bRITISn ifiiiis WITH THEIR HESTS.-tG05 UHIVERSITY OF CALIPOHNiA DAVIS • <0- Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/britishbirdswith02butlrich PLOT. 229 S35 837 a4i S30 234 838 ^i5 239 342 &fi&rokcu:^k 232 S36 240 34-3 244 • RUMBV A CLARKC lTO UtTHOU HULL AND LONDOt*. 229—232 Raven. 233—236 Carrion Crow. 237—240 Hooded Crow. 241—244 Rook. PL.H r^* 220 eZit 215 2?i 8RUUBY A CLARKE LTD.. LITHOS. HULL AKU L« Figs. 198—206 Reed-Bunting. 207 — 209 Snow-Bunting. 206 207 .'^flT^. '••^"Nt \v •y 2£V^^ 206 2/6 ?£? ■J •• *•* • .■gV/5Jvo\\awl^ 209 fi7 2-/5 ££^ Figs. 210—213 Starung. 214—215 Chough. 216 — 217 J.\Y. Figs. 218—221 Magpie 222—228 Jackdaw. PLY. tao 151 ^^tJ*«^v. IS3 r^ '15 IS! BflUMBY « CtAnice LTD . LITHOS HULL AND LONDON. Figs. 156 — 157 Brambung. 158 — 167 Linnet. 168 — 171 Redpole. isa '««. ne 182 'i3 'SS 0 9 9 (1 '70 ^7/ l«J r^W5^o^(uu>; • Figs. 172—173 Twite. 180 Cro.ssbilu leo 166 m 1 '9u 'SS ISt lei na Figs. 181 — 187 Corn-Bunting. 188 — 195 Yei.i.ow Bunting. 196 — 197 CiRi, Bunting. PL IV. im lia I2S 1-fO 125 I Q 9 iSi 124 HO 156 uz 0 tZ5 lit O V (5i Figs. 114— ii6 Swallow. 117 Martin. 118— 119 Sand-Martin. Figs. 120-125 Greenfinch. 126 — 128 Hawfinch. 129 — 130 Goldfinch. 131 Siskin Kir.s. 132- 143 Hoise-Sparrow 144 — 147 Trek-Sparrow. '48- 155 Chaffinch. BRITISH BIRDS WITH THEIR Nests akd Kggs IN SIX VOLUMES ORDER PASSERES (Second Part) By ARTHUR G. BUTLER, Ph.D., F.L.S., F.Z.S., F.E.S., Corresponding Member of Varioi-s Foreign Societies Author of "British Birds' Eggs, A Handbook of British 6oi,ogy" (Illustrated by the .\uthor) '•Favouritk Foreign Cage-Birds" And numerous Scientific Works and Memoirs DEALING with various BRANCHES OF ZOOLOGY ILLUSTRATED BY F. W. FROHAWK, M.B.O.U., F.E.S. VOLUME II. BRUMBY & CLARKE, Limited, Baker Street, Hull, and 5, Farringdon Avenue, London, E.C. tZBRAKT UHIVERSITY OF CALXFOBHIA DAVIS CO NTENTS Those marked thus, • not being recognised as British Birds, are not figured. Acanthis cannabiiia Acaiithis flavirostris Acanthis linaria - Acanthis ru/cscens Alauda arborea Alauda arvensis - Alauda cr is tat a Ampelis gartultis - Black-Headed Bunting Brambling - - - ♦Brandt's Siberian Bunting Bullfinch - Calandrella brachydactyla Calcarius lappojiicus Carduelis clegans - *Carpodacus erythrinus - Carrion-Crow Chaffinch - Chelidon urbica Chough - - - Chrysomitris spinus Cirl Bunting Coccothraustes vulgaris - Common Crossbill Corn-Bunting Corvus corax- Corvus comix Corvus corone Corvus frugilegus - Corvus monedula - Cottle riparia Crested Lark 80 * Ember iza cioides - - 117 76 Ember iza cirlus - . . - Ill 69 Ember iza citrinella - - io6 73 Emberiza hortulana - 114 178 Emberiza mclanocephala - 100 174 Emberiza miliaria - 103 182 * Emberiza pusilla - - - - 118 16 * Emberiza rustica - - - - 118 Emberiza schmiiclus - 119 100 97 Fri?igilla ccclebs - - . - 92 117 Fringilla montifringilla - 97 53 Garrulus glandarius - - 146 185 Golden Oriole 2 123 Goldfinch .... - - 65 65 Great Grey Shrike 6 57 Greenfinch - - - . - 40 162 92 Hawfinch - - . . - 43 33 Hirundo rustica - . . - 30 140 Hooded Crow - - - - - 165 61 House-Sparrow - - . - - 84 III 43 Jackdaw - . . . - 153 49 Jay - - 146 103 157 Lanius collurio - - - 9 165 Lanitis excubitor - . . 6 162 *La7iius minor - - . 8 169 Lanius pomerayius 12 153 Lapland Bunting- - 123 36 *Lesser Grey Shrike - 8 182 Lesser Redpoll - - 73 Ligurinus chloris - Linnet - - - - *Little Bunting Loxia bifasciata - Loxia ciirvirostra - Magpie . . . Martin - - - - Mealy Redpoll ^Mdanocorypha sibirica - Muscicapa atricapilla - Muscicapa grisola- Muscicapa parva - Nncifraga caryocatades- Nutcracker - - - Oriolus galbula Ortolan Bunting - Otocorys alpestris - Passer domestiais - Passer mo7ita7ius - Pastor roseus Pica rustica - - . Pied Flycatcher - *Pine-Grosbeak Plectrophcnax Jiivalis - Pyrrhocorax graculus - *Pyrrhula aitideator Pyrrhula europaa- CONTENTS. 40 Raven - - - - 80 Red-Backed Shrike - 118 Red-Breasted Flycatcher 47 Reed- Bunting 49 Rook - - - - Rose-Coloured Starling 150 *Rustic Bunting - ?^Z 69 Sand-Martin 188 *Scarlet Rose- Finch 23 Serin - - - - 20 Serinus hortulanus 26 Shore-Lark - - - Short-Toed Lark- 142 142 Siskin - - - - Sky-Lark - Snow-Bunting Spotted Flycatcher 2 Starling - - . 114 Still fius vulgaris - 189 Swallow - - . 84 Tree-Sparrow 88 Twite - - - - 135 Two-Barred Crossbill - 150 23 Waxwing - - - 52 *White Winged Lark - 127 Woodchat Shrike 140 Wood- Lark - 52 53 Yellow Bunting - 157 9 26 119 169 135 118 36 57 57 57 189 185 61 174 127 20 132 132 30 88 76 47 16 188 12 178 106 BRITISH BIRDS, With their Nests and Eggs. ORDER PASS E R ES (CONTINUED.) FAMILY ORIOLID^. THIS family consists of a tropical group of brightly coloured birds in which yellow and black, or scarlet and black, are the prevailing hues. Although in the general form of their heads they somewhat remind one of Starlings, they must not be confounded with the so-called "Orioles" of the New World, which belong to the family Iderida or Hang-nests and Troupials, a group of birds linking the Finches and the Starlings, and feeding very largely upon seeds. The late Henry Seebohm was of opinion that the Orioles were nearly related to the Crows ; he therefore placed the genus Oriolus in his Subfamily Cot-viua, from which he said that they chiefly differed in their exposed nostrils, although he admitted that the tarsus might perhaps be slightly shorter, and the prevailing colours different ; whilst the sexes also were dissimilar.* • The fact that thej- hop when on the ffrotind, woiilcl hardly serve to distiiigiiish the Orioles from the Crows ; for anyone who has watched a Raven, must have lieen vastly amused by its ungainly hopping in all directions. Vol. II. B 2 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. In addition to the above distinctive characters, the third primary of the wing (not the fourth or fifth) appears to be the longest, in the Orioles ; whilst the whole character of the nest, which Seebohm often made much of in his classifi- cation, is quite unlike that of a Crow ; being neatly woven, and slung like a hammock between the forks of a branch : moreover, whereas the eggs of the Crows are usually of some shade of green or blue, heavily spotted and speckled, or blotched and mottled, with various shades of olive or brown, those of the Orioles vary from white to salmon pink, clearly spotted with blackish brown, and some- times with lilacine greyish shell markings. The call-notes and songs of the Orioles are bright and melodious ; but this fact would not be a sufficient reason for dissociating them from the Crows ; although our native species of Corvida do not shine as whistlers, in their wild state. I think, however, that Howard Saunders was fully justified in adopting the present family for the Orioles. Family— ORIOLIDAi. The Golden Oriole. Oriolus galbula, LiNN. BREEDS in suitable localities throughout Europe south of the Baltic and in Algeria ; passes through Greece, Asia Minor, Palestine, Egypt, and Nubia, on migration ; and winters in North Africa, south-eastwards to Madagascar, Natal, and westwards to Damara Land : stragglers sometimes occur in Madeira, and the Azores. The Golden Oriole is a regular visitor to our shores in spring, the largest number having been seen in the Scilly Islands, and Cornwall ; it has, however, been met with in not a few of the southern and south-eastern counties, and several instances of its breeding with us have been recorded. In 1868, I saw a male specimen of this bird near Linton, in Devonshire, and in July, 1887, I was just too late to see the species in Essex ; Mr. Fitch, of Maldon (whom I was visiting) ot- UJ _1 O DC O z Hi a -J o o ' y^*?«^*' The Golden Oriole. 3 informed me that the bird had been seen in one of his thickets during the previous week. We visited the place in the hope of discovering a nest, but were unsuc- cessful. In Ireland it has chiefly occurred on the east coast, most of the examples being females, or immature males ; a specimen was recorded as shot in the Faeroe Islands, in May, 1893, by Col. H. W. Feilden. Perhaps the nearest point to London at which it has been recognised, was noted in the "Zoologist" for 1892, an example having apparently been seen in Richmond Park. The male of this species is bright gamboge yellow, the lores, wings (excepting the terminal third of the primary- coverts) and a great part of the tail black ; the primaries, excepting the two outennost, are edged externally, and the secondaries are tipped with yellowish white ; the two central tail-feathers are yellowish at the base, and yellow at the tip, and the other feathers have the terminal third of the outer webs, and borders of the inner webs yellow ; bill reddish ochreous ; feet leaden grey ; iris bright red. The female is much duller than the male, greener, and with the black colouring replaced by deep brown ; the throat, breast, and centre of belly whitish ; the throat, breast, and flanks streaked with greyish. Young birds are greener and browner than the female, but otherwise similar ; nestlings have the upper parts olivaceous, spotted with yellow. The Golden Oriole frequents gardens, groves, plantations, thickets, and the outskirts of large woods, especially in the neighbourhood of water ; it seems to prefer the haunts of man, yet is so shy that it rarely remains in view for more than a minute as it flies rapidly, in somewhat Thrush-like, though more undulating fashion, from cover to cover; choosing ever the densest foliage, as if aware of the perilous brilliance of its plumage : possibly it may slowly be acquiring a hereditary knowledge of the fact that, if but a glimpse is obtained of it, an attempt at least is made to put an end to its life ; or if it fails to comprehend so much, it may inherit a dread of the thunder and lightning which, for generations, have heralded its appearance : birds are not naturally fearful of man ; for even those which have been taught by their parents to dread him, can be generally converted by gentleness and petting : moreover the fact that a grown man can tame a small bird, whereas even the tamest will always show the greatest fear of a little boy, certainly seems to prove that the instinctive dread of the monkey nature in the latter is deeply implanted in all birds ; just as is that of a cat, even though that animal may never have been seen by the bird previously.* * I found that Thrushes, Blackbirds, and Starlings, taken quite young from the nest, and hand-reared, showed the utmost alarm when they caught sight of a cat in my garden. I find that all birds fear boys much more than girls, but especially when the children are quite young. These facts are entirely opposed to Charles Dixon's theory that everything has to be learned by each individual, nothing being instinctive or inherited. 4 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. The nest of the Golden Oriole is usually, thoiigh not invariably, suspended between the forking branches of an oak, frequently at a considerable height from the ground, and at the end of a somewhat slender bough. The outer walls are formed of broad-leaved sedges, grasses, strips of bark (often white birch-bark) wool etc., carefully interwoven, and including the branches between which it hangs ; the lining consists of fine grasses, sometimes with the flowering heads attached. The eggs, which number from four to five, are shining milk-white, with scattered pur- plish black spots, and occasionally a few greyish shell-spots. The season of nidification appears to be from May to June. The call-note of this bird is clear and flute-like, but its alarm-note is a harsh croaking khrr : the song is short but melodious; Seebohm renders it ^^ ivhcet, li, vcc-o." The Rev. H. A. Macpherson states that the males have a cat-like call : he also observes (Zoologist, 1891, p. 467) after noting the fact that the females as they grow older approach the male colouring : — " I do not think that the female of this Oriole would be at all exposed to danger when sitting by bright colours. It is not easy to see even a male Golden Oriole in the top of a big oak or elm in the breeding season. The birds crouch close to the boughs if alarmed, and neither they nor their nests are easy to distinguish among the fully expanded leaves." The food of this bird consists largely of insects and their larvae, spiders, and the like ; but as the fruit season approaches, its diet somewhat changes, cherries being especially relished by it : in confinement it does well on the usual food for insectivorous birds. Being both beautiful and musical it is much esteemed as a cage-bird, and years ago I asked a friend to obtain nestlings for me ; but perhaps it was as well that he did not succeed in securing me any, for they seem not to be easy to bring up. Lord Lilford remarks: — "I have found the young very difiicult to keep alive for more than a week or two, though I know of instances in which they have been reared with success." I think it extremely probable that aviculturists, when trying to rear insecti- vorous birds, feed them far too well : in the case of large birds like Thrushes, Starlings, or Orioles, I believe that the mixture on which I have always been successful in rearing the two former, would answer well for all three — oat-flour, fine peameal, and sifted Spratt's food (or ground dog-biscuit) ; but in the case of the Orioles, it might be advantageously varied with soaked ants' coCoons, or living ants' cocoons if readily procurable. " The Orioles in confinement do not differ from other insectivors in their pas- sionate love of both mealworms and spiders, and a few of either every day are not only wholesome, but tend to tame them. The Great Grey Shrike. FAMILY LANIID^. THE Shrikes or Butcher-birds form a large and well-defined group of birds of somewhat predaceous habits, strong in their bills, but comparatively weak in their claws. The mandibles are short and thick, the upper one with curved culmen always with a tolerably well-defined terminal hook, preceded, on the inferior or cutting edge, by a slight sinus, behind which is a prominent wedge-shaped tooth ; the nostrils are oval, lateral, and basal, and there are well-defined rictal bristles, as in the Flycatchers. Dr. Hans Gadow greatly extends the family, to include many types, observing that the diagnosis of the Lauiidce * * as given by Mr. Sharpe * * is applicable to Lanitis only : he, however, admits that the family, as defined by himself, contains some ver}' aberrant forms, and I think all naturalists will agree that this should not be the case, if there is any way of avoiding it. Families, Subfamilies, and genera are conveniences, and the more sharply they can be defined, the more convenient they are ; it is far better to have a small and compact family, than a large and heterogeneous one. Dr. Gadow observes in his Catalogue that " The Laniidcc, as described in this volume, form neither a group complete in itself, nor are the lines of distinction always drawn closely enough." Most of the Shrikes are inhabitants of the Old World : in Great Britain they are represented by the typical genus Lanius alone — a group which contains alto- gether about forty species, four of which have been obtained on our shores, though only two of these appear to breed with us. Some authorities consider the Shrikes to be nearly related to the Crows ; in- deed Seebohm made them a Subfamily close to the Corvitue, although he admitted that their "exact affinities are very difficult to determine"; he considered that they approached the Crows in the form of their bills, the strong bristles, and short feathers partly covering the nostrils, and in their feet. Howard Saunders, from the position which he assigns to them in his Manual, seems to regard them as more nearly related to the Flycatchers.* • See also Lord Lilfonl's note at end of account of the Woodchat-Shrike. 6 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. Family— LANIID/E. The Great Grey Shrike. Laniits excubitor, I^INN. ORNITHOLOGISTS diiifer in opinion as to whether this bird is distinct from Pallas's Grey Shrike (with the single white bar on the wing) : Seebohm con- sidered the two forms as distinct as the Carrion and Hooded Crows, but Mr. Howard Saunders brought forward sufficient evidence to show that they had but little claim to the title of separate species. In his Manual we read : — " Many of the specimens obtained in winter have a white bar on the primaries only, the bases of the secondaries being black; whereas in the typical L. excubitor the bases of the secondaries are white, and the wing exhibits a double bar. The form with only one bar is the L. major, of Pallas, and, as shown by Prof. Collett (Ibis, 1886, pp. 30-40) it meets and interbreeds with L. excubitor in Scandinavia, typical examples of both races being actually found in the same brood, while intermediate forms are not uncommon. Where the sexes have been determined, the double-barred bird has generally proved to be a male, and the single-barred a female. Typical L. excubitor breeds as far east as St. Petersburg, beyond which, in Siberia, Z. tnajor becomes the representative form. In the valley of the Yenesei, the latter meets, but does not interbreed with the whiter winged L. lencopterits ; the last ranging through Turkestan to Southern Russia, where, by its union with the typical L. excubitor, it seems to have produced an intermediate race, known as L. homeyeriy The Great Grey Shrike is a tolerably frequent visitor to Great Britain in avitumn and winter : it is also sometimes met with in England in the summer ; indeed, on more than one occasion, when out birdsnesting with a keen old student of nature — Dr. John Grayling, of Sittingbourne, he has called my attention to a specimen of this species, conspicuous by its pied colouring : there is, however, no satisfactory evidence that it has nested in the British Isles, although an &^^ in my collection, taken somewhere about the year 1880 by Mr. John Woodgate, at Hadley (Herts.) certainly looks remarkably like that of L. excubitor. The adult male of this species is of a pale bluish ash grey above, this colour becoming paler on the rump and upper tail-coverts ; forehead, a line over each eye, and the scapulars white ; wing black, with white bases and tips to the flights ; ';ij^' . Great Grey Shrike s * The Great Grey Shrike. 7 central tail feathers black, outer feathers white, intermediate feathers grading between the two colours : under surface white ; flanks slightly greyish ; the lores, cheeks, and ear-coverts black : bill black, the lower mandible paler at the base ; feet black ; iris dark brown. The female chiefl}' differs from the male in its slightly duller colouring, and in having the neck and breast barred with greyish brown. The young are dull grey above, and dull white below, the barring of the underparts extending over the belly ; the bill and feet are also paler than in the adults. The flight of this bird, as judged bj^ the two or three specimens which I have seen, is somewhat wild and undulating : in its habits it resembles the common Red-backed species, keeping much to the open countr}^ the outskirts of woods, or to hedgerows ; when first noticed it was in each case just leaving a bare projecting branch of a tree. The food of the Great Grey Shrike consists of good sized insects, new-born birds, or adult birds of such genera as Parns or Regulus, frogs, lizards, slow-worms, mice, etc. : it is more raptorial than the Red-backed Shrike ; and, not only some- times hunts down and hovers over its prey, but even holds it down on a branch and deliberately picks it to pieces after the manner of a hawk ; though, as a rule, it spits it on a thorn after the fashion of its kind. The nest is usually placed at a much greater height from the ground than that of our common British species, viz : — at from ten to thirty feet, in the forked branch of an olive, apple, pear, oak, or fir tree ; it is bulky, and large as that of a Blackbird, and is formed of twigs, bents, dead leaves, green grass, and moss ; the lining consisting of rootlets, wool, hair, and feathers. The eggs number from five to seven, usually five, and vary from creamj' to bluish white, with lighter or darker olivaceous spots and blotches, frequently forming a well-defined zone just above the middle, and accompanied by lilac-grey shell-markings ; sometimes they form a large patch at one end (usually the larger one). Nidification as a rule commences about the middle of May ; incubation lasts fifteen days ; and, during the rearing of the young, this species is most courageous in their defence, driving away even the Crow-family from the vicinity of its nest. Gatke says : — " This bird, though very cautious in general, is yet not unfre- quently caught in the throstle bush ; that, however, such a fate is well deserved, is shown by the discovery of many a poor little Redbreast with its brains hacked out, the work of this ruthless aggressor. I have even on one occasion seen a Blackbird, as it was hastening along over the grass, pounced upon by one of these daring robbers, and succumb, after a short struggle, to the bites of his assailant." Lord Lilford says that about the end of December, 1880, he received a fine 8 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. young bird of this species alive : it had been taken by means of bird-lime near Glendow, on November 19th; he kept this bird alive for some months. Herr Mathias Rausch (Gefiederte Welt, 1891, p. 475) observes that this bird is not of the slightest value for aviculture as a singer, for although he both mocks well and sings industriously, he, by his call-notes, makes the other singers crazy with anxiety and fear, and thereby disturbs them in their song. " One can only find it caged in the possession of peculiar fanciers, who mostly aim at completeness, in respect of all birds belonging to this category." * From a long study of birds in confinement, I should imagine that Herr Rausch speaks here theoretically, and not from experience : if the cry of a Shrike in a cage is calculated to terrify a small song-bird in another cage, surely the small song-birds of South America ought to be alarmed by the cries of the Pileated Jay, or even those of the Sulphur Tyrant ; yet they pay no more heed to them than to the calls of perfectly innocent birds : I believe that predaceovis species are recognised by sight, more readily than by their voice. Family— LANIID^. The Lesser Grey Shrike. Lanius viinor, GmEL. This is so rare a straggler, on migration, to the English coast, that I cannot consider it has suihcient claim to be described in the present work. In 1883, Seebohm mentioned that only four examples had been recorded; and, at the end of 1889, Howard Saunders was imable to add to this number. * I imagine his meaning to be that they keep all Passeres, whether interesting or not. Red-Backed Shrike i ? The Red-Backed Shrike. 9 Family— LANIID^. The Red-Backed Shrike. Lanius collurio, LiNN. SEEBOHM observes that this species "is a summer visitor to the whole of the continent of Europe up to lat. 64°, with the exception of the Spanish pen- insula, where it is only an occasional straggler to the north-east. In Greece, Asia Minor, and Palestine, it is only found in the pine-regions. Eastwards its breeding range extends through Northern Persia, and throughout Turkestan as far as the Altai Mountains. It passes through Asia Minor and North-east Africa on migra- tion. A few winter in the valley of the Indus ; but the great stream of migration appears to follow the valley of the Nile to South Africa, where it is abundant during our winter in Natal, Damara Land, the Transvaal, Angola, and the Cape Colony." In Great Britain this bird is common but local ; though most abundant in the southern counties, it has rarely been met with in Cornwall ; in Wales, and the central counties it is not uncommon, yet it is becoming rarer in Norfolk, and in Lincoln- shire is almost unknown ; in the northern counties it is rare, probably increasingly so ; to Scotland it is only a chance straggler, though it has been recorded as breeding in the south-east. In Ireland a specimen was shot in 1878, and others were said to have been seen at the same time. The upper parts of the male are grey, excepting the scapulars and back which are chestnut brown ; the wing-coverts black, margined with chestnut ; wings dark brown, the feathers edged with chestnut ; the two middle tail-feathers black, the rest white on the basal half, black, edged with white on the terminal half; frontal band, lores, and ear-coverts black ; under parts rosy huffish, whiter on the chin and under tail-coverts ; bill and feet black ; iris dark brown. The female is usually quite unlike the male, her upper parts being reddish-brown, slightly barred on the mantle, her under parts buffish-white, barred (excepting in the centre) with brown ; there is no black on the head, biit a pale buff streak above the eye. Young birds are somewhat similar to the female, but whiter on the forehead, with ill-defined eye-streak, their upper parts barred, and their feet greyer. Vol u. c '° British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. The common Butcher-bird reaches us early in May, and usually leaves us again in August or September, although a late straggler has been reported as captured in November; it is therefore probable that only one brood is reared. I have taken fresh eggs as late as the 8th June in Kent, but not later than the 29th May in Norfolk ; in the latter county, however, I onl}^ met with the nest twice ; it is therefore possible that later nests may occur ; the first week in June appears from my dates to be the earliest laying-time in the north of Kent ; perhaps a few nests may be occupied earlier. The nest of this species is most frequently placed in a hawthorn bush, or hedge, but sometimes in the fork of a stunted tree, seldom more than five feet from the ground, and frequently less : the number of eggs is usually five, but sometimes six. Although there is a good deal of difference in the form and tinting • of the eggs, the general character of the markings is very characteristic in most specimens laid by this bird : the ground-tint varies from greenish white to creamy buff, and from the latter colour to salmon-pink ; the spots vary from olive to red- brown, with underlying spots of bluish-ash ; sometimes the surface spots are wholly wanting, the grey markings alone being in evidence ; the spots are usually almost entirely confined to the broader half, rarely to the apical half; and, still more rarely, irregularly scattered over the whole surface ; in most eggs they are largest, and form an irregular zone, just above the middle. In Kent I found the pink variet}^ of the egg extremely rare, indeed I onl}'- once succeeded in taking a full clutch of this form by fighting my way edgeways through a dense (six-foot thick) hawthorn hedge, the hen bird chucking away, and making little frantic rushes at my fingers, as I gradually struggled nearer to the prize. In some coiinties I am told that the pink form is the prevalent one ; it certainly is the prettiest. I found the nests of the Red-backed Shrike most commonlj' in the neigh- bourhood of Maidstone ; taking three in one morning from the forked branches of stunted trees near the river : in such positions it was invariably more solidlj' built than when placed in a bush or hedge : in character it is not unlike some nests of the Greenfinch, but deeper; the outer walls formed of coarse grass-stalks and moss, and the lining of fine bents, wool, and horsehair. As is well-known the name of Butcher-bird has been given to this species owing to the habit which it has, in common with other Shrikes, of impaling its prey upon thorns, in order, it is said, more readily to tear them to pieces : * per- * Considerinjj that ni}- bird swallowed five of the largest cockroaches I could find in succession, without even dismembering them, I think this explanation can hardly be founded on fact: its swallowing capacity is extraordinary, and one wonders, not only how it can get the food down its throat, but where it manages to stow it all away. The Red-Backed Shrike. " sonally I have never found any of its victims in this unpleasant condition, but hundreds of observers have done so.