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7S 3x
: A HISTORY

Ritds
OF

BRITISH BIRDS,

WITH COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS

OF THEIR

EGGS.

BY

HENRY SEEBOHM.

PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR BY
R. H. PORTER, 6 TENTERDEN STREET, W.,
AND —
DULAU & CO., SOHO SQUARE, W.
Roos.

PRINTED BY TAYLOR AND FRANCIS,

RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET.

CONTENTS OF VOL, I.

PME APeO ERCUNG IME ER en tat nha sce cae Sed Oa Le oe Ge OF oe

Family FALCONIDA ....................00....

TARE "9 Gig id A G0 Erg et Pe A ec ats
Vultur fuluus... Griffon-Vulture ..-... 0.0%... bees
—— percnopterus. Egyptian Vulture ............

rons A Oe bk ae eee Meteo rg, ae ee BLY

Falco gyrfaleo. Brown Jer-Falcon
candicans. White Jer-Falcon }
—— peregrinus. Peregrine Faleon .......:.5..+-
= SOG ieOs: HOD DY. fhecies tates . wash dytnece) ies
=e ERE TES aS NEGLI) “sgh 80-4 Sal d state ¢ shee PERSE
—— vespertinus. Red-footed Falcon..............
—— tymnunculis. Kestrel .. 6.0.40. .ce case ods
—— ‘cenchris. - Lesser Kestrel’. 2.2 5. ees ean we es

Torney tay Deira tM s are, xine ducks sPoe'«, Sac es wets te a

Miluus regalis. Common Kite 2... 2... 2 eer eees
Uber RU ACHENE NGG crass sais: sikh alo, 6) 08 ey atm ern mretae ay

vans PANE As PWS sv t's tn crs Sutin co tehh deg oe oie ete ok
Haliaetus albicilla. White-tailed Hagle............

MCI LER UP EIA. c.g seis al, a ane 6.504 ,0°' Ke & 0 oft, > yelgani gies grant

Aquila chrysaetus. Golden Eagle ................
nevia. Lesser Spotted Kagle................
lagopus. Rough-legged Buzzard Eagle........

Plate

ot

Bete ies O24") SO

Page

Le -

111

iv CONTENTS.

ens MGM). 22 hs och ae ace bess Geis She te teeny es 2 116
Buteo vulgaris. Common Buzzard .............. 5. ity
MEMES MILT UIS, S55 Soy x 5 ss eM Sh oa Ad? eee ie 123
Circus eruginosus. Marsh-Harrier .............. 6. 124
oyanis, ¢ Wan-Harrior ». 6001, 38 8 Se re eee 6. 128

— cineraceus. Montagu’s Harrier ............ 6. 131
SORTA CST EL | eis a,c (Om s Che RT ooo Eke ae 134
Accipiter nisus. Sparrow-Hawk ..............5 4, 135
youlumbarius. GOsnAWK? 2. else as bw eke a 5. 142
atricapillus. American Goshawk .......... fa 145

amily STRIGIDAL .¢..25...0sct2eshee cee 2 146

igengs ATUCO. ..': 24.85 sh casei eae oe ee Pe 147

Aluco flammeus. Barn-Owl .............00. 005. 7 148 .
ISBATN RSLS: + as ae Eee Sah ck ELEN EE Re eee 3H 152

Ning dice. WoodsOwl was. 9 Mere frye 6. 154 k
otus. Long-cared Owl (oo. 8. of 160
tengmalmi. Tengmalm’s Owl ....... fi 164
—— brachyotus. Short-eared Owl .............. i 167
ans NOCTUA... .... Aen! gee bed hol, a te Ree ee 173
Nocuamoctua,. Little Owl. 6 leh ae eS 7 174
SoA POLI ARNON Stir ed Decl cine yuate ee a ahicere akin eho ne 176
Surnta nyctea,’ - Snowy Owl 0.52196 000 ot cee ss re 177
yunered. « awk Owl. GX ae = 183
ASEWNRIE PES UIUIUD 5 bs wie Alte wok Se. Awa Ore tN 186
Bubo maximus. Eagle-Owl ............... 7 187
BETES OD ES yeu, i ea ee rs terol ests ec cman va Semin AAT Ee i 192
Seops:scops.:. Boops Owl » 600 MOA < Re et yi 193

Family PASSERIDH ......0....0....ce cc. VAS tog

mee. A UO IRDITIN 29 5, iso hests aie cigs 9 pity oe an ae s 197
Genus GEOCICHLA

Geocichla varia. White’s Ground-Thrush :
sibirica. Siberian Ground-Thrush .......... Sg 204

ey

CONTENTS.
Plate

Centar WUE Us « ovr wit en ates ade y vs wean re aes wt
Turdus viscivorus. Missel-Thrush .............. 8.
miusicuss . HONE POEUSIe 1. SHE os. N a.
AUS + TREC WIM Ue Pee. eye eee Ne 8.
pilaris.. Kieldfares' (0 Citi Je OSV a 8.

PLOMioy WE ERY WAS Vo ao rarr ss 2.6 OP a tided tera cin & suas wetaier es
Marnie meralee- Black pwd, os. s a pas Came: 8.
bonguata. Wane- Onze 2.4) tolarss a «oo tate ata ate a om 8.

— atrigularis. Black-throated Ouzel ..........

remus: OUENIOHESIS Es ce ctay cee Asta o Gis, aoe ccet oncte etch aarti Seal eens 6
Cinclus aquaticus. Common Dipper ............. I.

melanogaster. Black-bellied Dipper ........

Gennstbhbu EEA CUSEE aia < vacteetcre seeiecneterer Aaeces sxey eerie mete
rt naeUs nuDEcula. © LERLODIM 2.5 sche s atc cteie fie ere 9.
suecica. Arctic Blue-throated Robin ........ 9.
dusciniae) NighiNe Re! sfc cas «cerns ne he 9.

Reprise NUCHN ETOP EIAS 22 pha we Ca tied eee sheen ns :

Monticola saxatilis. Rock-Thrush .............- 8.
Gerri PEO i Ass <i Bic did seca Dos stan eels op Daneman 2
Ruticilla pheenicurus. Redstart .......-.+0 000: 9.
tithys. iBlickeRedstart. a. ttc. seer ere 9.
Genitis,; SACCIC OM Ags oy creck cM rereteeeeh pet osteo fin auteeeiey een: esters ce
Saxicola enanthe. Wheatear ...........-se0-+- 9.
deserti. Desert-Wheatear ...........-4-+> 9.
stapazina. Black-throated Chat ...........- 9.

Gonnise eA UN OOMAr se :iepcotens een tant isin a eco ar al eed
Pratincola rubetra. Whinchat...............++. 9.
WL OTCOUE Me SCONCCIU Ab, Seen etenara hes stevclaniie a ota 9.

Connie MEU ROCUOCAP A Fo oo itaae tetdstriiens so xia tele oer sts
Muscicapa grisola. Spotted Flycatcher .......... 9.
atricapilla. Pied Flycatcher: 03. oss. oe 9.
parva. Red-breasted Flycatcher ..........-- 9.

Subfamily SYLVIINAS ...... 0. e eee eee

Ceri k LOCI EGGS os, cowed én pao ele ans s qos Gage,’
Locustella locustella. Grasshopper Warbler ...... 10.
luscinioides. Savi’s Warbler ..........5+55 10.

v
Page
206
207
213

220
228

234

235
243
249

252
253
Xxill
261
262
269
276

280
281

286

287
293

297
298
304
307
311

312
317

322

323
328
332

337

338

340
346

CONTENTS.

Plate Page

Genus. ACROCEPHALUB | 24.2.0. cena seek awe bari Bi 350
Acrocephalus phragmitis. Sedge-Warbler ........ 10. 352
aquaticus. Aquatic Warbler .............. 10; 307

twrdoides. Great Reed-Warbler............ 10, 361

— arundinaceus. Reed-Warbler.............. 10, 367
palustris, Marsh-Warbler .....+.......++: 10. 379

Genus HYPOLAIS ....... cathe geen NRO BOR Ss a Oe ae 7% 380
Hypolais hypolais. Icterine Warbler ............ 10. 381
Cnt oN UVa eet pes INSEE eS eels PRU eRE 7 385
Sylvia nisoria. Barred Warbler...........:.:.. 10. 387
orpheus. Orphean Warbler... .......2:..-.% 10. 390
mirstapillass BISCKCBD ck es Ou eels area 10. 394

hortensis. Garden-Warbler........:. 0.58). 10. 400

cmerea.. Whitethroat .. 0c 6s wl ae dine « * ae: 405

curruca. Lesser Whitethroat .............. 10. 410
provincialis, Dartford Warbler ............ 10. 414

— galactodes. Rufous Warbler .............. 10. 418
ents YL LOSCORUOS Ms Pie UE sia Nee abet etn pera 423
Phylloscopus sibilatriv. Wood-Wren ............ 10. 426
DOCKS. MV ULO WNL LOD: 200. 5 seal ve win ee 10. 430
——ryfus. Chiffchaft. vgif 0s... Pee 10. 435
superciliosus. Yellow-browed Willow-Wren.. 10. 441
Bubiamuly PARIN AG, 25s sor seven ere. agen * 451
Sarees eee LT Sy" sk ears Se Ok a cats ae An ee “e 452
Regulus cristatus. Golderest ................ 4 ae 458
—- igiicapillus. Firecrest .............0005. INE 458
ET ASUS 15 ee ETS «<r Soe te a bees Sai AAT BOE 462

Parus major. Great Tit .. ....kn. sekrualewetar 9. 463
ceruleus. Blue Tit

ey aayit Hans Sale RE ee 9. 468
ater, European Coal Tit....
— britannicus. British Coal Tit } o ae
—— palustris, Marsh-Tit ..................., 9. 476
Oreste. Orested. Tit... .<..cuis See eee 9. 481
ETS AC AH 0 a ren Ptche Sper Gehay gha 485
Acredula caudata. Continental Long-tailed ci 9 48
— rosea. British Long-tailed Tit ........ :

CONTENTS. vii
P

errata Er AN CNEG EIS”. 2ca.cs sulget dies venture eyqtancevsiss rs A) WE “ “aL

Panurus barmicus. Bearded Tit................ 12 492

Crenmsh AOG HN VOM. 2 enidieactda ke WEE Cons AGIA As A; 496

Accentor modularis. .Hedge-Sparrow ............ 12. 497

. alpinus. Alpine Accentor ................ 12. 501
:

Gends TROGLODY ERS, «2 cuils ca iolobpoW. 7 aavinn bs 504
b

Troglodytes parvulus. Wren ........ eee ce noes LF: 505

Pegs Ne EVE Anse, Lo So. Spe DIES VO ere odio ee 511

: Certhia familiaris. Common Creeper ..........-- i 512

Cerda CIC HO DRONA. ls May eee ees es OST a 517

Tichodroma muraria. Wall-Creeper ............ 18. 518

: Pere its tbh ime itl aor ctw wangeelys c 522

) ; Siteveesia. +N UbnabCl.- 2st. cis «late piatee ots 12. 523

Subfamily CORVINAL ........-0 ccc e cence ence nes - 530

Gans COV USi ic sects oc ee Ay, Seas ata oe eae aeeree zs 530

Cantus cordat. Pi R@V Otis. yas \e Meisld Fe the el a gies 16. 532

corone. Catrign-Crow > <.. o2)--g+ «ese aes « 16. 540

corniz. Hooded Crow..........---++.+.+-- —16. 545

—— frugilegus. Rook ......- seer e cece eens 16. 549

: monedula. Jackdaw .........-++:- een 16. 5d9

Ee) cr/slrg 2d 1 9:1: SES SES ashe ee ear Cae ar oP eet oe OE he ee ied

Pace EXUNATO., MES NON a ake «ck skoit wveie) ss se Se vs wien 16. 562

Gonus? GARRULUS Hs. ois ccs eaten cee panes adems.e fi 568

Garrulus glandarius. Common Jay .,........-- 16. 569

( Genie PV RHHOCORAR ios ta twas or este ele oe a 575

; Pyrrhocoraw graculus. Chough ........+++sseee 16, 576

Genus NUCIBRAGA 9 isn bea ce ene Mae geete es ¥ 582

Nucifraga caryocatactes. Nutcracker ...........- 16. 583

Pa cities CLO TGU le Seaees 3 ix oi ges ays or aeiae 08 nce et ee ee be 588

Oriolus galbula. Golden Oriole ......... sees ia 589

viii CONTENTS.
rntamnly, ANTI AGG cess oi ieee han wo baeeeunG

FETA MIA NUD: 4ake ae nek hu Sawa heat ee eee

Lanius major. Pallas’s Grey Shrike ............
eacubitor. Great Grey Shrike..............
-—— minor. Lesser Grey Shrike
collurio. Red-backed Shrike ..............
rujus., Woodchat Shrike, 0... 20744 0.0ee

SEI

inl
a1.
iE
da

Page
593

594

595
598
603
606
610

“-*

ore

INTRODUCTION.

Tue number of books which have been published on British birds is so
great that it might be thought that every thing that could be said on the
subject had been already well said. But such is the rapid progress
which ornithology has made during the last few years that even the
earlier portions of Dresser’s ‘ Birds of Europe’ and Newton’s edition of
Yarrell’s ‘British Birds’ are quite out of date. Not only have many
important gaps in the geographical distribution of some of our commoner
birds been filled up, and a large part of the history of some of the rarer
ones been discovered, but in many respects I have found it necessary to
look upon the whole subject from a different point of view. The argu-
ments in favour of the theory that the species of animals now existing in
the world were evolved by natural laws, some of which we have discovered,
from species of a more primitive type which lived in remote geological
ages are so irresistible that it is impossible to ignore them. At the
first glance it would seem that the development of a species was a subject
quite apart from its present history; but it will be found that this
question of the development of species by evolution is one which lies at
the foundation of ‘all inquiries into the history of individual species ; and.
when it is answered in the affirmative, the study of ornithology is found
to possess a new interest, many obscure points become comparatively
clear, and the old treatment of the subject requires modifying in various
ways. It is of the utmost importance to have clear ideas on this subject,
in order rightly to interpret the facts of Nature; and consequently a
few lines must be devoted to

Tur Hyroruesis or Evonurion.

There is amongst birds, as there is throughout the animal and vegetable
world, a more or less keen “ struggle for existence.” The natural increase
is so rapid that the surplus population is necessarily killed off, partly by
falling a prey to stronger animals, partly by want of food, partly by disease,
and partly, especially in the case of migratory birds, by other forms of
violent death. Consequently we find that a weeding process is constantly
going on throughout Nature. The weak die; the strong live: the fit
survive; the unfit perish. This is called the “ survival of the fittest.” But

x INTRODUCTION.

to understand how this process can cause any development or evolution of_

species, it is necessary to know two facts :—first, that there is a difference
between individuals, so that one is more fit than another to conquer in the
struggle for existence; and, second, that these individual idiosyncrasies
are for the most part hereditary, and are capable of being transmitted to
offspring. These two facts are well known to every breeder of cattle,
horses, dogs, or pigeons, and are the main facts upon which the horti-
culturist relies for success. The artificial selection of the farm or the
garden has its counterpart in “natural selection.” This is the broad
theory of evolution as propounded by Darwin and Wallace. Respecting
the details of its application, some difference of opinion still exists. Most
writers consider that the differences in individuals from which Nature
selects the fittest to survive by killing off those which are less fit to cope
with the difficulties of life are accidental differences. Others hold the
theory that the tendency to vary from the ancestral type is a tendency in
a certain direction towards a fixed goal; it may be as mysterious and in-
explicable as the tendency of a stone to gravitate to the earth, or of a
needle to fly to a magnet, but not the less a fact, the one tendency being
as originally inherent in organic matter as the other in inorganic matter.
All that can be said is that it was originally made so. But, be this true
or not, the peculiarities of form and colour which we find in birds and
other animals do not seem to be all accounted for by the theory of the
survival of the fittest. There seems to be a correlation of the external
colour of many birds with their internal organization, which is inexplicable
on the commonly received view. Many internal characters are, as my
friend Mr. Alfred Tylor expresses it, emphasized on the plumage. It seems
possible also that in some cases there may be a direct influence of climate
upon colour, independent of the indirect influence of protective selection.
The selection of Nature is in different directions. The fitness for the posi-
tion in which a bird or other animal is placed which ensures its survival
may be of various kinds :—muscular strength or other superior organi-
zation to enable it to conquer its enemies of its own or other species ;
special adaptations to enable it to secure a better supply of food; special
coloration to enable it to escape the observation of its enemies or attract
the attention of the opposite sex ; or it may mimic the colour or shape of
some other animal known to be dangerous; or the special fitness may be
in the habits of the bird, in its choice of a nesting-site, in its migra-
tions—in fact, in every variation of structure or habits which distinguishes
one species from another.

The acceptation of the hypothesis of evolution implies the recognition
of species in the process of formation. If this theory be correct, there
must be always some species which are not yet finished. In the slow
process of evolving two species from one there must be a period when the

tN all Ct ak

a aned

ae aed

INTRODUCTION. x1

two species are only half evolved. Do we find these half-formed species ?
At any period. of the world’s history, if the process of evolution is
always going on, there ought surely to be some instances of half-evolved
species. So there are. It is easy to find examples of species in every
stage of development, from mere local races to well-defined subspecies.
To enable us to discriminate between these on the one hand and between
species and subspecies on the other, it is necessary to inquire into

Tuer INTERBREEDING oF Birps*.

This is a subject which has been much neglected by ornithologists.
The existence of intermediate forms so produced has been as much as
possible ignored. Where the facts were too obyious to admit of doubt,
the so-called cross was contemptuously dismissed as a hybrid, a mon-
strosity, and as such possessing no more scientific interest than a white
Blackbird or a six-legged calf. So long as each species was supposed to
have had a separate origin, and to be divided by a hard-and-fast line from
every other species, this attitude of ornithologists towards interbreeding
was excusable; but now that the theory of evolution has been generally
accepted, the subject will be found to possess the greatest interest and to
throw unexpected light upon the development of species. The old defini-
tion of species having lapsed, in consequence of the rejection of the theory
of special creation, it is necessary to provide a new one. We may define
a species to be a group of individuals which, however much they may vary
from each other, do not present any hard-and-fast line between their
extreme variations, and which, however near they may be to their nearest-
allied species, are nevertheless separated from them by a hard-and-fast
line. Naturalists may differ as to the assignment of the cause why inter-—
mediate forms are absent; but we may reasonably infer, first, that the
intermediate forms have become extinct, and, secondly, that they are not
reproduced by interbreeding. There may be several reasons why they are
not reproduced by interbreeding. Where Nature has drawn the line very
broadly, the species may have been so long separated and may have become
so differentiated that productive sexual intercourse between them may
have become structurally impossible. A somewhat narrower line exists
between species which may be artificially crossed, but produce under those
circumstances only a barren hybrid. The specific line of demarcation is

* Interbreeding may or may not mean cross-breeding. Wherever the interbreeding
which habitually takes place between the individuals of a species has not ceased, any
differences between them can only be subspecific. Subspecies may be defined as groups
in which the interbreeding which habitually takes place between individuals in a species
has not yet ceased, but takes place along the whole line of its geographical distribution,
though seldom between the two extremes,

xii INTRODUCTION.

still narrower where barren hybrids are produced in a state of Nature.
The line of demarcation is considerably narrowed when more or less fertile
hybrids can be artificially produced but do not occur in a wild state, either
because the natural inclination to interbreed is absent or because the
opportunity of interbreeding is taken away by isolation of area of geogra-
phical distribution ; and we may consider the narrow line between such
species and subspecies to be crossed when fertile hybrids are produced in
a state of nature—a condition of things which, if the fertility is sufficient
to continue to many generations, must inevitably produce an unbroken
series of intermediate forms. “The amount of sterility,” says Darwin,
“between any two forms when first crossed, or in their offspring,” which
shall be “ considered as a decisive test of their specific distinctness” is a
point upon which naturalists are not agreed. There is no hard-and-fast
line between a specific difference and a difference which is only subspecific.
The practical result is that slight subspecific variations are constantly being
produced by various causes, of which natural selection is probably the
most important, and are as constantly being lost by interbreeding ; so that
the similarity of individuals in a species is retained, whilst the sterility
produced by a specific variation prevents the universal mongrelization of
species which might otherwise take place. Interbreeding is a check upon
the indefinite multiplication of species; whilst the narrow limit in which
it is possible provides against the extinction of specific differences.
Amongst British birds there are a great many instances of subspecies
of which we know, and no doubt many more of which we do not yet
know. Most of these are cases where the individuals of each valley
occasionally interbreed with their immediate neighbours, and where the
range is great enough to make the sum of a series of small differences
show a large difference in the extremes, as the Nuthatch, Marsh-Tit,
Grey Shrike, &. Others are cases where the species appear to be per-
fectly distinct, but nevertheless it is found that, where their respective
ranges meet, they interbreed and produce offspring which are fertile both
among themselves and with either parent, as the Dipper, Goldfinch,
Crow, Xe.

English ornithologists have for the most part ignored these intermediate
forms, and with characteristic insular arrogance have sneered at their
American confréres for adopting trmomial names which their recognition
demands. In this, as in so many other things, our American cousins are
far in advance of the Old World. One English ornithologist, however,
deserves to be mentioned as an honourable exception. Mr. Bowdler
Sharpe has boldly braved the blame of the Drs. Dry-as-dust and the
Professors Red-tape ; and the volumes of the ‘Catalogue of Birds in the
British Museum’ hitherto represent almost the only European publ-
cations on ornithology which are not behind the age in this respect.

ena ts NE Ca Nay te

x INTRODUCTION. xill
The binomial name will probably generally be used as a contraction ; but
it must never be forgotten that it is only a contraction. The difference
between a species and a subspecies, though in some cases not very clear,
is far too important a fact to be sacrificed to a craze for a uniform
binomial nomenclature.

The grouping of individuals into subspecies and species is the first
step in

Tur CLASSIFICATION OF BrIRDs.

The second step is to group species into genera and subgenera ; the third

is to group genera into families and subfamilies, and the fourth to group
families into orders and suborders. The use of the terms subspecies,
subgenera, &c. implies that all these divisions and subdivisions are more
or less artificial, and that our systems of classification attempt to draw a
hard-and-fast line where Nature has drawn none, or only a few here and
there.

Looked at from one point of view, Nature may, however, be said to have
drawn some very hard-and-fast lines. If it were possible to examine every
species of bird which exists or has existed, we might find that all birds
were descended from one common ancestral species, and that, consequently,
every species of bird was connected with its nearest allies by an unbroken
series of intermediate forms; in which case we should be obliged to admit
that there was only one species of bird, divisible into an immense number
of subspecies. Or we might find that birds are descended from several
ancestral bird-reptiles (so to speak), and that consequently there were
several species of birds, each divisible into an immense number of sub-
species. We have, however, only to deal in our classification with existing
species ; and we at once perceive that by the extinction of species and
genera, to say nothing of families and orders, Nature has drawn some very
hard-and-fast lines, sometimes only narrow lines, but in many cases very
broad ones.

When we come to deal with genera, the artificial character of our
classification at once reveals itself. The old-fashioned notion that species
were separated by differences of colour, and genera by structural differences
(that is, difference in the shape of the bill, feet, wings, or tail), is a pre-
Darwinian ornithological superstition, which is pure theory, and is entirely
unsupported by facts. There is no evidence of any kind that the leopard
can change his spots in a shorter time than it takes him to change the
shape of his skull. On the other hand, there is strong evidence to prove
that in many genera of birds colour or pattern of colour is more constant
than many of the so-called structural characters. The principal causes of
the change of colour in birds are supposed to be to ensure protection from

enemies and to please the taste of the females, whilst the changes in the

Xv INTRODUCTION.

structural characters are most affected by the nature of the food and the
necessity or otherwise to migrate. It will at once be seen that the former
set of causes are much more constant than the latter in the Palearctic
Region. There is no reason to suppose that before the existence of man in
this region much change took place in the enemies against which birds had
to contend; nor has it ever been suggested that the tastes of female birds
are as fickle as those of the females of some of the more highly developed
animals of the Palearctic Region; whilst, on the other hand, there can be
no doubt that both the food and the migrations of birds must have been
affected to an enormous extent by the changes of climate consequent on
the coming on or passing away of glacial epochs.

Our ignorance of the comparative value of generic characters appears to
me to be absolute ; and, inasmuch as naturalists have agreed that the name
of a bird is to be binomial, a combination of the generic and specific names,
the wisest course is probably to group species together into convenient
genera, which may assist the memory, taking care to satisfy ourselves that
the species in each genus are connected together by closer links than those
which connect them with species in other genera. The lines which Nature
has drawn between different genera are caused by the extinction of inter-
mediate species, or by the wideness of the differentiation which has taken
place between them, which is generally, though not necessarily, a proof of
the length of time which has elapsed since their original separation. All
we have to guard against is that the lines which separate our subgenera
shall be narrower than those which separate the genus from the nearest
allied genera.

Our next business is to group our genera into families, the largest of
which may be conveniently divided into subfamilies.

So far we shall find it pretty fair sailing in our attempts to classify
British birds; but when we come to group our families into orders, the
difference of opinion amongst ornithologists is so great as to the value of
characters (which date back to such remote ages) as a sign of relationship
or community of origin, that we are entirely at sea, and can only shrink
from attempting to decide where doctors disagree. To show the great
divergence of opinion amongst ornithologists, it is only necessary to com-
pare the various modern attempts at a scientific classification of birds,
which will be found to differ from each other in almost every important
respect, so that it is obvious that any change in the generally received
classification would be at least premature. Most of these classifications
are open to the fatal objection that they are attempts to make a linear
series, beginning with the most highly specialized birds and ending with
the least so; whereas a true classification must be a chart in which the
most highly specialized birds are in the centre, and the least so at the cir-
cumference, where they lead on to the forms most nearly allied to birds.

«

_

=—~e eee
.

INTRODUCTION. XV

Since, then, all attempts at a linear arrangement must be artificial, and
the classification of families into orders is impossible in the present state
of our knowledge, I have arranged the families in the old but, to a large
extent, artificial sequence adopted by Cuvier, which has at least the prac
tical value that it is well known, and thus obviates to a large extent the
trouble of referenee to an index. I have been careful to point out under
each family whether, in the opinion of the best informed naturalists, it is
nearly connected or not with the families near which it is placed.

There is no department of ornithology which has received more atten-
tion of late years than that of

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION ;

and there is no subject more intimately connected with the discrimination
of species and with the whole question of classification. The zoological
divisions into which naturalists divide the world are not the same as those
in common use among geographers. So far as these boundaries are deep-
sea, they may be said to be practically the same. Where there are no
changes of climate to make it imperative upon birds to migrate it is
remarkable how seldom they use their powers of flight to wander far from
home. Even the narrow channel of deep sea between Borneo and Celebes
marks an important boundary in the geographical distribution of birds,
whilst the shallow Mediterranean is of little significance.

The land-boundaries of the zoological regions are climatic. The world
is divided into six or seven zoological regions.

The Palearctic Region contains the whole of the Old World north of the
desert of Sahara in Africa and north of the Himalayas in Asia.

The Nearctic Region contains the New World north of the tropics, 2. e.
north of Mexico.

The Ethiopian Region consists of Africa south of the great desert, and
Southern Arabia.

The Oriental Region consists of Asia south of the Himalayas, and the
islands of the Malay archipelago as far east as Borneo.

The Australian Region consists of the rest of the islands of the Pacific.

The Circumpolar Region has the north pole for its centre, and extends
to the Arctic circle in the Old World, and somewhat further south in the
New; but many naturalists do not recognize this region as zoologically
distinct.

Perhaps the most interesting fact connected with these divisions is that
in the tropical regions most birds vary much less than they do in the arctic.
regions. If we eliminate the arctic genera, which are comparatively recent
emigrants, we shall find that the tropical species are generally well defined ;
they are obviously ancient residents who have well nigh exhausted the
variations required to adapt them to their surroundings, which must have

xvi INTRODUCTION.

been, in comparatively recent times, subject to but little change. On the
other hand, the genera in the two arctic regions are crowded with imper-
fectly segregated species, which require for their explanation comparatively
recent and important changes in the climate. These are to be looked for
in the gradual approach of another glacial epoch. In the warm period
which permitted the growth of pines almost at the north pole the whole of
Europe, North Asia, and North America enjoyed a semitropical climate,
and the variation of species throughout the arctic regions was probably
very small. As the climate in Lapland and Siberia gradually changed, the
birds living there gradually changed also ; and thus we find now in many
Palearctic species a semitropical form in West Europe which is connected
by a series of intermediate forms with an arctic form in Siberia, which
again gradually changes in the east until in China the West-European
form is reproduced. In some cases the series is completed by tropical
species which have evidently been driven south by the glacial period and
have never returned. I have endeavoured to interest the reader wherever
possible in some of these near relations of our British birds, many of them
so closely allied as to be only subspecifically distinct.

The number of birds included in the British list is about 380. Of these
126 are residents, though many of them have only slender claims to be
considered so. Some of them are principally known as winter visitants,
a few only remaining to breed, chiefly in the north of Scotland ; others
really belong to the summer visitants, but a sufficient number remain
during the winter to entitle the species to be considered a resident one.
Fifty-five species regularly visit our islands every summer for the purpose
of breeding ; but many of these are becoming rarer every year, partly in
consequence of the persecution to which they are subjected on their
arrival, and partly from the destruction of their breeding-grounds by the
drainage of marshes and the reclamation of waste land. Forty-one species
may be regarded as winter visitants; but many of these wander still
further south during midwinter, being principally seen on our shores in
spring and autumn. The birds contained in these categories form a total
of 222 species which are fairly entitled to be considered British birds.
It has, however, been the practice of ornithologists to consider any bird
British which has even once been obtained in our islands in a wild state.
Of the accidental visitors which thus reach our shores many have occurred
only once; but others have been met with much oftener, though some of
the recorded occurrences must be accepted with considerable hesitation.
Birds often escape from confinement; a mistake is made in the identifica-
tion of the species; and in very few cases are we able to trace clearly the
pedigree of individual examples so as to leave no reasonable doubt of their
authenticity, for skins are very frequently changed or transposed either by
accident or design. The number of these accidental visitants to the

ncn

INTRODUCTION. XVll

British Islands, after the doubtful ones have been rejected, is still 160, of
which 97 have probably visited us from Europe, 45 from America, and 18
from Asia. There is no reliable instance on record of any bird whose
breeding-range is confined to Africa ever having visited our shores.

The total number of birds which are either known to breed in Europe
or are regular winter visitants is probably about 500. Of these, as we have
stated, 222 are residents in the British Islands, either in winter or summer,
and 97 are included in the list of accidental visitors, leaving only 180
European species which have not yet paid us a visit. The number of
accidental visitors to Europe probably does not exceed 90; of these about
60 have visited our islands, leaving only 30 birds which, so far as is known,
are accidental visitants to the continent alone.

Of the resident British birds one species only, the Red Grouse, is
peculiar to our islands ; and one other, the British Coal Tit, is subspecitie
cally distinct from its continental allies.

It is necessary to say a few words on the vexed question of

NOMENCLATURE.

To understand the complications of the case let us take, as an example,
the synonymy of the Cliffchaff, from the ‘ Catalogue of the Birds in the
British Museum.’ In order to give an index to the literature of this bird
no fewer than seventy-six references to the works of ornithologists are
given. An analysis of these gives the following result :—The number of
specific names applied to the Chiffchaff by the writers quoted is fifteen.
Of these we may at once dismiss twelve, one of which only occurs four
times, one only three times, two only twice, and eight only once. We
have now three names left to choose from, dating as under :—

1787. hippolais (Linn. apud Lath.) ............ 8 times
Poa rupee (echt. 6x Briss)... «= fe YS be 4] ,,
Bota: waeoaten (Viel): Yo x. Seis BEES Se Bau;

It is obvious that the second name in the list is the one which ought, if
possible, to be used. Let us first examine how many generic names have
been applied to our bird; no fewer than nine. To these, however, we
must add the generic terms which have been applied to other species of
the genus. After eliminating those names which are obviously blunders,
we have the following left :—

1766. Motacilla (Linn.).
1769. Sylvia (Scop.).
1802. Astlus (Bechst. nec Linn.).
1816. Ficedula (Koch nec Cuvier).
1817. Trochilus (Forster nec Linn.).
1826. Phylloscopus (Boie).
1829. Sibilatrix (Kaup).
VOL. I. b

Xvill INTRODUCTION.

1831. Phyllopneuste (Brehm ex Meyer).
1836. Sylvicola (Eyton nec Swainson).
1847. Reguloides (Blyth).

1858. Acanthopneuste (Blasius).

1875. Phyllopseuste (Meyer fide Meves).

How is the unfortunate ornithologist to select his generic name from
such a series? ‘To solve this complicated problem Strickland drew up his
celebrated Rules of Nomenclature, which were afterwards adopted with
slight modifications by the British Association for the Advancement of
Science.

So far as regards specific names, I have throughout this work set the
Rules of the British Association at defiance, being convinced that, so far
as ornithology is concerned, they have done infinitely more harm than
good. Every day that they are retained increases the confusion which
they have introduced. No one has had the courage to attempt to carry
them out on a large scale ; but first one writer and then another intro-
duces a new name, changes are being constantly made, and names are
occasionally being transferred from one species to another, until it abso-
lutely becomes necessary, in many cases, to quote the English names of
birds as well as the Latin ones, the latter having been altered in obedience
to the Stricklandian code, so that they are sometimes absolutely unknown
to the general reader, or having been applied to different species, so that it
is impossible to tell which of them is meant.

The mischief which these Rules have produced is bad enough ; but the
mischief which they must continually produce if any ornithologist is
found bold enough to carry them out is far greater; and not a moment
should be lost by every ornithologist jealous of the prosperity and honour
of his favourite study in boycotting the new names, or exposing them in the
pillory of synonyms. ‘

The Stricklandian Code is admirable in theory, but utterly breaks down
in practice. The Rules of the British Association are most excellent if
applied in Utopia, but amongst a more or less muddle-headed race as
ornithologists always have been, and as we still remain, they can only be
productive of endless dispute and confusion. We cannot be trusted to
form an opinion as to whether the brief and often blundering diagnoses of
Linnzeus, Gmelin, or Latham are or are not clear definitions of the names
to which they are annexed. ‘To expect unanimity on such difficult ques-
tions is absurd. I have adopted a scheme which appears to me to be the
most practical of any which have been suggested. It may not satisfy the
requirements of poetical justice ; but it is at least consistent with common
sense! I adopt the specific name which has been mast used by previous
writers. It is not necessary for me to encumber my nomenclature with a
third name, either to denote the species to which it refers, or to flatter the
vanity of the author who described it; all my names are auctorum pluri-

INTRODUCTION. XIX

morum. Under this system no new names can possibly be raked up and
applied ; and it is one which reduces the chance of a difference of opinion
to a minimum.

In the selection of generic names I have followed the Stricklandian
Code with the following modifications :—

Ist. I take it for granted that the edition of Brisson’s ‘ Ornithologia,’
said to have been published in 1788, really did exist, and that it was a
reprint of the 1760 edition.

2nd. When the evidence as to the original type of a genus is not clear,
then I follow the majority of authors in the selection of a type.

3rd. I accept the designation of a type as a clear definition of a genus
and as overriding any error in the characters given.

4th. Wherever the name of a species has been selected for the name of
a genus, the species whose name has been so adopted becomes of necessity
the type of such genus.

5th. I adopt the specific name which has been most used, regardless of
whether it be or be not the same as that of the genus.

I hope by these means to have elimmated the weak points of the code,
and to have made it possible for uniformity to be the result of the honest
effort to carry it out.

I have not figured the birds treated of in my book, partly because they
have been so well portrayed in the magnificent plates of Gould’s ‘ British
Birds’ and in the less ambitious illustrations of Dresser’s ‘ Birds of
Europe’ *, and partly because it would have made the work too expensive.
I might have tried wood-engraving; but I could scarcely have expected to
find an artist who would equal the exquisite cuts in Yarrell’s ‘ British
Birds.’

On the other hand, there has not been a good book on British birds”®
eggs published for more than a quarter of a century, if we except the
fragment of the catalogue of Wolley’s collection which appeared nineteen
years ago. It is athousand pities that so many valuable notes which must
have been made on the breeding-habits of rare birds in Lapland should
still remain unpublished. In my opinion, John Wolley stands out promi-
nent amongst all other British field-ornithologists as the one solitary
example of a man who has shown in the pursuit of oology the pluck
worthy of an Englishman. Even at the present day too many British
oologists look upon the subject from the point of view of the mere collector

* Every ornithologist who can afford it ought to buy this work. It is an encyclopaedia
of information about European birds compiled from all the best sources. It is unfortu-
nately disfigured with more than the usual average of blunders, especially in the numerous
translations from the German, which can seldom be relied on, It is much to be regretted
that such an incompetent translator should have been employed; but with all its faults it
is a work which is invaluable to the student.

XX INTRODUCTION.

of half a century ago, who, so long as he possessed an egg of each species
of British bird, did not care whence it came or under what circumstances
or by whom it was collected ; and where they rise above this level, they
scarcely get beyond the almost equally melancholy pomt of view of the
museum curator, who, when he has labelled his specimen with name,
locality, date, and collector, thinks that the requirements of science are
satisfied. Of late years
OoLocy

has been much neglected. Some ornithologists ignore the subject alto-
gether. It is looked upon by a few clever men as being specially adapted
to the capacity of the schoolboy, but somewhat beneath the dignity of the
scientific man; and it is in consequence too frequently despised. The
new impetus given to the study of all branches of natural history by
the discoveries of Darwin and Wallace has at length reached Oology ; and
an additional interest is given to it from the light which it throws in many
cases upon the relationships of species and genera. The connexion between
the colour of the egg and the colour of its surroundings, where it is ex-
posed to danger, is also an additional question of interest of a strictly
scientific character.

It is, however, an immense mistake to suppose that the history of a
bird is completed by the meagre details given in such ultra-scientific
works as the British Museum Catalogues. In these high and dry publica-
tions nothing is given but the synonymy, sufficiently complete to be an
index to the literature, a minute description of the colours of the plumage
and the changes produced by age, sex, and season, and the geographical
distribution. These particulars may be sufficient for the museum curator ;
but for the field-naturalist they are but the foundation upon which his
superstructure is to be built. The real history of a bird is its life-history.
The deepest interest attaches to every thing that reveals the little mind,
however feebly it may be developed, which lies behind the feathers. The
habits of the bird during the breeding-season, at the two periods of migration,
and in winter; its mode of flight and of progression on the ground, in the
trees, or on the water ; its song and its various call- and alarm-notes ; its food
and its mode of procuring it at different seasons of the year; its migra-
tions, the dates of arrival and departure, the routes it chooses, and the
winter quarters it selects ; and, above all, every particular respecting its
breeding, when it begins to build, how many broods it rears in the reason,
the place it selects in which to build its nest, the materials it uses for the
purpose, the number of eggs it lays, the variation in their colour, size, and
shape,—all these particulars are the real history of a bird; and in the
account of each species of British bird I endeavour to give as many of
them as possible.

Oology may be described as the poetry of Ornithology; and to do it

eee!

INTRODUCTION. XXi

justice it demands some of the skill of the poet, as well as the accuracy of
the man of science. No picture of the life of a bird is complete without
some particulars of the scenes it frequents, which are in fact the frame in
which it is set. No one can be more conscious than I am how much I
have failed to reach the high standard at which I have aimed. I have
endeavoured as much as possible to write from notes made on the spot, by
which I have hoped to secure some of the freshness which is frequently
lost in memoranda written long afterwards; and I have tried to retain
something of the charm of local colouring which mere generalizations
seldom possess. I have tried to make the matter as original as possible,
aud only to resort to paste and scissors when absolutely necessary ; and where
I have been obliged to fall back upon the observations of others I have
sought to obtain unpublished accounts wherever possible. 1 have secured
the services of Mr. Charles Dixon, the author of ‘Rural Bird Life,’
whose intimate knowledge of the everyday life of many of our familiar
birds has been of great value to me, and whose observations will be found
to be specially interesting to field-naturalists, for whom this work is
specially written. My thanks are also due to many correspondents who
have furnished me with information, which will be found properly acknow-
ledged in the body of the work from time to time.

In conclusion, I beg to commend my book to all lovers of birds. If I
have criticised the work of any of my fellow ornithologists too severely,
I ask their pardon, and hope that they will pay me back in my own coin, by
correcting my blunders with an unsparing hand. The object of all true
scientific work is the elimination of error and the attainment of truth.

whee

i

4
il
RS

MAN eG TT
5 So
ili

BYIAHTAHAAED

SS)

iliitihin
Cag,

YM

ERRATA ET ADDENDA.

Page 131, last line, add too late for the works of the two last-mentioned writers, but four
years before the publication of that of the former,

» 145, line 1, for ASTUR read ACCIPITER.

» 251, line 52, for capensis read maculosus.

», 2654, I have just received from Mr. Nagle Clark an undoubted example of Cinclus
aquaticus, yar. melanogaster, shot at Spurn Point in Yorkshire, where it had
probably arrived on migration from Scandinavia, as it frequently occurs on
Heligoland.

nes g AR

< 4

. i 18% id ate
onee y “if Mvmt ite wily ‘eet a

oa
es

hap . a ae
RCE Sa Ae a) bee Sore they
Bae! is) < 40 feat LAY! ii. t cf eee a ha? ae ae oe 5 fe by
‘ . . ye ~ oy r ¥ J
DME wits. Ernie | as eh" i, Pegg? ] te i i us ae eta

py Wate Die) ban tas

126300

A HISTORY

OF

ere ody: EN: Bree

Family FALCONID, or BIRDS OF PREY.

Tue Birds of Prey are distinguished by their powerful hooked bills and
their strong feet armed with sharp, curved, powerful talons. At the base
of the bill is a piece of naked skin called the cere. The Owls also possess
this character, but may be distinguished by their fluffy plumage and facial
disk.

The Falconide area well-defined family ; but great difference of opinion
exists as to their relationship to other groups. Sclater (guided by Huxley’s
investigations of the bones of the palate) places them in the same series *
with the Cuckoos, the Parrots, the Owls, the Pelicans, the Herons, and the
Ducks. Forbes (relying largely upon Garrod’s study of the muscular
and arterial systems) removes from this list the Cuckoos, the Parrots, and
the Owls, and adds to it the Petrels. Gadow, on the other hand, retains in
the same great division the Parrots and the Owls, rejecting the Pelicans,
the Herons, and the Ducks, as well as the Petrels, but adding the Pigeons
and the Gallinaceous birds. It will thus be seen that there is no
other family which these three authorities all agree to unite with the Birds
of Prey. I have placed them first in my arrangement because they were
so placed by Cuvier in his classification—a system which, although it is
now universally admitted to be mainly an artificial one, is so well known to
all ornithologists that it may well serve as an index until the natural order
of sequence has been discovered.

Birds of Prey are cosmopolitan, the greatest number of species being
found in South America, and the fewest in the Pacific islands. Sharpe, in

VOL. I. B

2 BRITISH BIRDS.

his ‘Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum,’ enumerates nearly
400 species and subspecies, which he subdivides into 80 genera. In the
British Islands five-and-twenty species or more have occurred, belonging
to eleven genera, which may be distinguished as follows :—

a. Front of lower half of tarsus (as well as the sides and back) covered
with small hexagonal reticulations, not feathered to the toes.
a’. No true feathers on the crown of the head .........000-0e eee VULTUR.
b'. Crown of the head covered with true feathers.
a’, First primary much longer than the secondaries; lores not
feathered, but furnished with bristles.
a*, Tail even or slightly rounded.
a‘. Outer toe not reversible; bill deeply notched .... Fatco.
b', Outer toe reversible ; notch almost obsolete ...... PANDION.
O, Pas Mentely LOUKOW. case ate as nw cash i e maps weet late ELANOIDES.
b*. First primary about equal to the secondaries; lores feathered PrRNIs.
}. Front of tarsus feathered, or covered with broad transverse scales.
c', Tarsus less than one fourth the length of the tail.............. Mivus.
d', Tarsus more than one fourth the length of the tail.
c*. Lower half of tarsus scaled in front and reticulated at the
10 RB et Pate MR AVEO tI IEE ERC CET ELI HALIAETUS.
d°. Lower half‘of tarsus either feathered in front or scaled at
the back.
ce’. Tarsus feathered in front to the toes ..... dieu nies sonar AQUILA,
d®, Lower half of tarsus scaled in front and at the back.
ce’. Tarsus less than a fourth the length of the wing,
and less than half the length of the first primary.
a’. Tarsus thick; circumference about ome third

OF Lan Rt 55 cha Nutews 5 cca te ot ieee ae Bureo.
b°. Tarsus slender; circumference less than one
RiCH OF Lemp th sss wae wakes = 6 meee eee chee Circus.

d'. Tarsus one fourth or more the length of the wing,
and more than half the length of the first
PBIY. ,-5:<0:ry ss < ciybtin cca S E < es ACCIPITER.

Genus VULTUR.

The genus Vultur was established by Linneus in 1766, in his ‘Systema
Nature,’ i. p. 122. In 1806 Duméril separated the New-World Vultures,
restricting the genus Vultur to those of the Old World, but not designating
any type. Linnzus only knew two species of this genus, V. monachus and
V. percnopterus. As the former bird is undoubtedly the most typical
Vulture, its claim to be considered the type can scarcely be disputed.

The species of Vulture which have been found in the British Islands are
easily separated from the rest of the Falconidze by the absence of true
feathers on the head, which is more or less naked, or covered with down
only. The front of the tarsus as well as its sides and back are covered

a

VULTUR. 3

with small hexagonal reticulations. The wings are long but rounded. The
tail is rounded.

In Britain they are only accidental visitors, the true geographical range
of the genus being confined to the South Palzarctic, Ethiopian, and
Oriental Regions. It is a remarkable fact that there are no Vultures in
Australia. .

Their principal food is carrion.

Some Vultures breed in trees; but most of the species prefer the clefts
of rocks. Their eggs vary from white to deep brownish red.

The two species which have occurred in Britain may easily be distin-
guished by their size, the Griffon Vulture having a length of wing from
28 to 30 inches, whilst the wing of the Egyptian Vulture only measures
from 18 to 20 inches. There are only sixteen species of this genus
known, which may be arranged in six subgeneric groups. The Vultures
of the New World belong to a perfectly distinct genus.

4 BRITISH BIRDS.

VULTUR FULVUS.
GRIFFON VULTURE.
(PLatE 1.)

Vultur fulvus, Briss. Orn. i. p. 462 (1760); Gerint, Orn. Meth. Dig. i. p. 43, pl. x.
(1767); et auctorum plurimorum—Gimelin, Temminck, Gould, Naumann,
(Gray), (Newton), (Sharpe), &e.

Vultur trencalos, Bechst. Nat. Deutsch!. ii. p. 491 (1805).

Vultur castaneus, Steph. Shaw's Gen. Zool. vii. pt. i. p. 29, pl. xii. (1809).

Gyps vulgaris, Sav. Syst. Ois. de V Egypte, p. 11 (1810).

Vultur leucocephalus, Wolf, Taschenb. i. p. 7 (1810).

Vultur vulgaris (Sav.), Bonn. et Vieil. Enc. Méth, iii. p. 1170 (1823).

Vultur persicus, Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-As. i. p. 877 (1826).

Vultur albicollis, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 1010 (1831).

Vultur chassefiente, Riipp. Neue Wirbelth. Vog. p, 47 (1835).

Gyps fulvus (Briss.), Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 6 (1844).

Vultur fulvus occidentalis, Schlegel, Rev. Crit. p. xii (1844).

Gyps occidentalis, Bonap, Consp. i. p. 10 (1850).

Vultur egyptius, Licht. Nomencl. Av. p. 1 (1854).

Vultur fulvus orientalis, Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, ii. Vultures, p. 6 (1862).

Gyps hispaniolensis, Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. i. p. 6 (1874).

The claim of the Griffon Vulture to rank as a British bird rests on a
single instance of its capture. This specimen was obtained by a youth
on the rocks of Cork Harbour, Ireland; and its occurrence was recorded
in ‘ Yarrell’s British Birds, on the authority of Admiral Bowles. In the
autumn of 1843 he was visiting Lord Shannon, at Castle Martyr, and
there saw the bird, which had been purchased from the lad who captured
it. The example was in fully adult plumage and in good condition, and
reported as being very wild and savage and in perfect health. The
bird was preserved after its death, and placed in the Trinity College
Museum, in Dublin.

The breeding-range of the Griffon Vulture may be said to be the basin
of the Mediterranean, Caspian, and Red Seas. Large colonies are
found in the Pyrenees and in the mountains of Spain, Sardinia, and
Sicily. In the Alps they are rarer, and in the Carpathians still more so;
but in the mountains of Bulgaria, Greece, and Asia Minor they are ex-
tremely abundant. In the Caucasus and the Southern Urals small colonies
are found. St. John states that in Persia they breed in great numbers in
the lofty limestone cliffs north of Shiraz; and Severtzow records it as a
resident in Turkestan, where its breeding-range overlaps that of G. hima-
layensis. Colonies of Griffons are found in all the mountains of Africa
north of the Sahara, from Morocco to the Red Sea, as far south as Nubia.

In the northern portion of its range it is a partial migrant, stragglers
being occasionally found throughout Europe south of the Baltic; but in

GRIFFON VULTURE. 5

its breeding-quarters it may almost be considered sedentary. The Griffon
Vulture has two near allies; indeed it is doubtful whether these birds are
deserving of even subspecific rank. Gyps fulvescens is the Indian race,
differing from the Griffon in being of a rich ruddy bay colour, with con-
spicuous narrow pale median stripes to the feathers of the underparts,
and in having a short stout bill. In South Africa it is replaced by Gyps
kolbi (Daud.), said to be slightly smaller in size, and differing in its light
and almost uniform coloration, and which inhabits South Africa to the
Zambesi on the east, and to Damara Land on the west coast, but more
sparingly in the latter country (cf. Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. i. p. 8).
This bird is again closely related to the Gyps himalayensis of North India
and Turkestan, a larger bird and remarkable for its brown-coloured young.

I first made the acquaintance of the Griffon Vultures in the rock-bound
valley to the east of Smyrna, and afterwards in the Parnassus, and at
Missolonghi I saw so much of them that I began to look upon them as very
common birds; nevertheless when I renewed my acquaintance with them
last spring in the Pyrenees they interested me as much as if I had never
seen them before. In Greece and Asia Minor they are so abundant that
one naturally wonders where.they all find food. Upon the ledges of the
limestone cliffs which guard the vines and olives below, no doubt the grass
is rich and tempting, and now and then a sheep or a goat may slip and
find an untimely end on the broken rocks half concealed by the oaks, the
oleanders, the roses, and the clematis which adorn the borderland be-
tween the precipices and cultivation. Such an accident is a windfall for
the Griffon and Egyptian Vultures, one of whom is almost sure to have
witnessed it, and by his eager flight to have betrayed the prize to an ever-
increasing circle of hungry birds, always on the qui vive to discover a meal, *
or a fellow Vulture who knows or has a suspicion of one. As the camel
can drink enough to last him for many days, the Griffon Vultures seem
able to eat enormously at a meal, and to be able to go for a long time
without a fresh supply. When they have gorged themselves they will sit
motionless for hours on some commanding crag; otherwise they are gene-
rally on the wing, sailing round and round in majestic curves, seldom
coming within range of gunshot, unless you suddenly meet them wheeling
round the corner of a crag, or occupied upon the dead body of a mule or
a camel. The flight of the Griffon Vultures is very majestic; they float
and soar without apparent effort, as if they disdained to flap a wing,
wheeling round and round in grand sweeps. The wings are very broad ;
and each quill is conspicuously displayed at the extremities, which are
curved upwards by the resistance of the air. The tail is very short. As the
bird flies or, rather, floats, the fore half of the upper parts are grey and the
hind half black. The nature of their food makes them, in a certain sense,
gregarious ; but even when twenty or thirty can be seen on the wing toge-

6 BRITISH BIRDS.

ther, it never occurs to you to think of them as a flock of Vultures, they
are scattered so wide over the landscape.

In their breeding-habits Griffon Vultures are undoubtedly gregarious,
though even then it may possibly be the nesting-sites which are gregarious
rather than their occupants. They choose a perpendicular or overhanging
limestone cliff in which hollows or caves rather than ledges are found
at a considerable height from the ground, and generally inaccessible
without a rope. They are said usually to build a great nest made of
sticks, very rough on the outside, but more or less carefully smoothed
and hollowed out in the middle, and lined with sheep’s wool, goat’s hair,
dry grass, leaves, and any thing they can pick up. My Greek servant,
however, assured me that he had frequently taken the eggs from a cavern
where no nest was attempted; but the Greeks are such inveterate liars
that I never knew when to believe him. The probable truth is, that
they are not much of nest-builders, and appropriate the old nest of an
Eagle or a Raven when they can. Where large nests not thus stolen are
found they will most likely be the accumulated pile of many years.
Both in Greece and Asia Minor I was too late for eggs, which can be
obtained fresh in February and sometimes even in January ; so I did not
inspect many of the Griffonries very closely, though several were pointed
out to me. The usual number of eggs is only one, though it is said that
two are occasionally found. The stench of the Griffonries is almost in-
supportable. The entrance to the cavern or cleft in the rock looks as if
pailfuls of whitewash had been emptied upon it; and the effluvia of
ammonia and putrefaction are overpowering to all but the most enthusiastic
oologist. One visit tothe nest of a Vulture is sufficient to dispose for ever
of the theory that these birds hunt by scent, and are endowed with highly
sensitive olfactory nerves. The only condition in which the existence of
animal life seems possible in a Griffonry is in the case of beings absolutely
devoid of any sense of smell whatever. It is also said that concealed car-
casses are rarely if ever discovered by Vultures. Irby found at Gibraltar
that if the nest was robbed, a second egg was laid about six or seven weeks
later. They are sedentary birds, but appear less common in winter, as
they roam further from home when not employed upon the duties of
incubation. So far as is known, their only food is carrion.

I am indebted to Captain Verner for the following graphic account of a
visit to a colony of Griffon Vultures in Southern Spain :—“ On March 14,
1878, I left Gibraltar with a friend, an officer of Artillery, with the
intention of visiting several nesting-stations of the Griffon Vulture in the
Sierras towards Cadiz. We reached the Lajadel Sicar about half-past ten.
This is a favourite nesting-place of Gyps fulvus, and is a triangular-shaped
cliff rismg out of the broken ground east of the Laguna de la Janda.
Its general surface slopes back, so that the cliff is in most parts at an angle

GRIFFON VULTURE. (i

of 70° to 75° with the horizon. For about two thirds of its height it
is as smooth as a wall, and offers no facilities for nesting. Above this
the cliff becomes more broken; numerous long vertical fissures and
caverns are to be seen extending to within a few yards of the top, which
is amass of huge crags and boulders heaped one on the other, with a
dense jungle of palmetto, aloes, &c. growing out of every cranny and
making it quite inacessible. We decided that we would commence our
attack from the left flank of the cliff, which seemed to offer some facilities
for ascent in the shape of several broken ledges running across the face
of the cliff at about an angle of 45°.

“‘ Having worked our way through a densely wooded ravine, we at length
found ourselves at the foot of the cliff. After several ineffectual climbs
through palmettoes and thorns of every description, we had the luck to hit
upon a narrow ledge leading towards the middle of the cliff. Following
this for some fifty yards or more, we arrived at a small grassy terrace
terminating abruptly in a precipice, and situated between the main cliff
and a huge semidetached crag. From this point we could see the whole
face of the cliff, and far away above us several Griffon Vultures basking
in the sun. x

“ As it was impossible to advance further, my friend decided to wait at
this spot, whilst I retraced my steps and tried to find some means to
ascend higher. After one or two ineffectual attempts I at length suc-
ceeded in climbing up almost on a level with the part of the cliff most
frequented by the Griffons ; and several of them took wing. My friend,
now far below me, fired his revolver, when a number of splendid old
birds dashed out of the small caves to my front and above me. I was
almost in despair, as I was at last nearly within reach of my long-coveted
prize, and yet apparently it was hopeless to proceed any further ; but
having escaladed the stratified portion of the cliff I found myself on a ledge
at the entrance to a chasm. Climbing up this, the strata became more and
more clearly defined, until the whole surface of the cliff was made up of
a mass of horizontal ledges from one to three inches in thickness. Owing
to the general slope of the cliff, I found it was quite practicable to sidle
along many portions of the actual face of the great precipice. Keeping
a firm grip with my fingers on strata above me, my bare feet obtaining
support from the lower tiers of strata, I soon reached a ledge commanding
the main nesting-place ; and on looking down over a projecting spur I saw
right into a large nest about ten feet below me! Between me and it the
rock became vertical, and I was unable to descend. I think that I had
now gone beyond the stage of counting the cost ; for I scrambled round to
the opposite side of the nest, and, having reached a spot about six feet over
it, I somehow slipped down right into it with a foot on each side. I was
quite exhausted from the climb and the excitement, and sat down by

8 BRITISH BIRDS.

my prize to recover myself. I was in a small cave with a sloping floor,
on which was built the nest. The view, now that I could look without
fear of falling, was most magnificent. The whole plain of La Janda with
its lagunas was at my feet ; and I could see the distant Atlantic and the
sandy cape of Trafalgar over the Retin hills. The most interesting object
to me was the Griffon’s nest and one white egg. The nest was a massive
affair made of boughs and twigs, very neatly lined with dried grasses and
dead palmettoes. The bowl was about the size of a small hand-basin, say
fifteen inches in diameter; and I was much struck with its finish and
depth, as I had rather expected to find a mere platform of sticks &. The
rock below it was white with the dung of the birds; and there was an
indescribable sickly odour about the place. I carefully packed-the egg in
my box; and, it being out of the question to climb up to where I had
dropped from, I was most fortunately able to continue my route in a
downward direction. I soon came upon two more nests with eggs, and
one empty nest. I now found myself opposite the main fissure of the
precipice. As I was walking round into it along a most uncomfortable bit
of strata, a fine old Griffon dashed out close to me. I slipped round the
corner and swung myself right into the nest. This also contained an egg.
Again I found myself in a trap; for I could not proceed, a wall-like cliff
barring further advance ; and although I had jumped off a ledge of strata
into a nest, I did not feel inclined to reverse the performance. After a
mauvais quart d’heure (during which time, as my friend subsequently told
me, he imagined I must have been killed) I struggled up the fissure, until
it narrowed itself enough to form good climbing-ground for a chimney-
sweep. After ascending fifty feet or more I struck a good substantial
ledge, which led me toa series of chasms, one below the other, where I
came across five more nests. I soon found that my egg-box was full, and
that unless I could devise some means I should be obliged to leave some
of the eggs behind. So on reaching a favourable spot I put the eggs in
my bag, and whilst doing so dropped the box at my feet. On attempting
to stoop to pick it up, I found that I must relinquish my handhold with
no chance of finding more lower down; and as I only had foothold enough
for one foot, I was obliged to desist and leave the box where it lay.

« All the nests I visited were much of the type described ; some were
larger and some rather less carefully built. They all had the appearance
of having been the collection of many nesting-seasons, the lining and a
portion of the top sides being the only new additions.

“Of the eight eggs I actually brought away with me on this occasion,
six were pure white, one very large specimen was faintly speckled with
rufous at the larger end, and a small variety was speckled at the smaller
end. is

«The whole area of the cliff which the Griffons frequented smelt in the

GRIFFON VULTURE. 9

same manner as the first nest. It was not due to any carrion about the
place (such as is frequently the case in a Neophron’s nest), but appeared
to be caused from the dung and the natural odour of the birds. At times
it was most nauseating.

“ As I was making good my retreat towards the spur of the hill I met
with a mishap which gave me rather a start. I had grown bold when I
found the ledges of strata gave such good hand and foothold, and so did
not take much notice of where I rested. Suddenly a piece under my foot
gave way, and I swung round on the hand (which luckily had a good
hold) furthest from the rock, causing my egg-bag to swing round and hit
the rock. Luckily I somehow got a foothold and was able to reach a
safer spot. During the time that I was rifling their nests the Griffons
kept sailing about overhead; ever and again one bolder than the rest
would come swooping past me, but never near enough to give me any
apprehension. Most fortunately they did not realize what a very slight
touch would have upset my balance when traversing the small ledges. I
was very glad when I found myself doubling the spur, and could see that
the ground in rear of the cliff was easy to traverse, though rough and
broken. I made my way in rear over huge boulders with aloes and every
sort of obstacle growing between them, the worst being prickly pears,
which abounded. I passed a huge cave which was evidently much fre-
quented by the Vultures as a shelter in certain winds, judging from the
enormous amount of dung which spread like whitewash all down the face
of the crags.

“Upon blowing the eggs I found that four were quite fresh, or nearly
so; the rest contained young Vultures in various states of development :
one would have been hatched out within a week.”

The Griffon Vulture seldom lays more than one egg, although occa-
sionally two have been recorded, and Salvin found one egg and one young
bird in a nest of this species in Algeria. The eggs are coarse in texture,
and possess little or no gloss. Most eggs are white, or nearly so; but some
show a considerable amount of marking which cannot be explained by
any supposition of their being stained. One specimen in my collection
is very faintly but broadly streaked and blotched on the larger end with
very pale pinkish brown; another, one of the handsomest eggs of this
species I ever saw, obtained by Colonel Irby at Malaga, has the colouring-
matter very evenly distributed in spots and blotches and pale streaks
uniformly over the entire surface; a third is washed round its centre with a
band of reddish brown, and on the larger end is a thick irregular mass
of rich brown; a fourth (which is figured) has the deep-brown spots
confined to the smaller end of the egg, where they form an irregular
zone ; whilst a fifth, which may be called a typical egg, is milky white,
spotless or clouded here and there with staims and nest-markings. My

10 BRITISH BIRDS,

friend Mr. Howard Saunders tells me that in Southern Spain there is a
colony of Griffon Vultures whose eggs are always more or less spotted
and streaked. Griffon Vultures’ eggs vary from 3°85 to 3’5 inches in length,
and from 2°9 to 2°7 inches in breadth. Eggs of the Black Vulture (Vul-
tur cinereus), although, as a rule, richly marked, sometimes very closely
resemble those of the Griffon Vulture. It is then impossible to separate
the eggs of the two species with certainty,—although in the fie/d confusion
can never arise; for the Black Vulture invariably nests in trees, and the
Griffon just as invariably on rocks.

The Griffon Vulture is a buffish-brown bird with nearly black wings
and tail, and with the head and neck covered with white down. The bill
is pale brown and the legs lead-colour ; not vice versdé, as is erroneously
given in Dresser’s ‘ Birds of Europe.’

The young birds, when newly hatched, are covered with white down.

NEST OF GRIFFON VULTURE.

EGYPTIAN VULTURE. 1

VULTUR PERCNOPTERUS.

EGYPTIAN VULTURE.
(Prats 1.)

Vultur fuseus, Briss. Orn. i. p. 455 (1760).

Vultur egyptius, Briss. Orn. i. p. 457 (1760).

Vultur leucocephalos, Briss. Orn. i. p. 466 (1760) ; Gmel, Syst. Nat. i. p. 248 (1788).

Vultur perenopterus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 123 (1766) ; et auctorum plurimorum—
(Temminck), (Naumann), (Gould), (Gray), (Newton), (Sharpe), &e.

Vultur alimoch, La Peyr. M. et Ois. de la H. Garonne, p. 10 (1799).

Vultur stercorarius, La Peyr. loc. cit. (1799).

Vultur albus, Daud. Traité d’ Orn. ii. p. 21 (1800).

Neophron perenopterus (Linn.), Sav. Ois. de 1 Egypte, p. 16 (1810).

Cathartes percnopterus (Linn.), Temm. Man. d’Orn. i. p. 8 (1820).

Cathartes meleagrides (Pall.), Temm, Pl. Col. i. genre Catharte (1824).

Vultur meleagris, Pall. Zoogr, Rosso-Asiat. i. p. 877 (1826).

Percnopterus egyptiacus, Steph. Shaw’s Gen. Zool. xiii. pt. ii. p. 7 (1826).

Neophron zegyptiacus (Steph.), Smith, S. Afr. Q. Journ. i. p. 16 (1829).

At least three specimens of the Egyptian Vulture have been recorded
from Great Britain; and two of these examples have been captured. In
October 1825 two examples of this Vulture were seen near Kilve in
Somersetshire ; aud one of them was eventually shot, and was obtained by
the Rev. A. Matthew, who is quoted by Yarrell as follows :—“ When first
discovered it was feeding upon the carcass of a dead sheep, and had so
gorged itself with carrion as to be unable or unwilling to fly to any great
distance at a time, and was therefore approached without much difficulty
and shot. Another bird similar to it in appearance was seen at the same |
time upon wing at no great distance, which remained in the neighbour-
hood a few days, but could never be approached within range, and which
was supposed to be the mate of the one killed.” The other instance was
recorded in the ‘ Zoologist’ for November 1868, p. 1456, by Mr. C. R.
Bree, as follows :—‘‘ On the 28th of September last the labourer who had
charge of an off-hand farm of Mr. Woollard, of Stanway Hall, situated at
Peldon, Essex, had been killing his Michaelmas geese. On going some
time after into the yard where said geese had been slaughtered, he
saw a strange bird feeding upon the blood. The bird flew away, and the
man loaded his gun. Presently the bird came and hovered over the spot,
in hopes of another spell at the blood ; but his fate was sealed, and he fell
dead to the labourer’s shot. I saw the bird next day at the house of Mr.
Ambrose, of this place, to whom it had been sent for preservation. Mr.
Woollard has since kindly furnished me with the above information. As
far as I know, this is only the second instance of the capture of Vultur
percnopterus in Great Britain, the first having been shot on the shores of

12 BRITISH BIRDS.

the Bristol Channel, as recorded by Yarrell &c. in 1825. It is quite
possible that it has more frequently visited our shores, though not captured.
Mr. Laver, of this town (Colchester), informs me that many years ago his
father, who lived near Burnham, further up the Essex coast than Peldon,
had a flock of Vultures for several days among the large trees on his farm.
They were known by their bare heads, and were most probably the Egyp-
tian Vulture.” Both the birds above mentioned were in the brown or
immature plumage. Such is all the recorded information respecting the
occurrence of the Egyptian Vulture in Great Britain.

Its breeding-range may be said to be the mountainous portions of all
countries in the basin of the Mediterranean, the Caspian, and the Red
Seas. It also breeds in the Canaries, Madeira, and the Cape-Verd Islands.
Although a few birds may remain in certain of their breeding-haunts
throughout the winter, still the greater number migrate southwards down
the African coasts, and many probably into the interior of the continent, a
few straying as far south as the Cape colony. It is found throughout
Persia and Turkestan; but Severtzow did not meet with it in the Pamir, nor
is it recorded by Prjevalsky from Tibet or Mongolia. In India it is
replaced by Vultur ginginianus, said to differ in being slightly smaller in
size, in having the apical portion of the bill pure yellowish flesh-colour
instead of blackish, and in having the throat much barer of feathers. In
its habits it is not known to differ from the western species, except that it
prefers trees to rocks for its nesting-place. There are only two other
species in this subgenus, both of which are confined to Africa and are
chocolate-brown in colour instead of white.

The Egyptian Vulture is as common in Greece and Asia Minor as the
Griffon Vulture; but, unlike that bird, it is only a summer visitor to these
countries, arriving towards the end of March, and leaving about the middle
of September. It is consequently a much later breeder, the earliest eggs
being found in April. When I was in the Parnassus I took, or saw taken,
four nests of this interesting bird. Two of them, one on the 5th and the
other on the 8th of May, were near Castri (the ancient Delphi) ; the third
was near Drachmana, on the 15th, and the fourth near Arachova, on the
18th. The Egyptian Vulture does not breed in colonies. It is less d fii-
cult to please in the choice of a locality ; and the nests are generally acces-
sible to a good climber without a rope; consequently suitable sites may be
found im almost every valley of the Parnassus. The scenery of the Par-
nassus 1s very similar to the mountain-limestone districts of Matleck and
Dovedale in Derbyshire, but of course on a much grander scale, rising to
eight thousand feet above the level of the sea. It may conveniently be
divided into four regions. The lower two thousand feet is covered with
rocks, olives, aud vines, occasionally varied with fields of Indian corn,
cotton, and tobacco. Then follow two thousand feet which was once an

EGYPTIAN VULTURE. 13

oak region; but all the trees have long ago been cut down, except an
isolated grove here and there round a convent or a graveyard. Now it
may be said to be the scene of a constant struggle between rocks and
herbage. Sometimes the greatest part of this region is represented by a
series of nearly perpendicular cliffs dropping down into the lower regions ;
but it generally consists of ranges of sloping valleys, too rovcky to admit of
cultivation by spade, but having sufficient herbage upon them in summer
to supply food to flocks of sheep or goats. It is im this region that the
Egyptian Vulture breeds. Above is two thousand feet of rocks and pines,
and, finally, two thousand feet of rocks and snow. The Egyptian Vuiture
breeds in the same cliffs year after year ; and Dr. Kriiper was kind enough
to engage for me a Greek peasant who knew almost all their breeding-
places in the Parnassus. He was a wonderful climber, having in his youth
been accustomed constantly to scale the cliffs in quest of wild bees’ nests.
When we reached a cliff in which there usually was a nest, he used to
scream and yell in order to alarm the bird. Sometimes his clamour was
successful, and the bird flew off and revealed the fact that the eyrie was
occupied ; sometimes we had to fire a shot before she would betray her
treasures ; and once or twice our efforts were in vain, and we came to the
conclusion that the nest was empty. At one nest we found the best way
was to let a little Greek boy down by a rope to take the eggs. - Another
nest was robbed by my Greek servant with the help of a rope; but the
third was taken by sheer climbing. It almost made one’s hair stand on
end to watch the old man in his stocking-feet gradually mounting higher
and higher up the perpendicular cliff until, when he had reached the nest
and held out the eggs for me to see, the height was so great that without
my binocular I could not have recognized them for eggs. A few small
sticks, with a little dry grass or wool, was all the nest we found. The eggs
were usually two, one much more richly coloured than the other. It is
said that three eggs are sometimes found. The fourth nest I took with
my own hand. The eggs were laid in an old nest of the Lammergeir, in
one of the mountain-gorges near the Pass of Thermopyle. It was not
very difficult of access, several ledges assisting the ascent materially. In
the cleft behind the nest were piles of the broken shells of the tortoise,
which the Lammergeir had eaten.

The eggs of the Egyptian Vulture are buffish or creamy white in ground-
colour, spotted with brownish red. Sometimes the spots are confluent all
over the egg, paler in places (where the colouring-matter appears to have
been rubbed off when it was wet). Every intermediate type occurs between
this and eggs in which the colouring-matter is distributed in blotches and
small and large spots, which only become confluent at the large end, or, in
very exceptional cases, at the small end. They vary in length from 2-9 to
2°3 inches, and in breadth from 2°1 to 1:9 inches.

14 BRITISH BIRDS.

The Egyptian Vulture is said to eat snakes and other reptiles ; but car-
rion is no doubt its main food. ‘Tristram describes very graphically how
a dead camel is first preyed upon by the wolves and jackals. The Griffon
Vultures wait until the quadrupeds are satisfied, and then they take their
turn ; and not until they have gorged themselves are the Egyptian Vultures
allowed to begin their meal. In the Golden Horn, in Constantinople, I
have seen them picking up dead fish and other offal from the surface of
the water in company with Black Kites and Gulls.

In Stamboul they breed in the old cypresses, and on the walls and
mosques; and Col. Irby mentions an instance of one breeding in an old
nest of a Short-toed Eagle, in a cork-tree, near Gibraltar. Lord Lilford
describes these birds in Andalusia as following the plough to pick up the
grubs turned up by the ploughshare. Tristram describes them in Palestine
as resorting to the dunghills of the villages to feed, eagerly devouring all
sorts of animal or vegetable filth, and mentions a pair which he surprised
in the act of gorging at a heap of spoilt figs. He also states that the dung
of the flocks and herds of the Bedouins is their favourite food. He
describes their nests as very large ; but these would probably be old Eagles’
or Ravens’ nests which had been appropriated by the Egyptian Vultures.

The flight of this Vulture is very similar to that of the Griffon. J. H.
Gurney, jun., describing its habits in Algeria, says that ‘ both in ascending
and in descending it usually flies in circles. Like most other birds of prey,
it rarely flaps its wings, but, with pimions motionless, slightly upturned at
the tips, it scans the surrounding country from an enormous height,
receding rapidly from the eye, yet appearing to fly but slowly. The
nearer the ground the smaller are the circles, and the more lowered is the
inner wing; in fact, when about to settle, the bird is nearly sideways, the
point of one wing appearing to be directly beneath the point of the other.
It walks with long strides, but not fast, stooping first on one side and then
on the other.”

The Egyptian Vulture, when adult, is a nearly white bird, with black
primaries and brown secondaries. The bill is dark brown, and the cere
yellow ; legs and toes flesh-colour, claws black. In the immature birds
the feathers are dark brown, tipped with buff.

FALCO. 15

Genus FALCO.

The genus Falco was established by Linneus in 1766, in his ‘Systema
Nature,’ i. p. 124. At the present day it is impossible to make even a
guess at the species which Linneeus considered typical; but as the deci-
piter falco of Brisson is the Peregrine Falcon, this species may safely be
accepted as the type.

The true Falcons may always be distinguished by their long pointed
wings, the first primary being nearly equal to the third, and much longer
than the secondaries. The bill is deeply notched. The lower half of the
tarsus is entirely covered with small hexagonal reticulations, and is never
feathered. The tail is somewhat rounded. .

This genus is almost cosmopolitan in its range, being only absent from
the Pacific islands. Of the British species of this genus, four breed in our
islands, and four or five more are accidental visitors.

Most of the Falcons feed on small mammals and birds; but some occa-
sionally eat insects.

Their nests are generally placed in trees or rocks, but sometimes on the
ground. The eggs vary from white, more or less richly marked with red-
brown, to an almost uniform red-brown. ;

In the genus Falco the female is always larger than the male, and in
some species differs from her mate in the colour of her plumage; but even
in these cases very old females sometimes assume the plumage of the male.
The young in first plumage always differ from their parents. They retain
their immature dress through their first winter, and moult into the adult
plumage during the following summer.

16 BRITISH BIRDS.

FALCO GYRFALCO ann FALCO CANDICANS.

BROWN JER-FALCON and WHITE JER-FALCON.
(PLATE 3.)

There are two species of Jer-Falcons, very distinct from each other, and
having well-defined geographical ranges, but connected together by a series
of intermediate forms in the intermediate localities. It is not known that
these intermediate forms are produced by the interbreeding of the two
extremes; but in the case of the form which inhabits Iceland there seems
to be evidence that some interbreeding does take place (see Ibis, 1862,
p. 47, footnote). The synonymy of the two species and their most im-
portant intermediate forms is as follows :—

FALCO GYRFALCO.
Brown JER-FALCON.

Falco gyrfalco, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 150 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum—
Schlegel, Bonaparte, Naumann, Gould, (Sharpe), &e.
Falco sacer, Briss. apud Forst. Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. \xii. p. 882 (1772).
Falco lanarius, Linn. apud Lath. Gen. Syn. Suppl. i. p. 282 (1787).
Falco sacer, var. 8, Gmel, Syst. Nat. i. p. 273 (1788, ex Forst.).
Hierofalco gyrfaleo (Linn.), Brehm, Journ. Orn. 1853, p. 266.
Falco norvegicus, Tristr. Ibis, 1859, p. 24 (ex Wolley’s Sale Cat. nee Lath.)
Falco gyrfalco norwegicus, Schl. Mus. Pays-Bas, ii. Falcones, p. 12 (1862, nee Lath.).
Falco (Hierofaleo) gyrfaleo (Linn.), var. gyrfaleo (Linn.), Ridgw. N. Amer. Birds,
iii. p. 108 (1874).
Falco (Hierofalco) gyrfaleo (Linn.), var. sacer (Forst.), Ridgw. N. Amer. Birds, iii.
p. 115 (1874).
FALCO GYRFALCO-CANDICANS.
IcELAND JER-F acon.
Accipiter falco islandicus, Briss. Orn. i. p. 336 (1760).
Accipiter gyrfalco islandicus, Briss. Orn. i. p. 373 (1760).

Falco islandus, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 271 (1788, ex Briinn. nec Lath.).
Hierofalco islandus (Gmel.), Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus, i. p. 414 (1874, nee Lath.).

FALCO CANDICANS-GYRFALCO.
SouTH-GREENLAND JER-FALcon,

Falco rusticolus, Linn, Syst. Nat. i. p. 125 (1766).

Falco fuscus, Faber, Faun. Groenl. p. 59 (1780).

Falco arcticus, Holb. Zeischr. Ges. Nat. iii. p. 426 (1854),

Falco gyrfalco groenlandicus, Sch/. Mus. Pays-Bas, ii. Falcones, p. 13 (1862).

Falco holbeelli, Sharpe, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1873, p. 415.

Hierofalco holboelli (Sharpe), Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. i. p. 415, pl. xiii, (1874),

BROWN AND WHITE JER-FALCONS. 17

FALCO CANDICANS.
WuitE Jer-F acon.

Accipiter falco freti hudsonis, Briss. Orn. i. p. 356 (1760).

Accipiter gyrfalco, Briss. Orn. i. pl. xxx. fig. 2 (1760).

Falco rusticolus, Faber, Faun. Groenl. p. 55 (1780).

Falco islandus, Fuber, Faun. Groenl. p. 58 (1780) ; Lath, Gen. Syn. Suppl. i. p. 282
(1787).

Falco islandus 3. albus, Gel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 271 (1788, ex Brinn.).

Falco candicans, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 275 (1788); et auctorum plurimorum—
Schlegel, Strickland, Reinhardt, Newton, Gray, Sharpe, &c.

Falco islandicus (Briss.), apud Lath. Ind. Orn. i. p. 32 (1799).

Falco groenlandicus, Turton’s Gen. Syst. Nat. i. p. 147 (1806).

Hierofalco candicans (Gmel.), Cuv. Réegne An. i. p. 312 (1817).

Falco gyrfaleo, Linn. apud Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-As. i. p. 824 (1826).

Falco islandicus candicans, Holb. Zeitschr. Ges. Nat. iii. p. 426 (1854).

Falco (Hierofalco) gyrfalco (Linn.), var. candicans (Gimel.), Ridgw. N. Amer. Birds,
iii. p. 111 (1874).

An anonymous reviewer, in an able article on this subject (Ibis, 1862,
p- 44) recognizes three species of Jer-Falcons, F. gyrfalco, F. candicans,
and F. islandus. Nine years later Newton (Yarr. Brit. B. i. pp. 36-52)
does not suggest any alteration in this conclusion. Sharpe (Cat. Birds
Brit. Mus. i. p. 410), in 1874, admits the validity of the two first-men-
tioned species, but splits the last-mentioned into two, F. islandus and F.
holbelli. In the same year Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway (Hist. N. Amer.
Birds, iii. p. 108) only recognize one species, which they subdivide into
five varieties. F. gyrfalco is split into var. sacer, var. gyrfalco, and var.
labradora; F. candicans is called var. candicans; and F. islandus and F.
holbeili ave united under the name of var. islandicus. In 1876 Dresser
(‘Birds of Europe,’ vi. pp. 15-80) reunites var. sacer and var. gyrfalco
under the name of F. gyrfalco, but admits the distinctness of F. labradorus.
F. candicans is recognized as a good species, but F. holbelli is reunited
with F. islandus under the latter name.

The characters upon which these alleged species are based are very
variable, and the localities of examples in various museums are very inexact.
In the literature of the subject still more uncertainty prevails, in conse-
quence of wrong determination of immature birds; but after making
allowance for these supposed errors, the following appears to me to be the
most rational solution of this puzzling problem.

We may at once dismiss F. labradorus as a perfectly distinct species, of
a nearly uniform brown colour in the adult, with a few buff streaks on
the flanks, and a perfectly brown tail. This species breeds in Eastern
Labrador ; and there seems to be no evidence of any kind that any inter-
mediate forms occur between it and F. gyrfalco.

F. candicuns is the arctic form, breeding only north of the aretic circle,
in North Greenland, and Eastern America north of Hudson’s Bay. No
Jer-Falcon has ever been found breeding in North Russia or Siberia. The

VOL. I. c

18 BRITISH BIRDS.

thoroughbred bird has a white tail at all ages, and entirely white under-
parts in the adult; the upper parts below the head are sparingly marked
with tear-shaped spots. In the young the feathers of the back are brown,
with white margins and bases, and a few longitudinal streaks appear on
the head, breast, and flanks. In birds that are not thoroughbred, the
spots on the back gradually broaden until they become bars ; and examples
may be found showing every intermediate form between a few spots on the
tail and flanks and a perfectly barred tail and flanks in tbe adult, and in
the young with the addition of spots on the breast. Where the back is
barred and the thighs are streaked only or white, it is the so-called dark
race of the white Jer-Falcon, Sharpe’s intermediate stage between young
in first plumage and adult of that bird. When the thighs are barred and
the breast white, it is Sharpe’s adult F. holbelli; and when, in addition to
the barred thighs, the breast is spotted, it is Sharpe’s supposed intermediate
stage between young in first plumage and adult of that bird. The white
edges to the feathers of the back in the young of these half-bred forms
have become pale brown, and every feather of the underparts has a con-
spicuous brown longitudinal streak in the centre. All these intermediate
forms are found in Greenland, and are connected with another series of
intermediate forms, also found in Greenland, with the Iceland birds, F.
islandus, differing but little from the preceding in first plumage, but always
being streaked on the breast in the adult. The changes I have described
are also accompanied by a greater development of the dark spots on the
head, which, in the thoroughbred F. gyrfalco, are almost distributed over
the entire feather, causing the head to look nearly uniform dark brown.
In western North America intermediate forms occur between the Iceland
and Norwegian birds*. The selection of any one of these intermediate
forms is purely arbitrary ; and between the two extreme forms it is just
as easy to make ten subspecies as two. Even in such a comparatively small
series as that in the British Museum, intermediate forms are found upon
which ornithologists differ in opinion as to which race they should be
referred.

Three at least of the four principal forms of Jer-Falcon above enu-
merated have occurred at various times in the British Islands. From the
manner in which the several forms of this Falcon have been confounded,
it is extremely difficult to apportion the “large Falcons” that have so often
visited our shores to their respective subspecies. It is very evident that
the white Jer-Falcon was well known as a British bird a century ago; and

* Compare P. Z.S. 1870, p. 384, where Newton refers them “without doubt” to F.
tslandicus, “though belonging to the darker phase of that form,” with P. Z.S. 1875, p. 115,
where Dresser asserts that, if the American specimens had not unfortunately been sent
back, every one then present could have convinced himself of their specific identity with
F. gyrfaleo.

BROWN AND WHITE JER-FALCONS. 19

Latham informs us that it was then an inhabitant of Scotland, probably a
winter visitant from its far northern home.

Some half dozen specimens of the White Jer-Falcon are recorded as
having been taken in England, eight in Scotland and its islands, whilst in
Ireland but three specimens are recorded. A young bird, from which
Yarrell’s excellent woodcut was taken, was killed in Pembrokeshire, and is
now preserved in the British Museum. A specimen was shot in Corn-
wall, and preserved in the collection of Mr. Rodd. Stevenson records one
killed in Norfolk, near Cromer; Mr. Hancock one which was caught near
York in 1837; and Mr. Roberts another specimen, captured in Robin
Hood’s Bay, near Scarborough. Gray, in his ‘ Birds of the West of Scot-
land,’ instances four examples as having been taken in the Hebrides,
another in Lanarkshire, in 1835, also an immature male in Perthshire, in
the spring of 1862. The bird described and figured in Pennant’s ‘ British
Zoology’ was said to have been obtained near Aberdeen. On the 8rd of
March 1866, on the authority of Dr. Saxby (Zool. p. 288), a female was
shot on Balta, one of the Shetland Islands. Thompson records two from
Treland, both in co. Donegal; and Mr. Blake Knox records a third, killed
in the winter of 1862-63, and now preserved in the Museum at Dublin.

Although we have no reason to suppose that the Iceland Jer-Falcon has
appeared less frequently in our islands, still, possibly from its far less con-
spicuous dress, it has certainly been less noticed and recorded. Mr.
Hancock has two birds in his collection—one recorded in the ‘ Zoologist ’
(1845, p. 985), obtained at Bellingham on the North Tyne, and the other
at Normanby, in Yorkshire, in March 1837. In Mr. Borrer’s collection
is an adult bird, shot at Mayfield, in Sussex, in January 1845. In Scot-
land, as may naturally be supposed, the occurrences are far more frequent. »
Gray records numerous examples, from Ross-shire, Sutherlandshire, and
Inverness-shire, between the years 1835-51; and in more recent years he
is satisfied that several examples have been obtained in the west. Four
specimens are recorded from the Hebrides; and Mr. Elwes mentions another
trapped in 1866 in Argyllshire. In the Shetlands we have Dr. Saxby’s
authority for the bird having been a somewhat regular visitor ; but it is now
only occasionally seen.

The only authentic instance of the occurrence of the Norwegian form
of the Jer-Falcon in this country is an immature example, which was
obtained at Orford, in Suffolk, on the 14th of October 1867. It was shot by
Mr. George Hunt, in the act of devouring a hen, and is now in the possession
of his brother, Mr. Edward J. Hunt, of Pimlico, by whom it was stuffed. It
is in an excellent state of preservation ; and the plumage is scarcely at all
abraded. The head is somewhat darker than the back; and the under-
parts, including the thighs, are longitudinally streaked. It is probably a
bird of the year which has not yet assumed the yellow legs.

c2

20 BRITISH BIRDS.

The Jer-Falcon is an arctic Peregrine, with all the dash and courage of
that bird. It is the only Hawk resident in the arctic regions. Its keen
eye, rapid powers of-flight, and capability of being tamed make it a
favourite with the falconer, and the terror of the weaker birds. Its home
is the tundra, beyond the limits of forest-growth, where it selects the
rocks and the mountains on which to breed. The arctic form of this bird
(F. candicans) is clad in a snowy dress, protective to a degree amongst the
eternal snows of its northern home. ‘This protective dress, however, is not
to shield the bird from danger ; for a bird of such prowess need fear no foe.
Its protective colourmg serves to conceal it from its prey, and enables it
to sit watching for it, or steal upon it, unseen. The arctic form of the
Jer-Falcon used to fetch the highest price for hawking, as it was considered
the boldest bird, possessing the most rapid powers of flight. Holbdll states
that the food of the Jer-Falcon in Greenland is principally composed of
Ptarmigan and water-fowl, and that on one occasion a bird was once seen
with a young Kittiwake in each foot, and another was observed with a
Purple Sandpiper in each foot. Although such instances would seem to
show how successful this bid is in the chase, still Holbdll says that the
Jer-Falcons were not very expert at catching his pigeons. Richardson,
who observed the Jer-Falcon in Hudson’s Bay, states that its food is
Ptarmigan, Plover, Ducks, and Geese, mostly the former.

The flight of the Jer-Falcon is spoken of by all who have had the oppor-
tunity of witnessing it as grand and powerful in the extreme. Many of
its motions resemble those of the Peregrine; and if an intruder should
chance to threaten its nest, it will often fly round in circles with such
velocity as to produce a rushing sound as it darts through the air. Jer-
Falcons have been seen perched on the high stakes near the shore, in a
similar position to that which a Tern would choose, to pounce upon the
Puflins sitting unconcernedly at the entrance of their burrows close at
hand. During the summer months the Jer-Falcon ofttimes takes up its
abode near some bird-rock, to prey upon its feathered denizens.

Holboll states that he found young Jer-Falcons moulting throughout the
winter ; and he has determined by dissection that birds of this species
breed the following season after their birth. In Greenland the breeding-
season of the Jer-Falcon is in June. The nests are sometimes placed on
the loftiest cliffs, either near the sea or further inland, and sometimes on
the tops of pines and other trees. In Iceland they are always on the
rocks. Out of eighteen nests taken by MacFarlane on the Anderson river,
north of the Great Bear Lake, sixteen were on the tops of pines or other
trees from ten to twenty-five feet high; one nest was on a ledge of rocks ;
and the other was built on the rough ground on the side of a steep and
high hill. The earliest eggs were found on the 27th of May; but eggs are
often found as late as the end of June. These early nests are often com-

BROWN AND WHITE JER-FALCONS. 21

me nced before the rigours of an arctic winter have passed away and while the
snow still lies deep upon the ground. The nest is composed of twigs
and small branches, lined with moss, hay, deer’s hair, feathers, &c. Ac-
cording to Audubon, it is built at an altitude of 100 feet, is very flat,
2 feet in diameter, and made of sticks, seaweeds, and moss. At the nest
the bird is very noisy and bold; and Richardson mentions an instance
where the bird attacked him while he was plundering its home.

As regards the nesting-economy of the Brown Jer-Falcon, Wolley was
probably the first to give, from his own personal observations, particulars
respecting it. In Scandinavia its breeding-season is much earlier than
that of its American and arctic allies; and out of upwards of twenty nests
observed by that enthusiastic naturalist in West Finmark, the eggs were
almost all taken towards the end of April. The first nest he obtained was
in a cliff, very flat and large, made out of bleached and barkless twigs, and
lined with a bundle or two of dry grass. This nest contained four eggs,
shghtly incubated. Another nest was under an overhanging rock, made
of. fresh sticks, very large, and had the inside lined with willow-twigs
and sedgy grass; other nests he saw contained feathers. On the 7th of
June another nest came under his notice, which contained three young
ones and an egg. The hen bird appeared with food in her talons at this
nest. It was built in a recess a short distance from the ground, the downy
young birds inside continually uttering a chirping cry. One egg of the
Jer-Falcon was brought to Mr. Wolley, and was said to have been taken from
a nest in a tree standing on the edge of a very large marsh. This nest
suggests the theory that the Jer-Falcon accommodates itself to certain
localities which contain its food; for the large marsh near the nest was
probably its favourite hunting-ground. Wolley found near some of the .
nests the bones of Whimbrels and Ptarmigans; and Audubon mentions
that beneath the nests he found were wings of the Ptarmigan, Puffin, and
Guillemot. Collet’s information, probably relating to East Finmark, differs
somewhat from that quoted from Wolley; my Swedish friend says that
the Brown Jer-Falcons almost invariably nest on the tops of large fir
trees.

The note of the bird when an intruder is at the nest is much like that
of the Peregrine, and very loud, shrill, and piercing.

The eggs of the Jer-Falcon are usually four in number, sometimes only
three. The ground-colour is creamy white; but usually the markings
entirely conceal it from view. They are closely freckled and spotted with
orange-brown, rich reddish brown, and bricky red. Many eggs of this
bird closely resemble typical Hobby’s eggs; others approximate more nearly
to certain varieties of the Peregrine. Ina large series in my collection,
however, I do not find that the eggs are ever so dark as those of some
other British Falcons, and the markings are very evenly dispersed, some-

22 BRITISH BIRDS.

times becoming confluent, at others uniformly distributed over the entire
surface. Some specimens have the markings smoothly and evenly laid
over the entire surface, giving them the appearance of ground-colour
which is marbled and more intensified here and there. Another very
beautiful variety is mottled all over with pale rosy-pink shell-markings,
intermixed with pale reddish-brown blotches and spots on a creamy-white
ground ; whilst others have the spots and blotches mostly confined to the
larger end of the egg, leaving the white under surface exposed to view.
Jer-Falcons’ eggs are slightly more elongated than Peregrines’, have a
somewhat rougher shell, and possess little gloss. In size they vary from
2°4 to 2°2 inches in length, and in breadth from 1°9 to 1°8 inch.

In the autumn many Jer-Falcons wander southwards; but these are
mostly birds of the year which may have lost their way, or been tempted
to follow in the wake of the retreating hordes of wild fowl that go south
at the approach of winter.

The female Jer-Falcon (length of wing 16 to 15 inches) may always be
distinguished from the Peregrine (length of wing 143 to 12 inches) by its
larger size, and the female Peregrine from either sex of the Jer-Falcon by
the structure of the feet. In the Peregrine the outer toe without the
claw is longer than the inner toe without the claw; whilst in the Jer-
Falcon the outer and inner toes are about equal in length. The tail of
the Jer-Falcons is also uniform in ground-colour, whilst in that of the
Peregrine the bars are obscurer towards the tip, making the general
colour darker at the tip than at the base.

Sharpe’s very ingenious theory, that the intermediate forms between the
White Jer-Falcon and the South-Greenland Jer-Falcon are an interme-
diate stage of plumage between the young in first plumage and the adult,
is entirely unsupported by evidence; indeed the existence of young in
first plumage of each form is strong proof to the contrary, to say nothing
of the fact that his supposed intermediate stage of plumage remains con-
stant for years in confinement.

In the ‘ Zoologist’ for 1867 (p. 597) Mr. W. Jeffery records the occur-
rence of a “ Buzzard” which was brought into Chichester Harbour by a
coal-vessel. It was caught in the rigging of the ship when off Flamborough
Head. Mr. Gurney, in the ‘ Zoologist’ for 1875 (p. 4721), alludes to this
capture, and corrects the statement. The bird in question was sent to the
Zoological Gardens, and was ascertained to be a Jugger Falcon (Falco
jugger). As this Falcon is very commonly used in India for hawking,
it was most probably an escaped bird, although the circumstance is
worth recording.

XQ

PEREGRINE FALCON. 23

FALCO PEREGRINUS.

PEREGRINE FALCON.
(PLATE 3.)

Accipiter falco, Briss. Orn. i. p. 321 (1760).

Accipiter faleo peregrinus, Briss. Orn. i. p. 841 (1760).

Falco gentilis, Zinn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 126 (1766)*.

Accipiter peregrinus, Gerini, Orn. Meth. Dig. i. p. 55, pls. xxiii., xxiv. (1767); et
auctorum plurimorum—(Latham), (Temminck), (Naumann), (Gould),
(Gray), (ume), (Newton), (Dresser), &e.

Falco peregrinus, Tunst. Orn. Brit. p. 1 (1771).

Falco orientalis, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 264 (1788, ex Lath.).

Falco communis, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 270 (1788, ex Buff.).

Falco calidus, Lath. Ind. Orn, i. p. 41 (1790).

Falco lunulatus, Daud. Traité, ii. p. 122 (1800, ex Lath.).

Falco abietinus, Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl. ii. p. 759 (1805).

Falco pinetarius, Steph. Shaw's Gen. Zool. vii. pt. i. p. 195 (1809).

Falco anatum, Bp. Comp. List B. Eur. § N. Am. p. 4 (1838, ex Audubon).

Falco micrurus, Hodgs. Gray’s Zool. Misc. p. 81 (1844).

Falco nigriceps, Cass. B. Calif. p. 87 (1855).

Falco brookii, Sharpe, Ann. Nat. Hist. xi. pp. 21, 222 (1873).

The Peregrine Falcon is undoubtedly the commonest of the larger birds
of prey now found in the British Islands—a bird noted for its marvellous
rapidity of movement and flight, its almost unequalled audacity and bold-
ness, and for the great reputation it bore in the days when falconry was a
favourite pursuit. Although slowly but surely becoming extinct in the
British Islands, the Peregrine still breeds in a few localities in England;
but is much commoner in Scotland and Ireland, where the wildness and
seclusion of the scenery afford it a safer and more suitable refuge. At
the present day the Peregrine breeds sparingly on the sea-girt cliffs of the
south coast from Cornwall to Kent, the rocky headlands of Wales, and
inland in several ijocalities of Cumberland and Westmoreland; but it is
most probable that the bird has now deserted the cliffs of the Yorkshire
coast for ever. In Scotland we find it becomes much more numerous,
most, if not all, the great bird-rocks and precipices being tenanted by a

* There seems to be little doubt that the F/. gentilis of Linnzeus is an immature Pere-
grine. There cannot be the slightest doubt that the Falcon Gentle of Albin, to which he
refers, is a Peregrine. Many of the Linnean names (notably those of the Owls) admitted
by ornithologists are much more doubtful and much less clearly defined. There are only
three logical ways of treating this question. If you do not reject the doubtful names
alluded to, or adopt the name of F. gentilis for the Peregrine, the only alternative is to
reject the laws of priority of publication and clear definition before they have still further

complicated and confused the study of ornithology.

24 BRITISH BIRDS.

pair or so, the birds becoming more numerous in the less frequented
districts, notably amongst the mountain-scenery of the Highlands and the
Western Isles, particularly in Skye, the bold rocky coast-line and moun-
tainous scenery of which is so well adapted to its wants and security, and
where it is universally known as the “ Falcon.” In Ireland the Peregrine
inhabits and breeds in all suitable localities throughout the island, both
on maritime cliffs and inland mountain districts.

In the wideness of its distribution the Peregrine is equalled by few other
raptorial birds. It is a circumpolar bird, and breeds more or less regularly
in every country in Europe north of the basin of the Mediterranean up to
lat. 68°, a considerable number migrating into North Africa &c. for the
winter. It also breeds throughout Asia north of the Himalayas, wintering
in India and Burma. It nests in North America wherever suitable loca-
lities are found, and has occurred in winter as far south as the Argentine
States of South America.

The Peregrine’s haunt is the open country—the moorlands, mountain-
sides, and commons and waste lands near the sea being its favourite
places. Although by no means a common bird, still in suitable localities
it may be justly considered far from rare. Truly indeed the Peregrine is a
noble bird; his courage when on the wing and his proud bearing when
seated on some naked branch or rock-pinnacle stamp him as one of the
most lordly of his race. A study of the Peregrine’s habits leads the
observer into the wildest and grandest of scenery. His chatterimg cry
once heard can never be mistaken, usually uttered as he sails at some consi-
derable height in ever widening circles. It is wonderful how gracefully
he glides, not, perhaps, so evenly as the Buzzard, nor so lightly as the Wind-
hover, but with a peculiar motion strictly his own. Perched, it may be, on
some rocky boulder, he sits quite upright, his broad head ever and anon
turned anxiously from side to side, and his wings frequently half expanded as
though he were about to take wing. The Peregrine is indeed a bird of the
moor, the fjeld, and the tundra. The Grouse, the Ptarmigan, and the blue
hare supply him with his meal, and the mountain precipices a fitting
nesting-place. But the Peregrine is also found on the borders of
the ocean, choosing for his home some rocky islet or inaccessible sea-
washed cliff. Here the sea-fowl are his sustenance; and here he remains
throughout the year, rearing his brood safe from the inroads of man, save,
indeed, the bold and hardy rock-climber, who, for the sake of gain, not
unfrequently robs his nest.

The Peregrines breeding in our islands are non-migratory ; but in the
spring and autumn numbers of birds pass over, remaining some little
time to rest, and then proceeding again on their journey. These Falcons
usually attend the vast flocks of waders and water-birds migrating to or
from their breeding-grounds in the Arctic regions, and thus secure an

PEREGRINE FALCON. 25

abundant supply of food. It is doubtless to this migratory movement
of the Peregrine from the extreme northern limits of its range that we
must attribute the appearance of the bird in those localities now so little
suited to its requirements, as, for instance, the low-lying eastern counties.
Indeed, in the greater part of England the Peregrine is only known as a
migrant, most common in the autumn, and in a few cases remaining through
the winter in some favoured spot. It is also worthy of remark that these
autumnal wandercrs are, for the greater part, young birds; but in the
spring movement northwards old birds are more numerous. Even young
birds bred in our own land quit the place of their birth so soon as they can
forage for themselves, their parents guarding their own stronghold with
the greatest jealousy from intruders, and breeding there year after year
if unmolested.

Naturally enough, the time for studying the Peregrine Falcon’s move-
ments to best advantage is when it is engaged in obtaming its food. Most
species of water-fowl are preyed upon, as well as Grouse and Partridges;
but perhaps his favourite food is the Rock-Doves which nestle on the ocean-
cliffs around him, and the Stock-Doves in the more inland districts. Few
birds, indeed, fly more swiftly than these two species of Dove, yet the Pere-
grine takes them with comparative ease, fairly flying them down, or perhaps
more frequently darting with great rapidity upon them unawares. Dixon,
writing of the Peregrine on Skye, says :—‘“< A favourite morsel with the
Peregrine is the comical little Puffin, or ‘ Sea-Parrot,’ as the fishermen call
him; in fact in some localities this bird almost forms his only food. Here,
for instance, on this steep ocean-cliff a colony of Puffins have established
themselves. The time is early morning; and the Puffins are coming to
and quitting their holes, from and to the sea below, where quite a large |
company are fishing and disporting themselves. Several of the curious
little birds leave the cliff together, and with rapid beats of their short
wings pass to the water below. Suddenly a loud flapping of wings is heard,
something flits like a meteor from the air above, and follows the Puffins in
their downward course. Perceiving their danger they scatter; but too
late ; already one of their number is struck and quivering in the sharp
talons of their common enemy. All for the moment is commotion: the
birds on the sea beneath dive out of danger; and those on the cliffs are
in uproar at the suddenness of the onslaught. But the alarm soon sub-
sides, and the birds are pursuing their usual avocations again. Indeed
it is a noteworthy fact that the birds display very little alarm whilst the
Falcon sails high in air above them; and it is no uncommon thing to
see the bird, evidently when its appetite is satisfied, surrounded by Terns
and Gulls, and see the Puffins sitting quite unconcerned a stone’s throw
from their enemy.’ The Peregrine also feeds on young rabbits and
leverets, especially of the blue hare.

26 BRITISH BIRDS.

The Peregrine is of a very wandering disposition, and frequently goes
miles away from its accustomed haunt, often exploring the coast-line for
long distances in lazy soaring flight, ever and anon being mobbed by the
Gulls and Terns, or even the Carrion-Crows and the Hoodies, who seldom
fail to set up an uproar as soon as it makes its appearance.

As a rule the Peregrine is a comparatively silent bird, save when
alarmed—and to some extent a solitary one; for although these birds live
in pairs, still they frequently hunt for sustenance alone, and are seldom
seen together except during the season of reproduction.

Mr. Cordeaux informs me that “‘ the Peregrine is a resident in North-east
Lincolnshire in the winter months. <A pair invariably frequent the dis-
trict between Broadley Wood and Croxby Lake. They are mature birds,
and feed almost exclusively on Wood-Pigeons and the common Pigeons of
the dove-cotes, frequently showing great boldness in the capture of the
latter. The female, which I have seen at very close quarters, and in the
act of devouring a tame Pigeon, is a magnificent bird, the underparts
almost pure cream-coloured without a spot. On the coast I have seen the
Peregrine swoop at Curlews, but never successfully and never repeating
the swoop. The power of the Curlew on the wing is so great that it may
defy even the attempts of this swift-winged destroyer. Both old and
young frequently occur in autumn, in September and October, on mi-
gration.”

The breeding-season of the Peregrine commences early in April, the
young being often found in down by the beginning of May. Although
the birds pair for life, the same nesting-ground is not always tenanted—
other situations being chosen, seemingly at the caprice of the bird. One
season it will be in one part of the cliff, the next in another, as though
the birds had several favourite places and used them each in turn. Its
nesting-sites are various: in some localities the nest is placed in the tallest
trees, notably so in Pomerania and the wooded districts of North Germany,
while in others it is amongst the most inaccessible rocks, as in our own
islands; and in some countries, such as Finland and Lappland, the
ground alone is ofttimes chosen as a resting-place for it. The pair
of Peregrines that frequent the Bass Rock have chosen an admirable
situation for their nest, which is situated near the summit of the stupen-
dous cliff on the west side, where they have an almost boundless view
and are comparatively safe from their only enemy—man. Dixon visited
this nest on the Bass, and writes as follows :—‘“‘ So soon as we reached the
neighbourhood of the nest the female bird dashed rapidly from it, uttering
her harsh chattering cry as she went, which speedily brought the male
bird upon the scene. As I was partly lowered and partly climbed down
the face of the rock, the scene around me was an impressive one, dear to
the heart of him who delights in nature and her works. Far down below,

PEREGRINE FALCON. 27

the Guillemots and Puffins were disporting on the sea at the base of
the cliff, looking for all the world like small animated air-bubbles or specks
of foam, whilst the air around was full of Gannets sailing dreamily about,
their snow-white plumage glistening in the noonday sun, and their grating
cries, harsh though they were, lending a wild charm to the scene around.
Far up in the air above the two old Peregrines were sailing in ever widening
circles, the female bird, easily distinguishable by her superiority in size,
venturing the closest, sometimes coming so near as to enable me to catch
the sparkle of her bright black eye and hear the rustle of her pinions. The
male bird was much more wary, and kept at a respectful distance, whilst
both birds incessantly uttered their sharp chattering cry of alarm at the
threatened danger to their offspring. The nest was on a narrow ledge of
the rock, just affording sufficient standing-room, and was a poorly made
crude structure. It consisted for the greater part of a few bits of vegetation,
placed there by chance alone, carelessly strewed in a little hollow. Quan-
tities of feathers, a few pellets, and the bones and feet of various birds
strewed the vicinity of the nest, amongst them being the legs and feet of a
Puffin just recently conveyed there. Of course, had the nest only contained
eggs, the feathers and other refuse would probably have been absent. It
contained a single young bird in dirty white down, that allowed me to
examine it minutely without the least show of resistance. Scattered
round and in the nest were numerous pellets, formed of fur and feathers
and small bones, the refuse of the bird’s food, which is thus ejected.”
Harvie-Brown and I found the Peregrine breeding on the steep clay
banks of the river Petchora in North-east Russia, at Stanavialachta. On
the 27th of June, on the grassy top of a mound halfway down the mud-cliffs
overlooking this great river, and within sight of the Arctic Ocean, we came
upon the nest. It contained four eggs, one of which was much lighter in *
colour than the others. This mound had probably been used for some
years as a nesting-place by the Falcons, since the grass was much greener
upon it than upon the surrounding places. A little way off there rose
another mound just similar to it: and this was apparently the Falcon’s
dining-table ; for scattered all about it were feathers of Grouse, of Long-
tailed Duck, and of divers small birds. While we remained near the
nest the two Falcons hovered round, uttering sharp cries; when we
approached nearer still they redoubled their screams, hovered over us,
closed their wings, and descended perpendicularly till within a few yards
of our heads. A mile up the river we found a second nest upon an
exactly similar green-topped mound. ‘This nest contained three eggs; and
the behaviour of the birds as we neared it was the same as that of the
previous pair. I also met with the Peregrine breeding on the tundra on
the steep mud cliffs on the banks of the Yenesay. In lat. 694° I spent
the night of the 13th—14th of July on shore, shooting. I had no sooner

28 BRITISH BIRDS.

landed than a couple of Peregrines showed me their nest by their loud
cries. A glance at the cliffs decided the place where the nest ought to be,
on the top of a steep mud promontory, which stretched out to a sharp
ridge beyond and above the surrounding coast, and which was conspicuous
by its greenness. I climbed up a valley in which the snow was still lying,
and walked straight along the ridge to the little hollow, where the four red
eggs were placed upon a dozen small flakes of down. These eggs were
considerably incubated.

The eggs of the Peregrine Falcon vary from two to four in number.
The ground-colour of the egg when exposed is a pale yellowish white, and
the markings vary from brick-red and orange-brown to rich reddish brown.
Many of the eggs are often suffused with a beautiful purplish tint, which
is seen, but more rarely, on the eggs of the Kestrel. Peregrine Falcons’
eggs vary considerably in size and form, some being much elongated, others
almost globular. They vary in length from 2°15 to 1°95 inches, and in
breadth from 1°75 to 1:52 inch. The specimen figured may be taken as
a fairly typical egg of this species.

Time was when the noble Peregrines lived as favoured birds, the company
and amusement of kings and princes, being trained for the chase. The
female bird was always known as the Falcon, the male as the Tiercel; and
from her marked docility she was not unfrequently called the Gentil or
Gentle Falcon. Then the Peregrine was under man’s protection, and
penalties were inflicted on him who molested or destroyed it. But the
days of hawking have long waned; and the Peregrine, once so favoured,
is now open to an incessant persecution, which bids fair to exterminate it
from our land. This persecution, which is continually being waged against
all our raptorial birds, is slowly but surely doing its work. The Peregrine
in its sea-girt fortress will be one of the last Falcons to disappear before
it ; but the time will soon be when each noted eyrie will but exist in an
empty name. The Heron was the favourite bird of chase for the Falcon,
the sport usually taking place as the birds went to and from the streams to
the heronry. Sir John Sebright, in his ‘Observations on Hawking,’ gives
the following particulars respecting this peculiar sport :—

“The Herons go out in the morning to rivers and ponds at a very con-
siderable distance in search of food, and return to the heronry towards the
evening. It is at this time that the faleoners place themselves in the open
country, down wind of the heronry, so that when the Herons are inter-
cepted on their return home, they are obliged to fly against the wind to
gain their place of retreat. When a Heron passes, a cast (a couple) of
Hawks is let go. The Heron disgcrges his food when he finds that he
is pursued, and endeavours to keep above the Hawks by rising in the air ;
the Hawks fly in a spiral direction to get above the Heron; and thus the three
birds frequently appear to be flying in different directions. The first Hawk

~ PEREGRINE FALCON. 29

makes his stoop as soon as he gets above the Heron, who evades it by a shift,
and thus gives the second Hawk time io get up and to stoop in his turn.
In what is deemed a good flight this is frequently repeated, and the three
birds often mount to a great height in the air. When one of the Hawks
seizes his prey the other soon binds to him, as it is termed, and, buoyant
from the motion of their wings, the three descend together to the ground
with but little velocity. The falconer must lose no time in getting hold
of the Heron’s neck when he is on the ground, to prevent him from injuring
the Hawks. It is then, and not when he is ia the air, that he will use
his beak in his defence. Hawks have indeed sometimes, but very rarely,
been hurt by striking against the Heron’s beak when stooping ; but this
has been purely by accident, and not (as has been said) by the Heron
presenting his beak to his pursuer as a means of defence. When the
Heron flies down wind he is seldom taken, the Hawks are in great danger
of being lost, and, as the flight is in a straight line, it affords but little
sport.”

The Peregrine has the general colour of the upper parts a bluish or slaty
grey, barred with a darker tint, except the head and a broad moustachial
patch descending from the gape, which are black; the iower plumage is
white, suffused with buff, spotted on the throat and upper breast and
transversely barred on the remainder with blackish. Cere and legs bright
yellow ; iris dark brown ; bill horn-colour, becoming lighter at the base.
The female resembles the male, but is much larger. Young birds in first
plumage have the upper parts ashy brown, darkest on the head, each
feather edged with rufous ; the underparts whitish, longitudinally streaked
with brownish; tail irregularly barred and tipped with white. In the
young birds the cere and eyelids are blue. The Peregrine Falcon preseuts |
great individual diversity in the colours of its plumage, light and dark
forms of this bird occurring often in the same nest.

There are no less than five tropical forms of the Peregrine, all somewhat
resembling each other, and all probably only subspecifically distinct from
it. Asmight be expected, they are all darker on the upper parts and more
rufous on the underparts. The South-African form has been called
minor : it has the underparts below the breast much more regularly barred,
but is chiefly distinguished by its smaller size, the males varying in length
of wing from 103 to 114 inches instead of from 12 to 13 inches, and the
females from 124 to 13 inches instead of from 134 to 144 inches. There
are two Indian forms, which do not differ much in size from the typical
bird: they are very nearly allied to each other; and every intermediate
form is found between them. In North-west India F. atriceps occurs, with
the underparts below the breast slate-grey and very closely barred; and
in East and South India we find F. perigrinator, with the underparts below
the breast very rufous and with only a few spots. In Australia, Sumatra,

30 BRITISH BIRDS.

and Java F. melanogenys breeds, resembling the South-African and the
North-west Indian forms in having the underparts below the breast very
closely barred, and the latter in having those parts greyish. The South-
American form found in Chili and Patagonia, F. cassini, is scarcely distin-
guishable from F. melanogenys and F. atriceps.

Another allied species, the Barbary Falcon (Ff. baréarus), of which F.
babylonicus is probably the female, inhabiting North Africa, Turkestan,
and North India, belongs to the Lanner group of Falcons, differing from
the Peregrine group in having more or less chestnut on the nape, and
would not require notice here were it not for the fact that it apparently
interbreeds with the Peregrine, producing intermediate forms known as
F. punicus, which are found on the shores of the Mediterranean. The
variations of plumage in this supposed species are, to quote the words of
Mr. Gurney (‘ Ibis,’ 1882, p. 316), “nota little remarkable, some specimens
being almost undistiuguishable in markings and coloration from F. minor,
others approaching exceedingly near in these respects to F. barbarus, whilst
the majority exhibit a plumage more or less intermediate between these
two extremes.” When we consider that F. punicus is a slightly larger
bird than either F. minor or F. barbarus, and have regard to its geo-
graphical distribution, to the pale slate-grey of its upper parts, and its
tendency to be suffused with slate-grey on the underparts below the breast,
it seems most probable that it is an intermediate form between F. barbarus
and F. peregrinus.

SITE OF PEREGRINE’S NEST ON THE PETCHORA.

HOBBY. dl

FALCO SUBBUTEO.
HOBBY.
(Piate 4.)

Accipiter dendro-falco, Briss. Orn. i. p. 875 (1760).

Falco subbuteo, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 127 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum—
Temmuinck, Naumann, Gould, Schlegel, (Jerdon), (Hume), Sharpe, &e.

Falco barletta, Daud. Traité, ii. p. 129 (1800).

Hypotriorchis subbuteo (Linn.), Bove, Isis, 1826, p. 976.

Dendrofalco subbuteo (Linn.), Gray, List Gen. B. p. 3 (1840).

The Hobby has become a rare and local bird in England. It was
formerly a regular summer visitor ; but the number of occurrences during
winter suggests that some of the Scandinavian birds do not migrate further
south. In the northern and western counties it is much rarer; but in
Scotland it is a regular though local visitor, and is said occasionally to
breed in Orkney and to pass the Shetlands on migration. Only two
instances of its occurrence in Ireland are known.

Its principal breeding-grounds are the forest districts of the north of
France, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, South Scandinavia, and
Russia south of lat. 65°. South of the Baltic a few, probably migrants
from the north, are seen in winter. In Spain, the south of France, Switzer-
land, Italy, Turkey and Greece, Asia Minor and Palestine it is principally
known on the spring and autumn migrations; but in all these countries a
few remain to breed and a few stop the winter. It passes through North
Africa and the Canaries on migration, and winters in South Africa as far,
as the Cape; but Heuglin obtained one example in winter in Egypt. East-
wards it breeds in Northern Persia, Turkestan, and the whole of Siberia
south of lat. 64°. It passes through Cashmere, Mongolia, North China,
and Japan on migration, and winters in Northern India and Southern
China. There are two tropical forms of the Hobby which appear to have
become completely differentiated and to be now good species :—F. cuvieri
from South Africa, which may always be distinguished by its smaller size
and deep-chestnut breast ; and F. severus from India, the Burma penin-
sula, and the Malay archipelago, a species very nearly allied to the last,
with the same chestnut breast, but unspotted.

The Hobby is a miniature Peregrine, not only in appearance but also
in his character. Swift as the Merlin is, the Hobby is still swifter; and
his wonderful power of flight makes him bold and courageous. So eager
is he in the pursuit of his game, that in the ardour of the chase he has

~ been known to dart through an open window of a carriage on the road,
and to enter a room in the attempt to seize a caged bird. His courage,

32 BRITISH BIRDS.

however, is tempered with prudence, not to say cunning. An instance is
recorded (‘ Naumannia,’ vi. p. 261) of a pair of Hobbies in a forest near
Munich who fed their young by dropping food from a considerable height
into the nest on a lofty beech, so as to keep out of gunshot of the
forester and his overseer, who took it in turns to watch the nest in order
to shoot them. At this nest another remarkable fact was observed.
Although both parent birds were shot for six or eight successive years,
and during that period no young birds were reared from this nest, yet
each summer found it tenanted by a new pair. I have observed exactly
the same fact with regard to the Merlin, which is all the more extraordinary
since the latter bird breeds on the ground. Like the Merlin, and pro-
bably many other birds of prey, the Hobby soon finds another mate if one
of the pair are shot. An imstance is recorded (Stevenson, ‘ Birds of
Norfolk, i. p. 18) of a female who three times in the same season found
herself a fresh mate after the gamekeeper had shot the male. We must
not call him a relentless gamekeeper; for he allowed her to rear a brood
with her fourth consort. The Hobby seems to swim or dive through the
air, occasionally hovering for a moment and then renewing his flight.
He is essentially a forest bird, but hunts on the plains, devouring his
prey on the spot like a Peregrine. The nest is always in a tree, and
generally a lofty one, seldom if ever far im the forest, generally in some
outlying plantation, but occasionally in an isolated tree by a river-side.
The Hobby is very bold in attacking intruders on its breeding-grounds,
both parents being generally seen at the nest until the young are old
enough to require much food. ‘The vicinity of its treasures is often
betrayed to the egg-collector by its persistent endeavours to frighten him
away. It seldom builds a nest of its own, usually appropriating the
deserted nest of a Crow. It is a late breeder; and although it arrives at
its breeding-grounds in Pomerania, where it is a common bird, in the
middle of April, it does not breed until June, when the young Crows have
already flown. Four is the usual number of eggs; but three are not
uncommon, and five are occasionally found.

The Hobby still breeds in some parts of England. My friend Mr.
Frank Norgate found it breeding in Foxley Wood near Norwich last year,
and saw three nests of this rare Falcon in the same wood one day last
spring, each contaiming three eggs. They were all old Carrion-Crows’
nests in oak trees. Mr. Norgate robbed them earlier in the spring on
purpose to leave the nests empty for the Hobbies to take possession of.
Two of them contained Carrion-Crows’ eggs, and the other those of the
Kestrel. When he afterwards visited the nests he found them all tenanted
by Hobbies. In none of the three cases did they appear to have added
any fresh lining to the nests. On approaching each of them he found one
of the parent birds, probably the male, perched in an adjoining tree. He

HOBBY. 33

flew off before the female left the nest; and whilst Norgate was climbing
the trees both parents flew round in an excited and alarmed manner,
sometimes diving amongst the brushwood and occasionally very near him,
so that he could see their colours very distinctly. Their cries reminded
him very much of those of the Kestrel. In one of the nests and on the
ground near another were feathers of the Swallow.

Mr. John Cordeaux also informs me that the Hobby still nests annually
in North and Mid Lincolnshire.

Its food consists of small birds, especially Larks, which it is said always
to catch on the wing. It must, however, occasionally feed on the ground,
as Dr. Holland informs me that ants have been found in its crop, and
Bogdanow says that it eats lizards and mice. It teaches its young to hunt
by dropping food for them to catch, and gives them further lessons by
leading them to practise hawking on dragonflies. Dr. Holland informs
me that the period of incubation lasts three weeks, and that, although it
annexes an empty Magpie’s or Crow’s nest, it relines it with hair, wool,
and feathers. The eggs of the Hobby vary in length from 1:8 to 1°6 inch,
and in breadth from 1:4 to 1‘3inch. They are scarcely distinguishable
from those of the Kestrel, but are generally rougher in texture and not so
brilliant a red or so boldly spotted.

The general colour of the upper parts is greyish or bluish black ; the
two middle tail-feathers uniform greyish black, the others barred with a
lighter colour, the tips also lighter ; moustachial line broad and black.
Underparts white, slightly suffused with rufous, the breast and flanks
longitudinally marked with blackish. Thighs, and under tail-coverts deep
rusty red. Cere, bare space round the eye, and legs yellow ; claws black ;
bill horn-colour, darkest at the tip; iris dark brown. The female bird is
larger than the male; her colours are duller, and the streaks broader.

VOL. 5, D

34 BRITISH BIRDS.

FALCO ASALON.

MERLIN.
(PLATE 4.)

Accipiter litho-falco, Briss. Orn, i. p. 849 (1760).

Accipiter esalon, Briss, Orn. i. p. 882 (1760); et auctorum plurimorum—( Gmelin),
(Temminck), (Naumann), (Gould), (Yarrell), (Schlegel), (Newton), (Heuglin),
(Dresser), &e.

Accipiter merillus, Gerini, Orn. Meth. Dig. i. p. 51, pls. xviii., xix. (1767).

Falco esalon (Briss.), Tunstall, Orn, Brit. p. 1 (1771).

Falco regulus*, Pall. Leis, ii. Anhang, p. 707 (1773).

Falco lithofalco (Briss.), Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 278 (1788).

Falco smirillus, Savign. Otis. de V Egypte, p. 40 (1810).

Falco sibiricus, Shaw, Gen. Zool. vii. pt. 1, p. 207 (1809).

Falco cesius, Wolf, Taschenb. i. p. 60 (1810).

Hypotriorchis wsalon (Briss.), Bote, Isis, 1828, p. 514.

salon wesalon (Briss.), Kaup, Natiirl, Syst. p. 40 (1829).

/Bsalon lithofalco (Briss.), Bonap. Rev. et May. de Zoot. 1854, p. 536.

Ksalon regulus (Pall.), Blyth, Ibis, 1863, p. 9.

Lithofalco salon (Driss.), Hume, Rough Notes, i. p. 89 (1869).

The Merlin is one of the smallest of our native Falcons, yet possessed of
marvellous rapidity of flight and courage. It is a bird, too, of no small
amount of interest to the ornithologist, partly from the many conflicting
statements regarding its habits, and partly owing to the wild grand nature
of its haunts. The Merlin breeds throughout the mountainous districts
of Great Britain, from the moorlands of Derbyshire northwards to the
Outer Hebrides and the Shetlands, partly retiring to the lowlands and
southern counties in winter, where a few pairs casually remain to breed.

The same remarks apply to this species in Ireland. It breeds through-
out the island in the mountain districts ; and numbers seek the lowlands
in winter. This species is confined to the northerly portions of the Old
World. It breeds throughout North Europe, Iceland, and the Faroes ;
and a specimen was caught at sea by Mr. E. Whymper, on his voyage to
Greenland, in May 1867, in lat. 57° 41! N. and long. 53° 23’ W., the

* This is another instance of the folly of still adhering to the law of priority, which has
done so much mischief to the study of birds. Sharpe, in his ‘ Catalogue of the Birds in the
British Museum,’ adopts the name of F. regudus for the Merlin. Dresser was fortunately
able to reinstate the name in all but universal use by discovering that Tunstall, in a mere
catalogue of British birds (which had the good fortune to be published two years before
Pallas wrote), had used Brisson’s name. The next ornithological revolutionist will
undoubtedly reject both these names in favour of that of Gerini (which is unquestionably
the earliest clearly defined name known at present), if in the meantime the law of priority
does not meet with the fate it deserves.

MERLIN. 30

most westerly recorded limit of this species. It winters in South Europe
and North Africa, where, according to Loche, a few remain through the
summer, retiring to the highest districts to breed. Eastward it breeds
throughout Northern Siberia, passing through Mongolia and Turkestan
on migration, and wintering in South China, North-west India, and Scinde.

Doubt encircles the movements of this, the prettiest of our British
Falcons. It was formerly considered to be only a winter visitant to this
country, which, so far as the southern portions are concerned, is no doubt
correct. It has also been said to be only a summer visitant, and, like the
Swallow, to take its departure southwards at the advent of winter. These
several statements have undoubtedly been made by persons whose expe-
rience of the bird has either been exclusively confined to its summer or
its winter quarters, and, although to a certain degree correct, they are
misleading. The Merlin, in those districts frequented by it, from
North Derbyshire to the Shetlands, is a resident species, living on
the moorlands and the mountains in summer, and retiring to more
cultivated districts for the winter, in a similar manner to the Meadow-
Pipit. Even in the wild country of the Shetlands, the Western Isles, and
the Highlands the Merlin is found throughout the year—in summer on
the mountains, in winter lower down, in more sheltered districts and on
the sea-shore. The fact that the birds are almost always shot off most of
their breeding-places has doubtless given rise to the opinion that they
were migratory, these breeding-places being tenanted the following
season most probably by young birds or birds passing over Great Britain
on migration to more northern haunts, or the birds that have spent
the winter in the southern counties. The birds found wintering in the
south of England are, probably, migrants from North Europe, and not
bred in Britain at all. It is quite possible that all the young birds bred
with us migrate southwards, even though the old birds do not—a fact
which is common to all, or nearly all, raptorial birds. Hence, if the old
birds be shot, the breeding-places are not occupied until the return of the
young birds, who seize upon any locality where the former occupants have
been destroyed. ‘The latter would, if left unmolested, have remained for
the winter, or wandered to the lowlands, to return in spring, leaving their
young only to seek winter-quarters in the south.

In summer the Merlin’s haunt is the wild moors and mountain wastes,
the home of the Red Grouse—the brown breezy hills and valleys where
grey rocks overgrown with heather and bilberry abound and steep moun-
tain rifts and gorges occur. In winter it quits the moors, and descends
to the cultivated districts, even to the sea-coasts. At this season it will also,
like the Kestrel, frequent towns, and take up its quarters in church-towers,
cathedrals, and large public buildings, preying upon the Pigeons or the

Sparrows frequenting those places, or sallying out at intervals to the sur-
py 2

36 BRITISH BIRDS.

rounding country in search of more varied-fare. The reasons for this
change of haunt are obvious. In the spring and summer the moorlands
and mountain-sides are replete with the food of its choice—the Moor-Pipits,
Twites, and young Grouse; but in winter these Twites and Pipits are
compelled to seek fresh quarters. The Grouse are strong on the wing ; and
the Merlin must follow his quarry to the lowlands, or prey upon the shore-
birds, or seek the cover of our cities to feed upon the Sparrows and the
Pigeons.

When the first signs of spring are seen on the moorlands, and the Snipes,
the Titlarks, and the Peewits have retired to them to breed, you may often
get a sight of this little warrior bird. He preys upon these birds of the
moor, which his rapid powers of flight enable him easily to fly down with-
out resorting to the manceuvres which the clumsier Sparrow-Hawk is
compelled to take advantage of. These moors are the constant breeding-
place of three species of Hawk—the Kestrel, the Sparrow-Hawk, and the
Merlin. The Kestrel hovers over the ground at a considerable height, and
pounces down on a mouse and occasionally a lizard or a young Grouse, as
the pellets it casts up abundantly testify. The Sparrow-Hawk skims over
hill-tops or hedges, beats the bushes and the shrubberies, or comes round
rocks on its prey unawares. The Merlin, on the contrary, fairly flies it
down. A true Falcon, it descends to none of these artifices, but takes its
prey by the aid of its superior power of wing alone. Nothing seems to
stop it; and once the pursuit is commenced, rarely indeed does the quarry
escape. Dixon once saw this little Falcon “ in chase of a common Sandpiper,
which it had started from a heath-grown bank. Pursuer and pursued
strove their utmost, the poor Sandpiper doubling, rising, and turning from
side to side alternately, and its relentless pursuer following closely every
movement as though guided by a common impulse. Over a mountain-
lake the chase was given, offering a fine uninterrupted view of each bird’s
great power of wing, the Sandpiper gaining a brief respite by hiding
amongst a tuft of herbage on the shore. But the Merlin, nothing daunted,
waited the rising of its victim, and the pursuit was renewed. The poor bird
wheeled rapidly round, then darted forward, but all in vain; the Merlin’s
superior power of flight and endurance prevailed, and the poor Sandpiper,
wearied and exhausted, with a cry of terror, was struck down. No bird
of prey pursues its quarry with more vigour ; and a chase of this descrip-
tion once seen can never be forgotten.” The ‘Summer Snipe,” however,
is not the Merlin’s only prey. The Lapwings and Golden Plovers, although
almost twice its size and weight, are easily taken ; so are the young Grouse,
Snipes, and the various smaller birds of the wilds: none can escape him,
not even the swift-flying Swallow ; and he is justly feared as the terror of
the moors. No wonder the gamekeepers are up in arms against him. Yet
when we bear in mind the protective tints and the cunning wiles of those

ee

MERLIN. 37

creatures that form his sustenance, we know full well that his ravages are
kept within reasonable limits. In addition to birds of various kinds, from
a Wren to a Partridge, the Merlin also feeds on the larger insects and
beetles, like all our small Falcons ; in proof of which witness the remains
of wing-cases &c. seen in the castings of this species ; but it is not known
that mammals of any description whatever are included in his fare.

Like most birds of prey, the Merlin has certain favourite places whither
it conveys its captures to devour them at leisure. A large boulder of
rock or heath-grown mound often forms the Merlin’s dining-table, to
which it regularly resorts; and the heaps of feathers, bones, and occasion-
ally the entrails which strew the place inform the observant naturalist of
his presence. Merlins are eminently fond of sitting amongst the stones
and rocks which are so plentifully strewed in their favourite haunts, from
which peculiarity the bird has gained the provincial name of “Stone-
Falcon.” Rarely indeed does it perch on trees, the ground or rocks being
almost invariably its resting-place. The Merlin’s power of flight and
courageous spirit have very naturally caused it to rank as one of the
falconer’s special favourites. Of all the smaller Hawks he is classed as the
best; and even in our own days, when falconry exists almost as a tradi-
tion alone, the Merlin is trained to take small birds, such as Larks and
Snipes, the female bird, from her superior size and power, being success-
fully flown at much larger game, such as Plovers and Partridges.

The Merlin’s haunt in the breeding-season is indeed a wild and lonely
one, amongst the remotest parts of the moors, where the silence is rarely
broken, save by the notes of those few birds who share its favourite soli-
tudes—the Red Grouse, the Moor-Pipit, the Curlew, and the Snipe. A
true bird of the mountain indeed it is; and the observer must therefore
be prepared for a long tramp over the heather, and doubtless a wetting
from the mists which so frequently enwrap its breeding-grounds, if he
wishes for a sight of its beautiful eggs and scanty nest. Like most birds
of prey, the Merlin is a life-paired bird, and shows a strange affection for
certain haunts, and breeds regularly in one situation for years. Certain
localities are favoured as Merlins’ breeding-places ; and although the birds
are repeatedly disturbed and shot, still the same grounds are tenanted. I
have known a patch of heather, some couple of hundred yards square,
containing a Merlin’s nest for many years, whilst no other breeding-
place could be found nearer than eight or ten miles. There would be
nothing extraordinary in this if it could be proved that the same pair, or
their descendants, annually visited and occupied the same breeding-stations ;
they might easily be supposed to have obtained a vested right in the
estate, and to have defended it successfully against all comers, which is
undoubtedly the case when the birds are not molested. But on one of the
moors near Sheffield the gamekeepers used to shoot or trap one or both of

38 BRITISH BIRDS.

the parent birds (generally both), and im no case for more than ten
years did they ever allow the young birds to get away. They found out
by experience that it was of no use to shoot one of the birds before they
had begun to breed, because in such cases the survivor found another
mate in a few days. They shot or snared the cock bird as soon as they
could after the hen had begun to sit. In the neighbourhood of the nest were
little rocky elevations on the ground, which the cock bird used as feeding-
places, and which were easily found by the feathers of young Grouse and
other small birds scattered round them. Upon these knolls traps were set ;
‘and as soon as the cock bird was caught the hen was easily shot off the
nest. For several successive years this was done ; but, curiously enough, in .
the summer of 1872 no Merlins appeared in the locality. The only way
in which to account for the selection every year of the same locality by a
fresh pair of birds seems to be to suppose that the Merlins migrate en
masse, and that as they pass each recognized breeding-place, if the former
occupants are not there to take possession, another pair immediately
occupy it. The facts of the case seem to warrant the conclusion that the
selected sites for breeding are well known to a large circle of Merlins ;
otherwise it is difficult to account for the choice always falling upon the
same site, out of an indefinite number of others apparently equally
eligible.

The following is a history of the fate of each pair of birds for five
successive seasons in two localities :—

1869. Nest near Strines. Hen shot as she was bringing food to the
young. Cock shot with food im his mouth a quarter of an
hour afterwards. Young all destroyed.

1870. Nest on the same bank. Cock trapped and killed in the morning.
Hen trapped in the afternoon. Eggs all taken.

1871. Nest on the same bank. Two eggs taken. Nest afterwards
forsaken. Birds very wild and neither shot this season.

1872. No Merlins appeared this year.

1873. Nest on the same bank. Eggs taken and both birds destroyed.

1869. Nest near Ashopton. Both parents and all the young were
destroyed by a party of gamekeepers after the young had left
the nest.

1870. Hen shot soon after arrival. The cock found another mate,
which was soon afterwards also shot and again replaced. Both
these were shot before the nest was discovered.

1871. Nest on the old bank. Both old birds and the young were
destroyed.

1872. No Merlins appeared this year.

1873. Nest on the old bank; fate of birds unknown.

MERLIN. 39

Although the Merlin arrives on the moorlands from its winter haunts
late in March or early in April, it is a somewhat late breeder. The
date of nidification is evidently chosen with relation to an abundant
supply of food for the young. As in the Cyclades Eleonora’s Falcon
(Falco eleonore) postpones its operations until August, so that the young
may be fed upon the flocks of Quails returning southwards on their
autumn migrations, the Merlin lays its eggs about the middle of May, so
that the voracious young may be fed upon young Grouse. ‘The site
selected for the nest varies in different localities; for in Lapland both
Wolley and Wheelwright mention instances of nests being found in trees,
and Collett says that in South Norway it frequently takes possession of an old
nest in a tree, like the Kestrel. On the Faroes it is said to breed on the
cliffs. On our own moorlands a site is chosen on the ground in the tall
heather, or in some flat spot amongst the rocks on the steep slopes at the foot
of the precipitous ridges so often met with in these localities. The site
usually slopes down to a stream and is one that commands a good view of
the surrounding country. In most cases a small hole is made; whatever
roots and dry grass may chance to be upon the spot are scratched into the
rudiments of a nest; and the only materials actually selected by the bird
appear to be a few slender twigs of “ling” to form the outside of the
structure, and which are generally broken from the heather overhanging
the nest. When on the rocky slopes, it is usually made under a heather
tuft, or beneath a mass of coarse herbage, and is then but a mere hollow
in the scanty soil, as often without a few ling-twigs as with them. The
eges of the Merlin are usually five in number, sometimes only four, and
somewhat rounded in form. In colour they closely resemble those of the
Kestrel and the Hobby; but the colour is a more decided brown,
without the brick-red tints so commonly seen on newly laid eggs of those '
birds. Like all Falcons’ eggs, they differ considerably in size and intensity
of colour, varying through all the types of Falcons’ eggs figured on
Plate 4, with the exception of the Sparrow-Hawk’s. Some specimens are
deep reddish brown, so richly coloured as to hide all trace of the ground-
colour ; others are pale red, with most of the deep brown confined sometimes
to the large end and sometimes to the small end. Some specimens are pale
cream in ground-colour, evenly and beautifully marbled with deep purplish
red, or finely dusted over the entire surface with minute specks of blackish
brown. ‘The eggs of the Merlin vary from 1°65 to 1°5 inch in length, and
from 1:2 to 1:15 inch in breadth. Like most birds of prey, the Merlin
exhibits very little outward anxiety when its nest is approached; but
sometimes, especially if there be young birds in the nest, it will fly
round in circles, occasionally uttering a low tremulous scream, a note
resembling the call of the Kestrel.

When the young are strong upon the wing and well able to shift for

40 BRITISH BIRDS.

themselves, they undoubtedly migrate southwards, following in the wake
of the armies of migratory birds seeking their winter-quarters, and
which furnish them abundant food. But the old birds merely shift their
quarters from the moorlands at the approach of winter, and seek the lower
and more cultivated lands or the seashore, places where the smaller birds
abound, or where the various wading-birds spend the winter months.
Sometimes a pair of Merlins will take up their station for the winter in a
range of sea-cliffs, where they may from time to time be seen sitting
patiently on the rocks or amongst the stones of the beach, ready to dash
out and give chase to the first flock of “ Stints” that may skim past. In
the autumn months the Merlin is one of the worst enemies of the
myriads of Thrushes and other small birds on their way southwards, taking
up his abode in the neighbourhood of their line of flight, and committing
sad havoc in the ranks of the terrified songsters. In fine, the Merlin’s
habits are much those of the Peregrine over again. The same feats of
daring recorded of the larger Falcon may equally be related of the
“ Falconet.” He is indeed a bold little fellow, seems afraid of nothing,
and wins the admiration of all who make his acquaintance in the field.
It is to be feared, however, that the incessant warfare carried on against
him by the game-preserver will eventually exterminate him from those
haunts to which he is so fondly attached, and of which he is one of the
finest ornaments.

The general colour of the Merlin’s upper plumage is slaty blue, rufous
on the nape, and with a dark shaft to every feather; the lower plumage is
rufous, striped longitudinally with blackish brown; tail with a broad,
black, subterminal band, and traces of other bars on the inner webs; beak
bluish, darker at the tip; cere and legs yellow; claws black ; irides dark
brown. There is much difference of opinion as to the colour of the
female’s plumage. Such high authorities as Macgillivray, Naumann, and
Nilsson all agree in stating that the female bird is very differently
coloured from the male. On the other hand, Sharpe, in his first volume
of the ‘Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum,’ maintains that the
female is similar to the male, but a little larger. There can be no doubt
that females, probably very old birds, do sometimes assume the male
plumage; for an example was obtained by Dr. Scully at Gilgit, in North-
west India. It was shot in December, carefully sexed by Dr. Scully
himself, and in colour resembles most closely the male bird. It is the
opinion of Mr. Gurney, than whom we have no better authority on raptorial
birds, and who has examined this interesting specimen, that the reason
why this advanced stage of plumage is not better known in Europe is
probably due to the fact that the Falcon is so rarely allowed to attain
the fully adult dress. Young birds are first covered with greyish-white
down. In first plumage they have the upper parts rufous-brown, spotted

MERLIN. 4]

with darker brown; tail-feathers brown, barred with rufous-brown and
tipped with creamy white; the underparts whitish, broadly striped with
- dark brown, becoming almost pure white on the throat.

The Merlin has several near allies. On the American continent it is
represented by a species divisible into three races, which Mr. Ridgeway
treats as only varieties of the European species—F. columbarius, F. richard-
soni, and F. suckleyz. ‘These races breed in the northern portion of the
American continent, in the Atlantic region, the region of the plains, and
the region of the north-west coast respectively. They are all browner and
darker than our bird, and have the black spots on the tail developed into
transverse bars, which in F. suckleyi are almost confluent. In the Old
World there are two tropical forms of the Merlin, which, however, appear
to have become well-defined species, F. chicquera inhabiting India, and
F. ruficollis Airica. They may at once be distinguished from the Merlin
by having the entire head and neck chestnut. They are, however, so nearly
allied to each other that by some ornithologists they are considered one
species ; the African race is said to be paler, and to have the bars on the
breast closer together.

42 BRITISH BIRDS.

FALCO VESPERTINUS.

RED-FOOTED FALCON.
(PxLateE 4.)

Falco vespertinus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 129 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum—
Macegillivvay, Strickland, Schlegel, Blasius, Newton, (Sharpe), (Gould), &e.

Faleo rufus, Scop, Del. Faun, et Flor. Insubr. ii, p. 36, pl. xix. (1786).

Falco rufipes, Beseke, Vig. Kurl. p. 20, t. 3, 4 (1792).

Falco erythrourus, Rafin. Carratt. Nuovi Gen. Av. p. 5 (1810).

Cerchneis vespertinus (Linn.), Bote, Isis, 1828, p. 314.

Pannychistes rufipes (Beseke), Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 87 (1829).

Erythropus vespertinus (Linn.), Brehm, Isis, 1830, p. 796.

Falco rubripes, Less. Traité, p. 95 (1831).

Tinnunculus rufipes (Beseke), Kaup, Classif. Stiug. u. Vig. p. 108 (1844).

Tinnunculus vespertinus (Linn.), Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 21 (1844).

The Red-footed Falcon is an accidental visitor to the British Islands,
from twenty to thirty specimens having been recorded at various times,
one or more in Scotland, and one in Ireland. On the continent of Europe
it is also an accidental visitor to Spain, France, and Scandinavia. Its
breeding-quarters are Hungary, the whole of Russia south of lat. 65°, and
South-western Siberia as far east as Krasnoyarsk. Lindermeyer’s state-
ment that it breeds in Greece, and Loche’s assertion that it breeds in
Algeria, are neither of them verified by subsequent travellers in those
countries, and are probably erroneous. It passes through Germany, Italy,
Turkey and Greece, Asia Minor, Persia and Turkestan on migration, and
winters in Damara Land, and occasionally in North-east Africa. In
Siberia from Lake Baikal eastwards this species is represented by Ff.
amurensis, the males of which have the under wing-coverts and axillaries
white instead of slate-grey. This species breeds as far south as Eastern
Mongolia and North China, and winters in India and South-east Africa.
This is one of the most curious cases of migration and geographical
distribution known. That the Red-footed Falcon, ranging during the
breeding-season from the valley of the Dvina to the valley of the Yenesay,
should winter in Africa is not an unprecedented fact. The Willow-Warblers
and Sedge-Warblers, which breed in the last-mentioned valley east of Cal-
cutta, apparently do the same. One can easily imagine that two such
very common birds have been obliged to widen their breeding-range, and
to extend it eastwards by degrees as they increased in numbers; and one
can also understand that they would naturally retain their old winter-
quarters until a “Zugstrasse” or route of migration would gradually be
formed from Central Siberia to Africa, This line of migration probably

RED-FOOTED FALCON. 43

runs from east to west in Siberia, as the birds would not be likely to
deviate east of their usual route until they had arrived at their breeding-
grounds and found them too crowded. The fact that the winter-quarters
of the eastern representative of the Red-footed Falcon are partly in India
and partly in the Transvaal is much more difficult to understand ; and I
am unable to suggest any explanation of the anomaly.

The Red-footed Falcon is a bird of easy though not very rapid flight.
It sails and hovers for a moment like a Hobby, but lacks the dash
necessary to catch birds on the wing. Its food is chiefly insects. Some
of these, such as beetles and ants, it obtains on the ground; but most of
its food is captured in the air. It is avery gregarious bird; and flocks may
be seen hawking backwards and forwards with great regularity, turning
sharp round at the end of their beat. This is principally observed towards
evening, when night-flying moths are on the wing. In the daytime they
catch grasshoppers and dragonflies. They are rarely if ever found in the
forest, but are very partial to swampy ground thinly scattered over with
trees, which afford them convenient perching-places in the midst of their
insect prey. Nordmann mentions their great abundance in the botanical
gardens at Odessa ; and they are equally common in the gardens of the
club at Krasnoyarsk, the limit, so far as is known, of their eastern range.
At night they roost as close together as they can, choosing, if possible, the
bare branches of a pine. They also breed in colonies, occasionally five or
six nests being in one tree. It is said that they rarely if ever build a nest,
but appropriate old nests of Crows or Magpies, or especially of Rooks.
Cochrane says that in Hungary they arrive in the middle of April and
breed early in May. Goebel says that in South Russia their usual breed-
ing-time is early in June, and that they take possession of the nests of the
Rooks after they have done with them, but that they frequently breed in
solitary pairs, especially in gardens, in old Magpies’ and Crows’ nests. He
adds that sometimes they breed earlier, for he once took a nest on the
13th of June with six young, which had been amply provided by their
parents with field-mice, stagbeetles, and a green lizard. The number of
eggs varies from four to six. In shape, size, and colour the eggs of the
Red-footed Falcon approach very near to those of the Kestrel. As the
result of a careful comparison of 147 eggs of the former with 289 of the
latter, Goebel arrives at the following conclusions :—The eggs of the Kestrel
are coarser-grained, have much more lustre, and are, on an average, larger,
and not only absolutely but proportionally heavier. The colour of the
Kestrel’s eggs is a darker, browner red compared with the yellower red
of the eggs of the Red-footed Falcon. The eggs of the latter vary in
length from 1-6 to 1:25 inch, and in breadth from 1°2 to Linch. |

The adult male Red-footed Falcon has the whole plumage dark slate-
grey, shading into silvery grey on the wings, and into black on the tail,

A. BRITISH BIRDS.

except the thighs, vent, and under tail-coverts, which are chestnut; cere
and bare space round the eyes orange-red; irides hazel; bill orange at
base, dark horn-colour at tip; legs and toes brownish red; claws yellow,
darkest at tips. The adult female has the general colour of the upper
parts below the nape, including the tail, slate-grey, not so dark as in the
male, each feather broadly barred with darker grey. The wings are not
so silvery a grey as in the male ; their under coverts are chestnut, and the
quills are broadly barred with white on the inner web. The head, nape,
and the whole of the underparts are dull chestnut, paler on the throat ; the
feathers round the eye dark brown. Soft parts as in the adult male, but
paler ; bill more uniform horn-colour.

The young male has the general colour of the upper parts except the nape
slaty brown, each feather broadly margined with pale rufous. The quills
are dark brown, almost black, narrowly tipped and margined with buflish
white, and ovally barred with white on the inner webs. The tail is evenly
barred with rufous, less distinctly so on the two centre feathers. The
nape and entire underparts are pale buff, the former obscurely and the
latter broadly streaked with brown, except on the vent, under tail-coverts,
and thighs, which are uniform buff; the feathers round the eye brownish
black. Bull and cere horn-colour, paler on the lower mandible. Legs and
toes paler than in aduit birds. Lastly, the young female resembles the
young male ; but the stripes on the underparts are broader.

It will thus be seen that the adult male bird may always be recognized by
its uniform slate-grey plumage, unbarred and unstreaked ; the young of
both sexes by the pale margins to the feathers of the upper parts, the barred
tail and broadly streaked pale underparts; the fully adult female by her
uniform unspotted chestnut underparts. The young birds in first plumage
very closely indeed resemble young Hobbies ; but may always be distin-
guished by the row of conspicuous oblong white spots on the primaries,
and have the outside web of the outside tail-feather barred as well as the
inside web. The so-called young male figured in Dresser’s ‘ Birds of
Europe’ is the not quite adult plumage of the female of the second year,
which still shows a few streaks on the underparts. Young Red-footed
Falcons may be distinguished from young Merlins by their thighs, which
in the latter species are streaked, and by the oblong spots on the pri-
maries of the former species, which in the latter are represented by pale
dull chestnut bars.

AOACED BR TKO Ke
ee ai} Sie ee fied

KESTREL. 45

FALCO TINNUNCULUS.

KESTREL.
(PLATE 4.)

Accipiter alaudarius, Briss. Orn. i. p. 879 (1760).

Accipiter tinnunculus, Briss. Orn. i. p. 893 (1760) ; et auctorum plurimorum—
(Linneus), (Temminck), (Naumann), (Gould), (Sharpe), (Newton), (Dresser), &c.

Falco tinnunculus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 127 (1766).

Falco fasciatus, Retz. Faun. Suec. p. 70 (1800).

Falco brunneus, Bechst. Orn. Taschenb. p. 88 (1802).

Cerchneis tinnuncula (Linn.), Bote, Isis, 1828, p. 314.

Kgypius tinnunculus (Linn.), Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 29 (1829).

Tinnunculus alaudarius (Briss.), Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 21 (1844).

Tinnunculus tinnunculus (Linn.), Heugl. Peterm. Mitth. 1861, p. 20.

The Kestrel is the commonest bird of prey in the British Islands, and
breeds almost everywhere, and is equally abundant in well-wooded districts
and rocky moors. Amongst the grand scenery of the Highlands it is one
of the most characteristic birds. It is common in the Hebrides, and
breeds on most of the rocky islets, even on isolated St. Kilda and the
Orkneys; in these northern haunts, however, the bird is merely a summer
visitor, and retires southwards at the approach of winter. In Ireland the
Kestrel is also widely distributed in all suitable localities, but does not
appear to be so common as it is in Scotland and England.

The Kestrel breeds in almost every part of the Palearctic Region, and
is common up to lat. 60°. Further north it rapidly becomes rarer; and
north of the arctic circle its appearance is only accidental, though there
scems to be good reason to believe that Wolley once obtained a nest in
Lapland as far north as 68°. North of the Alps it is principally a summer
migrant ; but in the countries south of the Baltic a few remain during the
winter. South of the Alps it appears to be a resident. The Kestrels
breeding in North Africa receive large accessions to their numbers by
migrants from Europe during winter; and at that season of the year it
almost reaches the equator on the west of Africa, and goes slightly beyond
it on the east of that continent. In Asia the Kestrel is equally abundant.
In the valley of the Yenesay I found it very common in lat. 58°; and Mid-
dendorff obtained five examples from a flock which appear to have wan-
dered out of their way (they were all five young females) on migration in
lat. 71°. In Persia it is very common in summer; but the greater number
winter in Baluchistan and Arabia. In Turkestan the Kestrel is principally
known as a spring and autumn migrant, but a few remain both winter and
summer. It breeds in the Himalayas, but in India is principally known
as a winter visitor, though there are resident Kestrels on the mountains of

46 BRITISH BIRDS.

South India. It breeds in Mongolia, Japan, and China, and probably in
Formosa and Hainan. It winters in Burma.

A species having such a wide range as the Kestrel, breeding in such
various climates, and consequently subject to the influence of different
kinds of food and variations in the difficulty of procurimg it, in addition
to the direct influence of variations in the amount of sunshine, in the
degree of heat and cold, and in the amount of moisture, must of necessity
develop subspecific forms or climatic races. In the islands off the coast
of West Africa (Cape Verd, Canary, and Madeira) the humidity of the
climate has produced a dark race, which, as is so often the case with msular
forms, is also a small race. This subspecies has been called F. neglectus,
and varies in length of wing from 8-4 to 9°4 inch, and has the dark spots on
the upper parts larger than usual. On the continent size will not help us
much in distinguishing the different forms, as they all vary im length of
wing from 9°3 to 10'4inch. In birds breeding in Spain, Tangiers, Abyssinia,
the Himalayas, Mongolia, and China, the slate-grey of the head and tail
and the chestnut of the back are also dark ; and these differences have been
considered by some writers to be of sufficient importance to constitute a
subspecies, to which the name of F. interstinctus has been given. British
birds, however, are somewhat intermediate, and are decidedly darker than
examples from Siberia, which are the palest of all. In Japan the dark
richly spotted form of the West-African islands reappears ; but as it retains
the dimensions of its Chinese neighbour, whom it often visits in winter, it
also has been dignified with a name, that of /. japonicus. In the moun-
tains of South India, however, a resident Kestrel occurs, which is scarcely
distinguishable either in size or colour from the West-African island form,
and, if it be distinguished from I’. tinnunculus, must also bear the name of
F. neglectus. It seems probable that the Hainan birds must also be
referred to this subspecies. ‘There is nothing extraordinary in the fact of
the extreme western form reappearmg in the extreme east. It is the
normal state of things with the more northern Palearctic birds. 'The
range of the Kestrel scarcely reaches a latitude high enough for an ex-
treme arctic form to be produced; but its range in both the east and west
is sufficiently south for a tropical form to be developed.

In newly moulted birds the differences of colour of these local races are
clearly perceptible in both sexes; but in abraded plumage they are not
always easy to determine. Ornithologists are not agreed on the best way
of cataloguing these climatic races; but no true naturalist can ignore
them. ‘To give them each a separate binomial name is liable to lead to an
exaggerated idea of their specific value; and the American ornithologists
appear to have acted wisely in following the plan adopted by Linnzeus, of
calling the local races varieties. The result, if it be scientifically accurate,
is at the same time somewhat complicated. The British Kestrel bemg an

KESTREL. 47

intermediate form between the central-southern race and the semiarctic
one, would have to bear the name of Falco tinnunculus var. tinnunculus-
interstinctus, always supposing that the type of Linnzus was a semiarctic
form. If the facts of nature are complicated, it is perhaps unreasonable
to expect that their scientific nomenclature should be otherwise.

From its habit of hovering in the air, the Kestrel is probably the best-
known and most easily recognized of all British raptorial birds. This
peculiarity has gained for it the colloquial name of Windhover. It hangs
in the air, poised over one spot, with outspread wings and tail, as if sus-
pended by a thread. Seldom, indeed, can one take a walk in the country
without making a passing acquaintance with this graceful little Falcon.
A favourite locality for the Windhover is in rocky valleys: the dales of the
Peak of Derbyshire are one of its favourite haunts, where it nestles in the
lofty limestone cliffs. Amongst all the dales and moors and rocks of
Yorkshire its pretty gambols in the air, its wonderful evolutions and
graceful movements, form one of the most charming accessories of the
wild impressive scenery of many parts of this county.

Easily distinguished, indeed, it is from all others of its order; and its
presence is readily detected as it hovers in the air

“As if let down from the heaven there
By a viewless silken thread,”

now advancing towards you, flying up wind, some thirty feet above the
earth, its wings flapping hurriedly or held perfectly motionless. Now it
is directly above you; you see its broad head turning restlessly from side
to side; the wings seem in a perpetual quiver, and the broad tail is ex-
panded to its fullest extent. Now it glides slowly forward for a few yards,
pauses for a moment intently surveying the ground beneath, then once
more, with a few vigorous flaps of its wings, darts off in a sidelong direc-
tion, and poises itself in the air as before. Again it proceeds a little dis-
tance, hovers, and bounds forward. Then, by describing a broad circle,
it turns completely round, and flies rapidly down wind, but soon suddenly
stops and hovers again. Something has arrested its attention; a
mouse is below it in the meadow-grass ; and, closing its wings, it drops
like a stone, throwing out its wings again just before it reaches the
earth, hovers a moment, clutches its prey, and as rapidly mounts the air,
and bears off in direct and rapid flight to some quiet haunt, where it can
devour its prey in peace. Sometimes you may see it at a stupendous
height, wheeling round and round in circles; and when passing from one
place to another it usually does so at a considerable height.

Although in most parts of Great Britain the Kestrel may be observed
from time to time during the winter months, still it is a regular migratory
species, and most of our British Kestrels leave us at the approach of

48 BRITISH BIRDS.

winter to swell the large flocks of Hawks that annually cross the Mediter-
ranean on passage. The reason for this migration has not far to be
sought. Certaimly in England the Kestrel’s food is composed almost
exclusively of mice and moles and beetles, creatures that are rarely found
abroad in the depth of winter. The absence of this food renders migra-
tion imperative, and sends the Kestrel to a southern clime, where its
winter fare is largely composed of locusts. Birds do not constitute the
Kestrel’s regular food. A walk through its haunts will convince the
observer of this beyond all doubt. You never see the smaller birds in
terror at his approach; he is no enemy of theirs, and mingles freely
with them, almost unheeded. Observe what consternation the Sparrow-
Hawk brings to these little choristers when he is abroad; but how dif-
ferent when the Kestrel passes overhead! The Chaffinch, imstead of utter-
ing cries of alarm, still continues his merry notes; and the Larks and
Pipits stay not in their song. See how differently the Kestrel’s presence
in the farmyard is regarded. No anxious brooding hen utters her cluck of
alarm to her scattered family; and the Sparrows continue their meal on
the ricks, while in the air the graceful Swallow vies with him in airy flight,
unconcerned and trustful, for experience tells him there is no danger.

Mice form the chief part of the Kestrel’s food; but occasionally small
birds are taken, although, as before stated, only very rarely and when
its usual fare is wanting. Frogs, moles, caterpillars, lizards, and earth-
worms, too, are eaten ; but the latter seem rather exceptional food ; for
the Kestrel is rarely seen on the ground, and there more rarely still in
motion; for its sharp claws would inevitably be broken or blunted, and
thus prevent it from firmly clutching its usual prey. All Falcons walk
but little on the ground, as an examination of their beautifully sharpened
claws proves beyond all doubt. A favourite prey of the Kestrel is
cockchafers ; and it may ofttimes in the evening’s dusk be seen hawking
for them, taking them in its claws just as it would take a mouse or frog.
Various other insects are taken, such as grasshoppers and locusts. It
usually eats its insect captures whilst flying through the air. From its
extreme partiality for mice the Kestrel is one of the best friends of the
farmer; and the great value of its services in destroying these pests ought
to place it in far greater favour than it now enjoys.

It is not before the early spring (March) that the Kestrel is seen in any
numbers in this country, when it returns northwards to rear its young.
Even then, if the weather be at all severe, especially if the ground be
covered with snow, they retire southwards again, to return as soon as the
frost disappears. The Kestrel’s pairing-season is in April, although the
eggs are seldom laid before early May. [ew things are more interesting
than to wander through the Kestrel’s haunt at this season and observe its
graceful motions high in air, Around you in the underwood birds are

KESTREL. 49

singing on all sides; the air, with the balmy freshness only known in the
vernal season, is resonant with melody; but high up in the air above you
the Kestrels are sailimg and chasing each other. Several are in the air
together; and their flight is now graceful in the extreme—darting down-
wards, soaring aloft, and making the woods and rocks resound with their
peculiar notes. It is their love-season, too; and at this period the Kestrel
is more noisy than at any other time of the year. Their chorus of cries,
high up in the blue sky, rendered musical by the distance—keelie, keelie,
kee-kee-kee—is varied by a harsh chattering cry.

The Kestrel appears to delay its nesting-season until field-mice and insects
are plentiful. The Kestrel generally breeds in the thickest woods, and rarely
in nests built in isolated trees. It also rears its young on the cliffs by the
sea-side ; and some of the best places to seek for its eggs are the rocks on
the moors and the cliffs of limestone districts. The Kestrel will also not
unfrequently lay her eggs in holes of buildings, notably amongst ivied ruins
and the Gothic architecture of cathedrals, in company with Doves and Jack-
daws. When the eggs are laid in the crevices of rocks, a little cavity is,
if possible, scratched in the soft earth or vegetable refuse, or, failing
this, some natural cavity in the rock itself is chosen in which to deposit
the eggs. I once took five Kestrel’s eggs out of an old Raven’s nest in
the cleft of a perpendicular cliff at Howden Chest, in the High Peak of
Derbyshire. It was an elaborate and highly finished structure, doubtless
composed of the materials brought by the Ravens twenty years before, but
evidently rebuilt for the occasion. It was almost flat; the centre was
about 7 inches across, a slight hollow in a bed of peat, lined with bits of
heath. Around this centre was a broad ring, 7 inches wide, very regularly
and evenly made of the thick charred stalks of ling which had escaped the
fire when the heath was burnt, now bleached white with age. It is very
probable that the Kestrel is a life-paired bird, like other members of its
order ; and every season it will, if left unmolested, return to the same place
to rear its young. Even if one of the birds be destroyed, the other will
quickly find another mate, and return with unerring certainty to the home
of its choice. In the wooded districts a Crow’s or Magpie’s nest is the
usual situation chosen by the Kestrel in which to rear its young, and
sometimes the nest of a Ring-Dove is used, and, more rarely still, an old
Sparrow-Hawk’s. It is also worthy of remark, that when a Magpie’s nest
is chosen the rooty lining is usually removed, probably from motives of
cleanliness, and the eggs are laid on the hard lining of mud. As incuba-
tion advances the pellets containing the refuse of the bird’s food accumu-
late, and serve as a lining, beautifully soft, on which the eggs rest secure.

Six eggs is the number usually found, although in some cases the number
has been seven, and in others so few as four or five. They are rich
reddish brown of various shades upon a dirty or creamy white ground.

VOL. I. E

50 BRITISH BIRDS.

Kestrels’ eggs go through all the types of the eggs of the true Falcons
figured on Plate 4; and, in addition to these, some eggs have the
colouring-matter all massed on the larger end of the egg, others have
a ground of dull yellowish chestnut with irregular blotches of intense
coffee-brown, while others are brick-red with a few minute dots of deep
brown. Most eggs of this bird, when newly laid, possess a purplish bloom,
which, however, soon fades after exposure to the light. The eggs of the
Kestrel vary from 1:7 to 1:45 inch im length, and from 1°35 to 1:12 inch
in breadth. The female Kestrel when laying does not always deposit an
egg each successive day, and sometimes sits upon the first egg as soon as
laid. The female bird usually incubates the eggs, although the male is
sometimes found upon them. When the nest is approached, the sitting
bird silently quits its charge, but sometimes not until the nest is reached,
especially if the eggs are coming near to maturity. Throughout the whole
season of incubation the male bird may often be seen high in air above
his nest, sailing round in circles ; and sometimes he will be joined by his
mate.
Although an easily-tamed bird when brought up from the nest, the
Kestrel wins but little favour from the falconer, wanting, as it does, the
impetuous dash of other members of this group of birds. Still it has been
successfully flown at small birds, although the nature of its food in a wild
state will effectually prevent it from ever figuring largely as a bird of sport.
The male Kestrel has the head, lower back, and tail slate-grey, the
latter with a broad black band near the end and a white tip, and the head
with dusky shaft-streaks; the rest of the upper parts pale chestnut,
with small, black, triangular spots; the wings are blackish brown, with
lighter-coloured edges; the breast and belly are pale fawn-colour, with
dark streaks on the former and dark spots on the latter; the thighs and
under tail-coverts are rufous fawn-colour without spots, and the under
surface of the tail is greyish white. Beak blue; cere and orbits yellow ;
irides dark brown; legs and toes yellow; claws black. 'The female has
the whole upper surface reddish brown, barred transversely with bluish
black ; the wings are darker than in the male, and the whole underparts
are paler. Young males are like the female, but a little paler perhaps,
until after the first winter, when they begin to assume the adult plumage,
the blue head being the last to be obtamed. Very old females some-
times assume the plumage of the male.

LESSER KESTREL. 51

FALCO CENCHRIS.

LESSER KESTREL.
(PuaTeE 4.)

Falco turrium, Gerini, Orn. Meth. Dig. i. p. 67, pl. li. (1767).

Falco naumanni, Fleischer, Sylvan, 1817, p. 175,

Falco xanthonyx, Natt. fide Fleischer, Sylvan, 1817, p. 175.

Faleo cenchris*, Nawm. Vog. Deutschl. i. p. 318 (1820, ev Frisch); et auctorum
plurimorum— Cuvier, (Kaup), Schlegel, (Bonaparte), (Gray), (Newton), Dresser’,
&e.

Falco tinnunculoides, Schinz, fide Nawm. Vog. Deutschl, i, p. 325 (1820).

Falco tinnuncularius, Vieill. Faun. Frang. p. 36, pl. 16. fig. 5 (1829).

Cerchneis cenchris (Nawm.), Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 74 (1881).

Tinnunculus cenchris (Nawn.), Bp. Cat. Met. Uce. Ew. p. 21 (1842).

Tichornis cenchris (Nauwm.), Kaup, Classif. Stiug. wu. Vog. p. 108 (1844).

Peecilornis cenchris (Naum.), Kaup, Contr. Orn. 1850, p. 53.

Cerchneis naumanni (Fleischer), Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. p. 435 (1874).

The claim of this species to be considered a British bird rests upon a
single example which was shot in the neighbourhood of York by Mr. John
Harrison, of Wilsthorpe Hall. There can be no doubt about the
authenticity of this specimen, which was identified at the time by my
friend the late Mr. Thomas Allis, of York, an excellent ornithologist. I
have seen the specimen, which was stuffed by Mr. Graham, and is now in
the York Museum. Mr. Harrison assures me that he has no doubt
whatever that the bird in the museum is the one he shot. He is
himself an ornithologist, and has a fine collection both of birds and eggs.
His attention was first attracted to the bird by noticing it flying about
on his farm very late in the autumn of 1869; and he shot it under the
impression that it was a small and curious variety of the Common Kestrel.
That this bird does occasionally wander north of its usual habitat is proved
by its having been obtained on Heligoland.

Its breeding-range may be said to be the basin of the Mediterranean.
It is very common in Southern Spain, and is said to breed in some parts
of the Pyrenees. It is not uncommon in Sardinia and Sicily, but is very
‘rare in Italy. In Greece it is extremely abundant, breeding as far north
as South Bulgaria. In Russia it breeds only in the extreme south. It is
very common in the Caucasus, Western Turkestan, Persia, Asia Minor,

* F, cenchris is the name which has been applied to the Lesser Kestrel by an over-
whelming majority of ornithologists; and Dresser still retains it in defiance of the law of
priority, although in his synonymy he shows four older names. Sharpe, led away by the
Stricklandian code, uses one of these old and deservedly forgotten names; and if the law
of priority survives long enough, some ambitious ornithologist will be found rash enough
to back Gerini’s name against the field.

E2

52 BRITISH BIRDS.

and Palestine. It is occasionally found in North France and North
Germany ; but these examples are rare stragglers out of the usual line of
migration. It passes through the whole of North Africa, where a con-
siderable number remain to breed. It winters in South Africa, having
been found in Damara Land, the Transvaal, and the Cape. In the east it
is represented by a very nearly allied species, F. pekinensis, which breeds
in China and winters in India, where a few are said to remain in the
mountains during the breeding-season.

The Lesser Kestrel is a very gregarious bird, seldom found in isolated
pairs. It is very partial to rocks and ruins ; and I have seen them in great
numbers flying in and out of the holes of the ruins of the Acropolis at
Athens. In the villages of the Parnassus and in Asia Minor, for want of
more suitable places, it breeds under the eaves of the houses; and I
particularly remember a colony in a street in Missolonghi. Dr. Kriiper
says that he has found the nest in hollow trees; and I have frequently
seen it perched in a tree. In and around the village of Menemen, not
far from Smyrna, it was especially abundant, and we generally saw half a
dozen on the wing together. We shot one out of three perched on the
branches of an old olive-tree in the middle of the village ; and once in the
Parnassus we shot several birds which were flying about in the company
of the Common Kestrel. The Lesser Kestrel is a migratory bird, arriving
at its breeding-quarters about the middle of March. It breeds towards
the end of April; and I found several nests late in June containing young
birds. Some of these were under the eaves of the houses, and others in
holes of the walls. The nests were extremely slight; and frequently the
eggs were laid in a hollow scratched in the rubbish. Five seems to be the
usual number of eggs; but I have clutches of four, andone of seven. The
male bird appears to relieve the female in her duties, as on a nest which
we took, containing five eggs, on the 15th of May in a village in the
Parnassus, we caught the male and afterwards shot the female. The food
of this bird during the breeding-season appears to be almost entirely com-
posed of grasshoppers ; and we often saw flocks or small parties flying up
and down in the vicinity of their nests not at all disturbed by our watching
them. We could see them thrust out their feet to catch the flying grass-
hoppers, and could notice them bring their feet to the bill, after which
the hard parts of the grasshopper were distinctly seen to fall to the ground.
They are very noisy on the wing; and their ery is very peculiar: Dr.
Kriiper pointed out to me its resemblance to the Greek word ReBaiws
(pronounced vev-ai!-ose), which may be translated into American-English
as “‘yes, certainly.’ Canon Tristram mentions their abundance near
some of the villages in Palestine, pursuing insects, especially cockchafers,
towards evening. He also mentions that he never found a colony of these
birds without finding many of the Common Kestrel breeding in the same

a

LESSER KESTREL. 53

place. Saunders thinks these two species occasionally interbreed (see
pibis,, 1871, p: 59).

The eggs of the Lesser Kestrel are very round, almost globular, with
but little difference between the larger and smaller ends. Their general
ground-colour is pale brick-red, with dark brick-red spots, which are
very generally diffused evenly over the whole surface, and very small,
occasionally forming large blotches. Others, again, have an almost white
ground-colour, with more than usually distinct spots and blotches, re-
sembling very much a similar type of the Common Kestrel. In fact the
eggs of the Lesser Kestrel go through the same varieties as the Common
Kestrel, but are smaller and of a paler and more bricky red instead of
blood-red. In size they vary from 1:45 to 1-3inch in length, and from
1-2 to 1:03 inch in breadth.

The Lesser Kestrel resembles the Common Kestrel in colour very
closely ; but the males differ from our bird in being slightly smaller, in
having no black spots on the back, and in having the innermost secondaries
slate-grey instead of chestnut, and the claws white instead of black. The
females are more difficult to determine; but the smaller size and pale claws
of the Lesser Kestrel are the best characters.

The Chinese Lesser Kestrel is a doubtfully distinct species, and only
differs from its western ally in having more slate-grey on the wing-
coverts.

54. BRITISH BIRDS.

Genus PANDION.

The genus Pandion was established by Savigny (who separated it from
the genus Falco of Linneeus) in 1810, in his ‘Systeme des Oiseaux de
VEgypte et de la Syrie, p.9. The only species known to him was P.
haliaetus, which must therefore be the type.

There is only one species of Osprey in the world; and this may be said
to be almost cosmopolitan. The characters which distinguish it from all
other allied birds of prey are the combination of the finely reticulated (not
broadly scaled) tarsus, and the long first primary (much longer than the
secondaries), with the absence of a forked tail and a notched bill. Its food
is almost exclusively fish.

OSPREY. 55

PANDION HALIAETUS.,
OSPREY.
(Pate 3.)

Accipiter falco piscator caroliniensis, Briss. Orn. i, p. 362 (1760).

Aquila haliaetus, Briss. Orn. i. p. 440 (1760); et auctorum plurimorum—(Lin-
neus), (Gray), (Schlegel), (Gould), (Newton), (Sharpe), &e.

Falco halizetus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 129 (1766).

Falco arundinaceus, G'mel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 263 (1788).

Falco carolinensis, Gmel. loc. cit. (1788).

Falco cayennensis, G'mel, loc. cit. (1788).

Aquila piscatrix, Vieill, Ois. Am. Sept. i. p. 29, pl. 4 (1807).

Pandion fluvialis, Savign. Syst. Ors. de 1 Egypte, p. 36 (1810).

Aquila haliaetus (Briss.), Wolf, Taschenb. i. p. 23:(1810).

Triorches fluvialis (Sav.), Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. Se. Brit. Mus, p. 10 (1816).

Aquila balbusardus, Dumont, Dict. Sci. Nat. i. p. 351 (1816).

Pandion americanus, Vietll. § Aud. Gal. Ors. p. 33, pl. 11 (1825).

Accipiter haliaetus (Briss.), Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-As. i. p. 355 (1826),

Balbusardus haliaetus (Briss.), Flem. Brit. An. p. 51 (1828).

Pandion haliaetus (Briss.), Less. Man. d’Orn. i. p. 86 (1828).

Pandion carolinensis, dud. B. N. Amer. pl. 81 (1831).

Pandion leucocephalus, Gould, P. Z. 8S. 1837, p. 138.

Pandion indicus, Hodgs. Gray’s Zool. Miscel. p. 81 (1844).

Pandion ichthyaétus, Kaup, Classif. Sdugeth. u. Vig. p. 122 (1844, nee Horsf.).

Pandion gouldi, Kaup, Isis, 1847, p. 270.

Pandion haliaetus (Briss.), var. carolinensis, Aud. Ridg. Proc. A. N. Se. 1870, p. 143.

Pandion fluviatilis (Sav.), Severtz. Turk. Jevotnie, p. 63 (1875).

The Osprey is one of the rarest raptorial birds in the British Islands. ,
From the peculiar manner in which it takes its prey, and its great dexterity
of movement, it has long been a favourite bird with the student of nature,
and is indeed one of the finest, although fast expiring ornaments of the
wild mountain-lochs, the bleak barren moors, and upland forests. The
remote districts of Scotland, the wild solitudes of Highland loch and
mountain, were once the favourite home of the Osprey; but now its
numbers have greatly decreased, and only a few pairs resort to the central
and northern districts of the Highlands for the purpose of rearing their

young. The Osprey is seldom seen in the wild scenery of the Hebrides,
but one or two specimens having been recorded from these islands.
Although the waters there teem with fish, the scarcity of suitable cover
and nesting-places most probably explains its absence. There are still
one or two eyries in Inverness-shire and Ross-shire, and also in Galloway—
a sufficient number of birds, if strictly preserved, to retain the Osprey in
the rank of a regular migrant to our island. In the Orkneys, the Shet-

56 BRITISH BIRDS.

lands, and in Jreland the Osprey is only known as an extremely rare
straggler, appearing at long and uncertain intervals. Its occurrence in
England is usually confined to the period of the spring and autumn
migrations. It has been obtained more or less frequently in almost every
maritime county, and, more rarely, as far inland as Oxfordshire and Shrop-
shire. Mr. Cordeaux informs me that “in the autumn of last year no
less than nine occurrences of the Osprey were recorded from the east coast
of England between the Tees and the Thames, from the last week in
September through October—viz. 1 Durham, 1 Yorkshire, 3 Lincolnshire
(2 immature, 1 adult female on the 15th of October), 2 Norfolk, and 2 near
London.”

The Osprey breeds throughout the Palearctic and Nearctic Regions,
nearly as far north as the limit of forest-growth. It is a migratory bird,
leaving at least all the northerly parts of its range in autumn. It winters
in South Europe and North Africa, where a few remain to breed in very
favourable localities. It has once been recorded from Natal. In Asia it
winters south of the Himalayas, occasionally straying as far as New
Zealand and some of the Pacific islands. On the American continent it
winters in Central America (where a few remain to breed) and the West
Indies, occasionally wandering as far south as Brazil.

Messrs. Baird, Brewer, and Ridgeway attempt to separate the Ospreys
of America and Australia as local races under the respective names of var.
carolinensis and var. leucocephalus ; but the characters given are so slight
and so ill-defined that they are more likely to be individual than
climatic.

Years ago, before the railway had joined the Highland solitudes with
southern industry, before such attention was given to the preservation of
game and the destruction of “ vermin,” the Osprey dwelt amongst the
mountain-lochs, or on the brown heathlands studded thickly with stunted
fir and birch trees. Now his haunts, which are only few and far between,
appear to be the dense pine-forests that clothe the steep and rocky hill-
sides, or away lower down the slopes in the broad stretches of bog-land,
thinly sprinkled with timber, and overgrown with green and treacherous
moss and rushes, amongst stagnant pools almost concealed by the luxuriance
of dank and tangled masses of water-plants and coarse grass. Here and
there in these situations, amongst the huge rocks and steep precipitous
glens pierced by mountain-torrents and strewn with tempest relics of
fallen pine and birch trees, the Osprey may sometimes be seen reposing
or digesting his meal. Here, on these strictly preserved estates, the
Osprey is a regular visitor in the summer months, and bids fair, with the
aid of the protection now afforded it, to restate itself in the home of its
ancestors. His haunt, however, by reason of the peculiar nature of his
sustenance, must always be near the waters—cither the large freshwater

OSPREY. 57

lakes, the wild mountain-waters teeming with trout, or the lochs and the
seacoast where an abundant supply of food is ever obtainable.

Like most raptorial birds, the Osprey, when its meal is finished, takes
its perch, usually on some post in the water or tree-stump on the bank,
where it sits, seemingly unconscious of danger, to digest its meal, and
where it is easily approached, its curious appearance and large size proving
but allurements to its doom, which is duly recorded in the county paper.
These birds, if they have the rare fortune to be left unmolested, will
sometimes prolong their stay until the summer; but no instance is on
record where the Osprey has been known to breed in England or
Wales.

The habits of the Osprey, in certain respects, much resemble those of
the Kestrel. Dixon describes a bird of this species which he saw searching
for prey on the head waters of Loch Carron in Inverness-shire. “It was
about thirty feet above the surface of the water, hovering with quivering
wings, and ever and anon giving a few rapid beats, as if to steady itself.
It slowly searched the shallow waters near the shore, hovering and sailing
alternately, just like our well-known Windhover in the meadows. Finally
it poised itself for a moment, and dropped down like a stone into the
water, the noise of its plunge being distinctly audible more than a quarter
of a mile away. Rising in a few seconds, it again for a short time
hovered above the surface, and then finally retired, in slow Buzzard-like
flight, towards a distant clump of timber, but whether successful in its
exertions we are unable to say.’ “I have watched,” says Booth, in his
interesting ‘ Rough Notes,’ when speaking on the habits of the Osprey
on our English waters, “one or two, while searching for flounders in the
muddy creeks on Breydon Water, following the course of the channels,
and fishing in exactly the same manner that Gulls may be noticed when
picking up the floating refuse in a tideway, the only difference being that
a Gull seizes the food with his beak, while an Osprey grasps it in his claws.
The thickness of the water renders it impossible for any fish to be detected
at a depth below the surface ; flounders, however, may frequently be seen
working their way close to the edge of the stream; and from the manner
in which the birds proceeded, I have not the slightest doubt they were in
pursuit of this description of fish. After hovering round for a second or
two, I have noticed one dip down close to the mudbank, and, although
appearing scarcely to have touched the water, sail off to some quiet spot,
where it could leisurely devour its prey, a favourite resting-place in that
locality being the sweeps of an old mill standing within a short distance
of the flats, from which a good view of approaching danger might be
obtained. Mullet are very plentiful in the upper parts of Breydon Water ;
and to these the Osprey is stated to be particularly partial when observed
in the south of England.”

58 BRITISH BIRDS.

From the excessive rarity of the Osprey in our islands, British ornitho-
logists have but little opportunity of adding much original matter to its
life-history. But in North America the Osprey is one of the commonest
of raptorial birds, consequently its habits have been studied closely.
Wilson has thus graphically portrayed the habits of this bird :—“The
flight of the Fish-Hawk, his manceuvres while in search of fish, and his
manner of seizing his prey are deserving of particular notice. In leaving
the nest he usually flies direct till he comes to the sea, then sails around
in easy curving lines, turning sometimes in the air as on a pivot, appa-
rently without the least exertion, rarely moving the wings, his legs ex-
tended in a straight line behind, and his remarkable length and curvature
or bend of wing distinguishing him from all other Hawks. The height at
which he thus elegantly glides is various, from one hundred to one hundred
and fifty and two hundred feet, sometimes much higher, all the while
calmly reconnoitring the face of the deep below. Suddenly he is seen to
check his course, as if struck by a particular object, which he seems to
survey for a few moments with such steadiness that he appears fixed in
air, flapping his wings. This object, however, he abandons, or rather the
fish he had in his eye has disappeared, and he is again seen sailing around
as before. Now his attention is again arrested, and he descends with
great rapidity ; but ere he reaches the surface shoots off on another course,
as if ashamed that a second victim had escaped him. He now sails at a
short height above the surface, and by a zigzag descent, and without
seeming to dip his feet in the water, seizes a fish, which, after carrying a
short distance, he probably drops, or yields up to the Bald Eagle, and
again ascends by easy spiral circles to higher regions of the air, where he
glides about in all the ease and majesty of his species.”

Whether the Osprey is a partially nocturnal bird it is difficult to deter-
mine; but Mr. Booth mentions the fact that he has repeatedly heard this
bird calling in the darkness when in the neighbourhood of its nest. Its
note is neither loud nor harsh; nor is the bird by any means a noisy one.
It resembles the syllables kai, kai, kai; and its alarm-note consists of a
harsh but not loud scream.

An examination of some of the most prominent organs of the Osprey
shows how fitted it is to its peculiar conditions of life. Fishes form the
Osprey’s only food, which it clutches from their native element when
swimming on or near the surface. Its long and powerful wings enable it
to fly great distances and remain in the air for long periods of time in
search of its finny prey. Its plumage is unusually dense on the lower
parts, as a protection against its repeated immersions in the water; and
the long feathers adorning the tibiz of the land Raptores are in the Osprey
replaced by short ones. From the peculiar form of its finny prey, the
slippery nature of its outer surface, and its great facility of evading the

OSPREY. 59

bird’s attack, the Osprey’s feet exhibit certain well-marked peculiarities.
The outer toe is reversible, the claws are remarkably curved and sharp,
and the soles of the feet are very rough, all assisting the bird to grasp its
food with great certainty and precision, From their peculiar structure
the claws of the Osprey do not tear the tender flesh of its prey, nor are
they easily withdrawn when once they are inserted—a circumstance which
has not unfrequently been known to cost the bird its life, by fastening to
a fish too large for it to lift from the water. The food of the Osprey is
composed of various kinds of fish. When its habitation is near the fresh
waters, trout, salmon, roach, carp, pike, bream, rudd, &c. are eaten, the
first-named fish (the brown or lake-trout) in Scotland forming its favourite
food. In maritime districts the Osprey feeds on shad, flounders, &c., and
has been known to strike at large sturgeon. The fish when seized is
always carried lengthwise in its talons—a position consequent upon the
easiest way of approaching and taking it, not, it is probable, because it
would at all impede the bird’s flight if carried crosswise ; for, once the
claws are inserted in the fish, there they remain until it is eaten or torn

in pieces.

Like raptorial birds in general, the Osprey pairs for life and returns
yearly to its old breeding-grounds. When the Osprey was a common bird
in Scotland it almost invariably chose some rocky islet in the mountain-
lochs, or built its bulky citadel on some commanding battlement or
chimney-stack of an old ruin surrounded by the waters. These nests were
so regularly tenanted that quite a historical interest attached to them;
and even now of late years, when the Osprey is almost only known as a
tradition, the situations of its former eyries are pointed out as objects of
no small amount of interest. In many parts of the world, however, the
Osprey builds in trees; and in America, where it is such an abundant
species, it occasionally breeds in colonies, This habit of arboreal nest-
building appears to be followed by the British birds; and what few eyries
do now exist at the present day in Scotland are for the most part in
pine trees.

There are few scenes more wildly picturesque than an Osprey’s eyrie,
nor so well worth a visit, a sight of its wild surroundings and grand
solitude amply recompensing the observer for the usually hard and weari-
some tramp over hill and bog ere he can reach it. Should it be on some
old ruinous keep or dungeon, water-surrounded and safe from enemies,
far among mountain-solitudes, or in the silent deer-forest, on the tree-
clad slopes sweeping so grandly away into dreamy indistinctness, sur-
rounded by almost impregnable morasses and rocky glens, in all its
interest is the same. Wherever the bird builds its castle the locality
gains an untold interest, receives a sense of life and animation. From
the great weight and bulkiness of the Osprey’s nest, and from the fact

60 BRITISH BIRDS.

that the same situation is resorted to for many years in succession, the
branches which support it are not unfrequently distorted in growth and
flattened. In other cases the Osprey has several favourite eyries in one
chosen locality, and appears to utilize them in turn, like the White-tailed
Eagle or the Peregrine. As a rule the largest tree in the forest, the
patriarch of the timber, is selected to hold the nest, which is built at
varying heights from the ground, sometimes on the topmost branches,
flattened by its weight, more rarely at a distance of ten or fifteen feet
from the ground, on one of the broad spreading limbs. But when the
Osprey’s nest is on ruins it is often at a far greater elevation ; and when
built on rocky islets it is not unfrequently but a few feet from the ground,
built amongst the grey lichens and tufts of polypody fern. Although the
Osprey is in most places such a very rare bird, a journey of thirty-six hours
from London will bring us to a locality where it is found in very great
numbers. On the southern shores of the Baltic, north of Stettien, surround-
ing the inland lakes which form the delta of the Oder, are vast forests which
form a perfect paradise for the Osprey. Lonely forests within easy access
of freshwater lakes are the favourite breeding-places of this bird. He
generally selects the loftiest tree in the forest, his main object being ap-
parently to be able to rise at once from the nest without being incommoded
by the branches of trees; thus it often happens that the nest is visible at
the distance of a mile. The structure is enormously large, from three to
four feet in diameter, and occasionally as high, and is generally placed
upon the summit of a pine tree, one having a dead top being preferred.
At the outside it extends so far over the branches that it is often very
difficult to reach. The foundation is made of branches intermixed with
decaying vegetable matter and sods ; the upper surface is flat, and consists
of finer twigs covered over with green and dry grass, the eggs being laid
in a slight hollow in the middle, not more than a foot across, and scarcely
two inches deep. Three eggs are the usual number, occasionally two, and
still more rarely four. The most favourite place of all is on an island
covered over with timber in the middle of a lake on which there are no
boats. In a locality of this kind in Pomerania a number of Ospreys
formed a colony, in one case two nests being on the same tree; and the
Osprey has been known to build upon the top of a tree in which was
the nest of a Black Stork. The Osprey is a shy bird at the nest, and
usually leaves it at once on the approach of a stranger. ‘The birds are in
the habit of roosting on the nest before any eggs are laid.

