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FORTHE PEOPLE

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THE AMERICAN MUSEUM

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NATURAL HISTORY

Plate I.

GOLDEN EAGLK—A'^uz/a chrysa'etus.

Length, 32 in. to 36 in. ; wing, 24 in. to 27 in.

[AcciP'iTRES : Falcon'idcc.]
FRONT,

BRITAIN'S Birds And
Their Nests : described

BY A. LANDSBOROUGH THOMSON

WITH INTRODUCTION

By J. ARTHUR THOMSON

PROFESSOR OF NATURAL HISTORY, ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY

ILLUSTRATED WITH 132 DRAWINGS IN COLOUR

GEORGE RANKIN

LONDON : 38 Soto Square. W.

W. & R. CHAMBERS. LIMITED

EDINBURGH: 339 High Street

EdinDurgh :
Printed by W. & R. Chambers, Limited.

PREFACE.

The main reason for the publication of this book is
Mr Rankin's magnificent series of 130 coloured plates
of British-nesting birds. The series includes nearly all
the species which nest in the British Isles in appreciable
numbers, and a few rarer birds of special interest. No
rigid rule has been followed in the selection, and the
reasons for inclusion or exclusion vary from case to case.
Where numerical importance was not a decisive factor,
the question was usually determined by the presence or
absence of points of special interest. Somewhat imcommon
birds are thus often excluded because near relatives more
frequently met with have already found places, while much
rarer species are included because they are the sole repre-
sentatives of their respective gi'oups.

Each plate slwws the adult male in full plumage.
Important differences in this respect between the sexes
are briefly indicated in the text ; if very marked, the
female is also shown in the plate. The characteristic
variations in plumage caused by age and change of
season are also referred to. In addition to the bird, the
nest is portrayed ; if it is of such a nature that the
eggs are not visible in siiu, an egg, drawn on the same
scale, is given as an inset. As nestlings could not be
shown as well as eggs, two special plates have been
added to make good the deficiency (see pp. 89, 225).
Convenience has in several cases necessitated the portrayal
of bii'ds under somewhat unusual circumstances ; the most
important cases are those of the various Ducks, where
the male is shown beside the nest (see p. 134).

iv PREFACE.

Under each plate is given the ordinary English name
of the species, the place which it occupies in the system
of classification followed in the text, and two measure-
ments to give an idea of the scale on which the bird is
drawn. These are (1) the length in inches from the tip
of the beak to the tip of the tail ; (2) the length from
the carpal joint (the 'shoulder'' of the wing) to the
quill-tips — the greatest length of the wing when measured
in the position of rest. The figures are average measure-
ments for adult males according to a standard authority.
In most species the females are slightly smaller. Great
disparity, or differences in the reverse direction, are
usually mentioned in the text.

The pm^pose of the text is to give in popular language
an account of the natural history of British - breeding
birds, considered as such. The list is complete, and in-
cludes birds which nest only exceptionally in om- islands,
or which formerly nested here but no longer do so.
Birds only suspected of having nested in Britain are
mentioned within brackets under the head of some allied
species. The birds receiving lengthy treatment correspond
roughly to those to which plates have been allotted ; but
items of special interest or importance, and the inclusion
or omission of near relatives, have been important factors
in determining whether a species should be fully de-
scribed or not. It is explained (on p. 227) why the
descriptions of the birds of the great Order, Passeres^
are usually shorter than those in the earlier part of
the volume.

In planning the chapters, uniformity has been deliber-
ately avoided, rather than aimed at, but each chapter
describing a British-nesting bird will be found to con-
tain a general account of the species and a more detailed
description of its nest and eggs. A great many general

PREFACE. V

problems — both as regards nesting and other points — have
been discussed under appropriate species.

An anangement based on a scientific classification
was considered the only rational one for the purpose.
The system and nomenclature adopted are those followed
in Howard Saunders's Manual of British Birds (2nd ed.
1899). The sequence has, for convenience in treatment,
been reversed, and slightly altered in detail. The various
groups, however, have been in no way split up, and a
statement of the relevant general characteristics of each
group is given under the head of the first member, or
else that member is treated as a type. (It must be
understood that these characteristics are not those on
which the classification is based.)

It has been thought advisable not to burden the text
with references to authors and works little known to the
general reader. I have here, however, to acknowledge
indebtedness to the large number of authorities which
have been consulted. A small part of the information
is based on unpublished records of my own or on those
of fully competent observers among my personal friends.
To such friends, and also to those who have in any way
assisted in the preparation of the book, my best thanks
are due.

A. L. T.

Old Aberdeen, Scotland,
28<A November 1910.

INTRODUCTION.
THE STUDY OF BIRDS.

To those who are fortunate enough to have in any
measure the spirit of the naturalist — as we see it, for
instance, in types so different as Gilbert White, William
Macgillivray, and Charles Darwin — nothing is common or
unclean. They have a curiosity that is catholic in its tastes ;
they have ' a love exceeding a simple love of things that
glide in grasses and rubble of woody wreck,' and they have
a conviction that everything is equally wonderful if we
only know enough about it. At the same time, it must
be admitted that living creatures differ in their accessibility ;
that some stimulate our interest more readily than others ;
that those whose lives present many analogies to our own
have a peculiar fascination ; and that some have been
wrapped up so closely with human life that associations
have added greatly to their natural appeal. On these
grounds, and on many others, the study of birds has
had for several centuries many devotees in this country,
and it appeals to-day to a more varied constituency than
any other department of natural history. As it is one
of the most wholesome, educative, and enjoyable of studies,
every one must wish that the ranks of bird-lovei-s may
be increasingly reciniited ; but one must also wish that the
study will continue to widen the scope of its inquiries,
keeping in touch with the general progress of biological
science. And it is from the point of view of a general
biologist — the only one possible to me where birds are
concerned — that I have written this brief Introduction to

viii INTRODUCTION.

Mr Rankin's beautiful pictures and my son's text. It
may be useful to emphasise what is so often illustrated
in the body of the book, that the study of birds is very
\vide and very deep — going far beyond and far below the
recording of occurrences and the observation of movements,
important and indispensable as these and similar inquiries
are.

Represextative Character of British Birds.

Allusion has often been made to the fact that
Britain is very favourably situated for the study of birds.
It is not merely that the list of ' British birds ^ — now
reaching a total of 442 species or thereby — is a very
respectable list for two small islands, though it is small
compared with the world-list of 19,000 or so ; it is
rather that we get such a representative sample of the
whole, and that many of our species are happily abundant
and very accessible to study. The modern Cavinate birds
(' keeled,' and usually flying) are, according to the scheme
followed in this work, classed into nineteen natural Ordei-s :

1. * Alcae — Auks.

2. * Pygopodes — Divers and Grebes.

3. * Tubinares — Petrels, Albatrosses, &c.

4. Sphenisci — Penguins.

5. * Gaviae — Skuas, Gulls, &c.

6. * Limicolae — e.g. Plovers, Sandpipers, Snipe.

7. * Grallae — Rails, Cranes, and Bustards.

8. * Gallinae — e.g. Grouse, Pheasants, Hoatzin.

9. Tinami — Tinamous.

10. * Columba3 — Pigeons.

11. * Anseres — Ducks, Geese, and Swans.

12. * f Odontoglossi — Flamingoes.

t One species is an accidental visitor to Britain, but none is
indiKenous.

INTRODUCTION. ix

13. * Herodiones — e.g. Herons, Storks, and Ibises.

14. * Steganopodes — Pelicans, Cormorants, and Gannets.

15. * Accipitres — e.g. Eagles, Hawks, and Vultures.

16. * Striges — Owls.

17. * Picarias — e.g. Goat-Suckers, Cuckoos, Rollers,

Kingfishers, Woodpeckers, Humming-birds, and
Swifts.

18. Psittaci — Parrots.

19. * Passeres — e.g. Thrushes, Finches, Swallows, Crows,

and Larks.

An asterisk has been placed opposite the Orders with
British representatives, and the striking fact is at once
evident that only the Penguins, Tinamous, and Parrots are
unrepresented. It may go without saying, however, that
many important families of birds are not known in Britain,
such as Pelicans, Hornbills, and Humming-birds.

Study of Structure.

It is the study of the living biixl that attracts
most minds, and there is certainly enough in this to keep
a man busy all his life ; but half of the wonder will be
missed if there is not also some analysis of structure.
Some of the foundation-stones of scientific ornithology
were laid by William Macgillivray, and he was never
tired of insisting that field-work and laboratoiy-work
should go hand in hand. Every ornithologist of distinc-
tion would say the same. A beginning, at least, is not
a great deal to ask — to utilise the dead birds thrown up
with the other jetsam of the seashore ; to see something
of the lie of the parts in the body — heavy organs below
and light above ; to learn something about the highly
developed muscular system, for instance ; to work into the
details of the skeleton, so delicately built on the hollow-

h

X INTRODUCTION.

girder principle ; to discover in the skull, sometimes most
beautifully cleaned up by small crustaceans, an index —
perhaps the most trustworthy of many — to the bird's
blood-relationships.

In a recently published anatomical investigation it is
shown that the heart of the Ptarmigan, which is a bird
of the mountains, is in certain respects distinctly stronger
than the heart of its first cousin, the Willow-Grouse, which
is a bird of the lowlands ; and in a working out of this
interesting adaptation to the strain of living at high
altitudes, we have an instance of the thousand and one
contributions which precise anatomy has made to a deeper
understanding of the bird and its life. The case we have
just mentioned illustrates what is certainly part of the
pleasure of 'structural analysis,' whether it be in taking
a beautifully made mechanism — a watch or a motor-
engine — to bits, or in dissecting out the structure of a
bird. The pleasure is partly that of discovering how the
structure is suited to the activity, and this is true in
regard to both mechanism and organism. But to this
has to be added, in the case of the organism only, that
the study of structure throws light on blood-relationships.
To take a simple case : we clean up the leg of a Red-
throated Diver which has been drowned in a fishing-net
and throAvn up on the shore. Just above the knee we
find a remarkable spur-like projection from the top of
the main bone of the lower leg ; to this (cnemial crest
of the tibia) strong muscles are fastened, and a simple
experiment in the process of cleaning-up shows that the
structural peculiarity gi\es the leg an unusual leverage in
striking the water. Now in Grebes, which are related to
Divers, we find the same kind of lever-arrangement — the
same and yet different, for the knee-pan or patella, which
is very small in Divers, is large in Grebes. And the

INTRODUCTION. xi

interest inci'eases when we leam that Hesperornis, one of
the ancient toothed - birds (of Cretaceous times) had a
similarly effective spur, but made in a slightly different
way from that seen in either Diver or Grebe. The re-
semblance is deep enough to link the modem Divers and
Grebes (Colymbidse) to the Hesperornis of the Chalk ; but
the details of the adaptation are different in the three
cases.

Study of Everyday Functions.

Another line of study is that which inquires into
the everyday activities of the birdVbody; and although
this requires specialised training and methods if it is to
be followed far, no serious student of birds can afford to
ignore it, and there is much to be discovered by the
ordinary observer who is humble enough to be patient
and precise. Let us take an illustration. Birds often
drink considerable quantities of water. How do they get
rid of this ? They certainly do not sweat, and there is
almost no water in the waste that they void. The usual
answer to this question is that there is a sort of ' internal
pei-spiration ' in the beautiful, soap-bubble-like air-sacs
which surround the lungs and are directly connected with
them. These very characteristic sacs, which are often con-
tinued into the bones, are certainly not of much import-
ance in lightening the bird ; they help to increase the
high respiratory efficiency of the lungs (in a way which
cannot be very briefly explained), and by their ' internal
perspiration ' they seem to help in the regulation of the
temperature of the body. It is evident that a problem
of this sort — for it is by no means finished yet — will
require some expert physiological skill.

On the other hand, one would think that patience and
a little ingenuity would suffice to throw some much-

xii INTRODUCTION.

needed light on the significance of the preen-gland. As
Mr Pycraft points out in his delightful and valuable
History of Birds (1910), many difficulties confront the
view that birds use the secretion of the preen-gland as
a sort of lubricant feather-oil. Many birds that have a
well-developed oil-gland ' could not possibly take up and
spread so much as one drop of the precious fluid."" The
Scissor-bill {Rhyncops) with its paper-knife-like jaws may
serve as an example. On the other hand, many birds
that have no oil-gland — e.g. many Pigeons and Parrots —
keep their feathers in first-rate order. These are two
out of the many difficulties that confront the orthodox
view, and we need not mention more, for our point
here is not to argue about this particular problem. We
merely take this as an instance of the many gaps in
our knowledge, and of a kind of gap which it should
not be very difficult to fill.

Another instance may be found in connection with
the sense of smell in birds. In most cases it seems to
be weakly developed ; in some cases, such as the South
American Vultures, it seems to be quite absent ; only in
a few cases, such as the Blackbird and the Owl, has it been
experimentally proved. Yet it is well known that many
birds seem to be extremely sensitive to the odour of the
human hand, forsaking their nest if the eggs have been
handled. It ought to be possible to solve a simple
problem of this sort by devising a few experiments and
carrying them out with patience.

External AcxivrriES.

Another line of inquiry, more accessible perhaps to
the field-naturalist, opens up when we pass from the
internal economy of the body to the external activities

INTRODUCTION. xiii

of the bird. In flight alone there are problems to
keep investigators at work for many yeai*s to come, and
there is a further incentive in the likelihood that a
more penetrating study of bird-flight would result in
practical hints concerning what is somewhat grotesquely
called ' human aviation.' Speaking as a general biologist,
I confess to finding a peculiar fascination in that mode
of flight which is called ' sailing ' or ' soaring,' to which
reference is made in the pages that follow. The fascina-
tion is partly due to the fact that this kind of flight is
still to some extent an unsolved problem ; it is also due
to the impression that here one is face to face with the
greatest locomotor triumph that life has achieved.

If we take a readily accessible and authoritative account
of the facts, such as Professor C. S. Roy's article on
Flight in Newton's Dictionary of Birds, we find that
sailing is mostly exhibited by big birds, whose sail-area
is large in proportion to the total weight — e.g. Raven,
Pelican, Stork, and Albatross ; that a certain amount of
wind appears to be essential ; and that the sailing-bird,
' with motionless outstretched wings, describes in its
flight curves or circles which lead it to sail alternately
up the wind and down the wind.'

There may be ' internal work ' in keeping the sails taut ;
but as there are no active wing-strokes for long periods
(one expert observer said not for three-quarters of an
hour !), the problem is how the heavy bird can keep itself
aloft ; can progress close in the eye of the wind ; can rise
and fall and rise again ; can turn on its course and cui've
back upon it again, as the albatross certainly does around
the ship. Of course, the problem has been often tackled by
physicists and ornithologists, and various theories have been
suggested — for instance, the thcoiy that the sailing-bird
utilises upward currents of air, such as we see illustrated

xiv INTRODUCTION.

when a gull flying seawards meets just over the cliff'-edge
a strong up-cun-ent, and sails most triumphantly upwards
and onwards. We need not go into the question further,
for our pui-pose is simply to point out that it is not
difficult to watch sailing Crows and sailing Gulls with a
field-glass, that they seem to describe circles or ellipses
without detectable wing-strokes, and that this is one of
the many unsolved problems of flight. The way of the
Eagle in the air is still too hard for us, and if it be
shown that the wonder was made by misobsei'vation more
wonderful than it really is, there is the gain of removing
a common sight from the category of the obscure and
marvellous to the category of the intelligible and wonderful.

Study of Behaviour.

The study of behaviour is in many ways the most
attractive of all, but at the same time one of the most
diffictilt. We refer not to the difficulties of precise obser-
vation and faithful recording of what takes place, but to
the difficulty of avoiding a mixture of inference with
observation, and to the difficulty of drawing the connect
inference when the observations are complete. One observer
is too generous, reading his own intelligence into the bird ;
another is too niggardly, reducing the bird to the level
of an automatic machine. The recent developments of
photography have made it possible to have, for instance,
a complete cinematographic record of a bird's behaviour
in feeding its young ; but the difficulty is to get mentally
near enough to the bird to understand how much it under-
stands. One of the sure ways of attacking the problem is
that which has been followed with conspicuous success by
Professor Lloyd Morgan (see his Habit and InstiTict), who
incubated the eggs of birds in the laboratory, and then

INTRODUCTION. xv

studied the behaviour of the young birds, uninfluenced by
all education and example. In his clear-cut experiments he
showed, for instance, that the newly hatched chick has a
very open mind, with few intuitive perceptions — not even
of water as suitable for drinking, nor of the meaning of its
unseen mother's cluck, and very few instinctive prejudices,
for it gorged itself with ' worms "* of red worsted. Without
doubt, this line of investigation requires to be followed
farther ; it is sure to lead to interesting results. More-
over, it is a pleasant path to pursue.

Particular Problems : Migration.

Another form of bird - study is that which concen-
trates attention on one particular problem of behaviour,
such as migration. Every one who has looked into the
matter at all must have discovered that certainties in
regard to the migration of birds are few. Some broad
facts are well established ; but how little is known of the
paths followed, of the order observed, of the velocity and
altitude, of the return to old quarters. To what extent
is migratory activity instinctive — what immediate stimuli
prompt the autumn emigration from our shores and the
return in spring ? How did the habit begin ? How is the
way-finding to be regarded ? It is a good rule in scientific
inquiry to attack the more commonplace questions first ;
to ask, for instance, not How do the birds find their way ?
but What way do they find ? Much has been done by
careful observation and recording ; much has been done by
the systematic searching of a small area (as Gatke did in
Heligoland) ; much has been done, notably by Mr Eagle
Clarke, in utilising the remarkable data accumulated on
lighthouses ; much is being discovered by the ' ringing '
method, most successfully followed for the last seven years

xvi INTRODUCTION.

by Dr Thienemann at Rossitten. A light ring of
aluminium bearing a number and an address is put on
the foot of a captured, uninjured bird, which is then
set free ; the recovery of the ring — in a small percentage
of cases — supplies an item of precise information in regard
to migrational movements.

Study of Development.

To follow the individual development of the bird
within the egg — to see it ' climbing up its own genealogical
tree' — requires technical methods and skill beyond the
reach of the ordinary observer. But that is no reason
why he should not share in the study of development.
The study of nestlings and young birds has only begun,
and it is a study as fascinating as it is promising. Mr
Pycraft has recently shown how much scientific interest
there is in looking into the mouths of fledglings, and there
are many peculiarities of juvenile structure [and behaviour
that demand investigation. There is still much to be done
in continuous observation of plumage changes in growing
birds. And even if the observer cannot penetrate with
success into the secret processes going on within the shell,
there is much on the outside that will keep him thinking
for many a day. These rows of eggs, lying in such
perfect order in the cabinet, suggest a finished, scientific
task ; but, if we may use such a phrase, they bristle with
unsolved problems — e.g. as regards shape and size, coloiir
and markings.

Evolution of Bieds.

The study of birds reaches its highest level when
it asks the evolutionist's questions — Whence and how ?
There was a time, as every one knows, when there were

INTRODUCTION. xvii

no birds on the face of the earth ; when the warm-
blooded creature (whether bird or mammal) had not yet
been evolved. The oldest known bird, Archceopteryx^
dates from the Jm-assic age ; but it cannot possibly have
been the first bird, being in many respects already highly
evolved along the avian line. On the other hand, it
had many reptilian features — such as the lizard-like
tail, the clawed fingers, and the teeth in the jaws — and
is one of the striking evidences of the reptilian origin
of birds. For in spite of all the apparent dissimilarity
between the grovelling reptile and the bird of the air,
that the two types are bound together in blood-relationship
is proved up to the hilt by detailed resemblances in
structure (from such trivial things as the scales on the
bird's feet to fundamental agreement in skull-architecture) ;
by close resemblances in the development of bird and
reptile (for it is not till the sixth day that the un-
hatched chick, for instance, leaves a track precisely
parallel to that of the unhatched reptile, and di\'erges
on a path of its own) ; and by the existence in the distant
past of flying reptiles and reptile-like birds. Zoologists
are unanimously convinced that birds evolved from some
extinct reptilian stock, but from which no one can tell —
whether from pterosaurs or dinosaurs, or from an
ancestry common to both, or from some other prolific
line. In this connection, it may be mentioned that it
is by no means to be supposed that the 'finds' of extinct
connecting links have come to an end. It may be, for
instance, that among the reptilian remains buried in, let
us say, the Elgin Sandstones, a clue to the pedigree of
birds may yet be found. There can be no doubt, for
instance, of the suggestiveness of a remarkable type called
Scleromochlus tayloi-i, recently discovered by Mr William
Taylor of Lhanbryde, a naturalist of wide scientific

xviii INTRODUCTION.

interest and keen insight — a fine example of the type no
longer, it is to be feared, so common in Britain as it
was half a century ago.

The most important fact to be realised in regard to
evolution is that it is going on here and now. The crop
of variations which furnishes the raw materials of evolu-
tion is always abundant ; the directive processes of natural
selection and isolation are accessible to observation ; and
the modern methods of experimental breeding are clearing
up many mysteries. We are accustomed to read the
present in the light of the past ; but the development of
inductive evolution-lore is bringing nearer to us the
power of reading the past in the light of the present.

Practical Importance of Birds.

We must bring to a close these illustrations of the
many-sidedness of bird-study, but we cannot do so with-
out alluding to practical considerations. Birds play an
important part in the economy of nature, in preserving
the balance of things. It is impossible to overestimate
their importance in keeping injurious insects in check ;
without birds the earth would become uninhabitable in
a few years. And besides the injurious insects destroyed,
we have to remember the snails and slugs. Sometimes
careful inquiry shows that the benefit is subtler than
appears on the sxirface ; thus the Pied Wagtail is very
fond of the freshwater snails {Lymnceus truncatiikis)^ the
first hosts of the liver-flukes that cause the serious and
important disease of ' rot ^ in sheep. Many birds distri-
bute the seeds of useful plants and of weeds as well, and
those that are scattered have to be distinguished from
those that are digested. Darwin made a study in his
supremely careful fashion of what may be called ' the fauna

INTRODUCTION. xix

and flora of birds' feet/ showing that numerous seeds of
plants and germs of animals are carried from watershed to
watershed in the balls of mud attached to the feet
of aquatic birds. From one clodlet on one bird's foot
no fewer than eighty seeds germinated. Cases like this
make us feel that a bird cannot fall to the ground with-
out sending a throb through a wide circle. The economic
importance of birds — especially in connection with agri-
culture, fruit-growing, and gardening — is a subject urgently
requiring further study, which a British Association
committee has been recently seeking to stimulate. Apart
from a few valuable documents — notably Mr Newstead's
report on The Food of Some British Birds, published by
the Board of Agriculture — the evidence on which birds are
condemned as injurious is often of the flimsiest description.
Whatever the verdict may be, it should rest on a broad
basis of fact — on the examination of numerous birds from
different parts of the country, and throughout the year.
Our experience in this kind of inquiry has convinced us of
the danger of condemning more than a very few birds in
Britain. Notable in the short black list are three : the
Wood-Pigeon, the House-Sparrow, and the Carrion-Crow.
The vast majority of birds are directly beneficial ; a large
number levy a tax, but do far more good than harm ;
and of those which certainly do harm (especially at par-
ticular times of the year, and in particular areas where
they become very numerous) it must be admitted that
there is often much to be put on the other side of the
account.

Our point in this Introduction is simply to suggest that
the problem of the food of birds is one which urgently
requires more widespread and sustained study. In a
previous paragraph we appealed for the co-operative study
of bird-migration — a problem of purely theoretical interest ;

XX LNTRODUCTION.

we wish to do the same for this practical problem of the
economic value of birds.

One thing is certain, that birds should always get the
benefit of the doubt, and that an order for destruction
should be preceded by an order for examination. In
illustration of this, I may be allowed to quote a very
instructive instance which I owe to my friend Mr W. P.
Pycraft of the British Museum. In the Emu for
1908, Mr A. H. F, Mattingley tells that on the Murray
River swamps and ' billabongs,' and on certain lakes,
Cormorants are now found nesting in hundreds, where
they were formerly in thousands. Owing to ruthless
destruction by persons seized with the idea that they
were benefiting fishing by destroying 'shags,' but a
tithe remain. Bitter complaints are now made of the
scarcity of fish. This is due to the fact that the areas
in question are the spawning-grounds of the food-fishes,
and this spawn is now devoured by myriads of crabs and
other crustaceans, by turtles, and by eels and other
fishes. Later on these creatures batten on the fish-fry.
The Cormorants, it is now discovered, fed on the crabs
and eels; hence the destruction of the Cormorants has
meant the removal of two checks on the increase of these
undesirables. During the time the Cormorants were breed-
ing the bulk of their food consisted of crabs, the
spawning -fish being too large to swallow. In these
swamps Phalacrocorax melanoleucas, P. carbo, and Plotus
novcehollandicc swarmed, sure of a rich food-supply for
their young. In proportion as the ranks of the
Cormorants were thinned, the ranks of the crabs, eels,
and other spawn-eaters increased. This case seems to us
to point with great clearness to the obvious conclusion
that before we seek to control nature by drastic measures
we should first of all get a grip of the facts, and that

INTRODUCTION. xxi

demands a study — patient and persistent — of the Web
of Life.

Many fine birds have already suffered extermination ;
not a few are on the brink. Eveiy lover of birds must
therefore welcome the efforts that are made towards bird-
protection — partly by legislation, partly by the education
of public opinion (e.g. as regards the use of feathers in
decoration other than those from domesticated birds, like
the ostrich, and from birds shot for food), and partly by
the establishment of bird-sanctuaries, some of which have
already been attended with remarkable success. For
when a bird has been exterminated its loss is irreparable.
As Mr Beebe says in his beautiful book The Bird (1907) :
' Let us beware of needlessly destroying even one of the
lives — so sublimely crowning the ages upon ages of
evolving ; and let us put forth all our efforts to save a
threatened species from extinction ; to give hearty aid to
the last few individuals pitifully sti-uggling to avoid
absolute annihilation. The beauty and genius of a work
of art may be reconceived, though its first material
expression be destroyed ; a vanished harmony may yet
again inspire the composer; but when the last individual
of a race of living beings breathes no more, another
heaven and another earth must pass before such a one
can be again.'

J. ARTHUR THOMSON.

ERRATA.

Plate 94. For 'Siiotted Flycatcher,' &c., read 'Tree Pipit,' iSrc.
Plate 100. Fur ' Tree Pii>it,' &c., read ' Spottcil FJycatclier,' iK:c.

CONTENTS,

ALCiE (AUKS). PAQB PLATE

Puffin 1 2

Razorbill 4 3

Great Auk, or Gare-Fowl 6 —

Guillemot 8 4

Black Guillemot 12 —

PYGOPODES (DIVERS AND GREBES).

Red-throated Diver 13 5

Black-throated Diver 16 —

Great Crested Grebe 17 6

Black-necked or Eared Grebe 20

Little Grebe, or Dabchick 20 7

TUBINARES (PETRELS, «fec.).

Storm Petrel 23 8

Leach's Fork-tailed Petrel 26 —

Manx Shearwater 26 —

Fulmar Petrel 27 —

GAVIiE (GULLS, &c.).

Arctic or Richardson's Skua 28 9

Great Skua 29 —

Herring Gull 30 10

Common Gidl 34 11

Lesser Black-backed Gull 35 12

Great Black-backed Gull 36 —

Black-headed Gull 38 13

Kittiwake 43 14

Common Tern 44 15

Arctic Tern 48 16

Roseate Tern 50 —

Little Tern 51 17

Sandwich Tern 54 18

Black Tern 55 —

xxiv CONTENTS.

LIMICOL^ (WADERS). p^^, p^,,„

Curlew 56 19

Whimbrel 59

Black-tailed Godwit 59 —

Redshank 59 20

Greenshank 62 —

Wood Sandpiper 62 —

Common Sandpiper ' . 62 21

Ruff 64

Dunlin 65

Snipe 65 22

Woodcock 68 23

Red-necked Phalarope 71 —

Avocet 72 —

Oyster-Catcher 72 24

Golden Plover 74 25

Lapwing, or Peewit 78 26

Dotterel 81

Ringed Plover 81 27

Kentish Plover 86 —

Stone Curlew, Norfolk Plover, or Thick-Knee ... 87 28

Nidifugous Nestlings 89 29

GRALL^ (RAILS, &c.).

Great Bustard 91

Crane 91 —

Landrail, or Corncrake 92 30

Water-Rail 94 31

Moorhen, or Waterhen 96 32

Coot 100 33

GALLINiE (' GAME-BIRDS ').

Red-Grouse 102 34

Ptarmigan 107 35

Blackcock, or Black-Grouse 110 36

Capercaillie 113 37

Pheasant 115 38

Partridge 118 39

Red-legged Partridge 119 —

Quail 120 —

PTEROCLETES (SAND-GROUSE),

Pallaa's Sand-Grouse 121 —

CONTENTS. XXV

COLUMB^ (PIGEONS). ,,,, ,,,,,

Wood-Pigeon, or Ring-Dove 123 40

Stock-Dove 126 41

Rock-Pigeon 127 42

Turtle-Dove 129 43

ANSERES (DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS).

Mallard, or Wild-Duck 131 44

Gad wall 134

Shoveller . I35

Teal 136 45

Garganey 138 _

Pintail 139

Wigeon I39 _

Tufted-Duck 140 46

Scaup ........... 142

Pochard I43

Eider-Duck I43 47

Scoter ...,,,,.... 146 .

Red -breasted Merganser I47 48

Goosander 148

Sheld-Duck, or Sheldrake 149 49

Gray Lag Goose 152

Whooper Swan 152

Mute Swan I53

HERODIONES (HERONS, &c.).

Heron I54 50

Bittern 158

Spoonbill 158

STEGANOPODES (CORMORANTS, &c.).

Gannet, or Solan-Goose 159 51

Cormorant 163 52

Shag 166 —

ACCIPITRES (BIRDS-OF-PREY).

Peregrine Falcon 167 53

Kestrel I70 54

Merlin I74

Hobby 175 _

Sparrow-Hawk I75 55

Goshawk .......... 177 ■

Kite 178 56

xxvi CONTENTS.

PAOE PI.ATB

Honey-Buzzard 181 —

Golden Eagle 182 Frontis.

White-tailed or Sea-Eagle 187 57

Common Buzzard 189 58

Hen-Harrier 192 59

Marsh-Harrier 193 —

Montagu's Harrier 193 —

Osprey 194 —

STRIGES (OWLS).

Barn-Owl 195 60

Tawny or Brown Owl 199 61

Long-eared Owl 201 62

Short-eared Owl 202 —

Little Owl 203 —

PICARI.E.

Nightjar, or Goat-Sucker 204 63

Swift 206 64

Green Woodpecker 211 65

Great Spotted Woodpecker 214 —

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker 214 —

Wryneck 215 66

Kingfisher 216 67

Hoopoe 219 —

Cuckoo 219 68

Nidicolous Nestlings 225 69

PASSERES (PERCHING BIRDS).

Skylark 227 70

Wood-Lark 230 —

Raven 231 71

Carrion-Crow 233 72

Hooded Crow 235 73

Jackdaw 238 74

Rook 240 75

Magpie 241 76

Jay 243 77

Cliough 244 —

Starling 245 78

Greenfinch 248 79

Hawfinch 250 80

Goldfinch 251 81

Siskin 253 —

CONTENTS.

XXVll

House-SpaiTOw

Tree-Sparrow

Chaffinch

Brambling .

Linnet .

Twite .

Lesser Redpoll

Bullfinch .

Crossbill

Corn-Bunting

Yellow-Hamnier. or Yellow

Cirl-Bunting

Reed-Bunting

Snow-Bunting

Swallow

Martin

Sand-Martin

Spotted Fly-Catcher

Pied Fly-Catcher

Red-backed Shrike

Pied Wagtail

White Wagtail .

Gray Wagtail

Yellow Wagtail .

Blue-headed Wagtail

Meadow-Pipit, or Titlark

Tree-Pipit .

Rock-Pipit .

Tree-Creeper

Wren .

Nut-Hatch .
Great Tit .

Coal-Tit .

Marsh-Tit .

Blue Tit .

Crested Tit .

Long-tailed Tit

Bearded -Tit, or Reedling

Dipper, or Water-Ousel

Song-Thrush, or Mavis

Mistle-Tluush

Blackbird .

Ring-Ousel .

Wheateiir .

Bunting

PAGE

PLATE

253

82

255

256

83

257

—

257

84

258

—

259

85

260

86

261

—

262

87

264

88

265

89

266

90

268

—

268

91

272

92

275

93

277

94

278

—

279

95

280

96

282

—

282

97

284

98

285

—

285

99

288

100

289

101

290

102

292

103

293

104

. 295

105

. 298

106

. 298

107

. 300

108

. 301

—

. 301

109

. 303

110

. 304

111

. 307

112

. 309

113

. 311

114

. 313

115

. 314

116

xxviii CONTENTS.

PACK PLATE

Whinchat 315 117

Stonechat 316 118

Kedstart 318 119

Redbreast, or Robin 319 120

Nightingale 320 121

Whitethroat 321 122

Lesser Wbitetiuoat 323

Garden -Warbler 323 123

Blackcap 324 124

Dartford Warbler 325

Goldcrest 325 125

Willow-Wren 326 126

Chitt-Chaff 327 127

Wood- Wren 328 128

Sedge-Warbler 329 129

Reed-Warbler 330 130

Marsh-Warbler 33I

Grasshopiier- Warbler 331 131

Savi's Warbler 332

Hedgesparrow 3.S3 132

Plate 2.

P U F F I ^—Fmk?- 'cnhi arc'lica.

Length, 13 in. ; wing, 6 in.

[AL'Ci?: : Al'cidix; ; Fraterculi'ns.]
A

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND
THEIR NESTS.

ORDER, ALC^ (AUKS);

Family, ALCID^ (Only Family) ;

Subfamily, FRATERCULIN^E (Puffins).

THE PUFFIN

(Fratercula arctica).

Plate 2.

Of all our sea-fowl, one of the most delightful to watch,
and certainly the most amusing, is the Puffin — also
known by such names as ' Coulterneb "" and ' Sea-Parrot.'
The squat form, the waddling gait, and the white owlish
face combine to give the bird a very comical appearance ;
to these is added the crowning absurdity of a beak of
enormous size and extravagant colouring. The effect has
been aptly compared to that produced when a person
assumes a false nose of exaggerated proportions and gay
hue ; every action, every movement, every gesture is
accentuated and made ridiculous by the monstrous organ.
The analogy with a false nose holds still further, for,
most cm-ious point of all, the outer sheath of the beak
is assumed only for a time, and is then discarded. Each
autumn it is shed in plates, and the horny excrescences
on the face fall with it. Each spring it reappears in
all its brilliance. In winter, therefore, the bill is of more

A

2 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

moderate size and of a duller colour. At that season,
however, the Puffin is not a familiar bird to us, although
dead ones are sometimes washed ashore. In summer the
Puffin is a common bird on all suitable parts of the
British coasts, the greatest break in its distribution
being on the east coast of England from the Humber
southwards. Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel is a
famous resort ; but it is on the north and west coasts of
Scotland and Ireland that it is most abundant, the size
of its colonies frequently defying computation altogether,
or to be estimated only in millions. Nowhere in these
islands is it so abundant as in the St Kilda group ; the
land is honeycombed with the nesting burrows, so that
one sinks through at every step, distm-bing the Puffins
within ; the slopes are covered with Puffins, each ridicu-
lous bird framed in the entrance to its nest ; the sea is
dotted for miles aromid with Puffins — Puffins fishing and
Puffins resting on the Atlantic swell ; the very air is
literally thick with Puffins flying in a ceaseless stream
from sea to cliff laden with their spoils, and back again
from cliff to sea for more. The natives of these distant
isles derive no small part of their subsistence from the
Puffins, taking himdreds of young ones from their burrows
and skilfully snaring old ones. Further, each pair of
Peregrine Falcons levies a toll of scores each season ; but
they are never missed !

Familiarity with the Puffin does not tend to abate-
ment of one's amusement, for the observer finds much in
its habits which is in harmony with its appearance. The
Puffin, as already mentioned, commonly uses for nesting
proposes a burrow in the stiff peaty soil or short tiu'f
of the less precipitous slopes of the islands or coasts on
which it dwells, but sometimes a mere rock crevice suffices.
The same burrows are used again and again, and when

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. S

new ones are required the birds usually dig them for
themselves, the cock-bird, it is said, doing most of the
work. But amusing scenes are sometimes to be witnessed
when a pair of Puffins decide to take forcible possession
of a rabbit's burrow and eject the rightful owners.
Puffins show little shyness of man ; on the contrary, they
often betray a comical inquisitiveness concerning the
invader of their haunts, flying up to and slowly past him,
or even coming and perching on rocks close beside him.
They are therefore easily caught by such means as a
noose on the end of a rod, and may also be ' cornered ' in
their biurows ; but a shrewd bite frequently awaits the
hand unwarily plunged into an occupied nest.

Let us attempt for a brief moment the difficult task of
taking the Puffin seriously ! With great punctuality the
Puffins suddenly appear at their breeding haimts towards
the middle or end of spring, according to locality. The
single egg is laid late in May, as a rule. It is white,
with faint purplish-gray blotches, but soon becomes much
soiled. Incubation lasts for more than a month, and is
chiefly undertaken by the female, who is fed by her mate.
The chick, which is covered wdth dark down, lighter on
the under-parts, is fed on small fish brought, several at a
time, by its parents. How they manage to catch fish
while holding others in their mouths — longways^ too — is a
mystei-y ! Three weeks more, and the young birds, not
unlike adults in winter plumage, leave with their parents
for the open sea. The Puffin does not so habitually sit
in an upright position, with the 'shank' applied to the
ground, as do the other Auks, and it certainly does not
walk in that position, as has been stated. Generally it
stands on its toes in the ordinary way, with its body held
comparatively horizontal. Albino Puffins are common
museum curiosities.

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

Subfamily, ALCIN^ (Typical Auks).

THE RAZORBILL

(Alca torda).
Plate 3.

With the preceding species we began our treatment of
those members of the Auk group that are found in the
British Isles ; but, as the Puffin and a few Pacific relatives
form a separate subdivision of the group, we have thought
it better to link our remarks on the Auks in general to
our discussion of a more typical representative, like the
Razorbill.

The Auks are confined to the northern hemisphere,
breeding chiefly on sub- Arctic coasts. Their headquarters
are in the north Pacific ; but a number of species inhabit
the north Atlantic, and four of these — three of them in
large numbers — resort to the British coasts each breeding
season.

The Auks obtain most of their food by diving and
swimming under water, at which they are exceedingly
expert. The shape of their bodies is adapted to this mode
of life. The legs are placed far back, as in the Grebes and
Divers, causing the birds to assume on land the familiar,
almost upright position. Typically, the plumage is dark
brown or black on head, neck, back, and wings, and white
on the under-parts, and in winter on the throat and chin.

The Razorbill is a good illustration of the characteristics
of the Auk group, of which it is the type ; formerly, indeed,
it was called ' The Auk,' but this name is not now applied
without qualifying adjective to any single member of the
order. The name 'Razorbill*" is, of course, a reference to

Plate 3.

RAZORBILL— A /'ca tarda.

Length, 17 in. ; wing, 7-3 in.

[Al'c^ : Al'cidae ; Alci'nse.]
A 4

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 5

the laterally compressed beak which is the head-mark of
the species.

In winter, the Razorbill, like its allies, is chiefly a bird
of the open sea, but may always be found off our coasts,
and also off the coasts of countries farther south, where it
is unknown in summer. But it has been remarked of the
Razorbill and its allies that in spite of their commonness
at sea in winter, and the huge area of ocean over which
they are scattered, a large proportion of the myriads
inhabiting the coasts of northern Europe in summer
remain to be satisfactorily accounted for at other seasons.

On this side of the Atlantic, Brittany is the southern
limit of the bird's breeding range. All rovmd the coasts of
the British Isles wherever there are cliffs, which need not
be high or very precipitous, the Razorbill may be found
during the breeding season. In some localities enormous
colonies exist, often at the same places at which great
numbers of Gmllemots and Puffins also congregate, although
the actual nesting, or rather 'laying,' sites chosen by the
three species are different. The Razorbill generally chooses
sheltered ledges. Like nearly all Auks, it has no nest, and
only one egg. The latter is subject to considerable varia-
tion, but to far less than are those of the Guillemot, which
are also larger and more pear-shaped. As a rule, however,
the egg is grayish white or light reddish brown in ground-
colour, Avith bold blackish blotches which frequently form
a zone round the broadest part.

The Razorbill has a special interest as being a sur-
viving relative of the Great Auk, from which it differs
chiefly by its small size and the possession of powers of
flight.

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

THE GREAT AUK, OR QARE=FOWL

(Alca impennis).

A melancholy interest attaches to the Great Auk, inas-
much as since the last two were captured on one of the
Iceland skerries, sixty-five years ago, no other examples
have been seen or heard of. Although it may have lingered
a little longer in some of its less accessible haunts, there
can be no doubt now that it has been totally exterminated.
The common idea that it may yet be rediscovered in
some hitherto unexplored Arctic land is based on a wide-
spread misconception. There is no ground for believing
that the Great Auk was ever an inhabitant of high
northern latitudes ; in fact, we have no absolutely certain
record of its having ever been seen within the Arctic
Circle. Plentiful remains in many parts of Ireland, in
parts of Scotland and of the north of England, and in
Denmark, indicate a former more southerly range ; but
during the period for which we have records it had a
very restricted distribution, breeding only on the coasts
and islands of Newfoundland, Iceland, and Norway, and
on the Faroes, St Kilda, and the Holm of Papa Westray,
in the Orkneys.

Although said to be extraordinarily expert in the
water, the Gare-Fowl was quite incapable of flight, and was
exceedingly helpless on land, as well as being tame and
confiding, so that its extermination is scarcely to be
wondered at. On Fimk Island, one of its most important
resorts on the other side of the Atlantic, the birds were
regiilarly driven into pens and slaughtered by the sailors
and fishermen for food and bait. In Scottish waters it
had become rare by the end of the eighteenth century.

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 7

The last Orkney bird was got in 1813, and the only
nineteenth century records from St Kilda are for 1821 or
1822, and about 1840. Strange to say, one was obtained
at the mouth of Waterford harbour as late as 1834. The
1813, 1821, and 1834 birds already mentioned appear
to be the only British specimens in existence ; the 1840
example was destroyed as a witch by its superstitious
captors !

Three islets off the coast of Iceland seem to have been
the last haunts of the Gare-Fowl. One of these disap-
peared during a submarine eruption in 1830, and by 1844
one or both of the remaining colonies had been extermi-
nated to satisfy the demands of collectors.

Imagine a Razorbill about the size of a goose, but with
absurdly small wings, obviously useless as organs of flight,
and with a conspicuous white spot in front of each eye,
and you have a good idea of the appearance of the Great
Auk. Apart from size, the single egg resembles that of
the Razorbill, but is more variable, and sometimes has the
greenish ground - colour or the ciu-ious scroUings more
characteristic of the Guillemot. The lack of power of
flight necessitated the choice of low islets as ' nesting ■•-
places.

Numerous bones and some ' natural mummies' have been
found on Funk Island ; but most of the skins or mounted
specimens — about eighty are known to exist — are of Ice-
landic origin. Very high prices are paid when specimens
come into the market. Over seventy eggs exist in collec-
tions. One which recently changed hands fetched 210
guineas ; but this price has been considerably exceeded.

It may be mentioned that the name ' Penguin,' or ' Pin-
wing,' now applied to an order of flightless sea-birds found
in the southern hemisphere, originally belonged to the
Great Auk.

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

THE GUILLEMOT

(Uria troile).
Plate 4.

The Guillemot is even commoner on our coasts than
its ally the Razorbill ; but it is more particular in its
choice of ' nesting ' localities, fairly high and steep cliffs
being usually selected. The eggs are laid on the most
exposed ledges, however, and also on the flat tops of
' stacks."* Some of the Guillemot colonies are of great
size, one of the best known resorts being the cliffs near
Flamborough Head, where the eggs are systematically
taken by parties of four or five men, one of whom is let
down with ropes by his companions. These eggs are said
to be a commercial source of albumen, but it is probable
that all finely marked specimens are sold to collectors or
dealers, while many of the others are used locally for
culinary purposes. The eggs of the Razorbill and other
species found at the same places are, of course, taken at
the same time.

The most noticeable difference between the Razorbill
and the Guillemot lies in their bills, that of the
latter being slender and dagger-like. When seen at a
distance swimming on the water, the Razorbill's up-
turned tail is the most obvious point of difference. The
Guillemot is a clumsy bird on land ; but as it rarely
requires to do anything in the way of walking, it is at
no disadvantage on this account. Its usual attitude on
the cliffs is an upright one, with the ' shank ^ applied to
the ground, or, strictly speaking, with the whole foot on the
ground. Most birds stand on the toes only, so that their

Plate 4.

G U I L L E M OT— U'ria troi'le.

Length, 18 in. ; wing, 7-5 in.

[Al'c/E : Al'cidae ; Alci'nse.]
B 8

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 9

ankles are at first sight mistaken for knees. The upright
position is also the one in which the Guillemot incubates,
standing astride of the egg, and generally facing the cliff.
On the wing the Guillemot could never be called
clumsy, seeing that the flight is direct and swift ; but it
is incapable of turning sharply, or of remaining poised on
motionless wings even for a second ; rapid, regular, and
unceasing wing-beats are characteristic. Generally it flies
a few feet above the waves, often in small parties flying
in single file, the birds so close together as to appear to
be almost touching. When leaving a high cliff the
Guillemot first makes a steep descent to its accustomed
level, and at that level seeks its destination. Of swim-
ming, diving, and swimming under water the Guillemot
is a past master. When swimming under water the wings
are used, and a considerable speed is attained.

The single egg is large and pear-shaped, but is chiefly
remarkable on account of the extraordinaiy amount of
variation in colour to which it is subject. To begin
with, the ground may be of almost any colour, but
green tints are the commonest, from pale greenish white
to deep blue-green. The markings may take the form of
spots, blotches, or scroUings, and be black, reddish brown,
or greenish yellow in colour, or they may be of more than
one kind or one colour on the same egg. They may be
large or small, evenly distributed or collected in zones or
patches, few in number, or so abundant as almost com-
pletely to obscure the ground-colour. Each individual
female probably always lays eggs of the same type, for it
has been proved that when robbed of its first egg a
Guillemot will lay a similar one the same season.

It is usually in cases where three or four eggs form
the clutch that eggs are markedly pear-shaped — as in
'Waders,' for example. In such cases the shape serves

B

10 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

an obvious purpose — the eggs ' pack ' into smaller space.
Where one or two, or half-a-dozen or more, are laid, the
eggs tend to be oval — for example, in game-birds — and it is
sometimes impossible to say which end is which. To this
the Guillemofs egg is an exception ; but its shape is of
use in another way. If the wind, or the departure of the
incubating bird, sets the egg in motion on its narrow
ledge, it is often saved by its tendency to rotate without
rolling. It moves, and yet remains in one place. This can
be demonstrated experimentally ; but a blown egg will not
answer. It is true that the eggs often fall ; when startled
by a gunshot the birds often leave with such haste that
they precipitate a shower of eggs into the sea.

The nesting habits of the various kinds of Auks are on
the whole much alike. Little difference exists between
those of the Guillemot and those of the Razorbill. In
speaking of Auks generally, a German naturalist-traveller,
of half a century ago, gives an amusing account of these
habits. 'During the brooding season their social virtues
reach an extraordinary height,"* he says. The males out-
number the females, according to his observations ; but
whilst among other birds such a disproportion gives rise
to ceaseless strife, yet among these Auks peace is not dis-
turbed. Not only do the ' bachelors "" share in the duties
of incubation, sitting when both parents are at sea, but
their presence ensures that there will be no orphans on the
cliffs. ' Should the male of a pair come to grief, his widow
immediately consoles herself with another mate, and in the
rarer cases of both parents losing their lives at once, the
good-natured supernumeraries are quite ready to finish
hatching the egg and to rear the young one.' Needless
to say, these statements must be received with considerable
reserve.

The young bird emerges from the egg covered with

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 11

dark -coloured down. Down-clad, but helpless, it is there-
fore intermediate between the young Lapwing type, down-
clad and active, and the young Thrush type, naked and
helpless. Active young birds on cliff ledges would, of
course, be subject to frequent accidents. As it is, they
leave their ledges for the sea when a few weeks old and
before they can fly properly. Their method of doing so
has been a subject of dispute. The statement that they
are carried down on their parents' backs may be dismissed
at once ; but one observer has stated that yoimg Razorbills
are sometimes earned down by the neck ! Most observers
are, however, agreed that the usual way for young Guille-
mots is as follows. The young bird is led to a place
convenient for jumping, and is then enticed by its parents
(which repeatedly set the example of flying down from the
ledge, or swim about below and call to their offspring), to
half-fall, half-fly into the sea, henceforth its proper element.
Sometimes, however, the young ones come to grief on the
rocks at the foot of the cliffs.

The Guillemot is a bird of many names ; in addition to
' Guillemot,' alone or with the epithets ' Common ' or

* Foolish,' it has a number of local names. Some of these
belong to the young bird only, and most of them are
shared by the Razorbill. One authority gives the following
list : ' Frowl,' ' Kiddaw ' or ' Skiddaw,' ' Langy,' ' Lavy,'

* Murrock,' ' IMurre,' ' Scout ' (cf. Coot and Scoter), ' Scuttock,'
'Strany,' 'Tinker' or ' Tinkershire,' and 'Willock.'

A variety of the Guillemot known as the Ringed,
Bridled, or Spectacled Guillemot, differs only in having the
white roimd the eye very pronounced, and continued for
some distance backwards as a naiTow line. It is found in
small numbers at most haunts of the common form, with
which it appears to breed quite indiscriminately. It is
not now regarded as a separate species.

12 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

THE BLACK GUILLEMOT

(Uria grylle).

The Black Guillemot and its near allies differ in so
many respects from the Common Guillemot that they
are often considered to be a genus by themselves. Our
species is about a foot in length, and in breeding
plximage is chiefly black with a greenish gloss, but
has a large white patch on each wing. The legs are
vermilion. In the winter plumage white predominates.
It breeds locally on the west coast of Scotland, in Ireland,
and on the Isle of Man, and perhaps did so formerly on
both sides of England. Its chief British resorts, however,
are in the Scottish isles. The Black Guillemot, with the
other members of its group, differs from other Auks in
having a clutch of two eggs. In most cases they are
laid in the crevices of cliffs. They are usually white with
black and grayish markings, but there is considerable
variation.

Plate 5.

RED -THROATED DIVER— Co/j'm'lu/s septeii trio77ci lis.

Length, 24 in. ; wing, 11-2 in.

[Pygop'odes : Colym'bidte.]
B 12

BRITAINS BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 13

ORDER, PYGOPODES (DIVERS AND GREBES);
Family, COLYMBID^ (Divers).

THE RED^THROATED DIVER

(Colymbus septentrionalis).
Plate 5.

Within a circle of frowning hills — silent, desolate, but
majestic in their eternal grandeur — lies an islet-strewn
lochan. A few miles to the westward the Atlantic
breakers thvmder against the battered skerries, or spend
themselves more gradually along the windings of the Qord-
like sea-lochs. To the eastward lie the troubled waters
of the Minch, with the mainland heights dim purple in
the hazy distance. The rocks around are among the oldest
masses on the earth's surface ; the hills preserve the
rounded outlines modelled by the great ice-sheets, of
whose passage the countless scattered boulders are also
silent witnesses. Here and there, where the protecting
heather and peat have been but recently swept away, the
rock surface, polished and scratched, repeats the tale,
while more often an older exposure, with its frost-shattered
cliffs and torrent-swept gullies, tells of the power of forces
still at work. It is a history in which man has played
no part, and in which his present share is of the most
superficial kind. The scene has a more fitting occupant in
the Loon, a large bird of truly archaic type, which seems,
among the more typical birds of to-day, like an old-time
galleon among racing craft of modem design — a primitive
form still surviving in an age of specialisation.

On our Hebridean lochan the Loon that we have to

14 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

deal with is probably the Red-throated Diver, the smallest
of the four species built on these antiquated lines. It
is also widely known as the 'Rain Goose,'' its harsh,
discordant notes being popularly supposed to foretell rain.
Leaving aside the more deeply seated characteristics which
lead anatomists to assign to the Loons a lowly place in
the scale of bird evolution, we may find in their more
obvious traits much that is primitive and archaic. On
land a Loon is the most awkward of birds ; it rarely
stands properly upright ; * it can only waddle clumsily
from place to place, or, more commonly, push itself along
the ground with its feet. But this matters little, for
the Loon has no need to go on land except to its nest,
and that is almost always at the water''s edge. On the
wing it is a strong flyer, but it reminds one of a primi-
tive aeroplane — it has no great control over its move-
ments. In starting, some time is taken in getting up
sufficient ' way ' to rise ; in the air, flight is rapid and
powerful enough, but maintained only by continuous and
regular propulsion, with an occasional glide on the down-
grade. Changes of level are only gradually made ; changes
of direction are effected by wide curves. Sharp turnings,
soaring, and hovering are alike impossible, and considerable
trouble and risk are involved in the process of alighting.
All the evolutions require space.

The Diver"'s method of alighting is indeed peculiar. At
sea it will come down by a long gradient — miles long, if
from a great height. In narrow waters, however, the task
is more difficult. A long descent in a wide spiral may first
be resorted to ; but the final drop is often a headlong plunge,
'accompanied by a noise for which those who have heard
it will agree that thundering is too weak an epithet,' till,

* To display its plumage properly, the bird in the accompanying
plate has been depicted in this rather unusual attitude.

BRITAIN S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 15

with tremendous force, the Diver hits the water and goes
shooting over the surface in a smother of spray and foam.

