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SHE ZOOLOGIST;,
A MONTHLY JOURNAL
OF
NATURAL His iO RN.
FOURTH SHRIES.—VOL. X.
EDITED BY
W. L. DISEANT.
” {‘ £4
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LONDON :
WEST, NEWMAN, & CO.,.54, HATTON GARDEN.
SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO., Lrp.
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PREFACE.
Ovr contributors may justly feel satisfied with the present
volume, for they have considerably increased our knowledge
of British Zoology, and have kept up the reputation of ‘ THE
Zoouocist’ as the storehouse of bionomical and observational
record.
Ornithology has been even more than usually to the fore.
Tf we instance the excellent paper on the Birds of Seilly, it
is to recognize how readily these records can be written in
a narrative form without any loss to scientific reference. Mr.
Warde Fowler’s detailed observations for fourteen years on
the breeding of Acrocephalus palustris is a piece of work not
likely to be forgotten in the annals of British Ornithology.
The Rey. F. C. R. Jourdain has focused our knowledge on the
hybrids which have occurred in Great Britain between Black-
game and Pheasant, and Mr. M. J. Nicoll has done a similar
service in bringing together what is known of Anthus spipoletta
as a visitor to England.
In Pisces, the discussion on the Loch Broom Sea Monster
is notable by the unanimity of opinion that the animal seen
was a Basking Shark (Selache maxima) ; it is also illustrative
of the good results arising from submitting such questions to
competent opinion. A similar procedure with the reports on
“Great Sea Serpents’? might result in a considerable loss of
myth, and a guidance to probability. Mr. Patterson’s energy
at Yarmouth has resulted in the record of a new fish to our
1V PREFACE.
British list in Scomber thunnina, Cuv. The same contributor
has referred to an old report of a Flying Fish caught on the
Norfolk coast, while Dr. Murie has drawn attention to a similar
record of the Flying Fish being taken near Ramsgate.
Professor MeIntosh’s memoir on Photogenic Marine Animals
takes us to a subject too little represented in our pages, and
is written by a great authority on these creatures. Mr. A. H.
Waters’s notes on Marine Crustacea in confinement are a direct
incentive to other marine zoologists.
The aim of ‘THe Zoonoaist’ is a lofty one. But, to use
the words of Goethe, ‘‘ Nature understands no jesting; she is
always true, always serious, always severe; she is always right,
and the errors and faults are always those of man. Him, who
is incapable of appreciating her, she despises; and only to the
apt, the pure, and the true does she resign herself, and reveal
her secrets.”
CONTENTS.
a
ALPHABETICAL LIST
Apams, Lionet E., B.A.
The flight of Flying Fish, 145;
Pugnacious propensities of Rana
esculenta, 154; Some
names in Surrey, 438
ALEXANDER, H. G.
Fire-crest near Tunbridge Wells,
149; Continental Long-tailed
Tit in Yorkshire, 149; Avocet
near Rye, 152
Apiin, O. V., F.L.S., M.B.0.U.
Thrush laying twice in the same
nest, 312; Bramblings in April,
313; Black-necked Grebe breed-
ing in Great Britain, 315; Notes
on bats, 848; Does the Black-
bird eat snails ? 349; Corrigenda,
354; Notes on the Ornithology
of Oxfordshire (1904), 410, 445;
Distribution of the Corn-Bunt-
ing in Wales, 430
BANKES, ARTHUR
Knot in Wiltshire, 152
Barrett-Hamitton, G. KE. H., Major
British distribution of the Whis-
kered Bat, 349
BepForD, Mary DUCHESS OF
Black-throated Diver at Woburn,
36 ; Redshank in Bedfordshire,
469
BeEnson, Rev. CHartes W., LL.D.
Bird-notes in Switzerland and Ger-
many in Juneand July, 1905, 65
Birp, Rey. Maurice C. H.
Colour of eyes in Fuliguia nyroca,
75; Goldsmith as a naturalist,
439
Buarr, ERNEST
Some of King James’s laws against
Rooks, 275
BuatHwayt, Rey. F. L., M.A.,
M.B.O.U.
Notes on the Kite in Somerset,
377; File Fish on the coast of
Somerset, 470
British 8. AFRICA
TARY, THE
Hippopotami in Rhodesia, 188
local |
‘OMPANY SECRE- |
OF CONTRIBUTORS.
BUNYARD, PERCY F.
Au ornithological visit to the Fe-
roes, 81; Does the Blackbird
eat snails ?, 390; A remarkable
Cuckoo clutch, 430
| Burr, MaLcoLm
Note on the Swift, 314; Notes on
the Mole-Cricket, 357
Butter, Lieut.-Col. H. A.
‘¢ Aremarkable Cuckoo clutch,” 469
BUTTERFIELD, E. P.
Cuckoo’s egg in nest of Twite, 110;
The breeding range of the Twite,
189
BUTTERFIELD, ROSSE
Cuckoo’s egg in nest of Twite, 31
BUuTrERFIELD, W. RUSKIN
A plea for the further recognition
of subspecies in Ornithology, 62
CAMBRIDGE, Rev. O. PIcKARD
Does the Blackbird eat snails ?,
343; Noteson Mole-Cricket, 470
CHARLTON, Huau V.
Chiffchaff in December, 27
CLARK, J. A.
Shore-Lark near Herne Bay, 430
Cuark, JAMES, M.A., D.Se.
The birds of Scilly, 241, 295, 335
| CuaRKE, W. J.
Increase of Goldfinches, 109
Curve, H. P.O.
Breeding of the Hen-Harrier in
Cornwall, 384; Ornithological
notes from Plymouth, 286
Cosurn, F.
The Geese of Europe and Asia, 150
Cocks, ALFRED HENEAGE, M.A.,
ESAS. EE ZS. Me BO jUe
Bats in Berkshire, 185; Pelicans
reported in Oxfordshire, 193;
Strange disappearance of a Wea-
sel, 347
Corsin, G. B.
Stoats in winter dress in South-
western Hants, 187; Varieties
of Yellow Bunting and Chaftinch,
190; Notes from Ringwood, 190 ;
Strange death of a Hen-Harrier,
b
V1 CONTENTS.
191; A small Sparrow-Hawk,
192; Colour of birds’ eyes, 194;
Large Chub in Hampshire Avon,
435; The poor Mayfly, 437
Cowarp, T. A.
Shore-Lark in Cheshire, 72; Knot
inland in Cheshire, 76; Baillon’s
Crake near Stockport, 395
Cummines, Bruce F.
Winter ornithological notes from
Barnstaple, 237; Goldsmith asa
naturalist, 880, 471
Cummines, 8. G.
Cirl-Bunting in Cheshire, 71; An-
glesea bird-notes, 94; Late stay
of Bramblings in Cheshire, 188
DALGLIESH, GORDON
Ornithological notes from Surrey,
114; Field notes on some of the
smaller British Mammalia, 168;
Pigmy Shrew in Surrey, 187;
Harvest-Mouse in Surrey, 188;
Colour of Pochard’s eyes, 236 ;
Notes on Surrey mammals, 274;
Observational notes on the Wild
Duck andthe Little Grebe, 281 ;
Notes on the Mole-Cricket, 357;
Notes on the Dabchick, 396 ;
Notes on Surrey mammals, 274,
429
Distant, W. L.
Arctus ursus & Thenus orientalis,
78; ‘‘ Curiotis experience with a
savage cock,” 354; Loch Broom
sea monster, 356; Chub in Trout
streams, 436
DoNISTHORPE, HORACE
A yre-discovered British beetle
(Lomechusa strwmosa), 317
Dresser, H. H., F.L.S., F.Z.8.
Obituary notice of Canon Henry
Baker Tristram, 155
Duntop, Eric B.
Whooper Swan at Carlisle, 193
Eastwoop, G. H.
Pied Flycatcher in Surrey, 813
Evuiott, J. STEELE
Some notes on birds of Donegal,
158; Extracts from Church-
wardens’ Accounts of Bedford-
shire, 161, 253 ; Blackbird laying
twice in the same nest, 312
ELuison, Rev. Auuan, M.A.,
M.B.0.U.
The breeding haunts of the Twite,
29, 150; The Cuckoo and its
foster-parents, 72
Eis, HE. F. M.
Economical nesting habits of the
Willow-Warbler and the Wren,
27; Curious nesting habit of the
Long-tailed Tit, 28
Forrest, H. EB.
Melanism in the Bank- Vole, 108
Fow.er, W. Warps, M.A.
Two days with the birds of the
Somme, 266 ; Acrocephalus pa-
lustris—a breeding record of
fourteen years, 401
GARDNER, JAMES
The Hoopoe, 191
Grant, W. R. Ociiviz, M.B.O.U.
The birds of Scilly, 470
GUERMONPREZ, H. L. F.
Occurrence of Twursiops tursio on
the Sussex coast, 390
Gurney, J. H., F.L.S., F.Z.8.
Ornithological report for Norfolk
(1905), 121 ; Wild Swans in Nor-
folk, 236; Flamingo in Suffolk,
432,
GYNGELL, W.
Late Martins’ nests, 28; The
Twite, 29; Late stay of Swift,
31; Early records, 35
Hancock, RicHARD
A note on the Aranez around Yar-
mouth, 58
Harvey, P. W.
Accident to young Crow, 2385
Harvit-Brown, J. A., F.R.S.E.,
F.Z.S.
Identification
downs, 370;
monster, 397
HeEnpeERSON, Jos. T.
Loch Broom sea monster, 305
JACKSON, ALFRED
Notes on the nesting of Tringa
alpina, 21
JOURDAIN, Rey. Francts C. R., M.A.,
M.B.O.U.
Rough notes on Derbyshire Orni-
thology (1904-1905), 139; On
the hybrids which have occurred
in Great Britain between Black-
game and Pheasant, 321, 483
Joy, Norman H.
Mimical song of the Blackeap,
108 ; Hoopoe on Lundy ea
235
Kerr, GRAHAM W.
The birds of the district of ieee
179, 280, 307, 386
of Wild Ducks’
Loch Broom sea
CONTENTS.
Knicuts, J. E.
The Pearlsides up river, 155; Crane |
near Great Yarmouth, 194
LEWIs, STANLEY
Double brood of Great Tits, 28; |
Late stay of Swift, and notes on
the species, 30; Cuckoo’s eggs
in Finches’ nests, 33; Notes
on Cave Bats, 69; Bittern in
Somerset, 314; Unusual clutches
of eggs, 315
Lister, G.
Fire-crested Wren in Dorset, 149
Lopes, R. B.
How does the Osprey carry its
prey ?, 35; Pelicans as observed |
in Eastern Europe, 361; The
Great White Heron (Ardea alba)
in Albania, 441
MASEFIELD, JoHN R. B.
White-tailed Eagle in Stafford-
shire, 74; Notes on the Mole-
Cricket, 437
McIntosu, Professor, M.D., LL.D.,
F.R.S.S., L. & E.
Photogenic Marine Animals, 1 ;
Ichthyology in Japan (economic
species), 143
McCriymont, J. B.
Names of birds of uncertain origin
or meaning, 271
MerIKLeJoHN, A. H.
Does the Blackbird eat snails ?,
312
Metxiesoun, M. J.C.
Peculiar habits of Gallinula chlo-
ropus, 76
Meyrick, Lieut.-Col. H.
The Rough-legged Buzzard in
Somerset, 469
Morris, ROBERT
Fire-crest in Sussex, 188; Black-
bird laying twice in same nest,
274
Movritz, L. B.
Upupa epops in Norfolk, 191; |
Richmond Park notes, 434
Moritz, James, M.D., LL.D., F.L.S.
Flying Fish near Ramsgate, 36;
Loch Broom sea monster, 396;
Supposed Flamingo near Alde-
burgh, Suffolk, 395
NeEwstTEAD, ALFRED
Interesting acquisitions by the
Grosvenor Museum, Chester,77 ;
Hoopoe in Cheshire, 892; Hobby
in Cheshire, 393
vil
Nicuors, W. B.
Colour of eyes in Fuligula nyroca,
112
Nicoutt, M. J., F.Z.S., M.B.O.U.
The Water-Pipit as a visitor to
England, 463
Nor@ats, F.
Notes on the Noctule Bat, 26
OLDHAM, CHARLES
Whiskered Bat and Lesser Horse-
shoe Bat in Denbighshire, 70;
Hider in Cheshire, 75 ; Anglesea
bird-notes, 94; Common Scoter
in Cheshire, 277; Notes on the
Little Grebe, 351
Pappock, G. H.
Colour ofthe eyesin Coccothraustes
vulgaris, 109
PaTTEN, C. J.
Obituary notice of Edward Wil-
liams, 117
Patterson, ArnTHUR H., A.M.B.A.
Mus alexandrinus at Yarmouth,
71; Interesting hybrid Duck,
75; Sea-going Pigeons, 76; Fly-
ing Fish reported from Yar-
mouth (?), 77; Interesting birds
in Yarmouth market, 115; Some
crustacean gossip from Yar-
mouth, 831; Rare fish at Yar-
mouth, 854; Red-crested Po-
chard at Yarmouth, 394; An-
chovy at Yarmouth, 455, 457;
Rare species of Crustacea at
Yarmouth, 436; Some Fish-
notes from Yarmouth for 1906,
453
Prarson, CHARLES E.
Breeding of the Twite in Devon-
shire, 71
Porter, EH. G.
Eggs of Razorbill, 351
Rafe, P. G.
Leach’s Fork-tailed Petrel in the
Isle of Man, 194; White Wag-
tail and Common Redstart in
the Isle of Man, 275; Blackbird
laying twice in the same nest,
390
RamssotTHam, R. H.
Song of Cuckoo at night, 235
Reap, Rosert H.
Natterer’s Bat in Somersetshire,
312; Birdsnesting in August,
3598
REensuAW, GRAHAM, M.B., F.Z.S.
The Pigeon Hollandais, 49
b 2
Vill
Ropp, Francis R., J. P.
The birds of Scilly, 241, 295, 335
Rops, G. T.
Curious experience with a savage
cock, 354; Stoat and Ferret hy-
brids, 468
RuMBEtow, P. EH.
Long-eared Bat at Yarmouth, 26; |
The Black Rat at Yarmouth, 26; |
Anchylosed spine of a Bull-Dog,
311; Pigmy Shrew at Yar-
mouth, 429
RusseLu, FLora
Whoopers in Islay, 74
RussELL, HaRoup
Brambling in Surrey, 110
SAUNDERS, SIBERT
Pelecanus onocrotalus at Whit-
stable, 431
Saxpy, T. HDMONDSTON
Bird-notes from Shetland (May to |
November, 1905), 35
SELOUS, EDMUND
Observations tending to throw light
on the question of sexual selec-
tion in birds, including a day-to-
day diary on the breeding habits
of the Ruff, 201, 285, 419
SMALLEY, FRED
Colour of eyes in Fuligula nyroca,
112; King-Hider 2 in Orkney,
113
SMITH, SYDNEY
Yorkshire notes on the Tufted
Duck, 432
SOUTHWELL, THomas, F.Z.S.
Notes on the Arctic Whaling Voy-
age of 1905, 41; Loch Broom
sea monster, 356; Newfoundland |
Sealing (1906), 875; Hybrid
Black-game, 3895; Thresher
Shark on the Norfolk coast, 398
SoUTHWORTH, JOEL
Tynx torquilla in Cheshire, 392
Swarnson, H. A.
Distribution of the Corn-Bunting
in Wales, 350
TooGooD, CLIFFORD
Ornithological notes from Lewes,
153
Tuck, Rev. JuLIAN G., M.A.
Tawny Owl in a chimney, 34;
Mus flavicollis in Suffolk, 108 ;
Crossbill in captivity, 189; The |
Cuckoo andits eggs, 276; Three
Cuckoos’ eggs in one nest, 276;
CONTENTS.
Great Crested Grebe breeding in
Essex, 315; Notes on nest-boxes,
316
Urqunart, A.
Grasshopper- Warbler
thian, 468
WarbDE, Dob Ley F.
Spring arrivals near Canterbury,
195
in Midlo-
| WarREN, RoBERT
Remarkable change in habits of
Herrings visiting Killala Bay,
Co. Mayo, 105; White Wagtails
in Co. Mayo, 275; a new Irish
breeding haunt of Sandwich
Terns, 277; Disappearance of
many of our home-bred birds in
autumn, 459
Waters, ALBERT H., B.A.
Notes on Marine Crustacea in con-
finement, 53, 174
Wescue, W., F.R.M.S.
Notes on the habits of some caged
birds, 220
WESTELL, W. PERCIVAL
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and
Whinchat in Herts, &e., 31
WHIsTLER, H.
Variety of Common Wren, 391
WHITAKER, J.
Late stay of Swift, 392
Warvyte, G. A.
Lesser Redpoll nesting in Ross-
shire, 468
Wayts, R. B.
Grasshopper-Warbler in Midlo-
thian, 468; Lesser Redpoll nest-
ing in Ross-shire, 468
Wituiams, W. J.
Snowy Owl in Ireland, 351
WILSON, W.
Migratory notes from Aberdeen, 196
WincGe, HERLUF
Great Skua at the Feroes, 152
Workman, W. H.
Greenland Falcon in Co. Antrim,
112; Blackbird laying twice in
same nest, 235; Loch Broom
sea monster, 355
Wricut, F.S.
Arctus ursus (better known as
Scyllarus arctus) in Guernsey,
78
Wricut, W. C., M.B.O.U.
Glossy Ibis on Twin Island, Belfast
Lough, 393
CONTENTS.
1X
ALPHABETICAL LIST OF SUBJECTS.
Accentor, Hedge, 138
Accentor modularis, 182, 480
Accipiter nisus, 192, 309
Acredula caudata, 28, 182
Acrocephalus arundinaceus, 269 ;
palustris, 267, 401; phragmitis,
181; streperus; 181, 270
AXigialitis hiaticola, 87
Agelena labyrinthica, 60
Alauda arborea, 232; arvensis, 35,
232; cristata, 67
Albania, Great White Heron in, 441
Alea torda, 351
Alcedo ispida, 233
Alectorcenas nitidissima, 49
Alopecias vulpes, 398
Amathilla homari, 3382
Anas boscas, 86, 281, 386
Anchovy at Yarmouth, 435, 457
Anglesea Bird-notes, 94
Animals, Marine, phytogenic, 1
Anser brachyrhynchus, 115; sege-
tum, 116
Antelope, Blaauwbok, 49
Anthus campestris, 463; obscurus,
35, 85, 466; pratensis, 85, 183;
rupestris, 466; spipoletta, 124,
463; trivialis, 183
Aranez around Yarmouth, 58
Arctic Whaling Voyage of 1905,
notes on, 41
Arctus ursus (Scyllarus arctus) at
Guernsey, 78
Ardea alba, 361, 441; cinerea, 115,
309; ralloides, 365
Ardetta minuta, 362
Arnoglossus laterna, 332, 453, 456
Asio accipitrinus, 309
Auk, Little, 139, 345
| Blackeap, 65, 244, 268;
Avocet, 123, 129,130; near Rye, 152 |
Balistes capriscus, 470
Barnstaple, winter ornithological
notes from, 237
Bat, Daubenton’s, in Surrey, 429;
Lesser Horseshoe, in Denbighshire,
70; Long-eared, 348,—at Great
Yarmouth, 26; Natterer’s, in
Somersetshire, 312; Noctule, notes
on, 26,—in Surrey, 429; Whis-
kered, in Denbighshire, 70,—Brit-
ish distribution of, 348, 349; Pipi-
strelle, 348
| Bats in Berkshire, 185; notes on,
348 ; Cave, notes on, 69
Bedfordshire, Churchwardens’
counts of, 161, 2538
Bee-eater, 297
Beetle, British, a re-discovered, 317
Belone vulgaris, 455
Bird records, early, 35; notes from
Shetland, 35; migration at Scar-
borough, 381; notes in Switzerland
and Germany in June and July,
1905, 65; notes from Anglesea, 94
Birds, local variation of habits in,
Ac-
111; interesting, in Yarmouth
market, 115; of Donegal, some
notes on, 153; imported into
United States (in 1904), 160; of
Staines district, 179, 230, 307, 386;
sexual selection in, 201, 285, 419;
caged, habits of some, 220; with
only one leg apiece, 237; of Scilly,
241, 295, 385, 470; of Somme,
266; names of, uncertain in origin
or meaning, 271, 303, 439; home-
bred, disappearance of many, in
autumn, 459
Birds’ eyes, colour of, 75, 109, 112,
118, 194, 286
Birdsnesting in August, 353
Bittern, American, 302; Common,
302,—in Somerset, 314; Little,
302
Blackbird, 188, 243, 268, 386; nest
in pasture-field, 140; laying twice
in same nest, 235, 274, 312, 390;
does it eat snails ?, 312, 849, 390
mimical
song of, 108
Black-Game and Pheasant, hybrids
which have occurred between, in
Great Britain, 821, 395, 433
Booxs NovricEeD :—
Nature in Eastern Norfolk, by
Arthur H. Patterson, 38
The Birds of Hampshire and the
Isle of Wight, by the Rev. J.
E. Kelsall and Philip W. Munn,
39
Eggs of the Birds of Europe, in-
CONTENTS.
cluding all the Species inhabit-
ing the Western Palearctic
Area, Part I., by H. EH. Dresser,
40
Creatures of the Night—a Book of
Wild Life in Western Britain,
by Alfred W. Rees, 79
Nature’s Nursery, by H. W. Shep-
heard-Walwyn, 80
The Geese of Kurope and Asia, by
' Sergius Alphéraky, with coloured
plates by F. W. Frohawk, &c.,
118
The Zoological Society of London,
a sketeh of its foundation and |
development, &c., by Henry
Scherren, 119
More Natural History Essays, by
Graham Renshaw, 120
Darwinism and the Problems of
Life, by Conrad Guenther, trans-
lated from the Third Edition by
Joseph McCabe, 157
The Birds of the Isle of Man, by
P. G. Ralfe, 158
Report on the Immigrations of
Summer Residents in the Spring
of 1905, 159
A Treatise on Zoology, edited by
E. Ray Lankester, Part V., Mol-
lusca, by Paul Pelseneer, 197
The Natural History of Selborne, |
by the Rev. Gilbert White, re-
arranged, and classified under
subjects, by Charles Mosley,
198
The British Woodlice, by Wilfred
Mark Webb and Charles Sillem,
199
The Eggs of European Birds, Part
I., by the Rev. Francis C. R.
Jourdain, 199
The British Freshwater Rhizopoda
and Heliozoa, by James Cash,
assisted by John Hopkinson,
239
A Pocket-Book of British Birds, by
K. F. M. Elms, 240
Bombay Ducks—an Account of
some of the Every-day Birds and
Beasts found in a Naturalist’s
Eldorado, by Douglas Dewar,
279
The Butterflies of the British Isles,
by Richard South, 280
The Analysis of Racial Descent
in Animals, by Thos. H. Mont-
gomery, Jr., 319
Wild Life in Hast Anglia, by Wil-
liam A. Dutt, 358
Illustrations of British Blood-suck-
ing Flies, with Notes by Ernest
Edward Austen, 359
British Flowering Plants, by W.
F. Kirby, 860
The Journal of the South African
Ornithologists’ Union, 399
Annals of the Natal Government
Museum, Part I., 399
The Cambridge Natural History,
Vol. i., by Mareus Hartog, I. B.
J. Sollas, S. J. Hickson, and EH.
W. MacBride, 440
A Vertebrate Fauna of Scotland.
Tay Basin and Stratbmore, by
J. A. Harvie-Brown, 471
Botaurus stellaris, 314
Brambling, 250; in Surrey, 110;
late stay, in Cheshire, 188; in
April, 818, 354
Breeding, range of Twite, 29, 71, 189;
of Hen-Harrier in Cornwall, 34;
habits of Ruff, 201, 285, 419;
a new Irish haunt of Sandwich
Tern, 277; of Great Crested Grebe
in Essex, 815; of Black-necked
Grebe in Great Britain, 315, 554;
of Marsh-Warbler, fourteen years’
record of, 401
Bull-dog, anchylosed spine of, 311
Bullfineh, 250
Bunting, Cirl, 251, 269,—in Cheshire,
71; Corn, 103, 251,—distribution
in Wales, 350, 480; Meadow, 266;
Ortolan, 251; Reed, 251, 270;
Snow, 101, 251; Yellow, 190;
Yellow-breasted, in Norfolk, 128,
134
Bustard, Little, 67, 835
Butcher-Bird, 383, 439, 470
Buteo lagopus, 469
Buzzard, Common, 299; Honey,
299; Rough-legged, in Somerset,
469
Caceabis rufa, 387
Caged birds, notes on the habits of
some, 220
Cancer pagurus, 333, 436
Canterbury, spring arrivals near, 195
Caprimulgus europus, 232
Carcinus menas, 53, 54, 331, 436
Carduelis elegans, 184, 224
Certhia familiaris, 183 -
Chaffinch, 67, 138, 190, 250, 269
Charadrius pluvialis, 87, 388
.
CONTENTS. x1
Chelidon urbica, 28, 31, 35, 184
Chiffchaff, 27, 65, 100, 244, 245, 250,
268
Chough, 252
Chrysomitris spinus, 224, 230
Chub, Large, in Hampshire Avon, 435
Churehwardens’ Accounts of Bed-
fordshire, extracts from, 161, 253
Cinclus aquaticus, 182
Cireus exruginosus, 236; cyaneus, 34,
114, 191
Clubiona holosericea, 60; neglecta,
58; pallidula, 60
Coceothraustes vulgaris, 109, 184
Cock, savage, curious experience with
a, 304
Columba exnas, 35, 386; livia, 87;
palumbus, 35, 386
Colymbus areticus, 33; glacialis, 388 ;
septentrionalis, 93
Coot, 3835
Cormorants, 301; young, at Scilly
(Plate IIT.), 301
Corvus corax, 86, 232; cornix, 86,
368; corone, 232, 235; frugilegus,
36, 232; monedula, 232
Corystes cassivelaunus, 56
Cotile riparia, 29, 184
Cottus bubalis, 453
County RrEcorps :—
Bedfordshire — Extracts from
Churchwardens’ Accounts, 161,
253; Redshank, 469
Berkshire—Blackeap, 108; Bats,
185
Buckinghamshire—-Black-throated
Diver, 36
Cambridgeshire — Birdsnesting in
August, 353
Cheshire—Cirl-Bunting, 71; Shore-
Lark, 72; Hider, 75; Knot, 76;
Blue Tit, 77; Brambling, 188;
Common Secoter, 277; Little
Grebe, 351; Wryneck, 392; Hoo-
poe, 392; Hobby, 393; Baillon’s
Crake, 395
Cornwall—Hen- Harrier, 34; Swift,
314
Cumberland—Whooper Swan, 193
Derbyshire — Ornithological notes,
139
Devonshire —Twite, 71; Ornitho-
logical notes, 236, 237
Dorset — Fire-crested Wren, 149;
Mole-Cricket, 470
Essex—Great Crested Grebe, 315
Hampshire — Stoats, 187; Yellow
Bunting, 190; Chaffinch, 190;
Ornithological notes, 190; Hen-
Harrier, 191; Sparrow-Hawk,
192; Mole Cricket, 857; Chub,
435; Mayfly, 487
Hertfordshire — Lesser Spotted
Woodpecker, 31; Whinchat, 31;
Cuckoo and its foster-parents,
72; Waterhen, 76; Wren, 391
Kent — Flying Fish, 386; Fire-
crested Wren, 149; Spring arri-
vals near Canterbury, 195 ; Shore-
Lark, 430; White Pelican, 431
Lancashire—Dunlin, 21; Fuligula
nyroca, 113 ; Cuckoo, 235
Middlesex — Willow- Warbler, 27 ;
Wren, 27; Long-tailed Tit, 28 ;
Osprey, 35; Birds of Staines dis-
trict, 179, 230, 807, 386 ; Hoopoe,
191
Norfolk — Long-eared Bat, 26;
Black Rat, 26; Aranez around
Yarmouth, 58: Musalexandrinus,
71; White-eyed Pochard, 75 ;
Hybrid Duck 75; Sea-going Pi-
geons, 76; Flying Fish, 77; In-
teresting birds in Yarmouth mar-
ket, 115; ornithological report,
121; Water-Pipit, 124; Yellow-
breasted Bunting, 123, 134; Bird
varieties, 188; Pearlsides, 155;
Hoopoe, 191; Crane, 194; Wild
Swans, 236; Some Crustacean
Gossip, 331; Sowerby’s Hippo-
lyte, 332; Jago’s Goldsinny, 332,
454; Megrim, 332, 453; Scomber
thunnina (EHuthynnus alletera-
tus), 855, 453, 456; Red-crested
Pochard, 394; Black-Game, 395;
Thresher-Shark, 398; Anchovy,
435, 457; Livid Swimming Crab,
436; Thompson’s Hippolyte,
436; Shore-Crab, 436; Fish-
notes, 453; Mackerel (var.), 455
Northwmberland—Chiffchaff, 27
Oxfordshire—White Pelican, 194 ;
Thrush, 312; Brambling, 318,
354; Black-necked Grebe, 315,
854; Weasel, 347; Bats, 348;
Blackbird, 235, 349; Marsh-
Warbler, 401; Ornithology of,
410, 445
Shropshire—Bank Vole, 108 ; Coc-
cothraustes vulgaris, 109 ; Black-
bird, 312
Somersetshire — Great Tit, 28;
Swift, 30; Cuckoo’s eggs in nests
of Finch, 33; Cave Bats, 69;
Natterer’s Bat, 812; Bittern, 314;
XI
Unusual clutches of eggs, 315;
Kite, 877; Rough-legged Buz-
zard, 469; File Fish, 470
Staffordshire—White-tailed Hagle,
74; Mole-Cricket, 437
Suffolk — Tawny Owl, 384; Mus
flavicollis, 108; Crossbill, 189 ;
Cuckoo, 276; Nest-boxes, 316;
A savage Cock! 854 ; Flamingo,
3893, 432
Surrey — Noctule Bat, 26, 429;
Brambling, 110; Ornithological
notes, 114, 484; Rana esculenta,
154; Pigmy Shrew, 187, 429;
Harvest-Mouse, 188; Crow, 235;
Mammals, 274, 429; Wild Duck,
281; Little Grebe 282; Pied
Flycatcher, 813; Lomechusa
strumosa, 317; Blackbird, 390;
Dabchick, 396; Cuckoo, 4380;
Daubenton’s Bat, 429; Some
local names, 438
Sussex—Avocet, 152; Ornithologi-
cal notes, 1538; Fire-crest, 188;
Blackbird, 274; Tursiops tursio,
390
Wiltshire—Knot, 152
Yorkshire — House-Martin, 28;
Twite, 29; Swift, 31; Cuckoo, 31,
110; Early records, 35; Gold-
finch, 109; Continental Long-
tailed ‘lit, 149; Razorbill, 351;
Tufted Duck, 432
Crab, Livid Swimming, in East Nor-
folk, 486
Crake, Baillon’s, near Stockport, 395 ;
Corn, 102; Lesser, 306; Spotted,
3806
Crane, 335; near Great Yarmouth,
194
Crangon fasciatus, 333 ; spinosus, 334;
trispinosus, 38343; vulgaris, 176
Crex pratensis, 35, 387
Cricket, Mole, Notes on, 357, 487, 470
Crossbill, 250 ; in captivity, 189
Crow, 267; young, accident to, 235;
Carrion, 295; Hooded, 158, 295
Crustacea, Marine, in confinement,
notes’ on, 53. 174; rare, at Yar-
mouth, 486
Crustacean gossip from Yarmouth,331
Ctenolabrus rupestris, 3382, 454
Cuckoo, 298; egg-depositing by, 31,
33, (25 IO, Ne, way sO, 40s},
430, 446, 469; young, in Hedge-
Accentor’s nest, 130, 469; song of,
at night, 235
Cuculus canorus, 31, 33, 72, 110, 130,
{
|
CONTENTS.
196, 2385, 276, 298, 307, 403, 480,
446, 469
Curlew, 341; Esquimaux, 342; Stone,
835
Cygnus bewickii, 142, 236; musicus,
86, 193; olor, 309
Cymodocea truncata, 177
Cypselus apus, 282, 314; melba, 232
Dabchick, nest of (fig.), 129 ; notes on,
396
Dafila acuta, 86
Daulias luscinia, 180
Decapterus muroadsi, 143
Dendrocopus major, 232; minor, 233
Derbyshire Ornithology, rough notes
on (1904-1905), 139
Dipper, 246
Diver, Black-throated, 345,—at Wo-
burn, 386; Great Northern, 345 ;
Red-throated, 845
Dodo of Mauritius, model of, 49
Dove. Rock, 805; Steck, 305; Turtle,
805
Downs of Wild Ducks, identification
of, 370
Drassus lapidosus, 60
Duck, hybrid, 75; Hider, 75, 304;
Golden-eye, 304; King-Hider 2, in
Orkney, 113; Long-tailed, 3804;
Pintail, 304; Scaup, 304; Tufted,
304, 472,— Yorkshire notes on (fig.),
432; Wild, notes on, 281, 370
Dunlin, 158,339; notes on nesting, 21
Eagle, Sea, 123,128; White-tailed,74,
299
Harly records, 35
Eastern Europe, Pelicans and Great
White Heron, as observed in, 361,
441
Egg-depositing by Cuckoo, 31, 33, 72,
‘110, 130, 276, 307, 403, 430, 446,
469
Eggs imported into United States (in
1904), 160; unusual clutches of,
815; of Razorbill, 351
Emberiza aureola, 184; cia, 266;
cirlus, 71, 231; citrinella, 281; mil-
jaria, 231, 350,430; schceniclus, 231
Emeu, Black, 49
Engraulis encrasicholus, 435, 457
Epeira cornuta (fig.), 58; quadrata,
58; umbratica, 60
Ephemera vulgata, 437
Erinaceus europzus, 170
Hrithacus rubecula, 180, 431
Eudromius morinellus, 92
CONTENTS.
Europe and Asia. Geese of, 150
Evotomys glareolus, 172;
ensis, 168
Exoccetus volitans, 36, 77
Eyes of birds, colour of, 75, 109, 112,
113, 194, 236
Feroes, ornithological visit to (Plate
I.), 81; Great Skua at, 152
Faleo zsalon, 86; candicans, 112;
subbuteo, 393 ; tinnunculus, 77, 809
skomer- |
Faleon, Greenland, 300,—in Co. An- |
trim, 112; Iceland, 300; Peregrine, |
300
Fieldfare, 243, 337
Finch, Serin, 65, 67
Finches, utility of, 127
Fireerest, 149, 181, 188, 244
Fish, Flying, near Ramsgate, 36,—
reported from Yarmouth (?), 77,—
the flight of, 145; rare, at Yar-
mouth, 354, 453, 456; File, on coast
of Somerset, 470
Fish-notes from Yarmouth for 1906
(fig.), 453
Flamingo, supposed, near Aldeburgh,
Suffolk, 398, 432; in Norfolk, 482 |
' Flycatcher, Pied, 249,—1in Surrey, |
313; Red-breasted, 128, 185, 249; |
Spotted, 248
Fratercula arctica, 92
Fringilla celebs, 230; montifringilla,
110, 188, 313
Fulica atra, 387
Fulicula cristata, 113, 114, 384, 432, |
472; ferina, 118, 386, 394; marila,
86; nyroca, 75, 109, 112,113,194,286 |
Fulmarus glacialis, 91, 93
Gadwall, 304
Gallinago celestis, 89, 388; galli-
nula, 388
Gallinula chloropus, 76, 887
Gammarus locusta, 178
Gannet, 301
Garganey, 304
Garrulus glandarius, 232
Gasterosteus aculeatus, 454
Gecinus viridis, 232
Geese of Europe and Asia, 150
Germany and Switzerland, bird-notes |
in (June and July, 1905), 65
Gobius minutus, 454; niger, 453
Godwit, Bar-tailed,341; Black-tailed,
341
Goldcrest, 244, 245, 250
Goldfinch, 65, 153, 250; increase of,
109
xu
Goldsinny, Jago’s, in Norfolk, 382,
454
Goldsmith as a naturalist, 380, 439,
471
Goosander, 304
Goose, Bean, 308; Bernacle, 3038;
Brent, 3038; Canadian, 303; Grey
Lag, 802; Egyptian, 803; White-
fronted, 3802
Grebe, Black-necked, breeding in
Great Britain, 315, 354; Hared,
346; Great Crested, breeding in
Essex, 315; Little, 68, 346, —notes
on, 282, 351; Sclavonian, 345
Greenfinch, 68, 249, 250
Greenshank, 341
| Grouse, Pallas’s Sand, 305
Grus communis, 194
Gryllotalpa vulgaris, 357, 487, 470
Guernsey, Arctus ursus (Scyllarus
arctus) in, 78
Guillemot, 104, 845
Gull, Black-headed, 348, 344; Bona-
parte’s, 348; Common, 104, 154,
344; Glaucous, 344; Greater Black-
backed, 99, 344; Herring, 99, 154,
344; Iceland, 154, 344; Ivory,
843; Lesser Black-backed, 99, 104,
344; Little, 343; Sabine’s, 343
Hematopus ostralegus, 87
Haliaétus albicilla, 35, 74, 809, 364
Harrier, Hen, 299,—in Cornwall,
34,— strange death of a, 191;
Marsh, 298; Montagu’s, 299
Hawfinch, 249, 250; colour of eyes,
109
Hawk, Kestrel, 77; Sparrow, a small,
192, 299
| Herodias garzetta, 365
Heron, 154, 301; Great White, in
Albania (Plate VI.), 441; Night,
302; Purple, 801; Squacco, 302
| Herrings visiting Killala Bay, re-
markable change in habits of, 105
Hippolyte cranchii, 833; pandala-
formis, 333 ; spinus, 3832; varians,
333
Hippolyte, Sowerby’s, in East Nor-
folk, 3832; Thompson’s, 436
Hippopotami in Rhodesia, 188
Hirundo rustica, 35, 184
Hobby, 300; in Cheshire, 393
Home-bred birds, disappearance of
many, in autumn, 459
Hoopoe, 269, 298; in Middlesex,
191; in Norfolk, 191; on Lundy
Island, 285; in Cheshire, 392
X1V
Hyas, 57; araneus, 333; coarctatus,
333
Hybrid Duck, 75; Linnet, 125;
Black-Game and Pheasant, 321,
395, 483; Stoat and Ferret, 463
Hybrids which have occurred in
Great Britain between Black-Game
and Pheasant (Plate [V.), 821
Hyla arborea, 154
Hypolais icterina, 268
Ibis, Glossy, 302; at Belfast Lough,
393
Idotea pelagica, 333; tricuspidata,
333
IreLaAnD—Habits of Herrings visit-
ing Killala Bay, 105; Greenland
Falcon, 112; Birds of Donegal,
153; Blackbird, 235 ; White Wag-
tail, 275; Sandwich Tern, 277;
Snowy Owl, 351; Glossy Ibis, 393;
Home-bred birds in autumn, 459
IsteE oF Man—LUeach’s Fork-tailed
Petrel, 194; Common Redstart,
275; White Wagtail, 275; Sedge-
Warbler, 275; Blackbird laying
twice in same nest, 390
Tynx torquilla, 232, 392
Jackdaw, 67, 1538, 252, 267
Japan, Ichthyology in, 143
Kestrel, 67,300; Lesser, 300
Killer or Basking Shark ?, 355, 396,
397
Kingfisher, 297
Kite, 299 ; in Somerset, notes on, 377
Kittiwake, 104, 344
Knot, inland in Cheshire, 76; in
Wiltshire, 152
Labrus maculatus, 456
Lanius collurio, 183
Lapwing, 153, 252, 336
Lark, 270, 296; Crested, 67, 270;
Shore, in Cheshire, 72,— near
Herne Bay, 430; Short-toed, 297;
Sky, 138, 270, 296 ; Wood, 297
Larus cachinnans, 368; canus, 388;
fuscus, 91; marinus, 91; ridi-
bundus, 388
Latrunculus pellucidus, 454
Leuciscus cephalus, 435
Lewes, ornithological notes from,
153
Ligurinus chloris, 184
Limosa lapponica, 290
Linnet, 250; hybrid, 125
CONTENTS.
Linota cannabina, 221, 230; flavi-
rostris, 29,71,472; rufescens, 221,
230, 469
Liparis montagui, 453
Local names in Surrey, 438
Loch Broom sea monster, 355, 396,
397
Locustella nevia, 182, 468
Loligo media, 458
Lomechusa strumosa, a _ re-dis-
covered British beetle (fig.), 317
Machetes pugnax, 201, 285, 419
Magpie, 252, 267
Maia, 57
Mallard, 304
Mammalia imported into United
States (in 1904), 160; some of the
smaller British, field notes on, 168;
Surrey, notes on, 274, 429
Mareca penelope, 386
Marine animals, photogenic, 1 ;
Crustacea in confinement, 53, 174
Martin, 249; House, 1388, 267,—late
nests of, 28,—at Scarborough, 31;
Sand, 249,—does it usually have
late broods ?, 29
Maurolicus pennantii up river, 155
Mayfly, the poor, 437
Megrim in Norfolk, 832, 453, 456
Melanism in Bank Vole, 108
Merganser, Red-breasted, 154, 304
Mergulus alle, 139
Mergus serrator, 87
Merlin, 101, 300
Merops apiaster, 470
Microtis agrestis, 172; amphibius,
173; glareolus, 108; orcadensis,
168
Migration of birds, at Scarborough,
81; in Norfolk, 121; of Larks and
Starlings, at Scilly, 296
Migratory notes from near Canter-
bury, 195; from Aberdeen, 196
Milvus ictinus, 377
Moorhen, 1388, 325
Motacilla alba, 182, 275; flava, 183;
lugubris, 182; melanope, 182;
rali, 183
Mouse, Harvest, in Surrey, 188
Mullus surmuletus, 455
Mus alexandrinus, 71; flavicollis,
172,—in Suffolk, 108; minutus,
188; rattus, 71; rattus alexandri-
nus, 26, 71; rattus rattus, 26, 71,
95; sylvaticus, 172
Muscicapa atricapilla, 313; grisola,
184
CONTENTS. XV
Museardinus avellanarius, 171
Museum, Grosvenor (Chester), inter-
esting acquisitions by, 77
Myotis daubentoni, 169, 429; mysta-
einus, 70, 849; nattereri, 312
Mysis chameleon, 177
Names of birds of uncertain origin
or meaning, 271, 439
Neomys fodiens, 171
Neophron percnopterus, 364
Nephrops norvegicus, 334
Neriene affinis, 58
Nest of Dabchick, 129; of Blackbird
on the ground in pasture-field, 140
Nest-boxes, notes on, 316
Nesting-box in use at the Feroes
(Plate I., fig. 2), 86
Nesting of Dunlin, 21; habits, eco-
nomical, of Willow-Warbler and
Wren, 27; habit, curious, of Long-
tailed Tit, 28; late, of Martin, 28;
habits of Pelicans, 367; habits of
Peewit, 413; of Lesser Redpoll in
Ross-shire, 468
Newfoundland Sealing (1906), 375
Nightingale, 68
Nightjar, 297
Nika edulis, 334
Norfolk, ornithological report for
(1905) (Plate IT.), 121
Numenius arquata, 388 ; pheopus, 90 |
Nyctea scandiaca, 86, 351
OBITUARY—
Cornish, Charles John, 78
Greene, Rev. Joseph, 117
Tristram, Canon Henry Baker,
155
Williams, Edward, 117
(Edemia nigra, 277, 386
Orca gladiator, 356
Orchestia littorea, 333
Oriole, 65; Golden, 248
Orkney, King-Hider in, 113
Ornithological notes — Barnstaple,
237; Donegal, 153; Lewes, 153;
Plymouth, 236; Richmond Park,
434; Ringwood, 190; Shetland,
85; Surrey, 114
Ornithology of Oxfordshire, 410, 445
Osprey, 300; how does it carry its
prey ?, 35
Otocorys alpestris, 72, 430
Ouzel, Ring, 243
Owl, Barn, 298,—utility of, 128;
Long-eared, 35, 298; Scops, 298;
Short-eared, 298; Snowy, 128, 126,
298,—in Ireland, 351; Tawny, 34,
35, 298,—in a chimney, 34
Oxfordshire, ornithology of, 410, 445
Oystercatcher, 337
Pagurus bernhardus, 332
Palemon leachi, 334; serratus, 175,
302; squilla, 175, 332, 3833; varians,
175, 333 ;
Pandalina brevirostris, 436
Pandaius annulicornis, 175, 334
Panurus biarmicus, 4389
Paralichthys olivaceus, 144
Partridge, 138, 306; Grey, 305; Red-
legged, 305
Parus ater, 182; czruleus, 77, 182;
major, 28, 182; palustris, 182
Passer domesticus, 230; montanus,
35, 230
Pastor, Rose-coloured, 252
Pearlsides up river, 155
Peewit, nesting habits of, 413
Pelecanus crispus, 361, 362 ; onocro-
talus, 142, 361, 431
Pelican, White, at Whitstable, 431
Pelicans reportedin Oxfordshire, 193;
as observed in Eastern Hurope
(Plate V.), 361
Perdix cinerea, 387
Petrel, Leach’s Fork-tailed, 194, 346:
Stormy, 346
Phalacrocorax carbo, 301;
35
Phalarope, Grey, 3837; Red-necked,
337
Phalaropus hyperboreus, 88
Phasianus colchicus, 386
Pheasant, 305
Pheenicopterus roseus, 394
Photogenic marine animals, 1
graculus,
-Phylloscopus rufus, 27; trochilus, 27,
181
Pica rustica, 232
Picus canus, 66
Pigeon, Domestic, 67; Hollandais,
49 ; Wood, 3805
Pigeons, sea-going, 76
Pike, voracity of, 200
Pipit, Meadow, 247; Richard’s, 247;
Rock, 247; Tawny, 247; Tree,
247, 268; Water, 123, 247,—in
Norfolk, 128, 124,—as a visitor to
England, 463
Pirol, or Gold Amsel, 66
Pisaura mirabilis, 60
Plecotus auritus, 26
Plegadis falcinellus, 236, 365, 393
Plover, Golden, 104, 386; Grey, 336;
Xv1
Kentish, 386; Killdeer, 336 ; Little
Ringed, 336; Ringed, 104, 3385
Plymouth, ornithological notes from,
236
Pochard, 104, 304; Red-crested, at
Yarmouth, 394; White-eyed, colour
of eyes, 75, 109, 112, 118, 194, 236
Podicipes cristatus, 115, 815, 389;
fluviatilis, 114, 281, 351, 389, 396 ;
nigricollis, 315
Porcellana longicornis, 333
Portumnus, 56 ; variegatus, 334
Portunus holsatus, 436
Porzana bailloni, 395 ; maruetta, 387
Pratincola rubetra, 180; rubicola,
139, 180
Procellaria leucorrhoa, 194
Pterygistes noctula, 168, 429
Puffin, 345, 346
Putorius vulgaris, 171
Pyrrhula europea, 36, 231
Quagga, 49
Quail, 306
Querquedula crecca, 386
Rail, Land, 806; Water, 158, 335
Rallus aquaticus, 387
Rana esculenta, pugnacious propen-
sities of, 154; rugosa, 154
Rat, Black, at Great Yarmouth, 26,
71
Raven, 153, 295
Razorbill, 345; eggs of, 351
Redpoll, Lesser, 105; nesting in
Ross-shire, 468
Redshank, 158, 841,—in
shire, 469 ; Spotted, 341
Redstart, 65, 244; in Isle of Man,
275; Black, 244, 270
Redwing, 248, 336
Bedford-
Regulus cristatus, 181, 392; ignica- |
pillus, 149, 181, 188, 244
Rhinoceros, Indian, 49
Rhinolophus hipposiderus, 70
Rhodesia, Hippopotami in, 188
Rhombus megastoma, 454
Richmond Park, ornithological notes
from, 434
Ringwood, ornithological notes trom,
190
Rissa tridactyla, 91
Robin, 244
Rook, 188, 252, 295; some of King
James’s laws against, 275
Ruff, 840; breeding habits
285, 419
Ruticilla pheenicurus, 180, 275
of, 201,
CONTENTS.
Salmo trutta, 456
Sanderling, 340
Sandpiper, Bonaparte’s, 339; Butf-
breasted, 340; Common, 341 ; Cur-
lew, 141, 340; Green, 341; Pec-
toral, 339; Purple, 153, 340; Soli-
tary, 841; Wood, 341
Saxicola cenanthe, 83, 180, 196
Scanthias vulgaris, 456
Scilly, birds of, 241, 295, 470
Scomber colias, 143; scriptus, 455 ;
thunnina (Euthynuus alleteratus),
355, 458, 456
Scombrops cheilodipteroides, 143
‘Scops giu, 35
Scoter, Common, 104, 304,—in Che-
shire, 277; Surf, 304
ScotLanp.—Whooper, 74 ; Migratory
notes, 196; Sea monster, 355, 356,
| 396, 3897; Grasshopper- Warbler,
| 468; Lesser Redpoll, 468
Sea monster, Loch Broom (fig.), 355,
356, 396, 397
Sealing, Newfoundland (1906), 375
Segestria senoculata, 60
Selache maxima, 357, 396
Sepolia rondeletti, 457
Serinus canarius, 220
Sexual selection in birds, 201, 285,
419
Shag, 103, 301
Shark, Basking (?), 355, 356, 396,
397; Thresher, on Norfolk coast,
398
Shearwater, Great, 345, 346 ; Manx,
154, 345, 346
Sheld-drake, 303
Shetland, bird-notes from, 35
Shoveler, 804
| Shrew, Pigmy, in Surrey, 187, 429;
at Great Yarmouth, 429
Shrike, Great Grey, 248; lesser
Grey, 248 ; Red-backed, 248; Wood-
| chat, 248
| Siskin, 250
| Sitta cesia, 182
| Skua, Great, at Fzroes, 152; Poma-
| torhine, 154, 345; Richardson’s,
| 345
Smew, 805; Pigmy, in Surrey, 187,
429
Snipe, Common, 338; Full, 359;
Great, 838; Jack, 389; Red-breast-
ed, 341
Solea lascaris, 456
Somateria mollissima, 75, 87 ; specta-
bilis, 113
' Somme, two days with birds of, 266
CONTENTS.
Song, mimical, of Blackeap, 108; of
Cuckoo, at night, 235; local varia-
tion of, 269
Sorex araneus, 171; minutus, 171,
187, 429
Sparrow, Hedge, 246; House, 250;
Tree, 250
Spine of Bull-Dog, anchylosed, 311
Spoonbill, 302
Staines district, birds of, 179, 280,
307, 386
Starling, 251, 296, 336; utility of,
135
Stenorhynchus phalangium,
tenuirostris, 333
Stercorarius catarrhactes, 91, 152;
crepidatus, 92
Sterna cantiaca, 277; macrura, 91,
94, 96, 154
Stilt, Black-winged, 123, 127
Stint, Little, 340; Temminck’s, 340
Stoat and Ferret hybrids, 468
Stoats in winter dress in South-
western Hants, 187
Stonechat, 243
Stork, 66, 67; Black, 302; White,
198, WOT BIL
Strix flammea, 309
Sturnus vulgaris, 85, 231
Sub-species in Ornithology, a plea
for the further recognition of, 62
Sula bassana, 114
Surrey, ornithological notes from,
114
Swallow, 138, 249, 267
Swan, Bewick’s, 303; Mute, 303;
Whooper, 303,—in Islay, 74,—at
Carlisle, 193; Wild, in Norfolk,
138, 236
Swit, 67, 267, 297; late stay of, 30,
31, 392; notes on, 30, 314
Switzerland and Germany,
notes in, 65
Sylvia atricapilla, 108, 181; cinerea,
180; curruca, 181; hortensis, 181
Syrnium aluco, 34, 114, 309
388 5
bird-
Talpa europa, 170
Teal, 304
Tern, Arctic, 91, 94, 96, 154, 343;
Black, 342; Common, 343; Gull-
billed, 342; Lesser, 154; Little,
343; Roseate, 96, 343; Sandwich,
342,—new Irish breeding haunt,
277; Sooty, 343; Whiskered, 342 ;
White-winged Black, 342
Terns fishing on the Aare, 66
Tetrax tetrax, 67
XVli
Thenus orientalis, 78
Thrush, 268; Mistle, 103, 242, 336 ;
Song, 336,—laying twice in same
nest, 312; Water, 270; White’s, 248
Tit, Bearded, 246; Blue, 77, 246; Coal,
246; Continental Long-tailed, in
Yorkshire, 149; Crested, 68 ; Great,
246,—two broods of, 28; Long-
tailed, 246,—curious nesting habit
of, 28; Marsh, 246
Totanus calidris, 90, 469 ; hypoleucus,
388; melanoleucus, 470; ochropus,
141
Trachurus japonicus, 144; trachurus,
457
Tringa alpina, 21;
minuta, 141; striata,
arquata, 141
Troglodytes borealis, 84; parvulus,
27, 182, 391
Turdus iliacus, 179; merula, 179,
935, 274, 312, 8349; musicus, 179 ;
pilaris, 179; torquatus, 36, 196;
viscivorus, 179
Turnstone, 104, 154, 337
Tursiops tursio on Sussex coast, 390
Turtur communis, 386
Twite, 29; breeding range of, 29, 71,
112, 150, 189, 472
canutus, 152;
89; sub-
United States, mammals, birds, and
eggs, imported into (in 1904), 160
Upupa epops, 191, 235, 392; grylle,
92; troile, 91, 92
Vanellus vulgaris, 388
Variety of Blackbird, 138, 238 ; Bunt-
ing, 190; Chaffinch, 138, 190;
Hedge-Accentor, 138; Kestrel-
Hawk, 77; Moorhen, Partridge,
Rook, Sand-Martin, Sky-Lark,
Swallow, Wheatear, Yellowham-
mer, 188; Wren, 391
Vesperugo noctula, 26; pipistrellus,
169
Vole, Bank, melanism in, 108
Wagtail, Blue-headed, 247; Grey,
103, 247; Pied, 247; White, 247,
—in Co. Mayo, 275,—in Isle of
Man, 275; Yellow, 247, 270
WaLes—Whiskered Bat, 70; Lesser
Horseshoe Bat, 70 ; Kestrel-Hawk,
77; Corn-Bunting, 350, 430
Warbler, Bonelli’s, 65; Garden, 65,
244, 268; Grasshopper, 245,—in
Midlothian, 468; Great Reed, 246,
269; Icterine, 65, 68,268; Marsh,
XVill
267, 270,—fourteen years’ breeding
record of, 401; Reed, 245, 268,
270; Rufous, 246; Sedge, 65, 245,
268, 270; Willow, 65,—economical |
nesting habits, 27;
- Yellow-browed, 245
Waterhen, peculiar habits of, 76
Waxwing, 248
Weasel, strange disappearance of a,
347
Whaling Voyage, Arctic, of 1905,
notes on, 41
Wheatear, 138, 243
Whimbrel, 154, 342
Whinchat, 153, 243; in Herts, Xe.,
31
Whitethroat, 65, 244; Lesser, 244
Wigeon, 304
Wood, 65;
Wild Ducks’ downs, identification of, ©
370
CONTENTS.
