142 



THE BIRDS OF ESSEX, 



just as plentiful in spring time. They resort very much to the saltings, * * * 

 1 costing there at nights. They may also constantly be seen at some distance 

 from the shore, picking up sandworms on the fore-shore after the tide has left it. 

 1 have never seenAtauda arvensis resort so much to the sea-coast as it does here.'' 



On May 13th, 1881, I witnessed a very extraordinary occurrence near Saffron 

 Walden. I was walking with a friend across a ploughed field when a Sky Lark 

 suddenly flew up from beneath his feet. Looking down, we saw its nest contain- 

 ing young. On the edge of the nest lay the feathers of the bird's tail, upon 

 which my friend had unconsciously trodden, and she, springing up, had left them 

 behind. I have them yet. Mr. Sackett writes that round Orsett "great num- 

 bers were drowned by the extensive flood on August 2nd, 1888. When shooting on 

 the 4th of that month, he noticed many floating on the submerged marshes." The 

 Rev. M. C. H. Bird informs me that, on April 24th, 1882, he found three abnor- 

 mal w/iite eggs in a nest on Canvey Island. 



About the middle of January, 188 1, a cream-coloured variety was shot 

 close to Saffron Walden, and in the Museum is a specimen in unusually light 

 plumage shot there and presented many years since by Mr. G. Bullock. Mr. 

 Hastings Warren, of Little Dunmow, informs me that, for several years in suc- 

 cession, he observed a remarkably light-coloured specimen in the fields round his 

 house. " W. IL P." records a white specimen, all except a few pied feathers on 

 the top of the head and the wings, shot by him at Chesterford Park on Sept. 

 1st, 1870 (29. Sept. 10). 



Wood Lark : Alauda ai-horea. 



Formerly a rare and local resident in the Epping Forest and Saf- 

 fron Walden districts, but it seems of late years to have, for some 

 ^^-._ ^^- _ unknown reason, 



disappeared from 

 those localities, 

 and I have not 

 heard of the oc- 

 currence of more 

 than a single speci- 

 men in the county 

 for years. 



Henry ■ Doubleday 

 writes (10) in 1832 : 

 •' The Wood Lark 

 seems to have become 

 very rare. I never 

 saw it alive wild, and 

 never could procure 

 a specimen." However, in June, 1839, he wrote (10), " The Wood Lark is 

 rapidly increasing. They sing most delightfully of an evening." In March, 

 1840, he says (10), " We have a number of Wood Larks about this spring, but I 

 fear the London bird-catchers will thin them," Again, a month later, he wrote 

 " We have a great many Wood Larks." Its name occurs without comment in 

 Edward Doubleday's list of Epping birds (15), and in 1880 English includeddt as 



WOOD LARK, 



