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BIRDS’ EGGS AND NESTS.

“POPULARLY DESCRIBED.

_2°
BY “ore

REV. J. ‘ATKINSON,

AUTHOR OF oo AND TALKS,” “PLAY HOURS AND HALF HOLIDAYS,”
“SKETCHES IN NATURAL HISTORY.”

wil RED ILLUSTRATIONS BY W. S. COLEMAN.
BNITHSON AG MEARNS

| COLLECTION
NEW EDITION. a

AAS TTS
LONDON:
GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS,
BROADWAY, LUDGATE HILL.
NEW YORK: 416 BROOME STREET.
1870.

PREFACE.

THE object proposed in this volume is, in the first place, to present

' our young readers with a complete and systematic list of our

British Birds :—the word British being taken to mean such as,
being truly wild birds, either inhabit Britain throughout the year,
visit Britain statedly for longer or shorter periods of each year,
or have been proved to reach the shores of Britain two or three
times or oftener, under the pressure of any incidental cireumstances

whatever.

In the next place, the attempt has been made to distinguish at
once between the rare or casual visitors, and such as are really

pflenizergh the Land, whether for a few weeks or months annually,

or ‘by unbroken habitation.

ae
But the principal object and intention of the book is to present
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vl PREFACE.

accurate and trustworthy accounts of the Nests and Nesting-sites
the Eggs, and any ascertained nesting or breeding-season pecu-
liarities of every undoubtedly British-breeding species. And the
author’s difficulty has often been out of the large mass of available
materials at hic command, acquired by personal observation o1
from the reading and notes of many years, to select what might
be instructive, interesting or amusing, without burdening the
book with unnecessary details, or encroaching too much on the

allotted space.

The principle adopted in the illustrations has been to omit all
representations of eggs either white or nearly white in colour, in
order to husband space for the admission of a greater number of .
those characterised by varied colours and markings. On the same

ground, although it was earnestly desired by the artist io give more

than one representation of some of the very marked variations
- occurring in the eggs of several species, he has been pom tied to
content himself with selecting and figuring the most typical or
normal forms in all such cases. All the illustrations given have been

carefully drawn from unquestionable specimens, and Mr. Coleman
desires to acknowledge in this place the assistance, which in this
matter, has been afforded him by that excellent and accurate

practical naturalist, Mr, F. Bond.

PLATE TI.

1, Golden Eagle, 2. Osprey. 3. Peregrine Falcon. 4, Hobby. 5. Merlin, 6. Kestrel.

7. Sparrow Hawk.

PREFACE. vil

_ An Appendix 1s subjoined, in which a notice will be found of
the habits of nidification, the nests and eggs of several birds,
; which though regular inhabitants of Britain or some part of it,
for a given portion of cach year, still retire to foreign and distant

localities for the purposes of nest-making and rearing their

young.

Finally, an attempt has been made to exhibit at one glance,
and in avery condensed and systematic form, as much information
as possible touching the nest, its customary site and materials,
and also the eggs, their number, colour, and markings, and any
noteworthy breediag peculiarities of each separate British-breed-
ing species. It is hoped this attempt, somewhat novel as it is,
and almost mevitably imperfect as it must be in some respects,
will not be regarded as altogether unacceptable by the youthful
nest-hunter and egg-collector.

The author has only to observe, in conclusion, that he has

scarcely thought it necessary in the majority of instances to notice

the common and well recognised fact that the particular species
under notice, in common with many or most of our common
British Birds, rears two broods, or even more, in the course of

the summer. Neither has he thought it requisite to attempt to

|

A PREFACE.
3

define the average season for the commencement of nidification

in the case of this or that species, as they came successively

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under review. .

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INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS.

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CHAPTER I.

ie?

Tux object with which this book is written is that it may be

interesting and useful to young egg-collectors. It is not easy to
make a book, which is to be devoted to such details as the length
and breadth and shades and markings of some two or three
hundred different eggs, either interesting, or even barely read-
able. But there is no necessity that a book of British birds’
eges and nests should be devoted to merely such details as
those. For my own part, I do not find it easy altogetner to
dissociate the eggs laid from the bird which lays them; and
when I see a beautiful nest, I can hardly help being led to
think something about the builder, its means, objects, powers,
instincts and intelligence. And I don’t see why a book about
eggs and nests should not follow the direction given by those
same objects to my thoughts, and the thoughts of hundreds
and thousands of other men besides me, and I am sure too of
hundreds and thousands of boys and girls as well. Iam as sure —
as if I could see into the minds of many and many a young
nest-hunter, that when he finds one day the wonderfully neat and
beautiful Chaffinch’s or Goldfinch’s or Crested Wren’s nest,
and the next, lights upon some littering Jackdaw’s nest, or
B

2° BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

inartistic, careless-seeming Jay’s or Ring-dove’s, that the wide,
wonderful contrast and difference sets him thinking—What is
the reason of this strange dissimilarity? Is one of these birds
really less clever than the other? Did God make one of them
a careless, disorderly, unthrifty bird, while the other He made
such a wonderfully neat and dexterous and contriving one ?

And I am equally sure that a little measure of observation
and thought will be enough to show the young inquirer not
only that the Great Maker of Birds and Giver of their instincts
and understandings and capacities has not left some of His
creatures imperfect in some of their qualifications and endow-
ments, but that the very contrasts and unlikenesses which first
set him on questioning at all, all teach one great lesson and
illustrate one great truth,—namely this, “O Lord, how manifold
are Thy works! In wisdom hast Thou made them all.”

Perhaps an Egg-book might be so written as to help such
thought and observation as is here supposed, and now and then
besides to suggest explanations or lead to investigation or
communicate a knowledge of facts such as to illustrate and
make clear, and even entertainig or amusing, the every day
incidents and facts which fall commonly enough beneath the

notice of the moderately sharp-eyed and observant nest-hunter.
The difficulty of making such a book useful to the systematic
collector of eggs, however young, is not nearly as great as that
of making it interesting to the many, who, though not inspired
with the ambition of owning a real grand cabinet, and of
arranging its manifold drawers with neatly ordered and ticketed
ege-cards, are yet sensible of a real pleasure and enjoyment in
noticing the nests and eggs of their numerous “feathered
friends,” and identifying such as may chance to be less familiarly
known than the majority of those met with under ordinary

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS. OV

circumstances. Faithful description and accurate representation
are clearly within our reach, and such description and representa-
tion are sufficient in nineteen cases out of twenty for the purposes
of identification in all instances of usual occurrence.

The cases in which identification is difficult are of two or
three kinds. Sometimes the difficulty arises from the near
resemblance of the eggs laid by different allied species, sometimes
from the wide discrepancies in the markings and especially in
the shadings or tints of eggs laid by the same species ; but much
more frequently from the doubtful eges being met with apart
from the containing nests, or from want of proper or sufficiently
accurate observation of the nests at the moment of discovery.
The young egg-fancier should always recollect that the fashion
and materials and site of the nest taken in connection with the
eggs will almost always, with the aid of a tolerably accurate
and well illtstrated Book of Eggs, enable him to decide without
hesitation as to the real owner of the nests and eggs in question;
while there are very many eggs, such as the Common Wren’s,
those of one or more of the Tom-tits, the Lesser Willow-Wren
&c., of which specimens may be found so nearly resembling one
another in shade and size and spots, that it requires a very nice
and experienced eye to allot the several eggs to their certain
origin. In such a case as this, recourse must be had to some
kind and experienced Oologist.

A few words on another subject. The author has been gravely
taken to task by some of his conscientious friends, for delineat-
ing in one or two of his former books the pleasures and excite-
ments of egg-hunting, or the satisfaction of trying to form a
methodical collection. He has been more than once asked—Do
you really mean to encourage boys in robbing birds’ nests? Can
you defend such a practice from the charge of cruelty ?

B 2

4 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

If I thought there was any real or necessary connection
between a love of egg-hunting—yes, and egg-collecting, too,—
and cruelty, I would not say another word for it or about it.
But I am sure that the real lover of birds and their nests and
egos is not the boy who is chargeable with those torn and ruined
- nests—‘“ destroyed” as they may well be styled—which grieve one
as he walks along the lanes and hedge sides. If the nest is taken,
or rudely and roughly handled, or the eggs all plundered, there is
cruelty: for in the one case, the poor parent-birds are warned by
their instinct, if not their intelligence, to forsake their treasured
charge; in the other, they suffer from pitiless robbery of what
they most love. But if the parent bird be not rudely and
repeatedly driven from her nest,—if the nest be not pulled out
of shape, or the containing bushes or environing shelter be not
wilfully or carelessly disturbed—if two or three eggs are still
left for her to incubate, there is, so far as human ‘observation
can reach; no pain, or concern, or uneasiness, to the little owners
from the abstraction of one egg or more, and, therefore, of course,
no cruelty in the abstraction. The legitimate pursuit of sport in
the stubbles and turnip fields, or on the open moor, does not
differ more widely from the crue! proceedings of the cold-blooded,
hard-hearted slaughterer of his dozensof Rock-birds (many of which
are always left to die lingeringly and miserably), than the object
or manner of action of the true lover of birds and their ways
and nests cnd eggs, from the ruthless destruction of every nest
and its contents which may happen to be met with hy some young
loutish country savage.

Again, a few words more, and this time about classification.
I should like, if such a course were profitable, or even practi-
cable, to make just such a classification as an active, sharp-eyed,
observant, persevering nest-hunter would, as it were, find ready-

PLATE II.

1, Kite, 2, Common Buzzard. 3. Honey Buzzard. 4-5, Butcher-bird. 6. Spotred Flycatcher.
Pied Flycatcher, 8. Dipper. 9. Missel Thrush. 10. Song Thrush. 11. Blickbird. 12. Ring Ouzel
13. Hedge Sparrow. 14. Robin. 15. Redstart. 16. Stonechat 17. Whinchat.

PS INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS. 5
made for him, by the results of his rambles and investigations
and discoveries ; that is to say, to group the birds and their eggs
according to their frequent occurrence, their comparative, but
still not positive, infrequency, or their downright rarity. By
this means, and the subdivisions which would be suggested by

an enumeration of the most usual sites of the several nests, an
interesting, and at least partially instructive as well as good,
system of classification would be devised. But I am afraid such
asystem would not have much to recommend it, besides its novelty
and interest and practical hints “where to look for’this bird’s
nest or the other’s; and how to look so as to find.” One oreat
disadvantage would be that such classification, so called, would
have the effect of breaking up groups which nature has put
together. There is, generally speaking, what may be called a
great family-likeness between the eggs of the various species of
any given genus, or kind of birds. ‘Take the Buntings, for
instance: any one who is familiar with the common Yellow-Ham-
mer’s egg would at once guess at the eggs of either of the other
species as belonging to a Bunting; and the same of the Titmice,
Linnets, Thrushes, Crows, and so on without end.

So that although it may seem at first sight that scientific
classification is hard and troublesome and half unnecessary, and
may often prompt the question in the boy-collector’s mind, Why
wouldn’t it do just as well to write down the English names on
the cards and in my catalogue, and arrange them all my own way ?
still it should be remembered that such classification after all is
far from arbitrary, and on the contrary, and as far as it is really
good, only follows out the teachings or guidings of nature. And
this quite independently of the trouble which is saved by it to
any one who wishes to consult books of reference, and still more
to examine large and well-arranged collections of eggs, whether

>» *

6 ‘BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

for his own direct instruction, or merely in search of interesting
pastime. If a boy only knows that a Reed-Sparrow is called a
Reed-Sparrow or a Black-headed Bunting, and he wanted to find
the Reed-sparrow’s eggs in a well-stocked collection, he might
be half-an-hour before he lit upon what he wanted; but if he
knew that the generic name of the Bunting was Hmberiza, and the
specific name of the Reed-Sparrow, Scheniclus, he would be able to
pitch upon his quarry in half-a-minute. Besides all which, no one
was ever the worse for learning habits of orderly and systematic
arrangement, even though he had to pay the price of doing a little
puzzling head-achy work, and had to bother himself with a good
many ugly-looking, ill-sounding, jaw-cracking words, such as
Coccothraustes, Troglodytes, Platyrhynca, Phalacrocorax, and
the like.

It is proposed in this little book to adopt a classification which °
seems to meet with very general acceptance or acquiescence, and
principally for that reason;—that, namely, which was employed
by the late Mr. Yarrell. This classification depends on the system
which divides all birds whatever into five great classes, viz:— -

I. Raptores. . . . . Prey-catchers.
ED) Teesessores.. ss goa Perehers.
IML. Masores . .. «ss Seratchers:
IV. Grallatores . . . . Waders.

V. Natatores . . . . Swimmers.

Hach of these classes, or “Orders,” as they are technically
called, is again divided either into distinct Families, or (at least
in some cases) into Sub-classes, or Groups; these Groups being
then further subdivided into Families. Again, these Families are
made up of more or fewer gexera, and each en or

ia Fe

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS. v

fewer species. These species, so many of them as compose any
particular genus, all differ from one another more or less, but
yet have a strong general resemblance, or (what may familiarly
be called) strong family likeness to each other.

The general scheme or, as I may almost call it, the skeleton of
our classification will therefore stand thus :—

ORDER I.—RAPTORES.
Faminy I. Vaulturide* . . . Vulture-kina
Il. Faleonide . . . . Falcon-kind.
. IDL. Strigide . . . . Owl-kind.

IL.—INSESSORES.
GROUP ].—DENTIROSTRES (TOOTH-BILLED).

FaMIty I. Laniade . . . . Butcher-bird-kind.
Il. Muscicapide . . . Flycatcher-kind.
Ill. Merulide . . . . Throsh-kind.
IV. Sylviadet+ . . . Wood-bird-kind.

* Vulturide, Falconide, and the other similar names of Families are
most of them, Latin words, with Greek forms or terminations. The true or
real meaning of any one of them would be, that the birds in the Family so
named are the children, or descendants, of the bird or birds whose name is
used—thus, Valturidc, sous of a Vulture or Vultures—which, of course, is
nonsense, as the words are applied. What is meant by the use of the words
in question is that the birds grouped together in any one Family, ali parti-
cipate in some likeness of kind—are, so to speak, “ connections” of each other
or that there is a sort of kin-ship among them. This I have tried to convey
in the annexed translation. It ought to be observed also that the Bird
whose name is given to the entire Family is selected for such purpose as
possessing the characteristic qualities or peculiarities of the family in ques-
tion, or, at least, most of them, in the strongest and most marked degree.

t+ Sylwiade I have translated Wood-bird-kind, because Sylvia means
something connected with wood, if it means anything. Sylvia is taken, in
Bird-nomenclature, to denote a Warbler; and it may be said, that most of
those birds which come under this division are Warblers in some sense, and

are, in some degree or other, of sylvan habits; at least if we give to the
word og ae latitude of meaning.
“aay Ap

: as

BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

GROUP 1.—DENTIROSTRES (TOOTH-BILLED), continued.

Famity V. Paride . . . . Titmouse-kind.
VI. Ampelide. . . . Waxwing-kind.

VIL. Motaciilide . . . Wagtail-kind.

VIII. Anthide . . . . Anthus-kind.

GROUP 2.—CONIROSTRES (CONE-BILLED).

Famity I. dAlaudide. . . . Wark-kind.
II. Emberizide . . . Bunting-kind.
IIL. Fringillide . . . Finch-kind.
IV. Sturnide . . . . Starling-kind.
V.-Cornde . . . . Crow-kind.

GROUP 3.—SCANSORES (CLIMBERS).

Famity I. Picide . . . . Woodpecker-kind,
Il. Certhiade . . . Creeper-kind.
Ill. Cuculide . . . Cuckoo-kind,

GROUP 4,—FISSIROSTRES (CLEFT-BILLED),

Famity J. Meropide . . . Bee-eater-kind.
Il. Halcyonide . . Kingfisher-kind.
IIL. Hirundinide . . Swallow-kind.
IV. Caprimulgide . . Goatsucker-kind.

IiI. RASORES.

I. Columbide . . . Dove-kind.

Il. Phasianide . . Pheasant-kind.
I. Yetraonide . . Grouse-kind.
IV. Struthionide . . Ostrich-kind, ‘

FAMILY

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS. G

IV. GRALLATORES.

Famity I. Charadritde . . Plover-kind.
Il. Gruide . . . Crane-kind.
ITI. Ardeide . . . Heron-kind.
IV. Scolopacide . ~. Woodcock-kind.
V. Rallide . . . Rail-kind,
VI. Lobipedide . . Lobed-foot-kind.

V. NATATORES.

FaMIiy I. Anatide . . . Duck-kind.
Il. Colymbide . . Diver-kind.
Tit. Aleads’ ». . Aukekind:

IV. Pelecanide . . Pelican-kind.
WV: Laridz... .. «« ~» Gullkkind:

Such being the skeleton of our classification, the details neces-
sary for the completion of the entire system or frame will be
most conveniently given as we proceed to notice in detail the
various Orders, their component Families and subordinate mem-
bers.

a CHAPTER II.

Any one who is conversant with Yarrell’s admirable ‘ British
Birds,” will most likely have noticed that that author gives
in almost every case very precise measurements of the eggs
of each particular species of Bird described. And it might, at
first sight, seem to be so necessary to give such measurements
that one would very likely feel half inclined to pronounce a Book
of Birds’ Eggs very imperfect, which omitted all notice of
dimensions. But the fact is, such measurements are, in so very
many different instances, altogether fallacious and likely to
mislead. Thus Mr. Yarrell’s measurements of the Blackbird’s
ege are, “the length one inch, two lines; the breadth ten lines.”
That is no doubt a good average or approximate measurement,
but I have Blackbirds’ eggs before me which vary between half
a line, or 3, of an inch, less, and a line, or py of an inch, more
in length, and between half a line, more or less, in breadth. Again,
I have two Starlings’ egos on my table, both taken from the same
Pigeon-cote, in Essex; one of which is 1,2, inch long by 48 inch
broad; the other 1,8; inch long, and 38 inch broad; while to the
eye the latter is not much more than half as large as the
former. Moreover, Mr. Yarrell’s measurements for this bird’s
eggs are precisely the same as for those of the Blackbird, and not
only not tallying with those of either of my eggs, but not even
presenting a near approach to the medium dimensions.

Great numbers of similar instances might be adduced, and

12 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

in connection with the very commonest birds. Even eggs from
the same nest may continually be met with, presenting great
disparity in bulk; one in the number being frequently so small
in comparison with the others as to set one invariably thinking
it must have been the last laid, and that a partial failure of
ége-producing power in the mother-bird must be the explanation
of the phenomenon.

It seems scarcely open to question that the physical condition
of the parent-bird must exercise a great influence over its egg-
producing capacity. Its powers may be impaired by age, by the
past effects of injury or sickness, by a partial failure of some
necessary element of food, by undue pressure on the egg-pro-
ducing organs, such as must occur by the loss of one or
more early layings. Indeed all these causes are well-known to
interfere with the reproductive energies of animals at large, and
it is a thoroughly ascertained fact that both the first and the last
act most strongly in the case of many Birds. The comparative
size of Birds’ eggs, therefore, seems to me a matter to which
it is unnecessary, if not inexpedient, to direct the young collector’s
attention; in any other way, at least, than as to a matter of
curious observation and contrast. As ameans of identification it
fails completely, and is only adverted to here for the purpose of
obviating a portion of the perplexity which may often occur in
practice to the youthful egg-fancier from the difference in size
between different specimens of what are in reality eggs of the
same species of birds, but seem to him, from their discrepancy
of dimensions, not possibly so.

Again, the colour and markings of many different species of
egos are found to admit of great variation. The most familiar
and striking instance is in the case of the Guillemot: but one

more within the reach of every nest-hunter is presented by the
7h,

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS. 13

eves of the Blackbird. Sometimes the spots on them are very
minute and multitudinous ; almost confluent from their number
and minuteness ; sometimes large and well defined and permitting
the ground-shade of the shell to be very apparent; sometimes
reddish in colour, closely approaching the shade of those on the
Ring-Ousel’s egg, and sometimes brown in hue, with no reddish
tinge at all; and sometimes they disappear altogether, or very
nearly, and leave the egg with a strong resemblance to the little-
spotted Thrush’s egg.* ‘l'o such an extent is this the case, that
a year or two since I was misled into assuming that four eggs
which I found in a nest with all the characters of a Blackbird’s
nest, must most certainly from their colour and markings, be as-
signed toa Thrush original and not to a Blackbird. Other familiar
instances of the same kind may be noticed as met with in
the eggs of the House-Sparrow, the Tree-Pipit, the Sky-Lark,
the Yellow-Hammer, one or more of the Hawks, &c.

In the fabric and materials of nests, again, as constructed by
birds of the same speciés, much dissimilarity, under peculiar
circumstances, will be found to prevail. But really not more
than might have been looked for beforehand, if it were not that,
in our usual way of thinking about birds and other animals,
we lay so much stress upon Instinct, and do not so much as
admit to our notice the possibility that many of their actions
may be prompted by a measure of intelligence, and not simply
an unconsidering, unreasoning influence, which we term their
Instinctive endowment. No doubt Instinct teaches them both
to build and how to build their nests, and what materials are the
most suitable, and the sites that are most eligible. But it is
scarcely Instinct which sets the Eagle and the Crow, when their
abode is in a place that does not furnish the sticks they commonly

* Yarrell, i. 204. Hewitson, i, 63.

14 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

or instinctively use for building their nests, to adopt instead of
sticks the sea-weed stems which their home does produce. And
so too of the House-Sparrow, which builds a huge domed or well
covered-in nest, if it selects a tree or ivy for its site, but only
lines the bottom of the hole in thatch, or a wall, with abundant
feathers or hair or straw. The Wren, again, which usually
builds its nest so that it may easily be removed entire and com-
pact, may be found to avail itself of such a site for its nest,
that it may be built on the principle of application—like the
Martin’s to the wall beneath the eaves—so that, when taken from
its site, it shall appear to have had a segment completely cut out
or sliced off from it.

The adaptation of materials to site also, so as to secure a
greater degree of concealment by making the intrusive structure
assimilate in external fabric and hue to the surrounding objects,
is well worthy of ‘noticing attention, as supplying not only fresh
sources of seeming unlikeness in nests of the same species of
birds, but also fresh instances of the lMttle feathered architect’s
wonderful adaptive intelligence. :

The question,—Why are Birds’ Eggs, in so many cases, so varl-
ously and beautifully ornamented? Why are their hues and
markings made so attractive to look at? has often been asked,
and two or three different answers or modes of answer have been
suggested. I have seen the idea started that the design of such
various colouring and marking is intended to facilitate conceal-
ment, by the adaptation of the general hue of the egg to that of
the recipient or supporting substances. The theory is at least
otginal and amusing; but unfortunately less happy than when
applied to the plumage of the birds themselves which lay the
egos. It is no easy thing to detect a Partridge as she sits,
lifeless-seeming, amid other objects not more still than herself,

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS. 15

and presenting no great contrast in colour to her feathers: but
there is no difficulty in seeing her eggs as they lie in the nest.
And so well aware is she of the fact, that she always covers her
eggs with some convenient and suitable material—last year’s oak
leaves, for example—when leaving her nest deliberately, or not
under the impulses of alarm. The Hedge-Sparrow’s eggs again,
or any other blue egg, how can they be supposed to become less
conspicuous by their colour when reposing in some earth-brown
or hay-coloured nest-cup ?

Tf it had been said that the Golden Plover’s eggs, the Peewit’s,
the Snipe’s, the Norfolk Plover’s—not to name many others of
which the same might be alleged—were of such general hue,
so shaded and so marked as to be anything but conspicuous, as
to be indeed well calculated to escape any but a most scrutinising
notice, in the apologies for nests which usually contain them,
the entire truth of the remark would have appealed to every
nest-finder’s experience and assent: but it will not do so in any
other form.

It is impossible to lay down any rule for the colours of eggs
in connection with the places, or nature of the places, in which
they are laid. White eggs are not laid in nests built in dark
holes as a rule—indeed, very much the contrary; witness the
Dove’s eggs, and so many of those of the Duck tribe; nor are
dark-coloured eggs invariably found to be. laid where exposed
to the greatest amount of broad daylight. There seems to be
no rule in the matter.

Again, another answer to the question just noticed is, Eggs
were made so beautiful, and so various in their beauty, to gratify
and gladden man’s eye. Idon’t dispute the fact that the beautiful
shape, and the beautiful tints, and the beautiful markings do
gratify and gladden the human eye and human heart too. I

16 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

know they do, and in thousands of cases, and with a great, pure
pleasure. But that is a very different thing from saying that God
made them so for no other reason, or even for that purpose as
a principal reason. How many thousands of eggs, for ten that
are seen by man, escape all human notice whatever! How
many millions upon millions in the old-world times before there
were men to see them, must have had their fair colours, and
delicate symmetry, and harmonious intermingling of hues, for
no purpose whatever according to this view! No, no. Nature
should not be read so. God made the Beasts of the Field, and
the Birds of the Air, and the Fishes of the Sea, and the Insects,
and the Shells, and the Trees, and Herbs, and Flowers, all, as a
rule, wonderfully, gloriously, harmoniously beautiful, because He
is a God of order, and beauty, and harmony; because it would
have been inconsistent with His own Being, with the necessary
purposes of such a Being, with the declared objects of such a
Being in Creation, not to have made all “very good;” and the
same reason which accounts for the beauty of the myriad flowers
* born to blush unseen,” for that of the innumerable shells and
insects of past days and the present day, for that of the glorious
birds of Tropic lands, is all that we want in the way of expla-
nation of the symmetry and beauty of the Bird’s Egg—God made
‘it as well as all other things “very good.”

Something more to the point for the practical egg-hunter, and
even although he may be not very juvenile, is to recommend the
practice of jotting down notes of any peculiarity of either nes
or eggs or behaviour of parent birds, in any supposable case
alittle unusual. Such notes are always interesting and very often
useful at some Jong subsequent period; useful in themselves, and
useful too as commenting on or else illustrated by, the similar
memoranda of other observers. Besides, what is put down upon

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS. iy

paper while the incident is still fresh, and the memory of it not
interfered with by other and newer matters of strong interest, the
record is sure to be accurate; while mere recollection at a later
date is about sure to be insufficient or untrustworthy.

Perhaps the boy-collector too may not think a few sentences
about blowing and drying and mounting his egg-treasures either
tiresome or unnecessary. As arule, let the egg intended to be
kept be blown and dried as soca as possible. There are several
reasons for this piece of advice. The light shells travel more
safely than the full ego; the egg-shells do not suffer detriment
from lying overlooked with their contents rotting within, as often
happens with the collector of un-careful and un-precise habits ;
they are put into a state of comparative readiness for prompt
and complete preparation and arrangement; and though last not
least, a good, useful, methodical habit is encouraged in the col-
lector himself.

There are several ways of blowing an egg and going through
the preparatory stages of fitting it to take its place in a collection.
There are also instruments for extracting the contents of the
shell so as to obviate the necessity of making more than one hole.
I don’t think they are likely to be of much use toa mere boy. I
am sure they would be a great deal of trouble, and I don’t think
that the end gained would repay the trouble and care expended.
Thave always found a small hole, only just large enough to admit
the passage of sufficient air to expel the contents, made very care-
fully and neatly at the small end, and a larger one about half-way
between the great end and the line of greatest diameter, which need
not be more than a line in breadth for the very largest eggs (if not
“hard-sat,””) quite sufficient for my purpose, and not objectionable
on the score of disfiguring the shell; for by mounting the egg
with the larger or vent hole, downwards—the smaller hole being

C

18 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR FGGS AND NESTS.

practically invisible in a great number of instances, at least until
looked for—it appears to be altogether entire and perfect.

Any tolerably strong pin will do for the purpose with small
eges. For the larger and harder shells something more efficient
will be required. A hard steel instrument fashioned like a “ glo-
~ ver’s needle”—that is with the penetrating end furnished with
three edges all lost in the point—is as good as any thing that
could be devised, and by having two or three of different sizes,
every case of necessity would be provided for. The sharp-pointed
pen-blade may be employed, but great care is necessary lest,
when the perforation is just effected, the instrument slip a little
further in than was intended, and an ugly fragment of shell be
wrenched out.

When the egg is thoroughly blown, it is advisable to draw up
a little clean water into it by the process of immersing the vent
hole and sucking or drawing in the air from the shell with the
mouth through the other—just reversing the late process of
in short. The shell, when half-full, should be well
shaken, and the water then expelled as the legitimate contents

“blowing”

had been: a very gentle puff will suffice for this. Repeat the
process two or three times, or until the water comes out as clear
_as it went in; then dry the egg as well as you can by blowing
through it at intervals, after it has been so held that the moisture
on the inside may all trickle down towards the vent-hole; after
which it may be set up for some hours in an airy, but not
sunny, place to dry thoroughly. Some collectors varnish their
eggs. A little of the white of the egg itself is all-sufficient,
and that should not be applied unless the egg is perfectly clean,
which is by no means the case with the eggs of many ground-
buildmg birds when taken from the nest. I have taken Dab-
chicks’ eggs also so completely muddied all over, that it was

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS. 9

almost impossible to get them clean. One, met with on one of the
Essex marshes a year or two since, which was the only one yet
laid and apparently not a day old, was so engrained with dirt or
mud that it defied all efforts to restore it to its pristine
whiteness. In the case of an originally white egg, such efforts
will not do much harm; in the case of an egg strongly marked
with deep colours, it is a different matter. The eftorts to remove’
the clay or dirt imparted by the feet of the parent bird may
succeed in removing the stains in question, but may also very
likely remove some of the tints or stronger colouring too. It
must be remembered that the deeper colours of many eggs are
not “fast,” -at all events when they have not been long laid,
and that attempts at cleansing, more vigorous than judicious, may
easily produce an undesired result.

If the vent-hole is necessarily made large, there is no objection
to placing a piece of thin or gauze paper, wetted with the varnish
or white of the egg, so as to cover the entire orifice, and so
exclude dust or other intrusive substances. As to mounting the
eges, and labelling for insertion in the collection, much depends
on taste. An ordinary “ printer’s” card is as good for the
_ purpose as anything, and a little very strong gum-water is the
only other requisite. A little attention to placing the eggs sym-
metrically and neatly, and the use of a few gun-wads or half-
pence or small wooden wedges, to retain the eggs, when accu-
rately set in their true position, until the gum has had time to
harden, are matters which will almost surely suggest themselves
to any youthful egg-fancier who is only tolerably given to admire
the “simplex munditiis.” As for labels, they inay either be
neatly written, or procured, at a very light cost, printed on purpose

for such application.

o> > wit ees ee ee

f 4 Wi be
ay
ie

1. Wheatear. 2. Grasshopper Warbler. 3. Sedge Warbler. 4. Reed Warbler. 5. Nightingale. 6 Black Cap.
7, Garden Warbler. 8, Whitethroat, 9. Lesser Whitethroat. 10. Wood Wren. 11. Willow Wren. 12. Chiff Chaff.
3, Dartford Warbler. 14. Gold-Crest. 15. Great Tit. 16. Blue Tit. 17. Long-tail Tit. 18. Bearded Tit.
9, Pied Wagtail, 20. Grey Wagtail. 21. Meadow Pipit. 22-23. Tree Pipit. 24. Skylark. 25. Wood Lark

BRITISH BIRDS
THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

In the following pages I shail endeavour, as far as my subject
will permit, to avoid mere dry and uninteresting detail. It is, of
course, quite inconsistent with the nature of the book to omit
matter-of-fact descriptions altogether, or even in any very great
degree; but an effort will be made to relieve the whole from
wearing the appearance of a catalogue in disguise, and to give it
as much of a life-like practical character as possible. How many
meidents in a school-boy’s life are connected, in his memory,
with some nesting expedition, some recollection of, perhaps, an
accidental discovery of a nest and eggs he had never seen before,
or possibly wished and tried to find, but always wished and
tried in vain. Such experiences are always pleasant and interesting
in their detail to the real lover of birds and thcir belongings ;
and often almost as much so when detailed by others as when
reproduced in his own recollections of former days, and thew
nopes, and plans, and successes, and disappointments, each often
renewed, or often repeated under some varying from. Why,
then, should not such matters stand here and there in these
pages P

Our plan, therefore, will be to omit all special notice of the

4

22 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

nests and eggs of so-called “ British Birds,” whose only claim te
the designation lies in their having been met with once or twice
or even some half-dozen times in the British Isles: to omit it,
that is, in the body of the book, and to give such reference or
description of at least the more interesting species and their eggs,
"as space may allow, in an Appendix. <Acccunts will be, however,
given of the habits of nidification and the eggs of all unques-
tionably British Birds, even although their breeding habitat be in
another country, or most rarely and exceptionally within the com-
pass of the British seas: such birds, for instance, as the Field-
fare, the Redwing, the Snow-Bunting, and others, besides several
of the Anatide. We begin, therefore, with our first Order, the—

RAPTORES.
FAMILY I.—VULTURID.

Two members of this Family, classed by some naturalists as
belonging to the same genus, by others as species of two different
genera, have been met with in Britain; but I believe one of
them, the first-named below, only once, the other only twice or
three times. They are only mentioned here as showing the
justification there is for claiming the family of Vulturide as
being in anywise exemplified in birds belonging to the Britisk
Isles.

1. GRIFFON VULTURE—(Vultur fulvus).
2. EGYPTIAN VULTURE—(Weophrou percnopterus).

FAMILY II1.—FALCONID.

There are several species belonging to this Family of suffi-
ciently common occurrence even still in these tne 4 of game-
preservers, game-keepers, and vermin-kiilers.

GOLDEN EAGLE. as

Time was, and not so long since either, when many even of
those most rare now, were familiarly met with in almost all parts
of the country; and Eagles and the Kite and several of the larger
and more conspicuous Falcons and Hawks were not yet become
so much like Black Swans, as they are now in so many English
and even Scottish counties.

These birds differ, with a marked distinction, from those belong-
ing to the Vulture-kind; and as much in habits and food and
power of wing as in appearance, formation, bill and claws, and
other matters, such as the scientific naturalist notices for the
purpose of enabling himself and others to distinguish between
Family and Family, genus and genus, species and species

Thus, the Vulture’s food is usually carrion ; the Hesh of animals
killed by other agency than their own, and in numberless in-
stances in a state of putridity more or less complete.

The food of the Falcon tribe generally consists of the flesh of
creatures taken and killed by themselves. I say generally ;—not
invariably. The Eagles in a state of nature do not disdain to
gorge themselves on the flesh of a dead sheep for instance,
although they have had no hand—or rather beak and claw—in the
death. Still the rule is, and admitting not many exceptions when
the whole family is considered, that the Falconide hunt for, or
surprise, and slay their prey for themselves. And very intent on
this business are they oftentimes, when engaged in discussing the
meal their craft or still vigilance, or fierce impetuous speed and
dash has secured for them. Often, too, not a little sleepy and
heavy are they after having been lucky enough to secure a large
prey, and greedy enough to stuff themselves full with it.

The bird which stands at the head of the family and alike
deserves and does credit to his rank is the

94 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

3. GOLDEN EAGLE—(4Aquila chrysaetos).

It seems almost too tame to talk of an “ Hagle’s nest,” and we
seem almost to feel as if different words might well be applied to
the nursery-structure of the King.of Birds, and that of the tiny
Tom-tit or the Wren. So, independently of the nice, simple,
old meaning of the word eyry * which makes it so suitable as
applied to the egg-home of the grand kingly birds, called Hagles,
we feel a sort of satisfaction in, limiting the use of the word eyry
to the Eagle’s nest alone.

No easy matter is it always to cultivate a visiting acquaint-
ance with an Hagle. His home is not ima place easy of access
to any but himself, or those, like himself, up-borne on wings.
On rock platforms, not too scanty in size, In mountainous
districts, and guarded by rugged, stern, precipitous rock-walls,
utterly forbidding, in almost every case, access by human
members from below, and not often to be safely reached from
above, the great pile which forms the nest is usually built.
Sometimes, but very rarely by comparison, it may be found on
some large, possibly shattered, forest-trunk amid some wild,
seldom-approached scene of loneliness or desolation. It is fowr to
five feet in diameter, made of sticks of no mean size and length,
sometimes lined with softer materials, sometimes not; the new or
more recently constructed nest placed upon those of last yeer wud
other preceding years; and would require a willing and able
labourer to clear it thoroughly away, and no slight touch of the
quality of the gate-bearimg Jewish hero in the juvenile nest-
seeker who might aspire to carry off such a trophy of his nesting

* Probably from Saxon Eghe (g sounded like y) an egg. The modern

English form of the word would be “ Eggery ” therefore; the old English
form Eyry or Eyrie. Chaucer (about 1400) wrote ey for egg.

GOLDEN EAGLE, | 25

exploits. The site chosen for the nest-pile too is almost invari-
ably one which commands a wide, unhindered look-out; partly
it is likely, under the influence of the strong instinct of vigilance
in self-preservation, partly also for the advantages offered by
such a dwelling-place towards the detection of a distant prey.

The number of eggs deposited is usually two, sometimes
three. They are commonly of a dull whitish ground, mottled
or marbled nearly or quite all over with a sort of rusty hue.