Woodcock, 838
Woodpecker, Green, 297 ; Grey, 66;
Lesser Spotted, 66,—in Herts, &c.,
Bil
Wren, 246, 892; economical nesting
habits of, 27; var., 391; Fire-
crested, 181,—in Dorset, 149,—near
Tunbridge Wells, 149,—in Sussex,
188; Willow, 245, 268 ; Wood, 245
Wryneck, 297; in Cheshire, 392
2
Xantho rivulosus, 333; sabella,
333
Yarmouth market, interesting birds
in, 115
Yellowhammer, 188, 251
Zilla <x notata, 59
PLATES.
Fig. 1. Nest of Whimbrel (Nwmenius pheopus) )
Plate 1] | to face
Fig. 2. Nesting-box in use at the Feroes (p. 86)
», Ll. Yellow-breasted Bunting (Hmberiza aureola, Pall.) by
,, Il. Young Cormorants (Phalacrocoraz carbo) at Scilly le
,, IV. Hybrid between Black Grouse and Pheasant .
5 V. Pelecanus crispus in Albania . : , : : th
» WI. Ardea alba with young (Albania) . , ‘ ‘ ie
ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT.
Home of Epewra cornuta
Dabchick’s Nest . :
Anchylosed Spine of Bull-Dog.
Sketch of three forms of Lomechusa strumosa: queen, pseudogyne,
and worker . : :
Loch Broom Sea Monster (Killer or Basking Shark ?)
Tufted Duck (Fuligula cristata) at home
Scomber thunnina
PAGE
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be a re January 15th, 1906. No. 775.
FA Monthly Journal
JATURAL HISTORY,
Edited by W. Le. Distant.
“West, NEWMAN %CO 54+ Hatton Garden.
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2 THE ZOOLOGIST.
phosphorescent gases. The photogenic properties of various
substances and gases discovered by Sir James Dewar in his
remarkable experiments with liquid air still further enlarge the
field. Mr. Herbert Jackson, from whose lecture* part of the
foregoing is quoted, considers that these phenomena may be
looked upon as outward evidences of response on the part of
the substances to rapid oscillations, whether these oscillations
have their origin in chemical combustion—in what is commonly
spoken of as light—or in electrical discharge. The nature of
that response may in some cases be of a direct character, but
when account is taken of the many degrees of persistence of
phosphorescence it seems in many cases first to assume the form
of a statical change. The release of this condition of strain
is accompanied by oscillations which give rise to the visible
undulations of phosphorescent light. +
Since the discovery of phosphorescence in the garden Nastur-
tuum by a daughter of Linneus—the same who delighted herself,
as Arago also did, by setting fire to the inflammable atmosphere
surrounding the oil-glands of certain species of Dittany (Firaxin-
ella)—this phenomenon has likewise been known to the botanist.
Phosphoric light is emitted by various plants, such as the sun-
flower, marigold, orange lily, certain Fungi, and Bacteria.
Placed as we are on the shores of the North Sea, this striking
phenomenon must be familiar to most of us—even those who do
not go down to the sea in ships—for it is but necessary to stir the
stranded seaweeds at night on the east or the west sands after a
storm to find every blade sparkling with brilliant points, which
elimmer and twinkle like miniature stars. In the sea itself,
however, the phenomenon is seen in great beauty, for, leaning
over the side of a boat in July or August, the wavelets are seen
to gleam with phosphorescent points; whilst behind a ship the
brightly sparkling and seething mass—here and there with
circles of fire at the screw—merges into a long trail of luminous
* Lecture to the British Association, ‘ Nature,’ Oct. 6th, 1898.
+ Physicists state that when the wave-length is greater than 812 millionths
of a millimetre no luminous effect is produced on the eye, though the effect
on the thermometer may be great. When the length is 650 millionths the
ray is visible as red light, and when 500 millionths of a millimetre it is
brilliant green, but has much less heating effect than either of the foregoing.
PHOTOGENIC MARINE ANIMALS. 3
water stretching far into the darkness. LHvery stroke of the oar
causes a luminous eddy, and minute forms are lifted by the
blade, and scintillate brightly as they roll into the water. Nor
is the phosphorescence limited to surface-forms, for many
luminous types of great interest and beauty are brought up by
dredge and trawl, even from great depths.
Sixteen years ago I gave an address on the subject of the
phosphorescence of marine animals to the Biological Section of
the British Association at Aberdeen. Since that date noteworthy
progress has been made only in two departments, viz. (1) in that
of photogenic Bacteria, those minute plant-organisms which play
so important a part in causing dead food-fishes, for instance, to
gleam in the dark; and (2) in the extension of our knowledge of
luminous fishes.
As a general rule phosphorescence in marine animals shows
itself under four conditions, three of which are connected with
structure :—
(1) The animals present special cells which, under certain
circumstances, secrete a phosphorescent mucus.
(2) The special cells produce light without mucus or other
visible secretion.
(3) The animals emit light under the action of the nervous
system without special differentiation of the tissues.
(4) Their phosphorescence is due to photogenic Bacteria.
In the first three the light is emitted on the slightest touch,
or, in some cases, by simply blowing on the animal producing it.
It varies in colour from pale lambent light through several shades
of pink, red, green, lilac, and blue; while Huxley found that
Pyrosoma at its brightest was red, but in fading it passed through
shades of orange, green, and blue. Further, the light dis-
appears on the death of the animal. In the fourth group, on ©
the other hand, the luminosity occurs about a day after the
death of the fish.
Phosphorescence is found in almost all the great subdivisions
of marine animals up to and including fishes, viz. in the simplest
forms, viz. Protozoa, in Colenterates, Worms, Rotifers, Crabs,
Shell-fishes, and Fishes. Moreover, every variety of marine life
is represented, such as pelagic (or swimming and floating),
sedentary, and reptant. Some of the phosphorescent animals
B2
4 _ THE ZOOLOGIST.
inhabit tubes, and it was the brilliant luminosity of these that
led, in 1870, to doubts as to the correctness of the views enter-
tained by the distinguished naturalists of the ‘ Porcupine’ Expe-
ditions, and especially by the late Sir Wyville Thomson, viz.
that this attribute served the two diverse purposes of attracting
prey or of alluring enemies. The naturalists of the ‘Porcupine’
were struck by the phosphorescence of many of the forms living
at great depths in the Atlantic, such as Alcyonarians, Brittle-
stars, and Annelids. In some places the mud itself was full of
luminous specks. Accordingly, they broached the idea that the —
abyssal regions might depend for light solely on their phos-
phorescent inhabitants. Moreover, since the young of certain
Star-fishes are more luminous than the adults, it is probable
that this is part of the general plan which provides an enormous
excess of the young of many species, apparently as a supply of
food, their wholesale destruction being necessary for the due
restriction of the multiplication of the species, while the breeding
individuals are provided with special appliances for escape or
defence. For example, a young Hyas araneus, having dense tufts
of a phosphorescent zoophyte waving from its shell and limbs,
must, on the one hand, like an Indian beauty with her fireflies,
be the cynosure of all (predatory) eyes; and, on the other, be
enabled to throw such a flood of light on the food-question as to
distance many rivals. This view, however, had long been known
to naturalists. Thus Dr. Coldstream, in Todd’s ‘Cyclopedia,’
observes :—‘‘ Considering that in the ocean there is absolute
darkness at 800 or 1000 feet (133 to 166 fathoms), at least that
at such depths the light of the sun ceases to be transmitted,
Macculloch has suggested that, in marine animals, their lumin-
ousness may be a substitute for the light of the sun, and may be
the means of enabling them to discover one another, as well as
their prey. It seems to be particularly brilliant in those inferior
animals which from their astonishing powers of reproduction,
and from a state of feeling apparently little superior to that of
vegetables, appear to have been in a great measure created for
the supply and food of the more perfect kinds.”’
If, as the ‘ Porcupine’ naturalists say, luminosity subserves
the purpose of guiding animals to their prey, or of causing them
to be preyed upon (an unfortunate result), or even of illuminating
PHOTOGENIC MARINE ANIMALS. 5
the abysses of the ocean, it might be supposed that traces of a
general resemblance in habits, structure, or physiology would be
found, and which would at least indicate the bearings of a pro-
vision so important. Thus, for instance, a similar state of
matters might be expected in the dark caverns of Illyria and
Dalmatia, or in those of the mammoth caves of Kentucky.
On surveying the marine animals possessed of this property
of phosphorescence, however, they are found to live under circum-
stances so diverse that it is truly difficult, not to say hazardous,
to promulgate any theory of the foregoing kind in connection
with this manifestation.
The lowest forms (Protozoa) which show emissions of light
are certain Infusoria, e.g. Ceratwwm (considered by some to be an
alga) and Porocentrum. Our waters teem with multitudes of
these, the tow-net in July and August being coated with them,
Peridinium, and others ; and if, on removing it from the water
at night, it is suddenly jerked, the whole interior is lit up with a
luminous lining, which glows brightly for a few seconds and
then fades. The same forms cause the crest of each wave as it
curls from the sides of the boat to sparkle vividly. Other phos-
phorescent Protozoa are the Radiolarians—Collozoum, Sphero-
zoum, and Thalassicolla—which Giglioli found to shine with an
intermittent greenish light in the Pacific. No member of the
group, however, is so well known for its photogenic properties as
Noctiluca, a minute, transparent, gelatinous sphere, which is
very widely distributed throughout the warmer seas. Its minute
size and vast abundance probably gave rise to the old notion that
the luminosity of the sea was due to the water itself, and not to
any visible organism. Thus an ecclesiastic named Tachard
(1686) considered that the water absorbed the light of the sun
by day and emitted it at night; whilst Robert Boyle attributed
the phosphorescence of the waves to friction with the air.* To
M. Rigaut, an acute French surgeon, belongs the credit of being
one of the earliest observers to prove that the phosphorescence
of the sea off the French coast and off the Antilles was due to
this organism, which he called a little spherical polyp. It occurs
in vast swarms in most of the great oceans, and even off the
southern and western shores of Britain, and is the cause of that
** Phipson, ‘ Phosphorescence,’ p. 174, 1862.
6 THE ZOOLOGIST.
diffused silvery phosphorescence so familiar to voyagers. De
Quatrefages attributes the emission of the clear bluish light of
this species in quiet water, or the white light with greenish or
bluish touches in broken water, to any physical agent which
produces contraction, the large number of minute scintillations
arising from the rupture and rapid contraction of the proto-
plasmic filaments in the interior.
In this connection Watasé has recently made some interesting
remarks on the relationship of protoplasmic contractility and
phosphorescence. The physicists have shown that heat and
light are simply variations of the same radiant energy. The
heat-producing particles and the light-producing particles,
objectively considered, may not be very different from each
other. ‘‘ They may be variations of similar chemical sub-
stances, as the resulting energies, the products of their oxida-
tion, are the variations of the same radiant energy. The
stimuli, therefore, which induce, combustion of the thermogenic
molecules may also be presumed to incite combustion of the
photogenic molecules. The luminosity is due to the metabolism
of the definite tissue-cells and the subsequent oxidation of the
metabolic product, resulting in the emission of light.’’ The
luminous tissue gives out carbon dioxide.
In the open sea the naturalists of the ‘Challenger’ found
Pyrocystis,* a form closely allied to Noctiluca, the light from
which is stated to proceed from the nucleus. Sir Wyville
Thomson observed that when shaken in a glass it gave out the
uniform soft light of an illuminated ground-glass globe.
Several authors have mentioned phosphorescent sponges,
but there is considerable dubiety. Parasitic luminous forms
are numerous in sponges, and in some cases misinterpretation
may have occurred.
In no group has phosphorescence been longer known, is more
general in its distribution, or more beautiful in its manifestations
than in the Celenterates, comprising Zoophytes, Jelly-fishes,
Sea-pens, and Sea-fans. On our own shores the tidal region,
the laminarian zone, the coralline, and deep sea areas are equally
the home of luminous representatives.
The Hydroids (or Zoophytes, as they are often called) are
*< As described by Sir John Murray.
PHOTOGENIC MARINE ANIMALS. 7
familiar examples, and it is only necessary to lift a handful of
such as are captured by the deep-sea liners or trawlers at night
to see the whole mass glittering with a hundred stars. None,
indeed, as the late able and conscientious observer, Mr. Hincks,
says, excels the common Obelia geniculata, which forms pigmy
forests on the broad blades of the tangles. In the fresh speci-
mens a touch during July causes a large number of luminous
points to appear, the stems most irritated exhibiting beautiful
flashes, which glitter like faintly dotted lines of fire, the points
not being boldly separated, but blending into each other; whilst
the shock imparted by the instrument detaches the minute
Medusa-buds, which scintillate from the parent stem upwards to
the surface of the water. By blowing on the surface where
tangles abound the pelagic buds at once emit light. Moreover,
these minute bodies, along with various species of Ceratiwm, are
sometimes swept by gales landward, and cause luminosity in un-
wonted quarters. Thus the late Dr. Cowie, of Lerwick, when
riding at night along Deal or Dale’s Voe, in Shetland, during the
presence of a south-westerly gale, happened to touch his beard,
when it and his hand gleamed with phosphorescent points, a
feature akin to the old experiment of Pliny, viz. rubbing Meduse
on a plank of wood. The gale had swept the spray and its
minute inhabitants on the person of the rider. In the same
way Vaughan Thompson found luminous patches on the masts
and windward yardarms on board ship, and they gradually
mounted upward as the gale increased. Many of the free
Medusa-buds are as luminous as the polyps, and the light ¢e. g.
in Thaumantias) gleams round the margin of the disc and along
the four radii.
Giglioli mentions that certain oceanic forms, viz. Siphono-
phora, are likewise characterized by phosphorescence. Dr.
Bennett and the same author also found the coralligenous
Actinozoa and Madrepores luminous, the light in the latter
being greenish and lasting some minutes. The Acraspedote
Medusze show many luminous species (e.g. Pelagia, Rhizostoma),
though neither of the common forms on our coasts (Aurelia and
Cyanea) present this feature. In the luminous Meduse the
presence of certain cells containing highly refractive granules
akin to fatty cells has been demonstrated.* On stimulation the
* Watasé.
8 THE ZOOLOGIST.
light is emitted (in Pelagia), and conveyed to the whole external
epithelium.
Many of the Ctenophores are luminous, and in our own seas
Beroé at various stages is one of the most prominent. Their
enormous numbers in quiet seas like Bressay Sound and the
Firth of Forth make the effects more striking, though the in-
tensity of the phosphorescence is less than in the Meduse. The
photogenic material is distributed along the gastro-vascular
tracts of Beroé. Lesueuria, again, which is met with in multi-
tudes in St. Andrews Bay, has a bright bluish (steel-blue) light.
Moreover, as Prof. Alex. Agassiz observes, the phosphorescence
is equally brilliant in the egg, even in its earliest stages (as in
Lampyris). It is only necessary to give the jar a shock, when
each egg of Pleurobrachia becomes brilliantly luminous. There
can be no special glands (as Panceri describes in other forms)
in such a case, but the protoplasm of the egg, as Watase
supposes, probably contracts and emits the light.
The Sea-pens amongst the Aleyonarians are perhaps the
best known and most beautifully phosphorescent forms, especi-
ally the common species so abundant off the Firth of Forth. —
Panceri found that the light proceeded from eight white cords ad-
hering to the outer surface of the alimentary canal of each polyp,
and that the cells of these contained a substance of a fatty nature,
the oxidation of which caused the light, and there were also
multipolar cells containing albuminous granules. On irritation
the light, after a brief interval (four-fifths of a second—Panceri),
flashes along the rows of polyps in a somewhat irregular manner.
The larger Funiculina and Umbellularia are equally phosphor-
escent ; the former, according to Sir Wyville Thomson, is
resplendent with a steady pale lilac phosphorescence like the
flame of cyanogen, and always sufficiently bright to make every
part of a stem caught in the tangles distinctly visible. He
mentions also that Umbellularia is so brightly phosphorescent
that it is easy to determine the character of the light; while,
with respect to the Corals, Zsts and Gorgonia, he conjures up a
Gorgonian forest at a depth of six hundred fathoms off the
Spanish coast as like an animated corn-field waving gently in
the slow tidal current, and glowing with a soft diffused phos-
phorescence, scintillating and sparkling on the slightest touch,
PHOTOGENIC MARINE ANIMALS. 9
and now and again breaking into long avenues of vivid light,
indicating the paths of fishes and other wandering denizens of
these enchanted regions.
There are comparatively few luminous members of the group
of Echinoderms, the most conspicuous being the common Brittle-
star (Ophiothrix), and one or two allied genera, besides the
curious Brisinga. Sir Wyville Thomson describes the light of
Ophiacantha as of a brilliant green, coruscating from the centre
of the dise along the rays, and illuminating the whole outline of
the Star-fish. The common Brittle-star from deep water gleams
all over the trawl-net with a pale greenish light, but the adults
between tide-marks show no trace of luminosity. The light
from a hundred examples of Brisinga is very brilliant. The
naturalists of the ‘Porcupine’ were of opinion that the young
stages of certain Star-fishes were more luminous than the adults
in order to act as a check on their increase, but the condition in
non-luminous Star-fishes and in other young invertebrates would
seem to throw doubt on this view. There are no data, indeed,
to show that a luminous form is more eagerly preyed on than
one which is not. |
Phosphorescence is stated to occur in certain Planarians and
Rotifers, and a species of Sagitta ; but it does not appear to be
a common manifestation in the lower worms. On the other
hand, the luminosity of the Annelids is brilliant, and has been
noted from early times. The representatives of five families of
Annelids possess this property, yet there is nothing specially
different in the habits of these from those in which this feature
is absent. In the family of the Polynoide no less than six or
seven British species are phosphorescent. One of the most
abundant between tide-marks is Polynoé floccosa, which emits
greenish scintillations from the point of attachment of the scales,
and in a double moniliform line along the ventral surface. It
lives under stones. Others, such as Gattyana cirrosa and Polynoé
scolopendrina, frequent the tubes of Terebellids, whilst Achloé
haunts the ambulacral grooves of Star-fishes (dAséropecten).
Though Dr. Jourdan is of opinion that in Polynoé torquata the
luminosity is produced by cells secreting mucus, it would appear
that in the majority of the Polynoide no secretion of mucus is
present. It may be that, as Watasé observes, the light-giving
10 THE ZOOLOGIST.
material is formed by the secretory process of the protoplasm,
accumulates along the course of the muscle-fibres, and manifests
itself in sparks or scintillations in the line of the ventral seag
tudinal muscles.
In the Syllide the widely distributed Husyllis tubifex, so
abundant in transparent tubes on tangle-blades, is one of the
most conspicuous examples. Under irritation a fine green light
is emitted from the ventral aspect of each foot, and the scintilla-
tions seem to issue from many minute points at each area, flash
along both sides of the worm posterior to the point of stimulation,
and then disappear. Under severe irritation the animal remains
luminous behind the injured part for nearly half a minute, while
the surface of granular light in each segment is larger than
usual, and in some instances the areas of opposite sides are con-
nected on the ventral aspect by a few phosphorescent points.
The body behind the irritated region has a pale pinkish hue
immediately after the emission of light, showing that the
luminosity is diffused. In this family the emission of light
seems to be due to the same physiological process as in the
Polynoid@—no mucus being secreted.
In the family of the Chetopteride, as in the common species
in the South of England and the Channel Islands, the phos-
phorescence is very beautiful, bright flashes being emitted by
the posterior feet. The most vivid luminosity, however, is at a
point between the lateral wings of the tenth segment, where a
quantity of mucus is secreted, and which can be drawn out as
bluish purple fire of great intensity, the light gleaming now and
then along the edges of the wing-like processes—at once illumi-
nating the surrounding water, and eliciting the admiration of
the observer. In all probability, in this case, the oxidation of
the secretion by the oxygen in the water suffices for the pro-
duction of light. A very characteristic odour similar to that of
phosphorus in combustion is given out by the animal during
such experiments, and Quoy and Gaimard formerly observed
that an odour resembling that around an electric machine is
emitted by luminous marine animals.
Our patient and laborious countryman, Sir John Graham
Dalzell, noticed that when irritated Terebella figulus gives out
a copious blue refulgence intermingled with a reddish flame.
PHOTOGENIC MARINE ANIMALS. 11
Grube subsequently found that Polycirrus likewise excels in the
brightness of its phosphorescence, and the ease with which it is
elicited. Mere blowing on the water of the dissecting-trough
suffices to produce it in the British species—the most vivid pale
bluish luminosity gleaming for a moment along every one of the
mobile tentacles, often elegantly disposed in a stellate manner.
Thelepus, another example of the group, is only faintly phos-
phorescent during life, but when decomposition has advanced it
shines in the water with a pale lambent light, somewhat like
phosphorus in air. The transparent pelagic Tomopteride present
on the feet certain peculiar structures which were formerly sup-
posed to be eyes or simply glandular organs. Greef found these
to be luminous.
So far as can be observed in this group, viz. the Annelids,
there is little in the habits or surroundings of the phosphorescent
species to explain the occurrence of the phenomenon. The most
diverse conditions prevail. Thus Tomopteris is pelagic through-
out its entire existence. Polynoé floccosa lives in the free con-
dition under stones between tide-marks, while those of the same
genus are commensalistic with the Terebellide in tubes. The
phosphorescent species of Terebellids are tubicolar, or occur in
fissures of rocks. Chetopterus dwells in tough tubes of a parch-
ment-like secretion covered with pebbles, stones, shells, and sea-
weeds. To suppose that the Polynoids attract prey for the
benefit of the Terebelle or themselves is to endow them with
properties analogous to those the older naturalists ascribed to
the Pea-crabs in the Horse-mussel. It is unlikely that they are
furnished with light to attract marauding fishes or Crabs, for
they are in tubes immersed in sand, beneath stones, or in obscure
chinks and fissures of muddy rocks, boulders, and old shells. It
can hardly be affirmed that they are protected because they are
luminous, since many species which are not so have exactly the
same habits and shelter ; while other phosphorescent forms are
either pelagic or devoid of such a safeguard. No reliable de-
duction can be made as to the function of this endowment.
Amongst the lower marine Arthropods one of the most inter-
esting examples occurs in a gigantic Pycnogonid (Colossendeis
gigas), recently dredged by Dr. Alcock at 922 fathoms near the
Andaman Islands. It is blind, and appears to feed on oceanic
12 THK ZOOLOGIST.
mud, so that its luminosity is useless to itself in procuring food ;
and, since the animal is, as it were, all slender legs, with a span
of nearly twenty inches, it would not form a tempting bait for
any fish. Dr. Alcock* placed it ventral surface upward in a
dark cabin, where it shone like a star, the body and all the legs
except the egg-bearing pair showing as lines of persistent blue-
green light. This gradually died away, but remained for a long
time illuminating the long fifth and sixth segments of all but the
first pair of legs. The theory of the ‘Porcupine’ naturalists
gains little support from this form.
Occupying a similar position to the myriads of other Arthro-
poda, such as insects, spiders, and centipedes on land, the group
of marine crustaceans rivals them in the enormous numbers of
its representatives. Amongst these luminosity occurs in the
minute Copepods (whose vast numbers and ubiquitous distribu-
tion make them so important in connection with the nourishment
of young fishes and even of Whales), in Sapphirina, a member of
the same group, in various Schizopods, and in the higher or
decapod crustaceans. In some of the minute types, such as the
Copepods, the phosphorescence has been attributed to the food
in the interior. In a similar way the luminous Sandhopper
(Talitrus) was found by Giard to have photogenic Bacteria para-
sitic in its abdominal cavity, and they by and by entered the
organs, causing its death. During the disease the animal
emitted a green light, which ceased a few hours after death. In
the Schizopods the Opossum Shrimps (Myside), Huphansia, and
Lophogaster (Gnathophansia) have luminous organs, which have
often been regarded as eyes. They have bright red pigment,
and are situated on the thorax and abdomen. Sarst describes
the essential part as the fibrous fascicle lying in the centre of
the globular corpuscle. The lenticular corpuscle placed just in
front of this acts as a condenser, and a glistening ring round the
lens resembles an iris. Muscles, moreover, move the organ.
The diaphanous front and the red pigment of the posterior part
also lead to the assumption of the close resemblance to a verte-
brate eye. He, however, found, on experimenting with the living
animal, that they had nothing to do with vision. Perrier, on the
** ¢ Zoological Gleanings,’ 1901, p. 74.
+ ‘Challenger,’ vol. xiii.
PHOTOGENIC MARINE ANIMALS. 13
other hand, thinks they have. Flashes of light proceed from
these organs, and when dying the whole body is frequently
diffusely luminous. Similar organs are found in Nyctiphanes
norvegica, the phosphorescence of which was observed by Sars,
and afterwards by G. J. Murray, in the Faroé Channel. This
species often appears in vast numbers on the east and west
sands, St. Andrews, where their stranded multitudes resemble
chaff, and along with them is Thysanoessa, the luminous globules
of which agree in structure with the foregoing.
In certain crustaceans (Leucifer, Aristeus, and probably in
Munida and Dorynchus) the eyes are brilliantly phosphorescent.
In species of Aristeus, Heterocarpus, and Pentacheles, recently
dredged by Dr. Alcock* off the Andaman Islands, luminosity
also occurred. In the two former the light appeared to come as
a secretion near the openings of the green glands. Heterocarpus
(both male and female), as it floated in a dark cabin, emitted
clouds of light, which at last lit up the bucket, so that all its
contents were visible in the clearest detail; but the luminous
secretion of a female Aristeus was neither so bright nor so
lasting. In Pentacheles (female) the light was confined to two
points near the openings of the ducts for the eggs.
The majority of the luminous crustaceans are either pelagic
or abyssal, and the habits of those endowed with this property
do not appear to differ from those which are not.
It has been asserted that some of the Bryozoa (Molluscoida),
e.g. Scrupocellaria reptans, Membranipora pilosa, and M. mem-
branacea, are luminous, but such has not been observed here.
They may, however, owe this property to luminous Bacteria.
The phosphorescent mollusks are represented by bivalves
and univalves, and some have been known for a very long time.
Thus Pliny mentions Pholas dactylus, which Panceri found to
have a luminous border to the mantle, two patches and two long
ridges in the branchial siphon. The special epithelium of these
parts secretes a phosphorescent substance—soluble in ether and
alcohol—which illuminates the excurrent water and the lips of
those who eat them. The light is also maintained for a long
time during putrefaction, as in the annelid Thelepus. The
French chemist, Dubois, separated two substances from the
light-producing tissues of Pholas—one crystalline which is soluble
* ¢ Challenger,’ vol. xiii. p. 74.
14 THE ZOOLOGIST.
in alcohol, essence of petroleum, benzine, and ether, which he
called luciferine; the other albuminoid, which he termed luci-
ferase. As this mollusk—the “‘ Pierce Stone” of Petiver—in-
habits the holes it bores in rocks, and lives on minute forms
carried in by the branchial current, it would be difficult to frame
any theory—on the basis proposed by the naturalists of the
‘Porcupine ’—which could be adapted to it.
Several Pteropods are likewise luminous, according to Giglioli,
viz. a Cleodora, which gives out a vivid reddish light, a Creseis,
and a Hyalea, which are phosphorescent at the base of the
shell. An unknown Heteropod in the Indian Ocean also glowed
with a reddish phosphorescence. The curious Phyllirhoé, a
pelagic Opisthobranch, which is found in the Atlantic, in the
Pacific, and in the Mediterranean, presents (in P. bucephala of
the latter sea) a vivid azure luminosity, chiefly at the superior
and inferior borders of the body, but no luminous mucus is
exuded. Panceri considered that the contents of certain cells
(cells of Muller) placed in the vicinity of fine nerves produced
the light under the action of a stimulus.
In the highest group of mollusks, viz. the Cuttle-fishes, phos-
phorescence occasionally occurs. Giglioli observed that Loligo
sagittatus and a small Octopus gleamed all over with a whitish
luminosity. The same has been noticed in Cranchia scabra,
Leach.
The Tunicates or Urochordates show several striking examples
of luminosity. Thus Agassiz and Giglioli found the notochord
of an Appendicularian glow with a rich red, then azure, and
finally with green. No luminous British form has yet been
observed. One of the best known, however, is Pyrosoma from:
the warmer seas, so graphically described by Péron, Huxley,
Panceri, and others, and one gigantic example of which was found
by the ‘ Challenger ’ four feet in length. This colonial yellowish-
white form, under irritation, glows with red, golden, orange-
green, and blue, the light proceeding in each member of the
organism from two small oval patches of cells at the base of each
inhalent tube. These cells contain substances resembling fat
and albumen, and their membranous sheath is bathed by the
blood of the lacuna. The luminosity ceases with the life of the
colony. Salpa, also, is usually classed amongst the luminous
PHOTOGENIC MARINE ANIMALS. 15
types, especially those in tropical and subtropical waters.
Certain species are stated to give out a bright red light from the
nucleus, the photogenic granules formed in the blood-corpuscles
being oxidized by the oxygen dissolved in the blood-plasma.
Amongst the multitudes of Salpe (S. runcinata and S. spinosa)
examined for some weeks in the Outer Hebrides, no clear case
of luminosity was seen. A spark occasionally appeared in the
nucleus of some specimens, probably from the food. Dololum,
on the other hand, is described by Giglioli as shining with a
greenish luminosity over the whole surface.
So far as can be observed, there is nothing in the habits
of the luminous Tunicates to distinguish them from those of the
non-luminous.
The literature of the so-called phosphorescent fishes extends
from the days of Aristotle and Pliny to modern times, Khren-
berg, for instance, giving a list of about fifty fishes stated to be
luminous, though a considerable number are doubtful. Our
knowledge of the photogenic properties of living fishes, on the
other hand, is for the most part comparatively recent—in fact,
is mainly due to the voyage of the ‘Challenger.’ These luminous
fishes divide themselves into two groups, viz. pelagic fishes and
deep sea or abyssal fishes (below one thousand fathoms). So
far as known, no littoral fish and few gregarious food-fishes
(Teleosteans) show this property in any marked degree during
life.
In many of these luminous forms the mucous canal-system of
the head and body is largely developed, and the mucus which it
secretes is phosphorescent; but in others special photogenic
organs are present, the distribution of which is subject to great
variety. De Kerville* has collected no less than nine modi-
fications of the disposition and structure of those special organs
of luminosity. In the first or primitive condition they appear as
numerous minute tubercles scattered over the skin, and covering
the sides of the body (Kx. Pachystomias). 2nd. Larger but
less numerous nodules on the skin of the head and body (Xeno-
dermichthys). 3rd. Two rows of reddish or green eye-spots
ranged at regular intervals on the sides inferiorly, on the head,
at the base of the branchiostegal rays and the operculum
* * Challenger,’ vol. xiii. p. 162.
16 THE 4ZO00LOGIST.
(Ex. Stomias). 4th. Large, rounded, and flattened perlaceous
organs distributed on the sides of the body inferiorly, on the
head, operculum, and sides of the base of the tail (Argyropelecus).
5th. Spots of a white glandular substance, which may be, in the
various species, on the sides of the body, on the dorsal or ventral
surface of the tail-peduncle, near the clavicles on the branchial
cavities, on the infra-orbital region of the mavxillaries, on the
summit of the muzzle in front of the eyes, on the barbels, and
on the fin-rays. 6th. In this group the associated glands form
bands in the infra-orbital region (Idiacanthus). 7th. The photo-
genic apparatus of the dorsal fin is differentiated, having the
form of a cavity with an orifice and a filament (Ceratias). 8th.
The diamond-shaped organs form a single row on the scales of
the lateral line, and on the inferior branches of the muciparous
canals of the head. They are situated beneath the semitrans-
parent integument, but are independent of it (Halosaurus). 9th.
Two symmetrical photogenic organs lie on the snout to the right
and left of the median line—from the nasal cavities to the pos-
terior of the cranial cavity (Inops).
Like some previous authors, De Kerville is of opinion that
such fishes play a considerable part in the illumination of the
abysses of the ocean, and that the varied distribution of the
photogenic organs proves that the production of the light is
dependent on the uses to which it is applied. Thus he makes
two groups :—a. Those which have the general luminosity for
pointing them out to others which seek them as prey, the light
probably ceasing during repose. Those with brightly luminous
organs on the head near the eyes use it, he thinks, for searching
out their prey. 06. The second group includes those in which
the photogenic organs are situated on fin-rays or tentacles,
apparently for the purpose of attracting animals to serve as food,
since it is well known that marine animals are attracted by light.
Moreover, this arrangement occurs in certain fishes with the eyes
little developed. When the organs are on the tail they also
attract prey, which is thus brought within reach of the agile pos-
sessors (such as the Scopelide and Sternoptychide). it can hardly
be urged that these luminous organs intimidate their enemies.
The notion of Perrier that the eyes of certain abyssal fishes are
phosphorescent he regards as doubtful.
PHOTOGENIC MARINE ANIMALS. 17
Though it is many years (1840) since Dr. Bennett captured,
at the surface of the sea during a whaling voyage, a small Shark
which emitted spontaneously a general and vivid greenish lumi-
nosity—with the exception of a ring round thethroat—as it swam
at night, and for some hours after death, it is only recently that
the labours of Johann* and Burckhardt have made us acquainted
with the remarkable prevalence of luminosity in the Selachians.
No less than eleven species, besides Bennett’s form, have this
property. The distribution of the luminous organs varies in
almost every species; in some occurring on the ventral surface,
in others along the trunk, on the bases of the fins, on the gill
region, and on the head. These organs consist of small epi-
dermal elevations, which present externally layers of epidermal
cells, some of the lower containing a prismatic corpuscle, pig-
ment, a basal strand of fibrous tissue, and a nerve. The whole
surface supplied with these structures is lit up in the dark.
Thus Beer, who examined Spinaz, states that the entire ventral
surface from the snout to the root of the tail glowed with a
feebly shining greenish lustre, as if it had been impregnated
with phosphorus, or had been coated with luminous paint—with
this difference, however, that the luminosity appeared and dis-
appeared at short intervals, but invariably increased in intensity
before it vanished. It was vivid enough to enable him to see it
at a distance of from three to four metres, equalling three to four
yards (upwards). During life, therefore, the nervous system
appears to control the emissions of light; and the glow after
death is probably due to the loss of the inhibitory power per-
mitting the continuous but final luminosity, arising from the
oxidation of the cell-contents.
The varied distribution of these photogenic organs in both
Teleosteans and Selachians would not seem to point to any
definite purpose of allurement. The active habits of the Sharks,
besides, would negative such a proposition. Their pelagic life,
moreover, from the surface downwards, lends little support to
the view which would illuminate the abysses of the ocean by
such a provision in the fishes found only there. The splendour
of the spectral colours of such as Lemargus rostratus during
* Zeitsch. f. w. Zool., Bd. lxvi. 1899.
Zool. 4th ser. vol. X., January, 1906. C
18 THE ZOOLOGIST.
daylight in the Mediterranean may be cited as a source of allure-
ment with as much reason as its luminosity.
Besides the phosphorescence of living fishes there is another
and even more familiar manifestation of this property in fishes
within twenty-four hours after death, and which has given rise to
many interesting experiments, such as those of Robert Boyle on
dead Whitings,* and of Dr. Hulme on Herrings.+ This is now
known to be due to the presence of photogenic Bacteria which
occur exclusively in sea-water. In the paper just quoted Robert
Boyle mentions that he placed a luminous Whiting in the
receiver of an air-pump, and found that it shone less on extract-
ing the air. On being replaced in air it shone brightly. Dr.
Nathaniel Hulme, again, demonstrated that the luminous con-
dition of the Herring and the Mackerel disappeared on putre-
scence. He made a luminous solution from the fishes composed
of two ounces of Epsom salts or ‘‘vitriolated” magnesia in two
ounces of cold spring water. He extinguished the light of the
luminous Herring by freezing, but it returned on thawing.
Roasting and boiling extinguished the light, which did not
return. It is curious to find that he regarded the light as a
constituent principle of marine fishes, and that it is separated
by the menstrum fitted to decompose it. He was further of
opinion that no offensive putrefaction takes place in the sea,
and that the flesh of marine fishes remains sweet for some time,
and provides nourishment for other forms—an evident instance,
he thought, of the wisdom of the Creator. Dr. Hulme appa-
rently never had the opportunity of coming in contact with a
mass of putrescent herrings drawn up by a trawl from the
bottom of the sea.
These early experiments are quite consistent with what is
now known, viz. that the luminosity of fishes after death is due
to photogenic Bacteria. One of the best known and most widely
distributed forms is a short thick bacillus (Photobacteritum phos-
phorescens), an excellent account of which, with others, is given
by Mr. J. E. Barnard.{ These Bacteria are marked by a
tendency to undergo involution and by polymorphism, some
* Philos. Trans. 1667, pp. 591-93. + Ibid., 1800, p. 161.
+ Jenner Instit. Prev. Med., 2nd ser., August, 1899, pp. 81-112. Two
plates.
PHOTOGENIC MARINE ANIMALS. 19
presenting at one time a rod-shape, at others a spirillum, whilst
mixed forms are not infrequent. They are readily developed in
ordinary peptone beef-broth gelatine, and no medium is favour-
able to their growth that does not contain soluble chlorides, or
solutions resembling sea-water, e. g. sodic chloride, 26°5 grammes ;
potassic chloride, ‘75 grammes; magnesia chloride, 3°25 grammes.
They develop rapidly on the recently dead fishes, and cause them
to be luminous. They take no part in the decomposition of
fishes, and appear to be non-pathogenic, except in the instance
already referred to, viz. Giard’s Sandhopper. A supply of oxygen
is necessary for the exhibition of their phosphorescence, and
when grown in an atmosphere of oxygen the light is brilliant.
When the production of light is hindered the amount of oxygen
absorbed is less. All agents which affect the life of the organism
also affect the production of light. The phosphorescent principle
does not pass through a Berkefield filter.
In conclusion, few subjects are more striking than this light-
producing property of animals, and hence such forms on land
have always received much attention. Some have even been
used by man for purposes of ornament, or, as the French
authors call it, ‘‘ charming caprice’’—for instance, the fireflies
in the dark hair of the Mexican ladies, occasionally as miniature
lamps, or as a lure in fishing; whilst the Baya-bird of India
fixes them (Lampyris) to mud to illuminate its nest—it may be
for purposes of warning and protection.
As regards the photogenic marine forms no special utility
has been found, though it is long since the Abbé Dicquemare
proposed to utilize certain species for determining the position
where they were found; and more recently Decharme thought
Noctiluca might be made available for prognosticating storms.
Moreover, the observer is struck by the simplicity of the
light-producing mechanism, and by the absence of heat. Thus
the light of a firefly, or a Pholas, has no sensible heat, whereas
a temperature approaching 2000° Fahr. would be necessary to
make it by the usual processes, except the Geissler tube. So
impressed were Prof. Langley and Mr. Vesy* with this feature
* “On the Cheapest Forms of Light,’ Americ. Journ. Sc., 3rd ser. xi.
No, 236. August, 1880. Qucted also by Watasé in one of his able lectures
on the Physical Basis of Animal Phosphorescence. Boston, 1896.
c2
20 THE ZOOLOGIST.
that they contrast it with the enormous waste in all industrial
methods of producing light. This waste in candle, lamp, or
even gas-illumination generally exceeds ninety-nine parts in
one hundred. It is least in sources of high temperature, like
the incandescent light and electric arc, yet it amounts to the
larger part. The authors, in view of this remarkable light
without heat of the animals just considered, are of opinion that
there is yet hope of obtaining an enormously greater result than
we now do in the production of light.
(2a?)
NOTES ON THE NESTING OF TRINGA ALPINA.
By ALFRED JACKSON.
On the Lancashire side of the Mersey, to the south-west of
Warrington, lies a strip of marsh, so low that the high tides of
winter often flood a great portion of it to a depth of over two
feet. Upon a piece of slightly rising ground amid such a damp
situation I have for the past three years found Dunlins nesting,
but it was not till 1904 that I knew the nest of four eggs, dis-
covered the previous year, belonged to that species.
On May 22nd, 1904, while patiently watching a pair of Red-
shanks that had a nest somewhere near, I heard a series of
unfamiliar low notes—‘‘ wote, wote, wote, wote, wote”—and was
quick enough to see a male Dunlin, in full summer plumage,
alight. As the notes were repeated, I saw plainly, from the
movements of his mandibles, that they came from the Dunlin.
Presently he got up, flew in a perfect circle round me, while I,
fearing to lose sight of him, watched closely, and was pleased to
see him alight again not far from where he started. This flight
around me (low over the grass) was repeated no fewer than seven
times—evidently intended to entice me away—each time the bird
alighting near the one particular spot where I began to suspect
anest. All the time, either flying or resting, he gave utterance
at intervals to the low note, while his circular flight was never
more than twenty yards from me. Twice he sprang up imme-
diately after alighting, dropping down again near a clump of
grass ten yards away, the second time disappearing into it. I
had almost expected this, and, treading softly towards the spot,
he rose out of the long grass at my feet, where I was delighted
to find two newly-hatched young and two eggs. The two eggs
were fertile, for I heard, on placing them to my ear, the chirping
of the chicks inside, and their tapping the sides of the shells.
The parent, on leaving the nest, flew low and rather awkwardly
in getting away. The nest—just a hay-lined hollow—was little
29, THE ZOOLOGIST.
larger than a Sky-Lark’s, though more hidden among the grass.
There were other Dunlins bleating over the marsh, but I found
no more nests that year.
In 1905, intending to make further observations on the
species, I frequently visited the marsh. As early as April 24th,
while still in flock, an odd Dunlin among them gave vent to
the breeding ‘‘bleating’”’ sounds. On May 6th the bleating was
more pronounced. The Dunlin’s ‘“‘bleating, buzzing whistle”’
is usually uttered while descending—on motionless outspread
wings—at an angle of about twenty-five degrees, and when the
bleating ceases the wing-flappings are resumed. This bleating
sound is a string of notes—‘‘ whiz-whiz-whiz-whiz-whiz-whiz ’—
following in quick succession, commencing high in the musical
scale, and gradually descending ; seeming to be within the
compass of four notes, including all the intermediate intona-
tions. They may be imitated by whistling with the point of the
tongue, using the vocal organs to produce the ‘‘ whiz,” &¢. With
the Dunlin the sound is undoubtedly produced by the vocal
organs, for once during the day we were some time before we
could locate the bird uttering the sounds. Not a Dunlin could
we see against the sky, and, the bleating recurring exactly from
the same locality, our eyes were instantly directed to a Dunlin
down among the marsh-grass, not twenty yards away, quite near
enough to see the motion of his throat and mandibles in express-
ing the sounds. Finding he was being watched, he with two
others of which we were unaware flew towards the river. After-
wards we many times heard Dunlins bleating from the ground,
and sometimes while gliding through the air on quite a hori-
zontal plane. On May 14th, before being long on the marsh,
we felt sure there were two pairs of these birds with nests,
and, after a long vigil, the low ‘‘ wote, wote, wote”’ of a Dunlin
reached our ears. (Though these low notes are usually uttered
while either standing or in skimming flight low over the grass,
it is more rarely given from a height in the air.) ‘‘ What’s
that?” inquired my companion. ‘‘ That,” I replied, ‘‘is the
breeding note of the Dunlin when they have eggs or young” ;
and after a while, fancying that it may have come from an
unobserved passing bird, and hearing bleating further to the
north-east, we resolved to go and investigate it. My friend had
NESTING OF TRINGA ALPINA. 23
travelled but a short distance, when he called out—just as I saw
a Dunlin rise before him—announcing four eggs. Now, this
was the direction from which the low notes had issued, and the
bird may have been calling while sitting. I hastened to get a
glimpse of the beautifully-marked treasures, which lay in a tuft
of springing grass, big ends upwards and outwards, in the form
of a cross, completely hidden save from immediately above ; (all
the nests we have found were so hidden.) I proposed to retire
sufficiently to allow of her return, just to make quite certain of
its being a Dunlin, and, after a lapse of thirty minutes, a pair of
these birds passed low over the nest, wheeling, and then over
it again, finally settling by a marsh-pool. Tiring of our watch,
we left to stretch our legs, and, returning some time later,
flushed the bird from the nest; and, seeing the black patch on
one side of the breast, we were satisfied as to its identity.
On May 21st, we had been on the marsh some time when I
heard a sudden loud squealing, accompanied by the excited cries
of Redshanks, coming from tie direction of my friend two
hundred yards away. At that moment I discovered a Dunlin’s
nest with two eggs, while my friend excitedly beckoned me to
come and see his find—for he, too, had found a Dunlin’s nest,
with four lovely eggs on the point of hatching; we had found
them simultaneously! The noisy ‘“‘squealing”’ was the dis-
tressful cries of the retreating pair of Dunlins as they left the
nest, and we had never heard the note before from the throat of
this bird. Why were the Redshanks so alarmed ? We suspect
it was this unusual startling cry of the Dunlins, and they had
chimed in on the impulse of the moment, scarcely knowing what
had caused it.
June 11th saw me alone—from 9.80 a.m. to 8.30 p.m.—
watching the habits of Tringa alpina in particular. Near one
of the marsh-brooks I flushed a female Dunlin, which flew about
me in such a manner that I suspected still another nest. Many
a time she alighted within fourteen feet of me, at short intervals
uttering the nesting ‘‘ wote, wote,’ and occasionally, on spring-
ing up from the grass, the usual Dunlin whistle. The male
joined her later, bleating as he came from a distant portion of
the marsh. I discovered, this day, that when bleating and
descending the bird’s progress through the air is slackened,
24 THE ZOOLOGIST.
and after that performance the speed is resumed. Sometimes
when gliding down to alight—even when dropping his legs to do
so—this bird began with the bleating ‘‘ buzz,’ ending with the low
“‘wote, wote”; so that I feel certain the bleating is a combination
of the ordinary Dunlin whistle prolonged and the low “ wote,
wote,’’ and, so far as I have observed, is only uttered by the
male—one of these two, at any rate—the one with the richer
and darker back. For five hours I kept a strict eye on the
lighter bird, and she never once attempted the bleating; and,
_ while the darker one took frequent excursions over the marsh,
the light one was almost constant about the spot where I first
flushed it. She was there in attendance when I left the marsh,
and I concluded that the eggs had not yet commenced incubation.
During a storm of thunder, lightning, and rain (June 18th) I
was attended by the Dunlins of last week, on the self-same spot.
They seemed more excited, which I took asa good sign. At in-
tervals I missed one or other of them, for they wandered far over
the marsh. I watched them as far as I could see, and I more
than half suspected that the missing bird doubled back and
returned to the nest, while the other one that stayed bluffed me
with his presence. Even during the heavy downpour the bleating
came from a height in the air, where the male was flying.
Beginning to feel the dampness, and having accepted the
conjecture that I was being outwitted by the strategy of the
Dunlins, and that the nest was on some other portion of the marsh,
I left her to search a piece of ground two furlongs away, over
which I had detected the missing Dunlin flying. The female
followed me in this direction, becoming more excited, and I was
soon aware of a second Dunlin, calling low in passing me. I at
once felt certain I had found the breeding-ground. There were
other Dunlins on the marsh, but these passed in hurried flight,
piping out the ordinary note. Occasionally, for a distance, they
were accompanied by the breeding pair, giving the low notes.
Taking up a post that overlooked this last position frequented by
the uneasy pair, | was soon convinced that the nest was on the
old breeding-ground. Determined to proceed with a method I
had formed of quartering the ground, I began striding, while the
Dunlins flew anxiously around me, calling all the time. In my
very first crossing I was rewarded by finding four baby Dunlins,
NESTING OF TRINGA ALPINA. 25
all huddied together on the wet grass, though they appeared to
be only just hatched. They uttered a faint ‘“‘ wee-wee”’ when I
touched them, though they did not gape for food, which partly
proved they had recently left the shell. They were shivering,
for the air was chill. Not wishing to keep the warmth of the
parents from them, I made a hurried survey of the youngsters.
They had black legs and bill, and were covered with a fluffy down
of black, browns, white, and buffis—a treat to see. Portions of
the down on the back and sides of the hinder parts had fan-
shaped white tips, which gave such portions a very pretty
speckled appearance. On leaving them I came upon a lovely
blotched portion of the smaller end of an egg, which I placed in
my botanical box, to prove to others the success of my expedition.
The fact of finding shells away from the nest suggests that the
young are able to use their legs as soon as hatched.
I should have liked one of the eggs to have been addled in my
first nest of 1905—the ground colour was such a lovely polished
olive, while it is generally greenish blue in these pear-shaped
eggs, very glossy, and blotched with different shades of brown
and purple. From one of the nests I have a lovely egg, selected
to prove my finds, though I remember feeling some qualms of
conscience when taking it.
26 THE ZOOLOGIST.
NODES AN DOU Ei Eas:
MAMMALIA.
Notes on the Noctule (Vesperugo noctula).—Of the many Great
Bats I have measured, the spread of wings varies from 14} in. to 15 in.,
but 144 in. is the usual expanse. On May 10th, 1875, I examined a
Woodpecker’s old nesting-hole about thirty feet from the ground in a
Scotch pine, and took from it three Great Bats, two of which were
females, and one a male. Two more Bats, which appeared to be of the
same species, flew out of the hole; so there were five, if not more, in
it. On June 8th, 1877, in an old nesting-hole of the Nuthatch, I found
three male Great Bats; a fourth Bat escaped.cF. Noreats (20, Aner-
ley Park, S.H.).
Long-eared Bat at Great Yarmouth.—In October last I had a
specimen of this Bat (Plecotus auritus) brought to me, which had
been taken in a house in the town. It soon made itself at home,
and two days after would take flies from my fingers. I used to let it
fly about the kitchen during the evening. It was fond of hanging by
its hind claws to the linen-line, as it looked about for flies, and waving
its ears in all directions. Its favourite food was short pieces of small
worms, cut up with scissors. I lost it, however, one evening about
nine weeks afterwards. —P. H. Rumpetow (2, Napoleon Place, Great
Yarmouth).
The Black Rat at Yarmouth.—The two local races of the Black
Rat (Mus rattus rattus and M. r. alewandrinus) appear to be increasing
in numbers, several fresh haunts having been brought to my notice.
Some young specimens of alexandrinus have been through my hands,
and all appear to have darker tails than the adults, apparently due to
the black hairs being closer together. I have recently had a fine old
male of the M. r. rattws variety brought me, which had some time
previously lost its left hind foot. The tibia had been broken through
at about the middle, and the muscles had healed at the knee, leaving
about a quarter of an inch of clean bone projecting. The end of the
bone was worn and polished, and the animal bore rather a ludicrous
resemblance to a man with a wooden leg. The Rat was in good con-
NOTES AND QUERIES. 27
dition, weighing five ounces full. The following measurements of it
were carefully taken in the flesh :—Head and body, 63 in.; tail, 9 in. ;
ear, +2 1n.; vibrisse, 23 in.; hind foot, 14, in.—P. E. Rumsenow
(2, Napoleon Place, Great Yarmouth).
AVES.
Chiffchaff in December.—On Dec. 20th, 1905, I shot a Chiffchaff
(Phylloscopus rufus) from a hedge at Cullercoats, on the Northumber-
land coast, about three-quarters of a mile inland. This is interesting
not only on account of the date, but also because the Chiffchaff is an
unaccountably scarce bird even in the summer months in Northumber-
land. The specimen is being preserved in the Handcock Museum, —
Newcastle-on-Tyne.—Hueu V. Cuartton (Cullercoats, near Newcastle-
on-Tyne, Northumberland).
