Ktt

':

AMONG BRITISH BIRDS IN THEIR

NESTING HAUNTS

Printed at the Edinburgh University Press
By T. and A. CONSTABLE

FOR
DAVID DOUGLAS

LONDON . . . SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT
AND CO., LTD.

CAMBRIDGE . . MACMILLAN AND BOWES.
GLASGOW . . . JAMES MACLEHOSE AND SONS.

a

r

BIOLOGY

LIBRARY

G

ilOLOGY

UBRARY

G

LIST OF PLATES

CAN NETS.— TttU-f*gt.

MISTLE THRUSH,. April 26th. 1897, Perthshire,

GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL, . June igth, 1897, Shetland,

RED-BACKED SHRIKE, . June 28th. 1898, Suffolk,.

SKYLARK, Plate L, May 26th, 1897, Norfolk,

Do, Plate II, May 24th, 1898, Suffolk..

BUZZARD, May i8th, 1896. . Argyllshire.

REDSTART, May joth, 1897, Hampshire.

GREEK WOODPECKER,. May 27th, 1898, Suffolk,.

LINNET, June 3rd, 1898, . Da, .

GARDEN WARBLER, . May 2itt, 1898, Do, .

TURTLE DOVE, May 28th, 1898, Da, .

BARN OWL, . June 26th, 1898, Da, .

REED WARBLER, . June 25th, 1898, . Do., .

TREE SPARROW, jaly 3rd. ,898, . D^ .

STONE CURLEW, . May 28th, 1898, Da, .

PARTRIDGE, Plate I, June 1 2th, 1898, . Do., .

Da, Plate II., Do, . Da, .

TUFTED DUCK, May 2oth, 1895, Kinross,

JAY, May 2Oth, 1897, . Hants, .

KINGFISHER,. June 26th, 1898, Suffolk,.

WHINCHAT, . June 1898, Callander,

OSPREY, Plate I, May 1896, Strathspey, .

Do., Plate IL. June 1896, . Da,

STORM PETREL, July jrd, 1897, . Shetland, .

YELLOW BUNTING, Plate I., . May 1898, Newmarket, .

LXX, Plate II.. . June oth. 1898, . . Suffolk,.

ROCK DOVE,. June 1896, lona, .

MANX SHEARWATER, . June 1896, . Mull, .

GREY WAGTAIL, . April 1897, Perthshire. .

RED GROUSE, . May 1894, Peeblesshire,

4
IO

16

22

*4
28

J*

J6
40
44
4>

S*

$6
60

64

68

70
74
7«

82

86

90
02
96

too

102
106
110

•14

120

81!X)G3

BLACKCAP,

BULLFINCH,

SHORT-EARED OWL, Plate I., .
Do., Plate II., .

YELLOW WAGTAIL,
STOCK DOVE, . . .
PINTAIL, Plate I.,
Do., Plate II.,

WRYNECK,

LESSER WHITETHROAT,

May 1897, .
May 26th, 1897,
June 1899,

May 1899, .

May 28th, 1897,
May 1899,

June ist, 1899, .

Do,

May 1898, .

May

Hampshire, .
Norwich,
Orkney,
Norfolk,
Suffolk, .
Morayshire, .
Central Scotland,
Do.,

Suffolk,.

FACING
PACE

126
130

134
136
140
144
148
ISO

154
IS8

VIGN ETTES

MISTLE THRUSH, .....

Do., .....

SHRIKE'S LARDER, .....

YOUNG BLACK-HEADED GULL,

REDSHANK'S FEATHER, ....

FOOT OF SOLAN GOOSE, ....

GULLS FEEDING, .....

CURLEW, ......

EIDER WITH YOUNG, ....

YOUNG GODWIT'S FEATHER,

FEATHER OF SPARROW-HAWK,

WHINCHAT ON THISTLE,

TELEGRAPH WIRES AND GROUSE PROTECTORS, .

SPARROW, ......

BULLFINCH, . . . .

SHOREBIRDS, ......

3
4
13
19
26
46

So
66
72

76

94
117
118
123
124
156

VI

MISTLE THRUSH

. Turdus viscivorus

\ U RING the progress of recent years, the Mistle Thrush
has considerably extended its range in the British Islands.
The bird is an inhabitant of the well - cultivated and
sheltered parts of the Lowlands, but owing to the
extensive planting which has taken place in many of our
northern counties, it has spread from its original haunts
to the more isolated plantations and woods of the North.
It is at the present time a fairly common bird in most wooded localities,
and has even extended its range to some of the outlying islands, although
as yet it is only a straggler to the Orkneys.

The Mistle Thrush is found in Great Britain throughout the year, but
those birds which have reared their young in the wild uplands, gradually
draw nearer to the well -cultivated districts as the winter sets in. Its haunts
are somewhat varied ; in well-wooded and cultivated districts it is to be seen
about the gardens, shrubberies, and orchards, and is especially fond of well-
wooded pleasure-grounds. Among the moorlands it frequents the fir woods
and plantations, and the copses of birch and alder on the banks of the
mountain streams. During the autumn the Mistle Thrushes collect into
little parties, and are extremely wild and shy; they are generally seen on the
grass fields, stubble, and turnip fields, and are often mistaken for Fieldfares.
Unlike the Song Thrushes, which love to skulk among the brushwood or
among the leaves of the turnips, the Mistle Thrushes are nearly always seen
in the open, and take wing on the approach of danger, uttering their harsh
grating cries as they fly to the nearest trees for shelter. The Mistle Thrush is
a much swifter bird on the wing than its relatives the Blackbird and Song
Thrush, and as a rule flies much higher in the air. It inhabits the trees and
shrubs, only descending to the ground in search of food.

VOL. IV. — A I

The Mistle Thrush always seeks for its food in the open, where it can
easily detect the approach of danger. Among the grass it obtains snails,
slugs, earthworms, and larvae of various kinds ; many insects, too, are greedily
devoured. During the autumn its favourite fare consists of fruit and berries ;
cherries, gooseberries, and raspberries being obtained in gardens, and on the
moorlands, blackberries, cranberries, cloudberries, and the fruit of the mountain
ash, elder, and hawthorn. The bird has an intense liking for the fruit of
the service-tree, and it will soon strip one of these trees of its clusters of
berries. The Mistle Thrush is popularly supposed to feed on the waxen
berries of the mistletoe — hence its name, — but it does not do so to any
great extent, as this famous parasite is rarely seen stripped of its berries,
even though Mistle Thrushes abound in the neighbourhood. In sowing-
time these birds descend on the ploughed land and devour the scattered
grain, varying this food with an occasional worm or grub.

The Mistle Thrush sings throughout the winter, commencing in the early
autumn after the young can take care of themselves, and continuing till the
breeding season commences in the following spring. Its song somewhat
resembles that of the Song Thrush and Blackbird, but is much louder and
wilder in its refrain. Though rich and mellow in tone it is rather monotonous,
but is very welcome, as it is heard at a season when most of our songsters
are silent. No day seems too wild and stormy for the Mistle Thrush to
sing; perched on some bare twig he pours forth his song in defiance of the
sleet and howling wind, probably receiving his name of ' Storm-cock ' from
this habit. The call-notes of the Mistle Thrush are loud and harsh, and
cannot be readily compared with those of any other bird, though they
resemble very slightly the chattering cry of the Magpie.

Early in February the Mistle Thrushes pair, and often frequent the vicinity
of their nesting-site for weeks before they commence building operations.
They are very pugnacious at this season, and drive off any unfortunate bird
that comes too near their unfinished nest.

The Mistle Thrush is an early breeder, and rears two, sometimes even
three, broods in the season. Its nest may be found on nearly all the forest
trees, but is rarely, if ever, placed in a bush. Larch plantations, birch woods,
and fruit-trees in plantations or orchards are favourite places, as also are
single trees growing beside a road, and the nest is often placed in some
alder or mountain ash growing beside a stream, even among the moors. The
nest is built at various heights from the ground — sometimes quite low down,
at others among the topmost branches ; it is seldom built among the twigs,

2

but is usually placed against the trunk of the tree or in some large fork.
The bird seems to have a peculiar aversion to evergreens for a nesting-site,
and if the tree chosen be ivy-covered, the nest is almost certain to be built
in some fork quite clear of the ivy.

The Mistle Thrush often exposes its nest in the most careless manner,
yet it is surprising how often it escapes detection. The birds are very silent
during the breeding season, especially in the vicinity of their nest, and
perhaps this has something to do with it. The nest undergoes three distinct
stages before completion, as is the case with the nests of nearly all the
Thrushes. The outside is built of grass, moss, dead chickwccd, rootlets,
and often large masses of wool, through which arc woven a few sticks to
hold it all firm ; the rough nest thus formed is lined with mud and clay, and
lastly a thick lining of grass, much of it pulled fresh, is added to complete
the structure.

The eggs laid vary from three to five in number, and are somewhat
different in colour from the typical Thrush's eggs. The ground-colour varies
from bluish white to reddish brown, blotched, spotted, or clouded with rich
purplish brown, and violet grey under-markings, the eggs varying consider-
ably in shape, size, and colour, even in the same clutch. They vary in
length from 1*30 to ro inch, and in breadth from '93 to 79 inch.

When the young are hatched no bird is more vigilant than the Mistle Thrush
in its watch over its offspring. If the nest be in danger no bird is as noisy,
and woe betide the unfortunate Crow, Jay, or Magpie that comes too near.

PLATE I
MISTLE THRUSH. Turdus viscivorus

April 26M, 1897.— The nest from which this Plate was taken was built in a
small mountain ash overhanging the river Tcith, near Doune, Perthshire. In
this district the Mistle Thrush has been very scarce since the severe winter of
1895-96, and where I used to find a score of nests each year, there are now only
one or two pairs left. This nest was built quite close to a path, and was
absolutely in the open, and yet I passed the place several times on the look-out
for nests, and never noticed it.

The old bird was fairly tame, and allowed me to approach quite close, but
would not remain on the nest till I photographed her. Whenever I succeeded
in setting up my camera within range she left the nest and roused the neighbour-
hood with her harsh cries.

In Perthshire I have frequently found nests of these birds containing five
eggs, and have rarely found one with less than four, but this spring (1898), while
in Suffolk, I examined scores of nests, and only twice found as many as five;
nearly all the nests contained only three eggs, and some four, all of which were
highly incubated.

I watched one nest, containing four young birds, which was placed in a
larch at the edge of a small plantation, and found that the old birds fed them
principally on a fat brownish caterpillar, varied with an occasional snail torn
from its shell. Round some of the stones in the neighbourhood lay heaps of
these broken shells, where the birds dashed them to pieces to get at the juicy
morsel within.

VOL. iv. — B

MISTLE THRUSH. Tunhu viuntnu.
»lt NATURAL SIZE

GREAT

LACK-BACKED
GULL

Larus mannus

HE Great Black-backed Gull is the largest species of its
genus found in our Islands, and is a resident. In the
breeding season it principally frequents the neighbourhood
of rocky coasts and mountain lochs, where it is secure
from persecution ; hence it is more commonly met with in
Scotland than in England, and is not known to breed on
any of the low-lying eastern coasts.

The Great Black-backed Gull is the most wary of all the Gulls, and takes
greater pains to build its nest in some inaccessible spot than any other of its
relatives. It is very difficult to approach within gunshot of it, as it seems always
to be afraid of being killed, and the inaccessible rocks on our northern coasts are
its favourite haunts. There it reigns supreme, as no bird can dare to defy it,
and it is one of the greatest robbers and murderers of the sea-coast. It is an
oceanic species, and often wanders immense distances from land, sleeping on the
surface of the water. It flies very steadily and slowly, reminding one rather
of the Heron, and may be seen sailing round and round with outstretched
wings at a great height from the ground, like some Eagle or Vulture.

The Great Black-backed Gull is the scavenger of the coast; nothing
comes amiss to it; no dead fish or carrion, however putrid, is passed by, and
its powerful bill can break the strong shell-fish or crab. In the breeding
season it steals the eggs from the Gulls' and Terns' nests, and carries off the
young birds from the ledges where the Kittiwakes, Guillemots, and Razorbills
breed ; the Eider Ducks' nests are also despoiled by it, and the down scattered
far and wide. In winter-time the Black-backed Gulls collect together and
attend on the fishing fleets, picking up any offal or undersized fish which
may be thrown overboard.

The notes of the Great Black-backed Gull are harsh and loud ; its call-

7

notes may be represented by the syllables ' ag — ag — ag' or ' han — han — han,'
while its alarm-notes are somewhat like ' kyaozik, kyaouk.'

It is not so gregarious as most other Gulls. Single birds are most
commonly seen, and larger flocks than eight or ten birds are not often met with.
Even in the breeding season it is much less sociable than its congeners,
and only breeds in colonies where secure nesting-sites are scarce. They are
very quarrelsome birds, even among themselves, and I have seen several
fierce fights even among the members of the same little colony.

Nest-building commences about the beginning of May, though eggs are
but rarely found before the second week of that month. The Great Black-
backed Gull takes but little pains with the building of its nest, which is
usually little more than a depression in the grass or hollow in the rock,
carelessly lined with dead grass, seaweed, and a few feathers. Occasionally
I have seen it carefully lined with fur and sheep's wool, but this is uncommon.
The favourite site for the nest is the grassy top of some inaccessible rock on
the coast; single pairs usually occupy these fastnesses, but if there be room,
and suitable nesting-sites be scarce in the district, four or five pairs will take
possession of the summit while the Kittiwakes cluster below. If suitable rocks
are not to be found, an island in some loch is utilised, often at a considerable
distance from the coast.

Two, or at the most three, eggs are laid. They are not subject to such
variations as those of the Herring Gull or Lesser Black-backed Gull, but are
usually greyish brown in ground-colour, sometimes pale olive brown, spotted,
blotched, and streaked with surface-markings of dark brown and underlying
spots of brownish grey. Some specimens have the markings sparingly and
evenly distributed over the entire surface of the shell, while on others the
markings are collected on the larger end of the egg, forming irregular blotches
of colour. A very pale variety is sometimes found, having a pale bluish white
ground-colour, very sparingly marked with brownish surface spots and violet
grey under-markings. The eggs vary from 3^20 to 2-89 inches in length, and
from 2-20 to i'95 inches in breadth; very small specimens are indistinguishable
from large specimens of those of the Herring Gull.

Young in down are greyish buff, shading into white on the belly, spotted
with black on the head and throat, and obscurely spotted with dark brown on
the rest of the upper parts. Legs and feet are flesh-coloured, bill slate grey,
irides dark brown.

8

PLATE I
GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. Larus marinus

June i<)/A, 1897. — In the north of Shetland, on the grassy summit of a
precipitous rock called Humla Stack, two pairs of Great Black-backed Gulls
had built their nests, and I was fortunate enough to locate them. The
nests of these birds are not very easy to reach, as a rule; and when I found
that Humla Stack was not a difficult climb, I at once set out with my
camera to photograph them, and obtained a photo of each, one of which is
illustrated in the Plate. I had rather an unpleasant experience that day on
this very Stack. As I was changing my plates on the grassy summit, I
suddenly observed a Fulmar Petrel sailing round the Stack; and as I had
not then secured photos of these birds, I set about getting down the face
of the cliff. It was fairly easy for about ten or twelve feet from the top,
and then I was checked by a smooth face of almost perpendicular rock,
about nine feet high, with a narrow ledge of rock — some fourteen inches
wide — at the bottom. I was very nearly giving it up, when I noticed two
Fulmars sitting on their eggs at a corner on the ledge. I got my camera
slung on my back, and let myself down to full arm's-length over the rock,
steadied myself for a moment, and then let go. Down I went about three
feet, and landed all right on the ledge. I got a snap-shot of one Fulmar,
but the other flew away; then I found it quite impossible to get up again,
and after trying everything, even to standing on my camera case, I had to
give it up and try to get round the rock somewhere down below, a pro-
ceeding which took me four hours of the most trying climbing I have ever
had, as I was burdened with a 25-lb. camera.

VOL, IV.-

:v.

GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL IJUTU mart**,.
I/I. NATURAL SIZE.

RED-BACKED SHRIKE

Lanius collurio

Red-backed Shrike, or Butcher-bird, as it is often
called, is a common and well-known summer visitor to
many of the southern counties of England. It is however
somewhat locally distributed, even in districts where it is
most plentiful. Northwards it becomes much rarer, and is
known in Scotland only as an accidental visitor, chiefly
during migration, although it is stated that there are
records of its having nested in one or two of the eastern counties. In Ireland
its occurrence is extremely rare.

The Red-backed Shrike is one of the last of the summer migrants to
arrive on our shores. Its favourite haunts are in the open country, where
the fields are divided by tall hedges, which afford an excellent place of
concealment, and at the same time a good look-out on the surrounding
country. Immediately on their arrival in this country these birds select a
particular haunt, from which they seldom stray, and may be seen sitting
for hours on some bare perch, sallying forth every now and then to capture
some passing insect. In their habits the Shrikes strongly resemble the
Fly-catchers, and generally choose the topmost twig of some bush over-
grown with brambles, or some lofty spray on a tall hedge, where they will
sit turning their heads from side to side, and jerking their tails just as the
Fly-catchers do.

The food of the Red-backed Shrike is somewhat varied. In addition
to small birds and mice, which it captures by pouncing down on them
unawares, it feeds on bees, wasps, beetles, and many other kinds of insects.
I have also seen small lizards carried off from the heath; these were killed
on the ground and carried off in the bird's claws, and not in its bill. Among
the tall hedges frequented by this rapacious little bird, it is no uncommon

II

thing to come across quite a collection of remains stuck on the sharp thorns.
These are known as 'larders' by the country people. The birds seem to have
regular spots to which they retire to feed, and the bleached and shrivelled
remains of small birds, mice, bees, and lizards tell their own tale. The
flight of this tiny robber is not strong enough to enable it to pursue the
small birds through the air, so it has to pounce down on them unawares,
killing them with its powerful bill. It may sometimes be seen hovering
in the air like a miniature Kestrel, and regularly quarters the ground in
search of the tiny Shrew-mice, which it drops on as they run about among
the grass. It also carries off the young from other birds' nests, and has
even been known to carry off young pheasants from the rearing-coops.
The flight of the Red-backed Shrike is very undulating, reminding one
rather of that of the Green Woodpecker.

The song of the Red-backed Shrike is very simple, consisting merely
of a few short notes quickly repeated, but it is occasionally heard to imitate
the notes of other birds, in the same manner as the Starling. Its call-note
is a harsh chirp, and when its nest is threatened its alarm-note is a loud
' click-click-click ,' followed often by a shrill piping 'dee-dee-dee-dee, dee-dee'

About the third week in May the Red-backed Shrike chooses a nesting-
site. This is usually among the topmost twigs of some thick thorny hedge,
or in some tall bush which is overgrown with brambles, wild roses, or bind-
weed. It does not appear to care much for concealment, as the nest is very
often built in some hedge beside a much-used road or path. The nest is
a bulky one for the size of the bird, and is made chiefly of the dry stems
of plants, dead grass, rootlets, and moss ; the outside is often very carelessly
and loosely built, but the cup which contains the eggs is always beautifully
rounded, and is generally composed of fine rootlets, horse-hair, and sometimes
a little wool.

The eggs laid vary in number from four to six, and vary considerably
both in the ground-colour of the shell and in the markings. They may be
divided into four distinct types. The first is pure white or creamy white
in ground-colour, with very fine spots of rich reddish brown, and large well-
defined underlying markings of violet grey; the second type has a rich
salmon-coloured ground, boldly blotched and spotted with brownish red of
various shades, sometimes with a few hair-like streaks of rich dark brown, and
violet grey underlying spots ; the third is dirty buff in ground-colour, spotted
and blotched with pale olive brown, and with pale brown and inky grey
underlying markings ; the fourth is pale green in ground-colour, spotted

12

and speckled with rather small markings of olive brown, and with numerous
underlying markings of violet grey. The character of the markings also
varies considerably. As a rule they are collected in a zone round the egg,
but on many specimens they are uniformly distributed over the entire surface,
while on another variety they are collected on one end of the egg, forming an
irregular patch, and entirely concealing the ground-colour. On some eggs
the markings are finely powdered over the surface, while on others they are
large, and take the form of bold spots and blotches, and on all specimens the
underlying markings are numerous and well defined.

