A HISTORY OF DERBYSHIRE 157. Smew. Mergus albellus, Linn. This species has visited us several times in severe winters. Whitlock gives a list of ten occasions on which one or more have been observed and in most cases shot. The earliest is in March, 1774, when Mr. Gisborne shot a female at Staveley. Others have been killed on the Dove, Derwent, Trent and on orna- mental waters, such as the lake at Osmaston Manor. 158. Ring-Dove or Wood-Pigeon. Columba palumbus, Linn. Locally, Woodie. A common resident in all the wooded parts of the county, but perhaps least numerous in the north-west. Several broods must be reared in the course of the year, for fresh eggs may be met with from the end of March to the middle of September. Occasionally vast flocks, consisting of many hundred birds, are met with in the winter months. 159. Stock-Dove. Columba cenas, Linn. Locally, Little Blue Pigeon (J. J. Briggs), Blue Rock. Much less common than the wood pigeon and somewhat local in its distribution, possibly on account of the difficulty in finding suitable nesting sites. For example, in the Ashbourne district it was common enough among the old oaks in Okeover Park and in Dovedale, but seldom seen anywhere else. As a general rule the presence of old timber or rocks seems necessary to this species, although Mr. Brown has found nests in rabbit holes near Burton. [Rock-Dove. Columba tivia, ]. F. Gmelin. Although this species has been said to breed in Derbyshire there is every reason to suppose that the birds in question were either stock doves or domestic pigeons which had reverted to a wild state.] 1 60. Turtle-Dove. Turtur communis, Selby. A summer visitor, principally to the southern part of the county, which has considerably in- creased its breeding range of late years. No mention of this bird Occur; Ii. u.e works 01 Pilkington and Glover, but at the present time it is f.iy numerous in the Trent valley ar- locally distributed over the whole of south ,nd north-east Derbyshire. Here it usually occurs in small colonies, which generally haunt a wood and the adjoining fields, where two or three nests may be found at no great dis- tance apart. As the birds are very local in their habits, and these colonies often several miles apart, the presence of this species is not always easy to detect. Their present northern limit on the Dove appears to be the valley of the Henmore brook ; on the Derwent they were first noticed at Curbar about 1890 (W. S. Fox) and are still extending their range northward. [Passenger-Pigeon. Ectopistes migratorius (Linn.). Mr. J. J. Briggs, in the Field for Septem- ber 10, 1869, recorded a bird of this species from near Melbourne.] 161. Pallas's Sand-Grouse. Syrrhaptes para- doxus (Pallas). Although in all probability the flock which reached Staffordshire in May, 1863, passed through Derbyshire, the only record of that incursion is a notice of two which are said to have been killed on our northern borders in that year, and are now in the Sheffield Museum (Birds of Derbyshire, p. 184). In 1888 one was picked up dead at Breaston towards the end of May and others were seen, while one is said to have been killed at Shardlow but not preserved. In July, 1889, Mr. R. C. H. Cotton succeeded in shooting a brace near Parwich. Three birds which the writer believes to have belonged to this species were seen near Ashbourne on May 12, 1900, but none were shot (Zoo/. 1900, p. 431). 162. Black Grouse. Tetrao tetrix, Linn. Locally, Blackgame or Heath-cock (Glover). In all probability this species is far less common now than formerly, although a good many scattered birds breed on the fringe of the moors and along the Staffordshire border. At the present time the High Peak is the headquarters of blackgame in Derbyshire ; many nesting in the coppices near Strines and Ashopton, and also on Glossop Moor and Kinder Scout and their outlying spurs. Along the East Moor a few breed locally along the range as far south as Darley Moor, and on the Staffordshire border they are found between Buxton and Hartington. T?elow this point they are confined to the Staffordshire side of the Dove. Blackgame were formerly common in Needwood Forest, and stray birds from here and Cannock Chase have been recorded from many parts of south Derbyshire, but such stragglers are now hardly ever met with. 163. Red Grouse. Lagopus scoticus (Latham). Locally, Heath-poult, Moor-poult (obsolete), Moor-game (Glover). A resident in large numbers on the moor- lands of north Derbyshire where they are care- 142
