DERBYSHIRE NATURAL HISTORY. 



107 



Blackbird, T. merula, L. — A remarkably early nest in a 

 shrubbery at Mapleton contained young birds on March 6th, 



1906. Clutches of six are not nearly so rare with this species 

 as with the Thrush. Two were reported to me in 1906, one from 

 Egginton and one from Clifton. 



Stonechat, Pratincola rubicola (L.). — A nest with five eggs, 

 found by Mr. G. Pullen late in the summer of 1907, is the only 

 recent record of the breeding of this species in the county. 



Nightingale, Daalias luscinia (L.). — One reported by Messrs. 

 E. Hall and W. Statham as singing for several nights at the end 

 of April, 1907, in Matlock Dale. It then disappeared, but one 

 was heard a few days later atDuffield. Last heard on May 13th. 

 Mr. Walton also notes the occurrence of this bird near Derby in 

 1908 (' British Birds,' ii. p. 66). 



Common Whitethroat, Sylvia communis, Lath. — On May 29th, 



1907, I came across a nest with six eggs, the only one I have 

 ever seen in Derbyshire, where the clutch varies from four to five 

 as a rule. 



Chiffchaff, Phylloscopus collybita (Vieill.). — A single bird 

 was noticed by the Biver Dove, near Ashburne, on March 10th, 

 1906, an early date even for this hardy little bird. Of late years 

 it has become quite scarce in the south-west of the county, except 

 in one or two favoured spots. 



Keed- Warbler, Acrocephalus streperus (Vieill.). — The usual 

 clutch of this species in the Trent Valley consists of four eggs, 

 and sets of five are quite unusual, so that I was the more sur- 

 prised to find a nest with six eggs in a small bush overhanging 

 Sudbury Pond on June 20th, 1907. 



Grasshopper-Warbler, Locustella ncevia (Bodd.). — Mr. F. H. 

 Sikes found two nests of this somewhat erratic visitor in 1907, 

 one near Bocester, and the other near Beeston Tor, in the Mani- 

 fold Valley. It is strange how this species varies in numbers 

 from year to year, but on the whole it seems to be less numerous 

 than ten years ago. 



Tree-Pipit, Anthus trivialis (L.). — On May 28th, 1907, I 

 found a nest with five pale blue eggs, quite unmarked, and not 

 unlike those of the Wheatear, but the bird was not on. On 

 June 2nd I was astonished to find a Tree-Pipit sitting on the 

 nest ! Mr. D. Welburn has a clutch in which one or two of the 



