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AMONG BRITISH BIRDS IN THEIR

NESTING HAUNTS

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

FOR
DAVID DOUGLAS

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

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

BIOLOQt

LIBRARY
G

LIST OF PLATES

KESTRELS AT THEIR NEST.— TitU-pagt,

KIM u DUCK, Plate I.,
Da, Plate II.,
CORMORANT.

PEREGRINE FALCON, Plate I., .
Do., Plate II, .

Lome- EARED OWL, .
SPARROW HAWK,

LOUR BLACK-BACKED GULL, Plate I., .
Do., Plate II., .

ROSEATE TERN,
COOT, Plate I, .
Da, Plate II, .
SHOVELER, .
KITTIWAKE GULL,

WATERMEN, Plate I

Da, Plate II.,.

WILLOW WREN,

SANDWICH TERN,
SHELD-DUCK, Plate I.,

Do., Plate II, .

LONG-TAILED Trr, Plate I,

Do., Plate II., .

BLACK-HEADED GULL,
LITTLE GREBE, Plate I, .
Do, Plate II, .

GOLDEN PLOVER,
LAPWING, Plate I, .
Do., Plate II, .
HERRING GULL, .
GREENSHANK,

June 4th. 1895,

Da,

June loth, 1893,
May 2 ist, 1896. .
June 1 2th, 1896,
May 29th, 1893.
May 28th, 1893,
June 4th, 1895,
May 10th, 1893.
June loth, 1893,
April 26th, 1893,
May 5th, 1895,
May 6th, 1893,
June loth, 1893,
May 4th, 1895,
May 27th, 1893,
May 24th, 1895,
May loth, 1893,
June 19th, 1893,
June 5th, 1893,
May I7th, 1895,

Da,

May loth, 1893,
May 4th, 1895,
May 5th, 1895,
June 3rd, 1893,
April 26th, 1893,
May ist, 1896,
June loth, 1893,
May 26th, 1896,
V

Fame Islands,
Do.,
Da,

Mull, .

Trcshnish Islands,
Perthshire, .

Do.,

Fame Islands,
Flanders Moss, .
Fame Islands,
Perthshire, .
Da,
Do.,

Fame Islands,
Perthshire, .
Da,
Da,

Fame Islands,
Culbin Sands,
Tents Muir,
Perthshire, .

Do.,

Flanders Moss, .
Perthshire, .

Do,

Tents Muir,.
Perthshire, .

Da,

Fame Islands,
Loch Morlich,

6
8

24
28

34
36
40
46
48

56
60
62
66

7*
76

9»

1 02

106

108

120

81 noes

FACING
PAGE

WOODCOCK, .

OYSTER-C^

Do.,

TREE PIPIT, .
REED-BUN
RINGED Pi

Do.,
LITTLE Ti

Do.,
JACKDAW,

May 6th, 1895,

Perthshire,

124

;HER, Plate I.,

May 29th, 1896,

Aviemore,

130

Plate II.,

June 4th, 1895,

Fame Islands,

132

Perthshire

1 ou

NG.

Mav 27th 1803

140

•***! • •

VER, Plate I.,

June i gth, 1893,

Culbin Sands,

144

Plate II.,

June loth, 1893,

Fame Islands,

146

», Plate I

June I9th, 1893,

Culbin Sands,

152

Plate II

June 5th, 1893,

Fife, .

154

April 26th, 1893,

Perthshire, .

1 60

VIGN ETTES

THE OUTER FARNE,

EIDERS FEEDING, ....

THE DUTCHMAN'S CAP, TRESHNISH ISLANDS,

PHOTOGRAPHING PEREGRINE'S NEST,

PEREGRINE'S NEST ON BASS ROCK,

LONG-EARED OWL ROOSTING,

CORMORANT BASKING,

BASS ROCK FROM NORTH BERWICK,

PHOTOGRAPHING COOT'S NEST,

WILD DUCK FEEDING,

THE OLD BAR, CULBIN SANDS, .

TERNS ON THE OUTER WIDEOPENS,

LONG-TAILED TITS CATCHING FLIES,

GULLERY ON FLANDERS MOSS,

MONTROSE HARBOUR,

BREEDING-PLACE OF THE GREENSHANK,

GREENSHANK ON TOP OF TREE, .

WOODCOCK SPRINT,

OYSTER-CATCHER, ....

TERN ON TOP OF POST,

JACKDAWS ON CHIMNEY, .

3
4
IS
16
18
24

117

120

122

127

149

157

S PLftTES

OWL , • t -

TEKP3.
£

O.A.J.LBS

INTRODUCTION

many of us the nesting season is perhaps the most
interesting phase of Bird-life, partly because our feathered
friends throw off at that season a great deal of their natural
shyness and timidity, affording us better opportunities of
observing their habits, and partly because Nature is then
at her freshest, and awakens in us a keener appreciation
of the marvellous works of the Creator.

Some years ago I determined to collect, if possible, a complete series of
Photographs, which would possess the accuracy of a scientific work on the
nesting habits of birds, and yet be sufficiently attractive for the ordinary lover
of birds.

It is with this idea that I have ventured to publish these Photographs,
with short descriptions of the habits of the birds at the nests, the finding of
them, the materials of which they are formed, and the methods employed in
getting faithful photographs of those more difficult of access, some of which —
e.g. the Heron on its nest — were only secured after hours of anxious watching
and much patience.

It is no easy matter to photograph some of our birds' nests so as to
combine a pleasing effect with strict accuracy, some of the tree-breeding species
being exceptionally unapproachable.

I have seen many photographs of birds' nests which have been so
manipulated, under the plea of artistic effect, as to lose all that subtle touch
which the feathered architect gives to its work. This is not the way to give a
faithful picture of a bird's nest. One might just as well stick a stuffed bird
on to a growing branch, and, having photographed it, call it a study from
Nature. /

All the nests illustrated in this work have been most carefully chosen
from many specimens examined, and have been, without exception, photo-
graphed in situ, and the nest and eggs, as well as the immediate surroundings,
have been left untouched.

The nomenclature adopted is from the List of British Birds, by Howard
Saunders, F.L.S., F.Z.S., etc. etc. (July 1892).

OSWIN A. J. LEE.
EDINBURGH, Oct. 1896.

EIDER DUCK

Sornateria mollisstma

HE Eider Duck is an Atlantic species and breeds on
most of the islands off the west coast of Scotland,
including the Hebrides and St. Kilda, and also on the
Orkneys and Shetlands; on the east coast it breeds
sparingly in the Firths of Forth and Tay, and in
England on the Fame Islands ; it is, however, only a
rare visitor to the English coast, south of Yorkshire,
and to Ireland, where it sometimes strays during the winter.

The Eider does not, as a rule, wander far from its breeding haunts,
but may generally be seen frequenting the islands or coasts where it breeds,
even during the storms of winter. It is chiefly a dweller on the sea, and
does not often leave the salt water; on the west coast, however, it may
be seen on some of the fresh-water lochs, both on the islands and near the
coast, and in such localities it flies across the land to and from the sea.
In winter the Eiders collect into large flocks and become extremely wary ;
indeed, it is almost impossible to get within gunshot of them except by
most careful stalking. They may generally be seen feeding on the coast,
swimming just outside the breakers, sometimes diving through them and
searching for the small crustaceans on which they feed. They are very
great adepts at diving, and can remain a long time under water,
obtaining most of their food in this way. They float very lightly on the
surface, and swim well, even in rough water, rising at once in the air when
disturbed, but they are not so quick in taking wing when the water is calm,
usually splashing along the top for some distance before rising. The Eider
is very seldom seen with other ducks, except its rare and beautiful ally the
King Eider; I have repeatedly seen it drive off small bunches of Widgeon,
when the latter had presumed to intrude on its feeding-grounds.

A I

The food of the Eider consists entirely of small shell-fish, sea-insects,
and young crustaceans, and it is an amusing sight to watch an Eider
struggling with a fair-sized crab, which it endeavours to swallow whole.

During the month of March pairing begins, and the flocks of Eider
Ducks break up. Nest-building commences in May, the birds preferring
low, uninhabited islands covered with sea-campion and coarse herbage; but
they will nest often far from water, or among precipitous rocks on grass-
covered ledges, or even among old ruins, as on the Bass Rock, where I saw
an Eider's nest not twelve feet from a Peregrine Falcon's abode.

The nest of the Eider is a pretty substantial collection of seaweed,
bladder-campion or dead grass, the down being added when the full com-
plement of eggs is nearly reached. On the Fame Islands, where a considerable
number of these birds breed, the nests were for preference hidden among the
masses of sea-campion, nettle, and sorrel, with which several of the islands
are covered, but I also saw many nests among the broken rocks, in crevices,
among dead seaweed, or even on the bare stones on the sea-shore among
the drift-wood above high-water mark. On the west coast of Scotland,
where I have repeatedly seen the nests of the Eider on the moors nearly
a mile from water, the nest is largely composed of heather, only a little dry
grass or moss being added besides the down ; in sandy places the Eider often
does not trouble about a nest, but lays her eggs in a hollow in the ground
well lined with down.

The eggs of the Eider vary in number from five to eight, and are
greyish green in colour, some specimens being much yellower in colour than
others ; they vary considerably in size, from 3-4 to 2-8 inches in length,
and from 2 to 1-8 inches in breadth.

The down is brownish grey, with obscure pale centres, the down of one
bird being sometimes slightly browner than that of another.

Young in down are uniform dark brown on the upper parts, with a
broad pale brown streak over each eye, and light brown under parts. They
are often killed by the Black-backed Gulls, though bravely defended by the
mother. When alarmed they make for the open sea at once, diving boldly
through the breaking waves, and are helped by the old Eider, who takes
them on her back as they get tired.

I was returning to my boat one day from the top of the Bass Rock,
where I had been taking photographs of the Gannets, and was making a
devour round part of the ruins to get a snap-shot at some Puffins, when I
came suddenly upon an old Eider with four ducklings evidently not long

hatched. The place was somewhat steep and covered with sea-campion down
to within fifteen feet of the water, ending in that height of sheer rock. The
old duck led the young ones straight for the water, and, feeling rather curious
to see how she would negotiate the drop, I followed. On reaching the edge
of the rock the young birds hung back, but the old duck without the slightest
hesitation shoved them over, one after the other, with her bill, and flew down
;iftcr them. By the time I reached the edge and looked over, she was
swimming out to sea with the four ducklings close behind her, apparently
none the worse.

.-,^-"'

%«&

•TUi^*"*-

PLATE I
EIDER DUCK. Somateria mollissima

June 4///, 1895.- -The Eider Duck's nest depicted in this Plate was one of
nineteen I examined on the Fame Islands. The bird was sitting in a very
picturesque attitude with her head turned round on her back when I first
saw her, but when the camera was slowly got into position and the focussing-
cloth appeared, she flattened herself out on the ground and lay absolutely
motionless, allowing the flies to run about on her bill without heeding them.

Her nest was merely a depression in the sand, in a hollow among the
nettles, sea-campion, and thistles, and was lined almost entirely by the mass
of down round the eggs, only a few dead nettle stalks and bits of dried
seaweed being added. It contained five eggs, which were all chipped and
hatched out next day.

In photographing sitting birds — at any rate, those whose nests are on
the ground — I have always noticed that they can be approached within a
very short distance if two or three persons come up from different sides at
the same time, as the bird does not seem to know which way to leave the
nest; if, however, only one approaches, she very often makes off at once
in the opposite direction. Great care, however, must be taken not to include
the feet of the person opposite, as they do not add to the charm of the picture.

On the Inner Wide-opens at the Fames we saw no less than six Eiders
sitting on their nests close to the large colony of Sandwich Terns. These
nests were all mere hollows in the masses of dead dry seaweed stalks cast
up by storms, and looking like piles of mummified snakes, and the eggs were
covered with masses of down. They were all within a few feet of one
another, two of them actually touching each other.

EIDER DUCK. SfmmttTM

I MATURAL SIZE

9 v

PLATE II
EIDER DUCK. Somateria mollissima

June 4/A, 1895.— This Plate was taken from a nest on the Outer Wide-open
Fame Islands. It was built on a ledge of turf covered with sea-campion,
among the rocks close to the sea, but considerably above it; the Eider
left the nest as we came up and swam about in the sea quite close, watch-
ing us.

After photographing the nest I withdrew about thirty yards from it and
sat down to change my plates. I had hardly been two minutes at work when
a Lesser Black-backed Gull pounced down on the nest, and, seizing an egg,
attempted to fly off with it. The brute had hardly got twenty yards away, when
the egg dropped and went to pieces on a rock, so it simply returned to the
nest for another, which it bore off successfully. I was powerless to do any-
thing, as my arms were both buried in my changing-bag, at work with my
slides, and shouting had not the slightest effect. I had taken the precaution
of covering up the eggs with the down when I had finished photographing
the nest, but even this availed nothing. The Black-backed Gulls destroyed
great numbers of the Eiders' nests, often before our eyes, breaking and eating
the eggs and scattering the down all over the place.

On two occasions on the Fame Islands I have seen two Eider Ducks
sitting side by side on what was practically the same nest, but on neither
occasion was I able to procure a photograph of the fond pair, as they made
off before I could get close enough to them.

EIDER DUCK. Stmaltr,* mftlhttmt
i NATURAL SIZE

Id-

CORMORANT

Phalacrocorax car bo

HE Cormorant is a common resident throughout Great Britain,
and breeds wherever a suitable locality is to be found ; most
of its breeding-stations are on rocky islands or cliffs on the
coast, but it has several well-known haunts far inland, where
it nests both on rocks and on trees. In winter it may
be seen on almost any part of our coasts, however low-lying,
and in many fresh-water lochs.

The Cormorant is, as a rule, most partial to the sea, but may generally be
found wherever fish are to be obtained. It is most at home on the water, where
it swims and dives with great ease, using its wings as well under water as in
the air, and chasing its finny prey with great speed. Its flight is rapid, like that
of a duck, and it progresses through the air at a great pace, its long neck
stretched out and its feet extended beneath its tail. On land it is an ungainly
bird, and walks badly : it may often be seen sitting on some pinnacle of rock,
gorged with fish and half asleep, too wary, however, to allow itself to be
approached within gunshot.

In the beginning of April the Cormorants return to their breeding haunts,
and begin to repair the damage done to their nests by the storms of winter ;
but eggs are seldom to be found before the beginning of May.

At the Fame Islands the Cormorants breed all by themselves on a reef of
rocks some distance to the north of the main group of islands. During last
spring (1895) a heavy sea at high tide destroyed most of the nests just as the
birds were beginning to lay, and they migrated to one of the other islands well
out of reach of the waves. On a former visit, the birds allowed us to land on
the island without moving, but began to get uneasy as we got within eighty
yards of them ; so I hastily secured some photographs of them as they sat on
their nests, with their long necks stretched up in the air, uttering a chorus of
c 9

harsh croaks. As we approached they took wing, and after flying round us
once or twice at a respectful distance, they retired to the sea and alighted some
distance off. The whole of the rocks in the immediate vicinity of the nests
were covered, fully an inch deep, with a yellowish-white, evil-smelling coat of
rotten fish, and droppings of the birds, and in many of the nests we found the
remains of fair-sized fish, half rotten for preference, and generally headless. I
counted fifty-three nests — huge heaps of seaweed, some of them over two feet
high — one especially large one was placed on the highest pinnacle of the island,
and must have contained two wheelbarrow-loads of seaweed. The number of
eggs in the nests varied from two to five, though four seemed to be the most
common number.

Having contented myself with the five eggs out of the large nest before
mentioned, and taken several photographs and sketches, I sat down some way
from the nests to write down some notes and change my plates. The Cormorants
at once returned. I had just got all my plates changed, and was writing notes,
when I heard a most fearful din arise among the Cormorants. On looking at
them through my glasses, I saw that the owner of the big nest was being attacked
by several of her neighbours. During the struggle I saw her eject an egg from
her pouch, and on going up to the spot to verify the fact, found the broken egg
and two others in the nest which I had emptied not five minutes before ! The
wretched bird was evidently receiving punishment for theft.

The nest of the Cormorant is usually a large bulky structure of seaweed,
and is added to from year to year ; the eggs are generally laid in a slight hollow
among the bare seaweed, but occasionally a few pieces of sea-campion or grass
are added as a sort of lining. Inland, where seaweed is not obtainable, the nests
are made of sticks, reeds, and water plants, or bits of heather or turf, and
slightly lined with a few pieces of green sedge or grass.

The eggs laid vary in number from three to five, very rarely six. The
outside of the shell is entirely covered with a white chalky substance, though
the greenish colour of the shell generally shows through in patches ; when held
up to the light they are emerald green inside. They vary in length from 2-9 to
2-4 inches, and in breadth from 17 to 1-5 inches. Large eggs of the Cormorant
are not easily confused with small eggs of the Gannet, on account of the much
greater breadth of the latter ; small eggs of the Cormorant are, however, abso-
lutely indistinguishable from large eggs of the Shag.

Young in down are sooty black ; they have dark brown legs, and feet with
paler webs, and a flesh-coloured bill.

PLATE I
CORMORANT. Phalacrocorax carbo

June IO//T, 1893. — This Plate is from a general view of the colony on Cormorant
Island off the Fames. The birds have been established here for many years,
and have gradually increased in number, though the nests have been washed
away by heavy seas during the breeding season on two occasions.

When I visited the colony in 1892 there were forty-five nests containing
eggs, and in 1893 I counted fifty-three nests. The birds are much shyer here
than I have ever seen them at other stations on the west coast of Scotland,
possibly because they are more frequently disturbed. They left their nests
when we were some eighty yards off, and retired to the sea some distance
away. All the time we were at the nests, small parties of them frequently
flew round to watch our movements.

We noticed that the white filaments on the head and neck and the white
plumes on the thigh were still visible, though many of the birds had apparently
cast the white filaments on the head and neck, and had only the white plumes
on the thigh remaining.

The period of incubation lasts from twenty-six to twenty-eight days, both
birds taking their share of that duty, during the performance of which the sitting
bird is fed by its mate, often refusing the food brought, which is then allowed to
lie about the nest till it decomposes and makes the vicinity of the nest anything
but sweet. I noticed with the aid of a glass that the male performed the task
of collecting food for the young birds, who pecked the half-digested fish from
his mouth, or from the edge of the nest where he sometimes disgorged it. After
the young birds have been hatched for some time the entire sides of the nest are
coated with a decomposing mass of fish, and covered with thousands of flies.

CORMORANT.

| NATURAL SIZE.

PEREGRINE FALCON

Falco peregrtnus

HE Peregrine Falcon is still undoubtedly the commonest of
our larger birds of prey, in spite of the war waged against it
by gamekeepers and collectors. It still breeds in a few
favoured localities in England, chiefly on the rock-girt
southern and western sea-coasts, though there are a few
well-known inland sites in the Northern Counties. It is
still, however, a common bird on the wild west coast of
Scotland, where most of the huge cliff faces are tenanted yearly by a pair.
In Ireland also it breeds in most suitable localities. The Peregrines which
breed in our islands are resident all the year round, but their numbers are
increased in spring and autumn by the migratory birds, which remain some
little time with us to rest. These migrants probably follow the flocks of
waders and ducks to and from their breeding haunts in more northern
latitudes.

The favourite haunts of the Peregrine are the wild open moors and
mountain-sides, and the rocky cliffs on the sea-coast which abound with sea-fowl
of various kinds. There is no slyness or skulking about the Peregrine's mode of
hunting ; his proceedings are characterised by an extraordinary amount of bold-
ness and dash. He fairly flies down his quarry, and rising high in the air stoops
at it with a marvellous precision, seldom failing to kill it instantaneously. His
wing-power is magnificent, and he can with ease overtake and kill the rock
pigeons, whose swiftness of flight surpasses that of almost any bird. The higher
he rises, the more certain is his stoop, the death-blow being almost invariably
given by his terrible hind-claw.

The Peregrine has been condemned by game-preservers in general, for his
wanton destruction of birds ; he has an unfortunate habit of striking down
grouse, partridges, etc., almost under the keeper's nose, and flying off quite
D 13

unconcernedly without troubling to pick them up. I remember once watching a
Tiercel Peregrine from the shelter of a wood. He suddenly rose high in the air
and stooped at the front bird of a small covey of grouse, killing it dead. It fell
among some long heather, and after taking a sweep round near the place he
flew off and killed a small leveret some distance away, which he carried to a rock
on the other side of the glen. On picking up the grouse I found that its skull
was split open from the base to the bill as cleanly as if it had been done with
a knife. I have frequently seen Falcons kill their prey and leave it, but have
generally observed that on these occasions the birds fell in long heather or rank
vegetation, and that they were struck very near the ground ; probably also the
Falcon was not very hungry, and so did not trouble to alight and pick up his
game.

The Peregrine Falcon kills birds even larger than himself. On such
occasions, of course, he cannot carry away his prey, but has to devour it on the
spot. Coming over the crags from Loch Skene, in Dumfriesshire, I saw a Heron
attacked by a Peregrine ; the former instantly endeavoured to keep above the
Falcon, and both birds were at an immense height before the Peregrine stooped
and struck his prey. The Heron immediately collapsed and fell straight down,
the Falcon letting him get within a hundred feet of the loch before he shot
down like a thunderbolt and struck again ; this time he kept his grip and
guided his prey to a large rock on the shore, where I afterwards saw him
tearing it to pieces at his leisure.

The Peregrine is a fairly early breeder, and eggs may be taken by the
middle of April. On some parts of the west coast, however, they are generally
rather later, probably owing to their dependence on the sea-fowl for food for
their young. They pair for life, and generally frequent the same district year
after year, though the nest is not always built in the same situation ; each pair
seems to have two or three favourite spots, which they use in turn. The
nest is almost invariably placed on some inaccessible part of the cliff chosen ;
if it be in a glen, the side which is not exposed to the sun is usually taken,
and an overhanging rock is much preferred, for the shelter which it gives,
but a wide outlook is the most indispensable adjunct. Sometimes the Falcon's
nest is quite accessible. This is often the case on small uninhabited islands,
and I have come across several nests to which one could walk without any
climbing at all, the one on the Bass Rock being perhaps the best instance of these.
The eggs there were placed on the bare ground at the foot of the old buildings,
among a few small tufts of bladder-campion. I revisited this nest when the
young were nearly full-fledged, and took the following inventory of the larder

«4

at the nest : six Puffins, one Guillemot, four Thrushes, a Blackbird and a Kitti-
wake. Most of these birds were untouched, or only half plucked, but the whole
place was strewn with bones and wings, chiefly those of the Puffin, which
seems to be the Peregrine's favourite food in seaside districts.

The nest is usually a poor structure, often consisting only of a few small
sticks or scraps of vegetation, the eggs being sometimes laid on the bare ledge,
without even these scanty preparations. I have never come across a Peregrine's
nest which had signs of any trouble having been taken in the building of it.

The eggs vary in number from two to four; sometimes, but very rarely,
as many as five are laid. The ground colour is pale yellowish buff, but it is
not very often exposed, as the entire surface is usually covered with rich red-
brown or brick-red markings. Some specimens when quite fresh are suffused
with a beautiful purplish bloom, but this very soon fades after they have been
blown or are slightly incubated. The eggs vary much in shape as well as in
size, even in the same clutch, some being almost round, while others are more
oval in shape. They vary from 2-20 to 1-92 inches in length, and from 1-80
to 1-50 inches in breadth.

