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Title: British birds
Author: William Henry Hudson
Frank E. Beddard
Release date: August 12, 2024 [eBook #74235]
Language: English
Original publication: London: Longmans, Green, and co, 1921
Credits: Peter Becker, Karin Spence and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRITISH BIRDS ***
[Illustration:
_PLATE I._ GOLDEN EAGLE. ⅙ NAT. SIZE.]
BRITISH BIRDS
BY
W. H. HUDSON, C.M.Z.S.
WITH A CHAPTER ON STRUCTURE AND CLASSIFICATION
BY FRANK E. BEDDARD, F.R.S.
_With 8 Coloured Plates from Original Drawings by A. Thorburn
and 8 Plates and 100 Figures in black and white from Original
Drawings by G. E. Lodge and 3 Illustrations from Photographs
from Nature by R. B. Lodge_
NEW IMPRESSION
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON
FOURTH AVENUE & 30TH STREET, NEW YORK
BOMBAY, CALCUTTA, AND MADRAS
1921
_All rights reserved_
CONTENTS.
PAGE
THE ANATOMY OF A BIRD 1
CLASSIFICATION 34
_Order_ PASSERES.
MISSEL-THRUSH. _Turdus viscivorus_ 39
SONG-THRUSH. _Turdus musicus_ 41
REDWING. _Turdus iliacus_ 45
FIELDFARE. _Turdus pilaris_ 46
Black-throated Thrush. _Turdus atrigularis_ 52
White’s Thrush. _Turdus varius_ 52
BLACKBIRD. _Turdus merula_ 49
RING-OUZEL. _Turdus torquatus_ 50
Rock-Thrush. _Monticola saxatilis_ 52
WHEATEAR. _Saxicola œnanthe_ 52
Black-throated Wheatear. _Saxicola strapazina_ 54
Desert Wheatear. _Saxicola deserti_ 54
WHINCHAT. _Pratincola rubetra_ 54
STONECHAT. _Pratincola rubicola_ 56
REDSTART. _Ruticilla phœnicurus_ 57
Black Redstart. _Ruticilla titys_ 59
White-spotted Bluethroat. CYANECULA WOLFI 59
Red-spotted Bluethroat. _Cyanecula suecica_ 59
REDBREAST. _Erithacus rubecula_ 59
NIGHTINGALE. _Daulias luscinia_ 62
WHITETHROAT. _Sylvia cinerea_ 64
LESSER WHITETHROAT. _Sylvia curruca_ 66
Orphean Warbler. _Sylvia orphea_ 70
BLACKCAP. _Sylvia atricapilla_ 67
GARDEN WARBLER. _Sylvia hortensis_ 69
Barred Warbler. _Sylvia nisoria_ 70
DARTFORD WARBLER. _Melizophilus undatus_ 70
GOLDCREST. _Regulus cristatus_ 72
Firecrest. _Regulus ignicapillus_ 74
Yellow-browed Warbler. _Phylloscopus superciliosus_ 79
CHIFFCHAFF. _Phylloscopus rufus_ 74
WILLOW-WREN. _Phylloscopus trochilus_ 76
WOOD-WREN. _Phylloscopus sibilatrix_ 78
Icterine Warbler. _Hypolaïs icterina_ 79
Rufous Warbler. _Aëdon galectodes_ 79
REED-WARBLER. _Acrocephalus streperus_ 79
Marsh-Warbler. _Acrocephalus palustris_ 82
Great Reed-Warbler. _Acrocephalus turdoïdes_ 82
Aquatic Warbler. _Acrocephalus aquaticus_ 82
SEDGE-WARBLER. _Acrocephalus phragmitis_ 80
GRASSHOPPER WARBLER. _Locustella nævia_ 82
Savi’s Warbler. _Locustella luscinioïdes_ 84
HEDGE-SPARROW. _Accentor modularis_ 84
Alpine Accentor. _Accentor collaris_ 85
DIPPER. _Cinclus aquaticus_ 86
Black-bellied Dipper. _Cinclus melanogaster_ 88
BEARDED TITMOUSE. _Panurus biamicus_ 89
Long-tailed Titmouse. _Acredula caudata_ 90
LONG-TAILED TITMOUSE. _Acredula rosea_ 92
GREAT TITMOUSE. _Parus major_ 92
Coal-Titmouse (Continental). _Parus ater_ 94
COAL-TITMOUSE. _Parus britannicus_ 94
MARSH TITMOUSE. _Parus palustris_ 96
BLUE TITMOUSE. _Parus cæruleus_ 97
CRESTED TITMOUSE. _Parus cristatus_ 98
NUTHATCH. _Sitta cæsia_ 99
WREN. _Troglodytes parvulus_ 101
White Wagtail. _Motacilla alba_ 108
PIED WAGTAIL. _Motacilla lugubris_ 104
GREY WAGTAIL. _Motacilla melanope_ 105
Blue-headed Yellow Wagtail. _Motacilla flava_ 108
YELLOW WAGTAIL. _Motacilla rayii_ 107
MEADOW-PIPIT. _Anthus pratensis_ 108
TREE-PIPIT. _Anthus trivialis_ 110
Tawny Pipit. _Anthus campestris_ 113
Richard’s Pipit. _Anthus richardi_ 113
Water Pipit. _Anthus spipoletta_ 113
ROCK-PIPIT. _Anthus obscurus_ 112
Golden Oriole. _Oriolus galbulus_ 114
Great Grey Shrike. _Lanius excubitor_ 116
Pallas’s Great Grey Shrike. _Lanius major_ 116
Lesser Grey Shrike. _Lanius minor_ 116
RED-BACKED SHRIKE. _Lanius collurio_ 114
Woodchat. _Lanius pomeranus_ 116
Waxwing. _Ampelis garrulus_ 114
SPOTTED FLYCATCHER. _Muscicapa grisola_ 116
PIED FLYCATCHER. _Muscicapa atricapilla_ 118
Red-breasted Flycatcher. _Muscicapa parva_ 118
SWALLOW. _Hirundo rustica_ 118
MARTIN. _Chelidon urbica_ 121
SAND-MARTIN. _Cotile riparia_ 122
TREE-CREEPER. _Certhia familiaris_ 124
GOLDFINCH. _Carduelis elegans_ 126
SISKIN. _Chrysometris spinus_ 127
Serin. _Serinus hortulanus_ 128
GREENFINCH. _Ligurinus chloris_ 128
HAWFINCH. _Coccothraustes vulgaris_ 130
HOUSE-SPARROW. _Passer domesticus_ 132
TREE-SPARROW. _Passer montanus_ 133
CHAFFINCH. _Fringilla cœlebs_ 134
BRAMBLING. _Fringilla montifringilla_ 137
LINNET. _Linota cannabina_ 138
Mealy Redpoll. _Linota linaria_ 140
LESSER REDPOLL. _Linota rufescens_ 139
Greenland Redpoll. _Linota hornemanni_ 140
TWITE. _Linota flavirostris_ 141
Rosy Bullfinch. _Carpodacus erythrinus_ 144
BULLFINCH. _Pyrrhula europæa_ 142
Pine Grossbeak. _Pinicola enucleator_ 144
Parrot Crossbill. _Loxia pittyopsittacus_ 145
CROSSBILL. _Loxia curvirostra_ 144
White-winged Crossbill. _Loxia leucoptera_ 145
Two-barred Crossbill. _Loxia bifasciata_ 145
Black-headed Bunting. _Emberiza melanocephala_ 154
CORN-BUNTING. _Emberiza miliaria_ 146
YELLOWHAMMER. _Emberiza citrinella_ 148
CIRL BUNTING. _Emberiza cirlus_ 150
Ortolan Bunting. _Emberiza hortulana_ 154
Rustic Bunting. _Emberiza rustica_ 154
Little Bunting. _Emberiza pusilla_ 154
REED-BUNTING. _Emberiza schœniclus_ 151
Lapland Bunting. _Calcarius lapponica_ 154
SNOW-BUNTING. _Plectrophanes nivalis_ 152
STARLING. _Sturnus vulgaris_ 154
Rose-coloured Pastor. _Pastor roseus_ 156
CHOUGH. _Pyrrhocorax graculus_ 157
Nutcracker. _Nucifraga caryocatactes_ 174
JAY. _Garrulus glandarius_ 158
MAGPIE. _Pica rustica_ 160
JACKDAW. _Corvus monedula_ 163
CARRION CROW. _Corvus corone_ 166
HOODED CROW. _Corvus cornix_ 167
ROOK. _Corvus frugilegus_ 168
RAVEN. _Corvus corax_ 172
SKYLARK. _Alauda arvensis_ 174
WOODLARK. _Alauda arborea_ 176
Crested Lark. _Alauda cristata_ 178
Short-toed Lark. _Calendrella brachydactyla_ 178
White-winged Lark. _Melanocorypha sibirica_ 178
Shore Lark. _Otocorys alpestris_ 178
_Order_ PICARIÆ.
SWIFT. _Cypselus apus_ 178
White-bellied Swift. _Cypselus melba_ 179
Needle-tailed Swift. _Acanthyllis caudacuta_ 179
NIGHTJAR. _Caprimulgus europæus_ 179
Red-necked Nightjar. _Caprimulgus ruficollis_ 181
Egyptian Nightjar. _Caprimulgus ægyptius_ 181
SPOTTED WOODPECKER. _Dendrocopus major_ 181
BARRED WOODPECKER. _Dendrocopus minor_ 183
GREEN WOODPECKER. _Gecinus viridis_ 184
WRYNECK. _Iẏnx torquilla_ 186
KINGFISHER. _Alcedo ispida_ 188
Belted Kingfisher. _Ceryle alcyon_ 189
Roller. _Coracius garrula_ 190
Bee-eater. _Merops apiaster_ 190
Hoopoe. _Upupa epops_ 190
CUCKOO. _Cuculus canorus_ 190
Great Spotted Cuckoo. _Coccystes glandarius_ 193
Yellow-billed Cuckoo. _Coccyzus americanus_ 193
Black-billed Cuckoo. _Coccyzus erythrophthalmus_ 193
_Order_ STRIGES.
BARN-OWL. _Strix flammea_ 193
LONG-EARED OWL. _Asio otus_ 196
SHORT-EARED OWL. _Asio brachyotus_ 197
TAWNY OWL. _Syrnium aluco_ 198
Snowy Owl. _Nyctea scandiaca_ 199
European Hawk-Owl. _Surnia ulula_ 199
American Hawk-Owl. _Surnia funeria_ 199
Tengmalm’s Owl. _Nyctala tengmalmi_ 199
Scops Owl. _Scops giu_ 199
Eagle Owl. _Bubo ignavus_ 199
Little Owl. _Athene noctua_ 199
_Order_ ACCIPITRES.
Griffon Vulture. _Gyps fulvus_ 216
Egyptian Vulture. _Neophron percnopterus_ 216
Marsh-Harrier. _Circus æruginosus_ 216
HEN HARRIER. _Circus cyaneus_ 199
MONTAGU’S HARRIER. _Circus cineraceus_ 201
BUZZARD. _Buteo vulgaris_ 202
Rough-legged Buzzard. _Archibuteo lagopus_ 216
Spotted Eagle. _Aquila clanga_ 216
GOLDEN EAGLE. _Aquila chrysaëtus_ 204
WHITE-TAILED EAGLE. _Haliaëtus albicilla_ 205
Goshawk. _Astur palumbarius_ 216
American Goshawk. _Astur atricapilla_ 216
SPARROW-HAWK. _Accipiter nisus_ 206
KITE. _Milvus ictinus_ 207
Black Kite. _Milvus nigrans_ 216
Swallow-tailed Kite. _Elanoïdes furcatus_ 217
Honey-Buzzard. _Pernis apivorus_ 217
Gyrfalcon. _Hierofalco gyrfalco_ 217
Greenland Falcon. _Hierofalco candicans_ 217
Iceland Falcon. _Hierofalco islandicus_ 217
PEREGRINE FALCON. _Falco peregrinus_ 208
HOBBY. _Falco subbuteo_ 210
MERLIN. _Falco æsalon_ 211
Red-footed Falcon. _Tinnunculus vespertinus_ 217
KESTREL. _Tinnunculus alaudarius_ 212
Lesser Kestrel. _Tinnunculus cenchris_ 217
OSPREY. _Pandion haliaëtus_ 215
_Order_ STEGANOPODES.
CORMORANT. _Phalacrocorax carbo_ 218
SHAG. _Phalacrocorax graculus_ 220
GANNET. _Sula bassana_ 221
_Order_ HERODIONES.
HERON. _Ardea cinerea_ 223
Purple Heron. _Ardea purpurea_ 226
Great White Heron. _Ardea alba_ 226
Little Egret. _Ardea gazetta_ 226
Buff-backed Heron. _Ardea bubulcus_ 226
Squacco Heron. _Ardea ralloïdes_ 226
LITTLE BITTERN. _Ardetta minuta_ 226
Night Heron. _Nycticorax griseus_ 226
BITTERN. _Botaurus stellaris_ 224
American Bittern. _Botaurus lentiginosus_ 226
White Stork. _Ciconia alba_ 226
Black Stork. _Ciconia nigra_ 226
Spoonbill. _Platalea leucorodia_ 226
Glossy Ibis. _Plegadis falcinellus_ 226
_Order_ ANSERES.
GREY LAG GOOSE. _Anser cinereus_ 227
BEAN-GOOSE. _Anser segetum_ 228
PINK-FOOTED GOOSE. _Anser brachyrhynchus_ 229
WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. _Anser albifrons_ 230
Cassins Snow Goose. _Chen albatus_ 227
BRENT GOOSE. _Bernicla brenta_ 230
BARNACLE GOOSE. _Bernicla leucopsis_ 232
Red-breasted Goose. _Bernicla ruficollis_ 227
MUTE SWAN. _Cygnus olor_ 233
Polish Swan. _Cygnus immutabilis_ 233
WHOOPER SWAN. _Cygnus musicus_ 234
Bewick’s Swan. _Cygnus bewickii_ 234
COMMON SHELDRAKE. _Tadorna cornuta_ 235
Ruddy Sheldrake. _Tadorna casarca_ 236
WIGEON. _Mareca penelope_ 237
American Wigeon. _Mareca americana_ 238
PINTAIL. _Dafila acuta_ 238
MALLARD. _Anas boscas_ 239
GADWELL. _Chaulelasmus streperus_ 241
GARGANEY. _Querquedula circia_ 243
Blue-winged Teal. _Querquedula discors_ 244
COMMON TEAL. _Querquedula crecca_ 244
American Green-winged Teal. _Querquedula carolinensis_ 244
SHOVELER. _Spatula clypeata_ 245
Red-Crested Pochard. _Fuligula rufina_ 246
TUFTED DUCK. _Fuligula cristata_ 246
SCAUP. _Fuligula marila_ 247
POCHARD. _Fuligula ferina_ 248
White-eyed Duck. _Nyroca ferruginea_ 246
GOLDENEYE. _Clangula glaucion_ 249
Barrow’s Goldeneye. _Clangula islandica_ 246
Buffel-headed Duck. _Clangula albeola_ 246
Harlequin Duck. _Cosmonetta histrionica_ 246
LONG-TAILED DUCK. _Harelda glacialis_ 250
Steller’s Duck. _Heniconetta stelleri_ 246
EIDER DUCK. _Somateria mollissima_ 251
King Eider. _Somateria spectabilis_ 246
COMMON SCOTER. _Œdemia nigra_ 253
VELVET SCOTER. _Œdemia fusca_ 54
Surf-Scoter. _Œdemia perspicillata_ 246
GOOSANDER. _Mergus merganser_ 255
RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. _Mergus serrator_ 256
Hooded Merganser. _Mergus cucullatus_ 246
SMEW. _Mergus albellus_ 258
_Order_ COLUMBÆ.
WOOD-PIGEON. _Columba palumbus_ 258
STOCK-DOVE. _Columba œnas_ 261
ROCK-DOVE. _Columba livia_ 261
TURTLE-DOVE. _Turtur communis_ 262
Passenger Pigeon. _Ectopistes migratorius_ 264
_Order_ PTEROCLETES.
Pallas’s Sand-Grouse. _Syrrhaptes paradoxus_ 264
_Order_ GALLINÆ.
PHEASANT. _Phasianus colchicus_ 264
RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE. _Caccabis rufa_ 265
Barbary Partridge. _Caccabis petrosa_ 266
PARTRIDGE. _Perdix cinerea_ 267
QUAIL. _Coturnix communis_ 269
PTARMIGAN. _Lagopus mutus_ 270
RED GROUSE. _Lagopus scoticus_ 272
BLACK GROUSE. _Tetrao tetrix_ 273
CAPERCAILLIE. _Tetrao urogallus_ 275
_Order_ FULICARIÆ.
WATER-RAIL. _Rallus aquaticus_ 277
SPOTTED CRAKE. _Porzana maruetta_ 277
Baillon’s Crake. _Porzana bailloni_ 278
Little Crake. _Porzana parva_ 278
CORNCRAKE. _Crex pratensis_ 278
MOORHEN. _Gallinula chloropus_ 279
COOT. _Fulica atra_ 280
_Order_ ALECTORIDES.
Crane. _Grus communis_ 281
Great Bustard. _Otis tarda_ 281
Little Bustard. _Otis tetrax_ 281
Macqueen’s Bustard. _Otis macqueeni_ 281
_Order_ LIMICOLÆ.
STONE-CURLEW. _Œdicnemus scolopax_ 282
Collared Pratincole. _Glareola pratincola_ 284
Cream-coloured Courser. _Cursorius gallicus_ 284
GOLDEN PLOVER. _Charadrius pluvialis_ 284
Eastern Golden Plover. _Charadrius fulvus_ 286
GREY PLOVER. _Squatarola helvetica_ 286
KENTISH PLOVER. _Ægialitis cantiana_ 287
Little Ringed Plover. _Ægialitis curonica_ 288
RINGED PLOVER. _Ægialitis hiaticula_ 287
Killdeer Plover. _Ægialitis vocifera_ 288
DOTTEREL. _Endromias morinellus_ 289
LAPWING. _Vanellus vulgaris_ 290
TURNSTONE. _Strepsilus interpres_ 292
OYSTER-CATCHER. _Hæmatopus ostralegus_ 293
Avocet. _Recurvirostra avocetta_ 316
Black-winged Stilt. _Himantopus candidus_ 316
RED-NECKED PHALAROPE. _Phalaropus hyperboreus_ 294
Grey Phalarope. _Phalaropus fulicarius_ 295
WOODCOCK. _Scolopax rusticula_ 296
GREAT SNIPE. _Gallinago major_ 298
COMMON SNIPE. _Gallinago cælestis_ 299
JACK-SNIPE. _Limnocryptes gallinula_ 300
Broad-billed Sandpiper. _Limicola platyrhyncha_ 317
Pectoral Sandpiper. _Tringa maculata_ 317
Bonaparte’s Sandpiper. _Tringa fuscicollis_ 317
DUNLIN. _Tringa alpina_ 300
LITTLE STINT. _Tringa minuta_ 302
Temminck’s Stint. _Tringa temmincki_ 303
American Stint. _Tringa minutilla_ 317
CURLEW-SANDPIPER. _Tringa subarquata_ 303
PURPLE SANDPIPER. _Tringa striata_ 304
KNOT. _Tringa canutus_ 304
RUFF and REEVE. _Machetes pugnax_ 306
SANDERLING. _Calidris arenaria_ 308
Buff-breasted Sandpiper. _Tryngites rufescens_ 317
Bartram’s Sandpiper. _Actiturus longicauda_ 317
COMMON SANDPIPER. _Tringoïdes hypoleucus_ 309
GREEN SANDPIPER. _Helodromus ochropus_ 310
Wood-Sandpiper. _Totanus glareola_ 316
REDSHANK. _Totanus calidris_ 310
Spotted Redshank. _Totanus fuscus_ 316
GREENSHANK. _Totanus canescens_ 312
Red-breasted Snipe. _Macroramphus griseus_ 317
Bar-tailed Godwit. _Limosa lapponica_ 316
Black-tailed Godwit. _Limosa melanura_ 316
Esquimaux Curlew. _Numenius borealis_ 317
WHIMBREL. _Numenius phæopus_ 313
CURLEW. _Numenius arquata_ 314
_Order_ GAVLÆ.
ARCTIC TERN. _Sterna macrura_ 317
COMMON TERN. _Sterna fluviatilis_ 319
ROSEATE TERN. _Sterna dougalli_ 320
LITTLE TERN. _Sterna minuta_ 320
Caspian Tern. _Sterna caspia_ 323
Gull-billed Tern. _Sterna anglica_ 323
SANDWICH TERN. _Sterna cantiaca_ 322
Sooty Tern. _Sterna fuliginosa_ 323
Scopoli’s Sooty Tern. _Sterna anæstheta_ 323
Whiskered Tern. _Hydrochelidon hybrida_ 323
White-winged Black Tern. _Hydrochelidon leucoptera_ 323
Black Tern. _Hydrochelidon nigra_ 323
Noddy. _Anoüs stolidus_ 323
Ivory Gull. _Pagophila eburnea_ 329
KITTIWAKE. _Rissa tridactyla_ 323
Glaucous Gull. _Larus glaucus_ 329
Iceland Gull. _Larus leucopterus_ 329
HERRING-GULL. _Larus argentatus_ 324
LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL. _Larus fuscus_ 325
COMMON GULL. _Larus canus_ 326
GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. _Larus marinus_ 327
Great Black-headed Gull. _Larus ichthyaëtus_ 330
BLACK-HEADED GULL. _Larus ridibundus_ 328
Little Gull. _Larus minutus_ 330
SABINE’S GULL. _Xema sabinii_ 330
COMMON SKUA. _Stercorarius catarrhactes_ 330
Pomatorhine Skua. _Stercorarius pomatorhinus_ 333
RICHARDSON’S SKUA. _Stercorarius crepidatus_ 333
Buffon’s Skua. _Stercorarius parasiticus_ 333
_Order_ TUBINARES.
STORMY PETREL. _Procellaria pelagica_ 333
LEACH’S PETREL. _Procellaria leucorrhoa_ 335
Wilson’s Petrel. _Oceanites oceanicus_ 336
MANX SHEARWATER. _Puffinus anglorum_ 336
Sooty Shearwater. _Puffinus griseus_ 337
Greater Shearwater. _Puffinus major_ 337
Dusky Shearwater. _Puffinus obscurus_ 337
FULMAR. _Fulmarus glacialis_ 337
Capped Petrel. _Œstrelata hæsitata_ 339
Bulwer’s Petrel. _Bulweria columbina_ 339
_Order_ PYGOPODES.
GREAT NORTHERN DIVER. _Colymbus glacialis_ 340
BLACK-THROATED DIVER. _Colymbus arcticus_ 341
RED-THROATED DIVER. _Colymbus septentrionalis_ 342
GREAT CRESTED GREBE. _Podiceps cristatus_ 342
Red-necked Grebe. _Podiceps griseigena_ 345
Sclavonian Grebe. _Podiceps auritus_ 345
Eared Grebe. _Podiceps nigrocollis_ 345
LITTLE GREBE. _Tachybaptes fluviatilis_ 344
RAZORBILL. _Alca torda_ 345
COMMON GUILLEMOT. _Lomvia troile_ 347
Brünnich’s Guillemot. _Lomvia bruennichi_ 351
BLACK GUILLEMOT. _Uria grylle_ 350
Little Auk. _Margulus alle_ 351
PUFFIN. _Fratercula arctica_ 351
INDEX 353
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
_COLOURED PLATES._
GOLDEN EAGLE _By A. Thorburn_ _Frontispiece_
BEARDED TITMOUSE „ _To face p._ 89
GOLDFINCH „ „ 126
BITTERN „ „ 224
COMMON TEAL „ „ 244
PTARMIGAN „ „ 270
DOTTEREL „ „ 289
ROSEATE TERN „ „ 320
_PLATES._
FIELDFARES; MISSEL-THRUSH;
BLACKBIRD _By G. E. Lodge_ To face p._ 39
ROOKS; JACKDAWS; STARLINGS „ „ 164
LONG-EARED OWL; CHAFFINCH; GREAT,
BLUE AND, COAL TITS; GOLDCREST „ „ 196
GANNETS; GUILLEMOTS; HERRING-GULLS „ „ 221
MALLARDS; PEREGRINE FALCON; HERON; COOT „ „ 240
JAY; WOOD-PIGEONS; PHEASANTS „ „ 264
OYSTER-CATCHERS; RINGED PLOVER;
LITTLE STINT; CURLEW „ „ 314
BLACK-HEADED GULLS; POCHARDS,
SHOVELER; WATER-HENS „ „ 328
_ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT._
FIG. PAGE
1. SKELETON OF WING OF ARCHÆOPTERYX WITH REMIGES
ATTACHED. _From ‘Natural Science’_ 4
2, 3. STRUCTURE OF A FEATHER _From ‘Ibis’_ 5
4. PORTION OF TWO ADJACENT BARBS „ 5
5. FOOT OF PELICAN _From Owen’s ‘Anatomy of Vertebrates’_ 10
6. FOOT OF PERCHING BIRD „ 10
7. FOOT OF KINGFISHER „ 10
8. STERNUM OF SHRIKE „ 13
9. WING OF NESTLING OPISTHOCOMUS _From ‘Natural Science’_ 15
10. WING OF YOUNG FOWL OF SAME AGE AS FIG. 9
(OF WING OF OPISTHOCOMUS) „ 16
11. WING OF ADULT OPISTHOCOMUS „ 17
12. WING OF HALF-GROWN OSTRICH „ 17
13. PELVIS AND HIND LIMB OF DIVER _From Owen’s ‘Anatomy
of Vertebrates’_ 19
14. GIZZARD OF SWAN „ 21
15. SYRINX OF RAVEN (Posterior Surface) „ 26
16. SYRINX OF RAVEN (Lateral View) „ 26
17. SYRINX OF RAVEN CUT OPEN LONGITUDINALLY „ 26
18. SONG-THRUSH (¼ natural size) _By G. E. Lodge_ 41
19. THROSTLE’S NEST _From Photograph by R. B. Lodge_ 44
20. BLACKBIRD’S NEST „ 48
21. RING-OUZEL (⅕ natural size) _By G. E. Lodge_ 50
22. WHEATEAR (⅓ natural size) „ 52
23. STONECHAT (¼ natural size) „ 56
24. REDSTART (⅓ natural size) „ 57
25. REDBREAST (¼ natural size) „ 59
26. NIGHTINGALE (⅓ natural size) „ 62
27. WHITETHROAT (⅓ natural size) „ 64
28. BLACKCAP (⅓ natural size) „ 67
29. DARTFORD WARBLER (⅓ natural size) „ 71
30. SEDGE-WARBLER (⅓ natural size) „ 80
31. HEDGE-SPARROW (⅓ natural size) „ 84
32. DIPPER (⅕ natural size) „ 86
33. LONG-TAILED TIT (¼ natural size) „ 91
34. GREAT TIT (⅓ natural size) „ 93
35. CRESTED TIT (⅓ natural size) „ 98
36. NUTHATCH (¼ natural size) „ 99
37. WREN (¼ natural size) „ 102
38. PIED WAGTAIL (¼ natural size) „ 104
39. GREY WAGTAIL (⅓ natural size) „ 106
40. TREE-PIPIT (¼ natural size) „ 110
41. ROCK-PIPIT (⅓ natural size) „ 112
42. RED-BACKED SHRIKE (¼ natural size) „ 114
43. SPOTTED FLYCATCHER (¼ natural size) „ 117
44. SWALLOW (¼ natural size) „ 119
45. MARTIN (⅓ natural size) „ 121
46. TREE-CREEPER (⅓ natural size) „ 124
47. HAWFINCH (⅓ natural size) „ 130
48. LESSER REDPOLL (⅓ natural size) „ 140
49. BULLFINCH (⅓ natural size) „ 142
50. CROSSBILL (¼ natural size) „ 144
51. YELLOWHAMMER (⅓ natural size) „ 148
52. CIRL BUNTING (⅓ natural size) „ 150
53. REED-BUNTING (¼ natural size) „ 151
54. CHOUGH (⅛ natural size) „ 157
55. MAGPIE (⅑ natural size) „ 161
56. ROOKS AND NEST _From Photograph by R. B. Lodge_ 169
57. RAVEN (¹⁄₁₂ natural size) _By G. E. Lodge_ 172
58. SKYLARK (⅓ natural size) „ 175
59. NIGHTJAR (⅕ natural size) „ 180
60. SPOTTED WOODPECKER (⅕ natural size) „ 182
61. GREEN WOODPECKER (⅙ natural size) „ 184
62. WRYNECK (⅓ natural size) „ 186
63. KINGFISHER (¼ natural size) „ 188
64. HOOPOE „ 190
65. CUCKOO (⅙ natural size) „ 191
66. BARN-OWL (⅐ natural size) „ 194
67. MONTAGU’S HARRIER (⅑ natural size) „ 201
68. BUZZARD (¹⁄₁₀ natural size) „ 202
69. KITE (¹⁄₁₂ natural size) „ 207
70. PEREGRINE (¹⁄₁₀ natural size) „ 209
71. MERLIN (⅛ natural size) „ 211
72. KESTREL (⅑ natural size) „ 212
73. HONEY-BUZZARD (¹⁄₁₂ natural size) „ 217
74. CORMORANT (¹⁄₁₁ natural size) „ 218
75. GREY LAG-GOOSE (¹⁄₁₄ natural size) „ 227
76. BRENT GOOSE (¹⁄₁₀ natural size) „ 231
77. BARNACLE GOOSE (¹⁄₁₀ natural size) „ 232
78. SHELDRAKE (¹⁄₁₀ natural size) „ 235
79. WIGEON (⅐ natural size) „ 237
80. PINTAIL (¹⁄₁₀ natural size) „ 239
81. GADWELL (¹⁄₁₀ natural size) „ 242
82. GARGANEY (¹⁄₁₁ natural size) „ 243
83. TUFTED DUCK (¹⁄₁₁ natural size) „ 246
84. EIDER DUCK (¹⁄₁₀ natural size) „ 251
85. COMMON SCOTER (¹⁄₁₂ natural size) „ 253
86. GOOSANDER (¹⁄₁₂ natural size) „ 255
87. RED-BREASTED MERGANSER (¹⁄₁₁ natural size) „ 257
88. ROCK-DOVE (⅐ natural size) „ 262
89. TURTLE-DOVE (⅙ natural size) „ 263
90. RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE (⅐ natural size) „ 266
91. PARTRIDGE (⅙ natural size) „ 267
92. QUAIL (⅕ natural size) „ 269
93. BLACKCOCK (¹⁄₁₀ natural size) „ 274
94. CAPERCAILLIE (¹⁄₁₂ natural size) „ 275
95. LANDRAIL (⅐ natural size) _By G. E. Lodge_ 278
96. STONE-CURLEW (⅐ natural size) „ 282
97. GOLDEN PLOVER (summer plumage) (⅙ natural size) „ 285
98. LAPWING (⅙ natural size) „ 290
99. TURNSTONE (⅕ natural size) „ 292
100. GREY PHALAROPE (¼ natural size) „ 295
101. WOODCOCK (⅙ natural size) „ 296
102. DUNLIN (summer plumage) (¼ natural size) „ 301
103. KNOT (¼ natural size) „ 305
104. RUFF AND REEVE (⅐ natural size) „ 306
105. SANDERLING (winter plumage) (¼ natural size) „ 308
106. GREENSHANK (⅙ natural size) „ 312
107. COMMON TERN (⅐ natural size) „ 319
108. LESSER TERN (¼ natural size) „ 321
109. BLACK TERN (⅐ natural size) „ 323
110. GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL (¹⁄₁₁ natural size) „ 327
111. GREAT SKUA (¹⁄₁₂ natural size) „ 330
112. STORMY PETREL (⅓ natural size) „ 334
113. MANX SHEARWATER (⅛ natural size) „ 336
114. FULMAR (⅑ natural size) „ 338
115. GREAT NORTHERN DIVER (⅑ natural size) „ 340
116. GREAT CRESTED GREBE (¹⁄₁₀ natural size) „ 342
117. LITTLE GREBE (⅙ natural size) „ 344
118. RAZORBILL (winter plumage) (¹⁄₁₁ natural size) „ 346
119. LITTLE AUK (⅛ natural size) „ 350
120. PUFFIN (⅑ natural size) „ 351
INTRODUCTION.
The plan followed in the descriptive portion of this work has, I
trust, the merit of simplicity. A brief account is given of the
appearance, language, and life-habits of all the species that reside
permanently, or for a portion of each year, within the limits of the
British Islands. The accidental stragglers, with the irregular or
occasional visitors, have been included, but not described, in the
work. To have omitted all mention of them would, perhaps, have been
to carry the process of simplification too far. And as much may be
said of the retention in this book of Latin, or ‘science’ names. The
mass of technical matter with which ornithological works are usually
weighted is scarcely wanted in a book intended for the general reader,
more especially for the young. Nor was there space sufficient to make
the work at the same time a technical and a popular one: the briefest
description that could possibly be given of the characters of genera
would have occupied thirty to forty pages. The student must, in any
case, go to the large standard works on the subject, especially to
those of Yarrell (fourth edition), Seebohm, and Howard Saunders, which
are repositories of all the most important facts relating to our bird
life, gathered from the time of Willughby, the father of British
ornithology, down to the present.
The order in which I have placed the species, beginning with the
thrushes and ending with the auks, is that of Sclater, based on
Huxley’s classification, and is the arrangement adopted in the official
list of the British Ornithologists’ Union (1883). The B.O.U. list
enumerates 376 species; and of this number 211 species are counted
as residents and regular visitants; the remaining 165 being loosely
described as ‘Occasional Visitants.’ About these aliens, which are
claimed as citizens, something requires to be said.
It has long been the practice of our ornithologists to regard as
‘British’ any species of which one specimen has been found in a wild
state within the limits of the United Kingdom. As a result of this
excessive hospitality we find in the list about forty-three species
of which not more than three specimens have been obtained; in a
majority of cases only one. We also find that there are not fewer than
forty-five exclusively American species in the list; but by what means,
or by what series of extraordinary accidents, these lost wanderers
have been carried thousands of miles from their own region, across
the Atlantic, and have succeeded in reaching our shores alive, it is
impossible to imagine. It is highly probable that some of the American,
Asiatic, and European waifs that have been picked up in these islands
were birds that had escaped from confinement; but whether brought
by man or borne on the wings of the tempest to our shores, the fact
remains that they are not members of our avifauna, and the young reader
should clearly understand that only by a pleasing fiction are they
called ‘British.’
I have spoken at some length on this subject, because it is one that
appears to interest a great many persons who are not ornithologists.
How many British species are there? is a question that is continually
being asked of those who are supposed to know. I should say that, in
round numbers, there are 200; at the very outside, 210. Seebohm, in
the introduction to his great work, gives 222 as the number of species
‘fairly entitled to be considered British birds’; but he probably
counted some that are usually regarded as irregular visitors, and
perhaps others which have been exterminated in recent times. Of the 165
species set down in the ‘British’ list as occasional visitors, about
55 or 60 deserve that description, since they do, as a fact, visit the
British Islands at irregular intervals. All the others are accidental
stragglers.
It only remains to add something on another subject--the little
life-histories of the two hundred and odd species described in this
volume. Although this is in no sense a controversial subject, the
apologetic tone must be still used. I wish that these sketches had been
better done, but I do not greatly regret that they had to be brief. The
longest history of a bird ever written, the most abounding in facts
and delightful to read, when tested in the only sure way--namely,
by close observation of its subject--is found to be scarcely more
complete or satisfactory than the briefest, which contains only the
main facts. This is because birds are not automata, but intelligent
beings. Seebohm has well said, ‘The real history of a bird is its
_life_-history. The deepest interest attaches to everything that
reveals the little mind, however feebly it may be developed, which lies
behind the feathers.’ It has been remarked more than once that we do
not rightly appreciate birds because we do not see them well. In most
cases persecution has made them fearful of the human form; they fly
from us, and distance obscures their delicate harmonious colouring and
blurs the exquisite aërial lines on which they are formed. When we look
closely at them, we are surprised at their beauty and the indescribable
grace of their varied motions. An analogous effect is produced by a
close observation of their habits or actions, which, seen from afar,
may appear few and monotonous. Canon Atkinson, in his ‘Sketches in
Natural History’ (1865), has a chapter about the partridge, prefaced by
Yarrell’s remark, that of a bird so universally known there was little
that was new to be said. While admitting the general truth of this
statement, the author goes on to say: ‘Still, I have from time to time
observed some slight peculiarity in the habits of the partridge that I
have not seen noticed in any professed description of the bird, forming
certain passages, as it were, of its minute history. It is precisely
this ‘minute history’ that gives so great and enduring a fascination
to the study of birds in a state of nature. But it cannot be written,
on account of the infinity of ‘passages’ contained in it, or, in other
words, of that element of mind which gives it endless variety.
Let us imagine the case of a youth or boy who has read and re-read
half a dozen long histories of some one species; and, primed with all
this knowledge, who finally goes out to observe it for himself. It
will astonish him to find how much he has not been told. He will begin
to think that the writers must have been hasty or careless, that they
neglected their opportunities, and missed much that they ought not to
have missed; and he may even experience a feeling of resentment towards
them, as if they had treated him unfairly. But after more time spent
in observation he will make the interesting discovery that, so long
as they are watched for, fresh things will continue to appear. The
reflection will follow that there must be a limit to the things that
can be recorded; that the life-history of a bird cannot be contained in
any book, however voluminous it may be; and, finally, that books have a
quite different object from the one he had imagined. And in the end he
will be more than content that it should be so.
W. H. H.
BRITISH BIRDS.
_THE ANATOMY OF A BIRD._
It is very important that every one who studies birds should have
some acquaintance with their insides as well as with their outsides.
To have a proper appreciation of the mechanism of flight, the most
distinctive attribute of a bird, we must explore the air reservoirs
and muscles, which combine, with other organs, to form a complicated,
but exquisitely adjusted, system. It is true that other animals
show a similar adaptation to their several modes of life, but in a
bird the necessities of life seem to have produced a more obvious
and striking harmony between structure and habit. Furthermore, the
young ornithologist should not be content with gaining the ability
to recognise the different kinds of birds: he should understand
their mutual relations, and the place of a bird in Nature. To form
an opinion about these matters needs more than an acquaintance with
the colours and outward form, and with the eggs and nest. A great
deal can be learnt from these characters, but they are at most only
useful in linking together closely related species. All the members
of the extensive tribe of parrots, for example, are bound together by
their hooked bills, their white eggs, their grasping feet, &c. But
we want to go further, and determine what are the relations of the
parrots to other birds which differ totally from them in all outward
and visible signs. To solve, or rather to attempt to solve, broader
questions of this kind we must have recourse to the scalpel, and even
to the microscope. Besides, there not only _are_ birds, but
there _were_ birds, which have now passed away utterly, leaving
behind only a few bones embedded in the rocks. Nothing of an external
nature will avail us in considering what these birds were like in
their day, and which of existing kinds they most resembled. We must
have a knowledge of bones, of osteology, to grapple with the problems
which they present. For these reasons I have dealt in the following
pages principally with the organs of flight, and with those internal
and external characters which are admitted to be of most use in
classificatory questions. I have paid less attention to those organs
which are not of importance from these points of view.
Feathers and Feathering.
It is only a very few birds that have a complete and continuous
covering of feathers. The penguins are in this condition; and some of
the ostrich-like birds are so, more than most others. But in other
birds the feathers are arranged in tracts, between which are patches
of quite, or nearly, bare skin. The technical name for the feathered
districts is ‘Pterylia’; that for the bare patches, ‘Apteria.’ If
two birds, belonging to different families, are compared, it will
often be discovered that they present considerable unlikeness in the
mutual arrangement of the feathered and unfeathered tracts. In fact,
it was pointed out not far from the beginning of this century that
the dispersal of the feathers over the body was one of the very best
characters for classifying birds upon. But when the author of this
discovery, Professor Nitzsch, of Halle, first published his book on
the matter, it was received with some ridicule, and the pictures
of birds denuded of their feathers in order to show up clearly the
feather tracts were ironically compared to a portion of a poulterer’s
shop. This ridicule, however, did not do away with the fact that the
character is often of great use in settling the mutual relationships
of birds. When a bird is carefully skinned, it will be seen that the
feather tracts have their own special slips of muscle inserted into
the roots of the feathers. These muscles, when they contract, serve
to raise the feathers slightly, and must be of at least subsidiary
importance in flying. This is, perhaps, why the feather tracts are
so well marked in birds that fly, and explains the reason for their
unmarked character in birds that do not. We can easily understand
that the movement of the feathers, if the covering were continuous,
would be much more difficult and less pronounced than when there were
separate patches far enough away from each other to allow of free
and independent movement. In the Penguin, which glides smoothly and
rapidly under water in pursuit of its fishy prey, a continuous coating
of feathers is not only a source of additional warmth, but offers less
resistance to the water; so, too, with a running bird like the Emu or
Ostrich. But in the case of the latter, at any rate, the young nestling
has quite distinct tracts and apteria, thus showing that, although
nowadays it is incapable of flight, it has descended from an ancestor
that could fly--at least, that is the way in which it is customary
to interpret such differences in structure between young animals and
their parents. The Apteryx also, of New Zealand, is quite analogous.
The old bird has a nearly continuous covering of feathers, but the
unhatched young show perfectly distinct patches of feathers with bare
spaces between. We shall show on another page that there are other
arguments which appear to prove that all these flightless birds have
been gradually derived in the course of time from birds that could
fly perfectly well. They are an instance, so far, of what is termed
degeneration.
The examination of any bird will show that it has several kinds of
feathers. They are all constructed upon the same plan, but some are
larger than others, and the smallest are soft instead of firm to the
touch.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--SKELETON OF WING OF ARCHÆOPTERYX WITH
REMIGES ATTACHED. (Restoration after Pycraft, ‘Natural Science,’
vol. v.)
I, II, III, digits.]
The biggest feathers of all are a set which fringe the wing (see
fig. 1) and another set at the end of the tail. These are called
respectively the ‘Remiges’ and ‘Rectrices,’ or the ‘rowing’ feathers
and the ‘steering’ feathers. Their principal use, as may be imagined,
is in flight. The remaining feathers are also to some extent used in
flight, but their main use appears to be to keep the body warm. An
eider-down quilt, as everybody knows, is the warmest kind of coverlet;
the reason being that the feathers are very bad conductors of heat,
and do not, therefore, allow the heat of the body to escape. Birds are
the hottest of all animals, which is in part due to their covering of
feathers. To understand the structure of a typical feather is perhaps a
little difficult; but possibly the accompanying figures (figs. 1, 2, 3,
4) will render the explanation easier to follow. The feather consists
of a stem which is technically called the rhachis, the word simply
signifying stem. From each side of this a row of parallel rodlets arise
which are called barbs. These in their turn give rise to another set
of processes which are the barbules. This, however, is not all; the
barbules are firmly locked together by other processes, so that the
entire feather is quite firm, and can be used as a kind of oar with
which to row through the air. It does not give when the wings are
flapped. The barbules are of two sorts, those nearest to the root of
the barb being different from those which are nearest to its tip. The
former, as is shown in fig. 2, are shaped something like a knife-blade;
they are thickened above and bent in the middle; they gradually taper
away to a fine point. Just in the middle, where the bend is, are two
or three small teeth (2, fig. 2) on the upper margin. By means of
these teeth-like processes the successive barbules are attached to one
another. At the end of each barb, as already mentioned, the barbules
are of a different structure. A few of them are illustrated in fig. 4.
The end is frayed out into a number of delicate spines, of which those
farthest from the actual tip are hooked, while those at the tip are
only curved and not hook-like. All these spines are called barbicels.
They are upon the lower edge of the barbule; but upon the upper edge
are a few shorter and stouter spinelets. As the barbules come off in
an oblique direction, it follows that each one of them overlaps a
considerable number, in fact five, barbules of the opposite barb. The
attachment is by these hooklets, or hamuli, as they are usually termed.
The stiff feathers which have this elaborate structure are not found
at all in the ostrich-like birds; in them there is no need for a firm
surface to catch the air; on the contrary, it would be, if anything,
disadvantageous to swift runners, as those birds are. The feathers,
therefore, are much reduced in complexity, and in some they consist
only of the stem and the barbs. Even in flying birds there are plenty
of feathers of a simple structure lying between the stronger contour
feathers. These are the soft feathers which are generally spoken of
as ‘down.’ Some of them are so reduced as to consist of little more
than the stem. The same reduction is seen in the wing feathers of the
Cassowary. Along the margin of the wing are a few strong black spines,
which are really the quills of the wing feathers with no barbs at all;
they consist merely of the stem, which has not dwindled in the least,
but is quite as strong as it would be in a feather of use for flying.
In a good many birds the contour feathers and the down feathers also
have a kind of appendix, known as the aftershaft. This is a sort of
supplementary feather arising from the stem just at the point where the
barbs begin, and having precisely the structure of a small feather. In
the Emu and the Cassowary this aftershaft is fully as large as the main
feather; from each stem in these birds arise as it were two feathers.
[Illustration: FIGS. 2, 3. (After Wray in ‘Ibis’ for 1887.)
B, Barbs; _bp_, proximal barbules; 1, flange; 2, ‘dog-tooth,’
part of flange; 3, overlapping portion.]
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--PORTION OF TWO ADJACENT BARBS. (After
Wray in ‘Ibis’ for 1887.)
B, barbs; _bd_, _bp_, barbules (distal and proximal).]
The most curious modification, however, of the feather is into that
structure known as a ‘powder-down.’ These feathers have, as their name
denotes, a powdery appearance, which is due to the continual breaking
off of the fine ends of the barbs; the feathers themselves are soft,
and belong to the variety of feathers which have been described as down
feathers. The dusty matter which they give off has been described as
‘dry and yet fatty to the touch.’ They are found in various birds; they
do not characterise any one particular group, except the Heron tribe;
some Parrots have them, a few Hawks, and certain other genera. It has
been said that they are phosphorescent; and it has been suggested that
their presence in the heron is of use to it in its fishing. The light,
it is thought, attracts the small fishes within reach of the heron’s
long bill. But this appears to be one of those exaggerations founded
upon actual fact which are so common in natural history.
Another important fact about a feather is its colour. There is no
purely white bird in this country and not very many that are chiefly
white. But there are some, like the Gulls and the Storks. The nearest
approach to an absolutely white bird is the beautiful little Egret,
whose plumes are, unfortunately, so much used in feminine adornment.
As concerns its feathers, this bird is absolutely white, but other
parts of the body are black. A bird that is purely white, not only
in the feathers but in the legs and beak, is called an albino. This
state of affairs is not commonly met with, but it sometimes occurs;
everybody has heard of that contradiction in terms, but actually
existent creature, the ‘white blackbird.’ In all these cases there is
something wanting in the feather; for white is not a colour--it is the
negation of colour, and is due in nearly every case to the scattering
of the rays of light which fall upon the object. This happens when the
material that is coloured white is broken up into minute fragments
separated by air. The froth of the sea or of a brimming tankard is
simply due to the entangling of bubbles of air, which scatter the rays
of light. The stems of the feathers contain bubbles of air, which bring
about a like effect. But the majority of birds are coloured, and,
as a rule, perhaps, brightly coloured. We have not in this country
many birds which can compare with the gaudy parrots of the East; but
brilliancy of hue is by no means wanting in the birds of this and of
other countries which enjoy a temperate climate. It used to be said
that brilliancy of colour was a characteristic of the tropics. But it
is always pointed out, by way of a refutation of that statement, that
the Golden Pheasant of China is as gorgeous a bird as any which exists.
There are few small birds which are really more brilliant in hue than
our Yellow-hammers, Goldfinches, Bullfinches, and some others. We have,
it is true, nothing to seriously compete with the Humming-birds; but
these birds are found not only in the tropical forests of Brazil, but
also in North America and upon the snowy summits of the Andes, and can
therefore hardly be used as an instance of the exclusive restriction of
brilliant colour to a tropical climate.
The hues of the feathers are due to two causes. In every case where
there is colour at all the feathers contain a certain amount of dye,
or pigment, as it is more usually termed; this pigment may be alone
responsible for the colour of the feather, or it may be only a part of
the cause. If the bright blue feather from a Macaw’s wing be roughly
pressed so as to injure the surface, the blue colour will disappear
from the rubbed place, and will be apparently replaced by a brownish
black. The reason for this is that the blue colour is the result of the
actual structure of the feather, which requires the underlying black
pigment for its manifestation. The crushing destroys that structure
and leaves only the dark pigment. The brilliant and varying hues of
the soap-bubble and of mother-of-pearl are examples of substances
which owe their colour to their structure; and the hues of the bird’s
feather are produced by a similar kind of structure. Finely ruled
lines engraved upon the feather just below a clear and transparent
outer skin are responsible for the tints of different colours. But
there are many birds whose colours are entirely due to the pigments.
The most interesting instance of this in many ways is an African bird,
the Touraco. This bird is green for the most part, but the feathers
of the wings are of a magnificent crimson. When the birds take to the
wing this gorgeous colour is displayed; before, it is concealed by the
overlying feathers. The colouring matter can be easily extracted from
the wing, and it forms a solution of a splendid crimson as bright as
the substance called cochineal, which is the product of an insect. It
was once said that this colour could be, and was as a matter of fact,
washed out from the wings of the bird during heavy storms of rain, and
that when a touraco was shot and fell into the water it stained the
water red, not with its blood, but with the dye from its feathers. This
is, however, an exaggerated way of putting the fact that even very
feebly alkaline water will dissolve out the colour. Some of the yellows
of the woodpeckers and the browns and reds of other birds are solely
brought about by the presence of pigments.
In speaking of birds as ‘feathered songsters’ or as ‘feathered bipeds,’
we are a little apt to lose sight of the fact that they are also
scaly--an error which is occasionally rectified by the view of an
obtrusive pair of legs belonging to the fowl upon the dinner-table. The
legs of birds are nearly always scaly; there are a few exceptions or
nearly exceptions. For instance, there is a special breed of pigeons
with feathered legs; and the sand-grouse, which makes those remarkable
and periodical invasions, has legs which are more covered with feathers
than with scales.
The possession of scales is one of the most striking points of
resemblance between birds and reptiles. At first sight it seems to
be almost absurd to attempt to draw any parallel between the active,
feathered, hot-blooded bird and the scaly, cold-blooded reptile; yet
there are many resemblances, some others of which will be indicated
in the following pages. In the meantime we are concerned with the
scales. These are flat plates, produced by a horny alteration of the
soft underlying skin, which are precisely like those of the lizards and
snakes. No other animals possess scales; those of the armadillo appear
to be not unlike the scales of reptiles and birds, but they really
are not, nor are those of the scaly manis, which are more comparable
to closely matted tufts of hair. The scales of a fish are totally
different, since they are not formed by the true skin, the epidermis,
at all, but by the underlying dermis. In no bird, however, are there
scales upon any part of the body except the legs. But one bird makes
a near approach to having scales elsewhere. This is the Penguin, the
feathers of whose wings are flattened and very scale-like. But the
characteristic fringing of the feather can be detected on a careful
examination. The penguin uses its wings as paddles to fly under water.
A branching and delicate feather would be worse than useless under
such circumstances; hence the superfluous fringing of the stem of
the feather has been got rid of, and the feather itself has become
flattened and lies close to the skin.
Beak.
The beak is simply a horny tract of skin which has become hardened for
its special uses. It is not even distinctive of the bird; for turtles,
particularly the snapping turtles, have beaks which are not only
precisely like those of birds, but are equally effectual when turned
to aggressive ends. It is a commonplace of knowledge that the bill or
beak presents an almost endless variety of form, which is associated
with an equally diversified use. The remarkable shovel-shaped bill of
the duck is suitable for dabbling in soft mud, just as is the hooked
beak of the hawk or owl for tearing living prey. The most prevalent
form of bill is that possessed by most passerine birds, a conical
longer or shorter bill. The relatively enormous beak of the toucan is
serrated along the free edge, which enables its possessor to obtain a
firmer grasp of the fruits upon which it feeds. The ridges upon the
inner surface of the beak in the ducks serve an analogous purpose; the
same structure is seen in the bill of the Flamingo, though the outline
of the bill is unlike that of the duck, and gave rise to the idea, or
at any rate had something to do with the former impression, that the
flamingo was a long-legged duck. But, as a matter of fact, there is a
stork in which there is precisely the same ridging of the beak, and it
is more usual now to place the flamingo among the storks, or near to
them. The Spoonbill, as its name denotes, has a beak which is at the
extreme of the series of beaks which are useful for sifting the mud at
the bottom of pools and rivers; the extremity is widened and flattened
out. Most singular is the recurved bill of the Avocet, and equally so
the under-jawed Rhynchops, the terms used implying the peculiarities in
each case. There is no living bird which lacks a beak; but in some of
the extinct and toothed birds, which are again referred to later, the
beak was absent. Its place was taken in them by the teeth.
Feet.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--FOOT OF PELICAN.]
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--FOOT OF PERCHING BIRD.]
[Illustration: FIG. 7.--FOOT OF KINGFISHER.]
Hardly less diversified in form are the feet of birds. The skeleton
of this part of the body is dealt with on another page; here we are
concerned only with the external form of the feet and legs. Aquatic
birds often have webbed feet, but not always. The Dipper, for example,
is a bird which lives largely on and under the water, but its feet
are not in the least like those of a Duck or Grebe. The webbed foot
presents us with at least two varieties. In the Pelican tribe (fig. 5)
the extreme of web-footedness is to be seen. Here all the toes (four)
are connected by a webbing. In the Duck only three of the toes are
webbed. Another kind of webbed foot is termed palmate. In the Coots,
for example, each toe is fringed with a broad membrane, but there is no
connection between the fringes of successive toes. The toes of birds
are apt to be differently disposed. In most birds (fig. 6) there are
three toes which are turned forwards, and one, the great toe (hallux),
which is turned backwards. But in the Trogons and others two toes are
turned forwards and two backwards, thus producing a very efficient
mechanism for holding on tightly to the bough of a tree, a mechanism
which is shared by that, in some other respects, bird-like lizard, the
chameleon. A foot of this kind is technically called ‘zygodactyle.’ A
singular modification of the foot is seen in the Kingfisher (fig. 7)
where the two middle toes are enclosed in the same fold of skin; this
is called ‘syngenesious.’
Skeleton.
A bird’s skeleton is wonderfully light and spongy in texture. It is
full of air (see below, p. 27), but deficient in marrow. Its entire
structure is pre-eminently suited to a flying creature, not only for
the above reasons, but because the heaviest part (the sternum) lies in
the middle, in the centre of gravity, and thus assists in preserving
the balance, like Blondin’s pole.
The Skull.
The skull of a bird is composed of a large number of separate bones,
which are very closely united in the adult bird, so much so that it
is next to impossible to recognise that they are distinct bones. The
bones are also thin and light, for to a flying animal any weight
forward would be most disadvantageous. The weight of the bird should
be, and is, concentrated in the middle of the body. We can divide
the skull into two regions: behind is the smooth, rounded brain-case
or cranium; in front is the face, which is largely ensheathed by the
beak. It is chiefly formed by the maxillary and nasal bones above, and
by the palatine and pterygoids below. The length of this part of the
skull is subject to great variation in different birds. In the Storks,
for instance, the face is extremely long, while in the Parrots it is
comparatively short.
Professor Huxley, about thirty years ago, proposed to classify birds
by the form of the bones of the palate. In the skull of the Hawk, it
will be seen that two bones lying in the front region of the palate
are fused with each other in the middle line, and to the type of skull
which is thus characterised the name ‘desmognathous’ was given. It is
found not only in the Hawks, but in a quantity of other birds; for
instance, in the Stork tribe, and in the Hornbills and Toucans. The
second form of skull distinguishes the gallinaceous birds; in them the
two maxillo-palatines remain unconnected, and the palate is therefore
in a way cleft; this is termed the ‘schizognathous’ skull. In the
finch tribe there is a slight modification of this, called, from the
Greek word for a finch, ‘ægithognathous.’ In these birds a median bone,
called the vomer, from the fact that the bone to which it corresponds
in the human skull is shaped somewhat like a plough-share, is truncated
in front, instead of tapering, as it does in the schizognathous skull
of the common fowl. There is a fourth variety, which marks out the
Ostrich tribe and the American Tinamous, in which the two pairs of
bones called the pterygoids and palatines do not, as they do in the
types of skull that have been hitherto considered, reach the middle
line of the skull, but are kept off from it by the vomers, which
extend backwards. The term ‘dromæognathous,’ or emu-like, is applied
to this form of skull. If the back of any bird’s skull be examined,
it will be noticed that just below the great hole or foramen, through
which the medulla passes to join the spinal cord in the canal of the
vertebral column, is a rounded, rather kidney-shaped boss. This is the
occipital condyle, by means of which the skull articulates with the
first vertebra. If you look at the same region in a mammal, you will
find that there are two of these, one on each side, though also below
the foramen magnum. This is one of the many points of structure that
distinguish a bird from a mammal and ally it to the reptiles; but it
must be remembered that in some reptiles there is a commencing division
of the single condyle into two.
The Vertebral Column.
Like all other backboned animals, birds have a chain of small bones
running along the back, and enclosing a canal in which runs the spinal
marrow. In most vertebrates some of the individual vertebræ in the
region of the hind limb, the sacral region, are somewhat intimately
fused together, forming a more solid structure for the support of the
pelvis. In birds the strong coupling of the vertebræ is more marked,
and extends to the dorsal region. The mechanical value of this to a
flying animal is clear; it is analogous to the tight coupling of an
express train, and prevents the back from bending from side to side
under the strain produced by the powerful movements of the muscles in
flight. The tail vertebræ show some curious modifications in different
birds. In the typical carinate bird, the last few vertebræ are fused
into a piece which is called the ‘plough-share bone,’ or ‘pygostyle.’
The name of this bone sufficiently indicates its shape; the expanded
end of the bone serves as a firm base, upon which rest the strong
tail feathers. Now, in the ostrich tribe there are no rectrices
comparable in size to those of the flying carinates. Here there is no
pygostyle, but the individual vertebræ are small and disconnected.
They are, however, few in number, whereas in the Archæopteryx they are
numerous, though, oddly enough, not so numerous altogether as are the
tail vertebræ of some flying birds. Each individual vertebra in the
Archæopteryx supports a pair of rectrices, which are thus arranged in
a series, and not in one row. A very distinctive peculiarity of the
vertebræ of birds is the saddle-shaped centrum. The centrum of the
vertebra is the solid piece which underlies the canal of the spinal
cord, the walls of the latter being formed by the neural arches, which
unite above to form a neural spine. In other vertebrates the centra
are flat (mammals), or procœlous (the concavity being forward), or
opisthocœlous (the concavity posterior), or amphicœlous (concave on
both sides). This latter form of vertebra is frequently met with in
archaic forms belonging to various groups. It occurs, for example,
in many fishes. Such reptiles as Hyperodapedon and the Geckos have
the same kind of vertebræ. Among birds there is no existing genus or
species which is to be thus characterised; but the extinct Ichthyornis
had clearly biconcave vertebræ.
Shoulder Girdle.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.--STERNUM OF SHRIKE.
_h_, ribs; 58, furcula; 52, coracoid; 59, anterior end of
sternum.]
This series of bones serves as the intermediary between the fore limb
and the vertebral column. It consists of three distinct elements. There
is, first of all, a sword-blade-like bone with sharp edges, which
lies along the vertebral column--the scapula. To the end of this is
firmly attached a somewhat shorter bone, which approaches its fellow
as it joins the sternum below; this bone is known as the coracoid (52,
fig. 8). The angle between these two bones is, in flying birds, a
considerable one, but in the ostrich tribe they are almost in the same
straight line; this is really connected with the power of flight, for
it has been shown by careful measurements that, in birds which still
have wings that bear every appearance of being functional, and yet are
not used for their legitimate purpose, the angle tends to approach
the obtusity of the scapula and coracoid of the Ostrich. Birds have,
besides these two bones, the merry-thought, or clavicle (58, fig. 8),
which corresponds to our collar-bone. Its two halves are generally
closely united to form one [**Symbol:]U-shaped or [**Symbol:]V-shaped
bone; but sometimes they are separate, and then more or less
rudimentary.
Wing.
[Illustration: FIG. 9.--WING OF NESTLING OPISTHOCOMUS. (After
Pycraft in ‘Natural Science.’)
The second digit (II) is free, being prolonged beyond ala
membrane (P.m.), and remiges 8–10 are not developed.]
[Illustration: FIG. 10.--WING OF YOUNG FOWL OF SAME AGE AS FIG. 9
(OF WING OF OPISTHOCOMOS). (After Pycraft in ‘Natural Science.’)
The hand is shorter, and not fitted to be a grasping organ.]
[Illustration: FIG. 11.--WING OF ADULT OPISTHOCOMUS. (After
Pycraft in ‘Natural Science.’)
The hand is smaller relatively to the forearm; _c_, the claw of
digit I, much reduced.]
[Illustration: FIG. 12.--WING OF HALF-GROWN OSTRICH. (After
Parker.)
I, II, III, digits; R., U., D.c.f., carpal bones; Mc.,
metacarpals.]
We must enter into the matter of wing a little more closely--it is so
important a feature of bird organisation. The wing, of course, although
it performs so different a _rôle_, is the exact equivalent of
the fore limb of mammals. We can easily recognise precisely the same
bones, though they are diminished in number, and often of a different
form. It will be noticed that in each case we can distinguish the
three bones forming the arm, and which are known as the humerus, the
radius, and ulna. The rest of the limb in the bird is not quite so
obviously like the hand of the mammal; but a little attention will show
that it is constructed upon a perfectly similar plan. The flexible
wrist of the mammal is made up of many small bones; the hand itself
is made up of a larger series still, of which those nearest to the
wrist are technically termed the metacarpals, and those which follow,
the phalanges. In many mammals there are five fingers; but there are
many which have less, and the extreme is reached in the horse, which
has to put up with a single finger and small rudiments of two others.
Now the bird is better off in the way of fingers than the horse, as it
has three fairly well-developed fingers, or rather two well developed
and one less perfect. The shortest finger corresponds to the thumb of
our hand. It is more freely movable than the others. The metacarpal
bones of the second and third fingers are firmly welded together, and
are long; each finger (as will be seen from a look at fig. 1, p. 4)
has one or two phalanges, as the case may be. Now in mammals the end
phalanx of each finger is tipped with a nail, or with a hoof. The
powerful claws of the tiger, used for tearing, and the solid hoof of
the ox or horse, upon which the creature walks, are one and the same
thing. It might be supposed that the hand of the bird, which is not
an organ of offence or meant to walk with, might be shorn of these
appendages. But this is not the case: every bird has at least two nails
(fig. 9), of a long and rather claw-like form when well developed,
and sometimes three nails, that is, one to each of its fingers. It
looks, therefore, very much as if the wing of the bird had been formed
out of a limb that was once an organ for climbing or walking with.
There is a curious bird, found in British Guiana, which is known as
the Hoatzin (figs. 9, 11). In the very young nestlings of the hoatzin
the claws of the fingers are so conspicuous that they are actually
used by the callow chick to climb with, before the feathers of the
wings have grown sufficiently to enable them to use their wings in the
proper way in which a bird should; it has been said also, that other
birds scramble about and use their claws when they are young. In the
case of the hoatzin, it is stated that the thumb and the first finger
can be brought together so as to lay hold definitely of an object. A
very important thing to notice about the wing bones is that they are
capable of but little movement upon each other. There are two hinges,
one at the elbow, and the other at the wrist; but the radius and ulna
cannot move round each other, as they can in our arms, and the fingers
are fixed and rigid. This would be most unfortunate if the wing had
to be used as a walking or climbing limb; but it is most useful in
relation to the function which the wing has to perform--that of flight.
The strength of the downward stroke would be enfeebled if the bones
were in a limp condition and moved upon each other. They offer, too,
a firm foothold for the thick quills of the big feathers of the wing.
It has been mentioned that all the evidence at our disposal points
to the view that the wing has become gradually moulded into an organ
of flight, from a condition in which it played a different part. The
earliest bird of which we have any record had wings which were much
less perfect as flying organs than those of modern birds. It seems
pretty plain that the bones in that antique bird were much less rigidly
fixed together, and it is equally clear that the fingers were very
much more loosely attached to one another. They were also more on an
equality as regards size; the great disparity evident in fig. 12 is
not to be seen in the Archæopteryx. All this, of course, shows that
the Archæopteryx could not have possessed the ample pinion of its more
vigorous descendants of to-day. The fossil Archæopteryx looks a little
like a crow would look after receiving at close quarters a charge of
duck shot; but a closer examination will show that in reality all the
bones are there, on one side at least. Out of the disjecta membra of
the fossil numerous ‘restorations’ have been put together, which are
as diverse as the minds which imagined them. We cannot really say with
certainty what were the precise relations of the hand to the feathers.
It seems most probable that the hand of this ‘mediæval’ bird still
retained the ordinary functions of a hand; that it served its possessor
to lay hold of convenient branches, from which it fluttered feebly to
others. One bold speculator has insisted upon the probability that the
Archæopteryx had the requisite five fingers of the presumed ancestral
type; but there are no traces of them, except in so far as the lie
of the feathers enables a hint to be gathered. Boring operations, or
at least prospecting in the interior of the stony slab on which the
fossil lies, might reveal some additional fingers; but the operation
would be fraught with too obvious perils to a nearly unique object.
There are a good many birds which do not, and some which cannot, fly.
To the first category belong such birds as the domestic ducks and
fowls, and some of the rails. These birds, when put to it--when chased
by a dog, for example--can often fly; but as a rule they do not, or
at most only flutter along. The Ostrich tribe and a few other birds
have totally lost the power of flight. But though this is the case,
the bony structure of the hand remains the same in the Ostrich and in
the American Rhea; in the Cassowary, however, and the Apteryx of New
Zealand, the fingers are reduced to one. The last stage in the atrophy
of the organ of flight is seen in the giant and extinct birds of New
Zealand, the Moa or Dinornis, in which no trace of a wing has been
so far discovered. But in some of these birds in which the wing is
reduced in size, or so simplified in structure that it can no longer
serve its legitimate purpose, it is made use of for other purposes.
When the Ostrich skims along the surface of the sandy deserts where it
is often found, it holds out both wings, which are compared to sails;
they possibly serve rather as the pole of the tight-rope walker, to
preserve the balance of the bird when hurrying along at full speed. In
the Secretary Vulture of Africa the wings can be used for flying, but
they are also used as weapons wherewith to combat the poisonous snakes
upon which the bird so usefully feeds. It strikes down the venomous
serpent when the latter is attempting to strike the bird. The Chauna
of South America has strong spurs upon its wings, which are used for
fighting as well as for flying. But the most curious use to which
wings are put is afforded by the Penguin. If the reader has never seen
the ‘diving birds’ fed at the Zoological Gardens, let him go there on
the first opportunity, and see how rapidly and gracefully the Penguin
‘flies’ under water by the flapping of its wings. They are shorter than
those of most birds, and the feathers have become flattened and almost
scale-like, so as to offer no resistance to the water; at the same
time the bones of the wing are flattened, so that a broad surface is
provided, which of course acts like an oar. With this oar-like wing the
Penguin can outswim a small fish.
Sternum and Ribs.
The breast-bone or sternum (fig. 8, p. 13) of birds shows the same
relation to the power of flight that is shown by so many, if not
by all, parts of the skeleton. It is relatively a very large bone,
and is in all perfectly flying birds furnished in the middle line,
below, with a strongly marked keel, the presence of which has given
its name to the great group of birds called carinates. The ostrich
tribe, from whose sterna the keel is absent, are termed ‘ratite,’ or
‘raftlike.’ The reason for the keel is the attachment of the great
pectoral muscle, which is the most important muscle of flight. The
sternum often offers useful characters to the systematist. The surface
of the bone is sometimes in various degrees fenestrate, or more or
less deeply incised, the one condition being an exaggeration of the
other, and both the conditions being due to defective ossification.
The sternum is attached to the vertebral column by the ribs, which are
well developed in all birds, but vary very much in number. A highly
characteristic feature of the ribs of birds is a small bony projection
of the hinder margin of a certain number of them, called the uncinate
processes. These are present in all birds, with the single and
remarkable exception of the South American Screamers (_Chauna_,
_Palamedea_), a group of birds occupying a rather isolated
position, and showing resemblances to a great many different groups.
Pelvis.
[Illustration: FIG. 13.--PELVIS AND HIND LIMB OF DIVER.
_c_, _d_, ilium; 63, ischium; 64, pubis; 65, femur; 66, tibia;
67, fibula; 68, tarso-metatarsus; i.-iv. digits with phalanges
numbered.]
The hind limbs are attached to the vertebral column by means of a
considerable bony structure known as the pelvic girdle (fig. 13). This
mass of bone is in reality composed of three pairs of elements, though
they are in the adult strongly compacted together. The main bone, which
is firmly attached to the vertebral column, is the ilium; with this is
almost completely fused the ischium; the very slender pubis is to a
large extent free from these bones. The pelvis is in its form one of
the most characteristic of the bones of the bird’s skeleton. In other
animals the three bones are present, but they are directed away from
each other; in the bird, as already described, the pubis is directed
backwards, parallel to the ischium; in correspondence, perhaps, with
its position it has become a feeble bone, and has but few muscles
attached to it. The interest of the matter, however, is mainly in the
fact that among the extinct Dinosaurs, a race of mesozoic reptiles,
there were some in which the pelvis had a very bird-like structure,
with the same feeble and recurrent pubis. This has been urged as a
mark of affinity between the Dinosaurs and birds. The several bones of
the pelvis are free from each other at the extremity, or almost so,
in all the Ratites, and in the Tinamous, which are supposed to bear
some relationship to the Ratites. The fact is interesting as being an
example of the retention of a character by one group of birds which
is only transitional and embryonic in another, for in all young birds
the bones of the pelvis are separate; it is not until some time before
hatching that they become fused together as we see them in the adult.
Hind Limb.
At first sight there appears to be a considerable difference between
the fore limb and the hind limb. In both there is a long proximal bone,
called humerus in the one case and femur in the other, followed by a
pair of bones--the tibia and fibula--corresponding to the radius and
ulna of the fore limb. But in the hind limb (fig. 13), the foot proper,
consisting of metatarsals and phalanges, appears to come immediately
after the tibia and fibula. In a sufficiently young bird, what is the
apparent lower end of the tibia, and what is equally apparently the
upper end of the metatarsus, are detachable; these two halves which are
thus detachable are the tarsus, which is the equivalent of the carpus
of the wing. The lower bone of the leg is on this account usually
spoken of as the tarso-metatarsus. The lower part of this bone is made
up of three fused elements, the separation of which from each other is
clearly apparent at the lower end of the bone, where the phalanges are
attached. In the Penguins the three bones are separated by grooves of a
very marked character throughout. In some birds there is a fourth toe,
the hallux; in these cases there is a small separate metatarsal loosely
fixed to the lower end of the large conjoint metatarsals.
Gizzard and Alimentary Canal.
[Illustration: FIG. 14.--GIZZARD OF SWAN.
_o_, orifice of duodenum; _a_, end of proventriculus; _cd_,
muscular part of gizzard.]
The gizzard (fig. 14) of the fowl is simply a part of the stomach
which has especially hard and muscular walls, the other half remaining
soft in texture; this latter is termed the proventriculus, and into
it open the mouths of glands which secrete the digestive juice of the
stomach. But the muscular part of the stomach--the gizzard--has to
grind down the frequently hard food of the bird, so it has not merely
a strong wall made of muscle, but also a very tough lining; the whole
organ, therefore, forms a highly efficient mechanism for crushing and
grinding the seeds and other hard vegetable food which is swallowed.
It is rendered more useful still for this purpose by the pebbles which
every bird takes care to swallow. The true and singular stories about
the varied contents of an Ostrich’s stomach are founded upon the fact
that, like other birds, it picks up stones, and with them occasionally
other objects. But all birds do not possess a hard gizzard; in Hawks
and fish-eating birds the walls are thinner, and the organ is flaccid
instead of being rigid. By a very curious and unique exception certain
Tanagers, a race of large, often bright-coloured, American, finch-like
birds, have nothing at all that can be compared to the gizzard of
other birds; this part of the alimentary canal is totally wanting.
Now the difference between the gizzard of the grain-eating fowl and
the flesh-eating hawk is chiefly a matter of diet. The celebrated
anatomist, John Hunter, who lived in the last century, and wrote so
much about the anatomy of all kinds of animals, including birds, found
that he could feed a soft-stomached bird into one with a hard gizzard,
and _vice versâ_.
We can pass briefly over the rest of the alimentary system, which
does not vary a great deal in different birds. The intestines are
always rather short, and are diversely coiled, the method of coiling
being often characteristic of a particular group. A good way down the
intestine are a pair of cæca, which may be entirely absent, as in the
Hornbills, for example; and if present may be extremely short, as in
the Sparrow, or very long, as in the Ostrich; various intermediate
degrees exist. As in all vertebrated animals, two glands pour their
secretion into the intestine; these are the pancreas and the liver.
The secretion of the liver is the bile; this fluid is accumulated as
it is formed in a largish bag--the gall-bladder, in those birds which
possess one. Shakespeare used the epithet ‘pigeon-livered,’ which meant
literally the absence of a gall-bladder; but, oddly enough, there are
some kinds of pigeons which have a gall-bladder, while others, like the
common pigeon, have not. The intestine ends in the cloaca, which is the
common chamber into which the urinary and generative organs also open.
Tongue and Teeth.
In the inside of a bird’s mouth we find only one of the two things that
we might expect to find: there is a tongue, but no teeth. We shall come
back to the teeth immediately. The tongue is not so useful among the
majority of birds as it is in most mammals. But some do make use of
it to a great extent. If you watch a parrot eating its food, you will
observe that its thick and fleshy tongue is of the greatest assistance
in helping it to manipulate the pieces of food--to extract, for
instance, the kernel from a seed or nut. It plays exactly the same part
as it does with us. In one kind of parrot, called the ‘Brush-tongued
Parakeet,’ the tongue is frayed out at the free end into a brush-like
extremity. And there are some small birds, which peck at flowers and
live upon honey, in which the tongue is thin and delicate, and frayed
out in the same way; this allows them to suck up the juices of the
flower. In the Hummingbird the tongue is rolled up so as to form two
tubes running side by side, and the same power of sucking up juices is
acquired by this means, which, curiously enough, is exactly paralleled
by the proboscis of the butterfly. In other birds the tongue is
sometimes merely a thin, flat, horny projection, and in others, again,
it is just not absent altogether.
A little reflection about the habits of birds will show that they
really do not want teeth; and we know that Nature is a most rigid
economist: nothing superfluous is allowed in the body. Even rapacious
birds like Owls and Hawks have no teeth, because they have a powerful
beak and claws, with which the food may be as effectually torn to
pieces. Birds such as the Pigeon, which feed upon grain, possess
a gizzard--which we have had something to say about already--that
performs effectually the function of a mill, grinding into a powder
the hard grains of wheat and other seeds which the bird swallows.
Nevertheless birds once did possess teeth. In earlier times of
the history of this earth there were some birds whose jaws had
as formidable a range of teeth as the mouth of many reptiles.
They were fish-eaters, and have been named _Hesperornis_ and
_Ichthyornis_. The first was something like a Diver in shape,
the latter more like a Gull. A still more ancient bird, the oldest
form of bird known to us, the _Archæopteryx_, had also toothed
jaws. In fact, in the old days it was the rule for birds to have
teeth, whereas now it is the rule, without a single exception, for
birds to be toothless. Perhaps these ancient and extinct forms had
some corresponding disadvantage when compared with their modern
representatives; their teeth and claws, for example, may have been less
effective. But although there is no bird now living which has real
teeth, traces of these organs have been discovered in the young embryos
of certain birds, which seems to be an absolute proof that they, at
any rate, had for their first parents toothed birds. But although
modern birds have no teeth, with enamel, dentine, and so forth, all
complete, the horny beak has occasionally ridges which to some extent
play the part of teeth. The inside of the Duck’s mouth is rough with
such ridges, which occur also in some other birds. The large Flamingo
was for some time regarded as a long-legged and awkward Duck that had
partially adopted the habits of a Stork, partly on account of the fact
that the inner edges of the beak were ridged in a fashion exactly
like that of the Duck. But it happens that there is a Stork, a true
Stork, in India, whose scientific name is _Anastomus_, which has
similar ridges. Ducks feed to some extent upon shellfish, which the
roughened edges of the beak are well suited to crush. The replacement
in the course of ages of true teeth by horny teeth is seen--a curiously
parallel case--in the Duck-billed Platypus of Australia, which has when
adult horny plates instead of teeth, but when young has real teeth.
Heart.
As with all vertebrated animals, birds have a centrally placed heart,
with which are connected arteries and veins, the two systems of tubes
being connected at the ends farthest away from the heart by minute
vessels--the capillaries. In relation, no doubt, to the intelligence
and activity of birds, as compared with their slower relatives, the
reptiles, we find a heart of much more perfect organisation. There
are four distinct chambers, as in the mammal, so that the arterial
and venous blood are separate, and do not commingle. The two sides of
the heart are only in indirect communication by way of the arteries
and veins and capillaries. The left ventricle gives rise to the
aorta, which is the great arterial trunk of the heart; this divides
into the carotid and other arteries, which supply the entire body,
with the exception of the lungs. The blood, which is sent out through
this vessel by the contractions of the ventricle, permeates the
system generally, and is then collected into a series of veins, which
ultimately unite into two great veins, the venæ cavæ in front, and a
large vein situated posteriorly, the inferior vena cava. These pour
the blood back into the right auricle, whence it passes at once to
the right ventricle. From the right ventricle it is driven into the
lungs, whence it is returned to the left auricle, and so into the left
ventricle to renew the circulation. The two chambers of each half of
the heart are guarded from each other by valves, which only allow
the blood to flow in the proper direction, as stated in the above
brief description of the course of the circulation. It is a curious
fact that the valve which separates the right auricle and ventricle
is a completely muscular structure, while the other is membranous.
Moreover, it does not form a complete circle, but is deficient upon
one side of the orifice. The interest of this fact is not merely in
its abnormality, its divergence from what one would expect, but in the
resemblance which is thus shown to a group of mammals, the Monotremata.
This group includes only the Duck-billed Platypus of Australia and the
spiny Anteater (Echidna) of the same continent and New Guinea. In both
of these animals the heart valve in question is also largely muscular,
and does not entirely encircle the opening from the auricle. These two
mammals also, as everyone knows by this time, have the strange habit
for a mammal of laying eggs, which is one among some other reasons
which once led naturalists to place them in the neighbourhood of birds.
The egg-laying, of course, is not distinctive, since reptiles have the
same way of bringing forth their young; and as to the heart valve,
it is rather to be explained by the fact that both types of animals
are low in the scale of their respective groups, and therefore both
approach a common ancestral form.
Voice Organ.
[Illustration: FIG. 15.--SYRINX OF RAVEN (POSTERIOR SURFACE).
_g_, tympaniform membrane.]
[Illustration: FIG. 16.--SYRINX OF RAVEN (LATERAL VIEW).
_a_, _b_, _c_, _e_, _f_, intrinsic muscles; _d_, sterno-tracheal
muscle.]
[Illustration: FIG. 17.--SYRINX OF RAVEN CUT OPEN LONGITUDINALLY.
_i_, pessulus; _h_, vibrating membrane; _g_, membrana
tympaniformis.]
By their voice, too, birds are distinguished from the rest of the
animal creation. Though there may be legends of singing serpents and of
talking monkeys, a harsh scream or a growl is the only manifestation
of the emotions through the voice which exists until we arrive at man.
Among birds, the possession of a melodious voice is limited to that
group which we term the Passeres. Other birds can scream or utter a
dull note, while many are mute. So flexible is the voice organ of these
creatures that they are the only animals that can imitate human speech.
Here, however, it is not only the Passeres which can imitate the
essential attribute of man. The Parrots, of course, are always supposed
to be _the_ birds which can talk, but this is far from being the
truth. The hoarse utterances of most Parrots are left far behind in
clearness of sound and correctness of imitation by the little Indian
Mynah, which may be usually seen at the Zoological Gardens, and heard
to speak. But the Parrot cannot sing. These are the only two groups
of birds which have so elaborate and flexible an organ of voice. From
this it might be inferred that some peculiarities of mechanism would
distinguish the organ in question of these birds, and that is what we
actually find to be the case. But, oddly enough, it is not only those
birds which have a beautiful voice whose voice organs are so elaborate
in structure. The harsh croak of the Raven issues from a syrinx which
is as delicately fashioned as that which allows of the exquisitely
varied tones of the Nightingale. The word ‘syrinx’ has been mentioned;
that is the technical term for the voice organ of the bird, which is
formed from a part of the windpipe, as in man and the mammalia, but
from a different part of that tube. In man and in mammals the voice
organ is placed in the throat just a little way down, at the prominence
often spoken of as ‘Adam’s apple.’ This is a wider part of the tube,
with larger rings of cartilage, which contains a pair of tightly
stretched membranes that can be made to vibrate and cause a sound. In
the bird, the voice organ is situated farther down, at the very point
where the trachea forks into the two bronchi, one for each lung. Here
are figures which illustrate the voice organ of a singing-bird (figs.
15, 16, 17). At this forking of the trachea the rings of the tube,
which are of gristle or cartilage, become somewhat different in form.
In the middle is a piece, which is often converted into bone, like the
‘three-way’ piece used to fix together the stick and the hoop of cane
of a butterfly-net. To the upper side of this, and therefore within
the tube, and directed upwards, is a little crescent-shaped piece of
membrane (_h_, fig. 17); this can be set vibrating by the stream
of air passing up and down the windpipe. At the sides of the syrinx
there are shown in the figure (fig. 16) three pairs of muscles;
these when they contract shorten the syrinx, and of course produce
alterations in the note, just as the shortening of the tube in a cornet
alters the sound. In many passerine birds, and in most other birds,
there is only one pair of these muscles; but the Parrots agree with the
passerines in having several pairs of muscles, and therefore a more
easily alterable syrinx. In a good many birds there are no muscles at
all in this place; for example, in the Storks, which have not by any
means a flexible voice. The syrinx, in fact, is one of those organs
which show a great deal of difference in different kinds of birds.