Economical Nesting Habits of the Willow-Warbler (Phylloscopus
trochilus) andthe Wren (Troglodytes parvulus).—On June 9th, 1905, I
found, built among the grass of a dry ditch, a Willow-Warbler’s nest
containing six eggs, which appeared to be muchincubated. These were
subsequently taken. On the 14th, when walking near the place, my
eye was attracted by a small bird (a Willow-Warbler as it turned out),
carrying in its beak a large white feather. On approaching the spot
to which it flew, the bird got up, and disclosed a nest in the course of
construction, in a very similar position to that found on the 9th. On
the next day the new nest appeared to be finished. I then examined
the old nest a few yards further along the ditch, and found that the
bird had completely dismantled the interior, taking away all the soft
white feathers and hair. I have to record a very similar occurrence in
connection with a Wren. ‘The nest was found on June 10th, and was
built at the end of an elm-bough about six feet from the ground, and
near a pond. It was a large nest, with a great deal of lichen on the
exterior. It contained three fresh eggs. It is well known that the
Wren is extremely jealous of its nest, the mere touch of the human
finger being sufficient to cause instant desertion ; but there are excep-
tions, and some years ago I took the only egg from a Wren’s nest in
the thatch of a hovel, and on two successive mornings repeated the
experiment, when it was at last deserted. The Wren under notice, how-
ever, acted according to the rule, and deserted. She was ‘‘at home”
on the 12th, and flew out as I tapped the bough; but the eggs were
gone—in fact, she had turned them out, and they lay broken on the
ground. On the 14th | did not see the bird, but found on examining
28 THE ZOOLOGIST.
the nest that the lining materials had disappeared, as with that of the
Willow- Warbler. She had, however, gone a step further, for the lichens,
dead grasses, mosses, and leaves which formed the walls and roof of
the structure were in the process of demolition. I was unable to see
whether the whole nest was removed, as I had to leave the locality that
evening. Would she, like the Willow- Warbler, economize and use the
materials again for another nest? If so, what would she do with the
lining materials which she first removed, as it is obvious the lining of
a nest cannot be accomplished until the outer structure is complete,
and the materials suitable for the constructional part she removed last
of all?—E. F. M. Euns.
Curious Nesting Habit of the Long-tailed Tit (Acredula caudata).
On June 12th, 1905, I found a Long-tailed Tit’s nest in the centre of a
very dense hawthorn, the like of which I have never seen before. The
sight of it at once brought to my mind a few lines inan old book in my
possession on the subject of the Long-tailed Tit’s nest. Thus:—‘‘ The
nest of the Bottle Tit is sometimes found, but not invariably, with two
holes or apertures, one of which is intended, according to Mr. Mudie,
for the bird’s head to come through, and the other for its tail to come
through..... Surely Mr. Mudie, when writing this, must have been
misled by some recollection of Porson’s famous description of his
Satanic Majesty :—
‘«¢ His coat was red and his breeches were blue,
With a hole behind for his tail to come through.’”
My nest, however, had neither one or two holes. It had no dome, and
the rim of the nest-cup was ragged, suggesting an untidy Chaffinch’s
nest, for which I at first mistook it. But with an effort and many
lacerations I handled one of the young birds, in order to establish
their identity, and at the same time I was scolded very severely by one
of the parents. It would appear that as the young grew in bulk, and
their tails in length, the old birds had torn off the roof so as to give
the occupants more room. Indeed, it is somewhat of a mystery how—
say, ten—young Long-tailed Tits can emerge from their tiny nest with
as many long unrufiled tails. —H. F. M. Hus.
Double Brood of Great Tits.—Two broods of Great Tits (Parus
major) Were reared in an apple-tree only a few yards from our house
this last season; I saw both clutches of eggs—eight and seven respec-
tively—also the first young ones.—Srantey Lewis (Wells, Somerset).
Late Martins’ Nests.—The latest date that I have known for this
bird (Chelidon urbica) to have young in the nest is Oct. 11th, and this
NOTES AND QUERIES. 29
was in the year 1888. Here young in the nest in September may be
noted every year. I should like to ask if the Sand-Martin (Cotile
riparia) usually has late broods. There were young in a nest in Flam-
borough Cliffs last year on Sept. 2nd.—W. Gynertu (Scarborough).
The Twite (Linota flavirostris).—It seems very strange to me that
we never see this bird on our neighbouring moors, which, well covered
with heather, might seem to be admirably suited to its habits. My
friends and myself, who are especially interested in birds, spend some
days every May in tramping over the moors where the Ring-Ouzel,
Golden Plover, and Curlew are thoroughly at home, but we never see
a Twite—W. Gynertt (Scarborough).
The Breeding Haunts of the Twite.—I have been greatly interested
by the correspondence called forth by my remarks on ‘“ The Cuckoo
and Twite”’ (Zool. 1905, p. 389). I would like also to thank the
correspondents who have written to me privately for their very inter-
esting communications. However, I cannot see any ground for the
surprise expressed by Mr. Parkin at my statement that the Twite
“ breeds in most parts of the British Islands where moors, mountains,
and exposed heathy places are found, being by no means confined to
the northern parts.’ Myr. Parkin will find that practically the same
is stated in Seebohm’s ‘ British Birds.’ It does, indeed, seem probable
that the Twite is absent from Wales in the nesting season (Zool. 1902,
pp. 5, 6), but this will appear to be the exception which proves the rule
when we consider the wide distribution of this bird in Ireland, Scot-
land, and the North of England. In Ireland it is known to breed
regularly in at least twenty-one out of the thirty-two counties, includ-
ing practically all the counties bordering the coast, and there is reason
to believe that it breeds in several others where the fact has not been
definitely established. Indeed, in some of the most southern counties
—as, for instance, Waterford—it nests abundantly, and its nests have
been found even on the remote islands of Kerry. A point, however,
which escapes the notice of those whose observation of the breeding
habits of the Twite is confined to England, is its preference for the
neighbourhood of lofty coasts, especially those which are exposed to
the Atlantic. Hence it is much commoner on the western side of our
islands than on the eastern. As the bird is said to be especially
common on the islands off the coast of Scotland, the Hebrides, the
Orkneys, and Shetlands, and outside the British Islands is not known
to breed at all except in Norway, where it also chiefly frequents the
coasts and islands, we have here a possible explanation why it breeds
in the North of England as far south as Derbyshire, but does not breed
30 THE ZOOLOGIST.
in Wales. Probably the original breeding habitat of the Twite is in the ©
hilly coast districts bordering the North Atlantic in Ireland, Scotland,
and Norway. From Scotland it seems to have spread southwards into
England as far as the Pennine Chain extends, these hills being con-
tinuous with the Southern Highlands of Scotland; but it has not yet
reached Wales, which is an isolated mountain region, the level country
between Liverpool and Stafford being a barrier which it has not passed.
A glance at the map of the British Islands will show the force of this
theory. The keenness of ‘ collectors’ in obtaining the eggs is easily
understood when we remember that the Twite is, as to its breeding
range, one of the most limited of Paleearctic species, as I have above
indicated. Probably the greater part of the eggs found in collections
have been obtained in the British Islands, where the Yorkshire and
Lancashire moors are its most accessible breeding haunt, and a happy
hunting-ground of “ collectors,’’ who can always get a price for the
eggs. The fact that the Twite occasionally places a conspicuous
feather in the inside of its nest is mentioned by Mr. Ussher (‘ Birds of
Ireland,’ p. 68). Many interesting observations are recorded in that
book with regard to species which, like the Twite, are more common in
Ireland than in England.—Auuan Extison (Watton-at-Stone, Herts).
Late Stay of Swift, and Notes on the Species.—On Aug. 25th, 1905,
I watched a Swift feeding young under the roof of a house in this
town, the bird flying up continually. The one young fledged bird was,
together with a broken egg, in a House-Sparrow’s nest. On Sept. 8rd
I saw one Swift flying about midway between Wells and Shepton
Mallett ; this observation was on a Sunday. The Swift, in its breeding
quarters, appears to be an indolent and very disagreeable bird. The
House-Sparrows are driven out of their nests, if they chance to be in
the way, as soon as the Swifts arrive in the first few days of May;
then the two and very often three eggs, rather long and dead white in
colour, are deposited about May 24th, after the eggs of the House-
Sparrow have been thrown out on the ground, where they lie smashed.
It is not uncommon to find two Swifts sitting on the same nest, and
many times I have found such a nest to contain three eggs. Through
their clumsiness in flying in and out many eggs are perforated by the
birds’ claws, and lie cracked or broken on the stone, mortar, or board
on which the nests are placed; they seem to hold the eggs in their
claws while incubating, for I invariably lift the bird sideways with
the finger-tips, and when there are eges it seems to grip them,
and on one occasion last summer a bird flew off with an egg on its
claw. It is very noticeable, when searching through a colony, how
NOTES AND QUERIES. 31
indifferent they are to the human hand; they will not budge from the
nest when the tile overhead has been removed, and the only concern
they seem to show is when one after the other they are thrown into
the air—they generally go off screeching.—Srtanuey Lewis (Wells,
Somerset).
Late Stay of Swift—On Sept. 16th of last year, with a naturalist
friend, I had one of my most interesting experiences of bird migra-
tion. Successive flocks of Martins (Chelidon urbica) were steadily
flying low down over this town, or rather, I should say, past the sea-
front of the town, for they flew not over but in front of the tallest
buildings. The Martins passed southwards in successive companies,
like soldiers on the march, and with them were several Swifts flying
with but not amongst the Martins, suggesting the fancy that they (the
Swifts) were acting as officers.— W. Gynenu (Scarborough).
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and Whinchat in Herts, &c.—Both
these species appear to be increasing in this district, and the Whinchat
nested within five minutes’ walk of my house, which is in a fairly
populated neighbourhood. Last spring, when I rambled through the
woodland in the early morning, I saw and heard daily a great number
of Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers. All three British nesting species
breed in the woods here—Great and Lesser Spotted and Green species.
Lalso saw a pair of Wheatears here on April 2nd last, which may be
considered rare visitors with us, and knew of young Ring-Doves out of
the nest as early as April 5th.—W. Percivan WEsTELL (5, Glenfernie
Road, St. Albans, Herts).
Cuckoo’s Egg in Nest of Twite.—In ‘ The Zoologist’ (1904, p. 315)
mention is made by my father of a Cuckoo’s egg being found in the
nest of a Twite by one of my younger brothers. Mr. Allan Ellison
(1905, p. 391), in referring to this record, says: ‘‘ The instance men-
tioned by Mr. Butterfield can hardly be substantiated”; and Mr. W.
H. Parkin (1905, p. 348) also says, in referring to the same instance:
*“We received a report by a younger brother,.... but we failed to
locate it.’’ Both these references can only be interpreted as throwing
some doubt on the record, or, at any rate, that it is not satisfactorily
confirmed. I well remember the circumstance, as I saw the Cuckoo’s
ege, which was incubated, the same day. The locality where the
Twite’s nest was found containing the Cuckoo's egg was the very
“colony”’ with which Mr. Parkin is familiar, and I understood that
he knew the particular circumstances under which it was visited at
the time. That my brother was familiar with the egg of the Twite is
32 THE ZOOLOGIST.
beyond question. The point at issue hangs, then, on the veracity of
his statement. I have no reason whatever to doubt that. The evidence
is precisely of the same nature as that of Mr. Ellison (1905, p. 391),
when he says ‘‘he found Cuckoos’ eggs in the nest of Chaffinch,” &e. ;
or when Mr. Parkin says (1905, p. 348) he found, in 1899, a Cuckoo’s
ege in the nest of a Pied Wagtail. I am not surprised at such a
capricious bird as the Cuckoo exceptionally depositing its egg in the
nest of the Twite. Such occurrences are, of course, rare. Ignoring
the testimony of Mr. Wilson, it is sufficiently established that such
instances have occurred. I can quite confirm the veracity of Mr. James
Killison’s statement, mentioned by Mr. H. B. Booth. No man in the
North of England has taken more eggs of the Twite in past years than
he has, though it is a pity the egg of the Cuckoo was not actually seen
in situ. The Twite is a bird that I have been interested in now for
some years, especially as regards its distribution in England, and I
should like to see its status properly worked out. Iam afraid Mr.
Allan Ellison’s definition (1905, p. 890) of its distribution is open to
criticism. I should be very glad if he could give us properly authenti-
cated instances of the Twite breeding in England south of Derbyshire.
So far as my own experience and knowledge goes, the Twite in York-
shire is mainly confined to the hills forming the Pennines; I say
mainly, because there are exceptions, a notable one being Thorne
Waste, a flat part on the border of the West Riding. Most of the
nests are built in ling (Calluna), occasionally among the heaths
(Erica spp.), and exceptionally among grass (Nardus). The ‘‘ colony”
referred to by Mr. Parkin among bracken is an exception. I have
never known the Twite to nest on carboniferous limestone moors in the
West Riding of Yorkshire, nor have I ever heard of an instance. Ling
and the heaths are absent on these moors, but the slopes are often
covered with bracken. The colony mentioned above in the bracken
marks, so far as my knowledge goes, the eastern limit in that direction
of the Twite in Yorks. The site chosen is a bracken zone separating,
in this case, a grass summit and a wood near the bottom. I should
say the colony is at an altitude of from 700 ft. to 800 ft. Whenever
I have seen the nests they have been built in the previous year’s dead
bracken. On the moors to the west of this place, right away across
the Pennines to the borders of Lancashire, the Twite breeds in more or
less numbers. On the immediate adjoining heather moors to the north
I can testify to the breeding of the Twite, though not, as Mr. Parkin
Says, on ‘adjoining moors similarly placed,’’ if they be not heather-
clad. Although the Twite frequently breeds in colonies, this habit is
to some degree dependent on local peculiarities. On long stretches of
NOTHS AND QUERIES. 33
pretty uniform moorland my experience is that it nests somewhat in
scattered numbers; yet, where there are isolated patches of suitable
cover and intervening stretches of unsuitable places, they then conere-
gate, and form colonies to meet such contingencies. ‘Two years ago,
when I was accumulating evidence on the distribution of this species,
Mr. J. A. Harvie-Brown informed me (im lit.) that in the Outer
Hebrides it nests among marram grass. Mr. Allan Ellison (1905,
p- 390) says: ‘‘I have... . found the nest on a small patch of bog-
land in Co. Down, under a tuft of rushes on a dry spot where there
was no heath, a place remote from any hill.” So that the Twite
evidently selects its breeding-site to suit local conditions. With regard
to the conspicuous feather-adornment of the nest which Mr. Parkin
mentions (1905, p. 482), I am sure that this habit is by no means con-
fined to the Twite, whatever purpose such may serve. I have noticed
this adornment in the nests of species as diverse as the Twite and
Spotted Flycatcher. It is very strange that there is no satisfactory
breeding record of the Twite in North Wales. I have had some
little experience in trying to substantiate such a record, and I
have always been under the impression that if the Berwyn range
of hills were systematically searched it would possibly be established
as a breeding species in North Wales. The hills there are in many
cases heather-clad, similar to the West Riding hills, though of
course the formation is Cambrian, while in the West Riding of
Yorkshire the formation, which is heather-clad, is mainly millstone
srit. According to Messrs. Coward and Oldham, in their ‘ Birds of
Cheshire,’ the Twite as a breeding species in Cheshire “ is confined to
the hill-country of the east.” Its southern limit in England, so far as
my knowledge goes, is the Pennine Chain and its lateral ridges. We
want more information on the subject. Now that the subject is topical,
I should he pleased if any readers of ‘ The Zoologist’ would give any
definite personal information as to the breeding of this species in Great
Britain, especially for any record, if there be any, for counties south of
Derbyshire.—Rossz Burrerriexp (Wilsden, Bradford).
Cuckoos’ Eggs in Finches’ Nests.—The finding of a Cuckoo’s egg in
the nest of a Bullfinch, Greenfinch, or Linnet is very exceptional. I
venture to say that I examine as many of these nests in a year, as well
as the other commoner species, as perhaps any man in England, and
have found it once with five Greenfinch’s eggs, and once with three eggs
of Bullfinch—never in a Linnet’s nest. Thecommon foster-parents here
are Hedge-Sparrows and Pied Wagtails. I may add that I found this
Zool. 4th ser. vol. X., January, 1906. D
34 THE ZOOLOGIST.
egg once with four Chaffinch’s eggs, and once in an empty newly-built
Spotted Flycatcher’s nest. I took the egg, and did not visit the nest
again. I have a very unique Cuckoo’s egg, which I found with three
Hedge-Sparrow’s eggs; it is perfectly blue, varying from those of the
foster-parents in the thickness of the shell, being a trifle thicker and a
shade or two darker in colour; but the remarkable part is that the
ego is about the size of a pea. Larger blue eggs are met with excep-
tionally.—Sranuey Lewis (Wells, Somerset).
Tawny Owl ina Chimney.—On Nov. 24th, 1905, a Tawny Owl was
sent me, which fell dead from the same chimney as the one previously
recorded (1905, p. 72), and under similar circumstances. It is most
unfortunate that these casualties should have occurred on a property
where Owls are quite safe from ordinary risks, and where only a few
days before, when the woods were shot through for the first time this
season, the request was specially made that any Owls seen should not
be shot. This bird, like the last one, was a female, and, as the estate
from which it came joins the churchyard on three sides, I have little
doubt that it was my old friend whose nest I watched last spring in
the church-tower. From the letter which accompanied it, I gather
that the chimney is to be covered over with wire-netting at the top to
prevent others sharing the same fate. — Junian G. Tuck (Tostock
Rectory, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk).
Breeding of the Hen-Harrier in Cornwall.—tlt may be of interest to
note that the Hen-Harrier (Circus cyaneus) still breeds in Cornwall. I
know of a quiet place where two can be seen any day of the year, and,
until last year, of another couple a few miles distant; but unfortu-
nately one of the latter has been shot. The first named successfully
reared three young in the year 1904, but last year, although two eggs
were laid in May, they had mysteriously disappeared by June. The
nest was a large one, built in an oak-tree about twenty-five yards from
the ground. This species is supposed to nest on the ground, but a
local man said that the large nest in question was used by the Harriers.
I first noticed these rare birds in November, 1908, again in 1904, and
several times last summer, and once last November the female only.
There are only a few trees—probably not more than fifty—and about
two acres of gorse and brake on the steep side of a short valley, four
miles from the north coast. Montagu’s Harrier apparently breeds in
the Lizard district, although I have not been there, so cannot say for
certain. The Peregrine and Buzzard may still be seen on our cliffs,
but they are much persecuted in some districts, one wealthy landlord
NOTES AND QUERIES. 30
offering his gamekeepers a sovereign for every bird of prey destroyed.
H. P. O. Creave (18, Leigham Street, Plymouth).
How does the Osprey carry its Prey 9—In reply to Mr. Meiklejohn’s
query (1905, p. 435), I may say thatin Newfoundland, where many years
ago I could watch six Ospreys daily from the house I was living in,
the fish were invariably gripped by the shoulders, and carried in a
parallel position. The birds frequently submerged themselves com-
pletely with the force of their plunge; then the tips of the two wings
would reappear, and then the bird itself with its prey. I never saw
one miss. The fish were Sea-perch, and the scene a narrow inlet of
salt water at the end of Placentia Bay.—R. B. Lopes (Enfield).
Early Records.—Mr. O. Y. Aplin, in his Oxfordshire Notes (1905,
p. 413), mentions the lesser celandine being in flower on Feb. 20th,
1908. In the same year it was in flower here on Feb. 8th. Our
earliest date for the Chiffchaff singing is March 24th. Here the
Blackbird very rarely sings in January, the 81st being my earliest
date. The Tawny Owl and Long-eared Owl are our earliest breeding
birds. I have found eggs of both species near here on March 11th.—
W. Gynextt (Scarborough).
Bird Notes from Shetland (May to November, 1905).—
Lanp-Rat (Crea pratensis).—First heard, 2 a.m., May 16th.
Martin (Chelidon urbica).— One seen at Cliff Loch, May 19th.
Swattow (Hirundo rustica).—One at Uyeasound, 3p.m., May 25th.
Woop-Picron (Columba palumbus).—One in garden at Halligarth,
May 25th.
Rocx-Piexon (C. enas).—Becoming more plentiful.
Waite-TaineD Hacux (Haliaétus albicilia).—One seen, June Ist.
Suae (albino) (Phalacrocorax graculus).— An albino Shag was
pointed out to me at Bunafirth on June 22nd.
Rock-Pieir (Anthus obscurus).— Found nest with three pink eggs
on June 28th. The eggs are not unlike the pink variety of Tree-
Pipit’s, but larger.
Tree-Sparrow (Passer montanus).— My niece found a nest with
five eggs, on June 28th. in the garden, not far from where I found the
former nest (cf. Zool. 1903, p. 462).
Sxy-Larx (albino) (Alauda arvensis).— Brought to me alive on
Aug. 18th.
Scors Own (Scops giw).—On or about Aug. 20th a small Owl was
caught on the Lighthouse Rock. It was kept for a few days by the
keepers, who fed it on flies and beetles. From the careful description
36 THE ZO0O0OLOGIST.
given to me by the native who used to shoot birds for my father, this
Owl could only have been an example of the Scops Owl. Unfortu-
nately the bird died, and there were no means of sending it to me, and
none of the keepers knew how to skin or preserve it, and it never
occurred to them to keep a wing or even some feathers ; so the bird
was lost.
Rine-Ovzet (Turdus torquatus)—The only occasion on which I
have seen this bird in Shetland was on Oct. 27th at Halligarth, when
the bird rose from a bush almost within arm’s length of me, and settled
on a tree close at hand. I was only armed with a telescope, and while
having a good look at the bird a couple of Merlins and some Hooded
Crows came careering overhead, and scared the Ouzel away. It just
seemed to fall away from the branch on which it was sitting, and was
immediately lost to sight.
Swan (WHoopeR) (Cygnus musicus),—Two at Baltasound, Oct. 27th.
Rook (Corvus frugilegus).—A few seen on Noy. 7th.
Buuurince (Pyrrhula europea).—One shot on Noy. 21st. The bird
was a male in fine plumage, measuring 6:12 in., and weighing one
ounce and seventy grains.—T. Hpmonpston Saxsy (Halligarth, Balta-
sound).
Black-throated Diver (Colymbus arcticus) at Woburn. — On
Tuesday last (Jan. 9th) a Black-throated Diver, which I had noticed
for several days on one of our ponds, was found dead, I took it to
the Natural History Museum, South Kensington, where it was pyro-
nounced to be a young bird.—J. W. Beprorp (Duchess of Bedford)
(Woburn Abbey, Woburn).
PISCES.
Flying Fish near Ramsgate.—Seldom is one placed in the position
of public critic of one’s own defects or omissions, but into that predica-
ment I am herewith landed ; so I need not spare the rod, knowing on
whose shoulders it falls. In a communication to ‘ The Zoologist’ (1905,
p- 401), among other remarks, I ventured to say, relative to the Med-
way and Swale specimens :—‘‘ In so far as we are aware, the two
fishes in question are the only authentic evidence of the presence of
species of Flying Fish (Haovetus) on the Kent shores.” This state-
ment, though made quite sincerely at the time, nevertheless has now
to be refuted. Since the publication in question I have quite acci-
dentally come across the record of a capture on the Kent coast some
forty years ago. ‘This appeared in ‘Land and Waiter,’ vol. iv. p. 206
(Oct. 19th, 1867). In a paragraph signed “A Soldier” it narrates how
NOTES AND QUERIES. 37
that, “‘a few years ago, when walking on the sands between Ramsgate
and Broadstairs with Major J. C. G. and Mr.C.,....we met an old
fisherman much employed by the visitors on that coast to collect sea
productions, carrying in his hands a Flying Fish alive and in a lively
state.’”’ The writer goes on to say that he and the major had made
several voyages to the Hast Indies, and could not be mistaken in their
identification of the fish. Judging from the context, the trio of friends
were in such eager argument over the ins and outs of the case, and so
astonished how such a tropical form reached our shores, that, as
admitted to their regret, they omitted securing the specimen from the
“old salt.” What ultimately became of it is doubtful. What species
it was, of course, we know not, but the incident supports the view
previously suggested of the presence of Flying Fish on the British
coasts oftener than in the tabular data given in my paper (loc. cit.),—
J. Mure (Leigh-on-Sea, Essex).
38 THE ZOOLOGIST.
NOTICES -OF NEW BOOKS:
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Tuts book is devoted to the fauna of Great Yarmouth and its
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its species until the feathers afterwards attracted his attention.”
Birds alone have not become scarcer in Kastern Norfolk ; mighty
Perch (Perca fluviatilis), of which captures are recorded weighing
four to four and a half pounds, are not heard of now; large
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spawning quarters.”
Twelve coloured illustrations by Mr. F. Southgate add to the
value of this excellent narrative of a local fauna.
NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 39
The Birds of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. By the Rev.
J. HK. Ketsatt, M.A., and Puinie W. Munn, F.Z.S., &c.
Witherby & Co.
Every student and lover of British Birds eagerly anticipates
and welcomes the appearance of a county volume, especially
when the district is his own, or one of his favourite localities ;
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county just over one of our borders; most naturalists are alert
when the New Forest is mentioned, and no little interest apper-
tains to the birds of the Isle of Wight. Consequently this is
a volume that will quickly find its way on many shelves, especi-
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as found at Selborne only. Very much information has
been garnered respecting each species, and records diligently
consulted; so that the work may fairly claim to be ‘‘up to
date.”
We have only noted two errors in reading these interesting
pages—one a mistake, the other amisprint. In the bibliography
we read “Letters of Rusticus, edited by Edward Newman.”
The first editor of ‘The Zoologist’ did not edit, but was the
author of that volume. The misprint is in the spelling of the
name of Col. Feilden.
The work is well illustrated from actual photographs, and an
excellent map is also given.
40 THE ZOOLOGIST.
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No. 776.—February, 1906.
NOTES ON THE ARCTIC WHALING VOYAGE OF 1905.
By Tuomas SouTtHWELL.
Erieut vessels left Dundee in the past season for the Arctic
fishery, against five in 1904, the ‘Scotia’ and the ‘Morning’
having been added to the fleet, and the ketch ‘ Snowdrop’ of 64
tons made a speculative voyage, killing one Whale, two Walruses,
and seventeen Bears, yielding 15 tuns of oil and 18 ewt. of bone.
Six of these went to Davis:Strait, one to Hudson Strait, and one
to Greenland, subsequently proceeding to the Strait, of which
more hereafter. The ‘Queen Bess’ took out stores to the mines
in Hudson Strait, and returned with mica and furs collected
there, but did not fish; and the ‘ Alert’ is wintering at Pond’s Bay.
The ‘ Kclipse’ was the most fortunate vessel, and the first to
return to port. On the outward voyage she was favoured with
fine weather, and on July 6th captured two Whales; on the 8th
a third was secured off Dexterity Bay. A fortnight later two
others were killed, and on July 24th two more, making seven in
all. On July 25th she put into the fishing station at Pond’s
Bay, but no Whales had been killed there. The return voyage
was commenced on Oct. 14th, and was attended with exception-
ally wild weather, but she arrived safely at Dundee on Nov. 6th,
after a successful voyage.
The ‘ Balena’ arrived on Nov. 8th with four Whales. The
chief event of the voyage was the meeting with a school of
Whales whilst so closely beset with ice that they could not lower
their boats, but, one of the Whales coming close to the vessel,
it was fastened to by a harpoon fired from the deck, and secured
without the crew leaving the ship—a most unusual circumstance.
Zool. 4th ser. vol. X., February, 1906. “. KE
42, THE ZOOLOGIST.
The ‘ Morning,’ having returned from the Antarctic, was
purchased from the Government by Mr. Kinnes, and joined the
Dundee fleet. Her catch consisted of three Whales, forty-two
Walruses, and twenty-four Bears, four of which she brought
home alive. The North Atlantic gave her a very rough reception,
her return voyage occupying thirty-four days.
The ‘ Scotia,’ on her first voyage to the north, left the Tay on
May 4th, and proceeded to Kast Greenland, this being the first
whaler which has visited these waters since the year 1900, when
the ‘ Balena’ made an unsuccessful voyage to that region.
Saving that she saw two Whales, neither of which, owing to a
strong southerly wind rendering the condition of the ice 1m-
possible, she was able to capture, this portion of her voyage was
as unsuccessful as that of the ‘ Balena’ had been five years ago,
and, like her, on July10th, she proceeded to Davis Strait, rescuing
the castaway crew of a Norwegian sealing smack, who had been
drifting in two open boats for seventeen days, on the passage.
On Sept. 20th she captured her first and only fish, and bore
up for home on Oct. 20th, arriving at Dundee on Novy. 9th.
The ‘ Windward’ killed two good Whales and thirty-eight
Bears, and the ‘Diana’ secured two others, having the mis-
fortune to lose three; she visited Lancaster Sound, but saw no
sions of the absent Arctic expeditions.
The ‘ Active,’ as usual, visited Hudson Strait, and returned
with a very miscellaneous cargo, consisting of 3 Whales, 20 White
Whales, 58 Walruses, 146 Seals, 31 Bears, and 104 Fox-skins,
partly collected at the station. The ‘Active’s’ three Whales
were killed by the station boats, but at such a distance that the
oil had to be sacrificed; hence the disparity between her oil,
which was only 53 tuns, against 25 cwt. of bone. The Hudson
Bay produce also comprised 25 Bears, 15 Seals, and 268 Fox-
skins, brought home by the ‘ Queen Bess.’ The ‘ Snowdrop’
has already been alluded to. The existing winter stations are in
Hudson Strait, Pond’s Bay, and Cumberland Gulf.
During the past season more Whales were seen in Davis
Strait than usual, and others were observed in localities where
they had not hitherto been met with; this the captains attribute
to the early break-up of the ice, and its scattered condition,
until the wind from the north-east set in, when it became jammed .
NOTES ON ARCTIC WHALING VOYAGE OF 1905. 43
on the coast, rendering the fall fishery impossible; but the season
has been a very fair one, resulting in 23 Whales, 37 White Whales,
122 Walruses, 408 Seals, 200 Bears, 471 Foxes, 290 tuns of oil,
and 398 cwt. of bone. The price of oil is £19 per tun, and the
last sale of bone realized £2250 per ton. The total value of the
season’s produce may be roughly estimated at £48,000.
I am, as usual, greatly indebted to Mr. Robert Kinnes, of
Dundee, for his kind assistance; and to Mr. J. Mitchell’s annual
circular for details of the produce.
As the present may be the last opportunity which will present
itself, may I be allowed to add a few brief statistics illustrating
the decay of this vanishing industry in the past century ?
No history of the British Whale fishery has ever been written
comparable with that from the United States of America, com-
piled by the United States Fishery Commission.* Perhaps
Scoresby’s record contained in his ‘Account of the Arctic
Regions’ (ii. pp. 1-396), 1820, is the most complete account
of the British fishery to that period; a chronological record of
the chief events is given in Anderson’s ‘ Origin of Commerce’
(1801), vols. 111. andiv. Much information is also to be found
in McCulloch’s ‘ Dictionary of Commerce’ (edit. 1844), and
scattered through the pages of the ‘Gentleman’s Magazine.’
Scoresby, so accurate in all that came under his personal
observation, shared the error prevailing at the time he wrote—
and, indeed, long after—as to the species of Whale pursued in
times long past by the Basque fishermen off the French and
Spanish coasts, and which we now know to have been an in-
habitant of the temperate waters of the northern oceans, quite
distinct from the Polar Whale (rarely to be found south of
lat. 76°), with which he was familiar; and doubtless it was his
great experience of the habits of this ice-loving species that led
him to suggest that the Whale hunted by those ancient fisher-
men might have been Balenoptera rostrata—a much more difficult
animal to capture; but he unconsciously solves the difficulty
when he tells us that Right Whales have, on rare occasions, and
* “ History of the American Whale Fishery from its inception to the
Year 1876,” U.S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries, Report for 1875-76
(1878), part iv. pp. 1-767. Also U.S. Fisheries Industries, Section y. vol. 2
(quarto, 1887), pp. 3-318.
E 2
44 THE ZOOLOGIST.
under peculiar circumstances, been known to occur as far south
as lat. 71° or 72°, which is the northern or summer limit to the
range of Balena biscayensis. Scoresby also, like many others,
was greatly puzzled to reconcile with Ohthere’s known accuracy
the supposed slaying of sixty ‘‘ Whales” in two days by that
traveller and his companions—a fact so simple of explanation
when the passage recording the event is correctly construed
(see ‘ Notes and Queries,’ s. 7, vi. p. 44 (1888) ).
It is now clearly understood that the discovery of Balena
mysticetus and the origin of the important industry which
followed was due to the discovery of Spitzbergen, then believed
to be part of the continent of Greenland, by Barants, in 1596,
and the subsequent visit of Hudson in 1607, three years after
which Thomas Edge commanded the first Greenland whaling
fleet fitted out by the British ‘‘Muscovy Company.” In 1611
the Muscovy fleet came to grief, and a Hull vessel which ‘ hap-
pened” to be in the neighbourhood rendered them assistance.
The honour therefore of being the first to initiate this important
and lucrative industry rests with London and Hull, and the date
of the event the year 1610 or 1611.
At a much earlier date both Hull and Bristol had vessels out
at Newfoundland and the entrance to the Bay of St. Lawrence,*
but their main quest seems to have been Walruses and Seals,
and what Whales they killed were doubtless. the Southern
Atlantis species. Hull also sent vessels to Iceland and the
North Cape on the same errand as early’as the year 1598.
Seeing the tenacity with which Hull clung to this exciting
industry, it might have been expected that Bristol would have
done the same, but I cannot find that such was the ease.
According to Latimer’s ‘ Annals of Bristol in the 18th Century,’
an attempt was made to establish a Whale fishery from that
port in the year 1752, and two ships were sent out and a third
in 1755, but after varying success the venture was abandoned in
1761.
From Ireland also, about the year 1737, an attempt was
made to establish a Whale fishery off the coast of Donegal. A
** Hakluyt records that in 1577 there were 315 vessels at the Newfound-
land fisheries, fifteen of which were English; ‘‘ there were also twenty or
thirty ships from Biscay, to kill whales for train oil.’”’ Quoted from Ander-
son’s ‘ Origin of Commerce,’ ii. p. 144.
NOTES ON ARCTIC WHALING VOYAGE OF 1905. 45
writer in the ‘Gentleman’s Magazine’ (vii. p. 703, 1787) took a
very optimistic view of the venture, but it soon came to an end,
as might be expected, seeing they would be fierce and active Fin-
whales that were met with in the Irish Seas.
The Dutch opened the way to Davis Straits in 1719, and had
the fishery there all to themselves for a few years before the
British vessels joined them; but it was not till the year 1818
that Baffin’s passage through the bay named after that intrepid
navigator was repeated, and the prolific ‘‘ North Water,” which
has ever since proved the most attractive hunting-ground, was
invaded.
The Scotch took part in the fishery first in the year 1750, when
a vessel was sent out from Leith, and other ports soon followed.
Peterhead commenced in 1788, and Dundee, which is now the
only British port engaged in the northern Whale fishery, in 1790.
The South Sea fishery for the Sperm Whale, formerly a very
important industry, does not rightfully come within the scope of
these remarks, but perhaps I may be allowed to say that it was,
according to the ‘ Encyclopedia Britannica,’ entirely confined to
the port of London; it commenced in 1775, and was discontinued
by British vessels in 1853, being now entirely in the hands of
the American whalemen. The average duration of the cruise
from London was three years and three months.
My object, as above stated, is to record some facts as to the
decadence of this industry, but, to show how important it was in
its most flourishing period, 1 may perhaps be allowed to quote
the following figures, supplied me by the late Capt. David Gray,
relating to the ports of Peterhead and Dundee to the end of the
season of 1879 :—
No. of Voyages. |No. of Whales.| No. of Seals. Gross Value. Net Value.
——$——_— — | _ | (a
Peterhead :—
995 4195 1,673,052 £2,594,400 £583,020
Dundee eae
538 42.20 917,278 2,160,400 652,320
In each case the gross value of the Whale and Seal oil, including
skins and whalebone, is taken at an average of £50 per tun, an
46 ; THE ZOOLOGIST.
exceedingly low average compared with present prices, oil being
£19 per tun, and whalebone £2250 per ton. At the above esti-
mate the Peterhead whalers brought a net return to their
owners of £586 per voyage, and those of Dundee £1212 10s. ;
but of course the amounts varied greatly in different seasons.
The year 1830 was a very disastrous one in the Whale fishery.
Hull had eighteen vessels out, six of which were wrecked, and
the loss was never recovered ; this, following the discontinuance
of the bounty in 1824, led to a considerable decline in the
number of the vessels employed, and as they were lost or worn
out they were not replaced. Thus the diminution was gradual ;
but the introduction of steam in 1858 not only placed the sailing
vessels at a disadvantage, but, from its disturbing effects and the
facilities it afforded for following the Whales in the ice-floes,
rapidly decreased their numbers, and gave the final death-blow
to whaling in the Greenland Seas.
In the following list of ports known to have been engaged in
the northern Whale fishery it will be observed that the great
majority are situated on the east coast. Where possible I
have given the date when each port first sent out vessels, and,
so far as | have been able to ascertain, that of discontinuing to
do so :—
Earliest Voyage. Latest Voyage.
1 BY RISTO) bois HARE RE BE EOOT IEE RCOESE ae 1752 17/55)
1 BEE 01 bale os Aa GAR RRM REDS 2g a a 1818
iy Ta ee roa sisesemeaeine sioclecoes cease sees 1821
Warr outa eae Ean hs ee eae 1821 ?
Grimsbiyge oss otecsscseadseaanesetes 1821
TLAVOEPO Oly ean sckieesmeesecteee oseeeanaee 1823
GLY Kawai ieee EA arse 1825
GréenOcksaeessateccck a eee oceans 1830
Brey aVs Koy Mh Gatacnsden mantaremorooedercsotc 1836
Wihithy eps sene-sont a caee ee coe 17538 1837
IB Cr wil eeenitetenesceein tech ceece camer 1837
Mont Troseh setter cscceee ener eres 1839
ISWACUMEEHGL coossoadadsooasdes 1831 1839
Wirth cowete Gaeta meee oes 1750 1840
IS ONES Reese eee eens 1836 1840
Kirkailldlyesicususscssecceceecs snes deneee 1865
Rraser pure heer a recseneespaceccsacene 1868
15 RU SAAN 8 ae has sonoct canacenpnacecasecdes 1869
Aberdeen ante seces meee ase ee see 1870
Peterhead sesccens-epecenceseee 1788 1893
Dundee) eee as ones 1790, and still continues.
Whaling vessels were also equipped by Edinburgh firms, and
NOTES ON ARCTIC WHALING VOYAGE OF 1905. 47
from Dunbar, Glasgow, Grangemouth, Queensferry, Sunder-
land, Stockton, Newcastle, Scarborough, Ipswich, Exeter, and
Whitehaven, but I have not been able to obtain any statistics
in either case.
I fear the above list is very incomplete, and should be grateful
for any additions or corrections.
The following table shows the number of vessels employed,
and the results of the voyages for each of the twenty-five years
to which my notes extend. .
TABLE SHOWING THE PropucE oF THE Britisa Arctic WHate FiIsHErirs
FOR THE YEARS 1881 ro 1905, BorH INCLUSIVE.
No. oF VESSELS. | No. oF WHALES.
Yea. ie multe | Bottle: | No. ot | “Whale | “of
PSST | 15 4 23 AS 116 | 23,984 709 666
1882 15 3 — 79 — 413 22,142 1117 582
1883 13 6 2 Ny 2736 535 37,922 1148 216
1884 15 9 ial 79 — 317 39,700 1224 932
1885 16 ts) 14 27 — 84 32,302 561 418
1886 ey} 4 15 19 1033 23 7964 499 371
1887 10 3 3 113 1931 20 5762 475 138
(2 suckers)
1888 10 4 4 8 902 22 15,688 314 87
1889 10 4 16 11 — 19 15,079 342 326
1890 10 4 — 18 806 22 6603 420 270
1891 9 3 a 6 569 3 1560 262 169
Walrus.
1892 10 1 3 8 1309 67 12,096 298 114
| (Newfd. only)
1893 9 1 1 29 32 75 325 389 416
(4 suckers)
1894 8 = 4 16 | 1261 49 11,712 412 287
1895 | 7 —_ 11 6 1436 16 4500 349 180
1896 8 — 6 6 9 43 3890 149 135
1897 8 — 1 12 Ul 772 5100 228 5S
1898 | (4 oa — : 6 984. 591 779 297 112
LBB) ||) Sou — — 28 = 609 3036 385 350
1900 6 —_— — 17 — 632 3453 290 229
1901 5 — — 14 738 420 3420 260 163
1902 eel = — 12 652 118 1984 212 187
1903 4 | oo — 14 79 107 3229 145 175
1904 5 — — 11 168 45 1135 114 113
1905 8 — = 23 37 122 408 290 339
Note.—The above table is compiled from the annual circulars
of Mr. David Bruce and Mr. J. Mitchell, of Dundee.
48 THE ZOOLOGIST.
The first column gives the number of vessels actually engaged
in whaling or sealing, and does not include carriers or tenders
at the permanent stations in Hudson Strait, Cumberland Gulf,
and Pond’s Bay, the produce of which, or that collected by the
natives, is included in the general returns.
The Bottlenose Whales were obtained in the Greenland
Seas in about lat. 70° N.; none have been killed by the British
vessels since 1891, no Right Whales in those seas since 1897, and
no Seals since 1898.
The number of Seals given above does not include those
killed by the British vessels in Newfoundland.
The Bottlenose oil is included with the ‘‘ Whale oil,” but
not that yielded by the Seals. The yield of Right Whale oil
may be roughly estimated at one tun (of 252 gallons) for each
hundredweight of bone.
Oot”)
THE PIGEON HOLLANDAIS.
By Granam Rensuaw, M.B., F.Z.8.
Amtp the general havoc of the French Revolution, the estab-
lishment maintained at the Jardin des Plantes was the only
institution respected by the Paris mob. The zoologist who
visits the natural history museum of the French capital will
find much to interest him. Here may be seen the Quagga,
probably the actual specimen once in the King’s menagerie at
Versailles; the Indian Rhinoceros, whose anatomy was investi-
gated by the famous Vicq d’Azyr in 1798; the Blaauwbok
Antelope, extinct since 1800; the Giraffe which, sent to Paris
by the Pasha of Egypt, in its day was .a celebrity which
thousands of people flocked to see; the Black Kmeu, of which
but one other stuffed example is known; a curious model of
the Dodo of Mauritius; and, last but not least, the Pigeon
Hollandais.
The Pigeon Hollandais, or Mauritius Dove (Alectorewnas
nitidissima)—the Hackled Pigeon of some writers—is an extinct
species, which just survived long enough to be collected and
described by scientific ornithologists. Belonging to a small
group of arboreal Pigeons inhabiting the Seychelles and adjacent
islands, the present species was remarkable in displaying in its
plumage the three colours of the Dutch flag—hence, probably,
its popular name. The bill was crimson, tipped with yellow;
the iris (and a bare space surrounding the eye) was also crimson ;
the sides of the face were naked and flesh-coloured. The head
and neck were white, and decorated with long hackles, which
were, however, narrow and pointed, and shone with a peculiar
gloss; the back, wings, and belly were deep indigo-blue; the
rump, tail-coverts, and tail were crimson, while the legs and the
powerful feet were bluish black. The length of the Pigeon
Hollandais was about 1384 in. The remarkable appearance of
this bird, and the rapidity with which it was exterminated
unknown to naturalists, render it a very interesting species for
study.
50 THE ZOOLOGIST.
The Pigeon Hollandais is first mentioned by Pierre Sonnerat,
who in 1774-81 travelled in the East Indies and China by order
of the King of France. In his wanderings Sonnerat visited the
Masearene Islands; his book of voyages gives some description
of Mauritius, and a figure of the Hackled Pigeon. Apparently
taken from a stuffed specimen, the drawing represents the bird
as standing stiffly on a branch; the eye, however, is rendered
with a very natural expression of alertness, and the strong feet
grasp the perch with considerable power ; while the stiffness of
the almost horny hackles on the neck is well brought out in the
illustration. Sonnerat brought home with him two specimens
of this curious Pigeon, which were afterwards acquired by the
Paris Museum. His book, ‘ Voyage aux Indes Orientales et a la
Chine,’ was published at Paris in 1782, and is very interesting
reading.
The Abbé Bonaterre stated, in 1790, that the Pigeon Hollandais
was still abundant in Mauritius. Perhaps this accounts for the
careless treatment meted out to Sonnerat’s specimens, for they
were allowed to become spoilt. Coenraad Temminck, the first
Director of the Pays Bas Museum, which was founded at Leyden
in 1827, visited Paris on one of his rambles. He found that the
birds’ plumage had been badly injured, but nevertheless thought
it worth while to figure the species in his work on Pigeons. As
a matter of fact, the fumes of sulphuric acid had been allowed to
gain access to these specimens. Luckily, though damaged, they
had not been thrown away, as was the Dodo in the museum at
Oxford. M. Dufresne, about 1815-16, had a specimen of the
Pigeon Hollandais in his collection; its previous history is un-
known, and, since its possessor was a professional dealer in
natural history specimens, it may have remained practically
unnoticed amongst the rest of his stock. He was, however, for
some time Conservator of the Cabinet of Natural History belong-
ing to the Empress Josephine ; and, since he is still remembered
through that tiny bird, Dufresne’s Waxbill, one may rank him
as more than a mere buyer and seller of dried skins. Indeed, he
afterwards joined the staff of the Paris Museum as aide-naturaliste,
his own collection passing into the possession of the Edinburgh
University. The Pigeon Hollandais was included in the series,
and may now be seen in the Museum of Science and Art at
Edinburgh. And then the curious Hackled Pigeon of Mauritius
THE PIGHON HOLLANDAIS. 51
made a dramatic exit. Before even naturalists of eminence
had realized the fact, it had disappeared from the face of the
earth.
The true Quagga was exterminated about 1875, or perhaps
1879, the Spectacled Cormorant about 1850, and the Réunion
Starling about 1860; but so unobtrusively did the Pigeon Hol-
landais vanish that even an approximate date of extinction can
hardly be assigned to it. In 1862 the Acting Civil Commissioner
for the Seychelles had alive three fully-fledged young birds,
supposed to be the true Alectorewnas nitidissima; but the Sey-
chelles themselves are the habitat of the closely allied A. pul-
cherrima, and some confusion may have unwittingly occurred
between the two species. The wild Pigeons occurring near
Savanne, Mauritius, in 1861, though at-first supposed to be
nitidissima, turned out to belong to another species. The
only veritable specimen unearthed of late years seems to be
the Pigeon Hollandais (already stuffed!) in the Port Louis
Museum.
As for the causes of extinction, one is tempted to draw a
parallel between the present species and the Réunion Star-
ling. Thousands of Mynahs introduced from India swarm (or
swarmed) in Mauritius, as they do in Réunion. Perhaps they
were too fond of eggs and nestling Pigeons, and so effected the
exit of the Mauritius Dove. Then, again, the planters may
have exterminated the bird, for the surviving representatives of
the genus Alectorenas are notorious for the damage they do to
the rice crops.
The young birds owned by the Civil Commissioner for the
Seychelles would only eat berries and small fruit; so arboreal
were they that they would not alight on the ground if they
could help it, preferring to stretch down from their perches and
crane their necks to a considerable extent to pick up their food.
This circumstance reminds one of the similar tactics of the
pretty Bengal Fruit-Pigeons (Crocopus), as anyone who has kept
these latter in captivity will admit ; since the Pigeon Hollandais
was about the size of a Crocopus, and probably once swarmed in
the hill-forests of Mauritius, the settling of a flock amongst the
crops might by their mere weight do considerable havoc. The
actual cause of extinction will, however, in all probability never
be known.
52 THE ZOOLOGIST.
In 1889 the Government of Mauritius appointed a Com-
mission to inquire into the ‘‘Souvenirs Historiques” of the
island. Under the able direction of Mr. Théodore Sauzier, the
party continued the exploration of the marshy Mare aux
Songes, which had already yielded many Dodo relics to pre-
vious workers. A considerable number of valuable specimens
rewarded the industry of the Commission. Bones of the extinct
Parrot (or rather Cockatoo), Lophopsittacus mauritianus, were
unearthed, together with relics of the Fulica newtoni, and many
other species. Ornithologists may perhaps remember this
exploration from the magnificent Dodo skeleton then obtained,
perhaps the finest in the world.. Our present interest, how-
ever, centres on the fact that amongst the remains were the
bones of a bird believed to be the Pigeon Hollandais. Thus
associated with the vanished Dodo and Mauritius Cockatoo,
perhaps the Alectorenas was itself already on the wane. Un-
known natural causes may have been working its downfall long
before the day of Sonnerat and Dufresne.
Uno avulso, non deficit alter. The Pigeon Hollandais lives
again, Phoenix-like, in its near relation, the Alectorenas pulcher-
rima of the Seychelles. Indeed, the Seychelles bird is now
actually called the Pigeon Hollandais! This understudy cer-
tainly bears some likeness to its lamented cousin. Grey on
neck and breast, the pulcherrima has the upper parts and tail
black shot with blue; a crimson patch decorates the crown of
the head, and the orbits, lores, and forehead are bedecked with
wattles.
Long may the Seychelles Pigeon flourish, and may it escape
the fate which has overtaken its predecessor in the title! Man
has exterminated the Labrador Duck, the Spectacled Cormorant
of the Aleutian Islands, and the Black Emeu. During the last
five years the greed of the museum collector has all but finished
the Chatham Island Rail. The enlightened action of the New
Zealand Government in establishing a bird sanctuary in Dusky
Sound will appeal to all nature lovers, while in the three museums
of Edinburgh, Paris, and Port Louis the remains of Alectorwnas
nitidissima plead silently yet unceasingly the cause of bird
protection.
( 53 )
NOTES ON MARINE CRUSTACEA IN CONFINEMENT.
By Aupert H. Waters, B.A.
I wave from my very childhood had a penchant for keeping
marine aquaria. Istarted my first one at Great Yarmouth, when
residing there as quite a youngster. It was there that I made
acquaintance with the Common Shore Crab (Carcinus menas),
and, by the way, I was beguiled into eating one or two which
someone had put in a saucepan of water and boiled. I had them
for tea, and survived it! But my interest was more with the
living Crabs as creatures to be watched moving about in a vessel
of sea-water, and I did not personally regard them with gastro-
nomical eyes. From that day to this I have seldom been for
long without living specimens of these Crabs—not to say others.
What has always been an attraction to me is their readiness to
adapt themselves to circumstances, and become on good terms
with me. I have had them so tame that they have gently taken
meat from my fingers without attempting to pinch them. What
the amount of their intelligence really is I cannot say, but I
could write a volume on the psychology of these and other
marine creatures 1 have had under observation, especially in
the days when an injury to my spine made me a prisoner, and
my aquaria and vivaria were some of my solaces. Just as
prisoners in a dungeon have learnt things about the ways of
spiders, and even tamed them, so, when my injury made me
delicate in health, I learnt from my aquaria and vivaria traits
in the nature of the lower animals I might never have known
had I always been healthy and strong; for then I should have
been so employed as not to have the time for careful observa-
tion. |
AsI have mentioned the Shore Crab, I may as well commence
with this common member of the Portunide. I have been able
to study its life-history from the ovum to the aged crab, and,
when I say that I have had the same individuals living for years,
54 THE ZOOLOGIST.
I think I may claim to have had opportunities for observation of
some value.
As a rule, two Crabs will not live together for long in a small
aquarium. Sooner or later they will have a desperate battle, and
the weaker will get killed. In one case I rescued the vanquished
menas before he had lost his life. He was in a parlous state,
having lost both his claws and three of his legs. I transferred
him to a small inverted propagating glass, and carefully fed
him; much as one feeds a baby with a spoon, so did I put
morsels of scraped beef on to his mandibles with a wooden
skewer. He used the foremost of his remaining feet to push the
food into his mouth, reminding me of an armless man I saw in
a show at Cambridge Fair who fed himself with his toes. He
was in this miserably crippled condition for weeks. At last
came the time for the exuviation of his shell; then, lo! as by a
miracle, he appeared straightway with his full complement of
legs and two pairs of claws, just as if nothing had happened.
The day before the Crab exuviated there had not been a
vestige of claw to be seen or of the three vanished legs. There
was no sign whatever of sprouting and gradual growth. When
the old shell was cast off the new limbs grew as quickly as do the
wings of a butterfly or moth when released from the chrysalis-
case; they grew so quickly that I did not see them grow. One
hour the Crab had no claws and only five legs; in the next, when
I again noticed him, he was soft and flaccid, but with every one
of his limbs quite perfect. The new shell rapidly hardened, and
the next day the Crab was using his new claws just as if he
had never lost them. I put the exuviated shell in my little
museum, and when the Crab exuviated again I put by the side of
it the newly-formed shell with the full complement of claws
and legs.
Out of the many specimens of Carcinus menas I have had under
observation I have never noticed a single instance of a new limb
sprouting out and growing gradually in the manner I have seen
described in books. A lost limb has always been instantaneously,
as it were, reproduced at the time of exuviation.
Yet sometimes we meet with Crabs of the edible species
having one large and one small pair of pincers and claws.
Personally, I have only met with one instance of this. In that
MARINE CRUSTACEA IN CONFINEMENT. 55
specimen one claw is rather more than twice the length of the
other, and itis, I think, analogous to the crippled wing of a moth.
It is well known that such a slight cause as the sticking of a piece
of the chrysalis-shell will hinder the development of the wing,
and if its growth be arrested it will never expand to its full size,
for the soft ductile substance of the wing is in an incredibly
short time acted on by the gases of atmospheric air, known or
unknown, and converted into chitine and membrane. Some-
thing similar goes on in the case of the shell of a Crab. At
first it is quite soft, with apparently no more substantiality
than the body of a jelly-fish, if so much. It is just a sort of
gelatinous slime, which subsequently becomes like a double mem-
brane, enclosing water or gelatinous slime between it. Then
changes ensue so rapidly that I have never been able to follow
them with the microscope.
I had, some little time ago, the idea of making a combination
of microscope and cinematograph camera, and then examining
the long strip of film in detail. I greatly regret I was unable to
afford the outlay, as I believe much might be learned by this
means about processes too rapid for investigation with unaided
vision.
Carcinus menas lives ten years and more I know, but how
much longer I am unable to say from personal observation.
