Hae zy sie ee ate ae ee $e ea * Any ia ress patupeta leeds?) renee mite satel fey eet reat r Sree eta : ae b erieeaceetnee Shortie yeisesia ate | tes ater haf ohos % pubis ie ieresetnte ee ia “ 3 sedated eatin Coy ed - eae tade Banat A) fe ‘ ast eae SEM AT a se : . atta hae As toned : ies : : : : ; Ss flinhetoeettersista eter rien eno . padasesa te ba es inte’ SoiRaee peedete le: Ss eee eee es ie ro Se baa Pe S Sjehr ate vangnc eats aoe ayaa as tanetehaerat aap : . Sa praetor at PRT mre ~ rene Srterensnsd SESE SS arena Rete os QL 690 (Cam I3 £6 y.4 ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY New York STATE COLLEGES OF AGRICULTURE AND Home ECONOMICS AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY Cornell Universit Tin 050 0 Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924000050074 Fic. 357 PINTAIL. 3572 Down. 358 TEAL. 358a Down. 359 GARGANEY. 359a Down. Fic. 360, WIGEON. 360a Down. 361 POCHARD. 361a Down. 362 TuFrtEp Duck. 362a DOwN. Fic. 363 Common EIDER. 363a Down. 364 GOOSANDER. 364a Down. 365 RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. 365a Down. Fic. 348 349 350 35! HERON. ~ LittLE BITTERN. BITTERN. GREY LAG-GOOSE. Fic. 352 MuTE Swan. 353 COMMON SHELD-Duck. 3532 Down. 354 MALLARD OR WILD Duck. 354a Down. GADWALL. Down. SHOVELER. Down. BRITISH BIRDS WITH THEIR NES’S AND Kaas IN SIX VOLUMES ORDERS HERODIONES AND ODONTOGLOSSé. By HENRY O. FORBES, LL.D., F.R.G.S., A.L.S., M.B.O.U., AUTHOR OF ‘A NATURALIST’S WANDERINGS IN THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO,” &¢. ORDER ANSERES. By JOHN CORDEAUX, F.R.G.S., M.B.O.U., AUTHOR OF “BIRDS OF THE HUMBER DISTRICT.” ORDERS COLUMBA AND PTEROCLETES. By W. B. TEGETMEIER, M.B.O.U., AUTHOR oF “THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CRANES,” ‘PHEASANTS,” ‘“PALLAS’ SAND GROUSE,” &c. ILLUSTRATED BY F. W. FROHAWK, M.B.0.U., F.E.S. VOLUME IV. BRUMBY & CLARKE, LimIrTep, BAKER STREET, HULL, AND 5, FARRINGDON AVENUE, LONDON, E.C. QL L470 G7 3 ¢b V.4. 305998 American Bittern *American Blue-Winged Teal *American Green Heron *American Green-Winged Teal *American Hooded Merganser *American Wigeon Anas boscas Anas strepera- Anser albifrons Anser brachyrhynchus - Anser cinereus *Anser erythropus- Aunser segetum Ardea alba - - - *Arvdea bubulcus Ardea cinerea - Ardea garzetla Ardea purpurea - Ardea ralloides - Ardetta minuta Bean Goose - 7 Bernacle-Goose - Bernicla brenta - Bernicla leucopsis Bernicla ruficollis Bewick’s Swan - Bittern Black Stork = Botaurus lentiginosus Botaurus stellaris Brent Goose - *Buff-Backed Heron - *Buffel-Headed Goldeneye *“Butorides virescens - CONTENTS: Those marked thus, * not being recognised as British Birds, are not = = 34 - - 128 - - 22 - 128 - - 203 > 137 - 108 - 113 = 58 a = 68 % eS 54 Chen hyperboreus Ciconia alba Ciconia nigra *Clangula albeola- Clangula glaucion Columba livia - Columba enas - - Columba palumbus Common Eider Duck Common Heron Common Scoter- . Common Sheld-Duck- Cosmonetta histrionica- Cygnus bewicki - Cygnus immutabilis - Cygnus musicus - - Cygnus olor - - Dafila acuta - - Ferruginous, or White-Eyed Duck *Rlamingo - Fuligula cristata- - Fuligula ferina - Fuligula marila - - Fuligula nyroca - - Fuligula rufina Gadwall_ - - 7 Garganey Glossy Ibis Goldeneye Goosander = Great White Heron Grey Lag-Goose figured. 120 145 51 148 138 152 145 142 113 129 192 Havelda glacialis - Harlequin Duck - King-Hider - + *Lesser White-Fronted Goose Little Bittern Little Egret - Long-Tailed Duck - Mallard, or Wild Duck *Mareca americana Mareca penelope - Mergus albellus - “ALergus cucullatus - Mergus merganser - Mergus serrator - Mute Swan - Night-Heron - Nycticorax griscus - Gdemia fusca - Gdemia nigra GQdemia perspicillata Pallas’ Sand-Grouse “Phenicopterus roseus Pink-Footed Bean Goose Pintail Platalea leucorodia Plegadis falcinellus Pochard Polish Swan Purple Heron *Oucrquedula carolinensts Querquedula cirtia - 162 167 174 128 129 CONTENTS. Querquedula crecca - *Querguedula discors Red-Breasted Goose - Red-Breasted Merganser Red-Crested Pochard- Rock-Dove- Ruddy Sheld-Duck Scaup-Duck - Shoveler Smew- Snow-Goose Somateria mollissima - Somateria spectabilis Somateria stellert Spatula clypeata - Spoonbill Squacco Heron Steller’s Eider - Stock-Dove Surf-Scoter- Syrrhaptes paradoxus - Tadorna casarca - Tadorna cornuta- Teal Tufted Duck Turtle-Dove - Turtur communts - Velvet-Scoter White-Fronted Goose White Stork Whooper Swan Wigeon Wood-Pigeon - BRITISH. BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. ORDER HERODIONES. NDER this Order are included the Herons, and Bitterns (4vdeide); the Storks (Ciconiide); the Ibises (lézdide); and the Spoonbills (Platalede). As a group the Herodiones are recognized by their sharp powerful bill, generally coulter-shaped and longer than the head; their small nostrils; their long and very flexible neck; their stilt-like legs; long broad wings, and their short tail. Their toes are never fully webbed, and their feet are capable of grasping the branches of trees on which most of them are wont to perch. The Herodiones are as a rule gregarious, breeding in colonies, and nesting generally in high trees, but often also on the ground. The young are hatched with their eyes closed, but being naked and helpless have to be fed in the nest till fledged. In some species the young are pure white in both sexes, and at all ages; in other pairs of the same species the male differs from the female when young, or remains of a different colour all through life. If one habit more than another distinguishes these birds, it is their custom of stealthily stalking along the margin of the sea, of streams or ponds, in quest of their food, which consists of fish, small reptiles, mollusca, and insects, as well as small mammals. Vou IV. B 2 BrRiTiSH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND Eaccs., The Herodiones are widely distributed over the globe, but only thirteen species are European. Of these, only one now breeds in Britain, while two others have at former periods done so, although they never nest with us now. All the others are more or less frequent visitors to our shores from the Continent, while two are stragglers from across the Atlantic. The members of this family are remarkable for having small areas, called “‘powder-down patches,” in various parts of the body, on which there are produced curious masses of soft fluffy yellowish-white or bluish powder instead of feathers. This powder results from the continual breaking up of what should be the main shaft of the feathers proper to that region, into numerous brush-like barbs and barbules, and their disintegration. These patches, which are greasy and show yellow against the skin, feel like chalk or Fuller’s earth. The species of Ardeide, resident in, or visitors to, this country, at different seasons, have been separated into four genera by small differences. These are Ardea, or True Herons (some of which are known as Egrets); Vycticorax, the Night-Herons; Avdetia, the Little Bitterns; and Aofaurus, the true Bitterns. The True Herons (Ardea) have the head completely feathered, the bill serrated, straight, and longer than the head; twelve tail feathers; the leg covered in front with broad scales, and with a pectinated claw on the middle toe. They have three pairs of powder-down patches in thick masses—one on the lower part of the back, one on the lower belly, and a third on the breast along the merry-thought. Their plumage is soft and loose; but a tract on each side of the neck, and an area on the lower neck behind are nude. Some species have long plumes on the head, the base of the neck, and on the lower back, or only on some of these regions; the latter feathers, which are assumed in the breeding season, being the “‘aigrettes,” so coveted by ladies for decorative purposes, and for which so many of the pure white Egrets are, with their young, most cruelly destroyed every year. The Night-Herons (WVycticorax) differ from the Ardeas in having large eyes; a shorter, unserrated but notched beak; the front and back of the legs protected by broad plates, and long cylindrical plumes descending from the back of the head. The Night-Herons are nearly cosmopolitan. The Little Bitterns (Ardetta), the smallest of the Ardeide, have slender serrated bills and long toes; but only two pairs of powder-down tracts. The tail contains ten feathers. The coloration of their eggs differs in character from those of the True Bitterns. The plumage is soft, and the neck feathers elongated, but there are no crests, or peculiar plumes, on the head or back. The sexes are differently coloured. In the True Bitterns (Botaurus) the plumage is soft, spotted, or streaked, and ORDER HERODIONES. ; 3 long and loose on the neck, which is nude in part behind, but there are no long plumes either on the head or back. They have ten tail feathers, and but two pairs of powder-down tracts. The legs are broadly scaled in front, with the outer toe shorter than the inner, the middle toe and claw very long; and their claws gen- erally are long, and but slightly curved. The bill is elongated and serrated on the edge. Bones of the Common Heron and of the Bitterns have been found in the peat of the fen country in a sub-fossil condition. Fossil forms, allied to the Ardeide have been described from strata as old as the Miocene and the London clay. In order to give some conception of the profusion in which the nests of the various Herons and other marsh-loving birds, are met with, in such well protected impenetrable paradises as the Slavonian reed beds, and sallow brakes, or Hungarian marshes, Mr. Eagle Clarke records that he saw, in one bush, “one nest of Common Heron, two of Pigmy Cormorant, three of Night Heron, two of Little Egret, one of Squacco, and three of Glossy Ibis. Nor was this a singular instance, for most of the trees were equally laden. * * *. Om every side arose a vast body of birds, the beating of their pinions and their harsh notes producing quite a deafening sound ; and soon the whole colony, estimated at thirty thousand, was on the wing, their confused flight resembling the gyrations of a swarm of bees. After a short interval they grew somewhat accustomed to our presence, and perched on the surrounding bushes, so close that the red eye of the Night-Heron and the yellow patches between the toes of the Little Egret were plainly to be seen, while they swayed about uncomfortably on the topmost twigs of the sallows along with the Glossy Ibis, Pigmy Cormorant, Common Heron, and Spoonbill.” The Cicontide, or Storks, have the bill straight, pointed, and longer than the head; the legs long and the toes short, with a web uniting the second, third, and fourth; the hind toe united to the leg above the plane of the other toes; the claw of the middle toe is not pectinated, and the tail is short and rounded. The eyes are surrounded by naked skin. The Storks have no powder-down patches. Storks, of which there are about twenty species, are found in all the six great zoo-geographical regions of the globe; but only two species, both of the same genus, Czconia, belong to the Paleearctic region, and visit Britain. The Ibises, /écdidz, claim relationship with the Storks, but more closely with the next family, the Spoonbills. The shape of the bill, which is long, narrow, and sickle shaped, soft at the base and hard at the top, at once distinguishes them from the Herons, the Storks, and the Spoonbills. Not less distinctive is the featherless condition, in most of the genera, of the head and more or less 4 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND Eacs of the elongated neck. The legs, shorter than in other Herodiones, are covered either with numerous small scales, front and back, or with large plates in front only. The toes are more or less webbed at the base, and the middle claw is not pectinate. There are no powder-down areas among their plumage. The wings are long, and the tail, generally composed of twelve feathers, is short. The full grown female resembles the male; but the young differ from the adult birds. They moult twice in the year, in spring and in autumn. They nest in trees and produce white eggs. Although the Ibises are specially associated by name with Egypt and Northern Africa, they are widely distributed over the globe, and the family contains numerous species, which are comprised in some eighteen genera. They are not and never have been indigenous to Britain, and one genus alone—FPlegadis ——has been represented by a single species in this country; whither, by to them an ill wind, a few individuals stray from time to time. In this genus the species differ from the typical Ibises in having the throat and head feathered, while the neck is covered with very short plumage, and the thighs are bare for the greater part of their length. The posterior ends of the rami of the lower jaw extend behind the articular facet of the skull, and terminate in a recurved process. The last family of British Herodiones, the Plataleide, or Spoonbills, is distin- guished from not only all the other families of the Order to which they belong, but, indeed, from all other birds, by the singular shape of the bill, which is broad, flat, and soft at the base, then narrow toward the middle, and rounded and spoon-like at its termination. With this exception, they are closely related in structure to the Ibises; indeed, they are often spoken of as Ibises with flattened and expanded beaks. The head is partly bare in some species; in others it is quite bare, while several are crested. There are only a few species of Spoonbills, included in two or three genera. The only genus represented in Britain is P/ata/ea, distinguished by a bare head, except for a patch of feathers over the ears; the position of the nostrils is also peculiar; they open in an elongated oval, situated in a narrow depression ‘“‘ which loses itself,’ as Dr. Sharpe observes, “about the commencement of the narrowest part of the bill, and is continued in a narrow sub- marginal line which runs to the tip of the bill.” In flight and habits they are Stork-like; but unlike the Cuiconiide, and agreeing with the Ibises, they probe with their beaks for food. HENRY O. FORBES. ANNA FORBES. 51)» » 0 9 tes ects oe ge 1 0 ara me eae $F COMMON’ HERON. THE COMMON HERON, 5 family—A RDEIDAE, THE Common HERON. Ardea cinerea, LINN. HE Common Heron is an Eastern Hemisphere species, and has a wide distribution throughout Europe, Africa, and Asia, extending to some of the Malayan Islands and to Australia. Its breeding places are rarely found in the Eurasiatic Continent, north of the 55th to the 66th parallel of latitude; but south of that it nests in all suitable localities, and throughout Africa to the Cape. In the autumn large numbers migrate from their northern summer haunts to more southern latitudes. The Common Heron is a resident in Britain, and is still common in most parts of the three kingdoms. It has greatly diminished in numbers through persecution on account of its depredations on trout and fish preserves, notwith- standing that it is of service in destroying large numbers of pike and other coarse fresh-water fishes, water-rats, and other vermin. It may be seen wherever there is water: by the sea-shore, near meres, and lakes, in swampy districts, marshes, and flooded fields, and Dr. Scully observed it along the road between Leh and Yarkand, at heights not below ten thousand feet. The Heron is rarely known to swim unless it has dropped into water on being wounded. In very hot weather, however, it has been seen to alight in deep water. In the early part of February Herons begin to congregate in colonies, and to tryst in the heronries which they have probably occupied during the breeding season for many years in succession.* Heronries in Britain are now much fewer than in former times, and much smaller also. They are still, however, pretty widely scattered over England, Scotland, and Ireland. Messrs. Harvie-Brown and Buckley mention that although some of the famous heronries in the Moray Basin are deserted, there are instances of small ones which are slowly increasing their numbers, and speak of the hopeful Heron haunts in some of the woods by the banks of the Deveron, possibly the nuclei of future heronries. In the times when falconry was a pastime, the Heron was considered royal game, and its breeding * In the Blasket Islands, however, the most westerly inhabited islands of Europe, lying 150 miles west of Killarney, a solitary pair has been known to breed all by themselves. 6 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND Eaas. places were carefully protected. During the reign of Edward I., its price was higher than that of any other wild fowl. It was long esteemed as an article of food, and the nestlings are very delicate eating. Till some fifty years ago, heronries were held almost sacred, and there seems to have been a superstitious fear of disturbing them. Lord Teignmouth, in his “Reminiscences,” says, “ I found the ancient Castle of Darnaway, in Moray, tottering in the estimate of superstitious neighbours who prognosticated ill as a consequence of the seeming departure of the Herons.” Heronries are most frequently found on high trees; but the birds choose also low shrubs, ruins, and also, as at Ardnamurchan, the sea-cliff. Occasionally they select even a bare hill side. The old nest is repaired year after year, and birds have been known to return to the same heronry for twenty seasons in succession. The nest is a large structure, in which the eggs look very inconspicuous. It is composed of sticks, and lined with birch twigs, or turf and moss. The construction of the edifice is thus described by Mr. Barrett Hamilton. “One bird (presumably the female) stands on the nest, while the other goes away and collects sticks. These he brings in his mouth, and gives to his mate. The sticks are gathered on the ground, sometimes close to the tree in which is the nest, sometimes: several hundred yards away. All sorts of sticks are collected. On approaching the nest, the male, who is evidently very proud of his home and his mate, usually utters some loud croaks, at the same time straightening himself out in the air, and on alighting he sticks his crest bolt upright, all of which is no doubt for the delectation of the hen-bird. She gets up on her legs, which have been tucked in under her on the nest, takes the stick from him, and arranges it. Then after a few minutes spent in preening his feathers, the cock goes off again, and the same routine is gone through. Apparently the male continues to bring sticks after incubation has commenced. Herons seem to make love to each other on their nesting trees, and I have seen the male caressing the female on the nest. The nests are far from conspicuous for such large structures, even when the hen-bird is sitting, unless she shows the white part of her head. During incubation I have seen the birds change places on the eggs very neatly. One bird approached the nest, and just before it arrived, the other who was sitting on the eggs, glided off and left; the whole thing was done so quietly that it was almost as inconspicuous as if one bird had merely flown over the nest.” The common Heron lays three to five eggs, chalky in texture, varying in size between 2 and 23 inches long, by 13 to 13 inches in breadth. They are of a greenish-blue colour, and some are slightly paler than others. They are generally laid in March in England, but in very mild seasons eggs have been found in THE COMMON HERON. 7 January. In Scotland, April is the chief season of laying, while in some parts of Europe the birds delay till May or June. Incubation lasts from twenty-five to twenty-eight days. The young nestlings, rarely more than two in number, though born with their eyes open, are helpless little creatures, covered with soft greyish down, longer on the back and head, with the underparts white, and are fed by the parents till they are able to leave the nest, when they begin life on their own account, clambering among the branches of their home, and, like the Parrot and the Hoatzin fledgling, using their bill to aid their feet. The Heron tends its. young with assiduous care, often going long distances to fetch food for the hungry and clamorous creatures, who never seem to have enough, and whose needs are such a tax upon the neighbouring preserves, that the keepers are the sworn enemies of the parent birds. Human foes are, however, not the only enemies that check their increase, for instances are known of heronries which had been frequented for a score of years being deserted, owing to the persistent robbery of the eggs by Jackdaws or Hoody-Crows. The young birds begin to moult in November, and when they have acquired their first plumage, early in the spring, the crown and upper surface is dusky ash, very dark on the nape, with broad blackish stripes on the sides and breast, but the elongated feathers on the head, neck, and back have not yet appeared. It is only when the birds are nearly two. years old, and have gone through their second moult, that the grey back, the richly marked throat, and the fine plumes are assumed. “The heronry is a most interesting place to visit,” observes Mr. W. H. Hudson, ‘‘when the young birds are nearly old enough to fly, and are most hungry and vociferous, and stand erect on the nests or neighbouring branches, looking very strange and tall and conspicuous on the tree tops. * * *, At this period the parent birds are extremely active, and if the colony be a large one, they are seen arriving singly, or in twos and threes, at intervals of a few minutes throughout the day. Each time a great blue bird with well filled gullet is seen sweeping downwards, the young birds in all the nests are thrown into a great state of excitement, and greet the food bearer with a storm of extraordinary sounds. The cries are powerful and harsh, but vary greatly, and resemble grunts. and squeals and prolonged screams, mingled with strange quacking or barking notes. When the parent bird has settled on its own nest, and fed its young, the sounds die away; but when several birds arrive in quick succession, the vocal tempest rages continuously among the trees, for every young bird appears to regard any old bird, on arrival, as its own parent bringing food to satisfy its raging hunger.” In the male in adult plumage the crown of the head has a pure white crest, 8 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGs. with the sides and hinder part of the head on each side deep black, ending on the occiput in two long plumes of the same colour. The throat, neck, and sides of the head, as likewise the under surface of the body, under tail-coverts, and thighs are white, with a creamy pink shade on the sides of the neck and chest. The fore neck is marked with prominent lines of black; on the lower neck are displayed elongated drooping plumes of narrow pointed white feathers. The area over the chest, and a line along each side of the abdomen are purplish black. The general colour of the back and sides of the body is light ashy grey; the primaries are black, the edge of the wings white, and the secondaries ashy grey. The tail is pearl grey; the bill and legs yellow; and the space round the eyes green, which is the colour also of the feet. The female resembles the male, but is slightly smaller, the black plumes on the head are shorter, and the black streaks on the neck less pronounced. The note of the Heron is short and harsh, but, according to Seebohm, it deepens to a hoarse croak when the bird is alarmed. It is, however, generally a silent bird; and even when the nest is approached, the old birds rise in the air and hover anxiously round, but make little or no outcry. The Heron is a very wary bird, and one by no means easy to approach; and it frequents, as a rule, for stalking and feeding, places whence a clear outlook can be obtained free from surprises. It is ever keenly on the alert for danger, and its safety is due to its own sagacity. It may be seen standing immoveable, for hours, in a pond or by a stream, often at a considerable distance from the shore, watching for its food, ‘‘ with its neck bent,’’ as Mr. Seebohm describes, ‘‘and its head almost between its shoulders ready at a moment’s notice to dart its bill into the water to secure a fish or a frog.” It feeds also at night, especially in bright moonlight. The Heron is a voracious eater, and few things come amiss to it. One was recently brought to one of us dead, with the head and shoulders of a large rat tightly fixed in its gullet. The rodent, being fat and its stomach enormously distended with grain, had proved too large to pass down or apparently to be ejected, and each was fatal to the other. Many young birds fall a prey to the voracity of the Heron. It is said by some to attract fish to the surface of deep pools by the device of scattering shreds of fibres, small leaves, and bits of vegetation as a bait, or even to shake its body scales over the water. Mr. De V. Kane has recently given an interesting account of an experiment he made on a Heron, in order to test the statement frequently made that this bird when fishing for eels or frogs, becomes paralysed if surprised by a person suddenly appearing on the bank above it and shouting violently. On noise- THE COMMON HERON. 9 lessly reaching the edge of a bank beneath which a Heron was standing, and “flapping my cloak and shouting,” he says, “to my surprise, it sat down and waited till I rushed down the bank. Shielding my face from its dangerous beak, I took it up and carried it to the field above. When put down it remained crouching in a sitting attitude on the ground watching me, and uttering occasion- ally a low croaking sound. When I went about ten yards off, it rose to its legs and walked deliberately to a furze bush and sat down under it. I then took it into the open field and threw it into the air as high as I could; it merely expanded its wings and pitched again and sat down. Taking it to the shore I retired, and then it waded out till the waves lifted it off its feet, when to my surprise it paddled manfully against them for awhile, but the wind drove it back. After some fifteen or twenty minutes of my rather cruel experiments, I left it where I found it, apparently paralysed with terror, but unhurt. It could spread its wings and the wing-bones were sound, and it was apparently uninjured in any way. Judging from the top-knot it was a young bird, but not of that year.” “The flight of the Heron,” as pictured by Seebohm, “is slow and steady, with deliberate and regular beats of the long wings, and in the evening several birds may sometimes be seen flying home to roost, steadily and at a considerable height, like Rooks. Although the flight appears to be laboured, it is really very rapid, and the bird frequently wanders great distances to feed. When flying its long legs are carried straight out behind, and serve to balance and guide it in its course, whilst the head is drawn up almost to the shoulders.” Except at the breeding season, when as many as eighty pairs have been known to nest in one great oak tree, Herons are not truly gregarious, but they occur usually in small companies of four or six birds, and in severe winters the writers have seen in Rubislaw Den, in the outskirts of the city of Aberdeen, a solitary Heron—sure sign of a hard winter—watching, for a week at a time, for fish by the trout burn that flows through the Den, close to the house. Towards the end of the year trout make their way, as is well known, from the larger streams into even the smallest upland burns. “‘ Of this fact,” as Mr. Abel Chapman remarks, “the solitary Heron is well aware, and his great grey form is a characteristic feature at this season, solemnly flapping across the moors to some little burn that he wots of as a favourite resort of the trout; or perhaps he startles a nervous shooter by suddenly flapping out, under his very feet, from some deep-sided hidden little burnlet, where the sportsman would as soon expect to find a Dodo, as either Heron or trout.” Vor IV. Cc Io BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND Eacs Family—ARDEIDA. Tue PurpeLE HERON. Ardea purpurea, LINN. HE Purple Heron is not distributed so widely, nor does it ever range so far to the north as the Common Heron; but still it breeds in most parts of Europe, south of the latitude of about 45° to 50° N., where such situations as it can make its home are to be found; and probably it extends into central Asia as well. It is known to nest also in Northern Africa, and also in the Cape Colony. It is not a resident, however, in Europe; it only arrives in March, and, after breeding, it migrates in September to warmer climes again. It never breeds in the British Isles, but it is a not infrequent autumn visitor to the eastern counties of England and Scotland. There is, however, only one record of its occurrence in Ireland, namely near Carrickmacross, in county Monaghan. The Purple Heron in habits more resembles the Bittern than the Ardea cinerea. It keeps more out of sight even in districts which it frequents than its congener. The following account of its habits, given by Mr. Dresser, is so excellent that we make no apology for quoting it. ‘The Purple Heron * * * affects localities where the water is still, not flowing, and where the banks and shallow parts are covered with a tolerably dense growth of flags and reeds, in which, by concealing itself, it trusts to escape the notice of its enemies. It does not, however, inhabit the dense, almost inaccessible reed-forests where the Bittern feels itself so much at home, but is usually met with in places where there are open spaces between the water plants, where the water is not too deep, and in marshy places where there is a mixed growth of willow bushes and high grass or reeds. I never recollect to have seen one standing boldly out on the edge of the water as the Common Heron so frequently does, but have flushed them when making my way quietly through the reeds. * * *, It is a lighter, smaller, and rather more graceful bird than the Common Heron: but in its usual mode of progression, both on foot and on the wing, it much resembles that species.” The Purple Heron dozes during the brighter hours of the day, and feeds early in the morning and especially in the evening. Its food consists largely of pisos SRR ee, PURPLE HERON 2? THE PURPLE HERON. II fish, eels, frogs, mice, and water-loving insects which it rarely comes out of cover to hunt for. Mr. Eagle Clarke, during an excursion to the great marshes in the Delta of the Rhone, found in a small open space, among the reeds, what he supposed to be a larder of this bird. This consisted of a floating circular mass containing about one hundred eggs, three snakes, and several cyprinoid fishes, all of which showed distinctly the stab of the Heron’s bill. During the daylight hours, when the bird is resting, it assumes a very peculiar attitude, which is doubtless one which renders it as inconspicuous as possible, and is a protection to it when it is least on the alert. Its neck is slightly bent on the body, or both are set bolt upright, parallel with the vegetation, the bird not standing on its feet, but sitting on the ground upon its long leg bones. If its head and neck do show above the reeds, the protruding portion, as has been observed, looks just like the brown stump of some weather-worn stick, or a tuft of withered grass. In India the brown head of a closely allied species has been taken for a snake. The bird will trust greatly to this deception to escape notice, and, often only when it finds itself fully discovered, will it take to flight. This habit is similar to that of the S. American Bittern (Butorides involucris) described by Mr. Hudson, which conceals itself very effectively by flying in among the tall reeds and clinging there in an upright position, where its colours and its shape so closely harmonize with its surroundings, that even when one is close by it, it often quite eludes detection. The Purple Herons differ from all others of the genus in having very long toes, the hindmost being specially elongated, while the hind claw is large, strong, and straight. Indeed on this account they are often placed in a genus—Phoyx— by themselves. Its long feet enable the bird to walk over the floating vegetation, which it is apparently fond of doing. It loves also to burrow under the arches of reeds and push its way, crab-like, through the dense rushes, growing up out of deepish water. It very rarely perches on a tree, but if it ever does so, it chooses a low and leafy branch amid which it can be concealed. It walks with slow and deliberate step on the ground; in the air it is a powerful flyer, and carries its legs outstretched behind it, and its neck doubled back between its shoulders. As a rule this species is a silent bird, and only on the wing, or when suddenly flushed does it utter its short and harsh note, which has by some observers been likened to that of a Duck. The Purple Heron does not nest in trees, but on the marshy ground; nor in large flocks, but in small companies of from four to six pairs. Colonel Legge, however, found an allied species—Ardea manillensis—breeding in Ceylon in trees in company with White Herons. When once the Purple Herons take a 12 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS fancy to some particular breeding place, they will return year after year, if left undisturbed. The species we are now describing arrives in Europe towards the end of March, and the various pairs begin to build shortly after, placing their nests forty to fifty feet apart from each other. Their nests are large and flat, roughly constructed of sticks and reeds, placed atop of growing reeds bent down all round, and elevated a few feet above the level of the water, which is often over six feet deep. Sometimes the nest is less substantial, consisting ‘“‘ merely of a few dried rushes collected together to form a sort of platform just clear of the water,” as Colonel Irby has described. The eggs, three to four in number, and of the same greenish-blue colour as, but of a slightly smaller size than, those of the Common Heron, are laid between the middle of April and the end of the first week in May. ‘The nestlings, which make their appearance in July, have, according to Mr. Howard Saunders, the skin and feet yellowish green and the abdomen yellow; the crest hairy; the plumage reddish brown, the shafts of the feathers lead-blue, all edged with white down, whitest on the abdomen; the upper half of the beak greenish horn colour, and the lower yellow. “In the young in the first plumage,’’ we quote Seebohm, ‘‘ the crest feathers and the elongated feathers of the neck and back are absent. The black stripes on the neck, breast, and belly are only represented by obscure dark centres to the feathers, and all the small feathers of the upper parts have broad chestnut margins.”’ The young begin to moult in the autumn of the year of their birth, and by the following March have assumed an intermediate plumage, which is again moulted in the next autumn, and when completed in the succeeding March, the birds are arrayed in their adult feathering. In its general style of colouration the adult Purple Heron resembles the previously described species; but it differs from it in having the forehead and crown black instead of white; the dorsal plumes, which are white in the Common Heron, are chestnut; the sides of the neck and the underparts below the throat are pale chestnut. Many of the under wing-coverts are chestnut, the sides of the breast are reddish chestnut, and the white of the belly and thighs is represented by chestnut, and that of the under tail-coverts by black and white. The female is duller than the male, and its ornamental plumes are less con- spicuous. Both birds are about thirty inches in total length. In winter the black plumes which adorn the back of the head are wanting, and the elongated ashy feathers of the back as well as the long filamentous scapulars are much less developed. These ornaments are only fully displayed during the pairing season. st GREAT WHITE HERON. THE GREAT WHITE HERON. 13 Family—ARDEIDA, THE GREAT WHITE Heron. Ardea alba, LANN. HIS splendid bird comes to be included in the fauna of the British Isles by reason of its having strayed some eight times within our borders and been inhospitably shot and identified. Its distribution is somewhat more restricted than the Purple Heron. Dr. Sharpe, who has recently very carefully studied the species of this extremely difficult group, has come to the conclusion that this species is only found from southern Europe to central Asia, wintering in Africa, and perhaps, but with some doubt, in north India and Burmah. The counties in England which have been favoured by its visits are Cam- bridgeshire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, and Yorkshire. In Scotland, one was taken in the Firth of Forth and another on Loch Katrine. It appears in Europe only in summer, whither it migrates from warmer latitudes in April, leaving again in September. It is many years now, however, since a specimen was seen in this country. “The habits of this graceful bird,” says Mr. Seebohm, ‘“‘resemble those of the Common Heron in many respects. It delights to frequent the outskirts of extensive swamps, the margins of rivers, and shallow weed-grown lakes, together with willow-thickets and other wooded country when it is flooded. It may frequently be seen in small parties of half a dozen individuals, walking sedately about mud flats and low islands, or standing preening its brilliantly white plumage. It is a very conspicuous bird, and may be observed for half a mile or more; consequently is very wary and seldom allows the observer to come near. It looks remarkably graceful as it walks slowly up and down the marshy banks of a stream, or stands motionless, sometimes on one leg, in the water patiently watching for food. * * *. Its flight is moderately slow, performed by a series of regular flappings of the wings. It seems more buoyant in the air than the Common Heron, and looks more graceful,’—due to its standing more erect and drawing in its neck less. ‘‘Its flight is often prolonged for a considerable distance, and the bird is very conspicuous as it flaps over the dense waving reeds. The Great White Egret may be seen in small parties all through the breeding season, and 14 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND Eccs. in winter congregates into much larger flocks. It also mingles freely with other species of Herons; but its large size is always enough to distinguish it from its congeners. It does not appear to frequent the most secluded and inaccessible parts of the marshes and reed-beds so much as their borders. = * Tt eiten wades for some distance in the water, and seems as partial to running streams as to still lakes and ponds.” The food of this species—which feeds chiefly in the day and in clear moon- light nights—is much the same as that of the two which have been previously described, fish, fish-fry, frogs, mice, rats, and water insects in their different stages. It has been known, when in captivity, to snap up birds swooping near its head. The Great White Heron is pure snowy white in all parts of its plumage. It has no crest, though the feathers are lengthened on the occiput, but those on the lower neck and on the pectoral region are narrow and much elongated, while during the height of the pairing season the bird carries a magnificent train of long feathery plumes which extend beyond the tail; the bare space round the eyes is pale green, and the unfeathered part of the upper leg light coloured. There is this curious fact about the bill, that in summer it is black, and in winter it becomes yellow. In the two other—the American and the Chinese—species of Great White Herons, the very opposite is the case, the bills are yellow in summer and black in winter. During the latter season the species under description has no great dorsal plumes, they begin to be shed after the breeding season, and are not replaced till the next pairing. The female of Ardea alba is similar to its mate; but its neck and back ornaments are less fully developed. Soon after their northward migration in the beginning of May, the Great White Herons begin to build—which they do only once a year—or to repair the nests they have frequented in former years. These as a rule are placed on trees in an island or in a morass, or on the ground among thick reeds in some swampy place. The nest is composed, when on a tree, of larger twigs lined with smaller ones, or with fragments of reeds or flags; when on swampy ground, it is built up with rushes and reeds. The nest, as Mr. Seebohm remarks, is broad and quite flat, and by the time the young are able to fly, is so trodden about as only to resemble a mere heap of sticks. It is a more sociable bird than the Common or the Purple Heron, and builds in close companionship with not only its own species, but with other fHerodiones, and with unrelated species. During the month of May or the first half of June, the Great White Heron lays from three to five roundish eggs, which are quite indistinguishable from those of the Common Heron. Early in July the young are hatched. When they are nearly fledged LITTLE EGRET ¢2 THE LITTLE EGRET. 15 they often leave the nest, according to Seebohm, and perch on the adjoining branches to wait for their parents’ arrival with food. Their first years’ plumage is very similar to that of the adult in winter; the bill is yellow, and the neck and back plumes are wanting. The Great White Heron has often been kept in captivity in menageries, and on account of its beauty, by those who can afford it suitable enclosures. It is said to become very tame, and to live contentedly and on friendly terms with common fowls. The late Lord Lilford, on the other hand, records that, in his experience, its disposition towards its own species, as well as others, is spiteful and hostile. As among other animals, individual Great White Herons may have spoiled tempers and bad dispositions; so that probably, careful and kindly treatment of the young bird from the nest is required to obtain a docile and amiable pet. Family—ARDEIDA. THe LittLte EGrRer. Ardea garzetta, LINN. HIS pretty little species is included among British Birds on the strength of its having occurred within our area, on the 3rd of June, 1870, when a specimen was killed at Countess Weir, on the Exe. The Little Egret has a wide distribution, being chiefly abundant in the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea; in the valley of the Lower Danube, and in Hungary, it breeds in large numbers; it occurs, and breeds also, in most parts of Africa, as far south as the Cape. It ranges to India, Ceylon, China, Japan, the north-western regions of the Malayan Archipelago, and even Australia. In Europe it is only a summer migrant, breeding in its southern regions, and only straggling to its northern countries. 16 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. In its habits generally, the Little Egret differs very little from Giier Speoee of the genus. It is eminently gregarious, and not only breeds in colonies— often in association with Night Herons, Cattle-Herons, Spoonbills, and Ibises—but is usually to be seen, in the non-breeding seasons of the year, in larger and smaller flocks. Compared with its allies, it is not a shy bird, and may be stalked, Mr. Dresser says, with comparative ease, unless it has been subjected to much persecution, when, as may be supposed, it becomes wary, and frequents such places as cannot easily be approached. It is essentially a marsh bird, preferring swampy localities, well overgrown with aquatic vegetation, to any others ; and its nesting haunts are often situated in almost inaccessible swamps. Its food consists chiefly of fish, but frogs, insects, and water plants, also form a large part of its diet. The heronries of this species are carefully concealed, being built among dense bushes or thick trees, in or near a swamp; in some of its retreats, unless one is well acquainted with the district, one may travel far, and search long, before discovering the birds’ actual breeding places. For a graphic account by Mr. Seebohm of the difficulties encountered in his attempts, during a visit to the Lower Danube, by boat and wading, patient hewing and clearing his way, and pushing and squeezing his body through the dense branches, to reach a heronry he was bent on inspecting, situated in a forest of pollard willows, we refer our readers to his “British Birds.” The nest is composed of a few sticks and reeds, in which the bird lays greenish-blue eggs up to half a dozen in number. The male of this species in nuptial plumage is pure white all over, and it has no crest; but gracefully curving down from the back of its head, are two long narrow plumes, and from the chest and lower part of its throat, a cluster of long, narrow, pointed feathers; while a profuse and beautiful train of elongated, and slightly recurved filamentous feathers, which the bird can elevate when excited, adorns the lower back, forming the coveted ‘“ Aigrette” of the plumassiers. The bare skin round the eye is whitish, the legs are black, and the feet yellowish green; the long and slender bill is also black. The female is similar to the male, but her plumes are less developed than her lord’s. During the autumn and winter months both sexes lose the adornments of the love season. This Heron, which is constantly kept in confinement by the Sinde fishermen, in India, has also been kept in this country by Lord Lilford. He found it, however, he says, delicate in confinement, but very tame and careless of observa- tion, yet spiteful in disposition. It is a much more noisy bird than the Great White Heron. The pure white species of this section of the genus are among those birds whose beautiful plumes have proved their most fatal dower. The White Herons THE LITTLE EGRET. 17 and Little Egrets are ruthlessly shot or caught during the breeding season—when alone their ornaments are developed—in all countries where they nest, by “ bird plumers,” for the purpose of providing female adornment in hats and otherwise. The patch of skin on the back, from which spring the plumes, and occasionally the wings, are hastily torn off, and the remains of the bird, often still alive, are thrown aside. As many as two or three hundred dead bodies of Egrets and White Herons have been counted, in a heap, near their heronry, after the hasty visit of one of these devastating parties. No consideration is had for the helpless young in the nest, whose pitiable cries for food may be heard miles away for days after, gradually waning till death relieves their agony, and silences the heronry. These plumes were formerly sold without disguise by plumassiers and milliners as “ Aigrettes”; but it would appear that the sympathy of many of their more gentle and tender-hearted patrons has been aroused, and brought a lucrative trade into danger. ‘The dealers have, therefore, adopted the deceit of assuring (of malice aforethought) their customers that the ‘“Aigrettes” are either cast off feathers— which would, of course, be too worn or draggled for wear,—or, that they are ‘‘Ospreys” and ‘‘ Brush Ospreys,” names adopted for manufactured imitations, and that the plumes are no longer taken from real birds. Nevertheless these ‘‘ Ospreys” and ‘“‘ Brush Ospreys” are the true nuptial plumes of White Herons and Egrets. The abundance of these birds and their slaughter may be estimated when, as Mr. Litchfield, of Kensington Square, London, has lately pointed out in a letter to the Zzmes, their plumes may be purchased retail, at from sixpence to sevenpence apiece, in shops in such expensive localities as St. Paul’s Churchyard, Kensington High Street, Edgeware Road, Oxford Street, and Wigmore Street. It is almost hopeless to stop the cruel trade, so long as “ladies” will exercise only the slight care they do, to discover whether the plumes they are offered, are artificial or not; and until, indeed, those whose example is powerful in the social world, refuse to wear feathers altogether, and express their abhorrence of this cruel destruction of the most beautiful birds going on all over the globe. The extent to which the slaughter of birds of bright plumage—many of them after all, never used because not “in fashion”—solely for plumassiers’ purposes, is carried, is almost beyond belief. The present writers witnessed the shipment, in one vessel, of a consignment, for London and Paris, of numerous cases, containing, they were assured about five hundred thousand skins, from Rio de Janeiro; and they have seen equally great numbers from New Guinea, Aru, and Ceram, laid out in long sheds, awaiting ship- ment for Europe, at the Moluccan Islands of Ternate and Banda. We may perhaps be allowed to quote here the late Lord Lilford’s remarks in this connection. The Little Egret “in habits is by far the most confiding and fearless of man of any of Vou, IV. D 18 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. the non-skulking Avdeide of my acquaintance. I have frequently approached on horseback or in a boat, without any sort of concealment, to within a few yards of these Egrets, who took very little notice of us. It is probable, however, that the poor birds, or those that may be left of them, have learned that femznine fashion has cast its eye upon them for personal decoration, and that the lust of gain by this cruel folly has rendered the animal Man, as a rule, a very dangerous neighbour.” Family—A RDEIDA.. THE Burr-BACKED HERON. Ardea bubulcus, AUDOUIN. HIS pretty little Heron is also included among the British Birds on the plea of its one occurrence in England, and that over ninety years ago. The specimen, which was obtained in 1805, is now preserved in the Natural History Museum, at South Kensington. In his recent Handbook, on the Birds of Great Britain, Dr. Sharpe has placed this species in a genus (udulcus) distinct from Ardea, under the name of Audulcus luctdus, RAFIN. This Heron, in the full plumage of the breeding season, has a well developed crest, a large tuft of plumes on the chest and lower neck, and a profuse dorsal train of hair-like feathers. These ornamental developments are of a rich “vinous isabelline colour”; elsewhere the plumage is pure white. The bill is rich yellow at the top, and reddish at the base; the legs and feet variable with age, but yellow in the adult; the bare skin on the face yellowish-green. The female is like the male, only its train plumes and gorget are less elaborate; and the bare parts in the neighbourhood of the eyes are bright yellow. The adults in winter, THE BUFF-BACKED HERON. 19 as well as the young in immature plumage, are pure white, the former having no dorsal train, and the latter no plumes at all. The Buff-backed Heron is found chiefly in the countries bordering the Mediterranean; it occurs in most parts of Africa, where such marshy localities as it affects are to be found, and extends to east of the Persian Gulf. It builds its nest among: reeds, in large colonies, constructing it of sticks, and laying in it five or six bluish-green eggs. It feeds on frogs, insects, ticks, and leeches. These last items of its diet it seeks on the bodies of cattle, in the south of Europe, and of the more tropical buffaloes, fresh from their mud baths. From this habit they have earned the name of Cattle-Egrets. One of us well remembers his first introduction to this pretty genus on the margin of the lake of Ranau, in Sumatra, and his delighted astonishment at observing the buffalo-herd, belonging to the village in which he was camped, attended by quite a troop of these conspicuous and gregarious birds, which allowed him to watch them, without concern, close at hand. Some were stalking alongside the quadrupeds, every now and then grabbing at a newly detected tick or leech; others—often more than one—perched on their backs, were being carried about, in the most unconcerned manner, as the grazing buffaloes moved slowly from place to place. The cattle, no doubt, appreciated their kind operations, for they never flicked them with their tails, and never showed signs of annoyance or impatience at their proceedings. It was not unusual to see the Egrets in company with the livelier Cattle-Starlings (Sturno pastor) searching for the same food, now on the back, next perhaps on the belly, then on the head of the bovine, and the next moment flying off to another individual, but rarely venturing within reach of the Heron’s beak. The Cattle-Herons often appear, as has been noted by Mr. Abel Chapman, in Spain, fast asleep on the backs of the half-wild cattle, ‘their heads snugly tucked under their back feathers, their long toes and strong claws enabling them to sit thus securely.” The Buff-backed Heron attends also on wild herds, and follows elephant troops in quest of these same specially favourite constituents of its food. Grass- hoppers form, besides, a very large part of its diet. Buff-backed Herons will follow the plough for worms and grubs just like Rooks in our own country. It is not surprising, therefore, that they are held in affectionate regard, and rarely molested, in those countries where they associate themselves so closely with, and place so much confidence in, the husbandman and his herds. ‘Sir Gardner Wilkinson,” as Dr. Leith Adams remarks, ‘‘is disposed to consider that the Cattle-Egret was the sacred bird named in Egypt the ‘Tufted Benno,’ an emblem of Osiris, and chosen in consequence of its familiarity and predelection for cultivated districts, and feeding on insects and worms turned up by the farmer. ‘The bird is very plentiful along the 20 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. river’s banks, and in fields, and is the White Egret so frequently pointed out by: dragomans as ‘the Ibis.’”’ Although it has been often asserted that the true Ibis now no longer inhabits lower Egypt, and is to be found only in Nubia, Abyssinia, or the Soudan, it is, nevertheless, still pretty frequently met with in that region. Of the Cattle-Egret it is, that this old legend is told, that every year, upon a certain day, they all assemble—along with all the birds of the world—at Gebel-et-Tér, one of the hills guarding the entrance to the Nile Gorge, and ‘‘one after another,” according to Makrizi’s description of Egypt, “each puts his beak into a cleft of the hill until the cleft closes upon one of them; and then, forthwith, all the others fly away. But the bird which has been caught, struggles until he dies, and there his body remains until it has fallen into dust.’’ Maspero remarks that this tale ‘‘faintly recalls that ancient tradition of the Cleft at Abydos, whereby souls must pass, as human headed birds, in order to reach the other world.” Family—ARDEIDA:. THE Sguacco HErRoNn. Ardea ralloides, Scop. HIS pretty, but rather pugnacious, little Heron, has been recorded from various parts of England, on some twenty or thirty occasions; but only twice or thrice from Scotland and Ireland. It has never been known to breed . with us, yet it has full right to a place among the number of those birds that one may, at any time, have the good fortune to encounter at unexpected corners, in this country, in the migratory season. Its visits, however, are very intermittent. Dr. Sharpe, in his recent revision of this group, placed the Squacco Herons in a genus, Ardeo/a, distinct from that of the Common Herons, Ardea. ‘The Squacco Herons,” he says, “form a small group of four or five species confined Q SQUACCO HERON #2 THE SQuacco HERON. 21 to the old world. Although approaching the Little Bitterns in size and general appearance, the Squacco really belongs to the group of true Herons. They have twelve tail feathers, and the bill shows distinct serrations near the end of the upper mandibles.” The Squacco Heron has a considerable resemblance to the Buff-backed Cattle- Egret; but it is a smaller and much handsomer bird. Like Ardea budulcus it is in its nuptial array, pure white, except for its rufous buff-coloured train and gorget; but it differs in having the buff extending from the well developed dorsal train, up the back, on to the hind neck, and from the gorget, along the fore neck and throat. The crest of the Squacco—which consists of plumes from the forehead, crown, and nape—is more ornate than the Cattle-Egret’s, having each of its feathers margined with black lines, and the longest plumes white at the tip. The chin is white; the beak is rich blue, with the tip black; the bare skin which surrounds the eye bright green, and the legs and feet flesh colour. The female is like the male in colour of plumage, but has, as is the rule among the Herons, the ornamental plumes less developed, and in size is slightly smaller. In winter the male looses the long plumes of the nape, and has the others much reduced, and of a straw colour. The general hue of the plumage is yellowish white, except the crown feathers, which are margined with brown, and the upper part of the back, including the scapulars and inner secondaries, which is earthy brown. The young birds resemble the adults in winter garb; but they can be distin- guished by the black shafts to their primary wing feathers. The Squacco Heron is distributed throughout southern Europe, and nearly the whole of Africa; it occurs in Asia, on the Caspian Sea. It migrates to Europe for the purpose of breeding, crossing over the Mediterranean northwards, in the beginning of April. It then assumes its nuptial plumage; its nest being made in May, and the eggs laid in June. Some of the chief breeding places for this species, in Europe, are the reed beds, and sallow brakes of the marshes of the Save and the Lower Danube. As they are strictly preserved, the number of Herons, Bitterns, Spoonbills, and birds of such feather that nest there, runs to thousands; and sometimes one pollard willow will contain twenty-five nests of four species of Herons, besides those of other birds. The Squacco Heron builds a far smaller and less compact nest than the Common Heron; indeed, its nest is smaller than any other Heron’s. It consists of sticks and twigs, rather loosely put together, through which the eggs, lying in the nest, can be seen by one looking up from below. This species builds, as a rule, in trees standing in water, 22 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND Eaas. a little above the level of which the bird places its nest. Where there are no trees, it may be found situated on the ground. The Squacco lays four to six greenish-blue eggs, averaging in size about 1; inch in length, by 1j in breadth. The food of the Squacco consists of fish, mice, frogs, and insects, its taste being much the same as the other species of the genus, and it closely resembles them in general habits, its mode of carrying the head and feet in flight, and its gait on the ground. This species has been occasionally seen in captivity in the gardens of the Zoological Society of London, but, as observed above, it is rather of a pugnacious temperament. Family—ARDEIDA. THE AMERICAN GREEN HERON. Butorides virescens, LINN. T is extremely doubtful whether the American Green Heron should be honoured with a place in the list of British Birds. Neither the Committee of the British Ornithologist’s Union, Mr. Seebohm, nor Dr. Bowdler Sharpe, has recog- nized it as entitled to be included; but it has been entered by that well-known authority, Mr. Howard Saunders, in his list, so marked, however, as to indicate that the history of its occurrences is not well authenticated; or that after being intentionally introduced, it may have possibly escaped from confinement. Under these circumstances we have given but a short notice of the bird, yet sufficient, should it occur again within our shores, to enable it to be easily identified. The fully adult bird, in breeding plumage, has the crown of the head, its pendent crest, and the elongated narrow dorsal plumes, dark shining or bluish green, often washed with bronze; the wing-coverts are green, edged with tawny; THE AMERICAN GREEN HERON. 23 the rest of the head and neck purplish chestnut, while the fore neck and throat are white, broadly striped with white and dusky. Beneath, the bird is brownish grey, with the belly lighter; and the tail feathers bottle-green. The Green Heron is widely distributed throughout the United States, the West Indies, and as far south as the northern parts of South America. This pretty little Heron is less gregarious than many of its congeners, and is generally to be seen alone, or in pairs, by the side of tree-clad river banks, where it may be discovered, during the day, hiding in a tree, or on the ground, in a more or less sleepy condition. It feeds in the gloaming, or in bright moon- lit nights, on insects, crabs, small fishes, or, indeed, any small aquatic animals it can seize. Its nest is situated in a tree, or a bush, in association with its own kind, or with other Herons—often indeed near a dwelling house—and is constructed loosely of large twigs, lined with smaller, in which any number up to six eggs, of a pale green colour, are laid. The Green Heron, according to Dr. Coues, is peculiar in its method of feeding. On seeing a fish, “it crouches low on its legs, draws back its head, crooks its neck, creeps slyly along on the ground, laying its tarsi almost down on the rock [from which it prefers to fish, instead of wading into the water], carries the bill level with the top of the back, and, when near enough, darts the bill forward towards it, and sometimes with such force as to topple forward a step or two. It seldom immerses its head in fishing, is always disposed to steal upon its prey in a sly cat-like crouching manner, remaining quite motionless for a long time, and often advancing so slowly and stealthily, that even a keen-eyed observer would hardly perceive the motion.” 24 BRITISH BIRDS. WITH THEIR NESTS AND Eacs. Family—ARDEIDA. Tue NIGHT-HERON. Nycticorax griseus, LINN. HE Night-Heron is only a rare straggler to the British Isles, its visits being recorded generally in the migration seasons of spring and autumn, from Scotland and Ireland, as well as England. The number of its visits alto- gether is, however, large in comparison with that of several of our other visiting FHlerodiones. Ut has appeared in some localities in companies of a few pairs; but the persistency with which every rare bird-migrant to our country is killed as soon as observed, precludes the hope that this species will ever be permitted to breed anywhere in it; and there is no reason why it should not do so, if it were left unmolested. The distributional range of the Night-Heron is very wide. It prefers a moderately warm climate, consequently it is not found far to the north, but it is to be met with in the latitudes which favour it, across from mid-Europe to the eastern-most coasts of Asia. During its migratory wanderings, it occasionally finds its way even to the Pelew Islands, in the Pacific. It occurs throughout Africa, and also in the middle and southern parts of North America, and the northern regions of South America, as well as in the West Indian Islands. In many parts of Europe it was formerly more abundant than now, its decrease being due to the extensive draining, during the past century, of the swamps and marshes which it used to inhabit. The Night-Heron begins to arrive in Europe, from its southern winter retreats, in’ the middle of April, and by the middle of May it has reached its various breeding places. The Night-Heron is ashorter bird in every way than any of the true Herons, and it has comparatively a much stouter and shorter bill. In the male the crown and nape of the head, with the back and scapulars, are black, washed with dark green; the sides of the neck, the hind neck, the lower scapulars, the wings, and the lower back, down to the tail, are pinkish lavender grey; the forehead, a line above the eye, the cheeks, the throat, and the whole under surface of the body, are pure white. From the nape proceed, during the nuptial season, from two (as SAVVY ‘ N iy THE NIGHT-HERON. 