Nonentities on land, clumsy, out-of-date pieces of
mechanism in the air, do the Loons survive merely because
of lack of enemies or rivals in their wild haunts ? No ;
they have specialised in another direction — namely, as
aquatic animals. We see it at once : the whole shape of
the body suggests ease in cleaving the water ; the position
of the legs, far back on the body, which is to a great
extent responsible for the bird's awkwardness on land,
suggests immense driving power ; the legs themselves,
' shanks "" compressed to offer a narrow edge to the water ;
the webbed feet, so contrived as to present the largest
surface during strokes and the smallest surface between
strokes, suggest the same things. And we do find that
Divers are wonderfully expert in the water. Whether
swimming buoyantly on the surface or half-submerged in
a way which seems to defy the laws of hydrostatics, a
considerable speed is attained. At diving and swimming
under water Divers are adepts. Although, unlike Auks,
they do not use their wings, their rate of swimming is
rapid, and they can remain under water for a minute
and a half or more with ease. They catch the fish
they feed on by pursuing and ' spearing ■" them, and they
elude their own enemies by long under -water swims
in imexpected directions. And in the water they spend
most of their lives. In winter they keep to the sea
or to the larger lochs that remain unfrozen ; but in the
nesting season the Red-throated Diver especially shows
marked preference for the smaller sheets of water, on whose
edges or islets the nests are always placed. Usually, indeed,
the birds have to make a daily journey to fishing-grounds
with Avider scope than the lochans of their choice.

The Divers as a group, and to a great extent as species,

16 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

are circumpolar in their distribution, ranging so far
north that a considerable migration is necessary in autumn,
at which season they show a gregarious tendency. At all
seasons Red-throated Divers may be found off our coasts ;
immature birds chiefly, with spotted backs, or adults in the
winter plumage that lacks the red throat. But it is only
amid such surroundings as we have described that this
species breeds. Very sparingly is it found, if now at all, in
the north of Ireland, but more abundantly in the north
and north-west of Scotland, from Perthshire and Argyll-
shire to Orkney and Shetland, and those specially favoiu'ed
isles — the Outer Hebrides.

The nest, if any, is a mere untidy heap of weeds a
few feet from the water's edge, and a well-marked groove
usually shows where the birds are accustomed to push
themselves up to their nests. The eggs are two in number,
rather elongated in shape, and rich olivaceous brown in
colour, with spots and blotches of umber. They are laid
in Scotland in May or June, and both birds take part in
incubation, lying rather than sitting on their eggs. In
due course the young are hatched, and are found to be
clothed in down of a sooty-brown colour, paler below.
They soon abandon the nest, for they are active from
the first, and from their earliest efforts show much of the
agility and skill in the water which is their birthright, for
it has been the saving of their archaic race.

THE BLACK=THROATED DIVER

(Colymbus arcticus).

Although, as regards numbers off our coasts in winter,
this species does not come next to the Red-throated Diver,
it is the only other Loon which nests in the British

Plate 6.

GREAT CRESTED G'R.'E^'E^—Podiifipes crista'tiis.

Length, 21 in. ; wing, 7-5 in.

[Pygop'ODES : Podiciped'idae.]

c 16

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 17

Islands. This it does in the north and north-west Hiffh-
lands and in some of the Scottish isles, but much less
commonly than its smaller relative. Its choice of haunts
and its general and nesting habits are very similar to those of
its ally, and the eggs differ little except that they are larger.
The bird, too, is bigger than the Red-throated Diver, and,
among other peculiarities, has, in breeding plumage, a
black throat with white spots and stripes. The beaks of
the two species are easily distinguishable, the Red-throated
Diver's being perceptibly upturned ; the other's never in
the least so. The still larger Great Northern Diver takes
second place in commonness as a winter visitor ; but it does
not remain to nest, although it viay do so exceptionally.
Its close ally, the White-billed Northern Diver, a rare
wanderer to our coasts, is the only other member of this
small family.

Family, PODICIPEDID^ (Grebes).

THE GREAT CRESTED GREBE

(Podicipes cristatus).

Plate 6.

Like the Divers are their near allies the Grebes, and
some of these are fairly familiar British birds. The
largest and handsomest species is the true Grebe, the
Great Crested Grebe of ornithologists. Scarcely inferior
in size to the Red-Throated Diver, this Grebe is a con-
siderably more graceful and less cumbrous bird, although
built on very similar lines. Its flight is of the same
order, and its proficiency in the water is as great. Grebes
and Divers, it may be mentioned, share the backward
position of the legs, the laterally compressed 'shank,' the

18 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

close, thick plumage, and other adaptations to a mainly
a,quatic life. Grebes, however, have characteristic lobes
on the toes in place of complete webs.

The cui'ious ornament on its head gives this species its
name ; but the word ' Grebe ' alone really implies this,
coming from a Celtic word for a comb. Though the
term is now applied to the whole family, many of the
members lack the ornament. In this species both sexes
have the crest in summer, but it is lost in winter, and is
absent from the plumage of immature birds. It is,
however, never so fully developed in the female as in
the male.

The Great Crested Grebe may be considered a fairly
common bird over a great part of England. It may be
found on small ponds and large lakes, wherever it has
reed-beds in which to nest and a proper degree of freedom
from molestation. Towards the north of England and
through the Scottish lowlands its haunts become fewer.
In the Highlands it is found on a few of the most
southern lochs which are suitable to its habits, and it is
showing some signs of extending its range. In Ireland it
is comparatively abundant in many of the midland and
eastern coimties. Like the Divers, it is something of a
migrant, and becomes fairly numerous on the south coast
of England in winter, at which season it frequents many
places, both inland and on the sea, where it is not found
in summer.

The nest is a floating mass of vegetable matter moored
among the reeds. The eggs, usually four in number, are
at first provided with an outer white chalky layer. This
wears off to a great extent during incubation and re-
veals the true shell, pale green in colour. The eggs are
usually covered up with material such as the nest is
made of, except when the bird is sitting ; but this is

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 19

perhaps more for warmth than concealment. In fact, the
nest is a mass of decomposing vegetable matter, and
therefore evolves a considerable amoimt of heat. The
temperature of the nest reaches 73° F. at times, and this
explains how the birds can leave their eggs for half-a-
dozen hours without ill effect. Both parents take their
share in the duties of incubation. The chicks are covered
with thick down, and are active from the first, taking to
the water almost at once. In fact, while one parent is
engaged in hatching the remaining eggs, the first one
or two chicks are already spending most of their time
swimming about under the guardianship of the other.
When the old bird swims off rapidly on some alarm, the
chicks attach themselves by their bills to some part of its
plumage. At other times the chicks clamber on to their
parent's back for a rest, or, for the same purpose, are
brought back to the nest ; but this is finally forsaken
almost immediately after the last egg has been hatched.
Two broods, however, are said to be sometimes reared
in a season, the young of the first brood being driven
away to shift for themselves before the second laying
begins.

The down plumage of the yoimg Grebe is very remark-
able on account of a bright-red, triangular patch of bare
skin on the crown of the head and the characteristic
tiger-like stripes. These are alternate stripes of black
and yellow, which run longitudinally the whole length of
the body, and even show themselves latitudinally on the
bill. They are confined to the upper-parts, the under-
parts being of a more uniform pale colour.

A curious habit possessed by this and other Grebes is
that of swallowing their own feathers, apparently to serve
a similar purpose to that of the small stones, and so on,
swallowed by most birds. These feathers are often put

20 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

up in the 'castings' of fish-bones and other indigestible
portions of the bird's food. A recent observer has re-
corded the fact that old Grebes give their own feathers
to their young, while at a later stage the young some-
times pluck their parent's feathers for themselves. The
name ' Loon ' is misapplied to this species in some districts.

THE BLACK=NECKED OR EARED
GREBE

(Podicipes nigricollis).

The Black-necked or Eared Grebe has for long been
suspected to breed exceptionally within the British Isles ;
but the first authenticated eggs in this country were
found in 1904. Details as to locality, and so on, are
rightly being withheld in order to prevent persecution
by collectors. The eggs are up to five in number, and are
yellowish white in colour. The nests have often solid
foundations under water, and numbers may be found close
together in countries where the species is common.

THE LITTLE GREBE, OR DABCHICK

(Podicipes fluviatiiis).

Plate 7.

Of all the Divers and Grebes, the Dabchick is the most
familiar, for it is found on streams, ponds, and lakes
throughout the British Isles. In Scotland it is less
plentiful than in the other coiuitries ; but even there it
is found up to considerable elevations, and as far as the
outlying islands. In winter most of its haunts become

Plate 7.

LITTLE GREBE OR 'D ABCHICK— Podlc'ipes fluvta'iilis.

Length, 9-5 in. ; wing, 4 in.

[Pygop'odes : Podiciped'idie.]
C 20

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 21

more or less ice-bound, and it has of necessity to migrate
— usually to the seacoast.

This species differs most markedly from the members
of its order already discussed, in its small size. Apart
from this, it resembles its crested congener in general
character, but lacks altogether the purely decorative
portions of the latter's plumage. The winter plumage
differs from the summer dress chiefly in the generally
duller and paler tints of the various parts. The chin,
notably, becomes quite white.

The nesting habits of the Dabchick resemble those of
its larger relative. The nest is very similar, for instance,
and the eggs are usually covered up in the absence of
the bird. Except when the danger is very close at hand,
the startled bird usually pauses to pluck with great
rapidity a few billfuls of reeds and lay them on top of
its treasiu-es, or merely to scrape over them with its feet
material already plucked. Concealment is probably a
more important object in this case, and a nest with the
eggs properly covered up in this way might easily be
passed over by the uninitiated as an accidental collection
of flotsam. The four to six eggs are at first creamy
white, but long before the end of the three weeks of
incubation they become darkly stained by the materials
of the nest. The chicks are striped like those of the
Great Crested Grebe, but they lack the patch of bare red
skin. In their habits and their early adoption of an
aquatic life they are also similar. Two broods are some-
times reared in a season, and a male Dabchick has been
recorded as still in charge of the first brood while the
mother was already incubating the second clutch of eggs.
One curious habit common to many aquatic birds may
be conveniently described in connection with the Dabchick,
although we have already given it a passing mention.

22 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

This is the habit of swimming or resting in the water in a
submerged or half-submerged position. A Dabchick on the
approach of danger can gradually sink lower and lower
in the water till its back is awash, then till only head
and neck remain above the surface, and finally till only
the beak protrudes. Usually the bird dives and swims
under water to a safer place before this last stage is
reached. But in a small pond a Dabchick has been
observed trying to escape detection by remaining in one
place, with only the beak appearing, and this looked so
like one of the small floating objects that abounded
there that the presence of the bird would not have been
noticed by any one who had not seen it sink. Now, a
Dabchick, or any bird for that matter, must weigh less
than a quarter of the weight of its bulk of water, and
will therefore, alive or dead, float buoyantly on the
surface unless some considerable force be exerted on it.
In the ordinary diving, which must not for a moment
be confused with this submerging, the bird itself obviously
exerts this force. But in the submerging we do not yet
know what means are employed. Close observation of
Dabchicks and others in captivity has failed to detect
any motion, where violent motion appears to be a si7ie
qua non. The habit is shared by Divers, Grebes,
Ducks, Cormorants, and probably others, and an apparently
similar phenomenon is the Dipper'^s walking on the bottom
of a stream.

Of the Little Grebe's other powers in the water we
need add nothing further, but they are familiar to most
dwellers in the coimtry, and may even be studied on
many of the ornamental waters in London parks. The
name ' Dabchick ' is equivalent to ' Dipchick,"* and is of
course a reference to the bird's powers of diving and
of submerging itself.

Plate 8.

STORM FETREL—Procel/a/ia fela'gica.

Length, 6-5 in. ; wing, 4-7 in.

[Tubinar'es : Procellaii'idte.]
C 22

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 23

ORDER, TUBINARES (PETRELS, &c.);
Family, PROCELLARIID^ (Typical Petrels).

THE STORM PETREL

(Procellaria pelagica).

Plate 8.

' Birds of the open sea ! ' It is a title applied more or
less appropriately to several kinds of birds, but one which
conjm-es up to the imagination before all others the
Petrels, those birds which form the escort of ships in mid-
ocean when Gulls and other such sea-fowl have long dropped
astern. On all the oceans of the world some of them are
to be found, and they are chief among the few flying
birds that cross that expanse of encircling seas which
isolates the grim Antarctic continent from the rest of
the world. It is not only the thought of their months-
long absences from land that lends to these birds an air
of romance, nor is it only the superstitions of sailors re-
garding them, for they have an especial attraction and
fascination for the naturalist because of the way the secrets
of their lives have been kept from him. For in spite of
the discoveries of recent expeditions, we remain ignorant of
the very nesting-places of many species, themselves common
enough on the high-seas. And this for good reasons : the
wide distribution and the long joiirneys of these birds
make the field of exploration overwhelmingly great. The
nesting-places themselves may be a few unimportant islands,
or a portion of ice-locked Antarctica. But even if they
are in less out-of-the-way places, the fact that Petrels'
nests are usually in burrows or rock crevices, and may be

24 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

high above sea - level, makes their discovery improbable
till the observer has some clue to their whereabouts.
And no such clue is afforded by the birds, for most of
them are nocturnal, or at least crepuscular, in their habits
during the breeding season.

The Petrels include many different kinds of birds,
showing a great range in the matter of size, varying
from the small, true Petrels to the great Albatrosses,
some of which are among the largest of present-day
flying birds. One peculiar characteristic is shared by all
— namely, that the nostrils terminate externally in tubes
along the top of the beak. These tubes are at once
noticeable in a specimen ; and even at a distance they
give the outline of the beak an irregular appearance, by
which, without further trouble, a bird is identified as a
member of this order.

Although southern oceans are the headquarters of the
Petrels, four different kinds nest regularly in the British
Isles. But as they frequent for this purpose some out-
lying islands, and for the rest keep out to sea, the stay-
at-home British naturalist is not likely to know them
well from personal observation. During storms, however,
examples of various species are not infrequently captured
inland in all parts of the country.

Of the four, the most abundant is the Storm or
Stormy PetreL The Scilly Isles are its only English
haunt, but it is foinid to a slight extent on the
Welsh coast. It is most abundant, however, on the west
and north coasts of Ireland and Scotland, and especially
on the islands off these coasts, from the Blaskets to the
Shetlands.

To these haunts the Storm Petrels come at the end of
April or, more often, early in May. The nesting-sites are
crevices in the cliffs, or imder stones, or are burrows

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 25

excavated on the softer slopes by the birds themselves.
In these burrows the birds may be easily caught once the
position has been reached ; but all Petrels have the un-
pleasant habit in such emergencies of vomiting over
their aggressors a thick, oily fluid, the half - digested
contents of their stomachs. Oil is indeed typical of
Petrels ; their bodies are very oily, and the odour of oil
hangs about them and pervades their nesting-holes. A
slight nest of grass, &c., is sometimes made at the end
of the burrow ; but this is very often dispensed with.
Some of the birds begin to lay by the end of May, but
incubation is not general till well on in June. Only one
egg is laid, and this is pure white before it becomes
soiled, which it soon does owing to the rough texture of
its shell. Not uncommonly some very faint reddish specks
are present, often arranged in a zone near the larger end.
The Storm Petrel will lay a second and a third time if
robbed, and the fact that eggs have been found in the
middle of September has led to the supposition that two
chicks are sometimes reared in a season. But as incuba-
tion lasts about seven weeks, and the nestling is said to
take more than ten weeks to become fledged, this seems
hardly possible. The nestling is at first nearly naked and
helpless, but is later covered with very long black down.

Small fish and various pelagic organisms form the
food of this Petrel, and fatty refuse of all descriptions
is particularly sought after, the birds flying close to
the surface of the sea and skimming off minute float-
ing particles. The name Petrel, although also widely
applied to the whole order, strictly belongs to this and
a few allied species. It means 'little (bird of St) Peter,'
and is probably an allusion to their habit of ' walking
on the water' — that is, of paddling their feet in the
water as they fly close to the surface.

D

26 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

LEACH'S FORK=TAILED PETREL

(Oceanodroma leucorrhoa).

Leach's Fork-tailed Petrel nests in the St Kilda group,
in the Hebrides, and off the west coast of Ireland, and
is found in winter on various parts of our coasts, and
sometimes even inland after gales. In a general way it
may be said to resemble the Storm Petrel in appear-
ance and habits ; but it is rather a larger bird and has
a markedly forked tail. The eggs and nesting economy
are not very much different. The two other Petrels which
nest in the British Isles, the Manx Shearwater and the
Fulmar Petrel, are easily distinguished from these and
from each other.

Family, PUFFINID^ (Shearwaters, &c.).

THE MANX SHEARWATER

(Puffinus anglorum).

The Manx Sheanvater does not nest on the east
coast of the British mainland, but does so in Orkney
and Shetland, and on the west from the Hebrides to
Scilly Isles, as well as round the Irish coasts. The
most important colonies are on some of the Inner
Hebrides. As rats have exterminated the colony on the
Calf of Man, the name 'Manx' has no longer any
particular significance. Briefly described, this Shearwater
is a bird nearly as large as a Kittiwake, and has longish
wings and a skimming flight, dark -brown upper -parts
and white under-parts, and a rather long, hooked beak.
It shares with its close ally, the 'Lost Soul' of the
Bosphorus, the fictitious reputation of never alighting

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 27

on the water. A single white egg is laid in May on a
little grass at the end of a burrow. The bird is partly
nocturnal in its habits.

THE FULMAR PETREL

(Fulmarus glacialis).

The Fulmar Petrel is a bird about the size of a
Common Gull, and with a veiy gull-like plumage. But
it may be readily distinguished, even at a distance, by
various points : the tubular nostrils are very conspicuous,
and the flight is quite different. As with some Skuas,
there is also a dark 'phase.' The Fulmar's only British
nesting -places are in the Scottish isles — some of the
Hebrides, and of the St Kilda and Shetland groups —
and on the Scottish mainland near Cape Wrath. In
winter it is found off many parts of the Scottish and
English coasts, but is seldom obtained in the south of
England or in Ireland. The single egg is white — occa-
sionally slightly spotted — but usually becomes much soiled
durina; incubation. It is laid in a hollow scratched in
the turf of a ledge or steep slope on the cliffs. On
St Kilda and elsewhere great numbers are taken each
yeai- for the sake of the flesh and oil.

28 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

ORDER, GAVI^ (GULLS, &c.) ;
Family, STERCORARIID^ (Skuas).

THE ARCTIC OR RICHARDSON'S SKUA

(Stercorarius crepidatus).
Plate 9.

We now come to the Gull order, beginning with the
small group of birds known from their cries as Skuas
or Skua-Gulls. They are predaceous birds, with strong
hooked beaks, and with sharp claws on their webbed
feet. Sometimes they prey on small mammals and on
young and weakly birds, but to a great extent they
obtain their food by piratical means. Besides being
strong and well armed, they are swift on the wing, and
woe betide the gull which is caught in the open with
a fish in its crop. It can only escape by disgorging
its prey, upon which the aggressor immediately swoops,
as likely as not catching it in mid -air. Even the
Terns cannot hope to escape the swift robber.

There are seven species of Skua in all, four inhabit-
ing high northern and three high southern latitudes.
The former are all visitors on our coasts, but only two
nest in the British Isles, and that only in the very
north of Scotland. Of these the Great Skua is the
largest and fiercest ; but we must give the Arctic Skua
first place owing to its greater abundance. Arctic Skuas
inhabiting the more southerly portions of the species'
range tend to have the entire plumage of a sooty hue ;
but as we proceed northwards a form with lighter under-
parts gains the ascendancy. All gradations between the
two forms, which breed indiscriminately where they meet.

Plate 9.

ARCTIC OR RICHARDSON'S SK\]\—Sfercorarius crepida'tus.

Length, 20 in. ; wing, 13 in.

[GAv'iiE : Stercorari'idas.]
D 28

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 29

are found. Partly because the name 'Richardson's Skua'
rightly belongs only to the dark 'phase,' and partly for
the sake of brevity, the name 'Arctic Skua' is now exten-
sively used, although it has no special appropriateness.

The Arctic Skua nests in small numbers on the most
northerly parts of the Scottish mainland, and has colonies
on the Hebrides, on the Orkneys, and especially on the
Shetlands. It is not until the end of May that the eggs
are laid. These are two in number, and have dark-
brown blotches on a ground varying from chocolate to
light-greenish brown. The nest is a mere hollow on the
open moor or bog, and is rarely lined.

The chick is covered with dark -brown down, while
birds in immature plumage lack the elongated tail-
feathers, and have, in the light phase, dark bars on
the under-parts.

THE GREAT SKUA

(Megalestris catarrhactes).

The Great Skua is much less common than the Arctic
Skua. It appears to be most numerous on this side
of the Atlantic, where its chief haunts are off the
Iceland coast. It is also found in small numbers
in the Faroes and in the Shetland group. In the
latter it was formerly protected, because it drove away
eagles from the moors it nested on, and was therefore
considered a useful bird by the shepherds. In more
recent times the ravages of collectors reduced its numbers;
but this decrease was checked by the introduction of
protection by the proprietors of Unst and Foula, the
only isles on which it nested. The 'Bonxie,' as it is
called there, is therefore again on the increase, and new

30 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

colonies are being formed, some of them even on other
islands of the group.

As already stated, the Great Skua is a larger and
fiercer bird than the Arctic Skua. The plumage resembles
that of the dark form of that species, but the bases
of the quills form a conspicuous light patch on each
wing, and the central tail-feathers project only half an
inch beyond the others. This species and the three
southern Skuas are classed together in one group, and
the Arctic Skua with the remaining two in another.

The Great Skua's eggs, nest, &c., are similar to those
of its smaller relative, except that they are larger ; but
it displays more boldness in the defence of its nest,
swooping at and sometimes striking the head of any one
who intrudes on its haimts.

Family, LARID^ (Gulls and Terns);
Subfamily, LARIN^ (Gulls).

THE HERRING GULL

(Larus argentatus).

Plate 10.

Under the unlovely epithet of ' Herring Gull ^ orni-
thologists place the bird which is to most people the
* ordinary Sea-Gull.' Unfortunately the popular names
' Sea-Gull ' and ' Sea-Mew ' are too wide, and some cum-
brous qualifying adjective is necessary if we wish to
name exactly any particular species. Still more confus-
ing is the fact that the term ' Common Gull ' has come
to be applied to a much less familiar bird, which our
present purposes make it convenient to relegate to a
subordinate place. 'Common Gull' would indeed be an

■ i

Plate lo.

HERRING GULL— Z^rW argeiita' tns.

Length, 24 in. ; wing, 17-5 in.

[Gav'le : Lar'idas ; Lari'nae.]
D 30

BRITAIN S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 31

appropriate enough name for this species, and on the
score of appropriateness we have no fault to find with
' Herring GuU.' We confess, however, to a preference
for some more euphonius appellation, such as the German
' Silver Mew/ * But ' Herring Gull ' it is, and must, we
fear, remain.

Perhaps it is on account of its commonness that we
are prejudiced against it ; perhaps on account of its
habits, at times repulsive, as when a flock fights and
screams over some foul piece of cam on among the jet-
sam. Whatever the reason, the Herring Gull is less
admired than it deserves, for amid favoui'able surround-
ings it is a decidedly handsome bird. On the wing it
looks its best, for then not only its appearance, but its
skill demands our praise. Its feats of gliding and soaring,
we venture to think, excel any that can be performed by
other common British birds. One may study these with
especial facility when a number of the birds are follow-
ing a steamer, hanging poised on motionless wings in
the up-draught behind the stern. The same thing may
be noticed above a clift-top, the birds taking advantage
of the vertical currents set up. And in winter they
may be seen soaring in circles at a considerable
height above the gardens of any coastal to\v'n, riding
on the varying gusts, so that they go this way and
that, rise and fall, without more than an occasional flap
or two to quit some disadvantageous current or to
regain the course from which some crueller blast has
buffeted them. Then sharp eyes detect scraps of food
thrown out, and a Gull comes down. Probably they
watch, vulture-like, for each other's descent, for soon a
flock collects. Pulling, and flapping, and screaming, they

* ' Silbermdwe.' But the Germans use ' Herringsmowe' for the Lesser
Black-backed Gull.

32 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

do not allow each other time to eat, but one and all stuff
their ' crops ' to the fullest extent, as rapidly as they can.
Fish is eaten by preference ; but it is perhaps a less
important item in their bill of fare than one might
imagine, for they appear to an onlooker to be not
over successful in their fishing. Their usual method is
to beat slowly along a few hundred yards of shallow
water, dropping now and then on a fish near the sur-
face ; then to circle round to the beginning of the coiu'se
and repeat the evolution, continuing in this way till
one of their pounces is successful. A Gull with food,
however, has no peace from his ever-hungry companions
till the food is swallowed, and even then, if the robber
Skua is his pursuer, he may have to disgorge it from
his crop. In summer the Herring Gull has much to
answer for in the way of egg -stealing. Carrion also
forms a lai-ge part of its food, and indeed little comes
amiss to it. At times these gulls go inland and feed
in. the fields, probing the turnips for grubs. In this
latter occupation they do more harm than good, how-
ever, by making holes by which rain enters and rots
more than the grub would have harmed.
^ The Herring Gull is found round all our coasts at
all seasons of the year, and breeds on almost all the
cliff-bound portions. Broken-down cliffs suit it best, for
it is no lover of narrow ledges. A good, broad ledge,
the flat top of a 'stack,' or a portion of cliff' that is
little more than a steep grass-slope, are typical sites.
Sometimes, indeed, a small colony — for the species is
always very gregarious — may be found in a marsh or
on an islet in some loch ; but such positions are more
typical of some other species of Gulls, which we shall
deal with later. The fact that in some parts of
America, where Herring Gulls have suffered much perse-

y^'*

Plate ir.

COMMON GULL— Zrt///j can'iis.

Length, 17 in. to 18-5 in. ; wing, 14 in. to 15 in.

[Gav'itE : Lai-'ida; ; Lari'nae.]
E 32

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 33

cution, they have taken to building in trees, is frequently
cited. The nest itself may be a mere hollow in the
turf, but it is usually a fair-sized heap of herbage, with
a depression in the top to contain the eggs. These are
usually three, but often only two in number. In colour
they vary veiy considerably, but olive-brown and green
eggs, with dark-brown blotches, are typical. Eggs may be
laid before April is out, but incubation does not become
general till mid-May.

The young are down -clad, but at first inactive, a
characteristic of cliff nestlings ; obviously the mortality
would be too great if they took to running about the
ledges at too early an age. The down is huffish brown
in colour, with dark-brown spots. The first real plumage
is quite different from the adults'", all the feathers being
closely mottled with brown, while the bjll and the legs
are dark. This plumage is retained till the autumn of
the following year. Then, and every subsequent autumn,
a new plumage is substituted for the old, becoming
each time more like the white and silver livery of the
adult. In captivity, at any rate, it takes five years for
all brown feathers to disappear, and even after that the
proportion of black in the quills is said to decrease
with age. In winter the head of the adult bird is
speckled finely with light brown.

Man is undoubtedly the Herring Gull's worst enemy.
In early summer the eggs are regularly taken for food
on most parts of the coast, and at all times the birds
themselves are common victims of shore - shooting. On
the Continent, in both France and Germany, as we have
witnessed, it is considered ' sport ' to go out in a boat
and shoot down the unwary Gulls, leaving them on the
water to perish painfully of their wounds. In this
country, fortunately, worthier ideas for the most part

34 BRITAINS BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

prevail ; but in the neighbourhood of every large coastal
town shore-shooting is rampant. Here again the wounded
birds are usually left to their tardy fate. A broken
wing is the commonest injury, and the humane person
who rescues these birds will find them interesting, if not
veiy intelligent, garden pets. Their brains are not
of a high order, and true tameness they never seem to
acquire. Proper treatment will, however, soon produce the
familiarity that breeds contempt. But in this they show
much individuality. We have known one in captivity
for over eight years remain absurdly wild and suspicious,
while others in the same garden have in a few weeks
become bold and fearless, if hardly friendly. What
possible conclusion is there but that the particular
individual was mentally different from the rest ?

THE COMMON QULL

(Larus canus).

Plate 11.

Although to this misnamed bird belongs the right to
be considered as the typical Gull, it will be better for
our present purposes, as we have said, to give it a less
important place. On our coasts the preceding species is
undoubtedly the commonest Gull, while inland, especially
in Ireland, the Black-headed Gull holds the first place.
Although the so-called Common Gull is a familiar
enough bird on our coasts in winter, and is often
found inland, as a breeding bird it appears to be entirely
absent from England and Wales, and is only found
very locally in Ireland. In Scotland it is relatively
abundant, but still decidedly local.

Plate 12.

LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL— Lar'jis fus'ciis.

Length, 22 in. ; wing, 16 in. to 16-5 in.

[G.4v'l« : Lar'idas ; Lari'nce.J
E 34

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 35

In point of size the Common Gull comes midway
between the Herring Gull and the Black-headed Gull,
and as regards plumage resembles the former, but the
colouring of the legs and beak is different.

The Common Gull does not nest on cliffs, but fre-
quently resorts to the less precipitous parts of the
Scottish coast, and haunts similar to those of the
Common Tern are sometimes chosen. Inland it nests on
the shores and islets of Highland lochs and in marshes,
after the manner of its black-headed cousin, but sometimes
on open hillsides. Under favourable conditions it forms
colonies. At no time is it a typical sea-bird, and it gene-
rally comes to shore on the approach of rough weather.
This is doubtless the origin of its German name ' Storm
GuU.' It seems a pity that some such appellation should
not be substituted for its misleading English name. It
is not as if this name had any wide popular hold ; on
the contrary, if used at all, except by ornithologists, it
is generally misapplied.

The nest is a clumsy heap of herbage, heather, sea-
weed, or similar materials, according to locality. The
nesting and other habits are similar to those of the
Herring Gull, except in the particulars mentioned, and
the eggs are also like those of that species, but scarcely
exceed those of the Black-headed Gull in size.

THE LESSER BLACK=BACKED GULL

(Larus fuscus).

Plate 12.

The Lesser Black-backed Gull is just a little smaller
than the Herring Gull, and differs from it chiefly in the
bluish-black mantle and the yellow legs. In the various

36 BRITAIN S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

stages of the immature plumage it resembles the Herring
Gull, but has always a darker mantle. The chicks in
down appear to be indistinguishable.

This species usually nests in large and sometimes
enormous colonies, but it is more local in its distribution
round the British coasts than is the Herring Gull, as its
choice of nesting-sites is somewhat different. Ledges on
cliifs are not favoured, but steep grassy slopes and the
grass-covered tops of islets. Naturally, therefore, it is
absent from niuch of the south and east of England; but
it nests in Cornwall, Devon, Wales, and the Isle of Man,
and is abundant in Cumberland and on the Fame Islands.
Around the coasts of Scotland and Ireland, its haunts are
much more frequent. In the former countiy it is
especially numerous in Orkney and Shetland, and on the
parts of the west coast sheltered by the Hebrides. In
Ireland there are inland as well as coastal colonies.

Except for the difference already remarked, the nesting
habits are similar to those of the Herring Gull, and the
eggs are not easy to distinguish, although perceptibly
smaller on an average. They are also more variable in
colour, a greenish type predominating. Clutches of four
seem more frequent than is the case with other gulls.

Although the bird subsists chiefly on fish and small
crustaceans, little comes amiss to it, and in the nesting
season it becomes a bold robber of the eggs and young
of other birds.

THE GREAT BLACK=BACKED GULL

(Laru5 marinus).

This fine species is practically a larger edition of the
Lesser Black-backed Gull. The legs, however, are flesh-
coloured, and the mantle is of an even dee}jer black. It is

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 37

tlie largest of the whole Gull family and often measures
thirty inches from the tip of the beak to the end of
the tail.

At most of the English localities mentioned for the
preceding species, the Great Black-backed Gull nests in
small numbers; but it is absent as a breeding species from
the Fames and the whole east coast. On the east coast
of Scotland a few pairs may be found here and there, but
even in Orkney and Shetland the bird is not very com-
mon. In the Outer Hebrides, however, and on the north-
west coasts of Ireland it nests quite abundantly, although
never in such huge numbers as its smaller relative, from
twenty to thirty pairs being considered rather a large
colony. In spite o^ this it is decidedly commoner than
the Lesser Black-backed Gull on parts of our coasts in
winter, although generally seen singly or in pairs.

There is considerable variety in the nesting-places hill-
tops, cliffs, and islets in mountain lochs. The three ego-s
are usually light brown, handsomely marked with gray
and umber, and can generally be identified by their size
alone.

A bird of noble appearance and majestic flight, it is
nevertheless a carrion-eater and a slaughterer of the
weakly and the wounded — from sheep to young birds.

Just as there is a larger and a smaller black-backed
and dark-winged Gull in north temperate latitudes, so
there are two light-mantled, white-winged species of about
the same sizes in the Arctic region. These— the Glaucous,
or Burgomaster, and Iceland Gulls— are uncommon, cold-
weather visitors to the British Islands.

38 BRITAIN S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

THE BLACK=HEADED GULL

(Larus ridibundus).
Plate 13.

There are some who object to the name Black-headed
Gull on the score of inaccuracy, and would substitute for
it ' Brown-headed Gull/ But to demand absolute accu-
racy in a bird's popular name seems to us absurd, and
we uphold the opinion that, as the GulPs ' hood,' although
really of dark chocolate hue, appears black at distances at
which the bird may usually be observed when alive and
free, the term ' black-headed ' is perfectly justifiable in a
popular name. The name ' Laughing Gull,' sometimes
popularly applied to this species, is also objected to as
being rather far-fetched. In this connection Mr Hudson
has made the interesting statement that the cry, although
not very like a European laugh, is not unlike a negro's.

Still another popular name, ' Peewit Gull,' raises an
interesting point. In winter Black-headed Gulls have the
habit of watching Lapwings feeding in the fields, chasing
them about, and bullying them into surrendering the
worms and other things they have just found. The habit
is probably the reason for the name; but other birds than
Lapwings are sometimes victimised in this way.

Among common British Gulls the Black-headed Gull is
readily distinguished by its dark hood ; but other points
to be noted are the small size and the bright-red colour
of legs and beak. The hood disappears in winter, but
traces of it may always be seen. The dark feathers are
of course lost at the annual complete moult in autumn ;
but the mode of reassumption of the hood in spring was
for some time a matter of dispute. It has been recently

k -^-^^i^

Plate 13.

BLACK-HEADED GULL— Lar'us ridibun'dus.

Length, 16 in. ; wing, 12 in.

[Gav'l4£ : Lar'idce; Lari'n^.]
E 38

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 39

shown, however, that this is accomplished by a partial
moult at that season.

The Black-headed Gull could not well be termed a
'Sea-Gull,"" for it is not to any extent a marine species.
It may, it is true, be found about our coasts at all
seasons, but chiefly where there are sandy shores and
sheltered estuaries. In summer many of its haunts are
far from the sea, islands on inland waters being favourite
nesting resorts. Still more typical haunts are the marshy
edges of meres or lochs. There the muddy pools and the
stretches of quaking turf form some protection against
many of its enemies, including man, its worst. In the
southern and south-western counties of England, breeding
colonies of Black-headed Gvdls are few and far between ;
but some of them are of great size, although not so great
as a few decades ago. Scoulton Mere in Norfolk is
perhaps the most famous nesting-place. Fifty years ago
16,000 eggs were taken for eating purposes from that
colony alone in a single season ! In Wales, in the Lake
District, and in the north of England generally, colonies
become more numerous. In Scotland, colonies are very
frequent, even up to the Hebrides and the Shetland Isles.
In Ireland the species is everywhere abundant.

In winter the Black-headed Gull is found on the
Thames at London, and at other places where it is not
found to any extent in the breeding season. But the
numbers throughout the countiy in winter can only
represent a fraction of those that nest with us. The
migrations of birds like this — ' partial migrants," we call
them — are rather difficult to study, as it is impossible to
note their arrivals and departures owing to the presence
of some members of the species throughout the year. An
interesting method of study which avoids this difficulty is
that of recording the wanderings of marked individual

40 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

birds. The migrations of the species under discussion
were first studied in this way in Germany. The little
fishing village of Rossitten, at the south-eastern corner of
the Baltic Sea, is the seat of the German Ornithological
Society's Vogehvarte, or ornithological station, while near
the village there happens to be a colony of Black-headed
Gulls. For several years the young birds of this colony
have been marked with light aluminium foot-rings in-
scribed with the address ' Vogelwarte, Rossitten,' in
addition to a number, different in each case. Some fifty
of these have been heard of again, and the results so far
are of great interest. Some of the birds had followed
the north coast of Germany and the north and west
coasts of France, some touching the south of England ;
others had gone so far, and then cut across Europe,
perhaps following the Rhine and Rhone, and had reached
the Balearic Islands ; still others had crossed at once to
the Adriatic and had reached the south of Italy, and
even Tunis. In the same way Black-headed Gulls in
this country are now being marked with rings inscribed
with various addresses, and in a few years we shall
probably know much more than we do now of the life-
history of the members of this interesting and familiar
species nesting in the British Isles.

By the middle of Febiniary or early in March most of
the Gulls have returned from their wanderings and have
assembled at their nesting haunts. The nests are large
bundles of herbage, quite sufficient to keep the eggs high
and dry above the water or mud. Late in April or early
in May the eggs are laid. They are frequently two, but
more often three in number. Genuine clutches of four
eggs are probably not very rare ; but fom- or more eggs
in the same nest are probably to be regarded as the joint
product of two hens. In colour the eggs are very variable.

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 41

Various shades of huffish brown and brownish oHve are
t3rpical, while the spots, which often run together into
large blotches, are much darker. All sorts of abnormali-
ties — too many to enumerate here — are not infrequently
found. The eggs in a single clutch, whether of normal
or abnormal type, generally resemble each other in con-
siderable degree ; but ' odd sets ' are not uncommon. In
defence of its eggs or young this Gull will swoop at
the head of the human intmder, often striking him with
its wings.

Incubation lasts rather less than three weeks. The
young birds are covered with huffish down, with darker
spots above and paler down below. If undisturbed they
do not leave the nest for some days. Altogether they do
not make very hardy chicks, it seems, for the mortality-
rate among them is high. Although they swim with ease,
and apparently with pleasure, at an early age, they are
extremely liable to attacks of cramp afterwards, which only
too often prove fatal. Much harm may therefore be done
indirectly by the most innocent invasion of a gullery,
through frightening the chicks into the water at too early
an age. The immature plumage is assumed after a few
weeks, and the young Gulls scatter over the country. In
this plumage they have the head something like the
adults in winter, the mantle at first mostly dark brown,
but afterwards a mixture of light brown and gray, while
the bill and legs are dull yellow and yellowish red re-
spectively. The tail has a conspicuous dark terminal bar.

The question of the food of the Black -headed Gull is
an important one, owing to the keen dispute as to
whether the species is to be considered harmful or
beneficial to man. This dispute has brought out the
necessity for the study of economic ornithology in this
country, and has shown the futility of acting on the

F

42 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

opinions of parties directly interested. The fisherman
complains of its fishing and fiy-eating, where a more
impartial obsei*ver is struck by the small proportion of
these gulls which really engage in fishing ! In the
farmer's estimation, the fact that it sometimes eats newly
sown grain outweighs all other considerations. A couple
of years ago a report was drawn up on this subject for
the information of the Cumberland County Council. In
it the results of a hundred ' post-mortems ■" on Black-
headed Gulls were given. It was found that both fish
and grain form a very inconsiderable proportion of
their food. Earth-worms, however, are a staple article
of diet. But the proportion of wire-worms, crane-fly
larvae, and other pests is large enough to do more than
balance all the harm the bird is responsible for. In
spite of this obviously favourable verdict, a recommenda-
tion was made that legal protection be removed for a
time, lest an abnormal increase take place and the species
be driven to more harmful ways of supporting existence !
This inconsistent recommendation has met with the severe
criticism it deserved, but has nevertheless been acted on
in Cumberland and elsewhere. A more authoritative
report on the food of birds has since been published
for the Board of Agriculture, and in this paper the
opinion that the Black-headed Gull is on the whole
decidedly favom'able to man is emphatically stated. It
is to be hoped that this may have the effect of having
the species reinstated as a protected bird, for meanwhile,
we know, an amount of egg-looting is going on at the
gulleries which cannot but have, in a few years, a
disastrous effect.

Plate 14.

K I T T I W A K E — Ris'sa Mdac'tyla,

Length, 15-5 in. ; wing, 12 in.

[Gav'i^ : Lar'idje ; Lari'nas.]
F 42

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 43

THE KITTIWAKE

(Rissa tridactyla).
Plate 14.

All the Gulls we have so far treated of belong to the
typical gi-oup ; but the Kittiwakes form a small group by
themselves. Oui' species is characterised by the possession
of only three toes, the hind-toe being generally absent,
though occasionally appearing as the merest rudiment.
Other characteristics are the small size, the greenish -yellow
beak, the black legs, and the black-tipped primary quills.
In winter the back of the neck is grayish. Fish and other
marine animals form the Kittiwake's food, and it can
dive well and s\\'im under water. The name ' Kittiwake '
is supposed to represent the bird''s cry.

Although by no means confined to high latitudes, the
Kittiwake is circumpolar in its distribution ; examples
from the Pacific — where there is also a red-legged species
— more frequently show a i-udimentary hind -toe than
specimens obtained elsewhere. Although in autumn and
winter it is found inland and migrates southwards from
its summer haunts, in the nesting season it is strictly
marine, and in Europe is not found farther south than
Brittany. In the British Isles it nests in great numbers
on many parts of the coasts and adjacent islands, but
more particularly on the west coasts of Ireland and Scot-
land, and on the east coast of Britain, from Flamborough
Head to Shetland.

Precipitous cliffs are always chosen as nesting-places,
the narrowest ledges sufficing to support the nests. These
are simple affairs, constructed of seaweed, turf, bent-grass,
and the like.

44 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

The eggs, laid late in May, are two or three in
number, and very variable in colour. On the whole, they
are lighter in colour and less glossy than the eggs of
most Gulls, delicate grays and browns and creamy tints
being common.

The chicks are grayish bufF, and the immature birds,
or 'Tarrocks,' may be distinguished by the dark half-
collar on the hind-neck, the dark patches on the wings,
the dark bar on the tail, and by the black beak and
brownish legs.

In former times Kittiwakes were only protected till the
1st of August, when the birds were still about their nesting-
places, and frequently had young ones not yet able to
leave the cliffs. Thousands were then shot down to supply
the plume-market, with much cruelty to the parent birds,
and to the chicks thus left to starve.

Subfamily, STERN I N^ (Terns).

THE COMMON TERN

(Sterna fluviatilis).

Plate 15.

At interv'als round the coasts of the British Isles we
come across considerable stretches of low-lying country which
have been overwhelmed by sand. Some of them, perhaps,
have always been waste within the memory of man ; but
not a few were a century or two ago tracts of fair and
fertile land with prosperous villages. In some cases the
encroachment of the ' wandering ' dunes was gradual, but
in those days irresistible, for even in these times it takes
all the craft of man to protect many another fertile
tract and threatened village. At other times the attack

Plate 15.

COMMON TERN —Stern' a fluvia'tilis.

Lengtli, 14-25 ill. ; wing, 10-5 in.

[Gav'i/e : Lar'ida; ; Sterni'nEe.]
F 44

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 45

has been swift and sudden, a disaster of some great
wind-storm. Thus it comes that these waste-lands, among
which we might name the famous Culbin Sands in
Moray, blot out whole parishes, leaving a mere tradition
of former prosperity, verified occasionally by some move-
ment of the shifting dunes revealing for a time a church
steeple or a house-top. These sandy wastes support little
vegetation other than bent-grass, and of animal life there
is for the greater part of the year practically none. For
some weeks in summer, however, many of these desolate
wastes become crowded nui'series of bird-life. The sandy
hollows teem with birds hatching their eggs and rearing
their young. And among these the most numerous and
the most noticeable are the Terns of various species.

The Terns are closely related to the Gulls, which they
resemble in many essential as well as in many obvious
ways. The plumage of the typical Terns is veiy gull-
like. All four common British Terns have the plumage
mostly white, except for the gray mantle and the black
cap. This latter is lost to a greater or less extent in winter,
and is represented in the immature plumage by a few
dark markings. Immature birds have also many brown
feathers in wings, mantle, &c. Altogether, the Terns''
greatest difference from the Gulls lies in their smaller size
and much more slender and graceful form. In fact, the
long wings and the deeply-forked tail have earned for these
birds the popular title of ' Sea-Swallows,' an epithet whose
suitability no one who has ever seen a flock of them on
the wing would for an instant deny.

Of the four species referred to, the most abundant in
our islands is the Common Tern. Like the others, it is
a summer visitor, arriving late in April or early in May.
As a breeding species it is widely distributed with us.
Small colonies may be found on islands in rivers and

46 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

other inland waters, but more often near the coast.
There, any low -lying island or tract of open waste
land may be the site of a colony of from an3rthing up
to several thousand pairs. But it is especially the
sandy wastes that we have described that are the typical
haunts of the Common Tern during the nesting season.
When we invade such a sanctuary of bird-life and reach
the top of one of the dunes encircling one of the large
hollows, a thick cloud of these graceful birds rises
before us. They remain flying about above the nests
they have just left, uttering loud discordant screams,
harsh and grating to the ear. Now and then, in
a curious manner, all become simultaneously silent, and a
lull ensues, to be suddenly broken in a few seconds by
the renewal of the clamour.

We descend to the hollow in search of nests, but are
at first unsuccessful. Then all at once we come on one
so suddenly that our next step would have destroyed it.
A few steps more and we almost tread on a second, and
we find ourselves in the midst of the colony, for, as oui'
eyes get accustomed to distinguish the eggs from their
surroundings, we begin to see them on every side. The
eggs do indeed harmonise well with the sand. The coloiu*
is very variable, ranging from light buff or pale green to
rich, warm brown. The markings may be blotches or
mere speckles, and are generally of a very dark brown, but
purplish under-markings are usually present also. Three
eggs form the full clutch, but two are very common.
The eggs in a clutch frequently show considerable
resemblance to each other, but are often totally different.
It is not very uncommon, for instance, to find one egg
pure white or unspotted light blue, or some such abnormal
colour, while the others are of a commoner type.

The nests are very primitive affairs. Often the eggs

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 47

are laid with nothing between them and the hot sand ;
but more usually there is some attempt at lining the
scraped-out hollow, bent-grass or herbage of some sort
being generally used. The nests are not always placed
on sand, of coiu'se ; but whether difference of situation has
any effect on the type of nest is doubtful. It is some-
times said that the amount of lining depends on the
dampness of the ground ; but we have noted dozens of
cases where a perfectly unlined ' scrape "* and a com-
paratively bulky nest lay within a yard of each other,
both on dry sand.

Incubation lasts about three weeks, and the young
leave the nest at once and begin to wander about the
colony, showing considerable aptness in concealing them-
selves in the tufts of bent-grass at the approach of
danger. It is certain that even in these large colonies
Gulls and Terns know their own nests infallibly ; but
whether they can distinguish their own offspring from
among the hundreds of chicks is more doubtful. The
down plumage is very similar to that of the Black-headed
and other Gulls.

When the young have attained full size and the power
of flight, they journey with their parents to the shore,
if they are not already practically there. Here they
remain for several weeks more — till late in September in
some seasons — before migrating to ' coasts that keep the
sun."" On the shore they still remain markedly gregarious,
and old and young keep together in large flocks,
spending most of their time standing or sitting on the
sandbanks. Some of the old birds, however, are usually
away fishing, and their method of doing this is interest-
ing. Like Gulls, they quarter the water methodically, but
with less regularity and at a greater height above the
surface. The prey once marked, the descent is a head-

48 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

long plunge, the bird often striking the water with
sufficient force to submerge it completely and send up a
column of spray. Even on the shore in late September
the catch is shared with the young birds, showing perhaps
that skill in this sort of fishing is not easily acquired.

THE ARCTIC TERN

(Sterna macrura).
Plate 16.

Very like the Common Tern is the Arctic Tern. So
great indeed is the similarity that our account of the
latter must be chiefly a record of slight differences.

To begin with the bird itself. The Arctic Tern is
slightly smaller in build, but its actual length is greater,
owing to the longer outer tail-feathers. The bill is of a
brighter red and without a dull tip. The under-parts are
of a darker, grayer colour, but are entirely without that
faint suggestion of pink found in the Common species.

Altogether, the adult birds in summer are distinguish-
able at a glance at close quarters, but only by a practised
eye under the usual conditions of observation. When
the birds are in the nestling, the immature, or even the
adult winter plumage, the difference is even less. A
curious point about the Arctic Tern in winter is that the
red legs become nearly black !

As regards the distribution of the two Terns, it may
be said that the gi-eater part of the British Isles lies
within the breeding range of both. Taking the coasts
separately, we find that the whole south coast of England
and the east coast up to the Fame Islands are the
exclusive territory of the Common Tern. From the

Plate i6.

ARCTIC TERN— ^Avv/'^? macni'ra.

Length, 14-5 in. ; wing, 10 in.

[Gav'i^ : Lar'idae ; Sterni'nje.]
G 48

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 49

Fames to the Orkneys both are found, the Arctic Tern

becoming the more abundant of the two north of the

Moray Firth. Only the Arctic Tern is found in the

Shetland Isles. Both species are found along the western

sea-board of Great Britain, from the Scilly Isles to the

Outer Hebrides ; but the Common Tern predominates as far

as Skye, and the Arctic Tern has only a very few haunts

much south of this. Both birds are found nesting all

round Ireland, the Arctic Tern everywhere predominating.

The actual sites of the colonies also differ. The Arctic

Tern shows a distinct preference for low islands, and the

more sheltered dune-lands are not typical haunts. In

Great Britain, lake and river haunts, too, are left almost

entirely to the Common Tern; but in Ireland there are

many large colonies on inland waters. When colonies of

both species are found side by side, the Arctic Terns are

usually nearer the sea; the species keep more or less

apart, but are said to shift ground to some extent in

various localities.

In habits the two species are much alike, but the
Arctic Tern is the bolder in the defence of its eggs
and young. Any large bird straying too near the colony
is mobbed to death or driven off with great fury, and
even the human intruder is met by threatening swoops.

The Arctic Tern seems much more inclined to dispense
with a lining for its 'scrape,' and two eggs appear to
form the normal clutch. The difference between the eggs
themselves is a question of some difficulty, but we may
safely steer a middle course. We may reject the state-
ment that there is no difference, and we may also reject
as unsafe the various methods suggested for identifying
individual eggs of 'unknown antecedents.' But generalis-
ing we find that there are differences. To begin with,
the Arctic Tern's eggs run perceptibly smaller on an

G

50 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

average. They are also more variable in colour ; but
two types predominate — a light type, greener than is
usual for the Common Tern's eggs ; and a brown type,
darker than the typical buffish-brown egg of the Common
species. The Arctic Tern's eggs are also more boldly
marked on an average, blotches being as typical as
small spots are of the other's. But, as we have said,
no single egg, however typical looking, can be ascribed
with more than probability to its particular species. For
certainty the adult bird must be identified.

One point of special interest about the Arctic Tern is
that it has, as far as is known, the greatest latitudinal
range of any vertebrate animal. In the northern summer
it is found as high as 82° N. lat., and in its winter-
quarters it was found in the Antarctic summer in 74° 1'
S. lat. by the Scottish Expedition of 1902-4.

THE ROSEATE TERN

(Sterna dougalli).

The Roseate Tern is very similar to the Common and
Arctic species, but has a longer, chiefly black, bill, a
paler mantle, and in the breeding season a rosy tint on
the breast feathers. It formerly nested on the coast and
islands on the west side of Britain, from the Scilly Isles
to the Cumbraes in the Firth of Clyde, at a few places
in Ireland, on the Fame Islands, and perhaps on the
coast of Moray. Some years ago it had practically
ceased to breed at any of these places owing to persecu-
tion, and perhaps to the increase of the stronger
Common species ; but efficient protection was afforded it
in time to allow it to re-establish itself in some places,
notably on the Fames and on the Welsh coast. Its

Plate 17.

LITTLE TERN—Sh'ru'a minu'ta.

Length, 9 in. to 9-5 in. ; wing, 6-75 in.

[Gav'i^ : Lar'ida; ; Sterni'nte.]
G 50

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 51

nesting habits resemble those of the Common Tern ; but
the eggs, generally two in number, are as a nile more
elongated and have fewer and smaller markings.

THE LITTLE TERN

(Sterna minuta).
Plate 17.

The Little or Lesser Tern is the European repre-
sentative of a sub-group of the typical Terns, to which
the name ' Temlets "* is sometimes appropriately applied.
Although really a smaller bird than a Thrush, its
slender shape and long bill and tail give it, if anything,
the advantage in actual measurements, and on the wing
it looks a considerably larger bird. Its size, however, is
quite sufficient to distinguish it from the other Terns
found in the British Isles. As regards plumage, the
Little Tern is very much a smaller edition of the
Common species, two of the most noticeable differences
being the white forehead and the yellow basal portion of
the beak. It has no distinctive winter dress.

Like its allies, it is only a summer visitor to the
British coasts, round which, with the exception of the
north of Scotland, it is of frequent and widespread
occurrence from May till September. Flat, shingly coasts
are the favoured nesting resorts, and where these exist on
the south and east coasts of England this Tern may
usually be found. North of the Humber it is less common,
and although found in Sutherland, and perhaps in Orkney,
the Aberdeenshire colonies are probably the most northern
ones of any size. On the west coast of Britain it is
common for about the same distance, and is then iiTegu-
larly distributed up the Scottish coast as far as the Outer

52 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

Hebrides. All round Ireland it is also found in suitable
places, but less frequently in the south and south-west.
On the Continent the Little Tern is not confined to the
coasts, but follows the large rivers far inland and nests
on their banks and islands.

Under the efficient protection now afforded this species
at many of its haunts, it is regaining much of the ground
lost owing to persecution ; but many colonies have been
altogether wiped out. When left to themselves, the birds
have few natural enemies, and there is said to be little
mortality among the chicks ; where their numbers have
decreased it must be put down to human agency — wanton
destruction and indiscriminate collecting.

