204 THE BIRDS OF ESSEX. 



Mr. J. H. Gurney jun., has the wing of one killed on Jul}' 22nd, 1884, at 

 the Swill Middle L.V. Mr. Robert Page has a pair, taken in his Decoy at Marsh 

 House, Mr. Pettitt preserved a couple of males, shot by Mr. Robert Pettitt, 

 of Pagleshnm, on the Hyde Marshes, North Fambridge, on Mar. 14th, 1890. 



Teal : Querquedula crecca* 



Best known as a common winter visitor, especially to the marshes 

 near the coast, but also a resident, breeding with us in small and 

 apparently decreasing numbers. In some seasons, large numbers 

 are taken \i\ the Decoys. 



To Harwich, in 1851, Lindsay described it (27. App. 62) as 

 '"an early and constant winter visitor, making its appearance by the end of 

 September, sometimes sooner,and remaining till spring has made considerable pro- 

 gress." He adds that their numbers are "constantly recruited through the winter 

 months by additional arrivals from the northern parts of Europe, and our markets, 

 in consequence, obtain a regular supply from the various decoys and other modes 

 of capture." 



King, in 1838, says (20) it was then " not uncommon " around Sudbury, and 

 Mr. Clarke, about 1845, described it (24) as being then "not uncommon" 

 round Walden. Mr. Andrew Marriage has one shot by himself at Little 

 Baddow in the winter of 1874, when i" company with two others. Mr. Buxton 

 sa3's (47. 97) " several frequented the Wanstead Park waters in the spring of 

 1883, and in the following spring, I saw a single bird on Connaught Water." 

 This bird was also observed by others (44. iv. Ixxviii). Daniel says (6. ii. 472) 

 that he turned out some which he had received from the Decoj's, upon the ponds 

 at Little Waltham Hall, after having pinioned them, and that they bred there. 



As regards its breeding at large in the county generally, the Rev. J. C. Atkin- 

 son writes (36. 143) : — " When I was a boy, I heard of nests, almost annually, on 

 some of the [Essex] marshes I knew most familiarly." A nest of five eggs was 

 taken on the marshes near ToUesbury in June, 1883, by my brother. Round 

 Harwich, it is common and breeds (Kerry). In the Paglesham district, too, it 

 breeds " almost every season " (Wiseman). On our coast, however, it seems de- 

 creasing in numbers as a breeding bird. Mr. J. Ma}', who has known the Old 

 Hall Marshes, ToUesbury, for upwards of forty years, informs me that in his young 

 days he remembered seeing as many as thirty pairs of Teal breeding there, but 

 they have for some time been gradually becoming scarcer. In 1887, he knew of 

 two nests, but in 1888 he feels certain there was not one on the 1,700 acres, or 

 thereabouts, under his supervision. It seems to be the same on Northey Island, 

 where Mr. Fitch states (50. ii. 198) that " none have bred for the last three years." 



Its breeding in the inland parts of our county is very unusual, but in the 

 summer of 1886, a pair nested in the osier-ground beside the brook Cann at 

 Writtle. My cousin, Mr. R. W. Christy, saw the old birds repeatedly during the 

 early spring, and up to the middle of April. During the summer, the nest, 

 which contained broken egg-shells, was found by a man named Thomas Perry. 



* The Bimaculated Duck {Qverqitcdula biinaculaia) is a spurious species, described from a 

 cross between a Teal and a Wild Duck, which used to appear on the British List. Yarrell says 

 (Zoological Journal, i. 585 ; and 14. iii. 166J that the male and female from which he took "his 

 description " were sent up from a Decoy near Maldon in " Essex, to Leadenhall Market in the 

 winter of 1S12-13." They were there observed by Mr. George Weighton, a professional natural- 

 ist, w ho purchased and preserved them. They afterwards passed into Yarrell's own Collection, 

 ■and are now in the British Museum, labelled " ? Maldon." 



