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SREP SH) BERS

BY

THE REV. FO: MORRIS, B.A.,

MEMBER OF THE ASHMOLEAN SOCIETY.

VOR VE

CONTAINING FORTY-FOUR COLOURED ENGRAVINGS.

‘De profundis ad Dominum.’

LONDON:
GROOMBRIDGE AND SONS, 5, PATERNOSTER ROW,

4QSONIAN INS
3 “MS /S95°Q
JUL 11 1946
(=
ATIONAL yuseO™

CONTENTS
OF

THE SIXTH VOLUME.

PAGE
Woodcock . : ; : : : : ; : 1
Great Snipe . : 3 : : aes
Common Snipe . ; ; : : : : 14
Jack Snipe. : : : : ; ‘ : u > 2
Sabine’s Snipe . : é : : : : : 25
Brown Snipe . : , : oi aa
Curlew Sandpiper. : : : : : 3
Knot : : ‘ : : : A ; ; ‘ See
Bartram’s Sandpiper . : ; 38
Buff-breasted Sandpiper ‘ : , , ahr AG)
Broad-billed Sandpiper. : ; 42
Little Stint . y : : : ; . 44
ineepe *. : ‘ : : ' : : 47
Temminck’s Stint : Sone)
Schinz’s Sandpiper. , 52
Pectoral Sandpiper : ! . o4
Dunlin é : : : . : 3 ; : 56
Purple Sandpiper : : ; . : 3. JE
Land-Rail ; ‘ : : : ‘ : : : 65
Spotted Crake : 3 ; : ; : : : dl Wide

Little Crake P ; ; , f ; : f h 76

lv

Baillon’s Crake
Water-Rail
Moor-Hen

Coot :
Grey Phalarope
Red-necked Phalarope
Grey-lag Goose
Bean Goose
Pink-footed Goose
White-fronted Goose
Bernicle Goose
Brent Goose
Red-breasted Goose
Egyptian Goose
Spur-winged Goose
Canada Goose
Hooper

Bewick’s Swan
Mute Swan

Polish Swan
Ruddy Shieldrake .
Shieldrake
Shoveler

CONTENTS.

HISTORY OF BRITISH BIRDS.

WOODCOCK.
Scolopax rusticola, PENNANT, MOontTacu.
Scolopax—A Woodcock. Rusticola, Rus—The country.

Colo-—To inhabit.

In Europe, the Woodcock retires into the wild districts of
Norway, Lapland, and Sweden to build, also frequents Finland,
Russia, and Silesia; in Switzerland, Germany, and France, it
is less common; in Italy it is plentiful in winter: it occurs
throughout the whole of the more temperate parts of the
continent in greater or less numbers. In Asia it appertains
to Persia, India, and Japan. In Africa to Barbary aad other
parts, and in Madeira is a perennial resident.

In this country these birds were formerly muck more
abundant than they are now, and numbers used to be taken
in springes, nets, and traps. The destruction of their eggs
in Sweden, where they, as likewise the birds themselves, are
in much request, may perhaps account for this, as well as
possibly for the circumstance of their building so much more
frequently with us than formerly, as presently adverted to,
though their actual numbers are diminished.

In Orkney and Shetland they occur on their way north and
south.

The Woodcock arrives early in the neighbourhood of
Brighton, at first in flocks of from ten to thirty, and after-
wards in larger numbers, and are for a short time found, as
I am informed by Mr. Thomas Thorncroft, of that place, in

B

VoL. VI.

ie WOODCOCK.

patches of furze on the Downs, from which they are started
by the hounds. In the ‘Dukeries,’ in Nottinghamshire, Captain
Turton, of the Third Dragoon Guards, has written me word
that they are very numerous, and breed there, as they do in
Treland, and never leave.

The promontory of Flamborough Head, in Yorkshire, being
the first land that birds make in coming across from the
continent, has long been celebrated fer flights of these birds.
In Cambridgeshire they arrive the end of October, but the
Rev. Leonard Jenyns mentions one killed at Bottisham on
the 18th. of that month. They remain till the middle, or
occasionally till the end of March, and appear to return by
the same route by which they had come.

It is, however, curious that large numbers of the first
arrivals occur on the western coast of Ireland and on the
Scilly Islands, which are twenty miles west of Land’s End.
Dr. Stanley tries to account for this by supposing that in the
weak condition in which the birds are at that season of the
year, namely, before their arrival, they are carried on by the
impetus of their flight, urged by the north-east strong gales
which prevail, and which suit their purpose at the time, farther
than where they would otherwise settle down. But I cannot
agree with this explanation, for inasmuch as the farther they
went, the weaker and more fatigued they would become, the
natural consequence one might think would be, that they must
be carried out into the Atlantic Ocean more or less far,
according as the storm prevailed, and would not be able, any
more than sooner on their journey, to bring up to the land.
Besides this they generally come over, as just now said, in
hazy weather, when the wind is not very high, though from
that quarter; and do not seem much fatigued on their first
arrival: they are to some extent, but after resting for a single
day in any places, though ever so unsuitable to their habits,
that are first met with, proceed onwards to the south, west,
and inland.

Their migration is carried on usually, if not invariably, by
night or in misty weather, and high up in the air: they travel
singly or in pairs, but numbers at the same time. They
have at different times been seen at sea, far from land, and
some have been captured in the rigging and on the decks of
vessels, this, too, off the west coast. Many more appear in
some years than others.

A few arrive in September, more im October, at various

WOODCOCK. 3

periods of the month, but the chief part in November; they
begin to remove again by the end of February.

The first flights consist chiefly of females, and _ these
continuing but a few days, are succeeded by the later ones,
which are composed principally of males. Upon their first
arrival, they are frequently so much exhausted that individuals
have been known to fly against houses, and alight in streets.
‘During the summer months, this species,’ says Meyer, ‘inhabits
the northern countries, where it chiefly breeds, and in winter
the milder regions of the south. Deviations from this general
rule, however, occur in different parts of the south of Europe,
where the Woodcock has been found in many instances to
inhabit the highest woods of the mountains during the
summer, and to come down into the valleys on the approach
of winter.’

‘It appears that the bird in question is not able to bear
very cold weather, since it is a rare circumstance to meet
with one in the depth of our severe winters; but when the
winter is mild, its occurs throughout the shooting season till
the spring. Its susceptibility of cold is, doubtless, not the
oniv reason for the Woodcock forsaking us in severe winters,
but its difficulty of finding food must be great when the
water is frozen, and the ground rendered impervious to its
soft bill when hardened by continued frost. In this is seen
again the wonderful care of Providence, in instilling that
instinct into His creatures which enables them to pursue the
right road towards finding their food under all gradations
of circumstances.’

In crossing the sea in their spring and autumnal migrations,
Woodcocks fly at a great height, but flocks are seen on the
land but a little way over the ground. Charles St. John,
Esq. relates that the master of a ship had observed some of
these birds, when tired and exhausted, pitch for a moment
or two with outspread wings, in the wake of the ship, and
having rested themselves for a few moments, pursue their
way. As a corroboration of this, 1 may state that it is
mentioned in Jesse’s ‘Gleanings in Natural History,’ that a
gentleman having disturbed a Woodcock on the banks of the
Humber, the bird flew over a sand-bank, and disappeared.
On following it he observed it securely riding on the waves;
and it remained there some time as if quite accustomed to
the sea. On being again disturbed, it rose without effort,
and flew away.

4. WOODCOCK.

They pair in March previous to withdrawing. They return
to the same haunt.

The nest of the Woodcock, whether it be that more obser-
vations have been made, or that more instances have really
occurred, has certainly been found in much greater numbers
of late years than formerly, when such a thing was thought
to be of very rare occurrence.

A Woodcock was shot at Mr. Marsham’s, of Stratton, in
Norfolk, about the 4th. of June, 1847. In Yorkshire they
appear to breed regularly in the woods of Storr’s Hall, and
Farnley, also occasionally near Sheffield, and in Wharncliffe
Wood, near Rotherham, ‘the place I know it well,’ also in
Brodsworth Wood, near Doncaster.

They build every year, not very rarely, on Cannock Chase,
and in the preserves of the Marquis of Anglesea, at Beaudesert
Park, near Rugeley, Staffordshire, as Thomas G. Bonney, Esq.,
of St. John’s College, Cambridge, informs me; three were
found there in May, 1848. A nest, with four eggs, was
found, as I am written word by Stephen Stone, Esq., on the
15th. of April, 1853, in Bagley Wood, near Oxford. Another
in Worcestershire; another in Kent, at Seacock’s Heath, near
Hawkhurst; others near Tonbridge and Goudhurst.

Instances, more or less numerous, have occurred in Bed-
fordshire, in the woods near Chicksand Priory, Ryton Wood,
near Coventry, Warwickshire, and Hore Park Wood, and
Baxterley, near Nuneaton, in the same county; the preserves
of Linley Hall, Shropshire, the seat of R. More, Esq. Scawby,
near Brigg, Lincolnshire, in woods belonging to Sir Jolin
Nelthorpe, Bart.; Middlemagsh, near Sherborne, Dorsetshire,
in a cover belonging to H. G. Sturt, Esq. Highclere, Hamp-
shire, the seat of Lord Carnarvon; in different parts of
Norfolk; in Sussex, near Battle, and at Brede and Pilstye;
in Surrey, near Godalming; in Herefordshire, at Derndale.
In Monmouthshire, near Usk; in Hampshire, in Highden
Wood, near Horndean, and the Forest of Bere; in Buck-
inghamshire, near Uxbridge; also in Hertfordshire. In Not-
tmghamshire, in a wood at Shireoaks, near Worksop.

in Scotland, at Conan, in Rosshire, and at Brahan Castle
in the same county; also in Aberdeenshire, at Castle Forbes;
and at Dunkeld, in Perthshire. A pair were found with a
nest of three young ones, in the month of April, near Dornoway
Castle, the seat of the Harl of Moray; another on the shore
of Loch Lomond, near Belloch Castle.

WOODCOCK. 5

The Woodcock has commenced of late years to breed in most
of the large woods in Sutherlandshire. _ On their first arrival
they resort to smaller plantations and copses, and even to
open fields, as of turnips, and afterwards to more extensive
covers.

The Woodcock is a nocturnal or crepuseular bird, hiding
during the day under some evergreen or other thick bush, and
towards night sallying out by some accustomed track to its
feeding-ground. It is of shy and retired habits, and rarely
takes wing by day unless disturbed. In milder weather it ~
retires to higher grounds on moors and mountains, but on the
approach of frost seeks the shelter of the lowlands. A pair
of these birds have been known to fly at and attack a woman
who approached a spring where she had found their nest
containing five young ones. They return to their accustomed
haunts, it would seem, year after year. Bishop Stanley mentions
a Woodcock, which being accidentally captured in a net, was
let loose after a brass ring had been fastened round its leg;
this occurred in February. On finding itself at liberty, it rose
to a very great height in the air, and directed its flight towards
the sea, from which it was distant about twenty miles. In
December, this same bird was shot in the same wood where x
had been taken.

The Woodcock has been observed, in more instances than
one, to remove its young by holding them in its feet; and
this not only on being disturbed, but at other times ordinarily,
to convey them to the nearest springs to feed. Woodcocks
are in poor condition on their first arrival here, but soon
become fat, and as need hardly be observed, are most excellent
eating. In ‘The Naturalist, volume ii, page 19, there is a
singular anecdote related of one of these birds being found on
the 9th. of October, 1852, perched on the back of a stove
in an iron warehouse, at Lynn, in Norfolk. . In the year 1853,
Woodcocks were unusually abundant in different parts of the
country. In one wood near Thornaye, Norfolk, one hundred
and fifty-three were shot in three days—ninety, thirty, and
thirty-three.

In Ireland, where they have been the most abundant, the
Earl of Claremont formerly shot fifty couple in one day.
The author of ‘Wild Sports of the West,’ mentions that from
a copse of not more than thirty acres, he has seen fifty couple
flushed; and in Daniels’ ‘Rural Sports, it is recorded that
Mr. Yea, of Swansea, killed a hundred couple in the season of

6 WOODCOCK.

1796. The Rev. Gilbert White too, mentions that a gentleman
at Scilly shot twenty-nine couple in one diy.

A Woodcock has been seen, at Newnham, in Gloucestershire,
to perch on an oak tree. As the name implies, they frequent
woods, but seem to prefer those in which the trees are of
young growth, and especially, it is said, such as have a north-
east aspect, on account of their being less exposed to the
glare of day.

The flight of the Woodcock has been estimated to be at
the rate of one hundred and fifty miles an hour. Several
instances have occurred of their dashing themselves to death,
from its force against the glass of lighthouses. Five were
thus killed in Anglesea; one in Ireland, where it broke a pane
of plate glass three eighths of an inch in thickness, and its
own breast-bone and wings as well; others at the Eddystone
Lighthouse, so well known in story for its destruction by the
tremendous storm of 1703. In general, however, the flight
of the Woodcock is not so rapid as might be hence supposed,
but like others of its class it turns and twists in a curious
manner. A peculiar rustling of the wings is made in flying,
the bill then is held downwards: so it is when the bird is
standing at rest. If disturbed it does not fly at any height
nor far, but soon seeks the shelter of some bush or other
covert, or returns round again to the wood it had left. When
rising of its own accord, it mounts high at once, and, travelling
always at night, proceeds the more quickly. It walks in a
heavy and somewhat awkward manner, and flirts up its tail
at times, shewing the white tips of the feathers distinctly.

‘In the autumn and spring of the year, when Woodcocks
migrate, they frequently rove about for a quarter of an hour
at night and morning, pursuing one another on the wing,
snapping at each other, and tumbling about, either at dusk,
just before dark, ‘or in the morning until daylight.’

The Rev. Wiliam Bree describes the note to me, having
heard it on more than one occasion, in the spring of 1854,
in the New Forest in Hampshire, as a kind of snort; another
naturalist describes it as a rumbling sound. The young, if
alarmed, emit a very shrill stridulous note: Meyer likens it
to ‘tseep,’ and ‘dack,’ the latter expressive of alarm and fear.

The Woodcock feeds on insects and worms, which latter it
seems to detect by scenting, and secures unerringly by boring
with the bill, and also by turning any loose mould or leaves
from side to side.

WOODCOCK. 9

The young are usually hatched about the middle of April,
or even by the end of March; Mr. Blyth saw two in the year
1836, on the 20th. of April; and on the 22nd. of April Mr.
Gould had a couple of young ones, apparently then three
weeks old.

The nest is built in woods and plantations, among dry grass,
fern, or leaves, of which its structure is formed. It is loosely
put together, but is placed in some warm spot.

The eggs are generally four in number. They require
seventeen days incubation: the hen bird sits very close. The
young run about as soon as hatched.

Two broods are hatched in the year.

Bewick thus well describes the general appearance of the
bird: —‘The upper parts of the plumage are so marked, spotted,
barred, streaked, and variegated, that to describe them with
accuracy would be difficult and tedious. The colours, consisting
of black, white, grey, red, brown, rufous, and yellow, are so
disposed in rows, crossed and broken at intervals by lines and
marks of different shapes, that the whole seems to the eye,
at a little distance, blended together and confused, which makes
the bird appear exactly lke the withered stalks and leaves
of ferns, sticks, moss, and grasses, which form the back ground
of the scenery by which it is sheltered in its moist and solitary
retreats,’

Male; the weight varies to an extraordinary degree; it
ordinarily is from eleven to twelve ounces, but a young bird
of the year will in the autumn sometimes be found only to
weigh seven ounces, and one has been known only five ounces
and a half; it was shot the 10th. of December, 1882, at
Trebartha Hall, in Cornwall, the seat of F. H. Rodd, Esq.
Length, about one foot one inch and three quarters to one
toot two inches, or one foot two and a half; bill, pale reddish
brown, grey at the base, dark brown towards the tip, the tip
itself dusky; it is about three inches long, and furrowed nearly
the whole of its length: the upper mandible projects beyond
and turns over the lower one. From its base to the eye
proceeds a dark brown streak, the feathers on each side of
which are very pale in colour—nearly white. Iris, dark brown,
large, prominent, and placed high up and far back in the head;
forehead, long, greyish brown in colour; sides of the head,
pale brown, spotted triangularly with dark brown; the crown
is flat; the feathers on the back of the neck and nape are
a mixture of three shades of brown, and divided into t*ree

8. ; WOODCOCK.

nearly equal patches by two bars of yellowish brown; chin,
pale yellowish brown—nearly white. Throat and breast, pale
brown, barred across with dark brown, both shades lighter in
old birds; on its upper part are two patches of rufous, which
differ in depth of colour in different birds; back, mottled with
three shades of brown.

The wings expand to the width of two feet two inches;
greater and lesser wing coverts, reddish brown, with open oval
rings of dark brown; primaries, blackish brown, with triangular-
shaped spots of pale reddish brown along the margin of each
web; at the root of the first quill is a small narrow and
pointed feather, found serviceable by painters as a pencil; the
first quill feather is marked with alternate dark and lght
spots of a somewhat triangular shape, but they are said to
wear out with age from the base to the end of the feathers;
the second is the longest; secondaries and tertiaries, blackish
brown, but with the light-coloured marks more elongated,
and reaching across to the shaft; underneath, the quill feathers
are dark slate grey, the triangular marks yellowish grey;
greater and lesser under wing coverts, pale brown barred with
dark brown. ‘The tail, of twelve feathers, is black, indented
across with reddish spots on the edges, and tipped with dark
grey; underneath, it is nearly black tipped with white; upper
tail coverts, chesnut brown tipped with grey, and barred
across with dark brown; under tail coverts, yellowish white,
with black triangular-shaped central spots. ‘The legs, which
are short, and feathered to the knees, are, as the toes, dark
brownish grey; claws, black.

The female exceeds the female in size; weight, ordinarily
from thirteen to fifteen ounces: one is recorded in a letter
from Lady Peyton to Miss Hoste, as communicated by Lord
Braybrooke to Mr. Yarrell, which was of the extraordinary
weight of twenty-seven ounces; it was shot at Narborough,
in Norfolk, about 1775 or 1776. Some years previously one
had been killed at Hadleigh, in Suffolk, which weighed
twenty-four ounces. Another was shot at Audley End, the
seat of Lord Braybrooke, which weighed sixteen ounces. In
Pennant’s ‘British Zoology,’ one is mentioned as killed at
Holywell, of the weight of twenty ounces; and in Daniels’
‘Rural Sports,’ one of seventeen ounces. The head on the
sides about the streak from the bill to the eye, is darker
than in the male, and the small triangular-shaped specks are
less defined; the back has less of the pale brown and grey.

WOODCOCE. 9

The first quill feather is without spots on the outer edge;
upper tail coverts, more red and less grey than in the male.

Some specimens are much darker coloured than others, and
some are rufous; white individuals have been met with, and
cream-coloured ones. The Rey. Gilbert White, of Selborne,
mentions a white Woodcock, only on the back being a few
spots of the natural colour,

10

GREAT SNIPE.

SOLITARY SNIPE. DOUBLE SNIPE.

Scolopax major, PENNANT. MONTAGU.
Gallinago major, STEPHENS.
Scolopaxz—A Woodcock, or Snipe. Major—Greater.

Tus Snipe is found in EKurope—in Sweden and Norway,
where it breeds in considerable numbers, Holland, France,
Germany, Bohemia, Switzerland, and Italy, in the Pontine
Marshes, near Rome. In Asia, in Persia, and about the
Caucasus.

Pennant was the first to describe this as a British bird,
from a specimen preserved in the celebrated Leverian Museum.
‘It was killed in Lancashire.

In Norfolk it is not uncommon in the autumn, in August
and September, but is met with only in small numbers.
W. F. W. Bird, Esq. tells me of three he saw shot there,
and of another sent from Yarmouth. P. EH. Hansell, Esq.
has reported his having found a nest with four eggs, in April,
1846, at Belaugh, near Wroxham, the birds belonging to
which appeared to be of this species; and he also informs
me of a male bird having been killed near Lowestoft, in
Suffolk, in the month of April, 1851. In the county of
Northumberland several instances have occurred; one near
Twizel, the seat of Prideaux John Selby, Esq., in 1822. In
Durham, five or six on Sedgemoor. Two or three were
obtained near Castle Eden in the winter of 1853; and the
Hon. Augustus Barrington, and his brother Lord Barrington,
shot, many years ago, tour Solitary Snipes, two of which

GREAT SNIPE. : ll

were young birds, scarcely full-fledged. This was on Fishburn
Carr, between Castle Eden and Darlington.

In Devonshire, one was shot on Shaugh Moor, September
7th., 1850. In Cornwall, it occurred at Gwyllyn Vase, near
Falmouth, in December, 1848. In Kent, near Dover, one.
In Derbyshire, a few have been observed near Melbourne, in
the autumn, at different times. In Sussex, one was shot
near Lewes, in October, 1849. .

Mr. Chaffey has seen it at Dodington, in Kent, in
September, 1851. The Rev. Charles Alington procured one
in the parish of Marsh Chapel, Lincolnshire, in the year
1850; and A. Fuller, Esq. mentions one shot at Tetney, near
’Grimsby, in September, 1852. In Oxfordshire, one or two
have been found at Botley—one the end of September, 1851.
N. Rowe, Esq., of Worcester College, Oxford, has written
me word of one which was killed in the winter of 1851, in
a sand-pit on the road to Botley from Oxford. It has
occurred also in Surrey, near Godalming.

In Ireland it has been met with.

In Orkney, this bird appeared several times in Sanday, in
September, 1851.

They occur with us in the autumn on their way southwards,
young birds principally, but also old ones which seem to
continue to mate together.

The Solitary Snipe is always found singly, when not in
pairs, and never in flocks. It lies close, and rarely flies far
if put up. It frequents the edges of swamps, and the borders
of any small water-courses in meadows or other places. It
is a most excellent bird to eat. When engaged with their
young both birds are very heedless of danger, and if alarmed
from the nest settle again close by on some little eminence.

They fly in a heavy manner, and not very swiftly, with the
tail spread, and usually settle again after proceeding but a
short distance straight forwards and at a low elevation. During
the pairing season the males soar to a great height, and make
a drumming noise in descending, the effect of a vibration of
the wings. When standing on the ground they generally keep
the bill pointed towards the earth, and with the neck shortened.
They walk in an easy manner, but do not run fast.

They feed on the caddis, or larve, of flies, as also on worms
and insects, swallowing therewith a little sand. The cases of
the former, and any other hard portions of their food, are
reported to be cast up in pellets. They seek thew food in

12 GREAT SNIPE,

the evening, or by the light of the ‘Vaga Luna,’ aif ‘bore
with their bills in suitable places in search thereof.

The note is a monosyllabic ‘bad, bad,’ uttered, it is said,
when one of these birds happens to meet another, and also,
Mr. Selby says, on being disturbed. |

The nest is placed on a tust of grass or hidock in a marsh
near to some standing water, and is lined with a little dry
grass and fragments of other herbage.

The eggs are four in number, of a yellowish olive brown
colour, spotted with two shades of reddish brown. They require
seventeen days incubation, and then the young are tended for
about a month by their parents.

Male; weight, from seven to nine ounces; length, about one —
foot, to one foot and half an inch; bill, dusky at the tip,
darker brown towards the middle, pale yellowish brown at
the base; from it a cream yellow streak spotted with brown
proceeds over the eye; between the bill and the eye is a narrow
streak of rich chesnut brown. Forehead and crown, rich dark
brown, with a few specks of reddish brown, along it a narrow
pale brown or cream-coloured stripe; head on the sides, dull
cream white, speckled with dusky; neck, pale brown, the centre
of each feather darker brown; on the back and the nape, pale
yellowish rufous, spotted with black; in front the neck is
yellowish white, with large angular brown spots. Chin and
throat, dull cream-coloured white, speckled with dusky; breast
above, pale brown, with semicircular bands of brownish black;
on its lower part, pale brownish white, with the same dark
brown cross markings as above. Back above, rich brownish
black, the feathers margined and streaked along their centres
with fine buff or straw-colour; on the lower part, dark brown
edged with paler brown.

The wings have the first quill feather the longest; they
measure in expanse one foot and a half; greater wing coverts,
black, tipped with white; lesser wing coverts, nearly black,
the upper ones tipped with pale yellowish brown, the lower
with white; primaries, dusky or dull greyish black, the shafts
white; secondaries, dull black, tipped with white; tertiaries,
black, barred with pale brown, and margined with a double
line of black and yellowish white. The tail is of sixteen
feathers, the two centre ones black for two thirds of their
length, the two next, that is, one on each side, nearly all
white, the others rich brownish black from the base for three
fourths of their length, followed by a patch of chesnut

GREAT SNIPE. 13

succeeded by black, and this again by white or reddish white
at the tip; upper tail coverts, pale yellowish brown, varied with
dark brown. Legs and toes, greenish or yellowish brown;
claws, black.

The female is larger in size, and darker in colour on the
sides of the head. The breast has less of the dark semi-
circular marks; the greater and lesser wing coverts have the
white spots larger and clearer.

The young have the bill shorter, and the white on the
outside tail feathers is only acquired by degrees.

14

COMMON SNIPE.

WHOLE SNIPE. SNITE. HEATHER BLEATER.

Scolopax gallinago, PENNANT, MONTAGU,
ss gallinaria, GMELIN.
Gallinago media, SHAw.
Scolopax—A Woodcock, er Snipe. Gallinago—........... ?

THE Snipe, like the trout, is connected with my earliest
recollections. There is no bird which gives you more the
idea of a wild-fowl. You may look at a hundred, one after
another, and each will be regarded with fresh interest, and
as if in a new point of view. There is a ‘Je ne scai quoi’
in its whole appearance, which seems to associate you with
itself in a love for running brooks and quiet scenes.

The Snipe is very extensively distributed. In Europe it
is found in considerable numbers, in Germany, Holland, France,
Spain, Switzerland, Hungary, Illyria, and Italy, especially in
the Pontine Marshes, near Rome, where they get up, literally,
it is said, in clouds; also in Russia, Norway, Sweden, Lapland,
and Denmark, and as far north as the Faroe Islands, Iceland
and Greenland. In Asia, it has been noticed in Siberia and
Asia Minor; and in Africa, it is said, in Lower Egypt.

The Snipe breeds, and often in considerable numbers, in
many parts of the country; new Penryn, in Cornwall, in
Devonshire, on Dartmoor, Dorsetshire, Hampshire, in the New
Forest, Cambridgeshire, in Burwell and Swaffham Fens, and
other like parts; and in Norfolk, in most of the marshy
parts of the county.

In Scotland, it occurs in Sutherlandshire in plenty, also
in the Orkneys, Hoy, and all the other islands, as likewise
in the Shetland Isles, but less abundantly, and also in the
Hebrides.

(% a \ fy
HN

As 4

Ne Wi, ‘
NY 4 NS

¥ \ ahi,

SNIPE.

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¥

* thea fom

x

* COMMON SNIPE. 15

In Ireland it is particularly abundant; I have seen them
there in numbers frequenting elevated heathy ground, as well
as the sides of streams. They are however said to be now
somewhat less numerous there than formerly.

These birds travel at night, and large flights arrive annually
on the north-eastern coasts, chiefly in the beginning of November,
from Norway and the other countries of old Scandinavia. In
the autumn they descend from their higher breeding-grounds,
and spread over the country, where they are then found in
almost all moist or watery places. They seldom remain long
in one spot, some change either of the weather or the wind, or
other cause unknown to us, regulating their movements, which
are thus conducted rather capriciously as we might be disposed
to consider, but doubtless not without good reasons of their
own.

The Snipe is usually found in wet and marshy situations,
and by the sides of ponds, lakes, rivers, and rivulets, drains,
ditches, and canals, but also at times on heathy hills, and
this too in flocks. They assemble thus in considerable
numbers, though not very closely, not so much, as it would
appear, from a desire of association among themselves, as from
like motives in the choice of ground; vast numbers as well
as smaller flocks thus collect together, but they preserve no
community in their movements, each Snipe taking its own
way, and settling again, some nearer, some farther off; single
birds, it may be, returning again one by one after a time.
They approach the neighbourhood of houses without fear: I
have put up some this winter during the snow-blast we have
had, and shot one, standing in my own garden, which is
bordered by a little running stream.

When the still waters are frozen up they naturally resort
to running streams and warm springs, where the sources of
supply are still left open to them. In winter they may often
be observed on the sea-shore. As many as nineteen are said
to have been killed at a single shot, if so one may say, of
a double-barrelled gun. W. F. W. Bird, Esq. informs me that
the Snipe at times approaches London very closely, and that
within the last five years he has known them killed in
Islington, and one also within the last few years, on the
spot where the New Cattle Market now stands. This bird,
when by itself, generally lies pretty close, but if a number
are together it makes them much more careful, and the
note of alarm given by the first causes all the others to get

16 COMMON SNIPE.

up: when the wind is high they seem to rise more readily
than at other times. It is, as need hardly be mentioned, in
much esteem for the table, and some are taken in springes,
but the most are procured with the gun.

The flight of the Snipe is very swift, and at first zigzag,
but it becomes more regular, or rather, the movements from
side to side are.more extended, and, after about sixty or
eighty yards continuance, the bird rises high in the air, as
if to descry some other proper place to alight, to which it
accordingly directs its course, and descends in a very rapid
and abrupt manner, settling down very suddenly, and dropping
like a stone. I have known them, however, when put up,
alight again not far off—one recently in a neighbouring stubble,
and another under a hedge in a grass field. They move about
in a leisurely manner, and keep moving the tail every now
and then.

In the early spring these birds soar to a vast height, some-
times far out of sight, and observable only by their note.
These flights, which are of lengthened duration, are made at
different times during the day, but mostly towards evening,
and are continued while the female is sitting. Whole Snipes,
unlike the smaller species, generally fly off, if put up, to some
more or less considerable distance. ‘They are very easily brought
down by shot; I have known one killed—some of my old school-
fellows will well remember the fact—at a distance of seventy-two
yards. Alas! poor Venour! He lies now in Bromsgrove
churchyard, side by side with Lightfoot, his great and insep-
arable friend, the only two of my companions who died at
school: ‘In their death they were not divided.’ Good reader,
pardon this passing record of their memory. I have never
but once seen the Snipe on the ground; the only occasion on
which I did, was by the side of a little pond close to the
road between Driffield and Beverley. (The day after the
above was written, I have seen another by the brook near
Nunburnholme Rectory,) On one only occasion have I seen
this bird perched in a tree; it is now a good many years ago,
as is proved by my having been at the time on the outside
of a coach—one of those that ran between Southampton
and Exeter. It was driven at the time by Cox, then, though
I fear not now, Junior; for not only must his father, a most
respectable man—Cox, Senior, by whom I well remember the
son being first introduced on the ‘Stage’ in a subordinate
capacity, have long since succumbed to the universal fiat—his

COMMON SNIPE. 17

end perhaps accelerated by mortification at the triumph of the
railroad—but Junior lapses into a positive as well as a relative
term, and soon, though we must not say too soon, ceases to
be appropriate in either case. I was sitting behind him, for
IT had not the reins that morning, and pointed out to him
as we passed a tree by the road, a Snipe perched on one of
the branches which was bare of leaves, it beimg winter at
the time. If he is still living, for I have not seen him for
some years, he will remember the fact, for he was much struck
with it as well as myself, and I have since more than once
reminded him of it. Those days are gone for ever—

‘The coach of other days is faded,
And all its glories past;

For steam with envious cloud hath shaded.
Its hopes too bright to last.’

Only last week I happened to meet at York one of the old
mail coachmen between that city and Doncaster, Holtby, well
known in days of yore, and heard him draw a comparison
between the road and the rail, to the decided deprecation of
the latter. I could not but in some measure agree with
him:—‘If the coach overturns, and you are thrown into the
ditch, and break your arm or your leg, there you are; but
if there comes a smash on the railway—where are you?’

In running the Snipe jerks the tail, spreading it out also
sideways.

They feed on worms, smal] shell-fish, larve, insects, and
vegetable substances, and a few seeds are at times also swallowed,
but perhaps inadvertently, as well as some sand. The first-
named are procured by boring with the long~ bill in soft ground.

The note of the Snipe, uttered on the wing, and when
first put up, is an abrupt pipe; Selby expresses it by the
word ‘chissick,’ lispingly pronounced. Another sound, resembling
a tremulous bleating or humming, is also made, but this is
supposed to be produced by the action of the wings, for
the bird at such times is observed to descend with great
swiftness, and with a thrilling movement of the pinions. A
whirring noise is produced by the bird at times when on the
ground, and this without any apparent motion of the wings,
as stated, after personal observation, by William Richard
Fisher, Esq., of Yarmouth, in the ‘Zoologist,’ page 1501.

VOL VI. Cc

a
18 COMMON SNIPE.

Towards the end of March, or beginning of April, the
male bird begins to call for a mate.

The nest is commonly placed in the middle of a tuft of
grass, rushes, or heather, in a shallow depression in the surface;
by the side of water, as also among the heather where watery
spots abound, on the hill side, often at an elevation of from
five hundred to a thousand feet above the level of the plain.
A few chance stalks furnish its lining, if any be provided
at all, which is not always the case.

The eggs are four in number, and of a very large size
in proportion to that of the bird; their colour is pale yellowish,
or greenish white, blotted at the larger end with two or
three shades of brown. Some are spotted all over with small
spots; some are of aclear green ground, some light blue, and
others olive brown. Six eggs have several times been found
in one nest, as mentioned by the Rev. G. Low, in his ‘Fauna
Oreadensis;’ but they doubtless must have been the joimt
contribution of two birds.

The young leave the nest as soon as hatched, and are taken
eare of by their parents till able to provide for themselves.
They are usually able to fly before the middle of July, but
in some seasons not till the middle of August.

Male; weight, about four ounces; length, from ten and 2
half or eleven inches and a half, to nearly one foot; the
bill, which is at first tender, but becomes harder in fully
adult birds; is in the latter of very elegant appearance, three
inches m length, long and slender; the lower mandible fits
at the tip into the upper one, which somewhat projects over
it: the latter is rugose on the surface at the same part. It
is of a dark brown colour, dusky at the point, pale reddish
or yellowish brown at the base. From it a dark brown streak
runs to the eye; over it and over the eye a pale brown or |
light ferruginous one. Iris, dusky or dark brown. Head on
the sides, spotted with dusky grey, and tinged in winter
with ferruginous brown; on the crown, very dark brown,
streaked along the centre with whitish or light yellowish
chesnut brown. Neck on the sides and in the front, pale
brown, spotted in a streak with a darker shade. Chin and
throat, white, or nearly white; breast on the upper part, pale
yellowish or ferruginous brown, spotted with dusky grey;
below white; on the sides, greyish white, barred with dusky
black, or dark brown. Back, dark velvet blackish brown,

COMMON SNIPE. 19

slightly spotted with pale brown, with a purpie or bronze
reflection. Four conspicuous lines of rich buff, pale cream-
colour in winter, run down its sides, the broad outside margins
of the long scapular feathers, which are brown along their
centres.

The wings have the first quill the longest. ‘They expand to
about the width of one foot two inches. Greater and lesser
wing coverts, dusky brown, with pale brown or cream-coloured
edges and marks on the tips. Primaries, dull black, the first
with its outer webs nearly white; secondaries, dull black tipped
with whitish, the inner one striated and barred with light
ferruginous; tertiaries, black, barred with pale brown. The tail,
of fourteen feathers, is, at the base and for two thirds of its
length, black with light ferruginous bars; on the outer portion
are oval patches of pale chesnut, bounded by a dusky brown
band; the tips of the feathers white. Upper tail coverts, barred
with alternate bars of dusky black and pale yellowish brown,
under tail coverts, pale yellowish brown, barred with greyish
black; the shafts of the feathers bend inwards. Legs and toes,
greyish or brownish green.

The female rather exceeds the male in size; the plumage of
both is similar.

‘A young bird about two thirds grown, with the beak only
one inch long, and with down still adhering about the head,
has the narrow light-coloured margins, and the rich red brown
on the feathers of the upper surface of the body and wings,
as in the old bird in summer.’ Jn “The Naturalist,’ new series,
volume ii, page 132, one is described as having been shot at
Guestwick, in Norfolk, which was of a delicate buff-colour, with
darker markings on the back and wings, and the bill and lezs
of a pink hue. I have also seen a dull buff-coloured one, in
the possession of the Rev. J. Mathews, Vicar of Wetwang.. In
the ‘Zoologist,’ page 2801, another is mentioned by Edmund
Thomas Higgins, in which the outer feather on one side was
considerably longer than the second, and on the other, shorter.

A pied variety of this species was procured near Richmond,
Yorkshire.

One has been known with its bill, for considerably more than
half its length, turned upwards, like that of the Avocet. in
the ‘Magazine of Natural History,’ volume ii, page 437, one
is described which had the bill yellow, with a brown tip, the
lines on the head of a dull buff; the breast above, vellowisa

20 COMMON SNIPE.

brown, yellow, and light chesnut; the quills and lesser wing
coverts, light dusky brown; the tail feathers barred with brown,
chesnut, white, and yellow; upper tail coverts, brown, yellow,
chesnut, and white intermixed; the legs and toes, lizht yellowish
brown.

The plate is from a drawing by the Rev. R. P. Alington,
of Swinhope Rectory, Lincolnshire. .

1

JACK SNIPE.

JUDCOCK. ALF SNIPE.

Scolopax gallinula, PENNANT. MontTacu.
Gallinago minor, Brisson.
oe minima, Ray. WILtuGHsy. STEPHENS.
Scolopax—A Woodcock, or Snipe. Gallinula—............ &

We t do I recall, among other recollections betokening the
love of nature which from the very first seemed part of my
mind, the extreme admiration with which I regarded the
singular appearance of this true game and wild-looking bird
when first seen:

‘Could those days but come again!

But no! it is best as it is. ‘Let by-gones be by-gones:’ let
Hope prevail against Memory in the mind of. the Christian
Clergyman, and from his own experience may he the better
guide his flock.