The eggs vary in length from '95 to 79 inch, and in breadth from 70
to '6 1 inch. Only one brood is reared in the season, the young leaving our
shores with their parents in September.

VOL. IV. — D

PLATE I
RED-BACKED SHRIKE. Lanius collurio

June 28M, 1898. — The nest from which this photograph was taken was built
high up in a bush overgrown with wild roses near the town of Mildenhall in
Suffolk. It was about nine feet from the ground, and I had great difficulty
in getting my camera set up on a wooden trestle, which I borrowed from an
adjoining stackyard.

The old birds were in a great state of excitement, and kept continually
alighting on a spray just above the nest, but in spite of all my efforts to do
so, I was unable to include them in the picture.

The nest was large and bulky, rather larger outside than a Blackbird's
nest, and was almost entirely built of the dead rootlets of some species of
grass very loosely woven together. The lining was of black horse-hair, and
showed up the four pale bluish-green eggs beautifully.

In a large hawthorn bush about thirty yards from the nest I found the
remains of two Blue Tits, a young Thrush, a young Pipit, two very much
dried-up frogs, and numbers of humble-bees and beetles, all impaled on thorns ;
and the ground under the bush was covered with the wing-cases of a large dark
blue beetle, and many feathers of Tits and Yellowhammers. Near another nest,
which I discovered in a tall hedge not far off, I found the four nestlings from
some Finch's nest all carefully stuck on thorns, portions of the backs of each
having already been eaten. This is sure evidence of the rapacity of these
little birds.

RED-BACKED SHRIKE. Umimi cMttrit.
>H NATURAL SIZE.

SKYLARK

Alauda arvensts

bird is better known to all of us than the Skylark ; it
is very widely distributed throughout the British Islands,
extending to the Outer Hebrides, the Orkneys and Shet-
lands. It is a resident, except in the extreme north,
whence it moves south as winter approaches.

The Skylark is more frequently kept in confinement
than any other bird, as it is easily caught, and sings as
sweetly in its little cage as when soaring high above the flower-clad meadows.
It is found in all kinds of localities, from the wild mountain-side to the sea-
coast, but is most abundant on arable lands. Its favourite haunts are among
the richly cultivated districts, but it is seldom if ever seen among trees, as it
prefers the open country. It is not a very shy bird, and will often allow the
observer to come within a distance of a few yards. How quickly it runs
about, now pausing for an instant to look warily around, standing on tiptoe
and stretching up its neck, again crouching down among the grass! On some
dusty road Skylarks may often be seen enjoying a dust-bath, of which they
are very fond, as it helps to rid them of troublesome parasites.

The food of the Skylark in summer consists principally of insects, worms,
and small grubs ; but in winter it feeds almost entirely on seeds of various
kinds and an occasional small berry. It is of great service to the farmer,
as many of the seeds on which it feeds are those of the most troublesome
weeds. The Skylark seems very much attached to its winter haunts, and
it will seldom quit them, no matter how much it is disturbed, unless it is
compelled by hard weather to seek new feeding-grounds.

During winter the Skylark is gregarious; but very early in the spring
the flocks break up and the pairs retire to their breeding-grounds. Early in
March they may be seen chasing each other through the air with great
VOL. rv. — E 17

rapidity, every now and then bursting into song. At this season the song
of the Skylark is especially clear and charming. Up he rises from the
meadow, soaring upward and upward until he appears but a tiny speck, or
is entirely lost in the sky. As the bird rises, the wings are beaten very
rapidly with a fluttering motion, but once fairly started the Skylark's flight
is more regular. When it reaches the zenith of its flight it will sometimes
fly about for a short time, singing; but as a rule it comes down again
directly. The song is continued until the bird is quite near the ground,
when it suddenly ceases, and the little songster drops like a stone to the
ground and flutters off over the grass. The Skylark does not always sing
on the wing ; it will pour forth its notes while perched on some clod of earth
or on the ground, and will occasionally sit and sing on some wall or low
bush. The Skylark sings so continuously, and arranges its notes so
harmoniously, that although its compass is small and its notes are not very
varied, it at once arrests the attention of the passer-by. It is a very
cheerful song, and heralds the approach of spring, gladdening our hearts after
the long cold winter.

The call-notes of the Skylark cannot be described on paper ; they
somewhat resemble the sound made by a whistle half-full of water — a liquid
double note.

The Skylark pairs early in March, but nesting operations do not
commence until the first week in April, eggs being rarely found before the
middle of the month. The nest is always built on the ground, and is
generally artfully concealed amongst the herbage. It is most frequently
found among the rich meadow hay or growing corn, though it is not
unfrequently built among the weeds and coarse herbage on some piece of
waste land, or among the heath on the edge of the moorlands. A slight
depression is scraped in the ground under the shelter of some tuft of
herbage, and in this little hollow the nest is built. It is a very simple
structure of coarse dry grass and moss, lined with fine dry grass, rootlets,
and a little horse-hair. The female undertakes most of the duties of
incubation, and is a very close sitter, often allowing herself to be almost
trodden on ere she quits the nest and flutters along the ground with
outstretched wings and tail, using all her arts to lure the intruder from her
treasure. When returning to the nest she will drop down some distance
from it, and run cautiously through grass to it. All the time that the
female is sitting on the nest the male bird is unceasingly soaring upwards
to pour forth his song, from early morning till sunset.

18

The eggs of the Skylark vary in number from three to five. The
ground-colour varies from dull white to very pale olive, but the markings
are usually so thickly distributed over the entire surface as to conceal most
of it. Surface-markings are olive brown or reddish brown, while underlying
spots are pale grey. On some specimens the markings are collected into a
zone, and on others they are collected in a mass on the large end of the egg.
The eggs are not subject to any great variation in colour, but differ
considerably in size and shape, some being round, others oval, and a few
pyriform ; they vary in length from ri to '86 inch, in breadth from 73 to
60 inch. Two broods are usually reared in the year.

PLATE I
SKYLARK. Alauda arvensis

May 26th, 1897. — This Plate was taken from a nest in a wheat-field near
Hickling Broad in Norfolk. I spent the best part of two days watching
the old birds before I managed to locate the nest. It was quite close to the
edge of the field, beside a cart-road, and the birds always alighted on this
road, some distance from the nest, and ran in among the wheat, making
their way along in the shelter of the young plants.

Both birds approached the nest together; but as soon as the female was
fairly settled on her eggs, the male would rise from the wheat some little
distance from the nest, and soar upwards singing.

I observed a Sparrow Hawk pass one day as the male was singing in the
air. The Lark ceased his strains at once, and flew higher and higher in the
air till he appeared a mere speck in the sky. He did not resume his song
for nearly half an hour after the interruption.

VOL. IV. — F 21

ivH

SKYLARK. AUuJa arptmii.
«/» NATURAL SIZE.

PLATE II
SKY LA R K. Alauda arvensis

May 24///, 1898. — Mildenhall, Suffolk. — I was shown this nest in the corner of
a field of mangolds. As will be noticed in the Plate, the nest was built at the
bottom of a plant, and one side of it was built up much higher than the other,
to conceal the young birds.

After taking a photograph of the nest, I took up the young birds in my
hand to look at them closely, and put them back in the nest when I had
finished. Next morning when I came back to see how they were getting on,
the nest was empty, and there were no signs of the young birds. After a
short search I found that a new nest had been built some ten yards away,
and the old birds had moved their young there.

*V

SKYLARK.

' , NATURAL 8IZE.

UZZARD

Buteo vulgar is

N olden days the Buzzard was pretty generally distributed
throughout the British Islands, but owing to the ruthless
persecution it has met with at the hands of keepers, and
game-preservers in general, it is now confined to one
or two of the larger forests of Scotland, and to the sea-
coasts where the rocks are precipitous. It also breeds
in one or two localities in Wales.

The haunts of the Buzzard are among the deepest solitudes of the deer-
forests, where the silence is only broken by the cry of the Blackcock or
the hoarse croak of the Raven. Here the Buzzard may be seen flying slowly
along, or ascending in spiral flight with outstretched wings like some miniature
Eagle. At times it may be seen perched on a rock, from which it sails
slowly forward to swoop down on some unfortunate mouse or vole. Small
mammals form the principal food of the Buzzard, but it also eats grasshoppers,
beetles, and other insects, and occasionally takes reptiles and small birds if
it can catch them unawares.

No bird is easier to trap than the Buzzard, and because of his unfortunate
resemblance to an Eagle he is persecuted by almost every keeper in the
kingdom. One keeper in the west of Scotland showed me with pride his
list of vermin for the year. It contained no fewer than twenty-eight Buzzards.
When I remonstrated with him for destroying so harmless a bird, he answered
me that he had seen a Buzzard strike down an old cock Grouse before his
eyes!

The Buzzard returns to the same eyrie year after year ; hence the nest is

sometimes a very bulky structure. If the nest is placed in a tree, it is usually

near the top, and is built, as a rule, on some flat branch. It is a large flat

structure, from one and a half to two feet in diameter, the hollow in the middle,

VOL. iv. — G 25

which contains the eggs, being about the size of a soup-plate. Most of the
nests I have seen on the west coast of Scotland were built on rocks over-
looking the sea, or on the precipitous side of some mountain stream.

The nest, which is rather like a larger edition of the Sparrow-Hawk's
home, is a large bulky structure of sticks, the hollow which contains the eggs
being sometimes lined with a few bits of down or wool, and occasionally a few
green leaves. When the eggs are much incubated the Buzzard sits very close,
and no amount of shouting will dislodge her. When she does take wing, she
wheels round and round at some little distance, uttering her melancholy cry,
which may be described on paper by the syllables ' pay-ee-i-o-oo ' rather drawn
out. In a nest in Sutherland, which contained two young birds, I found no
less than seven short-tailed field-mice and half a mole. I have never heard
of any remains of small birds being found in a Buzzard's nest, though they
do occasionally seize small birds unawares ; portions of frogs, lizards, and
other reptiles are, however, not uncommonly met with.

From two to four eggs are laid, though three seems to be the usual
number; they are somewhat rough in texture, and vary considerably in size,
shape, and colour. The ground-colour varies from milky blue to pale burfish
white ; the surface-markings are rich reddish brown, and the underlying
markings are a beautiful pale lilac. Some specimens are richly blotched,
spotted, or streaked with large handsome markings, while others have only
a few faint spots or streaks of colour. On some specimens the markings are
large and confluent, forming irregular blotches of colour, while on others the
markings are covered with a thin coating of lime, giving the egg a delicate
lilac pink tinge. One very rare and beautiful variety is finely streaked and
scratched over one end of the egg with pale chestnut brown, with one or
two large rich dark brown spots. Buzzard's eggs vary considerably in shape,
some being round, others oval, and a few elongated ; they vary in length from
2'25 to i "98 inches, and in breadth from 1*90 to r63 inch.

26

PLATE I
BUZZARD. Buteo vulgar is

May i8///, 1896. — Argyllshire. — Although I have visited several Buzzard's nests,
and taken photographs of them from close quarters, I have never been able
to obtain a satisfactory picture of the eggs and nest. Possibly this is because
the birds choose such inaccessible places to build in on account of the persecu-
tion to which they are subjected. The Plate is taken from the top of a gorge
through which runs a stream, and on the left-hand side of the Plate— on the
south or shady side of the gorge — a pair of Buzzards have built their nest
year after year.

I saw the female arrive at the nest with a mouse in her talons ; she paid
no attention to us, as we stood far above her on the top of the cliff, evidently
knowing that she was quite out of our reach. I threw down several small
pebbles, but as the nest was snugly hidden under an overhanging rock
among some briers, I failed to dislodge her. The male had unfortunately
been caught in a trap some days previously, so she was left to rear her
young alone.

BUZZARD.

:

REDSTART

Ruticilla pkcenicurus

HE Redstart is somewhat locally distributed throughout
the British Islands, but breeds regularly in all the counties
of England and Wales. In some parts of Scotland it is
fairly common, and breeds as far north as Caithness. In
Ireland its occurrence is said to be only accidental.

The haunts of this brightly plumaged little bird are
somewhat varied. In orchards and gardens, and about
old walls, the Redstart flits about and sings its simple and somewhat
monotonous song; it is just as often seen in the plantations at the edges
of the moor, where the decayed stumps of trees are overgrown with masses
of blaeberry bushes, and fragments of rocks, hidden among the bracken, are
scattered about. In Scotland it is generally seen on some moss-clad
dry-stone dyke along the roadside, or among the pine forests, where there
are many convenient nooks and crannies in the dead trees for nesting-sites.

The Redstart usually arrives in this country during the first week in
April, and, as is the case with most of our warblers, the males arrive first by
a few days. The migration is performed at night, so that the bird often
appears in numbers in some place where not one was seen the day before.
On its first arrival the Redstart frequents the tops of the trees, and is very
shy, rarely allowing a close approach ; but as soon as nest-building is fairly
started it becomes more confiding, and may be seen perched on some gate-
post, wall, or dead branch, waving its tail like some tiny red fan. These
peculiar tail motions are a striking habit of this species ; the tail is not jerked
up and down like that of a Fly-catcher or Wagtail, but is moved with a very
rapid, trembling motion, sometimes sideways and sometimes up and down.

The food of the Redstart consists almost entirely of insects, and the bird
is an adept at catching insects on the wing, often securing several passing gnats
VOL. iv. — H 29

or flies ere it seeks its perch again, displaying its rich plumage to perfection as
it hovers in the air. In summer, when the small fruits are ripe, the Redstart
varies its insect diet with vegetable food, and even picks the green corn from
the ears when it is soft and milky.

The song of the Redstart is low and monotonous, and may be best
described as a weak imitation of the song of the Wren. On its arrival the
Redstart generally sings in the tree-tops, but later on the bird usually chooses
some lower perch not far from its nest. Very often it sings as it flies from
one perch to another, or as it flutters in the air, as if bent on catching insects.
In the dark of the summer evenings, and even at midnight, the song of the
Redstart may be heard in the stillness of the pine woods. The call-notes of
the Redstart are somewhat varied. Its everyday note is a sharp ' weet-tic-tic ' ;
in the pairing season the male has a low guttural song which is uttered
as he chases some rival through the branches. When the nest is in danger
a low plaintive ' whit, whit ' is uttered, rather like the call of the Willow
Wren.

The Redstart nests in May. The nest is always placed in a hole, some-
times merely a hollow which barely holds the nest, or, it may be, many feet
from the entrance. The nesting cavity may be in a tree, either a hole in
some half-dead trunk or limb, or in some deep cleft between two branches.
Old walls and ruined buildings afford countless nesting-sites, while some-
times the nest is built in a hole in a steep bank or in a decayed tree-stump
overgrown with blackberry bushes or ivy. Most peculiar sites are often
chosen, — gate-posts, flower-pots, old tin cans, letter-boxes, pumps, and such
like. Indeed, the Redstart is almost as well known as the Robin in this
respect. The nest itself is a rather untidy piece of work ; it is made of dry
grass, moss, wool, etc., and somewhat neatly lined with horse-hair and a
few feathers.

From five to eight eggs are laid, though six is perhaps the usual number
found ; they are very like those of the Hedge-Sparrow, but are slightly greener
and paler in colour, and much more highly polished. They vary in length
from *8o to '69 inch, and in breadth from -56 to '49 inch. Only one brood
is reared in the year, but should the first nest be destroyed, the birds will
make another nest.

PLATE I
REDSTART. Ruticilla phcenicurus

May 3O///, 1897. — Lyndhurst, Hampshire. — This nest was built in a hole in
a half-decayed holly, which was partly overgrown with ivy. The nest was
chiefly composed of moss, but the outside was beautifully decorated with the
skeletonised leaves of the holly, and the lining was entirely of horse-hair.

When the young Redstarts are hatched, their parents are taxed to the
uttermost to procure sufficient food for them, as they are entirely reared on
insects and their larvae, and it must take a large quantity of grubs and small
flies to satisfy the voracious appetites of seven hungry young birds.

Not far from this particular holly I walked past a large rotten branch
which had fallen from a huge ash-tree, and, observing an old woodpecker's hole
in it, I went forward to examine it. As I stooped down, out flew a Redstart,
disclosing her nest, with five beautiful eggs, in the old hole.

During the last few years the Redstart has increased in Strathspey in an
extraordinary way, and in the Glenmore and Rothiemurchus forests it is almost
the commonest bird met with ; the same increase is also noticeable in several
other parts of Scotland.

REDSTART.

1% NATURAL SIZE

GREEN WOODPECKER

Gecinus vtvidis

HE Green Woodpecker is a somewhat local resident in the
British Islands. It is pretty generally distributed through-
out the well-wooded parts of England and Wales south
of Yorkshire, but is only known as an accidental visitor
to Scotland and Ireland.

The Green Woodpecker is the largest and best-known
of the British Woodpeckers. Its favourite haunts are large
parks full of old timber, and open forests and woods. The peculiar laughing
cry and undulating flight of this bird arrest the attention of the observer at
once, as well as the curious manner of its progress up the trunk of some huge
old tree. Its movements remind one rather of a fly on the window-pane ; it
runs up the trunk a little way, pauses a moment or so to pick up an insect,
then creeps forward again in little jerks, now working round to the right,
then to the left, every now and then tapping the bark with its strong bill. It
usually alights on the trunk, fairly close to the ground, and ascends in a spiral
course till it reaches the top, when it flies off to some other tree, uttering its
peculiar laugh as it goes. It is a very shy, solitary bird, and even a pair are
seldom seen together except in the breeding season. It is astonishing how
fast the Green Woodpecker progresses up a tree-trunk ; it seems at home in any
position, and its stiff, pointed tail-feathers are invaluable in supporting it, while
it hammers away at some crevice in the bark.

The food of the Green Woodpecker is chiefly composed of insects and
their larvae, and in districts where ants abound these insects form the bulk
of its food. Indeed, the Green Woodpecker may often be seen on the ground
scattering the loose mould of some ant-hill to unearth the plentiful supply
of ants and their eggs, shooting out its long tongue, and swallowing them in
immense numbers. On the ground it is clumsy, in consequence of the short-
VOL. iv. — i 33

ness of its legs. The Green Woodpecker has been seen to break hazel-nuts
and devour the kernels ; acorns also are sometimes eaten.

The note of the Green Woodpecker is a loud clear ' kyu-kyu-kyu,' rapidly
repeated, and bearing a strong resemblance to a hearty, boisterous laugh.
When alarmed at its nest this note is accentuated into a scream.

The Green Woodpecker is supposed to pair for life, and the old nesting-
hole is often used for many years in succession. As a rule, however, a new
hole is excavated every year, and the disused ones are annexed by some
pair of Starlings or Tits. Both birds assist in making the hole, which is
driven in a horizontal direction till the birds meet within the decayed centre
of the timber; a vertical shaft some twelve or fourteen inches in depth is
then sunk, and the bottom is enlarged into a small chamber. In this cavity
the eggs are laid, no lining being used save the chips and dust which have
accumulated while the birds were making the hole. The birds nearly always
choose a piece of timber which is decayed in the centre; but sometimes
numbers of half-finished holes show that the birds have made the mistake
of starting on a sound limb. The hole is wonderfully round and regular,
and often looks as if some machine had been used to bore it. The Green
Woodpecker does not trouble to carry away the chips of wood, and the
fresh chips at the foot of the tree are a sure indication that the hole is
occupied. All kinds of trees are chosen — chestnuts, poplars, beeches, oaks,
elms, and occasionally firs, — and the hole may be at any height from the
ground. Sometimes it is as much as thirty feet up, while again it may be
only a few feet from the ground. I was shown a Green Woodpecker's
hole at Mildenhall in Suffolk which was only nine or ten inches from the
ground.