The young, when hatched, are covered with a dirty white down, which
remains till they are nearly fledged. They are most carefully tended by their
parents, whose anxious chattering cry is not often forgotten when once heard.
The old birds cater for them for some time after they can fly. At first the
prey is carefully stripped of its fur or feathers, but when the young begin to
get fledged they are left to do this for themselves. By the time that they
leave the nest the ledge is usually a mass of bones, feet, wing-feathers, and
pellets, the refuse of their food.

- "WvT^'V1

PLATE I
PEREGRINE FALCON. Falco peregrinus

May 2I5/, 1896. — This Plate was taken from a nest on Hall's Craig, Lochbuie,
Isle of Mull. The nest was in a very nasty place to get at, and the keeper
assured me that it could not be reached, as he had tried it himself and could
not manage it. I was determined to try it, however, as he said he was quite
certain it contained eggs. Accordingly we walked round to the base of the
cliff and examined our ground from below. To the left of the nest a sort of
shallow gully filled with scrub ran up the almost perpendicular face of the
cliff, ending in a little grassy ledge which dwindled to nothing at the edge of
the ridge of rock, which divided our gully from the one in which was the cave
containing the nest. We could see quite well that it was a very ticklish corner
to get round, and it was this corner that had foiled the keeper.

We started off and climbed up the gully. It was desperately hard work,
as in many places it was quite perpendicular, with only the scrub to hold on
by, and there were a great many loose blocks of rock. However, we got up
at last to the ledge, rather hot, but with the camera all safe. After a moment's
rest I examined the end of the ledge and the ridge. It certainly was a very
nasty corner if one looked down, but that was not at all necessary. I got
one leg round cautiously, and after a wide reach and a short struggle I was
on the ledge beside the nest, or rather just above it. I then reached round
and took my camera from the keeper, who held it as far round as he could
from his side of the ridge. After that all was plain sailing, except that I
could not get farther away from the nest than four feet, and that only by
standing on a very narrow ledge of rock, with one knee on the upper shelf,
and my back to two hundred feet of a cliff. I had just taken two plates,
when the keeper successfully negotiated the corner and stood on the ledge.
He said he could not have believed it was possible to get round that corner
as we had done.

E 17

The two eggs were laid on the floor of a beautiful little cave about three
feet high and the same width, and perhaps a couple of feet deep. There was
no attempt at a nest, but there were two or three bits of stick and many
whitened bones lying round the eggs, which were slightly incubated. The
female lay dead on a rock about twenty yards off, where she had fallen to
the keeper's gun some days before, when he had discovered the nest. She was
a beautiful bird, but all my efforts to get to her were fruitless. The keeper
assured me that the Peregrine had nested there every year since he came
there, and he had usually been able to secure both birds. This year, however,
when he shot the female, her mate had never reappeared in the vicinity.

PEREGRINE FALCON. Faltt ftngri*

I NATURAL SIZE.

PLATE II
PEREGRINE FALCON. Falco peregrinus

June i2//r, 1896. — The young Peregrines depicted in this Plate were taken
from a nest on the summit of the peak of the Dutchman's Cap, one of the
Treshnish group, Inner Hebrides.

The old birds raised a most fearful hubbub with their loud chattering
cries all the time I was having a tour of inspection on the island. When I
had finished my round I climbed the peak, and after a short time succeeded
in locating the site of the nest. It was about thirty feet from the top, on the
east side, on a ledge quite overhung by rock. While I was standing on the
edge of the rock debating whether to try and get down to it, or to go down
and climb up, the female swooped at me and struck me violently on the left
shoulder, tearing my coat slightly and hitting me smartly on the head with
her wing. I think she was as startled as I was, anyway she did not come so
near me again.

The three young birds were not in the nest. One of them was almost
hidden among some rank grass in a corner, and the other two were at the end
of the ledge on the other side of the nest. In and around the nest were
three Puffins, a Kittiwake, and half a Manx Shearwater. I counted the feet
and wings of sixteen Puffins, and there was a half dried-up carcase of a
Wheatear which had not been picked by the young birds.

I took away two of the young ones and reared them by hand. They
were very tame, and really grotesque little fellows, and I was quite sorry to
part with them. They are now in the gardens of the London Zoological
Society, where they should thrive well, as they were very strong, healthy
birds.

PEREGRINE FALCON. F*lt, fcngr,**,.
| NATURAL WZC.

LONG-EARED OWL

otus

HE Long-eared Owl is a fairly common and pretty evenly-
distributed resident throughout the British Islands,
especially in those districts which abound in pine-woods.
It is partially a migrant, and great numbers of them come
to our eastern coasts, during the autumn, from Scandinavia.
It is not met with in the Outer Hebrides, and is only an
occasional visitor to the Orkneys and Shetlands.

The Long-eared Owl loves the woods of spruce and Scotch firs, and has
greatly extended its range since the plantations of these trees have increased
in numbers. It is quite as much at home in the little plantations among the
cultivated fields, as it is in the large forests of pines in some of our northern
counties. It is strictly a nocturnal bird, and rarely leaves its retreat until dusk ;
during the day it may be seen sitting in some thick fir or ivy-covered tree on a
branch close against the trunk, and its whereabouts are often betrayed by the crowd
of Chaffinches and Tits which collect to chatter and scold at the thief of the night.
The food of the Long-eared Owl consists of voles, mice, rats, beetles, and
insects, and occasionally small birds, which it catches as it flies noiselessly past
their roosting-places. The feathers of the victims are often found among the
pellets at the nest or where the Owl roosts. The cry of this bird is a curious
noise — impossible to describe on paper — sounding rather like the distant
yelping of a dog; it has also a wailing cry, somewhat like a cat mewing. The
old birds are rather silent, as a rule, but the young may often be heard calling
about the woods soon after they have learned to fly.

The Long-eared Owl is a very early breeder, eggs being generally laid in
March or the beginning of April, often when the snow is still on the ground,
but late nests are very often met with. The bird generally takes possession
of some deserted Crow's or Wood Pigeon's nest, and patches it up to suit its
requirements, sometimes adding a lining of wool and feathers; very often,
however, the nest is unlined, save by the few feathers of small birds which
have been brought there for food, and quantities of pellets. The nest of this
bird is very hard to discover, as no amount of shouting or hammering on
F 21

the trunk of the tree will, as a rule, dislodge the sitting bird. The only way
is to climb to all likely-looking nests — a rather fatiguing process in a large
wood, the bird often sitting quietly until the climber is actually at the nest,
when she will fly silently away. The nest chosen may be at any height from
the ground, but a fairly thick part of the tree is generally preferred. Some-
times an old Squirrel's nest is utilised, the top being usually torn off and
the nest somewhat flattened before the eggs are deposited.

I came across a nest of this species in Tweedsmuir during the vole
plague of 1892, when Owls, more especially the Short-eared, were abundant
in the neighbourhood of these small pests. It was placed in a larch fir about
forty feet from the ground, in a small patch of trees on the hillside. An old
Pigeon's nest had been utilised, sticks had been added to it — chiefly small
larch twigs — and a lining of sheep's wool, a huge straggling mass of which
hung down from one side of the nest, and waved to and fro in the wind,
making it very conspicuous. Both birds were at the nest, the one sitting on
the eggs, and the other perched on the edge of it against the trunk of the tree.
I regretted exceedingly that I had no camera with me, as such chances are
rare, and I sat in the next tree within twelve feet of them for some time,
and they never stirred. The nest contained a half-fledged bird, two tiny
nestlings, and two eggs, both addled. I came across five or six Long-
eared Owls' nests about this time (March 2Oth) in the same neighbourhood,
but, with the exception of this one, all were in deserted Hooded Crows'
nests. During the above-mentioned vole plague in Tweedsmuir, it was no
uncommon thing to see the Owls abroad in the day-time after the young were
hatched, flying silently over the hillside, and pouncing down on their prey.
The Short-eared Owl was by far the commoner species, but I observed several
Long-eared Owls among them.

The eggs of the Long-eared Owl are from four to six in number, as a
rule, though as many as seven are sometimes found. They are rather more
oval in shape than those of the Tawny Owl, and much smaller ; they are,
however, almost indistinguishable from those of the Short-eared Owl. They
are pure white in colour and somewhat glossy, and vary in length from 1-75 to
i -5 inches, and in breadth from 1-3 to 1-25 inches.

The young birds, which are at first covered with a whitish down, remain
some time in the nest, and when they can fly they sit among the branches
of the neighbouring trees, where they are fed by their parents until well on
in the summer. In the evenings they may be heard calling incessantly,
making a noise rather like the mewing of a cat.

PLATE I
LONG-EARED OWL. Asio otus

May 29///, 1893. — This nest was taken in the Big Wood, Lake of Monteith.
It had been originally built by a pair of Hoodie Crows, and was a large, bulky
collection of dead heather stalks, larch twigs, sticks, etc., and was placed
among the top branches of an old Scotch fir, rent and torn by storms and
half blown down. The old tree grew near the top of a steep knoll in the
middle of the wood. I saw a pair of Hoodie Crows near the place, and
climbed to the nest to see if they had young ones there. I was very
agreeably surprised when a Long-eared Owl flew off the nest. Though the
date is an unusually late one for this species, the nest contained five fairly
fresh eggs, and was lined with a good deal of sheep's wool and rabbit's fur.
The male bird was roosting in a tree quite close by, huddled against the
trunk. I put him up when I came down after photographing the nest.

It was no mean task to get a really good photograph of this nest — to
get one at all, in fact — as it was in the very top of a huge old gnarled
branch growing out of the torn and twisted trunk, forming a sort of second
top to the tree, and must have been about eighteen feet from the steep side
of the knoll, and much more from the root of the tree. What remained of
the rest of the tree was rather lower than the branch the nest was in, and
I couldn't see the eggs from it ; fortunately it was strong, and, by erecting a
sort of flagstaff, made from a dead stick about ten feet long, to which I
lashed my camera, I was able to focus on the nest and get two satisfactory
photographs showing the eggs in it.

I rested on the knoll for a while after my labours, and was soothing my
nerves with the fragrant weed, when the two Owls flew silently round the
tree and alighted in a thick part of it. After about ten minutes, during
which time I lay quite still, one of them flew round the tree once or twice
and returned to its post beside the other. In about five or six minutes they
both flew up to the nest, and, after hovering about it for a moment, the hen

bird alighted on the nest and the male took up his position in a dark part of
the tree close below. I watched them for about twenty minutes, but neither
of them moved. I found another nest, by pure chance, as I was returning
through the wood. I saw an Owl sitting in a thick tree and threw a stick
up at it ; two birds immediately flew out of the tree, and on climbing up I
discovered, in a very thick part, an old Pigeon's nest with no lining except a

few Yellow Hammer's feathers and some pellets, and in the nest were four

f . t . . i i . \. <

iresh eggs.

LONG-EARED OWL. Arit**,.

\ NATURAL SIZE

SPARROW HAWK

slccipiter nisus

HH Sparrow Hawk is the commonest and most widely dis-
tributed of our British Hawks, and may be found in all
wooded localities throughout Great Britain and Ireland.
In the wild and treeless moors and glens of the north
and west of Scotland, the Hebrides, Orkneys, and Shet-
land, it is much rarer, and in some localities is only known
as a summer visitor.

The favourite haunts of the Sparrow Hawk are the woods, plantations,
and coppices among well cultivated lands, where small birds abound, and the belts
and clumps of firs along the edges of the moors or in the little glens; there he
may be seen flying silently and swiftly along the edge of the wood, in search
of his prey, darting after it like an arrow through the tangle of branches on
the edge of the cover.

Whenever a bird is pursued it instantly endeavours to hide itself in some
dense cover into which the Hawk cannot penetrate ; there it will lie hid till its
enemy has departed. The evening is perhaps the best time to see the Sparrow
Hawk in pursuit of his prey, as this appears to be his favourite hunting-hour.
Down he comes like a thunderbolt past the evergreens where the Greenfinches
are assembling to roost, and is aloft again with one of them quivering in his
talons almost before you have seen him. Even in the farmyard, among the stacks,
he brings terror among the crowds of small birds feeding on the scattered grain
and seeds; gliding along like a shadow, he moves past, bearing off one of them
in his claws. He will often carry off the young chickens from under the hen-
wife's nose. The rapacity of the bird is indeed marvellous, and instances
of his boldness are without number. I well remember seeing one meet his
death by his very boldness. A Robin had got into the house and was fluttering
at one of the windows trying to find some way of escape. I happened to come
into the room, and, seeing the poor prisoner, was going forward to release him,
when there was a tremendous crash against the plate-glass, and a dark object
fell down outside ; on going out, I found a Sparrow Hawk lying on the grass,
quite dead, with its skull fractured. This is evidently not a rare occurrence, as
c 25

I vividly remember my joy, when quite a small boy, at finding one lying dead
upon the gravel at the front door one Sunday morning, having killed itself in
a vain endeavour to reach a Sparrow which had got into the house ; when
stuffed, this bird formed the centre-piece of my collection for many a day.

The food of the Sparrow Hawk is chiefly composed of small birds, from
a Blackbird downwards ; but they will strike and successfully kill Wood Pigeons,
and I have seen one pounce on a Water Hen as it ran across a grass field ; he
was, however, quite unable to carry off his prey in this instance, and was caught
in a snare set beside it some twenty minutes afterwards. He also varies his
food with an occasional young rabbit, and will take mice, water-rats, or frogs.
The refuse of the Sparrow Hawk's food, like that of all birds of prey, is ejected
in the form of pellets : great numbers of these, as well as the larger feathers of
the victims, may be found round some tree stump, rock, or stone in the middle
of the wood or thicket, where he is wont to retire to feed.

The Sparrow Hawk is rather a late breeder, eggs being rarely laid before
April. The nest is usually placed half-way up some tree on a large branch,
and is nearly always built against the trunk. It is fairly large, and is always
made of dead sticks, the larger and coarser ones forming the foundation,
smaller and finer ones the shallow cup in which the eggs are laid. The nest
may be found in many kinds of trees, principally in firs in Scotland and in
England in the oak or beech. Curiously enough, the Sparrow Hawk does not
always begin to lay as soon as the nest is finished, but often puts off several days
before depositing the first egg ; she begins to sit as soon as it is laid, and the
others are laid at irregular intervals, so that the nestlings when hatched are
usually of quite different sizes and ages. The nest, and often part of the tree in
the immediate vicinity, are generally covered with a whitish down from the bird's
plumage, and there are usually a few feathers of various descriptions in the nest.

The eggs vary in number from four to six, five being the most common
number in a clutch ; they are rather round in shape, and are very handsomely
marked as a rule. The ground colour is a delicate bluish-green, and the spots,
which are often very bold and striking in outline, are rich reddish-brown of
various shades. Some specimens are so sparingly marked that the spots are
almost invisible, while others are richly clouded and spotted all over, almost
entirely hiding the ground colour; the markings are often collected together
in a sort of zone round the large end of the egg. They vary in length from
1-7 to i -4 inches, and in breadth from 1-4 to 1-2 inches.

The young when first hatched are covered with a whitish down, fragments
of which still adhere to the feathers for some time after they can fly.

PLATE I
SPARROW HAWK. Accipiter nisus

May 2&//t, 1893.— This Plate was taken from a nest in Gleny Wood, Lake
of Monteith ; it was built half-way up a larch-tree in a very thick part of the
wood, on the steep side of the hill covered with moss-covered rocks. I watched
the male soaring round and round above this part of the wood at a great height
in the air, and guessed there must be a nest somewhere about ; it was very
carefully hidden against the trunk of the tree, and it took me fully an hour to
discover its whereabouts. It was about thirty feet from the ground, and was
entirely built of larch twigs of different thicknesses, the outside ones being
the coarsest ; the whole nest was covered with a whitish down, and had three
or four of the bird's large wing-feathers in it. The female sat very close, as
the five eggs were highly incubated, and she swooped at me twice while I was
climbing up to the nest.

At first I was rather doubtful whether I could get at the nest to photo-
graph it or not, but I managed it in the end by supporting my camera on a
thin branch on the next tree and fastening it to the trunk, so that I could look
across at the nest. I was seriously hampered by the exceeding rottenness of the
branches, as, in a thick wood, the lower branches of a larch are always very
weak and rotten, and break short off at the trunk the moment any weight is
put upon them. I was pretty well cramped by the time I succeeded in taking
two plates of it.

I paid a visit to this nest when the young were fully fledged, and found
the whole place white-washed with their droppings, and strewn with pellets
and feathers. The nest itself was a mass of pellets and feathers, wings of the
Greenfinch, Chaffinch, and Willow Wren, and two or three skulls of mice. The
young birds, of which there were four, were out of the nest, on the slender
branches of the tree, climbing about in a very awkward manner and hanging
on with their bills like parrots.

SPARROW HAWK. .«, , /////r mmi.
| NATURAL SIZE

LESSER BLACK-BACKED

GULL

Larus fuse us

HE Lesser Black-backed Gull is a resident in the British
Islands, and breeds on most of the Scottish coasts and
outlying islands. In some parts of the country, during the
breeding season, colonies of these birds may be seen on
the islands of inland lochs, or even on the swampy parts
of the moors. In England, south of the Fames, it is
extremely local during the breeding season, and in Ireland
it breeds only in one or two favoured localities.

It is not quite so large as the Herring Gull, and, like that bird, does not
assume its adult plumage until after the fourth Autumn moult. It is a
gregarious bird in winter, as well as during the nesting season, and collects
at that time in large flocks on the mud-banks in estuaries, where it may be
seen resting, with one leg tucked up and its head buried among its scapulars,
half asleep, or feeding on the small marine animals which lurk in the little
pools. They may often be seen in small parties sitting on the water and
rising lightly on the crests of the waves.

The food of the Lesser Black-backed Gull consists principally of fish and
small marine creatures of all kinds, and it is fond of frequenting the harbours,
where it picks up all kinds of floating garbage. In spring-time they follow
the plough for the worms and grubs which are turned up, and devour great
quantities of the newly sown grain in sowing -time. When winter comes
round they wander far from their summer haunts, and follow the shoals of
fish round the coast, or make excursions up the larger rivers. The Lesser
Black-backed Gull is a sad robber, and destroys immense quantities of the
eggs, and even the young, of the smaller Gulls, Terns, and Ducks. At the
H 29

time of my visit to the Fame Islands in 1895, they had totally destroyed the
eggs of two colonies of the Sandwich Terns, and we saw them tearing up
the down and carrying off the eggs of the unfortunate Eiders when they left
their nests to feed. The bird is multiplying enormously there, and unless
something is done to check its increase, it will soon drive away all the rarer
and more interesting species from the Islands.

About the end of April the Lesser Black-backed Gulls return to their
accustomed haunts, and begin almost immediately to repair their nests, eggs
being laid during the first week in May. On bare rocky islands the nests are
placed in any convenient niche or crevice, and are large, untidy structures of
dead grass and sea-campion, or even bits of turf. On the Fame Islands,
where the Lesser Black-backed Gull reigns supreme, the nests are placed
among the masses of sea-campion in slight hollows in the ground, and are
entirely composed of pieces of that plant gathered green, sometimes being
only crushed down plants, the eggs laid on the top. In these parts of the
Islands, when the young are hatched, it is very difficult to avoid crushing
some of them, as every tuft of campion has one or two crouching in it, trying
to hide themselves. Some of these colonies of Lesser Black-backed Gulls
increase very rapidly. I remember a pair of these birds taking up their
quarters on Flanders Moss in the valley of the Forth in the spring of 1880 ;
in 1885 we found twenty-one pairs breeding there, in 1891 seventy-six nests
were found, and on my revisiting the colony in 1893 I found a hundred and
thirty-four nests of this species containing three eggs each ; this increase went
on in spite of the war waged against them by the keepers, who took the
eggs and trapped or shot as many old birds as possible. The destruction of
fish in the neighbourhood must have been very great, as besides these birds
there was a colony of Black-headed Gulls — some eight hundred pairs — not
half a mile distant, and almost every nest had the remains of one or two
small trout or parr beside it. The Lesser Black-backed Gull is a very
quarrelsome bird, both at its feeding-grounds and near its nest, and frequently
fights with its neighbours. On the Culbin Sands I once took hold of a pair,
at one of the colonies, with their bills firmly locked in each other's grasp,
flapping furiously with their wings and uttering muffled cries of rage.

The eggs of this species are three in number, and vary much in size,
shape, and colour. The ground colour varies from a dirty white to pale
bluish-green, and from pale buffish-brown to dark brown. They are blotched
and spotted, more rarely streaked, with rich dark brown, very nearly black in
some specimens, and have brownish-grey or purple-grey undermarks. Some

specimens are pretty evenly spotted all over with small markings, others have
few but rather large blotches, and one variety has the markings chiefly at the
large end of the egg, and forming a zone round it. There arc two somewhat
rare and very beautiful varieties, one of which has reddish spots on a light
greenish ground, and the other, which is very rare, has a pale reddish-buff
ground with rich red-brown blotches on it and pale reddish undermarks. I
have only once met with the latter variety, in a colony on the Culbins. The
eggs of the Lesser Black-backed Gull are almost indistinguishable from those
of the Herring Gull, and need most careful identification ; they vary in length
from 2'9 to 2'4 inches, and in breadth from 2'i to r8 inches.

Young in down of this species are greyish-buff on the upper parts and
white on the belly. The head and throat are conspicuously spotted with
black, and the rest of the upper parts have dark brown mottlings. The legs
and feet are flesh-coloured.

-~F~' ^^ESr^VJsESZ

PLATE I
LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL. Larus fuscus

June 4//r, 1895. — The nest depicted in this Plate was photographed on the
Outer Wide -opens, Fame Islands, among the scurvy grass which entirely
covers the greater part of the Island, and was in full flower at the time of
our visit. The nests, of which there were hundreds, were simply bare spots
on which the scurvy grass had either been picked or trampled down, the eggs
being laid in the depression thus formed.

The birds were very bold, and alighted within twelve or fourteen yards
of us, incessantly uttering their alarm notes, and frequently fighting fiercely
with their neighbours. They are inveterate robbers, and we saw them actually
carry off the eggs of their own species when the owner's back was turned.
They also destroyed hundreds of the eggs of other species, but the Common
and Arctic Terns bravely mobbed them and generally drove them successfully
from their colonies.

Although we examined many hundreds of eggs on the Fames, we were
unable to come across the rare and beautiful red variety of the Lesser Black-
backed Gull's egg. There was one very compact colony on Staples Island :
we counted a hundred and seventy-four nests in one piece of ground covered
with masses of sea-campion and riddled with Puffin burrows, into which one
frequently sank up to the knees, so soft was the undermined soil. The Gulls
and Puffins were on the most amicable terms, the latter, no doubt, knowing
that the Gulls could not get at their eggs.

LESSER BLACK BACKED GULL Un,

I NATURAL SIZE.

PLATE II
LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL. Larus fuscus

May lo/A, 1893. — This Plate was taken from a nest on Flanders Moss in the
valley of the Forth. The Lesser Black-backed Gulls choose a dry part of the
moor for their colony, which is somewhat scattered, placing their nests among
the long heather and dwarf bog-myrtle some distance from the large colony
of Black-headed Gulls, who seem to prefer the lower and more swampy part of
the moor. The nests were usually placed on some bare patch beside a large
tuft of heather or bog-myrtle, and were somewhat bulky structures of soft moss
and small bits of dead grass.