This species is found in Hurope—in Russia, Sweden, Den-
mark, France, and Italy. In Asia—in Siberia, Asia Minor,
the vicinity of the Caucasus, and in India, in the Dukkun.
At is believed to breed in the marshes of Holstein and Hanover,
as also in Zealand.

In this country it is not so numerous as the larger species.

It is said to breed in Sutherlandshire.

In Orkney it is a regular winter visitant, and is_ pretty
abundant.

This bird frequents the moist borders of rivers, streams, lakes,
and ditches.

The Judeoek travels by night, and arrives here towards the
middle of September, and departs by the end of February, or

3 f JACK SNIPE.

the beginning of March, while some stay till the first week i in
April, or even remain till towards the end of that month. A
few individuals have been met with here in summer, Mr. C.
Girdlestone had one brought to him in June, 1828. This was
in Norfolk; and im the year 1824, in May or June, he himself
saw a pair on Bradwell Common, in that county. Two years
later another was brought to him. On the Ist. of August,
18338, one was shot on Barton Fen, where the person who
shot it said that he had once killed one in summer. In the
‘Zoologist,’ page 2830, three are stated to have been seen near
Melbourne, in Derbyshire, by J. J. Briggs, Esq., on the 18th.
of August, 1845.

Lord Garvagh has seen this bird in summer, near Garvach,
in the county of Londonderry, in Ireland, and obtained a nest
with four eggs taken on a heathy hill near there. It was
placed near a pool of water, and almost hid under a tuft of
rushes. Mr. Thompson, of Belfast, has also given what he
considered an authenticated instance of the Judcock breeding
in Ireland. Mr. Hewitson has seen it on Prestwick Carr, in
Northumberland, in the breeding time; and the Rev. G. Low,.
in Orkney, at the same season.

It lies very close, and is not easily put up without a dog
indeed, even when set by a dog, it has been known to allow
itself to be taken up by the hand. At some times, nevertheless,
as on the beginning of a thaw after a frost, it appears more
on the alert, getting up almost as readily as the larger species.
When engaged with its nest, however, it is especially liable
to be overlooked, allowing itself to be even walked over without
moving. It is by no means shy of approaching houses. I
have shot one in a field close to my own garden. It is a bird
of solitary habits, and is mostly found singly, though two may
frequent the same locality more or less nearly. It is equal
as a delicacy for the table to the other species.

Its flight is not very swift, but at the first rising of the
bird, very unsteady. It has a habit of returning to, or nearly
to, the same place from which it arose, and does not fly far
before doing so. The wings are considerably bent in flying.

It feeds on small worms, larve, and winter insects, and in
search of the former probes with its bill in the soft mud or
sand. It also swallows a little gravel with its food, and at
times seeds, but the latter perhaps accidentally.

It makes its nest on some grassy knoll, or among a tuft
of rushes.

JACK SNIPE. 23

The eggs are four in number, and of a yellowish olive colour,
spotted about the larger end with two shades of brown.

The apparent difference between this and the larger species,
is, at first sight, very trifling, in all but size, and the length
of the bill. Male; weight, about two ounces to two and a
quarter; length, a little over eight inches to eight and a half;
bill, greyish dusky; the tip darker, the base pale yellowish red,
with a bloom of grey; it is about two inches long; from it
a broad cream-coloured or pale brown streak extends over the
eye and down the nape, with a narrow darker one along the
middle line of the hinder part, and as far as the eye is a space
of pale yellowish brown; iris, dusky dark brown. Head on the
sides, greyish or brownish white, with the tips of the feathers
black, giving ita sort of neutral tint; on the crown, rich dark
blackish brown, the feathers edged with rufous hence! in
winter changed to grey; it is bordered on each side with a
yellowish streak, beneath which is a dusky one; neck on the
back and nape, ferruginous, or greyish brown, varied with dusky
brown. Chin and throat, white, or greyish, or pale brownish
white; breast above, pale yellowish brown, tinged with grey,
and spotted with dusky; below, white, and on the sides dashed
with greyish black, and tinted with brown; back, rich dark
blackish brown in waves, with olive bronze and _ purple
reflections, the feathers narrowly tipped with white, and broadly
margined with pale dull yellow; in winter it becomes more
grey. The scapular feathers are long, and with their outer
webs of a rich cream yellow form two conspicuous bands along
each side.

The wings have the first quill the longest. The axillary
feathers are white, clouded irregularly with blackish greys
greater and lesser wing coverts, dusky black, the feathers
narrowly edged with pale brown and white; primaries, dusky
black; secondaries also dusky black, but the tips pointed with
white; tertiaries, brownish black; spotted and streaked in
waves with rich reddish brown, and edged with pale greyish
white. The tail, of twelve pointed feathers, is dusky greyish
or brownish black, edged with very pale ferruginous o% rufous;
it is of a wedge shape; upper tail coverts, brown, edged with
buff; under tail coverts, white. Legs and toes, dark greenish
or greyish brown; claws, black.

The female is larger than the male, and her colours not
so bright.

The young birds want the brilliant green and purple

DA JACK SNIPE.

reflections. Head on the crown, neck on the back and nape,
yellowish ash-colour, with dark spots and green yellow edges
to the feathers: front of the neck and throat, buff-colour,
finely marked with black; breast, white; back, yellowish
ash-colour, with a black mark on the larger feathers between
the light edges and the central colouring. Greater and lesser
wing coverts, yellowish ash-colour, with black spots, and
greenish yellow edges; tertiaries, yellowish ash-colour, with |
black spots and greenish yellow edges to the inner webs, and
rufous edges to the outer webs; upper tail coverts, white.

SNIPE.

25

SABINE’S SNIPE.

Scolopax Sabini, FLEMING. SELBY. JENYNS.
Scolopax—A Woodcock, or Snipe. Sabini—Of Sabine.

TuE late Nicholas Aylworth Vigors, Esq., M.P. for Carlow,
received the original specimen of this bird as a British one
from the Queen’s County, in Ireland, in August, 1822, and
named it in honour of Colonel Sabine, the then chairman of
the Zoological Society. It was shot near Portarlington, by
the Rev. Charles Doyne, on the 22nd. of August in that
year. Another was shot in Ireland the end of November, or
beginning of December, 1827, on a heathy hill near Garvagh,
in the county of Londonderry, the seat of Lord Garvagh,
by Captain, afterwards General, Bonhan, then of the 10th.
Hussars. Lord Garvagh has frequently seen others in the
same locality—one on the 12th. of January, 1853, and again
afterwards; also in 1854. Mr. Thompson, in his “Birds of
Treland,” gives ten instances of its occurrence.

On the 26th. of October, 1824, another, a female, was
killed on the banks of the Medway, near Rochester, Kent.
In the year 1836, in the summer, one was shot by the Hon.
Mr. Harris, son of Lord Malmesbury, near Heron Court, his
Lordship’s seat, in Hampshire. Another was obtained near
Morpeth, in Northumberland. One appears to have been
shot near the River Wharfe, in Yorkshire, on the 14th. of
August, 1820, by T. G., of Clitheroe, as recorded in the
‘Magazine of Natural History,’ volume viii, page 613; and
on the 17th. he saw another like it, near Denton Park, the
seat of Sir Henry dbbetson, Bart., on the bank of the same
river, one, the beauty of which I have before referred to—
O ‘River, River!’—‘how I love thy silver stream!’ One was
shot at Tetney, near Grimsby, Lincolnshire, as A. Fuller,
Esq. has been so good as inform me; one in Hampshire,

26 SABINE’S SNIPE.

recorded in the ‘Zoologist,’ page 1800. In Sussex one, shot
near Chichester harbour, in June, 1845.

Like the Jack Snipe, it appears to have the habit, not
being easily alarmed, of returning again, after being disturbed,
to the place that it had left.

In general appearance this bird somewhat resembles the
Woodcock. Male; length, a little over nine inches and three
quarters; bill, dark olivaceous brown, dusky towards the tip,
pale reddish or yellowish brown at the base. Head, crown,
neck on the back, and nape, dusky reddish, or pale yellowish
brown, spotted and barred with black on each feather; chin,
throat, and breast, pale dusky yellowish or reddish, spotted
and barred with black on each feather. Back above, dusky
reddish or yellowish brown, spotted and barred with black
on each feather; on the lower part tinged with grey.

The wings have the first quill feather the longest. The
greater and lesser wing coverts are dusky brown, partially
tinted with pale ferruginous or yellowish brown on each
feather; primaries, dusky black, the shafts also black,
tertiaries, dusky brown, partially marked across with pale —
yellowish brown on each feather; greater and lesser under
wing coverts, brownish black. The tail, which consists of
twelve feathers, is black on the inner half, ferruginous brown
towards the tip, spotted and barred with black; the two
centre feathers have rather more, and the outer feathers
rather less, black than the others; upper tail coverts, greyish
brown. Legs, very dark chesnut brown, as are the toes, the
two outer of which are united *at the base for a short
distance; claws, black.

SNIPE.

BROWN

27 !

BROWN SNIPE.

RED-BREASTED SNIPE. GREY SNIPE. BROWN LONGBEAK.

Scolopax grisea, PENNANT. MOonrtTAGuU.

Scolopax Noveboracensis, SABINE.

Macroramphus griseus, . Eyton. GovuLp.
Scolopar—A Woodcock, or Snipe. GHASC nko pncee

Tuts Snipe, whose triple name denotes its different appearance
in summer, autumn, and winter—red, brown, and grey, ac-
cording to the season of the year, belongs naturally to North
America. It is a very abundant species in the Fur Countries,
and is found extensively from the borders of Lake Superior to
the Arctic Sea. In Europe it has been shot in Sweden, and
is included also among the birds of Greenland.

Colonel Montagu was the first to mention the occurrence of
this bird in Britain. His specimen was obtained in Devonshire,
in the month of October; a second example, according to Dr.
Edward Moore and Mr. Bellamy, was subsequently procured
in the same county. A third was killed near Carlisle, in the
year 1835; a fourth near Yarmouth, Norfolk, on the 12th. of
October, 1836; a fifth also near the same place; a sixth in the
same county in 1840. A seventh at Runton, and one at
Horsey, shot by Mr. Rising, the 9th. of October, 1845.

They migrate northwards the end of April and beginning
of May, and return again southwards the end of July, and
beginning of August.

They go in flocks, sometimes of very large extent, keeping
by themselves, and seldom associating with other species, as
may be judged of from the fact that as many as eighty-five
have been killed at one shot. They are considered particularly
good eating, and numbers are accordingly obtained for the

28 BROWN SNIPE.

table. They frequent sand-baxs, mud-lines, and mud-flats by
the sea-side.

On being disturbed they generally rise high in the air,
and make several circuitous manceuvres before they descend,
wheeling, coursing, and doubling about, then shootig high in
the air, and there separating in various bodies.

They feed on marine worms and small shell-fish.

They utter, says Wilson, a loud howling whistle.

In singularity of appearance, this Snipe, curious as are our
other species, seems to be ‘facile princeps.’ Male; weight, three
ounces and a quarter; length, from ten to eleven inches; bill,
dark reddish brown, darker towards the point, at the base
deep greenish grey; between it and the eye is a dusky streak,
which in winter is white. Iris, dark reddish brown; above it
runs a white line tinged with reddish brown. Head on the
sides and crown, neck on the back and nape, pale chesnut brown
streaked with black, in winter light greyish brown varied with
darker brown and dusky black; the sides of the head white;
neck on the sides and in front, reddish chesnut spotted and
barred with black, in winter grey tinged with brown; chin,
in winter, white; throat and breast, pale reddish chesnut,
spotted and barred with black, in winter grey tinged with
yellowish brown, below white; back on the upper part, nearly
black, the feathers beautifully edged and streaked with bright
yellowish chesnut; in winter the black colour changes to grey
brown, and the grey to white; below it is white, barred aeross
with black; in winter it is nearly white.

The wings have the first quill feather the longest; greater
and lesser wing coverts, dusky greyish brown; in the winter
dusky and white, the former with paler edges, and slightly
tipped with white; primaries, dusky greyish brown; in winter
dusky, the shaft of the first white; secondaries, dusky brown,
in winter edged and tipped with white; tertiaries, edged and
streaked obliquely with bright yellowish chesnut, in winter
greyish brown, darkest towards the end, margined with greyish
buff white; greater and lesser under wing coverts, white,
prettily marked with angular dusky streaks. The tail is of
twelve feathers, crossed alternately with bars of black and
white, those of the former colour the broadest; in summer
it is tinged with rufous, the two middle feathers are rather
the longest; upper tail coverts, white, spotted with black,
in summer with a rufous tinge; under tail coverts, white
tinged with red and spotted with black; in winter the white

.

BROWN SNIPE. 29

is dull and the black becomes deep brown; they reach nearly
to the end of the tail. Legs and toes, greenish brown, tinged
with grey; claws, black.

During the change from the summer plumage to she
winter, the bird naturally passes through many shades of
dark and grey brown to the grey of the latter season.

5U

CURLEW SANDPIPER.

PIGMY CURLEW.

Tringa subarquata, FLEMING. SELBY.

Numenius pygmeus, PRNNANT.

Scolopax pygmeéus, Monracu,
Trintga—.......s000 z Subarquata, Sub—-Diminutive. Arguata—Arched.

In Europe, this species spreads irom Sardinia and the
southern parts of the continent, to France, Holland, where
it breeds, Norway, Fmland, and Sweden, and thence to the
Arctic regions. In Asia, it belongs to the neighbourhood of
the Caspian Sea and Lake Baikal, Persia and the Indian
Archipelago; and in Africa extends in its range from Egypt
and the northern shores to Senegal, and so on to the Cape.
In America, it reaches from the high northern latitudes and
Canada, to Georgia and Florida in the south.

It was formerly considered as a rare visitor to our shores,
but a few pairs are now believed to breed occasionally. One
of the first recorded was obtained near Sandwich, in Kent;
another, in August, near Greenwich, as referred to by Pennant;
Mr. Gould shot a pair near Sandwich, in the last week of May,
1833. Mr. Heysham, of Carlisle, obtained a male in full
summer plumage, on Rock Cliff, Salt-marsh, on the 27th. of
the same month, and in the autumn of the following year
a considerable flock was seen there. Others have been
procured in Norfolk, where it is not uncommon in the winter.
These birds have also been met with in Cornwall, near Fal-
mouth, but not commonly; in Devonshire, near Plymouth, in
several places; in Hampshire, and Surrey, near Godalming.
in Durham a pair, male and female, were procured near
Hartlepool, and one near Sunderland, in January, 1514; in

“AHdIIAINVS MiUTUNo

CURLEW SANDPIPER. oL

Kent, near Deal, on the 16th. of August, 1850. One was
shot by the late F. F. Foljambe, Esq., October Ist., 1812.

In Scotland, Sir William Jardine, Bart. has found them
in Dumfriesshire and on both sides of the Solway, and on
the shores of the coast, and the lochs in other parts.

In Ireland, the late William Thompson, Esq., of Belfast,
has described them as not uncommon.

They frequent the low, flat, and sandy parts of the coast,
and at times resort to the open sides of inland seas, lakes,
and ponds.

They migrate by night, and arrive about the end of July.
- These birds go in troops, sometimes of considerable numbers.
They feed during part of the day, and when the tide comes
up too high, retire for a time, but only to return again as
soon as the waters have receded. They are by no means shy,
and if disturbed, soon fly back to their feeding place. It is
said that if suddenly surprised singly, they will lie close to
the ground, but if a flock be together they take better care
of themselves. They sometimes mix with other birds.

‘The flight of the Curlew Tringa is quick, and performed
by rapid motions of the sharp-pointed wings, while flymg at
a high elevation; but skimming when passing low over the
water or flats.’ They rum very fast along the sands of the
ocean side. How far better is it to spend a leisure hour in
watching the actions of the sea birds in their natural haunts,
and so gain health, happiness, and reverence, than to waste
time in revelry or mere worldly pleasure, to the lowering of the
tone both of the body and the mind. ‘The end of that mirth
is heaviness,’ says the wise man; but the medicine that the
open air supplies, surely “tis the best of any.’ In the timely
use of it, you may look, with Gon’s blessing, for the ‘mens
sams In corpore sano.’

These birds feed on shrimps and sandhoppers, small crustacea,
insects, and worms, for which they bore in the soft sand. In
confinement they are said never to swallow their food without
first dipping it in water.

The call-note is a shrill pipe, and is uttered at times on
the wing. ;

The eggs are described as yellowish spotted with brown.

Male; weight, two ounces; length, seven inches and a half
to eight and a quarter or even nine; the bill, which is curved
_, downwards, is nearty black, in winter brownish black; the space
between it and the eyes is dusky; over it runs a band of

ca)

= CURLEW SANDPIPER.

bright rust-colour, which in winter becomes grey or white;
iris, very dark brown; it is encircled with whitish feathers.
Forehead, white, whitish, or mixed with pale reddish brown,
according to the time of the year; head on the crown, neck
on the back, and nape, bright rust-coloured or chesnut, with
black spots and marks on the feathers; in winter the rust- |
colour fades into grey on the sides of the head, and on “the
back it is greyish brown, streaked and spotted with darker
brown, with a slight olivaceous gloss. Chin, whitish; in winter
white; throat and breast above, and on the sides, reddish rust-
colour or chesnut, the latter with white edges to the feathers
towards winter, and a dusky marking between the two colours;
below white, with indistinct rust-coloured or chesnut markings,
and arrow-headed black spots and streaks; in winter the chesnut
becomes white, yellowish white, or grey, and of this colour is.
the whole under surface of the body; back above, nearly
black, each feather edged with reddish chesnut brown; on the
lower part, blackish grey edged with white, gradually paler, and
the feathers edged with white; in winter the rust-colour
becomes brown with a slight tinge of olivaceous bronze.

The wings, which, when closed, reach a little beyond the
tail, have the first quill feather the longest, the axillary
plume white; greater wing coverts, dusky grey, the edges
paler, the shafts black; in winter the lesser coverts are grey,
the centre of the feather rather darker than the rest; lesser
wing coverts, nearly black, each feather broadly edged with.
reddish chesnut or rust-colour; in winter the latter becomes
white from yellowish white in autumn; primaries and second-
aries, dusky black with white shafts, the latter in winter
become edged with white; tertiaries, nearly black, each feather
broadly edged with reddish chesnut or rust-colour, which in
winter changes to white from yellowish white in autumn.
The tail, of twelve feathers, is brownish grey with white
tips and shafts to the feathers, those towards the outside
paler and clouded, underneath it is greyish white; it Is
wedge-shaped; upper tail coverts, white, with a few square
dusky spots; in winter with or without dusky markinys or bars;
under tail coverts reddish white, barred and spotted with black
spots of an arrow-headed form. The legs, which are rather long,
and the toes, greenish black; in winter, greenish brown, claws,
black.

While assuming the winter garb the rust-colour is of course
more or less intermingled with the blackish brown.

CURLEW SANDPIPER. 33

The young have the eye-streak white; forehead, white; crown,
blackish brown, bordered with greyish white; neck in front,
white; on the back, greyish white, with streaks of a deeper
tint; throat and breast above, yellowish grey, below white;
back, light brown, with a glossy reflection, the feathers margined
with white and reddish white, with greyish ash-coloured
feathers more or less intermixed. Tail, grey, margined with
white; upper and under tail coverts, white.

VOU. Vin D

od

KNOT.

REG SANDPIPER. ASH-COLOURED SANDPIPER.

Tringa Canutus, MontTacu.
« SIslandica, PENNANT.
“cinerea, TEMMINCK.

Calidris Canutus, FLEMING.

Tringa— seeese eeccer ? Canutus— Canute.

Tue Knot, according to Camden, derives its specific Latin
name from ‘King Canutus,’ with whom it is reported to have
been a favourite dish; I do not, however, find any reference
to the matter in the ballad under the above title in Percy’s
‘Reliques of Ancient British Poetry,’ in which, in school days,
I used to ‘read, and read, and read again’ of ‘Sir Andrew
Barton, Knight,’ ‘The Nut-browne Maid,’ ‘The Gaberlunzie
Man,’ ‘Chevy Chase,’ ‘The Heir of Linne,’ ‘Fair Rosamond,’
‘The Sturdy Rock,’ ‘Brave Lord Willoughby,’ ‘The Winning
of Cales,’ ‘The Wandering Jew,’ “The Spanish Lady’s Love,’
‘Admiral Hosier’s Ghost,’ “The Beggar’s Daughter of Bednal
Green,’ ‘Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne,’ ‘Adam Bell, Clym
o’ the Clough, and William of Cloudesley, ‘The Child of
Elle,’ ‘King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid,’ ‘My Mind to
Me a Kingdome is,’ ‘King Lear and his three Daughters,’
‘The Dragon of Wantley,’ ‘Gentle River, Gentle River,’ etc.,
etc., etc.; it was then a very scarce book, but a new edition
of it has since been published, and some of the poems are
very beautiful.

The Knot advances north to the Arctic regions, and there
rears its young. M. Nilsson says that it inhabits in Europe
the northerly parts of Sweden and Norway, in summer, and

ee

KNOT. 3D

the same appears to be the case in Finland; also in Holland,
France, and Germany. It occurs likewise in America, even
to the Polar regions, and in Asia; and rears its young
within the Arctic circle. It is enumerated by Captain
Sabine among the birds inhabiting Greenland and Spitzbergen.
Sir William Jardine says that he has seen a specimen from
New Holland that appears in every way identical.

Dr. Fleming mentions one killed in the Isle of Sanday,
one of the Orkneys, on the 15th. of June, 1808. Vast flocks
arrive on our eastern shores in the autumn. In Lincolnshire
it used to be extremely abundant.

In Ireland it is a regular autumnal visitant; also in Scotland,
among other places, between Aberdeen and Peterhead.

This species generally arrives in Orkney in September. One
was killed by Mr. Strang, August 20th., 1811; several were
shot by the same gentleman on August 26th., 1843, September
7th., 1837,. and in October, 1831. They often appear in
large flocks.

On the 4th. of February, 1851, I shot one of these birds,
when in company with my friend the Rev. R. P. Alington,
on the Lincolnshire side of the Humber. It was one of a
flock, very wild, and one of the longest shots I ever made;
neither of us will soon forget the walk we took that day.
A specimen, of which W. Brooks Gates, Esq. has written me
word, was shot at Pattishall, in Northamptonshire, the first
week in February, 1855; in Surrey, one near Godalming, in
December, 1854. In Cornwall, it is not uncommon near
Falmouth, at Gwyilyn Vase and Swanpool.

These birds frequent the Jow mouths of rivers, the sides of
bays, and other fiat parts-of the coast. :

They are of migratory habits, departing in April and May,
to arrive again early in the autumn, in August, from the
north.

On their first arrival in the autumn they are extremely |
tame, and are easily procured; afterwards, however, they
learn to be more wary; and in the end become extremely
wild; during high water they retire to any neighbouring dry
land. They have been observed to swim with great ease.
They are valued for the table, and as they occur with us in
considerable numbers, are sold pretty extensively in the markets.
They used to be taken, Bewick says, in nets, into which they.
were inveigled by wooden figures of birds painted in their
own resemblance. Pennant says that as many as fourteen

36 KNOT.

dozen have been taken at once. They are kept without
much difficulty in confinement.

They fly with much power, and with little apparent exertion,
straight forward, with regular strokes of the wings, and
commonly not high above the surface. On the ground they
also move about nimbly.

They feed on marine insects and their larve, and the smaller
shell-fish. These they seek for early and late in the day, and
during moonlight nights, reposing, or moving about but little
while the sun is up.

The note is only a ‘twee, twee,’ expressed in a sharp high
tone.

A tuft of grass serves as a depository for the eggs.

They are stated to be four in number, of a light yellowish
brown colour, marked at the larger end with grey and reddish
spots, forming more or less of a belt, and less spotted towards
the smaller end.

Male; weight, about four ounces and a half; length, aad
ten inches; bill, dusky black at the tip, fading into reddish
at thegbase; between it and the eye is a dusky streak, and
a white one over the eye in winter. Iris, hazel; forehead,
reddish brown streaked with dark brown, in winter white;
head on the sides, chesnut red with a few dark brown spots
before and behind the eye, in winter the former colour
becomes white; on the crown, neck on the back, and nape,
reddish brown, streaked with dark brown or black, and
interspersed with specks of white, in winter light brownish
grey with the shafts of the feathers darker, and so on the
front and sides of the neck. Chin, throat, and breast, rich
reddish chesnut, in winter white, the latter slightly streaked
across with grey, and waved with the same on the sides.
Back, blackish on the centre of the feathers, which are barred
and varied with reddish brown, and margined and tipped with
white, in winter it is greyish ash-colour with the feather
shafts darker, the lower part white.

The wings have the first quill feather the longest; they
extend in their stretch to one foot seven inches; greater
wing coverts, greyish ash-colour, in winter tipped with white,
forming a bar across the wings when extended; lesser wing
coverts, dusky black with reddish brown and white margins
to the feathers, in winter greyisn asa-colour, and the white
tips form a bar across the wing. Primaries, greyish or
brownish black, with broad white shafts, the imner webs

KNOT. $7

paler; secondaries, edged with white; tertiaries, long, and
deep blackish brown, irregularly margined with reddish brown
and yellowish white, in winter white. The feathers of the
tail are dark ash brown colour, finely edged with yellowish
white or white, the outer feathers paler, the shafts also
yellowish white—it is of a square shape; upper tail coverts,
white tinged with red and edged with white, and with
crescent-shaped bars of deep brown or black, in winter white
barred in the same way; under tail coverts, white, tinged
with red and spotted with black, in winter white. The
legs, which are short, and feathered very nearly to the knees,
are, as the toes, which are divided without any connecting
membrane, bluish black, in winter blackish grey; the hind
one turns inward.

The female is not so bright in colour. ;

The young of the first year have the head, crown, neck on
the back, and nape, greyish ash-colour, each feather with a
semicircular band of greyish black, and outside is another of
buff white, which colour appears to tint the whole, and becomes
pure white later on in the year, the shafts dark. Chin and
throat, white streaked with grey; breast, dull white, tinged with
pale reddish buff; back, greyish ash- colour, each feather with
two bands of a semicircular shape, the inner one greyish black,
the outer buff white, fading, later in the season, into pure
white. Primaries, secondaries, and tertiaries, paler than in the
adult bird.

A white variety of the Knot was shot near Maldon, i in Essex,
the 13th. of February, 1851.

3S

BARTRAM’S SANDPIPER.
Zotanus Bartram, TEMMINCK.

Totanus—..... .s.ce- pbariramiu—Of Bartram.

Tuts Sandpiper ranges from Canada through the United
States of America to Mexico, and is common throughout the
whole region. Occasional wanderers have arrived in Kurope;
and one was obtained in Australia, at Botany Bay, as erro-
neously so called, being almost destitute of the remarkable
vegetation which abounds in other neighbouring districts, as
erroneously imagined to be the ‘locus penitentiz,’ the latter
word, I fear, more to be translated in the sense of penance
than penitence, of those who ‘leave their country for their
country’s good.’

In England, one specimen was shot in a stubble field near
Warwick, in October, 1851, and was discriminated as being a
new British Bird, by Mr. Hugh Reid, of Doncaster. The next °
was shot in Cambridgeshire, December the 18th., 1854, in a
ploughed field between Cambridge and Newmarket: Frederick
Tearle, Esq., of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, to whom it was sent,
has been so kind as to send me an account of its occurrence.
A third is stated in the ‘Illustrated London News,’ by a person
signing himself N. 8. R., to have been shot by him at Bigswear,
on the banks of the Wye, in Gloucestershire, on the 19th. of
January, 1855.

This species appears to frequent inland places, even though
devoid of water. It is a bird of graceful form and appearance.

It flies about, if disturbed, in large circles; and runs quickly
on the ground.

The note is a whistling cry.

The bird before us appears, in some respects, .a connecting
link between the Plovers and Sandpipers. Male; length, about

DPIPER.

SAN

BARTRAM’S

BARTRAM’S SANDPIPER. 89

one foot and half an inch; bill, slender, and slightly curved
towards the tip, the upper mandible deep brown, the lower
one light brown, dark at the point. Head on the sides and
crown, brown, the feathers edged with buff, the latter colour
shewing more on the sides;-neck on the back, brownish buff,
minutely spotted with dark brown; chin, white; throat, buff
white, the dark centres of the feathers forming lines of spots;
breast, buff white, with dark brown arrow-head shaped markings
near the tip of each feather, growing paler below till it ends
in white. Back dark olive brown, each feather edged with
buit.

The wings reach in expanse to the width of two feet, or
a trifle over; greater and lesser wing coverts, dark clive brown,
each feather edged with buff; primaries, brownish lead-colour,
the broad web towards the quill white, banded and marked
with blackish brown, the shaft of the first primary only white,
the rest black, the tips minutely edged with buff; tertiaries,
brownish lead-colour edged with buff, each feather marked
with bands of dark brown, ending in black spots near the
buff border, and with a black patch at the tip minutely edged
with buff. The tail is wedge-shaped, the shafts of the feathers
are black, the webs grey brown, shading off into a whitish
buff border, with a row of black spots all round; the feathers
on each side bright fawn-colour, the shafts and edges paler,
with a similar row of black spots, the last feather outside
white barred with black; all the tail feathers, except the two
outer ones, have a large black patch at the tip, with the
remainder about it white; under tail coverts, white. The
legs are bare of feathers some way above the knee joimt.

BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER.

Tringa rufescens, SELBY. JENYNS.

Tringa—..sccccceers ? Rufescens—Inclining to red,
.

M. VrEeLLoT was the first to establish the specific identity
of this species. It is common in North and South America,
which is its true country, occurring in Canada, and even
farther up, and thence in Louisiana, and near New York and
Boston, and in Brazil and other parts. It has, in Europe,
been found in France.

In England, one, the first ‘Pioneer’ on record of others to
this, to them, New England, was shot early in the month of
September, in the year 1826, in the parish of Melbourne, in
Cambridgeshire; the next was obtained at Sherringham, on
the coast of Norfolk, a few years subsequently; a third at
Formby, on the bank of the River Alt, in Lancashire, and °
a fourth at Yarmouth, in Norfolk, in the autumn of 1839
or 1840; others have at different times been procured along
the coast in the same county—one September 22nd., 1841,
and another on Breydon, September 20th., 1843. One also
in Cornwall, on the sea-coast between Penzance and Marazion,
September 3rd., 1846. One, of which Stephen Stone, Esq.,
of Brighthampton, has informed me, was met with on some
low land through which the Isis flows, near Bampton, in
Oxfordshire.

In Ireland one was obtained in Dublin Bay.

The localities frequented by this species are the banks of
rivers or the sea-shore. It does not appear to be shy of
consorting with birds of other kinds.

It feeds on aquatic and other insects, grasshoppers, and
small worms.

Male; weight, two ounces and a half; length, about eight

‘EHdIdAGNVS CaLsvaud

BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER. Al

inches; bill, slender and very slightly curved, and dull greenish
olive black in colour, dusky towards the point. Iris, hazel,
head on the sides, light yellowish red; on the crown, dark
brown approaching to black, each feather edged with very
light brown, giving it a mottled appearance; neck on the
sides, light brown tinged with buff, and spotted with dark
centres to the feathers; on the back and nape, light brown,
with minute dark spots on the centre of each feather; chin,
throat, and breast above, light brown with a tinge of buff,
and spotted with small spots of dusky on the centres of the
feathers; the breast below is white; back, very dark or
blackish brown, on the centres and edges of the feathers
lighter—greyish yellow.

The wings have the first quill feather the longest; the
axillary plume is white; greater wing coverts, dusky greyish
brown, with broad buff-coloured edges; lesser wing coverts,
dusky greyish brown with buff-coloured edges; a band is thus
formed across the wing. Primaries, greenish black towards
the end, the remainder greyish brown, the inner webs whitish
on the greater part of their length, and beautifully dotted
with black in undulating lines, tipped with white; underneath
they are silvery white on the shafts, and beautifully mottled
with dark specks; the outer half of the inner webs, which
are of a pale brown ground colour, have the outer webs
dusky, forming transverse rays of black; secondaries, dusky,
mottled at their base, the edges of the inner ones greyish
yellow; underneath elegantly variegated with bands of black,
dusky, and white, which, when the wings are raised, give
the bird an appearance peculiar to itself; tertiaries, dusky or
blackish brown edged with light brown; greater and lesser
under wing coverts, white, those near the edge of the wing
black in the centre. The tail, wedge-shaped, has the centre
feathers blackish brown, glossed with green towards the end,
with lighter edges, tips, and shafts, those on the sides
gradually lighter brown, enclosed in black, and edged and
tipped with white; upper tail coverts, brown with lighter or
buff-coloured edges to the feathers; under tail coverts, white,
but pervaded with a tinge of buff, the shafts of the feathers
black. The legs, bare of feathers for half an inch above the
knee joint, are dull yellowish green; toes, dull yellowish
green; claws, dusky black.

The female is paler in colour.

42

BROAD-BILLED SANDPIPER.

Tringa platyrhyncha, GouLp. TEMMINCK.

TTinga—...ceeceeree 4 Piatyrhyncha, Plaitis—Broad. |
Riinchos—A beak, or bill.

Even on the continent this appears to be a rather: rare
species, but it has been met with in the north in Norway
and Lapland, as well as southwards in Germany, Italy, aud
France, likewise in Switzerland, according to Schinz, a naturalist —
whose great merits appear to me to be by no means so weil
known in this country as they should be. According to M
Temminek it is also found on several of the islands of the
Indian Archipelago—Borneo, Sumatra, and Timor, for instance.

With us one was killed in Norfolk, upon one of the flats
at Breydon Broad, near Yarmouth, on the 25th. of May,
1836; and one near Shoreham, Sussex, in October, 1845, as
recorded in the ‘Zoologist,’ page 1394, by W. Borrer, Esq.

In Ireland it has once been obtained near Belfast.

They are wild and shy in their habits, except towards
the nesting time, when their manners entirely change, and
they skuik about in the neighbourhood, and if they fly at
all soon settle down again. ‘They keep together in small
colonies, and frequent the borders of small pools and lakes
in the midst of wild morasses, where they are but seldom
able to be detected, and these even on very elevated grcound,
as much as three thousand feet above the level of the sea.
They mix on the shore with. other species.

If disturbed at ordinary times, they soar to a great height
in the air.

The note resembles the syllables ‘too who,’ quickly repeated.

Tt is late in laying its eggs; they have been found not
yet sat upon on the 24th. of June, and the young still

“MMdIdaNVS CH TIId-advoud

i) sii
Pan =

BROAD-BILLED SANDPIPER. 43

unable to fly the last week in the following month. The
nest is placed in a hummock of grass.

The eggs are, in general, of a deep chocolate colour,
sometimes spotted and mottled with a darker shade of the
same. They are four in number.

Male; length, not quite six inches and a half; the bill,
which is ‘par excellence,’ and that no doubt literally, for, as
in all such cases, it is sure to be adapted and best adapted
to the peculiar individuality and idiosyncrasy of the bird, its
separate and appropriate characteristic, is dark brown towards
the point, and inclining to reddish brown at the base; from
it a dark brown streak goes back to the eye, and over it
and extending over the eye a white one with a brown central
longitudinal line. Iris, brown; head on the crown, brownish
biack slightly varied with greyish white, and tinged with
ferruginous; neck on the sides and in front, greyish white
varied with black spots, and tinged with buff red; chin,
nearly white, with minute white specks; throat and breast
on the upper part, greyish white with black spots, and tinged
with buff red; below white. Back on the lower part, black
with broad buff white or rufous margins to the feathers.

The wings have the first quill feather the longest; greater
and lesser wing coverts, black with wide buff white cr rufous
edzes to the feathers; primaries and secondaries, black with
white shafts; tertiaries, black, the feathers broadly margined
with buff white or riffous. The tail is ash grey, with buff
margins to the feathers, except the two middle ones, which,
longer also than the others, are nearly black, and tipped and
margined with rufous; upper tail coverts, black with rufous
edges; under tail coverts, white. Legs and toes, greenish
black.

The engraving is from a drawing by J. Gatcombe, Hsq.

4.4

LITTLE STINT.

LITTLE SANDPIPER. BROWN SANDPIPER. MINUTE DUNLIN.
LEAST SNIPE.

Tringa pusilla, PENNANT. Monracu,
Pelidna minuta, STEPHENS.
Tringa—.........-4+ ? Pusilla—Small—little.

Tuts bird was first described as British by Pennant, from
a specimen killed in Cambridgeshire. They are now frequently
noticed on the southern and eastern coasts in flocks of thirty,
forty, or fifty—in Devonshire, Sussex, Suffolk, Norfolk, and
also on those of Yorkshire and Durham. They have likewise
been observed on the Lancashire shore, and on the banks of
the Solway Firth. Two were obtainéd at Scilly the first
week in September, 1851. It is uncommon in Cornwall, met
with at Pennance, Gwyllyn Vase, and Swanpool, near Falmouth.

In Scotland one is recorded by Mr. T. Edward, of Banff,
in ‘The Naturalist’ for February, 1855, to have been obtained
at Fraserburgh, on the 26th. of September, 1854.

In Ireland they occur annually near Belfast, as recorded
by the late William Thompson, Esq., of that place, also near
Dublin, but unusually.

In Orkney one was killed by William Strang, Esq., in
October, 1837, and another was seen by him in 1848.

In Europe they are found in Sweden, Germany, Holland,
Dalmatia, Italy, and France; also in Africa, both north and
south; and in Asia—in Persia, India, and the neighbourhood
of the Caucasian Mountains.

The Stint most frequently is found along the shores of the
sea, but also on the banks of rivers and lakes.

a

Ni ies

ns

iM

rites

LITTLE STINT. 45

Tt is of migratory habits, going northwards in the spring,
and south in the autumn.

They appear not to be shy of approach, and go in small
flocks, mixing at times with other species of shore birds.