But it is never entirely absent, though rather rudimentary in the
Ostrich. The Australian Emu has a curious way of producing its sounds
which is not found in any other bird. The cock and hen Emus can only
be recognised by their voice, which is duller in the hen and sharper
in the cock. When the bird is uttering its note, it seems almost to
come from somewhere else, and not from the throat of the bird; the bird
is something of a ventriloquist. The sound, which is a low bellow, is
produced by a bag of skin opening into the windpipe some way up the
neck; a current of air passing down the tube is believed to set the air
in this bag in vibration, just as the air in a key may be caused to
vibrate by blowing over its edge. Generally speaking, the windpipes of
birds are straight tubes running to the lungs by the shortest route;
but in the Cranes, and in a few other birds, the pipe is coiled upon
itself once or twice, and the coils are even hidden in an excavation of
the breast-bone. The increased length of tube gives a louder and more
resonant note, such as we know characterises the Crane.
Lungs and Air-sacs.
It is not only by virtue of their powerful muscles and stiffened fore
limbs that birds can fly. The body is rendered lighter in proportion
to its bulk by air-cavities, which permeate everywhere, even into the
substance of the bones. So thorough is this aëration in the Screamer
of South America, that when the skin of the recently dead bird is
roughly pressed it crackles. Curiously enough, there seems to be no
very definite relation between the degree of thoroughness to which the
aëration of the body is carried out and the capacity for flight. The
Screamer, that has just been mentioned, is fuller of air-cavities than
the Frigate-bird, in which the art of flying is carried to the highest
extreme--the ‘triumph of the wing,’ as Michelet says in ‘L’Oiseau.’
Anyone who has the opportunity of dissecting a Hornbill will be struck
by the large and abundant air-spaces between the muscles. This applies
even to the Ground Hornbill of Abyssinia; and yet the latter, as
its name denotes, lives upon the ground, while the flight of other
hornbills is heavy and most unsuggestive of lightness of body. These
air-spaces are in direct communication with the windpipe. It is much
easier to understand their arrangement by the actual dissection of a
bird. We must first get a notion of the position and form of the lungs,
which differ very much from the lungs of other animals. In a rabbit,
for example, or any other mammal, the lungs lie freely on each side of
the heart, and are capable of being pushed here and there after the
body is opened, and of much expansion and diminution of volume during
the movements of respiration. But the lungs of all birds are tightly
fixed to the wall of the chest cavity, being, as it were, moulded on to
the ribs and vertebræ; when they are carefully picked away from their
place, they retain the impressions of the bones which they touch. There
is no great possibility here of independent movements on the part of
the lungs. Respiration is effected in a totally different manner; it
is, in fact, bound up with the mechanical filling of the air-spaces.
Each of the two lungs is contained within a large compartment, which is
bounded externally by an obliquely disposed septum, often spoken of, on
account of its direction, as the ‘oblique septum.’ Others call it the
diaphragm, imagining that it is the equivalent of the diaphragm in the
mammal, that partly fleshy, partly tendinous plate which shuts off the
cavity of the chest, in which lie the heart and lungs, from the cavity
of the abdomen, in which lie the intestines, stomach, and liver. Now,
this oblique septum does not by any means closely invest the lungs; on
the contrary, a deep space is thereby shut off, at the bottom of which
are the lungs. This cavity is subdivided by two partitions into three
separate compartments. It requires a very skilful manipulation to show
the fact, but it can, with care, be demonstrated that each of these
compartments is lined by a delicate membrane, which is continuous with
the lung, and is actually a kind of bubble, as it were, blown out of
the lung; these delicate sacs are the air-sacs. There are altogether
nine of them, but all these sacs do not lie within the cavity bounded
by the oblique septa. The largest pair of all the abdominal air-sacs
project into the body cavity far behind the gizzard. Now these sacs
are fairly easy to see in a dissection; but it is not so easy to make
out that they are all of them, except the middle two, connected with
a system of ramified air-spaces which, as already said, permeates the
body generally, lying among the viscera, between the muscles below
the skin, and deep into the actual interior of the bones. But though
it is difficult to see this by a dissection, it is easy enough to
prove it by inflating them. If a syringe is passed down the windpipe
and tied carefully into it, so that no air can escape at the sides,
and air is blown down the tube, the passage of the air into the skin
and other parts can be followed; if a bone be cut across, the air can
be noticed to issue from the cut surface; and if the experiment be
varied by using a coloured fluid instead of air--which is pumped in by
a syringe--the fluid can be seen to ooze from the end of any bone or
muscle that has been cut across. A bird, therefore, when it takes in a
deep breath, not only supplies its lungs with fresh air, but fills its
whole body with the superfluous air. It has been proved that a bird can
continue to breathe if it be held under water, and only the end of a
broken limb allowed above the surface; for, as all the spaces of air
are in communication with the lungs, they (the lungs) can obviously
be as conveniently filled from one end as from the other. When you
are bathing, and take a very deep breath as you are swimming, you can
detect a sensible increase in the buoyancy of the body; in a bird, of
course, the difference is enormous, after the sacs are filled, from a
condition of comparative emptiness. The way in which a bird breathes
is different from the way in which a human being breathes. There is,
of course, the essential resemblance that is shown between all animals
that have definite organs which are set apart for respiration: the
feathery gills of the marine worms, the closely set branchiæ of the
fish, the lungs of the bird and of the mammal, are all constructed
upon one plan, so far as essentials are concerned. In all of them
blood-vessels are brought into close relation, though not into actual
contact, with water or air containing oxygen. The blood-vessels are
separated from the water or air by the thin membranes of the lungs
or gills, through which the oxygen can pass in to the blood, and the
carbonic acid and effete gases can pass out; it is this exchange which
is the essential act of respiration. We cannot, however, in this book
pretend to go into general matters of this kind, which would take us
too far from the subject at hand; but anyone who would pursue this
further can consult Professor Huxley’s ‘Elementary Physiology,’ or any
other elementary text-book upon physiology. When a mammal--a human
being, for example--breathes certain muscles are called into play. If
a person is watched, it will be seen that the chest expands during
inspiration, and that its calibre diminishes during expiration. What
happens is this. The lungs are contained in a cavity which contains no
air. This cavity can be increased in size in two directions. When the
ribs are moved out--which they can be by the movements of the muscles
called intercostal, which lie between them--the cavity of the chest
from before backwards is evidently enlarged. On the other hand there
is the diaphragm, which we have already spoken of as bounding the
chest cavity below. Now this diaphragm is muscular, with a tendinous
centre. When the muscles contract, like all muscles do, the surface
of the diaphragm, which was before rather convex towards the chest
cavity, becomes more flat; hence the cavity lying above it, _i.e._
the chest cavity, becomes larger in a downward direction also. When
it is increased in this way by the action of the two separate sets of
muscles, some space--more space than before--is left between its walls
and the lungs which lie within it; it follows, therefore, that, as
there is no air in the cavity, the pressure of air outside the body
forces more air into the lungs, because there is no counterbalancing
pressure to prevent this. The principle is the same in the bird,
but the details are different. If you will turn again to the bird’s
skeleton, you will see that the backbone and ribs and sternum form a
bony box, which is jointed in the middle; this acts precisely like a
pair of bellows: the bones at top and bottom represent the wood, and
the soft intervening leather of the bellows is represented by the
muscles which lie between, and which connect the sternum with the
abdomen and with the ribs. When these muscles contract, the sternum
is obviously brought nearer to the backbone, and air is expelled
from the inside; when they are relaxed, a vacuum is created and air
rushes in. The air-spaces, then, are really ramified tags of lung
which have no blood-vessels in their walls, and are therefore not
meant for respiration, but serve as reservoirs of air, lightening
the body of the creature. It is curious that birds are not the only
animals which possess expansions of lung that are apparently useless
for breathing purposes. The lungs of the Chameleon have quite similar
sacs appended to them. There is, it is true, no such complicated a
ramification as that which we find in the bird, but still there is no
doubt that the structure is of the same nature. It looks almost like
a first step in the path towards a bird. Very possibly the extinct
Pterodactyles, which flew through the woods of the middle ages of the
earth, had bodies lightened in the same or a similar way; for we know
that their bones have thin walls, the large cavity of which in all
probability contained air-sacs. Even some of the jumping Dinosaurs, to
which reference has already been made, seem to have possibly had lungs
constructed on the bird type. We see, therefore, that even where a bird
is, so to speak, most characteristically a bird--in the subsidiary
mechanisms of flight--it betrays a likeness to the comparatively
grovelling reptile, letting alone the aërial and more bird-like
Pterodactyles.
Brain.
The brain of birds is large in proportion to the body, thus contrasting
with that of the unintelligent reptile. From some tables on the matter
which have been published, it appears that, if weight of brain goes
for anything, the goldfinch is one of the most intelligent of birds.
The weight of its brain is one-fourteenth of the entire weight of the
body. The most unintelligent of all is the domestic fowl, whose body is
412 times heavier than its brain. The size of brain, however, seems to
be largely a matter of the size of the bird: generally speaking, the
smaller birds have heavier brains, and _vice versâ_. One might
have expected something from the apparently intelligent Parrot; but the
brain of the ‘Amazon’ is only one forty-second part of the weight of
its body. Even the cruel and bloodthirsty Hawk, which one associates
with brutality and ignorance, has a brain which is but little heavier.
The front part of the organ, known as the cerebral hemispheres, or,
more briefly, as the cerebrum, is that part of the brain which is
associated with intelligence. Now among the mammals this part of the
brain is generally much furrowed, the brain surface being, therefore,
increased without any actual increase in the skull-space required. This
furrowing is met with in most mammals, but not always in the smaller
and in the less intelligent kinds. But in the bird’s brain there are
no convolutions: the surface is as smooth as in the reptile. Not even
in the artful Raven, which some hold as the most highly developed of
birds, is there a trace of the furrowing which one rightly associates,
so far as the mammalia are concerned, with a high position in the
series. The hinder part of the brain is known as the cerebellum;
between this and the cerebrum are the optic lobes, of which there are
only two, the mammals having four. From the brain arises the spinal
cord, or marrow, which runs in the canal formed by the vertebræ, just
as the brain lies in the brain-case. The nerves of the body come
off either from the brain or the marrow, but it is not important to
enumerate them. They show no difference in different kinds of birds.
The Muscles.
The muscles of a bird are what is popularly known as its flesh. When
the skin is removed, the bones are seen to be covered by a mass of this
flesh, which is of a red colour, darker in some birds than in others.
For instance, in a Duck the colour is a dark red; in a Pigeon, quite a
pale brown. The flesh is not, however, merely a thick sheet covering
the bones: it can be separated into layers which are themselves made
up of a number of separate pieces of muscle. These individual muscles
are very commonly of a spindle-like shape, being thickest in the
middle and dwindling towards both ends, where they often end in a
tough substance called the tendon, which has a glistening and very
characteristic appearance. All muscles are not of this form--sometimes
they are strap-shaped; and not all of them end in tendons. As the most
important act of the bird’s life that depends upon its muscles is
flying, it is not surprising to find that the muscle which effects the
downward stroke of the wing is the largest. This muscle is known as the
great pectoral, and it is said to be almost as large as all the other
muscles of the body put together. The way in which a muscle effects
the movements of the bones to which it is attached is by contracting.
All muscles are able to contract; they shorten, and, accordingly, the
ends, with whatever they happen to be attached to are brought closer
together. The contraction is governed by the nerves, and it has been
discovered that the nerves actually end in communication with the
fibres of which the muscle is composed. This pectoral muscle lies on
the breast-bone, and nearly completely covers it; indeed, only the
edge of the keel appears, and a very little tract at the sides. When
this muscle is dissected away another muscle, not nearly so large,
comes into view underneath it; this is called the pectoralis secundus,
or the second pectoral. Its action is precisely the reverse of that
of the great pectoral: it pulls the wing up instead of down. Between
them, these two muscles do most of the work in flying. Naturally, in
the ostrich tribe, which do not fly, they are much reduced in bulk.
But they are never absent altogether, even in the Apteryx, which is,
perhaps, further removed from the possibilities of flight than any
other bird.
A very curious muscle runs into the patagium of the wing, which is
that fold of skin which lies between the shoulder and the hand. This
muscle is called the patagial muscle. It starts from the shoulder as a
fleshy band, but soon ends in two long tendons: one of these follows
the upper margin of the patagium, and finally ends in the wrist; the
other passes down over the patagium, and ends below in connection
with some of the muscles of the arm, and also by being attached in
a fan-shaped way to the skin itself. The function of this muscle is
to assist in the folding up of the wing when it is, so to speak, put
away after use. The tendons in which the latter part of this muscle
ends often show a most complicated branching in the patagium; they
frequently offer characteristic differences in different birds, and
are made some use of by the systematist. The bird has got a biceps to
its arm just as we have. It sometimes happens that this biceps gives
off a muscular slip, which runs into the patagium and becomes attached
to the upper of the two tendons of the patagial muscle. A good deal
of stress is laid by certain ornithologists as to whether this biceps
slip is absent or present. Several of the common British birds will
afford material to the beginner to ascertain for himself some of the
chief variations in these and the other muscles of the body. It will
be a good exercise to get a few birds, and to carefully dissect two
of them, belonging to as widely different kinds as possible, side by
side. You might select, for instance, a Crow and a Pigeon, which are
fairly extreme types. To revert to our account of the muscular anatomy
of a bird, it will be impossible to attempt any comprehensive account
of this branch of the subject, because the facts are so appallingly
numerous. We shall content ourselves, therefore, with the mention of
a highly characteristic bird muscle which occurs in the leg. This
muscle is known as the ambiens. This muscle is thin and ribbon-like.
It takes its origin from a little process of the pubic bone usually
called the prepubic process. From this point it runs along the inside
of the thigh until it reaches the knee; it then bends over the knee
and comes out on the other side, where it runs down the leg to join
the deep flexor muscle of the foot. When this ambiens muscle contracts
it pulls upon the flexor muscle, already referred to; the effect of
this is that the toes are brought together by the tendons in which the
last-mentioned muscle ends. The ambiens is far from being universally
present among birds. It is notably absent from the passerine birds
(the Sparrows, Crows, Rooks, and small perching birds generally), and
from the Hornbills, Toucans, Woodpeckers, and that varied assemblage
known as picarian birds. On the other hand, the Storks, Hawks, and
most of the larger birds, have the muscle. But among some of these
it is absent; thus, the Owls on the one hand, and the Herons on the
other, have no ambiens; but from their general resemblance in other
particulars to birds which have an ambiens, it was thought by Professor
Garrod that the loss in them was a recent event, and that they might
be fairly placed in one great group of birds with an ambiens which he
termed, somewhat lengthily, the ‘homalogonatæ,’ or normal-kneed birds,
reserving the name ‘anomalogonatæ,’ or abnormal-kneed birds, for the
passerines, &c., without an ambiens.
_CLASSIFICATION_.
One great advantage of the study of birds is that the amount of facts
to be learnt in anatomy is far less than with some other groups. They
are wonderfully uniform in structure. There is less difference in
structure between an ostrich and a humming-bird than between, say, a
lizard and a crocodile. Though this may be gratifying to the student
of birds who is content with a broad knowledge of anatomical fact,
it has its disadvantages--very distinct disadvantages--to those who
want to arrange and classify the species. As there are computed to be
over eleven thousand different kinds of birds, it is clear that an
arrangement of some kind is wanted; we must have an artificial brain
in which to store the characters of each bird in their proper place.
But before we can consider this it is necessary to consider first what
place birds as a whole occupy in Nature. It used to be thought that
warm-blooded birds ought to be put near to the warm-blooded mammals.
But it is now the general opinion that, as we have before pointed out
in relation to certain details of structure, their proper place is
in the neighbourhood of the reptiles. In fact they are regarded as a
separate division of an order of vertebrated animals which has received
the name of Sauropsida, which signifies ‘lizard-like’ animals.
Now, as to these eleven thousand, how are they to be divided? To this
simple question innumerable answers have been given--it is hardly
an exaggeration to say as many answers as there are ornithologists.
Every part of the body has had its turn in affording a base for a
classificatory scheme. At first, and with the older generation, it
was bill and claw; then came a period of bones; later the muscles
were held to be all-important; at present the fashion is in favour
of taking all characters into consideration, which is clearly a more
reasonable way of looking at the matter. The reason for the divergences
of opinion--which implies great difficulty in the subject--is
that birds are so modern a race. They are now at their heyday of
development. By-and-by, when gaps appear in the now serried ranks,
classification will be an easier matter; for classification, after all,
is an artificial, unnatural sort of thing, if we believe in a gradual
modification of species out of pre-existing species. It is not too
much to say that, the more perfect our scheme of classification, the
greater our ignorance of the group classified. If the only birds known
to science were a Hornbill, a Duck, and a Crow, together with a few of
the immediate allies of each, we could easily sort them. But there are
so many intermediate forms which absolutely decline to fit accurately
into any system. Then the would-be systematist has to distinguish
between those characters which imply a deep-seated relationship and
those which are only due to similar needs. The aim of classification
is, of course, to indicate real relationship, not merely to pigeon-hole
in a convenient way. Real relationship is often masked by superficial
differences. For instance, the common blindworm of our hedgerows is
not, as might be thought, a snake, but a lizard; it appears to be
unlike the lizard in having no legs, and to be so far a snake. Indeed,
the terror inspired by this peaceful reptile must stand it in good
stead with any except human foes. But its whole anatomy is built upon
the lizard, and not upon the snake, plan. We disregard, therefore, in
a scheme of classification the likeness to a snake, remembering that
in Nature, as in morals, appearances are apt to be deceptive. The
owls, among birds, are believed by many to offer an instance of the
same kind of deception. By all the older systematists, and by many of
the more modern, they are placed with the hawks in one group. No doubt
the owls bear a certain likeness to the hawks. They have formidable
claws and a hooked and powerful beak; they kill their prey; and only
differ superficially in that they love the darkness, while the hawks
hunt by day. Now, in certain details of anatomy, particularly in the
windpipe and the muscles, the owls are much more like that division of
birds which includes the goatsuckers. The mention of this latter family
brings us face to face with another difficulty. If the superficial
likeness of the owls to the hawks is to be distrusted, as merely due
to a similar mode of life, and therefore to the development of certain
structures which are in direct relation to that mode of life, how
about the superficial likeness of the owls to the goatsuckers, which
is almost as well marked as to the hawks? In Australia and other parts
of the East there are two genera of goatsuckers which have received
the names of Podargus and Batrachostomus. These birds are wonderfully
like owls. They have the same brown-and-grey and soft plumage; their
flight is equally noiseless--and, altogether, anyone who saw the
living Cuvier’s Podargus recently on view at the Zoological Gardens
might well be pardoned for thinking it an owl. The fact is that we
must be careful not to be prejudiced in any direction. Superficial
similarities may or may not go with real likeness. Speaking generally,
one should be disposed to lay greatest stress upon characters which
have no obvious relation to mode of life as likely to be of the most
use in indicating blood relationship. It is easier, however, to lay
down general principles of this kind than to apply them to birds. As
has been already mentioned, birds are so uniform in anatomy that in
such characters as brain, lungs, and other internal organs which are
not so directly under the immediate influence of their surroundings,
there is but little difference. Such characters afford no help to the
systematist. We are obliged, therefore, to rely upon other and really
less important points.
In most books upon ornithology--in this one, for instance--the scheme
of classification is set forth in the shape of a list beginning with
one particular group and ending with another. This is merely due to
the physical properties of sheets of paper. A linear scheme is really
an impossibility; to represent classification properly we want a solid
diagram, showing how from a root-stock branches arose and pushed their
way in every direction. Another defect of the linear scheme is that we
must begin somewhere and end somewhere. In this book we begin with the
Passeres and end with the Parrots; others start with the Accipitres,
in spite of the protest of Michelet against placing the cowardly,
flat-headed, stupid hawks at the summit of bird creation. It doesn’t
matter where we begin or where we end as long as we carefully bear in
mind that a linear classification is only a convenient way of briefly
stating certain facts, and that it does not pretend to be a copy of
Nature. An alternative method of expressing the facts of structure in
space of two dimensions is the Stammbaum, originally made in Germany;
but this inevitable tree of life is open to the serious objection
of undue dogmatism; and besides, it must be inaccurate, as it is
not in three dimensions. A given naturalist may have strong reasons
for believing, let us say, that the Struthious birds represent the
lowest bird stock, from which arose in a regular series of branches,
independently, and alternately from one side or the other, the various
groups into which we divide the class in the present book; if so,
then the Stammbaum is easily constructed. But the general consensus
of opinion is that the inter-relationships of the different groups
cannot be expressed with so much simplicity. It is clear that, in any
case, the most modified offshoots must occupy the highest branches of
the tree, and that we may in a linear scheme conveniently begin or end
with them. But it is impossible to arbitrate as to which group is the
most specialised. It is, on the whole, agreed that the Ostrich tribe
have retained more primitive characters than other birds; but is the
elaborate voice-mechanism of the Nightingale, or the almost human
intelligence of the Raven or Parrot, to rank first as evidence of high
position, _i.e._ specialisation, remoteness from the original
stock? This is a matter about which everybody can legitimately have an
opinion; and we cannot at present formulate a creed--for those, that is
to say, who are acquainted with the facts.
The scheme that I adopt here is the same as that which Mr. Hudson uses
in the pages which follow; it is the plan followed in the B.O.U. list,
and approved by most ornithologists in this country as a convenient
working outline. I have added to it the fossil groups, and those groups
which do not occur in Great Britain. The main scheme is that of Dr.
Gadow, used in his valuable account of the anatomy of birds in Bronn’s
‘Klassen und Ordnungen des Thierreichs.’ There is no deep-seated
and mysterious reason for my placing Parrots at the end of the Aves
Carinatæ: it is simply sheer inability to place them anywhere in
particular.
CLASS. AVES.
SUB-CLASS I. Archæornithes (contains genus Archæopteryx only).
SUB-CLASS II. Neornithes.
Division i. Neornithes Ratitæ.
Order i. Ratitæ (contains Struthio, Rhea, Dinornis, &c.).
Order ii. Stereornithes (contains a few fossil genera,
Gastornis, Dasornis, &c.).
Division ii. Neornithes Odontolcæ.
Order i. Hesperornithes (the extinct Hesperornis and
Enaliornis).
Division iii. Neornithes Carinatæ.
Order i. Ichthyornithes (fossil Ichthyornis only).
Order ii. Passeres (thrushes, swallows, flycatchers, tits,
&c.).
Order iii. Picariæ (rollers, cuckoos, hornbills,
woodpeckers, swifts, colies, trogons,
goatsuckers, kingfishers).
Order iv. Striges (owls).
Order v. Accipitres (hawks, eagles, American vultures,
&c.).
Order vi. Steganopodes (cormorants, pelicans, solan geese,
frigate bird).
Order vii. Herodiones (herons, storks, ibis, spoonbills).
Order viii. Odontoglossi (flamingoes).
Order ix. Anseres (screamers, ducks, geese).
Order x. Columbæ (doves).
Order xi. Pterocletes (sand-grouse).
Order xii. Gallinæ (curassows, megapodes, pheasants,
grouse, Opisthocomus, &c.).
Order xiii. Tinamidæ (tinamous).
Order xiv. Fulicariæ (rails, coots).
Order xv. Alectorides (cranes, bustards, Cariama, &c.).
Order xvi. Limicolæ (plovers, snipe, knots, &c.).
Order xvii. Gaviæ (gulls, skuas).
Order xviii. Pygopodes (auks, divers, grebes).
Order xix. Sphenisciformes (penguins).
Order xx. Tubinares (petrels, albatross).
Order xxi. Psittaci (parrots).
It will be noticed that, out of these twenty-one groups into which
we may divide the Neornithes Carinatæ of Gadow, only three are not
represented in Great Britain, viz. the Sphenisciformes, Psittaci, and
Tinamiformes. So that the student of bird anatomy in this country has
plenty of chance of making himself acquainted with the main outlines of
structure of the entire class of living birds. Out of the thirty-two
minor divisions of these birds, no fewer than twenty-one are to be met
with in these islands; and of those that are not, some are quite easy
to get hold of--a parrot, for instance.
[Illustration: FIELDFARES. MISSEL-THRUSH. BLACKBIRD.]
Missel-Thrush, or Stormcock.
Turdus viscivorus.
Upper parts ash-brown; under parts white, faintly tinged with yellow,
marked with numerous black spots; under wing-coverts white; three
lateral tail feathers tipped with greyish white. Length, eleven inches.
* * * * *
There are six British thrushes. Of these the missel-thrush and
blackbird are residents throughout the year; the song-thrush is also
found with us at all seasons, and is a winter songster, but many birds
migrate; the ring-ouzel is a summer visitor; the redwing and fieldfare
are winter visitors.
The missel or mistletoe thrush, or stormcock, is the largest, exceeding
the fieldfare, which comes next in size, by at least an inch in
length and two inches in spread of wings. This species possesses
in a marked degree all the characters that everywhere distinguish
the true thrushes, which are world-wide in their range. Theirs is a
modest colouring:--olive-brown above, paler and spotted below; a loud
and varied song, and harsh cry; a statuesque figure; rapid, startled
movements on the ground, with motionless intervals, when the bird
stands with head and beak much raised, in an attitude denoting intense
attention; and, finally, a free, strong, undulating flight.
The missel-thrush inhabits almost the whole of the British Islands,
and is most abundant in Ireland. Throughout England and Wales he is
fairly common, less common in Scotland, and becoming rarer the farther
north we go. He is found in all woods and plantations, but is most
partial to wooded parks, orchards, and gardens, which afford him food
and shelter throughout the year. He is the hardiest of our vocalists,
and is better known as a winter than a summer songster. His song may
be heard in the autumn, but from midwinter until spring his music is
most noteworthy. Its loudness and wild character give it a wonderful
impressiveness at that season of the year. He is not of the winter
singers that wait for a gleam of spring-like sunshine to inspirit
them, but is loudest in wet and rough weather; and it is this habit
and something in the wild and defiant character of the song, heard
above the tumult of nature, which have won for him the proud name of
stormcock.
This thrush is an early breeder, and pairs about the beginning of
February. The birds, after mating, are exceedingly pugnacious,
and attack all others, large or small, that approach the chosen
nesting-site. The nest is not often made in evergreens, to which
blackbirds and song-thrushes are so partial; as a rule, a deciduous
tree--oak, elm, or beech--is made choice of, and the nest may be at any
height, from a few feet above the ground to the highest part of a tall
tree; and as it is built so early in the year, when trees are leafless,
it forms a most conspicuous object. Furthermore, the missel-thrush,
a shy and wary bird at other times, becomes strangely trustful, and
even careless, when nesting, and often builds in the neighbourhood of
a house, or in an isolated tree at the roadside. When building and
breeding the birds are silent, except when the nest is threatened with
an attack, when they become clamorous and bold beyond most species in
defence of their eggs or nestlings.
The nest is large and well made, outwardly of dry grass, moss, and
other materials, woven together; it is plastered with mud inside, and
thickly lined with fine dry grass. The four eggs vary in ground-colour
from bluish white to pale reddish brown, and are spotted, blotched,
and clouded, with various shades of purple, brown, and greyish
under-markings. Two or three broods are reared in the season.
At the end of June the missel-thrushes begin to unite in small parties
numbering a dozen to twenty birds, and to range over the open country,
seeking their food in the pastures and turnip-fields, and on moors
and commons. Where the birds are abundant much larger congregations
are seen. In Ireland I have seen them in August in flocks of about
a hundred birds. They do not keep close together, as is the manner
of starlings and finches, but fly widely scattered, and alight at
a distance apart, a flock of fifty to a hundred birds sometimes
occupying half an acre or more ground. They then look very large
and conspicuous, scattered over the green grass, standing erect and
motionless, or hopping about in their wild, startled manner. These
flocks diminish in number as the season progresses, and finally break
up about midwinter.
In autumn the missel-thrushes devour the yew-berries, and the fruit
of the rowan and service trees; later in the year they feed on the
glutinous berries of the mistletoe, on haws and ivy-berries, and other
wild fruits; but their food for the most part consists of earthworms,
snails, grubs, and insects of all kinds.
Throstle, or Song-Thrush.
Turdus musicus.
FIG. 18.--SONG-THRUSH. ¼ natural size.
Upper parts olive-brown, throat white in the middle; sides of neck and
under parts ochreous yellow spotted with dark brown; under wing-coverts
pale orange-yellow. Length, nine inches.
* * * * *
The protest and recommendation implied by the use of the first name
at the head of this article may be futile; but it is impossible not
to feel and to express regret that so good and distinctive and old a
name for this familiar bird should have been replaced by a name which
is none of these things. Song-thrush is an unsuitable name, for the
very good reason that we have several thrushes, all of them songsters.
By most persons the bird is simply called ‘thrush,’ which is neither
better nor worse than ‘song-thrush.’
The throstle is one of the smaller members of the genus, being about
a third less in size than the noble stormcock. In form, colouring,
motions, language, and habits, he is a very thrush. It cannot be said
that his music is the best--that, for instance, it is finer than that
of the blackbird. The two songs differ in character; both are good of
their kind, neither perfect. The throstle is, nevertheless, in the very
first rank of British melodists, and it is often said of him that he
comes next to the nightingale. The same thing has been said of other
species, tastes differing in this as in other matters. It is worth
remarking that most persons would agree in regarding the nightingale,
song-thrush, blackbird, blackcap, and skylark, as our five finest
songsters, and that these all differ so widely from each other in the
character of their strains that no comparison between them is possible,
and there is no rivalry.
The only species which may be called the rival of the song-thrush is
the missel-thrush, as their music has a strong resemblance. That of the
stormcock has a wonderful charm in the early days of the year, when
it is a jubilant cry, a herald’s song and prophecy, sounding amidst
wintry gloom and tempest. Heard in calm and genial weather in spring,
the throstle is by far the finer songster. His chief merit is his
infinite variety. His loudest notes may be heard half a mile away on
a still morning; his lowest sounds are scarcely audible at a distance
of twenty yards. His purest sounds, which are very pure and bright,
are contrasted with various squealing and squeaking noises that seem
not to come from the same bird. Listening to him, you never know what
to expect, for his notes are delivered in no settled order, as in some
species. He has many notes and phrases, but has never made of them one
completed melody. They are snatches and portions of a melody, and he
sings in a scrappy way--a note or two, a phrase or two, then a pause,
as if the singer paused to try and think of something to follow; but
when it comes it has no connection with what has gone before. His
treasures are many, but they exist jumbled together, and he takes them
as they come. As a rule, when he has produced a beautiful note, he will
repeat it twice or thrice; on this account Browning has called him a
‘wise bird,’ because he can
recapture
The first fine careless rapture.
There is not in this song the faintest trace of plaintiveness, and
of that heart-touching quality of tenderness which gives so great a
charm to some of the warblers. It is pre-eminently cheerful; a song of
summer and love and happiness of so contagious a spirit that to listen
to it critically, as one would listen to the polished phrases of the
nightingale, would be impossible.
The throstle is a very persistent singer: in spring and summer his loud
carols may be heard from a tree-top at four o’clock or half-past three
in the morning; throughout the day he sings at intervals, and again,
more continuously, in the evening, when he keeps up an intermittent
flow of melody until dark. His evening music always seems his best, but
the effect is probably due to the comparative silence and the witching
aspect of nature at that hour, when the sky is still luminous, and the
earth beneath the dusky green foliage lies in deepest shadow.
So far only the music of the throstle has been considered; but in
the case of this bird the music is nearly everything. When we think
of the throstle, we have the small sober-coloured figure that skulks
in the evergreens, and its life-habits, less in our minds than the
overmastering musical sounds with which he fills the green places of
the earth from early spring until the great silence of July and August
falls on nature.
The song-thrush is a common species in suitable localities throughout
the British Islands, being rarest in the north of Scotland. He is found
in this country all the year round, but it was discovered many years
ago, by Professor Newton, that a very limited number of birds remain to
winter with us. Probably they migrate by night, as the fieldfare and
redwing are known to do, and, being much less gregarious than those
birds, come and go without exciting attention. The fact remains that,
where they are abundant in summer, a time comes in autumn when they
mysteriously vanish. One or two individuals may remain where twenty or
thirty existed previously; and if they only shifted their quarters,
as the missel-thrushes do in some parts of the country, they would be
found in considerable numbers during the winter in some districts. But
the disappearance is general. I am inclined to think that this thrush
migration is not so general as Professor Newton believes, and that the
birds that leave our shores are mainly those that breed in the northern
parts of the country. During the exceptionally severe winter of 1894–5
the thrushes that remained with us suffered more than most species, and
in the following spring I found that the song-thrush had become rare
throughout the southern half of England.
FIG. 19.--THROSTLE’S NEST.
Nesting begins in March, the site selected being the centre of a hedge,
or a thick holly or other evergreen bush, or a mass of ivy against a
wall or tree. The nest is built of dry grass, small twigs, and moss,
and plastered inside with mud, or clay, or cow-dung, and lined with
rotten wood. This is a strange material for a nest to be lined with,
and is not used by any other bird; the fragments of rotten wood are
wetted when used, and, being pressed smoothly down, form a cork-like
lining, very hard when dry. Four or five eggs are laid, pale greenish
blue in ground-colour, thickly marked with small deep brown spots,
almost black. Two, and sometimes three, broods are reared in the
season.
During the day, when not singing, the thrush is a silent bird; in the
evening he becomes noisy, and chirps and chatters and screams excitedly
before settling to roost.
Insects of all kinds, earthworms, and slugs and snails, are eaten by
the song-thrush. The snail-shells are broken by being struck vigorously
against a stone; and as the same stone is often used for the purpose,
quantities of newly broken shells are sometimes found scattered round
it. He is a great hunter after earthworms, and it would appear from his
actions that the sense of hearing rather than that of sight is relied
on to discover the worm. For the worm, however near the surface, is
still under it, and usually a close bed of grass covers the ground;
yet you will see a thrush hopping about a lawn stand motionless for
two or three seconds, then hop rapidly to a spot half a yard away,
and instantly plunge his beak into the earth and draw out a worm. The
supposition is that he has _heard_ it moving in the earth. He is
also a fruit and berry eater, both wild and cultivated.
Redwing.
Turdus iliacus.
Upper parts olive-brown; a broad white streak above the eye; under
parts white, with numerous oblong, dusky spots; under wing-coverts and
flanks orange-red. Length, eight and a half inches.
* * * * *
In size and general appearance the redwing resembles the song-thrush.
Like the fieldfare, he is a winter visitor from northern Europe,
arriving a little earlier on the east coast, and differing from his
fellow-migrants in being less hardy. He is more of an insect-eater,
and is incapable of thriving on berries and seeds; hence in very
severe seasons he is the greater sufferer, and sometimes perishes in
considerable numbers when, in the same localities, the fieldfare is
not sensibly affected. Nor is he of so vagrant a habit as the larger
thrush: year after year he returns to the same place to spend the
winter months, feeding in the same meadows, and roosting in the same
plantations, until the return of spring calls him to the north. He is
partial to cultivated districts where there are woods and grass-lands,
and passes the daylight hours in meadows and moist grounds near water,
returning regularly in the evening to the roosting-trees.
At all seasons the redwing is gregarious, and in its summer haunts
many birds are found nesting in close proximity. A good deal of
interest attaches to the subject of its song, which Linnæus thought
‘delightful,’ and comparable to that of the nightingale--an opinion
ridiculed by Professor Newton in his edition of Yarrell. Richard
Jefferies, who found the redwing breeding and heard its summer song in
England, describes its strain as ‘sweet and loud--far louder than the
old, familiar notes of the thrush. The note rang out clear and high,
and somehow sounded strangely unfamiliar among English meadows and
English oaks.’[1]
Fieldfare.
Turdus pilaris.
Head, nape, and lower part of the back dark ash-grey; upper part of the
back and wing-coverts chestnut-brown; a white line above the eye; chin
and throat yellow streaked with black; breast reddish brown spotted
with black; belly, flanks, and lower tail-coverts white, the last two
spotted with greyish brown; under wing-coverts white. Length, ten
inches.
* * * * *
In size and colouring, more especially in the spotted under parts,
the fieldfare comes near enough to the missel-thrush to be sometimes
confounded with it. Thus, flocks of missel-thrushes seen in autumn are
sometimes mistaken for fieldfares that have come at an exceptionally
early date to warn the inhabitants of these islands that the winter
will be a severe one. The fieldfare is slightly less in size than the
missel-thrush, and has a more variegated plumage, and when seen close
at hand is a handsome bird.
He is one of the latest winter visitors to arrive, seldom appearing
before the end of October. The return migration takes place at the end
of April, or later; flocks of fieldfares have been known to remain in
this country to the end of May, and even to the first week in June.
Like the redwing, he is gregarious all the year round; in his summer
home in the Norwegian forests he exists in communities, and the nests
are built near each other. The migration is usually performed by night,
and the harsh cries of the travellers may be heard in the dark sky, on
the east coasts of England and Scotland, at the end of October, and in
November. From the time of their arrival until they leave us they are
seen in flocks of twenty or thirty to several hundreds of individuals.
They do not, like the redwings, attach themselves to certain
localities, but wander incessantly from place to place, ranging over
the entire area of Great Britain and Ireland. Owing to this vagrancy,
the fieldfare is an extremely familiar bird to the countryman, and
invariably its first appearance, and harsh yet joyous clamour, as of
jays screaming and magpies chattering in concert, call up a sudden
image of winter--cold, brief days and a snow-whitened earth, and
memories of that early period in life when the great seasonal changes
impress the mind so deeply.
In open weather the fieldfares seek their food in meadows and pastures,
also in the fields. Unlike the missel-thrushes, that move about in all
directions over the ground, the fieldfares when feeding all move in
the same direction. In like manner, when the flock repairs to a tree,
the birds on their perches are all seen facing one way--a very pretty
spectacle. When their feeding-grounds are frozen, or covered with snow,
they go to the hedges and devour the hips and haws, and any other wild
fruit that remains ungathered; if severe weather continues, they take
their departure to more southern lands. Their flight is strong, easy,
and slightly undulating, and before settling to feed the flock often
wheels gracefully about over the field for some time.
The song of the fieldfare, described by Seebohm as a ‘wild desultory
warble,’ uttered on the wing, is not known to us in this country--it is
a song of summer and of love; but in genial weather, when the birds are
faring well, they often burst out into a concert of agreeable sounds
just after alighting in a tree.
In the evening when settling to roost they are extremely noisy like
most thrushes, and their cries may be heard until dark.
Blackbird.
Turdus merula.
Black; bill and orbits of the eyes orange-yellow. _Female_: sooty
brown. Length, ten inches.
* * * * *
[Illustration: FIG. 20.--BLACKBIRD’S NEST.]
Among the feathered inhabitants of these islands there is scarcely
a more familiar figure than that of the blackbird. Not only is he
very generally diffused, and abundant in all suitable localities,
but he is attached to human habitations--a bird of the garden, lawn,
and shrubberies. His music is much to us, his beautiful mellow voice
being unique in character in this country. But, more than his voice,
his love of gardens and their produce, and whatever else serves to
make him better known than most birds, is his blackness. Excepting the
crows, he is the only British bird in the passerine order with a wholly
black plumage; and his bright yellow bill increases the effect of the
blackness, and, like a golden crown, gives him a strange beauty.
Like his companion of the garden and shrubbery, the throstle, he is
a skulker, and on the least alarm takes shelter under the thickest
evergreen within reach. When disturbed from his hiding-place he rushes
out impetuously with a great noise, making the place resound with his
loud, clear, ringing and musical chuckle. But he is not so inveterate
a skulker and in love with the shade as the other. You will sometimes
find him on hillsides and open moors, or nesting in the scanty tufts
of sea-campion on rocky islands where he has for only neighbour
the rock-pipit. But above all situations he prefers the garden and
well-planted ground, and in such places is most abundant. His food is
the same as that of the throstle, and is taken in much the same way: he
listens for the earthworms working near the surface of the ground, and
hammers the snails against a stone to break the shells. In the fruit
season he is very troublesome to the gardener, and greedily devours
strawberries, cherries, currants, gooseberries and mulberries.
The song of the male begins early in spring, and is mostly heard during
the early and late hours of the day. Its charm consists in the peculiar
soft, rich, melodious quality of the sound, and the placid, leisurely
manner in which it is delivered. But the manner varies greatly. ‘He
sings in a quiet, leisurely way, as a great master should,’ says
Richard Jefferies; unfortunately, the great master too often ends
his performance unworthily with an unmusical note, or he collapses
ignominiously at the close. John Burroughs, the American writer on
birds, thus describes it: ‘It was the most leisurely strain I heard.
Amid the loud, vivacious, work-a-day chorus it had an easeful _dolce
far niente_ effect.... It constantly seemed to me as if the bird was
a learner, and had not yet mastered his art. The tone is fine, but the
execution is laboured; the musician does not handle his instrument with
deftness and confidence.’ Perhaps it may be said that, of all the most
famed bird-songs, that of the blackbird is the least perfect and the
most delightful.
The blackbird places his nest in the centre of a hedge or in an
evergreen; it is formed of herbs, roots, and coarse grass, plastered
inside with mud, and lined with fine dry grass. Four to six eggs are
laid, light greenish blue in ground-colour, mottled with pale brown.
Two or three, and sometimes as many as four, broods are reared in the
season.
In the northern and more exposed parts of the country the blackbird
has a partial migration, or shifts his quarters to more sheltered
localities in the winter.
Ring-Ouzel.
Turdus torquatus.
FIG. 21.--RING-OUZEL. ⅕ natural size.
Black, the feathers edged with greyish white; a large crescent-shaped,
pure white spot on the throat. Length, eleven inches. _Female_:
plumage greyer; the white mark narrower and less pure.
* * * * *
The ring-ouzel is sometimes called the ‘mountain blackbird,’ on account
of his likeness to the common species. He is more a ground bird and
less skulking in habit than the garden blackbird, but in appearance
and motions strongly resembles him. On alighting he throws up and fans
his tail in the same way, and is very clamorous when going to roost in
the evening. His manner of feeding is much the same: hopping along the
ground, frequently pausing to look up, and anon plunging his beak into
the soil to draw out a grub or earthworm. He breaks the snail-shells in
the same way, and is equally fond of fruits and berries, both wild and
cultivated.
The ring-ouzel is a summer visitor to this country, arriving about the
beginning of April, and spends the summer months and breeds in the
higher, least-frequented parts of Dartmoor, in Devonshire, and the
hilly part of Derbyshire, and many localities in the north of England.
He is also found in various localities in Wales, Scotland, and Ireland.
On their arrival the birds are seen for a short period in flocks,
sometimes of considerable size, frequenting wet and marshy grounds.
As soon as pairing takes place the flocks break up, and the birds
distribute themselves over the mountains and high uplands. The song
of the male is heard after the birds have paired and made choice of a
breeding-site. It is a powerful song, delightful to listen to, partly
for its own wild, glad character, but more on account of the savage
beauty and solitariness of the nature amidst which it is usually heard.
The nest is placed upon or close to the ground, beneath or in a tuft
of heather; and occasionally is built in a low bush or tree. Outwardly
it is made of coarse grass or twigs of heather, plastered inside with
mud or clay, and lined with fine dry grass. The four or five eggs are
bluish green, blotched with reddish brown.
Seebohm has the following spirited description of the ring-ouzel’s
action in the presence of danger to its nest: ‘Approach their treasure,
and, although you have no knowledge of its whereabouts, you speedily
know that you are on sacred ground.... _Something_ sweeps suddenly
round your head, probably brushing your face. You look round, and there
the ring-ouzel, perched close at hand, is eyeing you wrathfully, and
ready to do battle, despite the odds, for the protection of her abode.
Move, and the attack is resumed, this time with loud and dissonant
cries that wake the solitudes of the barren moor around. Undauntedly
the birds fly around you, pause for a moment on some mass of rock, or
reel and tumble on the ground to decoy you away. As you approach still
closer the anxiety of the female, if possible, increases; her cries,
with those of her mate, disturb the birds around; the red grouse,
startled, skims over the shoulder of the hill to find solitude; the
moor-pipit chirps anxiously by; and the gay little stonechat flits
uneasily from bush to bush. So long as you tarry near their treasure
the birds will accompany you, and, by using every artifice, endeavour
to allure or draw you away from its vicinity.’
* * * * *
Besides the six species described, there are three thrushes to be
found in works on British birds: the black-throated thrush (_Turdus
atrigularis_), a straggler from Central Siberia; White’s thrush
(_T. varius_), from North-east Siberia; and the rock-thrush
(_Monticola saxatilis_), from South Europe, a member of a group
that connects the true thrushes (Turdus) with the wheatears (Saxicola).
Wheatear.
Saxicola œnanthe.
[Illustration: FIG. 22.--WHEATEAR. ⅓ natural size.]
Upper parts bluish grey; wings and wing-coverts, centre and extremity
of the tail, feet, bill, and area comprising the nostrils, eyes, and
ears, black; base and lower portion of the side of the tail pure
white; chin, forehead, stripe over the eye, and under parts, white. In
autumn, upper parts reddish brown and tail feathers tipped with white.
_Female_: upper parts ash-brown tinged with yellow; stripe over
the eye dingy. Length, six and a half inches.
* * * * *
To those who are attracted to solitary, desert places, who find in
wildness a charm superior to all others, the wheatear, conspicuous
in black and white and bluish grey plumage, is a familiar figure--a
pretty little wild friend; for he, too, prefers the uncultivated
wastes, the vast downs, the mountain slopes, and the stony barren
uplands. He is one of the earliest, if not the first, of the summer
migrants to arrive on our shores. They appear early in March, sometimes
at the end of February, on the south and east coasts, after crossing
the Channel by night or during the early hours of the morning. They
come in ‘rushes,’ at intervals of two or three days. In the morning
they are seen in thousands; but after a few hours’ rest these
travellers hurry on to their distant breeding-grounds, and perhaps for
a day or two scarcely a bird will be visible; then another multitude
appears, and so on, until the entire vast army has distributed itself
far and wide over the British area, from the Sussex and Dorset coasts
to the extreme North of Scotland and the Hebrides, the Orkneys, and
Shetlands. The return migration begins early in August, and lasts
until the middle of September. During this period the downs on the
Sussex coast form a great camping-ground of the wheatears, and they
are then taken in snares by the shepherds for the markets. Most of the
birds taken are young; they are excessively fat, and are esteemed a
great delicacy. The wheatear harvest has, however, now dwindled down
to something very small compared with former times; it astonishes us
to read in Pennant that a century and a quarter ago eighteen hundred
dozens of these birds were annually taken in the neighbourhood of
Eastbourne alone. The great decrease in the number of wheatears is no
doubt due to the reclamation of waste lands, where this bird finds the
conditions suited to it. To a variety of climates it is able to adapt
itself: the vast area it inhabits includes almost the whole continent
of Europe, from the hot south to the furthermost north; and westwards
its range extends to Iceland, Greenland, and Labrador. But cultivation
it cannot tolerate: when the plough comes the wheatear vanishes.
Fortunately, there must always be waste and desert places--the
scattered areas on mountain-sides, barren moors and downs, and rocky
coasts, that cannot be made productive. In such spots the wheatear
is an unfailing summer companion, and at once attracts attention by
his appearance and motions. He is fond of perching on a rock, stone
wall, or other elevation, but seldom alights on bushes and trees. He
runs rapidly and freely on the ground, and, pausing at intervals and
standing erect, moves his tail deliberately up and down. He flies
readily, his rump and tail flashing white as he rises; and after going
but a short distance, flying close to the ground, he alights again, and
jerks and fans his tail two or three times. He feeds on grubs, small
beetles, and other insects picked up from the ground, but also pursues
and catches flying insects. He has a short, sharp call-note that sounds
like two pieces of stone struck smartly together; hence the name of
‘stone-clatter,’ by which he is known in some localities. His short and
simple song would attract little attention in groves and gardens; it is
charming on account of the barren, silent situations it is heard in. It
gives life to the solitude, and is a love-song, accompanied by pretty
gestures and motions, and is frequently uttered as the bird hovers in
the air.
The wheatear breeds in a cavity under a stone, or in a hole or crevice
in a stone wall; also in cairns and in the cavities in peat-stacks,
and occasionally in a disused rabbit-burrow or under a clod of earth.
The nest is made of dry grass, loosely put together and slightly lined
with some soft material--moss and rootlets, rabbits’ fur, horsehair, or
wool, or feathers. From four to seven eggs are laid, pale greenish blue
in colour, in some cases faintly marked with purplish specks at the
large end.
The wheatear, owing to its wide distribution in this country, is known
by a variety of local names in different districts; of these may be
mentioned _fallowchat_, _whitetail_, _stone-cracker_, _chack-bird_, and
_clod-hopper_.
* * * * *
Two other species of the genus Saxicola have been included in the list
of British birds. These are the black-throated wheatear (_Saxicola
strapazina_), of which a single specimen has been obtained, and
the desert wheatear (_Saxicola deserti_), of which two or three
specimens have been shot.
Whinchat.
Pratincola rubetra.
Upper parts dusky brown edged with reddish yellow; broad white stripe
over the eye; throat and sides of neck white; neck and breast bright
yellowish red; a large white spot on the wings and base of the tail;
tip of the tail and the two middle feathers dusky brown; belly and
flanks yellowish white. _Female_: colours duller; white spot on
the wing smaller. Length, five inches and a quarter.
* * * * *
Of the three British species forming this group of two genera
(Saxicola and Pratincola)--the fallowchat, stonechat, and whinchat--the
last-named is the least striking, whether in appearance or habits. His
modest plumage has neither brightness nor strongly contrasted colours;
and although he is a frequenter of furze-grown commons, and named on
this account furzechat, or whinchat, he is not, like the stonechat,
restricted to them. He inhabits both wild and cultivated grounds, rough
commons and waste lands, mountain-sides, and meadows and grass fields
divided by hedgerows. He roosts, breeds, and obtains most of his food
on the ground; but he loves to perch on bushes and low trees, and in
most open situations where these grow the whinchat may be met with. On
his arrival in April he feeds very much on the fallows, but later, in
May, forsakes them for the neighbouring grass fields, where he makes
his nest. He is commonly seen perched on the summit of a bush, low
tree, or hedgerow, and, like the stonechat, he makes frequent short
excursions in pursuit of flying insects. When approached he grows
restless on his perch, fans his tail at intervals, and frequently
utters his low call or alarm note; then flies away, to perch again at
a short distance from the intruder, and flies and perches again, and
finally doubles back and returns to the first spot. Besides the insects
he catches flying, he feeds on small beetles, grubs, worms, &c., found
about the roots of the grass. He is frequently seen fluttering close to
the surface of the tall grass, picking small insects from the leaves,
and is most active in seeking his food during the evening twilight.
The whinchat’s low warbling song, which has some resemblance to that of
the redstart, is mostly heard in the love season, and is uttered both
from its perch on the summit of a bush or tree, and when hovering in
the air.
The nest is placed on the ground, usually in a cavity under the grass
in a field, not far from a hedgerow, or under a thick furze-bush on
commons, or at the roots of the heather on moors. It is formed of dry
grass and moss, and lined with horsehair and rootlets. Four to six eggs
are laid, greenish blue in colour, faintly marked with a zone of brown
spots at the larger end.
Stonechat.
Pratincola rubicola.
[Illustration: FIG. 23.--STONECHAT. ¼ natural size.]
Head, throat, bill, and legs black; sides of neck near the wing,
tertial wing-coverts, and rump white; breast bright chestnut-red,
paling to white on the belly; feathers of the back, wings, and tail
black with reddish brown edges. _Female_: head and upper parts
dusky brown, the feathers edged with yellowish red; throat black with
small whitish and reddish spots; less white in the wings and tail; the
red of the breast dull. Length, five and a quarter inches.
* * * * *
In his colouring and appearance, and to some extent in habits, the
small stonechat is unlike any other bird. His strongly contrasted
tints--black and white, and brown and chestnut-red--make him as
conspicuous to the eye as the goldfinch or yellowhammer, and thus
produce much the same effect as brilliancy of colour. The effect is
increased by the custom the bird has of always perching on the topmost
spray of a furze-bush on the open commons which it inhabits. Perched
thus conspicuously on the summit, he sits erect and motionless, a
small feathered harlequin, or like a painted image of a bird. But
his disposition is a restless one; in a few moments he drops to the
ground to pick up some small insect he has spied, or else dashes into
the air after a passing fly or gnat, and then returns to his stand,
or flits to another bush some yards away, where he reappears on its
top, sitting erect and motionless as before. He is always anxious in
the presence of a human being, flying restlessly from bush to bush,
incessantly uttering his low, complaining note, which has a sound like
that produced by striking two pebbles together; hence his name of
stonechat. But it is a somewhat misleading name. He is not, like the
wheatear, an inhabitant of barren stony places, but is seen chiefly on
commons abounding in furze-bushes and thorns and brambles. He is seen
in pairs, but is nowhere a numerous species, although found in most
suitable localities throughout the three kingdoms. He is also to be met
with throughout the year, but is much rarer in winter than in summer;
and probably a great many individuals leave the country in autumn,
while others seek more sheltered situations to winter in, or have a
partial migration.
The stonechat has a slight, but sweet and very pleasing, song, uttered
both when perched and when hovering in the air. Towards the end of
March the nest is made, and is placed on or close to the ground, under
a thick furze-bush; it is large, and carelessly made of dry grass,
moss, heath and fibrous roots, lined with fine grass, horsehair,
feathers, and sometimes with wool. Five or six eggs are laid, pale
green or greenish blue in colour, and speckled at the large end with
dull reddish brown. When the nest is approached the birds display the
keenest distress.
Redstart.
Ruticilla phœnicurus.
Forehead white; head and upper part of back bluish grey; throat black;
breast, tail-coverts, and tail, except the two middle feathers,
which are brown, bright bay. _Female_: upper parts grey deeply
tinged with red; throat and belly whitish; breast, flanks, and under
tail-coverts pale red. Length, five and a quarter inches.
[Illustration: FIG. 24.--REDSTART. ⅓ natural size.]
* * * * *
The redstart is found from April to the end of August throughout
England and Wales, but is nowhere common; in Scotland and Ireland he is
rare. He is, nevertheless, a better-known bird to people in the country
districts than some of the migratory songsters which are more abundant.
Not, however, on account of his song, which is inferior to most, but
partly because he ‘affects neighbourhoods,’ as Gilbert White says, and
partly on account of his pure and prettily contrasted colours--the
white forehead, slaty grey upper parts, and chestnut rump and tail. The
bright-coloured tail, which he flirts often as he flits before you,
quickly attracts the eye. ‘Firetail’ is a common name for this bird.
Redstart is Saxon for redtail. When seen perched upright and motionless
he resembles the robin in figure, but does not seek his food so much on
the ground, and in his restless disposition and quick, lively motions,
he is like the warblers. A peculiarity of the redstart is his fondness
for old walls; he is attracted by them to orchards and gardens, where
he is most often seen, although always a shy bird in the presence of
man.
Seebohm says: ‘As the wheatear is the tenant of the cairns, the
rocks, and the ruins of the wilds, in like manner the redstart may be
designated a bird of the ruins and the rocks in the lower, warmer, and
more cultivated districts. You will find it in orchards and gardens,
about old walls, and in the more open woods and shrubberies. Another
favourite haunt of the redstart is old crumbling ruins, abbeys, and
castles, on whose battlements and still massive walls, ivy-covered and
moss-grown, it delights to sit and chant its short and monotonous
song.’
The song consists of one short phrase, dropping to a low twitter at the
end, which varies in different singers; but the opening note is always
a beautiful expressive sound.
The redstart feeds on small beetles, caterpillars, spiders, and grubs,
which it picks up in walls, trees, and bushes; and on gnats, flies, and
butterflies, captured on the wing after the manner of the flycatcher.
The nest is almost always made in a hole, usually in an old stone
wall, but occasionally in a hole in a tree, and sometimes in the cleft
formed by two branches. It is loosely built with dry grass and moss,
and lined with hair and feathers. The eggs are four to six in number;
sometimes as many as eight, or even ten, are laid. They resemble the
hedge-sparrow’s eggs, being of a uniform greenish blue colour.
The black redstart (_Ruticilla titys_) is a winter visitor in
small numbers to the south-west of England, and has been known to breed
on two or three occasions in this country. It is common throughout
Central and Southern Europe, wintering in North Africa, and in its
nesting and other habits and language resembles the redstart.
* * * * *
Between the redstarts (Ruticilla) and the redbreast (Erithacus), next
to be described, the bluethroats (Cyanecula) are placed, of which two
species have been recorded as casual visitors to this country--the
white-spotted bluethroat (_C. Wolfi_), from Western Europe; and
the red-spotted bluethroat (_C. Suecica_), a breeder in the arctic
regions.
Redbreast.
Erithacus rubecula.
[Illustration: FIG. 25.--REDBREAST. ¼ natural size.]
Upper parts olive-brown; forehead and breast red, the red edged with
grey; belly white. _Female_: a trifle smaller than the male, and
less bright in colour. Length, five inches and three-quarters.
* * * * *
Of man’s feathered favourites--the species he has thought proper to
distinguish by a kindly protective sentiment--the redbreast probably
ranks first, both on account of the degree of the feeling and its
universality. The trustfulness of the familiar robin, especially in
seasons of snow and frost, in coming about and entering our houses in
quest of crumbs, is the principal cause of such a sentiment; but the
highly attractive qualities of the bird have doubtless added strength
to it. The bright red of his breast, intensified by contrast with the
dark olive of the upper parts, gives him a rare beauty and distinction
among our small songsters, which are mostly sober-coloured. Even more
than beauty in colouring and form is a sweet voice; and here, where
good singers are not few, the robin is among the best. Not only is he a
fine singer, but in the almost voiceless autumn season, and in winter,
when the other melodists that have not left our shores are silent, the
robin still warbles his gushing, careless strain, varying his notes at
every repetition, fresh and glad and brilliant as in the springtime.
His song, indeed, never seems so sweet and impressive as in the silent
and dreary season. For one thing, the absence of other bird-voices
causes the robin’s to be more attentively listened to and better
appreciated than at other times, just as we appreciate the nightingale
best when he ‘sings darkling’--when there are no other strains to
distract the attention. There is also the power of contrast--the
bright, ringing lyric, a fountain of life and gladness, in the midst
of a nature that suggests mournful analogies--autumnal decay and
wintry death. There cannot be a doubt that the robin gives us all more
pleasure with his music than any other singing-bird; we hear him all
the year round and all our lives long, and his voice never palls on
us. But those who have always heard it, for whom this sound has many
endearing associations, might have some doubts about its intrinsic
merits as a song--they might think that they esteem it chiefly because
of the associations it has for them. In such a case one is glad to
have an independent opinion--that, for instance, of an ‘intelligent
foreigner,’ who has never heard this bird in his own country. Such an
opinion we may find in John Burroughs, the American writer on birds;
and it may well reassure those who love the robin’s song, but fear to
put their favourite bird in the same category with the nightingale,
blackcap, and garden-warbler. He writes: ‘The English robin is a better
songster than I expected to find him. The poets and writers have not
done him justice. He is of the royal line of the nightingale, and
inherits some of the qualities of that famous bird. His favourite hour
for singing is the gloaming, and I used to hear him the last of all.
His song is peculiar, jerky, and spasmodic, but abounds in the purest
and most piercing tones to be heard--piercing from their smoothness,
intensity, and fulness of articulation; rapid and crowded at one
moment, as if some barrier had suddenly given way, then as suddenly
pausing, and scintillating at intervals bright, tapering shafts
of sound. It stops and hesitates, and blurts out its notes like a
stammerer; but when they do come, they are marvellously clear and pure.
I have heard green hickory-branches thrown into a fierce blaze jet out
the same fine, intense, musical sounds on the escape of the imprisoned
vapours in the hard wood as characterise the robin’s song.’
The robin is an early breeder, and makes its nest beneath a hedge, or
in a bank, or in a close bush not far above the ground; it is formed
of dry grass, leaves, and moss, and lined with feathers. Six or seven
eggs are laid, reddish white in ground-colour, clouded or blotched,
and freckled with pale red. When the nest is approached the old birds
express their anxiety by a very curious sound--a prolonged note so
acute that, like the shrill note of some insects and the bat’s cry, it
is inaudible to some persons. Two, and even three, broods are raised in
the season.
At the end of summer the old birds disappear from their usual haunts
to moult; and during this perhaps painful, and certainly dangerous,
period, they remain secluded and unseen in the thickest foliage.
When they reappear in new and brighter dress, restored to health and
vigour, a fresh trial awaits them. The young they have hatched and fed
and protected have now attained to maturity, and are in possession of
their home. For it is the case that every pair of robins has a pretty
well-defined area of ground which they regard as their own, jealously
excluding from it other individuals of their own species. The young are
forthwith driven out, often not without much fighting, which may last
for many days, and in which the old bird is sometimes the loser. But
in most cases the old robin reconquers his territory, and the young
male, or males, if not killed, go otherwhere. And here we come upon
an obscure point in the history of this familiar species; for what
becomes of the young dispossessed birds is not yet known. It has been
conjectured that they migrate, and that not many return from their
wanderings beyond the sea. And it is not impossible to believe that
the migratory instinct may exist in the young of a species, although
obsolete at a later period of life.
Nightingale.
Daulias luscinia.
[Illustration: FIG. 26.--NIGHTINGALE. ⅓ natural size.]
Upper plumage uniform brown tinged with chestnut; tail rufous; under
parts greyish white; flanks pale ash. Length, six inches and a quarter.
* * * * *
The nightingale is the only songster that has been too much lauded,
with the inevitable result that its melody, when first heard, causes
disappointment, and even incredulity. More than once it has been my lot
to call the attention of someone who had not previously heard it to its
song, at the same time pointing out the bird; and after a few moments
of listening, he or she has exclaimed, ‘That the nightingale! Why, it
is only a common-looking little bird, and its song, that so much fuss
is made about, is after all no better than that of any other little
bird.’ And then it is perhaps added: ‘I don’t think the nightingale--if
the bird you have shown me _is_ the nightingale--sings so well as
the thrush, or the blackbird, or the lark.’ The song is, nevertheless,
exceedingly beautiful; its phrasing is more perfect than that of
any other British melodist; and the voice has a combined strength,
purity, and brilliance probably without a parallel. On account of
these qualities, and of the fact that the song is frequently heard in
the night-time, when other voices are silent, the nightingale was
anciently selected as the highest example of a perfect singer; and, on
the principle that to him that hath shall be given, it was credited
with all the best qualities of all the other singers. It was the maker
of ravishing music, and a type, just as the pelican was a type of
parental affection and self-sacrifice, and the turtle-dove of conjugal
fidelity. Only, when he actually hears it for the first time, the
hearer makes the sad discovery that the bird he has for long years been
listening to in fancy--the nightingale heard by the poet with an aching
heart, and the wish that he, too, could fade with it into the forest
dim--was a nightingale of the brain, a mythical bird, like the footless
bird of paradise and the swan with a dying melody. Beautiful, nay,
perfect, the song may be, but he misses from it that something of human
feeling which makes the imperfect songs so enchanting--the overflowing
gladness of the lark; the spirit of wildness of the blackcap; the airy,
delicate tenderness of the willow-wren; and the serene happiness of the
blackbird.
The nightingale arrives in this country about the middle of April,
returning to the same localities year after year, apparently in the
same numbers. It is scarcely to be doubted that the young birds that
survive the perils of migration come back to the spot where they were
hatched, since the species does not extend its range nor establish new
colonies. It is most common in the southern counties of England, above
all in Surrey, but rare in the western and northern counties, and in
Scotland and Ireland it is unknown.
The nightingale so nearly resembles the robin in size, form, and manner
that he might be taken for that bird but for his clear, brown colour.
Like the robin, he feeds on the ground, seeking grubs and insects under
the dead leaves, hopping rapidly by fits and starts, standing erect
and motionless at intervals as if to listen, and occasionally throwing
up his tail and lowering his head and wings, just as the robin does.
He inhabits woods, coppices, rough bramble-grown commons, and unkept
hedges, and loves best of all a thicket growing by the side of running
water.
Two or three days after arriving he begins to sing, and continues in
song until the middle, or a little past the middle, of June, when the
young are hatched. In fine weather he sings at intervals throughout
the day, but his music is more continuous and has a more beautiful
effect in the evening. For an hour or two after sunset it is perhaps
most perfect. In the dark he is silent, but if the moon shines he will
continue singing for hours. That is to say, _some_ birds will
continue singing; as a rule, not half so many as may be heard during
daylight.
The nest is nearly always placed on the ground beneath a hedge or close
thicket; it is rather large, and composed of dry grass and dead leaves
loosely put together, the inside lined with fine dead grass, rootlets,
and vegetable down. The eggs are four or five in number, and of a
uniform olive-brown colour.
During incubation and after the young are hatched the parent birds
display the most intense solicitude when the nest is approached, and
flit from bough to bough close to the intruder’s head, incessantly
repeating two strangely different notes--one low, clear, and sorrowful,
the other a harsh, grinding sound.
The return migration is in August and September.
Whitethroat.
Sylvia cinerea.
[Illustration: FIG. 27.--WHITETHROAT. ⅓ natural size.]
Head ash-grey tinged with brown; rest of upper parts reddish brown;
wings dusky, the coverts edged with red; lower parts white faintly
tinged with rose colour; tail dark brown, the outer feathers white
on the tips and the outer web, the next only tipped with white.
_Female_ without the rosy tint on the breast. Length, five and a
half inches.
* * * * *
The whitethroat, or greater whitethroat, as the name is sometimes
written, is one of the commonest and best known of the soft-billed
songsters that spend the summer and breed in our country. It inhabits
all parts of the British Islands, excepting the most barren. Even to
those who pay little attention to the small birds that come in their
way the whitethroat is tolerably familiar, less on account of its song,
which is in no way remarkable, than for the excited notes and actions
of the bird, sometimes highly eccentric, which challenge attention. The
whitethroat is, moreover, readily distinguishable from its colour--the
reddish brown hue of its upper plumage and the unmistakable white
throat, which give it a conspicuous individuality among the warblers.
It inhabits the wood-side, the thickets, the rough common, but of all
places prefers the thick hedge for a home. Shortly after the bird’s
arrival, about the middle or near the end of April, he quickly makes
his presence known to any person who walks along a hedgeside. The
intruder is received with a startled, grating note, a sound expressive
of surprise and displeasure, and, repeating this sound from time to
time, the bird flits on before him, concealed from sight by the dense
tangle he moves amidst. Presently, if not too much alarmed, he mounts
to a twig on the summit of the hedge to pour out his song--a torrent
of notes, uttered apparently in great excitement, with crest raised,
the throat puffed out, and many odd gestures and motions. Sometimes he
springs from his perch as if lifted by sheer rapture into the air, and
ascends, singing, in a spiral, then drops swiftly back to his perch
again. It is a peculiar song on account of its vehement style and the
antics of the singer, more so when he flies on before a person walking,
now singing, now moving farther ahead in a succession of wild jerks,
then suddenly ducking down into the hedge. It is also a pleasing song
in itself, although for pure melody the whitethroat does not rank very
high among the greatly gifted birds of its family, or sub-family. If
we include the nightingale and robin, it should be placed about the
sixth on the list, the other singers that come before it being the
willow-wren, blackcap, and garden warbler.
The nest of the whitethroat is a round, flimsy structure, formed of
slender stalks of grass and herbs, and lined with horsehair, and is
placed two or three feet above the ground, in the brambles and briers
of the hedge, or in a large furze-bush. The five eggs are of a greenish
white, speckled with olive, and sometimes blotched and marked with grey
and light brown. One brood only is reared. Nettle-creeper is a common
name for this bird, on account of its love of weeds, especially of
nettles, no doubt because the small caterpillars it feeds on are most
abundant on them. It is also fond of fruit, wild and cultivated, and
visits the gardens near its haunts to feed on currants and raspberries.
Lesser Whitethroat.
Sylvia curruca.
Head, neck, and back smoke-grey; ear coverts almost black; wings brown
edged with grey; tail dusky, outer feather as in the last species, the
two next tipped with white; lower parts nearly pure white; feet lead
colour. Length, five and a quarter inches.
* * * * *
The difference in size between this warbler and the one last described
is very slight; still, there is a difference; and the descriptive
epithet of _lesser_ would also be a suitable one if applied in another
sense. He is a less important bird. To begin with, he is much rarer,
being only of local distribution in England and Scotland, and unknown
in Ireland; in colouring he is more obscure; his trivial song has
nothing in it to attract attention; he is shyer in habits, passes much
of the time among the higher foliage of the trees he frequents, and is,
consequently, not often seen.
He arrives in this country about or shortly after the middle of April,
and is found in thickets and copses, and hedges in the neighbourhood
of trees. Like most of the warblers, he is exceedingly restless, and
moves incessantly among the leaves, picking up the aphides and minute
caterpillars, and from time to time darts into the air to capture some
small passing insect. Like the common whitethroat, he is also fond of
ripe fruit, especially currants and raspberries. He is often on the
wing, passing directly from place to place with an undulating flight
and rapidly-beating wings. When singing he swells his throat out, and
delivers his strain with considerable vigour; but his song is of the
shortest, and is composed of one or two notes, hurriedly repeated two
or three times without variation, and with scarcely any musical quality
in it. No sooner is it finished than the bird is off again on his
flitting rambles among the leaves and twigs; it is less like a song
than an exclamation of pleasure--a cheerful call that bursts out from
time to time.
The lesser whitethroat nests in orchards, coppices, thick hedgerows,
bramble and furze bushes on commons, and among tangled vegetation
overhanging streams, but in all cases the nest is placed in the midst
of a dense mass of foliage. This is a somewhat loosely made and shallow
structure, composed of dry grass-stems and small twigs, bound together
with cobwebs and cocoons, and lined with fine rootlets and horsehair.
Four or five eggs are laid, in ground-colour white or dull buff,
blotched and speckled with greenish brown, with underlying markings of
purplish grey.
Blackcap.
Sylvia atricapilla.
[Illustration: FIG. 28.--BLACKCAP. ⅓ natural size.]
Head above the eyes jet-black, in the _female_ chocolate-brown;
upper parts, wings, and tail ash-grey slightly tinged with olive;
throat and breast ash-grey; belly and under wing-coverts white. Length,
five and a half inches.
* * * * *
This brilliant songster arrives in this country about the middle of
April, in some years considerably earlier. It is found throughout
England and Wales, and extends its range to Scotland and Ireland,
only in lesser numbers. Though widely distributed it is rare, except
in some districts in the southern and western counties of England. A
person familiar with the ornithological literature of this country,
but having little personal knowledge of the birds, who should go out
to make acquaintance with the blackcap, would be surprised at its
rarity. After much seeking, he would probably come to the conclusion
that, speaking of warblers only, there are at least half a hundred
willow-wrens, and perhaps twenty whitethroats, to one blackcap. Another
curious point about the blackcap is that it appears to be almost
unknown to the country people. It is a rare thing to find a rustic,
man or boy, who knows it by that or any other name, though he may be
quite familiar with the redstart and whitethroat. On these last two
points I find that my experience coincides with that of John Burroughs,
the American writer on bird life, in the accounts of his observations
on British song-birds. There is a third point on which I also agree
with him; this, however, is not a question of fact, but of opinion
or of individual taste, and refers to the merit of the blackcap as
a singer. His is a song which has always been very highly esteemed,
and it has often been described as scarcely inferior to that of the
nightingale. Gilbert White of Selborne described it as ‘a full, deep,
sweet, loud, wild pipe; yet that strain is of short continuance, and
his motions are desultory; but when that bird sits calmly and engages
in song in earnest, he pours forth very sweet, but inward, melody,
and expresses great variety of soft and gentle modulations, superior,
perhaps, to those of any of our warblers, the nightingale excepted.’
After reading such a description it is a disappointment to hear the
song. Nevertheless, it is very beautiful, and given out with immense
energy, as the bird sits on a spray with throat puffed out, and moves
its head, sometimes its whole body, vigorously from side to side.
The song is a clear warble composed of about a dozen notes, rapidly
enunciated, loud, free, of that sweet, pure quality characteristic of
the melody of our best warblers. The strain is short, and repeated from
time to time, the intervals often being filled by lower notes, sweet
and varied--the ‘inward melody’ which White describes. Burroughs’s
description of the song is as follows: ‘While sitting here I saw, and
for the first time heard, the black-capped warbler. I recognised the
note at once by its brightness and strength, and a faint suggestion in
it of the nightingale’s; but it was disappointing: I had expected in
it a nearer approach to its great rival.... It is a ringing, animated
strain, but as a whole seemed to me crude, not smoothly and finely
modulated. I could name several of our own birds that surpass it in
pure music. Like its congeners, the garden warbler and the whitethroat,
it sings with great emphasis and strength, but its song is silvern, not
golden.’ This account of the blackcap’s song is interesting as coming
from a foreigner who has paid great attention to the bird music of
his own country, and it is on the whole a very good description; but
I should not say that the blackcap’s strain is crude, however wild and
irregular it may be; nor that there is in it even a faint suggestion of
the nightingale’s.
In its active, restless habits this warbler resembles the other members
of its group; but it exceeds them all in shyness. When approached it
becomes silent, and conceals itself in the interior of the thicket.
It frequents woods and orchards; also hedges and commons where large
masses of furze and bramble are found, especially in the vicinity of
trees. The nest is made of dry grass, lined with hair or fibrous roots,
and is placed in the forked branches of a thick bush, three or four
feet above the ground. The eggs, of which five or six are laid, are
of a light reddish colour, mottled and blotched with darker red and
reddish brown. They vary greatly, both in the depth of colour of the
mottlings and in the pale ground-tints.
The blackcap lives on insects, which it often captures on the wing,
and on fruits, and is fond of raspberries and currants. Its autumn
migration is in September.
Garden Warbler.
Sylvia hortensis.
Upper plumage greyish brown tinged with olive; below the ear a patch of
ash-grey; throat dull white; breast and flanks grey tinged with rust
colour; rest of under parts dull white. Length, five and a quarter
inches.
* * * * *
This warbler was first described as a British species by Willughby,
more than two centuries ago, under the name of ‘prettichaps’; and
Professor Newton, in a note to Yarrell’s account of it, says: ‘This
name (prettichaps) seems never to have been in general use in England,
or it would be readily adopted here.’ The old name of prettichaps, it
may be mentioned, does not appear to be quite obsolete yet: I have
heard it in Berkshire, where it was applied indiscriminately to the
garden warbler and blackcap.
The garden warbler is not common anywhere. In Ireland it is scarcely
known; in Scotland, Wales, and a large part of England it is very
rare. It is most frequently to be met with in the southern counties,
especially in Hampshire. Very curiously, Gilbert White did not know
this warbler, which may now be heard singing any day in spring in the
neighbourhood of Selborne village.
The garden warbler is often said to rank next to the blackcap as a
melodist. The songs of these two species have a great resemblance; it
is, indeed, rare to find two songsters, however closely allied, so
much alike in their language. The garden warbler’s song is like an
imitation of the blackcap’s, but is not so powerful and brilliant: some
of its notes possess the same bright, pure, musical quality, but they
are hurriedly delivered, shorter, more broken up, as it were. On the
other hand, to compensate for its inferior character, there is more of
it; the bird, sitting concealed among the clustering leaves, will sing
by the hour, his rapid, warbled strain sometimes lasting for several
minutes without a break.
The garden warbler is a late bird, seldom arriving in this country
before the end of April. It builds a rather slight nest, in a bush near
the ground, of dry grass and moss, lined with hair and fibrous roots.
The eggs are five in number, and are dull white, sometimes greenish
white, blotched and speckled with dull brown and grey.
The food of this warbler consists of small insects; and it is also fond
of fruit and berries.
* * * * *
Six species of the genus Sylvia are included in books on British birds:
the four already described, the orphean warbler (_Sylvia orphea_),
an accidental visitor from Central and Southern Europe, and the barred
warbler (_Sylvia nisoria_), from Central, South, and East Europe.
Furze-Wren, or Dartford Warbler.
Melizophilus undatus.
Upper parts greyish black; wing-coverts and feathers blackish brown;
outer tail feathers broadly, and the rest narrowly, tipped with light
brownish grey; under parts chestnut-brown; belly white. Tail long;
wings very short. Length, five inches.
[Illustration: FIG. 29.--DARTFORD WARBLER. ⅓ natural size.]
* * * * *
The furze-wren, never a common species in this country, is now become
so scarce, and is, moreover, so elusive, that it is hard to find, and
harder still to observe narrowly. Its somewhat singular appearance
among the warblers--its small size, short, rounded wings, great length
of tail, and very dark colour--its peculiar song, and excessively
lively and restless habits, and the fact that it was first discovered
in this country (1773), where, though so small and delicate a creature,
it exists on open, exposed commons throughout the year, have all
contributed to make it a fascinating subject to British ornithologists.
In England it inhabits Surrey and the counties bordering on the
Channel; but it has also been found in suitable localities in various
other parts of the country, and ranges as far north as the borders of
Yorkshire. I have sought for it in many places, but found it only in
Dorset. Forty or fifty years ago it was most abundant in the southern
parts of Surrey; it was there observed by the late Edward Newman, who
gave the following lively and amusing account of its appearance and
habits in his ‘Letters of Rusticus on the Natural History of Godalming’
(1849): ‘We have a bird common here which, I fancy, is almost unknown
in other districts, for I have scarcely ever seen it in collections....
I mean the furze-wren, or, as authors are pleased to call it, the
Dartford warbler. We hear that the epithet of Dartford is derived from
the little Kentish town of that name, and that it was given to the
furze-wren because he was first noticed in that neighbourhood. ... If
you have ever watched a common wren (a kitty-wren we call her), you
must have observed that she cocked her tail bolt upright, strained
her little beak at right angles, and her throat in the same fashion,
to make the most of her fizgig of a song, and kept on jumping and
jerking and frisking about, for all the world as though she was worked
by steam; well, that’s more the character of the Dartford warbler,
or, as we call her, the furze-wren. When the leaves are off the trees
and the chill winter winds have driven the birds to the olive-gardens
of Spain, or across the Straits, the furze-wren is in the height of
his enjoyment. I have seen them by dozens skipping about the furze,
lighting for a moment on the very point of the sprigs, and instantly
diving out of sight again, singing out their angry, impatient ditty,
for ever the same. Perched on the back of a good tall nag, and riding
quietly along the outside, while the foxhounds have been drawing the
furze-fields, I have often seen these birds come to the top of the
furze.... They prefer those places where the furze is very thick, and
difficult to get in.... And although it is so numerous in winter, and
so active and noisy when disturbed by dogs and guns, still, in the
breeding season it is a shy, skulking bird, hiding itself in thick
places, much in the manner of the grasshopper lark, and seldom allowing
one to hear the sound of its voice.’
Spring is, however, the season of the furze-wren’s greatest activity:
its lively gestures, antics, and dancing motions on the topmost sprays
of the bushes are then almost incessant, as it pursues the small
moths and other winged insects on which it feeds; and its curious and
impetuous little song is then delivered with the greatest vigour.
It has also a harsh, scolding note, uttered several times in rapid
succession, and a loud musical call-note.
The nest is placed among the dense masses of the lower, dead portion
of a thick furze-bush. It is a flimsy structure, composed of dead
furze-leaves, small twigs, and grass-stems, lined with finer stems,
and sometimes with horsehair. Four or five eggs are laid, white in
ground-colour, sometimes tinged with buff or with greenish, thickly
spotted and freckled with pale brown over paler brown and grey
markings. Two broods are reared in the season.
Golden-crested Wren, or Goldcrest.
Regulus cristatus.
Upper parts olive tinged with yellow; cheeks ash-colour; wing greyish
brown, with two transverse white bands; crest bright yellow in front,
orange behind, bounded by two black lines; under parts yellowish grey.
_Female_: colours not so bright; crest lemon-colour. Length, three
and a half inches.
* * * * *
The golden-crested wren has the distinction of being the smallest
British bird; it is also one of the most widely distributed, being
found throughout the United Kingdom. Furthermore, it is a resident
throughout the year, is nowhere scarce, and in many places is very
abundant. Yet it is well known only to those who are close observers
of bird life. The goldcrest is not a familiar figure, owing to its
smallness and restlessness, which exceed that of all the other
members of this restless family of birds, and make it difficult for
the observer to see it well. Again, it is nearly always concealed
from sight by the foliage, and in winter it keeps mostly among the
evergreens, and at all times haunts by preference pine, fir, and yew
trees. In the pale light of a winter day, more especially in cloudy
weather, it is hard to see the greenish, restless little creature
in his deep green bush or tree. Standing under, or close to, a
wide-spreading old yew, half a dozen goldcrests flitting incessantly
about among the foliage in the gloomy interior of the tree look less
like what they are than the small flitting shadows of birds.
In March, and even as early as the latter part of February, the male is
frequently heard uttering his song; but he is not of the songsters that
perch to sing, and pour out their music deliberately and with all their
might. The goldcrest’s song comes in as a sort of trivial distraction
or relief--a slight interlude between the more important acts of
passing from one twig or spray to another, and snatching up some
infinitesimal insect so quickly and deftly that to see the action one
must watch the bird very closely indeed. And the music, of which the
musician makes so little, is of very little account to the listener. It
is the smallest of small songs--two notes, almost identical in tone,
repeated rapidly, without variation, two or three times, ending with a
slight quaver, scarcely audible, on the last note. The sound is sharp
and fine, as of young mice squealing, but not quite so sharp, and more
musical; it is a sound that does not travel: to hear it well one must
stand not farther than a dozen or fifteen yards from the singer.
Yarrell has the following passage on the song of the goldcrest:
‘Pennant says he has observed this bird suspended in the air for
a considerable time over a bush in flower, while it sang very
melodiously; but this peculiarity does not appear to have been noticed
by other naturalists.’ I have observed the male, in the love season,
hovering just above the bush, in the topmost foliage of which its mate
was perched, and partially hidden from view. It is when engaged in this
pretty, aërial performance, or love-dance, that the golden-crested
wren is at his best. The restless, minute, sober-coloured creature, so
difficult to see properly at other times, then becomes a conspicuous
and exceedingly beautiful object; it hovers on rapidly-vibrating wings,
the body in almost a vertical position, but the head bent sharply
down, the eyes being fixed on the bird beneath, while the wide-open
crest shines in the sun like a crown or shield of fiery yellow. When
thus hovering it does not sing, but emits a series of sharp, excited,
chirping sounds.
The goldcrest builds a pendent nest, made fast to the small twigs
under a branch of yew or fir, and uses a variety of materials--fine
dry grass, leaves, moss, and webs--closely woven together, lining the
cavity with feathers. It is a very ingenious and pretty structure. The
eggs laid are from six to ten, of a pale yellowish white, spotted and
blotched, chiefly at the large end, with reddish brown.
In the autumn, in the months of October and November, a great migratory
movement takes place among the goldcrests in the north of Europe; and
in some seasons incredible numbers of these small travellers arrive,
often in an exhausted condition, in Northumberland and on the east
coast of Scotland. After resting close to the sea for a day or two,
they resume their journey, and distribute themselves over the country.
