A HISTORY OF DERBYSHIRE 1 2O. Shag or Green Cormorant. Phalacro- corax graculus (Linn.). Like the preceding species has occasionally been obtained. F. B. Whitlock records three instances of shags being killed at Burton, Stanton-by-Dale and Long Eaton, and on the last occasion another bird was seen but not secured. A fifth was shot at Middle Dale and brought to Ashbourne for preserva- tion. 121. Gannet. Sula bassana (Linn.). Since Glover's time this bird has figured in our county list, but only two records for the county are mentioned in Whitlock's book, and in both cases the particulars are rather scanty. One from Wellington prior to 1881 (A. O. Worthington) and another from near Belper ' some little time after ' (G. W. Pullen). On April 27, 1878, one was picked up in an exhausted state at Ednaston Lodge, between Ashbourne and Derby. Next day another was seen in the neighbourhood (Journ. Derb. Arch, and Nat. Hist. Sac. i. 127). Poole, the old bird-stuffer of Ashbourne, told me that two specimens had passed through his hands : one probably the above mentioned bird and the other from near Kniveton. On August 4, 1900, after high winds, two gannets were seen flying over Clifton down the Dove valley (Trans. N. Staff. Field Club, xxxv. 46). Mr. W. Boulsover informs me that another was shot by a farmer named Finney on Bakewell Moor about March, 1879 ; and about 1898 one was killed on Moscar farm by T. K. Wilson (J. J. Baldwin Young). 122. Common Heron. Ardea cinerea, Linn. Locally, Herne. In 1884 there were, according to the editor of the fourth edition of Tarrell, three heronries in Derbyshire : one in Kedleston Park (about 20 pairs), another at Eaton Wood near Uttoxeter, and a third at Sutton Scars- dale (about 12 pairs). In 1893 Whitlock described the Kedleston heronry as reduced to about six nests : the Sutton Scarsdale heronry had ceased to exist and he could get no information about the Eaton Wood colony. At the present time the Kedleston Park heronry is the only one deserving of the name in the county, although a good many pairs breed in different parts, and there are one or two heronries within a short dis- tance of our borders, such as that at Bagot's Wood near Uttoxeter. There were about fifteen nests at Kedleston in 1901, but the colony is not of great antiquity, having only been started about twenty-five years ago by a single pair. There is a rookery in the park among the trees where the herons breed, but curiously enough the birds seem to get on fairly well together, although I have known a case where the herons' nests were systemati- cally robbed by the rooks throughout the season, and out of some sixty nests only one succeeded in hatching ofF. When Eaton Wood was cut down about 1890 most of the birds removed to Bagot's Park in Staffordshire, only three or four pairs remaining on the original site. Besides these heronries nests have also been reported from many parts of the county, as at Drakelow, one or two nests in 1861 (E. Brown) ; at Anchor Church near Repton in 1865 ; near Clifton about 1878 ; two or three times near Dovedale ; in Shirley Wood in 1 900 ; in the woods near Haddon (W. S. Fox) ; and in the Hope valley (E. Slack), as well as regularly at Hassop until 1879 (W. Boulsover). Nomi- nally the heron is protected by an order of the County Council, but many both old and young birds are still killed off by keepers and water-bailiffs. 123. Purple Heron. Ardea purpurea, Linn. Two of these birds have been recorded from Derbyshire. One, a fine male, shot from a willow on the banks of the Trent near Wetmore on July i, 1856 (E. Brown, Nat. Hist, of Tuttury, p. 105, and Birds of Derbyshire, p. 154). The second was killed at Newton Solney before 1881 (A. O. Worth- ington). 124. Squacco Heron. Ardea ralloides, Scopoli. A male bird was shot on the banks of the Dove by Mr. H. Archer of Colon on May 17, 1874 (Birds of Derbyshire, p. 154). 125. Night Heron. Nycticorax griseus (Linn.). Mr. C. Oldham (Zoo/. 1897, p. 329) records an adult bird of this species which was shot by the late Mr. William Jackson at Combs reservoir near Chapel-en-le-Frith some time in the early sixties. 126. Little Bittern. Ardetta minuta (Linn). R. Garner (Nat. Hist, of Staffordshire] says vaguely that this species has been shot on the Dove or Trent on Mr. Emery's authority. Mr. R. F. Tomes has a stuffed bird purchased from a travelling dealer with a label on the back of the case stating that the bird was killed at Castleton. No dates can be assigned to either of these occurrences ; but in August, 1872, a female bird was shot by the keeper of Mr. J. H. Towle on the canal at Draycott 138