The young ones, while yet too young to leave the nest, are
amply catered for by their parents, Lists are sometimes given
of the spoils, feathered and four-footed, found in what may be
styled the Eagle’s larder—Black Game, Moor Game, Partridges,
Hares, Rabbits, Lambs, young Roes, and so on, to an amount that
would seem hardly credible to one not conversant with the Hagle’s
power of vision and mighty sweep of wing. Indeed there is a
story told of a man in Ireland who got a fair provision for his
family in a season of scarcity by no other effort than was requisite
in plundering an Eagle’s nest of the food brought in by the
parent birds for their young. He is said also to have prolonged
the season of supply by preventing the young ones from flying,
by clipping their wings as the feathers grew. Instances have
been known where the prey seized was human. Professor
Wilson tells a touching story, in a touching way, of an incident
of the kind, in which the’ infant was seized as it lay and slept
where its mother had placed it, while herself busy not far off in
the harvest field, and carried off by the strong bird to its
eyry. The poor mother, frantic with her loss, blind to every-
thing but the thought and effort for the recovery of her babe,
safely scaled the precipice, high up on which the nest was
placed; though no man, however skilful and expert as a
cragsman, had ever dared attempt the ascent; found her babe

26 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

alive and unhurt and smiling in her face, descended again—a
more perilous feat still—in safety, and once more on level
ground at the foot, swooned helplessly away. The Hagles did
not attack her in reality, though their fierce menaces made the
spectators tremble. Our boy readers if ever they found an
Hagle’s nest might well need the protection of a good strong
cudgel, fearlessly and skilfully wielded, before they succeeded in
possessing themselves of one of its eggs.— zg. 1, plate I.

4, WHITE-TAILED EAGLE.—(Haliaetus albicilla).

Called also Erne, Cinereous Hagle, Sea Hagle.—This species—
a member of another genus, however—like the last, breeds amid
high, almost inaccessible rocks, in the mountainous solitudes of
Scotland; and some of the northernmost British Islands. The
nest resembles the Golden Hagle’s, but is often more cushioned—
one can hardly say lined, when there is scarcely any cavity or
depression to receive the eggs—more cushioned with soft material
such as heather or sea-weed. This Eagle seldom lays more than
two eggs, which in ground-colour are like the Golden Hagle’s, but
not often noticeably marked with red,

The White-tailed Eagle is much more frequently seen south of
the Border than the Golden Eagle. In fact, a year rarely passes
without some record of the occurrence of this fine bird in more
than one county of England, and those by no means always the
most northerly. On the rabbit warrens of Norfolk and Suffolk
they are frequently met with, and it not seldom happens that
two are seen together—perhaps the young from the same nest
driven forth by their stern parents to seek their own living
in the wide world.

The male Eagle of this species is known, like the male of many

OSPREY. 97

other kinds of birds, to take his turn with his mate in incubating
theireggs. It would seem difficult for the observer to be mistaken
in this fact ; for the male bird, as is the case in the other families of
the Falconide generally, is very distinctly smaller than the female
—to the actual extent indeed of not much less than one-third of
the entire size.

5. SPOTTED EAGLE—(Aquila nevia).
Met with in Britain, once or twice only.
We come next to a Raptorial Bird, whose food is procured
mainly from the water,—namely, the

6. OSPREY—(Pandion halixetus).
The Osprey, or Fishing Hawk, or Mullet Hawk, or Eagle
Fisher, * builds its nest sometimes on a tree, sometimes on some
part of an ancient and deserted building—always on the highest
part, a turret or chimney for instance—and sometimes on a rock
or precipitous scar. But a very favourite and almost charac-
teristic site—speaking of the bird only as a British bird—is on
some lone insular rock in a wild mountain loch in Scotland.
I extract a very striking description from “St. John’s Tour in
Sutherland :” ‘The nest was placed in a most curious situation.
About a hundred and fifty yards from the shore, there rose
from the deep water a solitary rock, about ten feet high, shaped
like a broken sugar-loaf or truncated cone. On the summit of
this was the nest, a pile of sticks of very great depth, evidently
the accumulation of many breeding seasons, as the Osprey returns
year after year to the same nest. How this heap of sticks with-
stood the winter gales without being blown at once into the
water puzzled me. * * * The female Osprey allowed our

boat to approach within two hundred yards or so, and ther

* A translation of the Gaelic name of the bird.

28 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

leaving her nest, sailed upwards with a circling flight, till she
joined her mate high above us.

Having reached the rock, and with some difficulty ascended
to the nest, our disappointment may be imagined when we
found it empty. From the old bird having remained on so
long, we had made sure of finding eggs init. The nest itself,
however, was interesting to me, perched as it was on the very
summit of the rock, and composed of large sticks, * every one
of which must have been a heavy burden for a bird of the size
of the Osprey.

In the centre of the pile of sticks was a cup-shaped hollow,
the size of a boy’s cap, lined with moss and dead grass, and
apparently quite ready to receive eggs.” “In another nest,”
says the same author, elsewhere, ““we found two beautiful
eggs, of a roundisa shape: the colour white, with numerous
spots and marks of a fine rich red brown.”—J%g. 2, plate I.

The Osprey is met with from time to time in almost all parts
of the kingdom, but more especially along the east coast; but
it is known to breed nowhere in England now. In America,
it is met with in considerable numbers, forming as it were a
farge colony, during the brecding season; of course, in the
vicinity of some ample and convenient fishing station.

We come next to the Falcons, distinguished from the rest of the
Hawks, by, among other things, their long and pointed wings,
and their vehement and rapid fligLt and dash in pursuing and
seizing their quarry. First we notice the

7. GYR FALCON.—(Falco Grenlandicus).
Also called Jer Falcon and Greenland Falcon.

* Some of the sticks— orrather branches—employed, are said to be 13
inch in diameter,

PEREGRINE FALCON, 29

§. ICELAND FALCON.—(falco Islandicus),
Neither of these birds breed in Britain, and they are only occa-
sional and somewhat rare visitants. Whatever notice can be
afforded to them, will be met with in the Appendix.

9. PHREGRINE FALCON. (falco peregrinus).

There was a time at which this bird was abundant enough in
our island. Jt still breeds in many parts of both England and
Scotland, though much more commonly in the latter country.

But in the feudal times there would have been no difficulty to
“the young egg-collector—if such beings existed then—in meeting
with the nest of the Peregrine, in districts suitable to their
breeding habits and requirements. Although some consideration,
it is true, might have been advisable previously to appropriating
the contents of the said nest for cabinet purposes. The right
hand of the fortunate collector would have been the penalty in
those days of strict game laws. So stringent, indeed, were the
provisions for preserving the Peregrine, that the customary
breeding haunt of a pair was placed under the especial care of
the occupiers of the land in the immediate vicinity, and they
were made responsible, by the terms of their tenure, for the safe
keeping of the noble birds and their offspring. One such site ig
in Goathland, on the line of the Pickering and Whitby Railway ;
and itis an interesting fact in the nesting habits of the Peregrine,
that until within a recent period (and it is believed at the present
time also), Killmg-nab Scar has always been a site of that
Falcon’s nidification. Many of its breeding places, perhaps like
others in the interior, known time out of mind by some name
derived from the circumstance of their being thus appropriated,
such as Falcon-scar, Hawk-scar, Hagle-cliff, are among the tallest
and least accessible rocks of the sea coast. The nest itself is
placed on some projection, possibly within some fissure, and is

30 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

made of sticks, or seaweed from the coast, andis lined with some

hair on which, for the hollow is not deep, the eggs repose. These
are from two to four in number, often vary a good deal in size

(probably according to the age of the laying bird), and not less in

the markings and mottlings which pervade the entire surface.

‘A reference to the engraving will give a better idea of the colour

and appearance of this beautiful egg, than any description.

Indeed, description of many—of most—eggs fails altogether in

conveying an adequate idea of what they are like.

These birds were so much prized in the middle ages on account
of their fitness for the highly-esteemed pursuit of Falconry;
and their power of wing and magnificent flight are in themselves
matters of great interest, quite independently of the excitement
of the chase. The female, from her much greater size and
strength, was emphatically “the Falcon;” the male, called the
- Tercel, or Tiercel, being more frequently flown at much smaller
game, as Partridges. A Falcon-fliight—although the science is
no longer cultivated at Didlington, in Norfolk, as it was a few
years since by the late owner of the estate—may still, however,
be seen, from time to time, by the fortunately-placed observer,
both Hawk and quarry being fere natura. Some luckless Gull,
or Guillemot, or Rock-Dove, is selected by the strong freebooter
and carried off from amid the passing multitudes with a fierce,
rushing dash; and if there are young to be sustained, the onset

and sweep may possibly be seen once and again.— Fig. 8, plate I.

10. HOBBY—(Falco subbuteo.)

This beautiful and active little Hawk—a sort of “ miniatut
Peregrine,” Mr, Yarrell calls it—is not a permanent inhabitan
of our country. Visiting our shores in April, it leaves us again
before winter. It usually selects a high tree to nest in, very

HOBBY. 5 oP

often appropriating the old year’s or deserted nest of some other
bird—Hawk, or Magpie, or Crow—to be its bridal home. It lays
two or three (very rarely four) eggs, beautiful, as all the Falcons’
eges are, and leaving no doubt as to their Falcon original to
any one who is able to tell even “a Hawk from a Heronsheugh.”
They are of a nearly uniform pale dull red in ground-colour,
thickly spotted and mottled with shades of deeper red. Larks
and other small birds are taken—often after lengthened chases—
but, besides its feathered prey, the Hobby doubtless destroys
large numbers of beetles and other insects of any considerable

size.—fig. 4, plate I.

11. RED-FOOTED FALCON—(falco rujfipes).
Also Orange-legged Hobby, Red-legged Falcon.—Only a rare
visitant, and very little known about either its nest or eggs.

12. MERLIN—(Falco esalon).

Also Stone-Falcon, Blue Hawk.—This beautiful bird makes its
nest, in moor-land districts at least, almost invariably on the
eround; though it is rather a piece of flattery to say that it
makes a nest at all. A little hollow in the ground, and that
usually not too conspicuous by the absence of ling in its vici-
nity, with scarcely any lining, receives the eggs, three to five in
number, and characterised by the reddish hue and spottings which
seem to garnish the eggs of almost all the true Falcons. The
nest is said to be sometimes built in a tree, and then, from Mr.
Doubleday’s account, seems to be made of sticks, and lined with
wool. The Merlin, or Blue Hawk as he is usually called here,
is not a rare bird on our North Riding moors; and a very bold
and active Hawk it is.—Tvg. 5, plate I.

13. KESTREL—(Falco tinnunculus).
Also Windhover, Creshawk, Hoverhawk, Stannel or Stanncl-

32 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

hawk ;—query, Stand-gale, as Montagu writes one of its provin-
cial names Stone-gall. Windhover certainly suggests the meaning
of Stand-gale, and that word would be easily shortened into
Stannel.

Who has not heard the sharp, ringing, half-laughing cry of
‘the Kestrel? What nest-hunter has not often been warned by
that well-known sound, as he came near some scarp of rocks,
wood-beset, well qualified to furnish some ledge or crevice to
hold the loosely-compacted structure of sticks and wool which
does duty for this dainty-looking Hawk’s nest? Yes; and have
not more than one or two of us taken the young, and reared
them to be our pets, and taken no little pleasure in their beauty
and personal pride and preening cares? Often, too, in a tree
may the nest be found, and not seldom will it prove to be not
built by the Kestrels themselves, but found—perhaps as many
other things are often said to be that certainly were never “ lost”
before they were “found”—ready-made to their wants by some
luckless Crow or Magpie. And what nesting school-boy too
does not know the four or five eggs—one of them often so much
less than the rest—which are to be found in the nest? Some-
times red all over, closely spotted with deeper red; sometimes
blotched rather than spotted, and with large blotches; some-
times with a lighter ground-colour, but always tinged with red,
though otherwise not so unlike the Sparrow-hawk’s as not to
remind one of that bird’s eggs. I like to see, and I like to hear
the Kestrel, though it is no dainty song he sings. [ like to see
him fly so steadily, statelily along, and then pause, and hover—
nis wings this moment moving rapidly, then as he sails off,
seeming to be as moveless as his body—and next he rounds too sa
beautifully, and, after a moment’s balancing, drops to the ground
vith swift, but so evenly regulated an impulse, and securing his

GOSHAWK. oO

mouse, sails off to feed his expectant young ones. Mice seem ©
to form a favourite, if not staple, article of their food; but they
are not exclusive in their diet. An occasional small bird, hosts
of coleoptera or beetle-kind, cock-chafers in their season, grubs,
and even worms, are known to be readily eaten by them. As
intimated above, the species is everywhere familiar, and is alike
too beautiful and too useful to be so wantonly killed as it too
often is.— Fig. 6, plate I.
14. GOSHAWK—(Astur palumbarius).

We do not often see the Goshawk in any part of the kingdom,
and very rarely indeed, except in some parts of Scotland and in
Orkney. It, like the Peregrine, was in much request for the
sport of Hawking: only, as its manner of flight was different
from that of the Falcon, it was used for the pursuit of different
species of game from the latter. Probably this really originated
in the impulses of the Goshawk’s own Instinct, which leads it to
attack Hares and Rabbits, or birds which, like the Partridge and
Grouse, never voluntarily fly at any great height above the level
of the ground. One curious habit of this bird is that of waiting
patiently until some bird, which it has driven to covert, leaves

its shelter, when the pursuit—after a pause of perhaps several

hours—is immediately resumed, and probably carried to its pur-
posed result. Most of the other Hawks, when baffled in the way
noticed, very speedily relinquish all apparent thought or recol-
Jection of the escaped creature, and proceed to seek for a fresh
quarry. It builds its nest on some high tree; only the tree
selected is never found in the inner and deep parts of the wood
and forest. Like many other birds, both predatory and other, it
will often return to the same nest, adding whatever repairs may
be required, for several successive years. It lays three or four
eggs, of a pale faint blue, quite untinged with any other colour.

TD

o4 ‘BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

15. SPARROW-HAWK—(Aceipiter Nisus.)

Sometimes called Pigeon-Hawk.—Another short-winged hawk,
as the last named also was, but vastly more common and familiarly
xnown. Some of the Falcons already named may be fitly called
bold, or fearless; the Sparrow-Hawk may be pronounced audaci-
‘ous, or impudent. If you hear some careful, Martha-like
housewife of a hen skirling and fussing, in dire alarm, her
terrified chicks, the while, seeking any possible shelter, you may
ne almost certain that the gliding form you caught a glance of
rounding the corner of the barn and making a rapid, but by no
means noisy stoop, among the young poultry of various kinds in
lively attendance on their mothers,—you may be tolerably sure
that the intruder was a Sparrow-Hawk, and that some hapless
Dove or Chicken has lost the number of his mess. Not that he
does not like wild game as well as tame poultry. Mr. Selby
mentions one nest, containing five young ones, in or close to
which were found a Peewit, two Blackbirds, a Thrush, and two
Green-finches, all fresh, and half plucked. The Sparrow-Hawk is
believed seldom to give itself the trouble of building a nest for
itself. Some old or deserted nest of the Crow or Magpie,
particularly the former, and whether in a fork of the tree or
high among its top, usually serves its turn; and in this, very
slightly repaired if at all, the mother bird lays four or five
eggs, of a pale blueish white, abundantly and most variably
blotched with dark red brown. In some few eggs this darker
colour is more sparingly bestowed; but they are not frequent,
and, usually, the red is more or less confluent about some part of
the egg—either end or the middle—more rarely dispersed in
very distinct spots.—lg 7, plate I.

16. KITE—(Milvus vulgaris).

Glead, Glade, Gled, Fork-tailed Kite or Glead, Puttock,

Crotchet-tailed Putiock.

e

COMMON BUZZARD. | 35

One very rarely sees a Kite now-adays in our customary
field ramblings and observings; though, to be sure, some one
did write word not long since to the “ Zoologist,” that he had
seen one sailing overhead as he walked the streets of London.
Perhaps any but rather resolute nest-hunters might say, if they
knew the reception sometimes accorded by a Kite to a would-
be plunderer of its nest, “ Well, the loss is not without its
compensation.” For the Kite fights fiercely for its eggs or
young; and has been known to inflict damage of both dress and
person on a boy attempting to plunder its nest. It is a noble-
looking bird; but not distinguished, as the Falcons are, for
any very remarkable degree of boldness or courage. A fussy
old hen has been known to frighten one from his purposed foray
on her chickens, and he used of old to be chased (for sport, of
course) by a species of Falcon “to the manner” trained. The
nest, usually found high-up in a high tree in thick wood or
forest, is made of sticks and lined with any softer material found
handy, and contains two or three eggs of a dirty white colour,
with a few spots or blotchings of dull red. They cater liberally
enough for their young; no less than twenty-two Moles having
been found in one nest.—Fig. 1, plate IT.

17. SWALLOW-TAILED KITE—(Nawclerus furcatus).

Very rarely seen indeed.

18. COMMON BUZZARD—(Buteo vulgaris).

Puttock. I well remember as a schoolboy in Essex, some
thirty odd years ago, that the nests of the Puttock, as the
Buzzard was invariably called in that district, were more fre-
quently found by us than those of any other wood-building
Hawk; and many a hatch of young Puttocks it fell to my lot to
see brought within the old school-gates. Whether the Buzzard is
equally abundant there now 1 cannot tell. It seems to me that

86 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

not only Hawks, but very many of the smaller birds as well,
are much less numerous now than in the days of my boyhood;
and I have heard other nest-lovers make the same remark.

In rocky countries the Buzzard sometimes builds her nest on
precipices, or steep banks; but generally, in our own country,
“some fork in a tree supplies either the site for the intended nest,
or possibly the nest itself; for, like several other of the Hawks
already noticed, the Buzzard seems to think there is a deal of
sound sense in the saying, “ Foolish birds build fine nests for
wise Hawks to live in them,” and acts accordingly. The eggs
are from two to four in number, of considerable size, and some
of them approaching very nearly in general look and colour to
the Kite’s egg. It just as frequently seems to wait until its prey
comes to it, a» trouble itself to go far in search of it. It is
rather a sluggard and a coward to have so much the air of a fine-
looking bird about it.— Fig. 2, plate IT.

19. ROUGH-LEGGED BUZZARD—(Buteo lagopus).

Not to say a rare bird, but still, by no means a common bird
in any division of the kingdom.

20. HONEY BUZZARD—(Perzis apivorus).

This never was an abundant species in this country, and
nstances of its nesting with us are very rare. I well remember,
however, when White’s “Natural History of Selborne” first
fell into my boyish hands, how his history of the lucky bird’s-
nesting boy, who climbed the “ tall, slender Birch-tree,” “ on the
steep and dizzy situation, near the middle of Selborne Hanger,”
and brought down the only egg in the nest, and that ‘hard set,”
impressed itself on my attention and memory. The nest was a
shallow one, composed of sticks, and lined with dead leaves
of the beech. The number of eggs—an illustration of which is
given—seldum exceeds two.—Fig. 3, pate Il.

a ll PEATE IV.

1, Common Bunting. 2. Black-headed Bunting. 3 Ycllow-hammer. 4. Cirl Punting. 5. Chaffinch
6. Tree Sparrow. 7. Houre Sparrow. 8 Greenfinch. 9. Hawfinch, 10. Goldfinch, 1). Linnet.
12. Redpole, 13, Twite. 14. Bullfinch. 15. Crossbill. 16. Creeper. 17. Wren, 18. Nuthatch,

19. Cuckoo. 20. Swa'low.

ASH-COLOURED HARRIER. 37

21. MARSH HARRIER—(Cireus rufus).

Moor Buzzard, Bald Buzzard, Marsh Hawk, Harpy, White-
headed Harpy, Puttock, Duck-Hawk.—One would hardly expect
to find that a bird, with such a string of aliases to its name,
could enjoy a very wholesome reputation. However, he’s no
worse than his fellows of the Hawk family, and not so bad as
some of them. Probably the name of Harrier, given to this and
one or two of the Hawks next named, is derived from their
method of beating or quartering the ground, when in search
of prey, putting one in mind of the evolutions of the hound
similarly engaged. The Marsh Harrier or Moor Buzzard (or
Bald Buzzard, as I used to hear it called in Essex) builds its nest
of flags or rushes—sometimes sticks or twigs—on the ground,
amid the grass at the bottom of a furze or other bush; occa-
sionally low in the bush itself; and again, in a tuft of reeds or
rushes sufficient to serve the purposes of concealment. In it
it deposits three or four eggs, white, or with only a tinge of
milk blue about them. It feeds itself and its young with
young water-birds, if it can meet with them—and its name
suggests the idea that young water-birds may be met with
where itself is found—or young rabbits or birds; a few mice and
small rats doubtless not coming in as altogether unworthy of
notice to such hungry customers as four young “ Harpies.”

22. HEN-HARRIER—(Circus cyaneus).

T don’t give a list of country or’ local names here, as usual,
because I wish to draw my reader’s attention to the fact, that
the different names applied to the same species of Hawk, are, in
several cases, partly attributable to the differences in size, and
especially in plumage, dependant on sex and age in the cases in
question. This is quite the case with the Harriers generally,
and particularly with the bird now under notice. There is a

38 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

remarkable difference in colour between the male and female
when adult, and a likeness when the former is immature and the
latter an old bird. Thus, the old male is maimly blue, the
female brown; so he is called the Blue Hawk often, or Dove
Hawk, and she the Ringtail. Like those of the Marsh Harrier,
the eggs of the Hen Harrier are white, and are placed in a nest
of small sticks and long, coarse grasses, built upon the ground,
four or five in number, and not often varying from the uniform
tint of the ground-colour by the addition of a few reddish-
coloured spots or speckles. Its distinctive English name—
Hen-Harrier, seems to be due to the fact, that, like the sick and
repentant old Fox, it appears often to consider “a chicken might
suit me too,” and acts accordingly. But, from its habits of
regularly working over stubbles and other haunts of the
Partridge and other like birds, there is little doubt that it
varies its diet with a little game occasionally.

23. ASH-COLOURED HARRIER—(Circus cineraceus).

This bird, for which Yarrell proposed the name Montagu’s
Harrier, is by no means of frequent occurrence in this country,
and is scarcely likely to be met with by many of our young
readers. The nest, like those of the other two species of Circus
just named, is usually on the ground, often not far from gorse or
whin-bushes; and the eggs, four or five in number, are like
those of its congeners in general colour and appearance. With
this bird our list of Falconidse closes.

FAMILY IL.—STRIGIDZA.

When I was a boy I remember—only those goings-back to
school were a sad hindrance—trying or helping to make a collec-
tion, not of Bivds’ eggs exactly, but of Bird’s ‘merry-thoughts’

MEANS OF FLIGHT IN THE OWL. 39

Did our young readers ever see such a collection, or think of
it? Perhaps the answer will be “ No;—and if we had, what
would it have to do with a book about Birds’ eggs?” I will try
and show that I have a purpose in mentioning Birds’ merry-
thoughts, and that it may have something to do with such a
book as this, and its subject.

We have already agreed that classification is a useful and
necessary thing; that nature herself leads us to it, and shows us
how to fashion and contrive it; nay, that the very eggs of birds
are, speaking generally, such in their shape and markings as often
to suggest the formation of a group out of such and such
different species producing them. But the merry-thoughts and
the bones they are immediately connected with, the keel-like
breast bone and the side and wing bones,* will be found to do
the same thing, with respect to the collection of three or four
(or more) such groups of birds, as I have just called them, into
what is termed a Family. Thus, if our readers could get the
opportunity of looking at the merry-thoughts and breast-bones
of half-a-dozen different Hawks, they would find, with a degree
of variation according to the various species selected, a very
obvious and striking correspondence or resemblance. The
breast-bone, in every case, would show great depth of keel and
strength of substance; and the merry-thoughts would be seen to
be firm and strong, and of great or considerable substance
Next, if the corresponding bones of about the same number of
birds of the Owl-kind (S¢rigide), were taken and compared with
those of the Falcon-kind just spoken about, while the mutual
resemblance of the Owl-kind bones was seen to be quite as great
and obvious as in the case of the Hawks; the difference between
the said bones of the Owls and those of the Hawks would ke

* I don’t give the scientific names of these bones, for obvious reasons.

40 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

altogether strange and half startling, from its greatness and
suddenness. The deep keel and the strong substance of the
hreast-bone in the Hawk has given place to a shallow keel and
weak walls in the Owl, while the curved, strong, broad, solid
merry-thought has become a fork with thin, straight, weak, |
yielding shanks. So great and plain is the difference that any
sharp intelligent boy could almost directly pick out for himself
all the Hawk bones, and all the Owl bones, and put them in
their several groups. And if he did, I think he would say to
himself, and most likely to some other person, as soon as he met
with one likely to be able to answer him, What does this
difference in these bones of these birds of different Families
» mean ?—In plain words, it means difference in powers of flight.
Any of our school-boy readers who wanted to prise his strong
school-box open, because he had lost his key, would not take
his pen-knife for the purpose; because he would think it foolish
to use so weak an instrument for so strong an effort. A great
strong chissel would be much more likely to serve his purpose.
And so is the work of God’s hand. If a long, strong wing has
to be moved rapidly, and even vehemently, the motion, like all
animal motion, must be given by muscles. But the muscles
must be fixed to what they are intended to move, or they cannot
act on it; and they must be fixed at some other point also, or
they would waste their power on nothing, instead of imparting
motion. And, of course, the stronger they are, the stronger
must waat they are fixed to be, and the larger also to admit of
more and more strength. Well, the muscles that move the
bird’s wing are affixed at their other extremities to its breast-
bone and merry-thought, and hence the size and strength of these
pones in the Falcon kind with their vigorous, impetuous flight

wid sweep of wing; and the comparative insignificance and

MEANS OF FLIGHT IN THE OWLS. 4]

weakness of the same parts in the slow-flying, noiseless-winged
Owlet. If our young friends are disposed to add, in their
collection of birds’ eggs, the so-called merry-thought of each
separate bird to the eggs laid by that bird, they will be apt to
learn an interesting and instructive lesson in elementary
anatomy. And sucha collection may be made to a great extent,
without much trouble, by almost every one who has the ordinary
facilities of a residence in the country at his command.

Having said so much to show how even the most simple and
ebvious and familiar differences in the bone structure of birds
suggests, or, if not, confirms the principle of classification of
birds, and therefore of their eggs, let us now go on to notice
our quaint “feathered friends,” the Owls, and especially our
more familiar acquaintance among them. There are other things
belonging to the Owl family, which our sharp young friend just
named would have just as little trouble in picking out from a
heap of similar objects, as in the case of the bones. I mean
the eggs. The same character, however much they vary in size—
and they do vary vastly in size—is common to every one of the eggs.
They are all white ; they are all very slightly oval, or very nearly
round, and you cannot tell which is meant to be the big end, and
which the little. Of course, this being the case, it would be of
very little use to take up the small space available for illustration
in this book, with representations of Owls’ eggs; and for the same
reason, as little as possible will be said in the way of description.
Any Owl’s eggs which are likely to come under the notice of the
school-boy nest-hunter will tell hima good deal about their origin, by
their size and the place they are found in; and the best picture and
description possible would not be able to teach him halfas much.

Just as the bones, noticed a page or two back, would be found
to show that there was a sort of approach to something like a

42 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

noticeable connection between the Harriers and the Owls, so
the eggs of the former seem to hint at something of the same
kind. The merry-thought and breast-bone of the Harriers are
vastly less strong and solid than those of the true Falcons; and,
so to speak, intermediate in such respects between these and
those of the truest Owl, while the eggs are colourless or nearly

so, and so approach again to the Owl type.

94. EAGLE OWL.—(Bubo maximus.)

This noble bird, the first on our list of British Owls, is so
occasionally and irregularly seen in Britain, that it can scarcely
claim lengthened notice at our hands.

25. SCOPS EARED OWL.—(Scops Aldrovandt).

Almost, or rather certainly, more rare than the preceding.

96. LONG-EARED OWL.— (Otus vulgaris).

Met with, though not very abundantly, in most parts of
England. Its haunt during the day time is in ivy bushes, or
other retreats affording security fromthe access of much light,
its nest is most frequently an appropriated old nest of the Crow
or Magpie; perhaps even what was once the breeding-home of the
Squirrel; and in it are laid four or five eggs 122 inch long, by
13, inch broad. It seeks its prey after sunset; andas birds of
various kinds are known to form part of its food, it seems almost
certain that they must be taken as they sit at roost. What sad
bug-a-boos Horned Owls must be made to offending juveniles in
little-bird nurseries.

27. SHORT-EARED OWL—(Otus brachyotus).

Woodcock Owl, Short-horned Howlet, Mousehawk, Hawk
Owl. It breeds with us, but not very commonly, and many
seem to come over in the autumn, and they are then frequently
seen in a stubble, or otherwise roused by the sportsman. Its

BARN OWL. 43

nest is sometimes on the ground, and perhaps even in a rabbit-
burrow. The eggs are three in number, and scarcely differ the
least in size from those of the bird last named. Young Grouse
and other birds breeding about the moors are abundantly sup-
plied by the parent Owls to their young when the nest chances
to have been made in such a locality, and the old ones are very
jealous of seeing their progeny too nearly approached, and
expose themselves almost as fearlessly on such occasions as
either Partridge or Grouse. Their local name of Hawk-Owl is
derived from the circumstance that they pursue their prey—
regularly ‘“ hawking” for it—during the day time.
28. BARN OWL—(Stériz flammea).

White Owl, Yellow Owl, Screech Owl, Gilly Howlet, Howlet,
Madge Howlet, Church Owl, Hissing Owl.—This common and
useful bird breeds by preference in some building or part of one ,
a church tower, dove-cot, ruined mansion, or castle, and the like.
My most familiar boy-acquaintance, however, was with the
nesting place and habits of a pair which nested for many
consecutive years in a slight hollow in the crown of a large
pollard Elm tree in my father’s church-yard in Essex. There
were usually three or four young ones year by year, often with
perceptible differences of growth among them. Indeed it is
well known that this Owl and the last named, and probably
others as well, lay their eggs in instalments, as it were, and
when the first batch of two is about hatching or nearly so,
other two are deposited in addition, and thus hatched in their
turn almost as much by their brother and sister as by their
mother. Quainter, graver, odder, stranger, more irresistibly
comic creatures than these young Owls I never saw; and the
hissing and snoring, and peering looks at the spectator, and
strange antic contortions I heard and saw, baflle all attempts

44 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

at description. The entertainment, for such it was most truly,
- usually began some little time before sunset, about which time
the old birds might be seen commencing their labours of
purveying food for Masters and Misses Howlet. At intervals of
from seven to ten minutes one or other of them came to the nest
with a prey, and I could always tell by the sounds and gest-
ures of the young Owls when the old one was approaching. How
they knew I could not tell; it was not by sight, and I could
hear no sound myself; but know they did most certainly. Mice,
slugs, sometimes a large insect apparently, or a small bird, very _
rarely a Mole, or Rat of no large dimensions, were brought in
continuous succession, and in the claw, not with the bill. When
the animal was of small dimensions, the old Owl flitted off again
with scarcely any pause at the nest. If a large one, it seemed
by the time which elapsed, and the sounds which became
audible—most vehement snorings and hissings—that partition
had to be made, and that the said partition was a matter of
the greatest interest to the parties concerned. I cannot affirm
positively that the cld Owls prosecuted their most successful
hunting all through the night; but J believe they did, and I
have seen them still at work in the morning long after sun-rise,
once as late as between eight and nine in the morning in the
height of summer. As the inmates of a dove-cot, they are on
very excellent terms with the proper dwellers therein, although
from the known habits of other Owls the human owners of the
dove-cot are apt to assume, most groundlessiy and unjustly, that
they are sure to destroy the young Pigeons. I don’t believe,
however, that if all the rejected pellets of bones, fur, feathers,
&c., from all the Barn Owls in the kingdom could be examined,
that any trace of pigeon, old or young, would he discovered ; and
that farmer is a foolish farmer who either destroys a Barn

TAWNY OWL. 4.5

Owl himseif or suffers any one clse, whom he could prevent, to
destroy one. They are perfectly harmless, exceedingly useful,
and strangely interesting to the observer. I may add that since I
began to write these lines, I am told that the self-same tree is
still oecupied by a pair of the self-same Owls, and has continued
to be from the days of my boyish recollections—a period of
more than thirty years. The young of this and the next species
are very bold, resolute little creatures, if taken when rather
more than half-grown. They will throw themselves on their
jacks, and defend themselves pertinaciously with bill and ciaw
against any foe, or supposed foe, human or other. The Barn
Owl has been known to take fish by plunging upon it in the
water. The eggs are about 14 inch long, by 12 broad.
29. TAWNY OWL—(Syrnium stridula).

Brown Owl, Wood Owl, Hoot Owl, Ivy Owl, Jenny Howlet.
This is the bird whose well-known and, as I think, musical
note is so often heard at night in wooded countries, in the
genuine ‘“tu-whit-to-who-o-0-0,” or “hoot.” The last-named,
or Barn Owl, is the Screech Owl proper, though not, in my
experience, very much addicted to indulge in her unpleasant
song. I very seldom used to hear a downright good screech in
those old days. The Brown Owl makes its nest—at least, lays
its eggs—in some hollow tree, usually in a wood or near one.
Some times a few feathers or a little toss may receive the eggs,
often only the decayed wood. I have heard of the nest of this
bird in other positions; eg., in a deserted Crow’s nest, or
a hole in a rocky bank. But the hollow tree is the rule. The
eggs are three or four in number, and larger than the Barn
Owl’s, being about 112 inch long, by 14 inch broad. The old birds
nave two or three notes besides the hoot; one being a short, rather
sharp cluck, often repeated. The young ones, after they fly,

46 ~ BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

depend a good deal on their parents’ exertions for food, which
consists of young Rabbits, Hares, now and then birds of sorts,
Rats, Mice, &c. I once saw a young Brown Owl, apparently
waiting for its food to be brought, and sitting very still on the
topmost bough of a tall tree, almost knocked off his perch by
- the whizzing flight of a Wild Duck. The Owl ducked his head,
or I thought the Duck would have actually struck him, so near
was the encounter.

30. SNOWY OWL—(Surnia nyctea).
A beautiful bird, of very rare occurrence.

31. HAWK OWL—(Swurnia funerea).
Canada Owl—More rare than the last.

32. LITTLE OWL—(Noctua passerina).
Little Night Owl, Sparrow Owl—A very occasional visitant.

33. TENGMALW’S OWL—(Noctua Tengmaimi).
Like the last.

We arrive now at our second Order,

INSESSORES,
The first Grovr in which is—

DENTIROSTRES.
FAMILY I.—LANIADA.

34. GREAT GREY SHRIKE—(Lanius excubitor).
Greater Butcher Bird, Ash-coloured Shrike, Cinereous Shrike,
Grey Shrike—This bird is an occasional visitor only, and has very
rarely been seen in the breeding season. No authentic instance
of its nesting with us is known.

35. RED-BACKED SHRIKE—(Lanius collurio).
Lesser Butcher Bird, Flusher, Murdering-pie, Jack Baker, °

SPOTTED FLY-CATCHER. 47

&c.—The male of this species is a beautiful bird, with his bright
chesnut back and lively air. They spend only a part of the year
with us, but that part involves the period of nesting. The
nest is usually rather high up in a strong, thick bush, large-sized
for the bird, cup-shaped, and made of coarse withered herbage
externally, with rather finer materials within, and lined with
hair or some such substance. The eggs are four or five in
number, varying much in colour and marks. The ground-shade
varies, and so do the markings; the latter, however, being usually
found thicker and darker in a zone or band encircling some part
of the egg. Description is quite inadequate to convey any idea
of these variations. The bird deserves its name, for it
“slaughters ” small birds, as well as other animals, and hangs
up the carcases in regular shambles. It is wonderful how the
frogs, beetles, caterpillars, cock-chafers, birds, &c., which form
its food, are fixed so very firmly and tenaciously upon the strong
thorny point.—J%gs. 4, 5, plate IT.

36. WOODCHAT SHRIKE—(Lanius rufus).
Only an occasional visitant.

IT.—MUSCICAPID.

37. SPOTTED FLYCATCHER—(Muscicapa grisola).

Beam-bird, Bee-bird, Rafter-bird, Post-bird, Wall-bird, Cherry-
chopper, Cherry-sucker, Cobweb-bird. Many of these names are
taken from the familiar site of its nest, or from some of its habits
in taking food. It will return to the same post, after a short
excursion to seize an insect, ten or a dozen times in succession ;
and it will build its nest ona wall, on the end of a rafter or
beam, on a rake-head, in a trained wall-tree—in fact, in almost

every conceivable place. The nest varies in material and struc-

Ag BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

ture, almost as much as in its site. Moss, old and new, bents,
straws, twigs, hairs, feathers, all are used. It is an arnusing
little bird, and pays many feeding visits to its young, as is the
case with all insect-feeding birds. The eggs are four or five in
number, of dull white, tinged with blue, and spotted with faint
‘red. It only visits us to breed here.—Lig. 6, plate IT.

38. PIED FLYCATCHER—(Muscicapa atricupilla.)

Coldfinch.—A rare bird in some localities, and not an abundant
one inany. ‘Thenest is loosely made of small roots, bents, grass,
moss, hair, or some such material, in a hole, usually in pollard
trees, or such as have decayed from natural causes, but some-
times also ina hole ina wall or other building. In it may be
found four to eight eggs of a uniform light blue colour.—/¥g. 7,
plate IT.

JIT.—MERULIDZ.
39. COMMON DIPPER—(Cinclus aquaticus.)