* * * * *
The firecrest (_Regulus ignicapillus_), which closely resembles
the species just described, is an accidental visitor from the continent
of Europe.
Chiffchaff.
Phylloscopus rufus.
Upper plumage olive-green tinged with yellow; above the eye a faint
yellowish white streak; under parts yellowish white; feathers of the
leg greyish white. Length, four inches and three-quarters.
* * * * *
The chiffchaff, although his song is so simple--the simplest song
of all--and after a time is apt to become wearisome from incessant
repetition, is, nevertheless, one of the most welcome visitors of the
early spring; for this small bird, in spite of its smallness and
frailty, is the first of the migratory warblers to make its appearance
on our coasts. Shortly after the middle of March, and even earlier in
some years, the well-remembered, familiar sound, full of promise of the
beautiful budding season, begins to be heard here and there in the more
sheltered and sunny spots in woods and copses, and by the first week
in April it is one of the most familiar sounds in the country. It is
not, however, so general as the strain of the willow-wren, this species
being more local in its distribution.
It is this early appearance of the chiffchaff, coming ‘before the
swallow dares,’ that endears it to the lover of Nature and of bird
life. Mr. Warde Fowler, in his ‘Year with the Birds,’ has well
expressed the feeling which so many have for this small warbler. ‘No
one,’ he says, ‘who hails the approach of spring as the real beginning
of a new life for men and plants and animals, can fail to be grateful
to this little brown bird for putting on it the stamp and sanction of
his clear, resonant voice. We grow tired of his two notes--he never
gets beyond two--for he sings almost the whole summer through; ... but
not even the first twitter of the swallow, or the earliest song of the
nightingale, has the same hopeful story to tell me as this delicate
traveller who dares the east wind and the frost.’
The two notes, which vary as slightly in tone as two taps of a hammer
on an anvil delivered with equal force on the same spot, are emitted
with great vigour and spirit, as if the little creature’s whole heart
was in the performance, and repeated several times without a pause.
This is the whole song, and, when not engaged in uttering it, the
singer is incessantly moving about in pursuit of small insects and
their larvæ, now searching for them in the small twigs and buds, after
the manner of the titmice, and at times capturing them on the wing.
Meanwhile the song is repeated at frequent intervals from morning until
dark. It is not suspended, as in the case of most of the warblers,
after the young have been hatched, but continues throughout the summer
and autumn, when it degenerates somewhat in character, the sound losing
the little musical quality it originally possessed.
The nest is made in the ground, a hedgebank being the situation
preferred, and is round and domed, with an opening at the side. Dry
grass, leaves, and moss are the materials used in its construction, the
cavity being plentifully lined with feathers. The eggs are six, pure
white, spotted and speckled with brown and brownish purple.
Willow-Wren.
Phylloscopus trochilus.
Upper plumage bright olive-green; a narrow streak of yellow over the
eye; under parts yellowish white, palest in the middle; feathers of the
legs yellow. Length, nearly five inches.
* * * * *
The willow-wren, or willow-warbler, is one of the earliest of our
summer songsters to arrive, usually following the chiffchaff--which it
resembles in size and general appearance--by a few days. During the
last week of March, if the weather be not too cold, its delicate strain
may be heard in sheltered situations in the southern parts of England,
and by the second week in April it is one of the most frequently heard
songs throughout the length and breadth of the land. Not only is
this species very much more generally diffused than its two nearest
relations--the chiffchaff and wood-wren--but it is met with in a much
greater variety of situations--on commons, in hedgerows, gardens,
woods, and plantations. Yet, in spite of its abundance and wide
distribution, it is nowhere a familiar bird to the country people; the
small, delicate voice does not compel attention and is well-nigh lost
in the summer concert that has so many loud, jubilant strains in it.
The willow-wren is a pretty little bird, although without any bright
colour in its plumage, which at a short distance looks of a soft
greenish yellow tint. He is best seen when the trees are opening
their buds, before the thickening foliage hides his tiny, restless,
flitting form from sight. He is the least shy of the warblers, his
trustfulness being in strong contrast to the suspicious manner and love
of concealment of the blackcap and whitethroat. He will unconcernedly
continue his hunt for minute insects, and utter his melody at
intervals, within a few feet of a person, sitting or standing, quietly
observing him. The song, although a small one, both as to duration
and power, has a singular charm: not merely the charm of association
experienced in a voice long absent and heard once more--a voice of the
spring, that comes before the loud call of the cuckoo and the familiar,
joyous twitter of the swallow; it is in itself a beautiful sound, one
of the sweetest bird-songs heard in our country. ‘A song which is
unique among British birds,’ says Mr. Warde Fowler, whose description
of it is, perhaps, the most perfect which we have. ‘Beginning with a
high and tolerably full note, he drops it both in force and pitch in
a cadence short and sweet, as though he were getting exhausted with
the effort.... This cadence is often perfect; by which I mean that
it descends gradually, not, of course, on the notes of our musical
scale, ... but through fractions of one, or perhaps two, of our tones,
and without returning upward at the end; but still more often, and
especially, as I fancy, after they have been here a few weeks, they
take to finishing with a note nearly as high in pitch as that with
which they began.’
After this it is interesting to read Mr. J. Burroughs’s impressions of
the willow-wren’s song. He writes: ‘The most melodious strain I heard,
and the only one that exhibited to the full the best qualities of the
American songsters, proceeded from a bird quite unknown to fame--in the
British Islands, at least. I refer to the willow-warbler.... White says
it has a “sweet, plaintive note,” which is but half the truth. It has
a long, tender, delicious warble, not wanting in strength and volume,
but eminently pure and sweet--the song of the chaffinch refined and
idealised.... The song is, perhaps, in the minor key, feminine and not
masculine, but it touches the heart.
‘That strain again; it had a dying fall.’
‘The song of the willow-warbler has a dying fall; no other bird-song
is so touching in this respect. It mounts up round and full, then runs
down the scale, and expires upon the air in a gentle murmur.’
The willow-wren breeds early, making a circular domed nest on the
ground, among the long grass and weeds, under a hedge or beneath a
bramble bush on a bank, and occasionally at a distance from sheltering
bushes in the grass of a field. It is made of dry grass, and lined with
rootlets and horsehair, and, lastly, with feathers. The eggs are six or
seven in number, pure white, the yolk showing through the frail shell,
and giving it a faint yellow tinge; they are blotched and spotted with
reddish brown. When the nest is approached the parent birds display the
greatest anxiety, hopping and flitting about close to the intruder, and
uttering low, plaintive notes.
The willow-wren stays longer with us than any migratory warbler
except the chiffchaff, and its song is, without exception, the most
persistent. From the time of its arrival in March, or early in April,
it sings without ceasing until July; then for a few weeks its song is
heard only in the early morning, and it ceases at the end of August,
during the moult, but is renewed a little later, and is then continued
until the bird’s departure at the end of September.
Wood-Wren.
Phylloscopus sibilatrix.
Upper plumage olive-green tinged with sulphur-yellow; a broad streak of
sulphur-yellow over the eye; sides of head, throat, and insertion of
the wings and throat bright yellow; rest of under plumage pure white.
Length, nearly six inches.
* * * * *
This warbler arrives in England at the end of April, being later
by many days than its two nearest relations, the chiffchaff and
willow-wren. As its name implies, it is a bird of the woods, with
a preference for such as are composed wholly or in part of oak and
beech trees. It is not easily discerned, on account of its restless
disposition; also because it chiefly frequents the uppermost parts of
the trees it inhabits. Its instinct appears to be to live and hunt for
the small insects it preys on among the green leaves at the greatest
possible height from the earth; this may account for its love of the
beech, which is the tallest of our forest trees. But if difficult to
see as it flits lightly from place to place among the higher foliage,
it is easy to hear, and its frequently uttered song sounds very loud
in the woodland silence, and is strangely unlike that of any other
songster. It may be said to possess two distinct songs: of these, the
most frequently uttered and unmistakable begins with notes clear,
sweet, and distinct, but following more and more rapidly until they
run together in a resonant trill, and finally end in a long, tremulous
note, somewhat thin and reedy in sound. At longer intervals it utters
its other song, or call, a loud, clear note, slightly modulated, and
somewhat plaintive, repeated without variation three or four times.
The wood-wren, although so great a lover of the tall tree-tops, breeds
on the ground, like the two species described before it, and, like
them, builds an oval-shaped domed nest. It is placed among the herbage,
and is composed of moss, dry leaves, and grasses, lined with fine grass
and horsehair. Feathers are never used in the nest-lining, and in this
the wood-wren differs from the two preceding species. Six eggs are
laid, transparent white, spotted and speckled with dark brown, purple
and grey.
The wood-wren differs from most of the warblers in being exclusively an
insect-eater.
* * * * *
A fourth member of this genus, the yellow-browed warbler (_Phylloscopus
superciliosus_), which breeds in Northern Siberia, has been met with as
a rare straggler in this country.
Two more warblers, belonging to different genera, must be mentioned
here as stragglers to England: the icterine warbler (_Hypolaïs
icterina_) and the rufous warbler (_Aëdon galectodes_).
Reed-Warbler.
Acrocephalus streperus.
Upper plumage uniform reddish brown, without spots; a white streak or
spot between the eye and bill; throat white; under plumage very pale
buff. Length, five and a half inches.
* * * * *
The reed-warbler closely resembles the sedge-warbler, next to be
described, in size, colouring, and general appearance, also in
language and habits; but is a much less common species, more local
in its distribution, and is, consequently, not nearly so well known.
He arrives in this country about the middle of April, and inhabits
dense reed-beds in dykes, marshes, and the borders of rivers, where
he skulks, for the most part out of sight; but his loquacity betrays
his presence, for he is a persistent singer, especially in the early
part of the day, and again in the evening. His song resembles that
of the sedge-warbler in its curious mingling of musical and harsh
notes, its hurried and somewhat angry scolding character, but is less
powerful, the harsh notes less harsh and vigorous--a sweeter but
not so interesting a performance. Like the nearly allied species,
he bursts into singing when excited by fear or solicitude for the
safety of his nest. He is an exceedingly restless little creature,
incessantly hopping from stem to stem, now mounting to the surface of
the reeds, and almost instantly dropping into concealment again. Even
where the birds are many, it is only by patient waiting and watching
that an occasional glimpse of one can be got. His food consists of
small insects, caught on the wing and on the leaves and stems of the
reeds and aquatic herbage. The nest is a deep, beautiful structure,
suspended on two or three, or more, slender reed-stems, or on the twigs
of a willow, osier, or other plant growing near the water. It is made
of long dry grass-leaves woven together, with finer grass-leaves and
horsehair for a lining. The eggs are four or five in number, greenish
white in colour, clouded, blotched, and freckled with dark olive and
ash-grey.
Sedge-Warbler.
Acrocephalus phragmitis.
Upper plumage greyish brown; above the eye a broad, distinct, yellowish
white streak; under plumage pale buff; throat white. Length, four
inches and three-quarters.
[Illustration: FIG. 30.--SEDGE-WARBLER. ⅓ natural size.]
* * * * *
The sedge-warbler, usually called sedge-bird, and in some localities
river-chat, is a common species in most waterside places where there
are reed-beds and willows; it also frequents rough hedges and bramble
and furze bushes in the neighbourhood of a watercourse. Sometimes,
but not often, it is found breeding at a considerable distance from
a stream. It comes to us in April, and is a most active and lively
little creature. Although not shy of man, it is less easy to observe
than any other species in this group, except, perhaps, the grasshopper
warbler, on account of its excessive restlessness, the rapidity of its
movements, and its habit of keeping near the surface in the close reeds
and bushes it lives in. The grasshopper warbler, and, indeed, most
small birds that inhabit bushes, love to come to the surface to sing;
the sedge-warbler sings much as he hurries about in search of his food,
which consists of small caterpillars and slugs, and aquatic insects.
Occasionally the restless little yellowish brown figure appears for a
moment or two near the top of a bush, and then vanishes again.
The song is curious, and delivered in a curious manner, with hurry and
vehemence; and this, as well as the character of the sounds emitted,
gives the idea that the bird is excited to anger--that he is scolding
at, rather than singing to, the listener. The opening note, hurriedly
repeated several times, and recurring at short intervals as long as
the song lasts (its keynote and refrain), resembles the chiding note
of the whitethroat when its nest is approached, but is louder and
more strident. It is the loudest sound the sedge-warbler emits, and
when the song is heard at a distance of fifty or sixty yards it seems
all composed of chiding notes. But on a nearer approach--and the bird
will allow the listener to get quite close to it--the performance is
found to be a very varied one. Listening to it, one finds it hard not
to believe that this warbler possesses the faculty it has often been
credited with, of mocking other species. But if he indeed has such a
talent, he reproduces not so much the songs of other birds as the notes
and chirps and small cries of anxiety and alarm--the various sounds
emitted by singing-birds in the presence of danger to their young or
incubated eggs. Thus, in the medley of hurried and strongly contrasted
sounds that come in a continuous stream from the sedge-warbler one
seems to recognise the low girding of the nightingale, and the
different notes of solicitude of the sparrow, reed-bunting, and
chaffinch, of the wren and the willow-wren, the meadow-pipit and pied
wagtail. But whether these various sounds are really borrowed or not
one can never feel sure.
The sedge-warbler is a very persistent singer. Some birds are too chary
of their strains; but of this waterside music any person may have as
much as he likes in May and June. Singing is apparently as little
tiring to this bird as rushing through the air is to the swift. At the
season of his greatest vigour he appears to pour out his rapid notes
almost automatically; and when silent, a stone or stick flung into his
haunts will provoke a fresh outburst of melody. He also sings a great
deal at night in the love season.
The sedge-warbler makes its nest among the tangled vegetation at the
waterside; as a rule it is placed near the ground, and is composed
outwardly of moss, leaves, and aquatic grasses, and lined with fine
grass and hair. The eggs are five, of a dirty white or pale brownish
ground-colour, with yellowish brown spots, sometimes with hair-like
marks among the spots.
* * * * *
Besides the two described, three more species of this group of warblers
have been numbered as British birds, having been found as stragglers
in this country. These are the marsh-warbler (_Acrocephalus
palustris_), the great reed-warbler (_Acrocephalus turdoïdes_),
and the aquatic warbler (_Acrocephalus aquaticus_).
Grasshopper Warbler.
Locustella nævia.
Upper parts light greenish brown; the middle of each feather, being
darker, gives a mottled appearance; under parts very pale brown,
spotted with darker brown on neck and breast; feet light brown. Length,
five and a half inches. _Female_ without the brown spots on the
breast.
* * * * *
This warbler arrives in our country about the middle of April,
sometimes a week, or even a fortnight, earlier. In the melodious family
to which it belongs it is distinguished by the singularity of its
voice, which has no musical, or song-like, or even bird-like quality
in it, but is like the sound produced by some stridulating insects. It
is to be found in suitable situations throughout England and Wales,
and in many parts of Scotland and Ireland. It frequents both dry and
marshy ground where dense masses of vegetation afford it the close
cover which would seem necessary to its frail existence; thus it is
found in reed-beds growing in the water, and in hedges and thorny
thickets, and among the furze-bushes on open commons. Although thus
widely distributed in the British Islands, it is, like the nightingale,
very local, and reappears faithfully each spring at the same spot.
How strong the attachment to place, or home, is in this species will
be seen in the following fact: Having found a small colony of about
half a dozen grasshopper warblers inhabiting a circumscribed spot
in the middle of an extensive common, I went back to the place in
three consecutive summers, and each time found the birds in the same
bushes. Yet the dozen or twenty furze and bramble bushes which they
inhabited were in no way, that one could see, better suited to their
requirements than hundreds of other bushes of the same description
scattered over the surrounding land. Nor were any other individuals of
the species to be found in the neighbourhood, except one pair, which
were always to be met with in some brambles about a quarter of a mile
from the spot inhabited by the other birds. Such a fact appears to show
that, not only do the old birds return year after year to the same
breeding-place, but that the young also come back to the spot where
they were hatched; also, it appears to show that in this frail and
far-travelling species the annual increase is only sufficient to make
good the losses from all natural causes.
Immediately after their arrival in April the males begin their curious
vocal performance, at first with a feeble and broken strain; but in
a little while the voice gains in strength and shrillness, and the
utterance becomes more sustained, lasting sometimes without a break for
thirty or forty seconds, and even longer. This is renewed again and
again at short intervals throughout the day, and continued far into
the night. Indeed, the song may be heard all night long in fine summer
weather. The sound is recognised by few of those who hear it as coming
from a bird. It is usually attributed to an insect, and if the hearer
grows curious, and tries to find the exact spot from which it issues,
he finds this a somewhat difficult task. The sound seems now on this
side, now on that, now far away, and anon close at hand; it is here,
there, and everywhere. A good plan is to put the open hands behind the
ear, then to turn slowly round until the exact spot is discovered. When
the bush from which it proceeds has been found, the listener should
advance cautiously to within a few yards of it, and sit down and wait
until the hidden bird, recovering from his alarm, comes up to the
summit and resumes his singing. It is then most interesting to observe
him. The bird sits motionless, turning its head from side to side, and
so long as the strain continues the yellow mouth is wide open, like
the gaping mouth of a fledgeling waiting to receive food, the slender
body trembling with the sound, as if an electric current were passing
through it. The sound produced has been compared by different writers
to the song of a grasshopper, only more sustained; to the cicada; to
the whirring of a wool-spinner’s reel, and to that of a well-oiled
fisherman’s reel made to run at a very rapid rate; and, finally, to the
sharp, vibrating sound of the rattlesnake, and to an electric bell; but
it is not so sharp as these last two.
The grasshopper warbler builds on the ground, and so well concealed
is the nest that it is only possible to find it by watching the birds
when carrying nesting materials into the bush. The nest is formed of
dry grass and moss, and lined with fine fibres. Five to seven eggs are
laid, white or pale pink, spotted with reddish brown over the entire
egg; and sometimes fine hair-like lines are mixed with the spots.
* * * * *
A small warbler, closely resembling the grasshopper warbler in its
language and habits, and once an indigenous British species, is
_Locustella luscinioïdes_, locally known as the reelbird, red
night-reeler, and red craking night-wren, and in books as Savi’s
warbler, after its discoverer. It bred regularly in the Norfolk Broads
and the fen districts in Lincolnshire down to about 1849, when it
became extinct.
Hedge-Sparrow.
Accentor modularis.
[Illustration: FIG. 31.--HEDGE-SPARROW. ⅓ natural size.]
Crown ash-colour with brown streaks; side of neck, throat, and breast
bluish grey; back and wings reddish brown streaked with dark brown;
breast and belly buffy white. Length, five and a half inches.
* * * * *
Most people know that a sparrow is a hard-billed bird of the finch
family, and that the subject of this notice is not a sparrow, except in
name. It is, in fact, a soft-billed bird belonging to that large and
musical family which includes the nightingale, the redbreast, and the
warblers. ‘How absurd, then, to go on calling it a sparrow!’ certain
ornithologists have said from time to time, and have re-named it the
hedge-accentor. But, as Professor Newton has said in his addition to
Yarrell’s account of the bird, a name which has been part and parcel of
our language for centuries, and which Shakespeare used, ‘is hardly to
be dropped, even at the bidding of the wisest, so long as the English
tongue lasts.’ Now, as the English tongue promises to last a long
time, it seems safest to retain the old and, in one sense, incorrect
name. Dunnock is another common name for this species; it is also
called shufflewing, from the habit the bird has, when perched, of
frequently shaking its wings.
Among our small birds, the hedge-sparrow is regarded with some slight
degree of that kindly feeling, or favouritism, which is extended
to the robin redbreast, the swallow, and the martin. It is one of
the few delicate little birds that brave the rigours of an English
winter, and occasionally enliven that dead season with their melody.
With the wren and missel-thrush, it is a prophet, in February, of the
return of brighter sunshine and lengthening days; and in hard weather
it comes much about the house, for the sake of the small morsels of
food to be picked up; and, while retaining its sprightliness at such
times, it learns to be trustful. It is possible that the feeling or
sentiment which no person, not even the most matter-of-fact scientific
ornithologist, is quite proof against, is the cause of this species
having been a little overpraised in many books about birds. The
hedge-sparrow is often spoken of as a very charming little creature,
while its song has been described as pleasing, as sweet, and as
delightful. All birds are in a sense attractive, and even charming in
appearance, but in different degrees, and the plain-coloured dunnock
strikes one as being the least attractive among our birds. In the
same way, the song may be said to be pleasant because it is a natural
sound, and is heard in the open air when the sun shines, when leaves
and blossoms are out, and it expresses the gladness which is common to
all sentient things. But it has none of the rare qualities which are
requisite to make a pleasant sound anything more than a merely pleasant
sound.
The hedge-sparrow is a common bird throughout the British Islands--so
common as to be familiar to most people, in spite of its shyness and
love of concealment. It is pre-eminently a hedge-bird, and in that
respect has been well named; even in the most populous districts,
and in the suburbs of large towns, where a hedge remains, there the
smoke-grey and brown little bird will have its home and make its nest,
although it may seldom be able to rear its young. It is a very early
breeder, a first brood being often reared in March. As a rule, the nest
is placed in the centre of a hedge or thorny bush, three or four feet
from the ground; it is made of dry grass and fine roots, and lined
with hair; the eggs are five or six in number, bright greenish blue in
colour, without spots. Two or three broods are reared in the season.
* * * * *
The alpine accentor (_Accentor collaris_), a larger species
than our hedge-sparrow, which it resembles in colour, is known as a
straggler to England from the mountainous districts of Central and
Southern Europe.
Dipper.
Cinclus aquaticus.
Upper plumage brownish black tinged with grey; throat and breast
pure white; belly chestnut-brown; bill black; feet horn-colour.
_Female_: colours dingy. Length, six inches and a half.
* * * * *
The dipper, or water-ouzel, differs considerably in appearance, and
still more in habits, from all other British birds; as is the case
with such species as the wryneck, cuckoo, kingfisher, bearded tit,
tree-creeper, starling, and nuthatch, there is no other like him. In
figure he is wren-like, stout and compact in body, with short, rounded
wings and short, square tail, which, as with the wren, is often carried
upright and jerked. He is a little less than the song-thrush in size,
and is conspicuously coloured, the greater part of the plumage being
black, or blackish brown; and, in strong contrast, the throat and upper
part of the breast shining white--a big black wren with a silvery white
bib.
[Illustration: FIG. 32.--DIPPER. ⅕ natural size.]
Some species always live and move within such narrow limits, or, in
other words, are so dependent on certain conditions, that we invariably
think of them in association with their surroundings:--the snipe with
the boggy soil; the rock-pipit with the rock-bound seashore; the
tree-creeper with the tree he climbs upon; the lark with the cultivated
fields; and the swift with the void blue sky, through which he is
perpetually rushing. In like manner we invariably think of the dipper
in connection with the swift, brawling mountain-torrent he inhabits. He
is never, or very seldom, found removed from it, and is probably more
restricted to certain conditions, and consequently more bound to his
home, than any one of the species just named. The stream he attaches
himself to must have quiet and comparatively deep pools, and the water
must be clear to enable him to detect the larvæ of water-beetles,
dragon-flies, and other aquatic insects he preys on, all of which have
a protective colouring. He does not range up and down a stream, like
the kingfisher, to visit the various feeding-places; he limits himself
to a portion of it, in many cases not more than a hundred yards in
length, and explores the bottoms of the same pools from day to day,
until they must be as familiar to him--all their inequalities, their
stony ridges and half-buried boulders, and sandy or pebbled places, and
all the holes and secret corners where sediment collects--as the rooms
we live in are to us, and about which we are able to move freely in
the dimmest light. In ascending a mountain stream such as these birds
love, abounding in deep, quiet pools, with noisy cascades and shallow
rapids, its bottom strewn with great fallen boulders partly submerged,
the rocky banks overgrown with sheltering bushes and vines, when you
disturb a dipper he flies up stream a short distance, perhaps twenty
yards, and alights on a boulder, or in the shadow of an overhanging
rock, and there waits, silent and motionless, until, disturbed again,
he takes a second short flight up stream, and so on to the limit of his
range, whereupon, rising up and doubling back, he flies to the spot he
started from. And as often as you disturb him he will act in the same
way, going just so far, and no farther. If you leave him behind and go
on, you will find another pair of dippers, whose portion of the stream
begins just where that of the first pair ends. They, too, will act in
the same way, and fly on until the end of their range is reached, and
will not venture beyond where a third pair are in possession. Where
they are not disturbed a mountain stream may be found parcelled out in
this way among a dozen or twenty couples. Probably the dipper, like the
robin, jealously resents the intrusion of another bird of his kind into
his chosen ground. Concerning this habit of the dipper, and its strange
way of feeding under the water, something still remains to be known.
It is, indeed, strange that this little perching song-bird should have
the habit of diving for its food like a grebe or a guillemot, and
other species that have structures specially adapted to such a way
of life. For there is absolutely nothing in the dipper’s structure
to lead anyone unacquainted with its habits to believe that it ever
approaches the water, unless to drink and bathe, and perhaps to pick
up an insect floating on the surface. That it is able to sink into and
move freely about beneath the water close to the bottom of a stream, in
spite of gravity, seems very astonishing, and would be incredible if
the fact were not so familiar. Some ornithologists believe that it is
related to the wren, others to the thrush;--that is a question capable
of solution; but how by a short-cut it became a diver must remain a
mystery.
Formerly it was believed that the dipper was able to walk freely about
on the bottom of the stream, but that was an error. It is difficult to
watch the bird moving about under water; but a few good observers have
succeeded in doing so, and from their accounts it would appear that the
dipper propels itself by powerful wing-beats, moving by a series of
rushes or jerks, keeping close to the bottom of the stream. It appears
to swallow its food under water, but comes up at intervals to breathe,
then sinks again beneath the surface.
On land the dipper is somewhat inactive, and will stand on a boulder
or under an overhanging rock without moving for a long time. One would
imagine that their eyes, fitted so well to see in the dim light beneath
the surface, must be very sensitive to the glare above.
The dipper’s song is short but brilliant, and very much like that of
the wren in character; it is heard most frequently in the love season,
and occasionally in autumn and in winter, when the sun shines, even
during very cold weather.
The nest is made among the rocks, usually in a crevice, and is very
large for the size of the bird, being sometimes a foot across, and is
globular in form, with a small opening near the top. It is composed
principally of moss, loosely felted, the inside lined with dry grass,
fine rootlets, and dead leaves. Four to six eggs are laid, pure white,
and unspotted.
The dipper is most common in mountainous districts in Scotland,
Ireland, and Wales, and is found in suitable localities in England.
* * * * *
The black-billed dipper (_Cinclus melanogaster_), the Scandinavian
and North Russian form of _Cinclus aquaticus_, has been met with
on two or three occasions as a straggler to the east coast of England.
[Illustration: _PLATE IV._ BEARDED TITMOUSE. 3/4 NAT. SIZE.]
Bearded Titmouse.
Panurus biamicus.
Head bluish grey; between the bill and eye a tuft of pendent black
feathers, prolonged into a pointed moustache; throat and neck greyish
white; breast and belly white tinged with yellow and pink; upper parts
light orange-brown; wings variegated with black, white and red; tail
very long, orange-brown, the outer feathers variegated with black and
white. _Female_: the moustache the same colour as the cheek; the
grey on the head absent. Length, six inches and a half.
* * * * *
This bird, although by name a tit, and placed next to the titmice by
many naturalists in their systems, differs widely from those birds in
some points. The question of its true position among passerine birds
has, indeed, been a subject of controversy for a long time past, and
is not yet settled. Some writers would have it that it comes nearest
to the shrikes; others, that it is most closely related to the
buntings; and still others place it next to the waxwing. Leaving aside
anatomical subjects, it may be said that the bearded tit is unlike all
these different birds and the titmice in habits, language, colouring,
and in its curious feather-ornaments--the erectile, pointed, black
feathers that grow between the beak and eyes, and form the curious long
moustache which gives the bird its name.
The bearded tit, although at all times an extremely local species, on
account of its being exclusively an inhabitant of reed-beds, was once
fairly common in many parts of England; but owing to the draining of
marshes and to the persecution of collectors, it has now become one of
the rarest of British birds. At present it is confined to the district
of the Broads in Norfolk, where it is, unhappily, becoming increasingly
rare, and is threatened with extinction at no distant date.
It is a very pretty bird in its buff and fawn coloured dress; very
elegant in form, its singular black moustache and long, graduated tail
enhancing the beauty of its appearance; and exceedingly graceful in
its motions. It lives in the beds of reeds growing in the water; and
the slim, graceful, clinging bird, and the tall, slender stems, with
their pale, pointed leaves and feathery flowers, seem adapted each to
the other. In seeking its food it clings to the reeds, much as the
blue tit does to the pendent twigs of the birch. Its food consists of
small insects and their larvæ, small molluscs, and the seeds of the
reeds. In autumn and winter it is gregarious, three or four, or more,
families uniting in a flock, and roaming from reed-bed to reed-bed and
from broad to broad. When disturbed, or alarmed at the appearance of a
hawk, they drop down into concealment among the reeds, but in a short
time rise to the surface again, climbing parrot-like up the slender
stems. There are few birds without a brilliant colouring that have
so attractive an appearance as the bearded tit, especially when seen
flying just above the top of the reeds, or when perched on a slender
stem near its top, and swayed to and fro by the wind. Their alarm-note
is harsh, but they have a variety of calling and singing notes, which
are somewhat metallic in sound and very musical. A writer in Loudon’s
‘Magazine of Natural History’ describes the bearded tits in flight
as ‘uttering in full chorus their sweetly musical notes; it may be
compared to the music of very small cymbals, is clear and ringing,
though soft, and corresponds well with the delicacy and beauty of the
form and colour of the bird.’
The nest is made at the end of March or early in April, and is placed
on the ground, under a bush, or among the grass and herbage near the
water. It is composed of leaves of reeds, bents, and grass-blades,
and lined with the fine fibres of the reed-tops. The eggs are four to
six in number, and sometimes eight; they are white, with a few minute
specks, blotches, and lines of dark reddish brown.
Long-tailed Titmouse.
Acredula rosea.
Head, neck, throat, breast, and a portion of the outer tail-feathers
white; back, wings, and six middle feathers of the tail black; a black
streak above the eye; sides of the back and scapulars tinged with
rosy red; under parts reddish white. Tail very long; beak very short.
Length, five inches and three-quarters.
* * * * *
The long-tailed tit is the least of the titmice, and is only saved from
being described as the smallest British bird on account of its loose
plumage and long tail, which make it look a trifle more bulky than the
golden-crested wren. In many of its habits, and to some extent in its
appearance, it resembles the typical tits, the five species of the
genus Parus which remain to be described, and is often seen associating
with them in winter. In its colouring, language, and nesting habits
it differs from them. It is a somewhat singular-looking little bird,
with grey and rose-coloured plumage, short wings, a very long tail,
and a short, conical beak, which gives the round head something of a
parrot-like appearance.
[Illustration: FIG. 33.--LONG-TAILED TIT. ¼ natural size.]
This species is found throughout Great Britain and Ireland, but is less
common in Scotland than in England. It inhabits woods and plantations,
and, like the other tits, is social, active, and restless in its
habits. After the breeding season the old and young birds remain
united, and spend the autumn and winter months in perpetually wandering
through the woods; but their travels do not take them far from home.
They are seen in a scattered party, each member of which appears wholly
occupied with his own search for minute insects and their eggs and
larvæ, but is ready at a given signal to abandon his food-getting and
join the others in their hurried flight to the next tree. And as they
pass from tree to tree their short wings and long tails give them, as
Knapp said, the appearance of a flight of arrows. Leaving the woods,
they roam over the surrounding country, making their way by short
stages from tree to tree and from bush to bush, along lanes and hedges,
and visiting the clumps of trees in parks and pasture-lands. They also
come about houses, not for the crumbs that fall from the table, but to
continue in gardens and shrubberies their endless search for minute
insects. Very restless and anxious little hearts are theirs, one would
imagine, from their incessant hurried flittings from place to place,
and the small, querulous sounds in which they converse together.
At night they roost huddled together in a cluster composed, in some
cases, of half a dozen or eight birds in a row, with three or four
others perched on their backs, and one or two more resting on these.
Early in spring these curious little companies break up, and the song
or love-call of the male bird, so unlike that of the other tits, may
be heard--a prolonged trill, low and aërial, and very delicate in
sound. The nest is placed on a tree or bush, and is long in building,
and a marvel of bird architecture. It is domed, oval in shape, with
a small aperture near the top, and is composed of moss, lichens, and
hair closely felted, and the interior thickly lined with feathers.
Macgillivray says that the feathers taken from one nest numbered 2,379.
Six to eleven eggs are laid, sometimes a larger number. They are pure
white or pearly grey in ground-colour, thinly spotted with light red
and a few faint purple marks.
* * * * *
The continental form of the long-tailed tit, _Acredula caudata_,
differs from _A. rosea_ in wanting the dark stripe on the head;
specimens without the stripe are sometimes met with in this country,
but whether or no they are visitors from the Continent is not known.
Great Titmouse.
Parus major.
Head, throat, and a band passing down the centre of the breast black;
back olive-green; cheeks and a spot on the nape white; breast and belly
yellow. Length, six inches.
* * * * *
The great tit, or oxeye, is a resident species throughout the British
Islands, and inhabits woods and plantations, and is also seen in
orchards, gardens, and shrubberies. He is nowhere abundant, yet very
well known, being one of those species it would be difficult for even
the least observant person to overlook. He has a comparatively gay
plumage, and the various colours are disposed and contrasted in a
striking way. The intense glossy black of the head, throat, and broad
band which divides the bright greenish yellow of the under parts
lengthways, make him a conspicuous object.
[Illustration: FIG. 34.--GREAT TIT. ⅓ natural size.]
His voice, for so small a bird, is a powerful and far-reaching one;
and his frequently uttered spring call, or song, composed of two notes
repeated two or three times in succession, strikes so sharply on the
sense that it compels attention, like ringing blows on an anvil or on
the rivets of iron rails and girders, or the sound of sharpening a saw.
Saw-sharpener is one of its local names. Another thing--the oxeye is
the largest of the tits, consequently the principal member of a group
of small birds exhibiting very strongly marked characters. They differ
from most small birds, to some extent, in form, colouring, and general
appearance, and, in a greater degree, in language and habits. They are
extremely active and restless, and spend most of their time in trees,
from the bark of the trunk and large branches to the smallest terminal
twigs and leaves. In winter, when the elms and other deciduous trees
have shed their foliage, and their fine upper boughs appear like a
sombre fretwork against the pale sky, the tits are seen at their best;
they are then gathered into small flocks or family parties, and may
be observed, as they scatter about the tree, clinging to the twigs
in every conceivable position, and looking like a company of small
sober-coloured paroquets of this cold northern world. They subsist
principally on small insects and their eggs, larvæ, and chrysalids,
but are almost omnivorous in their diet, feeding on buds, seed, and
fruits, and on animal food when it can be had. A meaty bone or a piece
of bacon, cooked or raw, or a lump of suet, will quickly attract them,
as is well known. The oxeye, pretty little bird as it is, will eat
carrion like any crow, and even kill and devour other small birds as
big as himself. His rapacious habits have, however, not been very
well established. In a captive condition he will occasionally attack a
small bird in the same cage, killing it by vigorous blows on the head,
and picking out its brains; but in a state of nature the great tit
would probably be able to kill only a young or sick bird. For so small
a bird he is, undoubtedly, very resolute and strong; the rapid blows
of his short, strong bill on the bark sound like those of a nuthatch.
Like that bird, he splits open the hard shells of seeds to get at the
kernels.
The great tit is less social and gregarious than the other species
of this group; still, he does unite in small parties, and joins the
bands of mixed titmice and other small birds that form so familiar and
interesting a feature of woods and copses in autumn and winter.
The nest is placed in a variety of situations, but a covered site is
usually preferred to an open one, and nests may be found in holes
and cavities in decayed timber, holes in walls, and in old nests of
magpies, crows, and rooks. In a well-covered site the nest is loosely
built; if in an open one, such as a crow’s nest, the structure is much
more elaborate, dry grass, moss, hair, and wool, being closely woven
together, and the inside thickly lined with feathers.
The eggs vary from five to eleven in number; usually they are seven
or eight. They are pure white or faintly tinged with yellow, blotched
and spotted with reddish brown. Two broods are reared in the season.
The parent birds are very bold in defence of their eggs and young, and
vigorously attack any bird that approaches the nest, without regard to
its size. The sitting-bird sometimes refuses to leave her eggs, and
when taken in the hand will bite and hiss like the wryneck.
In autumn and winter the number of great tits is considerably increased
by a migration from the Continent.
Coal-Titmouse.
Parus ater; Parus britannicus.
Crown, throat, and front of the neck black; cheeks and nape pure white;
upper parts grey; wings bluish grey, with two white bands; under parts
white tinged with grey. Length, four and a quarter inches.
* * * * *
The coal-tit of our country (_P. britannicus_) differs slightly
from the continental form (_P. ater_), the British bird having
the slate-grey of the upper parts suffused with brown or olive, while
in the continental form the brown tinge is confined to the rump. The
European coal-tit visits our islands on migration, and doubtless
interbreeds with our bird, as intermediate varieties are found.
The coal-tit, or coalmouse, like the oxeye and the blue tit, is
generally diffused throughout the British Islands, and is not uncommon,
although nowhere abundant. In Scotland it is more local in its
distribution, being found chiefly in districts abounding in pine and
fir woods. It is believed to be increasing in numbers and extending its
range in this country. In its social habits, its flight, and its manner
of seeking its food--during which it clings to the smaller boughs
and twigs in a variety of positions--it closely resembles the other
members of its genus. It also resembles them in its language, although
a shriller note may be detected in its voice, both in its call-note and
song. It differs from other tits in its greater activity, in preferring
conifers to other trees, in going more often to the ground to feed, and
in being a greater wanderer out of the breeding season.
The nest, as a rule, is placed near the ground, in a hole in a rotten
tree-stump, or in a wall, or any other suitable place. It is composed
of moss, hair, and feathers, felted together, and lined with more
feathers. Six to eight eggs are laid, like those of the great tit
in colour. Like the oxeye, it is omnivorous, but in summer it feeds
principally on insects.
After the breeding season the old and young birds keep together,
and several families may unite and form a flock. One of the most
interesting winter sights in a wood composed of pine and fir growing
together with beech and other deciduous trees is afforded by a
wandering flock of coal-tits. As they move from tree to tree they
attract other species of similar habits--the oxeye and blue and
marsh tits, and goldcrests, and siskins, and perhaps a couple of
tree-creepers. Occasionally a party of long-tailed tits will join, and
keep with the flock for some time; but the long-tails are the most
restless and vagrant of all, and eventually hurry on by themselves,
leaving the more patient plodders behind. It is wonderful and very
beautiful to see so many species thus drawn into companionship by a
common social instinct, and by a similar manner of seeking their food;
a mental likeness serves to keep them together for hours at a time, or
for a whole day, in spite of so great a diversity in form and colour
and language.
Marsh-Titmouse.
Parus palustris.
Forehead, crown, head, and nape black; upper parts grey; wings dark
grey, lighter at the edges; cheeks, throat, and breast dull white.
Length, four inches and a half.
* * * * *
It is curious that, of the seven species of birds inhabiting this
country called titmice in the vernacular, six have been named from
some character that strikes the eye: greater size in one, a peculiar
feather-ornament in two, and in the remaining species a distinctive
shape or colour; and the names in all cases are suitable--bearded,
long-tailed, great, blue, coal, and crested. In the one case where this
rule has been neglected the name is unsuitable and misleading. The
marsh-tit may be more partial to low or wet ground than the blue tit,
and oxeye, and coal-tit, but the bird is found everywhere--in woods,
groves, hedgerows, orchards, and gardens--and in autumn and winter is
seen associating with the other species in their wandering bands. But
it would have been difficult to name this species from its colouring,
which is more uniform and sober than in any of the others. He is the
plainest of them all, but in his lively, social habits, and in his
various pretty motions and attitudes, he is one of the family; and
so strong in him is the family likeness, that some find it not easy
to distinguish marsh-tit from coal-tit, except when seen closely. In
its language, also, it is unmistakably a titmouse; but it is not so
vociferous as the oxeye and blue tit, and its tinkering voice is not so
sharp and loud.
The nest is placed in a rotten stump or trunk of a tree, an old
pollarded willow being a favourite site; and sometimes the bird
excavates a hole for itself in the decayed wood. The nest is made of
moss and hair, felted together, and lined with willow down. The eggs
are five or six in number, and are similar to those of the great tit in
colouring.
The marsh-tit is common in England, rarer in Scotland, and does not
extend to Ireland.
Blue Titmouse.
Parus cæruleus.
Crown blue encircled with white; cheeks white bordered with dark
blue; back olive-green; wings and tail bluish; greater coverts and
secondaries tipped with white; breast and belly yellow, traversed by a
dark blue line. Length, four and a half inches.
* * * * *
The blue tit is a commoner species than the oxeye, and is even more
widely diffused in this country, its range extending from the Channel
Islands to the northernmost parts of Scotland, and it has been found as
a straggler in the Orkneys and the Shetlands. All the qualities that
distinguish the tits and make them such engaging birds are found in a
marked degree in the present species--sociability; extreme vivacity,
especially in the cold season; and the power to assume an endless
variety of graceful positions when clinging to the slender branches
and twigs, upright or pendulous, of the leafless trees in winter. And
as the blue tit is more abundant, and more familiar with man, than the
others, besides having a gayer colouring, he is the favourite member of
his genus. He promises, indeed, to become in time our first feathered
favourite; for though he is without melody, and does not come to us
with a glad message, like the swallow, and has no ancient sentiment
and nursery literature, like the robin, to help him to the front, he
possesses one unfailing attraction--he is an amusing creature. Perhaps
our progenitors were less susceptible in that way than we are, and
took no notice of the tomtit and his vagaries. In winter he may be
easily won with a little food; and when he joins the mixed company of
sparrows, dunnocks, blackbirds, and starlings that come to the door for
crumbs and scraps, he is by contrast among them a ‘winged jewel’--a
small wanderer from the tropics. In works of ornithology you will
find the blue tit described as a little acrobat and harlequin, droll
and grotesque and fantastic in his ways; and if this Puck among our
feathered fairies can win expressions such as these from the gravest
scientific writers, it is not strange that ordinary folk should find
him so fascinating.
The language of the blue tit resembles that of the oxeye. Its voice is
not so powerful, but the various sounds, the call and love notes, or
song, composed of one note repeated several times without variation,
have similar sharp, incisive, and somewhat metallic qualities.
In spring the wandering little companies break up, and about the end of
April breeding begins. The nest is placed in a hole in a tree or wall,
or wherever a suitable cavity is found. It is loosely formed of dry
grass or moss, lined with wool, hair, and a quantity of feathers. Five
to eight eggs are usually laid, in some cases as many as twelve and
fourteen; in colour they are like those of the great tit, and, as in
the case of that species, the incubating bird sits closely on her eggs
and hisses like a snake when interfered with.
The blue tit is omnivorous in its diet. In summer it feeds principally
on caterpillars, aphides, and insects of all kinds, sometimes catching
them on the wing. At other seasons it eats fruit and seeds of various
kinds, buds, flesh, and, in fact, almost anything it can get.
Crested Titmouse.
Parus cristatus.
Feathers of the crown elongated, and forming when erected a pointed
crest, black, edged with white; cheeks and sides of the neck white;
throat, collar, and a streak across the temples black; all the other
parts reddish brown; lower parts white, faintly tinged with red.
Length, four inches and three-quarters.
[Illustration: FIG. 35.--CRESTED TIT. ⅓ natural size.]
* * * * *
The crested tit is one of the rarest and most local of British birds,
being restricted to a few extensive pine-forests in the north of
Scotland; indeed, there are few who know it from personal observation
in this country. Although modest in colour, it is a pretty little
bird, and its high, pointed crest gives it a somewhat distinguished
appearance. In its language and habits it resembles the other members
of the genus, and associates in the same way with birds of different
species. Like the coal-tit, it makes its nest in a hole in a rotten
tree-stump, and it will also breed in a crow’s or magpie’s old nest,
or a squirrel’s drey. The nest is made of dry grass, moss, wool, hair,
fur, and feathers, thinly felted together; and five or six eggs are
laid, white in ground-colour, spotted and speckled with brownish red.
Nuthatch.
Sitta cæsia.
[Illustration: FIG. 36.--NUTHATCH. ¼ natural size.]
Upper parts bluish grey; a black streak across the eye; cheeks and
throat white; breast and belly buff; flank and lower tail-coverts
chestnut-red; outer tail feathers black, with a white spot near the end
tipped with grey, the two central ones grey; beak bluish black, the
lower mandible white at the base; feet light brown. Length, five inches
and a half.
* * * * *
The nuthatch, although a small bird, not brightly coloured, and
scarcely deserving the name of songster, exercises a singular
attraction; and if it were possible to canvass all those who love
birds, and have not fewer than half a dozen favourites, it is probable
that in a great majority of cases the nuthatch would be found among
them. When I see him sitting quite still for a few moments on a branch
of a tree in his most characteristic nuthatch attitude, on or under
the branch, perched horizontally or vertically, with head or tail
uppermost, but always with the body placed beetle-wise against the
bark, head raised, and the straight, sharp bill pointing like an arm
lifted to denote attention--at such times he looks less like a living
than a sculptured bird, a bird cut out of a beautifully variegated
marble--blue-grey, buff, and chestnut--and placed against the tree to
deceive the eye. The figure is so smooth and compact, the tints so
soft and stone-like; and when he is still, he is so wonderfully still,
and his attitude so statuesque! But he is never long still, and when
he resumes his lively, eccentric, up-and-down and sideway motions he
is interesting in another way. One is not soon tired of watching his
perpetual mouse-like, independent-of-the-earth’s-gravity perambulations
over the surface of the trunk and branches. He is like a small
woodpecker who has broken loose from the woodpecker’s somewhat narrow
laws of progression, preferring to be a law unto himself.
Without a touch of brilliant colour, the nuthatch is a beautiful bird
on account of the pleasing softness and harmonious disposition of his
tints; and, in like manner, without being a songster in the strict
sense of the word, his voice is so clear and far-reaching, and of so
pleasant a quality, that it often gives more life and spirit to the
woods and orchards and avenues he frequents than that of many true
melodists. This is more especially the case in the month of March,
before the migratory songsters have arrived, and when he is most
loquacious. A high-pitched, clear, ringing note, repeated without
variation several times, is his most often-heard call or song. He will
sometimes sit motionless on his perch, repeating this call at short
intervals, for half an hour at a time. Another bird at a distance will
be doing the same, and the two appear to be answering one another. He
also has another call, not so loud and piercing, but more melodious:
a double note, repeated two or three times, with something liquid and
gurgling in the sound, suggesting the musical sound of lapping water.
These various notes and calls are heard incessantly until the young are
hatched, when the birds all at once become silent.
A hole in the trunk or branch of a large tree is used as a
nesting-place, the entrance, if too large, being walled up with clay,
only a small opening to admit the bird being left. At the extremity of
the hole a bed of dry leaves is made. The eggs are five to seven in
number, white, and spotted with brownish red, sometimes with purple.
When the sitting-bird is interfered with she defends her treasures
with great courage, hissing like the wryneck, and vigorously striking
at the aggressor with her sharp bill.
The food of the nuthatch during a greater portion of the year consists
of small insects and their larvæ, found in the crevices of the bark;
hence the bird is most often seen frequenting old rough-barked trees,
the oak being a special favourite, more especially if it happens to be
well covered with lichen. At times, when seeking its prey, its rapid
and vigorous blows on the bark or portion of rotten wood can be heard
at a considerable distance, and are frequently mistaken for those
of the woodpecker. In autumn the nuthatch feeds largely on nuts and
fruit-stones, and to get at the kernel he carries the nut to a tree,
and wedges it firmly in a crevice or in the angle made by a forked
branch, then hammers at the end with his sharp beak until the shell is
split open and the kernel disclosed. Its love of nuts makes it easy to
attract the bird to a tree or wall close to the house by fixing nuts
in the crevices. If supplied regularly with this kind of food it soon
grows trustful, and may even be taught to come to call, and even to
catch morsels of food thrown to it in the air. Canon Atkinson, in his
lively and interesting ‘Sketches in Natural History,’ has described
the amusing manners of a pair of nuthatches which he thus made tame by
feeding. Since his book was published, about twenty-five years ago,
many persons have adopted the same plan with success.
Wren.
Troglodytes parvulus.
Upper parts reddish brown with transverse dusky bars; quills barred
alternately with black and reddish brown; tail dusky, barred with
black; over the eye a pale narrow streak; under parts pale reddish
brown; flanks and thighs marked with dark streaks. Length, three inches
and a half.
* * * * *
[Illustration: FIG. 37.--WREN. ¼ natural size.]
The little nut-brown wren--nut-like, too, in his smallness and
round, compact figure--with cocked-up tail and jerky motions
and gesticulations, and flight as of a fairy partridge with
rapidly-beating, short wings, that produce a whirring noise if you are
close enough to hear it, is a familiar creature to almost every person
throughout the three kingdoms, and is even more generally diffused
than the house-sparrow. Something of the feeling which we have for the
swallow, the house-martin, and the robin redbreast, falls to the share
of the small wren. He is one of the few general favourites, although,
perhaps, not so great a favourite as the others just named. The reason
of this is, doubtless, because he is less domestic, never so familiar
with man or tolerant of close observation. The wren is never tame nor
unsuspicious; he is less dependent on us than other small birds that
attach themselves to human habitations, never a ‘pensioner’ in the same
degree as the blue tit, dunnock, blackbird, and sparrow. The minute
spiders, chrysalids, earwigs, and wood-lice with other creeping things
to be found in obscure holes and corners in wood-piles, ivy-covered
walls, and outhouses, are more to his taste than the ‘sweepings of
the threshold.’ His small size, modest colouring, and secrecy; his
activity, and habit of seeking his food in holes and dark places which
are not explored by other insectivorous species, enable him to exist
in a great variety of conditions--gardens, orchards, deep woods,
open commons, hedgerows, rocky shores, swamps, mountains, and moors;
there are, indeed, few places where the small, busy wren is not to
be met with. This ability of the wren to find everywhere in nature a
neglected corner to occupy would appear to give it a great advantage
over other small birds; moreover, it is very prolific, and excepting,
perhaps, two species of tits, is more successful than any other small
bird in rearing large broods of young. Nevertheless, the wrens do not
seem to increase. At the end of summer they are very abundant, and
you will, perhaps, be able to count a dozen birds where only one pair
appeared in spring; but when spring comes again you will generally find
that the population has fallen back to its old numbers. The larger
increase in summer indicates a greater mortality during the rest of
the year than is suffered by other species. The wren is said to eat
fruit occasionally, and even seeds; but it is almost exclusively
insectivorous, and probably perishes in large numbers during periods
of frost, when larks, pipits, and titmice become seed-eaters. Yet the
wren is a hardy little bird, a resident all the year round in the
coldest parts of our country, and one of the few songsters which may
be heard in all seasons. Even during a frost, if the sun shines, the
wren will sing as gaily as in summer. His song is his greatest charm.
It is unlike that of any other British melodist--a loud, bright lyric,
the fine, clear, high-pitched notes and trills issuing in a continuous
rapid stream from beginning to end. Although rapid, and ending somewhat
abruptly, it is a beautiful and finished performance, in which every
note is distinctly enunciated and has its value. When near it sounds
very loud: one is surprised to hear so loud a song from so small a
creature. But it does not carry far: the notes of the song-thrush,
blackbird, and nightingale can be heard at nearly three times the
distance.
The wren begins his nest-building at the end of April, and in
selecting a site exercises a greater freedom than most small birds.
The nests may be found in trees, bushes, masses of ivy or other dense
vegetation, hedgerows, holes in banks and walls, crevices in rocks, in
furze-bushes, and close to the ground among the bramble-bushes. There
is also a great variety in the materials used in building different
nests. As a rule, one kind of material is used for the outer part of
the structure, which is domed, and very large for the bird. It may be
moss or dead leaves, or moss and leaves woven together, or dry grass
leaves and stems, or dead fern-fronds. The nest is not only well
concealed, but in most cases the outside is made to assimilate in
colour to the vegetation surrounding it. The opening is near the top of
the nest; inside, the cavity is lined with moss, hair, and feathers.
Four or five eggs are laid, often a larger number, and it is not
unusual to find as many as eight or nine eggs in a nest. Not long ago,
in a wood in Berkshire, I saw eight young wrens sitting in a row on a
branch near the ground, and watched them being fed by the old birds.
The eggs are pure white, thinly spotted with pinkish red. Two broods
are reared in the season. Imperfect or false nests are often found near
the nest containing the eggs, and are called ‘cocks’ nests,’ the belief
being that they are made by the male bird.
Pied Wagtail.
Motacilla lugubris.
[Illustration: FIG. 38.--PIED WAGTAIL. ¼ natural size.]
Summer plumage variegated with white and black; back and scapulars,
chin, throat, and neck black; a small portion of the side of the neck
white. Winter plumage: back and scapulars ash-grey; chin and throat
white, with a black, but not entirely isolated, gorget. Length, seven
and a half inches.
* * * * *
The pied wagtail is probably not more abundant in this country than
the yellow wagtail, but is far better known, being a more generally
diffused species, often seen in the neighbourhood of houses where the
yellow wagtail never comes. And if there be a pied wagtail anywhere
within range of sight, it is sure to be seen and recognised, for in its
black-and-white plumage it is the most conspicuous small bird in this
country, not excepting the kingfisher, snow-bunting and blackbird. When
tripping about a smooth lawn he looks double his real size, and reminds
one of a magpie in a field or an oyster-catcher on a wide stretch of
level sand.
The pied wagtail is found in this country all the year round, but
many birds (probably the large majority) migrate annually. Knox, in
his ‘Ornithological Rambles in Sussex,’ says that they arrive on
the Sussex coast about the middle of March, the old males first, the
females and the males of the previous year a few days later. They are
sometimes seen in large numbers near the coast, resting after their
voyage before proceeding inland. The return migration takes place at
the end of August or early in September.
Meadows and pasture-lands in the neighbourhood of a running stream are
favourite resorts of the wagtail, and it is fond of attending cattle
for the sake of the numbers of insects driven from their shelter in the
grass by the grazing animals.
The pied wagtail is not so lively, quick, and graceful as the yellow
and the grey species; but if you watch him for any length of time he,
too, gives you the idea of a creature that never continues in the same
mind for a minute at a time, but acts according to the impulse of the
moment, and is as unstable as a ball of thistle-down. He runs, then
stands, and shakes his tail; for two or three moments he searches for
food; then chases an insect, and is still again, waiting for a new
impulse to move him:--suddenly he flies away, not straight, as if
with an object in view, but with a curving, dipping, erratic flight,
governed seemingly by no will; and just as suddenly alighting again,
when he is once more seen standing still and shaking his tail. The
call-note, a sharp chirp of two syllables, is emitted once or twice
during flight. The song is a loud, hurried warble, uttered on the wing
as the bird hovers at a moderate height from the ground. But the pied
wagtail has another way of singing, especially in early spring: this
is a warble so low that at the distance of fifteen yards it is just
audible, and is sometimes uttered continuously for two or three minutes
at a stretch.
The nest is made, as a rule, in a hollow or cavity in the ground, or in
a crevice or hole in a bank or rock, or under a stone, or at the roots
of a furze-bush. It is built of fine dry grass, moss, and various other
materials, and lined with hair and feathers. The eggs are four or five,
pale bluish in tint, and spotted with greyish brown.
Grey Wagtail.
Motacilla melanope.
Summer plumage: head and back bluish grey; a pale streak over the eye;
throat black; under parts bright yellow. Winter plumage: chin and
throat whitish, passing into yellow. Length, seven inches and a half.
* * * * *
The grey wagtail is the prettiest and the least common of the three
species of Motacilla inhabiting the British Islands. Like the dipper,
it frequents mountain streams, but is not restricted to them. In
England it is a somewhat rare species, but is more common in Scotland
and Ireland. It remains with us throughout the year, but although a
permanent resident in most parts of the country, it is certain that it
disappears in autumn from many of its breeding-haunts in Scotland and
the north of England, and that a large number of these northern birds
winter in the southern and western counties.
[Illustration: FIG. 39.--GREY WAGTAIL. ⅓ natural size.]
The grey wagtail is frequently spoken of as a bird of brilliant
plumage. It is not exactly that, but the various colours are so soft
and delicate, they harmonise so admirably, and show in the velvet-black
of the gorget and pure canary-yellow of the breast so fine a contrast,
that the effect is most beautiful, and pleases, perhaps, more than the
colouring of any other British bird. And this is not all. The charm
which the grey wagtail has for those who know it intimately consists in
the union of delicate colouring with a delicate form and exquisitely
graceful motion. Ornithologists have called it a ‘fairy-like bird,’ and
the terms in which they have sometimes recorded their impressions of it
might lead one to imagine that they are speaking, not of a bird, but of
some elusive nymph of the mountain rivulets, of whom they had caught
a glimpse in their rambles. To its other charms may be added that of
melody. Its spring song is sweet and lively, a little like that of the
swallow in character, and is uttered as the bird hovers in the air.
The alarm-note is like that of the pied wagtail, a sharp double note,
emitted as the bird passes away in undulating flight.
The grey wagtail is more exclusively a bird of the waterside than
either of the other two species, seldom being met with away from the
margins of its beloved mountain streams; in its flight, motions on the
ground, and manner of taking its insect prey, it closely resembles
the pied and yellow wagtails, the only difference being that it is
even more volatile, and that it is the most graceful of these three
feathered Graces.
The nest is made on the ground, concealed by grass and herbage, or
under a bush, and often under the shelter of an overhanging rock. It
is formed of fibrous roots, dry grass, and moss, and lined with hair,
wool, and feathers. The eggs are five or six in number, French white or
grey in ground-colour, mottled and spotted with pale brown and olive.
Yellow Wagtail.
Motacilla rayii.
Top of head, lore, nape, back, and scapulars greenish olive; a bright
yellow streak over the eye; lower parts sulphur-yellow. Length, six
inches.
* * * * *
The yellow wagtail is a summer visitor, arriving at the end of March or
early in April in this country, and is found very nearly in all parts
of England, and is also common in the southern counties of Scotland;
farther north it is rare, and in Ireland it is only known to breed in
one locality. On its arrival it frequents open downs and sheepwalks,
pastures, commons, and arable lands, more especially fields where
spring sowing is in progress. On this account it has been named in some
districts the barley-bird and oat-seed-bird, and in Scotland seed-bird
and seed-lady--the last a suitable appellation for so sweet and dainty
a creature. Seebohm says of it: ‘Its active, sylph-like movements, and
its delicate form and lovely plumage, make it a general favourite.’
In its motions on the ground, its tail shaking and fanning gestures,
and in its fitful curving and dipping flight, accompanied with a sharp
double call-note, it closely resembles the species already described.
From the pied wagtail it differs in never coming about houses or
breeding in their vicinity; and from the grey wagtail in not being
restricted to the waterside. In the fields it follows the plough, and
in the pastures it is often seen with the cattle, chasing the small
twilight moths and other insects driven from the grass.
As the season advances it forsakes the cultivated lands and open downs,
and is more restricted to borders of streams, and to meadows and
pastures not far from water. The nest is placed on the ground under the
grass and herbage, and is formed of dry bents and fibrous roots, and
lined with hair. Four to six eggs are laid, mottled with pale brown and
olive on a French-white ground.
* * * * *
Besides the three species described we have the white wagtail
(_Motacilla alba_) as a rare visitor to the south of England and
Ireland, and the blue-headed yellow wagtail (_Motacilla flava_),
an accidental straggler to the southern, south-western, and eastern
counties of England. These two species breed throughout Europe, the
first being the continental form of our pied wagtail, which it closely
resembles; and the second, of the yellow wagtail.
Meadow-Pipit.
Anthus pratensis.
ind claw longer than the toe, slightly curved. Upper parts ash tinged
with olive, the centre of each feather dark brown; under parts dull
buffy white, with numerous elongated spots of dull brown. Length, five
inches and three-quarters.
* * * * *
To the uninformed the pipits are lesser larks; they are lark-like
in figure, in their sober, mottled colouring, in habits, language,
and, to some extent, in the action which accompanies their song.
But, in spite of these outward resemblances, modern authorities have
removed them from the position they once occupied next to the larks
in classification, to place them by the side of the wagtails, which
are now supposed to be their nearest relations. And when wagtails and
pipits are seen running and flying about together, it strikes us that
there is among them a certain family resemblance; but we see, too,
that the wagtails have diverged greatly, and are much more graceful
in figure, have longer tails, and a gayer plumage; they are also
more aërial in habit, and warble a more varied strain. From the fact
that the numerous species of pipits are so much alike, not only in
appearance, but also in habits, language, and flight, and that they are
so widely distributed on the globe, being found both on continents and
oceanic islands, it may be inferred that the modest earth-loving pipit
represents the original form from which the wagtails have sprung.
Of our three species, the meadow-pipit is by far the most numerous,
being found in all open situations, moist or dry, meadow and
waste-land, moor and mountain-side, and close by the sea, where one can
listen to meadow-pipit and rock-pipit singing together, or alternately,
like birds of one species, and compare the two songs, that are so
much alike. This species is, moreover, to be met with in all parts of
our country, from the warm Hampshire and Dorset coasts to the western
islands of Scotland; but while in the main a resident all the year
round in the southern parts of the country, in the bleak and barren
districts of the farther north he is migratory, and moves southward in
winter in considerable flocks.
The meadow-pipit seeks his food on the ground, and moves nimbly about
in search of minute beetles, caterpillars, and seeds, pausing at
intervals to stand motionless for a few seconds, with head raised and
tail slowly moving up and down. When approached he displays a curious
mixture of timidity and tameness, and eyes the intruder with suspicion,
but flies with reluctance. The flight is a succession of jerky
movements, the bird rising and falling in a somewhat wild, erratic
manner.
In the love season the male pipit occasionally takes his stand on a
weed or low bush; but on moors, hills, and stony waste-lands he prefers
a stone or mound of earth for a perch. From such an elevation he is
able to keep watch on the movements of his mate, and, when the singing
spirit takes him, to launch himself easily on the air. To sing he soars
up to a height of forty feet or more, then glides gracefully down, with
tail spread and wings half-closed and motionless, presenting the figure
of a barbed arrow-head. In his descent he emits a series of notes
with little or no variation in them, slightly metallic in sound, and
very pleasing. These notes are occasionally repeated as the bird sits
motionless on the ground.
In describing bird-melody it is sometimes borne in on us that all
that has, or can be, said about the song of any species is not only
inadequate, but in a sense even false, inasmuch as a single song of an
individual is described as compared with that of some other, usually
nearly related, species. Thus, the meadow-pipit’s song is said to
be less rich and varied, and in every way inferior to that of the
tree-pipit. This is true enough, so far as it goes, but it does not
take into account the different scenes in the midst of which the two
distinct sounds are heard. The song of a single meadow-pipit, heard
close at hand, is a slight performance--an attenuated and not very
dulcet sound. The effect is wholly different and most delightful when
a dozen or twenty birds are within hearing, singing at intervals at a
distance, on a perfectly calm day on the moors or downs. As the little
widely-scattered, unseen melodists rise and fall, the sounds they emit
are refined to something bell-like and delicate: the effect is unique
and indescribably charming and fairy-like.
The nest is a neat structure, usually placed in a small cavity in the
ground, under a bunch of grass or heather, and is made of dry bents,
and lined with fine grass, fibrous roots, and hair. Four to six eggs
are laid; these vary greatly in colour and markings, but the most
common form is white, thickly mottled over with greyish brown. When the
nest is approached the parent birds display great solicitude, flying
from place to place, and incessantly uttering a sharp but plaintive
chirp of alarm.
Tree-Pipit.
Anthus trivialis.
[Illustration: FIG 40.--TREE-PIPIT. ¼ natural size.]
Upper parts ash tinged with olive, the centre of each feather dark
brown; a double band across the wing, formed by the yellowish white
tips of the lesser and middle wing-coverts; the outer pair of tail
feathers white; throat and region of the eye dull white; breast buff,
with elongated spots of dark brown; belly and lower tail-coverts dull
white. Length, six inches.
* * * * *
Of the three species of Anthus inhabiting the British Islands, and
which are appropriately named of the tree, rock, and meadow, according
to their respective habits, the tree-pipit alone is migratory,
appearing in this country about the third week in April, to remain
until the end of September, and sometimes longer. In size, colour,
and general appearance it so closely resembles the meadow-pipit that
the two species are hardly distinguishable, except by examination
in the hand. They also resemble each other in their feeding habits,
running about in the grass in a mouse-like manner in search of the
small insects and seeds on which they subsist, and, when flushed,
starting up suddenly, with a sharp chirp of alarm, and going away with
a wild, jerky flight. The tree-pipit is distributed widely over the
country, and is found at most wood sides, and where trees grow singly
or in isolated groups about the pasture-lands. Where the conditions
are favourable he is a common bird, but never abundant. In spring
and summer the tree-pipit is solitary, and it is possible that the
males, as with the redbreast and nightingale, are not tolerant of
other singers of their own species near them, as they are always found
occupying trees far apart--seldom, in fact, within hearing distance of
one another. On the arrival of the birds in April each male chooses
a home, a feeding-ground, with a tree or trees to sing on, and this
spot he will occupy until the end of the breeding season, after which
the birds resort to the fallows and stubbles, and sometimes before
departure they are seen gathered in small flocks.
It has been said of the tree-pipit’s song that it is like that of
the canary, and that it ‘is perhaps more attractive from the manner
in which it is given than from its actual quality.’ Both statements
are true in a measure: that is to say, they will be found true in
many instances, but not always. For there are few birds in which the
song varies so much in different individuals. The reiterated, clear
thin notes and trills that so closely resemble those of the caged
canary are heard in some songs, and not in others. As a rule, the bird
perches on a favourite tree, very often using the same branch, and at
intervals, rising into the air, ascends with rapidly-beating wings,
and when it attains to the highest point--usually as high again as
the tree, but sometimes considerably higher--the song begins with a
succession of notes resembling the throat-notes of the skylark, but
very much softer. With the song the descent begins, the open wings
fixed motionless, and so raised as to give the bird a parachute-like
appearance, falling slowly in a beautiful curve or spiral; on the perch
the song continues, but with notes of a different quality--clear,
sweet and expressive--repeated many times. Having ended its song,
it remains perched for a few moments silent, or else uttering notes
as at the beginning, until once more it quits its perch, either to
repeat the flight and song, or to drop to the ground, from which it
shortly ascends to sing again. The manner in which the song is given
is thus always beautiful, and in some individuals there is a wonderful
sweetness in the quality of the voice.
The nest is built near the male bird’s favourite tree, and is placed
in a hollow in the ground, and so well concealed by the grass and
herbage that it is almost impossible to find it, unless by flushing the
incubating bird from it. It is formed of fine dry grass and fibrous
roots, and lined with horsehair. Four to six eggs are laid, of a
dull white ground-colour, spotted with dull brown, grey, and purple,
sometimes with blotches and hair-like marks among the spots. The eggs
of this species vary a great deal.
Rock-Pipit.
Anthus obscurus.
[Illustration: FIG. 41.--ROCK-PIPIT. ⅓ natural size.]
Hind claw equal to the toe in length, much curved. Upper parts greenish
brown, the centre of each feather darker brown; a whitish streak over
the eye; under parts dull white, spotted and streaked with dark brown.
Length, six and a quarter inches.
* * * * *
The rock-pipit is the only songster that inhabits the seashore, and
this is the one distinction of this small dull-coloured bird. It is
true that the starling sometimes nests, like the jackdaw, in cliffs,
and that sparrows, wagtails, and a few other species, are occasionally
to be seen on the sands and among the rocks; but they are only casual
visitors in such places--they are inland birds, that live and breed
in meadows, hedgerows, woods, and commons. The rock-pipit is of the
seashore exclusively, and everywhere inhabits the coasts of Great
Britain and Ireland where there are rocks and cliffs, and all the rocky
islands and islets in the neighbouring seas; his nest is not found
nor his song heard out of sound of the ocean. In summer he keeps very
close to the sea, and his food then consists principally of minute
crustaceans and marine insects and worms; in the autumn and winter
months he unites in small flocks, and visits the salt-marshes and low
grounds near the shore, and he then feeds mostly on small seeds. His
song, if heard at a distance from the sea, would not be distinguished
from that of the meadow-pipit; the action which accompanies the song is
also the same in both species. Occasionally he delivers his notes while
sitting on a rock; but as a rule he soars up to a moderate height,
either silent or else repeating the first note of the song at regular
intervals, then descends with a slow, sliding flight to the earth, and
descending emits his best notes, short and simple, but with a melodious
tinkling sound which is very pleasant to listen to, especially when
several individuals are heard at once. When intruded on in his rocky
haunts, or anxious for the safety of his young, his alarm-note, sharp
yet plaintive, closely resembles that of the meadow-pipit. The nest,
built in May, is carefully concealed among the rocks, beneath a tuft
of grass, or in a well-sheltered hole or crevice in the rock, and is
composed of small scraps of seaweed, dry grass, and moss, and lined
with fine dry grass or hair. Four or five eggs are laid, white or pale
bluish in ground-colour, thickly mottled with dull greyish brown or
reddish brown spots.
* * * * *
Besides those described, three other species of Anthus have been
included among British birds. These are the tawny pipit (_Anthus
campestris_), Richard’s pipit (_Anthus richardi_), and the
water-pipit (_Anthus spipoletta_). The first two are occasional
visitors to the south of England; of the water-pipit, a very few
specimens have been obtained in different parts of the country.
* * * * *
Two beautiful British birds, unfortunately not indigenous nor regular
in their visits to our country, may be mentioned in this place. They
represent two families: Oriolidæ, which follows Motacillidæ (wagtails
and pipits); and Ampelidæ, which comes after Laniidæ (shrikes). One
is the golden oriole (_Oriolus galbulus_), a rare straggler to
England on migration from Central and Southern Europe. It has been
known to breed in the southern counties, and, if protected, would
probably become an annual visitant. The other species is the waxwing
(_Ampelis garrulus_), an irregular visitor in winter, sometimes in
considerable numbers, from the arctic circle.
Red-backed Shrike.
Lanius collurio.
[Illustration: FIG. 42.--RED-BACKED SHRIKE. ¼ natural size.]
Frontal band, lores, and ear-coverts black; crown and nape grey; mantle
chestnut-brown; quills dark brown edged with rufous; tail-coverts grey;
tail-feathers white at their bases, the other portion and the whole of
the two central ones black; under parts rose-buff; bill and feet black.
Length, seven inches.
* * * * *
The shrike is distinguished among perching birds by its sharply hooked,
toothed, rapacious beak, and its hawk-like habit of preying on small
birds, mice, shrews, frogs, and lizards. The extraordinary custom it
has of impaling its victims on thorns has won for it the unpleasant
name of butcher-bird, by which it is best known to country-people.
Some naturalists have expressed the opinion that the shrike does not
often attack small birds; and this would seem a reasonable view to take
when we consider that the bird is no bigger than a skylark. But it is
impossible to follow with the eye all the wanderings and the actions
of all kinds that go to make the day of any wild bird; we really
see only a very small part of the killing that goes on. The little
feathered butcher is small in size, but his spirit is bold, and his
taste for flesh not to be doubted. In a question of this kind I believe
our slight intermittent observation is less to be depended on than
the reputation--if such a word may be used in this connection--which
the shrike bears among his feathered fellow-creatures. He is by them
reputed dangerous, a bird of prey to be avoided, or at least regarded
with extreme suspicion. We are accustomed to say that we do not know a
man until we come to live with him; and the small birds live with the
shrike, and therefore know him best.
The red-backed shrike is a summer visitor, arriving in this country
early in April, and is not an uncommon species in England and Wales,
being most numerous in the southern counties; but its range does
not extend to Ireland, and in North Britain it is only known as a
straggler. It inhabits the open borders of woods, rough commons, and
high hedges, and has the habit of sitting conspicuously perched,
often for an hour at a stretch, on the summit of an isolated bush or
low tree, or on a fence or any other elevated stand, where it has a
pretty appearance. From its perch it watches for its prey, but is
by no means a motionless and depressed-looking watcher, like the
flycatcher: its movements on its stand, as it turns its head from
side to side and jerks and fans its tail, frequently uttering its
low, percussive, chat-like chirp or call-note, give the impression of
a creature keenly alive to everything passing around it. The shrike
is, in fact, attentively watching air, earth, and the surrounding
herbage and bushes for a victim, which he captures by a sudden dart,
taking it by surprise. Besides small vertebrates, he preys on various
large insects--beetles, grasshoppers, wasps, bees, &c.--seizing them
in the air as they fly past, or dropping upon them on the ground. He
often devours the insects captured on the spot, then returns to his
stand; but he also has a favourite thorn-bush or tree to which he is
accustomed to convey many of the creatures he takes, to impale them on
thorns or fix them on forked twigs. He has the habit of plucking birds
before devouring them; and it is doubtless easier for him to pluck
a small bird and pull anything he catches to pieces when fixed on a
thorn, for, being without crooked claws, he is incapable of grasping
his victim and holding it steady while operating on it. This is one
of those instincts which simulate reason very closely. The number
of remains of victims sometimes found suspended to a butcher-bird’s
tree shows that he is occasionally very destructive to small birds.
In a case recorded in the ‘Zoologist’ (1875, p. 4723), bodies of the
great tit, blue tit, long-tailed tit, robin, hedge-sparrow, and young
of blackbirds and thrushes, were found. The indigestible portions
swallowed--bones, fur, and wing-cases of large beetles--are cast up in
pellets.
In the pairing season the shrike utters at times a chirruping song, not
unlike the attempted singing of a sparrow in sound. The nest is large,
and placed in a thick bush or hedge, and is composed outwardly of
stalks, and inside of fibrous roots and moss, lined with fine bents and
a little horsehair. Four to six eggs are laid; these vary a good deal,
the ground being pale green, pale buff, cream or pale salmon-colour,
spotted and blotched, principally at the large end, with reddish brown
and purplish grey.
After leaving the nest the young keep company with their parents until
their departure in September and October.
* * * * *
There are four more species of Lanius in the list of British birds, all
stragglers--the great grey shrike (_Lanius excubitor_), a breeder
in Central Europe; Pallas’s great grey shrike (_Lanius major_),
from North Scandinavia and Siberia; the lesser grey shrike (_Lanius
minor_), from Central and Southern Europe; the woodchat (_Lanius
pomeranus_), also from Central and Southern Europe.
Spotted Flycatcher.
Muscicapa grisola.
Upper parts ash-brown; feathers of the head marked with central dark
line; under parts white, the sides marked with longitudinal brown
streaks; flanks tinged with red. Length, five and a half inches.
* * * * *
The spotted flycatcher is one of our commonest summer migrants, and at
the same time one of the least remarked. He is a late comer, arriving
about the middle of May; but he does not come after the leaves are out,
to conceal himself among them, after the manner of the wood-wren and
of other small insect-eaters. From the day of his arrival he is exposed
to sight in the places he frequents--parks, skirts of woods, orchards,
gardens, and the borders of fields and meadows. The area inhabited by
each bird, or pair, is very circumscribed, and contains a few favourite
perching-places, which are regularly occupied at different hours of
the day. The perching-place is on a projecting branch, or, better
still, a dead branch of a bush or tree, a wire fence, or a paling or
gatepost. He comes near houses, and he may have a stand within twenty
or thirty yards of the door, from which those who come and go may have
him full in sight for several hours each day. But little or no notice
is taken of him. And it is not strange, for of all our birds he is
the least attractive, in his pale, obscure plumage, as he sits silent
and motionless, listless and depressed in appearance, showing neither
alarm nor curiosity when regarded. Seen thus he is like a silent grey
ghost of a little dead bird returned to haunt the sunlight. Despite
this listless appearance he is keenly alive to outward things. As the
motionless heron watches the water, with the creatures that move like
vague shadows in it, the flycatcher watches the air and the living
things, minute and swift-winged, that inhabit it. At intervals he quits
his perch and makes a dash at some passing insect, which he captures,
his mandibles closing on it with an audible snap; then returns to his
stand and his watching once more.
[Illustration: FIG. 43.--SPOTTED FLYCATCHER. ¼ natural size.]
His call-note is a feeble chirp, two or three times repeated; and he is
said to have a song, which few have heard, composed of a few rambling
notes in a low tone.
The flycatcher begins to build soon after its arrival, and a favourite
site for the nest is in the ivy growing against a wall; nests are
also made in holes in walls and in the trunks of trees, on horizontal
branches, and in a variety of situations. The nest is composed of dry
grass and moss, mixed with a few feathers, and lined with rootlets and
horsehair. Five or six eggs are laid; they are bluish white or pale
green in ground-colour, clouded, blotched and spotted with reddish
brown.
Flycatchers return to the same nesting-place year after year. One brood
only is reared, and the birds leave us by the third week in September.
Pied Flycatcher.
Muscicapa atricapilla.
Upper parts and tail black; wings black, with the central coverts
white; scapulars edged with white; under parts white. _Female_:
greyish brown instead of black; the white dingy; the three lateral
tail-feathers edged with white. Length, five inches.
* * * * *
The pied flycatcher is comparatively a rare bird, and is unknown to a
great majority of the inhabitants of this country, being restricted to
a few localities in the north of England and the south of Scotland,
and to some parts of North Wales, and the English counties bordering
on Wales. In its nesting and feeding habits, and its partiality for
orchards and gardens, it is like the spotted flycatcher; but it arrives
earlier than that species, usually during the last week in April or
the first week in May. Its black-and-white plumage gives it a very
different and a much more attractive appearance. The only other point
in which the two species differ greatly is in the number and colour
of the eggs. Those of the pied flycatcher number from five to eight,
and are very beautiful, being of a uniform delicate pale blue, and
unspotted.
* * * * *
A third species, the red-breasted flycatcher (_Musicapa parva_),
has been included in the list of stragglers from Central and Eastern
Europe to this country.
Swallow.
Hirundo rustica.
Forehead and throat chestnut-brown; upper parts, sides of neck, and
a bar across the breast black, with violet reflections; lower parts
dull reddish white. Tail long and forked. _Female_: less red on
the forehead and less black on the breast; under parts white; outer
tail-feathers shorter. Length, seven and a half inches.
* * * * *
[Illustration: FIG. 44.--SWALLOW. ¼ natural size.]
The swallow, as we usually see him, gliding and doubling in the air
with a freedom surpassing that of other birds, has considerable beauty,
being richly coloured and of an elegant figure, with sharply forked
tail and long, pointed wings. But this is not the reason of the charm
he has for us, since there are other more beautiful birds that inspire
no such feeling. He is loved above most species on account of his
domestic habits and familiarity with man. There would be few swallows
in a dispeopled and savage England, with all its buildings crumbled
to earth, for he would then be compelled to return to the original
habits of the wild swallow, and build his mud cradle in rocky cliffs
and caverns. As things are he is not dependent on cliffs, for he has
taken kindly to human habitations, and increases with the increase
of house-building, until he has become one of the commonest and most
generally diffused species. And being a house-bird, and accustomed
to the human form, when our summer migrants return to us with the
return of the sun, and the others seek their customary homes in woods
and groves by the sides of streams and marshes, and on downs and
waste lands, the swallow alone comes direct to us to deliver the glad
message, so that even the sick and aged and infirm, who can no longer
leave their beds or rooms, are able to hear it. What wonder that we
cherish a greater affection for, and are more intimate with, the
swallow than with our other feathered fellow-creatures!
The swallow is very evenly distributed over the whole of Great Britain
and Ireland, but the date of his arrival varies considerably in
different districts. In the south of England he makes his appearance
early in April, and arrives in the northern counties about the middle
of that month, but in the north of Scotland not until the first week in
May. He is most abundant about villages and large country-houses and
farms; but wherever human habitations exist, however modest in size
they may be, he is to be met with. Swallows are eminently gregarious,
and even during the breeding season all the birds inhabiting one
neighbourhood are accustomed to feed and practise their aërial
exercises in company. At this season their gatherings are, however,
intermittent, and in part accidental. Where flying insects are abundant
the swallows quickly gather. At one time of the day they may be seen
coursing up and down the lanes and roads and village streets, gliding
close to the ground with great speed; in rough weather they will
assemble in scores or hundreds on the sheltered side of a wood, or
lane, or a row of elms; but on a warm, damp day, they frequent the
meadows and low grounds near the water, where insects are most abundant.
The swallow has a variety of sharp little chirps and twittering notes,
and a loud, startled, double alarm-note, uttered at the appearance of
a hawk speeding through the air, or at sight of a prowling cat. The
appearance of a hawk excites as much anger as fear, and he generally
goes in pursuit of it; but the note is understood by other small birds,
and has the effect of sending them quickly into hiding. The song,
uttered sometimes on the wing, but more frequently when perched, is
very charming, and seems more free and spontaneous than that of any
bird possessing a set song, the notes leaping out with a heartfelt
joyousness which is quite irresistible. The sound differs in quality
from that of other birds; it is, perhaps, more _human_: a
swallow-like note may be heard in some of the most beautiful contralto
voices. The dozen or more notes composing the song end with a little
jarring trill, so low as to be hardly audible.
A favourite site for the swallow’s nest is the top of a joist
supporting the rafters of a barn or other outhouse to which there is
free access. It is a saucer-shaped rim of mud or clay, placed on the
wood. The inside is lined with dry grass and feathers. It is quite open
at the top, but usually close to the roof. The eggs are four to six in
number, and vary much in shape and disposition of markings. They are
pure white, spotted with rich coffee-brown, light reddish brown, and
purplish grey. During incubation the sitting-bird is fed at intervals
by her mate.
Two broods are reared in the season, and the young are fed for some
days after quitting the nest. The early broods are believed to leave
this country in advance of the adults and the young of the later
broods. The final and principal migration takes place at the end of
September or early in October, the birds congregating some days before
departure in large flocks, sometimes numbering many thousands.
Martin.
Chelidon urbica.
[Illustration: FIG. 45.--MARTIN. ⅓ natural size.]
Head, nape, and upper part of the back black, with violet reflections;
lower parts of the back and under parts pure white. Feet and toes
covered with downy feathers; tail forked. Length, five and a half
inches.
* * * * *
The martin, or house-martin, is as common and widely diffused in the
British Islands as the swallow, and as it lives with man in the same
way, making use of houses to build its nest on, it shares the affection
with which that bird is generally regarded. Most people, in fact,
regard them as one and the same species; for both are of one type,
and are domestic in habit, and associate together, and unless looked
at with attention they are not seen distinctly, and consequently not
distinguished. The martin differs from the swallow in its slightly
smaller size; in having its feet feathered and the rump and entire
under parts pure white; and in its less sharply forked tail and shorter
wings. On the wing it is not so perfectly free as the swallow: it
cannot double so quickly, nor fly with such speed and grace.