Meyer says that they sleep in the early part of the day,
and if come near to, run a little distance very quickly, and
then take wing. They are kept in confinement without
difficulty.

‘The flight of this species is quick, but rather unsteady,
and with arched wings.’

It feeds on the smaller water insects, mollusks, and worms.

The note seems to resemble the syllables ‘deer, deer,’ according
to one account; but according to another is like its own name,
thence perhaps derived, ‘stint, stint.’

Male; weight, twelve pennyweights, troy; length, nearly
six inches; bill, black, very slender, and bent a little down-
wards; from its base to the eye and behind it is a dusky
brown streak in autumn and winter; iris, dark brown; above
and below it is a_buff-coloured streak, greyish white in
autumn. Forehead and sides of the head, buff, the latter
spotted with dusky brown, in autumn grey, in winter white;
head on the crown, neck on the back. and sides, and nape,
ferruginous, with specks of black; these in autumn and the
neck on the sides are pale rufous grey streaked with darker,
and with a dusky band across the bottom of the neck in
front; in winter still paler; chin and throat, white spotted
with brown, and the feathers margined with yellowish brown,
in autumn grey, in winter white, as it is below at all times;
breast above, pale rufous, below white. The back has the
feathers dusky black in the centre, with broad ferruginous
margins, fading to buff in the autumn, and in the winter
to grey.

The wings have the first feather the longest; the axillary
plume white; they expand to rather more than eleven inches.
Greater and lesser wing coverts, black on the centres of the
feathers, broadly edged with ferruginous, changing to buff in
the autumn, and in winter to white; primaries, deep brown
or black, in autumn dusky with white shafts, and very
slightly tipped with white; secondaries, also nearly black
tipped with white, and edged in autumn; the tertiaries, deep
brown or black in the centre, with wide ferruginous margins,
fading into buff in the autumn, and in winter grey brown
with lighter-coloured margins. The tail, of twelve feathers,

46 LITTLE STINT.

double forked, (reminding one of the boast of the American
that in his country they have, among other superiorities,
‘forkeder lightning’ than we happen to enjoy as British,)
that is, the two middle ones and the outer one on each
side being longer than the others, is ash grey brown, the
central feathers being much darker and glossy, with reddish
white edges, in autumn grey margined with buff white, in
winter narrowly edged with white, the three outside feathers
pure white; upper tail coverts, dusky black with broad
ferruginous margins, in autumn dark brown edged with dull
reddish brown; under tail coverts, white. The legs, which
are slender, and the toes, blackish grey; the outer one very
slightly connected at the base by a membrane to the middle
one; claws, dull black.

Of course in the present, as in other similar instances, the
changes of plumage from that of summer to that of winter,
present great intermediate varieties.

In the young of the first year the black is brown, and
the margins of the feathers buff at first soon change into
nearly white. The eye streak is more distinct than in the
old bird.

|
}

‘diliid

nS
“I

PEEP.

LITTLE PEEP.

Lringa pusilla, LINNZUS,
“ minutilla, VIELLCT,
TTINDIR-—....eseeres. ? Pusitla—Smali, diminutive.

Tus is another North American species, occurring from
Labrador to New York and the States generally; and so on
to Carolina and Florida.

A specimen was shot in this country at the end of May,
1856, near Penzance, in Cornwall, by Mr. W.S. Vingoe, of
that place, so that in future it may be enquired for as well
in the ‘Home’ as in the ‘Foreign’ department, and indeed
may very likely have been overlooked in previous instances.

It frequents the sea-shore, the surge washing up the worms,
small insects, and other things which suffice it for food.

The note resembles the name of the bird, thence given
to it.

Male; length, seven inches and a half; bill, biackish, the
tip depressed: over the eye is a white streak. Head on the
crown, neck on the back, and nape, dark reddish brown, the
feathers bordered with chesnut and pale yellowish brown; chin,
white; throat, dull brown, with central dark spots; breast,
white, clouded with dark brown; back, blackish brown; on
the lower part the sides have the feathers tipped with white.

The wings reach to the end of the tail; greater wing
coverts, tipped and edged with white; lesser wing coverts,
dark reddish brown, bordered with chesnut and pale yellowish
brown; of the primaries some are tipped and edged with
white, the shafts of the second and third quills pale brown,

48 PEEP.

of the others brownish white; secondaries, tipped and edged
with white more extensively; tertiaries, dark reddish brown,
with chesnut and pale yellowish brown edges; greater and
lesser under wing coverts, white. The tail has the central
pair of feathers, which are a quarter of an inch longer than
the others, and the three central pairs’ graduated, blackish
brown, edged with brown, the others very pale brown, faintly
fringed near the tips with white; upper tail coverts on the
sides, white, blotted with black; under tail coverts, white.
Legs, dark brown.

49

TEMMINCK’S STINY.

TEMMINCK’S SANDPIPER. TEMMINCK’S DUNLIN.
LITTLE SANDPIPER.

Tringa Temminckit, SELB x-
ie | pustules FLEMING.
. pueilla, Monracu.
Tringa—...ceve Masse Temminchii—Of Temminck,

Tuts is the smallest of our British Sandpipers. It has
been named after M. Temminck, the celebrated naturalist, who
was the first to distinguish it from the other.

It is said to have its young in the north of Europe, and
is seen during its passages in Italy, Switzerland, France,
Germany, and Holland. It also visits North Africa; and in
Asia it belongs to Siberia, the northern provinces of Asiatic
Russia, India, Himalaya, and the Dukkun, Timor, and other
islands of the Indian Archipelago.

Specimens have been obtained in Cornwall, at Swanpool
and Kast Looe; Devonshire; Middlesex, near Kingsbury;
Cambridgeshire, on Foulmire Moor; Norfolk; Yorkshire;
Cumberland, at Rockcliff Salt Marsh; and Essex.

William Richard Fisher, Esq., of Yarmouth, has written
me word that he possesses two specimens of this bird killed
at Great Yarmouth, the one in the month of May, and the
other he believes in September; and that he knew of four,
in all, shot in September and October, 1843; other two, a
male and female, were shot in the same county in May,
1830: it seems to occur there not very rarely. In Cornwall
it appears to be by no means uncommon in the salt marshes
about Penzance and Marazion—a flock of at least a dozen

was seen in the middle of August, 1853. In Suffolk two
VOL. VI. E

50 TEMMINCR’S STINT.

were met with on the banks of the Nede, near Wisbeach,
September 8rd., 1851. In Sussex one at Newhaven, on the
5th. of the same month, and two were killed near Chichester
in 1826. In Kent, one near Deal, the 5th. of September,
1850.

It performs a spring and autumnal migration, the former
to, and the latter from, the north; and these respectively
about the latter end of May, or even the beginning of June,
it is asserted, and the middle of August. It moves at such
seasons by night.

These Sandpipers frequent the borders of lakes, ponds,
marshes, and rivers, at a distance inland, but are also some-
times to be found on the sandy edges of creeks of the sea,
and along its shores. They are not of a shy nature, but
when in company with birds that are, partake of their more
nervous manners. They assemble together in smaller or larger
flocks, and join also with other species.

Its flight is particularly rapid, and all its motions are
quick and lively. It runs about in a horizontal position
with the bill pointed downwards.

The prey it feeds on is composed of flies, gnats, beetles,
and other insects and their larvz, mollusca, and worms. It
also swallows some sand, and also vegetable substances, but
perhaps unwillingly.

The note is only a ‘tirrr, tirrr.’

Male; weight, six drachms; length, from five inches and a
quarter, or five and a half, to five inches and three quarters;
bill, dull black at the tip, and browner at the base; from
it to the eye there is a dusky streak, and over it another
indistinet streak, which in winter is white. Iris, dark brown;
forehead, grey reddish brown, with small black streaks and
spots in winter. Head on the crown, neck on the back, and
nape, pale ferruginous brown, broadly streaked on each feather
angularly with dark brown, in winter ash grey varied with
dark brown; neck on the sides, grey reddish brown, with
very small longitudinal black streaks and spots; chin, white;
throat and breast above, pale brown, spotted with dusky
brown and tinged with buff; below, white; the back feathers
are black with rufous margins; in winter 1t is nearly uniform
dusky greyish brown tinted with olive, with narrow lighter-
coloured edges.

The wings have the first quill feather the longest, but the
second almost of the same length; the axillary plume white;

TEMMINCK’S STINT. BL

the wings underneath are ash grey. Greater wing coverts,
nearly uniform grey, or dusky olive brown, with narrow
lighter-coloured margins in winter, and white tips, forming a
bar across the wing; lesser wing coverts, dusky with paler
edges; primaries, deep dusky brown tinged with olive green,
the shafts white, that of the first whiter than those of the
others; secondaries, dusky tipped with white; tertiaries, dusky
brown. The tail, wedge-shaped, the two central feathers
being the longest, and also the darkest in colour and pointed,
nearly black, with, in summer, reddish brown, and in winter
grey, edges; the next one on each side grey brown, the next
grey, and the three outer ones white tinged with light ash
grey on the outer webs; the outermost feather on each side
the shortest. Upper tail coverts, dusky brown, those next
the tail almost black; under tail coverts, white. Legs and
toes, olivaceous greenish brown or grey.

The young of the year have the bill not so black as in
the mature bird; iris, dark brown; over the eye a streak of
white with specks of ash grey. Forehead, white; head,
crown, neck on the back, and nape, ash-coloured grey, the
feathers ending in dull black, and tipped very narrowly with
eream-coloured white; chin, throat, and breast, dull white;
back, brown, each feather ended with dark brown and white.
Greater and lesser wing coverts, grey brown, each feather
ended with a semicircle of dusky black, tipped very narrowly
with cream-coloured white; primaries, dusky black edged with
white; secondaries, dusky black tipped with white; tertiaries,
grey brown with dark shafts and white tips. The tail has
the two middle feathers grey brown edged with white, the
outer ones white; under tail coverts, dull white. Legs, paler
than in the adult bird.

In the ‘ad interim’ stages of plumage, those, I mean,
assumed between the garb put on in winter and that in
summer, alternately, there are, as may readily be supposed, a
great variety of partial changes.

an
bo

SCHINZ’S SANDPIPER.

Tringa Schinzii, Buonaparte Eyton. GouLp.
rg TEMMINCK,
Drinigd—.scnssssuss® Schinzii—Of Schiuz,

Tis species has been named after M. Schinz, the very
eminent naturalist of Switzerland.

It is a native of America, and spreads over the whole of
the northern continent, which appears to be its stronghold,
throughout the United States, Massachusetts, Kentucky, Maine,
and N ew Jersey, from Florida to Labrador. Meyer says that
in Europe it occurs not uncommonly in Denmark, Holstein,
and Schleswig, and along the borders of the North Sea and
the Baltic.

A specimen, shot near Stoke Heath, Shropshire, was in the
collection of Sir Rowland Hill, Bart., as made known to the
public by the late Tuomas Eyton, Esq., of Eyton.

These birds, according to Charles Lucien buouaparte, the
Prince of Canino, frequent the borders of lakes, marshy pe
creeks, sand-bars, and brackish waters.

In the earlier part of the season they are by no means shy,
but they become so afterwards, whether in flocks by themselves,
or associated with other allied species.

Audubon says, ‘They fly at a considerable height with
rapidity, deviating alternately to either side, and plunge toward
the ground.’

They feed on small beetles, and other insects and their
larvee, and worms picked up at the water’s edge.

The note is a mere ‘weet,’ or ‘tree, tree,’ expressed in a shrill
and unmelodious manner.

The nest is placed by lakes or marshes, on some grassy knoll.

The eggs are four in number, yellowish grey, or pale olive
creen, spotted with olive or chesnut brown markings.

SANDPIPER.

SCHINZ’S SANDPIPER. 53

Male; length, six inches and a half to seven and a little
over, according to different measurements; bill, nearly black;
iris, brown; over it is a white streak, less pure in winter;
forehead in summer, white; head on the sides, greyish white
speckled on the centres on the feathers with dusky black; on
the crown in summer, with the feathers marked on their 2s
with black, and on he edges with rufous, and in winter as
are the neck on the back and nape, grey brown streaked with
dusky; neck on the sides, greyish white, speckled with dusky
black, the dark marks being along the shafts. Chin, white;
throat in summer, white, in winter as is the breast on the
upper part, greyish white speckled with dusky, in summer with
deep black across it, the edges of the feathers tinged with grey,
on the lower part white. The back with black on the centres
of the feathers and with rufous edges, in winter grey brown
in place of rufous.

The wings have the first quill the longest; the axillary plume
white. Greater and lesser wing coverts, black on the centres
of the feathers, with rufous edges in summer, in winter grey
brown edged with greyish white; primaries, brownish grey or
dusky black, the latter towards the tips, the inner ones more
or less edged and tipped with white, the shafts white; secon-
daries, dusky brown minutely tipped with white, and edged
with the same; tertiaries, long, dusky brown, margined in
summer with rufous, and in winter with ash grey; the quill
feathers underneath are ash-colour with white shafts. The tail
has the two middle feathers longer than the others and pointed,
and deep or blackish brown in colour, the- others ash brown;
upper and under tail coverts, white. The legs, which are
without feathers for a considerable space above the knee, are,
as the toes, black, tinged with green; claws, black.

In the young at first the plumage is a mixture of grey,
black, and rufous, subsequently the bill is nearly black, the
base pale yellowish red; the upper parts are rufous with black
centres to the feathers, and white tips; the breast, pale brown
or dingy white with large dusky spots.

While passing from the winter to the summer plumage,
and back again from the latter to the former, what may be
called a ‘neutral tint’ prevails, while now the one and ‘then
the other in turn is assuming the prevalence.

PECTORAL SANDPIPER.
Tringa pectoralis, JENYNS. HytTon. GOULD.
TTUNGA—..0.sersoeee is Pectoralis. Pectus—The breast?

THIs is an American species, and not uncommon in different
parts of the United States—Maine, Massachusetts, and the
neighbourhood of Boston; and southwards in Tobago, and
others of the West Indian Islands, and so on to Brazil.

In Yorkshire one, of which Thomas George Bonney, Esq.,
of St. John’s College, Cambridge, has written me word, was
shot near Filey, in the East Riding, a small and quiet sea-
side place, which, on account of these qualities, I would
recommend to ornithological students, in preference to Burling-
ton, or Scarborough, though the ‘Queen of English watering
places;’ one also on the Tees’ mouth, near Redcar, on the 30th.
of August, 1853, and another in a grass field at Coatham,
near there, on the 17th. of October in the same year; both
are put on record in ‘The Naturalist,’ volume ili, page 275-6,
by T. S. Rudd, Esq. In Norfolk, one, a female, was shot
on Breydon Broad, near Yarmouth, on the 80th. of September,
1858. In Cornwall it has been met with about Gwyllyn
Vase, near Falmouth; also one on the shore of Annet, one
of the Isles of Scilly, on the 27th. of May, 1840, by D. W.
Mitchell, Esq., of Penzance.

They go north to build in the spring, and return in the
autumn.

They are fond of moist and marshy places and the banks
of rivers, ‘low down in a grassy vale, and near the sea.
They mingle with other species, and collect in flocks.

The flight of this Sandpiper is ‘firm, rapid, and well
sustained. It skims rather low over the surface of the water
or the land, and at times shoots high up into the air,

y

wy

py
ail

48
\

PECTORAL SANDPIPER. 5D

propelling itself with double rapidity and in perfect silence.
It runs with great agility, and probes the sand or wet
earth, immersing its bill up to the base.’

They feed on small crustacea, beetles, and other insects
and larve, with which they swallow a few seeds; and they
also subsist on some species of sea-weed, and absorb small
fragments of stone. Jor the former-named, they bore with
the bill in the sand.

The note is a low plaintive whistle.

Male; length, eight inches to eight inches and three quarters,

or a little over that; bill, dark dusky brown towards the tip,
orange brown about the base; from it a dusky line extends
to the eye, and over it a white streak. Iris, dark brown;
heal on the sides, greyish white tinged with brown, and
streaked with dusky black along the shaft of each feather;
on the crown, dusky brown, the feathers with dark central
streaks and rufous tips; neck on the sides, greyish white
with a tinge of brown, and each feather streaked along the
shaft with dusky black; on the back and the nape, dark
brown with lighter-coloured margins to the feathers; chin,
white; throat and breast above, greyish white, the latter
tinged with pale brown and yellowish, with a dusky black
streak along the shaft line of each feather; below white.
Back, dark blackish brown, with lighter-coloured margins to
the feathers, in summer ferruginous or ochreous, in winter
ale.
: The wings expand to the width of one foot three inches
and a half; the first quill feather is the longest. Greater
and lesser wing coverts, dark brown, with lighter-coloured
edges to the feathers; primaries, dusky black, the shaft of
the first white; secondaries, dusky black, each with a narrow
edge of white; tertiaries, dark brown, with leghter-coloured
margins, in summer ferruginous. The tail, much graduated,
has the two middle feathers, which are the longest, . black
with pale brownish white margins, and in summer broadly
edged with ferruginous, the others grey brown or brownish
black, tipped and edged with yellowish white or yellowish
brown, according to the season; upper tail coverts, black,
glossed with purple, the feathers edged and tipped with
ochreous, which becomes pale in winter; under tail coverts,
white. Legs and toes, yellowish olive green brown; claws,
dusky black.

56

DUNLIN.

PURRE, DUNLIN SANDPIPER. SEA SNIPE. PLOVER’S PAGE.
STINT. . LEAST SNIPE. SEA LARK.

Tituga variabilis, SELBY. JENYNS.
és alpina, PeNNANT. Montacu.
4 cinclus, PENNANT. MontTacu,

Tringa—......ccceol Variabilis— Variable.

Tue Dunlin, or Purre, the former the name that used to
be given to the bird in its summer, and the latter in its
winter plumage, as if two species, has had its specific name
assigned to it as indicative of the great difference between
its appearance in the one and in the other season; but I do
not see but that the other Sandpipers have an equal claim
to the title on the like account.

It is very abundant in the Arctic regions of America, and
the islands of the Polar sea, and thence through the United
States to Florida, Carolina, Cayenne, Mexico, and Domingo,
and others of the West Indian Islands; as also in Europe
from the Ferroe Isles, Iceland, Greenland, Lapland, and Nor-
way, and so on, to the southern countries of the continent.
It likewise belongs to Asia, being common in Asia Minor
and the region about the Caucasus, as also in the islands of
the Indian Ocean—Japan, Sunda, and Timor. So, too, from
the north coast of Africa, even, it is said, to the Cape.

The Purre is one of the commonest of our Sandpipers,
being found throughout England, Scotland, and Wales.

In Ireland it is also plentiful, as likewise in the Shetland
Islands, and the Orkneys.

I saw one of these birds shot by a lad, at the Nafferton

Ny

NII?

Dit tro a

.
4

"

57

DUNLIN.

beck, ten miles from the sea, about a hundred yards from
my own gate, in the severe winter of 1853-4, on the 4th.
of January. In December, 1844, a pair were shot on the
bank of the Trent, near Melbourne, Derbyshire. In Surrey
it is said to have occurred near Godalming.

This species advances to the north in the spring, and
retreats southwards in the autumn, travelling, it is related,
‘early in the morning or late at night, when they fly close
to the ground along the sea-shore, or high in the air across
the water, flying in a straight line at a quick pace. It is
worthy of observation that the old and young birds are
hardly ever known to migrate in mixed groups, but always
keep each to themselves.’

About the middle of April, or nearer to its end, or in the
beginning of May, they betake themselves to the moors to
nest, attaching themselves to the same grounds as the Plovers
and the Snipes, and towards the end of August again return
to the sea-side, though found at times also by the margins
of lakes and rivers. They approach dwelling-houses without
fear, if such happen to adjoin the places that are congenial
to their habits. They frequent the coasts, and especially
those parts which are sandy and humid, or where mud
prevails. .

‘In Scotland and in its islands,’ says Selby, ‘this bird may
be considered as indigenous, and great numbers are known to
breed not only upon the sea-coast, but in the marshes of
the interior. A few also remain in Northumberland, which
may be ealled the southern lmit of the permanent residence
of the species. It is not to be supposed, however, that the
nultitudes that people our northern shores are the offspring
of such only as breed in this latitude; they are principally
composed of migrants from countries farther northward, to
which the great body retires during summer.’ I may, how-
ever, here observe that many pass the summer, at all events,
so far south as Yorkshire; their nests have been found on
Stockton Common, near York, and they have been known to
build on Thorne Moor, near Doncaster, and on the high
moors near Halifax; one was shot at Brodsworth, near
Doncaster, in the spring of 1844. In Cambridgeshire, the
Rev. Leonard Jenyns records that they were seen now and
then in summer time, in the fens, and that in the beginning
of July, 1824, they were particularly abundant in that
district.

58 DUNLIN.

They assemble in large flocks, thousands being sometimes
to be seen at once, before they disperse for the winter into
small companies; and very pleasant it is to watch them as
they sweep out over the sea, and then round in again not
far above the surface, displaying in their winter plumage, a
light and dark appearance alternately: in taus coursing along
they all move in a simultaneous manner, as if under the
guidance of some leader.

‘he Dunlin is very careful of her nest and its contents,
and in more than one: instance has been known to suffer
herself to be taken in the hand sooner than forsake it.
More commonly, if it be approached, the male, and not
unfrequently the female also, will fly towards any intruder,
and alighting near him, use every endeavour, as by pretending
lameness and disability, to cheat him of a knowledge of its
situation, but an opposite result to that intended is some-
times hazarded. The Dunlin is not a shy bird, and is easily
reconciled to confinement. It is good to eat in the autumn,
on its first return to the sea.

They run along the sands in a sprightly manner, and very
fast on occasion. in a horizontal position of body, the head
being carried in the same way, and retracted with the neck,
continually flirting up the tail. They skim over the surface
of the sea with great rapidity in a semicircular course.

They feed on small beetles, gnats, sand-flies, and other
aquatic insects and their larvee, worms, crustacea, and mollusks,
for which they probe with their bill; and in quest of these
run nimbly along the sands by the edge of the sea, coursing,
now here, now there, and then flying off to some short
distance for a fresh search. They frequently wade in a little
way, or ratuer, are often overtaken by the light foam of the
spent wave, which their instinct tells them will in a moment
be withdrawn, in obedience to the Divine command imposed
on every element, and which, as it must obey, need therefore
not be feared. During the full tide they rest on some rock
or other eminence, or remain gathered together on the beach,
awaiting the time when they shall be able to return again
to their feeding-places.

The ordinary note, which is frequently given utterance to,
is only a weak scream, a ‘kwee, kwee;’? but the male bird
sings his best to the female to amuse her while sitting on
the nest, or sounds a timely alarm if any danger be thought
to approach. While at rest on the ground, the cry is softer

DUNLIN. 59

than when on the wing. They frequently give a scream on
first taking flight.

The nest is usually located under the shelter of some tuft or
small bush in any dry spot, on marshy moors and _ heaths,
mosses or salt marshes, as well as by the sea. It is often
concealed, intentionally or unintentionally, with great success,
so as to be very difficult to find. Sometimes, however, it is
fashioned upon the open grass which grows green and verdant
here and there among the dark heather, ‘lonely, lonesome, cool,
and green.’ A few bits of moss, withered heath, or grass, form
its careless lining, if there be any in it, the same materials
being for the most part merely rounded into form—a natural
cradle.

The eggs are four in number, of a greenish white, greenish
grey, or dull green colour, blotted and spotted with a darker
and a lighter shade of brown, most so towards and at the
larger end. Some have the ground a light blue inclining to
dull white, others a clear light green, richly spotted with hight
brown. ‘They are deposited in the nest with the smaller ends
inwards. .

The young leave the nest as soon as hatched, and hide
themselves in the most recondite manner.

Male; weight, very variable, from nine drachms to eleven,
and from that to an ounce and a half; length, about eight
inches, but the size appears variable as well as the piumage,
sometimes being half an inch less, or even, according to Sir
William Jardine, an inch and a half or two inches. ‘The bill,
slightly inclined at the tip, is black, in winter not so dark;
and between it and the eye is an indistinct brown streak. Iris,
brown, or dusky; over it is a streak of white. Head on the
sides, streaked with light brown and grey; on the crown, a
mixture of black and ferruginous, or reddish orange, in winter
grey, the centre of each feather a little darker and the edge
a little lighter; the feathers of the neck and nape, on their
centres, streaked with black, the edges clear reddish brown,
in winter greyish, and the edges still more so. Chin, white;
throat, greyish white streaked with black, in winter paler;
breast in summer, greyish white, spotted most on the upper
part and sides with black and dusky, and in the centre
brownish black, each feather narrowly tipped with white,
forming a broken fringe, which extends across to the sides;
Montagu mentions a specimen in which the whole of the
breast was nearly black—others have more or less closely

GO DUNLIN.

approached this appearance; below black, in winter white.
The back above has the feathers black in the centre, with
orange rufous edges, and on the lower part brownish black, in
winter nearly uniform ash grey, the centre of each feather a
little darker, and the edges a little paler.

The wings have the first quill feather the longest; they
expand to the width of about one foot three inches; greater
and lesser wing coverts, brown margined with pale ash grey,
the longer ones having white tips, forming an oblique bar
across the wing; primaries, greyish black with white shafts,
in winter ash grey with darker centres and paler margins;
secondaries, greyish black edged with white, the shafts white;
tertiaries, black with rufous edges, which, in winter, turn to
greyish white. The tail, which is much cuneated, has some
approach to being doubly forked, the two middle feathers
being the longest and pointed; they are dark brown with
paler edges, the others nearly uniform ash grey with grey
shafts; upper tail coverts, a mixture of black and grey, or
deep brown with tinges of ferruginous, more or less according
to the season of the year; under tail coverts, white. Legs,
toes, and claws, black; the former in winter not so dark.

The female much resembles the male, but is larger in size.
The breast is not so dark.

The young at first are covered with greyish brown down,
with a black list over the head and along the nape and back;
the breast greyish white, the legs pale green.

In their first year’s plumage they have the bill brownish
black; the head on the sides and neck, a mixture of pale
grey and brown; the throat spotted with dusky brown; the
breast white, also spotted with dusky brown; back, wing
coverts, and tertiaries, a mixture of black, dark brown, pale
brown, and buff; under tail coverts, white. Legs, brownish
black.

These birds naturally vary very much in the intermediate
stages of their plumage, between that of summer and that
of winter.

I procured, in May, 1842, a very elegant specimen of this
bird, shot near Burlington Quay, displaying to great advantage
the two plumages of summer and winter.

The engraving is after a design by my friend the Rev.

tichard Pye Alington, Rector of Swinhope, Lincolnshire.

iv re A

co

TS

ANDPIPER

S

E

PUR PL

GL

PURPLE SANDPIPER.
+

SELNINGER SANDPIPER. BLACK SANDPIPER. SEA SANDPIPER.

Tring maritima, PENNANT,

ce Lincolniensis, PENNANT.

“nigricans, Montacu,

Se Suri, FLEMING,
Tringi—..eccssreree? Muaritina—Maritime—belonging to the sea.

Turs very distinct species is sufficiently common throughout
Europe, from the shores of the Mediterranean, Italy, Swit-
zerland, and France, to Holland, Norway, Iceland, Greenland,
Spitzbergen, and the Faroe Islands. It occurs in the lke
latitudes in North America.

Many are found on the coasts of England, Scotland, and
Wales, and some visit Ireland. In Orkney they are very
numerous, as also in Shetland.

They breed in Iceland, and other northern lands. A few
remain for the purpose in this country. The nest has been
found in Scotland, and young birds, scarcely able to fly,
were met with by Mr. Selby, on one of the Fern Islands,
off the coast of Northumberland.

In England, the species occurs, or has occurred, in Durham,
Yorkshire, Norfolk, Suffolk near Ipswich, Essex, Kent, Sussex,
Devonshire, and Dorsetshire. Also in Cornwall, but not
commonly, near Gwyllyn Vase, one shot by Mr. Pascoe,
November 22nd., 1846; one at Swanpool, shot by T. Pas-
singham, Esq., 1848; one by Mr. G. Copeland, at Pendennis
Castle.

I once shot one myself, several years ago, among the rocks
at low-water, off the end of the ‘Cobb,’ the local name of
the pier, Lyme Regis. It was, ‘ni fallor,’ in the autumn. It

62 PURPLE SANDPIPER.

is very common in winter on the Dunbar shore, Scotland, as
I am informed by Robert Gray, Esq. Mr. Thomas Edward,
of Banff, has obligingly forwarded to me another shot by him
near that town in May, 1852. This one was in summer
plumage, as was also, I believe, the other previously alluded
to.

In Ireland it occurs, but is said to be very local. Likewise
in Orkney.

About the middle of April, or from that period to the
beginning of May, they migrate to the north, and after
rearing their young return again about September.

Unlike the other Sandpipers, whose natural history we have
hitherto been considering, this one attaches itself to rocky
and stony shores, such affording the kind or kinds of food
more peculiarly sought by it.

These birds assemble in flocks of about thirty or more,
being sociable among themselves, but their difference of habits
naturally prevents any but an unfrequent commingling with
other species. They are not at all shy in their ways, and
may be approached very nearly.

The Purple Sandpiper has frequently been seen to alight
on the water, and to swim with apparent ease. It runs with
readiness and dexterity over and between the rocks and stones,
nimbly avoiding each encroaching wave, and following it
again as it falls back and leaves behind it an uncovered place
whereon to seek and to find food. ‘When in flocks, these
birds fly in a compact body, but seldom to any great distance;
and when disturbed, after taking a small circuit seaward, often
return to the same exposed rock by the water’s edge, from
which they started.’ They sometimes are met with in company
with Turnstones, owing to the similarity of the places fre-
quented by the two species.

‘The flight of this bird,’ says Meyer, ‘is very quick and
undulating, frequently performed close to the water, even when
the waves of the sea run high; at other times it flies in a
straight line at a great elevation, particularly when in company
of many of its species.’

Minute shell-fish, mollusks, shrimps, sandhoppers, small
crabs, and other crustacea, compose their food, and these they
seek and find by turning over the marine plants that grow
on the rocks.

The note is often repeated, and sounds like the word ‘weet.’

‘The nest is fitted in some hollow in the ground with a

PURPLE SANDPIPER. G63

little moss or other herbage for a lining. It is built. on
mountains among small pools of water, in the middle of a
clump of grass.

The eggs are four in number. They are of a pyriform
shape, of a yellowish grey colour, with small irregular spots
of pale brown, crowded at the obtuse end and rare at the
other. They appear to be laid at the end of June, or
beginning of July.

The plumage of this species is close, soft, and rather downy;
it is said to become thicker in winter. Male; length, eight
inches and a quarter, or a little over; bill, bright orange
yellow, slender, s slightly curved and tapering towards the point;
in winter the orange fades, and the tip becomes dusky, and
the orange dull red; “oe dusky; over the eyes is a white streak
—the eyelids greyish white; forehead, white. Head on the
crown, reddish brown on the margins of the feathers, their
centres black, reflecting different metallic colours according to
the light in which they are viewed; in winter uniform leaden
grey; chin, white; throat, dull greyish white, and spotted
with dusky streaks; breast above, dark greyish ash-colour,
inclining to pale brown, with dusky spots spreading out from
the shafts, the side, edges, and tips white in many of the
feathers; below, the breast is more white, the spots being
smaller and lengthened out towards the tail; in winter white,
with an occasional streak of grey. The back has the feathers
black in the centre, and reddish brown round their edges,
exhibiting also varied metallic lustres in different lights; in
winter, blackish leaden grey with a purple reflection.

Greater wing coverts, dusky greyish black deeply tipped
with white, in winter cee greyish white, forming a bar
across the wing; lesser wing coverts, dusky black, less tipped
with white, or not at all; primaries, dusky black, the shafts
white, the outer narrow web of each feather darker than the
broad inner one; secondaries, tipped with white, some of them
almost wholly white, forming a bar across the wing when
opened; tertiaries, bluish black edged with reddish brown, and
with a variety of metallic tints according to the light, their
tips white; in winter a leaden grey hue prevails, and the
edges also are greyish white as well as the tips. The tail,
wedge-shaped, has the four middle feathers long and pointed,
brownish or greyish black with rufous yellow edges, the others
grey brown with dusky cinereous edges, in all twelve in
number; upper tail coverts, almost black, in winter leaden

GA PURPLE SANDPIPER.

grev, glossed, like the back, with purple; under tail coverts,
white, spotted and streaked with deep ash-colour and light
brown. The legs feathered nearly to the knee, and the toes,
bright orange “yellow, in winter yellow—the hind toe is
directed inwards; claws, much arched, short, and blunt, black
in colour.

In the young, the bill at the base is dull yellow; the head
is dull greyish black, the feathers margined with dull yellowish
brown; neck on the sides, ash grey with darker streaks;
breast, also ash grey with darker streaks, and on the sides
with large longitudinal streaks of a darker shade. Under
tail coverts, streaked longitudinally with deep ash grey.

FNAL,

>
v

LANDER

(oe)
COUN

LAND-RAIL.

CORN-CRAKE. DAKER HEN. MEADOW-CRAKKE.

Crex pratensis, SELBY. JENYNS,
Rallus crex, MonrTaGu
Gallinula crex, BEwICK.
Ortygometra crex, FLEMING,
Porphyrio rufescens, BRISSON.
OF EE cctccskence Pratensis—Pertaining to meadows,

One would think that this bird, so difficult to make get
on the wing, and which seems of such feeble powers when it
has been at last, evidently against its will, forced to do so,
could never sustain, or, at all events, would never voluntarily
undertake so lengthened and laborious a flight as that which
must be necessary to cross from the continent to this, its
temporary island home. But such a thought is contradicted
by the fact, and glad are many, no doubt, with myself, that
so it is. Every one must recall with pleasure the ‘Old
Times, when first he heard, and first remarked, as on first
hearing he could not fail to do, the curious creaking cry of
the Corn-Crake.

This species is a native of all the four quarters of the
globe, occurring throughout Europe, even in the highest parts
of Sweden and Norway, and in Iceland and the Ferroe Isles;
as also in Asia—in Asia Minor. In Africa likewise, and
America—in the West Indies; so too in Madeira.

It is more or less common throughout England, especially
in the north, Wales, and Ireland; in the last-named particu-
larly so, and in Orkney and Zetland, but in some places in
Scotland appears, as also in some parts of Yorkshire, to be
less numerous than formerly, though without any apparent

VOL. VI. F

66 LAND-RAIL.

cause. In Cornwall it is said to be rather rare, and in
Cambridgeshire; in Norfolk only a few stay to breed, the
greater numbers that are seen are only passing visitors.

Its favourite haunts are low meadows of mowing grass,
clover fields, willow beds, fields of growing corn, and any such
like fastnesses as can afford it a secure hiding-place.

They conduct their migration by night, and arrive in
England about the last week in April, reaching the northern
parts of the kingdom about the -beginning of the first week
in May, but some have been seen by the end of April.
Their arrival in the south seems to be rather later, namely,
in the second week in May. Their departure takes place
early in October, but one is recorded to have been killed
near London, in December, 1884; one near Yarmouth, in
Norfolk, in January, 1886; and one in Ireland on the 29th.
of March, but whether it was a newly-arrived bird, or one
that had stayed through the previous winter, cannot be
affirmed. Instances have occurred of some individuals re-
maining throughout the winter, but only exceptions to the
general rule. Mr. Edward Blyth mentions in the ‘Magazine
of Natural History,’ volume vill, page 512, one thus met
with at Tooting, Surrey, about the middle of December,
1834, and it was at the time in good condition. One was
killed in Scotland, in Kireudbrightshire, not far from Dumfries,
on the 19th. of February, 1858; it, too, was in fine plumage, —
and equally good bodily order. One in Oxfordshire, near
Henley-on-Thames, on the 4th. of November, 1851. One in
Lancashire, at Lytham, near Preston, by C. Nelson, Esq., M.D.,
on the 10th. of the same month in the following year. One
seen in the Cambridge market on the 7th. of November,
1851, but it had the mark of a wound on the wing, which
had no doubt prevented it from migrating. On the 2nd. of
December, 1851, another was shot near Plymouth, Devonshire,
which had not left our shores, though, to all appearance,
‘sound, wind and limb.’ In the same year, on the 18th. of
February, one had been taken near Bembridge, in the Isle
of Wight. In Sussex, one near Rottingdean, on the 27th.
of November, 1844. Another was shot near Rye, in the
same county, just before Christmas, 1848, and another was
seen near the same place the following February. In the
winter of 1846-7, during a severe frost, with snow on the
ground, a Land-Rail was constantly seen feeding with the
fowls in a farm-yard in the parish of Fringford, Oxfordshire.

LAND-RAIL. 67

One, January 28th., 1846, in the parish of Shifnal, Salop.
They assemble together in certain places before going away.
On their first arrival, they are in poor condition, but soon
become in better case. Forty were once seen by a farmer,
in the parish of Modbury, Devonshire, in the month of
October, collected together previous to leaving; he shot
seventeen, but the next day the others had all disappeared.
Individuals have been occasionally taken on ships at sea.

The Land-Rail has a great aversion to being put up, and,
being of a shy and timorous nature, skulks and runs about
most pertinaciously in its covert, doubling backwards and
forwards both rapidly and cleverly, rather than do so. If
alarmed unawares into flight, it will suddenly drop after
flying a few yards, and take to its legs for security; it is
in consequence very rarely seen, in proportion to the com-
parative abundance in which it unquestionably exists. I
remember last year dislodging one close to me, which,
though apparently it must have lurked almost under my
feet, I could not discover: it is still more difficult to make
it rise a second time. If closely followed it will at times
take refuge in trees, running without difficulty among the
branches, and hiding among the leaves.