Water-ouzel, Brook-ouzel, Water-crow, Water-piet, Bessy-
ducker.—I may as well own that I am a little bié “fond” about
the Dipper. I dearly love to see him and hear him in my ram-
bles by our mountain becks. So lively, cheery, and jolly, even
in the cold winter day, when the mere look of the chilly, shivering
stream makes one feel goose-skinny. There he sits at the water
edge, and sings like a Rovin a little tipsy, and then in he tum-
bles, ina rollicking sort of way, as you become a little too
inquisitive, and emerging a few yards further down, takes wing,
and darts off vith his Kingfisher-like flight. One nest some
lads belonging to my family found here, was a feather-bed sort of
structure of moss and a few feathers, filling up a six-inch square
hole in the masonry of a bridge in which one of the scaffold-

MISSEL THRUSH. _ 4)

rafters of the workmen had been inserted, there being a small,
round hole left in the exposed side for exit and ingress. Others
may be seen in cavities ina rock by the water-side; and one T
heard of, if my memory 1s correct, in Berwickshire, was built
amid the stone-work of a water-lead for conducting the waste
water away from a mill, and in such a position that the water in
- its fall projected itself beyond the nest, and formed a kind of arch
above it. The old birds in going into or leaving their nest had
actually to pass in either from the side or through the interstices
of the small cascade. The eggs are five or six in number, and per-
fectly, purely white. A sad enemy to fish spawn I fear my little
white-breasted friend is. I never yet cared to shoot one, I love
them so well. But when there are half-a-dozen small but very
hungry Dipper-mouths to be fed, I fear much consumption of
fishes’ food, as well as fishes’ eggs, takes place. It is able to
walk, though with much effort, under water, as well as dive and
swim ; and I have often seen them, on coming to the surface in
a quiet pool, remain perfectly quiescent and floating for several
seconds.— Fig. 8, plate II.

40. MISSEL THRUSH—(furdus viscivorus).

Misseltoe Thrush, Missel-bird, Stormcock, Screech Thrush,
Holm Thrush, Holm Screech.—A handsome bird and an early
builder. The Missel Thrush seems to lay aside some of its wildness
in the breeding season, and draws near the dwellings of men. Its
nest may continually be found in a garden or orchard close to a
house, and in the thick fork of an apple or other fruit tree, often
only a few feet from the ground. Woe be to the Cat who comes

near the nest! Such a storm of violent abuse and loud-tongued .

birds’ Billingsgate as is poured on her devoted head! Nor does the

human intruder escape quite without a telling of it, or what my —

E

aA

72
oe
e? i

-

50 _ BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

Yorkshire friends term “a calling.” Ifa Missel Thrush is very

angry with you, be sure his nest is not far off. Itis a large
structure, of much such materials and design as the Blackbird’s,
but often bound round and round with long rushes or roots, or

other material sufficiently lengthy and pliable. The eggs, four-or

five in general, often vary much in colouring and marks ; but are
in general of a whitish ground-colour, lightly tinged with green
(or perhaps faint red), and well spotted with red-brown.—f%g. 9,
plate IT,

‘41. WHITE'S THRUSH—(Turdus Whitei).

Only a very rare visitant.

42, FIELDFARE—(Turdus pilaris).

Felfit, Felty-fare, Blue-back, Jack-bird—A very common
winter visitor, and staying sometimes as late as 10th May. But
they do not breed with us; and as space is not too abundant, any
notice which can be afforded of this bird’s nesting habits must
be put in the Appendix, if found possible.

43. COMMON THRUSH—(Zurdus musicus).

Seng Thrush, Throstle, Mavis.—LEvery one knows this sweet
songster, and could point out its pet stone with its little accu-
mulation of shattered snail shells, which, when whole, had been
brought there by the knowing Thrush and hammered against the
well-fixed anvil until they gave way. Lvery body knows his
persevering song, begun at day-dawn in early February, and per-
severed in for months of the spring and early summer. Every
one knows its trim, neatly-plastered nest, with its warm, solid
coating of grass and bents and roots and such like materials.
And every body too, knows the four or five fair blue eggs with
their tidy black spots, which now and then, however, can hardly
be seen at all, Every body also knows how fussy the old mother ~

BLACKBIRD, = ry Veh hi

Thrush is the day her brood quit their nest; and how, if you
catch one of her awkward, ill-lying, soon-tired squad of young
ones, she will follow you with much objurgation and no little
plaintive entreaty that “a great fellow like you, who ought to be
ashamed of yourself for frightening a poor little fluttering crea-
ture like that, will put it down again soon, and not hurt it, and
be a dear, good man,—now do, won’t you! ”—Fig. 10, plate IT.

* 42, REDWING.—(Turdus tliacus).

Like the Fieldfare, frequent in winter; but breeds im another
country.

* 43. BLACKBIRD.—(Zurdus merula).

Black Ouzel, Amzel, Ouzel, also pronounced sometimes in North
Yorkshire, so as to sound like Ussel or Oossel. Merle in Shaks-
peare.—The Blackbird’s tawny bill and sable plumage and sweet
mellow song—would one like it as well if he were as lavish of
it as the Thrush? Who does not welcome and love him? And
to a very youthful nest-hunter what a deserving bird the Black-
bird is. Making his nest usually in such places and so that
detection is not at all a matter of course, and yet not altogether
beyond the discernment. of inexperienced eyes. The discovery
of our first Blackbird’s nest is always felt to be a sort of
achievement, and one to be spoken of with reasonable self-
approbation too. In the hedge, at the bottom of the hedge, on
the stump, behind the stump, below the stump, an excresence on
the side of the ragged old tree, in a wall tree, in an evergreen
or other thick bush—how often have we found the nest in these
and such like places. Once we found one which we set down
as made by the untidiest Blackbird that ever lived. It was in a
thorn hedge thick and high, and a great rough structure. But
a lock of wool, a big one, had been unmanageable and had

E 2

59 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

caught on the thorns, and the feathered architect could do
nothing with it, and there it hung out of the nest-wall a thick
tangle, inches long, and making the nest as conspicuous as if
a flag had been stuck just above it. How the eggs vary in ~
shade, markings, size, &c., I have already noticed at a former
page, and I am fearful of absorbing too much of my space by
adding more.—f%g. 11, plate IT.

44, RING OUZEL—(Twurdus torquatus).

Ring Thrush, Moor Blackbird, Mountain Blackbird, Tor Ouzel,
Rock Ouzel, Ring Blackbird. A bold abusive freebooter in our
gardens in North Yorkshire, and other similar localities. He’s a
beautiful bird, and a wary, except when seduced by strawberries
and red currants. His wild and not unmusical note, though it
might sound harsh in a trim garden in Kent or Essex, and to an
ear not attuned to moorland sounds, is always as welcome to me as
the gentler twitter of the Swallow. I like to hear his attempts
at song, reminding the listener of the Missel-bird’s early spring
music. And I like to hear his wilder, grating call-note, which is
the usual warning the ornithologist has that the Moor Blackbird
has returned for the season. His nest is very like the Blackbird’s
in design and general structure. An inner lining of bents and

‘fine ling, a wall of clay, and an outer husk of moss, ling, and
such like moorland matters. It is not strongly or compactly
formed, and makes a great litter if kept a day or two and
subject to be handled or moved, however carefully. It is always
built on, or near the ground, on the wild moor; and I once trod
the feathers out of the wing of a sitting aen, on whom and her
nest I nearly trod in leaping a gully. Theeggs are usually our
or five im number, and remind you of the Blackbird’s eggs in
their general appearances but the blotchings or markings are
redder, and often much larger or more pronounced than in the

PLATE V.

. Starling. 2. Cho » 3 Raven. 4, Carrion Crow. 5. Royston Crow, 6. Rook. 7. Jackdaw.

8. Magpie. 9. Jay.

=?
ee .

. ROBIN. 53
* :

case of the Blackbird. Their eggs, too, vary generally in size,
even inthe same nest. Out of the contents of two nests I had
brought to me a year or two since, no two seemed to agree
exactly in dimensions.—fig. 12, plate IT.

45. GOLDEN ORIOLE—(Oriolus galbula).

Only an unaccustomed summer visitor.
a

IV. SYLVIADA.

46. ALPINE ACCENTOR—(Accentor Alpinus).
Met with two or three times in Britain.

47. HEDGE-SPARROW—(A4roccent modularis).

Hedge-warbler, Shuffle-wing, Dunnock, Hempie.—I cannot
call it Hedge-Accentor, with all my respect for Mr. Yarrell. It
was Hedge-Sparrow in my childhood and youth, and Hedge-
sparrow to me it will be called to the end of the chapter. I
could no more wantonly kill a Hedge-Sparrow, in my sparrow-
killing days, than a Robin; and now, when I hear his low, sweet
pipe, and see his wings quivered as he hops on the ground or
from spray to spray not knowing I am noticing him, h® seems as
dear to me as ever. The mossy nest, with its intermixture of fine
roots and hairs, may be found weeks before leaves are thought of,
on the bank-side or low in the hedge, and little concealed ; and
the four or five beautiful blue eggs in it become familiar to every
nest-seeker among his very earliest acquisitions.— 2%. 13, plate IT.

48, ROBIN—(Lrythaca rubecula).
Redbreast, Robin Redbreast, Ruddock, Robinet, Bob-robin.

I remember throwing a stone at a Robin when a very little boy,
and to my consternation and utter grief, no less than to my sur
prise, killing it. I “felt bad” about it—as our American friends
say—and thought I was as wicked as the Sparrow of bow-and-

s.

54 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

arrow memory. It seems to be, or to have been, a common feel-
ing among boys, and is embodied in the old lines :-—

“The Robin and the Wren
Are God’s Cock and Hen.”

How beautiful the Robin’s eggs are when just laid ; and how they
lose their peculiar pinky loveliness from being blown. A hundred
different places, too, the little bird selects for the site of its nest;
often being such, moreover, as to illustrate their confiding fear-
lessness, as much as the result in them of the pressure of winter
cold and hunger. In the tilt of a wagon; in a steam-boat; ina
room of the cottage ; near a blacksmith’s forge ; in the constantly-
used garden-shed, as well as in the ivy or evergreen bush; or on
the bank, or in the hedge; or ina hole in the old ruin or bank
or house-wall: all places seem to suit it alike. The eggs are,
five or six, sometimes seven; and the shell is white, more or
less freckled with light red. 14, plate II.

49. BLUE-THROATED WARBLER—(Phenicura Suecica).

Blue-throated Robin, Blue-throated Redstart, Blue-breast.—
Only of very rare occurrence.

50. REDSTART—(Phemcura ruticilla).

Firetail, Fireflirt, Brantail, Redtail—The male is one of the
most beautiful of our small birds, and Lwish I could think it as
abundant with us as it used to be. The nest is loosely con-
structed of moss, with a few small straws or bents sometimes,
and hair and feathers inside, and almost invariably is placed in
a hole, it may be ina hollowish tree, or a wall, or even in a bank;
and here, where dry-stone walls abound, its choice of nesting-
places is inexhaustible. Very watchful are the old birds over the
eggs, and very fussy and noisy when the eggs have yielded their
living contents, and yet very careful too. I knew there was a
nest the year before last not far from my garden gate; but it was

>

1 ote > te

WHIN-CHAT. 55

not till I hid myself most carefully and patiently behind the
door, that I made myself master of the vigilant little sentinel’s
secret. It lays four or five, and, occasionally, six eggs, of a pale.
uniform blue colour, perhaps tinged with a faint green shade. They
are almost as pretty as the Hedge-Sparrow’s.—fig. 15, plate II.

51. BLACK REDSTART—(Phenicura Tithys),
Tithys, Redstart, Black Red-tail.—It has been met with in
Britain perhaps half-a-dozen times, or rather more.

51. STONE-CHAT—(Sazicola rubicola).

Stone-chatter, Stone-clink, Stone-smick, Stone-chack, Stone-
smith, Moor-titlmg, Chickstone, Black-cap—A very eommon
bird in many districts, and from his habits much more familiarly
and commonly known and noticed than other birds equally
or even more abundant, but of less obtrusive, or quieter habits.
Flitting about from bush to bush, and seating himself pertly on the
top spray, there he sits and “chats” or “clinks” till the pas-
senger comes too near, and then off he flies again, to perch again
a few yards further and repeat the same performance. The nest,
sometimes very neat and well-constructed, of moss and benty
grass, and lined with hair, feathers, fine grass-stalks, &c., is often
quite on the ground and with no bush near; sometimes at the
foot of alow bush, or in the bush itself, but very near the ground.
The eggs are five or six, of a pale blue ground, very sparingly
freckled with dull reddish brown, and chiefly near the large end.
The nest is often hard to find, and especially when built among
tongish herbage, or in or near a whin-bush—Jiv. 16, plate IT.

53. WHIN-CHAT.—(Sazicola rubctra).

Grass-chat, Furze-chat—Many of the birds last-named pass
the winter in England; but only a few of the Whin-chats. This
is never so abundant a species as the last, and though with some

a.

56 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS,

similar habits it has no urgent inclination to force us to notice
it by the incessant repetition of its note. The nest strongly
resembles that of the Stone-chat. It is also usually placed
on the ground, and is fully as hard to find as that bird’s.
The eggs, five or six of them, are of a uniform blueish green,
very slightly speckled or marked with dull-red—Fiy. 17,
plate IT,

54. WHEAT-EAR—(Sazicola cenanthe).

Fallow-chat, White-rump, White-tail, Fallow-smick, Fallow-
finch, Chacker, Chackbird, Clodhopper, with some other quainter
names still, which I have noted down, and yet another or two
common to the Wheat-ear and Stone-chat, such as Stone-chacker.
A common bird enough here, and with some of the more obvious
habits of the Stone-chat. It perches on the stone walls as one
approaches it, and flirts its tail and chacks, and then diving below
the wall on the far side, re-appears again ten or twelve yards lower,
and acts as before; and so on for a hundred yards or more. The
stone wallsin our district and the large heaps of stones, removed
in reclaiming parts of the moor and flung promiscuously together
any where to be out of the way, afford them capital breeding
places. In other countries old walls, or holes in the sides of pits
or excavations, serve their purpose. The nest is not very artistic
or well-finished, and formed of many different materials—bents,
feathers, dry roots, fur, in short any waste matters which may
have come in the way of the builders. The Eggs are five or six
in number, and of a pale-blue colour not so dark as those of the
Hedge-Sparrow. It is said that people accustomed to the habits
of the Wheat-ear are able to find its nest without difficulty,
* from the occurrence of certain noticeable signs in its neigh-
bourhood.—/%ig. 1, plate LIT.

é

REED WARBLER. 57

55. GRASSHOPPER WARBLER—(Salicaria locusteila).

A summer visitor, of shy and retired habits, and very vigilant.
Its note, very shrill and constantly repeated, reminding one of
the Cricket or Grasshopper’s note, gains it its name. The
nest is hard to find, and unless the bird be very closely
watched, it may baffle a good observer. It is placed in spots
matted and overhung with growth of grass or other herbage and
bushes; is cup-shaped, made of coarse dry grass, with finer
within; and contains sometimes as many as seven eggs, of a
pale pinky-white colour, freckled with spots of a darker shade
of red.— Fig. 2, plate III,

56. SEDGE WARBLER—(Salicaria phragmitis).

This everlasting little songster is more common than the bird
last named, and almost every boy knows its peculiar chiding note.
Many a lad, too, knows that by shying a stone in near its haunt,
its notes may be elicited almost any hour in the night or day.
I think I have neard it singing on all through the night, and
notwithstanding the absence of any pretence at daylight. Its
nest is usually placed near the ground, in the vicinity of more or
less water, and is supported, as well as concealed, by the coarse
herbage. Made of coarse grass stalks externally, and lined with
finer ones and hair, sometimes with a foundation of moss, five
or sIx eggs are deposited in its cup-shaped hollow, of a pale brown
colour, a little mottled with darker brown.—/Vg. 3, plate III.

57. SAV’YS WARBLER—(Salicaria luscinoides).
Not of sufficiently common occurrence to demand notice here.
58. REED WARBLER—(Salicaria arundinacea).

Reed Wren, Night Warbler. Almost as zealous a songster as
the Sedge Warbler. There are few hours in the twenty-four

5S BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

when its voice may not be heard about its accustomed haunts

namely, willow and reed beds, and particularly the latter. The
nest is, perhaps, the deepest made by any English bird, and
quite a long inverted cone in shape. It is affixed to, or rather
builf so as to include three or four reeds, or more. So that,
‘however the wind blows, it is quite fast, while its great depth
prevents the eggs falling out, even if the reeds be blown almost
level. The bird has been seen still sitting when the violent
gusts forced the nest down almost to the water level. The nest
is made of long grass and the seed-stalks of the reed, and lined
with wool or the like. Four or five eggs of a greenish-white
colour, marked in spots and dashes of green and pale brown,
are usually laid —Fig. 4, plate III.

59. NIGHTINGALE.—(Piilomela luscinia).

This sweetest of the English warblers has but a limited range
In Essex, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, I used to hear it abun-
dantly ; but of late years, as a resident in Yorkshire, its note
has become strange in my ears. Shy and vigilant in its habits,
it does not willingly expose itself to observation, and its haunts
are so thick that discovery of its nest is not always easy. It
seems often an untidy structure, but according to my observation
not usually built on the ground, as Mr. Yarrell states. I have
found it in a thick thorn hedge or bush, and in shrubs in the
garden; made of twigs, straw, grass, and especially old oak
leaves, and with only a jagged margin. The eggs, four and
sometimes five of them, are of “an uniform olive-brown colour,”
and from the time they are laid, the bird only sings occasionally.
After they are hatched, never.—F%g. 5, plate III.

60. BLACKCAP.—(Curruca atricapilla).
Blackcap Warbler.—This bird, with several others, has a loca

GARDEN WABRLER. 59

or country name in common, derivable, I believe, from the
structure of the nest. I mean Hay-jack or Hay-chat; but it is
I think, much less frequently distinguished by that name than
the three birds next tobe mentioned. The country-boy’s name
. for one of these must always be distrusted, as is the case
also with his designation of other common, but much more
dissimilar birds. Thus, not to mention other instances, the
Blackeap proper, the Greater Tom-tit and the Stone-chat are
all called Blackcap.—The Blackcap Warbler comes to us in spring
and builds in our gardens and shrubberies as frequently as in
wilder resorts, but always in places where there is thick foliage
and plentiful means of concealment. It is a very shy bird and
very unwilling to be gazed at. If it sees you watching it, you
soon lose sight of it as it hops and twists from spray to spray
into the inner and shadiest recesses of its haunt. Its nest, too,
is studiously concealed, and Mr. Yarrell says it will leave two or
three just-commenced nests in succession, on light grounds of
suspicion that it has been noticed in its labours. ‘The nest is a
benty, and saving for the ties of wool or cobweb, a slightly
compacted edifice, lmed with hair and fine fibres, and contains
four or five eggs of varying colour and mottlings—white, greenish
or tinged with a peculiar shade of faint red, being the ground-
colour, with markings of a reddish brown.—Fig. 6, plate LIT.

61. GARDEN WARBLER—(Curruca hortensis).

Pettychaps, Greater Pettychaps.—Inferior to the Blackcap in
song, as the Blackcap is inferior to the Nightingale, only not at.
so great a distance. Still it is a sweet songster. It comes to us
to breed, and frequents thick hedges and the covert afforded by
our shrubberies and pleasure-plantings in gardens. The nest,
hke the Blackcap’s in materials and detail, of dry grass-stalks or

60 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

bents loosely twined but bound together with wool, &c., and
lined with hair and fibrous roots, may be found among rank
growth of various herbage, or in a bush, or in a row of rodded
peas. The usual four or five eggs are of muddled-white, stained and

spotted with greenish brown, lighter or darker.—/¥g. 7, plate ITI.

62. WHITE-TH ROAT—(Curruca cinerea).

Nettle-creeper—Another pleasant singer, but with occasional
harsher notes, anda chiding one, not unlike the Sedgebird’s, when
uneasy or irritated. This is the usual Haychat of the country —
lads, and fully as often called the Nettle-creeper; the former
name being due to the fabric of its nest, the latter to its habits
of twining in and out of the leaves and coarse herbage which
abound among its haunts. Little description of the nest is needed,
except that it seems slighter, and is thinner at the sides than
those last named, but still it is not Jess compact. The eggs vary
a good deal in appearance, but there is still such a family likeness
among them that they are easily recognizable by most egg-
fanciers. Green, in different shades, is the predominating colour.
—Fig. 8, plate III.

63. LESSER WHITE-THROAT—(Curruca sylvielia).

Not so common a bird nearly, as the last, and rising higher in
the bushes and shrubberies it frequents than it. It sings low and
pleasantly when you are near enough to hear it, and very inces-
santly, but its more frequently heard notes are rather harsh. The
nest, found among low bushes and brambles, is like the White-
throat’s, and the fcur or five eggs laid in it are white, speckled,
most at the large end, with ash or light brown.— Fig. 9, plate IIT.

64. WOOD WARBLER—(Sylvia sibilatriz).
Wood Wren, Yellow Wren.—This bird was long confounded
with the Willow Wren to be named next. It comes to us for

CHIFFCHAFF. 61

the summer, the males (as is the case with so many of the
Warblers), coming first by several days. It is abundant enough
in some well-wooded parts of the kingdom, and its song is only
called such by courtesy. It builds a domed nest; that is one
covered in above, and with a side entrance; on the ground amid
grass or weeds. It is made of grass, dead leaves, moss, and
lined with hair and soft grass. The eggs are six in number,
white, and very much speckled and spotted with dark red-
purple.—/%vg. 10, plate ILL.

65. WILLOW WREN—(Sylvia trochilus).

Willow Warbler, Yellow Wren, Scotch Wren, Hay-bird, Huck-
muck, Ground Wren.—A well known little bird to the observant.
It sings “a soft and pleasing” song, and is a lively little fellow,
in incessant motion. Very restless and uneasy too, when you are
near its nest, and particularly if the young are hatched. The
nest is domed, externally like the one last named, but always
lined with feathers, which the last neveris. It is built on a bank
or bankside, among grass or other herbage, and contains five to
seven eggs, white, with many small speckles of red not very dark.
There is an instance on record, in which this bird did not leave
its nest though it had been bodily removed from its site on
the ground, and even before any eggs were laid or the nest
itself completed—one of the most remarkable cases of the kind
known.— ig. 11, plate ILL.

66. CHIFFCHAFEF—(Sylvia hippolais).

Lesser Pettychaps, Least Willow Wren.—An “early bird”
-his isin coming to us in spring time, and able and willing enough
to take its substitute for the “worm.” ‘The two syllables of its

name, differently accented, form its song. Its nest is like that of
the Willow Wren, with the addition of a few dead leaves outside

62 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS,

and abundance of feathers inside, and is also placed on (or very
near) the ground on a hedgebank. The Chiffchaff lays six eggs,
white, with specks of dark purplish-red— vg. 12, plate IIT.

67. DARTFORD WARBLER—(Welizophilus provincialis).

A bird which is scarcely known except on some of the furze-
growing commons of the South, especially Kent and Surrey.
The nest is of dry grass-stalks, loosely put together and tied
with wool, and sparingly lined with other fine and dry vegetable
substances. ‘The eggs,” we read in Yarrell, “are somewhat
similar to those of the Whitethroat, but rather less; and like
them, are tinged with green. They are speckled all over with
. olive-brown and cinereous on a greenish white ground; the
markings becoming more dense and forming a zone at the large
end.”—fig. 13, plate ILL.

68. GOLD-CRESTED REGULUS—(Regulus cristatus).

Gold-crest, Gold-crested Wren, Golden-crested Warbler, Gcld-
crowned Kinglet.—One of the smallest of our native birds and
possessing a “soft and pleasing song.” Its nest—one of the
very most beautiful of all our English nests—is built below the
branch of a spruce fir-tree and near the end of the bough, being sus-
pended to two or more of the spreading side-boughs. ‘These are
often woven in with the moss and wool of the nest, and then
there is a lining of feathers; spiders’ webs too are used to
compact the structure. Seven or eight eggs are laid, which vary
remarkably, in different nests, m both ground-shade and mark-
igs. Some remind one of the usual Robin’s egg in both, though
the spots are much finer. Others are pale white, with yellowish-
brown (rather than red) speckles.—Fig. 14, plate IIL. de,

BLUE TITMOUSE. 63

69. FIRE-CRESTED REGULUS—(Regulus egnicapillus ).

Much less common than the last, though very likely often con-
founded with it from its great general resemblance. Its nest is
like its gold-crowned relation’s, and the eggs seem to resemble
the variety first described in the above notice of that bird.

V. PARIDA.
70. GREAT TITMOUSE.—(Parus major).

Great Tit, Oxeye, Blackcap, Great Blackheaded Tomtit, Pick-
cheese.—It might also be called, and I believe is in one district, the
Saw-sharpener, for its note certainly puts onein mind of that
agreeable musical operation. The Tomtits are familiar to all of us,
and “impudent” is one of the epithets we most usually apply to
the whole tribe. Most of them breed in some hollow place or hole.
The nest of the Great Tit is formed of moss, with a feather hning,
and is sometimes placed in a hole in a wall; sometimes in some
appropriate recess in a hollow tree. Like the other Tits, it lays
many eggs, occasionally from six to nine. They are white, of
fair size, and well spotted as well as speckled with a decided
shade of red. There is an easily recognised resemblance between
the eggs of all the Tomtit family. — iy. 15, plate III.

71. BLUE TITMOUSH—(Parus ceruleus).-.

Tomtit, Blue Tomtit, Nun, Blue-cap, Blue-bonnet, Billy-biter,
Hickwall, Blue Mope.—One of the most impudent of an impu-
dent lot. A pair had built their nest in a crevice between the
lintel and stonework of my coach-house, and my children from
their nursery window observed it. For their amusement I got
a ladder and looked in. The bold little matron could not be
induced to leave the hole, but spit and hissed like a regular

64 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTs.

vixen, and tried to make herself as-big as two by ruflling up her
feathers, so as to frighten the owners of the ugly faces, as she
would think, she saw at her door. Often, too, have I been
bitten sharply by one I had laid hold of. Almost any hole in any
object will do for the nest-site. ven a bottle, a wooden box, a
- pump-barrel, a queer-shaped cavity in an old tree only big enough
to admit such a small creature, all are made available. The nest
is voluminous, of moss, hair, and feathers; and the eggs are almost
endless. From six up to twelve or thirteen is of common occur-
rence. Mr. Hewitson mentions one case of eighteen eggs! They
are white, and spotted with pale red. The journeys of the old
birds to and from the nest when supplying their large family
with food are literally innumerable; and the number of small
caterpillars, grubs, plant-lice, and the like, destroyed by these
indefatigable caterers, must be simply astonishing. I think the
pair just now referred 1o made at least one visit to the nest every
two minutes throughout the day. The climbing, clinging habits
of this and other Tomtits are very amusing; and in former days
I made them dance on the slack-rope for my amusement and my
friends’. I strung a nut or two on a piece of strong thread, and
tied the two extremities to a tree and a nail ina wall near the
window, respectively. This plan gave me many lengthened
opportunities for watching their ways. I have also seen them strip-
ping off the loose bark from pine-planks and picking out the fine
fat. grubs which eat their way between the wood and the bark.—
Fig. 16, plate ILI.

72. CRESTED TITMOUSE—(Parus cristatus),
As rare with us as the last two Tits are common.

73. COLE TITMOUSE—(Parus ater).
Colemouse, Coal-head.—A hardy little bird, of no rare occur-

LONG-TAILED TITMOUSE. 65

rence in any part of the kingdom. Incessantly active and fre-
quently associating with other small birds it prosecutes a restless
search for the small insects and seeds which form its food. Its
nest, of moss and wool and hair, is placed ina hole in a tree,
sometimes very near the ground; sometimes even in a hole in the
ground which has been made by some small quadruped. Like
the other Tits, if necessary it will enlarge a hole in a tree which
it finds already such as nearly to suit its requirements. Six to
eight eggs are laid, white, and spotted with faint red.

74. MARSH TITMOUSH.—(Parus palustris).

Coal-head, Black-cap, Willow-biter—A plentiful species im
places; but as its name intimates, with a preference for districts
with the peculiar low growth of bush and willow found in low
fenny countries. It makes its nest in old willows and the low
stunted trunks of pollard trees, and will labour hard to make a
nearly suitable hole quite serviceable. It is said to carry the
chips it makes quite away to some distance. The nest is better
built than those of the ‘Tits hitherto named, of moss and wool;
and the number of eggs varies from five or six to eight or even

ten. They are of the usual Tom-tit type, white, spotted with red.

75. LONG-TAILED TITMOUSE.—(Parus candatus.)

Long-tailed Mag, Mum-ruffin, Bottle-tit, Bottle-tom, Long-
tailed Capon, Long-tail Pie, Caper Long-tail, Oven-builder,
Poke-pudding, Mufflin, &c., &e.—The beautiful, even wonderful
nest of this little bird must be well-known to almost all nest-
fanciers—oval, of great size compared with the tiny architect;
built, too, entirely by the female, wondrously compacted with
moss and wool, and “sparkling with lichens” affixed to the
Sutside, it affords access by one hole only, on the upper part of

one side, to the inside most warmly lined with feathers. So
F

66 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

thoroughly is it secured to the sticks whieh support it, that it is
scarcely possible to obtain an entire one without cutting the
sticks for removal also. The eggs are often ten in number, and
sometimes one or two more, white, and very slightly specked
with red, if at all. What the little bird does with her long tail
when sitting, is a marvel. The young, when able to fly, keep
much together and with their parents; and often, when at rest,
sit very close together on one branch, so as to present a doubtful-
looking feathery lump to the observer’s eye—J%ig. 17, plate III.

76. BEARDED TITMOUSE.—(Paras biarmicus),

The male of this species is, indeed, a beautiful bird. They are
met with in sufficient abundance in many districts in England,
e.g., about the Norfolk Broads, the Meres in adjacent counties,
as well as in Surrey and Middlesex.. Until lately, from the
fenny nature of the soil of their habitat, they have been less
observed than any other birds; bui now their habits are much
better known. Their nest is often made of various finer sedges
and the dead flag-like leaves of the reed with a little grass, and
lmed with the seed-down of the reed. Sometimes almost on the
sround, sometimes raised a little above it in a tuft of grass or
- reeds, on the margin of a ditch or other water, it contains four
to six eggs, not so large as those of the Greater Titmouse, and of
usual Titmouse colour and markings.—/%7. 18, plate IIT.

VI. AMPELIDA.

77. BOHEMIAN WAXWING.—(Bombycilla garrula).

Waxen Chatterer, Chatterer, Bohemian Chatterer.—Less rare
as a visitor, than some other British Birds ; but still only a visitor.

GREY-HEADED WAGTAIL. 67

Vit. MOTACILIIDA.

78. PIED WAGTAIL.—(Motacilla alba).

White Wagtail, Black and White Wagtail, Dishwasher, Wash-
tail, Nanny Washtail—I think we, all of us, know this familiar

and very graceful bird, and like to see its active run and short
flight taken for the purpose of capturing an insect. We have
often been amused, too, at seeing perhaps a whole family of young
ones running among the legs of the cows near the water, and
taking a fly now from the belly or flank of the great animal, and
then from its leg or the ground. The nest is made of grass, bents,
dead roots, moss, and is sometimes found in a hole in the rude
wall of an old shed or the side of a haulm wall or pile of furze,
or ina hole in a bank; sometimes on the outside of a heap of
sticks, or in thatch, or upon the end of a haystack, and other
analogous places. Four or five eggs are customarily found in it,
white, and speckled with cinereous spots and lines, being often
such as to resemble one variety of the varying eggs of the House-
Sparrow.—/v7. 19, plate III.

79. GREY WAGTAIL.—(Motacilla boarula).

Less plentiful than the Pied Wagtail, equally elegant and
more beautiful, this little bird resembles the other in its ways
and habits. Its nest is placed on the ground at no great
distance from water, which has many attractions for it, as well as
for the common “ Nanny Washtail.” The materials and general
structure are, in the main, the same as in the last case; feathers
and wool being introduced as a lining. There are often five or
six eggs in it, of a faint white ground-colour, mottled and
streaked with very light brown, a few streaks being sometimes of
a darker tint.—ig. 20, plate III.

80. GREY-HEADED WAGTAIL.—(Motacilla neglecta).

Met with less than half-a-dozen times in all in Britain.
FQ

68 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

8L. RAYS WAGTAIL.—(Wotacilla flava).

Yellow Wagtail, Cow-bird—aA summer visitor, and, of course,
making its nest with us. It builds on the ground, in cornfields
or fallows; sometimes on a stump of a tree level with the
~ ground, or on a bank of earth overhanging water, or ina hole in a
wall in the same vicinity. The said nest is made of moss, roots,
dry grass, and lined with the same, only finer, and a little hair.
Four to six eggs are laid, which Mr. Yarrell says, “are not un
like those of the Sedge-Warbler, only rather larger; whitish in
colour, mottled nearly all over with yellow-brown and ash-
brown.”

VITI.—ANTHID A.

82. TREE PIPIT.—(Axthus arboreus).

Pipit Lark, Field Titling, Field Lark, Tree Lark, Grasshopper
Lark.—No long time elapses after the spring arrival of the Tree
Pipit before he makes his presence observable by indulging in
his peculiar mode of recommending his song, not unpleasant in
itself, to our notice. Seated on the topmost twig of a tree or
high bush he sings awhile, and then up he goes with fluttering
Wing, singing all the while, and also while descending from his
greatest height on outstretched wing to the twig he started
from. The nest is always on the ground, and not far froma
hedge, or under a low bush, and is found also in woods or
nurseries not far from the edge of a drive or glade, It is made
of moss and fibres and grass, lined with finer grass and a little
nair. The eggs vary inconceivably in tint and marks, and

atirely baffle description, Some are purple-red, others yellowish-
rhite in ground, clouded and spotted almost all over with different
hades of greyish brown.—/7g. 22, 23, plate ITI,

PLATE VI.

L. Night-jar, 2. Pheasant. 3, Capercaillie. 4. Black Grouse, 5. Red Grouse, 6. Partridge.

7. Red-legged Partridge. 8. Quail.

ROCK PIPIT. 69

83. MEADOW PIPIT.—(Anthus pratensis).

Titlark, Pipit Lark, Meadow Titling, Moor Tit or Titling,
Heather-Lintie, Moss-Cheeper, Ling bird, Meadow Lark.—A very
common bird here, both in the enclosed lands and especially on
the moors. It is amusing to observe how they sometimes wind
their way among the ling, instead of flymg from the place at
which they have alighted. Its nest is always on the ground,
sometimes in the middle of a grass or corn-field, sometimes
nearer the hedge, but always so placed as to be very well if not
very closely concealed. One I found accidentally on the moor
was in the side of a cavity left by the extraction of a huge
surface block of stone, in a kind of small hollow or recess, and
completely covered in by earth and ling. In addition to its five.
proper eggs, this nest contained a Cuckoo’s egg. The nest is
made of bents, lined with the same and some hairs. The eggs
are from four to six, and vary in colour. Mr. Yarrell’s descrip-
tion is, “of areddish brown colour, mottled over with darker
brown.” The red is hardly discoverable, if at all, in some
Thave, and I should have said “dusky brown.” —Fig. 21, plate IT].

84. ROCK PIPIT.—(Anthus petrosus).

Dusky Lark, Rock Lark, Field Lark, Sea Titling, Sea Lintie.
This bird, it seems, was long confounded with the two last. It
is seldom met with far inland, and is not always found near
rocks, notwithstanding its name. It is a ground-builder, and
where there are rocks handy, the nest is very likely to be on
their tedges, if only a little grass or the like grows there. It is
composed of various dry grasses, and contains four or five eggs
of a greenish cast, and mottled with dusky brown or dark
cinereous markings.

85. RICHARD’S PIPIT.—(Anthus Ricardi).

Only an occasional visitor to our shores.

~

70 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

2. CONIROSTRES.
FAMILY I.—ALAUDIDA.
86. SHORE LARK.—(Alauda alpestris).

| Only avery few of these birds have been met with in Britain

87. SKY LARK—(Alauda arvensis).

Lark, Field Lark, Lavrock—Very few words of description
are requisite in the case of this everywhere familiar and favourite
songster. Up in the sky, and soaring still, he pours out his
joyous strains, suggesting to us much more forcibly than any
other bird does in its song the thought that it is offering praise
and thanks to Him who made and preserves the fowl that fly in
the air, as well as all other creatures. So that the thought in
the old German Hymn,—

“Hark! Hark! the Lark at Heayen s gate sings,”

seems not fanciful to us, but solemn truth. Once last summer 1
was speaking the solemn words, “dust to dust, ashes to ashes,”
over a dead parishioner, followed as they so soon are by the telling
of our “sure and certain hope of a joyful resurrection,” when a
Sky Lark, right over our heads, broke out into his sweet, simple,
thankful, hopeful, joyous melody, and by it spoke to more sad
hearts than one in that silent company. Up, up, to the sky was
his pathway, and the song and the soaring both said that a “joyful
resurrection” was no “ cunningly devised fable.”

The Sky Lark’s nest is always.on the ground, often near the
edge of a furrow, sometimes neara little grassy unevenness of
the surface, sometimes even, cunningly concealed in a dry grassy
erip by the side of a field at the foot of a low hedge-bank. It
is but a slight and imartificial structure, of bents lined with finer
grasses and a few fibrous roots. The eggs, which I never knew

WOOD LARK. 7

to exceed five in number, vary as much in general colour and
markings as the Tree Pipit’s and quite baffle verbal description.
I found three in a nest two years ago, altogether dusky in general
hue and so dark that I can hardly use the word brown in describ-
ing the shade; while generally “dark grey” and “ash brown”
will succeed in conveying an idea of the mottlings characterising
the egg. Besides which, by no means a small proportion of a
large collection of Sky Lark’s eggs will always be found to show
a prevailing tinge of green in the surface colourmg. The Lark
is a very faithful mother, and will not easily be induced to leave
her nest; and even when the nest has become quite untenable
longer, from any cause, the parent birds have been known to
-move both eggs and young to a safer place, by grasping them
with the long prehensile claws of their feet.—J%g. 24, plate ILI.

