BOUGH NOTES ON DERBYSHIRE ORNITHOLOGY. 457 



in Staffordshire and other parts of England, but I have not 

 previously met with it in Derbyshire. 



A Blackbird and a Thrush were sitting within a few feet of 

 one another on the horizontal beams which supported the roof 

 of a barn near Ashburne on May 29th. In both nests the eggs 

 were pale blue, either entirely without spots, or with only a few 

 faint rusty markings. The Thrush's eggs, which were hard-sat, 

 had much more gloss than the Blackbird's, but in colour the two 

 clutches were almost exactly alike. A pair of Great Crested 

 Grebes, which had apparently bred, were killed at the end of May 

 near Chellaston, and early in the year one of a pair was un- 

 fortunately killed at Kedleston, and probably prevented from 

 breeding there. 



Two nests of the Tufted Duck at Osmaston, examined 

 on June 12th, contained sixteen and eighteen eggs respectively ; 

 but there were three couple of Ducks about the place, and 

 only two nests at this time, though another was made sub- 

 sequently. 



A Willow-Wren was sitting on four eggs in the middle of a 

 strawberry-bed at Clifton on July 3rd, a somewhat unusual 

 position for the nest. A Common Tern was noticed hovering 

 over the Dove at Hanging Bridge on Aug. 24th. On Sept. 15th 

 a Wood-Pigeon's nest with two eggs was fouud at Clifton, but, 

 late as this nest was, it was not the last record for the season, 

 for a Goldfinch's nest at Marchington contained three young, 

 almost ready to fly, on Oct. 2nd (W. T. Mynors). 



This year Mr. W. Storrs Fox informs me that a Dunlin's 

 nest with four eggs was found on the Redmires Moors, and one 

 of the old birds shot for identification. Although the Dunlin 

 has long been supposed to breed in this district, this is the first 

 time that eggs have been actually taken. A cream-coloured 

 variety of the Jackdaw and a Magpie, in which the black plumage 

 was replaced by light brown, were recorded from the Ashburne 

 district. 



The great snowstorms of December drove many Bed Grouse 

 from the North Derbyshire moors in a southerly direction. In 

 the Dove Valley packs were reported from Kirk Ireton (J. B. E. 

 Blackwall), and a single bird was flushed near Cubley. 



Zool. 4th ser. vol. VI., December, 1902. 2 N 