25 a rule) to as many as ten, pure white cylinderical plumes. Its bill is black, its legs and feet yellow, and the bare skin round the eyes pale green. The bird’s length is about 23 inches. The female is like the male in all respects; but in the winter both sexes become darker and more glossed with green, and lose their long white occipital plumes. The Night-Heron is to be found chiefly in the neighbourhood of swamps and marshes, and amid the pollard brakes or bushes growing in such places; its nest. will be found on a branch, set generally only a few feet above the level of the water. This is, however, not an invariable habit, for the bird often—Stork-like— selects the very tops of lofty trees in a wood, or even in the depths of a forest; while at other times it will build low down, quite among the reeds. It is not only a gregarious bird, but one evidently very sociable and fond of company; for often enough, on the same tree with it, there will be found nests not only of its own species, but of several other Herons, Squacco and Common Herons, as well as of Egrets, and even Cormorants. In the month of May, the Night-Heron begins its building operations, constructing its nest entirely of sticks, very loosely laid together, lined with smaller twigs, all of which are arranged to radiate from the centre. In this gaping bundle of sticks, which a man looking up from below can see right through, the Night-Heron deposits from three to five eggs, in size averaging from a little under 2 inches in length, by 13 inches in breadth, of a pale greenish colour. From these emerge, in June or July, nestlings covered, as Saunders states, with down of a purplish grey, tipped with white on the crown, and white on the flanks and belly. Its bare skin is sea-green. The brood is fed at intervals during the day by the parents, with food fetched often from a long distance; but (as their name, derived from their nocturnal habits, indicates) it is chiefly, though by no means exclusively, in the dusk and night that they are most active. Then also it is that the babel produced by the young, even from a small heronry, is such as is never likely to be forgotten by those who have had the chance to hear it. During the daylight hours the Night- Heron, when it has no nest, sits hidden away, in a tree, in some retired corner, dozing, with his neck drawn back on his shoulders. Among the drawings of birds on the Egyptian tombs, is one of a species called the ‘“‘Tufted Benno,” of which ‘the best drawings,” remarks Dr. A. Leith Adams, in his ‘Natural History and Archeology of the Nile Valley,” “I have seen rather incline to the belief that the ancients meant the Night-Heron with its long white plumes, [and not the Cattle-Egret, as Sir Gardner Wilkinson is disposed to consider it.] This tenant of the river may be seen during the day resting VoL IV. ‘ E 26 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGs. on the tops of palm, tamarisk, and acacia trees—the Tufted Benno is often so represented in the ancient pictures; and after dusk, when the other water-fowl have settled down for the night, the unweildy form of the Night-Heron, with head. well back, silent, and measured flappings of its great fan-shaped wings, is apt to startle the unwary traveller as it passes overhead, uttering its well-known ‘wah’ ‘ waak.’” Mr. Styan, a well-known authority on Chinese birds, says that there are many heronries of this bird round Foochoo. ‘Generally they are placed,’’ he says, “near a village, and the natives, probably from some superstitious motive, will not allow them to be interfered with. I once was allowed to visit one of these places, but not until I had promised not to disturb the birds. This heronry was established in a clump of pine trees, which covered a hillock, overlooking the village. The nests were placed on the summits of the pines, and numbers of Herons were flying about or sitting on the nests.”’ The food of the Night-Heron consists of small fish, frogs, and water insects.. Family—ARDEIDA:. Tue Littrre Bittern. Ardetta minuta, Lixn. a ae Little Bittern has been seen and taken in most parts of England, Scot- land, and Ireland, though less frequently in the two latter countries than in the former; and naturally oftener in the counties of England nearer to the Continent, and in those specially, which, like Norfolk, with its extensive reedy , “ Broads,” provide the situations it likes best to frequent. Dr. Sharpe agrees with Mr. Howard Saunders, in thinking that the evidence is strong enough to afarm that it undoubtedly bred, in former days, in this country, and that even “recent instances of its doing so are not unknown.” os Vy 4, = $y 2 LITTLE BITTERN THE LITTLE BITTERN. 27 This active, attractive, and graceful bird, comes north to us in the summer and spring migration season, but occasionally it appears in winter. As a rule, even those that breed in southern Europe, and along the northern shores of the Mediterranean, migrate southwards, in winter, into tropical and even southern Africa. The Little Bittern seems to range to western Asia only—its place in eastern Asia, across to Japan, being taken by an allied species,—and by way of Asia Minor, and Palestine, to India. It is, however, rarely found to the north of the sixtieth parallel of latitude in Europe, or far out of the Himalayas in India. Westward, it extends to the Azores, and Madeira. The species comprising the genus Avdetta, agree with the Night-Herons in having the second quill of the wing the longest; but they have only ten feathers instead of twelve in the soft rounded tail. Their middle toe, with its claw, is shorter than the next higher segment of the limb. The feathers on the head are elongated, but do not form a crest; there are no dorsal plumes as in the Herons, but the feathers of the chest are elongated. The hind neck is bare, but concealed by the feathers along its sides. Unlike the Herons also, the females differ from the males in colour and markings. The Little Bittern inhabits marshes, covered with reeds, osier thickets or aquatic herbage. In presenting relationships both towards the Herons and the true Bitterns of the genus Zofaurus, the members of this group. form a connecting link between the two genera. In breeding plumage the Little Bittern has the whole of the dorsal surface, the back of the neck, up to the crown of the head, black glossed with green; the lesser wing-coverts, the sides of the neck, the throat, the chest with its elon- gated plumes, and the rest of the under surface, rich vinous buff; the long feathers on the breast, partly concealed by the pectoral ruff, are blackish brown, with vinous margins, and the under wing-coverts are white. The bill, legs, and feet, are yellowish-green; the bare space round and in front of the eye, yellow. The adult female differs from the male in being slightly smaller, and in having a brown tinge on the top of the head, the lower neck, the back, scapulars, and inner secondaries, chestnut-brown, with reddish buff edges; the back and sides of the head, chestnut; the chin, throat, and chest, have dark ochreous centres to the feathers, while those of the breast and sides of the body are centred with black, producing a distinct effect of longitudinal striping on the back, throat, chest, and sides. The Little Bittern begins to arrive in Europe during the month of April, and in April or May, according to the latitude in which its breeding quarters are reached. For a short time after their arrival these birds seem to loaf, and are to 28 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGs. be observed perched on trees near marshes, in their curious erect attitude with sky-pointed bill; but very shortly they commence to give their attention to domestic and family concerns. During the amorous season, the male may be heard uttering, from amid the thickets, a modified boom, as contrasted with the call of the true Bittern, “resembling the syllable pwmm, several times repeated,” or “woogh, woogh,” as Lord Lilford writes it, ‘‘a sort of deep guttural cough,” ‘to which the female replies with a sharper “ gett, gett.” The nest is carefully hidden away among dense reeds, in shallow water, almost on the level of the marsh, or sometimes a little elevated above it, or even on a willow stump or low tree. It is a rather massive structure, six to seven inches across, composed of dry flag-leaves lined with rushes, softer bits of flag, or grasses, wherein are laid five to nine dull greenish-white—or, according to Mr. Seebohm, pure white—oval eggs, small in comparison with the apparent size of the bird, the body of which, however, is not so large as its full, and often semi-erect, plumage suggests. After sixteen or seventeen days of incubation, the chicks emerge from the eggs, their pinkish flesh-coloured bodies covered with a stiff reddish-yellow down, somewhat longer on the top of the head, and on the back, than elsewhere. The bare skin about the head, and the legs, and the shorter bill, are yellowish green. The squabs are helpless, and require the fostering care of the parents till they are able to fly. The downy covering very soon gives place to a plumage in both sexes, which nearly resembles the adult female’s; but, according to Mr. Seebohm, the chestnut on the back of the neck is duller, and the feathers have pale tips; the back also being darker and duller, while the wing-coverts have dark centres. The sides of the head, the chin, throat, and fore-neck, are buff, each with a broad, dark brown centre. This plumage is followed by one inter- mediate between it and the male or female adult dress. The Little Bittern migrates southward in September, but occasionally a few individuals remain part of the winter months in their summer quarters. The food of this species is much the same as that of the Herons already described—small fishes, amphibians, and mice, and any animal-life to be found in the marshes and meres which they frequent. The Little Bittern is chiefly nocturnal in its habits, and during the day it roosts in the dense thickets of reeds, sometimes on a low and thick bush, in a sleepy attitude, often poised on one leg, with the other drawn up close to the body, and buried amid its plumage, with its neck drawn in on its back, and its bill pointing straight up into the air. This erect attitude, and the coloration of their dark green and buffy plumage, with the brown markings of the flanks and throat, especially in the female, enable it to escape detection, often even when one is quite close to it. The bird, one PT et wT ® a. - 2 7 BITTERN. (SEXES ALIKE.) THE BITTERN. ; 29 would think, is aware of. this protective resemblance, and it will often, if intruded upon too suddenly to escape, throw itself into a stiff attitude, and drawing its feathers tight against its body, pose as a bunch of the reeds among which it is hiding. When at last flushed, the Little Bittern rises—the female uttering a short kek-kek-like cry—perpendicularly from its retreat, flies a short distance with a few strong and swift strokes, and drops hastily back again into the safe pro- tection of the dense thicket. It will then skulk away—as it does when warned of the approach of danger,—thrusting itself, rail-like, with great rapidity, through the thickets, and elude both capture and observation with the utmost ease. Even among low bushes it can scramble from branch to branch with great celerity, and make its escape unseen and unsuspected. The Little Bittern is an interesting bird in confinement; but Lord Lilford says he experienced considerable difficulty in keeping it alive. Mr. Meade Waldo, on the other hand, writes that he succeeded in keeping one he brought from Madeira, for three years. A friend of Lord Lilford told that distinguished ornithologist, that ‘‘a bird in his possession supported itself to a great extent by catching the mice and lizards that camie into the aviary, in which it was kept, in the island of Teneriffe.” Family—ARDEIDAG. THE BITTERN. Botaurus stellaris, LANN. HE Bittern has, undoubtedly, higher claims to be iucluded in the list of British Birds, than any others of the Heron family, with the exception of the Ardea cinerea; for it was in former times a resident and a regular breeder in this country. Its favourite nesting grounds were the fen-lands of Cambridgeshire 30 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS and Norfolk; and in the latter it is said to have bred so recently as the year 1834, while in Herts there is a record of its nesting in 1855. The very rapid advance of the plough during the past three quarters of a century, has finally extinguished, or largely curtailed, many of the fens and marshes beloved of the bird, with the result that it has taken its departure to less cultivated regions, and visits us now only at irregular intervals in winter and spring; yet it is seen in some part of the country almost every year. It has visited nearly every district of the three kingdoms, though in Ireland it is nowa rare straggler. We so thoroughly agree with the following remarks by Mr. W. H. Hudson, that we quote them here in the hope that they may meet the eye of, and be duly taken to heart by, those whom they most concern. ‘It is, however, a noteworthy fact that, whereas other species that have been driven out, such as the Great Bustard, Spoonbill, Avocet, Black Tern, and several more, appear now as only rare occasional visitors in our country, the Bittern comes back to us annually, as if ever seeking to recover its lost footing in our island. And that he would recover it, and breed again in suitable places as in former times, is not to be doubted, if only the human inhabitants would allow it; but unhappily, this bird, like the Ruff, Hoopoe, and Kingfisher, when stuffed and in a glass case, is looked upon as an attractive ornament by persons of a low order of intelligence and vulgar tastes.” Outside the British islands, the Bittern inhabits Europe and northern Asia, or what is known as the Palearctic Region of Wallace, south of the 68th degree of N. latitude, thence extending into India, China, and north-eastern Africa in winter. In many parts of Europe, however, where it was once very common and nested, it has now become a rare visitor, from the same causes that have driven it from England. In the Bitterns the neck is shorter and thicker than among the Herons, the middle toe and the claw are both very long, and together are far longer than the next higher segment of the limb. On the occiput there is an erectile crest, and on the neck a very large ruff of erectile feathers; but no dorsal plumes as in the Heron. Unlike what is seen in the female of the Little Bittern, the plumage of the adult female of the true Bittern does not differ from that of the adult male. In the fully mature Bittern, at all ages and all seasons, the upper surface is of a general ochreous colour, or yellow buff, each feather irregularly vermiculated and barred with brown and black, and with a centre streak of brownish black. The crown and nape dark brown; the back and scapulars black, margined with yellowish ochre; lower back, down to the tail, tawny buff, mottled and barred with black; wing feathers reddish brown, barred with black, but the coverts slate grey, also barred and mottled with dark brown. The eyebrows, sides of face, and sides of the THE BITTERN. 3I neck, tawny buff. The throat creamy white, with a central brown streak; rest of the neck, the ruff, and the remainder of the under surface, whitish cream colour, or yellowish buff, the feathers, each with a broad central streak of blackish-brown, uniting into broad longitudinal lines, radiating from the throat, along the under- side of the bird; under wing-coverts, and axillaries, tawny buff, barred with brownish black; bill, bare skin about the face, legs, and feet, greenish yellow. Total length 24 to 26 inches. At the nuptial season, the male Bittern’s call to his mate—said to be uttered with its neck out-stretched, and the beak pointing upwards—is a very remarkable sound, which is usually described as its “ boom,” audible at a long distance off. It is to be heard generally in the gloaming, in the night, or in the early morning, from the bird’s dreary hiding place, amid the marshy thickets. The call has been compared with, and likened to, many different sounds and noises, among others to that of a drum, by Sir Walter Scott, in the “‘ Lady of the Lake,’”’ where the following line occurs :— “And the Bittern sound his drum”; and by Crabbe, to the bellowing of a bull :— “What time the sea birds to the marsh would come, And the loud Bittern from his bull-rush home Gave, from the salt-ostel side, his bellowing boom”. In Welsh the Bittern is known as “the bird of the hollow cry,” (Aderyn y bwm), and ‘“‘ Boom of the Marsh,’ (Bwmp y gors). In many parts of England it goes by the name of “ Bog-bumper,” and “‘ Butter-bump,” an approximate interpretation of its call. - The voice of this shy, solitary bird, floating out on the still evening air from its haunts in the dismal swamps, has been long held in superstitious dread. It was in many places believed to portend the death of the hearer, or of some of his near relatives, or dear friends. From time memorial, the Bittern’s presence has been regarded as an emblem of desolation:—‘‘ The Cormorant and the Bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it; their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds.” The Bittern arrives in Europe in the beginning of March, or a little later according to the weather; and its presence can, shortly after, be detected by its ‘booming ”’ from amid such reed thickets as have survived from the previous year, by the margins of unfrequented swamps and marshes, where alone it makes its home. It may sometimes, however, be seen settled on a tree, or bush, if the marsh vegetation has not reached a sufficient height. The nest is built on the mud, in the deepest. concealment of the reeds, and is constructed of dry reeds, 32 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND Eccs leaves of the flags, and rushes. From three to five smooth, somewhat glossy eggs, often pointed at both ends, of a buffish-grey colour, are laid. ‘They become darker when blown, and are yellowish brown inside when viewed by transmitted light. In length they vary, according to.Seebohm, * from 2°15 to 1°97 inch, and in breadth from 1°55 to 1°45 inch.” After about twenty-five to thirty days of incubation, the young chicks break into the world, covered with long, rather loose, rusty yellow, hair-like down, which gradually gives place to plumage of the same colour as their parents’. The young are helpless at first, and require to be fed till they are fully fledged, when they leave the nest able to provide for themselves. The Bittern, as already stated, is nocturnal in its habits, more so than the Little Bittern, or the Night-Heron. Both on this account, and from its shy skulking character, direct observation of the bird is extremely difficult, and there are very few naturalists who have had the opportunity: of keeping it under obser- vation for more than a few minutes at a time. It seldom goes in the daylight for an extended flight in the open. During migration a flock has occasionally been seen passing overhead; but as a rule its flights consist of a rapid ascent when disturbed in its retreat, and a sudden drop into the reeds a few yards off. On the wing it carries its head drawn in on its back, and its feet straight out behind. The Bittern has a voracious appetite, it feeds on all aquatic animals, insects, mollusca, frogs, and fishes. It has been known to have at one time in its stomach a four ounce roach, besides other fishes: small birds do not come amiss to it, and a water rail, which must have been swallowed whole, has been discovered within one of them awaiting digestion. The Bittern has been but little kept in confinement; its pugnacious disposition, and the hostile manner in which it uses its beak when out of temper, rendering it a dangerous pet.* “In its habits the Bittern is a somewhat mysterious peculiar bird,” to quote Mr. Dresser’s interesting account, “seldom seen during the day-time, unless sud- denly surprised and driven from its hiding place, where it rests by day, and only begins to move about as the dusk of evening sets in. Reed-covered marshy localities are its favourite haunts, especially when the tract covered by these reeds is large and difficult of access, for there it can remain all day undisturbed. It never flies round during daylight of its own accord, and even when flushed, flies off with a somewhat laboured flight, like an Owl in the sunshine, and drops again * The Rev. H. A. Macpherson writes:—“A Bittern, which had been captured in one of the marshes, near Yarmouth, in an unfledged state, lived for upwards of five years in the aviary of Mr. C. Jecks. It was usually fed on fish, but when that was impracticable would eat anything that was supplied, swallowing little birds entire.” (cf. Dixon, ‘‘The Dovecote and Aviary,” p. 333.) THE BITTERN. 33 into the densest portion of the reed thickets, where it is hard to put up again. Even when a dog is sent to flush it, and the reeds are high and dense, it will climb up above the surface of the mud, or water, amongst the reeds, and trust thus to escape observation. It does not appear to pass the day in sleep; or at least it sleeps very lightly, as its call may at times be heard, and the rustling amongst the reeds and flags seems to indicate that it is moving about; but only after sunset does it appear to become more active, and bestir itself in search of food. Its position when seated amongst the reeds is peculiar, and I have more than once come across one sitting without at first realizing that it was not an old stump or a bundle of dried flags. Sometimes the feathers are as if drawn in; and as the bird sits with its head pointed upwards, it is hard to believe that it can be a living bird. But it does not always look so peculiarly thin and stake-like; for when sitting at ease it frequently puffs the feathers out rather than draws them in; and although the neck is curved, as most of the Herons frequently hold it, yet the heavy feathering on the neck hides the contour, and makes it appear as if it were a short, thick-necked bird; and should it suddenly stretch its neck, it shoots out as from a scabbard, and one cannot help being astonished at its great length so suddenly displayed. ‘“‘When winged or wounded it is by no means an easy task to get hold of it; for it defends itself with great pluck and determination, throwing itself back and using bill and claws as weapons of defence, and I have seen a dog get considerably the worst of it in an attack on a wounded bird.” Under these circumstances it also erects its great neck frill, to swell its size and add to its terrifying appearance. Vot. IV. ¥F 34 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND Ecas. Family—ARDEIDAG. THe AMERICAN BITTERN. Botaurus lentiginosus, MONTAGU. HIS American bird was, strange to say, first described as new to science by Montagu, in his “Ornithological Dictionary,” in 1813, from a specimen killed in England. Over a dozen examples in all have been recorded, in the autumn and winter, from various parts of the British Islands. Indeed the American Bittern makes its appearance more frequently within our borders than many other Herodians from even the Continent of Europe. The circumstances under which it has been taken, or observed, leave no doubt, as in the case of the American Green Heron, that Botaurus lentiginosus does itself accomplish this long journey across the Atlantic, undertaken, not improbably, through having been driven across in front of the gales which prevail from the west at that season, or having lost its bearings during its migration flight, it has held on its misguided course east instead of southward, till it reached our shores; those that arrive being the survivors, probably, of many others who have perished on the way. The American Bittern has never yet reached the continent of Europe. Once again on land it seems to rest content with its ‘farthest east’: but they are not allowed long time for consideration or rest, for somebody with a gun very soon detects its stranger wings and—shoots it. The American Bittern closely resembles our own Common Bittern. In general colour it is ochraceous buff, the plumage being freckled with brown and blackish ; but the frecklings are much finer than in the European species. Down the side of the neck from the gape there runs a black stripe. The region behind the eye, which is reddish brown in Aotaurus stellaris, is ochraceous buff. The neck and under’ side are tawny white, the feathers striped with brown; the chin and throat white, with a dusky ochraceous median streak. The crown of the head is uniform dark brown, not black, and a stripe over the eye yellowish white. The wing feathers are uniform slaty, or greenish black, not barred and tipped with rufous as are the primary coverts. Bill, legs, and feet greenish yellow. The feathers at the base of the neck are not so long or full as they are in the Common Bittern. f SERS — [ . . awe rien, a seman went | SSN EGA AWAASG \ = a 3 AMERICAN’ BITTERN. (SEXES ALIKE.) THE AMERICAN BITTERN. 35 The female is similar to the male, and so are the young, though more reddish, and with coarser freckling. The American Bittern has a very wide distribution in North America, inhabiting every suitable locality on the Continent, as far south as Guatemala, and extending also into the Indian Islands. In winter, however, it migrates to still more southern latitudes; and in summer it finds its way into Alaska and Greenland, and even to the shores of the Arctic Ocean. The localities which this species affects are river banks, marshes, and swamps, where there are dense willow brakes, or abundance of reeds and long grass. It builds on the ground, in similar situations to those selected by its European congener, the nest consisting generally of a substantial heap of grass or decayed rubbish. It is, however, often quite scanty, and frequently there is none at all. It may build also occasionally on low trees. Its eggs, which number from four to seven, are so similar to those of Lotaurus stellaris that they could not, if mixed together, be separated out by the most expert oologist with certainty. The American Bittern is not gregarious, nor does it associate either with its own kind or other species of Arvdeide. It keeps closely to the covert of the reeds or brakes, rarely exposing itself during the day, except it be suddenly intruded upon, when it takes wing with an abrupt hoarse croak, dropping as soon as possible again into their friendly protection. It feeds during the day, generally in its concealment; but coming out more into the open in the evening, although not truly a nocturnal bird. The food of the American Bittern consists of small fishes, insects, mice, and all small aquatic creatures. Its flesh is considered excellent, and the bird is hunted for the market. ‘‘On ordinary occasions,” Dr. Baird says, “‘it is a difficult bird to flush. The instant it becomes aware that it has attracted the attention of the fowler, it covers its head, runs quickly through the grass, and when again seen, is usually in a different direction from that taken by its pursuer, whose movements it closely watches. When thus pursued it seldom exposes more than its head. When wounded it makes a vigorous resistance, erects the feathers on its head and neck, and extends its wings, opens its bill, and puts on a fierce expression. It will attack a dog, or even its master; and when defending itself, directs its sharp bill at the assailant’s eye.” The call of the American Bittern differs considerably from the “booming” of its European relative. It is a curious note, often described as a hoarse croaking, as if “the bird’s throat were filled with water”; others hear it as a resonant cry, from which its name of ‘“‘ Bog-bull” is doubtless derived; others again describe it as a ‘‘dunk-a-dunk” sound, heard chiefly during the mating season, from which 36 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. the name of “Stake-driver” has been widely applied to the bird. Except at the pairing season, and when suddenly disturbed, this Bittern is, according to Dresser, a rather silent bird. ‘He stands motionless,” as Dr. Elliott Coues describes, ‘with his head drawn in upon his shoulders, and half closed eyes, in profound meditation, or steps about in a devious way, with an absent-minded air; for greater seclusion he will even hide in a thick bush-clump for hours together. Startled in his retreat * * he seems dazed, like one suddenly aroused from a deep sleep; but as soon as he collects his wits, * * he shows common sense enough to beat a hasty retreat from a scene of altogether too much action for him. Some such traits have doubtless led to the belief that he is chiefly a nocturnal bird; but such is not the case. He may migrate by night, but so does the Killdeer and the Bobolink, and many other birds not in the least nocturnal * *. When the Bittern is disturbed at his meditation, he gives a vigorous spring, croaks at the moment in a manner highly expressive of his disgust, and flies off as fast as he can, though in a rather loose lumbering way. For some distance he flaps heavily with dangling legs and outstretched neck; but when settled on his course, he proceeds more smoothly, with regularly measured wing-beats, the head drawn in closely, and the legs stretched straight out behind together like a rudder.” Family—CICONUIDA2, THE WHITE STORK. Ciconta alba, BECHSTEIN. HIS stately bird, about which so much folk-lore, superstition and sentiment have gathered, so many fables have been constructed, and legends handed down, in prose and verse, has, unfortunately, no other claim to belong to our fauna, except for its occasionally straggling to our coasts, chiefly those of the eastern counties, during the spring or autumn migratory seasons. a tnyy ///%3%—h Ga Cb be ppaiponnpteptr hl” Mi 4 tl WHITE STORK + (SEXES ALIKE.) THE WHITE STORK. 37 The White Stork, while not infrequent in England, has been recorded several times from Scotland, even from as far north as Shetland, and twice from Ireland. It is distributed, and breeds abundantly through the central and southern parts of the Palearctic region, (except in France, where it has been exterminated by persecution), as far east as Turkestan. In winter it migrates to India from the eastern part of its range; while from Europe it seeks South Africa, where it not infrequently stays a season to breed, especially if locusts, whe are a favourite article of diet with it, be unusually numerous. The White Stork is a migratory bird, and arrives in mid-Europe, to spend the summer, towards the end of February and during March, or even as late as the beginning of April, in flocks numbering many hundreds of individuals. Canon Tristram has described how, when in Palestine, he saw numbers of them suddenly appear from the south, moving northwards a few miles a day, “‘not close together, but scattered over hill and valley, plain and marsh alike, steadily quartering the ground, seldom near one another, but generally about one hundred yards apart, picking up snakes, lizards, frogs, or fish, according to the locality * *. They remained, apparently, till they had cleared off the reptilian harvest, and departed for the north as suddenly as they came.” In such manner they journey, travelling generally by day, resting at night upon trees, or as the Canon observed them, for a few days at a time, in some more provendered spot; as each reaches the region known to itself, it repairs, without fail, to the nest that has known it from year to year. The males and the females migrate in separate flocks; but the males are said to arrive in Germany and Denmark in advance of the females. As soon as he reaches the familiar scene, he starts at once to inspect the condition of his dwelling, and institute repairs, with an anxious eye for the coming of his mate, which is generally a week later than his own. When that event does take place there is great jubilation between the couple, many love passages, and much bustle and preparation for the house warming. Many and various are the sites chosen by the White Stork for its nest, which may be close to or remote from others, for this species is not strictly a gregarious bird. The nest is sometimes in a tree—solitary, or in the forest; on the ledge of a cliff; on a ruined wall; or in the towers and belfries of churches and mosques. But what has enshrined it in the affection of the people of nearly every country in which it builds, much as the Swallow which frequents our eaves is esteemed in this country, is its habit of selecting a barn or outhouse, a stack in a farm- yard, and above all the roofs or the chimneys of dwelling houses, not only in the quiet of the country, but in villages, as well as amid the bustle and commotion of a crowded city, whereon to construct its ponderous nest. It has now become Vou. IV. G 38 BRITISH BIRDS,.WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS asettled but acquired habit of its life to seek the neighbourhood and the association of the human species, civilised or savage; and the house-top forms, indeed, now as much one of the bird’s habitual nesting places, as the hedgerow does the Blackbird’s. The Stork is called in Dutch “ Ooijevaar.” The derivation of this word can, as Professor Newton states in his valuable ‘‘ Dictionary,” be traced to an old word signifying “ Bringer of Good.” It is this wide-spread belief in the luck-bringing influence of its presence, that the Danes and Germans hold the bird in such regard, even veneration, and so sacredly preserve its home from spoliation, and itself from harm. ‘The bird’s selection of a newly erected house for its own domicile, is an omen that brings profound happiness to the owner, especially if it has chosen the site of its own unwooed accord. Such hints and enticements as the erection of an old cart wheel, or a platform, to serve as basis for its nest, are constantly offered to the Storks by those whose abodes have been passed over by the ‘ Bringer of Good,” to induce them to build, if not on, yet within the precincts of their dwelling. So anxious, indeed, are the people to have a Stork’s nest on their houses, that knowing its almost invariable habit of returning, season after season, to its own nest, they will often purchase, at considerable cost, a nest on a neighbour’s house, and transfer it to their own. This ruse is not seldom successful in enticing the Stork to follow the nest-heap gathered by itself. The popular belief instilled into all children in Germany, Holland, and Denmark, is probably too well known to require stating, that the Stork is the winged and heavenly carrier, which brings from the fountain all the new babies. Natural wells were widely esteemed as sacred places; and this explains why so many churches and sacred edifices, in all parts of the world, have been erected near or over such spots. The same mythological idea that each new sun was born from the previous night, appears in the Stork’s return from its annual winter absence bringing with it the fresh life of spring, and in the idea of its bringing new children from the wells. This new child was supposed to be born only at the moment when the Stork dropped it from its beak into the expectant mother’s lap. We find in “‘ Notes and Queries,” that at the birth of a child it used to be customary to give a sugar-tongs as a cliristening gift, in shape representing a Stork standing upright upon the claws which partly form the handle. When opened for the purpose of grasping the sugar, the body, which is hollow, disclosed the image of a baby, in swaddling clothes. Occasionally an egg or a young bird is cast out of the nest by the Storks, and this is popularly believed to be thrown down as rent. The first year they say a feather is paid, the second an egg, and the third a young bird. It is also THE WHITE STORK. 