NOTES. 75 



be urged on tlie other side. " Lopping" :ind " topping '' of pollards had been 

 stopped ; we had lost the beautiful effects of the brown leaves remaining on until 

 the spring greenery appeared ; while some of the best of the distant views were 

 hidden (as, for instance, from the spot where they were then assembled) by the 

 fifteen or twenty feet of growth that the pollards had now to bear. He feared 

 that this increasing weight would prove too much for some of the old stems, and, 

 as in several parks in Hertfordshire, they would be broken by wind or falls of 

 snow. 



Mr. Gellatly seconded the vote of thanks, which was carried by acclamation, 

 and Prof. Boulger having briefly acknowledged the compliment, the members of 

 the party made their way in quest of tea to Copt Hall Green P'arm (the " Rose 

 and Crown "), where, in a little hall in the garden (by the side of the Cobbin 

 Brook) that refreshing meal awaited them. 



After tea, an Ordinary Meeting (the 132nd), was held. Prof. R. Meldola, 

 \'ice-President, in the chair. The meeting was intended for the proposal of new 

 members, but a short discussion was initiated by the chairman on the growth of 

 the hornbeam after lopping, in which Prof. Boulger took part, and Mr. W. Cole 

 reminded the members the hornbeam formed a large part of the woodlands near 

 Monken Hadly, near Barnett, on the other side of the Lea \'alley. 



The meeting shortly afterwards broke up, the members walking or driving 

 through the forest to Theydon Bois, Loughton, Chingford, etc. 



NOTES-ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. 



Ancient Red Deer's Skull found at Colchester. — In excavating for the 

 new cellar of ihe " Nelson's Head," \Vest Stockwell Street, Colchester, the work- 

 men came upon a quantity of pottery, building materials, and other rubbish of the 

 Roman period. Amongst this rubbish was the portion of the skull and antlers 

 of the Red Deer. This ii, I think, worthy of a note, from its massiveness com- 

 pared with the heads of deer of the present day. The measurements are : circum- 

 ference of the permanent bony base, below the burr, 7 inches ; just above the 

 burr, 9 inches ; above the brow antler, 9^ inches ; around the bez antler, 5^ 

 inches ; between the bases of the antlers, close to the skull, 3 inches ; across the 

 occiput, just above ihe foramen magnum, 6^ inches. I could not get a satisfactory 

 measurement across the eyes, in consequence of the damaged state of the skull, 

 but it must have been considerable. The circumference of either the brow or bez 

 tines, would be quite equal to the beam of the antler of a Scotch deer of the present 

 time. The development of these ancient deer may, I suppose, in a great 

 measure, be accounted for by the plentiful supply of good pasturage they could 

 obtain in the extensive forests of that age. — Henry Layer, F.L.S., Colchester., 

 May 7th, 1892. 



Rooks Deserting Old Homes. — Some four or five years ago, when an 

 estate near Great Bardfiel J changed hands, a group of oaks standing in a pasture 

 were rather conspicuously marked and numbered for felling. These trees were 

 the ancestral homes of a colony of Rooks, who, generation after generation had 

 built their nests upon the upmost branches, and year after year had reared their 

 families there. Can anyone tell me why, when the trees were marked, these 



(; 2 