The Green Woodpecker lays from five to seven or eight eggs ; they are
pure white, and very glossy in texture, and do not vary much in shape,
some being slightly blunter at the small end than others. They vary from
1-40 to i -20 inch in length, and from -95 to '90 inch in breadth. The eggs
are usually laid during the last week of April or in the beginning of May,
but later nests are sometimes found, probably because the first nest of the
pair has been destroyed.

34

PLATE I
GREEN WOODPECKER. Gecinus -viridis

May 27///, 1898. — Mildenhall, Suffolk. — The Green Woodpecker's nest in this
Plate was about seven feet from the ground, in the trunk of a Spanish
chestnut. For many years the birds occupied a hole on the other side of
the trunk, and somewhat lower down ; but the outside of the tree became
so rotten that pieces of it broke away, and the Woodpeckers shifted their
quarters.

The morning after I took the photograph of it I found the broken egg-
shells lying at the foot of the tree, so the young birds had evidently just
hatched out.

When I was in the New Forest in '97 I had very great difficulty in
finding a hole occupied by the Green Woodpecker. Starlings simply swarm
there, and if the Woodpeckers leave their nesting-hole before it is finished,
even for one or two minutes, it is immediately annexed by a pair of
Starlings.

35

GREEN WOODPECKER. Gttmtamruiii.

LINNET

Ltnota cannabina

'MONO the commons and uncultivated lands throughout the
British Islands the Linnet is a fairly abundant species.
Its distribution is somewhat more restricted during the
breeding season than at other times, but it breeds in
almost every suitable locality, even on the wild Hebri-
dean islands, where it nests in the heather. In Shetland,
however, it seems to be only a rare visitor.

The Linnet is a well-known cage-bird, immense numbers being netted by
the birdcatchers, who easily find a market for a bird of such pleasing song
and tame disposition. The favourite haunts of the Linnet are the commons
and whin-covered ground near the moors ; but in winter it frequents the
stubbles and grass-fields, and it often takes up its quarters in some garden
near a stackyard. During winter the birds are gregarious, and resort to the
stubbles in flocks, searching for their food on the ground. At this season their
habits can be most easily observed ; they are not very shy, and fly off together
to the tops of the nearest trees, where they keep up a twittering chorus till
they deem it safe to return to their feeding-grounds. Sometimes a flock will
wheel round and round in the air with great rapidity, anon hovering in the
air a moment before alighting again. The flight of the Linnet is undulating
and very rapid, and it usually utters a sharp l yik-yik-yik* as it flies. On
the ground it hops about with ease, and clings to stems of thistles, docks,
and other weeds, almost as well as a Tit

The food of the Linnet is chiefly composed of seeds of various kinds.
Except in very hard weather it does not feed much on grain — although it is
often seen on newly-sown corn-fields, — but it eats the seeds of weeds such as
thistles, docks, nettles, dandelions, etc., many of which are very troublesome
to the farmer. It is also very fond of hemp, and other seeds of that kind.
During summer insects are no doubt also devoured.
VOL. rv. — K 37

The Linnet pairs in March, and most of the flocks break up at once,
each pair retiring to its particular breeding -ground. At this season the
song of the males is heard most frequently. At times the air will be
filled with melody, as the males of some flock sing in chorus from the tree-
tops ; but the best time to hear the song of the Linnet is when each pair is
engaged in nest-building. Perched on some whin-bush bright with golden
blossom, the male serenades his mate. The song is not very loud, and some
of it is rather harsh, but it is interspersed with low melodious notes which
possess a peculiar charm. The call-note is a musical ' yik-yik ' or ' twit-twit j
rather rapidly repeated, and the note uttered by either bird to its mate is a
loud ' tyew-yee!

The favourite breeding-places of the Linnet are on the uncultivated
ground which lies between the moors and the arable lands. It shows a
decided preference for whins, and is very fond of nesting in the young firs
in some plantation at the edge of the moors or heaths. In low-lying districts
it will build in a blackthorn bush or hawthorn hedge, and in the wilds of
Scotland its nest is sometimes placed in a tuft of tall heather. A fork is
usually chosen, where the nest is well supported by the surrounding twigs.

The nest is usually well put together, and is made externally of moss,
dry grass, and wool, strengthened with a few twigs, often those of the whin
or fir. The cup which contains the eggs is beautifully rounded, and is lined
with wool, horse-hair, and vegetable down ; a few feathers are also generally
used. The nest is usually not far from the ground, only a few feet, as a rule,
but occasionally it is built high up on some branch. From four to six eggs
are laid. They are greenish white in ground-colour, spotted, blotched, and
streaked with rich purplish brown and reddish brown. Some specimens are
much more richly marked than others, and on some eggs the spots are very
pale and indistinct, being entirely absent in a few cases. The spots are
usually most numerous on the larger end of the egg, and frequently form an
irregular zone. Underlying markings are sometimes pale red, and sometimes
pale lilac, and are not very numerous, as a rule ; on some specimens there
are a few streaks of rich dark brown, and on most eggs there are both light
and dark surface-markings. They vary in length from '80 to '68 inch, and in
breadth from '55 to '49 inch. Careful identification is necessary, as many
specimens are almost indistinguishable from those of the Goldfinch and Green-
finch. Two broods are often reared in the year.

PLATE I
LINNET. Linota cannabina

June yd, 1898. — Mildenhall, Suffolk. — The nest from which this Plate was
taken was built in a small Scotch fir on the edge of a plantation on a large
heath. I found a great many nests on the outskirts of this plantation, and
it seemed to be almost a colony, as I did not find any other locality quite
close where these birds bred.

39

*
-

LINNET. Li*** (oniuM*
V, NATURAL SIZE.

GARDEN WARBLER

Sylvia hortensis

HE Garden Warbler is pretty generally distributed through-
out England, except in the extreme south-west, but is
exceedingly local in Wales. In Scotland it has been met
with in most of the counties south of Inverness-shire,
but is not at all a common species. In Ireland it seems
to be even rarer, and has only been found in two or
three counties.

The Garden Warbler is seldom observed in this country before the first
week in May, and is one of the latest of our summer migrants. It seems
that the Garden Warbler and the Blackcap do not get on together, as in
districts where the Blackcap is common the Garden Warbler is comparatively
rare, and where the Garden Warbler abounds the Blackcap is seldom seen.
As its name implies, the Garden Warbler is often seen in large gardens and
shrubberies ; its haunts are in the dense thickets, whether it be the thick
undergrowth of plantations and copses of hazel, or the thick hedges over-
grown with bindweed. It is a shy, restless bird, like most of the Warblers,
and frequents the most secluded nooks in the districts which it visits. It
keeps out of sight as much as possible, hopping restlessly from branch to
branch, and if alarmed sneaks quietly away into the thickest cover.

Soon after the females have arrived, the male may be heard warbling his
sweet plaintive notes. The song is not so loud as the Blackcap's, and lacks
the full round notes and richness of tone which characterise the song of that
bird ; but no other Warbler possesses so low and sweet a song as the
Garden Warbler. As a rule, the Garden Warbler sings from the shelter of
some thick bush, but now and again the little sober-coloured musician may
be seen pouring forth his song from the topmost twig of some low tree or
bush. The song is heard almost incessantly until the first brood is hatched,
VOL. rv. — L 41

when it ceases for a time, to be again commenced as soon as the second
clutch of eggs is laid. The call-note is a sharp ' click, click' exactly like the
sound made by knocking two small stones together.

The Garden Warbler feeds on berries and small fruits of various kinds,
as well as on insects. It may be seen chasing the insects in the air like
a Fly-catcher, or searching for them under the leaves and among the grass.
When the summer fruits are ripe it takes toll of the cherries, strawberries,
raspberries, and currants from the gardens, and in autumn it eats the berries
of the elder, ivy, etc.

Soon after their arrival in this country the Garden Warblers pair, and
choose a site for their nest. This is usually near the ground, in some tangled
mass of vegetation, in the quietest and most secluded corner of their haunt.
Sometimes the nest is placed on a dead branch choked with nettles, or
among the broad leaves of the brambles, or it may be artfully suspended
from a network of briers overgrowing some bush. It is a flimsy-looking
netlike structure of the dead stems of grasses or small roots, often cemented
together with cobwebs and a few shreds of moss, and nearly always artfully
interwoven with the surrounding branches. The lining usually consists of
a small quantity of horse-hair, and, although it appears so frail a structure,
it is strong and skilfully made. The bird is so exactly the colour of the
surroundings as she sits on her nest, that only the most prying observer
would notice her. How closely she sits, allowing herself to be almost touched
ere she glides like a shadow into the neighbouring undergrowth !

The eggs laid vary in number from four to five ; six are occasionally
found. They are very like those of the Blackcap, though as a rule not so
brown in general appearance. The ground-colour varies from pale buffish
white to greenish white. In some specimens the markings are distributed in
large blotches of greenish brown, varying in depth of colour, and mixed with
smaller and paler underlying markings, with a few irregular streaks of rich
dark brown ; in others the underlying spots are the predominant ones — large
pale violet grey blotches, — the surface-markings of brown having the character
of streaks and mottlings, some of them being very dark; in a third variety
the markings are chiefly round the large end of the egg — very rich brown
spots and streaks, and grey underlying blotches. The red variety, which is
found among the eggs of the Blackcap, is not known to occur. They vary in
length from '84 to "69 inch, and in breadth from '64 to -54 inch.

42

PLATE I
GARDEN WARBLER. Sylvia horteusis

May 2 is/, 1898. — Mildenhall, Suffolk. — The nest which is depicted in the Plate
was chosen from some eight or nine which I examined one day in a hazel
plantation and the hedge round it. Most of the nests were quite impossible
to photograph without cutting away the surrounding branches and so
destroying the character of the site. But I found two which I could
photograph with a little trouble, after some searching. The birds were very
tame, and sat on their nests while I had a good look at them. The copse
was filled with the sweet plaintive song of the males, while now and then a
Nightingale would burst forth into melody. On a second visit to this copse,
in July, I found no fewer than five nests containing fresh eggs, evidently
second broods.

43

GARDEN WARBLER.

t/t NATURAL SIZC.

.

TURTLE-DOVE

Turtur communis

URING the breeding season the Turtle-Dove is pretty gene-
rally distributed throughout the greater part of England
and Wales. It is, however, somewhat rare in the southern
counties of Devon and Cornwall, and North of Yorkshire,
and is also seldom observed in some of the wilder Welsh
counties. It is said to breed sparingly in a few counties
in Ireland, but is only known as an accidental straggler
to Scotland. There is a record of its occurrence in Orkney, and it passes
Shetland on its spring and autumn migrations. Unlike the true Pigeons, it
does not winter in our Islands.

The Turtle-Dove does not arrive in this country until the last days of
April or the first week in May, leaving again during September. It is very
partial to plantations of firs and dense coverts which afford it plenty of
shelter, and is also found in pleasure-grounds and dense shrubberies, or
among the tall and thick hedges in well -cultivated districts. It is a very
timid bird, and seeks safety among the trees on the least alarm, looking
anxiously from side to side as it sits perched on some leafy branch. Its
flight is very powerful and swift, and it often flies long distances to feed.
When disturbed from the ground, it rises with a loud clapping of its wings
and makes straight for the nearest trees.

Soon after their arrival in this country the Turtle-Doves fill the groves
and woods with their rich, crooning notes. These notes vary slightly, and are
modulated in various ways according to the caprice of the bird, and may be
represented on paper by the syllables ' coor-r-r-coor-r-r,' prolonged for some
little time.

The food of the Turtle-Dove consists chiefly of grain and the seeds of

several plants, varied with small quantities of soft fruit and little land-shells.
VOL. iv. — M 45

It drinks frequently, like most of the Pigeons, and seems to be very partial
to brackish water, its fondness for salt no doubt accounting for its abundance
near the coast. In the early autumn, flocks of Turtle-Doves may be seen
haunting the stubbles, where they no doubt feed on the scattered grain and
shoots of clover.

Almost immediately on its arrival the Turtle-Dove seeks out a site for
its nest, and begins the work of building. As a rule the nest is not very far
from the ground — much lower down than that of its cousin the Ring-Dove —
and is sometimes built in an evergreen bush, sometimes in a tall, thick hedge,
or on the flat branches of some spruce or Scotch fir. It is generally a flat,
slight structure, made of slender twigs, occasionally of rootlets and the dead
stalks of nettles and such like. Sometimes the nest is fairly bulky, and has
the appearance of having been added to for several seasons. In Suffolk I
observed many nests in the ivy which had overgrown most of the tall hedges ;
indeed, this seemed to be the favourite site for nests, and one could hardly
walk a hundred yards along any of these thick hedges without seeing at
least one Turtle-Dove sitting on her eggs.

Both birds assist in the duties of incubation and in rearing the young, two
broods being frequently reared in the year. The eggs are laid during the latter
half of May, sometimes later ; they are two in number, of a beautiful creamy
white, having a delicate pinkish tinge when quite fresh, owing to the trans-
parency of the shell. They are oval in shape, both ends being usually almost
equally pointed, and vary in length from 1*24 to i'o8 inch, and in breadth
from '94 to '85 inch.

The eggs of the Turtle-Dove cannot be readily confused with those of
any other British species of Pigeon owing to their small size.

46

PLATE I
TU RTLE-DOVE. Turtur communis

May 28///, 1898.— Mildenhall, Suffolk.— The nest in this Plate was built in a
small spruce fir in a large plantation. It was only five or six feet from the
ground, which was about the average height at which nearly all the Turtle-
Doves' nests there were built. I found more than a dozen nests in one end
of this plantation, some of them in spruces, some in larches, a few in Scotch
firs in the thick part at the top, and a good many in elders, well concealed
among the leaves.

I tried very hard to obtain a photograph of a Turtle-Dove on her nest,
but they were so dreadfully shy that I had to give it up at last, though I
tried almost every artifice I could think of. The Dove sitting on her nest
among the dark foliage of the firs makes a most lovely picture, as the soft
gradations of her plumage contrast so pleasingly with the depth of the green
background.

47

TURTLE-DOVE. T*rt*r ttmnnunt.

'/, NATURAL WZC.

ARN OWL

Stnx fla m me a

HE Barn Owl is a fairly common resident throughout
Great Britain and Ireland, and occurs on many of the
adjacent islands.

The Barn Owl is the commonest Owl in Great
Britain, and is the most nocturnal in its habits, being
seldom seen abroad in the daytime unless driven from
its hiding-place. When disturbed during the day the
Barn Owl wings its noiseless way to the nearest dark corner, followed by all
the small birds in the neighbourhood, who fly after it and mob it most
impertinently, no doubt knowing its powerlessness to catch them in the
daylight. It sleeps all day in some hiding-place, generally a hole in some
huge old oak or walnut, often in the belfry of some church or a crevice in
some ivy-covered ruin ; a favourite place is on the top of the wall just under
the roof of a barn.

The noiseless, measured flight of the Barn Owl has something uncanny
about it, as he flaps slowly past, now sailing swiftly over the grass, again
wheeling lazily round some clump of trees. How large and mysterious he
appears in the twilight, too ! Little wonder that he has a bad name among the
ignorant and superstitious country-folk. It is marvellous to see how swiftly
he checks himself in his flight to pounce down on some unfortunate mouse
which his sharp eye has detected among the grass. He rarely misses his prey,
and rises aloft with his victim in his terrible sharp claws, to carry it off to
his lair, where he devours it at his leisure.

The food of the Barn Owl consists of rats, mice, moles, bats, and birds,

with an occasional beetle. The indigestible remains of its food are ejected in

the form of pellets, which usually contain the bones and skins of two or

three animals. Each individual seems to have its favourite food, as the pellets

VOL. iv. — N 49

under one nest will contain only the remains of mice, those under another
tree all rats or small birds. The number of small quadrupeds that one Barn
Owl will destroy is marvellous, and is clearly shown by the bushels of
pellets which are found in and around the nesting-place. And yet the game-
keeper ruthlessly destroys the Owls, and hangs them on his vermin-poles as
enemies of game. In one nest I have seen as many as eight full-grown rats,
all newly killed : think of the damage they would have done ! No doubt the
Barn Owl does take a few small birds, such as sparrows, yellow-hammers,
and linnets, catching them as they roost on some exposed position on his
beat, but I have never heard of any remains of young game-birds being
found in the pellets.

The usual note of the Barn Owl is a screech which is quite impossible
to describe on paper; it has also a curious note, which can best be described
as a ' snore,' and is generally uttered by the young birds.

The Barn Owl makes no nest ; the eggs are laid in some convenient
hole, either in a tree or in some building or cleft among rocks, and the eggs
are often surrounded by pellets. Eggs are seldom found before the end of
April or the beginning of May, and two broods, sometimes even three, are
reared in a season ; hence nests containing eggs are occasionally found as late
as the end of September. The number of eggs laid varies from four to seven ;
they are pure white, with little or no gloss, and are not quite so round
as the eggs of most Owls. They vary in length from i'68 to 1*52 inch, and
in breadth from 1*3 to ri8 inch.

PLATE I
BARN OWL. Strix flammea

June 26th, 1898. — Mildenhall, Suffolk. — This Plate gives a very usual site for
a Barn Owl's nest. In many of the old, well-timbered parks, most of the very
old elms and oaks are hollow in the centre, access to the cavity being gained
by the hole where some limb has rotted off. In such localities the Barn
Owl is plentiful and nests not difficult to locate. I thought that the hole
shown in the Plate looked a very likely one for a nest, and on striking the
tree once or twice with my stick out flew a Barn Owl. The nest cavity was
four or five feet below the hole, and contained four nearly full-fledged young
Owls, who ' snored ' and snapped their bills at me.

Taking the photograph of it was rather a [difficult task. Fortunately there
was a dead tree standing quite close, and from one of the larger branches of
it I managed to get a good view of the nesting-hole.

The young when first hatched are covered with a pure white down. The
eggs seem to be laid at intervals, the bird commencing to sit as soon as the
first is laid, as I have frequently observed eggs and young birds of different
age in the same nest. The number of mice, rats, etc., which the Barn Owls
bring to their young in one day is simply surprising; in a nest containing
four half-fledged young I found no less than eleven mice, and parts of five
or six others, besides two full-grown rats untouched.

BARN OWL.

REED-WARBLER

Acrocephalus streperus

HE Reed-Warbler is a common summer visitor to the
southern counties of England, and breeds in most
districts suitable to its habits. North of the H umber,
however, it is extremely rare, and it seems doubtful
whether it ever breeds in the counties north of that. It
has been recorded from Scotland and Ireland, but I
can find no authentic record of its ever having bred in
either country.

The Reed-Warbler is an inhabitant of the dense reed-beds and sedges
which abound in the fen-country, and on the shallow edges of lakes, ponds,
rivers, and ditches. It is also found among the willow-bushes and brushwood
in the neighbourhood of water, especially in ornamental grounds where there
are numerous ponds.

The Reed-Warbler arrives somewhat late in the spring, and his well-
known song is rarely heard before the first few days of May. In cold, windy
weather the birds very seldom sing unless disturbed ; but on a warm, sunny
day they sing almost incessantly, and are often heard nearly all night. The
Reed-Warbler is a very shy and retiring bird, and is much more often heard
than seen ; sometimes, however, it is possible to catch sight of it as it clings
to some perpendicular reed, or flies from one patch of reeds to another.

The song of the Reed- Warbler is rather like that of the Sedge- Warbler ;
it is not so loud and harsh, but is somewhat more monotonous, though it
possesses some little variety and sweetness. The alarm-note at the nest is a
harsh scold, something like ' har-r-r, har-r-r-r} and the call-note is a soft
' choh-cfwh' repeated once or twice. Sometimes a bird will continue to sing
almost incessantly for half an hour, and then suddenly cease for an hour or
two; but as a rule the Reed-Warbler sings intermittently throughout the day.
VOL. iv.— o 53

Like all its congeners it is insectivorous, although in autumn it devours
currants and elder-berries, or any other soft fruit. At times it may be seen
chasing an insect across some still piece of water, dropping into the reeds
as soon as it has captured its prey.