The birds were very aggressive while I was at the colony, continually
swooping down at my head, often almost striking me, and I could always
feel the wind from their wings as they rushed past me. I once actually
struck one with my stick as he swooped past. He was quite as astonished
as I was, and did not repeat the experiment, keeping at a respectful distance
during the rest of my visit. Often when I was examining a nest, the owner
would eject a fish or two from its stomach in a vain attempt to scream loud
enough to drive me away. Some of these fish must have weighed nearly
five ounces, and were generally half digested, having little or no skin on
them.

This colony has steadily increased in spite of all the keepers can do
in shooting and trapping them and destroying the eggs and young. They
are not at all a desirable adjunct to a grouse moor, as they destroy many
eggs and probably young birds too, being quite as cunning as the Hooded
Crow and much more rapacious.

m ;

m Us

LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL. Una Fluent.
| NATURAL SIZE.

ROSEATE TERN

Sterna dougalli

Roseate Tern is the rarest of all our British-breeding
Terns, and very few of its breeding-places are known.
It is usually found in company with numbers of the
Common or the Arctic Tern, generally nesting among
their colonies. It has, however, been recorded as breeding
on the islands off the coast of Lancashire, on the Fame
Islands off Northumberland, and on one or two of the islands
off the coast of Scotland. Its chief breeding-places are on the American coasts.

It is a most graceful bird on the wing, and may be generally recognised
by its short wings and long, forked tail. It is about the same size as the
Common Tern, but the adults often have the under parts suffused with a
beautiful roseate tinge. It is essentially a sea-coast bird, its food consisting
of small fish, which it catches in the same manner as its congeners, hovering
in the air like a miniature kestrel, and pouncing down on its prey to rise
immediately with a tiny fish held by the head.

The call note of the Roseate Tern is a long-drawn ' krr-cee} rather like
that of the Common and Arctic Terns, but much more shrill and prolonged.
When disturbed at its breeding-haunts, besides the usual ' klk-klk-klk ' which
is common to all the Terns, it has a long piping note, ' kce-ec-ee,1 almost like
a whistle, which can readily be distinguished among the babel of cries raised
by the accompanying throng of Common and Arctic Terns.

In this country the Roseate Terns arrive at their breeding-stations about
the last week of April, and begin to lay about the end of May. On my
visit to the Fame Islands in June 1893, I distinguished the cry of the
Roseate Tern among the screaming of the hundreds of Common Terns on
Staples Island, and after much trouble, and nearly an hour's patient watching,
I succeeded in marking the three birds to their respective nests. As far
K 37

as I could make out these were the only three pairs on the Fames that year,
and all the nests were quite close together on a stretch of shelving rock
covered with lichens and sea-pink.

On the 2Oth May 1887, I observed two pairs of Roseate Terns on the
Bar off the Culbin Sands, Morayshire, and spent the greater part of the
day in watching them, and with great difficulty managed to find the nest
of one pair containing three eggs. The birds were very shy, and though I
was well concealed some distance from the nest, and the eggs were slightly
incubated, the female flew about for nearly two hours before she at length
went on to the nest. It was merely a depression in the sand with a few little
bits of bent round it. The bird stood with her wings elevated for a few
seconds before settling on to her eggs. The other pair quite baffled me. I
returned to the Bar on the 26th, and again saw the Roseate Terns, and
succeeded in finding two more nests after a day's careful watching, as there
were many nests of the Common Tern quite close. I spent two or three days
watching these birds, and counted seven pairs altogether on the Bar; two of
these were not nesting, as far as I could make out. Their habits do not
apparently differ from those of the Common and the Arctic Terns. The male is
very attentive to his mate while she is sitting, and often hovers over her in the
air, calling to her. He feeds her on the nest with small fish, and I twice saw
one carry a large sand-eel to the sitting bird, when they both devoured it,
tearing it up and eating it in little pieces. I endeavoured to find out whether
they returned the following year ; but Tern colonies are most unaccountably
shifty, especially if subjected to any disturbance or uneasiness, and as far as
I can learn, no Roseate Terns have been since seen at their haunts on the
old Bar.

The eggs of the Roseate Tern vary in number from two to three, and are
difficult to distinguish from those of the Common and Arctic Terns. The
ground colour varies from pale buff to brown, more rarely pale olive -green.
The surface markings are dark brown, sometimes nearly black, and generally
are more like streaks than spots, each streak being slightly shaded towards
one end ; the underlying marks bear the same character, and are pale blue-grey.
The eggs are generally more pointed than the average Common Tern's egg, and
have a slightly pointed large end, and the texture of the shell is finer as a rule.
They vary in length from 1-7 to 1-6 inches, and in breadth from 1-3 to i-i
inches.

Young in down are pale buff on the upper parts, blotched and spotted
with grey and white, and are white on the under parts.

PLATE I
ROSEATE TERN. Sterna dougalli

June io//f, 1893. — This nest was one of three identified on Staples Island,
at the Fames. I distinctly made out the cry of these birds among the
thousands of screaming Common Terns all round, and with the aid of my
•J.t -M-> succeeded \\\ n .u:jii\ locating tiu-ir nesting-place, I then ambuscaded
myself near the place, and after a long and patient wait was at length able to
watch the three birds to their nests.

The Roseate Terns were very shy, and though all the Common Terns had
been sitting for some time on their eggs, none of the Roseates would go near
t/teir nests, but flew backwards and forwards calling to each other, now and
then hovering in the air with their long, forked tails pointing downwards.
I saw only four birds, and three of these had nests ; so I came to the conclusion
that there were three pairs, and that the other two males must be away some-
where feeding.

After a long, weary watch, one of the birds hovered in the air, then
dropped a few feet, hovered again, and so on till it alighted at its nest. The
other two soon followed suit, while the fourth flew out to sea and disappeared.
I gave them a few minutes' grace, and then stood up, keeping my eye on
them ; they were the first to rise. I walked quickly up to the spot, and found
the three nests quite close together on a sloping, lichen-covered rock ; the nearest
Common Tern's nest was some ten feet away. None of the Roseate Terns
had made any nest; the eggs were simply laid on the little plants of sea-pink
which grew out of the crevices in the rock. Two of the nests contained two
eggs each, and the third three.

There is apparently very little difference between the habits of this species
and those of the Common and Arctic Terns at the nest. The flight of the
Roseate Tern is rather more jerky, and it is slightly quicker in the movement
of its wings, which are shorter than those of the other two species.

ROSEATE TERN. Sttnu <b*g*Ui.
\ NATURAL SIZE.

, •••

AMD m

WBLLOW WREM •

THE COOT

Fulzca atra

Coot is a common resident in the British Islands, and
frequents the margin of most of our larger sheets of
water, ponds, and sluggish rivers. It is a resident on
the Hebrides and Orkneys, but is only a visitor to the
Shetlands. It is much more local in its distribution
than the Waterhen, and, unlike that bird, is often to be
seen in large numbers on the coast during a hard winter;
there it prefers mud-flats and low-lying grassy ground covered at high
tide, and deeply dented by innumerable little creeks, which afford excellent
feeding-ground at low water. In such places it may often be seen during
winter feeding among the sea-grass and other salt-water plants.

The Coot is not a land bird, although it is not ungainly in its movements
while feeding on the banks of the loch or pond where it has taken up its
abode ; but it is certainly more at home on the water, where it swims and dives
with great ease, and progresses in the same peculiarly jerky way as the
\Yaterhen. It may often be seen floating on the water with its head buried
among its feathers, apparently asleep, and will remain for a long time in the
same place. When alarmed it usually dives, and will swim a long distance
under water to the nearest cover. It only takes to its wings as a last resource,
flying clumsily along the surface with its legs trailing in the water for some
distance before getting fairly on the wing; once fairly started, however, it
can fly with great rapidity. It is very wary in a wild state, and, as it feeds
during the day, often prevents the sportsman from approaching the flocks of
ducks and sea-fowl by giving the alarm. During the breeding-season it may
often be seen late at night flying round and round above the reeds, where its
mate is sitting, uttering its curious note.

The Coot is a much later breeder than the Waterhen, and seldom begins
L 41

nesting operations before the middle of April, and full clutches of its eggs
can hardly be found before the beginning of May. The nest is a large
untidy structure, loosely built — a big heap of dead reeds, water-plants, and
leaves, whatever comes handy — and is most often placed in shallow water
among tall reeds or rushes, the foundation being made on the bottom. It
is usually tied to the surrounding reeds, and is much more carefully built
inside, being lined with the dead leaves of reeds. The nest is sometimes
built among the large weeds on the banks of the lake, or on the half-submerged
branches of some tree which has fallen into the water among reeds or rushes.
Often it is built on a mass of floating reeds caught among some patch of
water-plants.

The Coot sits very closely, and slips quietly away into the water on the
approach of danger, skulking among the reeds and rushes not far from its
nest. I remember being intensely amused at an old Coot who tried to conceal
herself after the manner of that wise bird the Ostrich. I observed her
sitting on her nest, and as she appeared to be unusually tame, I cautiously
approached in my boat to try and get a photograph of her. Just as I was
getting within range she stood up in the nest, and, after looking at me for
a few seconds with her head on one side, she turned her back on me and
quietly hid her head among the reeds and leaves over the far side of the
nest. She stood there for some time — a great, conspicuous object showing
black against the light colour of the dead reeds around. I was so overcome
that I made some slight noise putting up my camera, and she slowly
disappeared over the side of the nest before I could secure a portrait of her.

I have on two occasions observed the Coot remove its eggs from the
nest. The first occasion was on the advent of a high flood. While fishing
one day in a pretty heavy and rising stream on the Forth, I saw a Coot
swimming to the shore from a small island of reeds carrying something in its
bill and pressed against its breast. On going closer I found it was an egg.
I saw her carry four eggs to a rough nest on the bank before the nest in
the patch of reeds was submerged. I have reason to believe that the young
birds were safely hatched out from the new nest. On the other occasion the
rats had carried off several of the eggs from a Coot's nest on the banks of
a small pond at home, and I saw the old Coot carrying an egg, held in her
bill and supported on her breast, to an overhanging rhododendron on a small
island near. On investigation I found three Coot's eggs in an old Waterhen's
nest; the bird, however, did not succeed in hatching them out.

From seven to twelve eggs are usually laid by the Coot, sometimes as

many as fourteen, though nine is an average clutch. They are pale huff — very
nearly white — in ground colour, spotted pretty evenly all over with small very
dark broun >pecks varying from the size of a pin's head to tiny dots, and in
some cases there are a few greyish undermarkings. They differ very con-
siderably in size even in the same clutch, and vary in length from 2'2 to 2-o
inches, and in breadth from 1*5 to ri inches. They are quite unlike the eggs
of any other British bird.

Young in down are black, some of the filaments on the head and neck
being tipped with white and red, the tip of the bill is bluish white with a black
spot on the point, the base of the bill is scarlet shading into orange on the
face, and there is a bluish stripe above each eye extending to the ear.

PLATE I
THE COOT. Fulica atra

April 26///, 1893. — The nest from which this Plate was taken was chosen
from some eight or nine examined, during one afternoon, in a huge reed-bed
among the shallows on the south shore of the Lake of Monteith. All the
nests contained their full complement of eggs, as the season was warm and
early.

The nest which I photographed was evidently repaired from year to year,
as the decaying reeds of the old nests had formed quite a little mound, on
the summit of which the new nest was placed. It was built entirely of
pieces of the dead reeds growing around, and lined with their dry leaves,
beautifully plaited into the coarser reeds of the nest, and contained nine eggs,
slightly incubated. The old bird sat quietly on the nest until I got within
twenty yards of her, then she got up, and, slipping very quietly into the water,
swam quickly away among the reeds. She kept anxiously moving about all
the time I was getting my camera placed, and continually uttered her peculiar
note, which cannot be described on paper, no doubt intending to remind me
that the eggs were getting cold.

I had great difficulty in getting my camera set up, as the bottom of
the lake was so swampy that the legs sank right in, and the boat was too
unsteady; however, I managed to prevent their sinking altogether by lashing the
stretchers from the boat across them, and procured satisfactory photographs.

I retired to a little distance and lay down in the boat, watching through
my glasses. The old bird returned after a few minutes, and cautiously went
on to the nest. She carefully turned all the eggs with her bill before settling
herself on the nest. It was most amusing to watch how carefully she
arranged the reeds on the edge of the nest all round her, giving them little
dabs with her bill. When she had got them all settled to her liking, she
buried her head among her scapulars and apparently went to sleep.

COOT. Fmlua ain.
>/4 NATURAL SIZE

, -.• :

PLATE II
THE COOT. Fulica atra

May 5//r, 1895.- -The nest depicted here is a very fair type of the floating
Coot's nest, which is generally a heap of reeds or grass built on some mass of
water-plants, or simply anchored among the growing reeds. This nest was
entirely composed of floating reeds, anchored to the few straggling ones growing
up from the bottom in some five feet of water, on the outskirts of a thick reed-
bed at the mouth of a burn running into the Lake of Monteith ; on the top
of the floating pile a few smaller pieces of reed formed a sort of cup, which
was lined with dry sedges and dead reed leaves.

The old bird left the nest when I was some fifty or sixty yards away, and
disappeared into the thick masses of reeds, where I could hear her moving
restlessly about and calling every now and then. The nest was a very large
structure, and must have covered a good deal more than a square yard of
surface. It was very conspicuous when the bird was sitting on it, as it was
quite out in the open, at the end of a sort of point in the bed of reeds. It
contained nine perfectly fresh eggs.

I had some difficulty in obtaining a photograph of it, as the water was
too deep to set up the legs on the bottom ; but I managed it by driving an
oar into the mud at the bottom and tying the legs round it, so that the camera
was on the top. I could then incline the oar till the nest was in the centre of
the plate; being alone, however, the boat would always bump against the oar
just as I had it all ready to take off the cap. While changing my plates at
some little distance, I had leisure to watch the return of the old bird ; she-
seemed to have great difficulty in getting on to the nest, as the floating reeds all
round would hardly carry her weight, and seriously interfered with swimming.

COOT. Fulut atr*.
>/r NATURAL SIZE.

/ ..,-, n

SHOVELER

Spatula clypeata

Shoveler is somewhat sparingly distributed throughout
the British Islands, and although a fairly common winter
visitor, is only locally met with during the breeding season.
In the few localities in Scotland, where I have had the
opportunity of observing the Shoveler during the breeding
season, it has greatly increased in number during the
last few years.

Shovelers are never seen in large flocks, as most of our other species of
ducks are ; they usually fly in small parties, sometimes only a pair being seen at
a time ; but these parties of Shovelers generally attach themselves to some large
flock of other ducks. In size it is a somewhat smaller bird than the Mallard,
and like that duck it may often be seen on the coast during the winter, feeding
on the mud-flats when the tide is out. As a rule it prefers lochs and ponds
not far from the sea, solitary lochs, where there are no trees — among moorland
for preference — and where the shores are covered with tall reeds and rushes
growing well out into the shallow water, and plenty of floating weeds and
water-plants.

The food of the Shoveler consists of small insects, fresh-water shrimps,
molluscs, or small fish, and it will occasionally eat young grass-shoots and
buds of water-plants. They do not dive for their food as a rule, but may be
seen, tail upwards, in shallow water feeding on the bottom. Their bills, which
are very broad at the point, are provided with sensitive plates specially adapted
for sifting mud, and they are very fond of paddling about in shallow muddy
water, feeding with their head and neck under the surface.

It is a somewhat silent duck, and its 'quack' is not unlike that of the
Mallard, though hardly so harsh ; on the wing its note is a deep ' giitk-giick-
giick' During the pairing season the males may be constantly seen chasing
the females in the air, and until she begins to sit the female is usually followed
by one or two males every time she leaves the nest to feed.

The Shoveler is rather a late breeder, and does not begin to lay until well
N 49

on in May — even later in some localities. The nest is generally in the open,
well hidden among the long grass or heather, or often in the centre of a rush-
tuft, where the bird tears out the centre of the plant and forms a deepish
hollow, adding a few bits of dry grass or moss, and lining it plentifully with
down, with which she carefully covers the eggs when she leaves the nest to
feed. At first the nest is only slightly lined with dry grass, but as the full
complement of eggs is laid, the down is added and soon forms a beautifully
soft cup. The Shoveler sits very closely — incubation lasting from twenty-
two to twenty-four days — and will only leave her eggs when almost trodden
on. When flushed she flies low and heavily, and plumps down in the water
not far off, restlessly swimming back and forward and turning round and
round, anxiously watching the fate of her nest, and uttering a low ' quaack '
from time to time.

The eggs vary in number from seven to twelve, though nine is perhaps
the most usual number. Only one brood is reared in the year; when the
first nest is destroyed a second is made, but these second nests rarely contain
more than five or six eggs. The eggs are very pale buff, with a slight tinge
of olive-green, and vary in length from 2'2 to i"j inches, and in breadth from
i '5 to 1*4 inches. The flakes of down are not quite so large as those of the
Mallard, and are dark grey in colour with paler centres and very conspicuous
white tips.

Young in down are almost uniform brown on the upper parts, with in-
distinct pale spots ; the under parts are buff colour, darker on the throat, and
they have the dark brown stripe through the eye. When the young are
hatched the female is very attentive to them, and will defend them vigorously.

PLATE I
SHOVELER. Spatula clypeata

May 6//r, 1893. — This was an exceptionally early season in Scotland, and
many birds laid their eggs fully a fortnight earlier than usual. I paid a
visit to a small loch among the moors in South Perthshire, where I had
repeatedly seen Shovelers during late summer. The nest illustrated was
chosen from some seven or eight which we came across on the shores of
the loch. They were placed among the heather, tufts of rushes, and coarse
glass round the edge of the loch, and were never farther than a hundred
yards or so from the water. They were rather deep depressions in the
ground, lined with a little moss or dry grass and a large mass of down.
Some nests contained as many as eleven eggs, though nine was the most
common number.

The birds sat very closely, as the eggs were highly incubated ; but I was
unable to get a photograph of any of them on the nest, as they always
departed hurriedly, just at the critical moment when I was focussing them.

The nest in the photograph was among short heather, grass, and
patches of moss, quite close to the water, and contained nine highly in-
cubated eggs, two of which were already chipped by the chick inside. The
drakes swam about in the middle of the loch in a small party, and were
joined by the ducks disturbed from their nests ; the latter, however, invariably
returned to their nests as soon as we were a little distance away. Photo-
graphy was rather difficult owing to the wind, which made the heather and
grass wave about in a most annoying manner.

I revisited the loch in 1895 on the igth of May, but the season was
very late, and although we found fourteen nests of the Shoveler, none of
them contained more than four eggs. The keeper told me that the ice was
not broken up on the loch till the 2ist of March, and that this made the
birds late.

SHOVELER.

>/j NATURAL SIZE.

K ITTIWAKE GULL

tndactyla

HIS beautiful little Gull is one of the most abundant of its
genus throughout the British Islands, but as it is always
found about the cliffs and rugged headlands or rock faces
on our coasts, during the breeding season, it is only in
districts where these occur that its colonies need be looked
for.

Perhaps the best known of these cliff-sites are the

Bass Rock, the Fame Islands, and Flamborough Head on the east coast; on
the south coast there are many on the rugged coasts of Devon and Cornwall ; the
Kittiwake is also common on the Welsh coast, and on all the rocky islands and
coasts of Scotland, where there are some enormous colonies : it is also common
on the Orkneys and Shetlands and the Hebrides. In Ireland it is also widely
distributed, and breeds in all suitable rocky localities.

The Kittiwake, unlike its congeners, is seldom, if ever, seen feeding in the
fields, preferring to obtain its food on the water, where it may be seen pouncing
down on the myriads of little fish which come up with the tide, reminding one
rather of the actions of the Terns. It is very powerful on the wing, and is
perfectly at home when a gale is blowing, often hanging suspended in the teeth
of the wind, absolutely stationary, without a movement of its extended wings.
The cry of the Kittiwake, from which it takes its name, may be represented by
the syllables ' Kitti-valt — kitti-vah; and does not sound unlike 'get-away — get-
away,' when the birds are disturbed at their nesting-places; it goes through
various modifications as the birds chatter among themselves on the cliffs.

The food of the Kittiwake consists largely of small fish, though it also
takes small crabs and shellfish, and may be seen about many of our harbours
during the winter, picking up small floating scraps of refuse: it also follows
the fishing-boats and picks up the fish which are thrown over as being too
small for sale.

Early in spring the Kittiwakes return to their old breeding-haunts and
o 53

begin to repair their nests. Their favourite breeding-places are on the perpen-
dicular cliffs, rising sheer from the water; here they build their nests on every
available point or ledge, sometimes quite close down to the water. On the Bass
Rock, where the tops of the cliffs are entirely taken up by the Solan Geese, the
Kittiwakes cluster about the base of the cliffs in company with the Guillemots
and Razorbills.

The Kittiwake is much more painstaking in the construction of its nest
than most of the gulls are, though it is usually a very dirty structure outside,
and, like most of the rocks around, is completely white-washed with the droppings
of the birds. The foundation is generally made of little bits of turf or small
plants of sea-pink torn up by the roots, which with much wet, and constantly
being trampled on by the birds, soon becomes a solid mud cake of great dura-
bility ; pieces of seaweed, sea-campion, and green grass are next added, and
the whole is lined with fine dry grass and a few small feathers.

The eggs of the Kittiwake vary in number from two to three, but on rare
occasions four may be found ; they have the ground colour varying from a pale
greenish blue through shades of green and olive to pale buff and brown ; under-
lying shell-markings are pale brown and purple grey, the whole surface being
blotched and spotted with rich red-brown markings. The surface-markings may
be small and pretty evenly distributed over the whole egg, or form a sort of zone
round the large end of it, or, as is sometimes the case, may consist of only two
or three tiny specks of colour, the grey and brown underlying markings being
much larger and more conspicuous. In some specimens the surface-blotches
are very large, and shade away into the underlying marks, — these are by far the
most handsome specimens. The eggs vary but little in size and shape, from
2'2 to 2-o inches in length, and from 1*6 to 1*5 inch in breadth; they cannot
easily be confused with those of any other of our British Gulls.

Young in down are pale grey on the upper parts ; the head and under parts
are pure white slightly tinged with pale brown on the flanks.

As soon as an intruder appears at the colony the air is filled with birds,
anxiously calling with their plaintive cries; they are, however, much more
timid than is usual with the gulls, and rarely swoop at the intruder's head as
most of the other gulls do. They are extremely tame when the eggs become
highly incubated, and may be easily approached within a few feet. I was once
lowered on a rope to photograph two birds on their nests at St. Abb's Head,
and they paid no attention to me, though I dangled on the end of the rope
within nine feet of them, and went through the usual photographic evolutions
with a large focussing-cloth.

PLATE I
KITTIWAKE GULL. Rissa tridactyla

June io///, 1893. — After great difficulty in lowering myself and my camera on
to a narrow ledge of rock in a deep chasm near the ' Pinnacles ' on the Fame
Islands, I succeeded in taking this photograph of a Kittiwake on her nest on
the opposite side. As there was barely room for me to stand on the ledge
with my back against the rock, it was quite impossible for me to set up my
camera on its legs, so I had to hold it in my hands for a two-and-a-half second
exposure, which is not a very easy thing to do.

The bird was exceedingly tame, as far as alighting on the nest was con-
cerned, but she would not settle on to her eggs, and I had to be contented with
a photograph of her sitting on the edge of the nest, and took four plates of her
in various positions.