The following well-told relation of the circumstance it
records I give as communicated to me by William Robert
Shepherd, Esq., of the Dana, Shrewsbury:—‘Rather a singular
circumstance occurred to me the other day. Whilst out with
my gun on the 138th. instant, at Ludlow, in this county, in
going over a grass field, my dog in advance flushed a Corn-
Crake, which fled steadily for a short distance, and then
dropped among the grass. Being desirous of watching its
movements, I hurried towards the spot where it had alighted,
when I saw it stealing through the grass with the stealth-
iness and rapidity of a mouse, ever and anon raising its
head to see the extent of the danger. I was thus watching
it, when suddenly it stopped and crouched close to the
ground. Motioning the dog to stay behind, I crept cautiously
to the spot, and as I drew near to it, was surprised to see
no attempt at escape.

Having reached the place, I carefully examined the ground
for some distance round, but could find nothing. I was
just on the point of giving up the search, thinking that
the bird had stolen off without my notice, when my
attention was attracted by what appeared to me to be a

68 LAND-RATL.

clod of earth lying on the ground among the grass. I
walked to it, and on stooping down, was no less surprised
than pleased to find the object of my search, apparently
lifeless. I took it up—the head »nd legs dropped; to all
appearances the bird was quite dead. Being well acquainted
with the habits of birds, 1 immediately detected the impo-
sition; so placing the bird upon the ground, I retired to a
short distance, under cover of the trunk of a large tree. I
had not remained long before I saw the cunning bird gently
move; then suddenly starting to its legs, it ran a short
distance; then taking wing, soon disappeared over an
adjoining hedge. This is a striking instance of that deep
cunning and sagacity which characterizes the habits of some
birds; as such I have thought it worth recording.’

Mr. Jesse has given a similar account in his ‘Gleanings in
Natural History,’ as follows:—‘A gentleman had a Corn-Crake
brought to him by his dog, to all appearance quite dead.
As it lay on the ground, he turned it over with his foot,
and was convinced that it was dead. Standing by, however,
in silence, he suddenly saw it open an eye; he then took it
up—its head fell, its legs hung, and it appeared again quite
dead. He then put it in his pocket, and before long he
felt it all alive, and struggling to escape. He then took it
out; it was as lifeless as before. Having laid it again upon
the ground, and retired to some distance, the bird in about
five minutes warily raised its head, looked round, and
decamped at full speed.’

The late Bishop Stanley, in his ‘Familiar History of Birds,’
gives the two following curious accounts of torpidity in this
species, the latter quoted from the ‘Edinburgh Journal,’ vol.
vili:—‘We have two instances of dormant Corn-Crakes, which
are also migratory summer birds. A farmer at Aikerness, in
Orkney, about mid-winter, in demolishing a mud wall, there
called a hill-dyke, found a Corn-Crake in the midst of it, a
bird which is plentiful in summer, but departs, like Swallows,
at the close of that season. It was apparently lifeless; but
being fresh to the feel and smell, it began to move, and in
a few hours was able to walk. about, and lived for two
days in the kitchen; but, refusing all food, it died. The
other occurred at Monaghan, in Ireland, where a gentleman,
having directed his labourers, in winter, to remove a large
heap of manure, that had remained undisturbed for a great
length of time, perceived a hole, which was supposed to have

LAND-RAIL. 69

been made by rats; it penetrated to a great depth, but at
its termination, instead of rats, three Corn-Crakes were dis-
covered, as if placed there with the greatest care, not a
feather being out of its place, and apparently lifeless. The
birds, on examination, were however considered to be in a
torpid state, and were placed near a fire in a warm room.
In the course of a short time, a tremulous motion was
observed in one of their legs, and soon after, a similar
motion was noticed in the legs and wings of the whole,
which at length extended itself to their whole bodies, and
finally the birds were enabled to run and fly about the room.’

These statements are fully corroborated by Dr. W. B. Baikie
and Mr. Heddle, who, in their ‘Natural History of Orkney,’
mention that several have been seen there in winter; that
one was observed at Lopness, in December, 1812, another in
Ronsay, in February, 1847; and that upon several occasions,
when digging up old turf dykes, Land-Rails have been found
in them in a torpid condition. The hen bird has been known
to feign lameness, with the view of drawing away an approaching
intruder from her nest.

This is an exceedingly good bird for the table, and, as such,
has come under the protection of the Game Laws. ‘Thirteen
couple have been known to have been killed in one day in
Devonshire, fifteen couple in one day in Sussex, and seven
couple at the same place the following day. Mr. Selby
mentions his having shot eight or ten in the course of an
hour in a single field. Old Drayton, in the ‘Polyalbion,’
quaintly says of the Rayle, that it ‘seldom comes but upon
rich men’s spits,’ and two are said to be a present for a
queen; but any very great value must not be put upon such
legendary assertions, for we have most of us heard, and
doubtless at the time we did hear it, believed, that ‘four
and twenty Blackbirds’ made a ‘dainty dish to set before
the king.’ Certain, however, it is that the bird before us is
of very superior quality. It is capable of being kept in
confinement.

It flies in a slow manner, with the legs dangling down,
and in general just for a short distance, seeking only the
nearest sheltering covert. At times it perches upon walls,
shewing an awkward capability of climbing analogous to that
exhibited by the Water-Hen. It can run with almost incredible
swiftness, and threads its way in an astonishing manner
among the grass without any apparent disturbance of it.

70 LAND-RAIL.

The food of the Land-Rail is composed of worms, snails,
slugs, insects, grass seeds, and portions of vegetables. Sir
William Jardine found a mouse in one.

The well-known note of the Corn-Crake, whence this its
name, ‘crake, crake; crake, crake,’ is begun to be heard when
summer is at last fully established, simultaneously in general
with the arrival of the bird. The male it is that gives
utterance to the dissonant cry, and by imitating it he may
be enticed pretty near. It is uttered most frequently from
the top of a clod ef earth or a stone, but also otherwise at
times. It is mostly heard in the evening or the morning,
but occasionally also throughout the day, until the hen
begins to sit. In like manner it is not unfrequently con-
tinued through part of the calm still summer night, ‘till
morning comes again,’ at least from about eight o’clock in
the evening till about twelve or one. A curious ventriloquism
is resorted to at pleasure, making the sound at one moment
appear close to the listener, and the next a long way off.
When the brood are hatched, the stridulous sound is once
more taken up, and sometimes the position of the nest is
thus led to. A low guttural noise appears also to be
expressed when the bird is alarmed or disturbed.

The nest is placed among long grass or corn, in a furrow
or some slight hollow, and is lined with a few of the leaves
and stalks of the neighbouring herbage.

The eggs, commonly seven or eicht, or ten or even eleven
in number, are of a_ pale reddish brown, or reddish or
yellowish white colour, spotted and speckled with grey and
reddish brown. ‘They do not vary much, except in the size
and greater or lésser number of the spots. Some are of a
red tinted ground colour, with blots of deep red brown and
purple; others white, with a faint tinge of blue, and fanci-
fully streaked and spotted all over. Two broods are wont
to be reared in the year, the first being hatched between
the beginning or middle of June, or later towards the end.

The young quit the nest when hatched, and in rather: less
than six weeks are able to fly. The female sits very close,
and often suffers in consequence, from the unwitting scythe
of the mower. She leads the young about almost as soon
as hatched.

Male; weight, about six or-seven ounces, but it has been
known as much as eight or eight and a half, and, on the
first arrival of the bird, as little as five; length, about ten

LAND-RAIL. 71

inches, not quite so much; bill, pale brown at the tip, and
along the top of the upper mandible, the base pale reddish
yellow, and the lower mandible beneath; iris, yellowish brown;
over the eye is a greyish ash-coloured streak, blending with
the colours on either side, and so going down the neck. The
head on the sides, greyish ash-colour; on the crown, neck on
the back, and nape, the feathers have dusky shaft streaks,
the rest of the centres brown, and the edges yellow tinged
with brown, or a tint of olive green; neck on the sides,
tinged with greyish ash-colour; chin, yellowish white; throat,
white tinted with grey; breast above, pale buff or yellowish
brown, tinged with ash grey, with bars of brown and reddish
white on the sides, which are reddish orange; below, the
breast is nearly white with a tint of red. The feathers of
the back are pale yellowish brown, each with a very dark
brown central streak, and a slight tinge of olive green.

The axillary feathers are orange brown; greater and lesser
wing coverts, rich golden chesnut brown; primaries, dull
reddish brown; tertiaries, pale yellowish bay brown, streaked
along the centres with very dark brown. The tail has the
feathers dark brown along their centres, edged with pale
yellowish brown; upper tail coverts, also dark along the
centres of the feathers, the edges being pale yellowish bay
brown; under tail coverts, pale buff or reddish brown, with
bars of darker reddish brown and reddish white. The legs
and toes, which are long, are pale dull yellowish, with a
tint of reddish brown or grey.

The female is not quite so large. The head on the sides
has less grey and not so clear. The greater and lesser wing
eoverts are not so bright in colour.

The young are at first covered with black down.

SPOTTED CRAKE.

SPOTTED RAIL. SPOTTED WATER-HEN. SPOTTED GALLINULE.
WATER-CRAKE. WATER-RAIL.

Crer porzana, SELBY. JENYNS.
Gallivnula porzana, Bewick. FLEMING.
Ralius porzana, MontTaev.
Ortygometra porzana, STEPHENS.

Crex—.recore eeaane Porzund—.......0000 ?

Tuts bird extends, in its range, from Russia and the north
of Sweden, through the midland districts of Germany and
Holland, to the southern parts of Europe—ltaly, France,
Greece, and Turkey; likewise from thence to Africa; and
also extends to Asia, being to be found in Siberia, Asia
Minor, Persia, and India.

It is a very local species. In Yorkshire a few have been
met with near Burlington, Hebden Bridge, and Halifax;
about Doncaster it is more common, and at York, where,
in the Foss Islands, it has been known occasionally to
breed; near Leeds one, at Calverley. The Rev. R. P. Alington
tells me that it is common in a small piece of fen called
‘The small drains,’ in the parish of North Coats, Lincolnshire;
but he has never seen it after October. A. Fuller, Esq. also
informs me of five shot at Tetney, near Great Grimsby, 1851.
In Norfolk it is not uneommon at Belton, and other places,
and breeds about several of the Broads. One was found
dead at Thetford, in October, 1847, which had been killed
by flying against the wires of the telegraph. In Surrey, the
bird is stated to have been met with near Godalming. In
Oxfordshire, one near Henley-on-Thames. In Durham and
Cumberland it is not unfrequently seen, and its appearance

WAVdO CGHLLOdS

SPOTTED CRAKE. 73

has been noted in Devonshire, as also in Dorsetshire, Sussex,
Hampshire, and Cambridgeshire, though rather rarely, in
~ which county it has been ascertained to breed, as it probably
does in many others: a nest and eggs were taken in the
Fens, in 1853, as T. G. Bonney, Esq. has informed me. A
few have occasionally been seen near Plymouth; one was
obtained in Efford Marsh. In Cornwall, one was seen in
the market at Falmouth, in November, 1848; and in
October, 1849, one was shot at Swanpool. In Northumber-
land, Mr. Selby has put up as many as six at a time, but
most of them young birds.

In the year 1853 they appear to have been unusually
abundant. The Hon. T. L. Powys writes in the ‘Zoologist,’
page 4165, that there were six or seven on sale in the
Oxford market, and that he saw eight or nine others at
Whittlesea, in Cambridgeshire, and heard from a friend that
they were abundant in the marshes in Kent; in Suffolk and
Cornwall, also in Wales, in Carmarthenshire, and in other
parts of the Principality, as recorded by Mr. Dillwyn.

In Scotland it has been noticed in Forfarshire, Dumfriesshire,
Edinburghshire, and various other parts.

This bird is stated by the Rev. C. Clouston, to have occurred
in Orkney, but neither the date nor the locality are mentioned.
It has been observed, though rarely, in Sanday.

In Ireland it occasionally occurs as a straggler in summer;
one was procured at Clay Castle, near Youghall, in the county
of Cork, in the month of October, 1843.

It frequents low, flat, and marshy lands, and the sides of
pools and rivulets, especially those parts of such as are
covered with fiags, reeds, and sedges. It is also at times
found in woods and forests where swamps occur.

Its migration begins the middle of March, and takes place
by night. Montagu has mentioned his having seen one on
the 14th. of that month; and Mr. Blyth another, seen by
him in the London market in January, 1834, which was
said to have been sent up from Kent. It retires after the
middle of October.

In its habits it exhibits the same stealthiness that is
characteristic of the other species, and delights in hiding
itself in the midst of the thickest low cover. It is very
easily kept in confinement. It is fine eating, and said to
be in much estimation for the table.

It runs fast, with long strides and the body near the

TA SPOTTED CRAKE.

ground. It moves with ease on the leaves of water-plants,
that float on the surface, and if need be swims with equal
readiness. It flies in an unsteady straggling manner, with
the legs drooped down, and quite low, but at the season of
migration has been observed in the evening to rise high in
the air.

The ‘ways and means’ are worms, slugs, aquatic insects,
and the seeds of plants.

The nest is put together of the lar ger and smaller stalks
of rushes, reeds, and “other water- plants, in marshy places,
among beds of reeds, and often at the water’s edge, and so
arranged as to be capable of floating on the water, being
thickly lined with soft grass, and the edges well rounded.
Nevertheless, they are at times destroyed by the rising of
floods.

The eggs are as many as from seven, eight, nine, or ten,
to twelve in number, and even eighteen have been found
together, but these doubtless the produce of two birds. They
are of a pale reddish white, or yellowish grey ground colour,
spotted and speckled with dark reddish brown. ‘The hen sits
for three weeks to hatch the eggs. The young quit the
nest very soon after being hatched.

Male; weight, about four ounces; length, about nine inches;
bill, yellowish olive, the tip brown, the base dull orange, or
reddish brown; iris, dark reddish brown, over it is a streak
of purple grey, minutely spotted with white. Forehead,
purple grey; head on the sides, greyish green, spotted with
black; on the crown, dark brownish black, the feathers edged
with yellowish brown, and speckled with white; the neck on
the back, and the nape, olivaceous brown, the centre of each
feather with a dusky spot, the latter also with white edges;
the neck on the sides is greyish olive green, each feather
barred and spotted on the tip with white, with a narrow
border of black. Chin, dark grey, spotted with white; throat,
purple grey, minutely spotted with white; breast above, dull
greenish grey, spotted with white, on the sides barred with
black, white, and olivaceous brown; below grey, or pale buff
white, on the sides leaden grey, barred with white; back
above, dark olive brown, each feather with a black centre,
and longitudinally streaked with white; below, dark olive
green, the feathers marked with white lines surrounded by
a narrow border of black.

The wings have the axillary feathers dark brown, barred

SPOTTED CRAKE. 75
narrowly with white; greater and lesser wing coverts, olivaceous
green, tinged with yellowish brown, with a dusky spot on
the centre of each feather, and other white spots surrounded
by a line of black. Primaries, very dark dusky brown,
tinted with olive green, with the outer web of the first
feather white; tertiaries, long, transversely streaked with
narrow white lines surrounded by a broad shade of black.
Tail, black in the middle of the feathers, their edges brown
and spotted with white; it is rather rounded at the end,
the centre feathers being the longest; upper tail coverts,
black in the middle, margined with pale greenish olive and
brown, and spotted with white; under tail coverts, grey, or
pale buff white. Legs and toes, which are long, olive
yellow; claws, brown.

The female is like the male. Head on the sides, reddish,
spotted with brown.

The young, on their first appearance, are entirely covered
with black down; the bill red at the tip and the base, the
middle part black; afterwards they have the bill greener,
and tinged with dusky, the tip brown; the eyebrows deep
grey with numerous white specks; head on the sides, chin,
and throat, greyish white, with a few darker specks; the
upper parts more greenish with fewer white spots, and more
rounded; the breast below, more white, the quills deep
brown; the legs greencr in colour, and tinged with dusky

grey.

LITTLE CRAKE.

OLIVACEOUS CRAKE. LITTLE GALLINULE. DWARF RATL.

Crex pusilla, SELBY. JENYNS.

Galinula minuta, Moxtracu. Berwick.
$s Foljambei, Montasv. Brwick.
3: pusilla, FLEMING,

Zuporniu pusilla, GouLp.

Fallus pusillus, LarHaM.
Cnet isetedecee Pusilla—Small—little,

Tuis Crake is not uncommon in the southern parts of
Eurcpe, for instance, in Italy, Germany, Turkey, Hungary,
and the sunny side of France, and also is obtained in
Holland. It has been found also in Asia, namely, in Persia
and Japan, according to M. Temminck.

In this country it is a rare species. The first recorded
specimen occurred in Yorkshire, May the 6th., 1807, on the
‘Banks of the Yore,’ a locality since made of some celebrity
in the ‘Poet’s Corner’ of the ‘Yorkshire Gazette.’ In the
same year one, in the autumn, at Adwick, by Manchester.
The next near Ashburton, in Devonshire, in the year 1809,
and was figured and described by Colonel Montagu. Another
was obtained in Norfolk, in May, 1812, and again, another
in the same year on the banks of the Thames, near Chelsea.
In March, 1826, one, a female, was caught at Barnwell,
near Cambridge. In 1834, one was shot near Yarmouth,
Norfolk, and another, a male, at Heigham, in that county,
March 30th., 1847. In October, 1835, one taken on the
bank of the Adur, at Beeding, near Shoreham, Sussex. In
1886, another in Yorkshire, near Scarborough; and one many
years ago was captured at Cantley, near Doncaster, the seat

LITTLE CRAKE. rity

of John Walbanke Childers, Esq., M.P. One also in
Derbyshire, near Derby, received by the Rev. Thomas
Gisborne, of Yoxall Lodge. It is said to have occurred at
Godalming, in Surrey.

One of these birds was found dead in « plantation on the
banks of the Isla, at Thornton, in the parish of Grange,
near Banff, N.3%., on the 12th. of March, 1852. This is
believed by Mr. Edward, of that place, who has recorded the
circumstance in the ‘Banffshire Journal,’ to be the first
authenticated instance of the species having been met with
in Scotland. In the ‘Zoologist, page 1702, one is mentioned
as having been met with near Yarmouth, in March, 1847

The Little Crake is not only habituated to low grounds
and meadows, both marshy and dry, and the sides of rivulets,
but also at times occurs in more elevated and cultivated
situations.

It is easily kept in confinement, and becomes very sociable.

These birds perch at times on the branches of trees. In
moving along the ground, which they do with great velocity,
or over the surface of the water-plants, which they tread on
so lightly as hardly to seem to make any impression on
them, the body is carried in an horizontal manner, the tail
generally lowered, but sometimes erected, and the head and
neck thrown back. ‘They swim well, and dive, if need be.
Their flight is performed close to the earth, and is wavering
in its character, and seldom prolonged to any distance. If
alarmed, they run for shelter, in preference, for the most
part, to seeking safety by flying; they have the capability of
immersing themselves beneath the water, keeping only the bill
above so as to be able to breathe. Meyer says, ‘The present
species has a very great peculiarity that belongs solely to
itself, namely, its curiosity; if a person who is acquainted
with the habits of the bird very carefully approaches the
spot where an individual is known to be, it will be seen to
come to the edge of the swamp and utter its piping call-
note, as it were in astonishment at what it sees.’ It appears
not to be shy in its habits.

Its food consists of minute snails and small mollusks, beetles,
insects, flies, gnats, grasshoppers, water-spiders, and other
insects, and their larve; the winged kinds it is expert at
catching as they fly.

Nidification commences at the end of May or the beginning
of June.

78 LITTLE CRAKE.

The nest, of considerable size, is placed either in a tuft
of rushes or upon the water itself, supported in the latter case,
on the stalks of rushes or other aquatie plants, bent down
-and intermingled with grass, the adjoining materials of the
like kind being drawn in a hood-like manner over it.

The eggs are from seven or eight to ten in number, smooth,
without much polish, and of a light olive brown or yellowish
or greenish white colour, spotted with darker brown.

The young run out of the nest almost directly after being
hatched.

Male; weight, two ounces; length, about seven inches, or
from that to seven and three quarters; bill, long and slender,
deep green, pale yellowish red at the base. Iris, crimson
red; the head on the sides is of a slate grey colour; on
the crown, the neck on the back and nape, dusky brown
with a yellow olive tinge; chin, greyish white; throat, slate
grey colour, the latter on the sides brown; breast above,
pale fawn-colour, below, olive brown spotted with white and
slightly barred with paler brown. Back above, deep olive
green, black on the middle part, forming a broad streak, the
feathers margined with olive brown, the inner margins pale
with some white streaks and spots; below, olive brown.

The wings have the first and second quill feathers of nearly
equal length, and longer than the first; greater wing coverts,
with white tips surrounded by a line of black; lesser wing
coverts, plain dull olive green; primaries, dark dusky brown,
tinged with dull olive green; tertiaries, dark brownish black
on the centres of the feathers, the edges dull greenish olive.
Tail, dark dusky olive brown; upper tail coverts, dark dusky
brown; under tail coverts, dark slate grey colour, spotted and
crossed with white. The legs and toes, which are long, are
of a deep olive green colour; they are bare of feathers for
not quite half an inch above the knee; the hind toe is
considerably produced; claws, horn-colour.

The female has the eyebrows pale grey; head about the
eyes, pale ash grey colour; crown, pale brown; neck on the
back and sides, pale brown, in front delicate whitish buff-
colour; chin, white; throat, greyish white; breast, pale whitish
buff-colour, on the sides barred with the colours of Shakespeare’s
witches—‘white, black, and grey;’ back on the middle part,
nearly black, with some white marks sparely scattered.
Greater and lesser wing coverts, dark on the middle of the
feathers, their edges broadly marked with pale brown, the

LITTLE CRAKE. 79

inner margins. lighter in colonr than the outer ones; primaries,
dusky brown; tertiaries, dark in the middle of the feathers,
brown on the edges. Tail, dark brown; upper tail coverts,
dark brown also; under tail coverts, barred with grey or
yellowish brown and white spots.

The young are at first covered with black down, afterwards
they resemble the female.

80

BAILLON’S CRAKE.

Cree Baillonii, JENYNS.
Gallinula Baillonia, TEMMINCK.
Zapornia Baillonii, STEPHENS.
Ortygometra Baillonia, SHaw.

OPC, oa asesese st ? Baillonti—Of Baillon.

THE name of this species was assigned to it by Temminck,
in honour of M. Baillon, an emiment naturalist of Abbeville,
in Picardy.

It is found in different parts of Germany, Italy, Hungary,
Greece, Switzerland, and Dalmatia, and is said to breed in
some of the northern provinces of “La belle France” along
the coast, and to be by no means uncommon in that district.
It belongs likewise to the continents of Asia and America, and
to the islands of the former, having been found, according
to M. Temminck, in Japan.

In Cambridgeshire, one of these Crakes was caught at
Melbourn, in January, 1823; in Norfolk it has occurred,
but is very rare. A specimen was obtained near Deal, Kent,
the 19th. of September, 1850, by C. A. Delmar, Ksq.; he
subsequently procured a second in the same locality, in the
latter part of October, 1851.

In Ireland one was taken at Clay Castle, near Youghal,
in the county of Cork, on the 30th. of October, 1845.

This bird appertains to low and marshy situations by the
sides of rivers, ditches, and water-courses.

In this country specimens have been obtained in each of
the four quarters of the year, but few have been noticed,
owing to the shyness of their habits.

The species soon becomes reconciled to confinement.

It is capable of running with almost inconceivable dexterity
among the thickest of the coverts which it frequents. It
is raised from these with difficulty, and if compelled to get

BAILTONS CRAKE. 81

up, only flies a short distance. is can, however, make more
prolonged flights with comparative ease. It swims well, and
can dive, if need be for it to do so, keeping, when still, the
point of the bill only above the water.

Its food is made of water-insects and their larve, slugs,
spiders, and beetles, as also of the seeds and leaves of plants.

The note is reported as an almost indescribable sort of low
whistle.

The, nest of this Crake is made near the water’s edge, in
the moist situations which the bird itself frequents, among
long grass, flags, or rushes, and is very difficult to find. Its
component parts are the stems and leaves of water-plants,
sedge, and grasses.

The eggs are seven or eight to ten in number, and of a
regular oval form. Their colour is greyish white, spotted
with yellowish brown. The hen bird is said, on leaving them,
to add to the nest the concealment of the surrounding and
overhanging herbage.

Male; length, from five inches and a half to six and a
half—Sir William Jardine says that his Scotch specimen
measured only four inches in length at the most; bill, dark
olive green. Iris, reddish brown; head in front and on the
sides, bluish slate-colour; on the crown, the centres of the
feathers being darker, the neck on the back and nape, yellowish
brown; chin and throat, grey; breast, bluish slate-colour, with
bars of black and white on the sides; back, yellowish brown,
with a tinge of olive green, with round and triangular-shaped
white spots, surrounded with black, and some of them with
black centres in addition, forming a list extending downwards.

Greater and lesser wing coverts, yellowish brown with a
tint of dull green, and varied with white spots and streaks,
barred or edged with black; primaries, dusky brown; the outer
edge of the first quill feather is white; secondaries, with
zigzag white lines bordered with black; tertiaries, yellowish
brown with a tinge of dull green, and spotted or streaked
irregularly with white, with edgings or bars of black. The
tail has the middle feathers dusky brown; under tail coverts,
unevenly barred with greyish white and dull black. Legs
and toes, pale yellowish or olive green reddish brown.

The female is like the male, but her colouring is paler.

In the young the throat and breast on the middle part
are white, with uneven bars of brown. The sides olive with
spots of white. The back has fewer of the white spots.

VOL, VI. G

WATER-RAIL.
RBILCOCK. BROOK-RUNNER. RUNNER.
Rallus aquaticus, PENNANT. Monracu,

RAL Sa voice eicsnt Aquaticus—Aquatic—belonging to water.

THE Water-Rail is, in Europe, found in Germany, France,
Holland, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, and Malta, Iceland and
the Ferroe Islands, Norway and Sweden, though but rarely.
It has been noticed also in Asia, in Asia Minor and the
region of the Caucasus; and, Bewick says, migrates into
Africa in winter.

It is not a plentiful species, except in the Fen counties,
but yet can by no means be called rare in suitable situations
in any part of the kingdom.

This Rail frequents the sides of rivers, streams, water-
courses, pools, ditches, and ponds, and any swamps or marshy
places in their vicinity, where the strong vegetation gives it
shelter.

In Cambridgeshire, the Rev. Leonard Jenyns relates that
it occasionally is met with near Bottisham, as it no doubt
is in many other parts in that district. In Norfolk it is
abundant; it breeds in several parts of the county, and remains
throughout the year.

In Yorkshire, it is more or less commonly met with in
the neighbourhood of York, Burlington, Sheffield, Leeds,
Doncaster, Barnsley, Hebden Bridge, and Halifax, near which
place, namely, at Saltershebble, a young bird was shot. I
have seen them at Wansford, in the parish of Nafferton; and
in Berkshire, near East Garston. One was shot in the
neighbourhood of Blaydon Burn, in the county of Durham,

WATER-RAIL. 83

in January, 1854, John William Bell, Esq. informs me, one
only having been heard of about there before.

In Sutherlandshire, Mr. St. John says that they are not
uncommon in the winter. In Orkney, the ‘Natural History
of Orkney’ informs us that it is found all the year. It was
formerly abundant about the Loch of Aikerness, but since
that was drained, has disappeared in that quarter. It is
sometimes seen at Crantit, near Kirkwall, and is not uncommon
in Sanday.

In Ireland it is resident and indigenous.

Some breed here. They have been known to do so near
Odiham, in Hampshire; in the county of Norfolk, near
Brandon; also at Kingston; and near Melbourne, in Derby-
shire; and have been seen in summer in Cambridgeshire, in
Guy Fen, near Cambridge; and in fact in various parts of
the country. |

Individuals have been killed in the winter months of
December, January, and February.

It is, at all events partially, a migratory species, and in
severe winters the numbers of these birds seem to be increased,
perhaps from the north. In May they move. They have,
on different occasions, been met with at sea, far from any
land. Buffon has recorded one instance where a flight of
them were seen fifty leagues from the shore, some of which
were so fatigued that they were taken with the hand. Another
alighted on one of the yards of a man-of-war, five hundred
miles from any land, in the Atlantic Ocean, and was also
captured.

This is a very good bird to eat. It is preserved without
difficulty in confinement, and associates amicably with other
birds, but is naturally shy and vigilant, and does not appear
to become very tame. One is mentioned by Yarrell as having
exhibited a pugnacious disposition. Another, kept by Meyer,
would snap its food from a pair of Godwits kept with it.
The way in which it had been obtained was singular:—It
appeared to have taken refuge in a hen-house, and on the
owner putting in her hand to take the eggs, caught hold of
it, and so it was drawn out. The Water-Rail seems to suffer
from severe weather. If pursued, it will creep into some hole,
and allow itself to be taken with the hand.

The Water-Rail flies slow and near the ground, with the
legs hanging down, and in an apparently weak manner, as if
unable to rise over any height. As it is at first difficult to

~

84 WATPER-RAIL.

make it rise, so it drops again as soon as it can, into the
nearest hiding-place. It runs with remarkable swiftness in
its natural resorts, threading its way among the closest stalks,
or wading in shallow water, and can also make its way with
readiness over the ice, or along a rail, or on the branch of
a tree, as well as over the floating weeds on the top of the
water. It dives readily, if desirous to escape from any danger,
and exhibits the same flirtation of the tail that other birds
of its kind do when walking about.

Its food consists of water-insects, worms, young frogs, slugs,
small snails, and insects. One has been known to have
devoured a full-grown shrew mouse; and another was found
dead by means of a fish of the kind called Miller’s Thumb,
which ‘faucibus hesit.’

The nest, which is built of sedge, flags, and grass, is
abstrusely concealed among the thickest herbage; frequently
in willow-beds. Mr. Wolley mentions one which was built
upon rushes floating on the water, and another upon a clump
close to its margin.

The eggs are covered small specks of greyish ash-colour
and reddish brown, on a dull cream-coloured white ground;
some are almost spotless. They are from seven to ten in
number.

Male; weight from four ounces and a half to six ounces;
length, from eleven inches to eleven and a half, or nearly
twelve; bill, clear reddish orange at the base, fading into
dusky at the tip; the red prevails more over, or rather under,
the lower mandible, than the upper. Iris, red; over it is a
streak of bluish slate-colour; head on the sides, bluish sla
colour; on the crown, neck on the back, and nape, dus y
yellowish olivaceous brown, the centres of the feathers black
in an oval shape; neck on the sides and chin, greyish
white; throat and breast, dark bluish slate-colour, the last-
named barred on the sides with black, cream-colour, aad
white, the tips of the feathers reddish brown. Back, dusky
yellowish olive brown, the whole centre of each feather nearly
velvet black, and the edges margined with brown.

The wings, when closed, do not reach above half the length
of the tail—the axillary feathers barred with black and white;
of the lesser wing coverts, a few are barred with black and
white; primaries, dusky brown; secondaries, dusky brown;
tertiaries, dusky olivaceous brown, the centre of each feather
dlack man oval shape. The tail, of twelve feathers, is

WATER-RAIL. 85

dusky, the edges of the feathers olive brown, leaving only a |
little of the centre black: in flirting up the tail, this species
also displays the white underneath. Under tail coverts, dull
cream-coloured white, the bases of the feathers black, the tips
reddish brown. Legs and toes, which latter are long, pale
reddish brown or greenish, the joints of a bluish tint.

The female resembles the male, but the bill is shorter and
aler. .

: The young have the throat and breast barred with pale
brown on the margins of the feathers; the breast also without
the white bars on the sides, and paler likewise in colour
than in the adult.

Montagu says, ‘In some there are a few feathers at the
elbow of the wing, on the coverts, that are barred black
and white, and the tail feathers margined with brown; the
middle ones wholly olivaceous brown. Others have the feathers
on the fore part of the neck margined with white; but the
last variety, as mentioned by cther authors, we believe is
more rare.’ White varieties have occasionally occurred.

MOOR-HEN.

WATER-HEN. COMMON GALLINULE. MOAT-HEN. MOOR-COOT.
MARSH-HEN.

Gallinula chloropus, PENNANT. MONTAGU.
Fulica chloropus, Bewick. FLEMING.

Gailinula—........006 ? Chioropus. Chioros—Green. Pous—A foot.

Tuts is a well-known bird throughout the continent of
Europe, as in Holland, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy,
but is least plentiful in Russia, Denmark, and Sweden. In
~Asia, is occurs in Siberia, Asia Minor, the countries between
the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, and in Persia. In Africa
it is also indigenous, even to the Cape.

In Yorkshire the Moor-Hen is plentiful in most parts, but
is said to be less so near Halifax and-Hebden Bridge.

In Ireland it is common and indigenous.

In Orkney, while the Loch of Aikerness existed, it was
abundant in that vicinity. It is, however, pretty common 1%
various directions. It is found in several parts of Sanday.
A few pairs have built their nests for some years in the
meadow of Crantit, near Kirkwall.

Its haunts are among rushes, reeds, sedge, osiers, or
brushwood of any kind, by the sides of ponds, lakes, moats,
streams, and rivers, preferring such of the latter as are more
‘slow and still,’ or those parts of them that are so.

The Moor- Hen, if unmolested, though of a shy nature, soon
becomes very familiar and tame, and will feed with domestic
poultry, little heeding the approach of man. It is in fact.
even in its wild state, so to speak, a ‘demi-semi’ domesticatec
species. I have seen them on waters where they are noi

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MOOR-HEN. 87

disturbed, heedless of near approach, and tolerant of passers-by
on an adjoining public road. The Rev. R. P. Alington has
had them come of their own accord into this hall, and pick
up crumbs, and on being disturbed, they would quietly run
out of the door, stop, turn a wistful glance of regret back,
and commence feeding outside.

Pennant mentions a pair which would come to him to
feed with poultry when called; and there are some now so
tame on the ornamental waters in St. James’ Park, that
they will come close to those who offer them food.

Bishop Stanley writes of the Moor-Hen:—‘In the middle
of any such little open space she may usually be detected
swimming about with a joyous sort of jerking motion, but on
the least rustle exciting a suspicion that an enemy is near,
gliding silently through the narrow channels, or running with
_ a light tread over the floating leaves, to seek invisible shelter
under the roots or hollows of the bank. Not that she always
prefers the water, for often in the evening she may be seen
wandering in the new-shorn grass of a hayfield, easily dis-
tinguishable by the white feathers underneath, and a peculiar
jerk or flirting of the tail. But with all her shyness, she is,
nevertheless, a tame and sociable bird; and if treated with
kindness, will shew a marked confidence. We have seen
Water-Hens visiting the lawn of an enclosed garden, and
remaining there, notwithstanding the constant intrusion of
parlour dogs, peacocks, and tame pheasants; and again, not
unfrequent intruders in a barn-yard, mixing in a party of
poultry. ‘

But at the residence of a clergyman near Cheadle, in
Staffordshire, a much more striking instance of familiarity has
for some years occurred. Adjacent to the lawn there is a
moat, on which a pair of Water-Hens were observed for
several seasons, always, however, leaving it in the spring. By
being constantly fed they in time became quite tame, and at
length were induced to breed there, from the circumstance of
a thorn bush, covered with ivy, having fallen into the water,
in which they afterwards continued to build their nest. When
the young are a few days old, the old ones bring them up
close to the drawing-room window, where they are regularly
fed with wheat: and as the lady of the house pays them the
greatest attention, they have learned to look up to her as
their natural protectress and friend, so much so, that one
bird in particular, which was much persecuted by the rest,

\
Ss MOOR-HEN.

would, when attacked, fly to her for refuge; and whenever she
calls, the whole flock, as tame as barn-door fowls, quit the
water and assemble around her, to the number of seventeen.
(November, 1833.)

They have also made other friends in the dogs belonging
to the family, approaching them without fear, but hurrying
off in great alarm on the appearance of any strange dog.
The position of the water, together with the familiarity of
these birds, have afforded many interesting particulars respecting
their habits.’

They increase in numbers very rapidly, as will appear only
natural from the account to be presently given of the number
of broods produced in the year. The old birds, nevertheless,
are very combative among themselves, and extremely tenacious
of their territorial rights. If protected they will keep long
to the same situation. They are excellent eating.

If they have not oftener been known to come to doors, to
forage with fowls, it is only because they have met with
discouragement instead of the contrary. In gardens they
will do, it must be allowed, considerable damage sometimes
both to fruit and vegetables.

These birds have the power of submerging their bodies
beneath the water, while only the bill, or little more than
the bill, is kept above it. This has been conclusively proved
by W. H. Slaney, Esq., of Hatton Hall, Shropshire, in the
‘Zoologist.’ They have also been known, when pursued, to
dive to the bottom and remain there till almost dead, sooner
than be taken. { remember once hooking one accidentally
when fly-fishing, as it was swimming from one side of the
brook to the other. They take part of their food also below
the surface, as is proved by their having been captured by
means of baits set for fish—‘the thief caught with the
mainour.’ The one just mentioned was, I think, diving at
the time. They spend most of their life in the water.

The late Bishop of Norwich records the following very
curious instance of apparent reasoning power in one of these
birds:—‘But it is not only in their instinctive attachments
and habits that they merit notice. The following anecdote
proves that they are gifted with a sense of observation ap-
proaching to something very like reasoning faculties:—At a
gentleman’s house in Staffordshire, the Pheasants are fed out
of one of those boxes described in page 3808, the lid of
which rises with the pressure of the Pheasant standing on

- .
EN Se eS

* Eer> va /— oe

Mieitare

MOOR-HEN. 29

the rail in front of the box. A Water-Hen observing this,
went and stood upon the rail as soon as the Pheasant had
quitted it; but the weight of the bird being insufficient to
raise the lid of the box, so as to enable it to get at the
corn, the Water-Hen kept jumping on the rail to give
additional impetus to its weight; this partially succeeded,
but not to the satisfaction of the sagacious bird. Accordingly
it went off, and soon returning with another bird of its
own species, the united weight of the two had the desired
effect, and the successful pair enjoyed the benefit of their
ingenuity. We can vouch for the truth of this singular
instance of penetration, on the authority of the owner of the
place where it occurred, and who witnessed the fact.’

