BIRDS 



138. Red-footed Falcon. Fain vespertinus, 

 Linn. 



A rare straggler. One was shot at Alresford 

 on May 31, 1873 (Zoologist, 1873, pp. 3615 

 and 3688) : another at Buttons, Stapleford 

 Tawney, on May 21, 1897 (Hope) ; another 

 at Bradwell-on-Sea on October 17, 1901 

 (J. H. Gurney in lift.). 



139. Kestrel. Fain tinnunculus, Linn. 

 Perhaps our commonest hawk, but nowhere 



abundant and certainly decreasing. Though 

 harmless, or nearly so, seldom touching game 

 of any kind, it is a ' hawk,' and as such 

 comes in for a share of the relentless perse- 

 cution directed against all ' hawks,' good and 

 bad alike. 



140. Osprey. Pandion halialtus (Linn.). 



A scarce and irregular spring and autumn 

 or winter visitor, met with chiefly in the 

 estuaries of our rivers, but occasionally further 

 inland. 



141. Cormorant. Phalacrocorax carbo (Linn.). 

 A common visitor to our coast from 



autumn to spring : occasionally met with 

 inland after severe storms. 



142. Shag. Phalacrocorax graculus (Linn.). 

 As the foregoing, but less common. 



143. Gannet. Sula banana (Linn.). 



Not very uncommon off our coast from 

 autumn to spring : sometimes found inland 

 after very rough weather. 



144. Heron. Ardea cinerea, Linn. 

 Locally, Frank, Frank-hern, and Hernshaw. 



A common resident, seen frequently at 

 nearly all seasons of the year on the marshes 

 near the coast. There are however only 

 four regular heronries in the county. By far 

 the most important is that at Birch Hall (the 

 Rt. Hon. James Round, M.P.), numbering 

 some two hundred nests. It is believed to 

 have been started by a pair which came from 

 Brightlingsea some thirty-five years ago, when 

 the Magens estate there was sold and the pur- 

 chasers persecuted the herons which had long 

 nested there. The first pair nested on a 

 large oak tree in Chess Wood. By the year 

 1877, there were about one hundred nests. 

 In 1878, owing to the cutting down of some 

 trees, the herons removed to Calves Pasture 

 Wood, where they again increased largely. 

 Later they returned, for a similar cause, to 

 Chess Wood, where they now remain, care- 

 fully protected by Mr. Round. Our next 

 largest heronry is that in Wanstead Park, the 

 property of the Corporation of the City of 



London. It has been established for a 

 century or more and is most carefully pre- 

 served by the Conservators, the nearest public 

 footpaths being closed during the nesting 

 season. It has been increasing steadily for 

 some years, and now numbers about fifty 

 nests, which are placed in some tall elms 

 growing on an island in the largest sheet of 

 water in the park. Next in importance stands 

 the heronry at St. Osyth Priory (Sir John 

 H. Johnson, Kt.). It was established by a 

 single pair which came from Brightlingsea in 

 1872, when the heronry there was destroyed ; 

 and, being protected, they increased steadily. 

 There are now from thirty to forty nests, 

 built for the most part in trees growing on 

 two small islands in one of the ponds in the 

 Nun's Wood. The smallest Essex heronry is 

 that at Boreham House (Lieut. -Col. Tufnell- 

 Tyrrel). It has been established thirty or 

 forty years, but has been removed more than 

 once during that time from one site in the 

 park to another, and has been several times 

 almost destroyed by shooting the young birds. 

 Recently, however, it has been protected, and 

 in the spring of 1901 there were about 

 twenty-five nests. 



There can be no doubt that there were 

 formerly many other heronries in Essex. 

 Thus Norden speaks (i 594) of one at Tolles- 

 hunt D'Arcy, and Holman (about 1710) of 

 another at Belhus, Aveley. The names Heron 

 Hall and Herongate at East Horndon imply 

 the former existence of a heronry there. A 

 heronry existed for many years, as stated above, 

 in Heronry Wood, near the church, at 

 Brightlingsea ; but, when the estate was sold, 

 about 1870, the heronry was destroyed by the 

 purchasers, and the present proprietor (Mr. 

 John Bateman) has failed in his efforts to 

 re-establish it. Formerly, too, there was a 

 heronry on Walton's Hall Farm at Mucking. 

 Isolated nests occur not infrequently. 



145. Purple Heron. Ardea purpurea, Linn. 

 An accidental straggler, which has occurred 



in the county at least once namely in a 

 wood near Maldon in April 1839 (Essex 

 Literary "Journal, 1839, p. 126). 



146. Great White Heron. Ardea alba, Linn. 

 A very rare straggler. One was observed 



on several occasions in and around the 

 estuary of the Stour on October 3, 1823 

 (Trans. Linn. Soc. xv. 40). Another (which 

 seems to have been identified correctly) was 

 seen on many occasions in June and July 

 1901, beside a small lake close to the house 

 in Lexden Park, near Colchester (Sir M. E. 

 Grant Duff). 



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