238 BIRD ECCENTRICITIES IN DERBYSHIRE. 



the bird will just rise and drop himself over the wall into a planta- 

 tion of trees in the adjoining field, returning almost immediately 

 to his hunting, or, to speak correctly, his fishing, ground. 



One peculiarity about the situation" is this, that the water, after 

 having been used for the engines, is discharged back again into 

 the reservoir, the temperature of which is consequently often too 

 hot to bear the hand in. The water is never cold except some- 

 times at night and on Sundays, and one cannot suppose the king- 

 fisher takes his meals at those times only ; he must, then, habitually 

 plunge into quite hot water ; but this he has clearly come to 

 regard as an agreeable process. Long may he so continue to 

 enjoy himself. The fish increase rapidly, and I trust there will 

 always be plenty for him to eat here so long as he prefers town 

 life and hot water to the more usual habits of his fellows on the 

 retired banks of a running stream. 



The Derwent has always been a favourite resort of king- 

 fishers, and I have myself constantly seen them in different parts 

 of the county, but for one of these birds deliberately to take 

 up his abode in a town garden miles from any spot one would 

 look upon as its natural haunt, is, as far as I am aware, unpre- 

 cedented. Should anyone reading these notes be able to supply 

 information on this point, I hope they will be good enough to 

 do so. 



I may add that once, early last spring, we saw two king-fishers 

 in the garden, sporting, and chasing one another like a couple of 

 starlings, chattering all the time, I was in hopes this might be 

 preliminary to some domestic arrangement, but the second bird 

 disappeared, and has not been seen since ; possibly it was afraid 

 of getting into hot water. 



Another eccentricity in bird life occurred in this county the 

 summer before last. The actors on this occasion were a pair of 

 swans on the property of Mr. Hall, of Holly Bush. These birds, 

 alone and unaided, hatched out and reared ten cygnets. The 

 number is, I think, without precedent. I have consulted all 

 available authorities, and invariably find the number of eggs or 

 young swans given as. five, seven, or rarely eight ; one instance ' 



