BIRDS 



80. Cirl Bunting. Emberiza cir/us, Linn. 

 Possibly a resident, but so rare that it 



seems best to regard it as an occasional visitor 

 merely. 



81. Little Bunting. Emberiza pusilla, Pallas. 

 A very rare straggler to Britain. A female 



bird of the year was taken with some linnets 

 and yellow hammers by some bird-catchers at 

 Southchurch in September 1892. It was 

 kept alive for some days, but soon died and 

 was thrown away, though not till it had been 

 seen and identified by Mr. J. G. Keulemans. 



82. Reed-Bunting. Emberiza schainiclus, Linn. 

 A fairly common resident in suitable 



localities throughout the county. 



83. Snow -Bunting. Plectrophtnax niva/is 



(Linn.). 



A winter visitor. In mild seasons it is 

 uncommon, but during severe weather it is 

 abundant on our coast and sometimes appears 

 inland. 



84. Lapland Bunting. Calcarius lapponicus 



(Linn.). 



An occasional visitor. One was shot near 

 Waltham Abbey in 1872 (Essex Naturalist, 

 iv. 1 1 8). The bird has probably occurred 

 and been overlooked on other occasions. 



85. Starling. Sturnus vu/garis, Linn. 



A very abundant resident which is rapidly 

 becoming increasingly numerous. Enormous 

 flocks are sometimes seen. Cream-coloured, 

 white, and pied varieties are by no means 

 uncommon. 



86. 



Starling. Pastor roseus 



Rose - coloured 



(Linn.). 



A rare and occasional visitor. Some half- 

 dozen individuals only are known to have 

 been met with in Essex during the last half- 

 century. 



87. Chough. Pyrrhocorax graculus (Linn.). 



A rare and occasional visitor. Two indi- 

 viduals were observed off Harwich on April 2, 

 1888 (Zoologist, 1888, p. !8s). Formerly, 

 when it was a more abundant species, it 

 visited us doubtless more often ; but it is now 

 everywhere decreasing in numbers. 



88. 



Nucifraga caryocatacttt 



Nutcracker. 

 (Linn.). 



A rare and irregular straggler. In or about 

 1859, in the month of September, one was 

 shot at Horkesley, another at Ardleigh, and 

 another at Boxted, all adjoining parishes. 



Another was killed at Tollesbury in Sep- 

 tember 1872 (see Birds of Essex, p. 131). 

 Two examples were obtained in the county 

 in the autumn of 1900 one (which had 

 been seen about for a fortnight) at Bradwell- 

 on-Sea on October 27, and one in Epping 

 Forest on November 5. 



89. Jay. 

 A common 



Garrulus glandarius (Linn.), 

 resident in well wooded 



dis- 



tricts, in spite of incessant persecution. 



90. Magpie. Pica rustica (Scopoli). 



Formerly a common resident in all parts 

 of the county, but now almost exterminated 

 in most districts through persecution. It is 

 now more numerous round our coast than 

 elsewhere, especially, I think, in the Dengie 

 Hundred, where it is, possibly, increasing in 

 number. 



91. Jackdaw. Corvus monedula, Linn. 



An abundant resident, breeding commonly 

 in places where an abundance of ancient 

 timber affords suitable nesting sites. 



92. Raven. Corvus corax, Linn. 



Now only, it is to be feared, a rare autumn or 

 winter visitor, though until quite recently a resi- 

 dent in small numbers. Early in last century 

 it was fairly common in the county, and not a 

 few ' raven trees,' in which it bred regularly, 

 are still pointed out. It continued to breed 

 occasionally in the inland parts of the county 

 up to about the year 1865. In the vicinity 

 of the coast it lingered somewhat longer. 

 There were nests annually near Thundersley 

 up to the year 1880, and a pair bred every 

 year from 1871 to about 1878 in a clump of 

 firs in the park of Lawford Hall. Up to at 

 least the year 1890 the raven continued to 

 breed regularly though in very small numbers 

 among the islands and lowlands on the coast, 

 in Dengie Hundred and the vicinity of the 

 Blackwater Estuary within forty miles of the 

 Metropolis making its nest in the tall elms 

 which stand in the hedgerows and form a 

 striking feature of the landscape in the district 

 indicated. On April 15, 1889, I visited a 

 ' raven tree ' a tall elm on Osey Island, in 

 which a pair had been known to breed for 

 many years, but found it unoccupied. The 

 nest used the year before lay rotting in 

 a ditch below the tree, having been poked 

 down by a lad with a stick the previous 

 summer because a pair of hawks had laid COB 

 in it after the ravens had left it. The old 

 birds had been seen about the island however 

 a few weeks before, and had commenced a 



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