160 CORRESPONDENCE. 
about a yard. The Dipper is common on two of our Peak rivers, the 
Wye and the Dove, and I have very little doubt on the Derwent also, 
though I cannot call to mind that I have ever noticed it there. But the 
place it frequents nearest to the brook above-mentioned is at least fifteen 
miles away, and the occurrence of a species, like the Dipper, loving rocky 
limestone streams, ona little lowland clay brook, quite close to a large 
town, is, I think, remarkable.—The same birdstuffer said he had not had 
a single Brambling brought to him during the past winter. Usually he 
has them in abundance.—I have heard of two more Hawfinches being 
killed near Derby lately, at Mickleover and Quarndon. In my note on the 
Hawfinch, p. 123, line 21, for “light” read “ bright.”—Mzruiy, Derby, 
* 18th May, 1879. 
OrnitHoLocicaL Notss.—A few swallows were seen here early. Mr. 
Bill and Mr. Kirby both saw one on the 8th April, and the Cuckoo was 
heard at Keresley on the i6th. Mr. Miller, of Combe Gardens, writes 
me that he saw the first pair of swallows there on the 20th, and on the 
25th these birds seemed to have settled down to their work. The Night- 
ingale was heard in High Wood on the 22nd. Mr. Miller writes :—‘‘ The 
late season has made no difference to the rooks, for they commenced the 
repair and re-building of their nests punctual to a day—in the first week 
of March. I have ample opportunity of observing them. In a tree 
within gunshot of my sitting-room window are about twenty-five nests. 
In this tree, which is a large oak covered with ivy to within three feet of 
the highest branches, there are breeding at the same time the rook, the 
ringdove, the stock pigeon, the starling, the sparrow, and, for aught I know, 
the blackbird and thrush. Later in the season the turtle dove is not an 
unusual frequenter of this tree. Besides this being my natural history 
tree I also call it my weathercock, for, as we have east wind prevailing 
more or less throughout spring, during the time the east wind is 
blowing the rooks sit on the branches with beaks eastward, tails west- 
ward. You can understand it to be a great pleasure, after a long tack of 
east wind, to come down one fine morning and find the rooks all sitting 
with beaks westward and tails to the east.” Of the summer migrants 
the chiff-chaff, willow wren, and wryneck seem to be about in their usual 
number, but I have seen and heard very few of the other small songsters. 
The blackcap, garden warbler, whitethroat, redstart, and others are all 
due about the middle of April; but whether their numbers have been 
thinned by cold in their southern climate, or whether they are late in 
their arrival, there is certainly an unusual deficiency in the number of 
these little visitors at present.—JoHn Guuson, Coventry. 
OrnitHoLocicaL Norrs.—With regard to the Wryneck mentioned in 
my notes in March, and in the last number of the ** Midland Naturalist,” 
I did not see the bird, but only heard it. I heard it again on the 19th 
March, near the same place, and was quite convinced that it was of that 
species. I much regret not having gone to the place, so as to have made 
it a certainty. ‘‘ Merlin,” in the last number, wishes to know if the 
increase of Hawfinches has been observed elsewhere. For some years 
I only heard of one specimen haying been killed just here, but this 
season five have been observed; three of them were shot (one being a 
bird of the year,) the other two, a pair, frequented our garden for some 
months, and during the frost fed with the other birds. They were last 
seen about the end of February. A Coot was shot here on March 14th. 
It is almost a rarity in this district; the absence of large pieces of water 
may account for this. I saw two Water Rails is different places during 
that month; this bird seems to have become more common lately. 
Early in April Chiffchaffs and Willow Wrens arrived, notwithstanding 
the wintry weather, which, however, does not seen to have affected our 
migrants in as great a degree as might have been expected. On the 
8rd April a pair of Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers were observed on some 
