42 NOTES — ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. 



ascertain the cause, and in the hollow of the tree he saw a fine, full-grown otter. 

 He fired at the creature, but only succeeded in slightly wounding it, and it bolted 

 down its run into the river. After an exciting chase, the otter was lost sight of 

 for nearly two hours, when Mr. Cocks again found it, crouched up among the 

 roots of the tree. With the aid of two men, the hole down into the river was 

 wired over, and Mr. Cocks once more took aim at the otter, and this time killed 

 it. It was found to be a male, and weighs I3lbs. Mr. Cocks has decided to have 

 it stuffeJ. P.C. Brown, of Heybridge, states that he has seen two otters about 

 the same spot." — " Essex Herald," February i6th. 



Chelmsford. — "On Wednesday morning, Albert Wheeler, groom to Mr. Garrad 

 Baker, observed a young otter in the river Chelmer, which runs at the foot of his 

 master's garden. After one or two fruitless efforts, he succeeded in pinning the 

 animal down between the tines of a stable fork, and he then killed it by a blow on 

 the head. The otter weighed 81bs. On the same day Mr. A. T. Aldham, of 

 Tower House, Springfield, shot two otters, weighing about islbs, near the spot 

 where Wheeler killed the first otter." — "Essex Weekly News," Februarj^ 19th. 



" Eagles " in Essex. — Mr. P'rench, of Felstead, writes (December 5th) : — 

 "An eagle has been seen (surrounded with a quantity of rooks) at Lindsell within 

 the last fortnight ;" and, later (December 22nd), he reported that "the bird still 

 haunts the locality, and evades all efforts, backed with a £'^ reward, for its 

 capture, dead or alive. It roosted several nights in Great Hall Wood, at Bard- 

 field, and folks were quite unable to conjecture what it was, as its wings appeared 

 to droop whilst perching. The conclusion come to was that it was an ' old sack,' 

 by some means transferred to the top of the tree. One person, name forgotten, 

 is said to have seen it swoop down and take one of his hens. It was seen on 

 Saturday last at Little Bardfield. Should not the county papers be asked to 

 make an appeal for the preservation of this noble bird ? At present the only 

 care is to ' bring it down.' " 



[It is probable that this is the bird referred to in the following paragraph in 

 the " Essex County Chronicle " of December nth : — " A large eagle has been seen 

 hovering over poultry-yards at Stebbing and other places in the neighbourhood 

 during the last few days. Several fowls are said to have fallen a prey to this 

 unusual visitor. The eagle is described as of a rusty-black colour. Attempts 

 have been made to shoot it, but we have not heard that any one has succeeded." 

 The species has not been determined, but it is quite possible that the bird was 

 a spotted eagle, two specimens of which have occurred in Essex — at Elmstead and 

 Leigh (Essex Naturalist, vol. v., p. 218). An unusual number of raptorial 

 migrants have been seen in East Anglia during the winter. A spotted eagle was 

 shot at Wickham Market, Suffolk , in November (see " Field," November 28th), and 

 the Rev. J. G. Tuck records (Zool., January and March, 1891) many rough-legged 

 Buzzards from Cambridgeshire and Suffolk, a Hen Harrier from Cambridgeshire, 

 Peregrines, a young Merlin at Bury, and a White-tailed Eagle at Rushbrook, &c. 

 Short-eared Owls have been abundant, and such an immigration of Rough-legged 

 Buzzards has not occurred since 1876. — Ed.] 



RavetTi at Felstead. — A raven has been observed here, at Felstead, within 

 the last month. The bird is so rare in the neighbourhood that many folks were 

 unable to tell what it was. — J. FRENCH, Felstead, December 5th, 1891. 