Nest -building seldom commences before the beginning of June, eggs
being rarely found before the end of the first week. Sometimes the nest is
built in willow-bushes, especially if they overhang the water; but as a rule it
is slung between two or three reeds in the middle of some dense reed-bed.
The easiest way to find the nests of these birds is to wade among the tall
reeds and gently bend them aside with a stick. The outside of the nest is
principally built of roots and dry grass-stalks with a little moss added, but
some nests are embellished with bits of wool, a feather or two, or a little
vegetable down ; the lining of the nest is sometimes very fine dry grass, and
sometimes small rootlets. During the nesting season the Reed -Warbler is a
very quarrelsome bird, and drives off all comers from its own particular patch
of reeds. The vicinity of the nest is usually betrayed by the male beginning to
sing, and both birds are generally found in close proximity to the nest. In a long
ditch full of tall reeds each nest is at some distance from the next, and the
males vie with each other in singing their loudest. It is only among the
densest parts of the reed-beds that the birds build ; when the reeds are slender
and not close together no nests will be found and few birds seen. The nest
is very deep for its breadth, no doubt being specially built so in order to keep
the eggs from rolling out when the reeds are blown about in a storm.

The eggs laid vary in number from three to five. They do not go
through any great variety of colour. The ground-colour is a pale greenish
blue, blotched and spotted with greenish brown surface-markings, the under-
lying markings being somewhat paler and greyer than the others. On some
specimens the markings are large and bold, and are usually most numerous
on the larger end of the egg; on others they are evenly distributed over the
entire shell, and take the form of small streaks and spots, while on some
specimens there are a few streaky marks, almost black. The eggs of the
Reed-Warbler vary in length from 77 to 70 inch, and in breadth from -55
to '49 inch. Only one brood is reared in the year.

54

PLATE I
REED-WARBLER. Acrocephalus streperus

June 25//r, 1898. — Among the tall reeds growing along the banks of a still
pool on the river Lark in Suffolk, I located several Reed-Warblers, evidently
making preparations for nest -build ing. I spent some time watching them
collecting the materials, and on the 23rd I found that one of the nests con-
tained three eggs. Photography was out of the question on that day and the
next, owing to the breeze which was blowing; but on the 25th I got down to
the river in the early morning, before the wind rose, and after several attempts
I succeeded in getting a lull, and exposed two plates. The birds kept some
distance from the nest, as they had not yet commenced the work of incubation ;
and although most birds exhibit a peculiar tameness in the early hours of the
morning, I could hardly manage to catch so much as a glimpse of the little
songsters as they clung to the upright stems of the reeds.

55

REED-WARBLER. AermtfUhu stnftnu.
V. NATURAL MZC.

TREE SPARROW

Passer luoutainis

Tree Sparrow is not nearly so common a bird as the
House Sparrow, and is much more locally distributed. In
the eastern and midland counties of England it is most
abundantly distributed, becoming rarer in the northern
counties. In Scotland it breeds in several of the eastern
and northern counties, and I myself observed a solitary
pair in the Shetland group, near Baltasound in Unst.
In Ireland it is rare.

The Tree Sparrow is not as a rule found so near the dwellings of man
as its relative the House Sparrow. Its favourite haunts are among the fields
and wilder districts, along the rows of pollard willows fringing the banks of
some quiet stream, or among the fir plantations on the bare hillsides among
the moors. It is a very much shyer bird than the House Sparrow, whose
long residence among the busy thoroughfares has imparted a certain fearless-
ness to it, but otherwise they are very much alike in their habits. It is quite as
pugnacious as its town relative, and several of them may often be seen engaged
in a regular scrimmage, tumbling over each other and keeping up a chorus of
angry chirps. Among the trees it is a much more active bird than the House
Sparrow, and hops from twig to twig with the agility of a Tit its flight
seems to be more rapid, and it is easily recognised by its more musical
note.

The food of the Tree Sparrow consists chiefly of insects and their larvae
during summer, and of small seeds and a little grain in winter; during the
latter season it may often be seen in company with House Sparrows and
Chaffinches in the stackyards, or about the barns and dunghills in some
steading. At this season the resident birds are no doubt increased in
numbers by migrants from the more northern portions of their range,
probably from Scandinavia.

The Tree Sparrow can hardly be said to possess a song, but during the
pairing season it utters a few notes which are chiefly modifications of its call-
VOL. rv. — 1» 57

note, a somewhat musical and shrill chirp. They are very noisy birds when
their nesting-site is disturbed, and they will chatter defiance at the intruder
from the safety of the neighbouring tree-tops.

The Tree Sparrow very probably pairs for life, as the same nesting-sites
are tenanted yearly. It is not a very early breeder, as fresh eggs are usually
to be found in the beginning of May, nest-building being usually begun in
the latter half of April. The site chosen is somewhat varied : at times
the nest is placed in a hollow branch of some tree; it is also often built in
a hole in the thatch of a barn or outhouse, or in a hole in a disused quarry
among the rocks, or in the thick top of some fir-tree. In Norfolk I have
seen numbers of nests in the little boxes put up in trees for Tits and
Starlings, and have found two or three nests in dry-stone dykes. The Tree
Sparrow is, however, most fond of breeding in the top of the stump of some
pollard willow. In many parts of England broad ditches take the place of
hedges in dividing the fields, and along these ditches there are nearly always
rows of pollard willows. The stumps of these willows are full of holes — in
fact, a paradise for Tree Sparrows — and I have seen as many as five nests
in one stump.

The nest is made rather in the same way as the House Sparrow's, but
does not contain such an assortment of rubbish. It is built externally of
straw, dry grass, and fine rootlets, lined with a profusion of feathers, wool,
and hair. If the nest be built in a hole it is usually cup-shaped, but if
the site be open it is domed and compactly built.

From four to six eggs are laid : they are somewhat like those of the
House Sparrow, but are usually smaller, redder in colour, and as a rule darker.
The eggs in each clutch are very similar in colour, except one egg, which is
generally much lighter than the others. The ground-colour is bluish white, but
the markings are so fine and evenly distributed over the entire surface, that
it is usually quite hidden. Surface markings are grey, greyish brown,
greenish brown and black, underlying markings being violet grey. On
some specimens the markings are large and bold, on others very fine and
evenly distributed, while on some eggs they consist of very fine streaks or
indistinct mottlings. They vary in length from '84 to 71 inch, and in
breadth from '61 to "53 inch. Three broods are sometimes reared in the
season.

A most interesting distinction between the Tree Sparrow and the House
Sparrow is that the male and female of the former species are almost
precisely similar in plumage.

58

PLATE I
TREE SPARROW. Passer montanus

July yd, 1898.— Mildenhall, Suffolk.— The row of pollard willows depicted
in the Plate was a favourite haunt of Tree Sparrows; almost every tree had
two or three nests in the hollow crown of the stump. When I took this
photograph the birds were hard at work feeding the young of their second
brood, and a local ornithologist informed me that he had often taken fresh
eggs from these same trees in the middle of August — probably the third
brood in that season.

I watched several nests for some time, and noted that the principal item
in the bill of fare was a large, fat green caterpillar. I tried to get one of
them in order to see the species, but was unable to manage it.

Frequent scrimmages arose in those trees where two or three pairs were
nesting in close proximity, all the inhabitants taking part, and the birds from
the neighbouring trees collected to see the cause of the disturbance. I
roughly estimated the colony at forty-five pairs of birds.

59

TREE SPARROW. Ptiur m~4»»*>.

STONE-CURLEW

(Edicnemus scolopax

N some of the eastern counties of England, among the
warrens and heaths, the Stone-Curlew is still a fairly
common bird, and breeds annually in the counties of
Yorkshire, Lincoln, Bedford, Buckingham, Hertford,
Oxford, Dorset, Hants, Sussex, Kent, etc. It is a more
or less accidental straggler to other parts of England on
migration. In Scotland it is only known as a rare
visitor, and has occurred about half a dozen times in Ireland.

The favourite haunts of the Stone-Curlew or Norfolk Plover are the
warrens, commons, and heaths of the lowlands. It is most partial to open
ground, where it can keep a good look-out and detect the approach of danger
from all sides. The Stone- Curlew arrives in its summer haunts about the
middle of April, leaving them for the south about the end of October, though
a few birds winter in some of the southern counties. It loves the open heaths
and sandy wastes, but in some parts of Suffolk I have found its nest in sandy
fields almost surrounded by plantations of firs. It is most active about nightfall,
when its loud plaintive cry ' ktir-leea,' ' kiirr-leeaa ' may be heard in the hush
of evening, and often at midnight. As soon as the young can fly the Stone-
Curlews become more or less* gregarious, and the broods and their parents join
into flocks, often consisting of a hundred or more birds.

The food of the Stone-Curlew consists of worms, slugs, and snails ;
insects of various kinds are also eaten, such as beetles, earwigs, caterpillars,
etc. The bird also takes small frogs, lizards, etc., and is said to occasionally
take field-mice and voles.

On sandy ground, and in the chalk and flint districts, the light colour
of the Stone-Curlew's plumage makes the bird almost invisible; but on the
heaths, where there is usually a fair proportion of peat, the bird is very
conspicuous, even at some distance. The bird seems mainly to rely on its
power of observation to escape its enemies, and selects a situation for its nest
VOL. iv. — Q 6 1

where it can see all round, evidently not caring whether it can be seen or
not. The sitting bird, as a rule, runs about fifteen or twenty yards from the
nest and then takes wing; but occasionally she will trust to her protective
colouring and flatten herself out motionless on her nest. I have walked
past a bird in this position within ten yards and she never moved, though
she must have seen my eye fixed on her. The actions of the Stone-Curlew
at the nest very much resemble those of the true Bustards and not the
Plovers.

About the end of the first week in May the Stone-Curlew selects a
spot on which to deposit her two eggs. Nest there is none, the eggs being

\

deposited in a slight hollow scratched in the ground. The site chosen is, as
a rule, in some very bare place, where the heath is very short, or on one of
the little patches of bare soil studded with pebbles or flints. In warrens I
have often seen the eggs laid on the patch of sandy soil scraped out from
some hole by the rabbits, or on some disused sheep track. In Suffolk I was
shown a nest in a turnip-field, between two drills, in a part of the field where
most of the roots had been killed by the drought ; and I found a nest in a
young plantation on a patch of bare ground in one of the rides cut for
shooting purposes.

The eggs vary in ground-colour from creamy white to rich buff, spotted,
blotched, or streaked with several shades of brown and underlying markings
of grey or lilac. On some specimens the markings take the form of curious
streaks and scrawlings, on others they are chiefly confined to the larger end
of the eggs, and are large, irregular blotches, while a third variety is very finely
dusted all over with minute specks. One or two nests I have examined
contained a richly marked egg and one almost entirely devoid of markings,
save one or two large and irregular underlying spots of a beautiful lilac
grey. The intensity of the brown surface-spots varies considerably, some
specimens having a few splashes of rich velvety black on the larger end.
One beautiful specimen which I took has a ring of very fine spots round
the larger end of the egg, which is suffused with a delicate pink tinge
shading into violet on the extreme end of the egg. The eggs vary in length
from 2'2O to 2'o inches, and in breadth from r6 to 1*49 inch.

Only one brood is reared in the year, but if the first eggs be taken, a
second nest will be made within a short distance of the original site. Young
in down are beautiful little creatures, and can run with great speed soon after
they are hatched, but usually squat down on the ground on the approach of
danger and trust to their protective colouring for safety.

62

PLATE I
STONE-CURLEW. (Edicnemus scolopax

May 28//r, 1898.— Suffolk.— On a visit in Suffolk I observed two or three
Stone-Curlews flying about on a stretch of heath in a small valley near some
large pine woods. Having obtained the necessary permission, I armed myself
with my camera and glasses and paid a visit to the heath. As I walked
across some bare patches of ground covered with flints, a Stone-Curlew
rose about twenty yards from me and flew straight away, being shortly joined
by her mate. I marked the spot and walked up to it, almost stepping on the
two eggs, which were laid in a slight depression in the sandy soil among
the scattered flints. I took a photograph of it and retired some distance off
to await the return of the birds. In about twenty minutes the female flew
past, and wheeling round alighted some twenty yards from the nest. She
stood there for three or four minutes, and then ran straight from the nest
for about thirty yards with her head and neck depressed ; she then stopped
and squatted down on the ground for nearly a quarter of an hour. At last
she rose and ran swiftly to a slight knoll, on which she stood motionless for
some time with head erect, evidently watching me, as I was not properly
concealed. Just as I was thinking she would fly away again, she stopped,
ran straight to the nest, and settled herself on the eggs. I then rose and
walked slowly round her from one side to the other, passing within ten yards
of her as she lay flattened out on her eggs, watching me with her curiously
large eyes.

STONE-CURLEW. (EJumnua utUftu.
'/, NATURAL SIZE.

PARTRIDGE

Pe rdix c in ere a

HE Partridge is a resident in all the cultivated districts
of the British Islands where game is preserved. In some
of the eastern counties of England it has been nearly
exterminated by the introduction of the Red-legged
Partridge. It is not found in the Outer Hebrides, but
has lately been introduced into the Orkneys with
great success.

The Partridge is a most fastidious bird in the choice of a haunt. The
district may be too wet, or the fields too large and open, or there may not
be sufficient cover in the hedges for nesting purposes. Rich, well-cultivated
districts, where the soil is light and sandy and the fields are not too large,
but divided with thick, low hedges, meet its requirements best. It
rarely enters woods, but is fond of straying to waste ground covered with
whins and coarse herbage. Like the Pheasant, the Partridge runs with great
speed, but when not alarmed will walk about and feed like the domestic fowl.
It is rarely known to perch on trees, and it always prefers to escape from
its enemies by running, threading its way along some thick hedge-bottom with
great speed, and only taking to its wings as a last resource. It often squats
down on the bare earth when any danger approaches, trusting for safety to
its protective colouring.

The flight of the Partridge is performed by rapid beats of its short,
rounded wings, which make a loud, whirring noise ; often, when about to
alight, the wings are held out and the bird skims through the air. During
the heat of the day the Partridge is especially fond of frequenting some bare,
sandy spot, where it loves to dust its plumage and rid itself of troublesome
parasites.

The food of the Partridge in the early part of the year is chiefly composed
of the young shoots of plants, and the scattered grain which it picks up on
the newly sown fields. In summer it subsists chiefly on insects and their
VOL. iv. — K 65

larvae ; in the autumn, wheat, oats, barley, and even peas and beans are
obtained in the stubbles, while small seeds of various kinds, and the shoots of
all kinds of plants, are sought for along the hedgerows.

Partridges roost on the ground, on some bare spot in the open fields,
where they can detect the approach of danger from any side. They generally
sit in a small circle, heads outwards, and as soon as the alarm-note is given
they fly quickly off in different directions, not to gather again till daylight.

The note of the Partridge is a peculiar one, and can be heard at a great
distance on account of its loud, high-pitched tone. It is heard principally in
the morning and evening, and is most persistently uttered during the pairing
season. It may be represented on paper by the syllables ' kir-r-r-r-rik^ the
latter syllable being often repeated many times rapidly.

Partridges are said to pair for life, or at least for so long as their lives
are spared by the shooters. Late in February or early in March the coveys
break up, but eggs are seldom found before May. The Partridge nests on
the ground, choosing a site in some thick hedge-bottom, under a whin bush,
in some dry ditch where the coarse vegetation is dense and tangled, or
among standing corn or clover. Sometimes it will choose a very exposed
situation on some bank beside a footpath, and it is wonderful how it often
escapes discovery in such places. The nest is a very slight structure, merely
a few dry leaves and grasses gathered together in some hollow, among which
the eggs are allowed to lie half covered up. The male bird is very attentive
to his mate, and keeps guard over the nest, driving off all intruders of his
own species.

From ten to twenty eggs are laid, sometimes many more, but it is
probable that very large clutches are the produce of more than one female.
They are pale olive brown, without markings of any kind, and the shell is
smooth and very glossy ; pale bluish green and white varieties are sometimes
found. The eggs vary in length from i'5 to 1-30 inch, and in breadth from
1*15 to I'd inch. It is doubtful whether the Partridge ever rears a second
brood.

66

PLATE I
PARTRIDGE. Perdix cinerea

June i2///, 1898. — Suffolk. — The Partridge sitting so peacefully on her nest
was almost the tamest bird I have ever seen. I very nearly walked on her
to begin with, and had to take a long step to avoid treading on her. To my
surprise she did not get up, so I put up my camera and took a photo of her.
If I had not seen her eyes moving I would certainly have supposed that she
was dead. Next morning fourteen little chicks hatched out, and I spent some
time taking snap-shots of them as they ran about with their mother.

PARTRIDGE. /Vn*> cintrt*.
•/« NATURAL SIZE.

| . ,

PLATE II
PARTRIDGE. Perdix cinerea

June i2//r, 1898. — Mildenhall, Suftblk. — The Partridge's nest depicted in this
Plate was in a large patch of bracken on the outskirts of a wood ; not twenty-
paces from it was another nest which contained four Pheasant's eggs in
addition to those of the Partridge. The keeper told me that they often
found Pheasants' and Partridges' eggs in the same nest, and occasionally Red-
legged Partridges' eggs too.

VOL. iv. — s 69

^'

PARTRIDGE, ftrdu eiiurta.
>U NATURAL CIZC.

TUFTED DUCK

Fuligula crtstata

>LTHOUGH the Tufted Duck is a fairly common winter
visitor to most of our low-lying coasts, it is extremely
local in its distribution during the breeding season. In
England it is most abundant in the counties of Norfolk
and Nottingham in the nesting season, and has been
recorded as breeding sparingly in several other counties.
In Scotland it breeds in considerable numbers in Perth-
shire and some of the adjoining counties, and its nest has been found in more
than one county in Ireland.

The Tufted Duck is essentially a fresh-water duck during the breeding
season— though found on the coast during winter,— and prefers some shallow
lake or pond, rather secluded, and surrounded with reeds, rushes, anil
sedge. Its food consists of different water insects, varied with portions of the
weeds growing on the bottom, which latter food it obtains by diving, being
particularly expert at this, and often remaining for a considerable time under
water. When the Tufted Duck has brought up a bunch of weeds from the
bottom, it tears it to pieces on the surface, shaking it in the water and
selecting the choicest morsels.

The Tufted Duck is not nearly so shy as some of its congeners, and may
generally be approached within quite a short distance. On the wing the duck
always precedes the drake, who follows faithfully in all her wheelings. During
the day the Tufted Duck is a very silent bird, and is usually to be seen
sitting on the water in the middle of the loch or pond where it has come to
feed, some asleep with their heads hidden under their scapulars, and others
pruning their feathers or diving for weeds. Tufted Ducks sit very lightly
on the water, and the drake is very conspicuous with his white breast and
dark wings and back; the crest on his head is quite visible even a long way

off. When the shades of evening begin to fall the Tufted Ducks get restless,
and sit up on the water flapping their wings, or take short flights and splash
down into the water again, continually calling to each other with their harsh
'grr-grrr-grrrr* When dusk sets in they rise in a body, flying along the
surface of the water for some distance before rising in the air, and return to
their breeding -places, coming back again to their feeding-grounds in the
morning.

The Tufted Duck does not commence nesting operations until late in
May in Scotland, though it does so somewhat earlier in more southern
localities. The nest is not far from the water as a rule, and is generally
placed in the centre of some tussock of rank grass or clump of rushes ; a low
grassy island covered with rushes, coarse grass, and clumps of sedge is a
favourite site. The nest is little more than a slight hollow lined with dry
grass, the down being added as the eggs are laid ; I have, however, on two
or three occasions, observed nests of the Tufted Duck containing highly
incubated eggs, in which the lining was composed entirely of dry grass
without one scrap of down.

The number of eggs laid is usually ten or twelve — rarely more. They
are pale greenish grey in colour, and average 2*30 inches in length and r62
inch in breadth. Small eggs of the Tufted Duck might be confused with
eggs of the Pochard, but the down of the latter is larger and paler in colour,
and the sites chosen for nesting are somewhat different. The down of the
Tufted Duck is greyish black with slightly paler centres to the flakes, and
has no white tips.

