A HISTORY OF DERBYSHIRE 



157. Smew. Mergus albellus, Linn. 



This species has visited us several times in 

 severe winters. Whitlock gives a list of ten 

 occasions on which one or more have been 

 observed and in most cases shot. The earliest 

 is in March, 1774, when Mr. Gisborne shot 

 a female at Staveley. Others have been killed 

 on the Dove, Derwent, Trent and on orna- 

 mental waters, such as the lake at Osmaston 

 Manor. 



158. Ring-Dove or Wood-Pigeon. Columba 



palumbus, Linn. 

 Locally, Woodie. 



A common resident in all the wooded parts 

 of the county, but perhaps least numerous in 

 the north-west. Several broods must be reared 

 in the course of the year, for fresh eggs may 

 be met with from the end of March to the 

 middle of September. Occasionally vast 

 flocks, consisting of many hundred birds, are 

 met with in the winter months. 



159. Stock-Dove. Columba cenas, Linn. 

 Locally, Little Blue Pigeon (J. J. Briggs), Blue 



Rock. 



Much less common than the wood pigeon 

 and somewhat local in its distribution, possibly 

 on account of the difficulty in finding suitable 

 nesting sites. For example, in the Ashbourne 

 district it was common enough among the old 

 oaks in Okeover Park and in Dovedale, but 

 seldom seen anywhere else. As a general 

 rule the presence of old timber or rocks seems 

 necessary to this species, although Mr. Brown 

 has found nests in rabbit holes near Burton. 



[Rock-Dove. Columba tivia, ]. F. Gmelin. 



Although this species has been said to breed 

 in Derbyshire there is every reason to suppose 

 that the birds in question were either stock 

 doves or domestic pigeons which had reverted 

 to a wild state.] 



1 60. Turtle-Dove. Turtur communis, Selby. 

 A summer visitor, principally to the southern 



part of the county, which has considerably in- 

 creased its breeding range of late years. No 

 mention of this bird Occur; Ii. u.e works 01 

 Pilkington and Glover, but at the present 

 time it is f.iy numerous in the Trent valley 

 ar- locally distributed over the whole of south 

 ,nd north-east Derbyshire. Here it usually 

 occurs in small colonies, which generally haunt 

 a wood and the adjoining fields, where two 

 or three nests may be found at no great dis- 

 tance apart. As the birds are very local in 

 their habits, and these colonies often several 

 miles apart, the presence of this species is not 

 always easy to detect. Their present northern 



limit on the Dove appears to be the valley of 

 the Henmore brook ; on the Derwent they 

 were first noticed at Curbar about 1890 (W. 

 S. Fox) and are still extending their range 

 northward. 



[Passenger-Pigeon. Ectopistes migratorius 

 (Linn.). 



Mr. J. J. Briggs, in the Field for Septem- 

 ber 10, 1869, recorded a bird of this species 

 from near Melbourne.] 



161. Pallas's Sand-Grouse. Syrrhaptes para- 



doxus (Pallas). 



Although in all probability the flock which 

 reached Staffordshire in May, 1863, passed 

 through Derbyshire, the only record of that 

 incursion is a notice of two which are said to 

 have been killed on our northern borders in 

 that year, and are now in the Sheffield 

 Museum (Birds of Derbyshire, p. 184). In 

 1888 one was picked up dead at Breaston 

 towards the end of May and others were 

 seen, while one is said to have been killed 

 at Shardlow but not preserved. In July, 

 1889, Mr. R. C. H. Cotton succeeded in 

 shooting a brace near Parwich. Three birds 

 which the writer believes to have belonged to 

 this species were seen near Ashbourne on 

 May 12, 1900, but none were shot (Zoo/. 

 1900, p. 431). 



162. Black Grouse. Tetrao tetrix, Linn. 

 Locally, Blackgame or Heath-cock (Glover). 



In all probability this species is far less 

 common now than formerly, although a good 

 many scattered birds breed on the fringe of 

 the moors and along the Staffordshire border. 

 At the present time the High Peak is the 

 headquarters of blackgame in Derbyshire ; 

 many nesting in the coppices near Strines 

 and Ashopton, and also on Glossop Moor 

 and Kinder Scout and their outlying spurs. 

 Along the East Moor a few breed locally 

 along the range as far south as Darley Moor, 

 and on the Staffordshire border they are 

 found between Buxton and Hartington. 

 T?elow this point they are confined to the 

 Staffordshire side of the Dove. Blackgame 

 were formerly common in Needwood Forest, 

 and stray birds from here and Cannock Chase 

 have been recorded from many parts of south 

 Derbyshire, but such stragglers are now hardly 

 ever met with. 



163. Red Grouse. Lagopus scoticus (Latham). 

 Locally, Heath-poult, Moor-poult (obsolete), 



Moor-game (Glover). 



A resident in large numbers on the moor- 

 lands of north Derbyshire where they are care- 



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