The eggs are two or three in number, and are laid in
a hollow in the sand or shingle, almost always quite
unlined. In addition to their much smaller size, they are
more oval in shape and lighter in colour than those of
the Common Tern, and harmonise extraordinarily well with
the ground on which they are usually laid. The colour
varies from light, almost bluish, stone gray to faint buff,
and the markings are deep brown and the iinder-markings
purplish. In some districts, at any rate, the Terns of
this species tend to be a trifle later in their nesting
operations than the Common Terns of the same region.
Nests sometimes come to grief by being placed within
reach of the waves ; but the birds lay again if they lose
their first clutch, and occasionally, it is said, when they
have successfully reared one brood. The chicks, which are
active from the first, and are clad in down, varying from
gray to buff in colour, with darker spots, 'are fed
largely on very small plaice about the size of a penny,
sand-eels, sprats, &c.'' In their first plumage the young
birds have the head merely streaked with dark brown, and
have mottlings of the same colour on the mantle and

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 53

other parts of the plumage. Full plumage is attained at
the second moult, and the birds breed when two years
old.

It has always been a matter for remark that this
species does not nest on the Fame Islands. There the
Common, Arctic, and Sandwich Terns all nest in abund-
ance, and even a few pairs of Roseate Terns are to be
found ; but Little Terns are altogether absent. An attempt
to introduce them by placing their eggs in the nests of
other Terns was successful so far in that the young Little
Terns were reared, and in due course departed with the
others. But none of them ever returned. This raises an
interesting point. Can strictly migratory birds be intro-
duced by this method ? We are familiar with it only for
more or less sedentary species, and know of no successful
results with migrants. An attempt, for instance, to intro-
duce the Nightingale into parts of Scotland was a complete
failure. Although we have as yet very little knowledge of
the migration routes and winter-quarters of our summer
visitors, from what we do know it seems that these are
sufficiently fixed and definite for us to be able to assume
that there must be either hereditary knowledge or guidance
in the case of young birds performing the journey for
the first time. Guidance seems out of the question, and
we are practically compelled to fall back on hereditary
knowledge, although that is but an explanation itself
requiring to be explained. It would be an interesting
experiment to introduce and carefully mark a sufficiently
large number of Little Terns or other migrants in the
way described, and to discover the subsequent history of
some of the birds. One can readily imagine cases arising
which would go far to prove or disprove the hereditary
knowledge theory, for it is often by disturbing the normal
course of affairs that light is thrown on the ordinary

54 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

workings of nature. In the case in question, of course,
any number of causes without any bearing on the theoiy
of migration may have brought about the failure of the
introduction ; but the point remains.

THE SANDWICH TERN

(Sterna cantiaca).
Plate 18.

The Sandwich Tern is the largest of the Terns which
nest in the British Isles, and approaches the smaller Gulls
in size. It resembles the other Terns in plumage, but the
legs and feet are black, and the bill is of the same colour,
with some yellow at the tip. The white under-parts are
suffused with faint salmon pink. Before summer is over
the black cap begins to decrease, and in winter it is repre-
sented by a few dark markings. The head of the young
bird is similarly marked, and the mantle is also mottled.

The Sandwich Tern is no longer particularly associated
with the locality from which it derives its name, and many
of the colonies, such as those on the Scilly Isles, have dis-
appeared. But it is still common in parts of the British
Isles, and now generally receives efficient protection at its
haunts. On the east side of Britain it nests from the
Fame Islands, one of its chief strongholds, northwards to
Moray, and on the west from the Lancashire islands to the
north shore of the Solway Firth, the chief colony being
at Ravenglass in Cumberland. It also nests in the Orkneys,
and has done so in the Channel Islands. In Ireland there
are one or two big colonies in County Mayo. At most
other places on our coasts it may be seen at the migra-
tion seasons. Like its allies, it is of course a summer
visitor to the British Islands.

Plate 1 8.

SANDWICH TERN— S/er;i'a canti'aca.

Length, i6 in. ; wing, 12 in.

[Gav'i^ : Lar'idse ; Sterni'na;.]
G 54

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 55

The nesting habits do not differ markedly from those of
the other Terns of this gi'oup. The nests are usually mere
' scrapes,"" but sometimes with a lining of bent-grass, while
fairly bulky structures of this material are occasionally
found. The eggs are usually two in number in the British
Isles, but the commonest clutch in Mayo is said to be
three. They are about as large as those of the Black -
headed Gull, and are very variable in colour, creamy buff
to huffish stone-coloui', and usually boldly and handsomely
marked. The down-clad chicks are grayish buff above,
with dark mottlings, and gray and white colour below.

THE BLACK TERN

(Hydrochelidon nigra).

As we have seen, five Terns of the typical group nest
in the British Isles ; but now we come to the sixth in-
digenous Tern, a member of the Marsh Tera group. The
Marsh Tems have proportionately shorter wings, veiy
slightly forked tails, and only half-webbed toes. Some of
them, including the present species, are characterised by the
prevalent dark hue of their breeding plumage. A centuiy
ago Black Terns nested in hundreds in the Norfolk Broads,
Lincoln Fens, and other suitable places ; but various causes
brought about their extermination, and the last recorded
British nest was in 1858. Now a few birds may be seen
each spring, but the species is chiefly known to us from
the migration of young birds past our coasts in autumn.
'Blue Dan-"' and 'Car Swallow' are among the local
names of the Black Tern.

56 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

ORDER, LIMICOL^ (WADERS);
Family, CHARADRIID^ (Plovers, &c.).

THE CURLEW

(Numenius arquata).
Plate 19.

The weird cry of the Curlew, audible at a great
distance, is one of the most familiar and typical sounds
of the open moorland. We may hear it as the waiy bird
catches sight of us a quarter of a mile away ; but, if
the bird be still oblivious of our presence in its favourite
solitudes, it may give utterance to the curious bubbling
note which is its spring-song. For song it is, as much
as that of any Warbler ; and although its merit as music
be small, it is certainly most appropriate to the surround-
ings amid which it is usually heard. Something wild,
something weird, something even mysterious is in it which
is in absolute harmony with the bleak but beautiful land
of purple heather and purple sky — the north-west High-
lands, say, at sundown after a stormy day.

With the Curlew we begin our treatment of the
commoner members of the Order of ' Waders ' — solitary
birds of marsh and moorland in summer, gregarious birds
of sandy shore and tidal mud-flat from autumn till spring.
At the latter time, however, their numbers, both as regards
species and individuals, are greatly swelled by the addition
of members of the vaster hordes whose summer homes are
on the tundras of Arctic Europe.

Of this Order the Curlew is in many ways a fair type ;
but its dimensions are greatly above the average for

,/^

Z 'T ' W ■

Plate 19.

C U RLEW — Numcn'ius arqiia'ta.

Length, 21 in. to 26 in. ; wing, 11-5 in. to 12-25 in.

[LliMic'OL/E : Charadri'idae.]
H 56

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 57

the Order, of which it is, in fact, the largest British
representative. No description of the Curlew is necessary,
for it must be known to all, so familiar is the sight of a
score of them in long line, or in V-formation, flying over
the cultivated land on their way from moor to shore, a
daily journey at some seasons of the year. An occasional
loud rallying cry draws our attention to the passage of
the wild clan — long bills clearly outlined against the sky,
long wings beating in rapid flight, long legs trailing in
their wake. The long, down-turned bill is of course the
head-mark of the species, and it may be noted that long
bills, whether decurved, upturned, or straight, are common
among Waders, and are used for probing in sand, mud, and
soft ground. They are well adapted for this purpose
apart from their shape, the tips being well furnished with
nerves, and thus forming delicate organs of touch. Long
legs usually go with long bills, and are characteristic of
Waders, most of which, by the way, can run at an astonish-
ing rate. Of the plumage it need only be said that it is
protectively coloured, the sober browns harmonising well
with any dark background of 'neutral' tint.

Throughout the year the Curlew is found round the
coasts of the British Isles ; but it nests only on heaths and
moors, and is therefore absent from much of the east and
south of England, and is always apt to be local where
cultivation is general, for it is a true bird of the wild, and
does not adapt its habits to suit the ever-spreading effects
of modern civilisation. Its typical haunts are therefore in
the great tracts of waste lands where natural wild con-
ditions still prevail. In the north of Scotland, for instance,
it is comparatively abundant. There it is known as 'the
Whaup,"" and is an object of popular superstition, as can
well be understood.

On the moors, then, it lays its four eggs in April in a

H

58 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

mere depression in the ground. They are large and pear-
shaped, and are protectively coloured — olive-green, Mith
browner blotches. The slight nature of the nest, and the
pyriform shape and protective coloration of the eggs, are
characteristics common to almost all Waders, The con-
stancy of the size of the clutch is also characteristic.
Four is the normal number of eggs for most Waders —
three for a few ; but, whichever it is, it is nearly always
attained and very rarely exceeded.

Both parents take part in the duties of incubation, and
show great vigilance and wariness, seldom betraying the
position of their nest. At times, however, a Curlew will
sit remarkably close. We have known a photographer
approach openly to within a few feet of one, and take
several ' time exposures "■ ! As a rule, it demands all the
photographer's cunning in concealing his camera and arrang-
ing automatic electric contrivances to secure a portrait of
this shy sitter. In due course the young Curlews hatch
out and reveal themselves as typical Wader chicks, clad in
down of ' protective "■ hue — pale grayish buff with brown
mottlings above, white below — and active from the first, a
trait v/hich is indicated by the disproportionately large
and well -developed legs and feet. One point strikes us at
once — the bill is short and straight like a Plover's. This
we take as an indication that the plover-like bill was the
original type for this Order, from which the other more
specialised forms have been gradually evolved, and that the
stages of this evolution correspond in a general way to
the stages through which the bill grows in the first few
weeks of each individual Curlew's life. The bill gradually
lengthens, and also becomes more decurved, until its
bearer is a full-grown, ' long-nebbit ' Whaup of the moors.

-• \

ifMlXSf^'-:-^-' *■■

^l^p^^l^lHp f\k f""^'-

Plate 20.

RED S HAN K— To'tanns cal'idris.

Length, II in. ; wing, 6-25 in.

[LlMic'OL.« : Charadri'idas.]
H 58

BllITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 59
THE WHIMBREL

(Numenius ph£eopus).

In appearance and habits this species may be described
as a small Curlew ; its eggs, also, differ mainly in
being smaller. It is chiefly a spring and autumn
migrational visitor to British coasts, but small numbers
remain with us both in summer and winter in some parts.
As a British-breeding species, it is confined to the Outer
Hebrides, Orkney, and Shetland, and is found more abund-
antly in the last-named group. Among its local names
are 'Half-Curlew,^ 'May-Bird,^ 'Titterel,' and 'Seven-
Whistler,' the last two referring to its ciy, which is
rather different from that of its larger relative,

THE BLACK=TAILED QODWIT

(Limosa belgica).

The Black-tailed Godwit, a large, handsome Wader, with
a long, slightly upturned bill, formerly bred in the eastern
parts of England — in Norfolk down to 1847 or later — but
is now no more than a migrational or winter visitor to
British coasts. As such it is less common than its near
relative the Bar-tailed Godwit, which there is no reason to
regard as ever having been a British-breeding species.

THE REDSHANK

(Totanus calidris).

Plate 20.

With the Common Redshank, we come to those Waders
which are broadly spoken of as Sandpipers. Among
these the Redshank is rather a large bird, although itself

60 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

much smaller than those Waders we have so far dealt
with. The bright-red legs which give it its name serve
unfailingly to distinguish it from all but a few near allies,
none of them common British birds. The cry, too, is
easily recognisable, and is therefore an important means
of identification in the case of such a noisy bird as the
Redshank. In fact, the few loud, clear whistles which it
utters on rising in alarm are usually the first indication
that we have of its presence, for with the exception of
its legs it harmonises perfectly with the mud-bank on
which it is feeding, or with the moor whereon its nest is
hidden. Being a wary bird, it is therefore usually on
the wing before we see it. As it flies away Avith rapid,
wavering flight, the loud, ringing cry echoes from river-
bank to river-bank or from sand-dune to sand-dune,
putting all living creatures on the alert. For this reason
it is at such times the bane alike of the prowling natu-
ralist and of the sportsman on slaughter bent.

Throughout the British Isles the Redshank may be
found in suitable localities from March till early autumn.
The localities it favours are swampy river-banks and
lake-sides, moors and marshes — in fact, any waste land of
a moist character where it can enjoy a fair measure of
freedom from human interference. Such localities are,
however, practically absent from great parts of the south
and middle of England. During the rest of the year it
is seldom found inland, but resorts to the sea-coast and
tidal estuaries, where it is usually to be met with in
parties or even large flocks throughout the autumn. At
this season, too, our home-bred birds are joined by others
from northern Europe. In winter a few still remain about
the coasts, but the majority have undertaken a southward
migration. In spring there is, of course, a return
migration ; but the birds waste no time on shores and

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 61

mud-banks, but repair at once to their nesting-haunts.
This is characteristic of the migrations of all birds. In
autumn the journey is prefaced by much flocking and
assembling, and by days or weeks of lingering and delay,
for while food is still abundant the impulses to departure
are weak. In spring, however, the impulses are strong,
and the birds arrive as soon as, or sometimes sooner than,
is expedient, and at once disperse to prepare for the
serious business of the year.

The Redshank chooses some haunt of the sort we have
already described, and in a good place of fair extent there
may be something approaching a colony of these birds.
Each pair, however, keeps more or less to itself; for, gre-
garious as most Waders are at other times, they tend to
be solitary when nesting. By this they certainly reap the
full advantage of the protective coloration of their eggs.
Early in the season the primitive but pleasing spring-song
may be heard as the male stands on a paling-post or hovers
about beside his mate. It may be described as a low,
warbling whistle, and is sometimes syllabled ' Leero, leero,
leero."* Early in April, or perhaps not for nearly a month
later, the eggs are laid. They are almost invariably four
in number, and are of a huffish stone-colour, with rich
reddish-brown blotches. They may be placed in the merest
apology for a nest on the open pasture or moorland, but
are more often concealed in the heart of a clump of tall
rushes. When disturbed, the parents fly about noisily,
trying to attract intruders from the vicinity of the nest.

Just over three weeks is the period for which the eggs
are incubated before the four chicks emerge. These are the
usual active balls of fluffy down, with absurdly inadequate
wings and grotesquely long legs. With these they can
run at an astonishing pace, and on the approach of danger
they can scatter quickly and then ' squat," hiding themselves

62 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

amid their surroundings by reason of their coloration — a
mixture of blackish and yellowish brown above, light below.

THE GREENSHANK

(Totanus canescens).

The Greenshank is a larger ally of the Redshank, but
with green legs, as the name implies. It is otherwise
very similar in appearance and behaviour, and has similar
nesting habit and eggs. Even the cry is of the same
Order. To England and Wales and the south of Scot-
land it is chiefly a migrational visitor ; but in Ireland
it is also a winter visitor ; while in Scotland it breeds
sparingly, near inland waters, from Argyll and Moray
northwards to the western but not the northern isles.

THE WOOD SANDPIPER

(Totanus glareola).

The Wood Sandpiper, a bird somewhat closely resembling
the next species as regards appearance, habits, eggs, &;c.,
is a migrational visitor in small numbers, chiefly to the
east coast of England ; but there are a few more or less
authentic records of its breeding within the British Isles.

THE COMMON SANDPIPER

(Totanus hypoleucus).

Plate 21.

Although the 'headquarters' of the Waders as a whole
lie to the north of the British Isles, we have in the
Common Sandpiper a species which is entirely a summer

Plate 21.

COMMON SANDPIPER— rr/A?//;/i- Jiypolcu'cus.

Length, 8 in. ; wing, 4-25 in.

[LiMic'OL^. : Charadri'idas.]
H (J2

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 63

visitor. For this reason it is popularly termed the ' Summer
Snipe' in certain districts. Its stay with us, moreover, is
a comparatively short one. It does not usually appear
in any numbers till about the middle of April, and not
till early May in very late seasons. For a short time
the birds may be seen about the seashores and estuaries,
but they rapidly disperse to their inland nesting-places.
By the end of July they begin to seek the coast again
with their young, and there small flocks may for some
time be met with. As a rule, they keep apart from
other small Waders. During September most of them
leave us altogether, but a few may be recorded later.

The nesting-haunts of the Common Sandpiper are the
banks or islands of rivers and lakes. It is naturally
absent, except on passage, from most of the south-east of
England, but becomes fairly common in the north, as
well as in Wales and most of Ireland. Throughout
Scotland it is abundant even up to the western and
northern isles.

The nest itself is generally close to the water. It is
composed of grass, moss, and leaves, and is usually a rather
better structure than most Waders build. As a rule, it
is placed on the ground, more or less concealed among
grass or stones. At times, however, it is in very exposed
situations, while at others it is some feet from the ground
in a bush or tree. The eggs are generally laid during
May. They are four in number, and are of a reddish-
buff tint, minutely spotted with dark brown and purplish
gray. The chick in down is white below, pale gray with
black mottlings above.

At all times this is a very restless but not really veiy
shy bird. Even when standing in one place it is rarely
still, but keeps bobbing up and do^vn and jerking its tail
in a curious and characteristic manner. When in anxiety

64 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

for the safety of its nest, it uses every device to lure the
intruder from the neighbourhood. When disturbed and
suspicious, it keeps flying about from place to place in
a restless manner, now running along the shingle, now
perching for an instant on a rail or bough. When
wounded, it sometimes displays its powers of swimming,
and in this it shows considerable proficiency. Using both
feet and wings, it can even swim for some little distance
under water.

The often-repeated note is a low, plaintive whistle, but
this Sandpiper has also a special spring-song of somewhat
similar nature to the Redshank's.

THE RUFF

(Machetes pugnax).

This interesting species is a migrational visitor to the
British Isles, chiefly to the east coast of Great Britain ;
it still breeds very sparingly in the marshes of the
east of England, where formerly it was much commoner.
Drainage and collecting have been its foes ; but protection
is now combating the latter. In the breeding season the
male has the curious shield-like ornament from which it
derives its name, the female being termed ' the Reeve.'
The 'ruff"' is composed of feathers very variable in colour,
no two birds being exactly alike. Where common enough,
the Ruff" is polygamous, and early in the season the males
' hill ' — that is, collect on little mounds, and fight furiously
but veiy harmlessly ! They appear to take no share
in the nesting duties. The nesting-habits of the species
are othenvise of the usual Wader character ; the eggs
are grayish green with reddish spots and blotches.

^'/<

m

W

Plate 22.

S N I P E — Gallina'go ccsles'tis.

Length, 10-75 ''i' ! wing, 5 in.

[LiMlc'OL.i; : Charadri'idcE.]

I 64

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 65

THE DUNLIN

(Tringa alpina).

This small species, with the conspicuous black under-
parts in its summer plumage, is found in the British Isles
all the year round, but most abundantly in autumn, when
it is one of the commonest of shore-birds and is often
found in huge flocks. Its near allies, the Knot, the Little
Stint, the Curlew Sandpiper, and the Purple Sandpiper,
are also more or less familiar autumn shore-birds ; but
they do not nest with us, although the last-named is
suspected of having done so. The Dunlin itself nests
sparingly in parts of England and Wales, but is almost
entirely absent in summer from the south and south-east.
In Ireland it also nests locally, and in Scotland it is
rather widely distributed, although breeding abundantly
in only a few places. It is essentially a moorland-nesting
species. The eggs are grayish green, boldly blotched
with two shades of reddish brown.

THE SNIPE

(Qallinago coelestis).
Plate 22.

With the Snipe we come to a group of Waders which
have, among other characteristics, remarkably long and
straight beaks. We may also note that, with some un-
important exceptions, hke the Curlew, it is the first bird
we have to discuss which is esteemed for the table and
is made a regular object of sport.

The Snipe nests in fair numbers on the moors and
bogs of Scotland and Ireland, preferring marshy situations,

66 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

and is often found at considerable elevations. Through-
out England and Wales it also nests, although in much
smaller numbers, and is commonest in such particularly
suitable districts as Lincolnshire and East Anglia. In
October and November, however, extensive immigration
from the Continent takes place, and the Snipe remains
abundant, in the southern portions of the British Isles at
least, till the following March.

It is usually early in April that the four eggs are de-
posited in a slight nest made among the heather or rushes
or in a tuft of grass. They are large in proportion to
the size of the bird, and vary from rich yellow to deli-
cate green in ground-colour, boldly marked with various
shades of reddish brown. The Snipe is a shy and wary
bird, but it is wont to ti"ust rather in concealment than
in flight. When sitting closely on its nest a Snipe almost
defies detection at a few yards distance, so well does its
plumage harmonise with the surrounding herbage. Even
better for this purpose is the striped down plumage of
the active chicks.

The Snipe is to a considerable extent crepuscular in its
habits, and becomes most active towards twilight. It is
at that time that we most frequently hear the familiar
'drumming'' or ' bleating "* noise made during the breeding
season by both sexes. The exact origin of this sound has
long been a subject of discussion, some holding it to be
caused by the tail, others by the wings, while a few
considered that it might even be vocal. Recent observa-
tions have practically settled the matter in favour of the
tail. The sound is made during rapid downward flight,
when the tail is spread out fan-wise, so that the two
outermost feathers stand clear of the rest. It is the
vibration of these two that produces the 'bleat.' On
examination it is found that these feathers differ from

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 67

the rest in the shape and special strength of the web, the
short, curved shaft, and the muscles which control them.
Experimentally it has been shown that the 'bleat' may
be closely reproduced by taking these two feathers from
a Snipe killed at the proper season, and attaching them
to a cork, which is then whirled round on the end of a
string.

It is of course in winter that Snipe are shot, and at
this season they associate in small parties called ' wisps '
or ' whisps,' and it is very noticeable with what remark-
able iinanimity all their movements in flight are made.
The Snipe usually remains hidden till closely approached,
and then suddenly flies up with an extremely rapid zig-
zag flight, repeating the while a short note of alarm. In
India the Snipe is said to fly off' with a straight flight
when flushed, and therefore to be more easily shot. When
in good condition. Snipe average four or four and a half
ounces, but examples weighing five ounces, or even more, are
sometimes obtained. As the Snipe's food consists largely of
worms and other things which it probes for in the soft
ground with its long beak, long-continued frost tells heavily
on it, and the birds become veiy thin and weak.

A melanistic or dark variety of the Snipe was formerly
separated as a distinct species, known as ' Sabine's Snipe.'
About sixty specimens of it are known, and they are
almost all from the British Isles, and notably from Ire-
land. It has been pointed out in this connection that
melanism is particularly apt to occur in districts which
have a very moist climate.

The Snipe and the Woodcock have the upper and
lower halves of the bill sufficiently flexible to be opened
at the tip while otherwise shut. Worms, &c., can thus
be grasped underground.

68 BRITAIxN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

THE WOODCOCK

(Scolopax rusticula).
Plate 23.

The Woodcock is a near ally of the Snipe, and has the
same long, straight bill. It is, however, noticeable among
Waders for its lack of the usual grace of form ; the legs
are rather short, and the whole body may be described as
' dumpy.' No bird, however, is more esteemed for the
table or for the sport which it affords.

As its name implies, this species inhabits woods and
plantations, but it prefers those of an open character.
Owing to the increase of plantations of late years the
number of British-breeding Woodcocks has become much
greater, but is still insignificant in comparison with the
great ' flights ' that arrive from overseas during the
October nights, and remain with us till early March.
Some of the spring migrants are still passing through
the country when our own Woodcocks are nesting.

As a breeding bird it is distributed over the greater
part of the British Isles. The nest is a mere depression
in the ground with a slight lining of dead leaves, and is
frequently close to the base of a tree. Laying begins
early, often by the middle of March, and to find eggs
when there is snow on the gromid is a common occur-
rence. The four glossy eggs are less pyriform than is
typical of Waders, and are yellowish in ground-colour,
with gray under-markings and bold blotches in two shades
of reddish brown. Against a background of dead leaves
the sitting bird and the exposed eggs are alike nearly
invisible. We have, however, seen a clutch of pure white
eggs — rather a rare occurrence — and the conspicuousness

'**'»<?■"- ■^^

Plate 23.

W O O D C O C K—Scol'opax rustic' ida.

Length, 14-25 in. ; wing, 7-5 in.

[LiMIc'OL.E : Charadri'idfe.]
I 68

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 69

of these emphasised by vivid contrast the value of the
normal coloration. The active little chicks are clad
in rich rufous down, paler on the under-parts, and longi-
tudinally banded with chestnut above, with various minor
markings.

That a Woodcock will sometimes fly carrying one of
its chicks has for long been known to naturalists. In
some old works it is stated that the chick is candied in
the bill, a practically impossible feat for this species, as
Gilbert White sanely pointed out. Others describe the
chick as being carried in the claws ; but the ordinary,
if not the only way, is to carry the young one between
the thighs and pressed close to the body, additional
security being at times obtained by use of the bill. This
habit is most often noted when a Woodcock is alarmed
when with its chicks ; one is immediately carried some
distance away, the old bird returning for another if the
danger is not already too close. St John, however, avers
that Woodcocks regularly transport their young, one by
one, at twilight to the low marshy feeding-grounds some
little distance from their native wood, and this even when
the young are ' greater in size than Snipe.' Further corro-
boration of this is considered desirable. Snipe and other
species have occasionally been detected carrying young
ones in flight.

After the duties of the nesting season are over the
birds efface themselves, becoming very skulking in their
habits, in order to accomplish the autumn moult in safety.
This has led to the popular belief that they all migrate,
and that the birds found in winter are all of foreign
origin. Since 1891, however. Woodcocks have been ' ringed,"*
in the manner already described, on the Duke of Northum-
berland's estate at Alnwick. Some of the birds marked
there in summer were recovered there in winter, but

70 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

others proved to be migratory. So far these records
show no very definite direction of migration, many birds
going to Ireland, some to the south of England and the
north of France, and others going north well into Scot-
land ! Similar results have been got more recently in
Tyrone. Some Woodcocks migrated in north-easterly and
south-easterly directions — actually opposite to some of the
Northumberland birds — while many proved to be resi-
dent. More records of this sort are needed fully to
elucidate the matter.

The Woodcock is nocturnal in its habits to a great extent,
and in the breeding season there is a remarkable crepuscular
love-flight. From the numerous published descriptions,
differing somewhat in various details, we select that of the
late Professor Alfred Newton in his famous Dictionary of
Birds : ' During this season the male Woodcock performs at
twilight flights of a remarkable kind, repeating evening after
evening (and it is believed at dawn also) precisely the same
course, generally describing a triangle, the sides of which
may be a quarter of a mile long or more. On these occasions
the bird''s appearance on the wing is quite unlike that which
it presents when hurriedly flying after being flushed, and
though its speed is great the beats of the wings are steady
and slow. At intervals an extraordinary sound is produced,
whether from the throat of the bird, as is commonly averred,
or from the plumage is uncertain. To the present writer
the sound seems to defy description, though some hearers
have tried to syllable it. This characteristic flight is in
some parts of England called " roading," * and the track taken
by the bird a " cock-road."" In England in former times
advantage was taken of this habit to catch the simple per-

* Also 'roding' in East Anglia and elsewhere, and variously connected
with the English road, the French rothr (to rove or wander), and the
Scandinavian rode ('an open space in a wood').

BRITAIN S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 71

former in nets called " cock-shutts," which were hung bet^v'een
trees across the open glades or rides of a wood, and in many
parts of the Continent it still is, or was till very lately, the
disgraceful habit of persons calling themselves sportsmen to
lie in wait and shoot the bird as he indulges in his measured
love-flight.'

About twelve ounces is perhaps the average weight of
Woodcock, and over fifteen ounces is rare. Some writers
state that the hen is the larger bird ; others that the cock
varies more in weight, but that it is heavier on an average.
In plumage there is much individual variation, apparently
irrespective of sex ; but immature birds tend to be darker
than adults. Partial albinos are not infrequently found,
and pure white examples are known to occur. Attention
has recently been called to the curious position of the
Woodcock's ear-opening — below and in front of the eye.

THE RED=NECKED PHALAROPE

(Phalaropus hyperboreus).

This is a charming and interesting little Wader of
aquatic habits, and provided with lobed toes. It is prac-
tically a lobe-footed Sandpiper. With two allied species
it shares remarkable breeding habits. The females are the
larger and more brightly coloured birds ; they do the court-
ing, and even fight among themselves for their chosen mates.
The males undertake the larger share of the domestic duties.
The nest is of the usual Wader type, and the four eggs
are of a greenish colour, with very dark markings. In the
British Isles this bird was formerly believed to nest only
in Orkney, Shetland, and the Outer Hebrides ; but in 1902
a colony was discovered on the Irish coast. On migration
it occurs in small numbers on other parts of our coasts.

72 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

THE AVOCET

(Recurvirostra avocetta).

The Avocet is a long-legged Wader with black-and-white
plumage, and a markedly upturned, long, slender bill. Down
to about 1824 it bred as a summer visitor in the marshes of
the south-east of England, to which it is now but an uncommon
migrant, as to other parts of the British Isles. It is perhaps
not impossible that under the efficient protection now afforded
in Norfolk this species may in time re-establish itself, as
the Ruff has begun to do. Such conspicuously beautiful
birds, however, are naturally the mark of every shore-shooter
who sees them ; and we cannot protect them on their migra-
tions.

THE OYSTER=CATCHER

(Haematopus ostralegus).

Plate 24.

Rivalling and perhaps outdoing the Redshank in point of
noisiness is the rather large Wader, the Oyster-Catcher, a
well-known bird of the seashore and the shingly river-bank.
In summer the latter haunt is especially characteristic, and
no bird obtrudes itself more often on the notice of the
angler, standing thigh -deep in the waters of, say, a
Scottish salmon-river flowing past the great banks of
rounded stones so often accumulated on the convex curves
of the banks. Streams that flow strong and deep between
abrupt banks, or streams meandering through lowlands
cultivated to the water's edge, have no attraction for the
Oyster-Catcher ; but where the stretches of shingle are ample
enough for the bird's eggs and nestlings to lie on with little

^7"

Plate 24.

OYSTER-CATCHER— /fewa/'^//^^ ostral'egus.

Length, 16-5 in. ; wing, 9-75 in.

[LiMlc'OL^ : Charadri'idse.]

J 72

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 73

fear of detection, there it will make the banks resound to its
loud and meny calling all day long, and often through half
the night.

In the nesting season the Oyster-Catcher is practically
confined to the neighbourhood of such haunts, whether river-
side or coastal ; but at other times it is more widely dis-
tributed along both stream and shore. After nesting
duties have begun each pair keeps pretty much to itself
and to its own chosen ground ; during non-nesting seasons
it is more markedly gregarious.

It is generally in May that the eggs are laid on the shingle-
bed, or on some less usual ground — a ploughed field even
may be selected. Three is the normal clutch ; the eggs
are tinted buff, and spotted and scrolled with black.
Against their customary background they are extremely
difficult to detect. The same is true of the downy chicks,
which are pale below, huffish stone-coloui- above, with dark
markings arranged longitudinally.

The species gets its ordinarj'^ name ' Oyster-Catcher,'' and
its local one ' Mussel-Picker,' from the fact that it feeds largely
on molluscs. When dealing with these it shows great skill
in the use of its strong beak. When searching for edible
mussels, for instance, it passes by those left high and dry by
the tide, for they keep their ' valves ' tightly closed together.
Those lying partly open under a layer of wet mud or
sand are detected in some mysterious manner. The beak is
thrust in between the two ' valves,' and is used as a lever or
to break the strong-closing muscles by sideways movements.
Sometimes more forcible methods of effecting; an entrance are
resorted to. In fact, the method of attack varies with the
position as well as with the nature of the victim.

[The Turnstone has been suspected, but not proved, to have
nested exceptionally within our area, to the coasts of which
it is a migrational visitor.]

J

74 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

THE GOLDEN PLOVER

(Charadrius pluvialis).

Plate 25.

The typical Plovers constitute a well-marked section of the
Wader Order, and among other characteristics are marked
by their short and rather stout beaks and by their less
distinctively littoral habits. The bleak extensive tundras
of sub- Arctic Europe and Asia form the home of most
of the Plovers, individuals and species, that concern us in
this country. Some few of these, principally members of
the present species, remain to nest on the elevated moor-
lands of the British Isles. It is true that in autumn
these home-breeding birds seek the coastal districts, and
may then be found feeding on the tidal mud-flats and
sandbanks, but it is probably more a matter of general
climatic conditions than love of littoral feeding-grounds.
In autumn, also, our coasts form part of the migration
routes of many of the Plovers nesting in more northern
lands, including representatives of the handsome Gray
Plover, or perhaps of still rarer species which, like it,
never nest within our area. Many of these migrants
find congenial winter-quarters with us ; but greater numbers
pass on, some of them to lands far south of the equator,
to repass our shores more hurriedly on the return journey
late in spring. Before their passage is nearly over, how-
ever, our own moors have their full quota of Plovers
already engaged in the serious business of incubation.
And on this depends a problem. Do the birds breeding
farthest north migrate farthest south, and do birds breed-
ing midway, as the Plovers in the British Isles, remain
more or less stationary ? Or do the midway birds

v^V^

Plate 2:;.

GOLDEN PL OW^K—Charad'}'ms plnvia'Us.

Length, 11 in. ; wing, 7-5 in.

[LIMIC'OL/E : Charadri'idie.]

J 74

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 75

migrate with the rest — being replaced by birds from the
extreme north of the range — but return earlier than those
which must nest in countries remaining longer in the grip
of winter ? If that were so, would not the flocks about
our coasts, which we have for the moment assumed to
breed farther north than any wintering to the south of
us, be the very last to go ? After all, the first sug-
gestion seems the more likely, but proof is entirely lacking.
Nor is it easy to imagine any possible method of proof
except, perhaps, bird-marking on an immense scale. The
question is no mere matter of interesting speculation, but
one which, unanswered, obstructs the threshold of the great
problem of the origin of the migrational habit, which in
turn leads us to deep problems of psychology, heredity,
and other aspects of biology as far-reaching and important
as they are intricate and difficult.

The Golden Plover, or simply the ' Plover, ^ for it is
the typical species, is a truly handsome bird in its summer
dress, with the deep-black under-parts, the pure white on
head and flanks, and the mottled greenish yellow of the
upper plumage. On a museum shelf it stands conspicuous
among the sober hues of the Sandpipers and Snipe that
may be placed beside it. But on the open moor it is
found to be as protectively coloured as any.

A rough Highland road winds across a vista of rolling
moorland, not purple yet, but brown and green, relieved
occasionally by clumps of the hardier flowers of early
summer. As we follow it our attention is held in turn
by the dark-blue, massive hills, cloud-capped and patched
with lingering snow, and by the cold, gray, wind-
whipped loch in the hollow, with its island ruin, its
issuing torrent of foamy, peat-brown water, and its
drinking herd of shaggy, long-horned cattle or wild red-
deer. A cry overhead suddenly recalls us to oui' nearer

76 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

surroundings. The cry is faintly reminiscent of the Peewit,
long left behind on the lower levels, but is whistled,
not wailed, and is light, almost cheerful, instead of
monotonous and exaggeratedly plaintive. Decidedly a
pleasant ciy, we think, and look up to see a pair
of Plovers fly quickly across our path, and, undeterred
by our close approach, settle in a hollow in the moor not
twenty yards away. In a few seconds we mount the rise
which hid their exact landing-place from our view, and
we see before us a hollow with clumps of heather and
rank grasses, patches of fresh green turf, black spots of bare
peat, dark, mottled green growths of moss, and random
flecks of white — the heads of the cotton-grass growing in
the damp of the hollow. Against such a favourable back-
ground our Plovers seem able to melt away, but move-
ment betrays them. The white, small though its area,
is probably the first to catch the eye, as what we passed
over for a wisp of cotton - grass suddenly moves across
the ground and reveals the bird. It is conspicuous
enough now, and we have difficulty in believing that a
moment before we could stare straight at it without
seeing it. The resemblance to the background is not
extraordinary, and it is, rather unexpectedly perhaps, in
the variedness of the plumage that we must look for the
secret. We did indeed see the bird from the first, but
we did not see it as a whole. An irregular patch of
mottled green, a wisp or two of white, a shapeless patch
of black. None of these three alone suggests a bird in
any way, and each is repeated a hundredfold in the
surroundings. We have nothing definite to look for, but
must vaguely seek to discover which of these patches
must be grouped together to make up the shape of a
bird. When the required patches suddenly move altogether
we co-ordinate them instantly. If they remain still, co-

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 77

ordination will probably come sooner or later in a chance
sudden flash. In either case, once the co-ordination is
made the bird is plain enough, and if it remains stationary
we can find it again without difficulty if we look away
for an instant. If there is anything in the plumage not
in the surroundings we have something definite to look
for, or even to catch the eye when not specially intent.
For instance, if there be no cotton-grass about, nor any
wisps of wool on the heather, the small amount of white
in the Golden Plover's plumage is enough to betray it.
Still more is this the case with the greater amount of
white in the plumage of the somewhat similar Gray
Plover.

The sexes are nearly alike in summer plumage, but
the female is duller and has less black on the breast. In
winter plumage the under -parts of both become white,
with a fulvous brown tinge on the breast. Birds passing
north in early summer, after ovu* own birds have retired
to their moors, are then in full-breeding plumage, and
are said to be even blacker on the under-parts than home-
breeding individuals. These may attain their summer
dress as early as the end of February.

Suitable haunts are wanting in the south-eastern half
of England ; but in the extreme south-west, in Wales, in
much of the north, as well as over most of Scotland and
Ireland, the Golden Plover is a familiar nesting-bird on
the higher levels. Late in April or early in May the
eggs are laid in a mere depression on the moor. They
are almost invariably four in number, and resemble the
familiar 'Plover's eggs' (really Peewit's, as a mle) of the
market — grayish or yellowish green, blotched and spotted
with various shades of brown — but are larger in propor-
tion to the bird. Both sexes take part in the incubation,
and in due course the young are hatched. These are

78 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

active little balls of fluffy down, as golden on the upper-
parts as are their parents. (One is figured in the plate of
nidifugous nestlings.) In four or five weeks they attain
their first plumage, very similar to that of the adults in
winter, and at the same time acquire the power of flight.

THE LAPWING, OR PEEWIT

(Vanellus vulgaris).
Plate 26.

The remarks made in the previous chapter on the
distribution of our typical British Plovers do not extend
to this species — the Green Plover, as it is sometimes called.
It is, in fact, an inhabitant of more temperate regions
than the Arctic tundras, and is as abundant in our islands
as anywhere, and but sparingly distributed as far north
as the Arctic Circle. Within our area it is widespread,
and even 'lone St Kilda' is visited on the spring passage.
From this it will be gathered that the Lapwing is to
some extent a migrant, although resident throughout the
year in many parts. For one thing, our islands form the
winter-quarters, or a part of the road to the winter-
quarters, of Lapwings from more northern countries. For
another, the species is practically a summer visitor to the
inland districts of the north of Scotland. In the north-
east of Scotland its spring return is associated with the
last blast of winter occurring about the same time, and
thence called the 'Teuchit Storm.'

Some at least of our own breeding birds undertake
considerable transmarine migrations ; a bird hatched and
marked in Stirlingshire was recorded from southern France
in the following autumn. However this may be, the

Plate 26.

LAPWING OR VY.Y.'SSflT—VaTtel'lus vulgaris.

Length, 12-5 in. ; wing, 8-75 in.

[LiMic'OLiE : Charadri'idae.]
J 78

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 79

species is abundantly represented at all seasons in the
more southerly portions of the United Kingdom.

Low - lying moorlands, and other waste ground to
some extent, but ploughed agricultural land more par-
ticularly, form the home of the Lapwing. Very marshy
or boggy situations are left to the Snipe, and the elevated
moors to the Golden Plover. Outside the nesting season
the open shore and the estuarine mud-flats afford it
congenial feeding-grounds. In these latter places it may
be seen in flocks occasionally numbering thousands, and
often hundreds, of birds. Soon after they return to their
nesting-grounds the flocks break up into pairs, and in
many districts every field has its nest. Every one is
familiar with the slow and rather irregular flight of the
bird, which has proportionately short and markedly rounded
wings for a Wader. When a flock is seen in flight at
some distance the whole appears to vibrate in a curious
and characteristic manner — the reason for the name
'Lapwing.' The widely used popular name 'Peewit'' is,
of course, an attempt to syllable the bird's persistent and
rather monotonous wailing cry. So also are the local
variation 'Peesweep' and the Scots name 'Teuchit.' The
name ' Green Plover ' has already been mentioned. We
may remark that it is quite a correct appellation, the
species being quite strictly a Plover. The 'Plover's
eggs' of the market, too, belong almost entirely to this
species. They are not very keenly collected in Ireland,
but are systematically taken in many parts of Great Britain.
Large numbers are also imported from the Netherlands
and from northern Germany. In all the countries
mentioned the eggs can be legally taken only up to a
fixed date ; but we fear that the law is none too strictly
enforced in many of our own districts.

To give many details of the nesting economy of the

80 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

Peewit seems almost unnecessary, so familiar are they to
all. We shall therefore make a brief summary suffice.
When the pairs have separated out and taken up their
respective stations on the fields or moors the cocks may
be observed performing extraordinary tumbling evolutions
in the air, uttering special variations of their well-known
cry, and producing with their wings in flight a low,
resonant humming noise resembling the Snipe's ' bleat,' but
not nearly so loud. These manifestations continue to
some extent throughout the season.

Nest-making is not a serious undertaking ; often a
natural hollow, such as a deep hoof-mark, will suffice.
More usually the hollow is rounded and smoothed, and
a slight lining of dry grasses is often added. In the
neighbourhood of the real nest several similar but unlined
hollows may generally be found. These are popularly
termed ' Cock's nests,"* and are formed by the male
turning round and round during the time he is ' showing
off' to his mate. Eggs may be found by the middle of
March, and may be legally taken up till the end of the
month. April is, however, the chief month of laying,
especially in Scotland. The eggs — grayish or yellowish
green, blotched and spotted with various shades of
brown — are almost invariably four in number. The
percentage of threes, fives, and exceptional sixes, must be
very trifling. The eggs are extremely difficult to find,
and are usually to be discovered only by mere chance or
by veiy systematic searching. The hen rarely betrays the
nest, but runs some distance along the ground before
rising. In emergencies she will try to distract attention
from her charges by the trick of shamming lameness or
a broken wing. The cock's solicitude is displayed in
frantic and noisy evolutions in the air.

The nestlings in down are mottled brown above, white

Plate 27.

RINGED FLOYER-^o-/a/i'//s hiatic'ola.

Length, 7-75 in. ; wing, 5-25 in.

[LIMIC'OL/E : Charadri'idcX.]
K 80

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 81

below, with a black band across the breast. They are
adepts at squatting motionless and making themselves
almost invisible. They sometimes try to escape detection
in this way after they are well able to fly, and may thus
be caught. The immature bird's plumage is very
similar to the adult's, but the crest is shorter. The
adult female's crest is slightly shorter than her mate's,
and both old birds have white throats in winter.

THE DOTTEREL

(Eudromias morinellus).

The Dotterel occurs in Britain chiefly as a bird of
passage to and from its home on the tundras ; but it
also nests in very small numbers in the Lake District,
the Grampians, and the Cairngorms, always at high
altitudes. Collectors are doing their best to drive it even
from these haunts, except where the proprietors of the moors
interest themselves in its protection. The white gorget,
warm chestnut under-parts, and comparatively small size,
are points for identification. Of its nesting habits we
can only say that three is in its case the normal clutch,
and that the eggs have dark markings on a gi-eenish-
yellow ground. The name ' Dotterel ' is widely misapplied
to the next species.

THE RINGED PLOVER

(iCgialitis hiaticola).

Plate 27.

Among the last Waders that we have to deal with
is the common representative of a group of small
Plovers, characterised by light sandy-brown upper-parts

K

82 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

and dull-white under-parts, the latter broken, however,
by a dark collar — technically a pectoral band — which is
the most noticeable feature of the plumage. In the
adult of the typical species this is a broad blackish
band ; in the Little Ringed Plover, a rare wanderer to
our shores from eastern Europe, it is very much narrower ;
in the Kentish Plover, one of the most local of our
breeding-birds, the collar is incomplete, not meeting in
front ; in the rather larger Killdeer Plover, an exceptional
visitor from North America, where it is abundant and
widespread, the collar is double, consisting of two nan-ow
bands crossing the breast parallel to each other.

Here we have a good example of a well-marked genus
containing a number of species, showing so much general
resemblance that no one would hesitate to say that they
had all sprung from a common stock at a comparatively
recent date. Thus our genus is a natural group. The
species in it, so far as we have enumerated them, differ
in no very fundamental respects, but are nevertheless
perfectly distinct and easily recognisable. But here comes
the difficulty ; the very species we have under special
consideration is capable of subdivision into two races
even within our own area. There is the common form,
with us throughout the year, and there is a smaller,
brighter, and less ' bullet-headed ' race which visits some
of our coasts in spring. This latter form must not be
confused with the true Little Ringed Plover, a distinct
species already referred to.

Now to these two races of the Ringed Plover we
cannot logically give the same specific rank that we have
already granted to the half-dozen perfectly well - defined
forms that we have enumerated. Yet, on the other hand,
we cannot refuse to recognise the difference between such
races if we wish to make any frirther progress in piecing

BRITAIN S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 83

together the history and evolution of the members of our
avifauna. The Ringed Plover is in this respect but one
of many, and systematists have in recent years come
to recognise that species are not indivisible, but may
comprise a number of sub-species, local forms, or geo-
gi'aphical races — call them what you will. The recognition,
however, brings in its train new and more cumbrous
systems of classification and nomenclature, without which
the systematists could not easily work. It is these in-
novations in nomenclature which often make the naturalist
who concerns himself solely with field-work condemn this
subdivision as mere scientific pedantry.

But these races may be said to be possible species in the
making, and the study of them is therefore in itself a matter
of interest and importance. Indirectly the study of such
races may facilitate the study of geographical distribution,
migration, and so on. Where the facts concerning a whole
species may be too vague and general to reveal much detail,
the facts naiTOwed down to a single race may prove easy to
handle and analyse.

As regards general and nesting habits, such closely allied
races do not appear to present any notable differences, except
of course where the circumstances of the respective areas
they inhabit exert an influence. For purposes of the study
of habits, then, the field-natiiralist may still treat of a species
as a whole, as we do in this work.

The Ringed Plover, or ' Sand Lark,' as it is often popularly
termed, is essentially a shore-bird, and is seldom to be met
with except on the low-lying portions of the coast. In
autumn and winter it frequents the sandy shore and the
tidal mud-flats of bays and estuaries. At this time it
usually assembles in small parties of six or eight, or sometimes
in flocks of greater size. We may come across the birds at
low-tide, feeding on the mud. Probably, if we are not look-

84 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

ing for them, we shall pass them by without a thought ; but
if we closely scrutinise the flats we shall soon distinguish the
birds running about actively, apparently at random, but yet
keeping near each other. Every instant some small particle
of food is picked up, and the bird darts off in a new direction,
only to stop abruptly after a few steps to secure another
morsel. Without having recourse to any particular pre-
cautions, we may walk up to within a very few yards of them
without disturbing them in the slightest. The general
direction of their progress will be away from us, and their
movements may become more nervous and hurried, but the
feeding does not stop. We make some sudden movement,
however, and with incredible quickness and unanimity they
all take wing, uttering a triple whistling call. Up and down
they fly at great speed, turning sharply now and then as if at
a word of command. In a minute or two they will alight as
suddenly as they rose, and as often as not almost at the same
spot. Their quickness makes up for their lack of shyness,
but their inconspicuous coloration is their best protection.

The same sandy shores may in summer afford suitable
nesting-ground for the Ringed Plover. A patch of dry sand
some distance above the high-tide line is all it requires.
Often, however, it goes a short distance inland to some dune-
covered waste, such as the Terns frequent, or to some low
moor bordering an estuary, where it lives alongside Eider-
Ducks, Redshanks, Peewits, and other ground-nesters like
itself.

Nothing very much in the way of a nest is made — in fact,
the eggs are often laid in a mere hollow scooped in the sand
or shingle. More usually some slight attempt at a lining is
made, a few pebbles being commonly used for this purpose.
More ambitious nests are sometimes to be foimd consisting of
hollows very well lined. An instance has been recorded in
which the lining consisted of two thousand (seven ounces)

BRITAIN S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 85

pebbles, which must have been transported from at least
twenty yards away. Nests are also lined with broken shells,
and sometimes with small bits of stick or even of green
herbage.

The eggs are normally four in number, and are of the
typical conical form characteristic of Waders. They are
buff-tinted or stone-coloured, with small blackish markings.
Against either sand or shingle they are extremely difficult to
find ; but the statement that they actually vary with the
nature of the ground requires confirmation. An indirect
relation is, however, not impossible. It may safely be said
that the Ringed Plover is one of the best examples of
protective coloration that we have. Not only are the
eggs protectively coloured, but also the birds in all stages
of their plumage. The down of the chick is white,
with buff" and gray mottlings above. As they can,
when still very young, i-un at a perfectly astonishing pace,
they are able to scatter well on the approach of danger,
and are thus even more difficult to detect than a group
of eggs, whose symmetrical outlines and arrangement may
catch the eye. The first plumage of real feathers re-
sembles the adult plumage, but has brown where that has
black, and has the colours duller generally, including those
of legs and bill. The adults are notably different from
most Waders, in showing very little diversity of plumage
between the two sexes or at different seasons. All the
true-feather plumages, then, may be roughly described as
sandy brown above and light below. The former hue must
obviously harmonise well with either sands or mud-flats.
But we know that the whole bird harmonises with such
backgrounds, and we can soon call to mind many instances of
protectively coloured birds and mammals whose under-parts
are of what seems a conspicuously light hue in a stuffed
specimen. But under natural conditions, with the light more

86 BRITAIN S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

or less from above, these parts are thrown into shadow, and
therefore appear no lighter than the surrounding ground.
An interesting experiment illustrating this point may be
performed with dummy pigeons, artificial decoy-ducks, or
home-made models. Given a surrounding of slate-gray, say,
and a top light, a model bird painted slate-gray all over
will always show up with perfect distinctness. One painted
slate-gray above and white below will, on the contrary, be
veiy indistinct, and may even be invisible at certain angles.

Then as to the conspicuous pattern of the head and breast
regions. Does it diminish the protective effect ? Against a
surface of perfectly uniform shade it might, but such back-
grounds are unusual. Against an ordinary variegated
surface — sand or mud, with stones, shells, &c. — such
markings may stand out by themselves, but their shape
suggests nothing to the eye, and they distract attention from
the general outline of the bird, just as we have seen in the
case of the Golden Plover.

On the other hand, a bird of uniform hue — or uniform
when we take into account the shadow effects on the under-
parts — will stand out as a whole if it differ in shade ever so
slightly from its background. From this we can more easily
understand how even some birds of bright but variegated
plumage are really protectively coloured.

THE KENTISH PLOVER

(/Egialitis cantiana).

The Kentish Plover, a closely related bird of very similar
habits and appearance, has already been referred to. It is
one of the rarest and most local of our native birds, being
found in small numbers on the shingle beaches of Kent and
Sussex, from April or May till September, and otherwise

Plate 28.

STONE-CURLEW, NORFOLK PLOVER, OR
THICK- KNEE— CEdkne mus scol 'opax.

Length, 16 in. ; wing, 9-25 in.

[Ll.MIc'OL.^ : Oidicnem'ida;.]
K 86

BRITAINS BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 87

not at all in the British Isles (not including the Channel
Islands) except as an uncommon migrant.

Family, CEDICNEMID.E (Stone-Curlews).

THE STONE=CURLEW, NORFOLK
PLOVER, OR THICK=KNEE

((Edicnemus scolopax).
Plate 28.

The Stone-Curlew, the last Wader on our list, is rather
a peculiar one, forming, indeed, so far as British birds
are concerned, a family by itself. In general appearance
and in many of its habits it betrays its distant rela-
tionship to the Bustards. In build it is quite Bustard-
like, and its favourite haunts are similar to those of
the members of that group — wide, open, stony uplands.
From this, and from the loud wailing cry, the name
' Stone-Curlew ' is derived. But the species is rather un-
fortunate in its names, for all the three in common use
are in some way inaccurate and misleading. Stone-Curlew
is the most usual name, but a ' Curlew "* the bird obviously
is not. Neither is it a Plover, although the epithet
' Norfolk ^ is quite appropriate, seeing that East Anglia is
one of the British strongholds of the species. The
popular name 'Thick-knee' refers to the fact that there
are swellings at the atikle-joinis, most prominent in
young birds.

With the typical Wader protective plumage, the Stone-
Curlew combines the Bustard-like habit of crouching flat,
with neck outstretched, on the ground. At other times
the Stone-Curlew will seek to escape by fast i-unning over
the plains, the Bustard's usual mode of progression. It

88 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

is also quite proficient on the wing. The large round
eyes, which add to the strange appearance of the Stone-
Curlew, are signs of its crepuscular or semi-nocturnal
habits. It is on moonlight nights that the somewhat
Curlew-like cry is most often to be heard.

The Stone-Curlew is a summer visitor to the British
Isles, being with us from April to October, individuals
sometimes lingering till midwinter. Its nesting area is
rather limited, and even well within its confines the bird
is apt to be very local. The open downs, 'brecks,' and
heaths of the chalk-country are its typical British haunts,
and the breeding area may be said to include most of
the south and east of England and the southern
midlands. It is, however, most abundant in the south-
eastern counties. To the west and north of England,
and to Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, the species is only
an occasional wanderer. Before the autumn emigration
the birds collect in flocks.

The nest is a mere hollow scraped on the open ground.
The eggs may be laid soon after the bird's arrival in
April. They are usually only two in number. They are
pale buff in ground-colour, with two sets of markings,
ash gray and deep brown respectively. Incubation lasts
for nearly four weeks, the male taking his share. The
down plumage of the active young chicks has a very
characteristic pattern of a few longitudinal black stripes
running through the sandy-coloured down of their upper-
parts ; there is also a dark ' horse-shoe ' mark on the
forehead. They make full use of the crouching habit
already alluded to.

