BOUGH NOTES ON DERBYSHIRE ORNITHOLOGY. 59 



water in a string and take a north-easterly direction about 

 9 a.m. 



Mr. 0. Murray Dixon had many opportunities of watching 

 them through strong glasses, as they sat on a marshy strip 

 of land which juts out into the reservoir. He noticed that, 

 when disturbed, they had a peculiar habit of erecting the neck 

 to its full extent, and then nodding with a curious jerky 

 motion. When bathing, they did not flounder about like 

 C. olor, but dipped their necks into the water, allowing it to 

 flow over their backs in a most graceful manner. 



On the return journey they appear to have again passed 

 over Galke, as a herd (estimated at eighteen in number) was 

 seen flying eastward about this time, and perhaps the two 

 separated portions of the herd were finally reunited, as Mr. 

 G. Pullen reports that thirty-five Swans were seen passing over 

 the sewage farm at Egginton about March 29th, while twenty- 

 two Grey Geese were seen flying low at the same place on the 

 following day. 



I have only notes of three previous occurrences of Bewick's 

 Swan in Derbyshire, and the only Staffordshire record, quoted 

 by McAldowie (' Birds of Staffordshire,' p. 106), is included in 

 error, as the bird in question was really killed in Derbyshire. 

 Mr. Montagu Brown, in the ' Birds of Leicestershire' (Addenda, 

 p. 172), gives a single instance of the occurrence of this species. 



The Lapwings began to lay exceptionally early this year, 

 and on March 18th two nests were found near Repton with four 

 and one egg respectively. The three eggs in a Brown Owl's 

 nest examined on March 31st had obviously been incubated 

 for some time. 



On April 7th Swallows were hawking up and down the Dove 

 Valley, a day or two before the Sand Martins arrived. The 

 latter birds are, as a rule, the first of the Hirundinidce to 

 appear. Curiously enough, not a single Chiffchaff visited the 

 Upper Dove Valley till quite late in the summer, although 

 usually fairly common there. The only locality in the district 

 where they appear to have bred was Shirley Park, where several 

 birds were heard early in June. At West Hallam the Rev. 

 C. Birley found a Thrush's nest on April 7th in the middle 

 of a bare meadow — not even sheltered by a grass tuft, but 



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