The nest was made of little bits of turf, and the soil adhering to the roots
of the grass and sea-pink, of which it was composed, had been worked into a
regular concrete with the damp and trampling of the birds' feet. It was lined
with tiny pieces of sea-campion, dry grass, and a few feathers, and contained
three very beautiful eggs, which were evidently pretty nearly hatching, as the
bird was extremely reluctant to leave the nest.

Just below this nest was another, containing newly hatched young birds,
and the parents were very busy feeding them with pieces of fish, which they
disgorged on the side of the nest, and gave in little pieces to them. I was
very anxious to get a photograph of this nest with the old birds feeding their
young, but unfortunately the light was not strong enough so far down in the
chasm, and my plates were all hopelessly under exposed.

K ITT I WAKE QULL

ih NATURAL SIZE.

WATERHEN

Gallznula ckloropus

HE Waterhen, or Moorhen, as it is often called, is generally
to be seen about the shores of our lakes, streams, and
ornamental ponds. It is a very common and widely
distributed resident throughout the British Islands, and
in large ponds full of reeds and overgrown with water-
plants, large numbers of these birds may often be seen
swimming together, splashing through the water after
each other, or swimming along in their curious bobbing manner, catching the
insects off the rushes and water-plants.

It is a very pretty sight to see these graceful birds walking gingerly
along the top of the floating weeds or dense masses of the leaves of the
water-lily. When suddenly alarmed on the water, the Moorhen usually dives
at once and swims with great rapidity under water to the nearest cover of
reeds or water-plants; there it will often lie hid for a considerable length of
time with only its bill projecting above the surface. Like the Grebes, the
Moorhen will dive with its young, holding them under its wing and conveying
them to a place of safety. In severe winters the Waterhen leaves its haunts,
which have been completely frozen up, and betakes itself to some farmyard or
poultry-pen where it contrives to find a living till thaw sets in and it can
return to its usual quarters. On such occasions they are very tame, and
I have often seen them in a poultry-yard feeding among the hens quite
unconcernedly.

The Waterhen is one of our early breeders, especially in a mild early
spring. I have taken their eggs, highly incubated, from a pond near
Callander as early as the 6th of April. It frequently rears two, and some-
times three, broods in the year, the last brood being sometimes very late, as I
once found a nest containing four perfectly fresh eggs at the Lake of Monteith
on the 27th of July ; possibly, however, the second brood had been destroyed.

The nest is not remarkable, as a rule, for its neatness of construction,
being very often little more than a mass of reeds mixed with rank grass and
p 57

rushes, but generally much more carefully finished in the centre. It is often
found concealed among the tall reeds on the edge of the water, sometimes in
the centre of a tuft of rushes, where the birds often drag down the sur-
rounding spikes and form a sort of dome to hide the nest, and, perhaps
most frequently in some patch of reeds or iris quite surrounded by water.
In districts subject to inundation the nest is often built on a fallen tree at
some height from the ground — even in the top of a Pollard willow, or on
the flat branch of a large fir-tree.

Perhaps the most curiously situated nest I have come across was in a
huge old silver fir beside a small pond. About thirty feet from the ground
the tree divided, and formed a large crevice, usually frequented by a pair of
owls ; but on my climbing up on one occasion, instead of the owl flying out as
I expected, out came a Waterhen, and on looking into the crevice I saw her
nest with nine eggs. I spent some time watching the nest when the eggs
were hatching, and saw the old birds carry down seven of the chicks, one
by one, clutched in their long toes. They always dropped them into the
water from a few inches above the surface, and flew along the top of the
water for some distance before alighting, to turn round and watch for a few
seconds before swimming up to the young one with bobbing head and jerking
tail.

The Waterhen usually slips quietly away from her nest at the approach
of danger, generally pulling some of the lining of the nest over the eggs to
conceal them, but if suddenly alarmed she flies off from the nest with her
long legs hanging down, and drops clumsily into the nearest cover, where she
• swims restlessly about, uttering her alarm-notes, which may be represented
by the syllables ' Kik-ik-ik-kek-ek-ek,' or sometimes ' Kerk-kerk-kerk?

The number of eggs laid varies from four to ten, sometimes even as
many as twelve. They are pale buff or pale reddish brown in ground colour,
spotted with reddish brown and grey under-markings. The spots are never
very numerous, and vary in size from small peas to tiny specks ; some
specimens are much more sparingly marked than others, but the ground
colour is never very much hidden, even in the most richly marked specimens.
Very often one egg in the clutch is much more handsomely marked than all
the others, and there is often great disparity in size even in the same clutch.
They. vary in length from 1-9 to i'4 inch, and in breadth from 1-3 to ri
inch. They may be distinguished from the eggs of the Corncrake by their
larger size and heavier shells.

Young in down are black.

PLATE I
WATER HEN. Gallinula chloropus

May 4///, 1895. — This nest was placed in a fallen tree beside a small loch
near Doune, Perthshire. It was fully eight feet above the surface of the
water, and was built on the trunk of a blown-down willow-tree, between two
branches of a large silver fir which had fallen alongside of it. The nest was
entirely constructed of dry, dead reeds, and was lined with dead sedges and
dry reed-leaves, and contained four fresh eggs.

The bird came to and from the nest, along the sloping trunk of the tree,
stepping nimbly over the branches of the silver fir which lay across its path ;
she was so quick and silent in leaving the nest that I only once got a
glimpse of her as she ran down into the water and disappeared into the
reeds, though I stole up very cautiously on two or three occasions.

The first chick was hatched twenty-two days after I discovered the nest
with three eggs in it. The full complement of eggs was nine, one of which
was quite different from the others, and a remarkably beautiful specimen. It
is, however, not an unusual thing to find one egg in a Waterhen's nest with
much larger and more brightly coloured markings than all the others ; I have
taken three very handsome specimens on different occasions from quite
ordinary clutches.

I stumbled suddenly on a stump close to this nest shortly after the
young were hatched, and disturbed the family party, which was quite close ;
the old bird dived immediately with one of the chicks held under its wing,
while the rest of the little black dots scuttled away through the water as
hard as they could to the nearest cover, where I heard them ' peep-peeping '
away to each other.

WATERMEN.

V« NATURAL SIZE.

.,•,

PLATE II
WATERMEN. Gallinula chloropus

May 27///, 1893.— This Plate was taken from a very pretty nest beside a
tiny pool in a swampy piece of ground on the shores of the Lake of Monteith.
It was beautifully concealed among the flowering rushes and cotton-grass,
and was built of pieces of fresh rushes and lined with green grass and leaves
of the meadow-sweet, against the dark green of which the five pale-buff red-
spotted eggs made a lovely contrast.

Both birds were at the nest when I came upon it, and ran away among
the rushes to the water's edge, where I heard them calling to each other.
When I visited the nest about a fortnight later it contained ten eggs, and
two of them were chipped, and next morning as I rowed past the spot in my
boat I saw nine little downy black dots running nimbly about on the top of
the water-lily leaves among the reeds, catching insects, while the two old
birds swam about close at hand, bobbing their heads and jerking their tails
with pride.

This pair reared a second brood beside the same pool, in a new nest not
ten yards from the one in which the first brood was hatched. I discovered
the nest when there were only three eggs in it, on the gth of July. Only
five eggs were laid, and the nest was destroyed by some vermin, as I found
two of the eggs lying sucked within a few feet of the nest. This second nest
was also entirely composed of green rushes and bits of meadow-sweet, and
lined with green grass.

WATERMEN. CW*»l* tUtnftu.
%b NATURAL SIZE.

/ ::, •:.

WILLOW WREN

Pliylloscopus trochilus

HE Willow Wren is the most abundant and most widely
distributed of the warblers throughout Great Britain, and
may be seen during the breeding season in almost every
plantation or wood in the British Islands.

It is one of the first arrivals in spring, and its
little song may be heard in the woods as early as the
second week in April. It is exceptionally fond of copses
of oak and birch with a good undergrowth of bracken and ferns, but there
are very few places where it is not to be seen hopping from twig to twig
diligently searching for insects. Far up the hill-side, where the burn dwindles
to a mere ditch, with a few dwarf birches struggling for existence among the
rocks and peat, we find the Willow Wren singing as gaily as ever, and it is
just as busy hunting insects or uttering its little song among the shrubs in
the ornamental gardens of most of our towns.

The Willow Wren is a very restless bird, and is always on the move,
always hunting for insects, sometimes hanging upside down to examine the
under side of a leaf, or taking a little flight after some fly on the wing,
catching it with quite an audible snap, or hovering under some branch to catch
the insects which lurk in the crannies of the bark. Every now and again
during its search for food it stops to utter its simple song, a few notes
uttered in a descending scale, as it were a series of different pronunciations
of its call-note, ' Who-it? its little throat quivering with the exertion.

The Willow Wren commences the work of nest-building early in May,
and full clutches of its eggs may be taken by the middle of the month. The
female sits very closely, and on being disturbed flutters along the ground
with outspread wings and tail to some bush near at hand, where she utters
her alarm-note, a plaintive ' teu-teti-icu.'

The nest is a very difficult, almost impossible, one to find, — it is so
carefully hidden, and except by putting up the sitting bird or watching her
drop down beside it, defies the most careful search. I remember being very

nearly beaten by one nest. I knew to within a few yards of where it was,
in a small patch of oak and birch, with oak leaves thickly strewn over the
ground, which was covered with small ferns and tufts of grass, but find it
I could not, even with the most systematic searching. I tried approaching
cautiously and trying to put up the sitting bird, but my feet made such a
noise among the dry dead leaves that she always hopped away along the
ground before I saw her, or slipped off the nest when my back was turned.
I got myself hidden a little way off, and watched her for three-quarters of an
hour hopping about among the twigs and small bushes, quite unconcernedly,
as if she had not any nest at all ; but at last she dropped suddenly to the
ground and did not fly up again, so I gave her two or three minutes' grace
and then walked quietly up. She got up when I was still some six yards
distant, and I took then three or four minutes to find the nest. It was almost
entirely hidden among the dead leaves and grass at the base of a small
mound, and was built in a hollow in the ground under an overhanging clod
of moss-covered earth. There was very little nest, but the hole was lined
with a little moss, a few bits of dry grass and a quantity of feathers, and
contained seven very highly incubated eggs.

The Willow Wren's nest is very neatly constructed. It is nearly domed
over, but the eggs are always visible, as the entrance is sloped back towards
the top. It is rather loosely built outside with dry grass, moss, and dead
leaves, according to the surroundings, and lined carefully inside with fine
grass-roots, horse-hair, and a profusion of feathers. It is usually artfully
concealed among the grass at the root of some large weed, tuft of grass, or
broom bush. A very favourite place is where a dead branch has been grown
over with rank grass, and dead leaves, blown by the wind, have lodged
among the twigs.

The number of eggs laid varies from five to eight. They are white in
ground colour, spotted or finely peppered with pale reddish brown ; they have
a delicate creamy tinge when perfectly fresh, but lose it when blown or highly
incubated. Some specimens have the markings nearly all at the large end,
where they form a sort of irregular zone; others are very finely peppered all
over, or, more rarely, the spots are few and rather large. They may be
distinguished from the eggs of the Chiffchaff or Wood Wren by the paler
colour of the markings, and from those of the Tits by the site and shape
of the nest. They vary a good deal in shape as well as in size, some being
long and narrow and others nearly round. They vary in length from 72 to
•55 inch, and in breadth from -50 to '44 inch.

PLATE I
WILLOW WREN. Phylloscopus trochilus

May 24///, 1895. — Returning from fishing one afternoon, I almost stepped
on to this nest. The little bird fluttered away from my very feet, and I saw
the nest almost immediately. It was built in a crevice among the roots of
an old birch stump which had begun to sprout again, and was almost
entirely made of dry grass profusely lined with feathers, and some tiny
pieces of rabbit fur, and contained seven fresh eggs. The bird was remark-
ably tame, and fluttered anxiously about among the twigs and dead stumps
within a few feet of me all the time I was examining the nest.

I had some difficulty in finding it when I returned to photograph it next
day, though I had carefully marked it, as the immediate vicinity of the nest
was littered with dead oak leaves. Now, to my certain knowledge there were
no oak leaves there the day before, and there was no tree of that kind
within forty yards of the nest, neither was there any wind during the night
to blow them there. I am therefore very much inclined to think that the
birds had endeavoured to alter the appearance of the surroundings in order
to conceal the nest and to prevent my finding it again, and had carried the
leaves there themselves. I have an instance on record of a Blackbird's nest
which was adorned with a long strip of lace firmly woven into the side of
the nest, making it quite conspicuous ; this brought frequent visitors, who
generally managed to frighten off the sitting bird during the inspection of
the nest. On the fourth morning after the first discovery of the nest, the
lace was observed hanging in the branches of a fir-tree some fifty yards from
the nest, and the bird was sitting on her five eggs as usual.

WILLOW WREN. PkjlUtctfw tntkihu.
'/, NATURAL

SANDWICH TERN

Sterna cantiaca

HE Sandwich Tern is a regular summer visitor to the
British Islands, breeding in a few favoured localities, of
which perhaps the Fame Islands, off the coast of North-
umberland is the best known. In Scotland it has still
a few breeding-places, though it is much molested. It
frequents at least one county in Ireland during the nesting
season.

The Sandwich Tern is essentially a sea-bird, and is rarely seen any dis-
tance from the coast. It is a very wild and shy bird, and seldom permits
itself to be approached within gun-shot except at its breeding-haunts, where
it can be best observed. Its powers of flight are magnificent, and it may be
seen in the wildest storms hovering in the air above the surf before pouncing
down upon some luckless fish which has come too near the surface. Its food
consists almost entirely of fish, which it catches in the same way as the Solan
Goose, dropping like a stone on them from some height, with almost closed
wings, and raising quite a splash as it strikes the water, invariably reappearing
on the surface with its prey held crosswise by the back of the neck.

The cry of the Sandwich Tern is not easily forgotten when once heard ; it
may be represented by the syllables, ' Kee-ow-wlck! or ' KSrrSrr-rSk. It has
also a call-note resembling the ' Kree* of the Common and Arctic Terns.
During the breeding season they are very fond of chasing each other at some
height in the air, keeping up a continuous chattering call as they wheel and
swoop after each other.

About the middle of April the Sandwich Terns arrive at their breeding-
place, where they spend a few hours daily before departing to their feeding-
grounds, lengthening their stay as the nesting-time approaches. At this time
they will desert their nesting-haunts if subjected to any anxiety or even slight

disturbance, and seek out some quieter spot. Eggs are usually laid about the
last week in May, a little earlier if the season is fine. The Terns do not
trouble themselves much about a nest, — a slight depression in the sand or
gravel, lined with a straw or two, or perhaps a feather, is quite sufficient to
receive the eggs.

I had the good fortune to discover a large colony of these birds on the Bar
off the Culbin Sands in Morayshire, in 1887, and to quote from my Journal : —
'June 2nd, 1887.— At ten o'clock I started to go to the Bar off the Culbin
Sands, and after I had crossed the sandhill and come in sight of the Bar,
I found that the tide would not be out for some time. I got rather tired of
waiting, so I determined to wade, wet or no wet. After I had progressed about
a hundred yards, most of the way above my knees in water, I suddenly
saw a Tern rise from some bent on a roundish island with steep-sloping
banks of gravel all round it. I thought it was a very large bird, so I
whipped out my glasses and looked through them. "That's a Sandwich
Tern," I exclaimed, "and there must be eggs there." So, regardless of wet,
I dashed on through the sea, often up to my waist, to the great astonish-
ment of some fishermen who were digging bait, and reached the Bar. There,
before my eyes, was the long-wished-for prize : one, two, three — dozens of
nests of the Sandwich Tern, none of them with more than one egg, however.
' The nests were mere scratches among the dried seaweed and sea-campion
growing down to high-water mark, some of them among the bare stones,
others on the sand, but none farther than four feet from high-water mark.
Most of the eggs were laid with the small end pointing to the middle of the
nest, and, curiously enough, most of the eggs were pointing with the small
end to the north-east, as if all the birds had been sitting with their heads
to the wind when they laid them. I counted thirty-two nests, and twenty
of them had one egg in each.' This colony, however, was not to be found
on my return next year, but I saw two nests on the gravel banks at the
mouth of the Findhorn.

In 1895, when I visited the Fame Islands, I found two small colonies of
Sandwich Terns on the Wide-opens. The nests were placed on the short
grass between the masses of sea-campion and nettles which cover the islands,
they were simply scratches in the ground, with a few small bits of campion or
grass as lining, often without any at all. The main colony was on the adjacent
island, which may be reached on foot at low tide, if the ornithologist does
not object to a few somewhat sudden and painful falls, as the intervening
stretch of slimy and seaweed-covered boulders is most treacherous to walk on.

The nests here \\ere plarrd «>n the gravel aim UK; the dry seaweed and drift-
wood above high-water mark.

Tin e^s of the Sandwich Tern are very handsome. The ground-colour
\aries from huffish brown to pure white, cream colour being the commonest;
there is also a faint olive-green variety, but this is rare. The surface spots
are dark brown, sometimes a purple black or rich red brown. The under-
markings, which are generally very conspicuous, are pale grey or greenish
purple. The surface-markings are almost endless in their variety of size,
shape, and colour; some specimens are covered with delicately shaded streaks,
lying diagonally to the longer axis of the egg, others have most of the marks
at the larger end, forming a zone, and some have curious scrawling marks all
over them. Perhaps the most handsome variety is that on which a huge fantas-
tically-shaped blotch covers nearly half of the entire surface. They vary in
length from 2'2 to 18 inch, and in breadth from i'5 to 1*2 inch, and are not
easily confused with the eggs of any other British bird.

Young in down are pale grey on the upper parts, speckled and mottled
with greyish black, and pure white on the under parts.

PLATE I
SANDWICH TERN. Sterna cantiaca

June io//t, 1893. — The nest depicted in the Plate was taken on a very inter-
esting expedition to the Fame Islands, off North Sunderland. We drove down
and engaged a boat from Cuthbertson to take us across. There was very
little wind, and we had to row most of the way, which was rather tantalising,
as it was a lovely bright day, and I wanted to do as much as possible
in the time.

The first island we visited was the Inner Wide-open. On our way there
we had seen very few birds, only a few Gulls lazily swimming about or
basking in the sun, but as we approached we could see that the ground was
covered with hundreds of Terns, and when we landed they rose in thousands,
screaming in the air above our heads, and looking like a regular snowstorm.
We soon came upon a colony of Sandwich Tern nests on the short grass
among the huge masses of sea-campion and nettles near the middle of the
island. Some of these patches were more than two feet high, and formed
a splendid shelter for the birds; I counted seventy-two nests, all containing
eggs. The nests were for the most part mere hollows scraped in the short
turf, with a few straws or bits of dry grass to line them, — many of them
without even these scanty preparations. Many of the nests were within a foot
or so of each other, and I obtained a photograph of about four square yards
of ground with six nests on it. In this colony we found two young birds
already hatched, and most of the eggs were chipped.

We next examined a small colony of some twenty or thirty nests on the
shore of the same island ; here many of the nests were placed under the shelter
of the plant of sea-campion, which grew quite close down to high-water mark
among the sand. Most of the campion was in full flower, and made a lovely
background for the handsome eggs of the Sandwich Tern.

The largest colony of this species on the Fame Islands was on a small,
low island, joined to the inner Wide-open at low tide by a narrow ridge of
the most slippery seaweed-covered boulders I have ever seen, during the crossing
of which I had two sudden and somewhat painful falls. On reaching the other

side a perfect cloud of screaming Sandwich Terns rose to greet us, and on a
mound of gravel and sand covered with bents and dead seaweed was the great
colony. There must have been over two hundred nests, all quite close
together, most of them being mere scratches in the ground, sand, or gravel,
without lining of any sort. The eggs were frequently laid close to some
large stone or piece of driftwood. They were usually three in number,
sometimes only two, and we saw one nest with four in it. The Plate annexed
is from one of these nests.

After I had taken as many photos as I required we withdrew and watched
the birds returning to their nests. They were very bold, and came in quite
close to us and alighted at their nests not twelve yards off. I tried several
plates of them on the wing, but though my shutter was working at a
twentieth of a second it was not nearly fast enough to bring out their wings
with any distinctness. Many of the birds had performed two beats of their
wings during the exposure !

SANDWICH TERN. Sltm* ta*tiac*.
>h NATURAL SIZE.

SHELD-DUCK

Tadorna cornuta

HE Common Sheldrake is a resident in the British Islands,
and is distributed more or less abundantly on all the
suitable parts of our coasts. It is, however, much more
abundant in little-frequented districts, owing to the way
in which it is persecuted in many localities. It wanders
far from its usual haunts during late autumn and winter,
and is then much more universally distributed.

It is exclusively a marine bird in most parts of the country, and frequents
the sandy portions of our coasts, especially where the sand is blown into hills
and covered with bents. It is rather a shy bird, even during the breeding
season, and remains more or less gregarious all the year round. Its flight
is slow and laboured, rather more like that of a goose than a duck. It is
somewhat larger than a Mallard, and is one of our most handsomely
plumaged ducks, the white, black, and rich chestnut of its plumage forming
a pleasing combination. On land they walk with ease like a goose, and
resemble that bird in their habits to a large extent. They are fond of
frequenting the grass fields in early morning, not so much for the sake of the
young grass shoots as for the slugs and worms which they devour greedily.

The call -note of the Sheldrake is a harsh ' quddck,' not unlike that of
the Mallard. During the breeding season the male has a clear, rapidly
repeated whistle, and his alarm-note to his mate is a deep ' Kow-kow-kow.'

The food of the Sheldrake consists of seaweeds, molluscs, and various
kinds of marine animals which it obtains on the sea-shore ; it also frequents
the pools of brackish water, and little ponds of fresh water near the coast,
where it procures various water -insects and the buds and roots of aquatic
plants. It does not dive for its food, but may be seen in the shallow water
head downwards, with only its tail visible, feeding on the bottom.
T 73

The Sheldrake is an early breeder when it is not disturbed, and eggs
may often be found by the end of April ; but in places where it is subjected
to much molestation, and the first laying is removed, fresh eggs may be
taken as late as the second week in June. The Sheldrake always breeds in
a burrow, never in the open, so far as is known, generally choosing the
deserted burrow of a rabbit, sometimes driving out the occupant. It is not
an uncommon thing to find a Sheldrake's nest in a burrow still occupied by
the rabbits, though the nest on these occasions is usually in some cttl-de-sac,
and not in the main tunnel. The nest is usually from four to ten feet from
the mouth of the hole, which is widened out into a chamber to receive the
eggs. In places where rabbit-holes are scarce, the birds frequently excavate
a burrow for themselves ; it is generally more or less crooked, as if the
birds followed the softest part of the soil, and varies from five to ten feet in
length, with a large chamber at the end, in which the nest is placed.

It has been said that the male does not assist the female either in the
incubation of the eggs or in the construction of the nest. I think, however,
that this is open to doubt. I have taken both old birds from a burrow in
which the nest was barely completed ; I watched the duck go down the hole
with her bill full of dry grass and promptly blocked up the orifice. On
excavating the burrow, which was some five feet long and quite near the
surface, I found both the duck and drake in the nest-chamber, which was all
ready for the reception of the eggs.