By the latter end of April or the first week in May the Osprey’s eggs
are deposited. They vary considerably in colour. ‘Typical specimens are
white or yellowish white in ground-colour, irregularly and very boldly
blotched and spotted with rich reddish brown, which becomes more dense and
thickly dispersed over the larger end, sometimes so much as to hide all

OSPREY. 61

the ground-colour. Some examples are quite purple ; others are entirely
suffused with orange-red; whilst a very beautiful variety has all the
vacant spaces between the bold brown markings blurred and dashed
with violet-grey shell-markings. Other specimens have a large blot of
colour here and there over the entire surface, or have the colouring-matter
in a zone or belt round the middle of the shell. Many examples are
marked with smaller spots and streaks of colour, and marbled over the
entire surface with violet-grey and faint orange-red. The eggs of the
Osprey are rarely faintly or sparmgly marked, and justly claim to rank as
some of the handsomest in all the British series. In form they are not so
round as the true Falcon’s, and are also far more elongated than the typical
Eagle’s, and are somewhat coarse in texture. They vary in length from
2°5 to 2°15 inch, and in breadth from 1:95 to 1:75 inch. They are usually
hatched by the end of May orearly in June. Like many other birds of prey,
the female Osprey is not easily scared from the nest. During the period of
incubation the male bird keeps close to the vicinity of the nest, and
supplies the female with food; she has therefore but little cause to leave
her charge, and only does so for very short intervals. The young are fed
by both parents until they are fully able to provide for themselves; and
even when they are able to leave the nest they keep in their parents’
company for some little time, the old birds still supplyimg them with food.
When they are strong upon the wing they will still haunt the place of
their birth, probably till the migratory period arrives, and roost at night
upon the old nest. But one brood is reared in the season.

The plumage of the head and nape is white, broadly streaked with brown,
some of the feathers being elongated. The whole upper plumage is dark
brown, sometimes with a purplish tinge; the underparts are white, except
a light brown band across the upper breast. Legs, toes, and cere blue;
beak and claws black ; irides yellow. The female resembles the male, but
is slightly larger, and the head and breast are more marked with brown.
Young birds resemble the adult female in autumn plumage, the males not
assuming mature dress until the third or fourth year. The nestling bird
is covered with blackish down. The Osprey completes its annual moult
in December ; and then the feathers are more deeply coloured, have broad
hght-brown margins, and the upper parts display a purplish gloss. By
the following spring, however, much of this disappears, and the feathers
lose their pale margins.

62 BRITISH BIRDS.

Genus ELANOIDES.

The genus Elanoides was established by Vieillot in 1818, in his ‘ Nouveau
Dictionnaire d’Histoire Naturelle,’ xxiv. p. 101, when he removed the
Swallow-tailed Kite from the genus Milvus in which he had first placed it.
The latter genus was separated from the genus Falco (in which Linnzus
included the Swallow-tailed Kite) by Cuvier in 1800. The only species
then known to Vieillot was E. furcatus, which must therefore be the type.

This genus contains only one species, which is confined to the American
continent, and only accidentally strays as far as Europe. It has no very
near relations, but is distantly allied to the genus Nauclerus. It may
always be distinguished by its long narrow wings and the deep fork in the
tail, which resembles that of the Barn-Swallow.

SWALLOW-TAILED KITE. 63

ELANOIDES FURCATUS.

SWALLOW-TAILED KITE.
(PLatE 6.)

Accipiter milvus caroliniensis, Briss, Orn. i. p. 418 (1760),

Falco fureatus, Zinn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 129 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum—
Wilson, (Audubon), (Gould), (Bonaparte), &c.

Milvus fureatus (Linn.), Vieill. Ors. Amér. Sept. p. 38, pl. 10 (1807).

Elanoides furcatus (Zinn.), Bonn. et Vieill. Enc, Méth. iii. p. 1204 (1823).

Elanoides yetapa, Bonn. et Vieill. tom. cit. p. 1205 (1823).

Elanus fureatus (Linn.), Vig. Zool. Journ. i. p. 340 (1824).

Nauclerus furcatus (Zinn.), Vig. Zool. Journ, ii. p. 387 (1825).

Falco yetapa (Bonn. et Vieill.), Max. Beitr. Orn. Bras, iii. Abth. i. p. 141 (1880).

Nauclerus forficatus (Linn.), Ridgway, Pr. Phil. Acad, 1870, p. 144.

This singularly handsome bird appears to have once or twice wandered
as far as our islands, but is not known ever to have visited any other part
of Europe. Its claim to rank as a British bird rests upon the undoubted
capture of two specimens. The first of these examples was at Ballachulish,
in Argylshire, in the year 1772, and recorded by the late Dr. Walker, of
the University of Edinburgh, in his manuscript journal for that year.
The first published account of this capture was made by Fleming, in his
‘History of British Animals.’ The precise circumstances under which it
was taken, however, are not known. ‘The occurrence of the second
specimen was recorded in the fourteenth volume of the ‘Transactions of
the Linnean Society,’ under date November 4, 1823, by Dr. Simmons, on
the authority of the late Mr. Fothergill, of Carr End, near Arkrigg, in
Yorkshire. It was captured alive at Hardraw Scarr, near Hawes in
Yorkshire. Newton, in his edition of Yarrell’s ‘ British Birds, further
corroborates the statement by publishing the original note of the bird’s
capture, supplied to him by the son of the last-named gentleman, Mr.
William Fothergill, of Darlington. This note states that “on the 6th of
September, 1805, during a tremendous thunderstorm, a bird, of which a
correct description follows, was observed flying about in Shaw Gill, near
Simonstone, and, alighting on a tree, was knocked down by a stick thrown
at it, which, however, did not prove fatal, as I saw it alive, and had an
opportunity of carefully examining it four days after it was taken. The
bird was kept to the 27th, and then made its escape, by the door of the
room being left open while showing [it] to some company. At first it
arose high in the air; but being violently attacked by a party of Rooks,
it alighted in the tree in which it was first taken. When its keeper

64 BRITISH BIRDS.

approached it took a lofty flight towards the south, as far as the eye could
follow, and has not since been heard of.”

Other specimens of the Swallow-tailed Kite have been said to have been
killed in England and Ireland, but on evidence that is too unsatisfactory
to be taken as conclusive (¢f. Zool. 1854, pp. 4166, 4366, 4406, and
Zool. 1856, p. 5042). A fourth specimen is also said to have been obtained
on the Mersey, in June 1843.

The Swallow-tailed Kite is a summer migrant to the Southern § tats
of North America east of the Rocky Mountains, its breeding-range
extending somewhat further north, in the valley of the Mississippi, into
Southern Wisconsin. It winters in the West Indies and in Central
America, where a few remain to breed in the mountains, wandering south-
wards into the northern and central portions of South America.

The Swallow-tailed Kite is said to return to its breeding-grounds in the
beginning of April, and breeds later than the other birds of prey. Accord-
ing to Audubon, “in the States of Louisiana and Mississippi, where these
birds are abundant, they arrive in large companies, in the beginning of
April, and are heard uttering a sharp plaintive note. At this period I
generally remarked that they came from the westward, and have counted
upwards of a hundred in the space of an hour passing over me in a direct
easterly course. At that season and in the beginning of September, when
they all retire from the United States, they are easily approached when
they have alighted, being then apparently fatigued, and busily engaged in
preparing themselves for continuing their journey.”

“ Marked among its kind by no ordinary beauty of form and brilliancy
of colour, the Kite,” writes Dr. Coues in his ‘ Birds of the North West,’
“courses through the air with a grace and buoyancy it would be vain to
rival. By a stroke of the thin-bladed wings and a lashing of the cleft tail,
its flight is swayed to this or that side in a moment, or instantly arrested.
Now it swoops with incredible swiftness, seizes without a pause, and bears
its struggling captive aloft, feeding from its talons as it flies; now it
mounts in airy circles till it is a speck im the blue ether, and disappears.
All its actions, in wantonness or in severity of the chase, display the dash
of the athletic bird, which, if lacking the brute strength and brutal ferocity
of some, becomes their peer in prowess—like the trained gymnast, whose
tight-strung thews, supple joints, and swelling muscles, under marvellous
control, enable him to execute feats that to the more massive or not so
well-conditioned frame would be impossible. One cannot watch the flight
of the Kite without comparing it with the thorough-bred racer. The
Swallow-tailed Kite is a marked feature of the scene in the Southern
States, alike where the sunbeams are redolent of the orange and magnolia,
and where the air reeks with the pestilent miasm of moss-shrouded swamps
that sleep in perpetual gloom.”

SWALLOW-TAILED KITE. 65

According to Audubon, “the flight of this elegant species of Hawk is
singularly beautiful and protracted. It moves through the air with such
ease and grace that it is impossible for any individual who takes the least
pleasure in observing the manners of birds not to be delighted by the
sight of it whilst on wing. Gliding along in easy flappings, it rises m
wide circles to an immense height, inclining in various ways its deeply-
forked tail to assist the direction of its course, dives with the rapidity of
lightning, and suddenly checking itself reascends, soars away, and is soon
out of sight. At other times a flock of these birds, amounting to fifteen
or twenty individuals, is seen hovering around the trees. They dive in
rapid succession amongst the branches, glancing along the trunks, and
seizing in their course the insects and small lizards of which they are in
quest. They always feed on. the wing. In calm and warm weather they
soar to an immense height, pursuing the large insects called Musquito-
Hawks, and performing the most singular evolutions that can be conceived,
using their tail with an elegance of motion peculiar to themselves. Their
principal food, however, is large grasshoppers, grass-caterpillars, small
snakes, lizards, and frogs. They sweep close over the fields, sometimes
seeming to alight for a moment to secure a snake, and holding it fast by
the neck, carry it off and devour it in the air. When searching for grass-
hoppers and caterpillars, it is not difficult to approach them under cover
of a fence or tree. When one is then killed and falls to the ground, the
whole flock comes over the dead bird, as if intent upon carrying it off.
The Fork-tailed Hawks are also very fond of frequenting the creeks, which
in that country [States of Louisiana and Mississippi] are much encum-
bered with drifted logs and accumulations of sand, in order to pick up
some of the numerous water-snakes which lie basking in the sun. At
other times they dash along the trunks of trees and snap off the pupz of
the locust or that insect itself. Although when on wing they move with
a grace and ease which it is impossible to describe, yet on the ground they
are scarcely able to walk.”

Dresser, writing on the habits of this bird in Texas (Ibis, 1865, p. 325),
says :—“ On the Colorado, Brazos, and Trinity rivers it is one of the com-
monest birds, and every child knows it under the names of Scissor-tailed,
Forky-tailed, and Fish-tailed Hawk, or Fish-Hawk. It only remains
during the summer months, arriving early in April. . . . I watched one
very closely as it was hunting after grasshoppers on a piece of prairie
near Brenham. It went over the ground as carefully as a well-trained
pointer, every now and then stooping to pick up a grasshopper; and,
to me, the feet and bill appeared to touch the insect simultaneously.
They seem very fond of wasp-grubs, and will carry a nest up to some
high perch and sit there, holding it in one claw, and picking out the
grubs. I once saw one drop a nest and catch it before it reached the

VOL. I. F

66 BRITISH BIRDS.

ground. I examined the stomachs of all I shot (some ten or twelve), and
found them to contain sometimes beetles, sometimes grasshoppers.” <A
very interesting note on the Swallow-tailed Kite’s partiality for bees in
Guatemala is recorded by Mr. R. Owen, in ‘The Ibis’ for 1860, p. 241:
—« Proceeding on our journey, and passing over the brow of a hill which
rose considerably above those surrounding us, we suddenly saw, on the
slope beneath us, a large number of Swallow-tailed Kites, gliding back-
wards and forwards through the air, directly over the road which we were
pursuing. They were near the ground, many of them within ten or twelve
yards of it, and numbered from 150 to twice that quantity. They were
closely packed, not one straggling for a moment from the rest, and
reminded one of our English Swifts as they congregate in flight round an
old and lofty edifice. My companion was surprised, no less than myself,
to find so many of these birds in company ; for, according to the experi-
ence of the Coban hunters, they generally go in pairs, although three or
four may be occasionally met with together. A few yards of precipitous
descent brought us immediately under the birds, and into a swarm of bees
upon which they were feeding. The swarm was slowly skirting the hill in
compact order, its persecutors sweeping through and through it, with
wings extended, and their scissor-like tails widely opened . . . . At
times birds would pass within four or five yards of us, giving us time to
observe their movements accurately. Every now and then the neck would
be bent slowly and gracefully, bringing the head quite under the body,
the beak continuing closed; at the same time the foot, with the talons
contracted as if holding an object in its grasp, would be brought forward
until it met the beak. This position was only sustamed a moment, during
which the beak was seen to open; the head was then, with closed beak,
raised again, and the foot thrown back. . . . The bees, so far as I
could observe (for I could not catch one for examination), were about the
size of our English hive-bee, but of a brilliant colour, between red and
yellow.”

Although the Swallow-tailed Kite is so abundant in certain localities,
but little information has been published respecting its nidification.
Audubon mentions that it pairs immediately on its arrival in its summer
haunts, and that its courtship takes place in the air, where its fine powers
of wing are displayed to even still greater perfection than usual. The
same accomplished naturalist also states that the nest is usually placed
amongst the topmost branches of the tallest trees, usually on the margin
of a stream or pond, and that it resembles that of a Crow, being made of
sticks intermixed with “ Spanish moss,” and lined with coarse grasses and
feathers, and that the eggs are from four to six in number. Dresser, in the
article previously referred to, on the birds of Southern Texas, mentions
that he found the Swallow-tailed Kites very numerous on a creek near the

SWALLOW-TAILED KITE. 67

Rio Colorado, on the 26th of May, but, on shooting and dissecting them,
found that they had not at that date commenced breeding. Preparations
for nidification were, however, in progress; and from what he observed of
their habits, he suggests that they may possibly breed in society—a fact
not at all unlikely when we bear in mind the gregarious habits of the bird.
He was told that the birds in Texas built high up in the oak, sycamore,
or cotton-wood trees. He did not at that time succeed in obtaining eggs,
but has since received them through Mr. Henry Buckley, and most kindly
lent them for use in the present work—probably the first authentic spe-
cimens of the eggs of this bird which have been figured. Two specimens
taken in Iowa differ considerably : the first is decidedly an Osprey type of
egg; the second is very pale bluish white, irregularly and sparmgly marked
with minute specks and one or two larger spots of rich reddish brown ;
the shell resembles that of a Harrier in grain, and possesses no gloss
whatever. They vary from 1°9 to 1°95 inch in length, and from 1°5 to
1:47 inch in breadth. Mr. Buckley’s correspondent asserts that the eggs
are usually two in number—a statement at variance with Audubon’s.

The colours of this very handsome bird are in bold contrast and decided.
The head and neck all round, the rump, and the whole of the underparts
are white, the remainder of the plumage bemg black with blue and purple
reflections. Cere pale blue; irides red (but Audubon describes them as
black) ; feet dirty bluish white according to Audubon, but yellow according
to Wilson ; claws white or flesh-coloured. Male and female do not differ
in external characters, save that the latter bird is more robust and slightly
larger.

F2

68 BRITISH BIRDS.

Genus PERNIS.

The genus Pernis was established by Cuvier in 1817 in his ‘ Réegne
Animal,’ i. p. 322, for the reception of the Honey-Buzzard, which he
removed from his genus Buteo, in which Vieillot had erroneously placed
it. As the Honey-Buzzard was the only species of the genus known to
Cuvier, it became unquestionably the type.

There is only one European species of this genus, which may at once be
distinguished from any other European bird of prey by its feathered lores.
The genus is confined to the Old World. - Besides the European bird, two
other very nearly allied species are known, inhabiting some of the islands
of the Malay archipelago, and two more distantly related—one inhabiting
New Guinea, and the other South Africa.

HONEY-BUZZARD. 69

PERNIS APIVORUS.

HONEY-BUZZARD.
(Piare 3.)

Accipiter buteo apivorus, Briss. Orn. i. p. 410 (1760).

Falco apivorus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 180 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum—
(Naumann), (Temminck), (Cuvier), (Bonaparte), (Sharpe), &e.

Falco tachardus, Daud. Traité d’ Orn, ii. p. 164 (1800, ex Lev.).

Falco poliorynchos, Bechst, Orn. Taschenb. i. p. 19, pls. 3, 4, 5 (1802),

Buteo tachardus (Daud.), Vieill. N. Dict. d’ Hist. Nat. iv. p. 479 (1816).

Buteo apivorus (Linn.), Viewll. N. Dict. d’ Hist. Nat. iv. p. 479 (1816),

Aquila variabilis, Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. p. 115 (1816).

Pernis apivorus (Linn.), Cuv. Régne An, i. p. 823 (1817).

Accipiter lacertarius, Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-As, 1. p. 859 (1826).

Pernis communis, Less. T’raité d’Orn. p. 75 (1831).

Pernis apium, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 46 (1831).

Pernis vesparum, Lrehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 47 (1851).

Pernis tachardus (Daud.), Gray, Hand-l, B. i. p. 26 (1869).

The Honey-Buzzard was formerly a regular summer visitant to this
country, breeding in most of the counties of England and Wales, where
the woods were large enough to afford it a secure retreat for its nest. In
Scotland and in Ireland the information we have is very meagre; but it
appears to have formerly bred in both these countries, where it has now, as
well as in England, become a rare summer visitor. It is also occasionally
seen on the autumn migration. It is a great pity that such an extremely
handsome and entirely harmless bird should be on the verge of extermina-
tion in our country. In addition to the persecutions of the gamekeepers,
who have not yet learnt to distinguish between useful and harmful birds of
prey, it is much sought after by collectors, both for its skin and for its
remarkably handsome eggs. In spite, however, of all its enemies, it still
yearly breeds in the New Forest and some other parts of England and
Scotland.

On the continent the Honey-Buzzard, though nowhere very common,
breeds in some numbers north of latitude 45° up to the Arctic Circle. Its
occurrence further north rests upon very insufficient evidence. It appears
to bea very local bird ; but it breeds regularly in well-wooded districts in the
north of France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Austria, Denmark, 8. Norway
and Sweden, and Russia. Eastwards its breeding-range appears to be
comparatively little known. Pallas records it from Southern Siberia; and
my Siberian collector has sent me a skin from Krasnoyarsk. Taczanowski
records an example without a crest from Lake Baikal; two examples from
Japan are mentioned by Temminck and Schlegel as undistinguishable from

70 BRITISH BIRDS.

European birds ; and Pére David obtained it in North China. On migration
it passes through Spain, Italy, Turkey, Greece, the whole of North Africa,
and Turkestan. It winters in West Africa, occasionally wandering as far as
South Africa; and in the British Museum is a specimen from Madagascar.
In the Oriental Region a very closely allied form (P. ptilorhynchus) occurs,
differing principally in having a conspicuous crest. In Java these crests
appear to attain their greatest development, measuring 3°7 inch in length.
In Sumatra the longest measurement of the crest given is 2°3, and in
Malacca 2°0 inch ; in India none have been recorded with the crest longer
than 1:9, whilst in Tenasserim Hume and Davison say that the crests are
only incipient. Some ornithologists have referred the Siberian, Japanese,
and Chinese birds to this species ; but, until examples with crests have been
obtained from these localities, we can scarcely accept this determination.
A more rational explanation of these curious facts appears to me to be that
our Honey-Buzzard ranges as far east as Japan, and that the Eastern birds
winter in India and the Siamese peninsula, occasionally remain there,
and interbreed with the southern species P. ptilorhynchus, thus producing
the intermediate forms.

Although the Honey-Buzzard is a tolerably common bird in the neigh-
bourhood of Archangel, still it is one that arrives at its breeding-quarters
very late. This late arrival is probably caused, not from the bird’s sus-
ceptibility to cold, but from the late appearance of those insects on which it
principally feeds. From the middle of April to the middle of May it passes
Gibraltar, Malta, and the Bosphorus im large flocks, returning on its
southern passage in September and October, in smaller parties. Although
the Honey-Buzzard is not a shy bird, still it is one that is very seldom seen.
As a rule it does not seek its food upon the wing. During my visit to
Brunswick and Pomerania, although the bird had certainly arrived, and in
the latter country had begun to breed, we only once obtained a sight of it,
sailing over a forest somewhat in the manner of a Buzzard. In the late
summer months its principal food is wasps and their larve ; and it will spend
hours on some obscure bank on the outskirts of the forest scratching down
to the nest and picking the grubs out of the comb. Besides wasps and bees
and their larve, the Honey-Buzzard feeds upon grasshoppers and other
insects, and eats frogs, lizards, and mice, and occasionally earthworms and
small birds. Sachse says that this bird, besides the nest in which it lays
its eggs, frequently makes use of some old nest in the neighbourhood,
to which it retires to eat its food; and he suggests that these nests may
also be used as a sort of storehouse, as he has found in them half-eaten
birds, mice, &c. It is almost as much mobbed by small birds as the Cuckoo
is, partly in consequence of which it has obtained the reputation of robbing
their nests—a reputation which it oceasionally deserves. In autumn, when
short of food, it is said to eat berries and small fruits,

HONEY-BUZZARD. 71

The Honey-Buzzard is a comparatirely silent bird; but its alarm-note at
the nest resembles that of the Peregrine Falcon, though not so loud.

In Pomerania the Honey-Buzzard does not build a nest of its own, but
selects one of the numerous Buzzards’ or Kites’ nests which abound in the
forest, relining them with a profusion of fresh green leaves or the ends of
branches of trees in full leaf. This lining is apparently renewed from time
to time. A preference appears to be given to beech-leaves; but a nest
which was taken for me on the 11th of June last was redecked round the
edge with green pine and birch twigs, with a final lining under the eggs of
beech-leaves. The nest was in a beech tree about 25 feet from the ground,
and had been occupied the year preceding by a Buzzard. The bird sat
very close, and did not leave the nest until the climber threw a stick at it.
It then suddenly jumped up, took wing, wheeled round once or twice, but
soon settled on a branch near the nest, and looked down to see the cause
of the alarm. The nest contained two eggs. The climber took me to see
the old Buzzard’s nest in a beech-tree about 45 feet from the ground, in
which probably the same pair of birds had bred the previous year. Two
seems to be the usual number of eggs; but Sachse says that he once took
a nest of three ; and Mr. Benzon, the well-known ornithologist in Copen-
hagen, states that he has known four eggs to be laid. Sachse says that an
interval occurs of a week between the laying of the first egg and the
second. Incubation lasts three weeks ; and both sexes take their share of its
duties.

The eggs of the Honey-Buzzard are very glossy or waxy in appearance,
and are very round, the small end being but slightly different from the large
end. They run through the same variations as the eggs of the Common
Kestrel or the Peregrine. ‘The ground-colour varies from cream-colour to
pale brick-red, and the spots from brick-red to deep rich purple blood-red.
In some examples the ground-colour is entirely obscured; in others
the blotches are almost confluent at one end of the egg; whilst in others
they are more evenly distributed over the surface, or show signs of having
been scratched or rubbed off when the colouring-matter was wet. It is
usual to find in the same clutch an almost uniformly marked egg, and one
with the markings dispersed in irregular blotches. In size they vary
from 2°05 to 1°86 inch in length, and from 17 to 1:55 inch in breadth.

In general appearance the Honey-Buzzard very much resembles the
Common Buzzard, but may at once be distinguished by the scales on the
tarsus, which are finely reticulated all round instead of being in broad
plates at the front and the back. Another equally important distinction
may be found in the lores, which are finely feathered down to the cere
instead of being only covered with bristles. There appear to be two
forms of the Honey-Buzzard, a dark one and a light one. The adult male
of both forms has an ash-grey head and the rest of the upper parts uniform

72 BRITISH BIRDS.

brown ; and the underparts of the dark form are also uniform brown. The
underparts of the light form are nearly white, intermediate forms being
barred and spotted. The female of neither form has the grey head, that of
the dark form otherwise resembling the male, and that of the light form
otherwise resembling a male intermediate form. Adult birds have always
three conspicuous nearly black bars on the tail, which is brown; and
between these are rudiments of pale bars in both sexes, at all ages, and in
both forms. In young birds the feathers of the upper parts have pale
edges, with the under surface streaked instead of barred in the light form,
and uniform in the dark form. According to the opinions of the best.
authorities on the subject, there is no important intermediate stage
between the young and the adult. The beak is black; legs and toes
yellow, claws black; irides yellow in the adult, but hazel in the young.
It is not known that the two forms of this bird have in any way different
geographical areas of distribution; but far too little attention has been
paid to this subject by the ornithologist, who, for the most part, has
ignored the existence of local forms—

A Honey-Buzzard, stout or slim,
A Honey-Buzzard is to him,
And it is nothing more.

WHIYMPER.

MILVUS. | 73

Genus MILVUS.

The genus Milyus was established by Cuvier in 1800, in his ‘ Legons
d’Anatomie Comparée,’ i. tabl. 2. Previous to that date the Kites were
included in the genus Falco of Linneus. Cuvier did not designate any
type; but inasmuch as the Falco milvus of Linnzus is the Common Kite,
it has the greatest claim to be considered the type.

The Kites differ from all the genera previously mentioned in having
the lower half of the front of the tarsus furnished with broad plates,
contrasting with the fine reticulations on the sides and back. From all
the genera hereafter described they differ in combining a long tail with
a short tarsus, the former being more than four times the length of the
latter.

The true Kites are confined to the Old World, but have distant relations
in the New. Two species are in the British list, though one of them is
only admitted by courtesy. Besides these the genus contains no species
except the local races of the Black Kite which are mentioned in the article
on that bird. The Kites resemble the Eagles and the Buzzards very
closely in their habits, and are very nearly allied to the Sea-Eagles.
Like them they build in trees and sometimes in cliffs, but they have the
peculiarity of preferring wool, rags, and paper as a lining to the nest.
Their eggs are often scarcely distinguishable from those of the Buzzard

nor is there much difference in their mode of flight or in their choice
of food.

74 BRITISH BIRDS.

MILVUS REGALIS.

COMMON KITE.
(PLateE 5.)

Accipiter milvus regalis, Briss. Orn. i. p. 414, pl. 38 (1760).

Faleo milvus, Zinn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 126 (1766).

Milvus castaneus, Daud. Traité, ii. p. 148 (1800).

Milvus ictinus*, Sav. Syst. Ois. d Egypte, p. 28 (1810).

Milvus regalis (Briss.), Viel. Faun, Frang. p. 14 (1821).

Accipiter regalis (Briss.), Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-As. i. p. 358 (1826); et auctorum
plurimorum—(Macgillivray), (Gray), (Bonaparte), (Schlegel), (Strickland),
(Sundevall), (Degland et Gerbe), (Gould), (Heuglin), (Salvadori), (Gray), &e.

Milvus vulgaris, Flem. Brit. An. p. 51 (1828).

A hundred years ago the Kite was one of the commonest birds of prey
to be seen in Great Britain, but now it has become almost as rare as the
Osprey or the Goshawk. All the old writers who have treated of the natural
history of our islands have made reference to the wide distribution
and abundance of the Kite. Even in busy London laws were once in
existence for its protection, the birds being so numerous there as to attract
the attention of foreigners, just as in our day the Doves, the Vultures,
and the Storks in Eastern cities arrest our own.

At the present day the Kite must be looked upon only as an accidental
visitor to England. In the southern counties there is no place now where
it regularly breeds. There were nests in the large woods of Lincolnshire
up to 1857; but since so much timber has been felled, the Kites have
deserted that locality. A few pairs still remain in the secluded districts of
Wales. When the first edition of Yarrell’s ‘ British Birds’ was published,
the Kite still bred at Aleonbury Hill, in Huntingdonshire, and the bird was
said to become more numerous in the northern counties, where, however,
no trace of it can now be found. Waterton spoke of seeing the Kite at
his seat in Yorkshire; and, upon the authority of Dr. Heysham, it used to
breed in the woods of the Lake district. At the present day it is seen but
rarely in England. Some six years ago a specimen was recorded, said to be
for the first time, in the Isle of Wight (Zool. 1876, p. 4760) ; and Mr. Gurney
writes that he sometimes sees this bird in Norfolk, passing southwards in
the autumn, in company with Buzzards. In Scotland it was formerly a
very common bird, but is now rarely seen, and only breeds in one or

* Although the Kite has been almost universally known as JZ. regalis, and among con-
tinental ornithologists is known by no other name, Messrs. Newton, Sharpe, and Dresser
have all three allowed themselves to be blinded by the rules of the British Association,
and have unearthed a new name for this bird, which has heen pretty generally adopted
by modern English writers on birds.

COMMON KITE. 75

two favourite localities in the counties of Inverness, Perth, and Aberdeen.
It formerly bred in the west of Scotland, in Stirlingshire, Ayrshire, and
the Isle of Arran, but now seems completely exterminated from these
districts. Mr. Booth, in his ‘Rough Notes, mentions that the Kite is
still found in various districts ; and in most of the glens in which he col-
lected eggs and birds, some six years ago, the birds were still present,
although a few pairs seemed to have left the district. It does not seem to
occur in any part of the Outer Hebrides; but, on the authority of Elwes,
it is still seen in the island of Islay; and Dixon, when in Skye, in the
summer of 1881, saw the remains of this bird nailed to the wall of a shed
which served as a gamekeeper’s museum. In the Orkneys and Shetlands
the Kite appears still more rarely, Saxby having only on four occasions
seen birds that may possibly be referred to this species. In Ireland it is
only known as a very rare straggler.

The Kite does not occur in Iceland or Greenland. It is a bird exclu-
sively confined to the Western Palearctic Region, and may be said to
breed in most parts of Europe, to be resident in the central and southern
portions, and migratory in the north. In Sweden it is said to breed as
far north as lat. 61°; but it is not known with certainty to inhabit Finland,
whilst in Russia it breeds as far north as Archangel. These northern
birds migrate southwards in winter; and at that season the Kite is a
common bird in North-western Africa, m Algeria, the Dayats of the
Sahara, and among the rocks of the Atlas, where a few birds also remain
to breed. Its presence in Egypt, or in North-eastern Africa, is very
doubtful; and Captain Shelley observes that he knows of no instance of
its capture in the former country, where its place is taken by an allied
bird, Milvus egyptius. It occurs, however, on passage in Asia Minor, and
winters commonly in Palestine. The western range of the Kite appears
to be Madeira and the Canaries, where it is said to be a resident; and
Dr. Dohrn also met with it in the Cape-Verds. Its eastern limit is
somewhat difficult to trace. According to Eversmann it occasionally
occurs about the Southern Volga; and Severtzow several times noticed it
in the Government of Veronsk ; whilst Pallas says it winters on the Lower
Volga. As Sundevall, however, declares that this is a mistake, and as
Bogdanow never observed it in the Volga region, and says that it becomes
scarce in the province of Kieff, its eastern range is probably the basin of
the Don. In North-east Russia, Sabaniieff, in his ‘ Avifauna of the Ural,’
States positively that he has seen several Red Kites, amongst hundreds
of Milvus ater, flying towards some dead animals in the Kaslinsky Ural;
so that it would appear that the bird gradually retires westward as it
approaches the southern limit of its eastern range.

The Kite may be easily distinguished upon the wing by its deeply-forked
tail and the peculiar nature of its flight. For hours this bird will keep

76 BRITISH BIRDS.

the air, sailing in slow circles without an apparent effort, with wings and
tail expanded to their fullest extent, the latter ever and anon being twisted
to assist it to describe its graceful curves. From this habit of sailing in
the air the Kite has gained the almost universal name of “ Glead”—a
corruption of the word “ glide,” which aptly represents its beautiful aerial
movements. The haunts of the Kite in Great Britain are now the wildest
districts of Wales and the mountain-forests and glens of the Highlands.
These are the places it selects for nidification; but at other times of
the year it may be observed in the more open country where woods are
scarce. Like most of its congeners, the Kite is a thorough wanderer, and
will search miles and miles of ground for food. In its habits it is a shy
and wary bird; and many of its actions partake of those of the Buzzards.
In spite of its wandering habits, however, the Kite seems attached to
certain districts, and may almost daily be seen high in air above them,
progressing in graceful curves until finally lost to view. In its flight over
the country it ever and anon pays more special attention to certain districts
likely to contain its food, sailing once or twice above them, and then again
passing onwards. Altheugh it is said that the Kite is a migratory bird
in Great Britain, still this statement is open to considerable doubt. The
observations made by Mr. Beeth point to the fact that it is a resident
species; and I have known several instances of late years where the bird
has been shot by gamekeepers in the winter months in districts where it
is also to be found in summer. The birds that are seen in England during
the autumn and spring months of the year are migrants, undoubtedly,
and very often immature birds from the continent.

When in search of food the Kite meves aleng at a mederate height
from the earth; but, like the Vultures, the Eagles, and the Buzzards, it
soars to an immense elevation at times; and then its powers of flight are
seen to perfection. His long narrew wings are now at their fullest
expanse, and the tail is constantly in motion to guide him in his trackless
course through space. Now he glides forward, anon mounts upward in
ever widening circles; now remains fixed and almost motionless—then
onwards again, seeming to swim instead of fly through the aerial ocean.
The Kite has none of the dash that marks the Sparrow-Hawk or the
Peregrine. His prey is taken on the ground; and hence his flight displays
none of that impetuous rush that is so characteristic of those rapacious
birds that pursue their prey in open flight.

From the peculiar nature of its flight, and from the inherent timidity
of its disposition, the Kite was a very favourite object of pursuit when
falconry was so largely practised as a sport. It was the custom to lure
the Kite from its aerial height, sometimes by displaying a large Owl with
a fox’s brush attached to it, and then, when the Kite was low enough, to
cast a Greenland or Iceland Falcon at it. The Kite, seeing its mistake,

ered

COMMON KITE. 77

would instantly soar, going higher and higher, pursuer and pursued each
striving to gain the sky of the other, until, as we are told, both would
often disappear from sight. On the other hand the Kite has sometimes
been trained to take an humble quarry, such as rats. As a proof of
its docility and tameness, Mr. R. Langtry kept a pair of these birds
which were allowed their liberty, but always returned to the lure on
being called.

In the manner of taking its prey the Kite very much resembles the Buz-
zards, and even the Harriers. It is by no means a bold and powerful
bird; for a clucking hen has been known to put it to flight, and the
fiery little Sparrow-Hawk mobs it with impunity. The Kite takes its
food upon the ground, and usually catches young or weakly birds or
mammals, and does not even refuse to make a meal on carrion. ~ Like all
other rapacious birds, the Kite appears to have some favourite spot which
serves it as a dining-table or larder, where the food brought to feed its
hungry young is also plucked and otherwise prepared for them. The
nest in the breeding-season is also a well-stocked larder, far more food
being conveyed thither than is really consumed. In these places may
be seen the remains of Grouse, Plovers, and young Curlews and Wild
Ducks. In addition to this food the Kite also takes young hares and
rabbits, mice and rats, frogs, lizards, more rarely snakes, and the larger
coleopterous insects—creatures that are taken without much exertion or
prowess. In former days, when the Kite was more abundant in these
islands than it is now, it was said to be a great enemy to the poultry,
young chickens forming a favourite object of its pursuit. At the present
day, however, the Kite need cause the poultry-keeper no alarm. Its
haunt now, where but a remnant of its former numbers find a last retreat,
is in the wildest districts of Scotland, where the Red Grouse is probably
its favourite fare. How the Kite manages to take so large and strong a
bird as a cock Red Grouse is surprising ; and it is most probably only the
young and weakly ones that fall victims to its swoop. Mr. Booth also
suggests that the Peregrine ofttimes unwittingly finds the Kite a meal, and
puts a bird in its way that would never be secured unless weakly or
wounded. As is well known, that bold rapacious Falcon often strikes a
bird for mere sport, and will leave it where it lies; and there, no doubt, it
is sometimes found by the less active Kite and conveyed away.

The note of the Kite may be compared to a wild plaintive scream or
“mew,” and is but rarely heard, save in the breeding-season. Unmusical
as its cry may be, still it appears to be full of a wild harmony with
the rugged scenery of its haunts, imbues them with life, and, when neard
as the bird is sailing far overhead, lends a charm to districts where other
bird-life is almost wanting.

The breeding-season of the Kite commences early in May, and in

78 BRITISH BIRDS.

Scotland, where a few nests are still to be met with in the most secluded
glens, the pine-woods appear to be its favourite nesting-place. The Scotch
fir is the tree almost invariably selected. According to Mr. Booth, whose
experience with these birds in Scotland of late years makes his observa-
tions upon them the more especially interesting, the nest varies con-
siderably in its position. Sometimes it is at the summit of a slender
bending pine, sometimes amongst the broadly spreading branches of a
gigantic fir—and at times at a height of but fifteen or eighteen feet from
the ground, and placed close to the trunk where several large limbs
branch out. In such a situation as this its bulky nest is often scarcely
visible from below. It is made principally of dry sticks and twigs, the
dead branches of pines, and lined with withered grass, moss, sheep’s wool,
old rags, scraps of paper, or, in fact, any old rubbish that is conveniently
accessible. ew rapacious birds show such a partiality for collecting
rubbish for their nests as the Kite; in fact it far excels the Jackdaw
or the House-Sparrow in this respect, or even a tame Raven or Magpie.
The nest is sometimes a very bulky structure, and is flat, similar to that of
the Sparrow-Hawk.

I found the Kite by no means uncommon in the forests both of Bruns-
wick and Pomerania, where it is a summer visiter, arriving tewards the
end of February or early in March, and leaving again for the south about
the middle of September. Dr. Holland informed me that they are gre-
garious during migration ; and on the 11th of last March I saw a flock of
migratory birds, consisting of eight Kites, a Crane, and a Peregrine
Falcon, crossing the Pyrenees near St. Sebastian. My kind friends
Dr. and Prof. Blasius and Oberamtmann Nehrkorn undertook to show me
plerity of Kites’ nests in the Brunswick forests; and very successful they
were. We took the first nest on the 4th of May, in a beech tree, about
ninety feet from the ground. Both birds were flying over the forest all
the time. The nest contained two highly incubated eggs, and was about
twenty inches across and nearly as high. It was lined with all sorts of
rubbish—old rags, part of a newspaper, a piece of embroidery, part of an
old stocking, some moss, and goat’s hair. The second nest we took on
the 12th of May. It was on a comparatively slender side branch of an
oak, about eighty feet from the ground, very long, about two feet by one
foot wide. Weknocked loudly on the tree; but the only result was that a
Kite appeared and began to fly around; so we concluded that she had
accidentally been absent when we arrived. Before, however, our climber
had got more than a fourth of the way up to the nest she flew off, and
both birds continued to fly to and fro over the tree. The nest contained
three young Kites and the foot of a hare. It was lined with sheep’s wool,
some rags, blue worsted, and some paper.

We took the next nest on the 17th of May, in an oak tree, about forty-

COMMON KITE. 79

five feet from the ground. When we were about twenty-five yards from
the nest the bird flew slowly off and wheeled round towards us. The nest
was lined with rags, the remains of a worsted stocking, part of a news-
paper (the ‘Gartenlaube’), lumps of hair from a cushion, and brown
paper. It contained two young Kites, the remains of a rabbit, and a
hamster rat (Cricetus vulgaris). On the same day we shot a Kite from
its nest in an oak about eighty feet from the ground, took another
Kite’s nest from an oak only forty feet from the ground, containing only
one young bird, and took a fourth nest from an oak about thirty-
five feet from the ground, containing two young birds. In neither of
these two last nests was there any food; but both were lined with wool,
rags, pig’s hair, and bits of newspaper.

In Pomerania I only inspected one Kite’s nest, which was at least
two miles from any house ; nevertheless it was lined with rags and paper.
It is not known that the male assists in the task of incubation ; but he feeds
the female on the nest.

Sometimes the Kite will pick up a fish from the surface of the water in
the same way that his near relation in the south does. At Riddagshausen
I watched a Kite beating up and down over the lake, and once I saw it
stoop down to the surface of the water and apparently pick something up
in its claws, probably a fish, with which it flew away to a tree.

The eggs of the Kite are generally three, sometimes only two in number,
and most closely resemble those of the Buzzards, but are, as a rule, dis-
tinguished from them by their more scratchy and streaky appearance.
When newly laid they are the palest bluish green in ground-colour, which
soon fades to white or nearly so, sparingly spotted and blotched with dark
reddish brown, with a few shell-markings, ill-defined and pale purplish
grey. Some specimens are far more heavily marked than others, being
clouded and dashed with colour, similar to Rough-legged Buzzards’ eggs ;
others are dirty bluish white in ground-colour, faintly streaked, in true
Bunting style, with wavy pale lilac markings ; and in others the markings
are evenly distributed almost over the entire surface, mixed with scratches
and streaks of colour, and sometimes massed thickly together on one end
of the egg. They vary in length from 2°4 to 2:1 inch, and are seldom less
than 13 inch in breadth, the short eggs being the roundest and bluntest.
Fresh eggs may be obtained from the beginning to the end of April.

The general colour of the upper parts of the Kite is reddish brown, each
feather with pale edges, those of the head and neck much elongated, greyish
white streaked with brown; lower parts rufous-brown, streaked with dark
brown; tail, which is deeply forked, reddish brown, with dark bars. Bill
horn colour; cere, irides, and tarsi yellow; claws black. The female
bird is rather larger than the male, and has the underparts more rufous
and the head greyer.

80 BRITISH BIRDS.

MILVUS ATER.
BLACK KITE.
(PuatE 5.)

Accipiter milvus niger, Briss. Orn. i. p. 413 (1760).

Accipiter korschun, Gmel. N. Comm. Petrop. xv. p. 444 (1771).

Falco migrans, Bodd. Tabl. Pl. Eni. p. 28 (1783).

Falco ater*, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p.262 (1788) ; et auctorum plurimorum— Temminck,
(Sundevall), (Kaup), (Layard), (Jerdon), Naumann, &e.

Milvus ater (Gmel.), Daud. Traité, ii. p. 149 (1800).

Falco fusco-ater (Gmel.), Meyer, in Mey. u. Wolf's Taschenb. i. p. 27 (1810).

Accipiter milvus, Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-As. i. p. 356 (1826).

Milvus niger, Bp. Comp. List B. Eur. § N. Amer. p. 4 (1838).

Hydroictinia ater (Gmel.), Kaup, Classif. Saiug. w. ‘Og. p. 115 (1844).

Milvus eetolius, Schl. Vog. Nederl. pl. 82 (1854).

Milvus migrans (Bodd.), Strickl. Orn. Syn. p. 183 (1855).

The Black Kite has no right whatever to be considered a British bird.
It is included in the British list solely on the authority of a single example
caught in a trap in the Red-Deer Park at Alnwick in May 1866 (‘ Ibis,’
1857, p. 253). This may have been a spring migrant which had acci-
dentally overshot its mark ; or it may have escaped from an aviary.

There are five forms of the Black Kite. One of these, M. egyptius,
distinguished by having a yellow bill, is probably specifically distinct. It
breeds in N.E. Africa, Palestine, Arabia, and Asia Minor, occasionally
straying into Greece, and wintermg in South Africa. Of the other four
forms, two (an eastern and a western) are northern races, and two (also
an eastern and a western) are southern races. MM. ater breeds in suitable
localities throughout Europe south of the Baltic, and eastwards in Asia
Minor, Palestine, Persia, and Turkestan. On migration it has been known
to stray as far north as Archangel. It passes through N.W. Africa on mi-
gration, where a few remain to breed, and winters in Africa south of the Atlas
Mountains. In Turkestan it meets and apparently interbreeds with M.
melanotis, which extends eastwards through S. Siberia to China and Japan,

* The Black Kite is best known as M. ater or M. niger; but the former name has not
only been used by the greatest number of ornithologists, but is also the oldest of the two.
Messrs. Newton and Dresser have, however, set a bad example in following Strickland in
his adoption of Boddaert’s name; and Sharpe has made bad worse by adopting a name
which is practically unknown. There can be no doubt that Gerini was probably the first
ornithologist after Linnzeus who clearly discriminated between this species and the
Common Kite ; and under cover of the mischievous law of priority it is not improbable
that some future ornithologist with more zeal than discretion will attempt to call the
Black Kite F. milano, founded upon his figure (i. pl. xxxviii.).

nowt Ct

BLACK KITE. 81

many passing through Cashmere on migration to winterin India. Thisisa
slightly larger bird, with the white at the base of the outer primaries
extending below the wing-coverts, and the white on the margins of the
feathers of the head confined to the forehead. Of the two southern forms,
M. govinda is confined to India, where it is only subject to unimportant
internal migrations, whilst M. affinis inhabits Australia, Malaysia, Siam,
and Burma, occasionally wandering into India. In neither of these forms
is there any white on the forehead or crown; the principal difference be-
tween them is one of size, the eastern bird measuring in length of wing
from 16 to 18 inches, and the western bird from 174 to 194 inches. The
former is said to have less white at the base of the primaries than the
latter ; but this seems to be a very variable character.

The Black Kite is not only one of the commonest birds of prey, but
also one of the most interesting, its aerial movements, great familiarity,
and gregarious habits arresting the attention of the observer and fixing
the bird upon his notice. The Black Kite becomes more numerous in
the southern portion of its range. Dixon, when in Algeria, made the fol-
lowing notes regarding it :—“ It is very generally supposed that the Black
Kite is, like the Common Kite, an inhabitant of forests and wooded dis-
tricts ; but such is not invariably the case. In Algeria I met with the
Black Kite in the most desolate of desert country, both on the plains and
at altitudes of 7000 feet in the Aurés Mountains. I well remember to
have seen this fine bird flying over the stony ground on which we obtained
our new Chat (Sazicola seebohmi), where scarcely a tree or bush was to be
seen, and where the only other large birds were a few Choughs and Ravens.
In the oases of El Kantara and Biskra the Black Kite was also the com-
monest Raptorial bird. At the former place they evidently nested in the
stupendous cliffs of the pass; for I constantly saw them entering and
leaving the rocks. At Biskra they were to be seen hawking over the desert
country in slow graceful flight. The Black Kite also inhabits the towns
of Algeria as well as the wilderness, and in company with the Vultures
plays the part of a scavenger—evidently a welcome and respected guest,
for it is never molested by the natives. I usually saw this graceful bird
flapping lazily along some fifty yards above the ground; and sometimes
as many as half a dozen were in the air together, wheeling gracefully
about in circles for no other purpose, it seemed, than their own enjoy-
ment. At Constantine the Black Kite could be seen flymg in company
with the Egyptian and the Griffon Vultures; but I never saw it
on the ground searching for garbage like those birds. Because it is
left unmolested, the Black Kite is a very bold and fearless bird, and
often soars just above the houses, and passes the observer within easy
gunshot.”

VOL. I. G

82 BRITISH BIRDS.

At Bayonne I observed the Black Kite sailing over the market-place
for some time, and afterwards beating up the river picking up float-
ing garbage. Its motions on the wing are very similar to those of the
Common Kite; but the tail is shorter and much less forked, and the bird
is altogether a smaller one. The Black Kite is said to arrive at Bayonne
in March, and is very common until June, when it disappears. They are
nearly all immature birds, adult examples being rare. I am informed by
Dr. Holland that in North Germany the Black Kite arrives at the end of
March or beginning of April, and leaves again in September.

In the Volga district the Black Kite is the commonest Raptorial bird,
and also the most useful of its order. Bogdanow made many careful ob-
servations on the habits of this bird. He says :—“‘ Upon my arrival at
Astrachan I was greatly surprised at the numbers of Black Kites living in
the town, and at their tameness. One could hardly throw any thing out of
the window without two or three of these birds pouncing upon it. As
soon as the August fishery commences, all these birds leave the town and
go to the fishing-places, where the small and useless fish are cast away by
the fishermen. The different localities mhabited by the Kite, and its
occurrence in the steppes and valleys, certainly does not make it a formal
resident of the plains ; and its rea! nabitation is the forest; there it breeds,
and there it retires to roost. In the Volga district it never builds any-
where else but on trees ; but in the Volga delta, where no oaks nor any other
high trees exist, it constructs its nest on the very low trees which some-
times grow amidst reeds. In the wooded parts of Kasan their food con-
sists of young hares, moles, mice, and small birds, and in the towns and
villages of garbage. In the river-valleys it preys upon frogs, water-
rats, ducks, and other water-birds ; but in no case and in no locality does
it despise carrion. Its migration from the province of Kasan commences
im September, and draws to a close in October. This, however, largely
depends upon the weather, as in dry and mild autumns, when there are
many mammals on the steppes, they’leave later.”

Dr. Holland informs me that the Black Kite is very fond of fish, but
that it only takes them from the surface and when they are swimming
in the shallows.

I observed the Black Kite nesting in North Germany during the spring
of 1882. About 20 miles from the coast, on the southern shores of the
Baltic between Stettin and Dantzig, is the town of Stolp. About the same
distance south of Stolp is the Lantow See, a lake about four square miles
in extent, and surrounded on three sides by forests. This forest is princi-
pally composed of Scotch fir, with a few beeches and now and then an oak.
The first “ Horst ” that we were shown was that of a Black Kite. The
birds, which used always to be observed fishing on the lake, were, however,

BLACK KITE. 83

nowhere to be seen. They had probably deserted the locality in conse-
quence of Ulrich, the forester, having shot at the bird as she flew from the
nest the week before our visit. He probably wounded her. The nest was
about 45 feet from the ground, in a beech in the fork of one of the main
branches of the tree. It was an entirely new nest, built this year, rather
shallow, and perhaps three feet by two and a half, outside measurement.
It was built of sticks and lined with dead moss and a scrap or two of paper.
It was situated at the boundary of the estate where it joins Bismark’s estate of
Varzin. The Bismark Platz, a clump of pines on a hill, looked down onto
the nest. On this hill Bismark once picnicked; and the path by the lake-side
under the nest is said to be a favourite walk of the great statesman. The
nest was empty; but the Black Kite is so much shyer than the Common Kite
that we thought she might have seen us and have flown away, though had
she been there we ought to have seen something of her mate on the lake.

It is said that the Black Kite does not line its nest with rags; but this
statement is not correct, for Salvin, who met with this species very com-
monly when birds’-nesting in the Eastern Atlas, found its nest adorned with
pieces of the Arab burnous and lined withrags. He also states that its nest
is_usually built amongst the roots of a tree growing out of the rocks. The
nest is often covered with fish-bones; and, according to Dr. Holland, the
young are fed on reptiles and young birds. The Black Kite will also rob
the nests of other birds when it is bringing up its young. In Southern
Spain Saunders states that the Black Kite is quite a sociable bird, as many
as ten nests having been found in a small patch of the forest; and the -
same authority also states that colonies of Sparrows often take up their
quarters near its home.

Geebel, who found many nests of the Black Kite in Southern Russia,
states that the nest is very small, and that very often the head and tail of
the sitting bird may be seen over each side of the nest. He also states
that, if the eggs are taken before the full complement has been laid, the
bird goes on laying, and will sit on the remainder; and should her eggs
be taken, she lays again. He found fresh eggs during the last week in
April and the beginning of May. When the nest is approached the parent
birds will fly round the place uttering their cries.

I am indebted to Capt. Verner for the following interesting notes
respecting this bird in the south of Spain :—“ At Gibraltar I observed great
numbers of Black Kites flying northwards, in company with Egyptian Vul-
tures, Short-toed Eagles, Honey-Buzzards, and other birds, during the last
week in March, in the years 1877-8 and 9. In May 1879 I was on board
the Crown Prince of Austria’s yacht on the Guadalquivir, and found the
Black Kite nesting in great numbers in the pine-woods on the north bank.
On the 26th I climbed up to several nests only to find them unfinished.

G2

84. BRITISH BIRDS.

At last, however, I found one containing two fresh eggs. It was built on
a horizontal branch near the summit of a lofty pine tree, and was con-
structed of sticks, lined with fragments of paper of all sorts and colours,
and with an equally mixed assortment of dry dung (of horse, cattle, &c.).
During the day the Crown Prince and some of his party found two more
nests containing eggs very slightly incubated. The Black Kite breeds
later than the Common Kite; for I found a nest of the latter containing
three young, and Graf Wilszek took a clutch of three hard-set eggs. In
all the nests that I visited there was a quantity of paper and dung. These
pine-forests are frequently broken by broad strips of sun-baked mud, which
during the winter are, no doubt, a series of ‘lagunas.2. The Black Kites
congregated in numbers on these open places, where they crouch very much
after the manner of Pratincoles. I crept under cover of some scrub to within
a hundred and fifty yards of a party of twenty-two, and watched their pro-
ceedings through my binocular. Some were crouching on the ground,
whilst others were walking about, apparently feedmg. When they de-
tected my presence they rose with a shrill tremulous cry. I came upon
many such parties of them, and on each occasion tried to make out what
they were feeding upon. The ground was as hard as iron, and the scanty
vegetation on it brown and dead; so I conclude that they must have been
catching some insects, judging from the frequency with which they pecked
at the ground.”

The eggs of the Black Kite vary from two to five in number,
but in Pomerania two is the regular clutch. Goebel states that the
number of eggs is usually three, occasionally only two. He has
also found four, and on one occasion as many as five. The eggs of the
Black Kite closely resemble those of the Common Kite, but are perhaps,
on an average, more richly marked. The ground-colour is either dull white
or the faintest of pale blue, more or less boldly spotted and blotched with
browns of different shades. Some specimens are far more richly marked
than others. In some eggs the markings are deep rich reddish brown, dis-
tributed in large patches, with scratchings and specks of lighter brown
between. Others are finely powdered over the entire surface with
freckles of colour, here and there becoming confluent, especially on the
larger end. A very handsome variety has the smaller end clouded with
pale brown, here and there marked with rich brown, and the rest of the
egg spotted with pale brown and faint shell-markings of lilac. Another
and more rare variety is streaked on the small half with pale brown, similar
to a Bunting’s egg, the streaks becoming confluent at the small end of
the egg. Many Black Kites’ eggs are almost undistinguishable from
Common Buzzard’s, and, except that on an average they are slightly
smaller, scarcely differ from Common Kite’s. They possess little or no

BLACK KITE. 85

gloss, and have the shell somewhat coarse in texture. They vary in length
from 2°25 to 2°05 inch, and in breadth from 1°8 to 1°6 inch.

The Black Kite has a considerable superficial resemblance to the Com-
mon Kite, especially on the wing. It is a slightly smaller bird, with a
somewhat shorter tail (the respective measurements of the latter are about
11 in. and 15 in.), which is decidedly less forked (the difference between
the longest and shortest feathers being over 3 inches in one case, and
under 2 inches in the other). The readiest mode of distinction, however, is
the colour of the tail, which in the Common Kite is chestnut, and in the
Black Kite dark brown. There is no difference between the two species in

the colour of the soft parts.

NEST OF COMMON KITE-

86 BRITISH BIRDS.

Genus HALIAETUS.

The genus Haliaetus was established by Savigny in 1810, in his ‘ Systeme
des Oiseaux de l’ Egypte et de la Syrie,’ p. 8, for the reception of H. albicilla,
which therefore becomes the type. This genus had previously formed
a part of the genus Aquila of Brisson. The latter was included by
Linneeus in his genus Falco, and is one of Brisson’s genera which are
additional to those in the twelfth edition of Linnus’s ‘Systema Nature,’
specially admitted in the explanation of Rule 2 of the Stricklandian Code.

The Sea-Eagles may at once be distinguished from the true Eagles by
having the lower half of the tarsus denuded of feathers, and from all other
European genera of Raptorial Birds by its being scutellated on the front
and reticulated behind, except from the Kites, which have the tail very
long, more than four times the length of the tarsus. The claws are deeply
hooked. The wings are long and ample, the tail slightly rounded. These
birds are less vigorous than the true Eagles, although possessed of great
strength and daring.

The genus Haliaetus is almost cosmopolitan. With the probable excep-
tion of the Neotropical Region, the Sea-Eagles are found throughout the
world, from the Arctic regions to the tropics. In the British Islands but
one species of the genus breeds, although another, the White-headed Sea-
Eagle of North America, has been said to occur.

They feed much on carrion, fish, small and weakly quadrupeds, and
reptiles.

They build large bulky nests on trees and rocks, made of sticks, roots,
turf, and lined with moss and green plants and wool. The eggs are two
or three in number, generally pure white, or sparingly marked with pale
brown.

WHITE-TAILED EAGLE. 87

HALIAETUS ALBICILLA.

WHITE-TAILED EAGLE.
(PuatE 2.)

Aquila albicilla, Briss, Orn. i. p. 427 (1760); et auctorum plurimorum—(Linneus),
(Gmelin), Pallas, (Cuvier), (Naumann), (Temminck), (Sharpe), &c.

Aquila albicilla minor, Briss. Orn. i. p. 429 (1760),

Aquila ossifragra, Briss. Orn. i. p. 487 (1760).

Vultur albicilla [misspelt albiulla], Zinn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 123 (1766).

Falco ossifragus, Zinn, Syst. Nat. i. p. 124 (1766).

Falco albicilla (Zinn.), Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 253 (1788).

Falco albicaudus, G'mel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 258 (1788, ex Briss.).

Falco hinnularius, Lath. Ind. Orn. i. p. 15 (1790, ex Charl.).

Falco pygargus, Daud. Traité d’Orn. ii. p. 62 (1800, ex Briss.).

Haliztus nisus, Sav. Syst. Ois. de ? Egypte, p. 26 (1810).

Aquila leucocephala, Wolf, Taschenb. i. p. 16, pl. 4 (1810, nec Linn.).

Haliaétus albicilla (Linn.), Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. Sc. Brit. Mus. p. 9 (1816).

Falco albicilla borealis, Faber, Isis, 1827, p. 56.

Haliaetus brooksi, Hume, Ibis, 1870, p. 438.

Although the White-tailed or Sea-Eagle is far commoner in the British
Islands than the Golden Eagle, still it is an inhabitant of the wildest and
most secluded districts alone. Owing to incessant persecution it may now
be fairly said to be extinct in England and Wales, save only as a rare
straggler. In the British Islands Scotland is the home of the White-
tailed Eagle. It breeds pretty regularly throughout the wild rocky islands
of the Hebrides and the Western Isles, being particularly numerous on
the rugged coasts of Skye, one of its most famous eyries being on the
rocks known as “ Macleod’s Maidens ” on that coast. Other eyries are in
Kigg, Scalpa, North Uist, Benbecula, the Shiant Islands, Rum, and Canna.
On the mainland it is much less numerous, although there are several
breeding-stations in the wild districts of the west, from the Mull of
Galloway to Cape Wrath. Ailsa Craig once contained an eyrie of this
species, likewise the Mull of Oe, Bolsa, and the Bass Rock ; but they have
now been deserted for some years, only visited by a passing bird, attracted
thither, it would seem, by old associations. Formerly this species was
abundant in England, and bred in many suitable situations round the
coast ; but now its presence is for the most part confined to birds of the
year, and adults on migration. Among the localities formerly frequented
by this species in the breeding-season in Englandmay be mentioned
Lundy Island, the Isle of Wight, the Lake district (so recently as 1835),

88 BRITISH BIRDS.

and the Isle of Man. In Ireland the White-tailed Eagle is not uncommon
in the mountainous districts, especially on the west coast. In Connemara
I have often seen several on the wing together, and once climbed up to
a nest with the help of a rope hung over the cliff. I have also seen
the eyrie on the Blasquets, where these birds have bred from time
immemorial.

The White-tailed Eagle is a Palearctic bird, being confined to the
northern portion of the eastern hemisphere and Greenland. It breeds in
suitable localities throughout Europe, from the Arctic circle to the
Mediterranean. It winters in South Europe and North Africa, a few
remaining to breed in the Canary Islands, Algeria, and Egypt. Eastwards
it breeds throughout Siberia, south of the Arctic circle, and winters in
Persia, Turkestan, and South China, occasionally crossing the Himalayas
into India. This Eagle has several close allies in various parts of the
world. From the Crimea eastwards to India and Burma it is partially
replaced by Pallas’s Sea-Eagle (Haliaetus leucoryphus), a much more
rufous-coloured bird, with a broad terminal black bar to its otherwise
white tail. In North-east Siberia, North China, Japan, and Kamtschatka
it is partially replaced by Haliaetus pelagicus, the largest Eagle known,
and easily distinguished by having the thighs, rump, and lesser and median
wing-coverts white. In the Aleutian Islands and throughout Northern
America, with the exception of Greenland, the White-tailed Eagle is re-
placed by the well-known White-headed or Bald Eagle (Haliaetus leuco-
cephalus). The latter bird has been said to have occurred in Europe ; but
no example killed on this continent is known. It is very easy to mistake
old birds of the White-tailed Eagle for this species, especially on the
wing.

The haunt of the White-tailed Eagle is not necessarily a maritime one,
although the bird is more attached to the coasts and the sea-cliffs than the
Golden Eagle. It may, however, be often seen far away from the ocean,
choosing for its haunt some large inland lake, especially if there be lofty
cliffs and rocky islets on which it ean perch to scan the surrounding
country. The haunts of this noble-looking bird are the brown hills of the
Hebrides and the adjacent Isles, and the wild mountain-country of the
mainland in the West. On the bold and rocky headlands of this wild
rugged coast, whose hoary peaks are washed by the treacherous waters of
the Minch, the Sea-Eagle finds a congenial home. The scenery of Skye
is typical of this Eagle’s favourite haunt. On that bleak and desolate isle
it occurs in probably larger numbers than in any other place in Great
_ Britain. Dixon writes of its occurrence there as follows :—*‘‘ Almost every
sheep-farm possesses one or two eyries; and in most of the remote and
stupendous cliffs of the coast a pair have built their nest. Wild indeed
are its haunts here ; and from the great inaccessibility of its nesting-places,

—

WHITE-TAILED EAGLE. 89

together with its habitual wariness, it will probably hold its own for many
years to come, in spite of the price set upon its head. What scenery, for
instance, is more adapted to the requirements of the solitude-loving Eagle
than the tall bleak rocks of Storr or Tallisker ? or what is more favourable
to his presence than the rocks known as ‘ Macleod’s Maidens’ and the
cliffs round about them? or what country so attractive as ‘ Macleod’s
Tables,” round about wild Dunvegan, or the fastnesses of Genbrittle ?
Stray into districts such as these, far away from man’s haunts and in-
dustries, and there it is the Sea-Eagle will come from out the mountain-
mists yelping fright at your intrusion, and sail proudly onward, displaying
his grand powers of wingmanship to your astonished and delighted gaze.
Like the Golden Eagle the present species will often sit for long intervals
silent and motionless on some tall rock-pinnacle, dreamily scanning the
country or the waters below. Of all birds the Eagles are certainly the
most difficult to approach, and rarely indeed have you the good fortune to
get within gunshot of them. Aided with a good glass, however, you may
often observe their attitudes as they sit on the pinnacles and shelves
basking in the sun with expanded drooping wings, after the manner of
Cormorants. Then see them launch heavily into the air, mounting upwards
in wide curving flight ; now sailing with wings fully expanded and the tips
of the primaries slightly recurved, they sweep along over mountain, moor-
land waste, and sea, advancing seemingly with but little effort,

High o’er the watery uproar, silent seen,
Sailing sedate, in majesty serene.

A right grand sight indeed it is to see a pair of Eagles so engaged in the
early months of spring, sailing lazily round and round in the dark blue
heavens, ever mounting upwards, until the eye can but just discern them
hike minute specks moving in slow course along the sky. Or, better still,
see two male birds in the love-season buffeting each other in the air,
screaming out their peculiar yelping cries, and displaying so many singular
postures as each seems to try its best to gain the sky of its opponent.
The usual flight of the White-tailed Eagle, when passing from place to
place, is performed by a series of slow and regular flappings ; but its varied
evolutions are beyond all description when engaged in aerial combat with
one of its own species, or perhaps, better still, when mobbed by some
troublesome Hawk, Gull, or Raven, whose nest it is too near. Although
so large and powerful as the White-tailed Eagle is, still we have seen him
completely beaten off by a Peregrine, and glad to seek safety in flight.
Save in the nesting-season, White-tailed Eagles are for the most part
solitary birds, although each pair haunts the neighbourhood of their eyrie
the year throughout.”

The roaming disposition of the White-tailed Eagle seems almost ex-

90 BRITISH BIRDS.

clusively confined to young or immature birds. From the Tyne, north-
wards up the east coast of Scotland, immature specimens of this Eagle
are usually met with in autumn ; and at several of the bold headlands,
notably at St. Abbs Head in Berwickshire, a solitary bird will make its
appearance and remain a week or so until the supply of food is exhausted
or the incessant persecution to which it is subject sends it off to more
suitable quarters. Again, in the south-eastern counties of England this
bird is often seen in the autumn months in immature plumage. In these
districts they frequent rabbit-warrens, or take up their station on one of
the large sheets of water, where they wage an incessant warfare on the
waterfowl congregated there for the winter. Eagles of all kinds are
thorough gipsies in their mode of life—here one day, fifty miles away the
next, a flight of a hundred miles being nothing but a morning stroll for
an Eagle. This circumstance,.coupled with the fact that their haunts are
so vast and difficult of access, explains why it is that the birds are so
rarely seen, and why the impression is so deeply rooted that the birds are
well nigh extinct in Great Britain.

In Pomerania, especially between Stettin and the Baltic, the Sea-Eagle is a
common resident, breeding in the forests. It builds an enormous nest, some-
times six to eight feet in diameter, near the top of a pine or on the horizon-
tal branch of an oak or beech, preferring forests near inland seas and large
lakes. Instances have been known of its breeding in the same ‘‘ Horst” for
twenty years in succession. Every year some addition is made to the nest,
until it becomes five or six feet high. Occasionally a pair of Sea-Eagles have
two “ Horsts,” which are used alternately. They are shy birds, and leave the
nest at the least alarm, but do not easily forsake their old home. If the eggs
are taken early in the season, they will frequently lay again in the same nest.
They make a very flat nest, and generally line it at the top with moss. The
male and female are said to sit alternately, and the female is said to be
shyer than the male at the nest. Two is the usual number of eggs; but
frequently only one is found; in rare cases as many as three are laid.
Eggs may be taken from the first week in March to the middle of April.
The Sea-Eagle is more gregarious than other Hagles, and they are fre-
quently seen to hunt together. They are by no means innocent birds, and
often make considerable havoc in the carp-ponds. Though they do not
refuse carrion, as many as six ducks have been found in a nest at one time,
and they often take hares or even very young roebuck. In winter the
number of Sea-Eagles in Pomerania is increased by migrants from the north,
Dixon writes :—“ Within my own observation the favourite food of this
Eagle is the stranded fish and shore-garbage on the beach of its maritime
haunts; while further inland a dead carease or a weakly bird or animal are
shared with the Raven and the Crows. I once remember to have seen a
bird of this species alight on a drowned sheep lying on the shore of Loch

WHITE-TAILED EAGLE. 91

Follart, in Skye, on which a number of Hooded and Carrion Crows and a
few of the larger Gulls were feeding. After surveying the carcase as he
sailed round it in the air for a few moments, he finally alighted a few yards
away, and then leaped forward to his meal. The Crows cleared out of his
way, retiring to a little distance to watch his operations; while the Gulls,
in light bouyant flight, hovered above or alighted on the sands, apparently
waiting patiently for his departure. Before he had well settled down to
his meal, however, a shepherd, whistling to his dogs on the cliffs near by,
disturbed him, and he rose into the air with a large piece of the almost
putrid flesh in his talons, and flapped lazily away over the loch towards
Dunvegan Head, leaving the Gulls and the Crows in undisturbed possession
to quarrel over their prize. Keen of sight as this Eagle is, still one is
almost led to think that the Raven and the Crow are possessed of sharper
powers of vision; for very frequently indeed it is led to its meal by seeing
these birds congregated on a carcase. It may be, however, that the Crows and
Ravens are more prying birds than the Eagle, and search every nook and
corner more carefully. The White-tailed Eagle is also said to take living
fish from their own element, something after the manner of the Osprey ; but
how the bird accomplishes this feat it is hard to conjecture, unless, when flying
very low over the waves, it snatches some fish basking on the surface with its
claws, conveying it to land to devour at leisure. When carrion is scarce the
White-tailed Eagle seeks other prey—the ducks and sea-fowl, taking them
more by stealth than prowess. In the winter months this species takes up
its abode on the banks of a loch or inland sheet of water, to live almost
entirely on the water-birds. Daily it may be seen in one particular tree,
watching, in company with a pair of Peregrines, the ducks on the water,
and waiting in the hope that they will rise and offer an easy capture.
At this season the bird will come much nearer to man’s habitation in search
of garbage and refuse, ofttimes being hard pressed for food, although, in
common with the Raptores generally, it is capable of great endurance.”

The many tales told of this bird, as well as of the Golden Eagle and the
Lammergier, which are all represented as carrying off children, are no
doubt myths; for, as Saxby, in his ‘Birds of Shetland,’ very justly
remarks, every Eagle’s eyrie in the islands is pointed out as the one made
famous for all time by its owners carrying off that world-renowned baby in
times so long ago as to be clouded in deep obscurity.

The White-tailed Eagle is undoubtedly mated to its partner for life ; and
even should one of the birds be destroyed the survivor will obtain a fresh
companion in an incredibly short space of time—a habit peculiar to most,
if not all, rapacious birds. For many seasons in succession this bird returns
to its old eyrie, merely making a few necessary alterations each season,
adding to the structure, or making good what damage it may have sus-
tained during the storms of the previous winter. ‘The site is varied

92 BRITISH BIRDS.

according to locality, and may be on rocks, trees, or the ground. In the
inland districts the birds usually select a rocky islet in the middle ofa
loch, where they either build their bulky nest on some ledge of the sloping
ground, in a tree, or on the rocks, as occasion offers. Sometimes a site is
chosen at some distance from the water in small open woods; but such
instances are rare. Inland rocks, too, are often selected, in similar places
to those which the Golden Eagle frequents—broken cliffs, often quite easy
of access from above or below. But the most characteristic eyries of this
bird in our islands are on the coast, built high up in the almost imaccessible
rocks, hundreds of feet above an ever turbid sea, and in situations to which
none but the most intrepid climbers dare venture. Some nests in these
situations are indeed quite inaccessible, and the birds have remained in un-
disturbed possession from time immemorial. ‘Two of these were visited by
Dixon, who describes them as follows :—‘‘ One was, in the season of 1881,
in the terrible cliffs of the ‘Storr’ rocks in Skye, its precise locality being
unknown, although the pair of birds might be seen almost daily entering
or quitting the rocks, or sailing in circles high in air above them. The
other safely rests on the breast of one of Macleod’s ‘ Maidens,’ also on the
coast of Skye; and I was informed that these nests have been tenanted for
a great many seasons, presumably by the same owners. It may be the
’*witching force of fancy; but the rocks which contain an Eagle’s nest
seem the grandest in the whole district, and the ones from which the most
uninterrupted view may be obtained. Let us, while standing in this eyric,
endeavour to convey a word-picture of the scene around us. Far below
are the deep-green waters of the ocean. On every side, and towering
far above our heads, are the beetling cliffs, crag beyond crag, clothed
with stunted herbage and here and there broken up into turfy banks.
On these banks the sea-pinks and the primroses are full of fairest blooms,
lending a delicious fragrance to the bracing air, now made resonant with
the barking cry of the male Eagle, perched on yonder rock-stack—angry
at our intrusion, although too timid to evince his displeasure in a more
marked degree. The female Eagle, too, must be included in this picture.
She is high in air above us, occasionally sweeping past the face of the cliff,
well out of gunshot, and showing her anger by thrusting out her legs
and expanding her sharp talons, as though anxious to seize us in their
fierce grasp. Now an examination of the platform on which we stand.
Here and there are scattered the large bones of various fish; and just
on the edge of the nest a few Puffin’s feet and an entire beak of
that bird, together with numerous castings aud droppings of the old
Eagles on every side. The nest itself is a bulky structure—evidently
the accumulation of years, flat in form, and about five feet in diameter.
It is made of large and small sticks, matted slightly together, yet firm in
texture, a few branches of heather, some of them quite recently obtained,

WHITE-TAILED EAGLE. 93

others time-worn and bleached, and a few pieces of seaweed. It is lined
with fine and coarse grass, a few leaves of the sea-campion, and one or
two tufts of wool and turf, on which the two eggs, slightly dirty with
nest-stains, lie so temptingly. Such is an average nest of the White-
tailed Eagle. Sometimes, however, it is not so elaborately made, and the
soft earth of the rock-ledge is almost the only bed on which the eggs
lie; while yet again, when built on a tree, it is often of great size, and is a
conspicuous object throughout the surrounding district.”

Several instances are recorded of the Sea-Eagle breeding upon the
ground, Herr Tancré describes a nest which he found upon the island of
Hiddensoe, on the southern shores of the Baltic near Stralsund, on the
naked meadow among the reeds. The nest was carefully made of sticks,
and was about two feet high. Similar occurrences have been recorded
from Jutland and the lagoons of Lower Egypt.

The eggs of the Sea-Eagle are roundish in form, slightly smaller than
Golden Eagle’s, and rather coarser in texture, and are pure white in
colour; they vary from 3:3 to 2°75 inch in length, and from 2°4 to 21 inch
in breadth. It is doubtful whether eggs of this bird ever have any true
colouring-matter upon them, only a few brownish stains, received, in all
probability, from the materials of the nest or the feet of the sitting bird.
Although unspotted eggs of the Golden Eagle resemble eggs of this species,
still the much coarser grain of those of the White-tailed Eagle serves as a
sure guide by which to determine them. The young are hatched early in
June, and are covered with greyish-white down, and remain in the nest some
five or six weeks ere they are able to fly.

There are instances where several eyries of this bird have been built very
close together, even in Scotland. Although the birds breed so frequently
on the ocean-cliffs, still each particular “ craig-an-Iolair” is otherwise
deserted of bird-life, the Gulls and the Guillemots keeping at a respectful
distance. Sometimes, however, a Peregrine Falcon’s nest is quite close to
the Eagle’s; and the Raven will not unfrequently rear its young near at
hand.

When able to forage for themselves the young quit their parents’ com-
pany and their birthplace for ever, becoming thorough wanderers, until, if
fortunate, they reach maturity, pair, and select some craggy haunt, some
sea-girt fortress or inland loch, as a castle for themselves, or retire to some
forest. Although not, perhaps, strictly gregarious, these young birds often
hunt at no great distance from each other, searching the hills and shores
in search of carrion or weakly birds and animals.

The upper plumage of the White-tailed Eagle is brown. The head and
neck are paler, in very old birds almost white; the underparts chocolate-
brown ; tail white ; bill, cere, irides, and feet yellow ; claws bluish black.
The female resembles the male, but is somewhat darker, larger in size,

94. . BRITISH BIRDS.

and has not the head and neck so lightly coloured. In young birds the
beak is black, the cere darker than in adults, the irides brown, and the
whole plamage more uniform in colour and much darker ; the tail-feathers,
too, are dark brown, not becoming purely white until the bird is some six
or seven years old. In this stage of plumage it is the Aquila ossifragus of
some authors.

Varieties of this bird sometimes occur. Meyer figures, in his ‘ British
Birds,’ a specimen taken in Ireland, which has the whole of the plumage a
uniform bluish-grey colour. Gray, in his ‘ Birds of the West of Scotland,’
mentions a specimen in the possession of Sir James Matheson, Bart., of
Stornoway Castle, very bright in colour (a uniform yellowish grey) and of
extraordinary size. Mr. St. John records a specimen pure silvery white,
another albino specimen being also in the museum at Dunrobin Castle.
Great differences of size are also to be observed in this species, its alar
extent varying from six to seven, and even seven and a half feet.

Ail

a

AQUILA. 95

Genus AQUILA.

The genus Aquila was established by Brisson in 1760, in his ‘ Orni-
thologie, i. p. 419. Since Brisson called the Golden Eagle Aquila
aquila, there can be no doubt whatever that A. chrysaetus is the type of
the genus.

The Eagles may at once be distinguished from any other European Birds
of Prey by their feathered tarsi, which are entirely concealed by feathers
down to the toes, in this respect resembling most of the Owls. The genus
Aquila is a cosmopolitan one, containing about thirty species. Nine only are
found in Europe, of which three are British. Although large and powerful
birds, the Eagles are not courageous. They feed much on mammals, birds,
and reptiles. They nestle in cliffs and trees, some members of the genus
on the ground, making large nests of twigs, turf, wool, and moss, and lined
with green plants and foliage. Their eggs are from two to three in number,
varying from pale bluish white to cream in ground-colour, with brown
markings of various shades, and violet and grey shell-markings. Under-
neath the ground-colour there is always a pale bluish green, causing the
shell, when the egg is held up to the light, to appear that colour.

96 BRITISH BIRDS.

AQUILA CHRYSAETUS.
GOLDEN EAGLE.
(PiaTE 2.)

Aquila aquila, Briss. Orn. i. p. 419 (1760; imm., probably second plumage).

Aquila chrysaetos, Briss. Orn. i. p. 431 (1760, adult).

Aquila melaneetus, Briss. Orn. i. p, 434 (1760, young in first plumage).

Falco chrysaetus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 125 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum—
(Gould), (Macgillivray), (Bonaparte), Naumann, (Jerdon), (Newton), (Coues),
(Sharpe), Se.

Faleo fulvus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 125 (1766).

Falco fulvus 8. canadensis, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 125 (1766).

Falco pygargus, Scop. Ann. I. Hist. Nat. p. 14 (1768).

Falco melanaétos, Gel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 254 (1788).

Falco americanus, Gimel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 257 (1788).

Falco niger, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 259 (1788).

Falco cygneus, Lath. Ind. Orn. i. p. 14 (1790).

Falco melanonotus, Lath. Ind. Orn. i. p. 16 (1790).

Falco aquila, Daud. Traité d’ Orn. ii. p. 47 (1800).

Aquila americana (Gmel.), Vieill. Ous. Am. Sept. i. p. 31 (1807).

Aquila fulva, Sav. Syst. Ovs. de V Egypte, p. 22 (1810).

Falco regalis, Temm. Man. d’Orn. p. 10 (1815).

Aquila nobilis, Pall. Zoogr. Rosso- As. i. p. 838 (1826).

Aquila regia, Less. Traité d’Orn. p. 36, pl. 8. fig. 1 (1831).

Aquila? daphanea, Hodgs. in Gray’s Zool. Misc. p. 81 (1844).

Aquila barthelemyi, Jaub. Rev. et Mag. Zool. 1852, p. 545.

Aquila canadensis * (Linn.), Cass. B. N. Amer. p. 41 (1858).

Aquila intermedia, Severtz. Turk. Jevotnie, p. 112 (1873).

The Golden Eagle, one of the largest and most powerful birds of prey
found in the British Islands, although occasionally seen and obtained in
England, may now be said to be confined to the wildest and most isolated
districts of Scotland and Ireland. Time was when the bird bred in
England and Wales. In the days of Willughby it was said to breed on the
cliffs of Snowdon ; and that ornithologist also describes a nest found in
Derbyshire in the year 1668. Wallis also states, in his ‘ History of

* Dresser, in his ‘ Birds of Europe,’ includes in the synonymy of the Golden Eagle
“ Aquila canadensis (Gm.), Wils. Am. Orn. pl. ly. fig. 1 (1808).” There appear to be no
less than three inaccuracies in this quotation, The authority for the specific name cana-
densis is either Linneus or Cassin, according to whether names which are quoted as
varieties are recognized or not. Wilson, on his plate lv. fig. 1, calls this species Ring-
tail Eagle, and in the text Falco fulvus, This plate illustrates vol. vii., which is dated
1818, although vol. i. is dated 1808. How is it possible to make so many blunders with
Sharpe’s ‘ Museum Catalogue’ to copy from? Or is there an edition of Wilson of which
we know nothing in this country ?

GOLDEN EAGLE. 97

Northumberland,’ published in 1769, that the Golden Eagle bred on the
highest and steepest part of Cheviot ; and Sir William Jardine, writing in
1838, mentions the cliffs of Westmoreland and Cumberland as once its
home. The Golden Eagle’s only stronghold in our islands now is the
western and northern counties of Scotland and throughout the Hebrides—
and also in the wildest parts of Ireland, although the bird of late years
appears to have decreased in numbers there. It also formerly bred in the
Orkneys, but, according to the best authorities, has not been known to do
so in the Shetlands. Outside the British Islands the Golden Eagle has
a very wide and extensive range. With the exception of Iceland, it
breeds throughout the greater part of the Palearctic Region, from
Scandinavia to North Africa, and from Spain across Europe and Asia *
(except the extreme north, but as far south as the Himalayas), to Dauria
and China, being migratory in the extreme limits of its northern range. In
the Nearctic Region, with the exception of Greenland, it is found from the
temperate to the Arctic regions, chiefly confined to the mountainous
districts, but is nowhere numerous.

It is not till the vast solitudes of the Scottish Highlands are reached
that the Golden Eagle may with any confidence be expected to be seen.
Once, however, among the wild grand scenery there, and the imagination
seems to create an eagle in every wild glen and on every rocky pinnacle.
Glens and mountains are on every side of you—here a deer-forest or a
birch coppice—there a rocky glen or a broad stretch of heathery waste,
over which the Plovers and the Redshanks rising, scream at your intru-
sion. On every side the mountains rear their hoary peaks ; and the clouds
hang densely round them, hiding their summits, and giving them a truly
wild and weird appearance. The wild scenery is enlivened and varied
by a mountain-loch, with its hilly banks clothed in verdure to the water’s
edge. Streams roll down from the mountains in mad career ; over huge
rocky moss-grown boulders they fall and plunge, or flow slowly through
still dark pools, where trout and salmon sport and birch trees hang so
gracefully. Or, again, the scenery becomes desolate and dreary—grey
rocks, stupendous hills, romantic glens and moors, in all their wild
primeval seclusion, where the Eagle’s barking cry and the hoarse
croaks of the Raven and Hoodie are the only signs of life. Such haunts
as these are the lordly Eagle’s home, his hunting-grounds, his regal fast-
ness ; and hither you must repair if you wish to make his acquaintance. But
the Golden Eagle is no common bird, and is often “not at home.” Days
and weeks may pass when not an Eagle is to be seen ; for, except in the
breeding-season, the bird is a thorough wanderer, and explores vast tracts
of country in search of prey. It is also when not engaged with nesting-

* Dybowski obtained it near Lake Baikal, and Radde obtained it in the Amoor,
VOL, I. H

98 BRITISH BIRDS.

duties that the bird wanders out of its favourite haunts and visits more
pastoral scenes. Then it is sometimes seen sailing proudly over the Low-
lands, and, more rarely still, gets as far south as England and Wales;
although there is no room to doubt that by far the greater number of
Eagles reported to have been seen in this country are nothing but the far
commoner Sea-Eagle, Haliaetus albicilla.

You may cage the proud king of birds, you may confine him in mena-
geries, and observe him there; but to gain an insight into his nature you
must see him in his haunts, where his eagle soul is unfettered, and where
he can roam the mountain-tops at will. Far away from man’s busy haunts,
on the brown heathery hills of the north, you must seek him, where nature
and her wildest scenery is yet unchanged, and the wilderness is wrapt in
an endless solitude. See him perched on yonder grey pinnacle of rock
overhanging one of the ravines of the snow-capped Cullins, and watching
the blue hares sport amongst the rocks—or see him soaring in boundless
freedom over the peaks of Rum and Canna, or hastening across the clear
blue waters of the Minch to his nest and mate in the hoary fastnesses of
Glen Brittle—then you see the Eagle as he is at home, free as the tempest,
and the monarch of the wilds.

Most certainly the Golden Eagle, when he lives where game is scarce, is
a pest—truly, indeed, “the pride and the pest of the parish,” aye, and of
the whole country-side as well. The Golden Eagle has been known, on one
Highland sheep-farm alone, in the course of a single season, to carry off
as many as thirty-five lambs. Probably the amount is underestimated ;
for on such immense tracts of country as the Highland sheep-farms
it is impossible to tell how many lambs are really taken. It is in
these districts, where game is scarce, that the Golden Hagle does so much
harm; and it is scarcely to be expected that sheep-farmers will put up
with the questionable pleasure of having the bird for a neighbour at such
an expense of live stock. But in other districts the Golden Eagle
is comparatively a harmless bird. In deer-forests Eagles are of the
greatest service; for although they sometimes take a sickly deer-calf, they
live almost entirely on the blue hares, so troublesome to the deer-stalker ;
and most certainly the deer are the better for the removal of the weak and
sickly ones, which would only possibly live to transmit their diseases to
posterity. The Golden Eagle strikes his prey, if it be a lamb, behind the
head, and, as a rule, carries it off at once—to the nest, if the bird be bur-
dened with family cares, or to some wild secluded place where he can con-
sume it in peace. But lambs are not the Golden Hagle’s only food. High
up among the mountains, almost in a region of perpetual snow, the blue
hare lives ; and this interesting little animal forms his favourite prey. This
hare, like the Ptarmigan and the stoat, changes its summer dress for one
of purest whiteness when the winter commences—this change doubtless

GOLDEN EAGLE. 99

being effected from motives of self-preservation from the large raptorial
birds that are almost its only enemies. The Golden Eagle (noble as
he is thought to be) will eat carrion when pressed for food. Eagles are
not noble birds like the true Falcons; and their claims to regal rank
rest on their size and prowess alone. Here, for instance, a sheep, ven-
turing too near the edge of the cliff, has lost its balance and been
dashed to pieces on the rocks below. The Eagle has found it out,
either by sight or smell, perhaps both, and made his meal upon its decay-
ing flesh. Or, again, a dead rabbit lies on the cliffs, and the prowling
Eagle espies it and carries it off bodily to his nest to feed its ever hungry
young. The Eagle in his habits is more a Vulture than a Falcon; and his
motions are sluggish, cowardly, and tame compared with the death-swoop of
the Peregrine, or the brilliant performance of the Sparrow-Hawk or
the Merlin, who would not deign to feast on such lowly fare. The Golden
Eagle also preys upon various species of birds, notably the Blackcock and
the Red Grouse, Ptarmigan, Curlews, and Plovers, dropping upon them
unawares or simply taking the young and weakly ones; for never does the
bird pursue and strike them like the true Falcon.

The flight of the Golden Eagle is truly a grand performance. Stroll up
the mountain-side some bright May morning when there is but little wind
and the sun is warm, and see the bird engaged in those aerial motions
which have rendered him so justly famous as a mariner of the air. As
you lie amongst the tall brown heather, dreamily gazing upward into blue
space, listening, it may be, to the humming of the passing insects, or the
bleating of the lambs on the opposite hill-side, and the croak of the Ravens
from the ‘Storr,’ your eye is riveted toa dark speck high in air, and
looking no larger than a Crow. Nearer it comes; the shepherd who per-
chance is with you exclaims with almost bated breath “ Iolair dhubh!” (the
Black Eagle) ; and breathless you watch the king of birds explore the air.
Nearer and nearer he comes until he is directly above you—now flapping
his broad wings at irregular intervals, now with them fully expanded,
gliding round and round, without giving them any perceptible motion, the
tips of the primaries separated and turned upwards, and the tail ever and
anon turned from side to side as a rudder. Although he seems so near, he
is still well out of the range of the heaviest shot, and for some time he
busies himself by surveying our reclining forms on the hillside below him.
But, see! the pair of Ravens that are nesting in the “Storr” are uneasy
at his presence, and sally out to mob, if they dare, their king. Although
pirates the same as he, they evidently do not put much faith in the old proverb
of “honour amongst thieves,” and croaking fiercely forth their displeasure
at his presence, one flies above him, the other beneath, and each tries to
buffet him. But prudence forbids, and they content themselves with noisy
clamour, which is increased, in seeming exultation and triumph, as the

H2

100 BRITISH BIRDS.

Eagle sweeps slowly onwards, rising higher as he goes to clear the neigh-
bouring hills, and disappears over the summit to pursue his course over
the adjoming valley. Follow him in imagination there; see him at last
alight on yonder hoary crag, his favourite perch for a generation. Notice
how gracefully he folds his long, broad wings, slightly drooping, his neck
closely retracted, with its bright golden plumes glowing in the light.
There he remains for hours basking in the bright sunbeams, digesting his
meal, and collecting his energies for a fresh foray upon the defenceless and
the weak. That favourite perch has been used for years and years. In fine
and storm the monarch of the mountain seeks that favoured rock-pinnacle,
there to bask in summer, or cling, firm as the rock itself, whilst the
storm and the sleet drive past in blinding fury. This peculiar habit of
choosing a certain perching-place is common to many of the larger raptorial
birds; and it is often the place to which they convey their food and make
their meal.

All raptorial birds are capable of great endurance, and will live for a
considerable time without food; yet none are more hardy in this respect
than the Golden Eagle, which has been known to fast for weeks. In
Eastern Turkestan the Golden Eagle is a bird of the chase, the young
birds being taken and trained for the purposes of falconry. Its quarry
is antelopes and foxes, and, it is said, even wolves. These trained birds
are carried about by a man mounted on a pony, who holds the bird
on his wrist, which, together with his hand, is protected by a leather
gauntlet.

The Golden Eagle is remarkably fond of bathing, and will often stand in
a little pool for half an hour or more, scattering the water over its plumage
and seeming to enjoy its submersion immensely. The number of stories
about people being attacked by Eagles, and of their carrying off children,
have, we are confident, but little foundation in fact. The Golden Eagle is
a powerful bird ; but he is not a courageous one, and often allows himself
to be beaten off by a much smaller and less powerful antagonist. When
+43 nest is menaced, the bird betakes itself clear away, never venturing
within gunshot, and usually consoles itself by watching operations
from a respectful distance, or leaves the place entirely.

Golden Eagles are most probably life-paired birds, and tenant the same
cliffs for many years in succession. The same nest is not always used each
season, especially if the birds be disturbed; but it will usually be found
that they have several favourite places, which appear to be used in
turn. Very early in spring the birds prepare their eyrie, by strength-
ening it, adding to it a new lining, and otherwise repairing what
damage has been done by the storms of winter, much as the Rooks do ; or
if they are not so fortunate to possess a home, they commence building.
As a rule, the Golden Eagle chooses an inland site—one amidst the

. —

GOLDEN EAGLE. 101

mountains or overlooking a loch, but always in a commanding situ-
ation, and with a broad uninterrupted view of the surrounding country.
The selected rock is usually a rugged one, partly a broken bank clothed
with grass and ferns, and partly a precipitous cliff, the place in which the
eyrie is made usually being sheltered by the overhanging rock. But the
Golden Eagle does not always select an inland site, and occasionally
breeds on maritime cliffs. An account of an eyrie in such a situation
will doubtless prove interesting ; for it certainly is the exception, not the
rule, to find the bird breeding there. Dixon on this occasion made the
following notes :—“ One of the principal objects of my visit to the Western
Isles in the early summer months of 1881 was for the purpose of trying to
make myself acquainted with the Golden Eagle, his habits and his nest, in
his own wild mountain solitudes. But the Golden Eagle is now a scarce
bird. Time was when almost all the wild rugged cliffs possessed their pair
of birds; but now, alas! the Golden Eagle’s race is well nigh run in
Britain, and one is bound to confess that, if protection is not soon vouch-
safed to this companion of the wild Highland scenery, it will soon cease to
be. I chose the island of Skye for my researches ; and for the first week
of my visit there the chances of making acquaintance with the bird seemed
small. All the keepers and the shepherds I questioned on the subject gave
me disheartening reports—one keeper having shot one of these noble birds
the previous winter, and none had been seen on his land since ; another had
trapped the bird some few seasons ago, but said it had become very scarce ;
while a third proudly showed me the feet and heads of several Golden Eagles
nailed to his dog-kennels! All agreed, however, that in this part of Skye
(Portree) the Eagle was not to be met with; and I began to despair. Was the
lordly Golden Eagle to be found or not? Contemporary writers of quite
recent date speak of finding the bird here ; but has the unwarranted perse-
eution already done its work and banished him from the glens and mountains
of Skye for ever? Such were my thoughts, when one evening I had the rare
fortune to meet with a gentleman sheep-farmer of Skye, who informed me
that there was a Golden Eagle’s eyrie on his farm, and that one of his
shepherds trapped the female bird that very day, and that he was taking
it with him to have it preserved in Inverness. No time was to be
lost, and I made a few hasty arrangements for an early start in the
morning to the place, some four and twenty miles away on the west
coast of Skye.

“ After providing myself with the assistance of three shepherds and a
long coil of rope, we started forth to harry Aquila’s lordly castle. A four-
miles tramp over the mountains in the bracing morning air served to
nerve me for the task I had before me. The sun was just rising over the
distant hills; a raven was croaking dismally from the ‘Storr ;’ a pair of
Peregrines were sailing in graceful circles high in air above; and the

102 BRITISH BIRDS.

Carrion-Crows and Hoodies, cunning fellows that they are, just kept at a
respectful distance, and that was all. But we were not bent on such lowly
game; our quarry was of nobler stamp, and I scarcely heeded them at all.
I remember a Skylark trilled out its morning anthem; and the shrill
screams of the Herring-Gulls and the Kittiwakes, and the harsh ery of the
Oystercatcher, were repeatedly heard. On the hillsides one could hear the
faint bleating of the lambs, whose enemies’ castle we were about to storm.
We reached the cliffs at last ; a right glorious Eagles’ home it was too. But
so soon as we got to the brink of that terrible cliff, a loud barking cry
rang shrilly out on the morning air, a yelping cry of defiance echoing
amongst the rocks; and the Golden Eagle sailed proudly from his castle,
carried so stately forward by his magnificent stretch of wing. A right
royal bird he was; and all thoughts of his evil deeds were for the time for-
gotten. It was the Eagle—the king of the feathered race, the bird so
famous in all times ; and I was lost in admiration. As he sailed so grandly
on, his rich dark plumage came out in bold relief against the blue waters
far below, the morning sun causing his head and neck to shine like
burnished gold. I paused to admire this feathered robber, this proud and
unconquered bird of the mountains and the heaths. He speedily flew out
to sea, ascending the air as he went; and when about three or four
hundred yards from the cliff, I had an opportunity of observing his easy
flight to perfection. Slowly sailing round in ever widening circles—now
on motionless wing, now with rapid beats—he surveyed our unwelcome
intrusion. Silent as death, now he swooped along, now elevating his long
wings, hovering like some huge Kestrel; or, taking a long downward swoop,
he passed directly opposite the cliff, the white patches on his wings
coming out in strong contrast with his rich dark plumage. He did not
long remain in our company, but went far out to sea; and I finally lost
sight of him as he doubled a point some half-mile away, leaving us to
storm his rocky citadel if we could or dared. As I said before, it was just
the place one could imagine a Golden Eagle’s eyrie to be in—the grandest
piece of cliff on the coast, and the best for a look-out too. The cliffs were
something terrible in their wild and rugged grandeur. They here rose fully
600 feet above the sea at least, partly in a sloping grassy cliff, broken here
and there by precipices, and partly in a beetling rock. Far down below, the
waters of the Minch dashed against its base, rolling through the caves with
a sound like thunder—fitting artillery, I thought, for such ascene, a truly
regal salute indeed to the noble bird’s abode. Far down on the sea
below, the ‘ Scoots’ and the Gulls, looking not much bigger than Sparrows,
were playing on the waves, or sitting on the rocks quiet and motionless.
The grassy parts of the cliffs were studded with the fairest primroses and
sea-pinks ; and in all the rock-crevices the delicate spleenwort fern grew in
lovely luxuriance. The nest of the Eagle was in a little grass-covered

GOLDEN EAGLE. 103

cavity about midway down the precipice, in a place where the rocks over-
hung, forming, as it were, a natural roof to the nest. The only way of
getting to the nest at all practicable was from below; and after giving
orders to the men, I and a shepherd commenced climbing down the rocks
to the grassy platform at the base of the cliff. We were able to climb down
some 400 feet without the aid of ropes, a cool head being all that was
required ; and when about some hundred feet or so from the eyrie, we
awaited the arrival of the rope from above which was to assist me to the
nest. The nest was built on a ledge of the cliffs, in alittle grassy hollow, and
was made externally almost exclusively of heather and a few large sticks, the
lining being composed of dried fern-fronds, grass, and moss, in small
quantities, and large tufts of green herbage. The nest itself was not
very large nor deep; and the lining-materials were built quite close up to
the wall of rock behind. The materials of the nest were not much inter-
woven, although they were very firm and solid. All round and about
the place, and in the nest itself, were quantities of animal remains, fur and
feathers, bones and decaying flesh of hares, grouse, and lambs; for
the two young eaglets were rapidly coming to maturity. They opened their
mouths, snapped their beaks, and retired to the further end of the nest ;
yet otherwise seemed to bother themselves little at the intrusion. The nest
was a somewhat bulky structure too, perhaps some four or five feet in
diameter. And what a noble view there was to be had! surely the Eagles
were wise in choosing such a home. As I clung to the grassy face of the
cliff, stupendous and rugged, every object was taken in at a glance—the
sea beneath, the sky with its large masses of white clouds, the birds and
all, even the fleet of herring-boats fishing in the Minch, some twenty
miles away, and the bleak and rugged peaks of Rum and Canna, whilst
‘hull down’ on the horizon the Long Island lay in gloomy indistinctness, all
serving to add a charm and a grandeur to the Eagle’s wild abode. What
an impressive scene! how wild, and yet how beautiful! Long may the
Golden Eagle haunt the wild cliffs and mountains of that rugged shore ;
for so long as he is there the crowning object of its beauty is ensured !
Surely it is worth an effort to preserve this last remnant of a noble race—a
bird which must be so closely connected with the Scotch, their traditions, and
their literature for all time. Surely the few lambs or fawns the Eagle takes
is but a cheap price for its preservation and maintenance in the land to which
it is so noble an ornament. Before it be too late, Scotchmen, protect your
national bird, the Eagle of your ancestors, and stay the cruel war waged
by grouse-shooter, deer-stalker, sheep-farmer, and skin-collector—a war
which will, ere long, play its part but too surely, and take the Eagle from
your mountains for ever!”

The eggs of the Golden Eagle are often laid before the snow is off the
hill-sides; and very beautiful objects they are, varying very much in the

104 BRITISH BIRDS.

amount of markings they contain, the well-marked egg certainly being the
rule, not the exception. They are from one to three in number; but
two is the usual clutch. As a rule, in the nests which contain three eggs
one proves addled. They are laid at intervals of a few days; and as soon as
the first is deposited the female bird commences to sit. Eggs of the Golden
Eagle may be found representing those of all the other birds of prey ; and
almost every type occurs. Typical eggs of this species are dull white in
ground-colour, with lilac-grey underlying shell-markings, and rich reddish-
brown surface-blotches and spots. One of a pair of British specimens
resembles an egg of the Iceland Falcon, the other is boldly blotched and
dashed over the entire surface. Others, also British, are uniformly spotted
with one or two deeper spots on the large end. A fine egg from Scotland
has a dirty white ground-colour, dusted finely with reddish brown, heavily
blotched and spotted over the entire surface with deep-brown markings ;
while the companion egg from the same nest is white and spotless. One of
another pair, also British, resembles fairly typical eggs of the Common
Buzzard, while its fellow is a pale and spotless bluish green, similar to the
ground-colour of the Sparrow-Hawk’s. ‘Two fine clutches from Ireland are
remarkably uniform, one of each pair being more thickly clouded with
colouring-matter, the other with the spots more remote and the underlying
violet dashes larger and more numerous. It is rare to get two eggs from the
same nest resembling each other. One is usually more heavily marked
than the other; and these characteristics may be observed in the same
eyrie for many years in succession. In size they vary largely, Irish eggs
apparently being the smallest. In shape they also vary considerably ;
even in the same nest one egg is often much rounder than the other.
They vary from 3:1 to 2:7 inch in length, and from 2°5 to 2:2 inch in
breadth. The eggs are hatched by the latter end of April or the first
week in May; and the young are covered with down of snowy white-
ness. The female Eagle sits very close; and should she be destroyed, the
male bird undertakes the duty of incubation, and hatches and rears the
young.

In some instances the Golden Eagle has been known to build its nest
in a tree in Scotland; and on the continent, notably in Germany and
Lapland, trees are selected, doubtless owing to the fact that suitable rocks
are not to be found for the purpose. The young Eagles are tended by the
parents for some little time after they quit the nest; then they abandon
the place of their birth for ever. Before they leave their parents, they
may from time to time be seen hunting in company, the old birds appa-
rently teaching them to take and kill their own prey, which, at that time
of the year, is largely formed of young Grouse, Ptarmigan, and leverets—
helpless creatures, easily caught and overpowered.

Many continental ornithologists divide the Golden Eagle into two races

GOLDEN EAGLE. 105

or species. ‘The northern form, A. chrysaetus, is said always to have some
rufous colour on the breast, and in the adult bird has the basal half of
every feather, including the quills and tail-feathers, mottled or marbled
with brown, which gradually disappears, leaving the terminal half uniform
brown. The southern form, 4. fulvus (which I take to be the young), is
said never to have any rufous colour on the breast, and the basal half of
the small feathers of the body are said to remain white throughout life ;
but the white basal half of the quills and tail-feathers in the adult become
mottled, similarly to that of its near ally, but more defined. I am, how-
ever, of the opinion that this so-called adult 4. fulvus is only an interme-
diate stage between young and adult of A. chrysaetus, in which the quills
and tail are a stage in advance of the smaller feathers of the body, which
have not yet been moulted. Severtzow obtained examples in Turkestan
exactly the reverse of this, and called them A. intermedia, apparently birds
which had moulted the small feathers into the adult plumage, but still
retained the immature quills and tail-feathers. At all ages the terminal
half of a newly-moulted feather is a rich chocolate-brown, which gradually
fades into a pale greyish brown, and the crown and nape are more or less
rusty, approaching gold-colour in newly-moulted old birds. Ivrides rich
hazel-brown ; cere and feet yellow; bill and claws dark horn-colour. The
female resembles the male, but is slightly larger. Accidental varieties,
with one or two white feathers in the scapulars, occasionally occur:
Messrs. Jaubert and Barthélemy-Lapommeraye record an example from
the south of France ; Loche met with several in Algeria; and Dixon saw
one in Scotland. This peculiarity is permanently developed in the adult
Eastern Imperial Eagle, and is said frequently to occur in the Booted
Eagle. In von Homeyer’s magnificent collection of Eagles I observed
examples of both young and adult Lesser Spotted Eagles with one or two
white feathers in the scapulars. The Golden Eagles figured by Dresser
are so hopelessly bad that it is impossible to believe that they were drawn
by Wolf, the statement on the plate to that effect being no doubt a mis-
print. At no stage of plumage has the Golden Eagle a regularly barred
tail, as there represented ; nor have I ever heard of any local race supposed
to possess one. A circumpolar bird like the Golden Eagle is sure to pre-
sent some local variations in colour; but none of these have been satisfac-
torily determined. The British and Scandinavian birds are more rufous
(less grey) than those from Central Europe, and American birds are still

more so; but how far they may be subspecifically separable has not yet
been ascertained.

106 BRITISH BIRDS.

AQUILA NAVIA.

LESSER SPOTTED EAGLE.
(PLATE 2.)

Falco maculatus*, Gel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 258 (1788).

Aquila nevia, Meyer, Taschenb. p. 19 (1810); et auctorum plurimorum— (Nau-
mann), (Temminck), Gould, Gray, Bonaparte, Schlegel, Newton, Heuglin, &c.

Falco naevius, Nawm. Vég. Deutschl. i. p. 217, pls. 10, 11, figs. 1, 2 (1820).

Aquila planga, Bonn. et Vieill. Enc. Méth. iii. p. 1190 (1823).

Aquila pomarina, Brehm, Vig. Deutschl. p. 27 (1831),

Aquila maculata (Gmel.), Dresser, Ann. Nat. Hist. 1874, xii. p. 375.

Aquila rufonuchalis, Brooks, Stray Feath. 1876, p. 269.

The Spotted Eagles differ from the Steppe Eagles in having round instead
of oval nostrils, and in having long tarsi, longer than the distance from
the point of the bill to the back of the head. There are four races of
Spotted Eagles, which are probably only subspecifically distinct. The
Spotted Eagle par excellence, Aquila clanga, has a very wide range. It is
found in the Pyrenees, the Alps, Albania, the Lower Volga, Turkestan,
India, Mongolia, and Northern China. The local race peculiar to Europe,
the Lesser Spotted Eagle, Aquila nevia, breeds in North Germany from
Hanover to Dantzig, extending southwards to East Turkey and North-east
Greece, where its breeding-range joins that of the wide-spread form. It
is not known that there is any difference in the adult birds, except that
the average size of one is a little smaller than that of the other, as the
following measurements of the length of the wings, measured with a tape
on the convex surface, shew, the figures in brackets being the number of
examples which I have measured :—

Males. Females.’
Aquila nevia ...... (16) 18 to 20 inches. (10) 19 to 21 inches.
Aquila clanga...... (19) 20 to 213 _ ,, (9) 21 to 22,

Young in first plumage differ in colour as well as in size. The young
of the smaller form have a well-defined yellowish-brown patch on the nape,
whereas in the larger form the ends of the feathers of the nape are some-

* The absolute impossibility of arriving at a uniform nomenclature under the Strick-
landian laws of priority of publication and clear definition is well exemplified in the
history of the nomenclature of the Lesser Spotted Eagle. Messrs. Newton, Sharpe,
Dresser, and Gurney have each of them endeavoured to carry out these rules to the letter ;
and instead of uniformity being the result, we find that they have each selected a different
name for this bird. The first step towards attaining uniformity of nomenclature is to
discard these rules before they have produced more confusion.

LESSER SPOTTED EAGLE. 107

times, but not always, pale. The pale spots on the ends of the feathers of
the upper parts of the smaller form are only well developed on the inner-
most secondaries and on the wing-coverts, whereas in the larger they are
well developed also on the scapulars, and especially so on the rump. The
other two local races are found in India. A. fulvescens, with the head,
neck, and underparts pale chestnut instead of brown in the adult, is only
known to breed in India. Immature birds are also fulvous, combining
the dimensions of the smaller form with an even greater development of
spots than in the larger form. A. hastata is common to India and Cochin
China. It has the dimensions and colour of A. nevia; and adults of the
two races are inseparable ; but the young have no nuchal patch, and also
resemble the young of 4. clanga in having frequently traces of bars across
the innermost secondaries, the scapulars, and the rectrices. At best they
are only local races. If they were treated as good species, and the same
principles carried out in other genera, the number of species of Palearctic
birds would be doubled.

In the ‘Ibis’ for 1877 Mr. Gurney refers the two Spotted Eagles killed
in Cornwall, and recorded in the ‘ Zoologist’ for 1861, to Aquila clanga,
the Larger Spotted Eagle. In Dresser’s ‘ Birds of Europe’ this decision
is quoted and indorsed. I believe, however, that I am in a position to
prove that it is an erroneous one, and that it is the Lesser Spotted Eagle
(to which species Dresser gives the name of Aguila pomerina, but which
the great majority of ornithologists have called, and, doubtless, will still
continue to call, Aquila nevia) which has occurred in Britain.

The error has, doubtless, arisen from the extreme poverty of English
collections in examples of these Eagles. In some of the continental
museums they are, however, iargely represented: m the magnificent
collection of E. F. von Homeyer in Stolp I devoted a day to an inspection
of the regiment of Spotted Eagles, all carefully selected examples picked
out of some hundreds that have passed through his hands. Of the
British-killed examples one bird, shot in Cornwall on the 15th December
1860, recorded by Mr. E. H. Rodd (‘ Zoologist, 1861, p. 7311), is
described as a male; length of wing 20 inches. The measurement of a
second example, shot at St. Columb (‘ Zoologist,’ 1861, p. 7817), is not
given ; but Mr. Gurney, who has measured this example, which is now in
the Truro Museum, gives it as 19} inches. Mr. Warren has been kind
enough to measure the example in the Dublin Museum, which was shot
near Youghal in January 1845, and informs me that it is 19? inches.

It seems to me that the St. Columb bird is undoubtedly A. nevia, as is
also the Youghal example. The first Cornwall Eagle is not quite so clear.
It may be a large male A nevia or a small male A. clanga. Under any
circumstances it is very poor evidence for the admission of A. clanga as a

British bird.

108 BRITISH BIRDS.

The Spotted Eagle is still a common bird in Pomerania during the-
breeding-season. It arrives early in April, and leaves again for the south
early in September. It is a somewhat local bird, being almost entirely
confined to forests which are swampy, no doubt in consequence of the ease
with which it can obtain frogs in such localities. I was surprised to find
how absolute this rule appeared to be in the forests near Stolp. In the
dry forests we searched in vain ; but in those which were swampy we never
failed to hear of or to find the nest of this bird. It was very late for eggs
of birds of prey when I visited this district ; but I saw several nests of the
Spotted Eagle. The first was on the 30th of May, in a forest overlooking
the Lantow See. The situation was charming. On three sides of the
lake the hills were covered with forest, and on the fourth beyond the
reeds, where the Great Reed-Warbler and a colony of Crested Grebes were
breeding, some marshy eround led to the meadows and arable land. We
crossed the lake, which has an area of about four square miles, in a boat,
and had scarcely landed before we heard the cry of a Spotted Eagle, a
loud, clear, rich-toned ke-up. It is said that the female often betrays the
position of her nest by crying for food to the male, who feeds her whilst
she sits. Dr. Holland and I were looking with proper ornithological
veneration at the large flat nest of a Black Stork, which the forester
pointed out to us about thirty feet from the ground in a beech, but which
had not been occupied for the last year or two, when we heard a rustle of
wings near us. Turning round we saw a large “ Horst” in a lofty beech
about seventy feet from the ground, on which an Eagle was standing.
She had evidently heard us talking and had got up. Before we reached
the tree she took wing, descending slowly for some distance and then
ascending to clear the trees, so that we could see the large white spots on
her back quite distinctly. The tree was difficult to climb ; but with the
help of ropes the nest was at last reached. It was an unusually large
structure, four feet long, two and a half feet wide, and two feet high.
Like the nests of all birds of prey, it was very flat, the depression in the
centre not being more than four or five inches. The foundation was
composed of sticks nearly an inch thick ; but at the top they were very
slender. The final lining was slender beech-twigs with fresh green leaves
on them. There was also a little down, and a feather or two, which had
probably been accidentally rubbed off the breast of the parent bird. The
nest contained two eggs nearly ready for being hatched. During the
whole time that we were at the nest both birds continued to sail round
and round over us. Occasionally we heard them cry; and once one of
them perched on the top of one of the neighbouring trees.

The second nest I saw was on the 6th of June. Herr von Putkammer
had kindly invited me to inspect a heronry on his estate ; and after dinner
we drove to a neighbouring forest, where Herr von Homeyer was to

LESSER SPOTTED EAGLE. 109

introduce me to the Red-breasted Flycatcher. In the course of our walk in
the forest we started a Spotted Eagle from her nest about eighty feet
from the ground in a beech tree. She flew slowly off, and alighted on
the summit of a pine tree not far away, where we watched her for some
time.

On the following day, in a swampy forest between Stolp and the sea, we
took another nest of the Spotted Eagle. This time it was in a grand old
oak in a beech-forest interspersed with a few oaks and birches. It was
about sixty feet from the ground. The bird was on; and as I was anxious
to obtain a specimen, we stationed ourselves round the tree. Tapping on
the trunk of the tree and shouting failed to alarm her; so we fired a
shot, when she flew off rather rapidly and fell to the forester’s gun. She
proved to be a fully adult female. The nest was large, two feet in
diameter, and very flat. The final lining was fresh green grass. It con-
tained two eggs, one of which was chipped.

A couple of hundred yards off was last year’s “ Horst,’’? somewhat the
worse for a year’s wind and rain. It was built in the fork of a birch tree
where five branches sprung from the main stem, about forty-five feet from
the ground.

On the 11th Dr. Holland showed me two nests of the Spotted Eagle in
another forest, from which he had obtained the eggs. Both were in beech
trees, one about thirty-five and the other about sixty feet from the ground.
He told me that he had seen nests of this bird in Scotch fir trees.
The nest has once been found on the ground (‘ Journ. fiir Orn.’ 1855,
p- 510). The male is said occasionally to relieve the female in the duties
of incubation.

Although the Spotted Eagle looks very aquiline, sailing majestically in
grand sweeps over the forest, its habits appear to be very much like those
of the Buzzard. It rarely pursues its prey on the wing. Now and then
it may surprise a small bird on the ground; but its principal food is frogs.
It is said to run after lizards and snakes, to eat grasshoppers and other
insects, the remains of which have been found in the pellets cast up by the
young birds, and even not to disdain carrion.

The time to obtain fresh eggs is the first half of May; and the number
in each nest is almost invariably two. Now and then one only is laid;
and instances are on record of three eggs having been found in one nest ;
but these are extremely rare. The female is said to sit three weeks. The
eggs vary considerably both in size and colour, and are best described as
miniatures of those of the Golden Eagle. The surface is dull and some-
what rough, and both ends are very nearly alike in shape. They vary in
size from 2°65 by 2°15 inch to 2°3 by 20 inch. The ground-colour is a more
or less creamy white. The two eggs figured were collected by Dr. Kriiper
in Macedonia, and are fair average examples. Some are much handsomer,

110 BRITISH BIRDS.

almost like eggs of the Osprey, whilst others are scarcely spotted at all.
Not unfrequently the spots are confluent, occasionally at the larger end,
but more often at the smaller end. ‘The colour of the spots is generally
a brownish brick-red ; but sometimes they are a rich dark blood-red. The
underlying spots are dull purplish, and seldom very conspicuous ; occa-
sionally, however, they are a chief feature of very handsome eggs.

The general colour of the Lesser Spotted Eagle is a uniform brown, the
colour of the newly moulted feathers being rich chocolate-brown, that of
the old abraded ones greyish brown. Bill dark horn-colour, cere and feet
yellow, claws black; irides yellowish brown. The female resembles the
male, but is larger in size. Birds in first plumage have a rusty patch on
the nape, which gradually fades as the bird gets older; the scapulars,
wing-coverts, and innermost secondaries have a terminal greyish-white spot.
The underparts are streaked with rufous-brown.

THE ROUGH-LEGGED BUZZARD EAGLE. 111

AQUILA LAGOPUS.
THE ROUGH-LEGGED BUZZARD EAGLE.

(Piate 5.)

Accipiter falco, var. leucocephalus, Briss. Orn, i. p. 325 (1760).

Falco lagopus, Briinn. Orn. Bor. p. 4 (1764).

Falco norvegicus, Lath. Gen. Syn. Suppl. i. p. 282 (1787).

Falco lagopus, Briinn. Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 260 (1788); et auctorum plurimorum
— Naumann, (Gould), Schlegel, (Gray), (Newton), (Salvadori), (Sharpe), (Dresser).

Falco sclayonicus, Lath, Ind. Orn. i. p. 26 (1790).

Buteo pennatus, Daud. Traité, ii. p. 156 (1800).

Falco plumipes, Daud. op. cit. ii. p. 163 (1800, ex Levaill.).

Buteo lagopus (Briinn.), Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. $c. Brit. Mus. p, 10 (1816).

Archibuteo lagopus (Briinn.), Brehm, Isis, 1828, p. 1269.

Butaétes lagopus, Bp. Comp. List B. Eur. § N. Amer. p. 5 (1838).

The Rough-legged Buzzard Eagle is a somewhat aberrant species of the
genus Aquila, inasmuch as the back of the tarsus is not feathered. It
has hitherto been placed among the Buzzards. Sharpe, in his first volume
of the ‘Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum,’ separates the
subfamily of Aqguiline from the subfamily of Buteonine, characterizing
the former as having the back of the tarsus reticulate, and the latter
as having it scaled. He figures the tarsus of the Rough-legged Buzzard
Eagle with the feathers at the back parted to show the scales, in order
to prove that, although the species in his genus Archibuteo have the
front and sides of the tarsus feathered like some of the Eagles, they have
nevertheless the back of the tarsus scaled like true Buzzards, and not
reticulate as is the case with those Eagles in which the tarsus is not
feathered. Unfortunately for his argument, the back of the tarsus of the
Rough-legged Buzzard Eagle happens not to be scaled, but is reticulate,
as is also the case with the other species in his genus Archibuteo; so that
they are certainly Eagles and not Buzzards, according to his own definition.
The Eagles and the Buzzards are so nearly related that there can be no
excuse whatever for placing them in separate subfamilies ; and the Rough-
legged Buzzard Eagle and its allies differ so little from the true Eagles
that there seems no adequate reason for considering them more than sub-
generically distinct. My friend Dr. Gadow informs me that he has dis-
sected many of these birds, and that he has found that in many points of
their anatomy the Rough-legged Buzzard Eagle and the Spotted Eagle
are very closely allied. I have therefore discarded the use of the genus
Archibuteo, as being a name likely to mislead.

The Rough-legged Buzzard Eagle can only be looked upon as a pretty

112 BRITISH BIRDS.

regular but rare visitor to the British Islands, occurring most commonly
in the immature plumage and in autumn. Although it has been obtained
in almost every county of England, and in certain years appears in large
numbers, but two reliable instances have been recorded of its remaining
to breed in Great Britain. Respecting one of these instances, particulars
are given by Mr. A. G. More in the ‘ Ibis’ (1865, p. 12), furnished to
him by Mr. Alwin S. Bell, of Scarborough, as follows :—“ Mr. John Smith,
who was gamekeeper for twenty years on the estate of Sir J. V. B. John-
stone, remembers the Rough-legged Buzzards perfectly well ; there was no
mistake as to the species, as they were feathered right down to the toe-ends.
They used to breed, year after year, on the ground, amongst the heather,
in the moor-dells near Ash Hay Gill, Whisperdale, about three miles from
Hackness. One pair only bred every year during most of the time that
Mr. Smith was keeper (twenty-four years ago). They were not seen except
in the breeding-season. Mr. Smith has himself shot them from the nest,
and remembers that they sometimes had young.” Mr. Edward, of Banff,
says (Zool. 1856, p. 5201) that its nest has been found in that neighbour-
hood; and in confirmation of this statement he says that in the season
of 1864 he saw three young birds which were taken by a boy from a nest ina
wood some six miles from the town. In Scotland its appearance is
usually in autumn, in some years far more plentifully than in others; and
as these birds are undoubtedly migrants from Northern Europe, it is but
natural that they are far more frequently seen on the east coast than the west.
Certain places in the Peak of Derbyshire, as Strines, and the moors near
Sheffield, appear to be in the direct line of migration of this species, and
rarely a year goes by without birds either being obtained or seen; but
they do not appear to winter there. In the southern and western counties
of England it appears to occur less frequently than on the east coast; but
in the eastern counties it may almost be said to be a regular visitor,
varying considerably in numbers in different years. In Jreland it is an
extremely scarce visitant, this country being too far to the west of its
regular southern flight ; nor does it ever appear to visit Greenland, Iceland,
or the Feroes.

The true home of the Rough-legged Buzzard Eagle is in the northern
portions of the European and Asiatic continents. It breeds throughout
Arctic Europe and Asia, being a very common species in Norway and
Sweden, up to the North Cape, becoming rarer in Russia, yet more
plentiful in Siberia, where it ranges as far to the east as the watershed of
the Yenesay and Lena. In the winter it retires southwards, to various
parts of Central and Southern Europe and the steppes of Russian Tur-
kestan. How far to the south this species strays it is difficult to say ;
but it has never been seen in India or Persia, nor does it ever appear to
cross the Mediterranean.

THE ROUGH-LEGGED BUZZARD EAGLE. 113

In Nepal, Thibet, and possibly in China the present species is represented
by A. strophiatus of Hodgson, which has the crown of the head, throat,
and chest uniform brown; whilst on the North-American continent its
place is taken by A. sancti johannis, differing in its more rufous and darker
plumage.

In this country, if any direct habitat can be assigned to a species that
occurs but as a wanderer, the Rough-legged Buzzard Eagle appears to
prefer open country—tracts of wild moorland and especially rabbit-warrens,
and low-lying districts devoid of timber—marshy places abounding with
wild fowl and the smaller mammals which compose its food. In its
general habits it more closely resembles the smaller Eagles than the Buzzards.
Although a sluggish-looking bird, it is by no means slow on the wing, is
capable of much rapid graceful movement, and may sometimes be seen
gliding along, eagle-like, with outspread wings and tail, surveying the
ground below. Like the Eagles, too, the present species seems not to have
that love for wooded districts and forests which is so marked a trait in the
character of the Common Buzzard, but resorts to wilder districts amongst
the mountains. In the breeding-season the Rough-legged Buzzard Eagle
ofttimes betrays the site of its nest by its plaintive wailing cry, something
hike the mewing of a cat, and which is much louder than the note of the
Common Buzzard.

A diurnal bird, its food is obtained in the daytime, sometimes just in
the evening’s dusk, and its hunting-grounds are for the most part the
open tracts of country. Here it leisurely sails, at a moderate height,
ready to pounce down upon the usually small and insignificant creatures
that form its food, which is composed of small mammals of various kinds,
such as field-mice, lemmings, and moles, frogs, lizards, and also young
rabbits and hares. When pressed by hunger it will often feed on
carrion, like the Eagles; but it does not appear to prey much on birds,
unless when it discovers them wounded and comparatively helpless. This
bird has been known to follow the sportsman, and actually seize dead
birds, an interesting note respecting this being found in Stevenson’s
‘ Birds of Norfolk’ (i. p. 31).

I have never taken the nest of the Rough-legged Buzzard Eagle; but
my friend Harvie-Brown has lent me the journal of his visit to the Fille
Fjeld in South Norway, in company with the late Mr. E. R. Alston.
In the wild rocky valleys of this district, three to four thousand feet
above the level of the sea, this interesting bird breeds in considerable
numbers, and many nests were taken during the month of June. In 1871
fourteen breeding-places were known in this locality, all of them in the
clefts of more or less inaccessible rocks. In every case a rope was neces-
sary to secure the eggs ; but the inhabitants pointed out many old breeding-
places in easily accessible cliffs, leading to the suppesition that the

VOL. I, I

114 BRITISH BIRDS.

selection of more secure sites is a habit recently acquired, in conse-
quence of the persecution of modern ornithologists. The following is a
condensed account from the notes made on the spot by Harvie-Brown of
the taking of a nest of the Rough-legged Buzzard Eagle at Valdersdal :—
The nest was first visited on the 15th of June. The ‘Fjeld Orus’ rock
was reached after a walk of about ten miles over deep snow-drifts. Early
in the day the walking was easy over the frozen snow ; but later on pro-
gress became more difficult, some of the party occasionally sinking up to
their hips in snow. The ice had not yet left the lakes on the high fjelds ;
and the appearance of five reindeer did not make the scene less winterly.
Ayrived atthe rock, the male bird was seen sitting on a boulder at
the top, and the female soon left the nest. Harvie-Brown fired at the
male but missed him, and climbed up to within twelve feet of the nest.
Whilst he was descending the female flew on again. The party then made
a detour to reach the top of the nest, and one of them was lowered down
with a rope, which proved too short. The female remained sitting; big
stones were rolled down, crashing past the nest within a few feet of it,
but she would not move. for two hours all attempts to dislodge her
proved in vain, although two shots were fired, one bullet passing through
the edge of the nest. All this time the male kept flying round at a great
distance. On the following day the party returned to the nest with a
longer rope, seeing the reindeer again en route. ‘This time the female
flew off at once; and Harvie-Brown shot her whilst his collector, Lars
Eraker, was attempting to reach the nest. In this he was unsuccessful.
Six days afterwards they visited the nest with Peder Hongen, a more
active collector. The snow was still perfectly crisp, and it was easy to walk
on the high fjelds. Peder simply took the rope in his hand, and literally ran
down the steep slope till he disappeared from sight. To the astonishment
of all, off came a second female from the nest, the male bird having
secured another partner since the previous visit ; and both birds were seen
to get clear away. ‘Ten minutes after Peder’s head had disappeared over
the edge of the rock, a shout from below announced that he had secured
the eggs; and soon he was descried 300 feet below, at the base of
the hill. The nest was a large structure formed of juniper-branches,
and contained three well-marked eggs considerably incubated. The
number of eggs varies from two to five. The nest is generally large,
composed of branches of dwarf birch or juniper, and lined with thin
wiry grass; but occasionally it is a mere hollow lined with grass and
without any sticks.

At Quickiock, Wheelwright describes the nest as often being placed on a
fell-ridge and often in a tree; and at Muonioniska, Wolley and his col-
lectors found them only on Scotch firs, some being taken as early as the
middle of May. This difference in the habits of the bird is no doubt

THE ROUGH-LEGGED BUZZARD EAGLE. 115

accounted for by the nature of the country, this part of Lapland being
on the borderland between the forest and the tundra. There are no
cliffs ; but the country is described as a wild tract of undulating ground,
abounding with forest, river, lake, and swamp.

The eggs of this bird are subject to considerable variation in colour
and size, some specimens being poorly marked, whilst others are very
richly blotched with dark red, or clouded and mottled with pale brown.
In some eggs the colouring is confined to a few large rich blotches of red;
others are evenly spotted with colour, just as intense, over the entire
surface. A more rare variety is delicately streaked and pencilled with a
few irregular dashes of pale brown, something similar to a Kite’s. Other
varieties are seen in which all the colouring is distributed in pale purplish
shell-markings, with, perhaps, a few streaks of rich brown. The hand-
somest type of egg is the clouded variety. They vary from 2°25 to 2-1
inch in length, and from 1:8 to 1°65 inch in breadth.

The general colour of an adult bird is buffish white, variegated with
several shades of brown, most closely on the back and rump. ‘The quills
have the basal half white, terminal half blackish brown ; a broad patch of
brown on the belly; basal two thirds of tail white, remainder brown,
narrowly tipped with buffish white. Legs feathered to the toes, fawn-
colour, streaked with brown. Bill blackish horn, bluish at the base;
irides brown; feet and cere yellow; claws black. The sexes only differ in
size, the female being slightly the largest. Immature birds may always
be distinguished from adults by having the brown markings on the lower
parts longitudinal instead of transverse.

116 BRITISH BIRDS.

Genus BUTEO.

The genus Buteo was established by Cuvier in 1800, in his ‘ Legons
d’Anatomie comparée,’ i. tab. 2. Previous to that date the Buzzards were
included in the genus Falco of Linnzeus. Cuvier did not designate any
type ; nor has any later writer in any subsequent subdivision of the genus
done so. It is impossible to say what species was considered typical by
Cuvier ; but it is perfectly obvious that the Common Buzzard (the F. buteo
of Linnzus) ought to have been so considered, and we cannot do wrong in
so accepting it.

The Buzzards are very nearly allied to the Eagles, forming a connecting
link between them and the Harriers and the Hawks. From the Eagles
they may be distinguished by having no feathers on the lower half of the
tarsus, which is scaled before and behind, a character they have in common
with the Harriers and the Hawks. From the former they are distinguished
by their thick tarsus (circumference about one third of length), and from
the latter by their long wings and short tarsus (less than a fourth the
length of the wing, and less than half the length of the first primary).
In their habits the Buzzards very closely resemble the Eagles, being, as a
rule, somewhat heavy in flight, rarely catching their food upon the wing.
They feed upon reptiles, mice, and other small mammals, insects, and
occasionally birds, which they catch when sitting. They build a mode-
rate-sized nest of sticks &c., which is sometimes placed on trees, and
sometimes on rocks. They lay from two to four eggs, greenish white or
pure white in ground-colour, marked sparingly with reddish-brown and
violet shell-markings. When held up to the light the shells of Buzzards’
eggs look green. The Buzzards, of which there are twenty or more species,
are almost cosmopolitan in their range, but are seldom found north of
the Arctic circle. But one species is found in the British Islands.

COMMON BUZZARD. 117

BUTEO VULGARIS.
COMMON BUZZARD.

(Pate 5.)

Accipiter buteo, Briss. Orn. i. p. 406 (1760).

Falco buteo, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 127 (1766).

Aquila glaucopis, Merrem, Av. Rar. p. 22, pl. vii. (1786).

Falco albus, Daud. Traité, ii. p. 155 (1800).

Buteo vulgaris, Leach, Syst. Cat. M. § Birds Brit. Mus. p. 10 (1816); et auctorum
plurimorum—Gray, Kaup, Schlegel, Strickland, Jerdon, Gould, Sundevall, New-
ton, Sharpe, Dresser, &c.

Buteo mutans, Viel. N. Dict. d Hist. Nat. iv. p. 469 (1816).

Buteo fasciatus, Viedll. Nouv. Dict. iv. p. 474 (1816).

Buteo spiralis, Forst. Syn. Cat. Br. B. p. 44 (1817).

Falco pojana, Savi, Nuov. Giorn, Pisa, xxii. p. 68 (1822).

Buteo communis, Less. Traité, p. 78 (1831).

Buteo fuscus, Macgill. Hist. Brit. B. iii. p. 183 (1840),

Buteo cinereus, Bp. Consp, i. p. 18 (1850).

Buteo yariabilis, Bailly, Orn. Sav.i. p. 127 (1853).

The Common Buzzard was formerly pretty generally distributed through-
out Great Britain and Ireland, probably with the exception of the Outer
Hebrides, the Orkneys, and Shetlands ; but it is now confined to a few of
the Jarger forests, principally of Scotland and Wales, and the sea-coasts
where the rocks are lofty and precipitous.

The Buzzard varies so much in the colour of its plumage, and frequently
approaches so closely to its nearest allies, that it is very difficult to define
- its exact range. It is impossible to draw a hard and fast line between B.
vulgaris, B. ferox, B. desertorum, B. japonicus, and B. plumipes. Many
ornithologists have attempted to do so; but no one has been able to dis-
cover a diagnosis which harmonizes with geographical distribution. The
Buzzard is by no means an Arctic bird, and rarely, if ever, strays within
the Arctic circle, only approaching it in the western limit of its range.
In Scandinavia it is said to breed up to lat. 66°, at Archangel to 65°,
and on the Urals to 59°; consequently there is no Arctic form of this
bird. The southern limit of the breeding-range of the typical form of the
Buzzard is the Mediterranean, the valley of the Danube, the northern shore
of the Black Sea, and the lower valley of the Volga, not reaching so far
south as the Caspian, but extending eastward to the Urals. In the northern
portion of its range it is only a summer visitor ; in the central portion a few
remain during the winter; and in the southern portion of its range it is a
resident, its numbers being increased in winter by migrants from the north.
The Ural birds appear to winter in Turkestan. Its occurrence in Africa in

118 BRITISH BIRDS.

winter is probably accidental. There are two extreme forms of the Euro-
pean Buzzard. One is deep blackish brown, with pale edges to a few of
the feathers of the underparts. The other is pale brown on the upper
parts, with white edges to each feather; whilst on the underparts the
white edges have spread over the entire feather, except on a few feathers on
the breast and flanks, where a little pale brown is left in the centre.
Between these two extremes every intermediate form occurs.

East of the Ural Mountains lie the Barabinsky Steppes, where there is
no forest, and consequently no Buzzards. But beyond the steppes the
forest reappears, and with it the Buzzards. In the upper valley of the
Yenesay, in the trans-Baikal country as far as the Stanowoi Mountains on
the shores of the Sea of Okhotsk, and m Japan the Japanese Buzzard
(B. japonicus) is found in summer, wintering m China, Burma, and India.
This is a very near ally of our bird, said to differ from it in having the
tarsus feathered for a slightly greater extent, and in varying from dark
brown to rufous in general colour; but the former character is by no
means constant, though it has suggested the name (B. plumipes) for the
Indian bird, which some writers have considered distinct.

Besides the two northerly forms of the Common Buzzard, there are two
tropical forms. The African Buzzard (B. desertorum) is, on an average,
slightly smaller than its European representative, the length of wing
varying from 13} to 15} inches, whilst m our race it varies from 15 to
1614 inches. As might be expected in a tropical race, it is very rufous in
colour ; but it is subject to the same variations as our bird, and a small
dark bird of our race is scarcely to be distinguished from a large dark bird
of the African race. The range of the latter extends to the Azores, where it
is a resident—to Tangiers, Algeria, and Tunis, where it is also found
throughout the year—and to the plains of Northern Turkey and South
Russia as far east as the Kirghis Steppes, where it is a common summer
visitor, passing the Bosphorus in great numbers on migration and
wintering in South Africa. The other tropical form is the Long-legged
Buzzard (B. ferox), with the same variations from dark brown to rufous-
brown which are found in its tropical ally; it is a larger bird, the wing
varying from 16} to 194 inches in length. In Algeria and the Kirghis
Steppes its range overlaps that of the African Buzzard; but it extends
eastward through Egypt, Palestine, Asia Minor, Persia, and Turkestan to
India. Both the rufous forms are remarkable for the way in which the
bars on the tail become nearly obsolete in adult birds. All these forms
are probably conspecific to a greater or less extent.

It is very unfortunate for the Common Buzzard that it looks so much
like an Eagle. The consequence is that in England, where the preserva-
tion of game is conducted irrationally, the innocent Buzzard has almost
become exterminated by the gamekeepers. In order to study its habits

COMMON BUZZARD. 119

during the breeding-season it is necessary to visit the forests of North
Germany, where it is still a common bird, by far the commonest bird of
prey. The Prussian foresters are well educated, and understand the dif-
ference between destructive and harmless birds. The Buzzard breeds on
the outskirts of the forests, whence it issues in search of food, and may
often be seen perched on the bare hill-sides, waiting for mice and other
smal] mammals, or may be observed crossing the open fields with some-
what heavy and indolent flight. It is equally common in dry as in swampy
woods, and breeds in pine-forests as freely as in those of beech oroak. In
the forests near Brunswick I found the nests mostly in beech and oak ; but
in Pomerania many were in Scotch firs, one in a birch, and one in an elm.
Many Buzzards remain in North Germany during the winter; but most
leave for warmer climes in September and October, returning to their
breeding-grounds about the middle of March. The Buzzard builds a nest
from one and a half to two feet in diameter, and, if it is in the fork of a
tree, sometimes nearly as high. The foundation is of large twigs, finished
at the top with slender twigs. It is very flat, the hollow in the middle
containing the eggs about the size and depth of a soup-plate. The final
lining is fresh green leaves, generally beech; but in one nest, although it
was in a beech tree, the lining was green larch-twigs. This lining must
be renewed from time to time. Out of eleven nests near Brunswick, five
of which contained eggs, five young birds, and one three eggs and a young
bird, all but one were lined with fresh leaves. The one that had no green
_ lining was the last we examined, and contained three very large young
birds. This was also the only nest containing young which did not also
contain some food, and the only nest where we saw nothing of the parent
birds; they were no doubt absent in search of food to satisfy the vora- _
cious appetites of their three children, and had probably no time to spare
to renew the lining. What the object of this fresh lining of green leaves
can be Ido not know. We never found any birds in the larder. One
nest contained a blindworm in two pieces, and two short-tailed field-mice.
A second nest contained a frog and half a long-tailed field-mouse. A third
contained no fewer than eleven short-tailed field-mice ; whilst a fourth nest,
containing three young, was supplied with six large short-tailed field-mice
and seven smaller ones. <A fifth nest, containing only one young bird, also
contained a mole and a long-tailed field-mouse. The nests varied from 50
to 90 feet from the ground; but some, to which we did not attempt to
climb, were higher. In Pomerania I saw several nests in Scotch firs, not
more than 25 feet from the ground. My friend Dr. Holland, who has
paid great attention to the birds of prey in Pomerania for many years,
informs me that the Buzzard begins to lay about the middle of April (I
took eggs, all highly incubated, near Brunswick, between the 4th and 17th
of May), that the period of incubation lasts three weeks, and that the male

120 --:BRITISH BIRDS.

relieves the female at her duties. He tells me that, besides small mammals,
the Buzzard will eat grasshoppers and other insects, reptiles, and occasion-
ally small birds, if it gets a chance of catching them sitting. The spines
of the hedgehog have been found in the stomach of the Buzzard; and Dr.
Holland also mentioned an instance of a female bird having been found
dead on the nest with a live viper under her.

The Buzzard returns year after year to the same nest, but is said not to
breed a second time the same year if the eggs are taken. When the
eggs are much incubated she sits very close. Sometimes we could see the
tail projecting beyond the edge of the nest, but were unable to drive the
bird from her place by shouting, sometimes not even by hitting the trunk
of the tree. Once or twice the sitting bird did not fly off until the climber
was halfway up the tree. When she does take wing, she flies straight off
and clears herself from the tops of the surrounding trees as soon as pos-
sible. She sits on the nest head to wind, and flies off also head to wind,
but, when she has a clear course, generally soon wheels round, and keeps
up at intervals a melancholy cry like pe-e-i-o-oo. The Buzzard is said to
breed in its first spring, in immature plumage. As soon as the duty of
feeding the young is nearly come to an end, which is late in May or early
in June, the moulting-season comes on. First the wing- and tail-feathers
are renewed, but slowly, only one or two at each side at a time, so as not
to interfere much with its power of flight. Durimg August and September
the body-feathers are moulted.

Dixon met with this bird in the north of Scotland, and made the follow-
ing note respecting its nesting-habits there :—‘‘ Far in the deepest soli-
tudes of the deer-forests the Buzzard ofttimes builds its nest. Its cradle
is usually placed in some dense hoary pine tree, the patriarch of the forest,
and the one most difficult of access too. It is here, but sometimes also
just on the borderland of the forests, that the Buzzard finds the solitude
of his choice, the seclusion which he loves. Nothing breaks the silence
here save the occasional cry of a Blackeock or the light tread of the moun-
tain-hare as it hurries off at your approach. The scenery around is grand,
befitting surroundings to such an abode. The distant mountains come out
in bold outline against the clear morning sky; and the sunlight glistens
brightly on the red bark of the pines around you. ‘The nest is situated on
a flat branch, some sixty feet from the ground. It is a large bulky struc-
ture, indeed almost flat, and made of sticks. In the cavity which contains
the eggs are a few bits of wool and down, similar to what are often found
in the Sparrow-Hawk’s nest. Indeed the whole structure bears a very
close resemblance to the nest of that bird; only it is situated further from
the trunk of the tree, like the nest of the Heron. Since this nest was
robbed, the pair of birds have commenced building another, choosing for
their situation this time the face of an old ivy-covered cliff.”

COMMON BUZZARD. 121

In some parts of South Wales the Buzzard breeds on the cliffs. Dr.
Propert has kindly furnished me with particulars of eight nests, all built
on the rocks overlooking the sea on the coast of St. Bride’s Bay, in Pem-
brokeshire. They were taken in 1876 and the two following years ; the
earliest date was the 19th of April, and the latest the 9th of May. Two
were on the cliffs of the mainland, near St. David’s Head, and the other
six on Ramsey Island. The rocks were almost perpendicular, and in four
cases they were overhanging. The cliffs rise from three to four hundred
feet above the sea. In every case the nests were almost inaccessible, and
could only be reached by letting a boy down with a rope; and where the
nests were under an overhanging rock, the eggs could only be secured with
a net fastened to the end of a stick. One nest, a large one, was a slight
hollow, with sticks carefully disposed around it. Another nest was under
some thorn-bushes, and a third in a very damp place where water was
trickling down. One nest contained four eggs, and six nests contained
three eggs each. The eggs varied somewhat in size; and in one of the
nests the third egg was abnormally small. Some clutches were much more
handsomely coloured than others. In two cases the eggs were perfectly
fresh ; but in one taken on the Ist of May they were almost hatched. In
the ‘Ootheca Wolleyana’ is also an interesting account of the nesting of
the Buzzard on rocks in Sutherlandshire.

Three seems to be the usual number of eggs, sometimes only two, and
not unfrequently four. They vary very much in size and colour, are rough
in texture, and possess little or no gloss. Common Buzzards’ eggs vary
from milky blue to pale reddish white in ground-colour, blotched, streaked,
spotted, or clouded with rich brown surface-spots and pale lilac shell-mark-
ings. Some specimens are most richly and handsomely marked, others
more sparingly, whilst many are almost devoid of markings. Many speci-
mens very closely resemble certain varieties of the Common Kite’s, others
the pale and spotless eggs of the Goshawk. A rather rare variety is
finely streaked and scratched over the smaller half of the egg with pale
brown, with one or two larger spots. In some the colour is confluent on
the larger end, whilst in others the rich brown colouring-matter is covered
with a thin coating of lime, giving the egg a beautiful delicate lilac-pink
appearance. In form the Buzzard’s eggs vary considerably, some speci-
mens being almost round, others strictly oval, some elongated, and more
rarely elliptical. In size they vary from 2} to 2 inches in length, and
from 1-9 to 1-65 inch in breadth.

The peculiar motion of the Buzzard’s flight has been noticed by the
earliest writers on British birds, who speak of its rising in the air to a
great elevation in a spiral course. So much did this motion on the
Buzzard’s part impress itself upon Forster, that he gave the bird the name
of spiralis. In passing from place to place the Buzzard flies very slowly,

122 BRITISH BIRDS.

and usually very low, just above the ground. Sometimes it may be seen
sitting on the road-side, on a large stone or fence, from which it flaps
slowly forward to secure, with unerring certainty, some mouse or other
small mammal. At times the Buzzard flies at a great height, sailing
slowly about the heavens in graceful swoops and curves, its broad wings
and tail expanded to their fullest extent, the motion of the tail helping to
guide the bird through space.

In the typical form of the Common Buzzard the tail is crossed with
about ten pale bars, and has a slight pale tip; legs and toes yellow ; claws
black ; beak bluish black ; cere yellow; irides yellowish brown, dark hazel
in the young.

Three other species belonging to the genus Buteo have been recorded as
occurring in the British Islands. The Red-tailed Buzzard (Buteo borealis),
a species inhabiting Eastern North America and the West Indies, is said
to have been killed, in the autumn of 1860, in Nottinghamshire. Another
American species, the Red-shouldered Buzzard (Buteo lineatus) , is reported
to have been killed in Invernessshire in 1863, and is recorded in ‘ The Ibis’
for 1865 (p. 549). Lastly, the African Buzzard (Buteo desertorum), of
which three examples are said to have been obtained: the first was killed
at Everley, Wiltshire, in September 1864; the.other two specimens were
obtained in Northumberland— one near Newcastle in 1830, the other
at Tynemouth in November 1870. There is no evidence to prove that
these birds had not escaped from confinement; nor is it certain that the
identification was correct.

CIRCUS. 123

Genus CIRCUS.

The genus Circus was established by Lacépéde (Mém. Classe Sc. math.-
phys. Inst. iii. p. 506) in the year 1801. Previous to that date the
Harriers were included in the genus Falco of Linnzeus. Lacépéde did
not indicate any type; but Bonaparte, who afterwards unnecessarily sub-
divided the genus, retained the Marsh-Harrier in his restricted genus
Circus, and this bird may therefore be considered the type.

The Harriers are intermediate between the Buzzards and the Hawks,
having the somewhat long wings and short tarsus of the former, and
the long tail and slender tarsus of the latter, but agreeing with both
in having the lower half of the tarsus scutellated both at the back and
front.

This genus is almost cosmopolitan, and contains about twenty species,
of which four are European, three of these breeding more or less commonly
in the British Islands.

The food of the Harriers is composed of small mammals, birds, reptiles,
fish, insects, and birds’ eggs. Their nests are built on the ground; and
their eggs, from three to five in number, are bluish white, generally
spotless, but in some cases marked with pale brown; when held up to the
light the bluish-green colour which underlies the white ground-colour is
always observable.

124 BRITISH BIRDS.

CIRCUS ARUGINOSUS.
MARSH-HARRIER.
(PLate 6.)

Accipiter circus palustris, Briss. Orn. i. p. 401 (1760).

Accipiter circus rufus, Briss. Orn. i. p. 404 (1760).

Falco zruginosus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 180 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum—
(Gray), (Bonaparte), (Jerdon), (Newton), (Sundevall), (Sharpe), &c.

Falco rufus, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 266 (1788).

Falco arundinaceus, Bechst, Orn. Taschenb. p. 23 (1802).

Circus seruginosus (Linn.), Savign. Syst. Ois. de l’ Egypte, p. 30 (1810),

Circus rufus (G'mel.), Savign. tom. cit. p. 31 (1810).

Accipiter xruginosus (Linn.), Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. i. p. 119 (1816).

Accipiter circus, Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-As. i. p. 362 (1826),

Buteo eeruginosus (Linn.), Flem. Brit. An. p. 55 (1828).

Circus arundinaceus (Bechst.), Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 91 (1831).

Buteo rufus (Gmel.), Jenyns, Brit. Vert. p. 88 (1835).

Circus umbrinus, Heugl. Syst. Uebers. Vig. N.O.-Afr. p. 12 (1856).

The Marsh-Harrier has not yet been quite exterminated from the
British Islands. It still breeds in the Norfolk broads and in Devonshire,
and occasionally escapes the gamekeeper’s gun in other parts of the king-
dom. In Scotland it is still more local, being chiefly found in the central
counties, Aberdeenshire, and the Western Isles. In Ireland it was for-
merly very abundant, but is now said to have become very local.

It breeds in swampy districts throughout Europe south of the Baltic,
occurring rarely in South Sweden, and only visiting Norway accidentally.
It winters in Africa north of the equator, occasionally wandering as far
south as the Transvaal. In Greece, Palestine, Persia, and also in Algeria
and Tangiers the winter range overlaps that of the breeding-season, and
the bird is to be found all the year round. LEastwards it breeds in the
upper valley of the Obb and in Turkestan, and winters in India and Ceylon.
It is said occasionally to breed in India. No Marsh-Harrier has yet been
obtained from the valley of the Yenesay; but from Lake Baikal eastwards
to Japan and China an allied form occurs, C. spilonotus, with the whole
of the underparts pure white, except the throat and breast, which are
longitudinally streaked with black. The female differs from the female
of our bird by having the tail transversely barred. If the latter character
be reliable, then either-our bird turns up again in Japan and China or
occasionally wanders there, as females without bars on the tail have
occurred in both those countries. The more probable explanation is
that old females of the eastern form lose the bars on the tail. This
eastern representative of the Marsh-Harrier breeds in Siberia from Lake

MARSH-HARRIER. 125

Baikal eastwards, and probably also in Japan and North China. It winters
in South China, the Philippine Islands, and the Malay Peninsula, and
would seem accidentally to wander into Europe. It is evidently a nearly
adult male of this species that Dresser has figured in his ‘ Birds of
Europe’ as the adult male Marsh-Harrier. The example from which this
figure was drawn was obtained by Messrs. Danford and Harvie-Brown in
Transylvania, whither it had probably strayed from Lake Baikal—birds
from this district having apparently a great propensity to turn up unex-
pectedly in Heligoland and various parts of Europe. It is probable that
the two species interbreed, as intermediate forms, with the thighs white
streaked longitudinally with chestnut, occur both in Europe and North
India. Other nearly allied species occur in South Africa, Australia,
and South America.

The large fen-districts in the eastern counties of England, which
have within the past few centuries been drained, and their willows and
rushes obliged to give place to corn and pasture, tell most plainly the
history of the Marsh-Harrier’s disappearance. In the days when
this low-lying country was a reed-covered tract the Marsh-Harrier, in
common with the Stork and the Avocet and many other birds now of
extreme rarity, was a well-known bird. The Marsh-Harrier is never seen
in the mountainous districts. It is a bird of the plains; and its haunts
are almost invariably low swampy districts, the banks of rivers and lakes,
inundated fields, and wet meadow-land. It is especially fond of marshes,
but is never seen in woods. The Marsh-Harrier is usually seen passing
slowly over its swampy haunts a few feet from the earth, quartering the ground
much as a well-trained dog searching for game. Its flight is somewhat
slow and laboured, performed with measured beats of the wings, varied
by gliding motions as it surveys the ground below. It will beat over its
hunting-ground, returning backwards and forwards as if diligently search-
ing every spot likely to contain its prey. Now and then it is seen to drop
somewhat slowly to the earth to secure a frog or mole, which it will either
eat at once or convey to some distance. The Marsh-Harrier is said
seldom to perch on trees; but I have repeatedly seen it so doing, as well
as sitting on large stones and fences, and sometimes on the ground. It is,
however, a bird that is rarely seen at rest, mostly on the wing, and is said
to roost upon the ground amongst reeds. Although the Marsh-Harrier
possesses great power of flight, still it is either incapable of taking birds
upon the wing or never chooses to exert its power in this respect. It will
take a sitting bird which it has surprised, or it will strike the wounded and
weakly birds and animals, but it never flies them down like a Falcon or a
Hawk. Birds and animals that can be seized upon the ground, together
with birds’ eggs and insects, form the Marsh-Harrier’s favourite fare. As
a robber of birds’ eggs the Marsh-Harrier seems to be too well known;

126 BRITISH BIRDS.

nests are often found robbed of their eggs in the vicinity of its own;
and Dr. Holland informs me that he once found Curlews’ egg-shells in
the nest itself. This bird hunts chiefly in the morning and evening,
and is said occasionally to eat a young hare or rabbit which it has been
able to surprise. It also takes fish from the shallows, and young nestling
birds. Jerdon mentions that it will carry off wounded Snipe and Teal, and
that it often follows the sportsman.

The note of the female Marsh-Harrier, according to Naumann, is a high
and clear pitz-pitz, varied very frequently by a long-drawn peep-peep.
The male bird, on the contrary, especially in the breeding-season, utters
several pleasant notes, which resemble the word kot or kai—not “ keew,”
as erroneously given by Dresser in an unacknowledged free translation
from the same authority.

The breeding-season of the Marsh-Harrier varies slightly according to
climate. In Gibraltar, where many of these birds breed, they begin to lay
by the end of March; but in Denmark and North Germany the eggs are
seldom laid before the second or third week in May. During the laying-
season the birds often soar to a great height, uttering a wailing cry; and
when the hen is sitting the cock bird soars above the nest, as is the case
with many other raptorial birds. Irby mentions that in Gibraltar as many
as twenty nests have been found within 800 yards of each other; so that
it would seem the bird is partially a social one. ‘The situation of the
nest varies but little: though Montagu says he has found it in the fork
of a large tree, it is usually built upon the ground amongst the reeds, or
beneath the shelter of a bush, or on a grassy tussock in the reeds.

At Riddagshausen, near Brunswick, on the estate of my friend Ober-
amtmann Nehrkorn, on the 10th of last May, I took a nest of this bird.
It was in a large extent of swampy ground, on the margin of one of the
numerous lakes and ponds where the reeds had not been mown down.
They are too thick on the ground for a flat-bottomed boat to be forced
through ; but the water comes above the knees as one wades amongst them.
In the middle of this bed of reeds the Marsh-Harrier had built. The nest
was very large, the outside composed of two thirds reeds and one third
small branches of trees; and the extreme diameter was at least four feet ;
but the outside was very loose and straggling. It stood two feet above
the surface of the water ; and one could see underneath the nest by stooping
down. The inside of the nest was neat and compact, measuring less than
a foot across, and warmly lined with dry flag-leaves and dry grass. It
contained four eggs of the Marsh-Harrier and one of the Coot, which had
doubtless been taken thither to feed the sitting bird. The bird flew off as
we approached the nest ; and after we had left it we saw her return with a
bunch of sticks in her claws. Nehrkorn says they keep on adding to the
sides of the nest as they continue sitting, so that when the young are

MARSH-HARRIER. 127

hatched they may not fall out of the nest into the water. It is, however,
extremely probable that this adding to the nest is but a precaution against
floods, just as is the case with the Swans and the Moorhens. Three pairs
of Marsh-Harriers used to breed regularly on this lake; but they made
such havoc amongst the young Moorhens and the young Ducks that
Nehrkorn was obliged to give over protecting them. Within forty yards
of the Harrier’s nest, curiously enough, was a Duck’s nest containing five
eggs. The eggs of the Marsh-Harrier are from three to six in number,
roundish in form and rough in texture, the short eggs being usually the
roundest. They are very pale bluish green (sometimes almost white), very
faintly marked with pale brown, or (most often) spotless, or covered with
nest-stains like the eggs of Grebes. In size they vary from 2:1 to 1:8 inch
in length and from 1°6 to 1°45 inch in breadth. The eggs of the Marsh-
Harrier are very small proportionally for the size of the bird. The
female bird alone incubates the eggs, according to Dr. Holland; and she
is fed assiduously by the male. The young birds are fed by both parents ;
and at this time Dr. Holland informs me that he has known Marsh-
Harriers, in one day, bring to their nest six Partridges, four hares, and two
leverets. If continually disturbed, the old birds become very wary, and
will then drop the food into the nest from the air above. It is also said
that the old birds teach their young to hunt by dropping food for them to
catch. According to Naumann the Marsh-Harrier is extremely sensitive
to cold, and leaves very early in his neighbourhood.

The male Marsh-Harrier has the head and nape white, tinged with rufous
and streaked with dark brown; rest of the upper parts dark reddish brown
with lighter margins; primaries brownish black; secondaries and tail
ashy grey; lower parts, including the thighs, rich chestnut-brown. Beak
bluish black ; cere, irides, legs, and toes yellow; claws black. The adult
female resembles the male, but is slightly larger, and she has, like the
young birds of both sexes, the irides yellowish hazel. Birds of the year
are uniform chocolate-brown, each feather tipped with lighter brown,
except the crown of the head and throat, which are creamy buff.

128 BRITISH BIRDS.

CIRCUS CYANEUS.

HEN-HARRIER.
(Pxarte 6.)

Accipiter falco torquatus (2 ), Briss. Orn. i. p. 345 (1760).

Falco cyaneus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 126 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum—
Temminck, Yarrell, (Gould), (Gray), (Newton), (Sharpe), &e.

Aquila variabilis, Schrank, Fauna Boica, i. p. 108 (1798).

Circus gallinarius, Savign. Ois. d’Egypte, p. 31 (1810).

Pygargus dispar, Koch, Syst. bater. Zool. p. 128 (1816).

Circus eegithus, Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. §c. Brit. Mus. pp. 9, 10 (1816).

Falco strigiceps, Ness. Orn. Suec. i. p. 21 (1817).

Accipiter variabilis (Schr.), Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-As. i. p. 364 (1826).

The Hen-Harrier was formerly a regular summer visitor to the British
Islands, a few even remaining through the winter, and it has only very
recently been exterminated in the breeding-season from most parts of
England. Now it is principally seen on the autumn migration, but is still
said to breed occasionally in some of the wilder districts, such as Devon-
shire, Cornwall, and the Lake district. In Wales, the Highlands of
Scotland, the Hebrides, the Orkneys, and in the mountainous parts of
Treland it still breeds, although in decreasing numbers. It has not been
recorded from the Faroes ; but in the Shetland Islands, where it formerly
bred, it has become only an autumn visitor.

On the continent it is a summer visitor to Holland, Jutland, Northern
Norway, Poland, Northern and Central Russia, and North Turkestan, the
whole of Siberia, and the north island of Japan. Its breeding-range
extends north of the Arctic circle, but not quite so far as the limit of
forest-growth. In Spain, France, Germany, Southern Sweden, Italy,
Turkey, South Russia, Palestine, and Southern Turkestan it is principally
known as passing through on the spring and autumn migration. In all
these countries a few remain during the summer to breed, and a few are
found during winter; but these latter are probably visitants from further
north, so that the bird cannot anywhere be strictly called a resident. It is
found in winter only in Northern Africa as far south as Abyssinia, Sar-
dinia, Greece, Asia Minor, Northern India, Mongolia, China, and the
central island of Japan.

On the American continent, from the Arctic circle to Panama, a very
neatly allied species, which many writers consider only subspecifically dis-
tinct from our bird, occurs. This species, C. hudsonius, differs in having
the lower parts striped with rufous, similar to Montagu’s Harrier. A
species having the underparts still more streaked, C. cinereus, is found in
the southern half of South America. Another very near ally of this
species occurs in the eastern hemisphere, having very nearly the same
range as Montagu’s Harrier, but has not yet been recorded from the

HEN-HARRIER. 129

British Islands, viz. the Pallid Harrier, C. swainsoni. The adult male is
easily distinguished by its barred upper tail-coverts and the female and
immature bird by the shape of the fifth primaries. In C. cyaneus the
outer web is notched; in C. swainsoni and C. cineraceus it is plain.

The Hen-Harrier (a more appropriate name for which would be the
Mountain-Harrier) has a much more northern range than the other
European and Asiatic species; I have often seen it on the tundras of
North Russia and Siberia, more than a hundred miles beyond the Arctic
circle. In its habits it differs little from the other European Harriers, but
is very partial to hill-sides, hunting them systematically with great per-
severance like a pointer, returning backwards and forwards over the same
ground. I have never seen them soar very high. They fly remarkably
steadily, with slow regular beats of the wings, like a Heron, turning sharply
with a twist of the tail like a Kite, now and then hovering like a Kestrel,
and anon skimming over the ground like a Grouse. In the valley of the
Petchora we used to see them resting on a manure-heap or flying over the
cultivated ground near the town ; and in Siberia I have shot down at them
from the top of the river-bank as they beat up and down stream on the
ground between the frozen river and the forest, in search of Snow-Bun-
tings. The Hen-Harrier is a migratory bird. According to Goebel they
pass through South-west Russia during the last half of March, one or two
occasionally remaining to breed. At Kazan they arrive in the middle of
April, and breed in some numbers. Bogdanow says they are occasionally
seen in theforests, but soon after their arrival hunt the plains and the steppes
with great regularity. In the valleys both of the Petchora and the Yene-
say we did not sce them until the last week of May; but it must be remem-
bered that we were on the Arctic circle. On the autumn migration they
pass through Germany during the month of September. I have never
found the nest of the Hen-Harrier ; but it is generally reported to be a late
breeder. Harvie-Brown gives the 24th of May as the date when the first
egg was laid in a nest which he found in Sutherlandshire; and Goebel
found two nests, in which the full number of eggs was not laid, in the
middle of June in South-west Russia. The site usually chosen is a dry
moor or amongst the heather; and it has often been found in a cornfield.
The size and material used vary with the locality. Harvie-Brown describes
one on the bare hill-side as merely consisting of a few loosely arranged
heather-stems with a shallow depression in the centre lined with wiry dry
grass broken into small pieces. Another, placed in deep heather, was more
than a foot high, and composed of stout rank stems and roots of heather.
Goebel found one nest in the middle of a cornfield, and another concealed
in the long grass on a dried-up marsh. He says they were two feet and a
half wide and nearly a foot high, made of dry straw and plants, very flat,
and lined with a few feathers. It is said that the female alone sits on the

VOL. I. K

130 BRITISH BIRDS.

nest and is fed by the male. The number of eggs is usually five ; but four
and six are often found.

The Hen-Harrier is a bolder bird in the pursuit of its food than the other
two British Harriers, and undoubtedly often chases its prey on the wing.
It catches small birds, mice, frogs, but does not disdain to make a meal
off the eggs of its neighbours when it has the opportunity. The graceful-
ness of its flight and the ease with which it can skim over the brow of a
hill make it a favourite with the ornithologist, in spite of an occasional
young grouse that may fall a victim to its prowess.

The eggs of the Hen-Harricr are bluish white, like those of the other
two British Harriers, and are on an average intermediate in size between
those of the Marsh and Montagu’s Harriers. They vary in length from
1°8 to 1°65 inch and in breadth from 1°5 to 1-4 inch. It is unfortunately
impossible to distinguish them from exceptionally small eggs of the Marsh-
Harrier, or from very large eggs of Montagu’s Harrier.

The adult male Hen-Harrier is a very beautiful bird, of a delicate pale
slate-grey colour, with black primaries and with the upper tail-coverts and
the whole of the underparts below the centre of the breast pure white.
Cere, irides, and legs yellow; bill bluish black, claws black.. The female,
which is a slightly larger bird, has the general colour brown, paler below,
and streaked with reddish brown ; the upper tail-coverts are white, faintly
marked with rufous ; tail dark brown, broadly barred with buffish brown,
and tipped with pale buff.

HEN-HARRIER’S NEST.

MONTAGU’S HARRIER. 131

CIRCUS CINERACEUS.
MONTAGU’S HARRIER.
(PLATE 6.)

Accipiter falco torquatus (3), Briss. Orn, i. p. 345 (1760).

Falco pygargus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 126 (1766).

Falco cineraceus, Mont. Orn, Dict. i. (1802); et auctorum plurimorum—
Temminck, Naumann, (Cuvier), (Gould), (Newton), (Dresser), &e.

Falco hyemalis, Gmel. apud Penn. Brit, Zool. i. p. 243 (1812).

Circus cinerarius (Mont.), Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. Se. Brit. Mus. p. 9 (1816).

Circus ater, Viedll. N. Dict. d’ Hist. Nat. iv. p. 459 (1816).

Circus montagui, Vell. N. Dict. d Hist. Nat. xxxi. p. 411 (1819).

Falco cineraceus (Moné.), Temm. Man. d’ Orn. i. p. 76 (1820).

Circus cinerascens, Steph. Shaw's Gen. Zool. xiii. pt. ii. p. 41 (1826).

Buteo cineraceus (Mont.), Flem. Brit. An. p. 55 (1828).

Circus cineraceus (Mont.), Cuv. Regne An. i. p. 338 (1829).

Circus pratorum, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 95 (1831).

Falco cinerascens (Steph.), Barb. Rev. Zool. 1858, p. 221.

Strigiceps cineraceus (Mont.), Bp. Comp. List B. Eur. §& N. Amer. p. 5 (1838).

Circus nipalensis, Hodgs. Gray's Zool. Misc. p. 81 (1844).

Striziceps cinerascens (Steph.), Bp. Consp. i. p. 33 (1850).

Circus pygargus * (Linn.), Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. i. p. 64 (1874).

Though formerly a resident in Great Britain, Montagu’s Harrier is now
only an accidental visitor, occasionally breeding where it is left unmolested.
It is still rarer in Scotland, and in Ireland has only twice been obtained.

In France, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Central and Southern
Russia, Turkestan, and South-western Siberia, as far east as Krasnoyarsk,
it is a summer visitant. In South Russia a considerable number remain
during the winter ; in Greece it is only found during the winter; and in
Italy it is chiefly found at that season ; whilst in Spain it appears to be a
resident. It passes through North Africa on migration ; but a few are
found there all the year round. Its chief winter-quarters are the whole cf
South Africa from the Cape as far north as Abyssinia. The Siberian
and Turkestan birds appear to winter in India, Ceylon, and Burmat.

Montagw’s Harrier is a partial resident in our islands like the Marsh and
Hen-Harriers, but is most frequently seen in summer. Like the Marsh-
Harrier, it is never seen in the mountains, and hardly ever in the forests ;
but, unlike that bird, it appears to prefer a dry moor to a swamp, and a corn-

* It is much to be regretted that Sharpe should have raked up a deservedly forgotten
name for this bird; but, so long as the law of priority continues in force, uniformity of nomen-
clature can never be attained.

T It is a pity that Dresser, Sharpe, and Newton should have copied Swinhoe’s error in
recording this species from the Yang-tsze kiang, which he himself corrects (‘ Ibis,’ 1874,
p. 268),

K2

132 BRITISH BIRDS.

field to a reed-bed. It seeks its food in true Harrier style, quartering the
ground regularly, beating up and down the fields in search of grasshoppers,
lizards, mice, and other small prey. Now and then it secures a small bird
which it has surprised before it had time to take wing, and occasionally it
pays a visit to some neighbourmg marsh to pick up a frog or small
mammal, Its long and pointed wings give an especial gracefulness to its
flight; now it darts rapidly with half-closed wings, now it makes a sudden
turn with one wing elevated, and now it sails over the surface of the
ground with motionless outspread wings ; but with all its apparent power
of flight it seldom if ever pursues small birds if they attempt to escape.
Montagu’s Harrier has also the habit of sailing in wide circles, like many
other birds of prey. Mr. Howard Saunders describes the female, which
he put off a nest in the Isle of Wight, as flying away in repeated and
gradually widening circles. The same feature was remarked on the return
to the nest: the wide circles gradually narrowed; and the wings were
suddenly closed as she swept over the nest and dropped upon it.

In Germany Montaguw’s Harrier is a somewhat late breeder. The
only time I have taken the nest was on the 23rd of last May. The
eggs were quite fresh. The nest is very difficult to find. Saunders’s
nest above referred to was in a small clearing not two yards across,
amongst the gorse on the open heath, and was a mere hollow in the
ground lined with dry grass, with an outside border of heather twigs. The
nest I took was a few miles out of Halberstadt, in the middle of the great
prairie lying north of the Hartz Mountains. We were a party of four—our
host Oberamtmann Ferdinand Heine, Dr. Blasius of Brunswick, my son,
and myself. We were all in very high spirits, “coming thro’ the rye”
with three Great Bustard’s eggs which we had just taken. Suddenly we
observed a pair of Montagu’s Harriers flyimg over the corn, crying and
toying with each other almost lke Terns. In this district of enormous
farms and high farming, the ground is very fertile, and the rye stood more
than five feet high in a field which could not be much less than a hundred
acres in extent. It seemed like looking for a needle in a haystack ; but
our host and guide told us that several pairs of Harriers bred annually on
his farm ; so we walked down each side of the rye, one of us following a
narrow path up the centre. We saw at different times five or six birds,
one pair especially seeming to show some anxiety at our presence. Finally
one of the birds dropped somewhat suddenly into the waving corn
Dr. Blasius undertook to stalk her up, but, when she rose, missed her with
both barrels. We were, however, delighted to find that she had risen from
her nest containing four fresh eggs. ‘There was no hole whatever in the
ground ; the rye had only been trampled down, and a slight but somewhat
neat nest made of corn-stalks lined with a little dry straw. The nest was
rather more than nine inches in diameter and about two inches and a half

MONTAGU’S HARRIER. 133

deep in the middle. The discharge of the two barrels caused a Mallard
to rise from her nest in the rye about five and twenty yards off, and nearly
a mile from any water.

Heine told us that Montagu’s Harriers are very destructive to young
hares and partridges, but frogs, lizards, mice, moles, and grasshoppers form
its principal food. It is also fond of eggs. In Germany it arrives early
in March, and leaves in October.

The number of eggs varies from four to six. They may be readily
distinguished from the eggs of the other British Harriers by their decidedly
smaller size. The largest egg in my collection measures 1°75 by 1:3 inch,
whilst the smallest is only 1°5 by 1:25inch. Very frequently the shape of
the egg is much rounder. One from the Halberstadt nest measures
1:65 by 1-4inch. The surface of the eggs is fine-grained, but not glossy, of
an unspotted greenish white. The example figured is an exceptional
variety, with pale reddish-brown spots, from the Volga.

The adult male of Montagu’s Harrier is a pale slate-grey bird, with
black primaries and a black bar across the secondaries. The inner web of
the outer tail-feathers is barred with reddish brown and white. The
underparts below the breast are white, with longitudinal streaks of reddish
brown on the axillaries and thighs. Cere, irides, legs, and feet yellow ;
claws black; bill bluish black. Varieties occasionally occur which are
uniform dark brown all over. The females and immature males, as well
as the adult male, may be distinguished from the near allies of this species,
especially from C. swainsoni, by having the notch in the inner web of the
first primary and in the outer web of the second primary an inch beyond
the tip of the primary-coverts instead of being nearly or quite hidden
by them.

The two birds which approach nearest to Montagu’s Harrier in general
appearance, in consequence of having the lower portion of the underparts
streaked with rufous, are the two American species, C. cinereus and
C. hudsonius. These birds, however, are forms of the Hen-Harrier, and
have, like that bird and the Marsh-Harrier, the outer web of the fifth
primary notched, which is not the case with C. cineraceus aud C. swainsoni.

134 BRITISH BIRDS.

Genus ACCIPITER.

The genus Accipiter was established by Brisson in 1760, in his ‘ Orni-
thologie, i. p. 414, and is additional to the genus Falco of Linnzus, which
also includes the genus Aquila of Brisson. The type of this genus, the
Accipiter accipiter of Brisson, is the Sparrow- Hawk.

The Hawks may be distinguished from most other British genera of
birds of prey by having the lower half of the tarsus covered, both at the
front and at the back, by broad transverse oblong scales (which in old
birds of the Sparrow-Hawks almost disappear)*. The only other genera
of British birds of prey possessing these characters are the Buzzards and
the Harriers. From both these the Hawks are readily distinguished by their
long legs, the tarsus being one fourth, or more than one fourth, the length
of the wing, and more than half the length of the first primary, and nearly
as long as the tibia.

Three species of this genus are found in the British Islands—two as
very accidental stragglers, the other as a common resident. The Hawks
are cosmopolitan in their distribution, and number between fifty and sixty
species.

The Hawks are birds moderate in size, and elegant and slender in form.
Their wings are short and rounded, the tail long. They are birds of great
courage, and never feed on carrion. Their food is birds, small mammals,
and insects. They build large nests, made of sticks, in trees or on rocks,
and lay from three to seven eggs, varying from pale spotless blue to blue
richly spotted and blotched with reddish brown.

* Ornithologists seem to have a fatality for making petty blunders. Yarrell, in his
generic characters of Astw, says ‘‘the tarsi covered in front with broad scales,” of
Accipiter “legs smooth,” and of Circus “tarsus naked.” Newton copies these characters
word for word in his new edition. Dresser says of Circus “tarsus smooth,” of Astur
“tarsus scutellate,” and of Accipiter “tarsus non-scutellate.” Sharpe does not mention
the front of the tarsus of either of these genera, but separates Circus, in consequence of
his erroneous belief that in this genus the hinder aspect of the tarsus is reticulate, from
Astur and Accipifer, in which he says it is scaled. After a careful examination of
numerous examples of Hawks and Harriers, I am unable to find any generic characters to
separate the Hawks from the Goshawks. It appears to me that in both the Hawks,
including the Goshawks and the Harriers, the upper part of the tarsus is feathered in front
and reticulated behind, the lower part scutellated both in front and behind, and the sides
reticulated from top to bottom. The Sparrow-Hawks, however, appear to lose these
characters with age. They are very conspicuous in young birds; but in old ones the
scales coalesce and the unfeathered part of the tarsus becomes smooth.

SPARROW-HAWK. 135

ACCIPITER NISUS.

SPARROW-HAWK.
(PLatE 4.)

Accipiter accipiter, Briss, Orn. i. p. 310 (1760).

Falco nisus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 180 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum—WNau-
mann, Yarrell, (Pallas), (Gray), (Newton), (Sharpe), &e.

Deedalion fringillarius, Sav. Ois. d’ Egypte, p. 34 (1810).

Terax fringillarius (Sav.), Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. §c. Brit. Mus. p. 10 (1816).

Sparvius nisus (Linn.), Viel. N. Dict. d’ Hist. Nat. x. p. 319 (1817).

Accipiter fringillarius (Sav.), Vig. Zool. Journ. i. p. 838 (1824).

Accipiter nisus (Linn.), Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-As, i. p. 870 (1826).

Buteo nisus (Linn.), Flem. Brit. An. i. p. 55 (1828).

Astur nisus (Linn.), Cuv. Regne An. i. p. 333 (1829).

Nisus communis, Less. Traité d’Orn. p. 58 (1831).

Falco nisosimilis, T?ckell, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. ii. p. 571 (1833).

Accipiter nisosimilis (7%ck.), Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. xii. p. 311, (1848).

Astur major, Degl. Orn. Eur. i. p. 86 (1849, ex Bekker).

Nisus fringillarius (Sav.), Kaup, Contr, Orn, 1850, p. 64.

Nisus major (Degl.), Jaub. Mots. Eur, Orn. p. 29 (1851).

This handsome little species is the commonest and at the same time
most extensively distributed of our native diurnal birds of prey. A Gos-
hawk in miniature, elegant in form, agile and graceful in movement, the
Sparrow-Hawk is an interesting ornament to the woods and fields; yet,
from its boldness and destructive habits, but little favour is shown to it,
and the game-preservers and poultry-keepers wage an incessant war of
extermination against it. Throughout the whole of Great Britain and
Ireland it is a common species in all well-wooded and cultivated localities.
In the wild and comparatively treeless districts of Ireland, the west of
Scotland, the Hebrides, the north of Scotland, and the Orkney and Shet-
land Islands the Sparrow-Hawk becomes much rarer, and in many of these
localities, notably in Shetland, it is only known as a summer visitor. In
England and Wales and the Channel Islands it is a resident and widely
distributed bird, very common in all the game-coverts, woodlands, and
Partridge-grounds, up to the suburbs of our most populous cities; but
in many districts the incessant persecution to which it is subject has
sensibly decreased its numbers.

The Sparrow-Hawk is found commonly throughout Europe up to the
limit of forest-growth, about lat. 69°. In the northern limits of its range
it is a migratory species, wintering in South Europe and North-east Africa,
being very common in Egypt, Kordofan, and Sennaar. It breeds in
Algeria, according to Loche, and also in the Canaries. In Asia it extends

136 BRITISH BIRDS.

across the continent up to the Arctic circle, where I shot it both in the
valley of the Petchora and that of the Yenesay ; and Middendorff found it
common on the Stanavoi Mountains, near the Pacific coast. It is found in
Japan and China, in the latter country at least as far south as Canton ;
occurring throughout India in the cold season, a few birds breeding in
the wooded valleys of the Himalayas.

The Sparrow-Hawk does not vary very much. Western examples, espe-
cially those from the British Islands and the Canaries, are a little darker
and browner than those from the east. In the Himalayas a resident semi-
tropical race appears, A. melanoschistus, a decidedly darker bird, especially
on the head, and apparently rather more boldly spotted in the young in
first plumage. In all probability this local race is only subspecifically
distinct. Nearly allied but perfectly distinct species to the Sparrow-
Hawk are found both in the Old and New Worlds.

From the nature of his food, the Sparrow-Hawk is seldom found in the
wildest districts ; there his place is taken by the Merlin. His haunt is the
lowland woods and coppices or the fir-clumps on the borders of the moor-
lands—the rich well-cultivated lands on which game abounds, interspersed
with woods and plantations: this is the Sparrow-Hawk’s favourite home,
where the food of his choice is found in great abundance. Although
he frequently takes his station on the ground, or more often on a tree or
fence, or on a stone wall or rock-ledge, using these situations as points
of observation, the air is his province, and his flight in some respects
stands almost unrivalled amongst birds. When seeking his food he flies
down the wood-side, silently and swiftly gliding along just above the
ground. If he sees you as he passes, with incredible speed he swerves into
the cover, threading his way amongst the tangled network of branches
gracefully and unharmed, to emerge a little distance further down and
pursue his search as before. Often he will tarry for a moment above a
clump of wild roses or brambles: mayhap a Robin is there; but he hops
into cover in time to cheat his enemy. Onwards again flies the Sparrow-
Hawk, now bounding over a fence, now gliding rapidly down the side of
the cover, shooting and turning from side to side, or ever and anon rising
in a beautiful curve over a hedge, scanning its further side, then back
again. Perhaps a Thrush is started, and the relentless Hawk pursues it ;
but the Thrush is often too quick, or the Hawk mayhap is not hungry ; for
it gains a thick bush and its pursuer passes on, to sweep lightly upwards
and perch on some decaying ivy-grown stump, standing erect and motion-
less, surveying the ground around him, Again he takes the air, leisurely
at first, but with a quick swerve to the left, descending as he goes, he
strikes a small bird, sitting quite unconscious of danger on a topmost twig,
and bears it off in an instant into the wood from which he emerged but a
short half-hour before. The amazing swiftness with which the Sparrow-

SPARROW-HAWK. 137

Hawk takes its prey, and the dexterity with which it threads its way
through the branches at its fullest speed, are quite beyond the powers of
written description ; they must be witnessed to be fully appreciated. How
often does the rush of its wings disturb your reverie, as you are, mayhap,
watching some little chorister a few yards away! and before you have time
for thought, the little creature in whom you were so interested is quivering
in death-agony in the talons of this warrior bird. Your presence seems
totally disregarded, and the Hawk appears only to see its intended victim.
But its swoop is not always attended with success ; and probably far more
birds escape than are taken when the chase is a prolonged one. Dixon
has, amongst many other notes, one to the effect that he was on one occa-
sion observing a Robin engaged in song, when a Sparrow-Hawk struck at
it, but missed its intended victim, which at once took refuge with loud cries
of alarm in the densest part of the thicket. It may be that the sudden
sight of man disconcerted the Hawk, and caused it to miss its prey. On
another occasion he witnessed one of these Hawks pursue a Blue Titmouse
for fully fifty yards up a fence; when the little creature, calling loudly all
the time, at last managed to gain the shelter of a thick bush. In this
instance, however, the Hawk perched near at hand, and appeared to be
waiting for its quarry to again come forth into the open, until it was driven
reluctantly away by an incautious movement on the part of its observers.
The moment a bird’ is pursued it endeavours to seek safety in some dense
cover which the Hawk cannot penetrate, and which no amount of fluttering
on the part of the Hawk will cause it to quit when once safely reached.
Numerous, indeed, are the instances on record of this bird’s boldness and
rapacity, it being almost impossible to read any account of this species
without coming across some fresh instance of its daring.

A favourite place to find the Sparrow-Hawk in the evening is in the
stack-yards, especially in winter, when so many birds are congregated
there in search of a scanty sustenance. The Chaftinch is, perhaps, the first
bird to give notice of his approach; for it is one of the wariest of birds,
and never fails to give the alarm the instant danger threatens. The
Sparrows clustering so thickly on the corn-stacks, seek the cover of the
neighbouring thorn-bushes ; and the Buntings and Greenfinches, busy near
the barn-door, fly upwards into the tall trees or perch on the walls, while
the Robin utters his sharp “chic” and disappears under the evergreens.
Between the stacks their enemy comes gliding like a shadow ; their twitter-
ings increase ; and before one has time for thought, he clutches one of the
terrified little creatures and is off as quickly as he came. All is now con-
fusion for a moment; but the alarm soon dies away, and the birds are
engaged once more in feeding, until his approach again sends terror through
their ranks and renews their noisy fears. The Sparrow-Hawk always strikes
its prey with the claws ; and the death-stroke is given by them alone.

138 BRITISH BIRDS.

In wandering through the depths of the woods or the closest thickets,
you will sometimes notice a heap of feathers ; these are the remnants of the
Sparrow-Hawk’s meal. Search closer and you will probably find portions
of the skull and entrails of the victim; and by your knowledge of the
plumage of birds you will also be enabled to tell what little chorister has
been destroyed. These remnants are most frequently found on elevated
places—a moss-covered rock, large stone, or even the broad horizontal limb
of a tree. The Sparrow-Hawk does not consume many of the feathers,
except inadvertently, the wing and tail-feathers being invariably rejected ;
but most of the bones are eaten, as also, in the case of small birds, the
feet. The refuse of the bird’s food is ejected in the form of pellets, after
the manner of all raptorial birds. The food of the Sparrow-Hawk is
chiefly composed of the smaller birds up to the size of a Thrush, although
he is capable of destroying, and does destroy, much larger birds, as Par-
tridges and Pigeons; and in the poultry-yard his depredations are consi-
derable, especially when the young chicks are about. Most of the small
birds are his victims, more or less—the Bunting on the hedgerow, the Pipit
cowering in the meadow-grass, the Robin and Accentor in the garden,
and the Creeper and Wren in amongst the trees, as also the various
species of Finches and Warblers. But birds donot form the Sparrow-
Hawk’s only fare. Sometimes you see him dip silently and swiftly down
amongst the marshy vegetation in old watercourses and bear off a rat or
frog; and field-mice, leverets, and young rabbits are often victims of his
rapacity : indeed a young rabbit is a favourite bait with gamekeepers to
lure this little Hawk to his doom. The Sparrow- Hawk seems to love the
evening’s dusk the best for searching for his food; and darkness is often
falling round, wrapping the evergreens and thickets in dense obscurity, as
he glides rapidly past you into their gloomy foliage to his roosting-place.

The Sparrow-Hawk is a somewhat late breeder, its nest being seldom
found before early May. ‘The probable cause of this lateness is that,
like the Kestrel, it does not begin to breed until the woods and fields
are replete with those migratory birds that form its chief support during
the summer months. Notwithstanding the belief to the contrary, the
Sparrow-Hawk always builds its own nest. Certainly it is not because
no old nests are accessible ; for the Carrion-Crow and the Magpie build
in plenty all around, and their deserted nests are on every side ; still it shuns
them all and makes its own. Varied indeed are the sites selected for the
purpose. You find it in the deepest woods, in the oak probably more
frequently than in any other tree; you see it midway up the alder bor-
dering the stream flowing through the coppice; and it is not unfre-
quently built in a pine tree. Hewitson says this bird occasionally builds
on a rock; but I have never heard of an authenticated instance of its doing
so. The nest is very rarely found on the topmost branches ; it is always

SPARROW-HAWK. 139

placed on the broad branches and near the trunk, not at their extremities.
The nest itself is a large one, but the cavity which contains the eggs is
small and very shallow. It is always made of sticks, the majority being
dead ones, sometimes perhaps conveyed from neighbouring Magpies’ nests ;
and it contains no lining beyond a few roots and, in rare cases, a little
moss ; but in all the nests which I have seen there was much down, some-
times halfway down the tree, probably accidentally rubbed off the bird as
she flew off andon the nest. 'The larger and coarser twigs form the outside
portion of the nest, smaller and finer ones the cavity in which the eggs are
laid. If built in the fir-woods, the branches of that tree are almost exclu-
sively used, the withered ones being seemingly preferred, although a few
living sprays are sometimes wove amongst the rest, and give the nest a
bright and pleasing appearance with their emerald-green bursting buds.
_ From the fact that these birds pair for life, the same nest will not unfre-
quently be used in successive seasons, being patched up each spring, as
occasion demands. The nest of the Sparrow-Hawk is finished some time
before the first egg is deposited ; Dixon has, in some cases, known nests of
this bird, although quite finished, remain empty for a week and sometimes
more before the first egg has been laid. The Sparrow-Hawk not unfre-
quently lays her eggs at irregular intervals, and, is as usual in such cases,
sits on them as soon as laid. They are from three to six in number
(although five may be said to be an average clutch), round in shape, and
most richly marked. In ground-colour they are a delicate bluish green ;
and the spots, bold and decided, are reddish brown of various shades
and intensity. Some specimens are so richly marbled and clouded as to
hide the ground-colour ; others have the spots in a zone round the end
of the egg, or more rarely round the middle; while yet, again, some are
spotless, or very faintly marked, thus approaching very closely to certain
types of Harrier’s eggs; and even in the same nest one egg will be con-
spicuous by its small size or the absence of spots. They vary from 1°78
to 15 inch in length, and from 1°39 to 1:2 inch in breadth. You may
remove the eggs of the Sparrow-Hawk indiscriminately, and the female
bird will still continue laying in the same nest, like the Starling and
several other life-paired birds. Dixon has known as many as fourteen
eggs to have been taken from a nest of this species in a single season.

