124 ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES FROM DERBYSHIRE. 



At Mapleton a remarkably early Blackbird's nest in a laurel 

 hedge contained young birds on March 6th. 



On March loth Mr. A. S. Hutchinson received a cock 

 Blackbird, which had been killed near Derby. The plumage 

 was entirely of a pale cinnamon colour, with a few lighter 

 feathers under the chin. On the 19th I picked up a fresh 

 Wild Duck's egg in a small swamp not far from Dovedale, from 

 which I had flushed several duck. On the same afternoon 

 while walking with Mr. J. Henderson by the river Dove we 

 noticed a PJiylloscopiis on the opposite side, about twelve yards 

 away. The wind was cold and the bird kept low down beneath 

 the shelter of the bank, and did not utter a note, but after a 

 careful examination through the Goerz glass, we came to the 

 conclusion that it must be a Chiff-Chaff, F. mfus (Bechst), 

 the feet being too dark for the Willow Warbler. The early 

 arrival is the more remarkable as since the summer of 1903 

 the Chiff Chaff has entirely deserted the upper Dove valley, 

 where it was formerly common. Subsequently, however, we 

 found breeding pairs established at Norbury and Offcote, 

 so that it appears to be gradually re-colonizing the district. 

 With the exception of this solitary individual, no Phylloscopi 

 were seen till April 2nd, when Mr. Henderson reported the 

 arrival of a second, probably also' a Chiff Chaff. A fine old 

 elm tree not far from Ashburne has been occupied by a pair 

 of Brown Owls and two or three pairs of Jackdaws for many 

 years past. On climbing to the hole and looking in, I saw 

 the owl sitting quietly on the nest. As she flew off she dis- 

 closed twO' eggs, which appeared to be much incubated (March 

 20th). There were no dead mice or birds in the nest. 



On March 26th we noticed some eight or ten Wheatears on 

 a ploughed field in the Dove valley, about three and a half 

 miles from Dovedale. Now the Wheatear is a common 

 summer visitor to Thorpe Cloud, Bunster, and the whole upland 

 country to the northward, but curiously enough, although it 

 probably follows the course of the Dove valley in order to reach 

 its breeding haunts, I have never met with it on passage in the 



