232 THE BIRDS OF ESSEX. 



Order LIMICOL^. 



Family CEDICNEMID^. 



Stone-Curlew : CEdicnemus scolopax. Locally '' Norfolk 

 Plover." 



A somewhat-uncommon summer visitor to England, breeding only 

 locally. In Essex, although it seems formerly to have bred not un- 

 commonly, it now only does so in one locality, so far as I know, and 

 is best known as an infrequent passing migrant in spring and 

 autumn, though specimens have occasionally been met with in 

 Essex in winter. 



Parsons says (21): — "In Essex, probably from a want of sufficient open 

 country for it, it is only a passing and uncertain visitant." Speaking of their 

 occurrence in England in winter, he says, " A friend and neighbour of mine 

 residing at Shoebury in Essex shot one in a field near the coast in that parish on 

 Jan. loth, 1832.* I have also known a few others killed in that part of the 

 county late in the season — one of them in the middle of November." In a later 

 note he adds, " In the vicinity of the Essex coast, I have known them to occur 

 in every month from September to March, and [they are] generally seen there 

 in severe frosts. Five about Shoebury, Dec, 1844 ; hard frost." Writing from 

 Epping in 1835, Edward Doubleday says (15) : "On calm, moonlight evenings 

 in spring we frequently hear the call of this interesting bird as it passes over at 

 a considerable height. I never knew of more than one specimen being killed in 

 this parish." With all respect to Mr. Doubleday, I cannot help thinking that 

 he probably mistook the curious nocturnal call of the Moorhen for the note of 

 this species. Henry Doubleday (10), mentions some which flew over Epping 

 in the middle of March, 1841, and English includes it (43. i. 24) as an occasional 

 visitor. Mr. Buxton says (47. 93) : "I saw this bird on the 21st April, 1883, 

 on one of the open 'plains' in the Fairmead Thicket [Epping Forest]. When 

 it rose it flew a few yards only and re-alighted. * * * A young bird of this 

 species was captured on the borders of the Lower Forest." More (33. 430) 

 in 1865, could find no authority for its breeding in Essex, nor, in all probability, 

 has it ever bred in the county since that date, except in one locality. That it had 

 previously done so, however, seems certain, for Mr. Clarke, writing of the Saffron 

 Walden district about 1845, says (24) it " occasionally breeds here " — meaning 

 presumably, on the wide open downs north and west of the town, round 

 Heydon and Chrishall. I am informed by Mr. J. P. Nunn, of Royston, that it 



* This specimen, which is still in the Parsons Collection, is labelled as having been shot by- 

 Mr. H. M. Mason in a ploughed field at Shoeburj'. 