The flight of this species is, for the most part, low as well
as slow, with the legs drooping down. During the fine warm
nights of summer they may, at times, be heard, that is the
male birds, flying about and uttering their note over-head at
a considerable height in the air. If disturbed in open
water, the Moor-Hen will take to its wings, but if near
the nest, or in the proximity of cover, will, if it does not
use that mode of escape, resort to diving, and after the
latter, especially if pursued by a dog, will seldom rise to the
surface again, but remain submerged, the bill only being
kept up for the purpose of breathing. For a conclusive
essay on this power possessed by various water-birds, I refer
my readers, as I have already done in a former instance, to
a paper by my brother, Beverley R. Morris, Esq., in the
‘Naturalist,’ volume i. The Moor-Hen not unfrequently scales
trees of the smaller size. I have found one on the top of
an ivy-covered thorn bush, some ten or twelve feet from the
ground: such a place, or the head of a lopped oak is a
favourite resort. I have frequently observed others going to
roost in alder trees. scrambling along the branches at a like
height.

They seem, when in such situations during the day-time, to
hke to keep near the trunk, at least in fir-trees. They are
then easily approached quite close, and only quit on being
alarmed. If surprised on the land they will either run or
fiy to the nearest cover or water, or combine the two
motions, and then hide in a hole, or under or among the
vegetation. They progress beneath the water by the united
action of both wings and legs, the expanded membrane of
the toes assisting their advance. They are good swimmers,

90 MOOR-HEN.

and run expertly also over the water-plants. It is pretty
to watch them picking out their steps along a railing, as
they may at times be seen to do, and still more so when
on the bending boughs of some small tree, which give way
beneath their weight, but on which they nevertheless keep
their hold and adroitly balance themselves, although their
feet are so ill-adapted, from their size, for such performances
that they can afford but very little comparative help. It is
curious also to see how cleverly they will thread their way
out from the middle of a thick bush, without any apparent
ruffling of their feathers. When walking, or swimming, they
frequently toss up their heads, and have a constant habit
of flirting the tail. The former motion is also constantly
practised when the bird is feeding on the water, as it pecks
first on one side and then on the other in succession. The
young, when only a very few days old, begin to forage for
themselves. They take to the water instinctively.

The Rev. W. T. Bree, of Allesley Rectory, Warwickshire,
gives the following account in the ‘Zoologist,’ page 2801, of
the feigning of death by one of these birds, in: a similar
manner to that already narrated of the Land-Rail. He says,
‘Walking by the side of a mill-pond, I started a Water-Hen,
which rose out of the sedges close under my feet, and flying
not more than about thirty yards, settled in a wide ditch of
water, which formed part of the pool tail; on going directly
up to the spot, I saw a Water-Hen (the same, I conclude,
that I had just before flushed,) lying on the surface of the
water, in the middle of the ditch, perfectly motionless, and
with its head apparently under water, at least I could per-
ceive no portion of its head or neck. I stood viewing it for
some seconds, and took it for a dead bird; but on gently
stirring once or twice with a spud I had in my hand, it
began to move, and springing up flew into an adjoining osier-
bed. Was this bird feigning death as a means of security;
or why did it not take shelter among the flags which abounded
on either side of the ditch?

A few years ago, I was present at the dragging of a river,
when a Water-Hen became entangled in the net and was
captured; it retained such fast hold with its long claws among
the meshes of the net, that it was with difficulty we could
release it, and some slight degree of force perhaps might have
been employed in the attempt. After the bird was extricated,
and laid upon the bare turf of the meadow, it appeared to

ee

MOOR-HEN. 91

be nearly dead, and was unable to stand. Some means Were

resorted to in way of cherishing, in the hope of restoring
animation, but all apparently to no purpose. As life however
was not quite extinct, and with a view to give the bird a
chance, it was placed among the flags on the margin of the
river, when, to our surprise, it immediately roused itself up,
and ran away into closer shelter as brisk as if nothing had
happened to it. Are’we to suppose that in either or both
these instances the Water-Hen feigned death for the sake of
defence? In the latter instance it may possibly be urged
that the bird had been so terrified as to have been almost
frightened to death; but in the former, no further alarm had
been given to the Water-Hen except what was occasioned by
my having accidentally intruded upon its haunts.’

They feed severally in the morning or the evening, on the
water or the land, on water-insects, larve, slugs, worms,
grasshoppers, grain, small mollusks, seeds, grasses, water-cresses,
and other plants, the latter being of especial service in hard
weather, when they are frozen out from their other and
ordinary sources; but even with this provision they appear
weak and languid in very hard’ winters, whether from the
severity of the cold, or the failure of a sufficient amount of
their more proper food. H. T. Partridge, Esq., of Hockham
Hall, near Thetford, Norfolk, relates the following curious
fact in the ‘Zoologist,’ page 4255:—‘At the beginning of
July, the keeper having lost several Pheasants about three
weeks old, from a copse, and having set traps in vain for
winged and four-footed vermin, determined to keep watch for
the aggressor, when, after some time, a Moor-Hen was seen
walking about near the copse; the keeper, supposing that it
only came to eat the young Pheasants’ food, did not shoot
it until he saw the Moor-Hen strike a Pheasant, which it
killed immediately, and devoured all the young bird except
the leg and wing bones. ‘The remains agreed exactly with
those of eight found before. Perfect confidence may be placed
in the correctness of this statement.’ They wander at times
into stubble fields, in the neighbourhood of their usual haunts,
in search of food, or even venture into the farmer’s stack-

ard.

: The note is a mere cry or sort of chirping call, moderately
loud.

The nest, which is large, is strongly put together, though
only of rough workmanship, and is commonly found well

92 MOOR-HEN.

concealed among reeds, long grass, or the roots of trees, just
above the water’s edge, on the margin of a stream or by a
bank. One has been known as much as three feet above the
surface, on the stump of a tree, even on the lower branches
of a fir, or in a thorn bush at that elevation. The Rev.
Leonard Jenyns has recorded an instance in which it was con-
structed among the ivy encircling a large elm, which hung
over the water’s edge, at the height of at least ten feet from
the ground. A writer in the ‘Magazine of Natural History’
mentions another placed in a fir tree twenty feet above the
water. He says ‘there was a reason for it, the msing of the
water in the pond frequently flooded the banks of the island,
and, as I had before witnessed, had destroyed several broods.’
One was built upon the branches of a willow overhanging
the lake at Castle Howard, at a height of four or five feet
above the water.

The nest has been known quite unattached to any fixture,
though surrounded by loose sticks, and thus at the mercy of
the winds and waves. The birds have been observed both to
hatch their eggs after being removed in part of the nest to
another place, and also themselves to remove them, when
threatened with destruction by the rising of the water, fresh
materials being in each case brought together. J. H. Gurney,
Esq. and W. R. Fisher, Esq. have recorded an instance in which
they knew the nest of a Moor-Hen placed in a fir plantation
at a distance of a quarter of a mile from any water. I have
seen one myself placed at some height over the water on a
fallen branch of a tree, which formed a natural bridge over
a river.

The Rev. J. C. Atkinson, writing in the ‘Zoologist,’ page
767, observes of the Moor-Hen, that it ‘occasionally at least,
builds a second nest, to accommodate a moiety of its young,
when they have attained a size too large to permit the original
one to contain them all; and when the colony is sent to
the second nest, one of the old birds accompanies it. An
instance of this habit occurred in the vicinity of my father’s
residence, when I was last at home. The female Moor-Hen
was the architect, and the subsidiary nest she busied herself
in constructing was built on a bough overhanging the water.
The weight of the structure at last became too great for the
bough to bear; it gave way and the nest was destroyed by
its own weight, which caused it to fall to pieces when it lost
its horizontal position. The old bird seemed to be much

MOOR-HEN. 98

annoyed at the perversity of the bough and nest, or else at
her own want of foresight, and pecked among the ‘debris’
with every symptom of rage. She soon, however, renewed
her labours, after having selected a more favourable site, and
this time the structure was successfully finished. Another
nest in a pond near my father’s garden, was, after two or
three eggs had been deposited, beautifully dined with last
year’s oak leaves, regularly arranged with their points directed
upwards.’

‘During the breeding season, says Dr. Stanley, ‘they are
constantly adding materials to their nests, making sad havoe
in the flower gardens; for though straw and leaves are their
chief ingredients, they seem to have an eye for beauty, and
the old hen has been seen surrounded with a brilliant wreath
of scarlet anemones. As in this case, so do they usually
build their nests on stumps of trees or convenient bushes,
by the side of the water; and artlessly formed, as it is, of
a few rushes, one might suppose it would be easily discoverec,
which would be the case but for the caution adopted by
the bird, who, before she quits her eggs, covers them carefull:
up, for the joint purpose of concealment and warmth.

A person fishing on the bank of the Thames, when passing
a willow-bed, heard a slight rustling motion. Suspecting it
to proceed from some water bird, he kneeled down and
remained perfectiy quiet, when the noise ceased. On rising
and looking about, he saw a Water-Hen busily employed in
collecting dry rushes and flags, and laying them one by one
over her eggs, deposited in one of those bare nests close
beside her. It was not long before she had completely
hidden them; and then looking round with a cautious glance,
not aware that her motions were observed, softly and silently
glided away amongst the reeds, and disappeared. On a
nearer approach, strange to say, the nest was with difficulty
found; and no one who had not previously ascertained its
existence was thereabouts, could possibly have discovered it.

We have said that they usually build either on a level
with, or very little raised above the water, but not invariably
so; for, although almost entirely confined to the water, as
their abiding as well as feeding-place, they will not only
perch on trees when roosting, but even build their nests at
a considerable elevation above the ground. An instance of
this occurred in Surrey, where the attention of a person who
had janded upon an island in the middle of a large pond,

.

94, MOOR-HEN.

was drawn to a mass of dry rushes, flags, and reeds, strangely
heaped together, about twenty feet above the ground in a
spruce fir tree. Curiosity induced him to climb up, when,
to his surprise, out crept a Water-Hen, which dropped into
the pond and made off towards the shore.’

The eggs are usually five, six, seven, or eight in number;
nine or ten have, however, been often seen in one nest. They
are of a reddish or yellowish white colour, spotted and speckled
all over with reddish brown, they vary exceedingly in size.
Three broods are commonly reared in the year, sometimes, it
has been thought, even four; the first eggs are laid the end
of April, or in May, and are, in early seasons or localities
hatched in the latter month, but otherwise the beginning of
June. It is a curious fact, first pointed out to me by Mr.
Alington, that the youngest brood is carefully and kindly
attended to by that which is its elder, as both are at the
same time by the parents, but when a third comes, it is to
the abandonment of the first.

The late Bishop of Norwich, Dr. Stanley, also mentions
this fostership:—He says, ‘They have three broods in a season;
the first early in April, and they begin to lay again when
the first hatch is about a fortnight old. They lay eight or
nine eggs, and sit about three weeks, the cock alternately
with the hen. The nest in the thorn bush is placed usually
so high above the surface of the water, that when the young
are first hatched, and have quitted it, they cannot climb into
it again; but as a substitute, within an hour after they leave
the nest, the cock-bird builds a larger and more roomy nest
for them with sedges, at the water’s edge, which they can
enter or retire from at pleasure. For about a month they
are fed by the old birds, but soon become very active in
taking flies and water-insects. Immediately on the second
hatch coming out, the young ones of the first hatch assist
the old ones in. feeding and hovering over them, leading them
out in detached parties, and making additional nests for them,
similar to their own on the brink of the moat.

On the appearance of the third brood, the old ones inva-
riably drive the first away to a neighbouring pond, where
they remain until September, when the first hatch is about
half-grown.

About this time a fresh party of birds makes its appear-
ance, which, from their tameness, is, no doubt, composed of
broods formerly bred there, and in the moat the united

MOOR-HEN. 95

families remain until the following spring, when the original
pair drive all the rest away, but not without many severe.
and curious contests, frequently in the water, when they
throw themselves on their backs, and strike at each other
with their feet. When either of the combatants begins to
find himself worsted, he dives and does not re-appear, thus
eluding his adversary by hiding his whole body under water,
and merely exposing his beak for respiration.’

Incubation continues three weeks. The young soon leave
the nest, still attended by their mother, who leads them to
the water, but, for a time, they return to it at night for
shelter. The hen takes the young at times under her wings.
The mother has been seen to fly down with a young bird in
each foot, from the nest built a few feet over the water on
the branch of a tree.

The plumage in this species is close and thick-set. Male;
weight, from fourteen to sixteen ounces, Bewick says from
ten and a half to fifteen, but this may be accounted for by
their emaciated condition in very severe weather; length, one
foot one inch to one foot two; bill, greenish yellow, the base
bright red, ascending up the forehead, both brightest in the
spring; iris, dusky reddish. Head, small, and on the crown,
as is the neck on the back and nape, deep blackish purple
grey; throat and breast above, dark slate grey; below, mar-
gined with dull greyish white; on the sides streaked with
white, and in the spring glossed with a reflection of green;
back, very dark blackish brown, with a tinge of olive,
brightest in the spring.

The wings have a white edge at the bend; primaries, greyish
black. The tail, which is greyish black with a tint of deep
green, is rounded at the tip; upper tail coverts, white, with
some black feathers; the former colour is visibly shewn when
the bird, as before mentioned, flirts up its tail. There are
sometimes a. few white feathers on the thighs. The legs,
which are placed rather far backwards, are surrounded above
the knee with a red band or garter, and are otherwise, as
are the toes, which are very long, the hind one considerably
produced as well as the others, pale dull green: the latter are
fringed out with scales. Claws, dark brown.

The female is like the male, but is less in size; the red on
the bill is deficient. The garter above the knee is also less
bright.

The young are at first clothed in black hair-like down. In

96 MOOR-HEN.

their subsequent plumage she bill is dull green, the base
darkest; the patch on the forehead small, and partially covered
with feathers; the head on the sides is a mixture of blackish
brown and white; the neck on the sides yellowish brown; the
throat brownish white: the breast ash grey, tinged as yel-
lowish brown, paler below, and almost without the longitudinal
white streaks; under tail coverts, yellowish; legs and _ toes,
dull green.

One was killed at Branford, near Ipswich, Suffolk, the 16th.
of December; 1847, which had the bill greenish yellow at the
tip, and red at the base; the iris red; the head greyish black;
breast, greyish white, inclining to chesnut on the sides, below
black: the back Heht chesnut; the wing coverts, primaries,
and tertiaries, black, edged with chesnut; the tail also black,
edged with chesnut; upper tail coverts, hght chesnut; under
tail coverts, white. Legs and toes, green; all the plumage
of the body with the webs disunited, having the appearance
of hair.

The Rev. R. P. Alington has furnished the drawing from
which the plate is taken.

ie)
“t

\

COOT.

COMMON COOT. BALD COOT.

Fulica atra, PENNANT. MonvTacu,
“< aterrity LINN ZUs.
FUlicd— veeveeesvene ? Atra—The feminine of ater—Black.

THE Coot is widely distributed throughout the continents
of Europe, Asia, and Africa; occurring in Sweden, Norway,
Denmark, Iceland, the Ferroe Islands, Russia, Spain, Italy,
France, Switzerland, Holland, Germany, Siberia, Asia Minor,
China, India, and the Islands of Japan and Sunda.

In Yorkshire the species is common in some parts and not
so in others. It is nearly extinct about Huddersfield, rather
rare near Sheffield, and occasionally seen near Leeds—at
Killingbeck and Walton; but that this should be the case
with the present, or any other bird in the manufacturing
districts, is anything but to be wondered at. About Barnsley,
Doncaster, and York, it is somewhat more plentiful; I have
seen it on the Driffield stream. In Cambridgeshire they used
to be plentiful in the fens between Ely and Littleport, and
so they are still in Norfolk, in the large pieces of water
called Broads, where several thousands have been seen at a
time; also in Suffolk, Kent, Essex, Dorset, and Hants: in
Cornwall they are not uncommon. They are said to have
been plentiful on Southampton water, in Hampshire, and at
the Isle of Sheppy, in Kent.

In Scotland, though a few remain during mild winters, it
is, for the most part a summer visitant, as also in the Orkney
Islands; Dr. Baikie and Mr. Heddle remark that this species
is found in various parts of Orkney. It was common in Evie,
and is still frequent in South Ronaldshay, in Sanday, in Papa

VOL. VI. H

98 cooT.

Westray, ete. It breeds and remains throughout the year.

In Ireland also it is a constant resident.

Its natural resorts are large and small lakes and ponds,
and sluggish rivers, where reeds and rushes, the spontaneous
growth of the alluvial soil, furnish umbrageous recesses suitable
to its desire of privacy; but it also at times visits the low
parts of the coast, especially during hard frosts, when the
inland waters are frozen up.

It is, to a certain extent, migratory; many remain with
us throughout the year, but still more come towards winter
from the north, and of these also, the chief number seek
the more southern parts of the island. The spring movement
takes place in March and April, and the autumnal one in
October and November. The birds proceed by night to or
rather towards their destination, beginning to move about
dusk, and halting by the break of day at any suitable place
of repose and refreshment. The flocks preserve no special
order in their flight, and their voices may be heard aloft
in still weather, at such times indicative of the approaching
change of weather.

They are shy, except in the breeding-season, and give
instant notice, made use of at the same time by other birds
in their neighbourhood, of the approach of any danger. They
will live long in confinement, being easily tamed, if a sufficiency
of water exists for their habits. Sir Thomas Browne wrote
about two hundred years ago of these birds—‘Upon the
appearance of a Kite or Buzzard, I have seen them unite
from all parts of the shore in great numbers, when, if the
Kite stoops near them, they will fling up and spread such
a flash of water with their wings, that they will endanger
the Kite, and so keep him off again and again in open
opposition.’ Messrs. Shepherd and Whitear, in their ‘Catalogue
of Norfolk and Suffolk Birds,’ observe that they practise this
habit also to defend themselves or their young from the
frequent attacks of large and predaceous Gulls. Coots are
frequently to be seen in the markets for sale, but they are
not considered good birds to eat. They have the same power
that the Moor-Hen has of keeping the body sunk beneath
the water, while only the bill is kept out to breathe, and
even the very young birds not only dive, but practise this
mode of hiding themselves when pursued.

The Coot dives with great quickness and ease, rising sometimes
as much as a hundred yards from the spot where it had gone

COOT. 99

down. They are very powerful and strong on the wing, though
they seem to dislike getting up, and are at times seen at a
considerable height, and make extended migrations. In flight
_ they carry the legs stretched out behind them. If alarmed
to get up from the water, they scurry and flap along, the
head and neck straight out, and their feet pattering upon
. the surface, and a large number together make a very con-
siderable noise. They move about on dry land actively and
well, and are said to be able to perch on trees, but prefer
to keep, which they mostly do, on the other element.

‘When the bird is by chance seen to walk on the ground,’
says Meyer, ‘its appearance is not very elegant, owing to the
formation and backward position of the legs, and the attitude
it necessarily requires to keeps its balance, which is by
carrying its breast high, back arched, and tail lowered.’ They
are said to make use of their feet as weapons of defence, if
attacked at close quarters. They roost at night either on a
congeries of rushes in the middle of a piece of water, at a
small distance from the land, or ascend some height or mount
into a tree, which they do with ease and readiness.

They will readily feed on grass if other food be scarce;
grain they devour with avidity. Small fish, aquatic insects,
and water-plants form their ordinary supplies; and they also
pick the buds, blossoms, and seeds of different plants, and
corn, too, when seeking food at night on the land. In the
early part of the year, when the plants that have their roots
below the water have not as yet reached the surface, these
birds, acting on the principle that “f the mountain will not
come to Mahomet, Mahomet must go to the mountain,’ are
in the habit of frequentiy diving to procure them, where they
only then can be procured. They remain a considerable time
under water in search of food.

The call is only a harsh wild ‘crew,’ or ‘kew’ uttered either
singly or several times in succession. This is the similitude
of it as given by Meyer; but it is rarely indeed that the
note of any bird can be properly expressed in the syllabic
form. The young keep up a constant noise, unless any one
approach, when they instantly become still.

The nest, not unfrequently deferred to be made until May,
is a large structure, and, though of rough workmanship, very
strong in its composition, so as to keep the eggs dry, albeit
in such close proximity to water. It is built by the edges
of islands, in, or by the borders of lakes, ponds, and rivers,

100 cooT.

and is generally placed among and loosely attached to flags
and reeds; sometimes on a tuft of rushes, and composed of
the former plants: the finer portions are placed inwards. Mr.
Hewitson says that they are sometimes accumulated so much
as to rise from half a foot to a foot above the water, going
down also to a depth of from one foot and a half to two
feet; the width is about a foot and a half, and the interior
nearly flat, just sufficiently hollowed to retain the eggs.
Bewick mentions an instance where the nest of a Coot,
built among some rushes in a lake at Belsay, the seat of
Sir W. Middleton, in Northumberland, having been dislodged
by the wind and driven about, the hen bird still continued
to sit on the eggs, and hatched the young as if nothing had
happened. Such instances occasionally occur, the nest being
either built on a floating mass of sedge or rushes, or com-
posed itself of moveable materials.

Since writing the above, I have observed one placed on
the water, as indeed they not unfrequently are, and confined
only in its place by the reeds springing up around it. It
was only three or four yards from the edge of a small pond,
adjoining the high-road between High Catton and Stamford
Bridge. ‘The old bird moved a little way from it as I
stopped, but did not appear shy, as she doubtless would at
another time.

Bishop Stanley writes thus on the subject of this part of
the natural history of these birds:—‘“They, too, build a simple
rushy nest, but with this difference, that instead of seeking
to raise it above the water, they seem to prefer it floating
upon the very surface, where, of course, it is exposed to the
double danger of being carried hither and thither according
as the wind blows; or if interwoven with reeds or rushes
close to the water, of being covered, should the waters be
raised by floods. But the Coot is probably aware of these
possibilities, and accordingly guards against them, preventing
the nests being carried away, by ingeniously fastening the
materials of which they are made, to the rushes or osiers
near them, but at the same time these fastenings are of such
a nature as to allow of the nests rismg with the water, so
that no ordinary flood would expose them to the danger of
immersion. The Coot, like the Water-Hen, covers her nest,
and, if not so effectually, yet with a most extraordinary
rapidity. We have repeatedly watched a Coot quietly sitting
on her nest; if the boat approaches, she rises, and immedi-

COoT. . 101

ately begins pecking away right and left, which she continues
to do until the enemy is so near that she is compelled to
decamp for her own preservation. In this short time, how-
ever, she almost always contrives to cover her eggs; and
though the nest itself remains a very conspicuous object, a
careless observer might pass it as deserted and empty.’
Quarrels arise among different birds sometimes at the spring
of the year, for the choice of a situation.

The eggs are from six or seven, to ten or even fourteen
in number, of a light dull yellowish, or greenish pale brown,
or stone-colour, spotted with small rust-coloured spots. If
the first hatch be taken or destroyed, a second is produced,
but in less numbers.

The young almost immediately leave the nest to run about,
and after a few days entirely forsake it, unless the weather
is unseasonable, in which case they return to it at night
for a week or two, the old birds carefully tending them as
long as necessary. The hen covers them with her wings.

The plumage is well adapted to resist water. Male;
weight, from a pound and a half to two pounds; length,
one foot three or four inches, or more—up to one foot six—
different individuals varying in size; bill, dull white, with a
tinge of red in the spring; over its base is a white unfeathered
patch, which contrasts beautifully with the sable hne of the
rest of the plumage. Iris, red; surrounding the lower part
of the eye is a small semicircular streak of white; head on
the back part of the crown, neck, and nape, deep black,
with a tinge of ash-coloured grey; chin, throat, and breast,
deep ash grey tinged with bluish. Back, black, with a tinge
of ash-coloured grey, the shafts darkest.

The wings have a white line on the bend; underneath they
appear, in some lights, of a silvery grey colour; the shafts of
the feathers are darker than the rest; greater and lesser wing
coverts, black, with a tinge of ash grey; primaries, nearly
black; secondaries, also black, tipped with white, making a
narrow line across the wing. ‘The legs, which are placed
very far backwards, but appearing still more so than they
really are from the way they are bent, have an orange band
above the knee; below it, they and the toes are greyish
ash-colour, with an olive green tinge about the joints of
the former, and the edge of the lobed webs of the latter;
they are very long, and the claws sharply hooked. Old
birds become blacker in colour.

102 Coot.

The female is like the male, but is slightly less in size.

The young, when first hatched, have the head reddish or
orange reddish brown, and the rest of the down dingy biack.
When in full plumage, they are of a paler colour than the
old ones, and the patch on the forehead is less in size.

A very curious variety of the Coot was shot, as the Rev.
R. P. Alington informs me, at Misson, Nottinghamshire, near
Bawtry, Yorkshire. It is all white, the legs also and the
bill, the wings only being the usual colour. Other white
varieties have occurred, and some partially white.

103

GREY PHALAROPE.

Phalaropus lobatus, PENNANT, BEWICK.
a hyperboreus, BrewIck.
We platyrhynchus, GOULD.

Tringa lobata, Monracu.

Phalaropus. Phalara—Fringes. Pous—A foot. Lobatus—With lobes
to the feet.

TuIs very neat bird occurs, during its migration, in Denmark,
Norway, and Sweden, as also in France, Italy, Switzerland,
Holland, and Germany: it advances to Greenland. In America
it is well known in the United States, where as here, it occurs
in the spring and autumn, on its way to or from the Arctic
regions. In Asia it is plentiful in Siberia, and among the lakes
in the neighbourhood of the Caspian Sea.

The Grey Phalarope breeds in some of the Orkney Islands—
in North Ronaldshay and Sanday; it was first observed there
by Dr. Neill, in the year 1804, who obtained several specimens
in Papa Westray; also further north in Iceland, as also occa-
sionally in Norway and Sweden. In America it has been met
with at Melville Island and the North Georgian Islands.

In Yorkshire it has occurred occasionally at Scarborough;
one at Brignall; one at Rossington, near Doncaster, in the
year 1836, in summer plumage; one near Barnsley, in 1835;
one taken near York, and another caught by a party of poachers
near Bolton-upon-Dearne. In Norfolk, one or two occur every
autumn, in the months of October or November, and again
in the spring as they retrace their way; eight or nine were
obtained in the winter of 1828; one, out of a flock of four,
on a mere near Wretham Hall, by the gamekeeper of W. Birch,
Esq.; four near Salthouse, in September, 1847; one near

104. GREY PHALAROPE.

Norwich, the 9th. of November, 1853. In Gloucestershire,
one at Mitcheldean, on a pond close to a farm-house, in
January, 1847; it had been associating with the Ducks for
some days before. In Cornwall, many were observed and
procured in various ways and at different places, in the begin-
ning of October, 1846, after a strong gale from the S.S.E.
They were in a very poor and enfeebled condition.

In Devonshire one, October 12th., on the River Otter, near
Honiton. In Lancashire, one of two which were seen about
the same time, on the River Ribble; also two in Worcester-
shire, the same month, on the River Severn. In Wiltshire, one
is mentioned by Montagu as having been killed at Alderton.
In Northumberland, one at the Fern Islands, in the autumn
of 1820. In Sussex, on Shoreham sands a few have been met
with, feeding in company with some Oyster-catchers, by Mr.
Thomas Thorneroft, of Brighton. In Kent, one was shot
swimming on the Thames, at Swanscombe, in the autumn of
1845, so Mr. M. C. Cooke informs me; Yarrell mentions another
shot while swimming on the Thames, near Battersea, in
November, 1824; and Meyer two other on the same river—one
near Shepperton, in December, 1840, and another December
2nd., 1841.

A few occurred in Lincolnshire in the aioe of 1854, the
Rev. R. P. Alington relates; one of them was obtained by H.
Allenby, Esq., on the L5th. of November, in the parish of
Thorsby. In Surrey a few have been met with near Godalming
and Guildford; one at the former place November 30th., 1846;
about the same time six more were shot near Woking; three
near Bagshot, one of them the 25th. of September, 1845; one
near Carshalton, the middle of November, 1851.’ In Oxford-
shire, one some years ago, and five others were seen near
Chipping Norton, and three of them obtained, one of them a
male, and another a young bird, apparently of the year, in the
winter of 1846-7. One near Oxford, in the winter of 1852,
of which the Hon. T. L. Powys has written me word. In
Cambridgeshire, three in the hard winter of 1819-20. In
Berkshire, one at Shinfield, in March, 1794.

In Ireland, four specimens have been procured in different
years, all in the autumn. Mr. Thompson has described it as
a rare but occasional autumnal visitant.

In Scotland, likewise, others, as on the banks of the Solway,
and from the Frith of Forth. One at Fraserburgh, in
Aberdeenshire, the 27th. of October, 1853.

GREY PHALAROPE. 105

It is a migratory species, moving southwards for the winter,
and retiring to the north in the spring.

These birds are much addicted to swimming, and have been
observed by Sir Edward Parry, to adopt that mode of removal
from the approach of danger, in ‘preference to flying away.
In their native haunts, far away from common interruption,
they are exceedingly tame; and this feature in their character
continues to manifest itself in those individuals that occur here,
who-have not been taught by harsh experience to become wary
of too frequent danger. They exhibit a very graceful appearance
on the water, and nod the head constantly in their movements.
They are said by Audubon to be excellent eating.

They fly fast and well, and run nimbly on the shore.

The species feeds on small crustacea and water-insects, gnats
and their larve.

The note is likened by Meyer to the word ‘pick, pick,’
uttered quickly and in a high tone.

The nest of this bird is described as slight, lined with a
few grasses, or a mere formation of the natural herbage
around, and placed in a hollow on some elevated spot in
marshy places, but always in the vicinity of water, either
the sea or some inland lake or river.

The eggs are usually four in number, of a stone-colour,
with a tinge of olive, and spots and specks of dark brown.
The old birds shew great fondness for their young, and
remain with them till they are well able to fly.

The under plumage is thick and close-set. Male; weight,
one ounce and a quarter, to one and three quarters, according
to the condition the bird is in at the time; length, eight
inches and a quarter; bill, yellow at the base, black at the
tip, in winter blackish brown; it is flattened near the point;
between it and the eye is a white streak; iris, dark chesnut
brown, the eye is surrounded by white; above and behind it
is a broad streak of pale dull yellow. Head on the sides,
white on the upper part, and below reddish brown, with a
tinge of orange going down the sides of the neck; crown,
back of the neck, and nape, dusky olive brown, with, in
summer, broad rufous orange or yellowish edgings to the
feathers. In winter the forehead, crown, with a patch of
greyish black, sides of the head, front and sides of the neck,
are white; chin and throat, pale dusky greyish black, m
winter white; breast, reddish orange brown, in winter white,
with a patch of fine grey under the shoulder of the wing

106 GREY PHALAROPE.

fading into the white; on the sides are a few pale dusky
grey shaft streaks. Back, deep dusky brownish black, with
broad dull yellowish margins to the feathers; in winter
bluish grey, the shafts of the feathers darker and each
narrowly edged with pale yellowish white.

The wings expand to the width of one foot three inches;
greater wing coverts, dark lead-colour, in winter greyish black,
broadly edged with white; lesser wing coverts, lead-colour;
in winter greyish black, more narrowly edged with white;
primaries, greyish black, the shafts white; secondaries, broadly
tipped with white, exhibiting a conspicuous bar across the
wing; tertiaries, long and black, in winter broadly edged
with white on the outer webs. Tail, greyish black, finely
margined with white, it is of a wedge-shaped form; under
tail coverts, reddish brown. The legs, which have the bones
flattened as in the true swimming birds, are greenish yellow,
dull in winter; so are the toes, the front ones are united
as far as the first joint. Claws, black; lobes, dusky and
yellowish, serrated on the margins.

The female is larger than the male; length, about eight
inches and a quarter, or a little over; bill, yellow, dark
brown towards the point, in winter black; iris, dark brown;
around the eye is a patch of white, in winter dusky black.
Head on the crown, and about the base of the bill, white,
in the winter there is a black patch at the back; neck, in
front and on the sides, reddish chesnut, in winter grey in
front; in winter the back is grey; breast, reddish chesnut,
in winter white, with a small patch of grey on either side
towards the front and middle; back, nearly black, with pale
yellowish margins to the feathers, in winter grey.

Greater wing coverts, leaden grey, with broad ends of white,
in winter edged with white; lesser wing coverts, leaden grey,
with white edges; primaries, nearly black; secondaries, in
winter, margined with white; tertiaries, leaden grey, with orange
yellow margins, in winter these edges become white. Tail,
nearly black, underneath it is ash grey; legs and toes, yellow,
in winter yellowish brown. Claws, black; lobes, yellow, in
winter yellowish brown. ;

In the young the feathers about the base of the bill are
dull yellow, as also are the sides of the head and upper part
of the breast; the back, tertiaries, and upper tail coverts,
dusky, the feathers with pale buff edges. The legs, grey; the
webs of the feet bordered with buff yellow.

GREY PHALAROPE. 107

In the intermediate stages of plumage between that of the
summer and that assumed in the winter, this bird, always
pretty, is then particularly so—the red and grey liveries more
or less predominating. There are divers varieties partaking
more or less of the character of the one or the other, according
to the season; ‘que nune prescribere longum.’

108

RED-NECKED PHALAROPE.

RED-NECKED COOT-FOOT. RED-NECKED LOBE-FOOT.

Phalaropus hyperboreus, PENNANT.

ue fulicaria, MontacGu.

Lobipes hyperboreus, FLEMING.
«© hyperborea, SELBY.

Phalaropus. Phalara—Fringes. Pous—A foot. | Hyperboreus—Northern.

Tuts kindred species is even yet more elegant than the
preceding one.

On the continent of Europe it occurs in France, Holland,
Germany, Italy, and Switzerland, Sweden and Norway, and
thence visits Russia, Lapland, the Ferroe Islands, Greenland,
and Iceland. In Asia it is assigned to Siberia, and the borders
of the Caspian Sea. In America it is stated to be well
known in the United States, but as least numerously met
with in their southern districts. Captain Sabine mentions his
finding them at the North Georgian Islands. It advances
northwards to the Arctic Regions.

The earliest recorded occurrence of this bird as a British
one, was in the island of Stronsay, one of the Orkneys, in
the year 1769, as mentioned by Pennant.

In 1808, eight others, six females and two males, were
found in Sanday and North Ronaldshay. They are said to
be more rare there than formerly. In Lincolnshire one was
taken near Louth, by the Rev. William Marsden, during the
winter of 1849-50; one also near that place the beginning
of November, 1849, as the Rev. R. P. Alington wrote me
word. In Surrey, it is said by Mr. Mansell to have occurred
near Godalming. In Oxfordshire, one was found in an
exhausted state on Shotover Hill, in the winter of 1834.

W ty FZ
Min Ufvgge
Mh, ‘unibig

ttn Ny yy T,

Me
Dis

: = —
ee AS
LZ

— zzz

RED-NECKED PHALAROPE. 109

In Norfolk one or two occur annually in the autumn, and
so also on their return in the spring. One near Yarmouth,
at the mouth of the river, on the 4th. of November, 1854,
Mr. James Hunt has written me word of. One in the
parish of Weybourn; four near Salthouse, in the autumn of
1846. In the county of Northumberland this bird has been
obtained—one near Alnwick. In Yorkshire, one was procured
at Wilberfoss, near York, on the 2nd. of June, 1854; it was
in full summer dress, and was swimming at the time on a
pond near a house in company with some ducks; one near
Redcar, November 22nd., 1851: one near Scarborough, in
December, 1853. This species occasionally is met with near
Burlington, along the coast, in the winter. In Suffolk, two
at Benacre, on the 28rd., and one on the 24th. of Septem-
ber, 1853. In Sussex, one was killed on a pond near Lewes,
in November, 1849; one, a male, near Old Shoreham, about
the second week in September, 1845; and another, a female,
near Falmer, on the 20th. of May, 1846; one at Rottingdean,
the 4th. of October, 1853, it was at the time swimming on
a pond in the middle of the village in company with some
ducks. Rennie also mentions his having seen one on the
coast.

It breeds, but locally, in the Orkney Islands, Sanday,
Westray, ‘Orcades ambo,’ as also in North Ronaldshay,
Sandwick, in Pomona, and others. Mr. C. St. John has
also found them, evidently engaged with nests, in the month
of June, in Sutherlandshire, near Loch Naver.

Their proper haunts are the sea-coast, and the skirts of
any islands or lakes in the immediate neighbourhood.

They migrate on the approach of autumn to more southerly
districts.

They are exceedingly tame, and allow of a very close
advance. In the winter they assemble in large flocks in the
countries where they are more at home. ‘On the approach
of danger, the old bird runs among the herbage, spreading
her wings, and counterfeiting lameness, for the purpose of
deluding the intruder; and, after leading the enemy from
her young, she takes wing and flies to a great height, at
the same time displaying a peculiar action of the wings;
then descending with great velocity, and making, simulta-
neously, a noise with her wings. On her return to her
young she uses a particular cry, for the purpose of gathering
them together. As soon as she has collected them, she covers

110 RED-NECKED PHALAROPE.

them with her wings, like the domestic hen.’ M. Faber
states that he has seen one of these birds swimming about
in pursuit of insects on the surface of one of the boiling
springs, which was so hot that he could not bear his hand
in it. In the spring of the year the male birds have contests
among themselves. Both parents exlibit much attachment
to their young, and also to each other.

They swim with the greatest buoyancy and ease, and then
present a most graceful appearance, the head drawn backwards
over the shoulders. ‘They run on the land in an equally
pleasing manner, and are quick and able in flight. They
have, at different times, been observed on the open sea
many miles from shore. Captain James Ross mentions the
occurrence of a small flock of these birds at a distance of
sixty miles from the nearest land.

Their food is composed of small crustacea, worms, sea insects,
and small gnats and flies. |

These birds are late in laying, only one or two eggs having
been found laid by nearly the middie of June. It appears
that the male birds assist the females in the task of incubation.