A Crab ten years old has exuviated for the last time, and done
srowing. Its shell has become a resting-place for barnacles,
and possibly seaweeds may be growing thereon. A patriarchal
Crab I had died last spring, killed by a frosty night; its shell
was covered with acorn barnacles, which seemed to enjoy being
carried about, now in and now out of the water.
The Shore Crabs do not seem to be able to stand very cold
weather, and I have lost many I had hoped to have kept to
extreme old age. They bury themselves in the sand as soon as
the temperature falls below forty degrees, and would retreat into
deep water if they could.
The Edible Crab is far inferior to the Shore Crab in intelli-
gence, and not so easily tamed ; but itis not particularly difficult
to keep in captivity if one feeds it carefully. Itis not happy
unless it has stones to hide under, and most of its time seems to
be spent asleep. It is the longest lived Crab I am acquainted
56 THH ZOOLOGIST.
with, and grows very large before its final exuviation—if it ever
leaves off moulting at all until it dies. I do not like to hazard a
euess as to the length of life to which it will attain. I have seen
more than one which, judging by the rate of growth of those I have
had under observation, must have been considerably older than
Iam. Not one of my aquaria is large enough to contain speci-—
mens of the size which those I have kept might have grown to if
they had had moreroom. ‘They require far more water than the
Shore Crab does. The latter I have kept fairly successfully in
cages with just a pan of sea-water for them to bathe in, but the
Edible Crab wiil die unless wholiy immersed, and is not happy
unless the water is deep, and in plenty. I only wish it had been
my good fortune to have had charge of the tanks in the Crystal
Palace Aquarium or at Brighton. I should have enjoyed nothing
better. In such deep tanks as these the Edible Crab is at
its best.
Other species of Crabs which I have kept with more or less
success have been the Swimming Crabs (Portuwmnus)—very inter-
esting crustaceans, but needing larger aquaria than mine. My
largest tank was five feet long by two deep, and twenty inches wide.
I was not able to work out the life-history of these Crabs so
thoroughly as in the case of the shallow water Crabs. Then
I have had the long-armed Masked Crabs (Corystes cassivelaunus),
very interesting to me as being living representatives of some
IT used to find fossil in the Cambridge greensand, and labelled
Notopocorystes bechet.
Not the least interesting of my Crabs have been the Hermit
Crabs. It is most comical to see them change from one domicile
to another. A curious trait in their character is that they seem
to like company. To name them after a monk ig singularly
inappropriate to those who know how fond they seem to be
of the society of creatures lower than themselves in the scale
of life. The association between the ‘‘ Hermit” Crab and the
Cloaklet Anemone is well known, but I had a Pagurus which
permitted a large Nereis to live with it in a Whelk-shell and
share its food. It neither quitted the shell in disgust nor tried
to kill the intruder, as it might easily have done when the worm
came half out of the shell.
Then I have kept the long-legged Spider Crabs and the
MARINE CRUSTACEA IN CONFINEMENT. 57
Shorter-limbed Hyas and Maia. The most remarkable trait of
the latter has been the fancy it has for sticking pieces of sea-
weed on the short spines which are beset all over its body and
limbs.
For thirty-five years my aquaria have never been for long
without some representatives of the Prawns and Shrimps. I have
been specially interested in the former because of the marvellous
transparency of their bodies when in health. One which I had
more than thirty years ago, and which lived a long time—even
breeding—I called ‘‘Crystal,’ because she looked as though
made of glass. She was not the only one I have had breed. I
have kept sometimes as many as two hundred small larval Prawns
at one time.
(To be continued.)
4ool. 4th ser. vol. X., February, 1906. F
58 THE ZOOLOGIST.
A NOTE ON THE ARANE4 AROUND YARMOUTH.
By Ricuarp Hancock.
In August last I had the pleasure of spending a few days’
holiday with Mr. Arthur H. Patterson, of Great Yarmouth. I
started away from home with the idea of spending several
days collecting the Spiders of the immediate district, but could
not break away from the charms of the houseboat and its owner ;
so that consequently little collecting was done. However,
although my captures were but small in number (some thirty-
one species only), some of them I had not found in my own
county (Warwickshire) ; while one of the Hrigonine, viz. Neriene
affinis, Bl., has only been found on three or four occasions in
England, and is remarkable for the great length of palpus and
the smallness of the digital joint, while the falces have a peculiar
denticule or tooth near the middle, and directed towards the
inner surface. It is found also on the Continent, being the type
of the genus T’meticus of Menge, viz. Tmeticus leptocaulis. I was
indeed pleased to be able to record this rarity.
One afternoon I went to Belton, a little straggling village
about four miles away, and spent a couple of hours on some
marsh-land near the station. Within an area of some three
hundred yards square I found fifteen species, several of them
in great numbers. On the stems of the sedges were many
silken tubes having open ends, containing one of the Drasside
(Clubiona neglecta), a sombre-looking spider, as, indeed, nearly
all of this family are.
The very handsome Orbweaver (Epeira quadrata) was found
in large numbers in its snare, or in its little silken nest near by;
while in close proximity were numbers of another interesting
species (H petra cornuta), which had bent over the flower-heads of
the grasses into a coil, bending them up with silken cords,
forming heads somewhat similar in outline to that of a bishop’s
crozier. Having an oblong tin-box with me, I brought several
of cornuta’s domiciles home with me to photograph.
NOTE ON THE ARANEZ AROUND YARMOUTH. 59
I have always ridiculed the idea of the bite of any of our
British species being hurtful to any degree, but am afraid shall
have in future to except that of Hpeira cornuta. One stout female
resented being held in the hand for a moment, biting viciously,
holding on to the thick part of my thumb for a few moments,
drawing the blood.
The following day we went up to the houseboat for a quiet
Home or Hpeira cornuta.
chat, and on going for a ramble before returning home across by
Banham’s farm, on passing a disused stable, we saw a pitched
battle going on between a little army of winged ants and a
number of the very common Orbweaver (Zilla x notata), whose
webs were in great profusion at the edge of the roof-thatch.
Unfortunately for the ants it was a one-sided affair, for they had
F2
60 THE ZOOLOGIST.
little chance against the wiles of Zilla, and on coming to close
quarters with the snare soon succumbed. It was interesting
watching the Zillas at work, running here and there on their
orb, too busy to return to their tubular retreat, such good luck
coming their way but seldom. It was a day to be chronicled in
their life-history, and the next few days would be for them an
incessant round of feeding, until their jackets would not stand
the strain any longer and burst. The moulting of this little
colony of Zillas would probably occur long before that of their
half-starved brothers at the back of the shed, but little cared they
for this, for Spiders are selfish creatures, and think only of them-
selves.
A most pleasant afternoon was spent on Filby Broad, and,
after a good row round its borders, I made for a private jetty, to
have a search for some of the night-roving species lurking under
the loose bark of the piles driven into the lake. Here the evil-
looking Shadow Spider (Hpewra umbratica) was found in all stages
of erowth, and some Drasside (Clubiona pallidula and C. holo-
sericea), while a female of Drassus lapidosus was captured. I
found, too, a number of specimens of what I think is one of the
most handsome British species (Seqgestria senoculata), one of the
few six-eyed Spiders that are found in the British Isles.
Altogether I turned into a tube of methylated spirit some
thirteen species in the short time I was around this jetty, and,
on putting off, feared the owner might require summary venge-
ance for bark-stripping his property. If he is a ‘‘nat,” and
reads these lines, he will forget and forgive, for all naturalists
have sometimes to sail close to the wind to obtain specimens
for their cabinets.
A walk one morning along the road to the old ruins of Burgh
Castle will remain long in my memory, for it was on some palings
a short distance from the Southtown Road that I found the
Hrigone which I have mentioned. I saw numbers of the com-
monly distributed Lycosid (Pisawra mirabilis) in their nests in
the hedge-banks, with the young clustered around, and it seemed
remarkably late, for in the midlands the young had dispersed
weeks before. The interesting ‘‘ Grass-field Spider’ (Agelena
labyrinthica) was fairly abundant, lying in its tubular retreat,
ever ready to capture any insect that should alight on its
NOTE ON THE ARANEZ AROUND YARMOUTH. 61
sheeted web. This species being one of the few that live in
amity, the pair are often captured together, and make excellent
examples to keep under observation in one’s study. Their
nest is a fine example of a spider’s engineering skill, their
silken cocoon being suspended in the centre of a many-chambered
nest. I have at the present time, in an observation cage, a
female which has built an elaborate cocoon chamber, decorating
the outside with the bodies of flies with which she has been
liberally supplied for some months.
Owing to the few hours given over to the search, I obtained
but few species of many of the larger groups, but I am quite
sure that a systematic search by a few good workers throughout
the county would reveal large numbers of species, some perhaps
of a rare and interesting character. Until a few collectors and
students of the Aranee@ can be found in every county to take a
deep interest in this interesting class of creature, one cannot
hope to know much of the comparative rarity or otherwise of
many of the species. Let us hope that this time is not far
distant. For myself, I am looking forward to that time when I
can pay another and more extended visit to this district, when I
shall hope to add considerably to my list of species.
62 THE ZOOLOGIST.
A PLEA FOR THE FURTHER RECOGNITION OF
SUBSPECIES IN ORNITHOLOGY.
By W. Ruskin ButtEerFieLD.
Wuen Linné proposed his great reform of binomial nomen-
clature species were universally believed to be perfectly circum-
scribed and immutable groups. Men’s ideas of species have,
however, like species themselves, undergone changes. But it
is still the usual practice in this country to treat as ‘‘ species ”
all forms that in the opinion of the describers are separable,
no lower classificatory unit being recognized. It can hardly be
doubted that this conservative method of treatment has greatly
hindered the progress of ornithology, and in the following
remarks I venture to urge the importance of paying due regard
to subspecies.
By subspecies are here meant the recognizable geographical
forms or components of a species, whether these components
occupy continuous or discontinuous areas—in other words,
whether they intergrade or do not intergrade. Some orni-
thologists who admit subspecies restrict the term to intergrading
forms, while forms that do not intergrade are elevated to specific
rank. On the other hand, separate treatment is not accorded
geographical intergrading forms by ornithologists who refuse
recognition to subspecies.
The evidence of subspecies is clear enough when a large and
representative series of a widely-ranging species is examined,
e. g. Certhia familiaris, Galerida cristata, Parus palustris, Aluco
flammea. The most cursory examination shows that such an
assemblage is not an homogeneous assemblage, and when the
specimens are &rranged geographically the whole series is seen
to break up into a number of subordinate groups, the proper
delimitation of which is only possible when a large number of
specimens are available, and when they are derived from many
portions of the range. Of course, the number of examples of a
widely-distributed species to be found in any collection bears but
RECOGNITION OF SUBSPECIES IN ORNITHOLOGY. 63
a very small ratio to the whole assemblage forming the species.
The question therefore arises whether, if a sufficiently large
number of individuals of a compound species inhabiting a
continuous area were forthcoming, they would not present a
perfectly graduated series. It is enough at present to reply
that, as the available material increases, the evidence of sub-
species becomes strengthened. In some cases, indeed, instead
of a graduated series, it is found that examples from opposite
confines of the range of a species resemble one another more
closely than they resemble examples from intermediate regions.
Thus our native Long-tailed Tit and Tree-Creeper are nearest to
those from Japan, and Marsh-Tits from Pekin can hardly be
distinguished from the North Italian form.* Moreover, con-
tiguous forms of the same species sometimes differ considerably.
I believe the main reason that subspecies are more generally
recognized by ornithologists in the United States than in the
British Islands is that it was in the former country that the im-
portance of large series was first perceived.
Racial differentiation being, then, a concomitant of distribu-
tion, it becomes necessary to find some means of designating the
subordinate groups if account is to be taken of them, and the
most convenient means yet devised consists in using trinomials.
The nomenclatural value of subspecies cannot be expressed
within the limits imposed by the binomial system. No justi-
fication can be found for the suppression of the middle term of
trinomials when describing avowed subspecies, as is the custom
of some ornithologists, who thereby obscure the status of these
forms. It is obvious that an ornithologist who designates a new
subspecies binomially does not encumber nomenclature and tax
the memory to a less degree than if he were to name it tri-
nomially, since in the latter case the second term is always one
in current use.
It is often urged in opposition to subspecies that they are
frequently based upon very trifling characters, and thus lead to
much subdivision. A feature, however, that appears trivial in a
single individual, or in a few individuals, at once assumes im-
portance when it is found in a large series. To an accustomed
* T am enabled to give these instances through the kindness of Dr. Ernst
Hartert.
64 THE ZOOLOGIST.
eye a feature unnoticed by others may appear conspicuous—
“Man sieht nur was man weiss.” Even the most inveterate
“‘ splitter’ has some grounds for his subspecies, and it is hardly
fair to condemn his work without a knowledge of the material! upon
which it is based. When one looks over a large series of skins
of a compound species so arranged that the geographical com-
ponents are separated by spaces, it is possible to appreciate at a
glance differences that are most difficult to state formally in
diagnoses (cf. Dr. J. A. Allen, ‘Science,’ n.s., xvi. pp. 883-386).
It should not be required for the institution of a subspecies that
it be conspicuously different from others. A character or com-
bination of characters, however small in amount, is sufficient if
thereby we can distinguish a form, but it is essential that the
character be supported by adequate material. Opponents of sub-
species are not alone in deploring the practice of founding new
forms upon one or two specimens; sometimes, indeed, without
comparing them with reference to sex or date.
In giving recognition to characters that are small in amount
but constant, the ‘‘splitter”’ is rendering a service to science, for
we may expect to gain a truer view of the derivative origin of
species by attending to the smaller and more immediate products
of variation, rather than to the larger and more remote.
There seems to be a widespread feeling that, if subspecies are
persisted in, it will be injurious to the study of birds (cf. ‘ Ibis,’
1904, p. 660). It is easy to reply to this argument by referring
to the United States, where subspecies are much attended to. No
one will affirm that their recognition in that country has had
this effect.
The non-recognition of subspecies often causes important
points in distribution to be overlooked. As an instance it may
be mentioned that two forms of Nutcracker are known to visit
this country, but they are usually placed together under the name
Nucifraga caryocatactes. There is reason to believe that the
majority of recorded specimens refer to the eastern form, N.
caryocatactes macrorhynchos, Brehm, and that the western repre-
sentative, N. caryocatactes caryocatactes (Linn.), is of very in-
frequent occurrence. It is clearly of importance to distinguish
these two forms so that we may know whence any Nutcracker
that may visit us has wandered.
( 65 )
BIRD-NOTES IN SWITZERLAND AND GERMANY IN
JUNE AND JULY, 1905.
By tHe Rev. Coartes W. Benson, LL.D., Rector of Balbriggan.
As a summer chaplain for the Colonial and Continental
Society, I sojourned at Schinznach and Strassburg during the
months of June and July, 1905, and spent most of my spare
time in observing the birds in those two places, and in the
regions round about.
Schinznach Bad is in the Canton Aargau, in the north of
Switzerland, about two hours'distant from Basle, and forty-five
minutes from Zurich, and is one of the pleasantest places I ever
visited in Switzerland or anywhere else. Our hotel was situated
in grounds abounding with birds, whilst the Aare ran foaming
downwards through the woods to join the Rhine, uniting before
it did so with the Reuss from Luzern and the Limmat from
Zurich. We had thus river birds and birds of the woodlands in
large numbers, and I made a list of sixty-four species there.
Quite close to the hotel there were many interesting birds,
such as the Blackcap, Garden-Warbler, Serin Finch, Goldfinch,
and the two Redstarts; whilst in a walk of about half an hour it
would have been possible to find nearly all the species I observed.
The Warblers on my list included the Blackcap, Garden- Warbler,
Willow- Warbler (not common), Chiffchaff, Sedge- Warbler, Wood-
Warbler, Whitethroat, Bonelli’s Warbler, and the Icterine Warbler.
This last bird I heard in marshy ground near the Aare, and I
felt some doubt at first as to its identity. It began its song with
a few peevish notes—something like ‘‘ aye, aye, aye’’—before it
launched out into its delightful song, which, however, was some-
what marred by certain jarring notes. I heard it not only near
the river, but also in the fields, and in the streets of Strassburg,
of which more anon.
Orioles were very plentiful both at Schinznach and at Strass-
burg, but they were always difficult to be seen. We heard them
66 THE ZOOLOGIST. $
every day, and almost everywhere the “‘wheet le veo” of the
Pirol or Gold Amsel revealed the presence of this beautiful bird.
The clear whistle can be readily imitated.
A Grey Woodpecker (Picus canus) (Grauspecht) nested quite
close to the hotel. At first I took it for a Green Woodpecker,
but the note seemed so much softer that I observed it more
closely, and finally identified it as Picuws canus. I also saw one
in Strassburg. He sometimes appeared on the top of a tree near
the hotel courtyard, and thus verified Naumann’s description :
“Der Specht sitzt dazu allemal auf der Spitze eines hohen
Baumes, und so schallen diese herrlichen Tone weit in den Wald
hinein.”’
It was very remarkable to see the Terns fishing on the Aare ;
it seemed almost impossible for birds to pluck fish from a stream
running at the rate of nearly ten miles an hour, yet they seemed
to live and thrive. They often hovered, like Kestrels, over the
river, and the alders near it, in a captivating manner.
There were not many Storks in our neighbourhood at Schinz-
nach ; Lensburg and Umiken had them, but Brugg had not, nor
did we see any at Baden or in the Black Forest, which we after-
wards visited. The Lesser Spotted Woodpecker was called in our
neighbourhood “‘der kleine Zimmermann ’”’ (the little carpenter)—
a pleasant name.
On June 13th I walked with my wife to Brugg, about three
miles distant, on a very pretty road, with woods on our right
hand and the valley of the Aare on the left. As we approached
the town I heard the cry of a bird quite unknown to me proceed-
ing from a potato-field which lay below the road towards the river.
I got down at once into the field, and there I saw a brownish bird
running about among the furrows and crying “‘ pip, pip, pip’ ina
loud tone, somewhat resembling that of a chicken. I drew near
cautiously, and had an excellent view of it as it ran before me,
looking back at me with its head turned round slightly to see
whether I was following ; it made no attempt to fly. The general
tone of the plumage was brown, and the bird seemed to be some-
what the size of a Lapwing. It had black bands, and a very
conspicuous white one lower down on the breast. I took it for
some species of Plover, but was obliged to defer identification till
I visited the museum at Basle on June 29th, where I saw at
BIRD-NOTHS IN SWITZERLAND AND GERMANY. 67
once that it was the Little Bustard (Tetrax tetrax)—in German,
“‘Zwergtrappe.” The birds were doubtless young ones, and
when in Strassburg I found that there was but one specimen in
the Zoological Museum, and that none had been observed in
Alsace since 1853. My list at Schinznach was sixty-four species.
Strassburg I found to be an excellent bird-station, and there
I observed seventy-two species. Most of these I had previously
noted at Schinznach. The Serin Finch seemed to be the charac- |
teristic bird of Alsace—or rather Elsass—as was the Chaffinch
of Switzerland. In the very hottest weather—and we had the
temperature on some days in July up to 95°—the unwearied
‘buzzing ’’ song of the little Serin could be heard and he himself
seen in tree-tops or on telegraph-wires everywhere.
Our pension in the Universitatstrasse had opposite to it the
University Botanical Gardens and Observatory, and beside it the
Zoological Museum, where I' was very kindly received by the
Director, Herr Doderlein, and his assistant, shown the various
specimens, and allowed to make extracts from Naumann’s great
work and others. I had also the honour of making the acquaint-
ance of Geheimrath Dr. Julius EKuting, University Librarian,
and President of the Vogesen Club, who gave me a great deal of
interesting information about the Storks and other birds at
Strassburg. He said that the following birds nested in the
cathedral spire and towers: Kestrel, Jackdaw, Common Swift,
and domestic Pigeon ; but that the number of Storks breeding in
Strassburg had of late years greatly diminished, and that whereas
twenty or thirty years ago there were as many as one hundred
and twenty nests in the city, this year there were but nine. He
attributed the decrease to the universal burning of stone-coal
instead of wood; the birds greatly disliked the fumes of the
former. He gave the date of their arrival about mid April, and
of their departure about Aug. 15th.
On July 4th I looked out at 3.15 a.m., just as day was dawn-
ing, and heard a few notes of celestial music, as it seemed to me ;
a Lark, and yet hardly a Sky-Lark, there, I thought. Next morn-
ing, at seven o’clock, I heard it again, and then saw that it pro-
ceeded from a Lark singing on the top of a high house nearly
opposite. On inquiring at the museum I found that this bird
was the Crested Lark (Alauda cristata)—in German, ‘‘ Hauben-
68 THE ZOOLOGIST.
lerche’’—and that there were two nests on the roof of the
Zoological Museum. Both were smashed to pieces by the hail
during a terrific thunderstorm which occurred while we were
there, the temperature falling from 95° in the shade to 64° in
twenty-four hours.
At the Orangerie, a beautiful park, said to be the finest in
Germany, I saw, but did not hear, the Nightingale, and in the
Black Forest and also in the Vosges Mountains I observed the
Crested Tit; but other birds were scarce. The Greenfinches in
Strassburg had a few notes which I never heard anywhere else ;
and the Icterine Warbler—called there ‘‘ Gartensanger ’’—could
be heard every day in the gardens near the university, but the
time of the singing of Nightingales was past. On the whole I
noted eighty-five species during June and July, but there were two
which I failed to identify—frequently heard, but unseen. Perhaps
some of your readers might be able to solve the mystery :—1.
From the marshy ground near the Aare I heard what I can best
describe as a ‘‘desolate’’ cry—‘‘kra-ah-ah’’—and one evening
saw a large bird high in the air, flying with neck stretched out
rigidly. Could this have been a Crane? 2. We frequently heard
a soft melodious note of a few syllables, something like the
*‘rippling’’ note of the Little Grebe, but louder, sweeter, and
more of a whistle, with about as many syllables as in the well-
known cry of the Whimbrel. I never saw the bird, but constantly
heard it, sometimes near water, but on other occasions in a
meadow some distance away. Could the Little Grebe have any
notes other than those we usually hear, for on one occasion at
Neuhof I heard the well-known note of the Little Grebe followed
immediately by this louder and richer cry ?
( 69 )
NOTES AND QUERIES.
MAMMALIA.
Notes on Cave Bats.—On February 22nd, 1905, I found a bunch
of Lesser Horseshoes hybernating in one of the lower chambers of a
Mendip cave. Ihave many times searched this cave through the upper
as well as the lower chambers purposely for Bats, for I know several
species to exist therein, but this particular find was, I should think, an
exceptional one; they occupied a small fissure in the rocks above my
head, and were hanging in a bunch one from another. The cavern is
very dark and extremely dangerous, as Mr. Rothschild’s representatives
can well testify, immense gulfs yawning out beneath you every here
and there, with perhaps a sheer drop of a hundred feet into the river
which flows through and here finds an outlet from the Mendip Hills,
the river entering the cavern atthe further end of the bottom chamber.
Human remains, also bones of the Cave Bear, have been found in this
spacious and lofty chamber. Fixing my lighted candle against the
rock, I managed with difficulty to take one of the lower specimens,
which I sent to Mr. Lydekker, informing him of the find. Five
species of Bats live, and no‘doubt breed, in this cave—the Barbastelle,
Greater and Lesser Horseshoes, Noctule, and one other species which
I have found and located, but have not yet secured. The Greater
Horseshoes are not so easily disturbed as the smaller species during the
period of hybernation ; they take but little notice of the light, and
seem altogether drowsier, and when touched just lift themselves up a
little with a faint squeak, and settle down again. The Lesser Horse-
shoes fly about the cave during hybernation, but I think only on
account of having been disturbed; for instance, having found three or
six at the commencement of a chamber, we may leave them for the
return journey, when we find they are gone. ‘These, I think, are
“disturbed flights,” but which I have not found with the Greater
species. Moths hybernate singly on the boulders of rock here; this
proves that the Bats do not take food, or else that the moths are
sufficiently protected from them, their colour so nearly resembling the
sandy rock on which they sit. I had been many times to the cave
before, when, in company with Mr. Goodson, of Tring, I noticed one of
70 THE ZOOLOGIST.
these moths, and then we could find several. On Aug. 26th, 1905, I
sent three Noctules to Mr. Lydekker for the Museum. I smoked them -
out of a hole on the cliffs, where there appears to be a small colony.
These Noctules fly about with the Horseshoes, but I do not think
occupy the same place or chamber when hybernating. Iam probably
correct in saying that these three specimens were males. On July 26th,
1905, there seemed to be more Bats than usual about, but it is difficult
to get them in the net; they dodge wonderfully quick, a fact that
seems remarkable when one examines their tiny and seemingly obso-
lete eyes. However, on this date I sent Mr. Lydekker four Greater
Horseshoes, one proving to be a young member, which differed from
the adults in its coloration, and, until he informed me, I thought it
was a Lesser. I intend searching portions of the cliffs at Cheddar
this winter, when I may be able to collect a few more notes of interest.
Srantey Lewis (Wells, Somerset).
Whiskered Bat (Myotis mystacinus) and Lesser Horseshoe Bat
(Rhinolophus hipposiderus) in Denbighshire.—The Whiskered Bat is
probably not uncommon in Denbighshire, although, as far as I know,
it has not been hitherto recorded for the county. On Jan. 14th
Mr. F. Brownsword and I found one in an old mine tunnel in the
Upper Silurian rocks of a wooded valley at Coed Coch, four miles
south of Colwyn. The Bat was hanging, asleep, on the wall, only
five feet from the tunnel-mouth, and the presence of fecal matter in
its intestines suggested that it had been feeding recently. Little is
known of the depth or duration of the winter sleep in this species, and
it is possible that the individual in question had gone outside to obtain
food ; though not necessarily so, for hybernating on the dry walls of
the tunnel were gnats and other dipterous insects, and the two species
of moths, Scotosia dubitata and Gonoptera libatrix, which one usually
sees in such places during the winter. Near the end of another tunnel
in the same valley, which had been driven into the hill-side for a dis-
tance of ninety yards, we found two Lesser Horseshoe Bats, a male and
female. These were hanging about ten yards apart, and, owing to a
sharp turn in the tunnel a few yards from its mouth, were in absolute
darkness. They were less lethargic than the Whiskered Bat, and,
though tightly enfolded in their wing-membranes, were apparently
conscious of our presence, for before we touched them they raised their
bodies by flexing the legs, and swayed slightly. There was water to
the depth of some inches on the floor near the mouth of the tunnel,
and the walls were wet in many places; but, although we saw neither
moths nor flies here, the presence of fecal matter in the intestines of
NOTES AND QUERIES. 71
the Bats seemed to indicate that they too had fed recently. — CuarLEs
Oxpuam (Knutsford).
Mus alexandrinus at Yarmouth.—Mr. Rumbelow (ante, p. 26) is, 1
think, correct in stating Mus rattus, and its compeer M. alexandrinus,
are on the increase hereabouts. JI am constantly hearing of their
appearance in fresh quarters, and very little to their credit. Cats are
very fond of hunting them, and eagerly eat them, leaving only the
snout and teeth. The Rats themselves are not averse to anything
that promises the least nourishment, and are not above nibbling the
toe of a sound sleeper. A house in which a babe was some time ago
seriously mauled by Black Rats has since been shut up, for the smell
of those poisoned, after the carpenters had been at work, has made the
place as insanitary as it was before unsavoury. In warehouses, dates,
egos, jars of jam—anything, in fact, is fish in their net. Passing a
sail-loft on January 25th, a sailmaker asked me if I could do witha
couple of Rats, ‘‘one of ’em a clinker!” i.e. an extraordinarily large
one. I gladly accepted, and sent them to Dr. S. H. Long, of
Norwich, who is much interested in the species. One was a jet-black
male Mus rattus, the other a very large example of Mus rattus alea-
andrinus. As it differs shghtly from one referred by Mr. J. G. Millais
as coming from Yarmouth (Zool. 1905, p. 203), I have thought it
worth recording. Measurements :—Head and body, 83 in.; tail, 9 in. ;
weight, 74 0z. Body of a smoke-brown generally, with slightly darker
hair on the back, and of a lighter hue below. Both fell victims to their
love of Russian tallow, not a scrap of which that sailmaker dare leave
about at night, except some placed in a trap for their especial benefit
—and his own. When writing a very tarry smell emanated from the
hides of both Rats, due to their having made their beds of such tarry
twine as they found lying about the loft.— Arraur H. Patrerson
(Ibis House, Great Yarmouth).
AVES.
Breeding of the Twite.— Mr. Butterfield (ante, p. 32) asks for
authenticated instances of the Twite breeding south of Derbyshire. I
have a clutch taken two years ago in Devonshire. They were found
by a friend who identified the parent birds, and kindly sent me the nest
and eggs. ‘These were exhibited at a subsequent meeting of the British
Ornithologists’ Club, and a note on the subject will be found in its
bulletin.—Cuaries Hi. Pearson (Hillcrest, Lowdham, Nottingham).
Cirl-Bunting (Emberiza cirlus) in Cheshire.—On Jan. 28rd, 1906,
I was fortunate in seeing a small party of Cirl-Buntings feeding
72 THE ZOOLOGIST.
together on the Dee Cop, about a mile from this city. There were
about eight or ten of them. With binoculars I had a good view of a
male not many yards distant, before they took flight across the river,
besides hearing their thin characteristic call-note, which alone would
put all question as to identity beyond doubt. I have found this inter-
esting bird not uncommon during the breeding season in certain districts
in the neighbouring counties of Denbigh and Flint, but hitherto there
has not been any authentic record of this species in Cheshire, so far as
I know. The nearest place to the Cheshire border where I have
previously met with the bird is Hope, Flint, some three and a half
miles outside the county boundary, where I heard one in full song on
Aug. 10th, 1905.—S. G. Cumuines (Chester).
Shore-Lark in Cheshire.—Mr. Lewis Jones, of Hilbre Island, in-
forms me that on Dec. 19th, 1905, he watched a Shore-Lark (Otocorys
alpestris) on that island. He was about eight or ten yards from the
bird, and was able to make a rough sketch of it, showing the distribu-
tion of colour. Mr. Jones kindly showed me this sketch, and there is
no doubt about his identification of the species, and, as he did not
notice the erectile tufts above the eyes, it was presumably either a
female or an immature bird. He has never before seen a Shore Lark
at Hilbre, and this is apparently the first record for the county, though
the species has been met with on the Lancashire coast north of the
Mersey Estuary.—T. A. Cowarp (Bowdon, Cheshire).
The Cuckoo and its Foster-parents. — Mr. Tuck’s caution . with
regard to spurious Cuckoo clutches (Zool. 1905, p. 484) is very neces-
sary for these times. In pursuing my search for an authentic instance
of a Cuckoo’s egg deposited by the parent bird in a Twite’s nest, Ihave
not found it easy to discover one which would command universal
acceptance, though I have come across a good deal of evidence that
Cuckoo clutches are not infrequently made up by unscrupulous persons
for the benefit of incautious oologists. Great cireumspection should
be exercised before accepting a rare Cuckoo clutch as authentic, when it
is remembered how easy fraud is in the matter, and how difficult to
detect. During my investigations I had the pleasure of examining
some two hundred Cuckoo clutches in one private collection, which
had been purchased but not yet examined or arranged by the owner,
who is one of our most famous ornithologists. Among these were two
clutches in which the ‘‘Cuckoos’ eggs”’ were obviously a Sky-Lark’s
and a House-Sparrow’s respectively ! There were about twenty clutches
of Greenfinch, Linnet, Bullfinch, or other seed-eating birds, with
Cuckoo’s eggs, but nearly all of these had been obtained from one
NOTES AND QUERIES. 73
neighbourhood by one obscure individual, whose initials were given as
authentication. I have examined one clutch of Twite with Cuckoo,
and have been informed of several others, but all these were obtained
by Mr. James Ellison from Steeton Moor, Yorkshire, the authority
referred to by Mr. Booth (Zool. 1905, p. 483). Two other dealers from
whom I have heard, who have collected on moors near the same
district—one of them for fifty years—inform me that, although well
acquainted with the Twite and its nest, they have never found one with
a Cuckoo’s egg, much as they have desired to do so. But the case is
one in which it is difficult to obtain satisfactory proof either on the
positive or the negative side. Independently of dealers, there is, I
admit, good evidence for the occasional depositing of a Cuckoo’s egg
in a Twite’s nest. The authority of Mr. Bidwell, Dr. Rey, and others,
quoted by the Editor, is certainly great. I have not been able to look
up the references, and will not question them, as these well-known
ornithologists are not lhkely to value evidence at more than it is
worth. A Cuckoo, no doubt, may place its egg in almost any nest
which it can get at. I have lately heard of a case, on what seemed
good authority, of a Cuckoo’s egg having been found in a Pheasant’s
nest, the female Cuckoo having been seen to fly from the spot. But
this, I think, has been made clear, that for the Cuckoo in one neigh-
bourhood to deposit its eggs exclusively in the nests of the seed-
eating Twite was a@ priori very improbable. Whether a seed-eating
bird is able to rear a young Cuckoo is a question upon which I
would now invite evidence. Has anyone ever seen a young Cuckoo
reared by a Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Bullfinch, or Linnet ? Mr. Moffat’s
interesting experiment (Zool. 1905, p. 431) loses a little of its value
from the fact that it was made thirty years ago, and that he has kept
no record of it, depending, as he informs me, solely upon memory. It
ought, however, to be easily repeated, and perhaps has been tried by
others whose experiences would be interesting. ‘‘ Sauce for the goose
is sauce for the gander,” but it does not follow that a strange food
which succeeded with young Hedge-Sparrows would also succeed with
a young Cuckoo. It is well known that a nestling Thrush or Black-
bird can be reared on bread soaked in milk, but in the case of the young
Cuckoo there would be other considerations besides the strangeness of
the food. The usual foster-parents of the Cuckoo are long-billed
insectivorous birds, and anyone who has watched a Wagtail or Meadow-
Pipit feeding a young Cuckoo with an insect held at the tip of its beak,
and darted quickly into the open gape of its monster child, apparently
Zool. 4th ser vol. X., February, 1906. G
74 THE ZOOLOGIST.
at the risk of being itself swallowed, will ask what would happen in the
case of a Bullfinch, with its short blunt beak, ifit attempted to feed the
young Cuckoo by disgorging seeds from its crop, a process which gener-
ally lasts for a minute or more. Here surely is a field for inquiry.
Do such birds feed the young Cuckoo (if they ever feed it at all) in the
same way in which they feed their own young, or do they alter their
habits to suit the occasion, and obtain for the intruder its natural food
—insects ?—Atuan Exuison (Watton-at-Stone, Herts).
White-tailed Eagle (Haliaétus albicilla) in Staffordshire-—On Noy.
30th, 1905, Mr. Guy Harris, of The Radfords, Stone, Staffordshire,
observed an Eagle at about 12.30 p.m. coming from the south-east. It
then circled round for some fifteen minutes, and he was able to observe
it carefully through field-elasses. It went away in a westerly direction,
and was next heard of at Sandon (about five miles distant), where it is
said to have been shot at several times, and eventually, on Dec. 4th
last, it was trapped by one of Lord Lichfield’s keepers on Cannock
Chase. The bird is now being preserved for his lordship, and the
taxidermist states that it is a young White-tailed Hagle (a female), and
that the measurements are as follows :—‘‘ Length from tip of bill to
tip of tail, 88 in.; breadth from tip to tip across the back, 934 in.;
length of flight from tip of wrist to the end of tip of primaries, 284 in. ;
length of tail from root of tail to the end of rectrices, 142 in.”’ He
adds: ‘‘ The bird was very fat, and showed no indications of having
been in a cage, and I believe that it is a perfectly wild bird.”” This is
the first authentic record of the occurrence of this bird in Staffordshire,
although it is now practically certain that the two Hagles mentioned
in Shaw’s ‘ History of Staffordshire’ (1798) were of this species. It
may be of interest to refer to my note on this subject, which appeared
in the ‘ Transactions’ of the North Staffordshire Field Club, 1902-08,
p. 63.—Jonn R. B. Maszrieip (Rosehill, Cheadle, Staffordshire).
Whoopers in Islay.—On Ardnave, a fresh-water loch in the north
of the island of Islay, which I visited on Dec. 6th, 1905, I saw as many
as ninety-eight Wild Swans—lI think, all Whoopers. The birds, in
brilliant sunshine on the dark blue water, were a beautiful sight. The
loch is not half a mile across, and, besides many Gulls and Coots, had
on it Mallards, Wigeons, Golden-eyes, Tufted Ducks, Pochards, and a
pair of Pintails; the latter are the first I have seen in Islay, and,
according to Mr. Harvie-Brown’s ‘Fauna of Argyll,’ they are rare in
the Inner Hebrides. In December, 1900, I saw twenty-seven Whoopers
on Ardnave Loch, and I am told some come every winter, but I
NOTES AND QUERIES. 75
imagine that ninety-eight is an unusually large number. — Fora
Russet (2, Audley Square, W.).
Colour of Eyes in Fuligula nyroca.—On Jan. 1st I handled a
locally and fresh-killed immature specimen of the White-eyed Pochard
(not a hybrid), the irides of which were light brown, without any trace
or shade of white. Can the authorities be wrong, as no writer known
to me suggests the elimination of white from the eye of this species at
any age? The eye of the Common Pochard is generally given as red
or pink in the adult male, but this is only the case in over-yeared birds,
and then seldom before January. I have on several occasions noticed
this colour fade to yellow shortly after death, or even before in birds
that I have shot.—Mauricr C. H. Birp (Brunstead Rectory, Stalham,
Norwich).
Hider (Somateria mollissima) in Cheshire.—On Dec. 31st (1905) an
Hider—a duck or a drake in the plumage of the first winter—was
swimming close inshore at Leasowe. Sheltered from the gale, which
was blowing from the south-east, the bird was diving for food in the
quiet water under the lee of the sea-wall, and I was able to get within
a few yards of it, sufficiently close to distinguish with a glass the
feathered wedge on the upper mandible, and the details of its plumage,
although I could not make out upon what it was feeding. When it
saw me the bird got on the wing, and, keeping well in the shelter of
the embankment, flew just above the water for about a quarter of a
mile. Then it dropped and began to feed, affording me another
Opportunity to approach and watch it at close quarters. The Hider
is a rare species on the north-west coast of England, and has only
once before been recorded for Cheshire.—Cuas. Oupuam (Knutsford).
Interesting Hybrid Duck.—When walking up and down the ranks
of Yarmouth Market on Jan. 20th, as is my usual custom on Saturdays
during the shooting season, in search of any interesting fowl that may
turn up, I was attracted by an odd-looking Duck strung up by the neck
with a Mallard, hanging on a slate. On closer inspection I found it
to be a remarkably pretty hybrid between a Mallard and a Black Kast
Indian Duck. The head was glossy greenish black, as was the back.
Underneath the bird was a patch of white, with another spot of white
on the ‘“‘throat,’’ and the breast was a dark brown. The black feet
were small, the toes only showing a brown streak, and the black upper
mandible was relieved by a light brown patch on either side. The bird
was in fine condition, and undoubtedly a male. 1 should have pur-
chased it, but the good woman ‘‘couldn’t for the life on her” say the
76 THE ZOOLOGIST,
price of it, as her husband had not ‘set the figger.” I should have
taken the liberty of making a sketch of it, only I had not wherewith
by me to doit. I therefore made another quick examination of it, but
had not the chance of again calling round to purchase it.—Arruur H.
Parrerson (Ibis House, Great Yarmouth).
Sea-going Pigeons.—A remarkable instance of tame Pigeons making
a daily visit to a lightship has recently come under my notice. Some
eighteen months since a Pigeon, in hazy weather, made its appearance
on the St. Nicholas lightship, which is moored a mile and a half from
the town. It was fed, and, being unmolested, rested awhile, and
shortly flew back to the shore. Not long after it voluntarily made its
appearance on the vessel, was fed again, and once more returned. It
learned to recognize the tin in which some corn was kept, and would
soon come aboard when it saw the ‘‘signal’’ flashed by holding up the
tin above the bulwarks. Shortly after another bird, somewhat shyer,
ventured on the trip with it, and was made welcome; and in time no
fewer than five birds made it a daily practice to honour the delighted
seamen with their presence. They do not seem all related, although
two may probably be young birds belonging to the first pair. They still
visit the ship, alighting first on the davit-guys, and then descending to
the deck to feed, after which they fly away home for the rest of the day.
Such an instance is, I think, unique, and worthy of record. — ArTHUR
H. Parrerson (Ibis House, Great Yarmouth).
Peculiar Habits of Gallinula chloropus. —In Rickmansworth,
during Christmas week, 1 noticed a Waterhen perched on an ivy-
covered tree in the churchyard, about twenty-five feet up, and busy
feeding on the ivy-berries, pecking vigorously at the bunches. As the
weather was quite open, and neither the ground nor the adjacent
waters were frost-bound, this unusual kind of food for a Waterhen
seems worth a note.—M. J. C. Mermunsonn (Tentsmuir, Northwood,
Middlesex).
Knotinland in Cheshire.—On Dec. 30th, 1905, a gamekeeper, when
shooting Snipe on the borders of Marbury Mere, near Norwich, killed a
female Knot. The bird, which is now in the Grosvenor Museum,
Chester, was in very poor condition. Though Knots occur—sometimes
in large numbers—almost every winter in the Dee Estuary, they are
seldom met with inland in Cheshire ; I only know of one other occur-
rence—a bird which struck the telephone-wires in Bowdon on Oct. 24th,
1902 (Zool. 1902, p. 467). Knots do not as a rule venture far up the
Dee estuary, but on this same day some were killed out of a mixed
NOTES AND QUERIES. 77
flock of Knots, Redshanks, and Dunlins near Connah’s Quay. On the
following day Mr. C. Oldham saw many flocks between Parkgate and
West Kirby. He estimated that one of these flocks contained at least
two thousand birds, and another perhaps half that number.—T. A.
Cowarp (Bowdon, Cheshire).
Interesting Acquisitions by the Grosvenor Museum, Chester.—A
very remarkable form of Kestrel-Hawk (falco tinnunculus), sex (?),
has been taken in North Wales, and presented to the Natural History
Museum, Chester, by R. Farmer, Esq. Having never before seen a
more remarkable and beautiful variety of the Malconine, I thought it
worthy of record. The structure of the colour-markings is almost
identically the same as in the type, but the colour is of a light fawn
and greyish white. Variety of Blue Tit (Parws c@ruleus), sex (?), shot
near Chester, and presented to the Natural History Museum, Chester.
Head, neck, wings, and tail French grey; back and under parts
_ canary-yellow; eyes pink. Size rather smaller than the type. A very
remarkable form. I was told that the bird seemed semi-domesticated
when alive.—Atrrep NrewstEap.
PISCES.
Flying Fish reported from Yarmouth (?).—The records in ‘ The
Zoologist ’ of the occurrence of Flying Fish on the Kentish coast are
interesting, and recalled to me an account of one whose ‘‘fin”’ was
exhibited in the Fisheries Exhibition in London in 1883. I have
hunted up a catalogue of exhibits made by the well-known Norwich
naturalist, Mr. T. EK. Gunn, and find the following :—
“Case 50, Fuyine Fiso.—Fin of Flying Fish (Evocetus volitans) ;
specimen caught off Yarmouth, May 28rd, 1868. . . . Only known
instance on this part of the eastern coast. I submitted it to the late
Dr. J. E. Gray, of the British Museum, who identified the species
for me.”
For many years I have watched for an example to turn up,
but as yet without success. I have not included this ‘‘ capture” in
my ‘Nature in Eastern Norfolk,’ for the simple reason that neither
in the second edition of Lubbock’s ‘ Fauna of Norfolk,’ nor in any of
the ‘Transactions’ of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ Society,
is Mr. Gunn’s specimen referred to. It would be as well, however,
for all east coast naturalists to be on the qui vive, and help to more
firmly establish the claim of this fish to be upon the Norfolk list.—
A. H. Parrerson (Ibis House, Great Yarmouth).
78 THE ZOOLOGIST.
CRUSTACEA.
Arctus ursus (better known as Scyllarus arctus) at Guernsey.—A
specimen of this rare and curious crustacean, a native of the Mediter-
ranean, was caught off Guernsey, in a pot baited for the ‘‘Chancre”
or Edible Crab, measuring five inches in length, and of a dark red-
brown colour. Three or four specimens are usually found during the
summer round the island of Guernsey.— F. 8. Wricur (Guille-Allés
Library, Guernsey).
[In earlier volumes of ‘The Zoologist’ there are many records of
this species being found in English waters, especially in the neighbour-
hood of Cornwall and Plymouth. It has also been figured in these
pages (1879, p. 473), where Mr. Thomas Cornish gave an interesting
communication respecting its British records.
It may be well to draw attention to an error in Parker and Has-
well’s ‘ Text-Book of Zoology,’ vol. i. p. 539, where a figure is stated
to represent this species, but is really that of Thenus ortentalis.—Hp.]
OUR TE iv vArkave
CHARLES JoHN CORNISH.
At the early age of forty-seven this pleasant writer on natural
history and sporting subjects passed away on Jan. 30th, after an
illness extending over three months. He was a Devonshire man, and
was the son of the Rey. C. J. Cornish, who afterwards removed to the
rectory of Childrey, at the foot of Berkshire Downs. It was in this
happy region that he probably was imbued with the sights and sounds
of country life, and, without making claim to be a profound zoologist,
became an established writer on different aspects of the varied life
around us. Several of his books have been reviewed in these pages.
Since 1884 he had held an assistant mastership at St. Paul’s School,
and this, combined with his outdoor recreations and his literary occupa-
tions, the outcome of a too active temperament, terminated in a pre-
mature death by overwork. He was much endeared to his friends.
(ae)
NOTICE SO Lar NE Wi BOOTS:
Creatures of the Night ; a Book of Wild Life in Western Britain.
By Aurrep W. Ress. John Murray.
We are glad to read another book written by the author of
‘Tanto the Fisherman,’ of which a notice appeared in our last
volume. Mr. Rees again proves himself to be an observant
naturalist, and it is only a few indeed who can, or who are
inclined to, follow his nocturnal watchings. Of course it was
found impossible to restrict all the observations to those made
during midnight vigils, especially those relating to an active
diurnal creature like the Water-Vole, and what we really peruse
is a description of the night and day habits of seven most inter-
esting species of British mammals. Then again the animals are
made to tell their own narrative, an effort fatal to an author
who is either not sure of his facts, or who has not a sufficiency
of his own observations to enable him to tread on the very firmest
ground of information; from both of these dangers Mr. Rees
suffers no impediment.
The importance of this volume, which we consider almost
unique, is in the recital of the life struggles of all these creatures,
and their intelligent, not automatic, efforts to preserve their
existence and comfort. If disease and poverty are the worst
menaces to human life, other animals without the tribal organi-
zation possessed by man, are subject in an even more drastic
way to the constant terror of sudden death or starvation; to eat
and not be eaten, or to kill and not be killed, seems at least the
great problem of their existence, and to them there is a constant .
terror by noonday as well as by night. And yet their happy
moments are probably as frequent as our own, and from the
pages of this book we see no indication of a difference in kind,
but only of degree in the method of wisdom, not of intellectuality,
pursued by man and other animals in the struggle of life.
The story of the Water-Vole is delightful ; that is one of the
80 THE ZOOLOGIST.
animals which know a little of two worlds—the surface of the
earth as we do, and much of the dusky realm of water which
we do not.
Nature’s Nursery. By H. W. Saepuearp-Watuwyy, M.A., &e.
Hutchinson & Co.
Tus is one of those books which tell us many ordinary and
elemental biological facts which we are all supposed to know, but
which many of us do to a very imperfect degree, and it is a pub-
lication which relies largely on the beauty and efficacy of its
photo-blocks, which are as informative as the text. As regards
the last we have only one complaint—the failing of too many
popular lecturers on these subjects—and that is, the desire to be
funny. It is well to avoid the pedantic attitude, but mild jokes
in the end sometimes become too strong for the average reader.
Part I. is devoted to ‘‘ The Tale of the Chicken,” which can be
strongly recommended to the perusal of all lovers of poultry who
would desire to have some knowledge on the hatching processes
of their pets; the series of twenty-one photographs taken of a
chicken between the ages of eight hours, and two weeks, is worthy
of a place in every poultry book, while those of some full-grown
specimens are in strong contrast to the rigid caricatures we so
often find in publications on this subject, and which might
represent the art of a very ordinary birdstuffer.
The part descriptive of ‘‘ Flora’s Nursery ”’ is also calculated
to give a well-illustrated insight into many interesting points of
seed dispersal, and fertilization, incidental to many well-known
plants, and the volume should certainly be placed on the list of
useful and interesting prize books.
Ar the present time there is a general movement in the direction of
making schoolrooms brighter by means of coloured pictures; the pictures
to be attractive and educative rather than merely instructional. The
difficulty has always been to get good ones at any reasonable cost.. We
have therefore ventured to prepare a series of landscape subjects, all in
colour, and some in glowing colours. The actual picture measures about
32 x 20 inches, and is printed on paper 85 x 224 inches. They are
intended to be seen from a distance.
By Lurser Hooper.
The End of the Day (glowing sunset, river, and mountains, Normandy).
Daisy Field, Windermere.
A Castle on a Hill (William the Conqueror’s birthplace, with fine sunset).
A Devonshire Water= Mill (with apple tree in full blossom).
By Fritz Autuaus.
A French Harbour, Trouville.
A Scottish Loch.
Circulars with particulars, and giving prints in monotone, on application.
Prices: all net.—Unmounted, post or carriage free—single copy, 5s. ;
12 as selected, at 3s. 9d. ; 100 as: selected, at 8s. 3d. Extra for frames,
ds. each: framed pictures are carriage forward, and require a case.
Crown 8vo. 64 pp. Price 1s. net, 1s. 2d. post free.
QN COLLECTING AND PRESERVING PLANTS
By STANLEY GUITON.
Chapters on Collecting and Equipment, Drying, Preserving and
Arranging, Mounting, &c. Fully Illustrated.
. . * Useful to schools, or classes, field naturalists’ clubs, or to any one inter-
ested in the collection of specimens of our native flora, or who wished to prepare
and bring or send home specimens from abroad.” —The Field.
Pp. 102. Demy 8vo. Eleven Chromo. Plates. Cloth gilt, price 10s. 6d.
NEW ZEALAND NEUROPTERA,
By G. VERNON HUDSON, F.E.S.,
Author of ‘An Elementary Manual of New Zealand Entomology,’ and
‘New Zealand Moths and Butterflies.’
5A Poputar IntRopuction ro THE Lire-Histories anp Hasits or May-Fuiss,
DRAGON-FLIES, CADDIS-FLIES, AND ALLIED Insects tnHaBiTina Nuw
ZEALAND, INCLUDING NOTES ON THEIR RELATION TO ANGLING.
This nicely got-up volume gives a popular account of many of the neuropterous
insects occurring in the New Zealand rivers, streams, and lakes. .... The Ephemeride,
or May-flies, are especially interesting insects to the entomologist, angler, and general
observer of nature. .... The habits and descriptions of the different species are con-
cisely, but instructively, dealt with, and the book is embellished with eleven finely coloured
plates, chromo-lithographed from the author’s own drawings.’’—The Field.
“In this admirable little volume the author has entered pretty fully into details
connected with the habits and life-histories of the more important and conspicuous
neuropterous insects..... The plates, reproducing the author’s own drawings, are
exceedingly good.”’—Vhe Entomologist.
London: WEST, NEWMAN «& CO.., 54, Hatton Garden, E.C.
N otés on “the ieee Whaling
A Plea for the Further Recognition of Subspecies in Ornithology, V ‘
_ NorEs AND QuERizs :—
_ Opituary.—Charles John Cornish, 78.
ae eee
x Voyage of 1905, The on
The Pigeon Hollandais, Graham Renshaw, MV.
A Note on the Meare ouad Yarmouth (with Hasteatioe) sae
Butterfield, 62.
Bird-Notes in Switzerland and Germany in June and July, 1905, Rev. Chante
Benson, LL.D., 65.
Mammaria.—Notes on Cave Bats, Stanley Lewis, 69. Wilelceal Bat (Myotis a
mystacinus) and Lesser Horseshoe Bat (RKhinolophus hipposiderus) in —
Denbighshire, Charles Oldham, 70. Mus alexandrinus at ‘Yarmouth,
Arthur H. Patterson, 71.
Cirl-Bunting (Emberiza a
cirlus) in Cheshire, S. G. Cummings, 71. Shore-Lark in Cheshire, T. A. —
Coward, 72. The Cuckoo and its Foster-parents, Rev. Allan Ellison, 72. —
White-tailed Hagle (Haliaetus albicilla) in Staffordshire, John R. B. Mase-
field, 74. Whoopers in Islay, Flora Russell, 74. Colour of Hyesin Fuligula —
nyroca, Mawrice C.H. Bird, 75. Wider (Sanaienia mollassima) in Cheshire,
Charles Oldham, 75. Interesting Hybrid Duck, 75; Sea- going Pigeons, 76;
Arthur H. Patterson. Peculiar Habits of Gallinula chloropus, M. J. C.
Meiklejohn, 76. Knot inland in Cheshire, 7. A. Coward, 76.' Interesting
Acquisitions by the Grosvenor Museum, Chester, Alfred Newstead, 77.
Pisces.—F lying Fish reported from Yarmouth (?), A. H. Patterson, 77.
CrusTACEA.—Arctus wrsus (better known as Seine GHGS) at Guernsey,
F.S. Wright, 78.
Notices oF New Books, 79-80.
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BIRDSNESTING & BIRD-SKINNING. A Complete :
Description of the Nests and Eggs of Birds which Breed in Britain,
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Zool. 1906.