From seven to twelve eggs are usually laid, but on some occasions as
many as sixteen have been found, and the number is often increased by the
judicious removal of the eggs as they are laid, care being taken to leave three
or four always in the nest. They are white, slightly tinged with cream
colour, with a somewhat smooth texture, and vary from 2 '8 to 2 '4 inches in
length, and from 2'i to r8 inches in breadth. The nest-chamber is slightly
lined with a little dry grass and moss and a profusion of light-coloured down,
and on this the eggs are laid. The duck always covers her eggs carefully
with the down before leaving the nest, incubation lasting from twenty-four
to twenty-six days. The down is very pale in colour, as is usually the case
with ducks which breed in holes, and is a beautiful lavender-grey, mixed with
little white tufts and a few chestnut-tipped feathers.

Young in down are dark greyish brown on the upper parts and the
forehead, sides of the head and neck, wings, rump, scapulary regions, and
under parts are pure white. The bill, legs, and feet are flesh-coloured.

PLATE I
SHELD-DUCK. Tadorna cornuta

June i9///, 1893. — Coming along the Culbin Sands one afternoon with my
camera, I saw a Sheldrake with her brood of newly hatched young ones
making for the sea. When she caught sight of me she at once led them
back to the burrow where they had been hatched, and disappeared down it
with them. The old drake meanwhile flew round and round me whistling
and uttering a deep ' kow-kow.' I stole quietly up to the hole; two of the
ducklings were crouching at the mouth of it, and I could just see the white
breasts of some of the others far down inside. I cautiously set up my
camera and got a very good photograph of them.

I then withdrew to some distance and lit my pipe, watching through the
bents from the top of a small sandhill. In about a quarter of an hour the
drake came flying round and round whistling and calling to his mate. After
seeing that all was apparently safe he alighted about ten or twelve yards
from the hole and began running backwards and forwards calling. Presently
a little duckling ran out of the hole, then another and another, till they were
all out, the duck appearing last, shaking the sand from her plumage. The
whole family then made off to the sea, and I watched them disappear over a
large sandhill in the distance, leaving their tracks behind them in the soft sand.

In 1887 I carried home nine young Sheldrakes from the Culbins and put
them on an ornamental pond near the house. A Mallard had brought out
her young then, but they had all been killed by the swans, who, having a
nest, jealously guarded the pond from all intruders. My astonishment was
great, when I visited the pond next day to see how the Sheldrakes had fared, to
observe the old Mallard swimming along beside the overhanging bushes with
all the little Sheldrakes in a bunch following her. They were much too
smart at diving for the swans to catch them, and the Mallard tended them
till they could fly, when they disappeared one by one, except a single
individual who had been pinioned.

SH ELD-DUCK. Tfcfe

>/, NATURAL SIZE.

Pl»li I.

PLATE II
SHELD-DUCK. Tadorna cornuta

/line 5///, 1893. — This photograph was taken from a nest which we dug open
on Tents Muir, Fife, to show the eggs, as they lay in their bed of down.
We saw the tracks of the birds in the sand at the mouth of the rabbit-hole,
and concluded that it must contain a nest. We had no proper implements
to dig with, and had to work a passage along the line of the hole with
walking-sticks, scraping the loosened sand away with our hands. On reaching
the nest-chamber I found that the old bird was on, but she made her escape
by another hole. We spread a handkerchief over the eggs and down, while
we removed the part above the nest, to prevent the loosened sand from cover-
ing everything up, and I took two photographs of the down and eggs.

The nest was about five feet from the mouth of the hole, and about
two and a half feet from the surface of the ground ; it was made of a few
scraps of bent and dry grass and a large mass of down, among which the
eggs were almost hidden. This nest was almost a mile from the sea in
a very dry part of the moor. We did not see any of the Drakes in the
vicinity, though we found three or four occupied burrows.

On the Culbin Sands in Moray I used to see the drakes coming between
five and six o'clock in the afternoon to escort the ducks to the feeding-grounds.
They would fly round and round uttering their curious whistle, and calling
to the ducks, who always joined them after a few minutes, and flew off with
them. I used to wonder how the sitting bird could hear her mate calling,
when she was so far down the hole.

u 77

SHELD-DUCK.

V« NATURAL SIZE.

/ , . tt

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r.Vv ..?^>. sr — <=e

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TIT • 2 PLATES
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UTYLE ©KEISE
4 GOLOEW PLOVER • • I

LONG-TAILED TIT

Acrediila can data

HE Long-tailed Tit is a common and widely distributed
resident in England, and is to be found in most woods,
plantations, and hedgerows. In Scotland and Ireland
it is much more locally distributed, but may often be
seen in the more open parts of the woods and in small
thickets.

It is perhaps the most interesting to watch of all the

Tits, especially during the winter, when they fly along some tall hedgerow
or line of trees in a family, eagerly searching each twig and branch for the
insects on which they feed. They do not, as a rule, associate with any of
the other Tits, but prefer to make their own family party. They are very
restless little birds, and seem to be always on the move, perpetually hunting
each tree for insects, or catching the gnats as they dance in the air among
the branches, during which latter performance they hang suspended in the
air, tail downwards, with their little wings moving rapidly, taking their prey
afterwards to some twig to devour. They may be seen all over the tree,
some up in the top, mere tiny dots, others busily searching the lowest twigs,
or even the undergrowth beneath the tree; then they begin to leave the tree
one at a time, never very far away from each other, flying along slowly with
their curious undulating flight, uttering their call-note ' Zee-zec-zee-krr-kjrrrj
which once heard is not often forgotten.

When the pairing season sets in, the families of Long-tailed Tits break
up and disperse to seek nesting-places among the woods, plantations, and
bushes. The Long-tailed Tit — unlike its congeners — builds a nest in the
branches of trees or bushes, certainly the most beautifully constructed nest
of any bird in the British Islands. It may be found in the fork of an
elm-tree or a lichen-covered oak, or in the top of a blackthorn, juniper, or
x 79

whin-bush, generally not very far from the ground, but sometimes quite high
up ; one nest was shown me in Fife, in the fork of an elm full thirty feet
from the ground. I found another in Perthshire on the branch of a spruce
fir, which must have been fully forty feet from the ground.

The nest is somewhat oval, like that of the Common Wren, the entrance to
it being by a hole in the side near the top. It is built of moss and lichens,
sewed or woven together with horse-hair and cobwebs, and lined with a pro-
fusion of feathers, hairs, and tiny bits of rabbit-fur. On one occasion I was
standing within a few feet of a nest in the fork of an oak tree, watching the
birds, and was quite surprised to see the amount of trouble they bestowed on
the construction of it. One of the little birds arrived with a feather, and
disappeared with it into the half-finished nest, the other bird remained sitting
on the outside of the nest; the bird inside seemed to be very busy, as the
side of the nest heaved convulsively every now and then. Suddenly the one
outside seized something which had been thrust through the wall of the nest,
and pulled through about half of the feather, which it proceeded to weave into
the outside of the nest. I saw this operation repeated many times ; sometimes
a horse-hair was substituted for the feather, and in that case the weaving
took much longer, and was more intricate. The finishing touch to the nest
consisted in covering the entire outside of it with tiny bits of bright green
moss and silvery-white lichens, which were fastened and woven on to it with
cobwebs, until the whole nest was almost indistinguishable from the tree itself.
I noticed that the little bird always flew to some distance for the moss and
lichens, and never took any from the tree in which the nest was, though it
was entirely covered with the same kind of moss and lichen that they were
using.

Some of the most beautiful nests I have ever seen have been placed in
whin-bushes, and the lovely contrast made by the dark green spikes, bright
yellow blossoms, and silver-white lichens on the nest, quite defies description.
The nest takes a long time to complete. I have known a pair to work at
their nest for nearly three weeks before it was ready for the first egg. As a
rule, eggs are not laid before the end of April, and after the female has begun
to sit she is fed most assiduously by the male, who brings the food to the
nest and feeds her through the hole. Their food consists almost entirely of
insects, chiefly small flies, gnats, and tiny beetles. I have seen one chase and
successfully capture a large white butterfly, with which it retired to a twig,
devouring the body and rejecting the wings, which it allowed to flutter to
the ground like scraps of paper.

The eggs of the Long-tailed Tit vary in number from seven to twelve or
fourteen ; in some cases even more are laid, though such are extremely rare.
They are rather less spotted than the eggs of most of the Tits, and are pure
white in ground colour, very sparingly spotted with faint light red and still
fainter purple grey under-mark. Some specimens are quite spotless. Before
being blown they have a delicate pink tinge if quite fresh, but lose it when
incubated. They vary in length from -64 to -51 inch, and in breadth from
•50 to -41 inch.

When the young are hatched the work of feeding them begins, and how
these tiny creatures manage to collect food for such a large family is truly
wonderful ; they are hard at work from dawn to sunset, going backwards and
forwards to the nest, never seeming to tire, till the day comes when the young
can fly and catch for themselves.

PLATE I
LONG-TAILED TIT. Acredula caudata

May \-]tli, 1895. — This nest was photographed in a small wood close to the
river Teith, near Callander, Perthshire. I was watching a Wood Wren to see
if I could find its nest when I saw two Long-tailed Tits fly past, each with
something in its bill. I hurried after them, and saw them disappear into a
fir-tree, where I lost sight of them ; in a few minutes I heard them again on
the other side of the tree, but they flew away just as I got round. I waited
there a few minutes, and they came back and alighted on a small juniper
bush, into which they flew one at a time; I went up to it and there was the
nest. It was most beautifully built of moss and hair, and was covered all
over with cobwebs and little bits of lichens, and lined with feathers, chiefly
those of the cock-pheasant.

The nest contained nine young birds, which could not have been hatched
more than two or three days, and the old birds were very busy feeding them.
After I had taken a couple of photos of the nest, I sat down and watched
the two old birds for nearly half an hour, during which time they each arrived
with food eleven times, and always together, though one often left the
nest before the other was ready to go. One would suppose that this would
become monotonous, but the little birds seemed to be quite happy, and flew
about collecting food for the young ones, continually calling to each other,
and sometimes chasing each other round and round the trees. While feeding
the young birds the old one disappeared right into the nest, and stayed in it
for about half a minute.

The chief article of food seemed to be a small green fly found on the
under side of the birch leaves, as the birds were very busy in these trees,
hanging upside down and searching the under side of each leaf; they ap-
peared to collect quite a mouthful of flies before returning to the nest, and
always waited for each other.

LONG-TAILED TIT. AtmlaU <tu*Ut*.
>/, NATURAL SIZE.

I . . .'

PLATE II
LONG-TAILED TIT. Acredula caudata

May iy///, 1895. — This Plate was taken from a nest in a small lichen-covered
oak in a small copse near Callander. I found it when the little birds had
just begun to build it, and they took very nearly three weeks to complete it,
though they worked at it incessantly; it was gradually built up from the
bottom, and the hole at the top was the last to be finished off. The birds
were very tame and allowed me to stand within ten feet of the nest while
they worked at it.

Eleven eggs were laid and incubation was commenced before the last
egg was laid, the male feeding the sitting bird and attending to her most
assiduously. I used to see both birds flying about the bushes and trees
in the neighbourhood of the nest about mid-day, chasing each other about
among the branches and catching flies, but the female was rarely absent from
the nest for more than half an hour at a time, and never went far away. If
I approached the nest while she was off, she came back before I had been
there half a minute, and scolded me from among the branches of the tree.

On the twenty-third day from the laying of the first egg, there were two
little birds out of the shell, and the rest of the eggs hatched during the next
two days. After that, the work of feeding the young ones began, and the
parents vied with each other in their attentions to the nestlings ; they were a
very loving couple, and generally kept together during the search for food,
chasing each other every now and then and flirting in the most barefaced
manner. I saw the whole family party about three weeks later hunting for
insects among the trees ; the young birds were rather duller in colour than
their parents, and their tails were somewhat shorter; otherwise they were
almost indistinguishable.

LONG-TAILED TIT. A<r*tul* ttuJaia.
II, NATURAL SIZE

BLACK-HEADED GULL

JLartis ndtbundus

HI£ Black-headed Gull is perhaps the most common of its
genus throughout the British Islands, and though its
colonies do not approach those of the Kittiwake in size,
they are far more numerous. It is a resident in the
British Islands, and frequents our coasts during the
winter, being much commoner on the English and Irish
coasts at that season; it is in Scotland and Ireland,
however, that most of its colonies are to be found, as it retires inland during
spring and summer to the swampy moors and lochs to breed.

The food of the Black-headed Gull consists chiefly of small fish, crus-
taceans, and marine animals during the winter, but in spring and summer,
when inland, they feed largely on insects, small frogs, young trout and parr.
They may often be seen following the plough in parties, along with the
Rooks, picking up the earthworms and grubs which are turned up; and a
very pretty picture they make, with their dainty snow-white plumage
gleaming in the sun against the rich brown of the newly turned up soil, as
they hover with outstretched wings in a little cloud, resting now and then
for a minute to pick up some worm, those behind flying forward over the
heads of their companions to a fresh place. They greedily devour the
noxious wireworm, and are very useful in destroying many insects which are
harmful to the crops.

About the middle of March the Black-headed Gulls have returned to
their accustomed haunts inland, and have begun choosing fresh nesting sites
or repairing their last year's nests. On Flanders Moss, in the valley of the
Forth, where there is a large colony, the birds never remained in the vicinity
of the nesting-place at night, during the first two weeks after their arrival,
but retired some two miles off to the Lake of Monteith to sleep on the

water ; during the day, however, they were always in hundreds at their nesting-
place preparing their nests. About the end of April they begin to lay, and
at that time a colony of Black-headed Gulls is a very animated sight.

Not long ago I visited a very picturesque colony of these birds on a
small loch in South Perthshire. On our approach the whole colony rose in
the air amid dead silence, broken only by the rush of thousands of wings ;
once fairly in the air, however, a perfect Babel ensued, the cries being almost
deafening at times. They wheeled in companies and battalions, crossing and
recrossing each other till they exactly resembled a whirling snowstorm, while
every now and then some bold individual would swoop down within a few
inches of our heads, rising again with loud cries of remonstrance at our
intrusion. As the alarm subsided a large crowd of birds would alight on
the water close to us, every one with its head to the wind, and would rise
after a minute or so in a body to wheel round and round us with renewed
cries. The birds soon quieted down and returned to their nests, and very
conspicuous they looked against the dark green of the rushes and sedges.
The nests were placed among the reeds, sedges, and coarse grass growing
on some acres of swampy ground round the edge of the loch, and on a
treacherous floating island, where the ground caved down beneath the weight
of a person walking on it ; they were built of reeds, grass, and horse-tail, and
were usually flat, untidy structures, often with some large untidy weed, pulled
up with the earth still adhering to the roots, and wound round the outside
of the nest. All the time we were at the nests the slightest alarm raised
hundreds of birds, and we could make the entire colony take to their wings
by simply waving our arms. On the slopes of short dry grass round the
edges of the loch were many ' preening -places,' such as are found at all
colonies of Black-head and other Gulls, the whole grass being trampled flat
and whitewashed by the droppings of the birds, while thousands of feathers
of all sizes lay around. We noticed a great many dead Gulls lying about,
both on the edges of the loch and near the nests, and actually saw one fall
from a good height, quite dead. On dissection the bird proved to be very
anaemic, and its stomach was perfectly empty, though its body was in good
condition, and apparently well nourished. I have seen this happen at two or
three colonies of this species, and have never had it satisfactorily explained.

The call -note of the Black-headed Gull may be represented by the
syllables ' Kree-dh-kree-dh^ but when they are disturbed at their nests one
may hear all sorts of cries, such as ' Krii-krfi-krit ', or ' Kik-kikj sometimes
' Kr-kr-kr? or ' Kdrr-kdrr' and ' Kree-kree!

During the severe winter of 1894-95 hundreds of Hiack-headed and
Common Gulls came to be fed in the gardens in front of Eglinton Crescent,
Hdinburgh, and sat on the railings and garden seats waiting till their food
was thrown out ; they appeared regularly every morning during the severe
frost, and were very tame.

The eggs of the Black-headed Gull vary in number from two to three,
four being occasionally found, and are subject to great variation in size, shape,
and colour. Sometimes the three eggs in one nest will be quite different,
both in colour and in the character of the markings, hence it seems probable
that the birds do not always lay all their eggs in the same nest, as one often
finds two very dark brown eggs and one very pale bluish green egg in one
nest, or two light eggs and a very dark one. The ground colour varies from
a pale bluish green to light buff or very dark brown, blotched, spotted or
fantastically streaked with rich dark brown surface spots, and underlying
spots of greyish brown or purple grey. One variety, which I have often come
across, has no surface spots, and shades from very dark brown on the large
end to pale greenish blue on the small end ; these eggs have usually a very
thin, rough shell. Another very handsome and rare variety is entirely of a
rich red colour. They vary in length from 2'5 to 1*9 inches, and in breadth
from i '5 to i'3. Young in down are buff, palest on the under parts, and
spotted on the upper parts with dark brown.

PLATE 1
BLACK-HEADED GULL. Larus ridibundus

May loM, 1893. — Went across to the colony of Black-headed Gulls on Flanders
Moss, near the Lake of Monteith. When we were more than half a mile from
the colony we could see the ground white with the sitting birds, and a con-
tinual stream of birds passed us on their way to their feeding-grounds, others
returning with small trout to feed their mates on the nests. When we got
within a few hundred yards the entire colony rose amid dead silence ; once on
the wing the cries were deafening, and many of the birds swooped angrily at
us as we walked among the nests. We saw a great many fish lying about
both in and round the nests, many of them headless.

We saw hundreds of nests, most of them containing three eggs, but some
only two. The birds generally begin to lay here about the beginning of the
last week in April, and fresh eggs are not easily obtained after the first week
in May. Most of the nests were in very swampy places, on little tufts of
heather or grass, among pools of water full of rank moss growing up to
the surface ; such nests were usually flat flimsy structures of reeds and grass.
Those which were built on dry places among the long heather were much
more carefully built ; they were always on the top of the heather, never on the
ground among it, and were, as a rule, rather bulky structures of heather and
rank grass, lined with fine grass.

I photographed one of the most typical nests I could select, and the annexed
Plate is taken from it. It contained one of the curiously shaded eggs with
a thin shell, and two others quite unlike it. While we were at the nests the
whole colony flew above us at a good height in the air; the chorus of cries
was kept up all the time, each bird calling incessantly ' Klk-klk-klk-krrr-krrrk;
the owners of the nests we were investigating often swooping down on us
with cries of rage, in which case the cry was a long-drawn ' Krrrrrr ' uttered
as they rose again.

BLACK-HEADED GULL. Una

1/4 NATURAL SIZE

LITTLE GREBE

Podtcipes fluviattlts

HE Little Grebe is by far the most widely distributed of
its genus throughout the British Islands, including the
Orkneys and the Outer Hebrides, and breeds in most
districts which are suitable to its habits.

Like its congeners, it is essentially a bird of the water,
preferring small ponds full of reeds and covered with water
plants, or still pools among the more sluggish streams.
It is a most beautiful diver, and obtains most of its food below the surface ;
this consists mainly of water insects, tiny fish, and tadpoles, sometimes even
the buds and tender shoots of the water plants. During the winter it
frequents the larger waters, and may often be seen on the coast in some quiet
estuary with low-lying grassy shores. The Little Grebe is a very shy bird,
and dives immediately on being alarmed, hiding itself among the reeds or
water plants with only its bill above the surface, or skulking among the holes
under the banks.

The Little Grebe usually commences nesting operations about the middle
of April, sometimes a little later; and is known to rear two broods in the
year, the young of the first brood assisting in the management of the second.
The nest is usually a floating mass of water-plants and reeds anchored to some
semi-submerged branch, or tied to and among growing reeds. As a rule it
is a low wet-looking mass of decaying weeds — not at all like a nest, — as the
eggs are invariably covered by the bird with pieces of wet weed taken from
the sides of the nest, before she will leave them.

A very good instance of the extreme care that these birds take to conceal
their eggs was a nest I came across in the reedy backwater of a stream, not
twenty feet from a well to which the villagers came many times in the day
to draw water. By carefully concealing myself within sight of the nest, which
was fairly in the open, I found that the bird covered her eggs carefully
and left the nest every time that any one came to the well. That she did this

2B 93

during the entire period of incubation I am perfectly convinced, as on the three
different occasions on which I watched her for several hours, she never once
departed from this course of action.

There used to be a very well known Little Grebe in the ' narrows ' at
Loch Ard, in Perthshire, which violated all the customs of its predecessors.
Its nest was a lofty pile of black-looking and very rotten weeds, founded on the
submerged branch of a small alder-bush growing out of the bank, without
the faintest vestige of cover anywhere near, and very conspicuous — in fact, almost
a landmark. On the top of this imposing structure the little bird sat in state
upon its eggs, and allowed passing boats to come quite close to it without
paying the slightest attention ; if driven off the nest she quickly dived into
the water without attempting to cover her eggs, and reappeared a few feet
from the nest, close to the bank, where she hung about till the boat moved
on. In the beginning of May 1894 some ruthless person took away her whole
nestful of eggs at one fell swoop, but I observed her in the beginning of July
sitting upon three eggs in the same nest.

This is rather a curious fact, as the Little Grebe is always most particular
about covering her eggs before leaving the nest, and generally dives quietly
away from it, hardly leaving a tell-tale ripple, hiding herself in the nearest
cover till danger is past.

The number of eggs laid varies from three to six, but five is by far the
most common clutch. They are pale cream colour — almost white — when first laid,
but they very soon become a dirty rust colour with the constant wet of the
decaying reeds and the birds' feet. They vary from 1*5 to 1/2 inch in length,
and from i'i to 1*9 inch in breadth, and are always much smaller than the
eggs of any other British-breeding Grebe. They are rather a curious shape,
and have a distinct point at both ends of the egg. Incubation lasts from
eighteen to twenty days, the birds frequently leaving the nest during the hottest
part of the day, when no doubt the heat of the sun and the fermentation of the
decaying reeds are quite sufficient to keep the eggs warm ; in this case the
eggs are not covered.

Young in down are almost black on the upper parts, including the head
and neck upwards from the breast, striped longways with rich chestnut, and
have a white V on the throat, and white under-parts. As soon as the young
are hatched they can swim quite well, and can thoroughly take care of them-
selves at the end of a week, when they can dive quite a long distance. The
old bird is very attentive to them, and if danger threatens them she will dive
away with them, raising her wings and allowing them to creep under.

PLATE I
LITTLE GREBE. Podicipes fluviatilis

May 29/7*, 1895. — This Plate is from a photograph of a nest on a small
loch near Doune, Perthshire. It was built in a shallow bay on the submerged
branches of a willow growing in the shallow water, and contained four fresh eggs.
The bird was on it when I first saw it, but she hastily covered her eggs
with some of the fresh green weeds lying on the nest, and dived quietly
away, and though I stood within a few yards of the nest, I couldn't make
out where she came up.

I lay down among the long grass about twenty yards off and watched
for her return ; she did not keep me long waiting, for she was back again in
about three minutes ; she had evidently dived some way off, as she rose almost
beside the nest. For a second or two she sat motionless on the water, and
then got into the nest, removing the weeds from the eggs, which she carefully
turned one at a time before settling herself on the nest again. In about a quarter
of an hour her mate arrived with some food for her, which, however, she refused,
so he ate it himself and then proceeded to dive for small pieces of green weed,
which he tore to pieces on the surface, giving each little piece a good shake
before leaving it.

