140 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



bird and an addled egg on the 19th, quite a month earlier than 

 the usual laying-time of this species ! 



On March 25th three Sandpipers were noticed at Eepton by 

 Mr. J. E. C. G-odber, and about March 27th the Wheatears 

 returned to their breeding haunts on Thorpe Cloud. A Dipper's 

 nest at Ham had four eggs on March 27th, and another at 

 Sturston contained fledged young on April 12th. By April 4th 

 Wild Duck, Blackbird, Bobin, and Thrush had laid, and several 

 Mistle-Thrushes were sitting. Several small flocks of Goldfinches 

 were reported from the Ashburne district about this time, and on 

 April 10th six large Gulls (sp. ?) were seen flying eastward over 

 Clifton about 7 p.m. 



On May 22nd we had a very sharp frost in the morning, 

 which killed all the foliage on the copper-beeches, and seriously 

 injured many of the ashes, chestnuts, and beeches in the neigh- 

 bourhood of water. Owing to the provision of nesting-boxes the 

 Great Tits have increased in numbers in this village, and four 

 or five pairs now haunt my garden. A hollow oak, which has 

 occasionally been inhabited by Brown Owls, and frequently by 

 White Owls, contained five eggs of the latter species on May 

 26th. An extraordinary Blackbird's nest was placed on the 

 ground in the middle of a small clump of rushes, right out in the 

 middle of a pasture-field. The eggs might have passed for rather 

 lightly-marked Thrush's eggs. A Nightingale was heard for two 

 nights (May 22nd-23rd) at Thorpe Bough, but apparently moved 

 on, for it was not noticed subsequently. The two Merlins' nests 

 found on the North Derbyshire moors have already been recorded 

 in these pages (Zool. 1905, p. 267). Mr. C. E. B. Bowles also 

 informs me that a single Merlin was noticed by his son on Abney 

 Moor this year. 



A good deal of timber has been felled lately in the Bamsor 

 Woods, and the Great Spotted Woodpeckers seem to have deserted 

 the locality. However, we found another pair breeding in a dead 

 and very rotten tree in a hanging wood not far from Dovedale. 

 This year's nest-hole was about thirty-five feet from the ground, 

 and above it were the remains of two older nests. On June 6th 

 the six eggs in the lowest nest were perfectly fresh. Mr. Storrs 

 Fox states that a young bird was brought alive to him on June 

 25th from Manners Wood, near Bakewell, 