2.
Fig. 1.—Nest oF WHIMBREL (Numenius pheopus).
Fig. 2.—NestinG-Box IN USE AT THE FmROEs (cf. p. 86).
Plate
Pee 2OOnOG LSE
No. 777.—March, 1906.
AN ORNITHOLOGICAL VISIT TO THE FASROKS.
By Percy F. Bunyarp. |
(Puate I.)
WitH only three weeks at our disposal, this journey was
perhaps a rather big undertaking for so short a time; however,
we succeeded in spending exactly sixteen days on the islands.
I was fortunate in having secured the companionship of another
known ornithologist, and was not only surprised at the amount of
sround we were able to cover, but, owing to the almost perpetual
daylight, always putin agoodday’s work. We left Leith en route
for the Feroes at midnight on June 2nd, 1905, by the Danish
Royal Mail Steamer ‘Tjaldur.’ After a fair and somewhat
uninteresting voyage we sighted the southernmost island of
Sydero at 2 p.m. on the 4th, arriving at Trangjisvaag, our first
port of call, at 6 p.m. (Sunday evening). The view awaiting
us as we slowly steamed up the fjord was grand in the extreme ;
the quaint and straggling little town, with its green turf-roofed
houses, the spotlessly white spire of the kirk glittering in the
evening sun, and the mountains rising over one thousand feet
behind, made a fitting background for this already beautiful
landscape.
It is not my intention here to again describe the beauty of
the islands, neither is it possible to do justice to them in the
limited space at my disposal; suffice to say, though barren and
Zool, 4th ser. vol. X., March, 1906. H
82 THE ZOOLOGIST.
treeless (except where a few trees have been planted in the
villages), we found the islands extremely interesting, and the
scenery magnificent; the people, nearly all of whom speak a little
English, were most hospitable.
I have, to save any unnecessary confusion, used the names
found on the map of the Feroe Islands, from the Danish Govern-
ment survey, published by the Admiralty, Jan. 25th, 1901; this
is the best map yet published, and is in general use by visitors
to the islands.
I took a camera with me for the first time on an expedition
of this kind, and, owing no doubt to the grand light, succeeded
in securing a fine series of photographs; and I trust that of our
first Whimbrel’s nest may be interesting (cf. Plate I. fig. 1).
Fully prepared to rough it, we did not find things so bad as
we had been led to believe, but I should strongly advise all
intending visitors to take a certain amount of food with them in
the way of tinned fruit and vegetables, even at the cost of an
extra carrier, for it must be borne in mind that, when moving
about or crossing the islands, it is almost impossible at this
time of the year to obtain fresh fruit and vegetables, though
at Thorshayn, the capital, one can now procure nearly any-
thing except fresh goods. It was not our intention, owing to
the very limited time at disposal, to visit the whole of the
sroup; we therefore confined our energies to the four largest
southernmost islands, viz., Sydero, Sando, Stromo, and Nolso;
also a small rocky island, Hoivig Holm, near Thorshavn. It
is important that this should be well understood by my readers,
for the remarks on the avifauna only apply to the above-
mentioned islands. It is, of course, possible that some of the
species not found breeding may do so on the islands we did
not visit, more especially the northern ones. It must also be
borne in mind that, owing to the Game Act of April, 1897
(Diplomatic and Consular Reports, Denmark; Report of the
Feroe Islands, 1901), it was impossible for us to obtain any
assistance from the natives in our ornithological research. The
result of this visit is, therefore, entirely due to our own personal
investigations and hard work.
I regret that we have no new species to record, neither have
we anything particularly interesting to note beyond that which
ORNITHOLOGICAL VISIT TO THE FAROHES. 83
is already known and written on the birds of the Feroe Islands.
The principal object of these notes is to bring up to date, as far
as possible, the information already to hand. It will perhaps
be as well to mention that only on one occasion during our visit
did the weather in any way interfere with our operations ; in
fact, it was a remarkably dry season for these islands, subject
as they are to incessant rain and mist at this period of the year.
Owing mainly to the steady increase of population, that many
species have considerably decreased during the last half-century
is beyond doubt.
Referring to Col. H. W. Feilden’s memoir, ‘‘ The Birds of the
Feroe Islands” (Zool. 1872, pp. 3210, 3245, and 3277), I find he
enumerates one hundred and thirty-eight species. It is my in-
tention, with a few exceptions, to deal only with those we saw or
actually found breeding. It is noteworthy that the following
birds which have bred, according to previous writers, were not
met with by us on the islands visited, and we consider it very
doubtful as to whether they now do so, viz., Redwing, White
Wagtail, Tree-Sparrow, Snow-Bunting, Sky-Lark, Merlin, Grey
Lag-Goose, Long-tailed Duck, Teal, Quail, Corn-Crake, Red-
necked Phalarope, Dunlin, Redshank, Black-tailed Godwit, and
Black-headed Gull. I may also mention the following, which on
very meagre evidence are supposed to have bred:—Snowy Owl,
Mealy Redpoll, King-Duck, and Turnstone. The breeding stations
of the following, which undoubtedly still breed, were not visited.
and we therefore had no opportunity of verifying the same,
viz. Cormorant, Shag, Gannet, Herring-Gull, Razorbill, Stormy
Petrel, and Manx Shearwater.
Nearly all the eggs from the Feroe Islands in the British
Museum were taken by Herr F. C. Miiller, a native of Thors-
hayn, and eventually acquired by the late Edward Hargitt, R.I.,
being finally presented to the National Collection in 1893 by
that ardent and sterling naturalist, the late Henry Seebohm.
WaeaTear (Sazicola enanthe). Native name, ‘‘ Steinstolpa.”—
This beautiful bird was by far the most abundant member of the
large Order to which it belongs. Found breeding on all islands
visited, though mostly confined to the valleys; we occasionally
came across them on the mountain tops. Though we did not search
H2
84 THE ZOOLOGIST.
for the nests, it was astonishing that more were not found. One
nest on Sando contained young on June 12th, and was beautifully
concealed in a hole behind a large stone. Found several empty
shells about, which was evidence that incubation was complete.
No opportunity was offered of seeing the large broods attributed
to this species in these islands.
NortHerN Wren (T'roglodytes borealis). Native name,
**Mousabrouir.””»— We can fully endorse the remarks of Col.
Feilden in regard to the song of this lively little bird. It would,
indeed, not be out of place to call it the Feroese Nightingale, so
much do some of the notes resemble not only in melody but in
power the song of Daulias luscinia. It is almost impossible to
believe that so powerful a song could come from so small a bird ;
it is quite unlike that of our Common Wren (T’. parvulus).
Though heard on four of the islands visited, it was seldom that
we had a good view of the birds, as they were generally high
above our heads on the cliffs or mountain sides. The only
opportunity I had of a close inspection was at Skaalevig, while
we were waiting for the carriers to take our luggage over the
mountains to Sando. We had started a close inspection of the
boat-sheds and outhouses, when out flew a small bird through
the entrance. It flew about ten yards, and settled on a large
stone. After examining for some time with our glasses, we
identified the bird as 7’. borealis. It did not require a very long
search before the nest was found—a conspicuously bulky struc-
ture, though compact and well built, of straw, lined with moss
and feathers. It contained five newly-hatched young. The
hole was placed almost on the top, and the nest was tightly
wedged in between the beam and the thatch. As our porters
had arrived, we had no further time to watch this interesting
species, though from what we saw I consider the bird very
different from 7’. parvulus. It was much larger and paler in
colour. While staying at Sand we had two eggs brought to us ;
they are considerably larger than the eggs of 7’. parvulus, and
larger than those of the much disputed St. Kilda Wren (T’. hir-
tensis). One egg is slightly larger, and the other the same size
as typical eges of the Tree-Sparrow (P. montanus), and are
only slightly marked at the large end with fine faini red spots.
These eggs are now in my collection.
ORNIFHOLOGICAL VISIT TO THE FAROES. 85
Meapow-Pirit (Anthus pratensis). Native name, ‘‘ Graatuj-
tlingur.”—This species must have decreased very considerably
since the visit of Col. Feilden to the islands in 1872, for he
describes it as extremely abundant. We saw and heard it on
Sydero, Sando, and Stromo, but it was nowhere numerous, and
only found in the valleys and cultivated spots, and then only in
small numbers. We did not look for or find a single nest,
though I saw one bird just fledged on Strom6 on June 19th.
Rocxk-Pipit (Anthus obscurus). Native name same as used for
Meadow-Pipit.—Seen and heard on Sydero, Sando, and Stromo.
One nest with four much incubated eges found on Nolso, June
17th. These birds were generally to be seen on the rocky
shores, though on one or two occasions in fairly elevated spots
among the mountains. We had no opportunity of verifying
Col. Feilden’s observations in regard to size and plumage, as
no birds were taken, and they were extremely shy and difficult to
approach.
Staruine (Sturnus vulgaris). Native name, ‘‘ Steari.’”—Not
met with ‘on Sydero; first seen at Skaalevig, on Sando, where
several were seen about the buildings. It was not until we
reached Thorshayn that this bird was found at all numerous. On
the evening of our arrival we saw several small flocks flying about
the town, and settling in the trees opposite the hotel where we
were staying. We were informed that they were steadily in-
creasing, for they receive every encouragement from the Froese,
and are now protected all the year by the Game Act of April
25rd, 1897. They are looked uponas almost sacred, and it would
be as great a crime to shoot or killa ‘“‘Steari”’ in the Feroes as
it is to kill a Stork in Holland. It is, in these islands, a valuable
bird to the agriculturist and horticulturist. I was not able to
find out to what extent the Starling takes toll of the black, red,
and white currants, also the few strawberries—which are the only
fruit grown on the island. The currant-bush here assumes an
enormous size, and it was no uncommon sight to see them from
four to seven feet high, and from two to three feet through ; there
was an abundance of fruit, which had just started to swell. These
bushes were nearly all in sheltered positions, and there was a total
absence of that destructive pest, the black currant mite (Phy-
toptus ribis), which is devastating the black currant in this
86 THE ZOOLOGIST.
country. The most interesting thing in connection with this
bird was the nesting-boxes, of which I give an illustration
(Plate I. fig. 2), placed on most of the buildings in Thorshavn,
and was quite the best thing I have seen in this way—made of
wood and painted brown. All appeared to be occupied.
Raven (Corvus corax). Native name, ‘“‘ Ravnur.”—We were
too late for this early breeder, and were unable to make any exten-
sive observations as to its habits and difference of plumage to our
own bird. It was nowhere abundant. We saw a few on Sando,
also on Stromo; these were all on the wing, and at some dis-
tance.
Hooprep Crow (C.cornix). Native name, ‘‘ Kraaka.”—Fairly
plentiful, specially on Strom6, where we saw them in small
flocks. Some late birds, judging from their behaviour, still had
young or eggs. Onenest of Whimbrel’s eggs found had evidently
been sucked by Hoodies. They have lost much of their semi-
domesticity. Only on one occasion did we see them about the
dwellings. In winter, no doubt, they are driven to their semi-
domestic habits by the scarcity of food that must occtr in these
islands.
Snowy Own (Nyctea scandiaca). Native name, ‘‘ Katula.”—
Neither seen nor heard of. ‘Two badly mounted specimens in the
School Museum at Thorshavn, one of recent date.
Merutn (Falco @salon). Native name, ‘‘ Smiril.’’— Not a
single specimen seen. Found the remains of a small bird which
looked like the work of a Merlin, but, as we did not see this
species, concluded it must have been caused by Hooded Crow
(Corvus cornix). Should say no longer breeds. A set of three
egos from the islands are in the British Museum. (‘ Catalogue
of Birds’ Eggs,’ vol. 1. p. 804; Brit. Mus., Nat. Hist.)
Matuarp (Anas boscas). Native name, ‘‘ Vidldunna.’”’—Some
down and flank-feathers taken from an empty nest on Sando have
been kindly identified by Mr. Heatley Noble as belonging to this
species. We did not meet with any birds.
Pintatn (Dajila acuta). Native name, ‘‘ Andt.” — A pair of
birds on small lake near Sand probably breed. Eggs of this
species in School Museum at Thorshavn, said to have been taken
in the islands.
Scaup (Fuligula marila). Native name, ‘‘ Andt.’” — One bird
ORNITHOLOGICAL VISIT TO THE FAROES. 87
seen on Sando, June 10th. There is a set of eggs from the
islands in British Museum. (‘ Catalogue of British Birds’ Eggs,’
vol. ii. p. 182; Brit. Mus., Nat. Hist.)
Kiper-Dvuoxk (Somateria mollissima). Native name, ‘“‘ Kava.” —
No opportunity was offered of visiting the large colonies where
they breed in great numbers. We found the birds very abun-
dant round the shore. They did not appear to have generally
commenced nesting. The only nest seen was on Stromo, June
18th, and contained three eggs and a small quantity of down.
This was placed high up on the mountain side, overlooking
Kalbaks Fjord, and was well sheltered by a large stone.
RED-BREASTED Mrrcanser (Mergus serrator). Native name,
‘“‘ Topandt.””—Seen on Syderé and Sandé. No nests found, but
undoubtedly breeds.
Rocx-Dovs (Columba livia). Native name, ‘‘ Blaadigva.”—It
is not surprising that we did not see more of these birds, as most
of our time was spent on mountains and in valleys. One bird
seen on Sydero, June 8th. They breed in fair numbers on the
sea-cliffs and in the caves.
RineeD Piover (Atgialitis hiaticola).—Native name, ‘‘ Svar-
tholsa.”—Seen on Sando and Nolso, and, judging from their
behaviour, were undoubtedly breeding. This was confirmed
later by Mr. Petersen, of Nolso, who knows the birds well, and
is a known authority on the birds of the islands. We found
them as high up as 1500 ft. on Sando. There are six sets of
eggs from the islands in the British Museum. (‘Catalogue of
Birds’ Eggs,’ vol. ii. p. 24; Brit. Mus., Nat. Hist.)
GoLDEN Piover (Charadrius pluvialis). Native name, ‘‘ Legv.”
Cannot now be so abundant as Col. Feilden observed it to be
in 1872. Have found it quite as plentiful in Caithness and
Sutherland. It was breeding on the mountain tops and in the
valleys. Five nests were found, each containing four eggs in all
stages of incubation. In four cases the birds were flushed almost
at our feet. They appear to sit tighter than I have noticed them
to do elsewhere. One nest, found by stalking, which occupied an
hour before the bird went down. The plumage of this species
was remarkably fine.
OystERcATCHER (Hematopus ostralegus). Native name, “ Tjal-
dur.” —By far the most abundant species, found practically all
88 THE ZOOLOGIST.
over the islands visited, with the exception of the highest moun-
tain tops. They greatly handicapped us in our stalking Whim-
brel, though they were generally down and quiet long before the
Golden Plover (Charadrius pluvialis). Always on the look-out,
and the slightest movement on our part seemed to disturb all
the Oystercatchers in the neighbourhood, their plaintive but
musical note echoing and re-echoing throughout the valleys.
It was not surprising, at this late date, to find the majority of
birds with young, though eggs were found in all stages of in-
cubation. One nest contained three eggs of a type I had not
previously seen—ground colour light brown, large underlying
markings of purplish grey, over markings large and of a rich
brown. We did not see a nest containing four eggs, though with
this species it is of fairly common occurrence. The nests, placed
in fairly sheltered positions, were mere depressions in the fine
shingly granite-like stone. There appeared to be a great many
non-breeding birds, which we often came across in flocks of from
twenty to thirty on the edges of the lakes, or on the small
islands. It is very amusing to watch the sly way in which these
birds leave their nests or young, appearing to keep an eye on you
the whole time they are moving away.
RED-NECKED Puatarope (Phalaropus hyperboreus). Native
name, ‘‘ Helsareji.”—We searched all the most likely places for
this bird, though not a single specimen was seen; neither did
we find the nest. Can it be possible that this species has ceased
to breed during the last thirty-three years, or probably it has
never bred in the two southernmost islands, Sydero and Sando ?
The small collection of eggs in the School Museum at Thorshavn
does not contain eggs of this species. It is also interesting to
note that there does not appear to have been any eggs taken by
H. C. Muller in the Hargitt Collection, acquired by Henry
Seebohm, and afterwards presented to the British Museum.
(‘Catalogue of British Birds’ Eggs,’ vol. ii. pp. 70-71; Brit.
Mus., Nat. Hist.) It is evident that Col. Feilden did not
find it breeding, though he mentions it as being extremely
abundant (Zool. 1872, p. 3251). We questioned one man on
Sando; he evidently knew the bird well, and was certain it did
not breed, though he had seen it in spring and autumn. Should
say islands visited are hardly suited to its breeding habits.
ORNITHOLOGICAL VISIT TO THE FHROES. 89
Common Snive (Gallinago celestis). Native name, “‘ Mujres-
nujpa.’—Fairly plentiful, rather more so than in this country.
Two nests found by flushing, each containing four eggs. One of
these was placed in a rather unusual position in the side of a
_ bank almost facing a wall. One lot of young on June 11th still
in the nest.
Purpte SANDPIPER (J'ringa striata). Native name, ‘‘ Fyjadl-
murra.’’—This species was the principal object of our visit, but
it was not until the seventh day of our stay that we succeeded in
coming across the interesting and beautiful bird. We had, in
fact, almost given up all hopes of finding it, but eventually had
unique opportunities of studying its habits. Only on one of
the islands visited did we find them. They must have diminished
in numbers considerably since the time of Muller, and Col.
Feilden’s visit in 1872, for he says: ‘‘ Pairs of these interesting
birds are to be found breeding throughout the islands” (Zool.
1872, p. 3250). It is now a rare breeding species, though we
found altogether seven broods of young; they were all confined
to an area of about a square mile. We did not succeed in
finding a nest with eggs. It was the evening of June 10th, on
our way home, and feeling somewhat disappointed at our bad
luck, that we saw our first Purple Sandpiper. I saw a bird rise
and settle again just in front of me; I immediately fixed my
slasses, and identified it as our long-sought-for Purple Sand-
piper. Il hailed my companion, who came over to me, and we im-
mediately lay down to watch the bird, which was not more than
fifteen yards away. We had not been down more than a minute
or so before the bird commenced running, and after a series of
these little spurts it sat down, as we thought, on the nest, but, in
order to make sure, 11 was arranged to give it five minutes before
_ commencing our search, when, to our surprise and disappoint-
ment, we saw 2 downy youngster run towards where she was then
standing. After examining the bird with our glasses, we rose
and approached with the intention of catching the young bird,
which we succeeded in doing, and were then rewarded with one
of/the most pitiful sights in bird-life one could wish to witness,
for never had we seen so much anxiety displayed by the parents
of any other species. We were very carefully handling and
examining the downy creature when the parent bird made a
90 THE ZOOLOGIST.
series of flichts towards her young, and, when on the ground,
dragging her wings and making a peculiar squawking noise,
coming so close to us that I could have caught her quite easily.
It was then that this beautiful Sandpiper could be seen to
advantage. We did not find the other members of her family,
though they could not have been far off. ‘They were most
difficult to see, so beautifully did they harmonize with the
surroundings, especially with the moss that is found on the tops
of the mountains. It was on the following day that we found six.
more lots of young, and, with the exception of one set, which
had not left the nest, were all apparently about the same age,
and the parents displayed the same amount of anxiety as with
our first experience. ‘We very carefully examined the nests
found; they were all exceptionally deep cup-shaped depressions,
slightly lined with fragments of moss and dead leaves of the
bilberry, and placed on the sheltered side of the mountain
tops, generally at the edge of the patches of moss. OnJune 13th
we saw three more birds, and watched them for some time, but
do not think they were nesting. The disappointment at not
seeing the eggs in situ was amply compensated for by the splendid
opportunities we had of examining the birds and their breeding
habits. The splendid series of eggs, nearly all taken in the
Feroes, and now in the British Museum, are well worth a
visit.
RepsHank (Totanus calidris). Native name, ‘‘ Stelkur.”—
We saw some eggs of this species in the School Museum at
Thorshavn, but we were unable to ascertain with any certainty
as to whether they had been found in the islands, though we
heard that all the eggs in this collection were supposed to have
been taken there. We did not find it breeding, and no birds
were seen.
WauIMBreL (Numenius pheopus). Native name, “‘ Spegvi.’”—
I must reluctantly add this to my already long list of species
that may be considered to have decreased; that is to say, if lam
to rely upon previous writers upon the birds of the islands. They
were certainly in fair numbers, and were evenly distributed, but
to call them abundant would be to exaggerate. In comparison,
I have found Curlew (Nwmenius arquata) in considerably greater
numbers in Westmoreland, and seen as many nests of that species
ORNITHOLOGICAL VISIT TO THE FAROES. 91
in a day as were found of Whimbrel during the whole of our visit.
Not morethan about a dozen nests were seen, half of which were
found by stalking and hard work. Covering, as we did, so many
miles in our daily rambles, it was perhaps rather surprising more
egos were not found. The eggs were in all stages of incubation,
and there were a few young birds about. The nests were in-
variably placed under the shelter of a large stone—in one case
between two stones, so that it was possible to sit over the nest
without damaging the eggs. Variation in the eggs seen was
considerable, both in colour and markings, the ground colour
varying from pea-green to olive-green, and from pale brown to
dark brown.
Arctic Tern (Sterna macrura). Native name, ‘‘ Tedna.”’—
Seen on all islands visited. On June 17th we made our second
attempt to land on Hoivig Holm, a small island near Thorshavn,
and this time we were successful. We found a large colony of this
species breeding, but they had not finished laying, only a few
nests contained a full complement of eggs. On an average
the eggs were smaller than those of the Common Tern (Sterna
fluviatilis), and were somewhat richer in colour and markings.
A small colony were also found breeding on Nolso.
Lesser Buack-BacKED GtLL (Larus fuscus). Native name,
“ Likka.’’—Found breeding on Sando in fair numbers ; incuba-
tion well advanced on June 13th. One nest on Stromo, with
two young and one egg chipping out, on June 16th. Nowhere
abundant.
GREAT BLACK-BACKED GuLL (Larus marinus). Native name,
** Svartbeakur.’”—Seen on several occasions, but did not find it
breeding.
KirtrwakeE (Rissa tridactyla). Native name, ‘‘ Rida.’”” — Seen
breeding in large numbers in company with Guillemot (Uria
troile), Fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis), &c., on the cliffs of Little
Dimon, Store Dimon, and Skud, as we passed in the steamer on
the way from Sydero to Sando. Seen also in enormous flocks on
the lakes near Sand.
Great Sxva (Stercorarius catarrhactes). Nativename, ‘‘Skuir.”’
—I am glad to be able to record the fact that this species still
breeds; but only on one of the islands visited did we find it
breeding, in solitary pairs, on the tops of the mountains. On
92 THE ZOOLOGIST.
June 11th two nests were seen, each containing two eggs; one
lot in advanced incubation, the others chipping out. On the
following day we found another nest containing one egg, where
we had previously seen birds. The nests were placed on the
long strips of moss peculiar to this elevation, which, I think, is
the same variety as I have seen on the tops of the mountains in
Scotland, and upon which I found the Dotterel (Hudromias mori-
nellus) breeding. The birds, as we approached their nests and
handled the eggs, were very demonstrative. In their downward
swoops they came quite close to us. I was much impressed on
this my first acquaintance with the handsome bird.
Ricwarpson’s Sxua (Stercorarius crepidatus). Native name,
“« Tegvi.”—Seen on Sydero, Sando, and Stromo. Though we
did not find them breeding, they undoubtedly do so. We did not
pay much attention to them. On one occasion we saw a pair
being mobbed by Whimbrel, as they approached too near the
spot where we afterwards found a nest containing eggs. There
are twenty-nine eggs in the British Museum. (‘ Catalogue of
Birds’ Eggs,’ vol. 11. p. 227; Brit. Mus., Nat. Hist.)
GuiLLEmot (Uria troile). Native name, ‘‘ Lomvia.”—Breeds
in countless thousands. Two large boxes of eggs were brought
up to the British Consulate on the day of our arrival at Thors-
havn on June 14th. Large numbers of these eggs are consumed
by the natives, and one constantly came across the empty shells
lying about the dwellings. A fine egg of the red type is in the
School Museum at Thorshayn.
Buack Guiutemor (U. grylle). Native name, “ Tajsti.”—
Birds frequently seen when on the shore, but we did not look for
or find its breeding haunts.
Purrin (Fratercula arctica). Native name, ‘‘ Lundi,”’ which
is pronounced more like ‘‘Lunta.”’—On June 17th we visited
Nols6, and were taken toa breeding-station of this species, where
we found eggs in all stages of incubation right under and among
the large boulders. Amongst these we had to grope; sometimes
the birds were taken on the eggs, on others they shuffled to the
back of the hole, leaving the eggs exposed to view. During this
rather unpleasant occupation we were attacked by parasites
which infest these birds, and it was not until after some days
that we succeeded in getting rid of them. On several occasions
ORNITHOLOGICAL VISIT TO THE FHAROES. 93
we dined off these birds, and I must say found them very excel-
lent eating. Only the breasts are served up; they are skinned,
after having the wings, back, and legs cut off, parboiled, then
roasted or grilled. There was a total absence of any fishy taste.
The flesh looks and tastes very much like Capercailzie (Tetrao
urogallus) .
RED-THROATED Diver (Colymbus septentrionalis). Native name,
‘‘Loumur.’—One bird seen, on June 9th, on a lake on Sando.
On June 13th saw a bird of this species leave a small lake on
Sando ; after a successful search we succeeded in finding a nest
containing two eggs. This was placed rather high up on the
bank, and was in a much drier condition than I have found it
in Scotland, where it is more plentiful.
Fuumuar (Fulmarus glactalis). Nativename, ‘‘ Heavhestur.’’—
Seen breeding on the cliffs on Syderé and Nolso. From one
position on Nolso I could see, with my glasses, the eggs on the
ledges. Appears to be well established throughout the islands.
94 THE ZOOLOGIST.
ANGLESEA BIRD-NOTES.
By 8S. G. Cummines anp CHARLES OLDHAM.
In the latter half of June, 1905, we spent a week at Bull Bay,
on the north coast of Anglesea. Our chief object was to visit the
breeding-place of the Arctic and Roseate Terns at the Skerries,
which for various reasons we had been unable tc do in three
previous years. The rocky islets which constitute the Skerries
—or, to give them their Welsh name, Ynysoedd Moelroniaid—
are situate two miles north-west of Carmel Head, and about eight
miles north of Holyhead. They are familiar objects to passen-
gers on the Cork boats, and the deep-sea craft which pass close
inshore along the north coast of Anglesea on their way to and
from Liverpool, but are seldom visited, and, save for the light-
housemen, are uninhabited. Indeed, a trip to the Skerries,
whether from Holyhead to the south, or from Cemmaes or Bull
Bay to the east, is not one to be lightly undertaken. It is only
possible to land in calm weather, the currents run strongly be-
tween the islets and the mainland, and there must be a favour-
able conjunction of wind and tide to enable one to reach the place
at all in a sailing-boat. The evening of June 22nd was wonder-
fully clear, and up to 10.15 we could from the cliffs at Bull Bay
see the broken outline of the Manx hills, forty miles away,
silhouetted plainly against the sunset. Our boatman augured
that if the ight easterly wind held the tide would serve at four
o’clock, and we might reach the Skerries on the ebb, to return
with the flood. We put out from the little harbour at Porth
Llechog in the grey of the morning, sailing and drifting—for the
strong tide helped us when the wind failed —westward along the
coast, whose sheer cliffs topped by heathy brows are among the
finest in North Wales, and seen to the greatest advantage from
the sea. Skirting Hell’s Mouth—the ill-omened bay where an
offshore wind sweeping down through a gap in the low hills
ANGLESHA BIRD-NOTES. 95
gives rise to sudden squalls—we passed to seaward of Ynys
Badric with its colony of Herring-Gulls, whose breeding-place
we had invaded two days before.
We had seen Guillemots, Razorbills, Puffins, and Manx
Shearwaters, but only an occasional Arctic Tern until we left
Ynys Badric astern. In the seven miles which still separated
us from the Skerries the Terns became increasingly plentiful as
we drifted westward, and when we neared the islands we saw
that they were peopled by thousands of the birds. Terns flecked
every patch of green turf with white; many were standing in
crowded groups on the rocks below high-water mark, whilst
others were fishing in the tide-race close inshore. This must be
one of the largest colonies of Arctic Terns in the British Islands.
The number of birds on the wing together when seen from a
point of vantage was extraordinary, and constituted a curious
and beautiful sight. The Common Tern does not occur here
except perhaps as an occasional straggler.
The Skerries comprise three main islets, on the middle one
of which is the lighthouse, and a number of smaller stacks
accessible from the others at low water; the whole group is
about a third of a mile in length. There is a good deal of turf,
honeycombed with Rabbit-holes, and in places a fair amount of
short grass—at one spot there is a large patch of sorrel—but the
sreater part of the area is bare, or at best lichen-covered rock,
and there is but little of the scurvy-grass and Atriplex which
abound on most of the Anglesea stacks.
The lhightkeepers told us that there were not many Rats on
the islands, and that those were small black ones with long tails.
We were unable to procure one, but the description suggests
Mus rattus, and it is probable that a colony of Black Rats exists
here, the descendants of castaways from a wrecked ship.
At the place where we landed two adult Kittiwakes were
standing on the rocks with a number of Terns, which seemed
quite indifferent to their presence. On one of the outer stacks
a small party of Herring-Gulls were resting, but the lightkeepers
assured us that the Terns will not tolerate these robbers near
their nesting-places. A few pairs of Oystercatchers breed on the
islands, but the Terns practically monopolise the place. We saw
neither Rock-Pipit nor Wheatear, though there was a solitary
96 THE ZOOLOGIST.
Blackbird, which looked rather out of place with never a bush to
shelter in. It is probable that many Arctic Terns had not yet
laid. Hundreds of nests only held single eggs; more had two;
here and there was one with three, and in two instances there
were four eges—undoubtedly the produce of two pairs. The
nests were spread over the whole area, and were in a variety of
situations, some close to the lighthouse buildings, others on the
bare rock or amongst the sorrel, but the patches of short grass
were the most favoured. In many cases no nest at all had been
attempted ; a hollowed depression in the turf or a natural one in
the rock served to hold the eggs; in others a slight nest had
been made of a few grass-stems, lichens from the rock, or not in-
frequently a collection of dry Rabbit-dung. The birds were tame,
and settled again after being disturbed so soon as we retired for
a few yards. It was very hot, which perhaps accounted for the
Terns not brooding very closely, for often all the birds in one
district, whether they were brooding, standing on the turf, or
hovering about their stationary companions, rose simultaneously,
and flew low over the turf and beaches and out to sea in a thick
grey mob, returning in a few seconds to settle on their nests, or
on the turf or rocks, as the case might be. This happened once
when a foraging Peregrine passed along the coast-line at a slight
elevation, though its presence probably had no connection with
the Terns’ action ; it certainly was not the cause of it on other
occasions. The alarm-note of the Arctic Tern is subject to con-
siderable variation—‘‘ kare,” “‘kaah,” or ‘‘ kee-ah,” but always
quite distinct from the long-drawn ‘‘ pirre”’ or ‘‘ pee-rah” of the
Common Tern. Another note is a thrice-repeated ‘‘tchick,” and
now and then we heard a Hawk-like whistling scream. Some
Arctic Terns stooped repeatedly in a bullying fashion at a Roseate
Tern which was standing beside its sitting mate, but they did
not actually touch it. There were seven Arctics brooding in
close proximity to the Roseates, but these sitting birds showed
no animosity, and at any rate tolerated the presence of their
congeners. The telegraph-wire crossing the islets is a source of
danger to the Terns; one dead bird lying beneath it had one
wing cut clean off, and two others were struggling on the ground
with broken wings.
The Roseate Tern is not abundant on the Skerries. It is
ANGLEHESEA BIRD-NOTES. 97
impossible to give its numbers exactly, but at a rough estimate
there cannot be more than one pair to six or seven hundred or
perhaps a thousand pairs of the dominant species. In June,
1902, when one of the writers visited the place, there appeared
to be about the same number as now. The birds were not
segregated, but scattered among the Arctics all over the occupied
area, though at one spot there were three pairs close together.
We watched two birds on their nests, their mates standing
beside them. One was brooding on two, the other on a single
egg. The two eggs were on a few pieces of green sea sand-spurry
(Spergularia) in a narrow cleft in the rock-floor, into which the
bird appeared to be wedged when seen from a short distance.
The single egg was on a slight nest of dried pieces of spurry, also
in a cleft in the rock.
Normal eggs of the Roseate Tern are easily distinguishable
from those of the Common and Arctic Terns, although the con-
trary has been frequently asserted. They are usually more
elongated ; the ground colour is creamy buff, varying in tone in
different specimens ; the markings are small, irregular, reddish
brown spots and streaks, usually distributed evenly over the
whole shell, but sometimes densest at the thicker end, where
they form an indistinct zone, and numerous underlying grey
spots and blotches ; the dark markings have very often a ‘‘run
in” appearance on the ground colour, and are very characteristic.
It may be that abnormal eggs of the Roseate sometimes approach
in character certain types of the Common and Arctic Tern, but
it is very doubtful if the converse ever occurs. The Roseate
Tern shows a marked preference for rocky ground whereon to
lay its eggs; these are generally in a cleft in the rock with
‘some pretence at concealment. Two eggs seem to be the usual
number, though one is not infrequent—three are exceptional ;
the number, however, may vary in different seasons and
localities.
In the clear light of early morning, with the sun’s level rays
striking the flying birds, the grey on the breasts of the Arctics
and the pink blush of the Roseates was quite apparent when the
birds were viewed in an advantageous position; but in many
lights it is impossible to distinguish the different ‘'erns, whether
Arctic, Common, or Roseate, by the colour of the breast as the
Zool. 4th ser. vol. X., March, 1906, T
98 THE ZOOLOGIST.
birds drift in an ever-shifting cloud above one’s head. The black
bill and the long streamers of the Roseate Tern are characters
more readily recognized, especially when the birds are on the
ground. This species does not raise or depress its wings so
much as the Common and Arctic Terns, and its flight conse-
quently appears to be more buoyant, though this may be due in
some measure to its more elegant shape. The notes of the
Roseates—the harsh “‘ craak’’ of alarm and the call-note “‘chewick”’
—were easily discernible in the babel of the Arctics’ voices, and
are perhaps the best means of focusing attention on the birds
when they are flying in a vast company of other Terns. The
Roseate, however, is a more silent bird than the Common or
Arctic Tern.
It is a matter of common knowledge that the Roseate Tern
nests on the Skerries—we have no intention of revealing the
exact locality of a second colony in another part of Wales, known,
we believe, to only a few ornithologists—but the inaccessibility
of the place has secured the birds in some measure from the
rapacity of egg-collectors. It is, however, a deplorable fact that
in the past the lightkeepers have been induced, sometimes by
the payment of considerable sums, to obtain eggs. The extent
to which one collector has engaged in this abominable traffic
merits the strongest condemnation. .T'o expose him would serve
no useful purpose, as, happily, a better state of things now
obtains. The Roseate Terns are under supervision, and all who
are really interested in our avifauna may hope that, with the
protection now afforded it, the bird will increase in this, one of
the very few places in Britain where it still breeds.
Ynys Amlwch (the Hast Mouse) and Maen-bugail (the West
Mouse) are bare stacks of no great height, washed over by high
tides, and support no colonies of seafowl. Ynys Badric (the
Middle Mouse), largest of the three, is a steep rocky stack which
rises from deep water about half a mile from the bold headland
to the east of Cemmaes Bay, and midway between the other two
islands. Its summit, clothed with thick beds of scurvy-grass
and Atriplex, accommodates about a hundred pairs of Herring-
Gulls. As our boat came to anchor under the lee of the island
on the afternoon of the 21st, we could see young Herring-Gulls
running about in all directions on the rocks and in the herbage,
ANGLESHA BIRD-NOTES. 99
while the old birds swung in a screaming cloud above them.
Among the Herring-Gulls were a pair of Lesser and two pairs of
Greater Black-backed Gulls, the deep angry ‘‘ugh, ugh” of the
larger birds being audible in the general clamour. When we
scrambled up the stack the young birds crouched in the herbage,
or on the lichen-covered rocks, remaining for the most part
perfectly still until we picked them up, though now and then
one, older than its fellows and more sure of its feet, would run
before us until it fell sprawling into some crevice, or over the edge
of the plateau to find safety on the rock below. ‘There were
Herring-Gulls’ nests with two or three eggs, mostly chipped for
hatching, and young in all stages, from downy nestlings just out
of the shell to those with the brown feathers of the mantle and
under parts well grown, almost able to fly. The young birds
appear to leave the nest as soon as they are hatched, crouching
a few inches away from the shallow untidy structure of dried
erass and herbage, a habit common to the Black-headed and
Greater Black-backed among other Gulls. We found the young
of both pairs of Greater Black-backed Gulls crouching in the
scurvy-grass. Their primaries were not yet showing, but the
birds were much larger than Herring-Gulls in the same stage of
srowth, and bolder, running and calling loudly when we disturbed
them. Their legs were stouter in proportion, and their beaks
shorter and stouter than those of the Herring-Gulls, whilst their
heads were rather greyer. They disgorged what appeared to be
the flesh of some mammal or bird—pink, loose-fibred, half-
digested stuff—possibly the flesh of young Herring-Gulls ; there
were several dead nestlings on the rock, and the old Black-backs
would have had no need to kill living birds if such food were to
their liking. The young Herring-Gulls we handled ejected fish
and fragments of Crabs in their fright. As is always the case in
a Herring-Gull colony on the Welsh coast, there were many
pellets of small broken Mussel-shells lying about ; and near one
of the Black-backed Gulls’ nests a pellet formed of the remains
of a full-grown Water-Vole.
During our week of enforced waiting for a chance to reach the
Skerries, we met with many birds along the coast. To give a
list would be superfluous in view of the recently published account
of the birds of this district, and it will suffice to speak of a few
12
100 THE ZOOLOGIST.
of the more interesting species.* From Point Lynas in the east
to the Skerries in the west there were Guillemots, and in lesser |
numbers Razorbills and Puffins, fishing, or flying westwards in
strings low over the water. Assuming that these were breeding
birds, they must have travelled considerable distances to their
feeding-erounds, for the nearest Puffin colonies are on Puffin
Island and the cliffs near the South Stack, eighteen and sixteen
miles away respectively. We saw many Manx Shearwaters.
The nearest known breeding-station of this species is fifty miles
off, on the coast of Lleyn. The Shearwaters often settled on the
water, and seemed to be as indifferent as the Auks to the
proximity of our boat as we sailed close past them. Itis an easy
matter to distinguish the Shearwaters on the wing at a distance
from the Guillemot, Razorbill, and Puffin, whose hurrying flight
is effected by continuous rapid wing-beats. The Shearwater
proceeds by a few rapid wing-beats succeeded by an interval of
sailing on rigid wings, and, if the sea be rough, it tilts its body
so as to show the black upper parts at one moment and its white
under surface at the next as it skims close over the crests of the
waves. We saw three Gannets fishing close inshore on different
days; an adult and two immature birds in different phases of
plumage.
A Chiffchaff—rare in North Anglesea—was singing in some
bushes on the cliff at Porth-y-Gwichiaid, south of Point Lynas,
and we heard another in the shade trees at Llaneilian rectory.
A pair of Ravens, whose nest on a precipitous cliff had been
robbed in the early spring, had built another nest about a
hundred yards from the first, and had succeeded in getting off
their brood at the second venture. When we visited the place
the two old birds with three young ones were on the steep hill-
side above the cliff. One of the old Ravens—a ragged creature
compared with the young birds—flew to and fro along the cliff-
face; its throat-feathers stood out like quills, a character not
noticeable in the young. Herring-Gulls mobbed it, and a male
Merlin, one of a noisy pair which had young near at hand, dashed
at it several times, and once actually struck it, but provoked no
retaliation beyond a croak, which was the case, too, when a
Herring-Gull pursued the big cowardly bird too hotly. A pair of
* Cf. ‘ Notes on the Birds of Anglesea” (Zool. 1904, pp. 7-29).
ANGLESHA BIRD-NOTES. 101
Barn-Owls were nesting in.a crevice in the ivy-clad cliffs at
Porth Wen.
The Merlin is a common bird in North Anglesea. A pair
were nesting near Point Lynas, and we found four nests on the
brows above the cliffs between Cemmaes and Bull Bay. One, on
an old footpath overhung by the strong growth of ling through
which it passed, held five young birds perhaps a fortnight old.
This nest—a flattened heap of ling—was much defiled by the
excreta of its tenants, and the sodden feathers of a Greenfinch, a
Song-Thrush, and other small birds ; close to it were the remains
of two plucked House-Sparrows. The little Merlins hissed and
called—a faint echo of the old birds’ whistling scream—when we
handled them, snapping and striking at us with their talons.
They were covered with grey down, except on the head, where
the down was pale buff. The primaries were just bursting their
quills; bill pale lead-colour; cere yellowish horn; legs and feet
dull pale yellow; iris dark brown, pupil blue. The old birds
were vociferous while we were near the nest, as is their wont
even before the eggs are hatched; behaviour different from that
of the Kestrel, which is usually silent uuder similar circum-
stances. We had seen several Kestrel’s nests with young during
the previous few days, but only once had one of the old birds
screamed. The second Merlin’s nest was a fairly substantial
mass of dead ling concealed in a thick patch of the living plant.
The four young birds were not actually on the nest, but on the
ground near it ; the place was foul with excreta and feathers, as
in the first case. In this brood the primaries and rectrices
showed plainly ; all traces of the pale buff which characterizes
very young birds had disappeared, and the down on the head was
of the same pale grey as on the body. Two of the four had their
pink tongues tipped with a large greenish-grey scale, as all in
the first brood had; in the remaining two this scale had appa-
rently been shed. The birds, rather older than the first lot, were
also fiercer ; they threw themselves on to their backs, and fought
savagely with beak and talons, screaming and hissing the while.
On the following day (June 21st) we put up a hen Merlin which
was brooding on four eggs in a fairly substantial nest of ling and
moss at the cliff edge; she clamoured as long as we were near
the nest. ‘Two days later the cries of a pair of Merlins prompted
102 THE ZOOLOGIST.
us to search for their nest in a large patch of ling on one of the
headlands where there were scattered remains of House-Sparrows,
a Pied Wagtail, and several Sky-Larks. On the verge of the
cliff itself, overhung by ling, was an old Carrion-Crow’s nest, and
in it two young Merlins with rectrices just showing, and two
addled eggs. The Crow’s nest, which was much flattened, looked
as though it had been occupied by the Merlins in previous years.
These birds frequently occupy the same nesting-site year alter
year. Kestrels commonly lay in disused Crow’s nests, but their
appropriation by Merlins is very unusual—on the Anglesea coast,
at any rate.
One evening from the high road near Bull Bay village we
heard, in a field of mowing grass, a curious monosyllabic note,
“eek”’ or “ peek,” not unlike a certain note uttered by the Lap-
wing when on the ground in the pairing season, but louder. The
noise continued, and the grass moved at the place whence the
sound came. When we reached the spot, a few yards distant
from the road, a Corn-Crake rose, and flew with dependent legs
low above the grass, into which it dropped a few yards away.
The bird left a nest with twelve eggs—one of which was broken—
and appearances suggested that a Rat or some other animal had
been in the act of looting the nest when we heard the alarm-
note. If such was the case the Corn-Crake had, judging from
the commotion we had seen in the grass, resisted the attack by
active measures in addition to cries of alarm. The nest was a
slight mat of grass-stems and fibres, which had evidently been
gathered green.
Nesting Wheatears are singularly rare on the North Anglesea
coast ; any that attempt to breed are probably killed sooner or
later by Merlins. We saw one old bird with a brood of young on
the clifis near Amlwch. At Freshwater Bay, near Point Lynas,
we flushed a Grasshopper-Warbler, our attention being called to
it by the thin alarm-note, “‘ tchick, tchick,” a cry quite as diffi-
cult to locate as is the ‘‘song.”
On June 22nd we revisited a nesting-place of the Peregrine
on the south-west coast. The falcon greeted us with angry.
clamour when we were some three hundred yards from the
precipitous cliff where the eyrie is. She circled over the clifis
and bay for more than an hour without alighting, barking
ANGLESEA BIRD-NOTES. 103
fiercely all the time. We searched the cliffs in vain for the eyrie,
the falcon being in close attendance wherever we went, and had
given up hope of finding the young when we caught sight of one
perched on a rock jutting from the cliff-face. It was well
feathered, and no doubt well able to fly, although tufts of down
still showed on its wings, head, and thighs. It uttered no sound,
but stood bolt upright, and turned its head from side to side to
waich its mother as she soared above. We only saw the tiercel
for a minute or two, when we first got to the bay. On the cliffs
in the immediate neighbourhood we found the bones of the head
and torn fur of a half-grown Rabbit, a partly eaten Moorhen, and
the scattered feathers of a Stock-Dove, a domestic Pigeon, and a
Blackbird.
Near Bull Bay, on June 24th, we flushed a Partridge from a
nest containing sixteen eggs close to the edge of the cliff. There
was a well-worn run in the turf leading to the nest from the
rising ground above.
One of the writers (S. G. Cummings) visited this district (the
north coast) in March, 1905. The following additional notes
relate to a few of the birds seen between the 18th and 27th of
that month :—
Mistitz-TurusaH.—Several nests were built in thorn-hedges by
the roadside four or five feet from the ground, in sites similar to
those usually chosen by the Song-Thrush. One nest was de-
corated externally with several white feathers of the Herring-
Gull; another was composed almost entirely of long green moss,
matching the green lichen-covered boughs on which it was built.
Grey Wacrait.—One seen at Porth Wen Bay, and one at
Freshwater Bay, near Point Lynas, feeding on the rocks at low
water. One heard near Llys Dulas, and another seen on a
stream near Cemlyn Bay.
Lesser Repport.—A party of five on the wing near Llan-
fechell.
Corn-Buntine.—In flocks about the farmyards; many singing.
Snow-Buntine.—Three on the wing near Point Lynas, on
the 20th.
Saac.—T wo or three were sitting on freshly-built nests near
Carmel Head, where we have seen them in former years.
- 104 THRE ZOOLOGIST.
PocHarp. — Two—females or immature birds—on Llyn
Geirian.
Common Scorer. — An immature bird frequented Porth Wen
Bay for several days.
Rincep Piover.—Two or three pairs at Llyn Geirian. The
bird probably breeds on the shores of this lake, where we have
seen it on previous visits.
GoLpEN PLoveR.—One at Carmel Head, on the 28rd.
Turnstonse.—A party of twenty or more at Hen Borth, near
Lianrhwydrys.
Common Guuut.—Numerous on the fieldsinland. Over two hun-
dred resting on the rocks in Porth Wen Bay late one evening.
Lesser Buack-BackED GuLtu.—Three in adult plumage on the
Middle Mouse; a pair at Llyn Geirian.
Kirriwake.—About a dozen on the water below the cliffs at
Lianbadrig ; many in immature plumage.
GuiILLEMoT.—One in summer plumage fishing off the cliffs
near Porth Wen Bay.
(lO)
REMARKABLE CHANGE in HABITS or tHe HERRINGS
VISITING KILLALA BAY, CO. MAYO.
By Rospert WARREN.
Tue Herrings visiting Killala Bay in the harvest and autumn
seasons have, since 1899, changed their habits very considerably.
Up to that date the principal fishing took place in the open bay,
and if a few schools entered the estuary they remained only for
a few nights, while any boats that followed them took but a few
hundreds, and in consequence all the boats fished in the bay, the
estuary fishing being profitless. However, in 1899, there was a
large run of Herrings into the estuary, and great numbers were
taken (even high up the tidal parts of river) for about three
weeks. The following season they again came in, and remained
longer, and fine catches were made, while the bay fishing de-
clined; and thus each season the estuary fishing improved,
while that of the bay became worse and worse, until the last two
seasons, when the fishing was nearly altogether confined to the
estuary, the fish coming in about the last week of August, or
first week of September. In 1904 the fish appeared in the bay
the last week of August, but did not enter the estuary until
Sept. 15th, when some small schools showed, though the great
rush of fish did not begin until the 26th, and continued up to
Nov. 21st, when the Herrings cleared out of both river and
estuary with the heavy gale of that date. Yet some schools
lingered on in the bay, especially at the Kilecummin side, and
some Herrings were taken on Dec. 12th and 18th, and even as
late as Jan. 8th some were taken between Kilcummin and
Rathfran Bay on the western side. The Herrings were caught
night after night, even on the upper reaches of the river, and as
the estuary is so well sheltered by the Island of Bartragh from
the seas of the bay, and the weather being calm and fine, every
sort of boat was out, from the large yawl, with its crew of six or
eight men and its train of six nets, to the little punt, or dinghy,
106 THE ZOOLOGIST.
with its two men or boys and one or two nets. All were successful,
and the earnings were very large, for it was a veritable harvest
to the fishermen, with a minimum of trouble or hardship, so
different from the bay fishing.
In the season of 1905 the Herrings came into the estuary
about Sept. 7th, and were taken in very large numbers nearly
every night up to Nov. 27th, when they left the estuary with
a heavy gale from the north-west. The Herrings enter the
estuary evidently for the purpose of spawning, and remain for
some time afterwards, as if the feeding was better inside than in
the bay; and they were also safer from their usual enemies,
which did not follow the schools into the estuary from the bay.
It was strange that the best fishing took place on the ebb
tides, very few being taken on the flood, apparently showing that
during the flood and high tide the fish spread in to feed over
the shallow parts of the estuary, and then on the ebb collected
in the deeper water of the channel where they were taken.
The chief fishing-ground was the open reach of the river
between Moy View and Roserk, extending from Goose Island to
some distance above Castleconnor. It was a most interesting
sight on a calm evening to see the smooth surface of this wide
sheet of water ruffled by the rising fish, giving it an appearance
as though a heavy shower of rain was falling, while the sound
caused by the Herrings striking the water was quite similar to that
of a heavy shower. I used frequently to walk down to the shore
to look at the boats, some taking the fish within fifteen and
twenty yards of the beach; and one evening when the fish were
near the bank, one of the boats left their nets anchored, and rowed
close along the shore, beating the water, so as to drive the fish
from the shallow water into their nets, a plan that succeeded, and
they got a fine haul, for on being alarmed the Herrings all
rushed for the deeper water where the nets were stretched. Some
of the large boats used to take from three to five thousand, and the
smaller boats in proportion to the number of the nets. I saw
one small boat with only three nets bring in two thousand five
hundred Herrings for one shot of their nets. The earnings of
the fishermen were very considerable, one man, the owner of a
large yawl and six nets, told me that during the run of Herring he
received £154 for the fish taken inside the estuary, but then he
HERRINGS VISITING KILLALA BAY, CO. MAYO. 107
had all the earnings, for his crew was composed of his sons, so all
the money came home. A boatman in a small way told me that
he made £50; in fact all the boats, small or large, did very well.
On the 9th of November I had a most amusing encounter
with some large schools of Herrings as I was returning from
Bartragh in my shooting punt. When I got to Goose Island I
was surprised at seeing a lot of Gulls and Cormorants dashing
into the water and diving at the mouth of a little narrow ‘‘gut,”’
or channel, running from Roserk Island between the sands and
the shore of the mainland. On hastening up, I found the Gulls
very excited, and saw the water at the mouth of the “‘gut” at
times quite broken by the masses of Herrings rushing madly
about as they passed down. I landed on the bank, and waded
out as far as my long boots allowed, right in the middle of
the Herrings, school after school passing down and striking my
legs as if stones were hitting them. The little channel looked
as if paved with Herrings, and the cause of the commotion among
them when they rushed about so madly was the fish on the out-
side of the schools forcing those next the bank into the shallow
water. These, unable to force their way at once into the deep
water, plunged furiously about in all directions, even some-
times on to the dry sand, and eventually floundering out to the
deep water again. I got a few, but if I had had a landing-net, I
might have filled my boat while they were passing.
108 THE 4OOLOGIST.
NOTES AND QUERIES:
MAMMALIA.
Melanism in the Bank Vole (Microtus glareolus).—On Feb. 23rd
I received for identification from Mr. A. A. Thompson, Ellesmere,
Salop, a ‘‘Mouse”’ that had been taken when opening a potato-tump
in his garden the previous day. It proved to be a Bank Vole, but of
a most unusual colour, the entire animal being of a dull brownish
black. It is being mounted for Shrewsbury Museum, and another
similar one taken at the same time and place is to be placed in
Hllesmere Museum. I have not heard of any previous case of
melanism in this species, but the colour of the fur varies considerably,
especially the under parts. Examples received from Bala are clear
yellowish white; others from Bangor dirty grey.—H. EH. Forrest
(Hillside, Bayston Hill, Shrewsbury).
Mus flavicollis in Suffolk—In our church here we found recently
that some marauder had bitten the blossoms from the chrysanthemums
in the vases, nibbled the hangings, and been ‘“‘ mischieful ” (as we say
in Hast Anglia) in divers ways. A trap was set, and the culprit
proved to be Mus flavicollis. This specimen, which was sent in the
flesh to York Museum, is the seventh which has come into my hands,
including that described at length by Mr. Southwell in ‘The Zoologist ’
for 1903 (p. 150). None of these could be called intermediate between
the common Mus sylvaticus and the true Mus flavicollis, for the latter
really looks, as was remarked of this example, “like a little Rat.”—
Juuian G. Tuck (Tostock Rectory, Bury St. Kdmunds).
AVES.