Presently the female got off the nest, leaving her eggs uncovered, and
swam away among the reeds with her mate. I gave them two or three
minutes to get away a bit, and then waded in and got a photograph of the
nest. I had just got finished, and was putting away my camera on the shore,
when I saw the Little Grebe coming back full speed ; she dived some little
distance from the nest, and, coming up beside it, hastily covered up the eggs,
and left the nest, and I did not see either of the birds again, though I hung
about for half an hour.

I came back next morning and found the eggs were uncovered, but the
Little Grebe quickly appeared at the nest and pulled some weed over them,
though I was standing in the open within ten yards of the nest, which looks
as if the Little Grebe only covers her eggs as a means of concealment, and not
really for the sake of keeping them warm.

LITTLC QREBE. Ptditi

'/> NATURAL SIZE

•iatilis.

.. I I

PLATE II
LITTLE GREBE. Podicipes flumatilis

May 29//;, 1895. — This nest was built in the outskirts of a huge bed of
reeds on the north shore of the Lake of Monteith. The bird was not on
the nest when I first discovered it, and there were only two eggs, which were
not covered. On my return from taking some photographs at the other side
of the lake, however, she was on the nest, and allowed me to come within
about twenty yards before she hastily covered her eggs and dived away from
the nest.

I secured a photograph of the nest, covered up as she had left it, and
planted my camera in the water beside some thick reeds about twelve feet
from the nest, set it, and retired some distance off, with a thread to the
shutter, to try and get a photograph of the bird on the nest. I sat there
about a quarter of an hour before I saw her; she dived some way from the
nest and appeared between it and the camera, but, catching sight of this
strange object, she dived at once, and reappeared about ten yards away on
the farther side of the nest. I waited a long time to see if she would go to
the nest, but nothing would induce her to get on to it, though she dived about
all round it, and I had to give it up at last.

I visited this nest again some time later, and found one young one and
two eggs in the nest. The old birds were very anxious when I came close,
and kept diving about round the nest, and uttering a plaintive ' weet-iueet '.'
When I took the little bird in my hand one of the old ones came quite near,
and splashed along the top of the water, just as an old Mallard does when
she is disturbed with her young. When I left the nest the old birds
immediately covered the two eggs, and one of them held up its wings and
took the young bird under them, diving away with it to some safer place.
The Little Grebe is a wonderful diver, and seems to swim as much under
water as above it. I never saw either of the birds approach the nest on the
surface ; they always dived some way off and appeared just beside it.

There was splendid feeding for the Grebes in this rush-bed, and I found
two other pairs with nests not fifty yards distant.
2C 97

LITTLE QREBE. Ptdidfu JbaUtilit.
•I, NATURAL SIZE

GOLDEN PLOVER

Charadrius pluvialts

>ROM the English grouse-moors in Yorkshire and Derby-
shire to the extreme north of Scotland, including the
Orkneys, Shetlands, and Hebrides, as also suitable localities
in Ireland, the Golden Plover is a fairly common species
during the breeding season, and frequents all our coasts
in winter, remaining inland in a few favoured districts.

The Golden Plover loves the bare moors and open

tracts of waste country, and is found in all such localities, from the benty
heath-covered wastes on some of our northern shores to the desolate bogs
and mountain tops of the Grampians or Cairngorms. When an intruder
appears near its haunts it instantly utters its alarm-note, a plaintive, long-
drawn whistle, often flying towards him and alighting quite close. Though
a very shy and wary bird during the winter, it forgets much of its usual
timidity during the breeding season, and may often be observed within a
short distance running along among the heather or grass, or standing motion-
less on some tussock watching.

During the early spring Golden Plovers may be often seen in large
flocks feeding in the green fields or on the edge of the moors. If disturbed
they rise in a body, and after wheeling in the air once or twice, fly off to
some fresh feeding-grounds, generally in the form of a V, after the manner
of Wild Geese.

The food of the Golden Plover consists chiefly of worms, grubs, and
small insects. During winter, when they principally frequent the coasts, they
live chiefly on marine animals, and in very hard weather they will eat small
seeds and morsels of various plants. During the winter large flocks of
Golden Plovers may often be observed feeding on the open sands, some
probing in the mud, others running swiftly to and fro, or standing motionless
with head erect, while some wade about in the little shallow pools. On the
slightest alarm the whole flock rises in the air, and, after performing various

graceful wheelings and turnings, often at a great height, they fly off to some
distant part of the shore.

The call-note of the Golden Plover is a clear whistle, rather plaintive in
tone, and often excessively difficult to locate, and may be represented by the
syllables ' kl-ce klee.' It is often repeated so rapidly during the pairing season
that it resembles a trill, ' Kl-ce-d, kl-ee-a, klce-a! The alarm-note is a shrill
clear whistle, generally on the same note, neither rising nor falling in tone,
and may be heard at a great distance.

The Golden Plover seldom commences nesting operations before the end
of April, and eggs are laid about the end of the first week in May, incubation
lasting about eighteen days. The bird is fairly sociable, and several pairs
usually frequent the same tract of moor. The nest is extremely difficult to
find, as the bird leaves it long before the intruder approaches, and runs
silently away from it, very often towards him, uttering her plaintive note and
striving to lead him away from her treasure. Their colouring harmonises so
well with the surroundings that Golden Plovers are quite invisible at even
a comparatively short distance when standing on some tussock perfectly still,
watching the intruder.

The nest is usually a depression in the ground on the top of a mossy
tuft, and is lined with bits of dry grass, scraps of lichens and moss, and is,
as a rule, rather larger and deeper than that of the Lapwing. Four eggs are
laid, points inwards, as is usual with the Waders. They are very handsome,
and vary in ground colour from cream to rich buff, or pale, yellowish green,
approaching olive ; they are blotched and spotted with red brown, rich purple
brown, or dark brown, sometimes with black and a few grey under-markings.
Some specimens have the surface -markings varying from the size of a small
pea downwards, and fairly evenly distributed over the whole surface; others
have large irregular blotches on the large end of the egg, many of which
cover a considerable portion of the shell. In many clutches one egg may be
found which is much rounder and shorter than the others, probably the last
laid. They are usually very pyriform in shape, and are, as a rule, larger and
more brightly coloured than those of the Lapwing, and vary in length from
2'2 to 2' i inches, and in breadth from i'5 to 1*3 inch.

Young in down are yellowish on the upper parts, blotched and spotted
with black markings, and have almost white under-markings. They leave the
nest as soon as they are hatched. They are beautiful little creatures, and are
almost indistinguishable from the ground when crouching beside some lump
of moss or tuft of grass.

100

PLATE I
GOLDEN PLOVER. Charadrius piu-uialis

June -yd, 1893. — We walked right up to this nest as we came over a ridge
of sandhills on Tents Muir, Fifeshire. The bird was sitting, and rose almost
at our feet, uttering her plaintive whistle as she flew away. The nest was a
mere depression in the ground on the sunny side of a sloping sandy knoll,
and was very scantily lined with a few bits of bent, moss, and grass. The
Cggs were very handsome and beautifully marked ; the ground colour was a
pale, yellowish green, and the markings were rich purple black and red brown,
and grey under-markings. One of the eggs was much shorter and rounder
than the others.

As it was about lunch-time we halted here, and I took two photographs
of the nest and its surroundings, and packed the eggs in my camera case.
The old bird soon returned, and we saw her running round and round at a
respectful distance, taking a short flight every now and then, and continually
uttering her alarm-note. Her mate did not put in an appearance.

The Golden Plover is a very tiresome bird to watch to its nest ; its
plumage is so like the colour of the surroundings that it is a great strain on
the eyes to follow its movements, and if lost to sight for a few minutes it
is almost impossible to pick it up again. It will run a short distance in a
stooping position, and stand, with head erect, on the top of some little
tussock for five minutes, then run a little farther, or perhaps retrace its last
steps, stand again, and so on. At last it settles, as you think, slightly
raising its wings ; you give it a few minutes' grace, and just as you are about
to walk forward to the place it moves off again, and it may be fully half an
hour before it finally settles on its nest.

2 D 101

GOLDEN PLOVER. CkaraJnui flmMu.

•It NATURAL SIZE.

LAPWING

Vanellus vulgans

HE Lapwing, or Peewit, as it is often called, is by far
the commonest and most generally distributed of the
Plover family throughout the British Islands. It breeds
in every county throughout Great Britain, and on most
of the outlying islands round our coasts.

The Lapwing may be found in a variety of places
during the breeding season. It frequents the ploughed
fields, large grass pastures, meadows, commons, and the edges of the moors
where the ground is broken up by little pools, clumps of rushes, and small
mounds, and is covered with various weeds. The male is a very graceful
bird as he wheels and tumbles in the air. The Lapwing is rather a wary
bird, and does not suffer itself to be approached very closely, except when
anxious for the safety of its young; then it will tumble along the ground as
if its wing was broken, and fly round and round the intruder's head, uttering
its wailing cry, ' Pec-sweet, Pee-sweet,' sometimes swooping down just above
his head, making a buzzing noise with its wings, in its attempts to drive him
from the young ones.

When their haunts are invaded, the birds rise in the air and fly rapidly
about, tumbling and wheeling in the most grotesque manner, uttering their
peculiar notes; sometimes flying round and round, flapping their broad wings,
and making quite a humming sound with each rapid stroke, or tumbling heels
over head in the air, which performance is always accompanied by a curious
lengthening of the last syllable of their note, and might be represented thus :
' Pee-sweet, Pee-swect-swcet-sweet-swcet-swee-on-wcet.' It is a gregarious bird,
and in some parts of the country great numbers of these birds breed in close
proximity, though hardly in what might be called a colony.

The food of the Lapwing consists of grubs, worms, insects, and small
slugs, but in winter when the ground is frozen and food is scarce, they retire
to the coast to feed, and may be seen flying in huge irregular flocks along the

103

shore. These flocks are very hard to approach, as a number of birds usually
act as sentinels, and invariably warn the flock of the approach of danger. The
Lapwing is a great enemy to the egg-poacher, as many a keeper has been warned
by the clamour of these birds that some intruder has appeared on the scene.

About the beginning of April the birds select a nesting site, and eggs
may be found from the first week of that month till the beginning of June.
In a mild early spring eggs may be taken during the last week in March.
I have a full clutch taken in Tweedsmuir on the 24th March 1894, and in
1887 I took three nests near the Lake of Monteith on the 23rd of March.

The nest is a slight depression in the ground, very sparingly lined with
a few bits of grass, bent, dead rushes, or bits of dry moss. It is usually in
the open, often on the bare turf, sometimes on the top of a molehill or tuft
of peaty soil, sometimes on the dry sods beside a sheep-drain, or on the
top of a ridge in a ploughed field, but very seldom concealed by any weed
or tuft of grass, the bird no doubt trusting to the protective colouring of the
eggs, which harmonises so exactly with the surroundings.

The eggs are usually four in number, though five are found on rare
occasions. They are subject to much variation both in colouring and
shape, some specimens being long and thin, and others almost round. The
ground colour varies from pale buff to buffish brown or olive brown,
sometimes pale green or olive green, thickly blotched and spotted with very
dark brown, and with a few purple-grey under-markings. On some eggs the
markings are small and distributed evenly over the whole surface, while on
others they are large blotches running into each other, and forming irregular
patches of colour ; and this type of egg has all the markings in a ring round
the large end of the egg. Occasionally a pale bluish-green egg is found, with
only a few faint blue-black spots on it — in fact, only half- coloured. I have
taken two or three of these specimens from clutches of full-coloured eggs.
This type is sometimes found, dropped by accident, nowhere near a nest.
They vary in length from 2'o to r6 inches, and in breadth from 1-5 to 1-3 inch.
Incubation lasts from eighteen to twenty days, and the downy chicks leave
the nest as soon as they are hatched.

Young in down are pale brown on the upper parts, thickly blotched and
spotted with black; they have white under-parts, with a blackish band across
the breast. They are extremely hard to find, as they exactly resemble a clod
of earth when they are crouching motionless on the ground. If picked up and
set down again they will not crouch, as a rule, but will run away as fast as their
legs can carry them, tumbling over every obstacle in their eagerness to escape.

104

PLATE I
LAPWING. Vanellus -vulgaris

April z6//;, 1893. — This nest was chosen from about twenty which I looked
at in a damp grassy meadow near the Lake of Monteith. The birds were
simply swarming there, and there were also many pairs of Redshanks.

Most of the nests were rather neatly built of rushes and grass, but very
flat, slight structures. The eggs were all very highly incubated, and I saw
a great many young birds crouching among the grass trying to hide
themselves. I came across one nest of four eggs, all chipped, from which
quite a chorus of cheeping could be heard distinctly several feet from the
nest. "When I passed the nest about half an hour later there was only one
egg left in the nest, the others having hatched out, and the nestlings were
hidden in the grass not far away.

It is very wonderful how soon the young birds know that danger is at
hand by the cry of their parents, and instantly try to hide themselves by
crouching motionless among the grass whenever they hear the alarm -notes.
They do this by instinct, though only just hatched.

2E 105

LAPWING. r^tll*, rulf.H>.
Ifc NATURAL SIZE.

r , ,

PLATE II
LAPWING. Vanellus -vulgaris

May ist, 1895. — The nest from which this Plate is taken is a very typical
specimen of the Lapwing's nest in a ploughed field. The bird seems to be
very partial to this situation, though the nest is not nearly so well concealed
in this case as it is when it is placed among grass or heather. The top of
the ridge is always chosen, and a slight hollow is made and lined carelessly
with a few straws or bits of grass root picked up close by. A sloping field
with a southern exposure is much preferred, and under such favourable
conditions many nests may be found in close proximity.

After the eggs have been laid some time they become caked with mud
from the birds' feet, and when this is dry they look very like little balls of
mud, though the symmetry of their arrangement scarcely leaves room for
doubt as to their identity. The nests in this particular field had all been
emptied of their contents two or three times before, hence the lateness of the
date, but in spite of this all the nests we found with eggs had their full
complement.

I counted sixty or seventy nests, but only eleven contained eggs or young
birds, many of the others being hatched out and the nestlings gone, and the
nests had been already robbed of their contents. The old birds left the field
entirely after flying about above our heads for a short time, and scolding us,
and retired to the neighbouring fields, from which they watched our
movements, flying over singly every now and then to see if we had taken
away their eggs or young.

107

LAPWING.

\h NATURAL SIZE.

HERRING GULL

Larus argentatus

Herring Gull is a common resident round the British
coasts, and may be seen on most of our shores during
winter; in summer, however, it is mostly confined to the
localities which are suitable for breeding purposes. It
breeds on the cliffs on the south and west coasts of
England, as also in Wales, and has many colonies round
the Scotch coasts and islands, including the Orkneys and
Shetlands, the Hebrides and St. Kilda. In Ireland it also breeds in many
suitable localities.

The Herring Gull is rather a shy bird, and will not allow itself to be
approached very closely, the adult being exceptionally wary. In winter it
frequents the harbours for the offal and refuse which is found floating there,
and is a very close attendant on the fishing-boats, pouncing down upon every
small fish or scrap of refuse thrown overboard. The large flocks of Herring
Gulls usually found on our low-lying coasts, and on the mud flats at the
mouths of our larger rivers during late autumn and winter, are principally
composed of young birds ; they are generally of a more wandering disposition
than the adults. A flock of these birds may often be seen at a great height
in the air, soaring round and round like vultures, in an ever-ascending spiral,
till they look like tiny black specks.

The Herring Gull is almost omnivorous ; its food is chiefly composed of
small fish, molluscs, crabs, and all sorts of marine animals, but it will
greedily devour carrion and garbage of all sorts, and is a determined robber
of eggs. It is a very quarrelsome bird when feeding, and often robs its
smaller relations of some choice morsel. I have frequently seen a Herring
Gull attack some unfortunate Black-headed or Common Gull, swooping down
on it like a Skua, and depriving it of some small fish which it had just
2 i 109

captured. Their call-note, which is indistinguishable from that of the Lesser
Black-headed Gull, may be represented by the syllables ' Hdn-hdn-hdn' uttered
rather rapidly. The alarm-note is a guttural, ' Ker-yok', often repeated and
increasing in rapidity till it sounds like ' Eyok-eyok-eyok.' Like most of the
gulls, this bird will hurriedly eject the food from its stomach if fired at or
wounded, no doubt endeavouring to make itself as light as possible in its
efforts to escape.

About the end of April the Herring Gulls return to their accustomed
breeding haunts and begin at once to prepare their nests ; these are often
large bulky structures of seaweed and tufts of grass, pulled up by the roots,
and are lined with pieces of sea-campion, fine grass, and a few straws and
large feathers. Sometimes very little nest is made, the eggs being laid in a
slight depression in the ground, lined only with a few bits of dry grass.
The Herring Gull is very fond of building its nest on the grassy ledges of
some cliff, but also frequents low grassy islands, or those where rocks and
grass alternate ; among rocks the nest is placed in any convenient crannie, and
is usually a bulky structure. A pair or two of these birds nearly always nest
in most of the colonies of Lesser Black-backed Gulls ; I found them nesting
among the benty sandhills on the Culbins on the summits of the knolls, in
company with several pairs of these birds.

Eggs are laid early in May, and are usually three in number, but some-
times only two. They are, as a rule, quite indistinguishable from those of
the Lesser Black-backed Gull, but have a few varieties which do not occur
among the eggs of that species. The eggs vary much in size, shape, and
colour; the ground colour may be any shade from pale bluish green to almost
white, and from dark buffish brown to greyish buff. The surface-markings
are usually a rich dark brown, sometimes nearly black, and there are generally
a few brownish grey under-marks. Some specimens have only a few small
brownish specks on them, while others are covered closely all over with spots,
some of which are as large as a sixpence. I am not aware that the rare and
beautiful red variety, which occurs among the eggs of the Lesser Black-
backed Gull, has ever been met with among the eggs of the Herring Gull
in this country. The eggs of the Herring Gull are rather larger than those
of the Lesser Black-backed Gull, and vary in size from 3-1 to 2'8 inches
in length and from 2'i to r8 inches in breadth.

When a colony is approached the Herring Gulls leave their nests long
before the intruder has approached, and circle above him with angry cries,
sometimes swooping down within a few inches of his head. When the young

1 10

are able to fly, the Herring Gulls desert their breeding -places and disperse
round the coasts for the season, the young birds usually keeping in a flock
by themselves. The Herring Gull carries its mottled, immature plumage a
moult longer than the lesser Black-backed Gull, and in all stages of its
plumage the colours are somewhat paler.

Young in down are quite indistinguishable from those of the Lesser
Black-tucked Gull. They are greyish -buff on the upper parts, spotted con-
spicuously with black on the head and throat, and mottled with dark brown
on the rest of the upper parts, and are white on the belly. The legs and feet
are flesh-coloured.

1 1 1

PLATE I
HERRING GULL. Larus argentatus

June io///, 1893. — This photograph was taken from a nest on Staple Island
at the Fames. We saw five or six pairs of Herring Gulls on a rocky part
of the island, a little apart from the general colony of Lesser Black-backed
Gulls, and had no difficulty in identifying their nests. The birds were very
tame, and did not seem to mind our presence in the least, flying about quite
close and screaming at us. They were quite as determined robbers as the
Lesser Black-backed Gulls, and we saw one sitting on a rock and tearing a
young tern to pieces, much after the manner of an eagle, standing on its prey
with its feet and tearing pieces off it.

The nests of the Herring Gulls were large flat structures of seaweed,
grass, sea-pink, bits of turf and sea-campion, lined with fine grass and bits of
sea-campion ; they were absolutely indistinguishable from the nests of the
Lesser Black-backed Gulls, as also were the eggs, and it was only by watching
the birds go on to the nests with my glasses that I was able to tell which nest
belonged to the former species and which to the latter. Although the date is
rather a late one for fresh eggs of the Herring Gull, we succeeded in getting
two full clutches quite fresh ; we also saw two or three newly hatched nests
of young birds, the old birds feeding them with half-digested food, which the
young bird was allowed to pick from its parent's bill.

The Herring Gull seems to be a much stronger bird than the Lesser
Black-backed Gull, as we repeatedly saw them rob the Black-backs of choice
morsels of fish, and we saw a Herring Gull deliberately carry off an egg from
a Black-back's nest, in spite of the protestations of the owners.

HERRING GULL. Una arg,*tat»>.
t/7 NATURAL S

GREEN SHANK

Totanus canescens

HE Greenshank is a regular summer visitor to the British
Islands, remaining to breed in some of the northern
counties of Scotland, including the Hebrides. Though
it is well known both in England and Ireland, and
frequents the sea-coasts during spring and autumn, we
have no authentic record of its breeding in either of
these countries.

The Greenshank usually arrives in Great Britain about the end of April
or the beginning of May, on its way from the Mediterranean to its breeding-
grounds in the north, leaving our shores again on the southward journey in
September and the beginning of October. On its first arrival in this country
the Greenshank frequents the low-lying, muddy parts of the coast, and is
a very noticeable bird with its rapid, erratic flight and its loud alarm-note, a
double ' tcii-teu: It is very shy and wary, and generally gets up about half
a mile from the intruder, making a tremendous fuss, and putting all the other
birds on the alert. It is sometimes seen in small flocks, but more commonly
in solitary pairs, feeding among the little pools and creeks left bare by the
tide at low water.

The food of the Greenshank consists chiefly of insects and their larvae,
worms, etc., for which it searches in the muddy pools, among the rank
grass, or even among the droppings of animals. It is also very partial to
tadpoles and frog-spawn; I used to see a pair come to feed every evening
at a small horse-pond in Strathspey, which was simply alive with tadpoles.
The Greenshanks used to be very busy there for the best part of
an hour every night, running about in the shallow water with easy
grace and great swiftness of foot, picking up the tadpoles and small water-
beetles.

In Scotland the breeding season of these birds commences about the
middle of May, eggs being laid during the latter half of the month. The
nest is most difficult to find, as the birds are extremely wary, and try every
device to keep the intruder away from their treasure. They are not at all
social birds during the breeding season, and the nests are usually long
distances apart. As a rule the nest is on the top of some slight mound, on
a bare dry spot, a very marked contrast to that of the Redshank, which is
usually carefully concealed in the centre of some tuft of grass, and as often
as not in a damp hollow.

The nest of the Greenshank is a very slight piece of work, a mere de-
pression in the ground, lined with a few bits of dry grass or withered leaves
of the cranberry, or tiny bits of dead heather being all that is required. A
very favourite situation is on the top of a bare mound on which the heather
has been burnt, and little patches of peat are left bare. The nest is generally
placed on one of these little bare patches, under the shelter of a few twigs
of burnt heather. The Greenshank is very partial to small trees about its
breeding-place, and has a habit of sitting on the topmost twig, from which
point of vantage it commands all approach to its nest. If the intruder con-
ceals himself near, to ascertain the whereabouts of the nest, the bird has an
aggravating habit of sitting there yelling at the pitch of its voice for hours
without stopping, until the poor ornithologist's patience is quite worn out,
and he leaves in disgust. I beat them fairly, however, at Loch Morlich, in
Strathspey, by accidentally discovering that while one bird was shrieking
itself hoarse on the tree-top, the other very quietly slipped on to the nest,
keeping almost entirely out of sight by dodging round the little inequalities
of the ground. It was while it was crossing a little bare place that I got
a glimpse of it, and guessed what the little ruse was.