The martin cannot be called a songster. His most common expression is a
somewhat harsh note, often uttered as he sports with his fellows in the
air; in the pairing and nesting time he occasionally attempts to sing,
usually when clinging to a wall and to the rim of his nest, and emits a
slight warbling sound, somewhat guttural, and so low that it can only
be heard at a distance of a few yards.
He arrives in this country a little after the swallow, and immediately
sets about making a new nest or repairing an old one. This is formed
outwardly of mud or clay, and is placed under the eaves of a house,
against the wall. He is able to build against a smooth brick or stucco
wall, but prefers stone, which has a rougher surface. It is usual to
find several nests near together, and the reason is, probably, that
the surface of the wall is suitable to build on, and not, as is often
stated, because the martins prefer to nest close to each other. The
outer shell of the nest, like that of the swallow, is formed of mud
or clay, mixed with hairs and fibres to strengthen it, and is placed
against the wall at the side and the projecting eaves above, and forms
a half or a portion of a hemisphere, a small opening being left at the
top for entrance. The lining is composed of feathers and a little dry
grass. Four or five pure white, unspotted eggs are laid. Two broods,
and often three, are reared in the season.
For some days after the young are able to fly the whole family roost at
night in the nest. The young of the first brood, as in the case of the
swallow, are the first to migrate. The old birds and the young of the
later broods take their departure about the middle of October.
Sand-Martin.
Cotile riparia.
Upper parts, cheeks, and a broad bar on the breast mouse-colour;
throat, fore part of the neck, belly, and under tail-coverts white.
Legs and feet naked, with the exception of a few small feathers near
the insertion of the hind toe; tail forked, rather short. Length, five
inches.
* * * * *
The sand-martin, although common enough in some localities, and found
throughout the British Islands, including the Outer Hebrides and
the Orkneys, is not a very well-known bird; for, however populous
the country may be, and though other hirundines become increasingly
domestic and breed under eaves, in porches, barns, and chimneys,
he always preserves his original wild character. He is a swallow
that is a stranger to man, and breeds in holes and crevices in
precipitous cliffs on the sea-coast. But he prefers to excavate a
breeding-hole in a perpendicular bank of clay not too stiff for his
weak mining implements. Earth-cliffs on the banks of rivers and lakes
and on the sea, are resorted to for this purpose, and he also takes
advantage of the steep sides of railway-cuttings and sand and gravel
pits. A suitable bank or cliff will often attract a large number of
sand-martins, and the surface will appear riddled with their holes. It
has always caused surprise in those who have observed this bird that it
should be able with its small, weak bill to form such deep tunnels in
the hard earth. The hole once made is, however, often used by the same
birds for several years. They do not work by digging into the earth
with their bills as a man digs with a knife or other implement. They
perch against the surface and pick out small particles, and by means
of this slow, laborious process accomplish their great work. The hole
slants upwards, and is from three to four feet in length and two or
three inches in diameter. At its extremity the gallery is widened to
form a chamber about six inches in diameter, where the bed is made of
dry grass, with a few feathers for lining. Male and female take turns
in boring, working only in the morning, the rest of the daylight hours
being spent in feeding and play. It sometimes happens that in boring
their hole a sunken boulder or vein of impenetrable earth is met with;
the hole is then abandoned and a new one begun in another place. By the
end of May the eggs are laid. These are four to six in number, and are
pure white.
When hovering before their holes, and passing to and fro with wavering
flight along the face of the bank, the sand-martins have a curious
moth-like appearance. While flying about in company they constantly
utter a low monotonous note; and this sound is prolonged to a scream
when the birds are excited by the presence of some enemy. The male
has, besides, a twittering song, uttered on the wing while hovering
before the nesting-hole.
Two broods are reared, and as soon as breeding is over the birds
forsake the bank and scatter about the country, and may then be seen
associating with house-martins and swallows.
The sand-martin is the earliest of the swallows to arrive in this
country, and the first to depart; it is rare to meet with them after
the middle of September.
Tree-Creeper.
Certhia familiaris.
Upper parts mottled with yellowish brown, dark brown, and white; a
pale streak over the eye; throat and breast buff-white, becoming
dusky on the belly; wings brown, tipped with white, and barred with
white, brown, and dull yellow; tail-feathers reddish brown, stiff, and
pointed. Length, five inches.
* * * * *
[Illustration: FIG. 46.--TREE-CREEPER. ⅓ natural size.]
The little creeper appears to move more in a groove than almost any
other passerine bird, and is the most monotonous in its life; yet
it never fails to interest, doubtless because in its appearance and
actions it differs so much from other species. A small bird--one of
the very smallest--with striped and mottled brown upper, and silvery
white under, plumage; long and slim in figure, with a slender curved
bill and stiff, pointed tail-feathers, it spends its life on the boles
and branches of trees, exploring the rough bark with microscopic sight
for the minute insects and their eggs and larvæ it subsists on, moving
invariably upwards in a spiral from the roots to the branches by a
series of rapid jerks; its appearance as it travels over the surface,
against which it presses so closely, is that of a mammal rather than
a bird--a small mottled brown mouse with an elongated body. It is
more of a parasite on the trees that furnish it with food than any
other bird of similar habits. Nuthatches and woodpeckers are not so
dependent on their trade; their habits and diet vary to some extent
with the seasons and the conditions they exist in. The creeper is a
creeper on trees all the year round, and extracts all his sustenance
from the bark. His procedure is always the same: no sooner has he got
to the higher and smoother part of the hole up which he has travelled
than he detaches himself from it, and drops slantingly through the
air to the roots of another tree, to begin as before. The action is
always accompanied with a little querulous note, which falls like an
exclamation, and seems to express disgust at the miserable harvest he
has gathered, or else satisfaction that yet another tree in the long
weary tale of trees has been examined and left behind. The fanciful
idea is formed that the creeper has not found happiness in his way of
life: it is so laborious a way; he must live so close to the dull-hued
and always shaded bark, and examine it so narrowly! The contrast of
such a method with that of other small birds--warblers and wagtails,
and swallows and finches--is very great. Feeding-time with them is
song-time and play-time; their blithe voices and lively antics and
motions show how happy they are in their lives. The creeper is a rather
silent bird, but he utters in the pairing season a shrill, high-pitched
call-note, and the same sound is emitted when the nest is in danger.
The song, which is occasionally heard in spring, is composed of three
or four shrill notes resembling the call-notes in sound.
The nest is a neat and pretty structure, and is often placed against
the trunk of a tree, behind a piece of bark that has become partly
detached. A hole in the trunk, or in a large branch, or in a cavity
where a portion of the wood has rotted away, is often selected as a
site. When the nest is made behind a piece of loose bark, the cavity
is filled up with a quantity of fine twigs. Inside, the nest is formed
of roots, moss, and sometimes feathers, and lined with fine strips of
inside bark. Six to nine eggs are laid, pure white, with red spots. Two
broods are reared in a season.
Goldfinch.
Carduelis elegans.
Back of the head, nape, and feathers round the base of the bill black;
forehead and throat blood-red; cheeks, fore part of the neck, and under
parts white; back and scapulars dark brown; wings variegated with
black, white and yellow; tail black, tipped with white. Length, five
inches.
* * * * *
We are rich in finches. No fewer than eighteen members of that family,
including the snow-bunting, may be truly described as British. Among
our passerine birds they excel in beauty of plumage, and by most
persons the goldfinch, in his pretty coat of many colours--crimson,
black, and white, and brown, and brilliant yellow--is regarded as the
most beautiful of all. Certainly he is the most elegant in shape, the
most graceful and engaging in his motions. It is charming to watch a
small flock of these finches in the late summer, busy feeding on the
roadside, or on some patch of waste land where the seeds, they best
love are abundant, when they are seen clinging in various attitudes to
the stalks, deftly picking off the thistle seed, and scattering the
silvery down on the air. They are then pretty birds prettily occupied;
and as they pass with easy, undulating flight from weed to weed, with
musical call-notes and lively twitterings, bird following bird, they
appear as gay and volatile as they are pretty.
They are found in suitable localities throughout England, and also
inhabit Scotland and Ireland, but their distribution in the last two
countries is much more local. During late summer and autumn they lead
a gipsy life, incessantly wandering about the open country in search
of their favourite seeds. They are also seen in winter, but few remain
with us throughout the year, the majority passing over the Channel,
to winter in a warmer climate. On their return in spring they come to
the neighbourhood of houses, and build by preference in an apple or
cherry tree in an orchard. The nest is well made, and composed of a
great variety of materials--fine twigs, roots, grass, leaves, moss, and
wool--and lined with hairs, feathers, and vegetable down. The four or
five eggs are white, thinly spotted with reddish brown and pale purple.
[Illustration: _PLATE V._ GOLDFINCH. ⅔ NAT. SIZE.]
As a vocalist the goldfinch does not rank high; but his lively,
twittering song, uttered both on the perch and when passing through
the air, and his musical call-notes, have a very pleasing effect,
especially when the birds are seen in the open country in bright, sunny
weather. Unhappily, it is not now very easy to see them, except in a
few favoured localities, owing to their increasing rarity. For the
goldfinch is a favourite cage-bird, and so long as bird-catching is
permitted to flourish without restriction, this charming species will
continue to decrease, as it has been decreasing for the last fifty
years and upwards.
Siskin.
Chrysometris spinus.
Crown black; a broad yellow streak behind the eye; the plumage
variegated with grey, dusky, and various shades of green; wings dusky,
with a transverse greenish yellow bar, and a black one above, and a
second black bar across the middle of the tertiaries; tail dusky, the
base and edge of the inner web greenish yellow. _Female_: colours
less bright, and no black on the head. Length, four and a half inches.
* * * * *
The siskin, or aberdevine, as it is also called, is known to us as a
winter visitant, but it is better known as a cage than a free bird. In
the British Islands it breeds in various places in Scotland, in pine
and fir woods; it has also been found breeding in various localities
in England and Wales. In Ireland it is not so common as in England.
The siskin is a pretty, active, musical little bird, somewhat tit-like
in its manner of seeking its food, its sociability, and the various
positions it assumes in its search for small insects and seeds in the
higher branches of a tree, or when clinging to the terminal twigs. As a
caged bird his song is a small musical twittering; but in a wild state,
in the pairing season, the male has a more charming performance, for
he then soars about the tree, and, with fluttering wings and outspread
tail, floats down singing to his perch.
The nest is built in a pine or fir tree at a considerable height from
the ground, and so hidden as to make it very hard to find. There is a
legend in some districts on the continent of Europe that the siskin
places a small stone among its eggs, which renders the nest invisible.
This legend reminds me of a belief of the peasants of southern South
America, that the rail-like, spotted tinamou--a bird that easily
eludes one’s sight among the grey and yellow herbage--has the faculty
of making itself invisible. The primitive mind is much given to
explanations of this kind.
The nest, placed as a rule in the fork of a horizontal branch, is
composed of rootlets and moss, on a foundation of bents and twigs of
heather, and is lined with fine dry grass and a little vegetable down,
sometimes with a few feathers. Five or six eggs are laid, pale bluish
green in ground-colour, and spotted with dark reddish brown and pinkish
grey under-markings.
In autumn siskins unite in small flocks and migrate southward; and
during winter they are found widely distributed over the country, but
are most numerous in the northern counties of England. At this season
they may be seen associating on trees and bushes with goldcrests,
redpolls, and titmice of different species.
* * * * *
Closely allied to the siskin and goldfinch, and in its colouring
intermediate between them, but differing in having the crown, nape,
and chin black, is the serin (_Serinus hortulanus_). It breeds in
North and Central Europe, and is only known in this country as a rare
straggler.
Greenfinch.
Ligurinus chloris.
Yellowish green variegated with yellow and ash-grey. Length, six inches.
* * * * *
It has been a subject of mild wonder to me that the greenfinch is
not more a favourite than I find him; for he is almost more with us
than any other finch, and, in most cases, to know a bird well is to
like it. Few of our eighteen finches can be seen and heard close to
our houses. The brambling, siskin, redpoll, crossbill, and twite are
scattered about the country in the cold and songless season; in summer
we see little or nothing of them. The linnet is fairly abundant, but
must be looked for on waste lands and commons; while the goldfinch,
bullfinch, hawfinch, and tree-sparrow are either so shy or so rare
that, to most persons, they might be non-existent. Three of our five
buntings are common enough; but these, too, are birds of the open,
that come little about houses, and are without the qualities that go
to make a favourite. Of finches of the homestead that possess beauty
and melody there are only two--the chaffinch and the greenfinch; and
it is the fact that most people have a great esteem for the first, and
pay but very slight attention to the second. The greenfinch is not
formed on the graceful lines of the goldfinch and some other members
of the family; he is made more after the pattern of the hawfinch,
and is somewhat heavy in appearance. Regarding his colouring only,
he is a prettier bird than his neighbour, the chaffinch, his plumage
showing two colours that contrast beautifully--olive-green and
brilliant yellow. It is not often that we can see him in the proper
light and position. He is strangely fond of concealing himself in the
green foliage, which makes him in his green dress invisible. Seen
in the shade or against a bright light, his colour appears dull and
indeterminate; but against a background of green leaves, with the
sunlight on him, he is certainly beautiful.
The greenfinches are very sociable in disposition, and all the summer
long, even when they are engaged in breeding, they may be seen in
parties of three, or four, or half a dozen; two or three nests are
often found on the same branch, or in close proximity. The passions of
jealousy and anger, so common among birds in the pairing season, seem
not to exist in this species. As a songster he cannot compare with the
linnet, the chaffinch, and the goldfinch, but he probably produces more
pleasant sound than any other finch, unless we include the chirruping
of the sparrow. He is attached to gardens and shrubberies, to groves
and hedges, and hedgerow trees, especially elms, and among the
clustering leaves in which he loves to hide he is constantly uttering
his various notes, the commonest of which is a low and long-drawn
trill. Occasionally he gives out another long, single note, with a
very different sound, a kind of soft-toned, inflected scream, used
sometimes as a call-note and sometimes to express alarm; and this he
will often repeat again and again at short intervals. When uttering
his trill, which is his favourite expression, among the leaves, bird
answering bird with trills that vary in tone, he gives out from time
to time another sound, a series of warbled notes, soft and melodious
in character. Occasionally, in the pairing season, the male bird flies
up out of the cloud of foliage and emits these warbling notes as he
circles round, and descends into the midst of the leaves again. The
charm of this perpetual summer music of the greenfinches is its airy,
subdued character, as of wind-touched leaves that flutter musically.
The nest is placed among the close branches of a bush or low tree, and
is somewhat loosely put together, straw, roots, and moss, mixed with
wool, being used, with a lining of fibres, horsehair, and feathers.
The eggs are four to six in number, and are white, faintly spotted and
speckled with purplish red at the large end. The young are fed on seeds
of various weeds and small caterpillars; and two, and sometimes three,
broods are reared in the season. At the end of summer the greenfinches
repair to the fields, and are seen in flocks of two or three score to
a hundred or more individuals, and are also found associating with
sparrows, chaffinches, and other species.
The greenfinch is a common bird throughout the British Islands.
Hawfinch.
Coccothraustes vulgaris.
[Illustration: FIG. 47.--HAWFINCH. ⅓ natural size.]
Lore, throat, and plumage at the base of the bill black; crown and
cheeks reddish brown; nape ash-grey; back dark reddish brown; wings
black; great coverts white; under parts light purplish red. Length,
seven inches.
* * * * *
The hawfinch has a somewhat curious history in this country. It was
always believed to be an accidental autumn and winter visitor until, a
little over half a century ago, the naturalist Doubleday, of Epping,
discovered that it was a resident all the year round, and not a very
rare species in that locality. Later it was found breeding in other
places, and it is now known to inhabit all the Home Counties and
various other parts of England. At present the belief is general that
the bird is increasing in numbers and extending its range. This would
seem the most natural explanation of the fact that the bird is often
seen now in places where it was not seen formerly; but it must be taken
into consideration that nobody looked to find the hawfinch when it
was not known to be a British species, and that now many sharp eyes
watch for it. As it is, we are seldom rewarded by a sight of it, even
in localities where it is known to exist, in spite of its conspicuous
colouring and the somewhat singular appearance given to it by its large
head and massive, conical beak. Its excessive wariness prevents it from
being seen even when it is not rare. No other small bird is so shy
with us, so vigilant, and quick to make its escape at the slightest
appearance of danger. When not feeding it passes the time in woods,
plantations, and copses, at a spot where the trees grow thickest and
the foliage is most dense. Its love of concealing itself in the deepest
shade is like that of a nocturnal species. When away from its obscure
place of refuge it is extremely alert, perching in the tops of trees
to survey the surrounding scene, and from which to drop silently into
any garden or orchard which may be safely visited. Naturally, it has
been assumed that this shy and watchful habit has been brought about
by persecution, gardeners and fruit-growers being deadly enemies to
hawfinches on account of their depredations; but in the forests of
North Africa, Mr. Charles Dixon found the bird just as vigilant and
quick to take alarm as in England.
Hawfinches are rather silent birds: when flying from tree to tree in
small flocks they utter a call-note with a clicking sound, and in
spring the male sometimes emits a few low notes by way of song.
The nest is placed in a tree, or bush, or hedge, a thorn being the
tree most frequently chosen for a site. The nest is rather large and
well made, outwardly of twigs, dead stalks, and lichen, inside of dry
grass, and lined with rootlets and a little hair. The eggs are four to
six in number, pale olive or bluish green in ground-colour, spotted
with black, and irregularly streaked with dark olive. In some eggs the
ground-colour is buff. The young are fed on caterpillars, and only one
brood is reared. After leaving the nest the young birds live with the
parents, and sometimes several families unite into a flock; as many as
a hundred birds, or more, may be seen together.
In autumn and winter the hawfinches feed on seeds of various
kinds--hornbeam, beech, yew, and hawthorn. The kernels only of the haws
are eaten; and, in like manner, cherries and other fruits are robbed
for the sake of the kernel, the hard stones being split open with the
powerful beak.
House-Sparrow.
Passer domesticus.
Lores black; a narrow white streak over each eye; crown, nape,
and lower back ash-grey; region of the ear-coverts chestnut; back
chestnut-brown streaked with black; wings brown, with white bar on
the middle coverts; tail dull brown; throat and breast black; cheeks
and sides of neck white; belly dull white. Length, six inches.
_Female_: without the black on the throat, and upper parts
striated dusky brown.
* * * * *
More, far more, has been written about the sparrow than about any other
bird, but as it is not advisable here to enter into the controversy
on the subject of the injury he inflicts, or is believed by many to
inflict, on the farmer and gardener, a very brief account of its
habits will suffice. They are almost better known to most persons
than the habits of the domestic fowl, owing to the universality of
this little bird, to its excessive abundance in towns as well as in
rural districts, and to its attachment to human habitations. For his
excessive predominance there are several causes. He is exceedingly
hardy, and more adaptive than other species; his adaptiveness makes it
possible for him to exist and thrive in great smoky towns like London.
He is sagacious beyond most species, and although living so constantly
with or near to man, he never loses his suspicious habit, and of all
birds is the most difficult to be trapped. He is very prolific: as soon
as the weather becomes mild, at the end of February or in March, he
begins to breed, and brood after brood is reared until September, or
even till November if the weather proves favourable. He also possesses
an advantage in his habit of breeding in holes in houses, where his
eggs and young are much safer than in trees and hedges. There is a
curious diversity in his nesting habits: he generally prefers a hole
in a wall, or some safe, convenient cavity, and will make vigorous war
on and eject other species, like the house-martin, from their nests
and nesting-holes; but when such receptacles are not sufficiently
numerous, or it appears safe to do so, he builds in trees, making a
large, conspicuous, oval, domed nest of straw, mixed with strings,
rags, and other materials, and thickly lined inside with feathers. Five
to six eggs are laid, of a pale bluish white ground-colour, spotted,
blotched, or suffused with grey and dusky brown. The young are fed on
caterpillars; and the adults also are partly insectivorous during the
summer months, but in the autumn and winter grain, seeds, and buds are
chiefly eaten.
Tree-Sparrow.
Passer montanus.
Crown and back of head chestnut-brown; lore, ear-coverts, and throat
black; neck almost surrounded by a white collar; upper parts as in the
last; wing with two transverse white bars. Length, five and a half
inches.
* * * * *
By a careless observer the tree-sparrow would, in most cases, be taken
for the house-sparrow, and not looked directly at. When we know that
there is a tree-sparrow, and meet with it, we notice the chief points
in which it differs from the common species--the chestnut-coloured
head, with black and white patches at the side, and the double bar on
the wing.
The tree-sparrow is locally distributed throughout England and
Scotland, but is nowhere abundant; in Wales and Ireland it is rare.
With us it is a shy bird, being found, as a rule, at a distance from
houses, in fields, on the borders of woods, in thickets growing beside
streams, and in fir plantations. In some districts on the Continent
it is far less shy of man, and lives in villages and towns, where it
associates with the common sparrow, and is said to be just as tame. In
many parts of Asia it is still more domestic. Edward Blyth wrote of
it: ‘In the great rice-exporting station of Akyab we have seen this
species so familiarly hopping about in the public streets that it would
only just move out of the way of the passers-by; and we have also
known it breeding so numerously in dwellinghouses as to be quite a
nuisance from its shrill, incessant chirping.’ This bird is the common
house-sparrow of China and Japan, the Philippines, Burma, and more or
less over the whole Malayan region.
In its habits it is more active and lively than its more domestic
relation, and is more at home on trees, and may be seen moving about
among the lesser branches and twigs with much freedom, sometimes
seeking its food there, after the manner of the siskin and redpoll;
but it feeds principally on the ground. It can scarcely be called a
song-bird, its most song-like sounds being composed of a few chirruping
notes uttered in the pairing season. Its voice, both in its attempted
singing and in its ordinary chirp and call-notes, is much shriller than
that of the common sparrow.
Like that species, it breeds both in holes and on trees. A hole in the
rotten wood of a pollard willow by the waterside is a favourite site,
and it also nests in holes under the eaves or thatch of a barn or
other outhouse, and in holes in ruins, old walls, and rocks. The nest
is made of dry grass, loosely put together, and lined with some soft
material--wool, or feathers, or hair. Four to six eggs are laid, bluish
white in ground-colour, the whole egg thickly mottled with brown of
different shades. Two, and even three, broods are reared in the season.
In winter the tree-sparrows gather in small flocks, and are often found
associating with the common sparrow, chaffinch, brambling, and other
species. At this season they subsist principally on seeds of weeds and
grass, but in summer they are partly insectivorous.
Chaffinch.
Fringilla cœlebs.
Forehead black; crown and nape greyish blue; back and scapulars
chestnut tinged with green; rump green; breast chestnut-red, fading
into white on the belly; wings black, with two white bands; coverts
of the secondaries tipped with yellow; tail black, the two middle
feathers ash-grey, the two outer, on each side, black, with a broad,
oblique white band. _Female_: head, back, and scapulars ash-brown
tinged with olive; lower parts greyish white; the transverse bands less
distinct. Length, six inches.
* * * * *
The chaffinch is one of the most popular song-birds in Britain;
it is very much with us, being universal in its distribution in
this country, and a bird that attaches itself to the neighbourhood
of houses, an inhabitant of gardens and orchards, and a resident
throughout the year. He is a pretty bird, and, if not a brilliant
songster, is at all events a very vigorous one; his lively, ringing
lyric, being short and composed of notes invariably repeated in the
same order, is capable of being remembered longer and more vividly
reproduced in the mind than any other song. Sitting by the fireside in
January, you can mentally hear the song of the chaffinch; but the brain
is incapable of registering the more copious and varied bird-music
in the same perfect way--the music, for instance, of the skylark and
thrush and garden-warbler. It is not strange that, when Browning wished
to be back in England in April, he thought of the spring song of the
chaffinch, before that of any other species.
O to be in England
Now that April’s there;
And whoever wakes in England
Sees, some morning, unaware,
That the lowest boughs of the brushwood sheaf
Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,
While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough
In England now!
The chaffinch makes the most of his song. He appears, indeed, very
much in earnest in whatever he does, his character in this respect
offering a strong contrast to that of the goldfinch, siskin, and
various other melodists. They sing at all times, anywhere and anyhow.
With the chaffinch, singing is a business just as important as any
other--feeding, fighting, pairing, and building. He flies to a tree,
and deliberately takes his stand, often on the most commanding twig,
and there delivers his few notes with the utmost energy, and so rapidly
that they almost run into each other, ending with a fine flourish. At
regular intervals of a few seconds the performance is repeated, the
bird standing erect and motionless all the time; until, having given
the fullest and most complete expression to his feelings, he flies
away, to engage elsewhere in some task of another kind.
It is a loud song and a joyous sound--‘gay as a chaffinch’ is a
proverbial saying of the French; but there is also a note of defiance
in the song, as in the crow of a cock. Chaffinches sing, as cocks crow,
against each other, and the music often ends in a combat. It is not, as
some imagine, that there is a spirit of emulation in birds with regard
to their singing--that they are rival musicians, like the shepherds in
the old pastorals, that contended in song for mastery: it is simply
that the cock chaffinch, like the robin and some other species, is a
bird of a jealous and pugnacious disposition, and can brook no other
male chaffinch near him. Another’s singing tells him that another male
is present, and his jealousy is at once excited. If the sound is at a
distance, he will content himself by answering song with song; if near,
he will quickly seek out the singer, and drive him from his chosen
ground. It is this jealous temper of the chaffinch that gives it value
to the bird-fanciers of a base kind.
The chaffinch is first heard before the end of February. He pairs
early in March, and in April begins to build. The nest is placed in a
shrub or tree, in a cleft, or on a horizontal branch. An apple, pear,
or cherry tree in an orchard is a favourite site; but any tree, from
an evergreen in a garden to the largest oak or elm, may be selected,
and the nest may be at any height from the ground from half a dozen
to fifty feet. It is a very beautiful structure, formed outwardly of
lichen, moss, and dry grass, compactly woven together, and mixed with
cobwebs; the cup-shaped inside is lined with hair, vegetable down,
and feathers. In most cases the outer portion of the nest is composed
of materials that give it a close resemblance to the tree it is built
on. Thus, on an oak or apple tree overgrown with grey lichen, or on a
silver birch, the framework is chiefly composed of lichen; but in deep
green bushes evergreen moss is used. The nest is built by the female,
but the male assists in collecting and bringing materials. A fortnight,
or longer, is taken to complete this elaborate nest; but from the
beginning, and even before the nest is begun, the birds exhibit the
greatest excitement and distress if the chosen tree is approached,
flying round and flitting from branch to branch, incessantly uttering
their well-known alarm-notes, usually spelt _pink-pink_ or
_spink-spink_, a clear, penetrating sound, slightly metallic in
character; also another sound, a lower and somewhat harsh note of
anxiety.
The eggs are four or five in number, of a pale bluish green,
spotted and blotched with dull purplish brown. The young are fed on
caterpillars and small insects. The adults, too, subsist chiefly on
insects in summer, seeking for them on the ground, and sometimes
capturing them in the air, like the flycatcher.
In autumn the chaffinches congregate in flocks, and at this season the
separation of the sexes, about which so much has been said since the
days of Linnæus, takes place. Something remains to be known on this
subject. It is beyond dispute that large flocks composed entirely of
birds of one sex are often met with in autumn and winter, both in this
country and on the Continent. The question about which ornithologists
differ is as to whether or not a separation of the sexes takes place
among chaffinches of British race. Seebohm says: ‘It is probable that
this peculiar habit is confined to the birds that come to our shores in
autumn’; and we have it on good authority that no separation of males
from females takes place in the south and west of England. In the month
of September, at one place in Scotland, I observed the male chaffinches
gathered in small parties of three or four to a dozen individuals;
these were the birds belonging to the district; but the females had
vanished. Selby observed the same thing many years ago in Scotland and
the north of England. One can only suppose that the migratory impulse
is a little stronger or earlier in the female of this species, and that
the divergence between the sexes, in this respect, becomes greater as
we go towards the northern limit of its range.
Brambling.
Fringilla montifringilla.
Head, cheeks, nape, and upper part of back black, the feathers (in
winter) tipped with light brown or ash-grey; neck and scapulars pale
orange-brown; wings black variegated with orange-brown and white; rump
and lower parts white; the flanks reddish, with a few dark spots.
_Female_: crown reddish brown, the feathers tipped with grey; a
black streak over the eye; cheeks and neck ash-grey; all the rest as in
the male, but less bright. Length, six and a quarter inches.
* * * * *
The brambling, or mountain-finch, comes nearest in relationship to the
chaffinch, but differs very much in its glossy black, white, and bright
buff colouring, and is a much prettier bird. We do not see it in its
bright nuptial plumage in this country; for it is an arctic species,
breeding in very high latitudes, in birch woods near the limit of
forest growth. Its nest and eggs resemble those of the chaffinch, the
nest being a compact and beautifully shaped fabric that assimilates in
colour to the white and grey bark of the silver birch. The bramblings
arrive in this country during September and October, and are found in
winter throughout Great Britain and Ireland. They are, however, very
irregular in their movements, and do not, like the redwings, return
year after year to the same localities; but, as a rule, where a flock
appears in autumn, there it will remain until the end of winter.
Beech-woods form a great attraction to them, beech-mast being their
favourite food, and where it is abundant they will sometimes congregate
in immense numbers. As a songster the brambling ranks low among the
finches, but the lively chirping and twittering concert of a large
flock on a tree-top, and in the evening, before the birds settle to
roost, has a very pleasing effect.
Linnet.
Linota cannabina.
Forehead and centre of the crown crimson; the rest of the head, nape,
and sides of the neck, mottled brownish grey; mantle chestnut-brown;
wing-feathers blackish, with outer edges white, forming a conspicuous
bar; upper tail-coverts dark brown with whitish margins; tail-feathers
black, narrowly edged with white on the outer and broadly on the inner
webs; chin and throat dull white, striped with greyish brown; breast
crimson; belly dull white; flanks fawn-brown. Length, five inches
and three-quarters. In winter the crimson feathers are concealed by
wide greyish margins. _Female_: duller in colour and without any
crimson.
* * * * *
Next to the goldfinch, the linnet is the most sought after in this
country as a cage-bird, and the demand for linnets is no doubt causing
a great diminution in their numbers. But they are still fairly
abundant, and to be met with in most waste and uncultivated places,
especially where furze-bushes abound.
The linnet is one of the most social of the finches, being found
gathered in small flocks and parties of three, or four, or half a
dozen, even in the middle of the breeding season. When perched or
flying they incessantly call to each other in sharp little chirps and
twittering notes. They are more aërial in habit than most finches, and
take to flight very readily, and fly high, with great velocity; and
when at a great elevation they are often seen to check their rapid
course very suddenly, and dart away in some other direction, or else to
drop plumb down like falling hailstones to the earth. Being so free of
the air, they are great rovers, and, except when engaged in breeding,
are constantly travelling about in the open country at all times of the
year.
In the colour of its plumage the linnet is one of the most variable of
birds: it is common to meet with bird-catchers and bird-fanciers who
hear with surprise, and even with incredulity, that all these birds
of different tints are of one species. The cock linnet never, or very
rarely, puts on his most beautiful colours in captivity, and even in a
state of nature the individuals composing a flock are seen to differ
greatly. Among a dozen birds, perhaps only one will exhibit the perfect
male plumage--the blood-red forehead, grey head, rich chestnut-brown
upper parts, and lovely carmine breast. There is one variety, known
as the lemon linnet, in which the breast is lemon-yellow instead of
carmine-red; and there are other varieties. In song, too, the linnet
greatly varies. When the singer is a good one, and listened to at a
distance not exceeding twenty or thirty yards, the strain is sprightly,
varied, and very agreeable; but the sweetest part is a phrase of two or
three notes which usually comes as a prelude to the song; the sound has
a quality that reminds one of the swallow’s voice, but it is purer, and
suggests a very delicate wind instrument. During the love season the
male sometimes sings on the wing; rising to a height of several yards,
it drops slowly and gracefully down, uttering a series of beautiful
notes and trills.
A furze-bush is the site most often selected for the nest; this is
formed of fine dry grass and fibres, and lined with wool and vegetable
down, sometimes with hair. Four to six eggs are laid, chalky white,
and faintly tinged with blue in ground-colour, and spotted with light
reddish brown and purplish red.
After the breeding season the linnets unite in large flocks, and at
this time there is a southward movement, and large numbers undoubtedly
leave this country to winter elsewhere. But even in the cold season
they are common enough, and their fitful winter-evening concerts, when
they congregate on a tree-top before settling down for the night, are
as pleasant to listen to as the love-song of the male heard in spring
among the blossoming furze and broom.
Lesser Redpoll.
Linota rufescens.
Forehead, lore, and throat black; crown deep crimson; upper parts
reddish brown with dusky streaks; wings and tail dusky, edged with
pale reddish brown; breast glossy rose-red, passing into light
chestnut-brown on the sides; belly and lower tail-coverts dull white.
_Female_: less bright. Length, five and a quarter inches.
* * * * *
[Illustration: FIG. 48.--LESSER REDPOLL. ⅓ natural size.]
The redpoll, or redpole, as it is often written, is a pretty and
interesting little bird of the northern parts of Great Britain. It has
been described by Seebohm as an immature linnet in appearance, but
resembling a siskin in its habits. It is usually called the lesser
redpoll, because it is slightly less in size than the continental
redpoll, which sometimes visits this country in winter. This last
subspecies is the mealy redpoll (_Linota linaria_). A third form
of this wide-ranging little bird, the Greenland redpoll (_Linota
hornemanni_), has been included in the list of British birds on
account of a single specimen having been obtained in this country.
In its lively disposition, its flight, and to some extent in its
language, the redpoll resembles the linnet; but its feeding habits
vary according to the season of the year and the conditions it finds
itself in. In summer it keeps much to the higher branches of the trees,
where it moves deftly about like a siskin or a crested tit in its
search after minute insects and their larvæ; but in winter it feeds
principally on seeds which it finds on the ground. It is fond of the
seeds of the birch-tree. The appearance of a flock of redpolls feeding
among the birches is thus described by Warde Fowler: ‘It is one of the
prettiest sights that our whole calendar of bird life affords to watch
these tiny linnets at work in the delicate birch-boughs. They fear
no human being, and can be approached within a very few yards. They
almost outdo the titmice in the amazing variety of their postures. They
prefer in a general way to be upside down, and decidedly object to the
commonplace attitudes of more solidly built birds.’
The song of the redpoll is described by Seebohm as a short, monotonous
trill, clear, shrill, and not unmusical; and he adds that ‘it might
be said to resemble the rattling of loose cog-wheels.’ It breeds
in suitable localities, chiefly in birch-woods in Scotland, and in
England north of Norfolk and Leicester. It also breeds occasionally in
more southern localities. The nest is made of dry grass and moss on a
foundation of slender twigs, and is well lined with vegetable down,
or with wool and feathers. It is a very neat, cup-shaped nest, and
contains four to six eggs, greenish blue in ground-colour, with spots
and specks of purplish brown.
After the breeding season the redpolls begin to scatter about the
country in small flocks; as autumn approaches these flocks increase
in size, and a southward movement begins, large numbers crossing the
Channel. Many, however, remain to winter at home, and these may be met
with in woods and plantations, leading a vagrant life in small flocks,
and often associating on the trees with titmice, goldcrests, and
siskins.
Twite.
Linota flavirostris.
Upper parts dark brown, the feathers edged with light brown; rump (of
the male) tinged with red; throat tawny brown; breast and belly dull
white, streaked on the flanks with dark brown; beak yellow; feet dark
brown. Length, five and a quarter inches.
* * * * *
The twite, or mountain-linnet, is a bird of the mountain and moorland,
and of the north, being most abundant in the Hebrides; but it also
breeds in hilly districts throughout Scotland, and in suitable
localities in the northern and midland counties. In the south it is a
winter visitor, and is then found associating with the linnet, which
it very closely resembles in flight, habits, and appearance; when near
it may be distinguished by its shriller voice, and by its longer tail,
which makes it look slimmer. In its song, too, the twite resembles the
linnet, and, like that bird, occasionally sings on the wing; but its
music is wanting in the finer sounds--just as its plumage is without
the lovely carmine tint--of the other species.
The nest is placed in a bunch of heather, or beneath it, on the ground,
and sometimes in a furze-bush. It is made of dry grass, moss, and
wool, lined with hair and fur. The eggs are five or six in number, and
are like the linnet’s in colour.
In autumn the twites unite in large flocks, and visit the stubbles and
ploughed lands.
Bullfinch.
Pyrrhula europæa
[Illustration: FIG. 49.--BULLFINCH. ⅓ natural size.]
Crown, throat, region round the beak, wings, and tail lustrous
purple-black; upper part of the back bluish ash; ear-coverts, sides of
the neck, breast, and belly red; lower tail-coverts dull white; a broad
buff and grey band across the wing. Length, six and a quarter inches.
* * * * *
The bullfinch stands out among British finches with a strange
distinctness. He is gaily coloured, and the arrangement of colours is
a striking one--glossy black, blue-grey, and pure white above, and a
fine red beneath. This is described in the books as ‘brickred’; and
there is no doubt that, among the thousand and more shades of the less
vivid red seen in bricks taken fresh from the kiln, the exact tint
of the bullfinch might be matched. In the same way you could match
the most delicate floral red--that which we see in the spikes of the
red horse-chestnut, and the almond blossom, and the briar rose. The
earthy, uniform red of weathered bricks is not the colour of our
bird. The beauty of such a tint as that of the bullfinch can be best
appreciated where, indeed, it is most commonly seen, amidst the verdure
of clustering leaves; for greens and reds, pleasing in themselves, ever
make the most agreeable contrasts among colours.
In its figure, too, this bird is very singular among the finches: his
curiously arched beak gives him the look of a diminutive hawk in a gay
plumage.
The bullfinch is greatly persecuted by gardeners on account of the
mischief he is supposed to do, for he has the habit of feeding on the
flower-buds of fruit-trees in winter and spring. On the other hand, he
is greatly esteemed as a cage-bird, and the bird-catchers are ever on
the watch for it. But the effect in both cases is pretty much the same,
since the hatred that slays and the love that makes captive are equally
disastrous to the species. There is no doubt that it is diminishing
in this country, and that it is now a rare bird in most districts.
Fortunately, it has a wide distribution in Great Britain: in Ireland,
where it is said to be rare, I have found it not uncommon, and tamer
than in England. It may be increasing there, which would not be strange
in a country where even the magpie is permitted to exist, and birds
generally are regarded with kindlier feelings than in this country.
The bullfinch does not often go to the ground to feed; he gets most
of his food on trees and bushes--insects, buds, fruit, and seeds of
various kinds. He inhabits woods, plantations, and thickets, and is
often seen in thick hedges and in the tangled vegetation growing by the
side of streams. Where he is not persecuted he is a tame and rather
sedentary bird, and will allow a person to approach within a dozen
yards before leaving his perch. His call and alarm note is a low,
piping, musical sound, very pleasant to hear. The male sings in the
spring, and so, it is said, does the female; but his strain is short,
and so feeble that it can be heard only at a distance of a few yards.
The nest is built during the last half of April in a holly or yew, or
other dense, dark bush or tree, or in a thick hedge. It is unlike the
nest of any other finch, being outwardly a platform-shaped structure
made of interwoven twigs, with a cup-shaped nest in the centre, formed
of fine rootlets, the rim of the cup projecting above the platform it
is built on. The eggs are four to six, greenish blue in ground-colour,
spotted and sometimes streaked with dark purplish brown, and blotched
with pinkish brown.
Bullfinches pair for life, and at all seasons of the year male and
female are seen together; if any young are reared, they usually remain
in company with the parent birds during the autumn and winter months.
* * * * *
Nearly allied to the common bullfinch are two beautiful birds which
have a place in our list of species. One of these is the rosy bullfinch
(_Carpodacus erythrinus_), of which two or three stragglers have
been found in England; it breeds in Finland, and is found throughout
the Russian Empire. The other is the pine grossbeak (_Pinicola_
(_enucleator_), also a rare straggler to Britain from the north of
Europe.
Crossbill.
Loxia curvirostra.
[Illustration: FIG. 50.--CROSSBILL. ¼ natural size.]
Wing and tail feathers brown; all other parts green, yellow, orange,
and tile-red, according to age and sex. Red is the colour of the adult
male in a state of nature, and yellow in captivity. Length, six inches
and a half.
* * * * *
The crossbills differ from all other birds in the extraordinary form of
the parrot-like bill. In other birds, whatever the shape of the bill
may be, straight or curved, or broad and flat, or conical, or hooked,
the two mandibles correspond, and fit when closed like box and lid. In
this bird both mandibles have prolonged curved points, and cross each
other, much as the two forefingers of our hands cross when the fingers
are loosely linked together. A full description of this form of beak
and its use as a seed-extractor, together with an admirably written
history of the common crossbill, is contained in the second volume of
Yarrell’s great work (fourth edition).
The crossbill is also remarkable on account of the changes of colour
it undergoes and of the brightness of its colours. These are birds of
the sombre pine-woods, inhabiting high latitudes; but in their various
greens and reds and yellows they are like tanagers and other tropical
families, and form an exception to the rule that birds of brilliant
plumage are restricted to regions of brilliant sunlight.
No fewer than four species of this genus (Loxia) figure in the list of
British birds; three of these may be dismissed in a few words:--
Parrot crossbill (_Loxia pittyopsittacus_) breeds in the pine-forests
of Scandinavia and northern Russia, and is known in England as a rare
straggler. It is scarcely distinct, specifically, from the common
crossbill.
White-winged crossbill (_Loxia leucoptera_), a North American species,
once obtained in England.
Two-barred crossbill (_Loxia bifasciata_) a Siberian species; a rare
straggler to England and Ireland.
The fourth species (the common crossbill) has a better title to
figure as a British species, and its winter visits to this country
are much more frequent, although irregular; and it also breeds with
us in some localities in Scotland, probably every year, and has also
bred intermittingly in many districts in England, even so far south
as Bournemouth. The reason of its irregularity in visiting our shores
is that the crossbill is one of those species that do not go farther
from home than they are compelled by severe cold and scarcity of food.
Driven from home they become ‘gipsy migrants,’ and may be very abundant
with us one year, and not one appear the following season, or for
several seasons. At all times of the year the crossbill is gregarious
in its habits. Throughout the summer it is seen in small parties; when
the breeding season is over these begin to move about, accompanied
by the young birds, and join with other parties, and as the season
progresses the flock grows by process of accretion until it may number
many hundreds. At this season they are remarkably tame, and will allow
a person to approach within a few yards and admire their colours and
various motions as they cling to and climb, parrot-like, about the
twigs in search of seed and fruit. When flying they call to each other
with a loud shrill note, and in late winter and spring both male and
female utter a low warbling song.
The nest is placed in a pine-tree, at a distance from the ground of
from five to forty feet; it is formed outwardly of twigs, roots, and
dry grass; the inner part, of wool, hair, and feathers. Four or five
eggs are laid, white or greenish white in ground-colour, spotted with
reddish brown, with under-markings of pale brown.
Corn-Bunting.
Emberiza miliaria.
Upper parts yellowish brown with dusky spots; under parts yellowish
white spotted and streaked with dusky. Length, seven and a half inches.
The present species is the largest of our five buntings, and is the
most generally diffused throughout the British Islands. It is often
called the common bunting, but is scarcely deserving of the name,
as in most places it is less common than the yellow bunting. It is
certainly more local than that bird, although in some localities, both
in the south and north of England, it is more numerous than any other
bird of its genus. Nor is its other name of corn-bunting more strictly
accurate, for though it is a frequenter of corn-fields in spring and
summer, it is equally partial to hay-meadows, commons, and other open
places. Like the skylark, it loves an open sky and a wide horizon;
but, not being able to soar, it seeks an elevation of some kind to
perch on--a hedge-top, or the summit of a bush, or a tall weed in the
middle of a field of corn, will serve it; but, best of all, it loves
a telegraph-wire, where it sits on high above the world, in sunshine
and wind, and without the slightest exertion is able to experience
agreeable sensations like those of the kestrel, lark, or tern, when
suspended motionless in mid-air. On a telegraph-wire it will sit
contentedly by the hour, delivering its song at regular intervals.
The buntings--all those included in the genus Emberiza--differ from
other finches in their more sedentary habits and heavier motions.
The present species is the heaviest and most sedentary of all, and on
this account, and also on account of its dull plumage, and because
its voice is not melodious, it has been usually described in somewhat
depreciatory terms. Yarrell speaks of its droning, harsh, unmusical
song; and Warde Fowler thus describes it in his delightful book, ‘A
Year with the Birds’: ‘Look at the common corn-bunting, as he sits on
the wires or the hedge-top: he is lumpy, loose-feathered, spiritless,
and flies off with his legs hanging down, and without a trace of
agility or vivacity; he is a dull bird, and seems to know it. Even
his voice is half-hearted, and reminds me often of an old man in our
village who used to tell us that he had a wheezing in his pipes.’ This
is a pretty description; but it makes the homely bunting a little
too homely, and the critical remarks on its singing are not quite
satisfactory: the song is not droning, and not half-hearted. Heard at
intervals in the open, sunny fields and pasture-lands, it somehow has
a pleasant effect. It is a peculiar sound, not easily describable. The
song begins with two or three vigorous and musical chirps, then all at
once the bird seems to lose himself as a musician, and throws out all
that remains of his song in a burst of confused sound. In character it
is somewhat like the sharp note of alarm, or excitement of some kind,
often uttered in spring by the skylark as he flies low above the field,
but is sharper and more prolonged. Robert Gray wrote: ‘It puts you in
mind of the jingling of a chain or the sound of breaking glass.’ It is
certainly like breaking glass. You can imitate it by tightly pressing a
handful of polished pebbles together, which produce, as they slide over
each other, a variety of sharp and scraping sounds. It is a peculiarity
of the song that it is like several sounds emitted simultaneously, as
of a note broken up into splinters, or issuing from a bundle of minute
windpipes instead of out of one of larger size.
Of all the birds that remain with us throughout the year, the bunting
is the latest to breed, the nest being usually built in May. It is
placed among grass and herbage close to the ground, and formed of
dry grass and fibrous roots, lined with horsehair and fine fibres.
Four to six eggs are laid, dull purplish white or pale yellowish in
ground-colour, blotched and streaked with dark brown, with some patches
of a dull lavender hue.
The bunting feeds on seeds and grain and insects. In autumn it becomes
gregarious, and visits the stubbles and rickyards, where it is seen
associating with sparrows, greenfinches, and chaffinches.
Yellowhammer.
Emberiza citrinella.
[Illustration: FIG. 51.--YELLOWHAMMER. ⅓ natural size.]
Head, neck, breast, and under parts bright yellow, more or less
streaked with dusky; flanks streaked with brownish red; upper parts
reddish brown spotted with dusky. _Female_: the yellow parts less
bright, and spotted with dull reddish brown. Length, six and a quarter
inches.
* * * * *
The yellowhammer, or yellow bunting, is one of the most generally
diffused species in the British Islands, and, on account of its
habit of always perching on the summit of a bush or other elevation,
and of its bright yellow head and neck, which make it conspicuous
at a distance, it is a familiar object to every person in the rural
districts. It differs from the corn-bunting both in a brighter
colouring and in a slimmer and more graceful figure. But it is a heavy
bird nevertheless, of a sedentary disposition, and during the warm
season spends a great portion of its time in sitting upright and
motionless on its perch, uttering its song at regular intervals.
This species affects rough commons and waste lands in preference to
fields, and where he is found you may hear his song at all times of the
day, even during the sultriest hours; for although the yellowhammer
remains with us throughout the year, and is able to resist the colds of
winter, he is a great lover of heat. The song is very different from
that of the species last described: it is composed of half a dozen or
more short, reedy notes, all exactly alike, and shaken out, as it were,
in a hurry, followed by a long, thin note, or by two notes, slightly
melodious in character. It may be described as a trivial and monotonous
song, but it is a summer sound which most people hear with pleasure,
and the yellowhammer, or ‘little-bit-of-bread-and-no-c-h-e-e-s-e,’ as
it is called in imitation of its note, is something of a favourite
with country-people. The rustics have a story about the origin of the
bread-and-no-cheese name, which they think very laughable; and one is
certainly very much amused at the manner in which it is usually told.
This is ponderous and slow, and strikes one as highly incongruous, the
subject being only a childish legend about a little bird.
According to Yarrell, the Scotch peasants have some curious
superstitions about the yellow yoldring, as they call it. To them its
song sounds like the words ‘Deil, deil, deil tak ye,’ and the bird
itself is supposed to be on very familiar terms with the evil being
whose name it invokes so freely, and who supplies it on a May morning
with a drop of his own blood with which to paint its curiously marked
eggs.
About the middle of April the yellowhammer builds its nest, on or above
the ground, among furze and bramble bushes, or at the roots of a hedge,
or in a bank among grass and nettles. The nest is large but neatly
made, outwardly of dry grass, stalks, roots, and moss, the inside being
lined with fibres and horsehair. The eggs are four or five in number,
purplish white in ground-colour, streaked and veined with deep reddish
purple, with violet-grey under-markings.
The young males acquire the bright yellow head of the adult bird at the
autumn moult.
Although this bird remains with us throughout the year, it has a
partial migration. In autumn and winter it is seen in small flocks,
often feeding in company with the common bunting and other finches. In
winter its food consists principally of seeds; in summer it subsists
largely, and feeds its young exclusively, on insects.
Cirl Bunting.
Emberiza cirlus.
[Illustration: FIG. 52.--CIRL BUNTING. ⅓ natural size.]
Crown olive streaked with black; throat, neck, and band across the eye
black; gorget and band above and below the eye bright yellow; breast
olive-grey, bounded at the sides by chestnut; belly dull yellow; back
brownish red with dusky spots. _Female_: the distinct patches of
black and yellow wanting; the dusky spots on the back larger. Length,
six and a half inches.
* * * * *
This bird, in its dress of many colours--chestnut-brown, olive, black
and white, and lemon-yellow--is the handsomest of the British buntings.
It is an uncommon species, being restricted to the southern and western
counties of England, and exceedingly local in its distribution. It is,
moreover, of a shy disposition, and hides from sight in tall trees;
consequently it is seldom seen, and is known to few persons. It is
resident all the year. Its winter movements, if it has any, are not
known. The curious fact about this bunting is that its breeding-places,
which form small isolated areas, chiefly on or near the south-western
coast, remain year after year unchanged. The birds do not nest outside
of the old limits, nor do they form fresh colonies in other suitable
places.
Hedgerow-elms, and other large trees growing near fields, are
favourite resorts of the cirl bunting, and the male takes his stand to
sing on a tree-top, just as the yellowhammer does on a furze-bush or
hedge-top. His song comes nearest in character to that of the species
just named, being composed of several rapidly uttered, short notes,
only brighter and more vigorous; but the song is without the long,
thin note with which the more common species ends his slight strain.
In its nesting habits and in the colour of its eggs it is like the
yellowhammer, but its young are fed almost wholly on young grasshoppers.
In summer the cirl bunting lives chiefly on insects, but in autumn and
winter it is, like other finches, a seed-eater, and at this season
unites in small flocks, and occasionally associates with birds of other
species
Reed-Bunting.
Emberiza schœniclus.
Head, throat, and gorget black (in winter speckled with light brown);
nape, sides of the neck, and a line extending to the base of the beak
white; upper parts variegated with reddish brown and dusky; under parts
white streaked with dusky on the flanks. _Female_: head reddish
brown with dusky spots; the white on the neck less distinct; under
parts reddish white, with dusky spots. Length, six inches.
* * * * *
[Illustration: FIG. 53.--REED-BUNTING. ¼ natural size.]
The reed-bunting, although by no means an uncommon bird, is not nearly
so common as either the corn-bunting or yellowhammer. It is a bird of
the waterside, and its spring and summer life is passed among the
reeds and aquatic herbage and willows and alders growing on the margins
of streams and marshes. It is widely distributed, and, where suitable
localities exist, may be looked for with some confidence. In most
districts it is known as the reed-sparrow, and in its colouring and
general appearance it is undoubtedly more sparrow-like than the other
buntings. From its black head, which is very conspicuous by contrast
with the white collar, it is often called the black-headed bunting,
a name which more properly belongs to a continental species to be
noticed later on as an accidental visitor to this country. The male is
a persistent singer in the spring months, and, perched near the top
of a reed, or on the topmost branch of an alder tree, he will repeat
at intervals his slight reedy song of four or five notes, the last
somewhat prolonged. If disturbed, he will fly a little distance ahead
and perch again; and this action he will repeat two or three times if
followed up; then, doubling back, he will return to the first spot. He
is a sprightlier bird than the other buntings. The slender reed-stems
he perches on, which bend and sway beneath the slightest weight, have
taught him easier and more graceful motions, although in that respect
he cannot compare with the bearded tit.
The nest is made near the water, on or close to the ground, under a
bush or bunch of rushes, and is composed of dry grass and leaves and
stems of aquatic plants, and lined with fibrous roots and horsehair.
The eggs are four or five in number, in ground-colour dull white or
grey, spotted and streaked with purplish brown and dull grey.
The reed-bunting remains in this country all the year, but in severe
weather leaves the wet, low ground, and is then seen among the flocks
of mixed finches in fields and in the neighbourhood of farmhouses.
Snow-Bunting.
Plectrophanes nivalis.
Head, neck, portion of the wings and under parts white; upper parts
black, tinged here and there with red. In winter the white of the head
and the black on the back mixed with reddish brown. _Female_: the
white on the head and upper parts mottled with dusky, and her colours
not so pure. Length, six inches and three-quarters.
The snow-bunting, or snowflake, as it is also called, breeds regularly
in some localities in the Highlands of Scotland, and may therefore
be regarded as an indigenous species; but the birds breeding within
British limits are only a few pairs, and the snow-bunting is best known
as a winter visitor from more northern regions. They appear on our
coasts in the month of October, sometimes in immense flocks, to pass
the winter, for the most part in the neighbourhood of the sea, seeking
their food in fields and on waste lands. Occasionally these flocks
penetrate to the more inland districts. Being very pretty and lively
little birds, they are great favourites in the places they visit; and
their appearance is all the more welcome on account of the desolate
aspect of nature in the districts where they are most abundant. Many
ornithologists have written lovingly about the snow-bunting. Thus,
Saxby says: ‘Seen against a dark hillside or a lowering sky, a flock of
these birds presents an exceedingly beautiful appearance, and it may
then be seen how aptly the term “snowflake” has been applied to the
species. I am acquainted with no more pleasing combination of sight and
sound than that afforded when a cloud of these birds, backed by a dark
grey sky, descends, as it were, in a shower to the ground, to the music
of their own sweet, tinkling notes.’
The fullest, and by far the most interesting, account ever given of
the snow-bunting is by Seebohm. He says that in its habits it is the
most arctic of the small birds, breeding as far north as latitude 82°
33´. Its appearance is thus described: ‘In sledging over the snow
across the steppes of South-western Siberia from Ekaterranburg to
Tomsk, a distance of about a thousand miles, the snow-bunting was the
only bird we saw, except a few sparrows, jackdaws, and hooded crows
near the villages. The snow-buntings were in small flocks, and many of
them had almost lost their winter dress. It was a charming sight to
watch them flitting before the sledge, as we disturbed them at their
meals. Sometimes, in the sunshine, their white bodies were invisible
against the white snow, and we could almost fancy that a flock of black
butterflies was dancing before us. The flight of the snow-bunting is
peculiar, and is somewhat like that of a butterfly, as if the bird
altered its mind every few seconds as to which direction it wished to
take.’
Of its song he says: ‘Whilst the female is busy with the duties of
incubation the male sings freely, sometimes as he sits upon the top of
a rock, but often flinging himself into the air like a shuttlecock,
and then descending in a spiral curve, with wings and tail expanded,
singing all the time. The song is a low and melodious warbling, not
unlike that of the shore-lark.’
The nest is placed in crevices of rocks, and is made of dry grass,
roots, and moss, lined with root-fibres, hair, wool, and feathers.
Five or six, sometimes seven, eggs are laid, in ground-colour greyish
white or pale blue, spotted and blotched with reddish brown, with
under-markings of pale brown and pale grey.
The young are fed on the larvæ of gnats. In winter the snow-buntings
feed on seeds of grass and weeds.
Besides the five buntings described, five more species figure in the
list of British birds, and these may now be briefly noticed:--
Black-headed bunting (_Emberiza melanocephala_), inhabiting
South-eastern Europe; a single specimen has been obtained in this
country.
Ortolan bunting (_Emberiza hortulana_).--A summer visitor to Europe.
Several specimens have been obtained in the British Islands, mostly in
the south and east of England.
Rustic bunting (_Emberiza rustica_).--Breeds in North-eastern Europe
and Northern Siberia. A rare straggler to Britain.
Little bunting (_Emberiza pusilla_), from North-eastern Europe and
Siberia. Has been taken once in England.
Lapland bunting (_Calcarius lapponica_).--A circumpolar species
breeding in the arctic regions. Occasionally straggles to this country.
Starling.
Sturnus vulgaris.
Black with purple and green reflections, the upper feathers tipped
with pale buff; under tail-coverts edged with white; beak yellow; feet
flesh-colour tinged with brown. _Female_: spotted below as well as
above. _Young_: uniform ash-brown, unspotted. Length, eight and a
half inches.
* * * * *
A compactly built bird with a short, square tail, strong legs and feet,
and a long, sharp beak, the starling does not excel in beauty of figure
or grace of carriage; his lines are rather indicative of strength; he
looks what he is--a plodding digger in the meadows and pastures, a
hardy bird of rook-like habits, able to stand all weathers. But he has
a beautiful coat. As in the case of the large corvine species he so
frequently associates with when feeding, his richly coloured plumage
has a gloss which causes it to shine at times like polished metal in
the sunlight. The starling has an added distinction in the spangling of
white and buff on the upper parts.
During the greater portion of the year his food consists almost
entirely of insects in their different stages. Like the rook, he
searches at the roots of the grass for worms and grubs; and there is no
doubt that he deserves his reputation of one of the farmer’s feathered
helpers. He attends the sheep and cattle in the meadows, and is often
seen perching on their backs; the animals take it quietly, and perhaps
know that he is on the look-out for ticks, which are a source of
irritation to them.
Although a digger and plodder, the starling is very different from his
companion, the rook, in manner. The rooks are seen soberly marching
about, quartering the ground, each one intent on finding something for
himself. The starlings are not nearly so methodical; they run about a
great deal on the feeding-ground, and watch and interfere with each
other. When one by chance finds a rich treasure, the others are eager
to share it, and there are occasional scolding matches, and sometimes
downright quarrelling, among them.
The starling is also a fruit-eater, particularly of cherries; and in
winter, when insect food is scarce, he will eat berries, seeds, and
grain, and, like the blackbird and blue tit, may be easily attracted to
the house with scraps of animal food.
The nesting habits of the starling contribute to make it one of our
most familiar birds. He breeds in holes, and a hole in a tree or
rock, in a cliff or quarry, suits him very well; but he more often
finds a suitable place under the eaves of a house, or in a barn,
or church-tower, or other building; and, unless disturbed, he will
continue to use the same site year after year. As early as January the
starlings begin to pay occasional visits to the breeding-site, but they
do not build until April. The nest is composed of a large quantity of
dry grass, small twigs, moss, and other materials, and is sometimes
lined with wool or feathers. Four to seven eggs are laid--five being
the usual number--of a delicate pale greenish blue colour, and
unspotted.
The starling sings more or less all the year, but his song is at
its best in the spring months. He has no such melodious notes as
distinguish the warblers; his merit lies less in the quality of the
sounds he utters than in their endless variety. In a leisurely way
he will sometimes ramble on for an hour, whistling and warbling very
agreeably, mingling his finer notes with chatterings and cluckings
and squealings, and sounds as of snapping the fingers and of kissing,
with many others quite indescribable. On account of this variety
of language he has always been reputed a mimic; but he does not
mock as the mocking-bird does: he never reproduces the song of any
other songster. Notes and phrases, and calls and alarm-notes, he has
apparently picked up, and, listening, you recognise this or that
species; but the imitations are seldom perfect, and in the end you are
almost inclined to believe that he is called a mimic only because his
variety is so great.
After the breeding season the young and old birds feed together in the
pastures, where they unite with other families; and the flocks thus
formed, as they increase in size, extend their wanderings over the
surrounding country. Like rooks, they have favourite roosting-places,
to which they return annually; these are reed and osier beds, thickets
of holly and other evergreens, and fir-plantations. But they are not
so constant in their attachment to one locality as the rook. They are
more vagrant in their habits, and shift their ground, and migrate, and
their numbers may vary greatly from year to year in the same district.
In a district where they are abundant, they are seen at the end of
each day gathering from all directions to the roosting-place; and it
is then that the ‘cloud of starlings’ may be seen at its best, and
it is certainly one of the finest sights that bird life presents in
England. At intervals, after the birds have been steadily pouring in
their flocks for a couple of hours, the whole vast concourse rises,
and, seen from a distance, the flock, composed of tens and hundreds of
thousands, may then be easily mistaken for a long black cloud suspended
above the wood. In a few moments it is seen to grow thin, as the flock
scatters, until it almost fades away. Suddenly it darkens again; and so
on, alternately, the form, too, changing continually, now extending to
an immense length across the sky, like a long bar of vapour, and now
gathered into a huge oval or oblong black mass; and by-and-by the cloud
again empties itself into the trees, and the sky is clear once more.
These evolutions are repeated many times, until, as the evening draws
on, the birds finally settle down in their places, but not to sleep;
for an hour longer the wood is filled with an indescribable noise--a
tangle of ten thousand penetrative voices, all together whistling,
chattering, scolding, and singing.
We have but one starling; an allied species, the beautiful
rose-coloured pastor (_Pastor roseus_), which breeds in Western
Asia, is an irregular visitor to all parts of England.
Chough.
Pyrrhocorax graculus.
[Illustration: FIG. 54.--CHOUGH. ⅛ natural size.]
Black with purple and green reflections; beak and feet coral-red.
Length, sixteen inches.
* * * * *
It is melancholy to think that this interesting and extremely handsome
bird has been diminishing in numbers for a long period, and is now
become so rare that, unless strong measures to secure its protection
be at once taken, its eventual extinction in this country must be
regarded as merely a question of time. Formerly it bred in many inland
localities in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland; but from all its
ancient nesting-cliffs in the interior of these countries it has long
vanished, and, like the raven, which has also fallen on evil days, is
now only found in a few spots on the rock-bound coasts where high,
precipitous cliffs afford it some chance of hatching its eggs and
continuing the species for a few years longer.
A few pairs are still found breeding each year on the coast of
Cornwall, where it was formerly abundant, and on this account was
called the Cornish chough. It also breeds in limited numbers in a few
other situations:--at Lundy Island, the rocks of the Calf of Man, on
the coast of Wales, and at Islay and a few other situations on the
coast of Scotland.
In size, flight, language, habits, and general appearance, the chough
comes nearest to the jackdaw, but is a much handsomer bird, its uniform
intense black plumage and long, curved, coral bill, and red legs and
feet, giving it a distinguished and somewhat singular appearance. Its
cry, uttered both when perched and on the wing, differs only from that
of the daw in its more ringing and melodious sound. The flight is easy
and buoyant, and the birds are fond of aërial pastimes, similar to
those of the jackdaw, during which the members of the company pursue
one another in play, and frequently tumble down from a great height
through the air as if disabled. They feed inland, often going long
distances from the cliffs they inhabit to seek their food, like rooks,
in the meadows and pasture-lands. They also follow the plough to pick
up the worms and grubs, like the rook and black-headed gull, and are
said to eat carrion, berries, and grain. On the sands and rocks they
feed on the animal refuse left by the tides.
The chough, like the daw, lives always in communities; the two species
may often be found breeding near each other and associating in flocks.
The nest is placed in a hole or crevice in the rocks in the least
accessible part of the cliff. It is built of sticks and twigs, and
lined with grass, fur, wool, and other soft substances. Four to six
eggs are laid, in ground-colour white, faintly tinged with blue or
yellowish, and spotted and blotched with various shades of grey and
pale brown.
Jay.
Garrulus glandarius.
Crest greyish white streaked with black; a black moustache from the
corners of the beak; general plumage reddish grey, darker above;
primaries dingy black; secondaries velvet-black and pure white; inner
tertials rich chestnut; winglet and greater coverts barred with black,
white, and bright blue; upper and under-tail-coverts pure white; iris
bright blue; beak black; feet dark brown. Length, thirteen and a half
inches.
* * * * *
The jay is nearly equal to the daw in size, and has a variegated and
beautiful plumage, and when seen flying across an open sunlit space is
nearly as conspicuous as a magpie. But among the dense foliage of the
woods and thickets he inhabits it is as difficult to see a jay as a
wood-wren; and it is doubtless owing to this fact, and to his extreme
wariness and cunning, that he still survives in many parts of England
where the magpie has now been extirpated, although both species are
pursued by gamekeepers with the same stupid and deadly animosity. In
Scotland he is said to be decreasing more rapidly than in England,
probably because the Scotch are more thorough than the Southrons,
especially in the process of stamping out: in Ireland it is found only
in the southern half of the island, where it is somewhat scarce.
The most striking characteristic of the jay is its tireless energy, and
a liveliness of disposition and alertness almost without a parallel
among British birds; even the restless, prying, chattering magpie seems
a quiet creature beside it; and as to the other corvine birds, they are
by comparison a sedate family. Like the magpie, he is an excitable and
vociferous bird, and has a curious and varied language. When disturbed
in his woodland haunts he utters a scream that startles the hearer, so
loud and harsh and piercing is it. Richard Jefferies well describes
it as being like the sound made in tearing a piece of calico. He also
has a lower, monotonous, rasping note, which he will continue uttering
for half an hour at a time when his curiosity or suspicion has been
excited. In the love season he utters a variety of sounds by way of
song, and as they resemble the notes of the starling, sparrow, and
other birds, he is supposed to be a mocker. In captivity he can be
taught to speak a few words; but it is possible that the various sounds
composing his vocal performance in the woods are his own.
In spring he becomes somewhat social, and unites in noisy parties; at
other times he is solitary, or lives with his mate.
Owing to an excessively wary and suspicious habit, engendered by much
persecution, it is difficult to observe him narrowly for any length of
time. In the woods and plantations, few and far between, where jays are
not persecuted, and do not associate the human figure with a sudden
shower of murderous pellets, he will allow a nearer approach, and it is
then a rare pleasure to study him on his perch. He does not, as a rule,
rest long in one place, and when perched is of so active and excitable
a temper that he cannot keep still for three seconds at a stretch.
The wings and tail are raised, and depressed, and flirted, the crest
alternately lowered and elevated, the head turned from side to side, as
the wild, bright eyes glance in this or that direction. If he should by
chance place himself where a stray sunbeam falls through the foliage
on him, lighting up his fine reddish brown plumage, variegated with
black and white and beautiful blue, he shows as one of the handsomest
birds that inhabit the woodlands.
The jay makes his nest in a bush or sapling at no great height from the
ground; the lower branch of a large tree is sometimes made choice of,
where the nest is well concealed by the close foliage; a thick holly or
other evergreen is also a favourite site. The nest is built of sticks
and twigs, sometimes mixed with mud, and the cup-shaped cavity is
lined with fine roots. Four to seven eggs are laid, pale greyish green
in ground-colour, thickly freckled, and spotted all over with pale
olive-brown. The young birds follow their parents for some weeks after
leaving the nest.
The jay is omnivorous, but in summer feeds mainly on slugs, worms,
grubs, and insects of all kinds; in this season he devours berries and
fruit--plums, cherries, also peas and currants; and in autumn, nuts,
beech-mast, and acorns. He also plunders the smaller birds of their
eggs and young, and is said to carry off pheasant and partridge chicks.
He is a keen mouser, and after killing a mouse with two or three sharp
blows on the head, strips the skin off before devouring it. Like the
nuthatch and some other species, he has the habit of concealing the
food he does not want to eat at once.
Magpie.
Pica rustica.
Head, throat, neck, and back velvet-black; scapulars and under plumage
white; tail much graduated, and, as well as the wings, black, with
lustrous blue and green reflections; beak and feet black. Length,
eighteen inches.
* * * * *
In spite of his evil reputation, the magpie is regarded by most
persons who are not breeders of pheasants with exceptional interest,
and even affection. He has some very attractive qualities, and is one
of that trio of corvine birds--pie, chough, and jay--from which it is
difficult to single out the most beautiful. The most conspicuous he
undoubtedly is, in his black and white plumage; and his figure, with
its long, graduated tail, is also the most elegant. In his habits there
is abundant variety, and in sagacity he is probably unsurpassed by
any member of the corvine family, which counts so many wily brains.
His excessive cunning and rapid rate of increase have probably
served to save him from the fate that has overtaken the hen harrier
and marsh-harrier, and many another beautiful member of the British
avifauna. As it is, he has been almost extirpated throughout a large
part of England and Scotland. In Ireland, however, he is still a common
species, but, oddly enough, he is not indigenous to that country. It
is believed that he first appeared there about, or a little more than,
two centuries and a half ago. How he got there is not known. According
to Yarrell, there is a widespread belief in Ireland that the magpie was
imported into that island by the English out of spite.
[Illustration: FIG. 55.--MAGPIE. ⅑ natural size.]
The magpie is as singular in his motions, gestures, and flight as he is
beautiful in colour and elegant in form. On the wing he appears most
conspicuous when the white webs of the quills are displayed. The wings
are very short, and the flight is slow and somewhat wavering, and at
every three or four yards there is an interval of violent wing-beats,
during which the black and white of the quills mix and become nearly
grey. High in the air he has a most curious appearance; as a rule he
flies low, passing from tree to tree, or along the side of a hedge.
He seeks his food on the ground, and his movements are then utterly
unlike those of any other ground-feeder. His manner of running and
hopping about, flinging up his tail; his antics and little, excited
dashes, now to this side, now to that, give the idea that he is amusing
himself with some solitary game rather than seeking food. Richard
Jefferies has given so accurate and vivid a picture of the bird in his
‘Wild Life in a Southern County’ that I cannot refrain from quoting
it in this place. ‘To this hedge the hill-magpie comes; some magpies
seem to keep entirely to the downs, while others range the vale, though
there is no apparent difference between them. His peculiar uneven,
and, so to say, flickering flight marks him out at a distance, as he
jauntily journeys along beside the slope. He visits every fir-copse
and beech-clump in his way, spending some time, too, in and about the
hawthorn hedge, which is a favourite spot. Sometimes in the spring,
when the corn is yet short and green, if you glance carefully through
an opening in the bushes, or round the side of the gateway, you may see
him busy on the ground. His rather excitable nature betrays itself in
every motion: he walks, now to the right a couple of yards, now to the
left in quick zigzag, so working across the field towards you; then,
with a long rush, he makes a lengthy traverse at the top of his speed;
turns, and darts away again at right angles; and presently up goes his
tail, and he throws his head down with a jerk of the whole body, as if
he would thrust his beak deep into the earth. This habit of searching
the field, apparently for some favourite grub, is evidence in his
favour that he is not so entirely guilty as he has been represented of
innocent blood. No bird could be approached in that way. All is done in
a jerky, nervous manner. As he turns sideways, the white feathers show
with a flash above the green corn; another moment, and he looks all
black.’
In disposition the magpie is restless, inquisitive, excitable, and
loquacious. Where he is greatly persecuted by gamekeepers--as, indeed,
is the case almost everywhere in England--he grows so wary that, in
spite of his conspicuous colouring, it would be almost impossible to
get a glimpse of him, were it not for his outbursts of irrepressible
excitement and garrulity. The sight of a stoat, fox, or prowling cat
will instantly cause him to forget the more dangerous keeper and
his gun, and to fill the coppice with cries of alarm. The feathered
inhabitants of the wood hurry from all sides to ascertain the cause of
the outcry, and assist in driving out the intruder. But the keeper,
too, hears; this is the opportunity he has been long watching and
waiting for; and if he approaches the scene of excitement with due
caution, poor beautiful Mag, dead, and shattered with shot, will soon
be added to his festering trophies.
The usual sound emitted by the magpie is an excited chatter--a note
with a hard, percussive sound, rapidly repeated half a dozen times. It
may be compared to the sound of a wooden rattle, or to the bleating of
a goat; but there is always a certain resemblance to the human voice
in it, especially when the birds are unalarmed, and converse with one
another in subdued tones. But it is more like the guttural voice of the
negro than the white man’s voice. Their subdued chatter has sometimes
produced in me the idea that I was listening to the low talking and
laughing of a couple of negroes lying on their backs somewhere near. It
is well known that this bird can be taught to articulate a few words.
The magpie is a notable architect, and as a rule builds his nest in a
tall tree in or on the borders of a wood; sometimes in a low, isolated
tree or large bush, or in the centre of a thick hedge. It is large, and
formed of sticks and mud, with a hollow in the centre, plastered with
mud and lined with fibrous roots; over this solid platform and nest a
large dome of loosely interwoven thorny sticks is built, with a hole in
the side just large enough to admit the bird.
Magpies pair for life, and the nest may serve the birds for several
years, a little repairing work being bestowed on it each spring. The
eggs are usually six in number, but in some cases as many as nine are
laid. In colour they are pale bluish green, very thickly spotted and
freckled with olive-brown, and faintly blotched with ash-colour.
The magpie may be easily tamed; even the wild birds, when not
persecuted, become strongly familiar with man, and come about the house
like fowls. In a state of nature he subsists on grubs, worms, snails,
slugs, and various insects, and will eat any kind of animal food that
offers, not excepting carrion; he also devours young birds and eggs,
and is fond of ripe fruit. He is supposed to be a deadly enemy of the
poultry-yard, and a stealer of pheasant and partridge chicks; but it is
certain that his depredations have been greatly exaggerated.
Jackdaw.
Corvus monedula.
Crown and upper parts black with violet reflections; back of the head
and nape grey; iris white; under parts dull black. Length, fourteen
inches.
* * * * *
It is hard to pronounce which of our indigenous corvine species is the
most interesting. They are all wonderful birds; and to those who have
made pets of, and studied them, and know them intimately as most of us
know our dogs, they appear to excel other feathered creatures in the
quality of _mind_, just as thrushes, larks, and warblers do in
that of melody, and as terns and others of the more aërial kinds excel
in graceful motions. If the jackdaw is not the first of his family in
intelligence, he is certainly not behind any of them. In beauty he
does not compete with the three species already described--chough,
jay, and pie--and at a distance is only a lesser rook or carrion crow
in appearance; but there is a peculiar look about this bird when seen
closely that engages and holds the attention more than mere beauty
or grace. When he is sitting in repose, his head drawn in and beak
inclining downwards, and turns his face to you, it does not look quite
like a bird’s face: the feathers puffed out all round make the head
appear preternaturally large, and the two small, bright, whitish grey
eyes set close together in the middle have an expression of craft that
is somewhat human and a little uncanny.
The jackdaw is one of the birds that the gamekeeper wars against
without ruth, shooting and trapping them in the breeding season,
especially when they are occupied in feeding their young, and can
be seen and easily shot in their frequent journeys to and from the
nesting-tree. But the jackdaw is not so easy to extirpate as some of
its congeners. He is probably just as common as he ever was, while
the chough is rapidly dying out, and crow and jay and pie are yearly
diminishing in numbers, and the raven, driven from its inland haunts,
clings to existence in the wildest and most inaccessible parts of
the coast. The reason of this is that the jackdaw is more adaptive
than the other species. He has been compared in this respect to the
house-sparrow, for he can exist in town as well as country, and readily
adapts himself to new surroundings. The variety of sites he uses for
breeding purposes shows how plastic are his habits. He breeds apart
from his fellows, like the carrion crow; or in communities, like the
rook and chough. He builds in hollow trees in parks and woods, in
rabbit-burrows, in ruins, church-towers, and buildings of all kinds;
and in holes and crevices in cliffs, whether inland or facing the
sea, where he lives in company with the rock-pigeon and the puffin.
‘At Flamborough,’ Seebohm says, ‘the jackdaws are very abundant. A
republican might call them the aristocracy of the cliffs. Like the
modern noble, or the monks of the Middle Ages, they contrive to
eat the fat of the land without any ostensible means of living. They
apparently claim an hereditary right in the cliffs; for they catch
no fish, and do no work, but levy blackmail on the silly guillemots,
stealing the fish which the male has brought to the ledges for the
female, upsetting the egg of some unfortunate bird who has left it for
a short time, and devouring as much of its contents as they can get
hold of, when the egg is broken, on some ledge of rock or in the sea.’
[Illustration: ROOKS. JACKDAWS. STARLINGS.]
The social disposition of the jackdaw, and its friendliness towards
other species of its family, is no doubt favourable in the long run
to it; for by mixing with the rooks, both when feeding and roosting,
he comes in for a share of the protection extended to that bird
in most districts. There is also a sentiment favourable to the
jackdaw on account of its partiality for churches and castles: the
‘ecclesiastical’ daws are safe and fearless of man while soaring and
playing round the sacred buildings in villages and towns; when they go
abroad to forage, and are not with the rooks, there is danger for them,
and they are, accordingly, wary and shy of man.
At all seasons the jackdaw loves to consort with his fellows, and to
spend a portion of each day in aërial games and exercises: the birds
circle about in the air, pursuing and playfully buffeting one another,
and tumbling downwards, often from a great height, only to mount aloft
again, to renew the mock chase and battle and downward fall. They are
loquacious birds, and frequently call loudly to one another, both
when perched and when flying; the usual call-note has a clear, sharp,
querulous sound, something like the yelping bark of a small dog.
The nest is a rude structure made with sticks, dry grass, leaves, wool,
and other materials heaped together, and is large or small according
to the situation; when in a church-tower or hollow tree an enormous
quantity of material is sometimes used to fill up the cavity. The eggs
are four to six in number, and vary much in size, shape, and markings.
They are very pale blue, varying to greenish blue, in ground-colour,
and are spotted and blotched with blackish brown and olive-brown, with
pinkish grey under-markings.
The jackdaw is omnivorous, but subsists principally on worms, grubs,
and insects, which it picks up in the pastures where it feeds in
company with rooks and starlings. In spring it will eat the newly sown
grain, in autumn devours acorns and beech-mast, and in winter will
stoop to carrion.
In captivity the jackdaw makes a clever and amusing pet, and may be
taught to repeat a few words.
Carrion Crow.
Corvus corone.
Black with green and violet reflections; iris dark hazel; lower part of
the beak covered with bristly feathers. Length, nineteen inches.
* * * * *
The common, black, or carrion crow so closely resembles the rook in
form, size, and colouring as to be indistinguishable from it when seen
at a distance. Viewed nearer it is seen to have the base of the beak
clothed with feathers, instead of naked and grey, as is the case in
the more common bird. The young rook may, however, be mistaken for a
crow even when very near, as its face is feathered like the crow’s. In
voice the two birds differ, that of the crow being louder and very much
harsher--more like the raven’s croak than the familiar hoarse, but not
disagreeable, caw of the rook. In summer he may be identified by his
solitary habits. He has a very much worse reputation than the species
he so nearly resembles: both game-preserver and farmer regard him as a
pest, and he is said to be the most persecuted bird in this country.
But somehow, in spite of all that is done to extirpate him utterly,
he manages to keep a pretty strong hold on life, although he is not
common. He inhabits all of the British Islands, chiefly England and
Wales; in the central and northern parts of Scotland, and in Ireland,
he is rarely met with, his place in those countries being taken by the
hooded crow. When not engaged in breeding the crow is to some extent
gregarious, and is also social, associating both in the fields and at
roosting-time with rooks and jackdaws. And it is probable that this
habit has been of great advantage to him, and may even have saved the
species from extermination, for while among the rooks he easily passes
for a rook. That he is exceptionally sagacious, and very careful to
keep out of reach of his deadly human enemies, goes without saying;
he is a member of a family ranking high in intelligence; and being so
large and conspicuous a bird, his life is one of incessant danger. In
selecting a site for his nest his intelligence is sometimes at fault.
Not only is the nest a large structure, but, with a strange fatuity,
the bird will at times build in a conspicuous place near a house.
On the coast he is, like the raven and jackdaw, a nester in cliffs;
inland he usually builds in or on a large tree, and if the nest is
allowed to remain he will use it for several years. The nest is a large
platform, made of sticks, weeds, pieces of turf, and other materials,
with a hollow in the centre neatly lined with fine grass, wool, hairs,
and feathers. The eggs are four to six in number, in ground-colour pale
bluish green, spotted and blotched with various shades of olive-brown,
with purplish grey underlying blotches.
When there are young to feed the crow is exceedingly active; he is
then most destructive to young pheasants and other game, and is a
troublesome neighbour to the poultry. Young and weakly birds are
dropped upon and picked up with astonishing adroitness and rapidity.
He will pounce upon and carry off any small and easily conquered
animal to satisfy his nestful of voracious young. At other times he
is omnivorous: a carrion-eater like the raven, and devourer of dead
stranded fish and other animal refuse cast up by the sea; in the
pastures he searches for worms and grubs with the rooks; and when
occasion offers he feeds on grain, berries, walnuts, and fruit. He
appears to have a greater appetite than most species: he is said to be
the first bird astir in the morning, and from dawn until sunset he is
engaged incessantly in seeking food.
His flight resembles that of the rook, but is somewhat heavier.
Hooded Crow.
Corvus cornix.
Head, throat, wings, and tail black; the rest of the plumage ash-grey;
iris brown. Length, nineteen and a half inches.
* * * * *
This bird, which is also known as the hoodie, Royston crow, grey or
grey-backed crow, and by other names, is now regarded by some of our
first authorities on such subjects as a form of the carrion crow. In
England and Wales it is very rare. In Ireland, where the black crow
is almost unknown, it is common; it is also found throughout Scotland
and the Western Islands as a resident breeding species. In winter,
hooded crows visit the east coast of England in large numbers, and
are specially abundant on the Lincolnshire coast, where they feed on
shellfish and animal refuse left by the tide on the extensive mud
flats. These seaside crows that wait on the tide come to us from the
north of Europe, and leave our shores in spring.
Excepting in the matter of colour--one bird being wholly black and the
other grey on the back and under parts--the black and grey crows are
identical in size, language, and in all their habits, and what has been
said of the carrion crow applies to the present species.
Rook.
Corvus frugilegus.
Black with purple and violet reflections; base of the beak, nostrils,
and region round the beak bare of feathers, and covered with a white
scurf; iris greyish white. Length, eighteen inches.
