NOTES--ORl(;iNAI, AND SFJ.I'XTED. 203 



phenomenon." And again Mr. French wrote on Nov. i6th : " A nest of Rooks of 

 about a fortnight old is now perched upon a tall elm tree in the village of Fel- 

 stead. The nest is evidently an object of much interest to many Rooks, who daily 

 visit it — partly perhaps on account of the untinielj' season, and partly perhaps on 

 account of the experimental situation of the nest ; this, with one exception, 

 being the only nest which has produced young ones on that clump of trees, 

 although experiments have been made annually for more than ten years. Its 

 exposed situation has always proved disastrous to the nest, and I have invariably 

 noticed that the twigs have been completely blown away before sitting commenced. 

 The one exception is the nest which produced the Rooks late in the summer of 

 this year, of which I have sent a notice. It escaped observation until quite 

 recently. The thick foliage as against the bare twigs of March seem to act as a pro- 

 tection, as the great storm of last Wednesda}' did not affect this nest." 



Grey Phalarope and Common Skua at Bradwell-on-Sea. — Mr. R. G. 

 Owen, of Trent College, Nottingham, writes that single specimens of these un- 

 common birds were sent to him from Bradwell in the last week in October. 



Oysters and Mussels in the Crouch in 1891. — ■" The oyster spat this year 

 has been, contrarj* to early prognostications, a very poor one. Mussels are found 

 everywhere in great abundance. Were they to confine themselves to their recog- 

 nised quarters, viz., the mussel banks some miles from the mouth of the river, 

 little cause would be felt for complaint. The oyster layings are, however, infested 

 with the mussels bunched together with rock, shells, and weed, which causes them 

 to gather large quantities of mud in their vicinity. If disregarded this would 

 speedily choke the oj'sters, and consequently much time has to be spent in lifting 

 them up from the deposit. The oyster, unlike the mussel, has no power to change 

 its position. The latter is capable of erecting itself on edge and going forward 

 with a slow laborious irotion. If thrown into a lake separately mussels are some- 

 times taker, in bunches of many together. As an instance of the rapidity with 

 which these animals collect mud, a bushel of mussels was put down upon a clean 

 sandy foreshore, and at the end of two months they were found 13'ing on the 

 surface of two feet of mud. The season for mussels is from July to October." — 

 Essex County Chronicle. 



A Hunt for " Swallow-tails." — "On Saturda3^the members of the Felstead 

 School Natural History Society made an excursion to Wicken Fen, Cambridge, 

 which is about the only piece of wild fen of any extent left in England, and 

 almost the only known home of the beautiful swallow-tail butterfly in this coun- 

 try. The party, which numbered between thirty and forty, was conducted by the 

 Rev. E. Gepp, Hon. Sec. of the Society, and accompanied by Mr. J. F. Martin and 

 Mr. F. H. Meggy. The spoils of the day included about twenty specimens of the 

 swallow-tail i^Papilio machaon'), the hog's fennel (^Peucedanum paluslre), on which 

 the caterpillar of the swallow-tail feeds, the marsh fern {Lastna l/ie/yfiteris'), great 

 spearwort (^Ranunculus lingua), flowering rush (^Bu/omus uml/ella/us), &.c. Return- 

 ing by water to Clay Hithe, full justice was done to a substantial meal prepared 

 there, after which the party entrained, and reached Felstead about seven p.m., 

 immensely pleased w iih the day's expedition." — Esse.v County Chronicle, July icih, 

 1891. 



Melampyrum arvense in Essex. — I have received from Mr. F^dwin E. 

 Turner a specimen of .Melampyrum arvense. It was found at Faulkbourne near 

 the Fairstead Road. This is an uncommon plant, only being recorded for two 

 localities in our count}-. — J. C. She.nstone, Colchester. 



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