The eggs are usually four in number, though sometimes only three are
laid ; they have the usual characteristics of the Charadriidae, being somewhat
pyriform, and placed in the nest with the points inwards. The ground colour
varies from cream colour to rich buff, sometimes with a slightly pink tinge.
The surface spots are rich dark brown or reddish brown, and the underlying
markings pinkish brown or violet grey. On some specimens both the surface
spots and the underlying markings are rich, irregular blotches, generally on
the larger end of the egg, sometimes forming a sort of zone ; other specimens
are covered evenly all over with small spots, none of which exceed a large
pea in size, while on some eggs the markings have more the character of
streaks. They vary in length from 2'o to i'8o inches, and in breadth from

116

i '42 to 129 inch, and . annul readily be confused with the eggs of any
other British bin!

Voting in down are pale grey, tinged with rich buff, and marked with
black on the upper parts, anil nearly white on the under parts ; their legs and
feet are -ivenish grey. Only one brood is reared in the year, but if the first
clutch of eggs be taken, a fresh nest is made, though the second nest rarely
contains more than three eggs.

After the young are hatched, they are led by their parents to the shores of
the nearest loch or river, where they remain until able to fly. The old birds
betray great anxiety if their young are threatened by danger.

2 M

117

PLATE I

GREENSHANK. Totanus canescens

May 26//r, 1896. — This Plate is taken from a nest near Loch Morlich,
Strathspey. I was on my way to photograph a Goosander's nest at Loch
Morlich, and was crossing a bare piece of ground, where the forest had
evidently been burnt at some time, as the whitened stumps and charred
trunks of trees lay about in all directions, and the ground was covered with
the whitened stalks of heather; in this desolate spot there were still a few
scattered trees, small and stunted, growing on the little knolls in groups of
three and four, or scattered about singly on the flat ground. Suddenly a
long way ahead up got a pair of Greenshanks and flew straight towards me,
making a dreadful noise. I marked my spot and walked for it. On the top
of a little knoll were four small trees, making quite a good shelter, and just
about the spot where the birds got up; under these I lay down to watch.

For some time both the birds flew about screaming, but after about a
quarter of an hour they both perched on the tops of trees some distance off,
and sat there for half an hour calling incessantly. On looking at them
through the glasses, at the end of that time I suddenly noticed that one had
disappeared ; the other still sat there yelling at the top of its voice. I was
looking at a small bare place about three hundred yards away, when I thought
I saw something move. I put the glasses on to it, and sure enough it was the
other bird. It was most wonderfully cautious, and sneaked along, hiding behind
every little inequality in the ground, disappearing at last behind a knoll. The
other bird still kept shrieking on the tree-top. I gave them five minutes'
grace, and then ran straight to the top of the knoll, behind which the female
had disappeared. She got up fifty yards out, and I walked to the spot and
dropped my handkerchief. The nest was about eight yards off, and contained
two young birds in down, one of them just struggling out of the egg. I

119

could not find the other two young ones then, but after I had photographed
the nest I saw one of them move some yards off, and I found them both.

The nest was on the side of a small knoll near the top, among the dead
heather, sticks, and pieces of charred tree-stumps ; it was merely a depression
in the ground, and was lined with rotten wood.

The old birds were very anxious, and flew wildly about all round me,
but never came within gunshot. I took a pair of the young with me and
left two in the nest.

1 20

GREENSHANK. T****i tauunu.

I/, NATURAL SIZE.

WOODCOCK

Scolopax rusttcula

•

HE Woodcock is not a common bird during the breeding
season, and is very locally distributed throughout the
British Islands, but large numbers of these birds visit us
during the spring and autumn migrations.

The Woodcock is almost entirely a night-bird, and
only leaves the woods, where it skulks during the day
among the brushwood and dead bracken, when the
twilight descends. Then it seeks its food among the marshes, preferring
those where there is running water and plenty of rank vegetation. Its food
consists almost entirely of small earthworms, but it will eat the larvae of
some insects, and on rare occasions it has been known to eat vegetable food.
The Woodcock has regular paths to and from its feeding-grounds, and
numbers of them used to be caught in specially adapted snares, consisting of
a stick with a noose spread on it, set in the path, and fastened to a springy
sapling bent over. When the stick was displaced by the bird stepping on
it, the sapling sprang up and hitched the noose round the unfortunate bird's
legs, suspending it in the air.

During the breeding season the male may often be seen in the twilight
or early morning flying backwards and forwards above the wood where his
mate is sitting, uttering his peculiar cry, which consists of two or three notes,
the first a curious, long-drawn, hollow sound, followed by two quick high
whistles uttered at intervals. During this performance, which often lasts
twenty minutes, the plumage is puffed out, and the flight is slow and steady,
giving the bird rather the appearance of an owl.

The Woodcock is a very early breeder, and full clutches of its eggs may
be taken during the first week in April. I have seen a nest with its full
complement of eggs as early as the i8th of March in the valley of the Forth

2 I 121

in a mild early spring. The nest is always on the ground, generally under
an oak or birch tree in some wood, and is often partially covered by the dead
stems of last year's nettles or brackens. It is merely a slight depression in
the ground, lined with dry grass and dead leaves. I once saw four nests
under one large oak-tree in a small plantation in Perthshire. They were all
hidden by little clumps of dead bracken, and were mere hollows among the
dead oak leaves ; the birds themselves were very nearly invisible, so closely
did the colour of their plumage resemble the dead oak leaves. The birds sit
very closely, and will almost suffer themselves to be stepped upon before
quitting their eggs.

The Woodcock lays four eggs, which are generally rather rounder and
less pyriform than is usual with the Waders. They vary in ground colour
from a dirty white to pale brown, and are spotted or blotched with irregular
reddish-brown markings, varying in size from a pea downwards. The under-
lying markings are greyish brown, and are about the same size. They vary
from 17 to i -6 inch in length, and from 1-4 to 1-3 inch in breadth, and are
not easily confused with the eggs of any other of our British-breeding Waders.

Young in down are rich chestnut on the upper parts, finely spotted with
white, and blotched with black markings, and have buff under-parts, the colour
being richest on the breast. The Woodcock has often been seen to carry her
young from one place to another. I once witnessed the removal of two
young birds from a small clump of ornamental trees, surrounded by wire-
netting, but as it was rather late in the evening I could not see as clearly as
I should have liked. The young one was apparently held between the legs
of the parent, and pressed upward by them against its breast ; the bill was
not used. I did not see the old bird return, but shortly afterwards the
second young one was carried past me in precisely the same manner. In
both cases the flight was heavy and laboured.

122

PLATE I

WOODCOCK. Scolopax rusticula

May 6///, 1895. — This nest was shown to me by a keeper, who said it was
the latest that had ever come under his notice. It was in a small plantation
of oak-trees near the road-side, in a bare part of the wood among withered
nettle-stalks and dead oak leaves. The nest was a mere hollow in the ground,
and was carefully lined with oak leaves. The bird was sitting on it when I
first saw it, but the eggs were not very long laid, and she left the nest while
I was focussing my camera ; however, I secured two very good photographs
of the nest

In this same plantation two years before I found three Woodcocks' nests
near the end of the first week in April, and all of them contained their full
complement of eggs, so it seems very probable that this was the second nest
made by this pair, the first having very likely been destroyed by some vermin.

On this same day, not half a mile from this little plantation, I was
walking home through a corner of the big wood near, and stumbled upon a
Woodcock with three young ones. The old bird carried off one of them
between her legs, and the other two hid themselves. I found one of them
hiding under a piece of dead bracken, and it could very nearly fly. The old
Woodcock seemed to have great difficulty in raising the young bird from the
ground. Very possibly, being in such a hurry to get away, she had not got
a good hold of it.

In the valley of the Forth, where most of my opportunities of observing
the Woodcock during the breeding season have occurred, the numbers of
nests varies greatly in different years. In some seasons the keepers come
across a great many nests while collecting Pheasants' eggs, while in others
hardly a nest is seen.

123

WOODCOCK.

l/t NATURAL SIZE.

OYSTER-CATCHER

H&matopus ostralegus

N most of the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland the
Oyster-catcher is a fairly common resident, except in much-
frequented districts, where it is continually disturbed.
North of Yorkshire and along the whole coast-line of
Scotland it is plentiful, and breeds in great numbers
in some localities. It frequents nearly all the adjacent
islands, including the Orkneys and Shetlands, as well as
the Outer Hebrides, and is also fairly common in Ireland.

The favourite haunts of the Oyster-catcher are to be found on a rocky
coast, broken up here and there by sandy bays and stretches of gravel, or
among the sandhills close to the shore, where there are large banks of gravel
and sand intersected by little creeks and pools. On the shore it may be seen
running nimbly about among the rocks and little pools, catching the marine
creatures which are brought up by the tide, or turning over the seaweed to
catch the sand-lice and tiny crabs that lurk below. As the tide comes in it
runs about among the shallow water, picking up any choice morsel that may
be brought up by the waves. Oyster-catchers are very sociable birds, and are
usually seen feeding in small parties even during the breeding season. They are
very wary, and rise in the air on the slightest alarm, flying to some quieter part
of the coast, uttering their loud ' kd-pctp, ko-feep,' as they fly. The Oyster-
catcher may occasionally be observed searching among the little rock-pools
for limpets, which it twists off the rocks with its powerful bill, though the
suddenness of the attack has probably more to do with its success than the
strength, as limpets come off quite easily if taken quick enough. At high
tide, when their feeding-grounds are covered, the Oyster-catchers may be seen
dozing on the rocks with their heads drawn back on their shoulders or buried
among their scapulars, but they always keep their weather-eye open, and there
2 K 125

is no getting near them, as they are away long before the gunner can get
within shot. If one of the birds be shot out of a flock the others often
return and wheel round and round their dead companion, calling loudly.
When wounded, the Oyster-catcher often makes for the water, but it is no
great swimmer, its feathers soon becoming waterlogged, and it is not capable
of progressing at any speed.

The food of the Oyster-catcher is chiefly composed of limpets, mussels,
and other molluscs, small crabs, sand-lice, small dead fish, and various kinds
of marine creatures. It is also said to eat small pieces of marine plants. They
are most regular in their feeding-hours, which are controlled by the rise and
fall of the tide, and may be seen every day at the same state of the tide flying
along with rapid beats of their wings to their accustomed feeding-grounds.

About the end of April the Oyster-catchers select a nesting site, eggs being
very seldom laid before the second week in May, though in some districts they
are much later. The bird is not very fond of sand unless it is well mixed
with small stones or gravel ; its favourite nesting-ground is on the shingly
beaches or reaches of gravel and rocks along the sea-shore, or on the edges
of some of our Scottish lochs. In the county of Moray great numbers of
Oyster-catchers breed on the gravelly reaches of the Spey and Findhorn, where
a summer spate often destroys many of their eggs. The bird sometimes selects
a nesting site on rocky stacks a long way above the water, and has been often
known to nest in fields ; one such instance came under my notice in Moray-
shire in 1893, when I found an Oyster-catcher's nest containing three eggs
in the middle of a rather stony grass field about three hundred yards from
the river Findhorn. Only one brood is reared in the year, though if the
eggs be taken, the pair will make another nest and lay a fresh clutch of eggs.
The male is the watchful guardian of his mate, on whom devolves the task
of incubation, and on the slightest alarm he gives warning to her, and she
immediately runs swiftly away from the nest, head down, and rises some
distance off to fly round and round the intruder, uttering her loud whistle,
'Keep-keep, kd-peep, kd-peek, peep!

The nest, if it may be dignified with such a name, is merely a slight hollow
among the stones and gravel, lined with broken shells and small pebbles pressed
down smooth, and, as a general rule, many half-finished nests are found in the
vicinity of the one chosen for the reception of the eggs. On the sea-shore
the nest is often made among the dead seaweed and driftwood just above
high-water mark.

The eggs laid vary in number from two to four, though three is the usual

126

clutch. The ground-colour v.u ic-, from very pale buff to pale brown, blotched,
spotted or streaked with curious writing-like scrawlings of dark brown, and a
few grey underlying ^|><>ts Some specimens arc covered with little round
spots, pretty evenly distributed over the entire surface; others are covered with
spots resembling small tadpoles, having each a tail, while some are covered
with fantastic scrawlings. They vary from 2*4 to 2'O inches in length, and
from i '5 to i'4 inch in breadth; they are very hard to find, as they so exactly
resemble the colour of the sand and pebbles among which they are laid.

Young in down are dark grey on the upper parts as far as the throat,
marked with black on the head and back, and are white on the under parts.

•<5$fc">'<'

127

PLATE I
OYSTER-CATCHER Hamatopus ostralegus

May 29/A, 1896. — This nest was on a small island in the Spey just below
Aviemore, Rothiemurchus. The Oyster-catcher is very abundant on all the
gravel-banks on this part of the river, and numbers of its eggs are annually
destroyed by the sudden rising of the water. On the small island on which the
nest in the Plate was placed, I came across no less than five nests, all but one
containing newly-hatched young. They are very hard to distinguish among
the stones and little patches of moss, as they crouch motionless, and look just
like little clods of earth or bits of driftwood.

All the time I was engaged in photographing this nest the old birds flew
shrieking round me, sometimes alighting within a few yards of me, and running
along with bent head and outstretched wings, endeavouring to lure me from
the nest.

The nests were nearly all upon the bare stones, simply a hollow from which
the larger stones had been removed, and smaller ones and bits of stick or
broken shells put in their places. Some of them were close to some larger
stones or tufts of earth and grass. I put up one or two birds from nests which
contained nothing but one roundish stone on which the bird was sitting. The
eggs are systematically taken by the boys about the place, who search the
gravel banks for them in the evenings, and take them away to eat.

On my way to fish one day I saw three young Oyster-catchers swim across
a broad backwater and hide themselves among the grass on the river bank.
I was some distance off, and went to look at them, to see that they were really
Oyster-catchers. I have only seen them do this once before, and that was
under the same circumstances on the river Findhorn in 1887.

2 L 129

OYSTER CATCHER. H*mat»fmi
1^, NATURAL SIZE.

PLATE II
OYSTER- CATCHER. Hamatopus ostralegus

June 4//r, 1895. — This nest was almost alongside of a colony of Sandwich
Terns on the Wide-opens at the Fame Islands, and was a mere depression
in the sand among the stones and driftwood a few feet above high-water
mark.

I saw the old birds running about in the vicinity of the nest, and searched
some time along the shore to see if I could come across it, but failed ; so I
retired some little distance and sat down. In about five or ten minutes all
the Sandwich Terns were sitting on their nests, but the Oyster-catchers were
still very uneasy, running backwards and forwards, but never going near the
nest. At last one of them settled, and I gave it two or three minutes' grace
and then walked up; to my utter astonishment the nest I found was empty,
save for one round stone, which was quite warm I I found the nest with
three eggs in it not ten yards from this false nest shortly afterwards. This
sitting upon stones is a very curious habit of the Oyster-catcher, and I have
noticed it on two or three occasions, and placed it quite beyond a doubt, as
I took the trouble to spend half a day watching one bird on the Culbin Sands
who had a nest of this kind with a round stone in it. I watched the bird go
to its nest in the first case, and put a white stone near it so as to mark it, and
then retired to a little distance ; when the bird returned I very carefully marked
it with my glasses and, after waiting about a quarter of an hour walked up ;
the stone was quite warm, and all the surrounding ones not in the nest, cold !
I repeated the performance three times, and each time the bird flew round and
round me calling anxiously as I approached the nest. I returned next day
and found the bird on the same nest, and subsequently discovered, by shooting
the bird, that it was a male; the female having a nest containing three eggs
nearly two hundred yards distant.

'3'

OYSTER CATCHER. H<mut«p*t

' , NATURAL 81ZC.

TREE PIPIT

Autliiis trivialis

HE Tree Pipit is a very widely distributed summer visitor
throughout the British Islands. It is common in most
suitable localities in England though somewhat scarcer in
Wales, but in Scotland it is not so abundant though it
is to be met with in most counties as far north as the
Orkneys, and is plentiful in one or two favoured localities.
In Ireland the Tree Pipit is much rarer and very local
in its distribution.

The Tree Pipit is a woodland bird, preferring the open parts of forests,
woods and plantations or rough country studded with oaks and birches, and
is very partial to grassy fields which have rows of tall trees along the hedges.
In such places the male may often be seen in spring as he flies up from the
topmost twig of some tree, ascending nearly in a perpendicular line like the
skylark, and pouring forth his melodious little song. It is not nearly so long
a performance as the song of the skylark, and after hovering in the air for a
few moments he descends in a spiral with wings and tail outspread, finishing
his song as he reaches his usual perch, with two or three long plaintive notes,
which may be represented by the syllables ' tscc-dr, tsce-dr, tsee-dr.' During
the nesting season the male may often be seen flying from tree to tree,
sometimes chasing an insect or dropping to the ground for food, but ever
warbling his melodious song. The call-note of the Tree Pipit is a long
drawn ' seease,' reminding one rather of the note of the Greenfinch. After
the middle of July, when the moulting season has begun, the song of the
Tree Pipit is very seldom heard and the bird is much more shy and retiring.
The food of the Tree Pipit is chiefly composed of insects, caught among
the leaves of the trees and undergrowth, it also eats small worms and cater-
pillars which it catches as it runs nimbly about on the grass. During
autumn it feeds on the seeds of various grasses, and will even pick up the
scattered grain in the cornfields.

2 M 133

The Tree Pipit does not stray far from its nesting haunts, the male
generally choosing some perch on the top of a tall tree where he may be seen
during the entire breeding season ; the pair will return year after year for several
successive seasons, to the same situation from which it seems probable that
the bird pairs for life.

The Tree Pipit is very cautious in approaching its nest, generally dropping
down on to the ground at some little distance from it and threading her
way to it among the long grass. She sits very closely, and is not easily
flushed when once incubation has commenced. At this time the male is
rarely far from the nest and usually keeps to his favourite tree, every now
and then indulging in one of his song-flights or collecting food and taking it
to his sitting mate. The nest is always built upon the ground, among the
grass or young corn, often on a bank in a wood among the grass, ferns,
wood-sorrel and wild hyacinths, sometimes just beside a path or disused cart-
road through a wood, or in a hay-field right out in the open under a tuft of
grass. It is usually built in a little hollow, scraped out by the birds, and is
made of dead grass, moss and grass roots, and lined with fine grass and
horsehair. The nest is usually rather deep and beautifully rounded, and is
generally very cunningly concealed.

From four to six eggs are laid, usually about the middle of May ; they
are subject to great variation in colour, though the eggs in a clutch are
generally pretty nearly alike. Each bird, apparently, has its peculiarity in
colouring, and the same type of eggs is generally found in the same situa-
tion year after year. There are two types, one, in which the spots are very
small and finely peppered over the entire surface of the egg, often almost
hiding the ground colour, the other, in which blotches or streaks take the
place of the spots, and are usually principally confined to the larger end of the
egg, leaving the ground colour visible at the smaller end. The ground colour
may be pinkish-white or any shade of rich red-brown, and in the greenish
type olive-brown or dark-brown, sometimes greenish-blue, the spots on the
reddish type being dark red-brown and on the greenish variety olive-brown or
very dark brown. The darker-coloured eggs are generally found in woods
or under the shelter of trees or bushes, and the lighter, more richly coloured
ones, in the open fields. They vary in length from '90 to 75 inch, and in
breadth from ^65 to '55 inch.

Two broods are occasionally reared in the year, the young being chiefly fed
on small insects, caterpillars and grubs of various kinds. The Tree Pipit leaves
its summer quarters on its southward migration about the end of September.

134

PLATE I
TREE PIPIT. Antkus trivialis

May 3i$/, 1893. — This nest was photographed on a bank beside a path in
a strip of wood near Doune, Perthshire. It was concealed beneath a little
tuft of grass among ferns, wood-sorrel, and wild hyacinths, and contained five
very highly incubated eggs, which were of the very dark-red type.

As we approached the nest the bird flew out and crossed the path,
tumbling along on the ground with wings and tail outspread pretending to
be wounded, and we saw her running about among the grass near us all
the time I was photographing the nest. The male was perched in the top
of a very tall oak tree close by and took very little interest in our movements,
indulging in little snatches of song, or leaving his perch to chase some insect
like a fly-catcher, always returning to his favourite perch.

The nest of the Tree Pipit is very difficult to find. It is quite easy
to locate the nest within twenty yards or so, by the perch of the male
which is usually on the top of the nearest tree, but the female takes
great care how she approaches the nest, dropping down some way from
it and walking about in the grass, apparently feeding, but always drawing
nearer to the nest, often quite hidden among the grass, so that the un-
initiated may walk forward and put her up, when lo, there is no nest. I
was very nearly beaten by one nest in the grass just in front of the house.
A large oak tree grew opposite the door, and there was a dead tree-stump
close to it; I saw both birds several times together, and the male always
returned to his perch after feeding about for a little. The female would
fly a few yards and alight on the stump, then she would hop down and
begin running away through the grass till she was ten or twelve yards away
from it and then disappear among the tufts of coarse grass. I put that bird
up twenty or thirty times in different places before it occurred to me to look
at the root of the stump, and there was the nest!

'35

1 KJ9> «1
V ^iSr r

TREE PIPIT. ^»/4»<j trivi*Kt.
lfc NATURAL WZE.

REED HUNTING

Emberiza sckcemclus

III- Reed Bunting is one of the most widely distributed
of its genus throughout the British Islands and breeds
in most of the marshy districts in England and Ireland.
In Scotland it is widely distributed and breeds also on
most of the adjacent islands which are suitable to its
habits, including the Orkneys and the Outer Hebrides.

The favourite haunts of the Reed Bunting during the

breeding season are not far from water. It is very fond of the reed-covered
banks of slow running streams or the willow clumps on the shores of lochs,
the edges of the moorland among the reedy swamps or even the ditches
by the roadside. It is quite as much at home among the wilds of the
Highlands as it is on the low marshy broads in the South. During winter
the Reed Bunting forsakes its marshy haunts for the fields and hedges near
the stackyards, where it picks up the scattered grain and seeds in company
with other finches. It is not, as a rule, seen in flocks, but three or four pairs
are usually found associating with other species. It is a very lively bird
and is generally fairly tame, and each pair has its own particular haunt
during the nesting season from which they seldom stray. The flight is
undulating and rather jerky like that of most of the Buntings, and it is very
fond of clinging to some upright reed or twig. The cock is a very attractive
bird with his chestnut back and black head, and is usually seen sitting on
the top of some fence or bush not far from his mate, singing his simple
and somewhat monotonous song. The alarm-note is a long-drawn ' clieee'
or ' zeee:

The food of the Reed Bunting consists chiefly of insect and larvae,
small worms, gnats, and fresh-water shells, and it may be seen chasing the
bright-coloured dragon-flies which flit about the reeds and iris clumps during
summer. During winter, when such food is not obtainable, they eat the
seeds of various grasses, and any scattered grain that may be found about
the stackyards or sheep-folds, where hay is put out for food.
2N 137

The Reed Bunting begins nesting operations towards the end of April
or early in May. The nest is usually built upon the ground, or almost on
it, among the rank vegetation, sometimes under a tuft of grass, or among
the stems of tall reeds, and it is artfully concealed by broken-down reeds
or overhanging grass. I have frequently found it in the lower branches of
tiny spruce firs, choked with weeds in a small plantation close to a sluggish
stream in the valley of the Forth ; but this is the only locality in which I
have seen the nest in a tree. It is sometimes built in the heaps of cut reeds,
which are collected for thatching or bedding and left against some hedge
in the meadows, but it is most frequently found on some bank close to water
among the stems of the rank herbage. The materials of which the nest is
formed depend greatly on the situation and character of the surroundings.
In the small spruce trees before mentioned, the nests were almost entirely
constructed of dry grass and lined with very fine grass and horsehair, while
those among the reeds and willows on the shore of the Lake of Monteith were
simply built of reeds, the dry dead leaves forming the nest and the fluffy
last year's flower being used as a lining. The nest is rather difficult to find
as it is so well concealed, and the bird often slips quietly away through the
reeds. If put up from the nest she flutters along the ground with wings and
tail outspread, tumbling along as if wounded, the male often joining her in
her attempts to lead off the intruder.

