THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. 



103 



Hall — [her heart is said to be enclosed in an altar-tomb at East Horndon] — 

 but more probably it is of a later date, and in some way connected with the 

 pulling down of Woodham Walter Hall, about 1700, by William Fytch, an 

 Alderman of Maldon, who presented the portrait of Queen Anne which still 

 hangs in the Council Chamber of the Moot Hall. 



The supposed site of the Old Church, about 150 yards to the N. of the 

 remains of the Hall, was pointed out, as also the building, the last place where 

 the Duke of St. Albans, as Lord High Falconer of England, had his Hawks' 

 iVIews. 



A short rest, and then the walk (too long, perhaps, on such a sultry day) was 

 continued to the ancient town of Maldon. 



' A struggling burgh of ancient charter known 

 And dignified by battlements and towers." 



-Wordsworth. 



And after a welcome cup of tea, the return to various stations in Essex was made 

 by the seven o'clock train. 



YouxG Night-jars in Long Wood, Danburv. 

 Sketched by H. A. Cole. 



Many birds and insects were noticed during the excursion, but none that call 

 for special mention, excepting the pair of young fledgling Night-jars (" Goat- 

 suckers " or " Fern-owls," Caprimulgus europcvus) that Mr. Smoothy pointed out 

 upon the ground in Long Wood. A few weeks before, when the spot had been 

 visited by Messrs. Fitch, Crouch, Durrant, and John Freeman, the eggs had been 

 shown, lying quite exposed on a bare " nest " on the ground, yet perfectly pro- 

 tected by the similarity of colouring to the surrounding soil ; now it was with 

 considerable difficulty that some of our members, not accustomed to bird observa- 

 tion, could be shown this attractive sight, so well were the young birds protected 

 by resemblance to the ground on which they lay. They were upon the bare 

 ground, with no attempt at a nest, although the broken egg-shells out of which 

 they had hatched were still lying beside them. The crouching attitude of the 

 young fledglings, and the solicitous wheeling around of the parent birds, much 

 troubled at our intrusion, were the admiration of all for some minutes. 



