ON THE RARITY OP CERTAIN BIRDS IN DERBYSHIRE. 33 



similar tastes, as the Wryneck, Nuthatch, Creeper, &c, are very 

 common in this vicinity, and more especially in the Park above 

 alluded to. Even Bagot's Park, (about eight miles distant), appa- 

 rently yet more favourable to the Woodpeckers, is seldom enlivened 

 with its loud laugh. I have met with the Green Woodpecker in 

 abundance in Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, and other counties. 



Having thus given some account of the very remarkable scarcity 

 of several species common in most other localities, I shall proceed to 

 notice a few which are abundant in Derbyshire and rare elsewhere. 



The most deserving of notice, is the Siskin Goldwing, (Cardue- 

 lis spinus), which all our Ornithologists describe as a rare and un- 

 certain visitant, but as arriving in large flocks when it does appear. 

 Now, both my own observations, and those communicated to me by 

 others, tend to a totally opposite conclusion ; and indeed I have no 

 hesitation in pronouncing the species indigenous in Britain. That 

 numbers of them do migrate there is no doubt; but a tolerably large 

 proportion of them, I am convinced, remain and breed with us ; 

 though their shy and secluded habits during the spring and summer 

 months prevent them, in a great measure, from being observed at that 

 season. Indeed, so sedulously does it conceal itself in the midst of 

 the thickest woods and forests, that though I have frequently heard 

 it during the breeding season, yet to get a sight of it is by no means a 

 easy matter ; and this, doubtless, accounts for its having been over- 

 looked by the naturalists of other counties. I first discovered, to a 

 certainty, that this species breeds in the south of Derbyshire, in the 

 summer of 1831, when a pair of these birds were caught in the 

 month of July. I have never been able to discover the nest ; pro- 

 bably on account of its being built on the lofty and inaccessible 

 trees to which it is so partial. It appears to prefer the fir to any 

 other tree, where it is met with throughout the year, but most abun- 

 dantly in winter, when they arrive in considerable numbers from fo- 

 reign parts. 



The Marsh Reedling (Salicaria arundinacea) is generally sup- 

 posed to be confined to the southern counties, and Selby mentions 

 Nottinghamshire as its northern limit. But it is tolerably abun- 

 dant in every part of Derbyshire and Staffordshire which I have 

 explored, frequenting the low, flat, and swampy portions of the 

 country. It is, however, much less abundant than its garrulous 

 congener, the Sedge Reedling (S. phragmitis). The supposed 

 scarcity of the Siskin Goldwing and Marsh Reedling is doubtless 

 owing to the little attention paid to ornithology, by those living in 

 the country. 



VOL. V. — NO. XVII. E 