* Its food consists of insects, young and old birds (even up to its own size) lizards, and mice : it seizes its prey suddenly, dropping upon it when unsuspecting an attack ; for, although a migratory bird, the Red-backed Shrike is not verj^ powerful on the wing. The note of alarm and anger, as already hinted, is a harsh chack or char, the call-note a harsh chirp, but the song, though short, is very pleasing. Herr Mathias Rausch says (Gefiederte Welt, 1891, p. 446) " The best singer and mocker among the rapacious birds is acknowledged to be the Red-backed Shrike or Thorn-piercer (Lanius collurioj . He is also the commonest and most widely distributed of all, inasmuch as he may be found in a wild state throughout nearly the whole of Europe. Especially good and varied singers are, however, only to be met with in regions rich in birds. I have already owned Red-backed Shrikes, which copied the Nightingale, the Golden Oriole, the Quail, the Blackcap, the Garden Warbler, the Icterine Warbler, the Meadow-, and Tree-Pipits, and Song- Thrush perfectly, and portions of the songs of other birds tolerably well. The only pity is that the voice of this bird is so weak, that it is unable to reproduce the song of many other cage-birds kept at the same time, but it always repays one to tend and care for this songster as a cage-bird ; moreover it is easily and cheaply secured, and also kept alive without difficulty. This bird, however, should especially be secured by such aviculturists as cannot put up with too loud a bird-song, and who make a point of not keeping several birds on account of their dissimilarity of song, for by its song they will at once be satisfied in both respects." Of course this savage though pretty bird should never be turned into an aviary, as it would undoubtedly murder and devour its companions, even though as large as itself ; a flight cage, therefore, is the most suitable home for it : the staple food should consist of ^%%, pieces of cheese, with the addition of minced raw meat, cockroaches, or other insects, and occasionally a dead mouse or bird : indeed the food for all the Shrikes should be almost exactly the same as for most of the Corvina, but somewhat less varied ; because many of the latter eat fruit, nuts, grain, and even acorns, greedily, as well as the usual soft food. It is best to rear this species from the nest ; for then it is supposed to become very tame and confiding ; my brief experience of the bird, caught when quite young, and given to me on the 12th August, 1896, is that it is as wild as an}' adult bird, and cuts itself all to pieces in its incessant efforts to force its way • The Rev. H. A. Macphersoii infomis nie, however, that he has observed both the present species and the Woodchat, and Great Gre)- Shrikes, when engaged in devouring insects piecemeal. He has kept all three species in captivity, and is intimately acquainted with their habits in a state of freedom. " British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs through the wires of its prison ; from the nature of its food its cage needs constant cleaning, otherwise it smells abominably ; its note of rage, char, char, is frequently uttered, but nothing else. As it will not now learn its natural song, a few good performers such as the Nightingale, Blackcap, Skylark, Grey Singing-finch, or the Pekin Nightingale, should be kept in cages near by ; in order that it may study their notes. One advantage in this bird is — that however wild it may be, and however intolerable the odour of its cage may be, the bird always appears to enjoy robust health. Even if one is ill, and perchance no fresh food is supplied to this bird for twenty-four hours, he makes no trouble of that, but only attacks his food more vigorously when the opportunity comes. Moreover, having by foolish behaviour so reduced his wings that he cannot reach his perch, he contentedly passes the night on a box in a corner. These are redeeming points in his character. Family— LANIIDAi. The Woodchat Shrike. I^anins povieranus, Sparrm. HOWARD SAUNDERS obsen^es that "On the Continent the Woodchat breeds as far to the north-east as the line of the Baltic and the valley of the Vistula, beyond which it is of accidental occurrence ; while southward it is generally distributed throughout Europe, and in the countries bordering on the Mediterranean is very abundant. Even there, however, it is only a visitor ; arriving about the end of March, or early in April, and leaving again between August and October. Eastward it breeds in South Russia, Turkey, Asia Minor, Palestine, and Persia; while in winter it occurs in Arabia, and down the East African coast to about 5° N. lat., also on the west side to the Gambia and the Gold Coast. Through- o *o m 5 en H < I o The Woodchat Shrike. 13 out Northern Africa it is abundant in summer, arriving from the southern side of the Sahara in March." To Great Britain this species is an irregular straggler, and principally on migration ; nevertheless about thirty examples have been obtained in various parts of England, chiefly in the southern and eastern counties, and, on two occasions, it has been recorded as breeding at Freshwater, in the Isle of Wight. The adult male has the middle of the forehead, front of crown, lores, ear- coverts, sides of neck, and back black ; an elongated white spot above each nostril ; crown and nape bright chestnut ; lower back grey, shading into whitish on the rump and upper tail-coverts ; wings black, the coverts and secondaries tipped with white, the primaries white at the base ; tail black, tipped with white, the two outermost feathers white at the base, and with white outer web ; the under surface white, the flanks washed with buff"; bill black; feet dark brown; iris hazel. The female is duller in colouring than the male, the black parts sufl"used with rufous. The young are russet-brown, streaked and spotted above with dark brown and whitish, the wing-feathers broadly bordered and tipped with rufous ; the tail also tipped with rufous, the outermost feathers pale ; under surface heavily barred with brown ; bill yellowish horn brown ; feet darker horn brown. Like the Red-backed Shrike, this species haunts chiefly open or thinly timbered country ; but in Algeria, from what Dixon says, it appears to frequent the open spaces in forests of evergreen oak ; and Lord Lilford observes (Birds of North- amptonshire, Vol. I, p. 78) " In Southern Spain, where the Woodchat is a very common summer visitor, it is to be met with in all sorts of localities — the outskirts of woods, olive-groves, gardens, and occasionally the great open treeless plains, where the tall thistles alone offer it a perch or look-out station. In general habits it much resembles the Red-backed Shrike, but so far as I know does not attack small birds, which show no fear of it as the}' do of the former bird." Seebohm, speaking of the food of the Woodchat, says that it " is composed of beetles, grasshoppers, and many other insects, which, like the other Shrikes, it will spit on thorns for the purpose of securing them until they are eaten. As already remarked, it will also feed on small birds and mammals. It is often seen on the wing, like a Flycatcher ; and when the capture of an insect is made it returns to its old perching place, ever watchful for an object for a fresh sally into the air." The nest of this species is placed in the fork of a low tree ; it is formed of coarse bents and grasses, sometimes intermingled with cudweed CGnaphaliwiiJ and wool ; the lining is either formed of fine grasses and moss, or of the flowers of cudweed mixed with a few leaves and a little vegetable wool. The eggs number Vol. II. D u British Birds with their Nests and Eggs. from four to six, usually five, and somewhat resemble those of the Red-backed Shrike, but are usually slightly larger; the reddish variety which, in the better known species, is local but not uncommon, is very rarely met with in eggs of L. />offieranus. Speaking of the Woodchat in Malta, Mr. C. A. Wright (Ibis, 1894, p. 59) says : — " Perched on the uppermost twig of some tree, its shining white breast forms one of the most conspicuous objects in the ornithological landscape in April. On the first appearance of danger, it flies off to another and more distant tree, and, taking up a similarly elevated position, scans the countrj^ round till the danger which had excited its alarm has passed away. It builds here in May and June, constructing a compact and well-formed nest in the fork of a carob or almond-tree. Its affection for, and the courage it displays in the protection of, its young are remarkable. Wary as it is at other times, on these occasions it seems to lose all fear ; uttering piercing cries, it will fly close round the head of the intruder, and actually make a feint of dashing in his face." Howard Saunders says : — "The note usually heard is a harsh kra/i kack krak ; but the male has also a low and rather pretty song in spring, and shows great capacity for imitating the notes of other birds." Seebohm observes : — " Its song is by no means unmusical, and very gentle to proceed from such raptorial jaws.* It reminded me very much of the twittering of a Swallow, or the warble of a Starling. Some of its call-notes, however, are loud and harsh enough ; and I at first thought it was imitating the notes of other birds, in order to attract them within reach ; but inasmuch as the greater number of notes it apparently imitated were of birds far too powerful for it to grapple with, such cannot be the case." Dixon says that he " met with this species (in Algeria) in all parts of the country wherever the vegetation was sufficient to afford it shelter." Herr Mathias Rausch says of the Woodchat Shrike, that in many regions it is somewhat rare, and it costs a good deal of trouble to obtain a good bird. "It sings louder than the Red-backed, or the Lesser Grey Shrike, has moreover a certain roughness in its voice, which somewhat detracts from its imitations, and thus prejudices their distinctness." Possibl}^ it was this which led Seebohm to think that the cries of this species were imitations of rapacious birds. The mimicry practised by the Woodchat must, however, be fairly good, inasmuch as it was noticed even in Bechstein's time ; as pointed out by Charles Witchell (Evolution of Bird song, p. 174). Herr Rausch considers that, as a cage bird, the Woodchat belongs to the * In this respect it does not stand alone : the song of the S. American Pileated Jay is almost as gentle as that of a Mannikin, whilst his cries are shrill, harsh, or gruff. — A. G. B. The Waxwing. 15 second order of merit (Gefiederte Welt, 1891, p. 499). Although rarer than the Red-backed Shrike, there is not the least doubt that its song is neither so pure, nor so perfect in its imitative power ; and, when one has to keep a species in a separate cage, on account of its domineering, spiteful, or even dangerous character, it is most satisfactor}' to get something in exchange for the extra trouble required to preserv'e it in health : therefore, if I already possessed Lanitis collurio, I certainly should not covet its rarer relative. In contradiction to the statement of Mr. C. A. Wright respecting the shyness of the Woodchat, excepting when defending its young. Lord Lilford's observations are interesting ; for he states that the " Woodchat is a very familiar and fearless bird, and seems often to prefer the vicinity of human habitations for its nest. In all its habits this Shrike seems to me to approach closely to the Flycatchers." Seebohm also says of Z. pomeranus (which, however, in common with most Ornith- ologists, he calls L. ru/us) "It is not a wary bird, and, with due precaution, may be quite closely approached." It is therefore probable that this species would not be difficult to tame, if kindly treated. FAMILY AMPELID^. FORMERLY this constituted a fairly large group, including even such distinct looking birds as the members of the genus Liothrix, birds moreover which, in their habits, nearly resemble our Accentors : I believe, however, that the relation- ship of Liothrix to Accentor is now recognized. Jerdon even included the Tits, as well as the White-eyes and Accentors, in the same family. Seebohm, who only admitted one family for the Passeres, necessarilj' regarded the present group as a Subfamily " consisting of birds having the wing of a Starling, the foot of a Shrike, and a bill intermediate between that of a Shrike and a Swallow. They are probably most nearly allied to the Shrikes and the Starlings : from the former they may at once be distinguished by the minuteness of their bastard primary, their short tarsus, and their nearly obsolete rictal bristles. Ornithologists are perhaps justified in placing them in a distinct Subfamily, in r6 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. consequence of the shortness of their tarsus, their shorter, wider, and notched beak, and the presence of small bristles which cover the nostrils " (Hist. British Birds, Vol. IL, p. i). Although the species of Ainpclis have somewhat the flight of a Starling, the}- build open nests in the branches of trees ; and, in their actions, somewhat resemble Tits. In all probability they are more nearly related to the Shrikes than to any other group of British birds ; but they are not predaceous like that murderous family, being insectivorous and frugivorous, and they appear to have little idea of song. Of late years Waxwings have been somewhat largely kept as cage birds ; but, in spite of their beauty, thej' are anything but pleasing pets, their lack of vocal merit, and their greediness, which results in a perpetual dirty condition of their cages, are great drawbacks. Family— AMPELWyE. The Waxwing. Avipelis garrulus, LiNN. AN abiindant though irregular winter visitor to our islands, the Waxwing, says Seebohm, " is almost a circumpolar bird, breeding in the pine regions of both hemispheres at or near the Arctic circle." " Throughoiit Central Europe it is a tolerably regular winter visitor. It occurs accidentally on Heligoland, and occasionally strays as far west as France, and as far south as Lombard}' and Turkej-, but has not yet been recorded from Spain or Greece. It winters in South Siberia, occasionally straying as far as Turkestan, Mongolia, North China, and the north island of Japan. In America its winter range extends as far south as Lakes Michigan and Erie ; but it appears to be only an accidental straggler further east, and it is doubtful if it has ever occurred west of the Rocky IVIountains." Waxwing i 2 The Waxwinc. 17 In Great Britain the Waxwing has been most frequently met with in the northern and eastern counties; Mr. Frohawk tells me that in the winter of 1867-8 a flock of seven visited a small plantation at Brisley, in Norfolk ; but in England it has from time to time been observed in almost every count}', whilst in Ireland it has been but rarel}' obtained ; its visits to Scotland have been tolerablj' frequent, extending even to the islands of Skye, Orkney, and Shetland, but it has not been recorded from the Outer Hebrides. The upper surface of the adult male Waxwing is pale rosy-brown, graduall}' changing to ash-grey on the rump and upper tail-coverts, and into chestnut on the sides of the crest and forehead ; a narrow frontal band, the lores, and a streak from the back of the eye black ; wings and tail almost black, the wing-coverts, the inner webs of the primaries, and outer webs of the secondaries tipped with white, the latter tipped with wax-like vermilion points, the outside webs of the primaries tipped with yellow, joining the white tips of the inner webs so as to fonn V-like markings ; tail feathers broadly tipped with yellow ; under surface rosy-brown, shading into chestnut on the cheeks ; a white streak at the base of the lower mandible ; front of throat and chin black ; centre of belly whitish ; under tail- coverts chestnut ; bill and feet black ; iris hazel. The female is slightly duller, usuall}^ without the white tips to the inner webs of the primaries, and with smaller wax-like terminations to the secondaries ; the tips of the tail-feathers somewhat narrower. The young are browner, and have no black on the throat. This species appears in the breeding-season to haimt the more open portions of forests of conifers and birch, but chiefly woods of pine, or larch, nesting in colonies. The nest is a large open cup-shaped structure built upon the branch of a tree, upon a foundation of twigs and reindeer moss, composed principallj- of black hair-lichen, interwoven with slender twigs, bark, moss, and feathers, the latter appearing most prominently in the lining. The eggs usually number from five to six, rarely seven, and are described b}- Professor Newton, who owns the greater part of the large series acquired by John Wolley (the discoverer of the breeding-grounds of this species) as " delicate sea-green, sometimes fading to French white, but often of a more or less pale olive, and occasionally of a dull purplish grey. On this are almost always bold blotches, spots, and specks of deep brownish black, though sometimes the edges are blurred. Beneath these stronger markings there is nearly always a series of blotches or streaks of greyish lilac, and among them well-defined spots or specks of yellowish brown are interspersed. In some eggs the darkest markings are quite wanting, in others the ground is of a deep olive colour." According to Seebohm, who, in 1867, kept a pair of this species in a cage. i8 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs " They were remarkably silent birds ; the only note I heard was a cir-ir-ir-ir-re, very similar to a well-known note of the Blue-Tit. Occasionally this succession of notes was repeated so rapidly as to form a trill like the song of the Redpole." In the summer time the Waxwing appears to be largely, if not wholly insecti- vorous, crane-flies seeming to constitute its favourite food ; but later in the year it devours great quantities of berries of juniper, privet, guelder-rose, as well as hips and haws : it is especially fond of mistletoe berries. In the winter, when Waxwings are very fat, they are said to be greatly esteemed by the Russians as an article of food. Lord Lilford, in his " Birds of Northamptonshire," speaks of " the chatter of a party of Waxwings passing overhead whilst we were inspecting my aviary in the pleasure-grounds at Lilford," and he adds — " I am well acquainted with the note of the Waxwing from having kept many of them in confinement, a proceeding which I cannot recommend, as they have no merit whatever except their beauty, being dull, quarrelsome, greedy, and filthy to an incredible degree, and in most instances dying from plethora after a short captivity. Hips and haws, currants, raisins (in fact, small fruits of all kinds) are voraciously devoured by these birds, and appear to be their favourite food, but they will also eat chopped meat, hard- boiled &gg, hemp-seed, bread-crumbs, carrots, potatoes, and ants' eggs; they drink a great deal, but seldom wash, and I have more than once seen a Waxwing delib- erately eat its own faeces, though it was abundantly supplied with many varieties of food ; none of these birds ever became tame with me, and I shall certainly never buy any of them again." Seebohm gives them much the same character: — "They were most voracious eaters, and the cage required cleaning several times a day. They were very active and restless, and even when perched at rest seemed to be continually moving their heads. If alarmed they would stretch out their necks to almost double the usual length." On the other hand Swaysland (Cassell's Cage-birds, p. 340) says : — " It is easily tamed, and in the aviary is docile and quiet. It should be fed upon German paste, sponge-cake, a little hard-boiled ^gg, Juniper berries, soaked grocers' currants, or any other soft-skinned fruit." I think it quite likely that, associated with birds of its own size in an aviary, the Waxwing would become far more easily reconciled to captivity, would eat less, bathe more frequently, and keep in better health, than in a cage : moreover, I should certainly not recommend either raw meat or grocers' currants to be given to it as articles of food. The Spotted Flycatcher. 19 FAMILY MUSCICAPID^. THIS large family of birds was not even regarded by Seebohm as a distinct Subfamily, but was included by him in the TurdincB ; yet it forms a very characteristic group : the bills of Flycatchers are somewhat flattened and broad at the base, compressed and somewhat curved towards the point ; the rictal bristles which, in insectivorous birds serve to prevent the escape of winged insects from the base of the bill, are very strongly developed, and numerous in this family. The Flycatchers, as their name indicates, are rapid flyers, and consequently have long pointed wings ; their eyes also are large and full ; they perch mostly on trees, very rarely descending to the earth ; their feet, as might be anticipated, are small, the middle toe being considerably longer than the lateral ones. The nests of the Flycatchers are open, and more or less cup-shaped in character ; they are frequently placed in holes or crevices in trees, rocks, or walls ; but some of the species build upon thick branches, or even in the forks of branches ; the eggs of the different species vary considerably in character, some being heavily spotted, and others spotless.* The flight is undulating ; the song low-pitched, and not of great merit ; the food consists mainly of insects, but is supplemented occasionally by a little fruit. Formerly the limits of this group of birds were much more extended than at present ; Jerdon even included the Blue-throats, and expressed it as his opinion that the Tyrants of the New World belonged to the family : Seebohm observed that — " The Flycatchers inhabit the Palaearctic, Oriental, and Ethiopian Regions, extending southwards to the Moluccas, but not occurring in the Australian Region. Four species are found in Europe, of which two breed in the British Islands, and one is an accidental visitor." The latter, at the time when the " British Birds " appeared, had only occurred here three times, but of late years other examples have been obtained. • The little New World genus Polioptila, referred by Dr. Sclater to this family, is said to build in bushes, and to lay white eggs. » British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. Family— MUSCICAPID^. The Spotted Flycatcher. Muscicapa grisola, LiNN. HOWARD SAUNDERS states that this species "breeds as far north as Tromso, in Norway, and Archangel, in Riissia ; while southward it is tolerably abundant throughout Europe, nesting down to the northern shores of the Mediterranean ; also on the African side, and in Asia Minor, Palestine, Persia, Turkestan, and Siberia as far as Irkutsk. In winter it visits India, Arabia, and Africa to the Cape of Good Hope." In Great Britain the Spotted Flycatcher breeds in suitable localities in every county, but in England and Wales it is far more abundant, and more generally distributed than in Scotland and Ireland : its distribution in the latter island is certainly local, and it is probable that some counties are unsuited to its requirements. The colouring of this bird is decidedly sombre, its upper surface being brown, slightly paler and with dark shaft-streaks on the crown ; the wings and tail darker brown, with paler margins to the wing-coverts and secondaries : its under surface is greyish white ; the breast and flanks slightly buff brownish, and streaked with brown, as also is the throat ; bill dark brown ; feet black ; iris dark hazel. The female resembles the male. The young have buff" centres to the feathers of the upper surface, whilst the wing-coverts, secondaries, and tail-coverts are tipped with this colour. The Spotted Flycatcher haunts the outskirts of woods, high hedges on the borders of parks and pleasure-grounds, plantations of hazel, orchards, and gardens, and in such places it breeds, usually placing its nest either in a slight depression in the branch of a tree, frequently near the trunk, or on the branch of a fruit-tree trained against a wall ; it has, however, been known to build in crevices of the bark of old trees, in trellis-work overgrown with creepers, and I have taken the nest from the hollow top of a tree stump, from a tall hawthorn hedge, and one in my collection was taken from a narrow hole in a wall.* The form of the nest varies in accordance with its surroundings ; if placed upon a branch or in the top • It is said also to have been found anions roots overhanging water, and in metal ijutters on roofs of houses. Spotted Flycatcher i The Spotted Flycatcher. 