The female Sparrow-Hawk is usually found upon the eggs; yet the
male will occasionally take his turn. A close sitter, the bird will not
unfrequently allow you to reach the nest ere it quits its charge, to dash
silently, like a meteor, through the labyrinth of branches. As is usual
with Raptorial birds, the female is much the largest, and by far the most
courageous, often brushing an intruder’s head with her wings when her
nest is menaced. Upon leaving the nest no sound escapes her, as a rule ;
but sometimes she disturbs the shady stillness with a harsh scream of

140 BRITISH BIRDS.

anxiety for her home. The male Sparrow-Hawk, as is the case with many
birds of this order, often soars above the nesting-place to an immense
height, wheeling round and round with wings expanded. But one brood
is reared in the year, although, if the first eggs are taken, as has been
already remarked, others will be laid. The young are fed assiduously ;
and at no time of the year are the Sparrow- Hawks so bold and venturesome
as now, when they have hungry young to cater for. It is then the game-
coverts yield their tribute of young chicks ; it is then the smaller birds are
even more sorely pressed ; and it is then they will dash silently and swiftly
‘into the poultry-yards and bear off the young chicks so quickly. When
the young reach maturity, which is but slowly, they are abandoned by
their parents, and quit their birthplace for ever.

The eyrie of the Sparrow-Hawk is a very interesting place to visit when
the young are almost ready for flight. Young Sparrow-Hawks exhibit
great diversity of size and colour. Indeed there are seldom two in the
same nest alike when they have attained their first plumage. In the nest
are pellets and feathers in abundance—not the feathers of game-birds, as
a rule, but usually of the smaller Finches and Warblers, notably of the
Chaffinch and Willow-Warbler. Animals are sometimes brought, as the
fur of the rabbit and the mole tells us pretty plainly. A few days before
the young gain the use of their wings they spend the greater part of their
time upon the tree, flyimg from branch to branch, trying and strength-
ening their pinions, and uttering their peculiar tremulous notes. Even
before they are fully fledged, if the nest is visited, the young birds will
scramble out onto the branches, using their beaks to assist them, and
usually getting quite out of reach. The leaves and branches of the tree
round and about the nest are white with their droppings, just as though
they had been whitewashed ; yet but little or no smell pervades the place.
Before finally taking wing and quitting their birthplace for ever, they
repair to the neighbouring trees, where they are for a few days more fed
and tended by their parents, until strong and matured enough to gain their
own living.

Such a bold and ravenous bird as the Sparrow-Hawk very naturally
receives no favour from the game-preservers ; he is shown no mercy, is shot
and trapped whenever the occasion is afforded. That the Sparrow-Hawk is a
destructive bird I am not going to deny; but certainly there are some few
good points in his character which deserve a passing notice. The small
birds are certainly kept in check partly through his agency; and the Ring-
Doves (a perfect pest to the farmer in some districts) are his favourite food
when those birds congregate towards the autumnal equinox to feed on the
acorns and beech-mast. ‘Then, again, the taking of weakly birds and animals
by the Sparrow-Hawk serves to keep disease away and _ preserve that
healthy standard of perfection which Nature inexorably demands.

SPARROW-HAWK. 141

Tn a trained state the Sparrow-Hawk is a useful bird for taking Quails,
Partridges, Blackbirds, and Thrushes; but, as Lord Lilford very justly
remarks, it is of uncertain temper and difficult of management, and re-
quires quite a different system of training from that employed for the true
Falcons. In India the Sparrow-Hawk is very highly prized, and flown suc-
cessfully at Coursers and Sand-Grouse.

The Sparrow-Hawk’s upper plumage generally, with the exception of a
small white patch on the nape, is dark bluish slate-colour; the tail greyish
brown, transversely barred with darker brown; the underparts are rufous,
barred with darker rufous-brown. The beak is blue; cere, legs, and toes
yellow ; irides orange; claws black. The female is usually three or four
inches longer than the male, and has the upper parts brown, with a white
nape-spot, and the underparts greyish white barred with brown. ‘The
young males resemble the female; but the brown feathers of the upper
parts have rufous margins ; the tail is reddish brown, especially at the base.
Very old females sometimes assume the plumage of the male.

SPARROW-HAWK’S NEST.

142 BRITISH BIRDS.

ACCIPITER PALUMBARIUS.
GOSHAWK.
(Piare 5.)

Accipiter astur, Briss, Orn, i, p. 317 (1760, adult),

Accipiter cireus major, Briss, Orn. i, p. 898 (1760, imm.).

Falco palumbarius, Zinn, Syst. Nat. i, p. 180 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum—
Temminck, Nawmann, (Gould), (Newton), (Sharpe), &e.

Falco albescens, Bodd. Tabi. Pl. Enl. p. 25 (1783, ex D’ Aubenton),

Falco gallinarius, Gme?. Syst. Nat. i. p. 266 (1788).

Falco marginatus, Lath. Ind, Orn, i. p. 26 (1790).

Falco tigrinus, Beseke, Veg. Kurl. p. 10 (1792).

Astur palumbarius (Zinn.), Lacép. Mém, de Inst. iii, p. 505 (1801).

Deedalion palumbarius (Zinn.), Sav, Ors. de ? Egypte, p. 33 (1810).

Sparvius palumbarius (Linn.), Vierll. N. Diet. d Hist, Nat. x. p. 331 (1817).

Falco longipes, Nilss. Orn, Suee. i, p. 18, pl. 1 (1817).

Accipiter astur, Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-As. i. p. 367 (1826).

Buteo palumbarius (Zann.), Flem. Brit, An. i. p. 54 (1828).

Astur gallinarum (Gmel.), Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 83 (1881).

Accipiter palumbarius (Linn.), Jenyns, Brit, Vert. p. 85 (1885).

Astur indicus, Hodgs, in Gray’s Zool. Mise, p. 81 (1844).

The Goshawk probably was never a common bird in the British Islands ;
and of late years, since the forests have nearly all been cut down and
game-preserving has become so universal, this noble bird of prey has
become only an accidental visitor. It is only within the last half-century
that it has ceased to breed in Scotland. The Goshawk is not strictly a
migratory bird ; otherwise it would probably appear much more commonly
in this country. Many birds of prey zealously guard their hunting-grounds
from trespassers of their own species, and drive away their own young to
seek new breeding-grounds. The Goshawk is no exception ; and occasion-
ally one of the young birds, which may be looked upon as an emigrant
rather than a migrant, finds its way to our shores. They usually arrive
on the east coast, and soon fall a prey to the gamekeeper or the bird-
stuffer. Newton mentions the comparatively recent capture of seven ex-
amples in Northumberland, eleven in Norfolk, and five in Suffolk.

The Goshawk is nowhere very common, but is generally though sparingly
distributed throughout the wooded districts of the whole of Europe, from
the Mediterranean up to the limit of forest-growth. It is partially migra-
tory in the extreme north, but has been obtained in winter at Tromsé, on
the shores of the Varanger Fjord, and at Archangel. In Africa it is prin-
cipally known as a somewhat accidental winter visitant, though it has been
said to breed in Tangiers, and it certainly does so at Gibraltar. Eastwards

Ji

:
, i

GOSHAWK. 143

it is found throughout Siberia up to the limit of forest growth, Asia Minor,
North Palestine, Persia, Turkestan, the Himalayas, Mongolia, and North
China. In India it is occasionally seen on the plains during the cold
season.

The Goshawk is a giant Sparrow-Hawk. In spite of his comparatively
short wings, he is a bird of very powerful flight and of undaunted courage.

_ He disdains to eat carrion, and will scarcely stoop to catch a sitting bird.

He hunts on the wing, and nothing is safe from his attacks, from a Sparrow
to a Grouse, or from a mouse to a young roe. The Goshawk has the
reputation of being a very bloodthirsty bird, killing more game than he
can possibly eat. This bird is essentially a forest one, and in summer
confines himself principally to the woods and the open places in their im-
mediate neighbourhood ; but late in autumn and winter he extends the
range of his hunting-grounds, pursuing Partridges and hares, and
making raids on the pigeons belonging to the farmers, and sometimes
snatching the game from under the very nose of the sportsman. The Gos-
hawk, however, is a Hawk, and not a Falcon; and his powers of flight are
not sufficient to enable him to fly down a bird when it has fairly got under
weigh; consequently he resorts to artifice, stealing upon his prey from
behind some cover, and dashing upon it unawares. Naumann describes
the alarm-note as a shrill keerk-keerk-keerk, very similar to that of the
Sparrow-Hawk ; and besides this he has a call-note, a deep gyuk-gyak-gyak,
much resembling a similar note of the Peregrine.

The Goshawk very seldom perches on the ground or on a stone, or on
the topmost twig of a tree. Its favourite food is pigeons and ducks.

Where the Goshawk is a resident bird, it is a very early breeder, the
eggs being laid in the second half of April or the first half of May. It
generally selects a lofty beech for the situation of its nest, which is usually
placed at some considerable elevation from the ground in one of the main
forks. It also breeds in oaks and pine trees ; and, even when systematically
robbed, it will breed year after year in the same nest. On the 7th of May
last, Herr Kroll showed me a nest in an oak tree from which he had taken
eggs uearly every year for the last eighteen years. Early in June I saw
several nests in Pomerania, from one of which the bird flew off. One
of these was built in the fork of a beech tree 75 feet from the ground,
and was an enormous structure, measuring at least four feet by two. It
builds a deeper nest than the Eagles or the Buzzards, and lines it with fine
twigs, roots, moss, and lichens, but not green leaves. The largest nests
are most probably the oldest, and have been added to year after year. All
the nests I saw were in the forests, but not at any great distance from the
outskirts. The statement that this bird sometimes builds on rocks should
be received with great caution. The usual number of eggs is four; but it
occasionally lays three, and sometimes five. They are very pale bluish

144. BRITISH BIRDS.

green, approaching white, and in very rare instances show decided spots of
dirty blood-red. Wolley mentions eggs marked with pale olive ; but none
of these have ever come under my notice. The clay-coloured blotches
mentioned by Dresser are not uncommon, and appear to be stains. In
size they vary from 2°45 to 2°1 inch in length, and from 1°85 to 1:6
inch in breadth. Unspotted eggs of the Common Buzzard often resemble
the eggs of the Goshawk so closely as to be undistinguishable from them.

The Goshawk was one of the falconer’s favourites, and was flown at
Hares, Rabbits, Pheasants, Partridges, Rock-Doves, Teal, and Crows. It
does not, however, appear to have been a bird of long flight, and would
soon give up its quarry if not successful, and perch on some tree or bush
to await a new one.

The general colour of the Goshawk’s upper parts is dark greyish brown, the
tail with four bars of darker brown; eye-stripe, lores, and nape dull greyish
white ; rest of the underparts nearly white, spotted and barred with dull
black, except on the under tail-coverts ; cheeks dark brown. Legs and toes
yellow, claws black ; beak bluish horn-colour ; cere yellow; irides orange.
The female resembles the male, but is larger and browner.

The young bird has the upper parts brown, the underparts buffish white,
closely marked with drop-shaped spots of reddish brown; cere and legs
greenish yellow; irides yellow.

fare We

AMERICAN GOSHAWK. . 145

ASTUR ATRICAPILLUS.
AMERICAN GOSHAWK.

Falco atricapillus, Wils. Am. Orn. vi. p. 80, pl. 52. fig. 3 (1812); et auctorum plur -
morum—( Gray) ,(Kaup),( Bonaparte),( Cassin) ,( Newton), (Sharpe),( Dresser), &e.

Sparvius atricapillus (Wels.), Bonn. et Vieil. Enc. Méth. iii. p. 1274 (1823).

Hierofalco atricapillus ( Wils.), Cuv. Regne An. i. p. 323 (1829).

Astur atricapillus ( Wils.), Bonap. R. A. Cuv. Oss, p. 33 (1830).

Falco regalis, Temm. Pl. Col. i. pl. 495 (1830).

Deedalion pictum, Less. Traité, p. 67 (1831).

Astur palumbarius, var. atricapillus (Wis.), Ridg. N. Amer. B. iii. p. 237 (1874).

Astur palumbarius (Zinn.), apud Swainson § Richardson, (Audubon), &e.

The claim of the American Goshawk to be considered a British bird
rests upon three examples. The first was obtained in 1869 by Mr. Robert
Gray, at Brechin, in Forfarshire, from a bird-stuffer, who said it had been
shot by a keeper on the flanks of Sheechallin, in Perthshire: Mr. Gray
describes it as having the breast and underparts an almost uniform grey,
but showing, on closer inspection, faint transverse markings and a thin
longitudinal streak in the centre of each feather (see Gray’s ‘Birds of
W. of Scotland,’ p. 39). The second example is recorded in the < Ibis’
for 1870, p. 538, by Sir Victor Brooke: he states that it was shot in the
February of that year in the Galtee Mountains, Tipperary, and that he
had carefully compared it with an American specimen in the Dublin
Society’s collection. The third example is recorded by Mr. A. Basil
Brooke in the ‘ Zoologist’ for 1871, p. 2525: after referring to the
previously mentioned example, he adds that a second specimen was after-
wards shot near Parsons Town, King’s County. All three examples are
said to be adult females.

It breeds throughout Arctic America and the northern portions of the
United States. In its habits and in the colouring of its eggs it does not
differ from the Palzearctic species, of which Ridgway considers it a mere
variety.

The American Goshawk is very nearly allied to our Goshawk, but is
apparently a distinct species. It has been said to be greyer on the upper
parts and blacker on the head. Ina large series of skins these differences
do not appear to hold good, being apparently dependent upon age and
season, and found equally in European and American birds. The great
difference is in the pattern of colour on the feathers of the underparts,
especially those on the breast and flanks. In the European bird the dark
markings take the form of distinct transverse bars, whilst in the American
bird the feathers are irregularly marbled with brown.

VOL. I. L

———————————————OoOoOoOcoeeeree

146 BRITISH BIRDS.

Family STRIGIDA, or OWLS.

The Owls are a very well-defined group of birds, and are associated by
Sclater with the Cuckoos, the Parrots, the Birds of Prey, the Pelicans, the
Herons, andthe Ducks. Forbes places them with the Goatsuckers, Rollers,
and Bee-eaters, near the true Passeres. Gadow allies them with the Parrots,
the Birds of Prey, the Pigeons, and the Gallinaceous birds. Here, again,
our three authorities do not all agree as to any of the families which are
allied to the Owls, which I place as my second family, with the caution to
the reader that it may or may not be related to the families which precede
or follow it.

To the ordinary observer the Owls appear to be closely related to the
Birds of Prey by the form of their bill and claws, and by the shape of
their eggs. They appear to be specially related to the Harriers by their
facial disks, to the Ospreys by their reversible third toes, and to the Eagles
by their feathered tarsi. It is difficult to believe that all these similarities
are accidental; and when we find such differences of opinion amongst
scientific men as to their true affinities, it is difficult to avoid coming to
the conclusion that the value of osteological, myological, and other internal
characters have been somewhat overrated.

Owls only moult once in the year, and appear to accomplish their change
of dress in July and August. Birds shot from September to December are
in splendid plumage; but in April, May, and June the plumage is often
very shabby and worn.

The Owls are, perhaps, the most cosmopolitan group of birds. They are
represented in the most northerly point of the Arctic regions and on most
of the Oceanic Islands. The number of species and subspecies known is
about 200, of which at least 10 are recorded as British, which may be
generically separated as follows :—

A. Hinder margin of sternum entire; inner margin of claw on middle toe
serrated ; inner toe about equal to the middle toe in length .......... ALUCO.
B. Hinder margin of sternum with two or more distinct fissures or clefts ;
inner margin of claw on middle toe not serrated; middle toe longer
than the inner one
ie ee Conen wihh Si OpexO MUM », + is auis.y «5! fpa,>4 0 valde eee ae ge ae STRIX.
b. Ear-conch without an operculum.
a’. Nostrils placed in a projection formed by an inflation of the cere. Nocrua.
b'. Cere not inflated.
a>, Underparts white or barred transversely ; shaft-streaks and
ear-tutis obsolete ornently 60... 01. un ast ee SURNIA.

ALUCO. 147

6°. Underparts with the broad longitudinal streaks generally far
more conspicuous than the narrow transverse bars, which
are sometimes obsolete ; ear-tufts very conspicuous.
a Wine over 12 inches, i... tube there baa w+ Buso.
b®, Wing never exceeding 9 inches ........00ceseceeees Scoprs.

Genus ALUCO.

The Barn-Owl has been knocked about by modern ornithologists from
genus to genus until it can scarcely find rest for the sole of its foot.
Sharpe (Ibis, 1875, p. 324) evolves an elaborate argument to prove that it
is the type of the Linnean genus Strix; whilst Newton (Ibis, 1876, p. 94)
gives excellent reasons (if his premisses are true) why it should be placed in
the genus Aluco. Iam unable to accept Newton’s premisses, as I cannot,
for the reasons stated im the remarks on the genus Strix, admit that
Brisson made a genus of Owls additional to that of Linnzus ; but I accept
his conclusions on the ground that in 1767 Gerini, in his ‘ Ornithologia
Methodice Digesta,’ i. p. 88, founded the genus Aluco for the Barn and
Snowy Owls; the latter of which was removed in 1826 by Stephens to a
genus of its own, leaving the Barn-Owl the type of Aluco.

The Barn-Owls belong the group of Owls having large ear-openings
protected by an operculum, but are isolated from all the other genera of
Owls by the absence of clefts to the hinder margin of the sternum.

They form a somewhat aberrant division of the Strigide, and may be at
once distinguished from all other birds of this family by the serrated or
toothed margin to the middle claw. Their facial disk is also more elon-
gated. The bright orange-buff of various shades of their upper, and the
silky whiteness of their under plumage is also another characteristic
peculiar to them. The wings are very long and ample, but the tail is
somewhat short.

The Barn-Owls are an essentially tropical genus, being found in the
tropics of both hemispheres, and only in Western Europe extending much
more than forty degrees from the equator. They are all very nearly allied,
but are usually divided into five or six species, some of which are again
subdivisible into several subspecies, varieties, or local races. The British
species is the only one found in Europe.

Like most other Owls, the Barn-Owls are principally nocturnal in their
habits, seeking their prey on the wing. Their plumage is extremely soft,
and their flight almost noiseless, enabling them to drop unawares on little
birds and small mammals, the latter forming their principal food. They
also feed on insects and occasionally fish. They are only migratory in the

northern limits of their range. They breed in holes, and lay pure white eggs.

L2

ee SS ee SS

Ee SS

148 BRITISH BIRDS.

ALUCO FLAMMEUS.

BARN-OWL.
(PLATE 7.)

Strix aluco, Briss. Orn. i. p. 503 (1760); Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 182 (1766).

Strix flammea, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 153 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum—
Temminck, Naumann, Gould, Macgillivray, Bonaparte, Sharpe, (Newton), &e.

Aluco albus, Gerint, Orn. Meth, Dig. i. p. 89, pl. lxxxxii. (1767).

Strix alba, Scop. Ann. I. Hist. Nat. p. 21 (1769).

Aluco flammeus (Zinn.), Flem. Brit. An. p. 57 (1828).

Strix guttata, Brehm, Vog. Deutsch. p. 106 (1831).

Eustrinx flammea (Linn.), Webb & Berth. Orn. Canar. p. 8 (1841).

Strix poensis, Fraser, P. Z. S. 1842, p. 189.

Stridula flammea (Linn.), Sélys-Longch. Faune Belge, p. 60 (1842).

Strix insularis, Pelz. Journ. Orn. 1872, p. 23.

The Barn-Owl is a common resident throughout the British Islands,
including the Hebrides, and appears only recently to have become extinct
in the Orkneys.

It is by no means the cosmopolitan bird that it has been represented to
be. It is, in point of fact, a tropical bird, found throughout the equatorial
region of both hemispheres, and not rangmg more than forty degrees north
or south of the equator, except in Western Europe, where the influence of the
Gulf-stream has produced a climate mild enough to allow of its wintering
there. It is very rare in South Sweden, and is found nowhere else in the
Scandinavian peninsula. It is rare. Western Russia, but is otherwise
absent from Russia, Eastern Turkey, Greece, Asia Minor, Persia, Siberia,
Mongolia, and China. There appear to be seven colonies of Barn-Owls.
The first comprises Western Europe south of the Baltic, and Western Africa
from Algiers to the Gold Coast, including the Azores, Madeiras, Canaries,
and Cape-Verd Islands; the second South Africa and Madagascar ; the
third the valley of the Nile and Palestine; the fourth the whole of India,
extending to the north-west into Turkestan, and to the east into Burma;
the fifth Java, Lombock, and Celebes; the sixth Eastern Australia and
some of the Pacific Islands; the seventh North and South America from
lat. 40° north to lat. 40° south, including the West Indies. In this latter
colony alone Ridgway recognizes four subspecies. Barn-Owls from the
other five colonies appear to be all subspecifically distinct from those of
the first colony, though possibly not im every case from each other. In
the West-European and West-African colony there are three forms—a
pale eastern form, a dark western form, and a rufous southern form, with
every possible intermediate form, and considerable irregularity in their dis-
tribution, all three forms, for example, having been found in the British

BARN-OWL. 149

Islands. The question of the number of subspecies into which the Barn-
Owl must be subdivided is far too complicated a one to be discussed here.
Although the Barn-Owl is not found in any other part of the world in
sucha high latitude as the British Islands, it is nevertheless the commonest
Owl we have. In the daytime it is not often seen; it is preeminently a
nocturnal bird. When the sun rises it retires to its hiding-place, which
is generally the locality chosen in which to rear its young. This is
generally a hole, sometimes on the top of an old pollard willow, often in
the hollow of the trunk of an old oak, as often in some crevice in an ivy-
grown ruin ; and it is fond of nesting amongst the Pigeons in the farm-yard
dove-cote. Other favourite places are the top of a wall under the roof of
the barn, or in the belfry of the church; but occasionally it may be found
away from its nest in the dark recesses of a thick pine-plantation. It
sleeps all day; and if on a flat stone, where it cannot grasp its perching-
place, it sleeps bolt upright, often on one leg. If it is disturbed and driven
from its hiding-place, it seeks the nearest shelter from the sunlight, and
all the little birds in the neighbourhood, conscious of its powerlessness to
catch them im the daytime, fly after it and mob it most impertinently.
But when the dusk of evening comes on, and “impudence ” has gone to
bed, “dignity ” comes out from his hiding-place, and woe be to any little
bird roosting in an exposed position on his beat! There is something
weird in the silent flight of the Barn-Owl, as with measured but noiseless
beat of wing he crosses and recrosses your path, looking unnaturally
large in the half-hght, or skims before you over the grass, ever and
anon dropping down on some unfortunate mouse or rat, which he bears
away in triumph to his lair, quickly returning to quarter the ground
regularly backwards and forwards over his favourite hunting-fields. How
successful he is is amply proved by the bushels of pellets which he dis-
gorges in or under the nesting-place. My friend Mr. Frank Norgate
once found twenty dead rats in a Barn-Owl’s nest, all fresh killed! And
yet the stupid farmer will slay him if he can, and nail his body against the
barn-door, under the delusion that he will eat his pigeons! Both the
gamekeeper and his master are his sworn foes, one generally as ignorant of
his usefulness and as indifferent to his fate as the other. Norgate tells
me that he has generally found by an examination of the pellets that each
bird seems to have his favourite food. Those under one nest are often all
mice, those under another all rats. Each pellet contains the indigestible
remains of two, and sometimes of three animals. The wing-cases of beetles
are also found in the pellets, but very seldom. Out of seven hundred
pellets of this Owl, which were carefully examined by Dr. Altum, remains
were found of 16 bats, 2513 mice, 1 mole, and 22 birds, of which 19 were
sparrows. The Barn-Owl is undoubtedly the farmer’s best friend. Out
of between thirty and forty nests which Norgate has had an opportunity

4

150 BRITISH BIRDS.

of examining, he only in one instance found remains of a bird; and that
was half a blackbird. Waterton records an instance, which he saw himself,
of a Barn-Owl dropping down into a pond, like an Osprey, and flying off
with a fish.

The usual note of the Barn-Owl is a screech inexpressible in words. It
is most frequently heard early in spring, and always at night. It may
not be so discordant as the music that was heard when

Ye tom cats were sitting atop of ye wall

As Sir Plimsoll sat sipping his wine,
or so melancholy as the wild cries of the Black-throated Divers that
greeted our ears all night through as we were driven up stream in the
‘Thames’ on the Yenesay, amidst ice-floes and pack-ice; but it is harsh
enough and weird enough to have given the bird a bad name amongst
ignorant and superstitious country folk. Besides this “screech” the
Barn-Owl has a “snore,” generally supposed to be confined to the hungry
young, though Norgate tells me he has heard it from a bird on the wing.
Barn-Owls are very fond of nesting in the roofs of churches; and the
“snore” is often heard during service, the unwonted noise having
apparently wakened the young Owls, who naturally feel hungry after their
sleep, and begin to “ snore,” a habit which the bipeds with feathers may
have learnt sitting over some pulpit from the bipeds without feathers
sitting under it.

The Barn-Owl is not an early breeder, eggs seldom being found before
the end of April or the beginning of May ; but it often has two, and some-
times three broods in a season. Norgate tells me he has found unfledged
young in November ; and Waterton found one in December. Occasionally
the eggs are laid at intervals. I once climbed up to a Barn-Owl’s nest in
a hollow oak near Oxford, and took out of the hole two nearly fresh eggs,
two young birds recently hatched, and two nearly fledged. This must have
been an exceptional case, as out of the numerous nests which Norgate has
taken he has never met with a similar instance.

The Barn-Owl makes no nest; but the eggs are often surrounded by
pellets. The number of eggs varies from three to seven. They are pure
white, not quite so round as Owls’ eggs usually are, and with little or no
gloss. They vary in length from 1:7 to 1:53 inch, and in breadth from
1:3 to 1°2 inch.

The southern form of the Barn-Owl has the general colour of the upper
parts buff, with fine grey vermiculations and black and white spots ; wings
and tail obscurely barred with dark brown; face and underparts silky
white, with a few spots on the flanks, and more or less rufous on the
breast ; feet covered with bristly hairs ; claws black, irides black, bill pale
yellowish. The female resembles the male. Nestling birds are covered with
pure white down.

BARN-OWL. 151

Of the climatic variations of the Barn-Owl less is known than of those
of the other Owls. The varieties of the Barn-Owl which occur on the
American continent have been ably classified by Ridgway ; but, although
Sharpe has collected an array of facts on the subject, occupying no fewer
than fifty pages of Rowley’s ‘Ornithological Miscellany, no one has yet
attempted in any way to classify the varieties of this bird which occur in
the Old World.

Of the three forms found in the British Islands, the rufous southern form
is the commonest, and is well figured in Gould’s ‘ Birds of Great Britain’
(i. pl. xxxviil.). The pale eastern form and the dark western form are
both figured in Dresser’s ‘ Birds of Europe’ (v. pl. 302); but a better
figure of the latter may be found in Rowley’s ‘ Ornithological Miscellany’

(i. pl. x.).

152 BRITISH BIRDS.

Genus STRIX.

The genus Sériv was founded in 1766, by Linnzus, in his ‘ Systema
Nature,’ i. p. 133, to contain all the Owls. Linneus had the good luck
to adopt a binomial system of nomenclature ; and consequently his twelfth
edition has been selected as the starting-point of the present system, all
previous specific names being under the Stricklandian Code absolutely
ignored. Under the auctorum plurimorum system which I have
adopted this restriction is no longer necessary, so far as regards specific
names. In the selection of generic names I propose to try and follow the
Rules where it is possible to discover their meaning. Much ingenuity has
been expended in the endeavour to find the type of the restricted genus
Strix. Whatever credit is due to Linneeus for his system of nomenclature,
there can be no doubt that his knowledge of birds was very limited, and
his attempts at the diagnosis of species in most cases a complete failure.
In no group is this more clearly shown than in the Owls. Their synonymy
is consequently in the greatest confusion. It seems almost incredible, but
there can scarcely be a doubt that Linnzus was unacquainted with either
the Short-eared Owl, the Ural Owl, the Lapp Owl, or Tengmalm’s Owl,
all four species more or less common in Sweden. An equally surprising
circumstance is the fact that, out of the twelve Owls which Linnzeus
attempted to describe, the identifications of five have been or still are
subjects of dispute. As an ornithologist Brisson stands head and shoulders
above Linnzeus ; and it was doubtless a consciousness of this superiority
that induced Strickland to write the illogical and inconsequent explana-
tion to Rule 2, under which Brisson’s genera, though dating prior to 1766,
are admitted whenever they are additional to those of Linnzus. Brisson
divided the Owls into two genera, making the Wood-Owl (his Stria striz)
the type of Striv, and the Long-eared Owl (his Asio asio) the type of Asio.
As, however, I consider these two Owls to be congeneric, I am obliged to
regard Brisson’s two genera as synonyms of each other; the alleged
additional genus falls to the ground ; and, consequently, by the rules his
names are out of court. ‘The first subdivision of the genus Strix was in
1767, when Gerini, in his ‘ Ornithologia Methodice Digesta,’ pp. 90, 91,
restricted the genus Siriz to nine species, placing the Wood-Owl first as
Strix aluco. As this species is also the Sériz striz of Brisson, the
arguments in favour of its being accepted as the type are almost
conclusive.

The Wood-Owls may be distinguished from all other Owls except the
Barn-Owls by their large ears, half the size of the head, protected by an

STRIX. 153

operculum. In their habits they scarcely differ from other Owls. Their
eggs are pure white. This genus contains about forty species, which are
distributed all over the world, except in the Australian region ; and even
here one species has found its way to the Sandwich Islands. Seven species
are found in Europe, of which four have occurred in Great Britain. The
Wood-Owls may be divided into subgenera, either on the presence or
absence of ear-tufts or on the character of the markings of the underparts
—in some the transverse bars being principally developed, and in others
the longitudinal stripes. The first characters are those usually adopted,
but the latter are probably the most important.

154 BRITISH BIRDS.

STRIX ALUCO.

WOOD-OWL.
(Pate 6.)

Strix strix, Briss. Orn. i. p. 500 (1760, rufous form).

Strix ulula, Briss. Orn. i. p. 507 (1760, grey form).

Strix stridula, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 135 (1766, rufous form),

Strix ulula, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 133 (1766, grey form).

Strix aluco, Gerini, Orn. Meth. Dig. i. p. 90, pl. Ixxxxiv. (1767); et auctorum
plurimorum—Latham,Pallas, Vieillot, Naumann, Temminck, Sundevall, (Newton),
(Gould), (Gray), (Bonaparte), Schlegel, (Strickland), (Sharpe), &c., nec Linneus.

Strix sylvestris, Scop. Ann. I. Hist. Nat. p. 21 (1769).

Strix sylvatica, Steph. Shaw's Gen. Zool. vii. pt. 1, p. 253 (1809).

Syrnium ululans, Sav. Syst. Ois. de l Egypte, p. 52 (1810).

Syrnium stridulum (Linn.), Steph. Shaw’s Gen. Zool. xiii. pt. 2, p. 62 (1826).

Syrnium aluco (Linn.), apud Bote, Isis, 1828, p. 315.

Ulula stridula (Linn.), Selby, Ill. Brit. Orn. i. p. 102 (1833).

Aluco stridulus (Linn.), Macgill. Rapac. B. of G. Brit. p. 867 (1836).

Ulula aluco (Linn.), apud Keys. § Blas. Wirb, Eur. p. 148 (1840).

Linnzeus somewhat hesitatingly separated the grey form of the Wood-
Owl from the rufous form of this species, naming the former Stria stridula
and the latter Strix ulula. Latham, Tunstall, Pennant, and others con-
sidered them distinct under these Latin names, calling them the Brown
Owl and the Tawny Owl; but subsequent writers for the most part have
united them. Gmelin and Pallas, naturally considering it impossible that
Linneus could have been unacquainted with the Short-eared Owl,
applied the name of Strix ulula to that bird. Bonaparte, Gray, Newton,
Sharpe, and Dresser, in defiance of the careful description in the ‘ Fauna
Suecica,’ and regardless of the fact that Linnzus described the Hawk Owl
as Strix funerea, inhabiting both Europe and America, adopt the startling
proposition that Linnzus intended to describe the European Hawk Owl
under the name of Strix ulula.

Although Linnzeus clearly gives two names to the Wood-Owl, by far
the greater number of ornithologists have selected for that species a third
Linnean name, Séria aluco, which most likely belongs to the Barn-Owl,
though the evidence is not very satisfactory.

The Tawny Owl is not so common in Britain as it once was. Incessant
persecution is slowly producing its extermination, although it is still a
resident bird in most densely wooded districts. Owing to its inordinate
love of seclusion, gloom, and retirement, its distribution in the British
Tslands is restricted to wooded localities ; and as tree-planting and improve-
ments increase, the range of the bird is becoming more extensive, even if
its actual numbers are decreasing.

WOOD-OWL. 155

The Wood-Owl is not generally a migratory bird; nor does its range
extend far to the north. Under the influence of the Gulf-stream, the
winters in Scandinavia are mild enough to allow of its finding food up
to the Arctic circle. In West Russia its range does not extend to Arch-
angel; and in East Russia it is said not to be found north of lat. 58°. It
has never been recorded from Siberia; but it is a rare resident in Tur-
kestan, the Himalayas, and Thibet. Pére David found it at Moupin; and
Swinhoe obtained it in North China, The southern range of the Wood-
Owl extends into North Africa. In Algeria it is a resident; and it has
once occurred in Egypt. It is found in Asia Minor and Palestine, and
has been obtained in the Caucasus, but not yet in Persia. Like many
other birds, and especially other Owls, it has adapted itself to its surround-
ings, so that the colours of its plumage are “ protective ”—not to protect
it from any enemies, but to protect it from discovery by its prey. The
tropical form of the Wood-Owl breeds in the Himalayas and is a very
rufous bird. Some ornithologists treat it as a distinct species under the
name of S. nivicolum. The typical form of the Wood-Owl, commonly
known as the Tawny Owl, is an intermediate link between the tropical
form and the semi-arctic form commonly known as the Grey Owl.
The tropical form inhabits a region where the rainfall is excessive, the
typical form, as a general rule, where the rainfall is moderate, and the
grey form where the climate is very dry. In the British Museum is an
example of the grey form from Thibet; and I have a skin from North
China. In Europe the grey form is principally found in the north and
east, and occurs also in North Africa; but it is difficult to account very
precisely for the geographical distribution of these two forms, as the females
and young of the grey form are more rufous than the adult males, and
both forms appear to have occasionally strayed to some extent out
of their beat, as if the cause which produced the difference of colour had
ceased to exist.

The Tawny or ‘‘ Wood ”-Owl, as it is often called, differs greatly from
the well-known Barn-Owl, both in the colour of its plumage, its haunts,
and its notes. The Tawny Owl is a dull and sombre bird, well adapted to
escape discovery in its gloomy haunt in the quiet and seclusion of the
forest. It sometimes chooses a retreat in the thick pine-woods or in the
tangled game-coverts where the undergrowth is dense and the timber well
matured. It also frequents the oak-forests, selecting a home in the
interior of one of the decaying giants that for centuries has withstood the
assaults of time and tempest, and where the solitude is rarely broken,
except by the laugh of the Woodpecker, the murmur of the Doves, and the
Pheasant’s harsh and discordant morning and evening call. In some in-
stances I have known this bird choose a hole in a ruin or a cave for its
daily resting-place ; but such instances are rare. The Tawny Owl is also

156 BRITISH BIRDS.

easily distinguished from the Barn-Owl by its note. The latter bird
utters a harsh shrill screech ; but the present species hoots a loud and clear
hoo-hoo-hoo, or perhaps, more accurately, 6, 6, 6. Singularly startling and
weird-like is this note of the Tawny Owl, especially when it is accompanied
by the darkness and the silence of the forest.

The Owls, as a rule, are only active at nightfall; consequently their
habits are but little known. The Tawny Owl only invites you to observe
its actions when the sun has sunk behind the horizon and the landscape
is enshrouded in gloom. Guided by its loud and clear hooting ery, you
may know its whereabouts; and a dissection of the pellets it ejects will
tell you of what its food consists. Even in the forest at nightfall
there is much to interest and instruct. Numberless strange sounds greet
the ear, and inform you that nocturnal creatures are abroad. Now the
rustle of the bracken tells you that some truant stoat or weasel is on a
marauding expedition. The shrill squeal of the wood-mouse is heard as it
burrows under the withered leaves. The almost noiseless tread of the rat
or mole may startle you, or the purr of the Nightjar disturb your reverie,
or you may obtain a glimpse of the rabbits holding high carnival in the
open glades and drives. All these creatures are of nocturnal habits ; and
many of them furnish the Tawny Owl with a meal. When the moon,
hitherto hid behind a dense mass of cloud, peeps forth, the shadows
suddenly lengthen, and the still forest assumes an almost daylight bright-
ness, you may hear the Owl’s strange hooting note borne low and soft on
the night wind, and may perchance see the bird fly softly through the
air and alight on the dead top of an oak. At close quarters its hooting
cries startle by their depth of tone and clearness. If you are very well
concealed and scarcely breathe, you may see the bird ruffle up its plumage,
sit motionless for a second, and then launch into the air. Downwards it
seems to swoop; for the gloom will not permit you to observe it closely,
and you can but conjecture that its bright eye, most piercing in the dark-
ness, has detected some mouse, mole, or frog, that falls a victim to the
noiseless approach of its enemy. But these creatures are not the Tawny
Owl’s only prey; for it will take beetles and insects, and more rarely the
surface-feeding fish. Occasionally it will take a benighted bird from the
hedgerows, a Bunting, or a Whinchat, or other birds which are late in
seeking their roosting-place (a habit which frequently costs them their
life).

The Tawny Owl does not escape the persecution of the game-preserver ;
but, although not entirely guiltless of the charge of poaching, its inroads
on the preserves are trifling, and usually confined to a feeble leveret or
young rabbit. In its habits the Tawny Owl is strictly nocturnal, and
rarely indeed leaves its place of concealment in the daytime unless
disturbed. Most Owls have a great aversion to the light, yet none more

WOOD-OWL. 157

_so than the present species; and when by accident driven from its place
of concealment during the day into the sunshine, it seems utterly bewildered,
forming a butt for all the smaller birds, who mob it unmercifully. During
the summer the adult Tawny Owl is not heard to hoot so frequently, the cries
heard at that season being from the young, and usually uttered in the day-
time. It is in the autumn nights when its voice is heard to perfection ;
and it keeps up its cry with little intermission until the following breeding-
season. ‘This note is most frequently uttered in the evenings and just
before dawn, and, although somewhat weird in tone, is far from melancholy.
In the pairing-season the male bird has a peculiar call, which sounds
singularly wild and uncanny.

During the moulting-season, in July and August, the Tawny Owl does
not leave its forest home; but when that time has passed it will often,
with its young, visit the farmyards and villages in search of prey, or
hunt the stubbles and open fields. In the dark and foggy days of winter
this Owl is sometimes seen abroad before sunset.

Tawny Owls, to a certain extent, are migratory ; but the birds that breed
in our own land probably never quit their old home. In the autumn they
are frequently taken in the flight-nets on the low-lying coasts—sometimes
as many as half a dozen being caught together in a single night, leading
to the conclusion that they perform their annual wanderings in company.
These migrants come from northern lands, where the winters are severe,
and of the small mammals and birds the former are all lying dormant
during the long northern night, and the latter have sped away to a
southern haunt to escape its severity.

It is very probable that the Tawny Owl pairs for life, and confines itself
to one district if left undisturbed, although it seldom nests in the same
hole each successive year, but, like many of the raptorial birds, has two
or three favourite spots, usmg each in turn. It breeds somewhat earlier
than the Barn-Owl, its eggs often being laid early im March. But the eggs
and unfledged young are sometimes taken throughout the summer up to
the month of August; it is therefore possible that this bird has two or
more broods in the year. ‘The bird’s daily roosting-place, however, is not
always its nesting-site ; for it will sometimes frequent dense ivy-clumps or
pine trees, only quitting them during the breeding-season. Usually the
eggs are laid in a hole in a tree—in some cavity in a venerable moss and
lichen-covered oak, or in the interior of a beech or elm whose trunk is
rifted and decayed into a dozen suitable nesting-places. Occasionally the
bird will rear its young in a similar situation to that which the Barn-Owl
selects. It will also sometimes breed in an old Wood-Pigeon’s nest or
squirrel’s “drey ” in an ivy-covered tree, and at other times will choose
a deserted nest of a Crow or Magpie. More extraordinary choice, how-
ever, still, is a hole in the ground. Mr. Gurney records that in Norfolk

158 BRITISH BIRDS.

it occasionally breeds in a deserted fox- or rabbit-burrow ; and Mr. A. W.
Johnson has made similar observations of the nesting of this species in
Northumberland. He writes to me as follows :—

«The Tawny Owl is fairly abundant in this district, and is found breeding
in suitable localities throughout the valleys of the Tyne, Wear, and Derwent.
The situations chosen by this bird are very various ; for when its favourite
sites (such as hollow trees, holes in cliffs, or under roots) are wanting, it
avails itself of rabbit-burrows, and even lays its eggs upon the ground under
the thick branches of the fir. One locality within ten miles of Newcastle,
which, owing to the abundance of food, always contains two or three pairs
if not more, is a particularly good place in which to study their breeding-
habits, when thus driven, by the absence of suitable hollow trees &c., to
nest perforce elsewhere. The wood consists of some 500 to 600 acres,
and is mostly composed of young trees, and contains but one piece of cliff,
some 80 or 100 feet high, that overlooks the Derwent. This cliffis yearly
tenanted by one pair of these Owls, which rear their young in one of its many
recesses. The other pairs I have found nesting twice in rabbit-burrows ;
one had young, and the other eggs, when discovered. Again, the eggs were
found laid upon the ground, somewhat concealed by the thick foliage of the
lower branches of a fir. The fourth site chosen was an old nest of the
Sparrow-Hawk, built upon a small fir, and some 15 feet only from the
ground—in fact, just such a place as the Long-eared Owl often makes
use of for similar purposes. Twice have its eggs been found laid in out-
buildings ; once upon the inner wall of a cow-byre in use, part of which
was in ruins, thus admitting of easy ingress to the Owls; and once in a
ruined house, partly used as a hen-house, partly as a coal-house. This
outhouse was in close proximity to the woodman’s cottage. Perhaps the
most curious situation of all was when a pair took possession of a disused
dog-kennel, which lay upon the lawn and within 25 or 30 yards of the
farmer’s back door. ‘This bird makes no nest, merely scratching a hole in
the earth when laying in holes of cliffs or under roots ; and when making
use of old nests, it does not seem to reline them at all. The number of
eggs laid is generally three or four. I have never taken more than the
latter number, and never heard of any one doing so in this district ; in fact
three eggs seem more commonly to be the full clutch than four. The last
week in March or the first in April seems to be the average time when fresh
eggs may be found.”

The eggs are three or four in number, and much larger than those of the
Barn-Owl; in fact the eggs of this bird cannot well be confused with those
of any other species of British Owl. They are pure and spotless white,
round in form; but the texture of the shell is much smoother than the
Barn-Owl’s and far more highly polished. They measure from 1°9 to 1:7
inch in length, and from 1°6 to 1:45 inch in breadth. As is the case with

WOOD-OWL. 159

many raptorial birds, the first egg is often sat upon as soon as laid; so that
young birds and eggs are found frequently in the nest together.

The young birds, covered with greyish-white down, remain in the nest
some considerable time ; afterwards they betake themselves to the neigh-
bouring branches, where they are fed by their parents until the summer is
well advanced. Here they utter their plaintive clicking note almost
incessantly, attracting the attention of the parent birds and calling for
food. The young of the Tawny Owl are easily reared in confinement,
soon become very tame, and rank amongst the best birds for the aviary.

The typical form of the Wood-Owl (commonly called the Tawny Owl)
has the colour of the upper parts reddish brown, spotted and vermiculated
with darker brown and blackish, and with large subterminal white spots
on the outer webs of the wing-coverts. The lower parts are buffish white,
barred with brown and streaked with dusky brown. Legs feathered to
the claws; bill greyish yellow; irides dark brown; claws whitish at base,
darker towards the tip. The female resembles the male, but is larger.

The semi-arctic form (commonly called the Brown Owl) differs from the
typical form in having the reddish brown of both the upper and under
parts replaced by grey. In the tropical form the reddish brown is richer
and darker, and the white parts are replaced by buff, and the dark vermi-
culations are blacker and more developed.

160 BRITISH BIRDS.

STRIX OTUS.
LONG-EARED OWL.
(PLATE 7.)

Asio asio, Briss. Orn. i. p. 486 (1760).

Strix otus, Zinn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 132 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum— Vieillot,
Naumann, Temminck, Schlegel, Sundevall, (Newton), &c.

Bubo minor, Gerint, Orn. Meth. Dig. i. p. 85, pl. lxxxii. (1767).

Bubo vulgaris, Gerini, Orn. Meth. Dig. i. p. 85, pl. Ixxxil. (1767).

Bubo otus (Linn.), Sav. Syst. Ois. de [ Egypte, p. 49 (1810).

Otus asio (Briss.), Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. Sc. Brit. Mus. p. 11 (1816).

Otus otus (Linn.), Cuv. Réegne An. i. p. 328 (1817).

Otus europeeus, Steph. Shaw's Gen. Zool. xiii. pt. 2, p. 57 (1826).

Otus vulgaris (Gerint), Fleming, Brit. An. p. 56 (1828).

Asio otus (Linn.), Less. Man. d’ Orn, i. p. 116 (1828).

Otus communis, Less. Traité, p. 110 (1851).

Otus aurita, Renn. ed. Mont. Orn, Dict. p. 262 (1883).

Aegolius otus (Linn.), Keys. § Blas. Wirb. Eur. p. 143 (1840).

Otus verus, Finsch, Journ. Orn. 1859, p. 381.

The Long-eared Owl is generally distributed throughout the British
Islands, beg most common in those districts which abound in pine-
forests. It has not been met with in Greenland, but is an accidental
visitor to Iceland and the Orkney and Shetland Isles. It is not found
in the Outer Hebrides, but breeds i Mull and Skye. It is distributed
throughout the Palearctic Region, and the Himalayas as far east as the
shores of the sea of Ochotsk and Japan, but becomes extremely rare towards
the arctic circle. It has been recorded from the Azores, the Madeiras, and
the Canary Islands. It is a partial migrant; and on the east coast both of
England and Scotland its numbers are increased by autumn arrivals from
Scandinavia. In South Europe and North Africa it is principally a winter
visitant, in Spain breeding only on the mountains, doubtfully recorded
during the breeding-season from Algiers and Egypt, and hitherto observed
only during passage or in winter in Greece. In Palestine and Asia Minor
it probably breeds on the mountains and highlands, descending to the plains
during winter only. In Turkestan it is found principally on migration,
and winters in Persia and Afghanistan. The Himalayan birds winter in
the plains of North India. In the valley of the Amoor, Japan, aud in
North China it is apparently a winter visitor. In the Nearctic Region it
is represented by S. americanus, a species which approaches so near to
the European one that only a practised eye can detect the difference.

The American bird has the upper parts more uniform in colour, the

Lal

LONG-EARED OWL. 161

broad longitudinal streaks on the centre of the back and scapulars being
finely mottled like the rest of the feather. On the underparts, especially
on the feathers of the flanks, the transverse bars are straighter, broader,
and more distinct in the American than in the European species. My
collectors have not yet sent me skins from Siberia, nor have I seen an
example from Archangel, where the bird is said to be very rare; but it is
extremely probable that a pale northern form occurs.

The Long-eared Owl is an inhabitant of woodland districts, and is espe-
cially fond of spruce and Scotch firs; and since the planting of these trees
has greatly increased it seems that the bird has extended its range in a
corresponding degree. Large woods are not at all necessary to this
species, and a pair will very frequently take up their abode in the small
fir-plantations and in the clumps of trees on the borders of the forest.
Large game-coverts are also favourite haunts of this bird; but it does not
appear to frequent ruins, barns, or other buildings. It is a resident in this
country, and is a strictly nocturnal bird, rarely straying from its roosting-
place till dusk. When seen abroad in the daytime, however, it seems to
be but little troubled by the glare of sunlight. Its retreat in the daytime
is usually amongst the foliage of a dense tree close to the trunk, or in a
clump of ivy, from which it sallies in search of food as the evening’s dusk
is falling. Its flight is like that of all the Owls, a buoyant but slow and
wavering one; and although it is by no means a noisy bird, it repeatedly
calls upon the wing. My friend Norgate informs me that he has heard
this species uttering a note like the barking of a spaniel as it flew round
him over the pine-woods; and he also tells me that it has another note,
somewhat similar to the mewing of a young kitten, and which can be
heard fully a mile off. He supposes this note to proceed from the young
birds.

The food of the Long-eared Owl is largely composed of rats, mice, voles,
and occasionally beetles and insects. It also takes the smaller birds—
those species that are to be seen abroad late in the evening—catching them
as it skims past them in the dusk. The Yellow Bunting is often to be
seen on the hedgerows long after sunset; and its remains are often found
both in the nest and also near the roosting-place of this Owl. It may
also obtain many small birds by disturbing them from their perches in its
nocturnal wanderings.

Of the migratory movements of the Long-eared Owl but little can be
said. It seems not to journey in such large flocks as its congener
the Short-eared Owl, although a man once told Norgate that he had seen
as many as fifty fly from one tree in the daytime! It also makes its
appearance on our coasts much later in the year, sometimes not until
the beginning of December; but Mr. Cordeaux informs me that a pair
of these birds were obtained at Spurn in 1881] during the last week in

VOL. I. M

162 BRITISH BIRDS.

August. This bird is also occasionally taken in the flight-nets on the
Lincolnshire coast.

The Long-eared Owl is an early breeder: fresh eggs may be obtained
by the second week in March; and the young are hatched by the end of
April or beginning of May. It is doubtful if this bird ever builds its own
nest. It usually takes possession of a deserted Crow’s nest, sometimes a
Wood-Pigeon’s, and more frequently the deserted “ drey” of a squirrel.
Norgate informs me that at Didlington he was told that this bird nested
habitually in the Herons’ nests, and he himself saw quantities of pellets
beneath the trees in which the nests were built. On one occasion he
climbed up to a deserted nest in a pine tree, from which he looked
down upon a deserted squirrel’s “ drey”’ in a neighbouring tree, and saw a
pair of Long-eared Owls sitting side by side on the top, which was slightly
flattened, and on which were laid seven eggs. At this nest were the
remains of a Yellow Bunting. Dixon has found the eggs of this bird in
old Wood- Pigeons’ nests, amongst dense masses of ivy growing on trees.
The selected nest does not appear to undergo much alteration, although
many naturalists have asserted that it is lined with wool and feathers ; but
pellets are often found in it in great numbers. The eggs of this bird
are from four to seven in number, generally five or six; and it appears
that, as is the case with many other birds of this family, the eggs are
sat on as soon as laid, as young birds and fresh eggs are seen in the same
nest. The eggs of the Long-eared Owl are somewhat oval in form,
possessing some little gloss, and are pure white in colour. They measure
from 1°76 to 15 inch in length and from 1°35 to 1°26 imch in breadth.
The young birds remain in the nest some weeks, and when able to fly
usually take up their quarters in the adjoining branches, where they
are fed for some time by the parents.

My friend Mr. A. W. Johnson writes to me as follows respecting the
habits of the Long-eared Owl in Northumberland :—“'The Long-eared
Owl breeds somewhat sparingly, in suitable localities, throughout Northum-
berland and Durham—plantations of black firs, bordering upon moors or
other open ground, being its favourite haunt. If this bird was only
allowed to dwell in peace, and was not so commonly and erroneously
regarded as vermin by the keepers, and destroyed accordingly, it would
soon become a fairly common bird here. In proof of this, some years
ago, in one district of Northumberland, where the birds were undisturbed,
my friend Isaac Clark, of Blaydon, used to find large numbers of their
nests for several consecutive seasons. A letter of his just received (25th
August 1882) proves how common they were in 1871. He writes, ‘In
answer to your note about the Owls breeding, they always repair an old
Wood-Pigeon’s or Magpie’s nest. The earliest date I have found a
nest containing young was one which had three young birds and two

LONG-EARED OWL. 163

rotten eggs in it upon the Ist April 1871. On the same day we took
seven other nests with eggs.’ This Owl seems always to make use of the
old nests of either Carrion-Crow, Wood-Pigeon, or Magpie, and never,
so far as I have been able to discover, builds a wholly new nest for itself,
being content with repairing the other nests—if a Crow or a Magpie’s be
the one selected, by flattening them down a little, and sometimes by the
addition of a few sticks to an old Wood-Pigeon’s when the original struc-
ture was too slight. They are very early breeders, eggs being sometimes
found when snow is still upon the ground. The earliest eggs I have known
were taken the last week in February; but the usual time of laying is
from the beginning of March until the first week in April. The bird, when
incubation has commenced, sits very closely indeed, often not leaving the
nest until the climber is within 6 or 8 feet of it. This makes the taking of
their eggs very hard work, as any old nest may contain eggs; and as no
amount of knocking the trunk below, or firing of missiles at the nest above,
is certain to start the Owl if there, there is nothing for it but climbing
every tree that holds an old nest that looks likely; and as these firs usually
have a vast number of old nests of one sort or another in them, the work
soon becomes very hard, and (unless successful early on) an enthusiastic
oologist of not too mature an age is necessary, or the abandonment of the
search in disgust is more than probable. There seems to be no fixed
height for the nest preferred; the lowest I have seen was some 12 feet
above the ground, and the highest some 40 or 45 ; but usually 20 to 30 is the
height ; when the trees become very high, the Owls seem to leave them for
lower trees with thicker under-branches. The number of eggs laid is from
three to six; many nests contain four; five is also commonly found, whilst
a six clutch is not a great rarity. I have known one nest that contained
six young ones (in various stages of growth), and several with five; but
such successful hatchings are not common; more frequently three to four
young ones are found, and often also one or more addled eggs are in the
nests with the young birds.”

The Long-eared Owl has the general colour of the upper parts ochraceous
buff, mottled and vermiculated with brown of various shades ; the ear-tufts
large, and composed of black feathers edged with buff. The underparts
are of a lighter ochraceous buff, with broad streaks of deep brown and faint
transverse bars of paler brown ; beak and claws dark horn-colour ; irides rich
orange-yellow. The female resembles the male, but is slightly more
rufous in general coloration.

164 BRITISH BIRDS.

STRIX TENGMALMI.
TENGMALWS OWL.
(PLATE 7.)

Strix tengmalmi, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 291 (1788); et auctorum plurimorum—
Temminck, Naumann, Vieillot, Schlegel, Sundevall, (Newton), (Salvadorz), (Shelley),
(Sharpe § Dresser).

Strix dasypus, Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl. ii. p. 972 (1805).

Athene tengmalmi (Gimel.), Bove, Isis, 1822, p. 549.

ARgolius tengmalmi (Gmel.), Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 54 (1829).

Noctua tengmalmi (Gmel.), Cuv. Regn. An. i. p. 345 (1829).

Ulula tengmalmi (Gmel.), Bp. Oss. Reg. An. Cuv. p. 53 (1880).

Syrnium tengmalmi (Gmel.), Lyton, Hist. Rarer Br. B. p. 90 (1836).

Scotophilus tengmalmi (Gmel.), Swains, Classif. B. ii. p. 217 (1837).

Nyctale tengmalmi (Gmel.), Bp. Comp. List B. Eur. § N. Amer. p. 7 (1838).

Nyctale richardsoni, Bp. Comp. List B. Eur. § N. Amer. p. 7 (1838).

Strix frontalis, Licht. Abh. Akad. Berlin, p. 430 (1888).

Nyctale dasypus (Bechst.), Gray, List Gen. B. p. 6 (1840).

Nyctale tengmalmi (Gmel.), var. richardsoni, Ridgw. Am, Nat. 1872, p. 285.

Nyctale funerea (Linn.), apud Bonaparte, Schlegel, Taczanowski, &e.

Tengmalm’s Owl is an accidental visitor to the British Islands. At
least a couple of dozen instances of its occurrence have been recorded,
three of them in Scotland, but none in Ireland. Some of these alleged
occurrences are myths; for example, the specimen killed near Horsham,
and now in Mr. Borrer’s collection, I found on examination to be a Little
Owl (Noctua noctua),whilst some have undoubtedly escaped from captivity.
On the other hand, it is quite possible that some of the recorded instances
of the capture of the Little Owl in our islands refer to this species.

The migrations of Tengmalm’s Owl are generally confined to a descent
from the mountains, where it breeds, to the plas; but there can be little
doubt that in certain seasons some individuals extend their migrations
much further, as it has several times occurred in the autumn on Heligoland,
whence it doubtless crosses the sea to our islands.

Tengmalm’s Owl is a circumpolar bird. At the time Messrs. Newton
and Dresser wrote on this species its distribution in Siberia was unknown.
Some writers, amongst whom are Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, attempt to
make the American bird subspecifically distinct from the European one, on
the ground of there being more of the brown spotting on the plumage,
especially on the feet and under tail-coverts—a feature characteristic of
immature birds. I have been unable to detect any difference between
examples from the Palearctic and Neartic Regions beyond the fact that
American birds are slightly darker than Palearctic ones, and may have the
feathers on the feet not so pure a white. There does not even seem to be
an Arctic form; examples sent by my collector from Krasnoyarsk scarcely

TENGMALM’S OWL. 165

differ from skins from South Sweden. This species breeds in the pine-
forests of Europe and Asia south of the Arctic circle. In Northern France,
Germany, Southern Scandinavia, and Central Russia it is principally found
in winter. It is said to breed in the Alps and the Carpathians; but there
is no reliable authority for its occurrence either in the Pyrenees or the
Caucasus. In Lapland it breeds up to lat. 68°; in the Ural Mountains it
has not been found further north than lat. 59°; but Dr. Finsch obtained it
on the Obb in lat. 61°. Sharpe and Dresser copy Shelley’s error in
assigning Egypt as a locality for this species *. On the American con-
tinent its range is very similar, extending during the breeding-season
nearly up to the Arctic circle from Alaska to Labrador. It occasionally
appears in winter in the most northerly of the United States.

Tengmalm’s Owl has no very near ally in Europe; but on the American
continent it is represented in the central and southern portions of the
Nearctic Region by Strix acadica (the Saw-whet Owl), a somewhat smaller
bird, having much less white on the upper parts, with the forehead streaked
instead of spotted with white, and having only three white bars instead of
five on the tail. The capture of a bird of this species was recorded in the
‘ Zoologist ’ (1860, p. 7104) by Sir W. Milner, not far from Beverley in
Yorkshire. The species may have been wrongly determined; or, if the
identification was correct, it may have been an escaped bird.

Tengmalm’s Owl is principally confined to the pine-region; and very
little is recorded of its habits. South of the Arctic circle it is said to be
a strictly nocturnal bird. Wheelwright states that he rarely went out
into the forest near Quickjock on any night without seeing this pretty
little Owl hawking after its prey. In that latitude, however, there is
scarcely any difference between night and day. For some weeks in summer
the sun never sets, and during the whole twenty-four hours brilliant sun-
shine is the rule rather than the exception. All that can be said is that
Tengmalm’s Owl does not appear to be incommoded by the light, but
nevertheless prefers the midnight sun to that of midday.

This bird is a very early breeder ; and even in lat. 67° Wheelwright’s eggs
were all taken between the 2nd and the 13th of May; whilst at Muoniovara,
a degree still further to the north, Woliey obtained eggs between the 18th
of May and the 2nd of June, and received them from a little further north
between the Ist and the 27th of June. Wheelwright describes its call-note
as a very musical, soft whistle, never heard except in the evening and at
night. Its food consists of mice, beetles, and small birds. Wheelwright
says that it is a bold voracious little bird, and that one night he shot a
female in fuli chase of a lemming on a frozen lake.

Tengmalm’s Owl is said not to build any nest. The eggs are laid in

* In the Cat. B. Brit. Mus. ii. p. 186, Sharpe includes the specimen upon which this
statement was founded in the list of examples of Carine glaux.

166 BRITISH BIRDS.

hollow trees ; and Wolley obtained some which had been laid in one of the
hollowed-out logs which are closed at each end, with a hole cut in the side,
to induce the Golden-eye Ducks to breed in them. A favourite nesting-
place appears to be in the deserted nest of the Black Woodpecker. The
number of eggs varies from four to seven. ‘They are pure whitein colour,
smooth, and differ somewhat in shape, some being elongated, others almost
round, They vary in length from 1°3 to 1:25 inch, and in breadth from
1-1 to 1:05 inch.

Tengmalm’s Owl has the upper parts brown spotted with white, and the
underparts white barred with reddish brown. ‘The beak is yellowish white,
claws black; irides yellow. The female resembles the male, but is slightly
larger and has the white less developed. Young birds are much darker than
adults, and have the white spots almost confined to the wings and tail. It
is a slightly larger bird than the Little Owl, from which it may also easily
be distinguished by the tarsus and feet being thickly plumed to the claws.

The Little Owl also has the underparts longitudinally streaked instead of
barred.

LONG-EARED OWL.

SHORT-EARED OWL. 167

STRIX BRACHYOTUS.
SHORT-EARED OWL.
(Pratt 7.)

Strix noctua major, Briss. Orn. i. p. 511 (1760).

Stryx accipitrina, Pall. Reise Russ. Reichs, i. p. 455 (1771).

Noctua minor, Gmel. Nov. Comm. Petrop. xy. p. 447, pl. 12 (1771).

Strix brachyotus, Forst. Phil. Trans. 1xii. p. 384 (1772); et auctorum plurimorum
—Gmelin, Wilson, Vieillot, Naumann, Temminck, Roux, Swainson, Richardson,
Audubon, Schlegel, Yarrell, Sundevall, (Gould), (Gray), (Kaup), (Jerdon), (Gur-
ney), (Hume), (Finsch), (Swinhoe), &e. &e.

Strix arctica, Sparrm. Mus. Carls. iii. pl. 51 (1788).

Strix palustris, Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl. ii. p. 344 (1791).

Strix tripennis, Schrank, Fauna Boica, i. p. 112 (1798).

Strix caspia, Steph. Shaw’s Gen. Zool. vii. pt. 2, p. 272 (1809).

Otus microcephalus, Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. §e. Brit. Mus. p. 11 (1816).

Strix brachyura, Nilss. Orn. Suec. i. p. 62 (1817).

Otus brachyotos (Forst.), Steph. Shaw's Gen. Zool. xiii. pt. 2, p. 57 (1826).

Strix sandwichensis, Blovh. Byron’s Voy. of H.M.S. ‘ Blonde,’ App. p. 250 (1826).

Brachyotus palustris (Bechst.), Bonap. Comp. List B. Ew. § N. Amer. p. 7 (1838).

Asio brachyotus (Forst.), Macgill. Brit. Birds, iii. p. 461 (1840).

Aegolius brachyotus (Forst.), Keys. § Blas. Wirb. Eur. p. xxxiii (1840).

Asio sandyicensis (Bloxh.), Blyth, Ibis, 1863, p. 27.

Asio accipitrinus (Pall.), Newt. ed. Yarr. Brit. B. i. p. 163 (1872).

Strix ulula, Linn. apud Boddaert, Gmelin, Pallas, Lesson, &c.

The Short-eared Owl is a regular winter visitor to Great Britain and
Treland, and has not yet been completely exterminated from the fens,
where a few still breed. It is generally distributed on moorlands and
marshes in the north of England, Scotland, the Western Isles, the
Orkneys, and the Shetlands.

Outside our islands its range is almost cosmopolitan. It appears to be
only a summer visitor to Holland, North Germany, Scandinavia, and North
Russia, passing through France on migration. In South Europe it is
principally known as a winter visitant ; but in South Russia and the Cau-
casus many apparently remain to breed. It probably also breeds in some
parts of Africa, although its distribution there is comparatively little known.
It has been recorded from several parts of North Africa, is a regular
winter visitant to North-east Africa, and an example has been obtained
in Natal. Eastwards it is a summer visitor throughout Siberia, passing
through Persia, Turkestan, and Japan on migration, and wintering in India
and Burma. It does not appear to have occurred in Australia, or in any
of the islands of the Southern Pacific; but it is said to be a resident
on the Sandwich Islands. On the American continent it is a summer
visitor to Alaska, Canada, and Greenland up to about lat. 70°, wintering

168 BRITISH BIRDS.

throughout the United States, where a few remain to breed, some passing
still further south to Central America, the West Indies, and tropical South
America. It has been found throughout South America, breeding at Buenos
Ayres and Patagonia and probably throughout the Chilian subregion. The
South-American birds are probably also partial migrants, and in their
winter-quarters may meet the birds from North America.

The habits of the Short-eared Owl are very different from those of any
other British species, and thus lend an additional interest to the bird.
Unlike the other members of this gloom-loving family of birds, the present
species rarely in this country frequents woods or plantations, nor does
it haunt ruins, barns, or hollow trees. Its home is in the exposed and
open parts of the country, the broad-stretching meadow-lands and turnip-
fields, commons and dense furze-brakes, sedgy marshlands and the flat
uninviting and monotonous fens. From its peculiar habit of frequenting
the open, the Short-eared Owl is perhaps more often seen than any other
Owl; and it is from this circumstance that the bird is considered to
be numerous and widely diffused. Although generally a migratory bird,
a few are permanently resident in suitable districts—where it was formerly
a far more common resident than it is at the present day, being now only
represented in the summer by a few straggling pairs.

The great autumn migration of the Short-eared Owl takes place in
October, from the second week to the end of the month, the time during
which the Woodcock also makes its appearance. From this cireum-
stance and from the fact that both the birds choose similar haunts upon
their arrival here, the Short-eared Owl has gained for itself the name
of ‘* Woodcock-Owl.” Short-eared Owls- migrate in companies, and,
in fact, are more or less gregarious during the whole of the winter, as
many as twenty birds having been flushed within a comparatively small
space of ground. ‘The flight-nets on the Lincolnshire coast unerringly
proclaim the advent of this Owl upon our shores; and during the mi-
gration period it is one of the commonest birds taken in them. Short-eared
Owls migrate at night ; and they do not seem to fly at any great height
above the waves whilst pursuing their journey, for these nets are but a
few feet from the surface of the sea. Strangely enough, however, their
companion the Woodcock is seldom, very seldom taken in the nets, leading
us to suppose that it flies much higher through the air and drops suddenly
down from above as soon as the shore is reached. Upon its arrival
here the Short-eared Owl betakes itself to turnip-fields, stubbles, the
sides of hedgerows, or the tall herbage on the banks of a stream, and dry
ditches overgrown with coarse vegetation. Upon being flushed it flies
quickly off with undulating motion, swaying its body from side to side
alternately, much after the manner of the smaller Gulls. This Owl is
perhaps less incommoded by the light than any other species, and may

poe!

SHORT-EARED OWL. 169

be seen quartering the ground in search of food at all hours of the
day. When flushed it will not unfrequently rise to a considerable height
in the air and then fly steadily away, without displaying any of that
wavering undecided action so characteristic of the Barn-Owl when rudely
sent into the sunshine.

The food of the Short-eared Owl is composed of small mammals, small
birds, coleopterous insects, and various species of surface-feeding fish ; its
favourite and usual fare, however, is doubtless composed of field-mice and
the various species of short-tailed voles. It will glide in noiseless airy
flight above the marshy wastes, or quarter the stubbles and meadow-lands
in search of its food, sail swiftly down the hedgerow-sides and take a
Warbler from the spray, or search the old weedy watercourses for rats.
It will also now and then strike the Bat as it sallies from its hole in the
dusk of the evening, or prey upon the larger beetles that come abroad at
night’s approach. Mr. Low states that the remains of Red Grouse and
Plovers have been found in its nest; but such, certainly, if captured
at all, were possibly only young or weakly birds. This species is one
of the most deadly enemies of mice, rats, and, in Scandinavia, of
lemmings. During the great plagues of mice that have from time to time
occurred in various parts of Britain, notably in the Forest of Dean in
Gloucestershire, the Short-eared Owl has flocked in numbers to the place,
and played a principal part in extirpating the unwelcome and destructive
hordes. ‘Too often, however, the poor harmless Owl is shot down by the
thoughtless farmers or ignorant gamekeepers, who foolishly imagine they
are ridding their domains of a pest, although in reality they are taking the
life of one of their most valuable friends.

It is very possible that the Short-eared Owl pairs for life. Unlike the
other British members of this group of birds, that seek a covered site for
their nests, the Short-eared Owl always rears its young upon the ground,
and, most curiously enough, in an exposed and open nest. Its breeding-
grounds are the marshy feus of the low-lying eastern counties, and in the
north the broad expanses of heath on which the Harriers and the Grouse
rear their young. In the southern counties the draining of the fenlands
has done much to decrease its numbers in the breeding-season, and at the
present time but few pairs are to be met with. Its eggs have been taken
in the first week in April; but May is probably its usual laying-season,
the young being abroad by the 12th of August. In the early summer of
1881 (May) I had the good fortune to examine the nest of this bird, to
procure its eggs, and gain some little personal knowledge of the bird
itself. Howard Saunders and I went down to the Norfolk Broads under
the guidance of our mutual friend Mr. A. H. Evans. The moment we
arrived at the little inn close to Hickling Broad I was struck with the
exact similarity of the scenery to that of Horster Mere in Holland, where

170 BRITISH BIRDS.

I went to see the breeding-place of the Spoonbills and Cormorants. A
winding river passes through lakes and marshes down to Yarmouth ; and
in the deep channel boats heavily laden sail up and down, whilst on the
shallow broads and in the narrow lanes cut through the marshes we were
punted along in little boats with ease. When we were near enough to the
sea, the “ denes ” or sandhills that skirt the coast formed a conspicuous
object on the horizon.

The marshes (or “meshes” as the marshmen call them) are covered
over with reeds, with a thick undergrowth of Juncus and Carex. Most
of the marsh is accessible with wading-boots; and in many places we
found shooting-boots sufficient. The reeds are regularly cropped, and
sold for thatching and as a substitute for straw for cattle. Here and
there willows are found, sometimes in sufficient quantity to make it worth
while to employ women and children in peeling twigs for basket-making.
Fishing is carried on in some of the broads; and in winter these sheets of
water are a great resort for Wild Ducks and other water-birds. Great
numbers of half-tame Swans breed on most of the marshes.

In the evening Joshua, the old fenman whom Mr. Evans had chartered
as guide, took us to Hickling Marsh, about a square mile in extent. As
we walked along the lanes between the high hedges, Corn-Buntings and
Sedge-Warblers were the principal songsters. The part of the marsh
which we visited had lately been in the hands of a farmer who had sue-
cumbed to the bad harvests; and the reeds were cut and lying in heaps on
the ground. For one of these heaps or reed-cocks Joshua steered by a
somewhat circuitous route to avoid the dykes, which were generally just
too wide to jump across with safety. Peewits and Redshanks got up as we
went along ; but we kept steadily to our goal. At length, after a three-
mile walk, during which the daylight had perceptibly diminished, Joshua
pointed out a heap of cut reeds as “ the place.” We advanced cautiously
to about half a dozen yards from the heap, when rapidly but silently rose
before our admiring eyes a Short-eared Owl, displaying her nest with six
eggs conspicuously placed at the foot of the “ reed-cock ” and half sheltered
by it. The bird looked very large as she rose in the evening light and,
after a short flight, turned back and wheeled in circles round us. In half
a minute she was joined by her mate ; and the two flew round as long as
we remained near the nest. Sometimes she hovered at a considerable
height perpendicularly over her nest, as if she would assure herself that
we had not taken her eggs, and as if she could only see them when she
was directly above them. When she had apparently adjusted the focus of
her great eyes upon them, she fluttered her wings in a very agitated manner
for a few seconds. Whether this peculiar movement was the result of her
great anxiety to return to cover them from the chill evening air, or an
active expression of her delight at seeing them still in the nest, or an

|

SHORT-EARED OWL. 71

attempt to attract our attention in order to lure us away from the spot, it
was difficult to determine. The eggs were extremely conspicuous from
one side of the heap of rushes when the bird was off the nest; but so long
as she sat close it might very easily be passed by without notice. Both
birds were quite silent the whole time. Joshua told us that when the
nest was first found there were seven eggs in it, but that the man who
found it had broken one. The eggs were considerably incubated. There
was not much attempt at a nest, not more than the Peewit makes. The
ground seemed to be trodden into a hollow, which was lined with a few
dry broken reeds and sedges. The reeds were lying in a heap on the
ground ; and in the place selected for the nest the thick cut ends slightly
overhung the base of the heap and formed some shelter over the nest on
one side. We found a second nest on the following day containing six
fresh eggs. It was in a part of the marsh where there were very few reeds,
the ground being covered with Carex and Juncus. This nest was very
similar to the one we found on the previous day, and was lined with flat
leaves of Carex, with a feather or two, and was surrounded with a few
slender willow bushes. The bird made a harsh scream as she flew up, but
went right away, and we saw her no more.

This species lays from four to seven eggs; and has been said, on the
authority of Hutchins, cited by Richardson in the ‘ Fur-countries of North
America,’ to lay as many as ten or twelve. In shape they are scarcely
so round as those of the Tawny Owl, and much smaller, creamy white
in colour, and possess but little gloss. The eggs may easily be con-
founded with those of the Long-eared Owl; and certain specimens are
not easy to distinguish from eggs of the Hawk Owl. They measure from
1°65 to 15 inch in length, and from 1:31 to 1:2 inch in breadth.

The Short-eared Owl, like nearly all other Owls and most other Palse-
arctic birds which have a wide range, is subject to considerable variation
im colour. Besides the typical plumage there are two “phases” of
plumage—a light “phase” and a rufous “phase.” The word phase, as
restricted to the various plumages of the Owls, is a very objectionable
one. These so-called phases are climatic races of exactly the same cha-
racter as the climatic races of Tits, Nuthatches, Dippers, or Shrikes, and
of the same subspecific value. The typical plumage is that of a temperate
climate with a moderate allowance of rain and sunshine. The so-called
light “phase” is the Arctic plumage, geographically coexistent with, and
in all probability produced, either directly or indirectly, by a large allow-
ance of sunshine anda small supply of rain. In this plumage the buff
ground-colour of the upper parts and of the lower portions of the under-
parts is replaced by almost pure white, whilst the brown spots or streaks
are darker and greyer than in the typical form. This subspecies, con-
nected with the typical form in intermediate climates by intermediate

172 BRITISH BIRDS.

forms, was named by Pallas Strixv egolius, and ranges from Archangel to
Kamtschatka. It probably reappears in the Arctic regions of America ; but
I have not been able to examine a skin of an adult male from that district.
The so-called rufous “ phase” is the tropical plumage, which is known as
Strix cassini, a climatic race, apparently most developed where there is a
deficiency of sunshine and an excessive rainfall,’as in the Falkland Islands
and the Hastern Himalayas. In this form the buff ground-colour is more
rufous, and the brown spots and streaks are not so grey as in the typical
form. In the females the difference between the two extreme forms is
much less pronounced, and in the young in first plumage it is scarcely
observable. The latter all belong to the rufous form, which we must
therefore accept as the oldest, or least changed from the postglacial
ancestors. In the Galapagos Islands the Short-eared Owls appear to have
been so long isolated from their confréres as to have become specifically
distinct. S. galapagoensis is said always to differ from the rufous form of
S. brachyotus (which it otherwise greatly resembles) by having the legs
streaked. It seems to be the only very near ally of this almost cosmo-
politan species which is deserving of specific rank.

The general colour of the typical form of the Short-eared Owl is dark
buff. The wings and tail are transversely barred with dark brown; the
rest of the plumage, except the thighs and under tail-coverts, is broadly
streaked longitudinally with dark brown; bill and claws nearly black ;
irides bright yellow. In the Arctic form the dark buff is replaced by
nearly white, except in the centre of the back, which is suffused with
rufous,

ai

NOCTUA. 173

Genus NOCTUA.

The Little Owls were first separated from the genus Stviv by Gerini in
1767, in his ‘Ornithologia Methodice Digesta,’ i. p. 87, under the name
of Noctua, a name which was afterwards adopted (in 1810) by Savigny.
Neither of these ornithologists indicated any type; but inasmuch as the
Little Owl is the Noctua vulgaris of Gerini and the Strix noctua of
Scopoli, it has every right to be considered the type.

The Little Owls may be distinguished from all other Owls by the
nostrils being placed in a projection formed by an inflation of the cere.
Their habits do not differ from those of the other Owls; but their food is
more insectivorous. Their eggs are pure white in colour.

The genus Noctua contains upwards of fifty species, which are distributed
over the whole world—principally confined to the tropical regions, a few
species being found in the Nearctic and Palearctic Regions. Only two
or three are European, of which but one has been found in the British
Islands.

174 BRITISH BIRDS.

NOCTUA NOCTUA.
LITTLE OWL.

(PLATE 7.)

Strix noctua minor, Briss. Orn. 1. p. 514 (1760).

Noctua vulgaris, Gerini, Orn. Meth. Dig. p. 87, pl. Ixxxvi. (1767).

Strix noctua, Scop. Ann. I. Hist. Nat. p. 22 (1769); et auctorum plurimorum—
Naumann, (Bonaparte), (Gray), (Schlegel), (Gould), (Sharpe), &c.

Strix nudipes, Milss. Orn. Suec. i. p. 68 (1817).

Strix psilodactyla, Nilss. Skand. Faun. 1st ed. p. 88 (1824).

Carine noctua (Scop.), Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 29 (1829).

Surnia noctua (Scop.), Bonap. Oss. Regn. An. i. p. 48 (1830).

Noctua nudipes (Milss.), Gould, B. Eur. i. pl. 48 (1887).

Scotophilus nudipes (Nilss.), Jard. Brit. B. i. p. 274 (1858).

Athene noctua (Scop.), Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. § N. Amer. p. 6 (1838).

Syrnia psilodactyla (Nilss.), Macgill. Brit. B. ii. p. 417 (1849).

Noctua veterum, Schl. Mus, Pays-Bas, Striges, ii. p. 28 (1862).

Noctua minor, Degl. § Gerbe, Orn. Ewr. i. p. 122 (1867).

Strix passerina, Linn. apud Gmelin, Boie, Cuvier, Temminck, Roux, Yarrell, Brehm,
Lesson, Seiby, Stevenson™.

The Little Owl is an accidental visitor to England and Wales, and may
be much rarer than its recorded occurrences would lead us to suppose. Two
examples in Mr. Borrer’s collection must probably be erased from the list,
as he informed me that he subsequently ascertained that two birds of this
species were released from captivity by a gentleman living in the neigh-
bourhood where they were caught. As this species is very frequently sent
alive to England, it is impossible to say how many of the score or more
recorded examples may not have had a similar origin.

The Little Owl is a resident throughout the whole of Europe south
of Scandinavia. In Northern Africa it is represented by a very nearly
allied species, Noctua glaux; but examples from Greece are paler than
the northern form, approaching N. glaux; and in Asia Minor both
species occur, together with intermediate forms. ast of the Ural Moun-
tains another nearly allied species occurs, N. bactriana, having the toes
thickly feathered almost to the claws instead of only covered with hairy
bristles, and having also a much shorter tarsus. This species extends as
far east as Northern China.

The Little Owl is by far the commonest Owl in the south of Europe,
and one that is both seen and heard, not only in the evening but also in

* The number of ornithologists who have confounded the Little Owl with the Pygmy
Owl makes it necessary to add to the name of the latter bird Zinn. nec Gmel. in order to
avoid the possibility of error. This confusion has arisen from the generally insufficient

and frequently incorrect diagnoses of Linnzeus and other writers, who attempt to describe
a species in a couple of lines, and thus paye the way for future complications in its

synonymy.

LITTLE OWL. 17

Or

broad daylight. I first made its acquaintance near Smyrna, where it was
very common. We did not very often see it; but now and then we caught
a glimpse of it, flying from one tree to another, near the villages that
nestled on the mountain-sides overlooking the fiat plains through which
the river winds amongst the olive-groves and vineyards. The flight of the
Little Owl reminded me very much of that of a Bat. It was not an undu-
lating flight, but a steady slow beating of the wings without any apparent
exertion; and yet there was a butterfly-like uncertainty about it, as if it
continually changed its mind and slightly altered its course. The flight
was very silent, occasionally very rapid; and I remember seeing it skim
over a tree like a Partridge. In Holland I once watched a Little Owl
flying in the garden behind the inn at Valconsward. A boy had caught
it on the nest, and brought it to us with one egg and three young ones—
the latter only a few days old, and covered with short pure white down
not unlike the fur of a mole. We did not want the old bird; so we let
her go in the garden. She had scarcely got more than forty yards from
us when she was pursued by a mob of Starlings, Swallows, and other
birds, from whom she soon took refuge in a chestnut-tree, to the evident
annoyance of a Chaffinch, who immediately began to spink spink in a most
excited way. At Athens it was very common on the Acropolis, and was
evidently breeding in holes in the rocks and ruins. In the Parnassus we
often heard its curious note cuc-koo-vah!-ee, cuc-koo-vah'-ee, and were told
that it remained there all the year. It feeds on small birds, mice, grass-
hoppers, cockchafers, moths, beetles, &c., which it catches both on the
wing and on the ground. It may be seen perched on a tree, a rock, or on
the roof of a house. It is a somewhat early breeder ; and fresh eggs may
be obtained from the middle of April to the middle of May. The situa-
tion of the nest, which is a mere scratch round of whatever rubbish may
be accidentally collected on the spot, is varied. Sometimes it is in a hollow
tree, sometimes in a cleft of a rock, sometimes in the roof of a house; and
I have seen it under the roots of a tree. The number of eggs varies from
four to six; they are pure white in colour, oval in form, and measure from
1-4 to 1°35 inch in length, and from 1:15 to 1:08 inch in breadth.

The Little Owl has the upper parts greyish brown, striped on the head
and spotted on the back and wings, and barred on the tail with white.
The underparts are white, broadly streaked with brown. Inrides and bill
yellow, claws black. The female is a slightly larger and paler bird than
the male. Young birds are somewhat more dingy and less grey in colour.

The Pygmy Owl, N. passerina, has been recorded as a British bird, but
on unsatisfactory evidence. It is a much smaller bird (wing only 4 inches
instead of 6 inches), with a more rounded wing (first primary not much
more than half the length of the second).

176 BRITISH BIRDS.

Genus SURNIA.

The Hawk Owls were first separated from the genus Striv by Duméril
in 1806, in his ‘ Zoologie Analytique,’ p. 34, under the name of Surnia;
and the Snowy Owl was separated in the year 1826 by Stephens, in
Shaw’s ‘General Zoology,’ xiii. pt. 2, p. 62, under the name of Nyctea.
In compounding a genus out of these two genera, the earliest of them,
which is apparently unobjectionable, has been selected ; and its type will be
Surnia funerea.

The Hawk Owls have no operculum, nor are their nostrils inflated—
characters which separate them from all other genera, except Budo and
Scops, from which they may be distinguished by the absence of any
longitudinal streaks on the underparts, and by the absence of any con-
spicuous ear-tufts.

The Hawk Owls are confined to the Arctic regions, and are conse-
quently less nocturnal in their habits; otherwise they differ little from
the other Owls, in their mode of flight, food, and nesting-habits. Their
eggs are pure white in colour. The Hawk Owls are circumpolar birds.
Only two species are contained in the genus, both of which are accidental
visitors to the British [slands.

SNOWY OWL. . L777

SURNIA NYCTEA.
SNOWY OWL.

(PLatE 7.)

Strix alba freti-hudsonis, Briss. Orn. i. p. 522 (1760).
Strix nyctea, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 152 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum—
(Thompson), (Macgillivray), (Selby), (Gould), (Degland), (Gerbe), Temminck,
Yaumann, Schlegel, Sundevall, &e.
Aluco diurnus, Gerini, Orn. Meth. Dig. i. p. 89, pl. lxxxxiii. (1767).
Strix nivea, Thunb. Sv. Akad. Forh. 1798, p. 184.
Strix candida, Lath. Ind. Orn. Suppl. p. xiv (1801).
Strix erminea, Steph. Shaw's Gen. Zool. vii. pt. 1, p. 251 (1809).
Noctua nyctea (Linn.), Cuvier, Regne An. i. p. 332 (1817).
Nyctea erminea (Steph.), Steph. Shaw’s Gen. Zool. xiii. pt. ii. p. 63 (1826).
Surnia nyctea (Linn.), James. ed. Wils. Am. Orn. i. p. 92 (1831).
Nyctia candida (Lath.), Swains. Classif. B. ii. p. 217 (1836).
Nyctea nivea (Thunb.), Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 84 (1845).
Leuchybris nyctea (Linn.), Sundev. Meth. Av. Tent. p. 106 (1872).
Nyctea scandiaca (Linn.), apud Newt. ed. Yarr. Brit. B. 1. p. 187 (1872).
Nyctea scandiaca (Linn.), apud Ridgway, var. arctica (Bart.), Ridgw. N. Amer. B.
iii, p. 70 (1874). d
Leuchybris scandiaca (Linn.), apud Meves, Ofv. Kongl. Vet.-Ak. Firh. 1879, p. 389.
The Snowy Owl is a regular, though uncertain, visitor to the British
Islands. Scarcely a year passes without a record of its capture in some part
of Scotland; but in England and in Ireland it is less regular in its appear-
ance. The Snowy Owl belongs to the class of ‘“‘ Gipsy migrants,’ who
have no settled home in winter. It breeds on the tundras beyond the
limit of forest-growth, or in similar climates at high elevations in less
northerly latitudes, and it only leaves these breeding-grounds in conse-
quence of the scarcity of food caused by exceptional cold. It is conse-
quently only a partial migrant. Some remain throughout the winter in
the frozen north; others retire to a greater or less distance during a storm
or a harder frost than usual, and return when it is over. Some of these
often wander very far in search of food; and it is only when the winters
in the Arctic Regions are exceptionally mild that the outside stragglers
do not reach our islands. In the Orkneys and the Shetlands scarcely a
season passes without birds occurring, usually after northerly gales; whilst
on the mainland it has been obtained in most of the Highland counties and
those bordering the Firth of Clyde. The same may be said of the Hebrides
and Western Isles, where, according to Gray, it is regarded as an almost
regular spring visitant; but probably an irregular Jate winter guest would
be more correct. In England, although of not quite such frequent occur-
rence, it has without doubt occurred thrice in Northumberland, once
VOL, I. N

178 BRITISH BIRDS.

at least in Yorkshire, eight or nine times in Norfolk, and once in Suffolk.
In Ireland its recorded occurrences are almost as numerous, and it has
been met with in most counties, except in the extreme west.

The Snowy Owl is a circumpolar bird, breeding principally within the
Arctic circle. It is common in some parts of Greenland, and was found
breeding in Grinnell Land by Capt. Feilden, as far north as lat. 82° 33’.
It is found in Iceland usually during winter, more rarely in summer, and
has been found several times on the Faroes. It breeds throughout
Northern Europe, including Nova Zembla, but in Spitzbergen is said only
to occur as an occasional straggler. In winter it accidentally strays as
far south as Holland and Belgium, and has once occurred in Northern
France. In Pomerania it occurred in considerable numbers during the
winters of 1858-59 and 1865-66 ; and, on the authority of von Pelzeln,
it has once occurred in Lower Austria. In Asia it is an inhabitant of
the northern portions of the continent, sometimes straying in winter as
far south as South Siberia, Turkestan, Afghanistan, and Mongolia. On the
American continent the Snowy Owl breeds in the extreme north, straggling
south in winter to almost all parts of the States, and has more than once
been observed in the Bermudas. It has been known to occur as far south
as Texas, where a single specimen was obtained by Dr. Heermann.

Ridgway, in the third volume of the ‘ North American- Birds,’ separates
the Snowy Owl into two races, one inhabiting the Old and the other the New
World. The character by which these two races are distinguished is said
to be the dusky bars, which in the Palearctic species are “ sparse, narrow,
and umber-brown,” and in the Nearctic species “‘ more numerous, broader,
and clear brownish black.” These differences, however, are probably due
to individual variation ; for birds from Europe are found to match exactly
birds from the American continent. Sharpe, in his ‘ Catalogue of Birds,’
vol. ii. p. 127, points out that the amount of feathering on the toes of
European birds is much greater than on American specimens ; but this is
probably due to a seasonal change, as is the case with the Willow-Grouse.

Some writers have supposed that the white birds are the old and the
more spotted birds the young; but what little evidence there is points
to the existence of two races of Snowy Owls, a white race and a dark
race, which alter little with age. Young in first plumage are said to show
quite as marked a variation as adults; and birds kept in confinement are
said to retain the original character of their plumage year after year,
though the dark markings do to some extent decrease in size and number
with age.

The Snowy Owl is a bird of the tundra; and its home is on the fjelds of
Lapland, the tundras of Russia and Siberia, and the prairies of Arctic
America. Although its breeding-range extends over nearly twenty
degrees of latitude, its nest is never found within the limit of forest-growth.

SNOWY OWL. 179

The history of animal and vegetable life on the tundra is a very curious
one. For eight months out of the twelve every trace of vegetable life is
completely hidden under a blanket of snow six feet thick, which effectually
covers every plant and bush; trees there are none to hide. During at
least six months of this time animal life is only traceable by the footprints
of a reindeer or a fox on the snow, or by the occasional appearance of a
Raven or a Snowy Owl wandering beyond the limit of forest-growth,
whence for the most part they have retired for the winter. For two
months in midwinter the sun never rises above the horizon, and the white
snow reflects only the fitful light of the moon, the stars, or the aurora.
Early in February the sun just peeps upon the scene for a few minutes at
noon and then retires. Day by day he prolongs his visit more and more,
until February, March, April, and May have passed, and continuous night
has become continuous day. larly in June the sun only just touches the
horizon at midnight, but does not set any more for some time. At midday
the sun’s rays are hot enough to blister the skin; but they glance harmless
from the snow, and for a week or two you have the anomaly of continuous
day in midwinter.

Then comes the south wind, and often rain, and the great event of the
year takes place; the ice on the rivers breaks up, and the blanket of snow
melts away. The black earth absorbs the heat of the never-setting sun ;
quietly but swiftly vegetable life awakes from its long sleep; and for three
months a hot summer produces a brilliant alpine flora, like an English
flower-garden run wild, and a profusion of Alpine fruit. Birds arrive in
countless thousands to breed in this Eldorado. Long before the snow is
melted its surface is reticulated with the tracks of small quadrupeds, whose
period of hibernation has come to an end, and who climb up the stems of
the stunted bushes and venture out into the sunshine. The Snowy Owls
repair to their nests, if nests they may be called, and bring up a numerous
family in peace and plenty in a perpetual summer’s day, diversified only
by storms from the north, which sometimes bring a two or three day’s
spell of cold and rain down from the arctic ice.

But early in August the sun begins to dip for a few moments below the
horizon, and every succeeding midnight sees him hide longer and longer.
One by one the various species of birds flock together and leave for
southern climes: a large proportion of the Snowy Owls follow their food
for some distance ; for in September the nights are cold, the frosts begin
to kill vegetation, and early in October winter has set in, snow has fallen
not to melt again for eight months; the nights get longer and longer,
until towards the end of November the sun has ceased to take his midday
peep at the endless fields of snow, and the two months’ night and silence
reign supreme.

In summer the Snowy Owl is a very conspicuous bird on the tundra ;

N2

180 BRITISH BIRDS.

but food is then so plentiful that his “ struggle for existence” is over for
the time, and possibly his very conspicuousness may be of advantage to
him amongst so many innocent Gulls and Swans. He himself is wary
enough, and I have only twice succeeded in shooting a Snowy Owl. The
first time was on the shores of the lagoon of the Petchora. My attention
was first attracted by seeing a great white bird which seemed to me to
alight upon a distant lake. Taking it to be a Bewick’s Swan, I put a slug-
cartridge into my gun, and walked rapidly on in its direction. Before I
got within shot the bird rose, and I recognized it at once as a Snowy Owl,
as with measured but rapid flight it disappeared behind some sandhills
on the shore. I carefully stalked it; and looking cautiously around
under cover of the sandhill, I descried at length a white spot on the
opposite shore of the creek, which, with the aid of my telescope, I found
to be the Owl. He, too, must have been watching me: perhaps he took
my sealskin cap for some new species of lemming; for presently he rose
and flew across the water directly towards me. By the time he had
crossed the creek doubts on the subject seemed to have occurred to him,
and he alighted on the beach about sixty yards in front of me. I rose
and walked towards him; he also rose; but before be had flown ten yards
my shot reached him, broke one of his wings, and dropped him into the
sea. As he lay struggling in the water a score of Glaucous and Arctic
Herring-Gulls came flying towards him, and sailed round and round him,
making quite a small uproar with their cries. The other time that I
brought one down was on the voyage home, a little to the east of Kolguev.
Karly in the morning I turned out of my berth and went on deck, and
the first thing I saw was a Snowy Owl on each mast. I ran down
for my gun and shot one of them. We were out of sight of land at
the time.

Audubon and Wheelwright describe the Snowy Owl as passing with
quick noiseless flight over the fells and marshy parts of the shore, more
like a large animated snowflake than a bird, seizing its prey by darting
quickly down upon it, and usually devouring it on the spot. When
pursuing larger birds or animals, its manner is much the same as that of
the Peregrine Falcon.

In the extreme northern limit of its range the Snowy Owl is no doubt a
regular summer migrant, repairing north to rear its young during the short
arctic summer, and drawing southward again at the approach of winter.
The winter-quarters of this species are undoubtedly in the highest northern
latitudes in which a sustenance can be obtained, the birds which are found
so far south in temperate regions being but exceptional wanderers or young
birds. Capt. Feilden mentions that in Grinnell Land the Snowy Owl
was first seen on March 29th, and was common during the summer, but
by the end of August all had disappeared from Discovery Bay. During

SNOWY OWL. 181

- the time of migration large flights of the Snowy Owl have frequently been
observed far out at sea; and Thompson gives us some very interesting
details respecting a flock of this species which accompanied a ship half-
way across the Atlantic, from the coast of Labrador to the north of
Ireland. This migration was described by the captain of the ship as a
very beautiful sight, the birds sometimes flying near the vessel, or perching
on the spars and the rigging.

The lemming forms the Snowy Owl’s chief food in the far north, the
range of both mammal and bird being generally the same ; but other small
rodents are taken, and it will sometimes attack Ptarmigan and Willow-
Grouse, or even the Arctic hare. It is said occasionally to feed on fish.
The note of this species is said by Wheelwright to resemble a loud krau-au
repeated several times in quick succession, and sometimes a loud rick-rick-
rick as it rises startled from its perching-place.

The nest of this Owl is a simple structure, made of a few lichens, mosses,
and feathers, sometimes placed in a hole in the ground, at others on some
steep bank or cliff, or on some little eminence rising above the surrounding
plains, where it is nothing more than a mere hollow scraped in the rein-
deer-moss. The eggs are from six to eight in number, sometimes more,
creamy white in colour, and somewhat rough in texture, with little gloss.
They are smaller than the eggs of the Eagle Owl, and, as a rule, a little
more elongated. They vary from 21 to 2 inches in length, and from 1°8 to
16 inch in breadth, Collett in his ‘ Remarks on the Ornithology of
Northern Norway,’ states that “the Snowy Owl does not always lay so
many as ten eggs at a time; it did so, however, last year (1871) in many
cases; and the various circumstances attending the phenomenon are not
without interest. As with all birds of prey, the eggs would appear to be
laid not in uninterrupted succession, but with that species at intervals of
indefinite duration during a lengthened period, foetation taking place
previous to the laying of each egg. A natural consequence is that the
young of each brood are widely different in appearance, according to the
stage of growth which each has attained. Thus the first of the brood will
be almost fledged before the last has broken the shell. And, again, the
nestlings, thickly clad with down, necessarily assist in process of incuba-
tion; the old birds have enough to do to provide for the young already
hatched, several of which, being more than half-grown, require a good
deal of food.” The Snowy Owl’s breeding-season varies in date a little
according to latitude. In Norway and Lapland the beginning of June
may be said to be its laying-season ; whilst in the high north the eggs are
not laid before the end of that month. According to Collett, ““ When the
female is sitting the male is ever on the watch, and warns his mate at the
slightest sign of danger by a loud cry, whereupon she immediately quits
her nest, and both birds, screaming incessantly, keep flying for hours

a

182 BRITISH BIRDS.

together in the immediate neighbourhood of the nest. On such occasions
the males are bold to a degree, attacking savagely whomsoever ventures to
approach their nest ; they will swoop down on the sportsman or his dog,
especially the latter, and can with difficulty be driven away. The females -
take matters more coolly, posting themselves near the nest in some con-
spicuous spot, but always out of gun-range. It devolves upon the male
bird to go in search of prey, the duty of the female being to divide it, when
brought to the nest, among her young. Hence the former are always in
poor condition, whereas the females are generally plump. Round about
the nest are found mice and lemmings, dismembered and entire.”

The plumage of the male Snowy Owl varies from pure white, marked
very slightly on the crown, back, and primaries with dark brown, to white *
conspicuously barred all over with dark brown. Legs and feet covered
down to the claws with long hairy feathers. Bill and claws black; irides
orange-yellow. The female is larger than the male, and it is said always
to be more spotted and barred than the male. The nestling bird is covered
with sooty-black down, with brownish tips.

HAWK OWL. 183

SURNIA FUNEREA.
HAWK OWL.

Strix canadensis, Briss. Orn. i. p. 518, pl. xxxvii. fig. 2 (1760).

Strix freti-hudsonis, Briss. Orn. i. p. 520 (1760).

Strix funerea, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 133 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum—
(Bonaparte), (Gould), (Strickland), Middendorff, Schrenck, Radde, (Dresser),
(Newton), &e.

Strix caparoch, Mill. Natursyst. Suppl. i. p. 69 (1776, ex Edwards).

Strix hudsonia, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 295 (1788).

Strix nisoria, Meyer, Taschenb. p. 84 (1810).

Surnia canadensis (Lriss.), Steph. Shaw’s Gen. Zool. xiii. pt. ii. p. 62 (1825).

Stryx doliata, Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-As. i. p. 316 (1826).

Noctua nisoria (Meyer), Cuv. Régne An. i. p. 344 (1829).

Surnia borealis, Less. Trazté, i. p. 100 (1831).

Surnia hudsonia (G'mel.), James. ed. Wils. Am. Orn. i. p. 90 (1831).

Noctua funerea (Linn.), Jen. Brit. Vert. p. 526 (1835).

Surnia funerea (Linn.), Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. § N. Amer. p. 6 (1838).

Syrnia funerea (Linn.), Macgill. Brit. B. i. p. 189 (1840).

Nycthierax nisoria (Meyer), Meves, Ofv. Kongl. Vet.-Ak. Forh. 1879, p. 39.

Surnia ulula (Linn.), apud Bonaparte, (Schlegel), Cassin, Sharpe, &c.

At least six examples of a species of Hawk Owl have been obtained in
the British Islands within the last half-century, particulars of which are
given below. Some writers, as Sharpe and Dresser, consider the American
and European Hawk Owls “ perfectly distinct species ;” others, as Baird,
Brewer, and Ridgway, make the Palearctic form only subspecifically
distinct from the Nearctic form; whilst Newton, in his edition of
*Yarrell’s British Birds, unites the two forms without note or comment
of any kind respecting the alleged differences between them.

There are in reality three varieties of the Hawk Owl. S. hudsonia is the
American form, scarcely differing at all in the colour of the upper parts
from the typical bird, except that the white bands on the tail are rather
more developed, also the white spots on the quills, feathers of the head, and
seapulars. On the underparts the difference is much more striking; the
dark transverse bands are much redder (chestnut-brown instead of greyish
brown) and broader (varying from one to two of white, instead of two to
four, to one of brown). The typical or European form, for which the only
name that has not been misapplied is S. nisoria, is an intermediate form
between the American one and the Siberian or Arctic one. The latter,
S. doliata, differs from the European form in having the white parts purer
white and the dark parts darker and greyer. The differences between
these three varieties, however, are very small, and not much greater than
those of age, sex, and season. Females and young males are paler on the
upper parts, and have the dark bars on the underparts slightly broader and
more rufous than adult males. In young females these differences are still
more pronounced. |

184, BRITISH BIRDS.

Of the six examples enumerated as having occurred in the British
Islands, I have only seen one, which belonged undoubtedly to the American
variety. Two others were identified by Sharpe and Dresser as the same
species. Of the remaining three, two cannot now be traced ; but one of them,
at least, was brought by a sailor to be stuffed, and was probably caught on
board ship. A description of the third in Saxby’s ‘ Birds of Shetland’ is
sufficiently minute to leave little doubt that it is the Palzarctic variety.

The American variety of the Hawk Owl breeds in the pine-forests of
Alaska, Hudson’s Bay Territory, and Newfoundland, a few straying in
winter as far south as the Northern United States.

The European variety breeds throughout the pine-forests of Scandinavia
and North Russia, occasionally reaching as high as the birch-region on
the confines of the tundra. In winter it sometimes visits Denmark, is
more common in Northern Germany, and has been known to stray as far
as Northern France, Austria, and Poland. Eastwards it winters in Central
and Southern Russia. In Siberia the range of the Arctic form of the
Hawk Owl extends from the Urals to the Pacific ; but its migrations appear
to be confined within the country, as it is a resident in Northern Turkestan
and the Amoor, and has not been recorded from further south.

This bold little bird, in many of its habits and deeds of daring, appears
to hold the same place amongst the Owls as the Sparrow-Hawk does
amongst the Hawks. Its true home is in the Arctic pine-forests, where it
is a resident bird throughout the year, only a few individuals wandering
southwards at the approach of winter. The Hawk Owl is far from being
a shy bird, and, like the Falcons and the Hawks, hunts for its prey in the
open daylight, gliding along with all the impetuous rush of a Hawk, yet
with the soft noiseless flight peculiar to its kindred. It is occasionally
mobbed by the smaller birds, and even by the Magpies and Siberian Jays,
but appears to take but little heed of their attacks, although it will some-
times dash into the midst of its tormentors and bear one off in an instant.

The principal food of the Hawk Owl is mice and lemmings; and the
bird follows the migratory parties of the last-named little mammal to prey
upon them. From its indomitable spirit, however, few birds of the forest
are safe from its attacks. In addition to the smaller birds which it
captures, Wheelwright mentions the fact that he has seen the Hawk Owl
strike down the Siberian Jay, and has also disturbed it feeding on an old
Willow-Grouse. ‘The same naturalist has also taken insects from its
stomach. It may often be seen sitting perched on the dead summit of a
lofty pine, from which it flies off to pursue some tempting quarry. Seen
thus, the bird bears a striking resemblance to the Hawks; and its long
tail and short wings, when the bird is in motion, also increase the delusion.
It is one of the easiest birds to approach, and, when fired at, will not
unfrequently again alight on the same tree, as if challengmg the unsuc-

HAWK OWL. 185

cessful marksman to a fresh trial of his skill. The note of this bird was
compared by Wolley to the cry of a Hawk.

The breeding-season of the Hawk Owl appears to commence in the
middle of April, and to last to the end of June. As this bird possesses the

bit, in common with many of its congeners, of laying eggs at intervals,
and sitting on them as soon as laid, eggs may be found as late as the
third week in June. It makes no nest; and the eggs are usually laid in
the hole of a decayed pine tree, and rest on the powdered wood alone, as
is the case with the eggs of the Woodpecker*. Collett mentions a nest of
this Owl in Norway, on the top of a broken pine-trunk, some six feet
below which a Golden-eye Duck was sitting on her nest. Wolley mentions
a similar instance in Lapland, as does also Dall in Alaska. This Owl will
also frequently take possession of the nest-boxes placed by the peasants
for the Ducks, and rear its young in them. The eggs of the Hawk Owl
are from five to eight in number, white in colour, smooth, and possess
considerable gloss. They measure from 1°65 to 1:55 inch in length, and
from 1:25 to 1:17 inch in breadth. The eggs of the Hawk Owl cannot be
distinguished from those of the Short-eared Owl, thus rendering an addi-
tional figure unnecessary. Both birds sit upon the eggs, and are some-
times found on them in company. While the female is upon her charge
the male bird will perch close at hand, ready to do battle with any intruder,
not even excepting man himself. Numerous instances are recorded of
this bird’s dauntless courage when its nest is assailed. It strikes at the
intruder again and again, seeming not to care for its own safety, and too
often pays the price of its temerity with its life.

The Hawk Owl commences its moult before the young can fly, and
completes it by the time they are in full feather. Wheelwright asserts
that the breast and belly of the female in the breeding-season are strongly
tinged with reddish brown, doubtless from the decaying wood.

During autumn the Hawk Owl still keeps in company with its young,
hunting in little parties for food; then they become gipsy migrants, and
a few wander far south of their native forests. The habits of the American
variety of the Hawk Owl are not known to differ from those of the Pale-
arctic species ; and its eggs are undistinguishable.

The general colour of the upper parts of the Hawk-Owl is blackish
brown, mottled with dull white; tail barred narrowly and tipped broadly
with white. Underparts white, barred with dark reddish brown; tarsi
and toes covered with greyish-white feathers. Bill yellowish white; irides
straw-yellow; claws bluish black at tips, paler at base. The female bird
is a little larger than the male.

* Macfarlane’s account, quoted by Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, of the nest of this bird

being built of small sticks and twigs in pine trees in Arctic America, is contrary to the
experience of every other ornithologist who has taken its eggs.

186 BRITISH BIRDS.

Genus BUBO.

The Eagle Owls were first separated from the genus Séria in 1760 by
Brisson, who associated them with the other horned Owls in a somewhat
heterogeneous group, to which he gave the generic name of Asio. In
1767 they were temporarily dissociated from the Scops Eared Owls by
Gerini, and placed in the genus Bubo; but in 1806 Duméril reunited them
with their smaller relations, retaining the name of Bubo for the composite
genus. In 1810 Savigny finally separated them from the Scops Eared
Owls ; and in 1817 Cuvier, in his ‘ Régne Animal,’ p. 331, restricted the
genus to its present limits, but without indicating any type. As Budo
maximus is the Strix bubo of Linnzus and the Asio bubo of Brisson, it
must, of course, be considered the type of the restricted genus.

The Eagle Owls are not really distinct from Scops, the only generic
distinction being difference of size, none of them measuring less than a
foot in length of wing. They are furnished with ear-tufts. The tarsi are
always feathered ; but in some species the toes are almost naked. They
belong to the group of Owls in which the ear is small, about the size of
the eye, and not furnished with an operculum. The underparts are both
transversely barred and longitudinally streaked; but the bars are almost
obsolete, and the streaks very conspicuous—a character which distinguishes
them from the Hawk Owls. In their habits they do not differ materiaily
from the other Owls.

The Eagle Owls are found almost all over the world, with the exception
of Australia and the Pacific Islands. There are about twenty species.
Only two, very nearly ailied ones, are found in Europe; and of these
only one visits our islands,

Es

EAGLE OWL. 187

BUBO MAXIMUS.
EAGLE OWL.

(PxateE 7.)

Asio bubo, Briss. Orn. i. p. 477 (1760).

Strix bubo, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 131 (1766).

Bubo maximus, Gerini, Orn. Meth. Dig.i. p. 84, pl. Ixxxi. (1767); et auctorum
plurimorum— Fleming, Gould, Bonaparte, Macgillivray, Gray, Strickland,
Kaup, Schlegel, Newton (Ootheca Wolleyana), Heuglin, Hume, Sclater, &c.

Bubo ignavus, Forster, Syn. Cat. Brit. B. p. 46 (1817).

Bubo europeeus, Less. Traité, i. p. 115, pl. xvii. fig. 1 (1881).

Asio bubo (Zinn.), Swains. Classif. B. ii. p. 217 (1836).

Otus bubo (Linn.), Schl. Rev. Crit. p. xiii (1844).

Bubo atheniensis, Bonap. Consp. i. p. 48 (1850).

Bubo bubo (Linn.), Licht. Nomencl. Av. p. 7 (1854).

Although this fine species of Owl is pretty generally distributed over
the northern portions of the Old World, it is very rarely noticed in the
British Islands, and only at uncertain intervals. Many instances of the
capture of this species in Great Britain which are on record may very
probably be those of escaped birds, as it is very frequently kept in confine-
ment. It is chiefly met with in the Orkney and Shetland Islands, but
even there rarely and at uncertain intervals. It has several times been
recorded from Scotland ; and Gray, in his ‘ Birds of the West of Scotland,’
mentions a specimen, on the authority of Mr. Angus, captured in Feb-
tuary 1866, in Aberdeenshire. In England it has been obtained in Kent,
Sussex, and Devonshire ; and an example was caught alive at Hampstead,
near London. It is also said to have occurred in Durham, Yorkshire,
Derbyshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Oxfordshire, also at Swansea in South
Wales. Several other instances of the supposed occurrence of this bird in
Great Britain are on record. Among the most trustworthy may be men-
tioned a female, shot near Stamford, Lincolnshire, in April 1879, and
recorded in the ‘ Zoologist’? by Mr. J. Cullingford. This example was
examined by Canon Tristram soon after it was skinned; and he assures
me that the bird bore no traces of having been in confinement. It is
doubtful if the Eagle Owl has ever occurred in Ireland, the only record of
its appearance there being a statement quoted by Thompson to the effect
that four of these birds appeared in Donegal after a severe snowstorm and
remained for two days, but were not seen afterwards.

The Eagle Owl inhabits the forest-districts of all the countries of con-
tinental Europe, from Scandinavia, Lapland, and North Russia, south-
wards to the shores of the Mediterranean, and is a rare winter-straggler

r |
q

188 BRITISH BIRDS.

to North-east Africa*. Loche, however, records it as common in Algeria,
especially in the mountains and forests, where it breeds.

As its range extends eastwards the Eagle Owl becomes larger and paler—
examples from the Volga and Archangel gradually leading on to the
Arctic form, which has received the name of B. sibiricus +. This sub-
species inhabits Siberia, extending its range southwards to Persia, Tur-
kestan, Afghanistan, the Himalayas, and probably Mongolia. In the valley
of the Amoor the colour again becomes more rufous, until in Japan and
China the typical European bird reappears. The Arctic form has not
occurred in the British Islands.

Ou the American continent the Eagle peel; is replaced by a nearly allied
species, B. virginianus, a bird of very similar habits, and differing from the
Old-World form in being smaller (length of wing not exceeding 16 inches).
Like the Eagle Owl, it appears to be subject to much climatic variation ;
and Messrs. Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway separate it into no less than
four subspecies or races.

The Eagle Owl is one of the most powerful of rapacious birds, and is
principally nocturnal in its habits ; but when disturbed in the daytime it
seems little troubled by the light, and is extremely shy and difficult to
approach. As with most of the nocturnal birds of prey, we know but little
of the habits of this species. It usually remains in its retreat in some
secluded rocky pass, or in the depths of the forest, throughout the day,
coming out in the dusk in quest of food. Its flight is powerful, yet, like
all Owls, almost noiseless, so that it drops upon its prey completely un-
awares. Its deep, loud, hooting cry, sounding strangely weird and startling
in the dark and silent woods, or when the bird is passing overhead, is
well calculated to inspire the superstitious natives with awe ; and no wonder
the bird figures so prominently in the various native legends as a bird of
doom and death. Except in the pairing-season, it is said to rarely utter
its note, which resembles the syllables 00-hoo modulated in various ways.

Few rapacious birds are so destructive to large game as the Eagle Owl.
Even the powerful Capercailsie, the Blackcock, and the Hazel-Grouse are

* In North Africa a nearly allied bird occurs, Bubo ascalaphus, which may have been
possibly confused with, or mistaken for, the present species.
+ The synonymy of the Arctic form of this Owl is as under :—
Asio bubo laponicus, Briss, Orn, i. p. 486 (1760).
Strix scandiaca, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 132 (1766).
Bubo albus, Daud. Traité, ii. p. 210 (1800).
Strix turcomana, Lversm. Add. Pall. Zoogr. fase. i. p. 3 (1835).
Strix sibirica, Susem. Vog. Eur. pl. xliy. (18438).
Bubo cinereus, Eversm. fide Gray, Gen. B. i. pl. xiii. (1845).
Bubo sibiricus (Schleg.), Gray, Cat. Accipitr. Brit. Mus. p, 99 (1848).
Bubo scandiacus (Linn.), Cab. Journ. Orn. 1854, p. 367.
Bubo pallidus, Brehm, Naum. 1855, p. 270
Bubo hemachalana, Hume, Stray Feath. 1873, p. 315.

EAGLE OWL. 189

overpowered ; whilst fawns, hares, and rabbits form a prominent feature
of his diet. Yet he also takes much more lowly game, and hunts for the
various “small deer” which haunt his wild solitudes, as mice, rats, and
moles. The Jays and Crows, so abundant in northern forests, also form
part of his fare; and in more cultivated districts he preys on Pheasants
and Partridges.

This Owl appears to bear confinement well, and is a bird constantly to
be seen in menageries and birdfanciers’ shops, and has bred in confine-
ment at Arundel Castle and other places. Mr. E. Fountaine, of Easton,
near Norwich, has been singularly successful in his treatment of this bird
in captivity, and has induced it to breed and rear its progeny; in ‘The
Ibis’ for 1859, p. 273, a detailed description and full particulars will be
found of the nesting of this species in his aviary. The Eagle Owl must be
a bird of great longevity; for he mentions that the original hen bird, from
which he had so many eggs, had been kept twenty years in confinement
before she came into his possession.

The Eagle Owl is an early breeder, and commences to lay in March or
early in April. It is essentially a forest-bird, generally breeding on some
strong branch or fork of a tree. It seldom, if ever, makes a nest of
its own; but takes possession of any old nest that it can find, rarely
choosing one more than thirty feet from the ground. In the forests of
Pomerania, where it is frequently met with, it usually breeds in a tree;
but the eggs have very often been found in a slight hollow scratched in
the ground at the foot of the tree. It is very shy and wary at the nest,
and seems to possess as keen a sight to detect the presence of an enemy as
the most diurnal bird. Von Homeyer related to me his repeated efforts to
shoot the old bird at the nest; but, although he concealed himself as much
as possible, she always caught a glimpse of him before she got within shot,
and turned round and flew off. In the more mountainous forests, where
there are rocks, it seems to prefer a nesting-place upon some ledge or
convenient shelf; but even in such a locality the eggs are not always laid
on the rocks. Wolley mentions two clutches in Lapland taken from the
ground under the shelter of the roots of a fallen tree.

In the Parnassus [ visited two nesting-places of this bird, from one of
which I obtained an egg, and from the other shot one of the parent birds.
In neither case was much nest made. The situation chosen was in one of
those clefts or caves so common in limestone rocks; and apparently it was
used as a roosting-place, for in both cases the young broods had flown.

Linneus met with an Eagle-Owl’s nest on the higher hills of Lapland,
which contained an addled egg and two young birds. But the most graphic
and minute description of the nest of this fine bird is that by Wolley :—
“Tt was on the 20th of May, and after climbing to the mysterious cave of
Skulberg, that our road lay under a steep mountain-side broken up into

199 BRITISH BIRDS.

crags and ledges of the character which is usually so attractive to birds of
prey. ‘There was a little village at the foot, and an old man pointed out
the direction from which the hootings were to be heard every evening.
Whilst I was listening to the consultation, and taking a survey with my
glass, an Osprey flew along the edge of the cliff; and at a great height
above us, and mellowed in the distance, there came a full note from a Berg-
ufo, who no doubt had seen the stranger bird. This was very encouraging,
and it did not take long to arrange the order in which the various likely
rocks were to be visited. An active woodman accompanied me axe in hand.
When we were fairly in the cliffs we came to a point where some large bird
was in the habit of sitting to tear its prey, and feathers and white feet of
hares were lying about. A great Owl flew before us, showing a beautiful
expanse of back and wings; and as we proceeded in the direction from
which it came, another large Owl rose from the face of the cliff, flew a
hundred paces forward, turned its wide face towards us, and came a short
distance back. I stopped to examine it with my glass to be quite certain
:t was S. bubo. Satisfied on this point, we only had to walk a few paces
along a ledge before the family group was in sight—two blind little puffs
covered with down just tinged with yellow, and an egg with the prisoner
inside uttering his series of four or five chirps through the window he had
made in the shell, with a voice scarcely more feeble than that of his elder
brothers. There did not seem to be much difference in the ages of the
three; they were lying upon a small quantity of compressed fur, princi-
pally of rats, the remains of the castings of the parent birds, their bed
nearly flat, for there was not more than two inches of soil. Uva-ursi
and several other plants grew near; and a small Scotch fir tree had its
trunk curiously flattened to the perpendicular rock at the back ; the ledge
was not more than two feet wide, and terminated abruptly just beyond the
nest; the rock beneath was also perpendicular. We waited at the nest a
long time in the hope that they [the parent birds] would show themselves :
but it was not till we had left it that we saw them again sitting on the top-
most shoots of spruce firs with their ears finely relieved against the sky ;
and as we were nearly in the village again they hooted with a troubled
note.” The Eagle Owl very often chooses a place for its abode similar to
that selected by the Golden Eagle, and often quite exposed and open to the
full glare of day.

The eggs of the Eagle Owl are usually three in number, sometimes only
two; but no authentic instance is on record where four or more eggs have
been found in one nest. It will thus be seen that the number of eggs laid
by the Snowy Owl is much larger ; yet the two birds occur in pretty much
the same numbers. It is therefore possible that the Snowy Owl lays more
eggs to support a greater mortality to which its more northern range exposes
it, where food is extremely precarious, and the climate so severe. ‘The

EAGLE OWL. 191

eggs are pure white, very rotund, and the shell is somewhat rough in
texture. Their superior size prevents them being confused with those
of any other species of European Owl. They measure from 2°55 to
2:1 inch in length and from 2 to 1:85 inch in breadth.

The general colour of the upper parts of the Eagle Owl is a mottled
mixture of reddish brown and dark brown; the primaries and tail trans-
versely barred. ‘The underparts are brown, palest on the breast, which is
marked with longitudinal patches of dark brown, whilst the remainder of
the under surface is marked with numerous transverse bars of dark brown.
Beak, which is nearly hidden by feathers, black; irides bright orange ;
claws black. The tufts on the head are composed of elongated dark brown
feathers barred with light brown, and form two large horns erected or
depressed at pleasure. The female bird is similar to the male, but larger
in size,

192 BRITISH BIRDS.

Genus SCOPS.

The Scops Owls were first separated from the genus Strix by Gerini
in 1767, in his ‘ Ornithologia Methodice Digesta,’ i. p. 86, under the name
of Asio, of which he enumerates seven species. As Gerini’s Asio is not
the same as the Asio of Brisson, which has been extensively adopted by
ornithologists, its retention would be liable to produce considerable con-
fusion ; and it is therefore wisest to pass it over in favour of the Scops of
Savigny (‘Systéme des Oiseaux de l’Egypte et de la Syrie,’ p. 9), esta-
blished in 1810, and of which the Striv scops of Linnzus may be fairly
considered the type.

The Scops Owls have no operculum, and the nostrils are not inflated—
characters which distinguish them from every other genus except Surnia
and Bubo. From the former they may be distinguished by their conspicuous
ear-tufts, their more compact plumage, and by the fact that the longitu-
dinal streaks on the underparts are more conspicuous than the compara-
tively obscure transverse vermiculations. From the latter they are only
generically separated for the sake of convenience, the wing never exceeding
nine inches in length, whereas in the genus Budo it is never less than
twelve.

There is nothing peculiar in the habits of these birds, which resemble
those of the Owls in general. Their eggs are pure white. There are five-
and-twenty or more species recognized by ornithologists, and as many sub-
species, in this genus.

They are almost cosmopolitan in their range, principally confined to the
tropical regions, being only found in the southern portions of the Nearctic
and Palearctic regions, and not extending into the extreme south of South
America. One species only is found in Europe, which is only an acci-
dental visitor to the British Isles.

—

THE SCOPS OWL. 193

SCOPS SCOPS.

THE SCOPS OWL.
(PLATE 7.)

Asio scops, Briss. Orn. i. p. 495, pl. xxxvii. fig. 1 (1760),

Strix scops, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 132 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum—
Temminck, Nawmann, Yarrell, (Keyserling), (Blasius), (Gray), (Salvadori),
(Schlegel), &e.

Strix giu, Scop. Ann. I. Hist. Nat. p. 19 (1769).

Stryx pulchella, Pall. Reise Russ. Reichs, i. p. 456 (1771).

Strix zorea, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 289 (1788).

Strix carnioliaca, G'mel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 290 (1788).

Scops ephialtes, Sav. Syst. Ois. de ? Egypte, p. 47 (1810).

Bubo scops (Linn.), Bote, Isis, 1822, p. 549.

Scops aldrovandi, Flem, Brit. An. p. 57 (1828).

Scops europzeus, Less. Trazté, p. 106 (1831).

Scops senegalensis, Swains. Classif. B. ii. p. 217 (1837).

Scops zorca (Gmel.), Swains. Classif. B. ii. p. 217 (1837).

Ephialtes scops (Linn.), Keys. § Blas. Wirb. Eur. p. xxxiii (1840).

Otus scops (Linn.), Schl. Rev. Crit. pp. xiv, 38 (1844).

Scops vera, Finsch, Journ. Orn, 1859, p. 881.

Ephialtes zorca (G'mel.), Jaub. § Barth. Lap. Rich. Orn. p. 78 (1859).

Scops longipennis, Kawp, Trans. Zool. Soc, iv. p. 223 (1862).

Scops giu (Scop.), Newt. Ooth. Wolley. p. 153 (1864).

The Scops Owl was first recorded as a British bird in the spring of
1805, from specimens killed in Yorkshire. One of those examples was
killed near Wetherby, and formed the subject of Bewick’s woodcut of this
species. Since that period a score or more examples have from time to
time been obtained in England, the bird being now sufficiently well known
as an accidental visitor to render a detailed account of each occurrence
unnecessary. From Scotland but one specimen has been recorded, which
was shot in Sutherlandshire in the early summer of 1854. The Scops Owl
has also occurred twice in Ireland: one, mentioned by Thompson, was shot
at Loughcrew, in co. Meath in 1837, and another at Kilmore, in Wexford,
in the spring of 1847.

The Scops Owl breeds throughout Europe south of the Baltic, wintering
in North-east Africa as far south as Abyssinia. Eastwards it breeds in
Asia Minor, Turkestan, and Persia. In North-west and West Africa
there is a resident race which is slightly smaller, but does not differ in
colour; whilst in North-east Africa and South Africa another smaller
variety (S. capensis) occurs, with shorter wings and of a dark grey colour.
In the North-west Himalayas a pale form occurs (8S. drucii), which is most
probably a fairly distinct species. In Nepal, Madras, and Malacca three

VOL. I. )

————

194 BRITISH BIRDS.

varieties occur, somewhat smaller in size, and having more rounded wings,
the first primary being shorter than the seventh, and the second primary
much shorter than the fifth. (In the European and North-west Himalayan
birds the first primary is considerably longer than the seventh, and the
second primary much longer than the fifth.) Similar small varieties
with rounded wings also occur in China, Japan, and the valley of the
Amoor.

The Scops Owl is a nocturnal bird, its note being more often heard
during the night than during the day. Its food is procured principally
during the evening; and in the daytime it is very seldom seen on the
wing. That it is not exclusively nocturnal in its habits is proved by the
observations of Dresser, who states that he not unfrequently saw it in
Spain flying about during the brightest portion of a hot summer's day.
Heuglin, in describing its habits on the Nile, where it is only a winter
visitant, also says that it is frequently seen during the daytime, frequenting
not only copses, but occasionally isolated bushes where there is scarcely
any shade. During the day it is seldom seen far from the trees where it
roosts ; but in the evening it frequents the open ground, feeding upon
grasshoppers, beetles, cockchafers, and large moths, and occasionally
catching a mouse or a shrew. Naumann says that it also picks up small
birds and frogs, and on clear nights hunts till dawn. The Scops Owl not
only frequents the country, but also comes into the gardens and avenues
of trees in many southern cities. Irby mentions that their monotonous
single note may be heard repeatedly by day as well as by night, even
in the trees which fringe the Delicias, the Rotten Row of Seville.

In Greece and Asia Minor I found it a not uncommon bird, but one
which was very rarely seen. The Little Owl was often seen in the day-
time; but the present species seemed more especially to be a nocturnal
bird. I never once met with it on the wing, but have often listened to
its monotonous note, as monotonous as a passing bell, and almost as
melancholy. ‘To my ears this note is exactly represented by the sound of
the syllable ahp repeated in an unvarying and desponding tone every ten
or twenty seconds. This bird is generally, if sparingly, distributed all
over Greece, from the seashore almost, if not quite, up to the pine-regions
on the mountains. I have often listened to its note as I lay in my camp- _
bed in a peasant’s cottage at Agoriane, halfway up the Parnassus, when it —
was almost too cold to sleep with comfort ; and I have heard it from the
hotel at Buyukdere, on the Bosphorus, when, with window wide open, the
heat made it still more difficult to pass the night in happy unconsciousness
even of ornithological sounds.

In the extreme south of Europe a few Scops Owls are to be seen during
the winter ; but by far the greatest number are migrants, arriving early
in April and leaving again in October. Immediately after its arrival the

THE SCOPS OWL. 195

old nesting-place is taken possession of, and probably used as a roosting-
place during the day; but the eggs are seldom laid before the middle of
May. The female sits very close, and can generally be caught on the
nest. Irby says that it breeds very abundantly in the cork-woods round
Gibraltar, and that the nest is very easily discovered by beating the tree
with a stick.

The Scops Owl breeds almost universally in hollow trees; but Tristram
found its nest in holes in walls, and Kriiper describes it as especially
common on the island of Naxos, laying its eggs in the scaffold-holes which
the indolent Greeks omitted to fill up in the houses. Like all the Owls,
the present species makes little or no nest, merely a little hollow scratched
out, and lined with the indigestible portions of the bird’s food. The eggs
are from five to six in number, pure white in colour, and varying in length
from 1°3 to 115 inch, and in breadth from 1:1 to 1:0 inch. The only
eggs of a British Owl with which those of the Scops Owl can be confounded
are those of the Little Owl. Small examples of the latter measure the
same as large examples of the former, but are generally rougher in texture
and not so round in shape.

The Scops Owl is the smallest British Owl. The general colour is grey,
each feather with a dark centre, vermiculated with brown of various shades.
It has two not very conspicuous ear-tufts, and may be distinguished from
every other British Owl by its bare feet, the tarsus only being feathered.
Toes brown ; claws black at tip, whitish at base; beak black ; irides yellow.
The female is similar to the male; but young birds are more rufous than
adults.

The American Screech-Owl, S. asio, an allied species to the present,
is said to have occurred twice in England. One is recorded in the
‘Naturalist,’ 1855, p. 69, as having been shot near Kirkstall Abbey
in Yorkshire in 1852; the second is mentioned by Mr. Stevenson, and is
supposed to have been killed near Yarmouth in Norfolk. The evidence
in both cases is extremely unsatisfactory.

196 BRITISH BIRDS.

Family PASSERID, or SINGING BIRDS.

The Singing Birds, together with three other families* (of which there
are no representatives in Europe), constitute what are frequently called
the true Passeres, the great central group of dominant birds—by far the
most numerous in genera and species, yet exhibiting few anatomical
differences inter se—the most highly developed, and yet at the same time
the most cosmopolitan of birds. They may indeed be said to be absolutely
cosmopolitan, being found throughout the world, except on such rocky
coasts where no bird can exist which does not obtain its food from the
water.

The Passeres are the typical birds, the great central apex of the genea-
logical tree, very nearly related to each other, and surrounded by outlying
families or. branches much more distantly related, and consequently pre-
senting important anatomical characters by which to separate them from
the great central group and from each other.

The Passeres are the true Aves; the other families are the failures, the
least developed descendants of the intermediate forms which once connected
Birds and Reptiles, families containing comparatively few genera and
species, some fast dying out, but so widely separated from each other that
to trace their relationship we should have to go back almost to the roots
of the genealogical tree. So obscure indeed is this connexion that orni-
thologists cannot decide in some cases (the so-called Ratite, for imstance)
whether they form one family or great group, or are the remnants of
several distantly connected groups.

The Passeride are separated from the other three families to which
they are most nearly allied by a peculiar structure of the singing-appa-
ratus at the lower end of the windpipe; but this apparently exhausts
the anatomical characters which our physiologists have been able to discover,
and leaves us with nearly half the known species of birds so closely

related to each other that no known internal characters exist by which
they may be subdivided.

* Sclater (Ibis, 1880, p. 345) divides his order Passeres into four suborders :—Oscines,
comprising about 4550 species (nearly half the species of birds known), principally found
in the Old World, but many peculiar to the New; Oligomyode, comprising about 550
species, principally found in the New World, but some peculiar to the Old ; Zracheophone,
comprising about 500 species confined to the New World; and Pseudoscines, comprising
half a dozen species confined to Australia,

TURDINA. 197

Tn order to divide the Passerid@ into subfamilies we have to rely entirely
upon external characters, many of which may be of very recent origin,
and developed by a common cause simultaneously from several centres, so
that our classification must be more or less an artificial one, and in many
cases, no doubt, not corresponding with genealogical relationship. So
unreliable as a test of family connexion are these external characters, that
a humorous ornithologist has said “that no external characters are so
unreliable as the form of the beak and the feet, except the shape of the
wings and tail”! The wisest course is to acknowledge our ignorance, and
accept an admittedly artificial classification until future discoveries reveal
a natural system.

The British species of birds belonging to the Passeride may be arranged
in the following subfamilies :—

Turpriv&, or Thrushes. SrurNIN», or Starlings.
Sytvunz, or Warblers. FRINGILLINA, or Finches.
Parin&, or Tits. HirunDININ», or Swallows.
CorvIN&, or Crows. MoTaciLuinz®, or Wagtails.
Lan, or Shrikes, ALAUDIN#, or Larks,

AMPELIN#, or Waxwings.

The order in which these subfamilies should be arranged and their
mutual relationship remain a mystery. The Alaudine and the Hirundinine
are probably the most aberrant, and ought perhaps to be placed at the
outside. It is impossible to say which is the central or most typical
group ; the Turdine, Sylviine, Corvine, and Fringilline have equal claims
to the distinction.

Subfamily TURDIN&, orn THRUSHES.

The Thrushes and their allies form a large group of birds so nearly related
to the Warblers and the Tits, that it is impossible to draw a hard and fast
line between them. Their chief character consists in having the front as
well as the back of the tarsus covered with one long plate instead of several
smaller ones; but this peculiarity is often absent in young birds, and is
also to he found in some of the smaller Tits and Warblers, especially in
old birds, where the scutella become confluent. In the other sub-
families the scutellation of the tarsus is generally well marked, The
bill in this family is very variable. It is usually slender, a typical
insectivorous bill; but in some genera it is widened to adapt it to catch
insects on the wing. It is not always furnished with rictal bristles.
There is usually an almost obsolete notch or indentation near the tip, but

198 BRITISH BIRDS.

never a Raptorial tooth as in the Shrikes. The bastard primary is always
present—a character which separates the Thrushes from the Wagtails and
the Swallows, and also from all the British Finches. In the British
examples of the Turdine it is sometimes very small, but never so minute
as in the Starlings and in the Waxwings. In all of them, however, it is
much narrower than the second primary, and not half as long, a character
which will serve to distinguish the British Thrushes from the Crows. The
young in first plumage differ from the adults in having the upper and
underparts more or less spotted; but they moult into adult plumage in
their first autumn before they migrate. Adults moult only in the autumn,
usually attaining their nuptial dress by casting the ends of the feathers,
which deepen in colour at the same time. The Turdine are nearly cosmo-
politan, and probably number more than seven hundred species, of which
about one hundred are European. Nearly one third of these inhabit our
islands, or visit them more or less regularly. The British Turdine belong
to ten genera. Many of these are so closely related, that they can only
be recognized by courtesy or as a matter of convenience. There are no
structural characters on which to form a key to the genera. The chief
character which has been relied upon is the pattern of the colours, which
will be described in each genus.

Genus GEOCICHLA.

The genus Geocichla is supposed to have been established by Kuhl
about the year 1825; and Geocichla interpres is considered the type;
but the original publication of this genus has not yet been found, and is
probably in some obscure Dutch periodical. It contains a number of
Thrushes distinguished as Ground-Thrushes, and supposed to be the least
changed descendants of the ancestors of the true Thrushes and Ouzels. They
are characterized by having the basal portion of the outside web of all the
secondaries and of many of the primaries white, occasionally tinted with
buff, but abruptly defined from the brown of the rest of the quills, and
forming a peculiar pattern on the under surface of the wing. The axil-
laries are particoloured, the basal half being white, and the terminal half
black, slate-grey, or brown. Most of the under wing-coverts are similarly
particoloured ; but the relative position of the colours is reversed, the white
portion being on the terminal half. These characters serve to distinguish
them from all other allied genera.

The genus Geocichla contains about forty species, principally confined
to the Oriental and Aithiopian Regions. Three species of the genus

GEOCICHLA. 199

are not tropical—one breeding in Western North America, and two in
Eastern Siberia. Of these latter, individuals occasionally take the wrong
route of migration in autumn, and wander into Europe, sometimes as far
as our islands.

The Ground-Thrushes are par excellence ground-Thrushes, and frequent
trees and shrubs far less frequently than the Thrushes or Ouzels. They
haunt dense groves and jungles, as well as the ground in the open parts of
the woodlands. These birds possess considerable powers of song. Their
food consists of worms, grubs, insects, fruits, berries, &e. They all build
open nests, made of dried grasses, rootlets, moss, and mud, placing them
at various heights from the ground in trees and bushes. Their eggs, three
to five in number, vary from pale bluish green to dark bluish green in
ground-colour, spotted and freckled with rufous-brown.

200 BRITISH BIRDS.

GEOCICHLA VARIA.

WHITE’S GROUND-THRUSH.
(Puare 8.)

a

Turdus aureus, Holandre, Ann. de Verr. 1825, p. 310.
Turdus varius, Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-As. i. p. 449 (1826); et auctorum plurimorum
—Gould, Macgillivray, Temminck, Homeyer, Radde, Gray, Newton, Tweeddale,
Dresser, Swinhoe, &e.
Turdus squamatus, Bote, Isis, 1835, p. 251,
Turdus whitei, Eyton, Rarer Brit. B. p. 92 (1836).
Oreocincla whitei (Eyton), Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1837, p. 186.
Oreocinela varia (Paill.), Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1837, p. 186. :
Oreocincla aurea (Hol.), Bonap. Cat. Uce. Eur, p. 34 (1842).
Turdus lunulatus, Lath. apud Blas. List B. Eur. p. 9 (1862).
Turdus dauma, Lath. apud Pelzeln, Verh. k.-k. zool.-bot. Gesell. Wien, 1871, p. 703.
Geocichla varia (Pall.), Seebohm, Cat. B. Brit, Mus. v. p. 151 (1881).
|
;
4
;
’

This handsome bird has occurred in the British Islands at least a dozen
times. The first record is that of a bird which was taken during the ~
winter of 1828. This specimen was announced as new to the British fauna
by the late Mr. Eyton, who, erroneously believing the bird to be unde-
scribed, named it in honour of Gilbert White, of Selborne, as a just and
fitting tribute to one who did so much for the cause of natural history.
In England the bird has been obtained in several of the southern and
south-midland counties, once in Norfolk, twice in Yorkshire, and once
in Durham, In Ireland it has been obtained twice—one specimen in
South Cork and the other in the county of Longford. Most of these
specimens were taken in the depth of winter, two in spring, and one in
autumn. On the continent of Europe it has occurred perhaps a dozen times,
besides five or six times on the island of Heligoland. Gaetke’s examples
are among the gems of his unrivalled museum. The occurrence of White’s
Thrush in Europe can only be considered accidental, though accidents
_ of this kind happen regularly. After the breeding-season is over in the
Arctic regions the great stream of migration which passes from north to .
south through Central Siberia appears to divide before it reaches the —
mountains of Mongolia, to avoid the deserts beyond. Some species of —
birds turn east, and others west; and of the species which Nature has
ordained to winter east, some individuals, probably for the most part young
birds who have never migrated before, lose their way and get into the
wrong stream, and thus find their way into Europe as strangers from the
east, some of whom fall into Gactke’s hands on Heligoland every year.

The breeding-ground and true home of this fine bird is South-central

]
ij

WHITE’S GROUND-THRUSH. 201

and South-eastern Siberia and North China. It winters in South Japan,
South-west China, and the Philippine Islands, occasionally straying
as far west as Sumatra. The limit of its western range in summer is
difficult to ascertain, but is possibly confined to the watershed of the
Yenesay and the Lena. It was obtained by Gmelin* at Krasnoyarsk ; and
on the shores of Lake Baikal Dybowski records it as common at the
migration-seasons.

The haunts of this bird are but little known. It has always been found
in well-wooded districts (chiefly mountain-woods), well-timbered banks of
streams, gardens, and wooded plains. The specimens that have occurred
in the British Islands have all been taken in similar situations to those of
its true eastern home. Mr. R. Tomes describes the capture of the
specimen obtained in Gloucestershire (‘Ibis, 1859, p. 379) as follows :—
“IT may commence by stating that the village of Welford, five miles west
of Stratford-on-Avon, where the specimen was obtained, is situated in a
bend of the Avon, and that the soil is a rich alluvium. Its position is
highly favourable for the growth of timber and fruit-trees; and it is well
shrouded in orchards and small enclosures, fringed with their hedgerows
and ivied elms, affording a favourite haunt for many of the smaller birds,
with a good supply of cherries and other fruits in the summer months,
and of berries through the autumn and winter seasons. From a cherry-
orchard, a few miles down stream, I obtained, a few years since, a specimen
of the Rose-coloured Pastor; and Starlings and Thrushes abound. - Of
insect-feeders there is an equally good supply; and I have had more than
one opportunity of imspecting the nesting of the Lesser Spotted Wood-
pecker.

“Jn a small grass inclosure immediately adjoining the village, and
thickly surrounded by elms, a friend of mine observed a bird rise from a
dry leafy ditch, which, at the first glance, was mistaken for a Woodcock,
but soon recognized as one of the Thrush kind. This happened on the
6th of January ; and on hearing the account I stimulated further search,
but without effect until the 23rd of that month, when the bird was again
flushed from the same inclosure, and, as before, from the bottom of a dry
ditch amongst dead leaves. Again on the 26th it rose from the same
ditch, and within a few yards of the same spot. On each occasion it was
busied in turning over the dead leaves, from beneath which it appears to
have taken its food. Although Blackbirds, Thrushes, and Missel-Thrushes
were abundant and seen at the same time feeding on the ivy and hawthorn-
berries, the present bird was always observed to resort only to the trees or
hedges when disturbed, and then merely as a place of rest, remaining for

* J.G. Gmelin the Siberian traveller, not J. F. Gmelin, the compiler of the 13th
edition of Linnzeus,

202 BRITISH BIRDS.

some time perched in an upright position in one spot, without noticing
the berries or the species feeding on them. Its flight, when roused from
its feeding, was very undulating, like that of the Green Woodpecker, and
low, often settling on the ground, and only making choice of a tree when
it happened to pass under one, into which it rose almost vertically. As far
as its habits could be ascertained from these short opportunities of obser-
yation, it would appear to be almost entirely a ground feeder.”

The above description of the habits of White’s Ground-Thrush accords
well with what little is known respecting them in the bird’s true haunts.
All the Thrushes are, to a certain extent, ground feeders ; but the members
of this genus (Geocichla) are, par excellence, “ ground”’-Thrushes. Beetles,
grubs, spiders, worms, and mollusks, found on the ground in humid situa-
tions, at the foot of trees, under shrubs, and amongst withered leaves,
evidently form its favourite food; and its beautifully mottled plumage
blends closely with the tints of surrounding objects, as the Woodcock’s
russet dress hides him so effectually from view as he sits so quietly amongst
the withered autumn leaves. But various berries are also eaten, notably
those of the banyan. These berries are most probably eaten as fruits, just
as garden fruit is eaten by many of our own insectivorous birds.

As to the bird’s claims to the rank of a songster we are still in doubt.

No one has yet informed us what his love-song is, or whether he is ‘silent?

A closely allied bird, the “ Mountain-Thrush” of the Australian colo-
nists (Geocichla lunulata), was never heard to sing by Gould during his
sojourn in its favourite haunts. But, judging from analogy, it seems
probable that the bird has a song, and that when its habits are better
known to naturalists we shall have a confirmation of this. Its call-note
is somewhat different from that of the Song-Thrush ; and when passing
through the air on migration it occasionally utters a_ melodious whistling
ery.

The only record of the nest of White’s Thrush being taken is of that
obtained by Swinhoe in North China, published in Rowley’s ‘ Ornithological
Miscellany,’ vol. ii. p. 256. Mr. Swinhoe writes :— It was not until I got
to Ningpo, in 1872, that I found that White’s Thrush spent the summer
in the wooded parts of the hills around that neighbourhood ; and I thence
conclude that it resides in similar hills, in summer, all down the coast of
China, resorting to the plains and gardens in its winter migrations. In
May 1872 I resided for a time at a large temple near Ningpo called ‘Chin-
hooze,’ in the midst of woods situated on a hillside. Some boys pointed
to a nest hidden in the upper branches of a high pine tree, and asked if
they should climb to it. Thinking it was a Blackbird’s, I assented, and
then wandered away. Soon after I met the boys, who carried in their
hands the nest (to all appearance that of a Blackbird), with three eggs,
which, though so like a Blackbird’s, had the dots so minute that they

. ee cen ls al el

WHITH’S GROUND-THRUSH. 203

struck me as being of an allied species, probably the Oreocincla. I went
back to the tree; and on the bough where the nest had been were the
parent birds in trouble at their loss. I saw them distinctly, and recognized
them as being of this species.”

This nest, with two of the eggs, is now in my collection. It was built
on a fork on a horizontal pine-branch, and is about 24 inches deep inside,
and about 4 inches outside, 7 inches in outer and 43 inches in inner dia-
meter. The outside is composed of withered rushes, fine and coarse grass,
and moss, with an occasional twig and withered leaf, and plastered most
copiously with mud. Here and there are a few pieces of some green weed,
apparently conveyed in the mud from the swamps. The inside is lined
with a thick coating of mud, like the nests of our own Ring-Ouzel or Black-
bird ; and is then finally lined with fibrous rootlets, quite as coarse as those
the Magpie uses, and one or two pieces of sedgy grass. In general ap-
pearance the nest resembles most closely a common Magpie’s without the
sticks—just the mere cup, and is far more coarsely made than the nests of
the true Thrushes. The eggs, greenish white with minute reddish spots,
were three, although most probably the full number had not been laid.
They resemble those of the Missel-Thrush ; but the ground-colour is slightly
paler, and the spots much finer, more numerous, and more evenly distri-
buted. They measure 1:2 inch in length and 0°9 inch in breadth.

The whole upper plumage of White’s Thrush, which is ochraceous brown,
and the under plumage, which is white, tinged with buff on the breast, is
boldly marked with black crescentic spots. The wings are brown, margined
with buff; and the wing-coverts also are tipped with the same colour. The
tail, which is composed of fourteen feathers, has the four central ones
ochraceous brown, the rest dark brown, all more or less broadly tipped with
white. Bull brown above, pale below. Legs and feet yellowish brown.
Irides dark brown. The sexes are presumably the same.

White’s Thrush has many very near allies ; but most of them may at
once be distinguished by having only twelve tail-feathers. Two, however,
have fourteen tail-feathers: one (Geocichla hancii) is simply a greyer-
coloured bird, which may be regarded as little more than a local race
that has apparently become a resident in the island of Formosa; the
other is an unquestionably good species (Geocichla horsfieldi), which is a
resident in the island of Java. In this species the general colour of the
upper parts is ochraceous brown instead of olive-brown, and the pale
ochraceous brown subterminal spots, which are found in White’s Thrush
on the feathers of both the head and back, are confined to the head only,
The wing, probably in consequence of its having ceased to migrate, has
become rounder, the second primary being intermediate in length between
the fifth and sixth, instead of between the fourth and fifth.

204 BRITISH BIRDS. .
GEOCICHLA SIBIRICA. |
SIBERIAN GROUND-THRUSH.
Turdus sibiricus, Pall. Reis. Russ. Reichs, iii. p. 694 (1776); et auctorum pluri- |
morum— Vieillot, Temminck, Gould, Bonaparte, Gray, Newton, Dresser, &c. i
Turdus auroreus, Pallas, Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. 1. p. 448 (1826, 2). ;
Turdus leucocillus, Pallas, Zoog:. Rosso-Asiat. i. p. 450 (1826, ¢). .
Turdus atrocyaneus, Homeyer, Isis, 1843, p. 604.
Turdus mutabilis, Temm. fide Bonap. Compt. Rend. Xxxviii. p. 5 (1854).
Cichloselys sibiricus (Pall.), Bonap. Cat. Parzud. p. 5 (1856).
Grescincla sibirica (Pall.), Jaub. et Barth.-Lapomm. Rich. Orn. p. 202 (1859).
Oreocincla inframarginata, Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. xxix. p. 106 (1860).
Turdus inframarginatus (Blyth), Gray, Hand-l. B. i. p. 254 (1869).
Geocichla mutabilis (Temm.), S. Miller, fide Blyth, Ibis, 1870, p. 167.
Merula sibirica (Pall.), Dyb. Journ. Orn. 1872, p. 437.

Turdulus sibiricus (Pall.), Hume, Stray Feath. vi. p. 255 (1878).
Geocichla sibirica (Pall.), Seebohm, Cat. B. Brit. Mus, v. p. 180 (1881). ;

t

The only claim of the Siberian Ground-Thrush to be included in the list
of British birds rests upon a single example which was sent to Mr. Bond ~
by a dealer who informed him that it was a variety of the Redwing that —
had been shot between Guildford and Godalming in the winter of 1860-61.
The evidence is not very satisfactory. There can be no doubt that dealers
are under very great temptation to pass off foreign skins as British-killed.
Although it is the boast of Englishmen that they are more truth-speaking
than any other race, it is unfortunately the fact that amongst our shop-
keepers and merchants there are many who do not scruple to le for the
sake of gain. But although ornithologists are perfectly justified in looking
with suspicion upon examples of rare birds whose only authentication as
British-killed is the word of a dealer, there does not seem to be any
reasonable ground for doubt in the present case. Twenty years ago skins
of the Siberian Ground-Thrush were so rare in collections that it would
have been extremely difficult for a dealer to procure one, and the price was
so high that the temptation to obtain an extra profit by passing a foreign
skin off as British can scarcely be said to have existed. So far as is known,
the Siberian Ground-Thrush is confined during the breeding-season to
Eastern Siberia; and this fact may of itself be supposed to be an argu-
ment against its occurrence on our shores, were it not for the circumstance —
that the accidental appearance of Siberian birds in Europe is so common.
One of the most extraordinary facts connected with that most extraordinary
island of Heligoland is that these accidental occurrences occur almost re-
gularly. I am not aware that the Siberian Ground-Thrush has occurred
on Heligoland ; but I have lately examined a female of this species in the
collection of my friend Eugene von Homeyer which was shot on the 25th
of August 1851 at Elbing, near the Guif of Danzig. Other occurrences in —
Europe have been recorded, from the Hartz Mountains, from Upper Silesia,

4

SIBERIAN GROUND-THRUSH. 205

from the Lower Oder, from the island of Riigen, from France, Belgium,
Italy, and Turkey. The Siberian Ground-Thrush breeds in the valleys of
the Yenesay and the Lena, between lat. 67° and 68°, and also near Yokohama
in Japan. It winters in China, Burma, Sumatra, and Java, and has once
occurred on the Andaman Islands.

When Dresser’s ‘ Birds of Europe’ was written nothing whatever was
known of its habits or its breeding-haunts. I am sorry that I cannot give
many particulars respecting these. When I was in Siberia I occasionally
caught a hasty glimpse of a dark-coloured Thrush with a very conspicuous
white eyebrow, not far from the village of Koorayika on the Arctic circle,
whilst the remains of the ice were still straggling down the Yenesay. It
was an extremely shy and wary bird; and though I occasionally saw it
crossing the open ground between the birch-plantations, I did not succeed
in shooting one until the 19th of June. I was then walking in a dense
birch-plantation ; the leaves were not yet out on the trees; and a fortnight
before the ground had been covered with a thick bed of snow. This had
melted and exposed a thick bed of leaves, the accumulation of many years.
As I was walking along I noticed a bird at some distance before me on the
ground, and presently caught sight of its white eyebrow. The bird was
very busy searching for food amongst the dead leaves ; and I had the good
fortune to secure it. It proved to be a fine male in adult plumage. I saw
one or two afterwards in the same locality, but was unable to get within
shot. I did not see it further north than the Koorayika ; but my travelling
companion, Mr. Boiling, assured me that he saw one in lat. 68°, and I found
that it was well known to the inhabitants as the Chérnoi Drézht, or Black
Thrush. They informed me that it was by no means uncommon during
the breeding-season at Toorokansk. Messrs. Blakiston and Pryer, in their
notes on the Birds of Japan (Ibis, 1878, p. 241), state that this bird is
possessed of a not very loud but sweet song, for which reason it is a favourite
cage-bird there. Nothing whatever is known of its eggs or nest.

The male bird is dark slate-grey, with a very conspicuous white eyebrow,
and with the centre of the belly, the tips of the under tail-coverts, a spot at
the end of the outside tail-feather on each side, and the peculiar Geocichline
pattern on the under surface of the wing pure white. Bill black ; legs very
light brown ; irides dark hazel. The female differs from the male in having
the upper parts olive-brown, shading into dull slate-grey on the rump and
upper tail-coverts ; eye-stripe buff, shading into white on the nape; wings
and wing-coverts russet-brown ; underparts white, shading into brown on the
flanks, and into buff on the breast, each feather tipped with olive-brown.
Males of the year are suffused with brown on the head and wings, and have
ochraceous tips to the greater and some of the median wing-coverts ; the

chin and throat are also suffused with ochraceous, and the throat and breast
are barred.

206 BRITISH BIRDS.

Genus TURDUS.

The genus Turdus was established by Linnzus in 1766, in his ‘ Systema
Naturee,’i. p. 291, and 7. viscivorus has by common consent been accepted
asthe type. It contains the true Thrushes, which may be distinguished from
the Ground-Thrushes by not having the peculiar Geocichline pattern on the
wing, and from the Ouzels by having the throat streaked and the sexes
alike.

The true Thrushes are most abundant in the Neotropical Region, whence
about five and twenty species have been described, and in the Aithiopian
Region, where about a dozen species are resident. Half a dozen species or
more are peculiar to the Nearctic Region, whilst in the Palearctic Region
only five species occur, of which two are residents in our islands and two
winter visitors.

The 'Thrushes are closely connected with the Ouzels. The haunts they
affect are almost entirely arboreal; and in their habits they do not differ
from the Ouzels. ‘They are even more sociable than the preceding group
of birds. Like them they possess great powers of song, being probably
amongst the finest songsters in the world. They all build open nests, well
made and compact, of dry grass, sticks, moss, and mud, and place them
usually in bushes, sometimes high up in the branches of trees, and more
rarely on the ground. Their eggs are from four to six in number, varying
from clear bluish green to green in ground-colour, spotted and mottled
with various shades of brown. Their food also does not differ from that of
the Ouzels.

THE MISSEL-THRUSH. 207

TURDUS VISCIVORUS.

THE MISSEL-THRUSH.
(Pare 8.)

Turdus major, Briss. Orn, i. p. 200 (1760).

Turdus viscivorus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 291 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum—
Latham, Pallas, Temminck, Naumann, Bonaparte, Newton, Gould, Sharpe,
Dresser, &e.

Sylvia viscivora (Zinn.), Savi, Orn. Tose. i. p. 208 (1827).

Ixocossyphus viscivorus (Linn.), Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 145 (1829).

Merula viscivora (Linn.), Selby, Brit. Orn. i. p. 158 (1833).

The “ Stormeock,” as this bird is popularly called, is one of those few
species which, during the progress of very recent times, has extended its
range in the British Islands. This extension has taken a northerly direction,
and may be attributed to a variety of causes—tree-planting and the laying-
out of shrubberies and pleasure-grounds being possibly the chief encourage-
ment. So far as the earlier history of the Missel-Thrush has been recorded,
the bird was an inhabitant of the sheltered places, the pastoral districts of
the lowlands; but from them it has gradually spread itself over more
isolated and northerly plantations, woods, and coppices, up to the moor-
land wastes. It may now be said to be a common bird in most sufficiently
wooded localities throughout Great Britain and Ireland, becoming rather
more local and rarer in the extreme north. The Missel-Thrush has
gradually spread itself over the Western Isles of Scotland. In Skye
Missel-Thrushes were fairly numerous up to the severe winter of 1879-80,
since which time the birds have almost entirely disappeared again. Dixon
during his stay in the season of 1881 found ene nest of this bird on the
wooded banks of a burn; but new the bird is certainly a rare one there.
Upon the Orkneys it is sometimes found after easterly gales—hirds most
probably blown out of their course during migration; but it has not yet
been recorded from Shetland. Upon the European continent the Missel-
Thrush breeds throughout the temperate portions, extending on the west
coast as far north as the Arctic circle. LEastwards it ranges through
Turkestan to the North-west Himalayas and Lake Baikal. In many of
the milder portions of its haunts the bird is resident, or is subject to in-
ternal migration from the hills to the valleys; but by far the greater
number winter in Southern Europe and North Africa, a few birds remain-
ing to breed in the former locality, the Siberian birds wintering in South
Persia, and the Indian ones seeking the lower valleys and sheltered districts
at that season.

208 BRITISH BIRDS.

The haunts of the Missel-Thrush are considerably diversified, the rich,
well-cultivated districts and the borders of the moorlands being equally
tenanted by them. In the former situation it 1s usually found in the
neighbourhood of large gardens, in orchards, shrubberies, small woods, and
plantations, and especially in well-wooded parks and pleasure-grounds.
On the borders of the upland wilds it frequents the fir-plantations, wooded
roughs, and the banks of mountain-streams and coppices of birch and
alder. The Missel-Thrush is found in Great Britain throughout the year;
but it is subject to some little internal migration. For instance, the birds.
that frequent the upland districts in summer retire to the lower lands in
winter ; and birds from the more isolated woods and coppices draw nearer
to the cultivated districts should the weather be severe. But these re-
marks apply to our indigenous birds alone. The rigours of a northern
winter send the Missel-Thrush southwards; and considerable numbers of
these migrants remain on our shores throughout the winter, arriving at
the same time as the Fieldfare, with which bird they often associate.
Although for the greater part of the year the Missel-Thrush is a non-
gregarious bird, still in the early autumn, when the breeding-season is
over, and the young birds are strong on the wing, a sociable disposition
manifests itself. The birds are then seen in little parties; and as the
autumn progresses they congregate in considerable flocks, very often being
mistaken for early arrivals of Fieldfares. At this season the Missel-
Thrushes are extremely wild and wary, and are usually seen on the turnip-
fields or newly-ploughed lands in the early morning, and later in the
day on the grass-fields and stubbles. In the turnip-fields they choose
the parts where the crop has been cleared off, and, as a rule, do not skulk
under the broad leaves, like the Song-Thrush ; but they are, nevertheless,
easily alarmed, and take wing the instant danger threatens, rising into the
air, and flying from tree to tree, uttering their harsh and grating cries
both as they fly and when they are at rest in the tree-tops. As the year
begins to wane and the leafless twigs tell of the approach of winter, these
bands of Missel-Thrushes, from some unknown cause, disperse; and for
the rest of the winter the birds either live in solitude or congregate in
small parties only. Although in the nesting-season few birds excel the
Missel-Thrush in trustfulness, at all other times of the year he is a shy
and wary bird, and rarely comes near houses, save when hard pressed for
food. Missel-Thrushes, as a rule, fly much higher than Song-Thrushes
or Blackbirds. They are capable of flying with great swiftness, and have
considerable command over themselves in the air—witness their motions
round the head of an intruder when in the neighbourhood of their nest.
At other times they fly with a series of rapid beats with but short intervals
of cessation, and with but very little undulation. The Missel-Thrush

THE MISSEL-THRUSH. 209

when about to alight on a tree usually ascends some little distance to a
perching-place. It is a decided inhabitant of trees and shrubs, except
when in search of food, which for eight months in the year is found chiefly
on the ground. The remaining four months he is for the most part a
berry feeder, although, if the weather be mild and open, we find him
pretty frequently on the grasslands in company with the Redwing.

The Missel-Thrush is partly graminivorous and partly insectivorous,
according to the season of the year. In the spring and summer it is seen
on the pastures just as frequently as the Blackbird; but, unlike that
species and the Song-Thrush, it never seeks its food under the evergreens
and hedgerows, but always in the open. On the grass it obtains earth-
worms, snails (both those with and those without shells), larve of
various kinds, and insects. In the late summer, and throughout the
autumn, fruit and berries are largely sought after. This fare is obtained
in gardens as well as woods, and is composed of cherries, gooseberries,
raspberries, and in the upland districts the various moor fruit and the
berries of the mountain-ash. The berries of the service-tree in the
autumn months are perhaps more eagerly sought after by the Missel-
Thrush than any other food. Where the trees are covered with fruit the
birds may be seen incessantly, frequenting them until they are entirely
stripped. In late autumn and in early spring, when sowing-operations
are in progress, the Missel-Thrush will frequent the fields and pick up the
scattered grain, varying this fare with grubs and insects. In winter the
bird is to a great extent a wanderer. Its food is largely composed of
berries of the hawthorn ; and, like the Fieldfare, it wanders from one district
to another. The berry that is perhaps most closely associated with the
Missel-Thrush is that of the famous parasite the misseltoe. Popular
opinion regards this waxen berry as the staple food of the ‘‘ Stormcock,” and
_ assumes that the bird is the principal disseminator of this parasitic plant.
Pliny even propounded the startling theory that the berries of this plant
will not germinate unless they have previously passed through the intes-
tines of birds, notably of the Missel-Thrush! This bird does not eat the
berries of the misseltoe to such an extent as is popularly believed. In
districts where this plant abounds it is rarely found denuded of its berries,
although the Missel-Thrush may be the commonest of birds in the neigh-
bourhood. The berries of the hawthorn, the ivy, and the service-tree are
its staple food in the winter season. It is not at all improbable, however,
that when the birds do occasionally eat the berries of the misseltoe the
seeds are disseminated by their clinging to the bill of the bird, who, to rid
itself of them, cleans it on the bark, and thus unwittingly places them in
some crevice where they eventually germinate. The Missel-Thrush sings
throughout the winter. In early autumn, after being silent throughout
the breeding-season, he regains his powers of song, and may be heard to

VOL. I, P

210 BRITISH BIRDS.
sing until the nesting-season in the following spring. No sooner has this
time arrived than the “Stormcock” drops his wild melody, and, unlike
all his congeners, performs the duties of breeding in silence. The song
resembles in some of its tones that of the Song-Thrush and Blackbird ;
but it possesses a peculiar loudness and wild variation strictly its own, and

may, by one who pays attention to the songs of birds, be instantly dis-
tinguished from the notes of any other British songster. Like the notes
of the Ring-Ouzel, it is somewhat monotonous, but rich and mellow.
Before the first streak of dawn shoots across the dull wintery sky, the
Missel-Thrush may be heard pouring forth his wild carol; and in the
evening, when the dusk is falling, he sings equally well. But perhaps
the time the “ Stormcock’s” song is heard to best advantage is on some
wild day when part of his performance is drowned by the storm. Perched
on the leafless branches of a lofty tree, he sits and warbles forth his song
amidst the driving sleet and the roaring tempest. Should you disturb the
Missel-Thrush when singing, he usually drops silently down and awaits
your departure, though sometimes he merely retires to a neighbouring
tree and warbles as sweetly as before. The call-notes of the Missel-Thrush
are extremely harsh and discordant, resembling those of the Song-Thrush,
yet infinitely louder and harsher.

Missel-Thrushes pair about the first week in February, and at that
season they are very pugnacious; and when paired they often frequent
the locality of their nest weeks before a twig is laid in furtherance of it.

Very probably, on account of its exceptional wariness of disposition, the
Missel-Thrush prefers somewhat different nesting-sites, and, to a certain
extent, breeding-grounds, from those of its near allies the Song-Thrush and
the Blackbird. Still much of this inherent wariness disappears in the breed-
ing-season, and it will frequently rear its young in the most exposed situa-
tions. The Missel-Thrush is an early breeder, commencing in some cases
in February ; and two (and sometimes three) broods are reared in the season.
Its nest may be found on most of the forest trees, and but rarely in the bushes.
The birch-copses, larch-plantations, woods, and orchards are its favourite
haunts, and in some cases trees standing alone, especially a road-side oak
orelm. A favourite situation is the alder trees bordering a stream, even on
the banks of the mountain-torrents on the moorlands. The nest is built at
various heights, sometimes only a few feet from the ground, at others near
the topmost branches. You never find it in the slender twigs, but either
placed on some horizontal bough away from the trunk, or on a suitable fork
of the main stem. Instances are known of the bird building in evergreens,
only a few feet from the ground; but such cases are exceptions; indeed

this bird seems to have a peculiar aversion to using evergreens for a nesting-
place.

THE MISSEL-THRUSH. 211

No other British Thrush exposes its nest in such a seemingly careless
manner as the “ Stormcock;” yet it is surprising how often it escapes
detection in its open position until the young are safely reared. This
may be partly attributed to the bird’s quietness of disposition; for few
birds are so silent in the breeding-season, until it is aware that its nest is
discovered. Probably few other British bird’s nests exceed in _pictu-
resqueness the home of this Thrush. There is a peculiar rustic beauty
about it which few others possess. Like the nest of the Blackbird (indeed
of all the Thrushes), it undergoes three distinct stages before completion.
First, the outside is composed of grass, chickweed, bog-moss, and often
large masses of wool, through which are artfully woven a few slender
twigs to strengthen the sides of the structure. This nest is lined with
mud or clay; and, lastly, a very thick lining of grass, usually in a green
state, completes the work. No attempt at concealment is made; indeed
it seems that the birds rather court discovery than otherwise; for it is no
uncommon thing to see a large piece of wool hanging loosely from a nest,
or a portion of the nest itself so lightly put together as to cause it to arrest
the attention at once. The eggs of the Missel-Thrush very rarely exceed
four in number, and in but very few cases are less. They are somewhat
different from the typical Thrush’s eggs, being of a greyer tinge. The
ground-colour ranges from bluish white to reddish brown, spotted, blotched,
and clouded with various shades of rich purplish brown and with greyish
underlying spots. They vary considerably in size, form, and colour, very
often in the same clutch. They vary in length from 1°32 to 1:03 inch,
and in breadth from 0°94 to 0°8 inch.

Missel-Thrushes are amongst the noisiest of birds should their nest be
menaced by danger. Uttering their harsh grating cries, they fly round
the intruder’s head and do their best to make him quit its vicinity. No
Thrush is bolder or more vigilant; and the Magpie, the Jay, and even the
Sparrow-Hawk are often frightened away by the vigour of their attack.

The Missel-Thrush, from its superiority of size, cannot readily be mis-
taken for any other British Thrush. Its colouring is chaste, the whole
upper parts being olive-brown, more or less suffused with rufous on the
back; the underparts are white, boldly spotted with large dark brown
fan-shaped spots. Bill dark brown, paler at the base. Legs pale brown.
Irides dark brown. Its pure white axillaries will serve to distinguish it
from all other British Thrushes except from the Fieldfare, whose slate-
grey rump contrasts strongly with the ochraceous brown rump of the
Missel-Thrush.

Eastern examples of this species from Turkestan and North-west India
are slightly greyer in the general colour of the upper parts, and are, on
an average, larger in size, European examples varying in length of wing
from 61 to 5:6 inch, whilst examples from Turkestan and India vary from

p2

~

212 BRITISH BIRDS.

67 to 6:0 inch. In Asia Minor intermediate forms, however, occur,
varying in length of wing from 6°15 to 5°85 inch. Some ornithologists
consider the Eastern form a distinct species, which they recognize under
the name of Turdus hodgsoni; but as intermediate forms occur, it can only
rank as a subspecies or local race.

American ornithologists would undoubtedly call this bird 7. viscivorus,
var. hodgsoni. There can be no doubt that this form of nomenclature,
though somewhat complicated, has the great advantage of showing at a
glance the affinities of the bird. It is impossible for our nomenclature to
denote the degree of relationship which exists between species. To
attempt to express this would be to return to the old mode of designating
a species by a sentence. Were these local varieties rare, ornithologists
would not have much difficulty in remembering which names only repre-
sented subspecific forms ; but modern researches have shown us many
local varieties, and there can be little doubt that many more remain
to be discovered. If we still retain the binomial system of nomenclature
for all these local races, our catalogues of birds will be doubled if not
trebled in length, and will become exceedingly misleading. I see no other
alternative to avoid this except to join our American ornithologists in
reviving the system of nomenclature originally proposed by Linnzus and
already adopted by botanists.

THE SONG-THRUSH. 213

TURDUS MUSICUS.

THE SONG-THRUSH.
(PLate 8.)

Turdus minor, Briss. Orn. il. p. 205 (1760).

Turdus musicus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 292 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum—
Latham, Bechstein, Pallas, Temminck, Naumann, Newton, Gould, Gray, Sharpe,
Dresser, &c.

Turdus iliacus, Linn. apud Bodd. Table Pl. Enl. p. 24 (1783).

Turdus pilaris, Zinn. apud Bodd. Table Pl. Enl. p. 29 (1788).

Sylvia musica (Linn.), Savi, Orn. Tose. i. p. 211 (1827).

Merula musica (Zinn.), Selby, Brit. Orn. i. p. 162 (1833).

Nliacus musicus (Linn.), Des Murs, Traité d’Ool. p. 292 (1860).

The Song-Thrush breeds throughout Great Britain and Ireland in all
well-cultivated districts, or where the ground is sufficiently wooded to
afford it shelter. In the extreme north of Scotland, although birch trees
abound, the bird is rare, but appears to be increasing in numbers. It
breeds in the Orkney Islands; but its nest has not yet been taken in the
Shetlands. On the Hebrides, even to the wild isolated rock of St. Kilda,
the Song-Thrush is found, and in many of the islands it is quite numerous.
In Skye it is one of the commonest of land birds, and is sometimes seen
far amongst the wide stretches of heath where not a tree or bush is visible.
The bird also breeds on the rocky heights of Ailsa Craig, where its only
nesting-sites are amongst the rocks and caves.

The breeding-range of the Song-Thrush extends across the Palearctic
Region from the Atlantic as far east as the valley of the Yenesay and Lake
Baikal, but the bird is much commoner in the west than in the east. In
Norway, probably in consequence of the influence of the Gulf-stream, it
is found up to, and occasionally beyond, the Arctic circle; but in Siberia
it is rarely met with north of lat. 60°. In Southern Europe it breeds very
sparingly, and only at high elevations. In England the Song-Thrush is
only a partial migrant; but on the continent, where the winters are so
much colder, it leaves the north, like other summer visitors, and repairs
in great numbers to winter in South Europe and North Africa. In the
latter continent it has been found wintering as far south as Nubia. The
Siberian Song-Thrushes apparently winter in South Persia.

The home of the Song-Thrush is the woods and hillsides, the banks of
streams, and all sheltered places where brushwood abounds. Near dwell-
ing-houses the “Throstle” is a common bird, frequenting orchards,
gardens, and hedgerows; in fact, wherever we find the Blackbird we may

4

214. BRITISH BIRDS.

expect to find the Song-Thrush. Like that bird, his favourite haunt is the
bright glossy foliage of evergreens. Amongst the wild scenery of the High-
lands the Song-Thrush gladdens the moorland wastes, and his varied
melody is often heard amidst the mountains.

The Song-Thrush is a skulking bird, although not perhaps so much so
as the Blackbird. It is extremely fond of hiding under dense thickets and
the broad close foliage of evergreens where the branches sweep the ground.
It is here the birds obtain much of their food ; and in some cases regular
paths are made through the dense underwood, especially peas walls or
hedgerows, which often put you in mind of a weasel’s “run.” Indeed the
Song-Thrush is, of all other birds, perhaps the most frequently caught m
the “figure of four” traps set for weasels, owing to its peculiar habit of
hopping under the brushwood. Like the Blackbird, it is flushed with diffi-
culty when in these situations, and always prefers to hop quickly along the
ground rather than take wing. When flushed it flies rapidly away, and
alights suddenly, as though anxious to enter the nearest suitable cover
and hide itself as quickly as possible. The Song-Thrush is more often seen
above the tree-tops than the Blackbird, and will take long and rapid flights
to and from its feeding-grounds at some elevation, seldom uttering a note.
It becomes unusually vociferous towards evening ; and its chattering cry is
heard well into the night. Autumn, or, perhaps, still more in the last few
fine days before winter fairly sets in, its garrulity is the greatest. Then
in the wooded depths of his roosting-place you hear his sharp cry, almost
like the noise made by a ratchet-drill, which he keeps up as he flits from
place to place long after it begins to be dark, and when most other birds
have retired to rest. Upon the ground the Song-Thrush proceeds in a
series of hops, seldom if ever running or walking. His attitude when in
the act of listening intently is with the wings drooping slightly, tail almost
horizontal, and head slightly raised; but he never elevates his tail upon
alighting like the Blackbird.

More than twenty years ago Professor Newton endeavoured to show in
the pages of the ‘Ibis’ (1860, p. 83) that the Song-Thrush was a regular
migratory bird in Great Britain. My own observations as well as those of
Dixon and others confirm this theory. This fact has been overlooked by
most British writers; but continental naturalists class the bird as a regular
migrant. In our own country, as soon as the days of summer decline and
autumnal tints appear in the landscape, the Song-Thrush is seen in little
companies ; and as autumn passes away, and the fogs and chilly nights of
November arrive, the birds nearly all take their departure, and where they
once swarmed only one or two solitary individuals are to be seen. The Rivelin
valley, a few miles from Sheffield, is annually the scene of an unmista-
kable migration of the Song-Thrush. Late in autumn the birds for a few
days literally swarm in the Rivelin copses, where at all other times of

mts!

THE SONG-THRUSH. 215

the year they are absent altogether, or nearly so. Although the birds
abound here so plentifully they are not at all gregarious: social they
may be; yet each seems to confine itself to its own affairs, to fly off alone,
and apparently to live by itself. By the latter end of January or early in
February, when the first faint signs of approaching spring are seen, the
Song-Thrushes are back once more in their old haunts. There can be
little doubt that they migrate, like the Redwing, in the night; for one day
not a bird is to be seen in their favourite haunts, but the next their
mellow varied song fills the air. Instantly upon their arrival they are in
full song, and pairing begins at once. Heligoland is an excellent post of
observation for seeing the migration of the Song-Thrush. On the eastern
end of this interesting little rock are the “throstle-bushes.”? The island
contains scarcely any trees or shrubs, and is for the most part laid out
in potato-patches. These ‘ throstle-bushes” are erected by the inhabi-
tants, and have a net on one side, into which the poor Thrushes are driven
with lanterns and sticks the imstant they alight. By the side of these
artificial bushes the Heligolanders watch on favourable nights for the
arrival of the birds. Aeuckens, the bird-stuffer there, related to me
with great gusto how, suddenly, a rush and whirl of wings would be heard,
and, without a moment’s warning, the throstle-bushes would swarm with
Thrushes, not dropped, but as if shot like an arrow from a bow perpendicu-
larly down from the invisible heights of mid-air. The number of Thrushes
thus caught is almost incredible, it being no unusual thing for several
hundreds to be taken in a single night, thus clearly proving to what
a very great extent the Song-Thrush is a migratory bird. In our own
land we suspect the reason this migration has been overlooked is from the
fact that the birds leave so quietly, and that the Redwings take their place
and are mistaken for them.

At feeding-time in early morning and evening the actions of the
Song-Thrush may be best observed. Watch him hop cautiously from the
laurels, just venturing a yard or so upon the lawn, and, with body crouching
low amongst the grass, stand motionless for a few moments as if fearful
of being discovered so far out in the open. Note well his elegant and
sprightly form, his neat trim figure, his richly spotted breast, and large
bright eye, as he sits so wary, yet unconscious of your presence. See
him at last hop quickly forward and pull out a worm with a jerk from its
hole in the earth, and swallow it at once. Not a sound escapes him as he
Lops hither and thither in search of worms, grubs, and snails, or snaps now
and then at a passing fly. But your careless movements have alarmed
him; he crouches low and timid for a moment, and then takes himself off
to the cover whence he came. Although the Song-Thrush does not feed
on berries so much as the Blackbird or the Fieldfare, still it eats them
freely in autumn and early spring, especially those of the mountain-ash,

216 BRITISH BIRDS.

the hawthorn, and the wild rose. The Song-Thrush is not so much a fruit
feeder as the true Ouzels. He eats a few of the wild fruits of the woods,
such as the blackberry, raspberry, and wild strawberry, and even visits
the garden in cherry-time ; but his food is far more animal than vegetable.
The Song-Thrush is a large feeder on the snails whose pretty shells are
found in almost every hedgerow. In some retired situation you may not
unfrequently find little heaps of shell-fragments near large stones and
under the hedges. These shells have been broken by the Song-Thrush to
obtain the snails within them, and are a silent proof of the bird’s usefulness.
This bird obtains much of its food amongst the withered leaves and marshy
places in woods and shrubberies, and in autumn frequents the turnip-
fields and cabbage-beds in search of snails and grubs. At this season of
the year the fields of white turnips especially abound with Song-Thrushes,
and you may sometimes flush them almost at every step. These birds are
on migration, are only resting here on their journey, and in a few days at
most will be again on their way to their winter-quarters. In hay-time the
Song-Thrush frequents the newly mown grass-lands near its favourite
haunts in search of worms and insects. In all parts of the field they
may be seen, some sitting upon the newly mown swathes, others digging
away amongst the short herbage. To see them now, the inexperienced
observer would think them gregarious birds; but such is not the case,
and, as soon as its wants are supplied, each returns to its haunts again,
alone and solitary as it came.

The Song-Thrush sings very early in the year, his rich and varied notes
commencing as soon as he arrives in his old haunts. From this time
forward he warbles incessantly up to the moulting-season in July, when,
by the way, birds of the year may often be heard making attempts at song.
Dixon writes of the Song-Thrush :—“In Great Britain the ‘Throstle’s’
song is the favourite music of the country, as well known as it is dear to
the hearts of all who have opportunity of listening to its strains. Amongst
all the ranks of our feathered musicians we cannot find a bird whose
melody is so pleasing and varied as that of the ‘ Throstle.’ His notes may
be said to be almost endless in variety, each note seemingly uttered at the
caprice of the bird, and without any perceptible approach to order. The
Song-Thrush warbles throughout the day; but morning and evening are
the times that his melody seems the best, and when he sings in largest
numbers too. Stray, gentle reader, into his haunts at the dawn of day,
when the first streak of morning appears glimmering over the eastern
horizon, and surrounding objects are beginning to assume a more decided
outline against the grey morning sky; then you will be greeted with his
few first notes, his first attempt at music since the previous evening.
Gradually it swells into a lovely song, and is carried for half a mile or
more along the valley by the gentle zephyrs of early morn. Shortly you
will hear another from a neighbouring tree; another and another are

THE SONG-THRUSH. 217

heard in rapid succession as the day spreads widely around; and finally
the air seems laden with their joyous notes, now intermingled with the
charming song of the Robin and Wren, and the rich and flute-like tones
of the Blackbird, the whole forming a perfect plethora of music—Nature’s
morning concert, the morning anthem of the woods and fields. Or should
his morning melody not suit your convenience, pay his haunt a visit as the
sun nears the western horizon; hear his requiem to the parting day. It
may not please so much as his morning song; for then there is a
freshness and a vigour throughout all animated nature that probably gilds
his performance with a higher charm and lends it an additional sweetness.
Still its rich modulations, its infinite variety, and its soothing strains
will give unspeakable delight, should the love, the poetry of nature be at
all prominent in the soul. Listen, then, to its sweetness till the evening
has wrapped the woods in gloom, or the night mist creeps round the moun-
tains, hiding the speckled songster from your view ; for he will warble so long
as the last streaks of day are visible. But darkness does not always stay
his music; and in the hours of midnight, notably near the summer solstice,
when the dawn is spreading almost as soon as the twilight leaves the western
sky, he will sit and warble too. There is no monotony in the notes of the
Song-Thrush ; they are for ever on the change; and when the birds are
numerous and full of song, the effect produced is indeed a grand one, and
far beyond the art of the most graphic pen to describe.”

The Song-Thrush delights to sing when the soft summer showers are
falling. He will perch among the branches under the broad leaves, or
sometimes under a projecting rock, and there warble for hours. He has
also been known to sing most vigorously during severe thunderstorms.

The Song-Thrush is a remarkably tame and confiding bird. It is their
music which make him and the Sky-Lark so prominent. At most times of
the year he is a skulking bird; but as soon as the first signs of the coming
spring warn him to chose a mate, he forgets his life of seclusion. Perch-
ing on the topmost branches of trees and shrubs, even on walls and
other exposed situations, he then fills the air with his rich and powerful
notes—notes so indescribably beautiful, so varied, and continued for such
length of time, as to irresistibly arrest the attention and win the warmest
admiration. A peculiarity in the song of this bird, which distinguishes
it from the songs of other Thrushes, is that it constantly repeats itself.
No sooner has it uttered three or four notes, than, apparently pleased with
the combination, it instantly repeats them. Then it tries another quite
different combination, which it as constantly repeats. The song has not
the rich full melody of that of the Blackbird; but it is infinitely more
varied and generally more prolonged. The call and alarm notes of the
Song-Thrush are somewhat varied. Its call-note is a peculiar low cry,
something like a Redwing’s; its note when alarmed is a harsh guttural
cry, more like a low scream than any thing else; and its alarm-notes when

218 BRITISH BIRDS.

its nest is approached, or when disturbed at roost, are harsh chattering
cries, almost like those of the Missel-Thrush, yet uttered more rapidly, and
perhaps more metallic in sound.

One of the first birds, after winter has passed, to cross a twig as a _
beginning of its nest is the Song-Thrush. March has scarcely arrived
ere we notice the first rude foundation of this charming songster’s cradle.
We find it in every species of evergreen far more frequently than amongst
the branches of deciduous trees :—in the trailing ivy on walls or rocks or
growing up the trunks of trees at various heights from the ground; in
the dark-mantled yew, the laurel, and, perhaps most frequently of all, in
the green branches of the holly. It is also placed on the ground on banks,
in whitethorn trees and hedgerows, and more rarely on walls. A favourite
situation is against the trunk of a tree, upon a bunch of little branches
that partially conceal it. Here the bird may often be seen sitting close, with
tail pointing one way and beak the other, each at the same angle to the plane
of the nest, and you may pass almost under it or even catch the bird’s eye
if you walk quietly past, without causing it to leave its eggs. The nest is
a bulky structure, and composed outwardly of dry grass, with generally a
few twigs and sometimes a little moss. This grass-formed nest is then
lined with a thick coating of mud or clay, and sometimes cow’s dung, with
decayed wood asa final lining. As the Song-Thrush is the only Thrush
that lines its nest in this peculiar manner, a detailed description of the
process may not be out of place. Decaying fences and tree-roots, or
rotten branches torn from the trees by the wintry blasts, are the source
from which the bird obtains a supply of this material. When her nest
has arrived at a certain stage, she repairs to this decaying wood for the
means of completing her handiwork. She choses those logs, fences, or
roots already well saturated with moisture ; or failing to find them in this
state, she moistens the wood in the nearest water. Bit by bit it is conveyed
to her nest, and there, by the aid of pressure, she moulds it with her body,
forming a lining in some instances an eighth. of an inch in thickness, and
which, from the warmth of the sitting bird, soon becomes hard and
dry. Nests are, however, met with where this lining is very scanty—pro-
bably from the scarceness of decaying wood. When finished the nest is
usually left for a day or so to dry ere the first egg is deposited. Several
days are employed in its construction, although in rare instances it is
begun and finished in a single day. Dixon gives the following in the
article on the Song-Thrush in his ‘ Rural Bird-Life :’—“I found a nest of
the Song-Thrush in a small yew bush, and in a very exposed situation,
which I removed. Three days afterwards I again visited the place, and
was surprised to find that the birds had almost completed a fresh nest. I
removed this also, and visited the place the following day, when I was still
further surprised to find that the little songsters had almost completed a
third nest, so attached were the little architects to their somewhat ill-chosen

THE SONG-THRUSH. 219

site. This structure, however, was removed like the former ones ; and on
the evening of the following day a fourth nest was there, and the bird upon it,
putting the finishing touches ; and an egg was laid the following day ; for I
could not find it in my heart to remove this their fourth piece of handi-
work. I may add that all the nests were excellently made.”

The eggs of the Song-Thrush are four or five in number, and may
readily be distinguished from those of any other species of British bird,
They are of a beautiful clear greenish blue, marked with small spots of a
deep rich brown approaching to black. Eggs of this bird vary considerably,
both in size and markings. Many eggs (doubtless the production of the
older birds) are exceptionally large ; others more resemble the Redwing’s
in size. Some eggs (though these are rare) are spotless; others are very
richly spotted and blotched with reddish brown and various tints of purplish
grey. Eggs that are boldly blotched never have the colouring-matter so
intense as those on which the markings are small. They vary in length
from 1°16 to -95 inch, and from ‘9 to °7 inch in breadth.

