ARDEID.^— HERONS. 187 



AVenden in 1S26, one shot by Lord Braybrooke at Audley End in 1S31, and a 

 female (now in the Audley End Collection) shot by Mr. G. Webb at Wenden on 

 Jan. loth, 1849. Henry Doubleday, writing from Epping on Jan. 19th, 1832, 

 says (10) " a fine Bittern was shot here yesterday — a singular place for such a 

 bird." Edward Doubleday, writing in 1835, says (15) it "has occurred here but 

 once." " J. C", of Witham, records (12. vii. p. 511) one shot at Maldon about 

 Feb. 6th, 1834. He adds, " Bitterns are not unfrequently met with upon the 

 marshes by the side of the river which runs to that town." Yarrell says (25. ii. 

 541), "specimens are not unfrequently shot from some of the numerous beds of 

 reeds growing by the sides of the Thames on the shores of Kent and Essex." Mr. 

 H. Barclay records one (23. 2771) shot at Walthamstow in Jan., 1S50. It rose 

 first from among some cabbages in a garden. Major Edward Taylor, of 

 Bishop's Stortford has one shot there about 1850. Mr. David Christ}', of Patch- 

 ing Hall, has one shot by himself beside the Chelmer at Broomfield about the 

 winter of i860. C. E. Smith, of Coggeshall, says (31. 52) that it was "heard 

 booming in the plantations that skirt the river [Blackwater] during the winter of 

 1856." Mr. Scruby informs me of one shot at Stanford Rivers about i860. Mr. 

 Geo. Withers records a fine male killed out of a sedgy pond in the neighbourhood 

 of VVanstead Flats in Feb., 1864 (29. Feb. 20). One was shot at The Spieney 

 on the Chelmer, Dec. 23rd, 1879 {^Chelmsford Chronicle^ Jan. 9). One was shot 

 on the Stour about Dec. 15th, 1879, during a spell of hard weather, by a 

 puntsman named Chas. Porter, of Manningtree {Chelmsford Chronicle, Dec. 19). 

 One is recorded to have been killed near Tillingham in January, 1879 

 {Chelmsford Chronicle, Jan. 31). Dr. Bree records three killed in Essex in 

 the winter of 1879-S0, one near the Musketry Station, Colchester (29. Jan- 

 10), now in Mr. J. Round's Collection. M'r.;G. A. Thompson, of Fobbing, shot 

 one on the marshes below Tilbury, opposite Thames Haven, on Nov. 22nd, 1879 

 (29. Nov. 29). One was shot near Maldon in March, 1883. Mr. Hope has a speci- 

 men shot by a miller at Ilford in the snow at Christmas, 1872, and another shot at 

 Harwich in Jan., 1886. Mr. Buxton mentions one (47. 96), "killed a few years 

 ago by the stream adjoining Wanstead Park." The Rev. J. W. Maitland, of 

 Loughton, has a fine male which he believes to be the last specimen killed in 

 Epping Forest. It was purchased at Doubleday's sale for 75s. and was shot at 

 Coopersale by the Rev. C. B. Abdy. Mr. Leonard Saunders, of Maldon, shot a 

 male in a wood at Woodham Ferris on Jan. 31st, 1886 {Chelmsford Chronicle, Feb. 

 6). Mr. E. A. Fitch informs me that his grandfather, Mr. Daniel Pannell, shot 

 three on Sturmer Mere, and his uncle, Mr. Thos. Pannell, another at the same 

 place, all about the year 1850. About 1882, Mr. Wm. Sewell shot one, which he 

 still has, on the Marsh Farm, Tillingham, and about 1886, another was caught 

 alive near the adjacent Decoy and was forwarded to the Zoological Gardens, where 

 I believe it still is. Mr. Walter B. Nicholls, of Lawford Hall, has one shot some 

 years ago on the Stour, and on Dec. 7th, 1889, Mr. Dale, of St. Osyth, shot a fine 

 male in good condition there (Pettitt). Mr. Thomas Aldham, of Ulting, has one 

 shot there, and Mr. Hance, of Maldon, a very fine one shot near that town by 

 Mr. R. Bygrave (Fitch). 