Plate 29.

TYPES OF NIDIFUGOUS NESTLINGS.
For key see page 90.

L 88

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 89

NIDIFUGOUS NESTLINGS.

Plate 29.

Owing to the impracticability of showing young birds as
well as eggs in the ordinary illustrations, two extra plates
have been added to deal with this important part of our
subject. These show typical nestlings of the two groups
of Nidifugous {iiest-feemg) and Nidicolous {nest-dwelling)
birds. The division, it may be remarked, is not of any
importance for purposes of classification, a varied collection
of natural Orders falling into each group, while othei-s
display intermediate characters. The various types are
discussed in detail under the headings of appropriate
species (see Index), and it is here only necessary to
summarise briefly the most salient features of Nidifugous
nestlings. Nidicolous birds are similarly treated at
page 225.

Birds with nidifugous young nest on or near the gi'ound.
The incubation period is relatively long, and the young
therefore emerge from the egg at a well -developed stage.
They are open-eyed and down-clad from the first, and are
usually strong and active enough to leave the nest within
a few hours. Often they require of their parents only
guidance and protection, but in other cases they are fed
for some time. A few weeks are necessary for the young
birds to attain full size. With this comes the completion
of the first plumage of real feathers and the resulting
power of flight.

The 'Game-birds' represent the highest extreme in the
way of early activity and independence. Every one knows
that chickens feed themselves from the first, and are quite
lively before they are well clear of the shell. Game-birds,

L

90 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

moreover, are exceptional in possessing ' precocious flight.'
A set of small flight-quills is developed when the chick is
only half-grown, and serves its purpose until that of the
first real plumage is ready.

Young ' Waders "" are typical nidifugous birds, and show
a disproportionate development of leg, associated with
their running habits. The same is true of some chicks
of the Rail Order, while others resemble the young of the
Duck and Diver Orders in taking to the water almost at
once.

Less typical are young Auks, down-clad and open-eyed,
but comparatively helpless. So also are young Gulls ;
young Terns are more active, but are for many weeks
entirely dependent on their parents for food.

Many peculiarities of the young birds are interesting in
that they probably reflect ancestral characters of the
species — for example, the short, plover-like beak of the
newly - hatched Curlew, and the longitudinally striped
down-plumage of many nestlings, well seen in the Grebes.
Many other points also arise. Protective coloration is
splendidly illustrated by young Waders and others.

The plate shows :

(1) Redshank (Limicol.e : Charadriidae), showing protective

coloration and crouching habit.

(2) Golden Plover (Limicol.e : Charadriidae), showing

protective coloration and disproportionate leg
development.

(3) Partridge (Gallin^e : Phasianidae), showing early set

of quills for ' precocious flight ' (see above).

(4) Mallard or Wild-Duck (Anseres : Anatidae).

(5) Moorhen or Waterhen (Gkall.e ; FuLiCARiiE : Rallidae).
The Partridge is half-grown ; the others are all in the

first day or two of life.

BRITAIN S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 91

ORDER, GRAI.LJE (RAILS, &c.) ;
Suborder, OTIDES ; Family, OTIDID/E (Bustards).

THE GREAT BUSTARD

(Otis tarda).

The natural Order on which we now enter is one
composed of three very distinct groups. Only the typical
one concerns us to any extent ; but before we can deal
with it we must first dismiss, with brief mention, the
respective representatives of the other two — a single
British-breeding species in each case, and both now extinct
as such. Four centuries ago the Great Bustard nested
on the open lands of England and the extreme south of
Scotland. From that time it gradually decreased, and
the last record of eggs appears to be about 1838.
Allusion has already been made to the general habits of
the group, and as this large bird is no longer to be seen
coursing over the downs we need not discuss the matter
fui'ther. The Great Bustard still occurs as an irregular
wanderer, and more marked incursions are noted in some
winters.

Suborder, GRUES ; Family, GRUID^ (Cranes).

THE CRANE

(Qrus communis).

The Crane is believed to have nested in East Anglia
down till late in the sixteenth century. It is now a rare
wanderer to our islands. The name ' Crane ' has long been

92 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NP^STS.

popularly misapplied to the Heron, a fact which has to
be taken into account in estimating the value of ancient
records.

Suborder, FULICARI^ ; Family, RALLID^ (Rails).

THE LANDRAIL, OR CORNCRAKE

(Crex pratensis).
Plate 30.

With this well-known bird we enter on our discussion
of the few members of the Rail Order that are of any
importance as British birds — four species, all of them
breeding in most districts of the British Isles. It is not
possible to give any account of the general characteristics
common to the group, as those which are of fundamental
importance are of a scientific nature beyond the scope of this
book. In habits the Rails present considerable differences,
some of them being land-birds and others being water-fowl.
All, however, are markedly skulking in their wa3's. In
appearance they will be found, on consideration, to possess
a certain degree of general likeness, difficult to describe.

The typical member of the Order is this bird, which we
notice chiefly in early summer, particularly in the morning
and the evening, when its striking and characteristic cry
commands attention. This cry, if it needs description at
all, is scarcely distinguishable from the sound made by
sharpening a scythe on a whetstone. As the nesting
season advances the cry ceases to be uttered. It is then
that we may fully realise how little more than a voice
the Corncrake is to us. With the beginning of its period
of silence it drops out of our thoughts altogether, and is
only very occasionally brought to notice by the slaying

y /

Mt

Plate ^o.

LANDRAIL OR CORNCRAKE— Or a- /;v?A7?.'j/^.

Length, 10-5 in. : wing, 5-25 in.

[GRAL'LiE ; Fulica'ri/E : Ral'lidae.]
L 92

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 93

of a sitting bird by the grass-mower in the fields, or by
a few falling to the guns of sportsmen shooting over the
clover in autumn, for the Landrail is held in great
esteem for the table, although of no merit for sport.
Even in early summer, when the well-known sound betrays
the presence of the bird, we are scarcely more likely to
catch a glimpse of itself. At times it will sit extremely
closely in hiding, and again it will seek safety in fast
running through the long grass or the standing crops.
In any case, it will generally prove extremely loath to take
wing. When captured, it will very often resort to the
trick of shamming death.

Fields of long grass or of standing corn are the usual
haunts of the Landrail, and in such places it will in May
construct a nest of dried herbage of one sort or another.
In this are soon deposited the seven to ten eggs, with
their gray and i-ufous spots on a pale, reddish-tinted
ground. As is typical of this order, the young are active
from the first, although incapable of flight until about six
weeks old. When hatched they are clad in blackish
down. This in due course gives place to the immature
})lumage. This, like the female adult plumage, and the
plumage of the adult male in winter, differs very slightly
from the adult male's breeding dress depicted in the
accompanying plate.

The distribution of the Landrail in the British Isles
is wide ; but it is almost entirely a summer visitor,
although a very few remain through the winter, chiefly
in Ireland. That such a notoriously skulking bird and
one usually loath to take flight should be a migrant
is perhaps rather remarkable. Among the Tartars it
has given rise to the belief that every migrating Crane
takes a Corncrake on its back. We scarcely require
the evidence of observers to assure us that this bird

94 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

migrates in quite a normal manner ; but yet the idea
of large birds carrying smaller ones must not be alto-
gether scouted. A few records exist which appear to
show that very small birds sometimes receive a partially
' assisted passage ' in this way. That it is ever more
than an exceptional occurrence there is no ground for
believing.

THE WATER=RAIL

(Rallus aquaticus).

Plate 31.

While the Landrail is but a voice to most people, the
Water-Rail is an almost unknown bird. That it is the
most elusive of British birds nobody will deny ; for,
less common and more local than the Landrail, and
haunting reed -grown ponds and marshes rather than
fields that are as often as not close by the roadside,
the Water-Rail is naturally less apt to betray its pres-
ence by its cry. This note, called ' sharming ' on the
Broads, is somewhat similar in nature to the familiar
' Corncrake,'' and is persistently uttered for a short period
in early summer.

When we do catch a glimpse of the Water-Rail itself,
by lucky chance or patient watching, we see a bird
not unlike the Landrail in general outline, but with a
longer beak and longer toes, the latter giving a wider
area on which to support the bird on the treacherous
ground it frequents. The coloration, however, is quite
different, and is made up of delicate shades of olivace-
ous browns and greens and bluish grays, with a touch
of brightness in the deep red of the beak. Except for
the banded flanks, none of the markings are bold or

Plate 31.

WATER-RAI L— i?<^z/7«^ aquat'iais.

Length, ii-5 in. ; wing, 4'7S in.

[Gral'l.e ; FULiCA'RliE : Ral'lid^.]
L 94

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 95

outstanding; but the areas of different tints fade gradu-
ally into each other, producing a fine harmony of colour.
This effect is heightened by the peculiarly smooth and
velvety appearance of much of the plumage. The
plumage of the adult female is similar to the male's,
but duller altogether.

Our most intimate experience of the Water-Rail was
when one took shelter in a shed during a stormy night
of the autumn migration season. It was brought in-
doors, and lived on a cork mat floating in a bath for
a couple of days, and was then allowed to resume its
interrupted journey. To watch it was a delight, for it
proved to be unexpectedly graceful in its movements,
and astonishingly fearless in the presence of so many of
its 'enemies.' There were no frantic flutterings, no vain
dashes for liberty, no pitiful beatings against the window,
such as one expects from most captive birds. On the
contrary, it needed no coercion to keep it on its mat,
where it showed no symptoms of alarm beyond a nervous
snake-like shooting out and drawing back of the head,
and graceful, sinuous movements of the neck. We were
again impressed with the perfect 'lie' of the plumage
and the delicate gradation of its hues.

Laying may begin early in April, and two broods are
probably reared in a season. The nest is of reed-flags
and sedge, and is well concealed among the rank herbage
of the marshy ground. The eggs, seven to eleven in
number, are speckled with delicate red and gray on
a creamy ground. The female Water-Rail often sits
very closely, and when she does leave the nest it is on
foot and by stealth, so that she rarely betrays the
position of her treasures. In fact, the bird is at all
times as loath to take wing as any of its cousins. The
active, nidifugous little chicks that are hatched in due

96 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

course are covered with blackish down. A rather curious
incident in their early life-history has recently been de-
scribed. What the explanation is, or whether tlie cir-
cumstances are normal or not, remains to be discovered.
In the case of the nest under observation, the newly
hatched chicks were removed by the neck in the mother's
bill to some place in the neighbouring reed-beds, where
they were perhaps under the care of the cock-bird.
Soon after, the remaining chicks were removed in a
like manner, with most of the shell still round them !
Then the remaining single addled egg was taken ! The
young brood was not discovered, and the whole affair
remains a mystery, which can only be cleared up by
further observations.

THE MOORHEN, OR WATERHEN

(Gallinula chloropus).
Plate 32.

On every river, on almost every stream of any size,
on every reed-grown pond or lake throughout the British
Isles, the familiar Waterhen may be found swimming
and diving unsuspectingly, or skulking in concealment
among the herbage in the shallows, flying with bold,
heavy flight, or sitting quietly on its firmly built nest.
Even in semi-captivity it will not only live, but also
nest and rear its young on the smallest of ornamental
waters. Everywhere it is a general favourite, except with
those whose interests are prejudicially affected by its
actions.

The name ' Waterhen " is perhaps the best - known
name of this species ; but ornithologists generally give
preference to another, that of ' Moorhen.' In this term

'■'Wpi,-

Plate y.

MOORHEN OR VJATERHKN—Gamnii/a chlor'opiis.

Length, 13 in. ; wing, 6-75 in.

[Gral'l.^ ; Fulica'rl^ : Ral'lidae.]
M 96

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 97

the word ' moor "■ is used in its older and etymologically
truer sense of ' marsh ' or ' mere."* Nowadays ' moor "" is
seldom used except in the sense of heath - covered up-
lands, and in this sense the names ' Moorcock "" and
' Moorhen '' are sometimes popularly applied to the Red-
Grouse.

It is often before March is out that the first clutch
of eggs is laid. The nest is a well-made, cup -shaped
structure of dead rushes and flags, and is placed among
the herbage or reeds or even low branches above or
close to the water. The flags growing around the nest
are often bent over it to form a sort of concealing
canopy. Several nests are for some reason built, or
partly built, by one pair of birds. In case of flooding
the eggs are said to be transferred to one of the nests
in a safer position. At other times the original nest
is added to in a similar emergency. The eggs are from
half-a-dozen to nine or more in number, and are huffish
stone-colour with reddish-brown spots. Three weeks are
required for incubation, and then the chicks emerge.
They are wide-awake and active little creatures from
the very first, and are provided with a covering of
black down. Within the first few hours they take to
the water, and from the start propel themselves skil-
fully ; but it is not till they become older and have
had much practice that they are proficient in diving.

In connection with the chicks leaving the nest thus
early a curious point arises. At times the Moorhen
will nest in a tree by the lake-side, and may select a
position as much as twenty feet above the ground. This
is all very well for the adult Moorhen, strong on the
wing and perfectly able to perch on the boughs, but
what of the chicks ? We can easily discover that they
do not become nidicolous and inhabit the nest till they

M

98 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

can fly, as ordinary tree-nesting species do. It is mani-
festly impossible for the chicks to climb down. Do their
parents carry them down, and if so — how .? The ques-
tion has been much discussed in connection with certain
Ducks whose habits present a similar problem. Actually
to observe the deed is the obvious method of solution ;
but it may be difficult to come upon the birds at the
critical moment. We have heard a description from one
who had the good fortune to discover a young Moorhen
in the very act of quitting a nest at a considerable
height above the ground. This chick simply zvalked
off the nest. Its last stride was a sheer drop, but on
reaching the ground it picked itself up and continued
its way apparently none the worse of what our friend
called ' its first great step in life.' A newly hatched
Moorhen's wings are of no service, even to check the rate
of fall, and there is indeed nothing to keep the bird
from falling like a stone and reaching the ground with
very considerable velocity. The momentum of such a
light body, however, will be small, and the impact
slight. Given soft herbage or perhaps water to fall
on, we can therefore quite understand that the chicks
may always be as successful as in the case observed, and
it may well be that what was seen is the ordinary mode
of descent.

The same pair of Moorhens will rear two and fre-
quently three broods in the year, and it is a curious
point that the young of the earlier broods are not
driven away, as is the case with most double and treble
brooded species. These earlier young birds are even said
to assist in the nesting duties for the later broods.
However this may be, the old Moorhens may certainly
be seen late in the season attended by young birds of
three distinct ages.

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 99

The immature birds differ from the adult in being
duller in hue, with the throat white and the under-
parts ash gray. The whole beak and frontal plate
is dark green, as are the legs, the red 'garters' being
absent. The sexes are alike in plumage. The Moorhen
swims in a characteristic jerky manner, and dives very
skilfully. The toes are long, like the Water-RaiPs, and
are provided with fringes, which increase the propelling
surface.

On the wing, as we have remarked, the Moorhen
moves with a heavy but strong flight. Like its two allies
already discussed, it is something of a migrant, although
generally rather loath to take wing when other means of
progression are available. The loud grunting call may
sometimes be heard overhead on still autumn nights.
The Moorhen's diet is varied, being partly animal and
partly vegetable, and including worms, grubs, insects,
grass, and grain. In the nesting season, however, it
becomes a sad robber, showing a great weakness for the
eggs of other species. These it breaks open and sucks.
Nestling-birds are also devoured with eagerness. A colony
of Black-headed Gulls is often infested by several families
of Moorhens, which, in an tinostentatious way, levy a heavy
toll of eggs and young. Other young birds are said to
be slaughtered for no apparent reason. A duckling, for
instance, which has lagged behind its parent may be set
upon and quickly battered to death, only to be left a
floating corpse. For these reasons preservers of water-
fowl look on the Moorhen with no friendly feelings.
Even with the old birds of some of these species it will
prove to be very jealous and pugnacious, while among
themselves at nesting-time Moorhens wiU guard strictly
what they conceive to be their own particular portions of
the lake.

100 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

Several exotic species of Waterhens and Gallinules are
known in this country as inhabitants of ornamental waters,
or as escapes therefrom.

THE COOT

(Fulica atra).
Plate 33.

The Coot is in a general way veiy similar to its ally
the Moorhen, which we have already discussed, but it is
a decidedly larger bird, and is built on heavier and
clumsier lines. Apart from the size, the patch of bare
white skin on the forehead, from which the popular name
* Bald Coot "* has arisen, serves as a ready means of
identification, even at a fair distance.

The habits of the species also resemble those of the
Moorhen. The Coot is, if anything, the more aquatic of
the two, and instead of skrdking on or near the bank to
a great extent, it spends most of its time on the open
water. This it is enabled to do in safety seeing that it
favours comparatively large stretches of water — lakes, as
a rule, or very large ponds, or sluggish reaches of fair-
sized rivers. In such haunts Coots may be seen at all
times of the year, floating lazily, diving for food, occa-
sionally rising to chase each other, half-flying, half-splash-
ing along the surface. In fact, the Coot does not often
rise into proper flight, although it can fly strongly, if
heavily, on occasion, the legs being allowed to hang. At
diving it is very expert, and the toes have lobe-like flaps
which increase their area. This is a stage nearer com-
plete webbing than the narrow fringes on the Moorhen"'s
toes. Coots are at all times both wary and quarrelsome,
and even when they are floating undisturbed they are

Plate 33.

COOT— Fn'Uca at'ra.

Length, IS in. ; wing, 8-5 in.

[Gral'l^ ; Fulica'rle : Ral'lidas.]
M 100

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 101

continually uttering their curious cry, characteristic, but
difficult to desci'ibe. It is something between a grunt
and a squeak, if that conveys anything ; and carries for
a long; distance across the water.

The Coot is found on such waters as we have described
throughout the British Isles. It seems to be to some
extent only a summer visitor to Shetland, but it is other-
wise practically resident, except that in winter it is forced
to abandon many ice-bound lakes for the nearest tidal
waters. In winter it shows a gregarious tendency.

The Coot is an early nester, laying in March or
April. The nest is an exceedingly firm and substantial
structure of flags and the like, rising a foot above the
water, and is placed in a reed-bed or some other concealed
situation. The eggs, seven to ten in number, are of
course larger than the Moorhen's, but the colour is
similar. The markings are darker and much smaller.

The chicks resemble the Moorhen's, being covered with
the usual black down and having similar habits. The
ornaments about the head are red, and it is a very
interesting point that this feature, characteristic of both
the nestling and adult Moorhen, should show in the very
young Coot, though absent in later life. It is also of some
note that while the down covering and adult plumage
of the Coot are both dark in colour all over, the inter-
mediate immature plumage has the under-parts gray and
the throat nearly white ; the bald patch, too, is smaller.

102 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

ORDER, GALLING ('GAME-BIRDS');

Family, TETRAONID^ (Grouse).

THE RED=QROUSE

(Lagopus scoticus).

Plate 34.

Two points in connection with the species we are
about to describe give it a quite exceptional interest to
inhabitants of the British Isles. The first is its unique
status in our native avifauna, and the other is the
extraordinary importance attaching to the Red-Grouse as
an object of sport. The latter question we shall very briefly
discuss at a later stage. As regards the former, the Red-
Grouse is the only species of bird, or indeed of higher
animal, which is indigenous to the British Isles, and to
the British Isles alone. Within our area it is rather
widely distributed, and is exceedingly abundant in some
parts. On the Continent it is quite unknown. Being
quite sedentary, it does not occur even as a wanderer.
On the other hand, there is on the Continent a closely
allied bird, the Willow-Grouse, or Norwegian Ryper, not
indigenous within our area, although introduced in places
and abundant in our markets in winter under the name
of ' Ptarmigan.'' The Willow-Grouse resembles our true
Ptarmigan in having a white winter dress ; but there can
be no doubt that it is more closely allied to the Red-
Grouse. In fact, the two species must be considered as
having been derived from a common stock, which origi-
nally populated the whole of northern Europe, perhaps at
a time when our islands were joined to the mainland.
Since then the Red-Grouse has dropped the white winter dress

^J2/

Plate 34.

RED-GROUSE— Z<:i^'^^'///i' scot'iais.

l,ength, 15 in. ; wing, 8-25 in.

[Galli'n^ : Tetraon'idte.]
M 102

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 103

to suit the milder conditions of our climate. Whether
the Red-Grouse has earned the right to specific rank is
the disputed point. Some authorities hold that since it
'invariably breeds true, admits of an easy diagnosis,
and has a definite geographical range,' it may therefore
be regarded as a separate species, although its common
origin with the Willow-Grouse is by no means disputed.
Others hold that the differences are insufficient to
warrant its being considered more than a geographical
race. If this latter view be accepted, the unique position
referred to is of course destroyed, inasmuch as a score or
more of species have geographical races peculiar to our
area. But we may safely say that the differences in these
other cases are much slighter, so that the Red-Grouse, if
not alone, is at least foremost in this respect. To enter
further on the merits of this question of rank is beyond
our scope, more especially as we have no concern with the
Willow-Grouse. But we may mention that for present
purposes we shall adhere, for convenience if for no other
reason, to the old custom of speaking of the Red-Grouse
as a species.

With the Red -Grouse we enter on a well-marked
natural Order, of which it is a quite characteristic
member. 'Gallinaceous birds' we should strictly call
them, but for the British Isles the name 'Game-birds' is
a more convenient popular title. The half-dozen species
we have to deal with here are all so well known,
and their common characteristics are so obvious, that
we do not need to make any general remarks on the
group as a whole apart from what we may incidentally
mention in the com-se of the chapter. But we must
remark that although 'Game-birds' forms a very con-
venient and at the same time appropriate name for the
group, it is neither the case that it includes all our

104 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

game -birds, even in the strictest sense, nor that all British
members of it are 'game.' For the Bustard was 'game,'
and the Quail is not strictly so, although enjoying some
of the privileges of protection also extended to other
birds which are objects of sport, such as the Woodcock
and Wild-Duck.

The Red-Grouse, as we have remarked, is of sedentary
habits, and does not wander beyond its breeding area.
This embraces all suitable parts of Scotland, including the
Outer Hebrides and Orkney, but not Shetland ; and in that
country, especially in the Highlands, the species has its
chief stronghold. Over most of Ireland and the north of
England it is also well distributed, and in the northern
English Midlands and in Wales it is found more locally.
From the south of England it is quite absent, and attempts
to introduce it in Surrey and elsewhere have been unsuc-
cessful. Everywhere heather-covered moors are its favoiu'ite
and typical haunts, although in winter it is forced to
forsake the higher levels. Even in summer, two thousand
feet practically limits its ground, the very highest levels
being left to the next species. The names ' Moorfowl,'
' Moor-Game,' ' Moorcock,' and ' Moorhen ' are popularly
applied to the Red-Grouse, the last of these rather
unfortunately, as we have seen. The word ' Grouse ' is a
general name for this family of Game-birds ; but when used
in this country without qualifying adjective it refers to
the present species. Originally it appears to have belonged
to the Black-Grouse, which is now usually called by other
names.

Unlike some Game-birds, the Grouse is monogamous.
Pairing takes place rather early, and the eggs may be laid
by the second half of March, although usually not till
April. They are from eight to ten or more in number
and are laid in a scantily lined hollow among the heather.

BRITAIN S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 105

They are huffish white or yellow, thickly covered with
reddish-brown spots. The cock remains loyally by his
mate throughout the season, in strong contrast to the males
of polygamous Game-birds. The hen is very faithful to
her duties, often sitting very closely in the presence of
danger. At all times Grouse that have not been much
disturbed are inclined to trust to their protective coloration,
and to escape notice by squatting or by running through
the heather. When ' flushed," the cock rises with a loud
cackle. He has also a loud, prolonged crow, uttered
evening and morning from the eminence of some hillock
or bundle of peats. ' Go, go, go, go, go back, go back,'
it is syllabled. The hen has a low, short croak.

The chicks of the Grouse are typical of the Order.
They are hatched in an extremely advanced state, being
able to nm about and find food for themselves at once,
as in the case of that familiar member of the Order,
the domestic fowl. The down plumage is of a huffish hue
above, except for the chestnut crown and the dark longi-
tudinal stripes down the back. These stripes are character-
istic of the chicks of the Order. Another and more
notable feature presented by young Game-birds is the
power of ' precocious flight.' Most nestlings are full grown
when a few weeks old, and only then possess fully developed
flight feathers as part of their first real plumage. But
young Grouse and other Game-birds have a miniature set
of flight feathers when only half-grown. These are replaced
by others of suitable size at the time when other birds
receive their first set. This is of course an advantage to
the young birds, but has also its drawback. A brood able
to fly is liable to be scattered too much, and some of the
chicks may thus be lost while yet not wholly able to
fend for themselves. The cock Grouse assists in looking
after the young brood.

N

106 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

The plumage of the Grouse is extremely variable. The
cock exhibits three colour -phases — 'first, a red phase
without spots, found in the low grounds of Ireland, the
west of Scotland, and the Outer Hebrides ; second, a rare
black phase, in which the plumage presents an intermediate
character between the first and third types ; and, third, a
white-spotted form, occurring in the high grounds of the
north of Scotland. In the hen five phases occur — namely,
a red, a black, a white-spotted, a buff-spotted, and a buff-
barred ; the red and black phases being rare, the buff- spotted
the commonest, and the buff-barred type occurring in the
south of Ireland.' The hen is smaller than the cock, and
has the red crescent of bare skin above the eye reduced.

These variations are confusing enough, but the matter
is still further complicated by the bewildering nature of the
seasonal moults and changes, which differ with the sex of
the birds. 'The male has no distinct spring plumage,
but has distinct autumn and winter plumages, and retains
the latter throughout the breeding season. The female
has a distinct spring plumage, which is complete by the
end of April or the beginning of May, also a distinct
autumn plumage, which is retained till the following spring.
To put it more concisely, both male and female have two
distinct moults during the year ; but in the male they occirr
in autumn and winter, and in the female in spring and
autumn, the former having no distinct spring and the
latter no distinct winter plumage."" A recent writer on
Game-birds gives a different version of the sequences, but the
above summary is the result of the very careful and extensive
labours of our greatest authority on the group, and is
confirmed by other observers, who agree ' that without
doubt the male breeds in his winter plumage."*

Owing to the special interest and importance of the
species we have already overstepped the usual limits of a

Plate 35.

FT ARMIG AN— Lao-o'pi/s mu'tiis.

Length, 14-5 in. ; wing, 7-75 in.

[Galli'na: : Tetraon'idae.]
N 106

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 107

chapter, and cannot therefore discuss the question of grouse-
disease, important though it be. The matter is a difficult
one and by no means thoroughly cleared up. The disease
does much havoc, occurring in epidemics, probably aggra-
vated by, if not partly due to, overcrowding of areas under
the very efficient methods of preserving. The first recorded
outbreak appears to be for 1815.

The sporting side is also beyond our scope, and we need
only refer to it very briefly. An enormous economic
importance attaches to the Grouse because of the great
amount of money that changes hands through it in one
way and another. As every one knows, the shooting season
opens on 12th August, lasting till 10th December. The
usual method of shooting nowadays is to have the birds
driven across a long line of ' butts ' made of peats or other
material, behind which the members of the party and their
loaders are concealed. INIany sportsmen prefer the simpler
method of going out alone or in a small party and tramp-
ing over the moors, putting up their own birds with dogs.
Fewer birds are got, but enjoyment should not be
measured by the size of the 'bag.' Rather the reverse,
for is it not the essence of true sport that there should
be some approach to equal chances on both sides .?

THE PTARMIGAN

(Lagopus mutus).

Plate 35.

Although the second British representative of this genus —
namely, the Ptarmigan — is a more distant ally of the
Willow-Grouse, it has with it one point in common which
is not shared by the Red -Grouse. This is the white
winter plumage specially adapted to a life amid the

108 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

mountain snows. The Ptarmigan is rather smaller in size
than the Grouse, and may always be readily distinguished
by the fact that the primary wing quills are white in
all plumages except that of the chick. The Ptarmigan,
however, goes through no less than three distinct phases
of plumage annually, and in each the sexes present con-
siderable differences ! The male in autumn differs from the
male in summer, as shown in the plate, chiefly in having
the upper-parts gray, lined with black. In winter the
plumage is mostly white ; but all the tail-feathers, except
the central pair, remain dark, and there is a black line
through the eye. The red wattle and black bill also
remain. In summer the plumage of the hen is chiefly
yellowish brown barred with black, and the autumn plum-
age is browner than the males. In winter it lacks the
black line through the eye which characterises the male at
that season, and the red wattle is always absent.

Unlike the Red-Grouse, the Ptarmigan is widely distri-
buted. It is most abundant on the Scandinavian Qelds,
but is also found in northern Russia, the Alps, and the
Pyrenees, The nearly related Rock-Ptarmigan inhabits
suitable portions of Greenland and North America, and
there are other species. Within the British Isles, the
Ptarmigan is confined to the Scottish Highlands, where it
is almost entirely restricted in summer to the highest
levels, the barren ' region of stones *" above the limit of
even heather growth. In autumn the birds ' pack,"" and in
winter seek rather lower levels. There is very little evi-
dence to support the assertion that the Ptarmigan was
formerly found in the southern portion of Great Britain,
and the same may be said of Ireland. The identification
of certain bones found in Irish cave-deposits is regarded
as very far from definite. A recent attempt to introduce
the species into the north of Ireland met with no success.

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 109

In general and nesting habits the Ptarmigan resembles
its congener. The eggs are laid a month or so later,
and are lighter in colour and less densely spotted. The
chicks are similar, but of a more chestnut tint.

In Scotland the Ptarmigan is shot at the same season
and in the same manner as the Red-Grouse, and it is
also liable to the grouse-disease.

It is as regards its plumage that the Ptarmigan is
most interesting. We may safely say that it presents
one of the finest examples of * protective coloration " ; for
each season it has a garb perfectly suited to its natural
surroundings. It reaps the full advantage of this by its
habit of sitting exceedingly closely, and trusting almost
entirely to concealment to escape its enemies. Thus the
traveller in the mountains may find himself in the very
middle of a flock before he is aware of it. On their
nests, too, in summer, the birds may usually be very
closely approached without their rising. At times, between
seasons as it were, they may suddenly find themselves
brown specks on a white landscape. Then they become
exceedingly wary and difficult to approach, which is an
interesting point in the discussion as to what actual
knowledge and appreciation of the value of their colora-
tion the birds themselves possess.

This plumage-change of the Ptarmigan and the Willow-
Grouse has its analogy in the variations of the Mountain
Hare, the Stoat or Ermine among our own mammals, and
the Arctic Fox. These, however, frequently assume no white
coat in winter in the more southern portions of their
range. Experiments, too, have been made with regard
to the direct influence of various conditions on the
assumption of winter plumage in certain birds ; but the
problem is not yet solved.

In addition to the birds and mammals we have already

110 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

mentioned, we may name a few which have a permanent
coloration suited to a snowy environment : Arctic Hare,
Polar Bear, Greenland Falcon, Snowy Owl. There are
also some others. The two last-named are winter rarities
in the British Isles ; both are large birds of prey with a
plumage mainly white, and flecked with light brown.

Now all these, birds and mammals, whether the snow-
garb be permanent or seasonal, may be divided sharply
into two classes — the predaceous, and those preyed upon.
The former class includes the Bear, the Fox, the Falcon,
and the Owl ; the latter, the Hare, the Ptarmigan, and the
WiUow-Grouse. In one set the coloration is aggressive — a
cloak to conceal attack ; in the other protective — a means
of escape. Thus, as one writer has graphically put it, ' The
Ptarmigan may be crouched upon a di'ift, but it must
ever be on the alert, lest from amid the snowflakes a
white death come suddenly upon it. Nature is terribly
just in her plan of life's battles.'

THE BLACKCOCK, OR BLACK=GROUSE

(Tetrao tetrix).

Plate 36.

As in the case of the RufF and the Reeve, the male
and the female of this species are generally known by
quite distinct names — ' Blackcock ' and ' Grayhen.' We may
speak of them collectively as ' Black-Grouse ' or ' black-
game,"" or apply the name of the male to the species.
The difference in name is an indication of the unusually
great difference between the plumage of the sexes,
perhaps more marked than in any other British bird.
It is not merely a matter of colour — more striking
differences of that sort occur among the Ducks ; but the

-'i^

Plate 36.

BLACKCOCK OR BLACK-GROUSE ^nv'/v.-.' AV'r.

Length, 23 in. ; wing, 10-3 m.

[C AI.m'n.t: : Tetraon'ichr.]
N 110

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. Ill

shape of some of the feathers — those of the tail — is
entirely different. The Blackcock's lyre-shaped tail, with
the white under-coverts showing in the notch, is well
known ; the Grayhen's tail is merely notched. The
cock's 'lyre' is not fully developed until his third year,
but he attains his black plumage in the first winter.
Earlier in the season the immature birds of both sexes
resemble the adult Grayhen. Barren — presumably old —
Grayhens attain a plumage similar to that of the adult
male, a phenomenon paralleled in some other species of
game-birds as well as among birds of prey, and probably
others.

The Black-Grouse is to be found rather locally in
suitable parts of the south of England, the Midlands,
and Wales, although only as an introduced or re-
introduced species in some parts. Over most of Scotland,
including many of the Inner Hebrides, it is more regularly
and abundantly distributed. But it is one of the striking
differences between the fauna of Great Britain and that
of Ireland that this species is altogether absent from the
latter island. Attempts to introduce it, moreover, have
always ended in failure. Possibly the mild, damp climate
has a deteriorating influence on this hardy bird. Attempts
to introduce it in the Outer Hebrides and in Orkney
have also failed ; but suitable haunts are altogether
wanting in these places. For, unlike the two preceding
species, it is no bird of the open moorland, but a frequenter
of wooded countiy, such as abounds in the central
Highlands. It perches on trees freely, walking securely
enough on the branches ; but it nests and roosts on the
ground.

In another more important respect the Blackcock also
differs from the Red-Grouse and Ptarmigan cocks, for
he is polygamous. Young Grayhens mate in their first

112 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

spring, but Blackcocks of the same age are usually
defeated and driven off by older birds. During the season
of the ' lek ' or ' spel ' the Blackcock is very pugnacious,
and indulges in furious combats, frequently joined in by
several birds. ' Although destitute of spurs, it fights in
the same manner as the domestic cock, lowering its head,
erecting and spreading its tail, and leaping against its
adversary, endeavouring to drive him off and if possible
tear him to pieces. The combats, however, are less bloody
than those of our game-cocks, although they are engaged
in with so much earnestness that an unscrupulous fowler
might easily carry destruction among the gallants. A
cock who has beaten off his opponents from his favourite
station betakes himself to it morning and evening, and
struts in a pompous manner, with spread tail, and
stiffened wings rustling against the ground, calls aloud
with a harsh grating voice, and invites the neighbouring
females, or rather challenges those of his own sex within
hearing to come forward and dispute his claims to the
favour of his elect brides. When this season of excite-
ment is over, the males, forgetting their animosities,
meet together, and endeavour to recruit their diminished
energies by following their ordinary occupations in peace.'
The great Scottish ornithologist Macgillivray, who penned
the above description three-quarters of a century ago,
compared this friendly association of the males at times
when they were not engaged in fighting furiously, with
the similar habits of some polygamous mammals, such as
Red-Deer. The Blackcock has also a short period of
' spel ^ in autumn.

The nest is a hollow on the ground, lined with leaves
or similar material. In this from six to ten or more
eggs are deposited. They have orange-brown spots on a
brownish-yellow ground. The nestlings are covered with

Plate 37.

CAPERCAI LLIE—Tel'rao urogal'lus.

Length, 35 in. ; wing, 14-5 in.

[Galli'n.e : Tetraon'idae.]
o 112

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 113

huffish down, with indistinct darker mottHngs on the
back. The crown is chestnut, and there are black stripes
behind the eyes, characteristics which distinguish it from
the chick of the next species. The males take little or
no part in the duties of the nesting season, and are, in
fact, already in flocks before it is well over.

Black -game shooting lasts from 20th August (1st
September in Devon, Somerset, and the New Forest) till
10th December. Early in the season the birds sit rather
closely, but later on they become very shy and wary.
Unlike the Red-Grouse, the Blackcock usually rises with-
out calling.

THE CAPERCAILLIE

(Tetrao urogallus).
Plate 37.

A much larger bird than the Blackcock, but one in
many ways similar as regards appearance and habits, is
the Capercaillie. A very considerable difference, more of
size than of plumage, however, is noticeable between the
sexes in this species. The female resembles the Grayhen
in a general way, and is not very much larger. The tails
of both sexes of the Capercaillie are rounded, and afford
a ready means of identification. The cock is at once
distinguishable by his great size alone. He measures
almost three feet from tip of beak to end of tail,
and may weigh anything from ten to seventeen pounds !
His mate is fully ten inches shorter, and scales only five
or six pounds.

The Capercaillie'^s right to be considered a real British
bird is rather a 'nice' point. The facts are that the
Capercaillie was formerly an inhabitant of the pine-

O

114 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

forests of the British Isles. Probably owing to the fell-
ing of these forests, among other causes, it had become
scarce by about the middle of the seventeenth century.
During the following century it became extinct, 1760
in Ireland and 1770 in Scotland being the approximate
dates of the last records. The Capercaillie has therefore
an undoubted right to a place as a former British-breed-
ing bird ; but it has in addition its status as a success-
fully reintroduced species. It is probable that a few
birds continued to exist in the British Isles for some
years after the dates mentioned, but it cannot be doubted
that they had completely died out long before the first
introduction from Sweden in 1837. The indigenous strain
is therefore totally extinct.

Perthshire and Forfarshire have been the areas of natu-
ralisation of these foreign birds ; but from these localities
they have now spread over the greater part of the central
division of Scotland, and the spreading is still continuing
prosperously under the modern methods of game-preserving.
Indeed, in some areas the pine-forests are fully stocked,
and the birds are beginning to occupy the less congenial
haunts of oak and birch woods. One interesting point
about the spread is that the hens appear in a new area
a couple of years before any males are seen. During
this period they mate freely with Blackcock and others.
Hybrids between various British Game-birds occur pretty
frequently, it may here be mentioned.

That the hens should be the first to colonise new areas
is all the more remarkable because the cock Capercaillie,
like his smaller cousin, is polygamous. One would expect
young males unable to procure mates to be the first to
roam. In other respects the nesting habits of the two
species are also very similar. The cock Capercaillie has
a similar ' spel ^ ; his mates each lay from six to twelve

*Hi '-

Plate 38.

YUEASANT—P/icuia'/ius col'chicus.

Length, 36 in.

[Galli'n.e : Phasian'ida;.]
o 114

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 115

eggs in a hollow scraped in the ground, usually at the
foot of a tree ; the eggs are very little larger than those
of the Grayhen, and are somewhat similar in colour,
but of warmer and richer tint. Incubation lasts about a
month. The slight differences between the chicks have
already been noted.

The name ' Capercaillie ' is a Celtic word, so corrupt
as to be of doubtful derivation. It has been variously
rendered as 'bird'-, 'goaf-, 'old-man'-, and ' horse-of-the-
wood.' What significance might attach to the last version
we are not aware. The word is often spelt ' Capercaillzie ; '
but, it should be noted, this makes no difference to the
pronunciation, as the ' z ' is mute.

Family, PHASIANID^ (Pheasants, &c.).

THE PHEASANT

(Phasianus colchicus).
Plate 38.

The Pheasant has really no right to be included in the
list of wild British birds, or to receive a place in this
book. But owing to its importance it is usual to give
it a place as a ' naturalised subject,' and we shall not
attempt to break through this accepted custom further
than to curtail our discussion of the species. In any
case, there is little of note to be said of the Pheasant
except from the point of view of sport, and that is beyond
our present purpose.

The objections to regarding the Pheasant as a British wild
bird are three in number, and we may detail them here,
seeing that they are all points of importance in connec-
tion with the history of the bird. First and most import-

116 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

ant is the fact that the Pheasant is not a native of our
islands, but has been imported by human agency. The
date and other circumstances of its introduction into Eng-
land are unknown, but it appears to have been previous
to the eleventh century. The first notices we have of it
from Scotland and Ireland are from the sixteenth century.
The species has been similarly naturalised in most Euro-
pean countries, but is probably truly native in none of
them but the Balkan States. Asia Minor and the neigh-
bouring countries are the other parts of its original area,
as is vaguely indicated by the scientific names.

The second objection is that the Pheasant lives under
semi-domesticated conditions for the most part, so far as
the British Isles are concerned. - Except for the period of
four months, 1st October to 1st February, during which
it is shot, it is pampered in every possible way. It is
protected from disturbance, it is given food, and its
natural enemies, true British birds and beasts, many of
them of a far nobler order, are ruthlessly shot down to
save this alien the trouble of taking care of itself! In
the nesting season this is still more apparent. Many more
Pheasants' eggs are hatched iinder domestic fowls or in
incubators than in the natm-al way. The young birds are
then reared under human supervision and turned out to
get wild enough to be shot ! Much of this seems to put
Pheasant-shooting beyond the limits of the best traditions
of sport. Among points put forward in its defence is
that a Pheasant well on the wing, whatever the nature of
its upbringing, is no easy mark for the gunner. Another
point of interest in connection with this semi-domestication
of the Pheasant is that the cock has become polygamous. As
with others of similar habits, he makes a bad father ; but
he has sometimes been detected taking a share in the
nesting duties. This adoption of polygamous habits is

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 117

exactly paralleled in the domestication of the Duck, as
we shall presently see.

Thirdly, dm'ing recent years, a number of other
species of Pheasants have been introduced from the East.
Some of them produce quite fertile hybrids with the
original birds, and the result is that it is very doubtful
if a pure-bred Phasianus colchicus is to be found in the
length and breadth of the United Kingdom. Chief
among the later - introduced species is the Chinese P.
torqiiatiis, which is responsible for the white collar now
found on almost all our Pheasants. A more nearly pure-
bred bird, however, is portrayed in the accompanying
plate.

The Pheasant is widely distributed in the British Isles.
It is a woodland species, roosting on trees, but nesting
on the ground in thick coverts. Leaves are the chief
material used for the slight nest. The light olive-brown
eggs number from ten or so upwards. Two or more hens
often lay and incubate amicably together. Joint nests
also occur with a Partridge or even a Teal ! Incubation
lasts twenty-three to twenty-four days, and the active
chicks are buff-coloured, with a few broad, dark, longi-
tudinal stripes on head, neck, and back. Immature birds
resemble the hen.

The Pheasant family also includes some truly British
representatives, presently to be discussed. Among readily
noticeable differences from the Grouse family are the
imfeathered legs and feet. Spurs are present in some
species.

118 BRITAIN S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.
THE PARTRIDGE

(Perdix cinerea).
Plate 39.

The common or gray Partridge is perhaps the most
familiar Game-bird to the majority of people, because it
does not haunt the distant moorland or the strictly
guarded coverts, but has its home on the open low
ground and on agricultural land of all sorts. There it
is a most familiar sight, squatting, running, hiding again, or
somewhat reluctantly taking wing with a low, heavy, but
rapid whirring flight. Still more familiar, perhaps, is its
loud, harsh cry. It begins with a drawn-out note as
rasping as the Corncrake's, and ends with a sort of cluck.
Well has the poet described it as ' Like a rusty key
tm-ned in a lock.' It is heard more often at morn and
at dusk than during the day.

The Partridge is abundant and widespread in England ;
less so in Ireland. In Scotland it is rather local, the
higher grounds and outlying islands not being suitable to
its habits. Whether the Partridge is as strictly sedentary
as our other Game-birds appear to be is very doubtful.
Abroad it has occurred on the island of Heligoland, and
some of the continental races are certainly migratory.
Little attention appears to have been given to the
question as regards the British Isles.

The Partridge is monogamous, pairing early in the
year. Late in April or early in May the eggs are laid
in the usual slight nest on the ground. They may
number a dozen or so ; the much larger clutches often
recorded are always under the suspicion of being the
produce of more than one hen laying together, as

Plate 39.

PARTRIDGE— /"^/^/.r cine'rea.

Length, 12-5 in. ; wing, 6 in.

[GALLl'NiE : Phasian'idiE.]
O 118

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 119

Pheasants certainly do. We have already mentioned the
occurrence of joint nests of Pheasant and Partridge. The
eggs resemble those of the Pheasant, but are much
smaller. The chick in down is grayish buff tinged ^ith
chestnut; there is an imperfect loop of black on the
head, and a central, double dark line, and two others,
along the back. Like other Game-birds, they possess
'precocious flight,' and it must be a point of common
observation that a family 'covey' including young only
half-grown is able to take wing.

The immature birds are very similar to the adults ; but
the young hen possesses the 'horse-shoe' mark character-
istic of the male and absent from the plumage of the
adult female — a rather curious fact. Hens of all ages are
distinguishable by the buff cross-bars on the wing-coverts.
The sober-hued plumage of this species is rather subject to
variation, showing chiefly in young birds, and apparently
indirectly connected in some way with the nature of their
native soil. Albinistic varieties occur at times, and a rare
and curious chestnut (erythritic) phase has attracted
some attention lately.

Partridge shooting lasts from 1st September to 1st
February in Great Britain, but only from 20th September
to 10th January in Ireland.

THE RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE

(Caccabis rufa).

The Red-legged or 'French' Partridge is, like the
Pheasant, only an introduced species in the British Isles,
and an introduction of a much later date. Indeed,
it has not yet been naturalised for a century and
a half. This, and the fact that its distribution is

120 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

somewhat restricted, although including much of the
south-east of England, notably East Anglia, must preclude
more than a mention of the species here. The extremely
variegated plumage of the adults makes them quite un-
mistakable ; but young birds are frequently thought to be
hybrids between this and the preceding species. The eggs
are of a yellowish colour, spotted with reddish brown.

THE QUAIL

(Coturnix communis).

The Quail scarcely requires to be described, but we
may notice that it is in many ways a miniature Partridge.
The cock is rather smaller than his mate. The Quail is
notably migratory ; some individuals may remain with us
during the mild winters, but the species is chiefly a summer
visitor to the British Isles, over which it is well but locally
distributed. In Scotland it is very local ; but the localities
are widespread, including at times the Hebrides and
Shetland. The numbers vary greatly from season to
season ; great increases sometimes occur and affect several
successive seasons. But there has also been a great per-
manent falling off" in numbers. This is not traceable to
local influences to any extent, and is probably a con-
sequence of the wholesale netting that goes on in the
south of Europe. Thousands are brought alive in little
cages to London, Paris, Vienna, and other cities, for table
purposes, from the countries where this bird is an
abundant and familiar migrant. As one writer puts it,
'Immense flocks annually visit the countries bordering on
the Mediterranean ; especially on the spring migration,
when, as of old in Sinai, multitudes come up in the night
and cover the land.'

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 121

ORDER, PTEROCLETES (SAND-GROUSE) ;

Family, PTEROCLID^ (Only Family).

PALLAS'S SAND=GROUSE

(5yrrhaptes paradoxus).

This bird is an inhabitant of the steppes of Central
Asia ; but at intervals extraordinary emigrations have
occurred, perhaps as a result of overcrowding of the
bird's proper area, in the same manner and with similar
result as in the case of certain mammals, such as the
Lemming of northern Europe. These overflows have
made themselves apparent to us as periodical irruptions
of great numbers of Sand-Grouse over the greater part of
Europe, even as far as our own islands.

After some of these irruptions new colonies have been
established beyond the former Asiatic range ; but, as far as
northern Europe has been concerned, the w^anderers greatly
overshot their mark, and soon perished or were driven
away by the humidity of the climate and by human
persecution. During one of the greater irruptions, how-
ever, the species gained a nominal right to a place on
the British-breeding list. Invasions took place in 1859,
1863, 1872, and 1876, that in the second-named year
being an important one of considerable magnitude. In
1888 a great irruption occurred, and thousands of birds
reached this country. Clutches of eggs were taken in
Yorkshire and elsewhere ; and on the Culbin Sands, in
Moray, a nestling was discovered, and a second in the
following year. In 1908 a small invasion reaching our
islands occurred, and birds were also recorded in 1909.
The status of Pallas's Sand-Grouse on our list is abso-

P

122 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

lutely unique, and the great interest attaching to the
species warrants this brief summary. But its right to be
considered a native bird is merely nominal. In both
habits and appearance it is obviously an inhabitant of the
desert. The three elliptically shaped eggs, stone-buff with
purple-brown blotches, are laid in a hollow scratched in
the sand. A nearly allied bird is foimd on the Tibetan
uplands, and a second genus comprises several species.
Together the Sand-Grouse form a small but separate
family and order of their own.

y

fjc.;~..» ^^-f

jr , "i

S ■ '

Plate 40.

WOOD-PIGEON OR RlKG-DOYE—Q'/uw'daJfa/ion'h^s.

Length, 17 in. ; wing, 10 in.

[Colum'b.^ : Colum'bidcTS.]
P 122

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 123

ORDER, COLUMB^ (PIGEONS);
Family, COLUMBID^ (Only Family).

THE WOOD-PIGEON, OR RINQ=DOVE

(Columba palumbus).
Plate 40.

We have now to describe an Order the general char-
acteristics of which are too well known to require enumera-
tion. Four species of Pigeon are native to this country,
and all of them are common enough to deserve a place
in this work. Of these the most familiar is the Wood-
Pigeon, very often called the ' Ring-Dove ' on account of
the conspicuous light patches on the sides of the neck.
' Cushat,' ' Cushie-Doo,'' and ' Queest "" are among its local
names.

From early spring to late summer the familiar ' Coo-
coo - roo, coo - coo - roo, coo "■ may be heard in nearly
every wood throughout the length and breadth of the
British Isles, and even in the parks and squares of
London and other great cities. The species becomes
rather local in the extreme north of Scotland, and is
naturally scarce in the almost unwooded outer isles.

As is typical of Pigeons, the nesting season is long,
extending from March till October. Two or three
broods are reared during this period ; but each numbers
only two, or very exceptionally three. The nest is a
flat platform of twigs, and is very loosely constructed.
It is usually placed in a tree of some sort, but its
height from the ground is very variable. Nests four
or five feet above the ground, and nests forty and fifty
feet above it, may often be found ; but twenty feet is

124 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

a good average height. The nest may also be in
bushes, hedgerows, or thick ivy on crags or ruins ; and
old nests of other species may even be used.

The two glossy, white, oval eggs of the first clutch
are laid in March or April. Both parents take part in
incubation, which lasts for two and a half weeks. The
chicks are nidicolous, being blind, naked but for a few
down - feathers, and helpless at first. They are fed with
' pigeon''s milk,"" a curdy secretion from the crops of
both adults, and later with more solid food from the
same sovu'ce.

This brings us to consider the food of the adults
themselves. This consists almost entirely of vegetable
substances, although snails, and so on, are occasionally
taken. The following are the most important items in the
bill of fare : grain and seeds of various sorts, turnip-
tops and the like, beans and peas, berries, acorns, and
beech-mast. The quantity of food that one bird is
capable of stowing away is enormous. Records such as
that of a thousand grains of corn from the crop of a
single bird are common. In summer certain moth-
caterpillars that are injurious to forest trees are sometimes
eaten. The balance of the evidence, however, seems to
be markedly against the Wood-Pigeon, the harm it does
to agriculture outweighing all other considerations.

The great decrease of our birds of prey has removed
an important natural check on the undue increase of the
Wood-Pigeon. Similarly, it has been found in some places
that the forester's destiniction of Squirrels has reacted
harmfully on the agriculture of the neighbourhood, through
the medium of this bird, whose eggs and young were thus
rid of a serious enemy. Other checks, however, are by no
means wanting. Of two we may make brief mention.
In winter the Wood-Pigeon becomes an object of sport,

Plate 41.

STOC K-D O VE — Cohim'ba ce'nas.

Length, 13-5 in. ; wing, 8-8 in.

[Colum'b^ : Colum'bidoe.]
p 124

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 125

and as such is not unworthy. When it first rises from
its perch the wings are flapped violently, so that they
even touch each other with a loud flapping noise, and
the flight is erratic. Once clear of the trees, however,
the Wood-Pigeon flies with a steady and straight flight
of very considerable velocity.

The other factor is disease. It has been for many
years recognised that Wood-Pigeons are liable to attacks
of a kind of diphtheria, caused by an apparently distinct
bacillus. The disease appears to run a course of about
three weeks before it proves fatal. Among its efi^ects
are the growth of a false membrane over the palate,
and inflammation and swelling in the region of the
gullet. The former causes the true membrane to die,
and the subsequent wasting away may even extend to
the bones. The swelling in the throat may, in the
final stages of the disease, be sufficiently serious to
prevent swallowing. Starvation probably undermines the
bird's powers of resistance and hastens the end, but the
poison itself is apparently the usual cause of death.
The disease occurs in epidemics, being prevalent in some
districts in one season, in others during a second season,
and perhaps almost altogether absent a third year. The
records so far are all for England and Wales, and the
general opinion is that the epidemics arise among the
gi'eat flocks of Wood-Pigeons that arrive in October from
the Continent. As many as four thousand bodies of birds
that perished from the disease were destroyed on one
estate in a single season. These great epidemics tend to
occur in acorn or beech - mast years ; but it has been
very reasonably suggested that the massing of the birds
owing to these supplies of food is favourable to the
spread of the disease, rather than that the food has any-
thing to do with the origin of the disease.

126 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

It is not yet clear how the disease is spread, but
among probable explanations is the suggestion that healthy-
birds swallow food that birds in an advanced stage of
the disease could not swallow, and were therefore forced
to regurgitate. The possibility of the transmission of the
disease to other species of birds and to other animals,
including human beings, is an important but difficult and
much - disputed point. An important inquiry into the
whole circumstances of the Wood-Pigeon diphtheria is at
present in progress, and the results are awaited with
interest. A disease affecting the growing feathers and ulti-
mately rendering the bird incapable of flight also attacks
this species at times.

THE STOCK=DOVE

(Columba oenas).

Plate 41.