The nest is placed in a hollow on a smali hillock, or in
a tuft of grass by the edge of the water, and is deep in
shape—the material dry grass. Both birds are much attached
to each other, as well as to their offsprmg. Several nests
are frequently placed in the same neighbourhood.

The eggs appear to be four in number, and of a dull olive
green colour, a good deal blotted with black brown or dusky.
The young leave the nest soon after being hatched.

Male; length, about eight inches; bill, black; about its base
the feathers are of a lead-colour, of which, a streak goes
backwards behind the eye; iris, dark brown. Crown, neck on
the back and nape, dark lead or slate-colour; in winter the
forehead is white, tinged with grey; the streak over the eye,
the crown, and the nape, are blackish grey; the neck on the
sides is fine yellowish red, which in winter wears away into
white, with sometimes a tinge of purple; in front dark grey
with a white edging; chin, white; throat, fine yellowish red,
in winter white, with a slight tinge of pink. Breast, white,
with some streaks below on the sides, of pale ash-colour, and
in winter with a faint blush of purple red; back, dark or
blackish lead-colour, the feathers with a margin of ash grey
and brownish yéllow.

The wings expand to the width of about one foot two

RED-NECKED PHALAROPE. EEL

inches; greater wing coverts. dark lead-colour, tipped with
white, forming a distinct bar across the wing in winter; lesser
wing coverts, dark lead-colour; primaries, nearly black, or
black in winter; secondaries, the same, but not so dark, and
with white tips; tertiaries, margined with reddish yellow on
the outer web, which in the winter plumage is white; tail,
brownish grey, margined with white, the two middle feathers
the darkest—nearly black; under tail coverts, white. Legs
and toes, dusky greenish grey; claws, black; lobes, dusky
greenish, those on the front joint of the toes extend a little
beyond the tip of the claw.

The female is larger than the male, and of similar plumage.
Mr. Dunn says that her plumage is more brightly coloured
than that of the male, the contrary having been asserted by
others. Length, about seven inches.

The young, the first year, resemble the male in its winter
plumage, the head on the top of the crown, black; the chin,
throat, and breast, white; the back, black, with yellowish
brown edges to the feathers.

112

GREY-LAG GOOSE.

WILD-GOOSE. GREY-LAG WILD-GOOSE.

Anser palustris, FLEMING. SELBY.
< ferus, JENYNS.
Anas anser, PENNANT.
< ferus, Montacu.
Anser—A Goose. Paiustris—Belonging to marshes,

Tue good old-fashioned name of the Grey-lag Goose, shall
not by me be set aside for that which more commends itself
to modern ‘ears polite.’ One who is not ashamed of, but
feels it a pride to bear the time-honoured title of Parson,
the denomination, in the ancient dialect of the country, of
the Person, the principal person of the parish by virtue of
his office, must extend, as far as he has it in his power,
the protection of print over the vernacular name of the
bird of the grey lag, whose grey wing has so long been
celebrated in the old poem, which will still last when many
a modern one shall have been consigned to oblivion. Since
writing the above, I perceive that Sir William Jardine has
expressed a similar preference on a like ground.

The Grey-lag Goose breeds in the southern parts of Norway
and Sweden, and visits Iceland. It occurs also, but not
commonly, in France, Switzerland, and Holland, and is said
to be more plentiful in Germany, in Prussia, Pomerania,
Saxony, and Silesia.

In Asia, it is reported to be found in Persia, China, and
Japan, and along the southern shores of the Caspian Sea,
and the Dead Sea. In Africa also it is seen in the northern
and north-western parts. .

"ASOOD DV T-AMtD

GREY-LAG GOOSE. 113

In Yorkshire, one was killed near Doncaster, in the spring
of 1843, and others are said by Mr. Allis, to have been known
at Walton Hall, and near Barnsley, York, and Sheffield.

It occurs, but not very commonly, in Lincolnshire; so the
Rev. R. P. Alington tells me. In Norfolk it is said to have
occurred formerly, and to do so still, though rarely. This at
least is the aécount given by Messrs. John Henry Gurney
and William Richard Fisher, but Messrs. C. J. and James
Paget say that it is very common. The former statement, I
incline to think, is the correct one; one was shot at Breydon
Water, near Yarmouth, in April, 1849. Specimens have been,
and are obtained, from time to time, in Northumberland,
Durham, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Devonshire, and Cornwall,
near Falmouth, but only occasionally, in the spring and
autumn, according to W. P. Cocks, Esq.

In Ireland, one was obtained in Queen’s County, in the
month of February, 1848. It is but rarely now obtained
in that island, though considered to have been formerly more
abundant.

In Scotland, as related by Mr. St. John, some still breed
in Sutherlandshire, on Loch Maddie, Loch Laigal, Loch Urigil,
and other waters. In the Orkney Islands these Wild-Geese
occur every winter, but not in great numbers. They leave
in the spring, none having ever been known to stay to breed.

This species is considered to be the origin of the tame
birds, and if it be so, as appears to be the case, its diminution
in numbers, without apparent cause, contemporaneously with
the increase of the domesticated birds, and their entire
establishment, is certainly a very curious fact, and one which
may well direct the mind to the over-ruling and_all-wise
Providence of Gop. Where, in like manner, is the parent-stock
of the dog, the camel, or the horse now to be found?

The localities it inhabits are the borders of lakes, large
ponds, inland seas fringed with flags and rushes, desolate
fens, and unfrequented swamps, and the sea-shore in cold
weather. Meyer writes, ‘By nature the present species is very
shy, and can only be approached by a sportsman by stealth,
whereas either a shepherd, ploughman, woman, or child, is
very little heeded.

This bird appears sociable among its own species, as a
solitary one is hardly ever met with; but it does not easily
mix in company with other Geese, and least of all with the
Bean Goose. On the wing it is strong, but heavy, although

I

VOL. VI.

114 GREY-LAG GOOSE.

it moves on at a considerable rate in proportion to its
bulk. When the bird flies to a short distance only, it does
not mount above thirty or forty yards from the ground, but
when migrating, or leaving the neighbourhood, it flies at a
great height, and when in companies they proceed in a
manner well known to all observers, bemg headed by one
individual, and forming the letter <4. It is remarkable that
when a pair of Wild-Geese, during the breeding-season, fly
to or from their feeding-ground, the female generally flies
before the male.’ They also proceed at times in a straight
line, nearly abreast, the post of leader being relieved from
time to time, the foremost then retiring to the rear.

In a letter to me from the Rev. D. Knight, of Earl’s Barton,
near Northampton, dated February 22nd., 1853, he writes,
‘Tradition says, that Mr. Richard Cradock, a miller, who
died in 1784, shot twenty-seven Wild-Geese and a sheep at
one shot; another account says nineteen geese; another
twelve; but all agree in adding the sheep. The granddaughter
now lives at the mill near which the redoubtable shot took
place; she also says that the number was nineteen, and an
aged yeoman, who gave the highest number, says that he
has often heard his father speak of it, and that, at the same
time, Mr. Cradock blew a foot off the gun which he used.
The gun still hangs up at the mill; it measures seven feet
nine inches, and weighs somewhere towards twenty pounds.’

It is universally believed that the Goose lives to a great
age, and particular instances are recorded by ornithologists
which confirm the fact; some are mentioned which have been
kept seventy years; and Willughby notices one which lived
eighty years. In the ‘Morning Chronicle’ of April 16th.,
1835, there is published a biography of ‘Tom the Gander,’
that had lived thirty-seven years, nine months, and six days.
The following anecdotes will be found interesting:

‘Thus much,’ says Bishop Stanley, ‘for the attention due
to the Goose for its pecuniary worth; but beyond this, it has
qualities, we might almost say, of the mind, of a very singular
character; we mean the unaccountable constancy and affection
which it has been known to shew, not only to its own species
and to other birds and animals, but more particularly to man;
and it is not improbable that these qualities, which, as we
shall soon shew, were known to the ancients, might have
rendered it an object of high esteem, and in some cases sacred;
as for instance, it was to Juno, the queen of their idol gods.

GREY-LAG GOOSE. . 115

In addition to which it has other qualifications, proving the
fallacy of the proverbial libel, ‘As silly as a Goose.’ Thus its
watchfulness at night-time has always been noted; and it
certainly is endowed with a strong organ of self-preservation,
for, as it has been well observed, you may drive over cat, dog,
hen, pig, or even pigeon, but few, if any, can record an instance
of driving over a Tame Goose; and as for Wild-Geese, there
is no animal, biped or quadruped, so difficult to deceive or
approach, their sense of hearing, seeing, and smelling being
so exceedingly acute; independent of which they seem to act
in so organized and cautious a manner when feeding or
roosting, as to defy all danger. Sportsmen could give instances
without number of their utmost skill being of no avail in
attempting to approach these birds; either a careless step on
a piece of gravel, or an eddy of wind, however lght, or
letting them perceive the smallest portion of their persons,
has rendered useless whole hours of manceuvring.

Of its attachment to the human race, Pliny, an ancient
Roman writer, gives several instances; one only we select, as
closely resembling that with which we shall conclude. A person
named Lacydes, a philosopher, had a Goose, which took so
strong a fancy to him that it would never willingly leave him,
by day or night. Wherever he went the Goose was his
companion; if he went abroad and walked in the public streets,
the bird followed him; and in his own house, always forced
itself into his presence. The philosopher, struck with this
constant and strange attachment, seems to have considered it
as in some way connected with religious feelings; and accord-
ingly, when at last it died, he was at the expense of bestowing
upon it a magnificent funeral.

Our next instance occurred in Scotland. A Goose, a year
old, formed a similar attachment to a person in Elgin, and
would follow him any distance, even through the crowd and
bustle of the main street. One day, when going down this
street, its master went into a hair-dresser’s shop to be shaved,
whereupon the bird waited patiently till the operation was
finished, and then accompanied him to the house of a friend;
after which it proceeded home with him. Change of dress
seemed to make no difference in the bird’s power of
distinguishing its master, for in whatever dress he appeared,
the Goose recognised him; and whenever he spoke it responded
by a cry expressive of satisfaction.

Another similar case is on record in Germany. An aged

LG GREY-LAG GOOSE.

blind woman, who probably might have been in the habit of
feeding it, used to be led every Sunday to church by a Gander
taking hold of her gown with his bill. When she had seated
herself, it retired to graze in the churchyard till she came
out again, when it led her home. One day, the clergyman
called at her house, and expressing his surprise to her daughter
that her mother should venture abroad; she replied, ‘Oh,
sir! we are not afraid of trusting her out of sight, for the
Gander is with her’’

The Bishop continues, ‘We frankly own that so strange and
improbable do the above stories appear, that we should neither
have inserted nor paid the slightest attention to them, had
we not the following testimony to their credibility, for the
accuracy of which we can readily vouch; and deeply do we
regret that a better fate did not await so extraordinary a bird,
which under more intelligent observers might have afforded
opportunities of ascertaining the extent of so unusual a
development of affection.

A farmer in Cheshire possessed a flock of Geese, one of
which, at the end of about three years, without any apparent
cause, began to shew a peculiar partiality for its master. It
first appeared on the bird’s quitting its companions in the
barn-yard or pond, and stalking after him. These symptoms
became daily stronger, and in a short time wherever the
farmer went, whether to the mill, or the blacksmith’s shop,
or through the bustling streets of a neighbouring manufacturing
town, the Goose was at his heels. So perseveringly did it
follow his steps that if he wished to go out alone, he was
under the necessity of fastening up the bird.

The farmer was in the habit of holding his own plough,
and on these occasions, the Goose as regularly passed the
day in the ploughing field, walking sedately, not with the
usual waddling pace of its fellow-geese, but with a firm step,
head elevated, and neck erect, a short way before him in
the line of the furrows, frequently turning round and fixing
its eyes intently upon him. When the length of one furrow
was accomplished, and the plough turned, the Goose, without
losing its step, adroitly wheeled about, and thus continued
its attendance till the evening, and then followed its master
home; and, if permitted, would mount upon his lap as he
sat by the fire after dark, shewing the strongest signs of
affection, and nestling its head in his bosom, and preening
the hair of his head with its beak, as it was wont to do

GREY-LAG GOOSE. 147

its own feathers. Sometimes the farmer would go out shooting,
and no sooner had he shouldered his gun, than his companion
was at its post, following him as before, in spite of every
obstacle, ‘getting over,’ to use the man’s own words, ‘the fences
as well as I could myself.’ All this, it should be observed,
continued not only without any encouragement on the part
of the farmer, but even in spite of every discouragement on
his part. How long it would have continued, or to what
extent, we lament to add, he effectually precluded the world
from knowing; for with an unpardonable inattention to so
truly a wonderful case, in addition to an equally unpardonable
superstitious fear, he took it into his head that the mysterious
affection of the Goose foreboded some evil; and in a moment
of alarm, he killed the faithful bird.

We can quote another, shewing that a Goose is occasionally
possessed of a keen sense, enabling her to detect imposition,
and distinguish her own eggs from others closely resembling
them. A Goose belonging to a clergyman in Cheshire, was
set, as it is termed, on six or eight eggs; the dairymaid
thinking these too few for so large a bird to cover, added
an equal number of duck’s eggs; the next morning she
went as usual to see if all was right, when, to her great
surprise, she found the Goose quiet on her nest, but every
one of the duck’s eggs picked out and lying on the ground.
Her mistress directed her to replace them, which was accordingly
done, but the next morning, on going again to examine
the nest, she found all the duck’s eggs as before, moved off,
and lying round about the nest, the Goose’s eggs remaining
under the sitting bird in perfect order. How long she would
have persevered in removing them is not known, as, for fear
of driving the Goose from her nest, the experiment was not
repeated.

When once attached to each other they appear to be very
constant; in proof of which, a person having marked five
separate Ganders, and five separate Geese with which they
had paired, found that for three successive years when he
attended to them, each regularly selected his companion of
the former year, and continued faithful to her. Why the
Goose has been so generally pointed out, proverbially, as the
most foolish of birds, it is difficult to say, for the foregoing,
as well as the following instances, would lead us to believe
that they are endowed with a larger, rather than a less portion
of sense than other birds.

118 GREY-LAG GOOSE.

An old Goose, which had been a fortnight hatching in a
farmer’s kitchen, was perceived on a sudden to be taken
violently ill; she soon after left the nest and repaired to an
outhouse where there was a young Goose of the first year,
which she brought with her into the kitchen. The young
one immediately scrambled into the old one’s nest, sat, hatched,
and afterwards brought up the brood. The old Goose, as
soon as the young one had taken her place, sat down by
the side of the nest and shortly after died. As the young
Goose had never been in the habit of entering the kitchen
before, the fact can only be accounted for by supposing that
the old one had some way of communicating her thoughts
and anxieties, which the young one was perfectly able to
understand. We give this anecdote on the authority of Mr.
Bun, who states it to have occurred at Ennis, in July, 1828.

So strong are the affections of these loving birds, that some
who have exposed themselves in their vengeance, have occasion-
ally found themselves fearfully worsted. A game cock, near
Ashford, in Kent, priding himself no doubt on his prowess,
happened a short time ago, to take offence at a Goose during
the time of incubation, and attacking her with great fury,
pecked out one of her eyes, and destroyed several of her
eggs. An old Gander, seeing the danger to which his
mate was exposed, flew to her assistance, and many desperate
battles took place; one day in his absence the cock renewed
his attack upon the Goose, when the Gander, hearing the
bustle, hurried up and seizing the cock, dragged him into
the pond, where he ducked him repeatedly, and finally drowned
him.

Another somewhat similar instance occurred at Astbury,
near Congleton, in Cheshire. Several Geese were feeding near
a barn where some men were thrashing, and a Sparrow near
them, when a Hawk suddenly pounced upon the latter, and
would have inevitably carried it off had not the Gander flown
to its rescue, and with its beak struck the Hawk so violent
a blow that it was stunned, and taken up by one of the
thrashers. The Goose is, in truth, by no means a cowardly
bird, and will often, when excited, defend himself very cour-
ageously.

Under particular circumstance a Wild-Goose has indeed
beea known to throw itself under the protection of man.
Thus an officer settled on a farm near the Missouri, in North
America, one day observed a large Eagle frequently darting

GREY-LAG GOOSE 119

towards the river, and then rising again. On a near approach,
he perceived that its object was to take a Wild-Goose, which
had alighted on the water, and which was dipping to avoid
so powerful an enemy. Its efforts, however, appeared to be
in vain, and after diving again and again, and as often rising
to get breath, it became nearly exhausted; when suddenly
turning, it made for the shore with all speed towards the
officer’s house, where two men were at work, and, as soon
as it had landed, walked leisurely up to them, permitting
itself to be taken without attempting to escape. It was
completely exhausted, but soon recovered, and within three
days seemed quite contented and confident of protection.”

In the spring of the year the young males have frequent
contests, holding one another by the neck and beating with
their wings till one. is obliged to yield; the females are
spectators, but not silent ones, keeping up a constant cackling,
expressive of encouragement, to continue the fight, or exhorta-
tive to peace. Wild-Geese are good to eat when fed on the
land. They are very shy and vigilant birds, and can only
be approached on open ground by stalking, and that of the
most careful kind. Sentinels are always on the look-out, to
give immediate notice of the approach of danger, and on
the slightest alarm the whole flock takes wing. They usually
retire at night to the water, but watch is still kept by
sentries who take their turns in the office.

They feed on grasses of various kinds, the young blades of
corn, water-plants, clover, and other herbage, as also seeds,
grain, barley, it is said, and oats, especially, and often do
considerable damage among the young crops.

The voice, a clangulous “call, is the echo of the harsh ery
of the common species. It is very frequently uttered, especially
when the bird is flying, or if a companion be met with.

The nest of this Goose is made of grass, rushes, leaves, or
dry stalks of plants, under cover of some rushes or osiers,
and is well lined with feathers. I¢ is large in size, and is
located in a marsh, or by the border of a lake or inland sea.
The male keeps guard near it while his partner sits.

The eggs are said to be commonly four or five in number,
but to amount also to as many as twelve or fourteen, the
former the produce of younger, and the latter of older birds;
eight or nine the intermediate quantity. They are of a dull
yellowish white, smooth and shining in appearance.

Meyer says, ‘The female is very careful in covering the

120 GREY-LAG GOOSE.

eggs with some of the surrounding materials, whenever she
leaves the nest for a short time; and it may serve as a
safe guide to persons who go in search of the eggs, that if
they are uncovered, they are forsaken, and are, consequently,
not worth leaving in the nest. As soon as the Goose has
laid her full number of eggs, she plucks the down off her
breast, and disposes it in such a manner among the eggs,
that they retain an equal temperature even at the changes
of the weather, or during the short periods when she leaves
the nest, once or twice a day.’

‘In four weeks the young come forth, and after remaining
under the mother the entire first day, are subsequently led
to the water, and made to swim to some small islet, where
they can hide, and feed on the young blades of corn, grass,
and duckweed. The gander redoubles his watchfulness on
the increase of his family, and hardly ever leaves the party.
On the approach of danger, the parents resort immediately to
the shelter of rushes, standing corn, or long grass, attended
by the whole brood; but when surprised on open ground,
too far from shelter, the young lay themselves flat on the
ground in some rut or hollow, and have even been known
to be taken up in the hand, and carried away; but if they
are near enough to the water, instinct teaches them to resort
to that element for protection, where, by diving or swimming
to the shelter of some cover, they may elude observation: on
such occasions the parents fly round the intruders, uttering
their inharmonious cries.’ Yarrell says that when the hen
birds begin to sit, the males leave the fens, and collect in
flocks near or on the sea. ‘The male and female are considered
to unite for life. They return yearly to the same breeding
places, arriving at them in March.

A wild Grey-lag gander is recorded to have paired with
a tame goose in a farm-yard.

Male; weight, eight or nine pounds; length, two feet eleven
inches; bill, large, pale yellowish red with a tint of orange;
the tooth at the end greyish white. Iris, greyish brown;
the eyelids pale yellowish red with a tinge of orange. Head,
crown, neck on the back, and nape, greyish brown, the
feathers of the latter disposed in rows or lines, forming a
sort of furrows; neck in front, pale greyish white brown;
chin, throat, and breast on the upper part, pale greyish
brown; the last-named below, white, and barred on the sides
with grey and greyish white. Back on the upper part,

GREY-LAG GOOSE. gb

greyish brown and barred across, the feathers deeply edged
with a paler shade; on the lower part light bluish grey.

The wings have the second quill feather the longest; they
reach, when closed, not quite to the end of the tail; there
is.a hard protuberance at the inner end of the wing. Greater
wing coverts, greyish brown; lesser wing coverts, darker
leaden greyish brown—both bordered with whitish; of the
primaries, the three outer ones are pale grey, the others dark
leaden grey; the shafts of all are white, the base greyish
white, the ends more or less black; tertiaries, leaden grey,
broadly margined with a lighter shade; greater and lesser
under wing coverts, white. Tail, leaden grey, the tip white,
the outer feathers almost entirely white; upper and under
tail coverts, white. Legs and toes, pale greyish yellowish
red; claws, black.

The female is smaller than the male, and her plumage is
Jess distinctly marked. Length, two feet six inches.

The young are described as being darker than the old
birds.

Pied varieties have occurred—one with the wing perfectly
white; another with white feathers along the breast and wing
eoverts. In the specimen already alluded to as having been
shot near Yarmouth, the lower part of the breast is described
by Mr. Fisher, as having had, in some degree, the black
markings, a feature in the plumage of the White-fronted
Goose.

122

“
BEAN GOOSE.
WILD GOOSE.
Anser ferus, FiLeminc. SELBY.
«¢ segetum, JENYNS. GOULD,
“ sylvestris, BRISSON.
Anas segetuin, ; PENNANT. MonrtTacu.
Anser—A Goose. Ferus—W ild-—savage.

Tue Bean Goose is plentiful in Norway, Sweden, Finland,
and Lapland, where, as in the Ferroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland,
Nova Zembla, and still higher northern latitudes, it rears
its young; it is found abundantly also in France, Germany,
and Holland, Spain and Italy: in the former countries it
breeds. In Asia, too, in the northern districts.

Its dwelling-places are the borders of inland seas and
lakes, rivers and ponds, swamps and ditches, stubble fields
and others. In the latter they feed in the day-time, and
towards evening repair to the open sands, where they roost
during the night after bathing and drinking.

In Yorkshire, these birds frequent the Wolds in immense
flocks, and seem to prefer those higher grounds to others
that are lower and more marshy. They have been met with
also in other places, as at Sheffield, York, and Kullingbeck,
near Leeds. In Gloucestershire and Worcestershire, this species
also occurs by the River Severn. In Northamptonshire it is
a common visitor, as I am informed by the Hon. T. L. Powys;
so it also used to be in Cambridgeshire, in the fens, when
fens still existed, as recorded by the Rev. Leonard Jenyns.
In Norfolk, the species is pretty abundant in autumn, winter,
and spring: it also occurs in Lincolnshire.

In Scotland, it breeds in Sutherlandshire, on Loch Shin,
Loch Naver, Loch Laigal, and several other of the lakes; as

‘HSOOD NVA

BEAN GOOSE. 12s

also in the Hebrides, in the Islands of Harris and Lewis; and
no doubt in many other parts. A few are said to have nests
every year about Tunbiggin Tarn, near Orton, in Westmoreland ;
others in Cumberland.

The species is also common in Wales and in Ireland, as a
winter visitant. In Orkney, it has been observed occasionally
during the early part of the winter, but its visits are very
uncertain.

In September and October they wend their way southwards.

The Bean Goose has been kept on the ornamental water in
St. James’ Park, London, and has hatched its young there.
It is very readily tamed if the eggs are procured, and young
birds thus obtained for early domestication. The like indeed
is the case with older birds. One was obtained by Mr. George
Johnson, of Melton Ross, Lincolnshire, in 1851, of which,
though an old bird and procured with the gun, he wrote me
word, ‘he is at this time so tame that he will eat out of my
hand, and come any time at call, and is in every way more
domesticated than our common Geese.’

They are naturally very shy and watchful, so as oniy to be
approachable by stratagem. ‘The well-known saying, ‘A Wild
Goose chase,’ like most or all proverbial expressions, conveys
the result of wide-spread experience. These birds are friendly
and sociable among themselves. In the tame state they soon
come to associate and consort with the common Geese: they
are said to attain a great age.

These Wild Geese, when there are only a few together,
fly in a straight line one after the other, but when numbers
increase its length, it diverges into two in the form of a
wedge, some old Gander, the patriarch of the flock, leading
the van. When on their migration they keep aloft, but at
‘other times nearer to the ground, especially if the wind be
high, or the weather thick and misty. They fly, as has
oe ascertained, at the rate of from forty to fifty miles an
hour.

They arrive at their feeding grounds with great regularity,
at the early dawn of the morning, and remain till towards
dusk in the evening, when, as before mentioned, they wing
their way in long strings to the sea, or the sand banks of
estuaries and rivers, their loud gabble calling attention to
them overhead as they go. In such places, out of the reach
of danger, they rest in security. They do much mischief in
clover fields, which crop they seem very much addicted to.

124 BEAN GOOSE.

Arthur Strickland, Esq. has written of his having known
some years ago, in one parish on the Wolds, a person hired
to keep them off. They feed also on young growing corn,
to which they do like damage, as also on turnips and grass,
and subsequently pick up a livelihood in the stubble fields.
Their partiality to beans, the newly sown fields of which, and
those of peas, they frequent in the early spring, is probably
the origin of their name. They are, however, fond of any
other kind of grain, oats, rye, and wheat, ripe or unripe, and
also pluck the different grasses.

The eggs of this species are of a dull white colour, and
from five to seven in number.

The young, till able to fly, hide themselves, if alarmed, in
the neighbouring heather or other cover.

In confinement this species has been known to pair with
the Tame Goose, the progeny partaking in some respects of
the character of both parents. This is a statement of
Meyer’s.

Male; weight, about six pounds; length, two feet eight
inches to nearly three feet; the bill, which is rather tapered
towards the end, is red or yellowish red, with the exception
of the edges, the base, and the tooth, which are black. Iris,
dark brown, the eyelids dark grey. Head, crown, neck on
the back, and nape, greyish brown, the former colour disposed
in lines, giving a furrowed appearance; neck in front, chin,
and throat, dull white; breast, dull greyish white, with
deeper shades of the same colour across. Back above brown
with a shght tinge of grey, and each feather edged with
white or greyish white; on the lower part dark greyish
brown.

The wings have the second quill feather the longest; they
reach, when closed, beyond the end of the tail. Greater and
lesser wing coverts, greyish brown, tipped and edged with
white; primaries, greyish black; secondaries and_tertiaries,
greyish brown, edged and tipped with white. _ Upper and
under tail coverts, white. Legs and toes, orange red; claws,
black; webs, orange red. This colour varies in depth
according to the age of the bird.

The female is smaller.

The young are of a paler grey.

In some of these birds there are a few white feathers
around the base of the bill.

‘HSOOD CdHLOOd-ANId

are

125

PINK-FOOTED GOOSE.

Anser brachyrhynchus, BaAILuLon.
“ phenicopus, BaRTLetr.
Anser—A Goose. Brachyrhynchus. Brachiis—Short.

Rhynchos—A Dill.

In the year 1833, M. Baillon, the eminent naturalist of
Abbeville, described the present as a new species, under the
name which he then assigned to it. It appears, however,
according to the statement of Meyer, that M. Temminck has
asserted that it had been previously observed in Holland, in
the winters of 1829 and 18380, as also subsequently in 1888.
Mr. Bartlett was the first to notice it in this country, and
unaware that it had been before discovered, as noticed
above, gave as its specific name that which has hence become
a synonym.

These Geese occur in Hurope, Asia, and America, and in
cold weather some cross over to the northern parts of Africa.
In the first-named continent they have been observed in France,
Italy, Hungary, and Turkey, and frequent, for the purpose
of breeding, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the
Hebrides.

In Yorkshire they occur on Thorne Moor. One was shot
on the coast in the winter of 1851, as Mr. William Felkin,
Junior, of Carrington, near Nottingham, has informed me; one
also at Haxby, near York, on the 15th. of January, 1850.
My servant found one, which had been barely winged, in a
field near Warter, in the East-Riding, on the 9th. of December,
1854. Three were sold in the Doncaster market in 1840. In
Northamptonshire it is an occasional visitor, as the Hon. ‘T.
L. Powys has written to me. In Norfolk these birds occurred
several times near Lynn, in the beginning of 1854; as they
had also done in the winter of 1849-50. ‘T'wo in December,

7

126 PINK-FOOTED GOOSE.

1851; one, which had been previously wounded, was caught
near Upware, on the bank of the Cam, in Cambridgeshire, in
January, 1550. Three, one male and two females, at Ely, on
the 3rd. of May, 1851; one near Wisbeach in the beginning
of 1850. In Norfolk, one out of a flock of twenty, was shot
by Lord Coke, in January, 1841.

In Scotland these Geese breed in great numbers, among
the Islands of Harris.

The Pink-footed Goose resorts in spring to the northern
districts of the three continents, whence it returns in the
autumn.

In their wild state they appear to travel in small flocks.
Meyer writes, ‘Towards the spring these Geese become restless,
flying to meadows, waste lands, and heathy commons, and
finally leave their winter quarters for more northern regions.
Their migratory journeys are performed usually in the day,
and the speed at which they sometimes fiy has been noticed
to amount to forty or fifty miles an hour. The numbers that
journey together vary from five to fifty or sixty; and when
in large flocks they form a triangular figure, headed by the
father of the foremost family’

These birds have been kept on the ornamental water in
St. James’ Park, as also in the Zoological Gardens.

They are shy and wary, awake to the slightest noise, roosting
together in flocks to their greater security. They repair
towards evening to the borders of rivers, lakes, and open
sands that verge upon the ‘water-mark,’ and leave them in
the day-time for cultivated districts.

They feed on oats, peas, beans, barley, wheat, buckwheat,
and any other kinds of grain, and in lack of these on the
roots, buds, and shoots of flags, rushes, and other water-plants.

The voice is a quick and harsh clack.

These birds pair about the middle of May. Mr. J. Macgil-
livray has remarked that he saw them ‘in pairs about the
middle of the month, and they had the young fully fledged
and strong upon the wing about the end of July. They
had again collected into flocks by the beginning of August.

The eggs are of a pure white colour. Eight were laid by
one of these Geese, kept on the water in St. James’ Park by
the Ornithological Society of London.

Male; length, two feet four inches; bill, bluish black at
the base, the remainder pink red, except the tooth, which
is also bluish black, but paler towards its base: a narrow line

— en ee —

-PINK-FOOTED GOOSE. 127

of white feathers surrounds the bill; iris, dark, dusky brown.
Head on the sides, crown, and neck on the back, rather dark
and fine rufous chocolate brown, the nape paler, shading into
yellowish brown on the sides of the neck; throat, also rufous
chocolate brown; breast above, reddish fawn-colour; below,
white; on the sides, broadly barred with pale brown and
greyish white, with which each feather is broadly tipped;
back, on the upper part, brownish grey, shaded off into
yellowish brown, with dull yellowish white edges and tips to
the feathers; below, greyish black, the feathers on the lower
part tipped with white.

The wings, when closed, extend from an inch to an inch
and a half beyond the end of the tail. Greater wing
coverts, dark brownish black; lesser wing coverts, brownish
grey, edged and tipped with dull white. Primaries, greyish
Jead-colour, with white shafts, the second quill feather is the
longest in the wing; secondaries, dark leaden grey, the ends
nearly white; tertiaries, dusky brownish grey, with dull
greyish white outer edges and tips; the shafts are strong
and broad. ‘Tail, grey, the feathers broadly tipped and edged
with white; the shafts white; underneath the tail is white;
it consists of fourteen feathers; upper tail coverts, white, with
a pale crescent-shaped mark; under tail coverts, white; legs
and toes, pink, with a tinge of red: the hind toe is short.
Claws, black, paler at the base; webs, reddish pink.

In some specimens there are a few white feathers about

the base of the bill.

128

WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE.
WHITE-FRONTED WILD GOOSE. LAUGHING GOOSE.

Anser albifrons, JENYNS.
“ erythropus, FLEMING.
Anas albifrons, PENNANT. Montagu.

Anser—A Goose. Albifrons. Albus—White. Frons—The forehead.

THE Laughing Goose is the common species in Sweden and
the other countries of old Scandinavia—Lapland, Norway,
and Denmark; and visits also the southern parts of Russia,
Poland, Prussia, France, Germany, Italy, and Holland.

It belongs too to some parts of Asia—Japan, according to
Temminck, Siberia, and the neighbourhood of the Caspian
Sea; and likewise to America, moving, at the different seasons
of the year, to and from the regions within the Arctic circle
and the United States, through the Fur Countries.

They breed in Tornea Lapland, or Lapmark, a province of
Sweden; also in Iceland.

In this country they have occurred in greater or less
numbers in Northumberland, Durham, Norfolk, Suffolk, Kent,
Hampshire, Sussex, Cambridgeshire, Devonshire, and Cornwall;
in fact, no doubt, though they have made no ‘matches’ here,
they belong to ‘All England.’ Meyer mentions one shot by
him in February, 1847, on the Thames, near London.

In Ireland, also, and in Wales, as likewise in Scotland,
where Sir William Jardine has met with it in Dumfriesshire,
and in the market at Edinburgh.

They frequent marshes and morasses, ponds, and other
damp and watery places.

This species is occasionally seen in Northamptonshire, as

ԤSOOD CHINOUd-HLIHM

WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. 129

the Hon. T. L. Powys tells me. It used to be a winter
visitor to the fens in Cambridgeshire, varying in numbers
according to the comparative mildness or severity of the
season. In Norfolk several occurred near Lynn, towards the
end of January, 1852. They were unusually common there
in the beginning of 1854, and are met with annually in
the spring and winter. Breydon, near Yarmouth, is also a
locality. Specimens are procured near Doncaster and Sheffield
in severe weather, and considerable numbers occasionally about
Sutton-on-Derwent, near York, though by no means as regular
visitants. They are not uncommon at Walton Park, and
one was met with near Barnsley: in hard winters some
occur near Burlington.

In Cornwall six were seen on Looe River, Helford, December
19th., 1849, and two shot on the 26th. of the same month.
In Derbyshire, individuals have occurred by the Trent, in
hard weather. The like remark has to be made of Oxfordshire,
where small flocks are occasionally seen, but only in the
severest seasons.

In Scotland it is a rare winter visitor in Sutherlandshire.
It visits Orkney also at the same season.

In Ireland two occurred near Waterford, in February, 1848.

They begin to move northwards by the end of February
or the beginning of March, few being ever seen after the
middle of that month, and return southwards early im
September. '

These birds have been kept in the gardens of the Zoologicai
Society, and have reared their young, towards whom they
exhibited great attachment. They -have also similarly been
preserved elsewhere, and appear to do well. In their wild
state they collect at times in very large flocks, and associate,
to a certain extent, with those of other species of their family,
though not with any great intimacy. They seem naturally
to resort more to streams and water sides than to the open
country, as the other kinds. They are esteemed for the table,
and when young are easily tamed.

They fly strong and well, and on going any distance keep
in single line; they walk about, too, in a rather graceful
manner with quickness and ease.

They feed on clover, turnip leaves, and those of other
vegetables, both marine and inland, and corn; beetles and their
larvee, and other insects, with which they also swallow some
gravel in aid of digestion.

VOL. VI. K

130 WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE.

The note is thought to resemble a laugh, and hence the
vernacular name. Meyer likens it to the words ‘click,’ ‘clack,’
or ‘cling.’

The egos of this species are of a white colour, with*a tinge
of pale buff.

Male; weight, from between four and five to as much some-
times as seven pounds; length, two feet three inches; bill, pale
yellowish red with a tint of orange, the tooth white; about
the base of the upper mandible and the beginning of the
forehead, the feathers are white, as indicated by the name of
the bird. Iris, deep dark dusky brown; forehead, white or
yellowish white, succeeded by a band of shaded black, forming,
with that about the chin, a band round that part of the head;
head, crown, neck on the back, and nape, brownish grey, or
yellowish brown; chin, white bordered with black; throat, pale
greyish white; breast above, pale brownish white, with some
irregular black bars; below, gradually paler, with broad waves
of black more or less distinct; the sides greyish brown, with
edgings of dull white: these marks are considered by Audubon
to be characteristic of the breeding plumage, and they are
no doubt then in their greatest intensity. Back above, dark
greyish brown, with pale reddish brown edges to the feathers;
below, dark brown.

The wings have the second quill feather the longest; greater
and lesser wing coverts, grey, edged with rufous white or
white; primaries, bluish black; secondaries, also bluish black;
tertiaries, margined with dull white. The tail has the middle
feathers dark grey, tipped with white, the outer ones nearly
entirely white; upper and under tail coverts, white. Legs
and toes, orange-colour; claws, very pale bluish grey; webs,
pale reddish orange. .

The female has less white on the forehead.

In the young of the first year, the feathers about the base
of the upper bill are dark brown; the bill pale brown at the
tip. ‘The breast is without the dark bars and patches on the
sides.

“aSOOD §FIOINUYE

CELE

131

BERNICLE GOOSE.

CLAKIS. TREE GOOSE. COMMON BERNICLE GOOSE.

BARNACLE GOOSE. ,
Anser bernicla, FLEMING. SELBY.
** — leucopsis, JENYNS. GOULD.
Anas leucopsis, TEMMINCK.
“< erythropus, PENNANT. Monracu.
Anser—A Goose. Bernicla—The Barnacle.

THIS species is abundant in Russia, Lapland, and Spitzbercen,
and on many of the shores of the Baltic, Sweden, Denmarx,
and Finland, Norway, Jutland, and Holstein; and occurs
besides in the Faroe Islands and Iceland. It is also plentiful
in Holland, and is met with in Germany and France. In
Asia, it appears to belong to the northern districts, and to
Japan, and in America has been found at Hudson’s Bay, and
in Canada, as also, though less numerously, in the United States.

