A HISTORY OF DERBYSHIRE 



1 2O. Shag or Green Cormorant. Phalacro- 



corax graculus (Linn.). 

 Like the preceding species has occasionally 

 been obtained. F. B. Whitlock records three 

 instances of shags being killed at Burton, 

 Stanton-by-Dale and Long Eaton, and on 

 the last occasion another bird was seen but 

 not secured. A fifth was shot at Middle 

 Dale and brought to Ashbourne for preserva- 

 tion. 



121. Gannet. Sula bassana (Linn.). 



Since Glover's time this bird has figured in 

 our county list, but only two records for the 

 county are mentioned in Whitlock's book, 

 and in both cases the particulars are rather 

 scanty. One from Wellington prior to 1881 

 (A. O. Worthington) and another from near 

 Belper ' some little time after ' (G. W. Pullen). 

 On April 27, 1878, one was picked up in an 

 exhausted state at Ednaston Lodge, between 

 Ashbourne and Derby. Next day another was 

 seen in the neighbourhood (Journ. Derb. Arch, 

 and Nat. Hist. Sac. i. 127). Poole, the old 

 bird-stuffer of Ashbourne, told me that two 

 specimens had passed through his hands : one 

 probably the above mentioned bird and the 

 other from near Kniveton. On August 4, 

 1900, after high winds, two gannets were 

 seen flying over Clifton down the Dove 

 valley (Trans. N. Staff. Field Club, xxxv. 

 46). Mr. W. Boulsover informs me that 

 another was shot by a farmer named Finney 

 on Bakewell Moor about March, 1879 ; and 

 about 1898 one was killed on Moscar farm 

 by T. K. Wilson (J. J. Baldwin Young). 



122. Common Heron. Ardea cinerea, Linn. 

 Locally, Herne. 



In 1884 there were, according to the 

 editor of the fourth edition of Tarrell, three 

 heronries in Derbyshire : one in Kedleston 

 Park (about 20 pairs), another at Eaton Wood 

 near Uttoxeter, and a third at Sutton Scars- 

 dale (about 12 pairs). In 1893 Whitlock 

 described the Kedleston heronry as reduced 

 to about six nests : the Sutton Scarsdale 

 heronry had ceased to exist and he could 

 get no information about the Eaton Wood 

 colony. At the present time the Kedleston 

 Park heronry is the only one deserving of 

 the name in the county, although a good 

 many pairs breed in different parts, and there 

 are one or two heronries within a short dis- 

 tance of our borders, such as that at Bagot's 

 Wood near Uttoxeter. There were about 

 fifteen nests at Kedleston in 1901, but the 

 colony is not of great antiquity, having only 

 been started about twenty-five years ago by a 



single pair. There is a rookery in the park 

 among the trees where the herons breed, but 

 curiously enough the birds seem to get on 

 fairly well together, although I have known 

 a case where the herons' nests were systemati- 

 cally robbed by the rooks throughout the 

 season, and out of some sixty nests only one 

 succeeded in hatching ofF. 



When Eaton Wood was cut down about 

 1890 most of the birds removed to Bagot's 

 Park in Staffordshire, only three or four pairs 

 remaining on the original site. Besides these 

 heronries nests have also been reported from 

 many parts of the county, as at Drakelow, 

 one or two nests in 1861 (E. Brown) ; at 

 Anchor Church near Repton in 1865 ; near 

 Clifton about 1878 ; two or three times near 

 Dovedale ; in Shirley Wood in 1 900 ; in the 

 woods near Haddon (W. S. Fox) ; and in the 

 Hope valley (E. Slack), as well as regularly 

 at Hassop until 1879 (W. Boulsover). Nomi- 

 nally the heron is protected by an order of 

 the County Council, but many both old and 

 young birds are still killed off by keepers 

 and water-bailiffs. 



123. Purple Heron. Ardea purpurea, Linn. 

 Two of these birds have been recorded 



from Derbyshire. One, a fine male, shot 

 from a willow on the banks of the Trent 

 near Wetmore on July i, 1856 (E. Brown, 

 Nat. Hist, of Tuttury, p. 105, and Birds of 

 Derbyshire, p. 154). The second was killed 

 at Newton Solney before 1881 (A. O. Worth- 

 ington). 



124. Squacco Heron. Ardea ralloides, Scopoli. 

 A male bird was shot on the banks of the 



Dove by Mr. H. Archer of Colon on May 

 17, 1874 (Birds of Derbyshire, p. 154). 



125. Night Heron. Nycticorax griseus (Linn.). 



Mr. C. Oldham (Zoo/. 1897, p. 329) records 

 an adult bird of this species which was shot 

 by the late Mr. William Jackson at Combs 

 reservoir near Chapel-en-le-Frith some time 

 in the early sixties. 



126. Little Bittern. Ardetta minuta (Linn). 



R. Garner (Nat. Hist, of Staffordshire] says 

 vaguely that this species has been shot on the 

 Dove or Trent on Mr. Emery's authority. 

 Mr. R. F. Tomes has a stuffed bird purchased 

 from a travelling dealer with a label on the 

 back of the case stating that the bird was 

 killed at Castleton. No dates can be assigned 

 to either of these occurrences ; but in August, 

 1872, a female bird was shot by the keeper 

 of Mr. J. H. Towle on the canal at Draycott 



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