* * * * *
The rook is common throughout the British Islands, and is our
best-known large land bird, being everywhere the most abundant species,
as well as the most conspicuous, owing to his great size, blackness,
gregariousness, and habits of perching and nesting on the tops of
trees, and of feeding on open grass spaces, where it is visible at
a long distance. Without being a favourite of either the gamekeeper
or the farmer, he is, in a measure, a protected species, the rookery
being looked on as a pleasant and almost indispensable appanage of
the country-house. It was not always so. In former times the rook was
regarded as a highly injurious bird, and in the reign of Henry VIII.
an Act of Parliament was passed to ensure its destruction. But this is
ancient history. The existing sentiment, which is so favourable to the
bird, probably had its origin centuries back in time, and the rook has
everywhere come to regard the trees that are near a human habitation as
the safest to build on. It is surprising to find how fearless of man he
is in this respect, while retaining a suspicious habit towards him when
at a distance from home. I recall one rookery on a clump of fir-trees
so close to a large house that, from the top windows, one can look down
on the nests and count the eggs in many of them; yet for miles round
the area is a well-wooded park, where the birds might easily have found
scores of sites as well or better suited to their requirements.
[Illustration: FIG. 56.--ROOKS AND NEST.]
The birds usually return to the rookery in February, and in March, or
even earlier if the weather should prove mild, they begin to repair
the old nests and build new ones. The nests are placed on the topmost
branches of the tree--elm, oak, birch, or fir; but an elm-tree is
generally made choice of. The tree to suit the rook must be tall--if
possible, the tallest tree in the place--for it is the instinct of
the bird not only to have his house far out of reach of all possible
terrestrial enemies, but so placed that a wide and uninterrupted view
of earth and sky may be obtained from it. As things now are his winged
enemies do him little hurt, but it was not always so. In the next
place, the branches must afford a suitable foundation to build on:
they must be strong, and forked, so as to hold the fabric securely
during high winds and sudden violent storms; furthermore, there must
be a clear space above or at the side, to enable the bird to approach
and leave it without striking against the surrounding boughs. It is
a well-known fact that rooks will desert a rookery when the trees
are decaying, even when, to a human eye, they appear sound. The most
probable explanation which has yet been offered of this fact is, that
a considerable amount of pliancy in the branches is necessary for the
safety of the nest; for if the branches do not yield and sway to the
force of the wind, the nest is in danger of being blown bodily out of
its place: in the decaying tree the upper branches become too stiff,
from the insufficient supply of sap.
The building and repairing time is one of great and incessant
excitement in the rookery; and it is curious to note that birds of such
a social disposition, and able to live together in concord at all other
times, are at this period extremely contentious. As a rule, when one
bird is abroad foraging for sticks, his mate remains on guard at the
nest. Among these watchers and the birds that are leaving and arriving
there is much loud cawing, which sounds like ‘language,’ in the slang
sense of the word; and it might appear that they were all at strife,
and each one fighting for himself. But it may be observed that a
majority of the birds respect each other’s rights, and never come into
collision, and that there are others, in most cases a very few, who
depart from these traditions, and are, like freebooters, always on the
watch to plunder sticks from their neighbours’ nests, instead of going
afield to gather them. The presence of these objectionable members of
the community may account for some of the curious episodes in the life
of the rookery--as, for instance, the fact that all the birds will
sometimes combine to persecute one pair, and demolish their nest again
and again as fast as it is made.
The nest, when completed, is a large structure, two feet or more in
diameter, made of sticks, and lined with dry grass. The eggs are four
to six in number, and are bluish green, spotted and blotched with
greyish purple and dull brown.
During incubation the male assiduously feeds his sitting mate, and
occasionally changes places with her; and after the young are out of
the shells both parents are engaged incessantly in collecting food for
them. From early morning until dark they may be seen flying to and from
the rookery, on each return journey carrying a cluster of worms and
grubs in the mouth.
When the young are fully fledged they are seen perching awkwardly
on the branches near the nest, occasionally making short, tentative
flights, and apparently anxious to go forth into that wide green world
spread out beneath their cradle and watch-tower. They are, happily,
ignorant of the doom that awaits them; for the time is now near when
the blood-tax must be levied on the community--the price which is paid
for protection; and, the young only being eatable, the slaughter must
fall on them. As a rule, a few of the young escape death, as, when the
shooting begins, and the old birds rise in haste to scatter in all
directions, a few of the most advanced young birds that are already
strong on the wing follow their parents to a place of safety.
After the breeding season, which is usually over at the beginning of
June, the rookery is forsaken; in some cases the birds disappear, and
do not return until the next spring; more often they pay an occasional
visit to the rookery, and some rookeries are visited almost daily
by the birds. But for the rest of the year their roosting-place is
elsewhere, often at a considerable distance. In districts where rooks
are abundant there is generally one great roosting-place, where the
communities inhabiting the country for many miles around are accustomed
to congregate at the end of each day. As the evening draws near the
birds begin to arrive from two, or three, or more directions, in
detachments or long, loose trains, flying steadily, at an equal height
above the ground. Where they settle the tree-tops are black with their
numbers; and as fresh contingents pour in the noise of the cawing grows
louder and more continuous, until it is in volume like the sound of a
surging sea. At intervals large numbers of birds rise up, to hang like
a black cloud above the trees for some minutes, but as the evening
darkens they all finally settle down for the night; still, in so vast
an assemblage there are always many waking individuals, and a noise of
subdued cawing may be heard throughout the hours of darkness. With the
returning light there is a renewal of the loud noise and excitement,
as the birds rise up and wheel about in the air before setting out on
their journey to their distant feeding-grounds.
Raven.
Corvus corax.
[Illustration: FIG. 57.--RAVEN. ¹⁄₁₂ natural size.]
Black with purple reflections; tail black; iris with two circles, the
inner grey, the outer ash-brown. Length, twenty-five inches.
* * * * *
The raven has the reputation, true or false, of being one of the
longest-lived birds; certainly it is one of the hardiest, and capable
of adapting itself to the greatest extremes of temperature. Its range
in the northern hemisphere extends from the regions of ‘thick-ribbed
ice’ to the damp, hot woods and burning coasts of Southern Mexico and
Central America. The tropical jaguar may help it to a meal at one
extremity of its range, the polar bear at the other. Compared to such
diversities of climate and of other conditions, those of the British
Islands are as nothing. From the Isle of Wight and the southern
coast to the northern extremity of Scotland, and beyond, to ‘utmost
Kilda’s lonely isle,’ the raven has lived in what, to a bird of his
grit, must have been a very pleasant garden with a mild and equable
temperature throughout the year. Formerly he was a fairly common bird
in all parts of our island, and it is probable that some protection
was accorded to him by owners of large estates, in spite of his evil
reputation, on account of some such sentiment as now exists with
regard to the rook. A pair of ravens in a woodland district, Seebohm
says, ‘was often considered the pride and pest of the parish.’ But
the sentiment, if it existed, was not strong enough, and the constant
persecution of the bird by its two principal enemies, the gamekeeper
and the shepherd, joined by a third during the present century in the
‘collector,’ has gradually driven it from all, or well-nigh all, its
ancient inland haunts, and it now exists in its last strongholds, the
rugged iron-bound sea-coast on the northern coasts of Scotland and the
neighbouring islands. A few--a very few--pairs are still to be met with
on some of the cliffs on the south and south-west coasts of England,
and on the Welsh coast; but even in the rudest and most solitary
localities inhabited by it the bird can keep its hold on life only by
means of a wariness and sagacity exceeding that of most other wild and
persecuted species.
Like most of the members of its family, the raven is omnivorous,
feeding indiscriminately on grubs, worms, insects, grain, fruit,
carrion, and animal food of all kinds. Being so much bigger and more
powerful than other crows, with a larger appetite to satisfy, he is
more rapacious in his habits, and bolder in attacking animals of
large size. He will readily attack a small lamb left by its dam, and
pick out its eyes; but, as a rule, his attacks on lambs and sheep are
confined to the very young and to the sickly or dying. He also attacks
hares, rabbits, and birds of various kinds, when he finds them ailing
or wounded by shot. He is fond of eggs, as well as of nestlings, and
plunders the nests of the sea-birds that inhabit the cliffs in his
neighbourhood. But the greatest part of his food consists of dead
animal matter cast up by the sea, and carrion of all kinds: a dead
sheep will afford him pasture for some days, and keep him out of
mischief--for he can be hawk or vulture as occasion offers.
In appearance the raven is a larger rook or carrion crow; he is a
fine bird, and his large size, the uniform blackness of his plumage,
and his deep, harsh, and human-like, croaking voice, strongly impress
the imagination. But the effect produced on the mind by the raven
is, doubtless, in part due to the bird’s reputation, to its ancient
historical fame, its large place in our older literature, and to the
various sombre superstitions connected with it. When feeding on a
carcase his appearance is not engaging: there is a lack of dignity in
his sidling or ‘loping’ motions, and savage haste in tearing at the
flesh, with a startled look round after each morsel. When disturbed
from his repast the slow, cumbrous, flapping flight as he rises
strongly reminds you of the vulture. He makes a nobler figure when
soaring high in the air, or along the face of some huge beetling cliff
that fronts the sea; for then his flight has power and ease as he falls
and rises, playing, like a giant chough or jackdaw, with his mate.
The raven pairs for life, and uses the same nest year after year. A
pair or two may still breed in a tree somewhere in Scotland or in the
north of England, but, in almost all cases, the bird now makes his nest
on a ledge of rock on some cliff on the sea-coast. It is a rude, bulky
structure, formed of sticks and heather, and lined with grass and wool.
The eggs are four to six in number, bluish green in ground-colour, more
or less thickly spotted and marked with dark olive-brown.
The raven is the earliest bird to breed in this country: the
nest-building begins in January, and the eggs are laid in February or
March.
* * * * *
Besides the eight species described, a ninth member of the corvine
family has been included among British birds; this is the nutcracker
(_Nucifraga caryocatactes_), a very irregular straggler to our shores
from northern Europe.
Skylark.
Alauda arvensis.
Upper parts varied with three shades of brown, the darkest of which
lies along the shaft of each feather; a faint whitish streak over the
eye; throat white; under parts yellowish white tinged with brown; the
throat and sides of neck with dark brown lanceolate spots, which form a
gorget just above the breast. Length, seven inches and a quarter.
* * * * *
[Illustration: FIG. 58.--SKYLARK. ⅓ natural size.]
The skylark is so universally diffused in these islands, and so
abundant, well known, and favourite a species, that anything beyond
a brief and prosaic account of its habits would appear superfluous.
His image, better than any pen can portray it, already exists in every
mind. A distinguished ornithologist, writing of the sparrow, declines
to describe its language, and asks his reader to open his window and
hear it for himself. In like manner, I may ask my reader to listen to
the lark’s song, which exists registered in his own brain. For he must
have heard it times without number, this being a music which, like
the rain and sunshine, falls on all of us. If someone, too curious,
should desire me not to concern myself with the images and registered
sensations of others’ brains, but to record here my own impressions and
feelings, I could but refer him to Shelley’s ‘Ode to a Skylark,’ which
describes the bird at his best--the bird, and the feeling produced
on the listener. Some ornithologist (I blush to say it) has pointed
out that the poet’s description is unscientific and of no value;
nevertheless, it embodies what we all feel at times, although we may
be without inspiration, and have only dull prose for expression. It is
true there are those who are not moved by nature’s sights and sounds,
even in her ‘special moments,’ who regard a skylark merely as something
to eat with a delicate flavour. It is well, if we desire to think the
best that we can of our fellows, to look on such persons as exceptions,
like those, perhaps fabled, monsters of antiquity who feasted on
nightingales’ tongues and other strange meats.
The skylark inhabits open places, and is to be met with on pastures,
commons, downs, and mountain slopes; but he prefers arable land, and
is most abundant in cultivated districts. In winter his song may
be occasionally heard in mild weather; in February it becomes more
frequent, and increases until the end of March, when it may be said
that his music is at full flood; and at this high point it continues
for several months, during which time successive broods are reared. A
more inexhaustible singer than the lark does not exist; and when we
consider how abundant and widely diffused the bird is, the number of
months during which he is vocal, and the character of the song--a rapid
torrent of continuous sound--it is almost possible to believe that the
melody from this one species actually equals in amount that from all
the other song-birds together.
The nest, made in April, is a slight hollow in the ground in a
cornfield, or among the grass of a meadow, or any open place, and is
composed of dry grass and moss, lined with fine grass and horsehair.
The eggs are four or five in number, greyish white, spotted and clouded
with greenish brown. Two or three broods are reared.
In September the skylarks begin to assemble in flocks and shift their
ground. At this season they migrate in large numbers; but many remain
throughout the year, except in the more northern districts. Large
flocks of migrants from the Continent also appear during the winter
months.
In winter the lark feeds chiefly on seeds; in summer he is an insect as
well as a seed eater.
Woodlark.
Alauda arborea.
Upper parts reddish brown, the centre of each feather dark brown; a
distinct yellowish white streak above the eye, extending to the back
part of the head; under parts yellowish white streaked with dark brown.
Tail very short. Length, six and a half inches.
* * * * *
In appearance the woodlark is a lesser skylark, with a shorter tail
in proportion to the body, and no apparent difference in colour,
except that the spots on the breast and the pale streak over the eye
are more conspicuous. It ranks with the six or eight finest British
songsters, but is the least known of all. The tree-pipit, sometimes
called woodlark, is a much better known songster. When the woodlark
is seen and heard he is taken by most people for the skylark. The
mistake is easily made, the song having the same character, and is a
continuous stream of jubilant sound, delivered in the same manner; for
the woodlark, too, soars, ‘and soaring, sings.’ He differs from the
skylark in his manner of rising: that bird goes up and up, not quite
vertically, but inclining now to this side, now to that, with intervals
of suspension, but still as if drawn heavenwards by an invisible cord
or magnet; the woodlark ascends in circles, and finally does not
attain to so great a height. He also sings on his perch on a tree, and
rises from the tree to sing aloft, and in this habit he is like the
tree-pipit. Although the woodlark’s song resembles that of the larger
bird in character, there is more sameness in the flow of sounds, and
it is not so powerful; on the other hand, the sounds are sweeter in
quality. Of the two, he is the more constant singer, and may be heard
in mild weather throughout the autumn and winter months. His usual call
is a melodious double note.
The woodlark is very local in its distribution; it is nowhere common,
and its range in this country is a somewhat limited one. In the north
of England it is very rare, and in Scotland it has only once been
observed breeding. In Ireland it breeds in some localities. It inhabits
wooded parks and the borders of woods and commons, and grass-lands in
the vicinity of trees and hedgerows; for although it feeds, roosts,
and nests on the ground, it must, like the tree-pipit, have trees to
perch on; and, like that bird, it has a favourite perch, where it may
be confidently looked for at any hour of the day during the spring and
summer months.
The nest is placed in a slight hollow in the ground, under a bush, or
sheltered by grass and herbage, and is formed of dry grass and moss,
and lined with finer grass and hair. The eggs are four or five in
number, buffish or faint greenish white in ground-colour, freckled and
spotted with reddish brown, with purple-grey under-markings. Three, and
even four, broods are said to be reared in the season.
In autumn and winter the woodlarks unite in families or small flocks,
and at this season they have a partial or internal migration, the birds
that breed in the northern counties moving south. In the southern and
south-western counties they remain stationary, and it is observed that
during a spell of mild weather in winter these small flocks break up,
but re-form at the return of cold.
Besides the two indigenous larks, we have as rare stragglers the
following four species: the crested lark (_Alauda cristata_), an
inhabitant of Europe and Asia; the short-toed lark (_Calendrella
brachydactyla_), from southern Europe; the white-winged lark
(_Melanocorypha sibirica_), a Siberian species, obtained once in
England; and the shore-lark (_Otocorys alpestris_), an irregular
winter visitor from North Europe, Asia, and America.
Swift.
Cypselus apus.
Sooty brown; chin greyish white; tarsi feathered; bill, feet, and claws
shining black. Length, seven and a half inches.
* * * * *
The swift arrives in this country about the end of April or early
in May, and from that time onwards, throughout the spring and
summer months, day after day, from morning until evening, he may be
seen overhead, in twos, threes, and half-dozens, pursuing his mad,
everlasting race through the air. Even as late as ten o’clock in the
evening, or later, when his form can no longer be followed by the
straining sight, his shrill, exulting cry may be heard at intervals,
now far off, and now close at hand, showing that the daylight hours of
these northern latitudes are not long enough to exhaust his wonderful
energy. It has even been supposed by some naturalists that, when not
incubating, he spends the entire night on the wing. This is hard to
believe; but if we consider his rate of speed, and the number of hours
he visibly spends on the wing, it would be within the mark to say that
the swift, in a sense, ‘puts a girdle round the earth’ two or three
times a month. Year after year the swifts return to the same localities
to breed, and there are few towns, villages, hamlets, or even isolated
mansions and farmhouses in the British Islands where this bird is
not a summer guest. The bunch of swifts to be seen rushing round the
tower of every village church are undoubtedly the same birds, or their
descendants, that have occupied the place from time immemorial; and it
is probable that the annual increase is just sufficient to make good
the losses by death each year. It is hard to believe that a life so
strenuous can last very long, and impossible to believe that birds so
free of the air are subject to many fatal accidents. A spell of intense
frost is very fatal to them in spring, but the cold is their only enemy
in this country.
The black swift, or ‘develing,’ or ‘screecher,’ as he is sometimes
named, with his exceedingly long, stiff, scythe-shaped wings, still
‘urging his wild career’ through the air, is a figure familiar to
everyone. And his voice, too, is a familiar sound to every ear. It is
usually described as a harsh scream. Wild and shrill and piercing it
certainly is, but it varies greatly with the bird’s emotions, and is at
times a beautiful silvery sound, which many would hear with delight if
uttered by the song-thrush or nightingale.
The swift breeds in holes in church-towers and in houses, its favourite
site being under the eaves of a thatched cottage; it also nests in
crevices in the sides of chalk-pits and sea-cliffs, and sometimes in
hollow trees. A slight nest of straw and feathers, made to adhere
together with the bird’s saliva, is built, and two eggs are laid;
they are oval in form, white in colour, and have rough shells. One
brood only is reared in the season, and the birds depart at the end of
August, but stragglers may be met with as late as October.
* * * * *
The white-bellied swift (_Cypselus melba_) is known in England
as a rare straggler from Central and Southern Europe. A still rarer
straggler from Eastern Siberia, where it breeds, is the needle-tailed
swift (_Acanthyllis caudacuta_); of this species not more than two
or three specimens have been obtained in this country.
Nightjar.
Caprimulgus europæus.
Ash-grey spotted and barred with black, brown, and chestnut; first
three primaries with a large white patch on the inner web, the two
outer tail-feathers on each side tipped with white. Length, ten and a
quarter inches.
* * * * *
[Illustration: FIG. 59.--NIGHTJAR. ⅕ natural size.]
The nightjar, or goatsucker, is the representative of a type widely
distributed on the earth; we have only one species, just as we have but
one swift, one kingfisher, one wryneck, and one cuckoo. And, having but
one, and this being so singular a bird, unlike all other species known
to us, in structure, colouring, language, and habits, he excites a
great deal of interest, and is very well known, although a night-bird,
nowhere abundant, and a sojourner with us for only about four months
and a half out of the twelve. He arrives in this country about the
middle of May, and inhabits commons, moors, and stony places, and is
also to be met with in woods. He is found in all suitable localities
throughout Great Britain, but is more local in Ireland. Year after
year he returns to the same spot to breed, faithful as the swift to
its church-tower and the wryneck to its hollow tree, although the
unforgotten spot may be on level waste land with a uniform surface.
During the daylight hours he sits on the ground among bracken or
heather, or by the side of a furze-bush, or in some open place where
there is no shelter; but so long as he remains motionless it is all
but impossible to detect him, so closely does he resemble the earth in
colour. And here we see the advantage of his peculiar colouring--the
various soft shades of buff and brown and grey, which at a short
distance harmonise with the surroundings, and render him invisible.
When perching on a tree he makes himself invisible in another way:
his habit is to perch, not crossways on a branch, but lengthways. He
rises from the ground when almost trodden on, and goes away with a
silent flight, darting this way and that in an eccentric course, and
looking more like a great grey mottled and marbled moth than a bird.
After going a short distance he drops to earth just as suddenly as he
rose. After sunset he may be seen on the borders of woods, by the side
of hedges, and in meadows near the water, pursuing his insect prey,
dashing rapidly along, with quick turns and doublings, as of a lapwing
at play. At this hour his curious reeling, spinning, or whirring
song may be heard, a little like the song of the grasshopper warbler
in character; but the warbler’s song is a whisper by comparison. ‘The
sound,’ Yarrell truly says, ‘can be easily imitated by vibrating the
tongue against the roof of the mouth; but the imitation, excellent as
it may be close to the performer, is greatly inferior in power, being
almost inaudible to anyone twenty yards off, while the original can be
heard in calm weather for half a mile or more.’ Of the other curious
vocal performance of the nightjar the same author says: ‘On the wing,
while toying with his mate, or executing his rapid evolutions round
the trees, ... the cock occasionally produces another sound, which, by
some excellent observers, has been called a squeak, but to the writer
is exactly like that which can be made by swinging a whipthong in the
air.’ Most of the names the bird is called by have reference to its
summer song--spinner, wheelbird, night-churn, and churn-owl.
The nightjar deposits its two eggs on the bare ground; their colour
is white or cream, blotched, mottled, clouded, and veined with brown,
blackish brown, and grey. One brood is reared in the season. The return
migration is in September.
* * * * *
A single specimen of the red-necked nightjar (_Caprimulgus
ruficollis_), an inhabitant of South-western Europe, has been
obtained in this country; and (in 1883) one specimen of the Egyptian
nightjar (_Caprimulgus ægyptius_), was shot in Nottinghamshire.
Spotted Woodpecker.
(Great Spotted Woodpecker.)
Dendrocopus major.
Crown and upper parts black; a crimson patch on the back of the head;
a white spot on each side of the neck; scapulars, lesser wing-coverts,
and under parts white; belly and under tail-coverts crimson.
_Female_: without crimson on the head. Length, nine and a half
inches.
* * * * *
The present species is less common than the green woodpecker; and as
it seldom goes to the ground, and usually confines its food-seeking
to the higher branches of trees, it is rarely seen. Nor is it nearly
so loquacious as the larger bird, nor so richly coloured, although
handsome and conspicuous in its black-and-white dress, with a touch
of glossy crimson on the nape. It frequents woods, hedgerows, and
plantations, also pollard willows growing by the side of streams. It
may be met with in most English counties, but in the northern counties
and in Scotland it is very scarce. In Ireland it does not breed,
although occasionally seen there as a migrant in winter. These migrants
come from northern Europe, sometimes in considerable numbers, and
are diffused over the British Islands; the birds of British race are
believed to remain in this country throughout the year.
[Illustration: FIG. 60.--SPOTTED WOODPECKER. ⅕ natural size.]
Like most woodpeckers, this species feeds principally on insects found
in crevices of the bark and decayed wood of trees. In the season he
becomes a fruit and seed eater, and visits gardens and orchards to
steal the cherries; and also feeds on berries, nuts, acorns, and
fir-seeds. He is, for a woodpecker, a silent bird; his usual call is a
sharp, quick note, repeated two or three times. The most curious sound
he makes is instrumental: it is the love-call of the bird, produced by
striking the beak on a branch so rapidly as to produce a long jarring
or rattling note.
The eggs are laid in a hole in a tree, not always made by the bird;
they are six or seven in number, and creamy white in colour.
Barred Woodpecker.
(Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.)
Dendrocopus minor.
Forehead and lower parts dirty white; crown bright red; nape, back, and
wings black with white bars; tail black, the outer feathers tipped with
white and barred with black; iris red. Length, five and a half inches.
* * * * *
When Yarrell wrote that the neglect of the name of barred woodpecker,
which had been used by some authors for the present species, was to be
regretted for brevity’s sake, it was a pity that he did not go so far
as to reintroduce it in his great work. For doubtless many a writer
on birds has groaned in spirit at the necessity laid upon him to use
two such cumbrous names as great, or greater, spotted woodpecker, and
lesser spotted woodpecker. Partly on this account I lament Yarrell’s
timidity, and partly for a personal reason, since my boldness in using
the neglected name will be taken by some readers as an exemplification
of the familiar truth that fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
But no one will deny that the book-names of these two woodpeckers are
bad, and to some extent misleading, since the birds are as unlike in
markings as they are in size. The first is as big as a fieldfare,
and is spotted; the second is scarcely larger than a linnet, and is
distinctly barred.
The barred woodpecker is found in most English counties as far north
as York; in Scotland and Ireland it is a rare straggler. It is nowhere
common, and appears to be even rarer than it is, owing to its small
size and its habit of frequenting tall trees. Its usual note is a
sharp chirp, resembling that of the blackbird when going to roost; its
love-call, as in the case of the spotted woodpecker, is instrumental,
and produced in the same manner. The sound varies in tone and pitch
according to the character of the tree performed on, and has been
compared to the sound made by an auger when used in boring hard wood;
also to the creaking of a branch swayed by the wind.
The barred woodpecker in most cases makes a nesting-hole for itself in
the branch or trunk of a soft-wooded tree. Six or seven smooth, creamy
white eggs are laid.
Green Woodpecker.
Gecinus viridis.
[Illustration: FIG. 61.--GREEN WOODPECKER. ⅙ natural size.]
Upper parts olive-green; rump yellow; under parts greenish grey; crown,
back of the head, and moustaches crimson; face black. _Female_:
less crimson on the head; moustaches black. Length, thirteen inches.
* * * * *
The chief characteristic of this beautiful woodland bird is his
extraordinary energy. His entire structure, from the straight, sharp,
powerful bill, and long, barbed tongue, to the climbing feet and stiff
tail-feathers, used as a support to the body when clinging vertically
to the trunk of a tree, is admirably adapted to the laborious trade
he follows. And this peculiar form has its correlative in a strength,
boldness, and determination in attacking a hard piece of work that are
nothing less than brilliant. One is astonished at the force of the
sounding blows he delivers on the tough bark and wood in his search
for hidden insects; yet this is one of the common, small, everyday
tasks of his life, and not comparable to the huge labour of digging
a breeding-hole deep into the heart of a large branch or trunk of
a tree. This energy and intensity of life shows itself also in his
motions, gestures, and language. His very qualities of eagerness
and determination in splitting up the wood in which his prey lies
concealed, and the loud racket he is compelled to make at such times,
call upon him the undesirable attentions of the species that are his
enemies: he must, when hammering on a tree, be exceedingly vigilant all
the while, less some prowling sparrow-hawk or swift-descending falcon
shall take him unawares. The wood he exerts his strength on does not
absorb his whole attention: his eyes are all the time glancing this way
and that, and on the slightest appearance of danger he is nimble as a
squirrel to place the trunk or branch between himself and a possible
enemy. After a few moments of hiding his red head becomes visible as
he peeps cautiously round the trunk, and if the danger be then over he
goes back to his task. In the presence of a winged enemy he finds his
safety in clinging to the trunk, round which he can move so rapidly, as
on the wing he is a heavy bird; but hawks are now rare in England, and
his chief persecutors are men with guns.
The language of the green woodpecker, or yaffle, as he is called in
the southern counties, adds greatly to his attractiveness; his ringing
cry is a sound to rejoice the hearer. Many of the woodpeckers have
extremely powerful voices, and the cry of the great black woodpecker
of continental Europe has been described by one familiar with it as
being like the ‘yell of a demon.’ This ‘demon’ must, I imagine, be a
very blithe-hearted one, and its ‘yell’ an expression of wild, joyous,
woodland life which we should be glad to listen to in England. Our
bird’s voice is not so powerful; but who has not been made happier for
a whole day by hearing his ‘loud laugh,’ as one of our old poets has
called his cry? It is a clear, piercing sound, so loud and sudden that
it startles you, full of wild liberty and gladness; and when I listen
for and fail to hear it in park or forest, I feel that I have missed a
sound for which no other bird cry or melody can compensate me.
This species is found in woods and parks throughout England as far
north as Derbyshire and the south of Yorkshire; farther north he is
very rare as a breeder, and in Ireland is only known as a straggler.
In seeking his food he climbs obliquely up the trunk, until, having
mounted to the higher branches, he passes with a dipping flight to the
next tree, invariably alighting near the roots. In summer he feeds a
great deal on the ground, especially on ants, of which he is very fond.
The breeding-hole is usually made in a soft-wooded tree; it is carried
straight to the heart of the wood, and is then extended downwards to
the depth of about a foot. In most cases it is found that the heart of
the tree selected by the birds is rotten, although outwardly no signs
of decay may appear. The hole ends in a chamber in which the eggs are
deposited on a slight bed of chips; the eggs are four to seven in
number, are oval in form and have pure white polished shells. The young
when fledged come out of their cell in the tree’s heart, and creep
about the bark for some days before they are able to fly.
The same breeding-hole is used for several years, if not taken
possession of by a pair of marauding starlings, which not unfrequently
happens.
Wryneck.
Iÿnx torquilla.
Upper parts reddish grey, irregularly spotted and lined with brown
and black; a broad black and brown band from the back of the head to
the back; under parts dull white, tinged with buff, and barred with
dark brown, except on the breast and belly, where the markings become
arrow-headed in form; outer web of the quills marked with rectangular,
alternate black and yellowish red spots; tail-feathers barred with
black zigzag bands; beak and feet olive-brown. Length, seven inches.
* * * * *
[Illustration: FIG. 62.--WRYNECK. ⅓ natural size.]
The wryneck is placed by anatomists next to the woodpeckers, and is
like them in the form of its feet and the habit of perching vertically
on the trunks of trees; but he does not dig into the wood with his
beak, nor does he support himself with his tail, the feathers of which
are soft, as in most perching birds. He is a singular bird, differing
from all others in form, colouring, language, and habits. His variously
coloured plumage, so curiously and beautifully barred and mottled, is
most like that of the nightjar; but his beauty appears only when he
is seen very near. At a distance of twenty-five or thirty yards he is
obscure in colouring, and is more remarkable for his attitudes and
gestures, when seen on a tree trunk deftly and rapidly picking up the
small ants on which he feeds. When thus engaged he twists his neck,
turning his head from side to side in a most singular manner; hence the
name of wryneck. When taken in the hand he twists his neck about in the
same manner, and hisses like a snake, as he also does when disturbed
during incubation; and on this account he has been called snake-bird.
When held in the hand he sometimes swoons, and appears to be dead until
released, whereupon he quickly recovers and makes his escape. Even more
characteristic than his contortions, hissings, and ‘death feignings,’
is his voice. It is an unmistakable and familiar sound of early spring,
as distinctive as the shrill cry of the swift and the cuckoo’s call--a
clear, high-pitched, far-reaching note, reiterated many times--a sound
that makes itself heard at a distance of a quarter of a mile. As a
rule, this note is heard a few days before the cuckoo’s call, and on
this account the wryneck is known in the southern counties, where he is
most common, as the cuckoo’s mate, or messenger, or boder, and is also
called the cuckoo’s maid.
The wryneck feeds chiefly on ants and their larvæ, and, like the
green woodpecker, he goes to the anthills on commons and uncultivated
grounds; the insects are taken with the long, retractile tongue, which
is covered with an adhesive saliva, and which the bird, when feeding,
darts out and withdraws with lightning rapidity.
A hole in the trunk of a tree, often near the roots, is a favourite
nesting-place. The eggs are seven to ten in number, and are deposited,
without any nest, on the rotten wood. They are pure white, and have
glossy shells. The same breeding-hole is used year after year.
The wryneck is most common in the southern and south-eastern counties;
in the West of England and in Wales it is rarer. In the northern
counties of England it is also rare and local; in Scotland it does not
breed, and in Ireland it is not known.
Kingfisher.
Alcedo ispida.
[Illustration: FIG. 63.--KINGFISHER. ¼ natural size.]
Back azure-blue; head and wing-coverts bluish green spotted with
azure-blue; under and behind the eye a reddish band, passing into
white, and beneath this a band of azure-green; wings and tail greenish
blue; throat white; under parts rusty orange-red. Length, seven and a
half inches.
* * * * *
The kingfisher is by far the most brilliantly coloured bird in the
British Islands; and those who see it living and moving with the
sunlight on it can form an idea of the wonderful lustre of many
tropical species, which certainly cannot be done by gazing on the
labelled pellets of dead and dimmed feathers, called ‘specimens,’ in
cabinets and museums. Unhappily, this rare splendour of the kingfisher,
which gives it value, has served only to draw destruction upon it. As
Yarrell long ago said, it is persecuted chiefly because of its beauty,
and the desire to possess a stuffed specimen in a glass case. It is
found in suitable localities throughout Great Britain where it has
not been exterminated to gratify the vile taste that prefers a mummy
to a living creature. In Ireland it is rare and local as a breeding
species, but as an autumn and winter visitor is found throughout the
country. It frequents streams and rivers, and the margins of lakes,
and, more rarely, the seaside. It is a solitary bird, and, like the
dipper, restricts itself to one part of the stream where it gets
its food. Day after day it returns to the same perch, where it sits
watching the surface, silent and immovable as a heron. It looks out for
its prey both when perched and when flying at a height of a few feet
above the surface, and often hovers motionless for a few moments before
darting down into the water. With the minnow it captures held crossways
in the beak it flies to a perch, and, after beating it against the
branch or stone, swallows it, head first, sometimes tossing it in the
air and catching it as it falls. It also preys on aquatic insects
and small crustaceans. The pairing-time is early, and in February or
March the birds make choice of a breeding place, usually near their
fishing-ground, but sometimes at a distance of a mile or more from the
water. A hole is dug in a bank to a depth of from one to three or four
feet; but sometimes the birds find a hole suited to their purpose, or a
cavity under the roots of a tree growing on an overhanging bank, which
they occupy. The hole made by the birds has an upward slope, and ends
in a chamber about six inches in diameter. Here is formed the nest, of
the strangest material used by any nest-making bird. The kingfisher,
like the owl and cuckoo and many other species, casts up the
indigestible portions of its food--the minute bones of minnows in this
case--in the form of small pellets. The pellets are thrown up in the
nest-chamber, and, when broken up and pressed down by the sitting-bird,
are shaped into a cuplike nest. The eggs are six to eight in number,
pure white and translucent, and globular in form.
Probably the kingfisher pairs for life, as the same breeding-hole is
used year after year, although the two birds are not seen together out
of the breeding season.
The cry is a shrill but musical piping note, two or three times
repeated, somewhat like the sandpiper’s cry.
* * * * *
Two specimens of the belted kingfisher (_Ceryle alcyon_), an American
species, have been obtained in Ireland.
Three other birds remain to be noticed in this place; they are members
of three distinct families, and are amongst the most beautiful of the
rare occasional visitors seen in our country:--
The roller (_Coracius garrula_), a jay-like bird, blue and
chestnut-brown in colour. It breeds in Southern and Central Europe, and
is known only as a rare straggler in the British Islands.
The bee-eater (_Merops apiaster_)--A good many examples of this elegant
and richly coloured bird have been obtained in England. It is an
abundant species in Southern Europe, where it breeds in colonies in
sandbanks, like our sand-martin.
The hoopoe (_Upupa epops_).--This species has some claim to a place
among British birds, as it is an annual visitor to our country,
although in small numbers. It is a singular and beautiful bird, and it
is sad to think that, but for the persecution it has encountered year
after year, it would most probably have established itself as a regular
breeding species in the southern counties of England.
[Illustration: FIG. 64.--HOOPOE.]
Cuckoo.
Cuculus canorus.
Upper parts bluish ash, darker on the wings, lighter on the neck and
breast; under parts whitish with transverse dusky streaks; quills
barred on the inner webs with oval white spots; tail-feathers
blackish, tipped and spotted with white; beak dusky, edged with yellow;
orbits and inside of mouth orange yellow; iris and feet yellow.
_Young_: ash-brown barred with reddish brown; tips of feathers
white; a white spot on the back of the head. Length, thirteen and a
half inches.
* * * * *
[Illustration: FIG. 65.--CUCKOO. ⅙ natural size.]
There are many cuckoos in the world, and in some countries it would be
possible to see three or four, or even half a dozen, distinct species
in the course of a single day. We have but one, and have made much of
it. ‘Perhaps no bird,’ says Yarrell, ‘has attracted so much attention,
while of none have more idle tales been told.’ And he might have added,
that of no other bird so much remains to be known. Our cuckoo interests
us in two distinct ways: he charms us, and he affects the mind with his
strangeness. He is a visitor of the early spring, with a far-reaching,
yet soft and musical, voice, full of beautiful associations, prophetic
of the flowery season. To quote Sir Philip Sidney’s words, applying
them to a feathered instead of to a human troubadour: ‘He cometh to
you with a tale to hold children from their play and old men from
the chimney-corner.’ Seen, this melodist has the bold figure, rough,
feathered legs, and barred plumage of a hawk. This fierce, predacious
aspect is deceptive: he is a timid bird, with the climbing feet of the
woodpecker and wryneck. Strangest of all, the female has the habit of
placing her eggs in other birds’ nests, forgetting her motherhood, a
proceeding which, being contrary to nature’s use, seems unnatural.
It reads like a tale from the ‘Thousand and One Nights,’ in which we
sometimes encounter human beings, good, or bad, or merely fantastic,
who wander about the world disguised as birds. Only when we see and
handle the cuckoo’s egg placed in the hedge-sparrow’s, or pipit’s, or
wagtail’s nest, when we see the large hawk-like young cuckoo being
fed and tenderly cared for by its diminutive foster-parent, do we
realise the extraordinary nature of such an instinct. In spite of this
‘naughtiness’ of the cuckoo, to speak of it in human terms, it is to
all a favourite, ‘the darling of the year,’ and from the days when the
oldest known English lyric was written--
Summer is icumen in,
Loud sing cuckoo,
to the present time the poets have found inspiration in his fluting
call; and musicians, too, owing to that unique quality of his voice
which makes it imitable and harmonious with human music, vocal and
instrumental.
The cuckoo does not usually arrive in this country before the middle of
April, but he is sometimes two, and even three weeks earlier. The males
arrive first, and it is they that utter the well-known double call that
gives the bird its name. The cry of the female, a curious prolonged
bubbling sound, is heard less frequently.
One of the strangest facts in the strange history of this bird is that
its egg is not laid in the nest in which it is found, but is carried
by the cuckoo in her bill and placed there. It is very small for so
large a bird, although much larger, in most cases, than the eggs it is
placed with, as its favourite nests in this country are all of small
birds--the hedge-sparrow, reed-warbler, pied wagtail, and meadow-pipit.
The eggs are very variable, being dull greenish or dull reddish grey,
with spots and mottlings of a deeper shade. In some instances the
cuckoo’s egg resembles in colour the eggs it is placed with, and it is
thought by some naturalists that the female cuckoo invariably deposits
her eggs in the nests of one species. As a rule, only one egg is laid
in a nest, and a few days after the eggs are hatched the young cuckoo
gets rid of his foster-brothers by getting them on to his back, which
is broad and hollow, and throwing them over the side of the nest. If
any unhatched eggs remain in the nest, he gets rid of them in the same
way.
The food of the cuckoo is exclusively insectivorous, and consists in
large part of hairy caterpillars, which most birds refuse to touch.
The indigestible portions of the food he swallows are cast up in small
pellets.
By August the old birds take their departure; the young migrate one to
two months later.
* * * * *
No fewer than three exotic cuckoos have been placed on the list of
British birds. Two of these are American species: the yellow-billed
cuckoo (_Coccyzus americanus_) and the black-billed cuckoo
(_C. erythrophthalmus_). The third is the great spotted cuckoo
(_Coccystes glandarius_), an African species, which visits Spain
in summer, and, like our bird, is parasitical, but has the habit of
depositing its eggs in the nests of various species of the crow family.
Barn-Owl.
Strix flammea.
Beak yellowish white; upper parts light tawny yellow minutely
variegated with brown, grey, and white; face and lower plumage white,
the feathers of the margin tipped with brown. Length, fourteen inches.
* * * * *
The barn-owl is one of the very few species that have almost a
world-wide range. It is resident throughout the British Islands, and
inhabits the greater part of Europe; it extends to Africa, including
Madagascar; to India and America, and to the Malaysian, Australian, and
Polynesian regions; and is found in islands so widely separated and
far removed from the mainland as the Azores, Madeira, the Canaries,
and Cape de Verde. The short-eared owl has a distribution just as
wide, or even wider; but that bird, wherever found, is of a wandering
habit, making his home and breeding-place wherever food is abundant,
and staying not where it fails him. His action resembles, only on a
vaster scale, that of the nomads of the human race, who break up their
camp and move away from the district that no longer affords pasture
to their cattle. Thus, in the case of this species, the vagrant habit
may be held to account for so extensive a range. But the barn-owl’s
universality cannot be accounted for in the same way, since he is, in
most countries, a stay-at-home bird, and spends his whole life, from
year’s end to year’s end, in the same spot. We can only conjecture that
at some former and very remote period in the history of his species he,
too, had a vagrant disposition; or else that he is a very ancient bird
on the earth, and has had unlimited time to get so widely dispersed;
also, that the barn-owl is one of those rare types that can exist
unaltered in a great variety of conditions. One of our domestic birds,
the goose, affords an instance of the unchangeableness of some types in
all regions of the globe; but the goose has been carried everywhere by
adventurous white men, while the barn-owl, by means unknown to us, has
distributed himself over the earth.
[Illustration: FIG. 66.--BARN-OWL. ⅐ natural size.]
Another general remark about this most strange and fascinating fowl may
be made in this place. The barn-owl, being so widely distributed, and
in many countries the most common species, and being, furthermore, the
only member of its order that attaches itself by preference to human
habitations, and is a dweller in towns as well as in rural districts,
is probably the chief inspirer and object of the innumerable ancient
owl superstitions which still flourish in all countries among the
ignorant. His blood-curdling voice, his whiteness, and extraordinary
figure, and, when viewed by day on his perch in some dim interior, his
luminous eyes and great round face, and wonderful intimidating gestures
and motions, must powerfully affect the primitive mind, for in that
low intellectual state whatever is strange is regarded as supernatural.
Before sitting down to write this little history I went out into
the woods, and was so fortunate as to hear three owls calling with
unearthly shrieks to one another from some large fir-trees under which
I was standing, and, listening to them, it struck me as only natural
that in so many regions of the earth this bird should have been, and
should still be, regarded as an evil being, a prophet of disaster and
death.
The barn-owl takes up his abode by preference in a building of some
kind--an old ruin, a loft in a barn or an outhouse; but above most
sites he prefers an ivyclad church-tower, on which account he has been
called the church-owl. He also inhabits caves and holes in cliffs, and
hollow trees in woods. He spends the daylight hours, standing upright
and motionless, dozing on his perch; and, where he is persecuted, he
does not stir abroad until dark. When he is not molested he leaves
his hiding-place before sunset, and is so little suspicious of man
as to appear like a domestic bird in his presence. He preys on mice,
rats, moles, insects, and even fish, which he has been observed to
take in his claws from lakes and ponds. The indigestible portions of
the small animals he swallows--the fur, feathers, bones, wing-cases,
and scales--are disgorged in compact round pellets about the size of a
cob-nut; and from an examination of a vast number of such pellets, it
would appear that about nine-tenths of the food of this owl consists of
mice.
This fact is now so generally known that the owl, from being one of
the most persecuted of birds, is becoming a general favourite; and
farmers who formerly shot it, and nailed it, with outspread wings, to
their barn-doors, in order that all might see and admire their zeal in
ridding the earth of so misshapen a pest, are now only anxious to have
the ‘feathered cats’ living in their barns again.
The owl makes no nest, and lays from two to six eggs, which are white
and nearly round. It has the curious habit of laying two or three eggs,
and, long after incubation has begun, laying others, and then others
again, so that young of different ages and eggs not yet near hatching
may be found in the nest together. The young make a curious snoring
noise, which is their hunger cry; and it has been said that this cry is
also occasionally uttered by the old bird on the wing.
Long-eared Owl.
Asio otus.
Beak blackish; eyes orange-yellow; upper parts buff, finely mottled
with brown and grey, and streaked with dark brown, especially on the
ear-tufts; facial disk buff, with a greyish black margin and outer
rim; under parts warm buff and grey, with blackish streaks and minute
transverse bars. Length, fifteen inches.
* * * * *
The long-eared owl may be described as a bird of beautiful plumage.
The hues of the upper parts--various shades of yellow, buff, and
brown, harmoniously disposed--and something, too, in the indeterminate
pattern, remind us of the colouring of some of the very handsome
cats. This cat-like colouring, long tufts of ear-like feathers, and
large, round, fiery, yellow eyes, give the bird a singular and uncanny
appearance. As a vocalist he is less interesting than the two other
most common British species--the white owl, with its sepulchral shriek,
and the tawny owl, with its mellow hoot--that mysterious sound of the
deep woods at eventide. The commonest note of the present species is a
mewing cry, heard when the birds begin to stir from their hiding-places
before going out to forage. It also emits at times a short, barking cry.
The long-eared owl appears to be more gregarious than other species,
except, perhaps, the short-eared owl. Mr. Abel Chapman writes: ‘A
peculiarity of the habits of these owls after the breeding-season
deserves a remark. As soon as the young were fledged the whole of the
owls associated together, perhaps three or four broods, old and young,
in a single family, and chose a thick black Scotch fir for their abode.
Here they all passed the day. To this particular tree the whole of the
owl-life of these woods resorted regularly at dawn, and in it slept
away the hours of daylight, hidden amongst the deep evergreen recesses.
At the particular tree of their choice (it varied in different years)
the owls could invariably be interviewed during the summer and autumn,
though to a casual eye it was difficult, amidst the deep shadows of the
foliage, to distinguish their slim forms, pressed closely against the
brown branches of the pine. Towards dusk their awakening was notified
by the querulous cat-like cry; ten minutes later their silent forms
appeared outside the wood, and, after a few rounds of preliminary
gyrations, it was dark enough to commence operations in earnest.’
[Illustration: LONG-EARED OWL. CHAFFINCH. GREAT, BLUE, AND COAL
TITS. GOLDCREST.]
Field-mice and rats are its principal food; it also preys a good deal
on insects, and kills more small birds than does the white owl. It
is an early breeder, laying its eggs in the deserted nest of a crow,
magpie, rook, or heron, or in a squirrel’s drey, or even making use of
the slight platform-nest of the wood-pigeon. The eggs are four to six
in number, nearly round in shape, and have smooth white shells.
Short-eared Owl.
Asio brachyotus.
Face whitish; beak black; iris yellow; tufts on the head small,
composed of black feathers; eyes encircled by brownish black; upper
parts dusky brown edged with yellow; under parts dull yellow streaked
with brown. Length, fifteen inches.
* * * * *
In its habits the short-eared owl offers a strong contrast to the
species last described. It is a bird of the moors and fens, laying its
eggs on the ground, and never, or very seldom, perches on trees. In
appearance it is less owl-like and uncanny-looking than the long-eared
owl, the colouring and markings being less rich, the head smaller, and
the ear-tufts so small that at a distance of twenty-five yards they are
scarcely visible. It is migratory in its habits, and as it arrives on
the east coast at the same time as the woodcock, it is often called the
woodcock-owl.
As a winter visitant it is found in most places in the British Islands,
but it breeds with us only in Scotland and a few localities in the
north of England. As I have said in the history of the barn-owl, the
present species ranges over a large portion of the globe, and on the
continent of America it is found from Greenland to the Straits of
Magellan. It is not so nocturnal in its habits as the majority of owls,
and may often be seen, an hour or two before sunset, beating over the
rough ground like a hen harrier in search of prey. It feeds on small
rodents of all kinds, and on birds. The eggs are three to five in
number, and in some instances as many as seven or eight are laid, and
are placed in a slight clearing among the herbage on marshy ground, or
under the heather on a moor.
There is some variety in the language of this species: it hisses and
makes a sharp clicking sound when angry, and has a loud, startling
cry, a note repeated three or four times, like a ghostly laugh; and it
also hoots, this performance sounding like the baying of a dog in the
distance.
An interesting and curious fact in the history of this owl is that it
is known to appear, often in considerable numbers, in any district
where, owing to a great increase of field-mice or other small rodents,
its favourite food is for the time abundant. This phenomenon has been
observed in various parts of the world, in this country on several
occasions; and during the late great plague of short-tailed voles in
the south of Scotland (1891–92), large numbers of short-eared owls
appeared, and remained to breed in the district. As long as the plague
lasted they remained in the country, and were most prolific. When the
voles disappeared the owls departed.
Tawny Owl.
Syrnium aluco.
Beak greyish yellow; iris bluish dusky; upper parts reddish brown,
variously marked and spotted with dark brown, black, and grey;
large white spots on the scapulars and wing-coverts; primaries and
tail-feathers barred alternately with dark and reddish brown; under
parts reddish white, with transverse brown bars and longitudinal dusky
streaks; legs feathered to the claws. Length, sixteen inches.
* * * * *
The tawny owl, named also brown owl and wood-owl, is by a little the
largest of the four British species. In his colouring, as well as his
woodland habits, he comes nearest to the long-eared owl, but he has
no ear-tufts like that bird to add to his strangeness, nor is he in
appearance so ghostly and grotesque as the white owl. This species
alone of the British owls is unknown in Ireland. In England, Wales,
and the south of Scotland it is to be met with in all well-wooded
districts, and in some localities it is said to be the most common owl.
But, unhappily, in many places where it was formerly common it has
been extirpated by gamekeepers. Owls are not very social birds, and
the tawny owl is the most unsocial of all. He inhabits the deep wood,
where he lives solitary or with his mate, and he is said to be very
jealous of the intrusion of another individual of his species into his
hunting-grounds. His chief distinction is his powerful, clear voice:
heard in the profound silence of the woods at eventide the sound is
wonderfully impressive, and affects us with a sense of mystery. This
may be due to imagination, or to some primitive faculty in us, since
the feeling is strong only when we are alone. If we are in a merry
company, then the wood-owl’s _too-whit, too-who_, may even seem to
us ‘a merry note,’ as Shakespeare described it.
The tawny owl sometimes breeds, like the barn-owl, in ruins, outhouses,
disused chimneys, and such places; but the usual site is a hollow tree,
all the more liked if it is overgrown with ivy. Sometimes he takes
possession of a deserted nest of a magpie or crow to breed in. The
three or four eggs laid are white, and nearly round in shape.
The tawny owl is strictly nocturnal in habits, and preys on mice, rats,
moles, young rabbits, squirrels, and birds; and he also, like most
owls, occasionally takes fish.
* * * * *
Besides the species described, no fewer than seven others have been
included in books on British birds, and if these seven were not rare
accidental visitors to our island we should indeed be rich in owls. It
will be sufficient to give their names:--
Snowy owl (_Nyctea scandiaca_).
European hawk-owl (_Surnia ulula_).
American hawk-owl (_Surnia funeria_).
Tengmalm’s owl (_Nyctala tengmalmi_).
Scops owl (_Scops giu_).
Eagle owl (_Bubo ignavus_).
Little owl (_Athene noctua_).
It is possible that the last species may one day come to be ranked as
a British bird, like the pheasant and red-legged partridge, as several
attempts have been made to introduce it into this country, first by
Waterton, in 1843; and, in recent years, by Mr. W. H. St. Quintin in
Yorkshire, and Mr. Meade-Waldo in Hampshire.
Hen Harrier.
Circus cyaneus.
Upper parts of adult male bluish grey; lower parts white; beak black;
irides reddish brown; legs and feet yellow; claws black. _Female_:
upper parts reddish brown; under parts pale reddish yellow, with deep
orange-brown, longitudinal streaks and spots. Length: male, eighteen
inches; female, twenty inches.
* * * * *
This very handsome and graceful hawk was fairly common within recent
times in the British Islands. But the incessant persecution of all
birds of prey by game-preservers is having its effect. It is plain to
see that as British species they are being extirpated; and the first
to vanish are the harriers, owing to their fatal habit of breeding in
the open country on the ground. For while most birds have a close time
allowed them, the hawks are sought out and destroyed, old and young,
during the breeding season. Thus the marsh-harrier, which should have
come first in this place, is now extinct in this country, and cannot
be introduced into a work on British birds which does not include the
great auk, the bustard, the spoonbill, and many other species which
have been exterminated in England. The hen harrier is at the present
time very nearly in the same case; it is only included here because a
few pairs probably still breed on the wildest and most extensive moors
in Wales, the north of England, and the Highlands of Scotland.
The nest is a slight hollow in the ground, scantily lined with a little
dry grass; and the eggs are four or five, and rarely six, in number.
These are pale bluish white in colour, and in some cases have pale
brown markings.
The male hen harrier, seen on the wing when quartering the ground in
quest of prey, keeping but a few feet above the surface, is certainly
one of our handsomest hawks. Its flight, although not wavering, is
as buoyant as that of the common tern, and the pale colouring--soft
blue-grey above and white beneath--seems in harmony with its slender
figure and airy, graceful motions. On account of its blue colour it
has been called the dove-hawk. It preys on small birds, mammals, and
reptiles, dropping suddenly upon them in the manner of the kestrel,
but from a less height. The origin of its name of hen harrier is not
known. Yarrell conjectured that it was on account of its predilection
for the produce of the farmyard; which seems unlikely, as the harriers
are usually hunters of very small deer. A more probable explanation
is that the male bird was formerly supposed to be the female of the
ringtail-harrier; but we know now that the hen harrier is the cock
bird, and the ringtail the hen.
Montagu’s Harrier.
Circus cineraceus.
[Illustration: FIG. 67.--MONTAGU’S HARRIER. ⅑ natural size.]
Upper parts bluish grey; primaries black; secondaries with three
transverse dark bars; lateral tail-feathers white barred with reddish
orange; under parts white variously streaked with reddish orange.
_Female_: upper parts brown of various tints; under parts pale
reddish yellow, with longitudinal bright red streaks. Beak black; legs
and feet yellow. Length, eighteen inches.
* * * * *
This hawk was named by Yarrell after the well-known ornithologist,
Colonel Montagu, who was the first to distinguish between this species
and the hen harrier, which it so closely resembles. Seen on the wing
at a distance of two to three hundred yards, the sharpest-sighted
ornithologist would probably be unable to say whether the bird was a
hen harrier or a Montagu’s harrier. The present species is slimmer
bodied; but, owing to the greater comparative length of its wings, it
appears, when flying, as large as the hen harrier. It is a spring and
summer visitor to this country, and in its flight, and preying and
breeding habits, closely resembles the species last described. Small
birds, mammals, reptiles, and insects form its prey. It breeds, or
formerly bred, in suitable localities in most English counties from
the south coast northwards to Norfolk, making its slight nest on the
ground, among the furze-bushes or heather. The eggs resemble those of
the hen harrier in colouring, but are smaller in size.
Buzzard.
Buteo vulgaris.
[Illustration: FIG. 68.--BUZZARD. ¹⁄₁₀ natural size.]
Upper parts, neck, and head dark brown mottled with brown of a darker
shade; tail marked with twelve transverse bands; beak lead-coloured;
cere, irides, and feet yellow. Length: male, twenty inches; female,
twenty-two inches.
* * * * *
It is impossible for anyone who loves wild bird life to write about the
buzzard without a feeling of profound melancholy. For this hawk, too,
like the harriers, although once common, and still called in books the
common buzzard, is a vanishing species. Howard Saunders writes: ‘Fifty
years ago it used to breed in Norfolk and in other counties abounding
in partridges and ground game, without being considered incompatible
with their existence; but with the increase of pheasant-worship the
doom of the buzzard was sealed, for, the larger the “hawk,” the worse
it must necessarily be!’
My one consolation in this sad portion of my work, which tells of the
noble and useful species whose ‘doom is sealed,’ is, that I am not
writing for grown men, but for the young, who are not yet the slaves of
a contemptible convention, nor have come under a system which has been
only too mildly described as ‘stupid’ by every British ornithologist
during the last five or six decades.
This once common bird is now almost unknown in England, and must be
sought for in the wildest forest districts of Wales and Scotland.
It is of a somewhat sedentary disposition, and in seeking its food
displays little of the dashing and courageous spirit of the falcons.
Small mammals, especially moles, reptiles, birds of various kinds, and
insects, are its prey, which in all cases it drops upon and seizes on
the ground. It is strongly attached to one favourite spot, and will
return day after day to the same perch, where it will sit for hours at
a stretch. All the buzzards show best when flying, and the appearance
of the present species was thus described by Sir William Jardine:
‘The flight is slow and majestic; the birds rise in easy and graceful
gyrations, often to an immense height, uttering occasionally their
shrill and melancholy whistle. At this time, to a spectator underneath,
and in particular lights, they appear of immense size; the motions of
the tail when directing the circles may be plainly perceived, as well
as the beautiful markings on it and the wings, sometimes rendered very
plain and distinct by the body being thrown upwards, and the light
falling on the clear and silvery tints of the base of the feathers. The
buzzard is a fine accompaniment to the landscape, whether sylvan or
wild and rocky.’
It nests both on crags and in forest trees, and sometimes makes use
of the old nest of some other bird. The nest is of sticks, and is
sometimes very large, lined with wool or some other soft material, and
often with green leaves. Two to four eggs are laid, but three is the
usual number. They vary from white, suffused with reddish brown, to
bluish green, spotted, streaked, and clouded with reddish brown, with
purple-grey under-markings.
Golden Eagle.
Aquila chrysaëtus.
Head, back of the neck, and legs lustrous reddish brown; the rest of
the body dark brown; primaries nearly black; secondaries brownish
black; tail dark grey, barred and tipped with brownish black; beak
bluish at the base, black at the extremity; iris brown; cere and feet
yellow; claws bluish black. Length of male, three feet.
* * * * *
This noblest of the British birds of prey used at one time to breed in
some localities in England and Wales, but it has gradually retreated
farther and farther north, and is now restricted (as a breeder) to
the Highlands and the western islands of Scotland. Fortunately, it
now receives protection from the owners of large deer-forests in
its northern habitat, and there is reason to hope that it will long
continue to exist as a British species.
This species is very dark in hue, and is known in Scotland as the
‘black eagle.’ The colour is a very deep brown, the feathers of the
head and nape tinged with reddish gold--hence its name of golden eagle.
It preys on hares, rabbits, grouse, ptarmigan, and other birds, and
occasionally destroys lambs and fawns, and will even attack full-grown
ewes and deer.
The nest is a bulky structure of sticks, placed, as a rule, on a crag,
sometimes in a tree, and the same nest is used year after year. Two
or three eggs are laid, white or pale bluish green in ground-colour,
blotched, spotted, and clouded with reddish brown and purple-grey
under-markings.
Owing to his great size, dark colour, and power of wing, this eagle
makes a very noble figure when flying. But he is noble in appearance
at other times as well, and in this he differs from many of the
larger species that are equally strong on the wing, or even much
stronger--condors, vultures, albatrosses, and others. These, when they
fold their pinions, lose all their majesty. But the golden eagle has
just as grand a presence when perched as when soaring. The pleasure
produced in us by the sight of this creature appears to differ in
character from that which we find in contemplating such species as
excel in elegance and grace, or in rich colouring--the mute swan
glassed in the water it floats upon, and the peacock with splendid
starry train. He is built on different lines, that indicate power
and rapine; but his appearance in repose is not less attractive than
theirs, and, in a sense, not less beautiful. Tennyson, in a few
well-known lines, has described it better, perhaps, than any other
writer--the majestic bird and the nature it inhabits, and is in harmony
with--its sublimity and desolation:--
He grasps the crag with hooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ringed by the azure world he stands.
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls:
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.
White-tailed Eagle.
Haliaëtus albicilla.
Upper parts brown, head and neck lightest; under parts chocolate-brown;
tail white; bill, cere, and feet yellowish white; claws black. In the
young the tail is brown. Length of the male, two feet four inches; of
the female, two feet ten inches.
* * * * *
Immature specimens of the white-tailed, or sea-eagle, or erne, are from
time to time obtained in England during the autumn and winter months.
They are, probably, in nearly all cases migrants from northern Europe
on their way south. The British race--the sea-eagles that bred formerly
in many localities on the coasts of Scotland and Ireland, and in the
northern islands--is now all but extinct. The bird no longer breeds
anywhere on the mainland, and but one or two pairs are known to inhabit
the islands.
The sea-eagle has a more varied dietary than the species last
described, and he hunts for food both on sea and land. In his habits
he is by turns osprey, falcon, and raven. Like the osprey, he drops
from a considerable height on to a fish seen near the surface, and,
striking his talons into it, bears it away to land. But he preys more
on puffins, guillemots, and other sea-fowl, than on fish. Like the
golden eagle, he destroys mountain hares, grouse, and ptarmigan, and
is regarded by the shepherd as the worst enemy to the flock. But the
shepherd has his revenge, for the erne is a great lover of carrion, and
may be easily poisoned.
The breeding habits of this species are similar to those of the golden
eagle. The eggs, two in number, are white, without markings.
Its yelping cry is very powerful, and shriller than the scream of the
golden eagle.
Sparrow-Hawk.
Accipiter nisus.
Upper parts dark bluish grey, with a white spot on the nape; under
parts reddish white, transversely barred with deep brown; tail grey,
barred with brownish black; beak blue, lightest at the base; cere,
irides, and feet yellow. _Female_: upper parts brown, passing into
blackish grey; under parts greyish white, barred with dark grey. Length
of male, twelve inches; of female, fifteen inches.
* * * * *
The sparrow-hawk is found in wooded districts in all parts of Great
Britain and Ireland, and is, perhaps, the most generally diffused
species of the diurnal birds of prey in this country, and, compared
with most other species, may be said to be almost common. In reality it
is becoming rare; which is not strange considering that, next to the
carrion crow, it is the most persecuted of all the feathered creatures
whose existence is an offence to the gamekeeper. In Yarrell’s ‘British
Birds’ it is said that the female sparrow-hawk is, indeed, the only
bird of prey which the game-preserver nowadays need fear; and there
is no doubt that it is immeasurably more destructive to the chicks of
pheasant and partridge than any other raptor. It preys by preference
on birds, as the kestrel does on mice, and in pursuit is capable of
rapid flight and quick doublings; but its chases are short and near
the surface of the earth. In habits it is a prowler, a stealthy flier
among woods, by coppices and hedges, and takes its victims by surprise.
It also dashes suddenly on them from its perch, where it has stood
concealed by the foliage, keeping a sharp watch on the feathered
creatures in its vicinity.
The sparrow-hawk is said to make a nest for itself, but it is more
probable that in nearly all cases it takes possession of an old nest
of some other bird. The eggs are four or five in number, and sometimes
six, pale bluish white in ground-colour, blotched and spotted with
various shades of reddish brown.
Kite.
Milvus ictinus.
[Illustration: FIG. 69.--KITE. ¹⁄₁₂ natural size.]
Upper parts reddish brown; the feathers with pale edges, those of the
head and neck long, and tapering to a point, greyish white, streaked
lengthways with brown; under parts rust-colour with longitudinal brown
streaks; tail reddish orange, barred indistinctly with brown; beak
horn-colour; cere, irides, and feet yellow; claws black. _Female_:
upper parts a deeper brown, the feathers pale at the extremity; head
and neck white. Length, twenty-five inches.
* * * * *
The kite, or glead, is another melancholy example of the effect of the
pitiless persecution of some of our finest birds by game-preservers,
and, as the species became rare, by collectors of ‘British-killed’
specimens and ‘British-taken’ eggs. Once a common species in the
British Islands, it is now reduced to a miserable remnant, composed of
a few breeding pairs in Wales and Scotland.
Among the various types of diurnal birds of prey, the kite is one
of the finest; the great extent of his sharp-pointed wings and his
long, forked tail, fit him for an aërial life. In appearance he is a
swallow-shaped eagle; and few birds equal him in grace and majesty
of motion when he soars at a vast height. Like the eagles, buzzards,
and other strong-fliers among the raptors, he soars for exercise and
recreation; but, vulture-like, when soaring he is ever on the watch
for a meal. And, like the vulture, he will feed on garbage; for though
of so noble an appearance, and possessed of such great power, he has,
compared with the falcons, a poor spirit, and his name is a term of
reproach that signifies cowardice and rapacity. A carrion-eater, he
also preys on small mammals, reptiles, and birds, in most cases the
young, the sickly, or wounded.
The nest of the kite is placed in a tree, and is a bulky structure of
sticks, mixed with much rubbish--bones, turf, scraps of paper, and old
rags--and is lined with wool and moss. Two to four eggs are laid, three
being the usual number. In size, colour, and markings they closely
resemble those of the buzzard.
Peregrine Falcon.
Falco peregrinus.
Upper parts dark bluish grey, with darker bands; head bluish black, as
are also the moustaches descending from the gape; under parts white;
breast transversely barred with brown; beak blue, darker at the point;
cere yellow; iris dark brown; feet yellow; claws black. _Female_:
upper plumage tinged with brown, the under parts with reddish yellow.
Length, fifteen inches; female, seventeen inches.
* * * * *
This famed bird is of a handsome appearance, not swallow-like as
is the kite, nor so massive as the eagle; but nature in fashioning
it has observed the golden mean, and the result is a being so
well-balanced in all its parts and so admirably adapted for speed,
strength, and endurance, that to many minds it has seemed the most
perfect among winged creatures. When standing perched on a crag,
erect and motionless, as its custom is, its smooth and compact figure
looks as if carved out of a stone or marble of a beautiful soft grey
tint. The wings are sharp-pointed, and the flight is exceedingly
rapid. In South America, where I first observed its habits, it
used always to seem to me that the peregrine, alone among hawks,
possessed a courage commensurate with its strength; and, in hunting,
an infallible judgment. However swift of wing its quarry might be,
it was almost invariably overtaken and struck to the earth; and the
bird thus vanquished was in many cases the equal, and sometimes even
the superior, in weight to the falcon. All other hawks make frequent
mistakes, and often fail in their efforts: they chase birds they
cannot overtake, and attack others that are too strong for them; and
occasionally their courage fails, and they pass by the healthy and
strong to attack the wounded or weak that are incapable of making an
effort.
[Illustration: FIG. 70.--PEREGRINE. ¹⁄₁₀ natural size.]
In the British Islands the peregrine is an inhabitant of the
iron-bound coasts, where it is still able to find comparatively safe
breeding-sites. It makes no nest, the eggs being deposited in a slight
hollow scratched in the soil on a ledge of a cliff. When it breeds in a
tree it makes use of the deserted nest of some other bird. Two to four
eggs are laid, yellowish white in ground-colour, mottled and spotted
with reddish brown and orange-brown.
The peregrine preys almost exclusively on birds--ducks, waders,
pigeons, grouse, partridges--and it has been seen to kill kestrels,
jays, and magpies.
It has a sharp, powerful cry, uttered two or three times in rapid
succession on the wing.
Hobby.
Falco subbuteo.
Upper parts bluish black; under parts reddish yellow with longitudinal
brown streaks; moustaches broad, black; lower tail-coverts and legs
reddish; beak bluish, dark at the tip; cere greenish yellow; iris dark
brown; feet yellow; claws black. _Female_: colours less bright,
and the streaks below broader. Length, twelve to fourteen inches.
* * * * *
The hobby in appearance is a lesser peregrine, being about one-fifth
smaller than that bird. It differs from the peregrine in having a
softer plumage and a comparatively greater length of wing. It is
probably the fastest flier among rapacious birds, being capable of the
marvellous feat of capturing swallows and martins in the air. It is
a summer visitant to this country, and is most often met with in the
southern counties of England, where, however, it is a rare species;
and the farther north we go the rarer it becomes. In Scotland it is
not known to breed, and it does not range to Ireland. It inhabits
woods, and breeds in an old nest of the carrion crow, jay, or some
other bird, which it does not re-line. Three eggs are usually laid, and
in some rare instances four or five. In size and colour they are not
distinguishable from those of the kestrel.
The hobby is a spirited bird, but in courage and power greatly inferior
to the peregrine. He preys principally on dragon-flies, beetles, and
other large insects, and on small birds, such as skylarks and buntings.
In falconry, the hobby was trained to fly at such small game as larks,
snipe, and quail.
Merlin.
Falco æsalon.
[Illustration: FIG. 71.--MERLIN. ⅛ natural size.]
Upper parts greyish blue; under parts reddish yellow with longitudinal
dark brown spots; tail barred with black; beak bluish, darker at
the tip; cere yellow; iris dark brown; feet yellow; claws black.
_Female_: upper parts tinged with brown; lower parts yellowish
white. Length, eleven to twelve inches.
* * * * *
The merlin is a third less than the peregrine in size, and has the
distinction of being the smallest of the British birds of prey, But in
courage it is second to none, and Yarrell relates an instance in which
this small bird, weighing itself no more than six ounces, struck down
and killed a partridge twice as heavy. It is a resident throughout
the year of the British Islands, from the north of Yorkshire to the
Shetlands, and the mountainous parts of Ireland.
The merlin is an inhabitant of the moors and mountains, and nests on
the ground among the tall heather. The eggs are laid in a slight hollow
with little or no lining, and are four or five in number, smaller than
those of the kestrel, but similar in colour. It sometimes, but very
rarely, breeds in the nest of a carrion crow or other bird, in a tree.
It preys chiefly on small birds, and it was formerly trained to pursue
snipe, pigeons, larks, blackbirds, &c.
Kestrel, or Windhover.
Tinnunculus alaudarius.
Upper plumage, neck, and breast dark lead-grey; sides, under
tail-coverts, and thighs light yellowish red, with longitudinal,
narrow, dark streaks; beak blue; cere and feet yellow; irides brown;
claws black. _Female_: upper plumage and tail light red, with
transverse spots and bars of dark brown; lower parts paler than in the
male. Length, fifteen inches.
[Illustration: FIG. 72.--KESTREL. ⅑ natural size.]
* * * * *
The kestrel is the best known of the British hawks, not only because
it is the most common species, but also because its peculiar preying
habits bring it more into notice. It is resident and found throughout
the United Kingdom, but undoubtedly possesses a partial migration, as
it wholly disappears from some northern districts in the winter, and at
the same season becomes more abundant in the southern counties.
When in quest of prey the kestrel has the habit of stopping suddenly in
its rapid flight, and remaining for some time motionless in mid-air,
suspended on its rapidly-beating wings, usually at a height of twenty
or thirty yards above the surface. This habit, which has won for the
species the appropriate name of windhover, is unique among British
hawks. It is this peculiar aërial feat which makes the kestrel, when
seen on the wing, so familiar a figure to country-people. The instant
that the bird pauses in his swift-rushing flight you know that it is
a kestrel, although it may be at such a distance as to appear a mere
spot, a small moving shadow, against the sky. It has shorter wings than
other falcons, and, by consequence, a more rapid and violent flight.
The kestrel preys chiefly on mice and field-voles; occasionally it
takes a small bird, and carries off young, tender chicks, if they come
in its way; but it certainly does not deserve its scientific name of
_alaudarius_ (a feeder on larks), which would have fitted the
hobby better. It also preys on frogs and coleopterous insects. Selby
relates that a kestrel was observed late one evening pursuing the
cockchafers, dashing at them and seizing one in each claw, eating them
in the air, and then returning to the charge. When on the wing the
kestrel’s downward-gazing eyes are constantly on the look-out for the
mice that lurk on the surface, and as mice are usually well concealed
by the grass and herbage, the eyes must indeed be wonderfully sharp
to detect them. After remaining suspended for some seconds, sometimes
for half a minute, or longer, during which the bird watches the ground
below, he dashes down upon his prey, or flies on without descending, as
if satisfied that what had been taken for a mouse had turned out to be
something different.
When thus hovering motionless the wings are seen to beat rapidly for
a few seconds, then to become fixed and rigid for a moment or two,
after which the beating motion is renewed. A short time ago I watched a
kestrel thus hovering in the face of a very violent wind, and it struck
me that this suspension of the wings’ motion in such circumstances
was very extraordinary and hard to explain. One can understand that,
even in the face of a violent gale, the bird is able to maintain its
motionless position by sheer muscular power; but how happened it that
in the short intervals, when the outspread wings became fixed and
motionless, the bird was not instantly blown from its position?
In its breeding habits the kestrel, like the starling and jackdaw, has
a partiality for towers and lofty ruins, and it also nests in holes
in rocks and hollow trees. In woods it frequently takes possession
of a disused nest of a crow or magpie. The eggs are four or five,
blotched with dull red on a reddish white ground; and in many eggs the
ground-colour is quite covered with red.
The kestrel, among British birds of prey, is a favourite with the
ornithologist in virtue of its interesting habits; and it deserves to
be equally esteemed by the farmer on account of its usefulness. It is,
indeed, the only bird of diurnal habits that wages incessant warfare
against the prolific and injurious mice, and thus carries on by day
the task of keeping down a pest which those ‘feathered cats,’ the owls,
so efficiently pursue at night.
The kestrel is easier to tame, and, when tame, more docile and
affectionate, than most hawks, and many accounts have appeared in print
of the bird and its ways in the domestic condition; but, to my mind,
not one so interesting as the history of a pet kestrel kept a few
years since by some friends of mine. The bird was young when it came
into their hands, and was lovingly cared for, and made free of a large
house and park, and of the whole wide country beyond. And it made good
use of its liberty. As a rule, every morning it would fly away and
disappear from sight until the evening, when, some time before sunset,
it would return, dash in at the open door, and perch on some elevated
situation--a cornice, or bust, or on the top of a large picture-frame.
Invariably at dinner-time it flew to the dining-room, and would then
settle on the shoulder of its master or mistress, to be fed with small
scraps of meat. This pleasant state of things lasted for about three
years, during which time the bird always roosted in, or somewhere near,
the house, flew abroad by day, to return faithfully every evening to
his loving human friends to be caressed, and fed, and made much of; and
it might have continued several years longer, down to the present time,
if the bird’s temper had not suffered a mysterious change. All at once,
for no reason that anyone could guess, he became subject to the most
extraordinary outbreaks of ill-temper, and in such a state he would,
on his return from his daily wanderings abroad, violently attack some
person in the room. Up till this time he had preferred his master and
mistress to any other member of the household, and had shown an equal
attachment to both; now he would single out one or other of these his
best friends for his most violent attacks; and, very curiously, on the
day when he attacked his master he would display the usual affection
towards his mistress, but on the next day would reverse the process.
And his hostility was not to be despised: rising up into the air to a
good height, he would dash down with great force on to the obnoxious
person’s head, often inflicting a lacerating blow with his claws. More
than once, the lady told me, after one of these cutting, ungrateful
blows on her forehead her face was bathed in blood.
It is pleasant to be able to relate that no feeling of resentment or
alarm was excited by this behaviour on the part of the bird; that he
was never deprived of his sweet liberty or treated with less gentleness
than before. It was hoped and believed that he would outgrow the
savage fit, and if he had confined his virulent attacks to his master
and mistress it would have been well with him. Unfortunately for him,
he attacked others who were made of poorer clay. One evening at dinner,
the butler, while occupied with his duties, was struck savagely on the
wrist by the kestrel. Like a well-trained servant, he did not wince
or cry out, but marched stolidly round the table, pouring out wine,
anxious only to conceal the blood that trickled from his wounds. But on
the following day the bird was missing, and was never afterwards seen
or heard of.
Osprey.
Pandion haliaëtus.
Feathers of the head and neck white with dark centres; on each side of
the neck a streak of blackish brown, extending downwards; upper plumage
generally deep brown; under parts white, tinged here and there with
yellow, and on the breast marked with arrow-shaped spots; tail-feathers
barred with dusky; cere and beak dark grey; iris yellow. Length, two
feet.
* * * * *
The osprey, like the sea-eagle, hen harrier, and kite, is one of the
species that linger with us on the verge of extinction; and it may
linger for many years, as in the case of the avocet, the black-tailed
godwit, and the ruff, after these species had been reduced to a few
breeding pairs; and, on the other hand, it may be gone to-morrow. That
it will remain permanently as a member of the British avifauna is
scarcely to be hoped.
The osprey, like the peregrine falcon and the short-eared owl, has an
immense range, and inhabits Europe, Africa, the greater part of Asia,
Japan, Formosa, the Australian region, New Guinea, and America. With
us it appears in autumn as a migrant in small numbers; but the birds
of the British race are now reduced to one or two pairs that breed
annually in the Highlands of Scotland, and are strictly protected in
their summer haunts.
The osprey feeds exclusively on fish, which it drops upon like a tern
or gannet; but, falcon-like, it strikes with its feet, and, with its
slippery prey gripped firmly in its sharp, crooked talons, it flies
back to land.
The nest is usually placed in a tree, and is very large, formed of
sticks, and lined with moss. Two or three eggs are laid, white or buff
in ground-colour, blotched with rich chestnut-red, and purple-grey
underlying marks.
* * * * *
Besides the twelve species of the order Accipitres described, all
of which breed in the British Islands, there are fourteen others,
which, although described as British in the standard ornithological
works, are only occasional or accidental visitors or stragglers to
our shores. There are two vultures to be mentioned: the griffon
vulture (_Gyps fulvus_), an inhabitant of Southern Europe, Africa, and
Asia, once obtained in Ireland; and the Egyptian vulture (_Neophron
percnopterus_), an inhabitant of Southern Europe and Africa, twice
obtained. The next species is the marsh-harrier (_Circus æruginosus_),
once abundant throughout Great Britain and Ireland, now, unhappily,
extinct as a British species. This harrier, which was also called the
moor-buzzard, is a graceful, handsome bird: the head creamy white;
upper parts brown; beneath, buff, streaked with brown and chestnut;
part of the wing and the tail silvery grey. In its buoyant flight and
preying and nesting habits it resembles the hen harrier, but frequents
fens and marshes instead of moors and uplands.
The rough-legged buzzard (_Archibuteo lagopus_) is an irregular
visitor, chiefly in autumn and winter, from the northern parts of
Europe. It differs from the common buzzard in having its legs feathered
to the toes--hence the specific name, _lagopus_--rough-footed like
a hare. This species is of more frequent occurrence in the British
Islands than any other occasional visitor among the diurnal raptors,
and in some years it appears in considerable numbers.
The spotted eagle (_Aquila clanga_), known to us as a rare occasional
visitor, breeds in the forests of central and south-eastern Europe.
More interesting to us is the goshawk (_Astur palumbarius_), since this
fine bird of prey, although now a very rare straggler to Great Britain,
is believed to have been formerly an indigenous species, and to have
bred in Scotland down to the beginning of the present century. In form,
colouring, and manner of preying it resembles the sparrow-hawk, but is
nearly double the size of that bird, and flies at very much larger game.
The American goshawk has been included in the list of British birds on
‘somewhat slight evidence,’ as the author of the ‘Manual of British
Birds’ says. The black kite (_Milvus nigrans_) is an African species,
a summer visitant to Europe south of the Baltic, and has once been
obtained in Great Britain. The swallow-tailed kite (_Elanoïdes
furcatus_), an American species, which I once had the pleasure of
seeing (not in a glass case, but sitting on a tree, and soaring in
the air), has also been found as a straggler in this country. The
honey-buzzard (_Pernis apivorus_) is a third species of hawk in this
list which has disappeared from this country. Like the hobby and the
osprey, it is (or was) a summer visitant, and has been known to breed
in most English and Scottish counties from Hampshire to Aberdeenshire.
Up to within four or five years ago a few pairs continued to return
to us each summer, but these, too, have now vanished. This fine large
hawk, in size the equal of the common buzzard, lived almost entirely
on insect food, wasps and wild bees especially--hence its name of
honey-buzzard.
[Illustration: FIG. 73.--HONEY-BUZZARD. ¹⁄₁₂ natural size.]
The remaining species to be noticed are all true falcons: the gyrfalcon
(_Hierofalco gyrfalco_), an inhabitant of arctic Scandinavia, only
once obtained in this country; the Greenland falcon (_Hierofalco
candicans_), a wanderer to this country from north-west America and
Greenland; the Iceland falcon (_Hierofalco islandicus_), a wanderer
from Iceland; the red-footed falcon (_Tinnunculus vespertinus_), an
occasional visitor from the warm countries of Europe; and the lesser
kestrel (_Tinnunculus cenchris_), a visitor from southern Europe, where
it breeds.
Cormorant.
Phalacrocorax carbo.
[Illustration: FIG. 74.--CORMORANT. ¹⁄₁₁ natural size.]
Upper head and neck black, striated with hair-like white feathers,
those on the occiput being elongated, and forming a crest in spring;
throat white; gular pouch yellow; mantle black and bronze-brown; all
the other parts black, except a white patch on the thigh, assumed early
in spring and lost in summer; iris emerald-green. _Female_: larger
than the male, brighter in colour, and with longer crest. Length, three
feet.
* * * * *
To those who know it slightly the cormorant is a big, sombre, ugly
bird, heavy and awkward in his motions out of the water, and,
when breeding, disgusting in his habits. He improves on a closer
acquaintance. He may be easily tamed, and makes an intelligent, and
sometimes very amusing, pet, and is capable of being trained to catch
fish for his keeper. He is most frequently met with on the sea and
seashore, but is an inhabitant of inland waters as well, and sometimes
breeds beside them, making his nest on the ground or in a tree. He
feeds exclusively on fishes and eels, which he captures by diving and
pursuing them under water, sometimes for considerable distances. The
bird is proverbial for its voracity. Its ‘swallow’ is probably the
largest of any bird of its size--a fish fourteen inches long has been
taken from its gullet. When swimming he presents a curious appearance:
his body, as if too heavy for the element it floats in, sinks like a
waterlogged boat, until the flat back is on a level with the surface.
When alarmed, he sinks his body deeper and deeper at will, until the
head and long neck alone appear, looking like the head and neck of a
serpent swimming with body submerged. When resting on a rock after
feeding, cormorants stand very erect and motionless, their long,
hooked beaks much raised, and at such tunes they present a heavy,
ungainly appearance. They are fond of opening their wings out to their
greatest extent to dry their feathers, and remain for a long time in
this attitude, looking like birds with spread wings carved out of
black stone. The cormorant watches the water at times from a rock,
and dives after its prey; but it more often swims, when fishing, with
head and neck submerged. When taking wing it rises heavily and with
great labour, but when once fairly launched the flight is powerful.
Cormorants are gregarious and social birds at all seasons, and, like
gulls and herons, they breed in communities. Very early in spring, or
shortly after the winter solstice, the bird’s nuptial ornaments--a
crest on the head and a white patch on the thigh--begin to appear;
both crest and white mark disappear at the end of the breeding season.