The Song-Thrush is a very close sitter, often remaining upon her charge
until touched by the hand of some prying naturalist. Her conduct when
disturbed from the nest is similar to that of the Missel-Thrush; her
harsh cries and active motions, with those of her mate, awaken the
silent woods, and speak most plainly of the anxiety of the birds for their
treasure. Both birds sit upon the eggs and young, and tend their young
for a short time after they have left the nest. The Song-Thrush rears two,
and occasionally three, broods in the year, a fresh nest in all cases being
built for the purpose.

The general colour of the Song-Thrush’s plumage is olive-brown
above, the wing-coverts tipped with rich buff; the under plumage is
whitish, with a fulvous tinge on the breast and sides, which, in addition to
the ear-coverts, cheeks, fore neck, chest, and flanks, are spotted with black ;
bill dark brown, paler at the base of the under mandible; legs pale; irides
brown. The sexes are alike ; but the nesting birds are mottled all over the
upper surface with ochraceous buff; yet after the first moult they are like
their parents. The abrasion which takes place during winter and spring
causes the upper parts to be slightly greyer, much of the yellowish buff on the
breast and flanks disappears, and the spots on the underparts become smaller.

The nearest relation of the Song-Thrush is Pére David’s Thrush (Turdus
auritus), inhabiting Northern and Western China.

This species appears not to be a migratory bird; and probably from
this cause its wings have become rounder; the second primary, instead
of being intermediate in length between the fourth and fifth, is very little
longer than the seventh. The colours are darker and richer, and the spots
more developed. It differs also in the colour of its eggs: Prjevalsky, the
great Central-Asian traveller, found it breeding in North China, and
States that its eggs are always unspotted blue.

220 BRITISH BIRDS.

TURDUS ILIACUS.

THE REDWING.
(Prater 8.)

Turdus iliacus, Briss. Orn. ii. p. 208 (1760) ; Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 292 (1766); et
auctorum plurimorum—Latham, Bechstein, Temminck, Naumann, Gould,
Gray, Bonaparte, Newton, Sharpe, Dresser, &c.

Turdus mauvis, Miill. Syst. Nat. Suppl. p. 141 (1776).

Turdus illas, Pallas, Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat, i. p. 456 (1826).

Sylvia iliaca (Linn.), Savi, Orn. Tose. i. p. 215 (1827).

Merula iliaca (Linn.), Selby, Brit. Orn. i. p. 165 (1833).

Tliacus illas (Pall.), Des Murs, Traité d’Ool. p. 293 (1860).

Iliacus minor, Des Murs, loc. cit. (1860).

The Redwing may be distinguished from the Song-Thrush (the only
bird in Britain for which it can be mistaken) by the conspicuous creamy-
buff or pure white eye-stripe, its reddish flanks, and its gregarious habits.
Redwings are perhaps the first winter visitants to arrive on our shores:
they are not hardy birds ; and their susceptibility to change of temperature
undoubtedly influences their migratory movements. They take the place
of the Song-Thrush, and give life to the almost otherwise deserted fields,
woods, and shrubberies ; and their pleasant evening chorus and regularity
of movement render them prominent and pleasing objects of the winter
landscape.

The Redwing is a regular winter visitant to Great Britain and Ireland.
In the west of Scotland the bird does not arrive as soon as on the east
coast, and is not so numerous. ‘This is owing to the fact that the birds
that winter in the British Islands, principally from Scandinavia, arrive on
the east coast of our islands and gradually spread themselves westwards.
Another reason that the birds are not so numerous is probably because the
districts of the extreme west are less cultivated and afford a less abundant
supply of food than the eastern counties. The Redwing is also a common
winter bird in the Hebrides, and is said to linger longer in these islands
than it does on the mainland. This bird is perhaps most numerous in the
midland and southern counties of England, where food and cover are
most plentiful. Instances of the Redwing remaining in Britain to breed
are on record ; but the gravest doubt encircles them all. Until satisfactory
evidence is forthcoming of this fact (the birds actually shot and the eggs
taken), the cautious ornithologist must question their truth and consider
the Redwing a winter visitant only.

The principal breeding-range of the Redwing is at or near the Arctic
circle throughout the Palearctic Region, though it appears to become
very rare east of the Yenesay river. It winters in western and southern

THE REDWING. 221

Europe, occasionally crossing the Mediterranean into Algeria. In the
district of Kasan on the Volga (the same latitude as Scotland) the Red-
wing only passes on migration. It arrives there in the early part of April,
remains the whole of that month and the first half of May, when it
again goes northwards. It reappears again in September in large flocks,
remaining sometimes as late as the third week in October, frequenting the
leafy woods of the Volga islands, which abound with wild rose and
mountain-ash, the birds sometimes mixing with the Song-Thrushes, which
are there on migration too. In Asia it has been found sparingly in winter
in Persia, Turkestan, and North-west India. In the valley of the Petchora
Harvie-Brown and I found it as far north as lat. 68°. The Redwing
frequents the birch-region and the upper zone of the pine-region, occurring
in limited numbers south of the Arctic circle in many places where these
trees are found, in South Norway and Sweden and on the Russian shores
of the Baltic. It is the most northerly in its range of any of the Thrushes,
and occasionally wanders as far as Greenland.

In the valley of the Yenesay it reached the Arctic circle on the 5th of
June, a few days before the Fieldfare, and soon began to breed in the
willows and birches, generally nearer to the ground than the Fieldfare
did. In lat. 71°, beyond the limit of forest-growth, it was still common,
but breeding on the ground. I took several of its nests on the sloping
banks of the tundra, a little further north than any of the five other
species of Thrush which I found in the same valley. I never found it
breeding in colonies ; but sometimes, in an unusually swampy part of the
forest, where the pines were small and stunted, several nests would occur
at comparatively short distances from each other. In Lapland, as well
as in Russia and Siberia, I found the Redwing commonest where the
trees were small, and where open swampy ground separated the forest into
plantations. The richness of the foliage in these localities and the
brilliance and profusion of the wild flowers reminded me of an English
garden run wild; and the presence of the Redwing and other song-birds
assisted in the reminiscence, and added greatly to the charm.

The winter haunt of the Redwing is, asa rule, the most cultivated parts
of the country—well-wooded parks, pleasure-grounds, and shrubberies,
and the adjoining pasture-lands. When once these birds arrive in a
certain district, they usually remain there throughout the time of their
sojourn in this country—roosting in one certain favourite place, feeding
on certain pastures, and, in fact, as regular in their habits and movements
as the Rooks themselves. The favourite haunt of the Redwing is a
sheltered valley down which a little brooklet runs, with trees scattered
here and there, and tall hedgerows of thorn and hazel. They are very
partial to small parks thickly timbered and studded with clumps of white-
thorn trees, with here and there a cluster of hollies or a dense shrubbery,

222 BRITISH BIRDS.
whither they repair at nightfall to roost. They prefer districts where the
evergreens are dense and plentiful—laurels, yews, and hollies a century
old or more, and the intervening space between them taken up by thick
underwood and forest trees, and where huge sycamores, elms and beeches,
oaks and horsechestnut form a regular labyrinth of arboreal seclusion.
They feed in the lands adjoining, pasture and turnip-fields, stubbles and
meadows, with here and there a “summer fallow.” In a district like this,
from October till April, the Redwing is a common bird. In the daytime
they frequent the pastures ; and when the dusk is falling they seek the
evergreens of the gardens and shrubberies. Regularly every year the birds
will come, and, if they are not molested, remain stationary throughout the
winter, giving animation by their presence to the landscape, and filling
the wintery air with their cheerful pleasing notes. But the Redwing has
other haunts, quite as dear to it as those in our own land. In spring
the Redwings seck the northern forests for the purpose of propagating
their species. In Scandinavia they frequent the fir- and birch-woods.
Here amongst these scattered forests, which lie at the feet of the high
stony ranges of the fells, the Redwing finds a summer home. Wild and
romantic are its breeding-grounds—plains and valleys, meadow and culti-
vated land, and dells covered with the marsh-loving alder and willow and
birch trees growing in wildest luxuriance. Vast morasses, rivers, inland
lakes whose margins are fringed with a heavy growth of various reeds and
sedges, forest lands, meadows and plains are the features of the ever-
changing landscape. In such wild and secluded regions as these, the
border land between forest and fell, the Redwing breeds, far from those
busy haunts of men which the bird delights to frequent so confidingly
when the blasts of winter render its northern home untenable.

The migrations of the Redwing form a prominent feature in its life-
history. When the woodlands are painted with the ruddy hues of autumn
and the corn is garnered, the first flocks of the Redwing may be looked for.
They come to our islands during the latter days of October—although their |
arrival is very irregular; for occasionally Redwings come in the opening
days of the month, yet in other seasons not a bird has arrived until the
first week in November, the state of the season possibly influencing their
movements. Redwings, like Song-Thrushes, perform their migrations
under the cover of darkness. On the clear starlight nights of October
their peculiar call-notes may be often heard as the birds flit across the sky
above, invisible of course in the gloom. The Redwing’s early arrival on
our shores, as compared with that of the Fieldfare, is attributable to two
eauses. In the first place Redwings are more susceptible to cold than
Fieldfares ; and, secondly, they are more exclusively insectivorous. At
their arrival Redwings are exceedingly shy and wary; but after a
few weeks this natural shyness of disposition is overcome, and they are

t

THE REDWING. 228

then one of the most trustful members of this charming family of choristers.
Towards the latter end of March the Redwings visibly decrease in number,
and as the month of April approaches they rapidly leave us for the
north; flock succeeds flock ; and by the middle of the month few are left
behind.

Redwings remain perhaps later on their feeding-grounds than any other
British Thrush. As you wander over their favourite pastures at nightfall,
when most other birds have gone to rest, you will often flush the Red-
wings from their evening meal. Here and there they rise from the
herbage, uttering their plaintive whistlmg note, fly quickly off, and are
soon lost in the gloom. If disturbed on the pastures in the daytime they
rise irregularly, and when in the air there is none of that uniformity or
precision of movement observable which is so characteristic of the Common
Starling. Redwings pass through the air on rapid wing, often at a con-
siderable elevation ; and their flight is rather undulating, being performed
by a series of quick flappings, with short intervals between, when the
wings are closed, and during which they descend a little out of the direct
line of flight. Sometimes, however, Redwings perform en masse the most
graceful evolutions in the air, almost like a flock of Starlings. This is
usually the case when they are disturbed from their roosting-places. They
wheel and manceuvre in the air, and pass round and amongst the topmost
branches of the forest trees, occasionally dipping near to the earth or
alighting on the top of some tall tree, until the cause of the disturbance
vanishes, and they can seek their nightly perches in peace. As a rule,
except when a flock is going to roost, the Redwing is not a noisy bird ;
and when a whole tree-top is covered with them only one or two notes will
be heard. How different from a flock of Starlings or Bramblings! who
seem to delight in making as much noise as possible when congregated
together.

Redwings are found in the same localities year after year, and nightly
seek the same places for repose. A dense and impenetrable shrubbery is
+ favourite roosting-place for the Redwing, sometimes for years, especially

uere the evergreens and tangled brushwood are so dense as to make
passage through them almost impossible ; and where the tall sycamore and
elm saplings and the gigantic forest trees whose rugged stems and limbs are
covered with ivy almost like a winter foliage make the place a suitable one
in all respects for the concealment and shelter of bird-life, in such a place
the timid Bullfinches pipe to each other, the Greenfinches, Chaffinches, and
Bramblings congregate in incredible numbers at nightfall, the Ring-Doves
and the Titmice are found in greatest plenty, and occasionally the Field-
fare, the Jay, and the Magpie are seen amongst the branches. Early in
the evening a few Redwings may be seen sitting quietly on the neighbour-
ing tree-tops, their forms coming sharply out against the clear western

|
ij

224 BRITISH BIRDS.

sky. The night may be a frosty one, snow lying thickly on the ground,
and the broad-leaved laurels bending under their snowy wreaths. But just
as evening merges into night, and the moon assumes her borrowed rays,
the birds come in flocks from the pastures, their wings rustling in the still
evening, and their call- and alarm-notes filling the air around with tumult.
Down they settle on the tallest underwood, choosing the sapling trees,
where they can best survey the vicinity ere entering the evergreens. One
by one they quit these perching-places, or drop quickly down from the
surrounding tree-tops, and seek their roosing-places, scattering the snow
from the branches as they enter, which falls like bits of ice upon the crisp
covering below. Numbers retire to the ivy, others to the yew, whilst
many seek the gloomy sprays of the holly. Now and then one will enter
the bush under which you are stationed, but, noticing your presence, will
quickly seek more suitable quarters. Others come up and perch so
silently close to your head that their presence is only revealed when one
of them utters its cry of alarm as it takes wing, and you see the sapling
quivering from its hasty departure. The air above is resonant with their
plaintive whistling call-notes as the birds continue to arrive to seek a
suitable resting-place. Almost imperceptibly they settle down to rest: their
cries become fewer and fewer; the birds are more rarely seen; and finally the
woods are wrapped in silence. During the night the Redwing is as much
gregarious as in theday. Numbers seek the same bush in which to roost ;
and you will often see them billing each other, sitting close together, and
preening each other’s feathers, as in the pairing-season.

The food of the Redwing, during its winter sojourn in the British Islands,
is composed of worms, snails, beetles, various insects, and berries. The
Redwing feeds on the open pastures, and never resorts to bushy places, or
the ground under hedgerows and near walls, as the Song-Thrush does ; nor
is it seen in gardens, unless on the evergreen trees and shrubs, or when
hard pressed for food. The partiality of the Redwing for worms and insect
food is no doubt the primary cause of its permanent residence in one certain
neighbourhood throughout the period of its stay ; and the bird is not nearly
so much a berry feeder as is supposed. True, upon their arrival we find
them regaling themselves on the fruit of the service-tree; but this only
oceurs for a few weeks, and then for the most part they are only seen on
the grass-lands. As a proof of this fact, the actions of the Redwing in
the severe winter of 1879-80 may be adduced. The lands which they
most love to frequent are the marshy meadows in which worms and insects
occur so plentifully. As these marshy places began to freeze the Redwings
were more and more confined in their feeding-range. Each little swampy
place was searched for food, and as surely abandoned when the frost closed
it. Manure-heaps were then visited by the distressed birds, until a heavy
fall of snow buried these places deep beneath it. All this time the Red-

I

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THE REDWING.

wings were becoming poorer in condition, more feeble, and still more
tame and confiding. But the frost still continued, and they repaired to
the banks of the running streams and brooklets; numbers perished ;
numbers were caught by hand; and eventually they disappeared from
many districts altogether, having most probably joined the vast flocks
of their congeners that were incessantly passing over the snow-covered
landscape in a direct line southwards. Nevertheless the bushes and
hedgerows abounded with berries, the Fieldfares seemed scarcely to suffer
from the frost, and were always to be seen feeding upon them. It can
be only as a last resource, therefore, that the Redwing becomes a berry
feeder, except in the autumn when the luscious fruit of the service-tree
is ripe. Its winter food is worms and insects; and where these are to be
found the birds will only repair to the bushes and trees when alarmed or
in order to roost. The Redwing also feeds on various species of snails.
It is a pleasing sight to watch a flock of these birds searching the grass-
lands for food. How nimbly they hop amongst the frosted grass, ever in
motion, thorough Song-Thrushes in attitude and action, occasionally taking
short flights or starting up to look warily round. They are scattered
over the entire field, and each is busy searching for its food. If alarmed
they fly off in small parties and take refuge in the topmost branches of
the nearest trees, and, when the danger is passed, leave their elevated

_perching-places in the same manner. First one will fly boldly down;

others follow, and so on, until the whole flock is again engaged feeding
as before. One or two birds sometimes remain behind in the trees near to
which the main flock is feeding. These do duty as sentinels, and utter
alarm-notes on the approach of danger, at which the birds take wing.
Even if fired at, the Redwing will soon return to its favourite feeding-
ground.

The rich wild notes of the Redwing are always pleasant to the ear as they
are borne hither and thither by the breeze. True, the song may not be so
varied as that of the Song-Thrush, nor so rich and powerful as that of the
Blackbird, nor yet so wild and free as the “ Stormcock’s” lay; but it has
a rich sweetness about it which justly calls forth the praises of all who
have had the pleasure of listening to the strain. Its low warbling song
is usually preceded by whistling call-notes, or a few guttural cries, as the
bird sits on the topmost spray of a pive tree. Dixon gives an instance of
this bird singing in this country; he writes :—“I know not whether the
song of this bird is frequently heard in the winter months; but with me
it is certainly of the rarest occurrence. I have given the birds my
closest attention ; but their song has only once greeted my ear. It was one
of those sunny days in December, when every thing around almost put me
in mind of the coming spring—the Robin chanting his delightful notes far
up in the naked branches, and the little Wren pouring forth his jerking

Bor, x. Q

226 BRITISH BIRDS.
song from the undergrowth ; a number of Redwings, too, were feeding on
the surrounding grass fields, when one of their number flew from the rest

and perched on a lowly hawthorn tree some ten yards away and com-

menced singing. I can only compare its song to a mixture of Song-

Thrush and Blackcap melody, the whole being given forth in one long

warbling strain, varied by several harsh and guttural notes. Well does

the Redwing merit the title of ‘Swedish Nightingale,’ a title bestowed

upon it by the great and illustrious Linnzus ; for still more beautiful must

be his song when inspired by love, still more charming will its tones appear

when given forth amongst the pine-clad hills of his far northern home. He

continued singing for a few moments, when an unlucky movement on my
part sent him hastily away to the company of his kindred on the adjoining

meadows. Redwings in the winter months are ofttimes heard warbling in
a subdued tone, and varying their performance by the utterance of low
guttural notes. This usually happens at nightfall, when the birds are
about to retire to rest, and sit congregated on some tree-top—then you
have music sweet to a degree; singly it is a poor performance, but each
bird’s notes chime in with the rest and make music pleasing to the ear.
Linnets and Bramblings will often do the same thing in the winter months,
each bird warbling in chorus or giving a variation by uttering low mur-
muring cries.”

The breeding-season of the Redwing commences early in June, fresh
eggs being found by the first week of that month, although in high
latitudes nests are often found containing newly laid eggs in the middle of
July. Though the Redwing does not usually nest in colonies like the

Fieldfare, still it seems to prefer the society of its larger and more powerful -

relation; for wherever a colony of Fieldfares establish themselves, there,
almost as surely, a pair of Redwings will build their nest close to them.
In districts where trees abound the Redwing seems to show preference for
the small firs, where it builds its nest at no great altitude and close to
the stem; but occasionally it will build upon the ground at the foot
of the tree, instead of in the branches. As is the case with the nests of
all Thrushes, it passes through three distinct stages before it is completed.
The birds form a loose nest of moss, dry grass, and a few fine twigs inter-
twined, the better to bind the materials together. This structure is then

lined and plastered with mud or clay; and finally a thick lining is made —

of fine dry grass, and sometimes afew rootlets. It is neatly made, and

somewhat resembles the nest of the Ring-Ouzel, though it is smaller and

perhaps more firmly put together. The eggs of the Redwing are from four to
six in number, most frequently the former, and cannot easily be confounded
with the eggs of the other British Thrushes, on account of their smaller size.
The streaks or spots generally almost hide the ground-colour, and are
evenly distributed over the entire surface. The usual colour is a pale

rT

THE REDWING. 227

bluish green, thickly marbled over the entire surface with greenish
brown. Some specimens have the spots dispersed in irregular streaks and
blotches, like miniature Blackbird’s eggs ; in others the ground-colour is
almost clear, except at the large end of the egg, where a zone is formed of
confluent brown spots ; whilst others are almost clear pea-green devoid of
all markings. They vary but little in size or shape, and are never large
enough to be mistaken for small specimens of the other eggs of this group
of birds, which they resemble in colour. They vary in length from 1:1 to
0°9 inch, and in breadth from 0°8 to 0°7 inch. Song-Thrush’s eggs are
often found as small ; but their peculiar tints prevent the slightest con-
fusion. As is the case with the Song-Thrush, the Redwing exhibits the
greatest anxiety when its nest is approached, especially should it contain
young birds. Throughout the whole laying- and hatching-season the
Redwing continues in full song; his warbling strains are heard con-
stantly and from all parts of his haunts; at all hours his melody floats
on the air, as though he were loth to lose a moment of the short sunny
Siberian summer.

The upper parts of the Redwing are olive-brown in colour, with a very
conspicuous pale eye-stripe extending to the nape. The underparts are pale
buff, shading into almost white on the belly, and into rich chestnut on the
flanks and under wing-coverts, and are spotted with dark brown. The bill is
dark brown, the legs pale, and the irides brown. Young birds are spotted
on both upper and underparts, and after the autumn moult have the pale
tips to the wing-coverts larger and more clearly defined. The breeding-
plumage of the Redwing is lighter than its autumn dress, and the under-
parts and eye-stripe whiter, and the spots have attained greater definition.

The Redwing has no very near ally.

Q2

228 BRITISH BIRDS.

TURDUS PILARIS.

THE FIELDFARE.
(Piate 8.)

Turdus pilaris, Briss. Orn. ii. p. 214 (1760) ; Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 291 (1766); et
auctorum plurimorum—Latham, Gmelin, Bechstein, Pallas, 1
mann, Gray, Bonaparte, Schlegel, Sharpe, Dresser, &e.

Sylvia pilaris (Linn.), Save, Orn. Tose. i. p. 209 (1827).

Arceuthornis pilaris (Linn.), Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 93 (1829).

Merula pilaris (Zinn.), Selby, Brit. Orn. i. p. 160 (1833).

Planesticus pilaris (Linn.), Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 530 (1862).

‘emminck, Nau-

The Fieldfare, although the colours of its plumage are sober and chaste,
like those of most Thrushes, is still a very fine and handsome bird ; and its
arrival in autumn is looked forward to by observers of birds in the country
as the sign of the winter’s advent, just as surely as the summer’s approach
is known to be heralded by the Cuckoo and the Swallow. A regular
winter visitant to the British Islands, the Fieldfare is commonly distributed
over the cultivated districts, and as far on the uplands as the mountain-
farms extend. The arrival of Fieldfares in Scotland is usually noticed first
in the eastern counties, as it 1s quite natural to expect it would be, for
their path in autumn is south and south-westwards. A few birds are said
to be found on the Orkneys throughout the year, but they do not breed
there. On the Hebrides the Fieldfare does not arrive till midwinter, and
is only found on the farms and pastures—in the little oases of culti-
vated land so sparingly scattered amongst the wide-stretching moorland
wastes. In Ireland these birds also arrive late, and are found commonly
distributed over those districts suitable to their habits and needs—the
cultivated tracts. Fieldfares have been said to have bred in the British
Islands ; but until definite proofs are forthcoming it is not safe to admit
the truth of the statement, the birds being very liable to be confounded
with Missel-Thrushes by careless observers. The Fieldfare has a some-
what more southerly breeding-range than the Redwing. It breeds in the
Arctic circle, extending up to, and occasionally beyond, the limit of forest-
growth, and in north-temperate Europe as far south and west as the basin
of the Baltic, and throughout Siberia as far east as the watershed of the
Yenesay and the Lena. Its occurrence in Iceland is doubtful; but it has
been occasionally met with on the Faroes. It winters in Southern Europe,
occurring very rarely in the Spanish peninsula, but crossing the Mediter-
ranean to Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, and Nubia. In Asia it winters in

Turkestan and Cashmere ; and one specimen at least has been obtained at
Simla, in the North-west Himalayas.

sae
|

THE FIELDFARE. 229

The Fieldfare’s haunts in Britain are varied ones. A thorough wanderer,
it is seen almost everywhere ; either passing over on its journeyings from
place to place, or stationary as long as its food is to be obtained. It
prefers the isolated woods and pastures to shrubberies, although in severe
weather it is often seen amongst evergreens, in company with the Redwing.
These birds also frequent the well-cultivated districts, seeking their food
on the tall hedges; and occasionally a few stragglers come quite close
to the houses to feed on the hawthorns in the gardens. As long as the
_ weather keeps open, the Fieldfares seem to shun man’s presence almost
entirely ; but the first severe fall of snow, the first sharp frost, brings them
“in” in great numbers.

The first visit to the breeding-place of the Fieldfare is an event in the
hfe of an ornithologist never to be forgotten. As you drive along the
excellent Norwegian roads in the carioles or light gigs of the country,
through the pine-forests or by the side of the cultivated land near the
villages, there is little in the bird-life to remind you that you are not in
one of the mountainous districts of England. As you approach the
Dovrefjeld, however, the ground rises, the pines become smaller, and the
hill-sides are sprinkled over with birch trees. Now is the time to look out
for the Fieldfare. Presently the long watched-for tsak, tsak is heard. You
tie your horse to the nearest tree, climb the hill-side whence the sound
came, and presently find yourself in a colony of Fieldfares. The birds
make a great uproar as you invade their domain, but soon escape beyond
gunshot, and their distant ¢sak, ¢sak is the only sound you can hear.
Your natural impulse is to ascend the first tree where you can sce a nest,
which is almost sure to be placed in the fork of a birch against the trunk
and the first large branch. Close by are sure to be many more nests,
some built on the flat horizontal branch of a pine; and outlying nests
belonging to the colony will be found for some distance all round.

As you go further north the colonies become smaller; and as the limit
of forest-growth is approached beyond the Arctic circle, the Fieldfare can
scarcely be called a gregarious bird. On the tundra, in the absence of
birch trees or larches, it breeds on the ground, choosing a niche under the
turf on the edge of a cliff, exactly as the Ring-Ouzel so frequently does.
In the valley of the Petchora we did not see the Fieldfare north of lat. 68° ;
but in the valley of the Yenesay I found a nest in lat. 69°, and saw the
birds up to lat. 70$°; in the former locality it arrived at the Arctic circle
on the 17th of May, and in the latter on the 8th of June.

The Fieldfare arrives on our shores a little later than the Redwing—in
the last week of October, or, perhaps more frequently, in the beginning of
November. It is, however, a difficult thing to give the exact date of this
bird’s appearance ; for its wandering mode of life in this country baffles
precise observation, and renders a record of the exact date of its arrival

230 BRITISH BIRDS.

almost an impossibility. Like the other members of this group of birds,
the Fieldfare migrates for the most part at night, and usually at a
considerable height; but Dixon noticed’ its arrival during the day on
the east coast of England. He writes:—“On the low-lying stretch of
shore from Skegness to Boston I well remember to have once seen this
bird arrive in countless numbers. The season was late autumn, the 28th
of October ; and the wind was light from the north-west. Throughout the
whole day the birds were passing over in flocks, in company with Sky-Larks,
Golden Plovers, and a few Redwings; and during the ensuing night, whilst
we were out on the mud-flats wild-fowl shooting, their peculiar harsh and
startling cries were heard as the great tide of migration continued, unim-
peded by darkness, across the gloomy sky above.”

When the first heavy fall of snow is lying on the ground, a walk
abroad will probably cause you to make the acquaintance of the Fieldfare.
There is something about the first heavy fall of snow peculiarly attractive
and interesting to the naturalist—in fact to all who take a delight in
rural scenes. The whole landscape then bears a strange novel look; it is
something fresh ; and, what is more, bird-life in the snow is an interesting
study. If you stroll out into the woods on a wintery morning, before the
first freshness of the snow-storm has passed away, a dreamy quietness
seems to be everywhere; animals that betrayed their presence amongst
the autumn leaves when the ground was bare, now steal silently away, and
every thing seems changed by the sudden transformation of a night. The
broad-leafed laurels and the dense yews and hollies bend under their heavy
pall of dazzling whiteness. Here and there on the trunks of the forest-
trees the snow has lodged in the rifts of the bark, and each branch and
twig of the hedgerows is clothed in a fair frost-work of silver filagree,
whilst overhead the network of branches comes indistinctly out against
the leaden sky above. Animals are now betrayed by their tracks upon the
snow. Here a hare has crossed, and, doubling, has passed over the
turnips, and found her “seat’’ in some warm hedgerow. There a weasel
has come from the stone-heap, and, in irregular march, has entered the
shrubbery. The Blackbird has hopped out onto the snowy lawn, in vain
search for a scanty sustenance; and on an old stump a Robin has
perched, to warble his morning song. The “spoor” of each is now made
plain—the tell-tale snow reveals them all. But if you ‘want to see the
Fieldfares you must not look for them on the ground, but in the hawthorn
trees. Long before you approach them they probably take wing in a
straggling train, scattering the snow in showers from the twigs, and their
harsh notes of ¢sak, tsik, tsak ring clearly out on the bracing frosty air.
From tree to tree they fly before you, always keeping out of gunshot, or,
if thoroughly alarmed, mounting into the air, and, in a widely scattered
flock, taking themselves off to a distance, their dark forms appearing large

Cn cl

THE FIELDFARE. 231

against the sky as they quickly pass away. The flight of the Fieldfare is
not particularly rapid, but is straight forward, and with but little undula-
tion, and is performed by a series of quick flapping movements. Sonie-
times the birds will go through a number of graceful evolutions in the air
before alighting on a favourite pasture. When alarmed, they fly to the
nearest tree-tops, where they sometimes join in a melodious concert, like
Redwings, although just as frequently they will fly straight away. But
the Fieldfare is far the oftenest seen in the branches. Like the Missel-
Thrush, with whom they often associate, they haunt the berry-bearing
trees and shrubs; and as soon as the stock of food is exhausted in one
locality they commence their nomad life again, and are off in search of
more suitable pastures. At nightfall the Fieldfare is found in the shrub-
beries and near the evergreen trees and bushes, where it retires to roost.
Like the Redwing and the Blackbird, the Fieldfare becomes vociferous at
the approach of dusk, and its peculiar chattering ery and low guttural call-
notes are heard well into twilight. It has been said that the Fieldfare
roosts upon the ground; but this is undoubtedly from necessity, not from
choice ; for the bird, though, like all other Thrushes, for the most part a
ground feeder, has none of the characteristics of ground-birds, as the
Larks and Pipits, and where evergreens are at hand it always avails
itself of their shelter. Instances are alleged of these birds having been
flushed from the stubbles or the pastures at dusk; but this is the
Fieldfare’s feeding-hour ; and if shrubberies be near at hand, it is there
they spend the night.

The Fieldfare is less exclusively insectivorous than the Redwing. In
winter these birds are sometimes found upon the stubbles and wilder
pastures (places the Lark loves to frequent), where they consume the scat-
tered grain, and pick out the seeds of the various grasses. But they also
search at times the marshy meadows and pasture-lands for snails, worms,
and beetles; and if the frost lasts long and vegetable food is hard to find,
they will haunt the banks of the running streams for the sake of the
scanty insect-fare they afford. In winter the Fieldfare seems most at
home amongst the branches of berry-bearing trees and shrubs. He is then
a thorough berry feeder, and all the winter fruits form his fare. He is
often seen in the mountain-ash, or in amongst the dense thickets of wild
rose and bramble, where the “ hips” grow the thickest; but the food he
loves best appears to be the berries of the hawthorn. It is.a pleasing
sight to see a flock of Fieldfares, when the ground lies inches deep in
snow, in the dense branches of these trees, obtaining the berries which
hang in such tempting clusters from almost every twig. It is difficult to
say when these trees look best—in the spring, when they look almost
as white as the driven snow, and their delicate foliage shines like emeralds,
or in the winter, when their rich red fruit sets off the leafless branches.

232 BRITISH BIRDS.

Under the trees the berries lie in all directions, for the birds drop or knock
off almost as many as they eat; and the stones are ever falling as they are
dexterously shelled out by the feeding birds above. The Fieldfare’s
summer food is insects, worms, caterpillars, and grubs, and on its arrival at
its breeding-grounds in high latitudes the fruit of the various moorland
berries that are preserved by the snows of winter.

Although the Fieldfare warbles occasionally during its winter sojourn
amongst us, still its love-song is only heard amongst the wild scenery of its
northern haunts. About the end of April or the first week in May the
Fieldfare quits British shores for the north ; and upon its arrival its love-
song commences. ‘This bird is not a free singer at all; and his song is for
the most part confined to the pairing-season. It is often commenced when
the bird is on the wing—a wild desultory warble, which he often supple-
ments on his perch by notes reminding one of the peculiar chatter of the
Starling. From all parts of the forest the birds are heard to sing; and
their wild carols break the stillness of the daily lessening arctic twilight.
By many persons the Fieldfare is thought to be a songless bird; others
speak but poorly of his musical attamments. But the former have evidently
missed the season of the bird’s melody ; and the others have possibly been
too much accustomed to more ambitious songsters to do justice to his simple
strains. The Fieldfare’s love-song is a pleasant addition to the thousands
of songsters that make the Arctic summer so gay and lively. The call or
alarm-note of the Fieldfare is a sharp chattering ery—a kind of laughing
cackle—several times repeated, and uttered most frequently during the
breeding-season ; and in the winter it is often heard to utter a low guttural
warble, usually at roosting-time.

The Fieldfare builds its nest in the branches of the birch, the alder,
or the pine at various elevations from the ground. Sometimes, though
rarely, it is placed in outhouses, in situations similar to those which our
own Blackbird would choose, or in heaps of rubbish or low bushes only a
foot or so from the earth. Nesting-operations usually commence about the
third week in May; and eggs may be obtained from that date up to the
first week in July. This bird is very irregular in breeding. You may not
unfrequently take young birds and newly laid eggs from the same colony.
The nest is very similar to the Blackbird’s or the Ring-Ouzel’s in construc-
tion and materials. The outside is made of coarse dry grass, with some-
times a few birch-twigs or a little moss interwoven, then plastered with
mud, and finally lied with a thick bed of fine grass. The eggs are
from four to six in number, and, in rare instances, as many as seven or as
few as three. None of our British Thrushes’ eggs vary so widely as do the
eggs of the Fieldfare. The average type of egg is bluish green in ground-
colour, thickly marbled, speckled, and blotched over the entire surface with
rich reddish brown, the spots being the densest on the larger end, in fact

ee

THE FIELDFARE. 233

resembling a very handsome Blackbird’s egg. Some varieties are pale
greenish, with the spots and streaks distributed equally over the whole
surface and very pale and indistinct, like the duller eggs of the Blackbird ;
in others the egg is paler in ground-colour, but thickly and boldly blotched
with reddish brown, like typical eggs of the Ring-Ouzel; while yet, again,
specimens are more rarely met with almost as blue as Song-Thrush’s, and
with but one or two streaks of liver-brown on the larger end. They vary
in length from 1°35 to 1:02 inch, and in breadth from ‘9 to ‘7 inch. When
their nests are approached the birds often become very noisy and behave
hike Missel-Thrushes, flying round the head of the intruder, and en-
deavouring to drive him away from their haunt. This conduct is more
noticeable should the nests contain young birds; but their constitutional
shyness soon prevails over their parental instincts, and before you have
climbed your second tree, all trace of the Fieldfares has vanished, except
the sound of their tsak, tsak in the distance.

When the young quit the nest they still keep in their parents’ company,
wandering about the edges of the woods and open localities, appearing
in the morning and evening on their feeding-grounds, retiring to the
thickets at noon and at nightfall. Their food now is principally insects ;
but in July, when the wild strawberries are ripe, these constitute
their principal fare. This regular mode of life continues throughout this
month until the latter end, when the moulting-season commences. By
the end of August the moult is over, and the birds begin to flock, and then
their regular nomad life commences. They frequent all the large woods,
and draw near to those districts where the rowan tree and the wild rose
abound, on the berries of which they live for the most part, until the
autumn sends them southwards to their winter haunts.

The upper parts of the Fieldfare are slate-grey, except the wings and
tail, which are dark brown, and the head, which is spotted with black.
The centre of the back is dark chestnut-brown. The throat and breast
are rich brown, and the centre of the belly is pure white. With the ex-
ception of the centre of the belly, the whole underparts are spotted and
marked with rich brown. ‘The bill is yellow, feet and legs black, and irides
very dark brown. The female resembles the male. Upon its arrival in this
country the bird has very broad margins to the feathers of-the lower parts,
giving it a pale appearance ; in fact they are newly-moulted feathers; but
after the winter has passed these edges are cast and the spots are more
clearly defined, leaving the bird in its nuptial dress. Like the young of
all other Thrushes, the Fieldfare is spotted on the back when it leaves the
nest, but moults again with its parents, before it migrates, almost into
fully adult plumage.

The Fieldfare has no very near ally.

234 BRITISH BIRDS.

Genus MERULA.

The genus Merula, though foreshadowed by Brisson, was only half
adopted by Gerini, and dates a doubtful pedigree from 1816, when Leach,
in his ‘ Systematic Catalogue of the Mammals and Birds in the British
Museum,’ adopted the pree-Linnzan name of Merula nigra for the Blackbird.
As this species is also the Turdus merula of Brisson and Linneus, there
can be no doubt that it is the type of the genus Meruia.

The Ouzels differ from the Ground-Thrushes in not possessing the
peculiar wing-pattern of those birds, and from the Thrushes in having the
adult male either quite different from the female, or without any streaks
on the throat.

The genus Merula contains about fifty species. The Neotropical and
Oriental Regions contain about fifteen species each, and the Palearctic and
Australian Regions about ten each, whilst in the Nearctic and Athiopian
Regions the genus is unrepresented. Only two species breed in Europe
(both of them in England); but several of the Siberian Ouzels occasionally
wander westwards, and one of them at least has visited our shores.

The Ouzels are most of them strictly arboreal birds in their habits,
frequenting woods, groves, shrubberies, and well-timbered lands. They

-are somewhat shy and retiring birds, seldom straying far from cover, and
are more or less sociable among themselves. Amongst this group of birds
we find the power of song most highly developed, no bird exceeding the
typical Blackbird in the rich compass of its notes. These birds all build
open well-constructed nests, usually made of dry grasses, twigs, moss,
and mud, placing them in bushes, sometimes on the ground, and more
rarely in the higher branches. Their eggs are from four to seven in
number, bluish green of various shades in ground-colour, more or less

richly marked with reddish brown, Their food consists of worms, grubs,
snails, insects, fruits, and berries.

THE BLACKBIRD. — 235

MERULA MERULA.
THE BLACKBIRD.
(Pxate 8.)

Turdus merula, Briss. Orn. ii. p. 227 (1760); Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 295 (1766); et
auctorum plurimorum—Latham, Scopoli, Gmelin, Bechstein, Naumann, Tem-
minck, Vieilot, Gray, Bonaparte, Newton, Sharpe, Dresser, &c.

Merula vulgaris, Gerint, Orn. Meth. Dig. iii. p. 46, pl. cexcix. (1767); Selby, Brit.
Orn. i. p. 167 (1833).

Merula nigra, Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. Sc. Brit. Mus. p. 20 (1816).

Merula merula (Linn.), Bote, Isis, 1822, p. 552.

Sylvia merula (Zinn.), Savi, Orn. Tose. i. p. 205 (1827).

Turdus menegazzianus, Perini, Uccelli Veronesi, p. 56 (1858).

Turdus dactylopterus, Bp. fide Gray, Hand-l. B. i. p. 255. no. 8714 (1869).

The Blackbird is perhaps the most elegant in appearance of all our
British Thrushes, and the most graceful and sprightly in its motions. Its
highly developed vocal powers and its familiarity with man justly win for it
universal admiration ; and its neat plump form and rich song are associated
most closely with all rural scenes.

Throughout Great Britain, wherever trees abound, the Blackbird is
very commonly met with, and occasionally frequents the wild mountain-
wastes, but only near the upland farms or in gardens or orchards on
the border-lands of the moor. On the comparatively desolate Hebrides
the Blackbird appears but irregularly ; on some of the islands it is a
somewhat rare resident, whilst on others it is a winter visitant alone.
In Skye it occurs in fair numbers, but is not nearly so common as the Song-
Thrush. In all the well-wooded parts of the island you may hear his
mellow song—in those cheerful oases of sylvan beauty that do so much to
relieve the wildness of moorland wastes. On the isolated rock of Ailsa
Craig one or two pairs of Blackbirds live ; and the Bass Rock in the Forth
contains a pair, so strangely out of place, where not a single bush or tree
exists. As cultivation advances and the wastes are gradually reclaimed,
the Blackbird increases his range, encroaching upon that of the Ring-
Ouzel. In Britain cultivation and the Blackbird are almost inseparable ;
and as improvement extends the birds follow in its wake, spread them-
selves, and take possession of haunts once sacred to the birds of the wild
alone. It is only in recent times that the Blackbird has extended its
range to the remotest of the Hebrides; for, according to Macgillivray, the
bird in his time did not breed upon them ; now it is a resident bird even as
far north as Stornoway in Lewis, owing undoubtedly to the improvement
and cultivation of late years. In the Orkneys it breeds; but the Shetland

236 BRITISH BIRDS.

Isles are only visited in winter, most probably by storm-driven birds from
Norway, carried out of the general line of migration. It has been
occasionally found on the Faroe Islands; and in Iceland its occurrence
rests on two somewhat doubtful instances, one in 1823, the other in March
1860. It isa resident in the Azores. The Blackbird is a more or less
constant resident in every country in Europe and North Africa; but its
range does not extend very far north. In Norway, in consequence of the
milder climate caused by the Gulf-stream, it breeds up to the Arctic circle ;
but in Russia it does not appear to range further north or further east
than the valley of the Volga. In Asia it is found in Asia Minor, Palestine,
Persia, Turkestan, Afghanistan, and Cashmere. In the three last-
mentioned countries it attains a somewhat larger size, which has given
rise to the name of Merula maxima having been applied to the Eastern
form. In this race (which, according to the excellent American system
of nomenclature which ten years hence will also be used in this country,
ought to be called Merula merula, var. maxima) the length of wing varies
from 6:0 to 5:2 inch, whilst European birds only measure from 5:1 to
4°6inch. The Blackbird is a partial migrant. In the extreme north of
its range it is very rare in winter, whilst im the southern portion it is
especially abundant at that season of the year.

The Blackbird is shy and wary ; and his haunts are chosen in situations
well adapted to afford him concealment and seclusion. He inhabits the
woodlands, plantations, dense hedgerows, gardens, and orchards ; but per-
haps the places he favours most are the shrubberies and thickets of ever-
greens. Here, where the laurels, the yews, and the hollies spread their
glossy branches, and the ivy festoons almost every forest-tree, the Black-
bird is found in greatest abundance, more especially so should lawns
or pasture-fields adjoin them. The Blackbird also loves the fences in
the fields in summer, where the vegetation is thick and close, and more
particularly so if small streams of water wander beside them. The briars
and the brambles growing most luxuriantly over the hazel-bushes, with
here and there a guelder rose or blackthorn bush, afford a friendly shelter ;
and the banks clothed densely with herbage, wild hyacinths, primroses,
anemones, and fern-tufts afford a fitting site for his nest. But in winter,
when these situations lose their verdure, the Blackbird quits them for the
seclusion and warmth of the evergreens in the shrubberies and gardens.
In spare numbers the Blackbird also frequents the upland districts, on
those broken tracts of country which occur between the cultivated ground
and the moors. Here he frequents the dense thickets of thorn and bramble
by the side of the little streams, or, further in the open, the tall holly
bushes and gorse clumps occasionally intermingled with a birch or moun-
tain-ash. Wherever the upland farmhouses nestle amongst clumps of trees
and are surrounded with a partially neglected garden or orchard, the Black-

Ss

THE BLACKBIRD. 237

bird will also be found. In fact he follows man to the wilds as long as

sufficient vegetation exists to afford him the seclusion which he loves.

The Blackbird is especially fond of swampy places and the neighbourhood
of water. Wherever streams with well-wooded banks occur, there just as
surely Blackbirds will be found ; and in the little swampy corners of woods
and shrubberies they congregate, sometimes half a dozen birds taking wing
together at your approach. Yet the Blackbird is not gregarious ; and its
presence here in company with its kindred is explained by a common
purpose, the search for the food the swamps contain; and each bird flits
off solitary as it came.

Most birds become more or less vociferous at the approach of night,
and the Blackbird particularly so. As you wander through the shrubberies
in the evening, you will often hear a rustling noise amongst the withered
leaves under the shrubs and plants. A rustle and then a pause, another
more hasty movement, and at last a Blackbird dashes rapidly out, and,
uttering his loud harsh cry of alarm, flits off in unsteady flight and hastily
disappears again in the nearest cover. As the darkness deepens you have
good opportunity of watching their actions when retiring to rest. Conceal
yourself under the spreading branches of a dark gloomy yew tree and wait
patiently ; you will hear their loud cries in all directions, and catch occa-
sional glimpses of their dark forms flitting hither and thither in the gloom :
pink-pink-pink, tac-tac-tac, is heard on every side. Now a bird comes flut-
tering into the bush under which you are concealed, and his notes startle
you by their nearness. A short distance away another answers: another
and another in different directions also swell the noisy clamour; and you
hear on every side their fluttering wings amongst the evergreens around
you. As night comes on and all objects lose outline and distinct-
ness, the cries cease and the birds settle down to rest. <A solitary
bird will, perhaps, dash past-just fresh from the pasture-lands outside ; or
a frightened bird will utter his alarm-note as he shifts his quarters ; yet all
else is now silent, save indeed the few last evening notes of the Robin, or,
perhaps, the purr of the Goatsucker.

The Blackbird is with difficulty flushed. It is a skulking bird, and
prefers to hop quickly under the hedgerows and brushwood rather than
take wing, its motions partaking more of those of a mouse or a rat than
of a bird. When compelled to take wing, its flight for a short distance is
remarkably unsteady. Turning and twisting from side to side, it dashes
quickly away, and, as.arule, just as suddenly and unexpectedly alights in
the nearest cover. Across an open place, however, the Blackbird flies
quite steadily, and his motion through the air is rapid. Rarely, indeed,
does the bird fly at any great height ; and should he be compelled to fly
far, he seems to prefer skulking along the hedgerows or close to the ground
from bush to bush rather than expose himself to view. In the pine-forests

238 BRITISH BIRDS.

at Arcachon, where both the Blackbird and the Song-Thrush winter in some
numbers, it was especially noticeable that, whilst the latter were generally
seen in the loftiest pines, the former were exclusively found in the under-
wood, which there consists of furze, broom, and heath, the latter frequently
attaining a height of from six to ten feet. As a rule, Blackbirds are
extremely sedentary birds, rarely make excursions to any distance, and for
weeks, nay, whole seasons, regularly frequent one locality. The Blackbird’s
flights are almost entirely restricted to those taken from or to its feeding-
grounds, should they not be immediately adjoining its haunts. From the
shrubberies to the gardens it regularly passes, especially in early morning
and in the dusk of the evening; yet the bird is apparently always in a
hurry, and anxious to reach the shelter and seclusion of its haunt as soon
as possible.

There is no reason to think that the Blackbird is migratory in the
British Islands. Many birds shift their quarters, either from the colder
districts and those parts of the uplands which they haunt in summer, or
they quit the open fields when the hedgerows are rendered bare by the
wintry blasts; but the bird is not a migrant in the accepted meaning
of the word. In severe winters, however, the numbers of our resident
birds are perceptibly increased by birds from the continent driven south
by stress of weather. On Heligoland, that interesting little island, of all
other places the best for observing the annual movements of the bird world,
the Blackbird is regularly obtained on spring and autumn migration, clearly
demonstrating the fact that the species is, at all events, a migratory one
in the northern portions of its range.

Morning and evening are the times when the Blackbird usually seeks
his food; and then you can study his graceful attitudes and sprightly
bearing to perfection. In spring and summer it is, for the most part,
obtained from the grass-lands—the lawns and pastures near his haunts.
At the morning’s dawn, or when the sun is well down in the west,
you can observe them with ease. One by one you may see them fly
rapidly out of the dense shrubbery or wood and alight amongst the grass.

‘They remain motionless for a few seconds after alighting, with legs at a

graceful angle, neck arched, head turned slightly aside, as if they were
listening intently, and tail almost at right angles to the body; for these
birds, like Ring-Ouzels and Magpies, always elevate their tails upon
alighting. ‘They crouch low amongst the herbage, thus presenting an
appearance the very model of easy though wary gracefulness and beauty.
Few birds are more shy while feeding than the Blackbird; and the instant
he is alarmed, he either crouches lower to the ground or retires into the
fastnesses whence he came. The Blackbird most frequents the pastures
in the morning and at evening—when the small white snails occur in
largest numbers, and the earthworms come nearer to the surface of the

ee

ee ee ey ees

THE BLACKBIRD. 239

ground or crawl out completely. An animating and interesting sight, indeed,
it isto watch him seek hismeal. As soonas he alights he pauses a moment,
then hops quickly forward and begins to dig for a worm, or snatches a
snail from the grass-stem. Then another pause with lead erect, then a
few more rapid hops forward, and again he renews the digging motions,
drawing the worms from their hiding places, and, if they be too large to
swallow whole, breaking them in pieces. Now he is tugging away at some
tenacious worm, now exploring the heaps of manure in search of insects,
every now and then pausing in his labours to look warily around. In this
manner the birds will advance a hundred yards or more from their cover ;
but should any one of them utter its alarm-notes, the whole party
seek shelter, leaving the pasture in a straggling train, the boldest birds
sometimes tarrying until you approach them within gunshot. But all the
Blackbird’s food is not obtained from the pastures. Lurking amongst the
hedgerows are numerous snails inhabiting prettily-marked shells; these
the Blackbird breaks by dashing them against a stone or even the hard
ground. Insects and grubs are also eaten, and in autumn the berries of
the mountain-ash, wild rose, and elder, and also wild fruits, as raspberry,
blackberry, and sloe. The Blackbird is also, to some extent, a gramini-
vorous bird, and will feed on grain and various seeds. The bird’s love for
fruit also makes him but a poor favourite with the gardener, who is ever
on the alert to kill him for the cherries, currants, gooseberries, and peas
that he pilfers in the season. But the bird’s thefts in fruit-time are amply
repaid by the amount of undoubted good he does at other times of the
year in ridding the garden and the orchard of many of their unwelcome.
pests. A little watching in the fruit-season is all that is necessary. His
good deeds amply repay his little pilferings; and his sprightly form and
tuneful song should be far more highly valued than a handful of fruit.

In autumn the Blackbird is often found in the turnip-fields, seeking
the snails and worms which abound so plentifully in the damp loose
soil under the broad leaves. In such numbers do the birds congregate
that it is no uncommon thing to flush a dozen of them on an acre of
turnips. Here they are flushed with difficulty, always preferring to run
under the leaves than to take wing, unless absolutely compelled to do so.
In winter the Blackbird’s table is the hawthorn, whose berries form its
favourite food. At this season of the year it also eats the berries of the
misseltoe and the ivy; yet always, when the frost is absent, it frequents
the grass-lands, manure-heaps, and little watercourses in search of the
various insects on or near them.

The song of the Blackbird is first heard in the latter part of February,
and continues with undiminished power until the end of May, when his
notes are on the wane throughout June; and in July his mellow pipe is
hushed during the autumnal moult until the advent of the following spring.

210 BRITISH BIRDS.

Though rich and full in tone it possesses little variety ; but still the Black-
bird’s melody is one of the finest of all known birds’; for what it lacks in
variation it makes up in compass and richness of tone. Early morning,
about sunrise, and after five o’clock in the evening, in the latter part of
April, are perhaps the times the Blackbird’s powers of song are heard to
best advantage. On the topmost twig of some lofty oak tree, or hid away
amongst the foliage of the lower branches, he will sit in the dusk of early
morning and warble his wild flute-lke song, which floats gently on the
still cool air, as he greets the now glowing eastern sky, and later the
rising sun. Then again in the evening he sings as loud and full as in the
morning; and you may note that his melody is particularly charming
during a passing shower or thuuder-storm, even in the middle of the day.
Although the Blackbird warbles his delightful strains at all hours of the
day, still it is in the morning and evening that the lover of nature can
pause and listen to the bird’s wild strains in fullest enjoyment ; for he
seems to strive his best to herald the approaching day and sing its requiem
in his choicest tones. The Blackbird’s alarm-notes have been previously
noticed, and resemble most closely those of the Ring-Ouzel. The call-
note of the male bird in the breeding-season resembles the call-note of the
Robin—a kind of wild piping ery, indescribably plaintive and beautiful.
The female bird is not near so noisy as her mate. She is perhaps still
more skulking in her habits, and in the breeding-season especially is rarely
heard to utter a sound.

Blackbirds are extremely pugnacious creatures during the mating-season.
A little before the period of the vernal equinox it is no uncommon thing
to see male Blackbirds fighting with perfect fury, and chasing each other
rapidly through the branches until one comes off victorious and the other
slinks silently away. Most birds in the mating-season are more or less
pugnacious, although peaceable enough at other times ; but the Blackbird
may be often seen displaying animosity towards its own species at all
seasons of the year. The Blackbird pairs early in the season; but its
nest is not found quite so early as that of the Song-Thrush or the
Stormeock,

Its chief breeding-haunts are the woods, the shrubberies, pleasure-
grounds, gardens, and hedgerows of the highly cultivated districts. The
site for the nest is a varied one, embracing at times very singular situa-
tions. Preference, however, is given to evergreens. Its nest is placed far
up the ivy-covered branches of the tallest trees, or amongst the ground-
ivy, in the gloomy yew-trees, snugly buried under the broad-leaved
laurels, hid from view in the holly’s impenetrable and glossy foliage, and,
more rarely, in the dark and frowning branches of the cedars and the
pines. A favourite situation for a Blackbird’s nest is amongst the ivy
growing on walls, especially where a few stray brambles hang over to

ne ae

Sn ts ti II i ii a i it a me

ee ee

wad A

THE BLACKBIRD. 241

support it, the materials of the nest being artfully interwoven with them.
It is also found pretty frequently on the ground in the banks of wooded
ravines, amongst fern and hyacinths, and also in hedges. In all these
varied situations, however, the materials of the nest are the same; and
often little or no attempt is made to conceal it. Curious sites, indeed, are
sometimes chosen. The Blackbird has been known to make its nest on a
stone projecting from a wall, with no other support whatever ; in another
instance under the eaves of a shed; whilst a third was placed amongst the
roots of a large tree, far under a bank, in just such a situation as a Wren
would select for a nesting-site. The nest passes through three stages
before it is completed. It is composed, first, of coarse grasses, amongst
which a few twigs are sometimes woven, a little moss, and dry leaves.
This somewhat loosely built structure is lined with mud or clay, when
_it is a difficult matter to distinguish it from an unfinished nest of the
Song-Thrush. This mud-formed cavity is finally lined very thickly with
finer grasses, admirably arranged, and forming a smooth bed for the eggs.
When completed and dry, the nest of the Blackbird is very firm and com-
pact—a proof of which may be seen in the number of their nests which
remain intact through the storms of winter, forming refuges and larders
for the field-mice. In form the Blackbird’s nest is somewhat shallow,
and is usually a large, bulky structure. The eggs of the Blackbird are
from four to six in number, although this is in some few cases ex-
ceeded, for nests have been known to contain eight eggs. They differ
considerably in size, form, and colour: some specimens are exceptionally
large, others small; some are quite pear-shaped, others almost round.
The usual colour is a bright bluish green, spotted, streaked, clouded,
and blotched with rich reddish brown and various tints of purple. Some
specimens have most of the spots and streaks round the large end of the
egg in a zone or band; others are finely blotched ; whilst some speci-
mens are so highly marked as to hide all trace of the ground-colour.
Varieties of the Blackbird’s eggs are occasionally met with very similar to
the eggs of the Starling, pure and spotless. Apropos of these light-
coloured eggs, Dixon writes that “in Derbyshire, for three successive
years, a pair of Blackbirds built their nest in a spreading laurel, in exactly
the same situation yearly ; and each season their eggs were remarkable for
being pale blue and spotless. This pair of birds produced during this
period some thirty eggs, all similar m colour, thus affording considerable
proof that the colour of birds’ eggs is to a great extent hereditary. I
have known similar instances with the Starling, the Titmouse, and the
Robin, where for several seasons the eggs have possessed certain peculiar
characters. The eggs vary from 1°35 to 1 inch in length, and in
breadth from ‘9 to ‘79 inch. The Blackbird usually rears two, and
sometimes even three broods in a year, nests containing newly laid eggs
VOL, I. R

242 BRITISH BIRDS.

not unfrequently being found in July and early in August. The young
birds are fed on worms, snails, grubs, and insects; and the parent bird
tends them but a short time after they quit the nest. When visiting the
nest with food, both male and female birds are extremely cautious ; and
should they obtain a glimpse of any intruder, they will sometimes fly
restlessly about for hours with the food im their beaks rather than betray
the site of the nest. Both the male and female bird assist in hatching
the eggs and rearing the young; but the female is by far the most
frequently found upon the nest; and she conveys the greater part of the
food to the young as well. In the rearing-season the male Blackbird
sometimes warbles as he flies through the air to and from the nest.

As a cage-bird the Blackbird is held in high esteem. Poor fellow! he
bears captivity well; and his tuneful melody is often heard in the densest
thoroughfares of the busy metropolis as the little jet-black chorister
warbles from his prison-home, in seemingly just as joyous a strain as his
wild congeners, gladdening the hearts of all who hear it, and doubtless
bringing to the mind of many a tired wayfarer rural scenes far away, and
brighter and happier times now long past and gone.

Our Blackbird’s nearest relation is the South-Chinese Ouzel, Merula
mandarina, which has the upper parts very dark brown, never quite black.
There are several other species of Merula in which the male is quite black
—one in Central America, three or four in South America, and one on
the Samoa Islands in the Pacific Ocean ; but these may be distinguished
at a glance from their Palearctic relation by their yellow legs.

As its name implies, the Blackbird is entirely black, with an orange
bill, a ring of orange round the eye, black legs, and hazel irides. Shake-
speare dispenses with long pages of description, and gives his diagnosis
in a single sentence :—

“The Ouzel-cock, so black of hue,
With orange-tawny bill.”
Midsummer Night's Dream, Act iii. se. 1.

The female bird differs greatly from the male, is brown with a dark
brown bill, and is more or less rufous on the throat and breast, which are
streaked with dusky black. The young birds in nestling plumage have
most of the feathers with pale shaft-streaks, dark tips to those of the upper
parts, and the under plumage with dark bars. After the first moult
the young birds resemble their parents ; but the males have the bill black,
and the females are suffused on the throat and breast with vinous red.
It is worthy of remark that both immature birds and old males and females
have a few fine hairs on the hind neck, growing quite independent of the

eileen 6 nets adie ee

titi

—_
~y
-

feathers; so, too, have its near ally M. mandarina and many other *

Ouzels,.

THE RING-OUZEL. 243

MERULA TORQUATA.

THE RING-OUZEL.
(PLATE 8.)

Turdus merula torquata, Briss, Orn. ii. p. 235 (1760),

Turdus torquatus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 296 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum—
Gmelin, Latham, Pallas, Temminck, Gray, Newion, Sharpe, Dresser, (Gould), &c.

Merula torquata (Linn.), Bove, Isis, 1822, p. 552,

Sylvia torquata (Linn.), Savi, Orn. Tose. i. p. 206 (1827).

Copsichus torquatus (Linn.), Kaup, Natirl. Syst. p. 157 (1829).

Thoracocinela torquata (Linn.), Reich. Nat. Syst. pl. xliii, (1850).

‘The range of the Ring-Ouzel in Great Britain is pretty much restricted
to the moorland wastes and northern mountains. In the south of
England the bird is seen on spring and autumn migration, and breeds in
one or two localities, notably on Dartmoor. It has also been known to
breed in Cornwall, Kent, Suffolk, Norfolk, Warwick, and Leicester, and
in a few of the Welsh mountain-districts. From Derbyshire northwards
the Ring-Ouzel is a common bird on the moors, extending its range to the
Scottish Highlands, but is only seen on autumn migration in the Orkney
and Shetland Islands. Curiously enough, on the Outer Hebrides the bird
is unknown; and even on the innermost western isles it is a rare bird,
although the ground seems eminently suitable to it. Throughout Ireland
in all suitable localities it is commonly found. Upon the European con-
tinent the Ring-Ouzel is a summer visitant to the bare rocky portions of
the pine-districts ; yet in most of the mountainous districts of the south
which the birds pass on migration numbers remain to breed. But it does
not appear to range further east than the Ural Mountains. Its winter-
quarters are the lowlands and alpine districts of South Europe, North
Africa, Asia Minor, and Persia.

The Ring-Ouzel is an especial favourite with most ornithologists—not
so much from its rarity as from the localness of its distribution, and not
so much from any thing specially interesting in its appearance or habits
as from the romantic. scenery of its breeding-grounds. It may be said to
be a mountain form of the Blackbird. The lowland species seldom ascends
the hills more than a thousand feet, where it is replaced by the Ring-Ouzel.
In the Caucasus the Ring-Ouzel frequents the rhododendron region, seven
thousand feet above the level of the sea; and when I was toiling up the
steep ascent of the North Cape in Norway, in lat. 714°, I amused myself
with watching the Ring-Ouzels on the rocks. As it is not recorded from
Archangel, and Harvie-Brown and I did not meet with it in the valley of

R 2

244 BRITISH BIRDS.

the Petchora, we may almost assume that rocks are indispensable to the
Ring-Ouzel. It appears again more to the east amongst the rocks of the
Ural Mountains; but its further range eastwards appears to be barred by
the rockless steppes of West Siberia. When the Redwing and the Field-
fare are on the point of departure from our shores for their northern
breeding-haunts, the Ring-Ouzel’s bold and defiant cries are first heard,
and his song, carried hither and thither over the moorlands by the breeze,
sounds wild and sweet as, tempered by distance, it greets our ear as the
bird sits wary and watchful on the highest pinnacle of some projecting
rock. Impelled by resistless impulse, this handsome Ouzel has again
sought the solitudes of the moors for the purpose of rearing its young,
arriving towards the end of March or early in April.

The Ring-Ouzel is a somewhat remarkable bird; for although not the
only migratory British Thrush, still it is the only Thrush that visits our
country for the purpose of rearing its young ; and, in addition to this, it is
the only Thrush that principally confines itself to the upland wilds. A true
bird of the wilderness, it prefers the deepest solitudes that our land affords.
Truly, indeed, the Ring-Ouzel’s home is a wild and romantic one. You will
first make his acquaintance where the heath begins, where the silver birch
trees are scattered amongst the rock-fragments, and the gorse bushes and
stunted thorns and bracken are the last signs of more lowland vegetation.
The scenery gets wilder, but still the bird is your companion; he flits
from rock to rock before you, or, by making long detours, returns to the
place whence you flushed him, uttering his loud, harsh, and discordant
call-notes. The hills of Derbyshire are one of his favourite haunts:
almost on the very summit of Kinder Scout, the highest peak of the High
Peak, nearly two thousand feet above the sea-level, the Ring-Ouzels rear
their young. The plateau on the summit of this wild mountain, the view
from which is one of the finest in the north of England, is intersected by
deep watercourses, the principal ones worn down to the solid rock, but
the greater part of them mere trenches in the peat alone, too wide to jump
across, and destitute of the least trace of vegetation. The innumerable
islands which lie in this network of “ groughs,” as they are locally called,
are covered with heath, bilberry, crowberry, clusterberry, and, in some
places, with cranberry, bearberry, and cloudberry. The latter plant is the
great feature of the wild Siberian tundras, the “ maroshka” of the Russians,
and the “ molteberre” of the Norwegians. But the botanist is not the
only one who finds an interest here. Bird-life is on every side; and the
handsome “Torr-Ouzel,” as the peasant lads and herdsmen call him, lives
im company with the Red Grouse, the Curlew, the Peewit, and the Golden
Plover, which also breed in this wild upland solitude.

The Ring-Ouzel is a shy and wary bird, rarely allowing the observer
to approach it within gunshot, except when its nest is in danger, The

,

i ee ee

THE RING-OUZEL. 845

bird flits before you, ever at a respectable distance, and, if repeatedly

‘disturbed, will take itself off with strong rapid flight to some place of
safety. There is much in the Ring-Ouzel’s habits and movements in
common with those of the Blackbird,—its garrulousness at nightfall, its
method of searching for food, its peculiar elevation of the tail upon alighting,
and its shy, restless, and vigilant disposition, all being characteristic of that
coal-black chorister. Directly after its arrival on our shores the Ring-
Ouzel is sometimes observed in large flocks, not unfrequently consisting
of several hundred individuals. They remain gregarious for a few days,
frequenting the marshes and swamps before they pair and distribute them-
selves over the moors. At this season the birds are more vigilant than
ever, and, if disturbed, rise like Fieldfares and take themselves off to safer
and more secluded quarters.

The food of the Ring-Ouzel is varied, and is both animal and vegetable.
At dawn, or just as the evening’s mist is stealing up the mountains, you
will not unfrequently see him on the wild pasture-lands of the upland
farms, or on the stretches of marshy grass-land, studded with rush-tufts,
on the moor. Here, in a precisely similar manner to the Blackbird, the
Ring-Ouzel seeks his food, which consists of the worms and small slugs
abounding in the earth and on the blades of grass. Every few moments he
hops forward, looks warily around, and then commences digging for his
prey, occasionally pausing in his labours with head erect, as if fearful of
discovery so far from the friendly cover of the heath. On the moor itself
he obtains much of his sustenance. The droppings from the cattle and the
sheep that pasture there abound with small beetles and insects, which the
bird searches for and captures, just as the Blackbird does on the lowland
pastures. Then, too, amongst the wild luxuriant growth of vegetation on
the moor, numercus shells are found; and the snails that tenant them are
eaten, the bird breaking the shells, just like the Thrush or Blackbird, on
some convenient stone or rock. The Ring-Ouzel is also passionately fond
of fruits and berries; indeed, from July to the time of his departure for
the south, these form his favourite fare. The wild berries of the moorland,
the billberry, cranberry, cluster-berry, and other fruits, are eaten, as are
also the berries of the mountain-ash. The gardens near the Ring-Ouzel’s
haunts are also visited and plundered, all the smaller fruits being eaten,
and also the plums and cherries. Ivy-berries, elder-berries, and the
luscious fruit of the bramble are also part of the bird’s autumn food ; and
the vineyards of France and Spain are visited on the bird’s passage south
for the sake of the dainty fare they afford.

Soon after their arrival at their breeding-grounds the male Ring-Ouzels
are heard singing in all directions, and, by exercising a little caution, you
may get within a few yards of the bird and thus observe him closely.
Sometimes he is perched on the rocky walls that there do duty for hedges ;

246 BRITISH BIRDS.

sometimes he is sitting on a tuft of heather, or on a gorse bush, or on the
branches of some silver birch or mountain-ash, yet, perhaps, most fre-
quently of all on the summit of a grey boulder. Monotonous as is the
song of the Ring-Ouzel, still its loud tones and the bold bearing of the bird
itself fully harmonize with the wild surroundings. You may often see him
perched on some storm-riven tree growing out of the grey rocks, where,
with his white breast glistening in the sun, he sits motionless and pours
forth his wild notes. His song resembles in part that of the Starling, the
Blackbird, and the Song-Thrush. The bird, after several piping notes,
utters a few harsh tones, as if in mockery of his own performance, pro-
bably a minute passing between each snatch of song. If you alarm him,
his wild notes cease at once, and, with his wild cries echoing in the rocks
around, he either drops down into the heath or flies away to a more
secluded resting-place. The claims of the Ring-Ouzel to the rank of a
first-rate songster may be disputed, and his musical powers be unfavour-
ably compared with those of the Song-Thrush or the Blackbird; still there
is a wild freedom in them which gives them a peculiar charm, and the
wild nature of the surrounding landscape is also much enhanced in beauty
by a song as clear and melodious in tone as the scenery around is grand
and impressive. If it be the surroundings alone that gain the Ring-Ouzel
his musical reputation, then most surely it is the shaded dells and wooded
copses that bring the Song-Thrush’s music and the Blackbird’s trills into
such high repute. |

The call-notes of the Ring-Ouzel are somewhat varied. Sometimes they
are as low and musical as a Wheatear’s (call-notes to each other, in fact) ;
sometimes the note is a piping cry, apparently confined to the male bird
alone, with which he speaks to his mate. But the alarm-note is a sharp
tac-tac-tac, tac-tac-tac, repeated more frequently and loudly should you
happen to be in the neighbourhood of the nest.

The Ring-Ouzel very probably pairs annually, soon after its arrival at
its breeding-grounds ; and a week or so later the birds are engaged in the
duties of the season—towards the end of April; yet eggs can be obtained
throughout the whole of May and even till July, although these may be
the eggs of birds whose first clutch was destroyed. The nest of the Ring-
Ouzel is generally placed on the ground, in a hollow in the midst of the
ling, which effectually conceals it. Occasionally it will be found in a
bush or stunted tree, but never at any great elevation. In the heather on
an embankment, where the soil has given way and left an abrupt edge, is a
favourite place, Wherever there is a steep bank covered with high heath,
whether it be sloping down to a stream or an old road, you may almost
safely calculate on finding a nest every few hundred yards or so, always
placed in the shelter of the highest heather (a foot high or more). Some-
times holes in the rock itself are chosen, where a few plants of heath have

THE RING-OUZEL. 247

gained a footing and almost completely shelter the nest from view. Like
the nests of all the Thrushes, that of the Ring-Ouzel undergoes three distinct
stages before completion, and is always well and compactly constructed.
It is made of coarse grass, with perhaps a few twigs of heather to bind the
materials together ; and a few withered leaves are sometimes added. This
grass-formed nest is then lined with mud or clay from the neighbouring
bogs or stream-banks. At this stage the nest is remarkably deep; but
the thick lining of fine grass which is now added brings the nest to more
even proportions. When examining the nest of this bird, its close resem-
blance to that of the Blackbird will be noticed. Indeed it would be
almost impossible to discriminate between them, were we not aware that
the Blackbird does not haunt the wild open moor. In the districts where
the habitats of these two birds adjoin (the boundary of cultivation and the
wild), nothing but a sight of the parent birds can make identification
sure.

The Ring-Ouzel lays four or five finely-marked eggs, bluish green in
ground-colour, boldly and richly blotched with reddish brown, and some-
times streaked with dark brown. One variety is very elongated and very
pale in ground-colour, the markings being represented by small specks,
with a few splashes on the larger end. A second is almost round,
intense bluish green in ground-colour, boldly yet sparingly blotched with
surface-markings of purplish brown and pale dashes of purple. A third is
brownish green in ground-colour, blotched, clouded, and spotted with pale
reddish brown and light dashes of purple; while a fourth is similar in
ground-colour, but has the brown markings chiefly on the larger end of the
egg, where they form a broad zone, and is also streaked with dark wavy
lines of brown. So closely do the eggs of this bird resemble those of the
Blackbird and the Fieldfare, that, were a series of the eggs of these three
birds mixed promiscuously, it would be absolutely impossible to separate
all of them correctly. Nevertheless, on an average, the Ring-Ouzel’s eggs
have the ground-colour clearer, and are more boldly and richly marked,
than those of the Blackbird. They vary in length from 1°35 to 1:08 inch,
and in breadth from 0:9 to 0°78 inch.

No birds defend their eggs or young with more matchless courage than
the Ring-Ouzel. Approach their treasure, and, although you have no
knowledge of its whereabouts, you speedily know that you are on sacred
ground, or, more plainly speaking, on the nesting-site of this bird of the
moor. Something sweeps suddenly round your head, probably brushing
your face. You look round; and there the Ring-Ouzel, perched close at
hand, is eying you wrathfully, and ready to do battle, despite the odds,
for the protection of her abode. Move, and the attack is renewed, this
time with loud and dissonant cries that wake the solitudes of the barren
moor around. Undauntedly the birds fly round you, pause for a moment

248 BRITISH BIRDS.

on some mass of rock, or reel and tumble on the ground to decoy you
away. As you approach still closer, the anxiety of the female, if possible,
increases; her cries, with those of her mate, disturb the birds around:
the Red Grouse, startled, skims over the shoulder of the hill to find
solitude ; the Moor-Pipit chirps anxiously by ; and the gay little Stonechat
flits uneasily from bush to bush. So long as you tarry near their treasure
the birds will accompany you, and, by using every artifice, endeavour to
allure or drive you away from its vicinity. Even when the nest is but
half built, the birds display remarkable attachment to it, as is also the case
with the Chaffinch; and the same motions are gone through as though it
contained eggs or young birds.

Upon leaving the nest the young birds are soon abandoned by their
parents, and fly about singly or in little parties in search of food.

The general colour of the adult male is a uniform very dark brown,
approaching black, with the exception of a nearly white gorget extending
across the lower throat from shoulder to shoulder; most of the feathers of
the body show traces of pale margins, more or less conspicuously. Bill
yellow ; legs, feet, and claws brown; irides dark brown. The female
differs from the male in being much duller brown, and the white gorget
is suffused with brown. Birds of the year have very broad margins to
the feathers of the underparts. In young females the gorget is scarcely
perceivable; in young males it is also suffused with brown. Young in
nestling-plumage have the back and breast barred with black and pale
brown, and have ochraceous tips to the wing-coverts.

The nearest relation of the Ring-Ouzel is undoubtedly the Blackbird,
and the next nearest is the South-Chinese Ouzel (MM. mandarina), all three
black-legged Ouzels. The White-collared Ouzel of the Himalayas bears
a superficial resemblance to the Ring-Ouzel ; but the pattern of its colour
is quite different, the white collar going completely round the neck ; and it
belongs, moreover, to the yellow-legged group of Ouzels.

— ae

;

Alte tals a: hiant

sts Rca tc ice ty th

AT,

—

THE BLACK-THROATED OUZEL. 249

MERULA ATRIGULARIS.
THE BLACK-THROATED OUZEL.

Turdus atrogularis, Temm. Man. d’ Orn. i. p. 169 (1820); et auctorum plurimorum
—Meyer, Gould, Gray, Blyth, Bonaparte, Newton, Harting, Dresser, &c.

Turdus bechsteinii, Nawm. Vog. Deutschl. ii. p. 310 (1822).

Cichloides bechsteinii (Waum.), Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 153 (1829).

Sylvia atrogularis (Temm.), Savi, Orn. Tose. iii. p. 203 (1831).

Merula atrogularis (Temm.), Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. § N. Amer. p. 17 (1838).

Turdus atrigularis (Temm.), Keys. u. Blas. Wirb. Eur. pp. li, 177 (1840).

Turdus varicollis, Hodgys. MS. Drawings (in the Brit. Mus.) of B. of Nepal, Passeres,
pl. 148, nos. 198, 199, & pl. 149, nos. 198, 199 (icon. ined.).

Merula leucogaster, Blyth, J. A. S. Beng. xvi. p. 149 (1847).

Planesticus atrogularis (Temm.), Bonap. Cat. Parzud. p. 5 (1854).

-Cichloides atrigularis (Temm.), Tytler, Ibis, 1869, p. 124.

Turdus mystacinus, Severtz. Turkest. Jevotn. pp. 64, 118, 119 (1873).

The occurrence of this Ouzel in England, so far from its true home,
together with the fact that its eggs are here described for the first time,
renders it a species of considerable interest, not only to British ornitho-
logists, but to all European naturalists who take an interest in the regular
migration or nomad wanderings of birds. Its only claim to rank as a
British species rests on a a single example taken in the south of England
during the winter of 1868. Its occurrence was recorded by Mr. T. J.
Monk, into whose possession it came, in the ‘ Zoologist’ for February
1869, p. 1560, thus:—‘“ On Wednesday, 23rd of December, -a fine
example of the Black-throated Thrush was shot near Lewes. The bird,
which proved on dissection to be a male, was in excellent condition,
and, having been carefully handled, was in fine order for preservation,
and in this respect has received ample justice from the hands of Mr. Sways-
land of Brighton, where it may be seen.” Mr. G. D. Rowley also brought
the circumstances before the Zoological Society of London, where the
bird was exhibited. He said (P. Z. S. 1869, p. 4) :—“The specimen of
Turdus atrogularis was shot near Lewes, Sussex, on December 23rd, 1868.
It is a young male, as shown by its plumage; dissection also confirmed
the fact. I saw the bird in the flesh, and took particular care to ascertain
its history, because it belongs to the fauna of Central Asia, and is only an
accidental visitor to Europe. To find such a species on the south coast of
England appears to me a matter of considerable interest. It is now in
the collection of T. J. Monk, Esq., of Mountfield House, near Lewes,
who purchased it for a trifle of a working man.” The late Mr. Gould also
recorded its capture in the ‘ Ibis’ for 1869, p. 128.

The Black-throated Ouzel is only known as an occasional straggler into
Europe, where it has been obtained in Russia, Germany, Denmark, Bel-
gium, France, and Italy. Like White’s Ground-Thrush and the Siberian

250 BRITISH BIRDS.

Ground-Thrush, the Black-Throated Ouzel belongs to the Eastern Palz-
arctic Region, and is one of many Siberian birds which are in the habit of
occasionally missing their way on their autumn migration, and wandering -
into Europe instead of South Asia. I met with it twice in the valley
of the Yenesay on my return journey from the Arctic regions, between
latitudes 60° and 63°, early in August; I found it a very noisy active bird.
I was too late for eggs; but the not fully fledged young, three of which I
secured, were a source of great anxiety to their parents, whose alarm-notes
resounded on the skirts of the forest on every side. They principally
frequented the neighbourhood of the villages on the banks of the river,
where the forest had been cut down for firewood, and clumps of small trees
were scattered over the rough pastures where the cattle of the peasants
are turned out to graze insummer. They showed a marked preference for
the pines, and were very wary. The males kept out of gunshot ; and I only
obtained one adult, a female.

It probably also breeds in the same latitude of the Obb, and in a similar
climate in the pine-regions of the Himalayas and Eastern Turkestan. It
winters in Western Turkestan, Baluchistan, and North India, occurring on
migration as far eastwards as Lake Baikal, and in winter as far as Assam.

Severtzow says that it breeds in Eastern Turkestan in the cultivated
districts, gardens, grassy steppes, and salt plains, up to 4000 feet above the
level of the sea; and there cannot be much doubt that it breeds also at a
considerable elevation in the pine-regions of the lofty Himalayas. In
winter when the Arctic forests are frost-bound, and all its northern haunts
untenable, the Black-throated Ouzel is quite a common bird in Baluchis-
tan and North India, where it regularly spends the cold season. In
India its winter haunt is the more open woods at a level of from 3000 to
8000 feet, and it is occasionally seen on roads and pathways. In Baluchis-
tan its haunts (according to Blanford) are the miserable apologies for
gardens at Guadar, one of the most desolate of inhabited spots on the
earth’s surface, in the vicinity of houses, and on the sand-downs near

the sea; and in other districts it frequents well-wooded plains. In Eastern —

‘Turkestan it winters amongst the trees bordering watercourses or growing
near tanks. Favourite places to observe these birds in the winter,

according to Dr. Scully (Stray Feath. 1876, p. 80), are amongst the-

sand-hills and low scrub-jungle; and further on (p. 140) he says that
“the birds disappear entirely in the spring, migrating in a north-easterly
direction, towards the hills and the Lob district, where it is reported to
breed. It feeds chiefly on Eleagnus-berries, called ‘jigda’ in Turki,
and commonly known as ‘ Trebizond dates; hence its name Jigda-chuk,
i.e. “jigda-eater.’ This food is also varied with insects and worms, much

similar fare to that selected by the other members of this family of birds.”

Nothing is known of the nest of this bird; but a series of its eggs has

tintin iiameiedinietie ne

LS i A i i i in a i

eae

al

THE BLACK-THROATED OUZEL. 251

been obtained by Herr Tancré’s collectors on the Altai Mountains. They
exhibit the same variation in colour as the eggs of the Blackbird, and
measure from 1:2 to 1:15 inch in length, and from ‘8 to *75 inch in breadth.
The young in nestling-piumage which I brought from the valley of the
Yenesay are very like the young of the Fieldfare, although the chestnut
wing-lining and axillaries distinguish them at a glance, as also from the
young of another closely allied Asiatic bird, of which I had the good
fortune to obtain both eggs and young, the Dark Ouzel (Merula obscura).

The autumn plumage of the Black-throated Ouzel is olive-brown above,
darkest on the wings and tail; below, the throat and breast are black, with
pale margins to the feathers, and the sides and flanks are greyish brown,
becoming pure white on the belly. The wing-lining and axillaries are rich
chestnut. During winter and spring the edges to the feathers are cast ;
and the nuptial plumage displays the throat and breast pure black, the
white of the underparts more distinct, and the whole colour of the upper
parts much paler. Bull dark brown above, pale below; legs and feet pale
brown ; irides dark brown. Females want the black on the throat and
breast, the feathers having dark centres, except on the lower throat, which
is uniform creamy white. Males of the year are like old females.

The nearest relation of the Black-throated Ouzel is undoubtedly the
Red-throated Ouzel (Merula ruficollis). So nearly allied are these species
that there seems every reason to believe that they interbreed. In the
Berlin Museum is a complete series of intermediate forms, from one to the
other, including both extremes, all collected by Dybowsky on the southern
shores of Lake Baikal in April and May.

The Gold-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus capensis) has no claim whatever to be considered
a British bird, or even an accidental visitor to Europe. It has been included in the list in
consequence of a single alleged occurrence more than forty years age: this bird may have
escaped from a cage, or it may have been accidentally changed for aforeign skin. The only
example on which its claims to the British fauna rest is a speeimen alleged to have been
shot near Waterford, and which was in the collection of Dr. Robert Burkitt. In the same
collection is also an example of Bubo capensis, which is represented to have been shot in
Treland and which is labelled Bubo maximus—a circumstance which throws great doubt on
the accuracy of the localities of the birds in this collection, and suggests the idea that the
specimen of the Gold-yented Bulbul was also a South-African skin. The true home of the
Gold-vented Bulbul is South Africa, where it seems to be exclusively confined to the
Cape Colony.

t is a common mistake, into which many ornithologists, and amongst them Professor
Newton in his edition of Yarrell’s ‘ British Birds,’ have fallen, to suppose that the Bulbuls
of modern naturalists belong to the same group as the Bulbul so celebrated in eastern
song. The latter is the Persian Nightingale, Lrithacus golzi. None of the birds which
ornithologists call Bulbuls have any great powers of song, unless it be the Palestine Bulbul,
Pycnonotus xanthopygus, which, in Canon Tristram’s opinion, almost equals the Nightingale
in power of voice. or

he general colour of the Gold-vented Bulbul is brown, a little darker on the head,
wings, and tail; it is almost white on the centre of the belly, and has the under tail-
coverts bright yellow.

959 BRITISH BIRDS.

Genus CINCLUS.

The genus Cinclus was established by Bechstein, in 1802, in his ‘ Orni-
thologische Taschenbuch,’ i. p. 206. As C. aquaticus, or one of its numerous
local though unnamed races, was the only species with which Bechstein
was acquainted, it becomes of necessity the type of his genus. It contains
the Dippers, which may be distinguished from the true Thrushes by their
short concave wings fitting tightly to the body, and their dense plumage,
adapted to their aquatic habits.

The Dippers, of which about a dozen species are known, extend over the
entire Palzearctic Region wherever mountain-streams occur; but in the
Indian Region they are apparently confined to the Western Himalayas and
the mountains of China and Formosa. In the Nearctic Region they are
found throughout the Rocky Mountains, in the same chain through Central
America into the Neotropical Region, where they are found in the Andes
of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. One species is resident in the British
Islands.

Ornithologists differ in opinion as to the affinities of the Dippers.
Brisson was hopelessly wrong in placing them amongst the Sandpipers; and
Linveus was probably mistaken in considering them to be Starlings. I
think Latham was not far wrong in including them amongst the Thrushes,
though Sharpe appears to think otherwise and has placed them with the
Wrens. The Dippers are probably most nearly allied to the subgeneric
group of Ground-Thrushes known as Zoothere. Most of the species, how-
ever, have lost the Geocichline pattern on the wing; but the American
species still retain it, although in a somewhat rudimentary condition. They
are aquatic in their habits, frequenting mountain-streams and obtaining
most of their food from the waters. Their food consists of aquatic insects,
ova of fishes, and Mollusca. They are fair songsters. They build bulky
nests, domed, and made of moss, dry grass, leaves, &c., placing them under
banks, amongst rocks, or between the roots of trees. Their eggs, from
four to six or seven in number, are, so far as is known, pure white.

COMMON DIPPER. 253

CINCLUS AQUATICUS.
COMMON DIPPER.
(Pirate 11.)

Tringa merula aquatica, Briss. Orn. v. p. 252 (1760).

Sturnus cinclus, Linn, Syst. Nat. i, p. 290 (1766).

Turdus cinclus (Linn.), Lath. Ind. Orn, i. p. 848 (1790).

Turdus gularis, Lath. Ind. Orn. Suppl. p. x1 (1801, juv.).

Cinclus aquaticus, Bechst. Orn. Tasch. p. 206 (1802); et auctorum plurimorum—
Meyer, Temminck, Naumann, Gould, Bonaparte, Schlegel, Salvin, Newton, Dresser)
Sharpe, &c.

Aquatilis cinclus (Linn.), Montag. Orn. Dict. Suppl. (1813).

Cinclus europeeus, Leach, Syst. Cat. Brit. Mus. p. 21 (1816),

Hydrobata cinclus (Linn.), Gray, List Gen. B. p. 35 (1841).

The Dipper, in spite of sundry dark tales and grave charges, is almost
universally the angler’s favourite—a bird of the stream, from its birth
amongst the peat and heather high up the mountains, throughout its wander-
ing course of fall and pool and rapid. Its distribution in Great Britain is
chiefly confined to the mountainous districts of the west and north of
England, including Wales, and throughout Scotland, extending to the Outer
Hebrides and the Orkneys, but not to the Shetland Isles. In Ireland it is
found in similar localities to those in Britain—mountain-streams and wild
uplands, its distribution being affected by the nature of the country.
Wherever the waters are wild enough, either in the countries of the south
or the upland wilds and mountain-districts of the north, the Dipper is
pretty sure to be commonly found, naturally becoming much more frequent
in the Highlands of Scotland, where it is provincially known to a very
great extent as the “ Kingfisher.”

The Dipper in a more or less modified form appears to occur throughout
the Palzarctic Region and the Himalayas wherever rocky mountain-streams
are to be found. Modern evolutionists seem to have come to the con-
clusion that the successive stages of the development of the individual are
more or less an epitome of the history of the species. If we accept this
theory, the attempt to interpret the changes of plumage which our Dipper
undergoes would probably lead to the conclusion that the genus Cinclus
originated in Central Asia, whence it spread east and west to North America
and Europe. The original form probably differed little from typical
examples of C. leucogaster, which we may accept as the slightly changed
descendants of the Preglacial Dippers of that region. I say slightly
changed, because the young in first plumage, not only of our Dipper, but of
all the known Dippers of the world, besides retaining the nearly white colour
of the whole of the underparts, show traces of dark tips to the feathers, which

254 BRITISH BIRDS.

disappear in the adult of C. leucogaster, but which ware Ree charac-
teristic of its Preglacial ancestors. In the course of ages the original
Dipper with the spotted underparts appears to have become separated into —
two species. In the western form circumstances seem to have favoured —
the development of the white of the underparts, whilst in the east the
reverse appears to have been the case, so that during the Glacial period it q
is probable that there were two species of Dipper—a form with white under-
parts in the west, and one with dark brown underparts in the east. It
seems not improbable that at this time the Dipper was a migratory bird,
its small bastard primary being possibly a relic of its past powers of flight ;
and as the Glacial period passed away, and the rapid and important deve-
lopment of Palearctic birds which accompanied the semitropical period
which followed took place, the Dippers seem to have caught the general
spirit of enterprise, and some of the eastern race seem to have spread along |
the eastern coast of Asia and to have crossed Behring’s Straits into America,
and, following the Rocky Mountains to Central America, seem to have
reached the Northern Andes. Amidst their new surroundings they have
comparatively rapidly changed their character; and those birds which
reached South America have reverted to the particoloured plumage of
their ancestors, though in somewhat new and modified forms.

As the other species of Dipper spread eastwards, the influence of the
changed climate, or some process of natural selection which may some day
be discovered, caused the underparts below the breast to become a sooty
black, a character which is still retained by the adults of many of the present
Western Palearctic Dippers and by the birds of the year of all the Euro-—
pean species. ‘This circumstance has given rise to much confusion in the
accounts of the geographical distribution of the dark-bellied form C. mela-—
nogaster. Dresser records it from Ireland and England, Newton from
Spain, and Salvin from Asia Minor. In all these cases it will probably be-
found that the examples which have been identified as C. melanogaster are
birds of the year of the species inhabiting the countries where they were
severally obtained.

It seems to me that there is only one species of Palearctic Dipper, which
may be divided into many subspecies or local races which are imperfectly

segregated, and interbreed whenever they come together. It is difficult to”
see how any differences which they present can have any protective value 5
they may possibly be due to undisturbed climatic influence. In th e
British Islands C. aguaticus occurs, the damp climate caused by the Gulf-
stream having developed the chestnut on the belly to its greatest extent,
and the cold having in some mysterious way blackened the brown of the
head and nape. Further south in the Vosges Mountains and in the Py
nees C. aquaticus-albicollis occurs, an intermediate form between the
British and Mediterranean races. The latter, C. albdicollis, differs in havin

|

COMMON DIPPER. 255

the upper parts much paler than in our bird. It is found in Southern
Spain, Algiers, Italy, and Greece. In Asia Minor, the Caucasus, and Persia
the chestnut on the belly is much darker and the brown of the head and
nape extends lower down the back. This form may be called C. albicollis-
cashmiriensis ; for in the latter race (C. cashmiriensis), which ranges from
Cashmere, through South Siberia, to West China, the brown of the head
and nape attains its greatest development on the back, and all traces of
chestnut on the breast are lost in the brown of the belly. This race would
appear to interbreed, on the one hand,with C. leucogaster, for in Krasnoyarsk
(where the ranges of the two forms coalesce) every intermediate form is
found,—and, on the other hand, with C. sordida, for in the Altai Mountains
(where the ranges of these two forms coalesce) every intermediate form occurs.
In Scandinavia and the adjacent countries of North Germany C. melano-
gaster is found with dark head and neck, and with the chestnut below the
breast replaced by nearly black. ‘This race is connected with the South-
European form by what we may call C. melanoyaster-albicollis from the
Carpathians, in which the chestnut reappears beiow the breast.

Besides these variations there are others still more local. In the Peak
of Derbyshire, for example, the Dippers, which are found 1500 feet above
the level of the sea, are darker in colour than those which are found lower
dowu the valleys, only 500 feet above the sea-level. The same differences
have been recorded in Dippers from the Pyrenees ; and it is birds of the
year of these forms from Ingh elevations which have led so many orni-
thologists astray in speaking of the geographical range of Cinclus aquaticus,
var. melanogaster.

The haunts of the Dipper are exclusively confined to the swift-flowing
rocky mountain-streams. On these he is found all the year round, in places
where the waters now curl over hidden rocks, or dash round the exposed
and mossy ones, and toss and fall in never-ceasing strife. The banks must
be rugged also to suit the Dipper, all the better if in the rock-clefts a few
mountain-ashes and birches have gained a good hold. But the Dipper is
not a bird of the branches. You will make your first acquaintance with
him most probably as he dashes rapidly from some water-encircled rock,
or as he shoots past you uttering his sharp but monotonous call-note, to
alight on some distant stone, or mayhap seek the boiling current itself, to
‘astonish and amuse you by his aquatic gambols. The Dipper is also
found on the barest of mountain-torrents, places where not a tree or
shrub is found, where the waters roll and tumble in wildest mood across
the heathery moors, and down the bare mountain-sides. In the British
Isles the Dipper is not a migratory bird, the only wanderers being young
birds which emigrate or are driven by their parents from too crowded
districts. During the keenest weather the resident Dippers do not
quit the waters of the roaring stream, and are as active amongst the

256 BRITISH BIRDS.

icicle-draped rocks as when the summer sun was scorching them with
its meridian rays. The very fact of the stream being ever in troubled
motion is the ‘cause of the perpetual residence of the Dipper on its
banks; for the frost never binds its troubled waters, and thus his food
is always accessible. A bird full of activity, he flies in rapid Kingfisher-
like course, now alighting on the grassy banks, and then on the rocky
boulders round which the foam-crested waters dash and boil in seemingly
exhausted rage. Sometimes he skulks, and is flushed with greatest
difficulty, often flying as though he were disabled; but should you be
tempted by his seeming helplessness to pursue him, he takes good care to
evade you, advancing in short flights it is true, and gradually going up or
down stream for a certain distance, until all at once he refuses to be
driven any further, flies off determinedly, and, passing high over your head,
doubles back to his old quarters again, as if afraid to trespass too far on
the hunting-grounds of the neighbouring pair of Dippers. Except in the
breeding-season, the Dipper is for the most part a solitary bird, and is
rarely found in the company of any other species. The pairs of birds
appear to haunt a certain part of the stream, to which they strictly keep,
and are but rarely observed in company. Should the ornithologist wish
to observe the actions of the Dipper, he must approach him with the
greatest caution; for he is a shy and wary bird. But ample means of
concealment are at hand ; and by hiding behind one of the rocky boulders
and remaining quiet and motionless you may observe his actions with
ease, so long as his restless nature allows him to remain in your company.
You probably see him first perched on a stone projecting out of the water
a few inches, or, it may be, standing in the water itself. Warily he looks
around, now crouching low as if fearful of discovery, now erect as if on
the point of taking wing. Now he fearlessly enters the water, and, aided
by his wings, floats buoyantly to land, where you see him running and
hopping about, picking up the small insects found amongst the marshy —
shores of the stream. Then he will sit for a few moments on the bank,
motionless as a statue, and you cannot help admiring the purity of his
breast, white as the driven snow. Suddenly, and doubtless to your
surprise if you are unacquainted with his habits, he takes to the water
and disappears under the surface, and, aided by his wings and feet, explores —
the sand and moss-grown pebbles at the bottom of the pool, turning the
little stones with his bilJ, in search of the various water-insects that form
his food. He will proceed for a certain length of water, then return,
sometimes swimming aided by his wings, and sometimes: darting under
the surface, occasionally pausing to rest for a moment on a projecting
rock. Sometimes the Dipper, seemingly for very sport, enters the boiling
pool below the falls, or dives under the foam-crested waves of the tiny
rapids ; and you may sometimes see him splashing in the water, as if trying

COMMON DIPPER. 257

again and again to reach some object. Perhaps he was foiled in his first
attempt; or it may be that he has found a colony of caddis-worms and acts
upon the sportsman’s motto of sticking to his covey. But where the
stream glides on more smoothly he obtains the most part of his food—
places where the bed of the stream is a mossy one, and affords plenty of
shelter for his favourite fare. The sandy islets in the stream and places
where driftwood and other refuse congregate are favourite haunts of the
Dipper, as are also the falls below the weirs and water-wheels.

In studying the habits of the Dipper it will be observed that the bird
never enters the water by a sudden plunge, like the Tern or the Kingfisher,
but either wades into it or drops from some little eminence. In fact
the Dipper does not need that amount of force which the Kingfisher and
the Tern require to carry them beneath the surface ; for its proficiency as
a diving bird is at once manifest when seen in the water; hence the reason
it is never seen to plunge. When under the surface of the water, the form
of the Dipper seems largely increased in size and distorted, and the number
of air-bubbles that cling to its plumage give it a very peculiar appearance.
When alarmed the Dipper instantly takes wing, and does not, as is
erroneously supposed, enter the water for safety, unless disabled, when it
will sometimes take refuge under the banks with only its bill out of the
water. The Dipper’s flight is rapid and straightforward, and performed
by incessant beats of the wings, as if it required such constant exertion
to sustain flight that the little rounded pinions must not stop for 4
moment. Usually he flies along just above the surface of the stream ;
and, as a rule, the devious windings of its course are followed. The
Dipper will sometimes sit for a considerable time on some stone in the
centre of the stream, or on a rock projecting over the pool—a habit
also common to the Kingfisher.

The Dipper, like the Redwing and the Starling, often warbles a few
notes in mild open weather in winter; but his love-song is rarely heard
before the spring. His song is a short and pleasing one, and uttered at
irregular intervals. It bears no resemblance to the varied song of the
Thrush or the melody and wild loudness of the Blackbird or the “ Storm-
cock,” but is a low warbling strain. He carols his lay from the banks of
the stream, or not unfrequently when crouching low on the rocks in the
midst of its roaring waters. There, with the milk-white foam dancing on
the crests of the waves and the spray falling like mist around him, he
chants his love-song, a performance which only greets the ear at intervals,
amidst the turbid strife of the ever-flowing waters, making the romautic
scene still more romantic, and giving it just that touch of life required to
make the picture complete. The call-note of the Dipper, uttered when at
rest or flying through the air, and most frequently heard just as the bird
is taking wing, is a sharp but not particularly loud chit- chit.

VOL. I. s

258 BRITISH BIRDS.

When I was in the Pyrenees last winter we visited Pierrefitte, where
the valley divides into two gorges. We took the one leading to Baréges.
The sun was burning hot ; but there was hoar-frost and ice in the shade.
The gorge is very fine: sometimes there is a little grassy land near the
rocky river; but in other places the valley becomes narrower, and for a
long distance is only a ledge which has been blasted out of the steep
sloping rock, and you can look down a couple of hundred feet and see the
river boiling and roaring in the chasm below. The gorge is well timbered,
shrubs and trees even growing in the crevices of almost perpendicular
rocks. In winter it is not easy to see what the trees are; but oaks and
chestnut seemed to abound, and the abundance of misseltoe was very
striking. We noticed a quantity of juniper and box-trees in the under-
wood, whilst high up near the mountain-tops the sombre pine-forests
looked almost black against the snow. This gorge was a paradise for
Dippers ; almost every hundred yards we came upon a pair. We watched
them chasing each other up and down the river and screaming almost like
Swifts. More often they were conspicuously perched upon a rock in the
stream, perpetually dipping down their heads and jerking up their tails.
Several times we watched them wading in the shallow water or swimming
and diving in the deeper pools. Now and then they perched on the
mossy banks and seemed to fly up and catch insects on the overhanging
moss.

Doubtless from the peculiar manner in which the Dipper seeks its food,
and the situations in which it is chiefly found, the bird has gained much
of its reputation as an enemy to the ova of the salmon and the trout. The
Dipper is seen to enter the stream, to disappear beneath the surface, and
explore what are well known to be the breeding-grounds of these fish ;
and hence it is very easy to see why the bird has fallen into such bad
repute with the ignorant pisciculturist and the bigoted angler. Not
taking the trouble to seriously investigate the matter, they at once set
down the poor Dipper as the enemy of the ova and fry, and persecute
him accordingly—a fate that befalls too many harmless animals. But
instead of being the fish-preserver’s enemy, he is in fact one of his
firmest friends. His food consists of various creatures which, in their
larval stages of development, are themselves the greatest enemies to the
ova. His journeyings to the bed of the stream are for the purpose of
obtaining the caddis-worms, water-beetles, and various species of small
mollusca and insects found amongst the moss-grown pebbles and sandy
bed of the waters, and occasionally a small fish. He also obtains some
portion of his food on the marshy banks of the stream, such as worms
and grubs and, more rarely, the seeds of various grasses,

From what evidence it is possible to obtain on the subject, it is most
probable that the Dipper is a life-paired bird, and either frequents each

a ce ih esa gg a ay ait Me ce endieedi e

COMMON DIPPER. 259

season the same nest or constructs a new one close to that of the pre-
vious year. The Dipper’s nesting-season commences early in the year;
and possibly two, if not three, broods are reared. By the first week in
April, should the weather be at all favourable, the birds are engaged in
nest-building. The site for the nest is usually amongst the rocks, never
in a tree or bush, although occasionally amongst their gnarled and moss-
grown roots. A favourite place is amongst the tree-roots which prevent
an overhanging bank falling into the water below—as is also a mossy
bank, or a hole in the stonework near a water-wheel, or under a bridge.
The nest is not unfrequently found within a few inches of the water, and
occasionally in the rocks over which the water rushes in mad career,
passing directly before the nest, and keeping it in an incessant state of
moisture by the spray continually beating against it. Although placed in
a most conspicuous position, it is so artfully concealed that its discovery
is often a difficult task. The site chosen, the materials have not far to be
sought. The moss which grows in luxuriant profusion all around is
selected; and the outside of the nest at least is composed entirely of this
soft and beautiful material. In form it is somewhat like the Wren’s,
domed ; but the hole which admits the parent birds is very low down the
side, and can seldom be seen unless from below, the entrance overhanging
a little. Inside this mossy dome a nest of the ordinary open style is
constructed, apparently quite distinct from it, without being in any way
woven into it. In a nest which I carefully pulled to pieces, the inside
nest was composed of dry grass, the roots of heather, and slender birch-
twigs, and lined with a profusion of leaves, layer after layer of birch- and
beech-leaves, and, as a final lining, a mass of oak-leaves, laid one on
another, like leaves ina book. The outside dome was so closely woven
together of moss, with here and there a little dry grass, as not to be torn
to pieces without considerable force; and the inside nest was so tightly
compacted, that, when the materials were pulled to pieces you could
hardly believe that they could have been made to take up so little room.
Outside it appeared nothing but a large oval ball of moss, about 11 inches
long, 8 inches wide, and about as high. Keen and piercing must be the
eyes of him who can, at a casual glance, discern the home of the Dipper
when placed amongst the moss-grown rocks ; for it is just like a piece of
the bank on each side of it, or, if placed on the bare rock-ledges, it only
looks like a patch of moss. The eggs of the Dipper are four or five in
number, and can never be confounded with the eggs of the Thrushes,
except in size and form. They are pure white and spotless, somewhat less
than a Song-Thrush’s egg. The shell, however, does not possess that beau-
tiful gloss so characteristic of the eggs of the Kingfisher and the Wood-
pecker, and is somewhat rough in texture. They vary in length from 11
to 0°95 inch, and in breadth from 0°77 to 0°7 inch.

32

~

260 BRITISH BIRDS.

Like the Starling and many other life-paired birds, the Dipper will con-
tinue laying in the same nest if its first clutch of eggs are removed. The
old birds display great caution in returning to and quitting the nest; and
should you discover it, they manifest little or no outward signs of anxiety
for the safety of their treasure. The Dipper is a very close sitter, and
seldom quits the nest until the hand is about to be inserted. Should the
nest be approached when it contains full-fledged young, the little creatures
will often escape out of the nest ; and I have seen them flutter to the water,
dive into the clear stream, and swim away, their dark bodies looking grey
through the air-bubbles clinging to their plumage. They jerk their wings
lustily, in a manner not unlike a frog with its hind legs, and, rising to the
surface where the waters become shallow, float down the stream and are
soon out of view.

The Dipper, from the peculiar manner in which the colour of its plumage
is distributed, is a remarkably fine and handsome-looking bird. The
whole of the upper parts are slaty grey, except the head, which is brown,
with paler margins to the feathers of the back. The chin, throat, and
upper parts of the breast are pure white, and the remainder of the under-
parts chestnut-brown. The bill is black; the legs, toes, and claws brown ;
irides hazel. The sexes are alike in the colour of their plumage.

A

ERITHACUS. 261

Genus ERITHACUS.

The Robins were originally included in the genus Motacilla of Linnzeus,
from which, in 1769, Scopoli separated a number of species, including
the Robin, and placed them in his genus Sylvia. In 1801, Cuvier, in
his ‘Lecons d’Anatomie Comparée,’ tab. i1., separated the Robins, esta-
blishing the genus Hrithacus for their reception. Since then they have
been unnecessarily split up into groups which it is most convenient to
consider only of subgeneric value. Cuvier did not indicate any type;
but there can be little doubt that he regarded the Robin as typical.

There is no character that I have been able to discover in the Ouzels
that is not to be found in some of the Robins; nor have I been able to
discover any character in the Robins which does not exist in some of the
Ouzels. The only definite character appears to be that of size, the smallest
Ouzel being larger than the largest Robin. From the Redstarts and Chats
and allied genera they may be distinguished by having either pale legs or
the throat brilliant in colour, in violent contrast to the cheeks. In the
Robins the bill is generally black on the upper mandible—a character which
will serve to distinguish them from the smaller Ouzels, which have the
bill yellow. From the smaller Thrushes they may be distinguished by
having the underparts unspotted; whilst from the Flycatchers and the
Stonechats their much longer tarsus serves to distinguish them. The
Robins have the throat frequently ornamented with rich colours, in some
species having a metallic gloss; and the cheeks usually differ im colour
from the throat.

The Robins frequent bushes, several of them showing a marked pre~«
ference for swamps, and are principally migratory. They all possess con-
siderable powers of song. They breed on or near the ground, building
open nests, either amongst herbage, foliage, or in holes. They lay from
five to seven eggs, which vary from pure white to bluish green in ground-
colour, generally sparingly marked with pale confluent brown spots. Their
food is chiefly insects and worms.

There are sixteen species in the present genus, confined to the Palearctic
region, the northern portion of India, Mongolia, China, and Japan. Half
the species occur in Europe; and three are British, of which one is a
resident, one a summer migrant, and the other an accidental visitor.

262 BRITISH BIRDS.

ERITHACUS RUBECULA.

THE ROBIN.
(PxatE 9.)

Ficedula rubecula, Briss, Orn. iii. p. 418 (1760).
Motacilla rubecula, Zinn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 337 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum—
(Seopoli),( Temminck), (Gould), ( Gray), (Heuglin), (Salvadori), (Newton), (Shelley),
( Dresser), (Irby), (Blanford), &c.
Sylvia rubecula (Linn.), Scop. Ann. I. Hist, Nat. i. p. 156 (1769).
Curruca rubecola (Linn.), Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. &c. Brit, Mus, p. 25 (1816).
Curruca rubecula (Zinn.), Forst. Syn. Cat, Brit. B. p, 54 (1817).
Ficedula rubecula (Linn.), Bote, Isis, 1822, p. 553.
Dandalus rubecula (Linn.), Bote, Isis, 1826, p. 972.
Erythacus rubecula (Linn.), Swains, Faun, Bor,-Amer., Birds, p. 488 (1831). ’
Rubecula familiaris, Blyth, Field Naturalist, i. p. 424 (1833).
Rhondella rubecula (Linn.), Rennie, White's Selborne, p. 437 (1888).
Lusciola rubecula (Zinn.), Keys. u. Blas, Wirb. Eur. pp. lviii, 191 (1840), )
5
4
|

Rubecula rubecula (Linn.), Bonap. Consp. i. p. 295 (1850).
Luscinia rubecula (Zinn.), Sundev. Sv. Fogl, p. 56 (1856).

The Robin, so closely associated with all our earliest recollections of the
bird-world, the ever-trustful, pert, and lively little favourite and companion
of man, is weleome everywhere, protected and encouraged; and hence its
distribution is a wide one, and its numbers as large as its popularity is
universal. Wherever man’s abode may be, if only surrounded by trees
and shrubs, even a garden alone, the Robin is almost surely found,
Throughout Great Britain and Ireland it is everywhere a well-known bird _
in those localities where there is sufficient cover. The Robin, like the :
Sparrow, is a close attendant on cultivation and improvement. Formerly
it was a rare bird on the wild and desolate Hebrides; but now it is com- {
paratively common, as improvement and the planting of trees and-shrubs _
have increased. It breeds as far north as the Orkneys, but has not yet —
been known to do so on the Shetlands, and only rarely occurs on the — |
Paroes in the autumn. The Robin breeds throughout Europe as far 4
north as the Arctic circle, rarely beyond; but becomes of far less frequent
occurrence in Russia, and is not known to breed east of the Ural Moun- ~
;

4 °

In those districts where the winters are severe, it migrates southwards in ‘
autumn to South Europe, North Africa, Palestine, and the cultivated
districts of North-west Turkestan. It is said to be a resident, though
rare, in South Persia.

The Robin has one very near ally, the Persian Robin (Erithacus hyr-
canus), inhabiting the forests of the southern shores of the Caspian, west-

:
j

THE ROBIN. 263

wards into the Caucasus; and another, not so near, the Japanese Robin
(Z. akahige), inhabiting the high mountains of Japan and North-east China.
The former bird is easily distinguished from the Common Robin by having
the olive-brown of the upper tail-coverts replaced by rich chestnut, and by
having a slightly larger bill; in other respects the two birds are identical.
From the second species our bird is easily distinguished by the rich chest-
nut tail of the Japanese species, and the slate-grey on the lower breast.
The Persian Robin has been said to be richer in colour, especially on the
breast, than our bird; and examples of the latter from Algeria and the
Azores are said to be paler; but an examination of a considerable series
convinces me that the alleged differences are only those of season, the rich
dark birds being newly moulted autumn examples, whilst the paler spe-
cimens are in more or less faded summer plumage, the Robin, like all its
Turdine allies, having only one moult in the year.

The haunt, of the Robin is varied a little according to the season.
In the summer it is a common bird in the most secluded woods, in plan-
tations, shrubberies, dells, lanes, copses, and hedgerows. In winter it
draws nearer to the houses, and haunts the gardens, road-sides, and farm-
yards. Butthe bird may be seen near the homesteads throughout the year ;
and its numbers are only increased during the cold season. Where, indeed,
is the garden, the orchard, or the shrubbery that does not possess its pair
of Robins, so trustful, so jealous of their rights—the favourites of all !

The migrations and internal movements of the Robin form one of the
most interesting, although perhaps least known, features of its history.
Take its wanderings at home, for instance, in our own country. As soon
as the rigours of winter have passed away, the Redbreasts visibly begin
to decrease in numbers and betake themselves to the more sequestered
woods, plantations, and hedgerows, and up the hill-sides to the copses near
the moorland wastes, to remain throughout the summer. In the early
autumn, when the moult takes place, the Robin is a still more shy and retiring
bird, and withdraws to the deepest solitudes to perform its annual change of
plumage unseen. After the moult the Robin again appears near our
houses, and remains our constant companion and favourite throughout the
swinter. Upon the continent the Robin is almost universally a bird of
passage, and during the season of its migrations is found on our coasts
resting on its journey south to the warm climate of Southern Europe, or
the oases of the African deserts. They pass over Heligoland during
September and early in October in immense numbers. Upon the
continent, in South France and Italy, the Robins are caught in autumn
for the table, in common with other small migrants. In Italy they
are usually snared or taken by limed twigs set round a Little Owl,
which serves as an attraction to draw them to the toils. As for its worth
as an article of food, Waterton, in his accustomed humorous way, tells us,

264 BRITISH BIRDS.

when expressing regret at seeing so many of his favourites on the bird-
stalls in the Roman market, that the dealer assured him that if he took a
dozen for his dinner that day he would come back for two dozen on the
morrow. Even in our own country the migratory instincts of the Robin
are sometimes manifested during the prevalence of severe and prolonged
frosts, the birds for the most part quitting their northern haunts and
retiring southwards, leaving but a few birds whose exceptional trustfulness
and familiarity render them semi-domesticated, and who require but little
enticement to make them regular indoor guests. Few birds are more con-
fiding in their nature, or more trustful in disposition, than the Robin, a
circumstance that has won for it universal protection. It may be safely
said that in all lands where the English language is spoken, some bird
more trustful than the rest, or with a garb approaching the little songster
of our own land in colour, is singled out and made a substitute for the
Robin. The Americans call the Migratory Thrush, 7. migratorius, the
Robin; whilst in the Antipodes the Australian colonists have found a
substitute in several members of the genus Petroica—a group of Chat-like
birds, with bright red breasts, and possessing peculiarly sweet and plaintive
songs.

The Robin, like the Chats and Redstarts, is almost constantly in motion.
Now hopping from under the densest bushes out onto the lawn or garden-
bed, he droops his wings, elevates his tail a little, and with several sharp
bobbing motions, utters his few loud shrill call-notes, and sits and eyes
you so trustfully, with head turned slightly aside, and his large dark eye
betraying just a shade of fearfulness at your presence. He hops confi-
dently towards you, perches daintily on some overthrown flower-pot, or on
the spade you have left but the moment before, and seems to know he is a
welcome guest and perfectly safe.

The Robin must be classed amongst the most pugnacious of birds, and
guards most jealously his favourite haunt from intrusion. He is apparently
recognized as the lord of all the smaller birds ; and even the pert little
Sparrows do not seem to care to try conclusions with him, and sometimes
retire from the heap of crumbs as soon as the Robin appears. Even with its
own species it is none the less quarrelsome and pugnacious, combats
taking place between rival birds incessantly. Many are the instances on
record of this peculiar trait in the Robin’s disposition, Dixon writes :—
“ Upon one occasion I was strolling through a dense shrubbery, under the
gloomy yew trees, when I heard a flutter amongst the withered leaves on
the banks of a tiny rivulet flowing down a ravine. Closer inspection
revealed a bird struggling in the water; and I went down the bank to
find out the cause of this strange proceeding, and found a Robin tangled,
as it appeared, in the herbage growing on the water’s edge. I took hold
of the bird with the intention of releasing it from its captivity, and was

THE ROBIN. 265

about to lift it up when, judge of my surprise, I pulled out from under the
bank a second Robin that had evidently, when conquered, tried to seek
safety by squeezing under the bank, also in the water. Both birds,
like two warriors bold, were locked in deadly embrace, the one first seen
being entangled in the breast-feathers of its antagonist by its claws; their
plumage, too, was all wet and ragged, and they had lost many feathers.
After keeping them for a short time, I restored them to liberty: the
victorious one, I should say, flew quickly off, while its greatly exhausted
antagonist just managed to gain a thick bush and was soon lost to view.”
Other instances of this bird’s pugnacity might be given.

The Robin is a bird of the underwood, the thicket, and the hedgerow,
and very similar in his peculiar shadow-like movements to the Hedge-
Accentor ; and, like that bird, he often frequents heaps of old wood in the
farmyard, disused outbuildings, and heaps of hedge-clippings and other
rubbish. Like the Accentor, the Robin hops from his cover into the
open, and retires just as quickly and gracefully if disturbed. The Robin’s
flight is rarely indeed taken at any great elevation in the air, except whilst
performing its annual wanderings, and is somewhat irregular if continued
for any great distance. The Robin, however, seldom flies far, and always
prefers to hide and creep through the branches and seek safety in the under-
growth and densest parts of its haunts to using its wings as a means of
escape from impending danger. We certainly have not in Britain a more
trustful little bird than the Robin; and, in the winter especially, he seems
to know that man is his friend and protector.

The food of the Robin is varied a little according to the season of the
year. During all the “ open” months it lives on the smaller earthworms
and various kinds of insects and their larve, obtaining the former food
much after the manner of the Thrushes, and much of the latter as the
Flycatchers and the Titmice. When the early gardening is going on, he
attends the gardener ; and ever and anon gliding quickly from his perching-
place to the newly-turned earth, he takes the worms thrown upon the
surface. In the bright sunny mornings, or in the cool grey dawn soon
after sunrise, he is at work amongst the withered leaves and under the
shrubs and garden-plants, seeking his morning meal, occasionally sallying
out from a favourite perch to take the insects that are flitting in countless
thousands in the air around. The Robin also explores nooks and crannies
for larve, and will search for insects in the expanding buds, like the
Finches or the Tits. Again, in fruit-time, when the summer is fast pass-
ing away, the Robin eats the cherries, currants, and other garden-fruits ;
while the Robin of the woods and fields makes a meal upon the various
soft, luscious, wild fruits and berries. In winter, when insect food is
scarce, the Robin not unfrequently seeks the sides of little watercourses,
or draws near to the houses to subsist upon the crumbs and other

266 BRITISH BIRDS.

fragments that are scattered for the poor frozen-out birds, and for “Cock @
Robin” in particular. At this season the Robin is also found in the farm-
yards, and about manure-heaps, stables, and piggeries, the latter places
especially, where he takes his meal from the troughs with the greatest
confidence, seeming to know that he is a welcome and invited guest.

The Robin is one of our few perennial songsters, and warbles incessantly
throughout the year, except for a few weeks in early autumn whilst under-
going his annual change of dress. We have scarcely a bird in Britain that
possesses a song so rich and plaintive as that of the Robin—a song that pos-
sesses so peculiar a charm as to border on sadness, especially when it greets
the car in the decline of autumn when the year is fast ebbing away.
When the Robin is in song the observer may have a convincing proof
of his trustfulness and familiarity. He will approach quite closely
within a few feet of your head, or sit unconcerned in the branches near
you, with his bright dress contrasting with the surrounding foliage, and
his soft dark eyes looking trustfully at you, and pour forth his charming
song. Regularly every day the Robin will frequent some chosen perch to
warble forth his notes, and will strictly guard this place from all intruders.
The Robin is the countryman’s best weather-guide ; for when he sits high
up in the branches it is a true sign of fine weather; or should he skulk
down in the lower cover, it is a bad sign, and almost invariably fortells a
wet day. Robins often sing in response to each other; and these concerts
not unfrequently lead to combats, especially in the spring. The Robin is
one of the first birds to greet the dawn with its song, and also one of the
last, possibly ¢he last, to retire in the evening, singing very often at mid-
night in early summer. ‘The autumn song of the Robin is, perhaps, his
best performance ; or it may be that the total absence of other songs and
the dreamy state of all nature at that season of the year lend it an additional
charm. In the moulting-season the Robin is seen but occasionally and
is never heard to sing; the young birds are most frequently seen, easily
recognized in their sombre dress ; and it is their sharp call-notes that are
most frequently heard. Our other songsters, with few exceptions, lose
their music with the autumn moult; but the Robin, as soon as this im-
portant operation, which takes place in July, is over, regains his powers of
voice to warble throughout the winter. First we hear them sing in very —
small numbers; but as August passes away these numbers increase, and
when September arrives they are in full song once more. There is nothing
at this season of the year more beautiful than the song of the Robin.

The call-note of the Robin is a wonderfully sharp and clear one, and
usually uttered several times in rapid succession, accompanied with a quick
bobbing motion of the body. Its alarm-note in the nesting-season is a
plaintive piping one, monotonously given forth every few moments, more
quickly uttered should its nest be threatened by danger.

—

|

| viel tie
of

THE ROBIN. 267

Paired, in many instances, for life, the Robin is another very early nest-
builder. We find its nest in woods adjoining cultivated lands, in the shrub-
beries, under the hedgerows and banks in our gardens, in holes of walls
and trees, and frequently amongst ivy. The Robin is another of those
birds which often select curious sites for their nest. It has been known to
build in an old water-can lying neglected and half buried in withered
leaves.

The Robin’s nest is very bulky, and somewhat peculiar in its construction.
In the first place, should the nest be on the ground, a small cavity is made
as a foundation for future operations. Then with withered leaves, dry
grass, and moss, a somewhat rude nest is made, but with a neat deep
cup lined with hair, and sometimes a little wool, and rootlets, the latter
material being the most extensively used. When examining the nests of this
bird, it will be invariably noticed that the nest itself is at the extreme end of
the nesting-cavity, and the “‘ frontage” to the nest is exceedingly extended, a
peculiarity noticed in the nests of very few birds; for the cavity containing
the eggs, instead of lying in the centre of the nesting-materials, is on the
side, as may easily be observed when the nest is removed from its original
site.

The eggs of the Robin are from five to eight in number; but probably
six may be taken as an average clutch. In ground-colour they are pure and
shining white; the markings, which in some cases are very rich, are brown
of various shades, red, and sometimes dashes and freckles of grey. In
colour they differ considerably. Some are pure white without a trace of
markings, others have a zone of colour round the larger end; many are so
clouded with spots as to hide the ground-colour, while not a few are
richly and boldly blotched with reddish brown, streaked with dark brown
approaching black. The eggs possess a considerable amount of gloss,
which fades to a very great extent after being kept any length of time.
To be seen in all their delicate beauty they must be examined soon after
they are laid and before the contents have been removed. They vary in
length from 0°9 to 0:7 inch, and in breadth from 0°65 to 0°56 inch.

The Robin rears two and sometimes three broods in the year, but never
in the same nest. ‘This bird, however, will rear its young in certain locali-
ties for years if left unmolested. An instance is recorded of a certain
site being tenanted for five successive years; but every year the old nest
was removed, leaving a clear site for the little builders.

What becomes of the great numbers of Robins which, on account of the
bird’s immunity from persecution, must of necessity be reared in this
country? Considerable discussion has of late years taken place re-
specting this subject; and many are the reasons advanced to account for
the bird’s numbers still remaining about the same. Without doubt the
Robin is, to some extent, a migratory bird, even in our own land; and

268 BRITISH BIRDS.

many of the young birds pass southwards in the autumn, and never come
back again : many die from the dangers of the journey ; and some probably
settle elsewhere. The young of most birds rarely, if ever, remain in the
locality of their birth. As soon as they reach maturity and can shift for
themselves, the old birds, in a great number of instances, drive them off;
whilst with some birds the movement is a voluntary one. Another cause
which prevents the increase of our resident birds is the occurrence of hard
winters. A long-continued frost or heavy fall of snow causes great mor-
tality amongst small birds, of which any one may convince himself
by noting the comparative abundance of birds in the beginnmg and
towards the end of winter. The number of resident birds in a spring
which follows a hard winter is generally conspicuously below the average.

The general colour of the Robin is olive-brown, shading into buffish
brown on the flanks and into greyish white on the centre of the belly;
the forehead, lores, ear-coverts, chin, throat, and breast are rich orange-
chestnut, the chestnut margined with a few grey feathers on the crown
and the sides of the neck. Legs, toes, and claws pale brown; bill and
irides black. The male and female birds are similar in colour. After the
autumn moult the colour of the breast &c. is richer. Birds of the year
scarcely differ from adults; but the young, in nestling-plumage, are
spotted, caused by ochraceous centres and nearly biack tips to all the
smaller feathers of the upper and under parts.

——

ARCTIC BLUE-THROATED ROBIN. 269

ERITHACUS SUECICA* (Brehm, nec Temminck).

ARCTIC BLUE-THROATED ROBIN.
(PLatE 9.)

Motacilla suecica, Zinn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 836 (1766, partim); et auctorum pluri-
morum—(Selby), (Brehm), (Blyth), (Gould), (Sundevall), (Jerdon), (Newton),
(Dresser), &e.

Ficedula suecica (Linn.), Bote, Isis, 1822, p. 553 (partim).

Motacilla cerulecula, Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. i, p. 480 (1826).

Curruca suecica (Linn.), Selby, Trans. Nat. Hist. Soc. Northumb. i. p. 255 (1831).

Cyanecula suecica (Linn.), Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 350 (1831).

Pheenicura suecica (Linn.), Sykes, Proc. Zool. Soe. 1832, p. 92.

Pandicilla suecica (Linn.), Blyth, Field Naturalist, i. p. 291 (1833).

Ruticilla cyanecula (Wolf), apud Macgill. Br. B. ii. p. 300 (1839).

Lusciola suecica (Linn.), Keys. u, Blas. Wirb. Eur. pp. lviii, 190 (1840, partim).

Cyanecula fastuosa, Less. Rev. Zool. 1840, p. 226.

Sylvia suecica (Linn.), Nordm. Démid. Voy. Russ. mérid. iii. p. 1385 (1840).

Sylvia cyane (Pall.), apud Eversm, Add. Pall. Zoogr, Rosso-Asiat. fase. ii. p. 12
(1841).

Pheenicura suecoides, Hodgs. MS. Drawings (in the Brit. Mus.) of B. of Nepal, Passeres,
pl. xci. no. 705, undé

Calliope suecioides, Hodgs. Gray’s Zool. Misc. p. 85 (1844).

Cyanecula suecioides, Hodgs. Gray’s Zool. Misc. p. 85 (1844).

Erithacus suecica (Zinn.), Degl. Orn. Eur. i. p. 518 (1849).

Sylvia ceruligula, Pall. fide Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. As. Soc. p. 167 (1849).

Cyanecula ceerulecula (Pall.), Bonap. Consp. i. p. 296 (1850).

Cyanecula dichrosterna (Pall.), fide Cab. Mus. Hein. i. p. 1 (1850).

Sylvia (Cyanecula) suecica (Linn.), var. cerulecula (Paill.), Middend. Reis. Sibir.
Zool, ii. pt. 2, p. 177 (1853).

Niltava fastuosa (Less.), Bonap. Compt. Rend. xxxviii. p. 34 (1854).

Cyanecula cyane (Lversm.), Bonap. Cat. Parzud. p. 5 (1856).

* The earlier ornithologists did not distinguish between the Bluethroat with a white
spot on the blue throat, and the Bluethroat with a chestnut spot on the blue throat.
Some of them applied the specific name swecica to one species, and some of them to the
other, whilst a few applied it indifferently to both species. It seems probable that the
name was more or less misapplied by Linneus, Gmelin, Bechstein, Latham, Temminck,
Vieillot, Naumann, Koch, Boie, Gould, Keyserling, Blasius, Gray, Bonaparte, Cabanis,
Degland, Gerbe, Loche, and some others, Ornithological blunders are soon forgotten ;
but to avoid the possibility of mistake, it is wisest for the present either to adopt Pallas’s
name, which, so far as I know, has never been misapplied, or to append an authority to
the name which clearly denotes the species intended to be discriminated. It appears that
Brehm was the first to distinguish between the two species ; but we cannot give him much
credit for doing so, because he was not content to make two species, but must needs split
them into five. Of the ornithologists who have misapplied the name, perhaps Temminck
is the earliest who applied it only to the wrong species.

270 BRITISH BIRDS. . :

Luscinia suecica (Linn.), Sunder. Sv. Fogl. p. 60 (1856).

Cyanecula suecica (Linn.), (3. cerulecula (Pall.), Newt. List B. Eur. Blasius, p. 10
(1862).

Ruticilla suecica (Linn.), Newt. ed. Yarr. Br. B.i. p. 321 (1873).

Erithacus ceeruleculus (Pall.), Seebohm, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. vy. p. 308 (1881).

The Arctic Bluethroat is a far more eastern and northern bird in
its distribution than the White-spotted species (which is essentially a
southern and temperate one), and is a summer visitant only to the higher
and northern portions of Europe. It was first recorded as a British bird
by Mr. Fox, in his ‘Synopsis of the Newcastle Museum,’ pp. 298, 308,
and in the ‘ Zoological Journal,’ iii. p. 497, from a specimen obtained on
the Town-Moor of Neweastle-on-Tyne, on May 20th, 1826, by Mr. Thomas
Embleton, who presented it to the museum. ‘The second specimen, said
to have been killed in Dorsetshire, was recorded by Mr. J. C. Dale, in the
‘Naturalist, ii. p. 275. The next two occurrences are recorded by Yarrell,
in his ‘ British Birds,’ i. p. 822—one of a specimen killed near Birmingham,
and in the possession of Mr. Plumptre Methuen; the other, a male bird,
found dead on the beach at Yarmouth, September 21st, 1841. Mr.
Morris also mentions, on the authority of Mr. E. Cole, one shot at Margate,
in September 1842; and in September 1844 two specimens, an adult and
a bird of the year, were sent, in the flesh, to Yarrell for inspection, by Mr.
Gardner, and were said to have been shot in the Isle of Sheppey. An
eighth example is in the Strickland collection in the University Museum
of Cambridge ; but no particulars are known respecting it beyond those on
the label, “ Britain, 1846.” Lord Lilford recorded in the ‘ Zoologist,’
p. 3709, another example, shot about Sept. 15th, 1852, near Whimple, in
South Devon. A female, killed at Worthing on May 2nd, 1853, is men-
tioned by Mr. Stevenson in the ‘ Zoologist,’ p. 3907; and a male bird,

killed early in May 1856, near Lowestoft (Zool. p. 5149), is now in Mr, —

Gurney’s collection. Mr. Cecil Smith notices one said to have been taken
in Somerset in 1856, and now in the Excter Museum; and Mr. H. Pratt
records in the ‘ Zoologist,’ p. 8281, a male caught at Brighton, on October
Ist, 1862, and now in Mr. Borrer’s collection. Captain Hadfield gives us
a series of notes on a Bluethroat which frequented a locality in the Isle
of Wight from February 1865 to September 1867, and recorded in the
“Zoologist’ for those years, beg part of the time accompanied by a
second example. It is doubtful, however, whether this bird was the true
E. suecica ; for
bird’s breast was “ pure and spotless blue”’—a characteristic of the E. wolfit
of Brehm. Professor Newton has also been informed by Mr. Gray that a
male bird was caught on board a fishing-boat off Aberdeen, on May 16th,
1872. Mr. G. P. Moore mentions, in the ‘Zoologist’ for 1877, p. 449, a
male bird, in the possession of R. (. Fowler, Esq., of Gunton, near

di

in the ‘Zoologist’ for 1866, p. 172, he states that the —

ARCTIC BLUE-THROATED ROBIN. 271

Lowestoft, found, in July of that year, strangled in a fishing-net, on
Gunton Denes; and, lastly, Mr. Eagle Clarke has sent me a female bird
of the year for examination, which was shot in his presence this autumn
on Spurn Point.

The Arctic Blue-throat breeds within the Arctic circle, or in the birch-
regions at high elevations of more southerly climes, both in Europe and
Asia; in the latter continent it breeds as far south as the Himalayas, and
occasionally crosses Behring’s Straits into Alaska. The European birds
pass through .Central and Southern Europe and Palestine on migration,
and winter in North Africa as far south as Abyssinia; whilst the Asiatic
birds, with the exception of those individuals breeding at high elevations
in the south, pass through Turkestan, Mongolia, and North China, and
winter in Baluchistan, India and Ceylon, Burma, the Andaman Islands, and
South China.

It is only during the periods of migration that ornithologists in tem-
perate Europe have an opportunity of observing the habits of this interesting
little bird; for it spends its summer far away in the arctic north, and its
winter in Africa. Perhaps no other place of call at which this little song-
ster stays on its annual journey is so favoured with its presence as the
little island of Heligoland, to the natives of which it is a well-known and
anticipated guest. My friend Gaetke, the veteran ornithologist, writes to
me :—-“ Here, during the month of May, if a cold, dry north wind is not
actually blowing, this little bird is without fail a daily visitor; but should
the weather be fine, if a gentle east or south-east wind should have been
blowing early in the morning, accompanied by fine warm drizzling rain, it
is often so numerous that Aenckens and I have frequently each shot from
thirty to fifty birds on such a day, picking out only the finest-plumaged
males. [rom the middle of August to the middle of September, whenever
the weather is suitable, it is generally even more frequent. At this
season of the year they confine themselves almost entirely to the potatoe-
fields outside the town, whilst in spring one sees them most frequently
hopping about under the gooseberry and currant-bushes in our gardens.
They seem, however, to have a special preference for the beds planted
thickly with cabbages, just beginning to resprout in spring. They also
frequent the dead branches of the so-called ‘'Throstle-bushes,’ as well as
Shady corners in the fences of the gardens; and sometimes they are even
found at the foot of the rocks amongst the fallen stones, or in dark
clefts of the cliffs. This charming bird, like the Robin, is a most confiding
little creature. When you are at work in the garden, if you only take care
to appear as if you were taking no notice of him, he will remain for
hours together within twenty paces of you, hopping constantly about with
quick steps, at each of the many pauses standing erect with quivering
outspread tail raised above the wings, and looking eagerly around with

979 BRITISH BIRDS.

his clear dark eyes. If at that moment the idea enters his little head that
you are watching him, he vanishes with long hops as quick as lightning
under the bushes or between the vegetables, to reappear again in half a
minute with as much confiding trust as ever. Many a time I should have
been glad to add such a fine-plumaged bird to my cabinet, but could not
find it in my heart to injure a creature which was such charming company
and seemed to trust so confidingly to my protection.”

During the short summer in the northern regions the Arctic Blue-
throat is oue of the commonest of birds, and in Sweden is known as the
Swedish Mocking-bird. Generally it is shy and retiring, seeking food in
the densest thickets and bushes, haunting the marshy grounds sprinkled
over with small spruce-fir, dwarf willows, and juniper. But when newly
arrived from its winter home, and beginning to sing, it comes more promi-
nently into notice and is far fromshy. On its first arrival it often warbles
in an undertone so low, that you fancy the sound must be muffled by the
thick tangle of branches in which you think the bird is concealed, whilst all
the time he is perched on high upon the topmost spray of a young fir, his
very conspicuousness causing him to escape detection for the moment.
His first attempts at singing are harsh and grating, like the notes of the
Sedge-Warbler, or the still harsher ones of the Whitethroat; these are
followed by several variations in a louder and rather more melodious tone,
repeated over and over again, somewhat in the fashion of a Song-Thrush.
After this you might fancy the little songster was trying to mimic the
various alarm-notes of all the birds he can remember; the chiz-zit of the
Wagtail, the tip-tip-lip of the Blackbird, and especially the whit-whit of
the Chatfinch. As he improves in voice, he sings louder and longer, until
at last he almost approaches the Nightingale in the richness of the melody
that he pours forth. Sometimes he will sing as he flies upwards, descend-
ing with expanded wings and tail to alight on the highest bough of some
low tree, almost exactly as the Tree-Pipit does in the meadows of our own
land. When the females have arrived, there comes at the end of his
song the most metallic notes I have ever heard a bird utter. It is a
sort of ¢ting-ting, resembling the sound produced by striking a suspended
bar of steel with another piece of the same metal. The female appears
to shun the open far more carefully than her mate; and while he will be

perched on a topmost spray, gladdening the whole air around with his |

varied tuneful melody, she will remain in the undergrowth beneath him,
gliding hither and thither, more like a mouse than a bird, through the
branches.

‘The Arctic Bluethroat is a bird of the swamps; if it does not
go to the far-off tundras beyond the limit of forest-growth to rear its
young, it selects some swampy part of the forest, or some boggy moor
where mosquitoes abound when it has to feed its nestlings. The fjelds of

ARCTIC BLUE-THROATED ROBIN. 273

Lapland and the tundras of Siberia are not level. The peat is imper-
vious to water; and there is a constant struggle going on between the
rich and rank vegetation which establishes itself there and the water
which lies on the flat places and is always running down the slopes when
the snow melts. The tundra is seldom smooth like a common, but is
_ generally a cluster of little hammocks or mounds covered over with rushes
earices, cloudberry, and other ground fruits, with sometimes a stunted
birch or willow scarcely higher than the coarse grass. These hummocks
are the favourite breeding-places of the Arctic Bluethroat. I have
generally found the nest well concealed in a snug hole on the side of one
of these hummocks, just such a place as a Robin would choose in such
a locality.

The nest is not unlike that of a Robin. The hole is well filled with
dry grass and roots, and at the far end a neat deep cup is formed lined
with fine roots and hair. It is almost impossible to find the nest, except
by accidentally frightening off the bird, and even then it often takes some
time, so carefully is it concealed. The eggs are from five to six in
number, and are laid about the middle of June. They are greenish blue,
more or less distinctly marbled with pale reddish brown, and are very
similar to the eggs of the Nightingale. They may be described as
miniature eggs of the Redwing. They measure from ‘8 to ‘69 inch
in length, and from °56 to ‘53 inch in breadth.

The food of the Arctic Bluethroat is partly vegetable and partly
animal. A lover of low and swampy districts—marshy grounds studded
with willow clumps, and wet meadows, it obtains earth-worms in
abundance, also various kinds of insects and their larve, its principal
food during the breeding-season being undoubtedly mosquitoes. It also
eats small seeds of various kinds. Like the Robin, the Redstart, and
other nearly allied birds, the Arctic Bluethroat obtains much of its
insect food when hovering in the air in a similar manner to the Fly-
catchers; and when searching amongst withered leaves or moss upon
the ground, its actions are almost precisely the same as those of the
Robin or the Hedge-Accentor.

The Arctic Bluethroat has the whole of the upper parts uniform brown,
except a white or pale buff streak over the eye from the base of the bill
backwards, and the tail, which is blackish brown with the basal half bright
chestnut, except the two centre feathers, which are uniform brown. The
chin, cheeks, throat, and upper breast are metallic cobalt-blue, with a large
chestnut spot in the centre of the lower throat ; below the blue is a band of
black, and below that the chestnut reappears in a broad band across the
lower breast, the rest of the underparts being buffish white. Bill black ;
legs, feet, claws, and irides dark brown. The female is not so showy as
the male, simply having a dark-brown band across the chest; but some-

VOL, I. T

—

BRITISH BIRDS.

ta)
“JI
—

times she attains by age some of his blue and chestnut markings. After
the autumn moult the bright plumage is partially hidden by broad margins
to the feathers, which, however, are cast in the spring. Males of the year
resewble females; and young in nestling plumage have all the small
feathers nearly black with buftish centres, palest and most prominent
on the belly.

The European Bluethroat (Zrithacus cyaneculus) is the Southern and
Western representative of the Arctic Bluethroat. It has been included
in the British list, but on far too slender evidence; and although I have
figured the egg of this bird, for the sake of comparison, its claims as a
British species must remain in abeyance until more satisfactory evidence
is forthcoming. A bird alleged to be of this species was seen in the Isle
of Wight (Zoologist, 1866, p. 172); but the evidence is unsatisfactory
and meagre. Another specimen is said to have been picked up dead
under the telegraph-wires at Seamer, near Scarborough (Zoologist, 1876,
p. 4956); as, however, this specimen was a female, and as the adult
females of the two species are very often the same in plumage, and
immature females are apparently always undistinguishable, it is impossible
to recognise the bird as an undoubted European Bluethroat. The third and
last recorded instance of the bird’s capture in Great Britain was announced
by my friend Mr. J. A. Harvie-Brown in the ‘ Zoologist’ for 1881, p. 451.
This specimen was obtained from the Isle of May on the 24th of September
of that year. I have seen this example; it is a bird of the year, and there
is not a shadow of evidence to indicate to which species it belongs.

The European Bluethroat breeds in Central and Western Europe,
but becomes rarer during the breeding-season as we trace it eastwards.
It is said to pass through Turkestan and Northern Cashmere on migration,
and to have been occasionally obtained in India and Persia; but I have
never seen an Asiatic skin, and doubt its occurrence in Asia. Great
doubt attaches to the specimens of this bird obtained so far to the east-
wards as Persia and India; and it is possible that immature birds of the
Arctic species have been mistaken for them. The greater number of these
birds pass through South Europe on migration, and winter in Palestine
and North Africa. :

In its habits and mode of nesting, and in its song and call-notes, the
European Bluethroat resembles its Arctic ally. Like that bird it is a lover
of swampy places, fond of concealment, and creeps in a silent mouse-like
manner through the bushes and undergrowth ; and its food, so far as I can
determine, is also similar. Its nest is placed similarly to that of the pre-

on the ground under the shelter of a tussock, or at the foot
of a small bush; and the materials which compose it are much the same.

af oF pets we
The eggs of this bird present much the same types, and possess similar
variations to those of its northern congener.

ceding species

oe cat

ARCTIC BLUE-THROATED ROBIN. 275

I found this species by no means uncommon in the swampy districts
near Valkenswaard, in Holland.

The only difference between this and the preceding species is in the
colour of the throat-spot, which is pure white. There are three forms of
the Blue-throated Robin, the adult males of which, when in full breeding-
plumage, may be readily distinguished. First, we have the Northern or
Arctic form, with the spot in the centre of the throat red; secondly, the
South-European form, with the spot in the centre of the throat pure and
silky white; and thirdly, the form of which the throat is uniform blue.
The two former of these birds have different breeding-grounds, and quite
distinct areas of geographical distribution ; but the uniform-blue-throated
form is chiefly met with in localities frequented by the Southern or white-
spotted form. In the specimens I have examined of this blue-throated
form, in which the breast at first sight appeared unspotted blue, I have
generally found the bases of the feathers on the throat white. Newton,
in his edition of Yarrell’s ‘ British Birds, asserts that these differ-
ences of plumage (especially in the white-spotted and spotless forms) are
coexistent with differences in the length of the tarsus; but in an examina-
tion of a series of these birds, I find that the measurement of the tarsus is a
variable quantity, and of no value in separating the species.

276 BRITISH BIRDS.

ERITHACUS LUSCINIA.
THE NIGHTINGALE.
(PLate 9.)

Ficedula luscinia, Briss. Orn. ili. p. 897 (1760).

Motacilla luscinia, Zinn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 828 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum—
Gmelin, Bechstein, (Latham), (Temminck), (Selby), (Gould), (Bonaparte), (De-
gland), (Gerbe), (Loche), (Salvadori), (Newton), &e.

Sylvia luscinia (Linn.), Seop. Ann, I. ITist. Nat. p. 154 (1769).

Aedon luscinia (Linn.), Forst. Syn. Cat. Br. B. p. 53 (1814),

Curruca luscinia (Linn.), Koch, Syst. bater, Zool. i. p. 154 (1816),

Daulias luscinia (Linn.), Bote, Isis, 1851, p. 542.

Philomela luscinia (Linn.). Selby, Brit. Orn. i. p. 206 (1833).

Lusciola luscinia (Linn.), Keys. u. Blas. Wirb. Eur. pp. lviii, 189 (1840).

Erithacus luscinia (Linn.), Degl. Orn. Eur. i. p. 499 (1849).

Luscinia vera, Gray, Hand-l. B. i. p. 220 (1869).

Luscinia philomela (Bechst.), apud Brehm, Bonaparte, Gray, Cabanis, Gould, Heuglin,
THarting, &e.

The Nightingale is a common summer visitor to all the counties of
England, except those in the north and west, being comparatively rare in
South Yorkshire, Shropshire, and East Devon, which may be considered
the limits of its range in our islands. It has never been recorded from
Ireland; and its alleged occurrence in Scotland rests upon very doubtful
authority, though it may possibly visit the latter country as an accidental
straggler.

It is pretty generally distributed on the continent of Europe during the
breeding-season south of Scandinavia and west of Russia, only occurring
in the latter country accidentally. It passes through North Africa on
migration, a few remain to breed in Algeria; but the majority winter in
the interior somewhere south of Abyssinia. In South Sweden and Central
Russia our Nightingale is replaced by the Eastern Nightingale (Hrithacus
philomela), a species whose breeding-range extends eastwards into Asia
Minor, Northern Turkestan, and South-western Siberia. Westwards its
range overlaps that of our bird, occasionally reaghing as far as the valley
of the Rhine. It is not improbable that this bird has occurred in Great
Britain, but its presence has been overlooked. An equally near ally, the
Persian Nightingale (Hrithacus golzii), breeds in the cultivated districts
of Turkestan and West Persia, extending its western range as far as
the Caucasus. In coloration this species is intermediate between our
Nightingale and E. philomela, being slightly more olive than the former
and slightly more russet than the latter. In its wing-formula it resembles
the former species; but may be distinguished from both by its slightly
longer bill (‘07 to ‘06 inch) and much larger tail (3:32 to 2°95 inch).

oo

THE NIGHTINGALE. 277

The Nightingale arrives at its breeding-grounds in the south of England
about the middle of April, but not before the latter end of the month or
the beginning of May in the most northerly localities. As the male
Nightingale sings well in confinement and possesses stich rich and varied
musical powers, it is sought after eagerly by the bird-catchers, and during
the first week or so of its sojourn in England great numbers are caught.
But the Nightingale does not bear captivity well; and by far the greater
number that are caught die within a short time of their capture. It is
said that if a male is caught after having found a mate, he seldom lives in
confinement, but pines away. The bird-catchers, therefore, are always on
the look-out to entrap their victims the moment they arrive. Birds caught
in the autumn seldom live long.

The Nightingale in many of its habits closely resembles the Robin;
and the haunts it affects are in many cases very similar. Singularly
enough, it is only found in certain localities in England, shunning
others which seem in all respects suited to it. The Nightingale is a very
skulking bird, frequenting the dense undergrowth, hopping restlessly about
the cover, and when alarmed it instantly finds shelter amongst the tangled
vegetation. Sometimes in the woods and coppices it is seen flitting across
the path ; and its harsh croaking call-note, something like the Whitethroat’s,
may be heard from all parts of the cover. The haunts of the Nightingale
are woods and plantations in which the undergrowth is particularly thick and
close. Tangled hedgerows and the thickly-wooded banks of streams are
also favourite haunts of this bird. In this respect it shows the same
preference as the Robin, seeking marshy places where worms and insects,
which form its chief food, are found abundantly.

When searching for its food the Nightingale instantly puts you in mind
of the Robin. It alights on the ground, looks carefully around, and then
commences to turn over the dead leaves in search of worms and grubs. It
will then hop daintily along, every moment pausing to listen with head
slightly turned aside, and its full dark eye gazing intently at you. Like
the Robin, the present species has a habit of repeatedly jerking up its
tail, lowering the head, and drooping the wings. Although so fond of
concealment, and so shy and timid that it seeks the cover. the instant it is
alarmed, it may often be seen in the open places in the woods, sometimes
by the roadside, or in gardens; but if observed, like the Thrushes, it
soon seeks seclusion. When alarmed its note is a low guttural one,
and it will repeatedly snap its bill in its extreme anxiety. Its call-note
is a long-drawn plaintive weet, very similar to that of the Robin. Its
voice is heard soon after its arrival; and it sings incessantly from
pairing-time in April until the young are hatched in June. From
this period its notes are rarely heard; for the bird is too’ busy bringing
up its young to find time to sing; and when they are safely reared,

278 BRITISH BIRDS.

the autumn moult is at hand—a time when no bird is heard to sing.
The song of the Nightingale has possibly been overpraised. Its beauties
have been the poet’s theme for ages; and men have immortalized it who
have probably never listened to its strains. Fiction has described the
bird as leaning against a thorn, and has thus explained the cause of its
singularly melancholy notes. The Nightingale’s song nevertheless is
not equalled by that of any other bird; and the volume, quality, and
variety of its notes are certainly unrivalled. It is impossible in words
to convey its delightful strains to the reader; the bird’s haunts must
be visited, and its sweetness listened to there. The Nightingale does
not always sing in the hours of night, as is very popularly believed to be
the case; and it may be heard warbling at all hours of the day. Neither
is the Nightingale the on/y bird that sings under a starlight sky; the
Sedge-Warbler, the Robin, the Thrush, the Cuckoo, the Grasshopper
Warbler, and others repeatedly do so. I have heard persons describe in
rapturous language the music they have heard at night, which they attri-
buted to the present bird, when the Sedge-Warbler was undoubtedly the
musician that had charmed them so much.

The food of the Nightingale is for the most part obtained upon the
ground :—worms, that are searched for in the marshy portions ofits haunts
and under the decaying leaves ; ants and their larve, and also other insects,
many of which it obtams amongst the herbage on the ground or in the
decaying timbers found in its marshy haunts. It is also said to be
extremely partial to fruit, like most of the small summer birds of
passage, and to eat both elder-berries and currants. The young
birds were observed by Montagu to be almost entirely fed on small green
caterpillars.

It seems that the Nightingale resorts yearly to its old haunts, and, like
the Robin, is somewhat pugnacious during the pairing-season, zealously
guarding its own little domain from intrusion. The breeding-season com-
mences early in May; and the nest is usually on or near the ground. In
the woods the site of the nest is usually amongst the tal) rank grass or
beneath the low underwood, sometimes in a recess amongst old gnarled
roots, and occasionally in ivy several feet from the ground. At other
times it is built in the close dense hedgerow-bottoms, and on the banks of —
a lane amidst the luxuriant summer plants there. Sometimes it is placed in
a heap of dead leaves at the foot of a tree. The nest is a large structure
loosely put together outside, but neatly finished. It is composed externally
of dry grass, sometimes fine flags and rushes, and strips of withered bark,
together with dead leaves of the oak, the hawthorn, and the birch, usually
the former. The nest-cavity, which is deep and round, is lined with fine

grasses, dry rootlets, sometimes with horsehair, and more rarely with
vegetable dow De

THE NIGHTINGALE. 279

The eggs of the Nightingale are four or five in number, usually the
latter, and sometimes as many as six have been found. There appear to
be two types of the egg of this bird— a rich olive-brown one, and a bluish
green one. The ground-colour of the olive-brown typeof egg is bluish
ereen, where it can be seen through the surface-colouring, which is pale
reddish brown. The bluish-green type is very faintly mottled with pale

reddish brown, the colouring-matter sometimes being collected on one end

_ of the egg like a cap. In some specimens this cap is to be seen on each
end, the egg becoming paler round the centre. Some eggs are finely
streaked here and there with darker brown. Im size they vary from °93
to ‘75 inch in length, and from ‘65 to ‘57 inch in breadth. But one
. brood is reared in the year.
The Nightingale passes Gibraltar every season in great numbers on
‘its migrations, arriving about the 12th of April, returning in August
and September. This locality appears to be the favourite route of the
Nightingale over the sea from its summer to its winter quarters. Still
many birds cross the Mediterranean at other points; and Dixon has a note
to the effect that a nightingale flew on board the steamer when in mid-sea
on the 21st of April, crossing from Marseilles to Phillippeville. This bird
was remarkably tame, and alighted on the back of one of the French
soldiers lying on the upper deck. The flight of the Nightingale is buoyant
and quick ; but seldom long sustained, for it usually confines its movements
to flitting from bush to bush, and rarely crosses the open.

The Nightingale has the general colour of the upper parts russet-brown,
shading into brownish chestnut on the upper tail-coverts and tail. The
underparts, including the lores, are buffish white, shading imto greyish
white on the breast and flanks, and into brownish white on the axillaries
and under wing- and tail-coverts. Bill brown above and pale horn-colour
below. Legs, feet, and claws brown; irides hazel. The female in the
colour of her plumage does not differ from the male. Young in first
plumage have pale centres to most of the feathers.

280 BRITISH BIRDS.

Genus MONTICOLA.

The genus Monticola was established by Boie (Isis, 1822, p. 552), who
indicated M. savatilis as the type. It contains the Rock-Thrushes, which
may be distinguished from the Ground-Thrushes by the absence of the
Geocichline pattern under the wing, from the true Thrushes by never
having the throat streaked, and from the Ouzels by their black legs and
bills, or, where the legs are black in the Ouzels, by having the bill less
than ‘9 inch. From the Robins and the Redstarts and the smaller Chats
they may be distinguished by their stout bill (‘74 or longer). From the
larger Chats the fact that the under tail-coverts are blue or chestnut is a
sufficient distinction. These generic distinctions are purely artificial.
The genera Monticola, Ruticilla, Saxicola, Erithacus, and Myrmecocichla
are all artificial ; and the eighty species which they contain really all belong
to one genus. I have only retained them out of deference to the practice
of ornithologists. The mania for making new genera is a great evil; and
I have only retained the pseudo-genera in cases like the present for the
sake of convenience, or to avoid change.

The Rock-Thrushes, of which about ten species are known, are confined
to the Old World, frequenting the southern half of the Palzarctic Region,
the AAthiopian Region, and the Oriental Region, bemmg absent from the
Australian Region. Two species range throughout South Europe to
North China during the breeding-season. One species is resident in
Abyssinia, and three in South Africa. Two species breed in the Himalayas,
one of which extends also to West China. One species breeds in South-
east Siberia and North-east China, whilst another appears to be confined
to East China and Japan. One of the European species has without
doubt occurred in our islands, whilst another has been included in the
British list on unsatisfactory evidence.

The Rock-Thrushes, although closely allied to the other Thrushes, are
still more so both in structure and habits to the Redstarts and Chats.
They are in fact nothing more than large Redstarts. They frequent open
rocky country, and, like the Redstarts and the Chats, are restless, solitary
birds. Most of the Rock-Thrushes are possessed of fair powers of song.
Their food consists largely of insects, grubs, and worms, and also, more
rarely, of fruit. Their nests are loosely made of rootlets, dry grasses, moss,
hair, and feathers, and placed in holes of walls and-rocks. Their eggs are

from four to six in number, pale greenish blue in colour, very rarely
spotted with pale brown.

THE ROCK-THRUSH. 281

MONTICOLA SAXATILIS.

THE ROCK-THRUSH.
(PxateE 8.)

Turdus merula saxatilis, Briss. Orn, i. p. 238 (1760).

Turdus saxatilis, Zinn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 294 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum—
Bechstein, Wolf, Pallas, Vieillot, (Blyth), (Loche), (Heuglin), (Newton),
(Dresser), &c.

Lanius infaustus 8. minor, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 810 (1788).

Turdus infaustus (Gmel.), Lath. Ind. Orn. i. p. 835 (1790).

Saxicola montana, Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. i. p. 185 (1816).

Monticola saxatilis (Linn.), Bove, Isis, 1822, p. 552.

Petrocincla saxatilis (Linn.), Vigors, Zool. Journ. ii. p. 896 (1826).

Petrocossyphus saxatilis (Linn.), Bote, Isis, 1826, p. 972.

Sylvia saxatilis (Linn.), Savi, Orn. Tose. i. p. 218 (1827).

Saxicola saxatilis (Linn.), Riipp. Neue Wirb. Vog. p. 80 (1835).

Petrocichla saxatilis (Linn.), Keys. u. Blas. Wirb. Eur. pp. 1, 175 (1840).

Orocetes saxatilis (Linn.), Horsf. § Moore, Cat. B. Mus. EL. Co. i. p. 189 (1854),

Petrocinla saxatilis (Linn.), Heugl. Syst. Uebers. p. 29 (1856).

Petrocinchla saxatilis (Zinn.), Newt. List B. Eur, Blasius, p. 9 (1862).

The occurrence of the Rock-Thrush in England is only accidental ; but
two specimens are known to have been taken, and one more is said to have
been identified but not secured. Both these captures were first recorded
by Yarrell. In the first instance (19th May, 1843) the bird was obtained
by a Mr. Joseph Trigg, who shot it at Therfield in Hertfordshire, while it
was sitting on an ash-tree. ‘The second specimen, of which Yarrell omits
to state the locality, was shot by a gamekeeper, who only preserved its
head and neck, sufficient evidence however to refer it to the present
species. A specimen of this bird was also seen and followed for two miles,
in June 1852, near Robin Hood’s Bay, by a Mr. Bedlington, who, however,
failed to secure it (see ‘ Naturalist, 1856, p.21).. The Rock-Thrush breeds
across Southern Europe as far north as the Hartz Mountains, and east-
wards through Persia, Turkestan, and South Siberia, as far as Lake
Baikal, South-east Mongolia, and North China. It passes through North
Africa on migration, where a few remain to breed, and winters in
Senegambia and Abyssinia. Eastwards its winter range extends to the
borders of India and into North Burma.

The haunts of the Rock-Thrush embrace some of the wildest of scenes.
Its summer home is amongst the rocky gorges of the mountains, in and
amongst old ruins, ravines, and rough broken ground strewed with rock-
fragments, with here and there a few stunted trees or bushes. On the
Parnassus I found this bird inhabiting the wildest districts up to the pine-

282 BRITISH BIRDS.

region. As his name implies, he is a bird of the rocky wilderness, and
like the’Chats and the Redstarts, prefers such situations to more pastoral
districts. His winter home in Africa is in the neighbourhood of the Arab
burial-places, on the borders of the arid desert the vast and trackless
Sahara, the gorges, embankments, rocky bluffs and ravines, and the oases
of the desert.

The Rock-Thrush begins to arrive at its breeding-grounds early in April,
most of the birds probably pairing before they quit their winter quarters,
as they are usually seen in pairs at the various places they touch at en
route, and arrive in pairs at their breeding-stations. Upon one occasion
Canon Tristram met with this species on migration during one of his
wanderings in the Holy Land, and thus describes the strange and interest-
ing sight :—‘ Of the Rock-Thrushes, Petrocincla saxatilis, whose red tail
and Redstart-like habits link it most closely with the Ruticilline, is in
most parts of Palestine merely a passing traveller, and tarries but a night.
On the 8th of April the whole of Mount Gerizim was covered by a restless
flock of these birds, which, at a distance, we took for the Black Redstart,
so exactly did they resemble that bird in their actions. They hopped rest-
lessly from rock to rock, never taking a flight of more than a few yards ;
and in this fashion, in loose order, ranging for perhaps a mile in breadth,
they appeared to be steadily proceeding northwards. When the foremost
line had reached the valley they took a flight across to the foot of Mount
Ebal, over the gardens, and then more leisurely mounted the lull.” In
some instances the male birds are the first to arrive at their summer
haunts, notably in the Alpine districts, sometimes preceding the females
a week or more. After pairing they remain amongst the rocks of the
lower hills, until the snow has left the mountains and made their nursery
ready for them. Many of the habits of the Rock-Thrush closely resemble
those of the well-known Wheatear. <A shy and wary bird, it flits before
the observer, alighting on masses of rock, choosing those situations that
afford it a good look-out, and from which danger can be most readily
detected. Usually seen in pairs, they continue to flit before the observer ;.
and if he pursues them too closely they retire to some secluded place
amongst the rocks, or, by making a long detour, return to the place from
which he disturbed them. Now they may be seen on the ground, or
perched Chat-like on old walls and ruins, sitting motionless, and
starting rapidly off the imstant they are alarmed, the rich and beautifully
blended plumage of the male contrasting strongly with his mate’s more
sober dress.

Like the Song-Thrush and the Redwing, the Rock-Thrush is essentially
an insectivorous bird, and what few berries it does eat are taken as fruit,
just as the Blackeap or the Whitethroat will eat currants or raspberries.
The Rock-Thrush is often seen upon the ground in search of insects, or

THE ROCK-THRUSH. 283
on the small patches of grassy land near streams, seeking for earthworms
and snails. Amongst these mountain haunts the bird’s fare is a bountiful
one. The quantity of insect-life is something wonderful. Grasshoppers
of nearly every conceivable shape and variety of size and colour vie with
the birds in loudness if not in melody of song; butterflies, both rich and
beautiful, float lazily about; and the ground and rocks around are alive
with beetles and other forms of insect-life—almost endless in variety, and
whose dreamy hum is, in the noon-day heat, almost the only sign of life in
these mountain solitudes. The Rock-Thrush is not content with picking
his food from the ground or rocks, but often pursues it in the air like
the Flycatcher. You see him perched so quietly on a rocky boulder,
im a mood of seeming indolence ; yet he is ever on the alert ; and his sharp
eye is scanning the insects around him. Suddenly he launches into the
air, and, after a short fluttering butterfly-kind of flight, he snaps at a
passing fly and again returns to his perching-place, or goes off to his nest
should his young be already hatched. In the late summer months these
birds eat the berries of the various shrubs in their haunts, and sometimes
visit the gardens for the fruit. But this kind of fare is not sought to a
very great extent, the Rock-Thrush being almost as insectivorous as the
Chats and Redstarts.

As soon as the birds arrive in their summer home their song com-
mences. In the early morning, during the season of courtship, it may,
perhaps, be listened to with the greatest advantage. The bird usually
sings from some rocky perch, sometimes from the old walls of ruins,
or, more rarely, on the topmost branch of some lonely tree. But he
does not always sing when at rest. Like the Redstart, he will ever and
anon rise into the air and descend with wings expanded upon his perch
again, singing all the time. Sometimes these peculiar aerial motions are
continued several times in succession before the bird alights. The song
of the Rock-Thrush is, indeed, a sweet and varied one; and in those
countries it frequents the bird is in the highest request as a cage-songster,
sometimes the most fabulous prices being paid for birds whose musical
powers are beyond the ordinary degree of sweetness and variation. Its
wild powerful song is equal to that of the Blackcap, and, for variety and
tone, comes little short of the ever-changing notes of the “Throstle,” and
the rich flute-like warblings of the Blackbird. Its call-note is a peculiar
piping cry, somewhat similar to that of the Ring-Ouzel.

The nest of the Rock-Thrush, from the peculiar nature of its site, is
one of the most difficult to discover. You may search for hours, and turn
over tons of rock and stones unsuccessfully, and at last owe its discovery
to mere accident. It is usually placed in some convenient rock-crevice, at
various heights, sometimes under a mass of rock lying on the ground,
sometimes in heaps of stones, and sometimes in holes of ruined buildings ;

284 BRITISH BIRDS.

and, more rarely, in holes in houses and in trees and stumps. Vineyard-
walls, holes in mountain-fortresses, and amongst the débris carried down
the mountain-sides by the melting of the snow, may be also cited as places
frequently selected by this bird for its nest. Wherever it is found, how-
ever, it is usually well concealed from view, and always in a hole. The
bare ground will not unfrequently be chosen, under a bush, or even under
a dense overhanging grass-tuft. The nesting-season commences in the
latter end of April or beginning of May. ‘The nest is very different in
construction from the nests of the true Thrushes, and, as is the case with all
hole-building birds, somewhat loosely made. The materials of different
nests also vary to a great extent, according to the locality in which they
are found. Nests in the more cultivated districts are made of roots, fine
and coarse grasses, moss and bents, and lined with hair and feathers.
Those taken from more isolated places, the rocky districts high up moun-
tain-sides, are similar in outward construction, rarely lined with hair or
feathers, but with fine rootlets and dry grass. Other nests will sometimes
be found constructed entirely of roots and withered grass. In examining
the nest of this bird, its close resemblance to that of the Redstart or the
Wheatear will be noticed. No mud is found in them; they are loosely
put together; and this circumstance, coupled with the covered site and
the colour of the eggs, still further suggests the bird’s nearer affinity to
the Chats than to the true Thrushes. The eggs of the Rock-Thrush are
four or five in number, of the same beautiful bluish green as those of the
Song-Thrush, but slightly paler and rounder; indeed they are almost
intermediate between a Song-Thrush’s and a Starling’s. The markings
are confined to a very few faint light-brown specks, usually on the larger
end; but the eggs are very often spotless. In the same clutch these pecu-
liarities may be noticed; for sometimes one egg will be faintly marked
and the rest spotless. They vary in length from 1:05 to 0°95 inch, and in
breadth from ‘82 to *7 inch. Like most hole-building birds, the Rock-
Thrush is a very close sitter ; and the showily-dressed male assists in incu-
bating the eggs. The young birds are fed by both parents, and are tended
for some little time after they leave the nest. They are fed on insects,
larvie, spiders, and grubs. The Rock-Thrush is said to rear two broods
in the year. When the nest is approached, especially should it contain
young birds, the old birds become very anxious, and exhibit signs of the
greatest distress for their helpless offspring.

The male Rock-Thrush is a very handsome bird. Its head, neck, and
throat are cobalt-blue, shading into bluish black on the upper back, wing-
coverts, and rump; the wings are brown. In the centre of the back is a
nearly pure white patch, a few of the feathers being tipped with grey.
Except the throat, the entire under surface is rich chestnut, including the
tail, the two centre feathers of which are darker than the rest. Bill, legs,

THE ROCK-THRUSH. 285

and feet black ; irides hazel, The female is a speckled brown bird, with a
shade of rufous underneath, but the tail is similar to that of the male.
After the autumn moult the feathers of both sexes have pale margins, and
the white on the back of the male is not so conspicuous. Birds of the
year are very similar to the female. The nestling resembles birds of the
year, but the spots are larger.

The Blue Rock-Thrush (Monticola cyanea) has been said to have been
‘once obtained in Ireland. The bird is now preserved in the Museum of
the Royal Dublin Society, and is stated to have been killed in the county
of Westmeath, on November 17th, 1866 (see ‘ Zoologist,’ 1870, p. 2019).
Although this bird has occurred as a straggler on the island of Heligoland,
it is a strictly southern species; and considerable doubt attaches to the
example in question, which was examined by Sharpe and Dresser, and
pronounced by them to have the appearance of a specimen mounted from
a previously prepared skin, and not from a fresh-killed bird.

286 BRITISH BIRDS.

Genus RUTICILLA.

The genus Ruticilla was established by Brehm in 1828, in the ‘Isis,’
p. 1280. He designated R. phenicurus (the Ficedula ruticilla of Brisson) as
the type. Most of the birds in this genus have the rump- and the tail-_
feathers, except the two centre ones, chestnut. The culmen is short, not
more than one fourth the length of the tail, and the legs are always black.
All the male adult birds, except one species, have black or very dark-blue
throats.

There are about thirteen species in the present genus, which are distri-
buted throughout the temperate portion of the Palearctic Region and the
Highlands of the Himalayas, the number of species being greatest in the
latter district. Two species breed throughout temperate Europe, one of
which is a regular summer migrant to the British Islands, and the other is
a regular though rare winter visitant to the south coast of England. One
other species has accidentally wandered as far as Heligoland.

The Redstarts form a link between the Thrushes (through the Rock-
Thrushes) and the Chats, and are closely connected with the Robins
through the Bluethroats. They are birds more or less arboreal in. their
habits, frequenting bushes and cultivated places, although one or two
species affect mountainous localities. They are sprightly, restless birds,
feeding chiefly on insects, many of which they secure on the wing. The
Redstarts are fair songsters. Their nests are very loosely put together,
made of dried grasses, feathers, moss, wool, hair, &c., and usually placed
in holes of trees and rocks. Their eggs, from five to eight in number,
range from pure white to pale blue, as a rule unspotted, although the eggs
of one or two species are sparingly marked with pale brown.

THE REDSTART. 287

RUTICILLA PHGENICURUS.

THE REDSTART.
(PLATE 9.)

Ficedula ruticilla, Briss. Orn, ii. p, 403 (1766).

Motacilla phoenicurus, Zinn. Syst, Nat. 1. p. 335 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum
-—(Temminck), (Bonaparte), (Gray), (Hartlaub), (Loche), (Gould), (Newton),
(Dresser), (Blanford), &e.

Sylvia phoenicurus (Linn.), Lath. Gen. Syn. Suppl. i. p. 287 (1787).

Saxicola phoenicurus (Linn.), Koch, Syst. baier, Zool. i. p. 188 (1816),

Ficedula pheenicurus (Linn.), Bove, Isis, 1822, p. 553.

Pheenicura muraria, Stains. § Rich. Faun. Bor.-Amer, ii. p. 489 (1831),

Ficedula ruticilla, Eyton, Cat. Brit. B. p. 10 (1836),

Pheenicura ruticilla (Zyton), Gould, B. Eur, ii. pl. 95 (1837).

Ruticilla phoenicura (Linn.), Bonup. Comp. List B. Eur. and N. Amer. p. 15 (1838),

Lusciola pheenicurus (Linn.), Keys. u. Blas, Wirb. Eur. pp. lviii, 191 (1840).

Erithacus phoenicurus (Linn.), Degl. Orn, Eur. i. p. 502 (1849).

Luscinia pheenicurus (Linn.), Sundev. Sv. Fogl. p. 59 (1856).

This handsome little bird is of somewhat local distribution in the British
Islands, and can nowhere be said to be of very common occurrence. Its
Robin-like appearance, short and pleasing song, bright plumage, and
regularity of appearance in the early spring combine to make it a general
favourite. It breeds regularly, although locally, in all the counties of
England and Wales, but becomes rarer in the west, and is commonest in
the south. In Scotland it is found, though still more sparingly and locally,
up to Caithness, and occasionally in Shetland; but in the Hebrides it is
not known. In Ireland the bird may virtually be said to be absent, a few
instances only being on record of its occurrence, apparently merely acci-
dental. The Redstart breeds throughout Central Europe as far north as

_the Arctic circle. In South Europe it is rarely seen, except on spring
and autumn migration, although a few remain to breed at high elevations,
usually selecting the pine-regions for this purpose. It winters in North
Africa. In Asia its range during the breeding-season extends eastwards
as far as the valley of the Yenesay ; and the winter home of these Asiatic
birds appears to be in Persia.

As the Wheatear is the tenant of the cairns, the rocks, and the ruins
of the wilds, in like manner the Redstart may be designated a bird
of the ruins and the rocks in the lower, warmer, and more cultivated
districts. You will find it in orchards and gardens, about old walls, and
in the more open woods and shrubberies. Another favourite haunt of the
Redstart is old crumbling ruins, abbeys and castles, on whose battlements

288 BRITISH BIRDS.

and still massive walls, ivy-covered and moss-grown, it delights to sit and
chant its short and monotonous song. The Redstart, however, is by no
means confined to the vicinity of rocks and ruins. I have often chased
him in the pine-forests, where his habit of keeping near the tops of the

auses him to pass unnoticed by those who are unfamiliar with his
He is very restless, and is seldom secured without a long
chase. The Redstart also has his home in wilder places—in the coppices
just on the borders of the moorland, the birch-groves, and woods where old
and decayed timber is abundant and the ground beneath is strewn with
rock-fragments, amongst which the bracken and the briars grow in wild
uncurbed luxuriance. Rocky commons, mingled with hawthorn and holly,
brambles and briars, and old and disused lanes where walls alternate with
hedges are also favourite haunts of the Redstart.

The spring migration of the Redstart is usually performed during the
first week in April, sometimes a little earlier, according to the state of the
season. About that period of the year the male birds may be noticed in
their favourite haunts ; for they precede the females a few days, as is the
case with most of the British warblers. At this season of the year Red-
starts may be often seen in large numbers on the coast, in similar situations
to those which the Wheatears choose upon their arrival; and they are
often seen hopping about the rocks and cliffs, or frequenting the bushes
amongst the sandhills. They are restless and shy, and gradually retire
inland to their breeding-places, or go on again still further north to more
distant climes to rear their young. The Redstart migrates at night; and
hence the birds may be entirely absent one day, but may literally swarm
the next. The autumn migrations of the Redstart are not so easy to
observe as its spring movements. It departs imperceptibly : its song has
been long relinquished ; its call-notes are rarely heard; and hence its pre-
sence is seldom missed until it has probably long set out on its southern
journey. The shyness of the moulting-season seems to be retained; and
the fact that the male bird departs some little time before the female,
whose sober colours and retiring habits causes her to be often overlooked,
also tends to make their autumnal movements difficult of investigation ;
but during the last week of September, when I was on the island of
Heligoland, I had an excellent opportunity of seeing the migration of the
Redstart. On the 24th, and again on the 26th, these pretty birds abounded ;
and among the examples which the boys caught in their traps, I selected a
dozen for my collection.

The Redstart is a familiar although a shy bird,—familiar as to its choice
of a haunt, being often seen in the same locality as the Robin or the Hedge-
Accentor ; and shy, rarely allowing a close approach, generally frequenting —
the tops of lofty trees, but sometimes hiding itself from view in the
thickest cover, or flying away as soon as its privacy is intruded upon.

trees C
simple song.

ai

THE REDSTART. 289
<
Sometimes, as you wander on, the bird will flit uneasily before you, dis-
playing the rich chestnut of its tail, which is spread out repeatedly, like a
fan. A restless little creature, indeed, it is, incessantly flitting about from
wall to wall or stump to stump, and repeatedly waving its tail like a rapidly
moving fan. These singular tail motions are a very striking peculiarity
of this species; and it may be noted that the tail is always moved ver-
tically, never sideways, although it is usually expanded and closed every
few beats, giving the bird a very pretty and animated appearance. Upon
its arrival at its old haunts the male bird is much less shy than at
any other season of the year. He will sometimes advance quite close to
you; and for the first week or so of his sojourn here he seems to press
himself into notice as much as possible—frequenting the tree-tops, gate-
posts, and all other similarly exposed situations. The Redstart flies
with a succession of short jerks, not particularly rapid, but extremely
irregular. Sometimes, however, in the pairing-season, two male birds
will chase each other, and dart like rays of coloured light through the
branchy mazes of the woods, all the time uttering a shrill and peculiar
guttural note. The Redstart is rarely seen upon the ground: its food is
obtained for the most part on walls, rocks, and trees, and in the air; and
hence it has no cause to visit the earth.

The Redstart is almost entirely insectivorous—flies, gnats, small butter-
flies, and various kinds of beetles, caterpillars, and larve are its favourite
food. It is an adept at catching insects on the wing, like a true Flycatcher,
the bird being seen to launch suddenly into the air and often to take
several passing insects ere seeking its perch again, all the time performing
a rapid fluttering motion of the wings, and displaying its rich contrast of
plumage to perfection. You may see it high up the decaying branches
of some lofty forest giant, or lower down on a pollard stump or mouldering
log, seeking for the various forms of insect life which those places conceal ;
or you may notice it fluttering before old walls or rocks, or searching
the nooks and crannies of the ivied ruins. The bird will sit without
movement, except the regular and graceful fanning of the tail. Nowa
cloud of gnats appear; they are visited and captures made. Now it is a
little butterfly flitting lazily along: this capture isa more difficult one; for
the insect seems to know its danger and tries to escape its captor, thus
causing the bird to prolong its aerial motions for some considerable dis-
tance until its quarry is secured. Now the bird is seen to flutter along
over the tall grass, seizing the various insects from the grass-stems.
It will sometimes take a long sallying flight over the clear still waters of
the pool, to regale itself upon the flies which congregate in such dense
numbers there. In the late summer, when the smaller garden fruits
are ripe, the Redstart, like all its congeners, adopts a partly vegetable
diet, and is also known to haunt the fields of growing corn, just before

VOL, I. U

,

290 BRITISH BIRDS.

its ripening, to prey upon the soft milky grain, as the Pipits and the
Willow-Warblers will do.

Although the Redstart’s song may be a pleasing one, it is not to b
compared with the warblings of the Blackcap, or even the Whitethroat,
or the sweet little performance of the Willow-Warbler. To hear the
Redstart’s song to best advantage, a visit should be made to his haunts
early in April: and the earlier in the day the better; for the music of all :
birds is best at, or directly after, sunrise. The song bears a striking .
resemblance to the loud and varied notes of the Wren; yet it wants their )
vigour and sprightliness, and is somewhat monotonous. It may well be
described as a low, weak, Wren’s song, without any of that dashing
vivacity which seems to be characteristic of the music of that active little
creature. It may also be noticed that the Redstart, directly after its arrival
in April, seeks the tree-tops for his orchestra; but as the summer comes on
this habit is lost, and the bird warbles from a lower perch, usually in the
neighbourhood of his nest. At this time of the year the bird will sing at _
night, very often supplementing his day-performance with a few strains |

:
iY

under a midnight sky. The Redstart sings as he flies. Sometimes he
launches into the air, as though bent on insect-capture ; but it is merely to
warble forth his little unattractive song, and he again returns to his perch.
Not unfrequently he will chant his music when flying from one perching-
place to another. As the summer passes on his music is heard less
frequently and in still more subdued tones, until finally it ceases, a little
before the period of the autumnal moult, never more to be renewed until
the time of courtship awakens his powers of song anew. In confinement —
the bird will sing equally well by night as by day, and will readily
imitate various songs and notes, like the Starling. The call-notes of the
Redstart are varied according to circumstances. Thus its regular call-note
is a sharply uttered weet-tit-tit, something like a Stonechat’s. Its notes
in the pairing-season are low guttural warblings, confined to the male —
alone, and usually uttered as they chase each other through the air;
and if you threaten its nest, its alarm-note is peculiarly low and sweet,
very much like the call of the Willow-Warbler, a plaintive whit. (
May is the Redstart’s nesting-season. We must not seek its nest
amongst the branches, nor yet amidst the brambles or vegetation on the —
ground, but always in some hole well protected from the wind: holes in —
walls and trees are, as a rule, selected; but most peculiar sites are some-
times chosen—for example, gate-posts, flower-pots, and crevices under
the eaves. Indeed, in this respect the Redstart is almost as famous as
the Robin. The Woodpecker, if the nesting-hole is not quite suitable,
alters it accordingly, or, if holes be scarce, makes one itself with its strong
beak ; but the Redstart does no such thing. The graceful birch tree
or the mountain-ash very often affords a nesting-hole, whilst in the old

.|

a ar a nll ae

THE REDSTART. 291

walls nesting-sites occur in abundance, sometimes but a few inches in
depth, at others several feet, it matters but little. Favourite situations
are also amongst old ruins, but rarely at any great height from the ground.
The nest itself is a very slovenly piece of workmanship, so loosely made
in some cases as to render it impossible to remove it entire from its
resting-place. It is made of dry grass, moss, sometimes a little wool,
but neatly lined with hair and feathers, and will frequently remain empty
for a few days when completed ere the first egg is deposited. The eggs
are usually. five or six in number, occasionally seven, and even eight.
They are a paler blue and more highly polished than those of the Hedge-
Accentor ; and the shell is far more fragile. They vary in length from
‘8 to ‘7 inch, and in breadth from ‘57 to 5 inch. You may remove the
eggs of the Redstart, and yet she will continue laying, seldom forsaking
the nest ; indeed Dixon has taken, by way of experiment, as many as
twelve eggs consecutively from one nest. The same remarks apply to the
Starling, and also to most life-paired birds and those who tenant the same
nest each successive season, or build a new one close to that of the pre-
ceding year. The young are fed entirely on insects and larve. It is most
probable that only one brood is reared in the year; but should the first
nest prove unfortunate, the birds will renew their attempts to rear a
family.

The Redstart cannot easily be confounded with any other British bird.
Its head and back are slate-grey ; the wings are brown, the forehead white ;
and the rump, tail (except the two central tail-feathers, which are much
darker than the rest), breast, and flanks are rich chestnut, becoming much
paler on the belly. A narrow band at the base of the upper mandible, the
chin, upper throat, and ear-coverts are rich black. Legs, feet, and claws
black ; irides dark brown. The female is a brown bird, but has the vent
and tail chestnut, although not so brilliant as in the male. Birds of
the year are like the female ; so, too, are the nestlings, but spotted above
and below. After the moult in autumn the male bird closely resembles
the female, owing to the broad brown margins of the feathers; but in the
spring these margins are cast and the brilliant nuptial dress is assumed
without a moult.

In the Caucasus, Asia Minor, and Greece, Ehrenberg’s Redstart (Ruticilla
mesoleuca) occurs, but has been, to a very great extent, confounded with
its near although perfectly distinct ally. It is easily distinguished from
the Common Redstart by the white patches on the wings, similar to
those on the wings of the Black Redstart. Ehrenberg’s Redstart has only
become known in this country within the last few years. When I brought
the first skin over from Asia Minor, no ornithologist would admit it to be
more than an accidental variety of our bird; but the late Mr. Verreaux
pointed out to me that it was an Eastern form of our Redstart which

u2

292 BRITISH BIRDS.

had been described by Hemprich and Ehrenberg as long ago as 1832.
My friend Mr. Danford afterwards procured a large series ; and every one
admits it now as a good species. In this series, however, the white on the
wing varies to such an extent that it seems probable that in Asia Minor
the two species interbreed.

Still further to the east, in the Himalayan range, another very nearly
allied species (Ruticilla hodgsoni) is found, in which the white patch on the
secondaries is slightly more developed ; but it has the wing more rounded.
Further investigation may possibly prove that Ehrenberg’s Redstart is
an intermediate form between this species and the Common Redstart.

BLACK REDSTART. 293

RUTICILLA TITHYS.
BLACK REDSTART.
(Pate 9.)

Ficedula phcenicurus, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 409 (1760).

Motacilla phcenicurus 8. titys, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 855 (1766).

Sylvia tithys, Scop. Ann. i. p. 157 (1769)); et auctorum plurimorum—Scopoli,
Bechstein, Temminck, (Newton), (Dresser), (Loche), (Gray), (Harting),
(Shelley), &e.

Motacilla atrata, Gel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 988 (1788, ex Lath.).

Motacilla erythrourus, Rafin. Caratt. p. 6 (1810).

Saxicola tithys (Scop.), Koch, Syst. baier, Zool. i. p. 186 (1816).

Ruticilla titys (Scop.), Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 365 (1831).

Pheenicura tithys (Scop.), Gould, B. Eur. ii. pl. 96 (1837).

Lusciola thitys (Scop.), Keys. u. Blas. Wirb. Eur. pp. lix, 191 (1840).

Ruticilla cairii, Gerbe, Dict. Univ. d Hist. Nat. xi. p. 259 (1848).

Erithacus tithys (Scop.), Degl. Orn. Eur. i. p. 504 (1849).

Erithacus cairii (Gerbe), Degl. Orn, Eur. i. p. 507 (1849).

The Black Redstart is a regular winter visitant to the whole of the
south coast of England, and is not uncommon in Cornwall; but there is
no positive evidence that it has ever bred in the British Islands. White
eges believed to be those of this species have been repeatedly produced
from various British localities ; but in no case has the bird been obtained
or satisfactorily identified. Sterland asserts that he saw the bird in
Sherwood Forest ; but the position of the nest in a hedge almost amounts
to proof that he was mistaken in his identification.

The geographical distribution during the breeding-season of the Black
Redstart is a somewhat peculiar one. In the south it extends from
Portugal through Algeria to Palestine. Northwards its range becomes
more restricted, and apparently does not extend east of the valleys of the
Dneister and the Vistula or north of Holstein. In autumn stragglers have
been known to occur in West Russia, Scandinavia, the north of England,
Scotland, and Ireland, the Faroes (on the authority of Captain Feilden),
and even, it is said, as far as Iceland. North of the Alps it is for the
most part a migratory bird, though a few are known to frequent situa-
tions where open water is to be found during the winter. South of the
Alps it is found throughout the year, its numbers being increased during
winter, its range at that season extending as far south as Nubia. In
the Caucasus and in Persia it is replaced by R. ochrura (the R. erythro-
procta of Gould), which differs in having the colour of the lower belly

294 BRITISH BIRDS.

bright chestnut instead of buffish brown. This species is intermediate
in colour between R. tithys and R. rufiventris, which is found still further
east.

As the Black Redstart very rarely occurs in Norfolk, and has not been
recorded from the Lincolnshire coast, it seems probable that the birds
which visit our islands come from Holland, where it is exceedingly common,
and follow the coast, choosing the shortest passage across the Channel.

In Algeria the Black Redstart appears to be confined during the
breeding-season to a few chosen localities in the Djebel Aurés ; Dixon
met with it in some of the rocky gorges there. He writes :—“ It was to be

seen in the rapidly drying up beds of the mountain-streams, hopping about
from rock to rock, and sometimes perching on the storm-riven decaying
stumps of the old juniper trees. It was now and then seen in close company
with the charming little Bushchat (Pratincola moussiert), and, like that bird,
was somewhat shy, and, the moment it became aware that it was observed,
glided rapidly amongst the bushes and rocks and was soon lost to view.
I did not meet with this bird in the neighbourhood of the Arab houses or
near the towns at the base of these mountains ; and it seems that what
few birds do remain in Algeria to breed select some elevated locality.
I saw them at an altitude of nearly 6000 feet, the snow lying thickly
in places on the sides of Djebel Mahmel, less than a thousand feet above
them.”