88. WOOD LARK—(4lauda arborea).

The Sky Lark is seen everywhere; on the moors here in
small parties, on the Saltings in Essex and other southern
counties, in our meadows and corn-fields all over the kingdom.
The Wood Lark, on the other hand, is strictly local, though
sufficiently abundant where it does occur. I knew, in one case,
where a shot was fired at a lot. of Larks in the snow, that out
of five or six which were killed all but one proved to be Wood
Larks. So local is it, that though I have been a resident in
Hssex, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Herefordshire, Berwickshire, and
Yorkshire, as well asa visitor in other counties, I have never
lived among or near its haunts, saving only in the western-most
county named. The nest is formed on the ground, usually well
concealed by grass or a neighbouring scrubby bush, is composed
of dry grass and moss, and lined with fibres and a few hairs. The
eggs are four or five in number, of a lighter ground-colour (but

oe BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

scarcely less in size) than those of the Sky Lark, vary very littie
comparatively in their general appearance, and often in addition
to the ash brown or greenish hue of the superficial frecklings
and mottlings, are marked by the presence of a few wine-red
blotches. The young are much sought for to keep in cages, as
- they scon begin to sing very freely. The song of the Wood
Lark in a state of nature is one of the sweetest, in some respects,
with which I am acquainted.—/%g. 25, plate IT.

89. SHORT-TOED LARK—(Alauda brachydactyla).
A bird much resembling the Wood Lark in appearance, but of
very casual occurrence.

Ii.—EMBERIZID 2.
90. LAPLAND BUNTING—(Plectrophanes Lapponica).

Has been met with in Britain, but on a very few occasions.

91. SNOW BUNTING—(Plectrophanes niv. lis).
Tawny Bunting, Mountain Bunting, Snow-flake or-fleck.—Only
a winter visitor in this country, though often coming in not very
scanty numbers. I have frequently seen them on our North
Yorkshire moors, and have heard of them as seen in flocks of
large dimensions. One informant told me he had seen as many
as two hundred together. It breeds in countries very far to the
North, and, like other ¢xdigéxes of the North, is subject to con-
siderable variations in colour according to season. So much so,
that the bird which used to be called Tawny Bunting in its
summer plumage, was re-christened by the name of Snow Bunting,
to suit its winter dress, while the young bird was called by the
name of Mountain Bunting.
92. COMMON BUNTING—(Emberiza miliaria).
Bunting, Corn Bunting, Ebb.—The name of this bird shows

BLACK-HEADED BUNTING. Va

that it is not by any means rare in perhaps most of our country
districts. It often utters its not very musical cry seated on a
tall spray in a hedge, and sometimes while flying along. The
nest is always made very near the ground, if not actually on it,
usually among stunted bushes or coarse herbage. It is made of
roots, bents or coarser materials yet, and lined with hair. The
Bunting lays four or five eggs, of a kind of stained-white ground,
suggesting the idea that a vinous-red stain has been imperfectly
washed off, and blotched and streaked and speckled, in the
characteristic Bunting style, with shades of purplish brown,
some of them rather dark. Though called Corn Bunting, it may
be found where corn-fields are not abundant. I once met with a
nest at the foot of St. Abb’s Head —Fig. 1, plate LV.

93. BLACK-HEADED BUNTING—(2uberiza scheniclus).

Reed Sparrow, Reed Bunting, Water Sparrow, Mountain Spar-
row, Black-bonnet.—Not a rare bird anywhere in England, I
believe, where water is not rare ; and very conspicuous from the
dark head and bright plumage of the male. On the Essex
marshes it is common enough, and so it is in the marshy or ill-
drained meadows of other counties. Mr. Yarrell says the “nest
is generally placed on the ground, among coarse long grass or
rushes, at the foot of a thorn, or on the side of a canal bank.”
The last I found was among, and supported by, the sedges
growing at the side of a marsh-ditch in Hssex, and not less than
ten or twelve inches from the hank—a site which I believe is not
an unusual one. It is made of grasses, fragments of rushes,
stalks of different plants, and lined sometimes with reed-down,
or finer grasses and a little moss. I dislodged the male bird
from the nest just named, and the eggs were perfectly warm to
the touch. They would have been hatched ina few days. It was

74 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

thus proved that the male Reed Bunting takes his share in
sitting, and the position of the nest among green and growing
sedges adds one more fact to what is known of its nidification.
The eggs are four or five in number, of a pale reddish-brown
colour, streaked and spotted with dark brown of a rich purple
shade.—Lig. 2, plate IV.
94. YELLOW HAMMER—(Lnberiza citrinella).

Yellow Bunting, Yellow Yowley, Gold-spink, Yellow Yeldring,
Yellow Yoldring, or Yedrling, Yeldrock, Yellow Yite, Yoit, &e.—
I used to hear in Berwickshire, that

“The Brock, the Toad, and the Yellow Yeérling,
Get a drap o’ the Deil’s bluid ilka May morning.”

I wonder what they all do with it, and how the plentiful bleeding.
affects the patient. For there is certainly no lack of Yellow
Hammers all over the country; and if one looks at the long
strings of blown birds’ eggs festooned at cottage doors, or hung
over the cottage or farm-house mantel-piece, the trophies of some
young nest-taking hopeful dwelling there, after the Blackbirds’
and Thrushes’ eggs, the most abundant are almost always those
of the Yellow Hammer. We all know his rich plumage and
somewhat plaintive song, which, in my school-boy days, used to
be Englished into “Avery, very little bit of bread and n-0-o
c-h-e-e-e-s-e!” It does not spare materials when engaged in
building its nest. Dead grass, small sticks and moss, a few
feathers and plentiful hair to form the lining, are ready enough
in our fields for its use, and: the structure compacted with them
is placed usually in a low, thick bush on a hedge-bank, well con-
cealed, and but little raised above the soil. Sometimes I have
found it in a rough erass-field, amid tufts of rushes and other
such-like growth. Sometimes even in a wall-tree, as in my own
garden last year ; or in an’evergreen shrub, also in my garden a

CHAFFINCH. 75

year or two since. But the hedge side is the rule. The eggs,
three to five in number, and often very round in shape, vary
considerably in individual cases, but never so much as to leave
the accustomed eye in a moment’s doubt as to what bird the egg
belongs to. Of a white ground-colour, scarcely tinged at all
with vinous red, or perhaps much suffused, all of them are
streaked and veined and spotted with dark brown with a shade
ofred in it. They are beautiful eggs to my eye.—Iig. 3, plate IV.
. 95. CIRL BUNTING—(Eatberiza cirlus).

French Yellow Hammer, Black-throated. Yellow Hammer.—
A bird long overlooked by our native ornithologists, and perhaps
more frequently eccurring than is even yet suspected. Still it
is by no means a very common bird,—though identified as oc-
curring in, perhaps, most of the southern counties. The Rev.
Orpen Morris, from whose work on British Birds and Eggs 1
have taken the two provincial names given above, says, “ the
nest is placed in furze or low bushes, and is usually made of
dry stalks of grass and a little moss, lined with hair and small
roots. Some are wholly without moss or Wales.) oes be
small roots constituting the lining. The eggs are four or five
in number, of a dull, bluish white, streaked and speckled with
dark brown. They vary much in colour and markings.’— Fug. 4,
plate IV.

96. ORTOLAN BUNTING—(Hnberiza hortulana).

Ortolan, Green-headed Bunting.—Merely an occasional visitor

nesting in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Lapland.

TII—FRINGILLID.

97, CHAFFINCH—(Fringilla celebs).
Spink, Pink, Twink, Skelly, Shelly, Shell-apple, Scobby, Shilia,

76 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

Buckfinch, Horsefinch, Copperfinch, Whitefinch, Beechfinch, Wet-
bird.—One of our most beautiful birds is the male of this species—
one of quite the most beautiful of our English nests is its nest.
It would be a shame if he, with his gay dress and handsome
_appearance, were the bachelor he is called in his Latin name. It
is, however, only at one period of the year that the sexes in the
Chaffinch tribe (as in many other kinds of birds) separate. The
song of the Chaffinch, though not of great compass or variety, is
very cheery and sweet, and very different from his melancholy
sound of “‘ Weet, weet,” which many country people take as a
prognostication of rain ;—whence his local name of Wet-bird. The
nest, always in a tree-fork or bush or hedge, always firmly and
securely built in, always contrived and fashioned with a wonderful
compactness, neatness and beauty, is formed of mosses, with
various-shaded lichens on the surface, and lined with wool and
hair and feathers, the last two being the finishing substances. I
never knew more than five eggs to be laid, oftener four, of a
peculiar winy-red dun, spotted and streaked—and most near the
large end—with a rich, dark Sienna brown. The eggs in their
comeliness befit the nest, and the nest is worthy of the bird. The
female is, however, the principal, if not the sole, architect and
builder.—Fig. 5, plate IV.

98. MOUNTAIN FINCH—(Fringilla montifringilia).
Brambling, Mountain Finch, Bramble Finch, Lulean Finch.—
Only a winter visitor to our shores, but still pretty generally
diffused throughout the kingdom at that season, though never
perhaps, strictly speaking, any thing like a common bird any

where.

99. TREE SPARROW—(Passer montauus).
Mountain Sparrow.—This species has undoubtedly been long

HOUSE SPAKROW. ie

and continually confounded with the Common or House Sparrow.
And even yet it has not been satisfactorily proved to have occurred
in much more than half a dozen counties in England. Further
observation may do more yet in identifying the Tree Sparrow and
defining its localities. It nests in holes in pollard or other trees,
or in thatch, m company with other Sparrows of the common
species, but in this case always in holes entered from the outside,
not from the inside of the roof of the building. Sometimes it has
been ascertained to breed in nests made within deserted nests of a
Magpie, or some such bird. The nest, like that of the Common
Sparrow, is formed of dry grass or hay, or fine straw, and abun-
dantly lined with feathers of all sorts. The eggs, four or five in
general, are distinctly less than those of the House Sparrow, and
with more decided brown in the markings on the ground-colour
of soiled white.—Fvg. 6, plate IV.

100. HOUSE SPARROW—(Passer domesticus).
Sparrow, Common Sparrow.—He may well be called the

Common Sparrow, for we find him alike in the town and the
country, in the field and in the garden, by the road-side hovel or
in the neighbourhood of the great mansion. And whether he be
sooty and black with the smoke of mid-London, or with his colours
pure and unsmirched and bright as in the clear breezy village, he
is still always the same pert, impudent creature, whose name has
passed almost into a proverb for bold familiarity. Ubiquitous as
he is by habit and system, his nest is found in sites almost as
various and as numerous as the places of his residence. Under
the tiles or eaves of buildings, in the thatch-edges of a barn, in
holes in the interior of a thatch-roof, in water-pipes and receivers
for eaves-gutters, in holes in walls or old buildings, in ivy clothing
either a wall or a tree, in fir trees, in wall-trees, especially if
large and high, below Rooks’ nests, in deserted nests of large

78 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

birds,—frequent in all these sites, it seem dificult to say where it
may not be found. Often, too, it becomes a mass of straw and
dry grass and lavish feather-lining, big enough to fill a man’s hat
of large size. The eggs are very various in the intensity of their
‘surface markings. They are white, speckled and spotted and.
streaked with ash colour and dusky brown, some so slighty as to
be pale grey, others so profusely as to be very dark “ pepper and
salt.” They vary in number from four to six. Whenever the nest
is built in a situation naturally open at top, it is domed over by
the little constructor.—f77. 7, plate IV.

101. GREENFINCH—(Coccothraustes chloris).

Green Grosbeak, Green Linnet, Green Bird.—A sufficiently
common species, and often seen in winter, in stubbles which afford
a sufficiency of the seed-constituents of its food, in large flocks.
Neither does it yield an insignificant portion of the egg spoils of
the country-boy. The nest is usually built in a hedge, and it
dearly loves a thick massive thorn hedge for the purpose. In one
such, bordering an orchard in Essex, of perhaps seventy or eighty
yards long, I found one day a dozen or more of Greenfinches’
nests, almost all with eggs in. It is, however, not seldom to be
met with in an evergreen or other bush in tne garden; sometimes
in a fir tree, and again in a fruit or ornamental tree. The
materials employed are roots, moss, grass, with a lining of the
same, only finer, and plentiful hair. I have often noticed the
presence of a kind of scrubby scales about the interior of one of their
nests. The eggs are four, five, or six in number, and vary much
in size and but little in general appearance. They are white,
suffused with a bluish tinge, and with reddish or purple spots and
streaks, intermingled with some of a darker shade.—Fig. 8, plate
IP,

SS

GOLDFINCH. 79

102. HAWFINCH—(Coccothraustes vulgaris).

Common Grosbeak, Haw Grosbeak.—A bird which seems to
occur but sparingly in our island, and for long, supposed to be
merely a winter visitor. It is not uncommon about Epping Forest,
and has been found nearer London, and in many of the Southern
counties. Mr. Doubleday has given the best account of its habits
generally, as well as of its nest and eggs. It seems to have no
peculiar situation for its nest preferred to all others, but builds
indiscriminately int trees or bushes, and at various heights from
the ground. ‘The nest is said to be made of twigs, “with fibrous
roots and grey lichens laid flat on them ;” the whole structure
being such as to remind one of the Ring-dove’s flat platform of a
nest. The eggs “vary from four to six, and are of a pale olive-
green, spotted with black, and streaked with dusky grey.” Mr.
Doubleday adds, that some are much less marked than others.
A few, indeed, with no marks at all on the green ground-colour.
—Fig. 9, plate IV.

103. GOLDFINCH—(Carduelis elegans).

Thistle-Finch, Gold-spink, Grey Kate, or Pate (the young),
Proud Tailor, Goldie, King Harry Red-cap.—This beautiful little
bird is, I fear, one of those which are much less common in
many districts than used to be the case inmy younger days. It
is much sought after for keeping in cages, and is caught for that
purpose in numbers by the professional bird-catchers. It builds
a beautifully neat and pretty nest ; sometimes in a bush or ever-
green, often in the fork of an apple or other fruit-tree, and more
rarely ina hedge. It is formed of moss, fir-needles, green bents,
wool, thistle-down, willow-down, feathers, hairs, &c., according
to the choice afforded by the locality of the nest. The eggs are
four or five in number, are bluish white or pale grey, spotted

>

os

80 BRITISH BIRDS, THER EGGS AND NESTS.

with greyish purple and red brown, and sometimes a little
streaked with the same.—Fig. 10, plate IV.

104. SISKIN—(Carduelis spinus).
Aberdevine.—Only a winter visitor; and though not very un-
- common at that season in many parts of Britain, yet it has been
known to nest with us so very rarely that it seems scarcely
requisite to give any account of either nest or eggs in this place.

105. COMMON LINNET—(Linota cannabina).

Linnet, Grey Linnet, Red Linnet, Brown Linnet, Whin
Linnet, Linnet Finch, Red-headed Finch, Greater Redpole,
Rose Linnet, Lint-white, Lintie—No wonder school-boys and
country boys had, and have, three or four different names for this
one bird (according to the differences of plumage due to age, sex,
or season), when even naturalists made two species of it. The
male in his full plumage, with red poll and rose breast and
bright brown plumage, is a handsome bird, and, compared with
the female or the young, a very “ fine bird” indeed. It is com-
mon enough in most districts, and pretty sure to be met with
where there is much furze. The nest is frequently to be found
in the midst of thick furze covers; but like Mr. Hewitson, I
have found it commonly in thickish thorn-hedges, and very often
in small and single furze bushes. It is made of small twigs and
bents and moss, and often lined with a copious cushion of wool
merely; at other times, with some hair and vegetable down,
The eggs vary greatly in size, as well as in colour and markings,
but usually they are of a pale bluish-white ground, speckled with
red of different shades, brown to purple. They are four, five,

and sometimes six in number.—L%g. 11, plate IV.

106. MEALY REDPOLE—(Zinota canescens).
Only a winter visitor to this country, and in varying numbers in

BULLFINCH, S1

different years. Many were obtained in one or two of the counties
adjoining the Metropolis some years since; but no instance, I
believe, is known of its remaining with us to breed.

107. LESSER REDPOLE—(Linota linaria).

Common Redpole, Lesser Red-headed Finch, Rose Linnet.
—This is a winter visitor to the southern counties of Hngland;
but remains all the year round in Scotland and some parts of
north England. The nest seems to be built in some situation
not too high above the ground; for instance, ina bush or stunted
tree; and is made of moss and bents, and like some of those of the
Common Linnet, with willow-down and the like. There are usually
four or five eggs deposited in it, their colour “ pale bluish green,
spotted with orange-brown, and principally at the larger end.”
The ground -colour seems to vary to greenish-grey, and the spots
to become more of a reddish tinge.—Fig. 12, plate IV.

108. MOUNTAIN LINNET—(Linota montium).

Twite, Twite Finch, Heather Lintie.—A bird seldom, if ever,
seen much south of the Humber. It is known to breed in York-
shire and the northern English counties as well as in Scotland,
the Hebrides, &c. As its name leads one to infer, it is usually
found in the neighbourhood of hill or fell. The nest is built on
the ground, among the short benty grass of the hill-side or the
dwarf ling of similar localities, or even among longer heather, and
is made of the materials afforded by such herbage, and moss, and
lined with fibrous roots, wool and hair. The eggs vary from
four to six in number, are almost white with the faintest blue or
green tinge, spotted with red, brown or dark purple, with some-
times a few streaks of a lighter red tinge.—%vg 18, plate IV.

109. BULLFINCH.—(Pyrrhula vulgaris).
Olph, Alp, Hoop, Red Hoop, Nope.—One of our really hand

G

7

82 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

some birds, and as familiar to many of us as other and even com-
-moner birds, by his frequent occupancy of a cage. “ Piping
Bullfinches” are not very unusual even in this country. The Bull-
finch is also one of those birds who have long been laid under pro-
_ scription, for the mischief he is assumed to do to the buds of fruit
trees. Like as rewards used to be customarily paid in hosts of
places out of the Parish funds for the heads of Sparrows, Tomtits,
&c., so has it been on a lesser scale with our present birds, and
I cannot help thinking equally unjustly. No doubt the “ Olph”
commits sad apparent havock on the blossom-buds; but I sus-
pect the blossom-buds damaged by him (as it seems) would
uever have come to anything if no Bullfinch had ever been
near them. There was a grub in each of them, and that grub
would have destroyed the bud quite as effectually, if not
quite as summarily, as the bird which extracted it from what
was alike its hiding-place and scene of active ravage and con-
sumption. Unlike the Ring Dove and Missel Thrush, and a few
other birds, which are usually very wild and shy, but at breeding
time lay aside their wildness and distrust, and come to the close
neighbourhood of human habitations to nest, the Bullfinch, in
spring, leaves our gardens and orchards and resorts to the woods
- and wilds. The nest is made of twigs and roots and moss,
rather loosely constructed, and lined with wool and hair, and is
most commonly placed ina good thick bush of considerable height
and size; sometimes on a fir or other tree. The hen-bird lays
four or five eggs of a pale greenish blue, streaked and spotted
with purple-red, chiefly at the larger end.— Fig. 14, plate IV.

* 410. PINE GROSBEAK—(Pyrrhula enucleator).
Pine Bullfinch, Common Hawfinch.—Only a very rare visitor

in our islands.

f

CROSSBILL. ‘ 83

111. COMMON CROSSBILL—(Lovzia curvirostra).

This is a bird which deserves a little notice at our hands on
two or three grounds. In its plumage it varies more, according
to sex or age, than perhaps any other English bird in a state of
nature. It is indeed subject to almost startling dissimilarity.
The peculiar shape and action of the bill is also noteworthy, and
the strength of the muscles which move the mandibles may be
judged of by the powerful effect produced in starting the scales
of the strongest fir-cones. Again, it has been repeatedly met
with in this country in large numbers; and not only so, put at
such seasons as to render it almost positive, that it must have
nested, or be nesting here: nay even females which were ob-
tained showed, by the state of their plumage, that they must
have been so engaged: and yet until recently, no authentic
observation has been recorded of the actual occurrence of its nest
and eggs. It is now believed to breed in the very earliest spring
or indeed in winter, which may account for the obscurity hitherto
attending its nesting habits. The nest is made of twigs below,
with grassy bents upon’ such foundation, bound together with
wool and lined with hair. The eggs seem to vary much in
colour, showing a sensible degree of resemblance to those of the
Greenfinch, but with a generally warmer tint, and spots of a
much more decided or dark red shade.—Fig. 15, plate IV.

112. PARROT CROSSBILL—(Lozia pityopsittacus).

It has occurred in a few instances, but is much too rare to be
noticed by us at length ; and indeed the same may be said of the

bird next named.

112. WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL—(Lozia faicirostra).
G 2

84. BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

IV.—_STURNIDZ.

113. STARLING—(Sturnus vulgaris).

Common Starling, Stare, Sheep-stare, Solitary Thrush, Brown
Starling.—The two last of these names used to be applied
to the young of the Starling. Few cases of more brilliant
plumage are met with in our English birds than in the instance of
the male of the Common Starling. The metallic glow and play
of colours in the feathers of his head, neck and back is very
beautiful. It is a very abundant bird, and itis supposed by some
that there are some peculiarities in its breeding habits. I
mean that I have heard it asserted that the male is a polygamist,
or rather perhaps a bigamist. I never saw any thing within my own
scope of observation which led me to suspect it, but rather to
hold the received belief that the Starling pairs exactly as most
other birds do. They are exceedingly pertinacious in adhering to
their choice of a place for nesting in. I knew one case in which
from the inconvenient nature of the nest-site selected, one of
the birds was shot. In a very short space the survivor had paired
again, and the gun again dissolved the union. The whole process

was repeated five or six times, and the Starlings bred at last in the
| place chosen by the original pair. The nest is found in a great
variety of situations,—in the bowl of a water pipe from the eaves
of a house, in a dove-cot, in holes in trees, below the nests in a
rookery, in holes in old buildings or more recent masonry, between
the slates and underdrawing of a roof, in holes in steep high rocks,
in chimneys of houses, and the like. It is made, without stint of ’
materials, of straw, roots, grass, and a plentiful lining of feathers,
The eggs, four to six in number, vary strangely in size but not
in colour. which is ofa uniform pale blue. In some districts
where the Starling abounds, they collect in huge flocks, the young

A
RAVEN. . 85
with the parents, and may be seen when on the wing like a cloud
from a great distance.—L7. 1, plate V.
115. ROSE-COLOURED PASTOR—(Pastor roseus).
Rose-coloured Ouzel or Starling.—Merely an accidental visitor
to our shores.

V.—CORVID.
116, CHOUGH—(Fregilus graculus).

Cornish Chough, Red-legzed Crow, Cornish Daw, Cornwall
Kae, Market-jew Crow, Chauk Daw, Hermit Crow, Cliff Daw,
&ce.—A bird which occurs more sparingly than it used to do. Its
abiding and building place is among the steep rocks which line so
many parts of the British coasts. In the Isle of Wight, in Man,
onthe Cornish shores, at Flamborough, in Berwickshire near St.
Abb’s Head, it is still (or was till lately) known to breed.
«This bird,” says Mr. Yarrell, “makes a nest of sticks lined with
wool and hair, in the cavities of high cliffs, or in old castles, or
church towers near the sea; laying four or five eggs of a yellowish
white colour, spotted with ash-grey and light brown.”—J%g. 2,
plate V.

117. RAVEN—(Corvus coraz).

Corbie, Corbie Crow, Great Corbie Crow.—I dare say the
acquaintance of many of us with this fine bird is limited to an
introduction to some tame or pet Raven. In this district, where,
I believe, these birds abounded half a century since—the rocky
cliffs of our moorland solitudes bemg so well suited to their
nabits,—I do not know that I have seen or heard one for the last
two or three years. Persecuted by the gamekeeper, sought after
for domestication, or their eggs taken for sale to the collector, they
are becoming very rare in many a part of the country where not long
since they were frequently seeu. They build sometimes on old ruins

86 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NEST».

or craggy precipices, but oftener in a tree, piling nest after nest in
successive years upon the same bough, whence the chosen tree
soon comes to be called the “ Raven-tree.” One such accumulation
of nests I knew, as a boy, in Hssex, and after a stiff climb succeeded
_ inreaching it. I did it in jeopardy however, for the Ravens were
very bold, and every moment I expected they would assail me, in
spite of the short bludgeon I had suspended to my wrist. The
appearance below the nest of the farmer in whose fields the Raven
tree grew, decided the question—perhaps he frightened the Ravens
as well as threatened me; perhaps they knew he came as their
protector—anyhow I did not get my egg, although I had actually
had itin my hand. The nest isa great pile of sticks, lmed with wool
and roots and felts of hair, and often has four or five eggs laid in
it, of a light green ground-shade, blotched and spotted with browns
of varying depth of colour, but some of them very dark.—Fig. 3,
plate V.

. 118. CROW—(Corvus corone).

Carrion Crow, Corbie Crow, Flesh Crow, Gor Crow, Midden
Crow, Black Crow, Black-neb, Hoody.—Another bird not nearly
so common as it used to be, even within my own recollection—
-and no wonder; for he is a strong, fierce bird (Mr. Waterton
calls him his * Warrior bird’), and a young and weakly lamb, a
young Hare or Rabbit, a wounded or frightened Partridge has little
or no chance with him. I knew a case a year or two since of a
Crow attacking a Partridge and driving it to cover in a hedge,
where it lay so terrified and exhausted as to suffer itself to be
picked up by a spectator. I knew another instance years ago in
which the Crow attacked a young Rabbit. The old doe came to
the assistance of her young one, and the »attle was well con-
tested, but the Crow was the victor, and carried off the spoil.

ROOK. of | 87

Paired once, these birds, as in the case of the Raven, are paired
for good. “The nest is placed in a main fork of a large tree, and is
made of sticks and twigs with abundant cushioning of wool and
hair. It is believed not to build a new nest every year. It lays
four or five eggs, varymg much in the depth of the tint of the
greenish ground-colour, and generally well mottled and blotched
and spotted with greenish ash colour and bright brown. The
parents seem to expel their young from the immediate precincts
of their own abode very soon after they are able to provide for
themselves ; as is the case with the Raven also.—Fig. 4, plate V.

119. HOODED CROW—(Corvus corniz).

Royston Crow, Dun Crow, Norway Crow, Kentish Crow,
Grey Crow, Grey-backed Crow, Bunting Crow, Scare Crow,
Hoodie.—Even a fiercer and more mischievous bird than the
Carrion Crow. It has been very seldom known to breed in
England, though coming in great abundance from its more
northern haunts before the access of winter. In north and west
Scotland, the Hebrides and Orkneys it breeds in large numbers,
and rewards for its destruction have been customarily paid to
within a recent period, if indeed they have altogether ceased yet.
They place their nests among rocks, in the rifts or on ledges.
These are built of ling, sticks, roots, stalks of plants, seaweed ;
and lined with wool and kair. There are usually four or five
eggs, not differing very materially in colouring from those of the
Common Crow.—Fig. 5, plate V.

120. ROOK—(Corvus frugilegus).
Crow.—LEveryone must be acquainted with the Rok, and its
nesting manners and habits. Even the dwellers in great cities
have sometimes had this bird domiciled among them for the
breeding season, and many places in London are signalized by the

88 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

presence of a Rook’s nest, or several, in very unlikely situations.
In the country some of the most familiar sights and sounds are
those afforded by the Rookery, or by the huge assemblages of
Rooks about the fields or winging their morning or evening
flight in quest of food, or in return to their domiciles. Most of
us too have heard of Rook courts of justice, and the sentences
awarded against the wrongful spoilers of a neighbour’s nest, as well
as the battles to resist such an invasion. It is certainly a remark-
able instinct, which, to so great a degree, forbids birds building
in communities to plunder the building materials placed on the
adjoining bough or ledge, and no wonder that Instinct has
provided a remedy for what must be looked upon, when it occurs
to any extent, as a somewhat unnatural offence. The Rook
resorts to the same nest year after year, merely making such
repairs as a year’s wear and tear from wind and rain and accident
have rendered necessary. When the nest is ready, four or five
eges are deposited, of a greenish ground-colour more or less
intense in shade, plentifully mottled and blotched with darker
and varying shades of brownish green. Many of the eggs
strongly resemble those of the Crow, while others are much
more like those of the Jackdaw. As in the case of the Bullfinch
the Rock is often blamed for doing mischief which was really
done by the creature which formed the real object of search to
the supposed offender. The wireworm and the grub of the
cockchafer do infinite damage in grass or cornfields by eating off
the roots of the plants in question. The Rook pulls up these
ruined plants and eats the offending larva. The farmer or
superficial “observer only sees the dead grass or corn plant, and
loolishly accuses the Rook, and persecutes him, though in reality
a friend and benefactor, tothe death. Not but what the Rook does
mischief at times; for I have often seen newly sown corn-fields

MAGPIE. 89

black with them, and have been continually a witness to the
very extensive damage done to the potato crop just when the
young tubers were in most active growth and most susceptible of
harm. Still, a few precautions will suffice to protect both corn-
field and potato-crop during the brief space while protection is
necessary, and the balance of good done is so greatly on the
predominating side, that the Rook may well continue to be
protected. Rook shooting has charms for many. For myself I
seem to see cruelty so conspicuous about the whole process, that
I cannot conceive in what the pleasure consists.— fig. 6, plate V.

121. JACKDAW—(Corvus monedula).

Daw, Kae, Jack.—The chattering Jackdaw is as familiar as a
“Household word” to us, and when one visits an extensive colony
of Jackdaws in the nesting season, he is apt to be enabled to forma
good estimate of the amount of chatter a few’ score Jackdaws can
contribute. They breed in many places in the immediate neigh-
bourhood of my residence in very considerable numbers, in the holes
and crevices which abound among craggy rocks and precipices
that rise high above steep wooded banks. Besides, they build
in ruinous buildings, in church towers or pigeon-houses, in little
used chimneys, in holes in modern masonry, even in deserted
chambers. The pile of materials amassed is simply wonderful,
and really they are sometimes so laid together as if intended to serve
no other purpose but to lengthen out the nest-pile for a builder’s
amusement. Sticks and wool are the substances asually employed,
and the eggs laid vary, as to number, between three and six.
They are of a pale biuish-white, well spotted with ash colour
light brown and dark brown.—Fig. 7, plate V.

122. MAGPIE—(Pica caudata).
Pyet, Pianet, Madge, Mag.—A very wary, crafty, shy bird the

_ 90 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

wild Magpie is. A very bold, impudent, thievish rascal the
domesticated Mag as certainly proves himself. Shy and wary as
these birds are in a state of nature, no bird whatever seems to affect
concealment Jess in the fashion and structure and position of its
nest. Placed high up among the smaller branches of a tallish
tree, or perhaps in the upper part of a strong, thick, high bush in
a hedge or standing lonely in a field or park, nothing can well be
more conspicuous than the massy Magpie’s nest, with its large
though light dome of thorny sticks and twigs. I used to be
assured as a schoolboy that there were two sorts or varieties of
Magpies, distinguished by the comparative length of their tails
and the site of their nests :—the alleged short-tailed one was called
the Bush Magpie; the other the Tree Magpie. It is almost idle
to say no such variety or distinction really exists. The materials
of the nest are chiefly sticks, plastered with earth inside, and lined
with roots and hair. There are often as many as six or seven
eggs laid in it, pale bluish-white in colour, spotted all over, and
abundantly so in general, with grey and greenish brown of more
than one shade.—Fig. 8, plate V.
123. JAY—(Garrulus glandarius).

Jay-pie, Jay-piet—The Jay’s peculiar screeching note is
perhaps more familiar to many ears than the bird itself to the
eyes corresponding to the said ears. It is a shy bird, seldom
seen far from its haunts in woods and copses, though when seen,
it is noticeable enough from a certain peculiarity in its flight, due
toa sort of fluttering use or motion of its wings. It is easily
domesticated, and becomes a tame and amusing pet. The nest is
very often extremely rude and inartificial, almost as much so as the
Ring Dove’s. It is placed in the upper part of a lofty bush ina
wood, or on some one of the lateral branches of a tree where the
height from the ground is considerable; is made of sticks and

GREEN WOODPECKER. 91

lined with roots; the cavity containing the eggs often seeming to
be not very considerable. Now and then a nest is met with
carefully and strongly compacted, and sufficiently cup-shaped.
The Jay lays five or six eggs of a faint shade of dusky green for
eround-colour, closely and thickly freckled all over with light
brown.—fig 9, plate V.
124. NUT-CRACKER—(Nucifraga caryocatactes).

A bird which has probably been met with less than half-a-score

times in all in this country. *

GROUP III.—SCANSORKES.
FAMILY I.—PICIDA.
125. GREAT BLACK WOODPECKER—(Picus martius).
Too rare a visitant to demand special notice in our pages.

126. GREEN WOODPECKER—(Picus viridis).

Wood-spite, Rain-fowl, Rain-bird, Hew-hole, Yaffle, Whet-ile,
Woodwall, Witwall, Popinjay, Awl-bird, Haqual, Pick-a-tree,
Yappingale, &c.—I observe Mr. Morris spells the name I have
written Eaqual in the form Ecle. I have no idea of the origin
or etymology of either form, but I have given these names gene-
rally in the thought that they may be helpful to some, and
interesting to other young egg-collectors. The Green Wood-
pecker is the most common, and much the best known of all our
English Woodpeckers. Besides being a very handsome bird, its
organization (as is indeed the case with all the tribe) is so beau-
tifully adapted to its mode of life, as to merit a brief notice at
our hands. Its strong prehensile feet and claws, two toes being
directed forward and two backwards, fit it not only for moving
in all directions, and with wonderful readiness and ease in any
direction whatever, about the trunk or limbs of a tree, but also
for grasping the surface with great tenacity when necessity arises

92 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

for applyingits strong bill to penetrating or disloding either
bark or portions of the wood itself. When thus occupied, the
tail comes mto use, and the bones at the lower extremity of the
skeleton are so formed as to enable the stiff, pomted tail-feathers
to be applied to the tree in such a way as to strengthen the pur-
chase already obtained by the firm foot-hold. Add to all this the
length of the tongue, its great extensibility, specially provided
for by a peculiar arrangement of muscles, together with the
structure of the tongue itself—remarkable for its sharp, horny
tip and barb-like bristles on either side near the pomt—and we
have one of Nature’s most beautiful accommodations of means to
the intended end which can well be offered to our admiring notice.
The undulating flight and laugh-like cry of the Green Wood-
pecker used to be more common than they seem to be now, and
the great multiplicity of provincial names seems to show that
once it must have been an exceedingly common bird. I have
rarely seen or heard it here: and no wonder. For where once
there were miles of forest, now we have scarcely 100 acres of
wood in the whole district. ‘This Woodpecker’s cry is loudly
and frequently uttered before impending rain; whence one of its
common or by-names. It breeds in holes in trees, which it often
excavates in part or enlarges to suit its wants. It makes no
nest, but deposits its eggs, four to seven in number, and per-
fectly white, ona bed of the soft decayed wood of the tree. The
eges average rather over 13-inch in length, by about. £-inch broad.
No illustration being possible in our space of purely white eggs
I think it better to append their measurements,

127. GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER—(Picus maior).
Pied Woodpecker, French-pie, Wood-pie, Whitwall, Great
Black and White Woodpecker, Wood-nacker—A not very

WRYNECK. . 93

uncommon bird in some localities, and very rare in others now-
a-days. It is less likely, too, to betray its presence by its note
than the Green Woodpecker, and is so shy and so capable of,
concealing itself or keeping the trunk of a tree always between
itself and any prying observer, that doubtless it is deemed to be
more rare than it really is. It seems to prefer the vicinity of
woods, but may be seen occasionally where woods do not abound,
and sometimes even it resorts to places where abundance of old
posts or decaying tree-trunks lead it to expect a plentiful repast.
[t breeds in holes in trees, making no nest, and laying its four
or five eggs on just such a bed as its green namesake. The
female is very averse to leaving her eggs, and shows almost as °
much pertinacity as a Tomtit in abiding by them. They are
1 inch long by 2-inch broad.
128. LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER—(Picus minor).

Barred Woodpecker, Hick-wall, Little Black and White Wood-
pecker, Crank-bird.—A pretty little bird, very shy, very active,
very able to keep itself out of sight, and so, hardly noticed by
one in a hundred of those whom Miss Edgeworth would class as
more or less nearly connected with the widely-spread family of
No-eyes. Itis said to prefer large woods of Beech; and like
the other Woodpeckers, makes no nest, but places its eggs in a
hollow tree, accessible by only a small hole, the means of access
being often at a considerable distance from the eggs laid below.
The eggs of this little bird are four or five in number, purely
white, though seeming to be suffused with a delicate pink hue
before they are blown, which arises from the transparency of the
shell. They are about 32-inch long by rather more than 3-inch
broad.

129. WRYNECK—(Yune torquilla).
Cuckoo’s-mate, Emmet-hunter, Snake-bird, Long-tongue.—A

94 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS,

dear little bird is the Wryneck, with his cheery spring-announcmg
cry. We willingly pardon its want of melody for its associations.
The marvellous rapidity with which its tongue is darted out and
retracted, enabling it by the aid of the glutinous secretion with
which its end is furnished to secure an Ant at every action, is
highly interesting as illustrating another of the wonderful and
beautiful adaptations provided by the Divine Artificer of all.
The Wryneck makes scarcely any nest (if any), but lays its eggs
on the fragments of decayed wood which line a hole in a tree.
They are from six to ten in number, and white and glossy, and
about the same size as those of the Barred Wood-pecker. The
‘ old bird is singularly unwilling to leave her eggs under any
intrusion, and tries by such means as hissing sharply, elevating
her crest and contorting her neck, to intimidate or deter the
intruder.