Although more local and altogether less abundant than
the preceding species, the Stock-Dove is a fairly common
bird throughout the greater part of the British Isles.
In many districts, however, it is not properly distin-
guished by the country-folk, but is confused with one or
other of its allies. It is very frequently misnamed the
' Rock-Dove," and the confusion is increased by people who,
knowing its real name, imagine it is so called because the
species was the original 'stock' from which our domestic
Pigeons were derived. As a matter of fact, the Rock-
Dove is the ancestor of om- domestic birds, and the
epithet 'stock' has reference to the bird's habit of nesting
in the ' stocks ' of trees.

The Stock-Dove may be distinguished from the Wood-
Pigeon by the absence of the characteristic white patches

J*^?&M»Vj««S«!~^7"

Plate 42.

ROCK-PIGEON— C^///;;/M liv'ia.

Length, 13 in.

[Colum'b.t. : Colum'bidae.]
P 126

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 127

on the neck, and from the Rock - Dove by the absence
of the white rump and of the black-barred wings. The
female Stock - Dove is rather smaller in size and duller
in colour than the cock, and the immature bird is still
duller and lacks altogether the brilliant metallic lustre
of the neck-plumage of the adult.

Old woodlands are the tjrpical haunts of the Stock-
Dove during the nesting season, holes in trees being
the commonest sites. Other sites are on buildings or
crags, or the eggs may be laid in old nests of other
birds. In the north of England and in Scotland the
Stock-Dove is best known as a nester in rabbit - burrows,
especially among the sandhills along the coasts. The eggs
are usually laid several feet down the burrow, but we
have found them at the very mouth more than once.
In this situation they have been figured in the accom-
panying plate for convenience, but it must not be
regarded as normal. The two eggs are of the usual
oval type, but of a rather creamy tint. In other
respects the nesting habits closely resemble those of the
Wood-Piffeon.

THE ROCK-PIGEON

(Columba livia).

Plate 42.

In the Rock-Pigeon, or Rock-Dove, we have the still
wild descendants of the original wild ancestors of our
domestic Pigeons. All the various breeds — Pouters,
Tumblers, Fan-Tails, Homers, and so on — are but arti-
ficially produced varieties of this single species. With
these, however, Turtle - Doves, and other species some-
times kept in captivity^ must not be confused.

128 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

In starting a new variety the breeder takes advantage
of some already inherent character. Without this he
cannot get a beginning. Given this, however, he can
produce, by the mating of carefully selected birds from
generation to generation, a fairly distinct race in a time
which seems insignificant when compared with the slow
march of natural evolution. Under natural conditions, a
characteristic may have to give its possessor some advantage
over other individuals if it is to be perpetuated and
increased. The elimination of the less - favoured birds
may be a very slow process, repeated at every step ; but
imder domestication elimination is instantaneous, and
merely in accordance with the breeder's will.

The differences between such races are perhaps not so
important and fundamental as they might at first sight
appear. Certainly they lack permanence, and a breed
may be lost as rapidly as it was built up ; a few
generations of indiscriminate mating destroy the effects
of selection. In the case of two birds of different
breeds, the chief quality in common is the underlying
ancestral strain, however disguised. This has probably
the best chance, and the offspring may show a ' throw-
back ' towards the original stock, with its more enduring
characteristics. Thus it is a familiar fact that the majority
of domestic Pigeons, left more or less to shift for
themselves, closely resemble true wild Rock-Doves. But
albinos and other marked variations occur with much
greater frequency among the former than the latter.

It is sometimes difficult to distinguish between truly
wild and merely ' feral ' Rock-Pigeons. ' Feral ' is the
term for domestic animals that have reverted to the
' wild ' state. The term ' wild "* is strictly applicable
only to birds whose ancestors have never been under
domestication.

Plate 43.

TURTLE-DOVE — Tnr'ttir conumi'nis.

Length, 11-25 '"• \ wing, 6-8 in.

[Colum'b.e : Colum'bidfe.]
Q 128

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 129

As a truly wild bird, then, the Rock-Dove is found
on parts of the coast where there are cliff's with plenty
of caves and indentations. Such haunts are few in Eng-
land and Wales as a whole, and the species is little
known except on parts of the west coast and on the
north-east. Round the coasts of Scotland and Ireland
and their outlying islands, haunts are abundant and
the bird is numerous. Inside a suitable cave many birds
may be foiuid nesting on the ledges. Except that it
generally uses ledges or fissures of the cliffs, the Rock-
Dove's nesting economy resembles that of its allies already
discussed. The two eggs are oval in shape, and glossy
white in colour. Domestic or feral birds not occupying
special dove-cots use buildings instead of cliff's ; like the
wild birds, they avoid even perching on trees.

THE TURTLE=DOVE

(Turtur communis).
Plate 43.

The three native Pigeons already discussed are all
congeners ; but the species which we now come to is a
representative of another group. No very marked differ-
ences exist that need be noted here, except that the
Turtle - Dove is of more slender and graceful build.
The note, used chiefly by the male, is a soft ' coo,' ({uite
different from the loud, repeated call of the Wood-Pigeon.

The Turtle-Dove is merely a summer visitor to the
British Isles, arriving late in April or early in May,
and usually leaving in September, but sometimes linger-
ing later in mild seasons. But it is only to part of
our area that the species is native, being common in
the southern, midland, and eastern districts of England,

130 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

and becoming quite rare in the north and west. Into
these regions, however, it is now spreading. To Scot-
land it is an uncommon migratory visitor, notably to
some of the outlying isles, and it may have nested in
the south-west. There are a few nesting records for
Ireland, where the species is on the increase as a spring
migrant.

In nesting habits the Turtle-Dove differs but slightly
from the Pigeons of the typical group. The species is
arboreal, and the nest in a tree or bush is a slight
platform of twigs ; but the bird has been known to
occupy the old nest of a Rook. The eggs are two in
number, as in the case of the other Pigeons, but differ
in being slightly pointed at one end, and in being of a
creamy rather than a dead white. Both parents take
part in incubation, which lasts about a fortnight. The
young are of the usual type, and two broods may be
reared in a season.

The Collared Turtle-Dove is a well-known bird often
kept in confinement in this country, but a native of
some of the countries of the ' Near East.'

In poetry the name of the bird under discussion is
very frequently abbreviated to the rather ambiguous form
of 'Turtle.'

Plate 44.

MALLARD OR WILB-BVCK—Anas bos'cas.

Length, 23 in. ; uing, 11 in.

[An'seres : Anat'ldcX.]
Q 130

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 131

ORDER, ANSERES (DUCKS, GEESE,

AND SWANS);

Family, ANATID/E (Only Family).

THE MALLARD, OR WILD=DUCK

(Anas boscas).
Plate 44.

The common Wild-Duck stands to the Domestic Duck
in the same relation as the Rock -Dove does to the
Domestic Pigeons of various breeds, a matter which we
have already discussed. Various breeds, such as the well-
known white Aylesburys, can be kept distinct ; but under
ordinary farmyard circumstances, where no special care is
taken, the plumage of the birds is often very similar
to that of the wild birds. The farmyard bird, however,
is one that excites more ridicule than admiration ; its
clumsy, waddling gait is proverbial, and it is, as a rule,
incapable of flight. From the mode of its life it has
become degenerate from a natural point of view, but at
the same time more suited for the purpose for which it
is kept by man. Only on the water has it the slightest
pretensions to good looks.

The Wild-Duck is an entirely different bird. The
wings are longer in proportion, the body is lighter,
and the flight of the bird is extremely strong and
rapid, making the sport of duck-shooting a severe trial
of skill. The flight is of the ' direct ' order ; point to
point flight or wide circlings are typical. The neck is
stretched straight in front, and the movement of the
wings is regular and very rapid. The birds usually

132 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

alight obliquely on the water with considerable force.
At both swimming and diving the Wild-Duck is no
mean performer, although it belongs to the group of
'non-diving' Ducks, so called to distinguish them from the
' diving "" Ducks, which habitually obtain their food from
the bottom in comparatively deep water. The present
species does not use its powers for this purpose as a
rule, but feeds on land or in shallow water. In the
latter case the method is that employed by the farm-
yard bird on the duck-pond. The bird ' stands on its
head "" in the water, the fore-part of the body submerged
and the tail pointing skywards, while the paddling of
the feet maintains equilibrium. Even in the wild state
the species is almost omnivorous. Like most Ducks, it is
almost entirely a night feeder.

On land the Wild-Duck does not appear to great
advantage, although it is less clumsy than the domestic
bird ; the legs are placed far back for advantage in
the water, the resulting awkwardness in walking being
of minor importance. Half-bred and hand-reared Ducks
are always built on clumsier and coarser lines than real
wild birds, although they may be infinitely superior in
this respect to thoroughly domesticated Ducks.

Late in March or early in April the eggs are laid.
They may be up to a dozen in number, and are of a
uniform cold grayish-green hue. The nest in which they
are laid is typically a slight structure of grass placed
on the ground among heather or coarse herbage at some
little distance from the water ; but grain-fields, hedge-
rows, stacks of faggots, forks or hollows of trees, and
even the deserted nests of other birds are more or less
frequently utilised. In any case, down from the mother-
bird's breast is added as a lining, and also to be at hand
for a covering in her absence. This is a habit character-

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 133

istic of the Order. In many cases, however, the down is not
added till after incubation has begun. In the case of the
Mallard the down-feathers are rather large and brownish,
with paler centres. The ducklings are covered thickly
with down of a dark-brown colour above, yellowish white
below. From the first they are active and perfectly at
home in the water. That they take to that element
instinctively seems true, to judge from the proverbial
behaviour of farmyard ducklings hatched under a hen.
Over two months elapse before the wild ducklings attain
the power of flight, which they do on reaching full growth
and completing the assumption of a plumage similar to
that of the adult duck.

The most important feature in the nesting economy
of the Mallard is the fact that the drake takes no
part in the duties of incubation and rearing the
young. In fact, soon after the eggs are laid he dis-
appears from the scene altogether, and remains in close
retirement some distance away till late in summer.
This he is forced to do by the fact that his annual
moult occurs at this inopportune time. Towards the
end of May his plumage loses its brightness and becomes
somewhat similar to the duck's ; he goes into ' eclipse,'
as it has been aptly termed. The dull coloration and
the adoption of retiring habits are of gi-eat service,
for the time of moulting is always one of low vitality,
and in this case the quills are di'opped almost simul-
taneously, thus rendering the bird for a season in-
capable of flight. By October he is out and about,
with his plumage again of brilliant hue. This summer
moulting is a rather extraordinary event, and means
that the Mallard drake wears his bright breeding-
plumage for two-thirds of the year in all, but only
for the earlier part of the nesting season. The duck

134 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

does not moult till autumn, and is in summer faithful
to her duties.

The great disparity in plumage between duck and
drake, and the difference between their seasons of moult,
are characteristics common to all the Ducks we have to
treat of, from the Mallard to the Goosander. All the
drakes, therefore, show a general resemblance in the ap-
parently neglectful habits necessitated by their ' eclipse.'
The difference in the plumage of the sexes renders the
portrayal of both in the accompanying plates a matter of
necessity, but it must be understood that it is only as a
practical convenience that both birds are shown together
beside their nest. The drake, too, is shown in full plum-
age, with no signs of coming ' eclipse.' Such a scene is
not impossible during the earlier days of incubation, but
cannot be regarded as common.

Besides being shot for both sport and profit, the
Mallard and other Ducks are caught in special duck-
decoys, the working of which has often been described.
Decoys are still greatly in vogue in the Netherlands,
whence the system was long ago introduced into the east
of England. In the latter, however, it is now ceasing to
be of much importance.

THE GADWALL

(Anas strepera).

The Gadwall was introduced into Norfolk in the middle
of last century, and under the favourable conditions and
careful preservation afforded them there the birds have
thriven and multiplied. Moreover, there is ground for
believing that they have been the means of inducing
perfectly wild birds to remain to nest there also. Apart

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 135

from this, the species is an uncommon wanderer to various
parts of the British Isles. The eggs, eight to thirteen in
number, are huffish white in colour, 'with no tinge of
green.' They are laid ^in a nest of dry grass, lined with
down, situated at some little distance from the water.
*The down is very dark, with small light centres, and
distinct gray points.'

THE SHOVELLER

(Spatula clypeata).

The Shoveller is a quite unmistakable bird both from
the showy plumage of the drake and the broad .shovel or
spoon-like beak to which it owes not only its English and
its scientific name, but also various local titles (including
'Spoonbill,' which rightly belongs to a totally different
bird). It is chiefly a winter visitor to the British Isles,
but during the past thirty years it has, under protection,
become not uncommon as a nesting species. Its British-
breeding area includes many of the eastern, midland, and
northern regions of England, some parts in the south and
east of Ireland, and many districts throughout Scotland,
but especially in the central lowlands. Outside this
area it nests only exceptionally, and within it rather
locally. In winter it is more widespread. The nest is of
grass, lined with down from the bird, and placed among
coarse herbage or sedges. 'The eggs are distinctly
greenish in colour, which at once differentiates them from
those of the Wigeon, though the down closely resembles
that of the latter.'

136 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

THE TEAL

(Nettion crecca).
Plate 45.

Another common Duck, much smaller than the Mallard,
is the Teal. The drake is an extremely handsome little
fellow. His mate is very soberly coloured, but has the
characteristic green ' speculum ' on the wing. The Teals
form a genus of world-wide distribution, and some of the
other species are of interest to us because they are freely
imported, and, like our own bird, are common on orna-
mental waters. For this purpose they are general
favourites, not only on account of their appearance and
their tameness, but because of the little trouble they
give as regards feeding, and the small space of water
with which they are content. A pair of pinioned Teals
will readily nest on a pond of veiy small size, if they
are provided with a suitable piece of cover free from
disturbance.

Our indigenous Teal is widely distributed throughout
these islands. It has nested in the Hebrides, but is rare
there at any season. Otherwise it is a common and wide-
spread nesting bird throughout Scotland, including the
northern isles. In Ireland it is abundant, nesting in
every county. In England and Wales it is more
sparingly distributed as a breeding species, especially to-
wards the south. From September onwards large numbers
arrive from the Continent, and some or all of them
remain with us till the following spring. About a score
of Teals, marked on the autumn passage in the duck-
decoys of south-western Denmark, have been obtained
in the British Isles, for the most part in the south of

Plate 45.

TEAL — Net' Hon crec'ca.

Length, 14-5 in. ; wing, 7-25 in.

[An'seres : Anat'idae.]
R 136

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 137

England, and in Ireland, especially towards the south-west.
One was got as far north as Inverness, however. One that
was found in Ireland exceptionally early in the following
autumn is under suspicion of having passed the summer
there for some reason. Others marked at the same place
have been got in Holland, and many in the west of France.
We have yet to learn what routes the birds follow. Do
the British-wintering Teal come via Holland to the south-
east of England? Or do these birds cross the North
Sea direct, while only the French ones pass through the
Netherlands? Or do the French birds pass through the
British Isles ? Single records of Danish-marked Teal from
Spain and the north of Italy open up fresh possibilities.
A solitary April record from eastern Sweden is so far the
only indication of the summer-quarters of these migrants.
In winter, in this country and abroad. Teals are shot for
sport to a great extent. They are wary and rise quickly,
and the flight is very rapid. Their food consists to a
great extent of vegetable matter, and the flesh is there-
fore very palatable. Large numbers of Teals are also taken
in decoys or otherwise procured for the market. The
extent of the slaughter may be partly realised when we
say that the extraordinarily large proportion of nearly
twenty-five per cent, of the Danish-marked birds were
killed or captui-ed, for the most part within the six
months following marking. This figure, of course, does not
allow for any that perished unrecorded. With one or two
exceptions, all records are for the winter months — the
months of shooting. And yet the Teal as a species is in
a flourishing enough state, and its numbers are fairly well
maintained. Protection during the nesting season amply
compensates for the winter shooting as regards home-bred
birds, and for those nesting in more northern lands,
where no protection against human beings is necessary,

R

138 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

the struggle is probably none too hard, and the mortality
therefore low enough to stand a severe winter drain.
Sport has seldom proved inimical to a species as a whole,
for it has its compensations. But we can well understand
that extermination would soon overtake a bird persecuted
in its summer area and pursued for sport in its winter
abode !

In nesting habits the Teal does not differ widely from
the Mallard. The eggs, from eight to ten or more in
number, are of faint cream-bufF or greenish white. They
are of coiu-se much smaller in size than the Mallard's.
The down lining the nest, which is built by the water-
side, is gray, darker in the centres. The duckling in its
down plumage is dark brown on the upper-parts, except
for some buff-coloured patches and dark streaks about
the head. We have already remarked that the Teal
breeds freely in captivity. It also interbreeds with
several other species. It may be here remarked that a
large number of different duck hybrids are on record, not
a few being known to occur even in the wild state.

THE GARGANEY

(Querquedula circia).

The Garganey is a small and graceful Duck of rather
dull plumage. It is allied to the Teal, but may be
readily distinguished by the broad pale streak above the
eye. It nests locally in the east of England, especially
on the Norfolk ' broads,' where it is well protected. To
the greater part of the British Isles it is only an un-
common wanderer. The eight or more cream-coloured
eggs are nearly as small as the Teal's, but are never
greenish in colour. The down lining the nest, which is

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 139

built among coarse herbage, usually in swampy ground,
is lighter than that of the Teal, and has white tips.

THE PINTAIL

(Dafila acuta).

The Pintail is built on slender lines for a Duck. The
names ' Pintail ' and ' Sea Pheasant "* refer to the elongated
tail-feathers of the adult drake. The species is chiefly a
winter visitor to our area, but has for some years been
known to nest in small numbers on the strictly preserved
waters of Loch Leven, in Scotland. There are a few
other Scottish records, and doubtful ones from Ireland.
The seven to ten eggs are usually of a greenish colour,
and are laid earlier than are those of most Ducks. The
down -lined nest is placed among coarse herbage not far
from water.

THE WIQEON

(Mareca penelope).

The Wigeon is the last of our native surface-feeding
Ducks. For the most part, it is an abundant winter
visitor to our inland and tidal waters, from October to
March or April. The drake is a handsome and easily
recognisable bird, with conspicuous buflish-white forehead
and crown, the rest of the head and neck being chestnut ;
the back is of a finely vermiculated gray, and the white
shoulder is followed by a black bar and a green wing-
patch. The species is a well-known ' sporting ' bird. As
a British-breeding bird, the Wigeon is now on the
increase. It has been long established on the northern
Scottish mainland, but has lately begun to nest in some

140 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

of the more southern districts. There are also occasional
records from England, and doubtful ones from Ireland.
The seven to ten cream-tinted eggs are laid in a nest
placed among rushes or heather, and lined with dark-
coloured down from the bird itself. That our native-
breeding birds are to some extent migratory is shown
by the fact that a Wigeon duckling 'ringed' in Suther-
landshire was taken early in the following September in a
duck-decoy in north-eastern Holland.

THE TUFTED=DUCK

(Fuligula cristata).

Plate 46.

We now come to treat of a genus of Ducks which is
characterised, among other features, by the general colour-
scheme of the plumage. All the three species that we
have to deal with have the throat and breast conspicuously
dark, and the under-parts gray or dull white. The sharp
division between the coloration of breast and under-parts
is specially noticeable when the birds are flying over the
observer.

Of the three species, all of them familiar in winter, the
Tufted-Duck is the only one which is sufficiently common
as a British-breeding bird to require full treatment. It
derives its name from the elongated feathers drooping
down the back of the neck ; but, as they are more often
than not plastered close to the rest of the plumage,
the trait is of little importance for identification. The
drake in full plumage, however, is always an unmistakable
bird apart from this. On the water he is specially easy to
recognise, as he swims high enough to display an ample and
conspicuous patch of gleaming white flank, which makes a

>c>T ,i er/jA »^,'<*»» _

Plate 46.

TU FTED-D UC K— /'////V';^/,; crista' ta.

Length, 17-25 in. ; wing, 8 in.

[An'seres : Anat'idie.]
R 140

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 141

vivid contrast with the dark upper plumage. The duck
has the crest less well developed, and has the upper
plumage dull sooty-brown instead of glossy black, and the
under-parts dark gray with still darker bars, instead of
uniform gleaming white. The immature birds resemble her,
but have a sprinkling of white on their foreheads during
the first winter. Twenty years ago the Tufted-Duck was
chiefly a winter visitor to the British Isles, being at that
season common on most of our estuaries and larger inland
waters, but less so on the open coast. It remained to
breed in some numbers on a few lakes and smaller waters,
notably some Nottinghamshire ponds. Since that time,
however, it has increased to an astonishing extent as a
British-breeding species, and it may now be said of many
areas that a few pairs nest on eveiy suitable stretch of
\\ater.

The nest is always near fresh-water, and is usually where
plenty of cover is to be had. It may be placed under a
bush, but is more often in the heart of a big clump of
rank grass or other herbage. More exposed situations are
uncommon. The eggs vary in number from eight to
thirteen. They vary from stone-colour to greenish brown,
and are laid late in May or early in June, as a rule.
The down is composed of rather small filaments, chocolate
brown in colour, with very indistinct paler centres. The
chicks in down are brown above and buff-coloured below.
There are indistinct eye-streaks, and paler patches, one on
each side, on the lower back.

The food of this species consists of both animal and
vegetable matter, which is obtained from the bottom by
diving. Twenty seconds is the usual period of immersion
at ordinary depths. Considerable depths can, however, be
reached if necessary, as is shown by the fact that Tufted-
Ducks and Pochards are caught in nets sunk in Loch Neash

142 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

to a depth of fifteen fathoms — ninety feet. This is the
usual method of feeding for members of this group as well
as for the marine Ducks like the Eider-Duck, the Long-
tailed Duck, and the Scoter. These are therefore spoken
of generally as 'diving ducks."* They are characterised by
having a broad hind-toe, which gives additional propelling
surface. The other Ducks of which we have so far treated
belong to the non-diving group. This does not mean that
they cannot dive on occasion, but only that they do not,
as a rule, obtain their food by diving. The Mallard's
familiar method of feeding in very shallow water has
already been alluded to. Other ' non-diving "* ducks, like
the Shoveller, feed largely in the mud at the side of the
water. At other times Tufted -Ducks and other diving
ducks are followed for the particles of food they loosen
from the bottom and allow to float to the surface.

The distinction between diving and non-diving ducks is
not a sharp one, nor one of real systematic importance.
The species we discuss here all fall into one group or
the other, except the Merganser and Goosander and the
Sheldrake. The first two are diving and the last non-
diving ; but as regards feeding habits they must be classed
in two groups by themselves. Their habits will be dis-
cussed later on.

THE SCAUP

(Fuligula marila).

The Scaup resembles the Tufted -Duck, but is larger
and without the crest. The back of the adult drake is
beautifully grained with silvery gray. It is marine in its
habits, and is chiefly known in the British Isles as a
winter visitor on the coast. It has nested in the north

Plate 47.

EIDER-DUCK— Soma/e'ria mollis' siina.

Length, 24 in. ; wing, 11 in.

[An'seres : Anat'idiE.]
R 142

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 143

of Scotland. The eggs are like those of the Tufted-
Duck, but are larger. The down is lighter, with con-
spicuous pale centres.

THE POCHARD

(Fuligula ferina).

The Pochard is one of the best-known members of the
group, but it is chiefly a winter visitor. It nests, however,
in many English counties, notably Norfolk, as well as in
the Scottish Borders, and perhaps in parts of Ireland.
The adult drake has a reddish-brown head and neck,
and a blackish breast sharply divided off from the rest
of the plumage, almost all of which, except the under-tail
coverts, is light in colour. The eye changes from the
orange-yellow of immaturity to deep ruby-red. The duck
is a very much duller bird altogether. The seven to ten
eggs are of a greenish-drab colour, and are usually rather
larger than those of the Scaup. The nest is placed among
sedges, rushes, &c., beside lakes ; the down is large and
very soft.

THE EIDER=DUCK

(Somateria mollissima).

Plate 47.

The name * Eider,' familiar to all from the famous down,
is associated in the minds of most English readers with
far northern lands — Scandinavia, Iceland, and Greenland,
the chief sources from which eider-down enters the world's
markets. Nor is this strange, since the whole south and
west of England are quite outside the Eider-Duck's nesting
area, and it is a bird which does not wander far south of

144 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

its breeding haunts, except in those seas which become ice-
bound in winter. In southern Britain it is therefore a
rather uncommon winter visitor. On the Northumbrian
coast and the Fame Islands, hoAvever, it is a familiar
breeding species. Northward along the Scottish coast it is
found in suitable localities up to the Shetland Islands.
On the west coast, from Argyll to the Outer Hebrides,
it is increasing in numbers ; but to Ireland, despite the
nearness of the northern part of that country to some of
its haunts, its visits are strangely infrequent.

The drake's plumage is a brilliant contrast in black and
white, the under-parts, the wing-tips, the tail, and the crown
being mostly black. The white of the breast is suffused
with buff, and that of parts of the head with pale green —
characteristics not noticeable at any distance. This plumage
is worn for the greater part of the year ; but soon after the
eggs are laid the wearer's annual moult takes place, and he
deserts his mate and flies out to sea, where he is joined by other
drakes in the same case as himself. For a time he remains
in ' eclipse,' and his plumage is mostly dark all over, with
lighter patches on the upper-parts. The ordinary plumage
of the young drake is somewhat similar to this ' eclipse '
plumage. It is probable that the Eider-Duck does not
breed mitil its third year, and flocks of immature birds may
be observed off our coasts in summer at some distance from
any nesting haunt. The duck is of a dull brown colour
all over. This species is one of the largest of the Ducks,
and appears rather clumsy on land. It is, however, strong
on the wing, and of course exceedingly expert in the water.
It obtains its food — molluscs, crustaceans, &c. — by diving.

In Scotland laying may begin in the first week of May,
but it is not until the end of the month that incubation
becomes general. The eggs are usually light green, but
there is also a rather brownish type ; they are usually said

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 145

to be from five to eight in number, but sometimes three or
four form the full clutch, and we have rarely found five
exceeded (Aberdeenshire). On the other hand, we have seen
an Eider-Duck followed by a brood of ten. Whether the
number of eggs or nestlings actually found together may
always be taken as the proper clutch or brood is doubtful,
if we are to accept the statement of one writer that the
Eider-Duck habitually steals both eggs and young from
others of her kind. A case has been related in which an
Eider-Duck had her own eggs sucked by a Lesser Black-
backed Gull, and thereupon appropriated the Gull's nest
and eggs in place of her own. We have known of an
Eider-Duck's egg being found in a Black-headed Gull's
nest along with two eggs of the rightful owner — one of
them broken. A satisfactory explanation of this case was
not forthcoming;.

The nest itself, when laying begins, is merely a hollow
in the groimd with or without a lining of bent-grass, sea-
weed, or other material; but during incubation the eider-
down is added, and most of it placed round the outer edge
of the nest ready to be pulled over the top of the eggs
when the mother leaves to find food for herself. Bent-
grass is sometimes used to cover the eggs as well as to
line the nest, but probably only in the earlier stages
of incubation. When disturbed, the duck has not time to
cover her eggs; but as she rises she squirts— sometimes
with a none too accurate aim — an evil-smelling, oily liquid
over them. In the later days of incubation especially she
is an exceedingly close sitter, and will often allow herself to
be touched without showing any signs of fear. In the
northern countries, where she is carefully protected for the
sake of her down, she is extraordinarily tame, and habitually
nests inside inhabited houses — in the oven — willingly sur-
rendered — for instance. In this country low islets are

S

146 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

the favom'ite places ; but where these are not available
she nests on low moors at the side of estuaries, or even
among the sand-dunes along the coast.

Eider-down is mouse-coloured, but each little feather
has an indistinct paler centre. Lightness, softness, and
elasticity are its chief qualities. A dozen nests supply
about a pound and a half of down — worth about a guinea
— which is enough to stuff a bed-quilt.

Only one brood is reared ; but when robbed, the Eider-
Duck lays again. In Scandinavia the first two clutches of
eggs are taken for food, and the accompanying down is
carefully collected ; but the duck is allowed to rear her
third brood in peace, and any down there may be is not
collected till afterwards. The story that she plucks her
mate*'s breast for these later nests must be regarded as
a myth, probably having its origin in the plucked appear-
ance a moiilting drake might present about that time.

Incubation seems to begin before all the eggs are laid,
and it lasts for over a month. The young ducklings
are dark brown above, with the under-parts and a streak
over the eye of a paler hue. When only a few hours
old they are led to the water, and from that time till
they breed, three years later, they scarcely ever come
to land.

THE SCOTER

(OEdemia nigra).

The Common or Black Scoter is a marine diving duck
of very dark plumage. It breeds sparingly on some of
the low-lying lochs round Caithness and on the high-
lying lochs of Inverness - shire down the line of the
Caledonian Canal. It has bred in Ireland. In winter
it is abundant off our coasts, especially on the east of

Plate 48.

RED-BREASTED MERGANSER— A/er'gas serra'tor.

Length, 24 in. ; wing, 9-5 in.

[An'seres : Anat'idas.]

s 146

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 147

Great Britain. The six to nine yellowish-white eggs are
laid in a nest of grass and moss, lined with almost black
down, and placed near water.

The large flocks of Common Scoters seen in winter
usually contain a proportion of Velvet Scoters. This
species, readily identified by its conspicuous white wing-
bars, has been suspected of having nested in the High-
lands.

[The Long-tailed Duck, a small marine diving duck of
pied plumage, may have bred in Shetland. Large flocks
may be seen off some of oui* coasts in winter, and
individuals may then be found in estuaries, or even in
inland waters. The drake is a handsome bird, whose
central tail-feathers are greatly elongated.]

THE RED=BREASTED MERGANSER

(Mergus serrator).
Plate 48.

The Merganser is the commonest British representative
of a small group of Ducks characterised by bills adapted
for a diet consisting almost entirely of fish caught by
under-water pm'suit. These bills are quite different from
the usual duck type, being rather long and slightly
hooked, with the edges of the mandibles serrated.

The Merganser is found in estuaries and bays round
most of our coast-line in winter ; but its breeding area is
more restricted. It includes part of the Irish seaboard
and most of the larger loughs, as well as many of the
Scottish inland waters and the north-west coast and the
isles. In Orkney and the Hebrides it is especially
abundant.

It is also typical of the gi-oup that the nest is in

148 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

a concealed position, such as the hollow under the roots
of an old tree, the heart of a briar thicket, or even
a Sheldrake's burrow. Towards the end of May the
greenish-gray eggs are laid, and a quantity of pale drab
down is added to the scanty nest. The clutch may be
anything up to ten in number, but rarely more.

As in the case of the more typical Ducks, the drake
takes no share in the duties of incubation and the rearing
of the young ; but he may often be seen in the vicinity
of the nesting haunt.

Like other ducklings, the young Mergansers soon take
to the water. There they are zealously tended by their
parents for several weeks, being kept largely to the
shallows at first for fear of the pike, which are always
hungry and on the lookout for such prey. By August,
however, the young Mergansers are well able to fend for
themselves, and we may then see them flying up and
down the river, or swimming and diving off shore. The
Merganser and its congeners are of necessity more dexter-
ous in the water than those other diving ducks which are
merely bottom -feeders, and are not notable except on
account of the depth to which they can descend and the
time they can remain under water. On land the Mer-
ganser sits nearly upright. The name ' Shelduck ' is
sometimes popularly misapplied to this species.

THE GOOSANDER

(Mergus merganser).

The Goosander is a larger and handsomer bird than the
Merganser, and much less widely distributed in the British
Isles. As a breeding species within our area it is con-
fined to the Scottish mainland, from Deeside, Strathspey,

#,.,».

W/'

Plate 49.

SHELD-DUCK OR SHELDRAKE— r^^rt'^rVza cormi'ta.

Length, 25 in. : wing, 13 in.

[An'seres : Anat'idce.]
S 148

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 149

and the central Highlands to Sutherlandshire. The haunts
are mostly fresh water at this season, and even in winter
it shows partiality for rivers and lakes, although also
found in tidal waters. In winter it is more widely
distributed, but is infrequent in Ireland and Wales and
the south of England, and it is always rare in the out-
lying Scottish isles. On the eastern side of Great Britain
it is commoner than its smaller ally. This it resembles
in general and nesting habits. The eggs, from eight to
thirteen in number, are of a creamy or huffish tint, and the
down is a characteristic grayish white.

THE SHELD=DUCK, OR SHELDRAKE

(Tadorna cornuta).
Plate 49.

The Sheld-Ducks are again a small group by themselves,
forming, in fact, a link between the true Ducks and the
Geese. They are amongst the commonest birds kept on
ornamental waters, and the few exotic species are freely
imported into this country, and are sometimes obtained
as t' escapes.' One of them, the Ruddy Sheld-Duck, is
also a rare natural visitor to the British Isles. The
Common Sheld-Duck, or Sheldrake, however, is an in-
digenous species, and is comparatively common in suitable
localities, especially on the east of Scotland.

These localities are the dune-lands and other expanses
of waste ground that are to be foimd round the low-lying
portions of our coast-line. There, if not persistently
robbed of its eggs, it may be found in something of the
natui'e of colonies — many pairs nesting within a small
area, and often massing into flocks when feeding or
resting in the open. At low tide they may be seen

150 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

feeding on the exposed mud-flats, the birds sometimes
rising to chase each other, or uttering hoarse, goose-hke
cries. When the tide is in, we may see them grazing
hke Geese in the meadows or on the moor, or find
them nesting all together, though each pair keeps
itself perceptibly apart. Inland haunts are occasionally
resorted to.

In May the nesting operations begin. A suitable
rabbit-burrow is chosen, or a similar tunnel is excavated,
the situation usually being the side of a sand-dune or
of a bent-grown hillock. The tunnel is generally some-
thing between five and fifteen feet in length, and when
long is often very markedly doubled back on itself.
Exceptionally, holes in rocks or bridges or other con-
cealed situations are chosen. At the end of the tunnel
a slight nest of grass or similar material is made, and to
this a large mass of down of a pearl-gray coloiu" is soon
added. The eggs are creamy white, and may number any-
thing up to rather more than a dozen. Incubation lasts
nearly a month before the eggs hatch and the chicks can
be led to the water. The duck has been said to carry
chicks on her back at times ; but as a rule no such help
is needed, even in a walk of a mile or two. In some
districts a brood en route is often surprised in the
village street in the early morning, and one has been
recorded making its way along a railway line.

Both in appearance and habits this species betrays
its affinities with the Geese. Some of these resemblances
have received passing mention already, but two others
may be emphasised. The Sheldrake resembles most Geese,
and differs from most species of true Ducks, in having no
very marked difference between the adult plumages of the
sexes. It is true that the difference is sufficient to
distinguish the birds in the field; but it is trifling

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 151

compared with the extremely great differences that we
have noticed in the case of various other Ducks. The
colours are duller in the duck, and the basal knob is
absent from her bill. She is also perceptibly smaller,
even when seen from some distance. The chestnut pectoral
band is the most characteristic portion of the plumage,
but the immature bird lacks this. On the wing at some
distance the Sheldrake may appear to be white practically
all over. The word ' sheld,' by the way, means parti-
coloured. ' Burrow-Duck ' and ' Stock-Annet ' are popular
names of the species.

Another particular in which this species differs from the
Ducks and resembles the Geese is that the drake does not
go into eclipse, but remains loyally by his mate. Although
he does not take a very active part in the nesting duties,
he appears to have rather a curious share. His quaint
habits have been well described by the well - known
naturalist Mr W. H. Hudson, who has drawn attention
to some points that appear to have been overlooked by
other observers. A number of pairs may be resting
together in the open at the laying season, when from
time to time a drake in some way decides that it is time
an egg was laid. This, at least, is Mr Hudson's inter-
pretation of the facts. The drake in question stands in
front of his mate and goes through a curious performance,
rocking and swaying his head from side to side. After
a while she rises and briefly answers in similar dumb
show, and then follows her lord towards the burrow.
From time to time she stops on the way, and has to
be exhorted with further rockings and swayings. At
the mouth of the burrow she makes a last and most
obstinate stand. But his patience and his fimd of silent
eloquence are bound to be successful, and 'in the end he
prevails, and bowing her pretty head she creeps quietly

152 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

down and disappears, while he remains on guard at the
door — for a Httle while.'

THE GRAY LAG GOOSE

(Anser cinereus).

Large flocks of Gray Geese are common in many parts of
the British Isles in winter, and may often be seen in the
course of their migration. The majority belong to one or
other of two very similar species, the Bean Goose and the
Pink-footed Goose. The White-fronted and Gray Lag
Goose are also represented. The last named is the only one
that remains to breed, and that to a much smaller extent
than formerly. It is still found in the north of Scotland,
chiefly in the Outer Hebrides. The nest is made of
heather and the like, and do\vn is added after the eggs
are laid. The eggs are yellowish white in colour, and
half-a-dozen or more in number.

[Several species of Geese that have been introduced are
known to occm*, or even to breed as ' escapes.' In this con-
nection the Canada Goose may be particularly mentioned.
It belongs to the group of ' Black Geese,' and is a close
ally of the Barnacle Goose, which, with its cousin the Brent
Goose, is fairly common on parts of our coast-line in winter.
The Barnacle Goose derives its name from the ancient
superstition that it was hatched from a barnacle.]

THE WHOOPER SWAN

(Cygnus musicus).

Most of the genuine Wild Swans seen in the British Isles
in winter belong to this species, which claims "oiu- attention
because it used to nest in the Orkneys till about a hundred

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 153

years ago. Injured birds occasionally remain there during
the summer at the present time. The nest is a large
heap of herbage, usually on an islet in a lake. The eggs
are up to seven in number, and yellowish white or pale
brownish yellow in colour.

THE MUTE SWAN

(Cygnus olor).

Most of the Swans we see are feral or escaped ex-
amples of this introduced species, best recognised by the
conspicuous black tubercle at the base of the bill. The
Mute Swan is said to have been introduced as long ago
as the reign of Richard Cceur-de-Lion, and it is now widely
distributed, and is practically wild in some parts. We
may therefore accord it passing mention as a ' naturalised
citizen,"* like the Pheasant and the Red-legged Partridge.
It is probably also an occasional winter visitor from
Scandinavia. Its nesting habits are like those of the
Whooper Swan, but the eggs are greenish white. The
gray plumage of the goslings is well known.

154 BRITAINS BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

ORDER, HERODIONES (HERONS, &C) ;

Family, ARDEID^ (Herons).

THE HERON

(Ardea cinerea).
Plate 50.

The Heron has been aptly termed a * still-hunter,' for it is
indeed predaceous, subsisting on eels and other fish, frogs,
and the like ; but in its hunting there is no swift piu-suit, and
no final capture of an exhausted victim, nor any remorseless
quartering of the water. The glamour and the horror of
the chase alike are absent. Still, motionless, standing in the
shallow waters at the margin of some peaceful lake, the
Heron keeps hours-long vigil, with the ripples lapping round
its long, slender legs. From a distance we do not see the
staring, watchful eyes, and the bird might almost be asleep
or frozen to a statue. And so much does it make itself a
part of the landscape that it is only bv chance, or by seeing
it take up its position, that we observe it at all. Others
more immediately concerned are also deceived, and at
length a victim chances to come within the danger-zone.
The picture is suddenly disturbed by one quick movement,
one sudden swoop of that spear-hke beak poised on that
long and graceful neck, and — the chase is over as soon as
it has begun.

Such a scene is typical ; but the Heron does not always
stand in the water, nor does it invariably resort to fresh-
water, nor seek solitude for its hunting. We have counted
nine together one morning, standing on half-submerged
boulders, waiting and watching, all within the limits of one

Plate 50.

HERON — Ar'dea cine'rea.

Length, 36 in. ; wing, 17-25 in.

[Herodio'nes : Arde'idae.]
T 154

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 155

small bay of a west Highland sea-loch. We may also see
this bird at other occupations than hunting ; sometimes
wading about the shallows, or occasionally swimming a
deeper portion to save taking wing. Or we may see it in
flight, and then we fully realise what a big bird it is.
The neck is gracefully cm-ved, the legs are trailed behind at a
downward angle, and the large, rounded wings, which have
a span of close on six feet, beat the air slowly. The flight,
indeed, seems the acme of leisureliness ; but there is great
power in those large wings in proportion to the weight to
be borne — for the actual body of the Heron is small, and
the whole bird scales only three or four pounds. Moreover,
the motion of large objects often appears deceptively slow,
and when we come to make a more accurate estimate of
its speed we find that it gets along at a very creditable
pace.

But our special purpose here is to visit the Heron in its
nesting haunts. These, contrary to what we might reason-
ably expect, are usually woodlands, and the nests are ordinarily
placed in trees, where the birds, till we have got accustomed
to the sight, look inappropriate enough. A hundred or two
heroni-ies still remain in the British Isles out of the much
larger number that formerly existed, and these are mostly
mere shadows of the prosperous colonies of the olden days
when, not a century and a half ago, we are told, fourscore
nests were to be seen in a single tree. Here and there also
a single pair of birds may be found.

The majority of British heronries are in England and
Wales, but the distribution of the Heron is nevertheless very
wide, for it is very adaptable to circumstances as regards
nesting-sites. The tops of lofty and almost unclimbable
trees are chosen when these are available ; but if not, quite
low trees and even bushes are utilised. In rare cases the
nest is placed in a reed-bed or on the bare ground, while

156 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

sometimes a ledge on some ivy-clad crag, or on an old ruin,
forms the site. Irish heronries are naturally often in the
less usual situations.

The nest is usually a large saucer-like platform of boughs,
and so on, lined with twigs or herbage. It is often added to
year after year, and may in the end measure many feet in
diameter. Naturally, however, the nest varies considerably
in type with the nature of its situation and the available
materials.

The Heron is an early nester, and may usually be found
about the heronry before January is out. In fact, the eggs
are frequently laid in the first half of Febiuaiy. Four is
the most frequent number, but there may be three or five.
They are of a delicate, unspotted, greenish blue. Rather
less than four weeks' incubation is required before the young
are hatched. These are nidicolous, being at first blind,
featherless, and utterly helpless. In May they leave the
nest, and their parents very frequently rear a second brood
the same summer.

The Heron, although itself a predaceous species, is liable
to much persecution by other birds. This occiu's chiefly
when it is on the wing, when its slowness in manoeuvring
makes it almost defenceless. Thus it is often mobbed by
Terns or other birds over whose colonies it unwarily passes
— this perhaps from knowledge of its fondness for young
birds ; and when it appears in the open it is persistently
chivied by the Rooks, side by side with which it often
nests ! A pair of raiding ravens are said to be able to
put a whole colony to flight. Of even the smallest Birds-
of-Prey, speaking now in the strict sense, the Heron is
always in great dread, and it attempts to rise in circles
above its aggressor if it be too far from a wood to make
a dash for shelter. This helped to make it a favourite
quarry of the old falconers, as indeed it still remains of

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 157

the few modern devotees of the ancient sport. Its large
size was also an advantage.

A subject which can be very appropriately mentioned in
connection with this species is that of ' powder-down.' Per-
vading the plumage of the Heron is a pale-blue, waxy powder
Mhich has been well compared to the bloom of peaches.
This powder is easily recognised in the case of captive birds
as a slight scum on the surface of their bath. The powder
is traceable to several patches of extremely fragile, long
down-feathers, which readily crumble and apparently form
the powder in this manner. In the Heron these patches
are in three pairs, the longest pair being concealed by
the breast feathers, while the two smaller pairs are on the
thighs and the groins respectively. Similar patches of
powder-down, as it is called, are well marked in the case
of the Pigeons, and, among exotic birds, the Parrots may
be mentioned as also possessing them.

Interesting field observations have established the fact that
the Heron, on the apparently rare occasions when it preens
itself, continually rubs its beak in one or other of the powder-
down patches, and then brings it out covered with the bluish
powder, which becomes transferred to the feathers next
preened. So far for fact. As regards the use which the
powder serves, many theones, reasonable and fantastic, have
been put forward ; but the question still lacks a convincing
answer.

To the Heron is very often popularly applied the name
' Crane,' in confusion with an rmrelated bird of somewhat
similar general appearance, which, as we have seen, is no
longer a native of these islands.

158 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.
THE BITTERN

(Botaurus stellaris).

The Bitterns are short - legged allies of the Heron, of
skulking habits, and frequenting fens and marshes, such as
abounded in the east of England not so long ago, and
still occupy much of Holland. The suitable haunts within
the British Isles have now, however, become few and cir-
cimiscribed ; but there is little doubt that this interesting
and inoffensive bird would still nest in East Anglia in
limited numbers were it freed from the persecution of
spring shooting. It is still of fairly frequent occurrence
in parts of this country, but is everywhere eagerly shot
down in the name of either ' science ' or ' sport ^ by people
who know nothing about the former and are incapable
of appreciating the true spirit of the latter. The Bittern''s
nest is composed of reeds, and the four eggs are of a
uniform olivaceous brown colour.

The Little Bittern is now also a mere visitor to the
British Isles ; but its former breeding within our area is
a less firmly established point than in the case of the
larger species.

Family, PLATELEID^ (Spoonbills).

THE SPOONBILL

(Platelea leucorodia).

The Spoonbill, or 'Shoveler,' so called because of the
shape of its bill, formerly nested in East Anglia and
some of the southern parts of England, but is now only
an occasional wanderer to our shores. The four to six
whitish eggs, rather rough in texture and variable in
shape, have reddish-brown markings. They are laid, at
considerable intervals, in a nest of reeds.

^J^f'^J

y

Plate 51.

GANNET OR SOLAN-GOOSE— 6'?^7a bassd na.

Length, 34 in. ; wing, 19 in.

[Steganop'odes : Pelecan'idae.]
T 158

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 159

ORDER, STEGANOPODES (CORMORANTS, &c.);
Family, PELECANID^ (Pelicans, Cormorants, &c.).

THE GANNET, OR SOLAN-GOOSE

(Sula bassana).
Plate 51.

One of the largest, handsomest, and withal most peculiar
of our native Sea-fowl is that whose old and best name
is ' the Solan,' or ' Soland ' — ' Sula,"' in its Icelandic form —
which now figures as the scientific name of the genus, and
is also a part of several place - names. To the name
* Solan,' ' Goose ' has been most inappropriately added,
and ' Solan - Goose ' is now the commonest popular name
for the species. Such a title, however, is so obviously
faulty and misleading that ornithologists now give prefer-
ence to another name for the bird — namely, * Gannet ' —
which has less popular hold in this country. It is also
the general title of the genus, which includes the so-called
' Boobies ' of the more southern seas ; but even it prob-
ably has a distant etymological connection with ' Goose.'
After all, has not the name ' Solan ' pure and simple the
prior and better claim ?

In point of apparent size the Solan is goose - like
enough, but here the resemblance practically stops ! To
begin with, the beak is long and strong and spear-like,
and is noticeably of the type known as compound — that
is, there are several distinct horny plates, recalling the
scales of Reptiles, covering the bones of the jaws. The
distance to which the jaws extend backwards unconcealed
by feathers is responsible for the bird's peculiar * expres-
sion,' if we may use the term.

160 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

Among other external features we may note that all
four toes are included in the web, in the manner charac-
teristic of the members of the Pelican family, and that the
wings are long and pointed, and capable of carrying even
this large bird in easy and graceful flight. Por, clumsy
as it may appear on land, the Gannet is no mean per-
former in the air. It can fly powerfully and swiftly ; on
occasion it can accomplish dexterous tiurnings and other
evolutions, and it is at all times conspicuous on account
of its magnificent feats of ' sailing ' or ' soaring.""

Fish forms the greater part of its food, and its manner
of obtaining this is strongly suggestive of the Tern's
fishing method. For this reason the Tern receives the
name ' Quarter - Gannet "" on parts of the Irish coast.
Wheeling at a considerable height above the water, the
Solan sees a fish near the surface below it, checks in its
course, and, with wings half-closed, plunges headlong on its
prey, disappearing with a splash, to emerge in an instant
with the victim it has speared. This habit was formerly
turned to the bird's disadvantage by the fishermen of some
of our northern isles, who, perhaps not unjustly, regarded
its competition with disfavom\ A fish was secured to a flat
board painted a ' neutral ' tint, and the whole anchored at
some suitable spot, and arranged so that it always floated
a short distance below the surface of the water. In this
way many a hapless Solan was made to break its neck.

The terra typica of the Solan is of com-se the Bass
Rock, that grand, rugged island which rises steeply from
the waters of the Firth of Forth. The flocks of white
birds which crowd its ledges and sweep the seas around
are familiar to all who have ever sailed from or to the
port of Leith. Various Auks and Gulls also resort to
the rock in the breeding season, but the Solans are the
chief feature. The precipitous cliffs of the towering pile

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 161

of Ailsa Craig at the entrance of the Firth of Clyde also
afford nesting - places for great numbers of these birds.
In fact, the British Solan colonies are sufficiently few
in number to be enumerated in fall. Nevertheless,' our
stock of Gannets is not small, for most of the colonies are
of great size. Two Scottish colonies have already been
mentioned ; but there are still four others — Sule Skerry
(' Solan Islet '), some forty miles west of the Orkney main-
land ; Sulisgeir (' Solan Rock '), a still more lonely isle,
about thirty-five miles north of the northernmost point of
the Lewis ; Stack -an- Armin and Stack Lii, both off Boreray
in the St Kilda group. Wales has one colony — namely,
that on Grassholm, off Pembrokeshire ; but England has
none, now that the one on Lundy Island in the Bristol
Channel has disappeared. Off the south-western corner of
Ireland there are two colonies, a large one on the Little
Skellig, and a smaller colony on the Bull Rock, seventeen
miles away. These, with a colony in the Faroes and several
off Iceland, make up the European list, for there are none
off Scandinavia. There are transatlantic colonies, however,
on some of the islands in the St Lawrence estuary and
elsewhere.

At all seasons of the year Gannets may be found round
the greater part of our coast-line. For one thing, they
are birds of such strong flight that the areas which they
fish over extend for a considerable distance on all sides
from their nesting-stations. For another, a fair number
even of mature birds apparently do not breed in some
seasons ; and as the Gannet takes six years to come to
maturity, the number of immature, non-breeding birds
is consequently large. In winter, too, the nesting islands
are forsaken, and the species becomes more evenly dis-
tributed throughout our territorial waters. At this season
something comparable to true migration takes place ; but

U

162 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

these movements have not yet been sufficiently well
analysed to permit of our making a general statement.

As early as February the breeding-birds begin to stream
towards the few favoured localities which are to be the
centres of their activities till late in the autumn. It is,
however, some time later before the nesting operations
actually begin. The nest is merely a heap of herbage
and seaweed placed on a rocky ledge or on a plat-
form or slope of the island. In May or June a single
egg is laid. This is light blue in colour, more or
less concealed by a white chalky outer layer, which
soon takes on a darker stain. At this season the birds
are quarrelsome among themselves, and are incorrigible
thieves of each other's nesting materials. The old birds
dvu'ing incubation usually show little shyness of man, and
will frequently allow themselves to be handled. There
are instances, too, of Gannets sleeping on the water being
so unwary as to permit their capture. This absence of
great fear of man is not altogether surprising when we
consider how little the birds are interfered with under
favourable conditions, and how seldom they come into
contact with human beings or their works. Their lives
are indeed spent on the most barren and, from man's point
of view, most useless portions of land, and on the path-
less seas. Things are not always so prosperous, however.
Sometimes they incur the jealousy of the fishermen, as
we have seen, and sometimes the fishermen's nets prove
disastrous to them. More serious still is the heavy toll
levied by the Scottish islanders on some of the nesting
colonies. Hundreds of young birds are taken annually in
August in some places, and flesh, fat, and feathers are
all put to separate account.

The nestlings are at first helpless and naked, and as
tlie colour of their skin is black they have a somewhat

Plate 52.

C O R M 0'^N:^i:—P]ialacroc'orax car' bo.

Length, 36 in. ; wing, 14-5 in.

[Steganop'odes : Pelecan'idcC.]
u 162

BRITAIN S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 163

repulsive aspect. Soon, however, they become covered
with white down, and then present a more engaging
appearance. The down gives place to the first real plum-
age — grayish below, dark brown, spotted with white, on the
upper-parts. At subsequent moults the feathers become
lighter stage by stage, till at length the snowy plumage
of matui'ity is attained.

THE CORMORANT

(Phalacrocorax carbo).
Plate 52.

'Weird' is perhaps the first epithet that would occur
to one in summing up one's general impressions of the
Cormorant. ' Weird and rather repulsive.' There is
something vulture-like about it, with its cruel beak, its
featherless skin about the face, and its amazing stenches !
It is a large, powerful bird, but imgainly in flight. A
large blot of ill-omened black against the sky, with neck
at full length in front, and with great wings flapping
quickly, it makes us think of Pterodactyls and the like.

We have momentarily compared it with a Vultui-e ;
but the Cormorant is no mere ghoul, but a predaceous
bird in the highest sense. Fish forms its chief food,
and this it obtains by direct pursuit, swimming under
water with swiftness and dexterity, as may be seen in
the glass -sided tanks of many zoological gardens.
There also we may see that it does not swallow its
victim under water, as the Penguins do, but carries
it to land, or at least to the sm-face, and there tosses it
in the air, catches it, and swallows it. The beak, we
notice, is long and hooked, a form best suited for
seizing and gripping the prey.

164 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

The Cormorant, we remember, is a member of the
Pehcan Order, so that we naturally compare its fishing
and its weapon with those of the Gannet, and, if we
may bring in a foreign species, with those of the Pelican
itself. The former we have already described, and the
latter must be known to everybody. The Pelican's
lower mandible is a bag with a stiff but not inflexible
rim, and this is used as a sort of surface tow - net, the
birds forming in long line, and, gaping wide, sweeping
the shallows. Thus we have three allied species fishing
in three different ways. Their food is the same, but
their methods of obtaining it are fundamentally different.
Each method has its appropriate instrument perfectly
adapted to its circumstances. The Cormorant pursues,
twists, turns, and seizes ; the Gannet soars, plunges, and
spears ; the Pelican sweeps and engulfs.

Conversely, we have unallied birds showing close
resemblance in the matter of beaks and similar features,
either through coincidence or through adaptation to the
same mode of life. Examples abound : Crane and Heron
for beaks, with length of neck and legs ; Phalarope and
Coot for feet ; Swallow and Swift for beak and wings.