2' of a hedge it is circular, if on a fruit-branch trained against a wall, semicircular, and the nest which I obtained from a hole in a wall was of the exact shape of a small slipper ; the materials of the nest also vary somewhat, but they generally consist of twigs and roots, or fine grasses, mixed with a quantity of green moss interwoven with spiders' webs, and lined with fine grass, hair, and sometimes two or three feathers. The eggs vary in number from three to six, five being the most usual number, the ground colour being frequently pale pea-green, but sometimes bluish- white, blotched, zoned, mottled or spotted with various depths of ferruginous red- brown ; when the mottling is very dense the egg, excepting in its inferior size and narrower shape, somewhat reminds one of that of the Robin, and when the markings are chiefly represented by a zone near the larger end, it vaguely suggests that of the Greenfinch. The Spotted Flycatcher rarely reaches us before May ; but, nevertheless is in no huny to go to nest ; the earliest date at which I have taken its eggs was on the 30th of that month, and they are rarely obtained before June. As proof that birds are sometimes unable to recognize their own eggs, the following fact (already recorded in my Handbook of British Oology) is of interest : On the 4th June, 1878, I removed three eggs from a rather small nest of the Spotted Flycatcher formed in the hollow top of a tree stump in a small plantation of hazels. I substituted three hazel-nuts for the eggs, and these completely filled the cavity of the nest. On the 8th of June I returned and found the hen sitting ; she had ejected one of the hazel-nuts to make room for a fourth egg. Respecting the notes of this species, Seebohm says : — " It is very widely and popularh- believed that the Spotted Flycatcher is not gifted with any powers of song ; but this is an error. His song is heard but rarely, it is true, and is uttered in such a low tone as to be scarcely heard a few 3-ards away. It is given forth both when the bird is sitting at rest and when fluttering in the air after insects. It consists of a few rambling notes, not unlike part of the Whinchat's song. The monotonous call-note may perhaps be best expressed by the letters -/, 3/ ; it is uttered in rapid succession from one perching-place, and every now and then the tail is jerked to and fro with graceful motion. Sometimes a second syllable is added to the call-note, which then sounds like zt-chickT I think that Seebohm is incorrect in this last statement: in 1894 I had a family of young Spotted Flycatchers in m}- garden for over a week, and I found that their call to their parents was zt-chkk, and the answer of the parents was zi. I never heard an adult bird use the longer call. The food of the Spotted Flycatcher in the summer months consists of insects, spiders, and centipedes, but in the autumn it is said to eat the berries of the Vol. II. E *a British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. mountain-ash : much of its food is obtained on the wing, either by repeated sallies into the air, by hawking low down over the meadows, or hovering in front of old walls, or manure heaps. As this species rarely has eggs before the beginning of June, and usually leaves this country in September, it is not surprising that it is single-brooded. Mr. Gurney's experience of the perseverance with which this species adheres to a building site was published many years since in the " Zoologist " ; but never- theless is sufficiently interesting to bear repeating here ; he says : — " About the end of June last, a Spotted Flycatcher began to build a nest over the door of the lodge at the entrance of my grounds. The woman who lives in the lodge, not wishing the bird to build there, destroyed the commencement of the nest ; every day for a week the bird placed new materials on the same ledge over the door, and every day the woman removed them, and, at the end of the week, placed a stone on the ledge, which effectually baffled the Flycatcher's efforts at that spot ; but the bird then began building at the latter end of the ledge, from whence it was also driven, and three stones being then placed on the ledge, the bird relin- quished the attempt to build at either end of it, and commenced building a nest on a beech-tree opposite, which it completed, and laid two eggs in it. When the bird was thus apparentl}' established in the beech-tree, the stones over the door were taken away, when the Flycatcher immediately forsook its nest and eggs in the beech, and again commenced building over the door on the part of the pro- jecting ledge, which it had first chosen. The nest was again destroyed, and two slates placed over the spot ; the bird contrived to throw down one of the slates from a slanting to a horizontal position, and then began to build upon it. The nest was again destroyed, and the three stones replaced and kept there a fortnight, after which they were again removed, and, directly they were taken away, the bird again began building. The nest was subsequently destroyed several times in succession ; the bird was twice driven away by a towel being thrown at it ; a stone wrapped in white paper was placed on the ledge to intimidate it, but the Flj^catcher still persevered, completed a nest, and laid an egg. On hearing the circumstances I directed that the persecution of the poor bird should cease, after which it laid two more eggs, hatched all three, and successfully brought off its brood." Some years since a young Spotted Flycatcher was brought to me ; it had flown against a lamp, was temporarily stunned, and a lad picked it up without difficulty. I tried to keep it, but it refused to feed, as most birds do after they have left the nest, and, although I forced it to eat, it died the next day : perhaps I lost nothing by the death of this bird ; for the Flycatchers are not especially suited to cage or aviary life, are neither attractive in plumage or song, and are ^. ^ !^ ^^"—-00 Pied Flycatcher i ? The Pied Flycatcher. 23 said to be delicate and difficult to keep in health. If reared from the nest they would doubtless eat the usual soft food, but I should expect them to follow the example of the Hiriindinida, eat to repletion and take little exercise. They have been kept, but it may be questioned whether it is worth the trouble.* Family— MUSCICAPID^. The Pied Flycatcher. Muscicapa atricapilla, lylNN. RESPECTING the distribution of this species outside Great Britain, one cannot do better than quote Howard Saunders :■ — " A wanderer to the Faeroes, the Pied Flycatcher breeds regularly up to 69° N. lat. in Scandinavia, 65° in Finland, and about 60° in Northern Russia to the Ural Mountains ; south- ward, in suitable wooded localities, throughout the greater part of Europe, down to the centre of Spain ; and eastward as far as Palestine ; while it has been met with in Northern Persia. In Algeria it is said to be a resident species, its migrations extending to the Canaries, and down the west side of Africa to the Gambia, as well as on the east side to Egypt." In Great Britain this species is far rarer, and much more local than the Spotted Flycatcher, but especially during the breeding season : although nests have from time to time been obtained in many of the southern counties of England, it principally affects the western counties, Wales, and the north, but more partic- ularly the Lake district. In Scotland, and especially in the northern counties, it is considerably rarer than in England, and in Ireland it has been very seldom met with. The adult male in breeding-plumage has the upper parts black, greyer on the * In 1887, 1895, and 1896 examples were exhibited at the annual Crystal Palace Show. 24 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. rump, and browner on the wings ; the forehead, central coverts, outer borders of secondaries, and under parts white ; bill and feet black ; iris dark brown. The female differs from the male in the browner colouring of the upper parts, and all the white areas with a huffish stain. The male after its autumn moult more nearly approaches the female, inasmuch as the black colouring becomes brownish. Young in nestling plumage have the upper parts spotted with buff, and the under parts with dark brown. The Pied Flycatcher arrives on our coasts towards the end of April, and the first eggs ma}' usually be obtained by about the middle of the following month, although some pairs nidificate several weeks later. Unlike its relative the Spotted Flycatcher, it always nests in a hole, either in a tree, a rock, wall, or bridge, (especially when built over water) ; deserted nesting-holes of Woodpeckers or Tits are sometimes iitilized : it haitnts groves of oak, beech, aspen, or chestnut, in preference to dense wood ; although, according to Dixon, it may sometimes be met with in the latter sitiiation. Lord Lilford says that " the nest is generally situated in the hole of a pollard, willow, or other tree, often in an old wall ; in fact, ver}^ much in the sort of localit}- that we should look for a nest of the Common Red- start." The nest is somewhat loosely constructed of dry bents, rootlets, and a little moss ; the lining being formed of wool, feathers, and sometimes hair. The eggs vary in number from four to eight, five to six being usual. As Lord Lilford observes " Yarrell records an instance of eight in a nest, but, from my acquaintance with this species in Spain, I should consider that number as very exceptional." The colouring is always a very pale blue and unspotted, there is a slight variation in depth of tint, but otherwise the only modifications in the eggs of this bird are in size and outline, depending miich upon the age and condition of health of the parent bird. W. Warde Fowler in his charming " Summer Studies of Birds and Books," gives a most delightfxil account of the Pied Flycatcher, which is well worth quoting in full, if only space would permit ; but I must content myself with an extract : — " On the Continent I have always seen him in just such places as he loves in Wales, among the larger timber of a Swiss mountain-side, or on the forest slopes of the Taunus range. Just as the trout loves swiftly-running streams, or as the Wood-wren is sure to be heard where the oak is the prevailing tree, so there are certain spots which you instinctively feel that this bird oiight to have chosen for his habitation, and if you are in the right district you may fairly lay a wager that he will be found there. Such a spot, on the edge of the beech forests of Wiesbaden, will always remain in very clear outline in my memory, for it was The Pied Flycatcher as there I first heard the song of this bird. It is verj' seldom now that I hear a song that is quite new to me. If it were not that so many of our songsters sing all too short a time, and that when the}' tune up one by one for the orchestra of the spring season each instrument touches the ear with the fresh delight of recog- nition, I might feel as much at the end of mj' tether as the mountaineer who has no more peaks to climb. But this song was not only new, but wonderfull)- sweet and striking. ' Something like a Redstart's ' say the books, and this is not untrue, so far as it represents the outward form, so to speak, of the song — the quickness or shortness of notes, the rapid variations of pitch. But no one who has once accustomed his ear to the ver^- peculiar timbre of the voice of either kind of Red- start will mistake for it the song of the Pied Flycatcher. My notes, taken on the spot, and before I had seen any other description of it, recall the song to my memory — the short notes at the beginning, the rather fragmentary and hesitating character of the strain, and the little coda or finish, which reminded me of the Chaffinch, but all this will have no meaning to m}' readers. There is but one way of learning a bird's song, and that is by listening to it in solitude again and again, until you have associated it in your mind, with the form, and habits, and haunts of the singer." Gatke states that the Pied Flycatcher " visits Heligoland in larger numbers than any of its near relatives. It is especiall}- abundant during the autumn migration, returning from its nesting quarters as early as the beginning of August, if the weather is fine and warm, and the wind from the south or south-east." Why this bird should migrate before scarcity of food or cold compel it to do so, it is difficult to understand ; probably the tendency has been inherited, and points back to some remote period when the summers of Europe were of short duration. The food of this species consists largely of insects, but it rarely, if ever, pursues them in the air like the Spotted Flycatcher, preferring to watch from the end of a branch, and pounce suddenly down upon them ; it is not therefore sur- prising that among the pellets of undigested matter ejected by this, as by other insectivorous birds, wing-cases of small beetles predominate ; it is, however, said to pick flies and gnats from leaves upon which they have settled, and to eat worms. Later in the year, as currants, raspberries, elderberries, etc., become ripe, the Pied Flycatcher is said to add them to its dietarj\ Far more beautiful than its Spotted relative, and with a much better idea of music, it is no wonder that, where opportunity offers, this species is prized as a cage-bird ; yet I have never seen one exhibited in England ; though in Gemianj' the Pied Flycatcher has put in an appearance at the exhibitions of the "Omis" Society. Being so much more local in Great Britain than the Spotted Fh'catcher, 26 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. this species is much less frequently obtained at the right age for hand-rearing ; when once obtained, however, Swaysland assures us that it is far more easy to keep than the commoner species, and may be turned either into cage or aviary, and fed in the same way as Warblers, or as the Nightingale. Doubtless the food recommended for M. grisola by Mr. Louis Bonhote (Avicultural Magazine, Vol. I, p. 58) would answer equally well for this species ; he says : — " In captivity, they should be fed on ants' eggs, and hard-boiled eggs, mixed in equal parts, and as many mealworms as their keeper can afford to give them. They become very tame, and will rise in the air and catch mealworms as they are thrown to them. In catching a mealworm, they leave the perch and hover in the air, waiting for the mealwonn to drop, and catch it as it passes them ; if they should miss it, they follow it closely and catch it as soon as it reaches the ground." The Pied Fly- catcher would probably do the latter every time. Family— MUSCICAPIDAL. The Red-Breasted Flycatcher. Muscicapa parva, Bechst. i WITH respect to the distribution of this species, Seebohm informs us that it " breeds in Germany, Austria, and South Russia as far north as the Baltic Provinces, arriving during the latter end of April, or early in May, and departing again in August or September. Its occurrence in Western Europe is only accidental." " Loche says that it is found in Algeria, where it may be a rare winter visitor. It passes through Transylvania, Turkey, Greece, and Asia Minor on migration, and winters in Nubia." " It breeds in the Caucasus, and winters in Persia." His further remarks tend to show that it passes through Turkestan on migration, occurs in the Baikal district, has been obtained in Kam- schatka, and winters in North India and South China. Up to the date of the publication of Vol. I. of Seebohm's " History of British Red-Breasted Flycatcher i The Red-Breasted Flycatcher. , »7 Birds" in 1883, four examples had been shot, and a fifth seen in Great Britain; the first specimen, a female, was killed near Falmouth, on January 24tli, 1863 ; the second and third were shot, or caught on Trescoe, in the Scilly Isles, in October of the same year; and a fourth was shot on the 5th November, 1865. On October the 5th, of 1883, too late to be included by Seebohm, a male was shot at Benvick- on-Tweed, and on October 23rd, 1887, a j'oung bird was picked up on Arklow (South) light-ship, near Wexford : since that time other specimens have been obtained: the specimens recorded up to the end of 1890, being thus summed up by Mr. J. H. Gumey (" Zoologist," 1891, p. 136) :■ — "On September 13th, a female Red-breasted Flycatcher, Muscicapa parva, Bechstein, was shot at Cley bj' Mr. Ogilvie, the eighth on record, Cornwall being accredited with four, Ireland one, Berwickshire one, and Yorkshire one, which last was shot at Scarborough, October 23rd, 1889, the same day of the month as the Irish example in 1887." It would therefore appear that this little Flycatcher is likely to occur, especially late in the autumn, upon our coasts ; and, inasmuch as one example has thereby lost its life, upon an average, nearly every three years (taking the dates from 1863 to 1890), the importance of admitting the species into the present work will be recognized. This elegant little species has a curious resemblance to our Robin, and Seebohm expresses the opinion that it is " a connecting-link between the Robins and the Flycatchers " ; his description of the bird is so satisfactory^ that, in the present instance, I shall quote it in full : — " The Red-breasted Fl3xatcher has the general colour of the upper parts, except the crown, nape, and sides of the head and neck which are bluish-grey, olive-brown ; central tail-feathers blackish-brown, the outer ones white at base, and broadly tipped with blackish-brown ; throat and breast orange-chestnut ; rest of underparts white, suffused on the flanks and under tail- coverts with buff; beak brown, paler at the base; irides hazel; legs, toes, and claws dark brown. The female in general colouration resembles the male, except that the rich orange-chestnut throat is replaced by buff, and the bluish-grey is wanting on the head and sides of the neck. Males of the year scarcely differ from the female, and breed in the following spring in immature plumage fM. viinutaj. In the second year the chestnut appears on the throat fAI. UucuraJ ; in the third year the chestnut appears on the upper breast fM. parvaj ; and in the fourth year it extends also on to the lower breast" (M. hypcrythraj . "Young in first plumage are spotted on the breast and upper parts, as in all the allied species." I believe that this is by no means the only species which has received a different name for each plumage : I have alread}' noted * that examples of Mutiia • Foreign Finches in Captivitj', p. 249. 28 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. atricapilla which I received in young plumage in 1887, did not acquire the distinc- tive black ventral band until the second moult ; but a more curious change occurred in the spring of 1896, when one of my old examples of Quelea qiielea assumed the breeding-plumage of Q. riissi, the black mask being wholly lost. This species appears to be more essentially a forest-haunting bird than our other Flycatchers, breeding in beech-woods, and only visiting gardens in their vicinity. The song is said by Seebohm to be very unobtrusive and intermediate between those of the Robin and Redstart, and he describes the alarm-note as pink, pink, pink, something like the spink of a Chaffinch ; probably Naumann's call-note of this species is the same sound, and he expresses it "/Hid, /Hid," I therefore have no doubt that the true rendering of the note would be '' phtvick" or "phwit" ; for no ChaiiEnch ever had a note the least bit like spink or pink, and /, not d, is one of the terminal sounds in bird-notes : Dr. A. Walter, according to Gatke, describes the call as a rattling sound, but doubtless the latter would be a scolding note. In its actions the Red-breasted Flycatcher resembles our other species, some- times it pursues its prey in the air, but sometimes it picks them from the trunk of a tree : in addition to insects it also eats small fruits. The nest is usvially placed in a beech-tree, either in a cavity, in trunk, or branch, or against the trunk, supported by outgrowing twigs ; in form it is a somewhat deep cup, formed of moss, a few fragments of lichen, and a few soft feathers ; the lining of fine bents and hairs. The number of the eggs varies from five to seven, bluish-green, more or less mottled or speckled with rusty-brown, sometime so densely as almost to conceal the ground-colour, and with greyish-brown shell-markings : in character they are intermediate between those of the Spotted Flycatcher and the Robin. This bird is said to be almost as pugnacious as a Robin ; therefore it would be well to use caution in associating it with other species in an aviary. As a cage-bird it has been both kept and exhibited in Germany, and if reared from the nest would doubtless be very tame and make a most attractive pet, feeding readily on the usual soft food; Seebohm, however, states that "birds of this species in confinement feed upon the common house-fly with great avidity, preferring it to any artificial food." Doubtless this statement is correct, but it would be quite out of the question to attempt to feed this, or any other bird upon flies alone. The Swallow. 39 ■ FAMILY HIRUNDINID^. SEEBOHM widely dissevers the Swallows from the Flycatchers, placing them immediately after the Buntings ; possibly because of the fact that they only possess nine primaries: he says that they "are distinguished by their long pointed wings, slender, wide bills, and small legs and feet. They have no bastard primary, and the second primary is generally the longest. The tarsus is scutellated in front, and the tail is generally forked. The most marked feature in the Swallows is that they have no autumn moult, their new dress being assumed in February." The broad bill, small feet, and long pointed wings of the Swallows, appear to me to show some afhnity to the Flycatchers ; whilst I find that Hemichelidon fuli- ginosus, which Jerdon placed among the most typical Flycatchers of India, is said to have "very much the aspect of a Swallow, both in colour and structure" (Birds of India, Vol. I, p. 458). That certainly seems a hardly natural classification, which interposes the whole of the Crows, Waxwings, Starlings, and Finches, between two groups of birds so similar in their methods of feeding, and so eminently fitted for an aerial existence as the Flycatchers and Swallows. The HirundinidcE constitute a large, interesting, and widely distributed family of very beautiful birds ; their nests, familiar to everyone, are triumphs of skill and perseverance ; and, as regards our three British species, show good distinctive features. Although it would hardly be supposed that Swallows were suitable subjects for aviculture ; attempts have been made, with varying success, to keep the whole of our three species : but, to preserve the health of such active birds, a great deal of exercise is a necessity, and a very large aviary a consequent requisite : as cage- birds. Swallows quickly succumb to indigestion from over-feeding, and lack of exertion. Vol. II. F 3° British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs Family— HIR UNDINID^. The Swallow. Hirundo rusiica, Linn. THE Swallow breeds throughout the greater part of Europe, Asia, north of the great mountain ranges, and Northern Africa : in winter it has been obtained all over India, to Burma and Malaysia, and throughout Africa : exceptional cases of its occurrence in East Finmark, Spitzbergen, and Nova Zembla have been recorded. Throughout Great Britain the Swallow is generally distributed, although it is said rarely to breed in Shetland, and never in the Outer Hebrides. According to Capt. Feilden it is common in the Fseroes, in May, but is not known to nest there. At the season of migration the Swallow collects into flocks, and Mr. Fro- hawk, in September (about the 28th or 30th), counted 113 sitting on one stretch of telegraph wire at Buckland, in South Devon. In adult plumage this species has the forehead chestnut, upper parts prussian- blue, wings and tail brown, with the outer webs of the feathers bluish-green ; the inner web of the innermost greater wing-covert greyish-white ; all the tail-feathers excepting the central pair, with white patches on the inner webs : under parts almost white, the throat chestnut ; a belt of prussian-blue across the breast ; under wing-coverts and belly bufi&sh ; bill and feet black ; iris hazel. The female chiefly differs from the male in the shorter tapering outer tail feathers, somewhat duller colouring, whiter under parts, and narrower breast-belt. Young birds are duller, with the chestnut portions paler, and the spots on the tail somewhat rufous. It is believed that the Swallow pairs for life, and it is certain that it returns year after year to the same breeding spot, sometimes even utilizing the previous year's nest ; it is naturally a gregarious bird ; though perhaps not so much so as the House- and Sand-Martins ; where one nest occurs, in chimney, bam, or out- house, there are sure to be three or four close by, but I never observed more than half a dozen or so, even in the largest barn, whereas it is not unusual to see eight or ten nests of the House-Martin under the eaves of a House, whilst the occupied burrows of Sand-Martins in a single sand-bank frequently number from twenty to thirty. The favourite haunts of the Swallow are country villages, hamlets, or even ♦k-<>->- o ♦o O -J -I < CO The Swallow. 31 isolated houses, and cottages ; but it rarely penetrates far into the larger towns. It places its nest in various situations — on joists of barns, out-houses, boat-houses, in which case the fomi of the nest varies from an oval to a half-, or quarter-cup ; against perpendicular walls under eaves of bams * ; inside chimneys, wells, and mines ; in corners of pillared porticoes to large houses ; under rustic bridges ; cases have even been recorded of nests built in a hole in a tree about thirty feet from the ground, and in the forking branch of a sycamore. In its wild state in mountainous or rockj- localities this bird naturally builds against the sides of cliffs under overhanging ledges of rock, or in caves ; but in Great Britain it usually seeks the habitations of men for nesting-sites. The nest is always open above ; the walls thick, and formed of mud-pellets mixed with straw, hay, or hair ; the lining consists of fine grass-stems, usually almost concealed by a quantit}' of feathers, though in some instances these are absent. As is usually the case with nests more or less exposed to light from above, the eggs are not wholly white and immaculate, the ground-colour is pure white, appearing rosj' when not incubated ; speckled, spotted, and occasionally heavily blotched with deep pitchy brown, often intermixed with sienna reddish spots, and with lavender grey shell-spots ; in some eggs the spots are small and tolerably evenl}- distributed over the entire surface, sometimes they are larger, and principall}'- collected at the larger end ; sometimes there is an imperfect zone of spots, and even large blotches near the larger end : some eggs are elongated ovals, others short and well-formed. The Swallow when approaching its nest always utters a plaintive warning note, the intention of which doubtless is, to call the attention of its young to its advent ; but this call is uttered even before the eggs are deposited, and is continued after the nest has been robbed : this has given the impression to unobservant persons that the parents mourn over the loss of their possessions. Seebohm asserts that the Swallow builds a fresh nest ever}- year ; but I ha^•e proved conclusivel}- that, when built under the shelter of a portico, where it is protected from wet, the same nest is sometimes used for three consecutive years ; indeed I have in my collection a nest with the clutches of eggs which it contained in June 1881 and 1883: in 1882 I was forbidden to touch the eggs because the lady of the house said " the poor birds cried every time they approached the nest " t • Seebohm had an idea that this methcKl of building was confined to the Continent, but I have found it equally common in Kent. t In my " Handbook of liriti.sli Oology," I .spoke of two successive years, forgetting that an interval had elapsed between the taking of the two clutches ; but an examination of the dates on the eggs reminded me of the fact. 32 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. after I had taken the first chitch : these eggs are more heavily marked than any which I have obtained elsewhere. The Swallow is an admirable singer, and I shall not easily forget the pleasure with which I first heard it, as it poured forth its sweet melody from the girders of a large railway-station in Switzerland, in 1869 ; I have heard it several times since, both in Kent and Norfolk, singing from a telegraph wire : the song is very varied and, to my mind, far more melodious than that of a Linnet. Its call may be heard as it chases its insect prey — hwit, hivit, or as it greets a passing comrade, Jnvit-tit-tit-tit. The food of the Swallow consists largely of gnats, small flies, and ephemerae ; but it frequently settles on the roads, or on manure heaps, to search for small dung-beetles : owing to its short legs, its progression on the earth is somewhat awkward, and when hurried it uses its wings to help it along : it usually drinks on the wing, skimming the surface of the water as it glides over : its rapid graceful flight is too well known to need description, sometimes at such an elevation that the eye can scarcely follow it, sometimes so near the earth that the grasses wave under the rush of its outspread wings. As a cage-bird the Swallow is a mistake ; he sits upon his perch all day looking miserable, rarely moving excepting to eat or drink : specimens have been exhibited at the Crystal Palace shows, held in 1889, 1890, 1891, 1893, and 1896 : in one case the bird was awarded a prize, although it only had one perfect wing ; as a rule the staple food placed in the cage for the consumption of these unhappy captives consisted of gentles. So far as I can judge, the object of the owners of caged Swallows is, not to make their pets happy, but to rush them from one show to another, in the hope of gaining many awards before their prisoner dies ; one of the imfortunates was described as "Winner of 23 First, and 11 Special Prizes" — Poor Swallow! ^ ' V. - i ^ The Martin. 