ITISH BIRDS THE BODLEY HEAD NATURAL HISTORY THE BODLEY HEAD NATURAL HISTORY Vol. I. Thrush, Blackbird, Ouzel, Redwing, Field- fare, Wheatear, Robin, Nightingale, Win- chat, Stonechat, Tits, Starling, Wren, etc. Vol. II. Whitethroat, Crested Wren, Wood Wren, Warblers, Accentor, Dipper, Nuthatch, Tree-creeper, etc. Vol. III. Stoat, Badger, Weasel and Otter; Seal and Walrus ; Squirrel, Dormouse, Harvest Mouse, Wood Mouse, etc. Vol. IV. Mouse, Rat, Vole, Hare and Rabbit ; Park Cattle, Fallow Deer, Roe Deer, etc. Vol. V. Eagle, Osprey, Buzzard, Falcon and Kite ; Pheasant, Partridge, Quail, Ptarmigan, Grouse ; Cormorant, Gannet, etc. Vol. VI. Bat; Hedgehog, Mole and Shrew; Wild Cat, Fox, Marten, Polecat, etc. %• Other volumes will be announced in due course. THE BODLEY HEAD NATURAL HISTORY THE BODLEY HEAD NATURAL HISTORY BY E. D. CUMING WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY J. A. SHEPHERD VOLUME I. BRITISH BIRDS. PASSERES — r LONDON: JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY TORONTO: BELL AND COCKBURN. MCMXII1 PRINTED BY W. W. CURTIS, LTD., CHEYLESMORE PRESS, COVENTRY science. m SI 1115 1-2- CONTENTS Order — PASSERES Family : Turdidce. Sub-family : Turdince. Page Song Thrush (Turdus Mustcus) 17 Mistle Thrush (Turdus Viscivorus) 22 Blackbird (Turdus Merula) - 27 Ring Ouzel (Turdus Torquatus) • 34 Redwing (Turdus lliacus) 38 Fieldfare (Turdus Pilaris) • 39 White's Thrush (T. Varius) 40 Black Throated Thrush (T. Atrigularis) ■ 40 Dusky Thrush (T. Dubius) 40 Rock Thrush (Monticola Saxatilis) 40 CONTENTS— continued. Page Wheatear (Saxicola (Enanthe) - - 42 Isabelline Wheatear (S. Isobellind) 47 Black-Throated (S.Stapazina) 47 Desert Wheatear (S. Deserti) - 47 Robin (Erithacus Rubecula) - - 48 Nightingale (Daulias Luscinia) - 54 Whinchat (Pratincole* Rubetra) - 60 Stonechat (Pratincole* Rubicola) - 65 Redstart (Ruticilla Phoenicurus) - 70 Black Redstart (Ruticilla Titys - 76 Bluethroat (Cyanecula Suecica) - 78 Family : Paridce. Great Tit (Parus Major) - - - 79 Blue Tit (Parus Coerulus) - - 87 CONTENTS— continued. Page Coal or Cole Tit (Parus Ater) - - 92 Long-Tailed Tit (Acredula Caudata) 96 Crested Tit (Parus Cristatus) - - 100 Marsh Tit (Parus Palustris) - - 103 Family: Panuridce. Bearded Tit (Panurus Biarmicus) - 106 Family: Troglodytidce. Wren (Troglodytes Parvulus) - - 116 Family: Sturnidce. Starling (Sturnus Vulgaris) Rose-Coloured Pastor 110 (Pastor Roseus) 115 PUBLISHER'S NOTE V/f R. SHEPHERD'S illustrations to this volume do not aim so much at scientific accuracy as at giving a general impression of the character, habits, and appearance of the animal depicted. It is believed that in this respect they will be found certainly more artistic and probably more suggestive than elaborate plates or even photographs. All the studies with the exception only of those of one or two very rare birds are drawn from life. The design of the book being decora- tive as well as instructive it has been found impossible in the reproductions to keep the sizes of the animals proportionate to one another, so that in this respect the studies of each animal must be taken as relative only to themselves. ORDER PASSERES SONG THRUSH (Turdus Musicus. Linn.) ^HIS, the most common and most popu- lar of British song-birds, is found throughout the United Kingdom. The great majority of our song-thrushes remain with us the year through, but some seek a warmer climate in winter, returning with the spring to nest. The Thrush is one of the earliest breeders ; the nest is built of dry grass, bents, moss and like materials, with a smooth plaster lining — morsels of rotten wood and dung. The usual site is in a bush or hedge-row, three or four feet from the ground ; but it is often 18 SONG THRUSH placed on the ground under the shelter of bushes. It would seem as though the ex- ample of one ground builder made many, for where one such nest occurs you may expect to find others. Occasionally a strange site is chosen; in July, 1906, at Church in Lancashire, a nest was found between the spring and wheel of a goods wagon on a railway siding. The eggs, from four to six in number are laid during the first ten days of March; The normal egg is blue, spotted with black or rusty brown; sometimes the spots are few or, more rarely, quite absent. The cock bears some part in hatching the eggs, but he is a SONG THRUSH 19 less devoted parent than the hen who will remain on the nest until you might almost place a hand upon her. Two, or even three broods are reared during the season; and an interesting feature of thrush domestic life is that the young of the first family are re- quired to help in rearing their successors. The young Thrush, by the way, excels all other young birds in the wonderful fresh- ness of his colouring; the golden tints have a purity which is unequalled in the plu- mage of any other nestling. This peculiar brilliancy fades as the bird grows older. The Thrush sings on mild days in winter and, save in bad weather, continues until 20 SONG THRUSH the moulting season ; often to resume in autumn. On fine mornings in early sum- mer he sings before daylight. The song is less remarkable for range of note than for the variety the bird contrives to give its music. Young Thrushes begin to find their voices about October; there can be no mistaking the song of the beginner for that of the older bird. The food of the Thrush varies with the seasons; insects of many kinds, worms and snails content him during the greater part of the year: the snail-shell is held firmly and broken upon some convenient stone; fragments of snail-shell in quantity SONG THRUSH 21 betray a favourite anvil. When fruit is ripe the Thrush turns vegetarian, and the gardener, contemplating the havoc wrought on unprotected trees, is prone to forget the bird's good services. In winter hips, haws, and wild berries furnish a livelihood. Coast-dwelling Thrushes resort to the beaches and find food to their taste in small shell -fish ; those of the outer Hebrides, which are smaller and darker than Thrushes of less rigorous climates, live largely on shell-fish, to which it is suggested may be due their darker colour. In Scotland they call the bird the Mavis; "Throstle" is preferred by writers of poetic tendency. MISTLE or MISSEL THRUSH (Turdus Viscivorns. Linn. 'yHIS is a larger bird than the Song Thrush: it is also to be distinguished by the bolder spotting on the breast. Resident with us throughout the year, it has earned the name '"Storm-cock"' from its habit of singing in weather that silences all other birds. Like the Song Thrush, this bird turns its attention to nursery duties very early in the spring. The nest, placed out on some bough above reach, is £\ conspicuous; it lacks the neatness' of "v*^^* careful workmanship; sometimes indeed, ^ V- it is so slovenly that odds and ends of MISTLE THRUSH 23 material waving in the breeze compel attention. Occasionally a foundation of mud is laid and on this is built the nest proper of bents, grass, small twigs and, it may be, rags, the whole lined with dry grass. Nests on the ground have been recorded, but these are exceptional. The eggs,rfour or five in number, are beautiful1; greenish white or palest brown spotted, blotched and flecked with red-brown and lilac. Two broods are usually reared during the season, in the south; but the further north, the less frequent do two annual broods become. The Mistle Thrush is courageous in defence of its 24 MISTLE THRUSH young or eggs, and should Magpie, Jay or other egg-stealer approach, the parents do not await the attack. I have watched a pair who had their nest near a hollow tree containing several Jackdaws' nests, dash at the passing Jackdaw guileless of evil intent, and drive it off with vigorous buffetings. This bird swallows the evacuations of its young. Many birds carry the droppings of the nestlings to a distance, to the end that these may not show the whereabouts of the nest, but it is a little curious that a bird which takes no pains to conceal its nest should thus get rid of the droppings MISTLE THRUSH 25 that might betray. The food of the Mistle Thrush is the same as that of the Song Thrush — worms, grubs, insects and snails; wild berries, and fruit when obtainable. Sixty or seventy years ago this bird was rare in Ireland; its adoption of that country is no doubt due to the increase of plantations. Great numbers of these birds come to us from northern Europe in the autumn. Authorities differ concerning the de- rivation of the name; some hold it an abbreviation of " Mistletoe" Thrush, from the attributed habit of eating mistletoe berries. William Turner, whose De 26 MISTLE THRUSH Historia Avium, published in 1544, was the first attempt to treat ornithology in a scientific spirit, says it is " called the Viscivorous since it feeds on naught but mistletoe and gum." Other authorities maintain that, inasmuch as the bird does not eat mistletoe berries at all. the name can only be derived from the Anglo-Saxon word Missel = big: as it is the largest of the Thrush family, the latter derivation seems preferable. BLACKBIRD (Turdus Merula Linn.) "QF Merulae" says Turner, " there are two sorts, one black and common and the other white, of equal size." White, and partly white examples of the Blackbird often occur, but we have long ceased to regard them as distinct species. Like the Song Thrush the Blackbird is widely distributed throughout our islands; some of those that breed with us migrate southward in winter, but their place is more than filled by the number of visitors seeking refuge from the rigours of winter further north. 