39 as widely entertained that the male Stork’s jealousy of any lapse from virtue in his spouse is so great, that on the suspicion of such a thing, as, for instance, on the discovery in the nest of chicks hatched from alien eggs, which may have been substi- tuted for her own, say of fowls or geese, he calls in his male relatives and friends, who, on confirmation of the charge, after due consideration before a “‘ Stork’s court,” proceed to execute, without delay or mercy, the extreme penalty of the law on the erring wife, with their sharp and terrible beaks. The White Stork’s nest is composed of sticks, lined with reeds, and straw, and various kinds of soft vegetable, or other substances. As the old nest is repaired and added to year after year, it sometimes attains to gigantic proportions. It is formed of a pile of wood, in which small birds frequently build their nests, rising often to a height of five or six feet, with a circumference of twelve to fifteen, and of such enormous weight that, when built on a roof, it becomes imperative from time to time to remove the greater part of the structure. This is generally done during the Stork’s migration in the winter. The White Stork lays from three to five eggs, at various dates between the end of March and the middle of May, according to the latitude of the bird’s home. Seebohm describes the eggs as dull white in colour, rough in texture, and with little gloss, and when viewed by transmitted light, yellowish white inside. They vary from about 23 to 3 inches in length, and from 2; to 2,5) inches in width. In connection with the egg of the Stork, a curious superstition is prevalent in some parts of Spain that, if administered to a drunkard, it will cure him of his evil propensity. Their incubation, which is conducted chiefly by the female, lasts about thirty days, a period during which she is assiduously fed by her lord. The chicks appear between the end of April and the middle of June, the latter being the date about which they may be seen in Holland, North Germany, and Denmark. On emerging from the egg the pullets are helpless, and are fed with half digested food regurgitated by the parents. They are covered with greyish-white down, which gives place to plumage similar to that of the adult; the colour of their bill, legs, and feet, however, are less brilliant than in the mature bird. The fully adult White Stork has the feathers of the whole of the fore neck elongated into broadish plumes. The red beak is long, conical, and pointed. On both the upper and under sides the plumage is pure white, but the wing feathers, with their larger coverts, and the mantle are black; the outer web of the secondary feathers are grey; the bare skin round the eyes is black, but below the chin red. The legs and feet are bright pinkish red. The total length of the bird is from three feet to three feet six inches. The female differs from the male only in being somewhat smaller. There is no difference in the colour or the amount of 40 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND Eccs. their plumage in winter from that of the breeding season; the moulting of their feathers taking place through all parts of the year except the breeding time. The young males, when their mating time comes, engage in fierce contests with each other for possession of a particular female, who then becomes the partner of the successful combatant, not for a season only, but for life, a bond to which both bird are believed to be very faithful. An instance of the constancy of a wedded pair of White Storks is given by Mr. Lydekker, in his ‘ Royal Natural History,” where “it is stated that for three years a female which remained during the winter, in Europe, was visited annually by her mate, when both nested as usual. In the fourth year, however, the male bird also remained with his partner during the winter, and this continued for three years. Eventually both birds were shot, when it was discovered that the female had been prevented from migrating by an old wound.” The White Stork has been, from time immemorial, the emblem, not only of conjugal fidelity, but of filial piety. It is a very ancient belief that when the parent birds are grown old and unable to fly, their young support them on each side from place to place, and if they become blind they feed them also, and care- fully tend them as long as they live. It was also an ancient belief that the Storks, when they reached old age, departed to the isles of the sea, and there turned into men as a reward for their piety. The White Stork’s food consists of lizards, frogs, locusts, beetles, and other insects, mice, rats, and snails. In its quest for these it may be seen stalking sedately, and with perfect fearlessness, in the fields where, as Professor Newton observes, “apart from its considerable size * * its contrasted plumage of pure white and deep black, with its bright red bill and legs, makes it a conspicuous and beautiful object, especially when seen against the fresh green grass of a luxuriant meadow.” The White Stork is a voiceless bird; but it can be none the less a very noisy one, for it can produce quite an uproar when a number of them take to clattering their mandibles together, tossing their heads high in the air, and well thrown back. ‘They have also another peculiar habit, when they assemble together in the open country, which they always frequent, of indulging in an extraordinary evolutionary dance, so high-stepping and grotesque, that no idea can be conveyed in words, and the show-off requires to be seen to be fully conceived and enjoyed. This species flies with its neck fully outstretched, and not carried, as among the Herons, shortened on the back. Mr. J. H. Gurney says that it leaves its nest with a spring, “ getting quite clear before it ventures to expand its huge wings. It does not draw in its legs, which are so long that they exceed the tail BLACK STORK ¢ (SEXES ALIKE.) THE BLACK STORK. 4l by nearly twelve inches. Its feet appear to touch when it is flying; but when it is just about to alight they are parted widely.” ‘“‘ As we entered Dobanovei,” Mr. Eagle Clarke relates in his “‘ Slavonian Notes,” “no less than nine White Storks were soaring over the village at a great height, and one of these descended rapidly, at an angle of 60°, to a nest close to us, using its wings as a parachute, by keeping them parallel with its legs, which are out- stretched in the direction of the descent; the neck and head were lowered in the same direction, and altogether it presented a most remarkable appearance. During our trip we had abundant opportunity for studying the habits of this species, and considered it rather an uninteresting bird than otherwise. As a rule one of the parents was generally to be seen standing on the side of the nest in a most lethargic attitude. Sometimes, when both were at the nest, one of them (perhaps the male) made a loud, hollow, snapping noise, and went through the pantomimic performance, while so doing, of throwing back the neck and placing the crown of the head on the lower portion of the back.” Before setting off for their autumn migration to the south, they assemble together in great flocks. The White Stork is easily tamed, and takes well to captivity. Family—CICONTIDAE, THE BLacKk STORK. Ciconia nigra, LINN. HIS splendid bird, even handsomer perhaps than its white cousin, has been recorded over a dozen times from the British Islands, chiefly during the spring and autumn migratory seasons. It is not, however, known to have visited either Scotland or Ireland. The Black Stork breeds in most parts of Europe, but more seldom in the 42 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. northern than in its southern and eastern regions. It ranges throughout the whole of Africa, breeding in the Mediterranean region. In Asia it is found nesting in southern Siberia, east to China, and throughout the Indian Peninsula. In full plumage the Black Stork has the whole head, neck, chest, back, wings. and tail, glossy black, with metallic purple reflections, especially on the top and back of the head; the ‘lower axillaries, chest, and whole of the underside pure white; the beak, the legs, and the bare skin round the eye and under the throat bright scarlet. Total length about 35 inches; bill 7{ inches long. The female is similar to the male, but not so glossy. The immature birds are brown, and without the purple and coppery metallic reflections of the adults. There are also to be found some white tips to the feathers of the head and neck. In its habits the Black Stork differs very much from the Czconia alba. It rarely selects a nesting place near the dwellings of man, and it consequently never figures in his folk-lore, and is unknown to his affections. It prefers to rear its family on high trees, in the solitude of the forests, or in holes in high and precipitous and inaccessible rocks, distant from human habitation, and even far from the nesting places of its own species. Although not gregarious it is by no means an ill-dispositioned bird; only a solitary and contemplative creature, given to standing motionless for hours on one leg, with its beak buried amongst its feathers. Like the White Stork the present species is voiceless, except when quite young and up to about six months, when it utters, according to Dresser, a peculiar guttural sound; but it can make plenty of noise by clattering with its mandibles in the same manner as the White Stork. Montagu has given an interesting account in the ‘Transactions of the Linnean Society,” of a Black Stork he kept for some time in captivity, from which we learn that it soon became very docile, and would feed from the hand; and that when hungry and supplicating for food it would sit down on the whole length of its tarsi, nod its head, flap its wings, and blow the air from its lungs through its nostrils. Its disposition was mild and amiable; and it never attacked its fellow prisoners. ‘From the manner in which,” continues the same writer, “it is observed to search the grass with its bill, there can be no doubt that reptiles form part of its natural food; even mice, worms, and the larger insects, probably add to its usual repast. When searching in thick grass, or in mud, for its prey, the bill is kept partly open; by this means I have observed it take eels in a pond with great dexterity; no spear, common in use for taking that fish, can more effectually receive it between its prongs than the grasp of the Stork’s open mandibles. A small eel has no chance of escaping when once roused from its THE BLACK STORK. 43 lurking place. But the Stork does not gorge its prey instantly like the Cormorant ; on the contrary, it retires to the margin of the pool, and there disables its prey by shaking and beating with its bill before it ventures to swallow it. I never observed this bird attempt to swim; but it will wade up to the belly, and occasionally thrust the whole head and neck under water after its prey.” The nest of the Black Stork is often very large and composed of dried sticks, lined with smaller twigs, and with grass or moss, and in it are deposited eggs varying in number from three to six, similar in colour to those of the White Stork, but green inside when the shell is viewed by transmitted light. After about a month’s incubation the chicks are hatched, and they are covered with a greyish yellow down, which gives place to plumage which differs only from the adult’s in having but little of its metallic gloss, and many of the head, neck, and wing-coverts are spotted with white, while the bill, legs, and feet, instead of being bright scarlet, are bluish olive green. The young birds are said to leave the nest earlier than in the case of the White Stork. The Black Stork arrives in the early summer from its southern winter quarters, and departs again late in the autumn, never remaining in Europe over the winter. Mr. Styan, however, states that it is to be seen during the winter in China, generally singly, or in twos and threes, and sometimes in company with the Common Heron. Canon Tristram observed it in small flocks all through the winter on the plains of the Dead Sea. Except during migration, it is not, Mr. Seebohm says, gregarious, and it is more shy and cautious, especially in the breeding season, than its cousin. ~The Black Stork is a long-lived bird even in captivity, where it has been known to have been detained for thirty years. 44 BritiSH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. family—IBIDIDA:. Tue Gtossy IBIS. Plegadis falcinellus, LINN. HIS handsome bird is now a much less frequent visitor to this country than it was in former times. It arrives generally during the autumn migratory season, more rarely in the spring. It has been recorded from various parts of Scotland, as far north even as Shetland, and from Ireland, but more rarely than from England, where it is most frequently met with in the southern and eastern counties, Norfolk perhaps being that from which the most numerous records come. The Glossy Ibis is widely distributed in both Hemispheres; in the western world it is found in North America, in the eastern states, south to Florida, and in the Antilles. It ranges over a great part of Asia and of Europe, whither it comes only in the summer; it is abundant in Australia, as well as in most parts of the African Continent, with which its name is so closely associated, through its congener the venerated Ibis (Zits ethiopica) of the ancient Egyptians, though it is said, Homey: by some, to be found no longer in Egypt proper. Like all other Ibises, the species under consideration breeds in morasses, and generally in inaccessible localities, placing its mest a few feet above the water, either in a low tree, or on bent-over flags or reeds. The nest is constructed of sticks, and lined with reeds, and other aquatic plants. It nests in Europe in the swamps of the Danube, and in the Deltas of the Rhone, and of the Guadalquivir. The most celebrated of these breeding places has been described by Mr. Eagle Clarke, in the “Ibis” for 1884, and by Mr. Seebohm in his “‘ British Birds,’’ that, namely, in the valley of the Danube, near Belgrade. ‘‘ This District,” says Mr. Seebohm, “‘extending for one hundred miles from the Weirse Morast to the Obedska Bara, is the eldorado of Herons, Ibises, Spoonbills, Cormorants, Terns, Gulls, Sandpipers, Ducks, Geese, and Pelicans. It looks like an endless plain, a boundless forest of reeds, a paradise of fish and fish-eating birds, full of rivers and lakes, ponds and canals, marshes and swamps, flooded meadows, half drowned forests of pollard willows, and alders, every possible combination to make bird- life easy, and birds-nesting difficult.” In such spots the Ibises congregate in hundreds, and build in close association, and often in the same'trees, with Common, Night, and Squacco Herons, and Pigmy Cormorants. (‘a@uITV saxas) & SIG] ASSOTD SRR THE GLossy IBIS. 45 The Glossy Ibis lays three to four eggs, in form similar to those of Herons, and varying in size from 13 to 2 inches in length, by 14, to 14 in breadth. In regard to the colour of the eggs, “‘ one of the most remarkable things about this species,” as Professor Newton has pointed out, “is that it lays eggs of a deep sea-green colour, having wholly the character of Heron’s eggs, and it is to be noticed that it often breeds in company with Herons, while the eggs of all other Ibises, whose eggs are known, resemble those of the Sacred Ibis,” which are “dingy white, splashed, spotted, and speckled with reddish brown.” Canon Tristram has also noted that the Glossy Ibis is a common attendant of the Herons, and he says in one of his chatty articles, that he and his fellow travellers in North Africa, used to compare them to the black sheep in a flock of white ones. It has a habit of consorting also with other gregarious birds, not so nearly related to it as Herons, such as Crows and Pigeons, even feeding with and following the flocks from place to place, as Dr. Leith Adams observed in Malta. The Sacred Ibis, “the emblem of Thoth, the scribe or secretary of Osiris, whose duty it was to recount the good and bad actions of the souls of the deceased when ushered into the presence of the God,’ was embalmed and preserved in enormous numbers by the ancient Egyptians, in their religious ceremonials, specimens of which so mummified are familiar objects in most museums; but the Glossy Ibis was never, it would appear so treated, nor was it, according to Dr. Leith Adams, ever portrayed on the tombs. Both on the ground and on the wing, this Ibis has the actions of a Heron; flying in flocks, however, in a wedge-shaped formation, more like Geese. Like the Spoonbill it is a silent bird; but it occasionally emits a hoarse Heron-like croak. The food of the Ibis consists of fish, insects, crustacea, and fresh water mollusca, as well as small reptiles and some vegetable scraps. The chicks, which, when hatched, are unable to fly, are covered with close black down, with a white band over the top of the head from eye to eye; and a yellow and straight (not curved) beak, with a central black bar. If disturbed in the nest when still unfledged, it is said that they will scramble out on to the branches, and climb among them, holding on tightly and tenaciously with their feet, if an attempt be made to remove them. The two sexes of the adult birds are similar in plumage, but the female is slightly smaller than the male, and has a somewhat shorter bill. The forehead and front part of the top of the head, as also the lower part of the cheeks, are metallic green; the head, the neck, the mantle, and the upper back, are coppery red, with purple and green metallic reflections; the wings and their coverts have Vor IV. H 46 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND Eccs a glossy green metallic colour, washed with bronzy purple; the lower back to the tail is black, with the same metallic sheen and reflections. The under side of the body is coppery red like the mantle, except for the under tail- and wing- coverts, which are black, glossed over with metallic green and purple. The beak, which ig about 53 inches long, is greenish olive, except at the base, where it is bluish grey. In winter the coppery red of the head, neck, and under surface become dark brown and duller, and but slightly washed with purple, and having stripes consisting of white spots on the head and neck. The immature birds closely resemble the adults in their winter plumage, being dark earthy brown, with little or none of their metallic sheen, while the head and upper neck have a series of white dotted lines. The Glossy Ibis has lived for many years in captivity, in large numbers in the Zoological Gardens in London, and has also reared its young there. Family—PLATALEIDA. THE SPOONBILL. Platalea leucorodia, LINN. HE Spoonbill is one of our not infrequent visitors, especially to the eastern and south-eastern counties of England, whither a few individuals find their way every year, occasionally in flocks of five or six, doubtless from across the North Sea, where the bird still breeds in considerable numbers in the meres and wooded marshes of the low countries. It has been recorded both from Scotland and from Ireland, but it is not frequent in the northern parts of Britain. It has not always been a “foreign” bird. Under the name of ‘“ Shoveller,”’ ‘‘ Shovelard,” and ‘“‘ Sholarde,” it was well-known in England, as late as the seventeenth century, when it was a resident. In the year 1668 it was still breeding in Norfolk, for 2 #5 TWIIANOOdS THE SPOONBILL. 47 Sir Thomas Browne, a celebrated medical man of that time, has this note in his “ Account of Birds found in Norfolk”:—‘‘ The Platea, or Shovelard, which build upon the tops of high trees. They have formerly built in the heronry, at Claxton, and Reedham; now at Trimley, in Suffolk. They come in March, and are shot by fowlers, not for their meat, but the handsomeness of the same; remarkable in their white colour, copped crown, and spoon or spatule-like bill.” Mr. J. E. Harting, for so many years the able editor of the ‘‘ Zoologist,” brought other notices of the breeding of this interesting species in England, to the knowledge of ornithologists in 1877 and 1886. In a manuscript “ Survey ” of certain Manors in Sussex, which he disinterred, the following memorandum, made in the twelfth year of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, (1570), appears:—“‘ That within half a furlonge of Halnaker Parke pale, on the west side thereof lyeth a parke called Goodwoode Parke; and by the northest parte thereof lyeth one other parke called Shelhurst Parke, distante from Halnaker Pale one quarter of a myle. And on the north side of that pale lyeth one other parke called Eslden, half a myle distante. In the woods called the Weestwood and the Haselette, Shovelers and Herons have lately breed,—and some Shovelers breed there this yeere.” Shovelards in those days were considered a delicacy for the table, for among the bills of Henry the Eighth’s household expenses, there is a record of his paying for bringing from Cobham Hall ‘“ Shovelards to the King’s Grace”; and among those of the Earl of Northumberland, there is the entry of sixpence each for ‘‘Sholardes to be hadde for my Lorde’s owne Mess, at Pryncipale Feestes.”’ There was also passed, in 1534, an Act of Parliament making it penal to “ with- drawe, purloyne, take, destroye, or convey any maner of egges of any kind of wildfowle from, or in any neste, place or places where they shall chance to be laide by any kinde of the same wildfowle, upon peine of imprisonment for one yere,” and to forfeit ‘“‘for every egge of every Bittour, Heronne, or Shouelarde,” eightpence. Mr. Harting brought also to light an account of an action for trespass, in 1523, instituted by the Bishop of London, Dr. Tunstall, against an unnamed defendant ‘“‘for having broken his close, and for taking Aferons and Shovelars,” which made their nests in the trees of his park, at Fulham, or as it was anciently spelled Fulanham, which signifies “the habitacle of birdes, or the place of fowles ; fullon and fuglas in the Saxon toong doe signifie fowles, and am or hame as much as home in our toong.” At Cobham Hall there has existed a heronry from time immemorial, and it is very likely, as Mr. Harting suggests, that the Shovelards, mentioned above as sent thence to King Henry the Eighth, nested in the heronry there. 48 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGcs How long a period elapsed after that date before the last Spoonbill’s ‘nest was built in England, is unknown; but as no penalty attached to shooting the bird, we may conjecture that the fowler and the poacher, attracted by its “ handsomeness,” rarely missed any chance that presented itself of killing the Spoonbill, especially at the nuptial season, for its “copped crown” and its quaint “ spatule-like bill.” We suspect, too, that the “purloyning” of the eggs of the Spoonbill was not very seriously checked by the “peine” of a year’s imprisonment, and the “forfeiture of eightpence” an egg. The draining of the fens and marsh-lands, in the parts of England frequented by the Spoonbill, had also much to do with their elimination from the numbers of our resident fauna, and the banishment of their whistling wings from the “tops of high trees” in many parks where they were, and still would be, welcome visitors in the breeding season. The Spoonbill visits the south-east of England nearly every year in small companies of two or three pairs, which might still breed in this country as they did two hundred years ago, were it not for their fatal conspicuousness, especially if perched on a tree, which seals their doom within a few hours of their arrival. But the moment they are caught sight of, the “lucky” observer hurries off to borrow a gun if he does not own one, and often with several armed companions, pursues these “strange” birds from resting place to resting place, till they have been triumphantly done to death, or hunted from the land. The Spoonbill-is distributed over all those parts of Europe, North Africa and Asia, which constitute the Palearctic Region of Zoologists. Species of the genus are found also in India, South Africa, Australia, and New Guinea, and a single roseate, instead of white representative, occurs in tropical America. The European Spoonbill, of both sexes, has, in the nuptial season, a crest of drooping plumes, longer in the male than in the female, which, with the rest of its plumage, is everywhere pure white, except for a buff sheen on the front of the neck, and on the crown of the head, and a buff band on the breast. Its feet, legs, and beak are black, but of the latter the spatulate end is bright yellow. Of the same colour is a naked patch on the throat. In winter their plumage varies only in the sparser and shorter crest, and the loss of much of their buff markings. The Spoonbill builds in both high and low situations. It very often selects a heronry in which various species of Avdea are breeding, in or by a lake or marsh, and there builds in the top, or on a lower. branch of a high tree, not occupied by a Heron’s nest. If there be no high trees it may choose a low alder or pollard willow similarly situated, and there it will construct, three to four feet above the ground, a nest of branches two to three feet in width. Mr. O. THE, SPOONBILL. 49 Hume says that in India it builds often near a village, and sometimes even in its midst. ‘The nearest breeding place of this species on the Continent is the Horster Meer, near Amsterdam, where the majority of the nests are, on the other hand, placed on the ground. ‘The fishing and right of gathering the eggs of the various wild birds that frequent it, is let, and not to everyone is permission granted to visit it during the breeding season. Dr. P. L. Sclater, in company with the late Mr. W. A. Forbes, were fortunate enough to obtain leave to inspect the nests in 1877, and Mr. H. Seebohm iti 1880. Mr. Forbes has given an interesting description of his’ visit in the “Ibis,” from which we quote the following account of the situation and construction of the Spoonbills’ nests. - ‘The nests were not situated so near together as those of the Cormorants, but scattered two or three yards from each other, with thin patches of reeds growing between them. There was, however, a clear open space in the neighbour- hood, formed of broken-down reeds, in which the birds were said to congregate. The Spoonbill’s nest, in the Horster Meer at least, is a mere flattened surface of broken reed, not elevated more than two to three inches above the general level of the swamp; and no other substance but reed appears to be used in its con- struction.” Mr. Seebohm, however, says that most of the nests were built upon a foundation of a few sticks, the principal structure being of dead reeds, lined with dry grass. Mr. Eagle Clarke describes the Spoonbill’s nest, as he saw in Slavonia, as above the water, while others were as much as four feet from the surface.” The Spoonbills return year after year to build in the same place, and to the same nests if they be not weather-worn past repairing. The draining of the meres and fens, even in Holland, is proceeding so fast, that ere long the Spoonbills will soon have few places left in which to rear their young. This bird lays four to five elongate or roundish eggs, blotched, spotted, or streaked, but not profusely, with reddish brown, on a white chalky ground. The chicks are covered with white down. They are helpless and dependent on their parents till full fledged. In their first plumage they are like the adult, except in having black tips to the wings, and shafts of the same hue to the primary coverts and quills, and in the absence of a crest, while the bill is yellow. The Spoonbill, though differing remarkably in the shape of the bill, presents points of resemblance to the Storks, in its flight and sedate walk. Spoonbills are also silent birds; even when their nests are being harried they utter no cry; for like the Storks they have no true organ of voice. The only noise that the Spoonbills appear to make is a loud clattering of their mandibles. immense structures of sticks and dead reeds; some were only just Vor IV. Ne 5° BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND Ecas. The Spoonbill exercises a larger choice in the selection of its food than the Heron. It varies its fish, crustacea, and insects with a considerable quantity of vegetable diet of marsh plants, which it has a Duck-like manner of eating. ORDER ODONTOGLOSSA. N this Order are included the members of a single family—the Phenicopteride, or Flamingoes—remarkable for their long supple neck, and their tall stilt-like limbs, of which latter the bones of the two middle segments—those immediately above and below the so-called ‘‘knee”—are pretty nearly equal in length, the bone of the former being only slightly longer than that of the latter. Of the four toes, the first or hind one is either absent or very small, and is isolated, while the other three are united by a web. If the bones of the skull be examined, it will be found that the palate is “roofed in” as in the Ducks. In all the living forms of the family, the shape of the beak is unique among birds; it is bent downward, and the part behind the nostrils forms a well marked angle with the part in front. The bones of the lower jaw on each side project behind the place where it articu- lates with the skull, into a recurved process, similar to what is seen in the skull of the Ducks and Geese. The Odontoglosse differ conspicuously from the Herodiones in that their young instead of being born naked, sealed-eyed, and helpless, are covered with down, and like the young of Ducks and Geese, are able to leave the nest very soon after they have emerged from the egg. Some fossil forms, placed in the genus Palelodus, which come from the Miocene Strata of the Tertiary Epoch, have been ascribed to this family. They differed, however, from the present day Flamingoes, in having a straight instead of a bent bill. It is interesting to note, however, that the young Flamingo has a straight bill for some time after it is hatched. The bent bill is acquired as the chick grows. THE FLAMINGO. 