33 Family— HIR UNDIN/DyE. The Martin. Chelidon iirbica, LiNN. THE House-Martin breeds throughout Europe, ranging even further north than the Swallow. Seebohm says of it : — " It occasionally straggles to the Canaries and Madeira, and breeds abundantly in North-west Africa. In Egypt and Nubia it is only known on migration ; but it breeds in Palestine, Asia Minor, and Persia. Scarcely anything is known of its winter quarters, which probably are somewhere in Central Africa. A few birds are supposed to winter in Algeria, and stragglers are said to occur in Turkestan and India." Generally distributed throughout Great Britain, with the exception of the Outer Hebrides. The adult Martin has the upper parts to the rump glossy blue-black ; the rump, inner tail-coverts, and under parts pure white ; wings and tail brownish- black, slightly tinted with green ; bill black ; feet horn-yellowish, but densely covered with fine white feathering ; iris hazel. Female similar to the male. Young birds are smoky brown above, the rump and under parts sordid white ; the inner- most secondaries tipped, and most of the quills edged with white ; the tail shorter and less forked. Apart from its colouring, this species is easily distinguished on the wing from the Swallow by the absence of the long tapering points to the outside tail feathers; but the white rump is also usually very conspicuous. The Martin arrives in this country about a week later than the Swallow ; that is to say between the middle and end of April, according to the nature of the season ; it usually leaves again between the end of September and beginning of October, though stragglers have been known to linger even to December. In its habits and haunts this species much resembles the Swallow : why Seebohm went out of his way to assert that " its legs are too short to allow it to walk " I do not understand ; for it certainly can not only walk, but run nimbly for short distances, without erecting its wings ; though, if in a hurry, it uses its wings to assist it in taking surprising leaps. The call-note of the Martin is a thin whistled sound, something like szed ; the song a modulated twittering. 34 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. The Honse-Martin builds its nest against a wall, and immediately below and up to a projecting ledge ; rectangular eaves of houses are preferred, but sometimes projecting bricks on railway- and other arches are used, or ledges of rock ; the nest being completel}^ closed in with the exception of a semi-circular or demi-semi- circular hole at the top, and usually in the centre. The nest is formed of mud without, and with hardly any admixture of grass or hair ; it is consequently so much more brittle than that of the Swallow, that, with the greatest care, using a long sharp table-knife, I never succeeded in obtain- ing a perfect specimen ; indeed most nests fall into fragments at the first attempt to detach them, leaving nothing but the lining with the eggs in the hand held below as a support : this lining consists of dry grass, and sometimes, but not invariably, a few feathers. The eggs number from four to six ; in form they are generally elongated ovals, pure white, and immaculate, but appearing rosy when fresh-laid ; they are smooth and thin shelled, moderately glossy, but not exactly shiny. When attempting in vain to secure a perfect nest of this species, it has often surprised me that the mere weight of the nestlings does not burst the fragile mud shell ; the glutinous saliva of the bird is supposed to assist in uniting the mud pellets in the first instance, but one would expect a driving rain to be more than sufficient to counteract that slight advantage : why this species so rarely uses hay and hair to strengthen its walls is another puzzle, for the additional stability which it gives to a Swallow's nest is so considerable ; that, taking a metal dipper filled with hay to the top of a chimney, I have only had to lower the edge of the metal pan below the nest and jerk it upwards, to secure the nest uninjured. The food of the Martin consists wholly of insects, which it obtains on the wing ; in confinement, however, it readily feeds upon the usual soft food. In the first week of July, 1891, my colleague, Mr. W. R. Ogilvie Grant obtained a nest of four House-Martins about a week old, and gave them to me. Following out the mistaken notions of many aviculturists I at first fed these young birds partly upon raw rump-steak finely minced ; but I also gave them a mixture of carefully selected ants' cocoons, and preserved yolk of egg, ground up in a mortar with maizena wafers, the whole carefully mixed together, and slightly damped. Upon this diet all four attained their full size, after which they refused the raw meat, but continued to eat the mixture greedil3\ I kept these birds in a basket filled with hay, and several times each day the}- were taken out and encouraged to fly about the room ; but now they began to object to return to the close confinement of their basket ; therefore I purchased a large cage, hung up a cocoa-nut nest lined with flannel in one corner, and taught The Martin. 35 them to retire to it every evening, or whenever they appeared to feel the cold. At the end of a month the Martins were able to feed themselves, and, like all the Hiruiidinidcc when accustomed to soft food, they ate far more than was good for them. I now tried a change of diet, giving " Abrahams' Food for Nightingales," damped ants' cocoons, cut up mealworms, and flies ; but it was of no use, for three of them soon died of plethora, and probably, in part, owing to insufficient exercise, although we did our best to encourage them to exert themselves in various ways. One of our plans was to put all four on the ground at one end of the room, then run to the other end and call them : this was the signal for a most comical race, in which at first they ran at a surprising rate though very awkwardly ; but, as they became excited in the race, used their wings, and finished with a series of astounding leaps, finally flying on to our arms, and either running up our sleeves, nestling down in the hollowed palms of our hands, or perching on our shoulders. My son used often to hold one up in his hand, and it invariably sprang up and pecked his nose, but only one of the four would do this. Although naturally so greedy, our Martins would invariably leave their food and fly to us when called ; they could not therefore be accused, like most cage- birds, of cupboard-love ; they were also unlike other birds in their fondness for being handled and stroked. My fourth bird lived until the morning of September i8th, and became a general pet : his cage was kept in a small spare room, the wire door being usually left open, so that he could go out and in at pleasure ; every day, as soon as I returned from town, I used to run up and call him, and he would at once fly to me and nestle down in my hand. Towards the end of his life he appeared to feel the cold, and usually retired early to his cocoa-nut nest, but he generally tumbled out as soon as he heard my footstep. Two days before he died his cage door was shut and he had got into his snuggery, but I called out, " Well little chap, how are you ? " In a moment his head was popped out and he sprang to the cage- door : I opened it, stepped back to the end of the room and called him, and he immediately flew across as usual. I don't think I was ever more fond of any pet than I was of that House- Martin, and I felt his death acutely : but, nevertheless, I do not recommend the species as a cage-bird ; its wings are so long, and its legs so short, that the primaries constantly get dragged through the dirt and need frequently cleansing, which tends to give the birds cold. A long and well-warmed corridor would make a suitable aviary for them.* * I published this account in slightly different words in the "Zoologist" for 1891, pp. 397, 398. I 36 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. Family— HIR UNDINID^. The Sand-Martin. Cotile riparia, LiNN. OF the distribution of this bird outside the British Islands, Howard Saunders writes : — " In the Faeroes and Iceland the Sand-Martin has not yet been obtained, but on the Continent it is generally distributed from 70° N. lat. to the Mediterranean in summer ; while it also breeds sparingl}' in the northern districts of Africa, and abundantly in Egypt and Palestine. Eastward, it is found across Asia ; on the American Continent it breeds in large colonies in Alaska, and up to 68° N. lat. on the Mackenzie River ; and we trace it to Newfoundland. In winter it visits Mexico, Central America, and the valley of the Amazon ; and — in the Old World — China, the Indian region, and South-eastern Africa down to Zanzibar. Occasionally it wanders to the Canary Islands." In Great Britain this bird is generally distributed wherever the nature of the soil is suited to its requirements when breeding : to the Shetlands, however, it appears to be only an occasional visitor. The adult Sand-Martin has the upper parts mouse-brown, slightly darker on the crown and paler on the rump ; the wings and tail blackish-brown ; under parts white, with a broad brown band across the breast ; bill black ; feet dark brown, with a few bufhsh feathers at the back of the tarsus ; iris hazel. The female nearl}' resembles the male, but is said to have a slightly narrower band across the breast.* The young have most of the feathers of the upper parts tipped with bufEsh white, and the under parts, especially the chin and throat, more or less washed with buff. The Sand-Martin reaches our shores at the end of March, or beginning of April, and immediately repairs to its chosen building site, usuall}' a nearly per- pendicular wall of hard sand or gravel, either on the bank of river, loch, or lake, along the sea-shore, at the side of a railway-cutting, a road-side where the banks are high, a sand- or gravel-pit, or a brick-earth cutting. Seebohm also mentions having seen heaps of half-rotten sawdust utilized ; but of whatever substance the * This diiFerence is often given to distinguish the sexes of foreign birds of various species; but in some cases I have found it very unreliable. o cc < o z < The Sand-Martin. 37 bank may consist, the Sand-Martin proceeds to excavate a slightly sloping, or at times even a verj' obliquelj' upward slanting tunnel. In the first season this tunnel rarely exceeds a foot, or at most eighteen inches, in length ; and, if the bird finds any obstruction, such as a flint-stone or tough root in the way, the tunnel some- times turns almost at right angles, or even slopes obliquely backwards and upwards : year by year this tunnel is excavated further inwards, until it sometimes reaches a length of from three to four feet. At the end of the tunnel a small chamber is hollowed out, sometimes a little above, but in a line with the tunnel, but often on one side of it ; and in the bottom of this chamber the nest is formed. The nest of the Sand-Martin is very slight, and loosely constructed of a little dry grass, rootlets, and rarely a straw or two ; the lining, when there is one, consists of feathers ; when the nest is not far from the entrance the feather lining is either absent, or a few collected at random are carelessly pushed into the centre ; but when at a great distance from the light, white feathers are usually selected and neatl}' arranged, each feather lying on its face with the curv^ed under surface upwards, and the base of the shaft in the centre of the nest : when carefully removed from the burrows, nests of this character are very pretty ; the pinky-white eggs appearing to lie in a pure white flower-like cup ; unhappily a verj- slight puff of wind disturbs their symmetry, whilst the removal of the eggs inevitably displaces the lining, so that one never sees a really perfect Sand-Martin's nest in any collection. One reason for the slovenliness of many cabinet nests probably may be, that where nests are abundant, the collector is satisfied with those most readily attainable, and thus fails to secure the best-formed specimens. The eggs vary in number from four to six, and in form from a long to a short oval ; in colour they are pure white, very slightly glossy, and when freshly laid show the yolk through the shell, which gives them a rosy appearance. The burrows of Saud-Martins, although an irresistible attraction to the birds- nester, are often a source of considerable annoyance to railway companies : every year fresh tunnels are added, as those first formed extend too far inwards to please the birds, one tunnel runs into another, is abandoned, and a new one excavated : thus the bank of the cutting becomes so much undermined, that frosts and thaws bring about a land-slip, and a temporary block to traffic is occasioned. Of all nests which I have taken, I know of none which so swarms with fleas and ticks as that of the Sand-Martin ; the young birds if taken out and examined, will frequently be found to have large ticks attached to their heads, usually either on the crown or nape ; whilst, in old colonies, the fleas skip about in myriads : how the poor birds exist under the incessant irritation of these lively vermin is a puzzle ; but perhaps, like the African attacked by chigos, they enjoy the sensation. 38 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. The call-note of this bird is thin and shrill — a sort of sivcer : the only attempt at a song which I have heard is a short low twittering, somewhat vaguely resembling part of the song of the Reed- Warbler, and usually uttered when two birds meet in the air and flutter a moment before continuing their onward flight. Like the other Swallows, this bird is purely insectivorous ; its food principally consisting of gnats and small flies, which adhere to its viscid saliva, as with wide- open gape it pursues them in the air : it has been stated to feed its young occa- sionally with large dragon-flies, but this seems rather improbable, the bodies of these insects being so long, that (if given entire) they coiild not be swallowed by such tiny birds : the only chance is, that the greed of these nestlings which, when fed, frequently try to swallow one another's heads, might possibly enable them to tear the body of the dragon-fly in half. The Sand-Martin usually produces two broods in the year, the first nest being rarely full before the beginning of June, and the second about the middle of July, or even later : the return migration commences late in August, and sometimes continues up to the middle of October. As a cage-bird the Sand-Martin cannot be commended : — when on a nesting excursion in Kent, in July, 1887, a family of five little Sand- Martins was brought to me : as the birds were too young to let fly, I determined to try and keep them as pets, but I found it a harder task than I had anticipated to induce them to open their mouths for the food (Abrahams' Nightingale Mixture) which I gave them. However, after nearly a week's perseverance, my wife and a girl who then assisted in looking after my birds, succeeded in persuading four of them to open their mouths when food was offered. All five were then in excellent health, though rather too fat : they were very pretty, and when sitting on one's finger, looked exactly like diminutive hawks. Unfortunately, although by this time the Martins were well able to fly, they could only be induced to do so if taken into a room where their food was not in sight. In less than a fortnight they could feed them- selves, and after that they would eat incessantly, swallowing such huge mouthfuls of the soft food, that it seemed marvellous where they could stow it all away : then they would fall asleep, sitting upon the edge of the food-pot, and remain in a state of stupor for perhaps half an hour, when they would wake up and begin to gorge again. Naturally this life did not agree with birds whose nature it is to be incessantly on the move, and who get their food slowly and in minute morsels ; they grew rapidly thinner and weaker, staggered in their walk as if drunken, and dropped off" one by one, until, in just over three weeks from the time when I received them, the last of them died. Possibly, if it had been practicable for me to be at home to attend to them, I might have given these birds their food at The Greenfinch. 39 stated intervals, and compelled them to take exercise ; in which case, perhaps their lives might have been prolonged : but Sand-Martins are not suitable birds for the aviculturist. FAMILY FRINGILLID^. THIS family consists of a number of hard-billed, largely seed-eating, birds. Howard Saunders only distinguishes these as Finches (FringillinaJ and Buntings fEtiiberizhiceJ ; but the Catalogue of Birds, of the British Museum, regards the Grosbeaks as constituting a third Subfamily fCoccothraiistiuce.J Seebohm agreed with Howard Saunders in uniting the latter Subfamily to the typical Finches; but, in my opinion, there is more difficulty in distinguishing between some of the foreign Buntings, and Grosbeaks, than between the latter and the true Finches. I would, in any case, rather err on the side of too much regard for structural differences, than on the opposite side. The Fringillida have only nine quill- feathers to the wing, the first primary being wholly absent ; the bill is hard and conical, and is (to my mind) better described by the term " beak " ; the Finches feed their young from the crop, regurgitating the food when partially digested : naturally during the breeding season, I believe all are more or less insectivorous, although seed forms their staple food : in confinement, however, many of the Finches will live for many years upon seed alone. The Coccothraustina, or Grosbeaks, of which the Hawfinches are typical, are characterized by a very heavy and powerful beak, with hardly any angle to the chin ; the nasal bones produced backwards beyond the front margin of the eye- socket, (cf. R. B. Sharpe, Cat. Birds, Vol. XII). The Frill gillina:, or true Finches, the type of which is our English Chaffinch, usually have a somewhat less powerful beak, with the angle of the chin slightly more defined, but still very feebly shown ; the mandibles almost terminating at the same point ; the nasal bones not produced backwards beyond the front margin of the eye-socket. 40 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. The Emherizincr, or Buntings, of which our Yellow Ammer may be considered typical, have a well-marked angle to the chin ; the lower mandible terminating well within the upper one, and not completely closing in the centre of the cutting edge ; the more typical Buntings also have a hard horny knob on the palate, and a compression of the lower mandible to meet it ; they also walk when on the earth, and are largely insectivorous (in which respects they approach the Chaffinch and Brambling among the true Finches) : many Buntings, however, are not walking birds. The Fringillidce are favourite cage-birds, chiefly on account of the ease with which their food can be provided. Family— FRINGILLIDy^. Sjibfamily—COCCOTHRA USTJNyE. The Greenfinch. Ligurinus Moris, LiNN. OF the geographical distribution of the Greenfinch, Dr. Sharpe says that it inhabits: — "Europe generally; the countries bordering the Mediterranean; accidental in Madeira; extending eastwards in Persia and North-western Turkestan." In Great Britain this common and well-known Grosbeak is generally distri- buted, breeding in all suitable localities ; but to the Orkneys, Hebrides, and Shetlands, it is chiefly an autumn and winter visitant. The Greenfinch varies considerably as regards brillance of colouring ; the birds of the spring immigration being stated to be much paler and brighter in colouring than the resident birds : the latter are largely added to in the autumn, by the advent of immense flocks which arrive in October on our eastern coasts. The adult male above is yellowish olive, more yellow on the forehead and rump ; greater coverts grey ; primary coverts edged with yellowish ; primaries ^^^ Greenfinch yrrhular I must say I do not approve of this adoption of the generic name for the species, and should prefer to follow Brehm in calling it Pyrrhula major : it occurs in Northern and Eastern Europe, and in Siberia. The Bullfinch, or Bloodolf, as it is called in Norfolk, is pretty generally dis- tributed in all well-wooded districts throughout the British Isles. • My friend Mr. James H. I'leming, of Ontario, very kin < The Mealy Redpoll. 69 Mule-breeding between Goldfinch and Canaty is easy enough, for I was suc- cessful in my first essay ; but between the Goldfinch and other Finches, there is more diflSculty (although this species sometimes hybridizes with the Greenfinch in a wild state) especially in the case of the only reallj' handsome cross — between the Goldfinch and Bullfinch. The variety of Goldfinch known as a " Cheverel " is sometimes preferred for muling purposes ; it differs from the normal form in having the centre of the throat white. The bird-catchers assert that Goldfinches from different parts of our islands sing differently ; and they call the best singers " Slammers," from a fancied resemblance of part of the song to the words — " Slam-so-witty, slippity-cur," with other rubbish which no bird could whistle. Family— FRINGILLIDyE. Subfamily— FRINGILLIN/E. The Mealy Redpoll. Acanthis linaria, LiNN. SEEBOHM treats the Redpolls as races of one species, but considers that the typical form, A. linaria, and the two extremes, A. ru/escens and A. hornemanni, are worthy of subspecific rank ; at least that seems to me to be the only construc- tion to be put upon his observations. Howard Saunders, on the other hand, unites A. linaria and A. hornevianni, remarking : — " for the sake of convenience, I propose to treat the Mealy Redpolls under one heading, and to take our small, dark Lesser Redpoll separately." As this appears to me to be the most reasonable course to pursue, I shall do the same. Dr. Sharpe regards the Lesser Redpoll fA. rufescensj as a subspecies of A. linaria, but distinguishes A. hornemanni as a subspecies of A. exilipes, the latter being considered a different species from the Mealy Redpoll, on account of its greyer rump. When no two Ornithologists agree 7° British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. as to the limits of various closely- related types, the evidence in favour of these all belonging to one species would seem to be very strong indeed. Nevertheless, as regards Great Britain, the two Redpolls usually met with are sufficiently distinct to be separately treated. Dr. Sharpe gives the distribution of our Mealy Redpoll as: — "Northern Europe, across Siberia to North America, wintering in more southern localities." To Great Britain this bird is a more or less irregular winter visitor ; Howard Saunders states that it " is a regular winter visitor to Shetland, from September onwards, and the track of its migration appears to be principally along the east coast in Scotland, and the north of England, for the bird is rarer, and of more uncertain occurrence on the west side. South of Durham its visits become irregular ; in the eastern counties it has occasionally been obtained in spring, and exceptionally in summer ; and in some years large flocks have been noticed down to the Channel ; but in Cornwall it is as yet unknown. In Ireland an example was taken in co. Kildare, in February, 1876." (Manual British Birds, p. 182). The male Mealy Redpoll in breeding- plumage has the upper parts pale brown, lighter on the back and sides of neck, and streaked with blackish-brown ; the forehead crimson ; the rump greyish white, sufi"used with rose-pink ; wings dull blackish ; median and greater coverts with pale brown edges and whitish tips ; the quills and primary coverts with greyer edges and narrower tips : tail dark brown, with paler edges to the feathers, the inner webs margined with white ; base of forehead and lores black ; a superciliary streak and a short streak below the eye whitish ; sides of face pale brown, the cheeks slightly rosy ; chin black ; throat and breast rose-pink ; remainder of under parts buffish-white, becoming quite white on the under tail-coverts ; flanks streaked with blackish-brown : beak yellowish horn-colour, darker at the tip and more yellow at the base ; feet dark brown ; iris hazel. The female is slightly smaller than the male, and has a rather broader crown ; * she is also darker above, more prominently streaked below, and wants the rose- colouring on the rump, the throat, and breast. The young chiefly differ from the female in the lack of crimson on the forehead, and in the more sandy colouring of the iipper parts. In confinement, the crimson and rosy colouring entirely disappears after the first moult, excepting in large and well ventilated aviaries, when it is sometimes * It is the general rule in birds that the sex which builds the nest has the broader crown, but if both sexes build, the male usuall}- has the advantage in this respect ; he also then has a broader and somewhat shorter bill, with less evenly tapering sides : in the typical Finches the female usually has the broader head, but in the Grass-finches, the reverse is often the case. The male also has a narrower and somewhat more tapering wing, formed for speed ; so as to enable him to overtake the female. The Mealy Redpoll. 