28 BLACKBIRD The nesting site and outer structure of the nest itself are the same as in the case of the Song Thrush, but the Blackbird prefers a neat lining of dry grass to receive the eggs; these are greenish-blue, spotted and streaked with varying shades of brown : from four to six is the usual clutch, but seven and even nine eggs have been known. Sometimes the nest is built on the ground. This would seem to amount to a local habit in some cases, as Mr. Boyes states that in the Beverley district of Yorkshire such nests are at- tributed to " Bank Blackies." Early nesting is the Blackbird's rule; and two BLACKBIRD 29 or three broods are reared in the season ; the members of the first family help with their younger brethren. The young male does not assume the yellow bill until his second year. The cock shares the work of incubation, but to a less degree than the Song Thrush ; he is a combative fowl and two pairs of Blackbirds rarely build near each other ; isolation makes for peace, as two cocks may hardly meet without fighting, particularly in the pair- ing season. He is a shyer bird than the Thrush but his loud " pink pink " betrays him. The song is occasionally heard in J anuary , 30 BLACKBIRD but February is the recognised month for him to begin : in April and May he is at his best : in July he ceases : he has been heard to sing in September, but the event is so unusual as to deserve a paragraph in the Field. A spring shower goes to the Blackbird's head and induces his finest effort. His voice is easily dis- tinguished from that of the Thrush by its flutelike quality ; he sings early and late, and, unless the appearance of a rival turn his energies in a new direction, maintains his song for a long time. The diet of this bird is much the same as *that of the Thrush, but he is less BLACKBIRD 31 partial to snails and more partail to fruit. Where Blackbirds are many, their services as grub destroyers scarcely atone for the havoc committed in kitchen garden and orchard : strawberries, raspberries, currants — all soft fruits — are one in their acceptability to the Blackbird, and when the apples and pears are ripening he is ready for them. Nor do his misdeeds stop there ; he has been known to stoop to cannibalism, killing and eating young birds ; but such doings, let us hope, are peculiar to misguided individuals, and not to be written an offence against the whole species. 32 BLACKBIRD The occurance of normally coloured eggs has led to the supposition that Blackbird and Song Thrush may some- times inter-breed ; the hens of either species are certainly capable of strange vagary ; the Blackbird has been known to lay in a Thrush's nest which contained eggs of the owner and to take up her position on a Thrush's nest and eggs with intention to perform a mother's part ; and the Thrush has been detected doing the same thing. Whether such proceedings are due to absence of mind, or honest but foolish mistake, it is impossible to say. Comes one who would have them neigh- BLACKBIRD 33 hourly reproof of neglect ; but we will pass by that theory. The Blackbird's habit of throwing up his long tail as he alights, as if to keep his balance, enables him to be identified at a distance or in the dusk. RING OUZEL (Tardus Torquatus Linn.) 'Y'HIS bird may be described as a Blackbird with a white cravat ; a somewhat seedy Blackbird, for his coat is dull and brownish. The Ring Ouzel is a summer visitor ; arriving in April he seeks the moorlands and solitude of the hilly districts, by whose streams he prefers to nest : trie vast majority go south again in September and October, but a few remain with us the year round, specimens having been found in every month of the winter in England, while at least one December occurrence so far north as Invernesshire has been recorded. RING OUZEL 35 Domestic affairs engage the Ring Ouzels' attention soon after their arrival : a favourite site for the nest is among heather or ling ; it may be placed under boulder, in some shallow crevice, or on a rock ledge ; often near water. The nest closely resembles that of the Blackbird, and the eggs, usually four in number, might be mistaken for Blackbird's save for their bolder markings. In some cases a second brood is hatched out in July. When rearing their children the parents throw aside their natural fear of man, and if you approach the nest fly about you scolding vigorously ; the " tac tac tac " of 36 RING OUZEL the Ring Ouzel expresses anger and alarm. The song is loud but has neither the flute-like quality nor the variety of the Blackbird's ; the Ring Ouzel's habit is to take up his position on some conspicuous crag or point of rock and sing at intervals. Indulgence itself cannot regard it as great music, but it harmonises with the bird's wild surroundings. His food is that of other Thrushes, with such variety as moor and mountain berries afford. When he visits the fruit garden, to do which he sometimes makes up a large party, he is even less welcome RING OUZEL 37 than the Blackbird : seeming conscious that he is a marauder he devours with haste and greed, eating much but wasting and spoiling more : on these occasions he displays singular boldness for so wary a bird. Like the Blackbird, the Ring Ouzel throws up his tail when alighting; both on the wing and on the ground his movements are very like those of his better known cousin ; in some parts of the country he is called the "Moor Blackbird." ^HIS bird, rather smaller than the Song Thrush, is a resident of Northern Europe, whence it comes in large numbers to pass the winter with us. Redwings begin to arrive on our coasts in August, but the great flocks usually appear in the latter part of October, their movements being regulated by the advent of winter. During their stay they are to be seen in flocks : their return to the north begins about the end of March. FIELDFARE (Tardus Pilaris, Linn.) JN size midway between Mistle Thrush and Song Thrush, this bird is easily distinguished by the absence of spots on the lower part of the breast. It arrives in great flocks from September to October ; its stay is rather more prolonged than that of the Redwing; if winter lingers it remains till May, and has been seen as late as June. It is popularly known as the " Felt " or " Felfer." Neither Redwing nor Fieldfare breed in the British Islands. FIELDFARE White's Thrush (Turdus Varius. Pallas), an Asiatic species, larger than the Mistle Thrush, is an occasional visitor, generally coming in winter. The Black-Throated Thrush (T. Atrigu- laris, Temminck) ; the Dusky Thrush (T. Dubius), also Asiatic species have been identified; the first on two occasions, the latter once, in winter. The Rock Thrush {Monticola Saxatilis, Linn.), a central European species, has once been identified as a spring visitor. WHEATEAR (Sdxicola (Enanthe, Litin.y 'Y'HIS is a summer visitor and one of the earliest to arrive in spring. There is reason to believe that a few of the birds which nest with us remain throughout the winter, finding in the southern counties climate mild enough. The second week in March is the recognised time to look for the Wheatear's return; in 1906 an example was seen in Richmond Park on 6th March ; but there is always the doubt in these cases whether the bird is a migrant or is one of the exceptions which have wintered with us. WHEATEAR 43 Open downs and waste lands are the haunts of the Wheatear ; with his white rump and nearly black wings he is a con- spicuous bird as he takes his short flights from stone to mound, from mound to wall, uttering the while his sharp "chack chack." Nesting begins about mid-April; the nest is a loosely constructed piece of work, made, we may hardly say " built," of dry grass and lined with feathers, hair and rabbits' fur ; the last a very favourite material. The normal nesting site is some crevice in stone wall or peat-stack, in the mouth of a rabbit-burrow or under a large stone 44 WHEATEAR or clod, but the Wheatear has a soul above rule in the ordering of his domestic affairs; and like his relative the Robin often chooses some such retreat as an old kettle, discarded boot, or castaway pot. The segment of an exploded shell on an artillery range has been turned to account as a convenient nesting place. The eggs are pale blue, sometimes, says Mr. Howard Saunders, minutely dotted with purple; the clutch numbers from five to seven. The Wheatear is a sagacious bird, and when danger threatens is careful not to betray the whereabouts of the nest. Two broods are reared in the season. The WHEATEAR 45 bird is a purely insect feeder, and may often be seen in the evening hawking gnats and kindred small game on the wing; the larvae of insects also form part of the Wheatear's diet. The song is not remarkable for volume but is distinctly pleasing ; the bird often sings while on the wing. His powers as a mimic are respectable, and in this regard he does not always confine himself to song; Mr. Butter- field, of Wilsden, Bradford, once saw a Wheatear trying to emulate both song and singing method of the Lark ; the song was a masterly achievement but the soaring was more than the mimic could manage; 46 WHEATEAR he rose clumsily to a height of seven or ten yards and came down again. Lark-song he could accomplish but the characteristic flight was beyond him. In former days the Wheatear was caught in large numbers at harvest-time by shepherds and sold as larks are sold now, for the tables, says Gilbert White, of "all the gentry that entertain with any degree of elegance'' at Brighton, or Brighthelmstone as the place was called in White's time, and Tunbridge. The end of September and the first days of October see the southward flight of the Wheatear. WHEATEAR 47 Visits to this country of the Isabelline Wheatear (Saxicolalsabellina; Riippell), the Black-throated Wheatear (S. Stapazina, Viellot), and the Desert ROBIN (Ertthacus Rubecula, Linn.) JT seems hardly necessary to say the Robin is a resident, inasmuch as it is in the winter that he is most in evidence. A few of those that breed in this country go south in autumn, but the places of these are more than filled by the great numbers that come to us from the northern parts of Europe ; for the Robin in summer is found as far north as the Arctic circle. Nesting begins in March ; the proper place for the bird to select is some shallow hole in a bank, but Robins are no slaves to tradition, and the kind is notorious for the ROBIN 49 f originality and enterprise displayed in choice of nursery. The nest consists of moss and dead leaves, lined with hair and perhaps a few soft feathers. The. eggs, from five to seven in number — six is the usual clutch — are white, blotched and freckled with reddish-brown; occasionally a pure white egg occurs. Two and sometimes three families are reared in the season. The