51 Family—PH@NICOPITERIDA. THE FLAMINGO. Phentcoplerus roseus, PALLAS. HIS magnificent and stately bird, often called ‘‘ The Flame Bird,” which often stands over six feet in height, has been included in the British list by Mr. Howard Saunders, but it is really one of the very rarest stragglers to our shores, if, indeed, it has strayed to them ever of its own accord. In any part of the British Isles it is considerably out of its habitual latitudes, which are the southern regions of Europe, Northern Africa, and east to Lake Baikal, India, and Ceylon. In all of these regions it is found, sometimes in thousands, where there are suitable localities. It occurs also throughout the African Continent, but it is represented in the New World by several distinct species, of which one breeds far up the Andes. ‘The localities which the Flamingo considers suitable, are almost always extensive marshes of fresh, salt, or brackish water, situated in flat, open country, such as the deltas of large rivers, like the Rhone in France, or the Guadalquivir in Spain. Probably few of our readers have ever seen these birds alive except in a menagerie. One of the sights that must have deeply impressed those among them, who may have travelled through the Suez Canal,-—near which the present writers first made the acquaintance of this species,—or wintered in Egypt, even if they should not be specially interested in birds, is the large assemblages of these birds, very frequently in company with Herons, Ibises, Pelicans, and Cormorants, so often to be seen ranged motionless in long files on the sand banks, or by the margins of the brackish lakes of Eastern and Upper Egypt, brightening extensive areas with a rich glow of pink and red, which becomes a blaze of colour as the birds, when disturbed, take wing and expose the under side of their pinions. In the air, with the neck extended to the full, and their long legs carried projecting straight out beyond the tail, the sight of thousands of them flying in a long undulating line of waxing and waning colour, forms as remarkable and impressive a spectacle as any that bird-life can offer. Among the Egyptian Heiroglyphics, this bird stands for the colour red. 52 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. ORDER ANSERES. HE Birds which compose this large and important Order, familiarly known as Geese, Swans, Ducks, and Mergansers, form a very distinct and natural group, a well defined family having many points and characters in common, differing however, as will be seen, in their habits, and graduating from the grass-eating Geese to the fish-eating Mergansers. The Azatide possess, in common, a laminated bill, covered with a soft skin, and having a hard tip to both mandibles, called the nail; they have also, com- paratively, short legs and webbed feet. They are all water-birds, and swim with facility, and many are most expert divers. They can fly strong and rapidly, having the head and neck extended to the full. If we exclude the game birds, no other Order contains so many species offering a large and valuable supply of food for man. Generally speaking, the nest is on the ground, not far from water, and in some few species holes and ledges of rocks, and excavations and burrows in the soil, and the decayed hollows in trees, are utilised for nesting purposes. In all cases the nest is made of much the same materials: fragments of reeds, rushes, grasses, moss, turf, and various aquatic plants; and the eggs are placed in a plentiful: bed of down, or mixed down and feathers, from the breast of the female bird. The eggs are without any conspicuous markings, from ivory-white to bright green, and various shades of pale green and buff. The young are at first covered with a close coat of down, and take to the water as soon as they leave the shell. The stomach in the Azatide is very muscular, particularly in the shell-fish eating species. The trachea varies greatly, and in the males often exhibits extra- ordinary peculiarities and enlargements. The various species which make up the family Anatide, included in the British list, have been divided into seventeen genera, specified as follows :— 1 ANSER, Zrisson.—This includes the four large Grey Geese, and the Lesser White-fronted Goose, which some ornithologists are inclined not to recognize as a separate species from the White-fronted Goose. 2 CHEN, F. Bove-—The Snow-Goose, a North American bird. ORDER ANSERES. 53 3 Bernicita, / Bore.—The rare Red-breasted Goose, the Bernacle-Goose, and Brent Goose. 4 Cycnus, Bechstein—Four European species of Swans, and the two American Swans. 5 Taporna, Fleming—The Common Sheld-Duck, and the Ruddy Sheld-Duck. 6 Anas, Brisson.—The Mallard or Wild Duck, and Gadwall. 7 SpatuLa, /. Bore.—The Shoveler. 8 Darina, Stephens.—The Pintail. 9 QUERQUEDULA, Stephens —The Teal, and Garganey, also the American Green-winged and the Blue-winged Teal. 10 MaREcA, Stephens.—The Wigeon, and American Wigeon. 11 Furicuna, Stephens—The Pochard, Tufted Duck, and Scaup-Duck, and two rare wanderers, to the British islands, the Red-crested Pochard, and the White-eyed Duck. 12 CLancuLA, F. Aoie—The Goldeneye, and the American Buftel-headed Goldeneye. 13 HARELDA, Stephens —The Long-tailed Duck. 14 COSMONETTA, AKaup.—The Harlequin Duck. 15 SOMATERIA, /. Zoiec—The Common Eider, King-Eider, and the rare Steller’s Eider. 16 CEpemia, Fleming.—The Common Scoter, Velvet-Scoter, and the American Surf-Scoter. 17 Mercus, Zinne@us.—The Goosander, Red-breasted Merganser, Smew, and American Hooded Merganser. In the following chapters the nomenclature and arrangement are in accordance with Mr. Howard Saunders “A List of British Birds, 1892.” The number of species described is forty-six, the two American Swans, and the two American Teal, being united in the same chapters. Of the forty-six Swans, Geese, and Ducks, nineteen are classed. as residents, having been recorded as nesting in some part or other of the British Isles; nine are winter visitors only, and eighteen occasional visitors. There has been a considerable increase in numbers, as well as extension of the breeding range, of several of the most valuable (as regards a food supply) of the Anatide, since the passing of the ‘‘ Wild Bird’s Protection Act.” This is notably the case with the Sheld-Duck, Mallard, Teal, Gadwall, Shoveler, (probably the Pintail), Tufted-Duck, Pochard, and Wigeon, also the Goosander. This-is a "most gratifying fact, and cannot be too strongly dwelt upon, should the value and benefit of this admirable Act ever be called in question. JOHN CORDEAUX. 54 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND Eaas. Family—ANA TIDE. THe Grey Lac-Goose. Anser ctnereus, MEYER. HATEVER may have been the former position of this Goose in Great Britain, it must now be considered the rarest of the four commoner species of Grey Geese which are included in our avi-fauna. At one time a per- manent resident in the fen districts of the eastern counties, and in the carrs of Yorkshire. There can be no doubt that this wild species is the ancestor and originator of the domestic breed, although it is probable, as Yarrell remarks, that another species (Anser albifrons) had some share in establishing the tame race, these two being the ancestors of those enormous flocks of Geese, formerly kept for profit, in a semi-domesticated state, in the wild fenland of Eastern England. The drainage of the lowlands, at the commencement of the present century, drove the Grey Lag from its ancient quarters, and at the present day it only remains to nest in Sutherlandshire, Caithness and Cromarty, and the Hebrides, more particu- larly the outer islands. In these localities it can scarcely yet be called uncommon, although I regret to state that its regular nesting places are yearly decreasing in number, and others becoming partially deserted. The European range of the Grey Lag is somewhat restricted, its breeding quarters not extending so far north as the three other species of Grey Geese. It nests regularly in many parts of temperate Europe, and in Asia as far east as lake Baikal. Dr. O. Finsch says it was the only species of Goose seen by them on the Ala-kul, and it had hatched its young by May gth. It is plentiful in Macedonia, and not uncommon in Bulgaria, where it breeds, a few also in the marshes of Spain. Great numbers breed in the valley and delta of the Terek in the Caucasus. Dr. O. Finsch found it nesting in Western Siberia, with the young hatched off by May gth. It was plentiful, in flocks, near Obdorsk, in August. Messrs. Alston and Harvie-Brown saw many in the neighbourhood of Archangel, (“The Ibis,” 73, p. 70). It nests in very considerable numbers in Northern Norway, and the islands which fringe the coast. In Iceland, on July rst, and, and 3rd, 1894, Messrs. H. J. and C. E. Pearson found young goslings. Formerly aL, 4 GREY LAG-GOOSE. THE GREY LAG-GOOSE. 55 it bred in great numbers on Sorvaag lake, in Feroe, but it has long since been driven away by the persecution of the islanders, and now only occurs as a spring and autumn visitor. It winters in Southern Europe, Northern Africa, Burmah, and China, and at this season is a very abundant species in the jheels and larger tanks in India. In Scotland it is more or less resident throughout the year, collecting at its summer haunts by the middle of March. The young are able to fly by the end of July, and the flocks leave again by the middle of September. The Grey Lag-Goose is the first of the Geese seen on passage in England in the ‘autumn. Colonel Irby (Ornithology of the Straits of Gibraltar) says that in some winters enormous numbers frequent the Laguna de la Janda, and the various lagunes of the marisma of the Guadalquivir, arriving about the 2oth of November. The earliest arrivals in two consecutive years, in the former locality, being October 25th and November 8th. They commonly commence leaving again about the middle of February, and are gone by the first week in March. It is common in Sardinia in winter. The late Mr. Robert Gray, in his charmingly written ‘ Birds of the West of Scotland,” speaking of the ‘‘ Geadh-glas,”’ (the Gaelic name of this Goose), says: ‘Nothing can be more desolate looking than some of the haunts of the Gray Lag in the outer Hebrides. In North Uist especially, where it breeds away from the cultivated tracks on the west side of the island, the nests are usually found on the most barren part of the moor, out of sight and hearing of all that tells of cultivated life. In Benbecula and South Uist there is perhaps less of that feeling of desolation to picture; in one or two spots, indeed, the nursery scenes are com- paratively bright and fair; still the very cries of the birds, as they cross the path of the wearied traveller on the Hebridean highways, are so full of lament and disquietude, that when, at the close of day especially, the disturbed group rise one after another in alarm from their dreary repose, the blending of voices becomes perhaps, one of the most memorable sounds that the ornithologist can listen to.” The nest is a large, rough structure of dead grass and sedge, situated and concealed in heather, two to three feet deep. Mr. Gray says it resembles the nest of a Great Black-backed Gull, when found breeding on heath-clad islands, with the exception of being lined with down and feathers, and is generally placed amongst coarse grass or heather. The late Charles St. John says, that in Sutherlandshire, he has found them embedded in the wild garlic, which, with its bright and beautiful green, covers the islands in the lochs. The eggs, which are buried in down and feathers, plucked from the breast of the sitting bird, are from four to six, and in some cases more, and twelve and 56 BRITISH BIRDS. WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGs. fourteen eggs have been found in nests. The colour is a creamy or yellowish white. Montagu, writing of the Lincolnshire fens, gives the number as eight or nine, of a dirty white. The time occupied in incubation is twenty-eight days. In the autumn and winter, small flocks or parties of Grey Lags are occasionally seen in various parts of England—they rarely exceed, however, seven or eight birds. These almost invariably resort to extensive tracks of pasture in the mari- time marshes, keeping close together near the centre of the field, one or other being always on the watch whilst the remainder graze. Although partial to all sorts of grain, they feed, at this season, almost exclusively on short sweet grasses, like the smaller fescues,— grazing exactly after the manner of their congeners on the village common. Mr. C. St. John (Natural History and Sport in Moray) says that Avser ferus, the present species, ‘“‘appear to be more inclined to graze on the short grass and other herbs, than to seek out the corn-fields like the Bean Goose.” The power of vision in wild Geese is most acute, so also their sense of smell and hearing. When Grey Lags are disturbed they rise and fly, at a low elevation, to some distant part of the marsh, and if a sportsman is lucky enough to hit off their line of flight, and keep concealed, he will be tolerably certain of a shot. They are invariably so excessively wary, that it is impossible to approach within shooting distance in the open. On the wing they can readily be distinguished from other species at a distance, by their large size, light colour, and blue-grey shoulders, and the wing-coverts, which form two conspicuous bars across the wing; also their cry or gaggle, which is by no means unmusical. Mr. Robert Gray, writing of his experiences in South Uist, says:—‘‘In the stillness of the Sabbath morning following my arrival, I was aroused from sleep by the cries of the Grey Lags as they flew past the house. Their voices, softened by distance, sounded not unpleasantly, reminding one of the clanging of Church bells in the heart of a large town.” I am, unfortunately, not in possession of sufficient data to determine the time when the Grey Lag-Goose ceased to nest in the eastern counties. In Lincolnshire this was probably about the commencement of the century, when their last retreat was broken up, in the East Fen, by drainage—the Act for which was obtained in 18ot. The naturalist, Pennant, writing in 1766, remarks of the Grey Lag :—“ This species resides in the fens the whole year; breeds there, and hatches about eight or nine young, which are often taken, easily made tame, and esteemed most excellent meat, superior to the domestic Goose. The old Geese, which are shot, are plucked and sold in the market as fine tame ones, and readily bought—the THE GREY LAG-GOOSE. 57 purchaser being deceived by the size, but their flesh is coarse. Towards winter they collect in great flocks, but in all seasons live and teed in the fens.” The Rev. W. B. Daniel (‘Rural Sports,” p. 242, published in 1807) writes: “This species inhabits the English fens, and it is believed does not migrate, as in many countries on the Continent, but resides and breeds in the fens; they sit thirty days, hatch eight or nine young, which are often taken; are esteemed most excellent meat, and are easily tamed. The compiler took two broods in one season, which he turned down, after having pinioned them, with the Common Geese; both parties seemed shy at first, but they soon associated, and remained very good friends.” From an old letter, originally printed in Professor Owen’s edition of “John Hunter’s Essays,” (Vol. II, p. 321), and published by Mr. Harting, in ‘‘ The Zoologist”’ for 1883, p. 383, he writes, William Walcot, Junr., of Oundle, (Dec. 30th, 1790), states that, to the best of his recollection, it was in the summer of 1773, that he took four little Goslings in the fens, between Cambridge and Ely. Remains of the Grey Lag-Goose have been found in the fens of Cambridge and Norfolk, and in river deposits near Salisbury. There was much discussion at one time as to the origin of the term “lag” as applied to this Goose, and Mr. Skeat has given what is no doubt the true derivation of the word; the early English adjective “lag,” meaning originally late, last, or slow; consequently the Grey Lag- , Goose was the one which formerly /agged behind the others to breed in the fens.* The notice of the Grey Lag would be incomplete without some reference to the enormous numbers of Geese formerly reared and fed in the fen districts. Pennant says:—‘‘ During the season these birds are lodged in the same houses. with the inhabitants, and even in their very bed chambers; in every apartment are three rows of coarse wicker pens, placed one above another; each bird has a separate lodge, divided from the others, which it keeps possession of during the time of sitting. A gozzard, or Gooseherd, attends the flocks, and twice a day drives the whole to water, then brings them back to their habitation, helping those who live in the upper stories to their nests, without misplacing a single bird.” Arthur Young, in the report published in 1798 to the Board of Agriculture on Lincolnshire farming, tells how immense flocks of Geese were kept in the fens. These were plucked four, or sometimes five times. The feathers of a dead Goose were worth sixpence. In Wildmore fen, plucked Geese paid in feathers annually * Professor Newton, “A Dictionary of Birds,” Part iii, foot-note, p. 372, quoting from Mr. Rowley, (Orn. Miscell., iii, p. 213) says:—‘‘that to this day the flocks of tame Geese in Lincolnshire are urged on by their drivers with the cry of ‘Lag’em, Lag’em.’” Vor. IV. Kk 58 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. one shilling a head. Some owners winged them only once a quarter, taking ten feathers from each Goose, making five shillings a thousand—six score to the hundred,—this was long before the days of steel pens. There was nothing to prevent a cottager, renting five pounds a year, and who had only a cow and a few sheep, running 1,500 to 2,000 breeding Geese on the common lands. ‘Thousands were driven to London and other markets in the autumn; they moved at the rate of a mile an hour, and did ten mile a day. In the adult Grey Lag-Goose the rump is lavender-grey, the same colour prevailing the wing-coverts; bill pink; nail white; legs and feet flesh colour ; irides brown. My friend, Mr. G. H. Caton Haigh, of Grainsby Hall, informs me that in an example shot by himself in Lincolnshire, the beak was orange, except a narrow strip surrounding the white nail. The Grey Lag-Goose is one of the most wary and knowing of birds, yet the word “Goose,” as applied to men and women, is a term of ridicule, and this notwithstanding that the bird is credited with having saved Rome; neither can we forget that the Grey Goose feather winged the deadly cloth-yard shafts, which on many a hard fought field, against overwhelming odds, brought victory to the side of England. Family—ANA TIDAE THE WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. Anser albifrons, Scop. HIS species is not a common Goose anywhere on the east coast of England or Scotland, although it is not altogether absent in any season during its residence, in some winters being more plentiful than in others, thus in the winter of 1864-5, a very severe one, several flocks were seen, and many examples were ¥ “HSOOD CALNOYA-ALIHMA THE WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. 59 obtained in the Humber District, and, as far as I am aware, they have never been seen in anything like the same number since. Montagu says, “we have met with this species, in general, more plentiful than the Bean Goose. It visits the fenny parts of this country in small flocks in winter, is killed on the coast, as well as on our rivers, in severe weather, and not uncommonly brought to market and sold for the common wild Goose.” The Rev. Richard Lubbock (‘ Fauna of Norfolk,” new edition, 1879, p. 165), says:—‘‘enormous flocks of the Bean Goose visit the western part of Norfolk every autumn, with these are sometimes a good many of the White-fronted Geese.” At the present day it can scarcely be called a regular winter visitant to the county. Mr. Selby says:—‘‘it varies from the Bean Goose in preferring low and marshy districts, to the upland and drier haunts of that bird, and in these localities subsists on the aquatic grasses, being very seldom seen to frequent corn and stubble fields.” Mr. St. John says:—‘‘it arrives in this country (Moray) from its breeding quarters in the Arctic and northern regions about the middle of October, in small companies of from six to twelve generally, and if left tolerably undisturbed frequents regularly the same swamp and piece of marsh till the end of April, feeding on aquatic plants, and in the spring frequently grazing on the young clover and green wheat, more in the manner of the Grey Lag than the Bean Goose, the latter confining itself as much as possible to grain.” It is very probable that since the drainage of the fens and marshes, this species has deserted many of its old haunts in the eastern counties. The adult White-fronted Goose is a very handsome bird, and is more closely connected with the Grey Lag than with the other Geese. It is a smaller bird than the Bean Goose, measuring, in an adult, twenty-seven to twenty-eight inches, against thirty-one to thirty-four of the other. Bill orange-yellow; nail white; legs and feet orange; forehead white in adults—hence its name;—mouse-coloured upper wing-coverts; breast and belly with patches and bands of black. These marks vary greatly in size and distribution according to the age of the bird, and in some examples in Mr. Haigh’s collection,* shot in Ireland, which I have examined in connection with this notice, the entire underparts are black. In young birds the white markings on the forehead are absent, and the feathers at the base of the upper mandible darker than the crown of the head, and there are no black markings on the breast and abdomen. On the wing, adults are readily distinguishable by these black markings, and their * Mr. Frohawk’s excellent illustrations in connection with these papers, are largely made from local skins of the geese and ducks, lent for the purpose, by Mr. G. H. Caton Haigh, of Grainsby Hall, Lincolnshire. 6c British BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS wild aerial laugh or cry, which has a striking resemblance to a human laugh— hah-ha, hah-ha, hah-ha, hah-ha, ha-a-a-a,—hence a local name, “‘ Laughing Goose.” In Ireland it is known as the “ Tortoise-shell Goose,” from the marbled markings on the abdomen. Both the Grey Lag and this species were probably domesticated by the ancient Egyptians, as they are represented, in the act of being fed, on the walls of temples. Regarding its range in Great Britain, it is not uncommon in some localities in the autumn and winter in the west of Scotland, notably on Islay (which appears to be its head quarters), and in some other places in the Inner Hebrides, but rare on the outer islands. According to Messrs. Harvie-Brown and Buckley, not an uncommon species in Caithness, but extremely rare in Sutherlandshire, and the commonest of all Geese in Orkney. In Shetland, the late Dr. Saxby says :—“‘ very large flocks have been known to occur, but its visits are few and far between.” In Cumberland, Messrs. Macpherson and Duckworth describe it as a casual visitant of irregular occurrence. It is a very numerous species in some parts of Ireland. In Europe and Asia it nests in Iceland, Kolguev, Arctic Russia, and Siberia, being confined to the tundras, or the barren districts beyond the forest belt. Rare in Northern Scandinavia, where its place is taken by the smaller species A. erythropus. It was found nesting, by Dr. Bunge, (1886), ten degrees east of the delta of the Lena, on the Great Liakoff island, the most southerly of the New Siberian islands, many breeding there in July (‘‘ The Ibis,” 88, p. 350). Mr. Seebohm says they nest in the Kanin Peninsula, in northern Russia. Mr. T. H. Pearson found it in July, 1895, in Novaya Zemlya—they were then in full moult. In 1895, Mr. H. L. Popham got old birds and eggs, and a gosling in’down, from the Yenisei. In winter it is occasionally found in Turkey, and is the most abundant Goose on the Nile. Very common on the southern shores of the Caspian and the lakes of the south-west Caucasus—(‘‘ The Ibis,” 1883, p. 33). It is a scarce species in Transylvania, Italy, and Spain; and it is somewhat curious, in connexion with its abundance in some parts of the British Isles, that only two examples have been obtained in Heligoland during the last fifty or sixty years. It is common in Japan in winter, also in some parts of China and Northern. India. The American White-fronted Goose has been separated from the European under the name of Anser gambelit, HARTLAUB. It is the larger of the two, and the bill measures 2 inches instead of 1°50 as in A. albifrons. It is perhaps not entitled to specific distinction, and is difficult to say if the summer range of the two races overlap, and to which of the two species the birds which breed in Greenland and Alaska belong. Mr. Robert Gray (“Birds of the West of Scotland ”) quoting from notes ee. a4 ’ THE WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. 61 taken by Mr. Elwes, says :—‘ this is the common Grey Goose of Islay. It arrives usually in the first week of October, and stays till the second week in April. On their first arrival they keep a good deal about the lochs, and feed in the marshy places around them; but later in the year they go regularly to the stubble and grass fields to feed, shewing a great partiality for particular fields. They go in flocks of from three or four to one hundred or more, and are not very difficult of approach to a good stalker when on the fields, as there is nearly always some wall or ditch within shot of them. The old birds sometimes have the breast entirely black, but usually the black is in irregular lines. Neither the White- fronted, nor any of the Geese, except the Brent, settle on the water often, unless driven to do so, as they seem to prefer the land.” A fine adult male was got on St. Kilda, in June, 1895, and presented by the Rev. H. A. Macpherson to the Science and Art Museum, Edinburgh. Mr. St. John says:—‘it is more easy to approach than any other wild Goose; and I have often found it feeding in small hollows and spots easily got at, where the Bean Goose would never trust itself.” Mr. Robert Warren says (“ Zoologist,” 1877, p. 322) in Ireland ‘very common in suitable localities. I have seen them as early as the 29th September, and as late as the 25th April, and have been told of their remaining up to May 1st. All through this winter several flocks pass over this place, twice daily, to and from their feeding grounds. They generally rest by day on the wide expanse of flat bog, lying at the foot of the Ox Mountains, County Sligo, and just before dusk cross over into the County Mayo, to feed about Rarooyeen Lake, and the swampy lands near Mullifarry. I have only twice seen them on the tidal part of the river, but the great haunt for Geese is near Foxford, on the wide expanse of marshes along the river Moy.” In the south of Ireland it is only common, according to Mr. Ussher, in severe frosts. Mr. G. H. Caton Haigh informs me (im “itt: 25, iv, 96) that in Connemara it is very common, and he is inclined to think the commonest Goose of that district, and is found in much larger flocks than the Bean Goose; he has often seen fifty or sixty together. It is much less cautious than the Bean Goose, and will alight in hollows, and amongst rocks, where the other would never be seen. In North Wales it often appears in hard weather, frequenting the marshes and saltings. Its habits and food are the same as in the Bean Goose; but he has never known the two species consort when feeding in the same locality, and when flushed the flocks keep apart. The legs and bill are bright orange, very different from the pale yellow of the Bean Goose; one specimen shot in Merionethshire had the bill reddish flesh colour. Weight from 43 to 6 lbs. In its summer quarters it goes to a higher latitude than the Grey Lag or the Bean Goose. Dr. Vor. IV. L 62 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH:THEIR NESTS AND Ecos. Von Middendorff found it nesting abundantly on the Taimur Peninsula, between lat. 70° and 74°, where the Bean Goose had become comparatively rare. He describes the nest as built on a grassy hillock, a mere hollow on the summit, abundantly lined with down. Seebohm says, in “Arctic Asia the flocks are three weeks later than the Bean Goose in passing north.” “ Dall found it breeding in great numbers on the banks of the river Yukon, in Alaska, and describes the nests as mere depressions in the sand; further east Mac Farlane found at the mouth of the Anderson river, the nests were substantially lined with dry grass and feathers, as well as down.” In both these latter cases it is probably that the American 4. gambelu is the species referred to. The eggs are five to seven, of a creamy white, aut buried in down, as with the rest of the Geese. ‘Colonel Shelley (“ Birds of Egypt,” p. 280) says :—‘‘ This is the most abundant Goose in Egypt, where it may be usually met with in floc. s, but does not remain in the country later than March. When on the wing they tly in a wedge-shaped flock, and frequently utter a loud harsh cry, which may be heard at a considerable distance. They are generally on the move just before sunrise and sunset, and as they are very regular, taking the same line of flight, and feeding at the same spot each day, they may be most readily obtained by lying in wait for them. If once fired at, the flock generally leaves the neighbourhood altogether.” All the Grey Geese, when they have fed in the autumn some time on grain, are by no means bad for the larder. When, however, they have been feeding long on grasses, roots, and particularly the roots of sedges in bogs and peat mosses, the flesh is coarse and not altogether agreeable. From a gastronomic point, all depends on the season when the Goose was shot. Our marsh shooters used to affirm, in the days when Geese were more abundant, if you require a tender Goose do not shoot at the leading birds, but take those in rear of the flock. It need scarcely be said that a young Goose is preferable to an old one, and the young grain-fed birds are good eating, providing always they are not kept too long; all wild fowl, unlike game, should be eaten fresh. In Mr. Walter Rothschild’s magnificent Natural History Museum, at Tring, there is a skin of a Goose which, Mr. Hartert thinks, is a cross between Anser albifrons and Gernicla brenta. ‘The late Lord Lilford had a female of this species which, in three successive seasons, mated with a male Bean Goose, layed eggs, and reared several young birds. THE LESSER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. 