The eggs laid vary in number from four to six. The ground colour
varies from greyish-green to pale violet-grey or pale buff, blotched, spotted,
and streaked with rich purple-brown, sometimes so dark as to be almost
black, and with pale purple-grey undermarkings. The surface-spots are not
nearly so scrawly as those on the Yellow Hammers' eggs, and are usually
rather blurred and not nearly so numerous. Some specimens are very
handsomely marked with large blotches, some of them being the size of a
small pea, while others are nearly white in ground colour and very sparingly
marked. They vary in length from '85 to '65 inch, and in breadth from
'60 inch to -55 inch.

Two broods are frequently reared in the season, the young being fed
almost entirely on larvae and small insects. In May 1893, I disturbed a
Cuckoo from a nest of this species in a rush bush on the shore of the Lake
of Monteith, and on examining the nest I found the Cuckoo's egg in it. It
was pale buff colour, thickly spotted all over with reddish-brown spots. The
two Reed Buntings mobbed the Cuckoo as she flew away from the nest and
followed her till she was some distance away.

138

PLATE I
REED BUNTING. Emberiza schceniclus

May 27///, 1893. — This Plate is taken from a photograph of a very pretty
nest among sedges and reeds on the shores of the Lake of Monteith. At the
mouth of a small burn, running into the lake, was a small marshy meadow,
dotted over with clumps of willow-bushes and patches of tall sedges and
flowering reeds. This was a perfect paradise for Reed Buntings and Sedge
Warblers, and one could take eight or ten nests of each species in one
morning in the old days, but the meadow has been drained and otherwise
reclaimed, and now not one pair remains for every ten that used to nest there.
There are still, however, one or two nice clumps of willows, each of which
holds a pair of Reed Buntings, and the male may generally be seen on some
twig pouring forth his monotonous little song, or dodging about among the
reeds and grasses catching insects.

The nests were usually among the sedges, about six or seven inches
above the ground, among the stems of the weeds and grass, and were
beautifully built of reed-leaves and lined with the flower of the reeds. The
male has a habit of accompanying you along the bank of the stream, letting
you come almost up to him and then flying on again, sitting on some twig
jerking his tail and calling. When he has gone far enough away from his
haunt and has, as it were, seen you off the premises, he makes a detour and,
crossing the stream, flies back to his usual perch.

When the young have been hatched the old birds are very busy collecting
insects to feed them with, and the male is more demonstrative than ever in
showing you past his domain, flying back with an air of 'that's all right'
after he has seen you safely past.

139

REED BUNTING. EmttHu «•*«**>/«/.

Ifc NATURAL SIZE.

RINGED PLOVER

hiaticula

Ringed Plover is a pretty generally distributed resident
in all suitable localities throughout the British Islands,
and is commonest on the gravelly and sandy sea-coasts,
though in some inland districts it is found in considerable
numbers on the gravelly shores of our lochs and larger
rivers. Where the ground is suitable to its habits it is
found on most of the islands off our coasts, including
the Orkneys, Shetlands, and the Outer Hebrides.

The favourite haunts of the Ringed Plover are on the sandy parts of our
coasts, especially at the mouths of rivers where there are large stretches of
sand covered with shells or banks of shingle; they are also found on the
shores of many of our inland lochs and on the gravelly reaches of many of
the larger rivers. On the Culbin Sands in Morayshire they are very plentiful
as well as on the gravel beds on the Spey and Findhorn, miles from the
coast.

Few of our Waders are so interesting to watch in their movements as
the Ringed Plover. They are very wild, wary birds during the winter, but
throw off most of their timidity during the breeding-season, at which time
they may be approached within a short distance. They are very difficult to
see among the small stones on a gravelly beach, so closely does their plumage
resemble the colour of the surrounding stones, and their whereabouts is often
only discovered as the bird rises almost at the intruder's feet. When feeding
on the shore they run with great swiftness of foot, darting after some insect
or sandhopper, stopping for a moment to pick up something, and running on
again for a few feet, sometimes hurrying along the edge of the water and
picking up the tiny marine creatures left by the tide, running in-shore as the
waves sweep up the sand, and every now and then taking to their wings as
the water rushes round them.

2 o 141

The call-note of the Ringed Plover is a short ' trrr' somewhat harsh
in tone, which, in the pairing season, is repeated so rapidly that it forms
a sort of soft trill. The alarm-note is a plaintive ' koo-it' which, though not
very loud, is a very penetrating sound, and may be heard a long way off.
During the breeding season the male may often be seen flying round and
round in a zigzag course like a snipe, uttering a rapidly repeated call which
may be represented by the syllables, ' pgr-lit, figr-lit, pSr-lit^ the accent being
on the last syllable.

The food of the Ringed Plover consists of shrimps, small sand-worms,
sand-lice, and various small marine creatures. It also catches the insects
as they fly about on the sand or rise from the decaying seaweed.

Early in April the large flocks of Ringed Plovers break up, and scattering
in small parties choose out nesting sites. They are quite social birds even
during the breeding season, and in some localities may be found nesting quite
close to each other. The Ringed Plover does not trouble itself much in
the construction of its nest, but contents itself with scratching a slight hollow
in the sand or gravel, sometimes lining it with tiny pieces of broken shells.
In some cases the eggs are deposited in a natural hollow, sometimes in a
footprint and occasionally on the bare sand. On the slightest alarm the
sitting bird slips quietly off the nest and, running swiftly away, rises at some
distance from the nest and is joined by her mate, when the pair will wheel
round the intruder uttering their plaintive alarm-note, and trying to draw
him away from the vicinity of their treasure. The nest is very difficult to
find, as the eggs almost exactly resemble in colour the sand on which they
are placed. On two or three occasions, after a long, careful search, I have
been at length rewarded by finding the nest within a few inches of some
of my previous footprints. Only one brood is reared in the year, though,
if the first nest be taken, the birds will generally make another nest not
far off.

The eggs laid are usually four in number and are not subject to very
much variation in colour. They are pale buff in ground colour, spotted pretty
evenly all over with very dark brown and with a few grey undermarkings,
though on some specimens the spots are most numerous on the large end
of the egg. They are very pyriform in shape as a rule, and vary from r6 to
i '3 inch in length, and from ro to '9 inch in breadth.

Young in down are greyish-brown mottled with dark brown on the upper
parts, and have traces of the black-and-white collar round the neck, and the
under-parts are white.

142

PLATE I
RINGED PLOVER, ^.gialitis hiaticula

June \gth, 1893. — I found this nest, after a long, weary search, on the Culbin
Sands, Morayshire. There were many pairs of birds about, and it was quite
useless sitting down to watch them to the nest as there wasn't any cover
for hundreds of yards round. I must have been very close to it some time
before I found it, as one of my footprints appears in the top of the picture
a little higher up the slope than the nest.

This breeding-place was a huge waste of sand, covered with pebbles and
small stones scattered about, each one having innumerable little spots of
black moss on its upper surface. As these pebbles were mostly quite round
and rather the size of the Ringed Plover's eggs, the little black spots made
them still more like, and it was very hard to distinguish the real eggs
among them. The nests were all lined with little bits of broken shell, quite
white, and the eggs were very hard set. A great many pairs of birds were
nesting on this stretch of sand. I found seven nests, and there must have
been many more as the birds were very numerous, and their plaintive cries
resounded on all sides.

It is quite surprising to see how fast these little birds will run as they
chase the tiny black flies which infest the sand and bents at this time of
year, often stopping quite suddenly and starting off in a fresh direction, always
carefully avoiding the larger stones as their tracks in the sand showed.

143

RINGED PLOVER.

tit NATURAL SIZE.

PLATE II
RINGED PLOVER. ^Egialitis hiaticula

June io///, 1893. — We came across this nest on a gravelly part of the shore
on the inner Wide-Opens at the Fames. It was just about high-water mark
on a sloping beach of stones and gravel, among dried seaweed and driftwood.

The little bird was very tame, and ran about within a few yards of us,
and we stood about fifteen yards off, and watched her go to the nest after
running about for a few minutes; she stood with her wings slightly elevated
for a few moments before settling herself upon the eggs. The nest was a
mere depression in the gravelly sand, lined with tiny pieces of broken shells
and little white pebbles, and the eggs were very nearly the same colour as
the surrounding gravel, which made them very hard to detect.

On the same island I saw two tiny little downy young ones, and watched
them endeavouring to conceal themselves by crouching beside a stone. The
old birds were very anxious all the time I was at the spot, and often ran
within a few feet of me, calling plaintively all the time, and sometimes
tumbling along on the ground as if wounded. When I stooped down once to
pick up one of the young ones, the female actually fell over on her side, and
lay kicking with her legs and flapping one wing, but she would not allow me
to get closer to her than about five feet. I tried unsuccessfully to get a snap-
shot of her in this position.

145

RINGED PLOVER. jf.gitlitii iiatu*Ja.

» , NATURAL SIZE

i '/

LITTLE TERN

Sterna minuta

N the British Islands the Lesser Tern is not a very
common species, nor is it very widely distributed, but in
suitable localities along the Scottish coasts its colonies are
scattered here and there, and also on some of the
adjacent islands, including the Orkneys. In England
there are also small scattered colonies of this species,
chiefly on the eastern and southern coasts. The Lesser
Tern is somewhat local in Wales and also on the Irish coasts, and breeds
occasionally on some of our fresh-water lochs.

The favourite haunts of the Lesser Tern are low-lying sandy shores, with
occasional beds of fine gravel and broken shells, especially at the mouths of
small rivers where there are little islands and pools with banks of fine sand
and broken shells. Its movements are very interesting to watch as it flies
slowly along above the water, hovering every now and then like some
miniature Hawk, and swooping down like an arrow into the water after the
small fish which are its staple food. It has rather a slow, jerky manner of
flying, and often at the first glance looks like a much larger bird farther
away. In its habits it much resembles the Common and Arctic Terns,
obtaining most of its food in the same way, dropping down on the tiny fish
like a stone, and carrying the struggling captive ashore, or sitting on the
water to eat it. It has a curious habit of shaking itself in the air after rising
from the water, and very rarely perches on the ground, except at its nest or
when sleeping, and does not walk well.

The call-note of the Lesser Tern is the ' kree' or ' kee-rr* common to
most of the Terns, but when its colonies are invaded it has a short, sharp
alarm-note, which is constantly repeated, and may be represented on paper
by 'wikrr* or 'yeic/ik,' the latter often sounding like a sneeze. It is a noisy

'47

little bird at its colonies, and pairs may often be seen chasing each other
some height, calling to each other with a curious cry, something like
' yurr-rrr-rrr-yeichk-yeichk! When an intruder appears, the little birds rise
straight from their nests and fly round and round, calling incessantly till he
leaves the vicinity.

The food of the Lesser Tern is composed principally of tiny fish, sand-
eels, and such like fry ; but it also eats small crustaceans and marine
creatures of various kinds.

The Lesser Tern is rather a late arrival on our shores, seldom appearing
at its breeding-haunts before the middle of May, eggs being laid about the
end of the month. Its favourite breeding-places are flat beaches, where the
sand above high-water mark is covered with broken shells, loose pebbles, and
bits of driftwood. It makes very little nest, merely scratching a hollow in
the sand for the reception of the eggs, sometimes adding a few bits of broken
shell as a lining. Its colonies are not very large, as a rule, only two or three
pairs nesting together in many places, but I have come across as many as
twenty pairs nesting in one colony, on quite a small patch of sandy gravel
on the north coast of Scotland. As is the case with most colonies of Terns,
the same site is not chosen every year, and in some seasons Terns are much
more plentiful than in others, as when they are subjected to any annoyance
or repeated disturbance they very soon leave for more peaceable quarters.

The nests are very difficult to find, as the eggs so closely resemble the
colour of the sand on which they are laid. I have walked about for hours
looking for the nests with but indifferent success, but, after sitting down a
little way off and watching the birds go to their nests, I have repeatedly found
the eggs within a few inches of one of my own footprints.

Three is the usual number of eggs laid, though four are occasionally
found, in which case it is probable that two females have shared the same
nest. The ground colour of the eggs varies from pale buff or stone colour
to dark brownish buff, often slightly tinged with olive-green ; they are spotted,
streaked or blotched with brown of various shades, and with purple-grey
under-markings. Some specimens have most of the markings in a zone
round the large end of the egg, while on others the underlying marks are the
largest and most conspicuous. One variety very closely resembles the eggs
of the Ringed Plover, but the shape of the latter prevents confusion. They
vary in length from 1*3 to n inch, and in breadth from ro to ~g inch.

Young in down are pale buff on the upper parts, mottled with grey on
the back, and with black on the head, and have dull white under-parts. They

148

arc very delicate-looking little creatures, with their tiny pink-webbed feet, and
are absolutely indistinguishable from the ground when crouching beside some
large stone or among the ^r.ivel and bits of driftwood. The old birds are
very attentive to them, and feed them with half-digested fish, giving them
tiny pieces at a time from their bills. On the approach of danger the old
birds leave them, trusting, no doubt, to their protective colouring, and fly
about in the vicinity, calling anxiously till the danger is past, often betraying
their whereabouts by hovering above them. The Lesser Tern does not remain
long with us, generally departing for its winter quarters before the end of
September.

149

PLATE I

LITTLE TERN. Sterna minuta

June I9///, 1893. — The annexed photograph was taken from a nest in a colony
on the north coast of Morayshire. The nests were all placed on one bank of
sand covered with small stones, and consisting of low mounds, on the south
side of which all the nests were placed. This year there were only five pairs
nesting there, but in 1887, when I first came across the colony, there were
nineteen pairs of birds, and I find the following entry in my journal for that
year: — 'On the 8th of June I went along the north shore of the Culbin sands,
and on coming round a point a small flock of Lesser Terns rose and came
flying round my head, uttering their alarm-notes, " yeichk-ycichk." I counted
about forty birds altogether.

' I spent some time walking about and looking for a nest, but without
success, as the eggs so closely resemble the gravel on which they are laid
that it is almost impossible to detect them even when actually beside the
nest. Finding that my chance of getting an egg in that way was small, I
withdrew to the back of a sandhill a short distance off and sat down.

1 In a very few minutes the little birds came back and began to fly
about the beds of gravel where the nests were, sometimes swooping down on
them, so that it looked as if they must strike the stones, and at other times
hovering like little Kestrels above them. In the course of ten minutes I
had marked most of them, and rising slowly to my feet I walked down
towards them.

'The Little Terns rose singly and flew quietly away. In a short time I
found nineteen nests in little batches of three or four, some of them being
within a few inches of my previous footprints. Five of the nests contained
three eggs each, five had two, eight had only one egg, and one nest, which
I think was the joint-property of two birds, had four eggs in it.'

LITTLE TERN, Sttr** minut*.
V, NATURAL SIZE.

/• .,.-,

PLATE II
LITTLE TERN. Sterna minuta

June 5///, 1893. — This Plate is taken from a nest which I photographed near
the mouth of the Eden, Fifeshire, on a great stretch of fine sand covered
with large shells. The coast here is very flat, and there are great expanses
of sand which form a perfect paradise for these little birds.

We spent a day looking for the nests along the coast and came upon
a small colony of them near an old wreck lying on the beach. There must
have been six or seven pairs nesting there, but some of the young birds were
hatched, and we only found four nests with eggs, which were all very highly
incubated.

The day was fearfully hot and bright, and the glare on the white sand
was very trying to the eyes. We sat down in the shade of the old wreck
and watched the birds to their nests as well as we could for the clouds of
small black flies which covered everything. We saw the Lesser Tern bringing
in tiny fish to their young ones among the driftwood and dead seaweed ; the
fish generally hung down, being held by the back of the head, and was picked
to pieces by the little bird and tiny bits given to the young ones. The Lesser
Tern is certainly not a good walker, and its movements on the ground are
clumsy in the extreme.

When we had marked most of the nests we got up and went to examine
them. They were all simply depressions in the sand, without any traces of
lining, not even a little bit of broken shell or a small stone, as is usual. It
was very hard to get a good photograph of them, as the sun made such a glare
on the sand that it reflected back into the lens and fogged the plate before
the exposure could be made.

2 K 153

LITTLE TERN. Sltma minuto.
«/, NATURAL SIZE.

JACKDAW

Corvus iiionedula

HE Jackdaw is a very common resident, and widely dis-
tributed throughout Great Britain and Ireland ; it breeds
in most districts, on the coasts as well as inland, and is
quite as much at home in the busy towns as it is in the
ruined castles or rocky heights in the wild glens of the
Highlands.

The Jackdaw makes itself at home among very varied

surroundings, nesting in the chimneys of our smokiest, busiest towns,
among the beams in the spires of cathedrals and churches, in ruined castles
and buildings of all sorts, among ivy-covered rocks in glens, or in rabbit-
holes on the hill-sides. On the sea-coast it is common wherever there are
rocks, even nesting in such isolated situations as the Bass Rock among the
Solan Geese and Kittiwakes, where they steal the fish, and even the eggs,
of their neighbours the Gulls. They are strictly gregarious birds and live
in colonies all the year round, flying to their feeding-grounds in the morning
and returning to roost as the shades of evening descend. Their movements
are very regular, and they return to roost every evening at the same state
of the sun, going through their usual performances in the air every evening
before retiring for the night. Every now and then the birds all take
wing, wheeling and circling in the air, sometimes chasing each other, and
keeping up a chorus of cries as they fight for perches on the trees or rocks,
every now and then raising quite an uproar like a lot of people all talking
at once, and each one trying to drown his neighbour with his ' keeacko-
keack-keack-keeacko-keeacko? Occasional bursts of cries startle the echoes
long after darkness has set in. The Jackdaw pairs for life, and the two may
be seen sitting together at their roosting-places preening each other's feathers,
and playfully pecking at each other.

'55

The Jackdaw is much more graceful on the wing than its larger allies, and
progresses with rapid beats of its long pointed pinions, sometimes swooping
down like a Hawk or darting along just above the trees in a zigzag
course.

The food of the Jackdaw consists of worms, grubs, and insects of various
kinds, which it obtains in the fields in company with the Rook. It may
be seen digging in the turnip-fields for wire-worms or picking up the
scattered grain in sowing-time. It also eats acorns and beech-mast in the
autumn, and may often be seen on the oak-trees before the acorns have
fallen ; fruit is also a welcome change in its diet. In the depth of winter,
when other food is scarce, it will eat all sorts of garbage and carrion,
sometimes accompanying the Hooded Crows in their search for shell-fish on
the seashore. The Jackdaw is undoubtedly a sad robber of eggs, preferring
the larger-sized ones, such as pigeon's, grouse's, and mallard's, and though at
some seasons of the year the Jackdaw is a very useful bird to the farmer, its
depredations among the eggs of the game-birds quite entitle it to a place
on the gamekeeper's vermin list. I have seen a pair of Jackdaws carry off
the whole contents of a Pheasant's nest, though driven away several times, and
a Mallard's nest not far distant shared the same fate.

The Jackdaw is a later breeder than the Rook, and does not commence
the work of nest-building much before the beginning of April. It will
build wherever it can find a suitable hole, and its nest may be found in
almost every situation, either in the clefts or crannies in the cliffs, on the
sea-coast or inland, in windows and loopholes in the walls of ruined castles,
among the ivy that covers them, in the spires of churches, in chimneys, in
the disused ventilating-shafts of coal-pits, or in any suitable hole in a tree,
and occasionally in rabbit-holes. Even the disused nest of another bird is
not despised, and I have seen its nest in the foundation of occupied Heron's
nests, or in the huge accumulation of sticks in a fir-tree occupied by Rooks.
The size of the nest depends on the peculiarities of the site. In a small
hole it may be only a handful of moss, grass, and sheep's wool, but in such
situations as a large hollow tree several wheel-barrow loads of sticks are often
collected to make a foundation for the nest proper. In Tweedsmuir, where
suitable holes were scarce, I found a small colony of Jackdaws nesting in the
tops of thick spruce firs in a plantation by the roadside. The nests were
huge collections of rubbish, — moss, wool, paper, rags, and sticks of all
sizes, and even a few old wooden matchboxes. The nests were not covered
over, but were quite open, like the Rook's, two or three being often built close

156

together, one above the other against the trunk. In large hollow trees as
many as seven or eight nests may be found in the same cavity.

From four to six eggs are laid, which vary considerably in size, shape,
and in the character of the markings. The ground colour varies from pale
bluish green to almost white, spotted and blotched with dark brown and
greenish brown markings, and a few faint violet grey under-markings. On
some specimens the markings are fairly large, and chiefly on the larger end of
the egg, sometimes forming a zone round it ; other specimens have the spots
small, and distributed pretty evenly over the entire surface; while on some
eggs the markings are entirely absent. They vary from 1-5 to 1*3 inch in
length, and from ri to '9 inch in breadth. Very small eggs are occasionally
found.

The young birds are tended by their parents long after they have left the
nest and can fly, and the old birds may be seen feeding them in the fields,
the young birds flapping their wings and ' keeaw, keeaw-\ng in anticipation of
some choice morsel.

2 S

'57

PLATE I
J A C K D A W. Corvus monedula

l 26th, 1893.— This nest was placed in one of the small windows in the
Priory of Inchmahome on the island in the Lake of Monteith. It was a
tremendous structure, the foundation being made of ash sticks, and the upper
part of the nest of fine sticks, moss, seeds, and dead iris leaves, the whole
being lined copiously with sheep's wool and rabbit's fur. The sides of the
nest were embellished with pieces of dirty paper. The nest was only about
five feet from the ground in one of the vaulted parts of the building and
contained five fresh eggs.

All round the Priory are huge old Spanish chestnuts, many of which
are quite hollow and contain great numbers of Jackdaw's nests, as many as
eleven being in one cavity. The amount of rubbish and sticks collected in
some of these holes is enormous. When one old tree was blown down by the
gale in 1894 the whole of the hollow trunk, nearly three feet in diameter
inside, was filled with a miscellaneous collection of sticks, rags, paper, reeds,
and moss, which had been accumulated by the Jackdaws year by year. In
one nest in the building I found remains of the picnic parties which had
visited the island— several corks, an old torn handkerchief, newspapers, and
paper bags, and the handle of a china tea-cup with part of the broken cup
attached.

There was a very large colony of Jackdaws on the face of a steep hill
overlooking the Lake, but about half a mile distant. Most of the nests were
in rabbit-holes, and though nearly a mile from the nearest houses, the
collection of rubbish in the nests was most surprising, articles such as a bent
iron spoon having been carried to one nest, and a piece of a clay pipe to
another.

•59

JACKDAW. Omu

I/, NATURAL 8IZC.

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