Robin's practice of driving away in autumn the children who display inclination to remain in his neigh- bourhood is quite in harmony with his character. The breast of the young male is spotted; after the moult he assumes 50 ROBIN the red breast, the colour appearing from the throat down, somewhat paler than in the adult bird. Some authorities maintain that the Robin pairs for life; but this opinion is not shared by all. Attribution to him of the grace of life-long constancy is perhaps a bye-result of the place he holds in legend and popular esteem. Stripped by merciless truth of the lofty moral qualities with which affection has invested him, we find a bird of strong individuality, bold, self-seeking and pug- nacious with a pugnacity immeasurable. Jealous he is also, as he may see who will observe two Robins singing within earshot ROBIN 51 of one another; each tries to sing the other down ; then dissatisfied with rivalry in song they twain cease music to engage in the fight for which the Robin is ever ready. Nevertheless, it is as a songster that the bird appears at his best ; more especially in autumn; the October song of the Robin has a charm entirely its own; it is, as a novelist has said, 4 ' the song of sorrow and hope, inspiration surely of Chopin's Funeral March." It breathes the very spirit of evening in the waning year. The food of the Robin consists largely of worms and insects, but, as he is at pains 52 ROBIN to show in winter, his tastes are catholic ; when frost and snow hold the world the Robins leave the woods and lanes to take up his quarters, it may be said, among men; there is always marked increase in the urban Robin population in severe weather. A list of the abnormal nesting places chosen by Robins would occupy many pages; any likely, or unlikely, situation will serve ; an old kettle; an empty jam- pot; the rags of a scarecrow; length of drain-pipe; basket hanging in shed. The nest has been built on the book-ledge of a pew in church; behind the false pipes of ROBIN 53 a church organ (the hen sitting through the service), and on a library book-shelf, access granted by open or broken window. These abnormal sites frequently afford evidence of the bird's seeming knowledge that he enjoys peculiar privileges in the sight of man. Robert Lovell, who wrote a curious work on Natural History in 1601, averred that between Robin and Blackbird there existed close friendship which found ex- pression in roosting side by side. It is strange that two of our most quarrelsome birds should have been thus paired off as sleeping companions. NIGHTINGALE (Daulias Luscinia, Linn.) HE first half of April is the time when the returning Nightingale may be ex- pected. The cocks, as in the case of other migrants, come first, and, given warm weather, announce their arrival in song, notably vigorous by day, as though to lose no time giving thanks for a safe journey. It is rare that the song is heard in wet or cold, or when high winds are blowing. Contrary to popular belief the bird sings by day as well as by night; but the day song after arrival is particularly well sus- tained. After the arrival of the hens a NIGHTINGALE 55 few days later, the song at high noon becomes less frequent, the birds devoting themselves to the serious affairs of life. Sobriety distinguishes the dress of the Nightingale; dull russet brown above, brightening somewhat in the tail, and greyish -white beneath, "quakerish" best describes the great singer's attire; it gives his figure the appearance of greater slen- derness. Nesting begins early in May. The site most commonly chosen is on, or quite close to, the ground in some dense hedge- row or thicket ; the neighbourhood of water or swampy soil weighs with the bird 56 NIGHTINGALE in making choice of a home. The nest, large in proportion to the size of the builder, is made of dead leaves (oak pre- ferred) and dry grass; the cup is lined with finer grass, fibres, and often horse- hair. The whole structure is loosely put together and depends upon the support of the surrounding undergrow th to keep it in shape. The eggs, from four to six in number, are olive-brown, the shade vary- ing in some cases to a bluish-green. With the appearance of his young family the song of the Nightingale ceases. This happens during the first fortnight of June; the bird is seldom heard much after the NIGHTINGALE 57 middle of the month, and the curious rasping croak he utters now comes strangely from such a throat. When the young birds, which as fledglings much resemble Robins of equal age, leave the nest, they remain about the vicinity of their home under the guardianship of the mother; parent and children exchange a distinctive note that may be written "purr." The distribution of the Nightingale in England has extended during recent years. Aforetime, ornithologists drew a " Nightin- gale line" from York to Exmouth, which line, roughly speaking, divided the area 58 NIGHTINGALE patronised by the bird from the regions it ignored. This line, like other frontiers, scientific and otherwise, has required rectification from time to time; for the bird has discovered the amenities of Devonshire as far as Torquay, and of various parts of Wales — Glamorganshire and favoured spots in Cardiganshire. It has also been reported in Northumberland, but that was in the exceptionally hot spring of 1893, and may not be taken as a precedent. The real spread of breeding area has been westward. The appearance and increase of the Nightingale in parts of the country where it was formerly un- NIGHTINGALE 59 known has been accompanied by a certain decrease in some of those counties where the bird used to be more plentiful. Complaints of neglect have been received from Norfolk, Rutland, Bedfordshire and Bucks; all of them counties much patro- nised by the bird. The southward movement begins very early; in August the birds of the year take flight, and a few weeks later are followed by their seniors who have remained to complete the moult. Early in September all are gone. WHINCHAT (Pratincola Rubetra, Linn.) HIS daintv little bird arrives on our southern coasts during the first half of April, and within three weeks or a month finds its way practically all over England and Scotland, occurring somewhat rarely, however, in Cornwall and the extreme west. About five and half inches long, the cock is easily recognised by the sandy-brown back with darker leaf-shaped markings ; most readily by the white streak running from the base of the beak over the eye to the neck; the under parts are buff colour merging into fawn on the WHINCHAT 61 breast, the chin is white, and a white streak runs below the dark cheek to the side of the neck. The hen is more soberly clad, and the streak above the eye is buff instead of white. The nest is a careless structure of dry grass and moss, lined with finer grass; it is placed on or nearly on the ground in long coarse herbage or, it may be, among the shoots of some low bush. The eggs, generally six, are greenish - blue often dotted or freckled with rusty red. Two broods are reared in the season. The Whinchat has a weakness for building in long grass by the side of path or road, and 62 WHINCHAT the hen's habit of perching close by, to utter for a few minutes her "u-tick, u-tick, u-tick, tic, tic" before she flies straight to the nest renders it easy to find. The song is pleasing but not remarkable for variety of note or volume; it is heard both when the bird is on the wing and at rest. Waste lands, commons and pastures are the haunts of the Whinchat; its love of the last has earned it the name" Grasschat" in some parts of the country, but this name is become less applicable now-a-days, more especially in the northern counties where the hay harvest interferes with the bird's domestic arrangements. Mr. F. WHINCHAT 63 Boyes, of Beverley, Yorkshire, a very shrewd and careful observer of bird life, attributes the Whinchat's desertion of the grass-lands mainly to the mowing machine which shaves the ground bare in June before the young leave the nest or, it may be, before the eggs are hatched out; sufficient reason to induce a bird of understanding to prefer the wastes where it may rear its family undisturbed. The food of the Whinchat consists of flies and other insects, small beetles and worms, more particularly the wire worm. About the end of September or early in October the bird takes flight southward 64 WHINCHAT again. There is some doubt whether individuals remain with us the winter through; Mr. J. E. Harting, to whom have been sent specimens believed to be Whinchats obtained in the winter months has always identified them as Stonechats, a nearly allied resident species. In its winter dress the Whinchat bears tolerably close resemblance to the Stonechat, hence the confusion of the two. Similarly young Stonechats found in April have been mis- taken for their migratory cousins who breed quite a month later. STONECHAT (Pratincola Rubicola, Linn.) HIS near relative of the last species is resident in Britain, but there is in autumn a well-marked movement from the exposed grounds the bird affects in summer, towards warmer and more sheltered locali- ties, and our native Stonechat population is reinforced by arrivals from the northern regions of Europe. The cock is a con- spicuous bird as he perches on furze-bush or thorn ; his black head, bright chestnut breast and white neck identify him at a glance ; the general scheme of body coloration is not unlike that of the x 66 STONECHAT Whinchat, but the white patch on the Stonechat's wing is noticeable and the bird himself is stouter, with a self-assured air the Whinchat lacks. He is a restless little being, always on the move, darting and diving among the bushes where he makes his home. The Stonechat, as becomes a resident, begins nesting much earlier than the last mentioned species; the beginning of April sees this bird at work building on the ground among coarse herbage, often under a furze bush against the stem, the materials being the same as those employed by the Whinchat, with the addition of a few STONECHAT 67 feathers to the lining. The eggs, four or five in number, are very like the other chat's, but the ground colour