63 Family—ANATIDA2. LESSER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. Anser erythropus, LINN. HIS little Goose is the Aznser erythropus originally described by Linnzeus. Much confusion once existed, amongst modern ornithologists, between this and the larger species, Anser albifyrons, and it was only in 1860 that Professor Newton, of Cambridge, cleared up the doubts in connection with the nomenclature in a paper, which was reprinted in “The Ibis” of that year. The Lesser White- fronted Goose is the smallest of the five species of Grey Geese found in Europe, and it has in recent years been added to the British list. This addition to the British avi-fauna was made by the late Mr. A. C. + Chapman, who on September 16th, 1886, shot a young male on Fenham Flats, on the Northumbrian coast. Some years prior to this I saw an example, the size of an Hider Duck, hanging on a game stall, in the market place, at Great Grimsby; shortly returning to purchase the bird, I found, to my sorrow, it had been sold and taken away, and, although making every possible enquiry, was never able to trace the purchaser. My friend, Mr. G. H. Caton Haigh, who has given me many notes about the Geese, thinks it has occasionally visited Lincolnshire, as the wild-fowl shooters have told him that, on one or two occasions, they have seen small grey Geese, no larger than Brent. On November 14th, in 1886, one was seen by a correspondent of the ‘‘ Zoologist,” in Leadenhall market, and said to have come from Holland. The length of an average Lesser White-fronted Goose is twenty-one and twenty-two inches, as compared with twenty-seven and twenty-eight for Axser albifrons. It is altogether a smaller bird in its measurements, and with the colour brighter and more distinct. The short straight ridged bill forms a line with the forehead, and the comparative length of the wing, which in A. evrythyropus extends considerably beyond the tail, is perhaps the most ready point of distinguishing the two. 64 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGs. Family—ANATID/E. THE BEAN GOOSE.. Aunser segetum, GMEL. HE Bean Goose, in its habits and plumage, so closely resembles the next to be described, (Anser brachyrhynchus/, that it is extremely difficult to define the range of the two in Great Britain. From the time of the Scotch ornithologist, Macgillivray downwards, much confusion and uncertainty has existed, not only regarding the specific distinction, but also the habitat of the two species, and it is only in recent years that the great increase in local lists of birds, and county histories of the same, has increased our knowledge of the subject. There can be no possible doubt—and the accumulation of evidence is over- whelming—that at the commencement of this century, the Bean Goose was the common species of the low-lying districts, next the sea, in Lincolnshire, arriving with the greatest regularity as the season came round at the close of bean-harvest, about the middle of October—hence its name, Bean Goose. It is equally certain that at the present time, the Pink-footed Goose is the common species of the Humber district, having gradually usurped the position of the once familiar and old-fashioned species. This change has, I believe, been brought about by the altered conditions of agriculture, enclosure of those vast open fields, which at one time surrounded each village, the decline of bean cultivation, and the gradual substitution of rotation cropping—green and corn crops alternately. We learn from Arthur Young’s “ Agricultural Survey,” (1798), that the small country towns and villages, in the middle-marsh and sea-marsh districts of Lincolnshire, were surrounded by vast open fields, arable lands, cow and horse pastures, and furze; on strong land the rotation was fallows, wheat, beans, and again fallows. The area under beans in the low country was enormous, the wheat stubbles being ploughed once, and the beans sown broadcast in the spring, and never cleaned. "These were harvested late in the autumn, usually got with much loss from the jaws of winter. These were the days of the Grey Goose, which our observant forefathers called the Bean Goose, (Anser segetum), coming in great flocks in the later autumn to feast on the shelled beans in the open fields; and this continued, till the change in % ASOOD Nvag THE BEAN GOOSE. 65 cultivation and general enclosure, banished them from their ancient haunts. Most of the old wild fowl shooters, who have long since gone over to the majority, used to assert that these autumn flights fed regularly in the bean fields as long as the old system of agriculture continued—a system 1n which quite one-third of the cultivated land was under that crop. The late Mr. John Clubley, of Kilnsea, in Holderness, a most famous wild fowl shooter in his day, told me that in his father’s time all the district in south- east Yorkshire, round Kilnsea and Easington was unenclosed, and here and there many small ponds or “ sypes,” and birch trees. single or in groups. Great flocks of Geese came in the fall and again in the spring, during bean harvest and sowing, to feed; but they ceased to come when ditches were cut and hedges planted. In those days nearly every farm house in the marshes had a long single barrelled gun, called the “‘ goose-gun,” originally a flint and steel, but afterwards converted to a “tube and nipple,” and subsequently cut down in the barrel to be used for tenting purposes, when its use to the wild fowl shooter was no more. The Bean Goose is very partial to all sorts of grain, and, in this respect, differs from the Grey Lag, whose chief food is grass. A local name is “‘ Corn- Goose,” in France ‘ Harvest-Goose,” and in Transylvania it is known as the ‘“‘Growing-grain Goose”; it will, however, eat grass and clover as readily as its congeners when the stubbles are exhausted. Mr. T. Southwell, (Stevenson’s “Birds of Norfolk,” vol. iii, p. 21), writing on this species, says:—‘‘ whatever its former status in Norfolk, there can be ,no question that the Bean Goose (amongst the Grey Geese) now ranks, in point of scarcity, next to the Grey Lag, as evidenced by the few examples observed in our -markets in late years, even in the most severe winters”—and subsequently he enumerates four examples only as having come under his notice between January roth, 1861, and January 31st, 1867, all these from the Norwich market. Mr. Haigh informs me that the Bean Goose is, at the present day, a regular visitor, in very small numbers, to the coast and middle-marsh districts of Lincoln- shire, but never to the wolds—the flocks are from half a dozen to fifteen birds— its food seems exclusively grain or young clover, and prefers grass which grows in wet fields or fittie lands. The late Mr. Arthur Strickland, in a paper on “ British Wild Geese,” first read before the Natural History Section of the British Association, at Leeds, in 1858, describes a long-billed Goose, which formerly frequented, and bred in the carrs of Yorkshire. To this he gives the name of Anser paludosus—the “Carr Lag- Goose.” ‘There can be no doubt, however, from the description and sketch, that 66 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. this was the Bean Goose which, in those days, frequented the low lying districts of Yorkshire, at a time, too, when probably the Pink-footed Goose (as I shall endeavour to shew in the next chapter) was the common wild Goose of the district. Mr. Abel Chapman, in his excellent book (“ Bird-life of the Borders”), says considerable doubt still continues as to the proper identity of the species of Grey Geese, which, in the autumn, frequent the coast of Northumberland, arising from the “inaccessible nature of their chosen haunts, and the resulting impossibility of obtaining a sufficient number of specimens at different periods” * * so that “a thousand Geese may spend a month or two on the coast, and depart without losing a single member of their mess.” The Rev. H. A. Macpherson (Zool., 1894, p. 114) thinks:—‘‘In former days the Bean Goose was the most common Grey Goose in the Solway Firth—of late years, it has, in my experience, been replaced to some extent by Azser brachyrhynchus.” Again in a letter to “The Field” newspaper, (24-vi, 93), the same author writes “there can be no doubt that the Pink-footed Goose is ousting the Bean Goose in many districts. Until a few years ago, most of the Grey Geese shot in the neighbourhood of the English Solway were Bean Geese; latterly the Pink-footed Goose has been the more abundant of the two with us.” He goes on to say “the late Mr. Robert Gray told me, some few years before his death, that he had himself witnessed the fact of the Pink-footed Goose replacing the Bean Goose in the neighbourhood of the Forth.” A similar uncertainty in the identification of the two species is continued beyond the north-east border. Mr. Muirhead (‘‘ The Birds of Berwickshire,” vol. li, p. 66) says:—‘ Immense flocks of wild Geese frequent Berwickshire during the autumn and spring months, consisting of the Bean Goose and its Pink-footed. congener, and as the relative number of the two kinds is a matter of conjecture, owing to the similarity of their plumage—whilst their habits are alike—it has been considered advisable to include them both in one chapter.’ Mr. J. A. Harvie-Brown informs me (zm “i#t., 18, iii, 96) that the commonest Grey Goose, in the Lowlands of Scotland, is without doubt the Pink-footed, and that the Bean Goose is rare. In Lancashire the Pink-footed species is the commoner of the two, but in Cornwall, the late Mr. Rodd has stated that nine-tenths of the flocks of wild Geese which visit the south-west of England, in hard weather, are Bean Geese. ( Yarrell’s British Birds,” iv ed., vol. iv, p. 266). In winter it is found on both sides of the Straits of Gibraltar, and is common in Sardinia also at that season. I mention these facts to shew that there is still very great uncertainty as to the present status of the Bean Goose in Great Britain, and that much remains to be cleared up. THE BEAN GOOSE. 67 In Ireland, however, the case is very different. Sir R. Payne Gallwey considers “it is by far the commonest species, and may be seen in enormous ‘gaggles’ for six months every year. It is essentially an inland feeder, on bogs and meadows; but will fly to the mud banks, and slob of the tides, at dusk, to pass the night. These Geese frequent every bog and marsh in Ireland, which afford security from _ molestation. They are always found inland in large numbers, save in frost, when they fly down to the meadows and soft green reclaimed lands that lie near the tide. A small proportion will, in the wildest weather, frequent the mud banks to feed and rest. They usually quit their inland haunts at dusk, disliking to remain on land by night, where dogs, men, or cattle, may disturb them, and accordingly fly to the estuaries to rest and feed. At first dawn they again wing inland, and pass the day in open, unapproachable ground.” In the south of Ireland, according to Mr. Ussher, it is less plentiful than the White-fronted Goose. Regarding its European range, the Bean Goose is a more northerly species than the Grey Lag; it is only an occasional visitor to Iceland, and in Scandinavia does not breed south of lat. 64° In the breeding season it is found across the whole of high northern Europe and Asia, from Norway to Japan. In eastern Asia it has been separated as 4. grandis, from its larger size. Von Heuglin found it plentiful in Novaya Zemlya, migrating south about the middle of September. In 1895, Mr. H. T. Pearson saw it and the goslings in Russian Lapland, also in Novaya Zemlya, in July of the same year. Mr. A. Trevor-Battye says in Kolguev it exceeds the White-fronted Goose by at least three to one, and is the Grey Goose of that island. Skins of Amser segetum were brought back to Copenhagen by the Danish expedition in 1891-92, where it was found breeding. It has not been recognized in India in winter. The eggs are three to four in number, dull white in colour, and are buried in the grey down from the parent’s breast. The Bean Goose is altogether a darker bird than the Grey Lag, and has no grey-blue on the wing-coverts. It may readily be distinguished from Anser brachyrhynchus by its long and somewhat weak bill, black at the tip and base, and orange-yellow in the centre; legs and feet yellow.* It is also rather the larger of the two. Old birds, both of this species and the Grey Lag-Goose, have white feathers at the base of the bill. The Bean Goose has been known to live twenty- six years in captivity. * Mr. Haigh says—feet, legs, and beak pale yellow when fresh shot, the latter black at base and tip; weight 7 to 8% Ibs. 68 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND Eaas, Family—ANATIDAR, Pink-FooteD Bean Goose. Anser brachyrhynchus, BAILLON. HE late Mr. Seebohm (“British Birds,” vol. iii, p. 498) thinks this Goose can scarcely be considered more than a local race or inland form of A. segelum. 1 think most ornithologists, if the question was put to them, would be in favour of its specific identity, and that it ought not to be relegated to the rank of a sub-species. It may be that the Pink-footed Goose is still undergoing a process of differentiation, and that its specific characters are not yet fully established. It is somewhat suggestive that the very characters by which it claims specific rank, are not constant, either in the wild bird, or in those reared in domestication. In the typical A. dvachyrhynchus, the bill is much shorter, and also deeper at the base, than in A. segetum, and the middle portion of the bill, the legs and feet, are pink in the former, and yellow in the latter. After the Pink-footed Goose has been dead a few days, the legs sometimes turn almost red in colour. I have, during the last forty years, seen several examples of Grey Geese, which in the size and proportions of the bill, as well as the colour of the central part, and the legs and feet, make it extremely difficult to diagnose the species ; so great has been the divergence from either the Pink-footed or Bean Goose, that I have thought can there be a fifth British Grey Goose—an Anser medius—not yet recognized by ornithologists. Broods of the Pink-footed Goose, bred in captivity by Mr. Cecil Smith, contained individuals shewing orange in bills, legs, and feet, and their colour remained permanent; Lord Lilford says that he has kept several of these birds at Lilford, where they are constantly on the water, and keep apart from the other species of water fowl, and he has no hesitation in saying he has seen quite as many with orange coloured as with pink legs. Whatever the former position of the Pink-footed Goose in Great Britain, the balance of evidence is now in favour of its being the most common of the four Grey Geese which come in the autumn. Anser brachyrhynchus was first recorded as a British species in 1839, by the late Mr. T. Bartlett. It is, however, a remarkable fact that this bird was known aSOOD NVAG dHLOOY-uNIg a : ssh. THE PINK-FOOTED BEAN GOOSE. 69 to the naturalist, John Ray, and is described, at that distant period, as the common wild Goose of Yorkshire, in his “Synopsis Methodica Avium,” page 138, written in Latin, and completed in 1694, but not published till 1713.* Mr. Arthur Strickland, in his paper on ‘“ British Geese,” published in 1858, appears not to have been aware of Ray’s statement, although he describes the Short-billed Goose as the species which visited the Humber and the Yorkshire Wolds, confounding it, however, with the young of A. segetum. Finally, in 1887, Mr. F. Boyes, of Beverley, in a letter to “The Field”? newspaper, pointed out that the Pink-footed was the common Goose of the Yorkshire Wolds, a fact now fully accepted by all local ornithologists. The habits of the Pink-footed Goose so closely resemble those of the Bean Goose, that much which has been written of the one will hold good of the other. They arrive in the Humber district the last week in September, and early in October ; ‘the earliest dates in my note-book are—September 26th, October 3rd, October 5th, (twice), October roth. Mr. Haigh has known them appear as early as August 26th, in 1893, in excessively hot weather. During the day they haunt the stubbles and clover fields on the wolds and open districts, rising about the same hour in the evening, and wending their way, in the long extended order, to the islands and sand-banks in the Humber, to return as punctually to their feeding grounds at the break of day. They are the wildest and most unapproachable of all the Geese. Within the recollection of certainly three generations, and probably since the enclosure of the wolds, if not before, flocks of wild Geese, coming up from the coast, have been in the habit of passing over the town of Louth, in the early morning, on their way to their feeding grounds on the high wolds. The large barley walks are the places which are most frequented not so much, as I have found by an examination of the stomach, for scattered grain, as young white clover and trefoil plants, of which they are immoderately fond. Considering the persistency with which Geese, day by day, resort to, the same locality, it is sur- prising so few are shot. The fields on the wolds are very extensive, and Geese keep near the centre; on coming in from the coast they fly high, and it is only in stormy weather that their flight is low enough for a shot from a heavy gun to do execution, fired from the vantage ground of a solitary barn, shed, or stack, on a hill top, where at the same time the shooter remains concealed till the skein of Geese are well above him. In recent years there has been a great decrease in the numbers which frequent * The coloured figure of the Bean Goose in Lewin’s “Birds of Great Britain,” 1800, Vol. VII, plate 240, is, I think, probably taken from a bird of this species. Vow. IV. M 70 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. the high wolds, this is not an intermittent falling off, more one year and less the next, but a gradual annual decrease. Fifty years since, wild Geese were most plentiful on the wolds, where they are now seldom seen, and now, in the winter of 1896-7, they have practically altogether been absent from the hill districts. Geese, on reaching their feeding grounds, whirl in wide circles over the selected spot, and when satisfied that all is safe, sweep suddenly downwards with considerable velocity, and commence feeding at once on alighting. When, through the depth of snow on the high wolds, food is not to be got, Geese entirely change their habits, loafing about on the coast and sand-banks during the day, and in the evening flying and dropping anywhere in the low country, where they can get green food; the snow seldom lies long in coast districts, and there are always places which the winds have left bare, and the ground is more or less uncovered. I have often seen their paddlings and droppings in pasture, corn, and turnip fields, near the coast. If the neighbourhood is quiet and retired, they come inland just as readily in the day-time as at night. Geese feed very greedily anywhere at the break up of a snow-storm, and they are then least difficult to approach, being too much engrossed in eating to heed slight indications of disturbance or interruption. The Pink-footed Geese when associated with other species on a feeding ground, keep apart, and are not inclined to be sociable. In the day they are visible on a hill side at a very considerable distance, and if a yellow stubble, look like a blue cloud on the land. They are also very conspicuous objects on the sands of the coast, lining the tide-edge in long extended line, like a regiment on parade. In the dusk of evening, or at night, Geese are not so wide awake as in the day, or they do not see so well, and I have sometimes walked into a flock to our mutual astonishment. The European, or rather the western Palearctic range of the Pink-footed Goose is not very clearly defined. Messrs. Cocks and Chapman found this species at each of the localities they landed at in Spitsbergen; and Mr. Chapman found three pairs, with goslings, at Magdalena Bay (July 29th); he found their droppings and a quantity of long quill feathers strewn thickly about at the top of the aébris, under the precipitous cliffs, which doubtless indicated the site of their nests. They were told that the Pink-footed Goose is quite capable of defending its young from the Arctic foxes. (‘‘ Zoologist,” 1882, p. 413). It nests also in Iceland, and probably on lands nearer the Pole. It is not unlikely to be found nesting in Northern Norway and Finland. In winter it has occurred in Northern India, but so far has not been recorded from China or THE PINK-FOOTED BEAN GOOSE. 71 Siberia.* In Heligoland it has only been shot three times in the last fifty or sixty years. . Mr. Howard Saunders (“ Yarrell’s British Birds,” vol. iv, p. 273) says:—‘ the voice of the Pink-footed Goose differs from that of the Bean Goose in being sharper in tone, and the note is also repeated more rapidly.” It is extremely difficult to express the note, or the difference between the calls of birds on paper. I can, however, testify, from experience, that there is a very distinct difference between the call-note of these two species. This Goose, I think, in its adult dress, is the most bright coloured of any of its congeners, and the one perhaps most entitled to the term “‘ Grey-Goose.” It is a lively, active, cleanly-shaped bird, and has the blue-grey shoulders, and lavender or ash-grey rump of the Grey Lag. The local gunners on the coast constantly confound the two. Mr. Haigh says the average weight of four he shot was about five lbs. For centuries the autumn flights of Geese, on the east coast of England, have arrested attention, and have been accepted as an augury of the approach of winter. The Reports of a Committee, in connection with the migration of birds, appointed by the British Association, between 1879 and 1887, contain numerous notices of the flight of Grey Geese in the autumn. The records, however, of a spring migration to the north, are few and far between, one reason for this, is that, in the spring, migrants going north appear to move by the most direct route, and in the most expeditious manner, as if in the greatest hurry to reach their breeding grounds. Pink-footed Geese leave the Humber district in the latter part of March, and through April. The late Colonel Russell, (May 1880), in a letter, informed me that he had a communication from a friend living at Havering, about three miles from Romford, on the Essex coast, on the south slope of a steep high hill, who informed him that “the Grey Geese were seen on Saturday, 21st February, flying in a triangular form in a north-east direction. I have repeatedly seen them sometimes passing for whole days, and have always noticed that we never had any winter to speak of afterwards. ‘They generally fly about a mile high. We very seldom saw them going south, I suppose because the days are shorter, or possibly some may go another way, but they generally go north about this time of the year. I used to try and shoot them with a rifle to see what sort of Geese they were.” The late Mr. Seebohm (“ The Ibis,” 1879, p. 158) describes the rush of Grey * In “The Ibis,” for 1897, pp. 5-8, Mr. P. Sushkin, of Moscow, describes a new Palearctic Goose under the name of Anser neglectis, from examples obtained by himself on Lake Thoungak, in the government of Ufa, (Rossia orientalis). This he considers a distinct form from both A. segelwm and A. brachyrhynchus, but, of the two, more nearly allied to the former in colour. 72 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS Geese northward—‘ The great annual battle of the Yenisei lasted longer than usual the year I was there. We had alternate thaws and frosts during the last three weeks in May; summer seemed to be always on the point of vanquishing winter, but only to be driven back with redoubled vigour. During all this time there must have been thousands and tens of thousands of Geese hovering on the skirts of winter, continually impelled northwards by their instincts, penetrating wherever a little open water, or an oasis of grass, was visible, in the boundless desert of ice and snow, and continually driven southwards again by hard frosts or fresh falls of snow. It was not until the ice on the great river broke up, that the great body of Geese finally passed northward.” Similar phenomena, in the spring, attract the attention of dwellers near the great Canadian lakes. Geese innumerable as the sands, in long waving lines, or echeloned along the two sides of a triangle, cleaving their way in the cold thin atmosphere, to their breeding grounds, in the barren-lands of the far north. “ Hawnk! honk! and for’ard to the nor’ard, is the trumpet tone, What Goose can lag, or feather flag, or break the goodly Cone? Hawnk! onward to the cool blue lakes where lie our safe love-bowers; No stop, no drop of ocean brine, near stool or hassock hoary, Our travelling watchword is ‘our mates, our goslings, and our glory!’ Symsonia and Labrador, for us are crowned with flowers, And not a breast on wave shall rest until that heaven is ours. Hawk! Hawnk! E-e hawnk!” Family—ANATIDAE. SNow-Goose. Chen hyperboreus, PALLAS. lie North American Goose was first recorded, by Mr. Howard Saunders, as occurring in the British Islands from two immature examples, purchased in Leadenhall market, on November oth, in 1871. Subsequent enquiry shewed that they had been shot a few days previously near the south coast of Wexford ; a third also having been got shortly after in Wexford harbour. } HSOOD MONS THE SNOW-GOOSE. 73 Mr. Harting, in “The Zoologist’”’ for 1878, p. 419, records a small flock of seven in the Barony of Erris, Co. Mayo, about the end of October, 1877; one was shot, and a second, a gander, trapped. On August 22nd, 1884, an adult was seen on the Cumbrian coast, near Allonby, by the Rev. H. A. Macpherson, who identified four Snow-Geese, flying down the Eden valley, near Carlisle, on January 22nd, 1891; being then in company with Mr. D. L. Thorpe, a member of the B.O.U., who has a special knowledge of American wild-fowl.* Again, in “ The Field,” January 24th, 1891, Mr. Henry Sharpe, of Beverley, a very competent observer, has recorded three.seen by him near that town; these flew past at the distance of about two hundred yards; pure white, and with black wings. ‘This occurrence on the east coast is not remarkable, as the Snow-Goose has occurred several times off Heligoland. In 1844-45, nine quite white Geese, with black flight-feathers, like Gannets, flying in a row past the eastern point of the shore. The same phenomenon occurred on the 19th of December, in 1847. Again in May 1880, two gunners, then lobster fishing, saw four white Geese, with orange-coloured beaks and feet, flying close past them; and again on the 12th three. Finally on December 25th, the same year, a perfectly white Goose, with black wings, and orange beak and feet, alighted on the Oberland or upper plateau. Pennant, in his “‘Arctic Zoology,” 1785, vol. il, p. 546, speaks of the in- numerable flocks of Bean Geese which, in the autumn, visit the wolds of Yorkshire; “and amongst them are some white.” ‘This is very suggestive of Snow-Geese coming down with the great flocks of northern Geese. The Snow-Goose is probably by far the most common of the American Geese. Ornithologists distinguish two races, a larger Chen nivalis, (Forster), and Chen hyper- doreus, (Pallas), the subject of this notice, both have very distinct geographical ranges; the first frequenting the Hudson’s Bay territory, distinguished by its size and larger bill. The occurrence in England and Ireland, so far as they have been diagnosed, belong to the smaller race of Arctic north-west America. The Snow-Goose is a circumpolar bird, probably both races breeding in Arctic Siberia, as they occur together in Japan in winter, and no doubt in China. It has occurred sporadically on migration in,various parts of Europe. The American birds in the autumn go as far south as Texas and the West Indies. There is another North American Goose, Chen carulescens, the Blue-winged Goose, with much the same size and proportions as the Snow-Goose, which has * These by no means exhaust the list. The appearance of a whole flock of Chen albatus has been recorded by Mr. George Bolam, from the Northumberland coast. Five were seen by Sir R. Payne Gallwey, in the severe winter of 1890-91, near Berwick-on-Tweed; also three Geese in three successive years came with gaggles of the White-fronted Goose to Berkeley, (‘‘ Letters to Young Shooters,” p. 81); and again another occurrence is recorded by Mr. H. A. Macpherson, in the ‘Fauna of Lakeland.” Vou, IV. N 74 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS frequently been confounded by naturalists with the young of the latter; they are certainly closely allied forms, but, considering the evidence, little doubt can be entertained of their specific distinction. The young of C. hyperboreus are four years in assuming the plumage of the adults. According to Richardson (Fauna Boreali, Americana), the Snow-Geese breed in great numbers in the wilds of Arctic America, on the shores of rivers and lakes; the young can fly by the middle of August, and they leave for the south a month later. It was found in 1879 by the “Vega” expedition, in June, on the shores of Tchuski Land. On the American coast of the Arctic and Bering’s Sea, it is not abundant, occurring, however, in considerable flocks, for a few days in the spring and autumn migrations. Pennant (‘Arctic Zoology,” 1785) says they leave the settlement at Hudson’s Bay ‘‘about the roth of October, flying very high, southward to pass the winter. They come in flocks of thousands; quite cover the country, rise in clouds, and with an amazing noise. ‘They visit Carolina in vast flocks; and feed on the © roots of sedge and grass, which they tear up like hogs.” In “The Zoologist,” 1862, p. 7831, there is a reprint, taken from the “Canadian Naturalist,” for October, 1861, of a paper read before the Montreal Natural History Society, by Mr. George Barnston, of the Hudson’s Bay Company, on the Swans and Geese of Hudson’s Bay. Mr. Barnston, during his residence in the Company’s Stations, had unusual opportunities of practical observation, in connection with the migratory Swans and Geese. He says:—‘* The Snow-Goose, although it plays a less conspicuous part in the interior of the country, where it seldom alights, except along the margin of the larger lakes and streams, becomes from its consolidated numbers, the first and greatest object of sport after the flocks alight in James’s Bay. The havoc spread throughout their ranks increases as the season advances, and their crowds thicken, and even the Indian becomes fatigued with the trade of killing. In the fall of the year, when the flocks of young ‘wewais,’ or ‘ wavies,’* as they are called, are numerous and on the wing between the low tide-mark and the marshes, or are following the line of coast southerly, it is mo uncommon occurrence for a good shot, between sunrise and sunset, to send to his lodge, about a hundred head of game.” “These ‘wavies’ or White Geese, form the staple article of food as rations to the men in James’s Bay, and are the latest in leaving the coast for southern climes, an event which takes place towards the end of the month of September, although some weak broods and wounded birds linger behind until the first or * Native ‘“wawa’”’ Goose. THE SNOW-GOOSE. 75 second week in October. They are deliberate and judicious in their preparation for their great flight southwards, and make their arrangements in a very business- like manner. Leaving off feeding in the swamps for a day or more, they keep out with the retreating ebb tide, retiring, unwillingly as it were, by steps at its flow, continually occupied in adjusting their feathers, smoothing and dressing them with their fatty oil, as athletes might for the ring or race. After this necessary preparation, the flocks are ready to take advantage of the first north or north-west wind that blows, and, when that sets in, in less than twenty-four hours the coast that has been covered patch-like by their whitened squadrons, and widely resonant with their petulant and incessant calls, is silent as the grave—a deserted, barren, and frozen shore.” Mr. R. G. McConnell, in his report on his expedition of 1887-88, in the Mackenzie and Yukon districts, North-west Canada, says that on the first of May, Canada Geese were first seen at an open place on the river, and on the 5th the ““Wavies,” (Anser hyperboreus), which usually lag a few days behind the Canada Geese, commenced passing northward, and in a couple of days later were passing in such numbers that flocks were rarely out of sight. One hundred and twenty-five years ago, the naturalist, J. R. Forster, who sailed with Captain Cook in his second voyage, in “‘ Animals of Hudson’s Bay,” * (a paper first read before the Royal Society, 1772), says:—‘‘ The Indians have a peculiar method of killing all these ‘species of Geese, and likewise Swans. As these birds fly regularly along the marshes, the Indians range themselves in a line across the marsh, from the wood to high water mark, about musket: shot from each other, so as to be sure of intercepting any Geese which fly that way. Each person conceals himself, by putting round him some brushwood; they likewise make artificial Geese of sticks and mud, placing them at a short distance from themselves, in order to decoy the real Geese within shot; thus prepared they sit down, and keep a good look out; and as soon as the flock appears, they all lie down, imitating the call or note of Geese, which these birds no sooner hear, and perceive the decoys, than they go straight down towards them; then the Indians rise on their knees, and discharge one, two, or three guns each, killing two or even three Geese at each shot, for they are very expert. Mr. Graham says he has seen a row of Indians, by calling round a flock of Geese, keep them hovering among them, till every one of the Geese was killed. Every species of Geese has its peculiar note or call, which must gradually increase the difficulty of calling them.” ‘According to Richardson, they frequent the shores of lakes and rivers, and are very shy and difficult to approach. * Reprint, by the Willughby Society of Forster’s paper, 1882. 