458 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



1902. 



The year opened with heavy floods in the Derwent Valley 

 on the melting of the snow. Near Matlock the river rose over 

 ten feet. Here a Bittern was shot about Jan. 2nd, and early 

 in February a Waxwing was also killed at Matlock Bridge 

 (R. Hall). ' 



At the beginning of March a flock of four or five Great 

 Black-backed Gulls were seen at close quarters one misty 

 morning in the Dove Valley near Alsop Station (J. Henderson). 

 Several Great Snipe were shot in the course of the winter in the 

 low country round Derby. A very pretty Blackbird, with a pure 

 white head and bold splashes of white on the body, was sent 

 to A. S. Hutchinson for preservation. 



The Redshanks did not return to the meadow near Norbury 

 where they nested in 1901, but two pairs were reported to me as 

 nesting near Uttoxeter, on the Staffordshire side of the Dove ; 

 and Canon Molineux tells me that he found a pair breeding in 

 marshy ground not far from Staveley ; so that this species is 

 beginning to establish itself in the north-east as well as the 

 south-west of the county. 



Both cock and hen birds were roosting in a Long-tailed Tit's 

 nest at seven p.m. on April 28th. The nest contained eleven 

 eggs, slightly incubated, and the head of one of the birds could 

 be seen through the entrance-hole. The number of eggs in the 

 Grey Wagtail's nest appears sometimes not to exceed three. A 

 nest at Norbury contained three hard-sat eggs, and another at 

 Repton three young birds. 



A cock Pied Flycatcher was seen in the Callow Wood, near 

 Ashburne, on May 4th, by Mrs. Henniker ; and on May 7th a 

 Cuckoo's egg was found in a Hedge-Sparrow's nest — rather an 

 early date for a Cuckoo to lay in this district. Another Cuckoo's 

 egg, found near Dovedale on May 31st, was laid in a forsaken 

 nest of the Blackbird, which contained a single egg. A third, 

 also laid in a Blackbird's nest near Ashburne, hatched out 

 successfully, and the young Cuckoo expelled the Blackbird's 

 eggs. Grasshopper-Warblers were even more numerous than in 

 1901. Two nests which I saw were placed in high tussocks of 

 coarse grass, and were quite invisible from above without parting 

 the grass. The Cuckoo's note was heard daily till July 9th, and 