is a shade darker. Unlike the hen Whinchat the hen Stonechat is wary, and does not betray her nest to any but the patient and discreet watcher. You may, however, know there is a nest in your near neighbourhood by the behaviour of the parents who flit from bush to bush in manifest alarm, the while crying sharply, " chack chack." Two broods are reared in the season. The song of this bird is pleasing, but when man approaches he displays less 68 STONECHAT inclination to sing than to scold ; the alarm note, syllabised "h-weet, jur, jur," is very distinctive. The song may be heard from early spring until late in June. The food of the Stonechat is very much the same as that of the Whinchat, with the addition of small moths and butterflies, which are often caught on the wing; this bird also eats seeds on occasion. Although both Stonechat and Whinchat affect the same kind of ground, wastes and commons, the two species are seldom found together in any number. It may be added that the Stonechat has none of its relative's affection for pasture lands; STONECHAT 69 it is essentially an inhabitant of the wastes. The resemblance of the two in their winter plumage has already been noticed. REDSTART (Rutictla Phoenicurus, Linn.) ^HIS summer visitor usually arrives about the middle of April, though in particularly mild seasons it may come earlier. Mr Howard Saunders, in 1893, saw a cock Redstart on the 31st of March, this being one of the earliest dates, if not the earliest date, recorded. The Redstart cannot be mistaken for any other bird; his bright chestnut tail and rump betray him at the first glance, as he flits from spray to spray always near the ground. Approach him more closely if you can, for REDSTART 71 he is shy, and you see his white forehead, jet black cheeks and throat, in striking contrast to the slate grey back and chestnut breast. The hen Redstart lacks the brilliant body colours of her mate; greyish brown above and lighter on the underside, she would be inconspicuous but for her chest- nut tail, and that is of hue less brilliant than the cock's. The length of the bird is about 5i inches. The Redstart breeds in most parts of Britain, but is uncommon in some of the extreme western counties. Formerly it was known in Ireland only as a rare visitor, but during the last twenty or thirty 72 REDSTART years it has been more frequently observed and breeds regularly in some parts. Nesting begins early in May; a hole in some hollow tree within a few feet of the ground is the orthodox site, but a hole in masonry will serve the Redstart, and it is by no means infrequent to find a pair in possession of the box which has been put up for the accomodation of Tits. The nest is loosely constructed of moss, fibres and dry grass lined with hair and feathers. The eggs, usually six, but sometimes seven in number, are blue, paler and a shade smaller than those of the Hedge-Sparrow. Eggs freckled, especially about the larger REDSTART 73 end with reddish-brown are tolerably common, and, what is rather curious the clutch may consist entirely of such freckled eggs or some may be pure blue while the rest are freckled. While the hen is sitting the cock is much in evidence about the premises, raising his voice in modest Redstart song, or flitting to and fro in chase of the insects on which he lives. His alarm note, an almost piteous "wheet," is very familiar. The food of the old birds consists for the most part of flies, gnats, spiders and the like; presumably this diet is too indigest- able for the infant Redstart, as when the 74 REDSTART family arrives the outer world is apprised of the circumstance by the parents' activity in carrying caterpillars. The young Red- starts in their spotted dress are very like young Robins; but the family badge, the chestnut tail, proclaims them. The southward movement takes place in September. Occasionally a bird sus- pected to belong to this species has been shot in winter and submitted to authority in triumph for a proof that the Redstart may remain with us the year round. Such specimens have, however, always proved to be Black Redstarts, which REDSTART 75 European haunts in winter. Adult males of the two species are easily distinguished, but the difference between hens and birds of the year is much less marked. . "Firetail" is the appropriate popular name for the bird in many parts of the country. BLACK REDSTART (Ruticilla Titys, Scopoli.) HIS species comes to us regularly, though not in large numbers, every autumn, beginning to arrive about the second week of October and remaining until March or April. There is no proof that the bird has ever nested with us, but it is possible that a breeding pair may have escaped observation. Somewhat larger than the common Redstart, it is a slender, graceful little bird of restless habit and, by comparison with the other species, bold. The cock varies a good deal in colour, possibly with BLACK REDSTART age; his prevailing hue may be almost sooty black, or it may be ashen grey; there is a conspicuous white patch on the wing. The Black Redstart is most fre- quently seen on our eastern and southern coasts but it has been observed in York- shire, Wales, and also in Ireland. We are not concerned with the domestic affairs of birds that do not breed in this country, therefore the Black Redstart may be dismissed with the statement that it nests in some sheltered hole, or on the roof beam of shed or balcony, and that the eggs are glossy white; rarely the eggs are freckled with reddish dots as in the case of our own species. BLUETHROAT (Cyanecula Suecica, Linn.) 'Y'HERE are two, or possibly three varities of Bluethroat; the only one known to visit England is the Redspotted Bluethroat; and as this bird is only known as an occasional passenger, halting to rest on our shores before resuming its south- ward flight in autumn, it demands but passing mention. The fact that the Blue- throats taken in this country are usually immature seems to indicate that lack of strength to make, in one flight, the long journey from the Arctic to southern climes is the sole reason for its appearance here at all. GREAT TIT (Par us Major, Linn.) ^HIS, the largest of the family of titmice, is to be found all over the British Islands save in the extreme north of Scotland and in the Western Isles ; where, however, it sometimes appears as a visitor. The Great Tit is easily to dis- tinguish ; the white cheek and blue-black head betray him; the general colour-effect is bluish grey above and dull sulphur yellow below ; the black of the head ex- tending round the neck and continuing in a stripe down the breast to the vent. Nesting begins in April, — sometimes 80 GREAT TIT about the end of March ; and few birds display greater catholicity of taste in choice of site. It would incorrect to say that the bird only uses the normal situation — a hole in some hollow tree or in a wall — if he cannot find a site that shall advertise his originality ; but it is not far wrong to assert that the normal habit of the Great Tit is to build in abnormal situations. He has been known to nest in the upper part of a hive full of working bees ; in letter-boxes ; under a flower-pot on a shelf — for eight successive years ; inside a pump ; in a drain ven- tilator ; under the old nest of a blackbird ; GREAT TIT 81 in the body of an occupied magpie's nest ; and, in sheer impudent recklessness, in the base of the nest in which a sparrow- hawk was rearing her brood. Choice of the beehive may, perhaps, be explained by the fact that these birds are fond of bees, and haunt hives to pick up the dead insects thrown out by the community; so fond of bees is this Tit that he does considerable damage to the hive by his endeavours to enlarge the entrance. Very occasionally Great Tits will dispossess the rightful owner of a nest they think will serve their purpose ; a hen tit was once found hatching her own eggs in the nest 82 GREAT TIT of a Hedge-sparrow who had laid two eggs before she was turned out. The nest consists of soft moss, lined with hair, fur, wool and feathers ; the size of the structure depends on the space to be filled; that taken from the beehive above-mentioned was a solid bed of moss measuring 14 inches square and 8 inches in depth. The eggs, varying in number from six to a round dozen, are white spotted and blotched with pale red. Two broods are reared in the season. This bird like other members of the family is said to cover up her eggs as she lays them, with GREAT TIT 83 the soft fluffy feather lining of the nest ; but that lining is so loose and plentiful it may well be that the eggs are "smothered," sinking into their bed by their own weight. The spring note, which has been heard as early as January, is likened to the music produced by sharpening a saw with a file : the bird utters a great variety of notes ; the call note is best written "zee." The Great Tit may almost be called omnivorous. He eats insects in quantity, and works no small mischief in the orchard ; it has been said — by a sufferer — 84 GREAT TIT that he will try every apple on the tree, pecking a beakful out of each near the stalk ; this single peck in itself would do comparatively little harm, but the Tit never pauses to reflect that rain will enter that small hole and rot the apple ere ever it has time to ripen. Pears are maltreated in the same fashion. Peas furnish another source of misunderstanding between Great Tits and gardening man- kind, for the bird loves young peas and his methods are wasteful. The blackest side of his character, however, comes out in his carnivorous tastes ; he has been known to attack and kill small birds, GREAT TIT 85 splitting their skulls with his beak to reach the brain. His appetite for a meat diet is shown by the avidity with which he battens on the suet or bone hung out for his delectation in winter. Like the rest of the family he loves the seed of the sunflower. The muscularity of this bird is well shown in the way he penetrates the shell of the hazel-nut ; placing the nut in some convenient fork or cranny, he converts his whole person, five and three-quarter inches, into a pick axe, drives a hole, and works at it until he can dig out the kernel; of course, he can only perform the feat 86 GREAT TIT while the nut is new ; an old one would be too hard for the strongest Great Tit to crack. This bird is very commonly called the "Oxeye." BLUE TIT (Parus Ccerulus.) 