The same nesting-place is resorted to year after year, as in the case
of most species that breed in communities. The summit of a crag not
easily accessible, or a ledge of rock on a cliff fronting the sea,
or a rocky island, are favourite sites. Here the birds, sometimes in
hundreds, live together in the greatest harmony, building their nests
close together, in some cases almost touching. The nest is pyramidal in
form, built up from the rock to a height of from six or seven inches
to a couple of feet, and is composed of sticks, coarse grass, and
seaweed. Three to five eggs are laid, very small for the bird’s size,
narrow and long in shape, of a pale greenish blue colour, overlaid with
a thick coat of a chalky substance. This substance is quite soft when
the egg is first laid; it is then white, but soon hardens, and becomes
stained, in the always wet and filthy nest, to a dirty yellowish
colour. The young birds are hatched blind, and have a naked, bluish
black skin, but they soon grow a thick, sooty black down. They are at
all stages strange and repulsive-looking creatures, and when handled or
approached by a person they become sick with fear or anger, and roll
and sprawl about on their nests, screaming harshly, and vomiting their
half-digested food.
The young are fed with fish that has already been partially digested in
the maw of the parent. It is not disgorged; the young bird thrusts his
head and neck deep down into his parent’s gullet, and feeds as a horse
does from his nose-bag.
The young are said not to assume the adult or breeding plumage until
the third year.
Shag, or Green Cormorant.
Phalacrocorax graculus.
Bill black; base of the under mandible yellow, the black skin about
the gape thickly studded with small yellow spots; iris emerald-green;
crown, neck, upper and under parts dark green with purple and bronze
reflections; wing and tail-feathers, legs and feet, black; a crest,
curling forwards, grows on the forehead in early spring, and is lost by
the end of May. Length, twenty-seven inches.
* * * * *
The shag may be easily mistaken for the cormorant, which it closely
resembles, but when near at hand is seen to differ in its smaller size
and its prevailing green colour, which appears black at a distance;
and, in the breeding season, by the absence of the white patch on the
flank. In its habits it is more strictly marine than the cormorant,
but resembles that bird in its manner of swimming and flight. It
prefers bays and inlets to the open sea, and deep water near rocks to
the shallow sea, where there is a low beach. In diving after fish it
springs upwards almost out of the water, and goes down head first.
Beneath the water it propels itself wholly by its feet; the auks, and
some other diving birds, use their wings as fins to assist progression.
After capturing a fish the shag brings it to the surface to swallow
it, then swims on for a space, and dives again, and so on, and finally
returns to the rock, where it proceeds to disgorge its prey, to devour
it at leisure. The shag breeds on sea-cliffs, sometimes building on the
ledges or in crevices, but caves, where they exist, are preferred.
The eggs are three in number, in shape and colour like those of the
cormorant, and the nests, which are placed close together, are also
like those of that bird.
The shag is found in certain localities all round the coasts of Great
Britain and Ireland, but is less numerous and more local than the
cormorant.
[Illustration: GANNETS. GUILLEMOTS. HERRING-GULLS.]
Gannet.
Sula bassana.
Adult: head and neck buff-colour; all the rest of the plumage white,
except the primaries, which are black. Young of the first year: upper
parts blackish brown necked with white; under parts mottled with dusky
ash and buff. The dark markings diminish until the sixth year, when the
adult colouring is assumed. Length, thirty-four inches.
* * * * *
One of the most notable seafowls inhabiting the British coasts is the
gannet, or solan goose, a species which forms a connecting-link between
the cormorants and the pelicans. The origin of its two common names is
not precisely known, although it seems probable that gannet is derived
from _gans_, the ancient British name for goose. The young birds
from the Bass Rock, which are largely used as food in the neighbouring
counties, are called, I do not know why, ‘Parliamentary geese.’ The
world will have it that the bird is a goose, although as little like
a goose, except in size, as a guillemot is like a sheldrake. The
scientific name, _bassana_ (of the Bass Rock), had its origin in
the belief that the rock at the entrance to the Firth of Forth was the
gannet’s only breeding-place. There are several other colonies: one,
now greatly diminished, on Lundy Island; another, also small, on the
coast of Pembrokeshire; on the West Coast of Scotland there are four
stations, and others exist on the Irish coast. None of these, however,
can compare in importance with the Bass Rock, where it has been
calculated that as many as ten thousand pairs congregate each year to
breed.
The gannet is an exclusively marine bird, and an inhabitant throughout
the year of the seas round the British Islands. Its flight is easy
and powerful, and its appearance on the wing more pelican- than
cormorant-like. It feeds entirely on fish, and follows the shoals of
such species as swim near the surface--mackerel, herrings, pilchards,
and sprats. When fishing it sails at a considerable height, and on
catching sight of its prey rises to a greater height, and then, with
wings nearly closed, drops straight down, with great force, into the
water. Its appearance when falling has been likened by one observer to
‘a brilliant piece of white marble.’
The gannets begin to assemble at the breeding-rock in March. Their
nesting habits are similar to those of the cormorant, but only one
egg is laid, which is, like the cormorant’s egg, pale blue in colour
and thickly coated with a white, chalky material. Mr. Charles Dixon,
in ‘Our Rarer Birds,’ thus describes a visit to the great gannet
settlement on the east coast: ‘By far the best locality for studying
the nesting economy of the gannet is the Bass, that wide-famed mass of
basaltic rocks standing like a sentinel in the Firth of Forth.... Upon
reaching the Bass a few gannets may be seen sailing dreamily about,
but you have no idea of the immense numbers until you have climbed
the rugged hill.... But when the summit of the cliff is reached the
scene that bursts upon our gaze is one that well-nigh baffles all
description. Thousands upon thousands of gannets fill the air, just
like heavy snowflakes, and on every side their loud, harsh cries of
“carra-carra-carra” echo and re-echo among the rocks. The gannets take
very little notice of our approach, many birds allowing themselves to
be actually pushed from their nests. Others utter harsh notes, and with
flapping wings offer some show of resistance, only taking wing when
absolutely compelled to do so, and disgorging one or two half-digested
fish as they fall lightly over the cliffs into the air. On all sides
facing the sea gannets may be seen. Some are standing on the short
grass on the edge of the cliffs, fast asleep, with their heads buried
under their dorsal plumage; others are preening their feathers; whilst
many are quarrelling and fighting over standing-room on the rocks.’
Describing another great breeding-place of the gannet on the island
of Borreay, about four miles from St. Kilda, he says: ‘The flat,
sloping top of one of these stupendous ocean rocks, called by the
natives “Stack-a-lie,” looks white as the driven snow, so thickly do
the gannets cluster there, and the sides are just as densely populated
wherever the cliff is rugged and broken. So vast is this colony of
birds that it may be seen distinctly forty miles away, looking like
some huge vessel under full sail heading to windward.’
Heron
Ardea cinerea.
Crest bluish black; upper parts slate-grey; forehead, cheeks, and
neck white, the latter streaked with bluish grey and terminating in
long white feathers; under parts greyish white; bill yellow. Length,
thirty-six inches.
* * * * *
The heron is sometimes spoken of as our largest wild bird. It is not
meant that he is really larger than the golden eagle, or wild swan, or
grey lag goose, but only that he is the biggest of the comparatively
common birds. The heron has two very different aspects--when in
repose, or standing, and when on the wing. On the ground, or, as we
more often see him, standing knee-deep in the water, watching the
surface, he presents a sorry appearance--a bird lean and ungraceful
in figure, white and ghostly grey in colour, awkward in his motions
when he moves. No sooner does he open his wings than this mean aspect
vanishes, and he is transfigured. At first the flight appears heavy
on account of the slow, measured beats of the broad, rounded vans;
but as he rises higher, and soars away to a distance, it strikes the
beholder as wonderfully free and powerful. The appearance of the bird
is then majestic, and its flight more beautiful than that of any other
large wading bird with which I am acquainted--ibis, wood-ibis, stork,
flamingo, or spoonbill. When pursued by a falcon the heron is capable
of rising vertically to a vast height, while the hawk rushes after in a
zigzag course, striving to rise above his quarry so as to strike. This
aërial contest of hawk and heron forms a very fascinating spectacle,
and formerly, when falcons were trained for this sport, the heron was
as much esteemed as the pheasant--which has been called the ‘sacred
bird’--is at the present day. With the decline of falconry the heron
ceased to be protected by law, and diminished greatly in numbers; but
he is an historical bird, and there is a feeling, or sentiment, that
has served to prevent his extermination. It is still considered a fine
thing to have a heronry on a large estate; and so long as this feeling
endures the bird will receive sufficient protection, although the
existing heronries, when we come to count them, are not many.
The heron breeds in communities, and when the heronry is well-placed
and safeguarded the birds return to it year after year. As a rule the
nests are built on the tops of large trees in a sheltered part of the
wood. The nest is a bulky, rudely built platform structure of sticks
and weeds, lined with rushes, wool, and other soft materials. Three or
four eggs are laid, very pale dull green in colour. The young are fed
in the nest five or six weeks before they fly. Two broods are reared in
the season.
The heronry is a most interesting place to visit when the young birds
are nearly old enough to fly, and are most hungry and vociferous, and
stand erect on the nests or neighbouring branches, looking very strange
and tall and conspicuous on the tree-tops. The nests are of various
sizes, and have a very disordered appearance, some of them looking like
huge bundles of sticks and weed-stalks flung anyhow into the trees. At
this period the parent birds are extremely active, and if the colony be
a large one, they are seen arriving singly, or in twos and threes, at
intervals of a few minutes throughout the day. Each time a great blue
bird with well-filled gullet is seen sweeping downwards the young birds
in all the nests are thrown into a great state of excitement, and greet
the food-bearer with a storm of extraordinary sounds. The cries are
powerful and harsh, but vary greatly, and resemble grunts and squeals
and prolonged screams, mingled with chatterings and strange quacking or
barking notes. When the parent bird has settled on its own nest, and
fed its young, the sounds die away; but when several birds arrive in
quick succession the vocal tempest rages continuously among the trees,
for every young bird appears to regard any old bird on arrival as its
own parent bringing food to satisfy its raging hunger.
The cry of the adult is powerful and harsh, and not unlike the harsh
alarm-cry of the peacock.
Common Bittern.
Botaurus stellaris.
Crown and nape black; general colour buff, irregularly barred above and
streaked below with black; feathers of the neck long, and forming a
ruff; bill greenish yellow; legs and feet green. Length, thirty inches.
* * * * *
The bittern, formerly a common bird, is hardly entitled to a place in
this book, since it has long been extirpated as a breeding species.
It is, however, a noteworthy fact that, whereas other species that have
been driven out, such as the great bustard, spoonbill, avocet, black
tern, and several more, appear now as only rare occasional visitors in
our country, the bittern comes back to us annually, as if ever seeking
to recover its lost footing in our island. And that he would recover
it, and breed again in suitable places as in former times, is not to be
doubted, if only the human inhabitants would allow it; but, unhappily,
this bird, like the ruff, hoopoe, and kingfisher, when stuffed and in
a glass case, is looked upon as an attractive ornament by persons of a
low order of intelligence and vulgar tastes.
[Illustration: _PLATE IX._ BITTERN. ⅕ nat. size.]
The bittern is a bird of singular appearance. On the wing he resembles
the heron, but it is a rare thing to see him abroad in the daytime.
He is strictly nocturnal in habits, and passes the daylight hours
concealed in thick reed-beds in extensive marshes. His buff and yellow
and chestnut colour, mottled and barred and pencilled with black and
brown, gives him a strange tigrine or cat-like appearance; it is a
colouring well suited to his surroundings, where yellow and brown dead
vegetation is mixed with the green, and the stems and loose leaves of
the reeds throw numberless spots and bars of shade beneath. Secure in
its imitative colouring, the bittern remains motionless in its place
until almost trodden upon. Its active life begins in the evening, when
it leaves its hiding-place to prey on fishes, eels, frogs, voles, small
birds, and insects, and every living thing it finds and is able to
conquer with a blow of its sharp, powerful bill.
When flying he utters a harsh, powerful scream, and he has, besides, a
strange vocal performance, called ‘booming’--a sound that resembles the
bellowing of a bull. Formerly, when the bittern was a common bird in
England, this extraordinary evening performance was the subject of some
superstitious notions, and it was commonly believed that, to produce so
great a volume of sound, the bird, when screaming, thrust its beak and
head into the water. Thus, in Thomson’s ‘Seasons’ we read:--
The bittern knows his time, with, bill submerged,
To shake the sounding marsh.
In March or April the nest is made on the ground, among the thick
reeds, and is formed of weeds, sticks, and rushes. The eggs are four in
number, of an olive-brown colour, sometimes with a greenish shade.
Besides the two species described there are no fewer than eight herons
in our list of British birds, most of these being very rare stragglers
to our shores:--
Purple heron (_Ardea purpurea_) is a straggler from the continent of
Europe; it breeds in Holland.
Great white heron (_Ardea alba_).--Eight examples of this species, a
straggler from South-eastern Europe, have been obtained in this country.
Little egret (_Ardea gazetta_).--A waif from Southern Europe; it also
inhabits Africa, Asia, and Australia.
Buff-backed heron (_Ardea bubulcus_).--Inhabits Southern Europe; three
examples have been obtained.
Squacco heron (_Ardea ralloïdes_).--From Southern Europe; occasionally
seen on migration in England.
Little bittern (_Ardetta minuta_).--This bittern almost deserves to
rank as a British species, as it is of somewhat frequent occurrence,
and has been known to breed in the Broads of Norfolk, and in other
localities in Great Britain. It is a summer visitor to most countries
in Europe.
Night heron (_Nycticorax griseus_).--This heron has a range almost
as extensive as that of the barn-owl, and breeds in many localities
throughout the continent of Europe. The question as to whether or
not it has ever bred in England has not been settled; but it is now
an almost annual spring and autumn visitor to our country, and it is
hardly to be doubted that it would breed with us if unmolested, or, in
other words, allowed to live.
American bittern (_Botaurus lentiginosus_).--A few examples of this
North American bittern have been obtained in this country.
* * * * *
Two other families in the present order (Herodiones) are represented
by occasional visitors in the list of British birds--two storks
(Ciconiidæ), and a spoonbill, and an ibis (Platalaidæ):--
White stork (_Ciconia alba_).--Common in Holland, and an occasional
visitor to the east coast of England.
Black stork (_Ciconia nigra_).--A rare straggler from continental
Europe.
Spoonbill (_Platalea leucorodia_).--Now an occasional straggler to
Great Britain; formerly a regular breeder in heronries in several
localities in England.
Glossy ibis (_Plegadis falcinellus_).--A very rare straggler from
Southern Europe.
Grey Lag Goose.
Anser cinereus.
[Illustration: FIG. 75.--GREY LAG GOOSE. ¹⁄₁₄ natural size.]
Head, neck, and upper parts greyish brown; lower breast and abdomen
dull white with a few black spots; bluish grey rump and wing-coverts;
bill flesh-coloured, with a white nail at the tip; legs and feet
flesh-coloured. Length, thirty-five inches.
* * * * *
Eight species of geese are counted among British birds; two of
these--the snow-goose (_Chen albatus_) and the red-breasted goose
(_Bernicla ruficollis_)--may be dismissed at once as rare stragglers
to the British Islands. The other six are all winter visitors to our
coasts, and are divisible into two natural groups--the grey geese
(counting four species), all large birds, brownish grey in colour, and
feeders on land; and the black, or dark-coloured geese (two species),
very dark in colour, very much smaller in size, and feeders on the
tidal flats.
The grey lag is the largest species in the first group, and the only
goose that breeds within the limits of the United Kingdom. It was
formerly a common summer resident, and bred in the eastern counties of
England; it is now confined as a breeding species to a few localities
in Scotland and the Hebrides, and in all these last refuges it is said
to be rapidly diminishing. That it will diminish still further, until
the vanishing-point is reached, hardly admits of a doubt. As a winter
migrant from northern Europe it will long continue to visit our coasts,
and as a domestic bird we shall have it always with us; for the grey
lag is supposed to be the species from which our familiar bird has
descended.
The grey lag goose pairs for life, and is gregarious, but is said not
to associate with geese of other species. It feeds on grass and young
shoots, and in the autumn on grain, and spends nearly the whole day
in feeding, and resorts at dark to some open level space to roost,
where it is almost impossible to approach within gunshot of the flock,
owing to its watchfulness. The grey lag makes a large nest of reeds
and grass, lined with moss, and lays six eggs, sometimes a larger
number. During incubation the gander keeps guard over his mate, and
afterwards assists her in rearing the young. These are led back to the
nest every evening by the goose, and sleep under her wing. The male
begins to moult a month earlier than the female, and when the time
comes he leaves her in sole charge of the young, and withdraws to some
hiding-place, or spends the daylight hours on the water, coming to the
land in the evening to feed. The goose begins her moult after the young
are able to take care of themselves.
The grey lag goose does not range so far north as the allied species;
it is only in Norway, where the summer is longest, owing to the
influence of the Gulf Stream, that it is found nesting north of the
arctic circle.
Bean-Goose.
Anser segetum.
The bean-goose differs from the preceding species in its more slender
shape and longer bill, which is orange-colour in the middle, black at
the base and on the nail; and in its darker colour and the absence of
black marks on the breast, and the bluish grey colour on the shoulder
of the wing; legs and feet orange-yellow. Length, thirty-four inches.
* * * * *
This species is more arctic in its range than the grey lag, and has
not been known to breed in this country, except in a domestic state.
It visits Scotland, Ireland, and the north and east coasts of England,
in winter. It is less in size than the grey lag, but its habits are
similar: by day it feeds on the wolds and stubbles, and its love of
grain has won for it the common name of bean-goose, as well as its
scientific name, _segetum_. Its flight is somewhat laboured, with
measured wing-beats, but powerful and rapid, and the birds travel in
skeins, or in a phalanx formation. It breeds in extensive marshes and
lakes, making its nest on the ground among the rushes on small islands.
The nest is a slight hollow lined with dead grass and moss, and down
from the parent bird: three or four eggs are laid, creamy white in
colour, with a rough granular surface. Before the young are able to fly
the moulting season begins, when the birds lose the power of flight, as
is the case with all the geese; and according to Seebohm’s interesting
account, even in the remote and desolate districts in Siberia, to which
this bird resorts to breed, the moulting season is one of great danger
to it. He says: ‘The Samoyades in the valley of the Petchora gave us
glowing accounts of the grand battues which they used to have at these
times, surrounding the geese, killing them with sticks, and collecting
sacks full of down and feathers.’
Pink-footed Goose.
Anser brachyrhynchus.
Colour of plumage as in the bean-goose, but with the bluish grey on the
shoulder of the wing as in the grey lag goose; upper mandible pink in
the centre; base, edges, and nail black; legs and feet pink. Length,
twenty-eight inches.
* * * * *
This goose very closely resembles the bean-goose in habits, colour,
and general appearance; the only difference of any importance between
the two species consists in the smaller beak of the pink-foot, from
which it takes its name of _brachyrhynchus_ (short-billed), and in
its legs being pink instead of yellow. It was first described as a
distinct species about fifty years ago, but is still regarded by some
authorities as only an ‘island form’ of the bean-goose. The pink
colour of the bill and feet is found not to be constant, and Seebohm
says, ‘It looks very much as if the pink-footed geese had been long
enough in the arctic climate of Spitzbergen to change the colour of
their feet, but not long enough to make the new colour permanent,
and that when bred in the warmer climate of this country they had a
tendency to hark back to their ancestors.’
White-fronted Goose.
Anser albifrons.
White on the forehead and at the base of the lower mandible; upper
parts brownish ash; breast and belly brownish white broadly barred with
black; bill orange-yellow, with a white nail at the tip; legs and feet
orange. Length, twenty-seven inches.
* * * * *
The white-fronted goose is the fourth and last on our list of grey
geese--four forms of one species, as some hold--and, like the others,
it comes to us from the north in winter, but is more common in Ireland
than in Great Britain. It is like the bean-goose in size, but differs
from it in its white front, and from the grey lag goose in having
the under parts more speckled with black feathers. Its voice is most
like that of the grey lag, but is more trumpet-like in sound, and the
rapidly repeated notes give its cry a laughter-like character; laughing
goose is one of its common names. It breeds farther north than the
bean-goose, and its nest is described as a hollow in the ground lined
with dead grass. It lays five to seven creamy white eggs.
Brent Goose.
Bernicla brenta.
Bill, head, throat, and neck black, except a small white patch on each
side of the latter; mantle brownish black with rufous-brown edges;
wing-feathers, rump, and tail black; coverts white; upper breast black;
lower breast and belly slate-grey; legs black. Length, twenty-three
inches.
* * * * *
[Illustration: FIG. 76.--BRENT GOOSE. ¹⁄₁₀ natural size.]
The brent goose arrives in our islands in the autumn, and remains
through the winter in suitable localities in various parts of the
coast, from the Orkneys and Shetlands in the north to the Channel
Islands; it is, however, most abundant on the north-east coast
of England. In most years old and young birds arrive together in
flocks; in other years only adults appear, and it is supposed that
in such seasons exceptionally cold weather has prevented the eggs
from hatching. The brent differs from its nearest ally, the barnacle
goose, in its slightly smaller size, darker plumage, which is nearly
black, and its more marine habits. With us it spends most of the time
out at sea, visiting the tidal flats early and late in the day, and
at night, to feed on the wrack grass (_Zostera marina_). Mr.
Abel Chapman has graphically described this goose in his ‘Bird Life
on the Border.’ It is, he says, the last of our winter visitors to
arrive, seldom coming in force until the new year. Their affections
are so hyperborean that they will come no farther south than they are
actually compelled by food requirements, being driven reluctantly
southwards, point by point, before the advancing line of the winter’s
ice. He writes: ‘On alighting at the feeding-grounds the geese at once
commence greedily to pull up and devour the blades of the sea-grass,
the whole flock advancing in the closest order over the green oozy
mud, all heads down except the sentries, of which an ample number
are always discernible.... After finishing their morning meal, about
noon, the geese are disposed to rest, and spend the middle of the
day floating about on the water, preening themselves, and, in mild
weather, splashing about, and chasing each other in sheer exuberance
of spirit.... Towards evening the geese recommence feeding, and so
intensely eager are they about sunset to utilise the few remaining
minutes that they then, perhaps, offer the most favourable chance to
get within shot.... Just at dark the whole host rise on wing together,
and make for the open sea. In the morning they come in by companies
and battalions, but at night they go out in a solid army; and a fine
sight it is to witness their departure. The whole host, perhaps ten
thousand strong, here massed in dense phalanxes, elsewhere in columns,
tailing off into long skeins, V’s, or rectilinear formations of every
conceivable shape, but always with a certain formation--out they
go; ... while their loud clanging _honk honk_, and its running
accompaniment of lower croaks and shrill bi-tones, resound for miles
around.’
Barnacle Goose.
Bernicla leucopsis.
[Illustration: FIG. 77.--BARNACLE GOOSE. ¹⁄₁₀ natural size.]
Head, neck, and throat black; forehead, cheeks, and chin white; a black
stripe between the eye and bill; mantle lavender-grey barred with
bluish black and white; wing and tail feathers blackish; breast and
belly greyish; vent and tail-coverts pure white; flanks barred with
grey; bill, legs, and feet black. Length, twenty-five inches.
* * * * *
The present species is not nearly so abundant as the brent, and not so
exclusively marine in its habits. It sometimes visits inland districts,
and although it feeds on the mud-flats like the brent, it leaves them
as soon as the tide rises, and repairs to some grassy bank of a river
or lake, where it feeds. The breeding habits of this species are not
known; it is believed to have its nesting-grounds in Spitzbergen and
Nova Zembla.
Mute Swan.
Cygnus olor.
Bill reddish orange; the nail, nostrils, lores, and basal tubercle
black; plumage pure white; legs and feet black. Length, sixty inches;
weight, about thirty pounds.
* * * * *
The mute, or tame swan, is as well known to most people as the turkey,
goose, and pheasant, and, like the pheasant, is supposed to be a
foreign species, said to have been first brought from Cyprus to this
country, by Richard I., about the end of the twelfth century. As a
semi-domestic species it exists throughout the British Islands, but
whether wild birds of its species visit us or not is not known, since
wild and semi-wild birds are indistinguishable. The wild mute swan
breeds in Denmark and South Sweden, in South Russia and the valley
of the Danube, and many other localities, and in winter visits the
Mediterranean. The breeding habits of the wild and tame bird are the
same, but, according to Naumann, the wild bird in the pairing season
has a loud, trumpet-like note, resembling the cry of a crane or whooper
swan.
The cygnet is sooty grey in colour, but in the so-called ‘Polish swan’
(_Cygnus immutabilis_) of Yarrell, which is now regarded by most
ornithologists as a variety of the mute swan the cygnets are white.
Whooper Swan.
Cygnus musicus.
Beak: anterior part depressed and black, basal part quadrangular and
lemon-colour; plumage white; legs and feet black. Length, sixty inches;
weight, about twenty-four pounds.
* * * * *
The whooper, also called the wild swan and the whistling swan, is a
not uncommon visitor to our coasts in winter, and a little over a
century ago had a breeding-station in the Orkneys. It is very closely
related to the mute swan, but it ranges very much farther north in
summer, its breeding-grounds being north of the arctic circle. The
nest is bulky, composed of sedge and coarse herbage, and the eggs are
four or five in number, and white. Seebohm, who observed its habits
in its breeding-grounds, says: ‘The whooper is a ten times handsomer
bird than a tame swan in the eyes of an ornithologist, but is not
really so graceful--its neck is shorter, and its scapulars are not so
plume-like. Instead of sailing about with its long neck curved in the
shape of the letter S, bent back almost to the fluffed-up scapulars,
the whooper seemed intent on feeding with his head and neck under
water.’ He compares the notes of the whooper to a bass trombone; but
the notes are short--three or four trumpet-blasts, keeping time with
the upward and downward beat of the wings. He adds: ‘The extermination
of the whooper in so many of its breeding-places has arisen from the
unfortunate habit, which it evidently acquired years ago, before men
came upon the scene--a habit which it shares with the goose. Most birds
moult their quills slowly, in pairs, so that they are only slightly
inconvenienced by the operation, and never without quills enough to
enable them to fly. Swans and geese, on the other hand, drop nearly all
their flight-feathers at once, and for a week or two, before the new
feathers have grown, are quite unable to fly. In some localities the
whoopers have had the misfortune to breed where the natives have been
clever enough to surround them at the critical period of their lives,
and stupid enough to avail themselves of the opportunity thus afforded
of killing the geese that laid the golden eggs.’
Bewick’s swan (_Cygnus Bewickii_), named by Yarrell after Thomas
Bewick, author of a well-known ‘History of British Birds,’ is of
frequent occurrence in the British Islands in severe winters, but is
not a regular visitant. It is a third smaller than the whooper, which
it resembles in figure and habits.
Common Sheldrake.
Tadorna cornuta.
[Illustration: FIG. 78.--SHELDRAKE. ¹⁄₁₀ natural size.]
Beak and basal knob bright red; head and upper neck dark glossy
green, followed by a white collar, below which is a chestnut band;
wing-coverts white; speculum green; scapulars, part of the secondaries,
and the primaries black; rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail-feathers
white, the latter tipped with black; lower, central line of the breast
and belly dark brown, the rest of the under parts white; legs and feet
pink. Length, twenty-six inches. The female is without the knob at the
base of the bill, and her colours are not so bright.
* * * * *
The sheldrakes, or sheld-ducks, are curious and interesting birds, and
form a connecting-link between the geese and ducks; but they are more
like the former than the latter, and sheld-gander, or sheldgoose,
would perhaps be a more suitable name. The common sheldrake is,
perhaps, the most duck-like in appearance of all the birds of this
genus, and the common name, sheld, which means parti-coloured, really
applies to this species only. As in the geese, the male and female
sheld-ducks are nearly alike in plumage, and the male does not change
colour; and, like the gander, he assists his mate in rearing the
young. In the true ducks the drake changes his plumage in summer,
becoming like the female in colour, and in most cases (for there
are exceptions) he remains apart from the duck from the time that
incubation begins until the young are fully grown. Of the seven known
species of sheldrake, only one is indigenous to the British Islands.
A second species, the ruddy sheldrake (_Tadorna casarca_), is a
rare visitor, or straggler, to our coasts, and it is probable that most
of the sheldrakes of this species that are shot from time to time in
England are escaped birds.
The common sheldrake is a bird that, once seen, cannot be easily
forgotten, its strange guinea-pig arrangement of three colours--black,
white, and red--making it one of the most strikingly conspicuous fowls
in this country. On account of its handsome and singular colouring it
is much persecuted, and as a breeding species is becoming increasingly
rare with us. It inhabits sandy sea-coasts, and is only seen as a rare
straggler on inland waters. It feeds close to the shore where the sea
is shallow, and is partial to coasts where wide stretches of sand,
mixed with rocks, are uncovered at low water. It feeds, both in the
water and on the flats, on marine insects and molluscs, and breeds in
the sandhills along the coast. The nesting-hole is in most cases a
deserted rabbit-burrow, but it also burrows for itself, and is known
as the ‘burrow-duck’ on many parts of the coast. The hole is six to
twelve feet in length, ending in a chamber lined with dry grass and
moss. Seven to twelve creamy white eggs are laid, sometimes a larger
number. The eggs are enveloped in a quantity of down, which the bird
plucks from her own body. It is said that the male takes no part in
incubation, but remains near the burrow on guard, and gives timely
warning of danger, and when the young are hatched and taken to the sea,
assists in rearing and protecting them.
The sheldrake has a harsh cry, but in the breeding season the drake
utters a soft, tremulous, whistling note.
Wigeon.
Mareca penelope.
[Illustration: FIG. 79.--WIGEON. ⅐ natural size.]
Bill dull blue; forehead and crown cream-white; chin, neck, and throat
chestnut; the cheeks and hind neck minutely spotted with deep green;
breast white; under parts grey, the flanks pencilled with dark grey;
mantle vermiculated grey; shoulder white, with a terminal bar of
black, followed by a green speculum tipped with black below; wing- and
tail-feathers dark brown; legs and feet dark brown. Length, eighteen
inches. _Female_: above, mottled greyish brown; shoulder whitish;
speculum greyish green; under parts mottled buffish white. The drake
assumes female plumage in July.
* * * * *
Next to the mallard, the wigeon is the most familiar freshwater duck in
the British Islands. Its abundance, handsome plumage, peculiar voice,
and interesting habits, to say nothing of its excellence as an article
of food, contribute to make it well known. It is a visitor in winter
in very large numbers to our coasts, and seeks its food both on the
tidal flats and on inland waters throughout the country, but is always
most abundant in the vicinity of the sea. In April and May it migrates
to higher latitudes: in Scotland it is partly a resident species, and
breeds in many localities; and, in less numbers, it also remains to
breed in Ireland. The wigeon differs a good deal from other ducks in
its feeding habits: it feeds both by day and night, in the water and
on land. On land it is, like the goose, a grass-eater, and in Lapland
is known from this habit as the ‘grass-duck.’ In disposition it is one
of the shyest and wariest; and at the same time the most gregarious,
among the waterfowl, and often unites in immense flocks. It is also
very loquacious: its loud, prolonged whistle in two syllables, strongly
accented on the first, is described by Seebohm as being ‘very wild
and weird, as it startles the ear on the margin of a mountain tarn or
moorland lake--a solitary cry, very high in key, not unmusical in tone,
but loud and piercing.’ It is called ‘whew duck’ in some localities,
from its whistling cry.
The nest is placed amidst coarse grass or heather, and is deeply lined
with down. The eggs are seven to ten in number, and cream-coloured.
* * * * *
A few specimens of the American wigeon (_Mareca americana_) have
been obtained in various parts of Great Britain.
Pintail.
Dafila acuta.
Head and neck bronze-brown, black on the nape; a white stripe down the
neck on each side, extending to the white breast and under parts; back
and flanks mottled grey; greater wing-coverts buff; speculum green
margined with black and white; tail black, the two middle feathers
greatly prolonged; under tail-coverts black; bill, legs, and feet slaty
grey. Length, twenty-eight inches. _Female_: mottled brown above
and greyish white below; speculum green. In July the male assumes the
female dress, and retains it until October.
* * * * *
The pintail, although not so handsomely coloured as the shoveler,
mallard, wigeon, and teal, is the most elegant of the freshwater
ducks, being slim and graceful in form, with the two slender middle
feathers of the tail greatly elongated. Sea-pheasant is one of its
local names, but the same name is sometimes given to the long-tailed
duck (_Harelda glacialis_) on the north-east coast. The pintail
is a winter visitor only to the British Islands, appearing in October,
and is most common on the south coast. It is found in small flocks, and
prefers shallow waters with muddy bottoms, and feeds on aquatic weeds,
insects, and crustaceans. It is always most abundant near the shore,
but is also met with on inland waters. It has a rapid flight, and is a
comparatively silent bird by day; its cry by night is a low quack, and
in spring, during courtship, the drake utters soft and inward notes,
which he accompanies with some curious gestures and antics. The pintail
breeds freely in a semi-domestic state, and lays seven to ten eggs,
pale buffish green in colour.
[Illustration: FIG. 80.--PINTAIL. ¹⁄₁₀ natural size.]
Mallard, or Wild Duck.
Anas boscas.
Bill yellowish; head and neck glossy green, followed by a white ring;
hind neck and breast deep chestnut; across the secondaries a greenish
purple speculum, bordered above and below with white: rump, upper
tail-coverts, and the four middle curled tail-feathers black; the
rest of the tail-feathers grey; flanks and belly greyish white; under
tail-coverts velvet-black; legs and feet orange-red. Length, two feet.
_Female_: smaller; bill greenish; crown dark brown; general
plumage mottled brown and buff; speculum green.
* * * * *
The mallard is the most common and best-known freshwater duck in
Britain, and is a resident species, breeding in suitable localities
throughout the country; but the birds that breed and remain all the
year are few in number compared to the migrants that come to us in
winter from more northern regions. In the domestic state the mallard
is, next to the fowl, the most abundant and familiar bird we possess.
The tame duck differs from the mallard only in its heavier body and
shorter wings, and in being polygamous instead of monogamous in its
habits. The tendency to vary in colour is a result of domestication in
all species. It was from observing the annual change in the plumage
of the domestic drake that the discovery was made that ducks differ
from other birds in the manner of their moult. The period of the moult
does not coincide in the drake and duck; and this discrepancy in the
sexes has caused ducks to differ in their breeding habits from all
other birds. Thus, in most birds, male and female share the labours of
incubation, and of rearing and protecting the young; and the moult,
which is always a period of danger, during which the bird is obliged
to go into hiding, takes place some time after the young are able to
shift for themselves--in other words, the family tie is broken after it
has ceased to be necessary; and the female of the mallard, and of other
ducks, moult in this way. Not so the male. He is smitten by the change
after the eggs are all laid and incubation begun; with the result that
the marriage tie is dissolved just at the period when his help is
most needed. This is one of the strangest things in bird history; for
up to the time when the physical change begins the drake is not less
loving and solicitous than any other male bird, and if by chance the
moulting period is delayed, he continues to guard the nest and share
the labours of incubation; so that we may say, without straining a
metaphor, that the drake is forcibly torn away from his marital duties,
just as the late-breeding swift or swallow is sometimes forced by an
overpowering migratory instinct to abandon its helpless young in the
nest. The action of the swift in leaving its helpless young to perish
of starvation in the nest is painful to contemplate, since we are
accustomed to look on the parental affection as the most powerful of
all; and in this case there is a conflict between this emotion and
another--the desire for another climate; and the last conquers, and the
young are forsaken. In the drake it is not a case of a conflict between
two emotions or two instincts, but of a physical change, which kills
or makes nugatory the instinct and emotion; for it is certain that
the moulting period in all species that, like the duck, change their
whole plumage in a short time, is not only a period of danger, but
of suffering. When the change comes the bird acts like the ‘stricken
deer,’ and like animals afflicted with some fatal disease: he goes
apart, and remains in hiding until his new plumage has grown, and with
renewed health his social instincts are restored. It is only in the
case of the male duck that this change from health and strength to
sickness and impotence falls in the midst of the breeding season.
[Illustration: MALLARDS. PEREGRINE FALCON. HERON. COOT.]
Another extraordinary fact about the moulting of the drake is that, in
moulting, he puts on the dress of the female. The moult is complete,
but only after the whole of the small feathers have been changed are
the wing- and tail-feathers shed, and as these are all shed at once,
the bird is for some time incapable of flight. But while in this
incapable condition he is no longer a drake in appearance--a bird of
rich and conspicuous colouring--but has a dull mottled brown like the
duck. This annual ‘eclipse,’ as Waterton called it, lasts for three
or four months; and then there is a second, autumnal moult, of the
body-feathers only, in which the rich colours of the male sex are
recovered.
The duck, in the meantime, moults only once in the year.
A slight difference has been noted between the resident mallard that
breeds in the British Islands and the mallard from the north that
visits us in winter, the native bird being heavier.
Gadwell.
Chaulelasmus streperus.
Beak lead-colour; head and upper neck light brown with darker
mottlings; back marked with crescents of light grey on a dark ground;
median wing-coverts chestnut; greater coverts blackish; primaries
brown; secondaries brown and black, the outer webs forming a white
speculum; rump and upper tail-coverts bluish black; tail-feathers dark
brown with pale edges; lower neck dark grey, each feather with a
pale grey margin; breast and belly white; flanks and vent grey; under
tail-coverts bluish black; legs and feet orange. Length, twenty-one
inches. _Female_: head and upper neck light brown mottled with
dark; lower hind neck and upper parts brown; speculum and under parts
white.
* * * * *
[Illustration: FIG. 81.--GADWELL. ¹⁄₁₀ Natural Size.]
The gadwell most nearly resembles the mallard, but is not so richly
coloured, and is smaller in size. It is a widely distributed species,
ranging over a greater portion of the northern hemisphere. In the
British Islands it is a winter visitor in small numbers, very few pairs
remaining to breed, except in one locality in Norfolk, where it has
been strictly protected for the last forty years, with the result that
it breeds regularly, and is abundant. Elsewhere it is the rarest of the
British freshwater ducks. The wings are long and sharply pointed, and
the flight exceedingly rapid. When flying it frequently utters its cry,
which resembles that of the mallard, but is shriller in tone. Like the
mallard, it is a night feeder; during the daylight hours it usually
remains concealed in the closest cover. Its nest, lined with dry grass
and a quantity of down, is placed on the ground at some distance from
the waterside. Eight to twelve buffish white eggs are laid.
Garganey.
Querquedula circia.
[Illustration: FIG. 82.--GARGANEY. ¹⁄₁₁ natural size.]
Bill black; forehead, crown, nape, and back dark brown; from the eye
a white stripe extending to the back of the neck; cheeks and neck
light brown with short hair-like lines of white; scapulars black,
with central white stripe; wing-coverts bluish grey; speculum green
between two bars of white; primaries and tail dull brown; chin black;
breast pale brown with dark crescentic bands; belly white; flanks with
transverse black lines; under tail-coverts black and white; legs and
feet greyish brown. Length, sixteen inches. _Female_: mottled
brown; stripe over the eye yellowish white; speculum dull metallic
green between two white bars.
* * * * *
The garganey, or summer teal, or cricket teal, as it is sometimes
called, on account of the low, jarring note of the male in the pairing
season, differs considerably from its nearest relation, the common
teal, both in its larger size and its colouring, which a little
resembles that of the shoveler. It is an early spring visitor to the
British Islands, rare in England, and still rarer in Scotland and
Ireland. It remains to breed in suitable localities in this country,
and is perhaps most common in the district of the Broads in Norfolk. It
flies swiftly, and utters on the wing a sharp, quacking cry, sometimes
repeated twice. Its feeding habits are similar to those of the teal,
but it is not esteemed a good bird for the table. The nest is made
among the coarse grass and herbage in swampy ground; eight or nine
creamy white eggs are laid sometimes a larger number.
Teal.
Querquedula crecca.
Bill blackish; crown, cheeks, neck, and throat chestnut; round and
behind the eye an elongated patch of glossy green margined with
buff; upper parts and flanks delicately marked with black and white;
speculum black, green, and purple, tipped with yellowish white; rump
and tail-coverts black; tail-feathers brown; front of neck spotted with
black on a buff ground; breast and belly white; legs and feet brownish
grey. Length, fourteen inches and a half. _Female_: mottled brown;
little or no purple on the speculum. The female dress is assumed by the
drake in July, and is kept until October.
* * * * *
The handsome and natty little teal is the smallest of our ducks, its
weight being only one third that of the mallard. In appearance it is a
small wigeon, but whereas the wigeon is the wildest of our wild ducks
in disposition, the teal is the tamest. It is chiefly a winter visitor
to this country, and from September until spring is found throughout
the British Islands. A considerable number of pairs remain to breed in
suitable localities throughout England, and more numerously in Scotland
and Ireland. The nest is placed on the ground on the borders of a
marsh or bog, and sometimes at a distance from water, among heather or
herbage; it is made of dry grass and leaves, and, later on, down from
the bird is added. The eggs are creamy-white or pale buff in colour,
with a tinge of green, and eight or ten in number, sometimes as many as
fifteen. The teal feeds chiefly by night, on aquatic plants, insects,
slugs, and small crustaceans. Its call-note is a short, sharp quack,
and in the pairing-time the drake emits a low, jarring note. The drake
does not moult so early as most ducks, and remains longer with the
female during the breeding season, leaving her only when the young are
partly grown.
* * * * *
Two American species of teal--the blue-winged teal (_Querquedula
discors_) and the green-winged teal (_Q. carolinensis_)--have
been obtained in Great Britain, one specimen of each.
[Illustration: PLATE X. TEAL (MALE AND FEMALE). ⅓ NAT. SIZE.]
Shoveler.
Spatula clypeata.
Bill lead-colour, very broad at the tip; head and upper neck green;
lower neck and scapulars white; middle of the back dark brown;
shoulders pale blue; greater wing-coverts white; secondaries dark brown
with a green speculum; primaries, rump, upper and under tail-coverts,
and tail-feathers, blackish; breast and belly rich chestnut; flanks
freckled with dark brown on a paler ground; vent white; legs and feet
reddish orange. Length, twenty inches. _Female_: brown with dark
and light mottlings. In summer, the male in moulting assumes the
colours of the female.
* * * * *
The shoveler is the handsomest of the British freshwater ducks, and
the most singular in appearance, on account of the great breadth of
its spoon-like bill. Its plumage also, although beautiful, strikes one
as somewhat singular; for it is rare to find pale and delicate hues,
like those on the wings and upper parts of this duck, together with
a deep, rich colouring, as on the head, upper neck, and under parts.
The pale blue and pure white contrast beautifully with the deep green
and chestnut-brown. Another most interesting point in the shoveler’s
history is its distribution. There is but one shoveler duck in the
northern hemisphere, over which it has an immense range, including
Europe, North Africa, Asia, and North America from Alaska to Panama.
But in the southern hemisphere there are four other species, occupying
respectively the four following widely separated regions--South
America, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.
The shoveler is a winter visitor to the British Islands; it also breeds
sparingly in some localities in the Midlands, in East Anglia, and the
northern counties; also in the Hebrides, and in one or two spots in
Ireland. It is a very early breeder, placing its nest, lined with dry
grass and down, on the ground, usually near the water, and it lays
eight to fourteen eggs, pale greenish buff in colour.
In the breeding season it utters a low quack, but at other times is a
silent bird.
Tufted Duck.
Fuligula cristata.
[Illustration: FIG. 83.--TUFTED DUCK. ¹⁄₁₁ natural size.]
Black, the head and neck with purplish gloss; speculum, flanks, and
belly white; bill pale blue; irides brilliant yellow; legs and feet
dark blue. Length, seventeen inches. _Female_: dark brown; under
parts brownish grey. Male changes colour in May.
* * * * *
Of sea or diving ducks (including the mergansers) no fewer than twenty
species, referable to nine genera, have been described as ‘British.’
Of this number nine species are irregular visitants or stragglers, and
may be dismissed with a mention of their names: Red-crested pochard
(_Fuligula rufina_), white-eyed duck (_Nyroca ferruginea_), Barrow’s
goldeneye (_Clangula islandica_), buffel-headed duck (_C. albeola_),
harlequin duck (_Cosmonetta histrionica_), Steller’s duck (_Heniconetta
Stelleri_); king eider (_Somateria spectabilis_); surf-scoter (_Œdemia
perspicillata_), and hooded merganser (_Mergus cucullatus_).
Of the eleven species, referable to six genera, that breed in, or
regularly visit, these islands, and may properly be described as
British birds, three are mergansers, the least duck-like of the ducks
in their curiously modified beaks and grebe-like habits. Of the other
eight species, four only are, strictly speaking, sea-ducks, being (on
our coasts) exclusively marine in their habits. These are the eider,
the long-tailed duck, the common scoter, and the velvet scoter. The
tufted duck, pochard, and goldeneye, are marine and freshwater ducks.
The scaup is more of a sea-duck than these three, and may be said to be
intermediate in its habits between the two groups.
These eight diving ducks are all interesting, and some of them very
handsome birds in their richly coloured and conspicuous plumage. They
have stout, heavy-looking figures, and are clumsy walkers on land; but
in the water they are as much at home as grebes and guillemots, and
are also strong on the wing. But they are not so familiar to us as
the mallard, wigeon, and teal, as comparatively few persons have the
opportunity of observing them. Mr. Abel Chapman, in his valuable work,
‘Bird Life on the Border,’ says that these ducks are only well known
to those ‘who are enthusiastic enough to follow the regular sport of
wildfowling afloat, and who alone enjoy the opportunity of becoming
acquainted with these wild creatures in their bleak and desolate
haunts.’
The tufted duck is a winter visitor to our coasts, also a resident
throughout the year, and a regular breeder in various localities
in England, Scotland, and Ireland. In winter it is both a sea- and
freshwater duck; in the breeding season it is exclusively an inhabitant
of inland waters, with a preference for small ponds with weedy bottoms.
It pairs in March, and male and female thereafter keep company until
incubation begins, when the marriage tie is dissolved, as is the case
with most ducks. It feeds chiefly by night, and is inactive by day,
floating lazily on the water, dozing, or preening its feathers. At
sunset it leaves the pool where it has passed the day, to seek its
feeding-grounds. Its food consists of weeds growing at the bottom, for
which it dives, and, tearing them up, brings them to the surface, to be
eaten at leisure.
The nest is placed among the rushes at the waterside, or in the centre
of a tuft of aquatic grass, and is composed of dry sedges and grass,
to which down is added as incubation progresses. Eight or ten eggs are
laid, sometimes more, greenish buff in colour.
When rising from the water it utters a grating cry. In winter it is
gregarious, and is often seen associating with the scaup, pochard, and
goldeneye.
Scaup.
Fuligula marila.
Head, neck, upper breast, and back glossy black; mantle finely
vermiculated with greyish brown and white; speculum white, terminated
with greenish black; rump, wing- and tail-feathers brown; belly white;
bill pale blue; irides straw-yellow; legs and feet dull blue. Length,
eighteen inches. _Female_: brown; a broad white band round the
base of the bill; upper breast and mantle vermiculated with grey; belly
dull white.
* * * * *
The scaup is common with us in winter, and found on most parts of the
coast, but never remains to breed. It does not come inland, like the
tufted duck and goldeneye, but is met with in estuaries and the mouths
of tidal rivers. In its breeding-haunts in the extreme north of Europe
it penetrates to lakes and rivers at a considerable distance from the
sea. It feeds on shellfish, crustaceans, aquatic insects, also on
vegetable food, which it obtains by diving. It is gregarious at all
times, and in the breeding season is seen in small flocks, feeding or
floating idly on the water. It rises heavily, and flies rapidly, with
violently-beating wings. Seebohm, who observed it in its summer haunts,
says of its language: ‘Of all the cries of ducks that have come under
my notice, I think that of the scaup is the most discordant. None
of them are very musical, perhaps; but if you imagine a man with an
exceptionally harsh, hoarse voice, screaming out the word _scaup_
at the top of his voice, some idea of the note of this duck may be
formed.’
The scaup makes its nest near the water, and lays from six to nine
eggs, of a pale greenish grey colour.
Pochard.
Fuligula ferina.
Head and neck chestnut-red; breast and upper back black; mantle finely
freckled with black and white; speculum inconspicuous and grey; under
parts greyish white; tail-coverts black: bill black with a blue band
across the middle; irides red; legs and feet bluish grey. Length,
nineteen and a half inches. _Female_: dull brown; chin white.
* * * * *
The pochard is a common winter duck when it comes to us from northern
Europe; it is a resident throughout the year in small numbers, and
breeds regularly in many localities in Great Britain and Ireland. As a
breeding species it has, however, greatly diminished in numbers, owing
to the extensive draining of marshes and meres in recent times. The
pochard is more a freshwater than a sea-duck, and comes nearest to the
tufted duck in its habits, obtaining its food by diving, and tearing up
the grass and weeds from the lake-bottom. It feeds chiefly on vegetable
matter, and is considered a better bird for the table than any other
diving duck. In its flight it resembles the tufted duck, and also has
a harsh, quick cry, like that species, when alarmed. At other times it
has a low, whistling call-note. The nest is a hollow among the herbage
near the water, or in a tussock of sedge, and is lined with dry grass,
and with down from the sitting-bird. Seven to ten or twelve eggs are
laid, in colour like those of the scaup.
Goldeneye.
Clangula glaucion.
Head and neck glossy green, the crown-feathers slightly elongated; a
white patch at the base of the bill; back black; lower neck, scapulars,
speculum, and under parts white; thighs dark brown; bill bluish black;
irides golden-yellow; legs and toes yellow, with blackish webs. Length,
nineteen inches. _Female_: dark brown above, without the white
face-spot; below, white. The female colour is assumed by the male in
summer.
* * * * *
The goldeneye is a regular winter visitant to the British Islands,
remaining from the middle of October to the middle of April. In
language and flight it resembles the scaup and tufted duck, but its
flight is more violent, the rapidly-beating wings producing a loud,
whistling sound. It passes most of the time on the water, and dives
for its food, which consists of small fishes, frogs, shellfish, and
insects; also seeds and tender shoots of water-plants. During the
winter it inhabits the sea and inland waters indifferently; but in
its summer haunts it seeks an inland lake, marsh, or river, where it
has the peculiar habit of nesting in the trunk of a hollow tree. The
eggs are deposited on the rotten wood at the bottom of the cavity,
and a thick bed of down from the sitting-bird is made. As many as
nineteen eggs are sometimes laid, but a dozen or thirteen is the
more usual number. They are smooth and glossy, and greyish green in
colour. The natives in the summer home of the goldeneye place suitable
nesting-boxes, with small entrance-holes, in the trees; the ducks
readily occupy the boxes, and return to them year after year, although
always robbed of their eggs. When the young have hatched the parent
bird takes them in her beak, and carries them one by one to the water.
Long-tailed Duck.
Harelda glacialis.
Head and neck, white with brownish grey cheeks, and below, on each
side of the neck, an oval patch of dark brown; back, rump, and
tail-feathers blackish; long scapulars, inner secondaries, short
outside tail-feathers, belly, and flanks white; breast, wing-coverts,
and primaries brownish black; bill, rose-colour in the middle, base
and tip black; irides yellow or red; legs and feet pale lead-colour.
Length, twenty-six inches. _Female_: brown; stripe above the eye
and lower parts white.
* * * * *
The long-tailed duck has the most elegant figure of the sea and diving
ducks, if we except the mergansers, and although not so richly coloured
as some species, is a beautiful bird in its white and brown plumage,
bright red irides, and rose-coloured bill. During its winter sojourn
on our coasts it is exclusively marine in its habits. To the south and
east coasts its visits are irregular; on the west coast of Scotland
and in the Hebrides it is common; in Ireland it is restricted to the
north coast. It is more arctic in its distribution than any other duck,
and in summer is only to be met with north of the limit of forest
growth. In its summer haunts it goes inland to breed, and Seebohm
says: ‘Probably the explanation of its almost exclusive attachment to
salt water in winter is to be found in the fact that it rarely winters
in a climate where all the fresh water is not frozen up.’ A charming
account is given by the same author of the habits of the long-tailed
duck in its summer home in the Siberian tundra--a vast level region
of swamps and lakes, gay with bright-tinted moss and lichen, and
brilliantly-coloured arctic flowers. The ducks were abundant and very
tame, in strange contrast to their excessively shy and wary disposition
on our coasts. The smaller lakes were inhabited by single pairs,
the larger sheets of water by several pairs. Each pair appeared to
be very jealous of any invasion of its breeding-grounds, and severe
battles were frequent between the males. The call of the drake was
very peculiar, and often heard, and was a loud, clear cry of three
syllables, the middle one prolonged and strongly accented. In its
summer haunts it feeds on water-plants. The drake does not leave his
mate after the eggs have all been laid, but assists in incubation and
in protecting the young. The nest is a slight hollow in the ground with
down for lining; the eggs are pale buffish green in colour.
Mr. Abel Chapman says that, like other sea-ducks, this species gets its
food by diving, but is not a bottom-feeder like the eider and scaup,
which cannot feed in water more than two or three fathoms deep. The
long-tail feeds on small marine animals floating in the water, and is
hence able to feed in deep as well as shallow seas at a distance from
land.
Eider Duck.
Somateria mollisima.
[Illustration: FIG. 84.--EIDER DUCK. ¹⁄₁₀ natural size.]
Bill greenish; down its centre, halfway to the nostrils, is a wedge
of feathers which are black, like those of the forehead and crown;
the latter bisected by a white line running to the pale green nape,
and divided by another white line from a green patch on each side of
the neck; cheeks, back, and wing-coverts white; long sickle-shaped
secondaries yellowish white; wing-feathers, rump, and tail nearly
black, with a white patch on each side of the latter; breast rosy buff;
abdomen black; legs and feet dull green. Length, twenty-five inches.
_Female_: rufous-brown barred with blackish.
* * * * *
The male eider is a large and strikingly handsome duck in its
conspicuous and strongly contrasted colours--velvet-black and snowy
white, variegated with buff and delicate pale sea-green. But it is
exclusively a sea-duck, living most of the time away from land,
and most people know it only by name, as the bird that yields the
exceedingly light and elastic down with which bed-quilts are stuffed.
It inhabits the northern coasts of Great Britain, its most southern
breeding-station being on the Farne Islands, off the coast of
Northumberland. It is gregarious at all seasons, and is usually seen in
small flocks on the sea. It sits lightly on the water, swims and dives
well, and flies rapidly near the surface. It feeds much near the shore,
but seldom comes to land, except in the breeding season. Its food is
obtained at the bottom of the sea, and Mr. A. Chapman says of its
feeding habits: ‘The eider resembles the scaup in many of its habits,
and both ducks are intimately acquainted with the local geography of
the sea-bottom: all its depth for miles, and the position of every
submerged reef and shallow, are well known to them. But while the scaup
contents himself with the smaller shellfish and crustacea, the eider,
with his strong hooked beak, can crush and devour dog-crabs nearly as
broad as one’s fist.’ Charles Dixon thus describes its language and
love-making: ‘It is a remarkably silent bird, except in the breeding
season, when I have often heard the male utter a note something like
that of the ringdove, as he swam round and round his mate, bobbing his
head rapidly all the time. On one occasion I met with a party of these
birds evidently engaged in pairing, my attention being drawn to them
by a chorus of grunting notes the males were uttering. It was a most
animated sight, and the drakes were constantly chasing each other with
angry cries, or swimming excitedly round the ducks, with trembling
wings and heads swaying up and down. The noise made by this party of
eiders could be distinctly heard a mile across the water.’
The nest, as a rule, is placed near the sea, sometimes on the tops of
lofty cliffs, and is usually concealed among the coarse grass, heath,
and herbage that grow in such situations. It is a hollow lined with
fine grass and seaweed, and a quantity of down plucked from the under
parts of the sitting-bird. The eggs are five to seven in number, and
are smooth, oval in shape, and of a pale dull green colour. The female
continues to pluck down from her body during incubation, until the eggs
are enveloped in a large mass of it; and on leaving the nest to feed
she covers the eggs with the down. At this time the drake is not wholly
forgetful of her, and on her appearance, when she leaves her eggs to
feed, he usually keeps company with her, and after she has left the
water rejoins his male companions.
The drake is at all times a shy and wary bird; but in the breeding
season the ducks, if not molested, are very tame, and at the Farne
Islands the sitting-bird will sometimes allow her back to be stroked,
without leaving her eggs.
Common Scoter.
Œdemia nigra.
[Illustration: FIG. 85.--COMMON SCOTER. ¹⁄₁₂ natural size.]
Black, the upper parts glossy; central ridge of the upper mandible
orange. Length, twenty inches. _Female_: blackish brown above,
dark brown below.
* * * * *
The common, or black scoter, is a large, handsome bird, whose
handsomeness is due to its uniform blackness, reminding one of those
two familiar beauties and favourites, the blackbird and the domestic
black cat; and as with these two--one with splendid yellow eyes, the
other with a golden dagger for a beak--so is the scoter’s blackness
relieved, and its handsomeness brought out, by a touch of bright orange
on the upper mandible. It is the most marine of the diving ducks, and
a deep-sea feeder like the long-tailed duck. Its breeding-grounds
are in northern Europe, West Siberia, and Iceland, but a few pairs
breed annually in the north of Scotland. The nest is a hollow in the
ground near the sea, lined with dead leaves and grass, and with down
from the sitting-bird. The eggs are eight or nine in number, and of
a pale greyish buff. In winter the black scoter visits our coasts in
thousands, and is the most common sea-duck. It does not appear to breed
until its second year, as large numbers in immature plumage remain on
our coasts throughout the summer. The scoter has a harsh cry like that
of the tufted duck, and in spring the drake has a love-call, said to be
not unmusical.
Velvet Scoter.
Œdemia fusca.
Plumage velvet-black, except a small white patch behind the eye and
a conspicuous white bar across the wing; bill apricot-yellow, with a
black tubercle at the base; irides white; legs and toes orange-red;
webs black. Length, twenty-two inches. _Female_: sooty brown; a large
dull white patch before, and a smaller one behind, the eye; speculum
less defined than in the male.
* * * * *
Mr. Abel Chapman, comparing this species with the last described, has
given the best picture of it. He says: ‘The velvet scoter is a larger
and handsomer species, the jet-black plumage of the old drakes being
peculiarly rich and glossy, and is easily distinguished at any distance
by the broad white speculum on the wings, closely resembling an old
black cock, if one could imagine such a bird far out at sea.’ It is not
known whether the velvet scoter breeds in Scotland or not. In summer
it is found on inland lakes in Scandinavia and Northern Russia, and
it visits our coasts in winter, but not in such large numbers as the
common scoter. It is not so exclusively marine in its habits as that
species.
Goosander.
Mergus merganser.
[Illustration: FIG. 86.--GOOSANDER. ¹⁄₁₂ natural size.]
Bill and irides blood-red; head and upper neck glossy dark green;
lower neck and under parts white tinged with salmon-pink; upper back
and scapulars black; wing-coverts white; primaries and some of the
secondaries ash-brown; lower back and tail ash-grey; legs and feet
orange-red. Length, twenty-six inches. The female is less conspicuously
coloured, and has a reddish brown head and neck.
* * * * *
The mergansers are sea-ducks of slimmer and more elegant forms than
the species already described, and differ from scaups, eiders, and
scoters as terns differ from gulls. They have grebe-like necks and
long, slender, serrated bills, and a variegated plumage with strongly
contrasted colours.
The goosander is the largest of the three British species, and is not
uncommon in winter on some parts of the coast, and is abundant in the
west districts of Scotland. Its visits to the coasts of England and
Ireland occur chiefly in severe seasons. It is also a breeder in the
Highlands of Scotland. In its summer haunts in Scandinavia and north
of the arctic circle the goosander affects rivers and inland lakes, but
is also found on the sea-coast. But whether on sea or lake, the water
is its element; and being somewhat grebe-like in form, with the legs
placed very far back, it sits erect, and moves with difficulty on land.
On the water it submerges its body when swimming like the cormorant,
and, like that bird, preys on fish, pursuing and capturing them under
water.
The goosander has a habit very singular in a bird of its conformation
and marine habits during the greater part of the year: it breeds in the
hollow trunk of a tree. Seebohm relates that the Finns take advantage
of this habit, and of the goosander’s readiness to make use of an
artificial substitute for the hollow trunk, by fastening hollow boxes,
with a trapdoor behind, to the, trees. The peasant robs the nest daily
until a score or more eggs have been taken; the bird is then allowed to
keep and hatch any more that may be laid, so that the following year’s
harvest may not be spoilt. He adds that if there is no hollow tree,
and no boxes are provided, the nest is made in a hole under a rock,
and that the bird has been known to breed in an old nest of a crow or
bird of prey in a tree. When the nest is at a distance from the ground
the parent bird removes her young in her beak, carrying them down one
by one, then leading them to the water. The nest is made of weeds and
moss, and a quantity of down from the bird is added. Eight to twelve
eggs are laid, smooth-shelled, and creamy white in colour.
The call of the goosander is a low whistling cry.
Red-breasted Merganser.
Mergus serrator.
Bill and irides red; head, including crest and upper neck, dark glossy
green; below, a white collar, divided on the nape by a narrow black
line running to the back, which is also black; the long falcated inner
scapulars black, the outer ones white; speculum white barred with
black; rump, flanks, and tail-coverts vermiculated with grey; lower
neck pale chestnut streaked with black, on each side a conspicuous tuft
of white feathers edged with black; under parts white; legs and feet
reddish orange. Length, twenty-four inches. The female has the head and
neck reddish brown, and is less richly coloured than the male, and much
smaller.
* * * * *
[Illustration: FIG. 87.--RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. ¹⁄₁₁ natural
size.]
The present species exceeds the goosander in elegance of form and in
handsomeness of colouring and ornament. It is a winter visitor, and
also a resident throughout the year on the coast of Scotland north of
the Clyde, and of the Orkneys, Shetlands, Hebrides, and St. Kilda. In
Scotland and Ireland it inhabits inland lakes and rivers, as well as
the sea-coasts. During the cold season it is gregarious, and usually
goes in small flocks. In March these companies break up, and male and
female are thereafter seen always in close companionship. They are
excessively shy and wary birds, diving or taking to flight on the least
alarm. They feed on small fishes and marine molluscs, which they take
by diving; near the shore, where the water is shallow, they are often
seen with head and neck almost continuously immersed as they explore
among the seaweed at the bottom for food. They swim like the cormorant,
having the faculty of sinking the body beneath the surface; and also
dive like that bird, springing up and plunging down almost vertically.
The favourite nesting-place is on an island, under the shelter of a
rock, sometimes in a hole in the ground. The nest is formed of leaves
and grass placed in a slight hollow, down being added later by the
incubating bird. Six to nine eggs are laid, sometimes as many as
twelve. The eggs are glossy, and pale olive-grey in colour. The drake
does not assist in incubation or in protecting the young.
Smew.
Mergus albellus.
Forehead, crown, with crest, throat, neck, and under parts satin-white;
a black patch before and below the eye, and a greenish black triangular
patch on the crest; back black, with a crescentic mottled band of the
same colour stretching over each side of the shoulders, and another
in front of each wing; scapulars white margined with black; lesser
wing-coverts white; greater coverts black, with two narrow white bars;
wing- and tail-feathers blackish brown; flanks vermiculated with
grey; bill, legs, and feet lead-colour. Length, seventeen inches.
_Female_: head reddish brown; collar ash-grey; rest of the plumage
much as in the male. In June the male assumes the female plumage, which
is retained until the autumn.
* * * * *
The smew, or nun, as it is sometimes called, is usually placed among
the irregular visitors to the British Islands, and hardly comes within
the scope of this book; but there is reason to believe that it is
present every winter, although sometimes in very small numbers, in
the seas around our coasts; and it has, therefore, some claim to be
described as a British species. Females and immature birds, called
red-headed smews by fishermen, are frequently met with on the east
coasts of England and Scotland; males in the beautiful mature plumage
are very rare, it is supposed because they do not approach the shore,
except in very severe weather.
In its breeding habits the smew resembles the goosander, laying its
eggs in the trunk of a hollow tree. Finnish Lapland is said to be the
western limits of its breeding range.
Wood-Pigeon, or Ringdove.
Columba palumbus.
Head bluish grey; sides and back of neck glossed with violet and
green, bounded on each side by a patch of white; upper parts grey,
the wing-coverts broadly edged with white, forming a conspicuous bar;
tail-feathers dark slate-grey; under parts reddish purple, pale on the
belly; bill orange, powdered with white at the base; legs and feet
bright red. Length, seventeen inches.
* * * * *
Of the four species of British doves, the wood-pigeon is the most
interesting, as well as the best known, on account of its large
size, its abundance, and general diffusion throughout the country,
and its plaintive music, so familiar to everyone; not in the rural
districts only, but even in London town, where this bird exists in a
semi-domestic state, and is seen to be actually tamer than the domestic
pigeons it frequently associates with. Like most widely diffused and
well-known species, it is called by various names: quest and cushat in
the north, and, in England, ringdove and wood-pigeon. The last name,
which it once shared with the stock-dove, is now becoming the most
general.
For many years past the wood-pigeon has been increasing in numbers,
and, in Scotland, extending its range; this is no doubt due to the
spread of cultivation and the planting of trees, and to the extirpation
of its natural enemies, the rapacious birds, by gamekeepers. But, in
spite of all this, it is really surprising that the wood-pigeon should
continue to increase, considering that it is one of the most persecuted
of wild birds, and is perpetually being shot at by everyone in
possession of a gun, from various motives. It affords good sport, and
is a good bird for the table, and is heartily disliked by the farmers.
It is an exceedingly voracious feeder, and as it is partial to grain of
all kinds, to young turnip buds and leaves, also to the roots in which
rooks or other birds have first pecked a hole, the amount of damage it
does is very considerable. It also devours gooseberries, green corn,
young clover, acorns, beech-mast, and wild fruit of most kinds. But the
pigeon is not purely a pest to the farmer; after the harvest, when it
resorts to the stubbles, it consumes an immense quantity of seeds of
charlock and other noxious weeds.
In autumn and winter the number of wood-pigeons is greatly increased by
the arrival of large flocks from the Continent; and at this season, and
until March, it is not uncommon to see them congregated in thousands.
The wood-pigeon is the handsomest, as well as the largest, of the
British doves, its dove-grey tints being singularly delicate, soft,
and harmonious, and their effect heightened by the white marks and
touch of iridescent colour on the neck. On the ground its motions
are deliberate, and have a graceful dignity which contrasts strongly
with the hurried, eager manner of the rock-pigeon and stock-dove.
When startled from its perch it rushes out with great violence and
loud clapping of the wings. Its flight is easy and powerful; and
before alighting, when it sweeps swiftly and silently on its long,
sharp-pointed wings through the glades of a wood, it sometimes has a
singularly hawk-like appearance. Even the wild birds in the wood may be
deceived by it, and thrown for a few moments into a violent commotion.
The wood-pigeon’s familiar song may be heard in favourable weather
throughout the year, but its voice gains greatly in beauty in the
breeding season. In May and June the love-note of this pigeon is one
of the woodland sounds that never fail to delight the ear. It commonly
happens that birds improve in voice in the season of courtship; and
not only do they acquire greater richness and purity in their strains,
but there is at this season an increased beauty and grace in their
gestures and motions, and in most species the male indulges in pretty
or fantastic antics--a kind of love-dance, in which he exhibits
his charms to the female he is desirous of winning. All doves have
performances of this kind, and that of the wood-pigeon is not the least
graceful. On the ground, or on a branch, he makes his curious display
before the female, approaching her with lowered head, and with throat
and neck puffed out, in a succession of little hops, spreading his tail
fanwise, and flirting his wings so as to display their white bars. All
at once he quits his stand, and rising in the air to a height of thirty
or forty yards, turns, and glides downwards in a smooth and graceful
curve. This mounting aloft and circling descent is very beautiful to
see, and produces the idea that the bird has been suddenly carried away
by an access of glad emotion.
Breeding begins in April, and, in very favourable seasons, even as
early as the first week in March. The nest is a slight platform of
slender sticks laid across each other on the smaller branches or twigs
of a tree, usually at a good height from the ground, and the eggs are
two, with pure white, glossy shells. Two, and sometimes three, broods
are reared in the season.
The young are fed on a substance called ‘pigeon’s milk,’ a thick
white, curd-like fluid, consisting of the partially digested food the
parent bird has swallowed, and which is regurgitated from its crop. In
feeding, the young bird thrusts its beak deep down into the mouth of
its parent and literally drinks. The pigeons alone among birds feed
their young in this way; and they also differ from other birds in
drinking like mammals, taking a continuous draught instead of a series
of sips.
Stock-Dove.
Columba œnas.
Head, throat, wings, and lower parts bluish grey; the lower parts of
the neck with metallic reflections; breast wine-red; a black spot on
the last two secondaries and some of the wing-coverts; primaries grey
at the base, passing into dusky; tail grey, barred with black at the
extremity, the outer feather with a white spot on the outer web, near
the base; iris reddish brown; bill yellow, red at the base; feet red.
Length, thirteen and a half inches.
* * * * *
The stock-dove is a third smaller than the wood-pigeon, and in size,
colouring, and appearance when flying, so closely resembles the common
pigeon, or rock-dove, as to be often mistaken for it. But it differs
from the better-known bird in the uniform blue colour of the back: the
rock-dove has a white patch on the rump. It is not so abundant nor so
widely diffused as the species last described, being most common in the
southern and eastern counties of England; but it is found in suitable
localities throughout England and Wales, and is extending its range
in Scotland; also, in a less degree, in Ireland. In some localities
in the south it is so abundant that its low, monotonous, crooning or
‘grunting’ voice may be heard all day long in summer like a continuous
murmur in the woods. It prefers ancient woods, and breeds in holes
in trees and pollard tops, and from this habit it is said to derive
its name of stock-dove. It is also an inhabitant of seaside cliffs,
like the rock-dove; and at Flamborough Head, on the Yorkshire coast,
both species may be found breeding in the same caverns, and sometimes
associating in flocks together. In districts with a sandy soil it nests
on the ground in a rabbit-burrow, or under a thick furze-bush. A very
slight nest is made of twigs and sticks, and in many cases no nest at
all. The eggs are two in number, and of a light cream-colour.
Rock-Dove.
Columba livia.
Bluish ash, lighter on the wings; rump white; neck and breast lustrous,
with green and purple reflections; two transverse black bands on the
wing; primaries and tail tipped with black; outer tail-feathers white
on the outer web; iris pale orange; bill black; feet red. Length,
twelve and a half inches.
* * * * *
[Illustration: FIG. 88.--ROCK-DOVE. ⅐ natural size.]
The rock-dove, or blue rock, the wild form of the domestic pigeon,
is very rarely found breeding in any inland locality in the British
Islands; in Spain and Italy, and other parts of continental Europe, it
is an inhabitant of the mountainous districts. With us it inhabits the
rock-bound coasts of Scotland and its islands, and of Ireland, and,
very sparsely, the south and east coasts of England, and breeds in
caverns, making its nests on the ledges of the rock. In its language,
flight, and habits it is indistinguishable from the bird familiar to
everyone in a domestic state.
Turtle-Dove.
Turtur communis.
Head and nape ash tinged with wine-red; a space on the sides of the
neck composed of black feathers tipped with white; neck and breast pale
wine-red; back ash-brown; primaries dusky; secondaries bluish ash;
scapulars and wing-coverts rust-red, with a black spot in the centre of
each feather; belly and under tail-coverts white; tail dusky, all but
the two middle feathers tipped with white, the outer feather edged with
white externally; iris yellowish red; feet red; bill brown. Length,
eleven and a half inches.
* * * * *
[Illustration: FIG. 89.--TURTLE-DOVE. ⅙ natural size.]
The turtle-dove differs from other British doves in its much smaller
size and in being a summer visitor to England. It arrives in the
southern counties at the end of April, and ranges as far north as
Westmorland and Cumberland; in the west of England, and in Wales and
Ireland, it is a somewhat scarce bird. Like the wood-pigeon and the
stock-dove, it is believed to be increasing its numbers. It inhabits
woods and plantations, and being of a shy disposition, is not often
noticed. In the autumn it may be seen in small companies, usually
composed of a pair of old birds and their young; at other times it
goes alone or with its mate. Its spring song is a cooing note, very
soft and agreeable, and somewhat plaintive in sound. The nest is made
at no great height, a large bush or a hedge being as often selected
for a site as a tree. It is a slight structure of slender sticks and
twigs laid crosswise, and the two eggs are creamy-white. Two broods are
reared in the season.
In September the turtle-doves take their departure to their winter
haunts in Africa.
A few specimens of the handsome and elegant passenger-pigeon
(_Ectopistes migratorius_), a North American species, once
excessively abundant in that continent, but now nearly extinct, have
been obtained in this country.
* * * * *
Pallas’s sand-grouse (_Syrrhaptes paradoxus_), a curious and handsome
bird, related structurally to the pigeons, is also included in works on
British birds. Its home is the steppes of Central Asia, but from time
to time visitations of this species, sometimes in very large numbers,
have occurred in Europe, extending to the British Islands. The last and
largest visitation of this kind occurred in 1888.
Pheasant.
Phasianus colchicus.
Head and neck glossed with metallic reflections of green, blue, and
yellow; sides of head bare, scarlet, minutely spotted with black;
plumage spotted and banded with red, purple, brown, yellow, green,
and black. Length, three feet. _Female_: light brown marked with
dusky; sides of head feathered.
* * * * *
The pheasant has had a remarkable and a very long history, extending
back into the period of myth and fable to the famous expedition of
the Argonauts, who brought back this bird, with some other curious
and beautiful objects, including the golden fleece, from the banks of
the river Phasis, in Colchis. That, at all events, is the tradition
which science has preserved in both names of the species. It is not
incredible that the pheasant was introduced into Europe twelve and a
half centuries before Christ; for we know that our familiar homing
pigeon was employed as a letter-carrier by the Egyptians at an even
earlier date. When and by whom it was first introduced into England
is not known. There is evidence that the bird existed and was held in
great esteem in this country before the Norman Conquest; and the belief
is that it was brought hither by the Romans, who were accustomed to
introduce ‘strange animals’ into the countries they conquered, and
who gave the fallow-deer to Britain. That the first pheasants brought
to Europe were obtained on the banks of the Phasis--now the Riou--is
highly probable, since the marshy woods in the neighbourhood of that
stream are still the headquarters of the aboriginal wild bird. Its
habits appear curiously persistent: it must have wood, dense cover, and
water in abundance to thrive. In Britain, where it has been permitted
to run free in the woods for the last sixteen or seventeen centuries,
it is still scarcely able to maintain its existence without the
strictest protection and a great deal of attention on the part of man.
It is known that when the birds are left to shift for themselves they
soon decrease in numbers, and eventually die out, except in a few rare
cases where the conditions are extremely favourable. How heavy the cost
is of keeping pheasants in numbers sufficient for the purposes of sport
is well known to all those who have preserves.
[Illustration: JAY. WOOD-PIGEONS. PHEASANTS.]
An interesting fact about the pheasant is, that the various species
forming the group to which our bird belongs freely interbreed when
they come together, and produce hybrids which are fertile. A Chinese
species, the ring-necked pheasant, which is a little smaller than the
British bird, was introduced into this country at the end of the last
century, and everywhere the two species have interbred so freely that
it is now scarcely possible to find a bird which does not show traces
of hybridism.
An account of the habits of the pheasant would be superfluous here,
as this bird, in the nearly semi-domestic state in which it exists
throughout the country, is as familiar to most persons as the fowl.
Red-legged Partridge.
Caccabis rufa.
Throat and cheeks white, surrounded by a black band, which spreads
itself out over the breast and sides of the neck in the form of
numerous spots and lines, with which are intermixed a few white spots;
upper parts reddish ash; on the flanks a number of crescent-shaped
spots; the convexity towards the tail rust-red; the centre black
bordered by white; beak, orbits, and feet bright red. Length, thirteen
and a half inches.
* * * * *
The red-legged partridge, or French partridge, as it is often called,
is, like the pheasant, a naturalised species, introduced by man; but
its history as a British bird is comparatively a short one and devoid
of romance. A first attempt to naturalise it was made in the reign
of Charles II., but was not successful; on its reintroduction about
a hundred and twenty years ago, it proved well able to maintain
existence in its new surroundings. Owing to its swiftness of foot and
excessive wildness it was difficult for the sportsman to get within
shooting distance of it, when partridges were shot over dogs. On this
account it was disliked; so much so in some cases that attempts were
made to extirpate it. But in spite of persecution it continued to
increase, and is now found distributed over a large part of England,
from the southern counties to Westmorland.
[Illustration: FIG. 90.--RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE. ⅐ natural size.]
It differs from the common partridge in language and habits, as well
as in its more conspicuously marked plumage and bright red legs. It
is not a bird of the homestead, being partial to dry, sandy soils, to
commons, and uncultivated lands. Its call-note is a musical, piping
cry. It breeds early, and makes a slight nest on the ground. The eggs
are fifteen to eighteen in number, yellowish white in ground-colour,
and blotched with brown.
* * * * *
An allied species, the Barbary partridge (_Caccabis petrosa_), has
been included, as a rare straggler to England, among British birds.
Partridge.
Perdix cinerea.
[Illustration: FIG. 91.--PARTRIDGE. ⅙ natural size.]
Plumage grey and reddish brown, the male with a chestnut horseshoe
patch on the lower breast. Length, twelve and a half inches.
* * * * *
The partridge is a favourite of the ornithologist, and of all
lovers of our wild bird life. A handsome and interesting bird, he
is the only indigenous gallinaceous species in Britain that is not
adversely affected by the reclamation of waste lands and the spread
of cultivation. On the contrary, the changes that prove fatal to
other game-birds are advantageous to him, since he flourishes most on
rich soils, and where agriculture is most advanced. As a bird of the
homestead he is made dear by association to those who have passed their
early years in rural England; to the sportsman he is more, in the long
run, than any other game-bird we possess, on account of his greater
abundance and more general distribution.
Except during the breeding season, the partridge is gregarious,
keeping in coveys of half a dozen to twenty or more birds. Their
feeding-times are early in the morning and in the afternoon. Towards
noon they repair to some secluded spot to take their ease and dust
themselves; and, if the weather be genial, to lie basking in the
sunshine. At dusk they resort to some open place, usually the central
part of a field of grass, to roost, or ‘jug,’ as it is called; and
it may then be seen that the covey is not a mere chance assemblage,
but a community, under the leadership of one individual, presumably
the oldest and most sagacious cock bird among them. At the approach
of sunset, and until dark, the call of the leader may be heard from
the chosen roosting-ground. It is a familiar sound to everyone in the
rural districts--a harsh and powerful cry; but, like the clamour of
blackbirds and redwings on going to rest, and the cawing of rooks at
eventide, it has a great charm for the lover of nature. In character it
resembles the call of the guinea-fowl, but is somewhat more metallic,
and is more powerful and far-reaching. When the birds are assembled,
they settle down for the night a little distance apart from each other,
disposed in a circle, all with faces turned outwards. Disposed in this
form, it must be difficult for any prowling animal to come upon them
without being detected by some one bird in the covey.
In spring, usually in March, pairing takes place, and the coveys break
up; but if snow or frost supervenes the birds pack again, and wait in
company for the return of milder weather. In the pairing season the
males are jealous and pugnacious, and two cocks are often seen engaged
in fierce fight, making the fields resound, meanwhile, with their angry
cries.
The nest is placed on the ground, among the growing corn, or under the
shelter of an untrimmed hedge, and is a mere hollow scratched in the
earth, with a slight lining of dead grass and leaves. The eggs vary in
number from six or seven to eighteen, and are of a uniform olive-brown
colour. When the young have been hatched by the female the male assists
in rearing and protecting them, and both birds display intense anxiety
and great boldness in the presence of danger, and will drag themselves
over the ground, with flapping and trailing wings, within a few yards
of a man or dog, to entice him away from their chicks. The young feed
principally on insect food, small caterpillars, and larvæ of ants, of
which they are extremely fond. The old birds include green leaves,
buds, grain, and seeds of weeds, in their dietary.
Quail.
Coturnix communis.
[Illustration: FIG. 92.--QUAIL. ⅕ natural size.]
Head mottled with black and reddish brown, with three parallel,
longitudinal, yellowish streaks; upper parts ash-brown variegated with
black and straw-colour; neck reddish yellow, with a double crescent of
dusky brown; breast pale reddish brown streaked with white; bill and
feet yellowish brown. Length, eight inches. _Female_: paler, and
wanting the double crescent on the neck.
* * * * *
The quail is a summer visitor to this country, arriving in May. It is
nowhere a common bird, although widely distributed, and it has been
found breeding in most parts of the British Islands. Occasionally it
is met with in winter, most often in Ireland. Immediately after its
arrival the call of the male is heard morning and evening, a shrill,
piping note of three syllables, supposed to resemble the words _wet my
lips_, or _wet my feet_, according to the hearer’s fancy. This call
is repeated again and again, with some slight variation in the sound.
The nest is a slight hollow scratched in a cornfield, among grass
or clover, and the eggs number seven or eight to twelve, and even a
larger number is sometimes found. They are speckled and blotched with
umber-brown on a yellowish white ground. Two broods are reared in the
season. The quail prefers open, rough grass country to cultivated land.
Its food consists of seeds, grain, and insects.
The quail is in appearance a very small partridge, being little
more than half the size of that bird. It is singular that in the
very limited number of gallinaceous birds that exist wild in this
country there should be included the capercaillie, the largest of the
order, with, perhaps, the exception of one American species, and the
diminutive quail--a giant and a pigmy.
Historically, the small species is the more important of the two. He
is a Bible bird, and was as familiar as the eagle and the crane to the
civilised nations of antiquity in Asia and Africa, where letters and
arts had their origin, when the great wood-grouse was known only to the
barbarians of Europe.
When we consider how bound to earth (like our unfortunate selves) the
gallinaceous birds are, seldom using their wings, unless to escape from
some sudden, pressing danger into the nearest cover, it strikes us as
very wonderful that the plump little quail should be as great a migrant
as the most aërial kinds--the swallows and the warblers. When with us
in the summer he is a dweller on the ground, an earth-lover, like his
stay-at-home relation, the partridge; yet in his wide wanderings he
crosses seas, vast deserts, and the loftiest mountain chains; and by
means of this migratory instinct he has diffused himself over the three
great continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Ptarmigan.
Lagopus mutus.
Winter: pure white; a black line from the angle of the beak through
the eye; outer tail-feathers black; above the eye a scarlet fringed
membrane; beak black; tarsi and toes thickly clothed with woolly
feathers. _Female_: without the black line through the eyes.
Summer: wings, under tail-coverts, two middle tail-feathers, and legs
white; outer tail-feathers black, some of them tipped with white; all
the rest of the plumage ash-brown marked with black lines and dusky
spots. Length, fifteen inches.
* * * * *
[Illustration: _PLATE XIII._ PTARMIGAN (WINTER AND AUTUMN
PLUMAGE). ²⁄₇ NAT. SIZE.]