IT.—CERTHIAD &.
130. CREEPER—(Certhia familiaris).

Tree-creeper, Tree-climber.—A_ shy, gentle-seeming little bird,
shunning observation, and, with the rest of its neighbours in our
catalogue, possessing a singular facility of quietly and rapidly
shifting its place on the trunk or limb of a tree, so as always to
interpose an efficient screen between its own minute body and
the eye of any passer-by. Its claws, sharp and long and curved,
aided by its long and pointed tail-feathers, are its chief machinery
in these facile motions. It builds its nest, generally speaking, in
a hole in a tree, with only a very minute aperture. Sometimes,
though I think rarely, the nest is outside the tree, but screened
from observation by some casual dislodgement of the bark, or in
some similar way. It is made of dry grass, small twigs, shreds
of moss, with a lining of feathers. It is very hard to distinguish

WREN. 95

between the eggs of the Creeper, which number from six to nine,
and those of the Blue Tit-mouse and the Willow-wren, not to
mention one or two other small birds. The illustration will give
a better idea of the egg than many lines of description.—Fig. 16,
plate IV.

131. WREN—(Zroglodytes vulgaris).

Jenny Wren, Kitty Wren, Titty Wren, Cutty Wren —A kind
of natural pet with every one. I scarcely ever remember to
have spoken of the Wren, or heard others speak of it, without some
gentle, loving epithet applied to its name. The provincial names
quoted are instances of what I mean, and how often the words
“poor,” “little,” “tiny,” and even “dear,” are jomed to the
prefixes of Jenny, or Kitty, or Titty. Its little song, its seeming
incapacity to bear the rude buffets of storm and cold, its quiet
peculiar movements, all tend to commend it to our kindly notice.
And then the beautiful nest it makes—such a great pile for such
a tiny builder—and so compact and warm and wonderfully
concealed by the use of the nicest adaptations of materials and
design to the site selected,—this makes us almost respectfully
admire, in addition to our love. I have found it on the moss-
covered bank, on the moss-covered trunk of a tree, in thatch, in
a haulm wall; but wherever it is found, the adjacent substances
are made to help the concealment. One would think that when
strength and ability, seemingly so inadequate, had been so
heavily tasked as is implied in the construction of such a nest,
the little birds would not be likely to leave it, especially with the
building of another in immediate prospect. But I have not
found it so in practice. A very trifling enlargement of the
single orifice, or straining of the fabric, in the effort to send the
finger to the bottom of the nest, is quite sufficient to cause the
nest to be deserted; especially if the Wrens owning it have

96 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

once or more been disturbed when in it, or very nearit. When the
young ones are hatched, the case is altered. The eggs are often
from six to nine or ten in number, and I have heard of even
more. They are white, with almost always a few pale red spots
about them. The male is said to feed the female during the
period of closest incubation. Many other birds certainly have
*he same habit, even when the mate has left the nest just to
stretch her wings, as it were. I have seen the Common Linnet
do this.—Fvg. 17, plate IV.

132. HOOPOE—(Upupa epops.)

A casual visitor only, but still not so rare that specimens are
not obtained almost every year. In fact, the whole appearance
of the bird is so very striking, that it is scarcely possible such a
visitor shouJd pass without notice. It breeds in several Huropean
countries.

133, NUT-HATCH—(Sitéa Europea).

Nut-jobber, Wood-cracker.—A very beautiful bird to my eye,
with his bright slate-coloured back, and orange breast, and black
bill; and a very great pet in former days. I hada pair which
had never known a day of constraint, but which, by patient
feeding and care to make them fearless of me, became so tame
as almost to take food from my hand; to take it readily when I
jerked it a foot or two into the air. And they would always
come to my signal for them—a few blows on the tree at which
I fed them. But they never suffered their young to come to the
feast I provided, and always absented themselves for about a
month at the breeding time. The nest is, I believe, always made
in the hole of a tree, and if the aperture to the hollow is too
large, the bird is apt to lessen it by the application of a
sort of mud-plaster to some portions of the edge. The nest is

CUCKOO. 97

rather a contrast to that of the little Wren just named, being
little more than a loose heap of moss, small twigs, and chips of
bark and wood. The eggs are five or six and sometimes, it is said,
seven in number, white, with some pale-red spots. Many of
them are very like the Larger Titmouse’s.—f7g. 18, plate IV.

TIT.—CUCULID.
184. CUCKOO—(Cuculus canorus.)

Gowk.—Have you heard the Cuckoo yet? How often that
question is asked by one’s friends or neighbours in the country.
Hearing the first Cuckoo and seeing the first Swallow are
always events to true lovers of country scenes and objects and
sounds. But what a strange instinct it is which forbids our
Cuckoo to build a nest, and instructs it to lay its egg—at least
to place it—in some other bird’s nest, and that bird usually not
one-fifth its own size! A Blackbird’s nest is sometimes selected
to receive the deposit, but very rarely compared with the Hedge
Sparrow’s, the Lark’s, the Meadow Pipit’s, the Water Wagtail’s,
or the Chaffinch’s. How many eggs are laid by a single Cuckoo
in a season, is, L think, not ascertained. It is, however, a very
rare circumstance to find more than one Cuckoo’s egg in any
given nest, and then open to great doubtif both were placed
there by the same Cuckoo. It is a matter of dispute how the
ege is actually deposited in the nest selected; whether “laid”
in, or placed in—after being dropped on the ground suppose—
by the bill or claws. I found one in the Meadow Pipit’s nest
mentioned above (p. 69), where the position and site of the
nest were such as to leave no doubt whatever in my mind that
the egg could not possibly have been “laid” in the nest; and
almost certainly inserted by aid of the beak. How the Cuckoo

H

98 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS..

found such a nest at all, was a marvel tome. The eggs are
very small for the size of the bird which produces them, and
strongly resemble some of the darker and more closely freckled
specimens of the House Sparrow’s egg, but are rather larger
-in size; while Mr. Doubleday says some of them resemble those
of the Pied Wagtail—ig. 19, plate 1V.

135. YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO—(Coccyzus Americanus).
A rare visitor only.

GROUP IV. FISSIROSYRES.

FAMILY l—MEROPIDA.
136. ROLLER—(Coracius garrula).
Garrulous Roller.—Very rarely met with in England.
137. BEE-EATER—(Werops apiaster).
An African bird, which strays occasionally so far to the north
as to reach Britain, and be claimed as a British Bird.

IT.—_HALCYONID 2.
188. KINGFISHER—(Alcedo ispida).
Beyond doubt, as far as exceeding brilliancy of plumage goes,
‘the most beautiful of our indigenous birds. I have never seen it
in any part of the kingdom a numerous bird, though in my fish-
ing and other excursions in Suffolk, Essex, Norfolk, and Here-
fordshire, I used to see many pairs ; each, however, domiciled at
some distance from its nearest neighbours. In the district of
North Yorkshire I am best acquainted with I have never seen it.
Its straight, arrow-like, speeding flight is sure to be remembered,
when once seen, and so is the odour inseparable from its nest-
hole or other stated haunt. A hole, sloping upwards, in the
bank of the water it most frequents, whether pond, stream,

SWALLOW. 99

marsh, ditch, or large river, is usually chosen to receive the nest,
which is often a foot and a half, or two feet from the entrance;
but sometimes the bird has been known to resort to a hole at
some distance from any water. The nest, so called, seems to be
constituted of small fish-bones, ejected from the King-fisher’s
stomach, and the dry soil of the hole, while the eggs deposited in
it are five or six in number, very round in form, beautifully white
when blown, and though, from the thinness of the shell, seeming
to have a pink hue before the removal of the yolk.

IIT.—HIRUNDINID A.
139. SWALLOW—(Hirundo rustica).

Common Swallow, House Swallow, Chimney Swallow, Barn
Swallow.—One of the most welcome of all our spring visitors;
and so frequently coming back, the self-same pair of birds appa-
rently, to the self-same nest, that they seem to be almost like
members of the family returning from a temporary absence. The
common name, Chimney Swallow, is, however, rather a misno-
mer. No doubt they build in chimneys freely and frequently, but
in many districts the chimney is quite untenanted by any Swallows,
while the open roofs of sheds and barns, the under side of bridges
sufficiently flat and uneven to afford the necessary support,
disused shafts of mines, and the like, and even parts of unused
rooms, or articles of furniture in such rooms, are resorted to.
These nests are very considerably different from those of the
Martin (to be noticed next), inasmuch as they are always com-
pletely open above, being so built that there is a sensible space
between the greater portion of the edge of the plaster-work of
the nest, and the roof or other surface above; while in the case of
the Martin’s nest, it is always built so as to be closed above by
the eaves or other ledge to which it is affixed, requiring a gap or

H 2

LOU BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

lip—so to speak—to be left in the wall to afford ingress and °
egress to the owners. The nest, in either case, is built with many
pellets of soft tenacious earth, wrought into form with bits of

straw or grass, and afterwards lined with feathers. It is observable
that no more work at the nest is done ina day than will readily
harden enough to bear the requisite additions of materials above,
when the time comes for making them. There are usually four,
five, or six eggs laid; white, speckled and spotted with deep
red, and a lighter duller shade.—/%y. 20, plate IV.

140. MARTIN—(Hirundo urbica).
Martlet, Martin Swallow, House Martin, Window Martin

Eaves Swallow, Window Swallow.—This familiar little bird.
whose cheeping note in the nests above our chamber windows is
one of the sounds we should sorely miss, frequents the dwellings
of men quite as much as, I think more than, the Swallow. Every
one knows where to look for the Martin’s nest, and many a house
can we all call to mind which seems, from some peculiarity in its
site or external fashion, to be particularly affected by these birds
—and certainly, in most cases, the inmates of the house take
rouch care to save their confiding feathered friends from disturb-
ance. In many places, however, the Martin forms large nesting
colonies, which take possession of a series of overhanging ledges
on some steep rocky face, and there build their nests in great
numbers. In Berwickshire, on the banks of the Whiteadder, I
knew of such a colony, and others elsewhere: the principal ones,
however, being on the rock-bound coast between St. Abb’s Head
and Burnmouth. Hundreds of these birds nested in several
different places upon those lofty precipices. No description of
the nest itself—beyond what was said in the notice of the Swal-
low—seems requisite. The number of eggs, which are perfectly
white, seems seldom to exceed six.

PLATE VIII

1 Heron

wo

Bittern, 3. Curlew, 4. Redshauk, 5. Commen Sandpiper. 6, Rulf

f Py +
| ‘ - SWIFT. : 101

141. SAND MARTIN—(Hirundo riparia).

Bank Martin, Pit Martin, Sand Swallow, Bank Swallow, River
Swallow.—This delicate little visitor comes to us in the spring,
often very early, from Africa, as do also the two others of the
genus just named. Where it does occur—and it is generally
diffused—it is often seen in very large numbers. A Ballast Pit at

* Fingrinchoe, in Essex, is occupied by the most numerous colony
I am acquainted with; and a site afforded by the surface beds of
sand and soil above a steep scarp of rock on Tweed-bank, nearly
opposite Norham Castle, used to accommodate another colony.
Some of the holes are bored toa very great depth. I haveenlarged »
the orifice of many till it would admit my whole shoulder, and have
then been unable to reach the termination of the gallery. Others
are much shorter, and admitting of more easy access to the nest.
The female will, notwithstanding the noise and violence attending
the enlargement of the aperture of her nest-hole, sit resolutely
on, and allow herself to be taken in the hand with scarcely a
struggle or sign of resistance—even of life, sometimes. One I
took thus a year or two since lay in my open hand for a minute or
more, and then at last flew only leisurely away. A little loose,
soft straw, with some feathers, serves to receive the eggs, which
are four to six in number, often much elongated in shape, of the
most delicate white, and beautifully pink, from the thinness of the
shell, before they are blown.

142. PURPLE MARTIN—(Hirundo purpurea).
American Purple Martin.—Only a very casual visitor.

143. SWIFT—(Cypselus apus).
Deviling, Black Martin, Screech, Screech Martin, Shriek Owl
Screamer, Squeaker, Skeer or Skir-devil, Cran.—I should think no
one who has once seen this bird on the wing, and noticed its rapid,

. 3102. BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

peculiar, powerful, long-winged, whirling flight, or heard itsremark-
able scream, would ever be likely to mistake when hesawit again. It
is most frequently seen at no great distance from some old tower
of castle or church, or such like building, although at times it
‘seems to range far in search of food. It makes its nest of pieces
of soft straw, bents or grass or hay and feathers, and usually in
holes in the buildings aforesaid, or between the tiles and under- *
roof of houses; and the nest once made is supposed to be used
for many years in succession by the same pair of birds. It some-
times seems as if it had been cemented together in some way.
The Swift often lays only two eggs, but has been known to pro-
duce three, and even four. They are quite white, and rather large
for the size of the bird.
144, ALPINE SWIFT—(Cypselus Alpinus).

White-bellied Swift.—A bird which is known to have visited us

on some half dozen occasions or so.

TV.—CAPRIMULGIDZ.
145. NIGHT-JAR—(Caprimulgus Europeus).

Night Hawk, Goat-sucker, Dor Hawk, Fern Owl, Night Crow,
Jar Owl, Churn Owl, Wheel-bird, Eve-churr, Night-churr, Puck-
eridge.—Far more familiar to many of the comparatively few
among country-dwellers who notice such matters, is the Night-
jar by sound than by sight. Coming from its retirement but
very little and very reluctantly by day, and only pursuing its
prey towards and during twilight, it is not by any means an
obtrusive bird; as little so, indeed, as any one of the Owls. But
its loud churring or jarring note, as it wheels round a tree or
clump of trees, is often enough heard by many a one to whom its
form and size and plumage are nearly or utterly strange. It is,
perhaps, most frequently met with where patches of furze and

RING DOVE. ~— 103

fern on open commons, not too far from the neighbourhood of
plantations, occur. The Night-jar can hardly be said to make a
nest; but lays two eggs in any slight natural depression of the
ground which she can find sufficiently near a bush or clump of
whins to be at least partly concealed by it. The eggs are very
oval in shape, and very beautifully mottled and clouded and
’ veined with varying tints of blueish lead-colour and brown, on a
whitish ground.—fig. J, plate VT.

a

III.—RASORHES.
FAMILY I—COLUMBIDA.
146. RING DOVE—(Columba paluimbus).

Wood Pigeon, Ring Pigeon, Cushat, Cushie Doo, Queest.—
This, the first bird in the new Order of Rasores, is tolerably well
known to every one the least acquainted with ordinary country
scenes and objects. A fine, handsome bird, met with every-
where throughout the country, and, in many parts of it, seen in
very large flocks in the winter time; sure to attract attention,
also, as we walk through the wood, by the loud ringing clap of
his wings as he takes flight; and all this independently of his
plaintive murmur in the breeding season, sounding very sweet
and mellow as heard from a little distance—the Wood Pigeon,
or Queest, or Cushat, as he is named in different districts, is as
prominent among wild birds as the parson of the parish among
his parishioners. The young birds are frequently taken from the
nest and reared by hand; and the bold, fearless, confiding fami-
liarity of such pets, considering their extreme native shyness and
wildness, is remarkable. The Ring Dove makes its rude plat-
form nest of sticks, with a cushion of roots to receive the eggs.
in bushes standing singly or in hedges or woods, in pollard trees,
in holly or other thick trees, in evergreens in gardens, and the

104 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

like; and nothing is more common than to see the parent birds
frequenting the garden and close vicinity of a country-house,
aumost as tamely as if they were a pair of common or house
Pigeons. The eggs seem to be invariably very oval in shape, and
purely white. They are 14 inch long, by 2 inch broad.

147. STOCK DOVE—(Columba enas).

Stock Pigeon, Wood Pigeon, Wood Dove.—This Dove is not
only, generally speaking, much less abundant throughout the coun-
try than the Ring Dove, but very often, it would seem, confounded
with it by casual observers, who only notice the several birds
from a distance, or on the wing. They frequent the same roost-
ing-places, and often feed in the same field, though probably on
different species of food. I have shot birds of both species at
the same discharge of the gun, and have noticed the different
matters which had supplied their meals of the day,—Holly-
berries, in the case of the Ring Dove; wild mustard-seed, in the
other. The Stock Dove is, however, immediately and easily dis-
tinguishable from the Ring Dove, by its lesser size, a slight diffe-
rence in colour, and the entire absence of the “ring” of white
feathers on the neck. Its nest is placed sometimes on pollard
trees, sometimes in open holes or hollows in old trees; and very
commonly, in some districts, either on the ground below thick
furze-bushes, or in deserted rabbit-burrows, two or three feet
distant from the entrance. The nest is very slight, consisting
merely of a few twigs or roots. The eggs are two in numbers
pure white, about or rather exceeding 14 inch in length, by
12 inch in breadth.

ROCK-DOVE—(Columba livia).

Wild Pigeon, Rock Pigeon, Wild Dove, Doo, Rockier.—This

Pigeon has usually, until not long since, been confused with the

TURTLE DOVE. . 105

Stock Dove. But their plumage is unlike, their voice unlike, ard
especially their habits and living and breeding haunts unlike. It
is believed with some certainty, that the Rock Dove is the real
origin of the Domestic Pigeon, and certainly any one who has
seen the large flight of Domestic Pigeons turned wild, which
frequent the caverns in the rock-bound coast near St. Abb’s Head
and similar localities, living with, flying with, feeding with, and
nesting with the undoubted wild Rockier, can entertam but very
small doubts on the subject. The Rock Dove makes a loose nest
of twigs and plant-stems and dry grass; very often far back in
holes and crevices of the rock; and lays two-white eggs, with a
much better defined “ hig end” and “little end’ than in the case
of the two Pigeons last named.

149. TURTLE DOVE—(Columba turtur.)
Turtle, Common Turtle, Ring-necked Turtle, Wrekin Dove.—

Only a summer visitor and not a regular inhabitant, like its three
predecessors. It is long since, living where I do, I have heard its
sweet, plaintive note. No one but one who loves birds and then
ways can tell how real a deprivation it is to live for years out of
sound of the sweet and familiar voices of such as are only local,
the Nightingale for instance, the Turtle, and many others. The
male Turtle Dove is a very handsome bird, but much shier and
more retiring at breeding-time than the Ring Dove. The nest is
a light platform of sticks, easily permitting the sky to be seen
through it from below, and usually placed high up in a holly, a
thick bush in a wood, in the branches of a fir, or the lesser fork of
some limb of an oak or other forest tree. As with the other
Doves, the eggs are two in number, quite white, about 12 inch
long, by £ broad.
150. PASSENGER PIGHEON—(Lefopistes magratorius).
Every bird-loving boy, beyond doubt, has heard of this Pigeon

106 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

and the inconceivable vastness of the flocks in which they pass
from one distant district to another in America. Here it is only
a casual visitor, and can lawfully lay claim to none of our limited
space.

IT.— PHASTIANID&.

151. PHEASANT—(Phasianus Colchicus).

I dare say ‘“‘a good few” of our readers if they were asked
“Do you know the Pheasant ?” might answer, “ Yes, very well.
We had some for dinner, such and such a day.” And I have no
doubt the acquaintance was satisfactory enough—at least to one
of the parties. The Pheasant does not pair, and on the preserved
estates in Norfolk and Cambridgeshire I have frequently seen in
the spring large groups of Cock Pheasants collected and con-
sorting together without the intermixture of a single hen. Ina
vast many places now an artificial system of Pheasant-breeding
is adopted, three or four hens with one male being turned into a
large paled ‘ apartment,” well netted in, the whole establishment
comprising many such apartments. Hach hen lays double or
treble the number of eggs she would if suffered to run wild, and
these are collected daily and placed under hens ready to sit as soon
as a sufficient number is got together. In this way twice or
three times the number of young ones is secured from one hen as
compared with her own greatest success in bringing off a brood
in the woods. In her wild state, the Pheasant makes scarcely
any nest, on the ground, and lays ten or twelve eggs, of a uniform
pale olive-brown shade. Not only are cases in which two Pheasants
lay in the same nest of by no means unfrequent occurrence, but
others even, in which Pheasants’ eggs have been found in Par-
tridges’ nests. Many instances are on record of the Pheasant
mter-breeding with other birds, such as the Guinea Fowl, the

BLACK GROUSE. 107

Black Grouse, and the Common Fowl. The cross last named is
by no means uncommon, and a remarkably fine male specimen of
the produce of a Cock Pheasant and Speckled Hamburg Hen
oceurred here (one of four birds which were hatched) a few years
since. The Pheasant’s tail and head and general shape as well as
fashion of feathers (with access of size) were united to the shades
and markings of the plumage of the mother. The bird in question
was so inveterate in his visits to the neighbouring farm-yard in
order to challenge the Cocks who dwelt there, and so sure to kill
them outright, or maim or maul them so severely that they had to
be killed, that it became necessary to put him out of the way
himself, and his present memorial is his remarkably well-stuffed
skin.—Fig. 2, plate VI.

TII.—TETRAONID &.
152. CAPERCAILLIE—(Zeétrao urogallus).

Cock of the Woods, Wood Grouse, Cock of the Mountain,
Great Grouse, Capercailzie, Capercally—An indigenous inhabi-
tant of this country, but one which had become, or was becoming,
extinct, a few years ago. Now it is becoming comparatively
abundant again on the estates of several large and noble owners,
principally in Scotland. It is indeed a very noble bird, and well
worthy the care and attention and expense which have been
devoted to the attempt to re-establish it. The female makes her
nest on the ground, and lays from six to ten or twelve eggs.
These are of a pale reddish-yellow brown, spotted all over with
two shades of darker crange brown.—Jig. 3, plate VI.

153. BLACK GROUSE—(Zetrao tetriz).

Black Cock, Black Game, Heath Cock, Heath Poult, and the
female, Grey Hen; sometimes Brown Hen.—Still found in some
districts out of the north of England, where wild and hilly forest

108 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

still remains, but of much more frequent occurrence in more
northerly localities. In fact, the gradual and very complete
demolition of the last remains of what were once very extensive
forests has completely banished the Black Grouse from places
where it used to be common within the memory of living men.
It is a very handsome bird, and like the Capercailly and
the Pheasant, does not pair. The hen makes a very slight nest
on the ground, and lays in it seven to nine or ten eggs, of a some-
what less warm ground-shade than those last named, but with
larger and brighter-coloured spots and blotches.—/g. 4, plate VI.

154. RED GROUSE—(Lagopus Scoticus.)

Red Ptarmigan, Red Game, Moor Game, Muir-fowl, Moor-
bird.—A beautiful bird indeed, and peculiar to the British
Islands. The Grouse moors, however, are mainly confined to
the northern counties of England and Scotland. In the district
in which this is written the Grouse may be truly said to abound,
and I hear them continually from my garden or open window.*
These birds do pair, and pair very early indeed moreover, I
have frequently seen them in pairs before the season for killing
them, which expires on December 10, is fully out. Ifthe weather
becomes severe this union often seems to be annulled; but I don’t
think it is in reality. In the earlier spring, when the pairing is
becoming general, many fierce battles among the males may be
seen going on, and very resolute and lengthened and circuitous
flights of one in pursuit of another occur. The nest is very
slight, of ling and bents chiefly, and usually well concealed in a
tuft of heather. From six or seven up to twelve or fifteen eges
are said to be laid, but I should say that the highest average,
judging from the number of young birds in a brood, very rarely

* For a detailed series of observations on the habits, &¢., of the Grouse,
see “Sketches in Natural History,” Routledge & Co.

COMMON PARTRIDGE. 109

much exceeds eight or nine. The eggs are very beautiful and
richly coloured, but vary exceedingly in both ground-colour and
markings, even those found in the same nest, Some are of a
yellowish shade, and others of a blood-stain red, mottled and
blotched with rich umber brown, and the paler ones with shades
of light-brown.— Fig. 5, plate VT.

155. PTARMIGAN—(Lagopus vulgaris).

White Grouse, Rock Grouse, White Game—Only found now
among the rocky tops of the highest hills and mountains in the
centre and north of Scotland. It is the smallest species o
Grouse in Britain, andits plumage varies greatly with the season,
becoming nearly pure white in winter. It lays seven to ten eggs
frequently on the bare stones. They are of a yellowish ground-
colour, blotched and spotted (slightly so as compared with the
eges of the Red Grouse) with rich dark brown.

156. COMMON PARTRIDGE—(Perdiz cinerea).

Much too familiar a bird by appearance, voice and flavour to
require any very lengthened notice from us. The Partridge
pairs pretty early—by the end of January, often—and once paired
they never separate again throughout the season. At pairing
time the cocks fight fiercely, and I have sometimes seen, and
even in my garden here, three or four engaged in the conflict,
with another, probably the female “apple of discord,’ sitting
quietly by the while. I have seen the male, too, in the evening,
when summoning his newly-married wife, stand on the top of one
of our stone walls and call repeatedly. The nest is made on the
ground in afield of grass or corn, or on a dry hedge bank, or at
the foot of a wall among the long grass, and consists of little but
a slight depression in the ground, with a few dead leaves and
bents. The number of eggs varies between eight or ten and

110 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

twenty. But it is no uncommon thing for two Partridges to lay
in the same nest, and an instance came to my knowledge two or
three years since, in which a Red-legged Partridge had laid
several eggs in a Common Partridge’s nest. When two birds
' lay together thus, the covey sometimes amounts to thirty or
thirty-five birds. I knew one instance of forty, about three
years since. The male Partridge is known to help his mate, when
the hatch is drawing on, by sitting at her side and covering some
of the eggs. When there are two layings in the same nest, it is
an interesting question whether the two hens sit together, or the
criginal owner of the nest is simply assisted by her mate. The
young birds are able to run and “ fend for themselves” almost as
soon as they are hatched. The eggs are of a uniform pale olive-
brown hue.—f7g. 6, plate VT.

157. RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE—(Perdiz rufa).

French Partridge, Guernsey Partridge.—A much more striking
bird in appearance than the Common Partridge, and said also to
be a powerful enemy to it. Certainly, in districts where it has
been encouraged and preserved, it seems to have prevailed to
the comparative exclusion of the indigenous species. It is sup-
posed to have been first introduced about the time of Charles II.
For long it seems to have increased and spread but very slowly,
but now there are many districts of the south where it is exceed-
ingly abundant. These birds form a slight nest of dry bents and
leaves upon the ground, amid some growing crop of grass or
corn. Instances, however, have been asserted in which the nest
was a good deal elevated above the ground, as on the top of a
stack. The eggs, very hard-shelled, are from ten to fifteen or
sixteen’ in number, of a cream colour, well spotted with small
speckles of reddish or cinnamon brown.—Lvg. 7, plate VI.

4 GREAT BUSTARD. - lil

158. QUAIL—(Coturniz vulgaris).

The quail is believed, in some rare instances, to stay with us
all the year, but is usually only a summer visitant, not coming in
any great numbers. In some countries its migratory hosts are
so great that one hundred thousand are said to have been taken
inaday. In its appearance, the quail strongly reminds one of
the Partridge, and suggests the idea that itself is only a diminu-
tive bird of that species. They do not, however, pair, and their
nests are met with in many parts of the kingdom. Two years
since it was believed that at least two broods were reared on
certain lands in Moorsholm, in North Yorkshire. A _ small
depression in the ground is made, or found, and loosely lined
with bits of grass and dry stalks. Seven to ten, or possibly yet
more eggs, are laid, presenting much variety of appearance, but
usually of a faint cream-coloured ground, mottled and clouded in
some cases with red brown, and in others spotted with dark
hrown spots, some of considerable size.—Fig. 8, plate VI.

TV.—STRUTHIONID &.
159. GREAT BUSTARD—(0Ofis tarda).

This noble bird, once abundant enough on our wide plains and
wolds in England, is now, I fear, almost extinct among us, as so
far as I am aware no very recent* capture of it has been an-
nounced. It used, before the gun became so common and*so
fatal to birds of much interest to the ornithologist or others, to
be customarily pursued with greyhounds. These birds do not
pair, and their nest is said to be a mere natural saucer-shaped
hole in the bare ground. The eggs are seldom more than two,
or at most three, in number, and are of an olive-green ground,

* Since this was written, one mstance has occurred,

112 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS,

blotched and spotted with two or three shades of brown, lighter
and darker.

160. LITTLE BUSTARD—(Otis tetraz).

Only a casual, and not a summer visitor.

TV.—GRALLATORES.
FAMILY I—CHARADRITD A.
161. CREAM-COLOURED COURSER—(Cursorius
Isabellinus).

A very rare bird indeed.

162. GREAT PLOVER—(@dicnemus crepitans).

Stone Curlew, Norfolk Plover, Whistling Plover, Stane
Plover, Thick-knee.—The Stone Curlew is a summer visitor, and
strictly a local one. The Nightingale, for instance, is very much
more extensively diffused than the bird just named. It is found
abundantly enough on the wide sandy plains of Norfolk, and I
used to hear it very commonly in the fields a few miles to the
north-west of Bury St. Edmunds. Besides the counties just
named, it is met with in parts of Hssex and Kent, in Hampshire,
and Cambridgeshire, and two or three others. Its peculiar shrill
ery or whistle, once heard, is not likely to be forgotten. The
female lays two eggs on the bare ground, among white-coated
flints and stones. -An idea of their ground-colour may be given
by the mention of what the painters call stone-colour, in pale
shades, and this is streaked and spotted, or marbled, with dark
brown.—fiig. 1, plate VII.

162.* PRATINCOLE—(Glareola torquata).

Collared Pratincole, Austrian Pratincole.—A bird of sufficiently
rare occurrence in this country, and remarkable as having caused
some degree of perplexity and dispute among naturalists as to
the position it should occupy in the general system or classifica-

ate
GOLDEN PLOVER. = 113;

«
“

s w

tion of the Bird-family. Mr. Yarrell (in whose first edition 1t
appears at the head of the Rail-family) says—“ The Pratincole
has been arranged by some authors with the Swallows, by ethers
near the Rails; but I believe, with Mr. Selby, that it ouglit to be
included in the family of the Plovers; and had I known its
Plover-like habits and eggs sooner, I should have arranged it
between Cursorius and Charadrius.” To this Mr. Hewitson
adds—“ Besides the similarity of their habits, the fact of this
species laying four eggs is a further link to connect it with the
Charadriide.” It is, however, much too rare—besides being
known not to breed in Britain—to have any claim on our limited
space for description of its nest or eggs.

163. GOLDEN PLOVER—(Charadrius pluvialis).
Yellow Plover, Green Plover, Whistling Plover.—It has some-

times been an object to me to obtain specimens of this bird in
its breeding-plumage, and it is scarcely possible to imagine a
stronger contrast than that presented by the male in his May
dress and six or eight months later. All the glossy black of
neck and breast has entirely disappeared long before the latter
period. I have occasionally seen a single pair or two, very early
in the year, separating themselves from the great flock of some
scores ; and in the female of one such pair which I shot some few
years since (the next shot: killing five out of a very large flock at
no great distance), I found an egg quite ready for extrusion, and
which from the depth of its colouring, would probably have been
laid in the-course of a few hours at most. The hen-bird makes
a very slight nest, and lays just four eggs in it, seldom either
more or less. They are of a large size for the bird, of a fair
stone-colour, well blotched and spotted with very dark or blackish
brown. After sitting eight or ten days the bird becomes very
reluctant to leave her nest, and will suffer herself to be almost
I

i 14 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

trodden on rather. The young ones, awkward-looking mottled
yellow and brown puff-balls on stilts, run fast and well soon after
they are hatched, and do not speedily acquire the use of those
wings which, after a time, are to be so strong and swift. Very
jealous too, are the parents as long as their young are only
runners, and very plaintive is their incessant piping if you or
your dog approach too near their place of concealment.—%y. 2,

plate VII,
164. DOTTEREL—(Charadrius morinellus) .

Dottrel or Dotterel Plover, Foolish Dottrel.—This is a sum-
mer visitor to our country, and in many localities where it
used to be abundant, or at least common, it is now rare or
almost unknown. ‘This is the case on parts at least of the York-
shire Wolds, as well as in the Lake district. They are sought
after by the Fly-fisher and by the Ornithologist and by the .
Epicure, and from their exceedingly simple and unsuspicious
habits they fall easy victims before the fowling-piece of modern
days. The female makes no nest, but lays her customary three
egos ina slight cavity on the ground near high mountain tops,
where some tall-growing moss or other mountain herbage facili-
tates concealment. The eggs are of an olivaceous hue, spotted
plentifully with very dark brown or brownish-black. __

165. RINGED PLOVER—(Charadrius hiaticula).

Ringed or Ring Dottrel—A very pretty shore-bird, of inter-
esting habits, and not infrequent, especially in winter, on many
parts of the British coast. In quiet parts, where large expanses
of sand or shingle, or even mud, are left by the receding tide,
it may be seen in numbers. It seems to make no nest :—the eggs
are laid on the sand, and often at avery considerable distance
from the sea; as, for instance, on the warrens in Norfolk and
Suffolk. They are four in number, very large in proportion to

LAPWING. 115

the size of the bird, possessing the peculiar pointed shape of
the eggs of the entire class of birds we are now among, and of
a watm cream-colour, spotted and streaked with black. The
parent birds try hard to lead the casual intruder away from the
vicinity of their young.— fg. 3, plate VII.

166. KENTISH PLOVER—(Charadrius Cantianus).

Seldom obtained very far from the southern coasts of England,
and not appearing to be a very plentiful bird even there. In
habits, it strongly resembles the Ring Plover just named. The
female makes no nest, but lays her four eggs in a slight hollow
on sand or shingle, which strongly resemble some of the lighter-
coloured examples of the eggs of the last-named species.—Lig. 4,
plate VII.

167. LITTLE RINGED PLOVER—(Charadrius minor).

A very rare British Bird.

168. GREY PLOVER—(Sqwatarola cinerea).

A bird which has never been ascertained to breed in England,
although specimens in the dark-breasted May plumage have been
seen in the London Markets, and observed by Mr. Selby in the ©
Farne {slands, in June. It is not uncommon as a winter visitor,
though even then nothing like so numerous as the Golden Plover
in its winter visits to districts in which it does not breed. The
eggs are said to be in colour “oil green, spotted with different
shades of umber brown; the spots, crowded and confluent round
the obtuse end.” :

169. LAPWING—(Vanellus cristatus).

Pewit or Peewit, Te-wit, Teu-fit, Green Plover, Bastard
Plover, Green Lapwing, Crested Lapwing—Another of those
birds which are familiar to almost everyone who is not a mere
casual visitor to the country, or quite deaf and blind to its
commonest sounds and sights. It is a very universally diffused

12

116 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIK EGGS AND NESTS.

bird, even in those districts where it does not statedly breed. It
nests not only on commons and heaths aud the wide moor, but in
the fields and inclosures; and round my present residence I have
many yearly evidences that there are half-a-dozen nests within
the limits of a short half-mile which intervenes between me and
the moors. The female constructs scarcely :any nest, properly so
called, but makes or more likely avails herself of a ready-made
slight cavity on the surface of the ground, with a sufficiency of
some kind of herbage to serve as covert. ‘The female’s habits in
connection with the nest and eggs are different from the male’s.
She slips off on the approach of a visitor, and runs very silently
and quietly away to some distance before taking wing ; 4e hastens
up on rapid, sounding, whirling wing, and cries and dashes and
_ wheels above and around the cause of alarm in a very remarkable
manner. The Peewit lays four eggs, of large size and acutely
pointed at the lesser end, and like so many others of the class,
often arranged-so as to occupy the least possible space, by
having their points all turned inward. They are of a darkish
olive-dun ground, abundantly blotched and spotted with brown
and black. These eggs are much sought after as delicacies for
the table. They are boiled hard and served cold, and when the
shell is removed they have quite a jelly-like appearance. But
very few of the eggs, however, sold in the market as “ Plovers’-
eggs,” are sometimes recognised by the oologist as having been
laid by the Lapwing.—f%g. 5, plate VII.

170. TURNSTONE—(Strepsilas tnterpres).

Hebridal Sandpiper.—Found on many parts of our coast either
in small parties, or one or two together, from September all
through the winter. In the spring it leaves us to go to the
north for breeding objects, but has never been recognised as

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* OYSTER-CATCHER. ~ 1

nesting within the limits of the British Islands. We cannot
therefore notice its nest and eggs in this place.

171. SANDERLING—(Calidris arenaria).

Common Sanderling, Sanderling Plover—Like the bird last
named, a by no means unusual visitant to most parts of our
coasts, and sometimes met with also at the edge of large pieces
of fresh water, but never known hitherto to have bred with us.
It is found associating most commonly, though in small parties
for the most part, with the Dunlin, and other similar shore-
haunting birds.

172. OYSTER-CATCHER—(Hematopus ostralegus).

Pied Oyster-catcher, Shelder, Sea-Pie, Olive-—A very beautiful
and well-known dweller on our sea-coasts, and wonderfully pro-
vided by nature, too, with a suitable instrument for purveying its
destined food. The bill of the Oyster-catcher is one of those
natural objects which form each a study in themselves. Woe be
to the oyster or mussel, however powerful its mechanism for
closing its valves, if once the Oyster-catcher has found means to
insert that natural weapon of his. Flattened sideways, and hard
and strong as so much bone, its efficacy is so great that there can
be scarcely a struggle for life on the part of the shell-fish. It
runs well, and is even said to dive and swim with facility. I
never saw this, though I have had them under my observation for
hours together in former days. ButI know their shrill, rattling
whistle, and their short uneasy flights, and restless paddlings up
and down upon the ooze, when I have been among their haunts,
well—and many a nest it used to be my lot to discover on some
parts of some of the Essex Saltings. The eggs, usually three or
four in number, are laid on the bare ground, sometimes in slight
holes amid the Saltimg herbage above high-water mark; or

118 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

where there is shingle, in some cavity among its higher and
coarser layers. They are cream-coloured, of varying shades of
warmth, and blotched and spotted, or spotted and strongly
streaked with very dark brown and some few touches of a lighter
hue.—Fig. 6, plate VII.