'jpHIS is the commonest of our Titmice ; and, if colour go for aught, the most beautiful. Smaller than the Great Tit — he measures only about four inches and one third — he gives the general impression of green and blue as he flits with short, jerky flight from tree to tree ; his white cheek, barred across the eye with a blue-black line, and blue-black collar distinguish him from his relatives. The Blue Tit /^"^V breeds in April. Like the Great Tit he v ,4u ought to nest in some prosaic hole in tree or wall ; but like the Great Tit he is / i 88 BLUE TIT notorious for the strange places of his abiding, One of the oddest ever selected was the throat of a life-size bronze crane, fashioned with open beak upraised. The nesting box appeals to him and the cocoa- nut shell ; all he asks of the box is that it be weather-beaten and dirty. The nest consists of moss, or moss and wool, lined with feathers and hair. The eggs are white, finely spotted with pale red ; the usual clutch is six or seven, but some individuals are prolific, and as many as eighteen have been found. The hen displays great courage while sitting ; she hisses in brave endeavour to alarm, nay, BLUE TIT 89 pecks with pecks that would intimidate, the finger of intrusion ; whence the bird's popular nickname " Billy-biter/' The note is a harsh and montonous "chee chee," heard at frequent intervals. Though the Blue Tit shares with his larger cousin that regrettable taste for green peas, and devotes more attention to apples and pears than their owners can approve, it may be doubted whether on the whole, he does not render services that atone. His staple diet consists of the scale insects which harbour in the bark of trees to their large detriment, he preys on the grubs of wood-boring beetles 90 BLUE TIT and other injurious insects, and rears the family on the larvae of such unwelcome vermin as the gooseberry and winter moths, aphides and their kind. It is to be feared that in autumn when he suc- cumbs to the temptation of ripening pear and apple his good deeds are often overlooked ; man was ever prone to view austerely bird sins, and prefers the syringe and insecticide of the agricultural chemist to the uses of the Blue Tit. The bird is somewhat capricious in his winter move- ments. For years the well chosen meat bone or lump of suet shall bring you Tit visitors in number; and when you have BLUE TIT 91 learned to regard acceptance of your hospitality as assured, no Blue Tit shall appear the winter through. As the Great Tit is remarkable for the strength enshrined in his tiny body, so the Blue Tit is remarkable for his agility ; he is one of the leading acrobats of the bird world ; he is as much at home underneath the bough as upon it, and he dines upside down as readily as in the position Nature would seem to have designed for feeding purposes. COAL or COLE TIT (Parus Ater, Linn,) <^AVE in the north of Scotland, where it may be called the representative member of the family, this Tit is less common than either the Great or Blue Tits. It is a very little bird, about four and three-quarter inches long; the head, sides of neck, throat, and upper parts of the breast are glossy blue-black ; and the con- spicuous white cheeks and spot on the back of the neck, lend momentary resemblance to the head of the Great Tit. The back is grey, tinted with olive, merging into brownish fawn on the rump ; the breast COAL OR COLE TIT 93 white, warming into fawn on the belly and flanks. Slight differences between the colouring of the Coal Tit found in Ireland and that in Great Britain recently led to discussion concerning the propriety of promoting the Irish bird to the dignity of a species ; but the weight of opinion was in favour of regarding it as identical with the British bird. Local conditions of food and climate often produce these slight differences in tinge which lure the ardent among the ornithological brother- hood to creation of new, unnecessary species. The Coal Tit breeds in March or 94 COAL OR COLE TIT April ; the time depending much on latitude. The materials used are, as in the case of the last two, moss, wool and feathers, with such additions as the re- sources of the neighbourhood may offer ; as deer's hair and rabbit's fur. The site varies ; it may be a hole in tree or wall, in a bank, on the level ground, or inside the burrow of a rabbit or the hole of a mouse or mole. The eggs, from seven to eleven in number, are white, dotted with pale red. This member of the family is addicted to hunting on the ground. The food consists of insects, seeds and nuts, while COAL OR COLE TIT 95 green caterpillars are in request for the nursery. Opportunity serving, the Coal Tit shows partiality for hemp seed, and like his familiar relatives, appreciates cocoa-nut. The note is shrill and some- what loud for a bird so small. LONG-TAILED TIT (Acredula Caudata, Linn.) ^HIS also is a tolerably common species wherever copse, woodland, or thorn - brake offers breeding resort. If there be water at hand the bird seems to show preference for a nesting site in its vicinity. The distinction conferred by the long tail renders any detailed description of this Tit unnecessary. Five and a half inches long, he is a study in black, white, and brown, with a pinkish tinge on the lower back, belly, and flanks. Nesting begins late in March, or early in April ; a favourite situation is some LONG-TAILED TIT 97 thick bush, thorn, holly, or furze at from three to perhaps eight feet from the ground ; but the nest may be hidden in a mass of brambles or stick-heap. It is a beautiful piece of workmanship, moss, wool, spiders' webs closely felted together into an oval which is often flattened ; and adorned as to the exterior with grey lichens for its better concealment. A mass of soft feathers forms the lining. The recognised style of architecture pro- vides for a comparatively small hole in the side near the top ; but I have found nests with the entrance occupying prac- tically the whole diameter and practically 98 LONG-TAILED TIT on the summit ; an arrangement in fact which justifies exactly the name " feather poke" bestowed upon the architect. An old nest is sometimes repaired for re- n/\ occupation. The Long-tailed Tit lays from seven to ten eggs, but as many as sixteen have been found under circumstances which pointed to their being the property of the same hen. For there is some doubt concerning the matrimonial system in Long-tailed Tit circles ; two hens and a cock have been seen working on the same nest ; and three birds have been seen occupying the same nest ; it is therefore LONG-TAILED TIT 99 an open question whether the bird is always strictly monogamous. When the young birds leave the nest they remain in company until some time after they can fly : you may see the whole family un- dulating in Indian file from bush to bush with their curious dipping flight, or perching, a compact row, upon some twig. Two broods are reared in the season. The food consists of scale and other insects, and their larvae. The note re- sembles that of the Blue Tit, but is more sibilant. CRESTED TIT (Par us Cri status. Linn.) rpHIS is the rarest of the Tit family in Britain. It is a Scottish bird and extremely local at that, breeding in the old pine woods of Strathspey and, it is believed, nowhere else. A shade smaller than the Blue Tit, the black and grey crest distinguishes him from others, but at a little distance, the general blue-grey effect of his plumage lends him curious likeness to the Blue Tit. The cock erects his crest when he sings, to do which he ascends to a tree-top. The Crested Tit nests during the latter CRESTED TIT 101 part of April ; any rotten stump or de- cayed tree will serve his purpose ; if the hole is not quite suitable he enlarges it The site may be eight or ten feet from the ground, but an attractive hole a foot above earth or one twenty feet up may harbour the nest. He is a bird of sociable disposition and two nests may be found in the same branch. The materials are moss, wool, deer's hair, and fur, closely felted together. The eggs, from five to eight in number, are white, boldly spotted or belted with pale red. Two broods are sometimes reared in the season. I have watched this bird in the old forests of 102 CRESTED TIT Normandy where he is fairly common ; he is much addicted to hunting among the dead pine-needles on the ground for the insects and seeds which form, with larvae and berries, his staple diet. He has a curious habit of twitching his tail sideways, a motion which makes it easy to identify him in a bad light. In winter he frequently consorts with other Tits and Golden- Crested Wrens. MARSH TIT (Parus Palustrts, Linn.) ^HIS also is a very local species. It occurs in various parts of England and Wales, and in Scotland south of the Forth ; but is nowhere common. A little larger than the Blue Tit, this bird is to be known by the glossy black head; back olive brown, the wings and tail ash-brown, and the under parts dull white. He is not very happily named ; he has liking for a home in the alder or pollard willow to be found on swampy soil, but is in nowise wedded to marsh-land, affecting also orchard, garden, and wood. The 104 MARSH TIT nest, built from mid-April to May, is hidden in a hole in some tree, often en larged by the bird who discreetly removes the chips that might betray; it has always the narrowest of entrances. The materials are moss, wool, fur, and hair felted together : willow-down is often used as lining. The eggs, from five to eight in number, are white, dotted with dull red. The note may be written "sis, sis, sis, seee"; but when alarmed the bird utters a rapid and metallic "tay, tay, tay, tay." The food consists largely of scale insects (Coccidce) obtained from the bark of trees. The Marsh Tit is a muscular MARSH TIT 105 little bird and is in the habit of prising off flakes of pine bark in search of quarry. Beech-mast is much to his taste, and he will hold a beech-nut in his claw, after the manner