147 



(J^rntti^ological Notes tvom ^txh^^))ixt, for 

 tf)e gear 1905. 



By the Rev. Francis C. R. Jourdain, M.A., M.B.O.U. 



HE weather during the latter half of Januar}^, 1905, 

 was verj' severe, and the i6th was almost the most 

 bitterly cold day I can remember. A strong and 

 piercing wind blew all day, and towards nightfall fine 

 sjiicules of ice began to fall. After a time this changed to 

 snow, which remained on the ground till nearly the end of the 

 month. During this time the thermometer several times regis- 

 tered only a few degrees above zero. It is almost needless to 

 say that the birds suffered much during this spell of Arctic 

 weather, but curiously enough the summer migrants in several 

 cases arrived much earlier than usual. On March 13th, I 

 noticed a hen Stonechat close to the bank of the River Dove 

 near Rocester. These birds have become very scarce in the 

 county of late years, and though twenty or thirty years ago a 

 few pairs used to breed in the Dove valley, they have long 

 ceased to do so. A cock bird was noticed at Thorpe five days 

 afterwards. 



On March 20th two Sand Martins found their way up the 

 Dove valley to the cutting near Clifton station, and were 

 followed on the 27th by a small flock of a dozen or so. This 

 is the earliest record of the appearance of these birds of which 

 I have any note during the last twenty-nine years. On the 

 25th, three Sandpipers were reported from Repton by J. E. C. 



