60 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



standing up above the level of the ground. A prematurely 

 laid Lapwing's egg, picked up near Alsop-en-le-Dale on 

 April 12th, was abnormally long (60 mm.), pale bluish-white 

 in colour, with a few small black spots at the large end. Two 

 or three nests of the Mistle-Thrush were built at heights 

 varying from four to six feet; one of them was placed in a thick 

 bit of hedge at Clifton — exactly the site for a Song-Thrush's 

 nest. Hereabouts many eggs of T. viscivorus are devoured by 

 Magpies, and, apparently, these low sites near buildings are 

 chosen in order to avoid them. 



A hollow in a rough stone wall by the River Dove, which 

 has been occupied by Grey Wagtails several times, contained 

 a nest with five eggs, much incubated, on May 2nd. The sitting 

 bird was obviously the cock, conspicuous by his black throat. 



May 13^. — Watched a Dabchick sitting on eggs in a nest 

 not many yards from a main road. Finding herself observed, 

 she raised herself half up, and with great energy dragged weeds 

 over the nest, finishing up with a header over the side ! 



Several Nightingales were reported from the south of the 

 county. The Rev. F. F. Key heard one in full song in mid May, 

 close to the River Dove, near Claymills. Another was recorded 

 from Stramshall, near Uttoxeter (Staffordshire), and there is 

 some reason to believe that a pair bred near Calwich, besides 

 a pair which nested in the Hopwell district (W. H. Walton). 



A Quail, injured by flying against the telegraph wires on the 

 night of May 15th, was picked up in the streets of Derby. 

 (G. Pullen.) 



A pair of Willow-Wrens built their nest this year in some 

 trellis-work, close to my dining-room, almost exactly 5 feet 

 from the ground ; while a common Sandpiper successfully 

 hatched off her young from a nest in a strawberry bed in 

 a garden close to the River Dove. At least two nests of the 

 Dipper (Cinclus aquaticus) are annually built on the girders 

 or in the stonework of bridges on the North Staffordshire 

 Railway not more than a couple of feet from the metals, 

 so that the noise and concussion caused by passing trains 

 must be very considerable. 



Great Crested Grebes are now decidedly on the increase in 

 the county. A pair bred at Osmaston this year, and there 