of the parrot, to peck out the contents. Berries of various kinds appeal to him, and hemp-seed is an attraction which will secure his punctual attendance at winter meals in the garden. HEN is a Tit not a Tit? When it is a Bearded Tit. Science investi- gating his little inside, finds in his digestive organs and other internal arrangements evidence which prove him no Tit, but the representative of a distant family in no way related to the ancient family of Titmice. They are of the Paridce; he is the one British member of the Panuridce, and stands apart. Unfortunately, he stands apart in more senses than one; aforetime he was fairly common in the meres and fen-lands of the eastern counties, BEARDED TIT 107 but drainage has spoiled his old haunts, from the Bearded Tit's point of view, and now he is not known to breed elsewhere than in the Broads district of Norfolk. As a visitor, he occurs rarely in some other parts of England; thirty years ago he haunted the reed-beds of the Hamp- shire Avon. The Bearded Tit nests in April; the site is among sedges on fallen reeds, or other water plants, and is built of the dry leaves of the common reed, whose flowers are used for the lining. The eggs, from five to seven in number are cream white, with tiny reddish-brown scratches. It some- 108 BEARDED TIT times happens that two hens will occupy the same nest and share the task of incubation. Two broods are reared in the season, the second appearing as late as August. He is a lovely bird, tawny brown from his head to the end of his long tail, above; dove-grey warming into pink, below. The feature that gives him his name is the long triangular black patch which from between eye and beak tapers to a point well down on the side of the neck. The cock is easily distinguished by the black cheek patches and, when seen upside down engaged in gymnastics among the reeds BEARDED TIT 109 by the jet black under tail-coverts ; these adornments are lacking in the hen. The length is about six and three-quarter inches. The note is quite unlike that of any Tit, being a clear, musical "ping ping." The bird in winter lives on the seed of the reeds in which it makes its home ; at that season assembling in companies of forty or fifty. "In summer," says Mr. Howard Saunders, "the crops of in- dividuals have been found packed with such small shell-bearing molluscs as Succinea amphibia." His local name is "Reed Pheasant." STARLING (Sturnus Vulgaris, Linn.) ^HIS bird just stops short of migration in winter. Great numbers of our home-bred Starlings move westward in autumn, seeking the milder climate of the south and west of Ireland; and our own stock is reinforced by hosts of birds from the north. He is one of our commonest birds and perhaps the most useful. One authority has said of him that he spends his whole life in good works; that is the voice of the agriculturist; for the Starling con- sumes vast quantities of harmful grubs, STARLING noticeably those of the cockchafer and daddylonglegs, and such pests as the wireworm. Other birds would speak less cordially of him; for he is an inveterate egg- stealer, and has a depraved appetite for young nestlings. I hesitate to write a word in dispraise of a character, by con- sent accepted as exemplary; but the Starling has been detected eating fruit. When first I saw him pecking at apples I gave him credit for anxiety to relieve them of grub or maggot; but closest examina- tion of the fallen fruit failed to reveal sign that it had harboured such. Let us not insist overmuch on misdeed ; he is, with 112 STARLING his faults, the best bird-friend of the farmer. The Starling breeds early. The nest, an untidy shapeless mass of straw and grass, lined, it may be, with some wool or feathers, or both, is frequently placed in some hollow tree ; but the site is a mere matter of convenience; the chimney is a favourite retreat; the cup of water-pipe, a hole in the roof, crevice under eaves, or beam in barn or outhouse — all have merits in the eyes of the Starling. Where trees and buildings are few he will nest in a turf-stack or on the ground itself. The hen lays from four to seven pale blue eggs, STARLING 113 and she will rear two, three, or even more broods in the season. After the moult Starlings congregate in great flocks, and remain in company throughout the winter, roosting together in the same wood or shrubbery every night. At this time they are much addicted to executing, at a considerable height in the air, evolutions which advertise the extraordinary singleness of mind that animates birds in a flock. The song of the Starling is pleasing, but he is so determined a mimic it is really a little difficult to say what his natural song is; moreover, his utterances 114 STARLING often suggest less intention to imitate another bird than resolve to strike out an entirely new line of his own. No British bird is more easily reared by hand and few are more easily tamed. ROSE-COLOURED PASTOR (Pastor Roseus Linn.) 'yHIS beautiful bird, arrayed in black, white and rose-pink, with long crest, is an accidental visitor from Eastern Europe. Its occasional appearances having, as a rule, occurred in summer. WREN (Troglodytes Parvulus, K. L. Koch). HIS bird is resident and immigrant. There is no reason to suppose that any of our British-born Wrens go abroad in winter, but the autumn brings large flights of their kin to this country from northern latitudes. The Wren is every- where common, and everywhere restless: he seems never to be still; his life is one of perpetual motion, hopping, flitting, gliding, and creeping mouse-like in the hedge-row. He is essentially a bird of the hedge-row; he shuns the open and WREN 117 has his being in the hedge, always within a foot or two of the ground. Nesting begins at the end of March or early in April. Wrens have no cast-iron prejudices in the matter of site; they will build in bush, stump, ivy or hedge; in hole in bank, wall, stack, or thatch — almost any situation, provided it be tolerably safe from observation, will satisfy the Wren. The nest, large for the size of the bird, is made of moss or dry grass and leaves, and the interior maybe furnished with feathers; but fine grass is often used for the lining. As to shape, we cannot improve upon Turner's description: — "The nest has the 118 WREN form of an upright egg, while in the middle of one side there is a little postern as it were, by which the bird goes in and out." The Wren has a peculiar habit of leaving one nest half finished and building a new one, which may or may not be near the abandoned structure. This practice has never been explained ; it may be the outcome of the particular wariness attri buted to the bird; tradition maintaining that Wrens will forsake their nests, un- finished or complete, if they believe themselves observed. Such unfinished structures are called "cock-nests," and picturesque rural legend has it that they WREN 119 are built by the cock bird for his own private lodging, removed, we may assume, from family cares. This legend has a basis of truth in it; inasmuch as such nests are occupied on cold winter nights by small parties of Wrens seeking warmth and shelter; but since nests which have been used as nurseries are used in the same way we may not assign definite purpose to the "cock-nest." This un- completed nest is sometimes taken in hand and finished for occupation by a family in a subsequent year. The hen usually lays from six to eight eggs; but as many as sixteen young have 120 WREN been found. The eggs are white dotted with red. Two broods are reared in the season. The food of the Wren consists for the most part of insects, for which the bird may be seen hunting in its mouse-like fashion among dead leaves; in winter, seeds, crumbs and other matters are gladly accepted. The Wren's voice is loud and powerful out of proportion to his size; he sings practically all the year round, save during the moult. The alarm note is a sharp " click." TREE CREEPERS THE BODLEY HEAD NATURAL HISTORY BY E. D. CUMING WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY J. A. SHEPHERD VOLUME II. BRITISH BIRDS. PASSERES LONDON: JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY TORONTO: BELL AND COCKBURN. MCMXIV Printed 5v W-W- CURTIS BS CBcyles more R-ess Coventry CONTENTS Order — PASSERES Family : Turdidce Sub-Family : Sylviincz Page Whitethroat (Sylvia cinerea) - - 17 Lesser Whitethroat (S. curruca) - 22 Orphean Warbler (S. orphea) - 25 Blackcap (S. atricapilla) - - 21 Garden Warbler (S. hortensis) - 32 Barred Warbler (S. Nisoria) - 36 Subalpine Warbler (S. subalpina) 37 Dartford Warbler (S. undata) - 38 Golden Crested Wren (Regulus cristatus) - - 43 CONTENTS— continued. Page Fire Crested Wren (/?. ignicapillus) - - 49 Yellow-Browed Warbler (Phylloscopus superciliosus) 52 Pallas's Willow Warbler (P. proregulus) - - 53 Greenish Willow Warbler (P. viridanus) - - - 53 Chiffchaff (P. rufus) 54 Willow Wren (P. trochilus) - - 58 Wood Wren (P. sibilatrix) - - 64 Rufous Warbler (Aedon galactodes) - - 68 Radde's Bush Warbler (Luscintola schwarzi) - 69 Icterine Warbler {Hypolais icterina) - - 69 CONTENTS— continued. Page Melodious Warbler (H. polyglotta) - - 69 Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus streperus) - 71 Great Reed Warbler (A. turdoides) - - 77 Marsh Warbler (A. palustris) - 78 Sedge Warbler (A. phragrnitis) - 83 Aquatic Warbler (A. aquaticus) 89 Savi's Warbler (Locustella luscinioides) - 89 Grasshopper Warbler (L. ncevia) - 91 Sub-family : Accentorince Hedge Accentor {Accentor tnodularis) 97 Alpine Accentor (A. collaris) - 103 CONTENTS— continued. Family : Cinclidce Page Dipper (Cinclus Aquaticus) - 104 Family : Sittidce Nuthatch (Sitta cczsia) - - - 110 Family Certhiidce Tree-creeper (Certhia familiar is) - 117 Wall-creeper (Tichodroma muraria) - 122 PUBLISHER'S NOTE VJR. SHEPHERD'S illustrations to this volume do not aim so much at scientific accuracy as at giving a general impression of the character, habits, and appearance of the animal depicted. It is believed that in this respect they will be found certainly more artistic and probably more suggestive than elaborate plates or even photographs. All the studies with the exception only of