties in with the Scientific Order (A) and Valuations (B) with Jabez Gibson (donor) and
Travers (artist) also confirmed.
There is therefore strong circumstantial and corroborative evidence that this itemised bill must have
been written in 1826 with the £1 0 0 Bittern, referenced above in (A) and (B), and the Crossbill, both
shot in 1826.
(F) 'Birds stuffed 1833&4 'An itemised taxidermy label written by Stephen Salmon
Pasted to the back of page 4a is another label listing 357 birds stuffed by SS (Stephen Salmon). At
the bottom of the fourth page are two inked, hand-written enuies for Bitterns as follows (?=illegible
character, S—Specimen):
S Bittern T????? Smith
S Greylag Goose
198 S Bittern male
This therefore confirms Stephen Salmon as the taxidermist for the two Bitterns donated respectively
by Joseph Clarke, the male from Norfolk, and by Thos Smith, the Bittern from Cambridgeshire. The
date of 1833-4 fits in well with (A) and (B).
An Abridged Catalogue of Saffron Walden Museum written by Joseph Clarke (1845)
28
Essex Naturalist (New Series) 19 (2002)