In Yorkshire, two were killed on Midgley Moor, September
2nd., 1886. In hard weather specimens are frequently shot
near Doncaster, and some are taken occasionally in the
neighbourhood of Huddersfield, on the Marsden, Slaithwaite,
Meltham, and Holmfirth Moors; others, at times, near York.
It is rare near Leeds, but one was shot at Rigton, in
1837. It may be met with in winter weather on the shores
of the Humber. Another out of a flock of nine, was killed
in Coatham Marsh, near Redear, on the Ist. of October, 1853.

One was seen in the Louth market, by the Rev. R. P.
Alington, no doubt of Lincolnshire occurrence. It used to
be met with in the Cambridgeshire Fens, in greater or less
plenty, according to the season.

In Norfolk, a pair were procured at Salthouse, in January,
1848: the species is not uncommon in that county in the
winter.

In Scotland, it is an occasional visitor, and occurs on the

132 BERNICLE GOOSE.

western side of Sutherlandshire more numerously than on the
east.

It frequents the sea-coast and sandy places thereby, where
grass and other plants find root.

The Bernicle Goose has been noticed in various numbers,
more or less, in Lancashire, and on the Firth of Solway,
as also in the counties of Northumberland, Devon, Cornwall,
Dorset, and Sussex.

It is likewise an Irish species, and has been procured at
different times, though only locally. In Orkney, numbers
arrive-in the autumn, and remain till the spring.

‘Its migratory journeys are performed during both night
and day, in considerable flocks, and invariably along the
sea-coast, skirting the land around headlands and bays, and
passing only when necessary over the open sea. The
roosting-places are also the sea-coast.’ They leave us for
more northerly regions early in the spring, none remaining
after the middle of March. They return in the autumn.

Some of the birds of this species, preserved on the water
in St. James’ Park, have produced eggs. ‘They very soon
become perfectly tame, and exhibit the longevity in confine-
ment of the other kind, that is to say at least, if given
the opportunity. I saw some a year or two since in a
quite domesticated state: in the wild condition they are very
shy. One is said to have been known to have reached the
long period of thirty-two years. After arriving at a ‘certain
age’ there may perhaps in its case have been another con-
sideration, beyond the more scientific one of ascertaining the
duration of life in the species: they are considered good for
the table.

The late Lord Derby has recorded the circumstance of
one of these Geese having paired one year with a Canada
Goose, and the following year with a White-fronted Goose.
In the former instance no eggs were laid; in the latter
nine or ten.

They are birds of sociable habits, both among themselves
and with other kindred kinds. It is well known that a
ridiculous notion formerly prevailed respecting the origin of
the Bernicle Goose. I copy the following from Bishop
Stanley’s ‘Familiar History of Birds: —

‘It will scarcely be now-a-days believed, that this Bernicle
or Tree Goose actually derived its name from a very general
belief that, instead of being hatched, like other birds, from

BERNICLE GOOSE. isa

an egg, it was produced from a shell which grew on trees
and rotten wood, and the shell was therefore called the
Goose-bearing shell, (Lepas anatifera.) For this foolish idea
there was no other foundation than pieces of wood and
decayed trees being often found in parts of the sea frequented
by these Geese, all covered over with these shells, which
seem to grow upon little stalks; and as the feelers of the
fish within it are feathered or fringed, they were supposed
to be, the downy coverings of the young Goslings.’

As a curious specimen of ignorant reasoning and eredulity,
we shall extract an account written by the sage Gerard, as
he was called, author of a well-known book called ‘Gerard’s
Herbal, or History of Plants.’ This author was born at
Nantwich, in Cheshire, and lived in the time of Queen
Elizabeth:—

‘There is,’ says he, ‘a small island in Lancashire, called ‘the
Pile of Foulders,’ on the west side of the entrance into
Moreecombe bay, about fifteen miles south of Ulverston,
wherein are found the broken pieces of old and_ bruised
ships, also the trunks and bodies, with the branches of old
and rotten trees, cast up there likewise; wherein is found a
certain spume or froth, that in time breedeth unto certain
shells, in shape like those of the muskle, but sharper pointed,
and of a whiter colour, wherein is contained a thing in form
like a lace of silke, finely woven as it were tagether; one
end whereof is fastened unto the inside of the shell, even as
the fish of oisters and muskles are: the other end is made
fast unto the belly of a rude masse or lump, which in time
cometh to the shape and form of a bird: when it is perfectly
formed, the shell gapeth open, and the first thing that
appeareth is the aforesaid lace or string; next come the tegs
of the bird hanging out, and as it groweth greater, it
openeth the shell by degrees, till at length it is all come
forth, and hangeth only by the bill. In short space after,
it cometh to full maturitie, and falleth into the sea, where
it gathereth feathers and groweth to a fowl bigger than a
Mallard, and lesser than a Goose, which the people m
Lancashire call by no other name than a Tree Goose; which
place aforesaid, and all those parts adjoining, do so much
abound therewith, that one of the best is bought for three-
pence.’ So fully convinced was the sage Gerard of the ‘truth
hereof,’ that he closes his account with an invitation to all
who doubted the fact to apply to him:—‘If any doubt, may

134: BERNICLE GOOSE.

it please them to repair to me, and I shall satisfie them by
the testimonie of good witnesses.’

They fly in a strong and powerful manner, the pairs or
families keeping together and forming a line. In alighting
a considerable noise is produced by the wings.

Their food consists of the leaves and roots of maritime
plants, as well as at times of the blades of growing corn,
rye, and grasses, as also of insects and their larve, for which
they seek with the head and neck below water.

These birds appear to breed in large swamps and morasses.

The eggs are of a greenish white colour.

Male; weight, between four and five pounds; length, two
feet. one inch; bill, very small and black; from its base a
broad black patch or line extends to the eye; iris, dark brown;
forehead, and head on the sides, white; crown, neck ail round,
and nape, glossy black. Chin and throat, white; breast, on
the upper part, glossy black, the remainder greyish white,
ending in silvery white, with light greyish bars on the sides;
the feathers on the legs black, with pale tips; back, fine bluish
grey, with black or brownish black and white bars, the latter
colour gradually widened, giving it an elegant dappled appear-
ance; below, the back is black, on the lower part, bluish black.

The wings have the first quill feather the longest. Greater
and lesser wing coverts, fine bluish grey, each feather edged
with white, .inside which at the tip is a crescent of bluish
black. Primaries, almost black, edged a little way from the
tips with bluish grey, at the base light grey on the outer
webs; tertiaries, grey, with white edges, and a crescent of
bluish black at the tip, inside the white margin. The tail,
which consists of fourteen feathers, is nearly black, the feathers
are almost of a length, so that it is nearly square at the
end; upper tail coverts, white, in a erescent shape; under
tail coverts, silvery white. The legs, which are short and
thick, are, as the toes, claws, and webs, black.

The female is like the male.

The young have the forehead spotted with black, the white
on the sides of the head interspersed with black feathers: the
streak between the bill and the eye much wider than in the
old birds; the grey marks on the sides of the breast darker,
and the white not so clear. The back darker, with a tinge
of red on the tips of the feathers; the wing coverts similarly
marked; the legs not so dark as in the old bird, being tinged
with reddish brown.

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135

BRENT GOOSE.

Anser brenta, FLEMING. SELBY.
“ — torquatus, JENYNS.
Anas bernicla, PENNANT. MONTAGU. TEMMINCK.
Anser—A Goose. Brenta—....cccccees ?

THESE Geese are very plentiful in Denmark, Norway, Sweden,
Nova Zembla, Spitzbergen, Greenland, Iceland, and other
countries of the north. They visit also France, Germany,
Pomerania, and Holland.

In America, Captain James Ross noticed them in different
places, up to the highest latitudes that have been reached,
and in these they breed. They are well known also in the
United States and Canada, and in the neighbourhood of
Hudson’s Bay.

With us this species is a regular winter visitor, and occurs
in large multitudes on any parts of the coast that are suitable
to them, such as those of Norfolk, Suffolk, Kent, and North-
umberland.

In Yorkshire, it is met with at Sheffield, as also, though
rarely, in the vicinity of Leeds, and likewise, in hard winters,
near Doncaster, and York occasionally, the moors round
Huddersfield, and at the sea-side. In Cambridgeshire several,
were shot near Wisbeach, in the beginning of 1850. In
Norfolk it is a common species. The Rev. R. P. Alington
has seen this bird in Louth market, the produce no doubt
of Lincolnshire. In Surrey one was shot at Wipley Farm,
near Bramley. In Cornwall, one was found dead on the
sands, at Gwyllyn Vase, in December, 1546. A flock visited
the Trent in Derbyshire, in January, 1831.

In Scotland the Brent Goose is met with in Sutherlandshire,
but most so on the eastern side of the county. It is equally
plentiful in the Hebrides and Shetland.

186 BRENT GOOSE.

In Ireland it is also common, and some are said to have
bred there, but it is considered that they may have been
birds which had been partially tamed and had flown away.

It arrives in Orkney in the autumn, quitting again the
following spring.

This species chiefly affects the sea-shore, but some have
at different times been met with inland.

They arrive in large numbers about the beginning of
October, and others keep constantly joining the first comers
till the beginning of November. They begin to leave again
by the end of February or beginning of March, and before
April all have gone.

They are excellent eating, and are very easily kept in a
domesticated state. They collect in immense flocks, so as
often even to blacken the surface of the ground. In their
wild state they appear not to be shy of human approach,
probably as being unaccustomed to danger from that quarter
in the distant parts of the world to which they naturally
belong. Here, however, like so many other birds, which if
not disturbed and harassed, would retain their natural character,
they soon become extremely wary. Like the fortresses in the
Baltic, they are only to be approached in the day-time, when
on the water, by a low gun-boat, the invention of Colonel
Hawker, previously to the adoption of which mode, they
used: to afford many ‘Nights Entertammments’ to the cautious
fowlers of a less inventive age. They thrive well in con-
finement, and I have seen them on a lawn happy and contented;
they have been known, as stated by Audubon and others,
to produce young while thus kept.

They rise high into the air in circular courses before
departing on their migration, and then move off over the
sea. The can dive easily.if desirous to do so, but such is
not their ordinary habit.

They feed on marine vegetables, wrack, and grasses, and
occasionally on small shell-fish; some sand is also swallowed.

Meyer says of the note, ‘Its description is varied, sounding
like the. different expressions, cuang, rott, and crock, all
expressed in a hurried and harsh manner.’ The clamour of
the gabbling and cackling of a flock when feeding or resting
is heard at a considerable distance.

The nest of the Brent Goose is formed of vegetable materials,
collected together in swampy places.

The eggs are white, with a faint tinge of brown or greyish.

BRENT GOOSE. 137

Male; weight, not quite three pounds; length, one foot nine
inches, to nearly two feet; bill, black, small, and rather narrow;
iris, dark blackish brown. Head, crown, and neck all round,
dull black, with a small white patch, intermixed with a few
black feathers on the sides of the last-named: the amount
of each colour varies in different individuals. Breast above,
black; below, greyish slate-colour, the edges of the feathers
lighter coloured; back above, dark dull slate-coloured, blackish
brown, the edges and tips of the feathers paler than the
remainder; below, blackish.

The wings have the first quill feather the longest; greater
and lesser wing coverts, dark brownish black, margined with
a paler a primaries, blackish brown; secondaries, also
blackish frown tertiaries, dark blackish brown, the edges
paler coloured. Tail, dark blackish brown; upper tail coverts,
white; under tail coverts, white; they extend in length beyond
the end of the tail. Legs, toes, claws, and webs, ‘black with
a tinge of reddish brown.

The female is a little less in size than the male. Her
plumage has more of a shade of rusty brown.

The young, the first year, are without or nearly without
the characteristic white mark on the side of the neck. The
head and neck are of a dull leaden grey colour, the breast
below light grey, the feathers of the back and wing coverts
are tipped with brown. The legs are paler than in the adult
birds, and more inclining to brown.

RED-BREASTED GOOSE.

SIBERIAN GOOSE. RED-BREASTED BERNICHEE.

Anser ruficollis, FLEMING, SELBY.
Anas ruficollis, PENNANT. MonTacGu.
Anser—A Goose. Ruficollis, Rufus—Red. Collis—A_ neck.

Tuts handsome species belongs to the northern districts cf
Europe and Asia, and breeds in Siberia and Russia, along
the shores of the Frozen Ocean. In Iceland it has been
noticed, and also in Denmark and Jutland, in flocks of four
or five. In Sweden, according to Professor Nilsson, it
occurred once in 1793, and once in 18380. In France, only
one example appears as yet to have been noticed: it was
obtained near Strasbourg. In Holland likewise only one; in
Belgium one; and in Germany one. In Asia, several were
observed about Persia, and in the neighbourhood of the
Caucasian range.

In this country the first recorded specimen was taken near
London, during the hard frosts of the year 1766, and was
obtained by Marmaduke Tunstall, Esq. The next was cap-
tured about the same time near Wycliffe, the ‘cunabula
gentis’ of the Great Reformer, whose family derived its name
from that place, in Yorkshire. Another was shot near the
town of Berwick-on-Tweed. In Norfolk, one at Halvergate,
in the year 1805. In the county of Cambridge, others
du ing the hard winter of 18138. In Devonshire, one was
killed at Kenton Warren, in 1828; and another by the
River Teign, February the Ist., 1837.

In winter this Goose moves to warmer regions.

These birds appear to be considered yery good eating.
They soon become tame in confinement.

‘TOC *
WSOOHD dtd

RED-BREASTED GOOSE. 1389

They feed on green vegetables in preference to grain, but,
on the principle of ‘Hobson’s choice,’ put up with the latter
if no better be forthcoming.

They utter their call-note to keep each other together, or
if alarmed by a bird of prey: Meyer expresses it by the
word ‘tsjackwoy.’

Male; weight, about three pounds; length, one foot eight,
nine, or ten inches; bill, very short and nearly black, with
a tinge of red; tooth, black. Ivis, hazel; between the eye
and the base of the bill is a large whitish patch; the eye
is encircled with a line of dark brownish black. Forehead,
and head on the crown, dark brownish black; on the sides is
a patch of chesnut, speckled with black, and surrounded wit
a narrow line of white, which runs down the neck, bordering
the black of the throat, and the back of the neck; neck on
the back and nape, dark brownish black. The neck in front
is rich orange chesnut red, bordered below with dashes of
white. Chin and throat, dark brownish black; breast above,
rich orange chesnut red, beneath which runs a narrow white
band, and a narrow black one, in a festooned shape; on the
middle and sides black, some of the feathers bordered with
white; below white, with some waves of dusky brown; back,
very dark blackish brown.

The wings expand to the width of three feet ten inches.
Greater wing coverts, dusky black, margined with white;
lesser wing coverts, dusky black, edged with greyish white,
forming two bars across the wing; primaries, black; secondaries,
also black. Tail, black, tipped with white; upper tail coverts,
white; under tail coverts, also white. Legs and toes, dark
brownish black, with a tinge of red. Webs, dark brownish
black.

140

EGYPTIAN GOOSE.

Anser Egyptiacus, JENYNS.
Anas Eyyptiaca, BewIick.
Chenulopex Egyptiaca, GouLD.
Anser—A Goose. Egyptiacus— Egyptian.

Tuts bird, as denoted by its name, is a native of Africa,
and occurs throughout the northern mediety of that continent.
In Europe it is found in Turkey and the adjoining countries
—in Germany, one was shot near Liege, and another also on
the Meuse; divers in other parts: likewise in Sicily, and the
islands of the Grecian Archipelago.

The shores of inland seas, rivers, and lakes, are the situations
in which it is to be found.

One of these Geese, as Mr. W. C. Newby has informed me,
was shot near Stockton-on-Tees, in the county of Durham, on
the 2nd. of November, 1852; it was one of four seen at the
same time. The circumstance is recorded in “Che Naturalist,’
volume ii, page 60. In Cornwall, one is mentioned in_ the
same magazine, volume u, page 85, by John Gatcombe, Esq.,

as having heat shot in the neighbourhood of Tae

There was not the slightest indication in the look of. the
bird to lead one to suppose that it had ever been kept in
confinement. Another, of which Mr. William Fenwick has
written me word, was killed near Stanhope, also in the
county of Durham, in the begimning of 1855. In Suffolk, a
fine specimen was shot at Butley, near Woodbridge, about
the Ist. of April, 1852. In Kent, five were seen about
Romney Marsh for some few days in July, 1846. In the
county of Oxford, one, on a piece of water at Shelswell;
and another at Blenheim, the seat of the Duke of Marlborough,
in December, 1847.

In Berkshire, one at Thatchem, in the month of January,

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EGYPTIAN GOOSE. 141

1795. In Sussex, an Egyptian Goose was shot on the harbour
at Shoreham, on the 5th. of January, 1848; another in the
parish of Shermanbury, on the 11th. of the same month;
one at Pevensey, in January, 1850; one also near Seaford.
In Norfolk, one on Ormesby Broad, on the 11th. of March,
1848, and a second a few days afterwards; two others, a
male and a female off Yarmouth, on the 28th of April, 1851;
Colonel Hawker refers to two shot in the same county. One
on Derwent Lake, in Westmoreland, on the 2nd. of the following
May. In @ambridveshire, one in Fulbourn Fields, the middle
of September, 1852. In Dorsetshire, two in the year 1886.
In Hampshire, Colonel Hawker speaks of three having been
killed at Longparish, in the winter of 1823, and of a flock
of eighty appearing near the same place the following year,
during a tremendous gale from the west, when two more
were obtained. In Northumberland, five were seen on the
Fern Islands, in the month of April, 1830. In Somersetshire,
four were shot on the Severn, near Bridgewater, in February,
1840.

In the Isle of Man, nine were seen together, in September,
1838.

In Ireland the species has also been met with.

In Scotland, three were shot at Campsie, near Glasgow, in
November, 1832. <A small flock were also noticed on the River
Tweed, in the month of February, 1839.

In the garden of the Zoological Society, an Egyptian Goose
paired, in 1888, with a drake of the common domestic. species;
also in 1839. Young birds were hatched both years.

These birds appear to be of a wild and wary nature, and
also, it is said, of a quarrelsome disposition; they are, however,
readily kept in a half-domesticated state.

They dive, on occasion, with extraordinary speed, assisting
themselves, no doubt, by the ‘remigium alarum,’ and ean also
run in a tolerably quick manner. Meyer says, ‘On the water
it swims apparently with great exertion, having its fore
parts very low in the water, and its hinder part very much
elevated; to such an extent, that when swimming, its knees
are invariably above that element. When the Egyptian Goose
is pursued, it does not take to the water, unless as a means
of crossing over to the opposite shore, but it runs for the
shelter of some bush or thicket of long herbage, which proves
the fact of its bemg more a land than a water inhabitant.

On the wing the Egyptian Goose is strong, and easily to

142 EGYPTIAN GOOSRE.

be detected by its appearance, in consequence of its very long
pinions, but it has great tr ouble apparently in rising from the
ground: during its migrations it flies high; and when in a
flock, they form double lines, after the manner of other Geese.’

They Swallow some gravel to help the digestion of their
food, which they seek at times in stubble fields, as well as
by the sides of streams and other waters. Barley and oats, as
also green herbage, the roots of water-plants, worms, snails,
and insects generally, are all suitable to their wants.

The note is a ‘quack’ sharply repeated.

These birds are believed to pair for life, and are much
attached to each other. They make their nest, it is said, of
reeds, leaves, and the stems of water-plants, and give it a
lining of cotton and feathers. It is always placed near the
water, and has been known on the surface, supported by the
surrounding floating vegetation.

The eggs are of a dull white colour, with a tinge of buff,
and six or eight in number.

Male; weight, five pounds; length, two feet two to two
feet four incl ies; bill, pale brown, except the tooth, which is
dark brownish black, as are also the edges and the base.
Tris, pale yellow, the eyelids red; around the eye is a patch
of chesnut brown. Forehead, rich reddish brown; head on
the sides, pale rufous or yellowish white; crown, rich reddish
or yellowish white; neck on the sides, pale rufous or yellowish
white; on the back, rich reddish brown, finely pencilled with
transverse waved lines; in front pale rufous brown or buff,
with a darker ring around its base. Chin and throat, pale
rufous or yellowish white; the breast has a patch of chesnut
brown on the centre; above it is pale rufous brown, below
pale brown—nearly white; the sides faintly pencilled with
minute waved transverse lines. Back, rich pale ferruginous
brown, finely pencilled with transverse waved lines; on the
lower part nearly black.

The wings expand to the width of four feet three inches;
they have a short blunt spur at the bend; greater wing
coverts, white, with a deep black bar near the tip; lesser
wing coverts, white tipped with black, forming a narrow
black band; primaries, nearly black, with a tinge of green.
brightest on the edges; secondaries, blackish brown, tinged
with reddish and edged with chesnut, black at the tips, the
outer webs brilliant varying green; tertiaries, rich reddish
brown, greyish brown on the inner webs. Tail, nearly

EGYPTIAN GOOSE. 143

black, upper tail coverts, also black; under tail coverts,
yellowish rust-colour. The legs, which are rather long, and
give a peculiar appearance to the bird, as a Goose, are, as
the toes, of a pinkish colour.

The female is like the male, but the colours less bright.
Bill, pale yellowish red; iris, brown; the chesnut-coloured
patch around the eye is smaller and not so perfect. The
ring round the neck is not so distinct, and smaller in size;
the mark on the breast is not so well defined or large as
in the male; the feathers of the back are tinged with grey.
The white on the wings is less pure; secondaries and
tertiaries, tinged with grey. Legs and _ toes, pale yellowish
red.

144

SPUR-WINGED GOOSE’

GAMBO GOOSE.

Anser Gambensis, FLEMING.
Anas Gambensis, BEWICK.
Anser—A (Goose. Gambensis--From Gambia (?)

Tuts is another African species.

One of these birds was killed in Cornwall, near St. Germains,

the 20th. of June, 1821.
_ About the middle of February, 1855, another was shot
near Banff, N.B.—an appropriate ‘Nota Bene’ of the occur-
rence of the second English or European specimen of this
rare bird—as recorded in “The Naturalist,’ for August, 1855,
by Mr. Thomas Edward, of that place.

The Spur-winged Goose has been kept in the garden of
the Zoological Society. It appears to be of a morose and
domineering disposition. The spur on the wing, whence the
name of the bird, seems to be used as a weapon of attack.
Tha one mentioned in the beginning of this article, was
observed, when first seen, to associate with some Geese of
the common kind at a farm.

Male; bill, dull reddish orange yellow; iris, amber colour.
Head on the crown, dull brown; neck on the back, also the
same colour; on the sides of the upper part, white spotted
with brown; on the lower, black. Chin and throat, white;
breast on the sides, black; in front and all down, white;
back, deep metallic brown, showing purple and copper-colour
in different lights, beautifully burnished with dark «green.

The wings are armed at the bend with a strong spur
about five eighths of an inch in length. It is of a white
colour, and turns upwards, and rather inwards. The whole

SPUR-WINGED GOOSE. 145

of the upper and front edges of the wings are white. The
second, third, and fourth feathers are of equal length, and
the longest; the first and fifth a little shorter. Greater
wing coverts, white, forming a band of that colour across
the wing; the primaries and secondaries have most of the
outer feathers of a burnished green. The tertiaries are
briliantly bronzed and glossed with a metallic green; they
are as long as the quill feathers. Tail, brown; under tail
coverts, white. Legs and toes, red, or orange yellow.

VOL. VI. L

146

CANADA GOOSE.

CRAVAT GOOSE.

Anser Canadensis, FLEMING.

Anas Canadensis, BEWICK,

Cygnus Canadensis, JENYNS.
Anser—A Goose. Canadensis—Of, or belonging to Canada.

Tue name of the Canada Goose indicates the country of
which it is a native. Immense flocks occur about Hudson’s
Bay, and in the other boreal. districts of North America—
Labrador, Newfoundland, and others. They go as far south -
in the summer as Carolina. The species appears to be
plentiful also in Greenland and Spitzbergen.

In this country many have been observed and obtained. In
Yorkshire, two were shot by Mr. William Mosey, of Skerne,
near Driffield. In Cornwall, one was shot a few years since
in the month of September, on the banks of the Laira;
three or four also were obtained at different times at St.
(Jermains: one on the Scilly Islands. In Oxfordshire, one
on Port Meadow, in February, 1828; and another on
Otmoor, in the winter of 1845, near Weston-on-the-Green.
In Derbyshire, a pair remained for a short time on a pool
at Melbourne, the second week in May, 1849. In Hampshire,
Mr. Yarrell says that several have been shot. In Cambridge-
shire, the Rev. Leonard Jenyns states that large flocks have
been observed, and some birds obtained. In Durham, many
were taken on the sea-shore near Hartlepool, in the months
of January and February, 1814, during the severe snow-storms
of that date, which I can just remember myself, and which
have been paralleled by none since till the same period in
the present year, 1855.

The Canada Goose has occurred also in Ireland.

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CANADA GOOSE. 147

These birds migrate northwards and southwards, the former
in the spring, and the latter in the autumn.

They have been kept tame on various waters, as those of
St. James’ Park and the Zoological Gardens, London; and at
Gosford House, in Haddingtonshire, the seat of Lord Wemyss;
and in each have reared their young. ‘They readily mix, and
have been known to pair with the common species; as also
the Gander with the Bernicle Goose. They are good birds
for the table. |

‘A Canada Goose,’ writes the Right Rev. Dr. Stanley, Bishop
of Norwich, ‘was observed to associate itself with a house-dog,
and would never quit the kennel except for the purpose of
feeding, when it would return again immediately. It always
sat by the dog, but never presumed to go into the kennel
except in rainy weather. Whenever the dog barked, the
Goose would cackle, and run to the person at whom she
supposed the dog was barking, trying to bite him by the
heels. Sometimes she would attempt to feed with the dog,
but this was not allowed by the dog, who treated his
faithful friend with as much indifference as the farmer
before mentioned. The Goose would never go to roost at
night with her natural companions unless driven by main
force, and when in the morning she was turned into the
field, she would never stir from the gate, but sit there the
whole day in sight of her favourite.

At last, orders were given that she should be no longer
molested, but suffered to accompany the dog as she liked.
Being thus left to herself, she ran about the yard with him
all the night; and whenever the dog went out of the yard,
and ran into the village, the Goose as constantly accompanied
him, contriving to keep up with him by the assistance of
her wings; and thus running and flying would follow him
to any distance. This extraordinary affection of the Goose
towards the dog, which continued till his death, two years
after it was first observed, is supposed to have originated
from his having once saved her from a fox. While the dog
was ill, the mourning bird never quitted him day or night,
not even to feed; and it was apprehended she would have
starved to death, had not a pan of corn been placed every
day close to the kennel. AJl this time she generally sat close
by him, and would not suffer any one to approach, except
the person who brought the dog’s or her own food. The end
of the poor bird was very tragical, for, when the dog died,

148 CANADA GOOSE.

she still kept possession of the kennel; and a new house-dog
having been introduced, which in size and colour resembled
that lately lost, the poor Goose was unhappily: deceived; and
going, as usual, within his reach, the new dog seized her by
the throat, and killed her on the spot.’

‘The Canada Geese appear to be peculiarly susceptible birds,
and will sometimes make up by imagination or fancy what
is deficient in reality. Thus a Canada Gander in a nobleman’s
park, near Windsor, having no mate for two springs, regularly
mounted guard opposite a draw-bridge, in front of a thicket,
where it was clear he imagined there was a nest, and defended
the approaches very courageously, continuing this ideal defence
till the first brood of ducklings appeared from some other
quarter, which he immediately took under his protection; and
in the second year he actually chaperoned twenty-five. It
should be added, that there was no nest of any kind whatever
within the precincts which he so strenuously guarded.’

They fly with the neck stretched out straight in front.
On the ground they walk in a showy manner, frequently
tossing the head, and bending at the same time the neck.

They feed on green vegetables and insects.

The note is considered to resemble the syllable ‘wook,’
frequently repeated.

The Canada Goose makes for herself, or rather for her
expected brood, a ‘downy bed’ of feathers, within a structure
of dry plants of different kinds. It is of large size, and
raised to the height of several inches. It is begun to be
built in March or April, and is placed among deep grass,
near the water. Audubon mentions his having found one
on the stump -of a large tree, standing in the middle of a
small pond, and at a height of about twenty feet. Occa-
sionally they build in the old nests of other large birds, and
while the hen sits the male bird keeps sailing about over
the water in the neighbourhood, but not coming very close
to the nest. On the appearance of any danger he exhibits
much anxiety for his family.

The eggs are sat upon by the end of May or the beginning
of June. They are generally six or seven in number, but as
many as nine have been found: they are of a dull white
colour.

The young appear, like so many other kindred kinds, to
grow very rapidly. They are led to the water by the
dam almost as soon as hatched, and her partner then joims

CANADA GOOSE. 149

them, and brings up the rear. ‘The little family remain
together till the return of the flock, when all mix promis-
cuously, recruit themselves for a few days, and then depart.’
The female sits very close, and rarely leaves the nest. The
pair are believed to unite for life.

Male; weight, about nine pounds. The largest of the two
mentioned above as having been shot in Yorkshire, weighed
ten pounds and a half. Length, three feet five or six inches;
bill,, black; iris, very dark brown. Head on the crown,
black, with purple reflections; neck behind, black, tinged with
purple; chin and throat, white, which colour extends upwards
and backwards, somewhat after the fashion of a cravat,
whence one of the names of the bird. It reaches nearly to
the other side of the top of the neck; breast above, pale
greyish brown; below, white; on the sides pale brown, the
edges of the feathers still paler; back above, brown; below,
dusky black.

Greater and lesser wing coverts, brown, the edges paler;
primaries, dusky black; secondaries, brown, with lighter
coloured edges; tertiaries, also brown; the edges of a lighter
colour. ‘Tail, dusky black; upper tail coverts, white; legs,
toes, and webs, dark lead-colour or bluish black.

These birds begin to moult in July.

The females are somewhat less in size than the males.

HOOPER.

WILD SWAN. ELK. WHISTLING SWAN.

Cygnus ferus, FLEMING. SELBY.
Anas cygnus, PENNANT,
fers, MontacGu.
Cygnus—A Swan. Ferus—Wild, savage. |

THE Hooper visits Prussia, Turkey, Greece, Hungary, Poland,
France, Holland, and Italy; occasionally seen also in different
parts of Germany, particularly, 1¢ is said, in Westphalia,
Saxony, Dessau, and Worlitz, from Iceland, Norway, Lapland,
Sweden, Denmark, Spitzbergen, and Russia in Europe; in Asia,
it occurs in Siberia, Kamtschatka, and Tartary, the regions that
border on the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, Japan, Syria,
Persia, and China. It is also said to be found in America,
from Hudson’s Bay through the United States to Mexico.
It appears likewise that it travels as far as Africa, to Egypt
and Barbary.

In the Orkneys, some used, according to the Rev. G. Low,
in his Natural History of those Islands, to abide throughout
the year; and a few pairs build on the Loch of Stenness, but
in autumn large flocks arrive from the north, and of these
part remain all the winter, and others cross over to Scotland—
Sutherlandshire, Caithnesshire, Forfarshire, and the other
northern counties, and thence penetrate according as the season
impels them even to the southern shores of Sussex and
Hampshire.

In the Hebrides, Shetland, and Faroe Islands, these birds
also have occurred.

In Yorkshire they have been shot near Doncaster, Sheffield,
Barnsley, Leeds, and Sutton-on-Derwent; they are far from
uncommon in hard winters.

A flock of five appeared in January, 1855, between the

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HOOPER. 151

village of Cookham and Maidenhead, Berkshire, and two of
them were shot, as Mr. Thomas Wilmot has sent me word; and
according to the information of the Hon. T. L. Powys, they
have occurred in Northamptonshire. In Cambridgeshire it is
not uncommon in severe winters in Whittlesea Wash, the old
‘Squattlesea Mere’ of Roger Wildrake, and some were met with
near Wisbeach, on the River Nene, in the middle of December,
1849. In Oxfordshire a flock of fifteen, one of which was shot
alighted in the garden of the Vicarage at Weston-on-the-Green,
on the 6th. of February, 1838. In Derbyshire flocks occur
on the Trent near Melbourne, and other places at intervals in
the winter. In the year 1848 many were seen, and not a few
killed, in Kent, near Gravesend; others also near the Thames
above London, beyond Richmond, in Surrey, and near Chertsey.

They naturally frequent swamps and lakes, but especially in
winter, such as are near the sea, and the shore and the sea
itself.

In Norfolk they are not unfrequent about the coast in winter,
especially in severe seasons. This remark indeed applies to the
country generally. Thus in the winters of 1784-5, 1788-9,
1813, 1814, 1819, 1823, and 1829, they were more than
ordinarily numerous.

In Scotland these Swans have been shot by the Nith and
the Annan, in Dumfriesshire; and in Selkirkshire.

In Ireland they occasionally appear. ‘

They migrate, according to the season, in March or April,
and October, northwards in the former months, and southwards
in the latter one.

They appear not to be shy until they have been alarmed
by being shot at, and are quite tameable. Mr. Yarrell writes,
speaking of some which bred in the gardens of the Zoological
Society, in the summer of 1839, and again in 1842,—‘A curious
occurrence took place in reference to the brood of 1839. The
Cygnets, when only a few days old, were sunning themselves
on the margin of one of the islands, close to the deep water.
The parent birds were swimming near. A Carrion Crow made
a descent, and struck at one of the Cygnets, the old male
Hooper came to the rescue in an instant, seized the Crow with
his beak, pulled him into the water, and in spite of all his —
buffetings and resistance, held him there till he was dead.’

In the severe winter of 1838, several Swans were found dead
in Orkney, ‘apparently from the extreme cold.

Great numbers of these birds are killed in Iceland for the

152 HOOPER.

sake of the down and feathers, so very valuable in an Arctic
climate. They are ridden and run down with horses and dogs
in the autumn, when, being moulting, they are not so well
able to fly.

The following account, given in the ‘Zoologist, volume vi.,
pages 2024-5-6, by Miss Ellen Webley Parry, shews how even

a bird, whose very name means wild or savage, may be tamed
vs the most perfect manner by kindness:—‘The winter of
1829-80 was remarkably severe, and especially so for South
Wales, where the climate is generally mild and humid. There
had been numerous flocks of Wild Geese and other northern
birds, including the Hooper, or Wild Swan, on the River Tivy
and its tributary streams. A pair of these birds were shot
and secured by the Rev. Samuel B. Shireff, of Stradmoor,
Cardiganshire, whose residence was on the banks of that river.
The male bird was merely wounded in the pinion, the female
unfortunately too severely so to survive. Mr. Shireff presented
the other to my father, the late Rear-Admiral Webley Parry,
of Noyadd Trefann, in the same county, in the hope that he
might be sufficiently tamed to put on a piece of ornamental
water near the house.

The extreme wildness and fierceness of this bird, if ap-
proached, was remarkable, flying at every person who came
near his domicile. We placed him in a small yard, with an
open shed for him to retire to. It was many days before we
could induce him to eat anything; as we were quite ignorant
of his natural food we feared he would be starved to death,
but fortunately he began to eat sea-biscuit soaked in water,
which he continued to live upon for some months. After being
kept in this place for more than two months, and being, as
we thought, tolerably tame, we put him on the piece of water
before named; but no sooner was he on his native element,
than all his natural wildness seemed to return; he made his
way down to a stream which ran into the Tivy, on which
river he was caught, making his way towards the sea, and
brought back again.

Shortly after this, an accident happening to the embankment,
the piece of water became dry, and ‘Dan,’ as he was called,
was brought up to the house, and had to content himself
in the circumscribed limits of the stable and poultry yards,
together with the farm-yard. pond. From the number of
people constantly passing and repassing there, and his long
sojourn, he became excessively tame, went to bed with the

HOOPER. 153

poultry, came when called, would follow us about, and knew
his way about the premises as well as the dogs. After a
while he returned to his old quarters, and from that time
until his death never but once attempted to escape, though
he would occasionally take a flight round the water, and
alight again; at the time alluded to, he would doubtless
have returned, but in his flight he alighted at a farm not
far from Noyadd, when he was immediately caught and shut
up, and notice sent to us of his capture. I went to fetch
him, knowing he would follow me, and on my way saw him
being driven home by a boy; but no sooner did he catch
sight of me, than he commenced half-running half-flying
towards me, and making that remarkable trumpet-sound he
was in the habit of doing when pleased; and walked the
remainder of the distance by my side.

He knew all the servants and. labourers, never molesting
them; whilst every stranger, whether gentle or simple, equestrian
or pedestrian, he invariably attacked if he could, especially
any ragged person; he was rather the terror of our visitors,
as he would frequently, like a watch-dog, dispute the entrance
with them. He knew every member of the family at a
considerable distance, whether on foot or on horseback, and
would frequently leave the water to come and meet us, or
walk by our side, talking all the time. He was lord of
his own domain, and especially jealous of any animal ap-
proaching its banks, generally taking the trouble to swim
from the farthest end to drive them away. He was so
well known by cows and horses, that they generally
decamped on his approach.

In the spring of the year he required little or no feeding,
finding sufficient sustenance on the tadpoles and other water
animals abundant at that season; he would eat any kind
of grain, and was particularly fond of bread, which he would
take out of our hands: he was as sociable as a dog, and
nearly as attached. Whenever the entrance gate was left open,
he would make his way up to the house; he always found
out which room we were sitting in, and would call under
the windows and peep in, and would not be satisfied without
having something given him; he would then le down under
them, seeming satisfied if he could be near us. In the
summer time, when the doors were open, he would frequently
walk into the house, and even round the breakfast table.
Often when my mother was amusing herself at her flower-beds,

154 HOOPER.

he would see her, come up from the water, wait at the gate
to be let in, and then come up and lie down close to her.
Never so happy as when near us, he would sit under the
windows or on the steps for hours, if allowed, and each
year increased his attachment and sagacity.