76 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND Eaas. The eggs are yellowish-white ; the young fly about the close of August, and by the middle of September both old and young wing their way southward. In their breeding haunts, in the fur districts, they feed on various grasses and rushes, also on insects, and are particularly fond, like so many northern brecding birds, of the fruit of the crow-berry (Zmpetrum nigrum). The bill is very stout, shorter than the head, and deep at the base, the lower mandible displaying the lamella, these are very prominent and large, and admirable adapted for cutting off the tough grasses and sedges which form their chief food. Seebohm says :—‘ very little is known of the changes of plumage in this species ; but young in first plumage are pale slate-grey on the head, neck, back, and breast; the scapulars and wing-coverts are darker grey, with pale edges, and the rest of the plumage is white; bill, legs, and feet, olive brown.” ‘These parts in adults are red or orange-red; nail white; irides hazel. Length over all, 30 to 32 inches; wing, 15 to 183. The first report (1892) issued by Prof. Henry F. Nachtrieb, State Zoologist of the University of Minnesota, contains a valuable contribution by Dr. P. L. Hatch, “Notes on the Birds of Minnesota.” Speaking of the Snow-Goose he says, “in its favourite localities, during the autumn especially, this species eclipses any other of the Goose kind for numbers.” One day, in October, 1884, in Grant County, he arrived at the conclusion that within an area of five miles in diameter, not less than five thousand Snow-Geese were concentrated. This was without having recounted any flocks seen. The day was bright and sunny, and the various flocks confined themselves to the same bodies of water, so that none were shot. “The hunters call them ‘White Brant.’ The sight of one of those animate clouds of floating snow, on which the dazzling rays of the sun are pouring on a bright October day, can be neither described or forgotten. The Snow-Geese make but a comparatively short stay in this latitude in the spring, but seek those most northern by the 15th or 2oth of April generally. The measures of all which I have obtained, and found in the markets, have placed them within the lesser species as recognized by the Check List of the American Ornithological Union, not one in ten exceeding twenty-seven inches in length, with the wing sixteen.” Dr. P. L. Hatch is of opinion that the Blue Goose, (Chen caerulescens), is beyond a doubt the young of this species, the measurements essentially agreeing with theirs. Whichever side of the question is advocated by ornithologists, each, individually, is most positive as to the correctness of his deductions. Perhaps there is a middle course out of the difficulty, and, as Mr. Howard Saunders suggests, the Snow- Goose and Blue-winged Goose may be, respectively, coloured and white phases of the same species, like those which exist in some of the American Herons. The aSOOD GaLSvVaNg-day THE RED-BREASTED GOOSE. 17 best American authorities, however, think it must be regarded as an entirely local species. Mr. Herrick found the Snow-Goose most abundant at Lake Shatek, the source of the Des Moines river, Iowa. They proved exceedingly wary and hard to get near. Their food in the autumn is said,to consist chiefly of wild rice and various berries—earlier they feed on aquatic and marsh vegetation, including snails and insects. In the report of ‘‘ The Death Valley Expedition,” California, Dr. Fisher says: “A flock of Snow-Geese was seen by Mr. Nelson about Morro Bay, in November, 1891. Mr. Bailey found this species common, in flocks, in Virgin Valley, where it was first observed near Bunkerville, Nev., January 23rd, 1889. They frequented the shores of Virgin river, where they fed on the bleached stems and tender roots of a small club-rush. The gullets of two individuals secured, contained nothing except the remains of this plant.” This Goose probably occurs more frequently on the shores of the British Islands, and in Europe, than is generally supposed. Family—ANA TIDAL. RED-BREASTED GOOSE. Bernicla ruficollis, PALLAS. ALF a century since, little was known of the habits and migrations of this most beautiful Goose, and it was one of the rarest birds in European collections. The Red-breasted Goose, or Red-breasted Bernacle, was first recorded by the naturalist Pallas, (1769). Pennant, in his “Arctic Zoology,” quoting from the ‘Russian Explorer,” says, the breeding range of this Goose extends from the 78 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS mouth of the Ob to that of the Lena; also that they are observed in the spring, flying from the Caspian Sea, along the Volga northward, in small flocks, and are seen about Zarizyn, between the 5th and roth of April—facts which are probably correct at the present day. From what we know now of the Red-breasted Bernacle, its range is com- paratively a restricted one; its summer nesting quarters probably extending from Russian Finland in the west, across the tundra districts of the valleys of the Ob and Yenisei, and not eastward of the Lena. In the winter it migrates southward to the delta of the Volga and the southern shore of the Caspian, but it is rare in Turkestan. Dr. O. Finsch says it is by no means uncommon near Obdorsk, in western Siberia, in the autumn; and Herr K. G. Henke found it near Astrakan, in the spring and autumn, also occasionally near Archangel, in the former season. Modeste Bogdanow states, (“‘ The Ibis,” 1883, p. 33), that it visits the Caspian in large flocks in the autumn on migration, and there can be no doubt this great inland sea is the chief winter resort of this species. It is said to have occurred as far to the east as India. To the late Henry Seebohm belongs the honour of being the first English ornithologist to become practically acquainted with the Red-breasted Goose in its summer haunts, in those dreary tundras which, for hundreds of miles in breadth, fringe the ice-bound shores of the Arctic Ocean. When in the valley of the Yenisei, in 1877, in latitude 703°, he gave the two mates of the schooner a com- mission to collect eggs on the delta, and on one of the islands they found, and shot on the nest, a Red-breasted Goose; this nest contained two eggs, one of which was unfortunately broken on his return journey; on July 28th, he again met with the species, a few miles south of the same locality, and saw several of the birds, with their young broods, on the banks of the river. From information obtained by Mr. H. T. Pearson in Russian Lapland, in the summer of 1895, (‘ The Ibis,” 96, p. 210), it is not improbable it nests there; he says his informant “assured us it bred occasionally near Lake Ukanskoe, but he failed to find any trace of it.” The fact, however, of its occasional appearance near Archangel, in the spring, is suggestive of its nesting in European Arctic Russia. In 1895, Mr. H. L. Popham was fortunate in getting four nests of seven, seven, eight, and nine eggs, (of a creamy white colour), in the VYenisei country. The females were in each case shot from the nests; all these were placed at the foot of a cliff, occupied by a Peregrine or a Rough-legged Buzzard, (possibly for protection from foxes), and well supplied with down. (The Ibis,” 1897, pp. 96-100.) THE RED-BREASTED GOOSE. 79 The nest is said to resemble that of the Bean Goose, but smaller, and the eggs creamy white, with obscure traces of an underlying green shell—the shell itself very fragile. Mr. Howard Saunders, (“ Yarrell’s British Birds,” vol. iv, pp. 282-3), has recorded sixteen probable occurrences of the Red-breasted Goose between 1776 and 1871, in the British Islands; the last of these was shot at Maldon, Essex, from a flock of Brent Geese, on January 21st, 1871, and was purchased by Mr. Harting. Subsequently it was added to Mr. Marshall’s collection, at Taunton, having been purchased at the sale of Mr. Harting’s skins, on June 6th, 1872, at Messrs. Steven’s rooms for thirty guineas. The Red-breasted Goose has occurred as a straggler in various parts of Europe and North Africa, but so far not in the Spanish Peninsula. On February 12th, 1869, an adult male, in full plumage, was got twenty-two miles from Florence; another is said to have been shot, near Mantua, some years previously. On December 11th, 1879,:an immature example, sex not determined, was shot in the marshes of Saint-Jean d’Abbetot, Dep. Seine Inférieure. Again on February 18th, in 1881, one, in most perfect plumage, was killed on the coast of Holland, by two punt shooters, from a flock of Bernacle-Geese, twenty-three of the latter being got at the same time. One was got in Wiirtenburg in 1844, and a few are recorded from other parts of Europe. The Red-breasted Goose has not been found in Egypt; it is a remarkable fact, however, that the ancient Egyptians appear to have been well acquainted with it, for in some of the oldest pictures in the world, in tombs and temples, it remains to this day, accurately portrayed, in never fading colours. Seebohm, in his ‘“‘ British Birds,” (vol. iii, p. 516), summarizes the accounts of the various naturalists, Russian and German, who have become acquainted with this pretty Goose in its winter quarters, where it occurs in such enormous numbers that thousands are sold every year, at prices varying from three half-pence to twopence half-penny each. ‘Dr. Radde describes its great abundance in winter on the islands near the south-west shore of the Caspian—after a heavy fall of snow, the fishermen clear a space on the grassy islands, and often catch them in such numbers in nets, that they are sold from five to ten kopecks each. When they begin to collect before migration, thousands of flocks are reputed to be seen, and it is stated that the worst shots obtain as many as two hundred during the season. When feeding together they utter a loud trumpet-like note; but their ery, as they call to each other on migration, is a double note, which Finsch says is easily imitated by the aid of a bit of birch bark, and which Pallas represents as resembling the sound of the syllables ‘ skak-voy,’ whence its local name amongst 80 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND Eccs the Russian sportsmen of Obdorsk. It is a very shy bird, and very difficult to shoot, but curiously enough, reconciles itself at once to confinement, and soon becomes tame.” The Red-breasted Goose is less in size than the Bernacle, and about the same size as the Brent Goose, and it has been known in confinement to pair with that species. The female is rather smaller than the male, and both sexes are alike in plumage. It is three years before they get the fully adult dress. Length twenty- one to twenty-two inches; wing fourteen inches.* It is said to be most excellent , eating. This reminds me that the only Norfolk example, of this extremely rare bird, was purchased in the Yarmouth market, in 1805, by a local naturalist, and —horresco referens—plucked, cooked, and eaten; it is, however, some satisfaction to learn that ‘‘its flesh was well flavoured.” Family—A NA TIDA?. BERNACLE-GOOSE. Bernicla leucopsis, BECHST. UCH doubt exists as to the derivation of the common name of this Goose. Professor Newton (“A Dictionary of Birds, part i, p. 31) says:—‘ Dr. Murray, under the word ‘Barnacle’ in the Mew English Dictionary, gives as the oldest known English form, the Bernekkhe, (Latinized Bernaca), of Giraldus Cam- brensis, about 1175; and states that the Cirriped (Zegas anatifera) also so-called, took its name from the bird, a kind of Goose, and not the bird from the Cirriped.” Great confusion also has existed between this and the next species regarding their distribution, the names Bernacle and Brent having been applied to both, so * For a full description of the plumage of this beautiful Goose, see “Yarrell’s British Birds,” 4th Ed., Vol. IV, p. 285. a 4 BERNACLE-GOOSE. THE BERNACLE-GOOSE. 8r that it has often been extremely difficult to get at the truth as to the occurrence of one or other'in any special locality. The winter distribution of the Bernacle-Goose, in the British Islands, is a very peculiar one. On the east coast, from the Thames to the Pentland, it is very uncommon, except, perhaps, in unusually severe seasons. On the Essex coast, it is said to be a rather rare winter visitor; in east Suffolk, a rare winter visitor; the same now applies to the Norfolk coast. In Gurney and Fisher’s list of “ Birds found in Norfolk,” 1846, it is spoken of as ‘“‘ not uncommon in the winter.” On the Lincolnshire coast, and Humber estuary, several small flocks occurred in December, 1867—which season was an exceptionally mild one— and again in 1868. I have also occasionally met with small flocks on the coast, and frequenting the foreshore, fittie lands, and marshes, close to the sea, where it used to be known to the local gunners, at one time, as the ‘“‘ Spanish” Goose. In recent years it has been very scarce, and we have no note of its occurrence in the Humber district since 1875. In the neighbourhood of Flamborough, it occurs more frequently, and at shorter intervals. In 1891, early in September, a large flock frequented the coast north of Scarborough, and on September roth, a flock of twenty-nine were seen inland, at Brompton, nine miles from Scarborough, and two shot; a skin of one of these was seen and examined by Mr. William J. Clarke, of that place. Mr. Abel Chapman has never met with it on the coast of Northumberland. On October 15th, 1882, nine Geese appeared at the Longstone Lighthouse, Farne Islands, and one, wounded against the lantern, was subsequently shot and proved a Bernacle-Goose. It is more than probable that flights of B. /eucopsis reaching the coast of Northumberland, pass on at once to the Solway, the distance across land being only sixty miles. It is rather remarkable, shewing the scarcity of this species on the east coast, that in the nine reports issued by the Migration Committee of the British Association, from 1879 to 1887 inclusive, although we find innumerable entries of Grey Geese and Brent, this small flock at the Longstoné Lighthouse, in 1882, is the only notice of the Bernacle. On the east coast of Scotland, during the same period, a flock of twenty-five are recorded off Dunnet Head, on December 7th, 1879. The references in the schedules to ‘ Bernacles” seen in the spring, in Cromarty Firth, in 1885 and 1886, Mr. Harvie-Brown thinks, undoubtedly, refer to the Brent Goose.* It is not a very common visitor to the mainland of Orkney, * On September 28th, 1889, when, with Mr. J. A. Harvie-Brown, a few miles east of Grangemouth, on the Firth of Forth, I saw forty Bernacle-Geese passing west. The flock passed at the distance of one hundred yards, and may have been crossing to the west coast. On the wing, when approaching, they much resemble Great Black-backed Gulls. Vow IV. (0) 82 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND ‘EGGS. and in Shetland Mr. Saxby only once met with it. On the west coast of Scotland, however, the case is very different, for in many localities—the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Sound of Harris, and other places—it is most abundant. It visits the Solway regularly in some numbers, also the coast of Cumberland and Lancashire ; it appears on the Welsh coast, not unfrequently, as Mr. Haigh informs me, in severe weather, in flocks of ten to thirty, resorting to the marshes and sides of rivers; and Mr. Rodd says, occurs in Cornwall in very severe winters, in small flocks. In Ireland it is very common in some parts, chiefly the north and north-west, and equally scarce in others. It is known as the Land Bernacle, in distinction with the Sea Bernacle, the Brent Goose; in other places the latter is the Norway Bernacle, and the former Wexford Bernacle. The Brent often passes for the other in the game market, through the ignorance of the purchaser. The chief nesting quarters of the Bernacle are unknown and undiscovered ; probably the great bulk of the flocks which pass northward in the spring go, like the Knot, to lands on the American side of the Pole. It is a regular autumn visitor to South Greenland; and occurs in Iceland, Spitsbergen, and Novaya Zemlya in the breeding season, and also a few nesting in one locality on Kolguev. In the autumn it passes through Scandinavia on migration, and also is seen at Archangel, but is rare there. It has only twice occurred in Heligoland in fifty years. It is known as a spring and autumn migrant at Feroe. According to Prof. Collett, a pair have bred regularly for some years on one of the Loffoden Islands, from which the proprietor once forwarded him two eggs. A nestling in down was sent from Greenland to the Museum at Copenhagen. In the winter it is found on the opposite shores of the Continent and single examples have wandered as far south as Spain and Italy. It is only a chance visitor to North, America. The food of the Bernacle-Goose is both vegetable and animal, it is remarkably fond of the short sweet grasses which cover the holms and islets off the western coasts of Scotland, at low water also resorting to saltings, fitties, mud flats, and foreshores, left uncovered by the sea, and is as much a land feeder as its con- gener, the Brent, is a sea-Goose. Mr. C. M. Adamson, of North Jesmond, had some tame Bernacles which in the spring would eat worms, an exceptional diet. The late Mr. Robert Gray says it ‘“‘is a very common bird in the west of Scotland, and especially abundant in the Outer Hebrides, where it arrives early in October. Being a strictly migratory species, it takes its departure about the end of April or beginning of May, by which time the Grey Lag-Goose has com- menced laying. Previous to leaving, the Bernacle-Geese assemble in immense THE BERNACLE-GOOSE. 83 flocks on the open sands, at’ low tide, in the Sounds of Benbecula and South Uist; and as soon as one detachment is on the wing it is seen to be guided by a leader, who points the way with a strong flight northwards, maintaining a noisy bearing until he gets the flock into the right course. After an hour’s interval, he is seen returning, with noisy gabble, alone, southwards to the main body, and taking off another detachment as before, until the whole are gone. A notice of this singular habit was first communicated to me by Mr. Alexander A. Carmichael, and has since been corroborated by Mr. Norman M’Donald, who informs me that the inhabitants of the Long Island, have been long familiar with it.” _ Perhaps the -best account of the habits of the Bernacle-Goose, is that given in Messrs. Macpherson’s and Duckworth’s “Birds of Cumberland.” “Upon the English side of the Solway, the marshes of Rockcliffe and Newton are its chief feeding grounds, especially Rockcliffe, where the western extremity of the marsh affords fine feeding ground, on the sand, between high tide mark and sound grazing land.” They arrive at their winter quarters about the last week in October. The late Mr. A. Smith, the authors’ principal informant, considered that they feed chiefly. by night, but when much persecuted and harassed, they find it safer to feed by day. “It is interesting to wait upon the point of Burgh marsh, before day-break, and listen to the cries of the Bernacles, feeding upon the point of Rockcliffe marsh, just opposite. About an hour after day-break, they rise en masse from their feeding ground, and after wheeling up and down the Solway for a few moments, displaying their pretty barred grey, black, and white plumage against the mud- flats, they fly seawards to the estuary of the Wampool, or, circling round, pitch in a long line upon the exposed mud half a mile to windward. Bernacle-Geese are constantly vociferous, especially when feeding, and Mr. A. Smith compares the volume of sound produced by a flock of several hundred. feeding at night together, as heard at a distance, to a pack of harriers in full cry.” Many other details concerning the habits of this Goose are recorded in the “‘ Fauna of Lakeland.” The adult Bernacle is an exceedingly handsome bird, either wild or domesti- cated; it readily loses its wildness, becoming thoroughly tame. The weight of a male in good condition is from 4} to 6 Ibs. 84 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. Family—ANA TIDE. BRENT GOOSE. Bernicla brenta, PALL. URING the whole period of its autumn and winter residerice in the British Islands, the Brent Goose is purely a marine species, seldom coming inland. The only exception to this rule, which has so far come under my notice, has been in the early spring, after the breaking up of long continued frost and snow, when I have occasionally met with them feeding in fields of young wheat, close to the coast.* During their residence in these islands, most of their time is spent at sea, or in bays, and shallow estuaries, mud flats and sand banks—floating off with the rising tide, and returning to their feeding grounds at ebb. The winter range of the Brent Goose extends from Southern Scandinavia and Denmark to the Mediterranean, and in very severe seasons the African and Asiatic sides of that sea. It is a regular visitor to the coast of Portugal, and has been obtained as far south as the Atlantic coast of Southern Morocco. Von Heuglin states it is found in Lower Egypt, in small flocks, in winter. It is often con- siderably abundant on the coasts of Belgium and Holland, and the Zuyder Zee, but only occasionally seen off Heligoland. On the east coast of Great Britain, its chief haunts are the coast of Essex, (where formerly it was extremely abundant, but in late years, from constant per- secution and loss of its favourite food, it has greatly decreased), the Lincolnshire Wash, and the estuary of the Humber; but in the latter, only common in severe winters. Immense flocks yearly frequent the Fenham flats, off Holy Island, on the Northumberland coast. Further north it is often plentiful off the mouth of the Tay, Montrose Basin, mouth of the Findhorn, Beauly, Cromarty, and Dornoch Firths, but specially the two latter, where, in some winters, it collects in enormous flocks. In the Orkney Islands, although not uncommon, it is local; and, according to Mr. Saxby, not a common visitor to Shetland, occurring usually, when it does appear, after rough weather from the south. A common name for Brent on the north-east coast is “Sly” Goose. On the west coast of Scotland it is much less common than * Mr. F. Boyes (Zool., 71, 2643) records Brent Geese at Arram, near Beverley, fourteen miles from the Sea and Humber; this was in the spring. qSOOD LNaYg Dahl Sony Otay, ~~ : AC ETT RMR Fo IP wore re Sh See THE BRENT GOOSE. 85 the preceding—the Bernacle Goose. In Ireland it occurs’ in many localities, and abundantly wherever its favourite food is to be got. Some of the chief localities are Strangford, Larne, and Belfast loughs, but I know of no place where it may be found in greater abundance than Blacksod Bay, Belmullet. Altogether it may be said that the positions chosen by the Brent Geese on the coasts of Great Britain are the result of the abundance, or otherwise, of their favourite food, the common grass-wrack (Zostera marina). The Brent Goose occurs as a spring and autumn visitor, on migration, to Feroe. It nests nowhere on the mainland of Europe, and is not recorded as breeding in Iceland, although it is not improbable the nest will some day be found there. It breeds in immense numbers on the large islands, and groups of islands, north of Europe and Asia, as Spitsbergen, Novaya Zemlya, Franz Joseph Land, the Taimyr peninsula, and as far eastward as the new Siberian islands. Mr. A. Trevor-Battye saw immense numbers of old and young in one part of Kolguev, in July. It is curious that the old birds had both dark and light coloured breasts and bellies. Great quantities were taken in nets by the Samoyeds, for winter consumption. The result of one drive, witnessed by Mr. Trevor-Battye, was three thousand two hundred Brent, thirteen Bean, and twelve White-fronted Geese. The Brent breeds in North America, east of the Rocky Mountains, and on lands on the American side, as far north as man as yet penetrated. In Parry’s expedition, a nest with two eggs was taken at Rose inlet, in lat. 80° 48’ N., on June 16th, the most northern land at that date ever reached by man.* In 1895 it was not seen by Mr. H. L. Popham on the Yenisei, south of 72° N., where young in down were taken.—(‘ The Ibis,” 97, p. 99). Inthe autumn in America, it occasionally wanders as far south as the Gulf of Mexico, and has once (15th November, 1876) been shot in Barbados. There are two, if not three, races of Brent Geese which visit the shores of the British Islands—one, the so-called East Atlantic form, our typical Brent Goose; this comes from the Arctic islands of Europe, and has the neck and upper breast black, ending abruptly in a well-marked line, and the belly smoke- grey. In the West Atlantic form, from Greenland, the under parts below the breast are pure white. This latter is much the less common. From the valley of the Lena, eastward to Bering’s Straits, the Black Brent (Anser nigricans) with the belly nearly as black as the breast, and no distinct lines of parting between the two shades; in this the white marks on each side of the neck are continuous in front. * Subsequently by Colonel Feilden, 82° 30’ N. Vor IV. p 86 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGs. The White-bellied race is very local, and is perhaps more frequently mtet with as a winter visitor on the east coast of England, than anywhere else in the British Islands. A small flock has, to my knowledge, for twenty years, come to the same locality on the Lincolnshire coast. Mr. Haigh says he. has never seen more than half-a-dozen together, more generally a single bird or a pair. In the winter of 1880-81, the White-bellied race were very plentiful in the Humber estuary. It was, however, in the Arctic winter of 1890-91, when enormous numbers of wild fowl visited the district, that I met with the greatest number of White-bellied birds. On January 24th and 25th, the great bay inside the Spurn was crowded with all sorts of wild-fowl, a sight never to be forgotten, and one which filled the oldest inhabitants with astonishment, for such a multitude of Geese, Swans, and Ducks, had not been seen congregated, at one time, on the coast for many years. On this occasion I saw, through a telescope, a flock of White-bellied Geese, which swam somewhat apart, and were readily distinguished as they rolled up a white flank on the wave. In this winter several Brent were obtained, in which the dark under parts were uniform in colour, the belly as black as the breast. The probability is that the three races of Geese intergrade—a view already expressed by American ornithologists; and there is a regular gradation in the colour of the under parts, from Greenland, eastward, to Bering’s Straits. The chief food of the Brent Goose is the long grass-like blades and roots of the Zostera, the longer pieces are neatly rolled up, like ribbons, in their stomachs; they also devour the fronds of some species of algze, crustaceans, mollusca, worms, and marine insects. Mr. Gitke says, at Heligoland, where the sea is calm, small companies will approach the cliffs and pick off the small mollusca and crustaceans. The common cry or call-note of the Brent is a loud metallic chronk, chronh. The confused gabbling and mixed cries of a flock can be heard at an immense distance at sea. They have another, and double note, which has been likened to the word /orvock, constantly repeated on the wing: and the alarm cry is a single word wazk. I have at times been greatly entertained in watching a flock of Brent feeding in shallow water, close in shore, the greater portion of the birds upside down, their rumps and tails shewing the white coverts, only visible as they greedily tear at the blades and roots of the grass-wrack, whilst others are seizing the floating fragments of the plant, broken off and dislodged by their mates; and on the out- side there are always some with heads held high ever on the watch, and ready to give alarm. All the time they keep up a continuous noisy gabbling and grunting, the rear birds constantly swimming forward to get in advance of their fellows, a THE BRENT GOOSE. 87 procedure which I have known, more than once, bring them within range of an ordinary sporting gun. The late Colonel Russell, of Stubbers, near Romford, Essex, who was a regular correspondent of the writer’s, had a large experience of Brent Geese, their movements and habits. Regarding the proportion of old and young, he says, in one of his letters:—‘‘ The Brent Geese seem to come to the Essex coast pretty regularly about the beginning of the second week in October.* Sometimes the first I hear of are not seen at all; with a fair light wind, they may be heard miles off at sea, far out of sight. In October, 1880, my informant, a very experienced gunner, told me he was afraid there were no young ones; he was right; throughout the season, from the time of their first arrival, there was not one young one to one hundred old ones. Last October, my informant about their arrival was another gunner, who lives close to high water mark, in the part most frequented by the Geese; he told me that there were young ones amongst them. These men are pretty close observers of some things; they know when there are young amongst the Geese by their voces. I soon had an opportunity of verifying the presence of young Geese, by examining a small flock of fifteen and twenty through a telescope, the sun shining on them. By watching them as they turned their sides to the sun, I could make out that something like half of them were young of the year. As far as I could make out, this was the proportion all through the season. The proportions of young and old during the last four winters are :— 1878-79—About one young Goose to twelve old ones. 1879-80—Great numbers of young all the season. 1880-81—About (or less than) one young Goose in a hundred old ones. 1881-82—Nearly as many young as old.” Colonel Russell did not think the old and young come separately, but together. The earliest record for them on the Essex coast is September 29th. The young have always old amongst them. The mildness or coldness of the winter has nothing to do with the presence or absence of young Brent. The proportion of young and old is about the same in the Black and the White-bellied races. In 1846-7, weather mild, with a week of sharp frost in January, an Essex gunner shot thirty dozen in that week, all old birds. On the Essex coast they feed entirely on Zostera; on the mud flats they eat by preference the roots or white parts below the surface, leaving the green blades by cart-loads; this is carried out to sea, with westerly winds, in the next ebb, and furnishes plenty of food, * The earliest record for the east coast is in the “Migration Report” for 1879. Corton Lightship—July 18th, twelve Brent; July 30th, two flocks, thirty to forty, close past the vessel. 