A HISTORY OF ESSEX rare occurrences or interesting observations, which have been made use of in the following list. Among the chief of these may be noticed the Rev. Canon J. C. Atkinson (1814-1900), of Danby, Yorkshire, who spent the earlier portion of his life in Essex ; Charles R. Bree, M.D. (1811-86), of Colchester; Mr. Joseph Clarke, F.S.A. (1802-95), of Saffron Walden ; Henry Doubleday (1808-75), of Epping ; Christopher Parsons (1807-82), of Southchurch ; and Colonel Champion Russell (1820-82), of Stubbers, Romford. Among living ornithologists who are resident in the county and have assisted the writer with information during the compilation of the following list are Mr. G. H. Baxter, F.Z.S., of Hutton Park ; Mr. E. A. Fitch, F.L.S., of Maldon ; Mr. G. P. Hope, of Havering Grange ; Mr. F. Kerry, of Harwich ; Dr. Henry Laver, F.L.S., and Mr. F. Spalding, both of Colchester ; Mr. Walter B. Nichols, of Bradfield ; Mr. Champion B. Russell, of Stubbers ; Dr. J. H. Salter, of Tolleshunt Darcy ; Mr. Charles Smoothy, of Danbury ; and various others. The number of practical working ornithologists now resident in the county is small and, it is to be feared, decreasing. The Essex County Council is to be congratulated on the intelligent and practical interest it has long taken in the legal protection of the wild birds frequenting the area under its control. Upon several occa- sions the Home Secretary, upon the application of the Council, has made Orders varying, as occasion required, the close time mentioned in the Wild Birds Protection Acts, 1880 to 1896, thus extending the pro- tection afforded to certain species in certain areas. The most recent order bears date May 3, 1901. These variations have been made, as a rule, on the initiative of Messrs. E. N. Buxton, E. A. Fitch, and Champion B. Russell, working in co-operation with the Essex Field Club. At present, the close time is from March 15 to August 15, both inclusive. The kingfisher is protected all the year round. The barn-owl and kestrel most useful of birds might well be similarly protected. A number of other species are also protected all the year round, but only in that portion of the county lying within the Metropolitan Police District and in certain parishes adjacent thereto. All birds are protected on Sundays in six Poor Law Unions. In that portion of the county lying within the Metropolitan Police District, the taking of eggs of a considerable number of species (some of which are, however, hardly likely to be found breeding there) is prohibited ; while along practically the whole of the foreshore of the county, from Harwich to Shoeburyness, the taking of the eggs of all breeding species is similarly prohibited for a period of five years from May 3, 1901. The latter provision is of especial value. It will lead probably to a sub- stantial increase in the number of certain species, such as the lesser tern, the ringed plover, the sheld duck, and others, whose nests are especially liable to destruction. The lesser tern was, when the order first came into force, hovering on the very verge of extinction as a breeding species in Essex. Conceivably, too, the protection thus afforded might lead to 236