In the British Islands the ptarmigan is at present confined to the
Highlands of Scotland, the ‘region of stones,’ and to some of its
islands, where, however, it is decreasing in numbers.
A peculiar interest attaches to this bird on account of its change of
plumage from brown in summer to snow-white in winter, and of the fact
that it inhabits only the summits and slopes of high mountains. These
two things--the white winter plumage and the mountain habit--have a
close connection. The periodical change to white is a common phenomenon
in arctic animals, both birds and mammals, and all the species of
grouse of the genus to which the ptarmigan belongs assume the white
dress in winter, with one exception--the red grouse of the British
Islands. Thus, in Britain we have two grouse of this group (Lagopus),
one of which turns white like the continental grouse, while the other
keeps its brown dress throughout the year. To explain this difference
it must be assumed that both species inhabited Britain at a period
when its climate was an intensely cold one, and that both species
changed their colour to protective white in the season of snow. When
the British climate changed, and became so mild that the snow no longer
remained unmelted for months at a time on the lower levels, all such
creatures as had the arctic habit of becoming white in winter would be
in danger of extermination, since their intense whiteness on the brown
or green earth would make them fatally conspicuous to their enemies. A
white grouse on a brown moor would be visible for miles to high-soaring
birds of prey. The red grouse escaped destruction by losing its white
winter dress: the change in it from two distinct liveries to one colour
for all seasons was doubtless gradual, extending over a period of very
many centuries, keeping pace with the slowly improving climate. He
ended by becoming a bird that was wholly brown in winter, while the
willow-grouse of northern Europe and Asia--the continental form, and,
it may be added, the parent, form of our bird of the moors--continued
to change to white periodically. Meanwhile no such change took place in
the ptarmigan’s plumage: he alone continued to assume the pure white
winter dress, as if to keep alive the tradition of an ancient arctic
Britain; and yet he survived. He escaped destruction because he was a
hardier bird, and preferred the higher grounds, where the snows never
melted in winter. At the northern limit of its range, north of the
arctic circle, the ptarmigan inhabits the fells and level country;
in Europe it is everywhere confined to the higher slopes of lofty
mountains; in other words, wherever found--and it ranges as far south
as the mountains of Spain--it still has an arctic climate. The bird
exists ‘islanded’ on high mountains, separated from the rest of its
kind by wide spaces of low-lying country as impassable to it as the
sea.
The ptarmigan breeds in May. Its nest is well concealed, and is merely
a slight hollow in the ground, lined with a little dry grass. Eight
to ten eggs are laid, of a yellowish white blotched with dark brown.
In autumn or early in winter the birds pack, and sometimes as many as
fifty are seen in one flock. Macgillivray has the following interesting
account of the bird in its mountain haunts: ‘These beautiful birds,
while feeding, run and walk among the weather-beaten and lichen-crested
fragments of rock, from which it is very difficult to distinguish them
when they remain motionless, as they invariably do should a person be
in sight. Indeed, unless you are directed to a particular spot by their
strange low, croaking cry, you may pass through a flock of ptarmigans
without observing a single individual, although some of them may not
be ten yards distant. When squatted, however, they utter no sound,
their object being to conceal themselves; and if you discover the one
from which the cry has proceeded, you generally find him on the top
of a stone, ready to spring off the moment you show an indication of
hostility. If you throw a stone at him, he rises, utters his call, and
is immediately joined by all the individuals around, which, to your
surprise, if it be your first _rencontre_, you see spring up one
by one from the bare ground.’
Red Grouse.
Lagopus scoticus.
Plumage reddish brown on the head and neck, and chestnut brown, barred
and speckled with black, on the upper parts; the feathers of the breast
almost black, with white tips. In summer the general colour is lighter;
in winter the under parts are frequently mottled with white. Length,
sixteen inches. _Female_: more reddish yellow in colour.
* * * * *
One sunny morning a few months ago, as I stood on a mountain slope
among bracken, ling, and furze, and scattered masses of grey rock,
watching a small party of grouse near me, it struck me that I had
never looked on a more beautiful creature than this bird:--so finely
shaped and richly coloured, and proud and free in carriage, and in such
perfect harmony with the rough vegetation and that wild and solitary
nature amid which it exists. It is not strange that this species
should have a fascination above all others for the sportsman that he
is willing to go farther and spend more in its pursuit; for it is not
the bird only that draws him: the fascination is of that unadulterated
nature of which the bird is a part, and the sense of liberty and savage
life that returns to man in the midst of mountain and moorland scenery.
To the ornithologist the grouse has another great distinction: it
is the only species of bird exclusively British. It is generally
distributed in Scotland and its islands, the Shetlands excepted. It
also inhabits the moors in the northern counties of England, and of
Wales as far south as Glamorgan; and of Ireland, where, unhappily, it
is decreasing in numbers.
The grouse feeds principally on the tender shoots of the heather;
and also eats leaves and buds of other plants, and such wild fruits
as grow on or near the moors. In autumn and winter it is gregarious,
and in some localities the males and females pack separately. Pairing
takes place very early in the spring, and the male, as is usual in the
grouse family, courts the female with curious sounds and a fantastic
dancing performance. The wooing takes place very early in the morning,
before there is light enough to feed. Flying up to a height of fifteen
or twenty feet into the air, he drops down uttering a succession of
powerful ringing notes, which end as the bird reaches the ground. This
is repeated again and again until daylight and feeding-time suspend
the performance. The red grouse is strictly monogamous, and each pair
retires to its own chosen nesting-place, where a slight hollow is
scratched under a tuft of ling, and five or six to twelve eggs are
laid. They are pale olive in ground-colour, blotched with dark red. The
female alone incubates, but the male assists in rearing and protecting
the young. The chicks when small feed chiefly on small caterpillars.
Black Grouse.
Tetrao tetrix.
Black with violet reflections; a broad white band on the wings;
secondaries tipped with white; lower tail-coverts white; eyebrows
naked, vermilion; a white spot beneath the eye. Length, twenty-three
inches. _Female_: head and neck rust-red barred with black; rump
and tail-feathers black barred with red; belly dusky brown with red and
whitish bars.
* * * * *
The black grouse is most abundant and generally distributed in Scotland
and the northern counties of England, but is everywhere decreasing
in numbers. In England its decline has been most marked, and in the
southern counties, where it was formerly common, it ceased to exist,
except in the New Forest, where a few birds survive. It has been
reintroduced in some localities, but so far has not thriven well. In
Ireland it is not indigenous.
[Illustration: FIG. 93.--BLACKCOCK. ¹⁄₁₀ natural size.]
Its large size, rich blue-black plumage, white wing-bar, scarlet
wattles, and strange lyre-shaped ornament, formed by the
outward-curving feathers of the tail, give the black cock an
exceedingly fine appearance, and he is, perhaps, the handsomest of
our game-birds. He inhabits both woods and moors, but is most partial
to grounds of a mixed character, such as are found on the fringe of a
moor, where woods and thickets are broken and varied with patches of
heath.
The black cock is polygamous; and at the end of winter many birds
meet together at an early hour of the morning, when the males utter
their powerful call-notes, and strut to and fro, with tail expanded
and trailing wings, in the presence of the hens. These ‘matrimonial
markets’ are scenes of desperate combats between rival cocks. In the
end each male retires with the females he has secured for his harem.
The hen makes a slight nest under the shelter of a bush, and lays six
to ten eggs, yellowish white, with orange-brown spots. The young feed
principally on larvæ of ants and other insects. Grain, seeds, berries
and buds, and shoots of many kinds, are eaten by the old birds.
Capercaillie.
Tetrao urogallus.
[Illustration: FIG. 94.--CAPERCAILLIE. ¹⁄₁₂ natural size.]
Feathers of the throat elongated, black; head and neck dusky; eyes with
a bare red skin above and a white spot below; wings brown speckled
with black; breast lustrous green; belly black with white spots; rump
and flanks marked with undulating lines of black and ash colour; tail
black with white spots; beak horn-white. Length, two feet ten inches.
_Female_: a third smaller, barred and spotted with tawny red,
black, and white; throat tawny red; breast deep red; tail dark red with
black bars, white at the tip.
* * * * *
North Britain, with its islands, although poor in species
comparatively, has one glory which her larger, richer neighbour is
without: her wilder districts still afford breeding-places to several
of the larger species which have long ceased to exist in England.
Of these are the osprey, sea-eagle, golden eagle, ptarmigan, and
capercaillie, the last the finest game-bird of Europe, with the sole
exception of the great bustard. The story of the capercaillie in Great
Britain is singularly interesting. It became extinct about the middle
of the last century, and was recovered some eighty or ninety years
later, when it was reintroduced from Sweden in 1837–8, and has since
spread over a large portion of Scotland, and continues to extend its
range.
The difference in size between the cock and hen capercaillie is greater
than in any other game-bird. In Scotland, the weight of the male is
from ten to eleven pounds, that of the female about four pounds and a
half. In northern Europe the cock weighs as much as seventeen pounds.
It is curious to find that in a large number of gallinaceous birds,
the pheasants and grouse more especially, the females have a near
resemblance in size, form, and colouring. The divergence is mostly in
the males, and is greatest in the polygamous species. Thus, it would be
difficult to find two birds in the same order more utterly unlike in
appearance than the cock pheasant and capercaillie; yet the females of
the two species preserve a strong family likeness.
The capercaillie feeds on the tender shoots of the Scotch fir, and
on buds and shoots of other trees and plants, and berries of various
kinds. He is an early breeder, and in spring the cock is heard uttering
his powerful double cry, several times repeated in succession, from a
lofty perch in a pine-tree. While calling he puffs out his plumage and
expands his tail like an angry turkey-cock. The call, which is uttered
early in the morning, is a summons to the hens, who are not slow to
obey it, and is also a challenge to other males. The same spot is
used morning after morning for meetings, displays, and combats, until
each male has secured his tale of hens, whereupon breeding begins.
The nest is a slight hollow scratched in the ground under a bush, and
the eggs are six to twelve in number. They are pale reddish yellow in
ground-colour, spotted and blotched with brown.
The male does not assume the mature plumage until the third year.
Water-Rail.
Rallus aquaticus.
Bill red; crown, hind neck, and upper parts olive-brown, a black streak
in the centre of each feather; cheeks, neck, and breast grey; flanks
blackish, barred with white; legs and feet brownish flesh-colour.
Length, eleven inches and a half. _Female_: duller in colour, the
wing-coverts sometimes barred with white.
* * * * *
The water-rail inhabits fens, marshes, and watercourses, moving rapidly
in the rank vegetation, swimming and diving with ease, flying only when
compelled, and rising heavily, with fluttering wings and dangling legs,
and after a short flight dropping again into cover. Its shy, skulking
habits make it appear a very rare bird, but it is found, although
in small numbers, in most suitable localities in Great Britain and
Ireland. Although it is met with throughout the year in this country,
it is believed to be migratory, the birds that breed with us moving
southwards in winter, when their places are taken by migrants arriving
from more northern regions.
The nest is made of reed-leaves, and is placed among coarse herbage or
in a tussock of sedge. Seven to eleven eggs are laid, in colour pale
creamy white, thinly flecked with reddish brown and grey. The nestlings
are covered with black down. During the pairing and breeding time the
rails are loquacious, frequently uttering their loud peculiar cry.
* * * * *
Three other rails (genus Porzana) occur in the British Islands, one a
regular visitant. They inhabit marshes, but in form are more like the
corncrake than the water-rail.
Spotted crake (_Porzana maruetta_).--A summer visitor, breeding
sparingly in different parts of Great Britain. On account of its
skulking habits and small size it is rarely seen. It lays eight to ten
eggs, olive-buff in ground-colour, spotted with dark reddish brown. In
size it is about a fourth less than the water-rail; the upper parts are
olive-brown spotted with white; crown dark brown; face and neck dull
grey; breast brown spotted with white.
Baillon’s crake (_Porzana bailloni_).--A somewhat rare visitor to Great
Britain, but known to have bred in Norfolk. General colour warm brown
flecked with black and white. Length, seven inches.
Little crake (_Porzana parva_).--A rare visitor to the British Islands,
chiefly to the east coast. Upper parts olive-brown; under parts
slate-grey. Length, eight inches.
Corncrake.
Crex pratensis.
[Illustration: FIG. 95.--LANDRAIL. ⅐ natural size.]
Ash-grey patches above the eyes and on the cheeks; feathers of the
upper parts yellowish brown with dark centres; wing-coverts and quills
chestnut; throat white; breast greyish buff; belly white in the centre,
and flanks broadly barred with brown and buff; bill and feet pale
brown. Length, eleven inches.
* * * * *
The corncrake is one of the commonest British birds. It is as large as
a partridge and more brightly coloured; it lives on the ground, and,
like the partridge, is to some extent a bird of the homestead. Yet
it is rarely seen, for, of all skulking creatures, it is the shyest,
swiftest of foot, and most elusive. Its narrow, wedge-like shape
fits it to pass through the close, upright stems of the grass with
perfect ease, and, with head and neck extended as if flying, it runs
in the grass as rapidly as a plover or partridge over the smoothest
ground. But though not seen it is heard, its low creaking cry sounding
incessantly from morning till night in spring from the meadows and
fields. This curious sound may be imitated by rapidly passing the
thumb-nail along the teeth of a fine comb. The note is said to be
uttered by the male, and is not often heard after breeding begins. The
nest is made at the end of May, or in June, and is placed among growing
corn or meadow grass, and is formed of dry grass and leaves. Seven to
ten eggs are laid, reddish white in ground-colour, spotted with bright
brown and grey.
The corncrake, or landrail, is found throughout the British Islands,
and is most abundant in rich pastures; in southern England and in
Ireland it appears to be most numerous. At the beginning of October
it migrates, but birds are not unfrequently met with in winter,
particularly in Ireland.
Moorhen.
Gallinula chloropus.
Fore part of the bill yellow; base and frontal plate red; irides red;
upper parts dark olive-brown; head, neck, and under parts slate-grey,
with some white streaks on the flanks; under tail-coverts pure white;
legs greenish yellow, red above the tarsal joint. Length, thirteen
inches. In this species the female is larger and more brightly coloured
than the male.
* * * * *
The moorhen is one of our most familiar wild birds; for not only is
it common and generally distributed in the British Islands, but where
it is not molested, and the stream, or pond, or ditch it inhabits is
close to the homestead, it becomes almost domestic in its habits, and
will freely mix with the poultry and share their food. Furthermore, it
attracts a good deal of attention, and is something of a favourite with
most people, on account of its pretty appearance and quaint, graceful
carriage, as it moves over the turf with measured steps, nodding
its head and jerking its tail in order to display the conspicuous
snow-white under-coverts.
The name of moorhen, which some writers dislike, is old English for
marsh-hen, from _moorish_, which had the same meaning as marshy.
Water-hen, another time-honoured name for this bird, is still in common
use; but mot-hen, or moat-hen, from the bird’s habit of frequenting
moats when moated houses were common in England, is now obsolete.
The moorhen swims and dives with ease, and feeds a good deal in the
water, usually keeping near the fringe of weeds, in which it takes
refuge on the slightest alarm. When hunted it dives, and is able to
remain submerged for an indefinite time by grasping the weeds at the
bottom with its claws and keeping its nostrils above the surface.
The nest is generally placed on the ground among the reeds or rushes,
but many other sites are used; and sometimes it is built in a tree
several feet above the ground. Seven or eight eggs are laid, reddish
white in ground-colour, thinly speckled and spotted with orange-brown.
The young when hatched are covered with a black hairy down. Two or
three broods are reared in the season, and it has been observed that
the young of the first brood sometimes assist the parents in making a
new nest and in rearing the young of the second brood.
The moorhen feeds on worms, slugs, insects of all kinds, and vegetable
substances.
Coot.
Fulica atra.
Beak pale flesh-colour; bald patch on the forehead white; irides
crimson; under parts sooty black; above, slate-grey with a narrow white
bar across the wing; legs and feet dark green. Length, eighteen inches.
* * * * *
In its appearance the coot is a large plain-coloured moorhen. It is
more aquatic in its habits than that bird, keeping almost as constantly
on the water as a diving duck. Like its smaller relation, it prefers
stagnant meres or ponds, or sluggish streams with marshy borders and
a deep fringe of reeds for cover; and it is to be met with in all
suitable localities throughout the British Islands. It is resident all
the year, but in the north, when the watercourses are frozen over in
winter, it migrates to the tidal estuaries and the sea-coast, where it
feeds on the mud-flats. The nest is a large structure, placed among the
reeds or rushes, and built up to a height of several inches above the
water. Seven to ten eggs are laid, of a light stone-colour, speckled
with dark brown. The coot was formerly much more abundant than it is
now in England, and was, perhaps, most numerous in the district of the
Broads in Norfolk. Sir Thomas Browne, writing of the birds of Norfolk
two centuries and a half ago, gives the following account of a singular
habit of this bird: ‘Coots are in very great flocks on the broad
waters. Upon the appearance of a kite or buzzard I have seen them unite
from all parts of the shore in strange numbers; when, if the kite stoop
near them, they will fling up and spread such a flash of water with
their wings that they will endanger the kite, and so keep him off again
and again in open opposition.’ This story, which reads like a fable,
was found to be plain truth by Lord Lilford, who observed the coots on
the lakes of Epirus, a district where birds of prey are abundant. He
writes: ‘I have several times observed the singular manner in which a
flock of these birds defend themselves against the white-tailed eagle.
On the appearance over them of one of these birds they collect in a
dense body, and when the eagle stoops at them they throw up a sheet
of water with their feet, and completely baffle their enemy; in one
instance ... they so drenched the eagle that it was with difficulty
that he reached a tree on the shore not more than a hundred yards from
the spot where he attacked them.’
* * * * *
The order Alectorides, which follows, includes two noble forms once
common, but now extinct in this country. One is the crane (_Grus
communis_), which was abundant in the fen country down to the latter
end of the seventeenth century. The other, finest of British birds,
is the great bustard (_Otis tarda_), which lived in all suitable
localities in England, from the southern counties to Yorkshire, and was
wantonly extirpated during the first half of the present century.
The little bustard (_Otis tetrax_) occurs as a rare straggler in the
eastern half of England.
A single example of Macqueen’s bustard (_Otis macqueeni_), an
Asiatic species, was obtained in England half a century ago.
Stone-Curlew.
Œdicnemus scolopax.
[Illustration: FIG. 96.--STONE-CURLEW. ⅐ natural size.]
Beak black, yellowish at the base; irides, orbits, legs, and feet
yellow; upper parts mottled pale brown; wing-coverts with white tips,
forming two narrow bars; quill black; throat and stripe beneath the eye
white; neck and breast buff streaked with dark brown. Length, seventeen
inches. Sexes alike.
* * * * *
The stone-curlew owes its name to a superficial resemblance in its
size and pale brown, mottled plumage to the common curlew, and to its
preference for a sandy or stony soil. It is also called the thick-knee,
from the curious conformation of its knees, which are very massive,
and have a somewhat bulbous appearance. Its other common names are
big plover and Norfolk plover, Norfolk and Suffolk being now the
headquarters of this species in England, although it is still found in
small and, sad to say, diminishing numbers in suitable localities from
Hampshire and Dorsetshire in the south to the wolds of Lincolnshire
and the East Riding of Yorkshire in the north. It does not occur in
Ireland. It is a bird of a somewhat singular appearance, and is the
sole representative of its family in Europe. It is a summer visitor to
England, a few birds remaining to winter in the southern counties, and
inhabits extensive heaths where there are patches of stony or pebbly
ground; and it also frequents fallows and downs. In its habits it is
semi-nocturnal, feeding principally by night; it is by night that its
wild, clear, ringing cry is usually heard. Its breeding-time is about
the middle of April, when it deposits its two eggs in a slight hollow
in the ground, among the flint pebbles and scanty vegetation. The eggs
are buff-coloured, spotted and streaked with grey and brown, and are
very hard to discover, so well do they harmonise in hue and markings
with the sandy and pebbly ground on which they are placed.
Mr. Trevor-Battye thus describes the nesting habits of the stone-curlew
in his ‘Pictures in Prose’:--‘This bird, quite apart from its own very
quaint appearance and habits, must always have a great interest for
British ornithologists, as it is the nearest surviving link we have
with the great bustard, now, alas! extinct in this country. It is
nocturnal in its habits, and is extremely wary and shy. Although on its
arrival in spring it keeps well away in the open, it generally lays its
eggs not far from a belt or covert of trees. The pair of which I speak
had chosen the middle of a gravelly space among the pines. By creeping
upon hands and knees under cover of a bank one could gain a position,
just fifteen paces away from the nest, without being observed, so close
that with my glass I could see the light shine through the crystal
prominence of the sitting-bird’s great yellow eyes. At intervals one
bird would relieve the other on the nest. When disturbed the birds ran
away for shelter to a bank beneath the pines. And here the bird that
was not sitting always stood sentry. When its turn came to relieve its
mate it would walk pretty deliberately across the first part of the
open, where it was more or less screened by a fringe of trees; and
then, having reached a point that was commanded from a long way off,
it would suddenly lower its head, and run as fast as a red-leg to the
nest. When it was about a yard away the sitting-bird would slip off,
and, staying for no greetings, run past, and away to the pine-bank....
It was interesting to notice that the bird always rose backwards from
the nest, so that its long legs should not disturb the eggs; and
that the new-comer did not turn the eggs immediately, but squatted
perfectly still for perhaps a minute, as if to make sure it was not
disturbed. And after the eggs were satisfactorily disposed, and all the
coast seemed clear, the bird would close its eyes in the hot sunshine,
and appear to go to sleep. But even then I could scarcely so much as
move a finger above the ground but instantly it was off its nest and
away.’
It is very delightful to be thus let into the domestic secrets of so
shy and wary a bird by so close and sympathetic an observer as Mr.
Trevor-Battye.
When anxious to avoid being seen the stone-curlew practises the device
of squatting close on the ground with its neck extended. The South
American rheas have a similar habit, and it is, perhaps, possessed by
other large birds that have a more or less protective colouring and
inhabit the open country.
The stone-curlew feeds on slugs, worms, and insects, and also devours
mice and small reptiles.
* * * * *
The family Glareolidæ is represented in works on British birds by
one species, the collared pratincole (_Glareola pratincola_), a
rare straggler to Great Britain from Southern Europe. This bird comes
between the stone-curlew and the true plovers (family Charadriidæ),
which follow.
* * * * *
The cream-coloured courser (_Cursorius gallicus_) is another rare
straggler to England from Western Asia and North Africa.
Golden Plover.
Charadrius pluvialis.
Upper parts greyish black spotted with gamboge-yellow; above the eye a
white line, which continues down the neck to the flanks; under parts
black. After the autumnal moult the under parts are white, and the
upper parts more yellow than in spring. The female, in summer, has less
black on the breast. Length, eleven inches.
* * * * *
The golden plover has for several centuries been in great esteem
for the table, its fame in this respect being equal to that of the
dotterel, woodcock, ruff, and black-tailed godwit. The two last
named have now ceased to exist in this country as breeding species.
The golden plover, although incessantly persecuted by fowlers and
sportsmen, is still not uncommon; probably because the great majority
of the birds that visit the British islands on migration in autumn
and winter have their breeding-grounds in remote regions north of the
arctic circle, where there are no human beings to molest them. The
birds that breed with us are also migratory, and escape destruction by
going south in autumn.
[Illustration: FIG. 97.--GOLDEN PLOVER (summer plumage). ⅙
natural size.]
The golden plover gets its common name from the rich yellow spots
that decorate its upper parts. All the species of the genus to which
it belongs undergo a very remarkable change of plumage every year:
in winter the whole under parts are pure white; in spring the white
changes to intense black, and this nuptial, or summer dress, lasts
until the autumn moult, when the winter white is resumed. With us this
species breeds in suitable localities throughout the British Islands,
but very sparingly in the southern half of England. The nest is a
slight hollow among heather or short grass, sometimes on the bare
ground, and is scantily lined with dry grass. The eggs, of a yellowish
stone-colour, spotted and blotched with blackish brown, are four in
number, and are handsome, and large for the bird. The young when
hatched are pretty little creatures, orange-yellow and brown in colour.
The call-note of the golden plover, clear and wild and far-reaching, is
one of the bird-sounds that have a great charm. In the pairing season
the male emits a different sound, by way of love-song, as he rises and
flutters in the air above his mate, and reiterates a double note so
rapidly that it runs into a trill.
After the breeding season the birds unite in flocks, and leave the
moors for the lowlands and seashore.
* * * * *
The Eastern, or lesser golden plover (_Charadrius fulvus_), a form
of the British golden plover differing only in its slightly smaller
size, has been obtained on two or three occasions in this country.
Grey Plover.
Squatarola helvetica.
Fore-crown white, and upper parts mottled blackish brown and white;
lores, cheeks, throat and neck, and under parts, black. Length, twelve
inches. After the autumn moult the upper parts are more greyish, and
all the rest white.
* * * * *
This species so closely resembles the golden plover in size and
appearance, both in summer and winter, changing, like it, from black
to white, and from white to black, that it seems strange to find
it classed in a separate genus. But there is a slight anatomical
difference in the two birds: the grey plover is provided with a
rudimentary hind toe, while the golden plover has only three toes on
its foot. The present species does not breed in the British Islands.
Its summer home is in arctic Siberia. From August, when it begins to
arrive, until the following spring it is found on our coasts every year
in small flocks. It is much less common than the golden plover, and
while with us is almost exclusively a bird of the seashore.
The grey plover is considered a poor bird for the table; but in
Yarrell’s work it is stated that Englishmen have not always been of
that opinion, that it was formerly esteemed above most birds, and that
the saying, ‘a grey plover cannot please him,’ was used of a person
with an excessively fastidious palate. The bird proverbial for its
delicacy was probably our golden plover, which to this day is called
grey plover in Ireland.
Kentish Plover.
Ægialitis cantiana.
Forehead, stripe above the eye, chin, cheeks, and under parts white;
upper part of forehead, a band from the base of the bill extending
through the eye, and a large spot on each side of the breast, black;
head and nape light brownish red; upper plumage ash-brown; two outer
tail-feathers white. Length, six inches and three-quarters. The female
is without the black on the fore-crown, her neck patches are brown
instead of black, and her colours duller than in the male.
* * * * *
This species, in appearance a small and pale-coloured ringed plover,
is a summer visitor to the south-east and east coasts of England from
Sussex to Yorkshire, and received its name of Kentish plover when first
described, nearly a century ago, by Latham, from specimens obtained
at Sandwich. Its sojourn in this country is a short one, excepting on
the Sussex and Kentish coasts, where a few pairs remain to breed; but
as a breeding species the bird has now been almost extirpated by the
egg-collector--the soulless Philistine who is without any feeling for
wild nature, and whose vulgar ambition it is to fill a cabinet with the
faded shells of eggs which he can label ‘British-taken.’
The Kentish plover has a very extensive distribution in Europe, Africa,
and Asia. In its habits it resembles the ringed plover, and lays its
three, and sometimes four, eggs in a slight depression among the fine
shingle or broken shells. The eggs are of a yellowish stone-colour,
spotted and scratched with black.
Ringed Plover.
Ægialitis hiaticula.
Forehead, lores, and gorget reaching round the neck black; a band
across the forehead, a stripe over each eye, broad collar, and lower
parts, white; nape and upper parts hair brown; outer tail-feathers
white; bill, orbits, and feet orange. Length, seven inches and
three-quarters. In the female the black collar is less well defined.
* * * * *
The small ringed plover is a sprightly, prettily marked bird, with
conspicuous white and black collar, and a melodious voice. His
modulated alarm-note, somewhat plaintive in character, is familiar to
most persons who walk by the seashore, for he is a common species on
our coasts, and has the habit of betraying his presence by sounding
an alarm when approached; and if the intruder moves quietly, and
occasionally pauses in his walk, the little plover will not take to
flight, but continue running on before him, all the while playing on
his wild and sorrowful little pipe. In spring the male has a fuller,
sweeter note, by way of love-call or song, uttered occasionally on the
wing. He is an extremely active and lively bird, running rapidly on
the sands, and, when the tide is going out, often keeping close to the
water to pick up the small marine insects and crustaceans on which he
feeds. He is not, however, exclusively a bird of the seashore, but is
also found on the margins of rivers and lakes, and sometimes breeds
at a distance from the sea. As a rule the nest is placed on the sandy
beach, or fine shingle, above high-water mark. The nest is merely a
slight depression in the sand, in which four pear-shaped eggs are laid,
of a pale stone or cream colour, marked with small round, blackish
brown and grey spots. The breeding season begins in May, and as eggs
continue to be found to the end of July, it is probable that two broods
are reared in the season. When the young are hatched the parent birds
manifest the utmost anxiety, and will attempt to lead a man or dog from
the spot by fluttering as if wounded along the ground.
The ringed plovers are social in disposition, and even during the
breeding season it is common to find them in small parties. In the
autumn they unite in flocks.
This species is to be met with in this country throughout the year; but
in spring our coasts are visited on migration by a ringed plover of a
different race, smaller in size. It is with this smaller bird that the
lesser ringed plover (_Ægialitis curonica_), a rare straggler to
England from continental Europe, is sometimes confounded.
* * * * *
Another member of this genus, the North American killdeer plover
(_Ægialitis vocifera_), has been once or twice obtained in this
country.
[Illustration:
_PLATE II._
DOTTEREL. ½ NAT. SIZE.]
Dotterel.
Endromias morinellus.
Crown dusky black, bordered by a white band extending backwards from
the eye round the nape; upper parts ash-brown, the inner secondaries
margined with rufous; tail-feathers broadly tipped with white, except
the middle pair; throat dull white; upper breast ash-brown; white
gorget or band lower breast, and flanks bright chestnut; belly black;
tail-coverts white. The female is larger and brighter than the male.
Length, nine inches.
* * * * *
This is a richly coloured, handsome little plover; it was familiar to
our forbears, and is often mentioned by old British and Continental
writers as a very delicate bird to eat--a ‘very daintie dish,’ as
Drayton wrote. Much was also said, both in verse and prose, about its
supposed foolishness, which was proverbial, so that dull and weakminded
persons were compared to the dotterel. It was believed that when the
fowler, on approaching the bird, stretched forth an arm, the dotterel
responded by stretching out a wing; that when a leg was put forth,
the action was immediately copied; and that the bird, being intent
on watching and imitating the motions of the man, neglected its own
safety, and was taken in the net. The origin of this notion, which was
credited by everyone, ornithologists included, for the space of two or
three centuries, is no doubt to be found in the fact that the dotterel
is less shy and active than most plovers, and, like very many other
birds, when approached and disturbed during repose has the habit of
stretching out a wing and leg before moving away.
The dotterels arrive in this country in small flocks, called ‘trips,’
about the beginning of May. From the south-east coast, where they first
appear, they travel from place to place on their way north. Arrived
at their breeding-haunts in Westmorland and Scotland, they are seen
at first frequenting heaths, dry pasture-lands, and fallows, but soon
retire to the mountains to breed. The nest is a slight depression in
the short, dense grass on or a little below the mountain summit, and
several pairs are usually found breeding near each other. The eggs are
three in number, in colour yellowish olive, spotted and blotched with
brownish black.
In August or early in September the dotterels take their departure for
the south. It is known that this bird, which was once common in this
country, has been diminishing in numbers for many years, and that very
few pairs, if any, survive in the Lake District.
Lapwing.
Vanellus vulgaris.
[Illustration: FIG. 98.--LAPWING. ⅙ natural size.]
Crown and crest greenish black; sides of neck whitish; upper parts
metallic green with purple reflections; quills black; tail-feathers
white with a broad black band; face, throat, and upper breast bluish
black; belly and axillaries white; tail-coverts fawn-colour. Length,
twelve inches.
* * * * *
The lapwing, pewit, or green plover, as he is variously named from
his manner of flight, note, and colour, is a familiar bird to most
persons, and undoubtedly the best and most generally known member
of the order which includes plover, snipe, and their allies. He is
widely distributed in the British Islands, and fairly abundant, and,
furthermore, is a bird it is impossible to overlook, on account of his
conspicuous colouring, his singular manner of flight and appearance
on the wing, and his unique voice. A first meeting with the lapwing
invariably excites surprise in the beholder. Seen on the ground he is
a handsome bird; in plumage and long, curling crest unlike any other
British species, elegant in form, and graceful and somewhat stately in
his movements. The moment he takes flight, displaying his curiously
shaped, rounded wings, that have a heavy, flopping, heron-like motion,
he appears like a different creature: he looks awkward and strange,
like an owl or a goatsucker driven out of its hiding-place in the
daylight. But no sooner does he begin to practise his favourite
evolutions in the air than a fresh surprise is experienced. Rising
to a height of forty or fifty yards, he suddenly dashes in a zigzag,
downward flight, with a violence and rapidity unsurpassed by even
the most aërial species in their maddest moments, and, turning like
lightning when almost touching the surface, he rises, to repeat the
action again and again. The heavy appearance and slow, flopping
movement, and the marvellous wing-feats, are in strange contrast.
He is a vociferous bird, and when his breeding-ground is invaded he
circles high above the intruder, dashing down at intervals, as if to
intimidate him, and uttering all the while a wailing cry, somewhat
cat-like in character. His call, heard both by day and night, most
frequently in the breeding season, is a hollow, bubbling sound,
followed by a prolonged and modulated clear note of a peculiar
quality, not readily describable, except by the epithet ‘eerie,’ which
is somewhat vague. It is a quality heard chiefly in the voices of
nocturnal species--owls and others.
The lapwings begin to nest at the end of March on heaths and waste
lands, and in meadows, pastures, and fallows. As a rule, more than one
pair, and often several pairs, have their nests near each other; and so
gregarious are the birds at all times, that even during incubation, and
when the young are out, they are to be seen associating together when
feeding, and when indulging in their sportive exercises in the air. A
slight depression in the soil, with a few dried grass-stems for lining,
serves for nest, and the eggs are four in number, olive-green, thickly
mottled with black and blackish brown spots. False nests are often
found near the nest containing eggs, and these are said to be formed by
the male in turning round and round when showing off to his mate.
The lapwing is common throughout the year, but in autumn, when they
congregate, often in flocks of many hundreds, and even thousands,
there is a very general movement; and no doubt at this season a large
proportion of the birds that breed with us leave the country, their
places being taken by others from more northern regions. Throughout the
British Islands it is a fairly common species, but it is believed that
for many years past the lapwing has been decreasing in numbers, chiefly
on account of the demand for plovers’ eggs, and of unrestricted egging.
Turnstone.
Strepsilus interpres.
[Illustration: FIG. 99.--TURNSTONE. ⅕ natural size.]
Head, neck, breast, and shoulders variegated with black and white;
upper surface black and chestnut-red; rump white; tail-feathers and
a patch on the coverts dark brown; under parts white; legs and feet
orange. _Female_: not so bright. Length, nine inches.
* * * * *
The turnstone is very nearly of a size with the song-thrush, although
its conspicuous black-and-white and curiously marked plumage causes
it to appear much bigger to the eye. The plumage is very handsome,
the upper parts being mottled with black and red--a tortoiseshell
colouring which is rare in birds. It is a visitor to our coasts after
the breeding season, the young birds arriving towards the end of
July, the adults following in August, after the moult. From the east
coast of England most of the birds depart in autumn; on the south
and west coasts many remain all winter. The return migration to the
breeding-grounds in the arctic regions takes place about the middle
of May; but it is believed that a few pairs breed annually within the
limits of the British Islands, as birds have been observed in summer
in full nuptial dress. There are few birds with so wide a distribution
as the turnstone, its range extending along the coasts of Europe,
Asia, Africa, North and South America, Australia, and the Atlantic and
Pacific islands.
The turnstone is a bird of the seashore exclusively, with a partiality
for rocky coasts, and feeds on marine insects and small crustaceans,
which it picks from the stranded seaweed, and on this account it is
called ‘tangle-picker’ on the Norfolk coast. It also turns over the
small stones and shells on the sand, to search for insects concealed
beneath them; and when the stone is too large to be moved by the bill,
the breast is used in pushing. Two or three birds have been observed to
unite in pushing over an object too large to be moved by one.
Oyster-catcher.
Hæmatopus ostralegus.
Plumage intense black and pure white; bill orange-yellow: irides
crimson; legs and feet purplish pink. Length, sixteen inches.
* * * * *
The oyster-catcher, or sea-magpie, is regarded by many persons as the
most beautiful of our shore-birds. When seen running on the sands with
a rapid, trotting gait, or standing motionless--a pied bird with thick,
orange-red bill and pink legs, the large head drawn in--his appearance
strikes one as singular rather than beautiful. No sooner does he take
to flight, exhibiting the sharp-pointed, wonderfully conspicuous, black
and white wings, than the beauty is revealed. The flight is rapid, and
as he wheels round the intruder in a wide circle he utters a succession
of cries, somewhat like those of the golden plover and curlew in
character, but shriller and more vehement. The oyster-catcher is a
resident species, to be met with throughout the year in all suitable
localities on the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland. He is most
partial to rocky coasts with patches of sand and shingle, his food
consisting chiefly of small shellfish left exposed on and among the
rocks at low water. With his strong, wedge-shaped bill he strikes the
limpets from the rocks and scoops out their contents; and he opens the
mussel-shells by driving his beak between the closed valves and prising
them apart. He also devours sea-worms, shrimps, and other crustaceans.
The nest is placed on the rocks or on rough shingle, a little above
high-water mark. It is very simple, being nothing more than a slight
depression in the shingle, with small pebbles and fragments of shells
for lining. Several false nests are sometimes made by the birds near
the one containing the eggs.
Three, or very rarely four, eggs are laid, of a pale stone-colour with
a yellowish tinge, spotted and streaked with black, blackish brown, and
dark grey. During incubation the male keeps watch, and gives warning
of danger to his mate, who quietly leaves the nest; when the spot is
approached both birds fly round the intruder, frequently alighting on
the ground within a few yards of him, uttering their shrill, distressed
cries the whole time. At all other times the oyster-catcher is an
excessively shy and wary bird, owing to much persecution.
In autumn and winter oyster-catchers gather in small flocks, and the
birds that breed on the northern coasts go south to winter, their place
being taken by migrants from the Continent.
Red-necked Phalarope.
Phalaropus hyperboreus.
_Female_: head, hind neck, and shoulders ash-grey; upper parts dark
grey mixed with rufous; a white bar on the wing; neck chestnut; upper
breast ash-grey; under parts white; bill black; legs and feet greenish.
Length, seven inches and three-quarters. _Male_: smaller, and less
brightly coloured.
* * * * *
The phalaropes are small, handsome birds that, like the plovers they
are related to, perform long annual migrations, breed in very high
latitudes north of the arctic circle, and have a distinctly different
summer and winter plumage. But in the form of their curiously lobed
feet they are like coots, while in their habits they are, perhaps,
nearest to the moorhen. There are two British species, both irregular
visitors on migration to this country; but of the red-necked
phalarope a few pairs remain to breed annually in the Hebrides and
Shetlands, consequently this species may be regarded as indigenous.
Unfortunately, the British race of this bird is now nearly extinct,
victims to the ‘cupidity of the cabinet,’ specimens of the bird and its
eggs being in great request among collectors.
The red-necked phalarope is equally at home on land or water, and
picks up its food on the sandy or muddy margins of the marshy pools it
frequents in summer, and from the surface of the water, as it swims
rapidly about, sitting high, and with head set back like a gull.
The nest is placed on the ground, among heather or herbage and grass,
at some distance from the water. The four eggs are pale brown in
ground-colour, spotted with blackish brown and grey.
[Illustration: FIG. 100.--GREY PHALAROPE. ¼ natural size.]
The grey phalarope (_Phalaropus fulicarius_), irregular in its
visits like the last species, appears in larger numbers when it does
come. Its visits to the south and south-east coasts of England occur in
autumn and winter. Its range in summer is circumpolar, and it has been
found breeding as far north as latitude 82° 30′. The breeding plumage
is reddish chestnut, the female being brightest in colour. In winter,
when it arrives in this country, its under parts are pure white, and
the whole upper parts a delicate pale grey.
Woodcock.
Scolopax rusticula.
[Illustration: FIG. 101.--WOODCOCK. ⅙ natural size.]
Upper plumage reddish brown barred and vermiculated with black; under
parts wood-brown with darker brown bars. Length, fourteen inches. Sexes
alike.
* * * * *
The woodcock is a large species compared with other snipes, and a very
handsome bird in its russet-red plumage, prettily pencilled and barred
with various shades of black and brown and grey; furthermore, it is in
great esteem for the table, and it is therefore not strange that, like
the red grouse, it should be a favourite alike with the ornithologist,
the sportsman, and the lover of delicate fare.
Nocturnal in its habits, the woodcock spends the daylight hours in
close concealment in woods and brakes, often under the shelter of a
thick evergreen bush, and, it is said, sometimes partially covering
itself with dead leaves. Its red and mottled plumage, which so closely
assimilates in colour to the fallen leaves among which it sits, is its
best protection--a similar case to that of the nightjar crouching on
the dry, open common. Visible it may be, but not distinguishable as a
bird amid such surroundings unless the large, lustrous black eyes are
caught sight of. When flushed during daylight its flight is owl-like,
and its appearance somewhat singular. In the dusk of evening, when
seeking its feeding-ground, it flies in a curious manner, darting
rapidly this way and that through the glades and open spaces. It
obtains its food by probing deep in the soft, damp soil, or in bogs,
with its long bill, but how it finds the earthworms and grubs on which
it feeds would be hard to say. There is no doubt that the end of the
beak is an exquisitely delicate organ of touch, but it is hard to
believe that it is thrust deep into the soil merely on the chance of
finding something edible.
The woodcock breeds in suitable localities throughout Great Britain and
Ireland, but in limited numbers, and not very regularly; but whether
the birds that breed with us remain all the year, or migrate to more
southern latitudes in autumn, is not known. Most, if not all, of the
birds that winter in our islands are visitors from northern Europe.
They begin to arrive, chiefly on the east and south-east coasts, about
the middle of October, travelling by night, usually in calm, hazy, or
foggy weather, and sometimes arriving in immense numbers. As a rule the
females arrive first, the later flights being composed of males. It
is only when migrating that woodcock are seen in any number together,
and at such times their gatherings are probably accidental. On their
arrival they quickly scatter over the country, and for the rest of the
time are solitary in their habits. The migrants from the north take
their departure in March. In this country nesting begins at the end
of that month, and in the pairing season the male woos his mate with
a curious and pretty performance, not at all like the wild celestial
love-antics of his relation, the common snipe. For a time he abandons
his shy, skulking habits--a hermit in love, he comes out morning and
evening, and for the space of half an hour continues flying to and fro,
with a singularly slow flight, and with plumage puffed out, so that he
looks twice his ordinary size. Flying, he emits two peculiar notes, one
deep and hollow, the other sharp and whistling. This performance of
the woodcock is called ‘roding’ in East Anglia. The nest is a slight
hollow, placed among dead ferns and fallen leaves in a sheltered
situation in a wood. The eggs are four, pale yellowish white, the
larger end spotted and blotched with ash-grey and brown of a reddish
yellow tint.
A little over a century ago it was discovered that the female woodcock
had the habit of removing its young, one at a time, when in danger by
flying away with them. But it was said that the young bird was carried
in the bill of its parent, and ornithologists declined to believe it,
because, as Gilbert White remarked, the long, unwieldy beak of the
woodcock was unfitted for such a task. The matter remained in doubt
until about twenty years ago; and it is now known that the bird carries
her young with her feet, either grasping them in her claws or holding
them pressed between her thighs. According to some observers, the bird
uses her bill to keep her young one pressed firmly against her thighs
when flying with it.
Great Snipe.
Gallinago major.
Crown black, divided lengthways by a yellowish white band; a streak
of the same colour over the eye; upper parts mottled with black and
chestnut-brown; greater wing-coverts tipped with white; under parts
whitish, spotted and barred with black. Length, twelve inches.
* * * * *
The great, or solitary snipe, sometimes called the double snipe,
resembles the common snipe in form and colouring, and in size is
intermediate between that species and the woodcock. This species,
described in the B.O.U. official list as a ‘straggler,’ hardly comes
within the scope of the present work. But although a straggler, it
comes regularly, appearing in the eastern and southern counties from
the middle of August to the middle of October. These visitors are young
birds, and few in number, and as they do not revisit us in spring, it
may be assumed that they perish in their winter wanderings--the usual
fate of stragglers from the migrating route of the species, or race.
The fact that young birds in very many cases migrate in advance of
the adults, that they keep to the same lines, and often journey vast
distances, clearly shows that migration is performed instinctively. We
may call the principle of action in this case crystallised experience,
or inherited or historical knowledge, or lapsed intelligence, or by any
other pretty name; but it is not ordinary intelligence--the guiding
faculty that observes, considers, and profits by experience. And it is
possible to believe that the young of the great snipe, when visiting
Great Britain in the autumn, are going back to an ancient route
abandoned by the species, perhaps thousands of years ago, on account
of physical changes in the earth’s surface, or of a change in the
system of the bird itself.
Common Snipe.
Gallinago cælestis.
Upper plumage mottled black and chestnut-brown; flanks barred with
white and dusky; under parts white. Length, ten inches and a half.
* * * * *
The common snipe, like the woodcock, breeds in limited numbers
throughout the British Islands. But the woodcock nests in woods, and,
owing to the increase of plantations, the bird as a breeding species
has increased with us. Just the contrary has happened with the snipe.
He is a breeder in marshes, fens, and low, wet grounds, and as drainage
and cultivation deprive him of suitable localities to nest in, he
diminishes in numbers. Most of the birds that winter in our islands
are migrants from Scandinavia; they come in October and November, and
remain until March. During the winter months they are often compelled
by changes in the weather to shift their feeding-grounds, and intense
cold is very fatal to them. Their soft, sensitive bills must have a
soft soil to probe in, and frost cuts off their food-supply. When
approached, the snipe seeks to avoid observation by crouching close
to the earth, where its mottled upper plumage fits in well with the
colour of the boggy or wet ground; on taking wing it rushes upwards
with a violent zigzag flight, uttering at the same time a sharp,
scraping cry, two or three times repeated. Late in March or early in
April the snipes pair, and it is then that the males begin to practise
their curious aërial exercises, familiar to anyone who observes wild
bird life, and about which so much has been said by ornithologists.
The performance takes place at all hours of the day, but chiefly
towards evening, the bird rising to an immense height in the air, and
precipitating himself downwards with astonishing violence, producing
in his descent the peculiar sound variously described as drumming,
bleating, scythe-whetting, and neighing. From this sound the snipe has
been named in some districts ‘moor-lamb’ and ‘heather-bleater.’ As to
how the sound is produced opinions differ still, although the question
has been discussed for over a century. Probably it is in part vocal and
partly produced by the wing-feathers.
The snipe makes a very slight nest of a few dried grass leaves and
stalks, placed among rushes or by the side of a tussock of coarse
grass. Four eggs are laid, yellowish or greenish white, the larger
end spotted with various shades of brown. The female hatches the eggs
without assistance from her mate, who continues his play in the air at
intervals every day until the young are out. Two broods are sometimes
reared in the season.
Jack-Snipe.
Limnocryptes gallinula.
Upper parts mottled with buff, reddish brown, and black, the latter
exhibiting green and purple reflections; neck and breast spotted; belly
white. Length, eight inches.
* * * * *
The small jack-snipe is exclusively a winter visitor to this country,
never remaining to breed. It comes at the end of September and in
October, and is found generally distributed in Great Britain and
Ireland, but in less numbers than the common snipe. In its habits it
is more solitary than that species, and sits closer, often refusing
to rise until almost trodden upon; and when it flies it utters no
alarm-note. In April it leaves us, after assuming its summer plumage,
glossed with beautiful colours. In its breeding-haunts in northern
Europe and beyond the arctic circle the male has an aërial performance
similar to that of the common snipe, but the sound produced by the bird
in descending is different, and has been compared by Wolley to ‘the
cantering of a horse over a hard, hollow road; it comes in fours, with
a similar cadence and a like clear yet hollow sound.’ It makes its
slight nest on the low ground, and lays four eggs, very large for the
bird, of a yellowish olive colour, spotted and streaked with brown.
Dunlin.
Tringa alpina.
Crown rufous streaked with black; mantle chestnut variegated with
black; rest of upper parts grey; throat and upper breast greyish
white and striped; lower breast black; belly white. The female is the
largest, and measures eight inches. The winter plumage is chiefly grey
on the upper parts; the under parts white with a greyish band on the
lower breast.
* * * * *
[Illustration: FIG. 102.--DUNLIN (summer plumage). ¼ natural
size.]
The dunlin is by far the most abundant sandpiper on our coasts during
the autumnal and vernal migrations; a considerable number of birds
remain throughout the winter, and non-breeders or immature birds are
to be met with in summer on the sandbanks and mud flats. The dunlin
also breeds in this country, on moors and fells, in the wilder portions
of England, Wales, and Scotland, and, in smaller numbers, in Ireland.
In autumn they often congregate in such large numbers that a cloud of
dunlins is on many parts of the coast as familiar a sight as is a cloud
of starlings in more inland districts. The well-known and esteemed
writer known as ‘A Son of the Marshes’ thus vividly describes the
variable appearance of a vast flock of these birds on the wing: ‘In the
distance something is coming up ... that looks like the smoke from the
funnel of a steamer; it waves and streams as smoke will do in a rush of
wind. Now the smoke has vanished. Again it shows thick, as at first,
and then it breaks up in patches. Presently the dark cloud becomes a
light one--a great flash of silver. It consists of dunlins coming up
the wind at full speed. We can hear the rush of the thousands of wings,
and their soft chatter, some time before they reach us. Now they are
here; with a humming roar they pass below us up the creek; shoot up,
showing black and white as they turn; dive down into the creek again;
pass us, and take a sweep over the snow, where they are invisible, for
their white under plumage, caused by the turn, is in the light. Another
turn, and the dark cloud is passing over the snow and into the creek.
One turn more, and we see the cloud of dunlins drop below us on the
slub--a vast host of living silver dots moving rapidly over the dark
brown mud and grey ooze. As they throw their wings up, as they flirt
up from one spot to another, all busy chattering, and dibbling, now
here, now there--for we can see all their actions, so close are they to
us--I thought that it was one of the most interesting sights I had been
privileged to witness.’
At the end of April the great body of dunlins forsake our coasts, going
north to breed; those that remain to breed in the British Islands
withdraw to the loneliest moors and fells, the summer haunts of the
curlew and golden plover. On this account the dunlins are called
‘plovers’ pages’ in some districts.
The language of the dunlin differs from that of most of the sandpipers,
being hoarse and somewhat grating; but in spring, on the moors, the
male has an agreeable trilling love-call, uttered in the air, or as the
bird descends to earth with set, motionless wings and expanded tail.
A slight nest is made on the ground among the heather, and four eggs
are laid, greenish white, spotted and blotched with reddish brown.
The great difference in the summer and winter plumage of the dunlin
caused it to be regarded formerly, by most persons, as two distinct
species: in the chestnut-and-black plumage it was the dunlin; in
white-and-grey, the purre. Other local names for this species are
stint, ox-bird, and sea-snipe.
Little Stint.
Tringa minuta.
Upper parts variegated with rufous and black; throat and upper breast
tinged with rufous and speckled with dark brown; under parts white;
bill and feet black. Length, six inches. In winter the upper parts are
ashy brown, and there is no rufous on the throat.
* * * * *
This diminutive sandpiper, no larger than a house-sparrow, and in
appearance a miniature dunlin, is the least of its order in the British
Islands. It comes to us only during the autumn and spring migrations,
but in small numbers, as the British coasts lie a little outside of
its main lines of travel. It makes its appearance in August, chiefly
on the east side of Great Britain, and is gone by October; in May it
reappears, to stay till June, when it resumes its journey northwards.
Its known breeding-places are in Northern Norway and Siberia, north of
the arctic circle. The eggs are four in number, of the same length as
those of the song-thrush, in colour and markings like dunlins’ eggs.
The note of this species is described in Yarrell as a ‘whispering,
warbling trill, very different from the louder call of the dunlin; ...
and the call of a flock is something like the confused chirping of
grasshoppers or crickets.’
* * * * *
Temminck’s stint (_Tringa temmincki_) is a visitor on migration
to the coasts of Great Britain, but is less regular, and appears in
smaller numbers than the little stint, which it resembles in size and
colour.
Curlew-Sandpiper.
Tringa subarquata.
Head, neck, and mantle chestnut, streaked and barred with black and
grey; upper tail-coverts white tinged with buff and barred with black;
quills and tail-feathers ash-grey; under parts chestnut-red, slightly
barred with brown and grey on the belly and flanks. Length, eight
inches. In winter the upper parts are ash-brown, mottled with darker
and paler brown; breast paler; under parts and upper tail-coverts white.
* * * * *
This species derives its name from the form of the bill, which is
curved downwards, as in the curlew; pigmy curlew is one of its common
names. It is an annual visitor on migration to this country, on the
east side chiefly, and occasionally penetrates to inland waters. It
associates with dunlins on the sand and mud flats, and resembles
that species in its feeding habits, but when flying may be easily
distinguished by its conspicuous white tail-coverts. On its return from
its breeding-grounds it remains on our coasts from August to October.
From its winter haunts in the south it begins to arrive at the end of
March, the migration continuing until June. At this season the birds
are in their full summer dress, which resembles that of the knot. The
bird is, Seebohm writes, ‘a miniature knot with a long, decurved bill.’
Its breeding-grounds have not yet been discovered.
Purple Sandpiper.
Tringa striata.
Head and neck dusky brown tinged with grey; upper parts nearly black,
with purple reflections; the feathers edged with ash; throat, neck,
and breast greyish; below, white; legs and feet ochre-yellow. Length,
eight and a quarter inches. In winter the upper parts are sooty and the
breast dark ash-brown, with faint lines and mottlings.
* * * * *
The purple sandpiper is an inhabitant of the British coasts in autumn
and winter, and is occasionally seen associating with dunlins on the
sand and mud flats, and may readily be distinguished by its darker
colour and its lumpier figure, caused by the thickness of its winter
plumage. But its favourite haunts are rocky shores, where it feeds
among the stranded seaweed on marine insects, small shrimps, and other
crustaceans. It is, in fact, a sandpiper with the feeding habits of the
turnstone. It is known to breed on the Faröes, where it nests on the
fells and mountains and lays four eggs, pale green or olive, blotched
with reddish brown, with purplish under-markings. Its eggs have never
been found within the British Islands, but it is probable that a few
pairs breed annually on some of the islands and on the mainland of
Scotland. In its summer haunts in the arctic regions it is said to be
the most abundant sandpiper. With us it is not a common species, and is
seen in small flocks of half a dozen to a dozen birds.
Knot.
Tringa canutus.
Crown and neck reddish brown with darker streaks; mantle blackish; the
feathers spotted with chestnut and margined with white; tail-coverts
white barred with black; cheeks, throat, and breast chestnut. Length,
ten inches. In winter the upper parts are ash-grey and the under parts
white flecked with grey.
* * * * *
[Illustration: FIG. 103.--KNOT. ¼ natural size.]
This richly coloured and pretty sandpiper with a strange name is one
of two species in this order of birds of which the eggs are not known
to ornithologists, or do not exist in collections. It is a regular
visitor to the British coasts on migration in August, but many birds
remain in this country until the following May. In some seasons they
are very abundant, especially on the north-east coast of England; and
in former times they were esteemed a great delicacy, and were netted
in large numbers, to be fattened, like dotterels and ruffs and reeves,
on bread-and-milk for the table. According to Camden (‘Britannia,’
1607), the bird was named after King Canute on account of his excessive
fondness for its flesh. Drayton, adopting this explanation of the name,
wrote in his ‘Polyolbion’:
The _Knot_ that called was _Canutus_ Bird of old,
Of that great King of _Danes_, his name that still doth hold,
His apetite to please, that farre and neare was sought,
For him (as some have sayd) from Denmark, hither brought.
It is possible that the Danish king introduced the taste for the knot,
which lasted down to the end of the seventeenth century.
As long ago as 1820 the knot was found breeding in the Melville Islands
(lat. 80°), and later, at various times, in other arctic localities,
but in no case were the eggs preserved. During the pairing-time the
birds toy with each other in the air, the male uttering a sweet,
fluting whistle. On our coasts they are very gregarious, feeding on
the extensive mud-flats in large flocks. It has been observed that the
young birds that come in advance of the adults in August are strangely
tame in disposition. In May, when the return migration to their arctic
breeding-grounds takes place, the birds that arrive on our shores from
the south have their rich nuptial colours fully developed.
Ruff and Reeve.
Machetes pugnax.
[Illustration: FIG. 104.--RUFF AND REEVE. ⅐ natural size.]
The male in spring dress has the face covered with yellowish caruncles;
a tuft of long feathers on each side of the head; throat furnished
with a shield-like ruff of feathers; general plumage mottled with ash,
black, brown, yellowish, and white, the ornamental feathers being
differently coloured in almost every individual. In his winter plumage
the male has the face feathered, and is without the ruff and ear-like
tufts; under parts pale buff. Length, twelve inches. The female, or
reeve, is a third smaller than the male, and in colour resembles the
male in his winter dress.
* * * * *
If by chance the reader has seen in some museum or collection a
group of ruffs in full breeding-plumage, displaying their immense,
shield-like ruffs of many colours, their beauty, singularity, and
wonderful variety must have astonished him. The curious feather
ornament is similar in form in all the birds, but the colour varies
infinitely, and it is hard to find two birds exactly alike. In some
individuals it is entirely white, in others intense purple-black, and
between these two extremes numberless varieties are found--buffs,
reds, chestnuts, browns of many shades, and mottled black or brown
and white, often beautifully streaked, or barred, or spotted, or
delicately vermiculated. But, alas! these dead, stuffed birds, standing
immovable by means of wire frames--a burlesque on the wonderful living
creatures--are the only ruffs he is ever likely to see, since this
bird, as a breeding species, has now been extirpated in England. On
migration in autumn and spring it still visits our coasts, but in
small numbers, and probably not very regularly. These visitors, or
stragglers, are without the wonderful feather ornaments, which are
nuptial, and assumed about the middle of May, to be worn only for about
six weeks.
The ruff is polygamous; and in spring the birds have the habit of
meeting on some small dry spot, or hillock, in a marsh to show off
and fight for the possession of the females, or reeves. When engaging
in combat the birds stand face to face, like fighting-cocks, their
great feather shields erected, and thrust at each other with their
long beaks. These combats usually take place early in the morning; and
formerly, when the birds were abundant, the marshmen made it their
business to find the hillocks used by the birds, and set horsehair
nooses on them. The birds taken were fattened for the market, and it
was owing to this system of persecution during the breeding season that
the ruffs were reduced to a mere remnant; and the remnant has since
been destroyed by collectors. In Lincolnshire the ruffs and reeves
finally ceased to breed in 1882; in Norfolk the last few pairs of the
once numerous British race lingered on until within the last three or
four years.
Sanderling.
Calidris arenaria.
[Illustration: FIG. 105.--SANDERLING (winter plumage). ¼ natural
size.]
Feathers of the upper parts with dark brown centres, edged or spotted
with rufous and tipped with grey; base of inner primaries and edge of
greater wing-coverts white, and outer feathers of tail-coverts also
white; face, neck, and upper breast pale chestnut spotted with dark
brown; under parts white; bill black; legs and feet dark olive. Length,
eight inches. In winter the upper plumage is ash-grey and the whole
under parts white.
* * * * *
The sanderling is the sole member of its genus, and differs from other
sandpipers in having no hind toe. It arrives on our coasts in August,
young and old birds coming together. During the autumn months it is
found in small flocks, associating with dunlins and other species
on the seashore, and it is also a visitor to the margins of inland
waters. A few birds remain through the winter. In April the migrants
reappear, and remain until May or June before going north to their
breeding-grounds. The sanderling is circumpolar in its distribution,
and breeds farther north than most of the arctic species. The eggs are
greenish buff in ground-colour, spotted with various shades of brown,
and have been described as ‘miniature curlews’ eggs of a pale colour.’
After the young have been reared the birds travel south along the
shores of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. On the Pacific coast of
America their migration extends from the arctic regions to Patagonia, a
journey of nearly eight thousand miles.
Common Sandpiper.
Tringoïdes hypoleucus.
Upper parts ash-brown glossed with olive; chin white; sides of the neck
and breast pale ash with dusky streaks; under parts and tips of outer
tail-feathers white. Length, eight inches.
* * * * *
The common sandpiper, known also as the summer snipe, is a summer
visitor, to be met with from April until the end of September in
suitable places throughout the British Islands. He is an exceeding
lively and restless little bird, running nimbly or flitting along
the margin of the water; when standing, perpetually bobbing his head
and jerking his tail, on which account he is named ‘fidler’ in some
districts; solitary in habit, or living with his mate only, choosing
for a home the most secluded spots by streams and meres. In the
southern half of England, where the localities that best suit him are
fewest, he is very thinly diffused; in Scotland, on the other hand, he
is most abundant. Seebohm writes of this sandpiper: ‘It is found in
the same localities as those frequented by the dipper. High up among
the mountains its melodious cry may be heard from the shingly margin
of the stream, or the bird may not unfrequently be seen perched on a
rock surrounded by water. Even here the sandpiper shows a partiality
for certain haunts. The dipper loves their wildest mood, and the more
they roll and toss over the rocky boulders, the more he seems at
home; but the sandpiper prefers their slow-running reaches and sandy,
driftwood-covered islets, where the shingly and oozy rush-grown banks
afford it the haunt it needs.’
The slight nest of moss and dried leaves is placed among coarse grass
or rushes, or in a hole or sheltered hollow in a bank near a stream.
Four pear-shaped eggs are laid, very large for the bird, reddish white
in ground-colour, spotted and speckled with dusky brown.
The sandpiper utters on the wing a clear musical note, thrice repeated;
and in the pairing season the male has a trilling note, or song,
emitted while hovering in the air. Both old and young birds are able to
swim with ease, and, to escape danger, dive as readily as a moorhen or
water-rail.
Green Sandpiper.
Helodromus ochropus.
Upper parts olive-brown glossed with green and spotted with white and
dusky; under parts white; tail white, the central feathers barred with
black. Length, nine and a quarter inches.
* * * * *
The green sandpiper, like many other members of its family, is a
visitor to the British Islands after the breeding season. This species
differs from others in coming earlier and departing later. Half a
century ago it was observed in Norfolk that the green sandpiper was to
be met with during nearly every month in the year. The discovery was
made later that it differs from other sandpipers in breeding in trees,
in old nests of other birds, in squirrels’ dreys, and on mossy trunks
and branches. On account of this singular habit its nest is rarely
found; but that it has bred, and does breed, in this country scarcely
admits of a doubt.
In continental Europe it is known to breed in Scandinavia, North and
Central Russia, and North Germany. The eggs are four in number, pale
greyish green in ground-colour, with small purple-brown spots and
markings.
The green sandpiper frequents inland watercourses and swamps in wooded
districts, and is excessively shy and wary in its habits; it flies
rapidly, and utters when on the wing its shrill, piping note, thrice
repeated.
Redshank.
Totanus calidris.
Summer plumage: upper parts pale brown closely streaked and barred with
umber; secondaries nearly white; rump white, with a few dusky flecks;
tail-feathers white barred with blackish; under parts white, streaked
on the neck and breast with umber; legs and feet orange-red. Winter
plumage: upper parts ash-colour; rump and under parts white, sparsely
streaked and spotted with grey on the neck and breast. The female is
slightly larger than the male. Length, eleven inches.
* * * * *
The redshank, although not so numerous as formerly, is still a
fairly common bird of the tidal flats and saltings on the east coast
of England, and, in smaller numbers, in all suitable localities in
Great Britain and Ireland. It is resident throughout the year, but is
most plentiful in autumn and winter, at which time its numbers are
increased by the arrival of migrants from northern Europe. Its food
consists of marine worms, insects, and small crustaceans, and when its
feeding-grounds are covered at flood-tide, it may be seen in close
flocks on the small, dry areas, waiting for the water to subside.
When thus congregated the birds are very loquacious, keeping up a
perpetual confused sound of many voices, which has been compared to the
chirruping concert of a flock of house-sparrows before settling down
to roost of an evening. When the tide goes out the flocks break up,
and the birds scatter in all directions to feed. The redshank begins
to breed about the end of May, in fens and inland marshes, and on the
saltings, out of reach of the tide.
The nest is a slight depression in the ground, with a few dried bents
and grass-blades for lining, or with no lining at all, and is in some
cases quite exposed; but it is more often placed among coarse grass,
or in the centre of a tussock, which conceals it from view. Four eggs
are laid, of a yellowish grey ground-colour, blotched and spotted
with purplish brown. When its breeding-haunts are approached the bird
displays the greatest excitement, and flies circling about high above
the intruder’s head; and at such times a peculiar manner of flight,
common to all the species of the genus Totanus, becomes very marked.
The flight is slow and somewhat wavering, with an occasional downward
stroke of the wings, which are much depressed, as of a duck about to
drop on to the water. While flying in this way it clamours loudly,
making the marsh ring with its shrill, piercing pipe, and at times
dashes down close to the intruder’s head, as if to intimidate him; and
if there should be young, or eggs about to hatch, it drops on to the
ground, and flutters along the surface like a wounded bird, in order
to draw the danger away. Most birds in the order which includes the
sandpipers, snipes, and plovers, make use of this device when their
young are in danger.
At all times the redshank is a vigilant and clamorous bird, and as
the meaning of its ringing alarm-note is understood by all waders and
waterfowl, it is heartily detested by the gunners on the sea-coast.
Greenshank.
Totanus canescens.
[Illustration: FIG. 106.--GREENSHANK. ⅙ natural size.]
Head and neck greyish white streaked with blackish brown; mantle and
secondaries nearly black; rump and tail-feathers white, the latter
mottled and barred with dusky brown; under parts white, streaked and
spotted with ash-brown; legs and feet olive-green. Length, fourteen
inches. In the winter plumage the upper parts are greyer and the under
parts pure white.
* * * * *
The greenshank is an annual visitor during the spring and autumn
migrations to the coasts and inland waters of Great Britain and
Ireland; but it comes in small numbers. It has long been known that a
number of pairs remain annually to breed in Scotland, and, according
to Mr. Harvie-Brown, its breeding-range is extending in that country.
Macgillivray wrote of this species: ‘Its habits are very similar to
those of the redshank, with which it associates in autumn. It is
extremely shy and vigilant.... Many individuals remain during the
summer, when they are to be found by the lakes in the interior.... At
that season it is easily discovered, for when you are, perhaps, more
than a quarter of a mile distant, it rises into the air with clamorous
cries, alarming all the birds in its neighbourhood, flies round the
place of its nest, now wheeling off to a distance, again advancing
towards you, and at intervals alighting by the edge of the lake, where
it continues its cries, vibrating its body all the while.’
The nest is often placed at some distance from the water. The four
eggs are of a warm stone-colour, spotted with brown and blotched with
purplish grey.
Whimbrel.
Numenius phæopus.
Crown dark brown, with broad pale streak down the middle; upper parts
like the curlew, but darker; axillaries white barred with brown. Length
of female, eighteen inches.
* * * * *
If it were our belief that the happiness of birds consisted in the
degree of interest they, as species, excite in us, it could be said
that the whimbrel suffers from his resemblance to the curlew. He is
in form and colouring a lesser curlew with a less strongly marked
individuality; ‘half-curlew’ and ‘jack-curlew,’ his two vernacular
names, really imply that he is only half as attractive as the bigger
bird. With us he is best known as an autumn and spring visitor,
breeding only in the Orkney and Shetland Islands. The migration
eastwards begins at the end of July, and the birds continue to pass
until September, flying rapidly and at a great height. Of the flocks
that alight to rest and feed on our coasts, a few birds remain through
the winter. The return migration begins in April, but the greatest
number of the migrants appear on our coasts about the beginning of
May. On account of their punctuality, the whimbrel is known in some
districts as the ‘May bird.’ In language and habits they resemble
curlews, but have shriller voices, a more rapid flight, are not so
excessively shy, and do not confine themselves so exclusively to
the sand-flats when feeding. Grass-grown saltings, low meadows, and
pasture-lands in the neighbourhood of the sea are visited by them. The
nest is placed on moors and heaths not far removed from the shore. A
slight hollow among the heather or coarse grass is lined with dead
stems and leaves, and four eggs are laid, in colour like those of the
curlew, but differing in size. During the breeding season the whimbrels
are extremely pugnacious, and attack the skuas, lesser black-backed
gulls, and other egg-stealing species, and chase them from their
nesting-ground with shrill, angry cries.
Common Curlew.
Numenius arquata.
General plumage reddish ash mottled with dusky spots; belly nearly
white, with dusky streaks; rump and tail-coverts white; tail-feathers
barred with dark brown. Length of the female, which is the larger,
twenty-one to twenty-six inches.
* * * * *
The curlew is the largest of its order in the British Islands; even the
large woodcock looks small besides him, and among diminutive stints
and sandpipers he is a veritable giant. An imperfect ibis in figure,
in a pale sandy brown dress with dusky mottlings, he is, perhaps, the
least handsome of the Limicolæ; in character he is one of the most
interesting. What marvellously keen senses, what unfailing wariness
and alertness must this large, inland-breeding species possess to keep
its hold on existence in so many localities in this populous country
in spite of incessant persecution! Most vigilant of birds, he is
not vigilant on his own account only. He is the unsleeping sentinel
of all the wild creatures that are pursued by man, warning them of
danger with piercing cries that none fail to understand. The redshank,
greenshank, and many other species, in this and other orders, are
equally vociferous in the presence of danger, and their warnings are
as promptly obeyed by all wild creatures that live with or near them;
but a curious feature about the curlew is that he appears to take an
intelligent interest in the welfare of beings not of his own species,
and that he is distressed if they fail to act on his signal. In
Yarrell’s ‘British Birds’ (4th edit. vol. iii.) Howard Saunders gives
a striking instance of this characteristic. He describes seeing one
of these birds, ‘after shrieking wildly over the head of a sleeping
seal, swoop down, and apparently flick with its wings the unsuspecting
animal, upon which the stalker was just raising his rifle.’ This, to
my mind, is a far more wonderful instance of the help-giving instinct
in the lower animals than that related by Edwards of Banff, in which
a number of terns swooped down upon one of their number which he
had wounded and was pursuing, and, taking its wings in their beaks,
raised it, and bore it away out to sea beyond his reach. The case of
the curlew reminds us rather of the action of the rhinoceros-bird in
waking the rhinoceros on the appearance of an enemy; but between curlew
and seal there is no such thing as commensalism, and no tie, excepting
the common knowledge that they are living creatures, and must fly for
life at the approach of man, their deadliest enemy, on account of his
superior cunning and his power to slay them at long distances.
[Illustration: OYSTER-CATCHERS. RINGED PLOVER. LITTLE STINT.
CURLEW.]
During a greater part of the year the curlew is a shore-bird, seeking
its food on the sand-flats which become covered at high water. When the
tide overflows the flats the birds go inland, often to a distance of
several miles from the sea, and wait there until the tide turns. They
appear to know just when this occurs, however far from the shore they
may be, and, rising and calling to each other, set out on their return,
to arrive at the exact time when feeding may begin. It is during these
journeys to and fro between the sea and the moors that the curlew looks
at his best when, seen at a moderate distance, he passes in small
flocks, disposed in the form of a wedge, or letter V, his sharp-pointed
wings and long, ibis-like beak clearly outlined against the blue sky.
To most lovers of nature and wild bird life the voice of the curlew
is his principal attraction. He is very loquacious, and his ordinary
cry of two notes, from which he takes his name, is singularly clear,
far-reaching, and wild in character. His night cries have given rise
to some curious and gloomy superstitions in Scotland, where the curlew
is called ‘whaup.’ According to Yarrell, the bird is a ‘long-nebbit
thing,’ from which the Highlander prays to be delivered, classing it
with ‘witches and warlocks.’ In the same work we read: ‘Saxby says that
the Shetlanders regard with horror the very idea of using so uncanny a
bird as food; in fact, a visitor who did so was afterwards alluded to,
almost in a whisper, as “the man that ate the whaup.”’ Long may the
‘long-nebbit things’ continue to exist, to delight and invigorate us
with their wild voices!
In spring--early in April as a rule--the curlews begin to forsake
their feeding-grounds on the sandbanks and go inland to breed; but
some unpaired or non-breeding birds remain through the summer by
the sea. Wild extensive moors are its favourite summer haunts. ‘Its
breeding-range,’ Seebohm says, ‘is similar to that of the red grouse
and ring-ouzel.’ Its nesting-place, as a rule, is on the flat and boggy
parts of the moor, and the nest is not unfrequently placed among reeds
or rushes. The three or four eggs are olive-green, blotched and spotted
with dark brown and dusky green. The young birds when hatched have
short, straight, plover-like bills.
* * * * *
The family Scolopacidæ, which comprises the phalaropes, avocet, snipes,
sandpipers, godwits, the curlew, and whimbrel, numbers thirty-four
(so-called) British species. Eighteen have been fully described,
including the ruff, now extinct as a breeder, and fallen to the
position of a mere straggler in this country. The ruff is one of three
interesting and handsome species in this family of birds which have
been extirpated in England during the present century. Another is the
avocet (_Recurvirostra avocetta_), a singular wader, conspicuous
and beautiful in black and white plumage, with a long bill, curved
upwards. It bred in large numbers in fens and marshes in the eastern
countries; but since about 1825, when it finally ceased to visit its
old haunts in summer, it has been known only as a rare straggler. The
third extirpated species is the fine black-tailed godwit (_Limosa
melanura_), which bred annually in Norfolk and the neighbouring
county until about 1835. It is now a visitor on migration, in very
small numbers, to the east coast. The bar-tailed godwit, which has
never bred in the British Islands, also appears occasionally in
small numbers during migration. It breeds in northern Europe. The
black-winged stilt, which resembles the avocet in its black and white
dress, but has longer legs and a straight bill, is a rare straggler
from southern Europe. Of several species of sandpipers that appear as
stragglers on our coasts during migration, there are two that have some
claim to be regarded as British species. One is the wood-sandpiper
(_Totanus glareola_), which comes nearest to the green sandpiper
in size, colour, and general appearance. It appears on the east and
south coasts in autumn, in small flocks composed of young birds.
The wood-sandpiper is known to have bred on one occasion in this
country--at Prestwich Car, in Northumberland, in 1853. The second
species is the spotted redshank, a rare and irregular visitor during
migration, chiefly to the eastern counties. Its winter plumage is
ash-grey above and white beneath; in summer it differs from all other
sandpipers in its dark hue, the general colour being sooty black, the
upper parts studded with triangular spots of pure white. It breeds in
northern Europe in wooded situations, and is partial to burnt grounds,
where its dark plumage assimilates in colour to the charred wood and
blackened earth. Like the redshank, it is, when breeding, exceedingly
vigilant and noisy when approached.
Eight species, all rare stragglers, remain to be mentioned: the
broad-billed sandpiper, pectoral sandpiper, Bonaparte’s sandpiper,
American stint, buff-breasted sandpiper, Bartram’s sandpiper,
red-breasted snipe, and Esquimaux curlew. With the exception of the
first, which breeds in northern Europe and winters in Africa, these
are all American species, breeding in or near the arctic regions, and
migrating in autumn to South America, in some cases as far south as
Patagonia.
Roughly speaking, we may say that, of the thirty-four species of the
snipe family described in most ornithological works as ‘British,’
seventeen or eighteen are breeders in or annual visitants to this
country; six are occasional visitors--two or three of these are
perhaps, annual visitors, but in very small numbers; and the remaining
ten are all rare stragglers.
Arctic Tern.
Sterna macrura.
Bill blood-red; legs and feet coral-red; head and nape black; mantle
pearl-grey; rump and tail white; under parts paler pearl-grey. Length,
fourteen and a half inches.
* * * * *
The tern has been called a sea-swallow, and he is certainly
swallow-like in his slender figure, sharply forked tail, and aërial
habits; but he is built on more graceful lines, with proportionately
longer wings, and in his white and pearl-grey plumage is the more
beautiful bird. The blood-red hue of the beak in the arctic tern
gives that touch of bright colour which adds so much to the beauty
of a species otherwise wholly black or white; it intensifies a black
plumage, as we see in the blackbird and chough, and makes the white
plumage seem more immaculate in its whiteness. The flight of the tern
is unlike that of any other bird, whether of the sea or land: it is
more airy, and suited to the pale, slender, aërial figure; buoyant and
slightly wavering, it reminds one a little of the high, apparently
uncertain, flight of some large-winged butterfly; and it is in perfect
harmony, not only with the slimmer form, but with the idea of a being
whose life is passed amid wind and mist and fluctuating wave. It is
a rare pleasure to watch a number of these terns feeding in an inlet
or bay, where the spectator can sit or lie on a cliff or jutting rock
near to and on a level with the birds. They are not concerned at his
presence, but, intent on their prey, pass and re-pass before him so
near that their round, brilliant eyes may be distinctly seen. The
blood-red, dagger-like beak is pointed downwards almost constantly as
the bird gazes on the water thirty or forty yards below. All at once
the buoyant flight is arrested, the bird hangs motionless in mid-air,
the snow-white, forked tail expanded and depressed, the slow-moving,
wavering wings rapidly vibrated. In such an attitude he reminds
you less of a windhover than of the humming-bird, when that little
feathered fairy is seen hovering motionless _above_ the flowers
on which its eyes are fixed. Suddenly the wings partly close, and the
white figure drops plumb down, with such force as to send up a shower
of foam and spray as it strikes on and disappears into the water, to
emerge in a moment or two with a small fish in its bill.
The terns, of which there are five breeding-species in the British
Islands, are all migrants, and come to us in spring. The arctic tern
ranges farthest north: it is the most common species on the coasts of
Scotland and its islands; its most southern breeding-station is at
the Farnes, off the coast of Northumberland. It breeds in communities
sometimes numbering thousands of birds. The nests are placed very
near each other, often within half a yard, among scanty grass and
herbage, or on the shingle and sand of the beach, and sometimes on
the bare rock. Two or three eggs are laid, greatly varying in their
ground-colour, olive, buff, greyish brown, stone, and other tints
being found; and the spots and blotches of blackish brown and grey
may be few or many. The young birds are at first covered with a
yellowish down with dark brown spots, and are very active. When the
nesting-ground is entered the birds rise up, and hover in a dense cloud
above the intruder’s head, their united powerful screams producing an
extraordinary noise, like that of the sea on a shingled beach when the
withdrawing wave drags back the pebbles with shrill and grating sounds.
In September and October the arctic tern migrates to warmer regions.
Common Tern.
Sterna fluviatilis.
[Illustration: FIG. 107.--COMMON TERN. ⅐ natural size.]
Bill, legs, and feet orange-red; entire plumage as in the arctic tern,
except the lower parts, which are more nearly pure white. Length,
fourteen and a quarter inches.
* * * * *
So nearly alike are the arctic and common terns that it is hard,
well-nigh impossible, in fact, to distinguish them when they are
observed flying about in company. In size, manner of flight, language,
and general appearance, they are identical. On a close examination
the common tern is found to be slightly less slender in build, its
under parts dull white instead of pale grey, its beak tipped with
black and coral-red, instead of blood-red. It is doubtless owing to
their similarity that the two species associate freely together at all
times, and are often to be found breeding side by side. But while the
arctic tern is most common in the north, from the Shetlands, Orkneys,
and Hebrides, to the coast of Northumberland on the one side of the
country, and of Lancashire on the other, the common tern is common
only on the coasts south of these two points. The nest is a slight
depression, sometimes with a little dry grass for lining, placed on
the shingle of the beach; the three eggs are yellowish stone, grey, or
olive colour, spotted and blotched with dark brown and grey.
Roseate Tern.
Sterna dougalli.
Bill black, orange-red at the base in the breeding season; legs and
feet red; head and upper parts the same as in the arctic and common
terns, except that the mantle is a paler pearl-grey; lower parts white
suffused with rose. Length, fifteen inches and a quarter.
* * * * *
This species differs from the two already described in its slimmer body
and greater length of tail, and in its shorter and narrower wings.
It also differs in the delicate rose-colour suffusing or tinging the
white under-plumage; but this faint exquisite hue is seen only when the
bird is in the hand. On the wing, unless very near, it appears white
and pale grey like the common tern, and only an accustomed eye can
distinguish it among the others by its slightly different shape. It
may be more easily recognised by its short, constantly repeated note,
which is more musical than that of the other species. Besides this
short, excited note, it has the long, somewhat guttural, and gull-like
cry common to all the terns. It breeds only on islands, and Howard
Saunders, our best authority on the birds of this order, says that it
is more ‘intolerant of interference’ than other terns: hence many of
its old breeding-stations on the British coasts have been successively
abandoned during the last half-century owing to egg-collecting, and
the bird is now becoming so rare that its extinction as a British
species at no distant date is feared by ornithologists. In the north
of England, and at various places on the coasts of Scotland, a few
pairs still breed in company with the common and arctic terns. The
nest is a slight depression in the sand and gravel, and two or three
eggs are laid, creamy white or buff-colour, blotched and clouded with
bluish grey and rich brown. As soon as the young have been reared the
breeding-ground is abandoned, and the migration southwards begins.
Little Tern.
Sterna minuta.
Bill orange-yellow tipped with black; legs and feet orange; crown and
nape black; forehead and stripe over the eye white; mantle pearl-grey;
tail and under parts white. Length, eight inches.
* * * * *
[Illustration:
_PLATE XIV._
ROSEATE TERN (ADULT AND IMMATURE). ⅖ NAT. SIZE.]
[Illustration: FIG. 108.--LESSER TERN. ¼ natural size.]
The little, or lesser tern, is a third less than the common species
in size, measuring only eight inches in length. The colour is nearly
the same in both birds, except that the under parts in the little tern
are pure white, and the bill orange--instead of coral-red. The voice
differs somewhat, being thinner and shriller in tone; otherwise the
language is the same. The flight is more wavering. This species is
much less numerous than the arctic and common terns; in its habits it
closely resembles them, breeding in communities, sometimes in company
with the other kinds. When breeding alongside of the common tern its
nests, as a rule, are placed a little apart and nearer to the water.
The nest is a slight depression in the loose sand and gravel, sometimes
with a few bents and fragments of dry seaweed for lining; the eggs are
two or three in number, of a light stone-colour, spotted with grey
and brown. In size and colour they closely resemble the eggs of the
ringed plover. This tern, like the others, hovers screaming overhead
when its breeding-ground is intruded on; but recovers from its anxiety
only too quickly, for no sooner has the intruder got a little distance
away than the bird drops down directly on to its nest. When the female
is incubating the male brings food for her, and Mr. Trevor-Battye has
described in his ‘Pictures in Prose’ the pretty way in which the birds
play with each other before the fish is delivered. ‘Returned from his
quest, the bird with a fish in his bill circles round and round, and
lower and lower, over his mate, and presently drops down beside her.
