194 THE BIRDS OF ESSEX. 



known in the neighbourhood as " Old Jubilee." It afterwards belonged to Mr. 

 James Spitty of Bradwell, but has since been lost overboard. 



Another extraordinary bag is recorded by Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey in Shooting 

 (Badminton Library), p. 307. He writes : — 



" A heavy shot at fowl is becoming a rare chance now on our shores, and is 

 only achieved in very severe weather. Some ten years ago, off the mouth of the 

 Blackwater, in Essex, a wonderful shot was made at Brent Geese. A vast herd of 

 these birds had collected on the ooze to feed. All the local punt-gunners, to the 

 number of a dozen, were attracted by the sight ; and setting together to the 

 Geese, just as they were densely packed on the last bit of feeding-ground left 

 by the rising tide, aimed and fired by signal. The result was that the gunners 

 picked up close on 300 fowl. This incident was recorded in various sporting 

 papers at the time, and was related to us by a gentleman who had actually seen 

 the occurrence." 



Possibly this is only another version of one of the occurrences described 

 above, but such is certainly not the case with the following : — Col. Russell, writing 

 to Mr. Hope in Aug., 1884, says : " One of the Mussetts of West Mersea was in 

 the Goose-shooting in the fog about Christmas last ; the lot got some 160 Geese 

 altogether ; only one young one. I thought there were no young ones by their 

 behaviour in Holland and on the Main." I have heard of even larger "bags" 

 than the foregoing, but probabl}^ they are apocryphal. Other references to the 

 great abundance of this species on our coast have been already given (p. 49). 



In 1 879, a number (the first seen that'season) were observed making for the Stour 

 on January 2 1st (^Chelmsford Chronicle, Jan. 24). In 1880, the first were observed 

 on the Essex coast on October 6th. On the 20th, a hundred or more, were seen on 

 the Buxey Sands (42) Mr. Hope writes : " They arrive about the 12th October. 

 I have never seen them inland except when lost in a fog. They leave about the 

 middle of May." Mr. Kerry, however, says (40. iii. 306), that in 1879 n^^ny 

 were I still to be seen round Harwich on May 15th, when most of them had paired. 

 He fancied they might be breeding, but this is altogether unlikely. Many were 

 still about our coasts on May 25th (29. June 7). In 1882, the Rev. M. C. H. 

 Bird saw two off Canvey Island as late as May 2nd. Dr. Laver describes it as 

 " excessively numerous in some years " round Paglesham, and Mr. Benton, writing 

 of the South Hall Marshes at Paglesham, says (35. 440) "formerly great quantities 

 of Geese, locally called ' Scotch Brants,' which are something less than Grey Geese, 

 used to make choice of the surrounding swamps for feeding grounds, but they have 

 not been seen for some years." 



As a rule they keep to " the Main " or the open sea, but 'Six. Atkinson writes : 

 *'• I have occasionally seen a ' Black Goose ' in the larger arteries of the saltings 

 at ToUesbury." One was seen about the brook here during a spell of hard 

 weather in December, 1878, and a pair were seen to fly out of the brook near this 

 house on Jan. loth following, while the weather was still severe. On October 

 14th, 1879, my brother Cuthbert shot the male of a pair feeding in the brook 

 Cann close to this house. I have the bird still. From their comparative tame- 

 ness, I can only think that they had escaped from some preserved water. 



Mr. Cordeaux, writing in 1887, says (40. xi. 152) : "Some years since Col. 

 Russell sent me a fine White-bellied Brent, shot by himself on the Essex coast, 

 accompanied by some interesting and exhaustive notes as to the two races and 

 their comparative abundance and scarcity in various years." Essex specimens of 

 both the white- and dark-bellied varieties are among the birds collected by the 

 late Col. Russell, while some very interesting remarks upon the two races are 



