BIRDS 



16. Blackcap. Sylvia atricapilla (Linn.). 



A summer visitor as a rule in fair numbers. 

 It is pretty generally distributed over the low- 

 lying country and is found locally in the 

 wooded valleys of the Peak, but is absent from 

 the moors and higher ground. Individuals 

 sometimes prolong their stay with us till well 

 into the winter. Thus J. J. Briggs has re- 

 corded a male taken alive at Melbourne on 

 November n, 1850 (Zool. p. 3111), and a 

 hen was shot near Norton in the north of the 

 county, by Mr. H. Turner, on December 1 1, 

 1 88 1, and is now in the Sheffield Museum 

 (Field, December 17, 1 88 1, p. 898). 



17. Garden-Warbler. Sylvia bortensis (Bech- 



stein). 



Locally, Garden Fauvet (N. Wood). 



Another somewhat local summer visitor, but 

 rather more numerous at the present time 

 than the preceding species. The reverse of 

 this seems to have been the case in former 

 years, according to most of the earlier writers 

 on Derbyshire ornithology, and Glover (1829) 

 omits it altogether from his list. Its distribu- 

 tion is somewhat similar to that of the black- 

 cap, but F. B. Whitlock says that it replaces 

 that species in the Trent valley. In some 

 seasons (in 1901 for instance) it is exceedingly 

 common. 



1 8. Dartford Warbler. Sylvia undata (Bod- 



daert). 



Locally, Red-eyed Whinling (N. Wood). 



Mr. J. J. Briggs (Zool. p. 2486) says : ' A 

 pair were shot off the top of a furze bush 

 half covered with snow on Melbourne Com- 

 mon during some severe weather in the 

 winter of 1840. The birds appeared hardy 

 and lively in their manners.' No other 

 instances of its occurrence in the county are 

 known. 



19. Golden-crested Wren. Regulus cristatus, 



K. L. Koch. 



Locally, Kinglet (Sir O. Mosley). 



A common resident wherever conifers are 

 found, and nesting in all parts of the county. 

 Besides these resident birds, many migrants 

 visit north Derbyshire and the Trent valley 

 in the winter months. There are entries 

 relating to this bird in the Rev. F. Gisborne's 

 shooting diary as far back as 1770. A pair 

 nested in a deodar at Ashbourne in 1890, and 

 on examining the spot eight years later, I was 

 surprised to find another nest within 2 feet of 

 where the former one had been placed. 



20. Fire-crested Wren. Regulus ignicapillus, 



C. L. Brehm. 



Mr. J. J. Briggs has recorded one of these 

 birds as shot near Melbourne in 1838 (Zool. 

 1849, P- 2 4^7)- Another was killed near 

 Draycott 'a few years ago' by Mr. W. H. 

 Hine (Birds of Derbyshire, p. 45). 



21. Chiff-chaff. Phylloscopus rufus (Bechstein). 

 Locally, Lesser Pettychaps (Glover). 



Generally the first to arrive of our summer 

 visitors, and owing to its peculiar and quite 

 unmistakable song easily recognized. As a 

 rule it is first heard at the end of March or 

 during the first week in April ; but in 1886 it 

 was singing near Ashbourne on March 2 1 , and 

 in 1896 on March 23, while Neville Wood 

 saw one at Foston on February 5> 1836, and 

 noticed others subsequently. It is rather local, 

 but a pair or two are to be found in nearly all 

 the wooded parts of the county. From the 

 bleak uplands and moors it is of course absent. 

 The nest is always placed some little distance 

 from the ground, and sometimes 6 or 7 feet 

 above it ; one in trelliswork on the side of a 

 house at Clifton was quite 10 feet up (Zool. 

 1900, p. 430). This bird has a curious habit 

 of beginning to sing again about the end of 

 August, and may be heard at intervals, especi- 

 ally on bright mornings, during the first three 

 weeks of September. In 1902 the song was 

 heard as late as October 2 at Clifton, near 

 Ashbourne. 



22. Willow - Wren. Phylloscopus trochilus 



(Linn.). 

 Locally, Peep. 



A very numerous and widely distributed 

 summer visitor. It arrives about a fortnight 

 later than the chiff-chaff as a rule, but has 

 been heard as early as the first week in April, 

 though the middle of the month is the more 

 usual time. The nest is nearly always placed 

 on the ground ; but one at Shirley in 1899 

 was built in a small dead spruce in a shrub- 

 bery quite 3 feet above the ground (Zool. 

 1900, p. 429). This is by far the commonest 

 of our Phylloscopi, and is found wherever 

 hedgerows and trees can grow, breeding right 

 up to the edge of the moors. 



23. Wood - Wren. Phylloscopus sibilatrix 



(Bechstein). 



Rather a local and thinly distributed sum- 

 mer visitor, but unlike the chiff-chaff is 

 perhaps rather more common in the woods of 

 north Derbyshire than in the southern part 

 of the county. There are however certain 

 districts in the south in which it is numer- 



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