A HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE 



many towns and villages. At Moddershall 

 near Stone a colony exists which usually build 

 domed nests in high trees (Reports North Staffs 

 Field Club, 1898 and 1901). A hatch of five 

 chocolate-coloured jackdaws appeared atWood- 

 head near Cheadle in 1900. 



75. Raven. Corvus corax, Linn. 

 Formerly a not uncommon resident breed- 

 ing amongst other places at Dovedale, Ramsor, 

 Cheadle and Dimminsdale as late as 1844, 

 and Copmere near Eccleshall (Report North 

 Staffs Field Club, 1879, p. 6 1 ). Plot in his 

 County History has the following curious note: 

 ' The worthy Mr. Chetwynd in his park at 

 Ingestre observed young ravens to go to bough 

 on New Year's day which therefore must be 

 hatch't in the winter near Christmas, as some 

 also were in Ashmer's Park near Wolver- 

 hampton, an. 1665, by a Raven that constantly 

 built there for many years.' Needwood 

 Forest was also a well known haunt of this 

 bird. At Swythamley where they formerly 

 bred one was shot in 1850. In 1881 one 

 visited Hardiwick Wood near Stone, and in 

 the spring of 1883 one was seen in the early 

 morning on Stoke-on-Trent church tower 

 (Birds of Staffordshire, p. So). In 1894 two 

 were reported from Cheadle (Report North 

 Sta/s Field Club, 1895, p. 47), and in 1898 

 another was seen at the entrance to Dove- 

 dale. 



76. Carrion-Crow. Corvus corone, Linn. 

 Getting rarer every year through persecu- 

 tion by game preservers, but still breeds in a 

 good many places and is common in Dove- 

 dale and the Ham valley. 



77. Hooded Crow. Corvus comix, Linn. 



A casual visitor on migration, recorded 

 from Needwood, Uttoxeter, in 1841 (Garner), 

 Swythamley (1853), on the Trent near Burton 

 in January 1884, near Cheadle in 1886 

 (Birds of Staffordshire, p. 79), and one in Hose 

 Wood, Draycot-in-the-Moors, in November, 

 1895 (Report North Staffs Field Club, 1897, 

 p. 51). 



78. Rook. Corvus frugilegus, Linn. 



Very abundant, rookeries being numerous 

 all over the county. In winter immense 

 numbers of rooks congregate together and 

 roost in some sheltered wood, scattering during 

 the day for many miles ajsuiid in order to 

 feed and returning to the same roost every 

 night. The average date for the first eggs 

 in the north of the county is about 16 March, 

 for about that time the hens first begin to 

 stay all night at their nests. Pied varieties 

 are not uncommon and albinos have been 



observed. In 1893 Dr. McAldowie estimated 

 the number of rooks in Staffordshire at over 

 60,000, but at the present time this number 

 is probably below the mark. 



79. Sky-Lark. Alauda arvensis, Linn. 



A common resident even close to populous 

 towns, but much persecuted by bird catchers 

 and diminishing in numbers prior to the pub- 

 lication of the Wild Bird Protection Orders. 



80. Wood-Lark. Alauda arborea, Linn. 

 Local and rare, but may have been over- 

 looked. In Mr. Neville Wood's time it was 

 plentiful in the Dove valley, from which it 

 has now completely disappeared. A nest was 

 found at Eccleshall in 1883 (Birds of Stafford- 

 shire, p. 81), and Mr. E. A. Brown says it 

 has occurred near Burton. Mr. James Yates 

 records it at Sugnal (Report North Staffs Field 

 Club, 1879, p. 62). 



[Crested Lark. Alauda cristata, Linn. 



Included in Sainter's list, but can scarcely 

 be given a place in our local fauna without 

 further evidence.] 



8 1. Shore Lark. Otocorys alpestris (Linn.) 

 One occurrence only of this rare lark has 



been noted, a specimen having been shot at 

 Enville near Dudley on 17 December 1879 

 (Report North Staffs Field Club, 1900, p. 53). 



82. Swift. Cypselus apus (Linn.) 

 Locally, Squealer. 



A summer migrant arriving in May, but 

 nowhere abundant. Dr. McAldowie is of 

 opinion that this species must have been less 

 plentiful two centuries ago on the strength of 

 the following passage from Plot's History of 

 Staffordshire : ' Of unusual small birds here 

 are also several . . . such as the Hirundo apus 

 or black martin here called the martlet, which 

 I believe is the bird intended by that name in 

 Heraldry and not the Hirundo agrestis sive 

 rustica Plinii, it having so very long wings and 

 so short legs and small feet that it cannot 

 easily rise from the ground unless it be very 

 plain and free from grass ; wherefore it either 

 always flies or sits on the top of Churches 

 Towers or else hangs on other ancient buildings 

 by its sharp claws, from which it falls and so 

 takes its flight ; of these I saw at Shareshill 

 near Hilton and Beaudesert.' 



83. v Nightjar. Caprimulgus europteus, Linn. 



Locally, Fern Owl, Goatsucker. 

 A common summer migrant to our heaths 

 and ferny commons. It is a most valuable 

 bird, feeding exclusively on insects, many of 

 which are injurious to the agriculturist. 



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