PLATE I
TUFTED DUCK. Fuligula cristata

May 2O//r, 1895. — Kinross. — This nest was taken on a low grassy island in
a loch in Kinross-shire. We found several nests, and saw the birds get up
from them. There were also a good many Shovelers breeding there.

The Tufted Duck is very careful of her young, and on the approach of
danger will invariably lead them into the middle of the loch, where she tries
to conceal them by keeping them close up to her.

Young in down are uniform dark brown, nearly white on the belly.

VOL. iv. — T 73

TUFTED DUCK. Fmiigulm tritMu.
V, NATURAL SIZE.

JAY

Garrulus glandarius

N most of the wooded parts of England the Jay is still a
common bird, and seems even to be on the increase in some
districts in spite of the war waged against it by keepers
and game-preservers in general. In Scotland it has become
much rarer of late years and is now only found in a few
districts, and it is only in Perthshire and the surrounding
counties that it can be called at all a common bird. In
Ireland it is chiefly confined to one or two counties in the south, where it
is very locally distributed.

Like many of our bright-plumaged birds, the Jay is a bird of the woods,
where it can find seclusion in the thick tangles of oak and birch and where
there is plenty of undergrowth. Its favourite haunts are woods where there are
large clumps of hollies and other evergreens, and it often takes up its quarters
in some large shrubbery close to a house. It is a very shy, timid bird, and
it is more often heard than seen, though now and then one may catch a
glimpse of its bright plumage as it flies to some thick tree uttering its harsh,
discordant scream.

During the pairing season in early spring the Jay becomes more social in
its disposition, and numbers of these birds will gather together in some quiet
part of the woods. At this time the Jay utters a great variety of notes, some
of them quite musical ; but its ordinary cry is a hoarse, discordant scream,
' rake, rake, rake.' The Jay becomes noisiest during the evening, and it may
often be heard to utter notes imitating the hoot of an owl or the mew
of a cat

In the early part of the year the food of the Jay consists of worms, grubs,
etc., which it searches for among the grass and under the shelter of hedges
and bushes. On the ground the Jay does not walk like the true crows, but

75

progresses in a series of hops. During summer the Jay is a sad thief, and
not only steals the eggs from its neighbours' nests, but devours the young
also, even carrying off the young pheasants from the rearing-coops. It will
also go into the gardens and eat the ripe fruit. During autumn its favourite
food consists of acorns, nuts, and beechmast, which it will bury in holes in
the ground or hide in crevices in trees, no doubt returning to these stores
in the depths of winter, when its food is difficult to find. In very hard weather
the Jay will even eat carrion, and at this season the keepers do great execution
with traps.

The Jay probably pairs for life, as pairs of these birds will frequent one
locality and nest regularly in certain places year after year. Nest-building
is commenced in April, when the woods are becoming clothed in green foliage
and there is plenty of corn. The nest is usually not far from the ground, in
some tall holly, yew, or fir-tree ; but I have seen several nests in the New
Forest which were at least sixty feet from the ground, in tall beech-trees.
It is rather like a large Bullfinch's nest : coarse twigs form the foundation,
and, as the construction of the nest proceeds, finer and finer twigs are used,
till at last the lining is added, which consists of very fine rootlets beautifully
interwoven, and forming a smooth, round cup. The eggs are laid during the
last week in April and the first week in May, and are from five to seven in
number. They are greenish blue in ground-colour, and are, as a rule, thickly
speckled over the entire surface with very fine spots of olive brown, often with
a few streaks of rich dark brown on the larger end. Some specimens are only
marked on one end of the egg, others have the spots collected in a zone round
the egg, while a few are very sparingly marked and have a decidedly green
appearance. They vary from 1^34 to 1*20 inch in length, and from ro to
'86 inch in breadth.

Only one brood is reared during the season, and the Jay is so quiet during
the whole period of incubation that it often rears its brood close to some
house, never being discovered till it leads its noisy brood from the nest.

76

PLATE I
JAY. Garrulus glandarius

May 20///, 1897. — Lyndhurst, Hants. — Although the Jay is a fairly common
bird in the New Forest, it took me nearly a week to find a nest which I could
photograph, as most of the nests I found were more than thirty feet from the
ground, on the ends of the branches of tall beech-trees, and quite inaccessible. I
was fortunate enough, however, to come across a nest of young birds in a low
holly bush, and after a little trouble I got the picture which is given in the Plate.

VOL. iv. — u

JAY.

'., NATURAL SIZE

KINGFISHER

A Iced o isp i da

Kingfisher is a resident on the banks of most rivers,
streams, lakes, and ponds throughout the British Islands,
but is somewhat rarer in the north of Scotland, and has
not been recorded from the Outer Hebrides or the
Orkneys and Shetlands.

The Kingfisher loves a quiet and secluded haunt,
and is especially fond of little streams, with wooded and
precipitous banks, where the tall trees almost meet overhead, and the only-
indication of its presence is the indistinct gleam of bluish light as it darts
rapidly past. It is a very shy and wary bird, and it is not often that the
observer is fortunate enough to see its actions as it searches for its prey.
Almost like a flash it will alight on some swaying twig overhanging the
water, where it will sit for a few moments eagerly scanning the pool below.
Suddenly it will drop down into the water, and almost before one has time
to breathe it is back again on its perch with a tiny fish struggling in its bill.
One or two blows on the branch and the fish is neatly turned in the bill to
be swallowed head first, or, perhaps, to be carried off to feed the hungry
young ones in the nest. The Kingfisher usually has a favourite perch in
its particular beat of the stream, on which it is nearly always to be seen —
some dead stick in the middle of the water, an overhanging twig, or it may
be a rock or sluice-gate. There it sits for hours silently watching for its
prey, every now and then plunging down into the water to secure some
unwary fish.

The Kingfisher's food consists chiefly of small fish, but it also takes
various kinds of insects and their larvae, shrimps, and small crustaceans.
The indigestible portions of its food are cast up in the form of pellets, and its
roosting-place and nesting-hole are usually full of them.

79

The Kingfisher is a very silent bird as a rule, and its notes are often
uttered in so low a tone as to be almost inaudible at a short distance. Its
note is a feeble 'peep,' which is sometimes drawn-out and plaintive, and
sometimes shortened into 'pip, pip'

There is little doubt that the Kingfisher pairs for life. It is rather an
early breeder, and its eggs are usually laid by the end of April. I have
myself seen a nest containing fully-fledged young on the second of May, in
Perthshire. The Kingfisher breeds in a hole which it usually makes for
itself, though occasionally the burrow of a water-rat or a disused Sand-
martin's hole is utilised. The nesting-site is usually on the banks of the
stream or pond which it frequents, but I have found it in a hole in a tree
some distance from water, and it often nests in broken scars or disused
gravel-pits or quarries some distance from the nearest water. The hole takes
some time to excavate, often more than a fortnight. Sometimes a large stone
or rock stops the work after the little birds have been some time at it ; in
this case a new hole is commenced close at hand, and often several are begun
before the birds are suited. The hole is tunnel-shaped, gradually rising from
the entrance, so it is evident that the Kingfisher understands the principle of
drainage. Some holes are much longer than others. I have seen a nest
only two feet from the orifice, and I once dug nearly seven feet into a bank
and had to give up my search, though I had seen the old birds going in and
out of the hole. The nesting-chamber is circular, about eight inches in
diameter, and the floor of it, as well as most of the tunnel, is covered with a
very dark green gluey substance smelling strongly of fish. The nest consists
of a large handful of the dry and bleached bones of tiny fish, hairlike ribs,
vertebrae and skulls, the pellets which are ejected by the bird.

The Kingfisher lays from six to nine eggs ; they are round and very
glossy, and when fresh have a beautiful pinkish bloom, imparted by the
yolk, which shows through the transparent shell. They vary in length from
•94 to "86 inch, and in breadth from '80 to 73 inch.

Both birds share in the duties of incubation, and when the young are
hatched they are taxed to the uttermost to provide food for them. When
fully fledged they leave the nest and sit on the twigs or stumps near the
hole, waiting for the food which is brought them every few minutes by the
old birds. At night they roost in the nesting-hole.

80

PLATE I
KINGFISHER. Alcedo tspida

June 26th, 1898. — Mildenhall, Suffolk. — The Kingfisher nest was in a hole
beside the roots of the willow-tree depicted in this Plate. I watched the
old birds for two days before I saw them go to the nest. There were seven
fully-fledged young ones in it, and from the lateness of the date I should
imagine that it was a second nest; probably the first nest had been
destroyed.

VOL. iv. — x 8 1

KINGFISHER.

• • • fl PILflTS.

WHINCHAT

Pratzncola rubetra

HK Whinchat is pretty widely distributed throughout the
British Islands, and in some localities it is an abundant
species. In Ireland it is more locally distributed, but is
nevertheless a common bird in some districts. It is a
fairly common bird on the Hebrides, and has occasionally
been seen on the Orkneys.

The haunts of the Whinchat are somewhat varied : it

loves the meadows and pastures quite as much as the upland wastes and the
heather-clad mountain-sides. In the large whin-coverts it is also commonly
seen, and probably receives its name of Whinchat from this fact ; it is also
abundant on the patches of waste ground overgrown with brambles, briar, and
stunted bushes. Towards the end of April the Whinchat arrives in its summer
quarters, when it may be seen perched on the topmost spray of some bush or
tuft of heather, or swaying gracefully up and down on some stout grass stem
or tall weed, incessantly waving its tail up and down and uttering its call-note,
'u-tick, u-tick, tick, tick' The Whinchat does not show that partiality for rocks
and stone walls which the rest of its congeners do, and it is usually observed
on some bush or twig when not sitting on the ground. Whinchats never roost
in trees or bushes, but always on the ground, among the tangled undergrowth
of whin, bracken, or heather. In the dusk of the evening the Whinchat is
very active, possibly because its favourite insect food is most easily obtained at
that time.

The food of the Whinchat is almost exclusively confined to insects and
their larvae. These are chiefly obtained amongst the herbage, but the bird
may often be observed perched on some spray watching the gnats and insects
as they fly past, and every now and then taking little flights into the air to
capture a fly or a gnat. In spring the Whinchat may be seen on the ploughed
VOL. iv. — Y 83

fields searching for wire-worms, of which it is specially fond, and in early
summer it frequents the turnip-fields, where it devours enormous quantities
of the dreaded ' fly ' so destructive to the crop. The Whinchat does not appear
to feed on fruit or berries, but it has been observed to devour the tender
shoots of grass or growing corn.

The song of the Whinchat is very unobtrusive, and is of so low a tone that
it is often overlooked. It reminds one rather of the Redstart's notes, and
is usually uttered as the bird hovers over some favourite perch. By the end
of June, when the young birds are hatched, the Whinchats have ceased to
sing, and as they do not commence again till next season, it seems probable
that only one brood is raised in the year.

By the middle of May the birds have all paired, and nest-building has
begun. Among the meadows and pastures the nest is built in the dense grass
growing round some thistle or dock-weed ; in waste ground it is often built
in some convenient hollow beneath a whin-bush or under some fern among
the tall grass ; on the edge of the moors it is artfully concealed among the
tufts of heath. While the birds are engaged in building their nests they
are very wary, and he must be a patient watcher who would succeed in out-
witting them. Nothing will make them go to their nest as long as they
are aware of his presence, and they will try all sorts of ruses to make him
imagine their nest is in quite a different place.

The nest is usually made in a little cavity in the ground among dense
herbage. Externally it is composed of dry grass, moss, and a few straws,
more rarely twigs ; the inside is made of fine rootlets and horse-hair, somewhat
loosely put together, and forming a rather deep cup. When the nest is
approached, great anxiety is shown by the birds ; they will fly round and round
the intruder's head uttering their well-known call-notes, and occasionally a low
'Peep, peep? and sometimes flutter about among the grass as if wounded.

From four to six or seven eggs are laid. They are greenish blue, rather
like a Hedge Sparrow's, but more glossy in texture, and slightly smaller, as a
rule ; they are also more pointed at both ends. The markings are light brown
in colour, and are usually rather faint ; they are generally in a zone round one
end of the egg. Specimens are often met with which are absolutely spotless.
They vary in length from "80 to 71 inch, and in breadth from '61 to '55 inch.

84

PLATE I
WH INC HAT. Pratincola rubetra

June 1898. — The Whinchat's nest depicted in this Plate was built in an open
part of a wood near Callander, Perthshire. The nest was very difficult to see,
although the photograph conveys rather a different impression, and it took
me two days of patient watching before I at last saw the old bird fly to it.
As a rule she alighted close to some tall foxgloves ; and I had searched every
inch of ground round them several times. At last, on the second day, she
dropped down beside the foxgloves as usual, and about half a minute after I
saw something move about six yards from them, so I gave her a minute's
grace and then walked straight to the spot. Up she got from some ferns,
and in a few seconds I found the nest, which was fairly open, though not
very easily seen.

VOL. iv. — z 85

W H I N C H A T. Prilimtl* nOttrw.

OSPREY

Pandion haltaettis

N olden times the Osprey was a fairly common bird on
the wild mountain lochs of the Highlands, but now its
numbers have sadly decreased, and only a few pairs resort
to the northern districts of our Islands during the nesting
season. It still breeds in Inverness-shire, Ross-shire, and
the adjoining counties, where the few known eyries are
carefully preserved. It is known as a rare straggler to
the Hebrides, the Orkneys and Shetlands, and to Ireland. In England it has
occurred in almost every county on the seacoast, no doubt on migration.

The favourite haunts of the Osprey are the pine-clad mountain-sides
overlooking some wild loch teeming with trout, or the marshy ground studded
with large trees and overgrown with rushes, which almost conceal the deep
pools of peaty water along the course of the little burns. Or again, in some
wild rocky glen, amongst the huge boulders and shattered birch and pine
trunks, where the mountain stream leaps roaring down in innumerable water-
falls and rapids, the Osprey may be seen perched on a lonely rock, eagerly
scanning the surface of the deep pool for his finny prey.

The food of the Osprey is composed of various kinds of fish : among the
Highland lochs and rivers trout form the principal article of diet; salmon,
pike, bream, roach, etc., are eaten in more southern districts ; and on the coast,
flounders, saithe, etc., are taken. The actions of the Osprey when searching
for its prey remind one of a Kestrel quartering some meadow. I have watched
an Osprey sailing over the shallows on a Highland loch, every now and again
hovering with outstretched wings, till it spied a fish. Balancing itself for a
moment, it dropped like a stone into the water, making a tremendous splash,
and rose after a few seconds with a lovely trout struggling in its talons.
When caught, the fish is carried to some lofty tree or rock to be devoured

8?

at the bird's leisure, after which the Osprey may be seen half asleep on his
perch digesting his meal.

The Osprey is not a noisy bird, by any means, even when its nest is
threatened. Its ordinary call-note resembles the syllables ' kew, keiu, hew?
and the alarm-note is a harsh scream. Like most raptorial birds, the Osprey
pairs for life, and returns year after year to its old breeding-place. Occasion-
ally two pairs will come to the same place in early spring, and fierce is the
battle for supremacy, one of the combatants often paying the penalty with his
life.

In bygone days, when the Osprey was a fairly common bird in the
Highlands, it usually chose some ruined castle, surrounded by water, or rocky
islet on which to build its nest. These nests were tenanted year after year,
and many of their sites are still pointed out as having almost an historical
interest. From the fact that the nest is used for many years in succession,
it is generally an enormous structure of sticks, three or four feet in diameter,
and often almost as high. When built on a pine-tree, as it often is, the
branches become twisted and distorted with the great weight. As a rule the
largest tree in the forest is chosen, and the nest is built on some broad,
wide-spreading branch. The foundation is made of dead sticks and branches
mixed with sods, heather, and decaying vegetable matter, the top of the nest
is flat, consisting of fine twigs covered with grass, and the cup which contains
the eggs is very shallow, being generally about a foot in diameter and two
inches deep. Three is the usual number of eggs laid, occasionally only two,
and a clutch of four is uncommon.

The eggs are laid about the first of May, and vary considerably in colour.
Typical specimens are yellowish white in ground-colour, boldly blotched and
spotted with irregular markings of rich reddish brown, which are often so
thickly dispersed over the larger end of the egg as to hide the ground-colour.
Some specimens are covered with violet grey underlying markings ; others have
large irregular blotches here and there, or have the markings collected into
one huge blotch at the end of the egg, or forming a zone round the middle.
A few eggs are quite purple, some are suffused with a reddish tinge, while
others are entirely covered with small spots and streaks of violet grey and
orange red marbled over the entire surface. In shape they are far more
elongated than is usual with the eggs of the Falcons and Eagles. They
vary in length from 2*5 to 2'io inches, and in breadth from 1*94 to 175
inch. Only one brood is reared in the year.

88

PLATE I
O S P R E Y. Pandion haliaetus

May 1896. — This Plate shows a loch in Strathspey where the Osprey has
nested for many years, thanks to strict preservation. In the photograph the
head of the female sitting on the nest may be distinctly seen, while the male
is circling round in the air above the old castle.

I have spent many most enjoyable hours at this loch watching the old
birds feeding their young, and dashing down into the loch to catch the large
trout with which they rear their brood. Few scenes are more grandly
picturesque than this loch, surrounded by pine-clad mountains, the impressive
silence broken only by the scream of the Osprey or the harsh croak of the
Raven. Wherever these birds build their nest there is a distinct sense of
interest and charm to the lover of birds. It is a thousand pities that Ospreys
should be so ruthlessly shot on their migration south, after having been reared
and watched over in some zealously guarded forest in the north.

VOL. iv. — 2 A

89

O S P R E Y. Awtt* tsN*ha.

••: '

PLATE II
O S P R E Y. Pandion haliaetus

June 1896. — This Plate shows the site chosen by a pair of Ospreys on the
shores of a wild loch in Strathspey. Alas! they were too confiding, for the
eggs were taken and one of the birds shot. The tree is an enormous Scotch
fir, the size of which will easily be seen by comparing it with the others
round it. The nest was built on a flat branch near the top of the tree,
and although only built that year, was of great bulk, many of the sticks used
in its construction being nearly as thick as a man's wrist.

O S P R E Y.

STORM PETREL

Procellaria pelagic a

Storm Petrel breeds in many places throughout
Great Britain and Ireland, but it is not known to breed
anywhere on the east coast of Scotland or England. It
breeds in the Scilly Isles and on several of the islets
off the Welsh coast. In Scotland it is pretty generally
distributed during the breeding season on the islands off
the west coast, and is common at that season on the
Orkneys and Shetlands, and on Soay, one of the St. Kilda group. Off the
west coast of Ireland, especially on the Blasquets, it also breeds in some
numbers. After gales the Storm Petrel is often picked up inland in an
exhausted condition, but except during the breeding season this little bird
seldom visits the land.

The Storm Petrel is the smallest web-footed bird ; it is strictly an
oceanic species, and even during the breeding season, when it is compelled
to come on shore to visit and feed its young, it only does so after dark. It
is only during this season, however, that it can be called a nocturnal bird,
for it may be seen all day, generally in little flocks, following in the wake of
some ship, to pick up any scraps of oily matter which may be cast overboard.
It can swim on the water with the greatest ease, but is generally seen on the
wing, sometimes hovering over the waves and paddling with its feet as if
walking on the water, whence it is sometimes known as ' Little Peter.'
Sailors call them ' Mother Carey's Chickens,' and say that their presence
foretells a storm, probably because it is almost the only bird which is not
frightened away by the raging gale. The Storm Petrel feeds on any oily
substances which it finds on the surface of the water. Its stomach is always
found full of oil, and when caught it usually disgorges a small quantity of
oil which possesses a peculiarly strong musky odour.
VOL. iv. — 2 B 93

The Storm Petrels arrive at their breeding-grounds towards the middle
of June, and eggs are seldom laid before the ist of July. They are very
silent birds, and their notes are only heard at their breeding-grounds. Among
the heaps of stones on the shore above tide-mark may be heard their faint
notes, a plaintive 'tveeet, weeet,' often preceded and followed by a curious
guttural rattle. Sometimes the notes are like the distant cooing of a dove,
and may be represented by the syllables ' rrrrrrr-coooo-rrrr! In some places the
Storm Petrels nest among the ddbris and broken stones at the foot of the
cliffs, in others among the stone walls built to protect the sheep, while in
many places they nest in the deserted rabbit-burrows or excavate little tunnels
for themselves, as on Soa, off lona. In Shetland I found them nesting in
the cairns of stone on the summit of Saxaford, some nine hundred feet above
the sea. During the day at this locality the birds were quite silent, but as
evening came on their plaintive notes could be heard issuing from every
little cairn of stones.