those of one or two very rare birds are drawn from life. The design of the book being decora- tive as well as instructive it has been found impossible in the reproductions to keep the sizes of the animals proportionate to one another, so that in this respect the studies of each animal must be taken as relative only to themselves. ORDER PASSERES WHITETHROAT (Sylvia cinerea; Bechstein.) ^HE "Nettlecreeper," to give him his popular name, usually arrives from the south about the second week in April, and loses no time in spreading all over the Kingdom, even to the Outer Hebrides; he is, however, only a rare visitor to the Shetlands. The Whitethroat is easily identified by the peculiarity from which his name is derived: he is about 5 J inches long: the head and neck of the adult male are smoke grey; the mantle, back and wings rusty brown; tail-feathers the same, save the outer pair which are dull white, and the 18 WHITETHROAT next pair which have broad white tips ; the chin and throat pure white fading into buff on the breast; abdomen brownish white; legs pale brown. The hen's plumage is somewhat duller. Breeding begins in May : at this juncture the bird utters a note comparable to the sound of a fishing reel and totally different from his song. The nest, which is commonly placed low down in some tangle of bramble and nettles, thorn thicket, or overgrown hedgerow, suggests that the sprightly, restless builder learned the first principles of nest-making and no more. It is a fairly deep cup of fine threads of hay lined with bents and horse-hair, but WHITETHROAT 19 the structure is of the slenderest; you can see through it as through a loosely woven basket. Occasionally a Whitethroat of unusual forethought, or, let us suppose, one which remembers the sufferings of his youth in a draughty nest of orthodox pattern, appropriates the nest of thrush or blackbird as soon as the brood has flown : this is relined; or, it were better to say, the orthodox nest is built inside it. Young Whitethroats reared in such a dwelling are fortunate; the practice might with advan- tage be more widely adopted. The eggs, from four to six in number, are pale greenish white, blotched and spotted with violet, grey and pale brown : the egg has 20 WHITETHROAT a peculiar translucency ; it is as though the shell were a cloudy soap bubble. One brood is reared in the season. If the hen be disturbed she glides off the nest and vanishes stealthily in the herbage, while the cock expresses resentment at the intrusion after his own fashion, following the offender along the hedge or from bush to bush, with head feathers bristling, out- spread tail quivering, and sometimes, says Mr. Howard Saunders, "shooting almost perpendicularly up in the air." The song is sweet but monotonous; often uttered with great vigour for brief snatches and, in May and June, to be heard at any hour of the twenty-four in mild weather: the WHITETHROAT 21 bird often sings on the wing as he flits from perch to perch. The food consists of insects, which are often caught flying, and their larvae : later in the summer, berries and fruit are eaten and soft green corn; individuals have been known to eat the growing peas. The Whitethroat starts for the south early in September. In some parts of the country the bird is called the "Hay-chat" after the most conspicuous materials used in the nest. LESSER WHITETHROAT (Sylvia curruca ; Linn.) HIS species arrives about the same time as its larger cousin ; it is less common and less generally distributed, being rare and local north of York- shire, and also in Cornwall. North of the Forth it is a very uncommon visitor and in Ireland it is practically unknown. r'p In person the Lesser Whitethroat is ^-.{ much like the other, but the head is ^ a much darker grey and the back and tail are greyish brown : and while the two outer tail feathers are white the next pair lack the broad white tips that LESSER WHITETHROAT 23 distinguish those of the Whitethroat. Also the legs are short and stout, and are slate-colour. The bird is only about a quarter of an inch shorter from beak-tip to tail-end than the last species, and it is not easy to distinguish between them except in the hand. The nest and nest- ing site are much the same as those of the Whitethroat ; but a place in a hazel hedge is often preferred, whence the Lancashire name " Hazel Linnet." The five or six eggs are creamy white with spots and blotches of grey and brown superimposed, principally at the larger end; they are a little smaller than the eggs of the Whitethroat. The hen is 24 LESSER WHITETHROAT braver than the larger bird and will sit very closely when disturbed. Mr. Charles Dixon says he has fre- quently noticed that the Lesser White- throat will desert the beginnings of nest after nest for no obvious reason, as is the habit of the Wren. By comparison with the larger White- throat he is shy and retiring; he might be overlooked but for his song, a succession of high notes of the same pitch. As Mr. Warde Fowler says; "the smaller bird, less seen and less showy, makes his presence felt in almost every lane and meadow by the brilliancy of his song." He sings, as he lives, in seclusion, and, LESSER WHITETHROAT 25 unlike the last, continues singing till late in the summer. The food is the same as the Whitethroat's, but this bird may be seen searching the leaves for insect prey in a fashion of his own ; he, too, will take insects on the wing. The Lesser Whitethroat remains later in England than the last species : he does not start for the south until the end of September, and exceptional cases of his remaining till November are on record. Orphean Warbler (Sylvia orfihea; Temminck.) Very rarely a member of this south European species finds its way to this country. That it has bred in 26 LESSER WHITETHROAT England was proved in 1866 by the capture of a nestling unable to fly: the last of the half dozen authenticated occurrences, was that of a hen bird killed near St. Leonards on 7th August, 1903. BLACKCAP (Sylvia atricapilla; Linn.) JN this migrant we have a songster only second to the nightingale. Arriving in mid April, sometimes about the first week of the month, the Blackcap takes up his quarters in England, Wales and the south of Scotland; he breeds as far north as the firths of Forth and Clyde, but beyond that limit is seldom known to nest; in Ireland, his occurrence anywhere as a breeding species is a matter for remark, but the bird has never been known to nest further north than the co. Dublin. In England he is tolerably widely distributed, but is somewhat local. 28 BLACKCAP The Blackcap is easily recognised among warblers by the jet black head from which he takes his name; the neck is ashen grey, the back, wings and tail ash-brown ; chin greyish white ; throat, breast and flanks ash-grey ; legs and feet lead coloured. In the hen the black cap is replaced by one of bright reddish brown. Nesting begins at the end of April or during the first week of May; the sight is in thicket, hedge, gorse or holly. Mr. Howard Saunders has remarked a preference for privet hedges ; ^ but the tree, bush, or hedge must be in, or =, close to, a wood or shrubbery. The nest, a small, neat structure of dry grass lined with horsehair, is usually within three feet BLACKCAP 29 of the ground, but it may be found as much as ten feet up. The eggs, four or five in number, are extremely variable in colouration; the commonest are pale yellowish brown, blotched and spotted with darker brown ; sometimes the clutch consists of eggs whose ground colour is cream with markings of lilac and grey : the most beautiful are the cream suffused with pink blotched with warm reddish brown and lilac in different shades superimposed. The red tinge in this variety lends them a distinction of their own. Two broods are reared in the season. The cock takes a share in the hatching, usually doing his turn of duty during the 30 BLACKCAP day Mr Chas Dixon says he has seen the bird in the act of singing as he sat on the nest. The young cocks assume the black cap after the first moult. The bird sings by night as well as by day, whereby the song is sometimes mis- taken for that of the nightingale; an error not to be repeated after the latter has been heard. More often and more excusably the song of the Blackcap is mistaken for that of the Garden Warbler. From the last it may be distinguished, as Mr. Warde Fowler points out, by the fact that the Blackcap's song " is one lengthened phrase," whereas the Garden Warbler will go on almost continuously for many BLACKCAP 31 minutes: also it may be added the Black- cap's notes are more mellow. The food consists of insects, which are often caught on the wing, of wild berries and fruit in their seasons. Mr. O. V. Aplin noted the con- sumption of holly berries for several days by a bird which he first observed on 5th April. Soft fruit, more especially raspberries, are favourites of the Blackcap; also redcurrants. The general movement southward takes place in September, the time varying in accord with the nature of the season. The bird has been known to winter with us : he has been seen as late in the year as the end of November, and as early as the 5th March after a severe winter. GARDEN WARBLER (Sylvia hortensis ; Bechstein.) T^HIS bird arrives about the end of April or beginning of May. It is generally, but locally, distributed through- out England and Wales, save in the ex- treme west; has been known to nest as far north as Perthshire, and occurs as a breeding species in the south-western parts of Ireland. With regard to the fact that it is locally common and locally rare, it is to be observed that between this bird and the Blackcap appears to be antagonism. Garden Warblers are often numerous in districts where the Blackcap is scarce, and scarce where the Blackcap is common. GARDEN WARBLER 33 The bird is about 5f inches in length. The upper parts from head to tail are olive-brown ; the quills of the wing some- what darker ; the eye is set in a streak of buffish white ; the underside is "huffish white darkening upwards to the flanks. The hen is a little lighter than the cock. Nesting begins in early May and the eggs are laid from the middle of the month onward. The nest is made of dry grass or hay rather loosely put together round what may be called the inner nest ; on the latter the bird bestows much better workmanship ; the cup, of finer grass, sometimes mingled with a few horsehairs, is closely woven and beautifully rounded. 