The Black Redstart resembles the Robin very closely in its habits and
manner of life. It is an extremely familiar bird, and in most parts of
North Germany is common in the gardens and farmyards, perching on
the eaves of the houses, or on the apple-trees in the orchard, frequently
catching its food in the air like a Flycatcher, and sometimes seeking it on
the ground on the newly raked beds. It is very fond of perching on a
rail or a stump, and builds its nest, without the slightest attempt at
concealment, on the rafters in the farmbuildings, or on a ledge in a
summer-house, Its song is very simple, consisting only of three or four
melodious notes. Like the Robin it is constantly in the habit of drooping
its head and slightly lifting its wing, whilst the tail is suddenly jerked up
and half expanded. The Black Redstart is one of the first birds astir in
the morning ;
cause or other, unable to sleep, I have heard its few rich notes through
the open window between two and three o’clock in the morning. In
spite of its predilection for gardens it is seldom seen in the woods.
When it is not found near houses, like the House-Martin, it seeks
the rocks. I found it breeding in the rocky valleys in the pine-region
of the Parnassus, 4000 feet above the level of the sea; and in winter
it is a very common bird on the rocky plateaux on the spurs of the
Pyrenees, where it may be constantly seen both on the rocks and on the

g; and occasionally on a hot summer’s night, when, from some —

aii a ee a

ij

BLACK REDSTART. 295

few stunted bushes which defy the blasts of the western gales from the
Bay of Biscay.

The food of the Black Redstart is chiefly composed of insects, caterpillars,
and occasionally small garden fruits.

According to Naumann the Black Redstart arrives in South Germany early
in March, and in North Germany during the latter half of the same month,
the autumn migration taking place throughout the month of October. It
breeds early in May. On the 5th of May last I saw two nests, each contain-
ing eggs, in a summer-house in the garden of Dr. Blasius at Brunswick. In

a shed in the farmyard of Oberamtman Nehrkorn, at Riddagshausen, two
miles in the country, several nests were finished and ready for eggs; and
on the 14th we took a nest with five eggs. On the 18th a fresh nest had
been made in the same place, and one egg had been laid. The nest of
the Black Redstart resembles that of the Robin, being a very large loose
structure outside, and inside extremely round and neat. This nest
measured 9 inches in diameter, and was 3 inches high, principally com-
posed of straw and stalks of plants, with a few twigs and a little moss,
some roots, cobwebs, and the flowers of the reed, and a little dried grass.
The nest-cavity was not in the centre, and was 27 inches in diameter and
12 inches deep, very carefully lined with horsehair, and with half a dozen
feathers neatly interwoven. Onthe 6th of May 1873 I took a nest of this
bird with four eggs in a recess on the moss-covered walls some yards within
the entrance of the celebrated cave in the Parnassus. It was composed
principally of green moss lined with goat’s hair. Holes in walls and
ruins are also favourite situations for the nest. Curious situations are
_ sometimes chosen by this bird in which to build. At Bonn Dr. Sclater
and I found one built on a shelf in a compartment of one of the large
Rhine bathing-machines, after having watched the bird fly through the
window. It is said seldom or never to build in hollow trees. Sachse
says that two broods are always reared in a season. The alarm-note of
the Black Redstart is very similar to that of the Robin, a loud rapid ¢ek-
tek-tek-tek.

_ The usual number of eggs is five ; sometimes only four are laid; and six,
and even seven have been recorded. The colour is usually pure white ;
but sometimes there is the faintest tinge of brown, and a clutch in my
collection from Altenkirchen shows the faintest possible tinge of bluish
green. Dresser describes a clutch, also from Altenkirchen, which were
minutely spotted with brown at the large end. The eggs are very finely
grained, and the surface polished. In length they vary from °83 to ‘7 inch,
and from ‘6 to 56 inch in breadth.

The adult male Black Redstart is a very handsome bird, the general
colour being slate-grey, with brown wings margined with white on the
outside webs of the secondaries; the two centre tail-feathers are also

296 BRITISH BIRDS.

brown; but the rest of the tail-feathers, as well as the rump and the
upper and under tail-coverts, are bright chestnut. The feathers round
the bill and the eye, the ear-coverts, the throat, breast, axillaries, and
under wing-coverts are black; belly and flanks buffish brown. Legs,
claws, and bill black; irides brown. In the female the upper and under
tail-coverts and the tail and the white edgings to the secondaries resemble
those of the male, but are tinged with brown, the rest of the plumage bemg
sooty brown. Young birds in first plumage have most of the feathers of the
upper and underparts barred and tipped with black. Males of the year
resemble adult females, in which plumage they have been found breeding,
and have been described as a distinct species. It is probable that these
birds moult into the adult plumage during their second autumn.

SAXICOLA, 297

Genus SAXICOLA.

- The genus Sazicola was established by Bechstein in 1802, in his ‘ Orni-
thologisches Taschenbuch,’ i. p. 216. He did not indicate any type; and
his genus included the Whinchat and the Stonechat; but as these two species
were removed in 1816 by Koch in his ‘ System der baierischen Zoologie,’
p. 191, and placed in the genus Pratincola, S. enanthe is left as the type of
Bechstein’s genus. ‘The Chats may be distinguished by their black legs and
by the colour of the rump, upper tail-coverts, and the base of the tail, which
in typical species are white, whilst in the few aberrant species where these
parts are Ruticilline in colour the proportion between the culmen and the
tail serves to distinguish them: in the Redstarts the tail is more than
four times the length of the culmen; in the Chats it is less.

The genus contains about thirty species, and is principally confined to
the Aithiopian Region and the southern portion of the Palearctic Region.
Six species are peculiar to South Africa; five more to Nubia and Abyssinia.
Six species inhabit North Africa, of which the range of three extends to
Palestine and the remaining two to Turkestan. Eight species are European,
of which the range of three extends to Persia, one to Turkestan, two to
China, and one to the coasts of Greenland and North America. Four
species breed only in Persia, and four only in Turkestan. In the British
Islands one species is a common summer visitor, whilst two others are
very rare stragglers.

The Chats or Wheatears are birds allied to the Bush-Chats on the one
hand and the Redstarts on the other. Unlike these birds, however, they
frequent open ground, rocky mountain-sides, cultivated plains, and dry
and arid deserts. They perch freely on rocks and stones, but are rarely
seen in the branches of trees. Their powers of song are somewhat limited.
Their food consists largely. of worms and insects, the latter sometimes
being obtained whilst the bird is hovering in the air. They build loose-
made nests of dry grass, hair, feathers, &c., placed in holes either in the
ground or in walls or rocks; and their eggs, from five to six in number,
are blue, sparingly marked with pale reddish brown.

*
‘A Pal? ,

298 BRITISH BIRDS.

SAXICOLA CGENANTHE.
THE WHEATEAR.
(PLate 9.)

Ficedula vitiflora, Briss. Orn. iii. p.449 (1760).

Ficedula vitiflora grisea, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 452 (1760).

Ficedula vitiflora cinerea, Briss. Orn. ili, p. 454 (1760).

Motacilla cenanthe, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 152 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum—
(Bechstein), (Wolf), (Gould), (Gray), (Degland), (Bonaparte), (Cabanis), (Sun-
devall), (Newton), (Dresser), &c.

Sylvia cenanthe (Zinn.), Lath. Gen. Syn. Suppl. i. p. 288 (1787).

Motacilla leucorhoa, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 966 (1788, ex Buff.).

Sylvia leucorhoa (Gmel.), Lath. Ind. Orn. p. 531 (1790).

Saxicola cenanthe (Linn.), Bechst. Orn. Taschenb. i. p. 217 (1802).

Vitiflora cenanthe (Linn.), Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. §c. Brit. Mus. p. 21 (1816).

(Enanthe vitiflora (Briss.), Forster, Syn. Cat. Brit. B. p. 54 (1817).

(Enanthe cinerea (Briss.), Vietll. N. Dict. d Hist. Nat. xxi. p. 418 (1818).

Motacilla vitiflora (Briss.), Pallas, Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. i. p. 472 (1826).

Saxicola rostrata, Hempr. et Ehr. Symb. Phys. Aves, fol. aa (1833).

Saxicola libanotica, Hempr. et Ehr. Symb. Phys. Aves, fol. bb (1838).

Saxi¢ola cenanthoides, Vig. Zool. ‘ Blossom,’ p. 19 (1839).

Saxicola leucorhoa (Gmel.), Hartl. Orn. W.-Afr. p, 64 (1857).

This interesting and lively little bird is one of the first to arrive in
Britain in early spring, his presence being often noted before the last snow
has disappeared. A lively little creature, of conspicuous plumage, and
haunting the open ground, the Wheatear is rarely overlooked, and is
often the only representative of bird-life in districts both wild and
desolate. Although it is pretty generally diffused over the British Islands
during the summer, it is certainly a local bird, and its breeding-grounds
are almost invariably confined to the wilder districts and tracts of open
country. It is much rarer in the south, and parts of the west of England,
becoming much more frequent as we go north; whilst in Scotland, even
in the outlying Hebrides, the Orkneys, and the Shetlands, the Wheat-
ear is one of the commonest of birds in all the wilder districts. The same
remarks will apply to the bird’s distribution in Ireland, it being a regular
summer visitant, and found commoniy in all suitable localities. Outside
the British Islands the Wheatear’s range is exceeded by few other British
Passerine birds. It breeds throughout Central and Northern Europe, going
as far north as land is found, and in Southern Europe where the mountains
are high enough to allow of the growth of the pine and the birch. Westwards
its breeding-range extends over Iceland as far as Greenland and Labrador,
and eastwards throughout Northern Siberia, the mountains of Persia and
Syria, and beyond Behring’s Straits into Alaska. In winter it is found in

a.

THE WHEATEAR. 299

North and West Africa ; and on the east coast of that continent it has been
obtained south of the equator. The Asiatic birds winter in Mongolia, North
India, and Persia; and on the American continent it has been found as far
south as the Bermudas at that season.

The breeding-grounds and summer haunts of the Wheatear embrace
some of the wildest and most romantic portions of our native scenery.
On the breezy wastes near the ocean—the low-lying sandy coast or the,
rough shingly beach and rugged limestone cliffs,—or the solitudes of
the upland moors and mountains, where the rocks, the heather, and the
lochs are the salient features of the landscape, the Wheatear equally
abounds. He is also seen on the summer fallows, and haunts old and
disused stone-quarries and sand-pits. Favourite situations for the bird
are high up the mountain-sides where the peat is cut, the birds frequenting
the clearings and incessantly flitting about the peat-stacks and perching
on the turf fences or the cots of the peasants, to whom it is known as the
“Stone clatter,” or, in Gaelic, the “ Clacharan.” The Wheatear may also
often be seen on the broad tablelands, about old cairns and sheep-folds,
and on the road-sides. Even the bare and uninhabited rocky islets of the
west of Scotland are usually tenanted by a pair or so of birds, the chief
sign of bird-life upon them. The Wheatear is rarely seen in the well-
wooded and cultivated districts, except one or two straggling birds, and
then usually during the autumnal season of migration.

The first Wheatears are seen in the south of England at the latter end
of March; and by the first week in April the remotest districts of the
Orkneys and Hebrides are tenanted. by them. The annual migrations of
the Wheatear are a prominent feature in its history. But these movements
ean seldom be studied except on the coast ; for by the time the birds have
reached their more inland haunts, they have dispersed themselves. In the
same manner the autumnal movements are made, and the vast gatherings
of this bird are only seen on the sea-shore, where it appears that they
finally congregate ere taking their departure for their winter-quarters.
Like most birds, the Wheatear performs its migrations in the night,
and often arrives on our coasts long before daybreak. From early
August until the middle of September, Wheatears are seen in vast
numbers on the Downs of Sussex, for the greater part young birds reared
in the north and now passing southwards on their autumnal journey.
Being at this season excessively fat and rich in flavour, they are subject
to an incessant persecution. The birds are snared in great quantities
by the shepherds whose flocks are pastured on the open downs. But
the Wheatear does not now occur so plentifully as formerly. The decrease
in their numbers is probably less owing to this incessant persecution than
to the destruction of their favourite breeding-grounds, which are yearly,
to such a large extent, placed under cultivation.

300 BRITISH BIRDS.

In nine cases out of ten the observer will first make acquaintance with
the Wheatear when the bird is perched on some wall, rock, or other
little eminence. There is no mistaking him—his grey, black, and white
plumage, and his neat slender form and monotonous note, making doubt
impossible, as he sits eying you suspiciously and incessantly fanning with
his tail. His mate also in her more sombre garb is not far away, and sits
watching your actions. Should you approach them too closely, they fly a
little distance before you and again alight on a rock or piece of turf,
retreating as you advance, or making a long detour to their old perching-
place, which is usually close to the nest. Its flight is usually a low one
aud taken by short starts; and the moment it alights its tail is jerked
several times after the manner of the Wagtails. Although a wary bird,
still it is by no means a shy one, and often allows a close approach, the
more especially should you happen to be near its nest. ‘The Wheatear
has a peculiar habit of perching on old walls: it will flit before you inces-
sautly, dipping behind the wall on the opposite side and again appearing
a little distance away, to repeat the manceuvres as you again approach it.
To a certain extent the Wheatear is partial to moist situations, and may
often be seen standing or wading in the little pools. Although the bird
does not, as arule, perch amongst the branches or twigs of shrubs and
trees, it may frequently be seen on the summit of some tall tuft of heather
delicately poised, and seemingly balancing itself by its incessant and rapid
beats of the tail, giving it a very pretty appearance.

The food of the Wheatear is composed of insects, grubs, worms, beetles,
and small snails. It may often be seen hopping about with great celerity
on the little open patches of turf or marshy places in search of this
food, and it sometimes pursues insects in the air like the Flycatcher.
Choosing a favourite perching-place—some wall or turf fence, block of
peat or rock—it will sit quietly like the Flycatcher, occasionally uttering
its sharp call-note and incessantly fanning with its tail. An insect flies past,
and the bird hurriedly quits its perch and secures it, and again returns to
its old station, having displayed the striking colours of its plumage and its

airy butterfly-like flight to perfection. The Wheatear may also often be

seen exploring turf fences and old walls—fluttering before them, clinging
to them, and taking the various larve that find concealment among the
crevices. Again, the droppings of the cattle and sheep on the moors and
upland pastures are explored for little beetles and grubs; and in the

late summer, when the moorland fruits are ripe, the birds subsist partly on —

them—a habit common to all, or nearly all, insectivorous birds in the fruit-
season.

The love-notes of the Wheatear form a short but pleasing song; and the
more particularly are we apt to view his performance with favour, because it
generally greets the ear in wild and lonely places. It is uttered shortly

THE WHEATEAR. 301

after the bird’s arrival here, either when the little songster is perched on a
stone or a fence, or when fluttering in the air. Sometimes he begins his
warbling notes on his perch, accompanying them with graceful motions
of the wings, and finally launching into the air to complete his song,
the aerial fluttermgs seeming to give his performance an additional
vigour. Dixon has seen ‘two Wheatears in the air together, buffeting
each other, and singing lustily all the time with all the sweetness that
love-rivalry inspires.” Its song appears to be suspended early in the
summer, but is not unfrequently resumed in autumn. Their call-notes
bear some resemblance to the syllables chick-chack-chack, and have a
singularly piercing sound, almost like the noise produced by striking two
smail pebbles together, which circumstance, and the bird’s love for
stony places, have gained for them their Gaelic name, signifying the
“ little mason.”

As the male birds precede the females a few days, and when paired do
not commence nest-building at once, it is usually the middle of April,
sometimes later, ere the nest is in course of construction. The nest of the
Wheatear, from the peculiar nature of the place chosen for its site, is
extremely difficult to find. Far under a piece of rock, or in a crevice
of a huge boulder, not unfrequently in the holes of walls, or under a
convenient earth clod on the fallow are the usual situations chosen. It
will, when nesting on the sandy downs, take possession of a deserted
rabbit-burrow, or other suitable hole in the sandy soil, where it safely
rears its young, but never, so far as is known, excavates a hole for
itself. Two more favourite nesting-sites may be noticed. One of them is
amongst the stones of cairns, or even the heaps of stones lying on a pebbly
shore, just above high-water mark, and on the same portion of the beach
on which the Oyster-catcher rears its young. The other situation is rather
anovel one. On the desolate moors, when the peat is cut for firing-pur-
poses, the Wheatear, as previously noted, is a common bird. The peat-
blocks when dry are piled up in stacks to be used as occasion demands ;
and in amongst the crevices of these peat-stacks the bird finds a favourite
nesting-place. The nest is placed at various distances from the opening
that admits the parent birds; and sometimes entrance to the nest is made
by several ways. Sometimes it is close to the opening of the hole; at
others, especially should it be in a stone heap or amongst rocks, it may be
several feet from the place at which the birds enter. It is a simple little
structure, loosely put together, and made of dry grass, occasionally a few
rootlets and moss, and lined with a little hair or feathers, sometimes both,
according to the locality in which the nest is made. Thus, when the nest is
near the shore or close to the ocean itself, a few stray Gull-feathers will often
be found ; and should the birds be nesting near rabbit-warrens, a little fur of
that animal will usually be mixed with the other materials; while, yet

_

302 BRITISH BIRDS.

again, on the upland sheep-pastures, wool very frequently forms the lining
of the nest, the bird utilizing those materials which its haunts supply.
During the whole nesting-season, from the time the first bit of nest-mate-
rial is laid, the old birds are excessively wary, and rarely betray the exact
site of their nest. Although the birds may frequent its locality, be inces+
santly seen on one old stone-heap cr peat-stack, telling you plainly by
their actions that their treasure is there, it is only the most careful
watching and patience combined that will cause the birds to reveal
their nesting-hole; and to search for the nest by turning over the stones
or peat is a task far more likely to lead to failure than success.

The eggs of the Wheatear are from four to seven in number ; but six seems
the average clutch. They are pale greenish blue, elongated in form, and
usually spotless. Occasionally, however, they are found with markings
upon them, usually confined to a few faint purplish specks on the larger
end, sometimes so indistinct and fine as to be scarcely perceptible, unless
examined closely. The eggs vary in length from ‘95 to ‘79 inch, and
in breadth from °65 to °6 inch.

The young birds are tended by their parents for some considerable time
after leaving the nest ; and when an intruder happens to disturb a family-
party, their actions are full of interest. The young birds, not so strong —
on the wing as their parents, and more confiding, alight close to the —
observer; and the old birds fly at a considerable height im the air in
circles round his head, all the time uttering a short plaintive note.
Sometimes, when suddenly alarmed, a brood of young Wheatears will
scatter and hide themselves, taking refuge under the herbage or in holes
of walls and rocks; but this usually happens when they are not suffi-
ciently matured to trust to their wings to convey them out of danger.

Although the Wheatear’s colours are somewhat chaste, still their bold
contrast, and the manner in which they are distributed, make the bird a
very pretty one. In summer the male bird’s upper plumage is slaty grey,
with white rump and black and white tail; from the bill to the eye and
over the entire ear-coyerts is a black band, surmounted by an eye-stripe-
of white; the wings are black and dark brown; and the whole under
surface of the body is buff, deepest on the throat and breast ; legs, bill,
and feet black ; irides dark brown. The female bird is sandy brown, darkest
above; and the wings and tail are similar to those of the male. Young
birds are like the female, but are spotted both above and below. After the
moult in autumn the male and female are almost alike; for the pale
buff margins to the feathers of the former hide the slate-grey portions of
the feather, and the underparts are darker. As the winter passes on
these buff margins apparently die and drop off, whilst the rest of the feather
seems to acquire new life and an additional intensity of colour, so that
without a second moult they appear in early spring in full nuptial dress.

THE WHEATEAR. 303

The fact that there are two races of Wheatears has frequently been
noticed. Some weeks after the arrival of the typical birds a larger and
buffer race is reported to arrive on our shores, and to pass northwards on
migration. Some ornithologists think that the later arrivals are the young
of the previous year, which retain more of their autumn plumage in the
spring than older birds do; whilst it has been suggested that they are the
Wheatears which breed in Greenland, passing through on migration vid
the Shetland Islands and Iceland, and which are somewhat larger and
buffer than our birds, and almost constitute a distinct local race.

The Wheatear has no very near ally; and the male is not likely to be
confused with any other species of Chat. The female may be distinguished
from S. isabellina and the female of S. deserti by having less black on the
tail. The black on the terminal portion of the tail-feathers (except the
two centre ones) occupies less than one third of the length of the feather

in S. enanthe, whilst in the other two species it occupies more than one -
third,

304 BRITISH BIRDS.

SAXICOLA DESERTI.

DESERT-WHEATEAR.
(PLATE 9.)

Saxicola stapazina (Linn.), apud Licht. Eversm. Reis. Buchara, p. 128 (1823).
Saxicola deserti, Temm. Pl. Col. pl. 559. fig. 2 (1825) ; et auctorum plurimorum—

Gray, Bonaparte, Cabanis, Heuglin, Jerdon, Dresser, &c.
Saxicola isabellina, Riipp. apud Temm. Pl. Col. pl. 472. fig. 1 (1829).
Saxicola pallida, Riipp. Neue Wirb. Vog. p. 80 (1835).
Saxicola atrogularis, Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. xvi. p. 131 (1847).
Saxicola salina, Lversm. Bull. Soc. Mosc. xxiii. pt. 2, p. 567, pl. viii. fig. 2 (1859).
Saxicola gutturalis, Licht, Nomenci. Av. p. 35 (1854).
Saxicola homochroa, Tristram, Ibis, 1859, p. 59.
Saxicola albomarginata, Salvad. Atti Soc. Tor. p. 507 (1870).

The claim of the Desert-Chat to a place in the British fauna rests upon
the capture of a single specimen. This bird was obtained on the 26th of
November 1880, near Stirling ; and its occurrence was recorded by Mr. J.
Dalgleish in the ‘Transactions of the Royal Physical Society’ for the
following year. It was killed by a Mr. Watt, gamekeeper to Lord Balfour,
of Burleigh, whilst sitting on a stone in a piece of moorland at the side of
Gartmorn Dam, on the property of the Earl of Zetland, near Alloa. It even-
tually came into the possession of Mr. J. Taylor of Alloa, who, struckby its
unusually late appearance and different markings from those of the Common
Wheatear, sent it to Mr. Dagleish. This gentleman kindly forwarded it
for exhibition at the first April meeting of the Zoological Society last year,
when I had an opportunity of examining it. It is a male in autumn
plumage. Although ten days elapsed ere it was preserved, it has been
mounted very successfully. The contents of the stomach consisted-of —
small flies. To the European fauna the claim of the Desert-Chat is equally
slight. It rests upon two specimens obtained on the ornithologically
famous little island of Heligoland, which are now in the possession of Mr.
Gaetke. One of these birds is a male, with black throat, in autumn plumage,
captured on the 26th of October 1856; the other a female, without the
black throat, also in autumn plumage, taken on the 4th of October in the
following year. The true home of this interesting little bird is, as its name
implies, dry and sandy regions. Although thus comparatively an unknown
bird north of the Mediterranean, it has nevertheless a very wide and
extensive range. It is a resident wherever the country is suitable to its
habits, from the trackless wastes of the Algerian Sahara eastwards to the
plains of India. It is found in Egypt, Nubia, Palestine, Arabia, and the
highlands of Southern Persia, occasionally wandering into Abysinnia
during the winter. Still further to the north and east it breeds on the
plateaux of Turkestan, at varying elevations from 1000 to 12,300 feet

DESERT-WHEATEAR. 305

above the level of the sea. The winter-quarters of these birds are in
Baluchistan, Scinde, and the North-west Provinces of India.

The Desert-Chat is an inhabitant of those arid regions that appear, at
first sight, to be utterly incapable of supporting life of any description—
dreary trackless wastes of sand and rocks, devoid of trees and shrubs, whose
sameness is only relieved by the variety of their physical aspect. But, “with
all its monotony,” writes Canon Tristram (Ibis, 185, p. 277), “the Desert
has its varieties. One day you laboriously pick your steps among bare rocks,
now sharp enough to wound the tough sole of your camel, now so slippery
that the Arab can scarce make good his footing. Another day you plunge
for miles knee-deep in loose suffocating sand-drifts, ever changing and
threatening to bury you when you halt. Sometimes a hard pebbly surface
permits a canter for hours over the level plain amidst dwarf, leafless, dust-
coloured shrubs. Perhaps, on surmounting a ridge, the mirage of a vast
lake glittering in the sunshine excites both the horse and his rider. On,
on, gallops the wiry little steed over sand hard and crisp, and coated with
a delicate crust of saltpetre, the deposit of the water, which at rare inter-
vals has accumulated there, and formed the Chotts and Sebkhas of the
Desert.” Here, in such dreary solitudes, the little Desert-Chat may be
‘seen hopping restlessly amongst the sand, or, when alarmed, flying off to
some considerable distance out of danger and away from intrusion. It is
often seen sitting quietly on the edge of the drifts, and, as their crumbling
sides give way, appears to search for its sustenance amongst the falling
sand.

The habits of this bird appear much to resemble those of the Common
Wheatear. It possesses the same characteristic drooping flight, and, as
in the well-known bird of our own islands, its tail is ever in jerking motion,
accompanied by a slight shaking of the wings. Sometimes it will perch
on a little stunted bush in the desert, or on the banks of fields or mud-
walls of gardens, and more frequently on a stone. Here it utters its short
and pleasing song, which is said to be given forth both in the summer and
winter months. In the rainy season they collect in small flocks, and
wander about the country in company with allied species.

The food of the Desert-Wheatear is, like that of other Chats, composed
of small insects, picked up amongst the sand or, at times, when flutter-
mg in the air; and Messrs. Dickson and Ross also record it as feeding on
ants.

Of the habits of the Desert-Chat during the breeding-season but little
is known. Its nest is said, by ornithologists who have met with it, to
resemble that of the Black-throated Chat, and is placed on the ground,
sometimes in the shelter of a bush or in a fissure of the rocks, or not
unfrequently in the walls of wells. Canon Tristram also reports it as
building its nest in burrows. Eggs of this bird are very rare in collec-

VOL. I. x

306 BRITISH BIRDS.

tions. They closely resemble those of the Black-throated Chat, but are
not so brightly coloured, and the pale liver-coloured spots are larger.
They are light greenish blue in ground-colour, spotted with liver-brown
of varying degrees of intensity, usually in a zone round the larger end.
They measure ‘77 inch in length and ‘49 inch in breadth.

The general colour of the upper plumage of a male in breeding-dress is
buff, richest on the lower back and dullest on the head, and shading into
pure white on the rump and upper tail-coverts. The cheeks, throat, and
sides of the neck are black; the eye-stripes, which meet over the bill and
extend to the nape, are dull white. Wing and wing-coverts nearly black,
with obscure pale tips; tail black, white at the base. The underparts are
white, washed with pale buff on the breast and flanks; the under wing-
coverts are white, and the axillaries are black, tipped with white. Bull,
legs, feet, and claws black ; irides dark brown. The female, in breeding-
plumage, has the upper parts duller and greyer than in the male; the eye-
stripes are scarcely visible, and the rump and upper tail-coverts are washed
with rufous. On the underparts the black throat is absent, the whole
under surface is buff, and the wings are brown. After the autumn moult,
but little change is visible in either sex; but males of the year have the
black feathers of the throat and wings margined with buff. Young, in
first plumage, are like the young of other Chats, and have pale centres to
the feathers of both upper and under parts, except on the rump and belly.
The females of the Desert-Chat very closely resemble an allied species, the
Isabelline Chat (S. isabellina), but they are always distinguishable by their
small feet.

It has frequently been observed by ornithologists that the proportion of
birds of this species obtained in the female plumage is very small compared
with those obtained in the male plumage. Mr. Gurney estimates the pro-
portion in Algeria to be about one of the former to eight of the latter. It
is therefore very possible that the female birds assume the plumage of the
male, but gain it later in life, as is the case with many other birds.

Careful sexing of specimens by collectors would, however, place the matter
beyond all doubt.

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THE BLACK-THROATED CHAT. 307

SAXICOLA STAPAZINA (Vieillot, nec Dresser).

THE BLACK-THROATED CHAT,
(PLate 9.)

Ficedula vitiflora rufa (g nee 2), Briss. Orn. iii. p. 459 (1760).

Muscicapa melanoleuca, Giild. Nov. Com. Petr. xix. p. 468, pl. xv. (1775, Western
form).

Motacilla stapazina (Linn.)* (gd nec 2), apud Gimel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 966 (1788); et
auctorum plurimorum—(Temminck),( Meyer), (Gould), (Keyserling), (Blasius),
(Nordmann), (Liippell), (Degland), (Gerbe), (Bonaparte), (Cabanis), (Heuglin),
(Lristram), (Lindermeyer), (Newton), (Lilippi), (Doderlein), (Gray), (Fritsch),
(Salvadori), (Gould), (Jaubert), (Loche), (Irby), &e., &e., &e., nee Dresser, nec
Blanford.

Sylvia stapazina (Zinn.) (db nec 2), apud Lath, Ind. Orn. ii. p. 530 (1790).

Vitiflora rufa (¢ nec 2), Steph. Shaw's Gen. Zool. x. p. 569 (1817).

Ginanthe stapazina (Linn.), apud Vieill. N. Dict. d’ Hist. Nat. xxi. p. 425 (1818).

Saxicola stapazina (Linn.), apud Temm. Man. d’Orn. i. p. 239 (1820).

Vitiflora stapazina (Linn.), apud Bore, Isis, 1822, p. 552. ,

Saxicola xanthomelena, Hempr. et Ehr. Symb. Phys., Aves, fol. aa (1833, autumn
plumage of Eastern form).

Saxicola eurymeleena, Hempr. et Ehr. Symb. Phys., Aves, fol. bb (1833, summer
plumage of Eastern form).

Saxicola albicilla, von Mill. Naumannia, 1851, p. 28 (Eastern form).

Saxicola rufa (Brehm), Blanf. § Dresser, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1874, p. 221 ( Western form),

Saxicola melanoleuca (Giild.), Blanf. § Dresser, Proc, Zool. Soc, 1874, p. 222 ( Western

form).

The Black-throated Chat is divided into two forms, which have been
specifically separated by Brehm, Blanford, and Dresser. Although the
difference between them is so slight, yet, as their geographical distribu-
tion coincides with it, it is best, perhaps, to afford them subspecific rank,
and regard them as imperfectly segregated subspecies or varieties. The
one form, Sazicola stapazina, breeds in the south of France, Spain,
Western Algiers, and Morocco, and winters in Western Africa; the other,
Saxicola stapazina, var. melanoleuca, breeds in Greece, South Russia, Asia
Minor, Palestine, and South Persia, passes through Egypt and Nubia on
Migration, and probably winters in Central Africa.

One would naturally expect to find a bird breeding in Western Europe
‘occasionally straggling to the British Islands; but it was a specimen of

* The Motacilla stapazina of Linneus is undoubtedly the Eared Chat, 8. awrita (without
‘the black throat), though there cannot be any reasonable doubt that Linnzeus considered
the latter species the female of the bird which has generally been called S. stapazina,
inasmuch as he refers to Brisson and Edwards, who both asserted this to be the case.
According to the British-Association rules, Linnzeus’s name must stand for the Kared Chat,
or lapse altogether for want of clear definition,

x 2

a

308 BRITISH BIRDS.

the Eastern race that paid our shores its hurried and fatal visit. It is
worthy of remark that on Heligoland far more stragglers from South-
eastern Europe than from South-western Europe occur. Its capture was
first recorded in ‘ Science Gossip’ for October 1878, by Mr. R. Davenport,
of Bury, Lancashire, who writes :—“ It is a pleasing duty to me to record
the taking of a very beautiful specimen of what I consider an exceedingly
rare bird in our neighbourhood (Saxicola stapazina). The specimen was
shot by a friend of mine, about the middle of May this year, on the margin
of the Bury and Radcliffe Reservoir; and though much mangled with
number-6 shot, it has been very well mounted indeed by my friend
Johnson, of Prestwick. Considering the condition it was in from being
killed with such large shot, I really doubted at one time whether it could
be mounted ; however, it has been ; and a valuable addition to our list of
birds it is.’ I had an opportunity of examining this specimen when it
was exhibited at the second November meeting of the Zoological Society
in 1878. It appeared to be an adult in full plumage. At the following
meeting of the Society (P.Z.S. 1878, p. 977), Mr. Sclater read a letter
with enclosures from Mr. R. Davenport, of Bury, fully confirming the
capture of this interesting bird. It was shot by Mr. David Page, of Bury,
on or about the 8th of May, 1875, whilst sitting on the ridge of the out-

J

buildings belonging to the Bury Angling Association near the reservoir.
It was taken in the flesh to Mr. Wright Johnson, of Prestwick, to be
mounted; and by him the sex was determined, by dissection, to be a
male.

The Black-throated Chat and its ally, the Black-eared Chat, are two of
the commonest birds in Greece and Asia Minor ; and I am not exaggerating
when I say that I have thrown away hundreds of their eggs which the
Greek peasant boys have brought me, because it was absolutely impossible
to identify the species unless they caught the bird on the nest, which they
were very clever in doing. They are both summer birds of passage to
Asia Minor, arriving there about the third week in March. They evidently
lose no time in pairing, and set about building their nests soon after their
arrival, for when I crossed the mountains behind Smyrna on the 2nd of
June they appeared all to have young. They were especially abundant on
the edge of the cultivated ground between the rocky cliffs and the vine-
yards. The weather was so hot that on our arrival at Nymphi we did not
do much climbing, but preferred to skirt the base of the mountains just
high enough to eatch a little of the sea-breeze, which fortunately sets in
towards the land soon after noon aud slightly alleviates the heat of the
broiling sun overhead. This sort of borderland is half rock and half
jungle, with here and there an old olive tree or a small cluster of pines.
On the bushes and the luxuriant, though somewhat parched, herbs that —
towered up above the vegetation at their feet, the Black-throated Chat was

THE BLACK-THROATED CHAT. 309

a very conspicuous object. The contrast of the black, white, and buff was
very handsome as the bird sat perched on the topmost twig of a bush,
jerking its tail up and down as it loudly protested against our intrusion on
its home. Most of the birds we saw had insects in their mouths, and
were evidently anxious to feed their young, but were afraid to do so until
we had retired. In the first week in May the following year I was in the
Parnassus and found the Black-throated Chat breeding abundantly in the
rocky slopes between the pine-region and the region of the olive and vine,
about three thousand feet above the level of the sea. In this district of grass
and rocks every hundred yards brought us to a pair of either the Black-
throated or Black-eared Chats, and I obtained several nests on which the
females were caught. The nests were usually in the grass in some rock-
sheltered crevice, and were loosely made outside of moss and grass, but rather
neatly lined with roots and goat’s hair. The number of eggs was usually
five, but sometimes only four. In their habits these Chats scarcely differ
from the Wheatear; they are usually detected on a rock, and are shy
enough, except when they have young. Their song is simple but pleasing,
and resembles that of our Wheatear.

The eggs of the Black-throated Chat vary in ground-colour from pale to
dark bluish green, spotted with reddish brown of different shades. In
some specimens the spots are dark (almost liver-) brown and sharply defined ;
in others they are pale, many of them confluent. As a rule, the markings
are confined to the large end of the egg, where they usually form a zone ;
but sometimes they are irregularly dispersed over the entire surface.
Some eggs are almost spotless, whilst others have an indistinct band of
very pale spots at the large end. They measure from ‘8 to °7 inch in
length and from ‘62 to ‘56 inch in breadth.

In the male the crown, back, rump, upper tail-coverts, breast, and the
rest of the underparts, except the throat, are white ; the throat and the sides
of the head, extending slightly above the eye, the wings, and upper and
under wing-coverts are jet-black ; two central tail-feathers black, except at
the base, which is white; outside tail-feathers white, broadly terminated
with black, the black tips to the remainder being narrower and generally
quite obsolete on several. Bill black; irides brown; legs, feet, and claws
black. In the female the general colour of the upper parts is almost
uniform brown, darker on the wings and darkest on the tail; the rump
and the white on the tail-feathers are the same as in the male; the
feathers of the throat are buff, showing half-concealed dark bases. Breast
buff, shading into buffish white on the rest of the underparts except the
axillaries and under wing-coverts, which are dark brown. It is not known
that any change in the colour of the plumage is produced by the autumn
moult. Birds of the year have the whole of the white feathers (except
those of the rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail) suffused with buff, the

310 BRITISH BIRDS.

wing-coverts and innermost secondaries broadly edged with buff, the quills
narrowly tipped with buff, and the tail-feathers narrowly tipped with
white. Young in first plumage resemble the female of the year, but have
obscure pale centres and dark terminal bars to the feathers of the throat,
breast, crown, and back.

The Western form of the Black-throated Chat differs in having the
black on the throat not extending beyond the upper throat; it is also
more constantly suffused with buff on the back and breast. Intermediate
forms also occur; and examples from Spain, in which the black on the
throat is more extended than usual, are indistinguishable from examples
from Asia Minor, in which the black on the throat is less extended than —
usual, There is no difference in size.

A nearly allied, but distinct species, the Euphrates Pied Chat (S. finschit),
has the upper breast as well as the throat black. This species breeds in
the rocky hills of the Caucasus, Eastern Asia Minor, and Persia. It passes
through Egypt on migration, and is found in Nubia in winter.

oo

PRATINCOLA. 311

Genus PRATINCOLA.

The Bushchats were included by Bechstein in his genus Sazicola, but
were removed by Koch when he subdivided this genus and established the
genus Pratincola for their reception, in 1816, in his ‘ System der baier-
ischen Zoologie,’ p. 190. Koch did not indicate any type; but he placed
the Whinchat first upon his list; and this bird has, by common consent,
been regarded as such.

The Bushchats are a small group of birds allied in some respects to the
Chats, and in others to the Flycatchers. The bill is shorter and broader
than that of the Chats, but not so broad as that of the Flycatchers. The
tarsus is comparatively short, and the plumage much more fluffy and loose.
The rictal bristles are large and well developed.

Sharpe, in his ‘Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum’ (iv.
p- 178), enumerates thirteen species which are distributed over the Pale-
arctic, Aithiopian, and Oriental Regions, but absent from the Australian
Region. Three species are found in Europe, and the occurrence of a
fourth is somewhat doubtful. One is a resident and one a regular summer
migrant to the British Islands.

The Bushchats are more arboreal in their habits than the Chats, fre-
quenting bushes, low trees, and tall herbage. Like the Flycatchers, they
obtain much of their food on the wing. They feed principauy on imsects
and worms. They are possessed of considerable powers of song. They
build loosely made nests, open, and composed of grasses, hairs, feathers,
moss, &c., placing them amongst tall herbage and under bushes. Their
eggs, from four to six in number, vary from pale to dark blue, sparingly
_ spotted with reddish brown,

312 BRITISH BIRDS.

PRATINCOLA RUBETRA.
THE WHINCHAT.
(Pirate 9.)

Ficedula rubetra major sive rubicola, Briss. Orn, iii. p. 432, pl. 24. fig. 1 (1760).

Motacilla rubetra, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 332 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum—
Latham, (Temminck), (Naumann), (Gould), (Schlegel), (Newton), (Dresser),
(Heuglin), (Sharpe), &e.

Sylvia zya, Scop. Ann. I. Hist. Nat. p. 158 (1769).

Sylvia rubetra (Linn.), Scop. Ann. I. Hist. Nat. p. 159 (1769).

Motacilla fervida, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 968 (1788).

Sylvia fervida (@mel.), Lath. Ind. Orn, ii. p. 525 (1790).

Saxicola rubetra (Linn.), Bechst. Orn. Taschenb. i. p. 219 (1802).

Pratincola rubetra (Linn.), Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. p. 191 (1816).

Curruca rubetra (Linn.), Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. Sc. Brit. Mus. p. 24 (1816).

(Enanthe rubetra (Zinn.), Vieill. N. Dict. @ Hist. Nat. xxi. p. 427 (1818).

(énanthe fervida (Lath.), Vieill. N. Dict. d’ Hist. Nat. xxi. p. 436 (1818).

Fruticicola rubetra (Linn.), Macgill. Br. B. ii. p> 2738 (1839).

Rubetra major, Gray, List Gen. B. p. 22 (1840).

Pratincola fervida (Gmel.), Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 179 (1846).

Pratincola senegalensis (Briss.), Hartl. Orn. W.-Afr. p. 68 (1857).

The Whinchat may be said to be pretty generally diffused throughout
the three kingdoms, and in certain localities is a common and abundant
species. It is rarer and more local in Ireland, and only breeds occasionally
in the extreme south-west of England ; whilst in Scotland in many districts
it is absent altogether, although it ranges up to the extreme north, and
has occasionally been seen on the Orkney Isles. On the Hebrides it is a
fairly common bird, and it has once been recorded from the Faroe Islands.
The Whinchat breeds in all suitable localities throughout Central and
North Europe, ranging from the Arctic circle as far south as the pine-
regions extend. It passes through South Europe on migration, a few
birds remaining to breed at elevations that place them in a similar climate
to their more northern congeners, It winters in parts of South Europe
and North Africa, ranging as far south on the latter continent as the
Gambia and Fantee country in the west, and Nubia and Abyssinia in the
east. The Whinchat is found in the Caucasus. The record of its occurrence
in Persia by De Filippi seems doubtful ; and the eastern range of the species
is most probably the Ural Mountains.

The haunts of the Whinchat are the upland wastes quite as much as
the lowland pastures. The bird is commonly seen in the large gorse-
coverts, from which it receives its name of Whin- or Furze-Chat. Its

THE WHINCHAT: 313
favourite haunts are in the pastures and the hay-meadows ; whilst far up
the mountain-sides on the broad stretches of heather it is common in
summer. The Whinchat is also abundant on the commons and rough
open wastes clothed with stunted bushes, briars, and brambles. In the
south of England it reaches its favourite haunts by the middle of April,
the northern districts being tenanted by these birds a little later, some-
times not until the beginning of May. In some few instances the
Whinchat has been known to winter in England; but the authentic
occurrences of the bird at this season are so few that it must be considered
a strictly migratory bird, leaving us for the south in the third week
in September. It will most probably arrest your attention as it either
sits on the very topmost spray of some bush or heath-tuft or clings firmly
to a stout grass-stem or dock-plant, swaying gracefully up and down
by the weight of the bird upon it. There it sits quietly, mcessantly
fanning its tail with graceful motion, and occasionally uttering its
monotonous call-note of w-tac u-tac-tac-tac-tac, a note which has gained
for the bird its local name of ‘“‘ Utick ”’ in many country districts. As you
approach the little creature seems to awaken to its danger, and flits rapidly
off, in undulating fitful flight, to another stem of herbage or topmost twig,
where it sits and watches you as before. Although the Whinchat so often
chooses a perch near the ground, it by no means shuns the trees, and,
especially towards the end of summer, it is seen with its young brood
high up amongst the branches. The bird does not show that partiality for
walls and rocks which is so marked a feature of the Redstart or Wheat-
ear. In the pastoral districts the Whinchat, directly after its arrival,
frequents the fallows which are being worked for the turnip-crops, and on
these places is found almost continuously until the neighbouring pastures
afford it sufficient shelter. The Whinchats never roost in trees, but
always on the ground. When they first arrive we may find them at night
on the fallows, but for the remainder of the season grass-fields and turnip-
lands are frequented. In the wilder parts of its haunts the Whinchat
roosts amongst the heath and the tangled undergrowth of gorse-covert
and brake. Another remarkable trait in the character of this bird is its
activity in the dusk of the evening, a time probably when some insect
that forms its favourite food is abundant; and its well-known call-notes
may be heard long after the birds themselves are concealed from view by
the falling shadows of night.

Like the Redstart and the Wheatear the Whinchat seeks much of its
food in the air. It takes its stand on some favourite perch and watches
the clouds of insects sailing dreamily around. Ever and anon it launches
into the air to catch a fly or a gnat. The food of the Whinchat is
almost exclusively confined to insects and small worms obtained amongst

314. BRITISH BIRDS.

the herbage on the ground. Beetles and the small flies so abundant
amongst the grass form its favourite fare. It feeds largely on the
wireworm ; and this explains the bird’s presence on the fallow land in the
spring and on the turnip-fields when the young plants are in their first
leaves, the only time at which they are exposed to the inroads of the
dreaded “‘ fly,’ which also forms part of its sustenance. It is doubtful
whether this species feeds on fruit or berries; but it has been known to
eat the growing corn. In the early autumn, when the young birds are
with their parents, the pastures are frequented, and the droppings of the
cattle searched for beetles and worms.

Shortly after its arrival the Whinchat is in full song. Its melody is so
unobtrusive, so low of tone, that it is very often overlooked. It is a song
very similar to the Redstart’s, and chiefly uttered when the bird is hovering
in the air. It will, however, warble from a perch; but this is, for the
most part, after the pairing-season, and usually from some twig near the
nest. The Whinchat is one of the first birds to lose his powers of song.
He warbles incessantly throughout the month of May, not so frequently in
June, and by the first days of July he is songless, for the autumnal change
of plumage is shortly to be made. The call-notes have already been
mentioned; but, in addition to these, it utters a peculiarly low peep,
which seems to be a note expressive of anxiety when its nest is
menaced.

By the middle of May the Whinchat is seen in pairs, and after a week
or so their nest is completed. If on the moorland, the female bird finds a
place to build her nest amongst the heather; if in the gorse-coverts, she
will repair to the herbage in their midst, and make her home under some
dense and impenetrable whin-bush ; while if her haunt is the open fields,
her home is built amongst the grass, sometimes in the centre of the fields,
or at others close to the hedgerows. During the whole time the birds are
engaged in building their nest they are the very essence of wariness.
Notice, for instance, how the male bird, when bringing materials to the
nest, will try to weary your patience by his deceptive motions. From
spray to spray he hops, sometimes sitting motionless for a few moments,
and then flying to some distant bush, all the time uttering his monotonous
note, then back again to alight in the herbage, to reappear the next
moment, however, with the materials still in his beak. Aware of your
presence he will not visit the nest; and if you wish to find it you must
search the locality closely, and depend upon good fortune for success, for
you may rest assured the bird will not betray its whereabouts. The nest
of the Whinchat is usually made in a little cavity in the ground, and the
thickest tufts of herbage are selected. Dry grass, moss, and a few straws
form the outside of the nest; internally it is composed of rootlets and

“

ae en

THE WHINCHAT. 315

horsehair, loosely put together and almost enshrouded in the surrounding
herbage. ‘The eggs are from four to six in number, greenish blue like the
Hedge-Accentor’s, but different in form, being more pointed at both ends.
The markings are somewhat faint, and usually consist of a zone of small
light brown spots round the larger end, although in some specimens
this zone is round the smaller end. They vary in length from ‘81 to ‘71
inch, and in breadth from ‘6 to 55 inch.

It has been stated that the Whinchat rears two broods in the season,
but probably erroneously. Certain it is the Whinchat of the pastures
only rears one brood in the year, for the grass is usually mown even before
its young have reached maturity, and consequently cover for a second
nest is wanting. The decline of the male bird’s song is another conclu-
sive proof that the birds are single-brooded, for rarely do we hear him
sing after the first week in July.

Much anxiety is evinced by the Whinchat, especially by the female,
when the nest is approached. They will fly round and round your head,
or take short flights from one stem of herbage to another, all the time
uttering their low peep, or their louder and better-known call-note. The
nearer their nest be approached the more anxious the little creatures
become, and flit about more rapidly, and sometimes flutter in the air
above you or drop silently down into the herbage. The young birds keep
with their parents throughout the autumn, and probably migrate in com-
pany. At this season of the year, when the grass is cut, the Whinchat
is rather more shy and difficult of approach, and is seen on the swathes
of newly cut grass flying restlessly about, and seemingly highly concerned
at the loss of the friendly shelter which the long grass afforded.

The general colour of the Whinchat above is blackish brown, with sandy
buff margins to the feathers, brightest on the ramp. The wings and tail
are dark brown, the former having the smaller coverts white and the latter
having the basal half white, except the two centre feathers, which only
have the extreme bases so, There is a buffy white streak over the eye,
round the chin, and along the sides of the neck ; the ear-coverts are black,
and the remainder of the under plumage rich rufous, palest on the centre
of the belly and under tail-coverts, and deepest on the breast. Bill, legs,
toes, and claws black; irides brown. The female. bird, although similar
to the male, is much paler in colour, and the white parts that adorn the
male are not so pure, and the black parts are brown. The nestling bird
is similar to the female, only the spotting of the upper parts is more
defined, and the breast is waved and barred with darker brown. After
the autumn moult the male birds resemble the females ; the rufous tints
are not so dark, and the broad pale margins to the feathers give the bird a
much lighter appearance.

316 BRITISH BIRDS.

As we previously stated, the eastern range of the Whinchat is probably
the Ural; but the bird has an eastern representative in the Indian Whin-
chat (Pratincola macrorhyncha). It differs from our bird by having a
longer and somewhat more slender bill, is much larger, has very much
more white on the tail, and the wing-formula is different. In the Com-
mon Whinchat the second primary equals the fifth, but in the Indian
bird it is equal to or longer than the seventh.

3
'
,

THE STONECHAT. 317

PRATINCOLA RUBICOLA.

THE STONECHAT.
(PLaTE 9.)

Ficedula rubetra, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 428, pl. 23. fig. 1 (1760).

Motacilla rubicola, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 352 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum—
(Bechstein), (Temminck), (Naumann), ( Yarrell), (Schlegel), (Newton), (Dresser),
(Bonaparte), &e.

Sylvia muscipeta, Scop. Ann. I. Hist. Nat. p. 159 (1769).

‘Sylvia rubicola (Linn.), Lath. Ind. Orn. ii. p. 523 (1790).

Saxicola rubicola (Linn.), Bechst. Orn. Taschenb. i. p. 220 (1802).

Pratincola rubicola (Linn.), Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. p. 192 (1816).

. Curruca rubicola (Zinn.), Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. Sc. Brit. Mus. p. 24 (1816).

Fruticicola rubicola (Linn.), Macgill. Brit. B. ii. p. 279 (1839).

The Stonechat closely resembles the Whinchat in form and general
habits, and slightly so in appearance, a circumstance which has caused
much confusion to arise between the two species ; for in almost all parts
of England the Whinchat, by far the commonest species, popularly does
duty for the Stonechat, and in many parts of Scotland the Wheatear is
universally known by that name. But, unlike the Whinchat, the present
species is, in our islands at least, a constant resident, and may be seen in its
favourite haunts at all times of the year. Its distribution in Great Britain
is somewhat local, much more so than that of the Whinchat. The Stone-
chat breeds in suitable localities in all the counties of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Hebrides, and is occasionally found
on the Orkney and Shetland Isles, but is not known to breed there. On
the continent the Stonechat is not found north of the Baltic or east
of the valley of the Volga; but it is a resident in North Africa, Palestine,
and Asia Minor.

The Stonechat has several very near allies, with some of which it ap-
parently interbreeds, as intermediate forms occur. In North-east Russia
and Siberia P. maura is found, with black axillaries and unspotted white
rump. In North-east Africa P. hemprichii occurs, with more white than
black on the tail in thorough-bred birds. In South Africa our species is
represented by P. torqguata, in which the rump is white and the chestnut
on the breast more restricted.

The haunts of this charming little bird are almost exclusively confined
to the heaths and commons and rough open wastes, rock-strewn and
overgrown with tangled briars and brambles and a few stunted bushes. A

318 BRITISH BIRDS.

likely place to look for the Stonechat is on the borders of the moors,
where their monotony is relieved by patches of broken ground, strewed with
rocks and overgrown with bilberry, heath, bracken, and bramble, and
studded pretty frequently with bushes, with here and there an occasional
birch or mountain-ash tree. But the Stonechat is not exclusively con-
fined to the wild barren wastes or to the “roughs” adjoining them, for
sometimes it is seen, usually in the winter or spring, in the fields of the
well-cultivated districts—birds most probably driven in by stress of
weather, or on migration and merely resting on their journey.

Although the Stonechat is migratory on the continent, it is a resident
bird in the British Islands. It is, however, possible that a few of the
birds bred here leave us in the autumn and return in the following
spring. In Ireland, although the bird is a resident, its numbers are said
to decrease in the summer and again increase in the autumn. -

The Stonechat is usually seen in pairs, indeed it is not improbable that
this bird is mated to its partner for life. In its general habits it is very
similar to the Whinchat. It flits before the observer, perching on the
topmost sprays of heath and bush, or makes long detours to its favourite
haunt from which it was first disturbed. Like the Whinchat, its tail is
almost incessantly in motion, and its call-note is uttered repeatedly.
Always restless and noisy, this little creature is sure to press itself upon the
attention, if it be present at all. Perhaps the situations which seem most
in harmony with the Stonechat’s rich and varied dress are the gorse-
coverts in the early spring. The richly attired male bird hops amongst
the dense branches of the gorse, or balances himself daintily on some spray
of golden bloom, or flutters in the air in butterfly-like flight to poise
lightly on some spray where his rich plumage contrasts with the golden
tints in such abundance all around. If seriously alarmed, the little creature
will seek safety amongst the densest portions of the surrounding vegetation.
Rarely, indeed, does the Stonechat visit the ground except for the purpose
of searching for food ; nor does it, as a rule, perch as much as the Wheat-
ear on the turfs or stones. In the winter the Stonechat may still be seen
in its summer haunts. Even though the moorlands are lying deep in snow
it will be there to flutter from bush to bush, or start from the places
where the snow has been driven past and left ground which may be searched
for a scanty sustenance. But if the weather still keeps severe, if the
storm continues unabated for any length of time, the Stonechat often
comes nearer to the houses, and seeks its food in company with the Robin,
the Wren, the Sparrows, and other birds that depend so largely on our
bounty in the cold and cheerless winter season. Dixon observes “that
one pair of Stonechats keep most closely to a certain locality, from which
they seldom stray far. Nor can they be driven away from the haunt of

their choice. You may follow them, harass them incessantly, but they will

ne ane age %

a a i le a iy

See died
rs

r |

THE STONECHAT. 319

merely flit from bush to bush, elude you probably at last, but eventually
again appear after some little time on their favourite perching-places.
We have thus known portions of rough land, not an acre in extent, always
tenanted by a pair of birds, and for years they have not been seen away
from it. We would also here note that the name ‘Stone’-Chat is a
misnomer as applied to this species. The Wheatear is the true Stone-Chat,
the present bird and the Whinchat being far more aptly called ‘ Bush-
Chats,’ a name applied to them by the ever-discerning and talented
Macgillivray.”

The food of the Stonechat is very similar to that of the Whinchat; but
in the winter it eats seeds of various kinds, worms, and small grubs and
larve. Its summer fare is composed almost entirely of insects, and the
small beetles and worms found in marshy places and amongst the droppings
of cattle. Like the Whinchat, the present species secures much of its
insect food whilst hovering in the air, catching flies on the wing just lke
the Flycatcher or Redstart. It is in these flights that the bird’s varied
plumage is seen to best advantage, especially if its quarry be pursued
for any considerable distance, as is frequently the case. The Stonechat
has been known to make flights after small brown moths, and occasionally
to take the common white butterfly. In winter, should the frost be
severe, the Stonechat is often seen in marshy places, or on the banks of
the streams that wander through them, in search of whatever it can
find edible at a time when food is so scarce.

In spring, when all nature seems reviving under the cheerful beams of a
brighter sun, the Stonechat’s melody is amongst the first to inform us of
the change of season. It is the first music heard on the upland wastes,
except, indeed, that of the Skylark. Long before the Meadow-Pipits are
in song, or the Buntings chant their monotonous music, the little Stonechat
may be heard to pour forth his cheering notes. Nothing very remarkable,
it is true—a short performance, low of strain, and little varied; yet it
forms a pleasant variety in itself, and a cheerful contrast to so much that
is wild and lonely in the surrounding country. The little creature starts,
may be, from a spray of broom, which rebounds and quivers as he leaves
it, and, flattering in the air, he utters his music and retires to his perch
again. His song is like his flight, short and irregular, and no sooner
heard and began to be appreciated and listened to with pleasure than
it ceases, only to be renewed when the little chorister bounds fluttering
into the air again. Its call-notes are somewhat similar tojthose of the
Whinchat, a sharply uttered w-tsik, tsik, tsik, or, more frequently, but
one syllable alone, ésik, ¢sik, tsik, the tail usually being gracefully wafted
to and fro as each note is uttered.

The barren moors, the wild uplands and heaths where the furze bushes
attain such luxuriance, and where the stunted juniper bushes, brambles,

320 BRITISH BIRDS.

and thorns are interspersed with heath, are the Stonechat’s favourite
nesting-places. Its breeding-season commences in the third week of April,
sometimes not until the beginning of May, according to the state of the
season. The nest is invariably on the ground, and always cunningly
concealed. Some recess under a gorse bush, perhaps in the very centre
of the covert, or in the herbage growing at the foot of a solitary shrub
on the open moor, is the site usually selected. The nest is composed
of dry grass and moss, occasionally a few rootlets, and is lined with
finer bents, hair, feathers, and sometimes a little wool. Although some-
what loosely put together and exhibiting but little skill, the nest of this
bird is a pretty one.

The eggs of the Stonechat are from four to six in number, and vary
considerably in the extent and intensity of their spotting. They are pale
bluish green in ground-colour, clouded and spotted with reddish brown.
In most eggs of this bird the spots are confined for the most part to
a broad zone round the larger end, and in some specimens the end is
covered completely with them. The pattern is very similar to that of the
eggs of the Whinchat, only far more intense and more widely dispersed.
Eggs of the Stonechat are sometimes found almost spotless, others are so
richly marked as to resembie the eggs of the Spotted Flycatcher ; and it will
also be noticed that clutches of eggs are seldom uniform in the intensity of
their colouring, the last-laid eggs being usually paler. They vary in
length from ‘75 to °65 inch, and im breadth from ‘59 to 55 inch. The
Stonechat shows much anxiety for the safety of her eggs and young; and,
once disturbed, she will tire any, except the most patient observer, by her
protective wiles. She flits from bush to bush, occasionally alighting in
them, as though about to visit her nest, which, however, is most probably
some distance away; or she sits on some slender spray calling incessantly
to her mate on a neighbouring bush, Of all the nests of the smaller birds
that of the Stonechat is perhaps the most difficult to discover; and the
peculiar motions of the birds themselves make the search still more so.
In some cases so closely does the female bird sit upon the nest that the
bush which shields her home may be rudely shaken ere she will leave
it; and even when thus scared away she usually prefers to creep and glide
through the surrounding cover than to take wing. As the Stonechat
ceases to sing by the third week in June, it is very probable that but
one brood is reared in the season. The young are tended after they leave
the nest, as is the case with the Whinchat; shy little creatures they
are, and upon the least alarm retire immediately to the shelter of the
nearest cover.

The male bird has the throat, head, and back black, with the feathers of
the upper parts slightly edged with brown; rump white, each feather
with a dark centre and rufous margin; wings and tail dark brown ; base of

THE STONECHAT. 821

the innermost secondaries and the smaller coverts pure white, which forms
a patch on the wing, most conspicuous when the bird is flying. Sides of
the neck and breast white, the remainder of the underparts rufous-brown,
richest on the breast ; bill, legs, and feet black ; irides dark brown. The
female is not nearly so richly clothed as her mate, being browner in every
part, and with the white patches of her plumage suffused with a rufous
shade. The nestling bird is spotted and streaked above and below, and
has broad buff margins to the quills and tail-feathers, and no trace of the
dark throat or white patches that distinguish the adult. In the autumn
the male Stonechat’s plumage is browner, more like the female, from the
effect of the broad buff margins to the feathers. The nuptial dress is
gained, not by a moult, but by the casting of these buff margins in the

spring.

VOL. I. Y

322 BRITISH BIRDS.

Genus MUSCICAPA.

The genus Muscicapa was established by Linneus in 1766, in his
‘Systema Nature,’ i. p. 324. As Linnzus adopted this name from Brisson
(Orn. ii. p. 857), and as the Muscicapa muscicapa of Brisson is the Spotted
Flycatcher, that bird may fairly be considered the type. The Flycatchers
may be distinguished by the shape of the bill, which is very broad at the
base, slightly flattened, and by their numerous and conspicuous rictal
bristles. The tarsus also is short, in the British species less than a quarter
the length of the wing.

Sharpe, in his ‘ Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum’ (iy.
p. 149), includes twenty species in this genus. The Flycatchers inhabit
the Palearctic, Oriental, and Aithiopian Regions, extending southwards
to the Moluccas, but not occurring in the Australian Region. Four species
are found in Europe, of which two breed in the British Islands and one is
an accidental visitor.

The Flycatchers are essentially arboreal birds, and frequent the out-
skirts of woods, groves, and gardens. They seldom alight on the ground,
but sit perched on the branches, from which they sally into the air to
catch their prey, which is almost exclusively composed of insects. They
will also occasionally eat fruit. They are birds possessing small powers of
song. ‘Their nests, which are loosely constructed of dry grasses, moss,
wool, feathers, &c., are built in holes of trees and walls and in crevices
of bark. Their eggs are from four to six in number, and vary from

pale blue completely spotless, to pale bluish green mottled and spotted
with reddish brown.

=

SPOTTED FLYCATCHER. 323

MUSCICAPA GRISOLA.

SPOTTED FLYCATCHER.
(Pxate 9.)

Muscicapa muscicapa, Briss. Orn. ii. p. 357, pl. xxxv. fig. 3 (1760).

Muscicapa grisola, Linn. Syst, Nat. i. p. 328 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum—
Temminck, Macgillivray, Yarrell, Gray, Gould, Sundevall, Layard, Shelley,
Newton, Sharpe, Dresser, (Hume), &c.

Butalis grisola (Linn.), Bote, Isis, 1826, p. 973.

Butalis africana, Bonap. Compt. Rend. xxxviii. p. 652 (1854).

Muscicapa africana (Bonap.), Gray, Hand-l, B. i. p. 321 (1869).

The Spotted Flycatcher is one of the latest of our summer migrants. A
sombre, unassuming little species it is, and solitary and sedentary in its
habits ; yet from its partiality for gardens, and its great familiarity, it is
one of the best known of our summer birds of passage. Throughout Great
Britain it is a common bird from May until September, breeding in every
county, but becoming rather less numerous in Scotland and in the
Channel Islands. Northwards the Spotted Flycatcher becomes rarer
and far more local in its distribution, and on the islands of Orkney
and Shetland it is very rarely seen. Thompson describes it as a regular
summer visitant to some parts of Ireland, and perhaps to suitable
localities throughout the island; it is, however, but very locally distri-
buted, even in those counties in which it is found, as Cork, Kilkenny,
Tipperary, Clare, Dublin, and those in the north-east part of Ulster.
Throughout the European continent and the islands of the Mediterranean
it is a very common bird, and, for the most part, a regular summer
migrant. It breeds in tolerable abundance in Scandinavia, as far north
as Troms6. In Russia it ranges as far north as Archangel, and is a
common species in Central Russia, but does not range far north in the
Ural district. Harvie-Brown and I did not meet with it in the Petchora ;
but my collectors have sent me skins from Krasnoyarsk. Throughout the
rest of Europe it is a common bird, although in some localities it is far
more numerous than in others. It has not yet, however, been recorded
from Greenland, Iceland, or the Faroes. It breeds in great numbers in
Palestine and Turkey in Asia, and was met with by De Filippi and
Blanford in Persia, the latter gentleman remarking its exceptional abun-
dance in certain localities on the highlands of that country. It is also
found in Arabia. It is recorded as breeding throughout Turkestan, and
has at least occurred as far to the east as Lake Baikal. A few specimens

occasionally wander into Western Continental India during the winter
Y2

324 BRITISH BIRDS.

season. In Africa the Spotted Flycatcher is found as far south as Cape
colony, in some parts, both of the north and south of the continent, being
said to be a resident or partially migratory species. It is apparently a
rare bird in Egypt, but common in Algeria, where it occurs on passage, a
few remaining to breed. We have no record of this species from any of
the Atlantic islands off the coasts of this continent. In China southwards
to the Philippines and the Moluccas the Spotted Flycatcher is represented
by a nearly allied form, the Muscicapa griseisticta of Swinhoe, differing in
being slightly smaller, in being browner above, more broadly streaked on
the breast, and with a shorter tail. In Eastern Siberia it is represented
by two other nearly allied species, M. latirostris and M. sibirica. In the
valley of the Angora the range of the Spotted Flycatcher overlaps that
of its eastern representatives. M. sibirica has much darker underparts ;
M. latirostris is without the spots on the breast ; and both are much smaller
birds than M. grisola. Sharpe, in his ‘ Catalogue of the Birds in the
British Museum,’ vol. iv., places these three species in three different
genera, the characters of which chiefly depend on the form of the bill.
This group of birds appears to me to be one in which the general style of
coloration is of much greater generic value than slight differences in the
shape of the bill.

The Spotted Flycatcher rarely arrives in its summer haunts in Great
Britain before the first or second week in May, generally not until the oak
trees are partially in leaf, and the season affords abundance of insect food.
It frequents the well-cultivated districts, and delights to haunt the borders
of woods and well-timbered parks. It is also found commonly in gardens
and pleasure-grounds and in orchards, often on the wooded banks of
streams and ponds, and, more rarely, attaching itself to some small clump
of trees in the centre of pastures, on whose long, drooping boughs it sits
and ever and anon sallies forth to catch the passing insects. Gifted with
no great powers of song, and exceedingly sober and chaste of dress, this
little bird is very often passed unnoticed, unless its oft-repeated call-notes
arrest the attention of the passer-by. Here, in his favourite haunts,
you will most frequently observe him sitting upright and motionless on
some favourite perch, either on a stake or iron fence, haystack, or long
bare branch, watching intently the clouds of insects playing round him.
As the flies come near he sallies out repeatedly and, fluttering in the air,
secures them with a sharp snap of his bill, returning quickly and silently
to his perch again to sit motionless as before. If it be in autumn,
his mate and brood will be near him—perhaps all sitting in a row ona
convenient fence, the parent birds catching insects and feeding their
young. Spotted Flyeatchers are often seen hovering in airy flight over
the meadow-grass, every now and then alighting to secure the small
insects and beetles lurking on the stems of the herbage. They will some-

sf

SPOTTED FLYCATCHER. 325

times pursue an unusually large insect for fifty yards or more; and then
the Flycatcher’s peculiar flight is seen to perfection. This bird also often
visits manure-heaps, feeding on the small beetles; and it may be seen
searching old walls for food, by fluttering in front of, and occasionally
clinging to, them.

The Spotted Flycatcher often seeks its meal in the dusk of the evening,
pursuing various small moths and beetles; and it is one of the earliest
birds astir in the light summer mornings, its monotonous call-notes
being heard just as early as the songs of the Thrush and Blackbird.
The food of this species is composed largely of insects, especially
of flies and gnats; spiders and beetles are also eaten, as well as various
kinds of butterflies and moths; and, on the authority of Collett, it is said
to feed on berries in the autumn months, and is then caught in snares
laid for Thrushes, and baited with the berries of the mountain-ash.

It is very widely and popularly believed that the Spotted Flycatcher is
not gifted with any powers of song; but this is an error. His song is
heard but rarely, it is true, and is uttered in such a low tone as to be
scarcely heard a few yards away. It is given forth both when the bird is
sitting at rest and when fluttering in the air after insects. It consists of
a few rambling notes, not unlike part of the Whinchat’s song. The
monotonous call-note may perhaps be best expressed by the letters zt, z¢ ;
it is uttered in rapid succession from one perching-place, and every now
and then the tail is jerked to and fro with graceful motion. Sometimes a
second syllable is added to the call-note, which then sounds like zt-chick.

Although the Spotted Flycatcher is capable of rapid undulating flight,
it but rarely avails itself of its powers, and seems unwilling to fly for long
distances at a time. Its usual mode of progression is from tree to tree or
bush to bush; and when once it has taken up its summer-quarters, it
rarely strays far away from them until it leaves them in the autumn for
its winter home. The date of its departure is a comparatively early one ;
this bird leaves our shores long before the last Swallows take their depar-
ture, and is rarely seen after the third week in September.

Although the Spotted Flycatcher arrives here in May, its nest is seldom
found before the latter end of the month, and sometimes not until early
June. Its breeding-grounds are gardens, orchards, well-timbered parks,
and woods, on the outskirts of which the birds may be repeatedly seen in
search of their msect prey. The nesting-site is a varied one—in the
erevices of the bark of old trees, in trellis-work overgrown with creeping
plants, on the horizontal limbs of trees (usually near the trunk), and
on wall-trained fruit-trees. A favourite place is in shallow holes in tree-
trunks, such as a small cavity formed by the action of the rain rotting the
wood where a branch has been broken away. In all instances, however, it
is well supported, on one side at least, either by the trunk of the tree or by

326 BRITISH BIRDS.

the wall against which the fruit-trees are trained. The materials which
compose the nest are dry grass, cobwebs, moss, and perhaps a few feathers,
together with the wing-cases of various insects. It is lined with rootlets,
a thick bed of hair, and occasionally a few feathers. Owing to the peculiar
nature of the site, which affords so much support, the nest is small and
but loosely put together.

The Spotted Flycatcher sometimes builds its nest in very curious situa-
tions, without the slightest attempt at concealment. When I used to go
to a day-school we had to pass through a doorway that separated the
garden from the shrubbery. The door itself had been taken away, but
the iron hinges on which it formerly swung still projected from the brick-
work. One day one of my schoolfellows pointed out to me a nest stuck
behind the upper hinge, just out of our reach. I laughed at him when
he told me that a bird had built it there, and pulled it down, telling him
that some boy must have put it there for a freak. He, however, assured
me that he had seen a bird fly from it, and climbed up and replaced the
nest behind the hinge as well as he could. The next morning I myself
saw the bird fly from the nest as we approached the doorway, and on
climbing up I was astonished to find that the nest contained an egg of a
Spotted Flycatcher.

A very handsome nest of the Spotted Flycatcher in my collection is
somewhat larger than usual, and resembles certain nests of the Robin.
The lining contains no feathers, but is completely composed of fine
dry grass and a few hairs. It is deeply cup-shaped and the frontage
to the nest is broad. Externally it is chiefly composed of moss, long
stems of water-plants, grass-blades, and leaves of herbage—now dry
and withered, but evidently gathered in a green state. Here and there
may be seen parts of dead leaves almost skeletonized and a few scraps of
green lichens. Nests of this bird are sometimes composed largely of
sticks and fibrous roots, and then they are usually warmly lined with wool
and feathers. Each season the Spotted Flycatcher returns to the haunt
of its choice and rears its brood for years im succession in one favoured
place. Sometimes it will desert a locality for a season, especially if it is
repeatedly disturbed, but afterwards return to it again.

The eggs of the Spotted Flycatcher vary in number from four to six, and
range from bluish white to pea-green in ground-colour, blotched, spotted,
and clouded with various shades of reddish brown. Some eggs are so
richly covered with spots as to hide the ground-colour, and resemble
very closely certain varieties of Robin’s eggs ; others have the markings
confined to a zone round the larger end; while many are more evenly
marked and singularly clouded with a faint roseate tinge, which adds
considerably to their beauty, but which soon fades after they are blown.
They vary in length from ‘8 to *7 inch, and in breadth from *62 to °52 inch.

SPOTTED FLYCATCHER. 327

From causes which it is not easy to explain, the female bird sits upon her
eges as soon as they are laid, and we therefore sometimes find them in
various stages of development in the same nest.

As the Spotted Flycatcher breeds so very late in the season, and departs
so early for its southern haunts, but one brood is reared in the year.
Instances, however, have occurred where this bird has been known to rear
two broods in the season.

The whole of the upper plumage of the Spotted Flycatcher, including
the wing-coverts, is hair-brown, the wings and tail being a little darker,
with a few darker spots on the crown of the head. The lower parts
are greyish white, suffused with buff on the flanks, and with light brown
across the breast, which is streaked with dark brown. Beak dark brown ;
irides dark hazel; legs, toes, and claws black. The female does not differ
in colour from the male. The young birds in the nestling-plumage are
“spotted ” Flycatchers in the strict sense of the word, each brown feather
having a buff-coloured centre ; the underparts, however, are very similar to
those of the adult. After the autumn moult, the innermost secondaries
and the wing-coverts are broadly, and the quill and tail-feathers narrowly,
tipped and margined with buff, which colour is suffused more or less distinctly
over the entire upper surface, most prominently on the rump and upper
tail-coverts.

328 BRITISH BIRDS.

MUSCICAPA ATRICAPILLA.
PIED FLYCATCHER.
(Pate 9.) ‘

Muscicapa nigra, Briss, Orn. ii. p. 381 (1760, 3).

Ficedula ficedula, Briss. Orn, iii. p. 869 (1760, Q ).

Ficedula rubetra anglicana, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 436 (1760, ex Edwards).

Muscicapa atricapilla, Zinn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 326 (1766) ; et auctorum plurimorum—
Yarrell, Gray, Blyth, Bonaparte, Cabanis, Schlegel, Sundevall, Loche, Gould,
Heuglin, Sharpe, Newton, Dresser, Blanford, &e.

Emberiza luctuosa, Scop. Ann. I. Hist. Nat. p. 146. no. 215 (1769).

Muscicapa muscipeta, Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl. iv. p. 502 (1795).

Muscicapa luctuosa (Scop.), Temm. Man. d’Orn. p. 101 (1815).

Muscicapa alticeps,

Muscicapa fuscicapilla, } Brehm, Vig. Deutschl. pp. 225, 226, 227 (1831).

Muscicapa atrogrisea,

Muscicapa picata, Swains. Jard. Nat. Libr. x. p. 254 (1838).

Hedymela atricapilla (Linn.), Sundev. Uifv. K. Vet.-Akad. Forh. Stockh, 1846, p. 225,

Muscicapa speculigera, Selys, fide Bonap. Consp. i. p. 817 (1850).

Muscicapa speculifera, Selys, fide Schl. Vog. Nederl. p. 225 (1854). ;

Ficedula atricapilla (Linn.), Sund. Av. Meth. Tent. p. 23 (1872).

The Pied Flycatcher is not nearly so common or so widely dispersed in
Great Britain as the Spotted Flycatcher. Its distribution is compara-
tively restricted and confined, for the most part, to one or two favoured
localities in the north of England and the south of Scotland. Although it
breeds in some districts in North Wales and the English counties on the
Welsh border, its chief summer haunt appears to be from South-west
Yorkshire, extending northwards to the Lake-districts of England and the
eastern and midland counties of Scotland, from Berwickshire to Caithness.
It is also known to breed in Inverness-shire; and Messrs. Baikie and
Heddle assert that it is eften observed in the Orkneys; but it does not
appear to have been recorded from Shetland. Returning to the midland
counties of England, we find it a rare straggler ; but it has been noticed in
the counties of Leicester, Derby, Stafford, Worcester, and Hereford. It
has also been obtained in all our eastern and southern counties from Norfolk —
to Cornwall and the Isle of Wight, and occasionally in North Devon,
Somerset, Gloucester, Oxford, Wilts, and Dorset. It has never been
recorded from Ireland, nor does it ever appear to reach Iceland or
Greenland ; but a small flock was once seen on the Faroes.

On the Continent the distribution of the Pied Flycatcher is somewhat
peculiar. It is common in Scandinavia during summer, having been
found breeding up to lat. 69°; but in Russia it is not found so far north—in
Finland ranging to lat. 65°, and in the Ural Mountains (which appear to

. ©

PIED FLYCATCHER. 329

be the eastern limit of its range) only to lat. 57°. It is a common, but
somewhat local, summer visitor to France, Holland, Belgium, and Germany.
In Spain, Italy, Turkey, Greece, South Russia, and Asia Minor it is prin-
cipally known as passing through on migration, though it is possible that
a few may remain to breed. It is found in the Caucasus and North Persia,
but whether as a summer or winter visitant is not known. In Palestine
Canon Tristram says that it is a rare summer visitor ; Heuglin says that it
passes through North-east Africa on migration ; but in Algeria it appears
to be a resident, and in West Africa it has occurred as far south as the
Gambia, but only as a winter visitant, as it is also in the island of Teneriffe.

Referring to its occurrence in Algeria, Dixon writes :—“ In many parts
of Algeria the Pied Flycatcher is a very common bird throughout the year,
and its conspicuous plumage arrests the attention at once. In the
luxuriant valley below Constantine it was to be seen on the outskirts of
the fig-groves, also in the fast drying-up bed of the river Roumel, where
its favourite perching-places were the old roots and heaps of refuse brought
down by the floods. In the oases of El Kantara and Biskra it was also a
fairly common bird, and was very frequently to be seen perched on the
old leaf-stems on the tops of the date-palms. At the former oasis one or

- two pairs of this bird were breeding in the holes in the apricot-trees,

showing no fear of man; whilst at Oued Taga, at an elevation of 5000 feet,
it was an inhabitant of the Arab gardens. In its habits and flight, and in
its manner of searching for food, it did not differ from the Spotted Fly-
catcher, its inseparable companion.”

The Pied Flycatcher, although it looks such a very different bird, and
lays such very differently coloured eggs, has many points in common with
the Spotted Flycatcher. Like that bird, it is very fond of gardens. At
Valkenswaard we found it in every garden in the village; and in Tron-
dhjem its song resounded from every square in the middle of the town. It
was equally common in the wildest scenery ; and we took a nest in a hollow
elm tree in Romsdal, a magnificent valley, somewhat like Dove Dale in
Derbyshire on a large scale. Its choice of a haunt in our own country is
given to the wilder districts. In the birch-copses far in the wild it may
be seen, also in the deepest and quietest woods it shares the solitude with
the Woodpecker ; whilst far amongst the mountains, on the wooded shores
of those lakes that sleep so peacefully beneath the frowning hills, it finds
a suitable home. Insects abound near the waters, and on such an un-
failing supply of food its young are safely reared. Unlike the Spotted
Flycatcher, the present species is an early migrant, arriving usually in
the last week of April, and soon afterwards commencing the duties of
incubation.

In many of its movements the Pied Flycatcher resembles its dingy
congener. Far more of a restless species than ashy one, it may fre-

330 BRITISH BIRDS.

quently be seen hovering, in butterfly-like flight, in the air. Sometimes it
sits quietly on some decayed limb, ever and anon uttering its call-notes
and incessantly jerking its tail and half opening its wings, as though
anxious to sally into the air. Its food consists almost entirely of insects,
especially of flies and gnats, which it often takes from the leaves of the
forest-trees whilst hovering daintily above them. It is also said to feed
on various kinds of berries, such as raspberries, currants, elderberries, &c.,
and also on worms. Its visits to the fruit-trees, however, are most likely
principally for the purpose of catching insects, and not exclusively to feed
upon the fruit.

The song of the Pied Flycatcher is a very pleasing one, short and some-
what feeble, something like the Redstart’s, yet uttered pretty frequently,
especially in the early part of its sojourn in our islands, during the pairing-
season,

The Pied Flyeatcher’s nest is always placed in a covered site, which
varies but little in its situation. It is built in the holes of birch and
other trees, sometimes in a deserted Woodpecker’s hole, or crevice of a
wall or rock, at various heights from the ground, sometimes but a few
feet, at others far up the trunks. In these holes a slight nest is formed of
dry grasses, dead leaves, moss, and feathers, sometimes a little wool from
the sheep on the neighbouring hills, or a few horse and cow’s hairs.

Few of our British eggs are more beautiful in colour than those of the
Pied Flycatcher. They are a delicate pale blue, sometimes almost ap-
proaching white, perfectly spotless, somewhat frail in texture, and slightly
smaller than those of the Hedge-Accentor. In number they vary from
five to eight, the latter number, however, being somewhat exceptional ; and
but one brood is, as a rule, reared in the year. The eggs vary in length
from ‘8 to ‘65 inch, and in breadth from °58 to *52 inch.

Dixon once found a beautiful nest of this bird near the moorlands a
few miles from Sheffield, his attention being attracted to the place by
seeing the bird hovering before the nesting-hole. It was built in a large
rotten stump of a birch, the wood of which crumbled away easily and
revealed the nest, which contained eight pale-blue eggs, almost ready for
hatching. Since this nest was disturbed, the bird has not, to his know-
ledge, bred there.

The general colour of the upper parts and tail of the Pied Flycatcher is
black, duller and greyer on the rump; wings brown, with the central
coverts white and the innermost secondaries broadly edged with white.
A small patch of white on the forehead at the base of the bill; underparts
pure white. Beak black; irides dark brown; legs, toes, and claws black.
In the female the black is replaced by brown, and the whole plumage is
dingy. Males of the year resemble the adult female, but are slightly
darker. Young birds in nestling-plumage are spotted above with buff,

PIED FLYCATCHER. 331

and the white of the underparts is irregularly spotted with blackish brown.
After the autumn moult, the upper parts of the male are brownish instead
of black, the white patch on the forehead is obscured, and the underparts
are washed on the breast and flanks with buff.

The White-collared Flycatcher (Muscicapa collaris) was included in
the British avifauna by the late Mr. Gould, who saw a specimen in the
flesh in the possession of Mr. Leadbeater ; but he knew no particulars
concerning it. As this is the only evidence on which the bird’s claim to
rank as a British species rests, it is certainly premature and inadvisable to
include it in our lists. It is found in company with the Pied Flycatcher
throughout most parts of South Europe, and differs from it in having the
white spot on the forehead much more developed and the white sides of the
neck meeting on the nape and forming a white collar. The Pied Fly-
catcher does not appear to have any other very near ally.

332 BRITISH BIRDS.

MUSCICAPA PARVA.

RED-BREASTED FLYCATCHER.
(Piate 9.)

Muscicapa parva, Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl. iv. p. 505 (1795); et auctorum pluri-
morum—ZJemminck, Naumann, Gould, Gray, Schlegel, (Bonaparte), (Cabanis),
Newton, Dresser, (Hume), (Brooks), &e.

Muscicapa albicilla, Pall. Zoogr, Rosso-Asiat. i. p. 462 (1826).

Muscicapa rufogularis, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 228 (1831).

Saxicola rubeculoides, Sykes, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1852, p. 92.

Muscicapa lais, Hempr. et Lhr. Symb. Phys., Aves, fol. ¢ (1833).

Erythaca tytleri, Jameson, Edinb. Phil. Journ. 1835, p. 214 (deser. nulla).

Muscicapa minuta, Hornsch. et Schill. Verz. Vig. Pomm. p. 4 (1837).

Muscicapa rubecola, Swains. Jard. Nat. Libr. x. p. 221 (1838).

Muscicapa leucura, Gmel. apud Swains. Jard. Nat. Libr. x. p. 253 (1838).

Erythrosterna parva (Bechst.), Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. § N. Amer. p. 25 (1888).

Synornis leucura (Giel.), apud Hodgs. Gray's Zool. Mise. p. 83 (1844).

Synornis joulaimus, Zodgs. Gray’s Zool. Mise. p. 83 (1844).

Erythrosterna leucura (Gmel.), apud Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. As. Soc. p. 171 (1849).

Thamnobia niveiventris, Swinhoe, Ibis, 1860, p. 54.

Erythrosterna albicilla (Pall.), Swinhoe, Proce. Zool. Soc. 1862, p. 317.

This pretty little species, so like a miniature Robin in general appearance,
is fairly entitled to a place in the British avifauna, three examples (one
of which was accompanied by a mate) having been obtained. ‘The first
British example of the Red-breasted Flycatcher was obtained on the 24th
of January, 1863, by Mr. Copeland, near Falmouth ; and that gentleman
supplied Mr. Rodd with the following note of its capture* :—“ The little
Flycatcher alluded to we had seen some days before it was shot. We first
observed it on a dead holly tree, which, with the ground around the
house, were its favourite resort. It was particularly active, skimming the
grass to within about a foot, then, perching itself, darted occasionally with
a toss, resting either on a shrub or the wire fencing. Its habits were
interesting, partaking in a great measure of those of our summer visitor |
[the Spotted Flycatcher]. There is another in the neighbourhood, for —
which a vigilant watch will be kept. I saw it a few days ago in a planta-
tion four hundred yards from my house.” The specimen, a female, was .
unfortunately damaged by mice, the head being completely eaten away.
It was sent in the flesh to the British Museum. Jn the October following
of the same year another bird of this species was captured, in company with
young Pied Flycatchers, on one of the Scilly Isles by Mr. A. Pechell and
a nephew of Mr. Rodd’s. This bird turned out to be a young male. A

* See Gould's ‘ Birds of Great Britain,’ vol. ii, letterpress to plate xx.

RED-BREASTED FLYCATCHER. 333

third example was shot on the 5th of November, 1865, and was recorded
in the ‘ Annals and Magazine of Natural History’ (ser. 3, xvi. p. 447) and
the ‘ Zoologist’ for 1866, p. 31, by Mr. Rodd. ‘This bird was taken on
Tresco Island in Scilly; but from the injuries it received from the shot
it was impossible to determine the sex.

Upon the European continent the range of the Red-breasted Flycatcher
is somewhat restricted. It breeds in Germany, Austria, and South Russia
as far north as the Baltic Provinces, arriving during the latter end of
April or early in May, and departing again in August or September. Its
occurrence in Western Europe is only accidental. A single bird was taken
in the Baltic near Landsort, off the coast of Sweden, and it has once been
obtained near Copenhagen. ‘Two specimens have been killed in the south
of France; one example has been killed and another observed in Spain ;
and its occurrence in Italy is almost as exceptional. Loche says that it is
foundin Algeria, where it may be a rare winter visitor. It passes through
Transylvania, Turkey, Greece, and Asia Minor on migration, and winters
in Nubia, where it was found by Hemprich and Ehrenberg. It breeds in
the Caucasus and winters in Persia. In Asia, Severtzow says that it passes
through Turkestan on migration. Radde, Schrenck, and Dyhowsky all
record it from the Baikal district; and it is said that skins from Kam-
schatka, collected by Wosnessenski, are in the St.-Petersburg Museum. It
winters in North India and South China.

The Red-breasted Flycatcher is represented by Prof. Newton as forming
an exception to the ordinary rules of migration. He suggests that the
European birds winter in India. It appears to me, however, that both
Prof. Newton, in his edition of Yarrell’s ‘ British Birds,’ and Mr. Sharpe,
in his ‘Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum,’ have entirely
misunderstood the geographical distribution of this bird. In my opinion,
the range of this bird during the breeding-season extends from Pomerania
to Lake Baikal, the Asiatic birds wintering in India and China, the
Caucasian birds in Persia, and the European birds in North-east Africa.
Eastern examples have been described as another species under the name
of M. leucura, which has been said to differ in having the chestnut confined
to the throat and not extending onto the breast. It seems probable,
however, that the latter are merely not fully adult examples of the former.
Radde found both forms at Tarei-nor; and I have a perfect series from
one te the other. The two extremes are both found in India and China,
European examples being somewhat intermediate. My Indian skins,
showing the greatest development of the chestnut on the breast, are
labelled M. hyperythra; but this species may easily be distinguished
by the chestnut extending onto the flanks and under tail-coverts,
and by the nearly black line separating the chestnut of the breast from
the slate-grey of the neck. That this bird does not lose this dark line in

334 BRITISH BIRDS.

winter, as my friend Mr. Brooks supposes, is abundantly proved by ex-
amples shot in January and February im Ceylon *.

The Red-breasted Flycatcher is not such a rare bird as it was formerly
supposed to be. By some observers it has been confounded with the
Robin, and by others it has been overlooked altogether, in consequence of
its retiring habits. It does not frequent gardens durimg the breeding-
season, like the other European Flycatchers, but seems to live entirely in
the forests. Beech-forests are its favourite resort, probably because its
favourite food is some insect which is found principally on beech trees.
On its first arrival it is frequently seen in open places near the forests ;
and after the young are able to fly it will visit any gardens that may
happen to be near the beech-forest where it has bred; but during the
breeding-season it seems to live entirely secluded. It arrives in North
Germany somewhat late, being seldom seen before May, and is one of
the first birds to leave in the autumn, disappearing early in September.

The Red-breasted Flycatcher appears to be a connecting-link between
the Robins and the Flycatchers. It has almost the tail of a Pratincola,
with a still wider bill and more developed rictal bristles. This formation
of bill shows it to be a true Flycatcher; and birds of this species in con-
finement feed upon the common house-fly with great avidity, preferring it
to any artificial food. In the forest its fly-catching propensities are not
so obvious; but it has been observed to catch flies on the wing like its
congeners. Its habits are difficult to observe, as it appears to feed prin-
cipally on or near the tops of lofty trees, rarely descending until it has
satisfied its appetite. In the gardens the currants seem to be the attraction, —
and it is often seen in the cherry-trees.

When I was in Pomerania last spring with my son and Dr. Gadow,
Herr von Putkammer was kind enough to invite us and our friends, Herr
von Homeyer and Dr. Holland, to visit a heronry on his estate, on which
is a grand old family mansion, surrounded by a moat, in a noble park
about ten miles south-east of Stolp. We spent the day among the Herons;
and after dinner Herr von Homeyer engaged to pilot us to a beech-forest
where the Red-breasted Flycatcher used to breed. The carriage was
ordered, and our hospitable host drove von Homeyer, Dr. Holland, and
myself through his park to an adjoining estate, where we entered a forest
of mixed beech and oak on a hill-side which sloped down to the country-
road. We had not proceeded far before we came to the nest of a Spotted
Eagle, from which the bird flew as we approached. Leaving our com-
panions to watch the Eagle, Dr. Holland and I set off in quest of the

* This species probably only winters in Ceylon. Brooks found it in summer at Goond,
on the Scind river, in Central Cashmere—nof in Sindh, as erroneously stated by Dresser
in his ‘Birds of Europe.’ It is somewhat remarkable that it has not been obtained on
migration in the intervening country.

RED-BREASTED FLYCATCHER. 339

Flycatcher. We soon heard a song which was new to me, but we followed
it a long time before we could see the bird. It was a very unobtrusive
song, intermediate between the notes of the Robin and the Redstart. For
some time the bird kept at the top of the beeches. It was as restless as a
Redstart ; and we followed it in vain, until, just as the sun was setting, h
came down upon the lower branches and sang his simple song within
twenty feet of us. We might have mistaken him for a Robin with his
red breast, but every now and then he half spread his tail and showed the
white on it. A few days later (on the 11th of June) Dr. Holland and I
went toa forest beyond Schlave to take the nest of a Honey-Buzzard.
In the forest we several times heard the alarm-note of the Red-breasted
Flycatcher, a pink, pink, pink, something like the spink of a Chaffinch, but
softer, clearer, and quicker. Our guide showed us presently a nest, scarcely
six feet from the ground, in a hollow in the trunk of a beech tree. We
caught the bird on the nest. He also showed us a second nest which he
had taken a few days before, likewise composed principally of green moss ;
but it had been built close against the stem of a beech, supported by a
bunch of small twigs, which made a convenient shelf for it. In its habits
this charming little bird reminds one both of a Flycatcher and a Tit. It
catches insects on the wing with ease, and flutters before the trunk of a
tree to pick an insect off the bark.

The nest of the Red-breasted Flycatcher is a very handsome little
structure, almost entirely formed of green moss, with here and there a few
scraps of lichen and a downy feather or two. The inside is sparingly lined
with fine dry grass and hairs. The nest-cavity measures about two inches
in diameter and one and a half inch in depth. Many of the eggs of
this bird very closely resemble Robin’s eggs in colour, others as closely
the eggs of the Spotted Flycatcher. They are the palest of bluish
green in ground-colour, closely freckled with reddish-brown and greyish-
brown shell-markings. Some eggs are much greener in general
coloration, and the amount of spotting also differs considerably. <A
clutch of five in my collection are an almost uniform pinkish brown, with
scarcely a trace of the ground-colour discernible, and somewhat resemble
certain varieties of the Blackcap’s eggs. Some specimens have most of
the markings confined to a zone round the larger end. The eggs are
from five to seven in number, and vary from ‘07 to ‘06 inch in length, and
from °54 to ‘5 inch in breadth.

The Red-breasted Flycatcher has the general colour of the upper parts,
except the crown, nape, and sides of the head and neck, which are bluish
grey, olive-brown; central tail-feathers blackish brown, the outer ones
white at base and broadly tipped with blackish brown; throat and breast
orange-chestnut ; rest of underparts white, suffused on the flanks and under
tail-coverts with buff. Beak brown, paler at the base; irides hazel; legs,

336 BRITISH BIRDS.
toes, and claws dark brown. The female in general coloration resembles
the male, except that the rich orange-chestnut throat is replaced by buff,
and the bluish grey is wanting on the head and sides of the neck.

Males of the year scarcely differ from the female, and breed in the
following spring in immature plumage (J. minuta). In the second year
the chestnut appears on the throat (M. leucura) ; in the third year the
chestnut appears on the upper breast (M7. parva) ; and in the fourth year it
extends also onto the lower breast, in which plumage they are the M.
hyperythra of Cabanis apud Brooks. Young in first plumage are spotted
on the breast and upper parts, as in all the allied species ; but this plumage
is of course moulted before the birds migrate.

It is needless to say that this bird, like all the rest of its genus, has twelve
tail-feathers, though Newton, in his edition of Yarrell’s ‘ British Birds,’
represents it as only having fen. This is doubtless a misprint; for every
ornithologist will admit that Professor Newton compensates his readers for

the slowness of his work by its accuracy.

$ y

SYLVIIN 4. 337

Subfamily SYLVIIN ©, on WARBLERS.

The Warblers and their allies constitute a large group of birds which

vary considerably amongst themselves, and approach so near to the allied
subfamilies that it is very difficult to give precise characters by which
they may in all cases be distinguished. Their more or less distinctly deve-
loped first primary serves to distinguish them from all the other sub-
families of the Passeride, except the Thrushes, Tits, Shrikes, and Crows.
Besides the scutellated tarsus which separates them from the Thrushes,
and the absence of the distinct well-marked notch in the beak, which
separates them from the Shrikes, they may be distinguished from all
these subfamilies (except the Crows) by their having a spring moult in
addition to the ohne in autumn. It is more difficult to give precise
characters to separate them from the Crows: but the latter family. is
composed of birds usually of much larger size—broadly speaking, ranging
from the size of a Thrush up to that of a Raven; whilst the Warblers
range in size from the dimensions of a small Thrush down to that of a
Wren. ‘The Crows are almost omnivorous birds with comparatively stout
conical bills ; whereas the Warblers are almost exclusively insectivorous,
with very slender bills. In this respect they are not distinguishable from
the Turdine ; and, like that subfamily in some genera, the bill is widened
to enable them to catch insects on the wing. ‘The rictal bristles are some-
times absent and sometimes present; and the notch in the bill is nearly
obsolete. The first primary is always present, but varies from an almost
obsolete bastard primary. to a well developed first primary. The young
in first plumage differ very slightly in colour from the adults, both being
generally unspotted above and below, and the difference being confined to
the shade or degree of colour, a difference which is generally most con-
spicuous on the underparts. In the rare instances in which the upper
parts are spotted in the adults, the spots are less conspicuous in the young
birds. In the first autumn before migration, if a partial moult takes
place, it is simply a renewal of certain feathers by feathers of the same
_ colour ; so that, in winter, birds of the year are generally easily recognizable
by a difference of shade in the colour, especially in that of the underparts.
This difference, however, is lost in the complete moult which takes place
in both adult and young in spring—a moult which usually occurs in

March, sometimes earlier, before the spring migration begins. In autumn,
VOL. I. Z

338 BRITISH BIRDS.

usually in September, shortly before the birds return to their winter
quarters, a second annual complete moult takes place in adult birds. The
autumn plumage is usually intermediate in colour between the spring
plumage and that of the bird of the year.

The Sylviinz are, so far as is known, confined to the eastern hemisphere,
one species only having been known to cross Behring’s Straits into Alaska.
The Sylviine might be again subdivided into three groups :—the migratory
Sylviinee, of which there are about ninety species, principally confined to
the Palearctic Region, with the wings long, pointed, and flat, andthe
first primary less than half the length of the second; the non-migratory
Sylviinee, of which there are several hundred species, principally confined
to the Aithiopian and Oriental Regions, having rounded concave wings and
the first primary more than half the length of the second ; and, lastly,
the wide-billed Sylviinze, of which there are a hundred or more species,
inhabiting the tropical portions of the Old World, having, in addition to
the wide gape, the rictal bristles very largely developed, both characters
being of importance in assisting the birds to catch insects on the wing.
About a score species of the Sylviine have been found in our islands,
belonging to five genera, the British examples of which may be distin-
guished as follows :—

a, Axillaries yellow.
a‘, Bill slender, more or less dark underneath ...........000: PHYLLOSCOPUS.
o", Bill stout, pale underneath |. ..:..':...5 Lee eke ovaep Hypovats.,
6. Axillaries buff, white, grey, or brown.
c'. Tail nearly even, or, if much graduated, longer than the wing Sy.vza.
d', Tail with the outside feathers considerably shorter than the
central ones ; never longer than the wing.
a’, Outside tail-feathers less than three fourths the length
of the longest. No rictal bristles ...... erp eRe Te LocustTE.La.
b*. Outside tail-feathers more than three fourths the length
of the longest. ictal bristles moderately developed. ACROCEPHALUS,

Genus LOCUSTELLA.

The Grasshopper Warblers were originally included by the earliest
writers who were acquainted with any of them in the comprehensive
genus Motacilla, and were afterwards removed from it into the genus
Sylvia with the rest of the Warblers. When the latter genus was broken
up, the Grasshopper Warblers were associated by the elder Naumann with
the Reed-Warblers in his genus Acrocephalus, in which Prof. Newton still

LOCUSTELLA. 339

retains them. The recognition of such nearly allied groups of birds as
genera or subgenera is a purely arbitrary proceeding. I regret that the
genus Locustella has been so largely used by modern ornithologists ; but
it certainly is the most clearly defined of the allied subgenera, and its
adoption is perhaps the course which makes the least change in the gene-
rally accepted nomenclature. The genus Acrocephalus was divided by
Kaup in 1829, in that eccentric book of his, ‘ Natiirliches System der
Europiischen Thierwelt,’ into five genera, of which Locustella was de-
scribed at page 115, the Grasshopper Warbler being designated as the
type.

The Grasshopper Warblers comprise a small but well defined group of
birds nearly allied to the Reed-Warblers (Acrocephalus), agreeing with
them in having twelve tail-feathers, and the bastard primary so minute as
rarely to extend beyond the primary-coverts, but differmg im having a
more rounded tail and nearly obsolete rictal bristles. The outside tail-
feathers are shorter than the under tail-coverts, except in one instance ;
but in no case are they more than three fourths the length of the longest.
The bill is long and slender, as in the Calamodine group of Acrocephal,
which many of the species further resemble in having the upper parts
spotted. The predominant colours are russet-brown and olive-brown.

The Grasshopper Warblers frequent marshy districts, dense thickets
near water, reed-beds, and the luxuriant vegetation on the banks of
streams. Their nests are usually built amongst rank vegetation on or
near the ground ; and their eggs are from four to seven in number. So far
as is known, all the species have the continuous monotonous note which
ean scarcely be called a song, and which has given them the name of
** Grasshopper” Warblers.

Three of the species breed in Central Europe and winter in North
Africa. A fourth breeds in Turkestan and West Siberia and winters in
India. Three others breed in East Siberia and winter in the islands of
the Malay archipelago; and one of them is said to visit Eastern Europe
accidentally on migration, and has occurred during the breeding-season
near St. Petersburg. Two species are British, one of which is a regular
summer visitant to our islands ; but the other, although formerly a regular
summer migrant, is now probably extinct or only breeds very sparingly.

CONF. VO} i

340 BRITISH BIRDS.

LOCUSTELLA LOCUSTELLA.

GRASSHOPPER WARBLER.
(Prater 10.)

Ficedula curruca grisea neevia, Briss. Orn. vi. Suppl. p. 112 (1760).

Motacilla nevia, Bodd. Table Pl. Enl. p. 35. no. 581 (1783).

Sylvia locustella, Lath. Ind. Orn. ii. p. 515 (1790) ; et auctorum plurimorum—
(Koch), Wolf, Vieillot, Temminck, Meyer, Naumann, Jenyns, Nordmann, (Schlegel),
(Gray), Sundevall, (Brehm), (Keyserling), (Blasius), (Fleming), (Thompson),
(Harting), Macgillivray, &e.

Muscipeta locustella (Lath.), Koch, Syst. baier, Zool. i. p. 166 (1816).

Muscipeta olivacea, Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. i. p. 167 (1816).

Calamoherpe locustella (Zath.), Bote, Isis, 1822, p. 552.

Curruca locustella (Zath.), Steph. Shaw's Gen. Zool. xiii. pt. 2, p. 218 (1825).

Locustella locustella (Lath.), Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 115 (1829).

Calamoherpe tenuirostris, Brehm, Vig. Deutschl. p. 440 (1831).

Salicaria locustella (Zath.), Selby, Brit. Orn. p. 199 (1833).

Locustella sibilans, Gould, B. Ew. letterpress to pl. 102 (1837).

Locustella avicula, Ray, fide Gould, B. Eur. pl. 103 (1837).

Locustella rayi, Gould, fide Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. § N. Amer, p. 12 (1838).

Sibilatrix locustella (Zath.), Macgill. Br. B. ii, p. 399 (1889).

Psithyreedus locustella (Lath.), Gloger, Gem. Handb. Naturg. p. 298 (1842).

Locustella neevia (Bodd.), Degl. Orn. Eur. i. p. 589 (1849).

Locustella dumeticola, Blyth, White’s Selborne, p. 119 (1850).

Parnopia locustella (Lath.), Newt. List B. Eur. Blasius, p. 11 (1862).

Calamodyta locustella (Lath.), Gray, Hand-l. B. i. p. 210. no, 2972 (1869).

Acrocephalus nevius (Bodd.), Newton, ed. Yarr. Brit. B. i. p. 384 (1878).

Threnetria locustella (Lath.), Schauer, Journ. Orn. 1873, p. 183.

The Grasshopper Warbler appears to have been first described by —
Willughby and Ray in their ‘Ornithologia’ in 1676, under the heading ~
of Locustella avicula, from information supplied to them by a Mr. D.
Johnson, of Brignal, near Greta Bridge, in Yorkshire, possibly the father
of Mr. Ralph Johnson, to whom Ray, in his preface, acknowledges that
he and Willughby were indebted for much information respecting British
birds. They make mention of the spotted back, thighs, and under tail-
coverts, and of the very rounded tail, which, together with their allusions
to its grasshopper-like note*, leaves no room for doubt that Pennant was
perfectly correct in identifying Willughby and Ray’s bird with one which |

* Mr. Johnson’s letter to Ray is dated 1672, and the habits of the bird described re-
semble most those of the Wood-Wren ; but the bird sent to Ray, if correctly described, is _

certainly not that species, but the Grasshopper Warbler. Possibly Mr. Johnson confounded
the two notes together.

—

GRASSHOPPER WARBLER. 341

he himself received from Shropshire, and described and figured in his
‘ British Zoology’ in 1766, under the name of the “ Grasshopper Lark.”
Two years later Gilbert White of Selborne sent Pennant a very inter-
esting and probably the first correct account published of the habits of
this bird; but both the latter ornithologists had been forestalled in their
discoveries, not only by Willughby and Ray, but also by Brisson, who,
eight years previous to the last-mentioned date, described and figured an
unmistakable Grasshopper Warbler from an example obtained in France,
and then in the Museum of Mons. Cotelle, under the name of “La
Fauvette grise tachetée,” a bird which must not be confounded with his
“ Fauvette tachetée ” with a forked tail.

The Grasshopper Warbler is a somewhat local bird in the British
Islands; but there is probably no county in England, Wales, Ireland, or
Scotland south of the Firth of Forth where it does not breed; and in some
places it is found in considerable numbers.

On the continent the range of this bird appears to be very restricted.
It is probably confined to Western Europe, is rare in Spain and Italy, but
more common in Nerth Europe, south of the Baltic, from France to the
neighbourhood of St. Petersburg. It is said to be a winter visitor to
Morocco and Algeria; but probably a few remain in these countries to
breed ; and a few are said to remain during winter in Spain. It has not
been recorded from Turkey, Greece, or Asia Minor, nor does it appear to
visit Eastern Africa; but it is found to the south-east as far as Transyl-
vania, and occasionally in South-west Russia. In Siberia (and, it is said,
as far west as St. Petersburg) it is replaced by a nearly allied species or
subspecies L. lanceolata, whose range extends across Siberia to the Amoor,
and possibly to China. A still more nearly allied form, L. straminea
(miscalled by many ornithologists L. hendersoni), is principally confined
to Turkestan during the breeding-season ; but its range appears to extend
northwards as far as Ekatereenburg, where it touches the range of
L. lanceolata. It is probable that the latter form may interbreed with
both its near allies, as intermediate forms sometimes occur which it is
very difficult to determine.

The chief point of interest in the Grasshopper Warbler is its song.
This exactly resembles the note of the grasshopper, except that it is slightly
louder, not quite so shrill, and somewhat steadier and more prolonged.
It is a rapid trill, absolutely monotonous, and is continued from a quarter
of a minute sometimes to a couple of minutes without cessation. The
_ Grasshopper Warbler is said to have ventriloqual powers; but I have
never noticed any thing of the kind, though the bird is common enough
in the neighbourhood of Sheffield, and I have listened to its song at all
hours, from before dawn to long after sunset. I have never had the
slightest. difficulty in following the direction of the sound. It is not

542 BRITISH BIRDS.

always easy to judge of the distance; but as much may be said of all
sounds. 1 doubt if it varies much in the loudness of its note, which
sounds distant when the bird buries itself in the deep grass or other
foliage, and near when it runs up some stalk and takes a look round, as it
frequently does in early morning.

It is certainly one of the most skulking birds which visit this country,
almost as much so as a Corncrake or a Water-Rail. It is rarely seen on
the wing, and seldom perches on a tree. I have followed it for hours
backwards and forwards from one clump of underwood to another, rarely
obtaining a sight of the bird, but always able to trace its whereabouts
from its song. Very often it left the underwood altogether and frequented
the long grass, and it was only occasionally that it was possible to see
the bird. So retiring is the Grasshopper Warbler in its habits, that were
it not for the peculiarity of its song it would be passed by without notice
by the great majority of naturalists. The song is first heard im Yorkshire
early in May; but in the south of England the bird arrives somewhat
earlier at its breeding-quarters. Gilbert White gives the date as the
middle of April. It is consequently, if not the latest bird of passage to
arrive on our shores, one of the last batch of spring migrants. It by no
means confines itself to swampy places, and is equally abundant on dry
open commons amongst the furze bushes and in woods where there is
plenty of underwood. Occasionally it is also heard from the tall heather
on the grouse-moors. Whenever I have accidentally seen it on the wing
its flight has been very peculiar, what might be described as a frightened
flight, fluttermg over every bush, descending into every hollow—appa-
rently anxious every moment to dive into some thick shelter, and con-
sequently always having its tail depressed and half-spread so as to be
ready to alight at a moment’s notite as soon as an opportunity offered.
On the ground it runs like a Sandpiper, dodging in and out between the
clumps of grass with marvellous celerity.

The Grasshopper Warbler is no doubt almost entirely insectivorous ; but
it probably regales itself in autumn on some of the soft fruits which
abound in the localities which it frequents, a practice common to most if
not all soft-billed birds. j

The following notes respecting this charming bird are from the pen of
my friend Mr. A. W. Johnson, who has had an excellent opportunity of
observing it in the neighbourhood of Newcastle :—“This interesting
Warbler is fairly abundant during the breeding-season within a radius of
fifteen miles of Newcastle; and in a few favourite situations it is frequently —
found in very considerable numbers. It is especially numerous in the
county of Durham, perhaps in no locality more so than in the warm and
sheltered valley of the Derwent. This valley in parts is well studded
with young plantations, where the undergrowth is thick and rank, the

GRASSHOPPER WARBLER. 343

ground well exposed to the sun, and concealment for bird and nest good.
Such situations as these are the most attractive, as the great number of
nests found in them testify. The number of birds breeding here appears
to vary very much in different years. Some seasons considerable numbers
breed here; and then for one or two years they are comparatively scarce.
The years 1879 and 1880 were what may be termed good seasons, many
nests being found; whilst 1881 and 1882 were poor seasons, the number
of nests being found was less than half as many as were taken in the two
preceding years. The number of nests taken one season does not seem to
affect the number found the following one; and comparatively few nests
all together are taken, for the difficulty in discovering them is so great.
Besides the plantations already referred to as this bird’s breeding-grounds,
many nests are found in the bottoms or sides of thick hedgerows. During
the season of 1880, of seven nests found by myself the last week in May,
five were in young plantations (three nests in one and two in another),
whilst the others were in hedgerows. The situation usually chosen for the
nest is on the ground or close to it in a thick tuft of dead rank grass,
and well concealed. Sometimes, however, this is not the case, and after
flushing the bird but little search is needed to discover the nest. I have
found the nest built on the ground at the foot of a young larch, and,
without moving any of the herbage, the eggs were plainly visible as soon
as the bird flew off. The nest is also often placed under a whin bush,
and is then sometimes very difficult to find. The sitting bird usually
flies off the nest very quietly when flushed, and drops into the under-
wood at once. One instance, however, came under my notice, where the
bird flew up and over some tall trees; and if the eggs are hard sat, or
the nest contains young, the bird comes stealing back in and out amongst
the grass like a mouse, and will approach within a few yards. The number
of eggs laid varies from three to seven: the usual number is five or six
(very many of the nests found in May or early in June contain six) ;
and seven is very rarely found. The earliest full clutch of eggs I have
was taken on the 14th of May. The usual time, in an ordinary season,
for the first nests containing a full complement of eggs is from the
20th to the 28th of May; but many nests are found with fresh eggs
up to the 10th or 14th of June. ‘Two broods appear to be reared in
the season, as fresh eggs may be found in the last week of June, and
sometimes even in July. Should the nest be taken, the bird will frequently
build another, sometimes within a few yards of the first. One or two
clutches of the eggs of this bird in my collection have a distinct and well
defined band or zone of dark spots round the larger end; another has
streaks dispersed over the eggs, similar to a Bunting’s; whilst those of
another clutch are of a uniform pale brown colour without spot or streak.”

I have taken the nest of the Grasshopper Warbler near Brighton. It

3b BRITISH BIRDS.

appears to be a late breeder, and is scarcely likely to have more than one brood
in the year. Onthe 2lst of May, two years ago, Swaysland sent me up two
nests of this bird, one containing six and the other five eggs. At the same
time he informed me of a third nest which then contained only two eggs.
On the 28th I went down to Brighton to see it. About half a mile from
Hassock’s Gate station is a small plantation. Most of the elms had then
been cut down, leaving an underwood of nut-trees interspersed with small
shrubs of various kinds and tangled vegetation of all sorts. Beyond the
wood we looked over a farm onto the downs, behind which was the sea.
The nest was about fifty yards from the gamekeeper’s cottage, in the middle
of the plantation, and was so admirably concealed that, standing over the
clump of grass in which it was placed, which was not more than about two
feet high, and was mixed with a few wild-rose briars, we could not trace the
slightest appearance of any thing of the kind, and only caught a momentary
glimpse of the bird as she glided away from the clump. The nest was
placed in the centre of a bunch of long coarse grass, which raised it perhaps
six inches above the actual level of the ground. It was round, compact, and
rather deep, the outside woven principally of green moss mixed with a few

dead leaves and a little dry grass. The lining was entirely dry, slender,

round grass-stalks. It contained six eggs. We arranged the grass so that
we could just see the nest, and left the place, returning again in about ten
minutes. In order to get a better sight of the bird, we approached the
nest from different sides, and saw her slip off and glide like a mouse through
the grass, until she came very near one of us, when she took wing for about
a yard, flying with depressed outspread tail, and again took to the grass,
A quarter of an hour afterwards we again stole cautiously to the place, and
saw her on the nest. On our still nearer approach she slipped off the eggs
and ran about at our feet, threading her way in a zigzag course through
the grass exactly like a mouse. We never heard her utter a note; but,
according to Naumann, the call-note of the Grasshopper Warbler must be
a tic, tic, something like the sound produced by knocking two stones
together. In another wood, where the elms were still standing, the game-
keeper showed us the place where one of the other nests had been. It was
in a slightly open part of the wood, in a similar clump of grass and rose-
briars.

The ground-colour of the eggs of this bird is a pale pinkish white, gene-
rally profusely spotted all over with small rufous-brown spots or dots
interspersed with paler and greyer underlying spots of the same character.
In most eggs the spots are slightly larger towards the large end of the
egg, and sometimes very decidedly so. Occasionally the overlying spots
are sparsely distributed, and in some instances they are almost absent
altogether. Not unfrequently irregular short and thin hair-lines of very
dark rufous-brown are observable. The eggs vary in length from *75 to

i
%
+
.
5
,
‘
a

‘

.

GRASSHOPPER WARBLER. 345

‘7 inch, and in breadth from *55 to’5 mech. The number ranges from
four to seven.

The general colour of the upper part of this bird is olive-brown, but

sometimes it approaches russet-brown ; each feather has an obscure dark
centre, which becomes nearly obsolete on the sides of the neck and on the
longest upper tail-coverts. The outer webs of the quills and tail-feathers
are edged with olive-brown, most conspicuously so on the innermost
secondaries. The chin and the centre of the belly are nearly white, which
shades into buffish brown on the breast, flanks, thighs, and under tail-
coverts, most of the latter having dark brown centres. Bill dark brown
above, pale horn colour below; legs, feet, and claws pale brown; irides
hazel.
In birds of the year the whole of the underparts are more or less suffused
with yellow, and many of the feathers of the throat and flanks have dark
centres. A slight tinge of yellow on the underparts, and some of the
pectoral streaks are frequently found in young birds after their first spring
moult.

It is very difficult to form a diagnosis which may always distinguish the
Grasshopper Warbler from its two very near allies; but L. straminea
appears always to have a more rounded wing than the other two. The
second primary is always shorter than the fourth, and frequently shorter
than the fifth ; whilst in the other two species it is sometimes equal in
length to the third aud sometimes only to the fourth, but is never shorter
than the fourth. L. lanceolata may usually be distinguished by having the
general colour of the upper parts russet-brown instead of olive-brown ;
but in a large series the most russet examples of L. locustella are un-
distinguishable in colour from the least russet examples of L. lanceolata.
As regards the spotting on the under surface, the breast is generally
spotted in L. lanceolata and occasionally slightly so in the other two
species. The flanks are spotted sometimes in L. locustella, generally in
L. straminea, and always in L. lanceolata; whilst the under tail-coverts
are always spotted in L. straminea, and generally so in the other two
species,

346 BRITISH BIRDS.

LOCUSTELLA LUSCINIOIDES.

SAVI’S WARBLER.
(Piate 10.)

Sylvia luscinioides, Savi, Nuovo Giornale dei Letterati, vii. p. 841 (1824); et aucto-
rum plurimorum—Temminck, (Gould), J Yordmann, ( Gray), (Schlegel), (Salva-
dori), (Newton), (Dresser), Se.

Locustella luscinioides (Savi), Gould, B. Eur, ii. pl. 104 (1837).

Pseudoluscinia saviil, Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur, § N. Amer. p. 12 (1838).

Salicaria luscinioides (Sav), Keys. u. Blas. Wirb. Eur. pp. liii, 180 (1840).

Lusciniopsis savii (Bp.), Bonap. Uce. Eur. p. 86 (1842).

Calamodyta luscinioides (Savi), Gray, Gen. B. i, p. 172 (1848).

Cettia luscinioides (Savi), L. Gerbe, Dict. Univ. d’ Hist. Nat. vi. p. 240 (1848).

Calamoherpe luscinioides (Savi), Schi. Vog. Nederl. p. 149 (1854).

Lusciniola savii (Bp.), Bonap. Cat. Parzud. p. 6 (1856).

Locustella savii (Bp.), Salvin, Ibis, 1859, p. 356.

Lusciniopsis luscinioides (Savi), Nevwt. List B. Eur. Blasius, p. 11 (1862).

Pseudoluscinia luscinioides (Savi), Shelley, B. Egypt, p. 89 (1872).

Acrocephalus luscinioides (Sav), Newton ed. Yarr. Brit. B. i. p. 889 (1873).

Cettia fusca, Severtz. Turkest. Jevotn. pp. 66, 131 (1873)

Sylvia (Threnetria) luscinioides (Savi), Schauer, Journ. pe. 1873, p. 161.

Threnetria acheta, Schauer, Journ. Orn. 1873, p. 183.

Potamodus luscinioides (Savi), Blanf. East. Pers. ii. p. 199 (1876).

Savi’s Warbler has every claim to be included in a work on British
Birds, though it is in all probability extinct in our islands. The marshes
where it formerly bred have been to a great extent drained; and nothing
has been seen of this interesting bird in its old localities during the last
five-and-twenty years. So far as is known, the first Savi’s Warbler ever
obtained was shot ten miles south-east of Norwich, about the year 1819.
Temminck pronounced the bird to be a variety of the Reed-Warbler, and
afterwards seems to have confounded it with Cetti’s Warbler. Savi did
not describe the species until five years later; and it cannot be said to
have become generally known until Temminck published his Manual of
Ornithology in 1835. Many examples of Savi’s Warbler, as well as nests
and eggs of this bird, were obtained at various dates from 1843 to 1856 in
the fens of Norfolk and Cambridge and in one or two other adjoining
counties. It is not known that Savi’s Warbler has occurred in any other
district in the British Isles.

On the continent the distribution of this species is also somewhat
restricted, though in many localities it is a common bird. It is never
found except in reed-beds ; but in most places where these occur of suffi-
cient size, in Spain, the south of France, Holland, Italy, Austria, and

P<
re.

SAVI’S WARBLER. 347

South Russia, it has been found. It appears to be equally common in
suitable localities in North Africa, and has been obtained in Palestine ;
but so far as is known it is entirely absent from North Europe, and also,
strange to say, from Germany, Turkey, Greece, Asia Minor, and the
Caucasus. In the northern portion of its range it is strictly a migratory
bird ; but it is said to remain during the winter in the delta of the Rhone,
and a considerable number undoubtedly remain in North Africa to breed.
In the delta of the Volga, the Kirghis steppes, Western Turkestan, and
Persia examples of Savi’s Warbler have been obtained ; but the few that I
have seen in the collections of Hencke and Severtzow, instead of being of
a rich russet-brown on the upper parts (the colour of ground coffee), were
of a more pinky earth-brown (the colour of chocolat-au-lait). Spanish
examples in nestling plumage of Savi’s Warbler are similar in colour, but
somewhat darker. Severtzow described the Turkestan birds as new, under
the name of Cettia fusca (not Cettia fulva, as I erroneously stated in my
paper on the Birds of Astrakhan in ‘ The Ibis’ for 1882, p. 213); but he
afterwards identified them with Savi’s Warbler. It will be an interesting
problem for future travellers to solve, whether young birds retain the
colour of the nestling plumage beyond their first spring moult until their
first autumn moult, and whether the examples hitherto obtained of this
species east of the Black Sea have only been birds of the year, or whether
these forms are specifically or subspecifically distinct. It is possible that
Savi’s Warbler originally came from Turkestan, and originally had the
colour which the Turkestan birds may still retain, and that a long resi-
dence in Europe, where the rainfall is so much greater, has directly
or indirectly caused the colour of adult birds to become so much more
russet, the original colour being still retained in the young in first
plumage.

Savi’s Warbler appears to bear the same relation to the Grasshopper
Warbler that the Reed-Warbler does to the Sedge-Warbler. In each case
_ the uniformly coloured bird is almost entirely confined to the uniformly
coloured reeds, whilst the spotted bird principally frequents the rank
herbage, whose foliage is much more variegated. If there is any mutual
relationship between these facts, it would be difficult to say which is
cause and which is effect. The plain-backed birds may have been exter-
minated from the variegated swamps, because the spotted plumage of the
allied species gave them a slight advantage in the struggle for existence ;
or all four species may originally have had spotted backs, but those which
lived in the reeds may gradually have lost their spots to accommodate
themselves to their surroundings.

Savi’s Warbler arrives at the reed-beds of Galicia during the first week
in May; but in the south of Spain it must arrive much earlier, since
Col. Irby obtained eggs in Andalusia on the 4th of May. He states,

348 BRITISH BIRDS.

however, that the birds were all gone by September ; so that possibly
it may be only exceptionally that it winters in the south of France.

It must, however, be remembered that birds of such skulking habits may ~

easily be overlooked after they have ceased to sing. Although most
observers agree that Savi’s Warbler is by no means so shy as its two
European allies, the Grasshopper Warbler and the River-Warbler, yet it
seems only to frequent large reed-beds, and can rarely be seen except
from a boat or by wading in the marshes. Although it drops down into
the sedges for concealment if pursued, it seems to avoid the sedges and
other water-plants when feeding, and is seldom seen perched except upon
the reeds. It runs up one of these, searching for, insects on the stem and_
leaves, then drops down onto another, up which it runs in like manner,
never still for a moment except when it pauses to sing on the top of
a reed, where, with outstretched neck, head somewhat thrown back, and
extended throat, it runs off its monotonous reel, whence it has been called
the Reel-bird (in Dutch Sworr, in German Schwirrvogel).

4

The song of Savi’s Warbler is said to resemble the note of the tree-frog. ~

It is a monotonous whirr or trill, like the note of a grasshopper, and is
described as more melodious but less powerful than that of the other two
European Grasshopper Warblers. It is pitched ina higher key than either
of them, and sounds further or nearer as the bird turns its head from or to-
wards the listener. It may be heard at all hours of the day or night in calm
warm weather; but on cold nights the bird is silent, and in windy weather
it either does not sing at all or its voice is drowned by the rustling of the
reeds. Its call-note is described as a short krr. It is said to be a very
quarrelsome bird, and frequently to chase so eagerly any rival which may
invade its domain as to be at such times regardless of danger. In
Andalusia it breeds early in May ; but in this country, in Holland, and in
Galicia it is recorded to have bred late in May or early in June. Graf
Casimir Wodzicki, describing its habits in the latter country (Journ. Orn.
1853, Extra-Heft, p. 49), writes :—“ TI have often watched this delicate little
bird building its nest, and noticed with what trouble it collects the materials.
At first both sexes are thus employed; but later the female alone collects

the leaves, which the male takes from her beak and arranges without her —

assistance.’ The nest is carefully concealed amongst the sedges (Carea),
and is placed upon a heap of tangled blades, usually six inches, but some-
times two or three feet, above the water. It is composed of flat leaves of
broadish grass, generally of swectgrass (Glyceria), carefully woven together,
the narrowest leaves being chosen for the lining. It is a marvellously neat
structure, very deep, sometimes deeper than the inside diameter. Graf
Wodzicki says that “an inexperienced ornithologist would take it for a
nest of the Little Crake, so exactly similar is it, only smaller.’ He also
states that both male and female sit on the nest, and allow themselves to

SAV’?S WARBLER. 349

be watched without leaving it. If frightened off, they soon return. During
the breeding-season Savi’s Warbler is rarely seen on the wing ; but early in
spring it sometimes flies up from the reeds and dives down into them again
with wings laid back. It is said not to sing on the wing. When it does
take wing its flight is said not to be undulating, but with continuous beats
of the wing, like the flight of a Wren or a hawk moth. It is not known
that Savi’s Warbler feeds upon any thing but insects and their larvee.

The eggs vary in number from four to six. They are French white or
pale buff in ground-colour, thickly sprinkled over the entire surface with
ashy-brown spots, most numerous at the larger end of the egg, where they
usually form an obscure zone. The pale violet-grey underlying markings
are numerous; and on some eggs there are a few very dark, irregular, hair-
like streaks. In many specimens the indistinct zone of colour is largely
composed of underlying spots, giving the eggs a scarcely perceptible pink
appearance in this part. The eggs of Savi’s Warbler somewhat closely
approach those of the Grasshopper Warbler, but are always browner.
From certain varieties of the eggs of the allied Z. fluviatilis they are
absolutely undistinguishable. They vary in length from °8 to *75 inch
(Professor Newton gives a measurement of 84), and from °6 to°55 inch in
breadth.

Savi’s Warbler has the general colour of the upper parts uniform russet-
brown, slightly duskier on the quills, and somewhat paler on the outside web
of the second primary. The underparts are pale buffish brown, shading
into nearly white on the throat and the centre of the belly; the under
tail-coverts are pale chestnut, with obscure paler tips. Bill dark brown
above, pale horn-colour below; legs, feet, and claws pale brown; irides
hazel. It is not known that the sexes differ in plumage, or that the
autumn moult produces any change of colour. Birds of the year are said
to be less rufous on the upper parts and paler underneath.

Savi’s Warbler may be distinguished from its near ally L. fluviatilis by
its russet-brown upper parts (which in that species are olive-brown), and by

the absence of the striations on the breast so conspicuous in the latter
species.

| — SHOE

SACI ei ——

350 BRITISH BIRDS.

Genus ACROCEPHALUS.

The Reed-Warblers were included by Linnzus in his extensive genus
Motacilla, and were afterwards removed by Scopoli, along with the other
Warblers, into his genus Sylvia. The elder Naumann was the first to
subdivide Scopoli’s genus; and in 1811, in the Supplement to his ‘ Natur-
geschichte der Land- und Wasser-Végel des nordlichen Deutschlands und
angranzender Linder,’ p. 199, he founded the genus Acrocephalus for the
Reed-Warblers, and placed A. turdoides first on his list. This bird, which
is a fairly representative example of the genus, may therefore be accepted
as the type.

The Reed-Warblers are a well-marked group of birds, distinguished by
the possession of a very minute bastard primary and a moderately rounded
tail. The bastard primary is so minute that in adult birds it does not
usually extend as far as the primary-coverts ; but in birds of the year, and
in one or two species slightly aberrant in this respect, it is usually some-
what longer, occasionally extending beyond them. ‘The bill is typically
large, depressed and broad at the base, with moderately developed rictal
bristles. In two of the species the bill is somewhat aberrant, being as
slender as in the genus Locustella. These two species are also distinguished
by a different style of colouring, each feather on the head and back being
darker in the centre. The existence of two other intermediate species,
however, makes it advisable not to separate them more than sub-
generically from the typical Acrocephali, of which they form the Cala-
modine group. ‘

The tail is more rounded than in Hypolais, and much more so than in
Phylloscopus, but not so much so as in Locustella, the outside tail-feathers
being longer than the under tail-coverts. The general colour of the
plumage is a more or less uniform brown, sometimes olive-brown, some-
times russet-brown, gradually fading, as the plumage becomes abraded,
into a neutral brown or dust-brown, not inaptly described as museum-
colour.

The Reed-Warblers, as their name implies, frequent marshy districts,
reed-beds, and the dense vegetation on the banks of still waters. They are
possessed of considerable powers of song. They build well-made open
nests, sometimes suspended over the water, attached to reeds or twigs, and
sometimes in the bushes ; and their eggs are from four to six in number.
Their food is principally insects.

The breeding-range of these Warblers extends over the whole of the
Central and Southern Palearctic Region; and one species is found as far

ACROCEPHALUS. 351

north as the Arctic circle. They winter in the tropical regions of Africa
and Asia, and are especially common at that season in the islands of the
Malay archipelago. ‘Two species apparently migrate south instead of
north to breed, and resort to the swamps of Australia for that purpose.
Seven other species appear to be non-migratory—one having found a
permanent home in South Africa, and the others in the islands of the
Pacific, from the Carolines in the west to the Marquesas in the east of that
ocean. Five species are regular summer visitors to Europe; and the range
of two others extends as far as the extreme south-east of Europe. Three
of these breed in the British Islands, and two are accidental visitors.

WHINCHAT’S NEST.

352 BRITISH BIRDS.

ACROCEPHALUS PHRAGMITIS*.

SEDGE-WARBLER.
(Pxare 10.) .

? Ficedula curruca sylvestris, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 893 (1760).

2? Motacilla schcenobzenus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 329 (1766).

Motacilla salicaria, Linn. apud Tunst. Orn. Brit. p. 2 (1771).

Sylvia salicaria (Zinn.) apud Lath, Gen. Syn. Suppl. 1. p. 237 (1787).

? Sylvia schoenobzenus (Linn.), Lath. Ind. Orn. ii. p. 510 (1790).

Sylvia phragmitis, Bechst. Orn. Taschenb. p. 186 (1802); et auctorum pluri-
morum—IVolf, Temminck, Naumann, Ménétriés, Jenyns, Eversmann, Nordmann,
(Koch), (Bote), (Brehm), (Macgillivray), (Schlegel), (Kaup), (Selby), (Gould),
(Ke series}, (Blasius), (Thompson), (Lindermayer), (Harting), (Bonaparte),
(Degland), (Gerbe), (Loche), (Salvadori), Se.

Acrocephalus phragmitis (Bechst.), Naum. Nat. Land- und Wass.- Veg. nordl. Deutschl., —

Nachtr. iv. p. 202 (1811). }
Muscipeta phragmitis (Bechst.), Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. i. p. 163 (1816). )
Sylvia schcenobeenus (Linn.), Vieill. Faun. Frang. i. p. 224 (1820). }

Calamoherpe phragmitis (Bechst.), Bote, Isis, 1822, p. 552.

Curruca salicaria (Linn.), apud Fleming, Brit. An. p. 69 (1828).

Calamodus phragmitis (Bechst.), Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 117 (1829).

Calamoherpe tritici, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 449 (1831).

Calamoherpe schcenobeenus (Linn.), Brehm, Vig. Deutschl. p. 450 (1831).

Salicaria phragmitis (Bechst.), Selby, Brit. Orn. i. p. 201 (1833). )

Calamodyta phragmitis (Bechst.), Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. § N. Amer. p. 12
(1838).

Calamodyta schoenobzenus (Linn.), Gray, Hand-l. B. i. p. 209, no. 2964 (1869).

Acrocephalus schcenobeenus (Linn.), Newton, ed. Yarr. Brit. B. i. p. 376 (1873).

Calamodus schcenobeenus (Linn.), Blanf. East. Pers. ii. p. 199 (1876).

Although there can be no doubt that Linneus was acquainted with ‘the
Sedge-Warbler, yet his diagnoses are so vague that it is impossible to say_
whether he intended to designate it by the name of Motacilla schenobenus
or Motacilla salicaria—Vieillot, Sundevall, Brehm, and Newton identifying —
it with the former, and Tunstall, Donovan, Latham, Leach, Forster, and —
Fleming with the latter. The first clear definition seems to have been that of
Pennant, who described and figured the bird in 1766 under the name of the

* In my opinion no possible good can arise, and much confusion must be caused, by
rejecting the name in common use for the Sedge-Warbler, which was well defined
by Bechstein, in favour of the ill-defined name supposed to have been given to it by
Linneus. I admit that the evidence of the ‘Fauna Suecica’ leaves little room for doubt
that Linnzeus intended to describe the Sedge-Warbler ; but his description was so meagre
that it met with the neglect that it deserved. 7

je > =
ace

SEDGE-WARBLER. 353

Willow-Lark, although Gilbert White appears to have unwittingly done
his best to confuse him by confounding the Reed- Warbler with the Sedge-
Warbler*. Pennant, however, was indebted to White for a correct descrip-
tion of the habits of the bird, which fortunately do not differ much from
those of its ally.

This now well-known bird is a common summer visitor to all parts of
England, breeding more or less abundantly in every county. In his
‘ Birds of Guernsey,’ Mr. Smith states that it is local and by no means so
common as the Reed-Warbler. In Scotland it is a very abundant species,
especially in the western counties, from Wigtown to the north of Argyle ;
and it is not uncommon in Western Inverness and Sutherland. It becomes
more local in the Western Islands, being found in Mull and Islay, but is
apparently absent from the Outer Hebrides. In Ireland the bird is equally
common and widely distributed.

On the Continent the Sedge-Warbler has a somewhat extensive range,
being found in Norway as far north as lat. 70°, in Sweden and North
Russia to lat. 68°, and in the valleys of the Obb and the Yenesay to
lat.67°. Its extreme abundance in the latter valley makes it very probable
that it may occur still further to the east in the valley of the Lena. In
the south of Europe it is principally known as passing through on migra-
tion ; but it is said occasionally to remain to breed in Spain, the south of
France, Italy, and Greece. In Corfu and Crete Colonel Drummond Hay
states that it is a resident. In Algeria, Egypt, and Asia Minor it is prin-
cipally known as a winter visitor; but a few probably also remain in these
localities to breed, as Dixon shot it in the oasis of Biskra in Algeria in
May. Canon Tristram states that it breeds in Palestine; and Bogdanow
saw it in the Caucasus in autumn. It does not appear to have occurred in
Persia; but it is found in North-west Turkestan. It is perhaps more
abundant in Russia than in any other country, and is generally distributed
throughout the rest of Europe; but, curiously enough, it is said not to
occur in South Norway and in Lombardy—two localities apparently well
suited to its requirements. Its winter range extends far down into South
Africa, as it has been obtained in Damara Land and the Transvaal. I
have in my collection two skins from Potchefstrom, in the latter district,
one dated February and the other dated 18th of April, both of which are
moulting their quill feathers.

The Sedge-Warbler arrives in its breeding-haunts by the latter end of

* It is remarkable that such an accurate observer as Gilbert White should have con-
fused two such distinct birds together. His description, “head, back, and coverts of the
wings of a dusky brown, without those dark spots of the Grasshopper Lark,” can only
apply to the Reed-Warbler; but his further remark, “over each eye is a milk-white
stroke,” must surely apyly to the Sedge-Warbler.

VOT FF ae \

q

354 BRITISH BIRDS.

April, its appearance usually being noted a little earlier in the southern
than in the northern counties. In Ireland it appears to arrive even later
still. Thompson states that it appears in the neighbourhood of Belfast
during the first ten days of May, but he has known it to arrive as early
as the 16th of April. It would also appear to depart in the autumn earlier
from Ireland, the same careful writer giving the 5th of September as the
latest date he has known it to be met with; but in England it remains
until the end of September, and has even been met with in Norfolk on the
20th of October.

The Sedge-Warbler is by no means, as its name would possibly suggest,
confined to the sedges and the reeds. Its haunts are as much in the
tangled brake and dense vegetation of marshy plantations as amongst the
ever-murmuring reeds. It is especially fond of frequenting the stunted
willow-bushes by the water-side. The Sedge-Warbler is much more often
heard than seen. Like all the Reed-Warblers it is a shy and retiring
little bird, although now and then its curiosity seems to get the better
of its habitual shyness, and prompts it to mount to the top of some
Waving spray to take a more extensive view of the world than can be
obtained from the seclusion of its shady haunt. Sometimes a hurried
glimpse of it may be got as it hops rapidly from one twig to another ;
but it soon disappears again, and its harsh notes are the only sign of its
presence. Although such a skulking little fellow, the Sedge-Warbler may
always be detected by its song. If it is not actually to be seen, a stone
thrown into its favourite retreat will rouse it from its reverie, and cause
it to start its song at once—a song of seeming defiance and mockery,
as though the cunning little musician knew full well that it was able to
elude detection at will. When thus aroused it will often mount to the
top of the bushes and, for a few moments, warble forth its lay in full
view, shifting restlessly about in the meantime as if fearful of its own
boldness.

The song of the Sedge-Warbler is most pertinaciously kept up. It
somewhat resembles that of the Whitethroat, but has a much larger
range of notes. It is quite as vehemently uttered. Some of its notes
are round, full, and rich; but many parts of the song are almost as
harsh as the notes of the House-Sparrow. The Sedge-Warbler will also
appear to imitate the songs of other birds, and varies its own performance
80 as often to make the hearer imagine that it is introducing the notes of
its neighbours. It not unfrequently sings as it flies; and it is also one
of the few feathered musicians that regularly warble at night. In Ireland
this habit has gained for the bird the title of “Irish Nightingale ;” but
va music 7 a sweet chorister is beyond all comparison finer than the ,

Sedge-bird’s” garrulous song. In the pairing-season especially, it sings
so loudly as to often appear but a few fect from the observer when in

a

SEDGE-WARBLER. 355

reality it is in the depth of its cover many yards away. The call-note is
a harsh churr rapidly repeated ; and its alarm-note is a scold something
like that of the Whitethroat.

The nesting-season of the Sedge-Warbler commences early in May. Its
nest is never suspended between the reeds like the Reed-Warbler’s, but is
supported by the branches. The site is varied a little, according to the
nature of the haunts it frequents. On the broads and in marshy places
the bird usually selects some convenient place in the willow bushes. In
other haunts the nest is often placed in the thick branches of a hedge near
a stream ; at other times the brambles- growing in wild confusion in its
marshy haunts, or the bushes and woodbine drooping over the water, will
be selected to hold it. Few of our British nests are so unassuming as the
Sedge-Warbler’s. It is a small and simple little structure, not very deep,
made of dry grass-stems, portions of sedgy plants, sometimes lined with a few
hairs, sometimes with scraps of vegetable down. It issometimes placed as
much as ten feet from the ground, but more frequently at a height of one
or two feet, and rarely on the ground itself. Writing of the nest in the
latter situation, Mr. Stevenson, in his ‘ Birds of Norfolk,’ states :—“I have
also found it in some few instances in a little hollow on the ground, but
so concealed amongst the surrounding moss as to be discoverable only by
the bird rising frightened from the spot. Again amongst the sedges, as
its name denotes, it seeks concealment in the treacherous nature of the
soil, and the nests may be there found supported, but not suspended, on
the dead weed and leaves of the sedge broken down.” The eggs of the
Sedge-Warbler are, five or six in number, and differ considerably in colour.
For the sake of convenience it is perhaps best to divide them into two
types, very distinct from each other, but connected together by inter-
mediate varieties. ‘The ground-colour of both types, when it can be seen
(which is not often), is bluish white. The first type is stone-colour, with
pale and indistinct mottlings of yellowish brown. The second type has

_ the same buffish appearance, but the markings are very much more pro-

nounced and of a richer brown, in some specimens deep red-brown.
Almost all eggs of the Sedge-Warbler, of both types, are also marked
with fine scratchy streaks of rich blackish brown; on some eggs these
pencillings are not continuous and can scarcely be traced ; in others they
are almost as pronounced as the marks on a Bunting’s egg. They vary
in length from °75 to ‘6 inch, and in breadth from *55 to °5 inch.

The food of the Sedge- Warbler is largely composed of insects, which it
may often be seen catching in the air whilst fluttering over the waters and
reeds. It also feeds upon worms; and Naumann states that it will eat
elder-berries.

The Sedge-Warbler has the general colour of the upper parts russet-
brown, each feather having an obscure dark centre. These dark centres

ZAR

356 BRITISH BIRDS.

are most conspicuous, becoming nearly black on the head, wing-coverts,
and innermost secondaries, and disappear altogether on the rump, which
is very tawny. The eye-stripe is very distinct, buffish white, but does not
extend to the nape. The underparts are buffish white, darkest on the
breast and flanks. After the autumn moult the eye-stripe and the under-
parts are still more suffused with buff. After both moults, but especially
in spring, the whitish tips to the quills are very conspicuous ; but these
are soon lost by abrasion. Bill dark brown above, pale below; legs, feet,
and claws pale brown ; irides hazel.

AQUATIC WARBLER. 357

ACROCEPHALUS AQUATICUS.

AQUATIC WARBLER.
(Pate 10.)

? Sylvia schcenobeenus (Linn.), apud Scop. Ann. I. Hist. Nat. p. 158 (1769).

? Motacilla aquatica, Gimel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 953 (1788, ex Scop. et Lath.).

? Sylvia aquatica (Gmel.), Lath. Ind. Orn. ii. p. 510 (1790).

Sylvia salicaria (Linn.), apud Bechst. Orn. Taschend. p. 185 (1802).

Acrocephalus salicarius (Zinn.), apud Naum. Nat. Land- u. Wass.- Vig. nérdl. Deutschl.,
Nachtr, Heft iv. p. 203 (1811).

Sylvia aquatica (Gimel.), Temm. Man. d’Orn. p. 131 (1815); et auctorum pluri-
morum—(Nawmunn), (Gould), (Gray), (Schlegel), (Salvadori), (Newto
(Dresser), Se.

Muscipeta salicaria (Linn.), apud Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. i. p. 164 (1816).

Sylvia paludicola, Vieill. N. Dict. d’ Hist. Nat. xi. p. 202 (1817).

Sylvia cariceti, Nawn. Isis, 1821, p. 785.

Calamoherpe aquatica (Gmel.), Bote, Isis, 1822, p. 552.

Calamoherpe cariceti (Nawm.), Bote, Isis, 1822, p. 552.

Calamodyta aquatica (G'mel.), Kaup. Natiirl. Syst. p. 118

Calamoherpe limicola, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 451 (183

Calamoherpe striata, Brehm, Voy. Deutschl. p. 452 (1831).

Salicaria aquatica (Gmel.), Gould, B. Eur. ii. pl. iii. fig. 2 (1837).

Calamodyta cariceti (Nawm.), Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur, § N. Amer. p. 12 (1838).

Calamodus salicarius (Linn.), apud Cab. Mus. Hein. i. p. 89 (1850).

Acrocephalus aquaticus (Gmel.), Newton, ed. Yarr. Brit. B. i. p. 380 (1873).

As long ago as 1822 the Aquatic Warbler must have been known to
British ornithologists ; for Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., has pointed out (‘Trans.
Norfolk and Norwich Nat. Soc.’ 1871, p. 62) that the figure of the “Sedge-
Warbler” in Hunt’s ‘ British Ornithology’ was evidently taken from an
example of the present species. At least three other specimens have been
recorded as British. Professor Newton discovered an example in the
collection of Mr. Borrer, and exhibited it at a meeting of the Zoological
Society (‘ Proc. Zool. Soc.’ 1866, p. 210), with the following note from its
possessor :—‘‘ My specimen was shot on the 19th of October, 1858, in an
old brick-pit a little to the west of Hove, near Brighton, and was stuffed
by Mr. H. Pratt of that place. I saw it just after it was skinned. It was
observed creeping about amongst the old grass and reeds.” In 1867
Mr. Harting recorded the second example simultaneously in the ‘Zoologist’
(p. 946) and ‘ The Ibis’ (p. 468). It was obtained in the neighbourhood
of Loughborough, Leicestershire, during the summer of 1864. 'The third
example was recorded in the ‘ Zoologist’ for 1871 (p. 2521) by Mr. J. H.
Gurney, jun., who detected it amongst a collection of British birds in the
Dover Museum, Mr. Cordon, the curator, informed Mr. Gurney that it

—_
3

358 BRITISH BIRDS.

was shot by himself in the neighbourhood, although the date of its capture
could not be traced. It is no subject for surprise to find this bird occa-
sionally wandering across the English Channel, when we know it breeds
pretty commonly on the opposite coasts of France and Holland. As it is
also apt to be confused with allied species, it may easily escape notice.

The Aquatic Warbler has not a very extensive range. It has never been
found north of the Baltic, and is only known to pass through Spain on
migration. It is a regular, though local, summer migrant to France,
Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, and South Denmark. South of the
Danube it is only known to pass through on migration, a few remaining
during the winter in Greece and Asia Minor. In South Russia Goebel
found it rare in the valley of the Dnieper; and Nordmann once obtained
it at Odessa in spring. Bogdanow did not meet with it either on the
Volga or in the Caucasus ; but Meves found it abundant in the marshes of
the Southern Ural, which, so far as is known, is its eastern limit. It is
said to winter in the Canary Islands and in various parts of North Africa ;
but our information respecting its winter quarters is very meagre. There
is no doubt that a considerable number remain to breed in Algeria and
Tunis.

The only occasion on which I have met with the Aquatic Warbler
was on the island of Heligoland. Mr. R. Bowdler Sharpe, Mr. Frank
Nicholson, and I arrived on the island on the 23rd of September. We
devoted the 24th to Gatke and his wonderful collection ; but on the 25th
we turned out early in the morning before breakfast, and were delighted to
find that there had been a considerable migration of birds during the
night, and that, out of the crowds that must have passed over, many tired
or hungry birds had been left behind, and were to be found feeding on the
edges of the cliff, or skulking among the potatoes. It was very curious to
see what a mixture of birds we had on our breakfast table after about three
hours’ desultory wandering on this bare little earth-covered rock out of
sight of land. To say nothing of common birds, such as Wheatears, Sky-
larks, Woodlarks, Meadow-Pipits, Redstarts, &e., we had shot a Starling,
a Peewit, a Snow-Bunting, a Jack-Snipe, a Corncrake, a couple of Grey-
headed Yellow Wagtails, and an Aquatic Warbler, and had seen Kestrels,
Song-Thrushes, and Ring-Ouzels. The Aquatic Warbler was skulking
amongst the potatoes; and a few days afterwards we picked up a second
example.

The Aquatic Warbler is said to arrive at its breeding-haunts in North
Germany during the last half of April; so that it belongs neither to the
earliest nor to the latest group of migrants. As its name implies, this
bird is only found in swamps, but is said to neglect the large reed-beds,
and choose the ditches, ponds, and banks of lakes and rivers, which abound
in coarse aquatic vegetation, being especially partial to sedges, in which it

AQUATIC WARBLER. 359

delights to hide. Tangled masses of wild roses, brambles, and thorn-
bushes are also places where it is often found. Like all its congeners it
is an active and restless bird, and is remarkably cautious and shy, con-
- cealing itself on the least approach of danger. The Aquatic Warbler is
said never to hop, but on a branch or on the ground to run almost like a
mouse. The song is described as much like that of the Sedge-Warbler,
but is said to be shorter and more rapidly executed, and to want the clear
flute-like notes which make the ‘song of that bird so fine. Its food is
insects ; and it is not known that it ever feeds upon fruit of any kind.

Naumann says that this bird arrives in North Germany a week or two
before the Sedge-Warbler, and is also a somewhat earlier breeder. Fresh
eggs may be obtained in the last half of May. It never makes its nest
amongst the reeds over the water, but chooses a bunch of sedge or water-
plants near the bank, or a thorn or willow overgrown with rank herbage.
The nest is never placed on the ground, but frequently only a few inches
above it; seldom more than a foot or eighteen inches. It is suspended
between the stalks of the plants which grow close to it, and which are
woven into the sides. It is described as smaller than the nest of the
Sedge-Warbler, somewhat roughly and carelessly finished outside, but
inside very deep, round, and smooth. The foundation is of coarse grass,
completed with fine round grass-stalks and roots, neatly lied with horse-
hair. Occasionally spiders’ webs, the flowers of the cotton-grass, and -
even feathers are used for its construction; but the final lining is said
always to be horsehair. The number of eggs varies from four to five.
They are brownish white in ground-colour, thickly mottled and clouded
over the entire surface with yellowish brown, and sometimes with one or two
streaks of dark brown. They vary in length from ‘7 to ‘67 inch, and in
breadth from *52 to ‘5inch. It is impossible to give any character by
which the eggs of this bird can be distinguished from those of the Sedge-
Warbler. Those that I have examined are not perbaps so yellow in tint
and may be a trifle smaller; but in a large series it is quite possible that
these differences will be found to be only individual ones.

The Aquatic Warbler has the general colour of the upper parts pale
tawny brown. ‘The eye-stripe is very distinct, greyish white, and extends
almost to the nape; and over each eye-stripe a broad, very dark-brown
streak passes to the nape, leaving a narrow pale mesial line on the crown.
Each feather of the rest of the upper parts, including the wing-coverts,
innermost secondaries, and tail, has a more or less distinct dark brown
centre, the quill feathers only being uniform brown. In abraded summer
plumage the underparts are nearly white ; but in spring the throat and
flanks are buffer, and in autumn the underparts are more or less suffused all
over with buff. In many skins the lower throat and flanks are striated ; im
this plumage they are the S. cariceti of Naumann. These striations occur

360 BRITISH BIRDS.

principally in birds shot in the pale breeding-plumage, but are sometimes _

sparingly found in the fulvous plumage after the autumn moult. Some
ornithologists ascribe the striated underparts to the adult plumage, and
the unstriated to birds of the year; but I have come to the conclusion,
after examining a large series of these birds, that the striated plumage is
that of summer and the unstriated that of winter, though this appears to
be a somewhat exceptional change. Bill dark brown above, pale below;
legs, feet, and claws pale horn-colour ; irides hazel. This bird may be at
once distinguished from its near ally the Sedge-Warbler by the difference
in the stripes on the head. In that. bird every feather on the head has a
dark centre, forming, when the feathers are not ruffed, four or five distinct
but narrow dark stripes on the crown between the two pale eye-stripes.
In the Aquatic Warbler there are only two dark stripes on the crown, very
broad, distinct, and conspicuous.

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GREAT REED-WARBLER. 361

ACROCEPHALUS TURDOIDES*.

GREAT REED-WARBLER.
(Prats 10.)

Turdus arundinacus, Briss. Orn. ii. p. 219, pl. xxii. fig. 1 (1760); Linn. Syst. Nat.
i. p. 296 (1766).

Acrocephalus lacustris, Vawm. Natur. Land- u. Wass..Vog. nordl. Deutschl. Nachtr.
iv. p. 201 (1811).

Sylvia turdoides, Meyer, Vog. Liv.- u. Esthi. p. 116 (1815); et auctorum plurimo-
rum— Temminck (Bote), Nawmann (Kaup), Ménétriés, (Brehm), (Lesson), ( Gould),
(Bonaparte), Crespon, (Keyserling § Blasius), Nordmann, Werner, Kjerbolling,
Sundevall, (Jaubert § Barthélemy-Lapommeraye), (Degland & Gerbe), (Loche),
(Heuglin), (Doderlein), (Salvadori), Fallon, (Shelley), Sc.

Muscipita lacustris (Nawm.), Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. i. p. 166 (1816).

Calamoherpe turdoides (Meyer), Bove, Isis, 1822, p. 552.

Turdus junco, Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. i. p. 458 (1826).

Hydrocupsichus turdoides (Meyer), Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 121 829),

Arundinaceus turdoides (Meyer), Less. Traité d’ Orn. p. 419 (1831).

Calamoherpe lacustris (NVauwm.), Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 442 (1831).

Calamoherpe stagnatilis, Brehm, Vog. Deutschi. p. 442 (1831).

Salicaria turdoides (Meyer), Gould, B. Eur. ii. pl. evi. (1837).

Acrocephalus arundinaceus (Linn.), Gray, List Gen. B. p. 28 (1841).

Sylvia turdina, Gloger, Handb. Naturg. p. 312 (1842).

Salicaria turdina (Gloger), Schleg. Rev. Crit. p. xxvii (1844).

Calamodyta arundinacea (Linn.), Gray, Gen. B.i. p. 172 (1848).

Calamoherpe media, Malm. Gi/v. Vet.-Ak. Handi. 1851, p. 159.

Calamoherpe turdina ( Gloger), Schleg. Vog. Nederl. p. 142 (1854).

Acrocephalus turdoides (Meyer), Heugl. Orn. N.O.-Afr. i. p. 289 (1869).

Acrocephalus arabicus, Heugl. Orn. N.O.-Afr. i. p. 289 (1869).

Salicaria arundinacea (Linn.), Harting, Handb. Br. B. p. 14 (1872).

Acrocephalus fulvolateralis, Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 289 (1877).

Linneus placed this fine Reed-Warbler amongst his Thrushes, and thus
laid the foundation for much confusion in its synonymy, whilst some
British ornithologists have confounded it with the Eastern Nightingale,
a bird which really is very closely allied to the Thrushes. The only
satisfactorily authenticated instance of the occurrence of the Great Reed-
Warbler in our islands is the one recorded by Hancock in his ‘ Catalogue

* It is to be hoped that British ornithologists will support me in using the name which
has been applied to this species by far the greatest number of authors, and which remains
in universal use on the continent. It is impossible to protest too strongly against the
practice of transferring a name from one species to another—a practice which strikes at
the root of all attempts to obtain scientific accuracy and precision, and paves the way for
endless confusion. There can be no great harm in calling this species A. lacustris or A.
* Junco, but under no circumstances should it be called 4. arundinaceus.

a

362 BRITISH BIRDS.

of the Birds of Northumberland and Durham.’ He writes, ‘‘A male
specimen of this rare casual visitant was shot by Thomas Robson near
Swalwell, four miles west of Newcastle, May 28th, 1847. It was skulking
in the low herbage by the side of a mill-dam, A notice of this capture
is recorded in Annals and Mag. Nat. Hist., August 1847, Vol. xx. p. 135.
The specimen is in the possession of Mr. Thomas Thompson, of Win-
laton; and was, I believe, the first recorded occurrence of this large
Warbler in the British Islands.”

On one of my visits to Constantinople I spent a day at Ortakoi, on the
Bosphorous, with the above-mentioned Mr. Robson, and listened with
great interest to the account of his capture of this rare visitant to our
shores. I found Mr. Robson an excellent field-naturalist, well acquainted
with the songs of all our common birds. He told me that whilst he was
a working mechanic at Newcastle he used to devote much of his leisure
time to the study of field-ornithology. One morning his attention was
suddenly arrested by the song of a bird differing entirely from any thing
he had ever heard before. It was so skulking in its habits that he had
some difficulty in procuring it. Other occurrences are recorded from
Kent, Essex, &c.; but I cannot learn that in any case the facts of the
examples having been killed in this country and having been correctly
identified are placed beyond doubt.

The Great Reed-Warbler is a western Palearctic species, breeding in
Central and Southern Europe, and ranging eastwards into Northern Persia
and Turkestan. It also breeds in some parts of North Africa, and winters
in South Africa. It is abundant in suitable localities in summer in
Portugal, Spain, and all the countries of Europe south of the British
Channel and the Baltic. In South Sweden, as in the British Islands, it
appears to be only an accidental visitor. Its most northerly recorded
locality is the islands at the entrance of the Gulf of Riga. In Russia it
has not been found north of the valley of the Volga. In Africa it breeds
in Morocco and Algeria; and it is a regular summer visitor to Palestine and
Asia Minor. It winters on both the east and west of South Africa, having
been obtained in Lower Guinea, Damara Land, Natal, and the Transvaal.
rom the latter country I have examples in full moult obtained in March
and April.

The Great Reed-Warbler is the Reed-Warbler par excellence, being
absolutely confined during the breeding-season to districts where the
common reed (Arundo phragmitis) abounds. Hence its distribution is
somewhat local. It is, however, very abundant in suitable localities, and
frequents the reed-beds on the banks of rivers, in lakes, and even in small
ponds, It is somewhat remarkable that this bird is not found amongst
the reed-beds of the Norfolk broads. Although it breeds as far west as
Portugal, and its northern range extends almost to the Gulf of Finland,

GREAT REED-WARBLER. 363

and although it is able, on its winter migration, to reach as far south as
the Transvaal, and even Natal, for some reason or other it objects to cross
both the English Channel and the Baltic. We are therefore obliged to
visit the continent to make the acquaintance of this charming bird; but
long before the steamer reaches Rotterdam the ornithologist who crosses
over late in May will hear its loud, if not very musical, song in the reeds
on the banks of the river, and, before he has become familiar with the
note, may possibly mistake it for the croaking of frogs as he hears it
for the first time amidst the splashing of water and the muffled jar of the
engine. :

Early in May, when many of the commoner summer migrants whose
range extends also to our islands are busily engaged in the duties of incu-
bation, a few of the most adventurous Great Reed-Warblers arrive at their
breeding-grounds ; towards the middle of the month they are tolerably
common, and begin to make preparations for building; but it is vain to
look for eggs before the last week in May. One reason for their late
migration may possibly be the fact that the reeds in which they build
do not reach maturity earlier ; but probably the more potent cause of delay
is connected with the supply of food, as they are not only very late in
arriving, but are also very early in departing. Their song ceases about the
middle of July ; during August their numbers rapidly diminish ;. and early
in September you may search the reeds for them in vain.

When the Great Reed-Warbler first arrives at its breeding-quarters it
may occasionally be seen in the willows and other bushes which are often
found in the marshes near the reed-beds; but usvally it is only seen in
the reeds. Its loud song causes its presence to be at once detected ; and
with a little caution there is no difficulty in obtaining a sight of the bird.
In May, last year, I saw a great deal of this bird as I strolled amongst the
twenty-two ponds in the grounds of the old Cistercian Monastery at Rid-
dagshausen, near Brunswick, now converted into the residence of my friend
Oberamtmann Nehrkorn. Many of these ponds are full of reeds, and are
frequented by great numbers of these birds. On the 16th of May I stood
for some time under a pollard willow not five yards from a Great Reed-
Warbler, listening to his harsh croaking as he sat unconcerned on one of
the branches. When finally I frightened him away to see what he would
do, he did not plunge into the reeds, which, by the way, were not yet full-
grown, but he flew over them to a willow bush, where, conspicuously
perched near the top of a perpendicular branch, he resumed his song.
Four days later I found his nest; and on the 22nd it contained one egg.
Both birds were in the reeds close by, and flew angrily at me as I bent
down the reeds to peep in, croaking at me like a couple of frogs. Later
on, im Pomerania, on the 5th of June, in the reed-beds in the Garde
See, the Great Reed-Warbler was equally common. Now and then we

364. BRITISH BIRDS.

saw a bird run up the reeds, and occasionally flutter along over their tops
with hurried flight and outspread depressed tail, as if ready at any moment
to alight. The water was above my knees, and the reeds much above my
head and very densely planted; but I soon found a nest containing four
eggs. There is no evidence of two broods having been reared in one
season; but Mr. Sclater and I took a nest with fresh eggs on the 29th of
June, at Riddagshausen, which may have belonged to a pair whose first
nest had been taken.

The song of the Great Reed-Warbler is something like that of the Sedge-
Warbler, but shorter, louder, and harsher. It consists for the most part
of variations on the few notes which I wrote down on the spot as kar-r-a,
kar-r-a, kee, kee, interrupted with what appears to be the alarm-note, a
root of kr-r-kr-r, as loud and as harsh as the croaking of a frog, but which
nevertheless sounds like music in the ears of a British ornithologist, who
listens to it as the note of arare bird. Like most of its allies, this bird
sings from early morning to late at night.

Its food is principally insects, which it procures on the reeds—small
beetles, flies, and various kinds of larva. It is said occasionally to catch an
insect on the wing, and sometimes to pick them up from the muddy banks
of the river or lake. In autumn, like most other insectivorous birds, it
varies its diet with some of the softer wild fruits, especially elder-berries.

I am not aware of any reliable instance of this bird’s breeding other-
wise than in reeds. The nest is usually placed in the middle of the reed-
bed, about halfway between the top of the reeds and the surface of the
water. ‘Three, four, and sometimes five reeds are deftly woven into the
outside of the nest, which is a large compact structure, composed almost
entirely of the dead grass-like leaflets of the reed interwoven with a few
roots, and lined with the dead flowers of the reed and a few slender grass-
stalks. The nest is deep and cup-shaped, having an inside diameter of
about two inches and a half, and being of about the same depth. Outside
it measures about five inches in height, with an outside diameter of four
inches. Occasionally the leaves of water-plants are interwoven in the
nest, and sometimes moss, wool, a feather or two, and downy seeds (such
as those of the clematis and cotton-grass). The number of eggs is generally
four or five, but frequently six. In colour they almost exactly resemble —
those of the Marsh-Warbler, but are twice the size. The ground-colour
is a pale blue, sometimes approaching green, and often tinged with grey.
Few eggs are more boldly or richly spotted. Large blotches of olive-
brown or russet- brown, sometimes pale but occasionally approaching black,
are distributed pretty evenly over the surface, and are relieved by minute
spots of the same colour, and by the underlying blotches, which show pale
through the ground-colour. The eggs vary considerably in size; the

GREAT REED-WARBLER. 369

largest in my collection measures 1:0 by ‘7 inch, and the smallest °8 by
‘63 inch.

My friend Captain Verner has sent me the following notes on the habits
of this bird :—“On May 11th, 1875, I observed many Great Reed-
Warblers amongst the tall reed-beds in a Laguna in Southern Andalusia.
They were flying about m a restless manner, now and then alighting on
the reeds and singing loudly. By taking advantage of the cover afforded
by the patches of reeds I was enabled to wade to within three or four
yards of single birds, and watch them closely. They varied their song
with a chattering note, much like our Sedge-Warbler’s, but more noisy.
On being disturbed they darted off with a strong and bold flight, doubling
the corner of the nearest reed-bed, and settled again to recommence their
song with fresh vigour. Although I hunted diligently for some hours,
at times up to my waist in water, and amongst reeds some six feet in
height, I only succeeded in finding two unfinished nests. They were
suspended between the stems of the reeds in a similar manner to the
common Reed-Warbler’s.”

The Great Reed-Warbler bears some superficial resemblance to a
Thrush ; but its slender shape, minute bastard primary, rounded tail, and
scutellated tarsus, to say nothing of its double moult and unspotted young,
ought to have prevented it from beimg confounded with the Thrushes,
even by cabinet naturalists who were unacquainted with its Acrocephaline
song and nest. The general colour of the upper parts is olive-brown,
‘suffused with rufous-brown on the rump, tail, and wings. The under-
parts are pale rufous-brown, shading into nearly white on the chin, throat,
_and the centre of the belly. In the bill the upper mandible is dark brown,
and the under mandible pale brown. The irides are brown, and the legs
pale horn-colour. In the autumn plumage the brown of both the upper
and underparts is more rufous than in spring; but much of this rufous
shade is lost by abrasion both in winter and summer. Birds of the year
occasionally show traces of streaks on the breast.

The Great Reed-Warbler has several very near allies, with which it has
often been confounded. It is, however, slightly larger than any of them,
has a somewhat more pointed wing, and decidedly paler legs. Its nearest
ally is the Chinese Great Reed-Warbler (A. orientalis), which breeds in
the valley of the Amoor, North China, and Japan, and winters in the

Burma peninsula and the islands of the Malay archipelago. The Indian
Great Reed-Warbler (A. stenforeus) has a still more rounded wing and
a somewhat longer bill and tail. It is much more restricted in its migra-
tions, and appears to be a resident in Egypt and Ceylon. In the inter-
vening country, Persia, Turkestan, and the Himalayas, it is partially
migratory, breeding in the highlands and wintering in the plains, Two

4

366 BRITISH BIRDS.

slightly smaller species occur in Australia. ‘The Western species (A. longi-
rostris) is very rufous in colour; and the Eastern species (4. australis) has
a comparatively shorter bill. Both species breed in the south, retiring
north on the approach of the cold season. A fifth near ally of our bird,
Kittlitz’s Great Reed-Warbler (A. syrinx), appears to have become slightly
differentiated by its isolation on some of the Caroline Islands in the
Pacific Ocean. There are several other more distantly allied species.

REED-WARBLER. 367

ACROCEPHALUS ARUNDINACEUS* (Brisson nec Newton).

REED-WARBLER.
(Pxate 10.)

Ficedula curruca arundinacea, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 878 (1760).

? Motacilla salicaria, Zinn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 330 (1766).

Motacilla arundinacea, Lightfoot, Phil. Trans, Ixxv. p. 11 (1785); et auctorum
plurimorum—Gmelin, (Bechstein), (Wolf), (Leach), (Temminck), (Naumann),
(Koch), (Jenyns), (Crespon), (Nordmann), (Sundevall), (Salvadori), (Fallon),
(Bonaparte), (Macgillwray), (Selys-Longchamps), (Schlegel), (Degland), (Gerbe),
(Loche), (Doderlein), (Droste), (Shelley), (Gould), (Keyserling), (Blasius),
(Thompson), (Lindermayer), (Fritsch), nec (Gray), (Newton), (Blanford),
(Gurney), (Harting).

Sylvia arundinacea (Brvss.), Lath. Ind. Orn. ii. p. 510 (1790).

Acrocephalus arundinaceus (Briss.), Nawm. Nat, Land- u. Wass.-Vog. nordl. Deutschi.
Nachtr. Heft iv. p. 202 (1811).

Muscipeta arundinacea (Briss.), Koch, Syst. baier, Zool. i. p. 165 (1816).

Sylvia strepera, Vierll. N. Dict. d Hist, Nat. xi. p. 182 (1817).

Calamoherpe arundinacea (Briss.), Bote, Isis, 1822, p. 552.

Curruca arundinacea (Briss.), Fleming, Brit. An. p. 69 (1829).

Curruca fusca, Hempr. et Ehr. Symb. Phys. Aves, fol. cc (1833).

Salicaria arundinacea (Briss.), Selby, Brit. Orn. i. p. 203 (1838).

Calamodyta strepera ( Vieill.), Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 172 (1848).

Sylvia affinis, Hardy, Ann. de ? Assoc. Norm. 1841, fide Degl. Orn. Eur. i. p. 572
(1849, nec Blyth).

Calamoherpe obscurocapilla, Dubois, Journ. Orn. 1856, p. 240.

Calamodyta arundinacea (Briss.), Gray, Hand-l. B. i. p. 208, no. 2940 (1869).

Salicaria strepera (Vieill.), Harting, Handb. Br. B. p. 14 (1872).

Acrocephalus streperus (Vieill.), Newton, ed. Yarr. Brit. B. i. p. 369 (1878).

Salicaria macronyx, Severtz. Turkest. Jevotn. pp. 63, 128 (1873).

* In order to prevent the possibility of being misunderstood it is necessary for the
present to add the authority after this name. It was applied to the Great Reed-Warbler
by Linneeus, Gmelin, Latham, Bechstein, Wolf, Temminck, and Vieillot ; but as all these
writers thought the Great Reed-Warbler was a Thrush, and placed it in the genus Twrdus,
no one was likely to confuse the great Twrdus arwndinaceus with the modest Acrocephalus
arundinaceus. In process of time the earlier ornithologists discovered that they were
mistaken in supposing the Great Reed-Warbler te be a Thrush; and finding that the
genus to which it properly belonged already contained an arundinaceus, they most sensibly
adopted a new and extremely appropriate name for the Thrush-like Reed-Warbler,
turdoides, as a perpetual memorial of their former blunder. For upwards of a quarter of
a century all went well, and everybody knew what bird was meant by Sylvia arundinacea,
Acrocephalus arundinaceus, Calamoherpe arundinacea, or Salicaria arundinacea. In 1841
the first false step was made by Gray. Led astray by the plausibility of the Stricklandian
Code, which received the sanction of the British Association the following year, he
transferred the name of the Reed-Warbler to the Great Reed-Warbler, raking up a long-
forgotten name for the smaller species. But the pedantry of Gray was not likely to do

368 BRITISH BIRDS.

The Reed-Warbler appears to have been known to Willughby and Ray,
who most unaccountably placed it amongst their “ Woodpeckers less pro-
perly so-called”?! but was not accurately described until Brisson’s great
work appeared. Gilbert White must have been acquainted with the bird,
which he describes as differing from the Grasshopper Warbler by having
the head, back, and wing-coverts without the dark spots of the latter
species. He also identifies his bird with the Lesser Reed-Sparrow of
Willughby and Ray, which is undoubtedly the Reed-Warbler ; but as in
a subsequent letter he lays great stress on the white streak over the eye
and the tawny rump, many writers, amongst whom are Blyth, Yarrell,
and Newton, have concluded that he meant the Sedge-Warbler. He pro-
bably confounded the two birds together. Fourteen years afterwards any
confusion that may have arisen was cleared up by Lightfoot, who
described both the bird, its habits, and its nest, from observations made
in West Middlesex.

The Reed-Warbler is common enough in the south of England; but in
the north it is very rare, and has consequently acquired, in the eyes of
northern naturalists, the fascination which naturally emanates from the
halo of mystery which surrounds rare birds. It seems very doubtful
whether the Reed-Warbler breeds in Great Britain north of the Humber
or west of the Mersey. Writing to me of its occurrence in North-east
Lincolnshire, Mr. Cordeaux states that it is rare. “In the summer of
1876 and two following years two or three pairs nested in a reedy drain
in this parish (Great Cotes). Since that period I have not met with them,
which is more remarkable as they were not disturbed in rearing their
young. It occurs tolerably regularly on migration through the district im
the autumn.” It has been recorded from Ireland and Scotland, and is
even supposed to breed in Lothian; but as the writers who mention its
occurrence do not appear to have been aware of the singularity of
the circumstance, we may fairly imagine that no great pains were
taken to verify the statements, and we may consequently accept
them with some doubt. On the continent the range of this bird is not
very limited. It is found in suitable localities in summer throughout

much harm; and his unscientific nomenclature would have been forgotten as a passing
eccentricity, if, thirty-two years afterwards, Newton had not adopted it. Asa natural
consequence, the minor ornithologists blindly followed their leaders—Harting, Blanford,
Gurney, Dresser, and nearly every contributor of the ‘Ibis’ and the ‘ Zoologist’ adopted
the new names, until the name of Acrocephalus arundinaceus meant one bird in England
and another in France and Germany. English ornithologists must accept the penalty of
having followed such blind guides, and must add an authority (Brisson) to their name,
or a repudiation of other siguifications, such as nec Gray, nec Newton, or nec Dresser,
until the confusion produced by these writers has blown over and been forgotten.

REED-WARBLER. 369

Europe, south of latitude 58°, and in Asia Minor, Palestine, South-west
Siberia, Turkestan, Persia, Baluchistan, and probably in Afghanistan.
It is said to be a resident in Greece and the surrounding islands ; but it
passes through North Africa on migration, and winters in Central Africa.
Severtzow maintains that the Turkestan birds are a distinct species, which
he has named Acrocephalus macronyx ; but the last time I was in Moscow
we very carefully examined his series of these birds, principally from the
valley of the Syr-Darja, where he says his new species is a resident, and I
failed to detect any specific difference whatever*.

The Reed-Warbler, as its name implies, is a denizen of the reed-beds
and sedges which often abound on the shallow margins of rivers, lakes,
ponds, and ditches. It is, however, by no means confined to the reeds,
and is very partial to brushwood in the vicinity of water, and also frequents
gardens, especially where there are ponds. Some continental ornitho-
logists have attempted to discriminate between the birds frequenting reeds
and those frequenting bushes ; but there does not appear to exist a
shadow of evidence in favour of their being distinct.

The habits of all the Reed-Warblers are almost exactly alike. They
are migratory birds, never remaining in this country during the winter,
and arriving somewhat late in spring. Even in the south of England the
song of the Reed-Warbler is not heard before the last week of April, and
many birds do not arrive before May is well advanced. A bird so retiring
in its habits is more often heard than seen; but with care it is not difficult
to obtain a sight of the indefatigable songster as it clings to a perpen-
dicular reed or willow-twig, or flies across the water from one reed-bed to
another, or hurries over the tops of the reeds along a ditch or across a
pond. In cold windy weather they do not sing much unless disturbed ;
but in bright sunny mornings or warm still evenings they sing inces-
santly, half a dozen birds apparently trying to outrival each other in the
loudness and rapidity of their notes. In calm close weather they will
sing almost all night. ‘The song is somewhat more monotonous than

that of the Sedge-Warbler ; the whistle is not so full, so rich, or so
loud; but, as if to compensate for this, the scold is by no means so harsh,
and is decidedly gentler; but the notes follow each other in rapid suc-
cession, and possess considerable variety and some melody. Its call-note

* Severtzow kindly lent me one of his types for comparison. The wing measures
2:85 inches, the tail 2:3, the culmen ‘7, the tarsus ‘98, and the hind toe and claw ‘63.
The second primary is intermediate between the fourth and fifth, The colour is slightly
paler than British examples, but does not differ from that of skins from Savoy, Central
Germany, Transylvania, and the Ural river. The size of the feet of these small birds
varies considerably, probably in consequence of difference of age or sex; and I have
examples of this species from Europe with quite as large feet as those of the Turkestan
birds.

VOL. I. 2B

70 BRITISH BIRDS.

is a double choh; and the alarm-note at the nest sounds like har-r. Like
all its congeners, it is principally an insectivorous bird, and is occasionally
seen to fly after an insect on the wing. In autumn there seems to be no
doubt that it occasionally eats soft fruits, such as currants and elder-berries.
I have listened to the lively song of this charming bird for hours whilst
boating on the broads of Norfolk and on the extensive fish-ponds where
the old monks used to breed their carp in the days when my friend
Oberamtmann Nehrkorn’s house was a Cistercian monastery. For an
unusually graphic account of the habits of the Reed-Warbler in the
former locality I must refer the reader to Stevenson’s ‘ Birds of Norfolk.’

This bird sometimes breeds in bushes, but generally in reeds. In 1881
I made two excursions from London in order to observe them in both
these situations.

On the 3rd of June Mr. Bidwell and I paid a visit to one of the chief
breeding-places of the Reed-Warblers on the banks of the Thames, about
twenty miles from the city. We kept close to the bank, which was lined
with willows from six to twenty feet high, the lower branches dipping into
the water. We passed some willows which had been lopped down into the
dimensions of an ordinary hedge without hearing the notes of the birds of
which we were in search; but as soon as we reached the taller and wider
trees, our appearance seemed to be the signal for intermittent snatches of
a rapid song which sounded both angry and defiant, and which became
almost continuous when the boat-hook gripped a branch of a tree close to
the one in which the Reed-Warbler was protesting against our invasion of
his breeding-grounds.

We very soon discovered a nest. It was about nine feet above the water,
and interwoven between three slender willow-twigs, which stretched out
at an angle of about 45° from the perpendicular. It was a very compact
structure, more than twice as high as it was wide, the bottom two thirds
being only foundation. The nest inside was about as deep as it was wide,
and quite horizontal. The materials were principally very fine roots, a
piece or two of worsted, a feather, a little moss, and some dry grass. The
lining was entirely fine roots. There were five eggs in the nest, slightly
incubated. We afterwards found four more nests, containing respectively
four, four, three, and two eggs, besides several old nests and one or two
not quite finished. They were all overhanging the water, and all in the
tall willows ; but the distance of the nest from the water varied from six to
twelve feet. One old nest was only three feet above the water. At one of
the nests, the eggs in which were more incubated than the others, the female
remained whilst we were at the nest, flying backwards and forwards, and
occasionally perching very near us. Her song seemed to be by no means
so loud or continuous as that of her mate, and was little more than a
chatter. The materials of all the nests were nearly the same; but one

io}

REED-WARBLER. 871

was built without preliminary foundations, being not much deeper than
wide outside ; whilst others were intermediate in this respect between the
two extreme forms. In some two twigs only were interwoven with the
nest, whilst one had four twigs passing through its walls.

The eggs in each nest varied very little; but some clutches were much
darker and more profusely spotted than others. The ground-colour was a
pale greenish blue, and the spots or blotches greenish brown, more or less
confluent at the larger ends, the underlying spots being paler and greyer
than the others. Some eggs show a few streaky spots, almost black.

A week later I went down to Brighton. Abouta mile from the railway-
station at Shoreham, across the Duke of Norfolk’s suspension-bridge, is a
plain watered by the river Adur, which flows between the downs and the
beach for some distance. This plain is, as might be expected from its
position, somewhat swampy ; but it is a highly cultivated farming district,
being well drained by natural dykes which wind into the river, assisted by
a number of artificial dykes generally cut in an absolutely straight line,
reminding one of the Dutch system of broad open drains. In Sussex these
drains serve three purposes. By a system of trap-doors they allow the
river to take away the surplus water whenever the level of the river is
below that of their own, without admitting the floods from the river when
the contrary is the case. The second purpose they serve is that of reed-
beds, from which a crop is regularly gathered for use as a substitute for
straw. The third purpose to which they have been applied (by Nature,
and not by Man) is that of a most interesting summer residence and
breeding-place of the Reed-Warbler.

There are very few hedges on this plain, these dykes serving, indeed, a
fourth purpose (which I had forgotten), namely of dividing field from field.
The absence of hedges is accompanied, as usual, by the absence of birds.
Occasionally we saw a few Rooks or a Peewit on the fallows. Now and
then a Skylark might be heard singing overhead, ora Corn-Bunting might
be seen on the telegraph-wires uttering its monotonous note. Once we
_ Saw a Sedge- Warbler singing its harsh song amongst a swamp full of flags
and rushes and gay with the yellow iris, and occasionally essaying a short
flight in the air after the manner of a Tree-Pipit.

The Reed-Warblers were in the dykes; but a careless passer-by would
have seen nothing of them. The dykes were from four to six feet wide, with
steep banks, the level of the water being about two feet below the top of the
banks. Most of the dykes were full of reeds, the tallest of which reached
another two feet above the banks, so that as we walked along them we looked
down upon the heads of the reeds ; but not a Reed- Warbler was to be seen
or heard. The dykes which we visited may have been a couple of miles
long. Sixteen days earlier Swaysland had cleared the dyke of Reed-
Warblers, beating up the reeds and driving the birds into a net, returning

2B 2

372 BRITISH BIRDS.

with twenty-four birds, a nest with four eggs, and leaving a nest not quite
completed. The latter nest we visited, and found it to contain four fresh
eggs. In another part of the dyke, which had not been explored by
Swaysland on his previous visit, we also found a nest containing four fresh
eggs. These nests were both within six inches of the level of the water.
A couple of days after Swaysland’s visit a bitterly cold north wind set in,
and we had a fortnight’s regular March weather, with two days heavy rain
in the midst of it, during which time either the Reed-Warblers were not
at the dyke or suspended nest-building for the time, or carried it on in a
very dilatory manner. ‘The evening before our visit the wind changed to
south, and in the afternoon we found it very hot. We divided our forces
and began to beat up the reeds on either side of the dyke in what appeared
to me at first to be an utterly useless search for Reed-Warblers which did
not exist. We had not proceeded more than a hundred yards, however,
before the well-known song of a Reed-Warbler suddenly commenced. By
gently bending aside the reeds with our sticks, we were able easily to expose
the whole situation to view, and in a few yards came to the nest. In this
way, without any difficulty, we found in a couple of hours eleven nearly
finished nests, built in the reeds from one to two feet above the water-
level. The birds were evidently busy building; both male and female

at once revealed to us by the male beginning to sing. ‘The birds skulked
away among the reeds; and we could trace their progress by watching the
motion of the reeds, which bent under their weight. They never came
out into the open, unless suddenly surprised or surrounded. The Reed-
Warbler is said to be a very quarrelsome bird, and to drive off all comers
from its own particular part of the dyke. Each nest was at some distance
from the next; and when we drove the birds before us into the ground of
the next pair the song of the two males sounded loud and angry. The
narrower dykes were full of reeds; but some of the broader ones had open
water in the middle. In these broader dykes we saw much more of the

birds, as they frequently crossed from one side to the other; and here we ,

-s
were in close proximity to the unfinished nest, the locality of which was *

}

5

observed that the Reed-Warbler, like the Sedge- Warbler, sings as it flies. |

We could also watch them with the binocular as they lustily sang, clinging
to the reeds, and showing very conspicuously the deep orange of the inside

-
~~
+

:

of their mouths. When flying, the tail was generally expanded, especially _

as they alighted; but when on the reed, it was usually depressed as if to
form an additional support by touching the stem. We never saw them
with erected tail; but this position may probably be assumed when they
are defiant. Their great object appeared to be to keep as much out of
sight as possible ; and whenever a bird did take wing it flew close over the
top of the reeds, dropping into them as soon as it thought itself at a suffi-
ciently safe distance. Where the reeds were slender or not close together,

-
’
7

|

REED-WARBLER. 873

we found no nests and saw no birds. The nests were very easy to find.
Some were long and tapering ; but most had little or no unnecessary foun-
dation. There were generally three or four reeds interwoven into the
sides of each nest. Swaysland had an idea that the nests were so built
that they could rise or fall with the rise or fall of the water; but we found
that most had a leaf projecting close to the nest both immediately above
and below the nest on one or other of the reeds, which would make any
movement of the kind impossible.

There was frequently a little wool or thistle-down used in the construc-
_ tion of the nest ; but dry grass-stalks and roots were the principal materials.
Ten days later there would no doubt have been plenty of eggs; but we were
afraid that we were too late already. Possibly the cold weather may have
been the cause of the delay; or it may perhaps be accounted for on the
theory that Swaysland caught most of the original settlers on this dyke,
and that the birds we saw were a later arrival of Reed-Warblers which
had been driven out of the adjoming dykes by their quarrelsome neigh-
bours. The eggs of the Reed-Warbler vary from *78 to ‘7 inch in length,
and from ‘55 to *5 inch in breadth, and are from three to five in number.
Dixon writes, “‘It is worthy of remark how very distinct generically the
eggs of the British Warblers are. The eggs in each genus, almost without
exception, are peculiar. ‘Thus in the Willow-Warblers (Phylloscopus) we
have pure white eggs spotted with red; in the Tree-Warblers (Hypolais)
the eggs are salmon-coloured spotted with purplish brown; in the Grass-
hopper Warblers (Locustel/a) the finely powdered markings of brown and
their general pinky appearance are characteristic of them alone ; whilst in
the Reed- Warblers (Acrocephalus) greens and olive-browns are the predo-
minant colours. In the true Warblers (Sylvia), however, there is not so
much uniformity ; and this circumstance doubtless to some extent proves
the greater antiquity of these birds as compared with the birds of allied
genera. It seems to me that the very distinct variations in the eggs of
the true Warblers show a wide differentiation of many of the species ; but
in the allied groups (Acrocephalus, Locusiella, Hypolais, Phylloscopus),
although the species have become fairly differentiated, the eggs have not
yet had time to vary, and consequently a certain type of egg runs through
each respective genus. What part these variations play in the economy of
the birds still remains to be discovered ; but I think it is very clear that
these well marked generic types of eggs prove a not very remote evolution
of the birds in each of these genera severally from a common parent.”

The general colour of the upper parts of the Reed-Warbler is olive-
brown suffused with rufous, especially on the rump and upper tail-coverts.
The eye-stripe is nearly obsolete; and the innermost secondaries have
broad ill-defined pale edges ; the breast, flanks, and under tail-coverts are
rufous-buff, shading into nearly white on the chin, throat, and centre of

374 BRITISH BIRDS.

the belly. Bill dark brown above, pale beneath; legs, feet, and claws
slaty brown; irides brown. After the autumn moult the rufous colours of
the upper and underparts are more pronounced. The nearest ally to the
Reed-Warbler is undoubtedly the Marsh-Warbler, from which it is very
difficult to distinguish it, except when freshly moulted. It has also three
other very near allies—A.dumetorum and A. agricola in the Eastern Pale-
arctic and Oriental Regions, and A. beticatus in the South Ethiopian Region ;
but these species, as might readily be anticipated in birds whose migrations
extend over so much smaller an area, have much more rounded wings, the
second primary being always shorter than the fifth. In the more pointed-
winged species it is sometimes nearly as long as the third, and never much
shorter than the fourth.

~
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.
.)
|
\,|
\

—

REED-WARBLER’S NEST.

ore

aa.

MARSH-WARBLER. 375

ACROCEPHALUS PALUSTRIS.

MARSH-WARBLER.
(Pate 10.)

Sylvia palustris, Bechst. Orn. Taschenb. p. 186 (1802); et auctorum pluri-
morum — Temminck, Naumann, (Schlegel), (Newton), (Degland § Gerbe),
(Loche), (Doderlein), (Salvadori), (Gould), (Dresser), 8:c.

Acrocephalus palustris (Bechst.), Nawm. Nat. Land- u. Wass.-Vog. nirdl. Deutschl.
Nachtr. Heft iv. p. 202 (1811).

Calamoherpe palustris (Bechst.), Bote, Isis, 1822, p. 552.