Most of the eggs are laid during the first ten days of July, but I have
taken eggs nearly fresh in the beginning of September : probably the first egg
had been destroyed. The nest, if such it may be called, seldom consists of
more than a dozen pieces of dead grass or straw. The situation chosen
is usually beneath some flat stone in a heap of loose rocks, and great care
must be exercised in removing the stones, as the tiniest pebble falling on
the egg will break the fragile shell.

Only one egg is laid, rough in texture, with no gloss and an excessively
thin and fragile shell. When first laid the egg is pure white, and the yolk
inside imparts a pinkish tinge owing to the transparency of the shell ; but
after being incubated for a little while it acquires a creamy tint, from continual
contact with the oily feathers of the bird. The nest and egg have a strong
musky odour, and on Soa, off the south end of lona, it was quite easy to
tell the inhabited holes by simply stooping down close to the mouth. The
eggs are nearly always thinly sprinkled with tiny reddish brown specks,
generally forming an obscure zone round the larger end of the egg. They
are usually the same shape at either end, and vary in length from r2O to
ro inch, and in breadth from '87 to '80 inch.

94

PLATE I
STORM PETREL. Procellaria pelagica.

fitly 3n/, 1897. — This Plate shows part of the island of Oxna, off Scalloway,
in the Shetlands, where among the stones near the shore many of these little
birds rear their young.

I examined three or four cairns and heaps of stones in this locality, and
on every occasion found the old bird on her egg. On being taken in the
hand, the bird usually ejected one or two drops of amber-coloured oil.

At one locality I spent some hours after dusk, and saw hundreds of these
birds flying about like bats; they are very noiseless on the wing, except when
entering their holes, when one or two sharp beats of the wings are distinctly
audible as the bird checks its progress in the air.

95

STORM PETREL, fh

YELLOW BUNTING

Euibenza citnnella

Yellow-hammer is the commonest and most widely
distributed of its genus throughout the British Islands.
It breeds in almost every part of Great Britain, even on
the Outer Hebrides and on the Orkneys, and is a visitor
to the Shetlands, though it is said not to breed there. It
is as common and as widely distributed in Ireland.

This beautiful little bird is perhaps quite as well

known as the Robin or Sparrow. At all seasons of the year it frequents the
farmyards, gardens, fields, and moors, and may generally be seen perched on
the topmost twig of some bush, uttering its monotonous song, which the
country people liken to the words '« little bit of bread and no-o-o c/teese.'
Its favourite haunts are the commons, fields, and lanes among well-cultivated
lands, but it is also seen in numbers on the edges of the moors, among the
rough ground overgrown with patches of whin and stunted thorn-bushes. It
does not inhabit the woods, but frequents the open patches of ground between
the plantations. In the autumn the Yellowhammers congregate into flocks
and frequent the stubbles and farmyards, where they obtain all sorts of seeds
and small quantities of scattered grain. Yellowhammers will eat most kinds
of grain, which is generally obtained on the ground after it has fallen from the
ear, and they also feed on the small seeds of many of the most troublesome
weeds. Throughout the summer and well on into autumn they are chiefly
insectivorous, and the young are fed on insects and caterpillars.

The plaintive and somewhat monotonous song of the Yellowhammer
is heard early in February, and is continued most pertinaciously till late in
September. When singing, the bird usually perches on some conspicuous twig
on a hedge, or on the top of a wall or fence-post, where, if not disturbed, it
will remain for some time, singing at intervals in answer to the other birds
VOL. iv. — 2 c 97

in the neighbourhood. Its call-note is a curious long-drawn ' ticJirr^ somewhat
difficult to imitate, which in the pairing season is lengthened into 'tick, tick,
tick, tchurr.' In early spring the males are most pugnacious little birds, and
may often be seen chasing each other with great rapidity among the furze-
bushes.

The Yellowhammer pairs in the middle of March, but eggs are seldom
laid before the middle of April, sometimes not till much later. The bird is
very much attached to its nesting-site, and will continue to build year after
year in the same spot, though the nest be destroyed repeatedly. Should the
eggs be removed, the bird will often continue to lay in the same nest. The
site chosen for the nest varies considerably : sometimes it is built among
brambles and briars at some distance from the ground, sometimes in furze-
bushes or in small fir-trees on the outskirts of a plantation, occasionally at
a considerable height from the ground in some thick hedge. It is, however,
most frequently built on the ground in a bank near a hedge or beside the
road, in a small cavity at the foot of some coarse grass or weed, and is well
put together, though rather a slight structure. The outside is built of dry
grasses, rootlets, and moss, lined with fine root-fibres and horse-hair.

The male bird shares the duties of incubation with his mate, and when
not sitting is usually close at hand chirping his monotonous song. When
the nest is approached, the bird sits so closely that she may sometimes be
touched by the hand ere she quits her eggs ; and when at length put off, she
will feign lameness and flutter along the ground in her efforts to attract atten-
tion from her nest.

From three to five eggs are laid, which vary considerably in character in
different clutches. Typical clutches are purplish white in ground-colour, streaked,
spotted, and dashed with rich purplish brown and a few writing-like scrawls
of black; underlying spots and streaks are purplish grey. Some specimens
are purplish brown in ground-colour, faintly marked and streaked with brown ;
some are covered with a mass of irregular scrawls ; while a few are clouded
with pale brown blotches, over which are a few dark brown spots and streaks.
They vary in length from '94 to '80 inch, and in breadth from '69 to '59 inch.
Two broods are reared in the year, and it is no uncommon thing to find nests
containing fresh eggs well on in August.

PLATE I
YELLOW BUNTING. Ember iza citrinella

May 1898. — The nest from which this Plate was taken was built on a bank at
the outskirts of a small wood near Newmarket, and quite close to the road.
I found quite a number of Yellowhammers' nests about this time ; and although
many of the clutches were highly incubated, I never found a nest with more
than three eggs in it.

99

YELLOW BUNTING. £ mttriim ntrimt!la.

1 . NATURAL 8IZi

PLATE II
YELLOW BUNTING. Emberiza citrine I la

June 9///, 1898. — Mildenhall, Suffolk. — This nest was built in a whin-bush on a
rough common, a perfect paradise for Yellowhammers, Linnets, and Whinchats,
all of which abounded there. I must have examined half a score of Yellow-
hammers' nests in one day in all sorts of situations, some in thick brambles,
others in stunted thorn-bushes choked with grass and bindweed, and many in
gorse-bushes.

While walking with a friend along a road close to Inverness this year (1899),
we disturbed some young Yellowhammers which had evidently just left their nest.
One of the young birds fluttered on to the road about five yards in front of us,
and sat there chirping loudly. Down flew the female in a great state, and
hopped about and fluttered her wings to try and attract our attention. While
so engaged the male flew down, and, seizing her by the tail, hopped backwards,
endeavouring to drag her away from the vicinity of the young bird. This
continued for about half a minute, when they both flew away.

VOL. iv. — 2 D 101

YELLOW BUNTING.

Ift NATURAL SIZE.

• . , . •

ROCK DOVE

Coiuuiba livta

HE Rock Dove breeds in most localities on the coasts of
Great Britain and Ireland where the rocks are precipitous
enough to afford it protection, either in the caves or crevices
which provide suitable breeding-places. It is also found
on many of the rocky islands off the coasts, including the
Orkneys, Shetlands, and St. Kilda. It is not known that
the true Rock Pigeon ever nests inland, as most colonies
in such localities contain many birds of undoubtedly domestic origin.

The haunts of the Rock Dove are among the precipitous rocks and beetling
cliffs washed by the roaring waves ; it is most abundant on those cliffs which
are full of caves, and is perhaps for this reason commonest on the rugged
western coast of Scotland. Sometimes these caves are dry, or at least dry at
low water, but in many cases the waves are always rolling into them, booming
like distant thunder, and dashing the spray high into the vaulted roofs. Rock
Doves are most commonly seen on the fields near the sea, but they will fly
enormous distances to their feeding-grounds, returning in the evening to roost
in the caves. Their flight is powerful and very rapid, and on the slightest
alarm they dash out from the caves in which they breed at a tremendous pace,
with loudly clapping wings. They may often be seen sitting on the ledges of
the cliffs sunning themselves and uttering their soft full notes, 'coo, coo, cooo,
roo-coo,' which are hardly distinguishable from the notes of the Ring Dove.
In early spring they are especially noisy, and the cliffs resound with their soft
call-notes. The male at this season performs the same antics as the domestic
Pigeon : strutting about beside his mate, and spreading his tail out like a fan,
he swells out his throat and serenades her with his soft notes, and should
she take wing he will follow and repeat his entreaties. Rock Doves are hardly
as shy as Wood Pigeons, but nevertheless they are very wary, and will usually

103

fly round a field before alighting on it. They are not known to perch on trees,
but generally alight either on the bare ground or on rocks.

The food of the Rock Dove is nearly the same as that of its congeners.
It devours large quantities of grain, but compensates for this by the enormous
quantities of the seeds of injurious weeds which it eats. In summer it varies
its fare with the tender shoots of various plants and with tiny land-shells, and,
like most Pigeons, is seen to drink frequently.

The Rock Dove is most probably paired for life, and returns year after year
to the same cave, nesting in one particular spot if not disturbed. A few birds
nest in crevices in the cliff face, but most Rock Doves resort to the dark caves
for breeding purposes. High up in the roof of the cave, on some convenient
ledge, the nest is built, often where the light of day never penetrates, and the
young are lulled to sleep by the boom of the waves as they roar and dash
madly into the mouth of the cave. The nest is a very slight, flat structure,
consisting of a little dry grass and seaweed, and a few bits of heather and
small sticks. Sometimes three or four nests are built close together on the
same ledge ; they are rarely placed within reach of the hand without climbing.
The Rock Dove is a very early breeder, or rather it begins to breed very
early, as three, and even four, broods are reared in the year. Eggs may be
found from the middle of March till late in August or early in September;
most eggs are to be found during April and May. In the same cave, and often
on the same ledge, some nests may be found containing eggs perfectly fresh,
others highly incubated eggs, and many containing young birds in various stages
of growth. The female performs the greater share of incubating the eggs,
though the male occasionally assists her. The young have voracious appetites,
and when they are hatched the powers of the old birds are taxed to the uttermost
to supply them with food. Like most Pigeons, the Rock Doves eject the semi-
digested food from their crops, the young ones eating from the open mouth
of their parents. The young advance somewhat slowly to maturity, and remain
in the nest, or on the ledge, until well able to fly.

The Rock Dove only lays two eggs, which are somewhat rounder in shape
than those of the Ring Dove ; they are also smaller, and have a creamy tint
which the eggs of the Ring Dove do not possess. They vary from i -49 to i -37
inch in length, and from r2o to TOQ inch in breadth.

It is not probable that the Rock Dove is a migratory bird, but in winter it
frequently wanders far from its usual haunts, often in enormous flocks.

104

PLATE I
ROCK DOVE. Columba lima

June 1896, lona. — The Plate shows a cave in the island of lona, in which I
found two pairs of Rock Doves nesting. When there is a strong south-west
wind blowing the waves roar into the cave, and the spray is dashed right up
into the roof of the cave ; indeed, I wondered that the nests were never washed
away. The birds had apparently reared their young there for some time, as the
nests were evidently repaired year after year, and had a good solid foundation.
In one locality in Mull, where I used to see numbers of Rock Doves, I
found only a single pair, and one of the fishermen told me they had all gone
away after the severe winter of 1895.

VOL. iv. — 2 E 105

ROCK DOVE. CflumU livi*.

MANX SHEARWATER

Pitffinus anglorum

Manx Shearwater is pretty widely distributed on the
western coasts of the British Islands, wherever they are
precipitous enough to afford it security. It breeds on the
Scilly Isles and on several islands off the Devonshire
coast. In Scotland it breeds on many of the rocky islands
off the coast, such as Eigg, the Garvelloch Isles, Soay off
St. Kilda, Hoy in Orkney, and on the Shetlands. It also
breeds in several localities on the Irish coast. It is not known to breed any-
where on the east coast of England or Scotland, but in autumn and winter it
is seen off almost every part of the British shores.

Like most of its kind, the Manx- Shearwater spends the greater part of its
time on the open sea, flying rapidly over the waves in erratic circles, like some
huge Swift. Its flight is most peculiar, being sometimes almost bat-like, and at
other times swift and dashing like a Guillemot's ; when swimming it sits rather
low in the water, and progresses with speed. During the breeding season the
Manx Shearwater is almost nocturnal in its habits, but at other times it may
be seen at all times during the day. In stormy weather it delights to career
wildly to and fro among the roaring waves, like most of the Petrel family,
following the curve of the waves, sometimes deep in the trough of the sea,
again high up above the crest of some huge wave.

The food of the Manx Shearwater is chiefly composed of scraps of fish
offal, etc., found floating on the surface of the waves. Small cuttle-fish and
molluscs are also eaten, and the bird eats large quantities of sorrel, which it
obtains on the cliffs where it breeds, no doubt to counteract the oily nature of
its food.

I have visited one or two breeding-stations of these birds in various parts
of Scotland, and give here a few notes on one of them : —

107

' . . . The colony was on the west side of the island, on some grassy cliffs
about two hundred feet high. The Manx Shearwaters had excavated burrows
in the soft soil, for all the world like Puffins, except that the mouths of the
holes, instead of being bare and open like the Puffins' tunnels, were nearly
always concealed by the overhanging herbage. The part of the cliff where the
Shearwaters nested was very steep, and great care had to be exercised in moving
about ; besides being very slippery, the grass often came away bodily from the
rock and slipped over into the sea. At the mouth of the hole there was usually
a considerable amount of the bird's droppings. During the day-time not a
single bird was to be seen about the cliffs, but as we climbed about on the
ledges we heard the Shearwaters calling in their holes ; their note is a soft
" kitty-coo-roo, kitty-coo-roo" Most of the holes I examined were from one
foot to three feet in depth, and in every case the old bird was on its egg ;
they fought with their sharp turned-down bills, and inflicted several nasty
scratches on my hands ere I could take them out. On being released they flew
off in a dazed sort of way, reminding one rather of a bat turned loose in the
daylight. In one or two burrows I found both the birds. There was seldom
any nest, rarely even a nesting-chamber, the egg being laid in the end of the
tunnel ; but in one or two holes I found one or two dry stalks of sorrel and
blades of grass.'

Both birds assist in making the burrows, which vary a good deal in length,
some being five or six feet deep, and others only a foot. In another locality I
found the Manx Shearwater nesting among huge blocks of stone, which had
fallen from the cliff. In this place I saw a few birds sitting about at the mouths
of their holes, and noticed, with the aid of my glasses, that they sat upright
like Guillemots, the whole length of the tarsus resting on the ground.

The Manx Shearwater lays early in May, but fresh eggs may be obtained
till the middle of June. If the first egg be taken, the female will lay another
after a week or so, often in the same burrow, or in another made close to the
old one. Both birds assist in the duties of incubation, the one relieving the
other. When the young are hatched the old birds feed them by ejecting an
oily substance into their mouths, and they remain in the nesting burrow until
they are able to fly.

The Manx Shearwater only lays one egg, which is much smoother in
texture and more glossy than that of the Fulmar, pure white in colour, and
has the same peculiar Petrel smell. The eggs vary in length from 2-49 to
2-30 inches, and in breadth from 175 to 1*54 inch.

1 08

PLATE I
MANX SHEARWATER. Puffinus anglorum

June 1896. — This Plate depicts part of the cliff where the Manx Shearwater
breeds on an island off the coast of Mull. In the photograph the mouths of
the holes, half hidden by the rank herbage, can be detected. The cliff was so
steep that it was almost impossible to get a camera set up at all, most of it
being very nearly vertical. A pair of Peregrines had their nest on the cliff,
but we did not see any Manx Shearwaters among the remains of birds, which
consisted chiefly of Puffins.

VOL. iv. — 2 F 109

MANX SHEARWATER.

GREY WAGTAIL

Motacilla melanope

N England and Wales the Grey Wagtail is somewhat
sparingly distributed, breeding chiefly in the hilly districts,
and retiring to the low-lying ground during the winter.
It is more widely distributed in Scotland, and occurs on
several of the islands. It also occasionally visits the
Orkneys, Shetlands, and Outer Hebrides. In Ireland,
although somewhat local, it is widely distributed.

The haunts of the Grey Wagtail are beside the running waters, especially
the rushing mountain streams, where the rocky banks are covered with trees,
and the fern-covered ledges afford safe nesting-sites. Nothing can be more
graceful than the movements of this dainty little bird, as it flits from stone to
stone amid the rushing stream, or runs swiftly along the edge of some deep
pool, continually moving its tail gracefully up and down, and now and then
taking a quick snatch at some insect. It does not appear to frequent the
pastures and lawns to the same extent as its relatives, but confines itself to
the margins of rivers, streams, and lakes. When alarmed it generally flies
up from the river-bed with a slow, undulating flight, and perches in some tree
overhanging the water, uttering its alarm-notes, ' checz-zit, clriz-zit!

The food of the Grey Wagtail is chiefly composed of insects and their
larvae, but tiny water-shells and beetles are also eaten, and small worms. It
is a beautiful sight to watch a Grey Wagtail perched on some stone in a rocky
pool, taking little flights into the air after the passing insects, and showing
the delicate colours of its plumage against the dark background of the pool.

Its song, which is often overlooked, resembles the twittering of a Swallow,
and is soft and low. When its nest is threatened, a low, plaintive note, ' Aoo-iu,'
is uttered as well as the usual alarm-note, ' chiz-zitj which is common to most
of the Wagtails. This bird seems to frequent the branches of trees more than

in

any other British species of Wagtail, and, especially in spring, its monotonous
call-note is heard incessantly from the trees overhanging the rivers. After the
young are reared the birds gradually follow the streams to warmer quarters,
and, during winter, are often observed in the neighbourhood of the seacoast.

The nest of the Grey Wagtail is almost always found under some over-
hanging ledge of rock or bank, and is usually concealed behind a tuft of
grass or bunch of ferns, but I have seen it on the ground at the foot of a tree
in much the same situation as a Robin would have taken. In Perthshire I
remember a sluice at the foot of a loch, where the head of the lifting screw
was protected by a wooden box ; in this box a Grey Wagtail built its nest year
after year, entering by a small hole left to admit the handle for raising the
sluice. One year I went to look at the nest and found the poor bird suspended
by a horse-hair from the box, quite dead ; she had become entangled in it on
leaving the nest, and had choked herself in her struggles to get free. The
Grey Wagtail seems to have a great attachment for its breeding-place, and
the nest will be found year after year in the same place on the ledge, if the
birds be left undisturbed.

The nest of the Grey Wagtail is very like that of the Pied Wagtail. It
is usually a little smaller inside, and is perhaps even more carefully built;
the outside is composed almost entirely of fine roots with a few dry stalks
of grass woven into it. The lining is usually cow-hair, but horse-hair is
sometimes used. I have never seen any feathers in the lining, although several
ornithologists mention these as helping in the construction.

The Grey Wagtail is an early breeder, and I have taken eggs in the first
week of April which were by no means fresh laid ; the end of the month is,
however, the most favoured time. Five is the usual clutch, though six eggs
are occasionally found. They are of two distinct types — a greyish type and a
buffish one. The grey type has the ground-colour a pale French grey, mottled
with light brown ; the other type has a rich cream-coloured ground, speckled
and mottled with rich brown and a few small yellowish markings. On many
specimens there are a few very dark brown streaks on the larger end. The
eggs vary in length from 79 to '68 inch, and in breadth from '59 to -54 inch.