34 GARDEN WARBLER The site is a foot or two from the ground in bramble bushes, thick shrubs, low thorns, or sometimes in a large and un- cared-for gooseberry bush ; but always well concealed. The eggs, four or five in number, vary a good deal ; they may be white or greenish white in ground colour, marbled and blotched with various shades of brown often superimposed; the brown of the markings may be olive, dark, or or buff, but never, Mr. Howard Saunders points out, suffused with the red that sometimes lends the Blackcap's egg its great beauty. The markings very com- monly wear the appearance of having been burned in with a blunt, thick wire, GARDEN WARBLER 35 gradually spreading and fading from a spot of intense colour. Only one brood is reared in the season ; the young birds are rather more greenish olive as to the upper parts than their parents. The Garden Warbler resembles the Lesser Whitethroat in his retiring habits ; by preference he keeps out of sight and is far more often heard than seen, for when singing he takes up his station where the leaves hide him. Less than any of the Warblers does he court public notice ; his soft, melodious song conveys the im- pression that he is exercising a modest talent for the gratification of his mate and none other. His food is very much 36 GARDEN WARBLER the same as that of the Blackcap, but liberal use of the caterpillar of the white cabbage butterfly for the nestlings has been remarked. At the end of September Garden Warblers leave for the south; it is worth noticing that this species is found in Cape Colony during our winter months ; but it would not be safe to conclude that these are the individual birds which sum- mer in England. Barred Warbler (Sylvia nisoria; Bechstein). The summer home of this bird is south eastern Europe, Persia and Turkestan. During the last thirty years, or thereabout, some fifteen specimens have GARDEN WARBLER 37 been identified in the British Islands. The fact that all were taken between August and November suggests the probability that they were birds which had gone astray while returning to winter quarters. Subalpine Warbler ( Sylvia subalpina; Bonelli). The claim of this little bird to inclusion in the British list rests on a single specimen shot on St. Kilda in June, 1894. This is a south European warbler whose nearest breeding quarters are the south eastern parts of France and Savoy. A strong southerly gale was held to explain its presence in a a spot so remote as St. Kilda. DARTFORD WARBLER ( Sylvia undata ; Boddaert.) ^HIS warbler, which owes its name to the fact that it was first identified from a specimen shot near Dartford, in 1773, was for long regarded as rare ; but with the increase of competent observers its /\ comparative plenty has been established. u It is most often found in the southern counties where it is resident throughout the year, but is apparently extending its breeding range northward and west- ward. Norfolk is the most northerly county in which the bird has been known with certainty to nest, but like its relatives it is of retiring habit and DARTFORD WARBLER 39 may be easily overlooked in the breeding season. The adult male is about five inches long ; his upper parts are dark slate- grey ; the short and rounded wings are dark brown ; the tail, which is long and somewhat sparse, has the two outermost feathers margined on the outer edge with white and tipped with white. The length of the tail feathers increases to the middle pair. From chin to breast the colour is rufous chestnut during the breeding season ; in autumn spots and streaks of white appear ; the belly is dull white. Nesting begins in April and continues until well on in July. The nest, which is 40 DARTFORD WARBLER built in furze or in heather, deep down near the ground, is described by Mr. R. B. Wilson as something like that of the Whitethroat, but smaller ; one found in a furze bush consisted of sprays of young and tender furze, moss, bents and spiders' webs ; its principal resemblance to the Whitethroat's nest lies in the method of construction ; it is so loosely put together that the light can be seen through. A little wool is sometimes used for the lining. Seemingly the bird distrusts the strength of the nest for the second brood which is reared in June or July ; since for this a new one is built, rather more flimsy than the former. The first clutch is laid early DARTFORD WARBLER 41 in May ; the eggs are four or five in num- ber, greenish white, with olive or brown markings. The food is much the same as that of the other Warblers, but moths appear to figure more largely in the bill of daily fare. The Dartford Warbler may be seen flitting from bush to bush on the com- mons, with quick, undulating flight ; the method of alighting is characteristic ; it has been described as looking "as if the action were the result of an afterthought," and this affords the easiest method of identifying the bird. The note is syllabised as "pit-it-chou" ; when alarmed or angry a scolding "cha-cha." When winter 42 DARTFORD WARBLER approaches the Dartford Warbler leaves the commons, and resorts to the sea coast where it affects fields, gardens and orchards. At this season the birds loses much of its shyness and frequently falls a prey to the cottage cat. In hard winters GOLDEN CRESTED WREN (Regulus cristatus ; K. L. Kock.) 'yHIS, the smallest of European birds, is a resident, and its numbers in winter are augumented by swarms, often of extra- ordinary magnitude, from Scandinavia and the north. The bird breeds everywhere in the Kingdom save in the Outer Hebrides, Orkneys and Shetlands ; and no doubt would do so in those islands did they offer the necessary conveniences in the shape of fir woods. There is no mistaking the Golden Crested Wren ; about inches long with yellowish olive-green neck and back, we need look no further than his brilliant 44 GOLDEN CRESTED WREN head ; the greyish white forehead is sur- mounted by a dark brown frontal streak which deepens into a black line below each side of the adornment from which he derives his name — the crest, brilliant yellow in front and rich orange further back ; these colours being set in high relief by the black lines. The hen's crest is lemon colour with narrower black streaks on either side. The Gold Crest is an early breeder ; nest-building begins in the second half of March, and the nest is often ready by the end of the month. It is one of the most beautiful nests built by any British bird, and large for the size of the owner; neatly , constructed of soft moss, felted with GOLDEN CRESTED WREN 45 spiders' webs, wool and lichens, it is lined with soft feathers; deep and almost spheri- cal, it is usually hung under the end of fir, yew, or cedar branch. Exceptionally it is placed on the bough ; cases of nesting in ivy against a wall and even in a low bush are recorded. The eggs, from five to eight— occasionally more — in number, are white, faintly dotted, or freckled with reddish brown. One brood is reared in the season. The food consists of insects, seeking which the bird spends much time hunting the bark of trees, more especially firs ; an active restless little fowl, he draws atten- tion to his doings as he flits from one to 46 GOLDEN CRESTED WREN another uttering his insect-like " si-si-si." His voice is weak, but he uses it incessantly on fine days. He is sociable, and frequently hunts in company with tits as well as his own species, particularly in winter. It is in autumn that the Gold Crest attracts most notice. The migrating hosts sometimes appear on our shores in early August, but the usual time of arrival is from September to October. A memor- able year was 1882; the "migration wave" began on the 6th August and continued for 92 days reaching from the Channel to the Faroes. In 1892, after it had been blowing half a gale from the east from the early morning of 14th Oct. to the morning GOLDEN CRESTED WREN 47 of the 16th, Mr. John Cordeaux thus described the autumn influx: — "During this time the immigration was immense; greatest in number were the golden-crested wrens. First I heard their notes on opening my window on the morning of the 14th and soon saw some in the garden below; they swarmed in every hedgerow; but on Saturday the 15th the number had enormously increased. Gold crests every- where, in hedges and gardens, dead thorns and hedge-trimming, rubbish heaps, beds of nettles, and dead umbelliferse, the reeds in ditches, sides of haystacks, and the thorn fences of sheds and yards. The sallow thorns were densely crowded, many 48 GOLDEN CRESTED WREN found shelter in the long sea-grass, and others again crouched on the bare rain- swept sands between the sea and the dunes. Many might have been taken with a butterfly net." Inasmuch as exhausted birds sometimes settle in swarms on the rigging of vessels in the North Sea, it is certain that many are lost on the journey over. It is pro- bable that the case of the short-eared owl which was seen to land on the Yorkshire coast carrying a Gold Crest on his back was not isolated. The return journey is made in April. FIRE CRESTED WREN (Regulus ignicapillus : C. L. Brehm J. HIS near relative of the last species is an irregular but by no mean infrequent visitor. Its true home — if the breeding area of a migrant be its true home — is south and central Europe, Algeria and Asia Minor; in the Taurus range of the last named country it is commoner than the Gold Crest. This bird is a very little larger than cristatus but otherwise is so like that until you have him in your hand it is impossible to distinguish between the two. At close quarters the differences are easily recognised ; looking at the Fire Crest in profile, the black bands on mantle and D 50 FIRE CRESTED WREN head proclaim him : one black streak runs from the corner of the beak to the neck ; another runs from the corner of the beak through the eye; and above the cheek is y