Calamoherpe musica, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 446 (1831).

Salicaria palustris (Bechst.), Gould, B. Eur. ii. pl. 109 (1837).

Calamodyta palustris (Bechst.), Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 172 (1848).

Sylvia (Calamoherpe) fruticola, Nawm. Vog. Deutschi. xiii. p. 453 (1853).

Calamoherpe pratensis, Jaub. Rev. et Mag. de Zool. vii. p. 65 (1855).

Thanks to the researches of Harting and others, the Marsh-Warbler
must now be admitted to be a regular though local summer visitor to the
south of England. Some English ornithologists, who have never made the
personal acquaintance of both species, have almost refused to admit their
distinctness. No doubt they are very closely allied; but in their song,
habits, eggs, and geographical distribution they differ as much as a Black-
bird differs from a Thrush.

In Harting’s ‘Handbook of British Birds’ six occurrences of the
Marsh-Warbler (three near Cambridge and three near Yarmouth) are
recorded. There does not seem to be any reason to doubt the correctness
of the identification in any of these instances. In the ‘ Zoologist’ for
1875, p. 4713, Mr. Cecil Smith satisfactorily proves not only the repeated
occurrence, but also the breeding of this species, near Taunton in Somerset-
shire. Last year, at least three nests of the Marsh-Warbler were taken
in the same locality. I saw the eggs of one of these nests before they
were blown; and two of the nests are now in my collection. These nests
were attached to the stalks of the meadow-sweet, cow-parsnip, and nettle ;
and, in one instance at least, the superiority of the song to that of the
Reed- or Sedge-Warbler was noted. The eggs which I saw were un-
mistakable Marsh-Warbler’s eggs; and those in the other nests were
correctly described. Mr. Murray A. Mathew has recorded the first
occurrence in the ‘ Zoologist’ for 1882, p. 265; and the others are
mentioned by Mr. F. Stansell in the same volume, p. 306.

I am also indebted to my friend Mr. John Young for the following note
of the Marsh-Warbler breeding in England near Bath, and obligingly
contributed by Mr. C. Young of Llandaff:—“ In the summer of 1880

376 BRITISH BIRDS.

I found two nests of this species—one on July 21st, from which the young
ones had flown, the other about a quarter of a mile lower down the brook,
which was not finished when I found it on July 3rd, but on the 15th
contained four eggs somewhat incubated. The first nest was supported
by last year’s nettle-stalks and the greater willow-herb, and was about a
foot from the ground. The second was about three feet from the ground
and supported by figwort and nettle-stalks, and was some distance from the
bank of the stream. The eggs are very different from those of the Reed-
Warbler, and more resemble those of the Great Reed-Warbler, but are
smaller. The nest, though suspended in the same way as that of the
common species, is more loosely constructed, of grasses, both stalks and
flowers being used; it is not so deep, and has no wool about it, this being
generally a feature in the Reed-Warbler’s nest. Nor was the locality one
where I should have expected to find the Reed-Warbler, the stream being
small, with an entire absence of reeds, the banks fringed with alders and
willows, and in places a considerable growth of coarse herbage. I heard
the song several times, and noted its difference from that of the Sedge-
Warbler, which also frequented the same place. My unmusical ear,
however, failed to distinguish it from that of the Reed-Warbler, with
which I am well acquainted. I scarcely: saw the parent birds, as they
were very shy and kept carefully out of sight. The hen bird left the nest
when I approached it the second time.”

On the continent the geographical range of the Marsh-Warbler differs
but very slightly from that of the Reed-Warbler. It is a regular summer
visitor to most parts of Europe south of the Baltic. In Russia it has been
found as far north as Réval in the west and Ekatereenburg in the east.
Finsch records it from South-west Siberia. Russow obtained it in Western
Turkestan, and Blanford in South Persia. Its occurrence in Asia Minor
or Palestine is doubtful. It winters an Africa, having been recorded
from various parts of the valley of the Nile, Egypt, Nubia, and Lado,
almost on the equator. It is also said to winter as far south as Natal.

The Marsh-Warbler is one of the latest birds of passage to arrive at its
breeding-grounds, and one of the earliest to leave in autumn. It is said
to arrive about the middle of May, and to depart late in August. The
Marsh-Warbler does not frequent reeds as the Reed-Warbler generally
does, but confines itself principally to swampy thickets, where brambles
struggle through the rank herbage that almost smothers them, and tall
willows rise above the brushwood, generally near water, but seldom over-
hanging the stream. It is not nearly so skulking in its habits as its
nearest relation, but is often seen perched conspicuously on the tops of
the willows pouring out its song, or making a long flight from one tree
to another. It is a far finer singer than its near ally. It sings quite as
loud; but its voice is more melodious and its song more varied. Some-

a i ll eddie ar Wass

Ke

oe LS Bolin , s . —
tains te din ae de ne ee — ee

De el ee eee

oven

MARSH-WARBLER. 377

times one might imagine that one was listening to the song of a Reed-
Warbler with an unusually rich voice ; but more often the melody recalls
the song of the Swallow, the Lark, or of the Tree-Warbler, and often one
might come to the conclusion that the singer had had lessons from a
Nightingale or a Bluethroat. The song is not so loud as that of the
Nightingale, but almost as rich and decidedly more varied. In some
parts of Germany both species are common, and in the course of a
morning’s stroll, you may hear both birds in full song and have a good
opportunity of making a comparison between them. I penned the
preceding notes three years ago on the banks of the river that winds
past Herrenhausen, near Hanover, whither my friend Post-Director Pralle
had taken me the year before he died, to teach me the difference between
the songs of these two birds, both of them special favourites of his.
Naumann says that the call- and alarm-notes resemble very closely those
of the Reed-Warbler. He also asserts that, in addition to their usual
insect food, they are fond of currants, elder-berries, and other soft
‘fruits.

The same excellent observer states that “the nest is never placed over
water—not even over marshy ground. It is always built over firm ground,
though this is generally somewhat moist, as it cannot help being on the
bank of a stream, a situation often chosen. But you can always reach
the nest dryshod. In the Lowlands I always found it near the large
country-houses, especially in the gardens on the banks of the moats,
which sometimes were filled with reeds, and frequently contained very
little vegetation. The nest was sometimes close to the water, but often
many steps away from it, in low bushes overgrown with reeds ; frequently
it was built in the nettles, or in a clump of water-sorrel and reeds, or in
a small bush overgrown with reeds, nettles, and other plants. It is also
said to be found in the rape-fields, generaliy in the ditches, seldom deep
in the rape itself. The Reed-Warbler often breeds near the Marsh-
Warbler, sometimes in the same ditch; but the latter bird always builds
in the herbage on the bank near the water, whilst the former as constantly
breeds in the reeds over the water. To this rule there seems to be no
exception. ‘he nest is generally from one to three feet from the ground,
very seldom nearer, and, I am told on the best authority, never on the
ground itself..... It is no use to look for the nest in the middle of dense
thickets, but only on their edges, especially in isolated little bushes close
to the borders of ditches and moats. When one knows this they are
comparatively easy to find. The greatest difficulty connected with the
search is in the great restlessness of the bird. The male sings now here,
and then a hundred yards away. He seems to require for his feeding-
ground a much wider circle than his congeners do. The best way to find
the nest is to notice where he sings during the night or at early morning.

378 BRITISH BIRDS.

._.. The nest perfectly resembles that of the Grasshopper Warbler *, but
is closer built, and its colour is darker and greyer; it is also more
smoothly finished outside. It is as deep as the nests of other Reed-
Warblers, neatly rounded, with the upper edge bent inwards. The
materials are principally dry leaves and stalks of fine grass, mixed with
grass and the fibres of nettles and other plants, and often with insect-
webs, all somewhat carefully woven together, in some places almost felted
together. Inside it is lined with very fine grass and a considerable quantity
of horsehair.”

The two nests from Taunton were suspended between stems of the
meadow-sweet. They are composed almost entirely of fine round grass-
stalks mixed with a few dry grass-leaves and some kind of downy fibre.
One of them is somewhat sparingly lined with black horsehair; and the
other is lined with a spray or two of green moss, upon which a profuse
covering of black horsehair is placed, coming up to the outside rim. The
inside is beautifully rounded and deep, the inside diameter being about
2} inches and the depth 1? inches.

The Marsh-Warbler breeds only once in the year; but if the nest
be disturbed it soon makes another. Pralle told me that he once found
a nest of a Marsh-Warbler on an island in one of the parks near Hanover
containing fresh eggs, which he took. A week afterwards he revisited the
place, and found a second nest with eggs close by the old site. He also
took these eggs, and was surprised to find that in the course of another
week a third nest had been built, in which the birds successfully reared a
brood.

The number of eges varies from five to seven; and in the colour and ~
>} an) 3

character of the markings they present two very distinct types, the one
apparently as common as the other. The first type has the ground-colour
pale greenish blue, with surface-spots and blotches of olive-brown and
underlying markings of violet-grey. The peculiarity of this type is that
most of the spots are underlying ones, the overlying spots being fewer and
smaller. Each of these olive surface-markings generally contains a spot
of darker brown in the centre. The second type somewhat more nearly
approaches the eggs of the Reed-Warbler, being of a greenish-white ground-
colour, richly marbled, blotched, and spotted with olive-brown, and haying
a few very dark brown specks. In this type the underlying markings are
few and usually small. In both types most of the markings are distributed

* Dresser, in his ‘ Birds of Europe,’ also notices the resemblance of the nest to that of
the Grasshopper Warbler ; but the paragraph in which the remark occurs is so obviously
a free translation of Naumann that it cannot be regarded as independent evidence. I haye
not seen many nests of either of these birds; but in all that I have seen, the nest of
the Acrocephalus is built of round grass,and the nest of the Locusfella of flat grass.

al

MARSH-WARBLER. 379

on the large end of the egg, sometimes so thickly as to almost conceal the
-ground-colour. They vary in length from ‘8 to ‘65 inch, and in breadth
from °59 to *52 inch. .

The Marsh-Warbler has the general colour of the upper parts varying
from olive-brown in spring plumage to earthy brown iu summer plumage,
with a scarcely perceptible shade of rufous after the autumn moult, slightly
paler on the rump ; the eye-stripe is nearly obsolete ; and the innermost
secondaries have broad ill-defined pale edges. The breast, flanks, and under
tail-coverts are pale buff, shading into nearly white on the chin, throat, and
the centre of the belly. After the autumn moult the underparts are suffused
with buff. Bill dark brown above, pale below; legs, feet, and claws pale
horn-colour ; irides hazel.

Freshly moulted birds of this species may always be distinguished from
~ Reed-Warblers by the colour of the rump. In the Marsh-Warbler it is
olive-brown, and in the Reed-Warbler russet-brown. There is no diffe-
rence in the wing-formula of these two species.

380 BRITISH BIRDS.

Genus HYPOLAIS.

The Tree-Warblers were included by Linneus in his comprehensive ~
genus Motacilla. Bechstein afterwards placed them in the genus Sylvia,
which Scopoli had made for the Warblers. Various writers have at
different times separated the Warblers into different groups, amongst
whom was Brehm, who, in the ‘ Isis’ for 1828, p. 1283, founded the genus
Hypolais for the Icterine Warbler, which therefore becomes its type.
Brehm, following Linneus, misspelt this word “Hippolais,’ under a
mistaken idea of its derivation.

The genus Hypolais contains a small group of birds chiefly remarkable
for laying eggs having a French-grey or salmon-coloured ground-colour.
They form the connecting-link between Phylloscopus and Acrocephalus,
having the nearly even tail of the former and the large bill of the latter.
From the large-billed subgeneric group of the former (Acanthopneustes),
besides the difference in the coloration of the eggs already alluded to,
they can only be distinguished by the absence of the pale tips to the wing-
coverts—which in Acanthopneustes form one, and often two pale bars across
the wings. There are four well-defined species belonging to this genus,
three of which do not exhibit any great variation of size, wing-formula, or
colour. ‘The other species is perhaps more variable than any other member
of this large subfamily, and may be divided into six or more races, which
are tolerably distinct, although connected together by mtermediate forms. _

The T'ree-Warblers frequent wooded localities, bush-covered marshy
districts, gardens, and thickets. All the species of this genus possess con-
siderable powers of song. They build beautiful cup-shaped nests ; and their
eggs are from four to six in number. Their food is chiefly composed
of insects, which they search for amongst leaves and twigs and frequently
capture in the air.

The basin of the Mediterranean appears to be the centre of distribution
of this genus—one or two species extending their range more to the east, —

one of them as far as Lake Baikal. One species only is a rare straggler to
the British Islands,

Bictoran.
ee

—

ICTERINE WARBLER. 381

HYPOLAIS HYPOLAIS*.

ICTERINE WARBLER.
(Puate 10.)

Motacilla hypolais, Zinn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 330 (1766) ; et auctorum plurimorum—
(Bechstein), (Wolf), (Temminck), (Naumann), (Eversmann), (Kaup), (Gould),
(Nordmann), (Gray), (Werner), (Schlegel), (Blasius), (Heuglin), (Lindermayer),
(Harting), (Gurney), (Shelley), (Keyserling), (Sundevall), &c.

Sylvia hypolais (Zinn.), Bechst. Orn. Taschenb. p. 173 (1802).

Muscipeta hypolais (Linn.), Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. i. p. 170 (1816).

Sylvia icterina, Viel. N. Dict. d Hist. Nat. xi, p. 194 (1817).

Hypolais hypolais (Linn.), Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 96 (1829),

Hypolais salicaria (Linn.), apud Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. § N. Amer. p. 13 (1888).

Ficedula hypolais (Linn.), Keys. u. Blas. Wirb. Ew’. pp. vi & 184 (1840).

Hypolais icterina ( Veill.), Gerbe, Rev, Zool. 1844, p. 440.

Ficedula ambigua (Schi.), apud Durazzo, Descr. di Genova, i. pt.2, pp. 170,177 (1846).

Sylvia obscura, Snwth, Ill. Zool. S. Afr., Burds, pl. 112. fig. 1 (1849).

Phyllopneuste hypolais (Linn.), Schl. Dier. Nederl. Vogels, p. 58 (1861).

Salicaria italica, Salvad. Atti R. Ac. Sc. Tor, iii. p. 268 (1868).

It is somewhat extraordinary that a bird so common in the north of
France, Belgium, Holland, and North Germany, and, from the peculiarity
of its song and the unique character of its eggs, so impossible to escape
detection as the Icterine Warbler, should only have twice been shot in the
British Islands. But such appears to be the case. Both these examples
were exhibited by Mr. Dresser at the meeting of the British Association at
Brighton in 1872. The first was killed on the 15th of June 1848, at
Eythorne near Dover, and passed into the coilection of Dr. Scott of Chud-
leigh. The second was shot on the 8th of June 1856, by Mr. J. G.
Rathborne, at Dunsinea, on the banks of the river Tolka, in the county of
Dublin, and was by him presented to the Royal Dublin Society’s Museum.
In both cases the peculiarity of the song was the cause of speciai attention
having been directed to the birds; and the details published (of the one
in the ‘ Journal of the Royal Dublin Society,’ i. p. 440, and of the other in
the ‘ Zoologist’ for 1848, p. 2228) leave no room to doubt the genuineness
of the occurrences.

The range of the Icterme Warbler is a very peculiar one. It is a

* According to the British-Association rules, the name to be adopted for the Icterine
Warbler is Iduna hypolais; but as the genus Hypolais dates much earlier than that of
Iduna, it has been generally retained; and there seems no reason why the name hypolais
should not also be retained in a specific sense, since it has been used by a very large

" majority of writers.

4a

382 BRITISH BIRDS.
common summer visitor to the north of France, Belgium, Holland,
Germany, Italy, and Sicily, but is very rare in the south of France, and
entirely absent from Spain. It is common in Denmark, the Baltic
Provinces, and South Scandinavia, but becomes much rarer further north,
the limit of its range in Norway being lat. 67° and in Sweden and West
Russia about 65°. On the Urals it is said only to range as far north as
57°; and it has been recorded east of those mountains from the valley of
the Tobol. It is common in Central Russia; but m South Russia it is very
rare, and it has not been recorded from the Caucasus. It passes through
Greece, Asia Minor, and North Africa on migration, and winters in South
Africa, whence it has been received in collections from Ovampo, Damara
Land, and the Bechuana country.

The Icterine Warbler or Common Tree- Warbler is sometimes known by
the misleading name of the Melodious Willow-Warbler. Its song is by no
means specially melodious. It has great power, wonderful variety, and
considerable compass, but is singularly deficient in melody. Nor is the
bird by any means a Willow-Warbler. The Tree-Warblers are a group
probably more nearly allied to the Reed-Warblers.

Like most European migrants which seldom or never visit our islands,
the Common Tree-Warbler arrives very late at its breeding-grounds. I
first made its acquaintance at Valconswaard in 1876. We had been nearly
a fortnight in the village, and had identified seventy-six species of birds,
besides taking a great number of nests, but no trace of the Common Tree-
Warbler was to be found. At length, about the middle of May, a new
song was heard, evidently that of a newly arrived Warbler, who screamed
and warbled and chuckled and sang voluminously. On the 23rd of May
it had become quite abundant, and its song resounded in every hedgerow
and garden; and we shot two, which both proved to be male Common
Tree-Warblers. It was not until the 28th that we found a nest, containing
only one egg. A second nest was brought us on the same day, containing
four eggs. Since then I have seen more or less of the bird almost every
year, and last spring had another opportunity of watching for its arrival.
In the neighbourhood of Brunswick the bird arrived in the first week of
May, and by the 6th the males were in full song. The weather was mild ;
and as Oberamtmann Nehrkorn and I sat smoking our cigars on a bench
in his garden, we listened to one of these birds—Spottvégel (Mocking-
Birds) the Germans call them—hour after hour. He did not seem very
anxious to feed ; but, perched on a branch, he sang and then apparently
listened. Then he flew to another twig and sang and listened, evidently
eagerly awaiting the arrival of his mate. The song is somewhat harsh, but
very varied, although he repeats every combination of notes two or three

times over in rapid succession, like a Song-Thrush. Indeed one might

imagine that he had been taught to sing by that bird, exactly as one might

ee -

ICTERINE WARBLER. 383

fancy a Robin to have had lessons from a Blackbird. Perhaps, on the
whole, the song of the Common Tree-Warbler comes nearest to that of the
Marsh-Warbler; but often it reminds you strongly of the song of the
Sedge-Warbler. At other times you may trace a fancied resemblance to the
chirping of the Sparrow, the scolding of the Whitethroat, or the scream of
the Swift, but all rattled off at such a rate one after the other, and repeated
so often, that it arrests the attention at once. I have heard it in widely
different localities, and very often; but in spite of its wonderful variety, I
think the song is original and can see no reason for supposing the bird to
be more of a mocking bird than the Song-Thrush or Nightingale. Some
writers have compared the song to that of the Nightingale; but in
quality of voice, in the richness of its tones, and the melody of its notes it
is immeasurably inferior to that bird; but because in England the Common
Tree-Warbler happens to be an occasional visitor, and such a very rare one, I
must confess that his song was ten times as attractive to me as that of the
Nightingale in the next plantation. But the best one can say of his voice
is that it is avery high soprano. If he were a common bird, one might say
he screamed, or even shrieked. His song does not fill the ear like that of
the Nightingale.

The Common Tree-Warbler is essentially a lover of isolated trees. He
does not seem to care very much for the thick forest, but delights to sing
his song and build his nest in the trees in the gardens and the hedgerows.
Like the Robin, he seems to like to be close to the houses ; and, like that
_ bird, he has the reputation of being very quarrelsome and very jealous of
the approach of any other of his species on his special domain. His alarm-
note is a fek, tek, tek, often heard in an angry tone.

In its habits this bird combines the actions of a Tit with those of a
Flycatcher, feeding for the most part on insects; but in autumn he
is said to vary his diet with ripe cherries and the fruit of the currant,
elder, &c.

The nest of the Common Tree-Warbler is a very beautiful one, and is
generally built in the fork of a small tree eight or ten feet from the ground.
It is quite as handsome as that of the Chaffinch, but slightly smaller, more
slender, and deeper. It is composed of dry grass deftly interwoven with
moss, wool, spiders’ webs, thistledown, strips of bark, and lichen, lined
with fine roots, grass-stalks, and horsehair. The eggs are four or five in
number, very rarely six. They are brownish pink in ground-colour, evenly
spotted and more rarely streaked with very dark purplish brown, which
occasionally approaches black. The underlying markings are very in-
distinct ; and some specimens are very finely streaked with lighter brown,
almost like a Red-winged Starling’s egg. Some eggs have the spots much
smaller and finer than others. They vary in length from *78 to *65 inch, and
in breadth from 6 to ‘5 inch. They approach very closely the eggs of the

384 BRITISH BIRDS.

nearly allied H. polyglotta, but are on an average larger and do not exhibit
so many of the faint scratchy markings.

The adult male Icterine Warbler in spring plumage has the general
colour of the upper parts, including the lores, ear-coverts, and the sides of
the neck, olive-green; a somewhat indistinct greenish-yellow eye-stripe
extends from the base of the bill, losing itself behind the eye ; the quills
are brown, narrowly edged and somewhat more broadly tipped with
greenish white ; the wing-coverts and innermost secondaries are still more
broadly edged with browner white ; the tail-feathers are brown, with very
narrow pale edges and generally with very indistinct traces of transverse
bars. The underparts, including the axillaries, are uniform greenish yellow,
many of the feathers on the thighs and under wing-coverts having brown
centres. Bill dark brown above, pale horn-colour below ; legs, feet, and
claws bluish grey ; irides hazel.

The female scarcely differs from the male. After the autumn moult, the
olive-green of the upper parts is slightly greyer and the greenish yellow of
the underparts paler and less green. Birds of the year scarcely differ from
adults in autumn plumage.

-
2

SYLVIA. 385

Genus SYLVIA.

The genus Sylvia was established by Scopoli in 1769, in his ‘ Annus I.
Historico-Naturalis,’ p. 154, for the reception of the Warblers, which
were included by Linneus in his comprehensive genus Motacilla. Scopoli
did not designate any type, and his genus has been reduced in its dimen-
sions by the removal of various groups of birds at different times by
different writers ; but as the Common Whitethroat is the Motacilla sylvia
of Linnzeus, it becomes of necessity the type of the genus Sylvia, however
much restricted.

The genus Sylvia contains about a score species of birds closely allied
to Phylloscopus, Acrocephalus, and Hypolais. The first primary is always
very small, and in many species it is so minute that it does not project
beyond the primary-coverts ; in none does it project beyond those feathers
more than °3 inch, and it is never so long as half the length of the second
primary. ‘The tail is nearly even in two species; in three species the out-
side feathers are about ‘1 inch shorter than the longest, in four species
about 2, in four species °25, in four species ‘35, and in one ‘4. The bill
is shorter and less depressed at the base than in Phylloscopus; and the
rictal bristles are only slightly developed. The feet and tarsus are stout ;
and the latter is scutellated in front. The males of many of the species
have black heads, and most of them have white on the outside tail-feathers.
Most of the species have the tail shorter than the wing. In two the tail
_is slightly longer than the wing, in another more decidedly longer, and in
two others the tail is still more lengthened.

The centre of distribution of the genus is undoubtedly the basin of the
Mediterranean, and several species are resident on its shores. One is a
resident as far north as the south of England ; but most of the species are
migratory, breeding in Europe aud wintering in Africa. Several extend
their range eastwards as far as Turkestan in the breeding-season, wintering
in India; and one species, at least, has been found in China. Seventeen
species are European ; but only half of these have any claim to be con-
sidered British birds: one is a resident, four regular summer visitors, and
three accidental stragglers on migration to our islands.

The true Warblers are almost exclusively insectivorous; but in autumn
most, if not all, of the species occasionally feed on fruit. They are all

VOL. I. 2c

Me
Sg
”
,

386 BRITISH BIRDS.

songsters of greater or less merit. Their nests are built either amongst
bushes or coarse vegetation, are cup-shaped, and are usually slight struc-
tures of dry grass-stems, hairs, &c. Their eggs vary considerably in

number and colour, and will be treated of in detail under the respective

species.
The genus Sylvia has been subdivided by various writers into no less than

eleven genera; but I see no reason whatever to alter the arrangement I
made in the fifth volume of the British-Museum ‘ Catalogue of Birds.’
The only group which might possibly be deserving of generic rank would
be that containing the Rufous Warbler and its near ally (if, indeed, the
latter be more than subspecifically distinct) the Grey-backed Warbler.
It does not seem worth while to make a separate genus to contain only
one, or at most two, birds, and for which a new generic name would have
to be invented, as that which has generally been applied to them was origi-
nally applied to the Nightingale.

BARRED WARBLER, 387

SYLVIA NISORIA.
BARRED WARBLER.
(PuateE 10.)

Motacilla nisoria, Bechst. Natury. Deutschl. iv. p. 580, pl. xvii. (1795); et auctorum
plurimorum—( redllot), (Naumann), (Gray), (Bonaparte), (Schlegel), (Dresser),
Se.

Sylvia nisoria (Bechst.), Bechst. Orn. Taschenb. 1. p. 172 (1802).

Curruca nisoria (Bechst.), Koch, Syst. baer. Zool. i. p. 454 (1816),

Adophoneus nisorius (Bechst.), Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 28 (1829)

Nisoria undata (Brehm), Bonap. Comp. List B. Hur, and N. Amer. p. 15 (1888).

Philacantha nisoria (Bechst.), Swinh. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1871, p. 355,

The only claim of the Barred Warbler to be considered a British bird
rests upon a single example, shot more than forty years ago near Cam-
bridge—but apparently not brought under the notice of ornithologists
until March 1879, when Prof. Newton exhibited it at a meeting of the
Zoological Society of London, a record of which may be found in the
‘ Proceedings’ for that year, page 219. It was shot by a porter of Queen’s
College of the name of Germany, in a garden not far from the College.
There does not seem to be any doubt as to the genuineness of the speci-
men, which I had the pleasure of seeing; and the circumstances described
in connexion with its capture agree with what we know of the habits of the
bird. It is somewhat remarkable that a migratory bird breeding in South
Sweden has not more often strayed accidentally to our islands. Such a
well-marked species could scarcely be confounded with any other bird;
but from its skulking habits it may have been passed by unnoticed.

Besides South Sweden, it breeds in Germany east of the Rhine, Tran-
sylvania, South Russia, Persia, and Turkestan, as far east as Kashgar.
It passes through South-eastern France, Italy, Turkey, Greece, Asia
Minor, and North-east Africa, on migration, and probably winters some-
where in Central Africa, as it is said to pass through Nubia in spring and
autumn, but has not been recorded from the Transvaal. Its alleged
occurrence in China is probably an instance of mistaken identification.

As is the case with most continental birds whose range does not extend
to the British islands, it arrives late at its breeding-quarters, and leaves
them early. The period of the spring migration of birds in Germany lasts
about eight weeks, from towards the end of March to the middle of
May; but more than half the summer migrants have arrived before the
Barred Warbler is seen. Its notes are seldom heard before the end of

April. Although it is very shy, seldom venturing into gardens near
2c2

388 BRITISH BIRDS. ;
houses, and somewhat local, very rarely being seen in the forest, its lively
song prevents it from being overloooked. Its favourite resort is dense
underwood, or plantations of young trees. Its song resembles that of the
Whitethroat, some of its notes being quite as harsh as those of that
bird; but the finest parts are almost as rich as the warble of the Blackcap.

Its call-note, according to Naumann, resembles the syllable chek; and
its alarm-note is said by the same authority to be a snarling rhar, which,
when pronounced quickly, sounds like r-r-r-r-r. It also resembles the
Whitethroat in its habits and in its harsh call-notes, which frequently
resound from some tangled mass of briars and thorns on the margin of a
pool or ditch; and also, like the Whitethroat, it tosses itself up from the
top of a bush to catch a fly im the air or warble a snatch of song. Shy,
active, and skulking, the Barred Warbler is a difficult bird to shoot, and
generally a difficult one to find when shot.

The food of the Barred Warbler is principally insects; but in autumn,
according to Naumann, it lives largely on various fruits, such as currants,
elder-berries, &c. It is a bird very rarely seen on the ground; and in

passing from tree to tree its flight, ike that of its congeners, is undulating.

The Barred Warbler is, according to Naumann, one of the earliest birds
to leave for southern climes, many departing in August before the moult
is completed.

The nest is not like that of most Warblers, a slender structure, so
loosely made as to be semitransparent, but is somewhat bulky and compact.
It is composed of dry grass-stalks and roots, with generally some small-
leaved plants, cobwebs, thistle-down, or other woolly material mixed with
it. Outside it is rough enough; but inside it is very neat and round,
rather deep, and lined with a few fine roots, cobwebs, or horsehair. The
eggs are usually four or five in number, and in rare instances six; they
are laid in the last week of May. The nest is well concealed, and is usually
built in a thorn-bush not far from the ground. It is said to be some-
times built almost on the ground; and an instance is recorded in the
‘Journal fiir Ornithologie’ (1859, p. 455), of a nest of this species
which was built on the topmost twigs of a birch 25 feet from the ground.

‘The eggs of the Barred Warbler are very characteristic, and cannot easily
be confounded with those of any other bird. Although much larger, they

very closely resemble in colour and markings eggs of the Grey Wagtail.

The ground-colour is dull buffish white; the underlying spots are grey,
and, though somewhat obscured by the overlying layer of ground-colour,
they appear distinct and bold enough when carefully examined. In the
greater number of eggs the overlying spots are either absent altogether or
are so small and pale as to be observed with difficulty ; but in some cases,
though rarely, they are tolerably well defined and are brown, and much
more numerous than the underlying spots (which they almost conceal), and

ee ee ee eee eo eT oe)

\
ee ee ee ee en a ae

ee a oe ee

oe

&

BARRED WARBLER. 389

are, like them, principally distributed at the larger end of the egg. They
vary in length from ‘9 to ‘8 inch, and in breadth from ‘65 to ‘6 inch.

The adult male Barred Warbler in spring plumage has the general
colour of the upper parts brownish grey, browner on the quills, wing-
coverts, and innermost secondaries, and slightly greyer on the head, rump,
upper tail-coverts, and tail; the wing-coverts, the innermost secondaries,
the outside tail-feathers, the feathers of the rump and the upper tail-
coverts, and occasionally the scapulars, forehead, and lower back are more
or less distinctly margined and broadly tipped with greyish white, the pale
tips being emphasized by a narrow transverse subterminal dark brown bar ;
similar bars are present more or less distinctly on nearly every feather of
the underparts, which are otherwise greyish white, slightly browner on the
breast, flanks, thighs, and under tail-coverts; the axillaries and under
wing-coverts-are buffish white, generally transversely barred with dark
grey. Bill dark brown above, pale at the base of the lower mandible ;
legs, feet, and claws pale slaty brown; irides pale yellow. The female
scarcely differs from the male. After the autumn moult the upper parts
are slightly browner, and the barring, both above and below, is more
distinct. Birds of the year are browner both above and below, and the
bars on the under surface are generally confined to the under tail-coverts.

390 BRITISH BIRDS.

SYLVIA ORPHEUS*.

ORPHEAN WARBLER.
(Prate 10.)

Ficedula curruca, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 372 (1760).

Motacilla hippolais, Zinn. apud Bodd. Table Pl. Eni. p. 35 (1783).

Motacilla hortensis, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 955 (1788).

Sylvia hortensis (Gmel.), Lath. Ind. Orn. ii. p. 507 (1790).

Sylvia atricapilla (Linn.), var. y, Lath. Ind. Orn. ii. p. 507 (1790).

Sylvia orphea, Temm. Man. d’Orn. p. 107 (1815); et auctorum plurimorum-—

Meyer, Naumann, (Bonaparte), Cabanis, (Loche), Heuglin, Gray, Satwadori,
Newton, Dresser, &e.

Sylvia grisea, Vieill. N. Dict. d’ Hist. Nat. xi. p. 188 (1817).

Curruca orphea (Temm.), Bote, Isis, 1822, p. 553.

Sylvia crassirostris, Cretzschm. Riipp. Atlas, p. 49, pl. 33. fig. a (1826).

Curruca crassirostris (Cretzschm.), Bonap. Consp. i. p. 294 (1850).

The Orphean Warbler was admitted into the British list on the strength
of an example said to have been obtained in a small plantation near
Wetherby on the 6th of July, 1848. The occurrence of this bird, which
was a female, and was said to be accompanied by its mate which was not
obtained, was recorded by Sir William Milner in the ‘ Zoologist’ for 1848,
p. 2588. A second example, a bird of the year, was caught in June 1866,
near Holloway, in Middlesex, and was kept alive by Sergeant- Major Hanley
for nearly six months. This occurrence was recorded by Mr. Harting
in the ‘ Field’ for the 22nd of April 1871. One or more nests with eggs,
supposed to be those of this species, have been taken in England. Under
the most favourable circumstances, even supposing no error to have crept
into the history or identification of any of these occurrences, the Orphean
Warbler can only be looked upon as a very rare and accidental straggler
to our islands.

On the continent the range of this bird is very restricted. It appears
to be a summer migrant to all the countries lying in the basin of the

* The Orphean Warbler has been peculiarly fortunate in its name, which appears to
have fascinated both Professor Newton and Mr, Dresser to such an extent that instead of
carrying out the rules of the British Association regardless of consequences, as is their
wont, they have actually in this case thrown overboard the Stricklandian Code and
adopted the auctorum plurimorum principle, allowing themselves, for once in their lives
at least, to be guided in a question of nomenclature by common sense instead of orni-
thological pedantry. There can be no doubt that, according to the Stricklandian Code,
the bird should be called Sylvia hortensis, the name in common use for the Garden-

Warbler; but the absurdity in carrying out the rules in this case is so transparent that
not even their most enthusiastic devotees have attempted it,

ORPHEAN WARBLER. 391

Mediterranean and the Black Sea, and eastward as far as Persia and
Turkestan. North of the valley of the Rhone its range extends through
the Vosges Mountains into Luxemburg; and it has occurred accidentally
in Belgium and on Heligoland. The European birds winter in the valley
of the Gambia, and probably also in many parts of Central Africa ; but the
Turkestan and possibly some of the Persian birds appear to migrate in
autumn into Western India. ‘This partial separation of the species into two
colonies has evidently given rise to a variation of sufficient importance to
be regarded as subspecific. The difference between the two forms is prin-
cipally in the length of the bill. It seems probable, however, that the
summer ranges of the two winter colonies overlap, and that where both
occur they interbreed, as examples from Asia Minor and Palestine are
intermediate. In typical examples of Sylvia orpheus from Europe the
culmen varies in length from 0°68 to 0:6 inch, in intermediate examples
from Asia Minor and Palestine from 0°74 to 0°64, and in typical examples
of Sylvia orpheus, var. jerdoni, from Persia, Turkestan, and India from
0°76 to 0°66. .

In Greece the Orphean Warbler is not one of the latest of the
summer migrants, as it arrives during the first half of April. In Asia
Minor it is frequently seen in the latter half of March. It is by no means
a conspicuous bird, except when singing, which it prefers to do perched
on the top of an olive or other small tree. It is at all times very wary,
and frequents, for the most part, well-wooded districts. In its winter
quarters in India it is described by Jerdon as “ not rare in Southern India
during the cold weather ;” and he adds that “it frequents groves, gardens,
hedges, single trees, and even low bushes on the plains; is very active
and restless, incessantly moving about from branch to branch, clinging to
the twigs and feeding on various insects, grubs, and caterpillars, and also
on flower-buds.” There is no doubt that it is principally an insect feeder,
but it is said to be, like most of its congeners, fond of fruit in autumn.

My first introduction to the Orphean Warbler was among the olives
and the vines in the valley on the other side of the mountains east of
Smyrna, where Dr. Kriiper called my attention to its song. My first
impression was one of disappointment. The song is louder than that of
the Blackcap ; but I thought it somewhat harsher. Its alarm-note is very
loud, as loud as that of a Blackbird. In the Parnassus I found it very
common, and obtained thirteen nests between the 8rd and the 21st of
May. ‘They were easy to find in the bushes, which were scattered over
the rocky ground above the region of the olive and the vine; but when
we got into the pine-region they disappeared. My friend Captain Verner
informs me that he has found the nests of this bird in Spain, placed near
the summit of young cork-trees about twelve feet from the ground. ‘The
nest is a tolerably substantial one, and deep, composed of dry grass and

392 BRITISH BIRDS.

leafy stalks of plants. Inside it is built of finer grasses, and lined sparingly
with thistle-down or the flower of the cotton-grass. Little or no attempt
seems to be made to conceal it. It is generally placed on the branch of a
tree not more than a few feet from the ground, and sometimes near the
top of a bush. Four or five was the usual number of eggs. Some of the
nests contained eggs very similar in colour to average examples of those of
the Orphean Warbler, but much larger. Dr. Kriiper considered these eggs
to be those of the Cuckoo. The latter bird was common enough; and
occasionally we got nests of the Orphean Warbler with Cuckoo’s eggs in
them of the ordinary type. Similar large eggs of the Orphean Warbler
occur also in Spain, and are by many ornithologists considered to be
eggs of the Cuckoo; but this matter requires further investigation.

The ground-colour of the eggs of the Orphean Warbler is white, some-
times faintly tinted with grey and sometimes tinted with brown. The
spots are almost always much more developed at the large end than at
the small end, and are sometimes very small, but generally vary in size
from dust-shot to No. 4 shot, in rare instances even larger, two or three
being confluent and forming irregular blotches. The colour of the over-
lying spots varies from olive-brown to nearly black, whilst the underlying
spots naturally take the tint of the ground-colour of the egg, and vary
from pale grey to buff. They vary in length from °85 to *75 mch, and in
breadth from *63 to 56 inch.

In the adult male in spring plumage of the Orphean Warbler the general
colour of the upper parts is dull slate-grey, shading into pale brown on
the margins of the innermost secondaries; the head to below the eyes is
brownish black in western examples, and deep black in those from the
east ; the outside tail-feather on each side is white on the outside web at
the apex, and for some distance on the inside web near the shaft; and the
next two feathers on each side have wedge-shaped white spots at the apex.
The underparts are white, shading into pale greyish brown on the sides
of the breast, flanks, thighs, axillaries, under wing-coverts, and the centres
of the under tail-coverts. In the extreme western portion of its range
this pale greyish brown of the underparts becomes a pale buffish brown.
Bill dark brown, lower mandible pale at the base. Legs, feet, and claws
bluish grey ; irides pale yellow. In the female the head is only slightly
darker and browner than the back. It is not known that any change
takes place in the colour of the plumage consequent on the autumn moult.
Birds of the year scarcely differ from the adult, except that both sexes
appear in the plumage of the female. The plumage of the males after
their first spring moult is intermediate between that of the adult male
and female.

The Orphean Warbler, especially the adult males, but also more or less
the females and males of the year, may be distinguished from the Blackecap

ORPHEAN WARBLER. 393

by its much whiter throat, and by having the checks and the nape of the
same colour as the head, instead of being, as in the Blackeap, the same
colour as the sides of the throat. Although the Orphean Warbler is on
an average a larger bird than the Blackcap, the dimensions of the wing
and tail respectively overlap; but the length of the bill appears to be an
invariable guide. In the Orphean Warbler the culmen, measured from
the angle of its junction with the skull, never measures less than ‘6 inch,
whilst in the Blackcap it varies from 58 to ‘5. A still more reliable dis-
tinction may be found in the colour of the outside tail-feather, which in
the Orphean Warbler is always white for some distance from the tip,
and in the Blackcap is exactly the same as the other feathers.

There seems to be considerable difference in the intensity of the colouring
of the black head of the adult male of this species—so much so that
Professor Newton, having apparently had access to too small a series of
skins, has arrived at the conclusion that the black head “after the
autumnal moult changes to dark grey.” ‘This is certainly not the case,
as the examples with the blackest heads I have ever seen were collected
by Brooks at Etawah in November; and it seems to me probable that, in
addition to having a longer bill, the eastern race (S. orphea, var. jerdoni)
has also a blacker head. Examples from Asia Minor are somewhat inter-
mediate in this respect.

cond ch Dail

394 BRITISH BIRDS.

SYLVIA ATRICAPILLA.

BLACKCAP.
(PLate 10.)

Ficedula curruca atricapilla, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 380 (1760).

Motacilla atricapilla, Zinn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 332 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum
—(Latham), (Bechstein), (Temminck), (Gray), (Bonaparte), (Schlegel), (Loche),
( Newton), (Gould), Se.

Sylvia atricapilla (Briss.), Scop. Ann, I. Hist. Nat. p. 156 (1769).

Curruca atricapilla (Briss.), Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. i. p. 155 (1816).

Monachus atricapilla (Briss.), Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 33 (1829).

‘Curruca heinekeni, Jard. Edinb. Journ. Nat. § Geogr. Sc. i. p. 243 (1850).

Curruca nigricapilla, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 417 (1831, nee Cab.).

Curruca pileata, Brehm, Vig. Deutschl. p. 418 (1831).

Ficedula atricapilla (Briss.), Blyth, Rennie’s Field Nat. i. p. 310 (1833).

Curruea rubricapilla, Landbeck, Vig. Wiirtemb. p. 44 (1834).

Philomela atricapilla (Briss.), Swains. Classif. B. ii. p. 240 (1837).

Epilais atricapilla (Briss.), Cab. Mus. Hein. i. p. 36 (1850),

Sylvia naumanni, Von Miiller, Naum. 1851, pt. 4, p. 26.

Sylvia (Curruea) ruficapilla, Nawm. Vog. Deutschl, xiii. p. 411 (1853).

Sylvia heinekeni (Jard.), Gray, Hand-l. B. i. p. 213. no. 3018 (1869).

Sylvia ruficapilla (Naum.), Gray, Hand-l, B. i. p. 213. no. 30620 (1869).

The Blackcap Warbler, or, as it is generally called, the Blackcap, is one
of the best-known of all the Warblers that visit us in sprmg and remain
on our islands during the summer to rear their young. It is also, though
by no means the earliest, a comparatively early migrant, and may be
noticed in its accustomed haunts by the middle of April. It is even very
probable that a few Blackcaps remain in their old haunts through the
winter ; for many examples have been observed at that season. A female
bird of this species was shot in the winter of 188] near Sheffield, and is
now preserved in the Museum there ; and other instances have come under
Dixon’s notice. Mr. Rodd also states that the bird is sometimes found in
winter near Penzance. The Blackcap is a regular spring migrant to most
of the wooded parts of England and Wales; and it would appear to be
increasing in numbers in some counties, as, for instance, in Cornwall.
Even in England the bird is to a certain extent a local one. Mr. Cordeaux
writes that the Blackcap passes regularly through N.E. Lincolnshire in the
spring and autumn on migration, but that its nest is rarely found. In the
Channel Islands the bird, according to Professor Ansted, is confined to
Guerusey ; and Cecil Smith states that it is generally known in that island
as the “Guernsey Nightingale,” where it is a regular though not common |
summer visitant. In Scotland the Blackeap becomes less common and ; |
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BLACKCAP, 395

still more local. Mr. Gray states that, although nowhere numerous, it is
“widely distributed from near Cape Wrath to the shores of the Solway.”
It has been obtained as late as the 8th of November in Caithness, and is
an occasional visitor to the Orkneys. The late Dr. Saxby was the first to
record this] bird as a visitor to the Shetland Islands. He writes :—«It
is only during the last few years that I have observed it. Now, however, a
few—males, females, and young—appear regularly in the gardens at Buness
and Halligarth during the months of September and October. A pair once
attempted to build in a currant-bush at Halligarth about the beginning of
June, but one of the birds was, of course, killed by an odious cat.” He
also states that it has been observed there as late as the 10th of November.
In Ireland the Blackcap is said to be even more local than in Scotland,
though it has been occasionally observed even in winter.

On the continent the Blackcap is generally distributed througkout
Europe—in Scandinavia ranging as far north as lat. 66°, in the valley
of the Dwina to lat. 62°, and on the Ural mountains to lat. 57°; and
Dr. Finsch states that in the museum of Professor Slovzow at Omsk there
is an example of this bird said to have been obtained in the neighbourhood.
To the south its range extends into North Africa; and it may be said to be
a resident in the basin of the Mediterranean, examples being found both
on the northern and southern shores at all times of the year. To the
south-east it is found im Asia Minor and Palestine, and its range extends
through the Caucasus to Western Persia. How far south the winter
range of this bird extends is not very accurately ascertained; but it has
been obtained at Senegal and Gambia in the west, and Nubia and Abys-
sinia in the east. It appears also to be a resident in the Cape-Verd
Islands, Madeira, the Canaries, and the Azores. Curiously enough, in the
two latter localities a variety occasionally occurs in which the black on the
crown extends to the neck, and in some specimens as far as the shoulders
and the breast. To this variety the name of Sylvia heinekeni has been
given ; but it seems doubtful whether it be any thing more than a partial
melanism, as it is said to occur singly in broods of the normal colour. In
South-eastern Europe the Blackcap is very seldom found during the
breeding-season, its place being apparently taken by the Orphean Warbler,
a species already mentioned as an accidental visitor to this country.
There are also in South Europe other Warblers having black heads; but
they may always be distinguished by their smaller size, and by having the
tail longer instead of shorter than the wings.

The haunts and breeding-grounds of the Blackcap are in the most
secluded places—not, as a rule, in the deepest woods, but in shrubberies
and plantations where the undergrowth is unusually dense, in gardens,
tangled hedgerows, and those country lanes where brambles and _briars
hang over the hazel- and thorn-bushes, Indeed the Blackeap is to a cer-

396 BRITISH BIRDS.

tain extent partial to open places, but to those near some cover to which it
can retire the instant it is disturbed. Nothing perhaps in bird-music sounds
more beautiful and charming than the song of the Blackcap; and in the
pairing-season it is heard to best advantage, when those combats for the
choice of mates so frequently occur. Dixon thus describes its song :—
“ How rich and melodious is the song of the Blackcap! It is given forth
from the topmost branches of the tallest trees, from the more lowly shrubs,
and from the midst of the dank and dense vegetation where he builds his
nest. His notes are varied, almost as much so as the vernal notes of the
Song-Thrush. Of the peculiar richness of its tone no pen can adequately
speak: it must be heard to be appreciated. The loudness of its tones will
not unfrequently cause you to suspect a much larger bird is uttering them ;
and in the spring I have heard him sing as loud as the Thrush. If you
wish to see this little warbler in the act of singing you must steal a march
upon him by noiselessly creeping amongst the dense undergrowth, and,
provided you advance ‘with cautious step and slow,’ your wish will be
gratified. You will find that he sings as he hops from branch to branch
in search of insects, or as he remains stationary for minutes together,
pouring forth his notes, his little throat quivering and swollen, his head
turning restlessly from side to side, and his jet-black crown contrasting
so richly with the golden green of the vegetation around. And then how
beautifully he modulates his music! You hear asoft plaintive note sound-
ing as though its author were a hundred yards away; gradually it rises in
its tone ; you think the bird is coming nearer; louder and louder become
the notes, till they sound as if a Blackbird, Song-Thrush, Wren, Robin,
and Warbler were all singing together. You perchance cast your eyes into
the branches above, and there see the little black-capped songster, and
after watching him find that all these lovely notes, low and soft, loud and
full, come from his little throat alone and when at the same distance from
you—so great are his powers of modulation.”

It is probable that the Blackcap sings throughout the winter. I have
heard it in Italy in full song on the 24th of February. On the outskirts
of the city, down along the left bank of the Arno, lies the “ Rotten Row ”
of Florence, the Cascine, a narrow plantation, two miles along, intersected

with walks and drives. Some of the trees are spruce-fir; many are’

evergreen oak; and many of them are overgrown with ivy; so that the
plantation looks quite green even in winter. Although it was very cold
in the shade, the blazing sun was hot enough; and from end to end the
Cascine rang with a chorus of bird-music, amongst which by far the most
prominent was that of the Blackcap. There were generally three or four
singing against each other; and sometimes they quite drowned the notes
of other birds—the Robins, the Blackbirds, and the shrill chatter of the Italian
Sparrow.

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BLACKCAP. 397

Its call-note isa harsh tac or tec quickly repeated ; and when alarmed it
scolds like a Whitethroat.

The Blackeap is a restless little bird, and it is only now and then that
he allows you a brief moment’s glimpse of him as he glides about his
favourite cover. He hops quickly from branch to branch, sometimes
appearing on the topmost twigs or on the outside ones, but generally con-
fining himself to the thickest parts of the brake.

Although the Blackeap arrives somewhat early and pairs soon after its
arrival, its nest is rarely found before May, when the vegetation is suffi-
ciently advanced to provide the means of concealment. The time of
nesting may possibly be regulated by the abundance or otherwise of the
food on which its young are reared, such as caterpillars and small insects.
The site of its nest is usually in the most secluded part of its haunt.
Sometimes it is placed amongst the briars and brambles, growing but a
few inches from the ground, in the secluded corner of a plantation or
shrubbery, and more rarely in a tuft of herbage growing thickly round
some stunted bush, and very often in the hedges, amongst the woodbine.
Dixon has also known it in the branches of the holly, and in one instance
in an elder tree. It is very often placed near water, amongst the mass of
shrubs usually found on the banks of a woodland stream. It is made of
dry grass-stems, leaf-stalks, a little moss, and coarse roots, cemented
together with a few cobwebs and insect-cocoons, and lined with a few
horsehairs. Although very slight in structure, it is well built, very com-
pact, and most beautifully rounded. The eggs of the Blackcap are from
four to six in number, sometimes only three, in cases where the birds have
laid again after their first clutch has been taken. They are subject to
considerable variation in colour, although eggs in the same clutch resemble
each other. There are certainly three distinct types of the eggs of this
Warbler. The usual type is dirty white in ground-colour, suffused with
olive-brown or yellowish brown, clouded with darker tints of the same
colour, and here and there marked with rich brown spots and sometimes a
few streaks. The second type closely resembles certain varieties of the
eggs of the Barred Warbler : they are the palest of bluish white in ground-
colour; and most of the markings are underlying ones of violet-grey, with
a few surface spots and blotches of yellowish brown, intermingled with one
or two spots and streaks of dark brown. The third, and perhaps the most
beautiful type, certainly the rarest, is uniform pale brick-red in colour,
indistinctly marbled with darker shades, and sparingly spotted and streaked
with dark purplish brown. The usual type of the Blackcap’s egg very
closely resembles the eggs of the Garden-Warbler; but they are perhaps
more uniformly clouded and brighter in colow than those of that bird.
They vary in length from ‘85 to ‘75 inch, and in breadth from ‘6 to
05 inch.

398 BRITISH BIRDS.

Shy and wary as the Blackcap is, still in the nesting-season it is
often most trustful, or, rather, allows its love for its eggs and young
to master its otherwise shy disposition. When the old birds are sitting
(either the male or female, for both may be observed to do so), they will
allow a very near approach ere gliding from the nest. When thus
disturbed the parent bird, especially if it be the female, manifests its
displeasure by uttering harsh hissing notes, and will sometimes approach
within a few feet of the observer, with feathers ruffled, full of anger at
his intrusion. Dixon has more than once observed the male Blackcap
sing when sitting on the eggs; and he was often led by the cock bird’s
song to the nest; for the bird warbles some of his loudest strains from
the twigs that support it. It is doubtful if the Blackcap rears more than
one brood in the year; but should the first nest be destroyed, the old
birds will renew their attempts to rear a brood, usually building a fresh
nest close to the site of the previous one.

Although the Blackcap feeds to a very great extent on insects, these
are by no means its only food. It is probably more of a fruit and berry
feeder than any other of our Warblers ; and it is doubtless owing to this
circumstance that the bird occasionally remains in our islands through the
winter. In addition to insects it feeds on all kinds of garden fruit, such
as currants, raspberries, and gooseberries, and also on cherries ; and after
these fruits are over, it eats the berries of the ivy and the mountain-ash.
Upon its arrival here in April the Blackcap may sometimes be seen re-
galing on the last year’s ivy-berries which still remain. Its young are
largely fed on caterpillars and grubs ; and it is sometimes seen to pursue
and capture au insect on the wing. It is said by Irby to feed on the
seeds of the “ pepper-tree” (Schinus molle) ; and Kriper states that in
July and August, when the figs are ripe, it comes in great numbers to the
trees.

The Blackeap ceases to sing as soon as the young are hatched; and it
is consequently difficult to determine the precise date of its departure.
A great many Blackcaps undoubtedly leave our shores in September—
possibly all our indigenous birds, except the few stragglers tempted to
remain during the winter; and it may be observed that the males are the
first to leave in autumn, as they are the first to arrive in spring.

The Blackcap has the general colour of the upper parts bluish grey
slightly suffused with olive-brown, especially on the margins of the quills
and tail-feathers ; the forehead and the crown are black. The underparts
are pale bluish grey, shading into white on the centre of the belly; the
axillaries and the under wing-coverts are white. Bill dark brown ; legs,
feet, and claws bluish grey ; irides hazel. The female differs from the
male in having the black on the head replaced by rusty brown. After the
autumn moult the upper parts in both sexes are more suffused with brown,

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BLACKCAP. 399

and the underparts, cheeks, and nape are buffish brown. The male in first
plumage resembles the female, and is said to attain the black head in the
first autumn by a change in the colour of the feathers and not by a
moult. It is also alleged that this bird has no spring moult ; but these
statements require verification. The following facts tend to confirm the
natural conclusion that this species does not differ in these respects from
its congeners :—A male, which I shot in Heligoland on the 2nd of October,
evidently a bird of the year, has a black head, but each feather is broadly
tipped and margined with reddish brown; these feathers would probably
be moulted early in the following year into the black feathers of the
adult. The exact date of the spring moult appears to be very uncertain ;
but, as Naumann states, no doubt the spring plumage ‘is attained by a
change of feather. I have an example, obtained in Asia Minor on the
18th of December, which has begun to moult its tail-feathers ; and I have
another, obtained in Heligoland in May, in which one of the outside tail-
feathers has not attained its full length, whilst examples obtained in the
Florence market on the Ist of March have all the appearance of birds which
have only just completed their moult. If this bird moults very early in
the year, as the Garden- Warbler certainly does, this fact may explain the
arrival of many birds in our islands in spring im somewhat abraded
plumage; but some examples have the edges of the quill- and tail-
feathers so extremely perfect that it is impossible not to believe that they
have not only had a spring moult, but probably, from some cause or
other, they moulted somewhat later than usual, and were fortunate
' enough to have fine weather during their migration.

400 BRITISH BIRDS.

SYLVIA HORTENSIS*.

GARDEN-WARBLER.
(Pirate 10.)

Ficedula curruca minor, Briss. Orn. iil. p. 374 (1760).

2 Motacilla salicaria, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 330 (1766).

Motacilla hippolais, Linn. apud Tunst, Orn. Brit. p. 2 (1771).

? Motacilla borin, Bodd. Tabl. Pl. Enl. p. 35 (1783).

Sylvia simplex, Lath. Gen. Syn. Suppl. i. p. 287 (1787).

? Motacilla passerina, Gel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 954 (1788).

S\lvia hortensis (Gmel.), var. 8, Lath. Ind. Orn. ii. p. 507 (1790).

Motacilla hortensis, Gmel. apud Bechst, Natwrg. Deutschl. ty. p. 550, pl. xiii (1795).

Sylvia hortensis, Gmel. apud Bechst. Orn. Taschenb. p. 169 (1802); et auctorum

; plurimorum — Wolf, Temminck, Naumann, Jenyns, Eversmann, Macgillivray,

Keyserling, Blasius, Nordmann, Gray, Sundevall, Lindermayer, Schlegel, Heuglin,
Degland, Gerbe, Salvadori, Gurney, (Sharpe), (Gould), Shelley, SIHarting,
(Teming), (Selby), (Cabanis), (Bonaparte), (Thompson), (Loche), $c.

Currucua hortensis (Gmel.), apud Koch, Syst. baier, Zool. i. p. 155 (1816).

Sylvia wedonia, Vieill. N. Dict. d’ Hist. Nat. xi. p. 162 (1817, partim).

Epilais hortensis (Gmel.), apud Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 145 (1829).

Curruca brachyrhynchos, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl, p. 416 (1831).

Curruca grisea, Brehm, Vig. Deutschl. p. 416 (1831, nee Vieill.).

Adornis hortensis (Gmel.), apud Gray, List Gen, B. p. 29 (1841).

Sylvia salicaria (Linn.), apud Newton, ed. Yarr, Br. B.i. p. 414 (1873).

The Garden-Warbler, so far as can be ascertained, was first described
by Willughby and Ray from an example which was sent to them by Mr.
Francis Jessop, of Broom Hall, Sheffield. Francis Jessop was one of the
earliest members of the Royal Society, and appears to have been well

* Professor Newton and Mr. Dresser have done their best to cause the name of Sylvia
hortensis to be rejected in fayour of that of Sylvia salicaria. There is considerable cir-
cumstantial evidence that Linnzeus intended to describe the Garden-Warbler as Motacilla
salicaria; but it is impossible to understand how the authors above named can reconcile

the vague diagnosis of Linneeus (containing, amongst others, the character “supercilia —

alba” and the supplementary note “ pedes fulvi,” neither of which apply to the Garden-
Warbler) with the law in the Stricklandian Code requiring that names which have

never been “clearly defined” should be rejected. As was to be expected from such a

blundering description, this name of Linnzeus has been transferred from one bird te
another by various writers until it has ceased to have a definite meaning. Motacilla

salicaria, Linn:, apud Nilsson et Newton, is the Garden-Warbler; Motacilla salicaria,

Linn., apud Bechstein (Orn. Taschenb.) et Meyer et Wolf, is the Aquatic Warbler;
Motacilla salicaria, Linn., apud Latham et Fleming, is the Sedge-Warbler; Motacilla
salicaria, Linn., apud Brehm, is the Marsh-Warbler; Motacilla salicaria, Linn., apud
Bechstein (Naturg. Deutschl.), is the Reed-Warbler; Motacilla salicaria, Linn., apud
Pallas, is the Booted Warbler; and Motacilla salicaria, Linn., apud Heuglin et Sharpe,
is the Icterine Warbler.

GARDEN-WARBLER. 401

acquainted with the principal literary men of his day. Ray, in his pre-
face to the ‘ Ornithologia,’ acknowledges his assistance in furnishing them
with descriptions and examples of rare birds from the neighbourhood of
Sheffield. Ray was his frequent guest at Broom Hall; and Willughby
in his will made Ray and Jessop, together with three other gentlemen,
his executors.

From the evidence to be gleaned upon the subject it would appear that
the Garden-Warbler and the Blackcap do not get on very well in the
same area. Rarely indeed do the two species occur in any great numbers
in the same district; and where the Garden-Warbler is abundant the
-Blackcap seems always to be rare, and vice versd. The Garden-Warbler
is pretty generally distributed throughout England, except in the extreme
south-west, but becomes exceedingly local in Wales. It does not appear
to have ever been noticed in the Channel Islands. Authorities disagree
as to its abundance in Scotland,—Selby, on the one hand, stating that it
occurs in all suitable districts throughout the greater part of the country ;
Gray, on the contrary, being inclined to believe that the bird is not so
commonly distributed. It has, however, been met with in most of the
midland and southern counties, from Banffshire southwards. Dr. Saxby
states that it is a rare autumn visitor to the Shetlands, usually arriving in
September; but it does not appear to have been observed in the Orkneys.
The bird is rare in Ireland, Thompson only noting its occurrence in the
counties of Cork and Tipperary ; but it has been met with in the
counties of Dublin, Wicklow, and Fermanagh; and Sir Victor Brooke
states that it nests regularly near Castle Caldwell, in the north-west of
the latter county.

On the continent the geographical distribution of the Garden-Warbler
extends throughout Western Europe, and, like that of some other migrants,
becomes more and more restricted, both to the north and to the south, as
it progresses eastwards. In Norway the bird ranges as far north as lat.
70°, in Finland and North-west Russia to lat. 65°, and in the Ural Moun-
tains to lat. 59°. I cannot find any evidence of its wintering in any part
of Europe; and in Southern Italy and Greece it appears to be only found
in spring and autumn on migration. LHastwards, in Asia Minor, it has
only been recorded as passing through on migration; but in Palestine
Canon Tristram says that it remains to breed. It is a summer visitor to
the Caucasus and the extreme north-west of Persia. The only evidence of
its occurrence east of the Ural Mountains are some examples in the
museum of Professor Slovzow at Omsk, said to have been procured in the
neighbourhood. It winters in West Africa and in the oases of the
Sahara; but in Egypt it is only known to pass through on migration, and
has been obtained in our winter in Damara Land, the Transvaal, and the
eastern portions of the Cape colony.

VOL. I. 2D

402 BRITISH BIRDS.

The Garden-Warbler is one of the latest of our summer migrants,
seldom being observed before the first week in May. It is a shy, active,
and restless bird, like most of the Warblers, and frequents the most
secluded parts of the districts which it visits. Its haunts are in the dense
thickets, amongst the thick undergrowth of plantations and copses, and
also in the shady dells near running streams which are almost hidden
from view by the mass of overhanging vegetation. As its name implies,
the bird is also often seen in large gardens, nurseries, and shrubberies.
A few days after its return, when the females have arrived, the male bird
may be heard warbling its sweet plaintive song. ‘The song of the Garden-
Warbler is not surpassed by that of any other British member of the
genus except the Blackcap. It is softer and not so loud as the song of
that bird, and wants the richness of tone and the full round notes which
make the Blackcap almost rival the Nightingale. The Garden-Warbler
may sometimes be observed singing from the topmost twig of a low tree
or a bush; but usually its notes are heard from the dense vegetation,
where the sombre little musician is hid in the seclusion he loves so well.
The song may be heard at frequent intervals until the first brood is
hatched ; then it ceases for some time, to be again renewed before the
second clutch of eggs is laid. Its call-note is a harsh ¢eck rapidly repeated
and sometimes varied with a few guttural notes. Blyth aptly describes
its note as resembling the sound made by knocking two small pebbles
together.

The Garden-Warbler, like all its congeners, keeps assiduously out of
sight as much as possible, hopping restlessly from branch to branch, and,
if alarmed, silently retiring to the deepest shade. It feeds both on insects
and on berries and fruits of various kinds; indeed, according to Naumann,
the latter is its favourite fare in autumn. It eats the berries of the ivy,
the elder, and the blackberry ; and in the gardens it consumes the smaller
fruits, such as strawberries, cherries, and especially currants. It feeds
largely on insects, often pursuing them in the air like a Flycatcher, and
incessantly searching for them under and amongst the leaves and twigs.
Sweet states that the larvee of the cabbage-butterfly is a favourite morsel
with this bird.

Some little time after their arrival the Garden-Warblers pair, and nesting-
duties commence. ‘The site for the nest is usually near the ground and in
the quietest and most secluded part of their haunt. The nest is often found
under the broad leaves of the brambles, or artfully suspended amidst a
network of briars ; sometimes it is placed in the low thorn bushes near

the ground, almost buried in surrounding herbage, and less frequently

in the branches of the gooseberry-bushes. It may also be seen amongst
nettles and similar coarse vegetation. The nest is a simple net-like structure
made of the withered stems of grasses and a few small roots; sometimes

oxcganiill

GARDEN-WARBLER. 403

a few cobwebs and a little moss cement the stalks together ; and it is lined
with a small quantity of horsehair. The surrounding branches are artfully
interwoven with the sides of the nest, which, frail as it is, is well and skill-
fully put together. The eggs are four or five in number, in some cases as
many assix. They very closely resemble those of the Blackcap, and vary
in ground-colour from pale buffish white to greenish white. In some eggs
the markings are distributed in large blotches of greenish brown, varying
in richness of colour, and intermingled with smaller and paler underlying
spots, with sometimes a few short irregular streaks of dark brown; in
others the underlying spots are the predominant ones—large irregular
pale violet-grey blotches, sparingly dashed and marbled with brown surface-
spots, some of which are very dark in colour; others, again, have the
markings chiefly round the large end of the egg—very rich brown spots and
irregular streaks intermingled with grey underlying spots. I have never
met with the rufous type which occasionally occurs in eggs of the Blackcap
and other Warblers as well as the Shrikes &c. They vary in length from
‘85 to'7 inch, and in breadth from °63 to55 inch. _

Dixon thus writes of the nest of this bird :—‘‘ 'The Garden-Warbler’s
nest is usually well concealed under the leaves of the shrubs and plants that
sustain it, often so admirably as to completely hide the eggs or sitting bird
from view. It is also made on a flimsy net-like design, and is well adapted
to escape the notice of all but the most prying observation. The colours
of the sitting bird, too, are highly protective; and its unassuming dress is
in strict harmony with surrounding objects. When you approach her nest
she will eye you anxiously, but will not move, except perhaps to crouch
still lower in her nest. Silent and motionless she will allow you to
almost touch her with your hand, ere personal safety masters her maternal
love, and, like a shadow, she glides into the neighbouring under-
growth.”

The Garden- Warbler is said to rear two broods in the year; but I do not
think that such is invariably the case; and the late broods of this bird
sometimes met with may be those of birds whose earlier efforts were unfor-
tunate. It leaves our shores usually by the latter end of September.

The male Garden-Warbler in spring plumage has the general colour of
the upper parts olive-brown, darker and greyer on the wings and tail, and
slightly paler on the margin of the wing-coverts and innermost secondaries.
The underparts are greyish white, purest on the belly and on the edge of
the wing, just below the carpal joint, and shading into pale olive-brown on
the breast, flanks, and the centre of the under tail-coverts. The axillaries
and under wing-coverts are buff, the latter with darker centres. Bill dark
brown, paler at the base of the lower mandible ; legs, feet, and claws bluish
grey ; irides hazel. The female scarcely differs from the male, After the

2D2

404 BRITISH BIRDS.

autumn moult the upper parts are more olive and the underparts buffer.
Birds of the year scarcely differ from adults in autumn plumage.

In confirmation of the fact that the Garden- Warbler has a spring moult, I
may mention that I have in my collection an example from Potchefstroom
in the Transvaal, dated January 10th, moulting its wings and tail-feathers,
and another, shot on February 20th, from the same locality,in which the wings
and tail have been completely renewed and the feathers of the throat and
breast are in process of being moulted.

WHITETHROAT. 405

SYLVIA CINEREA*.

WHITETHROAT.
(Puate 10.)

Ficedula curruca cinerea, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 876 (1760).

Motacilla sylvia, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 330 (1766).

Ficedula stoparola, Gerint, Orn. Meth. Dig. iv. p. 35, pl. ccexevi. fig. 1 (1773).

? Motacilla rufa, Bodd, Table Pl. Enl. p.35 (1783, ex Daubenton).

Sylvia communis, Lath. Gen. Syn. Suppl. i. p. 287 (1787).

Sylvia cinerea, var. 8, Lath. Ind. Orn. ii. p. 515 (1790).

Sylvia cinerea, Bechst. Orn. Taschenb. i. p. 170 (1802); et auctorum plurimorum
—Temminck, Vieillot, Wolf, Ménétriés, Jenyns, Macgillivray, Keyserling, Blasius,
Nordmann, Cabanis, Nawnann, Bonaparte, Gray, Schlegel, Selby, Salvadori,
Degland, Gerbe, Sundevall, Lindermayer, Loche, Heuglin, Blunford, Fritsch, Shelley,
Severtzow, Gould, Sc.

Sylvia cineraria, Bechst. Natw'g. Deutsch. 2nd ed. ii. p. 534 (1807).

Sylvia cinerea (Bechst.), var., Turton, Brit. Faun. p. 45 (1807).

Curruca cinerea (Bechst.), Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. i. p. 157 (1816).

Curruca sylvia (Linn.), Steph. Shaw's Gen. Zool. xiii. pt. 2, p. 210 (1826).

Ficedula cinerea (Bechst.), Blyth, Rennie’s Field Nat. i. p. 310 (1833).

Curruca cinerea ( Bechst.), var. persica, Fvlippi, Viagg. Pers. pp. 162, 348 (1865).

Sylvia affinis, Blyth apud Salvad. Atti R. Accad. Sei. Tor. iii. p. 291 (1868).

Sylvia rufa (Bodd.), apud Newton, ed. Yarr. Br, B. i. p. 406 (1873).

The Common Whitethroat is, as its name implies, one of the best-known
of the Warblers. It is acommon and generally distributed species through-
out England and Wales. In Scotland it is one of the most familiar birds,
but becomes rarer towards the north. Mr. Gray states that in the western
counties it is extremely common. It is also found on several of the Inner
Hebrides, as Mull and Iona; and Dixon met with it in alk the wooded parts
of Skye which he visited ; but it is apparently unknown in the Outer Islands.
Mr. Gray states that it has occurred in the Orkneys; whilst to the Shet-
lands, according to Dr. Saxby, it is a straggler in warm summers. In
Treland the bird is as well known and as widely distributed as it is in

Great Britain.

* Tt is a thousand pities that Professor Newton should have attempted to disturb the
name by which the Whitethroat has been universally known for the last eighty years,
both by British and continental ornithologists. It is possible that Daubenton’s figure of
“ La Fauvette rousse”’ (Pl. Enl. no. 581. fig. 1) may be an exaggerated figure of a young
male in-first plumage of the Whitethroat; but there can he no doubt that Boddaert would
have been greatly surprised to learn that his name of Motacilla rufa was applied to the
Whitethroat, which was figured in the same work, no. 579. fig. 3, under the name of
“ La Grisette,” and which he-correctly identified with the Motacilla sylvia of Linneeus,
Boddaert’s unambitious object was to supply the Latin names of the birds figured in the

406 BRITISH BIRDS.

On the continent the Whitethroat is an extremely common bird, breeding
throughout Europe, in Scandinavia and West Russia, as far north as lat. 65°,
and in the Ural Mountains as far as lat. 60°. Eastwards it is found in Asia
Minor, Palestine, Persia, Turkestan, and South-west Siberia. Its breeding-
range extends further to the south than that of any other common British
Warbler. In Asia Minor I found it one of the few common British birds
which were as abundant amongst the olives and the vines during the nesting-
season as they are in this country. Canon Tristram says that a few
remain during the winter in Palestine. Prof. Newton states that it winters
in some of the southern portions of Europe and in several of the islands of
the Mediterranean; but I have been unable to find any evidence that
this is the case. Irby never observed it near Gibraltar in winter; and
Kriiper says that in August and September it disappears entirely from
Greece and Asia Minor. It certainly winters in North-west Africa, and is
described as passing through North-east Africa on migration. In
the British Museum are examples collected by Sir A. Smith in South
Africa, and one obtained by C. J. Andersson in Damara Land in January.
It has not been recorded from Madeira or the Azores; but it has been
obtained in the Canaries. In the Altai and Tianshan Mountains it is repre-
sented by a form which appears to be subspecifically distinct, examples
from these localities being darker, greyer, and larger than our bird,
measuring more than 3 inches in length of wing, and laying considerably
larger eggs. Hume records an example, probably of this form, from North-
west India. I am unable to find any published description of the eastern
form of the Whitethroat, of which I have several specimens in my collec-
tion; butit may be called Sylvia fuscipilea, inasmuch as Severtzow includes
it in a list of the birds of the Tianshan Mountains in the ‘Journal fiir
Ornithologie’ (1875, p.177), under the name of Sylvia cinerea B. fuscipilea.
The next nearest ally to the Common Whitethroat is undoubtedly the
Lesser Whitethroat, especially the large variety to which Hume gave the
name of Sylvia althea.

This pretty and familiar little Warbler, although it is so very common,
is by no means one of the earliest migrants to reach our shores in spring,
and usually arrives in England in the latter end of April, sometimes not

‘ Planches Enluminées,’ which Buffon and Montbeillard had neglected to do. Referring to
the work of the former gentleman, he finds that the “Fauvette rousse” is the Curruca
rufa of Brisson ; and turning over his ‘Systema Nature,’ he finds that all the Fauvettes
are included by Linneus in his genus Motacilla: so he modestly names “ La Fauvette
rousse ” of Daubenton Motacilla rufa, instead of Curruca rufa, This is a glaring instance
of the mischief caused by the Stricklandian code, According to the rules which have
received the sanction of the British Association, the correct name of the Whitethroat is
Curruca sylvia. It must always be borne in mind that no argument, however plausible,

a make the British Association responsible for the name of Sylvia rufa for the White-
throat. ]

‘
.

Oe ert:

7 ene

ber Wer

a

WHITETHROAT. 407

until the beginning of May. As might be expected, it arrives a little
later in Scotland, not being usually seen there until early in May.
It will also be observed that the males come a little before the females.
The Common Whitethroat is a bird of the thickets, and loves those places
_ where vegetation is intergrown and tangled. You may often hear its
harsh call-notes from the thickly matted hedgerows, or catch a hurried
glimpse of it in the garden and the shrubbery. It is also one of the
commonest birds on waste pieces of land over which there is a luxuriant
growth of shrub, briar, bramble, and nettle; whilst even on the moorlands
it is often seen gliding restlessly about the stunted thorn-bushes. The
Whitethroat is a bird of the lanes, and is not found so often in thick
woods and plantations; nor does it perhaps so commonly mount into the
high branches of the trees as the Blackcap, but prefers the lower shrubs
and bushes.

The Whitethroat is a restless little bird, incessantly hopping from twig
to twig—sometimes hiding from view, at others poised on a topmost spray.
Athough by no means a shy bird, still it is one that likes to keep out of
sight to a great extent ; and very often the trembling of a twig and the
harsh call-note are the only signs of its presence as it rapidly threads its
way up the hedgerow buried in the green foliage. But it is also some-
times seen in the tallest trees, especially those standing in hedges, into
which it will drop down if alarmed. In the tall branches its actions are
just the same as near the ground. It hops quickly from branch to
branch, is rarely still a moment, and very often flutters into the air to
catch passing insects. Soon after his arrival the male bird may be
heard to sing. It will be noticed that most birds, even if they be
usually shy and wary, are much more tame when warbling forth their
songs than at any other time. The Whitethroat is no exception, and
when in- the act of singing is perhaps one of the boldest and most trustful
of our Warblers. He will often perch on a tall twig and warble out his
song within a few yards of where you are standing, the feathers on his
head erected, and his throat swollen and quivering with the exertion.
He is so full of music in the early summer, that sometimes as he
flies from hedge to hedge he will soar up into the air above his line of
flight and pour out his song like a Pipit or a Lark. 1 have watched the
Whitethroat start from a bush and make an excursion into the air for at
least fifty yards, singing all the time, every now and then checking him-
self with a peculiar jerk of his partly expanded tail, and finally returning
to his old perching-place. The song, although short, is in parts very sweet ;
but as the notes are so often repeated, it is apt to become monotonous.
The Whitethroat may be heard long before dawn; and sometimes it sings
late in the evening. Its alarm-note is almost exactly represented by the
sound of chzh, when sounded low resembling chsh. The bird also appears

408 BRITISH BIRDS.

to have two notes besides its song and alarm-note. The most frequently
heard of these resembles the sound of hweet-hweet-hweet very vigorously
repeated, and is generally uttered when the male and female are chasing
and toying with each other in some low bush or underwood. The other
is a cha-cha-cha, very similar to the chirp of a Sparrow.

Like the Goldcrest and the Wren, the Whitethroat when pursued hides
itself in the cover, and if chased will always contrive to keep on the side
of the hedge furthest away. You may follow it backwards and forwards,
but rarely will it be induced to leave the cover, and its harsh notes are the
only sign of its presence.

By the beginning of May the Whitethroats are in pairs; and soon after
this date their flimsy net-like abode may be found. The nest is placed
at different elevations from the ground. Sometimes it is found amongst
the brambles creeping in wild confusion over a waste bit of ground; at
others it is seen in the dense whitethorn or hazel-hedges, in the tangled
grass growing round stumpy bushes and shrubs, amongst nettles and
other coarse vegetation, and has been known to be built in the heaps of
hedge-clippings left in little-frequented corners of gardens and orchards.
The nest is made of fine dry grass-stems, and is lined with a few fibrous
rootlets and a quantity of horsehair. Although’so slight and loosely put
together, the Whitethroat’s nest is a very pretty one, and may generally
be distinguished from the nests of allied birds by its greater depth. The
eggs of the Whitethroat are from four to six in number. Some specimens
are buffish white, with most of the spots underlying and violet-grey in
colour; others are pale bluish white, mottled, blotched, and speckled with
yellowish brown, and with large underlying spots of violet-grey ; whilst
others are pale green, sparingly marked with olive-green. Some speci-
mens of Whitethroat’s eggs are much more richly marked than others.
I possess one which has the larger end boldly marked with large brown
spots. In some eggs the spots are evenly distributed; in others they
form a zone round the larger half of the egg; and in others they are all
confluent on the large end, forming a round mass of colour. They
measure from ‘8 to ‘65inch in length, and from ‘6 to ‘5 inch in breadth.
Certain eggs of the Whitethroat closely resemble the eggs of the Dartford
Warbler; but, as a rule, the eggs of the latter species are never so green.
From the eggs of the Lesser Whitethroat those of the Common White-
throat may be distinguished by never having the ground-colour so pure
and the markings so rich a brown or so clearly defined.

The food of the Common Whitethroat during the first month or so of
its sojourn here consists almost exclusively of insects; and on this food
its young are reared, especially on the fly popularly known as “daddy
longlegs,” and which often swarms to an alarming extent in dry summers.
In the fruit-time, however, the Whitethroat visits the gardens for currants

WHITETHROAT. 409

and raspberries ; and in the woods it will eat the various wild fruits and
the softer berries. The Whitethroat may be very often flushed from the
corn-fields early in August, where it feeds on the insects found on the
grain; and Dixon states that he has shot them in the act of eating the
soft milky corn. He also says that the bird sometimes clings to the
trunks of trees like a Creeper.

In the moulting-season, which begins in July and lasts until the end of
August, the Whitethroat becomes a very shy and retiring bird, and is
also much less garrulous, so much so as to lead to the supposition that the
birds have departed. The Whitethroat leaves its northern haunts during
the latter end of September or the first week in October; but it has been
met with as late as the end of the latter month. It is exceedingly pro-
bable that these birds perform their migrations in the night; for they may
be seen quite common one day, and their favourite haunts may be found
deserted the next.

The adult male Whitethroat in spring plumage has the general colour
of the upper parts greyish brown, darkest on the wings and tail, and
shading into ash-grey on the head and upper tail-coverts ; the wing-coverts
and innermost secondaries are broadly edged with pale chestnut ; and the
outside tail-feathers are paler than the rest, and broadly edged with white.
The underparts are white, purest on the throat and belly, with a vinous
tinge on the breast, and shading into buff on the flanks. The axillaries
and under wing-coverts are pale grey, the latter frequently with darker
-eentres. Bill dark brown, the lower mandible paler; legs, feet, and claws
pale brown ; irides light hazel. The female has the greyish brown of the
back extending to the head and upper tail-coverts ; and the vinous tinge
on the breast is absent. After the autumn moult the male assumes the
colour of the female. Birds of the year have the colour of the upper parts
still less grey, almost dull chestnut-brown.

I am indebted to Mr. Baker, of Sheffield, for a very curious example
of this bird with a small but very distinct claw on the shoulder. A mon-
strosity of a similar kind has occurred in the Blackbird, and was described
by Bonaparte as a new species under the name of Merula dactyloptera. A
_ similar claw is normally developed on the shoulders of some birds—for
example the Spur-winged Plover (Charadrius spinosus), and many of the
Jacanas (Parrine).

410 BRITISH BIRDS.

SYLVIA CURRUCA.

LESSER WHITETHROAT.
(Prate 10.)

Ficedula curruca garrula, Briss. Orn. iii. p, 884 (1760).

Motacilla curruca, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 329 (1766) ; et auctorum plurimorum—
(Latham), (Bechstein), (Temminck), (Naumann), (Bonaparte), (Schlegel), (Gray),
(Newton), (Dresser), Sc.

? Motacilla dumetorum, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 334 (1766),

Sylvia curruca (Linn.), Scop. Ann. I. Hist. Nat. p. 155 (1769).

Sylvia sylviella, Lath. Gen. Syn. Suppl. i. p. 287 (1787).

? Sylvia dumetornm (Zinn.), Lath. Ind. Orn, ii. p. 522 (1790).

Motacilla sylviella (Lath.), Turton, Linn. Gen. Syst. Nat. i. p. 588 (1806).

Silvia garrula, Bechst. Naturg. Deutsch. 2nd ed. ii. p. 540 (1807),

Curruca garrula (Bechst.), Koch, Syst. baver. Zool. i. p. 157 (1816).

Curruca sylviella (Lath.), Fleming, Brit. An. p. 71 (1828).

Curruca dumetorum (Linn.), Brehm, Vog, Deutschl. p, 422 (1831).

Curruca molaria, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 422 (1881).

Ficedula garrula (Bechst.), Blyth, Rennie’s Field Nat. i. p. 352 (1835).

The Lesser Whitethroat was first made known to British ornithologists
by Latham, from specimens obtained near Bulstrode, in Buckinghamshire,
by the Rev. Mr. Lightfoot, who sent them to that ornithologist, who
described them in the Supplement to his ‘ General Synopsis,’ and gave a
figure of the bird, its nest and eggs (i. p. 185, pl. exii.). It is probable,
however, that the bird had already been noticed in this country by Gilbert
White, who accurately describes it in a letter to his friend Mr. Barrington.
Among continental ornithologists this bird appears to have been known to
Linneeus, Brisson, Buffon, and Scopoli. In this country the bird is a
somewhat local one, and becomes very rare in the west of England and in
Wales. Montagu states that in Lincolnshire, in his time, the bird was
more abundant than in any other part of England; but now it appears to
be only local there. In the Channel Islands it is only found in Guernsey,
and is by no means numerous. In Scotland the Lesser Whitethroat is also
very local in its distribution. According to Gray it is sparingly met with
in parts of Ayrshire, Renfrewshire, and Dumbarton, and occurs as far
north as the middle of Argyleshire. It is equally local on the east
coast. ‘Three or four specimens have been observed on the Shetlands ; but
the bird appears to be absent from the rest of the Scotch islands, never
having been met with in the Hebrides. In Ireland, although its congener
the Common Whitethroat is so widely distributed, there is no reliable
evidence of the occurrence of the present species,

LESSER WHITETHROAT. 411

The Lesser Whitethroat has the most extensive range of any member of
this genus, breeding in the Palearctic region, from the Atlantic to the
Pacific. In sucha large range it is not to be wondered at that the bird is
subject to considerable variation. This is an excellent example of a species
breaking up into four species. Typical examples of each present excellent
characters, and have fairly well-defined geographical limits. Unfortu-
nately, however, for the student who is anxious to define his species with
greater accuracy than Nature has hitherto succeeded in accomplishing the
task, intermediate forms occur, and individuals do not always recognize
their geographical limits as well-behaved species ought to do. As Hume
very justly observes, this is a case in which some ornithologists will treat
the birds as four species, whilst others will only consider them four
races of one somewhat variable species. I prefer to treat them as sub-
species, adopting the provisional hypothesis that the intermediate forms are
the result of the interbreeding of the several races where their geo-
graphical ranges meet.

The European or typical form of the Lesser Whitethroat breeds through-
out Europe, Asia Minor, and Palestine, extending northwards somewhat
beyond the arctic circle, but not quite to the limit of forest-growth. In
South Europe it is principally known as a summer visitor; but Mr.
Howard Saunders states that it remains during the winter in South Spain.
It certainly winters in the southern portions of North Africa, in the oases
of the desert, Nubia and Abyssinia, &c.

In the valley of the Lower Volga, North Persia, Turkestan, the whole
of Siberia up to lat. 67°, and North-east China, the Siberian form of the
Lesser Whitethroat, S. cinerea, var. affinis, occurs in summer, wintering
in Baluchistan, the whole of India, and Ceylon. This form only differs
from the typical species in having the second primary intermediate in
length between the sixth and seventh, in rare instances between the
seventh and eighth (in the European species the second primary is inter-
mediate in length between the fifth and sixth). It also differs very mate-
rially in its song, apparently having forgotten or never learnt the trill
which its European ally constantly introduces.

In the Himalayas the Lesser Whitethroat differs from the European
form in having the upper parts an almost uniform bluish grey, the back
being scarcely suffused with brown at all. In its wing-formula it agrees
with the Siberian form, but is, on an average, larger than either of the
two forms hitherto mentioned, the length of wing varying from 2°8 to 2°55
inch instead of from 2°65 to 2°45. Hume named this form S. althea. It
breeds abundantly in the extreme north-west of Cashmere, and winters in
the North-west Provinces of India.

The fourth form of the Lesser Whitethroat, to which Hume gave the
name of S. minuscula, is a small desert race differing from its near allies in

412 BRITISH BIRDS.

having the forehead and crown of a pale bluish grey colour, gradually
shading into the colour of the back, which is a pale isabelline brown. The
length of wing varies from 2°45 to 2:3 inch. In its wing-formula it agrees
with the Siberian form. It breeds in the Ferghana and Afghanistan, passes
through the Pamir on migration, and winters in Baluchistan, Scinde, and
North-west India.

The Lesser Whitethroat is a regular summer migrant to this country,
and arrives during the last half of April, sometimes not until the beginning
of May. Like its near congener the Common Whitethroat, it is a restless
shy little bird, and only frequents those localities which afford it plenty of
seclusion and concealment. Its haunts are the tangled hedgerows, in
lanes, especially if there be plenty of tall shrubs and trees; it is also an
inhabitant of the thick shrubberies, where the evergreens are interspersed
with deciduous trees; and gardens, small plantations, and copses are also
tenanted.

Unlike the Common Whitethroat, this species is very frequently seen
at a considerable distance from the ground, in the higher branches, a
difference of habit which may also be remarked between the Chiffchaff and
the Willow-Wren.

From this peculiarity in its habits, and from the luxuriance of the foliage
which it frequents, the Lesser Whitethroat very often escapes observation ;
but when noticed it will be seen to display the same restless disposition as
the other Warblers, gliding quickly from branch to branch, now hiding
under the broad leaves, then hovering in the air to catch a fly, or more
often to warble its song. Although it does not often prolong its flight far
into the open, still when so seen it may be observed that its course is an
undulating one. Its song is a monotonous trill, sometimes like the first
half of the song of the Yellowhammer ; but it is frequently preceded by a
few notes which, though they are not very varied nor very loud, are by
no means unmusical, something like the twittering of a Swallow. Its
call-note resembles the syllable check several times repeated and some-
times varied with a more guttural cry.

The food of the Lesser Whitethroat is largely composed of insects, which
it seeks under the leaves and amongst the twigs, and occasionally attempts
to secure on the wing, snapping at them from its perch or pursuing them
in the air. It is also fond of small caterpillars and aphides, and, like all
its congeners, feeds largely on fruit, especially on cherries and red
currants.

The Lesser Whitethroat is a somewhat late breeder, and the vegetation
is usually dense and luxuriant ere its nest is commenced. It is often
placed amongst brambles, in furze bushes, in thickets, the topmost branches
of a tall hedgerow, or in the bushes which grow over the stream in some
shaded dell, It is much shallower than the nest of the Common White-

s

*

LESSER WHITETHROAT. 413

throat; and is often made of coarser materials. It is usually made of fine
dry grass-stalks, amongst which the twigs that support it are artfully
interwoven. It is generally bound together with spider’s webs or the
cocoons of caterpillars, and lined with a few fibrous rootlets and some-
times a little horsehair. The bird is very easily driven from its uncom-
pleted nest, and, if frequently disturbed, will soon forsake it. The eggs
of the Lesser Whitethroat are four or five in number, and present in
their variations two very distinct types. The first type, and perhaps the
commonest, is pure white or pale creamy white in ground-colour, spotted
and blotched with rich greenish brown, and with underlying shell-markings
of violet-grey. The second type has the ground pale buff or stone-colour,
and the markings are not so bold and deep in colour. The markings are
confined for the most part to the large end of the egg, often forming a
zone, sometimes an irregular circular patch. Many of the eggs are streaked
with very deep brown; and usually most of the large spots are paler round
the edge than in the centre ; and on all eggs the large spots are inter-
mingled with finer markings of pale yellowish brown. They measure from
‘78 to ‘6 inch in length, and from ‘55 to ‘5 inch in breadth.

The bird is a very close sitter. When the nest is approached the female
remains silent and motionless on her eggs until almost touched by the hand.
The male bird also generally soon appears upon the scene, and, in com-
pany with his mate, hops anxiously from twig to twig, both uttering their
harsh and monotonous notes. The more frequently the nest is visited the
more wary the birds become; and Naumann states that when the bird is
frightened off the nest it flutters about in the open to attract attention.
The Lesser Whitethroat leaves this country for the south during the last
half of September ; specimens have been obtained as late as the middle of
October ; and in the month of November last year an example was caught
at Brighton by Mr. Swaysland.

In spring plumage the male Lesser Whitethroat has the general colour
of the upper parts pale slate-grey, more or less suffused with brown on the
back, lores, and ear-coverts. The eye-stripe is almost obsolete. The inner-
most secondaries have paler edges ; the wings and tail are brown, the latter
broadly tipped with white on the outside feathers. The underparts are white
on the chin, throat, the centre of the belly, and the under tail-coverts, shading
into very pale brown on the breast and flanks. The axillaries and under
wing-coverts are white. Bill dark bluish grey, the under mandible pale
at the base; legs, feet, and claws bluish grey; irides light brown. The
female scarcely differs from the male, but has not even the rudiments of an
eye-stripe. After the autumn moult the breast and flanks are somewhat
more suffused with brown. Birds of the year have the upper parts still
more suffused with brown, and the pale brown of the underparts extends
to the under tail-coverts. The bill and legs are also somewhat paler,

414 BRITISH BIRDS.

SYLVIA PROVINCIALIS*.

DARTFORD WARBLER.
(Prater 10.)

Motacilla undata, Bodd. Table Pl. Enl. p. 40 (1783).

Sylvia dartfordiensis, Lath. Gen. Syn. Suppl. i. p. 287 (1787).

Motacilla provincialis, Gel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 958 (1788); et auctorum plurimo-
rum—(Zemminck), (Meyer), (Montagu), (Crespon), (Keyserling), (Blasius),
(Lindermayer), (Dubois), (dZeuglin), (Bote), (Fleming), (Kaup), (Selby), (Jenyns),
(Gould), (Bonaparte), ( Cabanis), (Degland), (Gerbe), (Loche), (Doderlein), (Sal-
vadori), (Shelley), (Fritsch), Se.

Melizophilus dartfordiensis (Lath.), Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. §c. Brit. Mus, p. 25
1816).

Ban ferruginea, Viell. N. Dict. d’ Hist. Nat. xi. p. 209 (1817).

Sylvia provincialis (Gmel.), Temm. Man. d Orn. i. p. 211 (1820).

Curruca provincialis (Gmel.), Bove, Isis, 1822, p. 553.

Thamnodus provincialis (Gmel.), Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 109 (1829).

Melizophilus provincialis (G'mel.), Selby, Brit. Orn. i. p. 219 (1833).

Ficedula ulicicola, Blyth, Rennie’s Field Nat. i. p. 310 (1833).

Malurus provincialis (G'mel.), Selby, Cat. Gen. B. p. 10 (1840).

Sylvia undata (Bodd.), Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 174 (1848).

Pyrophthalma provincialis (G'mel.), Jaub. et Barth.-Lapomm. Rich. Orn. p. 249
(1859).

Melizophilus undatus (Bodd.), Newt. ed. Yarr. Br. B. i. p. 898 (1878).

The Dartford Warbler possesses a special interest for British orni-
thologists from the fact that it was first discovered in our islands, though
it is possible that fig. 2 on plate cceclxxxxi. of Gerini’s ‘ Ornithologia
Methodice Digesta’ may have been intended to represent this species.
In the spring of 1773 a pair were shot on Bexley Heath, near Dartford,
and sent to Latham, who communicated the discovery to Pennant, by
whom the new bird was described and figured in 1776, in his ‘ British
Zoology, under the name of Dartford Warbler. Two years later Buffon

* According to the Stricklandian code—that is to say, according to /aw--Boddaert’s
name should be adopted for the Dartford Warbler, as he was undoubtedly the first person
to publish a Latin name for this bird, though it is probable that he never saw it.
According to equity there can be no doubt that Latham’s name should have the
preference, as he appears to have been the first discoverer of this species. But according
to custom there can be no question that Gmelin’s name has received the sanction of
auctorum plurimorum; although there is every reason to believe that Gmelin was little
more than a book-maker, who compiled his works from the writings of others. The
Stricklandian code was published in 1842; and six years afterwards Gray adopted
Boddaert’s name for this bird in obedience to its rules. Since 1848 the only writers
of importance who haye followed Gray have been Harting, Newton, Dresser, and Irby.

3

|

DARTFORD WARBLER. 415
published a description of this bird, illustrated by a figure by Daubenton,
under the name of Le Pitchou, from an example which had been sent to
him from Marseilles. When Latham wrote his ‘Index Ornithologicus,’
he had already discovered the identity of the Marseilles bird with his
Dartford Warbler.

The geographical distribution of this little Warbler is a somewhat
remarkable one. It is not known to be anywhere a migratory bird*.
Its headquarters appear to be the basin of the Mediterranean, where it
occurs in Spain, the extreme south of France, Corsica, Sardinia, Italy,
and Sicily. It has been recorded from Greece and Asia Minor; but no
recent ornithologists have met with it in those countries. Canon Tristram
obtained it in Palestine; and Heuglin found it near Alexandria. It is
a resident im Morocco and Algeria. On the shores of the Atlantic the
mild winters produced by the Gulf-stream have enabled it to push
much further north, and it is found in Portugal and the extreme west of
France. In England it is principally confined to the counties bordering
the Channel, but also occurs in the counties of Surrey, Oxford, Wor-
cester, Leicester, and Derby, and has been found as far north as South
Yorkshire, where Dixon obtained its nest in the neighbourhood of Sheffield.
Its numbers would probably increase, and its range continue to extend
further north, were it not that in some years a sudden and heavy fall
of snow, or an unusually long-continued frost, almost exterminates it in
some localities.

In summer the Dartford Warbler lives almost entirely in the furze
bushes ; hence its local name of Furze-Wren. In winter, though it may
often be seen in its summer haunts, the necessity of procuring food
prompts it to visit the turnip-fields, or to range along the coast. Its long
tail and short rounded wings do not seem adapted to extensive flights ;
but it has nevertheless been twice seen on Heligoland. It is seldom seen
on the wing. At Biarritz I found them frequenting the reeds on the
banks of a small lake. The first sight I had of one was that of a little
dark bird with a fan-like tail suddenly appearing amongst the reeds, crossing
a small patch where they had been cut down, and as suddenly and silently
disappearing amongst the reeds on the opposite side. Occasionally, as
we walked on the bank of the lake, we heard a loud, clear, melodious
pitch'-oo repeated once or twice amongst the reeds. The note was so
musical that for a moment one might imagine that a Nightingale was
beginning to strike up a tune. Now and then we saw the bird appear for

* The statement in Dresser’s ‘ Birds of Europe,’ that ‘“ Heuglin says that it is very rare

in Lower Egypt, where it appears with the Subalpine Warbler and Riippell’s Warbler

\between the 20th and 25th March,” is incorrect. Heuglin says that he saw it between

those dates, in the company of the birds named; but there is not a word said to suggest
that it is migratory, or that the dates given are the times of its arrival,

416 BRITISH BIRDS.

a moment above the reeds, as if thrown up by a battledore ; but it dropped
down again and disappeared as suddenly. I have very rarely seen so
skulking a bird; once only it flew up from the reeds, and perched in
a willow near a large patch of furze bushes. Like most other Warblers,
this bird is very active, scarcely resting for a moment, except when
warbling its hurried little song from the top of a furze-branch. In many
of its habits it reminds one of Cetti’s Warbler. It flits up a furze bush,
dodging in and out amongst the side branches in search of insects, perches
for a moment on the topmost spray; but before you have had time to get
your binocular onto it it has caught sight of your movement and drops
down into the furze bush as if shot. i

So far as is known, the Dartford Warbler is almost entirely insecti-
vorous. Mr. Booth (Zool. 1877, p. 59) remarks that it “ generally feeds
its young on the body of a large yellow moth. I have observed several
pairs carrying a light substance in their mouths to the nest; and on
shooting one bird from each of two nests I discovered that the food was
the same in both cases. The wings of the moth were removed, and I was
not entomologist enough to name the species; but I observed that the
birds hunted for their prey among the lower part of the stems of the
furze.” It can scarcely be doubted that this bird will also eat fruit in
autumn. It would seem that it rears two broods in the year, the first
clutches of eggs being laid in the last half of April and the second in

the last half of June. The nest is described as generally concealed in —

the thickest furze, amongst the dead branches, not many feet from the
ground; but near Gibraltar it is said to nest in the heather. It is a very
slender structure, built principally of the finest round grass-stalks and
slender stems of various plants, a good deal of moss being used in the
foundation, and small bits of wool being introduced into the lining. The
nest is very small and deep; and though the sides are thick, the materials
are so loosely put together that when held up to the light it is possible to
see through them. Four or five is the usual number of eggs. In colour
they much resemble those of the Whitethroat. The ground is white,
sometimes of a greenish and sometimes of a buffish shade. The spots are
darker and more numerous than those of typical eggs of the Whitethroat,

and are dark brown, largest and most numerous towards the large end of

the egg. ‘The underlying spots are, of course, paler, but in closely spotted
eggs are not conspicuous. In size the eggs vary from ‘7 to ‘65 inch in
leagth by *53 to ‘5 in breadth.

In the adult male Dartford Warbler the general colour of the upper
parts is very dark sooty brown, shading into very dark slate-grey on
the head. The innermost secondaries, wing-coverts, and quills are dark
brown, edged externally with pale brown. ‘The tail is very dark grey, with
the outside web and the tip of the outside feathers white. The underparts

de

DARTFORD WARBLER. 417

are chestnut-brown, shading into white on the centre of the belly; and
the feathers of the chin and upper throat are tipped with white. The
under tail-coverts are grey, with whitish tips. Bill very dark brown,
paler at the base of the lower mandible ; legs, feet, and claws pale brown;
irides orange-yellow. ‘The female differs from the male in having the
- general colour of the underparts pale cinnamon-brown, instead of rich
chestnut-brown. The autumnal moult causes but little change in the
colour of the plumage. Birds of the year are slightly paler and browner
above, and have the underparts considerably paler than those of the adult
female.

VOL. I. «EF

418 BRITISH BIRDS.

SYLVIA GALACTODES.
RUFOUS WARBLER.
(PxLate 10.)

Turdus arundinaceus, Linn., var. 8, Lath. Ind. Orn. i, p. 334 (1790).

Sylvia galactotes, Temm. Man. @Orn.i. p. 182 (1820); et auctorum plurimorum
— (Gray), (Bonaparte), (Heuglin), (Degland §& Gerbe), (Gould), (Newton),
(Dresser), Sc.

Turdus rubiginosus, Meyer, Taschenb. Zus.u. Ber. p. 66 (1822).

Aedon galactodes (Temm.), Bote, Isis, 1826, p. 972.

Sylvia rubiginosa, Zemm. Man. d’ Orn. iii. p. 129 (1835).

Agrobates galactotes (Zemm.), Swains. Classif. B. ii. p, 241 (1887).

Salicaria galactotes (Temm.), Gould, B. Ew. ii. pl. 112 (1837).

Erythropygia galactodes (Temm.), Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. §& N. Amer. p. 18
(1838).

Aedon rubiginosa (Zemm.), Degl. Orn. Eur. i. p. 567 (1849).

Calamoherpe galactodes (Temm.), Schl. Vog. Nederl. p. 141 (1854).

Agrobates rubiginosus (Temum.), Dubois, Ors, Ew. pl. 74 (1862).

The Rufous Warbler can only be considered a _ very accidental
straggler to the British Islands. The first specimen was shot by Sways-
land, the well-known bird-stuffer of Brighton, in the autumn of 1854, and
recorded in the ‘ Zoologist’ for that year (p. 4511) by Mr. Borrer. This
gentleman writes that as Swaysland “was driving on the South Downs
about six miles from Brighton, near a part of the Downs known as
Plumpton Bosthill, he noticed a bird which he at first took for a cream-
coloured variety of the Nightingale. Having no gun, he proceeded about
four miles to obtain one, and, returning to the spot, found the bird about
twenty yards from where he first observed it. It was very wary, flying
always to the further side of some furze bushes, and settling on the side
furthest from him, mounting into the air some fifteen yards. Swaysland
describes its flight as resembling that of the yonng of the Red-backed
Shrike. He at last got a shot at about forty yards, and killed it: this
was on the 16th of September last. The bird, on dissection, proved to be a
male, and would shortly have moulted, one or two young feathers of the
primaries having made their appearance on each wing: these are darker
than the old ones. The feathers also on the back and tail, especially the
central ones of the latter, are much worn.” In 1859 the late Mr. G. R.
Gray writes, in the ‘Annals and Magazine of Natural History’ (iv. p. 399),
of the second specimen, stating that it had ‘ been killed near Start Point,
South Devonshire, on the 25th of September last. It was shot by William
D. Llewellyn, Esq., by whom it was presented to the British Museum.
That gentleman observed that its flight much resembled that of a Lark,

RUFOUS WARBLER. 419

and that it was exceedingly thin. Its visit was probably occasioned by
the strong southerly wind which had prevailed for several days.”

To the above occurrences must be added a third example, shot in a
turnip-field near Slapton in Devonshire, on the 12th of October 1876.
It was recorded in the ‘ Zoologist’ for that year (p. 5179) by Mr. Henry
Nicholls, who states that it appears to be a bird of the year, and, curiously
enough, was taken within a short distance of the specimen obtained in the
year 1859.

The Rufous Warbler has a very restricted geographical distribution, its
range being confined to the basin of the Mediterranean and eastwards into
Turkestan. Even in this small area it is subject to considerable variation,
the eastern form bemg much greyer on the whole of the upper parts,
especially on the central tail-feathers, than the western form, and the
Abyssinian form being smaller than either. The typical form appears to
be the one that has occurred in our islands, and is a common summer
visitor to Portugal, Spain, Algeria, Egypt, and Palestine south of Beyrout.
It is known to winter in Abyssinia, and has been said to have been pro-
cured at that season of the year on the Gold Coast.

The small form is said to be a resident in Abyssinia, and is generally
known as S. galactodes, var. minor. The grey-backed form S. galactodes,
var. familiaris, breeds in Greece, Asia Minor, Palestine north of Beyrout,
the Caucasus, Persia, and Turkestan. It winters in Scinde, Baluchistan,
and Rajpootana. This form has occurred accidentally on Heligoland ;
and in the museum at Florence are several examples from Nice and Genoa.

As might be expected of a bird which only accidentally wanders north
of the basin of the Mediterranean, the Rufous Warbler is a migratory
species which arrives very late at its breeding-quarters, and leaves early
for the south in autumn. In Greece and Asia Minor I found it a very
common bird, and shot several examples as they sat in the lowest branches
of the olive-trees in the vineyards. Even in these southern latitudes it is
a bird of the plains, and was to be found in company with Cetti’s Warbler,
Bee-eaters, and the Isabelline Chat, but was never observed in the pine-
region, where the Wood-Lark, the Chaffinch, and the Wheatear were
breeding. It did not arrive until the last week in April, five weeks after
the Swallows. Although in some respects this bird resembles the Reed-
Warblers, his song is quite different, and reminded me very much of that
of the Robin. The bird is very active, and is often seen perched ina
somewhat conspicuous position, moving his tail up and down like a Wag-
tail. In flying it often spreads its tail, showing very conspicuously the
contrast of the black and white on the outside feathers. We had several
nests brought us early in June, and remarked that in most of them was a
piece of the cast skin of a snake. The Grecks told us that this bird always

weaves a small portion into the lining of the nest, to act as a charm to
2E2

420 BRITISH BIRDS. 7

prevent the snakes from sucking the eggs. The nest is usually placed not
very far from the ground, in the rough hedges which surround the vine-
yards and cherry-orchards. The nest is larger than that of most Warblers,
somewhat more bulky, and scarcely so deep. It is composed of roots,
straws, dry grass, bits of matting, lichen, &c., and is lined with wool, thistle-
down, a feather or two, or almost any soft material.

Writing of this species in Palestine, Canon Tristram states that it returns
to its old haunts by the middle of April, and spreads itself over every part
of the country where there are bushes and reeds. He writes (Ibis, 1867,
p- 80) :—“In no way whatever does it resemble the Marsh-Warblers in
action or note. Its song is low, soft, and mellifluous. It is constantly
seen, and, instead of skulking in thickets, hops here and there, perching
on the outmost bough of any bush or on the stem of a tall cane, expanding
and jerking its tail like a Wren.” He also informs us that its nest is very
easy to find, the bird making no more attempt to conceal it than the Missel-
thrush. In his last journey to Palestine Canon Tristram met with this
bird in great abundance : and his observations are specially interesting ; for
they relate to a great extent to the geographical distribution of the eastern
and the western forms of this Warbler. In ‘The Ibis’ for 1882 (p. 409)
he informs us that “after the last week in April it is to be seen everywhere,
on upland and lowland alike, expanding, jerking, and fanning its tail, with
its conspicuous white bar, on the bare fig-trees, among olives, on the top
of any little shrub, or on the pathway in front of the horseman, hopping
fearlessly on at his close approach. No specimen of its ally (S. familiaris)
have I ever noticed among the thousands I have seen, though I was keenly
on the look-out for it. But when, after leaving Beyrout, I followed the
coast-line northwards, so soon as we had passed the headlands of Lebanon
and entered the rich plains of Tripolis, not a solitary S. galactodes was
ever seen, while S. familiaris was as abundant everywhere as its congener
had been in the south. .. . North and east we have the one species ; south
and west, as far as Algeria, Spain, and Morocco, we find the other.”

Dixon, when in Algeria, made the following notes respecting the habits
of this bird :—“ Although the Rufous Warbler was a bird of which | was
particularly anxious to make the acquaintance ; for I was curious to know
whether it was the present species or the nearly allied Sylvia familiaris of
the East that occurred in Algeria, it was not until we reached the oasis of
Biskra that I met with it. Biskra is the second oasis, and is situated on
the borders of the Great Desert—a charming place, almost all date-palm
forests and barley-fields. I sought eagerly for my then to me unknown
bird in the few places I thought best adapted to a Warbler’s require-
ments—in the fast drying-up bed of the Oued Biskra, in the tangled mass
of tall cane-brake and thorns by the side of the artificial canals made for
purposes of irrigation—but in vain. The delicate little Tree-Warbler

RUFOUS WARBLER. 421

Hypolais opaca and the Wren-like Cisticola were to be seen, but no
Rufous Warblers. The date-palms are chiefly enclosed in mud walls at
this oasis ; and the ground between the trees is sown with barley: these
are the Arab gardens; and in them we first met with the bird. As we
wandered between the narrow lanes, a strange bird would now and then be
seen on the tops of these mud walls, in amongst the thorns placed on the
top to keep them from falling, spreading its fan-like tail for a moment, and
then disappearing again. It was always very shy and wary, and defied all
our efforts to shoot it. We also met with it in the large Government
garden here, now left neglected and all run wild—a perfect paradise for
birds, where the palm-trees glistened with the refulgent dress of the Bee-
eater and the gaudy Golden Oriole. Amongst the bushes it was just as
shy and wary as ever: all we got was a hasty glimpse of its rich chestnut
plumage, and the conspicuous markings of its tail as, like a fan, it was
wafted to and fro just as the bird was about to take wing. We did not
succeed in obtaining a single specimen in Biskra; but when we reached
the picturesque oasis of El] Kantara, on our return journey, I was fortunate
enough to shoot a pair. Here, as at Biskra, we repeatedly saw them on
the walls of the Arab gardens. I was walking along the high road, trying
to get a few specimens of the trustful and pretty Sahara Bunting,
when, in a small prickly-pear garden, I noticed a pair of Rufous Warblers
hopping from under the branches, just as a Robin or a Thrush would do.
They hopped over the parched and arid ground, ever and anon spreading
out their tails, and chasing each other through the cactus. They seemed
not to mind my presence at all; they were too engrossed with their
courtship ; and even the discharge of my gun only caused the surviving
bird to hide itself for a moment under the branches. I never expected to
meet with a Warbler in such dry arid situations as the present species
inhabits ; but in all its actions, nevertheless, it is an undoubted Sylvia.”
Writing on the nesting-habits of the Rufous Warbler in Algeria, Salvin
states (Ibis, 1859, p. 809) :— Near Ain Djendeli I used frequently to
notice the present species about the trees that overhang the dry stony
watercourses that run from the hills into the plain beneath. We never
found a nest, however, in one of the above-mentioned places ; and it
would seem that the bird prefers a moister soil for its breeding-haunts,
such as is afforded by the lowlands near lake Djendeli, where the tamarisk-
trees grow on the banks of the Chemora and the small Ain or spring.
The nest we found usually placed conspicuously in the fork or on a branch
of one of these trees, and with apparently no attempt at concealment.
The heights at which the structure is placed vary from one to six feet from
the ground. In one instance I found a nest among the roots of a tree in
a bank-side, in a place where one would have expected in England to have
found the nest of a Robin. The materials employed are the dead shoots

be |

422 BRITISH BIRDS.

of the tamarisk, which form the outside,—the inside and lining being
usually coot’s or duck’s feathers mingled with wool or camel’s hair; and,
im nine cases out of ten, a small piece of serpent’s skin is loosely placed in
the bottom of the nest.” It should be remarked that Canon Tristram
also mentions this strange material in the nest-lining. In Southern Spain
the Rufous Warbler is said by Saunders to build its nest between the
leaves of the cactus, which forms the hedges in the vineyards.

The eggs of the Rufous Warbler are from three to five in number, and
differ somewhat in the extent and colour of the markings. The usual type
is very pale bluish white or French grey in ground-colour, irregularly
marked and dashed with large brown spots, and with a few streaks of the
same colour and pale violet-grey shell-markings. Another type is very
pale blue in ground-colour, finely speckled with pale brown, the spots
being most numerous on the large end of the egg. They measure from
"95 to ‘8 inch in length, and from °67 to *59 inch in breadth. The eggs
of the Rufous Warbler very closely resemble those of the Tawny Pipit
(Anthus campestris) ; but, asa rule, the eggs of the latter bird are compara-
tively broader in proportion to their length. Canon Tristram states that
his Palestine eggs of the Rufous Warbler are much more delicately
and sparsely spotted than those from Africa.

The food of this bird is composed of insects, for which it searches
not only in the branches but also on the ground. It may sometimes be
seen turning over dung like a Thrush; and very often it flies into the air
to catch a passing insect.

The typical form of the Rufous Warbler has the general colour of the
upper parts pale chestnut-brown, with a buffish-white eye-stripe extending
to the nape. The quills and wing-coverts are brown, margined on the
outside web with buffish white. The tail is rich chestnut-brown ; the two
centre feathers have a more or less obscure broad terminal dark band,
which is sometimes obsolete; and the remaining feathers have broad
terminal white bands and nearly black subterminal bands. The whole of
the underparts are very pale buffish white, slightly darker on the sides of
the breast and flanks. Bill brown above, horn-colour below ; legs, feet,
and claws pale brown; irides hazel. The female does not differ in colour
from the male; and the differences caused by age and season are very
small.

PHYLLOSCOPUS. | 4.23

Genus PHYLLOSCOPUS.

The Willow-Warblers were originally included by Linneeus in his genus
Motacilla, and were afterwards separated hy Scopoli and placed in his
genus Sylvia together with the rest of the Warblers. In 1802 Bechstein
created the subgenus dAsi/us in his ‘ Crnithologische Taschenbuch,’ p. 178,
for the reception of the Willow-Warblers; but as, in 1767, Linneus had
already applied that name to a genus of insects in his ‘Systema Nature’
(i. p. 1006), it cannot be also applied to a genus of birds. In 1816 Koch,
in his ‘ System der baierischen Zoologie,’ i. p. 158, made an equally unsuc-
cessful attempt to erect a genus for the reception of the Willow- Warblers,
selecting for this purpose the name of Ficedula, a name which is open to
three objections: In the first place, the Motacilla ficedula of Linneeus is
not a Willow-Warbler, whatever else it may be; in the second place, in
1799 Cuvier made a genus Ficedula to contain the Flycatchers ; and, in the
third place, the genus Ficedula of Brisson appears to be synonymous with
the genus Motacilla of Linnzus, and its type was probably a young or
female Pied Flycatcher. In the following year Forster, in his ‘ Synoptical
Catalogue of British Birds,’ p. 54, was equally unfortunate in adopting the
specific name trochilus, which Linneus gave to the Willow-Warbler, as
the name of his new genus, regardless of the fact that this name had
already been applied by Linnzeus (Syst. Nat. i. p. 189) to the Humming-
birds. In 1826, however, Boie succeeded in finding a name which is open
to no objection, and in the ‘Isis’ for that year (p. 972) established the
genus Phylloscopus for the Willow-Warblers, making P. trochilus the
type.

The Willow-Warblers are a group of about five-and-twenty little birds
so nearly allied to the typical Warblers (Sy/via), the Tree-Warblers
(Hypolais), the Reed-Warblers (Acrocephalus), the Grasshopper Warblers
(Locustella), and the Grass-Warblers (Lusciniola), and especially to the
Indian Flycatcher Warblers (Adrornis), that it is impossible to draw a
hard and fast line between any of these genera, except by arbitrarily
choosing some character and making it the standard of separation. In
such nearly allied genera, where the intermediate species have not yet
become extinct, ornithologists must accept with gratitude any cha-
racter, however trivial, which seems to classify the species into natural
groups.

The principal characteristic of the Willow-Warblers is their semi-

424. BRITISH BIRDS.

domed nest with the entrance at the side, a feature distinguishing them
from all the genera alluded to except Abrornis. ‘Typical examples of the
Flycatcher Warblers have a very wide flat bill abundantly furnished
with long rictal bristles, and have rounded wings, with the first primary
half the length of the second, or nearly so. Many species, however, are
so exactly intermediate that, when I wrote the volume of the British-
Museum Catalogue of Birds contaiing the Sylviine, I should most
certainly have considered whether some of them ought not to be included
in the genus Phylloscopus, if my colleague for the time being had not cut
the Gordian knot for me by having already absorbed them into the volume
containing the Muscicapide.

From the other allied genera, the various species of which build cup-
shaped nests, the yellow axillaries of the Willow-Warblers are a sufficient
distinction, with the exception of two aberrant species of the genus
Hypolais, which also have yellow axillaries. We must therefore find
another character, and are obliged to fall back upon the comparative size
of the bill and wing. The Tree-Warblers have large bills, the length of
the culmen being about a fifth of the length of the wing ; whilst the sub-
generic group of the Willow-Warblers, which, like the Tree-Warblers,
have no pale bar across the wings formed by the greater wing-coverts
having pale tips, have small bills, the length of the culmen being about
one sixth of the length of the wing.

The Willow-Warblers are essentially fly-catchers in their habits, and
may constantly be seen catching flies upon the wing; but probably the
greater part of their food is picked off the leaves. Accordingly their bills,
if not very wide, are considerably depressed at the base, and the rictal
bristles are well developed. Most of the species are migratory, the range
of their seasonal distribution frequently extending over thousands of
miles; consequently their wings are long, flat, and pomted, whilst the
bastard primary is very small. The migration of others is confined to the
plains within sight of the mountains where they breed. In these the wing
is shorter, more concaved to fit the body, and rounded, whilst the bastard
primary is larger, the vital energy required for its production not having
apparently been absorbed in lengthening the adjoming primaries. ‘The
tail is generally even and frequently forked. All the species of the
genus are soberly coloured, the upper parts varying from yellowish
green to buffish brown, and the underparts from yellow to buff or
white. .

Probably all the species build a semi-domed nest on or near the ground,
and lay white eggs spotted with red.

In their breeding-range the Willow-Warblers are Palearctic, ranging
from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Several species extend their range
-further north than the limit of forest-growth. Those species which do not

——

/

Ber

PHYLLOSCOPUS. 425

breed within the Palzearctic region ascend the Himalayas until they reach

an elevation where they can enjoy a Palearctic climate. The southern
winter range of the genus extends in Africa to the Cape of Good Hope,
and in Asia to Ceylon and the islands of the Malay archipelago ; but no
species has as yet been found in Australia. Six species breed in Europe,
and many more are accidental visitors on migration. Of these, three are
regular summer visitors to our islands, and a fourth has accidentally
visited our shores.

426 BRITISH BIRDS.

PHYLLOSCOPUS SIBILATRIX.

WOOD-WREN.
(Pirate 10.)

Ficedula asilus major, Briss. Orn, iii. p. 482 (1760),

Motacilla sibilatrix, Bechst. Naturforscher, xxvii. p. 47 (1793); id. Naturg. Deutschl.
iv. p. 688 (1795).

Sylvia sylvicola, Mont. Trans. Linn. Soc, iv. p. 35 (1798).

Syivia sibilatrix (Bechst.), Bechst. Orn. Taschenb. i. p. 176 (1802); et auctorum
plurimorum — Temminck, Naumann, Bonaparte, Gray, (Schlegel), (Gould),
(Dresser), (Newton), Se.

Motacilla sylvatica, Turton, Gen. Syst. Nat. i. p. 587 (1806).

Ficedula sibilatrix (Bechst.), Koch, Syst. baier, Zool. i. p. 159 (1816).

Trochilus major, Forst. Syn. Cat. p. 54 (1817).

Curruca sibilatrix (Bechst.), Fleming, Brit. An. p. 70 (1828).

Sibilatrix sibilatrix (Bechst.), Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 98 (1829).

Phyllopneuste sibilatrix (Bechst.), Brehm, Vig. Deutschl. p. 425 (1881).

Phyllopneuste megarhynchos, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 425 (1831).

Phyllopneuste sylvicola (Lath.), Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 426 (1851).

Sylvicola sibilatrix (Bechst.), Eyton, Cat. Brit. B. p. 14 (1836).

Phylloscopus sibilatrix (Bechst.), Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. As. Soc. p. 184 (1849).

Phyllopseuste sibilatrix (Bechst.), Cab. Mus. Hein. i. p. 33 (1850).

The Wood-Wren, though the largest species of Willow-Warbler, and
perhaps the handsomest of the group, and certainly possessing the most
marked song and the most peculiar call-notes, appears to have escaped the
attention of Linneus. Gilbert White, in his ‘ Natural History of Sel-
borne,’ clearly points out, apparently for the first time, the distinctness of
this charming bird from the Willow-Wren and the Chiffchaff; but it was
described as long ago as 1676 by Willughby and Ray, who had received
an example from their friend Mr. Francis Jessop of Sheffield, on whose
property the bird was probably as common as it is now, in spite of the
close proximity of the villas of the steel-makers.

Though somewhat more local than its near allies, it is by no means un-
common in England and Wales. In Scotland it has not been recorded
north of the Moray Firth; but our information on the ornithology of this
district is so meagre that it may have been overlooked. In Ireland it is
only known to have occurred in the counties of Fermanagh and Dublin.
On the continent its range is even more restricted than that of the Chiff-
chaff. It is not known to have been obtained in Norway ; but in Sweden
it is found as far north as Upsala. It is very common in the Baltie pro-
vinces, but is rarer in South Finland. Though Alston and Harvie-Brown
were mistaken in supposing that they found it near Archangel, it is recorded
by Hencke as a rare summer visitor to that locality. It is common in

WOOD-WREN. 427

Central and Southern Russia, but does not appear to have been found east
of Kazan. Bogdanow records it from the latter locality, and also obtained
an example in the Terek valley in autumn. Ménétriés also records it
from Lenkoran. Sabanieff’s remarks on its occurrence in the Ural,
quoted by Dresser, appear to refer to the Icterine Warbler. It breeds in
Transylvania and in Turkey; but in Greece, Asia Minor, and Palestine
it is only known as passing through on migration. To the rest of Europe
it is a regular summer visitor. It winters in North Africa, having been
found to the west as far south as the Gold Coast, and to the east as far
south as Abyssinia. A few appear to remain in Algeria to breed.

Either the Wood-Wren, or its favourite food, appears to avoid the cool
damp summer of countries which come under the influence of the Gulf
Stream. It is difficult otherwise to harmonize its absence in Norway and
the north of Scotland, and its extreme rarity in Ireland, with its abundance
in the Baltic provinces and its occurrence in the warm dry summers of
Archangel. Its late arrival in this country also shows how careful it is to
avoid the storms of spring. It is possible that the true reason of this
peculiarity in the distribution of the Wood-Wren is its objection to cross
the sea. In spite of its long and powerful wings, it apparently prefers to
migrate over the land as much as possible. In spite of its abundance in
the forests of Brunswick and Pomerania, where it seemed to me to be the
commonest of the three Willow-Warblers, it is comparatively rare on the
island of Heligoland. Whilst thousands of Willow-Wrens and Chiffchaffs
are seen on this isolated rock both in spring and autumn, Gaetke writes of
the Wood-Wren that “a solitary individual occurs rarely during the warm
days of May and August. It is seldom seen amongst the few shrubs and
trees which ornament the gardens of Heligoland, but almost always only
on the rocky cliffs which surround the island. This is somewhat remark-
able; for such exclusively forest birds as Woodpeckers and Jays avail
themselves of the brushwood of the gardens, but the Wood-Wren does
not, for some reason or other preferring the naked cliffs.”

This bird arrives at its breeding-grounds in this country at least a fort-
night later than its congeners. Its charming song is rarely heard in the
woods and copses of Yorkshire until late in April. Then, when the trees
are just bursting into leaf and the woods are gay with anemones and blue-
bells and other wild flowers, the Wood-Wren appears in great numbers,
On their first arrival only the long-drawn-out plaintive call-note is heard ;
but in a few days they are in full song. On a sunshiny early morning the
woods seem to be alive with them. They have just completed their spring
moult ; and, having waited for fine weather to cross the Mediterranean and
the British Channel, they arrive in our woods in marvellously perfect plu-
mage. In the early morning sun they look almost as delicate a yellowish
green as the half-grown leaves amongst which they disport themselves,

=

428 BRITISH BIRDS.

In the hand the delicate shading of the eye-stripe, and of the margins of
the feathers of the wings and tail, is exquisitely beautiful, but is almost all
lost under the rude handling of the bird-skinner. The Wood-Wren is not
at all shy, nor does he frequent exclusively the topmost branches of trees ;
and with reasonable caution, a good binocular brings him almost under
your eye. During the pairing-season the restless tit-like search for food—-
in and out among the twigs, over and under the leaves, from bush to bush
and tree to tree—is not so apparent. The little songster seems wholly
devoted to his song, and remains singing at intervals from his twig, though
ever and anon he leaves it for a short flight after a too tempting insect,
which he catches on the wing, and takes to the nearest twig to repeat his
song. In such a hurry is he to sing, that often, when flying from one tree
to another, he begins his song on the wing, to finish it on his perch. The
song, so aptly called by Gilbert White the ‘“ shivering” notes of the Wood-
Warbler, when once heard can never be forgotten. It commences, for the
first note or two, somewhat like that of the Willow-Wren, but rapidly in-
creases in speed, finally running into a trill. It might be expressed on
paper thus—chit, chit, chit, chit, chitr, tr-tr-tr-tr-tr-tre. The final trill
somewhat resembles the note of the Grasshopper Warbler or the Lesser
Redpole, or the prolonged ‘ shivering” part of the song of the Common
Wren; and during its utterance the wings and tail, if not the whole body

of the bird, vibrate with the exertion. The loud and plaintive call-note is

in spring a rapidly uttered dee'-ur, dee’-ur, dee’-ur ; but in summer it alters
somewhat, is less rapidly uttered, and the first syllable is less emphasized.
The alarm-note is a whit, not unlike that of the Willow-Wren.

The food of the Wood-Wren is unquestionably insects of various kinds.
Newton says that it eats neither fruit nor berries; but Naumann asserts
that it is especially fond of elder-berries. It can scarcely be probable that
it is exceptional in this respect. Almost all insectivorous birds are more
or less beccafict in autumn.

Its flight is undulating, like that of most flat-winged birds ; and it has a
habit of dropping down somewhat spirally onto a twig with half-expanded
wings, in a manner reminding one of the Tree-Pipit.

In Yorkshire the Wood-Wren is much commoner than the Chiffchaff,
but more local. It is rarely seen in gardens or very small copses, and
prefers the larger woods. I have never seen it more abundant than in the
large pine- and beech-forests of North Germany.

The nest, which is extremely difficult to find, is always on the ground,
concealed amongst the grass, heath, or bilberry. It is semi-domed, com-
posed of dry grass, with sometimes a little moss or a few leaves, and lined
with horsehair, not with feathers. The eggs vary in number from five to
seven, and are pure white in ground-colour, spotted and blotched with
purplish brown, and with numerous shell-markings of violet-grey. Some

_ s

WOOD-WREN. 429

eggs are much more thickly marked than others: in some the spots are

small; in others they are confluent in places and form several large pale
blotches, thickly intermingled with small and darker spots and streaks.
They measure from ‘7 to ‘6 inch in length, and from ‘59 to °53 inch in
breadth. The peculiarities of the Wood-Warbler’s eggs, compared with
the eggs of its British congeners, are their average larger size, more nume-
rous and richer brown markings, and the underlying spots of violet-grey.
So far as is known, the only eggs of any other Willow-Warbler they can
be confused with are those of Bonelli’s Warbler (P. bonellit) ; but the eggs
of this bird are much smaller: otherwise the markings are precisely the
same in colour and distribution.

The adult Wood-Warbler in spring plumage has the general colour of
the upper parts yellowish green, yellowest on the rump and upper tail-
coverts. A distinct greenish yellow eye-stripe extends from the base of
the bill as far as the crown ; the feathers before the eye, and behind the
eye as far as the crown, are olive-green; and the wing-coverts are olive-
green with paler edges. The quills are brown, narrowly tipped with
greyish white, the outside webs edged with yellowish green, and emargi-
nated as far as the fourth primary ; and the margins to the innermost
secondaries are broad and pale. The tail-feathers are brown, the outside
webs edged with yellowish green, and the inside webs having a narrow
greyish-white margin. The general colour of the underparts is pure white,
suffused with yellow on the chin, throat, and fore neck, occasionally with
a trace of yellow on the flanks and the basal part of the under tail-feathers.
The axillaries, under wing-coverts, and thighs are yellow. Bill dark brown,
paler at the base of the under mandible ; legs, feet, and claws brown; irides
hazel. The summer plumage of the Wood-Wren is very similar to the
spring ; for, owing probably to its retiring habits and the more limited
range of its migration, and possibly to the firmer texture of its feathers,
its plumage suffers little from abrasion. The autumn plumage is similar
to that of spring. The Wood-Warbler may always be distinguished from
its near ally the Willow-Warbler by its bright yellow eye-stripe, by its
greener upper parts, larger size, and by its very small first primary, the
exposed part only measuring from 0°3 to 0°4 inch, whereas in the Willow-
Warbler it is usually 0°6 inch.

430 BRITISH BIRDS.

PHYLLOSCOPUS TROCHILUS.

WILLOW-WREN.
(Prats 10.)

Ficedula asilus, Briss. Orn. iii. p, 479 (1760).

Motacilla trochilus, Zinn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 358 (1766) ; et auctorum plurimorum—
(Temminck), (Naumann), (Gould), (Bonaparte), (Degland § Gerbe), (Loche),
(Gray), (Newton), (Sharpe), (Dresser), Se.

Sylvia trochilus (Linn.), Scop. Ann. I. Hist. Nat. p. 160 (1769).

Motacilla fitis, Bechst. Natwrg. Deutschl. iv. p. 678 (1795).

Sylvia fitis (Bechst.), Bechst. Orn. Taschenb. i. p. 187 (1802).

Ficedula fitis ( Bechst.), Koch, Syst. baier. Zool, i. p. 159 (1816).

Sylvia flaviventris, Viel. N. Dict. d’ Hist. Nat. xi. p. 241 (1817).

Trochilus medius, Forst. Syn. Cat. p. 54 (1817).

Phylloscopus trochilus (Zinn.), Bote, Isis, 1826, p. 972.

Regulus trochilus (Linn.), Fleming, Brit. An. p. 72 (1828).

Phyllopneuste arborea, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 427 (1851).

Phyllopneuste fitis (Bechst.), Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 427 (1851).

Phyllopneuste trochilus (Linn.), Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 429 (1831).

Sylvia melodia, Blyth, Rennie’s Field Nat. i. p. 425 (1833).

Curruea viridula, Zempr. § Ehrenb. Symb. Phys., Aves, fol. bb (1853).

Sylvicola trochilus (Linn.), Eyton, Cat. Brit. B. p. 13 (1836).

Ficedula trochilus (Linn.), Keys. u. Blas. Wirb, Eur, p. 185 (1840).

Sylvia tamarixis, Crespon, Fauna Merid. i. p. 209 (1844).

Sylvia angusticauda, Gerbe, Faun. de (Aube, p. 189, fide Degl. Orn. Ew. i. p. 549
(1849).

Phyllopneuste eversmanni, Bonrap. Consp. i. p. 289 (1850).

Silvia meisneri, Péissler, Nawm, 1851, p. 56.

Phyllopneuste major, Z'ristram, Ann. Nat. Hist. 1871, viii. p. 29 (nee Forster).

Phylloscopus gaetkii, Seebohm, Ibis, 1877, p. 92.

Phyllopseuste trochilus (Linn.), Gebel, T'hes. Orn. iii. p. 121 (1877).

Of all the Willow- Warblers the common Willow-Wren, as it is generally
called, is the most abundant and the most widely distributed. The exqui-
site delicacy of its plumage, the slender gracefulness of its form, its active
Tit-like habits, its pretty little song, and, above all, its carefully concealed
domed nest and beautiful pink eggs make it a general favourite. There
is scarcely a plantation, or garden, or copse in Great Britain or Ireland
where the Willow-Wren is not a common bird in the breeding-season.
On the continent it is equally common. I found it abundant on the fjelds
of Lapland both in the Porsanger and Varanger fjords ; and on the tundras
of the Petchora and Yenesay, up to lat. 70°, wherever the valleys were shel-
tered enough to allow of the growth of willow copses. It breeds through-
out Central and Western Europe, a few even remaining during summer in
North-west Africa; but towards the east its breeding range does not
extend so far south. ‘There is no evidence of its breeding in South Russia ;

WILLOW-WREN. 431

and Dresser’s statement that it is generally distributed there in summer is
no doubt an error, as Goebel in South-west Russia, Bogdanow in the
Caucasus, and Hencke at Astrakhan all agree that it is only seen on the
spring and autumn migrations. Danford and Harvie-Brown found it
breeding in Transylvania; but in Turkey, Greece, Asia Minor, and Pales-
tine it is only found in winter. The Siberian birds appear to migrate west
in autumn, as the Willow-Wren has not been found in Turkestan, though
a few appear to winter in Persia. A few winter in Spain and Sicily ; but
the great winter quarters of this bird are in Africa. It abounds in the
oases of the desert, is very common in the valley of the Nile, and has been
sent in collections from the Gambia river, Senegal, the Congo, Damara
Land, the Cape, Natal, and the Transvaal. From the latter country I
have examples in full sprmg moult.

The Willow-Wren is one of the earliest birds in spring to migrate. In
the south of England, as in North Germany, it arrives towards the end of
March, in Yorkshire during the first week of April, and in the middle parts
of Scotland (according to Macgillivray) about the 20th or 25th of April.
In the valley of the Petchora, in lat. 65°, we first heard its notes on the
20th of May; and on the Arctic circle in the valley of the Yenesay it did
not arrive until the 4th of June. It leaves this country in September.
In the last week of that month I observed great numbers on Heligoland ;
and Gaetke tells us that it frequently appears on that island in considerable
numbers as early as the middle of August.

The Willow-Wren is such a common bird that it is difficult to say where
it is not to be found. Its cheerful song may be heard in the copses of our
wildest moorlands, or on the few trees that struggle for existence among
the rocks and peat on the banks of the mountain-becks, amongst the furze-
bushes on the common, in plantations and woods of all kiuds of trees, in
the farm as well as the garden, and even amongst the trees and shrubs in
front of the villas almost in the middle of our blackest towns.

The Willow-Wren is especially common in the neighbourhood of Shef-
field. All the world knows what a black place Sheffield is. The ill-thriven
village that forged the penblade wherewith Chaucer whittled his crow-
quill was proverbial for its blackness ; and tradition shows us in legendary
perspective the tilts on the banks of the Don where the Brigantine warriors
took their arrows to be steeled by the half-savage sons of Vulean—the green
meadows by the river-side scarred by their coal-pits, and the grand old
oaks and silvery birches on the mountain-slope charred by the smoke of
their rude forges. The huge armour-plate rolling-mills have brought the
town to its climax of blackness. Passengers by the express from the em-
porium of gold to Cottonopolis shrug their shoulders as they near the
Victoria Station, and fancy they have reached the zero of physical as well
as of moral good. The view over the Wicker is indeed a dismal one,

452 BRITISH BIRDS.

almost picturesque from excess of gloom. You seem to be lookiug upon
a forest of chimney-studded roofs, hazy and indistinct, and soon lost in the
thick smoke which hangs like a great black rain-cloud over the sky, whilst
here and there, where the engine-chimneys are thickest, the steam hangs
about them like the “ sobs” of mist that rise out of the Wharncliffe woods
and hang about the loftiest trees, looking white against the grey rain.
Underneath this heaven of smoke, somewhere at the bottom of this valley
of chimneys, flows the dirty, sullen, ill-used river Don, groaning under
the weight of his labour, monotonously turning his hundred wheels and
tilts day and night, and patiently bearing his burden of blackness. In
the early part of this century the Don was a gay, laughing stream, purling
amongst mossy stones or dropping into dark pools full of trout. Now it
is a barren river, muddied by drains and sewers, poisoned by divers acids,
redolent of unwholesome gases, and stained with the hideous yellow of
“ wheelswarfe.”’ About six miles out of the town it nestles close under the
Wharncliffe woods ; and about a mile further on, at its junction with the
Yewden, the sturdy oaks almost hide the rocky bed of the stream from
sight. From the top of the crags at Wharncliffe you look down upon one
of the finest landscapes in Yorkshire. Its most marked feature is the
Wharn cliffs (Danish Vernelippe), or bulwark cliffs, which run like a
rampart on the hill-sides. Beyond these rampart cliffs is the majestic
sea of wood, with its roll of forest wave, almost rivalling the ocean in
sublimity. In the distance, to the right, the river winds through the
Stocksbridge valley, past the large works of Samuel Fox, parasol- and
umbrella-frame maker to the two hemispheres ; and to the left the valley
of the Yewden (Yew-den or Yew-dale, the dale or valley of yew-trees) lies
spread out like a map, leading up to the Bradfield moors. All this
district, from the moor-edges, where Grouse are breeding, down to the
last cottage-garden, which looks like an oasis of green in the desert of
shops, abounds with Willow- Wrens.

Early in April they arrive by thousands, and spread themselves over
this and surrounding districts. First the males arrive, hungry and silent ;
and you may watch them on.the pines and larches diligently seeking for
insects, never still for a moment, searching every nook and cranny, as
often hanging under a leaf or twig as perched upon it. Wonderfully active,
they are to be seen in almost every conceivable position; and not unfre-
quently they make a short flight into the air to catch an insect on the
wing, or hover over a leaf or under a pine-cone to pick off some beetle or
fly which they could not otherwise reach. A day or two after their arrival
they commence their simple little song; and during the pairing-season
their half-dozen unassuming notes in a descending scale, like a little peal
of distant bells, resound from every tree. In early spring these birds
have a sibilant chirp, which sometimes approaches almost a hiss, like the

WILLOW-WREN. 433

spitting of a cat, when the male is chasing the female fast and furious
through the woods. The usual call-note is a whit, almost like that of the
Chaffinch or Redstart; this is often heard if you approach too near the
nest. If you frighten the bird off, especially if the eggs are nearly hatched,
a still more plaintive note is heard—a rapidly uttered sound, something
hike na, na, na, na.

The Willow-Wren is sometimes seen on the ground, where it hops like
a Robin ; sometimes it perches on a rail; but it is essentially a bird of
the bushes and trees. Its flight is undulating but rapid. This bird moults
_ early ; and the song is partially resumed in August. Its food consists prin-
cipally of small insects ; but in autumn it also eats currants, elder-berries,
and other soft fruits.

The nest is almost always concealed amongst grass on the ground, and
is almost impossible to find, except by watching the female drop down on
to it, or by accidentally frightening her off. It is semi-domed, the rim
which forms the entrance being at an angle of about 45°. It is somewhat
loosely constructed outside with dead grass, and sometimes a little moss
or a few dry leaves. Inside it is more carefully finished, and is lined with
fine roots, horsehair, and lastly with a profusion of feathers.

The eggs vary in number from five to eight, and are white or pale creamy
white in ground-colour, blotched, spotted, and speckled with pale brownish
red. In some specimens the spots are small and finely powdered over
the whole shell; in others the markings are confluent, usually at the large
end of the egg, sometimes forming a zone, and sometimes with a few streaks
of rich brown. In some examples the spots are much richer and more
numerous than in others. In shape they vary not a little, sometimes
being almost round. They vary in length from ‘73 to °56 inch, and in
breadth from °5 to :45 inch.

The eggs of all the British Willow-Warblers possess certain character-
istics which readily distinguish them from each other. Those of the
Common Willow-Warbler are readily identified by their pale reddish-
brown markings, those of the Chiffchaff by their less numerous and very
dark red spots; and those of the Wood-Wren are darkest of all, being
thickly marked with purplish coffee-brown and underlying spots of pale
violet-grey. From the eggs of many of the Tits it is a more difficult
matter to distinguish the eggs of the two former Willow-Warblers ; but
the situation and shape of the nest are sufficient for their identification.

The adult Willow-Warbler in spring plumage has the general colour of
the upper parts olive-green, somewhat yellower on the rump. An in-
distinct greenish-yellow eye-stripe extends from the base of the bill as far
as the crown; the feathers before the eye, and behind the eye as far as
the crown, are dark olive-green. The wing-coverts are olive, edged with
olive-green; and the quills are brown, narrowly tipped with greyish white,

VOL. I. QF

434 BRITISH BIRDS.

and having the outside webs edged with yellowish green and emarginated
as far as the fifth. The tail-feathers are brown, the outside webs edged
with yellowish green, and the inside webs have a narrow greyish-white
margin. The general colour of the underparts is white, suffused all over
with yellow, and on the breast and flanks with buff. The axillaries, under
wing-coverts, and thighs are yellow. Bill dark brown above, slightly
paler below; legs, feet, and claws brown; irides hazel. In summer
the upper parts are greyer; in high latitudes occasionally with all the
yellow and green abraded, leaving the general colour earthy brown, the
eye-stripe having faded into greyish white. Much of the yellow of the
underparts also becomes abraded ; and in high latitudes all, except that on
the axillaries and under wing-coverts, disappears, leaving the buffish yellow
of the breast and flanks pale grey. The autumn plumage is yellower than
that of spring. Birds of the year are even more yellow than adults, the
whole of the underparts being uniform buffish yellow.

WILLOW-WREN’S NEST,

——— |

CHIFFCHAFF. 435

PHYLLOSCOPUS RUFUS*.

CHIFFCHAFF.
(PLatE 10.)

Sylvia hippolais (Linn.), apud Lath. Gen. Syn. Suppl. i. p. 87 (1787).

Motacilla rufa et lotharingica, Linn. fide Bechst. Naturg. Deutsch. iv. p. 682 (1795).

Sylvia rufa, Bechst. Orn. Taschenb. i. p. 188 (1802); et auctorum plurimorum—
Wolf, Temminck, Bote, Naumann, (Bonaparte), (Schlegel), (Deglund § Gerbe),
(Keyserling § Blasius), Gray, (Saunders), (Fritsch), Hewitson, (Salvadori),
(Gould), (Heuglin), (Lindermayer), (Blyth), (Tristram), Cabanis), (Loche), (Do-
derlem), (Howard Saunders), (Shelley), (Godman), (Rennie), (Eyton), ( Giebel),
§¢., Fe.

Motacilla hippolais, Zinn. apud Turton, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 587 (1806).

Ficedula rufa (Bechst.), Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. i. p. 160 (1816).

Sylvia collybita, Vieill. N. Dict. d’ Hist. Nat. xi. p. 235 (1817).

Trochilus minor, Forst. Syn. Cat. p. 54 (1817).

Sylvia abietina, Miss. K. Vet.--Ak. Handl. 1819, p. 115.

Regulus hippolais (Linn.), apud Fleming, Brit. An. p. 72 (1828).

Phylloscopus rufus (Bechst.), Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 94 (1829).

Phyllopneuste sylvestris, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 431 (1831),

Phyllopneuste solitaria, Brehm, Vig. Deutschl. p. 432 (1831).

Phyllopneuste pinetorum, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 432 (1831). ’

Phyllopneuste rufa (Bechst.), Brehm, Voy. Deutschl. p. 433 (1831).

Trochilus rufa (Bechst.), Rennie, Field Nat. i. p. 52 (1833).

Sylvia loquax, Herbert, White's N. H. of Selb. p. 55, note (1833).

Sylvicola rufa (Bechst.), Eyton, Cat. Brit. B. p. 14 (1836).

Sylvia brevirostris, Strickl. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1836, p. 98.

Phyllopneuste hippolais (Zinn), apud Macgill. Br. B. ii. p. 879 (1839).

Phyllopneuste brevirostris (Strichl.), Bonap. Consp. i. p. 289 (1850).

Phylloscopus habessinicus, Blanf. Ann. Nat. Hist. 1869, p. 329.

* The attempt to ignore the well-known name which Bechstein gave to the Chiffchaff
more than eighty years ago, and which has been in almost universal use ever since, and
to substitute for it an obscure name absolutely unknown, except to the ornithological
bookworms, is an example of red tape and pedantry which is almost inconceivable. The
reason alleged for this mischievous change is that, according to the Stricklandian code, the
name of Phylluscopus rufus cannot be applied to the Chiffchaff because Boddaert had fore-
stalled Bechstein by calling the Whitethroat Motacilla rufa. To this may be replied :—lIst,
Boddaert did not intend to apply this name to the Whitethroat ; 2nd, if he did by accident
so apply it, the Chiffchaff not belonging to the same genus as the Whitethroat (though
_Boddaert may have thought it did), its right to bear the name cannot be affected under
the rules by any name previously applied to any bird belonging to a different genus; 3rd,
if the rules can be so twisted as to warrant the change, then they are more honoured in
the breach than in the observance,
9F2

~

436 BRITISH BIRDS.

Phylloscopus brehmi, Homeyer, Erinn. Vers. deutschl. Orn. 1870, p. 48.
Phylloscopus abyssinicus, Blanf. Geol. § Zool. Abyss. p. 378, pl. iii. fig. 2 (1870).
Phyllopneuste brehmi (Homeyer), Proc. Zool. Soc, 1872, p. 25.

Phyllopneuste tristrami, Brookes, fide Dresser, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1872, p. 25.
Phylloscopus collybita (Vieill.), Newton, ed. Yarr. Brit. B. i. p. 437 (1878).
Phyllopseuste rufa (Bechst.), Gieb. Thes. Orn. iii. p. 120 (1877).

The Chiffchaff, though it has a much more restricted range than the
Willow-Wren, and is seldom so abundant, is nevertheless a common bird
in most parts of England and Wales. In Scotland and Ireland it is said
to be more local, but has undoubtedly occurred in most counties, including
the Orkneys, the Shetland Isles, and the Hebrides. In most of the
southern counties of England it is a somewhat commoner species than
the Willow-Wren; but in Yorkshire, though common enough, it is rare in
comparison with the abundance of the latter bird.

On the continent the Chiffchaff does not range quite up to the Arctic
circle. In Norway and Sweden it is rarely found above lat. 65°. It is not
uncommon in Finland, and occurs in Russia up to Archangel and the main
valley of the Volga. In the valleys of the Petchora and the Kama, and
east of the Ural mountains, the Chiffchaff is replaced by the Siberian
Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus tristis). The Chiffchaff breeds in Transylvania ;
but in South Russia, the Caucasus, and Turkey it appears to be princi-
pally known in spring and autumn on migration, instances of its breeding
or wintering in these districts being noted as very exceptional. In Persia,
Asia Minor, Palestine, and Greece it is aregular winter visitor. In Spain,
the south of France, and Italy the Chiffchaff may almost be considered a
resident. It is undoubtedly so on the Canary Islands; but in South-west
Europe it is more probable that the birds are migratory, but that in this
region the summer and winter ranges overlap. The Chiffchaff is a regular
winter visitor to North and North-east Africa as far south as Abyssinia,
but it has not been known to remain in any part of the mainland to breed.
Occasionally individuals have been known to winter in the south of
England, and in mild seasons even in North Germany.

It is very doubtful if Linnzeus distinguished between the three Willow-
Wrens. He was probably but very little of a field-ornithologist, and not
much acquainted with the songs of birds. In the ‘ Fauna Suecica’ and in
the tenth edition of the ‘ Systema Nature’ he appears to have distinguished
the Chiffchaff under the name of Motacilla acredula; but in the twelfth
edition he degraded it to the rank of a variety of the Willow-Wren. Gil-
bert White, in his charming ‘ Natural History of Selborne, seems to have
been the first naturalist to clearly discriminate between the three species ;
and in 1768 he announced his discovery to Pennant; but the bookmaker
does not seem to have believed the story of the field-naturalist, and in 1776
Pennant’s ‘ British Zoology’ records the ‘‘ Yellow Wren” only. It seems

CHIFFCHAFF. 437

- very extraordinary how birds having such totally different notes could have
been confounded together for so long. The song of the Chiffchaff might
be confounded with that of the Siberian Chiffchaff, but bears no resem-
blance whatever to the song of either the Wood-Wren or Willow-Wren.
It is a loud unmusical double note, chiff, chaff’; tsy, tsa; till, tell; chink,
chunk, or whatever other monosyllables the listener may fancy it resembles.
Occasionally a third or even a fourth note, slightly differing from the usual
note, is introduced, but quite as monotonous and unmusical. Ifthese notes
were not confined to the spring and summer, and apparently discontinued
during the winter, as are also the similar notes of the Siberian Chiffchaff,
one might be inclined to regard them as call-notes, and not of the nature
of asong at all. Much confusion arises, and many errors are initiated or
propagated, by the fact that ornithologists copy each other, instead of going
to Nature for their facts. Most of the accounts of the habits of birds in
Dresser’s ‘ Birds of Europe’ are condensed from Naumann’s ‘ Birds of
Germany,’ and in many cases are incorrectly translated from the writings
of that great field-ornithologist ; but perhaps the most remarkable instance
of this kind of ornithological composition is to be found in Morris’s de-
scription of the song of the Chiffchaff, which is borrowed from Meyer, and
spoiled in the borrowing. Meyer says :—‘“‘Its note, though it cannot be
called a song, is not altogether unmusical; it consists sometimes of only
_ two notes, which have been likened to chiff, chaff, whence it has derived its
name ; but we have heard its cry frequently extended to three notes, each
differing from the other, as if it were chiff, cheff, chaff, singing amongst
the tops of trees like the chime of little bells.” If Meyer had lived in
Sheffield in the days of cast-steel bells, some excuse might have been found
for his far-fetched simile. Morris seems, however, to have been quite
fascinated with this poetical image, and enlarges upon it. Because Meyer
says that the notes are not altogether unmusical, and that its cry is fre-
quently extended to three notes, each differing from the other, Morris
generalizes upon the facts, and writes “the song” is “melodious and
varied ;”’ and, as if anxious to betray the source of his information, adds :—
“<Tt comes from the tops of the trees with a ringing sound, reminding one
of the faint chime of the distant village church bell,’—a by no means un-
poetical version of a fellow naturalist’s description, but, applied to the clear,
loud, monotonous, and, in comparison with the more melodious songs of its
“nearest kinsmen, somewhat harsh notes of the Chiffchaff, to be described
only as unmitigated nonsense. The alarm-note of the Chiffchaff is a whit
not unlike that of the Willow-Wren, but not so loud, somewhat more pro-
longed and slightly shriller. A third note is often heard, something like
tr-r-r.

In its habits the Chiffchaff does not differ much from the Willow-Wren.
It is quite as active and restless, but perhaps is more often seen near the

438 BRITISH BIRDS.

tops of lofty trees, and is undoubtedly a more difficult bird to shoot. Like
the Siberian Chiffchaff, it hurries through the woods as if its object were to
cover as much ground as possible. Its flight is not so rapid as that of the
Willow-Wren, but is more undulating, the rapid motion of its rounded
wings apparently requiring frequent short rests,

Its food consists of gnats, small beetles, and caterpillars, and of small
insects of all kinds, which it generally picks up on trees, but sometimes
takes in the airor on the ground. It seems to be more confined to woods
and plantations than the Willow-Wren, only venturing into large gardens,
and seldom visiting the stunted trees on the edges of the moors. In
autumn, when the young are fledged, it will come into the gardens to feed
on the currants, or frequent the underwoood in the plantations to regale
itself with elder-berries.

The special interest attaching to the Chiffchaff is that it is one of the
earliest summer migrants to land on our shores, and in the cultivated
districts, where the Wheatear is seldom seen, is the first bird of passage to
announce to us the return of spring.

It seems at first sight difficult to imagine how two such closely allied
birds as the Willow-Wren and Chiffchaff, which differ so little in their
geographical distribution, could have become differentiated. But if we
assume that the common ancestors of the two species lived in Europe
before the glacial period, we may conjecture that when the ice drove them
across the Mediterranean, half of them took refuge in the valley of the
Nile, whilst the other half were isolated in Algeria and the surrounding
countries, which then probably formed a large island. During the hundred
and fifty thousand years that this state of things is supposed to have cou-
tinned, the colony in Aigeria may have had time enough to develop into
Chiffchaffs, whilst that in the valley of the Nile became Willow-Wrens.
A third colony may have been isolated in Turkestan, from which the
Siberian Chiffchaffs may be descended. Special circumstances in the
valley of the Nile may have caused the intermediate colony to alter more
than the two outside ones, which may resemble each other because they
both have changed but slightly from the common ancestors. After the
elacial period was over, each colony would naturally follow the retreating
ice, and again spread over its original area of distribution, the central
colony overlapping in its new area that of its eastern and western rivals,
and possibly destined eventually to supersede and exterminate them. The
eastern range of the Chiffchaff reaches the western limit of the Siberian
Chiffchaff, about longitude 50°; but the Willow-Wren covers the area of
distribution of both birds in the breeding-season, except perhaps the
Canary Islands in the west and the basin of Lake Baikal in the east.

In the south of England the Chiffchaff arrives about the end of March,
in Yorkshire early in April, and in Edinburgh (according to Macgillivray)

1 i re
oR
es
a
4
” 1

¥
t

CHIFFCHAFF, 439

about the third week of April. My friend Gaetke writes to me f rom
Heligoland :—“ The Chiffchaff visits our rock in considerable numbers,
though not so frequently as the Willow-Warblers. It arrives earlier in
spring, and lingers later in autumn than any of its congeners, and does
not seem frightened of rough weather. The spring migration commences
as early as the end of March; and the autumn migration continues into
November. It 1s somewhat remarkable that a bird which chooses such
cold weather for its migrations should not breed so far north as many other
Warblers.” ;

The nest of the Chiffchaff does not differ from that of the Willow-Wren
or that of the Siberian Chiffchaff. It is semi-domed, composed of dried
grass, rather loosely made outside, but inside very neat and lined with
roots, horsehair, and finally with a profusion of feathers. Like that of
the Siberian Chiffchaff, but unlike that of the Willow-W ren, it is often
placed a foot or two from the ground. Occasionally, however, both the
Chiffchafts breed in the grass on the ground.

The eggs are from five to seven in number, and vary from pure white to
pale creamy white in ground-colour. There are two types of Chiffchaft’s
eggs. The commonest type is spotted, chiefly at the large end of the egg,
with very dark reddish brown. Belonging to this type are certain varieties,
in which the markings are very minute and more evenly distributed over
the entire surface of the egg. In the second type the spots are very much
larger and likewise paler and not so numerous. Underlying spots of
violet-grey are scen sparingly in the eggs of this bird. The eggs vary in
leugth from °65 to ‘55 inch, and in breadth from ‘5 to °45 inch.

The adult Chiffchaff in spring plumage has the general colour of the
upper parts olive-green, slightly yellower on the rump; the eye-stripe is
somewhat ill-defined, and is greyish white, with a shade of yellow, and
extends only a short distance behind the eye; the lores and the feathers
behind the eye are olive; the wing-coverts and quills are brown, edged
on the outside webs with olive-green, and are emarginated as far as the
sixth. The quills are narrowly tipped with white; and the tail-feathers
are brown, the outside webs edged with yellowish green, and the inside
webs with a narrow greyish-white margin. The general colour of the
underparts is white, shading into grey on the breast and flanks, and more
or less suffused all over with yellow ; the axillaries, under wing-coverts,
and thighs are yellow. Bill dark brown above, slightly paler below; legs,
feet, and claws dark brown; irides hazel. The Chiffchaff suffers consi-
derably from abrasion during the perils of migration: the upper parts
fade into olive-grey ; the eye-stripe and underparts lose some of their
yellow; and the pale tips to the quills disappear. After the autumn moult
the whole of the plumage becomes suffused with buffish yellow, which is
almost pure pale buff on the eye-stripe, breast, flanks, and under tail.

coverts. The buffish yellow pervading the whole of the autumn plumage
is never entirely lost by abrasion in winter.

The Chiffchaff may be distinguished from the Willow-Warbler by its
wing-formula. In the present species the second primary is intermediate
in length between the sixth and ninth; whilst in the Willow- Warbler it
is almost invariably between the fifth and sixth. A further distinction
may be found in the almost black legs of the present bird and its browner
plumage.

440 BRITISH BIRDS.

YELLOW-BROWED WILLOW-WREN. 441

PHYLLOSCOPUS SUPERCILIOSUS.

YELLOW-BROWED WILLOW-WREN.
(Pate 10.)

? Motacilla superciliosa, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 975 (1788); et auctorum plurimo-
rum—(Cabanis), (Schrench), (Blyth), (Radde), (Gould), (Gray), (Newton),
(Dresser), (David § Oustalet), &c.

? Sylvia superciliosa (Gmel.), Lath. Ind. Orn. ii. p. 526 (1790).

Regulus modestus, Gould, apud Hancock, Ann. Nat. Hist. ii. p- 310 (1839).

Regulus inornatus, Blyth, J. A. S. Beng. xi. p. 191 (1842),

Phylloscopus modestus (Gould), apud Blyth, J. A. S. Beng. xii. p- 963 (1843).

Phyllopneuste modesta (Growld), apud Blyth, Ann. Nat. Hist. xii. p. 98 (1843).

Reguloides modestus (Gould), apud Blyth, J. A. S. Beng. xvi. p. 442 (1847).

Sylvia (Phyllopneuste) proregulus (Pail.), apud Midd. Sib. Reise, p. 183 (1833,
partim).

Phyllobasileus superciliosus (Gimel.), Cabanis, Journ. Orn. 1853, p. 81.

Reguloides proregulus (Pall.), apud Horsf. § Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E.I. Co. i. p. 342
(1854).

Ficedula proregulus (Paill.), apud Schlegel, Vog. Nederl. pp. 130, 241 (1854).

Phyllopneuste proregulus (Pall.), apud Blasius, Naum. viii. p. 311 (1858).

Sylvia bifasciata, Gaetke, Naum. viii. p. 419 (1858).

Phyllopneuste (Phyllobasileus) superciliosa (Gimel.), Schrenck, Reis. Forsch. Amur-
Lande, i. p. 863 (1860).

Sylvia (Phyllopneuste) superciliosa (G'mel.), Naum. Vig. Deutschi. xiii. pt. 2, p. 74
(1860).

Reguloides superciliosus (Gmel.), Blyth, Ibis, 1862, p. 386.

Phylloscopus pallasii, Dubois, Ois. Eur. p. 83 (1862).

Phyllopneuste superciliosa (Gmel.), Bolle, Jowrn. Orn. 1863, p. 60.

Regulus superciliosus (G'mel.), Gray, Cat. Brit. B. p. 54 (1863).

Phylloscopus superciliosus (G'mel.), Crommelin, Ned. T. D. iii. p. 244 (1866),

Sylvia inornata (Blyth), Gray, Hand-l. B. i. p. 216. no, 3066 (1869).

Phyllopseuste proregulus (Pall.), apud Giebel, Thes. Orn. iii. p. 120 (1877).

The breeding-range of the Yellow-browed Warbler is supposed to be
confined to the pine-forests of North-eastern Siberia, from the valley of
the Yenesay eastwards to the Pacific, and from the mountains of Lake
Baikal northwards to the Arctic circle. It passes through Mongolia and
North China on migration, and winters in South China, Assam, Burma,
and North-east India. Like some other Siberian birds which winter in
South-east Asia, a few examples appear more or less regularly to take the
wrong turning at Yenesaisk, and, instead of accompanying the main body
of the migratory species, which follow the course of the Angora through
Lake Baikal into the valley of the Amoor, join the smaller stream of
migration, which flows westwards into Persia and Europe.

The history of the Yellow-browed Warbler is quite a little romance, and

ore

4.4.2 BRITISH BIRDS.

almost as difficult to follow as the most complicated plot of a modern
novel. It has been confused with so many of its near allies, discovered
and rediscovered, named and renamed so many times, that, even after its
synonymy has been cleared from the mere blunders of obscure writers, the
list of names, each of which is an alias of the Yellow-browed Warbler, is
a most formidable one. It is impossible to say whether Latham’s bird
was this species or not. He says, on the authority of Pennant, that it
occurs in Russia, where, so far as we know, the bird is as rare as it is in
England. Neither does he mention the important and conspicuous cha-
racter of the two wing-bars. Latham, like Linneus and too many
modern ornithologists, did not describe his birds, but only gave a short
diagnosis, intended to be sufficient to distinguish them from their near
allies. Diagnoses are all very well until new species are discovered, when
they generally become utterly worthless.

It is probable that Messerschmidt was the first discoverer of this species.
He found it in the valley of the Lena in East Siberia. Pallas did not add
any thing to our knowledge of it, except the record of Messerschmidt’s
birds, which he suggests may be females of his Motacilla proregulus.

The bird was practically unknown until it was discovered by Hancock,
who was fortunate enough to shoot one, on the 26th of September 1838,
on the sea-banks near Hartley, about four miles north of the Tyne, in
Northumberland. In those days the appearance of a Siberian bird in
England was an event in the ornithological world; but four years later
the mystery was increased by its rediscovery by Blyth near Calcutta. In
1845 Cabanis had an opportunity of examining two examples which had
been caught near Berlin ; and in the ‘ Journal fiir Ornithologie’ for 1853,
p. 81 (a résumé of which may be found in ‘The Ibis’ for 1862, p. 54), he
attempted to gather up the scattered threads of the history of this bird.
Unfortunately he gathered up too many; and for ten years three species
were confused together under various names. Schlegel seems to have
been the first to unravel the tangle to some extent (see ‘Ibis,’ 1863, p. 307) ;
but the third species was not detached from the skein until 1878, when
Brooks, the great authority on Phylloscopi, described Reguloides humii in
‘Stray Feathers,’ p. 131.

Meanwhile the interest attaching to the Yellow-browed Warbler had
been increased tenfold. A second British-killed example, obtained within
a mile of Cheltenham, on the 11th of October 1867, by Mr. J. T. White,
was recorded in a letter from Gould in ‘ The Ibis’ for 1869, p. 128, and is
now in the collection of Sir John Harpur Crewe. Mysterious reports of
its repeated occurrence in Heligoland were doubted by many ornithologists,
until it was finally proved that it occurs on migration in small numbers
every autumn, and occasionally in spring, on that wonderful island, and
that since 1846 scarcely a year has passed without some having been seen

YELLOW-BROWED WILLOW-WREN. 443

and, frequently, shot. A few examples were obtained in other parts of
Europe ; and British oologists were so anxious to obtain eggs of this in-
teresting British bird that Mr. Brooks made an expedition to Cashmere on
purpose to discover them, returning home in triumph with abundance of
spoil. The curious reader may find a most interesting account of Brooks’s
discoveries in Cashmere in ‘The Ibis’ for 1872, p. 24, most of which is
copied in Dresser’s ‘ Birds of Europe,’ and extracts from which are also
given by Newton in his edition of Yarrell’s ‘ British Birds.’ It was a
great disappointment to Brooks, six years later, to be obliged to confess
that the eggs he obtained were not those of the British species. By the
discovery that the Cashmere bird was a new and undescribed species, his
well-deserved success was deprived of half its brilliancy. The egg of the
Yellow-browed Warbler again became a desideratum in every collection
of British birds’ eggs; and it was not until the summer of 1877 that an
authentic egg of this species was obtained, when I had the good fortune
to find a single nest not very far east of Brooks’s locality, but more than
two thousand miles further north.

Besides the information which I was able to record from personal obser-
vation in the valley of the Yenesay, I am fortunate in being able to add a
most interesting account of the habits of this bird in Heligoland from the
able pen of my friend Mr. Gaetke, whose long-promised work on the
ornithology of Heligoland is so eagerly looked for by every lover of birds.

After mentioning the six or seven times that this bird has been procured
in various parts of the continent and England, Gaetke goes on to say :—

“ How does Heligoland compare with the rest of Europe with its half-
dozen isolated instances of the appearance of this interesting little bird ?
Since I first made its acquaintance in 1846, and called the attention of
our island sportsmen to its peculiarities, this little Warbler has been seen
at least sixty times. Of this there can be no manner of doubt. Some
twenty-five or twenty-six examples have been shot and most of them pre-
served. In addition to these sixty undoubted occurrences there have been
at least twenty cases where boys (my highly-prized blowpipe-shooters) have
assured me that they have seen a ‘ striped flysnapper;’ but I have not made
a note of it, not liking to record any observation about which there might
be some doubt.

“ Of the specimens which I have mounted, four are at present on my
table ; two (one of them the first shot on the island, on the 4th of October
1846) I presented to the late Colonel von Zittwitz, whose fine collection
is now in the possession of the Leyden University ; and two others, which
belonged to my late friend Blasius, are now in the Brunswick Museum.
The Coburg Museum has one example; and another is in the possession of
the Hon. Percy Fielding in London. I sent Alfred Newton one finely
marked bird and a second somewhat injured with the shot. I gave a

444 -- BRITISH BIRDS.

couple of skins to my friend Seebohm, who, a day or two afterwards, shot
a third specimen in my garden, on the 5th of October 1876; and, finally,
a specimen has found its way into the fine collection of Mr. Benzon in
Copenhagen. Besides these I have given away two or three examples,
but do not at this moment remember to whom; and four or five were so
badly shot that it was absolutely impossible to prepare them. To this
number must be added a couple of birds which were mounted by the Heli-
golanders, and sold into private collections on the continent.

“The time of migration of this Warbler commences on Heligoland
about the last week of September, and lasts until the end of October, and
sometimes extends to the first week of November. Like almost all
Siberian birds which visit our island, it is very rarely seen in spring. As
certainly as it may be expected in autumn with favourable wind and
weather, so certainly search for it in the spring would be vain. During
a period of careful observation extending over thirty years, I have only
twice met with it at this season—once on April 25th, and once on 25th
May. The former was a male in splendid plumage; but, unfortunately, it
was so much injured with the shot that I was not able to skin it.

“This bird chooses for its journey fine warm weather, with east or
south-east wind. On the island it principally frequents the few willows
in the gardens between the houses of the upper land. It hops about in
these, as well as in the hawthorn, elder, and smaller shrubs, exactly like the
Willow- Warbler and Chiffchaff, during which occupation it does not quiver
its wings as the Goldcrests are in the constant habit of doing, even when
they do not require to use them in flittmg from branch to branch. It is
also a less restless bird than the Goldcrests, and does not, like them, hop
about seemingly without aim or purpose ; but when it alights on a tree it
begins at the lower branches and works away steadily up to the top
searching for its insect food.

“The bird seldom utters its note, generally only when flying away. It
sounds like Ayiif, a little drawn out and softly spoken, slightly reminding
one of the note of a Pipit. The note of the male is louder than that
of the female. When surprised or alarmed the note is repeated two or
three times in rapid succession and somewhat louder.

“Tn all its habits this bird has little affinity with the Goldcrests with
their restless nervous movements, during which their notes are almost
constantly repeated. Nor does it resemble them in the loose texture of
their plumage, in their well-known style of nest, or colour of eggs, in each
of which particulars it is a true Willow-Warbler. I suppose that it was
only the small size and the bars across the wings which originally suggested
the idea that this bird must be a Regulus. Observations on living birds
do not justify such a conclusion in the least. The first birds which were
observed here were noted down in my journal as ‘ Sylvia (Ficedula)

YELLOW-BROWED WILLOW-WREN. 445

bifasciata, a name coined on the spot for the unknown wanderer ; and it
never occurred to any of the old Heligoland sportsmen, nor even to one
of the young blowpipe-shooters, to call it any thing else but the ‘ Barred
Willow-Warbler?

“The custom of this bird to frequent the bushes in the small gardens
close to the houses, where it is seldom safe to use a gun, is the reason why
so few comparatively of the numerous examples which have been seen have
been procured; and from the same custom arises the fact that so many
which have been shot have not been preserved. When you have the chance
of a safe shot, you frequently cannot get far enough off to avoid blowing
the poor bird all to pieces. Besides this, it is by no means an easy bird to
shoot. Few birds understand better how to conceal themselves, how always
to keep sufficient foliage between themselves and the eyes of the eager
observer to make a successful shot very difficult.

“The interest attaching to the visits of this little bird to our western
island is so great that I have extracted the following references to its
appearance from my notebook, as an opportunity of making such obser-
vations may never come again :—

“1846, Oct. 4. A male; the first seen (shot).
1847, Nov. 9. One seen.
1848, Oct. 8. <A female shot.
pan, Nowe9>: |}One:seen.
1849, Apr. 25. A fine male shot.
joo eept.20.,4 One seen.
st » 20. One seen.
1850, Oct. 1. One seen.

» » 6. Apairseen. Female shot.
” yacaoeOne'seen.
> a etre ‘One'seen.

1858, Oct. 12. One seen.

Zz » 17. A male shot.
1854, Sept.28. One seen.

% >» 30. One seen.

» Oct. 6. A young bird shot.
1857, Sept.20. One seen in my garden.
1858, Sept.22. A bird badly shot.

» Oct. 12. One seen in my garden.
1859, Oct. 7. A pair seen. One shot.

rf » 8. .A fine male shot.
5 » 13. A pair shot. One fine old male. Both in my
collection.

1861, Oct. 10. Three birds seen in Jacob Dehn’s willows.
1868, Oct. 9. A male shot.

446 BRITISH BIRDS.

“©1864, Oct. 4. <A pair. Both stuffed.
1865, Oct. 24. A pair seen. Female shot.
1867, Sept.19. <A pair shot.

» Oct. 11. One seen.
1869, Oct. 1. One seen.
1870, Sept.19. A pair in my garden. Gun missed fire.
"; », 20. A male shot.
18738, Sept.24. A pair seen.
by ;,, 25. ‘One shot.
af » 26. <A pair seen.
B », 30. A male shot.
» Oct.16. One seen.
1874, Oct. 10. One seen.
3 », ll. One seen.
1875, Sept.17. A pair seen.
1876, May 25. One seen in my garden.
» sSept.26. One seen.

29. One seen.

30. One seen.

Oct. 3. One seen in my garden.

4. A male seen in my garden.

2) PP)

5 » 5. A male shot by Seebohm in my garden.
Pe » 6. One seen from the steps.

oS » % One seen in my garden.

- » 26. One seen in my garden.”

I first made the acquaintance of the Yellow-browed Warbler in Gaetke’s
garden in Heligoland. The general direction of the wind during the last
week of September and the first week in October was east, varying from
north-east to south-east. Birds were generally very abundant, many of
them arctic species, such as Grey Plover, Little Stint, Little Bunting, |
Snow-Bunting, Knot, Sanderling, Red-spotted Bluethroat, Richards’s
Pipit, Brambling, &. On the 26th we heard that a Yellow-browed
Warbler had been seen; and on the 29th and 30th other examples were
reported. On the 3rd both Mr. Sharpe and myself had an excellent view
of the little bird in Gaetke’s garden, and had a shot or two at it: but we
were so nervous and excited in the presence of the Siberian stranger that
we both missed it. On the 4th we had a stiff gale from the south-east ;
but the Yellow-browed Warbler was still there. On the 5th I succeeded
in shooting it. It was a most active little bird, and was very partial to
two trees, a willow and a hawthorn. Its note was a plaintive weest.
Other examples were seen on the two following days.

Eight months afterwards I saw the Yellow-browed Warbler in its
breeding-grounds on the Arctic circle, in the valley of the Yenesay, We

YELLOW-BROWED WILLOW-WREN. 447

had six feet of snow on the ground until the first of June. The sun was
burning hot; but it generally froze hard in the shade. Very few migratory
birds had arrived. The Snow-Buntings and the Mealy Redpoles (thick-
billed seed-eating birds), and the Hen-Harrier, the Peregrine Falcon, the
Merlin, and the Sparrow-Hawk (hook-billed Bunting- and Redpole-eating
birds) were almost the only representatives of the many summer visitors
which flock annually in countless thousands to the tundra to breed.
Flocks of Geese and Swans had passed over, it is true, during the last half
of May whenever a thaw had commenced ; but the returning frost soon
drove them back again, and to all intents and purposes it was midwinter,
Summer, in league with the sun, had been fighting winter and the north
wind for months, but was hopelessly beaten, until, on the 2nd of June, she
formed an alliance with the south wind, and the great annual battle of the
Yenesay—the great event of the year in these regions, like the rising of the
Nile in Egypt—the battle between summer and winter began, and raged
for about a fortnight. The snow melted down south so rapidly, and the
great river rose so suddenly, that it began to flow up all its tributaries in
the north. The ice broke up suddenly ; thousands of acres were marched
up stream and then marched back again. Ice-floes were driven against
islands and promontories and piled up into broken masses, which froze
together and came down in the shape of icebergs when the river rose high
enough to float them. The brilliantly clear skies to which we had become
accustomed changed to stormy clouds, followed by drizzling rain and mist.
All nature seemed to share in the excitement. The revolution in the ice
took place to the accompaniment of a perfect babel of birds. Above our
heads we continually heard the gag gag of Geese and the harsh bark of
Swans, as flock after flock hurried past us to the tundra. Wherever there
was a little open water between the ice-floes and the pack-ice, crowds of
Gulls were fishing as if they had not had a meal for a week; and their
derisive laugh, as they quarrelled over their prey, seemed to mock our
misfortunes as we struggled to save our half-wrecked ship: whilst ever
and anon the wild weird cries of the Black-throated and Red-throated
Divers, like the distant scream of tortured children, came from the creek
opposite. Flocks of Ducks arrived; and Bramblings and Shore-Larks
came in small parties.

The next day White Wagtails and Wheatears were seen running on the
snow which covered the ice-floes ; and on the 4th the willows and birches
on the steep banks of the river, where the snow had melted, abounded with
Warblers, amongst which I found the Willow-Warbler, the Siberian
Chiffchaff, and the Yellow-browed Warbler.

It was very difficult to get about in the melting snow ; but in the willows
on the steep bank of the river little birds were feeding, industriously
picking up insects on the naked branches, and sometimes making little

448 BRITISH BIRDS.

flights in the air to catch a gnat upon the wing. Presently I heard a plaintive
weest, which reminded me of Heligoland ; and on shooting the bird I picked
up a Yellow-browed Willow-Warbler, as I expected. There was quite a
little party of these diminutive creatures ; and they were so tame after their
long journey that I watched them for some time hopping from twig to
twig, diligently searching for food; I was often within four feet of one of
them, and could distinctly see its white eye-stripe and the two bars across
its wing.

For twelve days more the ice was still passing up and down the river,
aud migratory birds arrived at the rate of five new species a day. The
snow melted rapidly; the river, three miles wide in this latitude, rose
seventy feet in height; and wood-anemones, marsh-mallows, pansies, &c.
were in full bloom.

At last the final march-past of the beaten winter forces, in their fourteen
days’ battle, took place ; and for seven days more the ragtag and bobtail
of the great Arctic army came straggling down the Koo-ray’-i-ka—worn
and weather-beaten little icebergs, dirty ice-floes, that looked like floating
mudbanks, and straggling pack-ice in the last stages of consumption.
Winter was finally vanquished for the year; and the fragments of his
beaten army were compelled to retreat to the triumphant music of
thousands of song-birds, and amidst the waving of green leaves and the
illumination of gay flowers of every hue. :

But although the Yellow-browed Warbler was thus early in arriving, it
did not appear to be in any hurry to commence breeding-operations. It
soon became very common, frequenting almost exclusively the pine-forests
on the banks of the Koo-ray!-i-ka and the Yen-e-say’. It was not particu-
larly shy ; and on more than one occasion I watched it for some time at a
distance of only a few feet. On one occasion only I heard it make any
attempt at a song; this was on the 2lst of June. The bird was perched
upon the extreme summit of a spruce, and stood shivering its wings, uttering
a few plaintive notes, most of them poor and feeble variations on its call-
note. On the 26th of June I was fortunate enough to find its nest.
Curiously enough I was this time also in company with a Heligolander,
Mr. Boiling, the ship-builder of Yen-e-saisk’. Late in the evening we
were strolling through the forest between the Koo-ray'-i-ka and the Yen-
e-say’, As we were walking along a little bird started up near us, and
began most persistently to utter the well-known cry of the Yellow-browed
Warbler. As it kept flying around us from tree to tree, we naturally came
to the conclusion that it had a nest near. We searched for some time
unsuccessfully, and then retired to a short distance, and sat down upon a
tree-trunk to watch. The bird was very uneasy, but continually came back
to a birch tree, from which it frequently made short flights towards the
ground, as if it were anxious to return to its nest but dare not whilst we

YELLOW-BROWED WILLOW-WREN. AAD

were in sight. This went on for about half an hour, when we came to the
conclusion that the nest must be at the foot of the birch tree, and com-
menced a second search. In less than five minutes I found the nest, with
six eggs. It was built in a slight tuft of grass, moss, and bilberries, semi-
domed, exactly like the nest of our Willow-Warblers. It was composed
of dry grass and moss, and lined with reindeer-hair. The eggs are pure
white in ground-colour, spotted very thickly at the large end, in the form
of an irregular zone, with reddish brown, and more sparingly on the
remainder of the surface; some of the spots are underlying and paler,
but not grey, and on one or two of the eggs they are confluent. They
measure ‘6 inch in length and “45 inch in breadth. The markings are
well defined, like those on the eggs of the Chiffchaff; but the colour is
decidedly more like that of the Willow-Warbler’s; but they approach
much more closely the eggs of the Indian Willow-Warbler, P. humii, both
in colour and size.

On account of the great interest attaching to the Yellow-browed Willow-
Warbler, I append the following detailed description of its several plumages.
The adult bird in spring plumage has the general colour of the upper parts
olive-green, yellower on the rump and upper tail-coverts; a well-defined
narrow greenish-yellow eye-stripe extends from the base of the bill to the
nape; an irregular and very obscure greenish-yellow mesial line extends
from the forehead to the nape ; the feathers before the eye and behind the
eye to the nape and the crown, and the nape between the mesial line and
each eye-stripe, dark olive-green, a few still darker feathers emphasizing the
eye-stripe on the nape; wing-coverts brown, the lesser wing-coverts with
broad olive-green margins, the median and greater wing-coverts with
broad well-defined greenish-yellow tips, forming two conspicuous bars
across each wing; quills brown, all the secondaries and four or five of the
primaries with conspicuous well-defined yellowish-white tips ; outside webs
of the quills margined with yellowish green, fading into yellowish white,
and becoming broad and conspicuous on the terminal half of the innermost
secondaries ; quills emarginated as far as the sixth; tail-feathers brown,
the outside webs edged with yellowish green, and the inside webs with a
narrow greyish-white margin. The general colour of the underparts 1s
white, suffused all over with traces of yellowish green; axillaries yellow ;
under wing-coverts and thighs greyish yellow. Bill dark brown, paler at
the base of the under mandible ; legs, feet, and claws brown; irides
hazel.

In summer plumage nearly all the yellow and green with which both the
upper and underparts were suffused has been lost by abrasion ; the upper
parts have faded into a grey-olive, traces only of the yellowish green
remaining on the rump, upper tail-coverts, and the edges of the wing- and
tail-feathers ; all trace of yellow has gone from the eye-stripe and wing-

VOL. I. “G

450 BRITISH BIRDS. :

bars, and nearly all from the underparts, leaving the colour greyish white ;
the conspicuous pale tips to the secondaries and some of the primaries
have generally entirely disappeared ; the lower wing-bar and the pale edges
to the innermost secondaries have become very narrow; and traces only
of the upper wing-bar are left. The autumn plumage is similar to that
of spring, but more brilliant, the eye-stripes and the wing-bars yellower,
and the upper parts a yellower green; the mesial line on the crown remains
as obscure, and the underparts scarcely yellower. In winter the same
amount of abrasion takes place as in summer; but the upper parts do not
become so grey, and the eye-stripe and wing-bars retain a trace of yellow.

The Yellow-browed Warbler has several near allies. Two of these, which
breed in the Himalayas, P. erochroa and P. maculipennis, may be at once
distinguished by having the inner web of the two outside tail-feathers on
each side pure white. A third, P. proregulus, breeding in the Himalayas
and in the subalpine districts of South-eastern Siberia, differs from its
northern representative in having a bright yellowrump. ‘Two other species,
P. subviridis and P. humii, also breeding in the Himalayas, but ranging
westwards, the one into Gilgit, north of Cashmere, and the other into
Turkestan, are more difficult to discriminate. They may generally be told
by their wing-formula, the second primary being usually intermediate in
length between the eighth and the ninth, whilst in the Yellow-browed
Warbler it is usually between the sixth and seventh. resh-moulted
examples of P. humii may be discriminated by their buff eye-stripe, of
P. subviridis by the much yellower green of its upper and the greener tint
of its underparts, and of both by their obscure upper wing-bar.

PARINA. 451

Subfamily PARINZ, or TITS.

The Tits and their allies are a group of little birds, connected with the
Turdine through the Accentors, and with the Sylviine through the Gold-
erests. From both these subfamilies they are distinguished by their
conical bills with no dental notch. From the former they are further
distinguished by their scutellated tarsi, and from the latter by their single
moult. ‘Though they resemble the Laniinz in many points, the deep
tooth in the bill of the latter is a sufficient mark of distinction. It is a
much more difficult matter to separate the Tits from the Crows. The
latter appear to be a distinct group of birds, which, like the Warblers, moult
in spring as well asin autumn. In other respects the Tits are remarkably
like miniature Crows. Sharpe attempts to define the two groups by
supposing that in the latter the chin-angle is produced before the line
of the nostrils, whilst in the former it only reaches as far as the line of
the anterior margin of the nasal suture. I confess I am quite unable to
perceive any constant difference in this respect, and am obliged to take
refuge in the unscientific character of size, and diagnose the Corvine as
always bigger than Sparrows and the Parinz as always less.

The Parinz are almost cosmopolitan. ‘They are found throughout the
Palearctic, Nearctic, and Oriental Regions, and more sparingly in the
Neotropical, AAthiopian, and Australian Regions. They number about
three hundred species and subspecies, of which about thirty are found on
the continent of Europe. Of these, half have occurred in the British
Islands, belonging to nine genera, which may be distinguished as follows :—

a. Bill short, not so long as the tarsus.
a’. Tail graduated, outside tail-feathers less than half the length of
the longest.
a?, Bill yellow, the feathers on the side of the throat elongated
into a moustache .........+.. COCR CL EIR Ce PANURUS.

b?. Bill black; no moustachial feathers...........+++eeeeues ACREDULA.
b'. Tail nearly even.

ce. Nostrils covered with feathers.

a’, Bill stout, the height at the nostrils about half the
TeDGth cect vce e ne cenecasieaceaemsnencens PaRvs.
b*, Bill slender, the height at the nostrils about one eighth
MEGUGURGM pieces nde esse ccs e ns weNvr ety tevwsems REGULUS.
d?, Nostrils bare.
c’, Bastard primary more than half the length of the
POOR Gite ex Reker edu veerneeractee meer teas TROGLODYTES,
| 242

452 BRITISH BIRDS.

d®, Bastard primary much less than half the length of the

BOCORG 2 Sie ds so epee Tee RS ae gist yO Ae Meee ACCENTOR.
b. Bill long, equal to or longer than the tarsus.
c'. Tail graduated, the feathers st.ff and pointed................ CERTHIA.

d', Tail nearly even.
e*, Bill slender, the height at the nostrils about one eighth of

THO AGNR TL. 8.0 Fis spk oon scy le fee's Sein es ee Payee TICHODROMA.
f?. Bill stout, the height at the nostrils about one fourth of
TS MeR oie FOSSA, Se AMES i Sad eam etree SiTTa.

Genus REGULUS.

Brisson appears to me to have had a better appreciation of the true
affinities of the Goldcrests when he placed them in the genus Parus than
Linnzeus or Scopoli, the former of whom included the Goldcrests in his
extensive genus Motacilla, whilst the latter removed them in company
with the Warblers into his restricted genus Sylvia. In 1816 Koch
separated them from the latter group of birds, and in his ‘System der
baierischeu Zoologie, i. p. 199, established the genus Regulus for their
reception. Common sense demands that the Goldcrest be accepted as the
type, because it is the Motacilla regulus of Linneus.

The yellow or red mark on the crown is a sufficient generic distinction.
The bill is short, slender, and straight. The nostrils are generally con-
cealed by a single feather. The wings are rounded, with a small bastard
primary; and the tail is slightly forked. The scutellz on the tarsus are
generally obsolete.

The geographical range of the genus appears to be precisely that of the
genus Certhia, being the central and southern portions of the Palzartic
and Nearctic Regions, extending into the extreme north of the Oriental
and Neotropical Regions. This genus contains four or five species, some
of them divisible into subspecies or varieties. Two of these species are
found on the continent of Europe, one of which is a resident in our islands,
and the other an irregular winter visitor. A third species is a resident in
the island of Madeira.

The Golderests feed almost entirely on insects, and resemble the true
Tits very closely iu their habits. In the mode of construction of their
nests, and in the colour and shape of their eggs, they approach more nearly
the shghtly aberrant genera Acredula and githalus.

;

GOLDCREST. 453

REGULUS CRISTATUS.