Mimical Song of the Blackcap.—During a fortnight of July last
year I was much entertained by a Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla), which
used to start singing just outside my bedroom window at about 6.30
every morning. I have always been a great admirer of the Blackcap’s
song, but this one was much finer than any I had ever heard before,
the notes being so loud and clear. The chief interest, however, in the
NOTES AND QUERIES. 109
song was the number of borrowed notes of other birds. It often
started with the most perfect Blackbird’s notes, then before one had
realized the change it had merged into that of the Thrush, and ended
off with the usual Blackcap’s phrase. At other times the Blackbird’s
and Thrush’s notes were more prolonged; and again the bird would
begin with its own song, but would bring into the middle of it one of
the well-known notes of the Nightingale. But there was yet another
note which puzzled me for several days, and it was not until I had
actually seen the Blackcap singing it that I would believe this species
was capable of such mimicry. It was an attempt at the Great Tit’s
‘‘ ze-wit, ze-wit’’ (repeated some eight to ten times), but without any
of the metallic ring that the Great Tit always gives it. As I had
never heard of the Blackcap as a mimic, I naturally thought of the
possibility of this bird being an Orphean Warbler; however, after a
great deal of trouble (as the bird was very shy), I satisfied myself with
the help of opera-glasses that this was not the case.—Norman H. Joy
(Bradfield, near Reading).
Colour of the Eyes in Coccothraustes vulgaris.—In my ‘ Cata-
logue of Shropshire Birds,’ published in 1897, occurs the following
passage :—‘‘ In 1891 I caught a young Hawfinch at Caynton, which I
brought up by hand and kept for a couple of years. I always noticed
that, when angered, his irides were suffused with a much deeper
purplish red tint than when he was quiescent.” And in a footnote
add, ‘‘ I never saw the irides of a living Hawfinch greyish white, such
as one sees in stuffed specimens, and which colour is only assumed at
death.’ I write this because it bears out the interesting remarks of the
Rey. Maurice C. H. Bird anent the colour of the eyesin Fuligula nyroca.
Unfortunately authors do not always confine their errors to colour of
the irides.—G. H. Pappocx (‘‘ The Hollies,” Haygate Road, Welling-
ton, Salop).
Increase of Goldfinches.—I have only recently seen the December
number of ‘ The Zoologist’ (1905), and notice (p. 463) notes upon the
increase of the Goldfinch in Middlesex, Herts, and Bedfordshire; in the
latter county this fact being accounted for by the species being scheduled
for several years. In the Scarborough district the Goldfinch, usually a
rare species, has been much more abundant during the past twelve
months, and many nested last spring. I heard of three nests actually
within the borough boundary, and of a score or more without it, and
of these only one was destroyed—all the others safely fledging the
young birds. The Goldfinch receives no special protection in this
district, therefore the increase in numbers cannot be attributed to this
110 THE ZOOLOGIST.
cause. I heard of a pure white one being seen a few days ago.—
W. J. Cuarke (33, Nelson Street, Scarborough).
Brambling in Surrey.—Although the Brambling (Pringilla monti-
fringilla) cannot be called a common bird in Surrey, there can be little
doubt that some probably visit the county every winter. But one may
spend a good many years observing birds without noting one. This
winter, however, they are extraordinarily abundant in this neighbour-
hood, especially on the North Downs between Guildford, Dorking, and
Leatherhead. Mr. Bucknill, in his ‘ Birds of Surrey,’ records certain
winters as ‘‘ Brambling years” in Surrey, and it may therefore be
worth noting that this winter appears to be one of these, as was
1835-6, 1863-4, and 1892-3. It would be interesting to know whether
unusual numbers have visited the whole country. ‘They are almost
always in company with flocks of Chaffinches under beech trees, but
their light rumps render them conspicuous at a great distance. There
are unverified reports of this species having nested in Surrey, and so
the date of their departure and the fact of any remaining through the
summer would be of interest—Haroitp Russe (Shere, Surrey).
Cuckoo’s Egg in Nest of Twite—My thanks are due to your
many correspondents who have not allowed my note on the Cuckoo’s
egg found by one of my sons in the nest of a Twite (cf. ‘ Zoologist,’
1904, p. 815) to pass without comment, and I quite reciprocate their
spirit in so far as it is their wish to canvass facts and sift evidence.
Hspecially is this the case in the present instance, where there appears
to have been such prima facie evidence in support of your correspon-
dent’s position. For forty years and upwards I have been acquainted,
and intimately acquainted, with the habits of this interesting bird, as
the high moors (1000 ft.) almost girdle this place, and, being within
easy access, I have spent much of my leisure hours in the haunts of
the Twite. It nests occasionally at lower altitudes near this village,
but perhaps more rarely than formerly; indeed, on the high ground it
is not so numerous during the breeding season as in former years, but
I had attributed this to the opening out of some quarries. But Mr.
Ellison, of Steeton, informs me it is much less common than in former
years in his district, where the conditions have not changed, and it
would be interesting to know whether this relative scarcity is of local
application, or applies to a wider area in its distribution in the nesting
season. ‘There is no falling off in its numbers, however, in its visit to
this district after the breeding season—immigrants I take them—where
they may be seen in immense flocks on the roadside and waste places
NOTES AND QUERIES. 111
wherever weeds abound, especially plantain and shepherd’s-purse, to
whose seeds they are very partial. Although so well acquainted with
the nests of the Twite, I have never yet found a Cuckoo’s egg deposited
in the nest of this species. When my son told me of his having found
the one referred to in my note I was much surprised, but never for a
moment questioned the truthfulness of his statement. I fear, how-
ever, in making the bare announcement I presumed too much upon
your readers looking at the matter from my view-point. I wrote
recently to Mr. James Ellison, referred to by my friend Mr. H. B.
Booth (‘ Zoologist,’ 1905, p. 482), whose experience of the habits of
the Twite is almost unique, and he informed me that he has found the
ego of the Cuckoo in the nest of the Twite at least in six instances—
in one case in a clutch of white eggs; but further adds that he has
neyer found the egg deposited in nests built on the more exposed and
extensive tracts of moorland, but always in one particular locality
where there are a few patches of heather of a few acres in extent. He
writes that three years ago he had for the first time a splendid view of
a young Cuckoo ejecting young Titlarks and eggs from the nest. It
had only been hatched a few hours, and it was wonderful to see the
way in which it heaved the young Titlark out of the nest. It climbed
up the side of the nest with the young Titlark on its back, raising itself
in a backward manner by fixing the hooks of its rudimentary wings
into the body of the nest, gradually drawing itself up step by step,
just as one does in mounting a flight of steps. On two occasions he
had taken two eggs of the Cuckoo out of Titlark’s nests; in both cases
he thinks they had been laid by different birds, as the eggs differed
both in colour and shape. ‘The last two eggs I found, which were also
deposited in the nest of a Titlark, were so very similar, and differed so
widely from the type usually found in this district, that I was almost
forced to the conclusion they were the product of one female. It is
very significant that Mr. Hllison should have found the egg of the
Cuckoo only in those Twite’s nests which were built in isolated patches
of heath away from the wilder parts of the moor. It is curious that
the egg found by my son, recorded at the head of this note, was in a
nest forming part of a colony which has established itself at some
distance from the main body, and at a considerably lower altitude,
perhaps 300 ft., and which build on the ground among the bracken.
Never once have I found the nest of this species built on the ground
on the high moors immediately surrounding this village. This local
variation of habits of birds is a most interesting feature in their
economy. The Mistle-Thrush here seldom builds its nest except in
trees; whilst in the next valley (Wharfe), in its upper part, it is not
112 THE ZOOLOGIST.
an uncommon occurrence to find it nesting in walls, even in the
vicinity of moors. The Wheatear here almost always breeds in old
walls; further away in the wilder parts of the district, it frequently
makes its nest in a hole in the ground. The Hawfinch, too, in this
district, has well defined local nesting habits. The Ring-Ouzel nests
occasionally here in trees; probably it does so in many other places,
but I have never been so fortunate as to discover such nests. I fear
Mr. Allan Ellison is mistaken if he supposes that the Twite is generally
distributed ‘‘ where moors, mountains, and exposed heathy places are
found” in the British Islands. There are vast tracts of moorland,
even in Yorkshire, where it appears to be very scarce or indeed absent
altogether. A few years ago I spent my holidays about Whitby,
making Goathland my centre, and passed much of my time on the
moors without finding a single nest. I tramped from Goathland to
Robin Hood Bay, which is practically moorland all the way without
seeing a single bird; all the other characteristic moor birds were there,
viz., Ring-Ouzel, Curlew, Golden Plover, Titlark, &. Ialso spent a
few days in Wales a few years ago with Mr. Forrest, H. B. Booth, and
Rosse Butterfield, much of the time being passed on the moors, which
seemed to be ideal breeding-places for the Twite, but we failed to find
its nest, although our mission had been organized chiefly in the hope
of doing so.—H. P. Burrerrmip (Bank House, Wilsden).
Greenland Falcon (Falco candicans) in Co. Antrim.— This rare
arctic species was obtained above Carrickfergus, on the Knockagh,
on Feb. 12th, by Mr. Paul Logan. It was brought to Mr. Sheals,
of Corporation Street, Belfast, by Mr. Patterson, where it has been
beautifully mounted, and where I had the pleasure of examining it
on Feb. 17th. It proved on dissection to be a male, the stomach
containing a half-digested Lark. It is in fine white plumage, with
black markings. It is set up in the life-like attitude which we know
so well from photographs of Peregrines and other birds of prey kept
for hawking; so many taxidermists draw out their specimens when
setting up, thus taking away the natural compact form of a bird.
There have been in all twenty-nine records of Greenland Falcons in
Ireland, only two of which were obtained in Co. Antrim, the west
coast being their natural landfall. For further particulars, cf. ‘‘ Nature
Notes,” ‘Northern Whig,’ Feb. 17th ; and for account of the 1905 in-
vasion, cf. ‘ Irish Naturalist’ for that year.—W. H. Workman (Lismore,
Windsor, Belfast).
Colour of Byes in Fuligula nyroca.—I have read Mr. Bird’s remarks
(ante, p. 75) on the colour of the irides in the immature white-eyed |
NOTES AND QUERIES. 113
Pochard recently examined by him, and I am much interested in what
he says. I find that the large majority of authors who describe this
species say nothing at all about the colour of the irides in the females
and young birds. Personally, I should expect to find the eyes brown in
immature birds. It may be of interest to Mr. Bird and other of your
readers to know that my friend Mr. Robinson, of Lancaster, handled
a female Tufted Duck some few years back, in which the irides were
quite white. At the time he was inclined to think this Duck, which
was shot at the mouth of the River Lune just above Glasson Dock, to
be a white-eyed Pochard, from the colour of its eyes; and, to satisfy
himself, he forwarded the bird to Mr. Hagle Clarke, of the Edinburgh
Museum. Mr. Clarke pronounced it to be undoubtedly a Tufted Duck
(Fuligula cristata), but was quite at a loss to account for the white eyes.
I can fully endorse all Mr. Bird says with respect to the eye in the
adult male Pochard (F’.. ferina). The colour most certainly does fade
very rapidly to yellow after life is extinct. I think Mr. J. W. Harting
is very happy in his description of the colour of the irides in this
species, and I quote the following extract from his ‘Handbook to
British Birds,’ new edition, p. 250:—‘ Having shot many of these
Ducks at various times, and occasionally as late in the spring as the
end of March, I have noticed that the colour of the iris varies with age.
In the young bird it is pale yellow; in an older bird, orange; in a fine
adult male, crimson; but the colour has been observed to change from
red to yellow from excitement (see Stevenson, ‘ Birds of Norfolk,’
vol. iii. p. 207).”—Frep Smauuey (Challan Hall, Silverdale, Lancs).
Wirx reference to the note, on the eyes of Fuligula nyroca, of the
Rey. M. C. H. Bird (ante, p. 75), I find that Naumann (‘ Naturgeschichte
der Vogel Mittel-Kuropas,’ vol. x. p. 183, new edition) writes as follows
(I translate roughly) :—‘‘ The small and sparkling eye has in the quite
young bird a grey-brown, then a dark brown iris, which presently
becomes ringed with ash-grey. It then turns light grey, and with in-
creasing age pearl-white; so that in the male it is in the second year, in
the female not till the third year, that the eye displays this distinctive
luminous colour, from which the species obtains its name of White-
eyed Duck.” —_W. B. Nicuots (Stour Lodge, Bradfield, Manningtree).
King-Hider ? (Somateria spectabilis) in Orkney. — On Feb. 28th,
in response to a letter from Mr. Robinson, I went to Lancaster to
examine an Hider which he had just received in the flesh from
Stromness, Orkney. On seeing the bird I was at once able to pro-
nounce Mr. Robinson to have correctly identified it. I found it to
be a King-Hider without the question of a doubt. The specimen was
Zool. 4th ser. vol. X., March, 1906. K
114 THE ZO0OLOGIST.
shot off the island of Graemsey by Mr. S. Sutherland of that place, and
forwarded to Mr. Robinson. It is a remarkably fine adult female.
Measurements: Length, 28 in.; culmen, measured from the anterior
edge of the feathered wedge running on to the ridge of the culmen to
the tip of the beak, 1:25 in. Head, chin, and throat buff, streaked
with brown; cheeks lighter buff; breast and sides buff, with irregular
markings; greater coverts and secondaries black, two uarrow white
bars on wing; back rich rufous brown, with semicircular black bars ;
elongated scapulars very rich rufous brown ; under parts dark dusky
brown; bill dark (probably became darker after death) ; legs and feet
ochre, webs dusky. A shot-pellet had pierced both eyes and completely
destroyed them, and I was unable to determine the colour of the iris.
Am I right in supposing it would be dark brown? Perhaps some of
your readers would be able to enlighten me on this point. Mr. Harting,
in his ‘ Handbook to British Birds,’ new edition, p. 465, gives eighteen
authentic records of this species in British waters, but I am inclined to
think he has omitted two, if not more, authentic occurrences, namely,
the specimen in the Edinburgh Museum, shot at Tents Muir in 1872
(I believe I am correct in the date, but I quote from memory), and
also the young male King-Hider which Mr. J. G. Millais saw off the
Churchyard Rocks, Pomona, Orkney, in the spring of 1883, and which
he twice set to, but failed to secure (see Mr. Millais’s book, ‘The Wild-
fowler in Scotland,’ pp. 188, 189, 140). I have no reason to suppose
that so competent a naturalist as Mr. Millais was wrong in his identi-
fication of this bird, especially taking into consideration that he was
near enough to it to distinctly note the curious shape of the head,
characteristic of the male King-Hider.—F rep Smatiey (Challan Hall,
_ Silverdale, Lancs).
Ornithological Notes from Surrey.—On Feb. 17th a Gannet (Sula
bassana) was seen on the River Wey between Hashing and Godalming.
It had evidently been wounded. A Hen-Harrier (Circus cyaneus) was
shot during the early part of February in the neighbourhood of God-
alming by a man who was shooting Wood-Pigeons. ‘The Harrier
swooped down on one of the stuffed decoy Pigeons, and was in the act
of carrying it off when shot. There were a pair, the female bird only
being secured. I am pleased to be able to state that the Brown or
Wood-Owl (Syrnium aluco) is steadily on the increase, and—round
Godalming, at least—may be considered quite common. On Feb. 17th
I counted fifteen Tufted Ducks ( fuligula cristata) on the Hammer Ponds,
at Thursley. They remained there for several days. On the same
piece of water, and on the same date, a pair of Little Grebes (Podictpes
NOTHS AND QUERIES. 115
fluviatilis) were in full breeding plumage. On Feb. 21st the Herons
(Ardea cinerea) in Richmond Park were back on their old nests, and on
the same day I noticed one Great Crested Grebe (Podicipes cristatus) on
the Penn Ponds; but on the morning of the 22nd I found it had left,
owing perhaps to the fact that most of the water was covered with
ice.—Gorpon Dateuiesu (Hashing, Godalming, Surrey).
Interesting Birds in Yarmouth Market.—One hardly knows whether
to express regret, or satisfaction, at the remarkable falling off in the
numbers of certain birds brought, winter by winter, to the market-
place. Decreased slaughter, unfortunately in our case, implies fewer
birds to be slain rather than a lessened desire to kill. Those who will
refer to my notes on this subject in the ‘“‘ Birds of Yarmouth”’ (Zool.
1900, pp. 164-167)* will read of a marked falling off in a period of twenty
years, a decrease which has since been accentuated from year to year.
The altered conditions of the country round about Yarmouth have
greatly to do with this local reduction in birds seen and shot. Another
factor in our barer market is the lessened interest taken in wild birds
by those who employ a cook, and certain birds which had attractions
for the local epicure a decade or so ago may hang for days, indeed,
until they fairly rot, and be finally pitched into the refuse-box. At the
time of writing a Pink-footed Goose (Anser brachyrhynchus), that in the
old days would have been ‘‘snapped up,” now hangs by one lee ona
string, after having been suspended for a number of days the reverse
way; and it is the matter of only a day or two longer to see the game-
dealer’s penknife cut it down! Such has been the fate of Curlews,
Knots, Pochards, and a number of others; and so slow a gale exists
usually that those few gunners who used to sell their odd fowl just to
cover a fresh supply of ammunition scarcely trouble to bring anything
to the dealer. And there is but one man now who follows Breydon
professionally with a punt-gun—one Fred Clarke, a hardy son of the
marshes, who spends his days in Hel-picking, millwrighting (when
there is any to do), and in assisting the marsh-farmers generally. He
gives over everything else when there are a few wildfowl ‘driven in,”’
and his wife, who trots round with them in a basket; disposes of his
game to the certain limited circle of acquaintances, who purchase her
Wares more as a bonne bouche than a necessary article of diet. All
ornithologists who visit Breydon should look up ‘‘ Fred,” who lives
four-fifths of his days, and more than that of his nights, in a little
Noah’s ark, not far from mine, on Banham’s Rond. He is full of
birdy reminiscences, and an enthusiast in his way. Woodcocks, for
* And more enlarged upon in ‘ Nature in Eastern Norfolk.’
116 THE ZOOLOGIST.
which there is usually a fair sale, have been conspicuously rare in the
market during the past season, the first one appearing there on Sept.
29th (1905). The greatest number in any one day was five. Golden
Plovers were in some numbers on Breydon during the first half of
October—a rather unusual resort of this marsh-loving species. A few
appeared in the market. Two young male Shovelers on a stall,
Oct. 19th. An immigration of Lapwings must have taken place at the
beginning of November; quite a glut of them in the market, bunches
festooning many a countryman’s stall on the 4th. No bird, with the
exception of the Wood-Pigeon, so stirs the sporting instincts of the
lowland farmer, who, for the sake of a little sport and the few coppers
added to his Saturday’s takings, ruthlessly slaughters his best bird-
friend. Again, on the 25th, was the market glutted with ‘‘Peewits.”’
Snipe have been scarce all the winter, and a very slow sale has existed
for those that were brought in. Duck and Mallard, on the other hand,
have been at times plentiful, and met with a fairly ready sale. An
unusual number of dead Moorhens on Dee. 380th. Jan. 6th (1906),
plenty of Wild Duck and Mallard in the market ; a few Snipe, bunches
of Blackbirds, and one Bean-Goose (Anser segetum). So rarely do
Geese turn up in the market that individual occurrences find a place in
my note-book! The stalls were festooned on Jan. 27th with strings of
Wood-Pigeons, the majority of them indifferently plumaged ‘‘ foreigners.”
They had been, mostly, industriously feeding on the clover-leys. Harlier
in the winter acorns were the usual thing to find in their crops; in
February they divided their attention between the clover and the turnip-
tops. A number of Stock-Doves were mixed with their larger relatives
on Feb. 10th, and on one other occasion I observed some. There was
not a brisk sale for the Pigeons, the market-folk preferring to take
them home again rather than sell at a reasonable price, eightpence
each being asked for very indifferent examples. And one I purchased,
with others, in a promiscuous sort of way, would have been dear at a
gift, for it must have been brought to market week by week all the
season, if I may judge by the condition I subsequently found it in.—
A. H. Parrerson (Ibis House, Great Yarmouth).
(ala a)
OFT U PAS a.
Epwarp WILLIAMS.
Tue death of Mr. Edward Williams, of Dublin, which took place
on Dee. 15th last, has been very deeply regretted. He was a man of
much natural talent and artistic skill, born with a love for the study of
nature, coupled with a strong desire to mount specimens in the most
life-like attitudes possible. As a taxidermist, Williams was practically
a self-taught man, originating many methods of his own. Asa child
of ten he could mount small birds, and before reaching manhood could
produce work of a professional character. When little more than
twenty he gave up his original business, and made taxidermy not
merely a hobby, but a means of livelihood. He was exceptionally
successful in his career, being recognized for the past quarter of a
century as a taxidermist of the first water. He was the designer of
the life-groups in the National Museum, Dublin, and the loss which
that institution has sustained by his death is very great indeed.
Willams was passionately fond of birds; he used to sit for hours
watching their habits, both in a state of nature, and in captivity in a
well-stocked aviary which he possessed. He was one of the highest
authorities on the habits and occurrences of Irish birds, and the many
notes and papers which he has published have been found useful and
trustworthy to compilers.
Edward Williams possessed a sweet personality, his friendship was
absolutely sincere, and his kind and earnest features will remain
stamped indelibly in the memories of those who knew him. He passed
away in his fifty-seventh year, after a very brief and painless illness.
C. J. P.
Tur Rev. JosepH Greene, M.A.
Tus well-known British lepidopterist recently passed away at his
residence, Rostrevor, Clifton, Bristol, at the age of eighty-two. He was
an old contributor to ‘The Zoologist,’ writing in these pages as long
ago as 1850; but it was in the volume for 1857 (p. 5382) that his well-
known paper “On Pupa Digging” appeared, a publication which is
still the best and most consulted on the subject. |
118 THE ZOOLOGIST.
NOUICHS OR ONE We BOOKS:
The Geese of Europe and Asia. By Sererus ALpHfraxy, with
coloured plates by F. W. Fronawk, &c. Rowland Ward,
Limited.
Tuis work is a translation of the author’s ‘Gusi Rossii,’
published in Russia in 1904, and is a valuable contribution to
the complicated question of the identification of the Anserine ;
and as the author is not disposed to lay too much dependence
on the dimension of the bill as a specific character, and which
he regards as largely dependant on age, and also practises the
ereatest caution in using the colouring of the bill for the same
purpose, he is notably at difference with some other students.
Thus he disagrees entirely with Mr. Coburn’s conclusion that the
Anser rubirostris, Swinhoe, is a distinct species (cf. ‘ Zoologisi,’
1903, p. 46), and states “that this so-called species has no
existence.” On the other hand, referring to Mr. Coburn’s paper
*“On the specific validity of Anser gambeli (Hartlaub) and its
position as a British bird” (¢f. ‘ Zoologist,’ 1902, p. 387), he
remarks, ‘‘ A careful study of the article in question has, how-
ever, failed to convince me that the Geese taken by the author
for gambeli really belonged to that American variety of the
White-fronted Goose,” and the argument used in support of that
objection must be sought at pp. 56-57. ‘Then, again, he dissents
from the view of the late Mr. Seebohm, that Melanonyx brachy-
rhynchus was only a slight variety of M. segetum, an opinion also
shared by the late Mr. Cordeaux; and as his discussion of the
question is full and interesting, it will be seen that the British
ornithologist will find very much for his consideration in these
pages.
There are two appendices, one by Mr. G. F. Gébel on the Eggs
of Russian Geese; the other an Extract from the Diary of the
Visit to Kolguey in 1892 of Mr.8.A. Buturlin. The twenty-four
coloured plates contributed by Mr. Frohawk quite sustain the
NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 119
reputation of that artist; and there is also a coloured frontis-
piece by Dr. P. P. Sushkin depicting Geese on Kairan-Kul,
Turgai Territory, which will attract the wildfowler as well as
the ornithologist.
The Zoological Society of London; a sketch of its foundation and
development, éc. By Henry Scuerren, F.Z.8. Cassell &
Co., Limited.
Tuts book describes the evolution of a Society which has now
become a well-known British institution; its rooms are the
rendezvous of zoologists, its proceedings and transactions are a
zoological library in themselves, and its gardens beyond their
legitimate province have become a national holiday resort.
Since its foundation, all contemporary zoologists have more or
less been connected with it, so that the material for a really good
book was available. The author has chosen a somewhat official
method of dealing with his subject, but he has given its history
so that we can always use the book for reference, while the
account of the acquisitions to the gardens gives us data by which
we may gather information in numerous instances of the time of
our first knowledge of many animals. We need not discuss the
question as to the real promoter of the Society, to which some
prominence is given; rightly or wrongly, to ourselves, as to
many others, the name of Sir Stamford Raffles will always be
attached to that distinguished position, though his early death
caused its foundations to be completed by other and able hands.
In reading these pages, one is struck by the number of distin-
guished men who have guided the affairs of this Society, and
notice is necessarily attracted to the strong man who, as Secre-
tary for so many years, did so much for its stability, while, like
all strong men, he made not only many friends, but some
adversaries.
Among the animals that have lived in the Gardens, some will
never be seen again. The Quagga has twice been on view at
Regent’s Park; while we read that in 1861 the Society’s agent
in Cape Colony “expressly barred Quaggas”’ in his offers for
South African specimens. But, on the other hand, we may yet
see a living Okapi! The illustrations are numerous, some by
120 THE ZOOLOGIST.
Joseph Wolf; those depicting the Gardens in early days are
good object-lessons when compared with the vast improvements
made and being made under the present ablemanagement. The
hope expressed by the author that the book may be of permanent
value is already fulfilled.
More Natural History Essays. By Granam RensHaw, M.B.,
F.Z.8. Sherratt & Hughes.
Dr. RensHaw has given us a companion or supplementary
volume to his ‘Natural History Essays,’ previously noticed in
these pages, and as the subject is pratically inexhaustible, and
the author is an enthusiast on his subject, we may expect in time
to possess a series of these volumes. Dr. Renshaw has restricted
his material to mammals, but these are not confined to the
continent of Africa, as was the case in his other volume. The
creat interest in these essays—in fact we may say their special
feature—is to be found in the number of interesting notes and
references, both bibliographical and statistical, which are centred
round each species. Thus we have, as a rule, an account of
the first discovery of the animal, and some personal incidents
relating to the naturalist or hunter who obtained the specimen ;
references are given to the museums in which examples are con-
tained, while much information has been collated from old and
now little-read books, so that the pages contain a quantity of
information in a condensed form which is of considerable re-
ferential value, and not to be so readily gleaned elsewhere. In
these pages popular writers on the subject will find good quarry,
and we expect to subsequently meet with considerable reincarna-
tion of the author’s material in what may be now described as
zoological journalism.
Dr. Renshaw, as a rule, has confined himself to facts, and
has eschewed theory; the almost only instance of the latter will
be found at the commencement of the essay on the Antarctic
Wolf, where there occurs a long paragraph on the influence of
environment upon the size of animals, in which it is contended
that ‘“‘from the mere external characters and dimensions of an
adult of any species one can approximately guess its habits.”
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A French Harbour, Trouville.
A Scottish Loch.
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Chapters on Collecting and ae Drying, Preserving and —
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Zool.
‘(‘[[e@q ‘v7oauny
DZ.AQuU) ONILNAG GALSVAAG-MOTIAX
FHE LOOLOGIS TL
No. 778.—April, 1906.
ORNITHOLOGICAL REPORT FOR NORFOLK (1905).
By J. H. Gurney, F.Z.S.
(Assisted by several Norfolk Naturalists.)
(Pxuate IT.)
Tue year 1905 produced two birds new to Norfolk, but it
was a year devoid of much visible migration, except for the
extended nocturnal movement of Aug. 25th, and that could hardly
be called visible. There was not enough windy and unsettled
weather to bring the movements of the birds under notice. The
Corvide, which are always a criterion with us, have not been
noticed in any such great numbers as sometimes occur. The
chief autumn passage was that observed by Mr. F’. Boyes in South
Lincolnshire on Oct. 9th and 10th, which evidently extended to
Norfolk, where it was recognized by the Rev. M. C. Bird.
Vernal Migration.—The spring migration of 1905 into England
was studied by a Committee appointed by the British Ornitho-
logists’ Club, which has published a valuable Report, in which,
referring to the east coast, it is pointed out (p. 58) that there is
evidence of a departure northwards (probably to Norway) of
Willow-Warblers from the coast of Norfolk at the end of April,
and of Sedge- Warblers (p. 69) and Redstarts in the beginning of
May. This I can readily believe, and should be inclined to add that
the destination of spring migrants, which pass through Norfolk
without halting, mainly depends on the wind, those which get a
Zool. 4th ser. vol. X., Aprul, 1906. L
122 THE ZOOLOGIST.
S.W. wind going to Denmark or Norway, and those which meet
with a S. or E. wind working up England.
What is really extraordinary about the emigration which
takes place every spring from the east coast of England is its
smallness, and the little notice it attracts, compared to the vast
immigration in autumn. ‘The departure of some of the Corvide
is always seen in Norfolk, it is true, in spring, but very little
besides. Where, it may be asked, are all those hosts of Sky-
Larks which came last autumn from the north-east? Where
are the thousands of Thrushes and Finches? Surely they ought
to be returning in March and April, in diminished numbers, no
doubt, but still in considerable bulk. This ig one of the unsolved
puzzles in ornithology, and only to be in part explained by a
presumably large mortality among the birds during the winter.
Autumnal Migration.—Besides the annual migrations over the
sea, there are certain coast movements in Norfolk, chiefly due
to wind and weather, which must not be lost sight of by anyone
who studies migration. These consist of passing bands of small
birds, such as Swallows, Martins, Swifts, Wheatears, Sky-Larks,
Finches, Redstarts, &c.; rarely more than five hundred yards
from the sea, and often much nearer. It may be observed that
they are nearly always going against the wind, the prevailing
direction of which in September and October is west. They are
not migrants in the restricted sense of the word, because they are
often going the wrong way. This, I imagine, is because where
the coast is bleak, as between Cromer and Mundesley, it is easier
to move on against the wind than to remain stationary.
During October without doubt our ordinary visitants came
over the sea, and the usual flights of large Gulls, following the
shore-line in a north-westerly direction, took place at Cromer.
This is a phenomenon of annual occurrence, but it is invariably
to be noticed that they fly against the wind, and that as soon
as it changes to E. or N.E. or §.E. the flocks of Gulls cease to
pass (cf. ‘The Ornithologist,’ April, 1896, and ‘ Naturalist,’ 1892,
p. 360). That about one hundred thousand Gulls, chiefly Herring
and Lesser Black-backed Gulls, pass Cromer nearly every autumn,
going N.W.,I verily believe, but very likely the same individuals
pass more than onee, in which case the actual number would be
less. Ten thousand have been seen to pass in a day, after a gale
ORNITHOLOGICAL REPORT FOR NORFOLK. 123
from N.W., and that more than once. At first sight one might
suppose a great migration was in progress, but it is only a
temporary movement against the wind.
In some autumns so many Rooks and other migratory birds
are to be seen coming in against a west wind that some people
have concluded that they preferred it from that quarter for
crossing the North Sea; but probably the truth is that it de-
layed them, and, had it been from the éast, the greater part of
the birds would have passed on inland before daybreak. The
Corvide, however, like the Sky-Larks, seem to be in great part
day migrants by choice, which the vast majority of our feathered
visitors are not. Migration is still a mystery in spite of all
which has been written and learnt about it; but this much is
certain—the Woodcock likes an east wind to travel with, and if
a Woodcock arrives after 8 a.m. it is a delayed bird.
We know little of what goes on overhead at night. Occasion-
ally the distant cries of some passing birds catch the ear, but the
travellers themselves are invisible. If one of our navy search-
lights were placed on Cromer Lighthouse hills, and its rays
directed upwards, there would not be many nights in October
when it would not reveal nocturnal migrants.
The chief rarities during 1905 have been—January: Water-
Pipit (new to Norfolk). April: Snowy Owl. May: White Stork,
two Stilts. June: Sea-Hagle (the first adult), nine Avocets.
July: Stork. September: Red-breasted Flycatcher, Yellow-
breasted Bunting (new to Norfolk).
The Pipit and the Bunting, new to the county, together with
the Siberian Stonechat, erroneously given in last year’s Report as
a variety of the Common Stonechat, bring our list up to three
hundred and fifteen. In this enumeration the Russian Bullfinch is
included, but not the Short-toed Lark, which there is reason to
believe was imported.
Neither the spring nor autumn migration of this year
brought us a Hoopoe. This bird has become much rarer in
Norfolk, Suffolk, and Lincolnshire, and the same is the case in
the southern counties. The explanation of the gradual dis-
appearance of this beautiful migrant seems to be this: those
Hoopoes which used to come to England every spring were the
birds which had wintered in France. Now these have all been
L 2
124 THE ZOOLOGIST.
shot, and the Hoopoes which winter further south, 7. e. in Spain,
Algeria, and Italy, do not travel so far as England, for their
migratory instinct tells them that their proper limit is the middle
and north of France.
The rainfall for 1905 was 23°95 in. (H. Knight). The diree-
tion and force of the wind have been taken from the Daily
Weather Reports for Yarmouth.
As many birds have been notified without exact dates, such
are entered with p.v. (=date uncertain) against them.
J ANUARY.
1st.—An Osprey seen over Hickling Broad, formerly a favourite
resort of this fine fisher (A. Nudd); I never heard of one in
January before.
5th.—The first snow soon passed away, and there was no
weather hard enough to bring Whoopers. To-day, with a high
wind (W., 4), my nephew saw about ten large ‘‘ skeins”’ of
Pink-footed Geese, some of them numbering over fifty, in Holkam
Bay. Mr. A. Napier believes that the numbers on the Holkam
and Burnham marshes exceed two thousand, surely the largest
resort of Pink-footed Geese in Britain. A pair once remained as
late as June, but generally they leave at the end of March.
20th.—E.N.E., 5. Fifteen Woodcocks on the coast at Run-
ton, probably just arrived. We often have a flight as late as
this, and these winter flights often synchronise with the advent
of Blackbirds, Snipe, Wood-Pigeons, &c., and are very profitable
to the sportsman.
93rd.—-A Bittern seen at Brancaster.
25th.—W.N.W., 8. A Water-Pipitt (Anthus spipoletta),
female, shot near the beach; it closely resembles a Rock-Pipit,
but has been pronounced by Mr. Howard Saunders to be of this
species, as indicated by the outer pair of tail-feathers, which are
more than half white, as are as the tips of the second pair. All
the tail-feathers are worn, especially the two middle ones, which
are greatly abraded in this example, the first identified for Nor-
folk. It has been added to Mr. Connop’s museum (Pashley). I
met with a good many of this species in Switzerland this summer
(1905) at the Riffel Alp.
ORNITHOLOGICAL REPORT FOR NORFOLK. 125
FEBRUARY.
9nd.—Great Northern Diver shot off Heacham (‘ Field’).
6th.—Bittern at Ingoldisthorpe (R. Clarke).
9th.—Bittern near Hickling (H. Saunders). Others reported
(D.U.) in the neighbourhood of Lowestoft (Bunn). This is not
too early for their spring ‘‘ booming ”’ to be heard.
20th.—N.N.E. In spite of snow and a cold ‘ north-easter,”
Mr. J. Cox found a Hedge-Accentor’s nest containing two eggs at
Gresham, and another nest complete without eggs. A pair of
Black Swans belonging to Mr. Knight have two eggs,t and Mr.
Southwell informs me of another pair which have three (D.Uv.).
Mistle-Thrush’s nest at Brunstead (Bird). This is the month in
which Blackbirds fight, and Partridges pair; Kestrels look out
for breeding-sites, and the note of the Lapwing is heard.
27th.—Wild Duck flushed from nest (M. Bird). Five days
later Mr. Bird knew of another nest containing twelve eggs of
this always early species. At this season the Garganey Teal
which I usually keep on my pond give utterance to a most peculiar
note, which can be best described by the word ‘‘crick.” It is
quite unlike the note of any other wildfowl, resembling more that
of one of the Crakes. It is only made by the drake Garganeys,
and lasts for several weeks.
28th.—Mr. Pashley tells me that in the last week of February
(p.u.) three Scandinavian Rock-Pipits were detected on passage,
and it is not unlikely that this vinous-tinted race is less rare than
has been supposed (cf. Zool. 1897, p. 128), and may be looked
upon as an early spring visitant.
Marcu.
23rd.—§.H., 4. Ray’s Wagtail already in Norfolk (Bull.
FO), XVIli. 7) \-
29th.—Hybrid Linnet.—A Linnet x Greenfinch hybridt—a
male, of course, or it would not have been detected—taken near
Yarmouth whilst consorting with Greenfinches (K. Saunders).
It exhibits very distinctly the double parentage, closely resembling
a bird of this cross in the Museum, with which Mr. Saunders and
I compared it. Possibly it had escaped, as this cross is occa-
sionally bred by bird-fanciers. Similar hybrids were caught at
Yarmouth in 1882, and August, 1889, and were recorded at the
time.
126 THE ZOOLOGIST.
APRIL.
Karly in April (p.v.) a Snowy Owl had the misfortune, as I
learn from Mr. W. Clarke, to put its foot in a rat-trap at Cocley
Cley, near Swaffham. The owner of the soil intended sending
it to the Zoological Gardens, but, though not damaged, it refused
to feed in confinement, and did not long survive. It was probably
the sharp cold of the 5th, 6th, and 7th, accompanied by snow,
which brought this Norwegian stranger over ; but April isa late
date for it. It is always a more difficult bird to keep in confine-
ment than the Hagle-Owl, and I am not surprised that Mr. Taylor
was unsuccessful.
14th.—§., 4. A Black Redstart at the Inner Dowsing light-
vessel (Bull. B. O. C. xv. p. 99).
17th.—H.N.H., 6. Grey Shrike at the Newarp lightship off
Yarmouth (Bull. B. O. C. xvii. p. 125), where the wind blew a gale.
I have had both these species from light-vessels before.
19th.—E.N.E., 6. More than thirty Red-legged Partridges
discovered on the sand-hills near Yarmouth harbour-mouth,
after a gale from the north-east (A. Patterson), in which quarter
the wind had been for some time. I cannot believe in there
being any immigration of this species, although some have
thought so; but I certainly never heard of so many by the shore
before. It has the same habit of appearing on the coast in Sussex,
where I have seen one perched on a breakwater with the waves
lapping against it.
26th.—N.W., 3. Nine Dotterel seen on Yarmouth ‘“‘ denes”’
(Patterson).
May.
ist.—A Grasshopper- Warbler, a Sedge-Warbler, a Blackcap,
and a Willow-Warbler killed against Happisburgh lighthouse
(M. Bird).
9nd.—S.W., 4. Four Wheatearst appeared within the pre-
cincts of the Castle of Norwich, in the centre of that city.
17th.—A Teal’s nest at Westwick, from which the keeper had
taken seven eggs, apparently a completed clutch, was comfortably
ensconced in heather in a large wood near a lake. The number
of Teals’ nests in Kast and North Norfolk is now very small, and
the few Garganey which remain are dwindling, but Mr. Bird
ORNITHOLOGICAL REPORT FOR NO#FOLK. 127
knew of one nest for certain. Black Redstart at Brancaster
(R. Clarke).
19th.—N.N.H., 4. Mr. Jary saw a pair of birds flying over
Breydon, which he thought to be Avocets; and on the same day
a White Stork was unfortunately shot at South Wootton, which
is close to the Wash (‘Field’).
22nd.—Five Herons’ nestst at Wheatacre, which is five miles
from the larger heronry at Reedham, where, Mr. Southwell was
told on a recent visit, there were eighty-five nests.
24th—A ‘‘trip” of seven Dotterel on passage seen near
Yarmouth (B. Dye).
25th.—A Dunlin, catching mudworms on Breydon flats, was
seen by Mr. Patterson to walk several feet down to the water
with the worms dangling from between its mandibles, wash them,
and return for more.
26th.—Hundreds of Whimbrel on Breydon (G. Jary).
27th.— Some Starlings observed by Mr. Patterson to be
hovering over Breydon Broad like Gulls, in order to snatch up
black flies which were floating drowned by thousands on the
surface.
28th (p.u).— Two Black-winged Stilts and a Red-necked
Phalarope on the Broads (M. Bird). ‘These Stilts may have
been the birds mistaken for Avocets on the 19th.
30th.—Four Hooded Crows, two of them apparently young
ones, on Cromer Lighthouse hills (Birch).
31st.—A Water-Rail passing over the town of Yarmouth
struck a telegraph-wire, and fell into a yard; and a fortnight
later a Kingfisher was picked up among some houses (Patterson).
Such accidents are not very uncommon.
JUNE.
1st.— Utility of Finches.—Nearly all my gooseberry-bushes,
which were covered over with permanent wire-netting to protect
them from birds, have been attacked by the larve of Nematus
ribesti, whilst those outside the netting, which have been exposed
to the birds, and consequently cleared of caterpillars by Chaf-
finches, &c., have borne fruit as usual. It is clearly better to
cover the fruit-bushes only for a few weeks in summer, when the
fruit is ripening, which I intend to do in future.
128 THE ZOOLOGIST.
4th.—N.E., warm. A pair of Spoonbills were seen by the
watcher to fly over Breydon Broad, but not to alight, it being
high water, after which they passed out of sight in the usual
direction—north-east. These are the only Spoonbills seen during
1905, with the exception of one reported in May at Hickling.
9th.—H.N.E., 6. After five days of continuous north-easterly
winds (velocity 5-6), amounting to a gale, an adult Sea-Hagle,t
with a good white tail, turned up at Hanworth, some five miles
from the coast, where it was speedily peppered with small shot
by a too zealous gamekeeper. Norfolk has produced many Sea-
Eagles at different times, but an adult has never been recorded
before, and an effort has been made to secure the specimen for
Norwich Museum. The date of its appearance was also very late,
but for this the gale was accountable. Compared with the series in
the Museum, its plumage is not very good, being decidedly faded,
and the feathers abraded, like a bird which has missed its spring
moult. The whole of the tail is white, except the upper tail-
coverts, which are edged with brown; the tone of the head is
very pale, and the wings from the carpal joint to the body are
also pale. Male, proved by the dissection of the late Mr. J. A.
Cole, who stuffed it.
12th. — Dabchick’s nest with one egg near Twyford (C.
Hamond), and another nest with three eggs at Stoke Holy Cross,
which has long been an occasional breeding haunt of this species.
The accompanying photograph by Mr. E. L. King shows its
position, with the eggs uncovered (cf. p. 129).
18th.—Utility of the Barn-Owl.— A Barn-Owl’s tub, put up
in an oak-tree to encourage this ‘‘farmer’s friend,’ contained
on examination a young Starling and a Greenfinch, and the
usual collection of pellets. These, being soaked in water and
carefully examined, further yielded one Blackbird’s skull, eight
Sparrows’ or Finches’ skulls, and the remains of fourteen small
Rats, thirteen Shrews, twenty-five Mice, and one Mole. While
this testimony to the Barn-Owl’s utility was being displayed,
there might have been seen a few miles off two keepers’ gibbets
with Barn-Owls nailed up as vermin, as I am assured by friends
who could not be mistaken. A copy of the leaflet on the Barn-
Owl, published by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries (No. 51),
was sent in both cases to the head-keeper on the estate, and it is
ORNITHOLOGICAL REPORT FOR NORFOLK. 129
to be hoped he read it, and realized the ignorance which had
allowed him or his assistants to destroy a useful ally. The weird
shriek of the quaint bird is not so often heard as formerly, but
there are a few landowners who do their best to preserve this
useful Mouse-hunter.
14th.—E., 5 (K., 4 the preceding evening). Nine Avocets on
Breydon Broad, and seven Sheld-Ducks (Jary). Last year the
Dascuick’s NEST.
Avocets came with a north-west wind, but this year with an east
wind, which had been blowing from that quarter for ten days.
Probably it would be more accurate to say they were delayed in
England by this east wind, which prevented their going on to
Holland. I believe the same to be the case with Spoonbills when
they visit Breydon.
130 THE ZOOLOGIST.
15th.—H.N.E.,4. The Avocets seen again on Breydon muds
by Mr. Patterson and Mr. Dye.
16th.—K. The nine Avocetst still on Breydon, all standing on
one leg except a single bird, which was perhaps a cripple; but soon
some of them began to feed, which they did with great avidity,
advancing quickly with eager sweeps, and finally, when disturbed,
flying away in a compact flock. When first viewed there was
just enough water where they were standing to give their re-
flections very prettily, together with those of four Black-headed
Gulls, which were their only companions. Mr. Hamond and I
longed to get near them, but a close approach was not permitted
us. Mr. Patterson, who succeeded in getting rather nearer,
watched them until the rising tide floated them off their feet,
after which they had a lengthy swim, undulating as the moving
water passed beneath them. He believes they were feeding on a
small univalve (Hydrobia ulve). The news of their presence
soon got abroad, and created some excitement, while that night
the watcher had a hard task, as there were two non-respecters of
the law in gun-punts following the Avocets about until 11 p.m.,
when it was too dark to see them; no shot was fired, | am
glad to say.
17th.—8.H., 3. The Avocets were last seen in the moonlight
at 10 p.m., and were quite visible to the watcher, but he thinks
they must have left that night; and Mr. Dye believes they took
their departure in a thunderstorm. Next morning the wind had
changed to the west.
Cuckoo Notes.—June 22nd. The gardener discovered a Cuckoo’s
ego in a Hedge-Accentor’s nest, deftly built in a currant-bush on
our garden-wall. Very likely this ege had been laid by the
Cuckoo whose offspring and their pr Seecdaree formed the subject of
a previous paper (Zool. 1905, p. 164). With the Cuckoo’s egg were
also two Accentor’s eggs, while about ten yards from the nest there
lay the blue shell of another broken Accentor’s egg, presumably
removed by the old Cuckoo, and dropped on the ground. The
Cuckoo’s egg, being tried in water, was found to be fresh, and, as
I concluded it could not hatch for a week, we did not disturb the
nest any more.
July 4th.—1l a.m. One Accentor hatched, and the young
Cuckoo also. The little Cuckoo is pale flesh-colour, and already
ORNITHOLOGICAL REPORT FOR NORFOLK. 131
very restless, though probably only about six hoursold; it gapes
for food, but cannot see.
5th.—9.80 a.m. The young Cuckoo alone in the nest, and the
Accentor’s egg and nestling both lying on the ground—the egg
unbroken and the nestling alive—one foot distant from the wall.
As it is a drop of three feet three inches, it is incredible that the
ege could have fallen or been thrown out of the nest without
breaking ; therefore, I suppose both it and the nestling Accentor
were lifted out in the feet of the parent Accentor. I at once
replaced the young Accentor, and, after waiting quite still for
about five minutes, saw the tiny Cuckoo—not yet thirty hours
old—edge itself beneath it, and lift it quite to the rim of the nest,
which was a rather’ unusually deep one. It almost got the
Accentor over, but, failing to do so, after a few seconds fell back
exhausted, and, although I waited some time, it did not try
again. The skin of the young Cuckoo is rapidly becoming much
darker, and in this short space of time it has doubled its size.
Before leaving I also replaced the Accentor’s egg in the nest.
Same day.—10.45 a.m. The Accentor’s egg is still in the
nest, but during my short absence the nestling Accentor has been
taken out, and is not to be found anywhere. ‘This is probably
the work of the Accentor parent, as no Cuckoo has been seen by
the gardeners working near the nest. 6.80 p.m. The Accentor’s
ego has now been thrown out, and is cracked, which from its
position seems to have been done by the young Cuckoo. It was
replaced, but the next morning it was found hanging in a branch
of the currant-bush, haying been for the second time ejected.
JULY.
2nd.—§.W., 8. A White Stork seen by Mr. Patterson on the
mud-flats of Breydon; it was very restless, and soon passed on,
happily more fortunate than the one at Wootton. Possibly both
of them were released or escaped birds.
16th. — Mr. Bird noticed a young Robin in the speckled
plumage singing, which is surely unusual.
28th.—A Spotted Redshank and some Greenshank on Brey-
don (Jary). This is a very early date for the Spotted Red-
shank.
152 THE ZOOLOGIST.
AUGUST.
23rd.—W.,4. Three Black-tailed Godwits identified on Brey-
don Broad by Mr. Jary, and many other birds of that class.
25th. —H., 5, cloudy. On the night of the 25th a large
number of birds, consisting of Redshanks, Ringed Plovers, Grey
Plovers, Lapwings, and Curlew (to judge from their notes), were
arrested on their nocturnal migration by the bright glow from
the street-lamps of Norwich, and their varied cries were listened
to from soon after 9 p.m. until past midnight, and may have
gone on until the lights were extinguished. At the same time
similar cries, probably intended to keep the birds together, were
heard in the darkness over the towns of Yarmouth (A. Patter-
son), Felixstowe (W. Clarke), Bury St. Edmunds (H. Buxton),
Cambridge (Sir L. Jones), and at Beverley (F'. Boyes) and Redcar
(T. H. Nelson), in Yorkshire. The night was rough and very
dark, but in spite of that Mr. Buxton could at intervals plainly
see large flocks high in air over Bury, which appeared to be pro-
ceeding west, but occasionally dashed down as if attracted by the
electric arc-lights in the streets (cf. ‘Field,’ 2, ix. 1905). The
wind had risen that evening to force 5, and it may be mentioned
that at 6 p.m. the temperature was 67°, 51° for Lowestoft, and
65° for South Lincolnshire. There was a fall of the barometer
during the night, and the following morning, when the migrants
were presumably winging their way over the English Channel,
it was still going down, having at 8 a.m. the coast of Wales for
its centre of depression. The circumstance of the birds being
heard simultaneously at seven towns, or eight—for Mr. Caton
Haigh bélieves Grimsby may be added—shows the extent of the
migration, and that it all lay within the area of depression.
27th.—The gamekeeper at Northrepps disturbed a Honey
Buzzard engaged in clearing out a wasps’ nest. He refrained
from putting down a trap, and the hungry bird, which may
have just landed, soon came back, and ate the rest of the grubs.
As its demise was not reported it probably escaped, and had pro-
bably been brought by easterly gale of the day before. Another,
less fortunate, was subsequently trapped at Snettisham (R.
Clarke).
29th.—Hobby at Thetford (W. Clarke).
ORNITHOLOGICAL REPORT FOR NORFOLK. 133
SeptemBer. (Prevailing wind W. and N.)
9nd.—N.W. to W., 2. A young Gannet,} a bird of about ten
weeks old, caught in a cabbage-field at Weasenham, fifteen miles
from the sea (Buxton). I do not remember such a young one
being picked up in Norfolk, or anywhere inland before.
Ath.—S.W., 1. Two Great Crested Grebes, one of them with
a full crest, seen in Blakeney estuary by Mr. Arnold. [Barred
Warbler in Lincolnshire, C. Haigh.]
6th.—S8.S.H., 2. Two Gannets off Blakeney ‘‘ bar’ (Arnold).
Rooks coming inland (Bird).
13th.—S.S.W., 1. From an early hour in the morning con-
tinuous flocks of House-Martins were passing Sidestrand and
Overstrand under the shelter of the cliffs, and all going W.N.W.
This no doubt was a direction taken in order to fly against the
wind, which was very light, and it is to be presumed there was a
return journey eventually. In five minutes (not consecutive
ones) the Martins which passed numbered thirty-two, thirty-
seven, sixteen, seventy-three, forty-eight, which would be at the
rate of nearly two thousand five hundred an hour. At what
o'clock this movement commenced I am not sure, but I was on
the cliff at 8 a.m. The ‘‘ passage”’ continued until 11.30 a.m.,
after which it slackened, and at 12.30 had ceased, but I imagine
that not less than fifteen thousand Martins had passed; and the
Martin is no longer a very common species in Kast Anglia. The
following morning (wind N.) I looked as early as 6 a.m. to see if
there were any more, and again at 7, 8, 9, and 10a.m.; but not
a, Martin was to be seen; they had all passed, and for five or six
days afterwards there were only straggling flocks at rare intervals,
while I was on the watch, which was often. Possibly these House-
Martins, which were following our Norfolk coast-line, were the
same which three days afterwards (Sept. 16th) were seen by
Mr. W. Gyngell passing south along the Yorkshire coast in
flocks (Zool. 1906, p. 81). They were going in his direction
when they passed Overstrand.
19th.—N.W.,1. A Land-Rail on the shore (KE. Arnold).
20th.—N.W., 3. Influx of Wheatears; a Red-breasted Fly-
catcher identified near the sea by Mr. HE. Arnold, who had a good
view of it. This is the sixth for Norfolk. In Heligoland it
134 THE ZOOLOGIST.
generally appears with a rather strong N.W. wind (Gitke).
[Lesser Grey Shrike at Whitby (‘ Naturalist,’ 1906, p. 70).]
21st. —N.EH., 4. <A Yellow-breasted Bunting (Hmberiza
aureola, Pall.), immature, and probably a female, shot on the
coast close to the shore, where it had most lkely arrived that
morning, as recorded briefly by Mr. E. C. Arnold (Zool. 1905,
p. 466). He noticed its flight to be much more buoyant than
that of a Yellowhammer, from which his example chiefly differs
in having the lower part of the back streaked. If it had come
three days earlier it would have been on the same date as the
first Heligoland example. As this is its first detected visit, I am
glad to be able to take advantage of the offer of a drawing made
of it by Mr. Arnold (cf. Plate II.). Its occurrence on the day
following the Red-breasted Flycatcher and Lesser Grey Shrike is
interesting, probably all of them were from HKastern Kurope.
25th.—Highty-five House-Martins sitting, in heavy rain, on
the ledges of my house. I think these birds have been commoner
this year, or less persecuted by their arch-enemy, the Sparrow.
Two of my correspondents write of large numbers roosting on the
reeds of the Broads.