71 partially retained : this statement also applies to the Lesser Redpoll, the Twite, and the Linnet. In its habits, this and all the Redpolls are much alike, restless, fidgety little creatures. Tit-like in their actions, inquisitive, and mischievous ; but intelligent, and therefore easy to teach all kinds of meaningless tricks : principally on account of the last qualification they have become favourite cage-birds with that class of persons which is charmed with what is unnatural. To the true lover of nature a talking bird may be amusing, because it is the nature of many birds to imitate sounds ; but a performing bird is offensive. Seebohm (Hist. British Birds, Vol. II, pp. 11 8- 119) has some interesting obser- vations on the habits of this species, both abroad and in this country, which are worth noting. He says that in winter they are principally ground-feeders, which we should have expected to be the case from what we know of Linnets and Gold- finches; like which birds they "alight in a flock on a bed of dead thistles," and amuse themselves by picking them to pieces. He also records the fact of their picking seeds from the droppings of horses in the roads ; which is instructive, as showing that they look upon oats and kindred grain as wholesome food ; a fact which aviculture taught me many years ago. The nest of the Mealy Redpoll is usually placed in the fork of a birch-tree at no great height from the ground ; it has also been found in grass-tussocks : it is neatly constructed of twigs, bents, strips of bark, and lichens, or moss; the lining of willow-catkins, vegetable down, hair, wool, and sometimes feathers. The eggs number from five to six, and vary in colour from pale greenish to pale bluish, with dark brown surface-spots, and paler red-brown underlying markings. Although there is no satisfactory evidence to prove that the Mealy Redpoll has ever bred in Great Britain, a male in breeding-plumage was observed at Riddlesworth, in July, 1848, and noticed by Prof. Alfred Newton in the "Zoologist" (p. 2382) ; still this bird may possibly have escaped from an out-door aviary after a few months confinement. The song of this species, if such it can be called, is merely a prolonged trill, such as may be imitated either by vibrating the soft palate as you whistle, or by using a pea-whistle, and the call-note somewhat resembles that of the Canarj^ a kind of tevuey. The favourite food consists of seed of the birch, but many other seeds are eaten, and in confinement the same food is eaten by the Redpolls as by the Canary ; the most wholesome seeds being Canary, German rape, and oats. Curiously enough, aviculturists do not appear to be aware of the fact that most seed-eating birds are fond of the last-mentioned wholesome and cheap seed, and they quite laugh at the 72 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. mere idea of offering oats to small birds, imagining that, because the seed is large, it is only suitable for Cardinals or other large birds : this is a curious mistake. In addition to the above, grass-seed, thistle, and teasle are good for a change, especially during the breeding and moulting seasons. Not being particularly fond of Redpolls in an aviary, I have never purchased the Mealy race; but Henry Stevenson in his "Birds of Norfolk" (p. 229) says: — " Both the Mealy and Lesser Redpolls, from their tameness and engaging actions, are most desirable additions to the cage or aviary, but from their happy contented natures are liable to grow too fat, and like Ortolans, when over-fed, drop off the perch in a fit of apoplexy. Mr. Charles Barnard, of this city, before mentioned as so successful in breeding the Bramblings in confinement, had a brood of young Mealy Redpolls, hatched off in his aviary at Stoke, in July, i860, a very uncommon circumstance with this species." Of late years the judges at some of our large shows have" been very unwilling to award prizes, in the British classes, to birds which do not breed with us ; asserting, in support of their action, that most of these birds have not even been captured upon British soil ; but have been imported as cage-birds direct from Germany. Singularly enough, they invariably waive this objection in the case of the Mealy Redpoll, which (though it may be in wild breeding-plumage, and by no means tame) usually carries off the prizes over the heads of the more soberly clad though home-bred Lesser Redpoll. Such inconsistency can only be explained on the supposition that the life-history of the Mealy Redpoll has not been so inti- mately studied as it ought to be by those who have to deal with it upon the show-bench. As Gatke observes : — " The breeding stations of the Mealy Redpoll lie within the Arctic Circle, both in the Old and New World." Speaking of the migration of this species, the same author says that on the 4th and 5th November, 1847, "countless flocks" and "innumerable multitudes " visited Heligoland: "the whole island was literally covered with these birds, so that one might have thrown a stone in any direction one chose, and it was sure to hit birds as long as it con- tinued rolling along the ground." It is ditring such unusual manifestations of feathered life, that the bird-catcher gathers in his harvest, and the markets are glutted throiighout Europe. Lesser Redpoll i 9 The Lesser Redpoll. 73 Family— FRINGILLIDAi. Subfamily— FRINGILLIN^. The Lesser Redpoll. Acanthis ru/escens, ViElLLOT. OCCURS in Western Europe, and probably breeds in some of the mountains of the South- West ; one nest having been obtained from the Veglio Alps, in Italy, about 7,000 feet above the sea-level. In Great Britain this Redpoll is resident, breeding most freely in the north of England and Ireland, and in well-timbered localities in Scotland, more particu- larly in plantations of birch. This bird is, however, by no means restricted to the north of England, or Ireland, during the breeding- season ; its nest having been found in most of the southern counties to the east of Somerset : in Kent I believe it breeds regularly, though not abundantly, every year.* The upper surface of the adult male in breeding plumage is ruddy olive- brown, longitudinally streaked on each feather with blackish ; wings and tail darker brown, with pale margins ; innermost secondaries broadly margined ; median and greater coverts with broad huffish tips ; crown bright satiny crimson in front ; rump washed with rosy red ; lores and centre of throat black ; sides of head and throat golden olive-brown ; breast rose-red ; sides and flanks golden olive-brown, streaked with blackish ; belly white, stained with huffish : beak ochreous yellow, dark brown at the tip of the upper mandible ; feet blackish- brown ; iris hazel. The female is slightly smaller than the male, with a broader crown ; upper parts slightly darker ; rump and breast without rose-red colouration ; the under parts also somewhat more streaked than in the male. The young nearly resemble the female, but have no red on the crown. After the autumn moult the rose-colouring disappears, but towards the spring it gradually reappears in the feathers without a moult : this reproduction of bright colouring does not, however, take place in caged Redpolls, but, where they are confined in large well-ventilated sunny aviaries, it does in the first season. In its habits, haunts, food, and song, the Lesser Redpoll nearly resembles the Mealy type : its nest, which is placed in the fork of a tree, a hawthorn, or goose- • E. A. Swainson (Zoologist, 1891, p. 357) records the fact that this species breeds every year uear Hrecon in Wales. Vol. II. N 74 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. berry bush, a hedge, or a large grass tussock, usually near water, is not unlike a small, neatly formed, and very softly lined Linnet's nest ; it is firmly constructed of plant-stalks, roots, moss, and dry-grass, with hair towards the interior ; the lining consisting of pure white willow-down, wool, or occasionally very fine grasses and feathers. The eggs, which number from four to six, are either pale blue, or bluish white, with dark purplish brown surface spots, and sometimes short linear dashes and underlying blood-red spots and speckles ; some eggs are spotted nearly all over, and others principally at the larger end, an imperfect zone of spots is often present at this extremity : there is considerable variation in size. I have not only seen and heard the Lesser Redpoll in Kent during the breeding season, but have on several occasions flushed the hen bird from her nest ; twice I obtained the nest with six eggs from grass-tussocks growing upon narrow foot- paths through marsh and pools of water, at Murston,* and once from a hawthorn bush on marshy land, at Kemsley ; the last-mentioned nest was less firm than usual, though compact, the body of it being formed almost entirely of wool, with an outer thin framework of dried grass and an inner lining of hair.f Lord Lilford (Birds of Northamptonshire, Vol. I, p. 196) observes:- — "About Lilford these birds appear occasionally in flocks of from twent}^ to fifty or sixty, almost always in very severe weather, and then haunt the alders by the river-sides, their habits and manner of feeding at that season much resembling those of the Siskin as above described. They are exceedingly tame, and may be very closely watched as they cluster like bees on some hanging sprays, searching for buds, and keeping up an incessant twittering music, pleasant enough, but not bj' any means so melodious as that of the Siskin." Speaking of the nesting of the Lesser Redpoll in various parts of Norfolk, Henry Stevenson says : — " In these localities, the nests have been mostly found in the apple and cherry trees, but Mr. Alfred Newton, in a communication to Mr. Hewitson (Eggs British Birds, 3rd Bd.) remarks that near Thetford, where it also breeds yearly, the nests are placed " close to the trunk of the tree in plantations of young larch and firs of no great height," though he once found one at least sixty feet from the ground, and placed near the outer end of a branch." In his "Notes on the Birds of Donegal," (Zoologist, 1891, p. 336) H. C. Hart * I was unfortiiuate with these two nests; in one of them the eggs were just ready to hatch, and were .so much injured in the attempt to blow them, that I did not preserve them : one egg of the second nest also burst, but I saved the remainder. t Mr. Wharton ("Zoologist," p. 8951) also records the discovery of the nest of the Lesser Redpoll in Kent. In the "Zoologist" for 1887, p. 428, Mr. Jo.seph Vine states that he found two very young birds of this species, dead, but quite fresh, at High gate, in September. One of these nestlings was taken in the fle-sh to the Rev.- H. A. Macpherson, for identification. He informs me that it could almost have flown, and had probabh- fluttered out of the nest when alarmed bj- some marauder. The Lesser Redpoll. 75 says of Lesser Redpolls : — " I have noted them in May settling themselves about Glenalla in small flocks, and scattering to breed. About Rathmnllan and Carra- blagh the^' are also frequent in summer. In winter these birds come to roost, with several other species, every night in the plantations round my house at Carrablagh, where there is the best shelter for several miles. ' Very common about Killybegs in the breeding season. Have known four nests in the hedgerows along the first mile of the Donegal road from here, in the same season.' — (A.B.)." Speaking of the species as observed by him in Wales, E. A. Swainson, of Brecon, says : — " I have noticed it every summer here for some years, but this season (1891) it has been unusually common, and I have often heard its musical little trill and triple flight-note about the alder swamps and adjacent hedges. In June last I found two nests of this bird, placed in honeysuckle growing in tall hedges, each containing fresh eggs. Both nests had the usual lining of white down, but one was peculiar in having a quantity of honeysuckle bark-strips inter- woven amongst the grass round the outside of the nest. This beautiful little nest contained four eggs, of a bright blue- green, blotched, two of them very boldly, with reddish-brown." As a cage-bird the Lesser Redpoll is usually a great favourite, chiefly on account of its tameness and a certain amount of reasoning capacity which it possesses, whereby it has discovered, under the pressure of hunger and thirst, that it can pull up with its beak and hold with its claw little pails or waggons con- taining its food or water : it is bj^ no means the only bird which has been taught this senseless trick, but many thoughtless bird-lovers seem to consider that all captives (even birds) ought to be compelled to work for their living. I have seen the process of teaching this bird in all its stages, and consider it anything but kind. The Lesser Redpoll in confinement is for ever fidgeting about on the wirework of its cage, somewhat after the fashion of a Tit : during the breeding season the male and female spend half the daj^ in caressing like a pair of Love-birds; whilst the song of the male at that season is frequent, but is a very poor performance, not unlike a feeble Brambling's song, consisting (as already hinted) of a mere monotonous trill, resembling a distant railway-guard's whistle : this trill is some- times copied by young Canaries, and is considered ruination to their notes. My experience of this species in an aviary is that no Finch of its size is so mischievously meddlesome as the Lesser Redpoll ; not only does it rarely breed, but if another bird which happens to be building, leaves its nest for fresh material, the Redpoll immediately flies down and commences to pull it to pieces. On the other hand, Mr. G. C. Swailes, of Beverley, has been rather successful in breeding Redpolls. 76 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. The first Redpolls I ever had, cost me about three shillings for the pair ; but I soon discovered that I had paid at least three times their value, inasmuch as the price asked by birdcatchers for equally good birds varies from eightpence to a shilling the pair : altogether I have had a good many, and yet never cared much for them : it is true that they very soon grow tame, although never so completely so as Siskins ; but after their first moult in close confinement all the crimson and rose colouring disappears and never returns, the forehead becoming yellowish ; and even in an aviary it goes after their second moult, so that a very soberly clad, restless, inquisitive little bird, with no proper song, but a large appetite, is all that remains. Herr Gatke's account of a pair of Redpolls which nested in his garden in Heligoland is rather puzzling : he speaks of only discovering the nest in the autumn when the leaves were falling, yet is sure of the identity of the species from the fact that on one occasion he picked up two of the young birds, and restored them to their home amongst the elder branches. Can the Redpolls have been breeding in the autumn ? Family— FRINGILLID^. Subfamily— FRINGILLIN^. The Twite. Acanthis flavirostris, LiNN. ON the Continent the Twite, according to Dr. Sharpe, is generally distributed throughout Europe, west of Russia, and south of the Baltic, breeding in Scandinavia. Howard Saunders observes that it "is found in summer among the islands and along the coast of Norway up to about 70° N. lat., but in Sweden it is scarce even in the sub-alpine districts, and it is somewhat doubtful if it nests in Northern Russia. On migration it visits Denmark and Northern Germany— sometimes passing in large numbers over Heligoland — Holland, Belgium, and * Twite ? s The Twite. 77 France ; but it seldom goes far south, and its occurrences in Spain, Italy, and Southern Russia, are few and far between." In England during the breeding-season the Twite occurs locally in suitable localities from the midlands northwards; in North Wales it is common; in Scot- land and Ireland it is pretty generally distributed, being especially abundant in the west of Scotland, the Hebrides, Orkneys, and Shetlands. The adult male in breeding plumage has the feathers of the crown, nape, and back ruddy olive-brown, with blackish centres and paler edges ; the rump rose-red ; wings dark brown ; the mediau and greater coverts with paler edges, whitish towards the tips ; the quills with pale edges ; the inner primaries margined, and the secondaries tipped with white ; tail-feathers blackish-brown, the three outer pairs with whitish edges. A superciliary streak, the lores, ear-coverts, and cheeks rufous-brown, the ear-coverts with dusky streaks ; under parts mostly pale tawny- brown, clearest on the throat ; centre of breast and abdomen sordid white, as are the under tail-coverts ; sides of breast and flanks streaked with blackish : beak pale ochre yellow ; feet dark brown ; iris hazel. The female has no rose- red on the rump ; and in width of crown and beak differs as does the Linnet. After the autumn moult this species shows less of the dark centres to the feathers, and the beak becomes paler. Young birds nearly resemble the female, but have somewhat more dusky beaks ; the males, however, show a tinge of rose-reddish on the rump. The Twite, Mountain Linnet, Hill Lintie, or " Yellow-neb Lintie," as it is variously called, is a frequenter in summer of the hilly districts and moorlands of the northern portions of Great Britain and Ireland ; but, as winter approaches, it deserts the bleaker regions and wanders in small flocks through the cultivated lowlands in search of seeds of charlock and other weeds, upon which it feeds : at this season it frequently consorts with the Linnet. Lord Lilford says that his acquaintance with this species is chiefly confined to having often met with it on the moors of Scotland, when Grouse- shooting in August and September. " At that season it is generally to be met with in small family parties of six or eight, flitting about grassy spots amongst the heather, and feeding on various small seeds. It may be distinguished, even at some distance, from the Common Linnet on the wing by its lighter make, darker colour, and sharp call-note. In captivity this species becomes verj' tame, but has not much to recommend it, as the song, though sweet, is short, broken, and of little power." The call-note has been described as resembling the word twali-it of which the name Twite is a fanciful rendering ; on the wing it twitters, somewhat in the fashion of the Linnet ; the song, though inferior, is not much unlike that of the same bird. Vol. II. O 78 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. The nest of the Twite is usuall}' built low down in heather, sometimes even on the ground among grass, or on a rocky ledge ; it is also said to occur in bushes, and occasionally in ivy : it is neatly formed of rootlets, or heather inter- mingled with grass-bents, and is lined with wool, hair and feathers, or thistle-down. The eggs number from four to six, usually five, are pale greenish blue, speckled, spotted, blotched, or streaked with reddish-brown ; they are indistinguishable from those of the Linnet, though most observers seem to agree in saying that they are more frequently streaked than eggs of that bird. As a matter of fact, if a number of eggs of the Goldfinch, Lesser Redpoll, Twite, and Linnet were indiscriminately mixed, no living Ornithologist could sort them again with any degree of confidence : they all vary in size, depth, and tint of colouring and markings. Although I am satisfied that the Twite could, as easily as other Finches, complete its nest in two or three days provided it was ready to lay, Saxby has recorded an instance in which both sexes were occupied for eight days in completing one : this is often the case at the commencement of the breeding season,* when the birds are in no special hurry, just as with Canaries in the breeding-cage, but there is no such trifling with the second structure. Although a late breeder, not commencing nidification before the middle of May, the Twite is double-brooded. It is probable, as in the case of allied species, that this bird feeds partly upon small caterpillars, as well as the leaves and unripe seeds of weeds. In confinement it is passionately fond of soft food. From time to time I have had Twites brought to me by bird-catchers ; and, in 1889, I purchased two males and turned them loose in one of my cool aviaries : they very soon became fairly tame, but nothing like so confiding as Redpolls ; they nevertheless sang from the first. Most birds are selfish, but very few are so per- sistently greedy, and spiteful withal, as Twites : I had some Canaries in the same aviary ; and, as they had barely completed their moult, a saucer of egg-food was daily placed in the aviary for their benefit ; no sooner, however, did the Twites discover that egg was good, than they simply took possession of the saucer, savagely attacking every Canar}' that attempted to come near it until their somewhat voracious appetite was sated. In the spring of the following year my Twites began to assume the rosy colouring on the lower back and rump, but before they had fully developed it, they caught enteric fever from a sick Canary, and, early in June, both of them died. I never cared to purchase others. In the first volume of the " Avicultural Magazine," p. 118, Mr. G. C. Swailes, * Nevertheless Mr. Swailes' experience recorded below proves that, in confinement, the Twite builds as rapidly as the Canary ; the nest being built in two days. The Twite. 79 of Beverley, Yorks., gives the following interesting account of his experiments in breeding Twites in confinement: — "A pair of Twites (Acanthis flavirostrisj have this season bred and reared young in my small aviary, and as it is, I believe, a rather uncommon occurrence, a few notes may be acceptable ******. The birds are a very interesting pair, both being abnormally coloured — the cock about half white pied, and the hen pure white (the latter may be known to some of my readers, as it has been exhibited at both the Palace and Aquarium shows). They are kept with about half a dozen other Finches in an aviary quite out in the country. The hen commenced to build on May 14th, and laid her first egg on the 17th, laying altogether five eggs and sitting closely after the third was laid. I did not again look at the eggs, but saw the old birds busy feeding on the 2nd of June and following days. I looked in the nest on the 8th, hoping to find some fine young birds, but the nest contained only one poor starved thing which died on the following day : the weather was very stormy at the time they were hatched and I think this was the cause of their doing so badly. On the 15th I noticed that the hen had nearly completed another nest, and she laid on the i6th and three following days : having a Redpoll nesting at the same time, I gave her two of the Twites' eggs, making up the number for each with infertile eggs ; both birds hatched on the same day ; the two in the Redpoll's nest perished at once, though she is a good feeder, and has reared two broods of her own this season ; the Twite successfully reared hers, and they left the nest on July 19th, and are now very fine birds, but quite normally coloured ; this I expected, as I have reared a large number during the past few years from both white, pied, and cinnamon Lesser Redpolls, and have inbred them, but have never had one vary in the least from the normal colour.* Young Twites are not nearly so precocious as Redpolls ; they were a long time before they attempted to peck for themselves, and even now (August) clamour to the old ones for food, whereas I have seen young Redpolls a week after leaving the nest shell hard Canary-seed. My birds have no soft food given them, but as much of the flowering top of the dwarf-grass, dandelion, and hard-head tops, thistle, plantain, etc., as they wish, and as many aphides oflf rose, apple, or plum-trees as I can at the time obtain ; infested branches being put in the aviary for the birds to peck them off. The latter, I consider, are very essential for the successful rearing of Finches in confinement, especially for the first few days after they are hatched." t • Nevertheless continuous inbreeding is believed to be the principal cause of albinism. — A.G.B. + If soft food is given, I do not find aphides to be essential.— A.G.B. *> British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. Fa^nily—FRINGILLID^. Subfamily— FRINGILLIN^- The Linnet. Acanthis cannabina, LiNN. BREEDS throughout Europe south of lat. 64" in Scandinavia, and of lat. 59° in East Russia ; it is also resident in North-west Africa, the Canaries, and Madeira ; eastward it extends to Turkestan. In Persia and North India a repre- sentative race replaces it, in which the general plumage is more ashy, and the breast of the male more scarlet in colouring. Excepting in the mountainous parts of Scotland, where it appears to be replaced by the Twite, the Linnet is pretty generally distributed throughout Great Britain ; it has not, however, been obtained from the Shetland Isles. The male Linnet in breeding plumage has a glossy crimson patch from the base of the upper mandible to the centre of the crown ; remainder of head, nape, and sides of neck brown, with an ashy suffusion and darker mottling ; back and wing-coverts ruddy golden-brown, broadly centred with dark brown ; upper tail- coverts dark brown, with broad buffish-white borders ; tail-feathers black, the outer web narrowly, and the inner web broadly bordered with white ; flight feathers blackish, the primaries with a conspicuous white stripe on the outer webs, and with a broad whitish-ash border along a great part of the inner webs ; secondaries bordered, especially along the outer webs, with ruddy golden-brown ; lores, a streak above and another below the eye, huffish ; ear-coverts and sides of face greyish ; chin and throat huffish- white, with small brown streaks ; throat and breast crimson, somewhat suffused with chestnut in youngish birds ; belly buflfish-white ; flanks tawny brown, with darker centres to the feathers, and sometimes slightly tinted with rose-reddish ; beak greyish horn-brown, paler at the base of the lower man- dible ; feet brown ; iris hazel. In captivity all crimson disappears from the plumage, and both beak and feet become paler and flesh-tinted. The female differs in the absence of all crimson colouring ; the entire upper surface browner, with blackish centres to the feathers, the much more prominent streaking of the under surface, the decidedly broader crown and base of beak, and the considerably narrower white outer margins to the primaries and tail feathers. It also differs remarkably in the form of the wings the distinctions being precisely Linnet. ? ^ Young birds are very like the female. After the autumn moult the feathers of the crown and breast have greyish borders, the crimson being dull and presenting a mottled appearance ; this (in fully adult males) gradually changes to the bright colouring at the approach of spring.* This species, which is variously called the Grey, Brown, or Red Linnet, according to the age or plumage of the specimens so named, during the summer * Seebohm almost always explains this change of colouring, by asserting that the tips of the feathers ilrop off; but if one obtains a bird in its transition stage the tips are frequently neither dropped nor abraded, although undoubtedly in some species the edges are worn off, whilst in others the colouring alters in the feathers themselves. 