BIRDS' Owing to its geographical position the number of species of birds observed in Derbyshire must necessarily be small when compared with that of such favoured districts as Yorkshire or Norfolk. For not only is it so far distant from the sea that marine birds as a rule only visit it under stress of weather, but with the exception of the Trent valley, which intersects the southern part of the county, the greater part lies outside the great migration routes. On the other hand the bird life of Derbyshire possesses a peculiar interest from the fact that the limits of the range of many of our northern and southern species overlap here. Thus the heather-covered spurs of the Pennine range in the north are the home of many birds which are only rarely and exceptionally found breeding in the great central plain of the midlands or in the southern counties which lie to the east of the Devonian peninsula. Amongst these may be mentioned the ring-ouzel (Turdus torquatus), the grey wag- tail (Motacilla me/anope), the twite (Linota flavirostris) , the merlin (Falco cesalori), the red grouse (Lagopus scoticus), the golden plover (Gharadrius p/uvia/is), the common sandpiper (Totanus hypoleucus] and the curlew (Numenius arquata). On the other hand the rich meadow lands and well wooded parks in the south of the county are within the normal limits of the breeding range of some of our more distinctively southern species, such as the nightingale (Daulias luscinia) , the reed-warbler (Acro- cephalus sfreperus), the red-backed shrike (Lanius collurio) the nuthatch (Sitta ctesia), the wryneck (lynx torquilla] the turtle-dove (Turtur com- munis), and the red-legged partridge (Caccabis rufa), although many of these birds are also known to breed in suitable districts further north. There is moreover another characteristic which to some extent compensates for its rather scanty limits, namely the great diversity in the character of the country. Few counties contain a greater variety of scenery : in a few hours we pass from the vast heather-covered wastes of the High Peak, broken here and there by masses of millstone grit, through the fertile Derwent valley to a bleak upland country almost devoid of trees except here and there in the hollows, where hedges are replaced by monotonous stone walls. Here quite unexpectedly we find ourselves at the edge of a deep gorge, at the bottom of which we catch a glimpse of the river winding its way through the steep limestone but- tresses and gradually working down into the well wooded rolling country 1 I must acknowledge my indebtedness to the following gentlemen who have most kindly assisted me with information : Messrs. W. Storrs Fox, H. G. Tomlinson, L. E. Adams, W. Crowther, R. Hall, W. N. Statham, J. J. Baldwin Young, W. Boulsover, A. S. Hutchinson and G. W. Pullen. 119