Thus we realise how much habit has counted for in
the evolution of superficial characteristics such as the
beak, the feet, and the wings, and we can understand
how unreliable such characteristics are as a basis of
schemes of classification, and into what errors they led
the systematists of a century ago. As a mere system of
conventional arrangement and docketing, a classification
based on external characteristics might possibly be the
most convenient. But this is a secondary and incidental
object. The true aim of systematists is to unravel the
complicated relationships in the evolution of species, and
to build up their genealogical tree. To accomplish this,

BRITAINS BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 165

one must study the fundamental and more permanent
architecture of birds' bodies.

The laboratory, then, has its fascinations, and the
results of its work strike deeper ; but for the present
we must return to the seashore and watch our Cor-
morants as they fly, pterodactyl - like, across the bay, or
stand in a solemn row on the sands of the estuary,
wings half-outstretched to dry in the sun and wind.

The Cormorant may be found round most parts of
our coast throughout the year, and it nests in colonies
on low islets, broad ledges of cliffs, and other similar
situations. Inland also it is not unknown, and here and
there a colony may be found on a cliff* far from the
sea. In Ireland, moreover, it nests in trees in company
with Herons. A tree colony formerly existed in Suffolk,
and on the Continent the Cormorant is found as a tree-
nester far up the Danube.

The nest is a rather large heap of seaweed, herbage,
sticks, and so on, according to locality. The stench of the
decaying materials, of the young birds' half-eaten food,
and of the other refuse, must be ' experienced to be appre-
ciated.' The eggs, three to h\e in number, are laid in
April or May. They resemble those of the Gannet in
having a chalky outer layer over the pale-blue under-shell.
The young are repulsive-looking, naked, and helpless nest-
lings, whose eyes do not open till a couple of weeks after
birth. When feeding the young, the mother takes a great
part of the head into her mouth. In immature plumage
the Cormorant is dark brown above, dull white and pale
brown below. In mature plumage the sexes are prac-
tically alike, although the male is the larger and brighter.
The white patch on the thigh is only present during
spring and early summer.

We have referred to the Cormorant's methods of

166 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

catching fish, and to its dexterity, and it only remains
to mention the curious way in which this has been put
to use by man. In China and Japan tame Cormorants
have long been used by fishermen, a leather collar being
placed round their necks during the proceedings to
prevent them from swallowing their prey. In Europe
this has only been a form of ' sport "* — a sort of under-
water falconry ! It flourished in this country, especially
under the Stuart kings, who themselves patronised it ;
but the office of ' Master of the Royal Cormorants ' has
no longer a tenant.

THE SHAG

(Phalacrocorax graculus).

The Shag is a smaller, less ungainly, and, on the whole,
less common member of the Cormorant genus. From
the prevailing greenish tint in its dark plumage, and the
upright tuft which both sexes have on the head in the
breeding season, it frequently receives the names ' Green "*
and 'Crested Cormorant,' the adjectives 'black' or 'great'
being applied to its larger relative. It is found widely
distributed round all our coasts, but does not penetrate
inland. As a breeding species, it is found in localities
similar to the maritime haunts of the Cormorant, which
it indeed outnumbers on the south-west of England, on
the west of Scotland, and On the western and northern
Scottish isles. It resembles the Cormorant in habits, in
general appearance, and in nesting aiTangements. Its
three or four eggs resemble those of the Cormorant in
colour, but are smaller. Partially or totally albinistic
varieties of both species, it may be remarked, are not
unknown.

Plate 5;

PEREGRINE FALCON— Fal'co peirgri'nus.

Length, 15 in. ; wing, 12-5 in.

[AcciP'iTRES : Falcon'idce.]

u 166

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 167

ORDER, ACCIPITRES (BIRDS-OF-PREY) ;

Family, FALCONID^ (Falcons, &c.).

THE PEREGRINE FALCON

(Falco peregrinus).
Plate 53.

Dimly the features of the coastal moorland stand out,
now vaguely visible, now obscured by a denser billow of
the chill sea - fog that has for hours been stealing
silently over the land. We tread warily on our cliff-top
path, for we can hear the alternate splash and gurgle of a
lazy sea hidden three hundred feet below us. The cliff-
edge air-currents are making endless sport with the fog-
wreaths, and the fantastic, ever-changing forms keep our
attention towards the void. Suddenly a vague, dark form
shoots rapidly upwards through the fog, reaches our level,
poises the merest instant within the restricted limits of clear
vision, resolving in the act into the shape of a strong, fierce
bird. One swift glance, and it doubles with a dexterous
twist ; a few whirling strokes of long, narrow wings, and
it has dashed with incredible speed into the mist.

This is as much as we usually see of the Peregrine
Falcon, unless when we find it at its eyrie, for it is a
bird which wastes no time on its comings and goings.
Its long, narrow, curved wings are not suited for lazy,
soaring circles, and very nearly every yard of its way is
fairly won by rapid, forceful strokes. The same quality
of wing gives it amazing dexterity in turning and
doubling, and to this is added the wonderful accuracy
and precision of its every manoeuvre. It is not inferior
to the Swallow, scarcely to the Swift, in the excellence

168 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

of its aerial powers, and it has besides an obviously
enormous degree of actual strength.

' The most powerful bird for its bulk that flies ' is the
just verdict of a famous scientist. And indeed we may
safely say that as a mere mechanical triumph of design,
for strength and speed combined with accuracy, small
bulk, and graceful lines, the Peregrine Falcon stands
unsurpassed among the creations of nature or of man.
Certainly it is unrivalled in this respect as the finest
member of our avifauna ; it is not only proportion-
ately but absolutely the first, without restriction of size.
Some larger birds are stronger, some smaller ones are
swifter ; but none possesses so perfect a compromise and
combination, or such 'all-round'' efficiency. None could
hope to meet it in the air on equal terms and come
off victor. It can choose its victims almost without
restriction, and it has no enemies, bird or beast, but man.
None but he dare rob its eyrie ; none but he can take
it by cunning, or slay it openly in full flight. Even
the Eagle would pursue it in vain, and at times must
even go in fear of the swift and deadly onslaught of a
bird so much smaller than itself. Not, of course, that
the Falcon presumes to hunt the so-called King of Birds ;
but if the latter pass by chance too near the Falcon's
eyrie it will be fiercely harassed, and made to scream and
yelp and throw itself into postures of defence, while it
quickly escapes from the jealously guarded area. In
justice to the Eagle, be it said that it could also put to
flight a Peregrine encroaching in turn on its territory ;
for birds have no false notions of valour, and are not
ashamed to retreat from a battlefield where they have in
any event nothing but a ' bubble reputation ' to gain.
But in such a case the Falcon could retire by skilful
manceuvrine without fear of hurt.

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 169

The Peregrine was par excellence the bird of the ancient
and noble pastime of hawking. The female is con-
siderably the larger, and it alone was called the 'Falcon,'
her smaller mate being termed the 'Tiercel."" The score
of other terms for various ages and conditions need not
be enumerated. The word 'Peregrine' refers to the
partially migratory habits of the species in the wild state.

The Falcon was flown at the largest game, such as
Herons and Wild-Geese. She could soon overtake these,
and wheel round her selected victim, now itself rapidly
mounting, until from a superior altitude she could
' stoop ' and grapple with it, bearing it in its death-throes
to the ground. The Tiercel was flown at smaller birds,
such as now make up the chief part of its natural fare —
Puffins and other Sea-fowl, Rock-Doves and Hooded Crows
on the coast, Grouse, now its undoing, Golden Plover,
Peewits, Wild-Duck, Teal, Rooks, and others in more
inland haunts.

The exact method of capture differs with the size of the
victim. 'Having arrived within a few feet of the prey,
the Falcon is seen protruding his powerful legs and talons
to their full stretch. His wings are for a moment almost
closed ; the next instant he grapples the prize, which, if
too weighty to be carried oft', he forces obliquely to the
ground, sometimes a hundred yards from where it was
seized, to kill it and devour it on the spot. Should this
happen over a large extent of water, the Falcon drops
his prey, and sets oft' in quest of another. On the
contrary, should it not prove too heavy, the exulting
bird carries it off' to a sequestered and secure place.' So
wrote Audubon, describing the habits of the practically
identical American 'Duck-Hawk.' Most victims can be
trussed in the air and forthwith carried off, for the
Peregrine Falcon can bear a weight almost equal to its

V

170 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

own. It has been known to carry a Grouse or a Pheasant
a distance of several miles, as, for instance, from the
mainland moors or coverts to the cliffs of the Bass Rock.
The attack is always from above, and it is no force of
impact, but the mere grip of the powerful talons that
ends the victim's struggles. Man, we have said, is the
Falcon's only serious foe, and of him it is usually shy
and wary. When anything is to be gained, however,
it will behave with extraordinary boldness. Numberless
instances are on authentic record of a Falcon dashing in
and seizing a wounded bird on the wing before the sport-
man's eyes, or dealing havoc among the covey he has just
' flushed.' In such cases the suddenness, unexpectedness,
and short duration of the manoeuvre makes the danger
small ; but when a pair, as sometimes happens, exhibit a
useless bravado near their eyrie it may prove their un-
doing should the keeper of the neighbouring moor have
a grudge against them for their many meals of Grouse.
It is, indeed, grouse-preserving M^hich is responsible for the
scarcity of the Peregrine nowadays. To the lover of
wild nature a live Falcon is worth many dead Grouse ; but
it is only a few proprietors who can see the matter in
this light. Many of the maritime haunts, however, are
far removed from moorlands, and no one grudges the
loss of the Puffins, whose numbers are well able to bear
the toll. But there the collector, or, more dangerous still,
the poor fisherman inspired by his prices, often carries on
a sad robbery of the eggs of this and other rare birds.

With this species we have begun our description of
the Birds-of-Prey, an Order whose general characteristics
are at once so distinct and so well-known as to need no
enumeration. One or two less familiar points may, how-
ever, be noted. As in this species, the female is usually
considerably the larger bird, the difference being very

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 171

marked in some cases. The plumage varies considerably
with age, although not changing with the season. The
prevailing hue of immature birds and of adult females is
usually a rich, wann, rufous brown. Adult males tend
to show slaty-blue colours, especially on the tail. As
with Game-birds, old, infertile females may assume male
plumage. All the members of the Order we have to deal
with belong to the typical group, that of the Falcons (in
the widest sense). Vultures and others do not concern us,
and to them the above remarks are not all meant to
extend. In nesting economy the Peregrine Falcon is also
fairly typical of the British Birds-of-Prey.

As already indicated, the Peregrine nests on cliffs.
These cliffs may be coastal ones, or be far inland
mountain -walls fronting on the moorland. Other sites
are rare in this country ; but old nests of Crows, Herons,
and other tree-nesters are sometimes utilised. The species
has been recorded as nesting on buildings, and in parts
of northern Europe and Asia it has of necessity to lay
on the open tundra. The birds, it is almost certain, pair
for life, remaining together throughout the year. The
rapidity with which another mate is found in case of
accident to one of the pair has been frequently remarked
upon. A single nesting haunt is often inhabited for many
years in succession, but not necessarily by the same pair
of birds, as shown by cases like that where one locality
'in Connemara known in 1684 to have been inhabited
from time immemorial is still (about 1899) inhabited.'

For a nest the Peregrine Falcon usually chooses a
natural crevice or scraped-out hollow on the cliff-ledge,
no lining being added. The two to four, but usually
three, eggs may be laid in April, but often not until
much later. Maritime eyries, we have some ground for
believing, receive their eggs considerably later than those

172 BRITAIN S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

inland generally do. It has been suggested that this is
connected with the food-supply — the Sea-fowl, which do
not reach their nesting-cliffs till well on in the season.
A curious point about these Sea-fowl is that those nesting
on adjacent ledges to the Falcons show little fear. The
Falcons seem to make a rule of never striking in the
vicinity of the eyrie, and though the birds nesting near
may not know this, they seem at least to get accustomed
to the presence of their natural enemies. The Falcon's
eggs have a very indistinctly blotched appearance, the
prevailing tones being warm orange brown and rich brick
red, both characteristic of the Order. Both birds incubate,
and the period is long. The young are hatched covered
with white down, as are all young Birds-of-Prey. They
are, however, helpless, and have to be tended by their
parents for many weeks before they reach full growth,
attain their first real plumage, are led from the nest,
and ultimately driven away. A typical trick that they
have in the nest often proves disastrous. They turn
over on their backs on the approach of danger and
present their talons to the foe. The wily falconer,
therefore, saves himself a risky climb by lowering to the
nest a ball of wool, in which the nestling's claws soon
become hopelessly entangled, allowing it to be drawn up !

THE KESTREL

(Faico tinnunculus).

Plate 54.

This small Falcon is the commonest and most familiar
of our native Birds-of-Prey, and is found over the
greater part of our islands throughout the year, but

^^"V^^^

Plate 54.

KESTRE L — Fal'co tiniiun' cuius.

Length, 14 in. ; wing, 9-5 in.

[ACCIP'ITRES : Falcon'id^.]

V 172

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 173

migrates in winter from the north of Scotland. At that
season numbers of birds from northern Europe arrive
on our shores, most of them to go still farther. There
is no reason why the Kestrel should not be allowed
to become even commoner throughout the country than
it is at present, because its actions are entirely beneficial
to human interests, and it therefore deserves protection.
The species is not so very much smaller than the Peregrine,
but as a hunter it is an infinitely humbler bird. In
southern countries it is even content to chase grass-
hoppers and other large insects. With us, small birds
are taken to a very slight extent, but the diet consists
almost wholly of mice and other small rodents. Thus
the bird's further increase would be entirely in the
farmer's interests. Nor need the game - preserver have
any selfish fears to make him withhold protection from
the Kestrels nesting in his woods. For the bird is absolutely
harmless to game, unless perhaps a weakly young bird
come its way by chance. And yet one may still find
many a gamekeeper who knows his business so little as
to make it a iiile to shoot everything in the shape of
a Bird-of-Prey, and nail up the corpse in his 'larder,' a
sort of ' chamber of horrors,' on the side of a shed, or
along a row of trees.

The Kestrel's method of quartering the ground is a
matter of common observation. The flight is easy and
graceful, and wide circlings are freely indulged in. The
rather long tail is held straight out behind. The habit
of hanging in one place with rapidly beating Mings is
extremely characteristic, and has given rise to the popular
name ' Wind-Hover.' The cry is a shrill, short whistle
several times repeated. The sexes scarcely differ in size.

In nesting habits this bird generally resembles its
larger and nobler ally. Similar cliff - nesting sites are

174 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

chosen in coastal and mountainous districts, but elsewhere
it nests freely in trees. In the latter case an old nest
of some other species is utilised — usually a Crow's or a
Ring -Dove's. The eggs are more numerous than the
Peregrine's, from four to six being the usual number.
They may be laid by April. The colours are similar to
those of the Peregrine ; but the eggs are more uniformly
tinted, only the brick-red tone being usually present. The
young are of the usual t3^e.

THE MERLIN

(Faico aesalon).

As already remarked, the Falcons give their name to
the whole family, which includes all our native Birds-of-
Prey ; but of the Falcons in the strict sense we have only
four to deal with. The third is this species, which is
similar to the Kestrel, but considerably smaller. The
wings are shorter and the flight more dashing. The prey
consists of small birds which are easily caught on the
wing ; even a Swallow is pm'sued with swiftness equal to
its own, and followed turn for turn. As regards both
agriculture and game-preserving it may be considered as
practically non-injurious. It nests in very small numbers
over much of Ireland and throughout Great Britain from
Wales and the northern Midlands to Shetland. In winter
it also occm's in the southern English counties. At that
season it often frequents estuaries and similar haunts,
preying on Dunlins, and the like. Its nest is usually a
hollow in the moorland heather ; the four to aix eggs
are deep brownish red in colour.

i

Plate 55

SPARROW-HAWK— ^r^z>'//6v- iii'sus.

Length, 13 in. ; wing, 7-75 in.

[AcciP'lTRES : Falcon'idce.]
V 174

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 175

THE HOBBY

(Faico subbuteo).

The Hobby is also much the same size as the Kestrel,
but differs in many respects. The wings, for one thing,
are very long, and the flight is correspondingly swift.
The species is chiefly an uncommon summer visitor,
nesting sparingly in a few of the southern counties of
England. It has been recorded as nesting occasionally
in the north, and once in Perthshire. It lays in the
old nests of other tree-nesting species, and is a very late
breeder. The three to five eggs are commonly closely
mottled, with reddish brown on a yellowish ground.

THE SPARROW-HAWK

(Accipiter nisus).

Plate 55.

Still of course belonging to the Falcon family, but
more narrowly grouped as a ' Hawk ' (in the strictest
sense), is the Sparrow-Hawk, which is almost as familiar
and widespread as the Kestrel. Equally abundant in some
districts, it is very strictly kept down in many where
the Kestrel goes unmolested. And from a narrow, selfish
point of view this persecution is not without justification,
for the Sparrow-Hawk is a bold robber. Not only does
it prey on ordinary small birds of every description, but it
will frequently snatch a young Pheasant or Partridge, and
has no fear of making a sudden raid on a poultry-yard.
Birds the size of a Pigeon can be successfully dealt with,
and the Sparrow -Hawk was quite a favourite of the

176 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

devotees of hawking, to which sport it is readily trained.
Its flight is of the swift, dashing order, the wings being
relatively short. When seen in the open it is easily
recognised by this characteristic, and by the marked down-
ward angle at which the tail is held during flight. The
hunting method of the Sparrow -Hawk is usually that
of a sudden dash at the unsuspecting victim. While
on the lookout the Hawk flies within a few feet of the
ground, and may thus clear a wall or round a haystack
into the very midst of a party of small birds having no
thought of danger. A victim is instantly selected, seized,
and carried off^, the whole manoeuvre being executed
in a flash. At these times the Sparrow-Hawk often
shows its amazing skill at twisting in and out among
branches while going at full speed. Sometimes a solitary
bird far from shelter is openly pursued. The attacks
are made from behind, not from above, as a Falcon
' stoops."* A flock of small birds, however, will often
pursue and mob a Sparrow-Hawk, itself surprised in the
open. The exact significance of this is rather doubtful.
The obvious popular explanation seems hardly consistent
with modern ideas of the working of a bird's mind.

When the Sparrow-Hawk has once carried off* its prey,
it takes it to some sheltered spot where it may be eaten
on the ground in peace. The Hawk requires both feet
to manage its spoils, and seems unable to perch properly
during the process. Otherwise the species is markedly
arboreal, and is absent from such treeless localities as the
Scottish isles. There and elsewhere the name ' Sparrow-
Hawk' is often the popular title of the innocent Kestrel,
which is apt to suffer in consequence.

In nesting habits the Sparrow-Hawk also shows itself
an arboreal species. The nest is almost invariably
in trees, and is usually the work of the Hawks them-

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 177

selves. Small sticks are the principal material employed.
Sometimes an old nest of a Crow or Wood-Pigeon is used,
generally after additions have been made. In May four,
five, or six eggs are laid in the nest at intervals of a
couple of days. They have the typical orange and brick-
red tints of the Order, not all over, but in large, bold
patches on a whitish ground. At their best they are
perhaps the handsomest eggs laid by any of our native
birds. Incubation lasts between four and five weeks, and
the young are of the usual type.

In plumage the Sparrow-Hawk presents a bewildering
amount of variation, according to age, sex, and even
individual. Birds of both sexes have been recorded as
breeding while still in immature garb. In size there is
also much individual variation, but the difference between
the sexes in this respect is always marked. It is greater
than in any other British Bird-of-Prey, and is so notice-
able as to make it difficult for one unaware of the fact
to believe they are of the same species. It is of course
the female that is the larger.

THE GOSHAWK

(Astur palumbarius).

The Goshawk is also a true Hawk, and is in many ways
a larger counterpart of the preceding species. Like the
Sparrow-Hawk, it was a favourite of the old falconers,
and was much used in the pursuit of the larger Wild-Fowl.
The name simply means ' Goose-Hawk,' and it is frequently
misapplied to the Peregrine Falcon, a fact which must be
taken into account in considering the evidence of the
Goshawk's former status in the British Isles. But a few
Scottish records of its breeding half a century ago seem to

W

178 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

be authentic. It is now a rare wanderer, chiefly to the
east of Great Britain. The Goshawk builds a nest of
sticks in a tree, or repairs any old nest of some other
bird. The four eggs are bluish gray, with or without a
few reddish markings.

THE KITE

(Milvus ictinus).
Plate 56.

'Kites that swim sublime in still repeated circles, scream-
ing loud,"* are no longer, alas ! to be seen above the streets
of London, where a few centuries ago they were even more
abundant than in the cities of part of southern Europe at
the present time. Then their commonness excited the
remarks of foreign visitors to the Metropolis ; while now it
is true that few ' who see the paper toys hovering over
the parks in fine days of summer have any idea that the
bird from which they derive their name used to float all
day in the hot weather high overhead.'

It is long since the Red Kite disappeared from London
and the south of England generally ; but till late in last
century it nested sparingly in the wooded Midlands of
England and the central Highlands of Scotland ; to Ireland
it seems never to have been more than a wanderer. Even
in these haunts it became extinct, and in 1895 the last
young brood of the century was reared near Shrewsbury.
Birds of the old stock still lived, however, and only needed
opportunities to hatch their eggs unmolested by collectors.
Therefore, in 1905, when efficient protection was procured
for them by a committee of ornithologists, two pairs success-
fully reared their young in the mountain-forests of South
Wales. From, it is believed, five birds in 1905, our
native stock has increased to well over twenty. With

Plate 56.

KITE — Mil'viis icti'mis.

Length, 25 in. ; wing, 20 in.

[AcciP'lTRES : Falcon'idse.]
W 178

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 179

the continuance of the protection, it is to be hoped that
the species will become to some extent re-established.

Collectors are the worst enemies of birds, seeing that
they persecute a rare species because it is rare. And the
rarer they make it the more they persecute it, so that
the evil increases by leaps and boiinds, and may soon lead
to total extermination unless their murderous and at the
same time senseless designs are thwarted by those who
place a truer value on the wild-life of our native land.
It is significant that those who have interfered in this and
in many a similar case have been the real scientific students
of bird-life, and that they altogether disown the collector,
who delights to call himself a scientific worker, while he is
really a kleptomaniac. No intelligent use is made of the
stolen spoils by the average collector ; no worthy advantage
is derived from amassing series of egg-shells — it is the mere
lust for collecting, hypocritically disguised. Worse than
the collector himself is the ' hireling ruffian ' who is tempted
by the high price fetched by rare eggs and skins ; but the
responsibility for his baneftil activities rests with those
who have given these rarities a market value. That bird-
nesting is a fascinating and interesting occupation there is
no doubt ; that collecting in an intelligent way, and on a
reasonable scale, may form a part of it not altogether to
be condemned we concede ; that it is an essential or even
a very useful part we cannot admit ; that it should form the
zchole, as it so often does, must be condemned as unworthy
of any intelligent person. And it is collectors who are
no more than collectors that are the worst offenders. The
man who will rob a rare bird's nest cannot possess the
naturalist's spirit, and cannot either learn or teach fi-om
his results ; he would do as much good to himself and to
other people if he kept to the postage-stamps or tram-
way tickets of his boyhood.

180 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

The earlier decrease of the Kite, however, was due to
the relentless war waged with gun and gin by gamekeepers.
In Scotland the value of some of the feathers for making
salmon-flies was an added incentive to slaughter ! The
Kite''s damage to game cannot have been serious enough
to warrant such persistent persecution. It will take a
weakly or young bird either on the moor or in the poultiy-
yard, but it is said to turn tail before the parent hen !
Birds are not caught in the air, but only on the groiuid.
They are also eaten there, for the Kite is weak as well as
cowardly, and cannot carry any great weight in its talons.
The greater part of the food, moreover, is carrion, and in
cities offal and garbage of all sorts are taken. In London
in the old days, as in other cities at the present, the Kites
thus inhabiting the haunts of man, and doing him service
as scavengers, showed great indifference to his presence, in
strong contrast to their natural cowardice. Various instances
of their acquired boldness are on record. It is even said
that Kites would snatch meat from the hands of children
in the streets.

Cowards, preying on the weak, carrion-eaters, acting as
scavengers — there seems little of merit about them. But
see them on the wing, and it is another matter ! There
they exhibit only skill and grace and beauty, and we at
once forget the rest, and deplore the bird's extinction in
its ancient haunts. As Buffbn said, ' We cannot but admire
the manner in which the flight of the Kite is performed ;
his long and narrow wings seem motionless ; it is his tail
that seems to direct all his evolutions, and he moves it
continually ; he rises without effort, comes down as if he
were sliding along an inclined plane ; he seems rather to
swim than to fly ; he darts forward, slackens his speed, stops,
and remains suspended or fixed in the same place for whole
hours without exhibiting the smallest motion of his wings.'

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 181

Although lacking in qualities necessary for the sport of
hawking, the wild Kite was esteemed as a quarry before
all birds. Its great powers of soaring enabled it to keep
above the Falcon, thus giving no opportunity for the
fatal ' stoop.' Only the finest, best-conditioned, and most
skilfully-trained birds could hope to overmatch the Kite
in its cloudward race and bear it to earth, and few but
the Sovereign possessed such birds. Thus the quany
became known as the ' Royal Kite.''

' When the Kite builds, look to lesser linen,"' for it, like
Shakespeare''s character who utters this warning, is ' a snapper-
up of unconsidered trifles.** Newspapers, rags, and all sorts
of odds and ends go to the making of the untidy structure
which serves as a nest. Sticks form the more substantial
framework, and the whole is almost always situated in a
tree, although a crag-site has been recorded. In April
or May the eggs are laid, two or three in number. They
have irregular brownish blotches and other markings on a
ground which is dull white or sometimes very pale blue.
The nestlings are of the usual type prevailing in the
Order.

The popular name ' Gled "" or ' Glead,' formerly widely
used for this species, refers to the gliding flight.

THE HONEY=BUZZARD

(Pernis apivorus).

The Honey-Buzzard is another bird that has been
practically exterminated as a British-breeding species. It
still occurs in fair numbers on migration in some parts
of our islands. In Ireland it is only a rare wanderer to
the eastern counties, and was probably never anything more.
But at one time it nested pretty generally over the wooded

182 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

parts of Great Britain. Its chief enemy has been the
collector, as, for instance, in one of its last strongholds,
the New Forest. High prices were offered for eggs and
skins of native origin, and the great beauty of the former
may have been additional incentive to the collector.
They are round and glossy, two or more in number,
and creamy in ground-colour, with rich red or brown
blotches. As indicated by the scientific name, and by
the old name * Bee-Hawk,' the species is almost entirely
insectivorous ! It is allied to the Kite, and is in no
sense a Buzzard.

THE GOLDEN EAGLE

(Aquila chrysaetus).

Frontispiece.

We have already indicated our personal inclination to
award to the Peregrine Falcon the position of the finest
and noblest of rapacious birds. And yet the Eagle is
not without claim to his popular title of 'King of Birds.'
The Falcon is at all times the embodiment of activity,
boldness, and ' dash ; ' but the Eagle has an air of regal
dignity and an appearance of massive strength. Stand-
ing perched on a jutting rock on a mist - wreathed
mountain wall, he looks indeed the monarch of the
wild glen ; wheeling and soaring, hours long, at a great
height in the clear sky, he seems supreme, unrivalled in
his conquest of the air, with so much ease and dignity
does he maintain his level and perform his evolutions.
But he has other aspects, aspects with little dignity,
little nobility, little that calls for admiration. None
knew and loved him more than Macgillivray, but he
admitted that 'his nobility has a dash of clownishness,

BRITAIN^ BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS, 183

and his falconship a vulturine tinge/ We hold him at
a disadvantage in captivity ; but yet, if the conditions
be of the best, he displays nearly the same bold, free
lines, and shows almost the same wild, fierce looks as
among his native mountains. Then some one he knows
enters his cage, speaks to him, snaps his fingers in the
monarch's face, and the fine lines and wild looks are
gone — the feathers are erected and fluffed up, and he
becomes almost spherical in outline. No longer is he
a pirate king languishing in captivity, but a ludicrous
buffoon. There he sits, a great fluffy ball, wearing a
look of imbecile complacency, and uttering the while
absurd httle chirps of pleasure !

Again, in the wild state, the close observer of his
habits will find evidence of the ' vulturine tinge.' The
Eagle shows little boldness in asserting his kingship, but,
on the contrary, shows himself ever ready to shirk
danger and obtain food by easy and ignoble means.
We have referred to the well-known soaring, but we
must make it clear that this is not a method of hunt-
ing. It is a mere popular fancy that the Eagle spies
his prey from a great height, and rushes down on it
like a thunderbolt. No ! When he hunts he flies low
over the moors, ' stooping "" from no great height on
the Plover, Grouse, or Mountain Hare that he has just
espied. In the actual seizing of these, it must be said,
he shows more adroitness and agility than we should
have expected from a bird of such apparently lazy
movements. In bearing off' his quarry he displays his
great strength. He has been known to carry off' a
lamb several weeks old, and often does some damage
to the flocks in spring. Whether any ground of truth
underlies the stories of Eagles caiTying off" very young
children one cannot be sure. One of our own High-

184 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

land traditions on the subject includes the carrying of
a babe a distance of sixteen miles across the Minch !
In Central Asia the Golden Eagle is trained by the
Kirghiz horsemen to hunt the wolf. The bird, however,
does not kill the wolf, but merely detains it by striking
at it with wings and claws, giving the dogs and riders
time to overtake the animal.

Often the Golden Eagle descends to mere carrion-
eating, and this has proved its undoing in Ireland.
Poisoned meat has there been one of the chief ajrents in
its extermination, while it has not affected the Peregrine
Falcon, which despises all food not procured by itself.
In captivity also the Eagle will, of course, take food killed
for it. In these circumstances we may study its methods
of feeding. In has a definite way of attacking every-
thing. Standing on a bird, it plucks the feathers skil-
fully with its beak, and does not tear it open and
begin to eat until the whole is plucked clean. Seizing
a fish and holding it firmly down at one end, it runs
along it with its beak, breaking each vertebra in turn,
before ripping the body open. When the food, what-
ever it be, is prepared, and a surface of flesh exposed,
the Eagle holds it firmly down with one or both feet,
and proceeds to tear off pieces with its beak, and
swallow them forthwith. Very little is left except large
bones or pieces of skin that have fallen away during
the meal. Afterwards the claws are carefully cleaned
with the beak, which is then rubbed, first one side and
then the other, against the perch. Even in the miser-
able conditions of a small cage, or, perhaps worse, a
hutch and chain, an eagle will live to a great age —
well over half a century. No estimate of the normal
life-span can of course be made from this ; the con-
ditions of freedom are at once healthier and harder.

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 185

and in any case most wild creatures have a violent
end.

Speaking of the conditions of captivity, we may say that
we have known an Eagle kept in captivity for fifteen
years remain in very good condition, and continue to
take the abundant exercise and daily baths which a
roomy cage and good tank allowed it. It is often put
forward in defence of the miserable coops allotted to
Eagles and others in most zoological gardens that these
birds become sluggish and vvdture-like, not showing any
desire to move so long as they are well fed ; a large cage
is therefore wasted on them. What conditions are respon-
sible for this discrepancy of observation we cannot say.

In the wild state the Golden Eagle has a circum-
polar distribution, but is much less common in the
British Isles than formerly. In the west and north-
west of Ireland a few still linger ; once it was abundant
and widespread. Up till about two centuries ago it
nested in Wales and Derbyshire ; up till about a
century ago in the Lake District ; and up till about
half a centuiy ago in the Scottish lowlands. To all
these districts it is now only a rare autumn wanderer.
From Orkney it has also vanished, and it is now confined,
as a British-breeding species, to the Highlands and the
Hebrides. There it receives protection against collectors
and others from the proprietors and tenants of many
of the vast deer-forests, where its grouse-eating propen-
sities are not greatly objected to.

The nest is sometimes in a tree, more often on a
mountain - ledge ; both sites are found in use in Scot-
land. The nest is a large platform of sticks, lined
with softer materials. The same structure is often added
to year after year, and may attain great size. Laying
begins early, at the beginning of April as a rule, even

X

186 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

in the wintry fastnesses of the Scottish Highlands. The
eggs are normally two in number ; three are sometimes
found ; and there are a very few authentic records of
four. The ground-colour is dull white, and the thinly
scattered, irregular markings may be grayish, yellowish,
or reddish broA^Ti. We believe that it is usual to find
one well-marked and one almost plain egg forming a
clutch ; but which is laid first does not seem to be on
record.

A magnificent series of photographs of Golden Eagles
at their nests in a Scottish ' corrie ' has recently been
published in book -form. The pictures were taken from
a hiding-place at close quarters, giving splendid oppor-
tunities for study, and many interesting observations are
described in the text. We are told how the parent-
birds brought Grouse and Rabbits to their offspring,
having first plucked them elsewhere, and how at first
the young bird (only one survived) was fed by the
mother-bird on titbits, such as the liver, while she ate
the rest ; and so on with all the details in the daily
' round ' of the first eleven weeks of the Eaglefs life.
Then it forsakes the eyrie, but it is still protected and
fed for some two months longer. And finally the de-
voted parents, who for five long months have tended
their off'spring with loving care, turn on him as a foe
and drive him forth into the outer world.

Many stories there are of the Eagle's ferocity, and
its attacks on human beings near its nest ; but what-
ever the truth of these, the testimony of the careful
observer referred to is that 'of all our shy birds the
Eagle is the most timid, and generally remains out of
sight for an hour or more if disturbed from its nest,'
which, in the early stages, it is even prone to desert
entirely.

Plate 57.

WHITE-TAILED OR SY.P^-Y.KG'L^—Halia'eius albicii'la.

Length, 33 in. ; wing, 24 in.

[ACCIP'ITRES : Falcon'idae.]

X 186

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 187

THE WHITE=TAILED OR SEA=EAQLE

(Haliaetus albicilla).
Plate 57.

In the Erne, to use the fine old name of the bird
now more generally called the ' Sea-Eagle," or ' "White-
tailed Eagle,"' we have a representative of a group allied to
the typical Eagles, the chief of which we have just discussed.
The Sea -Eagle is on an average a trifle larger than
the Golden Eagle, but it is a bird of less noble and im-
posing mien. The plumage is altogether much grayer, and
in the adult the tail is pure white, and the head and
neck very pale in colour. A comparison of the respec-
tive plates will reveal a very noticeable difference in the
proportions of the beak and the feathering of the legs.

Most of the Eagles which occur in England belong
to this species, for the Sea-Eagles of northern Europe
appear to be migratory in some degree ; and examples
— almost all immature birds, with brown tails and darker
plumage — are therefore not very infrequent in the mari-
time counties. A century ago the Erne bred in the
north of England and the Isle of Man, as well as in
many parts of the Scottish mainland. Now, however,
it is only found nesting on the cliffs of some of the
western and northern isles of Great Britain. In Shetland
it is now being carefully protected. In Ireland it was
once even commoner than the Golden Eagle, but
poisoned carrion and other devices have led to its num-
bers being reduced almost to vanishing-point ; a few
pairs still hold out on the wild western coast-line.

Although not exclusively marine, the Sea-Eagle prefers
the vicinity of water, even if it be only a lake or a

188 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

swamp. The food is very varied — birds, mammals, carrion,
and fish. The last-named forms an important item — very
much more so than with the Golden Eagle. The Erne
is not a particularly skilful fisher, and relies to a great
extent on dead fish washed up by the tide. Some
kinds of fish that frequently bask on the surface are,
however, easily caught. Sometimes the prey proves too
large, and the Eagle, being quite unable to extract its
claws, is drowned, the fish ultimately perishing also.
Sometimes, while not being able to fly, the Eagle manages
with the help of a favourable wind to reach the shore.
In such circumstances it will carefully use its beak to dig
out its buried talons, and then to preen its plumage for
flight. Then, and not till then, does it attack its hard-
won meal ; but an Eagle has sometimes been captured
before these preparations were complete. The closely
allied White-headed or ' Bald ' Eagle of North America often
resorts to piratical methods. When that much more suc-
cessful fisherman the Osprey (or ' Fish-Hawk ') is bearing
home his prey, the tyrant swoops at him, and with
threatening movements forces him to drop the fish. Then,
darting like a thunderbolt, head first, and with wings
working to increase the awe-inspiring speed, the Eagle
overtakes the falling fish and sweeps off" with it in an
ascending curve.

Although of immense strength, the Sea-Eagle shows little
boldness in its hunting. Except when pressed by hunger
it seldom attacks a bird or mammal of any size, and it is
subject to serious annoyance, although not actual attack,
from Falcons, Crows, Gulls, and others, near whose nests
it may stray ; a pair of Skuas, for instance, will completely
beat it off". It will also allow itself to be driven from a
carcass by a dog, and will venture nothing but feigned
swoops while its canine rival is satisfying its hxinger.

Plate 58.

COMMON BUZZARD— ^///^^ vidga'ris.

Length, 21 in. ; wing, 14-5 in.

[AcciP'lTRES : Falcon'idae.]
X 188

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 189

When an Otter has caught a fish and is eating it on
some rock, an Eagle has been seen patiently awaiting its
departure in order to obtain what was left.

In nesting habits the Erne resembles the preceding
species in general details. The eyrie is of the same
nature, and is usually placed on a clifF-ledge, whether
coastal or inland. Trees and even large bushes are also
not uncommon sites, those on islets in large lakes being
especially favoured. The nest may indeed be on the
ground ; in some swampy regions it is a large pile of
sticks rising many feet above the mud. ' On a flat islet in
a small lake in Harris, one of the Hebrides, a pair of
these birds bred for many years, although there are lofty
crags in the neighbourhood."*

The eggs are laid in April, and are two in number, as
a rule. They are pvire white in colour, sometimes with a
few reddish specks about the larger end. In appearance
and upbringing the young resemble those of the Golden
Eagle.

THE COMMON BUZZARD

(Buteo vulgaris).
Plate 58.

The Buzzard may in some respects of habit and
appearance be likened to a lesser Eagle. Compared with
the average Hawk or Falcon, it is not only a larger bird,
but also one of heavier and stouter build. From its com-
position the ' dash ' of these smaller kinsmen is absent,
and in its place there is something, just something, of the
massive strength and dignity of the Eagle, of which it
might be designated a 'poor relation.'

The Buzzard is very often called a sluggish bird, but
this is not altogether deserved. The flight is buoyant,

190 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

but apparently ' easy-going,' when we see the bird
irregularly quartering the ground ; but when the Buzzard
wishes to get from place to place it shoots along at a
pace which is deceptively slow in appearance but really
veiy creditable, especially if we consider the small amount
of exertion expended by its seldom - moving wings.
Although less given to soaring than the Eagle, the Buzzard
can on occasion perform mai-vellous feats of rising to an
enormous height in a wide, lazy spiral, with the minimum
of labour. When it has eaten, it may be seen standing
motionless for a long time ; but this habit it shares
with the majority of predaceous birds, including, of
course, the lordly Eagle.

Gamekeepers have waged a relentless, but what is more
to be regretted, a needless war on this species, for there
is not the slightest proof that it is detrimental to game.
Weakly, young, or other birds are pounced on when
occasion offers ; but this happens so seldom that no im-
portance can be attached to the fact. The Buzzard's
usual prey is of a lowly order for so large a bird — field-
mice and similar small mammals. Thus the Buzzard is
a friend of the farmer, and deserves protection. More-
over, while the mouse-hunter is quartering the fields a few
yards from the ground no flocks of Wood-Pigeons or other
agricultural pests are likely to commence their accustomed
depredations on vegetables and crops. Even to beetles,
grasshoppers, and worms does the Buzzard sometimes
resort for a livelihood, and at times it appears to eat
carrion. It is probably the fact that Buzzards may be
found at the carcasses of sheep which have been killed
by bolder robbers or perished by other mean* that has
given rise to the shepherd's misdirected hatred, which is
responsible for many a clutch of smashed eggs among
the hills in spring-time.

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 191

By one means and another the collector has also done
his share, and the Buzzard has within the last half
century been enormously reduced in numbers as a British-
breeding bird. Now it is found only among some of the
wild and hilly regions of Great Britain — for instance, in
North Wales, the Lake District, the central and western
Highlands, and the Inner Hebrides. In Ireland it has
been almost, if not quite, exterminated, and only occurs as
a rather imcommon autumn migrant.

In wooded districts the Buzzard often builds in trees ;
but among the hills, where most of its remaining British
haunts are, it chooses broad ledges on precipitous crags.
The nest is a bulky affair of sticks and the like. In this
the two to four eggs are laid in April, and incubated
by both birds for a matter of four Aveeks. The young
are of the usual type. Three points of interest about the
eggs of this species may be briefly mentioned. One is,
that the percentage of addled eggs is high. Has this any-
thing to do with the natm-e of the bird's food ? Secondly,
the eggs are often laid at intervals of some days, and the
earlier ones may be incubated to some extent before the
others are laid. Thus one chick may be hatched before
the others, and will, on accomit of his strength, obtain
most of the food brought to the nest, and may starve his
nest-fellow to death. One addled egg, one starved chick,
and one survivor is perhaps not an uncommon histoiy for
a Buzzard's clutch of three. Both these points are true of
many other species of the Order as well as of this. The
last point of interest to be noted is in connection with
the question of colour ; a great deal of individual varia-
tion is displayed both in the plumage of the birds and
in the colour of their eggs. The latter are whitish or
even bluish in ground-colour, and may be unspotted
altogether, or they may be marked with red in places.

192 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

varying from minute flecks to heavy clouds and blotches.
Is there, it has been asked, any connection between the
plumage type of the bird and the type of egg it lays ?

[The Rough-legged Buzzard, so called because feathered
to the toes, is a cold-weather migrant to the British
Isles, and there is no reason to believe that it was ever
anything more, despite certain unauthentic statements to
the contrary.]

THE HEN-HARRIER

(Circus cyaneus).

Plate 59.

The Harriers form a well-marked group of the Birds-
of-Prey, and are distinguished by their slender build, their
length of leg and tail, the long, pointed wings, and the
slight ruff on the sides of the neck. Their method of
hunting is also characteristic, and consists in quartering
the open ground with great regularity, the flight being
leisurely and very low. Field-mice, eggs and young
birds, lizards, frogs, and even lai-ge insects are the prey.

Three species are native to the British Isles ; but none
of them is now common, and it must suffice to select
one as a type. The Hen-Harrier was once fairly numerous
over much of our area, but game-preserving and agri-
cultural improvements have meant its virtual extermina-
tion. On only a few of the wildest moors in England and
Wales is it now found nesting, and in Scotland and
Ireland it is scarcely more flourishing. In winter the
species appears to be even less common, but on the
autumn migration it is more numerous. Slate-blue is
the predominant colour of the adult male ; but the female,
which the immature birds resemble, is brown in hue.

Plate 59.

HEN-HARRIER— OVV/z'-f cyan'ais.

Length, 19 in. ; wing, 13-5 in.

[AcciP'lTRES : Falcon'idce.]
Y 192

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 19S

So great is the difference that the birds were once
thought to be distinct species, and the female is still
sometimes called by the name ' Ring-tail/ from the bars
on the tail. The male is called ' Blue-Hawk ' or ' Dove-
Hawk,' or wrongly receives such titles as ' Goshawk.'

The nest is placed on the ground on a bare moor or
in a grain-field. It may be a slight or a bulky structure
of roots and herbage. The eggs are from four to six in
number and of a bluish-white colour, sometimes with
yellowish or reddish markings. The female begins to
incubate late in May, continuing for about three weeks.
The young are of the usual accipitrine type.

THE MARSH-HARRIER

(Circus seruginosus).

The Marsh-Harrier is an even rarer member of the
group, having been very seriously affected by the drainage
and reclamation of many formerly marshy districts which
it frequented. The head is creamy-white in colom*, with
dark streaks ; the upper-parts are brown ; the under-
parts are buff, streaked throughout. The eggs are of
an unspotted bluish-white colour.

MONTAGU'S HARRIER

(Circus cineraceus).

Montagu's Harrier was only a summer visitor at any
time, and that only to the southern half of Great Britain,
where a few pairs still nest, or attempt to do so, notably
in East Anglia, that last resort of so many of our
vanishing native birds. In the male the upper-parts are
bluish gray in colour, and the under-parts white ; the

Y

194 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

female is brown above, and buffy-white below. The four
or five eggs are pale bluish white, sometimes spotted with
reddish brown.

THE OSPREY

(Pandion haliaetus).

The Osprey has already been alluded to. There are
traditions of its having nested in England, but none in
Ireland. In Scotland it was formerly not uncommon ; but
it now trembles on the verge of extinction. As a
migrant it occurs rather more nimierously on the various
coasts of the British Isles. As already mentioned, the
'Fish-Hawk' is foimd in North America — in fact, it is
almost cosmopolitan — and in parts it is abundant, and
nests in large colonies. The species differs from all other
Birds-of-Prey in having reversible outer toes, probably
an advantage for fish - catching and carrying. While
being carried, the fish is held pointing in the same
direction as the bird is flying, not transversely. The
large nest of sticks may be in a tree, or on a ruin or a
rock. The two or three eggs are white or huffish white
in ground-colour, beautifully blotched with some rich
reddish shade, and with indistinct purplish under-markings.

The name ' Osprey ' (or ' Ospray"*) appears to be a cornip-
tion of ' ossifrage ' (' bone-breaker '), a title rightly belong-
ing to the Lammergeyer, or Bearded Vulture, and quite
inappropriate for this bird. The word ' osprey ' of the
plume-trade, on the other hand, is perhaps a corruption
of the French esprit, and is given to the feathers of the
Egret, a bird of the Heron family, and totally imcon-
nected with the species just described.

"^

Plate 60.

BARN-OWL— ^/rzli' fiavi'mea.

Length, 13-5 in. ; wing, 11-25 in.

[Stri'ges : Strig'icte.]
Y 194

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 195

ORDER, STRIGES (OWLS);
Family, STRIGID^ (Only Family).

THE BARN-OWL

(5trix flatnmea).

Plate 60.

The Owls form an Order of which the limits are clearly
marked and the characteristics very familiar. Indeed, no
very great differences occur within the group, and all
the members can be readily recognised by their general
similarity to the few species which are well known to most
British readers. A mere allusion to some characteristic
features will therefore suffice. These are chiefly adapta-
tions to the mode of life of the majority of the species.
All are predaceous, and nearly all are nocturnal, only a few
northern kinds being of more or less diurnal habits. The
beak and talons resemble those of the true Birds-of-Prey,
and the outer toe is reversible, as in the Osprey. Among
other points of resemblance between the two groups, the
female is usually slightly larger than her mate. Specially
adapted for nocturnal hunting are the large, sensitive eyes,
and the exceedingly well-developed ears, the latter charac-
teristic, of course, being noticeable only on close examination.
The softness which characterises the whole plumage ensures
a very silent flight. But perhaps the most obvious point
is the curious * facial disc,' formed by a sort of ' ruff",' which,
together with the very forward position of the eyes, gives
the Owls a physiognomy peculiarly their own. The effect
of this is greatly enhanced in a number of species by

196 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

two small erect tufts of feathers on the top of the head,
popularly termed 'ears' or 'horns.''

The Owls range in size from birds smaller than Sky-
larks to birds larger than Buzzards. In colour they
vaiy from the more typical mottled browns to the but
slightly spotted white of the beautiful Snowy Owl of the
Arctic. In both respects the present species stands mid-
way. ' Barn-Owl,' ' Screech-Owl,' and ' White-Owl ' are the
commonest of the popular names applied to it. It is
remarkable, as the late Professor Newton pointed out,
that the English language, usually so rich in synonyms,
has but the one name ' Owl ' for the three or fom*
common and easily distinguishable kinds found in the
British Isles. In other languages separate names exist by
which the commoner species can be designated without
recourse to qualifying adjectives. The word 'Owl,' with-
out qualification, is merely a general term for the Order.
' Owlet ' (or ' Howlet ') is only a poetic or popular
diminutive, and carries no special significance.

The name ' Screech-Owl ' refers to the familiar cry of
this species, a cry which, heard unexpectedly, may for
an instant startle the least impressionable, and make him
readily understand how it may even terrify the ignorant
and the superstitious. Weird cries are characteristic of
Owls ; and, heard as they are in the hours of darkness, it
is only natural that they should have given rise to gloomy
superstitions, and have led their authors to be widely
regarded as birds of evil omen. Fear breeds hate, and
so we find the Owl an object of general persecution at
the hands of the ignorant. As a matter of fact, they
are altogether the friends of man. They are skilful
hunters, but devote most of their energies to the capture
of rats and mice and their allies — all foes of the farmer.
Various small birds are also taken, as opportunity offers ;

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 197

and they seem to know instinctively that Owls are their
enemies, for when an Owl is caught in the open in day-
time, bewildered and dazed by the light, it is mobbed by
the small birds, which sleep in terror of it at night.
Blue-Tits and Chaffinches are often prominent in their
boldness among these small persecutors. Large insects,
occasional worms, and various small fry are taken by
some of our Owls ; some foreign species have specialised
in fishing, and at least one British Owl has been ob-
served in occasional pursuit of the art. The prey is
usually pounced on, killed at once by the talons,
transferred to the beak if small, or borne off in the
talons if too heavy for the beak. If the prey is too
large to be swallowed whole it is necessarily torn up ;
but a mouse, for instance, is swallowed entire. The
bones, skin, and other indigestible parts of the food are
afterwards thrown up in the form of pellets. This habit
is shared by most predaceous birds, using the word in
the widest sense, without reference to the natural Orders
to which they belong. In the Owls it is particularly
well marked, and great quantities of these castings may
often be found at a nesting-site.

The Barn-Owl is almost world wide in its distribution,
and in the British Isles it is abundant and widespread
except in Scotland, where it is local, becoming almost
unknown towards the north. It is for the most part a
resident and sedentary species, but immigrations from the
Continent have been recorded in some winters.

As the name implies, this Owl resorts to bams and
other buildings for the piu^ose of nesting. Church towers,
ruins, and even cliffs are also chosen, and dovecots are
sometimes used, apparently without harm to the rightful
inhabitants. Nest in the strict sense there is none ;
the eggs are often laid in the midst of the disgorged

198 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

'castings,' They are pure white in colour, and are more
nearly round than is the case with most birds ; the two
ends are similar, and the length does not greatly exceed
the breadth. Both colour and shape are tjj^ical of the
Order. The young, too, are typical, and similar to those
of the true Birds-of-Prey — helpless at first, but covered
with white down. Owls are early nesters, and eggs of
this species may often be found in March. The eggs are
frequently laid in pairs at intervals of some weeks, the
young birds of one set probably supplying most of the
heat for the incubation of the next. Young of three
ages have been found in one nest. The young in the
nest utter a peculiar snoring noise, which is said to be
used by the adults also. When a full-grown bird is
'cornered' and aroused in the daytime, it emits a
hissing sound, snaps the bill violently and loudly, and
erects its feathers all over its body. Other kinds behave
very similarly.

'White-Owl' is quite an appropriate name for this
bird, for it is typically very much lighter in general tone
than the other Owls we have to deal with. As is usual
with Owls, there is no plumage variation with either sex
or season, and very little with age. As in some other
species, however, two ' phases ' occur quite irrespective of
these factors. The one most common in the British Isles
has the upper -parts predominantly orange -tawny, the
facial disc white with a dark rim. The other is much
darker altogether, and has buff-tinted under-parts and a
chestnut tinge on the face.

'Luminous Owls' were recently a subject of discussion
in the Press, examples showing a sort of phosphorescent
light on their plumage being recorded from several
districts. Many wild theories as to the origin and
possible use of this luminosity were put forward. One

Plate 6i.

TAWNY OR BROWN 0\NL—Syrnium alu'co.

Length, 15 in. ; wing, 10 in.

[Stri'ges : Strig'idcC.]

Y 198

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 199

of the few rational explanations is that the light was
due to phosphorescent bacteria from decaying wood having
been fortuitously transferred to the Owl's plumage.

THE TAWNY OR BROWN OWL

(Syrnium aluco).

Plate 61.

The Tawny, Brown, or Wood Owl, as it is variously
called, is slightly the largest of our native Owls, and
represents a somewhat different branch of the Order from
that to which the Barn-Owl belongs. But the subdivision
of the Owls is a difficult question, and the differences
between the minor groups are not of a kind that concerns
the general reader. The most noticeable difference between
the two birds is in their plumage, the Tawny OwPs being
of the mottled brown type which is more characteristic of
the Order. In it there are also two 'phases,' one with a
rufous and one with a grayish tendency, the former being
the predominant variety in our islands. Under natural
conditions, however. Owls are more often heard than
seen, and the difference between the cry of the two
species is perhaps the most generally useful means of
identification. Where the Barn-Owl screams, the Brown
Owl hoots — 'Tu whit, tu who,' as Shakespeare syllabled
the well-known note. Under the influence of a woodland
night the timid or superstitious may perhaps find some-
thing to fear or dislike in the Brown Owl's 'hoot,' but
to the less imaginative wayfarer it often seems a rather
merry note. A common form of the cry is a rapid
succession of short 'hoots' slurred together, producing
a slightly eerie, shivering cry, which has been aptly
compared to the bubbling sound made by blowing into

200 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

water through a tube. The cries are more often uttered
soon after nightfall or just before dawn than at dead of
night. One Owl takes up the cry from another, and
where these birds are common the woods will sometimes
ring with merry hootings, which will cheer on his way
the benighted traveller who can take them as portents of
good ! Often a solitary bird, stationed all the time in
one tree, will call for a long time in a characteristic,
systematic way. First a single loud ' Hoooh,' then three
or four seconds pause ; then the vibrating water-bubble
roll, ' Hoo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-ooh ; '' then perhaps forty
seconds silence, and the process is repeated. The
immature birds have a cry which has been described as
a harsh 'Kee-wick.' The species is the most strictly
nocturnal of our native Owls.

