151 



NOTES— ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. 



Remarkable Tale of a Fox. — The county newspapers of Dec. 8th, 1893, 

 printed the following : — " Three remarkable robberies have taken place at 

 Tillingham. During a recent Sunda}' night Mr. Joseph English, bu^^cher, lost a 

 brown blanket from off his cart, which was standing in a shed on his premises. 

 During the following Friday night he lost a blanket and a whip, and on the 

 Monday night he lost a blanket, a whip, and a nosebag — all from the same place. 

 On the Tuesday morning he gave information to P. C. Collins, of Tillingham, who 

 subsequently ascertained that the blanket, whip, and nosebag, which were lost on 

 Monday night, had been picked up by Mr. Thomas Peacocke, of Tillingham, 

 baker, who found them scattered about in his meadow early on Tuesda}' morning. 

 He then searched the hedge and ditch which divide Mr. English's premises from 

 Mr. Peacocke's meadow, and near a hole in the hedge, where dogs are in the habit 

 of going through, he found the whip which was lost during Friday night, but was 

 still unable to gain any trace of the thief. In company with P.C. Taylor, of 

 Bradwell-on-Sea, Collins continued making inquiries throughout the day, but 

 obtained no clue to the thief. On returning home in the evening P.C. Collins 

 again examined the blanket and nosebag, when he noticed in them a strong scent 

 of a fox, which at once caused him to suspect that Master Reynard had committed 

 this robbery. He then called the attention of Mr. English and several others to 

 it, and they all expressed themselves perfectly satisfied that the scent was that of 

 a fox. Again during Tuesday night (29th November) Mr. English was paid 

 another visit by something, which dragged a sack containing about a peck of oats 

 out of his shed, down his garden, and left it in the direction where the other 

 articles were found. On Wednesday night, shortly after twelve o'clock, P C. 

 Collins was watching on Mr. English's premises, when he saw a fox come into his 

 yard. It had a good look round, and a smell round the slaughter-house, and then 

 it went into the cartshed, jumped up into the cart, and again had another look 

 round. Finding nothing there, it came out and pulled a large empty sack from 

 off the chaff-cutting machine and dragged it out of the yard into Mr. English's 

 garden, where he dropped it and ran off. This was quite sufficient to satisf}' 

 ever\'body that the thief is a four-legged one. This fox appears to think that he 

 wants a whip for the hounds, as well as the huntsman." 



The Cry of the Wood-Pigeon. — A contributor to "Notes and Queries" 

 (8th S., vi., 252) gives an interesting contribution referring to the well known idea 

 that the cry of the bird includes the w-ords " Take two cows, Taffy." He writes 

 under the signature J. B. B. as follows : 



" I have heard birds in the same wood leave off at all parts of this cry. A 

 curious thing connec ed with it is this, that the bird invariably begins where it 

 left off. For instance, if it simply cries ' Take,' it will begin next time at ' two 

 cows, Taffy,' I have heard this over and over again." 



Have any of our Essex readers noticed the peculiarities of the wood-pigeon's 

 I cry? — I. C. Gould, Loughton. 



A travelling Sparrow's Nest. — "A sparrow's nest, containing five eggs, 

 was the other day discovered between the Westinghouse brake of one of the 

 London, Tilbury, and Southend Railway Company's carriages and the bottom of 

 the carriage. The nest was not disturbed, and the eggs have now been hatched. 



