INTRODUCTION. 5 



supports a considerable flora of saline-loving plants ; but the " salt- 

 ings " are everywhere intersected by innumerable dykes or ditches, 

 which are iilled by every tide, and which slowly empty again as the 

 tide falls, leaving a wide expanse of soft mud. Our Essex marshes 

 and saltings are chiefly found around the mouths and estuaries of 

 our larger rivers. They are most extensive at the mouths of the 

 Crouch, Blackwater and Colne. Here, during August and Sep- 

 , tember, and again in May, when the thousands of wading birds 

 which breed further to the north are on migration, the marshes, saltings 

 and the extensive mud-flats outside them, literally swarm with many 

 different species, as the receding tide leaves uncovered their favourite 

 feeding-grounds. Here also many rare waders have from time to 

 time been met with. 



(5.) The Open Sea round our coast can perhaps not strictly be 

 claimed as part of Essex, but to all intents and purposes it is so. 

 During the summer-time, our seas are singularly devoid of bird-life, 

 inasmuch as we have none of those rocky and precipitous eminences 

 which form the breeding-places of those birds which chiefly frequent 

 the open sea, such as gulls, guillemots, razorbills, cormorants, 

 gannets, &c. ; but, from autumn to early spring, these birds are 

 usually to be found in greater or less numbers, while ducks, wild 

 geese, and sometimes wild swans, often appear in great numbers, 

 especially during severe weather. 



{I?.) Previous Essex Bird-Lists. 



The number of local lists of birds relating to Essex which have 

 already appeared is remarkably small, considering the large number 

 of notes and scattered observations which may be met with in general 

 works on Natural History. Those which deserve special mention are 

 Edward Doubleday's List of Eppmg Birds (15), W. D. King's List 

 of Sudbury Birds (20), and Mr. George Day's articles on The Birds 

 if Essex (41). Almost all other items of information that have been 

 published are more of the nature of " notes " than systematic lists. 



(<r.) Light-houses and' Light Vessels. 



A large amount of work still remains to be done in recording 

 the movements of the birds appearing at the various light-ships 

 and lighthouses along our coast. From the position occupied by 

 our coast-line, right in the main stream of migration, very valuable 

 results might be expected from a systematic record of occurrences. 