Both birds assist in the duties of incubation, and two broods are often
reared in the year.

I 12

PLATE I
GREY WAGTAIL. Motacilla melanope

April 1897.— Doune, Perthshire. — I found this nest in the beginning of April
while photographing a Dipper's nest. It was artfully concealed under a fern
growing out of a crack below an overhanging ledge of rock beside the river
Teith. The eggs were very highly incubated, and the birds kept flying about
close to me while I was taking the photograph. On this stretch of the river
there are rocky banks down one side, on which four or five pairs of Grey
Wagtails nest every year, nearly always in the same place.

VOL. iv. — 2 G 113

GREY WAGTAIL.

Vt NATURAL MZC.

RED GROUSE

Lagopus scoticus

Red Grouse is the only species which is found only in
the British Islands, its nearest relative on the Continent
being the Willow Grouse. The Red Grouse or Muirfowl
is found on all the extensive moorlands throughout Great
Britain and Ireland, and also in the Hebrides and Orkneys,
but in Shetland it does not occur, though efforts have
been made to introduce it.

The Red Grouse is the bird of the moors and heather-clad mountain
districts, and if it were not for the sportsman it would live a very quiet life
amid its native hills. It does not migrate in spring or autumn, and seldom
wanders further than the nearest field of oats, though in exceptionally hard
winters many birds draw down to the farms on the edge of the moors and
subsist on what grain they can pick up. The Red Grouse is not a conspicuous
bird on the moors; you may walk two or three miles without seeing one,
unless you happen to stumble right onto a pair in some little hollow. What a
whirring of wings they make as they rise, the male uttering his well-known cry,
1 gok-gok-gok-gock' — ' go-back, go-back, back, back/' During the evening Grouse
may often be seen on the side of the road, or at small gravel-pits, picking
up tiny bits of stone, no doubt to aid in the digestion of their food. At
this time, too, they often perch on the tops of the walls; but, as a rule,
Grouse live almost entirely on the ground, and rarely perch on trees, unless
on some stunted birch or hawthorn on the edge of the moors.

The food of the Grouse is chiefly composed of the flower and young
shoots of the heather, but in the autumn they eat large quantities of berries
and fruits found on the moors — cranberries, whortleberries, crowberries, etc. —
and take toll of the oats in the fields near the moors. When feeding, they

are very wary birds, and if alarmed they will stretch out their necks
and look over the top of the heather, their heads appearing like so many
snakes.

In early spring Grouse seem to be very dependent on the shoots of the
heather to keep them in a healthy condition ; and should these young shoots
be nipped by a late frost or destroyed by sheep, the birds become thin and
out of condition, and frequently die of what is known as Grouse disease.
Birds which have died of it are found on dissection to be infested with a
small parasitic worm in the intestines. This is probably only on account of
the diseased state of the bird, for on further examination it will generally be
found that death was due to an acute inflammation of the lungs.

The well-known note of the cock Grouse is heard best in the early
morning. He may usually be seen perched on some hillock, from which he
will spring up into the air and flutter down again. It is not known that
the cock Grouse pairs with more than one hen, but his actions in general
are similar to those of the polygamous Grouse.

The Red Grouse is an early breeder, and is believed to pair with only
one female, assisting her in the rearing of the young, though he takes no
part in the incubation of the eggs. In the more sheltered parts of the moors
eggs are frequently laid in the end of March, but on the hills and mountain-
sides many birds do not lay until June. Many eggs are often destroyed on
the high grounds by late falls of snow, the birds being unable to find their
nests again.

The nest is always placed on the ground, usually among long heather,
often near some rock or tall clump of heather, or at the edge of a burnt place.
It is usually well concealed; and when the bird is sitting it is generally
difficult to see her, so closely does her plumage resemble the surroundings.
The sitting bird does not readily forsake her eggs, even if frequently disturbed,
and often becomes so tame that she may actually be stroked with the hand
without leaving the nest.

The number of eggs laid seems to vary with the season. In cold, wet
springs from four to eight eggs will be found to constitute a clutch ; while in
a good season most clutches will be large, from seven or eight to as many
as twelve or fourteen. Birds which breed late on the high grounds do not
seem to lay fewer eggs than those which lay early in the sheltered hollows.
The eggs are not subject to much variation in colour; the ground-colour is
usually a pale buff, spotted and blotched all over with rich dark red brown.
When the eggs are fresh the brown spots are often very red, sometimes

116

approaching crimson ; the colour appears to grow darker as the eggs are
incubated, and sometimes almost approaches black. Often most of the colour
disappears or comes off before the eggs arc hatched, especially if the weather
be at all wet. They vary in length from i 80 to 173 inch, and in breadth
from 1 33 to T23 inch.

\Yhen the young are hatched the hen usually leads her brood to some
part of the moor where there is plenty of water. Young in down are huffish
yellow mottled with rich chestnut brown.

VOL. iv. — 2 H

117

: --•»%;

RED GROUSE. Ltftfmt ttttinu.
I/, NATURAL «ZC.

LACKCAP

Sylvia atricapilla

Blackcap is one of the best-known of our warblers; it
is a comparatively early migrant, and may be seen in its
accustomed haunts by the middle of April. It seems
probable that a few birds winter with us, as there are
several records of specimens being obtained at that season.
The Blackcap is widely, though very locally, distributed,
being abundant in one district and comparatively unknown
in another adjoining part of the country. In Scotland it is even more local
and less common. It has been observed in many of the central and southern
counties, is recorded from Caithness and Sutherland on migration, and Saxby
observed it in Shetland regularly in late autumn. In Ireland the Blackcap is
said to be even rarer and more local than in Scotland.

The haunts of the Blackcap are among the secluded corners of plantations,
where the undergrowth is thick, where the hazels and hawthorns are overgrown
with brambles and briars, or along the tangled hedgerows overgrown with
bindweed and convolvulus. It does not care for the denser parts of the
woods, but loves the little open patches studded with bramble-covered bushes
and surrounded with thick cover, to which it can retire on the approach
of danger. The Blackcap is a very restless bird, and is always moving
about from twig to twig, sometimes appearing for a moment on some lofty
spray, but immediately disappearing into the dense parts of his favourite
cover.

The song of the Blackcap must be heard to be appreciated ; no amount of
description can give any idea of its peculiarly rich tone. So full of power
is his song, that one is often led to suspect the presence of a much larger
songster than a Blackcap. His powers of modulation are wonderful : sometimes
he pours forth a torrent of full, rich notes, which ring through the wood ; again,

VOL. IV. — 2 I 121

L

a low, soft refrain is heard, exceedingly plaintive, though charming in tone.
The song is given forth from the topmost spray of some lofty tree, from some
dense shrub, or from the midst of some tangle of nettles and brambles. It is
not easy to catch a glimpse of the little songster, unless one creeps on him
unawares : he sings as he hops about from one twig to another in search of
insects ; sometimes he will remain motionless for a minute or two, pouring
forth his song, every nerve strained in his eagerness to excel. The call-note
of the Blackcap is a loud ' tac-tac-tac-tac^ and when alarmed it scolds just like
the Whitethroat.

The Blackcap is probably more of a fruit and berry eater than its congeners,
although it feeds on insects to a great extent. On its first arrival in this country
during April, it may often be noticed feeding on the last year's berries which
still remain on the ivy. In summer it is fond of all sorts of garden fruits,
raspberries, currants, cherries, and even gooseberries being eaten, and when these
are over it feeds on those of the mountain-ash, ivy, etc.

The nest of the Blackcap is rarely found before May, although it arrives
early and pairs almost immediately, possibly because the vegetation is hardly
dense enough to provide sufficient concealment. The site chosen is usually in
the densest and most secluded part of its haunts. Sometimes it is placed
in some evergreen, boxwood, holly, or fir, sometimes amongst briars and
brambles growing but a few feet from the ground, or in some dense hedge
overgrown with bindweed. I have occasionally found it in the open fork of a
hazel in some secluded corner of a plantation, perfectly open and visible from
a distance. Although very slight in structure, it is beautifully rounded and
compactly built. It is made of dry grass, stalks of leaves and plants, coarse
roots, and a little moss sometimes, cemented together with cobwebs and pieces
of insects' cocoons, and carefully lined with horse-hair.

The eggs laid vary in number from three to six ; they are subject to
considerable variation in colour, but the eggs in the same clutch have the
same character. There are three distinct types. The first and commonest type
is dirty white in ground-colour, suffused with yellowish brown, and clouded
with darker tints of the same colour; here and there are a few rich brown
spots or streaks. The second type is very pale bluish white in ground-colour;
most of the markings are underlying ones of delicate violet grey, with a few
surface blotches of yellowish brown and one or two spots or streaks of dark
brown. The third, and rarest, has the ground-colour of a uniform pale
brick-red colour, indistinctly marbled with darker shades, and a few spots and
blotches of reddish brown. Some specimens are indistinguishable from those

122

of the Garden Warbler, but they are. .is .1 rule, brighter in <.c.l..m ami
uniformly marked than those of that bird.

They vary in length from '84 to 74 inch, and in breadth from '60 to S4
inch. Both birds assist in the duties of incubation, and the male has been
known to sing on the nest. Only one brood is reared in the year, but if the
first nest be destroyed they will often build a second nest close to the site
of the first one.

123

PLATE I
BLACKCAP. Sylvia atricapilla

May 1897. — Hampshire. — In the New Forest there are many delightful little
openings among the lofty oaks and beeches, where hollies grow, and the slopes
are covered with whitethorn and wild-rose bushes overgrown with brambles.
In nearly every one of these little spots one is almost sure to come across
a Blackcap, and with a little trouble the nest is easily found. One afternoon
I had a ramble near Stoneycross with my camera, and saw no less than five
Blackcaps' nests. In many places the beauty of the scenery was somewhat
marred by the amount of paper, straw, and broken bottles left about by the
gypsies and picnic parties, who seem to think that because they are allowed
to enjoy the freedom of the woods, they may make as much mess as they
like, and wantonly destroy the shrubs and bushes.

VOL. iv. — 2 K 125

BLACKCAP. Sr

I , NATURAL SIZE.

BULLFINCH

Pyrrhula Europaea

ROM its retiring habits, and love of dense cover, the
Bullfinch is often supposed to be rarer than it really is.
Although somewhat locally distributed, it is found in
nearly all the wooded districts of Great Britain. It is
not known as a visitor to the bare and treeless Hebrides,
but has been recorded from both the Orkneys and Shet-
lands. In Ireland the Bullfinch is also resident, but is
not so common as in England.

During the breeding season the Bullfinch is one of the shiest of our birds,
retiring to the depths of the woods and dense plantations. It is but rarely
seen in the open country where trees are scarce. In autumn and winter its
range is somewhat wider, and it is then frequently to be seen in gardens, and
along the thickly matted hedgerows dividing the fields. Indeed, it is only
during winter, when the leaves are off the trees, that we have any opportunity
of studying its habits. The Bullfinch is not a gregarious bird, and, unlike
most of the Finches, it is rarely seen in the company of other birds. Except
in autumn, when the young accompany their parents, the Bullfinch is usually
only seen in the company of its mate. In winter it will allow the observer to
approach it quite closely, as it restlessly moves from bush to bush searching
for seeds and berries. It is not often seen on the ground, preferring to seek
its food among the twigs and bushes.

The food of the Bullfinch is almost entirely composed of fruits, berries,
and seeds, though in summer it also takes grubs and various insects. It is,
unfortunately for itself, very partial to the tender shoots of fruit-trees ; curiously
enough, almost all the buds taken are flower-producing, the leaf-buds being
left untouched. Some writers contend that the Bullfinch only takes those
buds which are infested by insects, but I have observed that such is the
exception, and not the rule. For the greater part of the year the Bullfinch
lives on the seeds of rank grasses and noxious weeds, so that the damage done
in the fruit-garden is amply compensated for elsewhere. It will eat the seeds

127

of the dockweed, thistle, chickweed, groundsel, and nettle, and is also very
fond of the berries of the hawthorn, rose, elder, privet, and many others.

The Bullfinch is a very handsome bird, and of striking appearance, its
gay colours contrasting most pleasingly with the foliage. It rarely flies far
at a time, but prefers to move about in short, jerky flights, or to hop from
twig to twig. Its flight is not rapid, and is rather undulating.

The Bullfinch is in great request as a cage-bird, as it can readily be
taught to whistle various tunes, and is of a docile and confiding nature.
Both birds sing, but the female is not nearly so tuneful as her mate. When
singing, the cock bird sits very upright, every now and then flicking his
tail and jerking his wings and head, as if he were about to fly off. His song
is very pleasing and mellow, but is usually uttered in so low a tone as to
be audible at only a short distance. The call-note of the Bullfinch is a low,
plaintive whistle, full and rich but very monotonous, with a slightly descending
intonation.

Bullfinches most probably pair for life, as at all seasons they may be
seen in pairs, and seem much attached to each other. During the breeding
season they retire to the thickets and dense shrubberies, and are unusually
shy and silent while the young are being reared. Nest-building commences
about the beginning of the last week in April, and eggs may be found about
the first of May.

The nest is always placed in some dense spot, often in some holly, yew,
or boxwood tree ; plantations of young firs are also favoured spots, the nest
being placed on some flat branch ; occasionally a thick hedge of hawthorn or
blackthorn is chosen. The nest itself is a beautiful little structure, almost
entirely composed of slender twigs, generally birch, lined with fine rootlets.
The outer portion of the nest is very flat, almost like a miniature Wood
Pigeon's nest, and in the middle the cup of the nest is built, projecting above
the platform of twigs. Sometimes a feather or two, or a little wool and
horse-hair, are found in the lining, but rootlets only is the usual thing.

The eggs are from four to six in number, much bluer in ground-colour
than those of its relations, except the Lesser Redpole ; they are spotted or
streaked with dark purplish brown, and with paler markings of pinkish
brown. In most specimens the markings form an irregular zone round the
larger end, but occasionally they are equally distributed over the entire surface.
They vary in length from '84 to '87 inch, and in breadth from '61 to -54 inch.

The Bullfinch probably rears two broods in the season, as fresh eggs
may often be found as late as the beginning of July.

128

PLATE I
BULLFINCH. Pyrrhula Europaea

May 26///, 1897. — This nest was shown me in a garden near Norwich ; it
was built high up in the top of a thick boxwood-tree, near the end of one
of the branches which overhung a path. I had some difficulty in getting at
it, but managed at last with the aid of a long step-ladder and a wheelbarrow,
in which I stood the ladder.

In this same garden I was shown no less than five Bullfinches' nests,
all in boxwood-trees, and usually in the thickest part near the top.

VOL. rv. — 2 L 1 29

BULLFINCH. Pfrrk»l» Eurtf**.
>/, NATUMAL «IZE.

SHORT-EARED OWL

Asio accipitnnus

HE Short-eared Owl has not yet been completely ex-
terminated from the fens and moorlands in Great Britain,
and a few still breed among the marshes and moors in
England, Scotland, the Hebrides, the Orkneys and Shet-
lands. It is a regular visitor to Great Britain and
Ireland on the autumn migration, remaining with us
during the winter.

Unlike the other members of the Owl family found in our Islands, the
Short-eared Owl is rarely found in woods or plantations, nor does it haunt
ruins, rock clefts, or hollow trees. Its home is on the flat ground, amid
furze tangles, sedgy marshes, and dreary, flat fens, or on the bare, heathery
moors, among the patches of rushes which mark the wetter portions of the
ground. It is more often seen during daylight than any other species, and
does not seem to be incommoded by the light of the sun to such an extent
as its congeners. Although generally a migratory bird, a few pairs are
permanently resident in suitable Jocalities, and may be seen at all seasons of
the year. The great autumn migration of Short-eared Owls takes place in
October, during the latter half of the month. It is a more or less gregarious
bird during the whole of the winter, and several are often flushed in a
comparatively small piece of ground. On rising from the ground it flies
off quickly, swaying its body from side to side, and will often rise some
height in the air and then fly steadily off, without any of that curiously
undecided action which is so characteristic of most of the Owls when suddenly
sent into the sunshine.

Unfortunately the poor Short-eared Owl is shot down unmercifully by
keeper and farmer alike, who very foolishly imagine that they are destroying
vermin, while in reality they are destroying a valuable vermin-killer. The

food of the Short-eared Owl is chiefly composed of field-mice and various
species of short-tailed voles. I remember, during the vole plague in Tweeds-
muir in 1892, the Short-eared Owls appeared in great numbers from no one
knows where. All day they might be seen, hovering above the infected area,
every now and then dropping down to seize a vole, which was speedily
devoured. They must have been of great service in ridding the county of
what was a serious pest. For two years afterwards a few pairs lingered on,
and nested on the heather-clad hillsides ; but very soon the keepers had shot
or trapped them all, and now they are extinct in the district, till the voles
again break out. Besides mice, the Short-eared Owl takes small birds,
beetles, surface-feeding fish, rats, and frogs, and has been seen to take a bat
on the wing. The remains of golden plover, snipe, and red grouse have
also been found in its nest, but most probably they were weakly or wounded
birds.

I have never heard the Short-eared Owl make any other noise than a
harsh scream, usually uttered as the bird rose from the ground or off its nest.

The Short-eared Owl very probably pairs for life. It is an early breeder,
its eggs being found as early as the beginning of April ; though May is perhaps
its usual laying season. Unlike most of this genus, that seek a covered site
and lay white eggs, the Short-eared Owl lays its conspicuous white eggs in an
exposed and open nest on the ground. Among the broads of Norfolk the
nest is usually built among the coarse grass and rushes, or at the foot of
some heap of cut reeds. In Tweedsmuir the nests were placed among the
coarse grass on the hillsides, or among long heather, one nest being under
the shelter of a small willow bush near a burn on a damp piece of ground.
In Orkney, most of the nests I have seen were quite open, and placed among
heather. The old bird sits very close, and often allows herself to be approached
within a very short distance ere she rises and flies steadily away.

The Short-eared Owl lays from four to eight eggs ; occasionally as many
as nine are found. They are deposited at considerable intervals, as it is not
uncommon to find half-fledged young and fresh eggs in the same nest. They
are not quite so round as is usual with Owls' eggs, and are creamy white in
ground-colour, though they often get stained if the nest be at all damp. They
vary from r65 to 1*51 inch in length, and from 1*30 to i'2O in breadth.

132

PLATE I
SHORT-EARED OWL. Asia accipitrinus

June 1899. — Orkney. — I was taken to see a Short-eared Owl's nest on the
shoulder of a hill near Kirkwall. We had a long walk before we came in
sight of the hill where the Owl was to be seen. She was not on the nest
when we arrived, nor did we catch a glimpse of her as long as we were there.

The nest was merely a depression in the ground among the heather,
sparingly lined with a little moss, some dry grass, and one of the bird's own
feathers ; it was perfectly open, and the eggs could be seen from a distance
of many yards.

VOL. iv. — 2 M 133

SHORT-EARED OWL. Atu •aifitniuu.

1/4 NATURAL (IZE.

PLATE II
SHORT-EARED OWL. Asio accipitrinus

May 1899. — Hickling. — The young Owl whose portrait is given in the Plate
was found by a marshman, who sent word to me at once to come and photo-
graph it. It crouched flat on the ground, and gazed at us with its great
yellow eyes, but made no attempt to fly away, until one of the men stooped
to touch it, when it rose and flapped lazily away for fifty or sixty yards and
alighted again.

I was taken to see another ' Mesh Owl's ' nest in the afternoon. It was
placed among some rushes near one of the 'dykes,' and had been found by
the man who was cutting reeds there. As dusk came on we saw several pairs
of Owls flying lazily about, high in the air. Their flight is most peculiar,
and rather difficult to describe : the wings are held very straight and stiff, and
the bird progresses with sharp strokes of its wings, with a curious interval
between each beat, often soaring for a moment or two, and sometimes wheeling
in great circles.