88 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND Eccs. day and night, far out at sea. This weed is rapidly disappearing everywhere on the Essex coast, and the Geese are getting less and less feeding ground each year. Brent Geese leave for their northern breeding quarters about the middle of April; I have known them off the coast as late as the middle of May. ‘They are paired at the time of leaving, and the females may be distinguished in a flock by their somewhat lighter appearance. Professor Robert Collett (‘‘ Bird Life in Arctic Norway,” Mr. Cocks’ trans- lation) says:—‘‘in the spring, Brent Geese push in under the Naze (Lindesnes) on a fixed day, towards the end of May, in large skeins, and more follow on the succeeding days; in rows as straight as a line, they sweep compactly over the surface of the sea, along the whole coast, until they reach the outermost north- westerly skerries. Then the crowds sweep further afield, so as to fetch their nesting places in Spitsbergen and Novaya Zemlya; and the sealers and Arctic travellers, who have stood upon the northern point of Spitsbergen, have seen them wandering yet further over the snowy sea, seeking still more northerly archipelagoes, which as yet no human being has trodden.” This is the great home-going, a collective movement of great masses of birds, impelled by a common impulse, which, notwithstanding all modern research, remains the most wonderful phenomenon and enigma in nature. family—ANATIDA. WHOOPER SWAN. Cygnus musicus, BECHST. HIS grand and noble bird is a regular winter visitor to some part or other of the British Islands wherever it can obtain security and food. In severe seasons it is often very numerous. Its summer or breeding range extends across Europe and Asia, and, as a rule, north of the Arctic circle. It is the earliest of the Arctic breeding birds to move towards its nesting quarters, and its loud trumpet-calls are the first notice riko. NYMS YAdOOHAA SAN ANS \ $4 THE WHOOPER SWAN. 89 to the dwellers in high latitudes that the long dreary winter is nearing its end. The Whoopcer is plentiful in summer in Iceland, where it breeds, and formerly also in southern Greenland, but only occurs there now as a rare visitor. According to Dr. Von Baer, it nests in Novaya Zemlya, and Dr. Alex. Bunge saw this, Bewick’s Swan, and the Mute Swan, all three in the breeding season, on Sagastyr Island, mouth of the Lena. At one time also in Orkney, on small islands, in Loch Stennis, this was prior to 1775; constant persecution from the natives drove it away. Some authorities, however, are inclined to extend the date of its final extinction twenty years later—(see Harvie-Brown and Buckley, ‘‘ Vertebrate Fauna of Orkney Islands’’). In the autumn it moves southward over two Continents, occurring in Japan, where it is the common species at Yezo; it visits also the Corea. Mr. F. W. Styan found it a common winter migrant on the Lower Yangtse Basin. It has been seen in the Punjaub at the same season (W. W. Cordeaux); and, according to Dr. Severtzoff, occurs on passage in Turkestan, and winters in some districts there. It is seen at Astrakhan as a spring and autumn migrant, wintering on the southern shores of the Caspian and in the Caucasus, and has also been recog- nized in Palestine In Europe it visits in considerable numbers the basins of the Black Sea and Mediterranean, and the Nile delta, in small flocks, in winter. Colonel Irby says, this is the only species of Swan he was able to identify in Andalusia. It visits Sardinia in winter. At Heligoland it occurs regularly on migration every winter, flocks, with trumpet-like notes, passing high overhead in long lines to the south. Herr G. Hartert has recorded it as common in East Prussia in spring and autumn; it is a rare visitor to Transylvania. Swans arrive at their nesting quarters as early as the end of March. The nest is a round mass of water plants and moss, fragments of turf and peat, of considerable elevation and often visible at a long distance. It is placed in some vast wilderness of bog or marsh, and sometimes on a small island in a lake. The eggs, from three to five, and seven, are creamy white, and small for the great size of the parent. They are buried in down from the bird’s breast, with which the nest is also lined. The egg shells of Cyguus olor and C. musicus examined microscopically shew specific difference. It is known that a well defined type of egg-shell structure belongs to certain. families of birds, but in these two the difference is a specific one; this also is the case between the eggs of daser cinereus and A. segetum. The question, as bearing directly on classification, is one of much importance, and, without further going into details, I refer the reader to Professor Newton’s remarks (“A Dictionary of Birds,” Part I, p. 190) 90 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. According to Naumann, incubation lasts five weeks; the cygnets are very slow in growing, and are not able to fly before the end of August or September. Swans feed on vegetable substances, as grass, and shoots of shrubs and trees, and the roots and leaves of water plants, which their long necks enable them to tear up from the bottom of the rivers, and shallows of the lakes they frequent. They will also eat grain when it can be got. The wild Swan when swimming carries its neck straight and erect, on the contrary the tame Swan usually has it gracefully curved, a difference which the naturalist Pennant remarked upon more than a century since. One unfailing distinction between the two is in the bill. In Cygnus musicus, this has the basal part, to below the nostrils, and some distance along the lateral margin of the upper mandible, yellow, the rest black. In C. olor, the bill is reddish-orange, with the base and lores black,:also a prominent black tubercle, in adults, above the nostrils. The colours are thus reversed. Mr. H. J. and C. E. Pearson (‘‘ The Ibis,” 1893, p, 243) say, in Iceland, “ this was the only species of Swan we observed. Eggs were taken on June 20th and 28th, but the weather among the hills had been so bad this spring, that several pairs were only commencing to prepare their nests about the latter date. We afterwards saw a clutch of seven eggs which had been recently taken. Although these birds sometimes breed on islands in the inhabited districts, it is little use to look for their eggs before you pass the last farm, as they are generally taken to eat or sell.” Saxby (“Birds of Shetland”) says:—‘‘ sometimes, though very rarely, the Swans return northwards as early as the end of February, but the usual time is during the months of March and April. The flocks which arrive in spring are much smaller than those which pass southwards in autumn, * * * in spring, the greater number arrive late in the evening, or very early in the morning, when there is little stirring below; whereas in autumn, they most frequently pass over in broad daylight, when the people are gathering in their harvest * * * *, During flight they utter a soft, rather melancholy cry, resembling the words who- who-who, repeated many times in succession; on a calm spring evening, about twilight, or as the Shetlanders say ‘in the dim,’ these sounds have a strange— one might almost say, a solemn effect.” There is no sound in nature more likely to attract attention than the aerial music of a herd of migrating Swans passing high over-head; some speak of it as exhilarating to the highest degree, but to me there is always a touch of sadness in the sound—the sadness of Highland music in those long drawn, melancholy, and plaintive notes, which seem suggestive of the illimitable wilds of the great lone-lands where the birds have passed the long day of the short Arctic summer. THE WHOOPER SWAN. 91 Many of the Whoopers killed in Shetland, are found to be marked on the feet as domestic Swans are marked in Iceland. Mr. St. John (‘‘ Nat. Hist., and Sport in Moray”) has seen them arrive on Loch Spynie as early as September 30th; he says:—‘while they remain with us, they frequent and feed in shallow pieces of water, of so small a depth, that in many places they can reach the bottom with their long necks, and pluck off the water grasses on which they feed. While employed in tearing up these plants, the Swans are generally surrounded by a number of smaller water-fowl, such as Wigeon and Teal, who snatch at and carry off the pieces detached by their more powerful companions. The rapidity of the flight of a Swan is wonderful; one moment they are far from you, the next they have passed you like an arrow. This speed, however, is only attained when at a considerable height above the ground.” Swans are most powerful swimmers, and will swim out from the sea-shore in the teeth of a considerable gale with the greatest ease. Wild Swans seldom occur as far south in the winter as the Humber estuary, except in very severe weather. They were abundant in 1864-65, and 1870-71, in the latter season almost entirely adults; in this year very great numbers were obtained in the Wash, and off Lynn, in Norfolk. Again, 1890-91 was a great Swan year on the Lincolnshire coast, both for the Whooper and Bewick’s Swan. The Arctic winter of 1894-5, brought several small herds to the Humber district ° in January. These suffered greatly from the unusual severity of the season, several were washed up dead in miserable condition, others caught by hand, completely _ exhausted, and one by a shepherd dog, this only weighed thirteen-and-a-half lbs. Another shot, in fair condition, weighed eighteen lbs. The largest flock or herd I have ever seen, on the Lincolnshire coast, numbered forty-two birds, all adults. In 1879, on December 18th, a flock of thirty Whoopers passed the Spurn, twenty- nine of which were immature birds in the brown plumage, the line was led by an adult white bird. Saxby, (Zool. 64, 9093), speaking of the order of their flight, says: “TI never saw any other than a white, and therefore adult bird, taking the lead.” The line taken by the trachea, or wind-pipe, in the wild Swan, is very re- markable. This organ is composed of many broad, flattened rings; after passing’ down the neck of the bird to the level of the keel, or breast bone, it enters between the two plates of the sternum, which it traverses nearly throughout, and then suddenly turns upon itself, and passes forwards and upwards to join the bronchial tubes. The Swan has always occupied a prominent place in the folk-lore and fairy- tales of many lands, and myths and legends closely connected with it, are inter- woven in the religious beliefs of ancient races. Juno’s chariot was drawn by 92 BRITISH BIRDS WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. Swans. Jupiter visited Leda in the guise of a Swan. Cygnus, with its great central star Deneb, is a prominent constellation in the heavens during much of the year, low down in the spring, and then, as the months roll by, soaring Swan- like to the zenith. Greek and Latin poets, and historians make frequent allusion to the Swan. It was, however, more especially in the old Aryan mythology, that the Swan held so conspicuous a place. Sacred to Freya, herself the goddess of spring, when her great white favourites, sounding their loud bugle-notes, flew northwards, then “Out of the morning land, Over the snow-drifts, Beautiful Freya came, Tripping to Scoring. White were the moorlands, And frozen before her; Green were the moorlands, And blooming behind her.” The birds, too, were lovely maidens—Swan-maidens—who could take upon themselves the human form at will. And we find the same beautiful myth con- tained in some of the romances of the middle ages, like that of Lohengrin and Helias. Oaths, the most binding and sacred, were taken on the bird; and an order of the Swan was instituted in Germany. The Swan’s bath of the Viking was the North Sea. Swan-neck, as applied to a woman, expressed grace and beauty. The simile recalls fair, pale Edith, with hair dishevelled, searching through heaps of slain—Saxon Thane, and Norman Knight—on the bloody field of Senlac, for her dead lover. “Round the red field tracing slow, Stooped that Swan-neck white as snow; Never blushed nor turned away, Till she found him where he lay.” In some parts of Ireland there yet lingers a strong feeling against the killing of a Swan, as it is believed the souls of the departed take possession of the bird’s body, so that a man might be guilty of slaying his nearest dead relative. Another superstition is that women, who, whilst living, had been remarkable for the purity of their lives, were afterwards enshrined in the body of these birds, and decked with a plumage symbolical of the same. The Swan, too, probably as an emblem of a pure life, became the badge of the great Saint Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln. Mr. Gray says:—‘“‘a few years ago, a wounded Swan remained throughout the summer on Loch Bee, and attracted much attention by the loud and melancholy cries to which it gave utterance. An old crone, in telling me about this bird, reiterated her conviction that it was the ghost of her grand-mother, who had met with a violent death about sixty years previously. It was a bold image, though I cannot but think that a Black Swan would have been more appropriate.” WHOOPER SWAN BEWICKS SWAN 1H BEWICK’S, SWAN. 93 Lamily—ANA TIDAL. BEWICK’S SWAN. Cygnus bewicht, YARRELL. HIS beautiful little Swan was first described by the Russian traveller, Pallas, under the name of Cygnus minor. He considered it, however, a small race of the Whooper. Bewick’s Swan may readily be distinguished by its small size—compared with the Whooper it is a mere Goose. The dimensions over all vary from forty-six to fifty inches in the one, and sixty and over in the other. The lemon yellow at the base of the bill does not extend below the nostrils, the rest black. The plumage is brilliant white, like crystallised snow; adults have a little rust colour on the forehead and top of the head. The weight varies from nine-and-a-half to fourteen lbs., against twenty to twenty-two lbs. in the Whooper. Although an undoubted visitor to the British Isles before 1829, it was always looked upon by ornithologists as a small race of Cygnus musicus. Like the Bernacle-Goose, this little Swan is much more abundant on the west coast of Scotland, and in Ireland, than in other places in the British Islands. A remarkable western distribution in the winter, as from all we know it does not appear to breed anywhere westward of Archangel, and certainly not in Greenland and Iceland. Dr. Von Heuglin found it nesting in Novaya Zemlya. Mr. H. T. Pearson, and Colonel Feilden, on July 26th, saw four Swans near Saxon River, on the west coast of the island, supposed to belong to this species. Bewick’s Swan, both old and cygnets, were obtained by Mr. Pearson and his party on Kolguev, in the same year, on the Gobista River; from the number of Swan mounds seen by them it must, at one time, have been much more plentiful. It was the only Swan found, in 1894, by Mr. A. Trevor-Battye on this island. It nests on the mainland east of Archangel, and probably across the whole of Arctic Asia to Bering’s Straits. Dr. Alex. Von Bunge found it in summer on Sagastyr Island, at the mouth of the Lena, along with Cyenus musicus and C. olor. Mr. H. L. Popham, who visited the Yenisei in 1895, says all the Swans, as far as he could ascertain, were of this species—(‘‘’The Ibis,” 1897, p. 100). In winter Bewick’s is common in Japan and China. C. bewickt occurs regularly on migration at Astrakhan, but not so commonly as C. mustcus. It winters in the southern Caspian. It is a rare winter visitor to Vou IV. QO 94 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. Heligoland, and has twice been obtained in Italy, in 1874 an adult female, by Mr. Lucas, out of a small flock; also near Pavia, in January, 1891. It is a scarce visitor to the Baltic. : I have examined, as far as possible, all the reputed occurrences of Bewick’s Swan in the British Islands, ranging over a period of thirty-five years, and find, although the Whooper is the most common of the two on the east coast, that taking the whole area of these islands, this small species is equally numerous as its large congener, and appearing in larger flocks. The nest of C. dewichi is described as a rather ponderous structure of rushes, moss, peat, six feet by four and three-quarters wide, and two feet high. The. cavity one foot-and-a-half in diameter. A nest examined by Mr. Trevor-Battye, was entirely of moss. The eggs are three or four in number, and dull white in colour. In Nordenskidld’s voyage of the Vega (Leslie’s translation, 1881) there is a delightful account of that ornithological paradise, ‘‘ Gooseland,” lately visited by Mr. Pearson and his friends in the summer of 1895. ‘‘ Gooseland is a low stretch of coast, occupied by grassy flats and innumerable small lakes, which projects from the mainland of Novaya Zemlya, between 72° 10’ and 71° 30’ N. lat. The name is a translation of the Russian Gusinnaja Semlja, and arises from the large number of Geese and Swans (Cygnus éewicki, YARR.) which breed in that region. The Geese commonly place their exceedingly inconsiderable nests on little hillocks, near the small lakes, which are scattered over the whole of Gooseland ; the powerful Swans, which are very difficult of approach by the hunter, on the other hand, breed on the open plain. The Swans’ nests are so large that they may be seen at a great distance. The building material is moss, which is plucked from the ground within a distance of two metres from the nest, which, by the excavation which is produced, is surrounded by a sort of moat. The nest itself forms a truncated cone, 06 metres high and 2°4 metres in diameter at the bottom. In its upper part there is a cavity o'2 metres deep and 0'6 metres broad, in which the four large greyish-white eggs of the birds are laid. The female hatches the eggs, but the male also remains in the neighbourhood of the nest.” Bewick’s Swan was comparatively abundant in the Humber, in the winter of 1870-71. On their first arrival they are much more easy of approach than the larger species. The largest flocks I have known have numbered forty to sixty, and these almost exclusively adults. Their cry is very musical, and is perhaps best repre- sented by the word /ong-tong-tong, with a metallic tinkle about it. Regarding the cry of this Swan, my son, Captain E. Kyme Cordeaux, sent in 1891 the following note to “‘ The Field” Newspaper :—‘‘ When looking for Duck BEWICK’S SWAN. 95 along our stream at daybreak, on January 17th, I was greatly pleased to make acquaintance with a small herd, presumably of this species, and at very close quarters, at a spot where the beck makes a sharp turn at the corner of a wood, and when I was crossing the angle of the wood through the bushes, just before reaching the other side, seven or eight Swans, flying altogether in a body and very low down, passed me, following the course of the stream, and certainly within fifteen yards of where I stood. Their size was one third less than the Whooper; plumage a most brilliant white, like snow with the frost-sparkle on it, and, in beautiful contrast,.jet black feet and legs, relieved against the unsullied ‘white of flank and belly. I think I must have heard their notes two minutes before seeing them; it resembled some plough-boy playing a jews’-harp, which, indeed, I thought it was, or the single twang of a great harp string. So near did they pass that I could see the creases and wrinkles on their feet and legs—lovely creatures to look upon so closely. I felt pleased afterwards that I had just before taken the cartridges out of my gun,.to jump a drain, and had not replaced them.” The food of this Swan is-much the same as the rest of the genus, a purely vegetable diet. Mr. J. H. Gurney found in the gizzard of one shot at Hampstead decoy pond, in Norfolk, silt, pond-grass, water insects’ legs, and the tail of a small fish. Mr. St. John (Nat. Hist. and Sport in Moray,” p. 72) remarks that they “usually come in small companies with the Whooper. I never see above eight of the Cygnus bewickt together, usually only four or five. They are easily distin- guished, being shorter and more compact looking birds. They also swim rather higher in the water, and are much tamer. Until they have been shot at and frightened, it is easy to approach them. Their plumage is peculiarly white; and the young apparently are not of the same blue-grey as those of Cygnus ferus. I can assert this as a fact: but I never saw one of the Bewick’s Swans that was not of a pure and snow-like whiteness.” In Ireland, Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey considers the Whooper or Great Swan far rarer than Bewick’s, he has seldom seen more than a dozen Whoopers together, but of the latter thirty to fifty in a herd are not uncomnion on the estuaries and lakes near the coast; their numbers in any locality are greatly influenced by weather. A good resort for these Swans is the small lakes at Castle Gregory, on the coast of Kerry, here as many as two thousand have been seen at one time. The convolutions and anatomical structure of the trachea in this species differ in a marked degree from the same in the Whooper Swan, and in cases ot doubt which might arise in the proper identification of the two species, dissection of these parts would at once settle the question. 96 BRITISH BIRDS WITH THEIR NESTS AND Eccs. Family—ANA TID. Mute Swan. Cygnus olor, GMEL. T is somewhat remarkable that Professor William Macgillivray, the most acute of observers, and occupying the foremost place amongst the ornithologists of a past generation, should have omitted (except in half-a-dozen lines) any mention of the present species. Cygnus olor, in a perfectly wild state, breeds in many parts of Europe, from the Baltic as far south as Greece, and from the Rhine to the Volga. It nests in limited numbers in southern Scandinavia, and possibly Denmark. Mr. Hartert says it breeds in small numbers in some of the great lakes of eastern Prussia. It also occurs sparingly in Transylvania. In Turkey, both in summer and winter.* Common in the Caucasus, and breeding in the delta of the Terek. Is a common summer visitor to Astrakhan, nesting in the delta of the Volga, and in the northern Caspian. According to Severtzoff, it nests regularly in north-eastern and north- western Turkestan. Dr. F. H. Guillemard found it in Cyprus, in April, (‘The Ibis,” 1888, p. 111). Dr. Alex. Bunge has recorded it on Sagastyr Island, at the mouth of the Lena, in summer, and if he is correct, this will extend the range of our bird further to the north-east than has been supposed. In winter it has been obtained once in Heligoland, in 1881, and again, once, many years before. It has been recorded in Spain by Mr. Howard Saunders. Mr. A. B. Brooke says it is the commonest wild Swan visiting Sardinia. In Italy it is only common in severe winters in a wild state. Many frequent and breed on the Swiss Lakes in a semi-wild state, (Saunders). Mr. C. A. Wright has recorded a flock in the Harbour, at Malta, in December, 1865. It has been seen also in north-west India in winter, and visits the lakes of Egypt and Algeria in the same season; and in Asia the southern Caspian. The circumstance of the Mute Swan, as already stated, occurring in Cyprus is interesting, from the fact that this bird is said first to have been introduced into this country from that island, at the close of the twelfth century, by Richard I, Ceur-de-lion. * Messrs. Elwes and Buckley, “The Ibis,” 1870, p. 338, have recorded seeing a mixed flock of Whoopers and Mute Swans, about a thousand, in the Gulf of Salonica, on February, 1869. WAVES POLISH SWAN #4 MuTE Swan 4 THE MUTE SWAN. 97 The Swan was dedicated to Apollo and the Muses, and it was a common belief amongst the ancients, that the body of a Swan was allotted as the future residence of a poet. The legend of the death-song of the dying Swan was held by many Greek and Latin poets and historians, but discredited by others, of whom Pliny was one. In modern times it has served the purpose of a pretty poetical fiction. The late Lord Teunyson has embodied the idea in his poem ‘‘ The Dying Swaun.”’ “The wild Swan’s death-hymn took the soul Of that waste place with joy; Hidden in sorrow: at first to the ear The warble was low and full and clear.” % * * * « He “But anon her awful jubilant voice, With a music strange and manifold, Flow’d forth on a carol free and bold. * % * * * * Till— “The desolate creeks and pools among, Were flooded over with eddying song.” Shakespeare makes frequent allusions to the Swans’ death dirge, as— “TI will play the Swan, and die in music.” Othello—Act 5, Sc. 2. and in many other passages. Although known as the Mute Swan, it is perfectly true it utters at times a few plaintive notes, particularly in the spring, or when swimming with its young. Colonel Hawker represents it as a melody made up of two notes, C, and the minor third, E flat. In the present day we can hardly realize the value formerly set on the pos- session of Swans by our forefathers. Thousands were kept by the crown, the nobility, lay and clerical, rich city companies, guilds, town corporations, and colleges. No banquet was complete without its quota of Swans, Peacocks, and Herons. In fact, our ancestors appeared never to be tired of roast cygnet in season, which was about Christmas time. In the celebrated banquet, the fare bill of which has been so frequently quoted, given at the ‘‘intronization” of George Nevell, 1464, Archbishop of York, four hundred Swans were provided. In these days roast Swan is not a fashionable diet; I have tried cygnets, both tame and wild, and much prefer a fat stubble-fed Goose. The laws regulating the keeping of Swans in the middle ages seem, by the light of the present, very arbitrary. All Swans were Royal birds and the King’s property, and permission to duly qualified subjects was given, by a grant from the Crown to keep them, at the same time a special and registered Swan mark being granted. These Swan marks were cut on the upper mandible of the bird, the Vor. IV. R 98 BRITISH BIRDS. WITH THEIR NESTS AND Eccs. device being chiefly nicks, lines, letters, crosses, circles, and stars, curiously dis- posed. A description of the Swan marks alone would fill a large volume, it is a literature to itself, and those who are interested in the subject will find full details in Yarrell’s “‘ British Birds,” vol. iv, 4th ed.; Stevenson’s “ Birds of Norfolk,” vol. iii; “The Atheneum,” August 18th, 1877, reprinted in the ‘‘ Zoologist”’ of the same year; and papers in the “ Archeological Journal,” vol. xli, p. 281, and vol. xlii, p. 17, by Mr. Edward Peacock. By an Act of Edward IV, it required a freehold qualification to keep a Swan, excepting only the king’s own son. The punishment in Henry VII reign for stealing their eggs, was imprisonment for a year and a day, and a fine at the king’s will. All unmarked Swans were the property of the king. The king had a chief Swan-herd—a “‘ master of the king’s Swans”—and no person keeping Swans could appoint a new Swan-herd without a license from the king’s Swan-herd, and the fact being duly registered in his book. The position of chief Swan-herd in those days must have been an exceed- ingly lucrative one. In Thompson’s “ History of Boston,” p. 625, is given the following fen laws, passed at “‘the court view of free pledges, and court leet of the east, west, and north fens, with their members, held at Revesby, 19th October, 1780,” to the effect that ‘“‘no person shall bring up or take any Swan’s eggs, or Crane’s eggs, or young birds of that kind, on pain of forfeiting for every offence three shillings and fourpence.” In old days the fine for stealing a Swan was paid in wheat, the bird being hung in a house by the beak and just touching the ground, the delin- quent then had to recoup the owner, by pouring wheat over the Swan till the heap covered all the bird to the tip of its beak. In the olden days Swans, compared with other birds, were expensive luxuries. At the wedding dinner of Gervase Clifton to Mary Neville (1530) the following birds and their prices occur:—twelve Swans, each 6/-; eight Cranes, each 3/4; sixteen Heron-sews, each 1/-; ten Butters, or Bittern, each 1/2; at the same dinner an Ox was 30/-, a Calf 3/-, a Lamb 1/6, a Wether 2/4, and Chickens 1/6 per dozen. The number of eggs laid by the female are greatly in excess of the wild species, ten and twelve is not an unusual number, and seventeen has been recorded. Mr. Stevenson, in the “Birds of Norfolk,’ mentions an instance of a very exceptional produce of a pair, a fine young male and three-year old female, on Surlingham Broad, as taken from the Swan-herd’s book. In the year 1886 to 1873, inclusive, eighty-five eggs, and these produced eighty-two cygnets. A marked Swan has been known to live for fifty years, and a tradition exists of a Norfolk Swan reaching the extreme age of one hundred years. THE POLISH SWAN. 99 Great numbers of Swans were formerly kept on Lincolnshire rivers, and on the famous Swan pool, at Lincoln. St. Helen’s Swan pool, at Norwich, is a noted feeding place for the cygnets, from eighty to one hundred being fed there at once. The reader will find a most exhaustive description of the whole process of feeding, etc., in Stevenson’s ‘“ Birds of Norfolk,” vol. iii, p. 96. The great Swannery of the Earl of Ilchester, at Abbotsbury, near Weymouth, is the largest in the kingdom, and existed in the time of Elizabeth. When Mr. J. H. Gurney visited the place in April, 1878, the Swan-herd informed him that the total number then under his charge was one thousand three hundred, half of which were engaged in the duties of incubation. In 1877, about seven hundred cygnets were hatched. In 1888, there were six to seven hundred Swans on the water, most of the young cygnets being hatched by the first week in June. Swans are accused of destroying the spawn of fish, and I think not without reason, although this may be caused by their pulling up the weeds on which: ‘spawn is attached. They are very fond of feeding upon the troublesome American weed Anacharis alsinastrum; and will eat frogs and water insects, which themselves are destructive to spawn. Family—.4NA TIDE. PoLisH SWAN. Cygnus immutabilis, YARR. HE Polish Swan was first distinguished and described by Mr. Yarrell, as far back as 1838, under the name of Cygnus immutabilis—The Changeless Swan. The supposed specific distinctions which separated it from its nearest ally C. oor, are very clearly pointed out by Mr. Yarrell. The cygnets produced by a pair of these birds are from the first pure white, or with very light buff-coloured down, 100 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS which soon becomes white, and never assume the grey colour which is borne for the first two years by the cygnets of C. olor. The black tubercle at the base of the bill is either wanting altogether, or is greatly reduced in size. The bill also is said to be redder, and in immaturity flesh-colour, and not greyish-black. The legs and feet are ash-grey, and not black. Subsequently anatomical distinctions in the form of the cranium, between the two, were pointed out by Mr. Pelerin, in the “‘ Magazine of Natural History,” and verified by Mr. Yarrell.* Swans, in every respect answering Mr. Yarrell’s description of his new species, have been obtained in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and recorded as C. zmmu- tabtles. It is true that the majority of naturalists consider the Polish Swan to be only a variety of the Mute Swan, and will not admit its specific distinction. On the other hand, no ornithologist has so ably advocated its specific distinction as Mr. T. Southwell, of Norwich, in a paper read 26th September, 1876, before the Norfolk and Norwich Nat. Hist. Society, and subsequently published in their transactions, Vol. II, pp. 258-260. Notwithstanding Mr. Southwell’s able pleading for the retention of the species in the British List, I still think the question remains unsolved, and practically where it was twenty years ago. Family—ANATID-@. Common SHELD-DUwck. Tadorna cornuta, S. G. GMEL. HIS very handsome Duck is more or less a constant resident on the shores of the British Islands, nesting in suitable localities in warrens, and amongst the sand-dunes, under conditions hereafter to be stated. Occasionally it chooses eae I have received from the Rev. H. A. Macpherson a photograph of the sternum and trachea of C. imanu- tabilis. In his letter he says :—“‘ Mr. Thorpe and I have satisfied ourselves that the trachea is inserted into the thoracic cavity at quite a different angle from that of C. olor.’ This seems strongly in favour of a specific difference. 6 2 HONG G13HS NOWWOD ~