Then he begins a series of extraordinary evolutions. With head thrown
back, wings drooping, and tail cocked straight up, he struts--no other
word expresses it--he struts about in front of his mate.... He jumps at
his mate, as if daring her to take the fish. Then he will fly round for
a bit, only to settle again and repeat the play. I have seen on several
occasions a female “chit,” before she had settled down on her eggs, get
up, fly off, settle on the shingle off and on for a considerable time,
followed persistently by her fish-bearing partner, but always avoiding
him, as if coquetting or really annoyed. Sooner or later the fish is
always relinquished, or, as I suspect, taken by the female bird.’
In Norfolk the little terns are called chits, or chit-perles.
Sandwich Tern.
Sterna cantiaca.
Bill and feet black; upper part of the head black; mantle pearl-grey;
rump, tail, throat, and under parts white; the breast suffused with
rose. Length, sixteen inches.
* * * * *
This is the largest of the British terns, being as much superior as the
little tern is inferior in size to the arctic and common species. In
its manner of flight and language it differs somewhat from the others.
At a distance the under parts appear to be of a snowy whiteness; in the
captive or dead bird the white plumage is seen to be suffused with an
evanescent delicate pink colour. On the wing the Sandwich tern does not
look so graceful and beautiful as the smaller species: the flight is
heavier, straighter, unwavering, the wings beating more rapidly. Its
scream is shorter, less inflected, and has a harsh and even grating
sound.
This tern suffers much from the persecutions of the egg-collector, as
well as of that base kind of sportsman who is allowed to amuse himself
in August and September by slaughtering terns. On the Farne Islands,
which are protected during the breeding season, there now exists a
considerable colony of Sandwich terns, numbering about one thousand
pairs, and a few smaller colonies are found on the coasts of Scotland
and Ireland, and on some of the lakes of those countries. On the Farnes
the birds breed on one of the islands on a flat surface overgrown with
sea-campion, and here their nests are placed so close together that
it is difficult at times to walk over the ground without treading on
the nests containing eggs or young birds. The eggs are two or three in
number, and are stone-colour with a yellow tinge, thickly spotted with
grey or brown.
* * * * *
Besides the five species described, there are eight terns set down in
the books as British. Of these, the Caspian tern, gull-billed tern,
and black tern, are described as ‘irregular visitors,’ and come in
small numbers; the whiskered tern, white-winged black tern, sooty tern,
Scopoli’s sooty tern, and noddy, are all rare stragglers, the last
three from the tropics. The black tern (_Hydrochelidon nigra_) was
in reality a British bird in former times, a summer visitor, breeding
in immense numbers in the fens and marshes in some of the eastern
counties. It bred ‘in myriads’ in Norfolk as late as 1818, and, in
diminishing numbers, down to 1835. ‘Drainage and persecution’ caused
the destruction of this graceful species.
[Illustration: FIG. 109.--BLACK TERN. ⅐ natural size.]
Kittiwake.
Rissa tridactyla.
Bill greenish yellow; legs and feet black; mantle deep grey; head,
neck, tail, and under parts white. Length, fifteen and a half inches.
* * * * *
The kittiwake takes its pretty name from its usual cry, composed of
three notes, two quick and short, and one long. It is the smallest of
the British gulls, excluding the stragglers, and is also one of the
handsomest and most interesting in its habits. It is more of a sea-bird
than most gulls, feeding principally on small fish, which it captures
after the manner of a tern, hovering motionless for a few moments, then
dashing down on to the water with great force. It is common round the
British Islands throughout the year, but probably most of the birds
that breed on our coasts migrate to more southern regions in winter,
their places, meanwhile, being taken by visitors from the north. Its
breeding-sites, often shared with the guillemot and razorbill, are
precipitous rocky cliffs fronting the sea, the nest being placed on
the ledges and wherever a projecting rock affords standing-room for a
bird of its size. When the colony is a numerous one the birds may be
seen whitening the face of the precipice from within a few feet above
high-water mark to within a few feet of the top. The nests, often
placed so near together as to be almost touching, are rather bulky,
built of seaweed mixed with turf, and lined with dry grass. Two or
three, sometimes four, eggs are laid, varying in ground-colour from
greenish blue to olive-brown, or buff, or buffish brown, spotted and
blotched with reddish brown, and under-markings of pale brown and grey.
Where suitable sites exist, and the birds are not too much molested,
the kittiwakes have breeding colonies on the British coasts from the
Scilly Islands and the Cornish and Devon cliffs right away to St. Kilda
in the north. The kittiwakes breed later than most gulls, unfortunately
for them. It has been pointed out again and again that the young birds
are often hardly able to feed themselves, and in many cases are not yet
out of their nests, at the end of July, which is also the end of the
close time for sea-birds. It then becomes lawful for the scoundrels
who practise this form of sport to slaughter the kittiwakes--both the
helpless young and the parent birds that are engaged in feeding and
protecting them.
Herring-Gull.
Larus argentatus.
Bill yellow; legs and feet flesh-colour; mantle grey; head, tail, and
lower parts white; outer primaries black. Length, twenty-four inches.
* * * * *
The herring-gull, which derives its name from its habit of following
the shoals of herrings, is common on our coasts throughout the year.
Like most gulls, it searches the shore at ebb-tide for stranded marine
animals, dead and alive, and garbage of all kinds. It quarrels with
ravens and crows over the carcass of a dead sheep, and, like the
raven, is a plunderer of eggs and young birds from the cliffs. It
is often seen at a distance from the sea, roaming over the moors in
search of prey or carrion; and it also feeds on insects and, like the
black-headed gull, sometimes follows the plough to pick up worms and
grubs. It nests on precipitous, rocky shores, usually making choice of
the summit or upper ledges. It also breeds on flat islands, sometimes
in company with the lesser black-backed gull, which it resembles in
size and general appearance. It usually breeds in communities, but is
not so strictly gregarious as most gulls at this season. The nest,
which is usually somewhat bulky, is composed of seaweed and herbage,
and lined with dry grass. Three eggs are laid, stone-colour or light
olive-brown, spotted and blotched with dark umber.
Lesser Black-backed Gull.
Larus fuscus.
Bill, legs, and feet yellow; summer plumage of the adult white,
except on the mantle, which varies from slate-grey to black. Length,
twenty-three inches.
* * * * *
From its abundance, its large size--which is nearly the same as that
of the herring-gull--and its extremely conspicuous black-and-white
plumage at maturity, the lesser black-back is one of the most familiar
birds on our coasts. The young differ greatly from the adults, having
a slate-grey beak, flesh-coloured legs, and a general brown plumage.
The mature breeding colours, including yellow on legs and bill, with
a vermilion patch on the lower mandible, are not perfect until the
fourth year. Judging solely from this fact of its slow growth to
maturity, we may take it that the lesser black-back lives long--that
its natural term, as in some accipitrine species, probably exceeds a
century. It is certainly the case that this gull is able, not only to
keep itself alive, but to keep up its numbers, notwithstanding its
large size and the dislike with which it is regarded on account of its
predacious habits. The unfeathered biped is ever anxious to keep all
the killing and plundering in his own hands. The voice of this gull is
very powerful and far-reaching, and, when soaring with its fellows,
occasionally all the birds unite their voices in a chorus of short and
long cries, laughter-like in character, yet with something solemn,
and even desolate, in the sound, as of the sea. It is gregarious and
social at all seasons, and breeds in gulleries, where the nests are
placed close together on the level ground. The three eggs are of a
light stone colour, spotted and blotched with blackish brown and grey.
The largest and best-known colony on the British coasts is at the
Farne Islands, and of that colony Seebohm writes: ‘It is a wonderful
sight on approaching an island to see the green mass sprinkled all
over with large white-looking birds, every one standing head to wind,
like an innumerable army of white weathercocks.’ It is also fine to
see and hear them, when a person walks about among the nests, stooping
occasionally to examine eggs or handle the yellow, black-spotted
chicks: the birds hover in a dense cloud over his head, their deep,
powerful cries mingling in one mighty uproar, and, at short intervals,
one or two birds dash down out of the bird-cloud as if to strike his
head, and, missing it by an inch or two, reascend to repeat the action.
Common Gull.
Larus canus.
Bill greenish at the base, yellow at the tip; legs and feet greenish
yellow; mantle ash-grey; first two primaries black, with a white patch
near the extremity; the rest black near the end; head, neck, tail, and
under parts white. Length, eighteen and a half inches.
* * * * *
The name of this species is somewhat misleading, as it is less
numerous on most of our coasts, and in estuaries and rivers, than the
black-headed species, which indeed is often called the common gull.
When flying about in company, the two species are indistinguishable in
the winter plumage. The common gull has no breeding-place south of the
Border. In Scotland and its islands there are several colonies, and
in Ireland a few. In its habits it is intermediate between the marine
and inland species, and its gulleries are placed both on islands near
the sea-coast and in lochs at a distance from the shore. Like the
herring-gull and black-headed gull, it follows the plough to pick up
worms and grubs, and roams over moors, marshes, and pasture-lands in
search of insects, small vertebrates, and carrion. The nest is bulky,
and composed of seaweed, herbage, and dry grass. Three eggs are laid,
olive-brown, spotted and streaked with blackish.
Great Black-backed Gull.
Larus marinus.
Bill yellow; legs and feet flesh-colour; plumage as in the lesser
black-backed gull. Length, thirty inches.
* * * * *
[Illustration: FIG. 110.--GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. ¹⁄₁₁ natural
size.]
Turner, who wrote on British birds three centuries ago, in describing
the great black-backed gull, says that it was called ‘cob’ on the
Kentish and Essex coast. It is curious to find that it is still known
by this name in the same localities, where it is now very rare. In
colour and appearance it closely resembles the lesser black-back, but
exceeds it in size, and is nearly twice as heavy--it is, in fact, the
largest of the gulls. It is also the rarest species in the British
Islands; for although its breeding-sites are not few in Scotland,
while others exist on the coasts of England, Wales, and Ireland, its
colonies are very small compared with those of other species, and in
many cases the breeding-place is occupied by a single pair. Its habits
are similar to those of the herring and lesser black-backed gulls; but
being so much larger and more powerful, it is more injurious to other
sea-birds, whose nests it plunders of their eggs or young. It is also
more oceanic, straying to a great distance from land in its search for
dead animal matter floating on the waves--a veritable ‘vulture of the
sea.’ Its nest is placed, as a rule, on the summit of an inaccessible
rock on the coast, or on a small rocky island, and is carelessly
formed of seaweed and grass. Two or three eggs are laid, greyish
brown, sometimes tinged with olive, with dark brown spots distributed
sparingly over the whole surface.
Black-headed Gull.
Larus ridibundus.
Bill and feet red; head and upper part of the neck blackish brown;
mantle grey; all the rest, white; the under parts tinged with pink. The
black on the head is lost in winter. Length, sixteen inches.
* * * * *
The black-headed gull, if not the most abundant of its genus, is
without doubt the most generally known, on account of its wide
diffusion in the country, and of its habit of breeding in inland
marshes. It remains throughout the year, most of the time frequenting
the flat parts of the sea-coast, estuaries, and tidal rivers, where it
is seen perpetually roaming up and down in search of the small fishes
and crustaceans on which it feeds, and any dead animal matter cast up
by the tide. In its winter dress it is almost impossible to tell this
species from the common gull and kittiwake when they are seen together,
as in size they are nearly alike, and the buoyant, leisurely flight
and circling motions in the air are the same in all. But very early in
spring the distinguishing mark and nuptial ornament of a black hood is
assumed, after which there can be no mistake. And here I may remark
that I differ from Howard Saunders when he says that, as the hood is
not black, the bird should be called the brown-headed gull. Vernacular
names of this kind are descriptive of the creatures as they appear to
us when seen living in a state of nature; and at a distance of twenty
or thirty yards, which is as close as a flying gull will come to a man,
the hood certainly appears to be black.
[Illustration: BLACK-HEADED GULLS. POCHARDS. SHOVELER.
WATER-HENS.]
In March the gulls withdraw to marshes and meres to breed. The
breeding-place is usually in the neighbourhood of the sea, sometimes
in an inland district. Year after year the same spot is resorted to,
and it is known that some of the gulleries in this country have existed
for centuries. One of the largest and best known in England is at
Scoulton Mere, in Norfolk. Half a century ago 20,000 birds annually
bred at this spot, but the colony has now diminished to less than half
that number. A favourite site for the gullery is an island in a mere
or swamp, and the nests are placed both on the ground and on clumps of
rushes or tussocks of grass. Three or four eggs are laid, varying in
ground-colour from olive-brown to pale green, blue, or salmon, blotched
with black and dark brown. During the breeding season the birds seek
their food over the surrounding country in marshes, meadow-lands, and
fields that are being ploughed. Seebohm says: ‘So easily do they adapt
themselves to changed circumstances, that they have already become used
to the steam-plough. It is a very pretty sight to watch a party of
these little gulls, looking snow-white in the distance against the rich
brown of the newly turned-up soil, paddling amongst the clumsy clods
with dainty, red-webbed feet, and continually lifting their white wings
to balance themselves on the rough ground, reminding one of a group
of angels by Gustave Doré.’ One suspects that Doré, being, like other
artists, incapable of imagining the unimaginable, made use of gulls and
such like as models for his angels.
This gull, like most of the Laridæ, is a vociferous bird, and his
notes--short and rapid, like excited exclamations, or drawn out,
guttural in tone, and inflected in various ways--often sound like
laughter; hence the name of laughing gull, sometimes given to this
species, and the specific name of _ridibundus_. To my ear it is
like the guttural and extravagant laughter of the negro, rather than
that of the white man.
* * * * *
Besides the six species described, there are six others, belonging
to the sub-family Larinæ (true gulls), which figure in the books as
British species. One of these (the second on the list) is perhaps a
regular visitor.
Ivory gull (_Pagophila eburnea_).--A circumpolar species; occasionally
straggles to the British coasts.
Glaucous gull (_Larus glaucus_).--Circumpolar in its range; a winter
visitor to the northern parts of the United Kingdom.
Iceland gull (_L. leucopterus_).--A rare winter visitor (to the north)
from the arctic regions.
Great black-headed gull (_L. ichthyaëtus_).--A single specimen of this
southern species was obtained many years ago in this country.
Little gull (_L. minutus_).--An irregular visitor from continental
Europe.
Sabine’s gull (_Xema sabinii_).--A rare straggler from North America.
Common or Great Skua.
Stercorarius catarrhactes.
[Illustration: FIG. 111.--GREAT SKUA. ¹⁄₁₂ natural size.]
Upper parts mottled brown; shafts of the quills and tail-feathers
white; under parts rufous-brown; bill, legs, and feet black. Length,
twenty-five inches.
* * * * *
Of skuas there are but six species, two of which inhabit the southern
hemisphere, and breed on the confines of the antarctic regions. The
others belong to the northern half of the globe, and range in summer
to the arctic regions. These four are all claimed as members of the
British avifauna, but only two species need be fully described in this
work. The skuas are gull-like birds, very strong on the wing, and swift
flyers; and, like the gulls, they have a variety of feeding-habits,
and are both the vultures and hawks of the sea. In the skuas there
is more of the hawk and not so much of the vulture. Their predatory
habits, extreme violence in attack, and readiness to take and destroy
their feathered fellow-creatures and toilers of the deep when the
occasion offers, have won them a reputation among birds similar to that
of a pirate among men--the lawless rover of the sea, who is without
compunction, and whose hand is against every man. In shape and general
appearance the skuas are gull-like; they differ chiefly from the gulls
in the form of the beak, which is straight for two-thirds of its
length, and for the rest curved into a hook, as in the raptorial birds;
and in the form of the tail, which is cuneiform, with the two centre
feathers projecting beyond the others. In the gulls the tail-feathers
are of equal length; while the terns, at the other end of this order of
birds, have sharply forked tails like the swallow.
The great skua, or bonxie, as it is called by the Shetlanders, is
the largest of the family. Except during the breeding season it is
a solitary bird, oceanic in its habits, roaming far and wide over
the waters in quest of food, its visits to land being restricted to
rocky island coasts. Like the marine gulls, it feeds on dead fish
found stranded or floating on the water, and on dead animal matter
of all kinds, and also catches fish by pouncing on them as they swim
near the surface. But it prefers to watch the movements of the other
fishing-birds, which it follows and associates with to rob them of
their prey. The herring-gull and lesser black-back may be frequently
seen pursuing a tern or kittiwake to take from it the fish it has just
captured; but these would-be robbers are not very successful--the
chased tern, or small gull, in most cases proves too quick for them.
These are like the merest mock chases and playful interludes in
the day’s work compared with the sudden, furious onslaught of the
bonxie. The swiftest gull or tern cannot escape from him; he can turn
as quickly as a swallow, and keep close to his victim in all his
doublings, until the chased bird in his terror disgorges the fish he
has just swallowed. The skua stays his flight to pick up the falling
morsel, and the chase is over. Besides robbing the birds of their prey,
he is also a bird-killer, making his deadly attacks on the sickly or
wounded, and on the young in the breeding season.
The great skua breeds in the Shetlands, but the birds have now
been reduced to a few pairs, chiefly owing to the persecution of
collectors. Every effort has been made to protect the birds in their
two small colonies on Unst and Foula, but it is scarcely to be
hoped that this insignificant remnant will continue to exist many
years, when we consider that the childish and contemptible craze of
eggshell-collecting is very common, and that many collectors do not
hesitate to steal, or to bribe others to steal for them, the eggs they
desire to have in their cabinets.
About April the surviving birds return to their ancestral
breeding-grounds and make their simple nests, composed of a few twigs
or a little dry grass, in a slight hollow in the ground. The two eggs
laid vary in ground-colour from pale to dark buffish brown, and are
spotted with dark brown, with greyish brown underlying spots. They
resemble the eggs of the herring-gull and lesser black-back.
In the breeding season the skua is a terror to all birds in the
vicinity of its nest, as it is even more savage and impetuous in the
defence of its eggs than when seeking its prey. Ravens, sea-eagles,
dogs, and foxes, are violently attacked and driven off by it. It is
also very bold towards a human intruder, gliding to and fro close to
the surface within a few feet of him, and hovering overhead, screaming,
and occasionally dashing down violently at his head, and all but
striking it. They do strike sometimes, it is said, and it is related
by the Shetlanders that birds have impaled themselves on a knife held
up to ward off an attack, and have met their death in other curious
ways, when trying to defend their nests. These stories are doubtless
true, although the birds are less bold now than formerly, a long and
sad experience having taught them that there is one enemy they cannot
frighten away. I have often been struck by birds engaged in defending
their nests--hawks, waders, and perching birds--and in some cases the
striker has stunned himself; but this happened at a distance from
Britain, in a region where birds have not been persecuted so long, and
fear man less.
It is from its exceedingly violent down-rushing method of attack that
the great skua derives its specific name of _catarrhactes_. It
rushes down like a cataract. This is an ancient name for a bird of
prey, and, in this case, a singularly fit one. But what shall we say of
Brisson’s hideous and ridiculous invention of _Stercorarius_ as
the generic name for all the skuas?
Richardson’s Skua.
Stercorarius crepidatus.
Crown dusky; cheek, neck, and under parts white tinged with yellow and
brown; rest of the plumage dusky. Length, twenty inches.
* * * * *
This species breeds in the Outer Hebrides, the Orkneys, and the
Shetlands; it is also said to be a regular breeder in Sutherlandshire.
It is a much more numerous species than the great skua, being a regular
visitor to the coasts of Scotland in the autumn and spring migrations.
In its preying habit it resembles the bonxie, but, unlike that
species, is gregarious. It breeds on moors, often at a considerable
distance from the sea, and its nests are widely scattered on the
breeding-ground. A slight hollow in the ground, with a little dry grass
for lining, serves as a receptacle for the eggs. Two eggs are laid,
and in some cases only one. These vary greatly in shape, some being
nearly round, others long and pointed. In ground-colour they vary from
russet-brown to pale olive, and are evenly and sparingly spotted with
dark brown.
A curious fact about this species is that there are two forms, one
light in colour, the other dark, and that these habitually interbreed;
but the young, instead of being intermediate, are, according to
Seebohm, light or dark, like one of the parents.
* * * * *
The pomatorhine skua (_S. pomatorhinus_) is an autumn and spring
visitor on migration to the seas in the vicinity of the British coasts.
In some seasons it occurs in large numbers, but is not very regular in
its appearance. Buffon’s skua (_S. parasiticus_) is a rare and
irregular visitor on migration to the British coasts. It breeds in the
arctic regions, and is circumpolar.
Stormy Petrel.
Procellaria pelagica.
Upper parts black, except the tail-coverts, which are white at their
bases; edges of the wing-coverts slightly edged with white; under parts
sooty black; bill and feet black. Length, six inches.
* * * * *
The names of stormy petrel and Mother Carey’s chicken are as familiar
to everyone as that of rook, or partridge, or hedge-sparrow; but the
little bird they belong to is known by sight to comparatively few
persons. It is pre-eminently an oceanic species, that comes to land
only to breed; its breeding-places are on remote and lonely islands not
easy of access; and, when breeding, the bird is nocturnal in habits,
and it would be possible for anyone to spend many days in the very
midst of a colony of petrels and not see them, or suspect that they
were there.
[Illustration: FIG. 112.--STORMY PETREL. ⅓ natural size.]
The name of stormy petrel has been altered in several modern
ornithological works to that of storm petrel; and on this subject
Seebohm makes a delightfully characteristic observation. ‘The words
stormy petrel,’ he writes, ‘are doubtless a very ungrammatical
combination, as many other familiar English words are; but that is no
reason why they should be altered, although they may have offended
the ears of Yarrell and his academical friends.’ The rebuke is the
more deserved when we remember that these same ‘academical friends’
have been quick to ridicule the attempts of certain ornithologists to
substitute the name of hedge-accentor for that of hedge-sparrow--the
absurdest name of all, but ‘consecrated,’ as they say, by long use, and
Shakespeare. The name of ‘petrel’ comes about in a very curious way. It
is the diminutive of Peter, given to the bird on account of a habit it
has, when gliding along just above the surface, of dropping its feet
and paddling, producing the idea that it is walking on the water. I am
not quite sure that this is a correct derivation; Peter (the apostle),
it will be remembered, was not wholly successful in his attempt to
walk on the waves. Sailors call the petrels ‘Mother Carey’s chickens’;
but not, as might be imagined from such a name, on account of any
tender regard or feeling of affection for the birds. Mother Carey is
supposed to be a kind of ocean witch, a supernatural Mother Shipton,
who rides the blast, and who has for attendants and harbingers the
little dark-winged petrels, just as the more amiable Mother Venus had
her doves.
The stormy petrel is known to be the smallest bird with webbed
feet, consequently his smallness is to the ornithologist his chief
distinction. He is no bigger than a sparrow, and when seen flying in
the wake of a ship, gliding to and fro close to the surface, his small
size, sharp-pointed, swallow-like wings, dark plumage, and snow-white
rump, give him the appearance of the house-martin. Like other pelagic
birds, the petrel when on the wing is perpetually seeking its food,
and is seen to drop often on to the surface to pick up some floating
particle from the water; and yet to this day ornithologists do not
accurately know what it feeds on. The bird is generally excessively
fat, and when taken in the hand it ejects a small quantity of
amber-coloured oil from its mouth. When dissected, its stomach is
found to contain an oily fluid, and the young are fed with the same
substance, injected by the parent bird into their mouths. Where this
oil springs from, and how it comes to be floating on the water, is one
of the secrets of the sea which this bird shares with other members of
the petrel family; but they have no tongue to tell it.
The petrels do not arrive at their breeding-grounds until about the
middle of June. They have colonies on the Scilly Islands, and at
various other points on the west coast to St. Kilda, and the Orkneys
and Shetlands. A few small colonies are also found on some of the
islands on the Irish coast. The birds breed in holes in stone walls and
piles of loose stones, and, in some localities, in old rabbit-burrows
and holes in banks. A single egg is laid, on a slight bed of grass; it
is very large for the bird’s size, rough in texture, pure white, and in
most cases thinly sprinkled with minute reddish brown specks.
The young birds are fed at night, and may then be heard faintly
clamouring for food after dark.
* * * * *
The fork-tailed, or Leach’s petrel (_Procellaria leucorrhoa_), is
a larger bird than the last, being about the same size as the swift.
It is a much rarer species than the stormy petrel, and has only two
known breeding-places in the United Kingdom, one at St. Kilda, the
other on the island of North Rona, off the west coast of Scotland. On
all other parts of the British coast it is known only as a storm-driven
straggler. The birds breed in June, in holes which they make in the
soft peaty soil to a depth of two or three feet, or deeper. A slight
nest of dry grass is made, and a single egg deposited, pure white in
colour, with a zone of small reddish spots at the large end. During the
daytime the birds remain silent in their holes; in the evening they
become active and garrulous.
* * * * *
Wilson’s petrel (_Oceanites oceanicus_), a bird about the size of
a swift, with a black plumage and white rump, appears occasionally as a
straggler in the British Islands. Its only known breeding-grounds are
in the southern hemisphere.
Manx Shearwater.
Puffinus anglorum.
[Illustration: FIG. 113.--MANX SHEARWATER. ⅛ natural size.]
Bill blackish; legs and feet yellowish flesh-colour; crown, nape, and
upper parts sooty black; under parts white; sides of neck mottled with
greyish brown. Length, fifteen inches.
* * * * *
The Manx shearwater is the most abundant and best known of the
four petrels that frequent the British seas. It has several
breeding-stations in the Channel and along the west coast of Great
Britain, and a few on islands off the coast of Ireland; but its
principal colonies are on St. Kilda, the sea-bird’s paradise. Like the
stormy petrel, the shearwater is nocturnal in its habits during the
summer, feeding by night, and remaining concealed in its burrows during
the day. In winter it seeks its food at all hours. It has the same
habits as the stormy petrel of dropping its feet and paddling in the
water, while sustained by its motionless, outspread wings. Its name of
shearwater is derived from its custom of gliding along very close to
the surface. Seebohm likens it to ‘a gigantic swift’ in appearance as
it careers to and fro over the waves when the gale is at its height.
Except when breeding its whole time is spent on the open sea: it is
as truly at home on the stormy Atlantic, a thousand miles from the
nearest land, as is the blackbird in its favourite shrubbery or the
sedentary owl in its hollow beech-tree. But it remains longer at its
breeding-grounds than the other species. At St. Kilda it begins to
arrive as early as February, and remains until the end of the summer.
It forms a burrow, often of great depth, in the peaty soil, and lays a
single egg, pure white, and smooth in texture. According to Dixon, the
birds are very garrulous at night, uttering their peculiar notes both
when flying and in their nesting-holes; the syllables ‘Kitty-coo-roo’
are given by this author in imitation of the notes.
* * * * *
The sooty shearwater (_Puffinus griseus_) and the greater
shearwater (_P. major_) are occasionally met with in autumn and
winter on the British coasts. A third species, the dusky shearwater
(_P. obscurus_), has a place in the list of British birds, two
specimens having been obtained in the United Kingdom.
Fulmar.
Fulmarus glacialis.
Bill yellow; legs and feet grey; mantle and tail grey; quills dusky;
head, neck, and under parts white. Length, nineteen inches.
* * * * *
The fulmar is the largest of the petrels; it exceeds the black-headed
gull and common gull in size, and is a giant by comparison with its
diminutive relation, the stormy petrel. It is a circumpolar species,
and in winter inhabits the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in the northern
hemisphere. On the British coasts it is a rare straggler in winter,
and its only breeding-station in the United Kingdom is at St. Kilda.
It is said that formerly there were several colonies on the west coast
of Scotland, but these no longer exist. In its manner of flight and
general appearance the fulmar is gull-like, and may easily be mistaken
for a gull. Like other petrels, it lives, when not engaged in breeding,
on the open sea, and it often follows the deep-sea fishing-boats and
whalers, to feed on the offal thrown out and portions of blubber
floating on the water. Seebohm says that ‘if a piece of meat be thrown
to them, they often seize it before it sinks, but instead of diving
after it, as a duck or guillemot would do, they alight on the surface
feet first, and in the most comical way let themselves sink down in the
water with uplifted wings.’
[Illustration: FIG. 114.--FULMAR. ⅑ natural size.]
The fulmar lays a single white egg in a shallow hole dug in the peaty
soil. Dixon has the following graphic account of the breeding-haunts
and habits of the fulmar: ‘In many places, although the cliff is very
precipitous, it is covered with grass, sorrel, and other plants, and
a loose, rich soil. It is in such spots that the fulmar breeds in
the greatest numbers. I shall never forget the imposing effect of
this noble bird-nursery.... When I reached the summit the scene was
grand: tens of thousands of fulmars were flying silently about in
all directions, but never by any chance soaring over the land; they
passed backwards and forwards along the face of the cliff, and for some
considerable distance out to sea, whilst the waves, a thousand feet
below, were dotted thickly with floating birds. The silence of such an
animated scene impressed me: not a single fulmar uttered a cry.... No
bird flies more gracefully than the fulmar: it seems to float in the
air without any exertion, often passing to and fro for minutes together
with no perceptible movement of its wings.... It is a remarkably
tame bird, fluttering along within a few feet of you, its black eye
glistening sharply against its snow-white dress.... In some parts of
the cliffs, where the soil is loose and turf-grown, the ground is
almost white with sitting fulmars. Every available spot is a fulmar’s
nest; and as you explore the cliffs, large numbers of birds fly out
from all directions where they had not previously been noticed.... It
very rarely burrows deep enough in the ground to conceal itself whilst
incubating, and in the majority of cases only makes a hole large enough
to half-conceal itself, whilst in a great many instances it is content
to lay its eggs under some projecting tuft, or even on the bare and
exposed ledge of a cliff, in a similar place to that so often selected
by the guillemot.... The nests are very slight, and in a great number
of instances are dispensed with altogether.’
Of the number of fulmars, the same observer says: ‘The myriads of birds
were past all belief: the air was darkened with their numbers; still
the cliffs were white with birds, and I calculated that not more than
one in ten had risen. The fulmars filled the air like large snowflakes,
and the hordes of puffins looked like a huge swarm of bees, darkening
the air as far as we could see. Myriads of birds swept round the vessel
or filled the air above; the face of the cliffs seemed crumbling away
as the living masses swept seaward; yet, singularly enough, little
noise was made beyond the humming of countless wings. The mighty peaks
of these solitary ocean rocks were indistinctly seen through the
surging cloud of birds, that seemed almost as if it would descend and
overwhelm us.’[2]
* * * * *
Two petrels remain to be noticed: the capped petrel (_Œstrelata
hæsitata_) and Bulwer’s petrel (_Bulweria columbina_), one
straggler having been obtained of the first species, and two of the
second, on the east coast of England.
Great Northern Diver.
Colymbus glacialis.
[Illustration: FIG. 115.--GREAT NORTHERN DIVER. ⅑ natural size.]
Bill black; irides red; head and neck black, glossed with purple on the
upper throat, and with green on the lower neck; two throat-bands black
barred with white; mantle black spotted with white; under parts white.
Length, thirty-three inches.
* * * * *
The great northern diver, or loon, is called great because he exceeds
the other divers in size; in this sense he is also great in relation to
birds generally, since he is as big as a goose, and therefore the equal
of the few species that are greatest. In form he differs widely from
the geese. An oceanic bird that escapes from its enemies by diving,
and is never seen on the wing except when migrating, and never on land
except when breeding, his form has been modified so as to make swimming
and diving as easy to him as careering through the air is to the
swift, and climbing on trees to the woodpecker. The beak is straight,
conical, and sharp-pointed; the head, neck, and body, grebe-like in
form; and the legs set so far back that the bird is almost incapable of
progression on land. It is very wonderful that a creature that spends
so great a part of its time on and in the water, without leaving it,
should yet retain wing-power sufficient to perform long bi-annual
migrations. Probably it does not take very extended flights; when
found on inland waters during migration, it often appears incapable of
flight, and if in a small stream is easily taken. In its flying powers
it appears, with the grebes and auks, to occupy a position midway
between the ever-soaring, aërial gannet and the penguins, that are
incapable of flight. In their dark rich, variegated upper, and white
under, plumage, the divers again resemble the grebes. The glossy black
back, thickly strewn with symmetrical white spots, gives the present
species a beautiful and somewhat singular appearance. Out at sea it is
a silent bird--silent and shy and solitary--with the cormorant-like
habit of making itself invisible by sinking its body beneath the water.
In the breeding season it utters cries of a very strange character,
powerful and uncanny in their effect on the mind, and compared by
different listeners to screams uttered by tortured children, and to
shrieks of insane laughter. It is a winter visitor to the British
Islands, chiefly to the west coasts of Scotland and England: but as it
has occasionally been met with in summer in full nuptial plumage, it is
thought by some ornithologists that a few pairs may remain to breed in
some of the secluded lakes in the west of Scotland, the Outer Hebrides,
the Orkneys, and Shetlands. It has not yet been found breeding anywhere
in continental Europe; its known breeding-grounds are in Iceland, and
in America, from Greenland to Alaska. It breeds in secluded lakes and
tarns, at no great distance from the sea, and prefers an island to nest
on; but where no island exists the nest is placed on the shore close to
the water. Two eggs are laid, varying in ground-colour from olive-brown
to russet-brown, spotted somewhat thinly with black.
* * * * *
The family of divers (Colymbidæ) consists of four species, all
contained in one genus; and of the four, three are British. In habits,
as well as in structure, they are so closely related that a very
brief description of the other two is all that will be necessary.
The black-throated diver (_Colymbus arcticus_) is much smaller
than the great northern diver, its length being twenty-six inches.
Bill black; irides red; crown and hind head ash-grey; upper parts
blackish, spotted and barred with white; throat purplish black, with
a half-collar of short white streaks; sides of neck striped with black
and white; under parts white.
This diver breeds in small numbers on the west coast of Scotland and in
the Outer Hebrides. To other parts of the country it is an accidental
visitor. It is less oceanic in its habits than the last species
described, and goes to a greater distance from the sea to breed. Two
eggs are laid, similar in colour to those of the great northern diver.
The red-throated diver (_Colymbus septentrionalis_) is the
smallest of the three species, its length being twenty-three inches. It
has the head, throat, and sides of the neck mouse-colour; crown spotted
with black; neck marked with black and white lines; on the front of the
neck a large orange-coloured patch; back dusky brown; under parts white.
This species breeds in the west and north of Scotland, and in the
Hebrides, Orkneys, and Shetlands.
Great Crested Grebe.
Podiceps cristatus.
[Illustration: FIG. 116.--GREAT CRESTED GREBE. ¹⁄₁₀ natural size.]
Crown and crest and ruff dark brown and chestnut; cheeks white; upper
parts dark brown; secondaries white; under parts silky white. Length,
twenty-two inches.
* * * * *
The great crested grebe still survives as a British species, although
it is a large and handsome bird, and, like all those to which such
a description applies, it has been much persecuted. Among our large
water-birds there are few more strikingly handsome and stately in
appearance than this grebe in its full breeding-plumage, when viewed
as it floats, unalarmed, on the secluded reed-fringed water it loves.
The swan, in its immaculate white dress, with proudly arched neck and
plume-like scapulars, when seen ‘floating double,’ is to many minds
the most perfect type of a beautiful waterfowl; certainly it is the
most familiar. The great grebe has a very different appearance, with
its straight neck, long, boat-shaped body, dark upper and silvery
under plumage, and its broad ruff and double, ear-like crest; but in
some aspects he is not less attractive than the white, larger bird,
especially when sailing peacefully in close proximity to tall, slender
reeds, their beauty, and that of the bird, enhanced by the ‘magic of
reflection,’ when both seem part of the glassy pool, and made for one
another.
Although in sadly diminished numbers, the great crested grebe still
breeds regularly in many localities in England, especially in the
eastern counties, and in a few situations in Wales and Ireland. In the
northern counties of England it is very rare, and does not breed in
Scotland: it is there a winter migrant from the north of Europe.
The habits of the grebe when on the water are similar to those of the
diver. It is adapted to a swimming and diving existence; feeds on fish,
frogs, water-beetles, and other small aquatic creatures; when alarmed
it sinks its body deeper and deeper into the water, and when pursued,
or in danger, seeks to escape by diving. It makes little use of its
wings, except when migrating. At most times it is a silent bird, but in
the breeding season utters a harsh, grating cry.
The grebe makes a large platform nest of aquatic plants, placed on
the water among the reeds. Four eggs are laid, the shell pale blue in
colour, but covered with a soft, white, chalky substance. Invariably,
when leaving the nest the bird covers the eggs with moss and weeds, and
the usual inference is that this is done to hide them from rapacious
egg-eating birds; but Seebohm is of the opinion that the eggs are
covered to be kept warm, and he says that they are covered only after
the full complement is laid and incubation begun.
Little Grebe, or Dabchick.
Tachybaptes fluviatilis.
[Illustration: FIG. 117.--LITTLE GREBE. ⅙ natural size.]
Head, neck, and upper parts dark brown; a little white on the
secondaries; chin black; cheeks, throat, and sides of the neck
reddish chestnut; under parts greyish white; flanks dusky brown; bill
horn-colour; legs and feet dull green. Length, nine inches and a half.
* * * * *
The little grebe, or dabchick, is less than the teal in size, and
differs from the great crested grebe in about the same degree as the
partridge does from the pheasant. It is the one common and well-known
species of grebe in this country, being resident in suitable localities
in all parts of the United Kingdom. In summer it is generally diffused,
and is to be met with even on small pools and streams; in winter it
shifts its ground, resorting to the rivers and larger bodies of water,
and in very severe weather to the sea-coast.
It begins to breed at the end of April or early in May, and forms
a floating nest of aquatic weeds and grasses close to the bank or
among the reeds, but in most cases little care is taken to conceal
the nest. The eggs are three or four to six in number, and are white,
and rough in texture. Before quitting the nest the incubating bird
invariably covers the eggs with wet leaves and grass, drawn in from
the edge of the nest. It is hard to believe, with Seebohm, that the
object of this action is to keep the eggs warm. The nest is, in very
many cases, conspicuous to the eye, but on the slightest alarm the
sitting-bird quickly and deftly draws the dead, wet materials like a
blanket over the eggs, and, slipping off, dives silently, to come up at
a considerable distance, usually where it cannot be seen. The nest then
presents the appearance of a mere bunch of dead and water-soaked weeds
or grass floating on the surface. I have examined a good many nests,
and am convinced that the eggs are covered to hide them from the sight
of egg-robbing animals, and that only the egg-robber that is neither
furred nor feathered, and is well acquainted with the habits of the
bird, is capable of seeing through this pretty deception.
The dabchick has the curious habit of holding its young under its
wings and diving from the nest, to take them out of danger. Like its
neighbour, the moorhen, the little grebe sometimes begins to breed
a second time, before the young of the first brood are able to take
proper care of themselves; and it has been observed in such cases that
while one of the parents incubated the eggs in the new nest, the other
has remained in charge of the partly grown young. The nest is used by
the young birds after they are able to swim and dive, and while resting
on it their parents bring them food.
* * * * *
The three remaining species of the grebe family (Podicipidæ) included
in the avifauna of the United Kingdom are the red-necked grebe
(_Podiceps griseigena_), a rare winter visitor to the British
coasts; the Sclavonian grebe (_P. auritus_), a not uncommon winter
visitor to Scotland, Ireland, and the north and east coasts of England;
and the eared grebe (_P. nigrocollis_), an irregular visitor,
usually in spring, to the southern and eastern districts of England.
Razorbill.
Alca torda.
Upper parts greenish black; deep brown on the throat; under parts
white. Length, seventeen inches.
* * * * *
The black and white razorbill, with curiously shaped massive beak,
viewed sitting on a rock, its body inclined a little forward, may give
us some idea of the great auk’s appearance. It is less than half the
size of the vanished bird, but is its nearest living representative.
Throughout the year the razorbill is not an uncommon species in the
seas that surround the British Islands, but is very much less abundant
than the common guillemot, which it most nearly resembles in its
habits. That it will become still less common than it is at present
is greatly to be feared. For some time past it has been decreasing in
numbers on all our coasts, from what cause is not accurately known.
On this subject Howard Saunders writes: ‘This may partly be owing to
severe visitations of mortality which have from time to time affected
many sea-birds, but especially the present species.’ Whether killed
by an epidemic to which they are liable, or starved to death, as some
naturalists think, it is certain that they perish in large numbers. On
the south coast I have seen their dead bodies, washed up by the waves
during a severe gale, lying in hundreds on the beach; and the same
distressing spectacle has been witnessed by others at various points on
the coast.
[Illustration: FIG. 118.--RAZORBILL (winter plumage). ¹⁄₁₁
natural size.]
The razorbill is a handsome species, with shiny white under-plumage,
the black upper parts relieved by a stripe of pure white on the head
and a narrow white bar across the wing. The black, axe-like beak is
also crossed in its deepest part with a white mark in the form of a
crescent. Its life is mostly passed in the water, where it sits high
and floats buoyantly like a duck. It feeds chiefly on small fishes, for
which it dives, and when pursuing them uses the wings as well as feet
in propulsion. On the sea the razorbills are usually seen in small
flocks; they fly like diving ducks, with rapidly-beating wings, in a
line, one bird behind the other, and so close as to be almost touching.
In March they resort to the bold headlands and precipitous rocky
cliffs which are their breeding-places. They are then seen associating
with guillemots and puffins; for, albeit these three auks differ
in appearance and breeding-habits, they seem to be aware of their
relationship, and mix together in a friendly way. It may, however, be
noticed that on a ledge where many guillemots and a few razorbills are
assembled, as a rule the latter form a little group by themselves.
This species is somewhat silent, although they occasionally utter long
cries, somewhat gull-like in character, but lower and more guttural.
When disturbed they emit a different sound, peculiar and human-like in
tone, resembling the low moans of a person in pain.
A single egg is laid by the razorbill, and is placed in a cranny,
sometimes in a hole several feet deep; occasionally the egg is
deposited in a hollow on a rocky ledge, and in such situations
razorbills and guillemots are found breeding side by side. The egg is
large and handsome, the ground-colour white, spotted and blotched with
different shades of blackish and deep reddish brown, and sometimes
chocolate-colour. Both birds take part in incubating. An observer who
has studied the habits of this bird says that in most cases the young
fly down to the sea, usually early in the morning, and being once
there, do not return to the rocks, as their wings are not then strong
enough to enable them to mount upwards. ‘Sometimes,’ he writes, ‘when
the young one is obstinate, the mother will take it by the back of the
neck, and fly down to the sea.’ (_Zoologist_, 1871, p. 2427.) He
adds that the parent teaches the young bird to dive by taking it by the
neck and diving with it.
The breeding season over, the birds do not return to the rocks until
the next spring.
Common Guillemot.
Lomvia troile.
Head, neck, and upper parts blackish brown; under parts white. Length,
eighteen inches.
* * * * *
The common guillemot is the most abundant of the four species of auks
which inhabit the British Islands. Less handsome and striking in
appearance than the razorbill, in its habits it is just as interesting.
It is found in the breeding season on all parts of our coasts where
extensive rocky cliffs and headlands exist, and it has not been driven
away by persecution. At some points on the coast, as at Bempton Cliffs
and Flamborough Head, and at the Farne Islands, and other localities
farther north, the guillemots are still exceedingly numerous; south of
Yorkshire they have greatly diminished in numbers, and several of the
old breeding-stations have been abandoned.
On the sea their habits are similar to those of the razorbill: they
swim, dive, and fly in strings in the same manner. In appearance the
two species differ considerably. The guillemot has a dusky brown
or mouse-coloured upper plumage, and a straight, sharp beak, very
different to the massive weapon of the razorbill.
Early in spring the guillemots begin to gather from the neighbouring
seas at their old breeding-stations on the summits and sides of cliffs
that face the ocean. Of all birds that breed in communities, they are
the most social, or, at all events, crowd closest together. Where
they breed on the side of the cliff, as at Flamborough, they may be
seen standing in close rows and groups on every ledge or jutting rock
large enough to afford them a footing. A strange and fascinating
spectacle is presented when the cliff is looked at from below, and the
guillemots are seen in thousands, row above row, lessening in size by
distance until, near the summit of the vast precipice, they appear no
bigger than dippers; all standing erect, their backs to the dark stone
wall, and their shiny, white breasts to the sea. It is also strange
to see them gathered on the flat, table-like tops of the ‘Pinnacles,’
a group of isolated, precipitous rocks at the Farnes; for here the
space they have is not sufficient to properly accommodate the vast
number of birds that resort to it. Their appearance forcibly reminds
the spectator of a human crowd on some fête day in a populous city;
but the bird-crowd does not move or sway: each guillemot keeps its
place, for it is standing over its own egg, which must be kept warm at
any cost. In spite of this fixity they are all very alert and lively,
turning their beaks about this way and that, and, when alarmed, all
bobbing and bowing their heads as if to salute the intruder. Although
silent birds when on the sea, the guillemots become loquacious at
their breeding-grounds. They are very excitable, and when two or three
neighbours quarrel, as they frequently do, or a bird returned from the
sea drops on to a ledge where others are standing, or when male and
female meet again after a separation of a few hours, there is a great
deal of noise. They utter a hoarse, long-drawn cry, like the beginning
of a dog’s howl before he has cleared his voice; also a succession of
laughter-like notes, and other sounds resembling the cries, guttural
and clear, of the black-headed gull; and, sometimes, short, barking
notes like those of geese and sheldrakes.
Like most short-winged, heavy-bodied birds, they fly straight to their
point, rushing violently through the air with rapidly-beating wings. It
is amusing to watch a bird flying in from the sea, and attempting to
alight on a ledge of rock already crowded; one or two birds at the spot
the new-comer attempts to drop on threaten to strike with their beaks.
This demonstration prevents him from coming down among them; and, being
incapable of gliding off to one side to drop on to some other spot, or
of suspending himself in the air for a few moments, he is compelled
to drop down without touching the ledge, sweep round, and go straight
out to sea again, and after flying a distance of three or four hundred
yards, or farther, to circle round and come back to the ledge a second
time. The frustrated bird is often seen to fly right away out of sight.
The single egg of the guillemot is deposited on the naked rock, without
any nest, often dangerously near the edge. The sitting-birds are very
careful when leaving the rock to push the eggs from under them; but
when suddenly startled, as by the report of a gun fired from a ship
or boat for the amusement of cockney excursionists, the eggs may be
thrown off the ledge, and in some instances have been seen to fall in a
shower down the cliff-side. The guillemot lays a handsome pear-shaped
egg, very large for the bird. No other bird lays eggs so various in
colour; so greatly do they vary that two eggs cannot be found quite
alike, even among hundreds. The ground-colour in different specimens
is white, cream, stone-colour, pale blue, reddish, and many shades of
green, from a strong, bright green to olive-green. The egg is spotted
and blotched with brown, black, and deep red, and grey. The guillemot
when incubating does not lie on its egg like most birds, but stands
with the egg between its legs, which are placed very far back, as in
all auks, divers, and grebes. It is a pretty and amusing sight to watch
the guillemot, when returning to her egg after a short absence, walk on
to it, and adjust and readjust it a score of times, using her beak and
chin for the purpose, before she is satisfied that it is effectually
covered. Incubation lasts a month, and only one young bird is reared
in the season; if the first egg is taken she will lay a second, and
sometimes a third.
In strange contrast to the guttural croaking and barking cries of
the adults is the language of the young bird. Its hunger-note is a
far-reaching, sandpiper-like cry, clear, tremulous, and musical. In
imitation of this sound the young bird is called a _willock_; and
it is supposed that the name of guillemot, which is of French origin,
is also derived from the young bird’s cry.
Black Guillemot.
Uria grylle.
Plumage sooty black, except a patch on the wing-coverts, which is white
with a black bar; bill black; legs vermilion-red. Length, fourteen
inches.
* * * * *
The black guillemot is much less abundant than the last species.
On the south and east coasts it is extremely rare; its principal
breeding-stations are on the west coast of Scotland; and it also
breeds on the north and west coasts of Ireland. It differs greatly
from the common guillemot in size, being scarcely more than half as
large as that species; also in colouring, the whole plumage, except a
broad white patch on the wing, being glossy black, the legs and feet
bright red. It breeds in the same situations as the common guillemot,
but is not so gregarious; and in its nesting-habits it resembles the
razorbill, laying its eggs in a hole or cranny in the rocks, or beneath
a rock on the soil. Two eggs are laid, in ground-colour white, or pale
stone, or pale green, spotted and blotched with brown and grey. The
young are covered with a greyish black down, and their first plumage is
mottled black and white.
[Illustration: FIG. 119.--LITTLE AUK. ⅛ natural size.]
The black guillemot frequents the seas in the vicinity of its
breeding-station throughout the year.
Brünnich’s guillemot (_Lomvia bruennichi_) is a very rare straggler
from the arctic regions to the northern islands and coasts of Scotland.
The little auk (_Margulus alle_) is an irregular visitor, sometimes in
considerable numbers, to the British coasts, especially in the north.
It is a circumpolar species, and straggles southwards in winter, but
seldom approaches the British Islands, except in very severe weather.
Puffin.
Fratercula arctica.
[Illustration: FIG. 120.--PUFFIN. ⅑ natural size.]
Crown, collar, and upper parts black, all the rest white; bill, bluish
at the base, yellow in the middle, bright red at the tip; legs and feet
orange-red. Length, twelve inches.
* * * * *
Among British birds, whether sea or land, the puffin is the most
singular in appearance--a small auk, compact in build, conspicuous
in black and white plumage, broad collar, white, owlish face, and
great beak, short and adze-shaped, but massive as a toucan’s. The
brilliant colours of this beak, too--red with orange bars--give it a
curious resemblance to the enormous organ of the tropical bird. One
may look at the puffin almost daily, as he stands on the rocks, always
with something of surprise at his strikingly handsome yet grotesque
appearance. The fanciful idea suggests itself that the bird is a
masquerader; that the visible, brilliantly coloured beak has been
artificially made, and put on over the natural beak, just as in the
case of a human masquerader a large, gaily coloured, artificial nose
is sometimes placed over the natural organ. And the puffin’s beak is,
in fact, something of a mask, or superimposed ornament; and after the
breeding season its surface peels off in horny plates, and is shed
like the deciduous bark of certain trees. The bird’s beak in winter is
moderate in size and dull-coloured.
The puffin is a spring visitor to our coasts, and after rearing their
young the birds scatter over the sea and journey southwards. The
puffins found on the east coasts of England and Scotland during the
winter months are probably migrants from more northern latitudes.
Puffins are found in summer in most localities on our coasts where
razorbills and guillemots collect; on the south coast they are rare,
but increase as we go north, until at St. Kilda they are found gathered
in incalculable numbers. As a cliff-breeder the puffin deposits its egg
in a hole or cranny in the rocks like the razorbill, but never on an
exposed ledge, as the guillemot always, and the razorbill sometimes,
does. Sometimes they take forcible possession of rabbit-burrows among
sandhills, driving the owners out; but they prefer making their own
burrows in a soft peaty soil, such as they find at St. Kilda and
in many other localities. In March or April they return from their
wanderings on the sea and begin the great business of the year. Where
they are in large numbers and make their burrows near each other
the soft soil is so undermined by them that it is difficult to walk
over the ground without breaking through the turf and sinking almost
knee-deep in their holes at every few steps. When engaged in digging
the birds are so intent on their work that they may be approached
very closely, and sometimes even taken with the hand. The burrow is
three or four feet in length, sometimes more, and at the extremity a
single egg is laid, oval in form, large for the bird’s size, and white,
faintly spotted and streaked with grey. The young bird is covered with
black down, and has a comparatively small beak, of a dark colour. He
is a squat, lumpish creature, owlish in appearance. When fishing to
supply its young the parent puffin has the curious habit and faculty of
keeping the small fishes it catches in its beak, where they may be seen
as the bird swims on the sea, their tails and a portion of their bodies
protruding at the sides of the beak and mouth. How it manages to hold
several little fishes in this way and go on diving and catching others
is a puzzle. On arriving at the burrow the fishes are placed on the
floor inside, or at the entrance, where the young bird sits waiting for
its parent, and are then picked up one by one and put into the open,
hungry mouth.
INDEX.
Aberdevine, 127
_Acanthyllis caudacuta_, 179
_Accentor collaris_, 86
---- _modularis_, 84
_Accipiter nisus_, 206
_Acredula caudata_, 92
---- _rosea_, 90
_Acrocephalus aquaticus_, 82
---- _palustris_, 82
---- _phragmitis_, 80
---- _streperus_, 79
---- _turdoïdes_, 82
_Aëdon galectodes_, 79
_Ægialitis cantiana_, 287
---- _curonica_, 288
---- _hiaticula_, 287
---- _vocifera_, 288
_Alauda arborea_, 176
---- _arvensis_, 174
---- _cristata_, 178
_Alca torda_, 345
_Alcedo ispida_, 188
Alpine accentor, 86
American bittern, 226
---- goshawk, 216
---- hawk-owl, 199
---- stint, 317
---- wigeon, 238
_Ampelis garrulus_, 114
_Anas boscas_, 239
_Anser albifrons_, 230
---- _brachyrhynchus_, 229
---- _cinereus_, 227
---- _segetum_, 228
_Anthus campestris_, 113
---- _obscurus_, 112
---- _pratensis_, 108
---- _richardii_, 115
---- _spipoletta_, 113
---- _trivialis_, 110
Aquatic warbler, 82
_Aquila chrysaëtus_, 204
---- _clanga_, 216
_Archibuteo lagopus_, 216
Arctic tern, 317
_Ardea alba_, 226
---- _bubulcus_, 226
---- _cinerea_, 223
---- _gazetta_, 226
---- _purpurea_, 226
---- _ralloïdes_, 226
_Ardetta minuta_, 226
_Asio brachyotus_, 197
---- _otus_, 196
_Astur palumbarius_, 216
_Athene noctua_, 199
Avocet, 316
Auk, little, 351
Baillon’s crake, 278
Barnacle goose, 232
Barn-owl, 193
Barred warbler, 70
---- woodpecker, 183
Barrow’s goldeneye, 246
Bar-tailed godwit, 316
Bartram’s sandpiper, 317
Bean-goose, 228
Bearded titmouse, 89
Bee-eater, 190
Belted kingfisher, 189
_Bernicla brenta_, 230
---- _leucopsis_, 232
_Bernicla ruficollis_, 227
Bewick’s swan, 234
Big plover, 282
Bittern, American, 226
---- common, 224
---- little, 226
Black-bellied dipper, 88
Black-billed cuckoo, 193
Blackbird, 47
Blackcap, 67
Black crow, 167
---- eagle, 204
---- grouse, 273
---- guillemot, 350
Black-headed bunting, 154
---- gull, 328
Black kite, 216
---- redstart, 59
---- scoter, 253
---- stork, 226
---- swift, 179
Black-tailed godwit, 316
Black tern, 323
Black-throated diver, 341
---- thrush, 51
---- wheatear, 54
Black-winged stilt, 316
Blue rock, 262
Bluethroat, 59
Blue titmouse, 97
Blue-winged teal, 244
Bonaparte’s sandpiper, 317
Bonxie, 331
_Botaurus lentiginosus_, 226
---- _stellaris_, 224
Brambling, 137
Brent goose, 230
Broad-billed sandpiper, 317
Brown owl, 198
Brünnich’s guillemot, 351
_Bubo ignavus_, 199
Buff-backed heron, 226
Buff-breasted sandpiper, 317
Buffel-headed duck, 246
Buffon’s skua, 333
Bullfinch, 142
_Bulweria columbina_, 339
Bulwer’s petrel, 339
Bunting, black-headed, 154
---- cirl, 150
---- corn, 146
---- Lapland, 154
---- little, 154
---- ortolan, 154
---- reed, 151
---- snow, 152
---- yellow, 148
Bustard, great, 281
---- little, 281
---- Macqueen’s, 281
Butcher-bird, 114
_Buteo vulgaris_, 202
Buzzard, 202
---- honey, 217
---- moor, 216
_Caccabis rufa_, 265
_Calcarius lapponica_, 154
_Calendrella brachydactyla_, 178
_Calidris arenaria_, 308
Capercaillie, 275
Capped petrel, 339
_Caprimulgus ægyptius_, 181
---- _europæus_, 179
---- _ruficollis_, 181
_Carduelis elegans_, 126
_Carpodacus erythrinus_, 144
Carrion crow, 166
Caspian tern, 323
_Certhia familiaris_, 124
_Ceryle alcyon_, 189
Chack-bird, 54
Chaffinch, 134
_Charadrius fulvus_, 286
---- _pluvialis_, 284
Chat, river, 80
_Chaulelasmus streperus_, 241
_Chelidon urbica_, 121
_Chen albatus_, 227
Chiffchaff, 74
Chit-perle, 322
Chough, 157
_Chrysometris spinus_, 127
Churn-owl, 181
_Ciconia alba_, 226
---- _nigra_, 226
_Cinclus aquaticus_, 86
---- _melanogaster_, 88
_Circus æruginosus_, 216
---- _cineraceus_, 201
---- _cyaneus_, 199
Cirl bunting, 150
_Clangula albeola_, 246
---- _glaucion_, 249
---- _islandica_, 246
Clod-hopper, 54
Coal-mouse, 95
Coal-titmouse, 94
_Coccothraustes vulgaris_, 130
_Coccystes glandarius_, 193
_Coccyzus americanus_, 193
---- _erythrophthalmus_, 193
Collared pratincole, 284
_Columba œnas_, 261
---- _livia_, 261
---- _palumbus_, 259
_Colymbus arcticus_, 341
---- _glacialis_, 340
---- _septentrionalis_, 342
Common bittern, 224
---- curlew, 314
---- guillemot, 347
---- gull, 326
---- sandpiper, 309
---- scoter, 253
---- sheldrake, 235
---- skua, 330
---- snipe, 299
---- tern, 319
Coot, 280
_Coracius garrula_, 190
Cormorant, 218
---- green, 220
Corn-bunting, 146
Corncrake, 278
Cornish chough, 157
_Corvus corax_, 172
---- _cornix_, 167
---- _corone_, 166
---- _frugilegus_, 168
---- _monedula_, 163
_Cosmonetta histrionica_, 246
_Cotile riparia_, 122
_Coturnix communis_, 269
Crake, Baillon’s, 278
---- corn, 278
---- spotted, 277
Crane, 281
Cream-coloured courser, 284
Creeper, 124
Crested lark, 178
---- titmouse, 98
_Crex pratensis_, 278
Cricket teal, 243
Crossbill, 144
Crow, black, 167
---- carrion, 166
---- grey, 167
---- hooded, 167
---- Royston, 167
Cuckoo, 190
---- black billed, 193
---- great spotted, 193
---- yellow-billed, 193
_Cuculus canorus_, 190
Curlew, common, 314
---- Esquimaux, 317
---- stone, 282
Curlew-sandpiper, 303
_Cursorius gallicus_, 284
Cushat, 258
_Cyanecula suecica_, 59
---- _wolfi_, 59
_Cygnus bewickii_, 234
---- _immutabilis_, 233
---- _musicus_, 234
---- _olor_, 233
_Cypselus apus_, 178
---- _melba_, 179
Dabchick, 344
_Dafila acuta_, 238
Dartford warbler, 70
_Daulias luscinia_, 62
_Dendrocopus major_, 181
---- _minor_, 183
Desert wheatear, 54
Develing, 179
Dipper, 86
---- black-bellied, 88
Diver, black-throated, 341
---- great northern, 340
---- red-throated, 342
Dotterel, 289
Dove, ring, 258
---- rock, 261
---- stock, 261
---- turtle, 262
Double snipe, 298
Duck, buffel-headed, 216
---- eider, 251
---- harlequin, 246
---- long-tailed, 250
---- tufted, 246
---- white-eyed, 346
---- wild, 239
Dunlin, 300
Dunnock, 85
Dusky shearwater, 337
Eagle, black, 204
---- golden, 204
---- spotted, 216
---- white-tailed, 205
Eagle-owl, 199
Eared grebe, 345
Eastern plover, 286
_Ectopistes migratorius_, 264
Egyptian nightjar, 181
---- vulture, 216
Eider duck, 251
_Elanoides furcatus_, 217
_Emberiza cirlus_, 150
---- _citrinella_, 148
---- _hortulana_, 154
---- _melanocephala_, 154
---- _miliaria_, 146
---- _pusilla_, 154
---- _rustica_, 154
---- _schœniclus_, 151
_Endromias morinellus_, 289
Esquimaux curlew, 317
_Erithacus rubecula_, 59
Erne, 205
European hawk-owl, 199
_Falco æsalon_, 211
---- _peregrinus_, 208
---- _subbuteo_, 210
Falcon, Greenland, 217
---- Iceland, 217
---- peregrine, 208
---- red-crested, 217
---- red-footed, 217
Fallowchat, 54
Fieldfare, 46
Finch, mountain, 137
Firecrest, 74
Firetail, 58
Flycatcher, pied, 118
---- spotted, 116
Fork-tailed petrel, 335
_Fratercula arctica_, 351
French partridge, 265
_Fringilla cœlebs_, 134
---- _montifringilla_, 137
_Fulica atra_, 280
_Fuligula cristata_, 246
---- _ferina_, 248
---- _marila_, 247
---- _rufina_, 246
Fulmar, 337
_Fulmarus glacialis_, 337
Furze-wren, 70
Gadwell, 241
_Gallinago cælestis_, 299
---- _major_, 298
_Gallinula chloropus_, 279
Gannet, 221
Garden warbler, 69
Garganey, 243
_Garrulus glandarius_, 158
_Gecinus viridis_, 184
_Glareola pratincola_, 284
Glaucous gull, 329
Glead, 207
Glossy ibis, 226
Goatsucker, 179
Goldcrest, 72
Golden-crested wren, 72
Golden eagle, 204
Goldeneye, 249
Golden oriole, 114
Golden plover, 284
Goldfinch, 126
Goosander, 255
Goose, barnacle, 232
---- bean, 228
---- brent, 230
---- grey lag, 227
---- pink-footed, 229
---- solan, 221
---- white-fronted, 230
Goshawk, 216
Grasshopper warbler, 82
Great black-backed gull, 327
---- black-headed gull, 330
---- bustard, 281
---- crested grebe, 342
---- grey shrike, 116
---- northern diver, 340
---- reed-warbler, 82
---- skua, 330
---- snipe, 298
---- spotted cuckoo, 193
---- spotted woodpecker, 181
---- titmouse, 92
---- white heron, 226
Greater shearwater, 337
---- whitethroat, 65
Grebe, eared, 345
---- great crested, 342
---- little, 344
---- red-necked, 345
Green cormorant, 220
Greenfinch, 128
Greenland falcon, 217
---- redpole, 140
Green plover, 290
---- sandpiper, 310
Greenshank, 312
Green-winged teal, 244
Green woodpecker, 184
Grey-backed crow, 167
Grey crow, 167
---- lag-goose, 227
---- phalarope, 295
---- plover, 286
---- wagtail, 105
Griffon vulture, 215
Grouse, black, 273
---- red, 272
_Grus communis_, 281
Guillemot, black, 350
---- Brünnick’s, 351
---- common, 347
Gull-billed tern, 323
Gull, black-headed, 330
---- common, 326
---- glaucous, 329
---- great black-backed, 327
---- great black-headed, 330
---- herring, 324
---- Iceland, 217
---- ivory, 329
---- laughing, 329
---- lesser black-backed, 325
---- Sabine’s, 330
_Gyps fulvus_, 216
Gyrfalcon, 217
_Hæmatopus ostralegus_, 293
Half-curlew, 313
_Haliaëtus albicilla_, 205
_Harelda glacialis_, 250
Harlequin duck, 246
Harrier, Montagu’s, 201
Hawfinch, 130
Hawk-owl, American, 199
---- European, 199
Hawk, sparrow, 206
Heather-bleater, 299
Hedge-sparrow, 84
_Helodromus ochropus_, 310
Hen-harrier, 199
_Heniconetta Stelleri_, 246
Heron, 223
---- buff-backed, 226
---- great white, 226
---- night, 223
---- purple, 226
---- Squacco, 226
Herring-gull, 324
_Hierofalco candicans_, 217
---- _gyrfalco_, 217
---- _islandicus_, 217
_Hirundo rustica_, 118
Hobby, 210
Honey buzzard, 217
Hooded crow, 167
---- merganser, 246
Hoodie, 167
Hoopoe, 190
House-martin, 121
House-sparrow, 132
_Hydrochelidon nigra_, 323
_Hypolaïs icterina_, 79
Ibis, glossy, 226
Iceland falcon, 217
---- gull, 329
Icterine warbler, 79
Ivory gull, 329
_Iÿnx torquilla_, 186
Jack-curlew, 313
Jackdaw, 163
Jack-snipe, 300
Jay, 158
Kentish plover, 287
Kestrel, 212
---- lesser, 217
Killdeer plover, 288
King eider, 246
Kingfisher, 188
---- belted, 189
Kite, 207
---- black, 216
Kittiwake, 323
Knot, 304
Lag-goose, grey, 227
_Lagopus mutus_, 270
---- _scoticus_, 272
Landrail, 278
_Lanius collurio_, 114
---- _excubitor_, 116
---- _major_, 116
---- _minor_, 116
---- _pomeranus_, 116
Lapland bunting, 154
Lapwing, 290
Lark, crested, 178
---- sky, 174
---- white-winged, 178
---- wood, 176
_Larus argentatus_, 324
---- _canus_, 326
---- _fuscus_, 325
---- _glaucus_, 329
---- _ichthyaëtus_, 330
---- _leucopterus_, 329
---- _marinus_, 327
---- _minutus_, 330
---- _ridibundus_, 328
Laughing gull, 329
Leach’s petrel, 335
Lesser black-backed gull, 325
---- golden plover, 286
---- grey shrike, 116
---- kestrel, 217
---- redpoll, 139
---- ringed plover, 288
---- spotted woodpecker, 183
Lesser tern, 320
---- whitethroat, 66
_Ligurinus chloris_, 128
_Limnocryptes galliluna_, 300
_Limosa melanura_, 316
Linnet, 138
---- mountain, 141
_Linota cannabina_, 138
---- _flavirostris_, 141
---- _hornemanni_, 140
---- _linaria_, 140
---- _rufescens_, 139
Little auk, 351
---- bittern, 226
---- bunting, 154
---- bustard, 281
---- crake, 278
---- egret, 226
---- grebe, 344
---- gull, 330
---- owl, 199
---- stint, 302
---- tern, 320
_Locustella luscinioïdes_, 84
---- _nævia_, 82
_Lomvia bruennichi_, 351
---- _troile_, 347
Long-eared owl, 196
Long-tailed duck, 250
---- titmouse, 90
Loon, 340
_Loxia bifasciata_, 145
---- _curvirostra_, 144
---- _leucoptera_, 145
---- _pittyopsittacus_, 145
_Machetes pugnax_, 306
Macqueen’s bustard, 281
Magpie, 160
Mallard, 239
Manx shearwater, 336
_Mareca americana_, 238
---- _penelope_, 237
_Margulus alle_, 351
Marsh-harrier, 216
Marsh-hen, 280
Marsh-titmouse, 96
Marsh warbler, 82
Martin, 121
---- house, 121
---- sand, 122
May bird, 313
Meadow-pipit, 108
Mealy redpoll, 140
_Melanocorypha sibirica_, 178
_Melizophilus undatus_, 70
Merganser, hooded, 246
---- red-breasted, 256
_Mergus albellus_, 258
---- _cucullatus_, 246
---- _merganser_, 255
---- _serrator_, 256
Merlin, 211
_Merops apiaster_, 190
_Milvus ictinus_, 207
---- _nigrans_, 216
Missel-thrush, 39
Montagu’s harrier, 201
_Monticola saxatilis_, 52
Moor buzzard, 216
Moorhen, 279
Moor-lamb, 299
_Motacilla alba_, 108
---- _flava_, 108
---- _lugubris_, 104
---- _melanope_, 105
---- _rayii_, 107
Mother Carey’s chicken, 334
Mountain-blackbird, 50
Mountain-finch, 137
Mountain-linnet, 141
_Muscicapa atricapilla_, 118
---- _grisola_, 116
---- _parva_, 118
Mute swan, 233
Needle-tailed swift, 179
_Neophron percnopterus_, 216
Night-churn, 181
Night heron, 226
Nightingale, 62
Nightjar, 179
---- Egyptian, 181
Noddy, 323
Norfolk plover, 282
North American killdeer-plover, 288
_Nucifraga caryocatactes_, 174
_Numenius arquata_, 314
---- _phæopus_, 313
Nun, 258
Nutcracker, 174
Nuthatch, 99
_Nyctala tengmalmi_, 199
_Nyctea scandiaca_, 199
_Nycticorax griseus_, 226
_Nyroca ferruginea_, 246
_Oceanites oceanicus_, 336
_Œdemia fusca_, 254
---- _nigra_, 253
---- _perspicillata_, 246
_Œdicnemus scolopax_, 282
_Œstrelata hæsitata_, 339
Oriole, golden, 114
_Oriolus galbulus_, 114
Orphean warbler, 70
Ortolan bunting, 154
Osprey, 215
_Otis macqueeni_, 281
---- _tarda_, 281
---- _tetrax_, 281
_Otocorys alpestris_, 178
Ouzel, water, 86
Owl, American hawk, 199
---- barn, 193
---- brown, 198
---- churn, 181
---- eagle, 199
---- European hawk, 199
---- little, 199
---- long-eared, 196
---- scops, 199
---- short-eared, 197
---- snowy, 199
---- tawny, 198
---- Tengmalm’s, 199
---- wood, 198
Oxeye, 92
Oyster-catcher, 293
_Pagophila eburnea_, 329
Pallas’s great grey shrike, 116
---- sand-grouse, 264
_Pandion haliaëtus_, 213
_Panurus biamicus_, 89
Parrot crossbill, 145
Partridge, 267
---- French, 265
---- red-legged, 265
_Parus ater_, 94
---- _britannicus_, 94
---- _cæruleus_, 97
---- _cristatus_, 98
---- _major_, 92
---- _palustris_, 96
Passenger pigeon, 264
_Passer domesticus_, 132
---- _montanus_, 133
_Pastor roseus_, 156
Pectoral sandpiper, 317
_Perdix cinerea_, 267
Peregrine falcon, 208
_Pernis apivorus_, 217
Petrel, Bulwer’s, 339
---- capped, 339
---- fork-tailed, 335
---- Leach’s, 335
---- stormy, 333
---- Wilson’s, 336
Pewit, 290
_Phalacrocorax carbo_, 218
---- _graculus_, 220
Phalarope, grey, 295
---- red-necked, 294
_Phalaropus fulicarius_, 295
---- _hyperboreus_, 294
_Phasianus colchicus_, 264
Pheasant, 264
---- ring-necked, 265
---- sea, 238
_Phylloscopus rufus_, 74
---- _sibilatrix_, 78
---- _superciliosus_, 79
---- _trochilus_, 76
_Pica rustica_, 160
Pied flycatcher, 118
---- wagtail, 104
Pigeon, passenger, 264
Pigmy curlew, 303
Pine grossbeak, 144
_Pinicola enucleator_, 144
Pink-footed goose, 229
Pintail, 238
Pipit, meadow, 108
---- Richard’s, 113
---- rock, 112
---- tawny, 113
---- tree, 110
---- water, 113
_Platalea leucorodia_, 226
_Plectrophanes nivalis_, 152
_Plegadis falcinellus_, 226
Plover, big, 282
---- golden, 284
---- green, 290
---- grey, 286
---- Kentish, 287
---- killdeer, 289
---- lesser golden, 286
---- lesser ringed, 288
---- Norfolk, 282
---- ringed, 287
Pochard, 248
---- red-crested, 246
_Podiceps auritus_, 345
---- _cristatus_, 342
---- _griseigena_, 345
---- _nigrocollis_, 345
Polish swan, 233
_Pomatorhine skua_, 333
_Porzana bailloni_, 278
---- _maruetta_, 277
---- _parva_, 278
_Pratincola rubetra_, 54
_Pratincola rubicola_, 56
Prettichaps, 69
_Procellaria leucorrhoa_, 335
---- _pelagica_, 333
Ptarmigan, 270
Puffin, 351
_Puffinus anglorum_, 336
---- _griseus_, 337
---- _major_, 337
---- _obscurus_, 337
Purple heron, 226
---- sandpiper, 304
_Pyrrhocorax graculus_, 157
_Pyrrhula europæa_, 142
Quail, 269
_Querquedula carolinensis_, 244
---- _circia_, 243
---- _crecca_, 244
---- _discors_, 244
Quest, 258
_Rallus aquaticus_, 277
Raven, 172
Razorbill, 345
_Recurvirostra avocetta_, 316
Red-backed shrike, 114
Redbreast, 59
Red-breasted flycatcher, 118
---- goose, 227
---- merganser, 256
---- snipe, 317
Red-craking night-wren, 84
Red-crested pochard, 246
Red-footed falcon, 217
Red grouse, 272
Red-legged partridge, 265
Red-necked grebe, 345
---- nightjar, 181
---- phalarope, 294
Red night-reeler, 84
Redpoll, Greenland, 140
---- lesser, 139
---- mealy, 140
Redshank, 310
Red-spotted bluethroat, 59
Redstart, 57
---- black, 59
Red-throated diver, 342
Redwing, 45
Reed-bunting, 151
Reed-sparrow, 152
Reed-warbler, 79
---- great, 82
Reelbird, 84
Reeve, 306
_Regulus cristatus_, 72
---- _ignicapillus_, 74
Richard’s pipit, 113
Richardson’s skua, 333
Ringdove, 258
Ringed plover, 287
Ring-necked pheasant, 265
Ring-ouzel, 50
_Rissa tridactyla_, 323
River-chat, 80
Robin, 59
Rock, blue, 262
Rock-dove, 261
Rock-pipit, 112
Rock-thrush, 52
Roller, 190
Rook, 168
Roseate tern, 320
Rose-coloured pastor, 156
Rosy bullfinch, 144
Rough-legged buzzard, 216
Royston crow, 167
Ruddy sheldrake, 236
Ruff, 306
Rufous warbler, 79
Rustic bunting, 154
_Ruticilla phœnicurus_, 57
---- _titys_, 59
Sabine’s gull, 330
Sanderling, 308
Sand-martin, 122
Sandpiper, Bartram’s, 317
---- Bonaparte’s, 317
---- broad-billed, 317
---- buff-breasted, 317
---- common, 309
---- curlew, 303
---- green, 310
---- pectoral, 317
---- purple, 304
---- wood, 316
Sandwich tern, 322
Savi’s warbler, 84
Saw-sharpener, 93
_Saxicola deserti_, 54
---- _œnanthe_, 52
---- _strapazina_, 54
Scaup, 247
Sclavonian grebe, 345
_Scolopax rusticula_, 296
Scopoli’s sooty tern, 323
_Scops giu_, 199
Scops owl, 199
Scoter, black, 253
Scoter, common, 253
---- surf, 246
---- velvet, 254
Screecher, 179
Sea-eagle, 205
Sea-magpie, 293
Sea-pheasant, 238
Sedge-bird, 80
Sedge-warbler, 80
Serin, 128
_Serinus hortulanus_, 128
Shag, 220
Shearwater, dusky, 337
---- greater, 337
---- Manx, 336
---- sooty, 337
Sheld-duck, 235
Sheldrake, common, 235
---- ruddy, 236
Shore-lark, 178
Short-eared owl, 197
Short-toed lark, 178
Shoveler, 245
Shrike, great grey, 116
---- lesser grey, 116
---- red-backed, 114
Siskin, 127
_Sitta cæsia_, 99
Skua, Buffon’s, 333
---- common or great, 330
---- Richardson’s, 333
Skylark, 174
Smew, 258
Snipe, common, 299
---- double, 298
---- great, 298
---- jack, 300
---- solitary, 298
---- summer, 309
Snow-bunting, 153
Snowflake, 152
Snow goose, 227
Snowy owl, 199
Solan goose, 221
Solitary snipe, 298
_Somateria mollissima_, 251
---- _spectabilis_, 246
Song-thrush, 41
Sooty shearwater, 337
---- tern, 323
Sparrow-hawk, 206
Sparrow, hedge, 84
---- house, 132
---- tree, 133
_Spatula clypeata_, 245
Spinner, 181
Spoonbill, 226
Spotted crake, 277
---- eagle, 216
---- flycatcher, 116
---- redshank, 316
---- woodpecker, 181
Squacco heron, 226
_Squatarola helvetica_, 286
Starling, 154
Steller’s duck, 246
_Stercorarius catarrhactes_, 330
---- _crepidatus_, 333
---- _parasiticus_, 333
---- _pomatorhinus_, 333
_Sterna cantiaca_, 322
---- _dougalli_, 320
---- _fluviatilis_, 319
---- _macrura_, 317
---- _minuta_, 320
Stilt, black-winged, 316
Stint, American, 317
---- little, 302
---- Temminck’s, 303
Stock-dove, 261
Stonechat, 56
Stone-cracker, 54
Stone-curlew, 282
Stork, black, 226
---- white, 226
Stormcock, 39
Storm petrel, 334
Stormy petrel, 333
_Strepsilus interpres_, 292
_Strix flammea_, 193
_Sturnus vulgaris_, 154
_Sula bassana_, 221
Summer snipe, 309
---- teal, 243
Surf-scoter, 246
_Surnia funeria_, 199
---- _ulula_, 199
Swallow, 118
Swallow-tailed kite, 217
Swan, Bewick’s, 234
---- mute, 233
---- Polish, 233
---- whooper, 234
---- wild, 234
Swift, 178
---- black, 179
---- needle-tailed, 179
---- white-bellied, 179
_Sylvia atricapilla_, 67
---- _cinerea_, 64
---- _curruca_, 66
---- _hortensis_, 69
---- _nisoria_, 70
---- _orphea_, 70
_Syrnium aluco_, 198
_Syrrhaptes paradoxus_, 264
_Tachybaptes fluviatilis_, 344
_Tadorna casarca_, 236
---- _cornuta_, 235
Tangle-picker, 293
Tawny owl, 198
---- pipit, 113
Teal, 244
---- blue-winged, 244
---- cricket, 243
---- green-winged, 244
---- summer, 243
Temminck’s stint, 303
Tengmalm’s owl, 199
Tern, arctic, 317
---- black, 323
---- Caspian, 323
---- common, 319
---- gull-billed, 323
---- little, 320
---- roseate, 320
---- Sandwich, 322
---- sooty, 323
---- whiskered, 323
---- white-winged black, 323
_Tetrao tetrix_, 273
---- _urogallus_, 275
Thick-knee, 282
Throstle, 41
Thrush, black-throated, 51
---- missel, 39
---- rock, 52
---- song, 41
---- White’s, 52
_Tinnunculus alaudarius_, 212
---- _cenchris_, 217
---- _vespertinus_, 247
Titmouse, bearded, 89
---- blue, 97
---- coal, 94
---- crested, 98
---- great, 92
---- long-tailed, 90
---- marsh, 96
_Totanus calidris_, 310
---- _canescens_, 312
---- _glareola_, 316
Tree-creeper, 124
Tree-pipit, 110
Tree-sparrow, 133
_Tringa alpina_, 300
---- _canutus_, 304
---- _minuta_, 302
---- _striata_, 304
---- _subarquata_, 303
---- _Temmincki_, 303
_Tringoïdes hypoleucus_, 309
_Troglodytes parvulus_, 101
Tufted duck, 246
_Turdus atrigularis_, 52
---- _iliacus_, 45
---- _merula_, 47
---- _musicus_, 41
---- _pilaris_, 46
---- _torquatus_, 50
---- _varius_, 52
---- _viscivorus_, 39
Turnstone, 292
Turtle-dove, 262
_Turtur communis_, 262
Twite, 141
Two-barred crossbill, 145
_Upupa epops_, 190
_Uria grylle_, 350
_Vanellus vulgaris_, 290
Velvet scoter, 246, 254
Vulture, Egyptian, 216
---- griffon, 216
Wagtail, blue-headed yellow, 108
---- grey, 105
---- pied, 104
---- white, 108
---- yellow, 107
Warbler, aquatic, 82
---- barred, 70
---- Dartford, 70
---- garden, 69
---- grasshopper, 82
---- icterine, 79
---- marsh, 82
---- orphean, 70
---- reed, 79
---- Savi’s, 84
---- sedge, 79
---- willow, 76
---- yellow-browed, 79
Water-hen, 280
Water-ouzel, 86
Water-pipit, 113
Water-rail, 277
Waxwing, 114
Whaup, 315
Wheatear, 52
---- black-throated, 54
---- desert, 54
Wheelbird, 181
Whimbrel, 313
Whinchat, 54
Whiskered tern, 323
White-bellied swift, 179
White-eyed duck, 246
White-fronted goose, 230
White-spotted bluethroat, 59
White’s thrush, 52
White stork, 226
Whitetail, 54
White-tailed eagle, 205
Whitethroat, 64
---- greater, 65
---- lesser, 66
White wagtail, 108
White-winged black tern, 323
---- crossbill, 145
---- lark, 178
Whooper swan, 234
Wigeon, 237
---- American, 238
Wild duck, 239
---- swan, 234
Willow-warbler, 76
Willow-wren, 76
Wilson’s petrel, 336
Windhover, 212
Woodchat, 116
Woodcock, 296
Woodlark, 176
Wood-owl, 198
Woodpecker, barred, 183
---- green, 184
---- lesser spotted, 183
---- spotted, 181
Wood-pigeon, 258
Wood-sandpiper, 316
Wood-wren, 78
Wren, 101
---- furze, 70
---- golden-crested, 72
---- red-craking night, 84
---- willow, 76
---- wood, 78
Wryneck, 186
_Xema sabinii_, 330
Yaffle, 185
Yellow-billed cuckoo, 193
Yellow-browed warbler, 79
Yellow bunting, 148
Yellowhammer, 148
Yellow wagtail, 107
---- yoldring, 149
_Printed at_ THE BALLANTYNE PRESS
SPOTTISWOODE, BALLANTYNE & CO. LTD.
_Colchester, London & Eton, England_
FOOTNOTES:
[1] _Wild Life in a Southern County._
[2] Seebohm’s _British Birds_.
Transcriber’s Notes:
1. Obvious printers’, punctuation and spelling errors have been
corrected silently.
2. Where hyphenation is in doubt, it has been retained as in the
original.
3. Some hyphenated and non-hyphenated versions of the same words have
been retained as in the original.
4. New partial original cover art included with this eBook is granted
to the public domain.
5. Italics are shown as _xxx_.
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