NOTES ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. 



333 



pp. cHx.-clxiv.) Ra}' himself died at Dewlands on Wednesday, 

 January 17th, 1704-5, and was buried in the churchyard of 

 Black Notley. The position of Ray as one of the pioneers of 

 natural science stands now supreme, and this aspect of his varied 

 labours was admirably expounded by Prof. Boulger in his 

 address on " The Life and Work of John Ray, and their relation 

 to the progress of science " in the Transactions of the Club, vol. 

 iv., pp. 171-188. The London Standard had an appreciative 

 leading article on the great naturalist on the occasion of the 

 destruction of Dewlands, in which it was said " the very men 

 who superseded his work have been among the first to bear 

 testimony to the value of his labours. He opened the way for 

 others, in what was an almost tractless forest. A recent 

 continental authority declares that in one of his books Ray 

 ' wrote in the style of a modern text-book ' and that he 

 ' possessed an exceptional power of distinguishing the relation- 

 ships of the vegetable kingdom. His accurate observations and 

 systematic descriptions receive universal praise.' * * ■'■ If 

 we cannot claim for Ray quite so high a position in natural 

 history as his junior, Isaac Newton, occupied in mathematics 

 and physics, he was a man of whom English science may well 

 be proud." 



Essex is indeed poorer by the loss of a relic so closely 

 bound up with the life of one of her most illustrious sons 



NOTES-ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. 

 ZOOLOGY. 



A VES. 



Nutcracker at Bradwell. -On October 27th a fine specimen of the 

 Nutcracker (Niici/raga duyocatactes) was shot in this parish. It is now in the 

 possession of Mr. Clement W. Parker, who has had it set itp by Ashmead, of 

 Bishopsgate. Essex Weekly NezDS, November 2nd, 1900. 



Mobbed by Woodpigeons. — Mr. A. W. Ruggles Brise, of Spains Hall, 

 Finchingfield, communicated the following to the Field. — " On December 

 22nd, igoo, a phenomenal fog and darkness overspread this neighbourhood 

 from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., unprecedented within the memory of the oldest 

 inhabitant. Several labourers on the estate lost their waj' home, and were 

 obliged to shout for help, and got home by the aid of a lantern, taking some 

 hours to do so. My head keeper, who, with myself and others, had been out 

 shooting all day, had the greatest difficulty in getting home, even on the road, 