26th.—A good deal of migration reported as the result of
yesterday’s rain and easterly gale (force 6 at Yarmouth), viz.
Peregrine Falcon at Fleggburgh (Lowne), Grey Shrike at
Sprowston (KH. Gurney), Bluethroat at Wells (Gunn), Solitary
Snipe at Ringstead, Icterine Warbler at Blakeney, and an arrival
of Teal, acceptable to shooters.
28th.—H.N.E., 3. Mr. Patterson picked up a Manx Shear-
water, the result probably of the gale on the 26th, and saw some
boys stoning a Red-throated Diver in the breakers; Mr. Dye
heard of another Diver. Ring-Ouzel at Northrepps.
30th.—An adult Gannet taken on a farm at Weasenham,
within half a mile of where the young one was picked up on
Sept. 2nd (Buxton) ; a high wind the preceding day from N.E.
OcroBer. (Prevailing wind N.)
1ist.—A number of Siskins near Yarmouth (W. Lowne), and,
later, a nice quantity at Keswick.
drd.—Mr. R. Clarke received a Fulmar from Lynn, probably
caught or picked up; the only one this year.
ORNITHOLOGICAL REPORT FOR NORFOLK. 135
4th.—W.8.W., 5. Hleven Jack-Snipe shot on East Ruston
Common (Bird), and a Fork-tailed Petrel caught on a fishing-
boat (Lowne).
5th.— Grey Phalarope on Breydon (Patterson). Quail at
Lopham (Rev. J. Sawbridge).
6th.—A young Red-necked Phalaropet shot on a pond at St.
Faith’s (Roberts). Received an adult Gannett from Holme,
which I believe was found alive on the shore. Mr. R. Clarke had
another at the same time from Congham, and also heard of a
young one being washed ashore.
7th.—Several Sky-Larks struck Happisburgh Lighthouse,
and the following day four Goldcrests and some Starlings (Bird).
Sth.—A Storm-Petrel flew on board a ‘‘lugger” (Patterson).
9th, 10th, 11th.—Many Grey Crows coming in (Bird). The
hedgerows in South Lincolnshire teeming with Blackbirds,
Thrushes, Redwings, Tree-Sparrows, Chaffinches, Bramblings,
&e. (F. Boyes, ‘ Field’). Quail shot at Tunstead.
12th. — Received from Mr. Patterson a young Guillemot,t
which had been hooked from Gorleston Pier, but I could not induce
it to feed, and it soon died. Storm-Petrel caught on a fishing-
boat (Lowne).
15th.— Utility of Starlings. Large flocks of young Starlings
about, which later on were very busy on the wheat-fields, appa-
rently attacking the blade wherever it had appeared above
ground; but in reality what they are after is the wireworm
lurking at the root of the wheat, which is a very small grub
when young. The only harm that Starlings do is the loosening
of the plant itself, thereby letting in drought or frost. Starlings
have a curious habit of pecking with their mandibles apart, and
this, Il think, must help to loosen the wheat-plant. On the whole
they do much more good than harm, but they are not above
helping themselves to whiteheart cherries. I cannot so readily
acquit the Rooks, which in September were carrying off walnuts
at Cringleford in a provoking way, and later on were to be seen
in great flocks on newly-sown wheat, where they were not
wanted. Many of our farmers would not be sorry if the Act of
Henry VIII. for their destruction was in force again. It must
be confessed, however, that they take a great many wireworms
and grubs of all sorts.
136 THE ZOOLOGIST.
16th.—N., 2. Numerous flocks of Herring-Gullst passed
over Northrepps, going north; in fifteen minutes about five
hundred passed, travelling against the wind. Drake Shovelert
on the pond at Stratton.
17th.—W.N.W., 4. A Woodcock+ flew into a blacksmith’s
shop in the middle of Cromer about 2 p.m. The forge has a
large door which faces in the direction of the sea, but there are
many houses over which the Woodcock must have passed before
descending into the street.
22nd.—Glaucous Gull shot on Breydon Broad (‘Field’). I
learn from Mr. EK. Saunders that this Gull is in the white
plumage, a transition stage which has occurred on the Norfolk
coast before, but which is decidedly rare. Mr. Dye was informed
that it had frequented the south beach for a fortnight. It has
been the only Glaucous Gull in Norfolk during 1905, but an
Iceland Gull is reported from Cley.
28th.—A Storm-Petrel taken on a fishing-boat (i. Saunders).
Novemper. (Prevailing wind 8. and W.)
1st.—During the autumn Bearded Tits were repeatedly seen
by Mr. Barclay at Hoveton, where they are safe, and small
roving parties were met with at Belton (Buxton), and Beccles
(Patterson). But their breeding area is so small that their total
number must be very limited, and it is desirable that all pro-
tection should be extended to them. Probably the total hatch
would not exceed sixty broods, and they now breed nowhere else
in England.
3rd.— A Storm-Petrel allowed itself to be caught on or by a
fishing-boat (Patterson), the fifth caught in this manner. Spotted
Rail at Catfield (Bird).
5th.—Several late Sand-Martins still at Cromer (F. Barclay).
8th.—Sharp frost. A Sand-Martint picked up by my son.
9th.—Swallowt at Trowse. A Little Owl captured at Kelling
(Pashley), doubtless one of the many turned out. Mr. Pashley
says there was another with it.
10th. — Ringed Guillemot at Yarmouth (Patterson), where
about this time two Lapland Buntings were seen (B. Dye), and
some more (D.U.) at Blakeney.
W.N.W., 2. At about 6.30 a.m., by a strange coincidence, a
ORNITHOLOGICAL REPORT FOR NORFOLK. 137
second Woodcock flew into the same forge where one was taken
on Oct. 17th, both of them having chosen exactly the same line,
_ and entered by the same doorway, which, it is true, is wide. For
two to have taken exactly the same line of flight seems rather
singular, but the wind was in both cases the same. Another
flew into the railway station. They were all three caught, and
the two in the forge were taken alive to Mr. Barclay, who gave
me one of them, but I was not very successful with it. On the
same day continuous flocks of Fieldfares were seen by Mr. Caton
Haigh arriving in North Lincolnshire, their ‘“‘ passage ’’ lasting
from daylight until the afternoon, but it probably began long
before daybreak.
13th. — Bittern “‘ booming” at Catfield, and quantities of
Jackdaws arriving about this date (Bird). The Bittern’s ‘‘boom-
ing” is generally considered to be a spring cry.
14th.—EH.N.E. Three Martins at Keswick, one scarcely full-
srown. November Martins are of such annual occurrence as to
excite but little comment; probably it is in consequence of so
many of their earlier nests being usurped by Sparrows, which
make their broods very late.
19th.—E., 6. Female Kider-Duck picked up in a meadow
near Downham Market (W. Clarke), no doubt carried inland by
the high wind.
23rd.—Swallows at Raveningham (Gray).
DECEMBER.
9th.—Shoveler near Yarmouth (Dye).
13th.—Pied Wagtail at Keswick.
15th.—W. A Dartford Warbler, which has always been a,
rare bird in Norfolk, on the sea-bank at Wells (A. Napier).
19th.—S.8.W., 4. An arrival last night apparently of Wood-
cocks, Snipe, and Jack-Snipe. A few days afterwards (D.v.)
forty-two Woodcocks were killed at Haverland, the best bag of
the season. It is marvellous how their numbers keep up, for
there is no bird in Kurope so persecuted; from two thousand to
four thousand are usually killed in Norfolk every year. There is
an idea that when they arrive they are very thin, but as a matter
of fact the reverse is generally the case.
21st.—Grey Shrike seen at Swaffham (W. Clarke).
Zool. 4th ser. vol. X., April, 1906. M
138 THE ZOOLOGIST.
26th.—Norfolk Plover at Ridlington (C. Gurney); an even
later one than that recorded last year.
The year 1905 has passed without the record of a single Wild
Swan; neither has the Waxwing shown itself, without which
a winter seldom passes.
VARIETIES.
Notices have been handed in of the following varieties :—
Jan. 3rd.—Pied Sky-Lark at Runham (Lowne). 7th. Yellow-
hammer} with canary-coloured head and wings of the same at
Booton (Cole). 218th. Tawny Moorhent at Bury (J. Tuck) ;
young bird without frontal shield or garter; plumage of the usual
hair-like texture (cf. Norwich Nat. Trans. iii. 581; plate of this
variety). 80th. Pied Moorhent+ at Mautby ; feathers of the usual
texture (Roberts).
February.—A white Moorhen at Stoke Ferry (W. Clarke).
April.—Cock and hen pied Blackbirds seen at Ingham (R.
Gurney).
August.—A white Sand-Martin sent to Norwich (Roberts).
Pied Wheatear (p.uv.) near Thetford. White Swallow at Shering- |
ham.
September.—White Hedge-Accentor at Stoke (H. Gunn).
October.—White-winged Partridge and white-winged Rook
(B. Dye).
November.—F rench Partridge with white breast at Barning-
ham (Barclay). Pied Chaffinch at Fleggburgh.
(ans oum)
ROUGH NOTES ON DERBYSHIRE ORNITHOLOGY,
1904-1905.
By tHe Rev. Francts C. R. Jourpain, M.A., M.B.0O.U.
(Continued from ‘ The Zoologist,’ 1905, p. 62.)
1904.
Addendum.—Mr. A.F. Adsetts informs me that a Little Auk,
Mergulus alle (.), was shot on the River Trent, near Donington
Park, on Noy. 24th, 1904, by a keeper named Hallett. Some six
or seven specimens have been previously recorded for the county.
1905.
From Jan. 16th to 28th the weather was very severe, and the
thermometer fell several times nearly to zero. The 16th was an
especially bitter day, for, although no snow fell till night, a
piercingly cold wind was blowing all day. Most birds suffered
much during this time, but the Dippers were apparently quite
indifferent to the cold, and were singing merrily on Jan. 26th.
On March 12th bees were noticed at work for the first time.
Of late years the Stonechat (Pratincola rubicola) has be-
come a very scarce visitor to the county, and it was with much
pleasure that I recognized a hen bird perched on a dead thistle
close to the River Dove, near Rocester, on March 13th. Curiously
enough, a cock bird was observed at Thorpe, eight or nine miles
higher up the Dove Valley, onthe 18th. Asa rule, our summer
_ migrants hardly ever put in an appearance before the first days of
April, but on March 20th two Sand-Martins were noticed at the
cutting just above Clifton Station, where many of these birds
breed, and a week later about a dozen birds were to be seen
there; but the main body did not arrive till the 30th. On the
18th Wrens were busy building their nest by the roadside at
Clifton, and a nest of young Thrushes was found in an evergreen
hedge at Stramshall (Staffordshire) on March 81st. Even these
were not the earliest nests of the season, for Mr. W. T. Mynors
came across a nest of the Brown Owl which contained young in
down on Feb. 23rd, while another was found with one young
mM 2
140 THE ZOOLOGIST.
bird and an addled egg on the 19th, quite a month earlier than
the usual laying-time of this species !
On March 25th three Sandpipers were noticed at Repton by
Mr. J. KE. C. Godber, and about March 27th the Wheatears
returned to their breeding haunts on Thorpe Cloud. A Dipper’s
nest at Ilam had four eggs on March 27th, and another at
Sturston contained fledged young on April 12th. By April 4th
Wild Duck, Blackbird, Robin, and Thrush had laid, and several
Mistle-Thrushes were sitting. Several small flocks of Goldfinches
were reported from the Ashburne district about this time, and on
April 10th six large Gulls (sp. ?) were seen flying eastward over
Clifton about 7 p.m.
On May 22nd we had a very sharp frost in the morning,
which killed all the foliage on the copper-beeches, and seriously
injured many of the ashes, chestnuts, and beeches in the neigh-
bourhood of water. Owing to the provision of nesting-boxes the
Great Tits have increased in numbers in this village, and four
or five pairs now haunt my garden. A hollow oak, which has
occasionally been inhabited by Brown Owls, and frequently by
White Owls, contained five eggs of the latter species on May
26th. An extraordinary Blackbird’s nest was placed on the
sround in the middle of a small clump of rushes, right out in the
middle of a pasture-field. The eggs might have passed for rather
lightly-marked Thrush’s eggs. A Nightingale was heard for two
nights (May 22nd—23rd) at Thorpe Rough, but apparently moved
on, for it was not noticed subsequently. The two Merlins’ nests
found on the North Derbyshire moors have already been recorded
in these pages (Zool. 1905, p. 267). Mr. C. EH. B. Bowles also
informs me that a single Merlin was noticed by his son on Abney
Moor this year.
A good deal of timber has been felled lately in the Ramsor
Woods, and the Great Spotted Woodpeckers seem to have deserted
the locality. However, we found another pair breeding in a dead
and very rotten tree in a hanging wood not far from Dovedale.
This year’s nest-hole was about thirty-five feet from the ground,
and above it were the remains of two older nests. On June 6th
the six eggs in the lowest nest were perfectly fresh. Mr. Storrs
Fox states that a young bird was brought alive to him on June
25th from Manners Wood, near Bakewell.
ROUGH NOTES ON DERBYSHIRE ORNITHOLOGY. 141
The White Owl’s nest, which contained eggs in May, was
again utilized for a second brood in July (six eggs), and later in
the month a Nightjar’s nest with two eggs was found while
cutting bracken near Wootton, Staffordshire. At Osmaston
Manor the Great Crested Grebes successfully brought off a brood
of four young.
On the whole the weather of the summer and autumn of 1905
was extraordinarily fine anddry. From many parts of England
reports of the exceptionally late stay of both Swifts and Hirundinide
were received. Most of our local Swifts had disappeared by the
middle of August, but on the 24th Mr. A. Evans saw one go into
a nesting-hole at Rocester ; and on Sept. 3rd I saw one hawking
about, together with a number of Martins and Swallows, near
Bradbourne Mill.
The House-Martins, as usual, were still feeding their young
long after the young Swallows and Sand-Martins had left the
nest. Mr. G. Pullen noticed a single Swallow at Darley on
Noy. 6th, and several were seen at Repton about the same time.
The most remarkable note on the subject reaches us from Burton,
where Mr. H. G. Tomlinson reports that a single House-Martin
flew out of an old nest which was being knocked down on
Nov. 25th! ~
A new species was added to our county fauna on Sept. 30th,
when Mr. Herbert Tomlinson shot a fine Curlew-Sandpiper
(Tringa subarquata) on the sewage-farm near Egginton, from
whence so many scarce birds have been recorded. Another
bird of the same species was also seen, but not shot. The
specimen has been preserved, and is in Mr. Tomlinson’s posses-
sion ; 1t is apparently a bird of the year. The number of species
definitely recorded for Derbyshire, excluding those which are
believed to have been artificially introduced, now stands at two
hundred and thirty-five. Another interesting visitor, which was
shot on the same day and at the same place as the Curlew-
Sandpiper, was the Little Stint (Tringa minuta). Only one of
the two previous records can be regarded as satisfactory, so that
this is the second definite record of the species for the county.*
On Noy. 4th an enormous white bird was seen flying over the
Derwent Valley, near Little Haton. It was apparently attracted
* A Green Sandpiper (Totanws ochropus) was killed by Mr. R. G. Tom-
linson on the sewage-farm early in September.
142 THE ZOOLOGIST.
by the sight of the water, and settled in a field close to the river,
causing a stampede among the cattle and sheep grazing in the
meadows. A local innkeeper, Mr. 8. Stevens, stalked and shot
the bird, which turned out to be a fine male White Pelican
(Pelecanus onocrotalus). According to the local papers, it
measured twelve feet in expanse of wing, and weighed fifty
pounds. I saw it in Mr. Hutchinson’s shop, and the plumage
was clean and in good order, and, as the nearest place where
these birds are kept in captivity is at least fifty miles away, it
must have possessed considerable powers of flight. Up to the
present no information as to the escape of any captive bird has
reached us.*
After high winds on the preceding day a very large flock of
Gulls visited the Dove Valley, and rested for a short time in the
meadows above Okeover on Nov. 27th. Mr. J. Henderson, who
estimated the number of the flock at one hundred and fifty at
least, believed that most of them were Herring-Gulls (L. argen-
tatus). The same observer also informs me that a pair or two of
Nuthatches are to be found in Okeover Park. +
Possibly the herd of Bewick’s Swans (C. bewicki, Yarr.), which
visited this district in 1904 (Zool. 1905, p. 58), may have returned
in 1905, for on a Sunday afternoon early in December (probably
Dec. 38rd) Mr. J. EK. C. Godber and a friend heard in the distance
loud trumpeting notes, and soon afterwards nineteen Swans
came into sight, crossing the Trent near Willington, and flying
northward. An interesting feature of the last few seasons has
been the decided increase in the number of Herons, which are
now quite a feature on the upper part of the Dove Valley, and in
that of the Manifold. These birds seem to have benefited by the
protection orders, and are certainly more numerous now than
formerly.
* It is perhaps worth noting that the White Pelican has recently been
recorded from Bavaria in a wild state, as well as the Flamingo, which is ad-
mitted to the British list by Mr. Howard Saunders on somewhat similar
evidence to the above.
+ He also informs me that he had a good view of a Black Rat, not a
melanistic Water-Vole, but a long-tailed animal with pointed head, by a small
barn not far from Hanging Bridge. We have no properly authenticated in-
stance of the occurrence of Mus rattus in the county, though probably at one
time it was common.
( 143»)
ICHTHYOLOGY IN JAPAN. (ECONOMIC SPECIES.)
By Prof. McInrosu, M.D., LL.D., F.R.S., &c.
THE second part of the popular account of the Economic
Fishes of Japan, by Messrs. Otaki, Fujita, and Higurashi,* con-
tains a description of five edible fishes, viz. Scombrops cheilo-
dipteroides, Blk., the Mutsu; Scomber colias, Gmel., the Speckled
Mackerel; Trachurus japonicus, T. & S., the Maaji; Decapterus
muroadsi, T. & S., the Muroadsi; and Paralichthys olivaceus,
T. & §., the Hiramé (proper).
Four imperial quarto coloured plates accompany the text, one
containing two figures, and all are exquisite representations,
apparently from life, by the same artist, Kumataro Ito.
The first fish in the present partis Scombrops cheilodipteroides
—the Mutsu—one of the Percide, an edible fish of some size,
which abounds on the Pacific shores of Japan, has pelagic eggs
—spawned in January and February, when it comes to shallower
water from its usual haunts in two to three hundred fathoms on
rocky or sandy ground. Like the young Cod, the young Mutsus
are found swimming off the rocks in three or four fathoms, and
are supposed to attain maturity in three or four years. It is
used chiefly in the fresh state, and its roe is also much esteemed.
The ‘‘ Spanish’ or Speckled Mackerel (Scomber colias), which
recently was included in the able Report on the Japanese and
Kuropean Mackerels, by Prof. Kishinouye,| forms a very im-
portant fishery with nets and lines along the south-eastern coast,
finely chopped Squids or Shrimps being thrown into the water
to allure the fishes. In dark nights also torches are employed
in the boats. The food of the species consists of a great variety
of pelagic invertebrate animals, and has been carefully investi-
gated by Prof. Kishinouye. The wide distribution of the Mackerels
is a feature of both interest and importance.
* No 2, vol.i. Shokwabo, publisher, Nihonbashi, Tokyo, Japan.
+ ‘Rept. Imper. Fisheries Bureau,’ No. v. vol. 1. 1894.
144 THK ZO00LOGIST.
Trachurus japonicus—the Maaji—among the Horse-Mackerels
(Carangid@), is another food-fish, used either fresh or dried. It
would therefore appear to be superior to the Scad or Horse-
Mackerel of our shores, which is but rarely used as food, though
from the days of Pennant it has been ‘‘ firm and well tasted,”
especially when it reaches the shores and estuaries in spring.
The Muroadsi (Decapterus muroadsi), a closely allied form, is
very common, frequenting the warm currents in shoals from May,
its spawning season till October, and near the shores.
Paralichthys olivaceus—the Huramé—a flat-fish (Pluronectid)
of some size (83 cm.) ; indeed, it is exceeded only by the Ohio
(Hippoglossoides). It is a valued food both in the fresh and dried
condition. Before spawning it comes into shallower water (five
fathoms), and is ripe in May and June, the female having about
two million pelagic eggs with an oil globule. It is stated to
become mature in about five years, and that the sexes can be
distinguished by the position of their genital openings, a feature
sometimes overlooked in the fishes of our own country. It
appears that the catch of this fish has been increasing since
1899, and the fishery is carried out on or near sand-banks, and
with trawl and gill-nets. Hooks are, however, used in water of
thirty fathoms, and the usual bait is ‘‘ brined”’ sardines.
This part contains, like the former, a series of illustrations of
the apparatus and methods of fishing of the Japanese—such as
sheet-nets for capturing fishes in shoals; lines with attached
wire-cage near the sinker, as a lure, so that the fishes are attracted
first and then captured by the hooks; besides figures of lines
and hooks, the methods of setting, and boats at work near the
coast.
The excellent character of the work is maintained in this part
both as regards text and illustrations.
( 145 )
THE FLIGHT OF FLYING FISH.
By Lionent E. Apams, B.A.
One would think that the method of flight in Flying Fish
had been the subject of observation sufficiently long to enable
naturalists to come to some definite opinion thereon, especially
as the phenomenon is of such common occurrence in tropical
and subtropical waters. We find in the ‘ Royal Natural History,’
vol. v. p. 402, the editor’s summing up of the question as follows:
It is ‘‘ well ascertained that the continuance of the flight is due
to the original impetus of the leap from the water, and is not
prolonged by the flapping of the fins.” This statement is thus
qualified further on: ‘‘ From my own observation I am, how-
ever, of opinion that the pectoral fins are vibrated rapidly on
first leaving the water for a few seconds, doubtless from a con-
tinuation of the swimming motion while in the water, after which
they become entirely motionless,” the writer suggesting that this
vibration is due to the continuance of the action initiated while
the fish was still immersed, and that this movement does not
assist the flight.
After this pronouncement from so high an authority I should
not venture to trouble you on the subject, if the evidence of my
own repeated and often prolonged observation did not ditfer
materially from what has just been quoted.
One rarely has the opportunity to observe adult Flying Fish
swim, as they are very shy of a boat; but I have often picked
up fish just as they have come on board, and put them into a
bath to study their movements. When in the water they never
use their wings (1 use the term ‘“‘wings” for convenience) to
swim with, but hold them close to their sides; the tail, however,
vibrates, sending them with a rush against the side of the bath,
which generally stuns them, and they never recover; but I have |
noticed that if their rush takes them along the length of the
bath, and they have room to show an attempt to rise from the
146 THE ZOOLOGIST.
water, they only begin to spread their wings just as they are
about to leave the surface. The shoals of fry that one often
passes through seem to flap their wings in abortive attempts to
rise, but to swim with the tail alone. I think, as a rule, that
most fish of all sorts use the tail and not the pectorals when
swimming fast, but when swimming slowly the pectorals are
slightly employed, and then more as guides and checks than as
propellers.
Dr. Mobius, quoted on the same page (loc. cit. p. 402), says :
“ Flying Fish often fall on board vessels, but this never happens
during a calm, or from the lee-side.”’ I have, though rarely, known
Flying Fish come on board in a calm at night, when they fly at
the lights, but in rough weather I have known them come on
board from both sides alike.
In 1882 I had special opportunities for watching the flight
closely, and I give the substance of notes made atthe time. It
was on the way home from the Persian Gulf in a tramp steamer,
and we had to face an exceptionally heavy south-west monsoon
from Maskat to Aden, especially after rounding Ras al Had. We
battled for nearly a fortnight amid waves like hills that kept
piling up against us, and out of these waves shoals of Flying
Fish used to start like flocks of Starlings. These shoals used to
fly all day at short intervals quite close to the ship, and very
frequently across it, within a yard of my position, and I was often
able to see them against the sky. Once, after dark, one struck
me on the back—a somewhat severe blow. Often they would
strike the rigging and fall down, when they were eagerly snapped
up for next morning’s breakfast. I used to watch them for
hours as they kept flying past, and I could see quite distinctly
that their tails were vibrating very rapidly from side to side
during the whole of the flight, and that the wings would vibrate
with an intensely rapid shivering motion for a second, then
remain outspread motionless for one or two seconds, and then
vibrate again. This vibration of the wings is not up and down
as is the case when birds fly, but in an almost horizontal
direction. Often, however, the period of soaring with motionless
Wings appears longer than two seconds, especially towards the
end of the flight, just before they fall into the water with a splash,
though the vibration of the tail always continues throughout the
THE FLIGHT OF FLYING FISH. 147
entire flight, the whole flight being performed very much like
that of the Starling as far as the wings are concerned.
Since making the foregoing observations in the Arabian Sea
I have had numerous opportunities of watching Flying Fish in
various parts of the world, and all my observations confirm my
first impressions.
As to the length of the flight, the following from my personal
observations noted on the spot may be taken as not excessive.
The longest flight of which I have a record is from Sunda
Straits, where the fish run large, it was “‘quite three hundred
yards, often with several dips of the tail, and changes of direction.”
I have notes from Perim to Pulo Wey of flights of two hundred
yards. In the Mediterranean, along the Algerian coast, where
the fish run small, one hundred and fifty yards is a long flight.
In the Adriatic, where I have seen them as far north as Poma
Island, one hundred yards is a long flight. In the Atlantic, south
of the Newfoundland Banks, two hundred yards is not an uncom-
mon flight. I think the length of the flight is alone sufficient to
refute the possibility of its consummation without the initial
velocity being renewed. One theory is that they keep up the
flight by going against the wind, soaring like sea-birds ; but, as
a fact, the fish will start off in all directions from the bows of a
vessel, or when chased out of the water by enemies—as often in
a calm as in rough weather, against, across, or before the wind,
and, as I have mentioned above, will often change the direction
of their flight, which is done by touching the water with the
lower tip of the vibrating tail. I once spent the greater part of
a distinctly warm afternoon, in a dead calm in the Gulf of Aden,
watching schools of the Sailors’ Dolphins (Coryphena) bounding
out of the water, chasing the Flying Fish as greyhounds course
hares ; and, to complete the similarity, the Flying Fish would
dodge in the manner described—by touching the surface with the
tail—often almost at a right angle, thus letting the pursuing
enemy shoot past. Now, imagine what impetus would be necessary
to start the heavy body of a fish on a flight of two hundred yards
to be maintained by soaring alone, in any direction to the wind,
or in a dead calm, the direction changing two or three times,
and often following the undulating surface of the waves! By the
way, it is always in a dead calm when the longest flights occur.
148 THE ZOOLOGIST.
I am perfectly well aware that a casual glance at Flying Fish
from the lofty deck of a liner gives the impression that they soar
like birds with motionless wings, but watch them at close quarters
from the deck of a low-waisted tramp, and the vibratory motions
of tail and fins will be quite plain.
It is truly amazing to contemplate the countless millions of
these fish in tropical waters. Often for weeks together one may
every few minutes see startled shoals scatter from the ship’s
bows. I have watched for hours the sea thick with myriads of
juveniles from a couple of inches in length. These do not fly,
but flap on the surface ; the flight begins when the fish are about
three or four inches long, and increases in length as their size
increases. The adults come on board chiefly at night, and mostly
in rough weather. As I have said, they are often collected and
fried for breakfast. The flesh is very white and firm, but some-
what dry, and the bones are particularly hard; but after living
on ‘‘ salt horse” and tinned tripe one regards them as a distinct
relief. Fishermen bring them for sale to ships in the Japanese
ports, but I have never seen them in the fish-shops there.
Of course, for anything I know, different species may have
slightly different methods of flight; indeed, I am inclined to
think they have. I have a note made fifty miles south-east of
Cape Race to the effect that the Flying Fish appeared to have
four wings. As I was watching them through a glass a fellow-
passenger, to whom Flying Fish were familiar, came up, asking
me if I had seen four-winged Flying Fish before. I never had,
but I have thought since that these must have been of a species
with large ventral fins, which may be spread in flight.
( 149 )
NOE Se AUNeD OU ayes:
AVES.
Fire-crested Wren in Dorset.—On March 28th a Fire-crest (Regulus
ignicapillus) was seen near Charmouth, flitting about the base of a
hedge by the River Char, three hundred yards from the seashore. A
strong north-east wind was blowing, but the afternoon sun shone
warmly on the sheltered side of the hedge, where six or eight Chiff-
chafis were also disporting themselves ; they were constantly fluttering
in the air after flies, and occasionally uttered a few notes of their
simple song, but in such weak tones as to suggest they had recently
arrived on our coasts. A Golden Crest appeared for a time about the
same bushes, and once or twice made a dart at the Fire-crest, when
the difference in the plumage of the two birds was strikingly contrasted,
the black line through the eye of the Fire-crest and the bright yellow-
green of its shoulders giving it a distinguished appearance. We
watched the bird through our telescopes at a distance of ten yards for
about twenty minutes. It is the first time we have seen it in this
country, though we are familiar with it in the woods around Baden-
Baden.—G. Lister (Lyme Regis, Dorset).
Fire-crest near Tunbridge Wells.—On March 38rd, near Tunbridge
Wells (in Kent), I saw a small bird in a place where Gold-crests have
‘been fairly numerous this winter, which I supposed to be of that
species ; however, it approached so near that I was able to see dis-
tinctly the black eye-stripe and white eyebrow which are charac-
teristic of the Fire-crest. Since then several others, including a
well-known local ornithologist, as well as myself, have several times
observed this bird, and a second—no doubt its mate—has also been
seen.—H. G. Atexanper (3, Mayfield Road, Tunbridge Wells).
Continental Long-tailed Tit in Yorkshire-—Near Kirkham Abbey,
in Yorkshire, on March 18th, 1905, I saw a Long-tailed Tit, of which
I obtained an exceptionally near view, enabling me clearly to see that
it entirely lacked the black line over the eye, the whole head being pure
white. It was in company with birds of the ordinary British type.—
H. G. Auexanper (3, Mayfield Road, Tunbridge Wells).
150 THE ZOOLOGIST.
The Breeding Range of the Twite.—I shall esteem it a favour if
Mr. E. P. Butterfield will justify his remarks in the last issue of ‘ The
Zoologist’ (ante, p. 112) by pointing out where I have stated that the
Twite is ‘‘ generally distributed ” in any part of the British Islands.
The statement that this bird “breeds in most parts of the British
Islands where moors, mountains, and exposed heathy places are
found” seems to me to be a sufficiently broad and indefinite one, and
fairly to represent the distribution of this species in the nesting season.
I have nowhere asserted that it breeds on all moorlands, nor even in
all parts of the country where moors, mountains, &c., are found. A
reference to my first note (Zool. 1905, p. 390) will show that after
making the general statement I proceeded to point out exceptions and
limitations, one of these being that the bird is much less common on
the eastern side of our islands than on the western; and it is curious
that Mr. Butterfield should fail to see that his want of success in
searching for this bird on the moors near Whitby is a mere illustration
of what I have just said. If Mr. Butterfield was acquainted with the
West of Ireland he would probably know of districts there where
Twites are far more common than in Yorkshire. Future researches
and closer scrutiny may reveal this bird as occasionally nesting even
in parts of the country where it it has been declared not to breed. It
is difficult to prove a negative, and the Twite is a species which is
both sporadic and local. I did use the words ‘‘ wide distribution ”
(ante, p. 29) in speaking of this bird’s range, some dim recollection of
which may have been in Mr. Butterfield’s mind. But this expression
has a different meaning from ‘“‘generally distributed,’’ and would seem
particularly appropriate to a species which breeds in various localities
from the Shetlands to Kerry, and from the Outer Hebrides and Donegal
to Derbyshire and Devonshire. Surveying Britain as a whole, we may
find considerable tracts of country in which the Chaffinch, the Black-
bird, the Robin, and the Rook do not breed; yet it would be pedantry
to object to the statement that these are widely and even generally
distributed species.—Atuan Hinuison (Watton-at-Stone, Herts).
The Geese of Europe and Asia.—In the review of Alphéraky’s
«The Geese of Europe and Asia”’ (ante, p. 118), an impression of the
reviewer appears to me to be somewhat misleading. At the commence-
ment it is stated that the author of the book ‘‘is not disposed to lay
too much dependence on the dimensions of the bill as a specific
character, and which he regards as largely dependent on age, and also
practises the greatest caution in using the colouring of the bill for the
same purpose.” From my careful reading of the book the reverse is
NOTES AND QUERIES. 151
certainly the case; if not so, upon what characters does Alphéraky
depend for establishing the numerous new species, such as Anser
arvensis, A. neglectus, A. arvensis sibiricus, &c., &e.? As to the specific
validity of A. gambeli, it may be noted that in a note on page 42, at the
commencement of his article on the White-fronted Goose, Alphéraky
refuses to recognize A. gambeli as a species; on page 57 he admits the
. large size of the bills of my birds, but erroneously gives my largest
measurement as 2:0 instead of 2:24—I have since secured larger ones
—but on page 56 he makes the curious assertion that I have not
measured my bills correctly, that I must have measured round the
curve of the nail instead of taking a straight line! This is wrong.
For measuring my bills I use best quality fine steel tryers and steel
measure, and do not—cannot with tryers—go round the curve of nail,
but take a straight line from base of bill to end of nail. If I adopted
the practice of some ornithologists, and put the point of the tryers
amongst the feathers at base of bill, I could very nearly reach the maxi-
mum 2°35 of American measurements. To return to the question of A.
gambeli. Since the publication of my paper in 1902, I have secured
specimens to fill all gaps, which now make my series of this bird a
perfectly complete one. In all the new specimens the extra length of
neck as compared with A. albifrons was unvarying. This important
character is utterly ignored by Alphéraky! As to that author’s sup-
position that my specimens may not be identical with American birds,
I may state that on my return journey from my recent expedition to
Central British Columbia, I visited the United States, and examined all
specimens of A. gambeli in museums from Victoria, British Columbia,
through the chief cities of Canada to New York, where at the National
Museum, through the kindness of Dr. Allen and his courteous
assistant, Mr. Miller, I was enabled to study the entire series of this
bird, and had no difficulty whatever in determining the whole as being
referable to A. gambeli, and identical in all important characters with
my series of birds. I did not find a specimen on any portion of the
American continent I visited that I could have referred to A. albifrons.
On the question of the translation of Dr. Radde’s description of the
colours of bill in A. rubrirostris, there is a footnote on page 49 stating
that Radde referred to ‘‘ the bright rufous-coloured feathers at base of
bill.”” Whatever Radde did say, or intended to say, is beside the fact
that there is a rusty red semicircular band at base of bill, not the
feathers, in this bird, which can be seen only in the living or freshly
killed specimens. It is clear that Alphéraky has never seen such.
Mr. Stuart Baker has studied living specimens of this bird in the
market at Calcutta, and instantly recognized this rusty-red band when
152 THE ZO00OLOGIST.
he examined one of my birds. Surely nothing more need be said on
this much-debated question. Mr. Alphéraky, on page 57, expresses
regret that he had not time to communicate with Mr. Gurney and
myself. I share that regret, for it would have given me the greatest
pleasure to have co-operated with him, and I think a little friendly
interchange of views might have removed what appear to me to be
blemishes in an otherwise excellent book.—F. Cosurn (7, Holloway |
Head, Birmingham).
[Anyone perusing pp. 3 and 4 of Alphéraky’s book must certainly be
in no doubt as to that writer’s emphatic opinion on the little reliance
to be placed on the length and colouring of the bill as a specific
character. Whether he has been consistent in these views throughout
his book is a matter which Mr. Coburn evidently, questions.—THsE
REVIEWER. |
Avocet near Rye. — On March 21st, near Rye, I saw an Avocet.
Others have seen it since with me, at the same place, and we have
been able to get near enough to see its curved bill and blue legs
quite clearly. When settled it looked quite white at a little distance,
except for the black on the head. It flew with its legs stretched out
behind, and then the black on the wings gave it a pied appearance.—
H. G. Auexanper (3, Mayfield Road, Tunbridge Wells).
Knot (Tringa canutus) in Wiltshire—As the Rey. A. C. Smith, in
‘The Birds of Wiltshire,’ only mentions three instances of the occur-
rence of this bird in Wiltshire, it may be worth recording that on
Feb. 27th last I caught a Knot (female) in a field about half a mile from
Salisbury. It had lost part of one wing, no doubt from flying against
a telegraph-wire, and was very thin and weak. — Artuur Bangs
(Leadenhall, The Close, Salisbury).
Great Skua at the Feroes.—In the last issue of ‘ The Zoologist ’
(pp. 81 et seq.) I read that two Hnglish collecting ornithologists visited
the Feroes in the summer of 1905, and on one of the southern islands
they found the eggs of three pairs of the Great Skua (Stercorarius catar-
rhactes). It would be right, I think, to inform your readers that the
few remaining Great Skuas have been fully protected by Act of the
Danish Parliament of Dec. 18th, 1897, renewed in 1903; so that no
collecting is allowed. The inhabitants of the Feroes deserve great
praise for having done their best to preserve these magnificent birds
on their islands ; it would be a pity if their efforts should be frustrated.
In spite of all protection the number of breeding Skuas diminished
considerably from 1897 to 1903.—Heruur Winer (Vice-Inspector at
the Zool. Museum, Copenhagen).
NOTES AND QUERIES. 155
Ornithological Notes from Lewes.—A Chiffchaff spent March 9th
in the hedges near this rectory; it then disappeared, and I saw no
other till March 23rd. Hvery winter for the last five years a pair of
Grey Wagtails have taken up their quarters along a tiny ditch near
the rectory; this year I saw them last on March 14th. The vast
flocks of Starlings which have roosted in our woods broke up this nest.
I noticed that the resident Starlings roosted about the farms, &e¢,, as
usual, and never seemed to mix with the aliens. On May 2nd, 1901,
at the edge of Blunts Wood, in this parish, I watch from a very
short distance a bird which at the time I thought, from the description
in Saunders’s ‘Manual,’ to be a Woodchat Shrike. I have recently
seen the specimens of that bird in the Museums at South Kensington
and Brighton (Booth), and am now absolutely convinced that I was
right. I took a careful note of this at the time, and spent most of
the morning watching it. The ordinary Red-backed Shrike is quite
common here.—Cui1rrorp Toocoop (Barcombe, Lewes, Sussex).
Some Notes on Birds of Donegal.—In 1905, Mr. Theed Pearse and
myself spent the latter end of May and first few days in June visiting
the locality around Narain. In ‘The Zoologist,’ 1892 (pp. 128-1381),
I made some notes on the birds observed in this district, and it will
not be uninteresting to compare and add to such after a lapse of four-
teen years.
Warncuat.—Carefully sought for in a former nesting haunt, but
found absent.
GotprincH.—Apparently not nearly so plentiful.
Raven.—A pair have nested for several years after an absence of
many previous years. This year the young flew from a nest in Scoult-
aling, near Dunmore Head.
HoopEp Crow.—Nested previously, but not met with in its former
haunts.
Jackpaw.—Numbers nesting on the headlands.
Warer-Ram.—Two seen on the Sheskinmore, probably birds of
different pairs. One evidently had young, as it became very excited at
my approach, and refused to leave the vicinity of a small patch of
rushes.
Lapwine.—A pair nesting on Roaninish Islands.
Duyi1x.—Some half-dozen or more pairs nesting on the Sheskin-
more, and several were heard uttering their love-call on Roaninish.
RepsHank.—One pair and their eggs found on the Sheskinmore.
Purete Sanpprper. — One picked up dead on Inishbarnog, and
another seen at Roaninish, May 25th.
Zool. 4th ser. vol. X., April, 1906. N
154 THE ZOOLOGIST.
Turnstone.—Smaill parties still in evidence up to May 25th.
Wuimeret.—A few remained on the Sheskinmore, and at Inish-
keel.
Heron.—About six pairs were nesting on Lough Aderry. As in
former years, only eggs were found; none then with young.
Goose (? species).—A solitary Grey Goose observed May 21st at the
Sheskinmore ; it appeared to be a strong bird on the wing, and would
not allow too near an approach.
Rep-BREASTED Mereanser.-——A small party frequented Dawros Bay.
One pair found nesting on Lough Aderry.
Lesser Tern.—The colony formerly nesting on Cashelgolan Strand
have evidently now ceased to breed there; only the smaller numbers at
Ballyiriston remain.
Arctic Tern. — The considerable colonies that used to nest on
Roaninish and Inishbarnog islands seem to have been harassed, causing
them to forsake these haunts. Large numbers now breed on some of
the islands of the fresh-water lake, Lough Kiltooris, and on one of the
islands of the Gweebarra Bay, near Ballyiriston.
Common Gutu.—Many pairs now nesting on certain of the islands
in Lough Derryduff.
Herrinc-Gutyt.—Numbers found nesting on the low rocks of Roan-
inish Island, and one pair we found with eggs on an island in the
fresh-water lake, Lough Kiltooris. It is possible that the nesting of
this bird in the former locality may account for the absence of the
Arctic Tern nowadays.
IceLanD Guiu.—An immature bird shot about five years ago near
Inishkeel, now preserved at the rectory.
PomaTorRHINE Sxua.—One picked up dead at Lough Kiltooris, May
29th, 1892, was presented by the writer to Dublin Museum.
Manx SHEaRwatEeR.—A few were seen between Dunmore and Roan-
inish.—J. SreeLe-Hiuiorr (Dowles Manor, Shropshire).
BATRACHIA.
Pugnacious Propensities of Rana esculenta.—In June, 1904, I
chose a particularly wet day for a Frog-hunt along the ditches round
the paddy-fields on the outskirts of Kobe. There were plenty of Frogs,
chiefly Rana esculenta, also the pretty little Hyla arborea, and a few
Rana rugosa. I had secured one or two, and was pointing to another
with the point of my umbrella to draw the attention of a friend who
was with me, when, to our great surprise, the Frog made a snap at
the umbrella. This it did several times, following the point of the
OBITUARY. 155
umbrella as I drew it towards me, till it came within reach, and
I secured it with my hand. I then repeated the experiment with
another, which acted in the same way, as did several more. All were
R. esculenta. This action surprised me very much, as I had never
heard of Frogs being pugnacious, and I should much like to know
if this is characteristic of the species.—Lionzn H. Apams (Reigate).
PISCES.
The Pearlsides (Maurolicus pennantii) up River.—An unusually
high tide on the 11th March overflowed the banks of the River Bure
at several places not far from this town. A new railway-bridge spans
the river, and here the ‘“‘ wall” has not been properly restored, so that
the rising water found easy access to the neighbouring ditches and
gardens of the lower level on the other side, into which it poured like
a mountain torrent. I visited this spot some few days after, and was
surprised by finding a 13 in. specimen of the above silvery little fish
lying on the railway-bank just on the edge of a gully formed by the
rushing water, about three miles from the harbour mouth. It was
shown to Mr. Patterson, who first recorded this species locally.—
J. HK. Kyieurs (87, Churchill Road, Great Yarmouth).
OB Tl UsA Ne
Canon Henry Baxer Tristram, D.D., F.R.S., &e., &e.
In Canon Tristram, who passed away at Durham on the 8th of
March last, we have lost one of our oldest and best known orni-
thologists. Canon Henry Baker Tristram, D.D., F.R.S., &c., &c.,
was born on the 11th of May, 1822, was ordained in 1846, was
appointed Master and Vicar of Greatham in 1857, and Canon of
Durham in 1870.
He commenced the study of ornithology early in life, and was from
the beginning an ardent collector. His first experience of outdoor
work outside Hurope was at Bermuda, where, as army chaplain, he
remained from 1847 to 1849. In 1855 he went to Algeria on account
of his health, and, in fact, his lungs were so greatly affected that he
was sent there as a last resource, and was scarcely expected to return ;
but he soon recovered sufficiently to be able to do some excellent work
in ornithology, and collected largely, both birds and their eggs, as can
156 THE ZOOLOGIST.
be seen from his papers contributed to and published in the first volume
of the ‘ Ibis,’ in which he described nine new species of birds from the
Sahara (‘Ibis,’ 1859, pp. 57-59). It is remarkable that in this volume
Canon Tristram wrote as follows (p. 429) :—‘‘ Writing with a series of
about 100 Larks of various species from the Sahara before me, I
cannot help feeling convinced of the truth of the views set forth by
Messrs. Darwin and Wallace in their communications to the Linnean
Society, to which my friend Mr. A. Newton last year directed my
attention—‘ On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties, and on
the Perpetuation of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selec-
tion.’ Itis hardly possible, I should think, to illustrate this theory
better than by the Larks and Chats of North Africa.” From this
extract it will be seen that Canon Tristram was one of the first orni-
thologists to recognize the importance of the Darwinian Theory.
Besides the sojourn in Algeria, which extended from 1855 to 1857
Canon Tristram visited and made collections in the Holy Land, Moab;
Kigypt, the Canary Islands, and even Japan, which he visited in
1891. Canon Tristram’s large collection of birds, which is especially
rich in island forms, he disposed of to the Liverpool Museum, but
even after having parted with it he continued to collect almost as
ardently as ever until a few months previous to his death, and has left
a collection of about five thousand birds. His collection of eggs he
sold some years ago to the late Mr. Philip Crowley.
Canon Tristram was a most industrious writer, and contributed
largely to the ‘Ibis’ from 1859—when the British Ornithologists’
Union, of which he was an original member, was founded—to 1904.
His first paper in vol. i. was on the Ornithology of Palestine, and in
the 1904 volume—his last communication to that Journal—a long
letter will (p. 164) be found, which treats also of the ‘ Birds of Palestine.’
His chief works are as follows:—‘ The Great Sahara,’ published in
1860; ‘ The Land of Israel,’ published in 1865 ; ‘The Land of Moab,
published in 1873; ‘ The Natural History of the Bible,’ published in
1873; ‘The Fauna and Flora of Palestine,’ 1884; ‘Rambles in
Japan,’ &., 1895.
He married in 1850, but lost his wife just three years previous to
his own death, and leaves a large family of daughters, but only one
son, who is the headmaster of Loretto College.
H. B,D,
(Gaels)
NO DUC Sy VOR INE Ws BOOKS:
Darwinism and the Problems of Life. By Conrap GUENTHER,
Ph.D., &c. Translated from the Third Edition by JosnpH
McCase. A. Owen & Co.
Tuts book should be read by all who wish to keep abreast of
evolutionary literature ; it advocates what has been called ‘‘ the
all-sufficiency of natural selection,” but carries Darwinism into
ethics, and makes it a dominant factor in the “‘ social contract.”
The author, however, makes fair admissions, such as ‘‘ Hence
those who accept the theory of evolution are not at all compelled
to subscribe to the theory of selection; in fact, there are many
evolutionists who reject it.”’ This is not always understood, and
there are many, again, who recognize selection as a factor, or the
dominant factor, but not the sole factor in evolution. The
method of the work is to dispense as far as possible with referring
to authorities, or giving biological references, but rather, as one
may say, to treat the whole subject de novo, and to deal with
animal life direct. This has its advantages in not bewildering
an ordinary reader with constant references to a literature he
will neither have the time to consult nor the knowledge to grasp;
on the other hand, it sometimes produces the appearance of
personal dogmatism in statements that without authority are at
least bald. Thus, in discussing the effect of ‘‘isolation,” and
dealing with fishes that may have passed into waters not usually
connected with rivers, and which would be cut off when the
rivers fell once more, Mr. Guenther remarks :—‘‘Selection had
another effect in their new home. In the hot season most of the
water dried up, and this was the occasion of the conversion of
the swimming-bladder into lungs.” Now, surmising that death
was an equally probable concomitant of these conditions, such a
conversion of bladder into lungs, which must on evolutionary
principles be admitted, is not well advanced by such an illustra-
tion, nor is the biological metamorphosis understandable by
158 THE ZOOLOGIST.
blank assertion. On the other hand, no evolutionist can grasp
the whole detail of the evolutionary campaign, but an adequate
conception of which often becomes possible by the thorough
study of some biological division. This idea of conception rather
than simple definition is well expressed by our author when he
writes: ‘“‘ But while Darwin has destroyed species as realities, he
has at the same time fully established the idea of the species.”
This book is informative and suggestive to the last degree,
however much the reader may dissent from some arguments
in the discussion of a problem, which is really the highest
that can engage the limits of the human intellect, or, as might
be said, the sensations derived through our few senses. It is
novel to find Nietzsche brought into court, and his “ egoism”
described as ‘‘ built up rigorously on a basis of selection.” One
error of fact is at least put forward when it is stated that in the
case of Moths as wellas Grasshoppers, ‘‘ there is not a very great
difference in habits between the larva and the imago”’; and at
p. 194 “‘ callima”’ should be written ‘‘ Kalluma.”
The Birds of the Isle of Man. By P.G. Rare. David Douglas.
As Mr. Ralfe remarks in his Preface, ‘‘The fauna of an
island, with its sharp definition, must usually be of greater
interest than that of a mainland area of equal size,” and a
standard book on the birds of Man is a very welcome and useful
publication. The genuine Manx birds number one hundred and
thirty-eight, which, with forty-five occasional visitors, brings up
the total to one hundred and eighty-three. Of these, seventy-
five are resident (breeding), eighteen regular summer migrants
(breeding), and forty-five regular autumn, winter, or spring
migrants (not breeding). Among the birds not found on Man
may be mentioned the Jay and the Tawny Owl.
There is very much more in this book than the enumeration
and narrative of the birds. The introductory portion is very
full, and the peculiarities of the vertebrate fauna well described ;
while, besides the ‘‘ Manx bird-names” appended to many species,
there is also a short glossary of Manx words used in the volume.
Another very pleasing and attractive feature is to be found in
the numerous photo-plates of Manx scenery; this might be
NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 159
followed in other local ornithological books, for we seem to recog-
nize the haunts of various species, and the tourist, as well as the
ornithologist, should take this volume with him when visiting
Man.
The Twite has been found breeding both in the north and
south of the island, and is described by Mr. Ralfe as ‘‘an
inhabitant of mountains and high wild coast-lands.” Corvus
frugilegus is now an abundant species, and our author enumerates
twenty Manx rookeries. The Chough is reported ‘‘as more
frequent in Man than is perhaps generally supposed,” the account
of this bird being given in a very full and interesting manner ;
and we re-echo the plea made by Mr. Ralfe who, recognizing its
may be inevitable extinction ‘“‘in the course of natural law,”
earnestly asks ‘‘all professing interest in the ornithology of
Britain to abstain from the encouragement of any action (punish-
able also by Manx law) which may accelerate that extinction in
this perhaps the most easily accessible of its British haunts.”
Report on the Immigrations of Summer Residents in the Spring of
1905. By ‘“‘The Committee appointed by the British
Ornithologists’ Club.” Witherby & Co.
Tuts publication, which forms vol. xvii. of the ‘ Bulletin
of the British Ornithologists’ Club,’ is to be obtained sepa-
rately, and should be in the hands of all students and lovers
of British birds. The Committee consisted of Dr. F. G. Pen-
rose (Chairman), M. J. Nicoll, N. F. Ticehurst, H. F. Witherby,
and J. L. Bonhote (Secretary). The immigrations of twenty-
nine birds are reported, illustrated by thirty-two maps, and the
outlay made by the Club should be returned, for it is almost
a duty to acquire this information on an intricate subject, and
to support by purchase so excellent a Report. For this reason
we have thought it unfair to make quotations from its pages,
merely confining ourselves to the remark that one may gain a
very considerable appreciation of the method and extent of this
immigration by a study of the maps alone.
160 THE ZOOLOGIST.
*
EDITORIAL GLEANINGS.
Durine the calendar year (1904) 880 mammals and 271,342 birds
were imported into the United States under permit. Among the mam-
mals were 11 Beaver from Canada, and 106 Squirrels from Europe.
Of the birds, 282,617 were Canaries, 942 Pheasants, 3568 Quail, 1043
other game birds, and 33,172 miscellaneous species. Among the
last-mentioned species were several from India seldom brought to the
United States, a Horned Screamer and several other rare species from
South America, and a Somali Ostrich (Struthio molydophanes), the
first ever brought to that country. Two shipments of fifty Madagascar
Weavers (Foudia madagascariensis) are also of interest, as they belong
to a species which might become injurious should it once gain a foot-
hold in the country.
Several entries, both of eggs and birds, show the progress of efforts
to stock covers with foreign game birds, chiefly Pheasants, Partridges,
Quail, Capercailzie, and Black Grouse. The total number of eggs
imported was 2858, of which about 660 were those of Partridges, and
the remainder those of Pheasants. Among the consignments of game
birds was one containing 192 Hungarian Partridges, destined for
South Carolina. In spite of repeated attempts, the introduction of
the European Partridge into the United States has not yet been satis-
factorily accomplished, and experiments with eggs are not more
successful than with birds, less than fifty per cent. of those imported
in 1904 having hatched. The importation of Chinese Quail for market
purposes in California was practically stopped early in the year by the
enforcement of a provision in the State law prohibiting the sale of
these birds. Two shipments of Mexican Quail—one for California,
the other for Bowling Green, Kentucky—also deserve mention. By
far the most interesting game birds imported, however, were about
100 Capercailzie and 25 Black Grouse. These birds were liberated on
Grand Island, Michigan, which a private corporation is converting
into an important game-preserve. This experiment marks a notable
step in the introduction of the Capercailzie into America, and its
result will be watched with even greater interest than that made by the
Fish and Game Commission of Ontario in 1903.—T. S. Paummr (‘ Year-
book,’ Dept. Agricult. 1904, U.S.A.), p. 609.
By THE ae JOHN GERARD, §8.J.
“ea Price Three Shillings.
Essays in Un-Natural History.
_ This Volume is made up of the three following, which may be obtained sepa-
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SCIENCE AND SCIENTISTS.