The Tawny Owl is one of those birds which is common
in Great Britain, but is, for some reason, entirely unknown
in Ireland. In the larger island it is abundant and wide-
spread, and in some parts of Scotland it is the commonest
Owl. It will be noticed that both the Barn and Tawny
Owls are common in England and Wales, while the one
has solitary tenm-e of Ireland and the other almost the
same of Scotland. The next species, however, the Long-
eared Owl, is evenly distributed over the British Isles.

In nesting habits the Tawny Owl closely resembles the
Barn-Owl, except that it is generally arboreal. When
the nest is in a tree, the site is frequently the interior
of a decayed trunk, but often the old nest of some other
bird is utilised. Rooks' nests in the middle of frequented
colonies have been known to be used in this way. It
is not uncommon, however, to find the eggs laid in a
more or less sheltered situation on some rocky crag, or
even on the bare ground. Laying takes place very
early, sometimes before the end of February. The three,

Plate 62.

LONG-EARED OWL— As'w o'ius.

Length, 14 in. ; wing, 11-5 in.

[Stri'GES : Strig'idiE.]
z 200

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 201

four, or more eggs are white in colour and roundish in
shape, as is usual in the Order. The young also are of
the usual type. When its nest is in danger the Tawny
Owl often displays considerable boldness.

THE LONQ=EARED OWL

(Asio otus).
Plate 62.

As already mentioned, the Long-eared Owl is found
throughout the British Isles in suitable localities — even in
the Orkneys as a nester, and in the Shetlands as a
migrant. It is an arboreal species, and is a common
resident in most wooded districts. Over much of Scot-
land it is certainly the most numerously represented Owl,
and has, all things considered, some claim to be considered
the commonest British Owl, although outnumbered by
one or other of the preceding species in many districts.

Nevertheless, it is by no means a familiar bird, and is
often considered very much less common than it really is.
This is chiefly owing to its comparative silence. It is a
woodland species and strictly nocturnal, and its weird
note ' Sheea,' with its curious whispering effect, much
more often than not passes unheard or unnoticed by
human beings. A short, barking note is also used at
times.

The Long-eared Owl is one of our earliest nesters, and
clutches may be complete before the end of February.
They usually number from four to six, and the eggs are
of the usual white, oval type. The old nest of a Wood-
Pigeon, Crow, or Bird-of-Prey, or a Squirrel's di'ey, may
be used, and sometimes a slight lining is added. Eggs

z

202 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

have been found laid on the bare ground. Several pairs
of these Owls often nest within a very small area. Great
boldness is sometimes shown when any one approaches
too near a nest containing yoimg Owls, and a parent-
bird has been observed practising the trick of shamming
disablement in similar circumstances. The young utter
mewing sounds while in the nest. They are of the
usual down-clad but nidicolous type, the down being
mottled with light brown instead of being pure white.
They have been observed to leave the nest and clamber
about with the aid of their beaks before being fully
able to fly.

THE SHORT=EARED OWL

(Asio accipitrinus).

The Short-eared Owl is a somewhat similar bird of
about the same size, but with very small ' ear "* tufts. It
is not an arboreal species, but frequents open moorlands
and marshy ' waste ' country, and nests on the ground.
It is also more of a diurnal hunter. It is a markedly
migratory Owl, and is chiefly a winter visitor to the
British Isles, over which it is then generally distributed.
It nests in small numbers in a few smtable regions
of Great Britain, from the south-west of England to
the northern Scottish isles. Vole plagues, which occui'
from time to time in various parts of the country, are
frequently accompanied by a corresponding temporary
increase in the number of Short-eared Owls breeding
locally. At such times, too, abnormally large clutches
become the rule. The nest is only a depression among
the heather of the moor or the reeds of the fen ; the six
or more eggs are of the usual white, rounded type.

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 203
THE LITTLE OWL

(Athene noctua).

The Little Owl is a quaint Owl of small size which
has visited our islands in the natiu-al course, but is now
also a breeding species, having been introduced into several
localities, from which it has spread to a considerable
extent. The eggs and nesting habits are of the type
usual in the Order.

To judge from the representations on coins and sculp-
tures, it was this species that was the classic emblem
of wisdom, the bird of the goddess Pallas Athene, or
Minerva. But an ornithological authority remarks that
' those who know the grotesque actions and ludicrous
expression of this veritable buffoon of birds can never
cease to wonder at its having been seriously selected as
the symbol of learning, and can hardly divest themselves
of a suspicion that the choice must have been made in
the spirit of sarcasm.'

204 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

ORDER, PICARI^;
Family, CAPRIMULGID^ (Goat-suckers).

THE NIGHTJAR, OR GOAT-SUCKER

(Caprimulgus europseus).
Plate 63.

The Order which we now come to is one which it is
impossible to define in any way. In fact, it cannot be
considered as more than a temporary 'pigeon-hole' for
a number of odd groups of rather doubtful affinities
which have not yet been allotted their proper places in
the scheme of classification ! There is, it is true, a
certain amount of structural similarity between the
various groups thus slumped together, but there is not
at present any unanimity of opinion on the subject. For
our purpose, at any rate, the group is certainly an ' Order
of odd families ; ' for if deep-seated relationships are
doubtful, superficial resemblances are wanting almost en-
tirely. An English name for the group is also lacking,
and we must use the scientific one ' Picariae,"' a name
which refers to the fact that the Woodpeckers form an
important subdivision — we can scarcely say that they
are typical of such a motley assemblage. The half-
dozen members of the Order which are common enough
British-breeding birds to be described here form a repre-
sentative selection, each one belonging to a different
family !

The first we have to deal with is the Nightjar, a bird
of semi-nocturnal habits. In the breeding season it is
distributed over the greater part of the British Isles ; but

Plate 63.

NIGHTJAR OR GOAT-SUCKER— G?/;7w;//V//^ europce'us.

Length, 10-5 in. ; wing, 7-55 in.

[Pica'rle : Caprimurgid.^.]
Z 204

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 205

it is rather uncommon in the north and west of Ireland
and the northern half of Scotland, while it is absent from
the outlying islands of the latter countiy. Everywhere
it tends to be rather local on account of the kind of
country it prefers to haunt. Waste lands covered with
bracken or gorse serve it well enough, but it is especially
fond of the ' bosky glades "* of the English woodlands.
There it may be seen on a moonlight night in summer
flying gracefully and easily about, chasing the insects
which form its food. To catch these it has a wide
'gape' armed with bristles, the beak itself being
small. The mouth does not appear to be kept open all
the time, as in some birds similarly equipped. On a
darker night it is still quite capable of prosecuting its
hunting ; but we should be unable to detect its presence
if it were not for the varied sounds it emits. The male
is especially demonstrative in this respect, uttering at
one time a whistle, at another a vibrating 'chmT,' and
again light - heartedly clapping the wing-tips together.
Unlike many nocturnal creatures, the Nightjar by no
means shuns the light of day, but is quite fond of
basking in the sunlight.

This bird is the latest of our summer visitors to
arrive, rarely putting in an appearance much before mid-
May. September sees the exodus almost at an end, but
a few stragglers sometimes linger later in mild districts.
Not long after its arrival, the Nightjar sets about the
serious business of the summei'. The eggs are laid on
the herbage or bare ground in such haunts as we have
described. The eggs are two in number and oval in
shape, both ends being equally rounded. They are
exceedingly beautiful in colour, having dark - brown and
bluish-gray blotching and veining on a creamy ground.
Against a natural carpet of dry bracken or dead leaves.

206 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

both the eggs and the sitting bird are very inconspicuous.
After eighteen days'" incubation the eggs are hatched.
Among the Picariae, blind, naked, and helpless nestlings
are usually found. But the present species is an excep-
tion in this respect, for the young are thickly covered
with grayish down, and are fairly active from the first.
Yet they are for some time entirely dependent on their
parents for food.

An absurd but ancient and widespread popular super-
stition is expressed in the name ' Goat-Sucker."* Other
popular names are 'Evejar,' ' Puckeridge,'' 'Wheel -Bird'
(from the whirring note), ' Night-Hawk,' * Dor-Hawk,'
'Fern-Owl,' and 'Churn-Owl.' With regard to the last
two, we may say that the Nightjars are not without resem-
blance to the Owls both in nocturnal habits and in general
appearance. Modern researches, moreover, have shown that
there must be a real, if distant, relationship between the
two groups.

Family, CYPSELID^ (Swifts).

THE SWIFT

(Cypselus apus).

Plate 64.

Surely no name could be more appropriate than that
of 'Swift' applied to the familiar British bird which
bears it ! For sheer velocity of flight it and its near
allies must be absolutely imrivalled. We have never
seen any attempt at an accurate computation of its speed,
and indeed the practical difficulties to be overcome are
very great ; but some writers have not hesitated to hint
at two hundred miles an hour, and from rough estimates

^''

Plate 64.

S W I FT— Cyp'sehis a! pus.

Length, 6-75 in. ; wing, 6-8 in.

[Pica'ri^ : CypseridcG.]
z 206

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 207

over small distances this does not seem to us to be greatly
exaggerated. Certainly it takes but a second or two for
the bird to sweep across a wide arc of sky visible from
some low - lying point of observation, and that, too,
although it may be flying many hundreds of feet above
us, and cannot easily disappear from our view. Often
the Swifts fly at great heights, circling above their nesting-
places on a summer evening, mere specks in the clear sky,
at an altitude of a thousand feet or more above the
ground. They spend most of their time in the air,
wheeling and circling for hours at a great height, or, at
a lower level, dashing past the house-tops in screaming
bands. No birds have such a combination of speed and
duration of flight, and to the Swifts we must surely
award the palm as the highest type of aerial animal, con-
sidered as such. It is probably to the Alpine Swift that
the absolute first place must be given ; but it is only an ex-
ceptional wanderer to these islands, and our smaller native
bird, its close congener, is scarcely inferior in prowess.

Not only in the popular mind of to-day, but also in
the minds of capable naturalists of yesterday, Swift and
Swallow rank side by side as obvious cousins. But in
the light of modern researches this supposed relationship
is found to be altogether non-existent. There is merely
a superficial resemblance, caused by similar adaptations
to similar modes of life, such as we have already had
examples of. But in the more conservative internal struc-
tures the total absence of true relationship is at once
apparent. Into these matters we need not enter, but
one structural character claims our notice. In the
Swallow, three toes are pointed forwards, and the fourth
is long and pointed backwards. This arrangement is the
one best suited for perching. But who ever saw a Swift
perched on a telegraph-wire, one of the Swallow's favourite

208 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

stations ? The Swift is incapable of perching, for all its
four toes are pointed forwards. This unique character-
istic is found only among the Swifts of the typical genus,
and nowhere else in the whole bird-world. For clinging
to a vertical surface it is an admirable arrangement. The
Swallow tribe constantly utter low twittering notes, but
also possess the power of true song. The Swift has a low,
short note, too, but its usual cry is a loud, wild scream,
' Swee-ree ' — in no way Swallow-like — and song it has none.
The possession of feet for perching and of true song-
muscles are important characteristics of the great Order
of which the Swallows form a family, while the Swifts
find their nearest allies in the Humming-Birds of tropical
America, and are with them included in this present
' Order of odd families.'

The Swift and the Swallow both subsist on small insects
caught on the wing by the method of rushing through
the air with widely gaping mouth ; many are caught be-
fore any are swallowed, the sticky interior of the mouth
keeping them prisoners meanwhile. Both birds are pro-
vided with long, narrow, curved wings, a small bill, and
an enormous 'gape.' Here the resemblance practically
stops. The general colour scheme of the plumage, as well
as the details of the moulting, are quite different. The
nesting economy of the two is very dissimilar, and the
general habits show little or no resemblance, apart from
what is consequent on their common mode of life. Both
are of necessity only summer visitors to the British Isles ;
but while the Swallow shows close correspondence with its
allies in the times and manner of its comings and goings,
the Swift arrives considerably later than any of them, and
leaves very much earlier. The single ' early Swift,' more-
over, is a rarity, for the birds usually arrive in a body at
the nesting-site of the colony. The dates of arrival at two

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 209

colonies, even a few miles apart, may be quite different, and
it has been suggested that the birds of a colony probably
remain banded together in their winter-quarters and on
their migrations.

Exceptionally a Swift has been recorded in England as
early as the end of March, but usually it is late in April
before the species appears even in the south, and well into
May ere it reaches Scotland. From the time of its arrival
it is fairly abundant and widespread in the British Isles,
except in the extreme north of Scotland and its outlying
islands. From the whole country it has usually disap-
peared well before the end of August, an extraordinarily
early date.

Within this short period only one brood can, as a rule,
be reared. Sometimes a second is attempted, but if the
young are not ready by the time of emigration they are
abandoned to their fate. About a month after the birds'
arrival the eggs are laid in a nest composed of straw,
feathers, and the like, snatched up as they blow about.
These are glued together with a fluid secreted by the
birds, a fact which reminds us of the ' edible nests "■ built
by the Swiftlets of the East. The situation is generally
a crevice of some sort, whether under the eaves of a house,
in a church tower, in a ruined castle wall, in a precipitous
cliff, or even in a hollow tree or other unusual place.
The eggs are two in number, pure white in colour, long
and oval in shape, and rather rough of surface. Eighteen
days are needed for incubation.

The 'night-flying' of the Swift is an extraordinary
phenomenon, which has attracted much attention, but still
remains a mystery. Towards nightfall, unusual signs of
activity may generally be noted among the Swifts of a
nesting colony, and soon they band together for one last
dash round the neighbourhood. On this they go faster

2a

210 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

than ever, screaming their loudest. Then, apparently,
they seek the shelter of their nesting-holes. But some-
times they have been observed to circle gradually upwards
to an immense height, being lost in the gathering
dusk. Patient waiting long after nightfall has failed to
betray any sign of the returning birds. The matter must
be considered an unexplained mystery ; but some have
been bold enough to suggest that those Swifts not engaged
in incubation cap the species'* reputation by sleeping on
the wing !

The long wings and the peculiar feet of this species
make it a bird unsuited for level ground, on which it is
indeed but seldom seen. But of it a great authority wrote
that, 'contrary to popular belief, birds sometimes succeed
in raising themselves from fairly level ground.' We our-
selves have known one rise without sign of difficulty from
absolutely level ground. This was when one flew in at our
window, got entangled in a curtain, and was thus captured.
Placed on the carpet, it rose without difficulty, and flew
round the room before being allowed to escape. A
popular writer remarks that he has 'caught a few, a very
few, in the act of dusting themselves in Kentish lanes,
from which, in spite of the length of their wings, they
can rise without quite so much difficulty as some chroniclers
would have us imagine."* On the other hand, we have
the testimony of many competent observers that they
have placed Swifts on the ground, and found them imable
to rise in spite of great efforts. Part of the explanation
lies perhaps in the following statement, made after a score
of trials : ' Drop him from a little height on to the
ground, and he will often manage, with a sort of re-
bound, to flutter up at once ; but lay him gently on
rough ground or grass, hold your hand over him for a
minute, and his muscles will become cramped, and he will

Plate 65.

GREEN WOODPECKER— 6'm';/?/'i- vir'idis.

Length, 12-5 in. ; wing, 6-4 in.

[Pica'ri/E : Pic'idie ; Pici'nce.]
2 A 210

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 211

be quite unable to rise/ But this cannot be the whole
truth, for in our own case the bird was not dropped but
placed on the floor, and was, in fact, motionless on it
for a few seconds. Neither, however, was there any hold-
ing of the hand over it until its muscles became cramped.
Experiments should be made as opportunity offers.

Family, PICWM (Woodpeckers, &c.) ;
Subfamily, PICIN^E (Woodpeckers).

THE GREEN WOODPECKER

(Gecinus viridis).
Plate 65.

Slowly following the tortuous woodland path, we may
often be struck with the comparative scarcity of bird-life
in what would seem to be the obvious sanctuary and re-
treat of all those birds which build their nests in trees.
But many of these seem imwilling to nest where they
must perforce go far afield to obtain proper supplies of
food. For this or some other reason, the fringes of a
wood are always the most thickly populated portions ;
in the heart of it we find comparative silence, and are
forcibly reminded of the relative fewness of the species
which can be called common forest birds. The Coal-Tit
is certainly at home here, but its feeble notes do no
more than emphasise the silence. Somewhere not far off
a Ring-Dove is sure to be 'cooing,' but its soft notes
have a way of seeming to come from an infinite distance.

^Vhile in the midst of such surroundings and such re-
flections, there will often break rudely on our ears a loud
burst of demoniac laughter, ' Heu, heu, heu, heu, heu ' — a
something between a laugh and a neigh. At intervals

212 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

this is repeated, and the woodlands ring with the noise.
It is difficult to judge from what distance or direction it
comes, but as we wander on it becomes louder. There !
That last time it was quite near and its direction certain.
We look up and see on a tree not many yards away a
fairly large, stout bird, crowned with bright red, clad in
rich, dark green, and armed with a powerful, chisel-like
beak. Its attitude is characteristic : it is clinging to the
underside of a thick, slanting limb some twenty feet from
the ground. It grips the bark with its strongly clawed
toes, two in front and two behind on each foot. Part of
the weight is borne and the balance preserved by use
of the tail, the feathers of which have strong, spine-like
shafts.

But this is all we have time to note, for the Wood-
pecker has seen us, and we have, indeed, approached too
close for its liking over the silent, springy moss. It drops
from its branch and makes off with a heavy, undulating
flight. Soon we shall hear its discordant cry from some
neighbouring part of the wood, or, if not much alarmed
by our intrusion, it may take to feeding, and we shall be-
come aware of the systematic ' tap, tap, tap ' of its strong
beak on the trunk of some tree. This tapping is con-
tinued as the bird moves jerkily in a vertical or spiral
direction, and is a means of discovering decayed portions
of the tree. When one is found it is soon pierced,
and the various insects and grubs are quickly eaten up.
Insects and their larvae form almost, if not quite, the
whole food of the Woodpecker, but they are often taken
on the groimd — ants, for instance, being greatly eaten.
The Woodpecker possesses a long, protrusible, sticky
tongue, which is an admirable supplement to its stout
beak in its peculiar method of feeding.

Turning now to the branch to which we first saw our

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 213

bird clinging, we notice a circular opening, showing fresh
white wood at its edges. On the ground below there
is a tell-tale pile of chips, which the bird has not
troubled to remove. These are quite fresh, for a new
hole is generally made each spring. If we clamber to the
hole we shall find that it goes straight into the heart of
the wood, and then turns downward, soon widening out
into a more spacious nesting-chamber. To explore this,
however, we should have to violate the home with chisel
and saw.

Did we do this, we should find from five to seven
delicately white eggs on a layer of wood chips covering
the floor of the cavity. Laying takes place in April, and
the young birds hatched in the following month are at
first naked and helpless, and in due course assume their
first true feather plumage without any intermediate downy
stage. In their immature plumage they are duller than
the adults, and have barring on the under-parts. The
adult female differs from the male in having black instead
of crimson on the cheeks.

The species is resident where it nests, but its British
area is limited. Everywhere it tends to be local, but it
is abundant in most suitable districts of England and
Wales, although becoming scarce towards the Borders. To
Scotland and Ireland it is only the rarest of exceptional
wanderers.

The hysterical cry is uttered most frequently in spring.
Popvdarly it is supposed to foretell rain, hence the name
' Rain-Bird.' The name ' Yaffle,' or ' Yaff'er,' also refers
to the cry.

214 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

THE GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER

(Dendrocopus major).

This species, with its pied plumage, cannot be confused
with the preceding one, nor has it the ' laughing "■ cry.
Its general behaviour and nesting habits are similar, but
the eggs are more rounded than those of the Green
Woodpecker. It is also of a more retiring natm'e, and
is thus often considered scarcer than it really is. In
suitable localities of the south and Midlands of England
it is not uncommon, but it is less numerous in Wales and,
the north. In Scotland it was formerly fairly widespread,
but became almost extinct till it began to re-establish
itself some years ago. Its extension of range is being
watched with interest, and it is debated whether the new
stock is of English or Scandinavian origin. For this
Woodpecker is remarkable in being migratoiy, occurring
in winter on our eastern seaboard. At that season, too,
it sometimes wanders to Ireland, where no species of
Woodpecker is usually found.

THE LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER

(Dendrocopus minor).

The I^esser Spotted Woodpecker is also less luicommon
than is often supposed. It has a similar breeding range
in England and Wales to that of its congener, but it is
not known as a migrant. It does not differ widely in
habits or in appearance, but for the markedly smaller
size and the white bars across the back. The eggs, too,
are smaller than those of the Great Spotted Wood-
pecker, though similar in shape.

Plate 66,

WRYNECK— />;n- torquWIa.

Length, 7 in. ; wing, 3-4 in.

[Pica'ri.e : Pic'idre ; lyn'gidi^^.]
•2 A 214

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 215

Subfamily, IYNGID^ (Wrynecks).

THE WRYNECK

(lynx torquilla).
Plate 66.

The loud ringing ' Qui, qui, qui ■" of the Wiyneck,
while slightly resembling a Kestrel's cry, is not altogether
unsuggestive of a Woodpecker, and many features and
habits of the bird also betray a relationship with the
members of that group. Its curious, snake-like movements
and the dark lines on the delicately pencilled brown
plumage are as typical as the note. When disturbed in
its nesting-hole it utters a hissing sound, which, with the
movements refen-ed to, gives appropriateness to the popular
name * Snake-Bird.'' Altogether it is a quite unmistakable
species.

It is only, however, in a rather limited area of the
British Isles that the Wryneck is to be seen and heard
— namely, the Midlands and more southerly and easterly
portions of England. In this area it is a breeding species,
but is absent in winter. Towards the west and in Wales
it becomes rare, and the same is true of the north. In
Scotland it is known as a migrant on the east coast, but
otherwise only as an exceptional wanderer. From Ireland
it is seldom recorded.

In England the Wryneck puts in an appearance in the
first half of April, about the same time as, or just before,
the aiTival of the Cuckoo. From this the names ' Cuckoo's
Mate "* and ' Cuckoo's Leader ' are derived. These popular
names are widespread on the Continent as well as in
England. Before the end of September the Wryneck has
usually quitted our shores ; but owing to its skulking

216 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

habits it is not conspicuous after midsummer, when the
loud cry is abandoned.

The WrjTieck, as already indicated, uses a hole for the
piuposes of nidification. Not having the Woodpecker's
stout bill, it is forced to utilise any chance hole in a tree,
or, failing this, one in the side of some bank. The eggs
are from seven to ten in number, and of the pm-e white
colour that one would expect. Laying begins about mid-
May.

In feeding habits, too, the Wryneck is very Woodpecker-
like. Although lacking the stout beak of the Wood-
pecker, it possesses the long sticky tongue so serviceable
in the pursuit of ants and other small insects. It feeds
largely on the ground, but also on trees. In autumn it
is said to eat elderberries.

Family, ALCEDINID/E (Kingfishers).

THE KINGFISHER

(Alcedo ispida).
Plate 67.

Classic myth ascribed to the Halcyon a maritime habitat
and the custom of building a nest floating on the surface
of the open sea. Alcyone, a daughter of ^Eolus, Lord of
the Winds, was changed into the form of a bird ; and
to her was granted the boon of two weeks' calm at
midsummer to brood in peace. For this reason all men
who plied their trade on the simny waters of the Mediter-
ranean enjoyed a period of tranquil security dm-ing the
joyous ' Halcyon Days.'

Ruthlessly does the hand of Science tear the veil of
ignorance from this delightful legend, and reveal its utter

Plate 67.

K I N G F I S H E R—A/ce'</o ispida.

Length, 7-5 in. ; whig, 3 in.

[Pica'ri.K : Alcedin'id.v.]
2 B 210

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 217

fancifulness ! Yet it is but to substitute a story which,
if marred by some prosaic details, has the merit that such
beauties as it sets forth— and these are not trifling — may
be actually observed and enjoyed.

The scene is not the open sea, however calm, but the
side of some ' babbling brook,' very likely in the English
lowlands. The fertile countiy is fully cultivated, but yet
a few yards of 'waste' ground have been spared on both
sides of the little stream. The sloping banks are thickly
covered with luxuriant herbage and thick imdergrowth,
while here and there arise willows and alders, stretching
out over the stream. A gentle breeze stirs their upper
leaves, and causes a constant changing of the simshine
patterns that sparkle on the dancing waters. In such a
place we may, with good fortune, find a Kingfisher, and
from safe concealment study his royal methods of secui'ing

his prey.

'There he is, grasping the splint with his tiny red
feet, his bright-blue back glistening in the sunshine, his
ruddy breast reflected from the pool beneath, his long
dagger-like bill pointed downwards, and his eye intent on
the minnows that swarm among the roots of the old tree
that project into the water from the crumbling bank. He
stoops, opens his wings a little, shoots downwards, plunges
headlong into the water, reappears in a moment, flutters,
sweeps off" in a curved line, wheels round, and returns to
his post. The minnow in his bill he beats against the
decayed stump until it is dead ; then, tossing up his head,
swallows it, and resumes his ordinary posture as if nothing
had happened. Swarms of insects flutter and gambol
around, but he heeds them not. A painted buttei-fly at
length comes up, fluttering in its desultory flight, and as
it hovers over the hyacinths, unsuspicious of danger, the
Kingfisher springs from his perch, and pursues it, but

2b

218 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

without success. There, swift as the barbed arrow, darting
straight forward on rapidly moving pinions, gleams his
mate, who alights on a stone far upstream, for she
has seen us, and is not desirous of our company. He
presently follows, and our watch is ended.""

The actual facts of the Halcyon's nidification are prosaic
compared with the legendary version. It indeed comes as
a shock to discover that a bird of such gorgeous appear-
ance not only nests in a narrow tunnel in the side of a
bank, but that this habitation is often in a very foul
condition, littered with disgorged fish-bones and other
refuse. But such is the case. Sometimes a crevice in a
wall is used, or the tunnel is in the side of some sand-pit.
Generally, however, the hole is in a sandy bank sloping
towards water. The bank may be on the side of a small
stream, a large river, a pond, or a lake, or even on a
sheltered part of the coast -line. The tunnel is often dug
many feet into the bank, and slopes gently upwards, as a
rule. The same burrow suffices for many years.

In a wider chamber at the end of the tunnel the eggs,
up to ten in number, but usually fewer, are laid on the
refuse or the bare earth. They approach the spherical,
are glossy in texture, and, as one would expect, pure
white in colour. The shell is strong and thick, but yet
curiously translucent. The stages which the nestlings go
through correspond to those of the young Woodpecker.

The Kingfisher is resident on the whole, but has of
necessity to perform certain local movements when some
of its haunts become ice-bound. In Germany it is called
' Ice-Bird,' because a hole in the ice may attract several
of the birds to the same spot.

Plate 68.

cue KO O — Chc'hIus cano'rits.

Length, 13 in. ; wing, 8-5 in.

[Pica'rl^ : Cucu'lidEe.]
2 B 218

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 219

Family, UPUPID^ (Hoopoes).

THE HOOPOE

(Upupa epops).

This beautiful bird, with its dazzling plumage, large
crest, and long, slender bill, is a summer visitor in very
small numbers to the British Isles. Most of the immi-
grants are shot down on their arrival, but a few sometimes
survive to nest in various southern English counties.
The nest is placed in a hole in a tree, or in some similar
situation. The from four to seven eggs are pale greenish
blue when first laid, but become darker.

Family, CUCULID^ (Cuckoos).

THE CUCKOO

(Cuculus canorus).
Plate 68.

Early in April in the south of England, but not for
a month later in the north of Scotland, the male Cuckoo
puts in an appearance each year. From the time of his
arrival till some time in June the familiar ' Cuc-koo "* may
be heard over almost the whole of the British Isles,
although with much less frequency in the northern parts.
In June his voice ' breaks,"* and he ' changes his tune,"* as
the rhyme has it. In August the adults of both sexes,
unfettered by family cares, take flight to warmer climes.

The Cuckoo is more often heard than seen, but yet
in most districts it is common enough to be familiar to

220 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

all. The most striking feature about it is its undeni-
able outward resemblance to a Hawk. This resemblance
extends to the various stages of the plumage, and is
apparently sufficiently close to deceive small birds, who
will mob a Cuckoo as they would a Hawk. That they
have any natural instinct warning them against the
Cuckoo, as such, can scarcely be believed, in view of the
complete success of the deception practised by the species
on the birds it makes the foster-parents of its young.
The resemblance is too remarkable to be a mere coincidence,
and it must be regarded as a real example of mimicry.
The advantage gained by this mimicry is rather obscure,
however. At least part of the truth may lie in the
suggestion that the hawk-like appearance of the Cuckoo
frightens away victims of its parasitic habits, and allows
it time to work its nefarious purpose on their nests.
But this does not explain the resemblance between the
immature stages of Cuckoo and Hawk. Apart from
plumage, the birds have nothing in common. The Cuckoo
is a weak bird, and, apart from its parasitism, a harm-
less species, subsisting on insects and their larvae. The
resemblance in plumage, it may be mentioned, has
probably suggested the popular superstition, explaining
away migration, that Cuckoos become Hawks in winter !

It is, of course, in its nesting habits that the Cuckoo
is most remarkable, these being absolutely unique so far
as indigenous British birds are concerned. Other members
of the family foiuid in other parts of the world show
similar habits, often with special modifications. One
species, for instance, displays an extremely close mimicry
of the very bird it usually victimises. Other kinds of
Cuckoos, however, incubate their own eggs, and rear their
own yoiuig in a more or less ordinary manner. On the
other hand, certain utterly different kinds of birds possess

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 221

parasitic habits which resemble in a general way those
of the typical Cuckoo.

A week or so after the male Cuckoos have announced
their spring amval to the countryside, careful observation
will detect the arrival of the females. These are only
slightly different in plumage and quite similar in size to
the males ; but they lack the familiar note, having in its
place a low, bubbling cry. They are much less numerous
as well as less noticeable than the males, for the species
is markedly polyandrous.

Two or three weeks after her arrival the female
Cuckoo begins to lay. The eggs, as every one knows,
are ultimately deposited in the nests of other birds ; but
the exact procedure is still to some extent a matter of
doubt. Direct laying would in most cases be impractic-
able, and the usual, if not the only, method is to lay on
the ground near the nest, and then to transfer the egg
to the nest with the beak. A Cuckoo has been more than
once recorded as flying with an egg in its beak. In
that case, however, the bird might have been disturbed
before she had time to place the egg in the nest, or she
might have had to lay before a nest was found, or was
reached, if the position is chosen long in advance, as
there is some reason to believe is the case. Or perhaps
the egg was one of the foster-parent's, for the female
Cuckoo often removes an egg or two of the original
clutch when depositing her own in the nest.

The Meadow-Pipit, the Hedgesparrow, and the Pied
Wagtail are common victims ; other birds related to
these, and various Warblers and Buntings, are also fre-
quently chosen. In all, over a hundred species have been
recorded as having been selected as foster-parents ; but
many of the cases are so absurd as to be obviously
exceptional, while many other species are not common

222 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

enough to be of any importance as foster-parents for
British Cuckoos.

The Cuckoo'^s egg usually bears a fairly close resemblance
to the eggs of the rightful owner of the nest in which
it is laid, and this is at the root of most of the problems
connected with this aspect of the Cuckoo's life. Some-
times the degree of similarity is very great, but usually
the Cuckoo's egg is slightly superior in size ; it would be
very much superior were it not that the egg happens to
be exceptionally small in proportion to the dimensions
of the parent. In some cases the resemblance in colour
is not striking, and this is especially so in the case of
the Hedgesparrow, the Redstart, and other birds laying
unspotted light-blue eggs. Sometimes the Cuckoo's egg
is also of this colour, but very often it bears no sort of
resemblance to those of the foster -parent. Why this
should be so it is difficult to say ; but there may be
some truth in the suggestion that this is a mere excep-
tion, recorded with a frequency out of all proportion to
its importance, owing to its conspicuousness. Whether
these rather obviously imposed eggs ever suffer ejection
by the foster-parents does not seem to be on record ; but
if not, it is difficult to see what is the raison d'etre of all
this adaptive colouring unless some disadvantage of this
nature is thereby avoided.

Assuming that this is the case, we have still to
account for the great individual variation within the
species. Were the Cuckoo's eggs all of one type, and
its choice of foster-parents confined to one or a few
similar species, it would be quite intelligible. Such,
indeed, is the case with certain foreign kinds. But in
our species we find a variety of egg-types corresponding
to a number of foster-parents. The most obvious ex-
planation would be that the egg was laid first, and then

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 223

carried about till a clutch was found to match it. But
this, as we have seen, is not reconcilable with what we
know of the habits of the Cuckoo. That the nest is
chosen first seems to be the usual, if not the invariable,
rule. That any control can be exercised through mental
channels on the coloration of the egg about to be laid
is difficult to believe, although theories on these lines
have been put forward. More readily can we accept
the hypothesis that each individual Cuckoo lays a paHicular
and constant type of egg throughout its life, and possesses,
correlative with this, the instinct of selecting nests of
foster-parents suitable to this type. That both instinct
and egg-type are hereditary, perhaps entirely through the
female line, is an almost necessary extension of the
theory. Thus we should have ' Titlark-Cuckoos,'' ' Wag-
tail-Cuckoos,"* and so on — ' varieties '' of the Cuckoo species
differing not in plumage or structure, but in nest-
selective instinct and egg-type. Taking each ' variety '
separately, the phenomena now come within the scope
of the ordinary theories of adaptation.

This hypothesis is not without objections, but it is
perhaps not far wide of the mark. Certainly it is the
most reasonable one in the light of our present knowledge,
but there is still plenty of scope for investigation.

The number of eggs laid by any individual Cuckoo
in a season is naturally difficult to determine. Some
observers compute it at six or seven ; others considerably
higher. Let us put aside the question and note the
subsequent history of a single egg.

The small size of the egg in proportion to the bird serves
another purpose, as well as that of making it resemble
the eggs of the small foster-parents. Shortage of food-
supply within the shell probably hastens the date of
hatching, for we find that the incubation-period is as short

224 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

as eleven or twelve days. Now the incubation periods of
the foster-parents are usually from thirteen to sixteen days
in length, so that the Cuckoo"'s egg hatches before or
about the same time as the others, if deposited early in
their incubation. And this is generally the case. If the
Cuckoo''s egg is laid before the others the nest may
be deserted ; if long after, the young Cuckoo may find
itself unable to remove its rivals and to receive the
great quantity of food which it needs. But if the egg
is laid at the right time, the young bird has only to
cope with eggs and very small nestlings. These it
ejects from the nest by clambering backwards up the
side, pushing before it an egg or chick resting in the
hollow with which its back is specially provided. This
hollow fills up after some days, and with it disappears
the instinct of ejection, for the Cuckoo then makes no
attempt to remove anything that the curious observer
may place in the nest. But in the ^rlier stage the
young bird will continue, till exhausted, to throw out
the eggs which may be replaced. Two Cuckoos in one
nest naturally have a battle-royal, probably ending in
the ejection of the younger. This may occur through
coincidence in the choice of two parent Cuckoos, or
through lack of a sufficient supply of suitable nests for
one. Three Cuckoos'* eggs in a single nest have been
recorded.

At first the young Cuckoo is blind and naked, and
helpless and inactive except for its ejecting feats. For
some three weeks it remains in the nest, and during
this period and for some time afterwards it is zealously
tended and fed by its foster-parents. Their parental in-
stincts seem to be satisfied by this, and they do nothing
for their own young — left to perish miserably outside.
There is something pathetic about the picture — birds

/^

Plate 69.

A TYPICAL NIDICOLOUS NESTLING-THREE STAGES.

BLACKBIRD

[Pas'seres : Tur'didce ; Turdi'nce.]

For key, see page 226.

2 c 224

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 225

faithfully, if unwittingly, promoting the welfare of another
species at the expense of their own.

Yet we cannot but marvel at the extent of the deception,,
for towards the end of the period the Cuckoo is about
three times the size of its benefactors, and they may-
have to perch on its back to feed it !

The English name ' Cuckoo,' from the note of the
male, may be variously spelt, and has its equivalents in
most European languages.

NIDICOLOUS NESTLINGS.

Plate 69.

We have already dealt with the difference between
nidifugous and nidicolous nestlings, and have summarised
the salient features of the former (page 89). Nidicolous-
nestlings are characteristic of the great Order Passeres,
to which we shall come presently. They are also found
in the following Orders: Picarise, Owls, Birds - of - Prey,
Cormorants, &c. ; Herons, &c. ; and Pigeons. These groups
are nearly all composed of tree or cliff nesting species.

We have also referred to the intermediate position of
young Auks and Gulls, which are down-clad and open-
eyed, but comparatively helpless. Similarly, some ground-
nesting members of groups chiefly nidicolous have ' inter-
mediate' young. A case in point is the Nightjar family
(see page 204) of the Order Picariae. On the other
hand, the ground-nesting Passeres (Lark and Pipit families)
have strictly nidicolous young (see, especially, page 230).

Nidicolous young present sufficient differences in char-
acteristics to require grouping before they can be de-
scribed. They naturally fall into four classes.

(1) The type found in the Kingfisher, Cuckoo, Swift,

2c

226 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

and Woodpecker families of the Order Picariae — nearly
all hole-nesting birds. The young are hatched naked, and
acquire their first plumage without any intermediate
downy stage.

(2) The type found in the Order Passeres and in the
Hoopoe family of the Order Picariae. The young are born
naked, except for a very few down-feathers growing here
and there from the still hidden tips of the first real
feathers, which soon sprout. (For other characteristics,
see page 230.)

(3) The type found in the Heron and Cormorant
Orders. The young are born naked, or nearly so, but
soon acquire a good down-plumage, which is later re-
placed by the first plumage of true feathers.

(4) The type found in the Bird-of-Prey, Owl, Pigeon,
and Petrel Orders, and in the Nightjar family of the
Order Picariae ; the Auk Order also falls under this head
if treated as nidicolous. The young go through similar
stages to those of the third type, but they already possess
the down-plumage when they leave the shell.

The plate shows three stages in the early life of a
bird of the second type, the Blackbird [Passeres : Turdidae ;
Turdinae] :

(1) About a week old, in the nest.

(2) Just out of the nest.

(3) Well-grown, and with the ' first plumage ' complete.

'/.

Plate ^o.

SKYLARK —Alcui'da arveii'sis.

Length, 7'3 in. ; wing, 4-3 in.

[P.\S'SERES : Alau'didcC.]
2 C 226

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 227

ORDER, PASSERES (PERCHING BIRDS);

Family, ALAUDID^ (Larks).

THE SKYLARK

(Alauda arvensis).
Plate 70.

Of the one hundred and thirty species which we have
selected as worthy of plates and full descriptions, the sixty-
eight already described are members of no fewer than
fourteen natural Orders, some of them comprising families
of widely different characters. Thus almost every second
bird hitherto selected has been in some measm-e a fresh
type, requiring a very considerable amount of general
treatment before its own peculiar characteristics could be
discussed. Now, however, we come to a dividing-line ; for
the remaining sixty-two species are all included in the
fifteenth and last Order on our list. It comprises many
families, it is true, but they show a comparatively small
degree of divergence, especially after the first two families.
So marked is their general similarity that we shall only
need to treat a few outstanding examples at length, and
may dismiss the majority with much briefer notice than
has hitherto been possible, except in a few cases.

As well as being the most largely represented Order, both
in the British Isles and elsewhere, this great group is in
many ways the most important to the ordinary observer.
The birds that nest in his garden or on his house ; those
that come for the food he throws out in winter ; nearly
all the birds that he notices on his rambles through lanes
and fields and woodlands — in fact, almost all the common

228 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

and widespread species, belong to this Order. Some indi-
vidual species are almost ubiquitous in the British Isles,
and may be met with at almost any time and place.
Certainly it is only on the bleakest mountain-top or on the
stormiest stretch of coast that the Order is at any season
unrepresented, while in most places its members will easily
outnumber those of all the other Orders put together.

The commonness of the typical members of this Order,
and the absence of great diversity between them, render
a detailed general description unnecessary, and into the
deeper-seated characters we need not and cannot enter.
' Passeres,' the scientific name, is merely a reference to the
Sparrow, which is to some extent a typical member.
' Perching-Birds,*" a convenient popular designation, indicates
one of the more obvious structural points : three toes on
each foot are directed forwards, and the fourth backwards.
The last mentioned is always long and well developed, and is
actuated by an independent tendon. This arrangement gives
a power of grip of great service for perching, and as most
of the species are markedly arboreal in habits, this faculty
is an important asset. A moment's consideration will con-
vince the reader that to maintain the balance while perched
on a wire or slender twig, by sheer grip, is no mean feat.

Another striking point about the Order is the vocal
powers of its members. No high development of song is
met with outside the group, while within it nearly, but not
quite, all the species possess true song-muscles and the
power of using them. The degree of talent is very great
in some species, but there is a great diversity of gifts.

As regards mode of life, the members of the Order may
be divided into three main groups. A large number are
insectivorous. Those that are purely so are of necessity
only summer visitors to our area, with very few exceptions ;
but many mainly insectivorous species survive our winter

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 229

on a diet of berries, and the like. Seeds are eaten by very
many of the birds, and they form almost the sole food of
one of the largest families. The third division includes
those birds which subsist chiefly on worms, grubs, and the
like. Other types are less frequent ; only a very few
species, for instance, are predatory on other birds.

Great similarity is displayed in the nesting habits of the
members of the Order. Most of them build good cup-
shaped nests of dry grass, twigs, moss, or other materials,
often lined with hair or feathers. Domed nests are built
by a comparatively small number of species, and a few use
mud or other less common nesting materials. A small
proportion make very slight nests. These are principally
birds which nest either on the ground, among long grass
or broken rocks, or in holes in banks or trees. The usual
site for Passerine birds, however, is in herbage, bushes,
or trees, at heights above the ground varying from a few
inches to many yards. A few are clifF-nesters, but many
of these now find suitable sites on human dwellings.

The number of eggs laid is rarely fixed, as in Waders for
instance, but is usually variable within small limits. These
limits vaiy in the Order from three to five to about ten to
foiuieen. A nearly oval shape is characteristic. In a few
species, with domed nests or sites in holes, the eggs are
pure white. In most of the ground-nesters they are brownish
and markedly protective in hue. But in the majority the
eggs are almost white in ground-colour, but with a pink
or gi'een tinge, and the markings are irregular spots,
generally not very dark, and sometimes collected in a zone
towards the broader end of the egg. In a number of
species a green or blue ground-colour is found, and this
has doubtless some protective value among green foliage,
probably against egg-stealing birds or other foes likely to
see the nest from above.

230 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

About a fortnight is the usual incubation period, and
the young are therefore hatched at no very advanced stage.
In fact, they are always blind and helpless at first, and
have only a few wisps of downy feathers. These grow
from the tips of the still buried time feathers. The
true feathers soon 'sprout,' and the- feather-tracks may be
well seen for a time ; but the feathers grow quickly and
soon cover the whole surface, although throughout life they
grow only from these definite tracts. The early down-
feathers are borne on the tips of the others for a time,
but soon fall off. In about three weeks the chick has
reached its full size, and completed its first plumage.
It then leaves the nest and makes its first feeble attempts
at flight. It learns quickly and is soon independent of its
parents for food. Often they rear a second, and some-
times a third, brood before the season is over.

The Skylark itself is not a very typical Passerine. It
makes a slight nest on the ground, and lays from
three to five eggs of a protective gray and brown hue.
Two broods are reared in a season. With its appearance,
song, and general habits every one is familiar. It is a
frequenter of the lowland open lands, waste or cultivated.
There it is found throughout the year in almost every
corner of the British Isles ; but the individuals are migra-
tory in marked degree, and their movements to, from, and
within om- area are of an extremely complex natui-e.

THE WOOD=LARK

(Alauda arborea).

The Wood-Lark breeds very locally in England and
Wales, and has nested in the east of Ireland. It may
be distinguished by its smaller size, less pronounced crest,
shorter tail, and the broad huffish - white eye - streaks.

Plate 71.

RAVE N — Cor V us cor ax.

Length, 25 in. ; wing, 17 in.

[Pas'SERES : Cor'vidse.]
2c 280

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 231

The nesting habits do not differ widely from the Sky-
lark''s. The eggs are pale greenish white, with specks or
zones of a brown or purple colour. The name of the
species is often misapplied to the Tree-Pipit.

Family, CORVIDtE (Crows).

THE RAVEN

(Corvus corax).
Plate 71.

From the earliest times the Raven and its kin have
been regarded as birds of evil omen, and have figured
as such in popular verse and story. Even yet, among
the rural populations of many lands, the superstition
dies hard. The reason for it is not far to seek. In
the minds of northern peoples especially, night, darkness,
blackness have always been symbolic of the adverse
powers of nature ; and long tradition, surviving in present-
day language and convention, has associated the colour
with plague and pestilence, death and sorrow. No
wonder, then, that the Raven has an evil name, for
he is blackness personified ! Every feather has the sooty
hue, bill and feet alike are black, and no lighter shade
is present to relieve the sombre whole.

Add to deep-black plumage a voice of incredible
harshness and habits which in olden times gave their
owner a gruesome association with the slain of the
battlefields ! The tale is surely complete ; what outward
sign of iniquity could be added ?

Time was when the Raven flourished exceedingly and
was a common bird in England. Nowadays it has
vanished from the east and midlands, and has become

232 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

rarer everjAvhere. Shepherds, game-preservers, and others
have had grievances to settle, and collectors have had
selfish desires to satisfy. But the Raven is both a
wary and a cunning bird, for the mental development
of birds probably reaches its highest level in this
species ; hence it has, by its wits, survived as yet the
persistent war of extermination.

It is indeed less rare than is often supposed. The
rocky headlands of the south and west coasts of England
and Wales still harbour many pairs. The Welsh hills
and the northern moors have their quota yet, and
elsewhere inland it is not altogether unknown as a tree-
nester. On the coasts and mountains of Ireland a
considerable remnant still exists, and in some favoured
glens of the Scottish mountains, on the precipices of the
Shetland voes, and on some of the Hebridean cliffs, it is
almost common.

The Raven is the type of the Crows, which form a
very uncharacteristic family of the Passeres. Such large
size and predatory habits are unusual in the Order, and
the Crows, moreover, belong to the small songless section.
But the perching feet are present, and there are many
real structural affinities. Similarities in habit even are
not altogether wanting, and we shall find little unusual
in their nesting habits if we make certain allowances.

As already indicated, the Raven nests either on cliffs,
mountain or maritime, or on trees ; but the latter
situation is now rarely resorted to in these islands. If
there is an inaccessible ledge on a cliff the Raven will
find it, and those who know the bird well tell us that
it seems to have an eye for the possibilities of a site ;
in contrast to the Peregrine Falcon, for instance, which
shows little capacity for choosing a site which may bid
defiance to human climbing powers.

Plate 72.

CARR I O N - C KO\N—Cor'vHS coro'ne.

Length, 19 in. ; wing, 13 in.

[Pas'seres : Cor'vidge.]
2 D 232

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 233

The nest itself is a large and fairly well-made cup-
shaped structure of twigs and heather, lined with wool
and fur. The eggs, three to five or more in number,
are laid veiy early in the season. From the cabinet
point of view, at any rate, they are rather ' disappointing ' ;
in colour they resemble those of the commoner Crows —
pale blue-green, with darker blotches ; and in size they
are not nearly so much larger as one is apt to
expect. The yoimg of the Crow family are of the
normal Passerine type ; both the incubation period and
the period spent by the young in the nest are longer
than usual. This is especially the case with young
Ravens. Other considerations apart, these periods tend
to increase with the size of the bird.

A point that we must briefly touch on is the 'play'
of the Raven. Many have described its strange aerial
antics ; how it dives and tumbles at a great height ;
how it bears pebbles and twigs up with it ; and how
it drops them, swoops after them, and recovers them
with beak or claw. Still more remarkable is the scene
witnessed by more than one fortunate observer in the
central Highlands, when a dozen pairs of ' Corbies '
gather together — obviously from a wide area — to disport
themselves in company.

THE CARRION-CROW

(Corvus corone).

Plate 72.

* A lesser Raven.' These words form a good concise
description of the appearance and habits of the Black
or Carrion - Crow. It is like the Raven in general
build, but is on a smaller scale ; and, like the Raven's,

2d

234 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

its plumage, legs, and beak are of one sable hue, except
for the lustrous metallic reflections shown by some of
the feathers in a good light. Its voice is not so harsh
as the Raven's, and its habits differ slightly, partly be-
cause of the difference in size.

Everywhere it is hated, for although almost omnivor-
ous, and often a carrion eater, it does immense damage
to other birds through its raids on their nests in search
of eggs or yoiuig. Everywhere, accordingly, merciless
war is waged against it ; but it still exists in small
numbers over the parts of the British Isles included in
its range — England, Wales, and the Scottish Lowlands.
In these regions it is a more or less resident breeding-
bird. On our eastern seaboard it is also to some ex-
tent an autumn immigrant, although whence it comes
is a puzzling point in view of the distribution of the
species, a question to be touched on in the next chapter.

There seems to be ground for believing that the
Carrion-Crow pairs for life ; but in winter it shows a
certain gregarious tendency, and may be met with in
small flocks, often including individuals of the next
species. Even in summer, under favourable conditions
such as are rarely found in the British Isles, a few
pairs will nest quite near each other, in a sort of
loose colony.

The nesting-place is usually a fairly tall tree inland or
a cliff-ledge on the coast. Other sites are exceptional.
The nest itself is a well-built, deep cup of twigs, in
most cases comfortably lined with wool. In this the
eggs are laid towards the end of April. They are four
or five in number, and in colour are bluish green, with
indefinite light-brown blotches. About eighteen days are
needed for incubation, and the chicks are of the usual
Passerine nidi colons type — blind and helpless, and with

Plate 73.

HOODED CB.O'<N—Co/vus cor'nix.

Length, 19 in. ; wing, 13 in.

[Pas'seres : Cor'vidae.]
2 D 234

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 235

only a few wisps of down. Rather over a month elapses
before the young Crows leave the nest. They are less
glossy in plumage than their parents, of which the male
is slightly the brighter. They are often taken from the
nest, for they make passable pets, and develop slight
imitative powers.

THE HOODED CROW

(Corvus cornix).
Plate 73.

The parts of the British Isles where the Carrion-
Crow is rare or unknown are inhabited by the closely
allied Gray, Hooded, or ' Royston ' Crow. These regions
are Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the northern and
western parts of Scotland. The dividing-line between the
areas of the two birds in the last-named country roughly
coincides with the geological division between Highlands
and Lowlands — a diagonal from the 'Clyde' to the 'Dee'
area. The demarcation is by no means regular or dis-
tinct, however, for much overlapping takes place, and
the two kinds interbreed freely. In winter gi'eat numbers
arrive on our eastern seaboard, and the Hoodie becomes
widespread. Exceptionally, a few remain to nest in what
is strictly the Black Crow area.

Those that reach our shores are but a small pro-
portion of those that emigrate in autumn from northern
Europe, in westerly and south-westerly directions. There
is no difficulty in accoimting for these vast hordes, for
in Russia, Scandinavia, and northern Germany the Gray
Crow is an abundant breeding-bird, and also in some of
the Mediterranean countries. Between these two areas,
however, there extends across central Europe a belt of

236 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

Carrion -Crow territory, connecting the part of western
Europe inhabited by the bird with its Asiatic area.
This cui'iously mixed distribution presents many problems,
among them the presence of the Black Crows that
occur in small numbers, as we have seen, as autumn
migrants on our eastern seaboard.

In appearance the two Crows differ only in the gray
parts of the plumage of the Hoodie. The habits of
the two kinds are apparently identical, except in so far
as they are aiFected by the varying circumstances of their
respective areas. Thus, for instance, the nesting habits
are alike ; but rock-sites are necessarily more often used
by the Hoodie in the Highlands than by the Black
Crow in its more thickly wooded area. Sometimes the
Gray Crow is compelled to nest on the ground among
the heather, or in some other unusual place. In the
mild southern region of Ireland, also, the Hoodie is
some weeks earlier in its nesting operations. The eggs
of the Gray Crow are said to have a tendency to be
longer in shape and paler and brighter in colour than
the others, but the clutches are, as a rule, indistinguish-
able. The notes of the two Crows are thought to be
distinct by many who know both well. If the Carrion-
Crow's note be syllabled as a harsh 'corrr,' the Hoodie's
may be described as a more ' open ' ' caiTr.' Both are
quite distinct from the much less harsh ' cah ' or * caw '
of the Rook, When all is said, there is practically no
great difference of any kind between the two Crows
except that of plumage coloration, and that is more
conspicuous than important.

For this reason, and because the two kinds interbreed
freely on all their 'frontiers,' many deny their right to be
considered as separate species. They should, we are told,
be considered as mere colour 'phases.' To this, however,

Plate 74.

JACKDAW — Cor'viis moiied'ula.

Length, 14 in. ; wing, 9-3 in.

[Pas'seres : Cor'vidce.]
2 D 236

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 237

there is one important objection. When interbreeding
occurs, obvious hybrids are sometimes produced ; but it
seems to be more usual for half the brood to turn out
Black and half Hooded. This implies a considerable
amount of ' fixity '' of the characteristics in question, and
places the divergences on a different level from ordinary
colour ' phases,"* where such an endless series of intermediate
forms exists that it is difficult to find two individuals alike,
and impossible definitely to lay down any hard-and-fast
types. The fixity of the difference seems to make the
birds more than colour ' phases '' ; but still the degree of
difference may be so slight as to make them something
less than species — namely, races or sub-species. This,
however, raises the academic question as to what consti-
tutes a ground for specific separation. Into that we
cannot enter ; for convenience in treatment we have ad-
hered in this work to the usual custom of retaining the
specific distinction and nomenclature.

In north-eastern Europe the Hooded Crow attains an
abundance not known within our area, and flocks of
countless thousands pass westward and southward on
migration. As with many Birds-of-Prey, the rarity of
systematic game - preserving is responsible for the more
prosperous circumstances of Crows and others on the
Continent. Both Birds - of - Prey and Crows, however,
themselves become 'game,' a frequent and interesting
method of shooting them being that of taking cover
at the edge of some open space in which is tethered
as a decoy an Eagle -Owl or a Snowy Owl. In East
Prussia and elsewhere, the natives of some out-of-the-
way districts take great numbers of Hoodies every autumn,
and preserve them for winter food.

