78 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF NOTTINGHAM AND DISTRICT 



with occasional woods and plantations: this region is rich in warblers 

 and finches. 



Mr. Whitaker claims that no place in Nottinghamshire has a larger or 

 more varied avifauna than Rainworth, 155 species having been seen by 

 him within a radius of one mile around Rainworth Lodge. 



Extensive collections of Nottinghamshire birds exist in the Museums 

 at Nottingham and Mansfield, and the former Museum possesses the 

 magnificent collection of the eggs of Nottinghamshire birds formed by 

 Mr. F. B. Whitlock and including full clutches of practically every species 

 breeding in the county. 



Reptilia and Batrachia 



Only the commonest of the reptiles and batrachians occur in Notting- 

 hamshire, and even of these the slow-worm and viper are now rare. 

 Sterland's assertion (in White's Worksop, the Dukery and Sherwood 

 Forest) that the sand-lizard (Lacerta agilis) 'may be seen occasionally in 

 Sherwood Forest ' is doubtless an error. 



Only four species of reptilia and four batrachians are found in the 

 county. Of the former, the Common Lizard (Lacerta vivipara) was 

 formerly common in Nottingham Park, on Nottingham Forest, and on 

 other sandy gorse-covered commons about the city, but the absorption 

 of most of its former haunts within the ever-increasing area covered by 

 bricks and mortar has almost exterminated the lizard in this neighbour- 

 hood. It was very common on Bulwell Forest about the beginning of 

 the present century, but the laying out of the Forest as a golf-course has 

 greatly reduced its numbers. It has been seen comparatively recently on 

 the Barrow Hills at Everton in north Nottinghamshire, and near Worksop. 

 The Slow-worm or Blind-worm (Anguis fragilis) was at one time frequent 

 in Sherwood Forest according to Sterland, and has been seen in several 

 widely-separated localities in the county in recent years. The Common 

 or Ringed Snake {Tropidonotiis natrix) is fairly common and generally 

 distributed. The Viper or Adder {Vipera berus), on the other hand, is 

 now very rare, but has been seen in Sherwood Forest, at Rainworth, 

 Worksop, Oxton, Newstead Park, etc. 



Of batrachians, the Frog (Rana temporaria) and Toad (Biifo vulgaris) 

 are. of course, abundant, and both the Crested and Common Newt (Molge 

 cristata and Molge vulgaris) are common and generally distributed in the 

 county, particularly the latter; the Palmated Newt (Molge palmata) has 

 so far not been observed in Nottinghamshire. 



Pisces 



Thirty species of fishes are certainly known to occur in the county, 

 and it is noteworthy that twenty-two of these are enumerated as inhabit- 

 ing the Nottinghamshire Trent over 300 years ago, in Michael Drayton's 

 poem the Poly-Olbion (1622). Among the more interesting species are 

 the Burbot (Lota vulgaris), rare in the Trent; the Flounder (Pleuronectes 

 flesus), common in the Trent below Newark and occasionally making its 

 way up the river as far as Colwick Weir, close to Nottingham; Spined 



