io6 



THE BIRDS OF ESSEX, 



" It is very common in Essex. I have reared young birds, and have copious 

 notes. I have seen the old birds kill as many as 5ve field-mice in one day. They 

 lift the mouse up on their beaks and hitch it on to a thorn and then pull it 

 downwards with all their weight and strength. I think they are put on thorns 

 for the convenience of eating at the time, as they seldom finish any animal. 

 They can kill another bird, or one another, by one stroke of the bill." 



'Woodchat Shrike: Lanius pomeranus. 



A rare and irregular summer visitor to England. I only know 

 of a single instance on record of its having been actually obtained in 

 Essex. 



Mr. Ambrose tells me that seven 

 - j P~^— _ teen or eighteen years ago he saw 



an undoubted specimen one Sunday 

 afternoon in the Colchester High- 

 woods, but he had no gun at the time. 

 Mr. Travis records (44. i. Ixiii.) 

 that on August 27th, 1880, he re- 

 ceived for preservation " a pair 

 of Woodchat Shrikes shot by a 

 man named Jeffrey, between Elm- 

 don and Arkesden. A boy driving 

 sheep into Walden was accosted by 

 Jeffrey, who had a gun. He gave 

 the birds to the boy, remarking 

 that they were ' a pretty pair, and 

 perhaps the birdstuffer might give 

 something for them.' " Mr. Travis adds, " I received them within two hours of 

 their death, quite fresh and hardly stiff. These are the first specimens of this very 

 rare bird I have heard of as occurring in Essex." I have personally inspected 

 these specimens, which are undoubtedly a fine pair, male and female. 



Mr. Pettitt informs me that, some years ago, on a farm near Mark's Tey, 

 held by his uncle, Mr. Bickmore, the late Dr. E. G. Varenne saw a pair of 

 birds which he pronounced to be male and female of this species. Dr. 

 Varenne is now dead, but as he was a good naturalist, the record is worthy of 

 some credence. 



WOODCHAT SHRIKE, JJlak, J^. 



Family AMPELID^. 



Waxwing : Ampelis garrulus. 



A rare and irregular winter visitor, though it sometimes appears 

 in considerable numbers, as in the years 1835, 1849-50, 1866, &c. 



Mr. Clarke mentions (24) two specimens from Saffron Walden (both now 

 in the museum there ?), a male shot in August, 1835, the other about 1838. 

 Yarrell says one (30. i. 417) was killed by Mr. Clarke out of a fiock. Mr. 

 C, Walford records (19. 57) that several were shot ai Braxted, one at Terling, 

 and another at Kelvedon in or about 1838. King describes it (20) as "a very 

 rare visitant" to Sudbury. Newman records (23. 2767) specimens from 

 Chelmsford, Rainham, and many other localities round London in the third 