Il.—GRUIDZ.
173. CRANE—(Grus cinerea).
A couple of centuries since it is not improbable the Crane may
have—at least, occasionally—bred in this country; but now it is

become a very rare and casual visitor.

IIl.—ARDEID ZA.
174. COMMON HERON—(drdea cinerea).

Hern, Heronshaw, Heronseugh.—It would have been no light
matter once to have molested a Heron. Those birds were “ pre-
served” with a strictness we scarcely can imagine even in these
days of game-preserves. ‘They were the peculiar game of royal
and noble personages. Now, however, the case is widely
different, and probably not one Heron in a hundred can now be
met with as compared with the days of falconry. It is a strange
odd sight to see a Heron balancing himself on the topmost twig
of some fir-tree, and succeeding after a few uneasy motions of
body and wings in poising himself. The Heron sometimes breeds
on precipitous rocks, but much more commonly on trees,--
generally trees of large size, and commonly oaks or firs. It is
not a solitary builder, but like the Rook forms a community, and
frequents the same tree or clump of trees through successive
years for many generations. ach nest is of large size, and com-
posed of sticks with a lining of wool. Four or five eggs are
usually deposited, of an uniform pale green colour. A few nests
are said to have been met with on the ground.—fvg. 1, plate VIII.

LITTLE BITTERN. 119

175. PURPLE HERON—(4rdea purpurea).
A few instances only of the occurrence of this bird in Britain
have been recorded.
176. GREAT WHITE HERON—(érdea alba).
White Heron, Great Egret——A rarer and more accidental

visitor than even the bird last named.

177. LITTLE EGRET—(Ardea garzetta)

Egret, Egret Heron, Little Egret Heron—There is good
reason to believe that this bird may once, at a remote period,
have been sufficiently common, or even abundant in England.
Now, however, it is of exceedingly rare occurrence anywhere

within the British seas.

179. BUFF-BACKED HERON—(4rdea russata).
Red-billed Heron, Rufous-backed Egret, Little White Heron
(the young).—An exceedingly rare bird, with perhaps scanty

claim to be considered British at all.

180. SQUACCO HERON—(Ardea ralloides).
Buff-coloured Egret.—A bird which has been met with in
several of the counties in the southern half of England, and 1
believe more or less frequently in some of them. Still it is but
a visitor, and, comparatively with many other not very common
birds, a rare one; and, as certainly not breeding in our island

possessing no claim upon us for lengthened notice here.

181. LITTLE BITTERN—(Botaurus minutus).

It would seem that this bird is to be looked upon rather as a
summer visitor to us; and Mr. Yarrell says of it, “Some, if not
prevented, would probably have bred in this country.” Still,
although the grounds for this opinion seem valid and conclusive,

no actual instance of nidification here has ever been ascertained.

120 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

182. COMMON BITTERN—(Botaurus stellaris).

Mire Drum, Butter-bump, Bog-bumper, Bittour, Bumpy-coss,
Bull-of-the-Bog, Bog-blutter, Bog-jumper.—Clearances and drain-
age, and the onward strides of agriculture, and the gun, and the
‘pursuit of specimen-hunters and collectors have made this a rare
species almost everywhere. It was common enough a century or
two since; and many a fertile cornfield, which then was a seem-
ingly hopeless marsh and bog, has resounded far and wide
with the deep, booming, bellowing ery of the Bittern. Recorded
instances even of its nesting here are becoming more and more
rare and unusual, and ere long itis to be feared this beautifully
plumaged bird will be among the things that “have been.” Its
nest is composed of sticks, reeds and like matters, built on the
ground, at no great distance from the water it frequents, and hid
among the plentiful water-growth found at the edges of shallow
standing waters. The eggs are three to five in number, of an
uniform olive-brown colour.—Fig. 2, plate VIII.

183. AMERICAN BITTERN—(Botarus lentiginosus).
A bird of rare and most accidental occurrence in England.
"184. NIGHT HERON—(Wycticorax Gardeni.)

Gardenian Heron, Spotted Heron, Night Raven—This bird
claims to be a British Bird, masmuch as upwards of a dozen
specimens have been met with here. But it does not breed
with us, if indeed commonly at all in Europe.

185. WHITE STORK—(Ciconia alba).

A much too conspicuous object not be noticed whenever its —
visits have been paid to our shores. Accordingly, we find it had
long been known as a visitor, though the instances of its occur-
rence in the last generation or two are noticeably less frequent
than in former days. As breeding abundantly in Holland, it
would be strange if the Stork did not come to us sometimes.

¢

CURLEW. 12]

186. BLACK STORK—(Ciconia nigra).
The Black Stork has occurred much more rarely than its white

congener.

187. SPOON-BILL—(Platalea leucorodia).
A bird which is said to have bred ia former days in our country,
but which has certainly become, for a long time past, a mere

visitor, and not a frequent one.

---: 188. GLOSSY IBIS—(Ldis fuleinellus).

This visitor has been met with in late years, even in some
small numbers. There was one about the moors in this district
four or five years since, which I saw myself and heard of as seen
in the same neighbourhood by others; and about the same time I
noticed that birds of the same species had been observed in
several other parts of Yorkshire, and elsewhere. Stillit is only a

visitor, and a casual one.

IV.—SCOLOPACID A.
189. CURLEW—(Numenius arquata).

Whaup.—As commona bird as almost any along the whole of the
British coasts. Sometimes singly and sometimes in groups of eight
or ten, it may be seen along the line of oozy shores or the sandy
flats which are laid bare by the receding tide. When the water is
sufficiently high to cover all its feeding grounds, it betakes itself
to some higher ground in the vicinity, to rest durmg those hours
of inactivity in food-search. When removing from one place, or
part of the coast, to another, it usually flies in long lines, which
however scarcely maintain the same degree of accuracy as in the
case of Wild Geese or other line-flying wild fowl. On the arrival
of spring the Curlews leave the coast and retire to their breeding
haunts in the hills of the extreme north of England. the highest

{an
Naw

122 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

moorlands of Scotland, and other similar places in more northerly
latitudes yet. Its note once heard is sufficiently noticeable to be

easily recognised on any future occasion. It makes a very care-
less or rude nest, and lays four eggs which vary a good deal in >

the depth of the ground-colour and the amount of their spots.
It is pale greenish dun, varying to olive-green, and spotted with
darker shades of green and dark-brown.—J%g. 3, plate VILL,
190. WHIMBREL—(Numenius pheopus).

Whimbrel-Curlew, Curlew-Jack, Curlew-Knot, Half-Curlew,
Jack-Curlew, Stone Curlew, Tang-Whaap.—No wonder it has
the name of Half-Curlew, for it does most strongly resemble a
diminutive Curlew in its plumage, shape, fashion of bill, haunts,
and many of its habits. It is seen, in no great numbers, on many
of our coasts in winter; but I have met with it on the Essex
Saltings only in the early spring and previous to its retirement
to the north to breed. It is difficult to assert positively that it
frequents any part of the main British Island for that purpose ;
but it is known to nest in both Orkney and Shetland. The nest
is said by Dr. Fleming to be placed in exposed parts of a moor.
‘The eggs are four in number, and, though very much less in size
very much like the darker varieties of the Curlew’s eggs. The |
Whimbrel is probably a fast decreasing species.

191. SPOTTED RED-SHANK—(Totanus fuscus).

Spotted Snipe, Dusky Sand-piper, Black-headed Snipe, Cour-
and Snipe.—A bird which varies mnch in plumage according to
season, being almost black in the summer,—but only an occa-
sional visitor, and scarcely anything known certainly of its nest
or breeding habits.

192. COMMON RED-SHANK—(Totanus calidris).

Redshank Sandpiper, Teuke, Pool Snipe, Sand Cock, Red-

legged Horseman, Red-legged Sandpiper.—One of the most

GREEN SAND-PIPER. 123

familiar of all our birds to me in my youth. Many long days
have I spent amid the haunts on the Essex Saltings. Their
nests are very slightly constructed of a few bits of grass amidst a
tuft of herbage, or in a small hole or cavity which is sheltered by
some of the taller-growing marine plants. The eggs are usually
four in number, occasionally but two or three, of a cream-colour
(sometimes dashed with a somewhat warmer hue) spotted and
‘speckled with dark brown. The spots are less and more nume-
rous than in the case of the Peewit’s egg. In the case of the
last nest I found, about two years since, the old bird suffered me
to walk within a yard of her before taking flight. When the
young are newly hatched the parent birds betray excessive jea-
lousy and anxiety at the approach of either man or dog to their
resort. They have sometimes come and settled on the ground
within two or three paces of me, and, at others, flown so directly
towards me, as to suggest the possible intention of attacking me,
piping most plaintively and incessantly the while. This conduct
is designated by the term “mobbing,” on the Essex marshes.
Fig. 4, plate VIII.

193. GREEN SAND-PIPER—(Totanus ochropus).

It is supposed that a few of these birds may remain with us
to breed; but far the greater part of those which are customa-
rily seen about the sides of our smaller streams and ditches and
canals, are known to return far to the north to produce their
eges and young. I believe no authenticated instances of its
nesting with us are known, but a few very young birds have been
met with under circumstances which seemed to leave no doubt
that they must have been hatched in the neighbourhood. The
nest is said to be placed ‘on a bank, or among grass, on the side
of a stream,” and the eggs, four in number, to be of a greenish

124 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

ground-colour, spotted with different shades of brown, light and
dark, and with gray.
194. WOOD SAND-PIPER—(Totanus glareolz).
- This Sand-Piper resembles the last in some degree, and the
two have been sometimes looked upon as varieties of the same
species. It is not by any means a frequently occurring visitor,
though it seems to be admitted that it is more than probable it
sometimes breeds in this country. Mr. Hoy’s account of its
habits and nesting peculiarities, as observed by himself in Dutch
Brabant, is quoted at length by both Mr. Yarrell and Mr. Hew-
itson. He says, “ The nest is generally placed at a short distance
from the water, among stunted heath, or scrubby plants of the
Bog Myrtle, or among coarse grass and rushes. It is placed in
a hollow, and formed of dry grass and other plants. The eggs
are four in number.” “They are poimted in shape, of a pale
greenish white, spotted and speckled, particularly over the broad
end, with dark reddish brown.”
195. COMMON SAND-PIPER—(TZotanus hypoleuca).

Summer Snipe, Willy Wicket, Sand Lark—A pretty little
bird enough, and seeming to be pretty extensively diffused,
though not a numerous species any where. It iscommonly see
running briskly along by the water edge of streams or lakes, or
perhaps flitting along as disturbed by your sudden invasion of its
haunt. Unlike the Dipper, which may constantly be seen sitting
quite still near the edge of the stream, the Summer Snipe is
always in motion. It makes a very rude nest of dry grass in
some hole in a bank not far from water, where the shelter and
concealment of sufficient herbage is available, and lays in it four
eges, which vary often in colour and spots but are usually of a
yellowish-white, with blotches and spots of deep brown or
ordinary brown. The eggs are sometimes laid on the bare

AVOCET. 135

ground among shingle or collections of small pebbles.—Fig. 5,
plate VIII.
196. SPOTTED SAND-PIPER—(Totanus macularius).

A visitor, but one of the rarest and most casual of all our
feathered visitors.

197. GREEN-SHANK—(Zotanus glottis).

Cinerous Godwit, Green-legged Horseman.—I used to meet
with it occasionally in the early autumn on the Essex Saltings,
and remember thinking I had got a prize the first time I shot
one, and noticed its slightly upturned bill. It is only rare as a
species, and not known positively to breed any where much south
of the Hebrides. The nest is said to be like that of the Golden
Plover or Lapwing, consisting only of a few blades of grass or
sprigs of ling, placed in a hollow in the soil. The eggs—like so
very many of those characterised by the pyriform shape peculiar
to the Grallatores—are placed with their pointed ends together
in the middle, and are of a pale yellowish-green colour, spotted
all over irregularly with dark brown with intermingled blotches
of light purplish-grey ; the spots and blotches being more nume-
rous at the larger end.

198. AVOCET—(Recurvirostra avocetta).

Butterflip, Scooper, Yelper, Cobbler’s Awl, Crooked-bill, Cob-
bler’s-Awl Duck.—Fast verging on extinction. In Sir Thomas
Browne’s time it was not at all uncommon; but of late years
but seldom recorded as having been “ obtained,” or met with.
If only people weren’t so fond of “obtaining” our rare birds.
But now-a-days, when every third person has a gun, the appear-
ance of a “rare bird” is enough to set half a village off in
pursuit, and the great object of hundreds throughout the country
seems just to be to destroy the casual feathered visitor, however
interesting it may be or whatever claims it might seem to possess

126 SKLTISH BIKDS, THELK EGGS AND NESTS.

onour hospitality. The Avocet’s bill and plumage are enough to
point it out for slaughter, and so, slaughtered it has beer.
It used to breed in Sussex and Norfolk. “The nest is said to
be a small hole in the drier parts of extensive marshes. The
eges ate said to be only two in number, of a clay-coloured
brown, spotted and speckled with black.”
199. BLACK-WINGED STILT—(Himantopus melanopterus).
Long-legged Plover, Long-Legs, Long-Shanks, Stilt Plover.—
Not so very uncommon as a visitor ; but still, strictly speaking,
only accidental in its appearance here.
200. BLACK-TATLED GODWIT—(Limosa melanura).
Red-Godwit Snipe, Jadreka Snipe, Red Godwit, Yarwhelp,
Yarwhip, Shrieker.—Another of those birds which two or three
generations back were exceedingly more abundant than now:
proportionately esteemed, too, as an article of delicate fare in the
days of its frequency, now little heard of, or perhaps thought of.
But our forefathers thought many. things of the eatable sort
good, which their descendants of 1861 had rather not sit down
to. I rather think my young readers might not eat Porpoise or
Heron either, with any great relish, not to speak of other matters
about equally, or more questionably, “ good eating.” Both this
species of Godwit and the one to be mentioned next are subject,
like the Golden Plover, the Gray Plover, the Spotted Redshank,
and many others yet to be named, to very great and striking
changes of plumage in the breeding season. At all times they
are handsome birds. The Black-Tailed Godwit is believed still to
breed, however rarely, in England—in Norfolk and Cambridge-
shire, in fact. The nest is found in marshy places, made of dry
grass and the like, and more or less concealed by the coarse
growths peculiar to such places. The eggs vary in both size and
colours, but are usually of a greenish olive-brown, marbled and

RUFF. , 127

blotched with darker brown ; and, as usual in this class of birds,
are generally four in number.
201. BAR-TAILED GODWIT—(Limosa rufa).

Common Godwit, Grey Godwit, Red Godwit, Godwit Snipe,
Red-breasted Snipe.—Of much the same habits as the last, only
not remaining in this country to breed, and consequently occur
ring much more frequently in winter than in spring, and not at
ali in summer. As not nesting with us, no space can be conceded
here for a notice of its eggs and nest.

202. RUEFE—(Machetes puguac).

Female, Reeve.—Time was, and not so very long ago either,
when one fenman could take six dozen of these birds in a single
day. Now, I fear, he would scarcely get that number in an
entire season. The Ruff is, however, still known to breed
annually in some of the fens of Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire.
The variety of plumage, no less than the very remarkable ruff or
feathery appendage about the neck of the male in the breeding
season, is quite sufficient to make this a very conspicuous bird
among our truly native birds. Scarcely any two males in an
assemblage of some dozeus can, in some cases, be picked out as
possessing exactly the same plumage. The breeding habits, or
some of them, observed in this bird are also very characteristic.
His Latin name, as given above, simply mears “ pugnacious
warrior,” and verily he is as thorough a lover of battle as any
knight-errant of the middle ages, or fierce Northern sea-rover of
four or five centuries earlier. They do not pair, and therefore
fight for the possession of the females, and they have spots,
known to the fenmen by the name of Hi//s, which are as much
the scenes of universal challenge and battle as ever the stated
“lists” of the old days of tournament or playing at battle.
This habit of theirs facilitates the process of capture very

128 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

materially, and by means of a peculiar kind of net, duly arranged
before the day begins to dawn, the fowler is enabled to capture
all, or almost all, who have been attracted by their peculiar
instincts to the vicinity of any given hill. The Reeves lay each
her four eggs, which vary in colour from olive-green to a yellow-
ish stone colour, and are spotted and blotched with “liver
colour” and rich brown.
203. WOOD-COCK—(Scolopax rusticola).

One of our most universally recognised “birds of passage,”
coming to us sometimes in the autumn (always, at least, begin-
ning to arrive in October), and leaving us again in thie spring ;
still no season passes, there is reason to believe, in which many
pairs do not remain to breed, and that too in many different
parts of the kingdom. It was an object to me some twenty
years ago to obtain eggs of the Woodcock, and I applied to a
person in Norfolk, who had not any difficulty in procuring for
me egos from the gamekeeper of a neighbouring estate out of
two different nests which had been deserted by their owners.
My friend added the information, that scarcely a year passed in
which one nest or more of Woodcocks was not known of on the
estate in question. The nest, a very loose one, is made of deaa
leaves and the like, Bracken leaves appearing to be commonly
used for the purpose. The eggs are usually about four in
number, and want the peculiar pointed shape common to almost
all the other birds of the Order. They are of a dirty yellowish-
white, a good deal blotched and spotted with two or three shades
of pale brown and purplish-grey. The old bird is known to
transport her young, if occasion demands, from one place to
another. She has been seen doing so repeatedly, and by good
observers, generally making use of both feet for the purpose,
sometimes one only ; and, it is said, using her beak sometimes for
the same purpose.—Lg. 1, plate LX.

COMMON SNIPE. 129

204. GREAT SNIPE—(Scolopar major).

Solitary Snipe, Double Snipe—Often taken, no doubt, by
many a sportsman in former days to be a very large specimen of
the Common Snipe, than which no bird with which I am well
acquainted seems to vary more in size. On the wing it does not
look much larger than the Common Snipe, and is seldom seen
except alone, or at most two in company. It breeds in high
northern localities, and never with us, and no notice, therefore,
of its nesting habits is permissible in this place.

905. COMMON SNIPE—(Scolopaz gallinago).
Whole Snipe, Snite, Heather-bleater.—Although this Snipe,

like the Woodcock, retires to northern latitudes to breed, yet
there are few districts in Britain suitable to its habits in which
it is not known to breed in greater or less numbers. And it is a
bird, moreover, which is quite sure to make it very distinctly

known that it has a nest and eggs somewhere near, if only any 2
human visitor appears on the scene. I refer to the very peculiar
note or sound emitted by the male, always while he is on the
wing high in the air, and always accompanied with a very remark-
able action of his wings and curving descent in his flight. This
sound or note—for it is not absolutely certain, I think, how it is
produced—is variously called humming, bleating, drumming,
buzzing. To me, the first time I heard it, and before I knew to
what origin to assign it, the impression produced was precisely
that of a large Bee, entangled in some particular place and unable
to extricate itself; and I remember spending some minutes in
trying to discover the supposed insect. The eggs are usually
four, placed in a very slight and inartificial nest on the ground
near some tuft of rushes or other water-herbage, They are of a
greenish-olive hue, blotched and spotted with two or three shades
af brown, the deepest being very dark. The old ones are said to

K

130 —s« BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

be very jealous and careful of their young. Many couple are
often killed on the moors in this district on or just after the 12th
of August.—Tig. 2, plate IX.

206. JACK SNIPE—(Scolopaz gallinula).

Judcock, Half Snipe.—A little bird, very often seen quite
late in the spring, but no specimen of whose egg undoubtedly
laid in Britain has, as far as I know, ever yet been produced. It
may breed here, in some few instances, but none such are yet ascer-
tained. No notice of its eggs can consequently be inserted here.

207. SABINE’S SNIPE—(Scolopar Sabini).

A very few instances indeed have been recorded of the oceur-
rence of this bird in England.

208. BROWN SNIPE—(Macroramphus griseus).

As rare a bird as that last named, or nearly so.

209. CURLEW SAND-PIPER—(Tringa subarquata).

This little bird, which serves to connect the true Snipes with
the sea-frequenting Snipes, or Sandpipers, was till lately con-
sidered to be a very rare and occasional visitor. But it is very
likely to have been confused with the Dunlin, or other small
shore-birds, and is now supposed even to breed occasionally in
our country. During autumn it is sometimes seen in small
groups or flocks. ‘“‘M. Temminck says this bird breeds ocea-
sionally in Holland, and that the eggs are yellowish-white,
spotted with dark brown.”

210. KNOT.—(TZringa Canutus).

Camden says this bird derived its name from the Danish King
Knut or Cnut, (generally written Canute, but not properly
pronounced so;) probably because he was very fond of eating
them. A very poor piece of etymology I should almost think.
it is not uncommonly met with in autumn on several parts of
our coasts, and as far as I have seen is by no means difficult to

DUNLIN, 131]

approach. But its breeding-place is very much more to the
north than any portion of the British Islands extends. The
male in his nuptial dress is a very much gayer gentleman than
after his annual honeymoon is over.

211. BUFF-BREASTED SAND-PIPER—(Zringa rufescens).

Only of very casual occurrence here.
212. BROAD-BILLED SAND-PIPER—(Zringa platyrhynca).

Fully as rare as the last. ,

132. LITTLE STINT—(Tringa minuta

Not to be described altogether as a rare little bird, for it
seems to be met with sometimes in autumn on the Southern and
Eastern coasts in some numbers, and even in flocks of twenty
or thirty together. They are often seen in company with the
Dunlin or other small shore-birds. Very little is known about
their breeding places or habits.

914. TEMMINCK’S STINT—(Zringa Temmonckit).
Less even than the last named small bird, and much more

rare; besides which it frequents fresh waters rather than the
seashore. No very great number of them, however, has been
met with m England. |
914*, SCHINZ’S SAND-PIPER—(Tringa Schinzit).
A very rare bird.
915. PECTORAL SAND-PIPER—(Zringa pectoralis).
Another rare Sandpiper ; and, like the last, a native of America.
916. DUNLIN—(Zringa variabilis).
Dunlin Sandpiper, Purre, Churr, Stint, Oxbird, Sea Snipe,
Least Snipe, Sea Lark.—Perhaps the very commonest and best
known, as well as incomparably the most abundant of all our
small shore birds, and yet the one about which heaps of scientific
mistakes have been made. The male has a conspicuous wedding-
dress, which he duly puts on in the Spring, and once it was on
K 2
' 55

4
“iio

132 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

he was christened Zirenga Alpina, the Dunlin. Then in the
eutumn and winter, having divested himself alike of his summer
dress and all property or concern in wife and children, he was
-named anew Z'ringa Cinclus, the Purre. On its being satisfactorily
ascertained that the only real difference between Dunlin and
Purre was that of a few feathers, and those chiefly on the
breast, and dependent simply on Season, the new name at the
head of this notice was suggested and willingly adopted as
altogether a fit one. The Dunlun, always called Oxbird where
my boyhood was spent, and often seen there in flocks of not
simply hundreds, but thousands, and many thousands, in the
autumn and winter, goes to the far north to breed, though some
of their hosts stay in the north of Scotland, the Hebrides,
Orkneys and other Islands near. Their nests are placed on the
ground, among long grass and ling, and always contain four
eges. Mr. Hewitson says :—“ In beauty of colouring and ele-
eance of form the eggs of the Dunlin are unrivalled. The ground-
colour is sometimes of a clear light green, richly spotted with,
light brown ; sometimes the ground-colour is of a bluish-white.”
The hen will suffer herself to be removed from her nest by the
hand rather than leave her eggs.—Jg. 3, plate IX.

217. PURPLE SAND-PIPER—(Zringa maritima).

Selninger Sand-piper, Black Sand-piper.—Not a very numerous
species, but by no means infrequent on the British coasts. Very
few, however, are seen except in winter and early spring, the far
greater part resorting to some place far in the north to nest. Still
it seems almost certain that a few breed wish us in North England
and Scotland. It lays four eggs of ‘“‘a yellowish-grey colour,
varied with small irregular spots of pale brown, thick at the
obtuse end, rarer at the other.”

PLATE X.

LAND-RALL. 133

V.—RALLIDA.
218. LAND-RAIL—(Grer pratensis).

Corn Crake, Meadow Crake, Dakerhen.—This bird is found
in most parts of the kingdom, though for the most part in no
great abundance any where, in the earlier months of the autumn,
In most of the northern parts it breeds annually, but I do not
remember ever hearing its breeding note while I was a dweller
in the district embracing what are usually called the Eastern
Counties. Nor yet in Herefordshire. But the note in question
has been sufficiently familiar to me for the last twenty years, and
here in North Yorkshire I hear it on all sides of me, at all hours,
I may say, of day and night. For two or three years in succes-
sion a pair took possession of a small plantation of young fir trees
bordering my garden lawn on the north, and only separated from
it by a deep ditch with a run of water at the bottom. Long
after the union seemed to have been formed the peculiar note was
kept up, and I used to see both birds within a few feet of each
other during its continuance, Scarcely a day passed during their
sojourn of eight or ten days in and about the plantation, but
excursions were taken into the garden, frequently extending to
the terrace beneath my dining-room window, where sundry very
inquirmg and interested glances—not to Say stares—were ex-
changed between the visitors and myself and divers members of
my family. The visitors seemed very little disturbed at our
notice as long as we remained quite still and silent, but any
movement on our part led to immediate retreat on the Corn
Crake’s. Its movements were desultory or m jerks, so to
speak. The bird would run ten or twelve paces in an
attitude and with a speed which left one in doubt for a moment
whether it were not some small quadruped. Then it would

134 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS,

skulk amid taller herbage, or under the shrubs of a raised bed, or
beneath a rhododendron bush. A minute after it would be seen
with its head and whole body erect, and the neck so out-stretched
that if the bird had been hung up by its head it could: not have
been much more elongated. This was the invariable position or
attitude assumed when interchanging looks with the occupants of
the window. My own impression was that these journeys or
excursions (which I knew extended into the grass-field beyond the
garden, and into a field over the road at the back of the plantation)
were simply made for the purpose of inspection, and with a view
to the selection of a place for nesting—and that, pending this in-
teresting investigation, the fir trees and herbage beneath afforded
an ample covert. As far as I could ascertain, the place actually
selected by them for the purpose was in the field—a corn-field—
just beyond that which lay adjacent to the garden. The Corn
Crake makes a loose nest of dry herbage and stalks and grass;
and I think almost always among growing herbage—gyrass,
clover, or corn. The hen lays seven or eight eggs, some-
times even ten, and sits very close upon them. They are whitish
in ground, suffused with a reddish tinge, and spotted and speckled
with brownish-red and purplish-grey.—Fig. 4, plate IX.

219. SPOTTED CRAKE—(Crez porzana).

A summer visitor, as the Land Rail is, to our shores. It is
rare, however, compared with the Land Rail, and with more
predilection for the vicinity of water. Like all the other Rails it _
conceals itself very closely, and from the form of its body and
power of leg runs with great speed and equal facility, even
among what seems to be and is very thick covert. It is known
to breed in Norfolk and in Cambridgeshire, and is believed to do

so in other localities as well. The nest, made on the ground in

WATER-RAIL. 135

wet marshes, is “formed on the outside,” says Mr. Yarrell,
“ with coarse aquatic plants, lined with finer materials within.”
From seven to ten eggs appears to be the number laid, and they
vary very much in their grouna-colour, between a pale brownish-
dun and a slightly yellow-white, the spots or blotches being of a
reddish brown of some intensity.— Fig. 5, plate IX.
. 220. LITTLE CRAKE—(Crez pusilia).
-Olivaceous Gallinule, Little Gallimule.—Strictly speaking, still
a rare bird in this country.
221. BAILLON’S CRAKE—(Crer Baillonii).
More rare than the last, and, perhaps, occasionally confused

with it.

222. WATER RAIL—(Rallus aquaticus).

Bilecock, Skiddycock, Runner, Brook-runner, Velvet-runner.
—One of the very sluest of our British birds, and thus seeming
to be much more rare than it really is. J have seen it at al
seasons of the year, though it is, I am well aware, less tolerant
of cold than many other of our winter-staying birds. Its motions
on the bank of a stream, when suddenly disturbed, are much
more like those ofa Water Rat than a bird. It breeds with some
degree of commonness in several of the Southern counties. I
obtained two nests from the estate in Norfolk, already mentioned
in these pages, at the same time with the Woodcock’s eggs, and
was informed that it bred regularly there. I had reason also to
know that it bred at Tolleshunt D’Arcy, in Essex. The nest is
made often in an osier ground or among thick water plants, and
composed of different kinds of aquatic herbage. The eggs are
from six to nine or ten in number, and seldom quite white in hue;
usually they are much more like pale or faded specimens of the
Land Rail’s eggs, the spots being both fewer and fainter.—Fig.
6, plate IX.

136 BITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESS.

223. MOOR HEN—(Gallinula chloropus).

Water Hen, Gallinule, Moat Hen, Marsh Hen.—Few nest-
hunters, however young, but know the nest and eggs of this very
common bird. I have in many cases seen it almost domesticated,
and constantly taking its food among domestic fowls, and some-
times even almost from the hands of human creatures. Its nest
is made in somewhat various places. I have seen it amid the
sedges growing in the water near the edge of a marsh-ditch or
the like, on dry tussocky tumps near a sheet of water, among
the herbage and willow stubs not far from the same Mere, built
upon masses of fallen but not decayed bulrushes and flags, at
the edge of a pond, on a bough projecting several feet horizon-
tally from the bank over and resting upon (or partly in) the
water of a running stream, nay, even in a branch or top of a
thick tree, or among the ivy which mantled its trunk and
wreathed its branches. In it are laid six, seven, or eight eggs,
of a reddish-white colour, sparingly speckled and spotted with
reddish-brown. The eggs have been known to be removed by
the parent birds under circumstances of peril awaiting them—
from a flood for instance—and hatched in some new locality.
Instances also have been recorded in which a supplementary nest
has been constructed by the female parent to receive a part of
her brood, when they were too numerous and had grown too
large to be accommodated by their original nest-home at night.—
Fig. 7, plate IX.

VI.—LOBIPEDID A.
224.—COOT—(Fulica atra).
Bald Coot.—A common bird enough in many parts of tae king-
dom, and, in former days, I have sometimes seen them in strag-
gling flocks of several hundreds or thousands along the tide-way

GREY-LEGGED GOOSE. 17

on the Essex coasts. With its white oval spot on the foreheaa,
and perfectly black plumage, it is a sufficiently noticeable bird.
It seems to be much more at home on the water than on land;
but, like the Moor-Hen, can and does move with very considerable
ease and speed on the latter. The Coot makes a large and very
strong and compact nest, making or finding a firm foundation for
it below the surface of the water, and heaping up and twisting in
dry flags and bulrushes and pieces of reed, until some of the
nests are sufficiently firm and stable to support a considerable
weight. The eggs laid are usually seven or eight, and up to ten;
though even twelve or fourteen have been mentioned as some-
times found. They are of a dingy stone-colour, speckled and
spotted with dark brown.—fig. 8, plate IX.
225. GREY PHALAROPE—(Pihalaropus lobatus).

Red Phalarope.—Supposed, some half-century since, to be ex-
ceedingly rare in this country, but now known to visit our shores
in small numbers, perhaps annually, on their way to their winter
place of sojourning. Like the Coot, they are lobe-footed, and
very capable swimmers.

926. RED-NECKED PHALAROPE.—(Phalaropus hyperboreus).

Red Phalarope—More rare than the last-named in England,
though occurring, occasionally, somewhat more abundantly mm
some of the northern Scotch Islands.

V.—NATATORKES.
FAMILY I.—ANATID/Z,
227. GREY-LEGGED GOOSE—(Axzser ferus).
Grey-lag Goose, Grey Goose, Wild Goose.—It is not pro-
posed to give any illustrations whatever of the eggs of the Wild-
fowl—the Geese, Swans, Ducks, ard Diving Ducks—imasmuch

as they are not only of large size, and would usurp much space

138 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

to the absolute exclusion of many others of much interest and
urgently demanding pictorial illustration, but, also, are charac-
terised by so much sameness or general uniformity of colour ;—
for they vary only, in that respect, about as much as the eggs of
the common Fowl and common Duck do. A very large propor-
tion of them, moreover, never by any chance breed in any por-
tion of the British Islands, but resort to distant and very northerly
localities for that purpose. The first on our list, the Common
Grey, or Wild Goose, is an instance in point. It is believed once
to have been a regular inhabitant, and to have bred abundantly
in the fenny districts which then prevailed over many parts of
the kingdom, not at all near or connected with what is yet called
“the fen country.” But now it is comparatively a rare bird at
any season of the year, and nests no nearer to us than some of
the isles and coasts of Scandinavia.

228. BEAN GOOSE—(Anser segetum).
Like the last, and in common with the Geese next to be men-

tioned, indiscriminately known by the name of Wild Goose.
_ Unlike the last, however, it is ascertained to breed in small num-
bers on some ‘of the large lakes in the north of Scotland, and in
the islands of Lewis and Harris. Besides which, a nesting loca-
lity of this species in Westmoreland is named. The nests, in
some instances, are hid in very tall ling, and the eggs are from
five to seven in number. In size they are a little under 34 inches
long by 24 broad.

929. PINK-FOOTED GOOSE—(Anser brachyrhyncus).
A smaller bird than the last, but otherwise bearing a very

strong resemblance to it; so much so, that it appears more than
probable it has often been assumed to be a young or small speci-
men of the former species. It is, however, of comparatively rare
occurrence notwithstanding.

BRENT GOOSE. 139

230. WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE—(Azser albifrons).

Laughing Goose.—A regular winter visitor, and not in any very
scanty numbers. One of my very worst discomfitures in my early
sporting-days took place in connection with a flock of these birds.
There were seven or eight of them which flew deliberately right
on towards my father and myself till they were within twenty-
five yards of us, and then they doubled up into a confused
clump, and I was already counting the slam when my gun missed
fire. My father’s did not, and gave us the opportunity of identi-
fying the species. It breeds in Scotland and other countries far
to the north.

231. BERNICLE GOOSE—(Axser leucopsis).

Another winter visitor; often appearing in great flocks, but
always retiring to the north again to breed. It is supposed to
frequent the shores of the White Sea especially for such purpose.

232. BRENT GOOSE—(dzser brenta).

_ Black Goose, Ware Goose.—By far the most numerous of all
the geese which visit our shores in winter, as it is also the least.
I have seen it in inconceivable numbers on the Essex coast in
hard winters, and the numbers reported to have been killed at
one discharge of a heavy punt-gun, seem simply incredible. In
the very hard and long-continued winter of 1837-38, I saw the ice
which, in broken fragments of four or five feet square by three
or four inches thick, covered the whole estuary of the Blackwater
at Tollesbury (a space of very considerable width), black with
them during highwater. The expression made use of by one of
the sea-faring men of the neighbourhood was, “There are acres of
’em.” Still of all their vast numbers none remain to breed, and

no great proportion of them are known to breed in Europe.

140 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

233, RED-BREASTED GOOSE—(duser rujicollis).

A very rare species, and one of which but little is known as to
history or habits.

234. HGYPTIAN GOOSE—(Auser Eyyptiacus).

Equally rare and more exceptional than the last; as the few
that have occurred may have escaped from confinement.

235. SPUR-WINGED GOOSE—(Auser Gambensis).

Gambo Goose.—An accidental visitor indeed.

236. CANADA GOOSE—(duser Canadensis).

Cravat Goose.—Many of these remarkably fine birds are kept on
ornamental waters in many different parts of the kingdom; and
these have been known sometimes (aided by a storm, perhaps,
or some unusual occurrence) to make their escape. Many of the
supposed wild birds shot, or otherwise taken, have been accounted
for on the supposition that they are such escaped birds. How-
ever, it would seem most probable that considerable flights of
really wild Cravat Geese do occasionally visit this country, and
even that some pair or twoof them may occasionally stay‘ to
breed. The eggs are six to nine in number, of very large size

and white.
937. HOOPER—(Cyguus ferus).

Wild Swan, Whistling Swan, Elk.—Of sufficiently common oc-
currence on the British coasts, and particularly in hard winters.
Few birds vary much more in size and weight than do these. A
young bird of the year may weigh only twelve or thirteen pounds ;
the older and more full-grown specimens, twenty or twenty-one.
They breed very far to the north.

938. BEWICK’S SWAN—(Cyguus Bewickit).
A smaller bird than the Hooper, and of very much rarer occur-

rence. Still it is an ascertained species, and visits us frequently,

not annually, in some numbers.

COMMON SHIELDRAKE,

239. MUTE SWAN—(Cygnus olor.)

The Common tame Swan of our ornamental waters.—They
are found wild in many, if not all, the northern countries of
Europe. It is too well known by everyone to require detailed
notice here.

240. POLISH SWAN—(Cyguus immutabilis).

A bird of very rare occurrence in a wild state, and deriving its
Latin name from the circumstance that its plumage undergoes no
change in colour at any period of its age. It is always white.
The cygnets of the other swans are, on the contrary, grey or
dusky-coloured for a lengthened period, and only become white
on their reaching maturity.

941. RUDDY SHIELDRAKE—(Zadorna rutiia).

A bird of exceedingly rare occurrence.