GOLDCREST.
(Puate 11.)

Parus calendula, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 580 (1760).

Motacilla regulus, Zinn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 338 (1766).

Sylvia regulus, Scop. Ann. I. Hist. Nat. p. 161 (1769).

Regulus cristatus, Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. p. 199 (1816) ; et auctorum plurimorum
—Temminck, Gray, Bonaparte, Degland, Gerbe, Newton, Dresser, Sc.

Regulus aureocapillus, Meyer, Taschenb. p. 108 (1822).

Regulus flavicapillus, Nawm. Vog. Deutschl. iii. p. 968 (1823).

Regulus auricapillus (Meyer), Selby, Brit. Orn. i. p. 229 (1833).

Regulus vulgaris, Flem. fide Bonap. Consp. i. p. 291 (1850).

The Golden-crested Wren, or Gold-crested Kinglet, or Goldcrest as it is
often called, is very generally distributed throughout the British Islands.
It is found at one season or another all over England in wooded districts ;
and there are few such localities in which it does not breed. Its history
in Scotland is specially interesting; for it is one of those species that have
within the last half-century or so considerably extended their range.
According to Mr. Gray the bird appears to have been a very scarce one
seventy years ago; but now it is widely dispersed and evidently on the
increase. This is undoubtedly owing to the great improvements being
rapidly made; for wherever the bare country has been planted with larches
and firs, and extensive plantations made, they form a great attraction to
this bird. Although the Goldcrest is found in Skye, Islay, and many
parts of the Inner Hebrides, it does not frequent as yet the Outer Islands.
It does not appear to breed in the Orkney or Shetland Islands, but is
abundant there on the spring and autumn migrations ; and at these periods
it is occasionally found on the Faroes. Curiously enough the Goldcrest
has not been recorded from the Channel Islands.

The Goldcrest, in a more or less modified form, is found throughout the
Palearctic Region; in Scandinavia as far north as the Arctic circle, but
in North Russia only as far as Archangel in lat. 63°, and in the Ural
Mountains and eastwards not extending above lat. 60°. The southern
limit of its range in the east appears to be the Himalayas and China; in
the west it is doubtful if it has occurred south of the Mediterranean, In
the northern portions of its range it is more or less migratory, but in the
south it is a resident.

The Golderests may be distinguished from the nearly allied Firecrests

7.

454 BRITISH BIRDS.

by having the space above the forehead separating the sides of the crest
olive-brown instead of black. There appears to be only one species of
Goldcrest, which is subject to considerable local variations, apparently
only of subspecific value. In Japan a form having the nape greyish brown
occurs (R. cristatus, var. japonicus). Examples from Asia Minor, Turkestan,
and the Himalayas are intermediate. On the Azores a form is found haying
the olive-green nape of R. cristatus, but with a much larger bill, the cul-
men measuring *5 inch instead of *45 to 4. I propose to call this form
Regulus cristatus, var. azoricus. In comparing Goldcrests from different
localities it is important that examples of the same sex and season should
be selected for comparison. Females seem always to be slightly greyer
than males; and newly-moulted birds of both sexes in autumn plumage
resemble each other much more closely than breeding birds. In some
localities the olive-green appears to undergo very little change throughout
the year, whilst in others it changes on the nape and upper back almost
into a slate-grey before the breeding-season is over.

The haunts of the Goldcrest are almost exclusively well-wooded districts ;
for although often seen in the barest of situations, where small bushes
take the place of trees, it is at a time when the birds are migrating, and,
tired with their long flight, are glad to settle anywhere to rest ere passing
on again. It is found perhaps the most commonly in larch- and fir-planta-
tions and in dense shrubberies; it also frequents gardens, orchards, and
birch-copses, and in autumn and winter may often be seen in company
with Tits exploring the tall hedges in the fields. The low shrill call-
note is generally the first intimation of the presence of the bird; so low
and shrill does it sound that it is often difficult to discover the direction
from which it is proceeding, and after a close search some twig vibrating
attracts the attention, and eventually the little creature appears in sight.
It is not necessary to hide for fear of alarming it as it hangs on some
drooping branch; for it is one of the most trustful of birds, and will often
search the twigs and branches within arm’s length of the observer without
any show of fear. In its motions it very closely resembles a Tit or a
Willow-Warbler, exploring the slender twigs, hanging from the drooping
sprays, or going under the leaves in search of its food. One moment it
will appear in the centre of the bush; the next it will be concealed from
view near the roots, or daintily poised on the topmost twig. Then it
passes on in unsteady flight to the next tree or bush, where the same
motions are repeated, and the same low and piercing notes are given forth
as it calls to its companions; for it is a very sociable little creature, ex-
cept in the breeding-season, and often associates with Tits and Creepers.
Perhaps the best place to study the habits of the Golderest is in fir-
plantations, Perched, it may be, on the topmost twig of some wide-
spreading fir it will sit and warble forth its notes, perhaps as it hangs

Sa —_
‘

GOLDCREST. 455

suspended from a drooping spray, or not unfrequently as it glides like a
little meteor through the foliage in chase of its mate. The song is not a
very loud or long one, but is very melodious. Prominent amongst the
songs of early spring are the notes of this delicate little species, which may
be heard waking the stillness of the fir-plantations early in February, and
long before the arrival of the Willow-Warblers which frequent the same
breeding-grounds. These are the breezy uplands where pine-woods and
fir-plantations abound, just on the borders of the moorlands; and in
shrubberies where the dense and impenetrable yew-foliage affords the
bird a requisite shelter. The nesting-site of the Goldcrest is generally
in the branches of pines, firs, or drooping yew-twigs, usually the very
extremity of the branch being selected where two or three twigs branch
out, and where the nest is wafted to and fro by every breath of air. The
end of a drooping branch of spruce is the site usually chosen. The nest is
almost spherical, slung under the branches like a hammock, and made
outwardly of the greenest moss, a few grass-stems, and hairs, and felted
with spiders’ webs and sometimes a few lichens, and then usually lined
with a quantity of feathers. The foliage on the selected branches is care-
fully interwoven with the nest-materials, so that at a casual glance it
appears nothing but a tangled mass of vegetation.

The eggs of the Goldcrest are from five to eight in number, sometimes
as many as ten. Usually they are a most delicate reddish white speckled
with tiny red markings, which often form a zone round the larger end of the
ege. Some specimens are pure and spotless white, whilst others have the
spots confluent and so numerous as io give the egg a uniform reddish or
yellowish-brown appearance. They measure from ‘6 to ‘52 inch in length,
and from °43 to ‘4 inch in breadth. ‘The bird is a very close sitter; and .
the female will often only quit her home when the branch which sustains
it is shaken violently; and even when disturbed she will generally perch
some little distance away, but without betraying any great anxiety.

When the young are able to quit the nest they still keep in company
with their parents, often forming a little party that keep together until the
following spring. Dixon writes :—“It is in the balmy days of autumn
that we have the best opportunity of studying the habits of the Goldcrest.
It is then, and throughout the winter, that we see them in the hedgerows.
The birds almost invariably keep in pairs, and flit from bush to bush, now
in the centre, now on the topmost spray, then again diving into the leafy
depths, the only sign of their presence being the trembling twigs which
mark out their course. But it is in the birch-woods, when October’s mellow
month paints those lovely trees in yellow of the brightest dye, that we
notice these charming little creatures in greatest abundance. Their low,
sweet, but singularly piercing call-notes are heard in all directions. Some-
times the sunlight catches their fiery streak of plumage on the crown of

*

456 BRITISH BIRDS.

the head, causing it to shine with metallic splendour like burnished gold.
Now they hop from branch to branch; then, fluttering im the air, they catch
a passing insect, and with feeble though piercing notes pass on to the next
bush ; for they seem to prefer the lower branches and bushes to the tops of
the trees, though if repeatedly disturbed they take refuge in the tallest trees.
Now they hang suspended from a long slender twig, their weight causing it
to swing to and fro with graceful motion ; and then on fluttering pinion
they hover above some tempting seed-case or bud which promises to reward
their search. Then they drop silently into the heather and explore its wiry
branches in search of seeds and insects, or chase each other in sportive glee,
darting like animated meteors through the branches. Now they alight in
the gorse bushes, and hop from spray to spray, their lovely crests appearing
like the golden blooms. As the males, conspicuous by their brighter
crests, course over the twigs, they sometimes, autumn though it be, burst
out into song, and utter a few notes of matchless melody.”

The food of the Goldcrest consists of the insects found amongst buds,
twigs, and leaves, and also those flying through the air, which it sometimes
catches like a Flycatcher. Small seeds are also eaten, notably those of
the birch and heather, also varicus small berries.

The migration of the Goldcrest is one of the most interesting portions
of its history. Howsuch a tiny little creature can sustain such long flights
is wonderful. In Scotland the Goldcrest, Mr. Gray remarks, does not
return by the same route in spring as it pursues in autumn; and this
observant naturalist informs us that the birds make their appearance sud-
denly in April on their return journey. In Norfolk Mr. Stevenson has
much to tell us of the annual wanderings of this charming little bird; and
in his work on the birds of that county will be found several most inter-
esting accounts of its migration. Even in many of our inland districts the
migrations of the Goldcrest may be studied. Near Sheffield every autumn
the resident birds are largely increased in numbers. Their line of migration
is directly through some large birch copses in the Rivelin valley, about five
miles to the west of the town; and it is worthy of remark that the same
locality appears to be a favourite line of route with the Song-Thrush. The
Golderests arrive there during October, in company with Tits of various
species, especially the Coal Tit; and for about a week they literally swarm,
the trees being alive with birds, and their peculiar notes fill the woods with
a delicate melody. Few of these birds remain to winter in this locality ;
and in a week or so from the time of their arrival you may search every
part of the woods without meeting with a trace of them. Mr. Cordeaux
states that these little birds are so well known as migrants on the east coast
of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire as to gain for themselves the name of
* Woodcock-pilots.” Every year they appear in flocks at Flamborough
and Spurn, and are sometimes killed by flying against the lighthouses,

>

GOLDCREST. 457

attracted by the dazzling glare of the lantern. I have also seen great
numbers on Heligoland on migration, where many fall victims to the
blowpipe-shooters.

The general colour of the upper parts of the European form of the
Goldcrest is olive-green, more or less suffused with yellow according to
the season, being brightest in autumn; extending from each side of the
forehead are two black streaks, which gradually widen and enclose a bright
orange-yellow patch which covers the crown and forms a crest. The wings
and tail aré brown margined with yellowish green; the primary-coverts
are dark brown; and the median and greater wing-coverts are tipped with
white, forming two white bars across the wings. The general colour of
the underparts is greyish brown. Bill very dark brown; legs, feet, and
claws brown ; irides hazel. 'The female has the colours less brilliant than
the male, and the crest is lemon-yellow. The young in nestling plumage
have no trace of black or yellow on the crown, the head being almost
uniform with the back.

GOLDCREST’S NEST.

458 BRITISH BIRDS.

REGULUS IGNICAPILLUS.

FIRECREST.
(Prats 11.)

Sylvia ignicapilla, Brehm, fide Temm. Man. d’Orn. i. p. 231 (1820).

Regulus ignicapillus (Temm.), Meyer, Taschenb. iii. p. 109 (1822); et auctorum
plurimorum— Naumann, Temminck, Gray, Bonaparte, Degland, Gerbe, Newton,
Dresser, §e.

Regulus pyrocephalus, Brehm, Beitr. Vogelk. ii. p. 180, pl. 1. fig. 1 (1822).

Regulus mystaceus, Veedl. Faun. Frang. p. 231 (1822, partim).

- It is only within a comparatively recent period that the charming little
Firecrest has been known to be an occasional visitor to Great Britain. It
was first recorded as a British bird from a specimen killed by a cat in a
garden near Cambridge in August 1832 (sce Proc. Zool. Soc. 1832, p. 139).
Four years afterwards another specimen was caught at sea off the Norfolk
coast, and came into the possession of Mr. Hancock. A great many Fire-
crests have since been obtained on our shores ; so that it may fairly be con-
sidered an accidental visitor on migration to the south and south-western
portions of England. In Scotland it has only once occurred: a specimen
was shot by Dr. Turnbull in Gladsmuir woods in the summer of 1848. In
Ireland Thompson states that one has been observed in a garden at Tralee ;
but he does not appear to attach much importance to the evidence. It is
a rare straggler to Guernsey; according to Dr. Saxby has been seen in the
Shetlands in winter; and has once occurred on the Faroes.

The Fire-crested Wren has a very restricted range. Its northern limit
appears to be the Baltic Provinces, where, however, it is very rare. To
the west it breeds throughout Europe south of the Baltic, and is extremely
abundant in Algeria, although it has not been recorded from North-eastern
Africa. Eastwards its range does not apparently extend beyond the Crimea
and Asia Minor.

The Firecrests are distinguished from the Goldcrests, to which they are
very closely allied, by having the black band on the sides of the crest
meeting across the forehead*. ‘There appear to be four good species of
Firecrests. The nearest ally to the European species is R. maderensis,
which may easily be distinguished by the colour of its nape, which is dark
grey instead of olive-green, by the size of the culmen, which measures °5
instead of *42 inch, and by the fact that the black of the lores does not

* Dresser in his ‘ Birds of Europe’ describes this feature correctly, but by some accident
omits it in his figure of the male Firecrest.

whey 08 as

ee

FIRECREST, 459

extend behind the eye. This species appears to be confined to Madeira.
The next nearest ally to the Common Firecrest is apparently confined to
the Canary Islands. It has the olive-green nape of R. ignicapillus and the
large bill of R. maderensis ; but may be distinguished from either of them
by having the lores greyish white as in R. cristatus. As these differences
have apparently escaped the notice of naturalists, I propose to call the bird
Regulus teneriffe. The fourth species, R. satrapa, is confined to the
Nearctic Region. It has the greyish-white lores of R. teneriffe, but may
_ easily be distinguished from that species by its very small bill, which only
- measures‘4inch. The eastern form of this bird has the upper back greyish
brown instead of olive-green; but the western form approaches the Pale-
arctic species in colour.
The haunts of the Firecrest are very similar to those of the Golderest ;
and the habits of the two birds bear great resemblance. The Firecrest is
a very common bird in the pine-woods near Arcachon; and wherever you
come across a party of Crested Tits or Coal Tits they are generally aécom-
panied by either the Goldcrest or the Firecrest, whether you happen to be
in the pine forests or in the gardens of the villas where Scotch firs are the
prevailing trees. Their presence is at once betrayed by their soft notes, a
monotonous z7¢-zit, which is continually uttered as they are busily employed
feeding on insects under the leaves of the overhanging trees, and becomes
a rapid 2-z-z-zit as they chase each other from tree to tree, or fly off in
_ alarm at your movements. If you remain perfectly still they will some-
_ times come and feed close to you, occasionally two or three of them within
a few feet of your head. It is very curious then to watch their movements.
They twist in and out among the slender twigs, sometimes with head down
and sometimes with feet up; but by far the most curious part of the per-
formance is when they come to the end of the twig and examine the under
surface of the leaves at its extremity. They have nothing to stand upon;
so they flutter more like bees than birds from leaf to leaf, their little wings
beating as hard as they can go, indeed beating so fast that they look trans-
parent, their bodies all the time being nearly perpendicular. Of course it
is only on large-leaved oaks, and the shrubs that form the underwood in
; _ the garden, that you can examine them closely. In the pine forest, where
all the branches for twenty feet are broken off for fuel, you require a glass
to see them well. The Firecrest seems a much more restiess bird than the
Goldcrest, and does not apparently examine each tree so patiently. It
seems to be more in a hurry, and to prefer the pines to the underwood.
| Dixon, when in Algeria, made the following notes respecting this
bird :— The Firecrest is a fairly common bird in some parts of the Djebel
Aurés, both in the evergreen-oak forests above Lambessa and the cedar
forests south-west of Batna. These forests clothe the steep mountain-
sides, which are here and there split into romantic ravines, on the sides of

See

Se kes

ad

ahi

460 BRITISH BIRDS.

which you hear the harsh cawee cawee of the Barbary Partridge as it
nestles amongst the stones and scrub. Ever and anon the soft note of the ~
Hoopoe, or the cry of Levaillant’s Woodpecker, or of the Algerian Jay falls
upon the ear; whilst in the bushes near at hand may be seen the charming
little Moussier’s Buschat, the Algerian Chaffinch, and, more rarely, a
gorgeous Roller. The trees are full of life. Here, in close company with
the rare Algerian Coal Tit, the Firecrest is very common. It is seen in
the tall cedar trees, and is restless and busy amongst the branches fifty
feet above, exploring all the twigs in search of its favourite food. The
Firecrest is also almost as common in the evergreen-oak forests, searching
the lower branches all amongst the lichens and tree-moss for insects; and
every now and then its brilliant crest glistens conspicuously in the sunlight. _
Its note sounds shriller to me than a Goldcrest’s ; but I think it was quite
as familiar and trustful as that other little favourite bird of mine. In its
motions it puts you in mind of the Willow-Wrens; and when, as I have
sometimes seen it, hanging with one leg from a drooping bough, picking
out the imsects from a bud, it looks precisely like a Tit. Although we
were in these forests in May, the birds did not seem to have begun to
breed.” |

The nest of the Firecrest does not differ from that of the Golderest. As
in that species, it is suspended under the drooping branches of a fir tree,
usually near the extremity of the branch, amongst the twigs of which it is
artfully concealed, these twigs being also interwoven with the sides of the
nest. It is made chiefly of the greenest moss, felted together with spider’s
webs and studded with lichens. Inside it is lined with a profusion of
feathers. When placed amongst branches thickly clothed with lichens and
tree-moss, this material almost entirely forms the outside of the nest ; for,
like the Chaffinch and the Long-tailed Tit, the Firecrest imitates most
closely the surroundings of its home, and in this fact doubtless its safety
rests. The eggs of the Firecrest are as numerous as those of the Goldcrest,
and are usually nine or ten in number, sometimes less, and, in rare in-
stances, more. They may always be distinguished from the eggs of the
Goldcrest by their much redder tinge. They are reddish white in ground-
colour, richly marbled and speckled over the entire surface with brownish
red. Some specimens are only so richly coloured on the larger end of the
egg; but usually the whole surface is covered. On some specimens a few
minute streaks of brown are found. They measure from °56 to ‘5 inch in
length and from ‘45 to ‘4 inch in breadth. It is not known that the
Firecrest has ever bred in the British Islands.

The food of the Firecrest is similar to that of the Goldcrest—small
insects, little seeds, and probably berries, as in the allied species. The
Firecrest, it would appear, performs its annual migrations in company with
its close congener the Goldcrest to a large extent ; and the specimens that

FIRECREST. 461

;

have been obtained on our shores (usually at the migration period) have in
many instances been in company with parties of those birds.

The Firecrest has the general colour of the upper parts olive-green,
brighter on the sides of the neck below the nape ; the forehead at the base
of the bill is buffish white, above which is a black line extending along
each side of the crest, which is rich orange-yellow in the centre and lemon-
yellow on the sides ; from the gape, extending through the eye, is another
dusky black streak ; and arother and less distinct moustachial streak passes
from the base of the bill downwards ; the wings and tail are dark brown,
margined with yellowish green; and the greater and median wing-coverts
are tipped with white, forming two white bars across the wings; the primary-
coverts are dark brown; the ear-coverts are slate-grey. The general
eolour of the underparts is dull buffish white. Bill very dark brown;
legs, feet, and claws dark brown; irides hazel. The female only differs
from the male in having the crest much paler and the colours generally
less briliant. Young birds do not show any trace of the yellow crest until
after the first moult, and have the crown uniform in colour with the rest of
the upper parts; but the black stripes on the head are similar to those of
the adult birds, though sometimes less distinct *.

The Ruby-crowned Wren, Regulus calendula, of North America has been
included in the British fauna by several writers ; but the evidence is very
unsatisfactory. The specimen upon which its claim to be a “ British ”
bird rests is said to have been shot in the summer of 1852 by Dr. Dewar
in Kenmore wood, near Loch Lomond. It was not until six years after-
_ __ wards that the bird was identified by Dr. Dewar and exhibited by Mr. Gray at
_ a meeting of the Natural-History Society of Glasgow ; and it is therefore
extremely probable that during such a lapse of time an American skin
had unwittingly found its way into the drawer in which Dr. Dewar placed
1 the Golderests which he shot on the day of its reputed capture. The
bird differs so strikingly from its allies, the Goldcrest and the Firecrest,
that it is impossible to conceive how it could have been overlooked for the
space of six years! The bird has been known to visit Greenland (see
‘This, 1861, p. 5), thus making its accidental occurrence in Scotland more
probable ; but until more conclusive evidence is obtained it is extremely
unadvisable to admit it into our fauna. It may easily be distinguished from
the Goldcrest and the Firecrest by its ruby-coloured crest, by the absence
of both the white and the black eye-stripes, and by having the nostrils
covered with feathers instead of a single feather. The bird killed in
Durham, and which has been referred to the American Regulus calendula
by Bree, Gray, and others, is nothing but the Firecrest (A. ignicapillus).

* Dresser (or his careless translator) states that Naumann describes the young bird just
fledged as lacking the black markings on the crown. Naumann does nothing of the sort,
but especially states that the young of the Firecrest may be easily distinguished from the
| young of the Goldcrest by their possessing the whitish and blackish eye-stripes.

462 BRITISH BIRDS.

Genus PARUS.

The genus Parus was established by Linnzeus in 1766, in his ‘Systema
Nature, i. p. 341. As Koch placed the Great Tit first upon his list, and
as it is also the first species mentioned in Brisson’s genus Parus, it has
been universally recognized as the type, although the evidence for its being
so is not very satisfactory. The Tits included in the present genus may
be distinguished from the birds in allied genera (Panurus, Acredula) by
their nearly even and short tails. The wing is typical, and the bastard
primary is small. The nostrils are covered with feathers; the bill is short
and stout; the tarsus is scutellated; and the feet are large and strong.

The birds in the present genus are almost exclusively confined to
the northern hemisphere. They are principally found throughout the
Palzarctic, Nearctic, and Oriental Regions, only a few species occurring in
the Aithiopian Region. This genus contains upwards of sixty species and
subspecies, of which only twelve are found on the continent of Europe,
four of which are residents in our islands, and one an accidental visitor.

The Tits are found in well-timbered districts, in gardens, woods, groves,
and orchards. They are restless, active birds, incessantly in motion,
searching the branches and twigs in every conceivable attitude for their
food. ‘Their call-notes are usually harsh ; but some are not at all unmusical,
and, rapidly repeated, form their only attempt at song. Their food consists
of insects, small seeds, and, more rarely, flesh and other refuse found near
houses. ‘Their nests are all either loosely made in holes of trees and walls,
or suspended from the branches, artfully woven, and domed, where the
sitting bird is hid entirely from view. Their eggs are numerous, from five
to twelve in number, pure white in ground-colour, spotted with reddish
brown or dark brown, but sometimes spotless.

GREAT TIT, 463

PARUS MAJOR.

GREAT TIT,
(PLatE 9.)

Parus major, Briss. Orn. ili. p. 539 (1760); Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 341 (1766); et
auctorum plurimorum—Latham, Gmelin, Bechstein, _ Naumann, Temminck,
Gray, Bonaparte, Degland, Gerbe, Newton, Dresser, §:c.

Parus fringillago, Pall. Zoogi, Rosso- Asiat. i. p. 555 (1826).

Parus robustus, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl, p. 461 (1831),

The Great Tit, one of the largest species of its genus, is a common bird
throughout the wooded portions of Great Britain, occasionally straggling
as far north as the Shetlands, but appearing never to visit the Outer
Hebrides. Gray states that in Scotland it becomes less frequent north of
Argyllshire. It is generally distributed throughout Ireland in suitable
localities.

The Great Tit appears to be found throughout the Palearctic region,
from the British Islands to the Pacific. In Norway, under the influence
of the gulf-stream, it ranges as far north as the arctic circle (lat. 664°).
In West Russia it has not been recorded north of lat. 64°. In the valley
of the Obb, Finsch and Brehm did not observe it north of lat. 62°; whilst
in the valley of the Yenesay I did not find it north of lat. 58°. On the
Pacific coast, Middendorff did not obtain it further north than lat.55°. It
extends in the west as far south as the Canary Islands, Algeria, Palestine,
and Persia, and in the east as far as North Turkestan and the Amoor. In
Mongolia, China, and Japan its place is taken by a nearly allied but
apparently quite distinct species, P. minor, which is on an average a
slightly smaller bird, and has the yellow of the underparts replaced by
buffish white. In examples from South China the upper back is greyer ;
and every intermediate form between P. minor and P. cinereus of the plains
of India occurs there, in which latter species, in the aduit bird, all traces
of green have disappeared from the back, leaving it slate-grey. In the
mountains of India, Ceylon, and Java a large race of P. cinereus occurs,
P. atriceps, in which the black on the belly and centre tail-feathers is
somewhat more developed. In Turkestan a pale form of P. atriceps occurs,
P. bokarensis, differing also in having the tail considerably more rounded.
All these tropical and semitropical forms appear to be specifically distinct
from P. major, but are probably only subspecifically distinct from each
other. The most remarkable fact connected with the geographical distribu-
tion of the Great Tit is that, whilst its range differs from those of the Blue

- Tit and the Crested Tit, which are confined to Europe, and agrees with

464 BRITISH BIRDS.

those of the Marsh-Tit and the Coal Tit, which are also found across
Asia, the Great Tit differs from the two latter in the following remarkable
particulars. First, it scarcely varies at all in colour or dimensions, whilst
the two latter species may be subdivided into numerous local races,
differing slightly from each other both in colour and dimensions. Second,
it appears to be specifically distinct from its tropical and semitropical
allies, which in the other species are more or less connected by intermediate
forms. And third, the range of the tropical form of the Great Tit extends
much further south than that of the tropical forms of the other species.
The Great Tit is rarely seen except in well-wooded or cultivated districts.
Plantations and shrubberies, where deciduous trees and dense underwood
occur, in addition to evergreens, are its favourite haunts; but it also
frequents open woods, copses, orchards, and gardens. Like the other
Tits, the Great Tit may be tempted close to the houses in winter by hang-
ing out a bone or alump of suet, or even a tallow candle, upon which it feeds
eagerly, and where its habits may be watched at leisure. It is a lively bird ;
and the attitudes it assumes in searching for its food are almost endless.
The best time to observe it is in winter, when the trees and shrubs are
bare, and when it is often found in little parties—although in this respect
this bird is not perhaps quite so gregarious as its congeners. If you
wander out into the fields and woods on a winter’s morning, or even stroll
into the orchard, the sharp unmistakable note of the “ Oxeye,” as it is
often called, will most probably be the first sign of bird-life you notice.
The bird itself is in some bare and leafless tree, sprightly and active in
spite of the cold and snow, searching for its food amongst the buds and
twigs. You may notice how deftly it poises upon the extremity of a dead
limb, and may hear its little taps at the bark, as it dislodges some insect
from the crevices. But it is ever in motion; and after a moment’s pause
it probably flits with undulating flight to another tree, where its actions
may possibly remind you of those of the Creeper; for it clings to the bark
on the trunk, though it does not run up it as the latter bird is in the habit
of doing. Ever and anon its sharp notes may be heard; and its restless
nature soon, sends it to another tree, perhaps a birch. In addition to the
insects which it finds on the leaves, the bird also picks out the small seeds
of this graceful tree, and very often to obtain them hangs suspended from
a drooping spray, all the time swaying backwards and forwards like a
pendulum. Now it is head downward; a moment after it is upright ;
then clinging to the twigs with its back towards the ground and its head
thrust forward. In a word, it assumes every attitude that it is possible for
a bird to take, and seems equally at home in them all. No wonder it is
a great favourite with the lover of bird-life. By the gardener, however,
it is too often considered an enemy; for its visits to the fruit-trees in
spring often lead to the destruction of many promising buds. But the

GREAT TIT. 465

“ Oxeye”’ has an object in searching these buds; for lurking within them
are grubs which might eventually prove quite as injurious, not only to the
bud which it pulls to pieces, but to many others on the same tree. The
Great Tit is not unfrequently seen on the ground under the trees, where
no doubt it finds a plentiful supply of insects amongst the fallen leaves.
The site of the Great Tit’s nest varies considerably. Holes in walls and

- decaying timber are favourite places; so, too, are the deserted nests of

Crows and Magpies, as also amongst the sticks in the foundation of Rooks’
nests. Most curious situations are sometimes chosen by this bird in which
to build its nest. Like the Robin, it appears to have the same weakness
for a flower-pot ; or it will sometimes select an old pump. Stevenson, in
his ‘ Birds of Norfolk, i. p. 141, gives a long and interesting account of
a nest of this bird in a cupboard ; and Dixon has known it build in a hole
in the ground. The Great Tit has also been known to make a hole for
itself in a tree-trunk by picking out the rotten wood with its beak ; and
according to Montagu the eggs are sometimes laid on the powdered wood
at the bottom of the hole without any nest whatever. The nests of the
Great Tit may be divided into two classes. First we have those nests
which are placed in covered sites, as holes in walls or trees; and, secondly,
those which are built in the deserted nests of other birds or amongst the
sticks of Rooks’ nests. If we examine nests from these several situations,
we find that they differ considerably. Those from covered sites are open
and very loosely put together ; whilst those from the open sites are domed
like a Wren’s and comparatively well made. Dixon has taken a nest of
this latter variety from inside an old Magpie’s nest. It resembled a ball of

_ Inoss, and was so cunningly woven as to render it necessary to pull it to

pieces ere the eggs could be obtained. This is an analogous case to the
two very distinct types of nest of the common House-Sparrow. The nest
of the Great Tit is made of dry grass, a quantity of moss, which is thickly
interwoven with hairs and wool, sometimes a few withered leaves, and is
generally lined with a thick bed of feathers.

The eggs of the Great Tit are from five to eleven in number, usually
seven or eight, and vary somewhat in size and markings. ‘They are pure
white in colour, sometimes with a faint yellowish tinge, spotted and
blotched with light reddish brown. Some specimens are far more richly
marked than others, the colour being distributed in bold blotches ; on others
it consists of mere specks, sometimes partly confluent and forming a zone
round the larger end of the egg. They measure from ‘8 to ‘65 inch in
length, and from °55 to °5 inch in breadth.

It is absolutely impossible to distinguish the eggs of the Great Tit from
those of the other Tits except by their size; and even then small varieties of
its eggs are undistinguishable from certain large varieties of the others,
or of those of the Creeper. In the latter case the nest and its site must

9
VOL. I. 7H

466 BRITISH BIRDS.

be taken into consideration, if a view of the parent birds cannot possibly
be obtained. From small eggs of the Nuthatch the eggs of the Great Tit
are very difficult to be distinguished; the only sure guide is to see the
parents belonging to a nest ere taking the eggs.

In many instances the Great Tit rears two broods in the year. The
actions of the parent birds when the nest is approached are very bold.
They will endeavour to repel your intrusion by angry cries; and should
the sitting bird be caught on the nest, as it most easily can be, it will hiss
and bite vigorously without any show of fear. The young birds are almost
exclusively fed on caterpillars and grubs, which the old birds obtain from
the neighbouring trees and bushes.

The food of the Great Tit is composed of insects of various kinds. It
also eats small seeds, which it often shells by placing them in a crevice
and hammering them with its beak like a Nuthatch. Like the Crows, it
is almost omnivorous, and is very fond of picking a bone. Dixon has
known fields, which had been manured with refuse from slaughterhouses,
frequented by large numbers of Tits, prominent amongst them being
the present species, which fed on scraps of flesh on the bones and even
on entrails. It was a curious sight to see such tree-haunting birds
hopping about on the ground and feeding in company with Starlings
and Rooks. The Great Tit also feeds on fruit, as may often be noted in
autumn. Its young, however, are almost entirely fed on small caterpillars
and grubs. It is also said sometimes to kill small birds by repeated blows
on the head, and then to eat their brains; but such instances are certainly
far from common. ,

The notes of this bird are varied ; and in spring it is often heard to utter
a double note, peek-ur, peek-ur, very much like the monotonous sound of a
rusty axle of a cart or wheelbarrow crecking with every revolution of the
wheel. Its other notes are a si, si, si, or a metallic ping, ping, and a harsh
spluttering chur-r-r-r-si. Its only attempt at song is heard in spring,
and consists of a loud but not unmusical note or two, The flight of
the Great Tit is undulating, uncertain at times, and performed with quick
beats of the wings with occasional long pauses. Although gifted with no
small powers of wing, it rarely flies for long distances, but goes in little
jerking flights from tree to tree.

Tn autumn our resident Great Tits undoubtedly receive accessions to
their numbers by migrants. From what may be gathered from the annual
reports on migration made by numerous observers on our lighthouses and
light-ships, “'Titmice” appear sometimes as early as the first week in
August ; but notes specially referrmg to the present species on the east
coast of England show that the second weck in October is an average date
for their appearance, as is the case with the Golderest. It would also
appear that these little travellers sometimes choose to cross the sea by

i ii i i tt bit,

GREAT TIT. 467

night ; and many dash against our lighthouses, attracted possibly by the
glare of the lamps.

The Great Tit has the forehead, crown, sides of the neck, and throat
rich glossy black with a steel-blue lustre ; the cheeks, ear-coverts, and a
small patch on the nape are white; the upper back is yellowish green,
gradually merging into bluish grey on the lower back and upper tail-coverts.
The wing-coverts are pale blue, the greater ones tipped with white, forming
a bar across the wing ; the primaries are dark brown, margined with greyish
white on the terminal half, and slate-grey on the basal half; the secon-
daries are margined on the basal half of the outer web with yellow, whiter
on the terminal half; the tail is dull black washed with bluish grey, the
outside feather on each side white on the outer web and also on the inner
web at the tip; the next feather tipped with white. The underparts below
the throat are bright greenish yellow, with a broad black line from the black
on the throat down to the vent; the under tail-coverts are white varied
with black. Bull black ; legs and feet lead-grey ; irides dark brown. The
female very closely resembles the male in colour, but is not quite so bril-
liant, and the black line on the underparts is not so broad. Young birds
are duller in colour than their parents, and the white parts are yellowish.
The Great Tit may be distinguished from all the other British species by
its size (wing 2°9 inch), and by the broad streak of black on the underparts
from the chin to the vent.

2H 2

468 BRITISH BIRDS.

. PARUS CHIRULEUS.

BLUE TIT.

(Pate 9.)

Parus ceeruleus, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 544 (1760) ; Linn. Syst. Nat. 1. p. 841 (1766) ; et
auctorum plurimorum—TLuatham, Gmelin, Bechstein, Naumann, Temminck,
Gray, (Bonaparte), Degland, Gerbe, Newton, Dresser, &c.

Cyanistes ceeruleus (Linn.), Kaup. Natiirl. Syst. p. 99 (1829).

Parus coerulescens (Linn.), Brehm, Vog, Deutschl. p, 465 (1831).

The Blue Tit is one of the most widely spread and certainly one of the
best-known of our native birds. It is found in all suitable districts
throughout the British Islands, from the Channel Islands in the south to
the Orkneys and the Shetlands in the extreme north, where, however, it is
a very rare straggler, but one specimen having been obtained in the first-
mentioned of the latter two groups of islands.

The geographical distribution of the Blue Tit is very restricted ; and con-
sequently the bird does not present any of the differences which we shall
find in treating of some of the other species of this group. Lach species
of Blue Tit appears to be subject to very little variation, and to be separated
from its congeners by a hard and fast line. The Blue ‘Tit is distributed
over the whole of temperate and Southern Europe, as far east as the Ural
Mountains and the Caucasus. In Norway, owing to the comparative
mildness of the climate, it is found as far north as lat. 64°; but in Russia
it has not yet been obtained further north than lat. 61°. Meves states
that it is said to have been found at Archangel; but neither Hencke, Piot-
tuch, Harvie-Brown, nor myself met with it there. Its nearest ally is
P. persicus, from Persia, which differs in being much paler in colour and in
having broader white margins to the greater wing-coverts. In Tunis,
Algeria, and Morocco the Blue Tit is represented by P. ultramarinus, a
well marked species, differing principally in having the back slate-grey
instead of yellowish green, and the black on the throat more developed.
In the Canary Islands P. wltramarinus is replaced by P. tenerife, an island
form, only differmg from its ally of the mainland by the absence of the
pale tips to the greater wing-coverts, thé very indistinct tips to the inner-
most secondaries (which in its ally are broad and conspicuous), and by
having a slightly longer tail. The next nearest ally of the Blue Tit is
P. pleskii, from Central Russia, a blue-backed pale form with the portions
of the underparts that are yellow in the Blue Tit pure white, with the
exception of a pale yellow spot on the breast. Another European species
found in Russia and Siberia is the Azure Tit, P. cyanus, somewhat similar.
to the last mentioned, but still paler blue on the back, with a nearly white
head, without the black throat and gorget, without the yellow on the

BLUE TIT. 469

breast, and with the white on the outside tail-feathers very largely deve-
loped. P. cyanus is represented in Turkestan by a very nearly allied bird,
P. flavipectus, which only differs from it in being slightly darker on the
upper parts and in having the breast lemon-yellow.

The Blue Tit is one of the most familiar and best-known of our smaller
birds. All the Tits are interesting little creatures, and most grotesque in
the attitudes they assume; yet none surpass in these respects the pert little
“Bluecap.” There is something exceedingly droll about a Blue Tit; he
is such a knowing pert little fellow that he engages the attention at once.
He is not shy, and will allow the observer to watch his actions at a few
paces. With what patient perseverance he searches for his food, examining
every little twig and bud in his way! how deftly he clings to the extremity
of the twigs, pecking vigorously at the large buds, shelling off their cases
in eager search for the grub concealed within! How merry are his notes
of exultation as his search is rewarded, and he pops quickly off to another
twig where the same performance may be renewed! He is a noisy little
creature, ever restless, and, when not engaged in picking out the insects
from the buds and twigs, continually signalling to his companions ina lively
series of call-notes.

His actions in spring cause the gardener some anxiety for his fruit-trees.
In the search for insects many promising buds are injured ; but when we
consider the number of grubs destroyed, his good services must be set
against the trifling damage. In autumn the habits of the Blue Tit are to
a great extent changed. During the breeding-season his notes are rarely
heard or only at long intervals ; and at this time of the year he ceases to be
gregarious. But when the anxious cares of rearing their brood are over, the
birds roam about the fields, woods, and gardens in small parties ; they
seem to be in the height of their enjoyment ; and the brood and their parents
make the trees resound with their cheerful notes, and the twigs seem full
of life as the gay little creatures poise and twist and turn amongst the
leaves. Throughout the autumn the birds will keep together, and some-
times join parties of Coal Tits or even a stray Creeper. In winter the
Blue Tit is often to be seen in places which at other times of the year he
appears to shun—for example the corn-stacks, to the sides of which he will
cling in company with Sparrows—or the open fields, where he may often
be seen picking the bones thrown on the land with the manure. At this
season he may sometimes be seen searching walls for insects by clinging to
them, and often picking out bits of plaster to get at his prey ; or he will
not unfrequently visit the heaps of old wood in the farmyard in search of
any thing edible.

In their wanderings the Blue ‘Tits visit almost every variety of scene,
except, of course, the most barren aud treeless wastes. ‘The orchard trees
are searched just as closely as the tall elms, oaks, and beeches in the depths

470 BRITISH BIRDS.

of the forest ; the birch copses have an equal charm with the hedgerows,
the garden, or the fir-plantations ; whilst in the dense shrubberies, espe-
cially at nightfall, Blue Tits are almost sure to be found, repairing thither,
after exploring the deciduous trees in the neighbourhood, to roost amongst
the perennial foliage of the laurel, the yew, or the ivy. At dusk they
become exceedingly garrulous ; and as the little party wander about through
the dense cover they seem to disturb all the birds they meet with, if we
may judge from the number of bird-notes one hears from all parts of the
cover, as the noisy Tits wander through it. The Blue Tit usually roosts
amongst ivy or in yew trees; but sometimes a whole party will fix upon
the warm sheltered side of a haystack in which to spend the night.

The Blue Tit is almost omnivorous. It will eat or endeavour to eat
almost any thing, from a hard pear or even a turnip to a currant or a
cherry, from a grain of corn to the tiny seeds of the chickweed or the
dock. Many kinds of insects are eaten, grubs, caterpillars, beetles; and
a small butterfly or a moth is often chased on the wing by these birds. In
winter a bone hung out in the garden is sure to attract their attention.
The Blue Tit is also very fond of pecking at fruit, very often being seen in
winter on a pear or an apple that has still remained on the trees.

The flight of the Blue Tit is performed with rapid beats of the wings,
and is undulating and uncertain. Like its congeners, it rarely flies for
long distances, and its movements in the air are usually confined to
passing from one tree to another; and very often it will go the whole
length of a wood without once engaging in a protracted flight. Its call-
notes are harsh and rapidly repeated, resembling the syllables chicka-chicka
chee-chee-chee, varied with a harsh churring sound almost like a hiss. It
has no song beyond a simple s?, s?, sé.

The Blue Tit seldom builds its nest before the first week in May. A
little earlier the birds may be often seen pulling out bits of plaster from
walls, and, in fact, squeezing themselves into all kinds of nooks and crannies
likely or unlikely to afford them a site for their home. The Blue Tit’s
breeding-grounds are in well-wooded districts, in gardens and orchards,
near houses, in the holes of outhouses, and in walls. A favourite place for
the nest is in an old gate-post or a pump; and the bird will return each
year to the same spot for the purpose of rearing its young, should it be left
unmolested. Mr. C. Bygrave Wharton has recorded two instances of this
bird nesting in holes in the ground (‘ Zoologist,’ 1874, p. 4034, and
1879, p. 219). Many strange situations have been chosen by this bird
for nesting-sites. Scarcely any of the numberless biographies of the
Blue Tit fail to give us fresh instances of its peculiar choice. As soon as
the site is selected the nest is begun. Like all other nests built in holes,
it is but a poorly made structure, so loosely put together that it is difficult
to remove it without breaking it to pieces. The materials usually selected

Maat

BLUE TIT. 471

are moss and dry grass; and it is lined with wool, hair, and great quantities
of feathers. Many nests of the Blue Tit contain as many as twelve eggs;
in other and more usual instances the number varies from five to eight ; ai
cases have been recorded where as many as twenty eges have been said to
have been found in one nest; but these stories require verification. The
eggs are very similar in shape to those of the Great Tit, and are white in
ground-colour, speckled, as a rule, rather faintly with light red; they
measure from ‘7 to ‘55 inch in length and from ‘5 to °42 inch in breadth,
Both the male and female Blue Tit assist in hatching the eggs; and you
can rarely drive the sitting bird from its charge. Bravely it remains upon
it, and, by hissing, biting, and puffing up its plumage, endeavours to defend
its little home. How often does the enthusiastic oologist start back in
alarm as the bird utters a sound like the warning hiss of a snake, fearful
that instead of eggs the hole in which he is about to thrust his hand con-
tains some poisonous reptile! Even when you take the bird in your hand
its courage is none the less, and, erecting its tiny crest, it will bite most
viciously, and its little black eyes sparkle again with anger. So attached
is the little creature to its hole that no small amount of annoyance or
disturbance will cause it to forsake, and many indeed are the instances
on record of its attachment to, the site of its choice. The nests of this
bird are sometimes found entombed in branches and trunks, where the bark
has grown over, and the natural growth of the tree during the course of

years has closed the aperture.

The number of our resident birds appears to be increased in autumn; for
the Blue Tit is included in several of the reports of the arrival of migratory
birds on our shores; and on the interesting island of Heligoland it is
yearly taken as it passes over in its annual wanderings. .

The Blue Tit is a very handsome little bird. It has a broad white line
extending from the forehead over the eyes and completely encircling the
crown, which is azure-blue; another and narrower line of dark blue
extends from the base of the bill through and behind the eye, where it
meets another and broader band of the same colour, which curves down-
wards behind the ears and meets on the throat ; the cheeks and ear-coverts
are white ; the nape is bluish white, and the back and upper tail-coverts
are yellowish green; the wings and tail are blue, the greater wing-coverts
being tipped with white. The general colour of the underparts, from
below the throat, is greenish yellow, paler on the centre of the belly, and
with an obscure bluish-black streak on the breast. Bill dusky horn-
colour; legs, feet, and claws lead-colour; irides dark brown. The female
scarcely differs from the male; but her colours are a little less brilliant.
Young birds have similar markings to their parents; but their plumage is
yellower. The Blue Tit may be readily distinguished from all its British
congeners by its beautiful azure-blue crown,

472 BRITISH BIRDS.

PARUS ATER anv PARUS BRITANNICUS.

EUROPEAN COAL TIT and BRITISH COAL TIT.
(PLaTE 9.)

Of the various subspecific forms of the Coal Tit, two at least are found
in our islands, of which the synonymy is as follows :—

PARUS ATER.

EvropEAN Coat TIr.

Parus atricapillus, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 551 (1760).

Parus ater, Linn. Syst. Nat. 1. p. 341 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum—Latham,
Gmelin, Bechstein, Naumann, Temminck, Gray, Bonaparte, Degland, Gerbe,
Newton, Dresser, &c.

Parus carbonarius, Pallas, Zoogr. Rosso- Asiat, i. p. 556 (1826).

Poecile ater (Linn.), Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 114 (1829).

PARUS BRITANNICUS.
British Coat Tir.

Parus britannicus, Sharpe § Dresser, Ann. Nat, Hist. (series 4) viii. p. 437 (1871).
Parus ater, Linn. apud Newton, &e.

The Coal Tit is one of those species which has extended its range within
our islands during comparatively recent times. larly writers state that
this bird was far rarer than the Marsh-Tit ; now it is certainly the reverse,
although no perceptible decrease in the numbers of that species has been
noticed. The Coal Tit is found pretty generally throughout the British
Islands in all suitable localities. It breeds throughout all the counties
of England, Wales, and Scotland, as far north as Sutherlandshire. Its
distribution in Scotland is somewhat local and greatly influenced by
the presence of pine-woods, although there can be little doubt that it
will extend its distribution as the planting of pines and firs increases.
With the exception of Mull and Skye, the Coal Tit is absent from the
Western Isles, nor does it ever appear to have occurred in the Orkneys or
the Shetlands. In Ireland it is pretty generally distributed.

The geographical distribution of the Coal Tit presents several points of
interest ; for we find in this species a somewhat similar and parallel series
of variations in colour to those of the Marsh-Tit and the Nuthatch. The
British form, P. britannicus, appears to be peculiar to our isJands. The
typical form, P. ater, appears continually to visit our islands on migration,

eile

a
. —

EE

EUROPEAN AND BRITISH COAL TITs. 473

and apparently to interbreed with the British subspecies, as intermediate
forms between them can be obtained. Our bird is distinguished by having
the slate-grey of the upper parts suffused with brown, which in the typical
form is observable on the rump only, and by having more brown on the
flanks. The typical form appears to be found t hroughout the continent of
Europe south of the Arctic circle. Examples from Western and Central
Siberia scarcely differ, except that the white parts are somewhat purer, the
slate-grey of the upper parts a little brighter, and a tendency to a crest
is occasionally developed. In examples from Eastern Siberia, the valley of
the Lower Amoor, the Ussuri, Japan, and Kamtschatka the upper parts
scarcely present any difference, but the brown on the flanks extends to
the breast and belly. In North China this is still more the case, and a
decided crest is observable in adult males, so that this form has been
described as distinct under the name of P. pekinensis. The brown on the
underparts reaches its greatest development in Turkestan; and to this
form the name of P. rufipectus has been applied. In birds from both
these latter localities the upper parts also are suffused with brown, but not
to quite such an extent as in examples of the British form. In the
Himalayas the Coal Tit (P. e@modius) is, as might be expected, a still more
tropical form : the buff on the underparts is slightly more pronounced; the
white on the cheeks is not so pure; the size is slightly smaller, and the
crest more developed. It isnot known which form of the Coal Tit inhabits
South Russia; but in the Caucasus a form is found, P. michalowskii, almost
exactly like the British form in colour, but a trifle larger ; and further east
in South Persia these differences are exaggerated : the upper parts are still
browner, inclining to olive; and the brown on the flanks is as much deve-
loped as in the Turkestan birds. This form has received the name of
P. pheonotus. It is impossible to look upon any of these forms as specific.
We know that most of them are connected together by intermediate
examples; and the series is only broken in districts from which we have
been unable to obtain specimens.

There are numerous tropical forms of the Coal Tit inhabiting the Hima-
layas. Several of these may be distinguished by the absence of the wing-
bars ; another, more nearly allied to our bird, P. melanolophos, is distin-
guished by its dark slate-grey belly and well-developed crest. In Algeria
the Coal Tit, P. ledoucti, appears to have been so long isolated from its
relations as to have become specifically distinct, differing in having the
underparts, including the cheeks and the nape, yellow instead of* white or
buff. The Coal Tit does not appear to have any representative in America.

The Coal Tit, although as interesting in its habits and appearance, is not
quite so well known a bird as its congeners the Blue Tit and the Great
Tit. It does not so often come into notice; for it usually confines itself to
the woods and the wilder tracts of country, and is not commonly met with

474, BRITISH BIRDS.

near houses. Its favourite haunts are the plantations and the copses near
the moorlands ; and it is often seen in little parties in furze-brakes and
tangled thickets near streams. Perhaps the best place to study the habits
of the Coal Tit is in the birch-copses late in autumn, when the foliage is
thin and the birds readily seen, At this season they are in small parties
(broods of the year probably and their parents), and are usually accom-
panied by a few Blue Tits, a Great Tit or two, and possibly a Creeper.
Their call-note, something like if-hee, if-hee, if-hee, will probably arrest
the attention long before the birds themselves are visible. Their actions
are precisely the same as those of the other Tits: the same grotesque
attitudes are assumed; each twig is explored in the same business-like way
as with their congeners. Sometimes the Coal Tit visits the ground in
search of food; and it may often be seen clinging to walls and posts,
searching the crannies, the moss, and the lichens for insects.

Dixon thus writes of the Coal Tit :—“ Perhaps their actions, though some-
what resembling those of the Titmice in general, are more rapid than those of
other members of the family. You sometimes see them dart through the
foliage with great rapidity, chasing each other apparently in sportive glee.
There is scarcely a tree or a bush that the Coal Tit does not visit. Now

hanging from the long pendent branches of the graceful birch, now searching ~

the thorny sprays of the hawthorn, now on the topmost branches of the oak
or ash, then onwards to the drooping elm; now on the lowly twigs of the
hazel or elder-bushes ; then the evergreens in turn are visited; and even
the ivy on the ground is frequently explored. A favourite place to meet
with the Coal Tit is on the spreading branches of the fir tree, notably
those which are studded with cones. There you see him dexterously
ejecting the tiny seeds from their scaly bed, the bird very often clinging
to the cone, it may be on the extremity of a slender twig, and its active
motions causing the branch and its living burden to sway backwards and
forwards like the steady beat of a pendulum. A merry little party of
wanderers they are, and busy themselves with their own affairs alone.
When the sun nears the western horizon the Coal Tits, if it be winter time,
repair to the verdant branches of the evergreen to roost, or sometimes seek
shelter in the warm side of a haystack, always seeking that side opposite
to the direction in which the wind is blowing. I have also often witnessed
the migration of this charming little bird in the mellow days of October.
It comes with the Goldcrests, and with them departs ; for in this neigh-
bourhood (Rivelin valley) the bird is only represented in the winter
months by the few pairs that breed in the woods in this wild romantic
place. I have seen them in scores in the birch-woods here, tarrying for
a week perhaps, and then disappearing as suddenly as they had arrived.”
The food of the Coal Tit is largely composed of insects ; but this bird is
also to no small extent a seed-eater. Mr. Tegetmeier gives an instance in

herent ogee bbe

EUROPEAN AND BRITISH COAL TITS. 475

the ‘ Field’ of its feeding on filberts; and Montagu states that a nest of
young birds kept in a cage were fed chiefly on small green caterpillars.
The flight of the Coal Tit differs very little from that of the Blue Tit. It
is performed by rapid and incessant beats of the wings, and is seldom pro-
longed for any great distance.

The Coal Tit’s breeding-grounds are the birch-woods, pine- and fir-plan-
tations, alder-swamps, and, more rarely, orchards and gardens. Karly in
spring we hear this bird’s song—a performance scarcely deserving the
name, it is true, but which is perhaps the closest attempt at music
made by any of the Tits. The nest of the Coal Tit is generally found
in holes of trees and stumps; but sometimes a hole in a wall will be
selected. Birch-woods are favourite haunts of this bird during the breeding-
season, where the abundance of holes suitable for nesting-purposes are most
probably the chief attraction. Here, it may be, where a large limb has
fallen in premature decay, leaving a hollow cavity in the parent stem, or
where a trunk has been riven by the storm, the bird will build its nest. It
will also select a hole in a large pine tree, or in the decaying alders near
the stream. Orchard trees are more rarely chosen; but a hole in some
stump in a hedgerow is a favourite place. The bird will also occasionally
seek out a nesting-site in the ground, generally a hole under some half-
exposed root or old stump. In some cases the bird will enlarge a hole for
its purpose. The nest resembles those of the other Tits, and is very loosely
put together. It is made of dry grass, moss, in some cases thickly felted
with hair, and lined very warmly with feathers. The eggs, from five to
eight or nine in number, are usually pure white spotted and freckled with
light red. In some specimens the spots are bold and rich in colour, chiefly
massed on the large end of the egg; in others they are evenly distributed
over the entire surface in small dots. A beautiful clutch of eggs from
Pomerania in my collection, nine in number, have the eround-colour
delicate creamy white; many of the markings are confluent, and all are
very pale and chiefly distributed in broad wavy streaks. One egg in this
clutch has the colour distributed in the minutest of specks over the whole
surface. They vary from ‘7 to ‘58 inch in length, and from °5 to ‘45 inch
in breadth.

The British form of the Coal Tit has the head, the sides of the nape,
and throat black, glossed with blue on the former; the ear-coverts and
the cheeks are yellowish white ; and the nape is white; the rest of the
upper parts are brown; the wings and tail are greyish brown; the
median and greater wing-coverts are tipped with dull white, forming a
double bar across the wings; the breast and belly are dull white, shading
into buffish brown on the flanks. Bill black; legs, feet, and claws lead-
colour; irides hazel. Females are not so brilliant in colour, and the white
patches of plumage are not so pure. The Coal Tit may at once be distin-
guished from the Marsh-Tit by the white patch on the nape.

:
/

476 BRITISH BIRDS.

PARUS PALUSTRIS.

MARSH-TIT.

(PLATE 9.)

Parus palustris, Briss, Orn. iii. p. 555 (1760) ; Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 8341 (1766); et
auctorum plurimorum—Latham, Gmelin, Bechstein, Temminck, Naumann,
Gray, (Bonaparte), Newton, Dresser, &c.

Peecile palustris (Linn.), Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 114 (1829).

Peecile communis, Degl. et Gerbe, Orn. Eur. i. p. 567 (1867, ex Baldenstein).

The Marsh-Tit inhabits the whole of Europe, Asia Minor, Turkestan,
Siberia south of the Arctic circle, and North China, but is apparently
absent from Persia, Afghanistan, and Mongolia. The difference of climate
in such an extensive range has given rise to variations in size and in colour,
which are said to be characteristic of varieties, subspecies, or species,
according to the views of the writer. British examples are of a somewhat
more sandy brown than those from the continent of Western Europe, but
scarcely sufficiently so to warrant their separation. The variety of the
Marsh-Tit which is generally accepted as the typical form of P. palustris
is found throughout South-western Europe as far north and as far east
as St. Petersburg. In this form the tail is nearly even and short, the
upper parts are sandy brown, and the flanks are pale sandy brown. In
Scandinavia, north of lat. 61° up to the Arctic circle and in North-west
Russia, a form occurs having the tail rounded and slightly longer, the
upper parts are slate-grey, and the flanks are only slightly suffused with
brown: this form has been named P. borealis. In North-east Russia
and West Siberia the birds have the tail still further increased in length,
but the colour of the plumage does not exhibit any perceptible change:
to this form the name of P. dbaicalensis has been applied. In birds still
further to the east, in East Siberia and in the neighbourhood of Lake
Baikal, the tail again becomes nearly even and appears to reach its greatest
length, the bill is much smaller, and the slate-grey upper parts are slightly
suffused with brown: to these birds 'aczanowski has given the name of
_ P. brevirostris ; and he assures me that the difference between the two
forms is well known to the bird-fanciers of Irkutsk, where they both occur.
The long-tailed, short-billed form is said to be useless as a cage-bird, not
possessing the powers of song which distinguish the other. In Kamt-
schatka a race, to which Bonaparte gave the name of P. kamtschatkensis *,

* The P. kamtschatkensis described by Dresser in his ‘ Birds of Europe’ is nothing but
the Siberian form of P. borealis (P. baicalensis). The true P. kamtschatkensis has lately
been rediscovered by Dybowsky.

EE

MARSH-TIT. Ar?

is found which, were it not probable that intermediate forms occur, might
fairly be considered specifically distinct. The tail is rounded, slightly
shorter than that of the East-Siberian birds; the upper parts are sandy
white, and the flanks pure white. This bird may be looked upon as the
extreme arctic form. Southwards, in Japan the Marsh-Tit, to which I
have given the name of P. japonicus *, has the tail, although rounded, still
further decreased in length, and the colour of the upper parts is only
slightly paler than in South-European examples ; but the flanks are only
faintly suffused with brown. In North China the Marsh-Tit of South-
west Europe (P. palustris) reappears : the tail is nearly even, and equal in
length to that of its European ally ; and the ouly perceptible difference is
that it is a trifle paler on the upper parts than examples from the British
Islands +. The Marsh-Tit of Turkestan, P. songarus, is apparently speci-

* To better and more clearly express the differences found in the Marsh-Tit, I have
drawn up the following Table :—

Locality. Name. cea e Remarks.
ail.

ee see
inches.
South-west Europe, | P. palustris ...... | 19to21 | Tail nearly even; upper parts
including British | | sandy brown. British ex-
Islands. | amples most sandy; flanks

| pale sandy brown.
ScandinaviaandNorth-| P. boreals ........ 2:1 to 2°35 |Tail rounded; upper parts
west Russia. slate-grey; flanks white,
| slightly suffused with brown.
North-east Russia and) P. baicalensis...... 2:4 to 25 |Tail rounded; upper parts
West Siberia. slate-grey; flanks white,
| | slightly suffused with brown.
East Siberia ........ P. brevirostris ....| 2'5to 26 | Tail nearly even; bill small;
upper parts slate-grey, with
a slight shade of brown;

flanks white, slightly suf-
fused with brown.

|Kamtschatka ........ | P. kamtschatkensis.. 2°4 to 23. |Tail rounded; upper parts |
| sandy white; flanks pure |
| | white.

SRB vis» 'bsoss\si soaie 3 | P. japonicus ...... | 2:2to 2:1 | Tail rounded; upper parts

pale sandy brown; flanks
| | white, slightly more suffused
with brown than in P, dbar-
calensis.

OUD ase ters bs ct P. palustris ...... 2:0 Tail nearly even ; upper parts
sandy brown, very slightly
paler than British examples;
flanks pale sandy brown.
Markestan ci... P. songarus ....0. 23 to 2:25 |Tail rounded; upper parts
rich sandy brown; flanks
sandy brown.

+ Dresser, ‘ Birds of Europe, iii. p, 120, isin error iv saying that the Chinese form most
nearly resembles P. borealis.

478 BRITISH BIRDS.

fically distinct, being very much browner both above and below, especially
on the flanks, than even examples of P. palustris from the British Islands ;
it has also the rounded tail which characterizes the birds of North Europe,
Siberia, and Japan. It may be looked upon as a semitropical form, and is
possibly more nearly allied to the Sombre Tit (P. dugubris) of South-eastern
Europe, a species somewhat larger in size and having the black on the
throat much more clearly defined, like the North-American representatives
of the Marsh-Tit, P. atricapillus and P. carolinensis. The range of P. son-
garus extends from the Thianshan and Alashan mountains eastwards to
Kansu.

All these forms undoubtedly interbreed wherever their ranges meet,
and can only be regarded as varieties of one variable species, which
presents a striking example of scarcely distinguishable eastern and western
forms connected together by a central semiarctic form, and represented
in the south by a semitropical form—a peculiarity of geographical dis-
tribution characteristic of many species of migratory Palearctic birds.

The Marsh-Tit has scarcely a right to itsname. It is never seen on the
reeds or in the sedge, which are the special characteristics of a marsh, but
in bushes or trees of all kinds, great or small, on the confines of the reeds,
on the bushes by the river-side, or in the garden; even in the suburban
gardens on the outskirts of London or Sheffield, it is almost sure td be
found. Nevertheless it is less partial to very dry districts than some of
the other Tits. For example, in the Parnassus, though Kriiper told me
that he had found it down in the plains, I never met with it in either the
pine-region or the district where beeches or oaks once flourished, but which
is now only a grass region, whereas the Coal Tit, the Great Tit, and the
Sombre Tit were all there. Again, in the endless pine-forests which sur-
round Arcachon, both in the newer forests, where the ground is little more
than bare sand, and in the older forests, where a subsoil of peat has esta-
blished itself, though the Great Tit, the Crested Tit, and the Coal Tit are
common, and we once saw a Blue Tit, we never met with a Marsh-Tit.
The latter species, however, was not rare in the cultivated districts round
Pau.

In its habits the Marsh-Tit scarcely differs from its near allies. Though
smaller than most of them, it is as active as any of them, and, like the
Goldcrests and the Willow-Warblers, may be seen in almost every con-
ceivable position searching for insects on the buds at the end of a branch.
Sometimes it peers down from above, and sometimes from below. Now it
twists to this side, and now to that. Sometimes it hangs by one leg; and
sometimes it may be seen poised in front of the end of the bough, with
half-spread tail and its little wings buzzing like those of a hawkmoth. On
the whole it isa silent bird; but sometimes, as it passes through the wood,
you may hear its four loud and rather plaimtive notes uttered in rapid

MARSH-TIT, 479

succession, tay, tay, tay, tay; and by following the sound you may trace
the rapidity with which the bird flits from tree to tree, probably calling for
its mate. At other times a much lower and still more plaintive wee, wee,
is heard. In spring I have heard it utter a loud ¢i-ted’, ti-ted’, something
like the still louder note of the Great Tit, which I always fancy is an
imitation of a rusty-axled wheelbarrow creaking as it is trundled along.
Its song is a very simple sis, sis, sis, see, scarcely deserving to be called
a song at all.

In most parts of its range the Marsh-Tit is a resident; but in autumn
these birds wander about considerably, and I have frequently noticed that
in some localities they suddenly become common for a few weeks and then
disappear. In Norfolk it is said that in autumn an arrival of Marsh-Tits
from the continent has been observed ; and this is confirmed by the appear-
ance of these birds on Heligoland. Of all the British Tits the Marsh-Tit
is apparently the most hardy. Its range continues considerably further
north than any of the rest, and, indeed, than any of the Palearctic Tits,
with the single exception of the Lapp Tit. Like most of the other species
of this family, it is a very sociable bird, except perhaps during the breeding-
season. In this country I have generally seen it in company with the Blue
Tit and the Great Tit. In the south of France it often joined a party of
Goldcrests ; and in Siberia it was in the same flock as the Lapp Tit and
the Nuthatch. The tendency of birds to flock together when food is scarce
is almost universal, and probably is of great service, especially in countries
where the winters are severe, not only in discovering supplies of food, but
also in giving timely notice of the approach of danger.

The Marsh-Tit may almost be said to be omnivorous; nothing comes amiss
toit. In winter you may easily obtain an opportunity of watching its habits
in frosty weather by hanging up a bone, or a lump of suet, or even a tallow
candle in the garden. It is very fond of seeds of all kinds; and scarcely
any sort of fruit, soft or hard, is neglected ; but perhaps, on the whole,
this bird is chiefly imsectivorous.

I have always found the nest of the Marsh-Tit in a hole in a tree,
generally near the ground, and almost always in such a narrow hole that
it was necessary to use a wire to draw out the eggs with part of the nest.
Many other situations, however, are on record. It has repeatedly been
observed to excavate a hole for itself im a decayed tree, the entrance being
then as round as the hole of a Woodpecker, and small in proportion to the
size of the bird. Occasionally it breeds in a pollard willow, and has even
been known to build in a rabbit-burrow or an old rat’s hole. The inside
of the hole, if too deep, is filled up with bits of wood or small twigs, and
upon this foundation a moderately neat nest is composed of moss, wool,
hair, and any other soft material that may be within reach, Fresh eggs
may be found in May ; and it is said that a second brood is often reared.

480 BRITISH BIRDS.

The number varies from five to eight, and some writers say even twelve ;
but no such case has ever come under my notice. They are white with a
scarcely perceptible yellowish tinge in ground-colour, spotted and speckled
with light red. The markings are usually most numerous on the large
end of the egg. Some specimens have the spots very small and more
evenly distributed than others, and on some eggs there are a few short
streaky spots of blackish brown. They vary from ‘67 to ‘6 inch in length
and from *52 to ‘47 inch in breadth. It is impossible to distinguish the
eggs of the Marsh-Tit from those of its allies. They are, of course, slightly
smaller than Great Tit’s ; but the only safe guide to the correct authenti-
cation of the eggs of this bird, and indeed of those of all the Tits, is by
observing the parent birds.

The typical form of the Marsh-Tit has the head, from the base of the
bill to the nape, bluish black ; the cheeks and sides of the neck are white ;
the rest of the upper parts are sandy brown, paler on the rump; the wings
and tail are dark brown, the feathers of the former with lighter margins ;
but there are no pale tips to the wing-coverts. The chin and upper throat
are black, the feathers more or less margined with dull white ; the breast
and belly are dull greyish white tinged with buff on the flanks and lower
belly. Bill black ; legs, feet, and claws lead-colour ; irides dark brown.
The female does not differ in colour from the male; and young birds closely
resemble their parents, but the colours are duller.

iret

CRESTED TIT. 481

PARUS CRISTATUS.

CRESTED TIT.

(Puate 9.)

Parus cristatus, Briss. Orn. ii. p. 558 (1760); Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 8340 (1766); et
auctorum plurimorum—Latham, Gmelin, Bechstein, Naumann, Temminck:,
Gray, (Bonaparte), Degland, Gerbe, Newton, Dresser, &c.

Lophophanes cristatus (Linn.), Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 92 (1829).

Parus mitratus, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 467 (1831).

The Crested Tit is one of the most local of our indigenous birds. Its
only known breeding-grounds in the British Islands are in Scotland, in the
valley of the Spey and in the adjoining counties of Ross and Inverness on
the west, and Aberdeen on the east. In winter its distribution is a little
more extended, and Mr. Gray remarks that it has been obtained as far south
as Perthshire. In the western counties of Scotland but two specimens
have been obtained—one in 1838 near Barcaldine House in Argyleshire,
and another, of which the exact date is not known, taken near Dumbarton.
Although, on the authority of Jardine, it has been said to have occurred in
Lanarkshire, Mr. Gray has been unable to trace it m any part of that
county during the last twenty years. In England, Mr. Harting, in his
‘Handbook,’ records eight instances of its occurrence; Mr. Simpson re-
cords another in the ‘ Zoologist’ for 1872, p. 3021, and Baron Von Hiigel
one more specimen in the same periodical for 1874, p. 4065. Although
not included by Thompson, the bird has occurred in Ireland, as shown by
Sharpe and Dresser, upon the authority of Mr. Blake Knox, who mentions
two specimens.

The Crested ‘Tit, though its range is very restricted, is much commoner
and less local on the Continent, being a resident in most of the pine-forests,
though it does not appear to range further north than lat. 64°, whence
Meves records it. To the east it has only with certainty been found as far
as the valleys of the Don aud the Volga above Sarepta. Bogdanow thinks
that its occurrence in the Caucasus rests upon insufficient evidence. To
the south it is found in many localities as far as the Mediterranean, but its
range does not appear to extend to Africa. Kriiper found it in Turkey :
but it has not yet occurred in Italy south of the Alps, Greece, Asia Minor,
or Palestine. :

There are several species of Tit which are distinguished by having a
crest; but since in the Coal Tits there seems to bea series of intermediate
forms between the crested and non-crested varieties, it would be extremely
unadvisable to separate them from the genus Parus, otherwise ii merely

VOL. 1. =

482 BRITISH BIRDS.

subgenerically, although they have been so separated by Kaup under the
generic name of Lophophanes. Some of these crested Tits inhabit the
Himalayas, and others are found in North America ; and it does not appear
that there are any other characters by which to separate them from the
non-crested Tits. The Crested Tit has no near ally in the eastern hemi-
sphere. The only species which approaches it is P. wollweberi, which in-
habits Mexico, New Mexico, Arizona, and Western Texas. The most
important difference between the two species is that the American bird
has the white on the crest replaced by slate-grey.

The Crested Tit can scarcely be called a migratory bird, though im
autumn it partially forsakes the pine-forests, where it breeds, and is seen
in winter in many of the small woods and plantations, and even the gardens,
in the neighbouring districts ; but even in these localities it prefers the pine
to any other tree.

The Crested Tit is not a bird of the desert ; but it is emphatically a bird
of the sand—not on account of the sand, but for the pines that grow on
the dunes and sand plains. The first step in the transformation of sand
into arable land is to plant pine trees, under which a soil is gradually
accumulated from the decayed bark, spines, cones, and branches of the
trees, together with the grass, moss, and underwood which the moisture
under the perennial shade causes to grow. In the south-east of Holland,
at Valconswaard, and in the south-west of France, at Arcachon, you may
travel for miles over country where sand and pine trees are almost the only
feature in the landscape. These forests are the paradise of the Crested Tit.
I spent a summer at Valconswaard and a winter at Arcachon, and in both
districts I was struck with the abundance of this handsome little bird. It
is not only the commonest Tit of the pine-forest, but the commonest bird.
Most birds prefer the outskirts of the forest, near to the patches of cultivated
land. In the heart of a forest birds are generally rare, in winter especially
so. What few birds there are, seem to be more or less gregarious. In
wandering through the pine-forests of Arcachon we sometimes did not see
a bird for half an hour. Then a Crested Tit would be heard; three or
four more would be sure to be in its company, and most likely a Great
Tit or two, and a few Goldcrests or Firecrests. In most of these batches
of birds there were a few Chaffinches, and very often aCreeper. Now and
then Long-tailed Tits formed a portion of the party, and rarely a few Coal
Tits ; but Crested Tits were always there. They are very active, flitting from
branch to branch, running over the pine-cones in search of insects; and
they seem to have taken a leaf out of the book of their associate the
Creeper, and may often be seen on the trunks of the pines, where they
search for insects in the crevices of the bark. Sometimes they run up the
stems of the pines exactly as the Creeper does. It is not difficult to recog-
nize the Crested Tit on the wing. In the bright sunshine which is such a

et
+ ee
Z
~a
f

CRESTED TIT. 483

distinguishing feature of the Arcachon winters the white edges to the black
feathers of the head of the Crested Tit are generally very conspicuous
during flight ; and often enough when the little bird is hanging under a
branch of a lofty pine, the outline of its erected crest is easy to see against
the sky. But the surest way of detecting its presence is to listen for its
note. Its call-note is a not very loud si, si, si, which seems to be common
to many of the Tits; but this is often followed by a spluttering note diffi-
cult to express on paper, which, as far as I know, is peculiar to the Crested
Tit. It is a lame attempt at a trill, a sort of ptur, re, re, re, ree. The pine
trees in the Arcachon forest are tapped for their resin. Three or four
longitudinal scores are made on the trunks; and these are lengthened as
they dry up until they reach a considerable height from the ground. When
the tree gets old the weather rots the part where the bark has been re-
moved, and the trunk swells out and cracks, and all kinds of convenient
nooks and crannies are formed, where Tits and other birds who like such
situations for their nests can breed. Some of these trees in the old forest
of La Teste attain a diameter of four, and even five feet; and occasionally
one comes across a fine old oak. The Crested Tits seem, however, to prefer
the pines; and although the Great and the Coal Tits are very fond of
searching for insects on the ground amongst the fallen oak-leaves, I have
never seen the Crested Tit on the ground. In the pine-forosts of Pome-
rania and of the Alps I found this bird equally common.

In Scotland the haunt of the Crested Tit is the pine-woods, and more
rarely the birch-plantations. The breeding-season of the bird, both in
Scotland and in Pomerania, commences about the middle of April; and the
eggs are laid by the first week in May. Russow says that in the Russian _
Baltic Provinces it often has a second brood early in June.

The Crested Tit generally builds its nest in a hole in a tree, and usually
at no very great height from the ground; but in forests where there are
not many old trees, and suitable holes are not easily found, it will often
construct its nest in the foundations of large nests (those of birds of prey,
Crows, &c.), or it lays its eggs in the forsaken nests of the Magpie,
the Crow, or the Squirrel, or even of the Wren. More than one orni-
thologist has maintained that it builds a nest of its own with a hole in the
side, like that of the Wren. It has been known to breed in the little
wooden boxes which the Germans are so fond of putting up for the accom-
modation of their favourites the Starlings ; and it is said often to hollow
out a hole for itself in decayed trees and old half-rotten pallisades,

The nest is put together in a somewhat slovenly fashion, and made of
dry grass, moss, wool, feathers, and very often the fur of the “ blue hare”
thickly felted together. The eggs of the Crested Tit are from four to six
or seven in number, and differ considerably in the amount and distribution

of the markings. They are pure white in ground-colour, some specimens
212

~

484. BRITISH BIRDS.

spotted and speckled over the whole surface with brownish red, others with
the markings in a confluent zone round the end. In some specimens this
band is increased into an irregular patch, which almost conceals the ground-
colour of the large end of the egg; whilst in others the spots are very rich
and bold, forming bands of colour round the egg. The colour of the spots
is also subject to variation; and usually those eggs which are evenly and
minutely marked have the spots darker red than those specimens in which
the markings are larger. Clutches are sometimes obtained in which the
spots are almost absent, or displayed on one of the eggs only; but as a
rule the eggs of the Crested Tit are more richly and boldly spotted than
those of its allies. They measure from ‘7 to ‘6 inch in length, and from
‘05 to *47 inch in breadth.

The food of the Crested Tit is composed of insects and small seeds of
various kinds ; and, like all its congeners, it is of great service in ridding
the twigs and buds of vast quantities of injurious pests. It is also said to
feed on juniper-berries.

The Crested Tit has the general colour of the upper parts from below the
nape buffish brown, becoming dusky brown on the wings and tail; the
feathers of the head are black, broadly margined with dull white, those
from the crown backwards considerably elongated and recurved, forming a
graceful crest; from the base of the bill through the eye to the back of
the head, thence coming downwards to below the cheeks, is a black band;
another band of the same colour, and separated from the foregoing by a
white band, crosses the head, neck, and, passing round the white ear-
coverts and cheeks, joins the black on the throat. The breast is dirty
white ; and the belly, flanks, and under tail-coverts are pale buffish brown.
Bill black; legs and feet lead-colour; irides brown. The female is
similar to the male in colour, but has the crest shorter and the black on
the throat less developed. Birds of the year resemble females.

ACREDULA. _ 485

Genus ACREDULA.

Both Brisson and Linneus included the Long-tailed Tit in the genus
Parus, a course which is still followed by many naturalists. The Long-
tailed Tit was simultaneously removed from the genus Parus in 1816 by
Koch and Leach, the former writer establishing the genus Acredula, in his
‘Systema der baierischen Zoologie,’ p. 199, and the latter, in his ‘ Syste-
matic Catalogue,’ p. 17, adopting the name of Mecistura for the bird. It
is impossible to say which writer has the precedence; but as Koch carefully
pointed out the characters on which his new genus was based, and as Leach
merely changed the name without giving any diagnosis whatever, it is only
bare justice to adopt that of the former writer. As A. caudata was the
only species known to Koch, it becomes of course the type.

The Long-tailed Tits differ from the true Tits (Parus) in having the tail
much longer than the wing and graduated. In other respects they do not
differ much; but their plumage is of a looser texture, and their style of
coloration is peculiar.

The birds in this genus are apparently confined to the Palearctic Region;
but in the Nearctic Region they are represented by the very nearly allied
genus Psaltriparus. It contains about seven species, of which four ares
European, one of which is a common resident in and the other an occa-
sional straggler to our islands.

The Long-tailed Tits do not differ much in their habits from their con-
geners; they are perhaps more gregarious, and wander about in small
parties in search of food. The haunts they frequent are similar to those
of the other Tits. They do nut possess any song. They build beautiful
dome-shaped nests of moss, lichens, feathers, wool, &c., usually placing
them in bushes. Their eggs are numerous, pure white in colour, sparingly
speckled with reddish brown.

486 BRITISH BIRDS.

ACREDULA CAUDATA ann ACREDULA ROSEA.

CONTINENTAL LONG-TAILED TIT and BRITISH
LONG-TAILED TIT.

(Piare 9.)

These two forms are united together by a series of intermediate examples,
which are found in those districts where their respective ranges meet,
leading to the supposition that they are only subspecifically distinct and
interbreed wherever they have the opportunity. The synonymy of the two
forms is as follows :—

ACREDULA CAUDATA.,
CONTINENTAL LONG-TAILED Tit.

Parus longicaudus, Briss. Orn. ii. p. 570 (1760).

Parus caudatus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 342 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum—
Gmelin, Bonaparte, Crespon, Malherbe, (Bechstein), (Naumann), (Newton), &e.

Acredula caudata (Zinn.), Koch, Syst. baer. Zool. p. 200 (1816).

AXgithalus caudatus (Linn.), Bote, Isis, 1825, p. 556.

Orites caudatus (Linn.), Sundev. Sv. Fogl. p. 92 (1856).

ACREDULA ROSEA.
British Lone-rarLep Trr.

Acredula vagans, Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. Sc. Brit. Mus. p. 17 (1816).

Mecistura rosea, Blyth, White’s Nat. Hist, Selborne, p. 111, footnote (1836); et
auctorum plurimorum—(Giray), Sharpe, Dresser, Giglioli, Elwes, Buckley,
Danford, Harvie-Brown, &e.

Mecistura longicaudata, Macgill. Hist. Brit. B. ii. p. 454 (1839),

Acredula rosea (Blyth), Sharpe, Ibis, 1868, p. 300.

Parus roseus (Blyth), Gray, Hand-l. B. i. p. 234 (1869).

Acredula caudata (Linn.), apud Newton Sc.

The British Long-tailed Tit is by no means confined to the British
Islands. In England and Wales it is generally distributed and probably
breeds in every county, although it becomes somewhat local in certain
districts. In the Channel Islands, Mr. Cecil Smith remarks that he
has never met with it; but Professor Ansted, in his list, states that it
occurs in Guernsey and Sark. In Scotland, although generally distributed,
it is rarer, doubtiess because the districts suited to its habits are fewer ; but
it is more numerous in winter. It is also found on some of the Inner

ina
’
ae

oa
i?
4% .

LONG-TAILED TITS. 487

Islands of the west, as, for instance, Islay and Skye, in which latter
locality Dixon met with it. A party of four were seen by Dr. Saxby
in Unst in the middle of April 1860; but that gentleman states that he has
never met with the bird in any other part of the Shetlands; nor does it
ever appear to have visited the Orkneys or the Faroes. In Ireland the
Long-tailed Tit, according to Thompson, is distributed through the wooded
districts, especially in the northern portions of the island, although not
commonly.

The British form of the Long-tailed Tit is found in France, Western
Germany, Northern Italy, and some parts of Turkey, and apparently
interbreeds with the Continental form A. caudata, which differs from it
in the adult bird having a pure white head. The latter form ranges
throughout Northern and Central Europe between the Arctic circle and
the Alps, its range extending eastwards through Southern Siberia to the
Pacific. Jn the north, from St. Petersburg eastwards, the tail is somewhat
lengthened, varying from 38°7 to 4 inch, instead of from 3°3 to 3°5 inch.
This form has received the name of A. macrura, and is replaced in the
valley of the Amoor by A. caudata, although, curiously enough, it
reappears on the island of Askold. In Kamtschatka, the North Island of
Japan, and in Manchuria one of these two forms occurs; but on the chief
island of Japan A. trivirgata is found, which is, in fact, a reappearance
of A. rosea, whose only claim to rank as a distinct species rests on the
fact that in the majority of skins, though not in all, the black supercilium
passes across the lores to the base of the bill. In Spain, Central and South
Italy, and Sicily A. irdiz is found, in which the vinaceous colour on the
scapulars is replaced by grey; but in Lombardy it would appear that
A. irbii and A. rosea interbreed, as intermediate examples occur. In the
Balkan peninsula, Asia Minor, Persia, and Turkestan a distinct species,
A. tephronota, occurs, resembling A. irbii, but differing from it in having
a black patch on the throat. It is not known how far east this bird
ranges; but in China it is represented by A. glaucogularis, a species only
differing from it in having the white forehead replaced by black.

The Long-tailed Tit is a lover of the woods and groves ; and unless the
district is a well-timbered one, it is almost useless to expect to fall in with
it. Like all its little congeners, it may often be seen in the vicinity of
houses, haunting the gardens and orchards. Favourite places are the
broad pasture-lands divided from each other by tall hedges, with here and
there a little plantation, or a waste corner left to grow bushes of gorse
and blackthorn. It may often be seen on the borders of the forest, on the
land which is, as it were, struggling against the encroachment of the trees,
and studded with tall hawthorns, a few birches, and plenty of thicket, in
which. the “ Bottle-Tit ”’ loves to build its nest.

As with all the Tits, the present species is perhaps the most engaging

488 BRITISH BIRDS.

in winter: certainly it is by far the most frequently seen at that season ;
and its gregarious habits, adopted after the family are safely reared,
seldom fail to arrest the observer’s attention, as in a merry little party
they flit along from bush to bush before him. The Long-tailed Tit
is a thorough nomad in winter, and wanders far in search of its food.
Nor does it appear to congregate with other Titmice to any great
extent, a family of birds usually keeping to themselves. Ever restless,
they flit from tree to tree. Here and there you may see the branches

tremble as the “ Bottle-Tits” explore the twigs. Sometimes one or two .

of the party are on the outside branches, and their peculiar attitudes
amuse and interest you. But not a moment are they still. First one
leaves the twigs, uttering its oft-repeated call-note, and in a some-
what slow and undulating flight comes still nearer to you. It is soon
followed by another, another, and another, until the little party are all
together again, busy and lively as before. You may follow them the whole
length of the shrubbery and into the tall hedges of the fields beyond ; yet.
their actions are precisely the same. They will flit from spray to spray
before you, rarely taking a long flight, and always keep close company.
Sometimes they will visit the bushes close to the ground; and often they
will explore every twig on the topmost branches of the tallest trees. They
are not at all shy birds, although their rapid movements are sometimes apt
to lead the observer to suppose that they are full of wariness.

The Long-tailed Tit is a pretty common bird in the woods near Pau.
The winter before last I was often much amused by observing the habits
of this species. These little birds seemed to find few or no insects on the
branches of the trees; but gnats were numerous in the sunshine, and it was
amusing to watch their efforts to catch them on the wing. On the whole
they seemed to be successful flycatchers, judging from the pertinacity with
which they kept up the pursuit; but their long tails seemed to be dread-
fully in their way. When they were flying from branch to branch they
had no difficulty in getting sufficient “ way” on to make the tail follow
horizontally ; but the moment they began flycatching, and their flights
became shorter and slower, they were entirely unable to hold up their
tails, and the little things had to fly up at the flock of gnats, their tails
hanging down and their little wings going with all their might. In this
way I watched them suspended in the air under the gnats for some seconds,
when they glided into a branch, either because their wings were tired or
because they had caught a gnat and took a rest to swallow it.

In early spring the Long-tailed Tit ceases to be a gregarious species,
and the families of those birds that have lived together throughout the
autumn and winter pair and disperse for the purpose of breeding. Its
nesting-grounds are the well-timbered districts, in shrubberies, woods,
plantations, gardens, and orchards, also in tall hedges and in thick under-

LONG-TAILED TITS. 489

wood. Unlike the birds forming the genus Parus, the Long-tailed Tit
builds a nest in the branches of trees and shrubs—a nest of matchless
beauty, which costs the little owners at least a fortnight’s incessant
labour to complete. In the slender twigs near the lichen-covered branch
of a hoary oak tree, in the branches of the hazel or the whitethorn in the
hedgerows, or amongst the prickly branches of the furze, where the fresh
green foliage and bright-yellow blooms form a contrast of the greatest
beauty—ain all these situations the Long-tailed Tit’s nest may be frequently
found. But it is perhaps seen in the branches of the holly or the white-
thorn more frequently than in any other situation. It is built at various
heights from the ground, sometimes only a few feet, at others, as mentioned
by Mr. Wharton, at an elevation of fifty feet. Apropos of this matter
several interesting communications may be found in the ‘ Zoologist? for
1882, pp. 187, 233, 234, made by the above-named naturalist and several
others. Mr. J. Cordeaux also gives an instance in the ‘ Zoologist,’ 1873
(p. 3558), of a nest of this bird placed at the very summit of a spruce-fir
fourteen feet from the ground. The nest is oval in shape; and a small
hole in the side near the top admits the parent birds. The materials that
compose it are very similar to those used by the Chaffinch—the greenest
moss, lichens, and cobwebs all felted artfully together, and lined with an im-
mense number of feathers and hairs. The nest of this bird is undoubtedly
the finest piece of bird-architecture found in our islands. The eggs of the
Long-tailed Tit vary considerably in number. Some nests only contain
six eggs, whilst others may be found with eleven, and in rare instances as
many as sixteen or twenty have been known. It is the opinion of some
observers that where so many eggs are founu in the nest they are the
production of more than one female. We have, however, no direct
evidence that such is the case. ‘The eggs are pure white or pearly grey
in ground-colour, with a few small spots of light-red, and fainter marks of
purple, although many specimens are spotless or appear to have the scanty
colouring-matter delicately suffused over the entire surface ; sometimes they
are without any trace of markings. They measure from °63 to ‘52 inch in
length and from ‘48 to -4 inch in breadth. The eggs of this bird are less
spotted than those of any other Tit.

Several naturalists, amongst whom may be included Selby, have asserted
that the nest of this bird contains two holes; but if such be the case, it
is a most exceptional occurrence. The bird when sitting places its long
tail over its back; in fact it would be difficult for it to sit in any other
manner. When we bear in mind how numerous their family, it is indeed
wonderful how the little creatures rear them. That they safely do so is
proved by the fact that in afew short weeks they may all be seen in
the company of their parents, with whom they keep in a family party through
the coming autumn and winter,

490 BRITISH BIRDS.

The food of the Long-tailed Tit, though chiefly, is not entirely composed of
insects ; for it also eats small seeds of various kinds, such as those of grasses
and of the birch. Its call-notes are not perhaps quite so varied as those
of the other Tits. Besides the usual clear and shrill zi-zi-zi or pe-pe-pe it
has a different note, something like what I call the spluttering note of the
Crested Tit—a sort of ptge, impossible to express on paper, which is
constantly repeated when feeding. It has no note that can be called a
song.

The British form of the Long-tailed Tit has the head white; on each
side of the crown, extending from just before the eye to the nape, is a
black band; the back is black, shading into a rosy pink on the rump and
scapulars » the wings are brownish-black, the innermost secondaries are
broadly edged with white ; the tail, which is very long, is black, the three
outside feathers white on the outer web, and on part of the inner web at
the end, the white only extending over half of the third feather ; bill
black; legs, toes, and claws dark brown; eyelids red; irides hazel.
The female does not differ from the male, except that the black band
on the head and nape is broader. Young birds are duller than their
parents.

The Continental form of the Long-tailed Tit, whose chief point of dis-
tinction has been already noticed, has occurred several times in the British
Islands. In November 1852 a specimen was picked up dead at Tyne-
mouth, and is now in Mr. Hancock’s collection. Another is in the New-
castle Museum ; but there appears to be no reliable information concerning
it, and therefore it is only with great doubt that it can be classed as a
“ British specimen.” Mr. John Gatcombe records, in the ‘ Zoologist ’
(1872, p. 2943), the occurrence of another specimen, observed by him in
the October of the previous year. And, lastly, Mr. John Cordeaux states,
in the ‘ Zoologist? (1873, p. 3401), that he saw an example in North
Lincolnshire in the winter of 1872. Both the birds in the last two
instances were in company with a flock of the British form of this bird.

The habits of this subspecies are not known to differ from those of its
British representative ; nor is there any difference in its nest and eggs,—
rendering a further description of them quite unnecessary.

PANURUS. 491

Genus PANURUS.

The Bearded Tit was separated from the genus Parus, in which both
Linneus and Brisson included it, by Koch and Leach in 1816. As the
latter naturalist did not assign any characters to his new genus Calamo-
philus, it is only right that Koch’s genus Panurus should have the
preference, which he established and clearly defined for this bird’s reception
in his ‘System der baierischen Zoologie,’ p. 201. As this species was the
only one known to Koch, it must be regarded as the type.

The Bearded Tit is a very aberrant member of the subfamily Parine,
but no more so than the Creeper or the Nuthatch. Some writers have
placed it near the Buntings, some of which it much resembles in its habits
and the markings of its eggs. The cranial and palatal characters are said
by competent authorities to show its relationship to the Tits; and its
probable place in this subfamily is between the Long-tailed Tits and the
Penduline Tits, as it has the long graduated tail of the former and the
minute bastard primary of the latter. A distinctive character appears to
be the elongation of the feathers of the sides of the throat into a moustache.
The bill, though orange-yellow in colour, does not differ much in shape
from that of typical Parus, with which the bird also agrees in the structure
of its feet and in the position of the nostrils.

The Bearded Tit haunts marshy places, fens, and reed-tracts. But one
species of this genus is known, whose geographical distribution, habits,
food, nest, &c. will be treated of in the following article.

492 BRITISH BIRDS.

PANURUS BIARMICUS.

BEARDED TIT.
(Puate 12.)

Parus barbatus, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 567 (1760).

Parus biarmicus, Zinn. Syst, Nat. i. p. 8342 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum—
(Degland), (Gerbe), Naumann, Temminck, (Gray), (Newton), (Dresser), &e.
Calamophilus biarmicus (Linn.), Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. Sc. Brit. Mus. p. 17

(1816).
Panurus biarmicus (Linn.), Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. p. 202 (1816).
Mystacinus biarmicus (Linn.), Bove, Ists, 1822, p. 556.
Higythalus biarmicus (Linn.), Bote, Isis, 1826, p. 975.
Calamophilus barbatus (Briss.), Keys, u. Blas. Wirb. Eur. p. xiii (1840).
Paroides biarmicus (Linn.), Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 195 (1847).
Panurus barbatus (Briss.), Saunders, Ibis, 1871, p. 208.

The Bearded Tit is not yet extinct in this country, though it seems to
be in a fair way to become so, in consequence of the dramage of its
favourite marshes, of occasional severe winters, and of the incessant perse-
cution to which it is subjected by reed-men in the commission of bird-
fanciers and egg-collectors. It is still found in the fen-districts of Norfolk,
in Devonshire, and more or less accidentally in some of the intervening
country, and the south-east counties of England. Formerly its range
extended more to the north; but it is doubtful whether it has ever been
obtained in Scotland or Ireland, or even Wales.

On the continent the range of the Bearded Tit is an extensive one ; but
it has not been recorded south of the Mediterranean or north of Pomerania.
In the latter country and in Holland and Hungary the Bearded Tit is a
summer visitor. In Germany and France it is principally known as passing
through in spring and autumn; but in Spain, Italy, and Sicily it appears
to be aresident. In Greece and Asia Minor it is said to be extremely
rare, its place being apparently taken by the Penduline Tit. Eastwards it —
is much more common. It is resident in many suitable localities in South
Russia—for example, at Sarepta;*it is extremely common in the delta of
the Volga, and is also a resident in the delta of the Terek, as well as in
Turkestan. Finsch obtained it in the swamps of the Kara Irtish, south
of Lake Zaisan, on the borders of Chinese Tartary ; and Prjevalsky found it
in North-eastern Thibet. Like other members of the subfamily of Parine,
it is not to be wondered at that, in a range extending from Spain to Thibet,
it shows considerable local variations of colouring. British examples are

BEARDED TIT. 493

the most rufous, those from Holland are somewhat paler ; examples from
Transylvania are still more so; but those from Central Asia are the palest
of all. Compared with British skins, this pale eastern race, to which
Bonaparte gave the name of Panurus sibiricus (Calamophilus sibiricus,
Bonap. Compt. Rend. 1856, p. 414), is an excellent species ; but the inter-
_ mediate forms from the intervening localities compel us to consider the
difference between them ouly subspecific*.

The Bearded Tit, as much as the Reed-Warbler or Savi’s Warbler, and
much more than the Reed-Bunting, is a bird of the reeds. In the Broads
it is called the Reed-Pheasant from its pheasant-like tail; and by writers
who for some reason or other think it is not one of the Parine, it is often
called the Bearded Reedling. The reed-beds of the Broads are particularly
adapted to the requirements of this remarkable-looking bird, and also
afford excellent opportunities for watching its habits. You can quietly
punt down the stream that winds through the reed-beds; and where it
widens into a broad you can force your way amongst the reeds in many
directions ; and where the stream is narrow you can land on the banks
and wade far into the marshes on either side. The time to choose for a
visit is the last half of April. The earliest date at which eggs are laid is,
according to Stephenson, the first week in April; but the Bearded Tit
has probably two broods, as I have eggs taken in the second week of June.
When I was there on the 15th of May, the young were already hatched.
We landed within a few yards of a nest of these charming birds; it con-
tained three young ones, an egg in the process of hatching, and a rotten
egg. Itis very important to have a calm day for studying the habits of
the Bearded Tit. Its long tail is sadly in the way in windy weather, and
forces it to keep almost entirely to the shelter of the reeds. Unfortunately
a light breeze had sprung up during the morning, which also prevented us
from hearing the notes of the parent birds as well as we otherwise should
have done. Of course, so late in the breeding-season, we did not expect
to hear the song, which is said to be only a few simple notes, something
like those of the Blue Tit. The call-note appeared to be a musical ping,
ping, something like the twang of a banjo. The alarm-note is said to bea
chir-r-r-r, something like the scold of a Whitethroat. The cry of distress

* There seems to be a conspiracy to deprive Bonaparte of the merit of his discovery
altogether. The editors of the continuation of the Appendix to Naumano’s ‘ Birds of
Germany,’ published after the death of the great ornithologist, say that the example which
Bonaparte described was only a young bird of the Common Bearded Tit; and Dr, Gadow,
in his volume of the British-Museum ‘Catalogue,’ containing the Tits, regards the pale
examples obtained by Finsch as birds in abraded summer plumage, and moulting on the
2nd of June! If it is possible that this is the case (of which, after a careful examination
of the skins, I can see no evidence), it would be best to remove the Bearded Tit at once
to the Warblers.

494, BRITISH BIRDS.

is described as a plaintive ce-ar, ee-ar. Both parents were busy in feeding
their young with what, as far as we could judge through our binoculars,
were small flies. They were not particularly wild or timid, and allowed us
to watch them closely as they clung to the swaying reeds; but if we
approached too near they dropped down the stalks of the reeds, and were
immediately hidden in the undergrowth of sedge. The nest was built
about a foot from the ground, on a clump of sedge (Carex), and was partially
concealed by overhanging reeds. It was built of flat grasses, rather deep,
and was lined with the flower of the reed. Whether perched upon a reed
rocking with the wind, or flitting across the bows of the boat over the
channel from one reed-bed to the other with uncertain undulating flight,
or passing over the tops of the reeds with what one might almost describe
as a dancing motion, this bird is most fascinating, not only to an ornitho-
logist, but to the casual observer. It does not look like a common British
bird, but has all the charms of a distinguished foreigner : we have birds far
more elegant, but none more aristocratic-looking ; we have birds far
handsomer, but none more distingués.

Like other Tits it is a resident in our islands, and flocks in winter in
small parties which sometimes wander far from their breeding-grounds in
search of food; and like them, too, it feeds both upon insects and seeds.

In the ‘Zoologist’ for 1875, p. 4693, is a very interesting account (written
by my friend Mr. John Young) of the breeding of this bird in confinement :
two hens, accompanied by a cock, laid the astonishing number of forty-
nine eggs between the 30th of May and the 2nd of August. The usual
number of eggs varies from four to seven. They cannot be confused with
the eggs of any other British bird. They most closely resemble in some
respects the eggs of the Buntings, but always possess peculiar character-
istics which readily distinguish them. They are white slightly suffused
with brown in ground-colour, similar to the Stock-Dove’s, possess consi-
derable gloss, and are somewhat sparingly marked with short wavy lines,
specks, and streaks of dark brown. Some specimens are a trifle more
thickly marked than others; but otherwise little variation is seen. The
eggs are remarkably large ca the size of the bird, and vary from *75 to

‘65 inch in length, and from ‘6 to ‘53 inch in breadth.

The Bearded 'Tit has the head slate-grey ; the lores, a streak extending
halfway over the eye, and a long moustachial patch of pointed feathers
are black ; the nape, back, and rump are in British examples rich rufous-
brown ; the scapulars are buffish white ; the lesser wing-coverts are greyish
brown tipped with buff; and the greater are black, with broad margins and
tips of rufous-brown ; the wings are dark brown, the primaries broadly
edged and tipped with white, the secondaries with rich rufous-brown; the
tail is rufous-brown like the back, the external feathers tipped with greyish
white, which colour forms a margin to the two outermost feathers, which

BEARDED TIT. 495

are black at the base. The chin and throat are pale grey, the sides of the
latter suffused with rosy pink, which colour also extends across the breast ;
the flanks are rich rufous-brown, the centre of the belly buffish white,
and the under tail-coverts are black. Bill orange-yellow ; legs, feet, and
claws black ; irides yellow. The femaie differs from the male by having
the head brown, by having no moustachial stripe or black lores; the
underparts are browner, the under tail-coverts are rufous, and her plumage
generally is less brilhant. Young birds resemble the female; but the
crown and back are streaked with black.

LONG- TAILED TIT’S NEST.

496 BRITISH BIRDS.

Genus ACCENTOR.

The genus Accentor was established in 1802 by Bechstein, in his ‘ Ornitho-
logisches 'Taschenbuch,’ i. p. 191, for the reception of the Alpine Accentor,
which consequently becomes the type.

The Accentors are a very aberrant group of the Parine, inasmuch as
they have spotted young like the Turdinze. In other respects they resemble
typical Tits in having straight and somewhat conical bills, rounded wings,
with a small bastard primary, and scutellated tarsi.

The geographical range of the genus extends over the whole of the
Palearctic Region and the extreme north of the Oriental Region. There
are about a dozen species in the genus, two of which breed in Europe.
One of these is a resident inthe British Islands, and the other an accidental
visitor. A third species (Accentor montanellus), which breeds in Northern
Siberia, is occasionally seen in Eastern Europe.

The food of the Accentors is principally insects in summer and small
seeds in winter. They build their nests sometimes in bushes, sometimes
on the ground, and sometimes in holes in rocks. The eggs, so far as is
known, are always blue and unspotted.

a eee

~~

HEDGE-SPARROW. 497

ACCENTOR MODULARIS.

HEDGE-SPARROW.
(Piate 12.)

Curruca sepiaria, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 394 (1760).

Motacilla modularis, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 829 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum
—( Bonaparte), (Temminck), (Degland), (Gerbe), (Naumann), (Newton), (Dres-
ser), &e.

Sylvia modularis (Linn.), Lath, Ind. Orn. ii. p. 511 (1790),

Prunella modularis (Zinn.), Vieill. An. Nouv. Orn. p, 43 (1816).

Accentor modularis (Linn.), Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. i. p. 196 (1816).

Curruca eliotee, Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. Sc. Brit. Mus. p. 24 (1817),

Tharrhaleus modularis (Linn.), Kaup, Nat. Syst. pp. 137, 192 (1829).

The Hedge-Accentor, or Hedge-Sparrow, is another of those birds
which, from its trustful habits, is familiar to all. It is one of the most
widely distributed of our native birds, being found throughout the British
Islands except in the barest and most barren situations. It is found on all
the Hebrides, except a few of the most desolate islands ; in the Orkneys it
is of only accidental occurrence, chiefly in winter ; and in the Shetlands but
one specimen has with certainty been seen—in October. In the Channel
Islands the bird is, according to Mr. Cecil Smith, as common as in England,
and resident. Dresser’s statement that the Hedge-Sparrow was obtained
in Persia is a mistake. There is no record of its occurrence east of the
Ural Mountains and the Caucasus. None of the various species of Accentor
found in Persia, Turkestan, the Himalayas, Siberia, and Japan are very
nearly allied to our bird. The Persian bird appears to be quite distinct
from the Japan bird; and the examples of the latter figured by Gould in
his ‘ Birds of Asia,’ and now in the British Museum, seem quite distinct
from the A. rubidus of Temminck and Schlegel figured in the ‘ Fauna
Japonica.’ Neither of these two species has yet been named by ornitho-
- logists.

The Hedge-Sparrow breeds throughout Europe, except in the extreme
north. In Scandinavia its range extends as far as the limit of forest-
growth (about lat. 70°). In West Russia a few wander as far as Archangel
(about lat. 64°), and in the Ural Mountains it occurs as far north as lat. 60°,
Towards the northern limit of its range it is a summer bird of passage,
only remaining during the winter in rare instances. In South Europe it
is principally a winter visitant ; but in Spain, Italy, Asia Minor, Palestine,
and the Caucasus a few retire to the mountains to breed. In North Africa
it is only known as an occasional straggler in winter. As a rule, the

‘
VOL. I. °K

498 BRITISH BIRDS.

Hedge-Sparrow inhabits well-cultivated districts, and frequents groves,
shrubberies, and hedges, and especially gardens. From its unobtrusive
habits and its sombre dress it attracts little attention; but there is no
mistaking it when seen, as it shuffles along under the evergreens, as if
anxious to elude notice. At all seasons of the year it may be found in its
usual haunts, drawing nearer to the houses in winter, and often feeding
on the crumbs scattered for the Robin and the Sparrows. ‘ the farm-
yards it is frequently seen hopping about the ground near “he buitiloor,
or gliding in and out amongst the heaps of old wood. It often enters the
cart-shed, and searches for insects under the carts and other farm imple-
ments; manure-heaps are also favourite haunts, where it may generally
be seen amongst the Sparrows. The Hedge-Sparrow is a bird of the
undergrowth and bushes; it rarely mounts into the higher branches, and
is incessantly in motion in a half Chat-, half Tit-like manner. It passes
through the tangled hedgerows more like a sombre shadow than a bird,
and will hide under the broad leaves of the cabbages in the garden. In
autumn many Hedge-Sparrows frequent the turnip-fields—not in a sociable
way, but here and there you may flush them from the cover or catch a
hurried glimpse of them as they glide under the leaves ; for the bird is one
that only takes flight when absolutely compelled. The Hedge-Sparrow is
one of the latest birds abroad in the evening. Its low complaining call-
note is often heard when the bird is lost in the evening gloom; and in the
shrubberies it is one of the last birds to seek a roosting-place.

The Hedge-Sparrow must be classed with the Robin and the Wren as a
perennial songster ; but it is only in well-sheltered districts that its music
is heard regularly through the winter, nor is it ever so free a songster as
those two little birds. A luil in the wintery storm, or a few hours’ genial
sunshine, even in midwinter, will not unfrequently cause it to mount to the
topmost twig of a hedgerow to sing. There is nothing very attractive in
its song ; but it always sounds lively and cheerful, though somewhat plain-
tive: it is not unlike the first half of the song of the Wren. Its call-notes
are low, and uttered in a peculiarly plaintive complaining tone. The
Hedge-Sparrow pairs very early in the season. About Christmas the birds
congregate in little parties of perhaps five or six—a peculiar habit, never
observed in this species except at+mating-time. The birds are then un-
usually clamorous, show a pugnacious disposition, and often chase each
other through the branches with every sign of anger. This lasts but a
short time ; and afterwards they are almost invariably seen in pairs until
the breeding-season. »

This interesting little bird is one of the earliest to begin building its
nest, usually doing so in March. It is never built far from the ground;
and the situations in which it is found are very varied. The thick hedge-
rows of whitethorn and holly are favourite places; the dense thickets of

HEDGE-SPARROW. 499

wild rose and bramble heaped together in one confused mass are also very
frequently selected. Less frequently we may find it in a heap of pea-sticks,
or amongst the masses of ivy growing over a wall, or even on a tree-trunk,
The nest is a handsome little structure, full of rustic beauty, composed of
green moss, a dead leaf or two, a little dry grass, and strengthened with a
few fine twigs ; moss usually forms the greater part of the nest; and it is
lined with a, thick warm bed of hair, feathers, and wool. It is a curious
fact .,.in the nests of this bird, when placed amongst thorns, a large
thorn often penctrates the nest, the bird making no attempt to cover
it. Dixon has the following note respecting its nest :—“I watched this
season the fortunes of a nest of the Hedge-Sparrow, from the time the
first few twigs were laid until it contained four eggs. The nest was only
a couple of feet from the ground, in a tangled mass of wild rose and
bramble, felted closely with withered leaves. From some cause, which
baffled all my attempts to explain it, the nest was forsaken the day after
the bird commenced to sit on her four eggs. Whether she had been killed
or not I cannot say; but the eggs were never sat upon again. I left them
in the nest, thinking that, after all, the bird might return; and I was in
the habit of looking into it each day. I was rather surprised, about a
week after the bird had forsaken it, to find the nest apparently empty ;
and J then removed it, but was astonished to find the eggs still in the nest
and a fresh lining built entirely over them. Whether this was an attempt
to make a nest with little trouble by another pair of birds can only be
conjectured ; andas I had pulled the nest from its position, I was prevented
from seeing the finale to this interesting circumstance.’ Curious sites are
sometimes chosen by this bird for its nest. Gray, in his ‘ Birds of the
West of Scotland,’ mentions one which was built in a cave in the mass of
rocks known as Ailsa Craig. It was placed in a ledge of the rock at the
base of a tuft of hart’s-tongue fern; and the floor of the cave was covered
with water.

The eggs of the Hedge-Sparrow are from four to six in number, and
differ very little in shape or colour. They are a beautiful greenish blue in
colour, spotless and somewhat rough in texture—a character which will to
some extent serve to distinguish them from eggs of the Redstart. They
vary from °82 to ‘72 inch in length, and from ‘65 to 55 inch in breadth.
The Hedge-Sparrow often rears three broods in the year. It is one of the
earliest to breed, and also one of the latest; for fresh eggs may often be
found late in July.

The food of the Hedge-Sparrow is largely composed of insects and
worms, which it obtains principally on the ground ; it also f eeds on small
seeds of various kinds. Its flight is slow and somewhat uncertain, and is
rarely prolonged for any distance. It is in the habit of jerking its wings,

. F «a Eek »
from which it has received the local name of “ Shufilewing. ,
Ot és

2k

~

500 BRITISH BIRDS.

The Hedge-Sparrow is a migratory bird in the northern portions of its
range; and many of these little wanderers not only pass Heligoland, but
reach this country. My friend Mr. Cordeaux writes to me that the bird
is a regular immigrant to N.E. Lincolnshire.

The Hedge-Sparrow has the head, nape, and ear-coverts slate-grey
streaked with brown; the remainder of the upper parts is reddish brown
streaked with dark brown; the upper tail-coverts are unstreaked olive-
brown ; the wings are dark brown, margined and tipped with reddish brown ;
the tail is also dark brown, most of the feathers edged with light brown ;
the chin and throat are slate-grey, gradually shading into buffish white on
the lower breast and belly; the flanks are pale brown streaked with dark
brown. Bill dark brown, paler on the lower mandible ; legs, feet, and claws
light brown; irides hazel. The female only differs from the male in the
colour of her plumage in having the head and flanks a little more spotted.
Young birds have no slate-grey on the head or underparts, and are much
more spotted than adults.

7

ner

ALPINE ACCENTOR. 501

ACCENTOR ALPINUS.
ALPINE ACCENTOR.

(PuateE 12.)

Sturnus collaris, Scop, Ann. I. Hist. Nat. p. 131 (1769).
_ Sturnus moritanus, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 804 (1788).

Motacilla alpina, Gmel, Syst. Nat. i. p. 957 (1788); et auctorum plurimorum—
(Bechstein), (Lemminck), (Nawnann), (Bonaparte), (Degland § Gerbe), (Gray),
( Gebel), (Macgillivray), (Hewitson), (Salvadori), (Severtzow), (darting), (Bog-
danow), (Nordmann), (Radde), &c.

Accentor alpinus (Gmel.), Bechst. Orn. Taschenb. i. p. 191 (1802).

Accentor collaris (Scop.), Newt. ed. Yarr. Br. B.i. p. 296 (1873).

The Alpine Accentor is a purely accidental visitor to the British Islands.
It does not appear to have ever occurred in Scotland or in Ireland. It
was first recorded as a British bird by the late Dr. Thackeray, who men-
tions, in the ‘ Zoological Journal’ for 1824 (p. 134), a female that was
shot in the garden of King’s College, Cambridge. It was obtained on the
22nd of November 1822. An example of the Alpine Accentor had, how-
ever, been previously obtained in this country in the autumn of 1817,
although the fact was not chronicled until 1832, in the ‘ Magazine of
Natural History,’ vol. v. p. 288. Ten other examples have been obtained
in England, chiefly in the southern counties, although one specimen has
been captured near Scarborough; and Mr. Howard Saunders met with a
bird of this species on one of the Welsh mountains. ,

The Alpine Accentor breeds throughout the mountains of Southern
Europe, the Sierra Nevada in South Spain, the Pyrenees, the Alps, the
mountains of Greece and Asia Minor, and the Caucasus, extending into
Northern Persia. Examples from Turkestan are more chestnut on the
flanks, approaching 4. nipalensis in this respect ; otherwise they do not
differ in colour from European specimens. ‘The latter species is found in
the Himalayas and the mountains of Western China, being represented in
South-eastern Siberia by a very nearly allied form (A. erythropygius) with
a much more rufous rump.

I have never had the good fortune to meet with the Alpine Accentor on

any of my excursions. It is therefore necessary to do as Newton, Dresser,

- and even Naumann have been obliged to do—compile a history of this bird

from the writings of others. Naumann’s information was principally
supplied to him by Dr. Schinz of Zurich ; and the ‘ Journal fiir Oruitho-
logie’ contains observations by Alexander von Homeyer in the mountain
range which separates Bohemia from Silesia, by Graf Wodzicki in the

502 BRITISH BIRDS.

Tatra Mountains and the Galician Carpathians, by Baron von Miller in
the Alps, and by Victor Ritter von Tschusi in the Riesengebirge. The
Alpine Accentor is a summer visitor to the grassy slopes where a brilliant
arctic flora, watered by the ever-melting ice, covers the ledges of the rocks
and the little plateaux amongst the boulders, between the highest limit of
forest-growth and the lowest boundary of perpetual snow. Its migrations,
however, are very limited. When its breeding-grounds are covered with
snow it descends into the valleys, and in severe winters will sometimes
wander further from home and be seen in unwonted localities. Except,
perhaps, when actually engaged in the duties of nidification, it is a more
or less gregarious bird; and in winter they are usually seen in small parties
of ten or a dozen individuals. It is extremely tame, and allows itself to be
approached within ten or twelve paces without showing alarm. It is both
insectivorous and graminivorous. In spring it finds abundance of small
beetles, flies, gnats, moths, ants, and their larve amongst the gentians,
saxifrages, anemones, primulas, and potentillas which adorn its breeding-
grounds ; in autumn the alpine ground-fruits strawberry, crowberry, cran-
berry, &c. plentifully supply it with food; and in winter it feeds upon
a variety of seeds, especially those of grasses of different kinds. The
song is described as something like that of the Lark ; and the male is said
frequently to ascend thirty or forty feet into the air, and then descend
again, singing like a Tree-Pipit or a Snow-Bunting. At other times they
will sit motionless for a long time basking in the sun on a rock, with head
drawn in, plumage puffed out, and wings and tail depressed. The call-
note is a plaintive tree, tree, tree. They are said not to hop, but to run
on the grass and on the rocks. The flight is undulating.

It is said that they breed twice in the year, about the middle of May
and the middie of July; but this requires confirmation. The nest is
placed on the ground, under an overhanging rock or rhododendron shrub,
and is neatly finished and rather deep. It is composed of dry round grass-
stalks, intermixed with fine roots and a few lichens. It is said sometimes
to be lined with moss, wool, or hair. The eggs vary in number from five
to six, and in size from 1:0 by ‘7 inch to ‘9 by °63 inch. In colour they
are unspotted pale greenish blue.

From the colour of the eggs it might be supposed that the Accentors
were related to the Chats. The song of many of them is also somewhat
Chat-like. In its habits the Alpine Accentor is much more Chat-like than
either the Hedge-Sparrow or the Mountain-Accentor. Both these species
perch freely in trees ; but the Alpine Accentor, like the Chats, is essentially
a rock bird, and when perched on a rock is said often to drop its head and
the fore part of its body suddenly, at the same time jerking its tail and
drooping its wings—a very Turdine habit.

The Alpine Accentor has the colour of the head, neck, and ear-coverts

ALPINE ACCENTOR. 503

Srey, indistinctly striped with darker grey; the rest of the upper parts are
brown, lightest on the rump, streaked with darker brown; the wings are
dark brown, with reddish-brown margins and white tips; the greater and
median wing-coverts are reddish brown variegated with black and tipped
with white; the tail-feathers are dark brown, with pale buff tips; the
chin and throat are white, spotted with black ; the breast, belly, and under
tail-coverts are dark grey, shading into rich chestnut on the flanks, each
feather of which is margined with pale buff. Bill black at the tip, yellowish
at the base; legs and feet light brown; claws black; irides hazel. The
female does not differ from the male in colour, except that her plumage is
a trifle moredingy. The young birds in nestling-plumage are spotted both
above and below like a young Robin, and the white throat is absent,

504 BRITISH BIRDS.

Genus TROGLODYTES.

The genus Troglodytes was established in 1807 by Vieillot, in his
‘ Histoire naturelle des Oiseaux de ?Amérique Septentrionale,’ ii. p. 52,
for the reception of the American House- Wren (Troglodytes aedon). Some
ornithologists, with a perseverance which is almost inconceivable, have
been pedantic enough not only to try and make this species the type, but
to exclude the European Wren from the genus. It seems to me that there
can be no doubt that Viecillot, in adopting the specific name which Linneus
gave to the European Wren for his,new genus, thereby confessed that
bird to be the type, though the modern idea of a “type” was unknown
to him.

The Wrens are intermediate between the Creepers and the Goldcrests
in the shape of the bill, which is somewhat long, slender, and slightly
curved. Their wings are much concaved, and the bastard primary is very
large. The tarsi are scutellated. The Old-world species have short tails ;
but in some of the American species the tail is as long as the wing.

The geographical range of this genus is somewhat more extensive than
that of the other genera in the subfamily, being throughout the central
and southern portions of the Palearctic and Nearctic regions, extending
into the extreme north of the Oriental and throughout the Neotropical
regions. No fewer than twenty-four species and subspecies of this genus
have been described ; but probably not more than half a dozen are worthy
of specific rank. One species only occurs in Europe, having a dark pluvial
form on the Faroes, and represented by a pale desert form in Algeria.

The Wrens are Timeline in their habits, skulking in underwood, and
without undulation in their flight. They are partly insectivorous and
partly graminivorous. They build domed nests; but their eggs are like
those of the true Tits, white spotted with red.

——

WREN. 505

. TROGLODYTES PARVULUS.

WREN.
(Puate 11.)

Ficedula regulus, Briss, Orn. iii. p. 425 (1760).

Motacilla troglodytes, Zinn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 337 (1766).

Sylvia troglodytes (Linn.) Scop. Ann. I. Hist. Nat. p. 160 (1769).

Troglodytes parvulus, Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. p- 161 (1816); et auctorum pluri-
morum—Nawmann, Gray, Cabanis, Lindermayer, Degland, Gerbe, Doderlein,
Salvadori, Newton, Dresser, &c.

Troglodytes europeeus, Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. §c. Brit. Mus. p. 25 (1816).

Troglodytes punctatus, Bore, Isis, 1822, p. 551.

_ Troglodytes regulus (Briss.), Meyer, Taschenb. p. 96 (1822).

Troglodytes vulgaris, Flem. Brit. An. p. 73 (1828).

Anorthura communis, Rennie, Mont. Orn. Dict. 2nd ed. p. 570 (1831).

Troglodytes communis (Rennie), Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1834, p. 51.

Anorthura troglodytes (Zinn.), Macg. Brit. B. iii. p. 15, fig. 188 (1840).

Troglodytes troglodytes (Linn.), Schlegel, Rev. Crit. p. xliv (1844).

The Common Wren is generally distributed throughout the British
Islands, even in the wildest and most desolate districts. It is a common
bird in the most secluded of the Outer Hebrides; and even on such bare
islets as the Bass and Ailsa Craig its lively song may be heard from the
heather and the scanty brushwood. It ranges as far north as the Orkneys
and the Shetlands, where a few breed, and is generally distributed in the
Channel Islands.

Ornithologists have treated the Wren and its varieties even more capri- »
ciously than they have treated the Creeper. Sharpe, though sufficiently
far in advance of his fellow ornithologists to recognize varieties under the
name of subspecies, most unaccountably does not do so in the case of the
Wren, but actually subdivides it into nine full species. These are nothing
but climatic races. The Wren is an inhabitant of both hemispheres; and

-during the warm period which followed the Glacial epoch it was probably
circumpolar ; now it isnot found anywhere so far north as the Arctic circle.
Even in Scandinavia, under the influence of the Gulf-stream, it has never
been recorded from any locality north of lat. 66°. It is rare at Archangel,
in lat. 68°. In Siberia it has not been found north of lat. 54°, and in
America not north of lat. 56°. Its southern range appears to be bounded
by the Atlas mountains in North Africa, by Central Persia, the Himalayas,
and Japan in Asia, and by the plateaux of Southern Mexico in America.

Distributed over such a large range of country, it meets with various
climates, and varies somewhat in colour accordingly.

Troglodytes parvulus, var. nipalensis, 1s found in the Himalayas and the

506 BRITISH BIRDS.

mountains of Western China. Examples from Darjeeling, where the rain-
fall is excessive, are very rufous and very dark, and represent the extreme
form.

Troglodytes parvulus, var. fumigatus, is found in Japan and North
China. Examples from the south island of Japan are undistinguishable
from the paler examples from the Himalayas, whilst those from the north
island are paler still.

Troglodytes parvulus, var. alascensis, from the Pribiloff and Aleutian
islands, holds an intermediate position between the variety from the
Kurile Islands and

Troglodytes parvulus, var. pacificus, which is found on the west of the
Rocky Mountains, and leads on through

Troglodytes parvulus, var. hyemalis, from the east of the Rocky Moun-
tains, a form which is generally slightly more rufous and darker than
average examples of

Troglodytes parvulus, var. borealis, from the Faroes, or the canton
paler typical form

Troglodytes parvulus, from Europe, which is represented by a still paler
and greyer form,

Troglodytes parvulus, var. neglectus, in Cashmere.

Troglodytes parvulus, var. pallidus, from Turkestan, is the palest and
greyest variety ; but examples from Algeria are intermediate.

There appears to be a perfect series from 7. pallidus to T. nipalensis ;
and the selection of any one of these to be dignified with a special name
seems to be arbitrary. There is not much variation im size; but on an
average the island forms, contrary to usual experience, are slightly the
largest.

The Wren is a resident bird in the British Islands. So closely associated
in youthful minds with the Robin, so prominent amongst the birds
gathered round our doors in the winter, the Wren is every one’s
favourite. It is one of our most familiar birds, and will often enter
houses, old sheds, and out-buildings, hopping about with tail erect, without
any show of fear. But it is only in winter that the Wren is seen in any
numbers near houses ; for as soon as spring arrives it retires to the garden
or the woods to breed. No bird, not even excepting the Tits, is more
active than the Wren. It is rarely observed to remain stationary for two
minutes together; it is a regular little busybody, exploring all the intri-
cacies of the cover, occasionally pausing a second to look round, or to
warble forth his little song. Ever and anon you catch a hurried glimpse
of it as, crouching low with tail erect, it jerks its head up and down and
seeks the deepest part of the cover. Now it twists in and out amongst
the gnarled roots, or even ventures to the topmost spray of the tree for a
moment, where it commences its wild joyous song. Then, as if alarmed

WREN. 507

at its own boldness, down it drops, and you lose sight of it under a
tangled mass of ferns. If alarmed, the Wren will often seek safety by
creeping into holes in walls, and sometimes will even bury itself amongst
dead leaves. It does not appear to like the open, and rarely indeed can be
driven from its cover, often allowing itself to be chased backwards and for-
wards until from very exhaustion it may be taken with the hand.

The Wren is a perennial songster. With the exception of a few weeks
in early autumn, during the moulting-season, its loud carol may be
heard at all times of the year. In spring, when all nature is full of life
and vigour, the Wren’s wild lay is prominent amongst all the bird-songs,
as it pours from the little creature buried and unseen in the dense growth
of sprouting ferns, of anemones, and graceful bluebells. In summer he
warbles at all hours of the day as he hops restlessly through the cover, and
cheers his sitting mate. In autumn, amidst the showers of falling leaves,
the Wren’s melody is almost the only bird-music we hear; and in
winter his song is just as cheerful amongst the icicle-draped roots and
snow-covered branches of our islands as amongst the ruins of the
Colosseum at Rome, in the brilliant sunshine of an Italian winter sky.
The song of the-Wren is remarkably loud for the size of the bird, and is
composed of a series of jerking notes with a few beautifully sweet modu-
lations, followed by a rapid trill, the whole abruptly terminated as though
the bird had been frightened. Its call-notes are a grating fit-it-it, loud,
and uttered in quick succession, becoming more rapid should it be alarmed.
The Wren rarely sings from the high branches; and often its pleasing
strains are commenced as he flits along, to be finished when he has reached
a perching-place.

Although the Wren pairs as early as the beginning of March, we rarely
find its nest until the latter end of April. The Wren is almost universal
in its choice of breeding-grounds ; for wherever tangled vegetation
occurs of sufficient density to afford it the required seclusion its nest may
be looked for. It may be found in the deepest woods, the tangled
hedgerows and fences, in gardens and plantations, and even on the barren
moors wherever a thicket or a few bushes overgrown with brambles relieve
the monotony of the waste. Many of the Wren’s breeding-haunts are
also similar to those of the Dipper—by the sides of rapid flowing stream-
lets where vegetation is luxuriant and suitable rock-crevices abound. The
site for the nest is sometimes far under overhanging banks amongst the
gnarled roots of trees; at others it is in the ivy growing on trees and
walls, and is frequently in bushes. Dixon has often known its nest built
in a drooping yew-branch, and once found it hanging suspended from an
elder tree over a stream. Another situation in which to look for its nest
with tolerable certainty is amongst thick brushwood, such as roses and
brambles, amongst whose trailing branches the withered leaves have been

508 BRITISH BIRDS.

driven in large quantities by the wintry blasts. Here the little Wren will
build a nest which almost completely defies detection. Numerous, indeed,
are the instances recorded of this bird selecting the most curious situations.
It has been known to choose the inside of a shed ; and, stranger preference
still, Stevenson, in his ‘ Birds of Norfolk,’ mentions a nest that was built
amongst the leaves of a Savoy cabbage. In fact it is almost as eccentric
in this respect as the Robin. The materials employed in the construc-
tion of its nest vary according to the peculiarities of the site selected ; but
the outside at least is generally made of one material alone. Thus, when
the nest is in a haystack, the outside of the nest is made of dry grass ; when
in bushes and brambles full of dead leaves, the latter material is the only
one selected ; when placed in a moss-covered stump, green moss is chosen ;
and should the trunk be covered with lichens, they will be utilized. Some
of the most beautiful Wrens’ nests which I have ever seen have been
composed principally of dead fronds of bracken. ‘The Wren builds a
domed nest, not semi-domed like the nests of the Willow-Warbler, but
completely domed like those of the Dippers. As often as not, the outside
is composed of moss and withered leaves, the latter in great number.
Round the hole which admits the parent birds are woven straws, which
also do much to strengthen the whole structure. The inside is lined with
fine moss, hair, and a large quantity of feathers; but these materials are
not always found. Although so loosely put together, the Wren’s nest is
a marvel of architectural skill. When we bear in mind that leaves and
moss form its chief materials, and consider the method by which these two
substances (ill adapted, one would think, for weaving-purposes) are formed
into such a compact cradle, we cannot but pause in admiration before its
little home. When in the branches, the nest is only slightly attached to
them, and very few twigs are interwoven with the materials of the nest.
Elaborate, indeed, is this beautiful structure, and upwards of thirty times
more bulky than the little builders. it sometimes takes a fortnight to com-
plete it; and the female bird alone is the builder, the male sometimes con-
veying the greater part of the materials. In some cases the birds are very
much attached to their nesting-site. Dixon has removed their nest as many
as four times ; but so attached were the little creatures to the home of their
choice, that they persisted in building fresh structures in the same place.

The eggs of the Wren vary from four to six, and even eight or nine in
number. Clutches of still larger numbers are on record, but are very
exceptional. They are pure white im ground-colour when blown, with
a few red spots usually congregated round the large end of the egg in a
zone. Occasionally they are entirely without markings; and sometimes
the spots are evenly distributed over the egg. In form they differ consi-
derably, some being almost round, others more elongated. They vary
in length from *75 to °65 inch, and in breadth from *55 to ‘48 inch,

teat, pu ee

WREN. 509

By imitating closely the surroundings of her nest by using materials
similar in colour, the Wren usually provides for its safety ; and most
effectually are her wiles exercised. Professor Newton, however, states
that this prudence is not always shown; and gives us an instance of a
nest of this bird which was built year after year in a hole in a wall, where
the bright green moss with which it was made was very conspicuous
against the blocks of white chalk. I have frequently observed the same
of the nesting of the Dipper; but in both cases its very conspicuousness
was most probably its safety. Although exposed thus, they escape detection,
because they do not look like nests, but resemble closely large masses of
withered fern-fronds which here and there stud the rocks.

Another very curious fact connected with the Wren’s nesting economy is
the number of unoccupied dwellings of this species which are so frequently
observed, and are widely known as “ cock-nests.” Most country people,
and not a few scientific naturalists, assert that these nests are either made
for the male bird’s reception, or that they are for the purpose of sheltering
the birds during the inclement winter season. The explanation of this
singular habit is still unknown, although many ingenious theories have
been offered.

The food of the Wren is composed largely of insects ; and the bird may
often be seen near ants’ nests searching for their eggs. In autumn
it will also eat fruit; and Macgillivray states that he has found small
seeds in its stomach. This fare is also varied with the crumbs and small
scraps thrown out in the winter for the Robins and Sparrows; for the
Wren is almost sure to make his appearance at these gatherings and
share the meal with them.

Many erroneous statements have been made as to the manner and the
place in which the Wren roosts during winter. It is said that numbers
of these birds will huddle together for warmth in holes. The Wren roosts,
like many other small birds, in the dense evergreen, amongst ivy, and
not unfrequently in the sides and amongst the thatch of haystacks. At
no season of the year are Wrens gregarious. Perhaps the only time
when they are seen in companies is when the young have just quitted
the nest and are being as it were started in life by their parents. But
this only lasts for a few days, and then, until the following breeding-
season, the Wren is one of the most solitary of birds.

The custom of hunting the Wren in Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the
south of France, on certain days has already been dwelt upon by many
writers; and as the subject more concerns the antiquary than the orni-
thologist, it may be dismissed without further comment, beyond a
reference for the curious reader to such authorities as Thompson (‘ Birds
of Ireland’) and Brand (‘ Popular Antiquities’).

The European form of the Wren has the general colour of tle upper

510 BRITISH BIRDS.

parts dark rufous-brown, darkest on the head and nape, brighter on the
wings and tail, and barred from below the neck (including the wings and
tail) with dark brown. The upper tail-coverts have a few half-concealed
spots of white; and the greater and lesser coverts have a small white spot
at the tip, which form a double wing-bar ; the primaries are also barred
with whitish ; above the eye is a buffish-white streak. The underparts
are greyish brown, becoming rufous on the flanks, belly, and under tail-
coverts, which are barred with dusky brown. Bill dark brown above,
paler below; legs, feet, and claws light brown; irides dark brown. The
female is smaller than the male, and not quite so rich in colour. Young
birds resemble their parents ; but the bars on the wings, tail, and belly
are not so distinct, and the underparts are a little more rufous.

WREN’S NEST.

CERTHIA. 511

Genus CERTHIA.

The genus Certhia was established by Linneus in 1766, in his ‘Systema
Nature,’ i. p. 184. Of course he did not indicate any type; but subse-
quent ornithologists have removed the other twenty-four birds which
Linnzus associated with the European Creeper into other genera, leaving
that bird as the type. As it is the first species in his genus, and is also
the Certhia certhia of Brisson, no fault can be found with the result.

The Creepers as thus restricted are somewhat aberrant members of the
subfamily Parine. Sclater and Salvin, guided by ornithological instinct,
place the family “ Certhiide”’ between the “ Paride” and the “ Troglo-
dytide”’ amongst the “ Oscrnres DrentrrostREs,” in spite of their having
no notch in the bill. Sharpe, trying to avoid the conflict of logical with
ornithological instinct, raises the genus Certhia and its allies into a group
‘‘ CeRTHIOMORPH#,” to which he assigns even a higher than family rank.
To such extremes does the old superstition of the importance in classifica-
tion of the form of the bill lead its votaries.

In the genus Certhia the bill is long, slender, and curved, like that of a
Sun-bird, whilst the tail is rounded, with the feathers stiff and pointed,
like that of a Woodpecker. In their rounded wings, small bastard primary,
scutellated tarsus, and large feet with well-developed hind toe, the species
of this genus are typical Parine.

The geographical range of the genus is throughout the central and
southern portions of the Palearctic and Nearctic regions, extending into
the extreme north of the Oriental and Neotropical regions. The genus
only contains three species, all more or less divisible into subspecies. One
species only is found in Europe, which is a resident in our islands.

The Creepers feed almost entirely on insects, and are intermediate in
their habits between the Tits and the Woodpeckers. In the position and
construction of their nests, and in the colour of their eggs, they resemble
the former.

512° BRITISH BIRDS.

CERTHIA FAMILIARIS.

COMMON CREEPER.
(Prats 11.)

Certhia certhia, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 603 (1760).

Certhia familiaris, Zinn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 184 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum—
Latham, Gmelin, Naumann, Temminck, Gray, Bonaparte, Degland, Gerbe,
Newton, Dresser, &c.

Certhia fusca, Barton, Fragm. Nat. Hist. Penn. p. 11 (1799).

Certhia americana, Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. and N. Amer. p. 11 (1858)*.

The unassuming little Creeper is one of the smallest of our British
birds. It is generally, though locally, distributed throughout the wooded
districts of Great Britain and Ireland, occasionally found in the Orkneys
and Shetland, but apparently absent from the Outer Hebrides and Western
Isles. It is found iu all the Channel Islands, probably excepting Alderney.
It is a resident bird, but occasionally turns up at Heligoland on
migration; and its occurrences on the Orkneys and Shetlands are probably
those of Scandinavian birds driven westwards by excessive cold or gales.

The Common Creeper may almost be considered a circumpolar bird,

* The above is the synonymy of the typical or temperate form, which is the only one
found in our islands. The synonymy of the Arctic or pale form is as follows :—

CERTHIA FAMILIARIS, var. SCANDULACA.

Certhia scandulaca, Pallas, Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat, i. p. 452 (1826).

Certhia nattereri, Bonap. Comp. List B. Ew. and N. Amer. p. 11 (1888).
Certhia cost, Bailly, Bull. Soc. Hist. Nat. de Savoie, Jan, (1852).
Certhia hodgsoni, Brooks, Jowrn. As. Soc, Beng. xli. pt. 2, p. 74 (1872).

The synonymy of the tropical or rufous form is as follows :—

CERTHIA FAMILIARIS, var. NIPALENSIS.

Certhia nipalensis, Hodgs. fide Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. xiv. p. 582 (1845).
Certhia mexicana, Giloger, fide Reich, Handb. i. p. 266 (1851).
Certhia mandelli, Brooks, Jow'n. As, Soc, Beng, xiii. pt. 2, p. 256 (1878).

Hodgson never distinguished between C. nipalensis, C. discolor, and C. himalayana,
His types in the British Museum of C. nipalensis (no. 598) are some of them C. discolor
and others C. himalayana., I cannot find any drawing of a Certhia in his MSS. in the
British Museum ; but I have a copy (made by my friend Mr. Brooks) of a drawing in the
Hodgson MSS. in the possession of Mr. Hume, which undoubtedly represents C. discolor.
As, however, Hodgson appears never to have published his name, it cannot now be used
for either of the species with which he was acquainted, but must be applied to the third
species, which will stand as C. nipalensis, Blyth, Jerdon, Hume, &c., nee Hodgson nee
Brooks.

COMMON CREEPER. 513

though it has evidently retreated southward as the cold in the Arctic
regions has increased. In Western Europe it appears to range to about
63° N. lat., m Eastern Europe to about lat. 60°. In Siberia it has not
been recorded from further north than lat. 57°; whilst on the American
continent, where the severity of the Arctic climate is not tempered by a
gulf-stream, it does not range beyond lat. 50°. In thé south it frequents
the pine- and cedar-forests of Algeria, and has once been recorded from
Tangiers. It is also found in Asia Minor, Transcaucasia, Turkestan,
Cashmere, North China, and Japan. In America it is found as far south
as Guatemala. With such a wide distribution considerable local variation
must be expected; and consequently the Common Creeper has been divided
into several species, varying in colour. These variations, however, appear
to me climatic rather than geographical. The palest form appears to be
that found in Central Siberia. Examples from the Amoor are slightly
more rufous, but not quite so much so as examples from North China,
Japan, and Asia Minor, which appear to approach the eastern North-
American form. In western North America the Creepers are still more
rufous, and are undistinguishable from British and Central European
examples, the more rufous individuals of which are again scarcely distin-
guishable from the palest examples from Mexico and Cashmere, which
latter are tropical forms, much darker on the upper parts, much more
rufous on the rump, and somewhat darker on the flanks. Modern orni-
thologists, fettered by the binomial system, and biased by the notion of
geographical regions, are obliged to be alternately lumpers and splitters,
according to the hemisphere with which they have to deal, instead of simply
recording the facts of nature. In the present case the Old-world tropical
variety of the Common Creeper has been called Certhia nipalensis, and has
been separated from the New-world tropical variety, which has been called
Certhia mexicana, whilst the far more distinct semiarctic forms Certhia
familiaris and Certhia scandulaca have been confounded together, because
they are both Palzarctic. The Mexican variety of the Common Creeper
may, however, be usually distinguished from the Himalayan variety by
having the grey of the underparts extending further on the breast.

There are other local variations in the Common Creeper ; for example,
the Creepers of South Europe in the Pyrenees and the Alps are much
paler than those found in the valleys ; and in all parts of its distribution
small examples occur, generally having the hind claw somewhat shorter
than usual, which has given rise to the term C. brachydacty/a, which many
continental ornithologists consider a good species : these latter birds are
probably immature. In Turkestan and India there are two near allies of
the Common Creeper which appear to have become good species, although
each of them is divisible into two subspecies. C. himalayana from the
Himalayas, and its long-billed pale form C. teniura from Turkestan,

21
VOL. I. a

514 BRITISH BIRDS.

may always be distinguished at a glance by their barred tails. The other,
C. discolor, with a brown throat and breast, and its allied form C. sto-
liczke, with a white throat, both from the Himalayas, are distinguished by
their long rufous tails.

This engaging little bird, from the nature of its haunts, its sombre
dress, and unobtrusive ways, is one that is too often overlooked. The
Creeper, like the Woodpeckers, is only found in well-timbered districts.
It is most common in old forests, where the trees are large, aged, and
decayed, and not too close together. It is very partial to large parks
thickly studded with fine old trees; but sometimes it is met with away
from these localities, in orchards and gardens, and more rarely in the
vicinity of old sheds and buildings. But these places are only visited by
the Creeper now and then; his home is in the woods.

The Nuthatch has the bill of a Woodpecker ; but the Creeper has the tail
of that bird. The stiff pointed feathers are of the greatest use in ascend -
ing the perpendicular trunks of trees. The tail is always depressed, so that

the points of the feathers touch the bark ; and thus it forms a prop or third

leg, most useful in ascent, but useless in descent. We therefore find that
the Creeper, like the Woodpecker, but unlike the Nuthatch, ascends the
trunks with the greatest ease, but is rarely, if ever, seen head downwards.
He will often commence his operations within a few inches of the roots of
a tree, and, working round and round, slowly traverse the whole stem and
many of the larger limbs ere he drops down to the foot of another tree to
renew his labours. How quickly he passes over the rough and lichen-
covered bark, more like a mouse than a bird! He will thus go perhaps
for about a yard with wonderful speed. Then for a few moments you will
lose sight of him as he traverses the other side of the trunk, and you may-
hap think he has departed ; but after a few moments his sharp little head
pops round, and you catch a glance of his silky white underplumage as he
pauses for a moment pecking vigorously away at an insect he has discovered
in one of the chinks of the bark. During the whole time he is on a tree he
rarely uses his wings at all, but creeps about from branch to branch and
then to the trunk, until, satisfied that no more food can be found, he
passes on, uttering a feeble little cheep-cheep, to another tree, where pre-
cisely the same operations are repeated. To a great extent he is a wary
bird, although not what we can call a shy one. You have but to keep still
and be careful not to alarm him, and he will continue to feed just as
freely as though you were not there. Sometimes he is seen upon the
ground (but this is not often), searching amongst the vegetation at the foot
of the tree ; and he may also be observed to explore dead branches lying
on the ground. He may also be noticed occasionally on the stacks of
wood piled in the forest to be burnt for charcoal; and in these situations
his actions put you in mind very much of those of the Wren. According

a ii i i

ede "le

amet %

COMMON CREEPER. 515

to Naumann, the Creeper sometimes visits the ground in winter in those
places where the sun has melted the snow, and searches amongst the moss
and coarse grass for its insect food, and possibly for the small seeds which
this observant naturalist states are sometimes found in its stomach. He
also states that the bird may be observed, usually in the morning and
evening, by the side of watercourses and ditches, either for the purpose of
drinking or of bathing itself.

In winter the Creeper is often found in company with Goldcrests and
Tits. When I was wandering about the woods of Southern France last
winter, I noticed that in almost every flock or party of Tits we came across
a Creeper was in their compauy—the Tits obtaining their food from the
twigs and buds, whilst he sought for his fare in the clefts and crevices of
the bark of the trunk. At Bayonne, in the plantation between the railway-
station and the river, Creepers were commoner than | had ever seen them
before. I must have seen at least a dozen birds. I have generally
observed them as a comparatively silent solitary pair amongst a noisy flock
of Tits. Here they were chasing each other from tree to tree, sometimes
on the thick trunks, but as often on the slender branches; and all the time
they were making the plantation quite , noisy with their loud shrill ery of
cheet-cheet. This (9th of March) was evidently their pairing-season ; and
their habits seemed quite altered for the occasion. The Creeper cannot
be called a gregarious bird; it is a social one; and its sociability is only
to be observed in the nonbreeding-season. The song of the Creeper
is only rarely heard, usually in March and April, and puts one in mind
of the notes of the Marsh-Tit, and is compared by Mr. Gray to the song of
the Goldcerest. .

The breeding-season of the Creeper commences in April; and its nesting-
site is somewhat varied. A site is usually chosen on some decaying tree,
where the thick bark has peeled away from the trunk for some distance
and left a hollow space behind in which the bird can build its nest. Less
frequently it will choose a site in some crevice in a wood-stack ; and
Stevenson, in his ‘Birds of Norfolk,’ publishes a note from the pen of
Mr. Norris showing that the bird will sometimes build in a suitable hole

‘in a shed or outbuilding. The nest is a handsome little structure. There

is a rustic beauty about a Creeper’s nest which few others possess. The
crevice behind the bark which the bird usually selects is often too large
for the nest itself; and the superfluous space is filled up with a quantity of
fine twigs, chiefly of beech and birch. Round the edge of the nest is art-
fully woven a series of the finest twigs; and the lining is made of roots,
grass, moss, and sometimes feathers. But the chief characteristic of the
Creeper’s nest is the lining of fine strips of inside bark which is probably
invariably there. The Creeper rears two broods in the year, accordi ug to
Naumann ; but the second brood is not so large as the first, oe of from
xLe

516 BRITISH BIRDS.

three to five. The eggs of the first clutch are from six to nine in number,
They are, when blown, pure white or creamy white in ground-colour,
rather richly marked with brownish red spots, and with a few greyish
underlying markings. They differ considerably in the amount and
arrangement of the markings; but it will usually be noticed that all the
eggs in one clutch are very similar. In some clutches the spots are con-
fined to a zone round the large end of the egg ; some are very rich in colour,
others pale. In other clutches this zone is almost confluent ; whilst in
others the markings are few, and composed of very deep-reddish-brown
spots almost like those on the egg of the Chiffchaff. They vary in length
from ‘7 to ‘58, and in breadth from ‘5 to 45 inch.

The food of the Creeper is composed principally of the insects which lurk
in the crevices of the bark. Spiders are also a favourite morsel with the
bird. Its flight is undulating, and not very rapid.

The typical form of the Creeper has the general colour of the upper parts
dark brown, streaked with rufous-brown and buffish white, paler on the
rump and darkest on the head; the wing-coverts are brown, tipped with
pale buff; the wings are dark brown, barred with paler brown, and the
secondaries are tipped with dull white; the tail-feathers, which are stiff
and pointed, are reddish brown, with yellow shafts. The colour of the
underparts is silvery white, suffused with buff on the flanks and under
tail-coverts. Bill dark brown above, pale brown below; legs, feet, and
claws brown; irides hazel. The female does not differ in colour from the
male. Young birds closely resemble their parents, but the bill is much
shorter and almost straight.

TICHODROMA. 517

Genus TICHODROMA.

Both Brisson and Linneus included the Wall-Creeper in the genus
Certhia. In1811 Illiger removed it and established the genus Tichodroma
for its reception in his ‘ Prodromus systematis Mammalium et Avium,’
p- 210. As this was the only species known to Illiger, it must therefore
be the type.

The peculiar style of coloration of this species is a sufficient generic
distinction to separate it from the allied groups of Certhia and Sitta.
From Certhia it may at once be distinguished by the tail-feathers, which
are rounded and soft, not pointed, and from Sitta by its slender beak ; and
from both of these genera it also differs in having the wing-coverts and part
of the primaries rich crimson. The bill is long, slender, and somewhat
curved ; the tail is rounded; the wings are long and broad; the gape is
not furnished with any rictal bristles; the tarsus is scutellated; and the
feet are armed with strong claws, to enable the bird to firmly grasp the
rocks.

But one species of Wall-Creeper is known. It is confined to the
southern portions of the Palearctic Region, in the west not crossing the
Mediterranean, but in the east encroaching upon the Oriental Region in
the Himalayas and China. It appears to have only twice wandered as far
as the British Islands.

The Wall-Creeper is closely allied to the true Creepers (Certhia), and
appears to bear the same relation to that genus as the Rock-Nuthatches
do to the Tree-Nuthatches. Unlike the true Creepers, it frequents rocks
and mountain-ranges, searching for its food in the clefts and fissures and
in the erevices of walls. Its habits, food, nest, &c. will be fully described

in the following article.

518 BRITISH BIRDS.

TICHODROMA MURARIA.

WALL-CREEPER.
(PLate 18.)

Certhia muralis, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 607 (1760).

Certhia muraria, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 184 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum—
Gmelin, Latham (Degland), Gerbe, (Gray), (Bonaparte), (Dresser), &c.

Tichodroma muraria (Linn.), Illig. Prodr. p. 210 (1811).

Petrodroma muraria (Linn.), Vierll. N. Dict. d’ Hist. Nat. xxvi. p. 106 (1818).

Tichodroma pheenicoptera, Temm. Man. d’ Orn. i. p. 412 (1820).

Tichodroma europzea, Steph. Shaw's Gen. Zool. xiy. pt. 1. p. 187 (1826).

Tichodroma phcenicoptera, Temm., vy. subhemalayana, Hodgs. in Gray's Zool. Mise.
p- 82 (1844).

Tichodroma nepalensis, Bonap. Consp. i. p. 225 (1850),

Tichodroma muralis (Briss.), David § Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 88 (1877).

From the evidence to be obtained bearing upon the subject, there can
be little doubt that this charming bird has a remote claim to be included
with the species that occasionally wander from their natural habitat to our
islands. So long ago as 1676 Willughby and Ray stated that the bird was
said to have occurred in this country ; but as their evidence was not from
personal observation, or from that of any specified authority, it must be
accepted with doubt. However, as stated by Mr. Bell (‘ Zoologist,’ 1875,
p. 4664), Mr. Marsham, of Stratton Hall, in Hampshire, an accurate and
observant naturalist and a Fellow of the Royal Society, in a letter to his
correspondent, Gilbert White, dated October 30, 1792, writes :- —““ My man
has just now shot me a bird which was flying about my house. I am
confident I have never seen its likeness before. But on application to
Willughby I conclude it is the Wall-Creeper or Spider-catcher. I find he
had not seen it in England. It is very beautifully coloured, though the
chief is cinereous; but the shades of red on the wings, and the large
spots of white and yellow on the quill-feathers are uncommonly pleasing.”
In the ‘ Zoologist’ for 1876 (p. 4839) a second specimen is recorded from

- Lancashire by Mr. F. 8S. Mitchell. He writes:—*On the 8th: of May,
1872, a fine specimen of this continental species was shot at Sabden, a
village a few miles from here, at the foot of Pendle Hill; and as I am not
aware of its ever having been noticed before in this country, I send below
the particulars. It was seen flying about by itself—its bright colours
drawing the attention of a lot of mill-hands—did not appear to have a
mate, and was at length shot by a man named Edward Laycock, who took
it to Mr. W. Naylor, of Whalley, an accomplished naturalist, and who has
for many years been President of the Accrington Naturalists’ Society.

a es

es Ri re ais te a a ry

WALL-CREEPER. 519

k Large slugs had been used to kill it, and it was so mangled . that
Mr. Naylor could not determine the sex, and had great difficulty in
making it all presentable; however, it was managed somehow, and
remains in his possession still.” Following these remarks is a description
of this specimen, which places its authentication beyond all question.

The range of the Wall-Creeper is a somewhat wide one, extending
across the Palearctic Region between lat. 30° and 50°, and just entering
the limits of the Oriental Region in the Himalayas and China. Probably
in all portions of its range it is a resident, only leaving the higher districts
im winter to retire lower down the mountain. It breeds in nearly all the
mountains of Central and Southern Europe, from the Sierra Nevada in
Spain, the Pyrenees, the Swiss Alps, the Vosges Mountains, Italy, Sardinia,
Greece, Asia Minor, to the Caucasus. In Asia it inhabits the mountainous
portions of Turkestan, Afghanistan, Cashmere, the Himalayas, and the
mountains of Kansu. It occasionally wanders into Northern Germany ;
according to Riippell it has been found in Egypt and Abyssinia (the only

_authority for the bird south of the Mediterranean) ; and it has been
obtained in China in winter near Pekin and Foochow. Although the
range of this bird issuch a wide one, it does not exhibit any great variation
in colour, and skins from Samarkand in Turkestan are not any paler than

those from the Pyrenees, although the climate of these two countries is,
as has often been shown, well adapted to produce variations in the colour
of the plumage.

The haunts of the Wall-Creeper are amongst the mountains, in wild
defiles and gorges, amongst the cliffs and rocks. During my visit to the
Pyrenees in the winter of 1881-2 I made the acquaintance of this charming
bird in the mountains near Pierrefitte. Near the highest point of the pass
which we reached, and which must have been 2500 feet or more above the
sea, we caught sight of the bird on the rocks. When we first saw it the
sun was shining in our eyes, and all we could see was a bird flitting round
an angle of the rocky cliff, and looking almost black, on its shadow side.
The moment we saw the bird, however, we recognized it as the species
we were in search of. The flitting, uncertain, bat-like or butterfly-like
flight was most peculiar, and arrested the attention at once. The bird
disappeared up the cliff on a wall of an old road above, Finding no trace
of it beyond, we turned back and caught sight of it again flying down
from the wall to the face of the cliff. As it flew it showed so much white
on the wing that for a moment we thought it was a Lesser Spotted Wood-
pecker ; but when it alighted on the face of the cliff head downward, and
began to proceed in a somewhat zigzag course by a series of jerks, we
should have been quite sure of the identity of the species even if the red
on the wings had not been visible in the sunshine. We had scarcely shot
the bird when we saw its mate sitting on a projecting spur of rock. It

520 BRITISH BIRDS.

did not seem at all alarmed, but came down from its high perch and flitted
to the face of the perpendicular rock, where we brought it down with a
half-charge of dust-shot. We did not hear either bird utter any note.

Canon Tristram frequently met with this bird in his ornithological
wanderings through Palestine, and found it a permanent resident in the
rocky defiles of the northern and central parts of that country. He
writes :—‘ We never saw it in the south, where probably the cliffs are too
parched and dry to supply it with its insect food. I know few ornitho-
logical sights more interesting than to watch this beautiful little creature
as it flits along the face of a long line of cliff, with a crab-like siding
motion, rapidly expanding and closing its wings in a succession of jerks,
and showing its brilliant crimson shoulders at each movement. It gene-
rally works up the gorge at nearly the same elevation, with its breast
towards the face of the rock, and moves close to its surface in a perpen-
dicular position, rapidly darting forth its bill and picking out minute
insects as it passes along. In a few minutes it would return down the
valley again, quartering the rock in a line parallel to its former course.”

The Wall-Creeper is a bird most probably united to its partner for life,
and is therefore usually seen in pairs, and each season the same nesting-
place is chosen. They certainly are not very noisy birds, and their call-
note, according to Bailly, resembles the syllables pli-pli-pli-pli. Naumann
compares their note to that of the Bullfinch, and also states that they have
a song somewhat resembling that of the Creeper; but several careful
observers affirm that they have never heard the birds utter a call-note at
all. Bailly states that the bird is constantly in motion, fluttering like a
butterfly from one rock to another, sometimes remaining in mid-air sus-
pended before a cleft in the rocks. It does not climb so easily or so
gracefully as the Woodpeckers and the Creepers, nor does it support itself
by its tail as those birds continually do. Sometimes, according to this
naturalist, the bird will also visit the branches of trees growing on the
rocks in its haunts.

The breeding-season of this bird varies a little according to the situa-
tion; in some localities it commences in the latter part of April, in
others not until the beginning of June. The nest is placed in the
crevices of the rocks, sometimes in places quite inaccessible. A hand-
some nest of this bird in my collection is very elaborately built. Its chief
material is moss, evidently gathered from the rocks and stones, inter-
mingled with a few grasses, and compactly felted together with hairs,
wool, and a few feathers. The lining is almost exclusively composed of
wool and hair, very thickly and densely felted together. The nest is about
one and a half inches deep inside, and the internal diameter is about three
inches ; outside it measures two and a half inches in depth and is about
six inches in diameter. The eggs of the Wall-Creeper are from three to

4

ee

WALL-CREEPER. 521

five in number, and are white in ground-colour, very finely freckled near
the large end with reddish brown, and with numerous minute violet-grey
underlying spots. They vary from ‘8 to °75 inch in length and from °6 to

-52 inch in breadth.

The food of the Wall-Creeper is chiefly composed of insects which it
picks from the crevices of the rocks, spiders, small beetles, and larve
which lie concealed under the moss on rocks and stones. Bailly states also
that it feeds on ant’s eggs and small worms; and sometimes it catches an
insect on the wing.

The male Wall-Creeper in breeding-plumage has the general colour of
the upper parts slate-grey, darker on the head, and darkest on the rump ;
the lesser wing-coverts are crimson, the greater ones the same, but shading
into brownish black at the tip; the quills are black, tipped with ashy
brown, all, except the first three, crimson on the basal half of the outer
web, and the second to the sixth with two large white spots; the tail
is black, broadly tipped with grey, which becomes almost white on the
outermost two feathers at each side. The throat and breast are black,
the rest of the underparts very dark grey, the under tail-coverts tipped
with greyish white. Bull and legs black; irides brown. ‘The female in
breeding- plumage is similar to the male ; but the black on the throat is not
so much developed. In winter plumage, in both sexes, the throat is
greyish white, the head is suffused with brown, and the upper parts are
lighter and browner. Young birds resemble adults in winter plumage ; but
the crimson on the wings is not so developed, the bill is shorter and nearly
straight, and the spots on the wings are buff.

522 BRITISH BIRDS.

Genus SITTA.

The genus Sitta was defined in 1766 by Linnzeus in the twelfth edition of
his ‘Systema Nature,’ i. p. 177. Sitta europea must be accepted as the
type, though it is not the Sita sitta of Brisson, a bird with which Linneeus
was unacquainted. But since S. ewropea and S. cesia are only climatic
races of one species, it is of no consequence. i

The Nuthatches are aberrant members of the subfamily Parine, and
may be distinguished by their large, straight, conical Woodpecker-like
bills. The wing is typical, with a small bastard primary. The tail is
short and even, like that of the Wren. The tarsus is scutellated, and the
feet are very large.

The geographical distribution of this genus ranges throughout the
Palearctic Region south of the Arctic circle, the Oriental Region, the
Nearctic Region south of about lat. 54°, and extends into the extreme
north of the Neotropical Region. There are nearly twenty species in
the genus; but only two are found in Europe, and one of these may be
subdivided into several climatic races, of which one is a resident in our
islands.

The Nuthatches are both insectivorous and graminivorous. In their
habits they resemble the Woodpeckers and the Creepers more than the
true Tits. Some of the species build mud nests on the rocks, whilst others

build in holes in trees, plastering the entrance only with mud. The eggs
are white spotted with red.

NUTHATCH. 523

SITTA CASIA.

NUTHATCH.
(Pirate 12.)

Sitta sitta, Briss, Orn, iii. p. 588 (1760).

Sitta casia, Wolf, Taschend. i. p. 128 (1810); et auctorum plurimorum— Gray,
Bonaparte, Degland, Gerbe, Newton, Dresser, &e.

Sitta affinis, Blyth, Jowrn. As. Soc. Beng. xv. p. 288 (1846).

Sitta europea, Linn. apud Latham, Montagu, Macgillivray, Bewick, Fleming, Gould,

Pa ete:

In the southern and central counties of England the Nuthatch is a
common and fairly well-known bird; but it becomes much rarer and
more local in the northern counties. It breeds, however, sparingly,
even in the extreme north of England. In Scotland it is very rare;
Mr. Gray only mentions three instances of its recent occurrence there :—
one, killed in a garden near Dunse in Berwickshire in 1856 ; another, shot
in the summer of 1865 near Hermiston in Haddingtonshire; and a third,
shot at Bressay in Shetland in 1867. The bird appears not to have hitherto
been noticed in Ireland.

The Nuthatches which are the most closely allied to that found in the
British Islands may be distinguished from the numerous other species in
the geaus by the colour of the under tail-coverts, which are white broadly
margined on the basal half of each feather with rich chestnut. They are
found in most parts of Europe and Asia. In such a large area they are
subject to different influences of food and climate. Their enemies are
probably more numerous and more important in some localities, and the
necessity of their assuming protective tints in the colour of their plumage
may consequently be more imperative ; and the difference in the prevailing
colour of their surroundings may cause a similar variation in the tints
which are protective. The effects of these influences are intensified by the
habits of the birds. They probably pair for life, and are generally seen in
winter in pairs, which attach themselves to a gipsy-party of Tits and other
birds, in whose company they search for food. Though they may cover a
great deal of ground in the course of the winter, they probably never
wander very far from home, and thus miss those opportunities for inter-
marriage with individuals of their own species from distant breeding-
grounds that migratory birds, which meet in common winter-quarters and
choose a fresh mate every spring, enjoy.

The British Nuthatch is undistinguishable from the Nuthatches which
inhabit Central and Southern Europe, whose range extends to the south as
far as Algeria and to the east as far as Asia Minor and West Persia. In
Scandinavia and West Russia the Nuthatches have almost lost the pale

524. BRITISH BIRDS.

chestnut on the breast and belly, though they retain the dark chestnut on
the flanks and the margins of the under tail-coverts. Newton and Dresser
treat these two forms as good species, and give the additional characters
that in the Scandinavian form (Sitta europea) the colours of the upper
parts are brighter and the legs are lead-coloured, whilst in the southern
form (Sitta cesia) the colours of the upper parts are duller and the legs
light brown. It is impossible to agree with this conclusion. The colour of
the upper parts of Scandinavian and South-European birds is precisely the
same, though the colour of the upper parts of British examples may be a
trifle duller than in those from the continent, as is the case with many
other birds. A difference in the colour of the legs would be a very good
character; but, unfortunately, it only exists in the imagination of the
writers above named. All the Nuthatches nearly allied to our bird have
the same pale brown legs and feet-—a character which distinguishes them
from the Rock-Nuthatches of the Paleearctic Region and the tropical forms
of our Nuthatch which inhabit the Oriental Region, both of which have these
parts lead-colour. The remaining character, the colour of the underparts,
is equally untrustworthy as a specific distinction, since in Denmark,
Pomerania, the Baltic provinces of Russia, Poland, and the Crimea, in
fact wherever the ranges of the two supposed species coalesce, a complete
series of intermediate forms may be obtained. Further east the variation
in the colour of the Nuthatches is still continued. In North Russia the
chestnut on the flanks decreases in extent, the white of the underparts
becomes purer, and the size (which in the Scandinavian bird had increased
from the 3°3-8'15 inches of British and South-European examples to 3°5-
3°35 in length of wing) returns to the dimensions of the Southern form,
until on the Ural Mountains, extending across Northern Siberia as far as
Lake Baikal, the amount of chestnut on the flanks has decreased by one
half, the white on the underparts of adult males has become absolutely
pure, and the size has diminished until the length of wing only measures
from 3°2 to 2:9. This form has received the name of Sttta uralensis.
East of Lake Baikal our information is less complete; but there can be
little doubt that the changes which take place are equally gradual, and that
it is only the want of a series of skins from the intervening localities
which makes the forms appear more specifically distinct. In Kamtschatka
a form occurs which has been described by Taczanowski as Sitta albifrons.
It differs in having the head and nape slightly paler in colour, and in
having the feathers of the forehead at the base of the bill white instead of
black. The forehead is also white at the base, and the greater wing-coverts
are tipped with white. Some of my specimens from the Yenesay are
somewhat intermediate; and an example in Dresser’s collection from
Hakodate, in the north island of Japan, approaches still nearer the
Kamtschatka bird. Examples from the Amoor, the island of Askold, and

NUTHATCH.

Or
i)
Or

Yokohama, to which the name of Sitta amurensis has been given, scarcely
differ from examples from the Baltic provinces: the colour of the lower
breast and belly is pale chestnut; that of the throat and upper breast is a
purer white ; and the chestnut on the flanks is scarcely so much developed.
This species is said to range as far south as North China; but in
Central China and East Thibet a form occurs, to which the name of
Sitta sinensis has been given, which only differs from South-European
birds in being slightly smaller, the length of wing measuring from 3:0 to
2°9 inch.

All these various forms of the Nuthatch can only be considered local
varieties of one species, being in most cases certainly, and in the others
probably, connected together by intermediate forms. In comparing these
forms one with another it is important to bear in mind the fact that the
females are slightly less than the males, and generally have the pale chest-
nut on the breast and belly more strongly developed than in the male, and
the rich chestnut on the flanks and under tail-coverts slightly less so. In
the tropical species with dark legs, which are most nearly allied to our
Nuthatch, the underparts are of a still richer and deeper chestnut, except
&. nagaensis, which was obtained by Col. Godwin-Austen in Assam. It is
somewhat remarkable that no Nuthatch belonging to this group has been
found in Eastern Persia or in Turkestan.

To the casual observer the Nuthatch is a small Woodpecker, as the
Swift is mistaken for a large Swallow. In both cases the superficial
resemblance is very striking. The habits are the same; and if the foot
differs, there is little or no difference in the form of the bill. Modern
biologists tell us that these external characters are of little value in classi-
fication, that internal characters alone are reliable, and that the Nuthatch
is more nearly related to the Swallow than tothe Woodpecker, and that to
find the common ancestors of the Woodpeckers and the Swifts the geolo-
gical record (the genealogical tree) need not be searched so far back as
would be necessary to discover the common ancestors of the Swifts and
the Swallows. It cannot be denied that,in the struggle for existence,
birds have been obliged to change their habits to accommodate themselves
to the changes of climate which have taken place in the district where
they have resided. The Rock-Nuthatch, so common in Greece and Asia
Minor, bears so close a resemblance to our bird, that it is difficult at first
to believe that its habits are so different. No character is so variable as
the form of the bill, which seems to have the power of adapting itself with
astonishing rapidity to the nature of the food with which it has to deal;
and it is somewhat surprising that it should still be considered of so
much generic importance by some writers. At the same time it must be
admitted that no one can compare the results of different dissectors
without coming to the conclusion that, even in what are supposed to be

526 BRITISH BIRDS.

important internal characters, individual variation in many species is so
great that there is no lack of material for natural selection to choose
from, and that wherever a change could benefit the species, there does
not appear to be any adequate reason why an internal change should not
be as rapid as an external one. If like causes produce like effects in
external characters, why not in internal characters also? Why may not
the superficial resemblance between a Woodpecker and a Nuthatch, and
between a Swift and a Swallow, date as far back as, or further than, the
osteological resemblances between the Woodpecker and the Swift or
between the Nuthatch and the Swallow? If the Picarian birds be the
least-changed descendants of the common ancestors of the Picarian and
Passerine birds, why may not the Woodpeckers be the least-changed
descendants of the common ancestors of the Woodpeckers and the Nut-
hatches, and the Swifts the least-changed descendants of the common
ancestors of the Swifts and the Swallows? Or is it necessary to assume
that all the Passerine birds were developed from one branch only of the
semi-Picarian ancestors? Is it not possible that the geological revolutions
which changed the food, climate, or other surroundings of the ancestors
of the Passerine birds, and was the ultimate cause of their attaining
to their present high state of development, affected many of the then
existing genera, and produced a rapid advance of development from several
centres in parallel directions, and that after all there may be more truth
in the conclusions of the casual observer than the anatomist is yet
prepared to admit ?

But whatever may be the genealogy of the Nuthatch, every egg-collector
will agree that, in spite of its Woodpecker-lke bill, it belongs to the
Parinze, together with the curvirostral Creeper. Even in its habits the
Nuthatch differs widely’ from the Woodpeckers. Like the latter birds,
the Nuthatch obtains its food almost exclusively on the bark of trees, but
also, like them, seeks it occasionally on the ground. The Nuthatch,
however, being furnished with a well-developed Passerine hind toe and
claw, is able to run up the trunk of a tree with the greatest ease. So
does the Woodpecker, in spite of his feebly developed Picarian hind toe,
thanks to his having reversed the position of one of his stronger fore toes,
and, at the same time, pressed his tail into the service to prevent his
slipping back. But however useful the tail of the Woodpecker may
be in ascending, it is of no use in descending; so the Woodpecker
generally begins at the bottom of a tree and works his way up to the
top, and then drops down to the bottom of the next tree and begins
again. The Nuthatch, on the other hand, being independent of support
from his tail, can descend with as much ease as he can ascend, and con-
sequently flits on from tree to tree like a Tit. Another peculiarity im
which the Nuthatch agrees with the Tits and differs from the Woodpeckers

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te Soha an

NUTHATCH. 527
is that it perches freely across a twig, whilst the latter birds prefer to
rest upon it with the body parallel. In its movements upon the trunk of
a tree the Nuthatch is not unlike a fly on a wall. It progresses by a series
of little runs, now in this direction, now in that. It seems to be quite
immaterial whether the direction be up or down; indeed it seems to
prefer to stop with its head down, possibly to see better who is watching it
from below. It is restless and active, ever lively, and ever in motion
amongst the tall forest trees. From its somewhat shy and retiring habits
it is far more often heard than seen, and its shrill call-note is very
frequently the only sign of its presence. The Nuthatch, as its name
implies, is extremely fond of hazel-nuts. It often carries a nut to some
crevice in the bank, placing it securely, and hammering at it with its
strong bill until the shell is broken and the kernel obtained ; and it has
In many cases a favourite chink which serves it for a vice, just as the
Flycatcher or the Shrike will have a favourite perch or a Falcon a regular
dining-table. In time quite a heap of broken shells will accumulate
beneath the tree—evidence of the bird’s unwearying patience and skill.
The beech-woods in autumn are the Nuthatch’s paradise, if the year has
been a favourable one for the mast. Beech-nuts are not so hard to break
as hazel-nuts; but they are treated in a similar manner; and the bird also
eats acorns, fir-seeds, the stones of the hawthorn and other fruits. The
Nuthatch feeds on imsects when the nutting-season is over; and it is just
as diligent in its search for them as the Creepers and the Tits are. It
explores not only the rugged trunk of the tree in a hurried zigzag course,
but also the buds and branches; and sometimes it will pay a hurried visit
to the ground to regain a fallen nut or feed upon the beech-mast under
the trees.

The Nuthatch: is a resident, and does not appear to wander far from
its chosen haunt. In severe weather a solitary bird will sometimes make
its appearance in places where it is not usually seen; and birds will
also come from the woods in the filbert-season to these trees to regale
themselves upon their favourite food. The call-note of this engaging
little bird is a sharply uttered liquid whit-whit, rapidly repeated, not
unlike the sound produced by striking the air with a cane. It has no
song; but in the pairing-season the call-note is much louder, more plain-
tive, and drawn out into two syllables, wee-dd.

Like most non-migratory birds, the Nuthatch is a somewhat early
breeder, and begins to build towards the middie of April. The site of the
nest is almost invariably in a hole im a tree; but other situations are
sometimes chosen, as, for instance, in a hole in a wall, as mentioned by
Hewitson—and, stranger still, in the side of a haystack. An example of
one taken from the latter site, and now in the British Museum, is a most
remarkable structure, the mass of clay connected with it weighing some

528 BRITISH BIRDS.

eleven pounds, and measuring thirteen inches in height. The entrance to
the hole usually selected is often too large for the bird’s taste, and it
plasters up the opening with clay, leaving a small hole for ingress. The
nest, placed generally at some little distance from the entrance, is crude
and simple in the extreme. Sometimes a little dead grass or a few dry
leaves are gathered together into little more than what might be termed a
substitute for a nest ; at others a few scraps of flaky bark from the fir trees
are used instead. Should the clay at the entrance to the nest-hole be
broken down, the birds will soon rebuild it again ; for they show a striking
affection fur the locality they have chosen. The eggs of the Nuthatch are
from five to eight in number, and are pure white in ground-colour,
blotched and spotted with reddish brown, with underlying markings of
purplish grey. There are several striking varieties in the eggs of this
bird; but the eggs of a clutch generally resemble each other. For
instance, all the eggs in one clutch are evenly spotted over the entire
surface ; the eggs in another clutch have the markings almost exclusively
confined to a semiconfluent zone round the large end of each egg; whilst
other clutches are finely and uniformly powdered with minute specks,
intermingled on the larger end of the eggs with larger and paler spots.
The markings differ considerably in size ; and on a few specimens fine specks
of very rich blackish brown are seen, and more rarely one or two very fine
streaks of the same colour. The type with the semiconfluent zone very
closely resembles certain varieties of the eggs of the Greenfinch; but the
pure white ground-colour and reddish instead of purplish tinge of the
spots serve to distinguish them. They vary from ‘85 to ‘75 inch in length,
and from °6 to 53 inch in breadth.

In confinement the Nuthatch makes an engaging and cheerful pet, as
those persons who have kept them abundantly testify. But the bird must
be taken young; otherwise its inherent restlessness causes it to make its
cage-life one long effort to escape, which finally proves its death. So tame,
however, have these birds become when brought up from the nest, that
they have been known to creep over their owner’s body in the same
way that they do on a tree-trunk, as mentioned by Jardine in his edition
of Wilson’s ‘ American Ornithology.’

The southern form of the Nuthatch has the general colour of the upper
parts, including the two central tail-feathers, the secondaries, and the
margins to the primaries, clear slate-grey; from the base of the bill a
black band reaches to each eye and extends behind the eye along the
side of the neck; all the tail-feathers except the two centre ones are
black for about three fourths of their length, broadly tipped with slate-
grey, and with a white patch separating these two colours on both wels
of the outermost feather and on the inner web of the next two feathers
on each side. The cheeks and ear-coverts, the upper throat, and the

ini

—

= Er aa

NUTHATCH. 529

, ™, <a
centres of the unde? tail-coverts are buffish white; the rest of the under-
parts are buff, shading into rich chestnut on the flanks and the margins of

the under tail-coverts. Bill lead-colour, paler on the lower mandible ;

legs, feet, and claws pale chestnut-brown ; irides hazel. The female very
closely resembles the male in colour; but the chestnut on the flanks is
not so pronounced. In young birds the chestnut on the flanks is almost
obsolete; the plumage generally duller, and the bill much paler.

M
VOL. I, 2

530 BRITISH BIRDS.

Subfamily CORVIN A, orn CROWS.

The Crows and their allies are distinguished from all the allied sub-
families, except the Sylviine, by having a spring moult as well as an
autumn one. From the latter subfamily they are principally distinguished
by their larger size ; the bill is generally large and conical, though in some
groups, as the Choughs, it is long and curved. The emargination of the
bill is sometimes well developed and sometimes quite obsolete. The wings
are rounded, the first primary being almost always more than half the
length of the second. The tail is subject to great variation, being some-
times short, sometimes long, sometimes even, and sometimes rounded, and
consists of twelve feathers. The feet and claws are strong, and the tarsus
is scutellated. The Corvin are cosmopolitan, and number about two
hundred species. About ten species are found in the British Islands,
belonging to six genera, which may be distinguished as follows :—

a, Tail less than three fourths the length of the wing.
a, Bill feathered to the base, but nostrils bare .............+-. ORIOLUS.,
b', Bill feathered to the base and nostrils covered with bristles, or
base of bill and nostrils bare.
a’, Bill black or brown.

a*, Throat spotted; tail black and white.......... ... NUCIFRAGA,
b*.. Throat unspottedis tall black: a, ke ns ee ce he Corvus.
Pu, ball orange or yellows...4.. sie os cates t spate oni eee PYRRHOCORAX.
b. Tail more than three fourths the length of the wing.
Cee Led wach Sraduatell : 3-5... «akon Mewes at sue ee eee Pica,
DL ae MOATLY SYED...) cans: PURI REM EM ee s ek eo nies s GARRULUS,

Genus CORVUS.

The genus Corvus was established by Linneus in 1766, in his ‘ Systema
Nature,’ i. p. 155. Since Linnzeus does not give us the slightest clue as
to which species he considers typical, we must fall back upon Brisson,
whose Corvus corvus is undoubtedly the Raven and the Corvus coraa of
Linnzeus, which we may accept as the type.

CORVUS. 531

The true Crows belong to the long-winged group of the Corvine, in which
the tail is always less than three fourths the length of the wing ; in the
other groups, the Magpies and the Jays, it is more than three fourths the
length. From the Nutcrackers they may always be distinguished by never
having the tail particoloured, and from the Choughs and the Orioles
by having the bill black. The bill is stout and conical; the wings are
long and somewhat pointed, and the first primary is more than half the
length of the longest ; the tail is slightly rounded; and the tarsus is
scutellated.

The geographical range of the genus is cosmopolitan, with the exception
of South America, New Zealand, and most of the Pacific Islands. This
genus contains from forty to fifty species and subspecies. Ornithologists
have amused themselves by splitting the Crows into numerous genera,
apparently with no other object than to satisfy the desire for novelty,
and with no other result than to confuse the ornithological student. My
friend Mr. Sharpe admits no fewer than twelve of these pseudogenera,
founded upon so-called structural characters of the most trivial kind; but
he informs me that he does not now think these genera can be maintained.
Five species belonging to this genus are found in Europe, all of which are
British, whilst three others are included in the western Palearctic Region,
being found in North Africa and Palestine.

The Crows are almost omnivorous, and are found in most localities, how-
ever bare and sterile. They are birds of powerful though rather heavy
flight, and on the ground walk with ease. Their notes are harsh and
unmusical. They build bulky nests of sticks, moss, roots, &c., in the
branches of trees, on cliffs, and in holes in tree-trunks, walls, and rocks.
Their eggs are from four to eight in number, and vary from almost white
to green, and in one or two instances red, in ground-colour, spotted and
blotched with green of varying degrees of intensity.

KOs

esse Uy eles)

StS See sere) ee SIS 's1io—
5

<Me2

532 BRITISH BIRDS.

CORVUS CORAX.

RAVEN.
(Pirate 16.)

Corvus coryus, Briss. Orn. ii. p. 8 (1760).

Corvus corax, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 155 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum—
Temminck, Naumann, Gray, Schlegel, Salvadori, Gould, Dresser, Sharpe, &c.

Corvus maximus, Scop. Ann. I. Hist. Nat. p. 84 (1769).

Corvus carnivorus, Bartr. Trav. E. Florida, p. 290 (1793).

Corvus leucopheeus, Vieill. N. Dict. d’ Hist. Nat. viii. p. 27 (1817).

Corvus major, Vieill. N. Dict. @ Hist. Nat. viii. p. 27 (1817).

Corvus leucomelas, Wagler, Syst. Av., Corvus no. 4 (1827).

Corvus cacalotl, Wagler, Isis, 1831, p. 527.

Corvus nobilis, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1857, p. 79.

Corvus vociferus, Cabot, Bost. Journ. Nat. Sct. 1844, iv. p. 464.

Corvus lugubris, Agass. Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. 1846, ii. p. 188.

Corvus tibetanus, Hodgs. Ann. Nat. Hist. 1849, iii. p. 205.

Corvus ferréensis, Schl. Bijdr. Dierk, Amsterd. folio, art. Corvus, 1858, p. 6.

The Raven, once so famous in fable, and held by the ancients in
such respect as a bird of destiny, is now rapidly becoming scarce in
England. Formerly it was a very common species and pretty generally
distributed in all parts; but at the present day it appears to have either
forsaken or been exterminated from the central parts of this country ; and
almost the only places where a few scattered pairs are found are the bold
rocky headlands of our coasts, in districts little frequented by man, where
the bird, gifted as it is with no small amount of sagacity and prudence, is
able still to maintain its ground. But slowly and surely these English
Ravens are fast passing away; their deserted eyries possess only historical
interest ; and the day is probably not far distant when it can no longer be
counted as an English bird. It bred regularly in quite recent years on the
cliffs at Flamborough ; but now a Raven is rarely seen, and does not tarry
long; it is probably only attracted to the place by memories of more
prosperous days. In Scotland, however, the Raven is a fairly common
bird in some parts of the mainland and adjacent islands, especially on
the Outer Hebrides and the Western Isles, extending to the Orkneys,
the Shetlands, and even to St. Kilda. According to Thompson it is
generally distributed in Ireland in all suitable localities.

The Raven is a circumpolar bird, being found both in the Palearctic and
Nearctic Regions. In the former region it extends as far north as land
occurs, both in Europe and Asia. Its southern range in Europe appa-
rently does not reach beyond the Mediterranean, although it is a common

RAVEN. 533-

bird in most of the larger islands; but in Asia it frequents the Hima-
layas. In the Nearctic Region it is found as far north as lat. 811°, and
extends southwards to Mexico, Guatemala, and possibly to Honduras.
It is found in all suitable localities throughout South Russia, Asia Minor,
Palestine, Turkestan, Persia, Afghanistan, and Cashmere, wintering in
Scind and the plains of the Punjab. Eastwards it is found throughout
the valley of the Amoor, the Ussuri, the island of Askold, and the Kurile
Islands.

If we regard those birds which have the feathers of the throat long
and narrow and the wings elongated (the first primary longer than the
innermost secondaries, and the second primary intermediate between the
fifth and sixth) as Ravens, then the nearest relation to the Raven will
be Corvus umbrinus from Palestine, North-east Africa, and Baluchistan.
This species differs from the Common Raven in having the black of the
head and neck all round glossed with reddish purple instead of green or
bluish purple.

The only other near allies of the Raven having the same wing-formula
are :—C. afinis from North-east Africa and Palestine, which differs from
our Raven in being much smaller, in having very long secondaries, and in
having the upper nasal bristles pointed upwards; and C. tingitanus from
North-west Africa, the Canary Islands, and Madeira, also differing in its
much smaller size (although it retains the large bill of the Raven) and in
wanting the hackles on the breast. In South Africa south of the Sahara
and in Madagascar a Pied Raven occurs, C. scapulatus, with the pattern of
colour similar to the C. torquatus of China, but with the white on the
breast extending to the belly.

One of the best places in the British Islands to study the Raven’s habits
is the Western Isles of Scotland. Here, no matter what the season of the
year, when strolling over the breezy mountain-sides knee-deep in heather
you will often meet with the Raven in your wanderings, and his hoarse
croak will resound amongst the rocks as he flies off to a safer retreat. Lower
down the valley you may expect to meet him on the broad sheep-pastures,
or searching the outskirts of the birch-woods by the side of the burns.
You are almost sure to see him by the ocean, either as he sails out from his
home in the tall cliffs or, more frequently, as he searches the beach for
garbage thrown up by the restless waves. To view the Raven in his
haunts will take you amongst the grandest mountain-scenery in our islands.
He is found on the wide-stretching moors in company with the Red
Grouse; he haunts the bare mountain-tops where the Ptarmigan crouch
like stones amongst the rocks, and also the bare plains, where an almost
boundless view can be obtained. When not so sorely persecuted, the
Raven was an inhabitant of more woodland districts ; and a pair was often
considered the pride and the pest of the parish, generally choosing for

534 BRITISH BIRDS.

their nesting-place some large tree, to which they had retired to breed
time out of mind.

Dixon thus describes the Raven’s habits in Skye:—“‘Next to the
Crows the Raven is certainly the commonest predaceous bird one meets
ou these bare and sterile shores. You may see him on the large sheep-
farms beating about and prying into every hole and corner in search of
food. Should a lamb fall sick, or a sheep in browsing too near the edge
of the cliff lose its footing and be dashed to pieces on the rocks below, the
Raven is perhaps the first bird to discover the prize—the first either, on
the one hand, to go and torture the poor creature until death mercifully
relieves its sufferings, or, on the other, the first to speed in gluttonous
haste and tear out the favourite morsels from the still warm and mangled
carcass. He is everywhere. Nothing escapes his prying vision. Ever
on the alert, too, you cannot approach him within gunshot, and he lazily
flaps away, bearing with him too often the curses of the shepherd. See
him on the ‘storr’ yonder, croaking dismally to his mate. Something
has aroused them! It is a Peregrine speeding to her nest on the cliffs of
Talliska ; and the quarrelsome sable thieves sally out to resent her intru-
sion. But the Falcon is too busy with her own affairs, and beyond a sharp
bark of anger and a quick swerve to the right she heeds them not. Now
watch them both circling gracefully in mid air, their rich plumage shining
brilliantly inthe sun. There is a dead sheep in yonder field, decaying and
putrid ; and thither they betake themselves. But, ever wary and cunning,
notice how they wheel above it, scrutinizing it closely, as if fearful that it
may contain some ambuscade ; and finally they alight some little distance
away to bound forward in heavy leaps, assisted by their wings, to the
tempting feast. A Herring-Gull now appears upon the scene; but the
Ravens will admit of no such intrusion, and it is beaten off. See how
they tear out the entrails; observe with what seeming savage haste they
tug at the flesh, as though fearful every moment of being surprised at
their work. You approach them a little nearer, the better to observe
them, and with a croak of displeasure they are off in slow laboured flight
to the rocks whence they came a short half-hour before. Then, again, on
these treacherous coasts many is the lamb that meets a watery grave, and
when thrown up by the waves makes a meal for the Raven. Observe him
out yonder a few yards from shore followmg the devious windings of the
coast, and searching closely for any garbage that may be cast up, ever and
anon being mobbed by the small Gulls and Terns whose plumage shines so
pure and brilliant against bis own sable dress. In fact, wherever you may
wander in these out-of-the-way solitudes the Raven will almost invariably
turn up, unexpectedly it may be; but still he is there to croak at your in-
trusion, to engage you with his droll antics and cunning ways, or to cause
you no small amount of disgust as he, mayhap, rises half stupefied before

RAVEN. 535

you from some decaying carcass. To my own observation the Raven is a
bird very early astir in the morning; and I have heard his unmistakable
croak long after darkness had wrapped the hills in gloom, and caught a
hurried glimpse of his sable form as he slowly flapped along to his retreat

‘amongst the hills.’