After being with us for upwards of six years, to our great
distress, on coming down to breakfast one morning, we dis-
covered poor Dan standing upon the steps of the front
door, with his head and neck covered with blood, the skin
under his lower mandible being torn from the bone and
hanging down, as was his tongue from having nothing to
support it. The first thing we thought of was to sew the
skin on again, in the hope of its adhering to the bone;
but neither this nor other endeavours to effect a cure suc-
ceeded, and the poor bird was in danger of being starved to
death, as he had not the power of swallowing, even if he
got the food into his mouth, having no use of his tongue.
We were very loath to sign his death-warrant, and yet
could think of no means of saving him; when one of the
servants proposed the carpenter’s making a wooden bill for
him; we acted on the suggestion, and had one made with
holes drilled in it, and corresponding ones through the horny
substance of his mandible, and fastened it on with wire.
This contrivance answered admirably; he was able to eat as
usual, and began to recover his good looks; but nothing
would induce him from the time of his accident to remain on
the water at night; he always came up to the house towards
evening to go to rest, and was most persevering in his
endeavours to obtain an entrance into his bed-place, and if
he failed one way he would try another. Occasionally he
would call under our sitting-room windows to be let in. In
the morning he quietly marched down to the water, quite
contentedly. What caused the accident we could never dis-
cover, and can only suppose it to have been done by a
stoat or polecat, as he had been seen more than once
attacking the former, which were very numerous.

The wooden bill answered admirably well for two or three
months, when the wire by which it was fastened became
corroded, and it dropped off; it had unfortunately been
secured with brass or steel wire, instead of gold or silver;
had it been done with either of the latter, in all probability
poor Dan might yet have been alive, if not to tell his tale,
to have shewn his wonderful cure; but as it was, we did

HOOPER. 155

not like putting him again to the pain of drilling fresh
holes in his mandible, as the old ones were worn through;
and though we kept him many days, in hopes that he
might get accustomed to the loss of his false bill, and be
able to feed himself, we found him totally unable to do so.
As he was getting weaker and weaker, from want of suste-
nance, we were most reluctantly obliged to destroy this
attached and sagacious creature, having had him nearly
seven years.’

The Swan was, I believe, formerly considered as a royal dish,
but it is not now much esteemed for the table.

They fly in a long line, at times divaricated in the form
of a wedge, and go in flocks or teams of from four or five
to thirty, which unite together to the number of several
hundreds, at the times of migration. Their flight is easy and
well sustained, and usually conducted at a great height. It
is exercised without much noise, except on first rising or
alighting, when the sound may be heard to a considerable
distance. It is said that they can fly at the rate of above
one hundred miles an hour. They walk well, and can also
run with considerable rapidity. In swimming about, except
when feeding, the neck is carried in an upright posture, and
seldom in the arched manner characteristic of the other species.
In walking the neck is bent backwards over the body, and
the head lowered as if to preserve a proper balance.

They feed on vegetable food of different kinds, the stems,
leaves, and roots of plants; grain and fruit, also insects, and
their larve, young fish, frogs, and worms. ‘The manner of
feeding in this species is peculiar; it not only seeks for its
food by preference in shallow water, but it turns up the bogg
ground, in order to obtain roots and worms; to such an extent
is this done, that where a number of these birds congregate,
the ground is perfectly broken up. The grain before-named
consists of barley especially, and oats;‘and the fruit, plums
in particular.’

The note resembles the word ‘hoop,’ repeated ten or a dozen
times; hence the name of the bird. It is both loud, clear,
and sonorous, and sounds aloft like the clang of a trumpet.
Other inflections of their voice are expressed by Meyer, by
the syllables ‘hang, hang,’ ‘grou, grou,’ and ‘killelee.” Montagu
writes that having killed one of this species out of a flock of
ten or twelve, its companions. flew round several times, making
a most melancholy cry before they flew off. ‘This,’ he says,

156 HOOPER.

‘puts us in mind of the solemn dirge of the dying Swan,
described by the ancient poets, and may possibly have given
rise to those accounts only by them it is made to be sung by
the dying bird.’ This, however, as Aristotle says, ‘makes not
a little but the whole difference:’ and no such conclusion is
therefore to be drawn from it.

The nest, which is of large size, as might naturally be
looked for, is made of reeds, rushes, and other water-plants,
and is lined with down, with which the eggs are also covered.
It is about a foot and a half in diameter, and is placed not
far from the water. It is begun to be made about the middle
of March, and is built on the ground in marshy places.

The eggs are of a pale dull brownish white or pale greenish
white colour. They vary in number from five to seven.

The female sits for forty-two days. She and her mate are
united, it is said, for life. They keep the place of their nest
free from intrusion, and resolutely repel its appropriation by
any but themselves.

‘No birds,’ says Colonel Hawker, ‘vary more in weight than
Hoopers. In the last winter, 1838, I killed them from thirteen
to twenty-one pounds.’ No doubt, however he confounded this
species with the Bewick’s Swan. Some weigh twenty-four
pounds. Length, four feet ten inches to five feet; the bill is
black on the edges and the fore part slanting upwards and
backwards, the remainder, up to and round the eye, orange
yellow. It is without the knob seen in the other species. Iris,
brown; the head and upper part of the neck are generally like
the rest of the plumage—pure white, but often of a fine rufous
yellow colour, otherwise the crown, neck, nape, chin, throat,
breast, back, wings, which expand to the width of from seven
to eight feet, greater and lesser wing coverts, primaries, second-
aries, tertiaries, greater and lesser under wing coverts, tail,
upper and under tail coverts, are pure white. Legs and toes,
greyish black; webs, greyish black.

The young, which are not fully fledged for three months,
at first have the bill pale dull yellowish red, the tip and the
edges of the sides black. Head, crown, neck, and nape, pale
greyish brown; chin, throat, and breast above, pale greyish
brown; the latter on the lowest part paler. The legs are, at
first, pale yellowish grey red.

At the moult at the end of their first year they begin to
assume the white plumage, which is complete by the same,
period the following year.

© bons 5
She

F

BEWICK’S SWAN.

Cygnus Bewickii, YARRELL. SevBy. ;
- “4 JeNYNS, Eyton. Gou.p.

Cygnus—A Sivan. Bewichii—Of Bewick.

THE Swan thus denominated in honour of Bewick, our
own Bewick, whose name must ever be associated with
‘British Birds,’ appears to be distributed over the northern
parts of Europe, Asia, and America, and the islands of the
Arctic Ocean. Temminck says that it breeds in Iceland and
Siberia.

In Yorkshire, Edward Dawson, Esq., son of my friend,
G. P. Dawson, Esq., of Osgodby Hall, near Selby, has informed
me of his having shot three of these birds at a shot on
Skipwith Common, about the 14th. of February, 1855. There
was a flock of five, the other two were the old birds. One
was shot near Bawtry; several have occurred at different
times near Burlington.

In Cambridgeshire, so J. R. Little, Esq., of St. John’s
College, has written me word, a flock of twenty was seen on
Whittlesea Wash, about the middle of March, 1855, of which
three were shot. A few near Wisbeach, on the estuary of
the Nene, in the middle of December, 1849. In the county
of Durham, one was shot near Stockton-on-Tees, in the
winter of 1850. Six are said to have been seen in January,
1830, near St. Just, in Cornwall. In March, 1845, three
were shot near Somersham, and three near Godmanchester,
in the county of Huntingdon. In Norfolk they are not
unfrequent in the neighbourhood of the sea, in winter. In
Oxfordshire two near Oxford, in the winter of 1837-8. In
Derbyshire a flock of eleven appeared on the Trent, near
Melbourne, in February, 1845, and two of them were shot.
In Lancashire a flock of twenty-nine, one of which was shot

158 BEWICK’S SWAN.

at Middleton, were observed at Crumpsall, near Manchester,
on the 10th. of December, 1829; and again, seventy-three
at the same place, on the 28th. of February, 1830. The
bird just mentioned, being only slightly wounded, was kept
alive, and on the 28rd. of March, another, a male, no doubt
the same one that had been observed to remain with it at
first, for some hours, after the rest of the flock had gone
off, made its appearance, and after flying round and round
for some time, descended to it with much apparent joy. It
remained with it, and soon became accustomed to the presence
of strangers, but, on the 13th. of April, being alarmed by
some dogs, took flight and did not return; and, on the 5th.
of September, the female, whose wing had by that time
become sound again, also disappeared, and was seen no more.

In Ireland this Swan has been noticed pretty commonly.
Several flocks were seen in January, 1836. In February,
1830, a flock of seven alighted in a field near Belfast, and
two of them were secured. One was obtained in Wexford
Harbour, on the Ist. of February, 1844.

In Scotland it is not uncommon in Sutherlandshire on
the lochs.

They migrate southwards in October, and retire northwards
again in March.

In their natural state they appear to be shy and timid,
but they are, nevertheless, easily susceptible of a certain
degree of domestication; they are gentle in their manners,
and live amicably with other kinds.

They feed on insects and their larve, seeds, the roots,
stems, and leaves of water-plants, and worms, and swallow
therewith some gravel. They wade for their food in shallow
waters, immersing the head and neck for the purpose.

Their call is loud and clamorous—a deep whistle, heard at
a considerable distance.

The nest is reported by Captain Lyons, R.N., to be built
of peat-moss, and to be nearly as much as six feet long,
four feet and three quarters wide, and two feet high on the
outside, the hollow one foot and a half across. Another
account says that the materials used are flags, rushes, and
the small boughs of willow trees; doubtless those most
readily procurable are differently made use of in different
places.

The eggs are of a cream white colour.

This Swan too is said to occupy six weeks in the incubation

Se nS | as

BEWICK’S SWAN. 159

of its eggs. Many pairs build in the same vicinity, but
each pair maintain the right of private property for the
time being in their own more immediate abode.

Male; length, three feet ten inches to four feet; bill, black,
except only the inner portion of the upper mandible extending
back to the eye, which is orange yellow: in old birds a
knob arises at the base. Iris, dark chesnut. The yellowish
rust-colour on the head and neck appears in some individuals
of this species also. Otherwise the head, crown, neck, nape,
chin, throat, breast, and back, are white.

The wings reach in expanse to the width of from six feet
to six feet three inches: the second and third feathers are
longer than the first and the fourth. Greater and_ lesser
wing coverts, primaries, secondaries, tertiaries, greater and
lesser under wing coverts, tail, of twenty feathers, wedge-shaped,
and the tail coverts, white. Legs and toes, dull black; webs,
dull black.

The young, the first year, are greyish brown. In the
second year, the bill is pale yellow over the base; iris,
orange. The head and the breast are much tinged with
red rust-colour; on the latter it wears off soonest. The
young, according to Yarrell, have only eighteen feathers in
the tail, and Selby gives this number to the adult; the
point might therefore be considered as ‘adhuc sub judice,’
but the former statement seems the correct one.

160

MUTE SWAN.

TAME SWAN. DOMESTIC SWAN.

Cygnus mansuetus, GouLD.
a) nes JENYNS.,
Anas olor, PENNANT. BEWICK.
Cygnus—A Swan. Munsuetus—Accustomed,

Trova this species is that which we only see preserved as
an ornament on the lakes, rivers, and ponds of the nobility
and gentry of the country, and is not now known in a wild
state, yet as there is no reason why it should have been im-
ported for the purpose more than any of the others, and from
the latter, commonly met with as they are, one would more
naturally look for the supply to be obtained, it seems to me
that the fact of its being now found as it is, ought to be
accounted for by the probable supposition that wild birds
obtained in this country were the original source of the present
race; on this account, therefore, rather than because its
establishment in the kingdom has become ‘un fait accompli,’
I consider that it has a fair title to the place which it
holds as a British bird.

It is found in the wild state in Europe—in Russia and
the southern parts of Scandinavia generally, Prussia, Lithuania,
Poland, Hungary, Germany, Holland, France, and Italy; in
Asia—in Siberia, Persia, and the countries between the Black
and the Caspian Seas.

Water is their element, whether that of the sea, the river,
the lake, or the pond. If frozen out, they are obliged to
take ‘ton deuteron ploun,’ and keep in the neighbourhood,
or by any springs, if such there be, that have withstood
the frost.

MUTE SWAN. 161

There are Swanneries of greater or less size in various
parts of England, and in numberless places a pair of these
noble, stately, and graceful birds are. to be seen. As many
as forty are mentioned by Mr. Knapp, the author of the
‘Journal of a Naturalist,’ as having been counted by him on
a Swan-pool that then existed, but no longer exists, near
Lincoln; and twice that number might recently be seen on
the Swannery of Lord Ilchester, at Abbotsbury, in Dorsetshire.

In their wild state they are shy, but, as is expressed by
their duplicate names, and also well known, are thoroughly
tameable, so as to come when invited and take food from
any one accustomed to give it to them, or even from
strangers, when used, if so I may express myself, to the
sight of them.

Bewick writes, ‘At the setting in of frosty weather, the
Wild Swans are said to associate in large flocks, and thus
united, to use every effort to prevent the water from freezing:
this they accomplish by the continual stir kept up among
them; and by constantly dashing it with their extended
wings, they are enabled to remain as long as it suits their
convenience, in some favourite part of the lake or river,
which abounds with their food. The Swan is very properly
entitled the peaceful Monarch of the Lake: conscious of his
superior strength, he fears no enemy, nor suffers any bird,
however powerful, to molest him; neither does he prey upon
any one. His vigorous wing is as a shield against the
attacks éven of an Eagle, and the blows from it are said to
be so powerful, as to stun or kill the fiercest of his foes.
The wolf or the fox may surprise him in the dark, but
their efforts are vain in the day.’

Part of the above statement is, however, to be taken ‘cum
grano salis, for while engaged with their young, and in
guardianship of them, Swans are full of spirit, and their great
strength makes them powerful and dangerous foes, to man, dog,
or other supposed enemy. It has been said that a fair blow
of the wing will break a man’s leg. Meyer mentions one
which he knew attack a man with great fury, and fracture
his arm with one stroke. When different pairs of Swans,
with their families, are on the same piece of water, each keeps
within the limits of their own district, and resist any encroach-
ment by the others.

The old birds associate with their young through the winter,
but drive them away in the spring. Swans have been known

VOL. VI. M

162 MUTE SWAN.

to live fifty years. ‘The male bird swims higher out of the
water than the female.

The noise made by the sounding pinions of these great birds,
may be heard at a long distance. ‘They fly in a straight line,
and at the height of three or four hundred feet, that is the
wild birds; the tame ones only attain to a much lower elevation.
They walk in an ungainly manner, and evidently are not at
home on the dry land. Every one must have observed the
elegant manner in which the Common Swan arches up its wings
when sailing about on the water; and it seems, so I am told,
that the attitude is peculiar to it, and is not exhibited by the
wild species.

They feed on water-plants, their roots and leaves, insects
and their larve, and occasionally swallow fish. They take some
water each time that they browse.

The Swan has obtained the character, contradicted by its
name, as well as, except in some very small degree, by fact,
of being a bird of song. It has especially had assigned to it
the office of singing before it dies, a dirge at its own departure,
the echoes of which die away over the form that has then
ceased to utter it. Some saturnine epigrammatist thus turned
the idea into a medium of satire—

‘Swans sing before they die—
Methinks, ’*t were no bad thing,
Would certain persons die before they sing.’

The usual note is rendered, by Meyer, by the words ‘maul,
maul.’ The Swan has, however, a low, soft, and not unmusical
voice, formed of two notes, uttered in the spring and summer,
when engaged with its young. Colonel Hawker has printed
a few bars of it in stave: the bird kept nodding with its
head, as if pleased with its own music, or beating time to it.

The Swan disposes its nest on the ground near the water
side, or on some mound on an island in the river or lake. It
is made of rushes and flags, and if the water threatens to rise,
more materials, which the male bird brings and the female
works in, are added to the deposit under the eggs, which are
thus gradually raised further out of danger.

The following appeared in the ‘Nottingham Journal,’ in
1844:—‘We are informed, upon undoubted authority, that the
Swans (which usually build upon the ground,) have this year
invariably raised their nests to the height of two yards and
upwards; a similar fact is observable with respect to Water

MUTE SWAN. 163

Hens. This is by some persons deemed an omen of a very
deep summer flood.’

Yarrell relates the following similar account of one of these
birds, as given to him by Lord Braybrooke. ‘This Swan was.
eighteen or nineteen years old, had brought up many broods,
and was highly valued in the neighbourhood. She exhibited,
some eight or’ nine years past, one of the most remarkable
instances of the powers of instinct that was ever recorded.
She. was sitting on four or five eggs, and was observed to be
very busy in collecting weeds, grasses, etc., to raise her nest;
a farming man was ordered to take down half a load of haulm,
with which she most industriously raised her nest and the eggs
two feet and a half: that very night there came down a
tremendous fall of rain, which flooded all the malthouses and
did much damage. Man made no preparation, the bird did.
Instinct prevailed over reason; her eggs were above, and only
just above, the water.’

The ordinary number of eggs laid by this Swan is from
two to four, sometimes five, “occasionally six, and not very
rarely eight. In one instance as many as nine were laid, and
all of them successfully hatched, in the Jephson Gardens,
Leamington. It is possible, however! that two birds may
have made use of the same nest, and, if so, the one under
whose care all came, proved no ‘injusta noverea,’ but tended
all with the like attention. At Beddington Park, in Norfolk,
twelve eggs were deposited, and the brood all reared, in 1850.

The nest of this Swan, when the first egg is laid, is small
in size, but, as by degrees a larger family is expected, she
adds to the size of it by clutching at every suitable material
in its vicinity, and this even to a greater extent than appears
to be, or indeed is, at all necessary. Instinct suggests this
for a wise purpose; but where reason would say hold, enough,’
the former displays its inferiority by not knowing ‘where. to
stop.

The eggs are from five or six to seven or eight in number,
older birds laying the larger, and younger the fewer numbers
respectively. They are of a dull greenish white colour.

Incubation continues for from five to six weeks. After
being hatched for one day, they follow the guidance of their
parents to the water, and have but little instruction, beyond
that instinctively given by nature, in the art of swimming
about and feeding themselves. Still, ‘The attention,’ says
Meyer, ‘bestowed by thé old birds upon the young is incessant;

64. MUTE SWAN.

and when fatigued by the strength of the stream, or requiring
to be removed to. a far distance, too great for their young
capacity, the hen bird takes the young ones on her back,
which she accomplishes by lowering herself a little in the
water, and occasionally assisting them to ascend with her
foot, and in this manner they are carried in safety to some
more desirable spot. The shape of the Swan’s back, which
is very flat, is well adapted for this purpose; and when her
wings are raised, the young ones repose in the most beautiful
and safe cradle imaginable.’

Male; weight, about thirty pounds; length, from four feet
eight inches to five feet; bill, rich reddish orange, with the
exception of the tooth, the edges, the base, and the knob,
which are black, and which colour reaches back to the eyes;
iris, dark brown. Head, crown, neck, nape, chin, throat, breast,
and back, all white. Greater and lesser wing coverts, primaries,
secondaries, tertiaries, greater and lesser under wing coverts,
tail and tail coverts, also white. Legs and toes, black; webs,
black.

The female is smaller and slighter in make; the knob at
the base of the bill is also not so large.

The young are at first of a dark dull bluish grey colour;
bill, at first lead-colour, then becoming lightish slate-colour,
with a tinge of green. ‘The chin, throat, and breast, are
paler than the back. By the end of the second summer,
they have already done with the grey livery, and when two
years old are completely white.

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Myst

POLISH SWAN.

Cygnus immutabilis, YARRELL.
Cygnus—A Swan. Immutabilis—Unchangeable.

SEvERAL flocks of these birds were observed in this country
in the beginning of the year 1838, during the severe weather
of that period. Of a flight of thirty, seen near Snodland,
on the Medway, in Kent, four were shot. One was procured
in Cambridgeshire, in the winter of 1840-41. In the summer
of the year 1844, Arthur Strickland, Esq. saw a flock off
Burlington Harbour. They were all white, and one of them
being obtained, and proving to be a young bird, its identity
with the changeless Swan is at once apparent.

One was shot in the marshes near Horning, Norfolk, Mr.
M. C. Cooke informs me, on the 29th. of January, 1854.
Thirteen were seen a Ingoldisthorpe, near Lynn, and one of
them was shot, in December, 1851. Three are recorded in
the ‘Naturalist,’ vol. ii, page 132, as having been killed out
of a flock of nine, at the same place about the same time.
I conclude that they formed part of the same flock—All
‘Polish Refugees,’ and probably from Russia, the severity of
whose climate has been only in keeping with her customs
heretofore.

This species is also tameable, and in confinement has bee
known to pair with the Mute Swan.

Male; length, four feet nine inches. The knob at the base
of the bill is small; the beak itself is reddish orange, except
the base and the edges, which are black; the tooth also
is black; iris, brown. Head, crown, neck, nape, chin, throat,
breast, and back, pure white.

The wings have the second quill feather the longest. Greater
and lesser wing coverts, primaries, secondaries, tertiaries, greater

166 POLISH SWAN.

and lesser under wing coverts, tail, and {tail coverts, pure
unsullied white. Legs and toes, pale grey slate-colour; webs,
pale grey slate-colour.

The young of this species are white from the first, and
hence the specific name.

Since the foregoing article was sent to the press, I have
received a letter from Arthur Strickland, Esq., in which he
informs me that a German naturalist has published a pamphlet,
to prove that the so-called Polish Swan is only an albino
variety of the common species. JI am unable at present, not
having seen the work, to do more than record the circum-
stance of its publication, but it seems to me, ‘as at present
advised,’ that the fact of the young having been procured
in different instances in the white plumage, is sufficient, in
connection with the other peculiarities mentioned by Yarrell,
to constitute the present a distinct bird.

ae ee

SHIBLDRAT

ho

UDDY

167

RUDDY SHIELDRAKE.

RUDDY GOOSE. COLLARED DUCK.

Tudorna rutila, JeNyNs. SELBY. GOULD.
Anas rutila, BEWICK.
Tadorna—........2+4+ ? Rutila—Fiery red.

Tue bird thus called advances from Denmark, through the
south of Russia, to various parts of the east of Europe, and
has been met with also in Germany, Hungary, Italy, Turkey,
Greece, and Austria. It likewise appertains to Asia, having
been found in Persia, Asia Minor, the Dukkun in India, and
the neighbourhood of the Caucasian range. Great numbers
have been seen on Lake Van, that beautiful water, which no
one read the description of in Mr. Layard’s ‘Nineveh’ without
wishing that he ‘might be there to see.’ In Africa also they
are said to be found, even to the Cape.

Several of these Shieldrakes have now been procured in this
country.

Marmaduke Tunstall, Esq. possessed one which was believed
to have been shot in the severe winter of 1776, at Bryanstone,
near Blandford, Dorsetshire, the seat of Mr. Portman, ancestor
of Lord Portman. A second was subsequently killed in the
south of England, and a third at Iken, near Orford, in the
county of Suffolk, in January, 1834.

In Ireland one was shot on the Murrogh of Wicklow, on
the 7th. of July, 1847, by Mr. John Moreton.

In the Orkneys, one in Sanday, by Mr. Strang, in October,
1831.

The Ruddy Shieldrake appears to frequent the land more
than the water.

168 RUDDY SHIELDRAKE.

These birds assemble in flocks, except when paired in the
summer. The male and female seem much attached to each
other.

They feed early in the morning, and again towards nightfall,
in corn and stubble fields, resorting thither from the marshes,
which they otherwise inhabit.

Yarrell says, “The voice of the bird when flying is not
unlike the tone of a clarionet; at other times it cries like a
peacock, especially when kept confined; and now and then
clucks like a hen.’

This bird builds its nest in holes in river banks, such as
have been burrowed and deserted by animals, or those of natural
formation. It is lined with feathers of the bird itself, the
remainder being any sorts of stalks and sticks.

The eggs are white, and eight or nine or ten in number.
They are highly polished.

Male; length, two feet two or three inches, to two feet four.
The bill, which is red, is depressed in the middle part, and
there is a raised knob at the base; iris, yellowish brown; head
on the crown and sides, and neck on the back, buff colour,
darkening towards the nape and all round, where it becomes
almost orange brown, with the exception of a black colour,
which encircles it round the middle; chin, buff colour; breast,
orange brown; back, orange brown. Greater and lesser wing
coverts, pale buff white; primaries, leaden grey—nearly black;
secondaries, leaden grey, the speculum brilliant green; tertiaries,
orange brown. . Legs and toes, brownish grey; webs, brownish

rey.

a als: head on the sides, white; on the crown and the
neck, mouse grey; throat, white; breast, light ferruginous, paler
below; back on the upper part, light ferruginous, on the lower
part dark brown with a tinge of green. The wings have a
blunt spur at the bend; greater and lesser wing coverts, white,
forming a_ broad mark on the wing; primaries, brown, the
edges darker: the secondaries exhibit a green speculum. Tail,
dark brown with a tinge of green. Webs, black.

ES

———————————eee

*naI sw warcre

12} aU

169

SHIELDRAKE.

COMMON SHIELDRAKE. SHELDRAKE. SHELLDRAKE.
SKELDRAKE. BURROW DUCK. SKELGOOSE. SKEELING GOOSE.

Tadorna Bellonii, STEPHENS.
vulpanser, FLEMING,

Anas tadorna, Linnzus, PENNANT.
Tadorna—.........++. ? Bellonii—Of Bellon.

Te Shieldrake is a bird of very wide dispersion. In Europe
it is known in Sweden, where it breeds; also in Iceland,
Norway, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, and Holland. In
Asia, its range extends from Kamtschatka and the southern
parts of Siberia to Persia, Tartary, China, and Japan. Bewick
mentions that Captain Cook has noticed them at Van Diemen’s
Land, and that they have been seen in great numbers on
the Falkland Islands.

This species is strictly a maritime one, though it has
sometimes occurred inland; but such instances form the
‘exception, not the rule.’ It has been shot in Northampton-
shire, the Hon. T. L. Powys has written me word, and he
also mentions two killed near Oxford. In Cambridgeshire
it used to be not uncommon. In Yorkshire, it has occurred
near Doncaster, also near York, Driffield, and Thirsk, but
rarely. Several have been found near Sutton-on-Derwent, where
they have appeared in small flocks. They used to breed on
the banks of the Humber. In Nottinghamshire, near Retford.
In Northumberland, they build on the coast, where there
is sand above high-water mark.

In Lincolnshire, the Rev. R. P. Alington informs me that
the Shieldrake occurs on the sea-coast, near Summercoats,

170 SHIELDRAKE.

and breeds in a rabbit-warren on the sand-hills of the sea-
bank in that parish. In Cornwall, it has been met with
at Gwyllyn Vase and Swanpool, near Falmouth, but rarely.
In Oxfordshire, they occur in most years, in the neighbourhood
of Weston-on-the-Green, as stated by the Revs. Andrew and
Henry Matthews; likewise in Dorsetshire and Hampshire. In
Norfolk they are not uncommon, and breed among the low
sand-hills on the coast.

They occur in Ireland, and are indigenous, but rather rare;
also on the shores of Scotland, quite to the north. In Orkney,
too, they arrive early in the spring, and remain tiil the autumn,
a few only staying throughout the winter.

Their proper home is the neighbourhood of the sea, but
they are occasionally, and not very unfrequently, met with
inland. ‘They remain with us throughout the year, and always
in pairs. They move southwards in the autumn, returning
to the north in the spring; the former in September, and
the latter in March.

A. E. Knox, Esq. mentions that a friend of his knew a brood
of young Shieldrakes at Sandringham, in Norfolk, come from
the rabbit-burrow in which they had been bred, at the whistle
of the gamekeeper, to receive food. If the nest be approached
by an unwelcome intruder, the young ones hide themselves:
‘the tender mother drops at no great distance from her
helpless brood, trails herself along the ground, flaps it with
her wings, and appears to struggle as if she was wounded, in
order to attract attention, and tempt a pursuit after her.
Should these wily schemes, in which she is aided by her mate,
succeed, they both return when the danger is over, to their
terrified motionless little offspring, to renew the tender offices
of cherishing and protecting them.’ When however the young
are older, they fly straight away from them, as if aware
that by diving and otherwise they could then better take care
of themselves, as indeed is the fact. The young broods collect
together, it seems, in troops of from thirty to forty, accom-
panied by the old birds.

This species, though naturally extremely wild, is very
readily brought into a state of domestication, and will come
to a call. Some that have wandered away have returned
even after an absence of several months. ‘The richness of
its well-contrasted plumage renders it a great ornament.
They have been known to breed in the reclaimed state, but
not often: one at Lord Derby’s paired with a duck.

SHIELDRAKE.. EFL

They walk in an easy and handsome way, with the neck
bent in a graceful manner. They fly strongly and quickly,
in a straight line. They dive well.

These birds feed on marine worms, sandhoppers, small
shell-fish, the lesser crustacea, and the fry of fish, as also
on grain and seeds when to be obtained in lieu of the former.

The note is a shrill whistle.

Incubation lasts about thirty days. These birds are believed
to pair for life: they unite in the second year, when the
complete plumage has been assumed.

The Shieldrake builds in rabbit-holes and other hollows in
the earth, often as much as ten or twelve feet from the entrance.
Some down plucked from their own breasts is the lining with
which the nest is fitted, the remainder being dry grass.

The eggs are ten or twelve, or even more, it is said thirteen
or fourteen in number; but these, in such cases, may possibly
have been the produce of two birds. They are nearly perfectly
white, having only a very faint tinge of green, and are smooth
and shining.

Male; length, from two feet to two feet two inches; bill,
crimson red; there is a knob on its upper part near the
forehead: the tooth is black. The upper mandible, which 1s
broad and flat, is grooved on the edges, and depressed in the
middle. Tris, dark brown; head, crown, and neck on the back,
black glossed with green; nape, white, which colour thence
surrounds the neck in a band widened at and towards the front.
Chin and throat, black glossed with green; breast, white; across
it is a broad band of clear orange chesnut brown, which extends
around the bird, and meets on the back just below the nape:
a rich dusky dark brown line runs down the lower part of the
_breast, widened below; about there are some pale yellowish red
feathers; back, white.

The wings have the second feather the longest; greater and
lesser wing coverts, white. Of the primaries, some are nearly
black, and the outer webs of the secondaries are glossed with
golden green, forming what in this tribe is called the speculum:
the edges of three or four of these quills are chesnut; some
of the tertiaries are nearly black on the outer edges, those of
the longest rich chesnut. Tail, white at the base—the tip
black; upper and under tail coverts, white. Legs and toes, pale
yellowish red; webs, pale yellowish red.

The female is somewhat less than the male, and her plumage

172 ’SHIELDRAKE.

is not so clear and bright. The bill is without the knob. The
band on the breast is not so wide.

The young, the first year, have the head and neck on the
back blackish brown. ‘The chin and throat are white, as also
is the breast. The greater and lesser wing coverts, white;
primaries, black; the secondaries shew the approach of the
green speculum; tertiaries, white edged with chesnut. Legs,
toes, and webs, pale yellowish red. The whole plumage is
indistinct.

SHOVELER.

173

SHOVELER.

BLUE-WINGED SHOVELER. SHOVELER DUCK.
RED-BREASTED SHOVELER. COMMON SHOVELER.
BROAD-BILL. KERTLUTOCK.

Anas clypeata, PENNANT. MontTacu.
“« ~— rubens, PENNANT,
“ muscaria, GESNER.
Spathulea clypeata, Fitmine. SELBY,
Ehynchaspis clypeata, GOULD.
Anas—A Duck, Clypeata. Clypeus—A Shield.

THE Shoveler is more or less common in Europe, in Sweden,
Norway, Holland, Prussia, Kamtschatka, Poland, Denmark,
Russia, Germany, Italy, and France. It has been noticed in
Asia, in Japan, India, Asia Minor, Persia, and the country
near the Caucasus; and has been brought both from Southern
and Northern Africa. It is found in America, in the United
States and about Hudson’s Bay; southwards also, it is said, as
far as Carolina and Mexico.

In Yorkshire, one was shot in December, 1852, at Carlton
Miniott, near Thirsk, which Edward D. Swarbreck, Esq., of
the latter place, has written me word of. One, a male, was
obtained at Riccall, near Selby, about the 28th. of March,
1850. Specimens have also occurred near Doncaster, York,
Killingbeck, near Leeds, and Greatland, near Halifax. The
Rev. R. P. Alington has met with this bird in the Louth
market, no doubt a Lincolnshire specimen. It has also been
noticed, he tells me, on Croxby Lake.

In Norfolk, several occurred near Lynn, in the winter of
1851-2. It is not uncommon in the neighbourhood of

174 SHOVELER.

Yarmouth; also in Cambridgeshire. It is met with likewise
in Kent, along the coast, and so on through Sussex, Dorset,
Devon, and Hants.

In Cornwall, it has occurred at Carrack road, near Mylor
Creek, in the neighbourhood of Falmouth; one was purchased
in that town October 25th., 1849, and several others January
19th., 1850, in the market. One was shot at Bulwick, in
Northamptonshire, the Hon. T. L. Powys informed me, as was
also another at Standlake, in Oxfordshire.

It is frequent in Wales, and in Ireland has been killed
in .the King’s County. In Orkney young birds are not
unfrequently met with, but the adults are rare. A male was
shot in Sanday, by Mr. Strang, May 24th., 1838.

In Scotland a specimen, a female, together with the nest
and eggs, was procured on the Frith of Forth; others have
been obtained both northerly and in the south.

They have been known to breed in considerable numbers in
Norfolk, at Winterton, Horsea, Stanford, and other places;
also in Kent, in Romney Marsh. In Scotland, by the
Tweed side.

Wild unreclaimed wastes, where water lies in ditches, pools,
and ponds, encroaching on the land, and in its turn invaded
by the natural herbage which it nourishes, are the favourite
resort of the Shoveler.

These birds are winter visitors to us, but some remain
every year to breed. ‘Their times of migration are in the
autumn in the beginning of the month of October, and in
the spring in those of March and April.

They are exceedingly good birds to eat, according to
Audubon, appertaining, as they do, more to fresh waters than to
salt. In their natural habits they are not very shy. During
daytime they keep on the larger waters, and towards evening
repair to the smaller streams and their margins, and there
remain through the night, till the break of morning warns
them to retreat. The parent birds guard their young with
much care.

They fly lightly and well, and straight forwards, though
not with much rapidity. They walk tolerably well, but
swimming is of course their ‘forte.’

Their food consists of grass and the buds and young shoots
of rushes and plants of different kinds, shrimps, worms, tad-
poles, young frogs, leeches, snails, small fishes, and water and
other insects. Most of their food is sought on the land, but

SHOVELER. 175

some by dabbling in the water. They also swallow small
stones.

The nest of this species, built besides rivers, lakes, and
other waters, or in watery places, appears to be made of
grass, commingled with down from the bird itself. In some
eases the bare earth or sand is scarcely covered with any
materials; in others, a tuft of grass is laid in. After the
female has begun to sit, she covers the eggs with down
plucked from her own body.

The eggs are as many as eight, nine, ten, or twelve in
number. They are of a buff white colour, with a tinge of
green.

Incubation lasts three weeks. The young leave the nest
almost immediately after being hatched, and repair with their
mother to the water.

This species bred in the year 1854, in the gardens of the
Zoological Society, London. ;

Male; weight, about twenty-two ounces; length, about one
foot eight inches; bill, long, and dark brownish lJead-colour,
the edges much dilated towards the tip. The tooth is small
and turned inwards, and the margins of the bill in this bird
are even more than ordinarily pectinated in both mandibles
with the processes which fit ito each other so as to act as
a sieve for the food. Iris, bright yellow; head, crown, and
neck on the back, brownish green, with a purple reflection,
which colours in the summer change on the crown to blackish
brown, spotted with lighter brown, and slightly glossed with
green; the sides of the head and neck, reddish white, speckled
with brown. Nape, white, in summer blackish brown, with
the feathers margined with paler, and slightly glossed with
green. ‘lhe throat in summer is reddish white, speckled with
brown; breast above white, on the middle rich chesnut brown;
in summer ferruginous, spotted with black, and on the sides
with zigzag lines of the same; below, white. In summer it
becomes a mixture of yellowish brown and orange brown, or
reddish white, the feathers being spotted with black. Back,
dusky brown, on the middle dark brown, the edges of the
feathers lighter-coloured, and glossed with green; on the
lower part nearly black, tinged with green; in summer it
becomes deep brown, margined with pale yellowish brown.

The wings have the second quill feather the longest; greater
wing coverts, brown, tipped with white, forming thereby a
bar across the wing; lesser wing coverts, pale blue; primaries,

176 SHOVELER.

very dark dusky brown—nearly black; secondaries, also nearly
black; the speculum, or spangle, very rich bright green; some
of the tertiaries, which are long and pointed, pale blue on
the outer webs, the others rich purple black. Tail, dusky
brown—nearly black, edged with white, the outer feather
entirely white; upper tail coverts, dark brown—nearly black,
with a gloss of bronze green; under tail coverts, similar; in
summer yellowish white, with streaks of brown. Legs and
toes, reddish orange, yellowish orange in summer; claws,
black; webs, darker reddish orange; in summer yellowish
orange.

The female has the head, crown, and neck on the back,
pale reddish brown of two shades, the shaft streaks being
dusky; breast, pale brownish rufous, with dusky brown spots;
back, dusky brown, the edges and tips of the feathers of a
paler tint, rufous white. Lesser wing coverts, tinged with
pale blue; the speculum green.

In the young birds at first the bill, which is scarcely
larger than usual in proportion to their size, is not dilated,
but in three or four weeks assumes its proper and_ peculiar
shape. The young male resembles the female till the autumn.
Bewick says that the full plumage is not acquired till after
the second moult.

There were some dark spots on the white in the specimen
killed near York.

The engraving is after a design by John Gatcombe, Ksq.,
of Plymouth.

END: SOY VOTE) ivan,

B. FAWCETT, ENGRAVER AND PRINTER, EAST LODGE, DRIFFIELD,

rm Ne wel tar

Same apr enn

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