BIRDS 



fully preserved. Practically all the heather 

 covered ground in the High Peak is occu- 

 pied by them as well as the long ridge known 

 as the East Moor on the left bank of the 

 Derwent, as far south as Matlock. On the 

 western side a good many breed round Buxton, 

 and small isolated colonies may be found 

 where heather exists between Buxton and 

 Alsop-en-le-Dale. In severe weather when 

 the moors are covered with snow partial 

 migrations to lower ground take place, and 

 occasionally stragglers have been killed in the 

 southern plain. Thus Sir O. Mosley and 

 Mr. E. Brown (Nat. Hist. ofTutbury, pp. 52, 

 104) have recorded that packs visited the 

 district between Burton and Derby during 

 the winter of 1860 61, and one was shot 

 near Ashbourne in January, 1860. These 

 birds may have come from Cannock Chase, 

 where they have been introduced. Many 

 were driven south by the great storm of De- 

 cember, 1901, as far as Kirk Ireton Q. B. E. 

 Blackwall). A very light coloured grey 

 variety was shot by Col. J. C. Cavendish in 

 September, 1898. 



164. Pheasant. Phasianus colchicus, Linn. 

 Probably at the present time there is no 



such thing as a pure bred P. cokhicus in the 

 county, but all our resident birds show signs 

 of interbreeding with the Chinese ring-necked 

 pheasant (P. torquatui) and other species. 

 About 1875 or 1876! saw a splendid cock 

 bird killed in the Derwent valley in the 

 extreme north of the county, where these 

 birds are scarce and no artificial rearing is 

 carried on, which had all the appearance of 

 a pure bred bird, and possibly a few may 

 still survive. Comparatively few pheasants 

 are to be found in the valleys of the north, 

 and they are of course absent from the moors 

 and highlands, but in other parts of the 

 county they are common, and large numbers 

 are artificially reared every year on many 

 estates. Owing to wholesale crossing and 

 exchange of eggs variations in plumage are 

 common and pied and white individuals often 

 occur. J. J. Briggs (Zool. p. 4253) mentions 

 a hybrid between the pheasant and the black 

 grouse which was shot near Melbourne, and 

 specimens of the same cross are preserved in 

 the collections at Chaddesden Hall and Calke 

 Abbey from Breadsall Moor (Hon. F. Strutt). 



165. Partridge. Perdtx cinerea, Latham. 

 Unlike the pheasant the grey partridge is 



one of our indigenous birds and must have 

 been very numerous a century ago in spite of 

 the many raptorial birds which were then 

 found in Derbyshire (see Journ. Derb. Arch. 



and Nat. Hist. Sue. 1892, p. 178, etc.). At 

 the present time it is still fairly common, 

 especially in south Derbyshire, but is of 

 course absent from the moorlands. A. S. 

 Hutchinson has recorded a mottled variety 

 from Foremark in 1890 (Field, April 4, 

 1891), and the same writer (Field, May 4, 

 1901) mentions a case in which a partridge 

 survived the loss of both feet, and was at last 

 killed by a weasel after injuring itself against 

 some telegraph wires ! 



1 66. Red-legged Partridge. Caccabis rufa 



(Linn.). 



Locally, French Partridge, Frenchman. 

 Although this species was practically un- 

 known in Derbyshire half a century ago it is 

 at the present day not uncommon in the 

 Trent valley, and has extended its range 

 considerably of late years, being found locally 

 over all the country south of a line drawn 

 through Belper, while a few pairs are allowed 

 to breed as far north as Taddington (W. 

 Boulsover), and in 1901 they were observed 

 for the first time in the Alstonefield district. 



167. Quail. Coturnix communis, Bonnaterre. 

 Formerly a regular spring visitor to south 



Derbyshire and probably to the east of the 

 county as well, but its numbers have steadily 

 diminished and now it can only be described 

 as nesting occasionally with us, especially in 

 the Trent valley. A nest with fourteen 

 eggs was found by mowers near Ashbourne 

 about 1870, and another pair are said to have 

 bred at Brassington. They are known to 

 have nested near Burton, and on the sewage 

 farm at Egginton a nest with nine eggs was 

 found in 1892. Bretby, Swarkestone and 

 Melbourne are also known as former breed- 

 ing places. 



1 68. Landrail or Corncrake. Crex pratensis, 



Bechstein. 



A common spring visitor especially to the 

 fertile valleys of the south. In the north it 

 is rather local and not so common. F. B. 

 Whitlock figures a beautiful white variety 

 killed at Kedleston in September, 1892. 



169. Spotted Crake. Porzana maruetta 



(Leach). 



There is little doubt that this interesting 

 species nests annually in the valleys of the 

 Trent, lower Derwent and Erewash. A few 

 penetrate up the Dove valley, and in Octo- 

 ber, 1897, one was killed in lower Lathkill 

 Dale, but the majority of our records come 

 from south-east Derbyshire. The Rolleston 

 Hall Museum contains a nest of six eggs 



143 