242. COMMON SHIELDRAKE—(TZuadorna vulpanser).

Burrow Duck, Skel Goose, Bar Goose.—One of the very most
beautiful of all our wild fowl, or even of those which for their
beauty are selected to be ornamental accessions to the waters of
the park or pleasure-ground. Its plumage is so beautiful and
clear and brilliant, and its attitude in repose so graceful, one
cannot but admire it greatly. It breeds not uncommonly on
many sandy parts of our coasts, occupying the deep rabbit-bur-
rows, which are found in what are called the “sand-hills,” to
place its nest in. The nest is one really, made of bents and dry
stalks, and lined or cushioned with down liberally plucked from
the builder’s own breast. The number of eggs laid varies between
eight or nine and twelve or fourteen. They are nearly or quite
white, about 23 inches long by nearly 2 in breadth. I have
known instances in which the eggs obtained from one of their
nests have been hatched under a common Hen. ‘The young
seemed to accustom themselves to their life of restraint tolerably

142 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

well, but never showed any disposition to pair or breed. Pro- |
bably it might be because no suitable hole for a nest was withm
their reach. The male of this species is known to assist the |
female in the labours and constraint of incubation.
943. SHOVELLER—(Auas clypeata).

Blue-winged Shoveller, Broad-bill.—The first in the list of the
true Ducks, and a very beautifully plumaged bird indeed. But
gaily feathered as he is, and brilliant as is a part, at least, of the
plumage of all the male Ducks during a certain portion of the
year, yet it is remarkable that they all undergo a change in this
respect about the breeding time, just the reverse of that which
takes place in the males of so many other birds at the same
season. hey become more brilliant, or their colours deeper or
richer then:—the male ducks duskier, plainer coloured, more like
the female in her more unobtrusive hues. The Shoveller’s bill is
very remarkable, and, as I said of the Oyster-catcher’s, a study
for all who admire the works of God. It merits our notice for
its adaptation to its purposes in a direction just opposite to that
which characterizes the bill of the bird just named, Dilated at
the sides so as almost to look awkward, it is furnished with a
large series of very sensitive lamine or plates, such that the
minute objects which form a considerable portion of the bird’s food
may be instantly detected by the sense of touch, and retained. It
used to breed very commonly in many parts of the kingdom,
Norfolk and the Fen districts for instance, as wellas in Romney
Marsh and other places more in the south of the Island. At
present it has become comparatively rare. The nest is made of
fine grass, and the eggs are eventually enveloped in down pro-
cured from the bird’s own breast. The eggs may be from eight
to twelve in number, white, tinged with a greenish-dun shade, and

about 2 inches long by 12 broad.

WILD DUCK. 143

(244, GADWALL—(Anas strepera).

-Rodge, Grey Duck.—A Duck which occurs in no very great
numbers at any time; mostly about the end of the winter, or in
spring; and is not known to breed commonly in any part of
Europe.

245. PINTAIL DUCK—(duas acuta)
* Cracker, Winter Duck.—An early visitor to our shores when
winter has once urged the wild fowl hosts to leave their northern
nesting-places. It is not, however, a numerous bird with us, but
abounds in many of the northernmost countries of Europe.

246, BIMACULATED DUCK—(dnas glocitans).
Rather a handsome bird in plumage and markings, but one of

rare occurrence, and of which or its habits very little is known.
247. WILD DUCK—(Anas boschas).
Mallard.—By far the most common of all our wild fowl among
the Ducks, but lessening, year by year, in the numbers which
visit us. Within my own recollection many Decoys on the Hssex
coast were wrought constantly and successfully, which for many
years now have been dismantled and unused. I well remember,
when I was a lad of ten or twelve, being at a house in Tolles-
hunt D’Arcy, on the farm belonging to which was an active
Decoy, and seeing the birds which had been taken in the course
of one morning. The numbers were so great that many of the
undermost Ducks, where the great accumulation had taken place
at the end of the “ pipe,” had died of pressure and suffocation,
and some even were sensibly flattened by the superincumbent
weight of their fellows. The multiplication of shooters on shore
and afloat has sensibly tended to lessen the numbers of the Wild
Duck; while drainage ona large scale in many a district the
country through, has materially lessened the number of their
haunts. Still a very considerable number remain to breed, and

144 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

a Wild Duck’s nest in many parts of the kingdom is no rarity.
The nest is made of grass, lined and interwoven with down. It

is customarily placed on dry ground on the margin of water,

among reeds and bulrushes, or the like; but may often be found
at some distance from water, and in places so unlikely for the
purpose as on the open moor, or in a tree top, or in thie lofty
deserted nest of a crow. The eggs are from nine to twelve in
number, sometimes however exceeding the latter limit, of a
zreenisn-white colour, and about 22 inches long by 13 broad. It
is long before the young Wild Ducks fly well enough to leave
their native reed beds, or similar shelter, and, in the state pre-
ceding that of actual power to fly away, they are called Flappers;
and many a Flapper hunt have I taken part in in my younger
days.
248. GARGANEY—(Aunas querquedula).

Summer Duck, Summer Teal, Pied Wiggon.—This is a some-
what rare bird, and is seen sometimes in late autumn, but more
usually in the spring. It has been known to breed in this
country, though by no means commonly or frequently. It is
said to make a nest among reeds of dry grass, rushes and down,
and the number of eggs deposited to run from eight or nine to
twelve, or even more. They are of a distinct but pale buff
colour, 12 inch long by 14 broad.

249. THAL—(Azas crecca).

A very pretty little Duck, and the least of all our winter
visitors of that species. It is of common occurrence, but not
met with in any great numbers. It breeds abundantly in Nor-
way and Sweden, and especially in Lapland, whither the great
oulk of our winter friends retire on the approach of the northern
summer ; still, pairs often remain throughout the summer im
various parts of owr country to nest and rear their young.

EIDER DUCK.. 145

When I was a boy I heard of nests, almost annually, on some of
the marshes 1 knew most familiarly. The Teal builds a nest of
abundance of different vegetable substances, varying according
to the locality and its productions, and lines it with down and
feathers, the concealment afforded by the neighbouring herbage
being carefully adopted. ight to ten or twelve eggs are laid, of
a buffy-white, 13 inch long by rather over 12 broad.

250. WIGEON—(Axas Penelope).
Whewer, Whim.—Mr. Waterton has recorded an observation

on the habits of this Duck, which is of great interest. Whereas,
all the birds of the Duck-kind which we have hitherto named are
night-feeders, the Wigeon obtains its food by day, “and that
food is grass.” The great body of our winter visitors of this
- species retire to the north to breed about the end of March, or
April; but a few have been ascertained to remain for that pur-
pose in north Scotland. A nest, found on Loch Laighal in
Sutherlandshire, was ‘‘ placed in the midst of a clump of grass, and
was made of decayed rushes and reeds, with a lining of its own
down. The eges were smaller than those of the Wild Duck, and
of a rich cream-white colour.” The number of eggs laid varies
between five and eight or nine; the length, 2} inches by 14
in breadth.
251. AMERICAN WIGEON—(dnzas Americana).
Of entirely rare and accidental occurrence.
252. EIDER DUCK—(Somateria mollissima).

St. Cuthbert’s Duck.—We have now arrived at another section
of the Duck family. Those hitherto named all frequent the
fresh waters, and chiefly affect those that are of no great extent
or depth. These, the first of which we have just named, fre-
quent the sea or, in a few instances, the deepest parts of large
freshwater Jakes. The Hider Duck, well-known to most of us by

L

146 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESIS.

name, to some of us by sight, breeds in some marshes on the
Farne islands, and in many of the islands on the coast of Scotland.
The nests are principally composed, on a foundation of sea-weed
or grass, of the beautiful light elastic down, commonly known as
Eider-down; and if the first is plundered, a second, and even a
third are formed ; but the down decreases in quality and quantity
in each successive instance. The first accumulation is so large
and springy as quite to conceal the eggs contained, which are
usually five in number, and are of a light-green colour, about three
inches long by two wide. The lining of one nest, admitting of
easy compression by the hand, is described py Mr. Hewitson as
capable, when fully expanded, of filling a man’s hat.
253. KING DUCK—(Somateria spectadiiis).

A much rarer bird than the last; indeed occurring only very
casually. It has been known to breed in one of the Orkney
Islands, while Iceland, Nova Zembla, Spitzergen, and like locali-
ties, are the great breeding haunts of the species. The nests are
made on the ground, and contain five eggs, very closely resem-
bling the Hider-duck’s, except in size. They are rather less.

254, STELLER’S WESTERN DUCK—(Polysticta Stelleri).

Exceedingly rare in Britain, and not much less so, it seems, in
Europe generally.

255. VELVET SCOTER—(Oidemia fusca).

Velvet Duck.—A winter visitor, and rare on our south coasts.
More common in the far north of Britain.

256. COMMON SCOTER—(O:demia nigra).

Scoter, Black Scoter, Black Duck, Black Diver—This dusky-
coloured Duck is seen in»considerable numbers on various parts
of our coasts in winter, and always swimming and diving in
what may be called “ loose order,” like the Coots rather than any

: TUFTED DUCK. 147

cf the true Ducks. It does now however, ever stay to breed
with us, and can have no further notice here.
257. SURF SCOTER—(O:demia perspiciliata).
_ A bird of very rare, and, perhaps also it may be added, very
local occurrence.
258. RED-CRESTED WHISTLING DUCK—(fuliguia rujina),
Again another occasional vistor.
259. POCHARD—(Fuligula ferina).

Dunbird, Red-headed Wigeon, Red-headed Poker, Duncur.—A
winter visitor, and in very considerable numbers in districts
where the presence of inland waters to a sufficient extent enables
‘ them to follow out their natural habits. It is almost impossible,
from their great quickness and skill in diving, to take them with
the other ‘‘ Fowl” in the Decoy, and they are therefore captured by
a peculiar arrangement of nets affixed to poles so heavily weighted
at one end as on being liberated to elevate the net in such a way
as to intercept the flight of the birds, as soon as they are fairly on
wing. The Dunbird does not now breed in this country.

260. FERRUGINOUS DUCK—(fuligula nyroca).

Somewhat resembling the Pochard in general hue, but smaller,
and in respect of the numbers in which it has been met with in
this country, comparatively a very rare visitor.

261. SCAUP DUCK—(Fuligula marila).

Spoon-bill Duck.—A winter visitor, and not an unusual one,
although its numbers are never such as to commend it to notice
in the same way as the Wild Duck, the Dunbird, the Wigeon, and
some others. It breeds commonly in Iceland, but never in Britain.

262. TUFTED DUCK—(fuligula cristata).

Another constant winter visitor, and as well or better known
than the Scaup. Like the Scaup Duck it usually prefers oozy
or muddy estuaries and their customary accompaniments. But

L 2

+.)
148 BRITISH BIRDS, THKIR EGGS AND Nuts,

have met with it here in the marrow, rapid trout-stream which
runs through this part of the country, and at a distance of not
less than nine or ten miles from the sea. It breeds sparingly in
- Holland and in more northerly countries. )
263. LONG-TAILED DUCK—(Fuligula glacialis).
Another bird which, like the two last, is sufficiently well-
known without being exceedingly or indeed in the least degree,
numerous. It is in facta rather rare and very beautiful Duck,
and is remarkable for the great variations of plumage to which it
is liable, according to differences of age, sex, and season. It
breeds abundantly in Norway and Denmark, and much more so
in purely Arctic regions.
264, HARLEQUIN DUCK—(Pfuligula histrionica).
Another very beautiful bird, and most peculiarly marked. So
much so as to remind its sponsors, as it appears, of the artistic
effects produced by the customary pictorial adornment of our
facetious friend Harlequin’s face. A rarer bird, however, than
even the Long-tailed Duck last named.

265. GOLDEN EYE—(fuligula clangula).

Brown-headed Duck, Grey-headed Duck, Pied Wigeon, Golden-
eyed Wigeon, Duck or Teal, Morillon, Rattlewings——As well
known and as common as perhaps either the Scaup or the
Tufted Duck, but known by different names according to the
state of plumage depending on sex and age, females and young
birds being much more common than adult males. As not known
to breed in England no notice of nest or eggs can be inserted
here. Inthe Appendix, however, avery interesting notice of one
of its habits connected with its breeding time will be inserted.

266. BUFFEL-HEADED DUCK—(fuliguia albeola).
A visitor, but a very rare one, to our shores in winter,

PLATE XI

1, 2 Sandwich Tern. 3. Common Tern. 4. Arctic Tern. 5. Lesser T:rn. 6. Black Tern

7. Black-headed Gull.

GOOSANDER, 49

267. SMEW—(Mergus albellus),

White Nun, Red-headed Smew (for young), Smee, Lough
Diver, White-headed Goosander, White Merganser.—This bird
helps us from the group of sea-loving Ducks just noticed to that
of the Mergansers, whose diving habits and powers may be in-
terred from their names. The Smew is perhaps quite the most
common of the entire family; but they are very wary and difficult to
approach. They are not known to breed in any part of the
United Kingdom.

268. HOODED MERGANSER—(Mergus cucullutus),

A rare and accidental visitor to this country, and indeed to the
European continent.

169. RED-BREASTED MERGANSER—(Mergus serrator).

Red-breasted Goosander.—This handsome bird is an undoubted
denizen of our country during the breeding season, but in no
great numbers in any year or district. It breeds in Ireland, on
islands in several of the Loughs; also in the Hebrides and other
Scottish islands. The nest is made of long grass or moss, small
roots, dry water-herbage, mixed and lined with the bird’s own
down, doubtless added to as incubation proceeds. It is often
placed at the foot of a tree, if there be one on the islet selected.
The eggs are six to nine in number, of a pale buff or fawn-
colour. They are 22 inches long by 12 broad.

270. GOOSANDER.—(Mergus merganser). |

Dun Diver, Sparling Fowl, J acksaw, Saw-bill—A few of
these birds also remain to breed in Britain, though by far the
most retire to the north of Europe for that purpose. Tts nests
aré common in both the Orkney Islands and the Hebrides. They
are large, made of dry grass and roots, and lined with the down of
the female, and placed amid bushes or stones, or in some cavity
afforded by an old tree. The eggs rarely exceed six or seven,

150 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

not varying much in shade from those last deseribed, and are 23
inches in length, by nearly 12 in’ breadth.

I1.—_COLYMBIDZ.

271. GREAT CRESTED GREBE.—(Podiceps cristatus).

Cargoose, Loon, Greater Loon, Tippet Grebe.-—We have come
now to the Divers properly so called, and the family of Grebes
to be noticed first are to be looked upon as principally, but not
exclusively, frequenting the fresh water. The bird now under
notice remains almost all the year on the large sheets of water
which it inhabits in Wales, Shropshire, Norfolk, and Lincolnshire.
Like the rest of the Grebes, it is little able to walk and not much
disposed to fly, but possessing marvellous capacity and power of
diving. Its nest is made of a large heap of half rotten water-
weeds, but little raised above the surface of the water, and
always soaked with wet. On this likely-seeming place for duly
addling every egg deposited, three, four or five eggs are laid,
which are almost white when newly dropped, but soon become so
stained from constant contact with wet and decaying vegetable
substances as to be any colour rather than white. They are
about 22 inches long, by 13 broad. The eggs, im the absence of
the parent bird, are usually found covered with portions of some
water vegetable ; and the owner, on being disturbed on her nest,
always dives away fromit.' The first lessons of the young Loon
in diving are taken beneath the literal “ shelter of their mother’s
wing.”

972. RED-CRESTED GREBE.—(Podiceps rubricollis),

Not so common as the Grebe last named, and more frequently
met with on salt water, though not usually far from some estuary
or inland arm of the sea. It is not known to have bred in this
country.

LITTLE GREBE. 151

' 273. SCLAVONIAN GREBE—(Podiceps cornutus).

Dusky Grebe, Horned Grebe.—Rather a rare bird in the
summer, and not common at any period of the year; nor has it
ever been known to breed with us.

274. HEARED GREBE—(Podiceps auritus).

The rarest of all the Grebes. It occurs however from time to
time, and J knew of one instance in Essex some thirty years ago
in which one of these birds was taken from a Water-Rat’s hole
into which it had been seen to creep for shelter.

275. LITTLE GREBE—(Podiceps minor).

Dabchick or Dobchick, Didapper, Small Ducker, Blackchin
Grebe.—A very common and very interesting little bird, and yet,
in spite of its frequency and familiarity, blessed with a couple of
scientific names, originating (as in the case of the Dunlin), in
differences of plumage, depending on age or season. It is
difficult to say where it is zo¢ to be met with in spring, provided
only there be what the Americans call a suflicient ‘“ water-
privilege,” neither too shallow nor too rapid, for its requirements.
As expert a diver as any of those hitherto named, it seldom resorts
to the use of its wings, except just at the time when birds’ love-
making goes on. Then the male (at least) may be seen working
his short wings most vigorously and rapidly, uttering his rattling
ery as he circles over and about the Mere on which he has
“squatted” for the season. The nest is a heap of water weeds
only just flush with the surface, and always steeping wet. The
eggs are four, five or six in number, perfectly white when laid,
but soon ceasing to be clean-looking, for they grow more dingy
day by day, until on some waters they become completely mud-
coloured, on others, assume a hue which I can compare to nothing
but old blood stains on some dirty surface. I am quite convinced
that in some cases at least this discolouration is intentional on the

152 BRITISH BIKDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

part of the parent bird, though in others it may be simply due to
the action of the juices of fresh or decaying vegetable substances
I never yet, though I have seen some dozens of nests, found the
eggs left uncovered by the owner, save only in one instance, in
which only one egg had been laid. The weeds used asa covering
were, moreover, in the majority of instances, fresh, and evidently
procured by the Dabchick in virtue of her skill in diving. The
young birds swim and dive almost immediately they are hatched,
and are very persevering little skulkers if disturbed on their
breeding waters.

276. GREAT NORTHERN DIVER—(Colymbus gilacialis).

Greatest Speckled Diver, Great Doucker, hnmer, immer Diver.—
This magnificent bird—I shot one, in full plumage, several
years since, which weighed nearly thirteen pounds—is usually
found at some distance from the coast, except during that part
of the year whicn is devoted to the work of propagation.
There seems gcod reason to think some of them may breed
in some of the most northerly British Islands, but no authentic
history of its ever having been known to do so, is, I believe,
extant.

977. BLACK-THROATED DIVER—(Colymbus arcticus).

Lumme, Northern Doucker, Speckled Loon.—The rarest of
the three Divers known in our seas. Ji is, however, described
as breeding in several ot the lakes of Sutherlandshire. It
makes no nest, but lays its two eggs on the bare ground, at
no great distance from the water-edge. These aie in some
instances of a light shade of chocolate-brown, others having
more of an olive-brown tinge about them, and sparingly spotted
with black.
278. RED-THROATED DIVER—(Colymbus septentrionalis).

Rain Goose, Cobble, Sprat-borer, Spratoon, Speckled Diver.

COMMON GUILLEMOT. 153

—The commonest and the smallest of the Divers, and varying
greatly in their plumage, according to age andseason. It breeds
on the Scottish mainland, in Shetland, in the Hebrides, and until
lately in the Orkneys. The eggs are said to be always deposited
very near the water’s edge. They are two in number, of a greenish
brown colour, spotted with very dark brown, but, as Mr. Yarrell
states, when the egg has been long sat upon the brown ground-
colour is apt to assume a chestnut, or dark reddish-brown tint.

IiT.—ALCAD A,
279. COMMON GUILLEMOT—(Uria troiie).

Foolish Guillemot, Willock, Tinkershere, Tarrock, Scout, Sea-
Hen, Murre, Lavy.—The first on the list of our Rockbirds, as
they are often called. It is remarkable in several particulars
connected with its breeding peculiarities. It makes no nest and
lays but one egg, but that an egg of huge dimensions as con-
trasted with the size of the bird itself; besides which, it is almost
impossible out of a collection of many scores to pick out half a
“dozen that are precisely alike, either in ground-colour or general
markings. The eggs are laid on the ledges of rocky precipices
overhanging the sea, on various parts of the British coasts. I
have frequently seen the Willocks under the impulse of a sudden
‘alarm—for instance, the firmg of a gun in the close vicinity of
their egg-bestrown ledges—fly off in very large numbers and
with every symptom of precipitation. But no egg is ever dis-
lodged ; a circumstance which some have sought to account for
on the supposition that they must be cemented to the rock!
The explanation really is, it would seem, that the shape of the
eges is such that, instead of rolling off in any direction, as a
ball would do on being sufficiently moved, they simply turn round
and round within the length of their own axis. It would serve

154 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

but little purpose to attempt a description of the Guillemot’s
egg. They are of all shades, from nearly or quite white to a
dark green, some profusely spotted and blotched and streaked
with dark colours, others very slightly so or scarcely at all.
Unfortunately the egg is so large that but two illustrations can be
given in the limited space available to us.— 7%. 1, 2, plate X.

280. BRUNNICH’S GUILLEMOT—(Uria Brunnichit),

Thick-billed Guillemot.—Hasily distinguished by an expe-
rienced eye from the last, but a bird of which, perhaps, it can
scarcely be said that it has been actually ascertained to breed
any where within the limits of the British Isles. The eggs are
described as varying from those of the Common Guillemot in
their greater roundness; they are less long in proportion to their
thickness than the others, but seem to run through the same
endless variations of ground-colour.

281. RINGED GUILLEMOT—(Uria lacrymans).

Bridled Guillemot.—There has been some doubt whether this
bird is to be considered a distinct species, or merely a variety
of the Common Guillemot. It is now, however, generally ad-
mitted as a good species. It occurs m company with the other
Guillemct on various parts of our coasts, and in Wales is said
to be equally numerous with it. The eggs’ are distinguishable
from those of the other two species already named, but still ex-
hibiting precisely similar characteristics.

282. BLACK GUILLEMOT—(Uria grylie).

Tyste, Scraber, Greenland Dove, Sea Turtle—Sensibly less
in size than the Common Guillemot, and not found commonly
on our more southerly coasts. Shetland, the Orkneys and
Western Isles are all frequented by them, and their quick
and lively motions are pleasant enough to witness. These birds
lay two eggs each instead of one, in holes or crevices of pre-

PUFFIN. 155

cipitous rocks, and at some distance from the aperture ; sometimes,
where no such nest-sites are available, on the bare ground,
under or between fragments of rock or large stones. They
are most commonly white more or less tinged with blue, speckled,
spotted and blotched or marbled with chestnut brown, very dark
brown and a kind of neutral tint.—T. 3, plate X.
283. LITTLE AUK—(HMergulus melanoleucos).
have rarely seen any bird, much more a very small bird like
this, whose whole air and deportment conveyed to me more com-
pletely the idea of entire independence. Only under the pressure
of severe storms or long continued hard weather do they leave
the deep sea in order to seek the comparative shelter of some
land-sheltered bay or reach. It breeds on the Faroe Isles and in
Iceland, but not in Britain.
984, PUFFIN—(Fratercula arctica).

Sea Parrot, Coulterneb, Tammy Norie.—This is, one may safely
say, the quaintest-looking of all the host of our English birds.
The young Owl is grotesque enough, but more by reason of its
deliberate, solemn-seeming and yet laughable movements; but
the Puffin, with its upright attitude and huge ribbed and painted
beak—reminding one somewhat strongly of the highly-coloured
pasteboard noses of preposterous shape and dimensions which
decorate the windows of the toy-shop—strikes us as more laugh-
ably singular yet. They breed abundantly about many of our
rocky coasts in all parts of the kingdom, depositing their one egg
—a large one, again, in proportion to the size of the bird—some-
times in crannies or rifts in the surface of the cliff, often very far
back; at other times in rabbit-burrows where such excavations
are to be met with sufficiently near the coast and otherwise sutt-
able to the wants of the bird. It does not follow that because
the Puffin occupies the hole, that the rabbit had forsaken it or

156 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

even given it up “for a consideration.” On the contrary the
Puffin is quite ready and equally able to seize on and continue to
occupy the desired home by force of arms. In other cases they -
dig their own noles, and often excavate them to the depth of two
or three feet. The eggs are nearly white before they become
soiled—that is spotted and marbled with a tinge of ash colour.

985. RAZOR-BILL—(Alea torda).

Razor-bill Auk, Black-billed Auk, Murre, Marrot.—It may
almost be said that wherever the Guillemot is met with the ~
- Razor-bill is sure not to be far distant. They have their habits
their food, their haunts, even to a great degree their general ap-
pearance, in common, ‘There is, however, a great difference both
in the shape and size and also in the colouring of the single egg
laid by the Razor-bill, from that of the Willock. It is less in pro-
portion, less elongated, wants the infinite diversity of colouring
which characterises the egg of the latter, the ground-colour
being always whitish or white tinged with some light buffy shade,
and the spots and blotches, which are sufficiently abundant, are
some of a reddish or chestnut brown, others of a very deep rich
brown.—lViy. 4, plate X.

286. GREAT AUK—(Alca wmpennis).

Gair-Fowl.—Not merely an exceedingly rare British bird, but
it is to be feared, extinct as a British species. Where it is yet in
existence it is said scarcely ever to leave the water, and it lays
its one large egg almost close to high-water mark. These eggs
are white in ground, or sometimes soiled or slightly yellowish-
white, blotched and streaked, most at the larger end, with black.
They somewhat resemble the Guillemot’s egg in shape, but are
rather less elongated. The value of these eggs is almost

SHAG. | 157

fabulous, sixty guineas* having been given for a couple of them.
I have to thank Mr. Champley, C.E., of Scarborough, for most
kindly sending me an engraving of a Great Auk’s egg in his
possession, as well as for offering me access to his admirable col-

lection of eggs, numbering upwards of 8000 specimens.

IV.—PELECANID 2.

287. COMMON CORMORANT—(Phalacrocoraz carbo).

Crested Cormorant, Corvorant, Great Black Cormorant, Cole
Goose, Skart.—Wherever there are any traces of a rocky coast
about our island, there the Cormorant is pretty sure to be found,
so that he may very well be described as a common bird. Where
the rocky coast is not only extensive, but not liable to much
disturbance from human intrusion, these birds abound, and may
be seen in numbers and observed to anyone’s heart’s content-
They build their nests, which are of ample size, with sticks, sea-
weed and coarse herbage of any obtainable sort, on ledges of the
precipices ; and many nests are usually formed in the near neigh-
bourhood of each other. They are much disposed also to select
as the situation for their nests a rocky islet with cliffy sides, and
woe to the nose of anyone who approaches such an island-rock
from the leeward side. What from the nature of their food and
the abundance of their excrement, an intolerably fetid odour
always prevails about their breeding-place. The eggs vary in
number from fourto six, and are almost entirely covered over with
a white chalky incrustation, which, however, admits of easy
removal by a knife or similar means, leaving a shell of a bluish-
green colour apparent.

288. SHAG—(Phalacrocorax cristatus).
Green Cormorant, Crested Cormorant, Crested Shag.—A

* Morris’s Nests and Eggs of British Birds,

*

158 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

smaller bird than the last, but easily distinguishable by that and its
prevailing green colour. As to habits and haunts the differences
are not great. The Shags are said to breed lower down on the
rocks than the Cormorant, and the nests are principally com-
posed of sea weed and grasses. The eggs are three to five in
number, and covered with the same incrustationas those of the
Cormorant, and equally removable. White at first, they soon
become as soiled and stained as those of the Grebes.

989. GANNET.—(Sula Bassana).
Solan Goose.—Common enough in certain localities, though -
the localities in which they occur vary with the season, When
the breeding time comes round, they congregate in hosts of
many thousands at some half-dozen different stations, particularly
affected by them on different parts of our coasts. During the
breeding season they become exceedingly tame, and will even
suffer themselves to be touched. They make their nests of a
large mass of sea weed and dry grass, oz rather than ¢# which they
lay each one single egg, of no very considerable size. This,
when first laid, is white or bluish-white, (the colour being dae
to anincrustation similar to that of the Cormorant’s egg), but
soon becomes soiled and stained.

— ee

V.—LARIDA.
290. CASPIAN TERN—(Sterna Caspia).

The first member of the last Family of British birds, compris-
ing many birds of habits and peculiarities as widely distinct, when
it is remembered they are all water-birds, from those of the two
Families last wider notice, as is readily conceivable. The Grebes,
Divers, Cormorants, all gifted with wonderful powers of diving; the
Gulls and Terns incapable of diving an inch: the latter, buoyant and
sitting as lightly on the water as a cork; the former deep-sunken

ar

ROSEATE TERN. F 159

in the water, and seeming to require almost an effort to support
themselves on the surface at all. The contrast is certainly
sufficiently striking, without taking into account that the one
group has immense power of flight, and exercises it; and the
others seem to have little inclination to use their wings at all,
more than is absolutely necessary. The handsome and large
Tern, specially under notice, does not breed in this country,
but is known to inhabit the coast of some parts of the European
continent, at no great distance from our own shores.

291—_SAND-WICH TERN—(Sterna Cantiaca).

This bird has been noticed as breeding in several different
localities on our southern coasts, and it is known to frequent
both Coquet Island and one or more of the Farne Islands for
the same purpose. It lays three or four eggs in a hole, or rather
cavity, either scratched or found ready-made in the neighbour-
hood of plants or herbage sufficient to afford some covert. The
colour of the eggs varies from yellowish white to a buffy stone-
colour, and they are thickly spotted with neutral tint, chestnut
and deep rich brown. There is, indeed, considerable variation
in the colouring of the eggs, but all are very beautiful. J, 2,
plate XI.

292. ROSHATE TERN—(Sterna Dougallit).

This bird is now known to bea regular but not abundant
summer visitor. Unlike many of onr recognised British Birds,
this Tern seems rather to increase in numbers than to diminish.
They associate with other and infinitely more common species,
and closer observation only has distinguished between them and
their eggs and those of their more numerous associates. The
egos of the Roseate Tern are two or three in number, and vary
among themselves to some small extent. They are usually of a

5

160 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

light yellowish stone-colour, spotted and speckled with dark-grey
and dark-brown.

293. COMMON TERN—(Sterna hirundo).

Sea Swallow, Tarney or Pictarney, Tarrock, Pirr, Gull-teazer,
&e.—Although distiguished by the epithet of Common, this Tern
is really not much more numerous, and in that sense common,
than one or two other species with which it customarily consorts.
It is very generally diffused however, and in that sense 7s common.
It usually builds on the ground in marshy localities near large
sheets of water, or on islands low and flat not far from the sea.
Sometimes, though more rarely, it builds upon low rocks or
slightly elevated sand-banks. ‘They lay two or three eggs, and
are exceedingly and noisily restless and uneasy when they, or
especially their young, are too nearly approached. Their eggs
vary a good deal, but most of them are of a medium stone-colour,
blotched and spotted with ash-grey and dark red-brown. The
buoyancy and power of flight exhibited by these birds is very
observable —Fig. 3, plate XI.

ARCTIC TERN—(Sterna arctica).

This Tern, until a comparatively recent period, was confounded
with the Common Tern, but a clear specific difference was pointed
out by M. Temminck, and it is now acknowledged that, in many
of the more northerly localities especially, it is a much more
numerous species than the Common Tern. It breeds plentifully
in Shetland, Orkney and some parts of the Hebrides, and in great
numbers on Coquet Island and one or more of the Farnes. It
lays two or three eggs, which are exceedingly like those of the
Common Tern, and vary in the same proportion. Some have a
greenish shade, and others rather a pronounced buff, spotted and

BLACK TERN. 161

blotched as in the case of those of the last-named species.—Fig. 4,
plate ATI,

295. WHISKERED TERN—(Sternaé leucopareia).

Of very rare, or rather accidental occurrence.

296. GULL-BILLED TERN—(Sterna Anglicd):
Another bird, of which much the same may be said as of the last.

297. LESSER TERN—(Sterna mizuta).

Lesser Sea Swallow, Tittle Tern—aA pretty—almost a deli-
cate—little bird, and not infrequent on such parts of our coasts
as are adapted io its habits. It seems to prefer sand or shingle-
banks or surfaces, and lays its two or three eggs in any small
cavity which it may be lucky enough to find in the selected place.
It is perfectly surprising in many cases how closely the eggs laid
resemble the stones and gravel among which they are laid. They
are palish stone-colour, speckled and spotted with ash-grey and
dark brown.—J%g. 5, plate XT.

298. BLACK TERN—(Sterna nigra).

Blue Darr.—These birds show considerable varieties in plumage,
according to sex and age. They used to be very much more
numerous than they now are, many of their favourite haunts
having been drained or otherwise broken up. Stil it is not
uncommon, even yet, in some parts of the fenny districts—
although other Terns build in the close vicinity of the sea, and in
dry sites. The Black Tern, however, selects marshy places and
often builds in very wet spots, making a nest of flags and grass.
The eggs are sometimes four in number, this being the only Tern
which lays more than three. They vary much in colour and
markings, some being of a palish green, others of a brownish
yellow, or dull buff, but all spotted and blotched with deep brown,
Fig. 6, plate XT.

162 BRITISH BIRDS THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

299. NODDY TERN—(Sterna stolida).
A bird of only rare and casual occurrence. -
300. SABINE’S GULL— (Larus Sabin).
This, the first of the Gulls which falls unaer our notice, is only
a rare Visitor. :

301. LITTLE GULL—(Larus minutus).

Not only the least English Gull, but the least of all the Gulls,
and a very pretty looking little bird. It is, however, only a
visitor, though known, of late years, as putting in a more frequent
appearance than had been before noticed.

302. MASKED-GULL—(Larus capistratus).
A very rare bird, and one of which only a very few specimens
generally speaking, have been hitherto met with.

303. BLACK-HEADED GULL—(Larus ridibundus).

Brown-headed Gull, Red-legged Gull, Laughing Gull, Pewit
Gull, Black-cap, Sea Crow, Hooded Mew.—This is a very numer-
ous, and at least, at some periods of the year, a very generally
diffused species. At the breeding time, although a few pairs may
be met with in an infinite number of localities, the great bulk of
the species seems to collect at a few chosen places. One such
place, in which they breed in thousands, is on Scoulton Mere,
in Norfolk; another at Pallinsburn, in Northumberland; and a
third, in Lincolnshire, not far from Brigg. The nests are made
of sedges, grass and the flowering part of the reed, and are not
very deeply cup-shaped. The bird lays three eggs, and there is a
very great degree of variation between them in respect of colour
and markings; the ground-colour bemg sometimes of a light
blue or yellow, and sometimes green, or red, or brown. Some,
too, are thickly covered with spots, and others scarcely marked
with a single speckle or spot. In more than one of their great

COMMON GULL. 1638

breeding-places the right of gathering the eggs is rented, and
sometimes upwards of a thousand eggs are collected in a single
day. When the first laying of eggs is taken, a second batch, and
even a third is produced; but in each successive instance, the
eges become less. They are used as the Pewit’s eggs are, and also
for culinary purposes, being sold for about fivepence a score.—
Fug. 7, plate XT.
304. LAUGHING-GULL— (Larus atrteilia).

A bird of exceedingly rare, or rather exceptional, occurrence.
305. KITTIWAKE—(Larus tridactylus).
Tarrock, Annet.—A very common rock-breeding Gull, met

with on almost all parts of our coasts, and nesting in great num-
bers in many different localities. Flamborough Head, St. Abb’s
Head, the Bass, more than one of the Farne islands, are such
places. It places its nest of sea-weed high up on the face of
some rocky steep on a narrow ledge, and deposits therein, for the
most part, three eggs. These differ much im colour and in the
amount and position of the spots; some are stone-coloured, some
tinged with an olive shade, and some with a bluish cast. The
spots and blotches are of ash-grey and two or three shades of
brown, chestnut to umber.—/%y.1, plate XII.
306. IVORY-GULL—(ZLarus eburenus).
Snow-bird.—A bird of very rare occurrence,
307. COMMON-GULL—(ZLarus canus).

Winter Mew, Sea Mew, Sea Mall or Maw, Sea Gull, Sea Cob,
Cob.—This Gull is, on the whole, sufficiently general and well-
known on all parts of our coast to merit the prefix of Common,
which is usually applied to it. For though it is essentially a sea-
bird, yet during some weeks in the spring, it may frequntly be
seen in the new-ploughed or sowed fields at some miles’ distance
from the salt-water. Its nest may sometimes be found on marshes

M 2

164 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

or low flat islands, such as are not rare in some of our southern
estuaries, while in other districts it breeds on high rocks. In
either case, the nest is a structure of considerable size, formed-of
~ sea-weed and grass, and the female deposits two or three eggs in
it, which are a good deal varied in appearance: ‘‘Some,” says
Mr. Hewitson, with a ground-colour of light blue, or straw-
colour, others green or brown; some a good deal like eges of the
Oyster-catcher, others covered all over with minute spots.” Some,
moreover, are sufficiently well blotched and spotted with ash-
colour and dark-brown; others well streaked with the brown,
but with only a few spots of the grey colour—%7. 2, plate XII.

308. ICELAND GULL—(Larus Jslandicus).
Lesser White-winged Gull—aA bird which has been obtained
in this country from time to time, but in cases of no great
frequency.

309. LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL—(Larus fuscus).

Yeilow-legged Gull.—This Gull is seen in sufficient numbers,
and all the year round, on many parts of the British coasts, and
in the south as well as the north. It almost exclusively prefers
localities to breed in which are characterised by the presence of
rocky cliffs, but yet makes a nest of some considerable thickness
—even when placed on the grassy summit of some rocky island—
“ of grass loosely bundled together in large pieces, and placed in
some slight depression or hollow of the rock.” Its nests are
intermingled, in several places, with those of the Herring Gull; in
many places greatly exceeding those of the latter, in others as
greatly inferior, in number. The eggs (two or three in number)
vary greatly in colouring,—from a warm stone-colour, through
shades of brown, to pale green or light olive-green. The spots
and blotches vary too, and vary greatly, in number, size, position

PLATE

4, Herring Gull, 5. Richardson’s Skua.