82 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs montlis haunts commons, hedgerows, plantations, small woods, orchards, and shrub- beries, in all of which situations I have very often found its nest, the latter being most frequently constructed in a furze-bush or hawthorn-hedge, though I have taken many a nest from hazel-branches in a plantation, from evergreen and other shrubs, from tangled bramble, sometimes almost or quite on the ground, from currant and gooseberry bushes, and even from tufts of heather. In size, strength, and materials, the nest varies considerably, but it is always tolerably compact, and rarely so large as that of a Greenfinch : among those which I took under the impression that they differed, I selected eight for my collection all of them dissimilar in character, five of these which I took in 1883 I thus described in the "Zoologist" for that year: — " only one had any moss in its con- struction ; this one is somewhat slightly built for the species, but the walls are strengthened with coarse straws, evidently selected from a dung-hill. The second, excepting that it is not so deep, is not at all unlike a small nest of the Yellow Bunting. Its construction is, however, decidedly firmer, and the grasses used in the walls are similar to what one sees in the nest of the Greater Whitethroat. The third nest is untidy, loosely put together, and has blackish straggling roots projecting from the sides. The fourth is unusually deep, and is formed of roots, fibre, and wool, with a few white hairs towards the interior. The fifth is very ragged in construction, formed of coarse bleached roots, lined with fine fibre and wool." The eggs number from four to six, five being the usual clutch ; they are either pale bluish- green or pale huffish; those of young birds being occasionally unspotted, but most e^gs spotted, speckled, blotched, and sometimes (though rarely) streaked with reddish- and purplish-brown ; the markings are usually most numerous at the larger end, the dark spots now and then forming a subterminal zone. The flight of this bird is swift and undulating ; as it flies it usually twitters ; in the autumn and winter when Linnets collect into flocks, often of considerable size, and pass over the fields in search of food, this twittering is especially char- acteristic. The bird-catchers declare that the birds say ''tell, tell, tell" as they fly, and at a distance from the flock you can understand what is meant by this rendering, but when you get three or four Linnets under a sloping roof in a good sized aviary, and listen attentively as they fly together from end to end, you find that what they really say is — " turra, tit, turra, turra, turra." The ordinary call of the Linnet is a rather high pitched twit, twit ; the sexual call is te-ewy ; the call of the young for food is chiwi, chiwi, chiwi ; the song, to my mind, has been too much extolled; it is pretty enough, but there is too much chuckle and too little brilliance in it ; the notes give one the idea of whistling The Linnet. ^ through soap-suds, a clear note escaping at the end of the phrase through bubble and sputter — ''^ chick, chick, achock ; chick chicka-chick, chick; chick, chick, achoo^' ; more- over, half a dozen Linnets quarrelling sound nearly as well as one Linnet singing. For clearness and vigour not a note in the song of Acatithis cannabina will compare with the joyous, though somewhat monotonous, song of the Chaffinch : of course I am aware that this is rank heresy ; but heresy is often truth. Howard Saunders observes that "it is the capacity for learning the notes of other birds which makes the Linnet so great a favourite for the cage " : perhaps he is right ; but, although I have never been without the species since I first began to keep birds, often having as many as six or eight cock Linnets at the same time, I never observed any capacity for mimicry in any of my specimens : even the three males now in my possession, which have been flying together in the same aviary for more than four years, still sing nothing beyond their natural wild song. That nestling Linnets will learn a song of another bird if kept separate from examples of their own species, as recorded by Sterland (Vide Charles Witchell's " Evolution of Bird- song," p. 170)* is not remarkable; but it does not account for the caging of many thousands of adult Linnets yearly. Linnets are known to be largely migratory, and Seebohm observes : — "Although the Linnet is a resident in this country it is probable that many, if not most of the birds of the year join the flocks of this species that pass our islands every autumn, and migrate further south with them." The food of the Linnet consists principally of seeds of dock, plantain, dandelion, groundsel, thistle, etc., and it is fond of hemp, oats, and turnip seed. Probably when feeding its young it also eats aphides and small caterpillars. In confinement German rape, Canary, and oats are the best seeds on which to feed it. Why the last-mentioned very wholesome and cheap seed is so seldom used by aviculturists I cannot understand, unless they imagine that the smaller hard-billed birds are unable to crack it : this, of course, is a very mistaken notion, for most seed-eating birds, including Canaries, are very fond of oats. When hand-reared. Linnets become extremely tame; but, if they are to be kept so, they must be caged separately ; for association in an aviary with other birds, renders them as wild as caught specimens in a few days ; a fact which I proved first in 1886, and have since been able to confirm. It is also a mistake to trust the rearing of caged nestlings to the parent birds: I tried this in 1887, hanging up the cage in a tree near the nest from which I had removed the young. The old birds are willing enough to feed their young in a cage, but the • In my opinion the Wnnet mentioned in the -same work (p. 172) as warbling the .songs of the lilackcap and Wren, must also have been a nestling when caged. .«♦ British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. strongest nestlings always fight their way to the front, so that the weaker birds are unable to get sufficient food to sustain life and quickly die. In 1888 I successfully reared two nests of Linnets (nine birds) feeding them at first on egg- food ; and, as they grew stronger, upon scalded German rape ; unfortunately the whole of them died after their moult from inflammation of the bowels. Since then I have been contented to return to my original plan and purchase my Linnets from the birdcatchers. The Linnet occasionally hybridizes in a wild state with the Greenfinch (Vide Stevenson, Birds of Norfolk, p. 220 ; Seebohm, British Birds, Vol. II, p. 77 ; Howard Saunders, Manual Brit. Birds, p. 162; Gurney, Zoologist, p. 3388; Rev. H. A. Macpherson, Zoologist, 1887, p. 303, etc., etc.) ; and in captivity it has been successfully crossed with several species, including the Canary : this last-mentioned bastard is not at all difficult to produce, for my first attempt resulted in three mules ; but to breed hybrid Linnet- Canaries good enough to carry off prizes at our shows requires judgment and experience. The rarest and most valued examples are those known as clear mules, in which the colouring of the Canary is combined with Linnet characteristics : theoretically these should be most readily produced, when both parents have been inbred for several generations ; albinism, or the absence of dark colouring, being a frequent result of inbreeding. Family— FRINGILLIDAi. Subfamily— FRINGILLIN^E. The House-Sparrow. Passer domesticus, Linn. THIS scavenger of towns and scourge of the country is distributed over the greater part of Europe, but in Italy and on the island of Corsica is replaced by a form to which the name of P. italice has been given ; eastwards it ranges to House-Sparrow i 2 The House-Sparrow. 85 Persia and Central Asia, India and Ceylon ; westwards it is found in Madeira. In Africa it occurs from Morocco to the Albert Nyanza. It has been introduced into Australia, New Zealand, and the United States, where it has increased to such an extent as to be an unbearable nuisance. (Vide Sharpe and Saunders). Throughout Great Britain and Ireland, wherever man has made his home, the Sparrow has quickly followed his example, even isolated houses usually providing a pretext for the presence of this bird, sometimes to the extent of scores of individuals. The adult male Sparrow in breeding plumage has the crown, nape, and lower back slate-grey, slightly washed with olivaceous, but the sides of the nape bright chocolate- reddish in continuation of a broad streak from the ear-coverts ; upper back blackish, each feather broadly bordered with dull chestnut ; lesser wing-coverts bright chocolate-reddish ; median coverts black, broadly tipped with white so as to form a prominent bar across the wing ; greater coverts blackish, broadly bordered with dull chestnut ; primaries blackish-grey, all excepting the first with pale chestnut edging to the wider part of the outer web, but the inner primaries with this edge continuous ; secondaries blackish, with chestnut borders, paler and greyer on the inner webs ; tail blackish-brown, the feathers edged with whity-brown ; a narrow white line over the eye ; lores black ; cheeks, and sides of neck white ; throat and chest black, sometimes suffused with chocolate ; remainder of under parts white, ashy at the sides, and brownish on the flanks ; beak leaden black ; feet brown ; iris brown. After the autumn moult the male has whitish-ash fringes to the feathers of the head and throat, which appear to be very delicate in texture, and break away in the spring ; * the under parts are also more uniformly ashy, the upper parts duller, the wing band yellowish, and the beak becomes yellowish- brown. The female is duller and browner than the male ; the broad borders to the feathers of the mantle and back being tawny rather than chestnut ; the superciliary line and wing bar less pure and conspicuous ; the under parts browner, with no black on throat and chest. Young birds chiefly differ from the female in their paler colouring ; the beak is dull yellow. In towns the House-Sparrow is a useful bird, inasmuch as it feeds largely on oats and other grain which it picks from horse-manure, and which otherwise would render the latter less suitable for garden purposes ; it also acts as a scavenger, eating scraps of all kinds which have been thrown into the gutters, and which if not removed in warm weather would soon become offensive. In very dry seasons, • This I do not give on the authority of previous writers, althougli they mention the fact, but on the clear evidence of a good skin (in niy possession) of a bird which died in the middle of its change of plumage. Vol. II. P 86 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. when caterpillars and aphides, but especially the latter, are abundant, the Sparrow makes itself somewhat useful in the country, although it must be admitted that he drives awa}- many more strictly insectivorous birds who could do the same work far more efficiently. On the other hand both to the gardener and farmer the Sparrow is a positive scourge, completely ruining beds of young carnations, or borders of crocuses and primroses, breaking tender shoots in its ponderous struggles to secure insects, scattering earth right and left over freshly gravelled paths in its search for newly sown flower-seeds ; sampling peas, fruit, and grain of all kinds in abundance. Moreover, even the insects which it devours when feeding its young, only represent a portion of their diet ; whole rows of young beans and lettuce are devoured and partl}^ digested by the parents for the same purpose : it must also be borne in mind that even the holding capacity of the ever hungry Sparrow is limited, and that it feeds its young from the crop for some days after they leave the nest (as anyone may see, who watches the birds in his garden, or in the thoroughfares of cities and villages) so that there is by no means that incessant destruction of noxious insects during the rearing of a Sparrow's progeny, which renders the Titmice such enormous benefactors to the fruit-grower.* The young town-bred Sparrow, instead of being nourished on clean partly digested grain, young vegetables, and insects, has to put up with all kinds of refuse and garbage, and when it leaves the nest and is almost able to peck for itself, I have sometimes been amused to see its mother satisfy its cries for food by scooping up a beakful of mud out of a half-dried puddle and emptying it into its gaping mouth : it is not surprising that we sometimes see city-bred birds with ruffled plumage and dull eyes, almost too ill to get out of the way of approaching vehicles. The nest of the House-Sparrow is placed in any suitable hole or crevice either in buildings, trees, or banks, on projecting bricks amongst ivy growing over walls, on beams in bams against a wall or upright support, in nests of House- and Sand- Martins ; but in nearly all such situations its nest is not characteristic, being either extremely untidy and almost shapeless, or formed like that of most Finches in cup-fashion, though with somewhat less regular walls. The more typical nest is built in the branches of trees, hedges, and (according to Dixon) in furze-bushes ; it is a verj^ bulky bag-shaped structure, the entrance being either close to, or at the top, so that the light falls more or less directly into the cavity : this form of nest is also usually built on beams in bams, and I once found a simply gigantic • Henr3- Stevensou, v\ho quotes an estimate as to a pair of Sparrows destroying 3,400 caterpillars in one week to feed their young, seems not to have been aware of the fact that, only when teaching their offspring • to peck, do Sparrows offer insects to them entire. A Sparrow on a fence will feed three or four young in succession without leaving its post. The House-Sparrow. »? specimen in a large pail hanging on the branch of a tree, the depth of this nest was at least i6-inches, and the width close upon a foot: it was too bulk}' to carrj'- awaj' and was hardly suitable for a collection, so I left it where it was. But the most marvellous Sparrow's nest I ever saw is one in my collection obtained from the forking branches of a large hawthorn, at Kemsley, near Sheppj' ; it is roughly circular, saucer-shaped, and altogether has more the character of a Duck's than a Sparrow's nest ; the four eggs in it also all differ, the darkest egg being similar in character to the most richly coloured eggs of the Tree-Sparrow, whilst the lightest is white with smoky gre^- spots and dots crowded chiefly at the larger end, so that it has quite a Shrike-like character, (figs. 142 & 143 are from this nest.) The number of eggs ranges from four to seven, but rarely exceeds six : the colouring both of ground-tint and marking varies more than in most birds, and as I have selected all the best-marked modifications for illustration on our plate, it would be onh' a waste of space to describe them ; but it maj- perhaps be as well to call attention to the fact that the whitest and least boldly marked varieties are found in places to which light has had little access. In 1877 I had clear proof of the unthinking obstinacy of the Sparrow, a pair having built in the roller-box of a sun-blind during dull weather, the pulling down of the blind with the first hot day destroyed the nest ; no sooner, however, was the blind pulled up than the Sparrows set to work and replaced it. This went on so continually and repeatedly that I wrote to the late Charles Darwin, asking him whether he did not think it would be interesting to publish the fact, as evidence of the feeble reasoning powers of this species : his repl}^ dated May 9th, 1877, I still have, with other letters from him. — " My dear Sir, I have been always inclined to think that Sparrows were acute and craft}' birds, but you certainly show that they are fools, and if they go on behaving in so idiotic a manner, you will do quite right to expose their conduct in some public journal ! — Yours sincerely, Ch. Darwin." As this unreflecting perseverance under difficulties continued altogether for nearly a month, I sent an account to the " Zoologist," 1877, pp. 299-300. The House-Sparrow can hardly be said to have a song, its best performance being little more than a chirrup interspersed with sharp chirps, but often early in the morning you will hear several apparently engaged in conversation c/iow, chow, chivi, chivi, chow, chivi, to which the reply is whit! perhaps followed by two or three rapid harsh chirps: chivi is the cry of the young for food, and the adult bird when caught in a trap expresses his rage by indignant chows. I never heard the Sparrow utter any sound like tell, but think the note which Mr. Witchell renders tell, must be that which sounds to me like choiv. 88 British Birds, with their Nests and Eccs. This species is of no interest as a cage-bird, unless hand-reared : a caught Sparrow rarely lives long, is always wild, vicious, voracious, and unmusical ; if hand-reared it has been known to learn and sing the songs of the Goldfinch, Linnet, Canary, and Skylark. A friend of mine had one which imitated the Canary's song perfectly, but seemed ashamed of its performance, for it always turned its face to the wall and sang quite softly ; it also never sang until the evening when the Canaries had gone to sleep. For feeding caged Sparrows I should recommend sunflower- seed, oats, Canary, and German-rape ; groundsel- and plantain-heads ; with a few insects and their larvae. Albinism seems to be on the increase in this species, and more particularly in London ; where, if one examines each flock that one passes in a half-hour's walk through the streets, it is not at all unusual to see several pied varieties : there are always two or three among those which collect for crumbs in front of the Natural History Museum. Family— FRINGILLID^. Subfamily— FRINGILLIN^. The Tree-Sparrow. Passer montanus, LiNN. SEEBOHM gives the distribution of this bird as follows : — " The Tree-Sparrow is common, though somewhat local, throughout the Palasarctic Region from the Atlantic to the Pacific up to and, in Europe, slightly beyond the Arctic circle. It appears to be very rare in North Africa, and to be absent altogether from Greece, Asia Minor, Palestine, Central and Southern Persia, Baluchistan, and India south of the Himalayas ; it is, however, abundant in Turkestan, Afghanistan, and the Himalayas, and is found in suitable localities throughout the rest of Eastern Asia, including Japan, Formosa, Hainan, and Java." Tree-Sparrow 9 i The Tree-Sparrow. '^ The distribution of this species in Great Britain is imperfectly known, owing to its general resemblance to the House- Sparrow and its comparative rarity, but it is believed to be most abundant in the eastern and midland counties of England, and the eastern counties of Scotland: in Ireland it was not discovered until 1852, but is steadily extending its range and increasing in numbers. It is believed that in the autumn the numbers of our resident Tree-Sparrows are largely added to, by flocks of immigrants from the north ; many hundreds arriving on our east coast, in company with Greenfinches, during October and November. The Tree-Sparrow chiefly differs from the House-Sparrow in its slightly inferior size, chestnut crown and nape, a white-bordered triangular black patch on the ear- coverts, a second white bar across the wing ; and in the fact that the female scarcely differs from the male. Young birds have the black markings replaced by brown, and the wing bands suffused with buff. During the summer mouths this species in our islands differs somewhat in its habits from those on the Continent, seeming to avoid towns and the larger villages, and (according to Seebohm) chiefly haunting " the fields and wilder districts away from houses " ; but curiously enough the whole of the nests which I have taken, both in Kent and Norfolk, were found in holes in trees within a stone's throw of at least one house, and sometimes at a distance of only a few yards. " On the Continent, however," (says Seebohm) " the bird has so far overcome its shyness, and adapted itself to circumstances as to frequent the towns, and is quite as pert and impudent as its congener, which it otherwise resembles in its habits." As a site for its nest the Tree-Sparrow seems to prefer holes in pollard willows when obtainable, and, more often than not, the selected hole is at the top of the stump, though I have also taken it out of a hollow and decayed lateral branch, about five feet from the ground : in Norfolk all the nests I found were in willows ; but in Kent I took one nest from a hole in the front of an old oak- tree facing the road, whilst Lord Lilford says that in Northamptonshire they " are to be found nesting generally in small colonies of three or four pairs in old hollow trees, especially (in our neighbourhood) decayed ash, willows, and walnuts." Yarrell speaks of the species as building " in the thatch of a bam, in company with the House-Sparrow, not, however, entering the thatch from the inside of the building like them (sic), but by holes in the outside"; whilst Howard Saunders mentions its building " beneath the tiles of roofs, as well as under the coping of old walls and in sea- cliffs " ; I have taken it from a hole in a ruined lime-kiln ; and, in the "Zoologist" for 1887, p. 265, I recorded the fact of my finding a nest with six perfectly typical eggs (on May 24th) in an exposed mole-burrow in Vol. II. O 9° British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. a brick-earth cutting at Kemsley, near Sheppy. Nidification lasts from May to August, nests being most abundant in the latter half of May. The nest is usually bag-shaped, consisting of a mere thick lining to the hole in which it is situated ; the top being widely open, so that the light generally falls directly upon the eggs ; the materials are similar to those used by the Common Sparrow — straw, hay, and a mass of poultry-feathers. The eggs number from four to six ; they are rather smaller than those of the House-Sparrow, and vary nearly as much (perhaps quite as much, if one could obtain a sufficient series to decide the point) ; I have taken them greenish-white, with scarcely perceptible grey speckling ; greenish-white, speckled with grey, spotted with two shades of sepia, sometimes with the heaviest markings in a subterminal zone ; somewhat greyer, mottled and streaked with grey (not unlike an egg of the Pied Wagtail) ; greyish-white, thickly mottled and blotched with grey, most densely at the larger end, also with one or two blackish dots (not unlike a Titlark's egg) ; dull white, heavily blotched and streaked with vandyke-brown in two shades, and with small g^ey shell-spots ; similar, but so densely streaked and splashed with brown as almost to hide the ground-colour ; lastly rufous-brown, speckled and streaked, especially at the larger end, with darker brown (resembling a reddish variety of the Tree-Pipit). The darker and more ruddy eggs are most characteristic of the species ; but most of those which I obtained from Kentish nests were of the lighter varieties, though the eggs in one clutch sometimes exhibit considerable modification in this respect. It is possible that the colouring of the eggs may have a local significance, inasmuch as Lord Lilford's experience in Northamptonshire led him to the conclusion that the ground-colour, as a rule, was lighter than in eggs of the House- Sparrow ; whilst those which I obtained in Norfolk were usually remark- able for their darker ground-tint, although exceptions did occur. It seems to me more probable that light in some way affects the colouring of eggs ; inasmuch as, not only are most eggs which are laid in the dark pure white, but all those which I have found in heavily shaded positions have been pale and little marked, in comparison with those exposed to direct daylight ; the lightest eggs of the Tree-Sparrow which I obtained in Norfolk were those taken from the horizontal branch of a willow, where the light only entered imperfectly over one side of the nest-cavity ; those in the top of the stump, which were fully exposed to the sky, were deepest in colouring; the nest containing an almost white egg was from the ruined lime-kiln, and was almost as much in the dark as if it had been taken from a Sand-Martin's burrow. Lord Lilford's eggs being taken from holes in full-sized trees, and not from the tops of pollards, were probably but little exposed to light. The Tree-Sparrow 9t The Tree-Sparrow is a more active sprightly bird than its commoner relative ; and, although it can hardly be said to have a song,* its chirruping is somewhat more melodious, its chirp is sharper, and the indignant utterance of a recently captured bird is shriller. Although the Tree-Sparrow does not breed so continuously as the House- Sparrow, which in mild seasons appears to rear family after family throughout the greater part of the year, there is no doubt that it frequently produces three broods in a season. When feeding its young it eats caterpillars, spiders, and various kinds of insects, as well as leaves and unripe seeds of weeds ; but at other times it appears to confine its attentions principally to different kinds of seeds. On several occasions bird-catchers have offered me Tree-Sparrows at from twopence to threepence apiece ; but the birds looked so vindictive and chirped so savagely that, considering their powerful beaks, I decided not to risk associating them with the other members of my feathered family. Although opinions differ greatly respecting the character of this species, I am satisfied that I adopted the safest course. Stevenson (Birds of Norfolk, Vol. I, p. 209) says : — " In confinement the Tree- Sparrows are certainly the shyest and most untameable of any birds I have ever introduced into my aviary, and even time seems to work but little change in their wild nature, as on the approach of any person, whether a stranger or not, they dash about the cage in a reckless manner, and when exhausted and panting with fright, will creep into any comer or dark spot to escape notice." Lord Lilford observes : — " In captivity the Tree-Sparrow thrives well upon canary- and millet-seed, and becomes very tame." t Swaysland, who has had considerable experience in keeping many of our British birds, remarks : — " When caught do not place immediately in an aviary, as they would then invariably sulk and behave wildly, frightening the other birds, but rather keep in a small cage until tame." Howard Saunders (Manual, p. 174) says: — "In captivity this species has bred with the House-Sparrow." It would therefore appear that, if properly treated, this species does become steady enough to breed in confinement. I have been told, by Aviculturists who have kept the Tree-Sparrow, that it is not tyrannical in an aviary ; it must, however, be borne in mind, that an indi- vidual does not necessarily exhibit the characteristics of a species ; even half a dozen specimens may all be of a peaceful disposition (as was the case with my Robins, which never fought with any but their own species). On the other hand • The Rev. H. A. Macpherson assures me that the Tree-Sparrow has a very sweet song; a fact vouched for independently by Mr. J. Whitaker and the late Edward Blyth. t I should certainly add oats. — A.G.B. 92 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs one vicious Tree-Sparrow, associated with birds weaker than itself, might do much mischief in a very short space of time : its powerful beak would enable it to kill or maim an}' smaller or weaker bird without the least trouble. Family— FRINGILLID^. Subfamily— FRINGILLINAi. The Chaffinch. Fringilla ctxlebs, LlNN. ALTHOUGH the type of the family Fringillidce and therefore the Finch of Finches, this species and the Brambling differ much in their habits from the other British species of typical Finches fFringillijiaJ and one is surprised that any man, having the knowledge of living birds which Seebohm undoubtedly had, should have been content to place forms with Tit-like habits (Siskin, Goldfinch, Redpolls) in the same genus with the true species of Fringilla — birds which have the habits of Buntings. If distinctive structural characters were wholly absent, one could understand it. The Chaffinch is distributed as a breeding species throughout Europe almost up to the North Cape, but in the south of Europe it chiefly haunts the mountains during the breeding season, wintering in the plains. It occurs locally in Morocco and Algeria, and winters in Egypt. In Asia it is said to breed in Palestine, Asia Minor, and Western Persia, and to winter in Turkestan. In Great Britain the Chaffinch is generally distributed ; breeding freelj^ in all wooded or cultivated districts, and in solitary bushes on the more barren portions of our islands. - The fully adult male Chaffinch in breeding plumage has the forehead velvet}^ black, the crown and nape steel blue, the former sometimes tinged with green, the latter somewhat ashy ; the mantle bright chestnut ; lower back bluish ash-grey at Chaffinch sometimes forming a zone near the larger extremity of the G.gg. The time of nidification is from about the last week of May to the first week of July, one brood only being reared in a season ; the hen is a close sitter, and rarely leaves her nest until one has almost put foot or hand upon her ; so that, apart from the size of the eggs, there is seldom any diificulty in identifying them. During the breeding-season the food of this bird consists very largely of insects and their larvae ; but it has been said to eat both peas and beans, and it is certain that it devours quantities of unripe corn : in autumn and winter the Com- Bunting lives almost exclusively upon grain and various kinds of seeds, in search of which it frequents rick-yards, stubble-fields, and pastures. Although this species is tolerably common in Kent, I do not think I took its io6 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. nest more than half a dozen times during the seventeen successive years in which I was an enthiisiastic birds-nester ; but as I had a strong objection to trampling down crops on the bare chance of discovering a nest, it is probable that I may frequently have passed within a few yards of a nest of the Com- Bunting without being aware of the fact. This is not a suitable bird for the Aviculturist, being unpleasing in appearance and voice, as well as voracious ; it is, therefore, rarely caged. It is, however, possible that we underrate the vocal powers of this bird, for in the " Zoologist " for 1887, p. 300, the Rev. H. A. Macpherson proves that it has some capacity for mimicking the notes of other species; he says: — "When birds-nesting on the Upper Rhine, near Mulheim, I found the Corn-Bunting abundantly established on the lower grounds. During great heat the males sang incessantly (their mates were sitting) perching indifferently on the ground, on low bushes and rails, on the tops of walnut trees, and on the telegraph wires. Their song seemed to be identical with the dialect of those I had met with at home, with a single exception. On June 19th, a Corn-Bunting perching on a telegraph wire poured forth a liquid and sweet song, embodying the notes of the Crested Lark, which latter species is resident, though scarce, in that district. That the Reed Bunting has a good ear, and can be trained to sing the Skylark's song I have recorded elsewhere, but I never suspected the Com- Bunting of a similar capacity." Family— FRINGILLID^E. Subfamily— EMBERIZIN^. The Yellow Bunting. Emberiza citrine/la, LiNN. T HE Yellow Ammer or Hammer, as this bird is generally called (from the German name Goldammer, which means Golden Bunting)* is generally • Also locally kuowii as Yellow Yorling or Yoldring. Yellow Bunting 2 i The Yellow Bunting. 