135

4 \ I '>4

SHORT-EARED OWL.

Ik NATURAL SIZE

/ „-, //.

YELLOW WAGTAIL

Motacilla ran

• HE Yellow Wagtail is a common summer visitor to the
British Islands. It is widely distributed in England,
except in a few of the extreme south-western counties.
In Scotland it is much more sparingly distributed, but
is found principally in the southern counties, and has
been recorded as breeding in Inverness, Aberdeen, and a
few of the eastern counties. It is recorded as a visitor
to the Orkneys and Shetlands in autumn. In Ireland it is known to breed
in at least two counties.

The Yellow Wagtail is one of the first migrants to make its appearance
in spring: it arrives in England at its breeding-haunts early in March, and
reaches its more northern stations early in April. Immediately after its arrival,
it frequents the open country near the sea, and may always be found at this
season on the fields where sowing is going on. In summer the Yellow
Wagtails are always to be seen in fields where cattle are grazing, no doubt
on account of the number of insects to be found there. They will run about
in the grass amongst the animals, within a few inches of their feet, searching
diligently for insects. Its actions are similar to those of the other Wagtails,
and it is quite as graceful as any of its congeners. It runs about with mar-
vellous speed, its tail beating up and down incessantly, and it repeatedly takes
little flights into the air to capture some passing insect. It is not at all a shy
bird, and one can approach it within a short distance and admire the beauty
of its plumage. Its favourite haunts are the meadows near some river, canal,
or marshy lake or broad, and it may often be seen running nimbly over the
floating weeds on some sheet of water.

The Yellow Wagtail feeds on insects, grubs, and various kinds of worms.
It is very partial to small beetles, and seems to search the vegetation more
VOL. iv. — 2 N 137

closely than its congeners do ; it shows great agility in picking them from the
stems of plants, often fluttering up a tall stem to capture the small beetles
which lurk in some flower. It searches the droppings of the cattle for the
insects which abound there, and in spring it eats great quantities of larvae of
various kinds.

The call-note of the Yellow Wagtail is a penetrating, sharply uttered
' cheet-np ' or ' chit-up? usually uttered as the bird takes wing. The alarm-note
seems to be the same, as on several occasions when I have been examining
a nest the male bird flew round and round in jerking circles uttering this note.
Occasionally the male bird indulges in song : suddenly, without any warning,
he flutters into the air warbling his little song, which only lasts for a few
moments ; then down he drops again, and probably does not sing again for
a day or two.

The Yellow Wagtail returns year after year to its accustomed haunts : it
pairs a little after its arrival in spring, but it is probable that many pairs do
not separate at all. It is rather an early breeder, and eggs may be found by
the last week of April. The Yellow Wagtail often alights in trees, but is
seldom seen on the roofs of houses as its relations so often are, probably
because it prefers the open fields rather than the vicinity of houses. The nest
is always built upon the ground, generally in a well-sheltered situation, and
carefully concealed by a clump of grass or some weed or clod of turf. Some-
times it is built in the bank at the edge of a field or beside some stream ; but
the favourite situation is in some dense clump of grass in the middle of some
meadow. The bird sits very close, and I have beaten a clump of grass for
some time before the little bird at last fluttered out, disclosing its nest. The
materials of which the nest is made vary largely, according with the sur-
roundings ; as a rule the outside is composed of dry grass, stems of plants,
or rootlets. No two nests are lined alike : some are lined with horse-hair or
cow-hair, often almost entirely with feathers, while many are lined with fine
rootlets or dry grass.

The eggs laid vary in number from five to six: I have once found seven,
and once only four. They are greyish white in ground-colour, which is usually
quite hidden by the profusion of pale brown or olive brown surface-mottlings.
Many specimens have one or two blackish brown streaks or hairlike scrawlings
on the larger end, and I have seen one or two clutches which were suffused
with a purplish bloom. They vary in length from '81 to 73 inch, and in
breadth from '63 to -54 inch.

Two broods are reared in the season.

138

PLATE I
YELLOW WAGTAIL. Motacilla rait.

May 28//1, 1897, Mildenhall, Suffolk.— The nest depicted in this Plate is of
unusual interest to me, as it is the only one in which I have actually seen a
Cuckoo deposit her egg.

I had observed the Wagtails frequenting a low-lying meadow near the
river Lark, and had tried on several occasions to discover the nest. I lay
out for some hours watching the two birds, but failed to locate the nest, as
the female always alighted some distance away, and ran to it through the long
grass, where of course I could not see her. I hunted every clump of grass
one day and could not find it. As I was leaving in disgust, she got up
somewhere behind me, and I failed to locate the spot.

Two days afterwards I was going along the river-bank to photograph a
Kingfisher's nest, when I saw two Wagtails mobbing a Cuckoo close to where
I had suspected the nest to be. I ambuscaded myself in a willow bush and
got out my glasses. The Cuckoo had an egg in her bill I ! Breathlessly I
watched as she flew from place to place, alighting on the ground and followed
by the Wagtails. At last she seemed to be very busy at the foot of a tall
thistle. I took careful bearings and walked straight to the spot. She got up
within ten yards of me without the egg, and at the foot of the thistle, quite
open, was the Wagtails' nest, with the Cuckoo's egg in it and four Wagtails'
eggs!

'39

YELLOW WAGTAIL.

>/4 NATURAL SIZE

STOCK DOVE

Columba anas

T is only of late years that the Stock Dove has become
at all common in Scotland. In 1877 and 1878 we have two
writers who mention that the bird has occurred only once
or twice, and in the central counties, speaking of the fact
as a great rarity. To-day it is a common though locally
distributed resident in most counties, and seems to be
increasing. In England and Wales it is a well-known
bird, though somewhat local, but seems to be uncommon in Ireland.

The Stock Dove is hardly a bird of the woods, though its favourite
breeding-places are hollow trees ; it seems to prefer flat open country, studded
with little clumps of old trees, and intersected by streams fringed with pollard
willows. Often it will make its home in the stupendous cliffs of some rugged
coast, or in the rocky glens on some wild mountain-side. The Stock Dove
is a very shy and wary bird, and flies off to the nearest cover on the slightest
alarm. It may be seen in trees, running along the branches with great agility,
often spreading out its tail like a fan and puffing out its throat ; in the pairing
season, two males will often fight furiously for the possession of a female,
and go through all sorts of antics, bowing and scraping, and spreading their
tails. The flight of the Stock Dove is very rapid and light, and is performed
by an incessant and rapid beating of its pointed wings; in a wood it threads
its way among the branches with amazing rapidity, and with much less of
that loud flapping which distinguishes the Wood Pigeon.

The Stock Dove feeds principally on grain and seeds, varying this diet
with acorns, beech-nuts, and a few berries. It does not seem to eat the
shoots of plants to the same extent as the Ring Dove does. Like most
pigeons, they are voracious feeders, and Stock Doves devour enormous quantities
of grain, compensating for this by the amount of good they do in keeping
VOL. iv. — 2 o 141

many noxious weeds in check. They may often be seen on the newly sown
fields picking up the grain, and in autumn they frequent the bean-fields and
long rows of peas.

The note of the Stock Dove is harsh and discordant, not nearly so
pleasing to the ear as that of the Ring Dove, and consists of a single hoarse
1 coooo' repeated at intervals. They are much more silent than the Ring
Dove, and, unlike that bird, are seldom heard to utter a note at their roosting-
places.

The Stock Dove is rather an early breeder, and varies the character of
its nesting-site according to the nature of the district. By the last week in
March they are mostly paired, and begin almost immediately to select a site for
their nest. In districts where there are hollow trees, the Stock Doves make
hardly any nests, the eggs being laid on the decaying wood ; many pairs will
often frequent the same tree, and they will often nest in the same tree as
Jackdaws. Some nests are lined with one or two twigs and bits of dead
wood, and I have seen them carefully lined with dead leaves, but as a rule
the only lining is the decaying wood itself. Where there are few hollow
trees, the Stock Dove will often rear its young in the deserted nest of a
Carrion Crow or Magpie, and I have seen its eggs on the bare platform of
a Ring Dove's nest. Sometimes the nest is placed in the thick ivy growing
over some old building or tree, and it has been known to nest in an old
'doocot.' In treeless districts the Stock Doves nest in the crevices of the
rocks, or utilise the rabbit-holes at the summit of the cliff; it also regularly
nests in rabbit-holes in sandy warrens, laying its eggs on a scanty nest of twigs,
and often on the bare sand. I have also seen its nest under a thick whin-
bush, below the roots of a tree, under an overhanging bank, and on the top
of a wall under the roof of an old sheep-shed. The nest is always very
scanty, usually composed of a few twigs, bits of dead bracken stalks, dry roots,
or heather stems.

Two eggs are laid, which are pale creamy white in colour, making them
easily distinguishable from those of the Ring Dove or the Rock Dove. They
vary in length from 1-51 to 1*40 inch, and in breadth from i'2O to 1*15.
Both birds assist in the duties of incubation, which lasts about eighteen days,
the young remaining in the nest until well able to fly. Two, and even three,
broods are reared in the year, so that it is not uncommon to find fresh eggs
of this species as late as the end of September.

142

PLATE I
STOCK DOVE. Columba anas

This Plate represents the site of a Stock Dove's nest in Morayshire, quite close
to the sea. I found two pairs breeding in this district in 1887, and sent an
account of it to my friend J. A. Harvie-Brown of Dunipace; since then the
birds have steadily increased, and at the present time (1899) there is quite a
large colony among the sandhills.

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,-y

STOCK DOVE.

PINTAIL

Dafila acuta

HE Pintail is a common winter visitor to the British Islands;
it appears to be much rarer on the West coast than on
the East, and is only an accidental straggler to the Hebrides.
I have observed many flocks of Pintails in Orkney during
the winter, and in Shetland I watched a pair for several
days during the summer, which were evidently breeding
near a loch in the south of the mainland. During the
last few years a regular eruption of Pintails has broken out on one or two
lochs in central Scotland, and in a few years the Pintail will probably be as
common as the Tufted Duck. In England a few pairs are supposed to breed
in some of the preserved districts, and it has been recorded as breeding in at
least three of the Irish counties.

The Pintail belongs to the fresh-water group of Ducks. During the breeding
season it frequents the moors, lakes, rivers, and swamps, but retires to the
seacoast during winter to feed on the mud-flats at low tide. In its habits it
closely resembles the Mallard, but is much more shy and wary. It is one of
the earliest Ducks to arrive in spring, being often observed early in March,
and does not leave again for the south till late in October, or early in November
if the season be an open one. The Pintail's long neck and pointed tail give
it a much more slender appearance than that of most Ducks ; it is very much
more graceful on the ground, too, and runs along without the ungainly waddle
which most Ducks have. In Shetland I watched a pair for several days ; they
always associated with a small flock of tame ducks, and very graceful they
looked beside their clumsy relatives.

The Pintail feeds on insects and molluscs, grass shoots, and buds of various
water-plants, just like all the fresh-water Ducks, but it resembles the Mallard
in its partiality for the stubble-fields in autumn, and goes regularly at dusk
VOL. iv. — 2 p 145

to pick up the scattered grain. In winter and on migration it frequents the
mud-flats on the seacoast, and feeds on small molluscs, tiny Crustacea, and
sea-grass.

The call-note of the Pintail is a low ' karr,' and its alarm-note 'quaak,' not
so harsh as that of the Mallard, nor so high-pitched as the Teal's note. At
their breeding-grounds Pintails have another curious note, uttered by the drake
as he swims round his mate, sounding sometimes like ' argluck-urrrj and some-
times only ' gerk-rrrrr,' the last syllable being a low, grating note.

The Pintail is a fairly early breeder, eggs being sometimes laid early in
April, but often not till early in June. Of eleven nests I examined in the
beginning of June, one was just hatching, five had their full complement of
eggs, and the rest were only half laid. The nest is placed in a dry situation
among rushes or tussocks of coarse grass, and is not particularly carefully
concealed. It is deep, and well lined with bits of sedge and dead grass, and,
when the clutch is complete, with a profusion of down. When disturbed, the
Duck usually flies away for some little distance, alights, and comes running
back through the grass in a stooping position, reminding one rather of a
hen pheasant.

From six to ten eggs are laid ; but if the first nest be destroyed, the second
rarely contains more than five or six eggs. They are sometimes pale greenish
buff in colour, and sometimes pale yellowish buff; I have seen both varieties
within a few yards of each other. The safest identification is the down, which
is brown with distinct white tips, and easily distinguishable from that of the
Mallard, Shoveller, and Tufted Duck. The eggs vary in length from 2^24 to
2'O inch, and in breadth from i'6i to 1^49 inch.

Young in down are exactly the same on the upper parts as young Mallards,
but in addition to the dark stripe passing through the eye, there is a second
dark line passing below the eye from the lores to the nape, and the white on
throat and belly is suffused with grey instead of with buff.

146

PLATE I
PINTAIL. Dafila acuta

June I5/, 1899. — This Plate was taken on a small grassy island in the middle
of a loch in central Scotland. We saw several pairs of Pintails swimming
about, and a few single drakes, so we landed, and very soon succeeded in
discovering their nests.

Most of the nests were very open and easily discovered ; they were all very
deep and well lined, and I was rather surprised to find that only two had their
full complement of eggs.

I procured several photographs, and carefully examined all the nests ; there
were two distinct types of eggs, one being very green and the other very
yellow. We also saw several Shovellers' and Tufted Ducks' nests.

'47

PINTAIL. Du/IU

>/4 NATURAL MZK.

rut, t.

PLATE II
PINTAIL. Dafila acuta

June is/, 1899. — This nest was built in a patch of burnt grass on a grassy
island in a large loch. The young Pintails were just coming out of the sht-11,
and all the time I was taking the photograph, the old duck ran backwards
and forwards a few yards from me. I was much struck with the easy way
she moved about ; she looked much more like a pheasant than a duck.

We didn't hear any of the Pintails utter a sound as they rose from their
nests, but they sometimes uttered a ' quaak' as they ran back along the
ground to see if we were molesting the nest.

VOL. iv. — 2 Q 149

PINTAIL. Df/Ut «•«/*.

I/, NATURAL SIZE.

WRYNECK

lynx torqutlla

N the south-eastern counties of England the Wryneck is a
common bird ; in most other localities it is rarer and very
locally distributed. It is an occasional summer visitor
to several of the Scottish counties, and has occurred as
far north as the Orkneys and Shetlands on migration. I
can only find one or two records of its occurrence in
Ireland.

The Wryneck is a summer visitor to Great Britain, arriving in the
southern counties in March and the beginning of April, and leaving our
shores again in September. It frequents well-wooded districts, and is fond
of old orchards, large gardens, parks, and plantations where there are plenty
of trees to afford it shelter. It is a very shy bird, and is seldom seen
except in pairs. In Suffolk, I have seen it in the little clumps of Scotch
firs on the edge of the heaths, or among the rough ground covered with
stunted elder-bushes and blackthorn. Its flight is very undulating, and it is
not often seen on the wing except when passing from tree to tree. It may
sometimes be seen among the slender twigs at the top of a tree collecting the
insects from the leaves, sometimes fluttering in the air to catch a passing
insect. On the trunk of the tree it does not use its tail as a support as the
true Woodpeckers do, but usually perches sideways, one foot up the trunk
and the other down, as a Tit does.

The food of the Wryneck consists almost exclusively of insects. It is
extremely fond of ants and their eggs, and may often be seen on the ground
working assiduously at some ant-hill. It moves about on the ground in a
series of jerky hops, assisting itself with its wings and tail. When feeding, its
tongue is shot out and withdrawn with amazing rapidity, the ants' eggs sticking
to the glutinous surface. It may often be seen picking the ants from the

trunks of trees or the sides of a wall, and it searches the crannies and crevices
in the bark for insects, drawing them out with its long tongue.

Although the Wryneck is so shy and retiring that it is not often actually
seen, its presence in a district is very soon made known by its singular cry ;
this is so loud and piercing in tone that it makes the woods ring again.
It is constantly uttered on the first arrival of the birds, and resembles
the syllables ' veet-veet-veet-'veet ' uttered very rapidly, and sounding somewhat
like a shriller edition of the Green Woodpecker's laugh. Sometimes it is
shortened into ' kik-kik-kik-kik] sounding almost like the cry of a Hawk.
Once the female has begun to sit, this cry is seldom heard, and by the end
of June the Wryneck has become silent.

The Wryneck is probably paired for life, as a pair will return year after
year to the same site in spite of disturbance. When first arrived they are
very noisy, and are continually calling loudly to each other, especially in the
early morning. The Wryneck lays its eggs in holes in trees ; but, unlike
the Woodpeckers, it does not make its own abode, though it often slightly
alters the hole which it has chosen ; as a result, the eggs are sometimes
visible from the opening, sometimes they are several feet from the aperture.
No nest is made, the eggs being deposited on the decayed wood at the bottom
of the hole. The Wryneck is a very close sitter, and will hiss in a most
alarming manner if surprised in its hole, twisting its head from side to side
in a very snakelike manner. Both birds assist in the duties of incubation,
and the young are tended with great care by their parents, and are accom-
panied by them for some time after they can fly.

From six to ten eggs are laid : they are pure white without any markings,
but are not quite so smooth and polished as those of the Woodpeckers, and
therefore may be readily distinguished from those of the Lesser Spotted Wood-
pecker from that peculiarity, and by their larger size. In the Zoologist (1872),
p. 3227, is an instance of a Wryneck laying an abnormal clutch. In this
case, by the judicious abstraction of an egg each day, no fewer than forty-two
eggs were taken in a single season from a nest of this bird in an old stump.
The eggs vary in length from '9 to '8 inch, and in breadth from '66 to
•58 inch.

Only one brood is reared in the year.

152

PLATE I
WRYNECK. lynx torquilla

May 1898. — The old cherry-tree depicted in the Plate has been the nesting-
site of a pair of Wrynecks for several years.

On their arrival, the birds are very noisy in the early mornings, and
continue to be so for some time. On one occasion the Wrynecks found a
pair of Tree Sparrows in possession, and a battle-royal took place, in which
the Sparrows were vanquished, leaving the Wrynecks in possession. The
Sparrows' nest was then pulled out and scattered, and the hole once more-
put in order.

VOL. iv. — 2 R 153

WRYNECK,

LESSER WHITETHROAT

Sylvia curruca

the British Islands the Lesser Whitethroat is a some-
what locally distributed species, though in some districts
it is quite a common bird. It seems to be rare in Wales
and in the western counties of England. In Scotland
the Lesser Whitethroat is also very locally distributed.
It is sparingly met with in Ayrshire, Renfrewshire, and
Dumbartonshire, and as far north as Perthshire ; I have
myself seen its nest in Stirlingshire. It has been observed on the Shetlands,
but does not seem to reach the Hebrides. In Ireland there is little reliable
evidence of its occurrence.

The Lesser Whitethroat is a regular summer visitor to Great Britain,
and arrives about the end of April. Its haunts are the tangled copses,
shrubberies, small plantations, and thick hedgerows where there is plenty of
concealment and seclusion. It is a restless, shy little bird, and does not
frequent the open, preferring the shelter of the thick undergrowth or the
dense foliage in the tops of the trees. Unlike its larger relative, the Common
Whitethroat, it is frequently seen at a considerable distance from the ground,
sometimes hiding under the leaves or gliding from branch to branch in pursuit
of insects, every now and then sallying into the air to capture some passing
gnat. When crossing from one tree to another, its flight is very undulating,
but it seldom flies any distance at a time.

The food of the Lesser Whitethroat is principally composed of insects,
which it seeks under the leaves of the trees and shrubs; but it also eats
green flies and caterpillars, and is very partial to cherries and currants.

Its song is a rather monotonous trill, preceded very often by a few notes,
which remind one rather of the twittering of the Swallow. Its call-note is

'55

..

LESSER WHITETHROAT. Sylvia

1/4 NATURAL SIZE

i

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. LIBRARY

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