Kittiwake, 2. Common Gull. 3. Lesser Black-heade1 Gull

nt eS

i

mech tke
2 pas

_-

GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. 165

and intensity; neutral-tint, chestnut brown, and dark brown being

all met with, and sometimes in the same specimen.—Fiy. 3,
plate XII,

310. HERRING GULL—(Larus argentatus).

A very numerous species in many different parts of the king-
dom, where rocky coasts sufficiently high and precipitous are met
with. I have seen it abundantly at Flamborough Head and St.
Abb’s Head, and in smaller numbers on many parts of the York-
shire coast north of Flamborough, as well as im others not distant
from St. Abb’s. It usually selects for the site of its nest a flat
ledge or other rock-surface towards the upper part of the cliff;
but will sometimes build on a low rock or grassy island. The
nest is like that of the last species, but even larger, and usually
contains three eggs. These so strongly resemble those of the
Lesser Black-back as to make it very difficult to distingush
between the one and the other. Mr. Hewitson says the only
means of distinction available even to an experienced eye seem to
depend on the somewhat greater size of the Herring Gull’s egg,
and the larger and more confluent character of the blotches of
surface colour.—Fig. 4, plate XII.

311. GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL—(Larus marinus).

Black-back, Cob, Great Black-and-white Gull—By no means
a numerous species, and not affecting society as so many of the
other Gulls do. It breeds, in some cases, on the Marsh or Salting-
spaces met with so abundantly on some of the southern and
eastern shores; but more commonly on rocky parts of the coast.
Thus, it breeds very abundantly on the Orkney and Shetland
Islands. The nest is made of a large quantity cf dry grass
simply thrown together. The eggs are three in number, often
bearing a great resemblance to those of the two species last

166 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

named, but usually distinguishable by the larger masses of
surface colouring, and by some superiority in size. The Black
_back’s eggs are much esteemed as articles of food, or for cooking
purposes generally. The yolk is very deep and rich-coloured,
and the white colourless or transparent. ach female will lay
three sets of eggs; the first two sets being, in some cases,
customarily taken, and the last left for her to hatch.

312. GLAUCOUS GULL—(Larus glaucus).

Large White-winged Gull, Burgomaster.—A Gull equally large
with the last, one of which, shot by myself, exceeded six feet
from the tip of one wing to that of the other; but one of merely
casual occurrence as a British bird.

3138. COMMON SKUA—(Leséris catarractes).

Skua Gull, Brown Gull, Bonxie-—We pass here into a some-
what different class of birds. The Skua is as bold and insolent
as most of the Gulls are timid and retirmg. In many instances
these birds do not take the trouble to fish for themselves, but,
watching the fishing operations of the Gull, seize their oppor-
tunity of assailing a successful fisher, and compel him to disgorge
his prey. The Common Skua has only a very limited breeding-
range in Britain, not being known to nest out of Shetland, and
to have but three places for nidification there. So resolute and
daring are they when they have young to defend, they do not
scruple to attack the eagle, and a pair have been known to beat
the strong, proud marauder effectually off. The Skua makes a
large nest of moor-growing moss, and takes some pains in its
construction. It is placed among the heath and moss of a hilly
island. The eggs are two in number, and vary much in colour;
according to locality it would almost seem. Some are dusky

FULMAR PETREL. 167

olive brown, others with a much greener hue, and they are
blotched with darker brown, and a few spots of rust colour.

314. POMARINE SKUA—(Lestris Pomarinus).

Merely a casual visitor, although more frequently noticed of
late years than before ornithology became so favourite a study.

315. RICHARDSON’S SKUA—(Zestris Richardsonit).

Arctic Gull, Black-toed Gull, Arctic Skua.—This species is the
most numerous of all those which visit this country. It breeds
in the Hebrides, in the Orkneys and in Shetland, and numerously
enough in the two localities last named. The female has been
observed to make use of the same artifices as the Partridge and
the Grouse to decoy an intrusive dog or man away from its nest
or young. The nest is built of moss or ling, on some elevated
knoll amid marshy ground, or on the moor, and contains two eges.
These are of a greenish olive-brown colour, spotted with dark
brown. This Skua not only restlessly and pitilessly persecutes
the Kittiwake and other Gulls in order to obtain its own food from
them at second-hand, but also makes free with their eges for the
same purpose in a very marauder-like fashion.— 77. 5, plate XIL.

316. BUFFON’S SKUA—(Lestris Buffonii).
Mr. Yarrell distinguishes between this bird and the true J.

Parasitieus, and consequently adopts the scientific name I have

now given. This Skua can only be considered a rare and acci-
dental visitor.

317. FULMAR PETREL—(Procellaria glacialis).
Fulmar, Northern Fulmar.—The Fulmar breeds in incredible .

numbers at St. Kilda, but is rarely met with, even in winter,
about the southern coasts of England. Both old birds and

their young on being touched eject a considerable quantity of

168 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS.

clear oil, which, however, is by no means of an agreeable odour ;
and probably from this cause the nest, young birds, and even the
rock on which they are placed, stink almost intolerably. The
nest is very slight, if any, and the bird lays her single white egg
in little excavations, and lightly lined, on such shelves on the face
of high precipitous rocks as are surfaced with a little grass or
sward. ‘The egg varies in length from a little over 2} inches to
3 inches,

318. GREATER SHEARWATER—(Pufinus major).
Cinerous Shearwater, Dusky Shearwater.—A bird which has
not been very frequently recorded as met with on the British
seas, but still one of occasional occurrence.

319. MANX SHEARWATER—(Pufinus Angorum).
Shearwater Petrel, Manx Puffin.—This is a regular sea-taring
little bird, and perhaps would hardly ever care to come to land if
it were not for the need of something solid for its eges to repose
upon. It usually frequents islands well-washed by the sea and
not much frequented by men. It used to be very abundant on
the Calf of Man, but is never seen there now. In one of the
| Scilly Islands it breeds in some numbers still, and on St. Kilda,
the Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland. Thenest is made deep
down in a hole in some wild and half inaccessible part of the
islands frequented, and in it one egy of exceeding whiteness is
laid, and remarkable for the fine texture of the shell amd the
musky scent of the entire egg. It is about 21 inches long by 13
broad.
320. BULWER’S PETREL—(Tialassidroma Bulwerit).
A Petrel of sufficiently rare occurrence.
321. WILSON’S PETREL—(Tihalassid:oma Wilsoni).
Equally rare with the bird last-named.

STORM PETREL. 169

322. FORK-TAILED PETREL—(Tihalassidroma Leachit).
Subject to the same remark as the two last.

323. STORM PETREL—(Thalassidroma procellaria).

Mother Carey’s Chicken.—This is said to be the smallest web-
footed bird known, and it is the last as well as the least. It never
comes to the shore except at the breeding-season, and-only seeks
comparative shelter under the pressure of very heavy weather,
It breeds in the Scilly Islands, some of the islands on the Ivish
coast, and abundantly on St. Kilda, the Orkneys and Shetland.
They breed in holes in a cliff, or under large-sized stones, which,
from their great size and the accumulation of boulders and large
shingle about them, afford many deep recesses well suited to the
wants of the nesting Petrel. Like the Manx Shearwater, they
are by no means silent in their nest-holes, but make themselves
distinctly audible to the passenger above. They lay one white
ege, a little exceeding 1 inch long, by 2 broad.

APPENDIX.

Our object in adding this Appendix is simply a wish to make the book
more complete by adding notices, more or less detailed, of thenests and
eggs and any interesting breeding-season peculiarities of birds recognized
as really well entitled to the name of British Birds, but not happening to
remain within the limits of Britain to breed. The first bird of the kind ig
that which, in our complete list, is numbered

7. GREENLAND FALCON.
The equivalent to Mr. Yarrell’s Gyr Falcon.

8. ICELAND FALCON.

These two species are now, I believe, looked upon as established, but the
differences between them are not excessively striking, except it be to a scien-
tific naturalist. Myr. Hewitson has figured an egg of the Iceland Falcon
which he believes may have Jost some of its colour. It was taken from a nest
made with sticks and roots, lined with wool, which once perhaps was the
nest of a Raven. The nest in question was in a cliff, and had the remains of
many sorts of birds—Whimbrels, Golden Plovers, Guillemots, Ducks—strewed
round it. The egg is of a buffy red colour, mottled and speckled—very thickly
in places—with deeper red.

80. SNOWY OWL.

Sufficiently often met within North Britain (and even occurring sometimes
in England) to merit a short notice here. It inhabits Sweden, Norway, Lap-
land and the greater part of Northern Europe. These birds are accustomed
to take their prey by daylight, and seem, from the accounts received, to be

172 APPENDIX.

in the habit of “ bolting ” their food, when not very large, whole. It makes
its nest on the ground, and lays in it three or four white eggs,

34. GREAT GREY SHRIKE.

This bird is met with in Denmark and other northern countries of Western
Europe, and also in Russia, Germany and France, It is said to frequent
woods and forests, and to build upon trees at some distance from the
ground, as well as in thick bushes and hedges. The nest is made of roots,
moss, wool and dry stalks, lined with dry grass and root-fibres. The eggs
are four to seven in number, and though they vary a good deal in colour,
they always illustrate the peculiar tendency of the eggs of the Shrikes to
show a sort cf zone or girdle, due to the agglomeration of the spots about
some part of the circumference. They are yellowish or greyish white, and
the spots of grey and light brown.

42, FIELDFARE.

I have sometimes seen this favourite game-bird of the school-boy here as
early as the latter part of September, and I have frequently noticed them
feeding in hundreds on the holly berries which abound in more than one
part of this district. They must breed very late in the year from the late
period of their departure hence, and the distance of the countries to which
many of them resort for that purpose. It breeds very abundantly in Nor-
way, and also in Sweden, Russia and Siberia, not to mention other and more
southerly countries in Hurope. Their nests, in Norway, are usually built
against the trunk of the spruce-fir, and at very variable heights from the
ground. They are said to be very like those of the Ring Ouzel, except that
small twigs are added to the outside structure. The eggs are from three to
five, and are very like those of the Ring Ouzel,but with somewhat more red
about them, The Fieldfare seems to prefer breeding in numerous groups or
colonies, two or three hundred nests vemg frequently seen within a rather
limited space.

42.*¥ REDWING.

This winter visitor is known to breed occasionally, but yet only very excep-
tionally, in this country. A nest was brcught to me two summers since,
which, from its construction, the size and colcuring of the eggs, and espe-
cially from the description of the bird which my informant saw leaving the

AYPENDIX. 173

nest, I have little doubt was a Redwing. It breeds abundantly in Sweden,
and in lesser numbers in Norway, and is described as being a very sweet
singer, as heard among the forest solitudes of the latter country. Its nest is
very similar to those of the Blackbird, Ring Ouzel and Fieldfare,in materials
~ and structure. The eggs are four to six in number, and very similar, allow-
ing for a little inferiority in size, to those of the Fieldfare, and to very red
specimens of the Ring Ouzel’s.

91. SNOW BUNTING

This bird resorts in the breeding-season to the “ Arctic Regions and the
Islands of the Polar Sea.” Mr. Yarrell says, “the nest is composed of dry
grass, neatly lined with deers’ hair and a few feathers, and is generally fixed
in acrevice of arock, or in a loose pile of timber or stones. The eggs are
a greenish white, with a circle of irregular umber-brown spots round the
thick end, and numerous blotches of subdued lavender purple.”

98. MOUNTAIN FINCH.

This Finch is occasionally met with in sufficient numbers to be deserving
of a short notice here. 14 seems to breed in Denmark, Norway. and Lapland,
and it is at least possible that a few pairs may, from time to time, stay to
nest with us. It is said to build in fir-trees, though from Mr. Hewitson’s
account, the nests are by no means easy +0 find. The following is an account
of a nest made by a pair in an aviary at Beccles in Suffolk :—“ The nest was
deep, the walls thick, a large quantity of materials employed for the founda-
tion which was worked among the stalks of the ivy-leaves. It was composed
of moss, wool, and dry grass; and lined with hair.’ The general appearance
of the eggs is one of resemblance to those of the Chaffinch; the spots
however, seeming to be fewer, smaller and less decided.

104. SISKIN.

This little bird has been known in several instances to breed with us in
its naturai wild condition, but its nesting-home is in Russia, Germany and
north-western Europe. It has been ascertained to build in furze bushes,
and also close to the trunk of a fir-tree, where a projecting bough afforded
support for the structure. The nest is composed of similar materials te the
Chaffinchs’, and the eggs present a good deal of resemblance to those of the
Goldfinch, with a little inferiority in size.

174 APPENDIX.

170. TURNSTONE.

This very handsomely plumaged bird inhabits the countries bordering on
the Baltic, as also Greenland and other localities far to the north. Mr.
Hewitson gives a most interesting account of his discovery of its nest in
Norway :—“ We had visited numerous islands with little encouragement,
and were about to land upon a flat rock, when our attention was attracted
by the singular cry of a Turnstone. We remained in the boat a short time
until we had watched it behind atuft of grass, near which after a minute
search, we succeeded in finding the nest. It was placed against a ledge of
the rock, and consisted of nothing more than the dropping leaves of the
Juniper bush, under a creeping branch of which the eggs, four in number,
were snugly concealed and sheltered.” Several other nests were also found
in thecourse of further researches, which, however, were required to be both
close and systematic. The eggs are of an olive-green colour, spotted and
streaked with different shades of red-brown, and “all having a beautiful

tint of purple or crimson, seen in few other eggs.”

171, SANDERLING.

It breeds in Greenland, Labrador and other Arctic countries. It makes
its nest on marshy grounds, of grass, and lays four “ dusky-coloured eggs,
spotted with black.” But little seems to be known of either the nidification
or the eggs of this species, as no figure is given by either Mr. Hewitson or
in the Reverend O. Morris’s book.

237. HOOPER.

Occasionally met with during the breeding season in Iceland, and more
commonly in Lapland. They are described as inhabiting the most remote
and inaccessible lakes and morasses in forest districts. The nest is made of
any coarse water herbage which is suitable and at the same time accessible.
It is large, and raised some inches above the surface of the supporting soil.
The eggs are believed to be from three or four to seven in number, and are
usually of a pale brownish white colour, extending to about 4 inches long by

22 broad.

245. PINTAIL.

This Duck breeds in Iceland, and commonly in Lapland and some of the
districts about the Gulf of Bothnia. It builds, like most others of its kind

OT

APPENDIX. 7

among the thick herbage commonly growing near the edge of pieces of fresh
water; the nest being made of the same, but dry, and lined with down.
The eggs are six to eight or nine in number, and are of a light greenish
white colour, and about the same size as those of the Wild Duck proper.

255. VELVET SCOTER.

This Sea Duck is found in Russia, Norway, the Faroe Islands, and also in
Iceland. Mr. Audubon’s account of its nest and eggs is as follows :—‘ The
nests are placed within a few feet of the borders of small lakes, a mile or two
from the sea, and usually under the low boughs of the bushes, of the twigs
of which, with mosses and various plants matted together, they are formed
They are large and almost flat, several inches thick, with some feathers of
the female, but no down, under the eggs, which are usually six in number,
23 inches in length, by 13 in breadth, of an uniform pale cream colour,

tinged with green.”

’ 256. COMMON SCOTER.

a breeds, but not very numeronsly, in Iceland ; but is seen nesting in com-
pany with the Velvet Scoter, in Scandinavia, rather more commonly. It
makes a nest of any available vegetable substance, such as grasses, twigs,
leaves, dry stalks; it is lined with down, and placed under the partial cover
or concealment afforded by low shrubs or other plants. The eggs are six or
seven to ten in number, of a pale buff colour slightly tinged with green, 2
inches long by 12 broad. After the eggs are laid, the males assemble in large

flocks and draw towards the coast.

259. POCHARD.

The breeding-haunt of this bird seems to be more to the eastward than
the mojority of those hitherto named. It is said to be abundant in Russia
and in the north of Germany, and is very commonly found in the Fur-coun-
tries in America during the breeding-season. A few also breed on the
oorders of the Meres in Holland. The nest is similar in site and materials
to those of fhe Wild Duck and other Ducks, and the eggs sometimes reach
the number of twelve. They are of a greenish buff colour, 2 inches in
length, by 1$in breadth, The Pochard was discovered, several years since

176 APPENDIX

as breeding about the mere at Scarborough, and has also been stated to nest
occasionally in one or two places in Norfolk.

261. SCAUP DUCK.

This Duck has also been known as breeding very incidentally in this coun-
try, but its almost unbroken habit is to return to such countries as Iceland,
the swampy lake-district north of the Gulf of Bothnia, and some parts of
Norway, for nesting purposes. It sometimes makes its nest in what may be
almost called the usual site for the nests of Ducks,and sometimes upon the
stones and shingle at the edge of sheets of fresh water. The nest is very
thin and slightly formed, but well lined with down, and the eggs seem to be
six, seven, or eight in number, They are of a pale buff colour, and sensibly
less in size than those of the Pochard last named.

262. TUFTED DUCK.

This little Duck is known to breed near the head of the Bothnian Gulf, as
well as in other parts of Sweden, andin Lapland and Russia. A few pairs
also are seen nesting in Holland. It makes a very slight nest of grasses and

the like. The eggs are seven or eight to ten in number, very similar in
shade to those of the Scaup Duck last mentioned, but much less in size,
being only a little over 2 inches long, by less than 1% in breadth.

263. LONG-TAILED DUCK.

It is known to breed in Iceland, and believed to do so in Norway. It
makes its nest among low brushwoou and the herbage usual at or near the
margin of fresh water. A few stems of grass form the substructure, on which
is placed a plentiful lining of down. The eggs are from six to twelve in
number, They are of yellowish-white, just tinged with green, and nearly
2% inches long by 1% in breadth.

265. GOLDEN EYE.

‘his Duck seems to prefer wooded or forest districts for nesting in. It
breeds in Lapland, Sweden and Norway, and has such a strong liking for a
hole in a tree to nest in, that if suitable boxes with an adequate entrance-

APPENDIX. i ee

hele are placed on the trees growing on the banks of streams or lakes fre-
quented by them, their eggs are sure to be deposited therein, to the great
profit of those who suspend theboxes. Of course when it is known that a Duck
hatches its young in a hole in a tree, the question must suggest itself—as it
did to the original observer in the case of the Wild Ducks’ nest ou a pollard,
or in a Fir-tree—How can the young Ducks ever be got down safely, and still
more, finally launched on their proper element? An observed habit of the
Golden Eye answers this question. A Lap clergyman saw the parent bird
conveying its young, to the number of five or more, but one at a time, from
the nest to the water, and he was at last able to “make out that the young
bird was held under the bill, but supported by the neck of the parent.” The
eges of the Golden Hye are said to be ten or twelve or even more in number,
and of a brighter colour than is usual with the eggs of the Duck tribe, being
of a rather decided green colour.

267. SMEW.

But little that is quite authentic seems to be known of the nesting habits
of this little Duck; nor is it certainly ascertained where its chief numbers
retire to breed. The eggs are said to be eight or tem in number, or even
more than that, and to be of a yellowish white colour.

276. GREAT NORTHERN DIVER.

This bird breeds on the Faroe Islands, and on some of the lakes in Ice-
land; as also on some of the islands of Finmark, Spitzbergen and Greenland
are also named as the breeding resort of many of these Divers. They lay, it
is supposed, two eggs each, though in some observed instances only one was
to be seen, Mr. Audubon says that three are sometimes laid. They are of
a dark olive-brown, with a few spots of dark umber brown, and are of con-
siderable size

283. LITTLE AUK.

This little wave-dweller has its nesting home in countries far more to the
North than ours. It abounds onsome parts of the Greenland shores, and it
isalso met with but much more sparingly, in Iceland. It makes no nest,

N

178 APPENDIX.

but lays its one egg on the ground amongst or possibly beneath the large
rock-masses which encumber the shore after falling from the overhanging
cliffs and precipices. The parent birds are exceedingly averse to leave their
eze when incubation has commenced, and like some other Species already
mentioned, will rather suffer themselves to be removed by the hand. The
egg is white lightly tinged with blue, a little spotted and veined with rust
colour.

Accentor, Alpine, 53.
Auk Little, 155.
-—— Great, 15.
Avocet, 125.

Bee-Eater, 98.

Blackbird, 51.
Blackcap, 58.

- Bittern, Little, 119.

:
Common, 120.

Bulfinch, 81.
Bunting, Lapland, 72.
Common, 72.
——— Black - head-
ed, 73.
———— Snow 72.
——— Cirl, 75.
——— Ortolan, 75.
Bustard, Great, 111.
—— Little, 112.
Buzzard, Rough-leg-
ged, 36.
———— Honey, 36.

—+— Common, 35.

Capercaillie, 107.
Chaffinch, 75.

American, 120.

INDEX.

Chiffchaff, 61.
Chongh, 85.
Soot, 136.
Cormorant,Common, 157.
Cream-colour-

ed, 112.

Courser,

Crane, 118.
Crake, Spotted, 124.
-——— Little, 135.

- Baillon’s, 135.
Creeper, 94.

Crossbill, Common, 83.

Parrot, 83.

——— Whitewinged, 89.
Crow, 86.

— Hooded, 87.
Cuckoo, 97.

—— Yellow-billed, 98.
Curlew, 121.

Dipper, Common, 48.
Dotterei, 114.

Dove, Ring, 165.

—— Stock, 104.

— Rock, 104.

— Turtle, 105.
Dunilin, 131.

Duck, Pintail, 145,

Duck, Bimaculatied, 143.

— Wild, 143.
—— Hider, 145.
— King, 146.
—— Steller’s Western, 146
—— Red-crested Whist!-
ing, 147.
—- Ferruginous, 147.
— Scaup, 147.
—— Tufted, 147.
—— Long-tailed, 148.
—— Harlequin, 148.
— Golden-Eye, Ss.
—— Buffel-headed, 148.
Diver, Great North-
ern, 152.
—— Black-throated, 152.

— Red-throated, 152.

Bagle, Golden, 24,
Spotted, 27.

—— White-tailed, 26

ivgret, Little, 119.

Falcon, Red-footed, 31.

Gyr, 28.
Iceland, 29,

Peregrine, 29.

“180

Finch, Mountain, 76.
Flycatcher, Spotted, 47.
———— Pied, 48.
Fieldfare, 50.

Gadwall, 148.
Gannet, 158.
Garganey, 144.

Godwit, Black-tailed, 126.

———— Bar-tailed, 127.
Goldfinch, 79.
Goosander, 149. °

Goose, Grey-legged, 187.
Bean, 1388.

— Pink-footed, 188.

—— White-fronted,139.

Bernicle, 189.

Brent, 139.
Red-breasted, 140.

— Egyptian, 140.

Spur-winged, 140.
Canada, 140.
Grebe, Great Crested,150.

Red-crested, 150.

— Sclavonian, Nis
—— Eared, 151.
— Little, 151,
Greenfinch, 78.
Greenshank, 125.
Grosbeak, Pine, 82.
Grouse, Black, 107
Red, 108.

INDEX.

Guillemot, Common, 153.

— Brunnich’s, 154.

——— Ringed, 154.

——— Black, 154.

Gull, Sabine’s, 162.

— Little, 162.

— Masked, 162.

-— Black-headed, 162.

—— Laughing, 163.

—— Ivory, 163.

—— Common, 163.

— Iceland, 164.

—— Lesser Black-back-
ed, 164,

—— Herring, 163.

— Great Black-back-
ed, 165.

— Glaucous, 166.

Harrier, Marsh, 37.
Hen, 37.
Ash-coloured, 38.
Hawfinch, 79.

Hawk, Sparrow, 34.
Gos, 33.

Heron, Common, 118.
— Purple, 119.
—. Great White, 119.
—— Buff-backed, 119.
— Squacco, 119.
— Night, 120.

* Hobby, 30.

Hooper, 140.
Hoopoe, 96.

Ibis, Glossy, 121.

Jackdaw, 89.
Jay, 90.

Kestrel, 81.

Kite, 34.

— Swallow-tailed, 25.
Kittiwake, 163.
Kingfisher, 98.

Knot, 130.

Lapwing, 115.

Lark, Shore, 70.
—— Sky, 70. ,
Lark, Wood, 71.
Short-toed, 72. :

Linnet, Common, 80.

Mountain, 81.

Magpie, 89.

Martin, 100.
——— Sand, 101.
Purple, 101.

Merganser, Hooded, 149.
Red-breasted, 149.
Merlin, 81.

Moor Hen, 136.

Nightingale, 58.
Night-Jar, 102.

Wutoracker, 91,
Nuthatch, 96.

Oriole, Golden, 53.
Ouzel, Ring, 52.
Osprey, 27.

Owl, Eagle, 42.

—— Scopseared, 42.
—— Long-eared, 42. «
—— Short-eared, 42,
—— Barn, 43.

— Tawny, 45.

—— Snowy, 46.

— Hawk, 46.

— Little, 46.

— Tengmalm’s, 46.

Oyster-catcher, 117.

Partridge, Common, 109.

Red-legged, 110.

Pastor, Rose-coloured, 85.
Petrel, Fulmar, 167.
Bulwer’s, 168.
Wilson’s, 168.
Fork-tailed, 169.
Storm, 169.

Phalarope, Grey, 137.

—-— Red-necked, 187.

Pheasant, 106.

Pigeon, Passenger 105.

INDEX.

Pipit, Tree, 68.
Meadow, 69.
——— Rock, 69.
—— Richarda’s, 69

Plover, Great, 112,
Golden, 113.

—— Ringed, 114.
Kentish, 115.
— Little Ringed, 115.
Grey. 115.

Pochard, 147.
Pratincole, 112.
Ptarmigan, 109.
Puffin, 155.

Quail, 111.

Rail, Land, 1383.

—— Water, 135.
Raven, 85.

Razor-Bill, 156.
Redshank, Spotted, 122.

Common, 122,

Redpole, Mealy, 80.
Lesser, 81.

Redstart, 54.

——— Black, 55.

Redwing, 51.

Regulus, Gold-crested, 62.

—_—— Fire-crested, 63.

Robin, 53,

Roller, 98.

381
Rook, 87.

Ruff, 127.

Sandpiper, Green, 123.

Wood, 124,

Common, 124.
Spotted, 125.
Curlew, 180.
Buff-breasted, 131.
——- Broad-billed, 131.
Schinz’s 181.
— Pectoral, 131.

Purple, 182.
Sanderling, 117.

Scoter, Velvet, 146.

Comuinon, 146.

Surf, 147.

Shag, 157.

Shearwater, Greater, 168.

—— Marx, 168.
Shieldrake, Ruddy, 141.

Common, 141,

Shoveller, 142.

Shrike, Great Grey, 46.
Red-backed, 46.
——— Wood Chat, 47.
Siskin, 80.

Skua, Common, 166.

Pomarine, 167.

Richardson’s, 167,
Buffon’s, 167.
Smew, 149.

182

Sparrow, Hedge, 53.
Tree, 76.

a House, 77.

Spoonbill, 121.

Starling, 84.

Stilt, Black-winged, 126.

Stint, Little, 151.

Temminck’s, 181.

Stone-chat, 55.
Stork, White, 120.
——— Black, 121.
Swallow, 99.

Swan, Bewick’s, 140.

Mute, 141,
Polish, 141.
Swift 101.

——— Alpine, 102.

Snipe, Great, 129.

Common, 129.
Jack, 130.
Sabine’s 180.

Brown, 130.

Teal, 144.
Tern, Caspian, 158.

—-— Sandwich 159,

INDEX.

Tern, Roseate, 159.
Common, 160.
Arctic, 160.
——— Whiskered, 161.
Gull-billed, 161.
Lesser, 161.
—— Black, 161.
Noddy, 162.
Thrush, Missel, 49.
-—_—— White’s, 50.

Common, 50.
Titmouse, Great, 63.
———— Blue, 63.
——-_—— Crested, 64.
———— Cole, 64.
—— Marsh, 65.

———

- ———— Bearded, 46.

‘Turnstone, 116.

Vulture, Griffon, 22.

—— Egyptian, 22.

Wagtail, Pied, 67.
—— Grey, 67.

--—— Grey-headed, 67.
——~- Ray’s, 6S.

Long-tailed, 65.

Warbler, Blue-throat-

ed, 54.
Grasshopper, 57.
——— Sedge, 57.
Dartford, 62.
— Wood, 60.

——— Savi’s, 57.
—-—— Reed, 57.
Garden, 59.

Waxwing, Bohemian, 66.
Wheat-ear, 56.
Whimbrel, 122.
Whin-chat, 55.
Whitethroat, 60.

Lesser, 60.

Wigeon, 145.

American, 345.

Woodpecker, Great
Black, 91.

—-~— Green, 91.

——— Great Spotted, 92.

-—— Lesser Spotted, 93.

Woodcock, 128.

Wren, 95.

Willow, 61.
Wryneck, 93.

Yeliowhammer, 74.

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od
1

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ee

ze) 2 SS a ee)

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==

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‘THE YOUNG NILE VoyYAGERS, By Afiss Bowman.

hit ee ee eee greet Sy

re el

6 George Routledze & Sons’ Juvenile Books.

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to

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{

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-

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Is. JUVENILES (continued ),

I O UNCLE FRANK’S HOME STORIES.

THE GATES AJAR.

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VILLAGE SCHOOL FEAST. By Mrs. Perring.
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Kirry's VICTORY.

ELISE AND HER RABBITS.
Happy CHARLIE, |

ANNIE PRICE.
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KEEPER'S TRAVELS IN SEARCH OF HIS MASTER. o 0
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THe Lost CHAMOIS-HUNTER.

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[HE HISTORY OF JOSEPH. TAME ANIMALS, rst Series.*

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Series. Ditto, 4th Series.*

NURSERY GAMES. |
My MOTHER.
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Bult. L D eet
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PICTURE ALPHABET. Birbs.
| ARTHUR’S ALPHABET. RAILROAD ALPHABET.
er eS aE el

&

a a a

]

Sa:

o 6 History oF My PETs.

p Oo 6 ALPHABET FOR Goop Boys

o3

London and New York. I2

——

Aunt Maver’s Toy Books (continued ).

AND GIRLS.
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LITTLE RED RIDING-HOOD. |
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KING COLE.

PRINCE LONG NOSE.
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| GRISLY BEARD.
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ROUTLEDGE’S 6@. JUVENILES (continued).

oO 6 GRACE AND CLARA.

RECOLLECTIONS OF My
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EGERTON ROSCOE.

FLORA MORTIMER.

CHARLES HAMILTON.

STORY OF A DROPOF WATER |

LEARNING BETTER THAN
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MAuD’s FIRST VISIT TO HER
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DAIRYMAN’S DAUGHTER.

ARTHUR'S TALES FOR THE
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HAWTHORNE’SGENTLE Boy.

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KATE CAMPBELL.

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THE JEWISH TWINs.

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MARTHA AND RACHEL.

CARPENTER’'S DAUGHTER.

‘THE PRINCE IN DISGUISE.

GERTRUDE AND HER BIBLE.

THE CONTRAST. AdZiss Edge-
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THE GRATEFULNEGRO. Do.

JANE HuDsoN.

A KISS FOR A BLOW.
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on

Routledge’s Fourpenny Iubeniles.

Royal 32mo, fancy covers.

THE BASKET OF FLOWERS.
THE BABES IN THE BASKET.
EASY POEMSFOR CHILDREN.
JESSIE GRAHAM.

History oF My PETS.

FLORENCE ARNOTT.

ROBERT DAWSON.

RECOLLECTIONS OF My
CHILDHOOD.

BROOKEAND BROOKE FARM.

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ROUTLEDGE’S 4a. JUVENILES (continued ),

LIFE IN THE WILDS. A Drop OF WATER.

HILL AND THE VALLEY. THE FALSE KeEy.

THE WIDOW AND HER | THE BRACELETS,
DAUGHTER. THE PURPLE JAR. aig

THE Two SCHOOL GIRLS. SIMPLE SUSAN.

THE JANE Hupson. KATE CAMPBELL,

A KIss FoR A BLow. | LirtLE HENRY AND HIS

HUBERT LEE. BEARER.

FLORA MORTIMER. i THE GATES AJAR.

Routledge’s Fibe-Shilling Poets.

Edited by Rev. R. A. WILLMOTT. Jllustrated by FOSTER,
GILBERT, CORBOULD, FRANKLIN, aad HARVEY. Ele-
£antly printed on good paper, post 8vo, gilt edges, bevelled
boards.

SPENSER’'S FAERIE QUEENE. Illustrated by Corbould. 3

CHAUCER'S CANTERBURY TALES. Illustrated by ditto.

KIRKE WHITE. By Southey. Illustrated by Birket Foster. 3%

SOUTHEY’S JOAN OF ARC, AND MINOR POEMS. _ Illus- |

q

trated by Gilbert.
POPE'S POETICAL WoRKS. Edited by Carey.
MILTON’S POETICAL WoRKS. Illustrated by Harvey.
THOMSON, BEATTIE, AND WEST. Illust. by Birket Foster.
HERBERT. With Life and Notes by Rev. RP. A. Willmott.
COWPER. Illust. by Birket Foster. Edited by W2l/mott.
LONGFELLOW’S COMPLETE POETICAL WORKS. Illustrated.
——_—_—_——— PROSE WoORKs. 1s
BURNS’ POETICAL WoRKS. Illustrated by John Gilbert. (
FAIRFAX's TASSO’S JERUSALEM DELIVERED. [Illustrated &

by Corbould. \
PERCY’S RELIQUES OF ANCIENT POETRY. TIIlust. by ditto. di
ScoTtt’s POETICAL WoRKS. Illustrated by ditto.
MACKAY'S BALLADS AND Lyrics. Iilust. by John Gilbert.
WoRDSWoRTH. Illustrated by Birket Foster.
CRABBE. Illustrated by ditto.
MACKAY’S SONGS. Complete Edition. Illust. by Gilbert.
ELIzA Cook's PoEMS. With Illustrations and Portrait.
Moore's Poems. Illustrated by Corbould, &c.
ByYRon’s PoEMs. Illustrated by Gilbert, Wolf, Foster.
BENNETT'S POETICAL WORKS. Portrait and Illustrations.
CAMPBELL'S POETICAL WORKS. Illustrated by W. Harvey.
LOVER'S POETICAL WorkKS. Portrait and Illustrations.
ROGERS’ POETICAL WoRKS. With Portrait, &c.
LORD LYTTON’s POETICAL WORKS. 73s. 6d.
————__—___—_——— DRAMATIC WORKS. 6s.
DRYDEN’S POETICAL WORKS. With Portrait, &c.

*

feb a a ee

SS
16 George Routledge & Sons’ Poets. ° t
Routledge’s Chree-und-Sixpennpy Poets, Xe.
Printed on tinted paper, fcap. 8vo, gilt edges. Wéth
Z. Lllustrations. . x

S. ¢

3 6 LONGFELLOW’s COMPLETE POETICAL WCRKS. _ Iliust. |,

~~ Cowrer. _ Iilust. by Birket Foster. Edited by Walimott. |

MILTON'S POETICAL WoRKS. _ Illustrated by Harvey. #

WORDSWORTH'S POETICAL WORKS. Illust. by B. Foster.

SOUTHEY'’S JOAN OF ARC, AND MINOR POEMS, Illust. ‘
by Gilbert. {

GOLDSMITH, JOHNSON, SHENSTONE, AND SMOLLETT. Do.

KIRKE WHITE. By Sow¢hey. Illustrated by Birket Foster.

BuRNS. Illustrated by Giibert.

‘THOMAS Moore's Poems. Illustrated by Corbould.

ByRON’S POEMS. Illustrated by Gilbert, Wolf, &c.

PoPE's POETICAL WorRKS. Illustrated by Gilbert.

ScoTtT’s POETICAL WorKS. With Illustrations.

HERBERT'S WorRKS. With Illustrations.

‘THOMAS CAMPBELL’S POETICAL WORKS. Illust. by Gilbert.

SHAKESPEARE’S COMPLETE WORKS, ¢

CHAUCER'S POETICAL WORKS.

WILLIS's POETICAL WORKS.

GOLDEN GLEANINGS.

CHOICE POEMS AND LYRICS.

SHAKESPEARE GEMS.

BooK OF WIT AND HUMOUR.

WISE SAYINGS OF THE GREAT AND GOOD.

MONTGOMERY'S POEMS.

Aoutledge’s Choo-and-Sixpenny Poets.
Fcap. 8vo, with fllustrations, tn cloth.
2 6 LONGFELLOW’S COMPLETE POETICAL WORKS.

ScoTtT’s POEMS. BURNS’ POEMS.
¥ ByRON'S POEMS. Moore's POEMS.
‘ COWPER’'S POEMS. MILTON'S POEMS.
WoORDSWORTH’'S POEMS. POPE'S POEMS.

Or bound in a new style, 8 vols., cloth, £1.

Boutledge’s Pocket Pocts.
1820, with Portrait.

1 0 LONGFELLOW’S COMPLETE POETICAL WoRKS. Paper,
1s. ; cloth, 1s. 6d.
BuRNS’ COMPLETE POETICAL WoRKs. Paper, 1s. ; cloth,

Scorr’s POETICAL WorKs. Cloth, 1s. lis. 6d.
London: THE BROADWAY, LUDGATE HILL.
of? New York: 416, BROOME STREET.
Cg A I Se

J. OGDEN AND CO., PRINTERS, 172, ST. JOHN STRERT E.C,

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