107 distributed throughout the greater part of Europe, breeding in Scandinavia as far north as lat. 70", and in the valley of the Ob, in Siberia, up to lat. 64". To the more northern portions of its range it is only a summer visitor, and it only visits the more southern portions in the winter, but in the temperate regions it is resident ; in winter it occurs southwards through Turkey into N.W. Persia and Turkestan. Although almost unknown in S.W. Spain, it is said to be resident in Teneriffe. Throughout Great Britain this species is abundant and generally distributed, breeding everywhere excepting, perhaps, in the Shetlands. The male Yellow Bunting in breeding plumage appears to vary considerably in beauty of plumage, the birds of Mid- Kent appearing almost like a distinct species from those of North-west Kent, owing to the much greater development of yellow on the head. The crown and nape bright Canary-yellow, with an olive- brown streak across the forehead and bounding the sides of the crown ; * or lemon yellow much more streaked with olive-brown ; remainder of upper parts chestnut, the feathers of the mantle and back with strongly marked black longitudinal streaks ; wing-coverts and inner secondaries dark smoky brown, bordered with chestnut ; remaining secondaries and primaries sooty blackish, with more or less yellow margins to the outer webs and slightly ashy tips ; two central tail feathers dark smoky brown, with pale cinnamon brownish borders ; remaining feathers sooty blackish, with very narrow yellowish edging to the outer web ; the two outer feathers with large snow white wedge-shaped patches on the inner web ; under parts lemon yellow, an olive-brown streak partly bounding the ear-coverts ; breast and flanks slightly washed with olive and streaked with olive-brown ; beak dark horn-brown on the culmen, becoming more leaden at the sides, lower mandible much paler, especially along the edge and just in front of the chin; feet pale flesh-brown ; iris hazel. The female is much less yellow than the male (excepting in pairs netted in West Kent which, even in breeding plumage, difl"er compara- tively little) the yellow on the crown represented by irregular mottling; the chestnut of the upper parts much less pronounced, excepting on the rump and upper tail - coverts ; whilst the olive-brown streaking of the under parts is more defined. After the autumn moult the feathers of the head have dark tips and the other feathers of the upper parts somewhat ashy margins ; all of which are said to be shed in the spring. The young nearly resemble females in winter plumage. I have repeatedly tried to get hold of Yellow Hammers in brilliant plumage ; but, living on the borders of North-west Kent, I find that the catchers invariably • Mr. Frohawk has shown me a wonderful specimen in which there are no streaks on head or neck, and the wings are varied with white.— A.G.B. io8 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. bring me dull-plumaged birds ; the more intelligent of them have assured me that they have never seen a brightly coloured male Yellow Hammer in the neighbour- hood, which exactly agrees with my own experience. In the males of North Kent, on the other hand, all the males are especially fine in colouring, the dark markings on their heads being so much reduced as to be indiscernible at a short distance. The Yellow Hammer is abundant in all open country, but more especially in the better cultivated districts where one sees the males dotted here and there like sentinels on the topmost sprays of the hedges, or sailing with rapid undulating flight down the lanes and country roads ; in wild moorland and commons this bird may also be often seen, though at times when it sits upon a flowering furze-bush it is overlooked until its ringing song directs one's attention to the performer. The song of the Yellow Bunting is not especially meritorious, though bright and cheering ; it consists of a rapid descending scale made up of a repetition of a sharp note which may be rendered chip or chitik, and terminating with a double note chee-chee ; it rather suggests the shaking up of shillings between the hands, and has been likened to the words " Give me a little bit of bread and no cheese," though " green cheese " would have been a better interpretation : occasionally the doxible note is omitted ; but more especially when the bird is beginning to sing in the early spring. Being a late breeder this species continues his song well into the autumn, and often recommences in February. The male call-note is described as chich, chich, ckurr. The nidification of this bird commences about the middle of April, and not unfrequently continues up to the end of August : I have myself taken a nest as late as the 12th August with three fresh eggs (Vide "Zoologist" for December, 1883) and eggs have been obtained in September. The nest is usually placed low down, thoiigh occasionally at a distance of from four to five feet above the ground in a hedge, and (according to Howard Saunders) exceptionally at a height of seven feet. I have often found it in low bushes, but only once in furze ; in low scrub on partially cleared waste ground ; in holes in grassy banks by the road-side ; or under a low dividing hedge between fields ; also at a considerable height (from thirty to forty feet) in a niche in the side of a gravel or chalk-pit surrounded by tufts of plantain and grass. The structure is a loose one, occasionally so much so that, when taken, the outer walls have to be supported to prevent their falling apart ; these consist of coarse straws, dead grasses, and sometimes a few twigs interlaced ; and, in one nest which I took from a hedge, there was an edging of dead chestnut leaves ; the lining consists of fine withered grass-bents, and a few rootlets and horsehairs. The eggs of the Yellow Hammer are extremely variable, both in ground-tint The Yellow Bunting. '09 and marking, although most of them exhibit the purplish black characters which have earned for this bird the title of " Scribbling Lark." In tint they vary from greenish-white, through greyish-lavender, to pale rosy-brownish ; whilst one egg, taken by my brother Frank, in Cornwall, was bright sienna-red, with a single irregular blackish line across one side, and somewhat resembles a rare form of the egg of the Tree Pipit (Plate III, fig. 100). On two occasions I have taken the greenish white egg almost or entirely without markings, the first time I only secured the first egg (as I had to return to town the following day) on the second occasion I obtained a clutch of three ; four elliptical eggs in one clutch were dull greenish- white, one of them with only a few delicate hair-lines, a second with a single additional rectangular line across the lower third enclosing a second shorter club-shaped line, the two other eggs were fairly normal in marking ; another nest of four is slightly tinted with lavender, the markings are mostly fine, and look like tangled silk, mixed with a few thicker streaks of purplish black, one of these eggs is almost a perfect sphere ; other greenish eggs have extraordinary markings (like written notes in music, oriental letters, or the little men which children sometimes draw on their slates) intennixed with finer scrawlings and patches of lavender ; the lavender tinted eggs chiefly differ in being clouded with a deeper shade of the same colour, often at the larger end ; one egg which I obtained vaguely resembles that of a Chaffinch, being of the same size and with very few linear markings, only the diffused patches are greyish lavender, instead of looking like blood-stains. The number of eggs in a clutch varies from four to five, four being the commoner number ; if less are obtained in an incubated condition, either the first nest has been destroyed before the completion of the clutch, or one or more eggs abstracted or broken accidentally. During incubation the hen bird sits very close ; so that frequently you may almost tread upon the nest in stepping through tangled brushwood; \}a&a. fferrdup ! that sound of hurried flight familiar to the birds-nester, makes you suddenly look to catch a glimpse of the startled bird rounding a bush, or passing over a hedge ; and in a minute you are crouching down and turning aside the foliage to look at its treasures : often when searching among brambles and hawthorn have I felt \\\y hand brushed by the wing of this bird as it has started from its nest. I am satisfied that three, if not four, broods are reared in a year : the male is said, on good authority, to assist the female in incubation, but in ever\' instance in which I have flushed the bird from the nest, it has invariably been the hen ; indeed the male has always been singing somewhere close by. It is well-known that the hens of many species as they g^ow old assume a plumage closely resemb- VOL. II. T iio British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. ling that of the male bird ; therefore unless a cock of this species has actually been shot, or at least been heard to sing, upon the nest, and its sex proved, I think the statement that it assists the hen in her duties, should be received with a certain amount of hesitation.* The food of the Yellow Hammer in the breeding-season consists largely of insects and their larvae ; also, like all the Buntings, this species devours insects whenever it can obtain them ; but, like all more or less insectivorous birds, it is still fonder of spiders, and this fact should, I think, be taken into account when summing up the virtues and vices of birds. If man would let nature alone, he would find the balance perfect, but he interferes everywhere and makes a mess of it. In autumn and winter the Yellow Bunting feeds largely upon grain and seeds of weeds, wandering over the country in flocks in company with Chaffinches, Bramblings, etc. Although a beautiful bird, the wild caught Yellow Hammer never commands a high price, bird-catchers generally being well satisfied to receive a shilling for a pair : the fact that the bird is not a fine singer partly accounts for this, but the wildness of newly caught specimens is another serious drawback to the popularity of this species ; inasmuch as, after weeks of confinement, it still rattles about its cage whenever it is approached, uttering a whining sort of chirp. An aviary suits it far better. In October, 1888, I purchased a pair from a bird-catcher, and turned them into a large covered aviary : in the succeeding spring they built a typical nest in an Arbor-vitoe ; but, as already related previously, a hen Hedge-Sparrow took possession of this nest as soon as it was completed, and subsequently the unhappy Buntings were a long time in deciding upon a new building-site ; towards the end of July they selected a very damp comer on the ground behind a marsh-flag and began to build ; they, however, never finished this nest, but continued to carry about hay and straw in an undecided desultory manner until November, when they finally gave it up as a bad job. Early in 1890, both birds died: possibly they did not receive sufficient insect-food to keep them in good health. Cases have been recorded in which this species has been discovered sitting upon eggs deposited in a slight depression on the bare ground ; there is no doubt that the explanation of such behaviour is^ — that its nest has been taken. I once removed a nest with three eggs from a hedge, and passing a day or two later saw the bird sitting on a little platform of ivy twigs upon which the nest had been partly supported ; as I approached she flew away, disclosing her fourth ^%^. * This statement has, however, been so tlefinitelj- made, that doubtless the fact has been proved be3ond all question. Of ♦o a z H Z D DQ J O -^^ g»;fVi^r.^..4£-^w;i.a The Cirl Bunting. "i Family— FRINGILLID^. Subfamily— EMBERIZIN^. The Cirl Bunting. Mmberiza cirlus, LiNN. THE range of the Cirl Bunting is more restricted than that of the other European species as it does not extend into the northern parts of the Continent. In Central and Southern Europe it is resident, but in Southern Italy, Greece, and Asia Minor, it seeks the mountains for breeding purposes. In Belgium and Holland it is said to be rare. It has been found breeding in Algeria, but appears to be chiefly a winter visitor to North-west Africa. Though resident in Great Britain and not rare, the Cirl Bunting is decidedly local, being essentially a southern species. Formerly every work on British Birds which was published, used to assert that this bird was found breeding in all the southern counties from Cornwall to Sussex, being apparently absent from Kent ; and even after Mr. Bidwell had recognised in my collection a clutch of eggs of this species, which I had taken at Iwade, near Sheppy, on June 5th, 1877, as being unquestionably those of E. cirlus (a fact which I believe I promptly recorded in the " Zoologist ") the same statement was repeated, until the appearance of Howard Saunders' Manual in 1888. It has, however, been found breeding as far northward as Yorkshire, but it is of accidental occurrence at any season either in the midlands or the northern counties.* In Scotland it has occurred as a chance straggler, but its recorded occurrence in Ireland has been questioned. The adult male Cirl Bunting has the crown and nape olive-green, longitudinally streaked with dull black ; the rump and upper tail-coverts olivaceous ; the sides of the head blackish olive, with a lemon-yellow stripe above, and a second below the eye, from the base of the beak to the neck ; the chin and throat to the sides of the neck dull black, bounded by a half collar of lemon-yellow ; across the chest is a greyish olive belt ; sides and flanks chestnut, narrowly streaked with black ; remainder of under parts lemon-yellow : in other respects this species nearly resembles the Yellow Bunting, the back, wings, and tail being very similar; the • In the "Zoologist" for 1891, p. 353, Mr. E. A. Swainsoii records its occurrence in Cardiganshire, and observes : — " This species, which has in the last two years become rather common in parts of the adjoining count}' of Brecon, where it was previously very rare, appears to be gradually extending its range westward.s. "2 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. beak is dark horn-brown above, but paler and bluish below ; the feet yellowish horn ; the iris hazel. The female is much duller, and chiefly differs from that sex of the Yellow Hammer in the absence of yellow on the crown, and the olivaceous rump ; the yellow of the under parts is also not so bright, and the streaking is better defined. Young birds nearly resemble the female, but are still duller. The male, after the autumn moult, has ashy fringes to the black feathers of the throat, which, however, disappear in the spring. In disposition the Cirl Bunting appears to nearly resemble the Yellow Ham- mer ; but during the breeding-season it is evidently somewhat more skulking, for although I have frequently heard it singing in the hedges and in rough scrub, in the lanes and little frequented roads of Kent, I have very rarely seen the per- formers : even in an aviary I found it at all seasons much more shy and retiring. I should therefore be inclined to think that an example mentioned by Lord Lilford (Birds of Northamptonshire, Vol. I, p. 176) must have escaped from confinement, after some years of captivity in an aviary. He says : — " as I was watching my Emus and other birds in the courtyard at Lilford, a fine male Cirl Bunting flew down from a high elm tree, settled on the gromid within a few yards of where I stood, and began feeding on the grain which had been scattered for the Emus, and at which several Sparrows and Chaffinches were already busy. I had this bird in full view for some minutes, as he hopped about and regaled himself, till he was attacked by a Sparrow, and flew up to the tree from whence he had come." * The song of the Cirl Bunting differs from that of the Yellow Hammer chiefly in the absence of the terminal double note ; it has therefore been compared with that of the Lesser Redpoll and Lesser Whitethroat. The call-note of the young and adult are said by Mr. Witchell to be " not unlike the call-squeak of the Tree Pipit"; according to Seebohm the adult call-note "sounds like a monotonous and plaintive clua-che.'" Subsequent to taking my first nest of the Cirl Bunting in 1877, I frequently heard and occasionally saw the cock-bird in the same neighbourhood, but I did not obtain a nest again until 1884, when I found two at Tunstall, the first on the 24th and the second on the 30th May : four years later I obtained permission to nest in some private grounds near Frinstead, in Kent, and on the 26th May I took my fourth and last nest of this species. The Cirl Bunting appears to be double-brooded, the first nest being usually built some time in May, aiad the second in July. The sites chosen for the nest are very similar to those selected by the Yellow Bunting : according to Howard * Howard Sauudere observes that in snowj' weather, in the south of France, he has seen small flock.s feeding along with Sparrows and other Finches, on the refuse in the streets, but Lord Lilford's bird was noticed at the end of June, when one would have expected it to be shy. — A.G.B. The Cirl Bunting. "3 Saunders who found it not uncommon on the chalk-hills of Surrey, it "is placed in a bank among the stems of a hazel or other bush, though sometimes in furze, or juniper, at a little distance from the ground." My nests were all found within a foot or two above the earth, the first in a stunted furze-bush tangled with a blackberr}' vine, two others in low juniper scrub overrun with bramble, and the fourth in a young hawthorn bush. The nest is tolerably compact internally, though externally somewhat loosely put together, the outer wall usually consisting of coarse dead grass, bents, and vegetable fibre ; the lining of fine fibre and black horse-hair : occasionally a little moss is said to be used in the lining ; but this material is rarel}^ used by any of the British Buntings. The eggs number from four to five (my nests contained respectively four, four, three, and two eggs) and are often somewhat broader than those of the Yellow Hammer, they are white, generally very faintlj^ tinged with lilac ; streaked, spotted, and dotted with purplish black, especially towards the larger end ; with small, and frequently indistinct lilacine greyish shell-spots. The markings often terminate in round blots ; and, occasionally, some of the streaks are chocolate. Seebohm describes an abnormal nest in his collection as " somewhat loosely put together, and made externally of various plant-stems, blades of grass, roots, and quantities of dead leaves. It is lined with one or two scraps of moss, a few pieces of fine grass, and a great quantity of short hair." The eggs of the Cirl Bunting vary much less than those of the Yellow Bunting ; but Seebohm states that some of them have a greenish-white ground- tint. Lord Lilford says : — " The few nests I have met with were all placed on steep banks by the side of a road or footway, amongst low bushes and herbage, and were built of moss and grass-stalks, with a lining of cow's hair." Herr Gatke (Birds of Heligoland, p. 371) states that he has onl}' twice obtained this Bunting on the island ; he gives Zaunavimer as the German trivial name of the species; but Von Homeyer (in the Gefiederte Welt, 1891, p. 444) applies this name to Emberiza cia, using the term Zippammer (used for the Meadow Bunting alone by Gatke) in a generic sense. If two such distinct species as Emberiza cirlus and E. cia are each called "The Hedge Bunting" by well-known writers, the confusion respecting them is likely to be as fruitful of mischief as the incorrect application of the trivial name of Black-headed Bunting to Etnberiza schcenklus has been in England. The food of this species is similar to that of its congeners ; consisting largely of grasshoppers, beetles, moths, caterpillars, and spiders, during the breeding- season ; but in autumn and winter, of various seeds and grain. In confinement "4 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. it lives well on the usual mixed seeds, including oats, with the addition of an occasional mealworm, cockroach, or spider. Like most of the British Buntings, the Cirl Bunting (if kept in an aviary) is, as Lord Lilford observes, " dull, silent, and greedy." Rarely one may hear it sing, once or twice perhaps in the course of a month : it is not, however, an aggressive bird ; and, when it does show itself, makes a pretty addition to a collection of Finches. My friend, Mr. Phillip Crowley, purchased a pair at the Crystal Palace Show some years ago, and turned them out into his mixed garden aviary, where I believe they lived for several years ; but one which I had (I think in 1893 or 1894) only survived for about a twelvemonth, dying suddenly without apparent cause. Family— FRINGILLID^. - Subfamily— EMBERIZIN^. The Ortolan Bunting. Emberiza hortuiana, Linn. « " T N Scandinavia the northern limit of its breeding- range extends to the Arctic X circle"; "in the Ural Mountains it is not found further north than lat. 57°." "In Siberia, the eastward limit of its range appears to be the valley of the Irtish, as far as its source in the Altai Mountains ; thence it extends westwards through Turkestan and Persia to Palestine and Asia Minor. In all these countries it is a summer migrant, and in the two latter it is principally known as passing through on migration, though a few retire to the mountains to breed. This appears to be the case also in Greece and Italy ; but to the rest of Europe, south of the northern limits above mentioned, it is a regular summer visitor. A few remain to breed in North-west Africa, but the majority passes southwards in autumn, and doubtless winter somewhere in West Africa. It also passes through Egypt on migration, and winters in Abyssinia; a few also winter in North-west India." (Seebohm, Hist. Brit. Birds, Vol. II, pp. 153-4)- Ortolan Bunting ^ 2 The Ortolan Bunting. "5 Although there can be little doubt that several of the Ortolans shot, captured, or seen in Great Britain, have escaped from the poulterers shops, having been imported from the Continent to supply the tables of the wealthy ; the fact that it is a common species at no greater distance than the north of France, renders its occasional visits to our coasts extremely probable. The first recorded instance of its occurrence was that of an example caught in Marylebone Fields, and figured by Brown in 1776, since which time somewhere about thirty specimens have been either obtained or seen, mostly in various parts of England ; about five being recorded from Scotland, and one from Ireland. The adult male Ortolan Bunting has the head, nape, and upper breast greenish grey ; eyelid whitish ; lores, a moustachial streak, the chin and fore-throat sulphur yellow ; back, wing-coverts, and secondaries pale reddish-brown, with blackish central streaks to the feathers ; lower back and rump with barely defined streaks ; the remaining feathers of the wings and the tail brown, the three outer tail feathers with large terminal patches of white on the inner webs ; lower breast, belly, and under tail-coverts pale reddish brown ; beak vinous brown ; feet reddish clay- coloured ; iris dark brown. The female is altogether duller and browner than the male, the head greener and streaked with dark brown. Young birds nearly resemble the female, but are yellower and more streaked below, and only have white patches on the two outer pairs of tail-feathers. After the autumn moult the head and breast of this species are somewhat greener, and the beak paler, more flesh-coloured. According to Hamilton, the Hindostani name for this bird is "Jamjohara." Respecting the habits of this bird when at liberty, Seebohm remarks :■ — " I found the Ortolan Bunting breeding on the mountains in the pine-regions both of Greece and Asia Minor. When I was at Valconswaard, we constantly heard its plaintive monotonous song, as it sat perched for a long time on the branch of a tree in the lanes, or in the hedges that surround the fields close to the village; and in the wilder districts of Norway, when driving in our carioles from Lille- hammer towards the Dovre Fjeld, it was by no means uncommon in the trees by the roadside. It is not a shy bird, and frequently remains for a very long time on the same twig, generally near the top of the tree, especially in the evening, when its simple song harmonizes with the melancholy stillness of the outskirts of the country village." The nest of the Ortolan is formed in the latter half of May, being placed in a slight depression on the ground amongst herbage, under bushes, or in the open fields. It is formed of dry grass strengthened with roots, and is lined with rootlets and hair. The eggs number from four to six, and varj' from pale lilac to "6 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. rosy salmon, boldly blotched, spotted, and slightly streaked with purplish black, chiefly towards the larger extremity, where the markings sometimes form an imperfect zone ; the shell- markings are violet greyish : in form they vary much in the same manner as eggs of the Yellow Hammer. The food of this bird does not materially differ from that of the other species of Emberiza, consisting mainly of insects in spring and summer, and of seeds and grain in autumn and winter. The song of the Ortolan Bunting consists of one melancholy whistled note repeated five times, the fifth repetition being prolonged — " Hoo, hoo, hoo, koo, hooooy I have heard it dozens of times, and am absolutely certain that this is a fact. To be sure of a song, it is necessary to make a note of the exact sounds whilst the bird is uttering them ; if you wait until you are lying in bed in a somnolent condition and attempt to recall a song, you may feel quite positive that you have hit upon the very notes ; you reach over to your pockets and abstract pencil and paper to jot the phrase down before it escapes you : later on, you compare your production with the original, and discover that you are wide of the mark : there is absolutely no resemblance between the dream and the reality. About 1 89 1 a pair of Ortolan Buntings was given to me by Mr. P. J. Lowrey ; and, judging (from my experience of Yellow Hammers and Reed Buntings in captivity) that this species would be equally inoffensive, I turned them out into a large covered aviary with English Finches, and many small Ploceine Finches. At first the Ortolans were quiet enough, their feathers being somewhat abraded (owing to the fact that they had been kept in a cage in some small bird-shop) : no sooner, however, had these birds moulted and thus recovered their full power of flight, than they occupied themselves for the greater part of each day in chasing the unfortunate Waxbills and Mannikins all over the aviary. Apparently, the Ortolans had no vicious intentions in the pursuit of their weaker associates ; they never actually pecked them, when they had an opportunity of doing so ; but they could not resist the pleasure which the frantic terror of the little Finches evidently gave them : they darted up and down the aviary almost with the rapidity of a Swallow, whilst the poor little hunted birds, unable to escape by mere speed, were forced to fling themselves against the wirework and double back to avoid their pursuers. Seeing that it was impossible to keep Ortolans in an aviary containing Ornamental Finches, I now captured my birds and placed them in another aviary with Redwings, Greenfinches, Chaffinches, &c., here they suddenly dropped all the active habits which had previously characterized them, becoming as dull and listless as other members of their genus : their health, nevertheless, was always perfect, and their plumage tight and glossy. I parted with this pair at the same time as Brandts Siberian Bunting. "7: I sold my Redwings, and subsequently they were made use of for show purposes.' In the late autumn of 1894 I selected a male Ortolan from a consignment of Weavers (out of colour) which had just been received from Africa: it had been imported, together with Abyssinian and Russ' Weavers, and with these I continue to keep it in one of my cool aviaries. Like its predecessors, this Ortolan, associated as it is with naturally quarrel- some and powerful birds, is singularly quiet and retiring in its demeanour ; indeed it often seems to weary of the constant wranglings and strong language of the Weavers, and perches quite low down, or even on the earth ; where, from time to time, it utters its melancholy little monotonous song : although it never has a chance of securing any insect food, all of which is greedily devoured as soon as it is thrown into the aviary by three specimens of a Cape Weaver Sitagra fS. capensisfj it appears to find all that it needs for its health in the few dried ants' cocoons remaining in a saucer of soft food, which has already been picked over by examples of Liothrix and Zosterops : it also eats a good many oats, in addition to Canary and other seeds. In spite of their usually placid behaviour, this and all the Buntings are very pretty additions to a mixed aviary ; their plumage being usually quite uninjured and scrupulously clean. Although perhaps not so passionately fond of bathing as some of the more typical Finches, they perform their ablutions once or twice each day in a methodical and business-like manner, which is probably quite as effective as the hurried splashing, characteristic of a Goldfinch or Canary. Family— FRINGILLID^. Subfamilv—EMBERIZIN^. Brandt's Siberian Bunting. Eviberiza cioides, Brandt. A N example of the Chinese race of this species, said to have been obtained near Flamborough, in October, 1887, was purchased in June, 1888, by Mr. vot. II. T \ "8 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs R. W. Chase, of Birmingham : there seems, however, to be some question as to the date of capture ; * and, in any case, it appears to me to have no claim to be called a British species. Family— FRINGILLID^. Subfamily— EMBERIZINAi. The Rustic Bunting. Emberiza rustica, Palla,S. AN accidental straggler to our shores, of which the first example was captured near Brighton, on October 23rd, 1867, the second was shot on the Holder- ness coast, Yorkshire, on September 17th, 1881, and the third captured at Elstree reservoir, near London, on November, 1882. Family— FRINGILLID^. Subfamily— EMBERIZIN^. The Little Bunting. Emberiza pusilla, Pallas. ONE specimen was captured near Brighton, on November 2nd, 1864. At best it can only be regarded as a very rare and chance wanderer to Great Britain, although there is no reason why it should not occasionally visit us. * vide "Zoologist," 1891, p. 363. where this specimeu is state < The Raven '5? Dr. John Grayling of Sittingboume had a tame Jackdaw in his garden. This bird was particularly fond of hazel-nuts, and would catch every one that was thrown at him ; but if you took two or three nuts with about the same number of pebbles in your hand, and flung them at the bird, one after the other as rapidly as possible, he caught every nut, and evaded every stone, without fail : his manner of avoiding a missile made you look small, for he never moved farther than was necessary, sometimes merely lowering his head, or taking a step to right or left. When one considers how marvellously powerful a bird's vision must be to enable it, in a second, to distinguish between a nut and a similarly-coloured pebble, leading it instantaneously to decide whether to catch or avoid it ; it seems preposterous to imagine that it can ever hesitate as to the nature of a leaf-like insect, however well it may seem to be disguised to our less discriminating sight : indeed I am fully convinced that if a dozen leaf-like insects (recently killed to prevent their showing movement) and an equal number of similar crumpled leaves were flung on the floor of an aviary containing insectivorous birds of any kind, it would not be long before all the insects had been selected and devoured. As the Jackdaw is almost omnivorous, there is never any difficulty in feeding it in captivity : but the bird is less entertaining in a flight-cage than when (with one wing clipped) it is allowed the run of the place. Family— COR VIDyE. The Raven. Corvus corax, Linn. DISTRIBUTED throughout Europe from the limit of land in the north to the Mediterranean in the south and throughout northern Asia to the Himalayas ; whilst in America it extends across the continent from the Pacific to Greenland and southwards to Guatemala and possibly Honduras, though to the east of the Mississippi it is somewhat rare and local. Vol. II. 2 C 158 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs In England, probably owing to the systematic persecution to which it has been subjected, the Raven is becoming very rare, though a few pairs still breed regularly in the rocky headlands of our southern and south western coasts. Howard Saunders observes that nests built in trees, although far rarer than formerly, are less uncommon than might be supposed at short distances inland. Not long ago several pairs bred in Essex. To this I can add that in the winter of 1885-6 a pair of Ravens used daily to pass over my garden at Penge (where I then lived) and on mentioning the fact to a friend in the train he told me he knew of a pair which had a nest in the spring of 1885 not far from Beckenham, but he intended to keep its situation to himself lest I should be tempted to try and secure the eggs. In Scotland, and particularly the Outer Hebrides and other Western Isles northwards to the Shetlands, it is still common ; whilst it is found in the wilder regions of Ireland. The Raven is glossy black, with iridescent purple and Prussian blue tints on the upper parts and throat ; bill and feet black, iris brown. The female is smaller, and less distinctly shot with purple and blue. The young resemble the female, but lack the metallic gloss of adult birds. The bird of Odin is widely regarded with superstitious awe ; its sable colouring, gruff croaking notes, and its delight in carrion, however foul and putrid, have doubtless conspired to stamp it as a bird of evil omen; yet, to watch a pair of Ravens at play, gives one no feeling of horror or disgust ; for their foolish antics and absurd lateral jumps are irresistibly laughable. Lord Lilford ('Birds of Northamptonshire,' vol. I, pp. 212-213) observes: — "We have had many opportunities of closely observing the habits of this eminently sagacious bird in various parts of the world, and, in spite of his tendencies to murder, assault, and robbery, we must confess to a great liking for him. The Raven is in this county a very early breeder, generally selecting a secure ledge in a cliff, more rarely a tall tree, and returning to the same locality for nesting year after year. The young birds often leave the nest during the first fortnight of March, sometimes before that date. We have more than once heard of a full complement of eggs early in February, and, on the other hand, found unfledged young in more than one Raven's nest as late as the middle of May. The old birds are always wary, one always keeping a close look-out whilst the other is on the nest, and immediately uttering a warning note on the approach of danger. We have heard of Ravens vigorously attacking persons attempting to harm their nests, but have never witnessed anything of the sort, our experience being to the effect that, during the siege, the parent birds usually The Raven. 159 soar high in air over the nest, uttering, besides their usual croak of alarm or anger, a curious sound, like the noise made by drawing a tightly fitting cork from a bottle, occasionally turning complete somersaults in the air, and making ferocious stoops in the direction of the invader, but always keeping well out of gunshot-range. For some time after the young Ravens leave the nest they roam in company with their parents, but soon separate and start oflf singly or in couples on marauding expeditions on their own account." Although not strictly speaking a gregarious species, this bird when attracted by food often assembles in considerable numbers ; when approaching a carcass it does not fly directly to it, but alights at a short distance and approaches it warily with heavy ungainly hops. Upon the wing it flaps heavily, but its flight nevertheless is powerful and tolerably rapid. The nest of the Raven is always bulky, though more so when built on ledges of rocks than when placed in trees ; it consists of sticks, twigs, heather- stems, and sometimes a tangle of sheep's wool. The lining is of roots, grass, wool, fur, or other soft materials. The eggs number from four to six, frequently five ; in ground-colour they usually vary from greenish-blue to olive- greenish more or less densely marked with deep olive-brown, the shell markings appearing frequently like smears or faint patches of the same colour (as if partly washed out) ; the pattern and character of the markings vary much as usual, sometimes the streaks and blotches are few and large, sometimes they are mingled with numerous smaller markings, sometimes again the small spots are so close together as to give a different tone to the egg; the depth of the markings also varies much, at times almost approaching black. Seebohm speaks of a variety of rare occurrence which is " reddish- white in ground-colour, spotted with rich reddish- brown and splashed with violet- grey." Of the examples represented on our plate figs. 229, 231, and 232 are from Mr. A. B. Fam's collection; fig. 230 is one of a series of eggs collected some years since and given to me by my friend Dr. Vincent Blachford, who took them at Charlton, AH Saints, near Salisbury. The commonest note of the Raven has been variously described as cr/td-, cruck, or pruck, pruck ; to me it sounds like ivhurk, whurk ; its note of rage has been described as " a menacing bark " and " an angry hoarse growl." The food consists of grain, berries, fruit, insects, worms, mollusca, reptiles, batrachians, eggs, young poultry and game, sickly lambs, rats, moles and carrion of all kinds. Mr. E. C. Phillips in a paper on the Birds of Breconshire (Zoologist 1882, pp. 45-46) says : — " This bird lives to a great age. When a boy, in Wiltshire, I used to pay a visit — generally on a Sunday — to some friends that lived in a rfio British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. manor house where there was a tame Raven, he was then about twenty years old, and full of all sorts of mischief and iniquity, but being a great favourite and a good talker he had pretty much his own way. I remember him well, for on one occasion he took a small slice out of my leg, ut mos futi, and retired to the top of the spout to digest it, amidst my yells and the threats of the whole party. Happening to be near the place twenty-five years afterwards, I ventured to ask for my old friend, and to my surprise out he came with the same side- long hop, the same malicious twinkle in his eye, and looking more sleek and diabolical than ever. I only heard of his death last autumn. He took a similar liberty with a large dog that he did with my leg, and got a nip in return that killed him. He must have been fifty years old when he died, and was one of the finest birds I have ever seen." Lord Lilford's account of his Ravens is very entertaining, especially that of his bird Sankey : — " He would take any opportunity that presented itself of testing the consistency of the lower garments or shoe-leather of an unwary male of our species ; but we seldom heard of his attacking a woman. At ^ny strange dog, large or small, he ' went in,' and after bestowing a hearty dig on his hinder parts, used to retire to some coign of vantage and mock his foe, with an often-repeated ' bow-wow,' uttered in a complacent and sympathetic tone, which must have been peculiarl}' aggravating to the injured one." " Any superfluous food was generally hidden away for future consumption, and the hiding-places often quaintlj' chosen ; e.g. we once saw the Raven care- fully part the long feathers on the back of one of our Emus, insert a small fish from his pouch, rearrange the feathers, and hop off with the air of having done a very clever thing." As regards the possibility of this species breeding in confinement, I may quote the following note given to me by Mr. J. E. Harting for my " Handbook of British Oology" : — In March, 1864, a pair of tame Ravens which had the run of a garden belonging to Mr. Winterbottom, of Cheltenham, built a nest in a box in a shed about six feet from the ground. The nest was built of sticks, old fern-leaves, and the stalks of dead wall-flowers, and was lined with dead leaves and tufts of grass. On March 4th two eggs were found in the nest, and the following day a third was laid ; but the hen bird did not sit well, perhaps because too much disturbed by visitors, and the eggs were not hatched. Lord Lilford's last pair of Ravens, which, however, had considerable liberty, reared four young ones, all of which were living in 1894. Mr. J. H. Comyns, of Lyvenden, S. Devon, forwarded to me a full account of a Raven and Buzzard taken by him in 1896 from nests in trees: — "The Raven The Raven. «6i was perfectl}^ I may say aggressively, tame within a week, but the Buzzard remained obdurate for fully three times as long, his timidity and suspicion being truly exasperating." " As soon as my bird was full-grown, I tried the experiment of turning him in with ' Grip ' the Raven (who is confined in a disused stable on account of his depredations in the neighbours' gardens). As I anticipated, Grip instantly dashed at the intruder with murderous intent, but what followed was a surprise to me. The Buzzard, after flying two or three times round the stable, hotly pursued by Grip, suddenly alighted on the floor and confronted him with every feather bristling. The valour of the sable bird of Odin was evidently tempered with a wholesome caution ; he stopped too, with ruffled head held low down and open beak, panting like a hound, whereupon the Buzzard to his astonishment and consternation sprang at him. He instantly beat a headlong retreat, and the victor, after pursuing him for a short time from perch to perch, rested on his laurels. For a fortnight after this, the Buzzard was master of the situation, and the Raven got nothing in the shape of meat to eat unless I was there to give it to him. The Buzzard would stoop at him and snatch his food out of his very beak, as he unearthed it from his various hiding- places. Grip now changed' his tactics, and took to sneaking up behind and furtively tweaking the Buzzard's wings or tail, and strange to say, a persistent course of these harrassing attacks has now utterly destroyed the Buzzard's spirit, evidently too superficial to stand at all a severe test, and reduced him from a really noble-looking bird to a woe-begone wretch, denuded of both tail-feathers and primaries. Hitherto I have kept the birds together in the hope that the Buzzard might recover his lost courage, but I have now arranged to separate them, as I am afraid of the Buzzard being permanently injured." The remainder of Mr. Comyns' notes are more in accordance with general experience, and there- fore of less interest. Mr. Frohawk saw seven examples of this species at the mouth of the Avon (S. Devon) at the end of September 1895 ; they all kept together and may perhaps have been the old and young of the same family. i62 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs Family— COR VIDyE. The Carrion-Crow. . Corvus corone, Linn. IN Siberia, according to Seebohm, this species occupies the forest country lying between Yenesay and the Pacific coast, extending northwards in summer almost to the limits of forest growth and south-eastwards to Japan. Westwards he is of opinion that, following the mountain-ranges of southern Siberia into Turkestan, it crossed the Caspian, passed through an equally large colony of Hooded Crows by way of the Caucasus, the northern shores of the Black Sea and the valley of the Danube and keeping to the north of the Alps spread over Germany, the Netherlands, the British Isles, France and Spain. He was able also to prove that this species interbreeds with the Hooded Crow in the valleys of the Elbe and Yenesay (as it is known to do in Scotland) producing many intergrades between the two species, examples of which he presented to the Trustees of the British Museum ; these have been carefully mounted, and form one of the most instructive and attractive cases in the entrance-hall of the Natural History branch of that Museum at South Kensington. In Great Britain this species is justly disliked and persecuted, both by shepherds and gamekeepers; yet it is still by no means rare in the well-timbered portions of England and Wales, becoming however decidedly commoner in the northern counties, whilst in Scotland it is abundant ; in the islands off the Scotch coast it again becomes scarce and it is doubtful whether it really occurs in the Orkneys or Shetlands. In Ireland it is a very scarce bird. The male Carrion-Crow is glossy black ; purplish above, and with green tints on the head and neck ; the wings similarly tinted ; bill and feet black ; iris brown. The female is perhaps slightly less glossy than the male, but does not otherwise differ in plumage. Young birds are without gloss and the inside of their mouths is pale flesh-coloured. As opposed to the absurd notion that because this species is proved to hybridise freely with the Hooded Crow and produce fertile offspring, it cannot be a distinct species, Herr Gatke shrewdly observes : — " The very circumstance, however, that despite pairing having taken place for several thousands of years. HO! ♦o o oc o z o cc < n The Carrion-Crow. 163 the two colours of the respective species have remained pure and distinct, forms the most striking proof of the specific independence of the two ; for, if they had not existed originally as two fixed primary forms, to which the mongrel offspring reverted, though this may have occurred only after several generations, we should at present know neither the one species nor the other in its pure simple coloration, but should meet only with unlimited gradational stages of mixtures of grey and black forms." This argument however is not unassailable, unless it be claimed that the three Pheasants — P. colchicus, P. torqualus, and P. versicolor, which also interbreed freely and produce endless intergrades are therefore not distinct species. It must also be borne in mind that in some cases acknowledged sports of the same species when crossed do not produce intergrades, but from one clutch of eggs reproduce examples of each variety, as has been proved in the case of the Barbary Turtle- Dove, the Gouldian Finch, and the supposed fertile hybrid known as the Bengalee. In many respects the Carrion-Crow resembles the Raven, inhabiting similar haunts, whether among the rocky uplands, or in woods and game-coverts. In its predatory habits it is almost, if not quite as much dreaded, both by shepherd and game-keeper. Ever seeking for food from dawn till dark, the mischief done by a pair of this species in a single season must be enormous. That this bird has some courage seems probable from the fact that it will sometimes dispute with a Gull or even a small Hawk, but it appears soon to weary of resisting a combined attack, otherwise the young chicks of pheasants and partridges would indeed fare badly. Lord Lilford observes : — " We have not a word to say in defence of the Carrion-Crow. His habits appear to us to be purely noxious, and neither his personal appearance, voice, or manners in captivity offers anything in extenuation of his natural evil propensities." The flight of the Carrion-Crow is somewhat laboured, though at times very rapid, its wings regularly beating the air; when approaching the earth it usually wheels round in circles. On the earth it either walks ; or, if in a hurry, leaps forward with half opened wings after the fashion of its kind. The time of nidification of the Carrion-Crow is from the latter half of April to nearly the end of May (a clutch which I purchased from a shepherd, whose boys had just taken them from a nest near the top of an elm-tree at Iwade near Sheppy, consisted of three full-sized eggs and one small yolkless one, all of which were quite fresh on May 25 th). The nest is bulky and the same structure is believed to be used and added to year after year ; it is either placed in a niche, or on a ledge of rock, or in a tall tree, — oak, elm, or pine ; but in Holland it is i64 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. said to be built upon the ground. J. B. Pilley of Hereford (Zoologist 1891, p. 352) records the discovery of a nest containing five eggs on the top of a tall hedge, in - some meadows near the city. The nest is somewhat flat and formed of dead sticks, twigs, grass-tussocks and roots, with a lining of fur, wool, feathers or other soft materials neatly smoothed down. The eggs number from four to six, five being a frequent clutch, and are sometimes indistinguishable from those of the Raven, but usually they are somewhat smaller ; the ground-colour is bluish- green and the markings which vary considerably in density consist of spots, longitudinal streaks and blotches of olive and olive-brown ; some of the markings are frequently almost black and others almost grey. It is believed that this Crow pairs for life. Of the eggs of this species figured on our plate figs. 233, 234 and 235 are from Mr. Fam's collection and 236 from that of Mr. Frohawk ; my own specimens were not varied or characteristic enough to be worth representing. The call is a hoarse croak, but some of the other cries of this species are less objectionable. The food of this bird in summer consists of almost any kind of animal too weak or sickly to defend itself, wounded sheep, helpless lambs, the young of hares and rabbits, moles, young poultry, ducks, pheasants, partridges and grouse ; but he does not confine himself entirely to this diet, he also feeds on mollusca, which he extracts from the shells (as mentioned many years ago by Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear) by carrying them up to a considerable height and dropping them on to a stone ; stale fish cast up by the waves, and carrion of all kinds are devoured greedily, as well as insects, their larvae, and grain. In the winter he is more limited and has to content himself with grain, berries, and such weakly half-starved birds or beasts as he can manage to kill. Mr. O. V. Aplin (Zoologist 1883, p. 409) published the following note on the food of this species : — " An old disused bridle-gate standing near one corner of Clattercutt Reservoir has this season served as a feeding spot for a pair of Carrion- Crows, which reared their young in a tall elm on one side of the pool. One evening in June, after the grass was cut, I found strewn around it the remains of several toads and frogs, and of one partly fledged nestling finch, also a number of broken shells of the eggs of the Wild Duck and Partridge. The state the gate was in showed that it was a much frequented perch, and a tell-tale wing-feather would have named the robber even if he had not hurriedly left an adjacent tree at my approach, and with loud croaks expressed his displeasure at my intrusion on his banqueting hall. I have always tried to defend this fine bird, and was sorry to find such ample proof of its destructive habits. Only a few days ago (October 1883) I counted thirty- two Crows in a stubble-field close o a: O Q UJ Q O O X The Hooded Crow. 165 to this village, and considering their abundance in this district, it is only a wonder that any game or wildfowl can rear their young at all." Although inclined to a solitary life during the breeding season* the Carrion- Crow is seen in larger or smaller crowds during the autumn and winter; con- siderable numbers arrive on our eastern coasts in autumn. Seebohm's statement that this bird "makes almost as engaging a pet as the Raven " hardly accords with Lord Lilford's opinion of the Carrion-Crow. The following is Mr. Bonhote's experience, communicated November 2nd, 1896: — " The Hooded and Carrion-Crows are to be strictly avoided ; the latter bird when hand-reared is very tame and can articulate a few words, but has no interesting actions or habits and scarcely moves the whole day. The former bird (Grey Crow) is not only stupid, but dangerous, and is never satisfied till he has the whole aviary to himself, having murdered the other inmates." Family— COR VID^. The Hooded Crow. Corvus comix, LiNN. FOUND throughout Europe east of about long. 10", and in Asia extends north of Turkestan, throughout Asia Minor and Persia into Afghanistan, and through Palestine into Egypt. Examples from the Persian Gulf have the pale slate-grey replaced by nearly white, and have been called C capellanus ; but Siberian birds are intermediate in colour, and the Persian birds can only be looked upon as a local race." — Seebohm. An autumn and winter visitant to England and Wales, where a few pairs • This bird has, however, been known to build among Rooks, Ijut they