238 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

THE JACKDAW

(Corvus monedula).

Plate 74.

Its smaller size is the chief point of difference between
the Jackdaw and our other typical Crows. In both sexes
the plumage is of the usual glossy black hue, except for
a grayish collar-like patch, which covers the back and
sides of the neck. The iris of the eye is conspicuously
white. Immature birds hardly show the gray patch and
are much less glossy, but they have the white iris. The
language of the Daw is apt to be abrupt ; ' kae ' and
* chock' are attempts to syllable typical notes.

In its habits the Jackdaw is to some extent less
harmful than its allies, for it eats worms and insects and
their larvae for the greater part of the year. But, like
other Crows, it is ever on the lookout for stray morsels,
and in summer it becomes a sad robber of the eggs of
smaller birds. Its less overwhelming size gives to the
rio-htful owners a chance to defend their nests — a chance
which they do not have against the tyrannous Crow, black
or gray. But this advantage is generally nullified by the
fact that the Daw usually hunts in pairs, if not in larger
numbers, for at all seasons it is a markedly gregarious bird.
Over the greater part of the British Isles colonies of
Jackdaws are iiTegularly but abundantly distributed, the
strength of these varying greatly. In some districts it is
unaccountably local, and may be absent from considerable
stretches of country not apparently lacking in suitable
nesting-haunts. Towards the north-west of Scotland it
becomes scarce, but is still found as a breeding species as
far as some of the Inner Hebrides to the west and

Plate 75.

RO O K — Cor'vus frugiVegiis.

Length, ig in. ; wing, 12-65 '"•

[Pas'seres : Cor'vidas.]
2 D 238

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 239

Orkney to the north. It is probable that oui' own birds
are more or less resident throughout the year, but in
autumn large numbers of Jackdaws from northern Europe
may be seen arriving on our eastern seaboard. At times
their movements affect other parts of our area. In spring
a return migration may be noted.

The original nesting -haunts of the Jackdaw were
doubtless cliffs and rocky crags. In such haunts, whether
by the sea, along a deep-cut river, or on a bare moun-
tain face, colonies are still often enough to be found.
But, like many other cliff-nesting birds to which the
presence of sea or stream is not essential, the Jackdaw
has discovered that man-made erections of stone form an
exceedingly effective substitute for natural walls. Where,
indeed, is the Daw so safe from man as among his own
chimney-pots ?

Chimneys, indeed, form the typical situation when the
nests are on houses. Either the Daw is very conservative
in its choice of a nesting-place, coming to the same
house over and over again, or chimneys of modern form
are not suited to its needs. Probably both explanations
are true; but in any case it is usually on a few of the
older houses of a town that the colonies of Jackdaws are
to be found. Sometimes it is not a house, but a castle
or church, ruined or otherwise, that is chosen. Most old
cathedral cities can boast of a goodly number of Daws,
and if we obsei-ve them closely in their flight through
the air we shall soon discover that the great tower
harbours the chief colony.

When the nest is upon an unchimneyed building
or on a natural cliff, it is almost always in a hole or
sheltered crevice of some sort. Other situations are
rabbit-burrows and holes in hollow trees, and, exception-
ally, among the branches of trees open to the sky. The

240 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

nest itself is a pile of twigs, often of absurdly large
dimensions, as the smoke-filled rooms of many an old
house testify. A lining of wool or other material is added,
and the Daw's propensity for bearing to its nest bright
but useless articles is proverbial, and has formed the key
to the plot of many a tale. The four to six eggs, laid
late in April, vary from pale blmsh green to grayish white
in ground-colour, and the markings are more definite in
shape and darker in hue, as a rule, than those on the
eggs of the other typical Crows.

THE ROOK

(Corvus frugilegus).
Plate 75.

Over the greater part of the British Isles the Rook
is by far the most abundant and familiar kind of Crow,
and it is to this species that the loosely used popular
name * Crow ' is most frequently applied. Not only is it
very common, by no means avoiding the neighbourhood of
human habitations, but it is also conspicuous because
of its very markedly gregarious habits, and the amount
of noise which always exists to remind the landowner of
' the black republic in his elms.'

Being a strictly arboreal species, the Rook naturally
becomes less common in the extreme north of Scotland ; but
there it has of late been extending its range. Through-
out the rest of our area it is almost ubiquitous, but it
is rather more abundant in the north of England than
in the south. Its British migrations correspond closely
with those already described for the Jackdaw.

The nesting habits of a single pair of Rooks closely
resemble those of a pair of Carrion -Crows who have

Plate 76.

MAGPIE— Fi'ca rus'tica.

Length, iS in. ; wing, 7-75 in.

[Pas'SERES : Cor'vidce.]
2 E 240

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 241

chosen a tree-site. The nest, rarely wool -lined, is of
the same type. Non-arboreal sites are exceptional. The
three to five eggs are very similar to those of the Carrion-
Crow, but rather smaller. The young may always be
distinguished by the colour of the inside of the mouth —
dark flesh -colour at first, becoming slaty, whereas it is
always pale flesh-colour in the Carrion-Crow.

The full-grown birds of the two species differ in many
ways. Most obvious is the bare white patch on the
Rook's ' cheeks.'' This, however, is feathered till after the
second moult. The Rook is built on more graceful lines
than the Crow ; the flight is lighter ; the voice is much
less harsh.

But the most distinctive feature of both the nesting
and the general economy of the Rook is, of course,
its gregariousness. Its social organisation has appai'ently
reached a higher level than among any other species of
birds, but does not appear to have received the attention
it deserves. Accounts there are without number of Rook
' trials "* and what not, but such descriptions as we have
seen have been so overlaid with fantastic interpretations
as to be rendered almost worthless. In the apparent
absence of serious scientific study of the subject we feel
that it would be unprofitable to attempt any discussion.

THE MAGPIE

(Pica rustica).

Plate 76.

As we have already said. Crows have been held from
antiquity to be birds of good or evil omen, according to
the circumstances of their appearance, and in the primitive
augury of our superstitious peasantry the present species

2 E

242 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

plays a prominent part. The number of birds seen
together decides the nature of the event foreshadowed,
and the rules of interpretation, varying with locality, are
embodied in many interesting old rhymes. Other popular
proverbs make the Magpie the type of a senseless chatterer,
and thus indicate a notable trait in the bird's habits.
In general, however, its habits may be said to be very
similar to those of the other members of the Crow family.
In structm-e it shows its right to a place in this family,
but a little apart from the typical group. In appearance
it is a small Crow — much smaller than one would think
from a first glance — with a long tail and pied plumage.
The latter characteristic is, of course, the reason for the
name ' Pie,' to which the popvilar prefix ' Mag ' was added
so long ago that it has become as integral a part of the
name as 'Jack' has of Jackdaw.

The strictness of present - day game - preserving is
responsible for the scarcity of the Magpie in many
districts, but it is on the whole quite as common a
species as even the disinterested bird-lover would wish.
For although it obtains an honest living at many times
of the year, at others it adopts the thieving habits
typical of the family. Its depredations are in no way
confined to game, and a pair of Pies in a district will do
great damage to the eggs and young of all the smaller
birds. Though scarce in particular places, the Magpie
is widely distributed throughout England and Wales;
but in Scotland it becomes uncommon as we proceed
northwards. In Ireland it was apparently unknown till
late in the seventeenth century. Since then it has be-
come common throughout.

In winter, considerable gatherings of Magpies may some-
times be seen at a roosting-place ; but in the nesting season
the species is found in pairs. The nest is usually high up in

Plate 'JT.

JAY — Gar' ruins glanda'rius.

Length, 14-25 in. ; wing, 7-25 in.

[Pas'seres : Cor'victe.]
2 E 242

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 5243

the fork of a lofty tree, but at other times may be in a bush
or hedge within reach of the ground. ' In Norway it is
occasionally under the eaves of houses or on the ground.'
The structure of the nest is elaborate and typical. A
foundation of turf or clay is made, and on this is built
a substantial nest of twigs and thorny sticks. This is
continued to form a complete dome, covering in the hollow
of the nest, but leaving an opening in one side. The
interior is well lined with roots and dry grass. This domed
nest may be considered as a comparatively recent improve-
ment on the ordinary crow-type of architecture, a supposi-
tion that is strengthened by the fact that the six or more
eggs are of the usual crow-type — not unlike the Jackdaw''s,
in fact — instead of being white, as one might perhaps
expect in a concealed situation.

THE JAY

(Qarrulus glandarius).
Plate 77.

This species is the British representative of a very
characteristic subdivision of the Ciow family. At first we
may be led away by the gaudy plumage of the bird, and
think it misplaced in that group ; but on consideration we
see that we have to go no deeper than outward form and
manner of flight to find signs of the relationship. In
habits the similarity is also soon apparent.

Both sexes share the bright plumage, and immature birds
are scarcely different from the adults. Of the plumage
the beautiful blue and white feathers of the variegated
wing -patch are the most conspicuous elements. Often,
however, they have proved their owner's undoing, for
these very feathers are in considerable demand for making

244 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

artificial ' flies ' for angling purposes. The Jay is also
much persecuted on the same grounds as its allies, and
with equal justification. But like them it is a wary bird,
and can hold its own against all but the most systematic
and relentless persecution. Thus it still remains a not
uncommon bird of the woodland portions of England and
Wales. In Scotland, however, it is scarce and local, and is
unknown in the northern half except as a wanderer ; the
boundary of its range has been extended slightly north-
wards of late. In Ireland the Jay has a very restricted
distribution, nesting only in some eastern and south-
eastern districts. As well as being an ordinary resident in
England, the Jay also occurs as a migrant on the east
coast. Considerable ' eruptions ' are recorded now and then,
and some of these have been synchronous with enormous
exceptional migrations recorded in the same seasons from
Heligoland.

The Jay is strictly a forest bird, and its hareh scream
may often be heard in the gloomy depths where other
bii'd-life is scarce. The nest may be placed in a bush, or
at no great height in a tree. It is a well-built structure of
twigs, lined with grasses or roots, and has nothing in the
way of a dome like the Magpie's. The five or six eggs
are grayish gi'een, with brownish specks or zones, and some-
times fine black scrollings.

THE CHOUGH

(Pyrrhocorax graculus).

The Chough is a gracefully built member of the Crow
family, with red legs and beak, the latter longish and
slightly decurved. The bird is now rare owing to persecu-
tion and to the competition of the Jackdaw, It is a cliff-

Plate 78.

STARL I N G — Stiir iius vulga'i-is.

Length, 8'5 in. ; wing, 5-2 in.

[Pas'seres : Stur'nida;.]
2 E 244

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 245

nester, chiefly coastal. From the east of Great Britain
the Chough has vanished. On the south-west of England
it is still found in small numbers (' Cornish Chough ' it
is often called), and sparingly along the west of Great
Britain, including the Isle of Man, to the Inner Hebrides.
In Wales it has some inland haunts, as it has also in
Ireland. It is also sparingly distributed round the Irish
coast, except on the east.

The nest is placed in some fissure in a cliff, bank,
or ruin — often in a cave. The three to five eggs are
gi-ayish or greenish white, spotted and streaked with
grays and browns.

Family, STURNID^ (Starlings).

THE STARLING

(Sturnus vulgaris).

Plate 78.

The appearance and habits of the Starling hardly
require description, so abundant and noticeable a bird is
it in practically eveiy part of the British Isles. And yet
only half a century ago the Starling was scarce and local
over the gi-eater part of the country, and it nowhere
approached its present commonness unless in the southern
and eastern parts of England. As an abundant resident
species in Wales and in the west and north of England,
it has been known only within the period mentioned.
The same is trae of the greater part of Ireland. In
Scotland its history has been even more remarkable. In
some localities, including many of the outlying islands, the
Starling has long been known as a breeding species. In
many wide intervening tracts, however, it was practically

246 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

unknown till well on in the latter half of last century.
Since then it has become so abundant in nearly all districts
that from its very numbers it threatens to become a pest,
although its habits are in the main beneficial to man.

This is one of the best and most striking examples of
the extension of the range of a species to within oui' own
area and our own times. The study of the question is
suggestive of many very interesting points in connection
with the problems of geogi'aphical distribution. In-
directly, also, it affects migration. What relation, if any,
do the migratory habits of the birds recently settled in
an area bear to those of the original stock in the area
from which the extension of range has taken place ?
This is an interesting ' side problem,' the elucidation of
which might throw light on the vexed question of the
inheritance of certain migratory habits. The point is
rather a difficult one to study, because observations are
difficult to obtain.

Although the Starling is found to some extent
throughout the year in most districts, the fact that it is
a migratory bird is obvious fi'om the seasonal variations
in its numbers. In some districts it becomes compara-
tively scarce in winter, while in mild regions like the
south of Ireland its numbers are at that season greatly
augmented by refugees from the severer weather of other
parts. The British Isles as a whole, moreover, receive
reinforcements from northern Europe on the approach of
the cold season. A bird marked in Denmark has been
recovered near Edinburgh.

For nesting purposes the Starling usually selects a hole
or other sheltered situation, although the nest is not
infrequently placed in a tree open to the sky. The more
normal site is a hole in a tree, in a cliff or bank, or
in a wall or building. Chimneys, pipes, and so on, are.

Plate 79.

GREENFINCH— Z/V;/;7";///j- cJdo'ris.

Length, 6 in. ; wing, 3-5 in.

[Pas'seres : Fringil'lidEe ; Fringilli'nse.]
2 E 246

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 247

freely used, and so are suitable nesting-boxes put up for
the purpose. In some bleak regions, where trees and
buildings are alike scarce, the nest may be found in a
crevice among stones or in a peat-stack, or may be placed
in a rabbit-burrow.

The nest itself is a large, untidy mass of dry grass, with
or without a slight lining of moss or wool, and usually
containing a few feathers. The eggs are four or five or more
in number, and in colour are of a characteristic uniform
blue of a very pale and delicate tint. The Starling seems
particularly prone to deposit single eggs in unexpected
places. It is quite a common occurrence to find an egg
lying on the gromid unbroken and not near any nest.
Like other species nesting on human habitations, the
Starling is sometimes recorded as laying at unseasonable
times of the year.

After the nesting season is over, Starlings band
together in bodies varying from parties of half-a-dozen to
enormous flocks of many thousands of individuals. Among
these larger bodies some astonishing aerial manoeuvres
may sometimes be witnessed. The birds appear to have
regular roosting-places and lines of flight — points deserv-
ing farther study. Over such a roosting-place a huge
cloud of birds may of an evening be seen wheeling and
circling at a great height, only to drop together, suddenly
and quickly, to their chosen perches.

Much attention is rarely bestowed on the Starling, but
it certainly repays observation. Looking at the birds from
below as they fly to their nests or perches, they appear
to possess a, dark and sober plumage. But seen on the
ground with a strong light on their upper-parts, the
adults display a great variety of colom\ This is almost
entirely non-pigmentary, but is an optical effect of the
plumage structure. This gives constantly varying hues

248 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

and reflections with the movement of the bird in relation
to the source of Hght. The female shows less iridescence
than her mate, and her light spots are larger. The im-
matm"e bird is unspotted — and is brown above, gray below.
The Starling possesses a song of its own of no great
merit ; it is more notable on account of its great powers
of mimicry. These it habitually puts to the test with
much success ; notes and snatches of song of other birds —
often of widely different types — form the chief items in
its repertoire.

Family, FRINGILLID^ (Finches, &c.) ;
Subfamily, FRINGILLIN^ (Finches).

THE GREENFINCH

(Ligurinus chloris).
Plate 79.

The Finch family is one of the best-known groups of
' Perching Birds,"" containing as it does so many of our
most familiar birds. Those members which we have to
deal with all show a great degree of resemblance in size,
form, and habits, but considerable variety in the matter
of plumage. This is often bright and showy in the cock,
the two sexes differing markedly in this respect. Im-
mature birds, as a rule, resemble the adult hen, but may
be even duller, and may have their colours obscured by
dusky bars. Although there is generally but one moult
in the year, there is, nevertheless, some seasonal change
in many cases. This is due to the shedding of dull tips
and edges in spring, which exposes the brighter portions
of the individual feathers.

One of the most obvious structural characteristics of

Plate 80.

H AW FINCH — Coccothraiis' tes vidgciris.

Length, 7 in. ; wing, 4 in.

[Pas'seres : Fringil'lidje ; Fringilli nas.]
2 F 248

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 249

the family is the large, hard, conical beak. This is an
adaptation to a diet consisting chiefly of seeds. Insects,
however, are taken in summer by most species to a greater
or less extent, and the young in the nest are usually fed
entirely on them. In search of seeds Finches have to
spend much of their time on the ground, where they
progress by hopping ; but othei'wise they are typical
' perchers.' In summer they are scarcely gregarious ; but
in winter they habitually pack together, the sexes very
often keeping in separate flocks. No very high develop-
ment of song is characteristic of the group, most of the
birds possessing short refrains of stereotyped pattern and
little musical merit. To this, however, there are several
brilliant exceptions. The song is to be heard almost
throughout the year in fine weather, although, of course,
most regularly in spring and early summer. About the
end of summer, however, there is a short period of almost
complete silence. This corresponds with the occurrence
of the annual moult, always a time of depression and low
vitality.

The song of the Greenfinch is certainly not one of the
exceptions, being very feeble. The call-note is very char-
acteristic, a long-drawn-out ' schweezo "* ; and the alarm
is a plaintive ' tewy.' The female and immature birds
of both sexes are very much duller than the adult male.

The Greenfinch, or ' Green Linnet,' is resident in the
British Isles wherever plantations of trees are to be found.
The increase of these in some parts has led to a recent
slight extension of the breeding range, which now includes
Orkney, for instance. The species is also abundant as an
autumnal immigrant on our eastern seaboard.

The Greenfinch shows no marked degree of ability as
a nest-builder, the cup-shaped structure of roots, moss,
and the like being generally rather ill-built. It is lined

2f

250 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

with hair and usually feathers. Late in April or early
in May the four to six eggs are laid. They are white,
with a faint greenish tinge. The markings are small
spots of faint gray and deeper rufous brown, often ar-
ranged in a sort of zone round the broadest part of the
egg. A second brood is very often reared.

THE HAWFINCH

(Coccothraustes vulgaris).
Plate 80.

There can never be any mistake about the Hawfinch. It
possesses in exaggerated degree some of the most typical
Finch characteristics, and is in every way a thoroughly
distinctive species. The plumage is brilliant with orange-
brown and glossy black, and the size of the bird is con-
siderably above the average for the British members of
the family. The bill is enormously large and stout, and
represents the extreme development of the conical 'seed'
bill among our native birds. Inside, as has been lately
pointed out, there are several hard knobs above and
below, the function of which is apparently the crushing
of hard seeds. The song of the Hawfinch is feeble ; a
four-times-uttered whistle constitutes the easily recognis-
able call - note of the species. In habits, this Finch is
inclined to be very retiring.

The Hawfinch is another good example of a most
remarkable extension of the British range within recent
times. About 1825 the Hawfinch was still unknown,
except as a rather scarce visitor to the south of
England, and a few years later it was recorded as
nesting within our area. During the whole second half
of last century it steadily increased as a resident species.

Plate 8 1.

GOLDFINCH— Car dice lis el'egans.

Length, 5 in. ; wing, 3 in.

[Pas'seres : P^ringiriidas ; Fringilli'nsE.]
2 F 250

BRITAINS BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 251

and at the close it had been known to nest in almost
every English coiinty, although as yet abundant only in
the more south-easterly districts. The increase and ex-
tension have since continued, and the Hawfinch is now
common except in the extreme north and west, while a
steady diffusion over Wales has been noted. There are
still only exceptional nesting records from Scotland and
Ireland, but winter occurrences in these countries are
widespread and not infrequent, although the species is
only very slightly migratory. The rapid extension is
ascribed to the increase of plantations and of market-
gardens, the first affording nesting - sites and cover, the
second abundant food at the critical season.

As indicated, the nest is generally placed in a tree. It
is a rather shallow structure of twigs and lichens, lined
with fibres, and sometimes with hair as well. The eggs
are four or five in number. On a ground of greenish
tint are bold random spots and streaks of light - grayish
and dark - greenish brown. When the birds are un-
molested only one clutch is laid in a season.

The hen is duller in colour than her mate, and in
winter the bill of both birds becomes pale horn-coloiu-.
In the young it is greener, and the plumage is much
duller and paler, with much barring and mottling.

THE GOLDFINCH

(Carduelis elegans).

Plate 81.

Possessing a bright and handsome plumage and an
excellent and pleasing song, the Goldfinch is naturally
in considerable demand as a cage-bird. This demand
has, unhappily, been only too well met, and the profes-

252 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

sional bird-catcher is largely responsible for the great
decrease in the numbers of native wild birds of this
species. But the increase of agricultural land has prob-
ably been a factor also. A slight recovery has been
noted in many pai'ts since the introduction of legal pro-
tection.

Although always tending to be local, the Goldfinch
may be said to be generally distributed over most of
England, Wales, and Ireland. In Scotland it is un-
common, even in the south and centre, and rare or
unknown in the north. As a visitor the Goldfinch
occurs as an autumn immigrant on the east coast. At
the same season there is an emigration, probably of both
continental and native - bred birds, from the south.
Reverse movements take place in spring ; October and
April are the chief seasons.

The nest may be in a tree or bush, usually at no
gi'eat height. It is very small, veiy neat, and veiy
skilfully made, the shape being a perfectly round and
fairly deep cup. The materials are all soft — fine moss
and wool for the structure, hair and feathei'S for the
lining. Four or five eggs, with purplish -brown markings
on a bluish-white ground, are laid late in May. Two
broods are reared in a season. As with most Finches,
the nestlings are at first fed on insects, but otherwise
the Goldfinch lives chiefly on seeds ; not grain, however,
but the smaller seeds of thistles and other weeds.

The adult female is only slightly duller and paler in
plumage than her mate, but the immature birds are
very much less bright.

-T"-**"

Plate 8:

HOUSE-SPARROW— /'d:/^^;- domes' ticus.

Length, 6 in. ; wing, 3 in.

[Pas'SERES : Fringil'lidfe ; Fringilli'na;.]
2 F 252

BRITAINS BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 253
THE SISKIN

(Carduelis spinus).

The Siskin is a near ally of the Goldfinch. Its
habits are similar, and it is likewise a good songster.
The blackish chin and crown, and the yellowish eye-
streak, breast, and rump are distinctive features of the
plumage, as are the small dark streaks especially marked
on the light under-parts. It nests freely, if locally, in
the fir-woods of the north of Scotland and of parts
of Ireland ; less numerously in the south of Scotland
and the north of England ; and exceptionally in the
south of England, where it is chiefly known as a winter
visitor. The four to six eggs are bluish white, speckled
with dull lilac and reddish brown. ' Aberdevine ' is an
old name.

THE HOUSE=SPARROW

(Passer domesticus).
Plate 82.

The Sparrow is practically ubiquitous and a pest.
These are the salient features of its position as a British
bird. Some of the most elevated and isolated localities
and some of the smallest and most baiTen islets know
it not ; but otherwise it is abundant throughout our
area wherever there are human dwelling-places and fields
of grain. In some northern districts, however, it has
only recently established itself with the increase of cereal
growing. So far as we can tell at present it is quite
resident and sedentary.

What is true of the British Isles is almost as true

254 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

for the whole great European - Asiatic land-mass and its
islands, from Ireland to Japan. In the ' frozen north ''
it is of course not found ; but in India, the Mediter-
ranean countries, and elsewhere, closely related races or
species are present. This is its natural range — extensive
enough ! But either from thoughtless sentimentality on
the part of emigrants from this country, or from a mis-
taken idea that this chiefly seed-eating bird would greatly
help to keep down the noxious insects, it has been
imported into North America, Australia, and New Zealand.
The mistake is now recognised, but it is too late for
anything short of a systematic war of extermination.
For the Sparrow has everywhere spread and increased
with extraordinary rapidity. Even at home it is notice-
able how well the species thrives in spite of a very
considerable amount of persecution.

That it is a pest cannot be doubted. Chief among
its crimes is the eating of grain ; but to its account
must also be placed the bullying of other birds and
the appropriation of their nesting-sites. One redeeming
feature it has, for it shares with other Finches the habit
of feeding its young on insects. Therefore, to get the
greatest possible good out of the birds, nests should
not be destroyed till the young are nearly fledged. At
first sight this seems a rather cold and calculating
method of warfare ; but, given humane methods of
destroying the young, it seems free from any but purely
sentimental objections. By some the Sparrow is placed
in a category by itself as the ' only true British bird
pest ' ; but a few others, like the Hooded and Carrion-
Crows and the Wood-Pigeon, must also be considered
beyond the pale.

Of the Sparrow"'s general habits, of its various
plumages, of the boldness of the city Sparrow, we need

Plate 83.

CHAFFINCH —Frmgil'la cce'lebs.

Length, 6 in. ; wing, 3-4 in.

[Pas'SERES : Fringil'lidte ; Fringilli'nae.]
2 F 254

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 255

say nothing. Of its nesting habits we make a brief
summary. The nest is a large, untidy, cup-shaped structure
of straw or dry-grass and various odds and ends, with
a Hning of feathers. It is generally placed somewhere
about a building — under the eaves, in the spouts of roofs,
or in other more or less covered-in situations. Crevices
in walls, &c., Sand-Martins' holes, and the like, are also
used. Sometimes the nest is in a bush or tree, and
it is then a domed structure with a hole in one side.
The five or six rather longish white eggs, with their
brownish markings, vary greatly in size, shape, and
colour. As many as three broods may be reared in
a season.

THE TREE-SPARROW

(Passer montanus).

A quite mistaken, but very prevalent notion exists
that any Span'ow nesting in a tree is a Tree-Sparrow.
From what has already been said it will be seen that
this is not the case, and although the Tree - Sparrow
typically builds a domed nest in a tree, it also nests on
houses, &c., at times. The nesting -site is no means
of identification. A conspicuous reddish - brown cheek-
patch, di\aded by white lines from the black eye-streak
and throat, serves as a distinguishing mark. The adult
hen resembles her mate in plumage, but immature birds
are less easy to identify. The eggs are smaller and more
glossy on an average. The Tree-Sparrow is really very
local, but is found here and there over much of Great
Britain, and has recently spread to some of the outer
isles of Scotland. On the eastern side of that country

^56 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

it is almost unknown. In Ireland it has nested in
County Dublin for half a century, but is otherwise
unknown.

THE CHAFFINCH

(Fringilla coelebs).
Plate 83.

A list of the few commonest everyday birds in
almost any spot in the British Isles, other than an
isolated skeny or a bleak and elevated mountainside,
could not fail to include the Chaffinch. It is found in
practically every corner of our area, and is a resident
breeding species in every district but the Shetland Isles.
In autumn its numbei-s in Great Britain are increased
by continental immigrants. In Ireland it is considered
to be the commonest of all land-birds.

The scientific name ' ccelebs ' (' bachelor "') refers to a
habit common in this family. The sexes form more or
less separate flocks in autumn. In summer the birds
are non-gregarious, each pair keeping apart. Early in
spring the cock's plumage gains an added brilliance, and
towards the nesting season his exuberant vitality is ex-
pressed in song. The song has been syllabled in words
which convey little, but are useful mnemonics for the
novice : ' In another month will come a Wheatear.'* In
other words, it consists of a series of quick, jumbled
notes, terminating in a long and distinct 'Wheatear,' the
emphasis on the penultimate.

In its nesting habits the Chaffinch resembles its allies,
and is one of those Finches notable for the extreme
neatness of its nest. Lichens, moss, and wool are the
chief materials used. The shape is a beautifully rounded

Plate 84.

LINNET — Lino'ta cannab'ina.

Length, 5-5 in. ; wing, 3-15 in.

[Pas'SERES : Fringiriid?e ; Fringilli'nae.]
2 G 256

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 257

cup. Hair and feathers are used for the lining. The
four to six eggs are greenish white, usually spotted and
clouded with two reddish colours. Two broods are
produced, as a i-ule.

THE BRAMBLINQ

(Fringilla montifringilla).

The Brambling is a near ally of the Chaffinch, and is
known as a winter visitor in rather variable numbers
to many parts of our area. There is a fairly reliable
record of its having bred in Scotland in 1866. The six
or seven eggs are very like those of the Chaffinch, but
are greener, and are usually more distinctly marked.

THE LINNET

(Linota cannabina).

Plate 84.

The Linnets form a distinct group among the other
Finches, and display obvious similarities, one with another,
in both habits and appearance. The plumage is usually of
sober brownish hues, relieved by patches of red, especially
about the head. In the present species, for instance,
there is in summer a bright display of crimson on the
forehead and the centre of the breast of the adult
male. The new feathers grown in autumn, however,
have broad edges of pale gray which hide the crimson.
These edges disappear in spring — a t3^ical instance of
a breeding plumage being assumed without a real moult.
The red is not present in the immature and adult

2g

258 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

female birds. At different seasons the Linnet receives
the names ' Gray Linnet,' ' Brown Linnet,' and ' Red (or
Rose) Linnet,' which distinguish it from the * Green
Linnet ' (Greenfinch). The word ' Linnet ' — popularly
*Lintie' in some parts — is a reference to the bird's
partiality for the seeds of flax.

The Linnet is migratoiy to a considerable extent, but
is found in fair numbers over almost the whole of our
area throughout the year. It is also a familiar cage-
bird, for it is an admirable songster and a good imitator.

The nest is composed chiefly of moss, with the usual
lining materials. It is placed among whins as a rule,
less often among broom-bushes or heather. Usually it
is not actually on the groimd, although naturally never
very far from it. The foui- to six eggs have purple and
red markings on a bluish-white ground. Two broods are
sometimes reared.

THE TWITE

(Linota flavirostris).

The Twite, or 'Mountain Linnet,' is distinguished by
its more slender build, longer tail, and yellow beak.
The adult male has a rose-pink patch on the rump, but
no crimson on head or breast. The species appears to
nest only in Norway and the British Isles. In Great
Britain it is found on the moorlands, from the Midlands
of England northward, and is very abimdant on the
western side and the outlying islands of Scotland. In
the Irish mountains it is also common. In winter it
forsakes the higher levels and becomes more widespread,
but does not reach the south of England. Except that
it is a moorland species, its habits resemble those of

Plate 85.

LESSER REDPOLL— ZzV/^Vrt! rufes'cens.

Length, 4-75 in. ; wing, 2-75 in.

[Pas'seres : Fringil'lidEe ; Fringilli'nae.]
2g 258

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 259

its allies. The three, four, or more eggs are pale greenish
blue, blotched or streaked with reddish brown.

THE LESSER REDPOLL

(Linota rufescens).
Plate 85.

Small size and dark plumage are characteristic of the
Lesser Redpoll, and the blood-red forehead and crown,
present in both sexes, is very distinctive. The adult
male in summer has also a carmine breast and a pink-
tinted rump. The ordinary notes are low twitterings,
but the song is of considerable merit.

The Lesser Redpoll is generally distributed over our
area in winter, when it is gregarious ; but in the nesting
season it is rather local. It is found irregularly through-
out the wooded regions of Scotland and Ireland and the
northern half of England and Wales. In the south,
south - west, and southern Midlands of England it is
uncommon or unknown, but it is found in some numbers
in the south-eastern counties.

Plantations of young conifei-s are perhaps the most
typical nesting haunts ; but the nest may be placed in
other trees, or even bushes, or in willows in low,
marshy ground. Moss, small stems and twigs, wool, and
the like are the usual materials of the cup-shaped nest.
Especial care is expended on the lining ; this is com-
posed partly of hair and feathers, but principally of the
down of willow-catkins, and the like. The four to six
eggs have reddish spots on a pale-blue ground. Two
broods are usually reared in a summer.

This bird is here given its more usual place as a

260 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

distinct species, but some authorities consider it a mere
race of the larger and lighter Mealy Redpoll, more than
one imdoubted race of which is to some extent known to
us in winter.

THE BULLFINCH

(Pyrrhula europaea).
Plate 86.

In its appearance the Bullfinch stands entirely alone among
British birds. It is an absolutely unmistakable species, and
is familiar to all as a cage-bird. The bill is very short
and stout, and the glossy black and bright vermilion of
the adult male's plumage are exceptionally distinctive. The
contrast with the dull female and with birds of immature
plumage is very striking. The British race is smaller and
darker than the continental one, the former being resident
within our area. The species has a tendency to melanism
— that is, an abnormally great proportion of black in the
plumage. This tendency is especially to be met with
among captive birds, and can to some extent be influ-
enced by special feeding ; but apparently wild birds of
wholly black plumage have been recorded.

The Bullfinch, as we have said, is resident in the
British Isles. Its distribution within them is wide, but
does not include the more outlying islands or the treeless
districts of the mainland. For the rest it is a com-
paratively common species throughout, but tends to be
local even in those parts of Scotland which are suitable
to its habits.

The nest is rather peculiar, consisting of a shallow
cup of roots and hair on a platform of small twigs. It
is placed in a hedge or near the end of a low bough.

Plate 86.

BULLFINCH— Pyr'rh ula europa'a.

Length, 5 in. ; wing, 3-25 in.

[Pas'seres : Fringil'lidae ; Fringilli'n:e.]
2 G 2G0

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 261

The four or five eggs, laid in the first half of May, are
greenish blue, spotted and streaked with a lighter and a
darker shade of purple, especially at the larger end. The
female undertakes all the duties of incubation.

The gardener wages bitter war on the Bullfinch, for,
although it takes the seeds of many noxious weeds, it
does much harm in winter and- spring to the buds of
gooseberry, currant, and other bushes. As with other
Finches, the young are fed on insects, but they also
receive at an early stage seeds that have been softened
by the parents.

THE CROSSBILL

(Loxia curvirostra).

This remarkable Finch has the points of the mandibles
elongated and crossed. The beak thus forms a pair of
strong * scissors,' very useful for dealing with the hard
seeds of conifers and other trees. Pine forests are the
chief haunts of the Crossbill, and it nests regularly in
these in many parts of the British Isles, notably central
Scotland. It nests irregularly in many other parts,
especially after the great 'invasions' from north-western
Europe that take place in some seasons. An invasion
of this sort took place in the autumn of 1909. The
eggs are usually four in number, and are grayish white in
colour, with a few reddish-brown spots. Laying begins
very early in the year.

262 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

Subfamily, EMBERIZIN^E (Buntings).

THE CORN-BUNTING

(Emberiza miliaria).
Plate 87.

The Corn-Bunting is distributed in varying abundance
over the greater part of the British Isles, even to the
most northerly of the Shetlands. In some regions it is
rather local, and from the bleak mountainous districts in
the interior of Wales and Scotland it is practically
absent. In winter the birds band together in small
parties to some extent, and there is a general movement
towards the milder parts of the coimtry. At the same
time there is a considerable influx of oversea migrants.

The Corn-Bunting may be considered as the type of
the second subfamily of the Finch group. At least
two kinds of Buntings must be familiar to every
reader, and the more characteristic points of their
appearance and habits do not require to be dwelt upon.

The present species is of rather sober plumage, and
might readily be taken for a Lark by the novice. The
large, conical ' seed "* bill is an obvious point of difference.
As its name implies, the Corn-Bunting frequents agricul-
tural land, nesting in a hollow in the ground, well hidden
by the corn or herbage. In such places a bird of its
dull plumage and rather retiring habits would naturally
attract little notice ; but the male Bunting becomes
prominent by his fondness for the roadside telegraph-
wires and other conspicuous perches in the neighbour-
hood of his haunts. Sitting there, he utters over and
over again a short, monotonous song entirely lacking in
musical merit. Like the even more familiar song of the

1

Plate 87.

CORN-BUNTING— ^OT^^r/'5-^z miUa'i-ia.

Length, 7 in. ; wing, 3-6 in.

[Pas'seres : Fringil'lidas ; Emberizi'nce.]
2 G 262

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 263

next species, it begins with a series of abnipt, hard
notes, but instead of finishing with a long-di'awn-out
note, it ends in a confused jumble of short notes, as
if the fabric of sound the humble songster was trying
to build up had suddenly fallen clattering about his
ears ! Nothing daunted, he pauses for a moment and
begins again ; and the traveller may tramp all day along
a hot and dusty lowland road, and scarcely ever be
out of earshot of at least one Bunting patiently per-
sisting in his endeavour to produce a proper song.
First we think that ages may reward the Bunting's
patience, for, although we see no improvement, the
march of evolution is always too slow for us to gauge
its passage. But, again, we surmise that perhaps no
higher form of song is being aimed at ; that this
apparent musical failure may represent perfection judged
by the standard of the songster and his mate, for the
Bunting sings not for our pleasure, but to express his own
overflowing vitality, whether or not that be for the time
directed into the channel of some particular ' emotion.'

In a situation such as we have already indicated, the
Bunting makes a loose cup of dry grass, roots, and
the like, and lines it with hair. Late in May the
four or five eggs are laid in this nest. They are white
in ground-colour, with a faint purple tinge, while the
markings are of dark purple. The markings may be
blotches or long, narrow streaks. The latter are typical
of the eggs of Buntings in general, and have earned for
the birds many popular names, such as ' Scribbling Larks.**
The Corn-Bunting is a rather coarsely built bird, and
the undulating flight is ' heavy ' in appearance. The sexes
are alike in plumage. The name ' Common Bunting,'
sometimes used in books, is not very appropriate, owing
to the abundance of the next species.

264 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

THE YELLOW=HAMMER, OR
YELLOW=BUNTINQ

(Emberiza citrinella).
Plate 88.

A much handsomer bird than the Corn-Bunting is
the Yellow-Hammer. It is a rather smaller bird, of
lighter and more graceful build, and has in addition the
distinctive bright plumage which makes it such a well-
known species. Even the female shows much brighter
colour than the Corn-Bunting, and the male is resplendent
in yellow and chestnut. Immature birds, however, are
much duller in hue.

The name ' Yellow-Bunting '' is little more than a
book -name, for the species is popularly known as the
' Yellow-Hammer "* ; the word ' hammer ■" being, however,
merely a corruption of the German ampmer — Anglice^
' bunting.' ' Yellow- Yite "" is a widespread popular name.

The Yellow-Hammer is abundant in all suitable parts
of the British Isles, and its haunts are similar to those
of the Corn-Bunting. Even in some of the outlying
Scottish isles it is found, but not in the Shetland
group except as a winter visitor. Like the Corn-
Bunting, it is something of a migrant, although more
or less resident as a species throughout our area. In
winter it becomes gregarious.

The song has already been mentioned as being a
rather higher form than that of the Corn-Bunting,
but of similar type. It consists of a series of rapidly
uttered hard notes, terminated by a long - drawn - out
' wheeze."" This note is very characteristic, and the only
bird-sound at all like it is the call-note of the Green-

«■ " ?# -I

Plate 88.
YELLOW-HAMMER OR YELLOW-BUNTING— ^w/J^r/'^^z citrineria.

Length, 6-5 in. ; wing, 3-35 in.

[Pas'SERES : Fringil'lidye ; Emberizi'nte.]
2 H 264

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 265

finch ; the two cannot be confused by any one who
has given them the sHghtest attention. A popular ren-
dering of the song is : ' Little-bit-of-bread-and-no-cheese.'
It might, of coui-se, be just as well syllabled in a dozen
other ways ; but such renderings are of no value except
as aids to the memory ; to convey an idea of the song
to a reader who by any chance did not know it they
are totally insufficient. The song is uttered persistently
from telegraph-wires, prominent sprays of furze, wall-tops,
posts, or other perches, as opportunity offers. It is most
frequently heard in early summer, but also under favour-
able weather conditions at almost any time except during
a few weeks in late summer and early autumn.

The nest of the Yellow-Hammer resembles that of
the Corn-Bunting, and it is usually similarly placed, but
is sometimes in a bush or low tree several feet from
the ground. The Yellow-Hammer's four or five eggs
show the characteristic scribblings, but are rather vari-
able in colour. Nesting begins earlier than in the case
of the other, the first eggs being laid about mid-April,
and two or more broods are produced in a season.
Both parents take part in incubation, which lasts for a
fortnight.

THE CIRL=BUNTINQ

(Emberiza cirlus).

Plate 89.

Little need be said about the Cirl- Bunting, for,
although it is a conmion British resident species, its
range as such is very restricted. It is fomid nesting
only in the southern counties of England and Wales,
and does not penetrate into the central Midlands. North

2h

266 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

of its breeding range it occurs accidentally with decreas-
ing frequency, terminating with an isolated record from
Aberdeenshire. From Ireland it has not been recorded.
There is, however, some ground for believing that the
limits of the range of the species in England and Wales
are being extended ; but one must take into account the
fact that the earlier history of the bird is rather
obscure. The male is quite a brightly coloured bird,
and the species is by no means a shy one ; yet for
some reason it seems to attract little attention, and it is
often entirely overlooked. The female is a much duller
bird than her mate, and lacks the black-and-yellow
pattern on the head that renders him so unmistakable.
Immature birds are still duller.

In many ways the Cirl-Bunting resembles the Yellow-
Hammer, both in appearance and habits. The song
of the Cirl is of the simple Bunting type — merely a
series of short notes, followed in this case by no special
ending.

The nesting habits closely resemble those of the Yellow-
Hammer. Moss is a more typical constituent of the nest,
and the eggs tend to have more blotches and fewer
' scribblings.' The four or five eggs are not laid till
May as a rule, and a second clutch is deposited in July.

THE REED-BUNTING

(Emberiza schoeniclus).

Plate 90.

A shghtly different type of Bunting, but still very close
to that already described, is represented by this species. In
general form and method of flight it betrays the usual
characteristics ; but the plumage of the cock is to some

^1

Plate 89.

CIRL-BUNTIN G—Emberi'za drl'iis.

Length, 6-5 in. ; wing. 3-25 in.

[Pas'seres : Fringil'lidae ; Emberizi'nie.]
2 H 2(36

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 267

extent suggestive of other groups, and has earned for the
bird the popular title of ' Reed-Spanow.' The hen is
much duller, and has less black about the head regions.
Similar to the female, but even duller, are the immature
birds of both sexes.

In habits, too, the Reed-Buntings differ more markedly
from the previous three species than do those among them-
selves. The differences, however, are for the most part
consequences of the different nature of the haiints selected
by this bird. These are usually in the vicinity of streams
with banks overgrown with willows, alders, and various
shrubs, and with courses choked by beds of sedge ; they
are also found in swamps, marshes, damp moorlands, and
similar places. Where such haunts are to be found, the
Reed-Bunting is a common resident bird over almost
the whole of the British Isles. In winter it becomes
to some extent gregarious, and often shifts its ground to
other types of country in search of food. Considerable
autumnal immigrations occasionally occur.

The nest is built of reed-flags, dry grass, and moss,
with a lining of reed-tops, hair, or other more delicate
material. It is usually placed on the ground among reeds
or coarse herbage or near the roots of the waterside shrubs
and willow-trees, but it may be raised some distance from
ground in a reed-bed or even in a small tree. The four
to six eggs are handsomely marked with deep-purple
blotches and streaks on a ground of the same colour,
but of a much paler shade. Laying begins in April,
and two or more broods are reared, both parents sharing
the duties and cares of the task. For song the male
babbles a few loud, incoherent sounds, and ends them with
a couple of hissing notes.

268 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

THE SNOW=BUNTINQ

(Plectrophenax nivalis).

The Snow-Bunting, often aptly termed the ' Snowflake,"*
is placed rather apart from the four species already dis-
cussed. The seasonal and other changes in its plumage are
somewhat bewildering, but at all times the proportion of
white, especially noticeable in flight, renders identification
easy. Flocks of these birds are to be met with in winter
over a great part of the British Isles ; but in summer
only a very few pairs remain to nest in the Cairngorms
and other mountains of Scotland. There is distinct evi-
dence of their increase in these regions. There they
nest on stony mountain -sides, but farther north they fix
their abode among boulders or driftwood at sea -level.
The four to six grayish - white eggs are spotted with
brownish red and purplish black.

Family, HIRUNDINID^E (Swallows).

THE SWALLOW

(Hirundo rustica).

Plate 91.

In poem, proverb, and popular imagination, no bird is
so closely associated with the idea of summer as the
Swallow. Its abundance, its preference for the haunts of
man, the conspicuous gracefulness of its flight, and the
readiness with which it may be distinguished from almost
all other birds by even the most casual observer, combine

Plate 90.

REED-BUNTI NG— ^////;.77'r.r schcr nidus.

Length, 6 in. ; wing, 3-1 in.

[Pas'seres : FringiriidiTe ; Embeiizi'nte.j
2 H 268

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 269

to make it familiar to all, and its seasonal appearances and
disappearances a matter of common knowledge.

No description of the Swallow's plumage is necessary,
but it may be well to mention its song. The familiar
twitter is not its only note, for it has a short and simple
but pleasing song, usually uttered when the bird is perched
beside its nest, and not audible at any great distance.

Examples may appear in the south of England early in
March, and numbers by the third week ; but two or three
weeks later may be taken as the date of the chief influx.
In the north of Scotland the Swallow is found only in
small numbers till the first few days of May, and in the
extreme north and the outlying islands it is at no time
abundant. A steady decrease in numbers continues from
early September to the middle of October ; but a few
frequently remain much longer, and individuals have
been known to survive a mild winter.

Caves, although probably the original nesting-places of
the Swallow, are seldom resorted to now. The rafters
of farm buildings are favourite nesting - sites, and its
preference for the wide chimneys of old-fashioned houses
has earned for it the name ' Chimney-Swallow.'' Numerous
curious nesting-sites are on record : a forked branch, a
hanging glass lamp-shade, and the wings and body of a
dead and diy Owl that happened to hang from a rafter
in a barn.

The nest is composed of mud strengthened with pieces
of straw. The shape varies according to the exigencies of
the site, but is normally * like half a deep dish.' Although
support may often be utilised, it does not appear to be
essential, as nests may be found against smooth and ver-
tical surfaces. A lining of small feathers and soft grass
is added. On this the four to six eggs — white, speckled
with gray and reddish brown — are laid.

270 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

Laying begins about the middle of May in the south,
and in less than six weeks the young Swallows leave the
nest. They do not differ very markedly from their parents,
but they lack the long outer tail-feathers. They still
depend on their parents for food, and there are few prettier
sights than a Swallow feeding its young on the wing. At
first the young one remains perched on a leafless branch
or a telegraph-wire, but later the young birds rise to
meet the old ones, and the mouthful is transferred in
mid-air.

The parent birds soon set about rearing a second brood,
and a marked pair has been known to rear a third.
These third broods usually fare badly, however ; either
insects become too scarce, or the migration instinct over-
powers all others, and the old birds leave the young to
their fate, and join the noisy gatherings on the telegraph-
wires or in the reed-beds, preparatory to migrating.

As regards its food the Swallow is entirely insectivor-
ous. Sometimes it has to alight on the ground, at
others it hovers above a head of ragwort while it picks
out the insects ; but usually it catches its prey on the
wing, and for this purpose its short but comparatively
broad bill and its wide 'gape' are well adapted. The
gnats and other insects found dancing over the water
form an abundant store of food for the Swallow, and it
is a familiar sight to see it skimming across the surface,
sometimes sipping the water in its flight, or even
momentarily plunging in.

For a short time after their arrival in spring, and for
a longer period in autumn, those Swallows whose nesting-
places are not in the neighbourhood of water betake
themselves to the nearest river or lake :

And as the Swallows crowd the bulrush-beds
Of some clear river issuing from a lake

Plate 91.

SWALLOW— N//u/n^o rus'tica.

Length, 7-5 in. ; wing, 4-9 in.

[Pas'seres : Hiiundin'idce.]
2 H 270

BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 271

On autumn days, before they cross the sea,

And to each bulrush-crest a Swallow hangs

Quivering, and others skim the river stream,

And their quick twittering fills the banks and shores.

It was probably the habit of congregating in the
neighboui'hood of water in autumn and spring that gave
rise to the superstition that Swallows spend the winter
under water.

Not so easily to be dismissed is the theory that
Swallows hibernate in holes. We cannot positively dis-
prove the existence in birds of a hibernating habit such
as exists both among mammals and reptiles, but in view
of its extreme improbability we need not seriously con-
sider the matter unless more substantial evidence is
produced. The evidence there is may easily be explained
away.

Gilbert White was fully aware that Swallows migrated,
but he stoutly upheld his belief that a small number
hibernated. He could not believe that the young birds
of late broods were able to undertake the southward
journey when only a few weeks old. But we have no
reason to doubt that they at least attempt the journey.
Moreover, a young Swallow leaves the nest practically
full-grown and well able to fly, and a few weeks' prac-
tice must make it almost as strong on the wing as an
adult.

There are numerous records of 'Swallows' being found
in holes in a torpid state, and reviving on being warmed.
A 'laggard' Swallow surprised by wintry weather might
conceivably — more especially if it were really a Sand-
Martin — have taken shelter in a hole and become
comatose from starvation ; but there is no reason to
suppose that it would have survived for any length of
time if it had not been rescued.

272 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

The reappearance of summer visitors — especially of
House-Martins — in mild weather in late autumn was one
of the points which influenced Gilbert White ; but ' these
birds are almost certainly strangers, and not natives of the
locality in which they are seen/

Gilbert White also noted that early Swallows 'retired'
on the reappearance of wintry weather in spring, and
' came out ' again when spring weather had permanently
set in. Is it not more reasonable to suppose that these
early examples perished, and that others took their places
later ?

To touch on another point : we hear of a Roman
knight who had the news of the chariot races at Rome
carried to his friends at his country house one hundred
and thirty miles away by liberating Swallows brought
from there and dyed the colour of the winner. Recently
Swallows have been experimentally used as ' homers ' in
France, and one bird is reported to have maintained an
average pace of one hundred and six miles an hour for
one hundred and sixty miles.

THE MARTIN

(Chelidon urbica).
Plate 92.

Like the Mai'tlet
Builds in the weather on the outward wall

The Martin — the Martlet of Heraldry and of older
writers, frequently called the House-Martin to avoid
confusion with the Sand-Martin — can be readily distin-
guished from its ally the Swallow by the absence of the
long tail-feathers, and by the greater proportion of white
in its plumage : the throat and entire imder-parts are of

S^'

Plate 92.

^\.\KY\^—Chel'idon ur'bica.

Length, 5-3 in. ; wing, 4-25 in.

[Pa.s'seres : Hirundin'ida;.]
2 1 272

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 273

this colour, and a white patch on the ramp is noticeable
at all times, but is especially conspicuous when the bird
is clinging to a house-wall, collecting mud at a roadside
puddle, or flying below the observer.

It arrives in Britain about a week after the Swallow,
early in April in the south, but three or four weeks later
in the north. Although becoming scarcer in Ireland and
in the north of Scotland, it is found over the greater
part of the British Isles until the middle of September.
About this time it disappears from the more northern
districts, but is found for a fall month longer in the
south of England. After some weeks in which it is
rarely seen, it not infrequently reappears in some numbers
for a short time in November, while individuals are
occasionally seen in December. This fact had by no
means escaped the observation of Gilbert White ; and, as
we have seen, it greatly influenced his beliefs with regard
to hibernation. Little is known about its migrations and
winter quarters.

Like the Swallow's, the nest is made of mud
strengthened by being mixed with pieces of straw or
hair. But while the nest of the Swallow is a mere
half-cup entirely open at the top, the Martin's roughly
takes the shape of a bowl placed with its open side
against a perpendicular wall of rock or the side of a
building, and with a small hole near the top as the only
opening.

The most familiar situation for the nest is the wall of
a house or shed, just under the shelter of the eaves.
Bridges, also, are often used as nesting-sites. In many
coastal districts, however, the Martin is best known as a
cliff-bird, placing its nest against the cliff'-face under the
shelter of an overhanging rock.

In May the Martins begin their nesting preparations.

2l

^74 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

Where a sheltered site has been chosen, the same nest
may last for years and be used over and over again. In
such cases only a few repairs are needed, but often a
new nest has to be built, and this takes nearly a fort-
night, a layer about half an inch thick being added each
morning, and left to dry and harden for the rest of the
day.

Clinging to the roughness of the wall or rock, and
leaning part of its weight on its tail, the bird doubtless
uses in most cases some irregularity of the surface on
which to establish the foiuidations of its nest. But that
«uch a support is not absolutely necessary is shown by a
recent remarkable case of a Martin which built its nest
against a vertical pane of smooth glass. What keeps the
nest in position in such cases baffles explanation. It has
been suggested that the Swallow and the Martin may
employ some salivary fluid like that of the Edible Swift-
lets of the East, but the necessary glands have not been
proved to exist.

After the outer shell of the nest has been completed,
it is a familiar sight to see the Martin catching flying
feathers. These, with pieces of straw, form the lining on
which the four or five eggs — pure white, not spotted like
the Swallow's — are deposited. The eggs are laid at the
rate of one a day, and are then incubated for a fortnight.
The young are at first blind, helpless, and practically
naked ; but when they leave the nest three weeks later —
almost full-grown, and stronger on the wing than most
nestlings — they have a plumage resembling that of their
parents, but lustreless brown instead of glossy black, and
altogether duller.

In July a second clutch is laid, and the finding of young
still in the nest in October may be taken as evidence
that the Martin sometimes has three broods in a season.

Plate 93.

SAND-MARTIN- 0/'//6' ripa'ria.

Length, 4-8 in. ; wing, 4 in.

[Pas'seres : Hirundin'idae.]
2 I 274

BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 275

The Martin, however, is not always allowed to cany
out its nesting operations in peace. Although the list of
its enemies is comparatively short, one of them — namely,
the House-Sparrow — is formidable in its numbers. The
Sparrow's particular crime in this case is that it takes
forcible possession of the Martin's newly built nest, and,
lining it to suit its own taste, uses it for its own eggs
and young.

The Martin is but ill-adapted to fight the strong-billed
bully, and the result is nearly always the same ; the
useful insectivorous bird is ejected from its rightftil nest
by the bird which is now becoming more and more of a
plague to the farmer and the gardener