The Raven, from its predaccous habits, is a bird hunted down without
mercy by the gamekeeper and the shepherd ; and, in fact, in some places
taxes have been imposed for its destruction, as, for instance, in the Faroe
Islands, It is omnivorous, and will take almost every thing in its power.
Like the Hawks, it catches small birds and quadrupeds, kills a weakly lamb
or fawn, and carries off the eggs of poultry and game should it happen to
discover them; and it will never refuse to make a meal on carrion of
any kind. Most animal substances are eaten—every creature which the
sea casts up on the beach, from a dead whale to a mollusk ; and it may
sometimes be seen searching the pastures for moles, worms, and even
insects. In autumn the Raven will also feed largely on grain, a habit
noticeable in several other of its congeners. The Raven congregates in
flocks—not because the bird is at all sociable or gregarious in its dis-
position, but from a common impulse to congregate where food is abun-

- dant. Macgillivray mentions a flock of Ravens that congregated on

one of the islands in the sound of Harris, to feed upon a large herd of
grampuses that had been driven on shore; whilst on another occasion,
where a whale had been stranded, the birds flocked in numbers to the
feast. In Finmark I have generally seen it in flocks, even during the
breeding-season. According to Bogdanow, the Raven in Kazan will some-

times feed on fish; and that naturalist states that he has often watched the

bird fishing and also capturing frogs. It will also eat fruit in the season. »

The Raven’s breeding-season, in many instances, is said to commence
early in January. By the latter end of that month or early in February
the old birds may be noticed patching up their nest—to which they re-
turn yearly, for they undoubtedly pair for life. The eggs, however, are
seldom laid before March. The nesting-site varies according to the
locality which the birds frequent. In some districts a lofty tree is selected ;
and this was probably the bird’s favourite choice when it was commoner
in England; but now the incessant persecution to which it is subject
almost everywhere drives it to the remoter wilds of Scotland and the
cliffs which skirt the ocean. In the province of Kazan Bogdanow states
that the Raven breeds in towns on the towers and the roofs of store-
houses, and that in Kazan itself a pair of birds breed annually on one of
the water-pipes of the theatre. On the sea-cliffs, especially in the west of
Scotland and the Hebrides, the Raven still breeds pretty frequently.
Dixon thus describes a nest of this bird he visited in Skye :—*I had the
opportunity of inspecting a Raven’s nest today. It was built on some

536 BRITISH BIRDS.

small rocks near Dunvegan Head, overlooking the loch. The cliffs them-
selves were not more than fifty yards high, although the broken ground
sloped considerably from their base to the water’s edge. The nest was
some twelve feet from the summit, in the least accessible part of the rocks.
A little grassy platform was near the nesting-place ; and the nest itself was
built under an overhanging ledge, quite invisible from above, and only
partially so from below. The site commanded a grand look-out seawards,
and was indeed the very place in which one would expect to find a Raven’s
nest—where these arch-robbers could obtain an uninterrupted view of the
surrounding district. The nest was a bulky structure, made of a pile of
sticks, large and small twigs and branches of the heather bleached with
age, and evidently the accumulation of years. On some of the sticks large
masses of sheep’s wool hung. ‘The lining was of finer twigs, roots, tufts of
grass, and a little wool, the whole forming a very rude-looking nest, yet
most strongly and compactly built, not in any way wedged amongst the
rocks, but simply built upon the smooth ledge, which was devoid of all
herbage whatever: The sides of the nest and the rocks were white with
the droppings of the birds; and in the crevices were numerous castings of
food refuse.” When built in trees, the Raven’s nest is a bulky struc-
ture, best described as a huge pile of sticks, and added to each year.
My friend Harvie-Brown describes a nest of this bird, which was placed in
a hole in a cliff about thirty feet from the ground, as a “large structure of
sticks, and inside about two fishing-basketsful of sheep’s wool.’? One of
the largest trees is selected for the purpose, and one with but few branches,

as though the birds weresconscious that their safety depended upon the ~

inaccessibility of the site selected.

The following graphic notes on the storming of a Raven’s nest near
Harls Colne in Essex have been obligingly communicated by Mr. Edmund
Capper :—“ It was a splendid day in March, warm for the time of year ;
and we wandered through the preserves, crossed some fields, and entered
the copse in which we understood the Ravens had built their nest. It
was just such a spot as one could have fancied a Raven might have selected
for its home—a well-preserved large copse with densely thick undergrowth,
together with little patches of open glade in which were a few tall elms
and other trees. On the afternoon of our visit it was intensely silent :
the sun was bright in the heavens ; and only the cooing of the Ring-Doves
and the whirring of the Pheasants and other game served to give evidence
of animal life in the wood. We silently entered, creeping along the glen
up into its centre; but so little did we see of the objects of our search
that we began to fear that we had missed the right plantation, when all at
once we came to a little clearing in the middle of the copse; and there
straight before us, on the top of an immense elm, was the Raven’s nest.
The hen slipped off the moment we emerged from the undergrowth; and

RAVEN. 537

we did not see her again; but the cock instantly flew down towards us
with a menacing bark to give us battle. We were well acquainted with
his complacent pruk, pruk, as he used to sail over the valley in his daily
rambles; but this was an angry hoarse growl. The nest had been fre-
quently robbed ; and he had grown bold from experience. We were soon
at the foot of the tree, and, throwing a line over the lowest available
bough, were soon in a position whence we could ascend further, aided by
our hands and feet. The nest was at an immense height ; and as we drew
nearer to it the Raven became bolder, and we had to stop occasionally and
menace him. At times he must have been within a few yards of us, sailing
from one tree to-another, and darting at us as he passed. At last we
reached the nest—a large structure of twigs of many years’ accumulation,
very compact, and very difficult to reach round. It was built almost at
the top of the tree, in a fork at the end of a bough, and in a position not
very safe to hold on by. With care, cap between our teeth to keep our
friend off, we got one hand over the nest, and could just balance ourself
sufficiently to look over its edge. There to our delight, on the lining of
sheep’s wool and fine fibre, rather deep down, lay three fresh eggs, just
like the ones in the-second figure of Hewitson’s third edition. By great
care, and by keeping the bird at bay with our handkerchief, we succeeded
in getting them safely down. We slowly retired as we came, the cock
bird tearing off the twigs and driving us before him, with ruffled feathers,
savage barks, and short menacing sallies; and it was not until we were
some little distance from his nesting-place that we really felt out of danger.
At this lapse of time we confess our robbery seems rather cruel; but never
shall we forget our visit to the ‘ Raven’s tree.’ ”’

The eggs of the Raven are from four to six in number, five being not an
unusual clutch. In colour and markings they do not differ from those of
the Carrion-Crow and the Rook, and go through the same variations as the
eggs of those birds. They are bluish green or greenish brown in ground-
colour, more or less thickly marked with dark olive-brown. In some
specimens the markings are very sparse; in others so thick as often to
hide the ground-colour. Certain varieties have the colour confined to a
few streaks of yellowish brown, whilst others are sparingly blotched with
rich greenish brown (almost black), intermingled with greyish underlying
spots. A rare and beautiful variety of the Raven’s egg 1s sometimes
obtained reddish white in ground-colour, spotted with rich reddish brown
and splashed with violet-grey. This type of egg closely resembles certain
varieties of those of the Moorhen, and also approaches very closely in colour
to the eggs of a South-African Crow, C. capensis. In size and shape
Raven’s eggs vary considerably, some specimens being quite undistinguish-
able from eggs of the Carrion-Crow. ‘They vary in length from 2°1 to
1:7 inch, and in breadth from 1°4 to 1°25 inch. °

538 BRITISH BIRDS.

During the whole time that incubation is in progress the Raven is
remarkably wary, ever on the alert to defend its home from intruders.
Now a Peregrine or a stray Eagle will come too near the cliff that contains
their nest, and both the old birds will sally out and buffet the unwelcome
stranger ; or, mayhap, a Carrion-Crow or Hoodie, in search of plunder,
unconsciously approach, and are beaten off by the ever-watchful birds.
Both birds sit upon the eggs, although the greater part of the duties of
incubation is performed by the female. When the young are hatched, the
birds’ thieving propensities become more strongly marked, as the wants of
a clamorous brood engage their attention from dawn till dusk. Even when
the young are able to leave the nest they are tended by their parents for
some considerable time, until, when able to gain their own living, they
are ruthlessly driven from their birthplace for ever.

The usual note of the Raven is a hoarse croak, something like the word
cruck, cruck ; and early in the year, during the pairing-period, it sometimes
utters a few more musical cries. The Raven is very commonly kept in
confinement ; for it is a bird very easily tamed, and soon becomes most
familiar. Its habits and oddities in confinement would furnish anecdote
enough to fill a volume; and when so tamed the bird often displays
great powers of voice, imitating the notes of other birds, the cries
of cats or dogs, whistling a tune, or correctly copying any sound it
may hear.

The Raven has the entire plumage black, glossed with steel-blue and
purple, most richly on the upper parts and the feathers of the throat,
which are considerably elongated like the hackles of a Cock. The tail is
slightly rounded. Bill, legs, feet, and claws black; irides brown. The
female is slightly smaller than the male ; and its plumage, as well as that of
the young, is not so metallic.

In the Faroes and Iceland, and sometimes in various parts of Scotland,
pied Ravens are sometimes observed, to which Vieillot applied the name
of Corvus leucopheus ; but these birds possess no claim to specific distine-
tion, and are but accidental varieties of the Common Raven. Wolley
states, in a paper on the birds of the Faroe Islands, published in Jardine’s
‘Contributions to Ornithology,’ that two pied specimens of the Raven were
shown to him that had been taken from a nest containing young of the
normal colour.

i ee ee

CARRION-CROW. 539

CORVUS CORONE.

CARRION-CROW.
(Pxiate 16.)

Corvus cornix, Briss. Orn. ii. p. 12 (1760).

Corvus corone, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 155 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum—
Temminck, Gould, Bonaparte, Schlegel, Degland, Gerbe, Dresser, &e.

Corvus orientalis, Zversm. Add. Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. ii. p. 7 (1841).

Corvus pseudocorone, Hume, Nests and Eggs Ind. B, p. 410 (1874).

The Carrion-Crow closely resembles the Raven in its appearance and
habits. In spite of the incessant persecution to which it is subjected by
game-preservers and farmers, it is still a fairly common bird in the wooded
districts and on the rocky coasts of England, the Channel Islands, and
South Scotland; but in Central and Northern Scotland it certainly is less
common and more local in its distribution. Gray, however, states that
throughout the mainland of the latter country the Carrion-Crow is generally
distributed. In the Hebrides and Western Islands it is rare; whilst to
the Orkneys and Shetlands it is usually only known as an accidental
strageler after severe gales. In these localities its place appears to be
taken by the Hooded Crow. Dixon, however, in spring met with the
bird in some of the wildest parts of the Cullin Hills inSkye. He also saw
it at Portree, Dunvegan, and Talliska in that island ; but in all districts it
was rare. In Ireland the Carrion-Crow is much rarer than in England,
and is partially replaced by the Hooded Crow, which is commonly distri-
buted. - It was known by Thompson to occur in the north, east, and west
of the island; but in the south it certainly becomes rare, and the parti-
culars of its distribution are meagre.

The geographical distribution of this species is most remarkable. The
Carrion-Crow is, strange to say, an Hast-Siberian bird. Its home is in the
vast forest lying between the great river Yenesay and the Pacific, a district
perhaps twice the size of Europe. Northwards the colony extends in
summer almost to the limit of forest-growth, and southwards to the con-
fines of the desert of Mongolia, the Corea, and Japan. Here, unharmed
by man or beast, they appear to have multiplied to such an extent that
emigration became necessary. West of the Yenesay the country was held
by an equally powerful colony of Hooded Crows ; and in China, India, and
the Malay archipelago a large-billed ally stopped the way. They seem to
have followed the mountain-ranges of Southern Siberia into Turkestan,
and, crossing the Caspian, to have forced a passage through the colony of
Hooded Crows, by way of the Caucasus, the northern shores of the Black

540 BRITISH BIRDS.

Sea, and the valley of the Danube, until they reached the western boundary
of the colony of their rivals, beyond the Elbe and the Alps, and spread
over Germany, France, Spain, the Netherlands, and England. In Scotland
they again met with a small colony of Hooded Crows (which crossed over
from Scandinavia) ; and there, as well as in the valleys of the Elbe and the
Yenesay, they fraternize with their rivals and intermarry with them.

Besides the Large-billed Crow C. macrorhyncha, which has been men-
tioned as inhabiting the Oriental Region, and which is divisible into three
races, the Carrion-Crow is represented in Australia by C. australis, which
differs in having the feathers of the hind neck rounded instead of pointed.
In America there are several species of Crows, bearing a somewhat super-
ficial resemblance to our bird, but distinguished by having the feathers of
the head and neck rounded, not lanceolate as in the Carrion-Crow.

The haunts of the Carrion-Crow are similar to those of the Raven.
Like that bird, it is an inhabitant of the wildest mountain-districts, the
upland sheep-farms, and the rock-bound shores. It is also the game-
keeper’s bane, and takes up its residence in the thick coverts and woods
in those sequestered haunts which, in earlier days, so frequently resounded
with the hoarse croak of the Raven. .

The Carrion-Crow is one of the first birds astir in the morning. He is
up before the dawn ; and from that time till after sunset he appears to be
in one incessant search for food. His flight seems a more laborious one
than that of the Rook. He is not particularly a shy bird, but an extremely
cautious and vigilant one—the result, most probably, of incessant per-
secution. He passes through the air on regular beat of wing, sometimes
slowly, sometimes with considerable velocity ; and his powers of flight may
be witnessed to perfection when he chases his mate through the air or
buffets the smaller Hawks and Gulls. Upon the ground he walks with
ease, like the Rook, and sometimes leaps forward, aided by his wings.

Carrion-Crows are comparatively solitary birds; but at times they are
seen to congregate in flocks, and even to associate with other birds. Many
of these gatherings are simply caused by the abundance of food in one
locality, to which all the Crows of the district will repair ; and when their
hunger is satisfied they separate again. At other times the birds have been
known to mingle with flocks of Rooks and Jackdaws, and in winter to
roost with them. Waterton, however, states that the Carrion-Crow is
sometimes gregarious in autumn and winter; and in Siberia I found them
decidedly so until the breeding-season. In winter they sometimes visit the
newly manured fields in search of food. The call-note of the Carrion-Crow
is a hoarse croak, absolutely undistinguishable from that of the Hooded
Crow, not so loud or so harsh as the Raven’s, but much more so than the
Rook’s. It is also often heard to make many different sounds; and its
call-note is uttered in various tones.

me a ee ee es

CARRION-CROW. 541

The Carrion-Crow makes almost as engaging a pet as the Raven. Its
sagacity and cunning form the subject of many interesting anecdotes, and
have gained for the bird an amount of awe and reverence amongst the
superstitious country-folk only exceeded by that attached to the Raven
itself.

The food of the Carrion-Crow is principally composed of animal sub-
stances; but so voracious is his appetite that nothing at all edible is
refused ; in fact, he might justly be called omnivorous. Such a varied
diet naturally sends the Carrion-Crow into almost all situations in search
of it. Sometimes he seeks his food much after the manner of the Gulls,
hovering above the water and taking garbage floating on the surface. As
a rule, though, he keeps well inshore, following the margin of the waters,
ever and anon alighting to prey upon the varied diet the ever-restless
ocean sets before him. Now it is a drowned sheep or lamb; then a
stranded fish; or more rarely a mussel, with which, with a cunning we
cannot help admiring, he flies up to some height in the air and then drops
it to the ground to break open the shell. He will find out any carrion
lying in secluded corners, visit the pastures which have been manured
with refuse from the slaughterhouses, and greedily devour the entrails,
pick the bones, or revel in the decaying flesh. He will also search the
pastures and the newly sown lands in search of insects, grubs, or grain with
as much pertinacity as the Rook, the only time perhaps in his thieving
life that he is of any great service, if we do not look upon him in the light
of a scavenger. But we must now glance at that portion of the Carrion-
Crow’s food to obtain which brings the bird into such evil repute. In the
lambing-season the bird is dreaded by the shepherds quite as much as they
dread the Raven, and helpless lambs and weakly ewes too often fall victims
to this bold and relentless robber. The game-coverts and the Grouse-
moors are also visited and plundered; the eggs are diligently searched for
and devoured ; and later in the year the young birds fall victims. The
hen-wife also has just cause to dread the Carrion-Crow ; and, in close
attendance on the poultry-yard, he will carry off the young chicks the
moment an opportunity is offered. Waterton, in his charming ‘ Essays,’
thus writes of the Carrion-Crow’s love for poultry :—‘‘ The cook had in her
custody a brood of ten ducklings, which had been hatched about a fort-

night. Unobserved by anybody, I put the old duck and her young ones

in a pond nearly three hundred yards from a high fir tree in which a
Carrion-Crow had built its nest; it contained five young ones almost
fledged. I took my station on the bridge, about one hundred yards from
the tree. Nine times the parent Crows flew to the pond, and brought
back a duckling each time to their young. I saved a tenth victim by
timely interference.” But his prey is not confined to birds alone; young
rabbits, leverets, moles, and other small animals are captured. He will

542 BRITISH BIRDS.

feed on grain, like the Rook—also, when hard pressed for food, on berries.
Waterton states that he will feed voraciously on ripe cherries, and in
autumn on walnuts.

The breeding-season of the Carrion-Crow is somewhat late ; and in this
respect it differs considerably from the Raven or even the Rook, approaching
most closely the Jackdaw. The Raven’s eggs are said to be often laid in
February, the Rook’s in March; but the Carrion-Crow seldom commences
nesting-duties until the latter end of April or beginning of May. It is very
probable that this bird pairs for life ; and each season the old nest will be
visited and used again, provided the owners are not molested. If one of
the birds be destroyed, its partner soon finds a fresh mate. The site for
its nest depends considerably on the nature of its haunts. In hilly
districts, and in the neighbourhood of the coast, its bulky nest is made in
the rocks, usually in the least accessible part. In the wooded districts it
selects some tall tree for its purpose, a large oak or pine being very often
chosen ; whilst, according to my friend Mr. Labouchere, on the coast of
Holland, where trees and rocks are scarce, it often builds its nest upon the
ground. The Carrion-Crow will sometimes seek out a nesting-site in a
very exposed situation, and although so shy and wary at other times of the
year, will in the nesting-season often become most trustful—a habit, by
the way, also observed in the Missel-Thrush and the Ring-Dove. The
nest of the Carrion-Crow is a large structure, well made, and usually,
if in a tree, in the topmost branches. From the\fact that the nest is
added to each season, some of them are remarkably large. It is made of
large sticks, usually dead ones, stems of heather, masses of turf, fine twigs,
and roots, and lined with wool, moss, dead leaves, fur, feathers, and any

soft material the bird can find. In shape it is rather flat ; and the interior -

is smooth and compact.

The eggs are from three to six in number, usually five, and are
very similar to those of allied birds. ‘They vary from pale bluish green
to clear green in ground-colour, spotted and blotched with olive-brown
of different shades, with violet-grey underlying spots. They are sub-
ject to no small amount of variation. Some specimens are so thickly
spotted and blotched as to almost conceal the ground-colour; others are
very sparingly marked. A very handsome egg in my collection is covered
with short streaky semiconfluent lmes of pale olive-brown, intermingled
with similar lines of violet-grey. On some specimens the markings are
much darker than on others; and sometimes a few almost black spots and
wavy scratches occur. They are usually well marked; but occasionally
specimens are obtained almost spotless, or merely marked with a few
yellowish-brown dashes. ‘They vary in length from 1°8 to 1°5 inch, and
in breadth from 1:3 to 1-1 mch. It is impossible to distinguish the eggs
of the Carrion-Crow from those of the Hooded Crow; but the eggs of

ww ver

—

CARRION-CROW. 543

both these birds are generally larger than those of the Rook and smaller
than those of the Raven.

When the young are hatched, the old birds become even more trouble-
some to the gamekeeper and the hen-wife; and until they are able to fly,
the neighbourhood is scoured in search of food for them. The Carrion-
Crow only rears one brood in the year; and the young are soon left to
forage for themselves. Although the Carrion-Crow is a resident in this
country, its numbers are evidently increased in autumn by birds from
Holland. In Norfolk they are said to be regular spring and autumn
migrants; and it is only in this character that they probably appear
in parties on our eastern coasts.

The Carrion-Crow has the entire plumage black, glossed on the upper
parts, wings, and throat with purple and green. Bill black; legs, feet,
and claws black; irides brown. The female does not differ from the male
in colour; but young birds differ from their parents in having no gloss on
the plumage. The Carrion-Crow may be distinguished from the Rook by
its much stouter bill, by the prevailing green instead of violet gloss to the
plumage, and by never having the base of the bill denuded of feathers.
In the Carrion-Crow the nostrils are always covered with thick bristly
feathers.

So) _\

(5
eee

Fiver ee

544: BRITISH BIRDS.

CORVUS CORNIX.

HOODED CROW.
(PLate 16.)

Corvus cornix cinerea, Briss. Orn. ii. p. 19 (1760).

Corvus cornix, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 156 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum—
Naumann, Gould, Gray, Schlegel, Salvadori, Dresser, &c.

Corvus cinereus, Briss., Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. Sc. Brit. Mus, p. 18 (1816),

Corone cornix (Linn.), Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 99 (1829).

This handsome and well-known bird can only be regarded as a winter
visitant to England and Wales, where it is commonest on the eastern coasts,

only occasionally wandering inland in some localities, but in others appear- —

ing as aregular migrant. In the Channel Islands it is only known as an
accidental straggler in autumn and winter. A few pairs, however, have from
time to time remained and reared their young in various parts of England
and Wales; otherwise these portions of the British Islands appear to be
tenanted in the breeding-season exclusively by Carrion-Crows. In Scot-
land the Hooded Crow is pretty generally distributed throughout the main-
land and the islands, including the Orkneys, the Shetlands, St. Kilda, and
the Faroes ; and it is also an occasional visitor to Iceland. In Ireland it
is equally common and widely distributed throughout the country.

The Hooded Crow is the western form of the Carrion-Crow. Though
the area of its distribution is intersected by the narrow belt of Carrion-
Crows which connects the East-Siberian colony with the Turkestan colony,
and the latter with the West-European colony, it cannot be said to be dis-
continuous, unless the colonies in Scotland and Ireland be regarded as
isolated from the main colony, which extends eastwards from Scandinavia.
On the continent the Hooded Crow is found throughout Europe east of
about long. 10°, and in Asia extends north of Turkestan as far as the valley
of the Yenesay, and south of Turkestan through Asia Minor and Persia into
Afghanistan, and through Palestine into Egypt. Examples from the
Persian Gulf have the pale slate-grey replaced by nearly white, and have
been called C. capelianus ; but Siberian birds are intermediate in colour,
and the Persian birds can only be looked upon as a local race. In China
and in South Africa Crows are found in which the black is distributed in
a somewhat similar manner; but these birds are probably all specifically
distinct.

The Hooded Crow is a migratory bird in the northern portion of its
range. Although it is a permanent resident in Scotland, great numbers of

eS

.

|
|
|

HOODED CROW. 545

the Scandinavian birds migrate to Holland, Belgium, and Northern France,
and even to England, to winter; and many of the Siberian birds, together
_ with hybrids of every degree, winter in Turkestan. his bird migrates
by day. When I was in Heligoland, during the first week of October
large flocks of Hooded Crows were frequently passing over, and sometimes
a scattered and straggling stream continued all day long. Their flight
was heavy and laborious, and frequently at no great height above the sea,
many of them on landing having to rise to the edge of the cliff, where
they stopped a short time and then passed on.

Dixon made the following notes on this bird in Lincolnshire :—* In
many parts of England the Hooded Crow is a well-known migratory bird,
whose arrival in the autumn is looked for with almost as much interest as
that of the Swallow and the Cuckoo in spring. One of the localities
where Hooded Crows abound in autumn is on the low-lying coasts of
Lincolnshire, from afew miles south of Skegness to the Boston Deeps.
On this noble expanse of salt marsh, whose monotony is enlivened with
hordes of wading birds, with Gulls and Ducks, the Hooded Crow is one of
the commonest of birds from October till the following sprmg. They
make their appearance about the middle of October—so regularly, in fact,
that the fisherfolk and coastguardsmen, well versed in the bird-life of the
district, will tell you that by no chance will the Swallow and the Crow
be seen in the air together; the date of departure of the one bird is
the signal for the approach of the other. They appear to migrate in the
daytime; and I have seen them, in little parties, in pairs, or singly, arriving
from the sea during the whole day. This migration goes on for weeks ;
if the weather be favourable they are incessantly pouring in from the
east. Upon these extensive marshes the Hooded Crow obtains the
greater part of its food. It also flies inland for considerable distances,
and is as frequently seen on the ploughed fields, the stubbles, and the
pastures as the Rook. I must confess that, im spite of the dark tales of
plunder and his questionable mode of getting a livelihood, the Hooded
Crow is a favourite bird of mine, and his habits and regular movements
never fail to interest me. The powerful’ flight of this bird may be
witnessed to perfection here as he flies over the sea-banks from the flow-
ing tide to the pastures. He is not by any means a shy bird, and by
advancing in a side direction I have often succeeded in shooting him.
Many authorities state that the Hooded Crow does not feed on grain ;
but this is not the case. Here, especially in the neighbourhood of
Friskney, the Hooded Crow during the time autumn sowing is going on
lives almost exclusively on grain, seeking it just like the Rook. This I
have ascertained beyond doubt by dissection. It will also feed on grass
and slender shoots of herbage. Upon the marshes it is actively engaged
in search of sand-worms, small crabs, and cockles. With the marsh-men

VOL. I. aN

546 BRITISH BIRDS.

the Hooded Crow bears a bad name from his habit of devouring the birds
caught in the ‘ flight-nets.’ Over these broad mudflats and marshes
miles of netting is set to ensnare the countless thousands of birds con-
tinually flying over them. If the owners of the nets are not at them
in good time in the morning the relentless Crows make a meal of the
captured birds. Many a wounded bird on these marshes also falls a victim
to the cunning Crow, ever on the look-out for prey. I have seen the
Hoodies congregate in countless numbers here in autumn; and they also
do the same in spring, probably for the purpose of pairing and nofé as
‘craas’ courts’ for administering justice or punishment, as even some
modern ornithologists affirm to be the case.”

The habits of the Hooded Crow in summer do not differ very much from
those of the Carrion-Crow ; and the haunts it frequents are similar. It is
an inhabitant of the wild upland farms, the rocky coasts, and moors, where
it wages an incessant war upon all creatures it is capable of overpowering.
It is detested by the gamekeeper and the shepherd as much as the Carrion-
Crow; and a ceaseless persecution is waged against it.

Sometimes the Hooded Crow may be seen searching for its food on the
water like a Gull. When carrion is scarce the Hooded Crow is a perfect
pest, and his depredations extend in wide directions. In spring he searches
diligently for nests and plunders them, from the eyry of the Golden Eagle,
only accessible to a winged enemy, to the little homes of the Pipits and
the Larks amongst the meadow-grass._ He will rob the sea-birds of their
eggs, also the game-birds ; and even poultry are not safe from his attacks.
Nor are his inroads confined to the eggs; he will also carry off the young
chicks, conveying both eggs and birds to some quiet corner, where he can
dispose of them unmolested. Booth is of opinion that the Hooded Crow
sometimes visits the eyries of the larger birds of prey to plunder the larder
provided forthe young. Saxby gives a most graphic account of a colony
of Terns which beat off and ultimately drowned a Hooded Crow that,
bent on plunder, invaded their breeding-ground. These birds gathered in
force round their common enemy so thickly and pertinaciously that he was
unable to rise. Gradually driving him out to sea they beat him still lower
and lower towards the water, until at last he fell into the sea exhausted.

The note of the Hooded Crow is like that of the Carrion-Crow. It
is a hoarse kra, repeated at intervals, and sometimes drawn out into the
syllables karruck, karruck, almost like the call-note of the Gannet. In the
pairing-season, which is early in March, he will also utter many pleasing
sounds ; and at this time he is certainly a most engaging bird, for his
notes are usually uttered as he opens and closes his wings, spreads his tail,
and sometimes performs various graceful aerial evolutions.

The Hooded Crow probably pairs for life, and is a somewhat late
breeder. The Raven’s eggs are laid long before the snow is off the moun-

HOODED CROW. BAT

tains; [but the Hooded Crow waits for a more temperate season, and
seldom sets about nesting-duties before the middle of April. Its nest is
sometimes placed in a tree, sometimes on the rocks, both inland and on
the ocean cliffs. It will also, where large trees and rocks are scarce, make
its nest in bushes and small birches and firs only a few feet from the
ground ; and Gray states that it will sometimes build on the roofs of huts.
The nest is composed of almost every material which can be applied to the
architect’s purpose. Large sticks and twigs, stalks of heather, bones, moss,
turf, wool, and feathers are all used. From the fact that the bird returns to
its old habitations year after year, many nests are very bulky structures,
and the greater part of the outside material is bleached by the weather.
The inside is smooth, soft, and compact, and rather deep. The eggs of
the Hooded Crow are four or five in number, and are absolutely wndistin-
guishable in size and colour from those of the Carrion-Crow. They exhibit
precisely similar types and variations as the eggs of that bird, rendering a
description of them unnecessary.

When I was in Siberia in 1877 I had an excellent opportunity of investi-
gating the question of the interbreeding of the Hooded and Carrion-Crows.
The boundary-line between the enormous colony of Hooded Crows in
Russia and West Siberia and the equally vast colony of Carrion-Crows in
East Siberia lies between the towns of Tomsk and Krasnoyarsk, which
are about 350 miles apart. As you travel eastwards from Tomsk, for about
120 miles the Hooded Crow only is to be seen on the roadsides, and during
the last 120 miles before reaching Krasnoyarsk the Carrion-Crow alone is
found. But in the intermediate hundred miles or more a very curious
state of affairs presents itself. About one fourth of the Crows are thorough-
bred Hoodies; one fourth are pure Carrion-Crows; and the remain-
ing half are hybrids of every stage—mulattoes, quadroons, octoroons, and
so on, ad infinitum. The fact that these hybrids present every intermediate
form between the two species is primd facie evidence of their fertility. I
succeeded, however, in getting positive evidence of this fact. On the
Arctic circle, in the valley of the Yenesay, early in May, whilst the ground
was still covered with six feet of snow, a couple of hybrid Crows paired
together and built a nest near the top of a pine tree. On the 11th it
contained an egg; on the 2lst I climbed again up to the nest and found
it to contain five eggs, two of which I took. On the 3lst one egg was
hatched and the other two were chipped ready for hatching. On the 26th
of June I again climbed up to the nest and found that one of the young
birds had either died or flown. I took the other two and shot the female,
She proved to be at least three parts Carrion-Crow. ‘The feathers on the
sides of the neck and on the lower part of the breast and belly are grey,
with dark centres. I was unable to shoot the male; but I had on various

occasions examined him through my binocular. He had more Hoodie
9n 2
2N2

548 BRITISH BIRDS.

blood in him than the female, having a very grey ring round the neck,
and showed a good deal of grey on the breast and under the wings. My
total bag of Crows at the Ku-ray’-i-ka was three thoroughbred Hoodies
(two males and a female), ten thoroughbred Carrions (nine males and one
female), and fifteen hybrids (seven males and eight females). These
figures, as far as they go, lead me to the conclusion that the female
Carrion-Crows were all breeding, away in the woods, so that I rarely got
a shot at one; whereas the female hybrids were most of them barren, so
that I was able to shoot as many of one sex as of the other.

Some writers who have not succeeded in overcoming their pre-Darwinian
prejudices against the interbreeding of allied forms have endeavoured to
show that the interbreeding of the Carrion and the Hoodie Crows is an
exceptional case—an instance of so-called “ dimorphism,” and that the
offspring of these “ mixed marriages ” partake of the peculiarities of either
one or other of their parents or revert back to them before they become
fully adult. So far as I have been able to discover, the evidence in favour
of this view rests upon the unsupported testimony of gamekeepers and
shepherds, than which no evidence could be more unreliable. I have no doubt
that the comparative rarity of intermediate forms between these two sub-
species is caused entirely by their comparative barrenness. The two
Crows are probably more differentiated than the two European Nuthatches
or the two Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers, or than some of the nearly allied
Tits; but the difference between them can only be considered of subspecific
value, and the full name and title of the Hooded Crow is Corvus corone,
var. cornix, though, as in other similar cases, the binomial name will
generally be used for the sake of brevity.

The thoroughbred Hooded Crow has the wings, tail, head, throat
(extending as far as the upper part of the breast), and thighs black. The
rest of the body is ashy grey, slightly darker on the under tail-coverts.
The upper tail-coverts begin grey, gradually become darker in the centre,
until they are only edged with grey, and finally become black as they join
the tail. Legs, feet, and claws black; irides dark brown. The female
resembles the male in colour, but is slightly smaller in size. The nestling
plumage does not differ from that of the adult except in being much
duller.

ROOK. 549

CORVUS FRUGILEGUS.

ROOK.
(Pxiate 16.)

Corvus cornix frugilega, Briss. Orn. ii. p. 16 (1760).

Corvus frugilegus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 156 (1766) ; et auctorum plurimorum—
Temminck, Naumann, Gould, Schlegel, Gray, Salvadori, Dresser, Newton, &e.

Coleeus frugilegus (Linn.), Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 114 (1829),

Corvus agricola, Trist. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1864, p. 444.

Trypanocorax frugilegus (Linn.), Loche, Expl. Sci, Algér., Ois. i. p. 113 (1867).

Few birds are better known than the Rook; its noisy gatherings and
its habit of building in colonies make it a bird well known and in-
teresting to all. It is found commonly in most parts of England and
Wales, as well as of Ireland, wherever the country is not too barren
to afford it a pasture and a nesting-place. Few indeed are the country
mansions or villages that do not possess their rookery. But the Rook does
not always settle close to man’s habitation; for in the High Peak, for
instance, there are several rookeries in smali plantations on the bleak
hills above Castleton, whilst in the trees near Peveril Castle in the same
district another small colony occurs. Northwards the Rook becomes less
common. In Scotland it is rapidly increasing in numbers and extending
its range as tree-planting is more extensively pursued. It is found, although
at present locally, throughout Scotland as far north as the Orkneys and
Shetlands, but is said only very recently to have begun to breed im the *
latter localities. In Skye the Rook is spreading; and at Dunvegan
there is an extensive rookery quite recently established in a large planta-
tion, the most westerly breeding-place of the bird in Scotland. It has
established colonies even in the wilder parts of Argyleshire and West
Sutherlandshire. Large flocks of Rooks sometimes wander across to the
Outer Hebrides; and it is very probable that the day is not far distant
when colonies will be formed there. It also occasionally strays to the
Faroes. This increase of the Rook is viewed by shepherds and farmers
with no little anxiety ; and in some parts of Scotland the bird is rigorously
persecuted ; for it may be harmless enough in England, where its feeding-
grounds are so large, but in Scotland, where its pastures are small, it may
possibly take a leaf from the Carrion-Crow’s book and become a pest. The
Rook does not breed in the Channel Islands, and is only an accidental
visitant to Guernsey, in severe winters sometimes occurring in large
flocks.

The Rook breeds throughout Central and Southern Europe as far

550 BRITISH BIRDS.

north in Scandinavia as the Arctic circle, but in Russia and in West
Siberia only up to lat. 64°. In the northern portions of its range it is a
migratory bird, beg found in summer in Scandinavia, North Russia,
North Germany, Denmark, and the north of France. In all these countries,
where the winters are much more severe than in England, the Rook leaves
for the south, and is a common winter visitant to Southern Europe, being
found at that season in the south of France, Portugal, Spain, South
Germany, Italy, Greece, the islands of the Mediterranean, Asia Minor,
and North-east Africa. Eastwards the Rook is found breeding throughout
Turkestan and West Siberia as far east as the valley of the Irtish, where
I saw large flocks slowly migrating southwards in autumn. The Asiatic
birds winter in North Persia, Afghanistan, Cashmere, and North-west
India. Still further to the east the Common Rook is replaced by a nearly
allied species, Corvus pastinator. This bird differs from its western con-
gener in having the plumage glossed with reddish purple instead of bluish
purple; and the bare space round the beak is confined to the upper man-
dible, the throat being feathered to the base of the lower mandible, as in
the Carrion-Crow. The eastern Rook ranges through Eastern Siberia to
China and Japan.

The Rook is a bird of the well-cultivated districts—broad pasture-lands
and fallows, where the timber is large and distributed in plantations,
groves, avenues, and woods. Parks are favourite places with the Rook
and also pleasure-grounds. From the great changes that have taken
place in some districts, many breeding-haunts of the Rook are singularly
situated. It is a bird evidently with a strong attachment to its old
quarters, and occasionally still remains to rear its young in situations
that have changed from country to town. In some places the Rook may
be seen rearing its young in trees in gardens which have once formed
portions of some park now demolished by the enterprise of some specula-
lative builder. In others (as, for example, the rookery in Curzon Street)
a colony has allowed itself to be “built in,” and the Rooks continue to
breed amidst the din of the traffic below. Once established, few things
will cause the birds to forsake the rookery. Even the rumble of the rail-
way does not give them any perceptible annoyance ; and many are the
rookeries in England where the line has been carried through the planta-
tion that holds their nests. The favourite haunts appear to be large
parks studded with tall trees, from which an easy flight will take them to
arable land.

The habits of the Rook are exceedingly regular. From year to year
each season finds the orderly colony engaged in operations peculiar to the
season, whether it be the busy time of nest-building and rearing the
young, their summer and autumn gatherings (often in enormous numbers),
or their nomad life in winter.

ROOK.

51

or

In all its habits the Rook is a gregarious bird; and its gatherings are
very often not confined to the inhabitants of one colony ; for after the
breeding-season the birds of several rookeries often unite and form one
vast gathering, feeding, flying, and roosting in company. In autumn and
winter the Rooks belonging to the smaller colonies visit their old nests,
They will leave the larger flock feeding sometimes at a considerable dis-
tance, and pay a hasty visit to their old homes; but having apparently
satisfied themselves that the rookery is “all right,” they rejoin their com-
panions. As the season advances they make a longer stay at their nests,
and apparently hold a consultation as to the wisdom of beginning to repair
them. As food becomes more plentiful they seem less and less anxious
to rejoin the large flock, which we may presume to have been the original
parent colony, and feed independently of them, on pastures nearer their
breeding-grounds ; but at nightfall the old social feeling seems to predo-
minate, and they wing their way to the common roosting-ground. It is
interesting to watch them flying home, with slow steady beats of the wings,
like the flight of a Heron, as if they were tired with the day’s search for
food, straggling one after another to one point, as if after a long journey.
In some cases, probably when food is scarce, they seem not to return home,
but to camp out all night near their feeding-grounds; for I have some-
times, when returning home in the country late at night, passed a few
exposed trees by the roadside black with Rooks, in a situation which one
cannot suppose to have been their habitual roosting-place.

The note of the Rook is a loud krah-krah, varied to kraw-kraw, subject
to considerable modulations as the birds are angry or simply calling to
their fellows when disturbed or alarmed. In the mght Rooks may be
often heard uttering a variety of low notes; whilst quite a different sound
to the usual caw, a sort of krck, is uttered when the sitting bird is being
fed by its mate or when awaiting its arrival with trembling wings on the
edge of the nest.

The Rook’s many services to man have placed it in greater favour than
all its other sable congeners ; and although the farmer will often shoot a
few birds in sowing-time, to serve as scarecrows on his fields and potato-
patches, he is usually candid enough to admit that he receives no small
amount of benefit from the bird’s visits to his lands and pastures. Various
indeed is the food of the Rook; and there is not a field that he does not
visit at’ some season of the year. His visits to the pasture-lands are
regular and incessant, to prey upon the worms, snails, and grubs that
abound there, especially in the morning. He frequents the corn-lands
chiefly during the sowing-season; but his little pilferings of grain are
amply repaid by the wireworms and the grubs of the cockchafer and the
craneflies which he greedily devours. The Rook is also seen upon the
potato- and turnip-fields, where his visits are equally beneficial, although

’

552 BRITISH BIRDS.

in winter, when almost starved by a long-continued frost, he will often
bore into the turnips with his strong beak. Perhaps the most favourite
feeding-grounds of the Rook are the stubbles, especially when ploughing
is going on and worms and grubs are to be found in the newly turned up
soil. When feeding, the Rook is very wary, and a sentinel is usually
perched on some neighbouring tree to give the alarm on the approach of
danger. Towards evening, when their appetites are satisfied, they often
fly round and round, and toy with each other in the air, before setting off
for their roosting-quarters.

Towards the end of February they begin to repair their nests. Every
day they stop longer and longer ; and when the eggs are laid they roost at
the rookery. Rooks may be tempted to form a new rookery, by putting
up artificial nests in suitable trees. During the process of building they
are often very quarrelsome. When the birds break off twigs from the
nesting-trees, they fly clear of the tree and gain the nest by an uninter-
rupted course, probably because, were they to convey the twig through
the tangled branches, it would be an extremely troublesome and difficult
task. During the building-period one of the birds usually stays to guard
the unfinished nest whilst its mate is seeking materials ; for Rooks are
pilfermg birds; but when once the nest is completed it may be left
with safety. When I was residing at Sheffield I had several Rooks’ nests
in my garden, my next-door neighbour had fourteen, and there were about
as many more on the other side of the road—all no doubt forming part of
the old rookery in Broomhall Park, which must originally have been
scattered over a mile or more, as there are isolated trees left in the streets
which are still tenanted with their old occupants every spring. Towards
the end of February the Rooks began to be very busy about their old
nests. One year only one nest had survived the storms of winter. The
birds appeared to have a quarrel about it; and finally it was completely
pulled to pieces. They fairly began to build in good earnest about the
lst of March, when they might be seen, sometimes three or four in a tree
at once, tugging at the twigs and breaking off a piece, which they often
transferred from their beaks to their claws, apparently to rest from the
exertion of breaking it off. They seemed to be very quarrelsome all the
time they were building, continually stealing twigs from each other’s
nests. Once they fought so desperately that one poor Rook fell down
dead. It was no uncommon thing to see a good foundation for a nest
laid by breakfast-time, and to find not a vestige remaining at noon. Both
parents assist in the duties of incubation; and Dixon assures me that he
has repeatedly seen them change: places on the nest.

The nest is composed outwardly- of sticks, varying in thickness from
slender twigs to branches more ‘than half an inch in diameter, and is
cemented with mud and clay and lined with large masses of turf, a few

5
i
—" —

——— —

ee ee

ROOK. ; 553

roots, moss and dry leaves, straws, and a few feathers. It is somewhat
flat in shape outside ; but inside the hollow is rather deep. Although
in rare instances nests of the Rook may be seen loosely made, the
majority are singularly strong and compact. Numbers of nests are built
near together, in many cases touching one another, the largest and most
bulky ones being those which have withstood the storms of many winters
and have been added to and strengthened yearly.

The eggs of the Rook are from three to five in number, and differ con-
siderably in size, form, and markings. Some specimens are oval; others
are rounder, whilst many are considerably elongated. Many have the
ground-colour green of various shades; whilst in some it is very light
blue, almost white. The markings are greenish brown of different degrees
of intensity, sometimes interspersed with spots of deep blackish brown.
The markings are often so thickly distributed as to hide the ground-
colour. They measure from 1°8 to 1°55 inch in length, and from 1:25 to
1:05 inch in breadth. Should the first clutch of eggs be removed, others
will be laid, but in smaller numbers.

During the second week of April the feeble notes of the young Rooks,
swayed to and fro in their elevated cradles, may be heard; and then the
old birds are taxed to the utmost to furnish them with food. From early
morning until the dusk of evening the old birds may be seen passing
in almost noiseless flight to and from the fields with food for their
young. For weeks this goes on, until, in the most forward nests, we see
the young birds sitting outside on the branches. The leaves are then
rapidly expanding, and partly hide the young from view, who try their
wings with little flights from tree to tree and eventually follow their
parents to the pastures, and are there fed and tended, returning at»
nightfall to the nesting-trees.

It is an interesting sight to watch their evening movements. ‘The
babel of sounds is deafening as they wheel round and round previous to
alighting. One by one, or in little parties, they perch on the topmost
branches, now struggling for a post of vantage or taking short flights,
uttering their hoarse caws. In the distance, parties of three or four are
winging their way to join the throng. ‘The noise becomes louder, the
somewhat shrill cry of the Jackdaw sometimes mingling with the homely
caw of the Rook. At last a lull occurs, as the Rooks, perched on every
available bough, turn their heads from side to side or preen their glossy
plumage. But it is not to last, even though the sun has sunk below the
horizon and night is at hand. One of the birds, perched on a dead limb,
utters a hoarse caw; another and another answer; now two or three
together; and speedily the din is loud, nay, louder than before. Many
change their places, their dark forms showing out against the clear western
sky. Others hop about the boughs, to be pushed off by their companions

554: BRITISH BIRDS.

and to be compelled to seek refuge elsewhere. But at last their caws are
heard in lessening numbers ; and finally all is silent.

When the young are able to fly, the whole colony, both young and old,
frequently soar to an immense height directly above the nest-trees, and
wheel round and round in circles, ever and anon buffeting each other.
Then, when anxious to alight, they often perform the motion known to
country-people as “ shooting,” coming down with great rapidity on wings
a little raised and in a zigzag direction. To see a large number of Rooks
so engaged is indeed a grand sight. By many people this peculiar flight
is thought to portend wind; but it is merely the birds’ mode of alighting
on ground or trees directly beneath them. As a rule the Rook alights
more slowly and warily, and often passes and repasses over the same
ground.

Like most other species of the Crow tribe, Rooks are almost omni-
vorous. They are very fond of picking a bone, if they can get the
chance. In autumn they vary their fare with acorns, which they obtain
very often by flying up to the slender twigs and breaking them off by
their own weight, hanging suspended from them. Of their propensity
for egg-stealing little need be said. That they will sometimes despoil a
nest cannot be denied; but such cases are very exceptional. They have
also been said to feed on small birds and mammals. Rooks often frequent
the sea-coast in search of the numerous animal substances to be found
there. Sometimes they may be seen preying upon mussels, obtaining the
mollusk by carrying the shell up to some considerable height and dropping
it on a rock or stone, just as the Crows do. Fruits of various kinds also
form part of their diet, as well as beech-nuts and berries. Although a
rookery is not to be encouraged in the neighbourhood of a Grouse-moor,
we have no bird of greater use to the agriculturist ; and its few litle
failings are amply repaid by its countless good offices in ridding fields
and pastures of some of their greatest pests.

Much controversy has taken place, and considerable diversity of opinion
exists, as to the nature of the bare patch at the base of the mandibles of
the Rook. ‘That this bareness is produced by the bird rubbing off its
feathers when digging in search of food is impossible; for if such were
really the case, why should not the Carrion-Crow, the Jackdaw—in fact,
all others of its kindred—exhibit a similar peculiarity? for all dig just as
much. There can be but little doubt that these small feathers drop off—
a peculiarity which began in some remote ancestor of the Rook and,
proving to the adyantage of the species, was developed by natural
selection.

The Rook has the entire plumage black, beautifully glossed, especially
on the upper parts, with rich bluish purple, especially on the head and
neck. At the base of both mandibles, and extending some way down the

+ ey) eine —~eig ede oem
. = lh a ee ee ee ee -

ROOK.

555

throat, the skin is bare of feathers, warty, and whitish gray in colour.
Bill, legs, toes, and claws black ; irides brown. The female is slightly
less in size than the male; and her plumage is less brilliant. Young birds
resemble the adult ; but their plumage has little gloss, and the base of the
beak is feathered, probably until the spring moult, asin the Carrion-Crow,

from which they may always be distinguished by their more slender beak
and the different gloss of the plumage.

556 BRITISH BIRDS.

CORVUS MONEDULA.

JACKDAW.
(Piate 16.)

Corvus monedula, Briss. Orn. ii. p. 24 (1760); Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 156 (1766) ; et
auctorum plurimorum — Jemminck, Schlegel, Gould, Salvadori, Heuglin,
Dresser, &e.

Corvus spermologus, Veil. N. Dict. d Hist. Nat. viii. p. 40 (1817).

Lycus monedula (Linn.), Bove, Isis, 1822, p. 551.

Colceus monedula (Linn.), Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 114 (1829).

The pert Jackdaw, whose lively gambols in the air and familiar cries
make it a favourite, breeds in most districts, both in Great Britain and
Ireland, in inland localities as well as on the coasts, in forest districts
as often as in rocky ones, in the busy thickly populated cities as much as
in the quiet tower of the village church. It is not found as far as the
Outer Hebrides, and appears only accidentally in the Shetlands, though
sometimes in large flocks; but, according to Baikie and Heddle, a few
pairs breed in Ronaldsha, one of the Orkneys. An occasional straggler
sometimes reaches the Faroes, and, it is said, even Iceland ; but these are
obviously only stray birds which have accidentally wandered beyond their
ordinary limits. The Jackdaw is usually a resident bird; but in the
northernmost portions of its range it is a migrant; and it appears to be a
bird which is gradually extending its range. In Mezen we were told that
it had only appeared during the last twenty years.

On the continent the Jackdaw is distributed throughout Europe south
of the Arctic circle, but becomes very local in the basin of the Mediter-
ranean. It is found in all the countries of Europe, most of the islands of
the Mediterranean, and has occurred as a straggler in the Canaries. Its
northern range is greater in the west than in the east. Harvie-Brown and
1, when at Mezen in lat. 66°, found the Jackdaw common, but we only
saw one example at Uist Zylma in lat. 65°; and Hoffmann did not obtain
it in the Ural Mountains north of lat.61°. In Western Siberia Finsch
found it as far north as lat. 60°; whilst in the valley of the Yenesay I did
not observe it further north than Krasnoyarsk, in lat. 56°. The valley of
the Yenesay is probably the eastern limit of its range. In North Africa,
although collecters have not obtained it in Tangiers, Dixon found it in all
the rocky parts of Algeria which he visited ; but there is no reliable infor-
mation of its occurrence in Egypt. ‘Tristram met with it in Palestine, and
Danford in Asia Minor. It is very common in South Russia and the

JACKDAW. 557

~ Caucasus, and breeds throughout Turkestan, although it does not appear

to inhabit Persia. Colonel Swinhoe found it breeding at Kandahar ; it
also breeds in Cashmere, and is a winter visitant to the plains of North-
west India.

Examples from Western Europe have the collar grey. ‘To the east
birds having exceptionally white collars are frequent 5 and in Central
Siberia, between Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk, a new form appears, slightly

smaller on an average than our Jackdaw, and having the nape, the sides

of the neck, the lower breast, and the belly white. This species (C’. dauricus)
extends eastwards as far as North China, and is everywhere found in
company with C. neglectus, together with intermediate forms between the
two, no doubt produced by interbreeding. The thoroughbred dark form
differs in colour as well as in size from our Jackdaw, the grey on the head
and neck being nearly obsolete. Ornithologists differ as to the explana-
tion of these facts. Middendorff and Dybowsky consider the dark form
(C. neglectus) an immature bird; and Dybowsky, who found it breed-
ing, states that it does not obtain the mature dress until the third year.
Swinhoe, on the other hand, states that he has taken young birds, with the
characteristic markings of the adult, from the nest; and there is an
example in his collection to bear out this statement. Probably Dybowsky
was in error.

Like the House-Sparrow, the Jackdaw possesses the peculiar aptitude
of speedily adapting itself to new surroundings, and often breeds in the
strangest of places. It makes itself perfectly at home even in the great
metropolis, where in certain localities it may be regularly seen amongst
the grimy chimneys, or in company with the Rooks in the parks and public
gardens. We also find Jackdaws in the forest nestling amongst the grand
old oaks ; we see them in the broken battlements of castles and in ruined
abbeys, or amongst the gothic architecture of cathedrals and churches ;
whilst in the mountain-limestone districts almost every rock at all suitable
for the purpose contains their nests. On the sea-coast Jackdaws are also
common birds on all the bold rocks where sea-birds congregate. At Flam-
borough the Jackdaws are very abundant. A republican might call them
the aristocracy of the cliffs. Like the modern noble or the monks of the

middle ages, they contrive to eat the fat of the land without any osten-

sible means of living. They apparently claim an hereditary right in the
cliffs ; for they catch no fish and do no work, but levy blackmail on the silly
Guillemots, stealing the fish which the male has brought to the ledges for
the female, upsetting the egg of some unfortunate bird who has left it for a
short time, and devouring as much of the contents as they can get hold of
when the egg is broken on some ledge of rock or in the sea.

In its habits the Jackdaw very closely resembles the Rook, with which
bird it freely associates ; and its movements are just as regular. It is

558 BRITISH BIRDS.

strictly gregarious and lives in colonies of greater or less extent according
to the accommodation of the site selected. In the morning they may be
seen passing through the air in rapid flight to their distant pastures, where
they spend the day ; and when evening approaches they collect together,
and either join the large flights of Rooks or return by themselves to their
own homes. Dixon gives the following description of this peculiar
habit :—“ I have often been struck with the great regularity of movement
practised by the Jackdaw ; and it is one of the most interesting sights an
ornithologist can see, to take your station near some large haunt and
watch the birds approach to roost. A large colony of Jackdaws live in the
mighty limestone cliffs which are crowned with the now crumbling ruin of
the Keep of the once famous Peveril Castle in the High Peak. Their nests
are built in the holes of this inaccessible cliff, whose base is tunnelled by
the famous cavern known as ‘ Devil’s Hole.’ Here at sunset perhaps not
a bird can be seen, for they are away on the pastures; but as the darkness
gathers their well-known cries disturb the air, and the birds appear in
view flying closely together and perhaps accompanied by a few Rooks.
Then may be seen their pleasing aerial motions ; the whole flock seem in
commotion, and buffet each other, wheel and glide and circle in the air,
ere they perch a few at a time on the stunted trees growing out of the
rocks. Then begins a noisy tumult—not in one long uproar, but im fit-
ful clashes like a peal of bells—as the birds strive for points of vantage on
the branches, or crowd each other off the rocks. Many will be seen to
visit their nest-holes ; but I do not think they roost in them, but summer
and winter alike select the branches of these few trees for a roosting-
place. Notice, too, how the birds sit in pairs, marks of affection often
passing between them; for the Daw most certainly is mated to its partner
for life. As darkness deepens the noise subsides ; but even now the hoary
old chasm will resound with their cackling notes as some fresh disturbance
arouses the colony roosting so high above our heads.”

The flight of the Jackdaw differs considerably from that of the Rook,
and, indeed, from that of all the larger Crows. It is performed by a series
of rapid flappings, very unsteady and wavering at times, but remarkable
for its singular evolutions. ‘lhe Jackdaw’s wing is comparatively long
and pointed ; and the bird will glide with great rapidity from side to side
or stoop like a Hawk, and then, bounding upwards with a peculiar sidelong
motion, again pursue its course. The note of the Jackdaw is a cry some-
thing like quick, often varied with a shrill kind of scream. Although
harsh, it is perhaps less so than that of the other Crows we have in our
islands. It is said that in many districts the Jackdaw has driven away
the Chough from its old haunts on our maritime cliffs; and it is not
improbable that such is really the case.

The Jackdaw builds its nest almost wherever it can find a suitable hole,

a

a a

JACKDAW. 559

either in the cleft of a cliff, it matters not whether maritime or inland, or
in a hole in a building, it may be new or ruined, naked or ivy-clad, or in
a hollow tree, sometimes in the main trunk, sometimes in a side branch.
Where the hole is too deep to suit its purpose it makes a foundation of
sticks, and will sometimes deposit bushels of twigs to raise the level high
enough. In places where no suitable hole is to be found the Jackdaw
has been known to build in a rabbit-burrow.

Jackdaws breed in colonies like Rooks, and may be observed in the
neighbourhood of their nests all the year round, frequently visiting them
like those well-known birds. This bird is a later breeder than the Rook,
seldom commencing operations before the beginning of April. The nest
of the Jackdaw varies in its construction, and is adapted to the peculiarities
of the hole selected. In some cases, where the hole is a small and shallow
one, the merest rudiments of a nest are made, and the cavity contains a
few stray twigs, and mayhap a little moss or withered grass; whilst in
others, where the hole is larger, the nest is a bulky structure.

A large colony of Jackdaws breed in Sherwood Forest. That part of
the forest which adjoins the village of Edwinstow is called Birklands, and
is full of grand old oaks, which have spread their fantastic arms over
bracken and heath for a thousand years, and which now, old and hoary
and_ hollow and fast decaying, form a striking contrast to the elegant
silver-stemmed birches growing between them and giving the name to the
district. Some of these old denizens of the forest are very large. The
“ Major Oak ” is about thirty feet in circumference of stem ; and a hundred
others are nearly as large. They are all, or nearly all, dead at the top and
hollow, or full of hollow places. In these old oaks there are thousands of

Jackdaws’ nests (at a rough guess twenty thousand), as many nests of the |

Starling, a small sprinkling of those of the Stock-Dove, and a stray
Kestrel and Ow] which have escaped the lynx-eyes of the keeper. The
Jackdaws generally make a most formidable nest—a foundation of oak-
twigs, sometimes half a wheelbarrow load, and upon that a substantial
lining of dry grass, roots, moss, and rabbit-down. A stranger to these
woods would not be very successful in a search for eggs. In nine cases out
of ten he would only obtain after a heavy climb a perspective view of an
inaccessible nest full of eggs, at the bottom of a deep hollow trunk. It is
only by obtaining the services of some one who knows the forest and can
remember which nests are accessible that many eggs can be obtained.

The Jackdaw’s nest is made of sticks, moss, grass, leaves, feathers, wool,
together with the food-refuse pellets cast up by the birds, and which, in
addition to being found in the nests, also strew the ground below them,
Numbers of the nests will be built close together, in some cases as many
as a dozen in one single hollow tree. The eggs of the Jackdaw are usually

six in number, sometimes only four or five. They vary considerably in

*

560 BRITISH BIRDS.

size, shape, and markings. Some specimens are bluish green in ground-
colour, richly and boldly spotted and blotched with dark greenish brown,
chiefly at the large end of the egg, and with a few violet-grey underlying
spots; others are much paler in ground-colour, and have the markings
smaller, deeper in colour, and more evenly distributed over the entire
_ snrface, deep greenish brown, olive-brown, and pale grey; whilst others are
the palest of blue, almost white, and quite free from markings. Jackdaw’s
eges are never so thickly and beautifully marked as Crow’s or Raven’s.
They measure from 1°6 to 1:3 inch in length, and from 11 to ‘95 inch in
breadth. After leaving the nest the young birds are taken by their
parents to the pastures, and keep company with them for some time, like
Rooks.

The Jackdaw does not win much favour, and its reputed ill-deeds, on a
much smaller scale of course than its larger congeners, are considered
a sufficient excuse by the ignorant gamekeeper and farmer for taking
its life. It is quite as harmless a bird as the Rook, and at certain
seasons of the year is very useful. You have but to watch its actions
in the fields to be convinced of this.

Like the Rook, the Jackdaw obtains by far the greatest portion of its
food on the fields and pastures, and accompanies its congeners to these
situations with precisely the same object in view. Its food consists
largely of insects, worms, grubs, and even the parasites on cattle. It is
to be seen on the turnip- and potatoe-fields, where the wire-worms are
the object of its quest; whilst in sowing-time it goes with the Rooks to
the newly sown land, and picks up the scattered grain that has escaped
being covered by the harrow. In autumn the Jackdaw will eat
fruit and also acorns and beech-mast; and in winter, when food is often
hard to get, carrion or the refuse of slaughterhouses is eaten. On the
coast the Jackdaw may often be seen, side by side with the Hooded Crow
and the Rook, searching for shell-fish and other marine substances.

The Jackdaw has the crown of the head rich black, glossed with
purple; the ear-coverts, nape, and sides of the neck are grey; the rest
of the upper parts are black, with violet and green reflections, especially
on the wings and tail; the underparts are dull black. Legs, claws, and
bill black ; irides greyish white. The female resembles the male in colour ;
but the grey nape-patch is not so large and pure in colour. Young
birds are dull black, and the grey collar is almost absent.

‘

b
i.

-

t

A

:

t

4

PICA. . 561

y Genus PICA.

The genus Pica is another of the genera “additional to those of
Linneus” which are admitted exceptionally under the Stricklandian
code. It was defined by Brisson, in 1760 in his ‘ Ornithologia,’ ii. p. 35;
and the Common Magpie, his Pica pica, is universally admitted to be
the type.

The Magpies are the representatives of several very nearly allied
tropical genera (Cyanopolius, Urocissa, Cissa, Dendrocitta, &c.), all having
a long graduated tail; but the latter have rounded or non-migratory
wings. In the genus Pica the first primary is decidedly a bastard primary,
generally slightly less than half the length of the second, and proportion-
ally narrow. The bill is stout, the nostrils covered by bristly feathers,
and the tarsus scutellated.

The Magpies are confined to the Nearctic and Palearctic Regions, ex-
tending beyond the latter region to the Himalayas and South China. Only
one species is found in Europe, which is subject to considerable varia-
tions in its wide range; but two fairly separable though very closely
allied species are found—one in California, and the other in Algeria.

The Magpies do not differ much from the Crows in their habits,
and, like those birds, are almost omnivorous. Although shy and wary,
they are social, and are often found close to houses. ‘The haunts
they affect are well-wooded districts; but they sometimes frequent
the moorlands and the coasts. Their flight is graceful and buoyant, and
their notes are harsh and discordant, like the Crows. They build large
bulky nests, domed and placed in the branches of lofty trees, as well as in
bushes. Their eggs are from five to nine in number, and vary from pale
greenish to pure white in ground-colour, spotted and streaked with greenish
brown.

VOL. I.

562 BRITISH BIRDS.

PICA CAUDATA.

MAGPIE.
(Pxate 16.)

Pica pica, Briss. Orn. 11. p. 35 (1760).

Corvus pica, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 157 (1766).

Pica varia, Gerini, Orn. Meth, Dig. ii. p. 40 (1769).

Pica caudata, Gerint, Orn. Meth. Dig. ii. p. 40 (1769); Keys. § Blas. Wirb. Eur.
p. 45 (1840); et auctorum plurimorum—Gould, Yarrell, Giglioli, Gray,
Blyth, Bonaparte, Middendorff, Fritsch, Lindermayer, Filippi, Doderlein, Tristram,
Lilford, Schrenck, Radde, Salvadori, Shelley, Baird, Severtzow, Hartlaub, Alston,
Harvie-Brown, Cavendish Taylor.

Corvus rusticus, Scop. Ann. I. Hist. Nat. p. 38 (1769).

Pica rusticorum, Forst. Syn. Cat. Br. B. p, 48 (1817).

Pica melanoleuca, Veil. N. Dict. d’ Hist, Nat. xxvi. p. 121 (1818).

Pica europea, Bore, Isis, 1822, p. 551.

Corvus hudsonius, Sabine, App. Narr. Frankl. Journ. p. 671 (1823).

Pica albiventris, Vieill. Fam. Frang. p. 119 (1828).

Garrulus picus (Linn.), Temm. Man. d’ Orn. iii. p. 63 (1835),

Pica hudsonica (Sabine), Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. §& N. Amer. p. 27 as

Pica bottanensis, Deless, Rev. Zool. 1840, p. 100.

Pica megaloptera, Blyth, Journ, As, Soc. Beng. xi, p. 193 (1842).

Pica media, Blyth, Journ, As. Soc. Beng. xiii. p, 395 (1844).

Pica sericea, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1845, p. 2.

Cleptes hudsonicus (Sabine), Gambel, Journ. Acad. N. Set. Phil. i. p. 46 (1847).

Pica tibetana, Hodgs. Ann. Nat, Hist. iii. 1849, p. 203.

Pica varia japonica, Temm. et Schl, Faun. Japon., Aves, p, 81 (1849).

Pica japonica (Schi.), fide Bonap. Consp. i. p. 383 (1850).

Pica chinensis (Schl.), fide Bonap. Consp. i. Bi 583 (1850),

Cleptes pica (Linn.), Cab. Mus. Hein. i. p. 229 (1851). |

Pica leucoptera, Gould, B. Asia, pt. xiv. (1862).

Pica rustica (Scop.), Dresser, B. Ewr. iv. p. 509 (1878),

Pica melanoleuca (Vieill.), var. hudsonica (Sabine), Coues, Key N. Amer. B. p. 164
(1872).

Pica caudata (Gerinz), var. bactriana (Bonap.), Severtz. Turkest. Jevotn. p. 64 (1873).

Pica caudata (Gerint), var. hudsonica (Sabine), Baird, Brewer, § Ridgw. N. Amer.
B. ii. p. 266 (1874).

Few birds are better known than the graceful, wary Magpie, although
those seen in confinement give but a small idea of its elegant form and
the almost matchless beauty of its plumage. The bird must be seen in its
native haunts, flitting’ buoyantly and slowly over a breezy waste or the
tops of the trees, or, perhaps better still, when searching the pastures for |
its food ; then the rich variety of its dress lends a charm to the surround-
ings, and its chattermg cry imbues them with life. The Magpie has the
misfortune to be included in the list of those birds that are proscribed
by the game-preserver and the poultry-keeper; hence its numbers are

——

—— -

MAGPIE. 563

rapidly decreasing, and districts that once were its favourite retreats are
quickly becoming deserted or have already ceased to afford it a con-
genial home. In spite of this persecution, however, the Magpie is fairly
common, and breeds in almost all parts of England; but in the
Channel Islands it appears to be very local. In Scotland, according to
Mr. Gray, it is found in all the wooded districts from Wigtown to Suther-
landshire, and is very common in some parts of Ayrshire, although it
appears not to visit the Outer Hebrides, and only occasionally to stray
to Islay and Mull, where it does not breed. It has never occurred
in the Orkneys or the Shetlands. In lreland the Magpie is pretty
common in suitable localities ; and it would appear that it was formerly
much rarer than it is at the present time, if not actually absent altogether,
as the general belief in Ireland is that this bird was imported by the
English.

The Magpie is found throughout the Palearctic Region north of the
Mediterranean, Syria, South Persia, and of the lowlands of Baluchistan ;
in the Oriental Region it is found in the Himalayas, Japan, South China,
Formosa, and Hainan; and in the Nearctic Region it is found throughout
the western United States, but only occurs east of the Missouri river in
winter. In the north it extends up to and occasionally beyond the Arctic
circle. It is migratory in the northern portions ofits range; and on migra-
tion it appears that individuals occasionally stray beyond their usual limit,
as it has been recorded from Egypt and Aleppo. ‘Throughout its extensive
range it is subject to slight variations ; and two forms have apparently
become sufficiently differentiated to rank as good species. ‘The most
distinct of them, P. nutéalli, is apparently confined to South California.
Its only distinction from the common species appears to be that the bill
and the naked skin behind the eye are yellow imstead of black. In
Morocco and Algeria P. mauritanica occurs, a species differmg from
typical examples of the common bird in being slightly smaller, in having
no light patch on the rump, and the bare spot behind the eye more deve-
loped and blue in colour. The black rump, however, is a very doubtful
character. The amount of white varies very considerably in Huropean
individuals, and is entirely absent from some specimens from Portugal
and South Spain, and from Bhotan in the North-east Himalayas, birds
from the latter district having been consequently described as a distinct
species under the name of P. bottanensis. Besides these variations, there
is a considerable difference in the extent of white on the primaries, and in
the length of the first primary and the tail. The white on the primaries
is most developed in birds from Siberia and Central Asia ; and in some
adult males from these localities it frequently extends to the point of the
feather on some of the primaries. This form has received the name of
P. leucoptera. The white is least developed in examples i on m one

)

564 BRITISH BIRDS.

example in the British Museum not reaching within two inches of the end
of any of the quills. To this form Hodgson gave the name of P. tibetana.
Siberian and American birds have, on an average, the longest tails; to the
latter the name of P. hudsonica has been applied. Most examples from
the western Palzearctic Region have the second primary shorter than the
innermost secondaries; whilst in examples from the eastern Palearctic
and the western Nearctic Regions it is as long or longer than they are; but
examples having this peculiarity are occasionally found in the western
Palearctic Region. These four latter forms may possibly rank as sub-
species, but. cannot be considered species; and there seems to be some
doubt if the two first mentioned are specifically distinct ; for some of the
Spanish birds may be considered somewhat intermediate, and examples
having a yellow bill are said sometimes to occur in the British Islands,

The Magpie is not altogether a woodland bird, although it is the
commonest in well-timbered districts, and especially in game-coverts
thickly interspersed with tall trees. Parks are its favourite haunts; but
it may often be seen beating in easy uncertain kind of flight over the
moors, whence it retreats to the fir-plantations on the hillsides. In the
pastures near these situations the Magpie may be often seen wandering
about amongst the feeding cattle or even perched on the back of a sheep.
If alarmed it usually betakes itself to the nearest cover, and always
appears averse to flying any great distance. In autumn and winter flocks
of Magpies are occasionally seen, generally before they retire to roost.
Dixon has known these birds collect from wide stretches of country,
and regularly repair at night to a small fir-plantation, where they
evidently roosted. During the whole day not more than two birds
were to be seen in company; but as night approached, by concealing
himself under the trees, he saw them come to the trysting-place in
pairs and little parties, alighting in noisy converse on the tree-tops,
until by sunset at least a score individuals were gathered there for the
night. Apropos of this gregarious instinct in the Magpie may be quoted
the following rhyme :—

‘One for sorrow,
And two for mirth ;
Three for a wedding,
And four for a birth.”

Although subject to such incessant persecution, the Magpie loves to
frequent the neighbourhood of houses; and in many places, where it is
left unmolested, it will come quite close to the threshold, and even rear its
young in some tall bush open and exposed to the view of all. It is but
rarely that the bird will allow you to approach within gunshot. Shy
and wary, made timid by the knowledge that it receives no favour, it flits
from tree to tree before you, sometimes alighting on the ground, but only

alain

I gS eT I TT EE aT

\

MAGPIE. 565

:

to take wing again as you approach. Upon alighting it elevates its tail,
which is often spread out like a fan and repeatedly wafted gently up and
down. Even when no danger threatens, the Magpie is a restless bird, inces-
santly on the move—now down upon the ground or in the lower bushes,
then up in the topmost branches, every movement usually accompanied by
chattering cries.

Magpies often breed year after year in the same place. My earliest

recollections of bird-nesting are associated with a pair of Magpies which
bred every year in my father’s garden. He was very fond of them; and
in order to secure the young from being stolen by the children of the
woolcombers in the neighbouring village, he used to send the under groom
up the tree and have the young Magpies hung up in a cage in an old
oak tree, where their parents regularly fed them—the right of property in
birds in a cage being respected by.these embryo poachers, who naturally
looked upon trespass in pursuit of Magpies or game as an innocent crime.
After many years’ observation my father came to the conclusion that these
Magpies were weather-wise, and that if they built their nest in a thick
sycamore we might confidently calculate upon a stormy spring, whilst the
position of the nest near the slender top of a lofty poplar was‘a sure indi-
cation of fine weather.
, Although in the British Islands the Magpie is found almost everywhere,
its breeding-grounds are to a certain extent restricted.- To almost every
variety of scenery Magpies lend a charm; but it is only in the wooded
districts that their nests may be found in any great numbers. Sometimes,
however, the bird will rear its young in hedges or in trees standing alone ;
or on the wide-stretching lonely moor its nest may not unfrequently be.
observed in the stunted bushes that, in spite of wind and storm, manage
to take root in the scanty soil. But these places are exceptional. Almost
every forest tree is used by this bird for a nesting-place. The towering
oaks and elms in the wooded solitudes—the pines, the firs, and the alders,
either in plantations or standing alone—the graceful silver birches, the
mountain-ash, or the more lowly hawthorn, holly, and crab-tree all in
turn are selected to hold its large and bulky nest. More rarely it will
build in tangled thickets; and in Norwegian Lapland, where the bird is
protected, I have seen its nest under the eaves of houses, in heaps of
brushwood, and in low bushes.

The Magpie is an early breeder, and begins to build towards the latter
end of March or early in April. It probably pairs for life. The nest 1s
usually placed on one of the topmost branches, and seldom near the trunk,
unless in its most slender part. Here, in a suitable fork, the sticks are
arranged which form the outside of the nest. These sticks are cemented
with mud and clay, which also forms the first lining to the stick-built
nest. More sticks are now added, until the nest itself is covered with a

566 BRITISH BIRDS.

large dome or roof, yet not sufficiently dense to hide the eggs from view
when the observer is but a short distance from them. At this stage the
nest will most probably be left for a day or so ere the birds commence
lining it with a bed of fine rootlets. No other materials but these are
ever used by the Magpie in lining its nest ; and they are placed so evenly
that the eggs lie as bare and exposed as if in a basin. The nest is very
bulky and almost impenetrable, from the fact that the birds usually select
sticks with large thorns upon them. The nest-cavity is very deep for its
breadth ; and the hole in the side of the basket-like roof, just above the
edge of the nest, is generally well concealed.

The eggs of the Magpie are exceptionally numerous. Dixon has, in a
few instances, found as many as nine; but from six to eight is the usual
number. They are very small in proportion to the size of the bird, many
of them being no larger than exceptionally large eggs of the Blackbird.
They vary from bluish to yellowish green in ground-colour, with greenish-
brown markings thickly and evenly distributed over the entire surface.
They are subject to considerable variation: some specimens are almost
white, with a few pale olive-green markings at the larger end; whilst
others are green in ground-colour, boldly marked with deep brown and a
few faint underlying greyish-purple blotches. A less frequent variety is
precisely like the eggs of the Pied Wagtail in colour. They measure
from 1:45 to 1:25 inch in length, and from 1:0 to ‘9 inch in breadth.

The Magpie only rears one brood in the season; but if the first clutch
be destroyed, other eggs will be laid, this circumstance probably explain-
ing the late broods of this bird that we sometimes meet with. Both birds
sit upon the eggs, although the female performs the greater part of the
duties of incubation. As soon as they are able to leave the nest the
young birds are tended by their parents, who usually lead them to
the neighbouring fields in search of food. When the nest of the Magpie
is approached, should it only contain fresh eggs, the bird slips quickly off
them ; should she, however, be sitting, it often requires repeated blows on
the trunk of the tree to dislodge her; and when the young birds are
hatched, both the parents will fly round the tree at some considerable
elevation uttering cries of alarm; and their actions become still more
uneasy and troubled should the notes of the young birds be imitated by
the observer.

The food of the Magpie is varied ; and its propensity to feed upon any
kind of fare too often costs the bird its life. It is charged with the
destruction of newly born lambs and weakly sheep; but certainly the
evidence that it does so is not very clear. In the poultry-yard and the
game-covert, however, the mischief it works by carrying off the eggs and
young chicks is a sufficient crime to render it liable to persecution. But
_ when we bear in mind the numerous artifices adopted by birds for the safety

: MAGPTR. 567

of their eggs and young, we feel bound to admit that the Magpie’s few small
failings are amply counterbalanced by the good it undoubtedly performs.
After its young are reared and the game-birds and poultry are well able to
take care of themselves, the Magpie repairs to the pastures in search of
noxious insects and grubs. It will devour snails and worms, and is said
to take vermin from the sheep and cattle. In autumn it levies a trifling
tribute from the fruit-trees, and will eat acorns and beech-mast. When
hard pressed for food, it will not object to carrion, and has been known to

_take small birds, whilst in sowing-time it may often be seen on the land
picking up the grain.

-The note of the Magpie is a harsh chatter, most frequently heard at
nightfall, when the birds are about to seek a roosting-place; but in the
breeding-season it is said to utter a softer and more pleasant note.

The Magpie, according to Sebright, affords an excellent quarry for
hawking ; and in his well-known work a most interesting description of this
sport may be found.

The typical form of the Magpie has the head, neck, back, and breast

_rich black glossed with greenish reflections ; the scapulars and belly are
pure white ; the lower part of the back and rump are greyish white, the
upper tail-coverts and the wings black, the latter richly glossed with
green and having an elongated patch of pure white, varying in length,
upon the inner web of each feather. The tail, which is much graduated,
is dull black below, but iridescent above on. both webs of the two central
feathers, and on the outer web of all the others, and beautifully glossed
with greenish bronze and purple, and having a subterminal band of violet-
black. The under tail-coverts and thighs are dull black. Bill, legs, toes,
and claws black; irides dark brown. The female and young birds resemble *
the male.

eaten ke telat ats ietiainiali Mab alia

|

568 BRITISH BIRDS.

_

Genus GARRULUS.

The genus Garrulus is one of those genera which were established by
Brisson, and which are additional to those recognized by Linneus. The
explanation of Rule 2 of the Stricklandian code asserts that they “are
therefore of perfectly good authority,’ but most illogically omits to
explain why the genera of other contemporaries of Linnzeus, “ which are
additional to those in the twelfth edition” of the great naturalist’s works,
are not of equally good authority. Linnzus did not separate the Jays
from the Crows, but included both in his genus Corvus ; but Brisson had
established for the former in 1760 the genus Garrulusin his ‘ Ornitho-
logia,’ ii. p. 46, calling the Common Jay Garrulus garrulus, thereby
designating it as the type. |

The Jays belong to the short-winged group of the Corvin, in which
the tail is always more than three fourths of the length of the wing.
From the Magpies, which belong to the same group, the Jays are easily
distinguished by having the tail only slightly rounded and not longer
than the wing. The upper tail-coverts, except in some Indian species,
are white. The bill is stout; and the tarsus is scutellated. The most
characteristic feature of the Jays is their wing-coverts, which are barred
with blue, black, and white. The nostrils are covered by bristly feathers.

The true Jays are confined to the Palarctic and Oriental Regions.
The genus contains about twelve species, some of which are divisible into
subspecies. Only one species is found in the British Islands; but two
others are found in Eastern Europe, and a fourth in North Africa.

Like the rest of the Corvine, the Jays are almost omnivorous. They
principally frequent woods, where their harsh cries are heard, and where
they breed, though rarely at any great elevation. Their nests are com-
posed of twigs lined with roots; and their eggs are greenish white with
brown spots and streaks,

SE

i deh

COMMON JAY. 569

GARRULUS GLANDARIUS.

COMMON JAY.

(PLate 16.)

Garrulus garrulus, Briss. Orn. ii. p. 47 (1760).

Corvus glandarius, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 156 (1766) ; et auctorum plurimorum—
(Gray), (Bonaparte), (Cabanis), (Schlegel), (Gould), (Dresser), &c.

Glandarius pictus, Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. i. p. 99 (1816).

Garrulus glandarius (Linn.), Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. &c. Brit. Mus. p- 18 (1816).

Lanius glandarius (Linn.), Nilss. Orn. Suec. i. p. 75 (1817).

The Jay is one of the most beautiful of our native birds; but on account
of its proneness to pilfer from gardens and orchards and occasionally
to strangle a young Pheasant or Partridge, it finds no mercy from the
gamekeeper or gardener, and doubtless from this cause is decreasing in
numbers. It is still found more or less commonly in all the wooded
parts of England, and in some districts appears even to be increasing in
numbers, as, for instance, in North Lincoinshire ; but in Scotland it has
of late years become much rarer. According to the facts collected by
Mr. Lumsden (‘Scottish Naturalist,’ iii. p. 233) the bird is evidently
extending its range northwards. In the days of Macgillivray the woods
skirting the Grampians were apparently its northern limits; but now it
occasionally ranges north of this boundary. It is only in the counties of
Forfar, Perth, the central parts of Argyll, Dumbarton, parts of Stirling,
Clackmannan, and Kinross that the Jay is at all common ; and throughout
the country, from the reports received, it appears that the bird is less
common than it used to be, most observers stating that incessant persecu-
tion is the cause. It has once been observed in Shetland, and also in
Caithness, but cannot be traced to the Orkneys, nor does it ever appear
to visit the Outer Hebrides or the Western Isles. It is only in the
southern half of Ireland that the Jay somewhat locally occurs, although,
according to Thompson, the bird evidently at one time bred in the
northern portions of the island.

The geographical distribution of the “ true Jays” forms the subject of
a very interesting map placed as a frontispiece to Wallace’s ‘Island
Life.’ It must not, however, be supposed that all the species whose range
is there denoted are nearly allied to our bird. We may reject Garrulus
lidthi as not being a true Jay at all; G. lanceolatus may be also dismissed
as subgenerically distinct from our bird, having quite a different pattern
of colour on the wings, tail, and head; G. bispecularis, G. sinensis, and
G. taivanus are local races of the tropical form of our Jay, which have
become completely differentiated from it, having lost every trace of black

570 BRITISH BIRDS.

on the head except on the checks. The rest of the Jays, with one or more
forms then unknown to Wallace, are nothing but local races of our
Common Jay.

The typical form of the Common Jay is a resident bird throughout
Europe except in the south-east. In Scandinavia it is found as far north
as the Arctic circle; in Russia up to lat. 63°, ranging eastwards to the
valley of the Volga. Eastwards through South Siberia, the valley of the
Amoor, and the north island of Japan, extending southwards into North
China, G. brandti occurs, differing in being greyer on the back, and in having
the ground-colour of the head and nape rich chestnut, instead of pale
vinous on the former shading into darker vinous on the latter. In the
south island of Japan, however, the European form almost reappears,
G. japonicus differing from our bird only in having the eround-colour
of the head somewhat ‘whiter, and in haying the black on the cheeks
extending upwards to the lores. In Eastern Turkey, Asia Minor, the
Caucasus, Palestine, and South Persia a black-headed Jay is found,
G. atricapillus, which principally differs from our bird in having the crown
and nape black and the feathers of the forehead and throat nearly white.
In Asia Minor many examples (G. anatolie) have the darker forehead and
throat of our bird, but retain the black head. On the south-western

shores of the Caspian the Jays have the upper and underparts a much richer ~

vinous, and the black feathers of the head have indications of rufous
margins. This species I have named G. caspius, which is represented
further to the south in North Persia by G. hyrcanus, which is still richer
in colour, and has the margins to the dark feathers of the head almost as
much developed as in the typical form. A slightly modified form is also
found in Algeria, G. cervicalis, differing principally from the Common Jay
in having the cheeks much whiter, the feathers on the crown almost
entirely black, and the nape a much richer rufous than the back. It is
probable that all these forms interbreed whenever they get the opportunity.
In Asia Minor intermediate forms occur between G. anatolie and G. atri-
capillus. Bogdanow states that the Jay which is found in the valley of the
Kama, and which he names G. sewerzowii, is intermediate between G. glan-
darius and G. brandti; and Messrs. Alléon and Vian say that in the neigh-
bourhood of Constantinople intermediate forms between G. glandarius and
G. atricapillus occur. The peculiarity in the present species which makes
it somewhat exceptional is that the Siberian bird (G. Srandti), instead of
being an arctic, has the appearance of being a tropical form, which may
possibly be accounted for by its being only found in the extreme south of
Siberia.

The Jay is essentially a bird of the woods. Like most showy birds, it
loves seclusion and finds a congenial haunt in our game-coverts, forests,
and shrubberies. Woods thickly interspersed with large clumps of hollies

wee

COMMON JAY. 571
.

are favourite places of this bird; and in these situations if you do not
meet with it, you have but to thank the cruel gamekeeper and observe
the bird’s gaudy plumes swaying to and fro in the wind as it hangs nailed
in the keeper’s “museum,” in company with a whole army of weasels,
Magpies, and a few Sparrow-Hawks and Kestrels, once ornaments of the
solitudes around you. The Jay is also found in the large shrubberies
near houses, especially if a thick growth of underwood is ‘there, whence
at nightfall you may often hear its discordant scream as it searches out a
roosting-place. It is a very shy and timid bird; and nine times out of ten
its note is the only sign of its presence, or mayhap you will catch-a hasty
glimpse of its varied plumage as it flits noisily away into the deepest parts
of the cover.

Sometimes, especially in spring, fortune may favour you, and you will
see a regular gathering of these noisy birds. It is their pairing-time; and

_ by exerting the utmost caution you may approach them sufficiently close

to hear their warbling notes, confined to this season. It is only at this
time that the Jay displays a social disposition; and the birds may
often be heard to utter a great variety of notes, some of the modulations
approaching almost to a song. But their wariness is none the less; and
if you unwittingly tread upon some dead twig, or cause a branch to rustle,
the whole troop, greatly alarmed at your intrusion, scurry off, and their
harsh screams, now faint and indistinct in the distance, are the only signs
of their presence. The usual note of the Jay is a harsh discordant
scream, a hoarse rake, rake, or sometimes a clever imitation of some of the
notes of the other birds of the forest. Respecting this presumed imitative
power of the Jay numerous observations have been made by careful
naturalists. Montagu states that he has heard the bird imitate the®
mewing of a cat, the hooting of an Owl, or the neighing of a horse;
Bewick has heard it copy to a nicety the sound made by a saw; whilst
other observers have heard it utter correct imitations of the notes of
various singing-birds. In confinement (where the bird is often seen)
these powers are even more fully displayed; and consequently the bird is
a great favourite. The Jay becomes noisiest in the evening; and _ its
discordant notes may then be heard together with those of the Pheasant
and the Magpie. Numbers of the birds call together, or answer each
other from different parts of the cover, and, with the note of the Wood-
Owl and the purr of the Nightjar, make a concert sounding singularly

- uncanny amidst the gloom of the forest. ‘The flight of the Jay is a some-

what laboured one, performed very irregularly and with rapid beatings of
the wings. The Jay’s peculiar flight is seen to the greatest perfection
when the bird is flying in the open; for in the thick cover they appear to
scurry off amongst the branches, anxious to conceal themselves as soon as
possible. In spring the Jay may sometimes be observed to fly at a con-

572 BRITISH BIRDS.

siderable elevation above its native woods, and, suddenly closing its wings,
to shoot downwards like an arrow into the cover below. Although capable
of long-sustained flight, in this country it rarely flies far, preferring to go
from tree to tree or to pursue its way through the tangled undergrowth.
When perched in a tree the Jay sits well upright, its tail sometimes
wafted to and fro, its head constantly turned from side to side, and its
crest erected or depressed, its restless actions showing its wariness and
timidity at being so far from cover. When thus perched the Jay can
sometimes be approached very closely ; and it is a noteworthy fact that
singularly beautiful and conspicuous as the bird’s plumage is, it is rarely
seen until its harsh note proclaims its departure to a safer retreat.

Like all its congeners, the Jay wins no favour from the game-preserver
or gardener, although there is little doubt that its ill-deeds are greatly
exaggerated by its persecutors. In summer, when the garden-fruits are
ripe, the Jay appears to overcome its wariness and ventures near our
houses to satisfy its appetite for this fare. In the game-coverts it is
charged, and with some reason, with the serious offence of devouring
young Pheasants and sucking the eggs not only of small birds but also of
game. This makes the keeper its sworn enemy, who never loses a chance
to shoot or trap a Jay. Dixon has seen the Jay in close pursuit of a
Great Titmouse, who only escaped capture by taking refuge in a thick
bush; and on other occasions he has seen it strike at small birds, only
apparently deterred from following up the chase by the presence of a
human being. In autumn the Jay is extremely fond of acorns, beech-
mast, and nuts, which it will sometimes hide in holes of the ground or in
crevices, burying one here and there; but whether the bird ever returns
to these buried stores is difficult to say. In winter the Jay subsists upon
whatever it can find. At this season it may often be seen clinging to the
sides of pea- and bean-stacks; and if hard pressed, carrion will not be
refused. In the early part of the year the Jay is indeed the farmer’s and

gardener’s friend; for he lives almost entirely on worms, grubs, and.

noxious insects, searching for them both in the open pastures and under
hedges and bushes—perhaps, by the way, the only time the Jay visits the
ground, where it is not seen to walk, like the true Crows, but to pursue its
way in a series of hops.

It is very probable that Jays pair for life. At all seasons they may be
observed in pairs; and the noisy gatherings of these birds early in
the year, probably for the purpose of pairing, are most likely composed of
single birds and the young of the previous season. Further, pairs of these
birds will frequent one locality and regularly nest in certain places, pro-
vided you do not molest them. In April, when the woodlands are rapidly
becoming dense and secluded under a thick canopy of foliage, the Jay
searches out a site for its nest. This is rarely at any great height from

ee ee ee ee ee

i ~—*

-
t
i

COMMON JAY. | 573

the ground. Unlike the Crow and the Rook, the present species almost
always selects a suitable situation in the lower branches of the tall
hollies, yews, fir trees, or whitethorns, or in a thick hazel bush. Sterland
mentions a nest he found at the top of a beech tree, 50 or 60 feet from the
ground. A favourite place for a Jay’s nest is in some thick clustering mass
of woodbine growing over a shrub; and it has been said to nest in a hole
of a tree; but this was probably only where the hollow was much exposed.

Sticks (not so coarse, however, as those used by the Magpie), sometimes

cemented with mud, and fibrous roots are the materials used. In form
the Jay’s nest is cup-shaped, deep, and very bulky. It is generally very
neatly made, and on the same model as the nests of the Bullfinch, the
Hawfinch, and the Sparrow-Hawk. The coarsest twigs are selected for the
foundation. As the construction of the nest proceeds, finer and finer twigs
are chosen ; and, finally, the lining is composed of roots, which often project
above the outside structure. ‘The eggs are laid by the latter end of April,
more frequently in the first or second week of May, and are from five to
seven in number. They are bluish green in ground-colour, usually evenly
and thickly speckled over the whole surface with olive-brown, and sometimes
marked with a few streaks of rich brown. Some specimens are not so
closely marked and have a greener appearance, as more of the ground-
colour is visible; whilst others have the greater part of the spots collected
in an indistinct zone round the egg. They vary in length from 1:35 to
1:2 inch, and in breadth from 1:0 to °85 inch.

At most times of the year the Jay is a noisy bird, and its harsh screams
are ever heard, reminding the observer of its presence ; but in the breeding-
season its habits undergo a marked change in this respect. It is rarely
heard to call, save when alarmed, during the whole period of incubation,

_and keeps so close to the cover that it will build in the shrubberies close

to our houses, and we are only made aware of the fact when the old birds
lead their noisy young through the trees. Only one brood is reared in

- the season; and usually the old birds and their young form a family-

party, and keep together through the autumn and winter.

The migrations of the Jay are an interesting feature in its history ; and
although the bird’s flight appears so slow, uncertain, and laborious, it is a
fact that, in some autumns, the bird passes over enormous distances. In
the ‘Zoologist’ for 1883, p. 1, a most graphic account bearing on this
portion of the Jay’s economy may be found, from the able pen of Mr. John
Cordeaux. From observations which he has been able to collect from
various sources, but chiefly from that veteran observer of bird-life, my
friend Mr. Gaetke of Heligoland, he establishes most clearly the fact that
the bird is a migratory one—not from its northern forests in Scandinavia,
but from the east, across Germany, from the forests of the Oder and the
Vistula, and probably from the eastern limits of itsrange. From this able

574 BRITISH BIRDS.

article we learn that great numbers of Jays passed Heligoland in the
autumn of 1876. In the words of Gaetke, “ Thousands passing the island ;
some landed, caught; coming, never ending.” Since that date the bird
does not appear to have been observed at Heligoland until last autumn,
when immense numbers occurred again, Gaetke stating that “a perfect
storm of Jays has passed over and on both sides of the island, during the
last three days. No one living has ever seen the like here.” — In Norfolk,
Stevenson remarks that at times the resident Jays are sometimes largely
increased in numbers in autumn; and this naturalist gives an instance,
coming under Messrs. Shepphard and Whitear’s observation, of an
enormous flight of these birds that appeared in that county. As to the
cause of this singular movement on the part of the Jay we are at present
in the dark; but it may possibly be a similar one to that which influenced
the extraordinary migration, or rather emigration, of the Sand-Grouse—
that is, a superfluous population in search of a home.

The Jay has the head covered with a long crest, whitish buff in
colour, each smaller feather tipped with black, which in the more
elongated ones becomes a median stripe; and in the hinder feathers these
stripes merge into vinaceous brown freckled and barred with a darker
shade. The nape, scapulars, and back are vinous brown; the rump and
upper tail-coverts pure white; the tail black, indistinctly barred on the
basal half with blue; the primaries are dull black, margined with white;
the secondaries are glossy black, each with an elongated white patch on
the basal half of the outer web; the innermost secondary is chestnut,
obliquely tipped with black ; the wing-coverts are black on the inner web,
but barred alternately on the outer web with black, white, and blue. On

each side of the gape is a broad moustachial patch of black ; the chin and _

throat are dull white ; the breast and belly are pale vinous, darkest on the
flanks; and the vent and under tail-coverts are white. Bill blackish
horn-colour ; legs, feet, and claws brown; irides pale blue. The female
resembles the male in colour; and the young birds, even in their nestling
or first plumage, do not strikingly differ from their parents.

PYRRHOCORAX. 575

Genus PYRRHOCORAX.

Linneus included the Choughs in his genus Corvus; but they had been
previously separated by Brisson and placed in a new genus, to which he
gave the name of Coracia. This name cannot be used, in consequence of
its bearing too close a resemblance to the Linnean genus Coracias, which
contains the Rollers. The first author after Linnzeus who separated the
Choughs appears to have been Scopoli, who in 1769 established for their
reception the genus Gracula. This name must also be rejected, in conse-
quence of its having been in 1735 applied by Linnzus to the Cormorants,
and in 1758 by the same naturalist to a genus of Starlings; both which
names have been so extensively used by later writers as to make it unadvyi-
sable to retain the name for a third genus. We therefore fall back upon
the name Pyrrhocorax, which was first used in 1771 by Tunstall in his
‘Ornithologia Britannica,’ p. 2, and afterwards in 1816 by Vieillot in his
‘ Nouveau Dictionnaire d’ Histoire Naturelle,’ vi. p. 568. As the Common

-Chough was the only bird of the genus known to Tunstall, it must be
accepted as the type.

The Choughs belong to the long-winged group of the Corvinz, in which
the tail is always less than three fourths the length of the wing. The
Choughs are scarcely separable generically from the Crows, but are said
to have the nostrils placed lower in the maxilla, nearer to its lower edge
than to the culmen, while in the Crows the position is the reverse. The
Choughs may be readily distinguished from all the other Corvine by their
red or yellow legs and bills. From the Orioles they may be separated by
the covered nostrils, which in those birds are bare and exposed. ‘The bill
is comparatively slender and somewhat curved; the tarsus is scutellated.

The Choughs inhabit the southern half of the Palzarctic Region,
encroaching on the Ethiopian Region in Abyssinia, and on the Oriental
Region in the Himalayas and China. The genus contains but two species,
one of which is a resident bird in, and the other very doubtfully recorded
as a straggler to the British Islands.

The Choughs are principally inhabitants of mountainous districts, and
more rarely of rocky coasts. In habits and food they do not appear to
differ much from their congeners, but are possibly not quite so omnivorous.
They are shy and wary birds, gregarious at all times, and also freely con-
gregate with allied species. Their nests, placed in clefts of rocks, are
made of sticks, roots, hair, moss, wool, &c. ; and their eggs, from four to
five in number, vary from greenish to pure white in ground-colour, with
brown spots and purplish-grey shell-markings.

576 BRITISH BIRDS.

PYRRHOCORAX GRACULUS.

THE CHOUGH.
(Pxate 16.)

Coracia coracia, Briss. Orn. ii. p, 3 (1760),

Corvus graculus, Linn, Syst. Nat. i. p. 158 (1766) ; et auctorum plurimorum—
Schlegel, (Bonaparte), (Cabanis), (Fritsch), (Heuglin), (Sharpe), (Dresser), &c.

Corvus eremita, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 159 (1766).

Gracula pyrrhocorax, Scop. Ann. I. Hist. Nat. p. 42 (1769, nec Linn.).

Coracias montana, Gerini, Orn. Meth. Dig. ii. p. 38, pl. clii. (1769).

Pyrrhocorax graculus (Linn.), Tunst. Orn. Brit. p. 2 (1771).

Corvus docilis, Gel. Reis. Russl. iii. p. 365, pl. 39 (1774).

Graculus eremita (Linn.), Koch, Syst. baier. Zool.i. p. 91 (1816).

Fregilus graculus (Linn.), Cuv. Regne An. i. p. 406 (1817).

Coracias erythroramphos, Vieill. N. Dict. d’ Hist. Nat. viii. p. 2 (1817).

Fregilus europeeus, Less. Traité, p. 824 (1831).

Fregilus erythropus, Swains. Classif. B. ii. p. 268 (1837).

Coracias gracula (Linn.), Gray, Gen. B. ii. p. 321 (1846).

Fregilus graculus, var. orientalis, Dybowshki, Journ. Orn. 1868, p. 332.

Fregilus graculus, var. brachypus, Swink. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1871, p. 383.

The Chough is another of those birds that are becoming rarer in our
islands from no apparent cause. The encroachment of man, as Mr. Gray
justly remarks, can scarcely be a reason for its disappearance; for the
bird’s haunts are practically inaccessible and are usually places far
removed from his industries. It is, however, worthy of note that most
observers agree that the Chough’s decrease has been marked by an increase
of another rock-bird, the Jackdaw; but whether this be merely a coinci-
dence, or an instance of the weak being driven off and replaced by the
strong, is a matter for investigation. Formerly the Chough bred in many
inland localities in England; but now it is only known to frequent a few
favoured spots on the coast. Years ago the bird bred on almost all the
suitable cliffs of the south coast ; but at the present day most of its breed-
ing-stations are deserted. It still breeds in Cornwall, the north of Devon,
on Lundy Island, and at many places on the Welsh coast, in Glamor-
gan, Pembroke, Anglesey, Flint, Denbigh, and possibly on the rocks
of the Calf of Man. On the east coast of England, More states (‘ Ibis,’
1865, p. 1382) that a few pairs were known to nest near Fast Castle in
Berwickshire, and Hancock corroborates the statement, whilst in the
Channel Islands the bird, although local, still breeds. In Scotland it
appears to have been much commoner quite recently than at the present

— a

CHOUGH. 577

time, and to have now completely deserted its inland haunts, being only
found on the ocean cliffs. It formerly haunted Burrow Head, the Mull of
Galloway, Troup Head, and St. Abb’s Head in considerable numbers ; but
now in some localities only a few pairs remain, whilst in others the bird
has vanished altogether. The great stronghold of the Chough is in the
island of Islay. On the west coast of Skye (which locality now appears
to be its northern limit in our islands), in Wigtownshire, and Kireud-
brightshire a few pairs are still known to breed. Although found in the
Long Island in Macgillivray’s day, it is now absent, as also from Coll,
Rum, and Canna and other stations on the Western Islands. In Ireland
its numbers have also decreased. It appears to have deserted all its
inland haunts, and only a few chosen places on the coast and the adjacent
islands are now frequented by it; but it is still common on the coasts of
county Kerry, and I specially remember its abundance on the magnificent
cliffs at Sybil Head, west of Dingle.

The Chough is essentially a bird of the rocks, and is in no part of its
range a migratory species. In the British Islands it finds suitable haunts
on the coast; but on the continent it breeds almost exclusively on the
mountains. It is found in the Pyrenees, the Alps, the Apennines, and
the mountains of Sicily and Sardinia, the Carpathians, the Parnassus, the
Caucasus, and the Urals, and on many of the intervening lesser ranges of
hills. In the Atlas and the Aurés, Abyssinia, the rocky mountains of
Arabia Petrzea, and the hills of Persia, the mountain districts of Southern
Siberia, Turkestan, the Himalayas, Mongolia, Tibet, and North-east China
the Chough also breeds. It appears to be a maritime bird only on the
Atlantic coast. South of the British Islands Saunders records it from
Belle Isle, on the coast of Brittany. It also breeds in Palma, one of the

.
f
|
F
|

'F Canaries (exceeding 7000 feet above the level of the sea) ; but here it is

said to nest in the clefts of the sides of the crater and not on the coast.
It is a mistake to suppose that Belle Isle is the only maritime resort of the
. Chough outside of the British Islands. It is certainly a maritime bird in
South-west Portugal. Dresser mistranslates the account of this colony
given by Dr. E. Rey (Journ. f. Orn. 1872, p. 145)*. Accidental wanderers
are occasionally caught in other parts of Europe. The Chough is a
southern bird; and there is no evidence whatever of its being found north
of lat. 58° except in Scotland. The stories of its having been seen in
the Archangel government are no doubt myths. | Sabanaefl distinctly
states that in the Ural Mountains the northern limit of its range 1s

«“ At the end of the valley I found the nests, but

* Dresser says:—Dr. Rey writes :
/ resser Says: y ’ wea ha TE at aaa P
in a place where I could not possibly reach them.” The correct translati : ie
entirely different meaning, and is: —“ Outside the valley I found the nest-colony, bu
: a . of 9?
unfortunately in an absolutely inaccessible part of the coast. af
VOL. I.

- 4 * Le
£ :
<
“

578 BRITISH BIRDS.

Tagilsk, the chief locality where the celebrated iron-mines of Prince
Demidoff are situated.

The Chough of Eastern Asia and China (var. orientalis) has been sepa-
rated on the ground of its having a shorter tarsus and foot. This seems,
however, to be principally a question of sex, the female having a shorter
tarsus than the male. Examples from the Himalayas were described as a
distinct species by Gould (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1862, p. 125), under the
name of Fregilus himalayanus. This local race is undoubtedly worthy of
mention, although it can only be regarded as a subspecies, as inter-
mediate forms are found. Specimens from Europe and China measure
from 11% to 103 inch in length of wing; whilst those from India vary
from 131 to lld inch. Birds from intermediate localities are intermediate,
however, as a series from Asia Minor, Persia, and Turkestan vary from
123 to 114 inch.

The Chough, like the Rook and the Jackdaw, lives in colonies. Its
haunts are the tall beetling cliffs, the rugged rocks which descend sheer down
into a boiling sea and are quite inaccessible to all but the most intrepid
cragsman or venturesome oologist eager to enrich his cabinet with
“‘ British-taken” specimens of its eggs. A haunt of the Chough is usually
also a sea-bird’s haunt. On the face of the stupendous cliffs the Puffin
and the Guillemot sit quietly ; and lower down the noisy Kittiwakes ever
and anon flutter into the air and join the black-coated Choughs, whose
notes mingle with the cries of the sea-birds and the dull roar of the ever-
restless waves below.

Dixon met with the Chough in Algeria, and made the following notes
of its habits there:—“ It was not until we reached the highest parts
of the Djebel Aures that we met with the Chough. At Constantine the
place seems admirably suited to its needs; but the Jackdaw is the only
Corvine inhabitant of these magnificent rocks. When making the ascent
of Djebel Mahmel, some twelve miles south-east of Lambessa, we observed
quite a colony of the birds in a low ridge of rocks, on the side of one of
the barren stony valleys near the snow-capped summit of this fine moun-
tain. Fifty or more birds could be seen in the air together, beating slowly
along the rugged face of the cliffs; and every now and then one or two
would enter their nest-holes, or just as frequently a pair would fly
hurriedly out of them. How the birds obtained a sustenance up in these
sterile mountain solitudes might well give cause for wonder ; yet we could
repeatedly see them upon the stony ground apparently in search of food.
I sometimes noticed one of the birds as it flew along the cliffs drop

suddenly down amongst the rocks; but, as they were exceedingly shy, I

could never get an opportunity of finding out the cause of the bird’s visit
to the earth: it may have been to capture a small insect or beetle or a
locust. Upon another occasion we met with a smaller colony of Choughs

:
:
‘

CHOUGH. 57D

in that portion of the Aurés known as the ‘ Cedar range,’ south-west of
Batna. This colony had its headquarters at the very summit of one of the
highest mountains, in a ridge of rocks commanding a fine view of the
forest-clad hills. As we slowly rode up the steep path on our mules,
the report of our guns as we occasionally secured a specimen of some
bird startled the Choughs from their nests in the rocks far above us,
and they commenced circling about in the air, displaying great powers of
flight ; and their shrill notes resounded through the woods, echoing again
amongst the rocks. I now and again saw them alight upon the little
open spaces of herbage, searching amongst dung for insects and beetles.
Although living amidst the cedar-forests, I never noticed the birds alight
in the branches, but always on the rock-shelves, or in the crevices, in which
they doubtless build their nests. It should be mentioned that the Jack-
daw is very rare in both the localities above mentioned ; and it may be that
bird's abundance at Constantine that explains the Chough’s absence.”
When I was at St. Jean de Luz last spring with my friend Howard
Saunders, we drove about five miles to the base of the steep part of the
hill, and then, leaving our conveyance, we proceeded on foot. We soon
entered the clouds that enveloped the mountain; and after a long and
tedious walk winding along a mule-track through the “Scotch mist” or
sea-fog, we at length found ourselves on the top of la Petite Rhune in

brilliant sunshine. The most interesting birds were the Choughs, which

did not seem to be very rare. We very frequently heard their notes—a
Jackdaw-like cry like khée'-6, khéé'-6. We had no chance of a shot at
them : they were very wild, and flitted about the rocks far away beyond
range; they would not allow us to come near them, though they never
took long flights. When they did fly, they moved their wings somewhat
irregularly and rapidly, as if their bodies were heavy, the exact opposite of
the Kite, which we had watched at intervals on the same ascent. On the
rocks their movements were light enough, toying with each other and
sometimes tumbling over each other like big black butterflies at play.

The Chough, like the Rook, leaves its roosting-place early in the
morning, and repairs to the neighbouring pastures in search of food, some-
times even being seen to follow the plough to pick up worms and grubs.
It is always a restless and a wary bird, never remaining long in one spot,
but shifting its ground in short uncertain flights. Upon the ground it
walks about like a Rook, often mingling amongst the browsing sheep
and cattle, and turning over their droppings in search of insects or
grain.

The food of the Chough consists of beetles, the various animals to be
obtained on the shore, worms, grubs, caterpillars, berries, grain, and even,
it is said, carrion, although we have no direct evidence to prove that

such is really the case. Ney"
“Pe

580 BRITISH BIRDS. ‘

The Chough is seen in pairs at all seasons of the year; and there can
be little doubt that it is mated to its partner for life. Its breeding-
season in our islands commences early in May. ‘The nesting-site is often
in the most inaccessible part of the cliff, where the rocks overhang and~
drop down almost smooth as a wall to the ocean below. Macgillivray and
Newton, however, state that the bird will make its nest in buildings; and
it is very possible that, as with the Jackdaw, these situations were a
favourite choice in the legendary days when the bird was a resident of the
inland districts. The nest is usually placed in some crevice or hole in a
rock, sometimes at a considerable distance from the opening, where it
is absolutely impossible to obtain the eggs. It is made of sticks and
heather-stems, and lined with dry grass, roots, and wool, sometimes with
hair. It is often a large structure, but, as is usual with birds nesting in
holes, seldom very compactly made. The eggs of the Chough are from
three to six in number. ‘They range from creamy white to gregnish 7
white in ground-colour, spotted with brown of various shades, and dashed
with underlying markings of purplish grey ; they vary considerably as to |
the amount of markings upon them. In some eggs the spots are large and |
bold, scattered irregularly over the surface; in others they are finer and
more evenly dispersed, or are collected together in a mass at the larger |
end, many of them being confluent. One egg in my collection (from
Rathlin Island) has almost the whole of the colouring-matter distributed in
small underlying markings; and the entire egg is suffused with a delicate
rosy tinge. Some specimens have a few dark streaks upon them. They
measure from 1°65 to 1:4 inch in length, and from 1:15 to 1 inch in
breadth. That the Chough will sometimes breed in confinement is proved ;
by an interesting note communicated to the ‘ Zoologist’ (1882, p. 431) by .
Miss Nevill.

The Chough has the entire plumage rich black, beautifully glossed,
especially on the upper parts, with steel-blue; the wings and tail, in addi- }
tion to the steel-blue gloss, also display violet and purple reflections. The
beak, which is long and curved, and the legs and feet are vermilion-red ;
claws black ; irides brown. The female does not differ from the male in
colour, but may do so a little in size, being a trifle smaller. Young birds
resemble the adults, but are duller, and the plumage exhibits but little
gloss. The beak and legs when the bird is very young are, according to
Mr. Lumsden, quoted by Dresser, brownish orange, gradually becoming
reddish orange as the bird gets older, then finally red.

One specimen of the Alpine Chough (P. alpinus) has been twice recorded
in the pages of the ‘ Zoologist’ (1881, pp. 422,471, and 1882, p. 481). It
appears to have been shot by a keeper at Broughton Castle, Banbury,
Oxfordshire, on the 8th of April 1881. Although the appearance of the
bird bore no evidence of its ever having been kept in confinement, still

CHOUGH. 581

great doubt must attach to the example in question; for P. alpinus is not a
migratory species, and, further, is a bird very likely to be imported into this
country. It is found in the mountain-ranges of Southern Europe and the
Himalayas, and may always be distinguished from the British species by
its short yellow beak. The egg of this bird has been figured (Plate 16)
for the sake of comparison with that of the British species. I found it
breeding in the Parnassus,

Or
oO
ri)

BRITISH BIRDS.

Genus NUCIFRAGA.

The genus Nucifraga was established by Brisson in 1760, in his ‘ Orni-
thologia, ii. p. 58. He designated the Common Nutcracker as the type,
calling it Nucifraga nucifraga. This genus contains only four species,
easily distinguished from the British Corvine by their spotted throats and
black-and-white tails. They belong to the long-winged group of the
Corvin, in which the tail is less than three fourths the length of the
wing. The bill is rather long, straight, and pointed; the nostrils are
covered with bristly feathers ; and the tarsus is scutellated.

The Nutcrackers are confined to the Palzarctic Region and to the Rocky
Mountains in the extreme west of the Nearctic Region. But one species
is found in Europe, which is an accidental straggler to the British
Islands.

The Nutcrackers inhabit the northern forests, and in more southern
latitudes the mountain-forests. heir habits resemble those of the Jays;
but they are not so omnivorous as the rest of the Corvine, feeding chiefly
on nuts and fruits. Their notes are harsh and shrill. Their nests are

large cup-shaped structures ; and their eggs are greenish or bluish white,
spotted with brown.

, “al

teeta ed

NUTCRACKER. 583

NUCIFRAGA CARYOCATACTES.

NUTCRACKER.
(Prater 16.)

Nucifraga nucifraga, Briss. Orn. ii. p- 59 (1760).

Corvus caryocatactes, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. yp. 157 (1766); et auctorum plurimo-
rum — (Temminck), (Naumann), (Gould), (Gray), (Salvadori), (Dresser),
(Sharpe), (Newton), &e.

Nucifraga guttata, Vieill. N. Dict. d’ Hist. Nat. v. p. 354 (1816).

Caryocatactes maculatus, Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. i. p- 93 (1816).

Nucifraga caryocatactes (Linn.), Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamma. $e. Brit. Mus. p. 18 (1816).

Caryocatactes nucifraga, Milss. Orn. Suec. i. p. 90 (1817).

Caryocatactes guttatus (Vieill.), Milss, Shand. Faun. i. p. 149 (1835).

Caryocatactes caryocatactes (Linn.), Schl. Rev. Crit. i. p. lv (1844).

The Nutcracker has very little claim to be considered a British bird ;
but as nearly a score examples have been seen or obtained in various parts
of England and Scotland, it may be looked upon as an irregular straggler
to our islands during the autumn migration. The Nutcracker is essen-
tially a forest bird; and is found in all suitable localities throughout the
Palearctic Region, but very rarely breeding north of the Arctic circle. In
Norway it has not been recorded north of lat. 64°; but in Sweden it has
been observed as far north as lat. 67°. Harvie-Brown and I did not find
it in the Petchora; but Dr. Hoffmann observed it in lat. 62° near the
sources of that river. In the valley of the Yenesay I found it between lat.
64° and 67°; Dybowsky mentions its abundance near Lake Baikal ; Midden-
dorff found it as far east as the Stanavoi Mountains, north of the sea of
Ochotsk, about lat. 64°; and Schrenck and Radde found it common in thes
valley of the Amoor. In Europe it breeds in the pine-forests of South
Norway and Sweden, on some of the islands in the Baltic, and probably also
in the mountains of Southern Spain and Sardinia. It certainly breeds in the
Black Forest, in the Alps, and the Carpathians, and probably also on all the
mountains of Central Asia. The Nutcracker appears everywhere to be a
resident ; but in autumn the birds gather together in large flocks, which
frequently wander very far from home, especially during winter, when
they irregularly appear in various parts of Europe, Japan, and North
China. ;

‘In Cashmere the Nutcracker is represented by a very nearly allied
species, Nucifraga multipunctata, differing only in being considerably larger
in size, and in having the white on each feather much more developed and

To the south-east, in the Himalayas, where the

the brown much darker. yas,
1 greater, our bird is replaced

climate is more tropical and the rainfall mucl
by N. hemispila. This is as large a bird as the preceding ; but the change

584. BRITISH BIRDS.

in the colour of the plumage has been in a diametrically opposite direction ;
for the brown parts are browner, and the white on the feathers is less
developed.

The Nutcracker is one of those birds to which a special interest seems to
attach, in consequence of the mystery which for so many years surrounded
its nest and eggs. When Naumann wrote his great work on the birds of
Germany, and Macgillivray published his wonderful ‘ History of British
Birds,’ nothing whatever was known of the nidification of the Nutcracker.
We have consequently only very meagre accounts of this bird from the two
great ornithologists, who, more than any others, seem to have combined an
intimate acquaintance with the life-history of birds in their native haunts,
founded on a habit of accurate observation and the necessary opportunities
for its exercise, with the requisite literary ability and the patient mastery
of detail without which it is impossible to write graphically on these
interesting subjects. Of late years, however, a flood of light has been
thrown on the history of this bird. Not to mention many excellent articles
in continental publications, it is only necessary to refer to the interesting
accounts communicated by Prof. Newton of the discovery of the nest in
Bornholm by Pastor Theobald (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1862, p. 207), and of the
eges two years later (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1867, p. 162, pl. xv. fig. 2), and an
equally interesting account of the discovery of both nest and eggs in the
Black Forest by Herr Schitt (Ibis, 1862, p. 365, translated from the
‘Journal fiir Ornithologie’). In the face of such interesting and elaborate
details, Morris’s account of the Nutcracker, in the second edition of his
‘ British Birds,’ published in 1870, “revised, corrected, and enlarged,” in
which this bird is represented as being “ dispersed throughout America,”
and breeding ‘‘ in holes of decayed trees, which they scoop out like the Wood-
peckers,” can only be looked upon as the work of an impostor.

The Nutcracker is one of those birds which seems entirely to change its
habits during the breeding-season. In winter it is remarkable for its
extraordinary tameness. During my visit to Siberia in 1877 I saw
a great deal of this bird. As we sledged over the snow above the ice
down the Yenesay in April, we saw the first Nutcracker in lat.64°. From
that time we rarely missed these birds at the different places where we
stopped to change horses. At most stations one or two were silently
flitting round the houses, feeding under the windows amongst the Crows,
perching on the roof or on the top of a pole, and, if disturbed, silently
flying, almost like an Owl, to the nearest spruce, where they sat con-
spicuously perched on a flat branch, and allowed themselves to be
approached within easy shot. I had no difficulty in securing eight
examples with which to give my “muddle-headed Hebrew” lessons in
bird-skinning. When we reached our steam-yacht the ‘Thames,’ we
found them quite common and remarkably tame. Outside the dvor of

¥

NUTCRACKER. 585

the sailors’ room half a dozen were busy picking amongst the refuse
thrown out by the cook. Their tameness was quite absurd. They allowed
us to go within three feet of them; and sometimes they even permitted us
to touch them with a stick. They are wonderfully sociable birds. At
one time I counted as many as eight in one tree together. Whilst the
sailors were working at the ship, cutting away the ice all round her, there
were frequently two or three Nutcrackers in different parts of the rigging,

apparently watching the operations with great interest. They seem to be

well aware of the fact that scraps of food are always to be picked up where

men are congregated. Sometimes the Ostyak children shot one with a

bow and arrow; and now and then one was caught by the dogs. On the

bushes round the houses they allowed us to approach within four or five

feet of them, and when disturbed moved to the nearest tree with a peculiar

slow, undulating, Jay-like flight. In the forest they flew from tree to

tree, screaming at each other. They have two distinct notes, both harsh

enough. One, probably the call-note, is a little prolonged and slightly

plaintive—a sort of kray, kray; the other is louder and more energetic,

and appears to be the alarm-note—a kr-kr-kr, almost as grating to the ear
as the note of a Corncrake. I was anxious to obtain a series of Nut-

eracker’s eggs; so all through May, whilst the snow was deep on the

ground, I carefully protected them, and fed them with the bodies of the

birds which I skinned. I even took the trouble to cut up the bodies into

small pieces for them, and was delighted to find how eagerly they devoured

this food; but they treated me in a most ungrateful manner. They con-

tinued to be abundant until about the 7th of June, when the snow was

pretty well melted from the ground ; they then vanished altogether; and,

with the exception of a couple of birds I picked up (one on the 25th of
June in full moult), I saw no more of them until they reappeared in flocks

migrating south in August. The breeding-season of the Nutcracker in the

Arctic regions is evidently June and July—at least ten weeks later than

in Central Europe. Where they retired to breed I was unable to discover ;

but it was doubtless on the higher ground which forms the watershed

between the Obb and the Yenesay, and between the latter river and the

Lena, far from the haunts of men—Russian or Ostyak, who all come

down to the great rivers to fish as soon as the snow melts and the ice

breaks up.

The Nutcracker, like most other members of the Crow family, is almost
omnivorous. Caterpillars, wasps, and insects of various sorts have been
taken from its stomach. Its favourite food is the seeds of the Siberian
cedar, which it extracts from the cone with its bill very dexterously. It
also eats nuts, acorns, berries, and even land-shells of various kinds. It
has also the reputation of robbing the nests of other birds of their eggs
and young.

586 BRITISH BIRDS.

When I was in Copenhagen both Mr. Benzon and Pastor Theobald gave
me an animated account of their discovery of the nest of the Nutcracker.
It seems always to choose a not very tall pine tree, and there, from 18 to
25 feet from the ground, it builds a bulky nest on a branch against the
stem. The outside diameter is about a foot, and the outside depth about
five inches. The hollow containing the eggs is four inches in diameter,
and from one and a half to two inches deep. The foundation is composed
of lichen-covered twigs of larch and spruce, finished off with fresh birch-
twigs, and lined with dry grass and the inner bark of trees with a little
loose earth; the final lining is grass, generally dry, but sometimes fresh.
At the nest the birds are extremely shy and quiet. All their former
trustfulness and familiarity is gone, and they flit noiselessly about the
forests, approaching and leaving the nest in the most wary manner possible.
It is said never to utter a cry unless its nest is threatened. Eggs have
been taken in Central Europe from the 10th of March to the 27th of April.
Herr Schiitt, speaking of the nest which he found in the Black Forest,
says :—“ It was about 25 feet from the ground, and was built close to the
stem, and was difficult to see from below. It was found on the 19th of
March; the first egg was laid on the 28rd, the second on the 26th, and
the third on the 29th. On the Ist of April, no further egg having been
laid, the boy, to my regret, took the nest. When we first found the nest
the bird did not utter a cry until we were close to its treasures, when we
heard it in the distance; and an hour after we had left it the cries of the
bird were still to be heard. When the nest was taken it did not fly off
until the boy was climbing up the tree, when it perched upon the top of
the tree and saw the fate of its nest without uttering a cry.” The duties
of incubation are said to devolve upon the female alone, who-sits very
close and is assiduously fed by the male.

The number of eggs varies from three to five. They are very pale bluish
white in ground-colour, sometimes creamy white, thickly spotted with
olive-brown, and freckled over most of the surface with faint underlying
markings of violet-grey. Some specimens are much more sparingly
marked than others, and have the spots chiefly on the large end and very
small. In others a few of the surface-spots are large, intermingled with
smaller markings of the same colour ; and in one specimen in my collec-
tion there are traces of a streak of rich brown. They vary from 1:4 to
1:26 inch in length and from 1:0 to “92 inch in breadth. The eggs of the
Nutcracker very closely resemble a certain type of the egg of the Magpie ;
but the ground-colour appears always to be paler in the Nutcracker’s—in
about the same proportion that a Starling’s egg bears to a Rose-coloured
Pastor’s. From pale varieties of the Jackdaw’s eggs they may be distin-
guished by the much finer grain of their shell, which is also thinner, and

|

A NUTCRACKER. 587

f from the sparingly marked eggs of that bird by their never having the

spots so rich and deep in colour.

The general colour of both the upper and underparts of the Nutcracker
is chocolate-brown, thickly spotted, except on the crown and nape, with
white (these spots are largest on the breast and least developed on the
rump) ; the under tail-coverts are pure white; the wings are black glossed
with green, some of the secondaries being tipped with white; the tail is
rich black, the two central feathers narrowly and the others broadly tipped
with white ; the white on the tail-feathers varies conside rably in extent.
Bill brownish black; legs, toes, and claws black; irides brown. The
female is similar in colour to the male. Young birds resemble their
parents ; but the brown parts are duskier, and the white parts are not so
pure.

as SSSA

588 BRITISH BIRDS.

Genus ORIOLUS.

The genus Oriolus was established by Linnzus in 1766, in his ‘ Systema
Nature,’ i. p. 160, to contain the Orioles and other more or less dis-
tantly allied birds. Vieillot appears to have been the first ornithologist
who removed from this genus several groups of birds which had been
previously generically characterized by Brisson. In 1816 Vieillot, in his
‘Analyse d’une nouvelle Ornithologie élémentaire,’ p. 33, restricted the
genus to its present dimensions, designating Le Loriot (Oriolus galbula) as
the type. Ornithologists differ in opinion as to the position of the Orioles ;
but there seems to be no valid reason for removing them from the Corvine,
of which they form a somewhat aberrant genus. As regards the average
length of the wings and tail the Orioles form an intermediate group. The
chief distinction between the genus Oriolus and the other genera in this
subfamily is the fact that the nostrils are exposed and the sexes are different
in colour; but the latter may possibly not be an important character.
Like the rest of the Corvin, they appear to have a spring moult. There
is nothing in the bill or feet to separate the Orioles from the allied
genera; but the tarsus may be, on an average, slightly shorter. The pre-
vailing colours are also very different, beimg principally yellow or red
variegated with black.

The Orioles appear to be essentially a tropical group of birds. There
are about forty species and subspecies known, of which fifteen are resident
in the Oriental and about the same number in the Australian Region,
seven reside in the Aithiopian Region, and two of the species which inhabit
the first-named region also extend their range into the extreme south of the
Palearctic Region. One species alone appears to be confined to the Pale-
arctic Region during the breeding-season ; this is the only species found in
Europe, and is a rare summer visitor to the British Islands.

The Orioles are found in gardens, groves, the outskirts of woods, orchards,
and other well-cultivated places. Their food consists principally of insects
and caterpillars ; but fruits of various kinds are eaten. Their call-notes
are clear and musical; and many species rank amongst the finest songsters.
They build open cup-shaped nests in the forks of branches. These
nests are skilfully woven, and made of roots, grass, vegetable fibres, and
lined with hair, moss, feathers, &e. Their eggs, from three to five or six
in number, vary from pure white to cream- and salmon-colour, spotted with
liver-brown and with purplish underlying markings.

— se

GOLDEN ORIOLE. 589

ORIOLUS GALBULA.

GOLDEN ORIOLE.
(Piate 11.)

Turdus oriolus, Briss. Orn. ii. p. 320 (1760).

Oriolus galbula, Linn, Syst. Nat. i. p. 160 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum—
hes Gray, Bonaparte, Schlegel, Gould, Salvadori, Sharpe, Dresser, Newton,

eet

Coracias oriolus (Briss.), Scop. Ann. I. Hist. Nat. p. 41 (1769).

Coracias galbula (Linn.), Bechst. Naturg. Deutsch. i. p. 1292 (1805).

Oriolus galbula (Zinn.), var. virescens, Hempr. SiLhr. Symb. Phys. Aves, fol. z (1829).

Oriolus aureus, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 155 (1831).

The Golden Oriole breeds throughout most parts of the continent of
Europe south of the Baltic, though comparatively few remain to spend the
summer in the extreme south. In South Finland it breeds as far north as
lat. 63°; but in Russia it has not been found north of lat. 60°. It is only
known as a very rare straggler to Sweden, and appears never to have
occurred in Norway, although it is said once to have been obtained in
Iceland. It breeds in suitable localities in Holland, France, Germany,
Spain, Portugal, Italy, Austria, South Russia, the Caucasus, and, south of
the Mediterranean, in Algeria. It appears sometimes to wander to the
Azores. Hastwards its breeding-range extends through Persia, Turkestan,
and Southern Siberia as far east as the Tian-Shan Mountains and the
Altai. My Siberian collector has obtained a specimen at Krasnoyarsk ;
Taczanowski says that he has seen an example from Irkutsk; and Radde
states that in the museum of the Siberian section of the Russian Geogra-
phical Society there are examples from the same neighbourhood. The
Golden Oriole passes many of the islands of the Mediterranean, Greece,
Asia Minor, Palestine, Egypt, and Nubia on migration, and winters in
Africa as far south as Madagascar, Natal, and Damara Land.

The Golden Oriole has numerous allies, which may be distinguished by
having black on the head and nape. ‘The species most closely allied to it
is O. kundoo, which partially replaces it in Turkestan, and ranges east-
wards to India. It may be distinguished by having the black of the lores
extending round and behind the eye, and by having the black on the out-
side tail-feathers nearly or quite obsolete. In Africa, south and east of the
Sahara as far as the equator, it is represented by O. auratus, which is
replaced by another closely allied species, O. notatus, throughout the main-
land of South Tropical Africa. Both these latter species may be distin-
guished by their yellow lesser wing-coverts, which are black in the Kuropean

590 BRITISH BIRDS.

and Indian birds, O. notatus being distinguished by not having the black
bases to the outer tail-feathers, which are uniform yellow.

It seems probable that the Golden Oriole was never much more than an
accidental summer visitor, or at most a rare straggler during the breeding-
season, to our islands. Though it is common in South Finland, it seems,
for some reason or other, very rarely to cross the Baltic into Sweden; and
though it may be seen every day in Holland, the English Channel appa-
rently presents difficulties in the way of its further migration northwards,
which it does not often attempt to surmount. Its late arrival on the con-
tinent is also an argument against its having a northerly range. I have
repeatedly noticed, when birds’-nesting on the continent, that those birds
whose breeding-range extended to Britain or Scandinavia were the earliest
to breed, whilst those whose eggs I was most anxious to obtain, those
whose breeding-range did not extend to our islands, were very late in
arriving. At Brunswick the Golden Oriole did not arrive until the 5th of
May; and at Valconswaard we did not hear its well-known song before the
13th of May, some time after many of the earlier migrants already had
eggs. We found the first Golden Oriole’s nest on the 25th of May, con-
taining only two eggs, and the second on the same day, with only one egg
init. Another was brought to us on the 27th with only two eggs, and a
fourth on the following day with four eggs; and it was not until the 29th
that we found one containing five eggs. Naumann says that this bird is
one of the first to leave North Germany in autumn, migrating southwards
in August. Even in such a southerly latitude as Smyrna, where it is only
known as passing through on migration in spring and autumn, Kriiper
says that it is seen from the middle to the end of April, and again on the
return journey from the last week of July to the first week of September.
It is therefore not to be wondered at that this handsome bird is not oftener
seen in England.

Though it frequents the trees in the gardens close to the houses and on
the roadsides, it is a very shy and skulking bird, and is not often seen on
the wing. Its presence, however, is at once revealed by its unmistakable
song, though even in regard to this some little caution must be exercised, as
in places where it is a common summer visitor I have heard an excellent
imitation of it produced by a Starling. Although careful to conceal itself,
it by no means avoids the haunts of man, and I have often heard the song
and caught an occasional glimpse of the bird in the trees almost in the
middle of Diisseldorf and other large continental towns. At Valconswaard
we most frequently saw it crossing the road from one oak tree to another.
Its voice is marvellously rich and flute-like. The call-note during the
pairing-season sounds like the words “Who are you?” in a full rapid
whistle; and its song is a wheet, li, vee-o, whence its vernacular name in
Holland of “ Kiel-i-vee-vo.” Some slight modifications in its song are

P|

ee eee

GOLDEN ORIOLE. 591

apparently produced by prefixing or interluding its call-note. It is a pity
the song is so short; for in quality it is scarcely exceeded by the song of

any other bird. Naumann describes its ordinary call-note as a clear

gyake, yake, yake, and its alarm-note as a harsh khrr.

The food of the Golden Oriole is principally insects; but in autumn it
is very fond of fruit, especially cherries.

The nest of the Golden Oriole is unlike that of any other European
bird. This wanderer from the tropics, the date of whose immigration into

the Palearctic Region is probably comparatively recent, seems to have

retained his tropical habits of nest-building. The nest is perhaps more
curious than beautiful. It is most artistically made; but the art is that of
the mechanical kind. The nest is always suspended from the fork of a
horizontal branch, sometimes of a pine tree, but generally of an oak, and
is usually placed from twenty to thirty feet above the ground. The out-
side is composed of broad sedges and strips of inner bark, which are wrapped
round the two branches forming the fork from which the nest is pendent.
I have generally found intertwined with these long narrow strips a few
withered leaves, and almost invariably a scrap or two of a Dutch newspaper.
The lining is composed of the slender round grass-stalks, very frequently
with the flower of the grass attached. It is said that the male relieves the
female in the duties of incubation, and drives off any intruder with great
daring. It has the general reputation of being a quarrelsome bird, and in
spring the males are often seen fighting either for the possession of the
females or for the range of some favourite plantation. Like the Jay, the
Golden Oriole has some peculiarities which are not altogether Corvine.
His flight is undulating, not straight; and on the ground he hops, not
walks.

A full clutch of eggs is usually four or five. They are creamy white in
ground-colour, sometimes with an almost imperceptible tinge of pink,
sparingly spotted with very dark purplish brown. ‘The spots vary con-
siderably in size and shape, but are almost invariably well defined; on
many specimens there are a few underlying spots of purplish grey. The
shell is somewhat rough in texture, but highly polished. They vary in
length from 1°35 to 1:1 inch, and in breadth from *93 to ‘8 inch. The
eggs of the Golden Oriole cannot be mistaken for those of any other
British bird.

Dixon made the following notes on this bird :—“ In Algeria the Golden
Oriole haunts the palm-studded oases, full of tropical verdure, equally as
much as the groves of timber on the sides of the noble Aurés Mountains.
It is one of the shyest birds I know; and usually the observer has to
content himself with a hurried glimpse of its beautiful plumage, as, like a
flash of burnished gold, the bird glistens in the bright sunlight a moment,
and then disappears in the gloom. At this time of the year (May) all
the Orioles seem in pairs, and fly from grove to grove im company.

592 BRITISH BIRDS.

In the charming oasis of Biskra the Golden Oriole was a very common
bird, and frequented the thickest part of the government garden there.
It would sometimes stay in the dense foliage of the trees until I wan-
dered beneath them. But notwithstanding its showy dress, it was a most
difficult bird to discover in the branches; and a flutter of wings
overhead, a hasty glimpse of yellow in the leaves, and it had gone. I
sometimes flushed it from the ground, where it was possibly searching for
food. At Lambessa it frequented the tufts of evergreen oaks on the
borders of the forest ; and there very often its charming song, heard at
dawn and even, filled the air around with gladness. Its habits and flight
are very similar to a Thrush.”

The general colour of the Golden Oriole is rich golden yellow; from
the base of the bill to the eye is a black streak; the wings are black; the
primary-coverts have the terminal third of each feather yellow, forming
a conspicuous spot on the wing; the outer edge of the primaries (except
the two outermost) and the tips of the secondaries are yellowish white ;
the two central tail-feathers are black, except at the base, which is
dull greenish yellow, and the tip, which is bright yellow; the other tail-
feathers have the basal two thirds black on the outer web and about a third
of the inner web in the centre black, the remainder bright yellow. The
amount of black on the tail varies considerably. Bill dull orange-red ;
legs, feet, and claws dark brown; irides red. The female is said by most
ornithologists to differ considerably from the male. In what is taken to
be the adult plumage the upper parts are olive-green, brightest on the
upper tail-coverts; the black patch at the base of the bill is replaced by
dusky brown; the wings are duller and browner than in the male, and the
secondaries and wing-coverts are tinged with green; the spot on the wing
is dull white; the tail is similar to that of the male, but the colour is
duller and not so clearly defined. The throat, breast, and centre of the
belly are greyish white ; the flanks and under tail-coverts are bright yellow,
and the throat, breast, and flanks are streaked with dark brown. Young
birds resemble this plumage of the female. Birds in nestling plumage
have the upper parts olive- brown, spotted with yellow; the underparts are
yellowish white, streaked with brown; the flanks and under tail-coverts
bright yellow ; the wings and tail similar to the adult’s. It is extremely
probable that the female Golden Oriole is similar to the male in colour
when fully adult ; but the mature plumage is more slowly acquired, the
above-described plumage of the female being nothing but an intermediate

phase.

LANIINA, 593

Subfamily LANIIN A, or SHRIKES.

The Shrikes and their allies form a considerable group of birds whose
exact affinities are very difficult to determine. The general form of the
bill resembles that of the Crows; but in the typical Shrikes it is much
more decidedly hooked and has the upper mandible deeply notched.
The wings vary from flat pointed migratory wings to rounded concave
sedentary wings; the first primary is sometimes very small, but usually well
developed. The tail is generally much graduated. The tarsus and feet
resemble those of the Crows and Tits. The young in first plumage in
some species differ but slightly from the adults, whilst in others this dif-
ference is more marked, the upper and underparts being more or less
barred and spotted and the colours generally less brilliant.

It is very difficult to obtain accurate information respecting the
moulting of the Shrikes; but it seems probable that the Great Grey
Shrike, which can scarcely be called a migratory bird, has a regular
autumn moult, whilst the Woodchat, the Red-backed and the Lesser Grey
Shrikes appear to be anomalous in this respect. These birds migrate in
their worn and faded breeding-plumage, and are said to begin to moult
immediately upon their arrival in their winter quarters; but the process
appears to be a slow one, as birds which have not completed their moult
are sometimes obtained as late as the beginning of spring.

The Laniine are an Old-world group of birds. A few species are
found in the Nearctic Region; but they can only be regarded as strag-
glers from the Palearctic Region. They are tolerably well distributed
over the Palearctic Region; but by far the greatest number of species are
found in the Ethiopian, Oriental, and Australian Regions, They number
about two hundred and fifty species and subspecies, of which eight are
found on the continent of Europe; five of these, all included in the genus
Lanius, are British.

9
VOL. I. sh

594 BRITISH BIRDS.

Genus LANIUS.

The genus Lanius was established in 1766, by Linnzus in his ‘Systema
Nature,’ i. p. 135, for the reception of a heterogeneous collection of birds,
many of them belonging to different and somewhat distantly connected
families. From this motley group Cuvier removed the Tyrant Shrikes in
1801 ; and Vieillot restricted the genus to its present dimensions in 1816, in
his ‘Analyse d’une nouvelle Ornithologie élémentaire,’ p. 40. Vieillot
designated le Pie-Griéche grise (Lanius excubitor) as the type.

In the genus Lanius the bill very closely resembles that of a Falcon,
but is elongated like that of a Crow, the upper mandible being strongly
hooked and deeply toothed; the nostrils are partly hidden by short
feathers and stiff bristles like those of the Crows; the wings and tail are
very variable.

This genus contains about forty species. It is well represented in the
Nearctic, Palearctic, Ethiopian, and Oriental Regions, but is apparently
absent from the Australian and Neotropical Regions. Six species are
found in Europe, one of which is a regular summer visitant to the British
Islands, whilst four others are only accidental stragglers to our shores.

The Shrikes are birds closely resembling the Raptores in many of their
habits. They are solitary birds, and frequent the outskirts of wooded
districts and the bushes on commons, usually perching on the topmost
twigs, like Flycatchers, to secure their food, which consists of large
insects (beetles) and, more rarely, small birds, mice, frogs, and lizards.
They have the peculiar habit of spitting their captures on thorns or
placing them in the forks of branches, for the purpose of securing them
while they pull them to pieces. Their call-notes are harsh; but many
species are possessed of considerable musical powers. They build some-
what bulky open nests, placing them in bushes and tall hedgerows; the
nests are constructed of twigs, rootlets, the stems of plants, sometimes with
the flowers attached, and are lined with hair, wool, and feathers. Their
eggs are very characteristic, boldly spotted with brown of various shades
on a ground-colour varying from nearly white to buff or pale green.

ee

i

PALLAS’S GREY SURIKE. 595

LANIUS MAJOR.
PALLAS’S GREY SHRIKE.

Lanius major, Pallas, Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. i. p. 401 (1826); et auctorum pluri-
morum—Cabanis, Taczanowski, Brandt, Meves, Reinhardt, Collet, Schalow, See-
bohm, &e.

Lanius excubitor, var. major, Pall., Radde, Reis. Siid. Ost-Sibir. ii. p- 274 (1863).

Lanius borealis europeus e¢ Lanius borealis sibiricus, Bogdanow, Monogr, Russian
Shrikes and their Allies, p. 102 (1881).

Lanius excubitor, Linn., juy., auctorum multorum— Dresser, Sharpe, Newton, &c.

Pallas’s Grey Shrike is as distinct from the Great Grey Shrike as the
Carrion-Crow is from the Hooded Crow. Its distinctness is recognized
by nearly all modern continental ornithologists. In both cases the allied
species interbreed where their geographical ranges meet ; and the existence
of intermediate forms has caused some ornithologists to consider them in
each case only subspecifically distinct ; and if we are to attach any definite
meaning to the word species, this is unquestionably the fact. The correct
scientific name of Pallas’s Grey Shrike is Lanius excubitor, var. major, as
that of the Hooded Crow is Corvus corone, var. cornix; but there is no
harm in using the binomial name for the sake of brevity, so long as the
fact that it is only a contraction of the correct name is not forgotten.
It is difficult to explain the perversity of British ornithologists in per-
sisting to ignore the differences between these two Grey Shrikes. Sharpe
and Dresser state that the young of the Great Grey Shrike has only one
wing-bar; but in their description of the young bird they do not allude to,
this fact, which is probably a pure myth. In Dresser’s collection is a
skin of a nestling of a Great Grey Shrike from Baden, in which the white
at the base of the secondaries is as much developed as in typical skins
of fully adult birds; and similar examples are in the British Museum.
Newton quotes Sharpe and Dresser without venturing to correct their
blunder, but betrays a suspicion of the unreliable nature of their state-
ments by saying that young birds often have the double white spot on
the wing feebly developed. It seems very extraordinary that none of
these writers should have discovered that the Grey Shrikes with only one
wing-bar, which are found in England, Scotland, and various parts of
Europe, were nothing more or less than Pallas’s Grey Shrike.

This Shrike, like so many other Siberian birds, is an accidental visitor
to West Europe, but one which has occurred so frequently that it may
almost be looked upon as a regular through rare straggler. It is very
likely that many of these Siberian species breed in Europe, in the valleys
of the Upper Petchora and the Kama, districts of the ornithology of which

2Q2

596 BRITISH BIRDS.

we are for the most part profoundly ignorant. In the case of the Grey
Shrikes, however, this would not appear to be the case; for two examples
obtained by Hoffmann (one in lat. 634° and the other in lat. 644°, on the
western slopes of the Ural Mountains) are identified by Bogdanow, than
whom a more competent judge could not be found, as L. excubitor (see
his excellent Monograph of the Russian Shrikes and their allies, p. 135).

There are several examples of Pallas’s Grey Shrike in the museum at
Edinburgh. Gray, in his ‘Birds of the West of Scotland,’ mentions
having seen at least two dozen examples of Scotch-killed Grey Shrikes
with only one wing-bar. Im Mr. Borrer’s collection are two examples
killed in Sussex. It has been shot near Cardiff; my friend Mr. Back-
house has an example in his collection obtained near York ; and in the
British Museum is an example killed in this country. So faras is known,
all these examples have been obtained in autumn, winter, or early spring.
On the continent it has been found at Sarepta in March, in the Crimea in
December, in the Baltic Provinces at the end of August, near Stockholm
in autumn, near Bergen in October, besides many localities in Germany,
Austria, &c.

Pallas’s Grey Shrike breeds throughout Siberia south of lat. 65°, where
it is a partial migrant, wintering in Turkestan. Examples from the
Tchuski Land, Kamtschatka, Vladivostok, Lake Baikal, Krasnoyarsk, and
Toorokansk appear to be thoroughbred; but many of the examples
obtained on Heligoland and near Constantinople on migration are
decidedly intermediate, and are probably the restlt of the interbreeding
of the Great Grey Shrike with Pallas’s Grey Shrike somewhere in North-
eastern Europe. It is, however, possible that the birds breeding in North-
eastern Europe, or even in North-western Siberia, may be an intermediate
race; but two examples obtained by Finsch in the valley of the Obb
appear to be one a half-bred and the other a quadroon. In Turkestan
Pallas’s Grey Shrike is represented by a near ally, Eversmann’s Grey
Shrike (Lanius mollis), and in North America by the Great Northern
Shrike (Lantus borealis). Both these forms are distinguished by never
losing the vermiculations on the underparts, which are only found in
immature examples of Pallas’s Grey Shrike, and by having the colour of
the upper parts much darker and browner. In South-west Siberia,
extending eastwards to Lake Baikal and southwards into Turkestan,
another Grey Shrike, the White-winged Grey Shrike (Lanius leuco-
_pterus), resides. Instead of having the white on the wing less
developed than in the Great Grey Shrike, it is much more so. This
is especially noticeable on the secondary quills, which have the basal
half of both webs and nearly the entire inner web pure white. The
range of the White-winged Grey Shrike overlaps that of Pallas’s Grey
Shrike about the middle of the valley of the Yenesay; but the two

“ee

| PALLAS’S GREY SHRIKE. 597

birds appear to have become so far differentiated as to have lost the
power (or at least the desire) to interbreed. In South-east Russia the
ranges of the White-winged Grey Shrike and of the Great Grey Shrike
impinge; and on the Lower Volga by far the greater number of exam-
ples are intermediate forms between them—which have been described
as a new species under the name of Lanius homeyeri, and which oceur
sparingly in Siberia. There is every reason to believe that these inter-
mediate forms are the result of interbreeding. If this be so, we have the
interesting fact that, whilst the two extreme forms L. major and L. leuco-
pterus are so different that they no longer interbreed and are therefore
specifically distinct, they both interbreed with the intermediate form
L. excubitor, which is therefore only subspecifically distinct from either of
them. Curious as this mutual relationship of these three Grey Shrikes
is, many explanations might be easily imagined. The probable one is,
that the Grey Shrike which inhabited the Palearctic Region before the
Glacial epoch was during that period driven southwards and isolated in
three colonies—one in South Europe, one in Turkestan, and one in
Kastern Mongolia. The difference produced directly or indirectly from
the change in the surroundings seems, in this instance, to have been
somewhat similar to what appears to be the rule in the variations in birds
which extend across the Palearctic Region. The western form varies
considerably from the central form; but in the east, instead of the
variation increasing, it diminishes, and the western form reappears with
comparatively slight modifications. After the passing away of the ice,
the central colony, L. leucopterus, does not seem to have spread north-
wards again to any great extent; but the other two colonies appear to
have extended their ranges round it, until they met somewhere near thé
Ural Mountains.

Of the habits of Pallas’s Grey Shrike little can be said. They probably
do not differ materially from those of its near allies. As I travelled along
the banks of the Yenesay from Yenesaisk to Krasnoyarsk and across
country to Tomsk, Grey Shrikes were very abundant; but it is difficult
to say to which species they belonged. I had no opportunity of shooting
any; but as the skins sent me since from this locality belong to both
species, I probably saw both. They were very conspicuous birds, often
perched on the extreme summit of a small tree, and extremely fond of the
telegraph-posts and telegraph-wires.

Of the nest and eggs of Pallas’s Grey Shrike nothing definite appears
to be known.

The thoroughbred adult male is a handsome bird, differing from the
Great Grey Shrike in having a white rump and with the white bases of
the primaries of less extent than in that bird, whilst the white bases of

the secondaries are altogether absent.

598 BRITISH BIRDS.

LANIUS EXCUBITOR.

GREAT GREY SHRIKE.

(Pirate 11.)

Lanius cinereus, Briss. Orn, ii. p. 141 (1760).

Lanius excubitor, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 135 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum—
Latham, Gmelin, Naumann, Temminck, Bonaparte, Degland, Gerbe, Newton,
Dresser, &e.

Collyrio excubitor (Linn.), Gray, Hand-l. B.i. p. 390 (1869).

The Great Grey Shrike is a regular though somewhat rare autumn and
winter visitant to the British Islands. Although it has been observed
during summer, there is no reliable evidence to prove that it has ever
reared its young in this country; and it has also been repeatedly confused
with Pallas’s Grey Shrike, and even with the much commoner Red-backed
Shrike. In Scotland it is of occasional occurrence, more frequent in the
eastern and midland counties than in the western; but it has never been
observed in the Hebrides. It is an occasional winter visitant to the Ork-
neys ; and a ‘‘ Grey Shrike” was once observed by Saxby at Balta Sound
in the Shetlands. It has been obtained several times in Ireland; and
Professor Newton states that a specimen was observed by Mr. J. Pell, the
falconer, in Iceland.

The Great Grey Shrike breeds in the north of France, Belgium, Holland,
Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Scandinavia (up to about lat. 70°), and
North Russia. In all these countries south of the Baltic it is found
throughout the year; but the birds breeding north of the Baltic migrate
southwards in winter, at which season they are found in every part of
South Europe. On the Ural Mountains its range joins that of Pallas’s
Grey Shrike (Z. major); and in South Russia, in the valley of the Volga, its
range coalesces with that of another Siberian species, L. Jewcopterus, with
both of which the present species interbreeds. It is, however, a very inter-
esting fact that in Siberia, where these two latter species occur, they seem
to have become so widely differentiated as to have ceased to interbreed,
although both of them do so with the intermediate form L. excubitor.

The evidence that the birds of Central Europe are resident, and that
they do not migrate southwards in winter, leaving their places to be taken
by birds from North Europe, is to be found in the fact that the examples
which cross the Bosphorus on migration consist of ZL. excubitor and L.major,
and of intermediate forms between them, whereas L. leucopterus and the
intermediate forms between it and L. excubitor, which are so common in
the valley of the Volga, do not appear to wander into Asia Minor. Besides

x.

ee

GREAT GREY SHRIKE. 599

the two Siberian species already alluded to, the Great Grey Shrike has
several near allies. In China a Shrike is found (L. sphenocercus) which
is ahighly developed form of L. lewcopterus, but has a longer tail and grey,
instead of white, upper tail-coverts. In Turkestan L. mollis occurs, which
is apparently the least changed descendant of the common ancestor of all
these Shrikes. Throughout the American continent north of the United
States L. borealis is found, immature examples of which are very difficult
to distinguish from adult LZ. mollis from Turkestan. The only other two
species belonging to the slender-footed broad-tailed group of Grey Shrikes
are L. robustus from California and L. seebohmi from the Amoor, each of
which is only known from a single example. In Spain, North Africa, and
Southern Asia the stout-footed narrow-tailed Grey Shrikes occur, and are
capable of being subdivided into many species and subspecies, many of which
have been most unaccountably confused together by Sharpe and Dresser
in the ‘ Birds of Europe.’

If the Great Grey Shrike ever was a resident in the British Islands, it
must have been many years ago. A bird which is by no means uncommon
across the Channel might naturally be expected to reside also with us. It
does not object to cross the sea, as its regular appearance on Heligoland
proves ; and a bird which is found in Norway and Sweden ought, one would
think, to find a congenial climate in England. A tradition of its former
residence in our island may perhaps be found in the ‘ Ornithology’ of
Willughby, published in 1678, wherein he records of the Greater Butcher-
bird :—“Moreover we are told that it is found in the mountainous parts
of the north of England, as for instance in the Peak of Derbyshire, where
it is called Wierangel”’ A bird so conspicuous may possibly have been
exterminated at an early date ; but it could scarcely have had any formidable
enemies except man. On the continent it holds its own against most birds
of prey. Naumann writes :—“ This Shrike is an extremely courageous and
bold bird, and seldom allows any great bird, even an Eagle or a Buzzard, to
fly past his domains with impunity, persecuting them incessantly. His
warning cry announces to the rest of the birds the approach of a bird of
prey, whence is derived his name of sentinel (Wachter). In the breeding-
season he is especially watchful, and no Crow or Raven dare approach his
perch.”

In many of its habits this Shrike resembles a bird of prey. He is
described as sometimes hovering over a mouse like a Kestrel, and at others
pursuing a small bird like a Merlin, and fairly flying it down.

The Great Grey Shrike merits the name of Butcher Bird more than his
smaller allies. He uses his hooked and notched beak, not only to tear up
mice and little birds like a Raptorial bird, but also, because his feet and
claws are comparatively weak, to assist in catching them. Even when he
has caught his prey, unraptorlike, he seems to think his claws are not strong

600 BRITISH BIRDS.

enough to hold it, and he sticks it on a thorn to devour it at his leisure, a
proceeding which one would think would require great strength. It is
evident that the strength of the Great Grey Shrike lies in his neck, and
not in his legs. Like many birds of prey, he has his favourite feeding-
place, some convenient spot in a hedgerow, probably chosen because the
footing was good and the thorns sharp; and to this place he brings his
prey during the day; and there an accumulation of the remains of his
meals are discovered. Probably he has a dozen such places in various
parts of the district in which he hunts.. I remember finding one of these
so-called larders in a hedge on a road-side a few miles from Valconswaard,
close to a gate. The thorns were very long and sharp ; and there were the
dried-up remains of half-a-dozen mice, which had evidently been eaten
except the feet, tail, and part of the skin. The discovery of these feeding-
places has given rise to the myth that the Shrikes catch more than they
can eat, and hang up the surplus in a larder for future use. In addition
to mice it also eats small birds and insects, Naumann says that it will
even attack birds almost as large as itself, and has been known to take
Redwings. He writes :—“In summer it contents itself principally with
insects (especially beetles and grasshoppers), small frogs, lizards, and
blindworms. This is proved by an examination of the pellets which they
cast up. In winter, on the contrary, these consist chiefly of the hair and
bones of mice and the feathers of birds. He is very fond of newly fledged
birds, and will plunder nests of their young ; but in the breeding-season he
seldom attacks adult birds.”

Although the Great Grey Shrike retires into the outskirts of the woods
to breed, or selects some plantation where he is concealed from observa-
tion, he is a bird of the open country, and is very fond of a conspicuous
perch—a post, or the top of a small tree, wherever he can command a good
view and descry not only the approach of danger but also the chance of a
meal. In these positions he seems to balance himself, like the Magpie,
with his tail, which is never still. He is not a very noisy bird ; but now and
then his alarm-note may be heard, a sharp shake, shake. 'The song is
something like that of a Starling. Naumann gives the call-note as ¢rwii.

At Valeonswaard this Shrike is in great request by the faleoner. As the
Hawks are passing over on migration the Shrike, pimioned near the
faleconer’s net, attracts the attention of the birds of prey by its cries, which
are the signal for the falconer to display a decoy-pigeon and thus lure the
falcon into his net.

When I was in Heligoland I was fortunate enough to see the Great
Grey Shrike in the act of migration. Wewere breakfasting on the 2nd of
October in a room looking out over the cliff towards the sea, and watched
one of these birds arrive. On the wing its black and white plumage made
it look like a small Magpie; but its flight was more like that of a Wood-

|
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SEs

ae =

GREAT GREY SHRIKE. 601

pecker, very undulating. It was probably very tired; for an hour or two
afterwards a boy brought it up to our room, and was delighted to receive
fourpence for it. Several more arrived later,

In ornithology there seem to be very few rules without exceptions.
Almost all resident birds are early breeders. Many of them pair for life ;
and it is only natural to suppose that birds which are hardy enough to
brave a Dutch winter will begin to breed as soon as the April sunshine
and the April flowers announce the return of spring. The Great Grey
Shrike appears to be an exception to this rule. When I went to Valcons-
waard to study the habits of some of the rare or accidental visitors to our
islands at their breeding-grounds, the eggs of the Great Grey Shrike were
one of the objects of my special care ; but though there were three of us (I
was accompanied by my friends Mr. C. Bygrave Wharton and Mr. H. M.
Labouchere), and though we had every boy in the village engaged in our
service, it was not until the 19th of May that we took a nest containing
four eggs. We had taken eggs of nearly all the common birds, even of
such migrants as the Sedge-Warbler, Cuckoo, Nightingale, and Blue-
throat, before the Great Grey Shrike’s nest was discovered, within a couple
of feet of the top of a slender Scotch-fir, about eighteen feet from the
ground, in the middle of a pine-wood. On the 2lst another nest was
brought to us, containing’five eggs. On the 27th one of our best pioneers,
a Dutch lad of perhaps fourteen, came in to announce to us that he had
found the nest of a klapekster, the local name of the Great Grey Shrike.
Tt was a dismal, rainy day ; but we soon put on our waterproofs, and a long
walk brought us to an open space ina small wood. The nest was in the
fork of an oak-tree about thirty feet from the ground. The bird was on, :
but flew off as the boy was ascending the tree, and began to fly anxiously
about. Sometimes it settled in a tree, often on the topmost branch ; and
once it hovered in the air, with its body almost perpendicular, opposite the
nest, which contained only two fresh eggs. The nest of the Great Grey
Shrike is a somewhat bulky structure, as large as that of a Blackbird.
Outside it is composed of slender twigs, dry grass, a few leaves, and a little
moss, and is lined with roots, wool, hair, and feathers. The number of
eges varies from five to seven. They are buffish or greenish white in
ground-colour, blotched and spotted with olive-brown of different shades,
and with underlying markings of violet-grey. Usually most of the spots
are on the large end of the egg, where many of them are confluent.
Sometimes they form an irregular zone, and are generally somewhat ill-
defined. The eggs of this Shrike do not differ very much; and the red
type of egg, found in those of L. collurio and L. rufus, appears never to
oceur. They vary in length from 1+] to 1:0 inch, and in breadth from *8
to ‘75 inch. .

The Great Grey Shrike has the general colour of the upper parts clear

602 BRITISH BIRDS.

slate-grey, shading into greyish white on the scapulars, the rump, and
upper tail-coverts ; the lores, cheeks, and ear-coverts are black ; the wings
are black, with white bases to both the primaries and secondaries, forming
a double bar, and with white tips, broadest on the secondaries ; the wing-
coverts are black, those on the shoulder broadly margined with slate-grey ;
the two centre tail-feathers are black with white bases; the next pair are
black, narrowly tipped with white; on the succeeding pairs the white
increases in extent until the outermost feathers are almost uniform white.
The underparts are white. Bill black, paler at the base of the lower
mandible ; legs, feet, and claws brownish black ; irides dark brown. The
female is similar to the male in colour; but the underparts are not so
pure and are barred with faint greyish brown. Young birds are much
duller than their parents, and the bars on the underparts are more con-
spicuous.

SPOTTED FLYCATCHER’S NEST,

a

= eet

LESSER GREY SHRIKE, 603

LANIUS MINOR.

LESSER GREY SHRIKE.
(Prats 11.)

Lanius auriculatus, Miill. Syst. Nat. Suppl. p. 71 (1766).

Lanius cinereus medius, Gerin. Orn. Meth. Dig. i. p. 73, pl. liv. (1767).

Lanius minor, Gime/. Syst. Nat. i. p. 308 (1788); et auctorum plurimorum—

Naumann, Temminck, Bonaparte, Degland, Gerbe, Newton, Dresser, Bogdanow,
&e,

Lanius italicus, Lath. Ind. Orn. i. p. 71 (1790).

Lanius vigil, Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. i. p. 403 (1826),

Lanius longipennis, Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. xy. 1846, p. 300.

Enneoctonus italicus (Lath.), Bonap. Rev. et Mag. de Zool. 1853, p. 438.

Lanius roseus, Bailly, Orn. de la Sav. ii. p. 26 (1853).

Enneoctonus minor (Gmel.), Gray, Hand-l, B. i. p. 393 (1869),

The Lesser Grey Shrike can only be considered a very accidental
straggler to the British Islands, only four examples of this bird having
been recorded. The first specimen, a female, was killed during the first
week in November 1851, at St. Mary’s, on the Scilly Islands. It was
recorded in the ‘Zoologist’ for that year (p. 3300) as an example of the
Great Grey Shrike by Mr. E. H. Rodd, who afterwards sent it to Mr.
Gould, who corrected the error in its identification. The second specimen
was forwarded to Mr. Murray A. Mathew from the immediate neighbour-
hood of Great Yarmouth. It was obtained early in the spring of 1869,
and recorded by that gentleman in the ‘Zoologist’ for the year 1870
(p. 2060). The third example, a male, is recorded by Mr. Stevenson in
the ‘ Zoologist’ for 1875 (p. 4633). It was caught alive in a greenhouse
near Great Yarmouth, in the same locality as the last-named specimen,
during the last week of May 1875. On the 2nd of June it was brought
to Mr. Stevenson in the flesh, having died in the cage in which its captors
had placedit. It is now in the collection of Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun. Lastly,
Mr. J. Gatcombe recorded in the ‘ Zoologist’ for 1876 (p. 5178) a fourth
specimen, caught alive in the neighbourhood of Plymouth. It was obtained
by a birdcatcher, and was brought to a Mr. Peacock, a local bird-preserver,
who was under the impression that it was an example of the Great Grey
Shrike.

The Lesser Grey Shrike breeds in Eastern France, Germany, Switzer-
land, Italy, South Russia (up to lat. 57°), Austria, Turkey, Asia Minor,
Palestine, Turkestan, Persia, and South-western Siberia (as far north as
Omsk, in lat. 57°, and as far east as Lake Zaisan, in long. 84°). On
migration it has occasionally occurred in South Sweden, Holland, Den-

.

604 BRITISH BIRDS.

mark, the British Islands, and Spain. So far as is known, its only winter
quarters are in Africa, where it has been found in the valley of the Nile
and southwards as far as Damara Land. It has been suspected that a few
remain to breed in all parts of its winter range, even in Damara Land; but
such an exceptional circumstance requires absolute confirmation. Unlike
the Great Grey Shrike, the Lesser Grey Shrike has no very near ally, nor
does it seem subject to any great variation of plumage.

The Lesser Grey Shrike is strictly a migratory bird, and is never seen
in Europe in winter. It arrives in Greece, according to Kriiper, about the
middle of April, and in Germany, according to Naumann, early in May.
It is consequently one of the latest summer visitors to Europe, and also
one of the earliest to depart in autumn, disappearing towards the end of
August. In both Greece and Asia Minor I occasionally met with this
bird ; but it was nowhere so common as either the Woodchat or the Red-
backed Shrike, nor did it, like the latter bird, ascend into the pine-regions.
It seemed also to be very rare in the forests of olives which fill many of
the plains. The ground it preferred was the outskirts of cultivation,
where trees and bushes of various kinds—small oaks, hollies, oleanders,
pomegranates, white and pink roses, and abundance of clematis—struggle
for existence amongst the broken rocks. Here and there a little patch is
cultivated with wheat, tobacco, or Indian corn, with a tree or two in the
middle (olive, almond, or walnut) ; and abundance of cleared places grown
over with rank vegetation attest the former presence of a dying-out
civilization. In these places the Lesser Grey Shrike was to be seen,
occasionally perched conspicuously on the top ofa bush. It also frequented
the gardens near the villages, and is said to regale itself on the cherries,
figs, and mulberries which grow in the hedges that divide them from
each other. Its principal food is undoubtedly beetles (that swarm to an
incredible extent in these climates), butterflies, grasshoppers, and other
insects. The flight of this Shrike, like that of its congeners, is undu-
latory, but easy and comparatively noiseless ; and it skims through the air
like a Partridge for a moment or two before it alights on some perch, onto
which it drops with a scuffle of the wmgs. The song of the Lesser Grey
Shrike is a not unmusical chatter, something like the twitter of the
Swallow or Starling, but louder and mixed with some harsher notes. It
has a variety of notes, some very harsh, which are probably alarm-notes,
and others somewhat plaintive, which may be call-notes.

This bird is said occasionally to impale insects on thorns, as most of his
congeners are in the habit of doing.

The Lesser Grey Shrike breeds early in June. The nest is placed in
the thick branches of poplars or fruit-trees, at least ten feet from the
ground. One which I took in an olive-tree at Nymphion, east of Smyrna,
on the 38rd of June, contained four fresh eggs. With the exception of a

ma a!

LESSER GREY SHRIKE. 605

twig or two, a piece of flag-like rush, and a little wool at the foundation,
the whole nest is composed of a downy-leaved cudweed (Cnaphaken
dioicum), some in flower and some in seed, and most pulled up by the
roots. Naumann describes the nest as usually built in Germany of dry
roots, twigs, couch-grass, hay and straw, lined with wool, hair, and
feathers.

The eggs vary in number from four to seven. Some are very round,
measuring *95 by ‘8 inch. Others are much longer and more pointed, as
for example, 1:05 by ‘7 inch. The average size and shape lies between
these extremes. The ground-colour isa pale bluish green. Some eggs have
a few small greenish-brown spots, chiefly towards the larger end. Typical
eggs have also larger spots or blotches; whilst in examples which are
exceptionally rich in their markings the spots round the egg towards the
large end are confluent, but do not assume the form of a uniform band
round the egg, because the underlying spots, which in all the varieties are
paler and greener than the overlying spots, are distinctly visible amongst
the others. The eggs of this bird may easily be distinguished from those
of the Great Grey Shrike by their smaller size and much greener colour.
From the largest and greenest varieties of the eggs of the Woodchat it is
not quite so easy to separate them; but the latter are very seldom if ever
quite so large or quite so green. It is not known that rufous varieties of
the eggs of the Lesser Grey Shrike ever occur.

The Lesser Grey Shrike is a handsome bird, very similar in colour
to the Great Grey Shrike, but with a black forehead, and with pale
reddish-buff breast and flanks. Like Pallas’s Grey Shrike, it has only
one wing-bar. The female scarcely differs from the male. In the young
the grey back is replaced by brown, and most of the feathers are trans-
versely barred, and the reddish tinge on the underparts is nearly obsolete.
Curiously enough, the moult of this bird appears to take place in winter ;
adult birds leave in their faded summer dress, and young birds in then
barred plumage. Examples from South Africa in full moult are dated
January and February.

606 BRITISH BIRDS.

LANIUS COLLURIO.

RED-BACKED SHRIKE.

(Prats 11.)

Lanius collurio, Briss. Orn. ii. p. 151 (1760); Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 156 (1766); et
auctorum plurimorum—Latham, Gmelin, Naumann, Temminck, (Gray),
(Bonaparte), Degland, Gerbe, Newton, Dresser, &c.

Lanius spinitorquus, Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl. ii. p. 892 (1791).

Lanius dumetorum, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 234 (1831).

Enneoctonus collurio (Linn.), Bote, Isis, 1826, p. 973.

The Red-backed Shrike is by far the commonest Shrike met with in the
British Islands. It is a common and well-known, though local, summer
visitor to most parts of England south of Yorkshire, being most numerous
in the extreme southern counties. Curiously enough, it does not appear
to have yet been noticed in Lincolnshire and is only occasionally seen in
Cornwall. In the northern counties of England it becomes much rarer ;
whilst in Scotland it is of only accidental occurrence, usually on migration
(although instances are on record of its having nested there), chiefly in
the eastern counties. It has been met with in the Shetlands, where Dr.
Saxby was inclined to believe that a pair reared their young during the
summer of 1870. Its occurrence in Ireland has only once been recorded
‘Zoologist, 1878, p. 437). A male specimen was shot on the 10th
of August ina glen near Castlereagh, county Down, about three miles
from Belfast ; and five or six other examples were said to have been in its
company.

The Red-backed Shrike is a summer visitor to the whole of the continent
of Europe up to lat. 64°, with the exception of the Spanish peninsula,
where it is only an occasional straggler to the north-east. In Greece, Asia
Minor, and Palestine it is only found in the pine-regions. Eastwards its
breeding-range extends through Northern Persia and throughout Turkestan
as far as the Altai Mountains. It passes through Asia Minor and North-
east Africa on migration. A few winter in the valley of the Indus ; but
the great stream of migration appears to follow the valley of the Nile to
South Africa, where it is abundant during our winter in Natal, Damara
Land, the Transvaal, Angola, and the Cape colony. More than one South-
African ornithologist states that it breeds during its visit to South Africa ;
but such a very anomalous circumstance requires the production of the
nest and eggs before it can be accepted as afact. Meyer’s statement, quoted
by Morris, that this bird is a native of North America, is quite erroneous.

RED-BACKED SHRIKE. 607

Like the Lesser Grey Shrike, the Red-backed Shrike has no very near ally,
nor does it appear to be subject to any local variation.

The Red-backed Shrike is one of the very latest summer migrants to
arrive on our shores. It is rarely seen in its favourite haunts before the
beginning of May; and as it seldom courts concealment, its arrival may
be detected at once. Unlike many other of our summer birds of passage,
both sexes appear to arrive together ; and having once chosen a haunt,
they seldom stray far away from it. The haunt of this interesting bird is
in the open. Like the Flycatcher, it seems to prefer a locality which
affords a good look-out, and at the same time a place of concealment to
which it can retire if alarmed. You may often see the bird in localities
abounding in tall hedgerows, or on the borders of woods, on heaths and
commons, and more rarely near houses in large gardens. The habits of
all the Shrikes are strikingly alike, and closely resemble those of the
Flycatchers. Like that soberly dressed little bird the Spotted Flycatcher,
the Red-backed Shrike will sit for hours on some bare perch, ever and
anon sallying forth to capture a passing insect. Sometimes it will choose
a bare bough on the side of a hedgerow, sometimes the topmost twig of a
dense bush all overgrown with brambles, or sometimes a rail or stump—
in fact any situation from which a good view may be obtained. Here the
wary Shrike will sit, occasionally turning its head from side to side and
jerking its tail, waiting patiently for prey. Although so small and insig-
nificant, the little birds are in almost as much danger from him as they are
from the bold relentless Sparrow-Hawk. When the occasion offers, he will
pounce down upon some small bird sitting unsuspectingly near him, or he
will chase the shrew-mice and deftly seize them as they wander through
the grass. So bold is the Red-backed Shrike in search of food that it has
been known to attack the call-birds, and is often taken in the birdeatcher’s
net—a victim to its own rapacity.

At times the bird will alight upon the ground and search for beetles ;
but the bulk of its food is either caught on the wing or dropped down
upon unawares. In addition to small birds and mice, the Red-backed
Shrike feeds upon lizards, many kinds of beetles, and also on bees, wasps,
and grasshoppers. Like its congeners, it conveys many of its captures to
some bush covered with sharp thorns, on which it impales its victims and
devours them at leisure. This peculiar habit in the Shrikes of thus
spitting their food is probably caused by the birds not having sufficiently
powerful feet to grasp their prey until torn in pieces by the sharply toothed
bill. They therefore secure their food on sharp thorns, and are able then, if
it be a bird, to pluck it, or if an insect, a lizard, or a mouse, to tear it
to pieces. In places frequented by this bold little bird, it is no uncommon
thing to see in the bushes the remnants of its meal—of many meals; for
the bird will regularly retire to one place for its purpose ; and the bleached

7

608 BRITISH BIRDS.

bones of a bird or mouse, the wing-cases of insects, portions of bees and
wasps, will all tell their tale of this little plunderer’s voracity. As an
instance of this bird’s rapacity, may be mentioned Mr. Clark-Kennedy’s
account in the ‘ Zoologist’ (1875, p. 4722), where he describes the thorn-
trees “decorated” with the bodies of the Great Tit, Blue Tit, Long-tailed
Tit, Robin, and Hedge-Accentor, once with a young Thrush, twice with
old Blackbirds, and once with young Partridges. It has also been known
to feed on young Pheasants. Sometimes the bird will be seen to poise
and hover above some bush or hedgerow, then pass onwards for a few
yards, and again repeat the fluttering movements, like a miniature Kestrel.
Its usual flight is a very drooping one, something like that of the
Green Woodpecker. The Red-backed Shrike does not pursue small birds
through the air; its powers of wing are not sufficient to allow it to engage
in such chases with success; but it drops suddenly down upon them, either
on the ground or when they are sitting on a twig, killing them with its
powerful bill.

The call-note of the Red-backed Shrike is a harsh chirp; and its
alarm-note, more rapidly and frequently repeated when its nest is ap-
proached, is a harsh chack. 'The song is very short and simple, merely
a few notes quickly repeated; but in confinement it is said to imitate
readily the songs of other birds.

Soon after its arrival, usually by the second week in May, the Red-
backed Shrike searches out a nesting-site. The situation chosen is usually
in the tall hedgerows (the bird’s favourite retreat) or in the dense bushes
overgrown with brambles. It appears to show very little care for the con-
cealment of its nest, and will often build it ina bush or hedge by a much-
frequented roadway. The nest is a bulky one, large for the size of the
bird, and made of dry stems of plants, dead grass, rootlets, and moss, and
lined with horsehair and sometimes a little wool. The eggs are from four
to six in number, and are subject to such considerable variation that it
would almost be impossible to describe each in turn. For the sake of
convenience, they may be divided into four very distinct types. The first
is pale green in ground-colour, spotted and speckled with olive-brown and
with numerous underlying markings of violet-grey ; the second is pale buff
in ground-colour, spotted and blotched with pale olive-brown and with
underlying spots of pale brown and violet-grey ; the third is almost pure
white or creamy white in ground-colour, finely speckled and spotted with
rich reddish brown, and with larger underlying spots of violet-grey ; the
fourth has a salmon-coloured ground, spotted and blotched with brownish
red of different shades, with violet-grey underlying spots and sometimes
a few hair-like lines of deep brown. The character of the markings also
varies considerably. Some eggs are uniformly spotted over the entire
surface; most frequently the markings take the form of a zone, and

RED-BACKED SHRIKE. 609

sometimes are so thickly massed on the large end of the egg as to entirely
conceal the ground-colour. In some eggs the markings are finely powdered
on the shell; in others they take the form of bold spots and blotches ; and
in all eggs the underlying spots are both numerous and well defined. The
eggs vary in length from ‘95 to ‘8 inch, and in breadth from 7 to ‘62 inch.
It is very difficult to distinguish between the eggs of the present species
and those of the Woodchat Shrike. The latter bird’s are, however, on an
average larger, not so bright, and usually more boldly marked.

When the young are being reared, the parent birds are even more daring
and vigilant in search of food; and when the young birds quit the nest
they are still accompanied by their parents—a noisy little band, exciting
the attention of all observers by their harsh notes as they chase the insects
and fly from bush to bush. It 1s very probable, as the Red-backed Shrike
only rears one brood in the season, that these parties keep together and
migrate in company. As is the case with most late immigrants, the birds
quit our shores early in autumn, leaving for their winter quarters in
September. Messrs. Sharpe and Dresser mention an instance, however,
where a young bird of this species was seen by them as late as the 11th
of Novem\er.

The male of this beautiful bird has the head, nape, upper back, rump,
and upper tail-coverts clear slate-grey ; the back and scapulars are rich
chestnut-brown ; the wing-coverts are black, broadly edged with rich chest-
nut ; the wings are black, the primaries very narrowly and the secondaries
broadly margined with chestnut. The two central tail-feathers are black ;
the rest have the basal half white, the terminal half black tipped and
narrowly margined with white. A narrow frontal line, the lores, the
feathers round the eye, and the ear-coverts are black; the underparts are
rosy red, shading into white on the chin and under tail-coverts. Bill
black; legs, toes, and claws black; irides dark brown. The female
usually differs considerably from the male. She has no black about the
head; and the whole of the upper parts are reddish brown; above the
eye is a pale buff streak; the wings are similar in colour to those of
the male, but the rufous margins are paler and not so broad; the tail
is brownish red, tipped with buff and margined on the outer web of
the outside feather with dull white. The general colour of the under-
parts is buffish white, transversely barred on the sides of the neck, the
breast, and the flanks with brown. Young birds resemble the female
above described, but have the upper parts also barred and the eye-stripe

very indistinct.

ViGUived «

610 BRITISH BIRDS.

LANIUS RUFUS*.

WOODCHAT SHRIKE.
(Puate 11.)

Lanius senator, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 94 (1758); Gray, Hand-l. B. i. p. 393 (1869).

Lanius rufus, Briss. Orn. ii. p. 147 (1760); Lath. Gen. Syn. Suppl. i. p. 283 (1787) ;
et auctorum plurimorum— Naumann, Temminck, (Bonaparte), Degland, Gerbe,
(Kaup), Filippi, Heuglin, Brehm, Tristram, Kriiper, Salvadori, Salvin, Hartlaub,
C. A. Wright, Lilford, Hemprich, Ehrenberg, Blanford, Blasius, &c., nee Linn.

Lanius minor primus, Zwnst. Orn. Brit. p. 2 (1771).

Lanius pomeranus, Sparrm. Mus. Carls. t. i. (1786).

Lanius collurio, y. rufus, Gimel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 801 (1788).

Lanius rutilus, Zath. Ind. Orn. i. p. 70 (1790).

Lanius ruficeps, Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl. ii. p. 1827 (1805).

Lanius ruficollis, Shaw, Gen. Zool. vii. pt. 2, p. 316 (1809).

Phoneus rufus (Driss.), Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 83 (1829).

Lanius melanotos, Brehm, Vég. Deutschl. p. 238 (1831).

Enneoctonus rufus (Briss.), Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. and N. Amer. p. 26 (1838).

Lanius rutilans, /’emm. Man. d’Orn. iv. p. 601 (1840).

Enneoctonus pomeranus (Sparrm.), Cab. Mus, Hein. i. p. 73 (1851),

Enneoctonus rutilans (Zemm.), Cab. Mus. Hein. i. p. 73 (1851).

Lanius badius, Hartl. Journ. Orn. 1854, p. 100.

Lanius auriculatus (Miill.), apud Cassin, Proc. Phil. Acad. 1864, p. 238.

Enneoctonus auriculatus (Miill.), apud Gurney, Ibis, 1868, p. 159.

The Woodchat Shrike is an accidental visitor to England, chiefly during
the seasons of migration. At least a score of examples have been obtained
since the specimen which was sent to Gilbert White, and mentioned in a
letter sent by that naturalist to Pennant in 1769. It has even been stated
that this bird has once or twice nested at Freshwater in the Isle of Wight
(see ‘ Ibis,” 1865, p.17). Most of the specimens obtained in England have
occurred in the southern and eastern counties. Although Don included
it in his list of the birds of Forfarshire, the bird appears never to have
been seen or obtained in Scotland by subsequent observers.

Upon the continent the Woodchat Shrike breeds in the basin of the
Mediterranean, its northern range extending into South France, Holland,
Germany (as far north and east as Pomerania), and Austria. Eastwards
itis found as far as Western Persia, its range extending northwards into

* This is a melancholy instance of the mischief produced by the “Stricklandian Code,”
the votaries of which appear to be pretty evenly divided on the subject, half of them
voting for Z, awriculatus and half for L. pomeranus. It is a pity that these ornithological
socialists cannot let existing institutions alone, and allow us to retain the time-honoured
name of L, rufus without dispute.

WOODCHAT SHRIKE. 611

the Caucasus. It winters in Africa south of the Sahara and north of the
equator. The Woodchat Shrike has no very near ally ; nor does it appear
to be subject to any local variations in the colour of its plumage.

The habits of the Woodchat Shrike do not differ from those of its con-
gener the Red-backed Shrike. Its haunts are in comparatively open
places—districts sparsely studded with bushes and a few trees. Here it
takes up its perch on some topmost spray or on the outside limb of a tree,
where its bright plumage is most conspicuous, and where it sits for a
lengthened period on the look-out for food. Ever and anon it will be
seen to open and jerk its tail; and it is incessantly turning its head from
side to side in close search for prey. It is not a wary bird, and, with
due precaution, may be quite closely approached. Usually it is seen in
pairs ; and when disturbed, both birds will fly off in company.

In Greece and Asia Minor I found the Woodchat very common. With
the exception of the Black-headed Bunting, I found more of its nests than
those of any other bird. It is only a summer visitor to both these coun-
tries, belonging neither to the earliest nor to the latest birds of passage.
It arrives about the first of April, at least three weeks after the Swallows,
whose range extends into the Arctic regions, but three weeks before the
Tree-Warblers (Hypolais eleica and H. olivetorum), whose range does not
extend north of the basin of the Mediterranean. It is a very conspicuous
bird, and cannot easily be overlooked, and is very common in the olive-forests.
As you descend the mountains the olives in the valley look like a dense
forest, often extending twenty miles or more ; but when you descend into
them you find that the trees are planted at some distance from each other,
and that a considerable cultivation of vines, mulberries, and sometimes
Indian corn, is carried on between them. But it is perhaps on the lower”
slopes of the hills, where the trees are more stunted and the ground is
less cultivated, that the Woodchat is oftenest to be seen. Perched con-
spicuously upon the top of a bush, or even a lofty tree, it appears ever
to be on the watch for the chance of pouncing down upon some unwary
insect that may come within its range. Its song is by no means unmu-
sical, and very gentle to proceed from such raptorial jaws. It reminded
me very much of the twittering of a Swallow or the warble of a Starling.
Some of its call-notes, however, are loud and harsh enough; and [ at first
thought it was imitating the notes of other birds in order to attract them
within reach; but inasmuch as the greater number of notes it apparently
imitated were of birds far too powerful for it to grapple with, such cannot
be the case. The first nest I found in Greece was at Delphi, not very far
from the ruins of the Temple of Apollo. The nest contained six eggs on
the 5th of May. Higher than 2000 feet above the level of the sea the
bird became much rarer; and in the pine-region, 4000 feet above the sea-
level, its place seemed to be entirely taken by the Red-backed Shrike ;

612 BRITISH BIRDS.

but as soon as we descended below the pine-region it again became
extremely common; and we found the greater number of full clutches
during the last fortnight of May. The nest was almost always placed
in the fork of an olive-tree, and composed principally of cudweed
(Gnaphalium)—a little hairy-stemmed hairy-leaved plant, with three or
four ‘little thistle-like flowers, growing from two to four inches high.
These the Woodchats pulled up by the roots and wove together into a
compact warm nest, which did not differ very much in colour from the
bark of the olive-trees. Occasionally a twig or two was introduced ; but
for the most part the cudweed, with its flowers and its root, was foundation,
wall, and lining to the nest.

Dixon, when in Algeria, made the following notes on this bird :—‘ The
Woodchat Shrike is one of the commonest birds in Algeria. It arrives
from its winter haunts, far beyond the desert, at the end of March, and
speedily spreads itself over the entire country. In such a wide area as
Algeria its haunts are very varied—from amidst the waving palms of the
oases to the juniper-clothed sides of the Aurés in a district of almost per-
petual snow. Wesawit chasing the grasshoppers amidst the wild luxuriant
scenery round Philippeville, its showy dress making it a conspicuous object
a quarter of a mile away as it sat quietly on the bush-tops. I repeatedly
watched the cock bird perched on the bare branches of a fig-tree, and
listened to his low warbling song—notes that at once put me in mind of
those of the Starling. On the wayside, even in most barren districts,
provided a few shrubs occurred, we noticed this bold little bird perched
upon them. In the oases it flitted from stump to stump, and sometimes
perched on the dead leaf-stems of the palms. But it was perhaps the
commonest in the evergreen-oak forests—not in the shady depths of the
forests, but in the open places where a good look-out could be kept. It
is not a shy bird, and is almost invariably accompanied by its mate.
When seriously alarmed, it would often seek seclusion in the dense thorn-
bush upon which it had previously been sitting. Its favourite food
appears to be grasshoppers ; but it will also attack small birds and
mammals.”

The food of the Woodchat Shrike is composed of beetles, grasshoppers,
and many other insects, which, like the other Shrikes, it will spit on
thorns for the purpose of securing them until they are eaten. As already
remarked, it will also feed on small birds and mammals. It is often seen
on the wing, like a Flycatcher ; and when the capture of an insect is made
it returns to its old perching place, ever watchful for an object for a fresh
sally into the air. Its song is a pleasing one, uttered in a low strain, and
sometimes varied by the introduction of a few carefully imitated notes of
its neighbours. Its call-note is a harsh kra-kra; and when alarmed it will
utter a loud scream.

WOODCHAT SHRIKE. 613

The nest of the Woodchat Shrike is a very handsome structure, loosely
put together, it is true, but with a rustic beauty about it almost peculiar
_ to the nests of this group of birds. It is usually placed in the fork of a
small tree—sometimes in the branches of an olive-tree, sometimes in an
evergreen oak, a cork-tree, or a tamarisk; and Dixon has found it, twenty
feet from the ground, close to the stem of a tall poplar growing in the bed
of the river Roumnel at Constantine. The bird appears to take as little pre-
caution for the concealment of its nest as our well-known Missel-Thrush ;
and it is often very conspicuous. It is made chiefly of the stems and
flowers of the cudweed (much of it torn up by the roots), intermingled with
a little grass, coarse herbage, and sometimes masses of wool. The lining is
composed of the flowers of the plant, a few small dead leaves, and a
little vegetable down. The eggs of this bird are from four to six in
number, They are exceedingly variable in size and colour. They may
be separated into three very distinct types, connected with each other by
innumerable intermediate varieties. In the first the ground-colour is pale
green, spotted and dashed, chiefly at the larger end, with olive-brown,
and thickly marked with obscure underlying spots of pale violet-grey and
ashy brown. In the second type the ground-colour is very pale buffish
white, sparingly spotted with dark greenish brown, and thickly marked
with underlying spots of grey. In the third type the ground-colour is
reddish buff, the surface spots are dark reddish brown, and the underlying
ones are pale lilac. In the greater number of the eggs of this bird the
markings are most numerous on the large end, and very often form a
zone. ‘The spots, too, differ considerably in size ; and, as a rule, the under-
lying ones are the largest. In some few instances the zone is round the
small end of the egg. They vary in length from 1-05 to ‘86 inch, and in
breadth from *72 to 65 inch.

Mr. C. A. Wright states (‘Ibis,’ 1864, p.59) that in Malta this bird may
be seen during a great part of the year. ‘ Perched on the uppermost twig
of some tree, its shining white breast forms one of the most conspicuous
objects in the ornithological landscape in April. On the first appearance
of danger it flies off to another and more distant tree, and, taking up a
similarly elevated position, scans the country round till the danger which
had excited its alarm has passed away. It builds here in May and June,
constructing a compact and well-formed nest in the fork of a carob or
almond tree. Its affection for, and the courage it displays in the protection
of, its young are remarkable. Wary as it is at other times, on these
occasions it seems to lose all fear; uttering piercing cries, it will fly close
round the head of the intruder, and actually make a feint of dashing in
his face.” Canon Tristram states that this Shrike breeds as plentifully
in the seething glens of the Dead Sea as on the bleak hills of Samaria,
and that he once found a nest of this bird near a village lined entirely with

614 BRITISH BIRDS.

cotton threads of a piece of stocking, evidently torn to pieces by the bird.
He also states that in Palestine the bird never appears to use wool or hair
in the construction of its nest.

The Woodchat Shrike is a very handsome bird. The male has the
crown of the head and the nape, extending onto the upper back, rich
chestnut ; lores white; the forehead, the space round the eye, the ear-
coverts, the sides of the neck, and the upper part of the back are black ;
the rump is white, shading into grey on the lower back and longest upper
tail-coverts ; the wings are black, the basal part of the primaries white,
forming a conspicuous spot, and the secondaries tipped with white ; the
tail is black, all the feathers, except the two central ones, white at the base
and tipped with white, the two outermost feathers being almost uniform
white on the outer web. The general colour of the underparts is pure
white. Bill black; legs, toes, and claws dark brown; irides hazel. The
female resembles the male, but has the red parts duller, and the parts
which are black in the male are brown suffused with red; the underparts
are buffish white, shading into pale buff on the flanks. The young in
first plumage are reddish brown above, mottled and barred with dark
brown and rufous; the wings are brown, broadly margined and tipped
with rufous-brown; the tail is brown tipped with rufous, the outermost
feathers much paler; the underparts are pale buff, thickly barred with
brown; the bill is pale brown; and the legs and claws are also much
paler than in the adult.

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