1. Mr. Grant Allen’s Botanical Fables. | 4. ‘Behold the Birds of the Air.”
2. Who Painted the Flowers? 2 5. How Theories are Manufactured.
3. Some Wayward Problems. 6. Instinct and its Lessons.
SCIENCE OR ROMANCE?
us 4, The Empire of Man.
2. Missing Links. 5. The New Genesis.
3. The Game of Speculation. 6. The Voices of Babel.
EVOLUTIONARY PHILOSOPHY AND COMMON SENSE.
A Tangled Tale.
4. ‘* The Comfortable Word ‘ Evolu- 4. Evolution and Thought.
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2. Foundations of Evolution. 6. Evolution and Design.
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Ichthyology i in Japan (Economic Species), Prof. MeIntosh, M.
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NoTES AND QUERIES :— Basics
Avrs.—Fire-crested Wren in Dense, G. Lister, 149. Fire-crest near Tu
Wells; Continental Long-tailed Tit in Vorkshive: H. G. Alexander,
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EDITORIAL GLEANINGS, 160.
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PAE ZOOLVOGTST
No. 779.—May,. 1906.
EXTRACTS FROM CHURCHWARDENS’ ACCOUNTS OF
BEDFORDSHIRE.
By J. Sreene-Enitorr.
Berore placing on record the following extracts from the
Churchwarden Accounts for the county of Bedford, I should
like to acknowledge my indebtedness to the clergy and others
who have so willingly given me particulars of such extracts
from their parish books—frequently a voluminous undertaking,
covering several centuries of entries. In such parishes that are
omitted altogether, either no records of such payments exist, or
do not appear to have been made; or, as in a few instances, the
parish has only been formed in recent years after such payments
ceased in the county. I have endeavoured to obtain fac-simile
entries, but possibly these have not always been given.
Many interesting points are derived from a consideration of
the extracts as a whole. The entire absence of any mention
of the birds of prey is noticeable; also the very few instances in
which Rats are included. Stoats and Weasels appear much
less frequently than the Polecat, but this is more easily accounted
for by the greater destructiveness of the latter in the poultry-
yards and rabbit-warrens ; in fact, in most parishes the former
were probably not considered worthy of ‘‘head money” being
paid. Hedgehogs seem to have suffered invariably, most likely
owing to their destructiveness to the eggs of poultry, and possibly
also to the superstitious belief of their sucking dry the cows’
Gool, 4th ser. vol. X., May, 1906. (a)
162 THE ZOOLOGIST.
udders. Where payments were made for Bats, they would, I
think, only relate to such when destroyed within the church-
buildings. Of greatest interest are the few payments for Marten-
Cats in the parish of Roxton, a species of which very few records
indeed can be given of its former occurrence in this county.
It will be noticed with what frequency payments are made to
- women; undoubtedly many such—as widows, for instance—
earned useful sums of money in the destruction of vermin ;
others no doubt would be merely the receivers of the money on
behalf of their husbands.
The earliest records we have appear in 1665 under Northill,
and the last—with the exception of Sparrows—at St. Pauls of
Bedford in 1888. Sparrows are first recorded in 1714, at
Houghton Regis, and the most recent at Sandy in 1860.
The following entries under their respective parishes are
selected to show the various kinds of vermin destroyed, with
prices paid for same, the variation of spelling, and other pay-
ments of peculiar interest :—
AMPTHILL.
lyfe). 8. d.
June. Pd. for Baggers & Hoghogs & Polcatits .........cscsceeeee 15 0
1721.
Apr., 2d fon phedohors, oc, sseccesssen oceencacessdacceacereseceerere eS
Pd. Mr. Wool’s man for a pole Catt ...........s...ssesennse 0 6
Pd. forskailine 4 Dozn of Sparrowsivssccs.--secaceeeeerees 0 8
Pd. Richd. Uptin for killing Sparrows and a pole catt 1 O
Novem.) Pd fordalline ‘of Varmentie.ss.-cscccs- asec sucess reeeee RO
1729.
Novem. spd:.for poole Cattsts cc :<.n--e-k ee sere ece tee eee ete 0 8
1780.
Aprill; Spd- for 2 Moolcats -.. sco. ...-ascrecens-cencnsnseneet seers 8
Decemy 'pd. ‘for’ 4 poll Cats ci. sc. 2c. cnsececoretmesteee eee eee secre 1 4
1781.
June 22;)\ pd. tora dledge Hos! G....57....cascucee cesses eseeetee 4
1735
Pd. Robt. Gray, forj2 Toxes’ f25-c<sqas.cocees-she ne sceeee see eee ee eree 2 0
Pd. Stephen -Bolding for a fox - 22.26. ..8-acineh anne ec eesaee eee 1)
1741.
June ye 28. Payd Robert taylor for 4 heghogs ............... 1 4
Payd John Paynter of Milbrook a heggho...... 0 4
Nov. 25. Payd tho™. Gandy for a hegghog ...............000e00 0 4
Noy. 25. Pd. John Johnson for killing a Bager ............... 0 6
CHURCHWARDENS’ ACCOUNTS OF BEDFORDSHIRE. 163
1746. 8. d.
Feb. 18. Paid Henry Gray for a pole cat...........csceseesesees 0 4
July ye 29. pd. Francis Coalman for a heghhog ............ 0 4
Sepunye al. epde Henrys Gray tor a) POlCat) Wescc.secesoeseeseess 0 4
Oct. ye 24. pd. Richard Sandy for 2 polcates .............00008 0 8
1753.
Otis WG tava Lei hina es So agaqagssooaadnoonocnridcdoouesocegadaooGGco 6
1766.
ATE TOM ECT SCHOO rrciaraddcteccdcecee vactecsactodesessecteeseeiscwiaencsse es 1 6
Hntries commence in 1719, and continue until 1772, the total
of slain being—Badgers 3, Foxes 3, Polecats 75, Hedgehogs 197,
Stoats 1; Sparrows only being included in a few years. In some
few items only the money paid is stated without number of the
various vermin being given. The prices given continue the same
throughout the entries, with exception of the two instances in-
cluded above of Polecat 6d. and Hedgehogs 1s. 6d.
ARLESEY.
1751. BS ib) Gh
Nov. 18. Pd. for a pol-cat and hedge-hog ................0 0) Of
Nov. 28. pd. Richd. Phillipps for 9 Moles..............000+ 1 13
1752.
Heiyapl Or we EToopers | BOLE-CAtiy cessrasrecsescesseescaccneseaaens 1 4
June 12. paid W. Robinson for Killing a Fox ............ 0 2
1753.
Marchi24.. pd. KR. Phillips 6 Moules........<2+1-.csecsenseoses 9
USS 20) pd. Lilals fora HiaehOo iese.cc.oosee+cnecinsese: 4
Sept. 22. pd. Ruals boye for a Haghog ................00008 4
Weewt9 apd. i. Phillips ford: Mouls: ten. -cscssecteas ste ses 4}
1765.
June 18. paid for Sparrows and eggs .......scsececeseeeeeeee 3
Aug. 8. paid for 2 doz. Sparrow’s C228 .......sssecseneeseee 2
Ga pAld [O12 OZ.) SPALVOWSs..ccascsceeieesseclsecccoesis 3
The Churchwardens’ Accounts are in three volumes—A, 1735
to 1758; B, 1758-1775; C, 1775-1793; the first entry for
killing vermin being in 1751 (as already given), and the last in
July, 1775, for the destruction of Polecats. The payments
include Foxes, Polecats, Hedgehogs, Moles (about 450 were paid
for from 1751-53), Sparrows, and their eggs. The prices paid
show no variation.
02
164
THE ZOOLOGIST.
BARFORD PARVA.
1780. Go. Gh
DPPUOASOMOPS ceneresececesices secenecwaceocessse cc ecssckceeee ere ee eeten 9
2 POLS CAD sve os og de Sucade es sage ma Ron D deine eet Gee Renee Shine COE Ne oReReaae 8
BSINLOVSS ie eeica cde eros ecaweesce eben cewetce seen cee hopes eee eee 6
SPAYVOWS 1) rcce ees deece us cceumnecess aeons cael toemacceteen ace e see eeEEte 11 4
1785.
ACU Sbers ei secacc sabacesesdessontacs cea cease neuer oeta ean Gee eree Reena 1 0
1788.
11 6) Ro) ofc] rst apa RRO A ER ESS OOS one SABERED uaadacd cmd baoeuBoosdEdnad coo 3
The earliest entries commence in the Churchwardens’ Ac-
counts book in 1779, and continue down to 1848. In the former
year the amount paid for Sparrows was 8s. 4d., but in the
accounts dating from 1804 the yearly charge becomes higher,
in one instance as much as £2 18s. 8d. being paid.
BARTON-LE-CLEY.
1781. a5 a
Oct. 10th. Paid for Sparrows and polecats ...............66 iy Y)
1791.
April 8. Paid Tho: Harris for Mole Catching ............... i ily ©
1798.
Dec. 25. For Sparrows and polecatts ................seseeee Vie
1803.
Paidiior Sparrows 8nd) EOlMCAtS) jean, caresses oneeceaeecindsacsans 18
1813
(3) Choy As [SHORIARON IS _ Sootooandoadcosnodcoobaanccaqno5d9bHonSCOSoeonDDAASCN 2
1820.
So BRNEL TOG cdocdsodadoasdgnacenabon nod inbooaddasaHodaosoBsAcdAcndashoonc: ab (0
1825.
June 25. pd. for Sparrows and eggs at Sundry times ... 12 6
1826.
April 19th. pd. for 7 dozen Sparrows ..........ssssesssceoree 3 6
1828.
AIG Lbs p CGIGOZE YOUNGS. sanesesuriecesssssciscseasesstaerenasceee 1 6
1832.
Mareh)28; Horaeolecagiesssssasnaescsoscenesenesactaasssteeaeaeee 6
July 2d. SB VOUMELPOlECALS ...-.c<ctescesseslesnicen mars sek enone 6
The accounts commence in 1781, and continue until 1837.
No entries appear other than for Polecats, Sparrows and eggs,
and the one entry for Mole-catching.
In the majority of in-
stances the payments are put into a lump sum, Polecats being
* Kvidently Stoats.
CHURCHWARDENS’ ACCOUNTS OF BEDFORDSHIRE. 165
mentioned in twenty instances. Payments in all amount to
£46 9s. 10d. Rates of payment seem to have been—for old
Sparrows 4d. per dozen, and for young 84d. per dozen; but a few
exceptions occur. No separate payment for eggs is given.
BATTLESDEN.
1782.
Paid Byway for mole catching
This appears to be the only entry that occurs in the Vestry
Minute Book, dating from 1764.
BepForp (St. Pau.s).
1808. syd.
Eat need for 2 COZEN SpArrOWSt chashecesstssanascochsccnadane 6
Bade tor 2 Poll de@ ats seudcenssecccucuas sciverteenesae 1
1809.
eave Oblin ee AS EECA GO MHOC sec .seesctacsasevastonessececercasenseetecsos 4
1816.
July 20. Pd. for 6 young Hedge Hogs, and1old one ......... TCA
Nun LOL, d) EOL AUCALS. sacccenseoasnaccaceceuiasawanedsnsesecesiere LG
SEU AOE defor aj OLOLb aces .saccanelaw ese adecsancsucienamsce senses 6
NGvepl Zeid TOT BPO Cb sane cseecsssis Cecvenesiies ccvieseccucloccaese 4
1819.
March11. Paid for a Polecatt and Stoot ..........sscsesseseeees 1
1821.
Marte One EAI LOPS WISON ssc saiecctctisaacesidcondesccnseoededecueseeiaes 4
1822.
Uo Ate VP AI@ 1Ot a StOULL! Wjeasvanesedesserccscsesecees cscs 4
1838.
Sept. 29. Paid Fitzhugh for killing Bats ............scccceceeeee 4
Entries in the parish accounts date from 1808 to 1838; but
I have before me only a complete copy until 1816. Herein are
payments—for Polecats 11, Stoats 8, Hedgehogs 68, Sparrows
18 dozen. There do not appear to be any entries between
30th September, 1811, and 19th July, 1813. The prices of
Polecats and Stoats seem to have varied at 4d. or 6d. each,
Hedgehogs 4d., except in the one entry as given, where young
are included. The first payments for Sparrows are at 3d., but
latterly only 2d. per dozen was given. After 1825 the modern
spelling of Polecat is principally used.
BIDDENHAM.
The Churchwardens’ Accounts are very incomplete. There
are numerous entries between 18386 and 1849, but only for the
166 THE ZOOLOGIST.
destruction of Sparrows, and at the rate of 6d. per dozen, an
unusually high price. No payments appear for eggs. In the
former year £3 3s. 113d. appears to have been paid.
BILLINGTON.
1697. 8. Gib
Pd. to John Hargett for the powder in frighting the
OLOWS, CLC. a. cecenameserancteesianneseom ssieeie seme meneee 00 02 06
1699.
Payed to Hargett a years wages for mole takeing ......... 01 00 00
1700.
Payed to Hargett a yeares wages for mole takeing at
Myms* last cx tecucot sen sseaketec cerca bate Mene eucincelaneeene 01 00 00
1701.
Pd. to John Hargett his moletaking wages..........ssssee 01 00 00
1702.
Pd. to him his years wages for moletaking ..............000 01 00 00
Agreed that the moletaking wages shall be pd. no more
out of the Towns rents.
Hargett’s name reappears in 1704. I understand that the
overseers of this parish used formerly to pay for the destruction of
Sparrows and their eggs.
Bo.NuurRst.
1676. 29) Sh in
2 Polecattsikilled sim the wer sececcnssareecsecscecsnececenescereceee O O
1679.
pd. to John Rug 5 poleatts and a hodgh..............ssseseeeee 0 110
1710.
pd. to) Mr Petty tor ikailine ot 2) 0X8). 2.. sce see sceaenronencirts OO)
ithe
Deew2Gnepde tor poltcats jccncsse-ssescelcnsencesneenecnsceerene 6
1794.
Decv2bF “Ba Mor SparOwse.icscnsswascacscesoseseessovs sete seers 4 0
L799:
Pd. at diffrant times for Sparrows ......ssssceccsssccseseccceecs 3 6
Only a few payments for killing vermin appear, the first in
1676; additional single entries for a Fox and a Polecat are in-
cluded. Sparrows first appear in 1794, and continue irregularly
until 1805, and where stated they were paid for at the rate of 2d.
per dozen. Small sums only appear to have been paid.
BrRoMHAM.
1680. £8. ds
For killing a hedghogg......seccsseseeeeseeseees Soonpoasnocopcodet 00 00 04
1684.
For a fox’s head..... Rad wicasiec blawnwiajare cleat oles out desu canaoeetletecres 00 01 00
* Evidently Michaelmas.
CHURCHWARDENS’ ACCOUNTS OF BEDFORDSHIRE. 167
The earliest entry in the Church Book appears in 1680.
Killing of Hedgehogs—often spelt ‘‘hoghog,” and sometimes
“hedghoogs”’ and ‘“‘hedgehoges ’’—seems to be a regular yearly
item thenceforward until 1692.
CARDINGTON.
Payments for the destruction of Sparrows appear in 1836,
when 7s. 6d. was paid; in 1837, £3 7s. 7d.; 1838, £2 Os. 2d.;
1841, £1; 1842, £2.
CoPLle.
Entries for Sparrows only appear, the earliest being 9th
April, 1812.
DEAN
1797. Suds
Teor? 02 lov sG. BER RS aponce Dacca adHacs ACRE eHa aaa BBAU Hac EreEBe anGrad aatrore 1 O
TDI By. [koh Wes eae SURO SE COC EOG CHER DB SCH ACO SHEE TICE CaaS cdEdouanccaaaHeaen 1 O
3 1810.
1183 ClOHay IBA AER ANNO Eines R NAS AHOGS eR OS REORER AGO CBR Soren acne ban tas nos obeoe 6 6
The payments appear to commence in 1797, and the last
entry of any vermin is in 1834. The payments for Bats are of
particular interest, no less than 852 being killed, all at the rate
of 6d. per dozen. There are also entries for 25 Foxes at 1s. each.
The precise dates of payment do not appear to be given.
1815. 8. d.
Maveco abd. Painess dozny Sparse wscs<cescdeccps ea cceiceneet -ocites 0 8
AP OVAL ONES sccicae eels sae decas s\ssiiselcaia sie ntiiaeciacttesaiace al
Pe tee OTE Gurley Av Elo OSiaantencsccenacaceasececectennsncecteet 4
Oct. 30. Pd. Merrewether 4 Poll Cats .............ceeseseeeceree 1 4
1816.
Jan. 8. Merryweather and others for fox caught in trap... 3
Weve 2a LLOUSLCOR OMI SO SOS s sc ccs vaceieteneeenne ccctsene see eteacenss 6
June 16. Chambling boy 3 dozen speorsd .......seseeeseeeeees 0 7
rr Jas. Waring one dozen of Speores ........eseeeeeees 0 2
July 27. Houlet boy one snake 2 Hegogs...........sseeseescoeee 0 6
NoveGrmeds Ousted OF EOll CatsE cc cemsccesnetaveacsc<edacr antes 1S
1817.
Mar. 8. ; Pd. \C. Disher 2, Dozen, old Spors.........:....00.0ssssa- 6
1821.
June 27. Paid Saml. Sage for fifteen dozen sparrows ...... 3.9
POS LOMRARVID OL are sacetan red sei eds esses oesieceine sess 2
1824.
Oi We Es LOM as NObheIe ses soajscetmen eis oiecseeccceceucioe eseee 103
(To be continued.)
168 THE ZOOLOGIST.
FIELD NOTES ON SOME OF THE SMALLER
BRITISH MAMMALIA.
By Gorpon DauGuiEsH.
Durine recent years a great deal of interest has been taken
in our native mammals, the result of this being that we now
have some good and useful books on the subject, besides nume-
rous papers thereon. That our knowledge is by no means
complete has been shown lately by the discovery of two new
Voles, viz. Microtus orcadensis* and Evotomys skomerensis,+ and
two new Mice from St. Kilda.t For some two or three years I
have been collecting small mammals, and have carefully kept
notes on any information I have gained in doing so, and I
venture to think that these may prove of interest to naturalists
and readers of ‘ The Zoologist ’’ in general. The means I em-
ployed for getting together a series of Mice, Voles, and Shrews
being, of course, traps; these being the ordinary ‘‘break-neck”’
mouse-trap sold for a penny by all ironmongers. The only bait
I have used for the above mammals has been cheese. By far the
commonest mammals caught were Shrews, next to these being
Wood-Mice and Bank-Voles, and the rarest—strange as it may
seem—the Field-Vole. The traps were placed indiscriminately and
anywhere where I considered there was sufficient cover to shelter
‘small deer.” I found that on very windy or rainy weather I
never caught anything at all.
Nocrute Bar (Pterygistes noctula).—Although Gilbert White
named this species “ altivolans,” it does at times fly very low—
so low, indeed, that last summer I was able to knock several
over by means of a stick whilst they were engaged in catching
cockchafers. This Bat makes its appearance early in the
* Miullais, ‘ Zoologist,’ 1904, p. 244.
+ Barrett-Hamilton, ‘ Proceedings,’ Royal Irish Academy, vol. xxiv.
sect. B, art. 4, pp. 315-19 (1903).
{ Barrett-Hamilton, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1899, p. 81.
FIELD NOTES ON SOME BRITISH MAMMALIA. 169
evening ; I have seen several on the wing at 5.30 p.m., flying in
bright sunshine, and it goes to roost comparatively early, as I
have never seen it on the wing after 9.80 p.m. It disappeared
altogether after the end of August. That it hybernates at this
early date seems hardly possible, and I feel sure that it is to a
certain extent migratory, visiting other places. In supposition
of this I can only say that I had never seen this Bat in the village
of Milford, Surrey, until the year 1902, when I obtained a few
specimens in a hollow elm-tree formerly inhabited by a pair of
Barn-Owls. I did not see one during the summer of 1904,
whilst last year they were very common there. These Bats
have a strong and disagreeable odour, which is perceptible some
way off, and I have constantly ‘“‘ winded”’ them when passing
along a country road in the daytime.
PIPISTRELLE (Vesperugo pipistrellus). — This little Bat I do
not think hybernates at all in the true sense of the word, as
I have notes on its appearance in every month of the year, and
I have frequently observed it flying and catching gnats on a
winter’s afternoon. It is remarkable how very easily these little
creatures are killed. One flew into my bedroom one evening,
and, wishing to keep it alive, I caught it in a butterfly-net, and
found, to my surprise and regret, on taking it out, that it was
quite dead.
Daupenton’s Bat (Myotis daubentont).—As before stated in
‘The Zoologist,’ a friend and I caught several of these Bats one
year at Teddington by angling for them over a bridge by the
river. The following year the same place was tried again, but
without success (A. H. Bishop, im lit.); not a single specimen
was seen or obtained. From this I conclude that this species is
migratory, and changes its quarters. I found them very regular
in their habits. They appeared flying over the water punctually
at 8 p.m., and their numbers gradually increased until 9 p.m.,
when every one disappeared, and, although I waited quite two
hours, they did not put in another appearance that night. Not
only once, but several times this occurred. I never could dis-
cover the resting-places of this Bat—whether they resorted to
buildings or trees, though I think most probably it was the
latter. I did not observe them on the wing after September.
Their flight was very pretty, and quite unlike that of any other
170 THK ZOOLOGIST.
Bat I know, being Swallow-like, and occasionally hovering over
and picking some insect off the surface of the water.
HepeEnoe (Erinaceus ewropeus).—The following is a note I
wrote, which appeared in the ‘Field’ for Nov. 19th, 1904 :—
‘Most writers on British Mammalia agree as to the hybernation
of the Hedgehog. Bell says: ‘The hybernation of the Hedge-
hog is perhaps as complete as that of any animal inhabiting this
country’; and adds: ‘It retires to its warm soft nest of moss
and leaves, and, rolling itself up into a ball, passes the dreary
season in a state of dreamless slumber, .... and only rendered
the more profoundly torpid by the bitterest frost.’ Lydekker, in
his ‘ Handbook of the British Mammalia,’ remarks: ‘ During the
winter the Hedgehog passes its time in a state of complete torpor,
apparently never awakening, and therefore requiring no store of
food.’ ‘This in a certain sense is true, but that it does awake
occasionally I know, for in the winter of 1900-01 I caught a
Hedgehog running about on the snow late one afternoon, and a
few days later saw another one. Two writers in ‘ The Zoologist’
for 1896 (pp. 76 and 98) affirm this. Now, these three incidents
all took place in bitterly cold weather, and are opposed to what
Bell states. In the island of Guernsey, where the winters are
not so severe, I frequently found Hedgehogs (where they are
very common) in the cold months of the year. That our hyber-
nating mammals do sometimes awake is well known,.... but
the Hedgehog being abroad on cold winter days is remarkable,
and worth noting.” Last year, whilst I was staying in Somerset-
shire, 1 found the back skin only of a number of Hedgehogs
lying about a field, anda friend tells me he had observed the
same thing in Shropshire. I think this must have been the
work of Foxes.
Mote (T'alpa ewropea).—On going through a large series of
Moles, I have come to the conclusion that these animals have no
regular time for shedding their fur; but certain individuals moult
throughout the year, though the fur is poorest in some speci-
mens collected in June. ‘They do not appear to put on a thicker
winter coat, and this may be due to their subterranean habits.
Living as they do below the surface of the earth, they would not feel
the cold like terrestrialmammals. I picked out specimens collected
in January, and on comparing them with some collected in July,
FIELD NOTES ON SOME BRITISH MAMMALIA. 171
I could not see there was any marked difference in the thickness
of the fur. In many June specimens parts of the body, especially
the back, appeared as if the tips of the hairs had been cut off
with scissors. I regard this abrasion of the hairs due to the
constant movements of the animals in their underground pas-
sages. Moles, as a rule, retire deep underground in hard
weather, though I have a specimen taken alive in February,
above ground, during a hard and prolonged frost at 10 a.m.
Moles have a partiality for wet swampy soil. I have often found
their runs in these situations, and in some places where the water
fairly—if I may use the term—‘“‘ squelched”’ over my boots.
Common SHrew (Sorex araneus).—I have nothing further to
add to my note on this species published in a previous number
of ‘ The Zoologist,’ except that last year I caught a Shrew in the
act of devouring what would have been a very fine specimen of a
Bank-Vole caught in one of my traps.
Piamy SHREW (S. minutus). — I have never trapped this
species, but found two dead ones last year in the neighbour-
hood of Godalming.
Water Surew (Neomys fodiens).— With regard to the moult-
ing of this species, | cannot say how often it takes place, as
I have found the species scarce, and have been unable to obtain
many specimens ; but that it does moult at least once a year I
know, as I have found them in this condition in April. I find it
has a great partiality for ditches and slow running streams, and
it also is less aquatic in its habits than is generally supposed. I
once saw one running along a perfectly dry ditch covered with
dead leaves a long way from any water, and have several times
picked up dead ones on the high road. The finest specimen I.
have ever seen is one in my possession, which was caught at
Hsher, Surrey, in November, 1904. The fur is extremely long
and thick, and as soft and glossy as that of a Mole, while the stiff
hairs on the feet and tail are greatly developed.
Weaseu (Putorius vulgaris).—I have on more than one occa-
sion watched Weasels at play. ‘Their actions then are extremely
pretty and graceful, reminding one of kittens. They will when
thus engaged bound up a couple of feet or so into the air in sheer
exuberance of spirit.
Dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarwus).—I once found a colony
172 THE Z00LOGIST.
of Dormice in a wood a few miles away from the Crystal Palace,
and could have taken scores of them. ‘Their nests were built on
low bushes. One I caught was asleep in a Thrush’s nest, where
it had sucked the eggs, three in number. Round Godalming, in
Surrey, the Dormouse is yearly becoming rarer, no doubt in
consequence of the toll levied on them to supply London dealers,
and I heard of one man in that neighbourhood who made a
living out of catching Dormice and Squirrels.
Woopv-Mouss (Mus sylvaticus).—I have taken every inter-
mediate variety of this Mouse, from the typical sylvaticus to the
so-called “‘ Yellow-necked Mouse,” Mus flavicollis. Some speci-
mens showed no trace whatever of the yellow pectoral band, and
others were nearly flavicollis, but not quite, having the band
slightly broken in the middle. I took one specimen of flavicollis
on Richmond Hill, and another at Milford, Surrey. I have
trapped these Mice in a variety of situations in hedges, under
bushes, in outhouses, round corn-ricks, and on the banks of
streams, and in my opinion they are every bit as common as the
House-Mouse. I found one asleep in a nest during November.
The nest was a round structure, made of grass, and placed
in a hazel-bush, but whether this was built by the animal itself,
or was the deserted nest of a Dormouse, I am unable to say.
Banx-Voun (EHvotomys glareolus). — This Vole I have found to
be quite common, at least in the south. I have trapped them
among ivy-roots, and also in damp marshy woods, and in this
last situation I found a nest composed of leaves, and placed in a
thick tuft of grass at the foot of an alder-bush, containing five
naked young. This was in May. I have found them breeding
throughout the summer months, and killed a pregnant female in
September, and one was caught on Nov. 5th that would have
shortly given birth to five young (A. H. Bishop, i lit.).
Firip-Vour (Microtus agrestis).—I would like to draw atten-
tion to the great variability in size of the Field-Vole. According
to my own experience those in the South of England are, on the
whole, smaller than those of the midland and northern counties:
Specimens I have examined, collected in Surrey, Hampshire, and
Middlesex, were quite typical ; whilst some collected in Warwick-
shire and Yorkshire were very large indeed, quite above the
average. Whilst I was in Guernsey I was shown some Field-
FIELD NOTES ON SOME BRITISH MAMMALIA. 173
Voles that were very nearly as large as half-grown Rats. I very
much regret now I did not obtain some of these, as they might
have proved to be an undescribed species or form. It is worth
noting that—in the case of Voles, at least those found on islands
are larger than those of the mainland. Thus we have the Orkney
Vole considerably larger than its near ally, the Field-Vole; and
the Skomer Island Vole, which may be compared to a large
Bank-Vole ; and, lastly, the Guernsey Voles I have alluded to
above. Mr. Drane, of Cardiff, was the discoverer of the Skomer
Vole, and in a letter he wrote to me he says :—‘‘ The island is
off Pembrokeshire, of some six hundred acres. There is not a
tree on the island, the largest shrub is the common furze,....
and it was there I first recorded the Vole as Microtus skomerensis
in 1896.” There is no doubt that the Voles of the British Isles
until lately had been very imperfectly worked out, and even now
I feel sure that close attention and careful collecting would reveal
many more interesting points.
Water-Voue (JM. amphibius).—In a former volume of ‘ The
Zoologist’ (1902, p. 66), I drew attention to the carnivorous
tastes of the Water-Vole, which was confirmed by Mr. Patterson
(p. 111). Another case came under my notice a year ago, when
I saw one in the act of devouring some Moorhen’s eggs. I have
shot several of these Voles, which appeared to be suffering from
a disease in the form of a hard scaly scab on the sides of the
body. The animals appeared to be otherwise healthy; but this I
have noticed many times, and the fact may be worth noting.
174 THE ZOOLOGIST.
NOTES ON MARINE CRUSTACEA IN CONFINEMENT.
By Aupert H. Waters, B.A.
(Concluded from p. 57.)
ALTHOUGH individual specimens were got from elsewhere,
every one of the species kept by me in aquaria have been
obtained from the eastern shore of the Wash—that is, from Hun-
stanton; so that 1 may be said to be practically writing a list of
the Crustacea of that place, the fauna of which I have been
observing for forty years. Thirteen years ago I entered into
negotiations with the object of starting an aquarium close to the
beach, and hoped to make of it a marine laboratory of scientific
benefit. But the necessary outlay proved to be beyond my
slender means, and the design was abandoned—for a time, as I
hoped; but unfortunately I have met with reverse after reverse,
and each has left me poorer than before, so that my project has
never been accomplished yet, and I have had to content myself
with such observations as I could make when visiting the spot
every summer, not earlier than the end of March, or later than
October. Yet, even with this more or less casual observation, I
have in my note-books a fairly complete list of the fauna of the
Wash, especially as it was before the place was so flooded with
visitors as it is now in the summer season.
The bygone fauna of Hunstanton, in the days when it was a
coral-reef, I have described in the defunct ‘ Naturalists’ World’
for 1884. I have collected and studied the fossils of the red-and-
white chalk from the day I first went there as a boy, making
casts or rubbings of such as I was unable to get out of the hard
chalk.
The fauna of to-day is very different from those old Cretaceous
times. The Brachiopods are no longer the prevailing Mollusca ;
Belemnites no longer dart about in the clear water; and although
the bivalves are still well represented, it is by quite different
species.
MARINE CRUSTACEA IN CONFINEMENT. 175
T have tried hard to find out what Crustacea lived in those
days, but the investigation has not been an easy one for me. It
is one I am still persevering with, however, and I may by careful
and painstaking work meet with some success yet. I should have
a better chance of success if I resided on the spot, and could give
more time to investigating the fallen masses of red-and-white
chalk.
But I shall be writing a paleontological article if I do not
check my pen. To return to the Decapoda I was about to write
on in my former article.
Pandalus annulicornis is a pretty creature to have in an
aquarium ; it looks as if made of tinted glass, with the joints a
deeper pink. But 1 have found it rather tender in my shallow
vases. It does not seem happy unless the water is deep, and I
have never succeeded in getting it to breed as I have the hardier
Prawns. It needs a vase all to itself, as it fights fiercely with
its fellows, and a tank full of them will dwindle in numbers as
did the ‘‘ ten little niggers,” until, when there are only two
survivors, they get fighting, and then there is one. This one
may live for months, untroubled apparently in conscience, but a
very cold night may prove fatal to it, as it often has to mine.
Palemon serratus I have only occasionally captured, and
always of small size. It, however, makes one of the best
aquarium pets I have had, and will live for two or three years—
srowing, indeed, until it gets too large for my vases. I had one
which lived for a long time in company with an Actinia mesem-
bryanthemum I brought from Brighton in 1876, and which is still
living. The Anemone seems to have killed it in the end, but
while it lived it was useful to pick up rejected pieces of food such
as the Sea-anemone often seizes with her tentacles and then
drops. I speak of it in the feminine gender because it has been
the mother of several young ones.
Palemon squilla I have also found an interesting pet. It soon
becomes tame, and will take scraped meat off my finger. I have
kept it until it has grown to full maturity, and become a parent.
The larve, when first hatched from the eggs carried about by
their mother, fall to the bottom of the aquarium; then they
suddenly give a flap with their tails, and dart upwards through
the water, afterwards slowly sinking, and anon repeating the
176 THE ZOOLOGIST.
evolution. They are comical creatures at first, these zoea, but
each moult makes them more and more like the adult Prawn.
Only a small percentage survive to maturity out of the number
of ova there are at first.
Palemon varians is the easiest of all the Prawns to keep in
captivity. It does not trouble much about the density of the
water, and if the aquarium be properly made up can take care of
itself during its owner’s absence from home. I have left these
Prawns for a month or more, and found them all right on my
return home. I am not sure they do not sometimes eat sea-
weed; they certainly love to pick the laver about with their
pincers. They are the only Prawns I suspect of occasional
vegetarianism. I have seen them holding a piece of the green
lettuce laver in their pincers, just as if about to put it into their
mouths. As they seem none the worse for being left for weeks,
they must either eat seaweed or have the power of enduring long
fasts.
It is curious how Prawns lose their transparency when they
are unwell or dying, and how opaque these crystal creatures are
when dead. I can always see if they are ailing or distressed at
all by noticing whether they are quite clearly transparent or
otherwise, and generally in time to save their lives. I mostly
lose them either by a sudden frost or by their fighting with one
another. Some of the large Prawns are very fierce and pug-
nacious, especially the females when they are carrying ova.
One of these contrived to kill a Hermit-Crab in the same .
aquarium, and another one, in with a Goby, killed the fish. I
like to keep them with the fish, as they pick up all tiny morsels
of meat these and the Hermit-Crabs reject. With scraped meat
there is sure to be some not eaten, and if left it will foul
the water ; Hermit-Crabs are especially wasteful of meat given
them.
The regulation food for my Prawns is scraped beef. This
they take off a pointed wooden skewer, and evidently know where
their food comes from, as they are eagerly alert at sight of the
skewer. At other times they endeavour to arrest my attention
by coming to the front of the aquarium and palpably begging for
food.
Crangon vulgaris.—I have had such success with the Common
MARINE CRUSTACHA IN CONFINEMENT. eT
Shrimp—keeping them through their entire lives—that I have
laughingly suggested it might be possible to breed them in inland
ponds of sea-water. They grow very fast, and in three years
seem quite old. They are quite tame with me, and feed from the
wooden skewer just as the Prawns do. As soon as one has taken
a morsel of scraped meat he scoops the sand away, and sinks
down into the hollow before eating it. They spend most of the
daytime buried up in the sand, which they excavate into a hollow
with their feet and tail, and then sweep other grains over their
backs by means of their antenne so as to effectually hide them-
selves all but their eyes. At night they come out and roam
about the aquarium. This is the best time to see them walking.
Strange to say, they do not seem to mind artificial light, but
walk about just the same when the aquarium is lighted up. They
are peaceable things, and a number can be kept together without
harming each other.
Shrimps do best with me in broad, shallow earthenware pans
half filled with fine, soft sea-sand, and covered with an inch of
water. They need plenty of air, and if opportunity be given
them will crawl almost out of the water. They appreciate the
sand being disposed like a sloping bank just covered at one part.
In deeper aquaria—as in vases—I have had them crawl out on
to the top of the rockwork. One old one I had a long time was
very fond of perching on the top of a stone, with its back quite
out of the water.
Mysis chameleon.—Although I have kept for a short time
numbers of the Opossum Shrimps, they need such frequent
changes of water that they do not thrive in an inland aqua-
rium. 1 have never succeeded in so taming them that they
will eat scraped meat, and they seem to need something which
is only found in the sea. I do not despair of succeeding
with them yet, as I have succeeded in feeding Barnacles, and
these capture minute particles of food, much as, I think, the
Myside do. é
I fear I shall make this article too lengthy if I enumerate all
the species I have kept. I have had four species of Shrimps,
but the habits of the others do not vary much from those of
Crangon vulgaris. Some other Crustacea I must also omit, and,
merely mentioning the names of Cymodocea truncata—with ways
Zool. 4th ser. vol. X., May, 1906. P
178 THE ZOOLOGIST.
as amusing as an Armadillo—a species or two of Arcturus, and
allied kinds, conclude with mention of—
Gammarus locusta. — This crustacean has lived generation
after generation in my aquaria. An interesting trait in its
nature is the care the parents take of their young. Male and
female associate together, and pair off all their lives. The female
is especially fond of her husband, and carries him about
wherever she goes, until her eggs are hatched, when they
both look after the young. The newly hatched ones do not
essentially differ from the adult form, as do other Crustacea,
unless they develop ere they leave the abdomen of the female.
Like Shrimps they grow rapidly. Mine are tamable creatures,
and come to a pointed stick or small quill as readily as the
Prawns do.
Cambridge.
LSA)
THE BIRDS OF THE DISTRICT OF STAINES.
By Granam W. Kerr.
Turis list is made up from my note-books which I have kept
for the last twelve years.
First, let me give some idea of the country included in these
notes. On the Thames, Old Windsor Lock to the village of
Laleham is the limit ; across the river I have ranged to Thorpe,
and all around Virginia Water; on the Middlesex side I have
worked as far afield as Stanwell, taking in the new Staines
reservoirs. The building of these reservoirs has had great effect
on our bird-life, attracting many species formerly quite unknown
to these parts.
Unfortunately the reservoirs are a very difficult place to
successfully observe birds; there is an entire lack of any cover,
the expanse of water is very great, and, owing to the height, the
least breeze lashes it into an open sea. So that, even with good
glasses, it is most difficult to approach near enough to satis-
factorily identify the ever-increasing number of Waders, Duck,
Geese, &c., that occur on spring and autumn migrations, or that
remain to winter on the waters. The Duck and Gulls always
keep well out towards the centre, and the Waders that run along
the concrete slopes take alarm long before one can get anywhere
near them.
Mistie-Turusa (Turdus viscivorus). —Of late years has in-
creased considerably ; in the autumn many birds of a very light
plumage make their appearance, and, I think, must be migrants.
Sone-Turuss (T. musicus).—Common.
Repwine (7. iliacus)—A good number pass the winter.
Fienprare (7’. pilaris) Common during the winter, but of
late years there have not been so many, probably owing to the
weather having been more or less open.
Buacxpirp (7. merula).—Common.
180 THE ZOOLOGIST.
Waueatear (Saxicola cnanthe). —In April, 1895, numbers
occurred for the first time in the district, and were seen for one
day only. In spite of a keen look-out every spring it was not
until the autumn of 1904 that the bird was rediscovered. About
a score of birds were then found frequenting a rabbit-haunted
plateau in Windsor Park, and I thought had probably bred there.
In spring (1905) half a dozen birds returned to the same spot,
but, although one or two remained throughout the summer, I
could find no trace of their nesting. With the exception of one
or two recent individual appearances of the bird around the
reservoirs on migration, this is the only spot where they are
likely to be found.. The country around Staines is not suited to
their needs. ;
Warncuat (Pratincola rubetra).—A summer migrant, breeding
round the sides of the reservoirs, but seeming to avoid the parts
occupied by the Stonechat.
Sronecuat (P. rubicola).—A resident that has considerably
increased in numbers. Frequents the sides of the reservoirs,
nesting in the grassy slopes, often quite close to the road. The
bird is remarkably tame, and pays no heed to the traffic, though
very wary in approaching the nest. Two broods are reared, the
first nest being commenced early in March.
Repstart (Ruticilla phenicurus).—Never very plentiful around
Staines, and is becoming rarer. In Windsor Forest, however, it
breeds regularly, and this spring I saw one there as early as the
19th March—an exceptionally early date.
REDBREAST (Hrithacus rubecula). — Common resident, subject
to considerable local movements.
NIGHTINGALE (Daulias luscinia). — Not so many as formerly,
but still occurs in large numbers. The bird returns year after
year to the same spot, and, if it has not been disturbed, rears its
young within a few yards of the previous season’s home. The
song is often not commenced until some days after arrival.
Sings quite as much during the day as at night, and it has struck
me that the Nightingale must need much less sleep than many
other birds. When the young birds are in danger the male utters
a hoarse croak somewhat similar to the Red-backed Shrike’s.
WuiterHRoat (Sylvia cinerea).— Common during summer ;
sometimes the foster-parent of young Cuckoos.
BIRDS OF THE DISTRICT OF STAINES. 181
Lesser WHITETHROAT (S. curruca). — Not so conspicuous as
its relative, but its skulking habits are apt to cause it to be over-
looked until it brings its young into the gardens at the beginning
of the fruit season.
Buacxeap (S. atricapilla). — Sparsely distributed. The little
red-capped hen is a most devoted mother. Once when I dis-
turbed one from her nest, she flew at and brushed my face with
her wing. On another occasion the bird only just left the nest,
and remained on a branch within a few feet, quivering all over
with anxiety, absolutely fearless for herself.
GARDEN- WARBLER (S. hortensis).—In early spring great num-
bers occur, and for some days the country-side is full of their
song; but they gradually move away again, and comparatively
few remain to nest. I have several times found the Garden-
Warbler and Blackcap nesting close together. |
GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN (Regulus cristatus).— More often seen
in winter and early spring; sometimes joins the family parties
of Long-tailed Tits. Not known to breed.
Fire-cRESTED WRrEN (R. ignicapillus).— Of rare occurrence
only.
Wittow-WreEN (Phylloscopus trochilus). —The song is heard
from every copse in spring, and again in autumn there is a great
revival of its notes. I have heard it singing cheerily until well
on towards the middle of October.
REED-WaRBLER (Acrocephalus streperus).— There are large
numbers along the river-banks, but they are curiously local, and
seem to breed in small colonies, for where one nest is found
there are sure to be several more in the immediate vicinity.
From early in June the Cuckoo shows great partiality for this
bird’s nest, and it must be quite convenient for her to deposit
her eggs all around the same spot. That the convenience is
appreciated is shown by my having frequently found several
Reed-Warblers’ nests, each containing a Cuckoo’s egg, within a
distance of a few hundred yards.
Sepee-Warsuer (A. phragmitis).— More evenly distributed
than the Reed-Warbler, and during May this is the favourite
nest of the Cuckoo. The Sedge-Warbler is an untiring songster,
and its babbling notes continue far into the night. ‘Two broods
are reared, but | have never found a Cuckoo’s egg in the second
182 THE Z00LOGIST.
nest; by that time the Reed-Warbler has become the first
favourite.
GRASSHOPPER- WARBLER (Locustella nevia).—There are a good
many along the river, but they are more often heard than seen.
The note, to my ear, very closely resembles the winding in of a
fisherman’s reel, and is often hard to locate precisely.
Hepcer-Sparrow (Accentor modularis).—Resident.
Dipper (Cinclus aquaticus).—Yarrell observes :—‘‘ The nearest
spot (to London) in which I heard of a Dipper being seen was a
watermill-tail at Wryrardisbury, on the Colne, about two or
three hundred yards above the place at which it falls into the
Thames, just below Bell Weir.” I know the spot well. The
water is really private, and runs rapidly over large boulders. It
is, indeed, a likely place, but I have never been fortunate enough
to be able to record a second example.
Lone-taireD Trr (Acredula caudata).— Has considerably in-
creased, but is by no means numerous.
Great Trr (Parus major).—In winter this bird comes close to
houses, and at feeding-time other members of the family must
wait until he is satisfied; but with the return of spring he
retires to the woods, and is seen very little of until the following
autumn.
Coat-Trtr (P. ater).—Not a very great many.
Marsu-Tirr (P. palustris).— Uncommon, but one or two broods
are hatched each year. Fond of fruit, the red berries of the
mountain-ash, and sunflower seeds.
Buve Tir (P. ceruleus). — Numerous. In the autumn these
birds split open the dry heads of the garden poppy, and in an
amazingly short time clear out all the seeds, the opium appa-
rently having not the slightest effect on them. They are also
very partial to sunflower seeds.
Nursatcy (Sitta cesia).—Quite common in the woods.
Wren (T'roglodytes parvulus).— Very plentiful.
Prep Wactait (Motacilla lugubris).— A resident, though the
number is increased during summer. Three broods are reared.
Waitt Waerait (M. alba).—Only an occasional migrant.
Grey Waeramn (M. melanope).—A regular autumn migrant.
In some years old birds with their young families arrive towards
the end of September, and remain by the river for some days.
BIRDS OF THE DISTRICT OF STAINES. 188
As a rule, however, the first birds appear about the middle
of October, and one or two always remain for the winter.
BuvuE-HEADED WaerTaiL (M. flava).—In June, 1903, a single
bird frequented a flooded meadow for some days.
YeLttow Waetait (M. raii). — Fair numbers are well dis-
tributed along the banks of the river throughout the summer.
On the autumn migration great numbers of family parties
arrive, and remain for some days, feeding and playing about
together. During this time each family appears to keep to
itself, and I have not been able to discover if the final migratory
movement is undertaken in these separate parties, or if at the
very end of their stay they unite and depart in one flock.
Certainly, on migration, I have seen M. lugubris in flocks. One
such movement towards evening brought many hundreds of the
birds into the district, and when night fell every bush was full
of them. The female sits very closely, and the male usually
has a resting-place some twenty yards away. He spends nearly
the entire day perched at this same spot, and if he flies away
returns again in a very few minutes; he rarely approaches
nearer the nest, and when doing so displays great caution.
When the female comes off to feed he accompanies her. I
wonder if others have noticed the increased playfulness and
good spirits of birds about to set out on the autumn migration.
Yellow Wagtails dart at each other, and follow each other
on short flights, calling the while, just as if the courtship of
spring were renewed. Whinchats, Pipits, and Larks also do
this.
Tree-Pirrr (Anthus trivialis)— Unusually scarce. I have
only met with one nest in twelve years.
Meapow-Pirir (A. pratensis).—During winter large numbers
are seen, but with the return of spring they vanish, and I have
never seen one during the summery.
TREE-CREEPER (Certhia familiaris).—Fairly common.
RED-BACKED SHRIKE (Lanius collwrio).—This handsome bird
is well distributed, and is fond of perching on telegraph-
wires. The hen sits closely, but the male is apt to betray
the nest by his too evident anxiety and harsh croak of anger
when an intruder is nigh. I have found nests containing
seven eggs, which is rather unusual. The bird frequently eats
184 THE 4Z00LOGIST.
worms, as I have found from examining many of the so-called
‘* larders.”’
SporreD FuycatcHer (Muscicapa grisola).—Common all along
the river during summer, nesting in niches in old willow-trees.
The nest is commenced almost immediately upon the bird’s
arrival. After rain-showers the Spotted Flycatcher often comes
down on to the ground and walks about.
SwatLow (Hirundo rustica) —Common.
Martin (Chelidon urbica).—Common.
Sanp-Marrin (Cotile riparia). — There is no nesting colony
within several miles of our part of the river, yet the birds fly to
the stream every day, and are always in greater numbers in
gusty and windy weather. Then they fly low down over the
water just clear of the waves. In the upper reaches of the
Thames the bird commonly nests in the banks of the river itself.
GREENFINCH (Ligurinus chloris) Common. Another of the
birds that are partial to sunflower seeds.
Hawrincn (Coccothraustes vulgaris). — Still rare, but un-
doubtedly slightly on the increase. In Windsor Forest it breeds
annually.
Go.pFINcH (Carduelis elegans).—Hixceedingly scarce. I have
had reports of the bird at Staines, but the only times I have
personally seen it were on two occasions in Windsor Forest last
spring (1905).
(To be continued.)
(18505)
NOLES AND QUELLE S:
MAMMALIA.
Bats in Berkshire.—The artificial cave at Park Place, in Remenham
parish, on the Berkshire side of the Thames, about a mile and a half
from Henley, became known to zoologists through a note by Mr. J. G.
Millais in P.Z.S. 1901, ii. p. 216, announcing the capture there by
Mr. Heatley Noble and himself of an example of Bechstein’s Bat,
which was said to be only the second occurrence of that species in
Great Britain. Apparently, however, this was in reality the fourth
occasion on which the species has been identified in this country. The
first record is that by Bell (both editions), of ‘‘ specimens taken by
Mr. Millard in the New Forest, and now in the British Museum.”’
From the date of publication of the first edition, this took place previous
to 1887. The second record is by Mr. Hi. W. H. Blagg, in ‘ The Zoolo-
gist,’ 1888, p. 260, who found about a dozen of these Bats in the New
Forest, in July, 1886, one of which was submitted to, and identified by,
Mr. Oldfield Thomas.* In ‘ The Zoologist,’ 1887, p. 162, and 1888,
p- 260, two Bats in the collection of the late Mr. F. Bond, from
Preston, near Brighton, are stated to be of this species; but Mr.
W.C. J. R. Butterfield, in the ‘ Victoria History of Sussex,’ i. p. 801,
states that they are ‘‘ undoubtedly assignable to M. natterert.” But
on July 28th, 1896, he shot ‘‘an old male” Bechstein ‘‘ near Norman-
hurst, Bath,” ‘‘and its identification was confirmed by the late Sir
William H. Flower. The specimen is now in the Hastings Museum.”
On Feb. 14th last, I met Dr. EK. A. Wilson, late surgeon, zoologist,
and artist of the ‘ Discovery’ Antarctic Expedition, at Henley Station,
and drove him on to Temple Combe, whence Mr. Heatley Noble guided
us to the cave on the adjoining property of his mother, Mrs. Noble, at
Park Place. On the way Mr. Noble pointed out a hollow beech fre-
quented by Noctules; also a nest-box quite close to his house, generally
tenanted by Dormice. Subsequently, on March 26th, Mr. Noble found
five Noctules in a beech which was felled. The cave was excavated in
the chalk on the high bluff forming the edge of the river valley some
time between 1751 and 1795 by General Conway, who then owned the
* See also the ‘ Victoria Histor ’ for Hants, i. p. 240; and for Bucks, i.
p. 156.
186 THE 4O0O0OLOGIST.
property. It ig about a quarter of a mile in length, averaging perhaps
eight feet in width, and the same in height. There are in addition two
or three subsidiary caves. We examined one side of the cave on our
outward way, taking the opposite side on the return, and throwing the
light of the tapers, a supply of which Mr. Noble kindly brought with
him, on to every little irregularity in the chalk on wall and roof, and
into numberless chinks and crannies. We captured more than thirty
Bats, the majority of which were Natterer’s ; seven Whiskered, about
as many Long-eared, and three Daubenton’s. I regret that we kept
no exact count of the numbers, as we replaced on the roost all the
Long-eared, and a good many Natterer’s, when we had become suffi-
ciently familiar with the species to be sure of their identification by the
imperfect light of our flickering tapers. We brought out just twenty
Bats. Dr. Wilson reminds me that the Whiskered were all at either
end of the cave, north and south, near the entrances, and none in the
centre. The Long-eared were all near the north entrance. We
found throughout the cave an abundance of sleepy Herald Moths
and spiders; and one large broad-winged Geometer moth was found
by Dr. Wilson. A month later (March 14th or 15th) the Hon.
N. Charles Rothschild sent one of the Tring Museum staff to Park
Place, by permission of Mr. H. Noble, in quest of Bat fleas; Mr. Noble
could not go with him, but sent his gardener as guide. Only four Bats
were found, of as many species—Long-eared, Natterer’s, Whiskered ;
the fourth was a Lesser Horseshoe, a species which, even if not new to
the county,* is, at any rate—so far as present knowledge goes—not a
resident therein. In an excellent article on the distribution in Great
Britain of this species (Zool. 1887, p. 89), the Rev. J. H. Kelsall con-
cludes that it does not occur as a resident species to the south-east of
Warwickshire and Gloucestershire. The latter county just touches
Berks for a length of some half-dozen miles (near Lechlade), but that
nearest point is fully forty miles in a straight line from Park Place.
Mr. Noble has since written me word that his lodge-keeper reports
numerous Bats in his roof; one evening he counted over sixty come
out. Mr. Noble kindly suggests that I should come over there for a
night, and that we should endeavour to rig up some kind of net, and
catch at least a few for identification; an offer, I need hardly say, I
hope to avail myself of. Mr. Noble has noticed that the Bats desert
the cave during the summer, only a stray individual or two being
* IT have not seen the account of the Mammals of Berks in the shortly-
expected first volume of the ‘ Victoria History’ of the county, and do not
know who the author of it is.
NOTES AND QUERIES. 187
then to be found. On March 25th a Daubenton was the sole occu-
pant.—Atrrep Heneace Cocks (Poynetis, Skirmett, near Henley-on-
Thames).
Pigmy Shrew (Sorex minutus) in Surrey.—On April 29th I trapped
a Pigmy Shrew. It was caught in a field, where it had made extensive
runs, just outside its burrow. What struck me at once was the great
length and breadth of the snout, which was, comparatively speaking,
greater than that of the Common Shrew; its ears also were more pro-
nounced than those of that species. It had a very rank and offensive
odour, resembling that of a Stoat. The animal (a male) gave the
following measurements in millimetres: Head and body, 55; tail, 38 ;
hind foot, 10; ear, 7. This is the third Pigmy Shrew that has come
into my possession from this county during the past four years, and the
first I have trapped, the other two being picked up dead. On comparing
the Pigmy Shrew with the Common one, besides its much smaller size
the differences I have pointed out above are most remarkable, and the
two species cannot possibly be confounded with each other. — Gorpon
Daueuress (Brook, Witley, Surrey).
Stoats in Winter Dress in South-western Hants.—During the past
winter, was it observed that the change in colour of this evil-smelling
little beast was more frequent than usual? In this neighbourhood I
knew of quite a score being killed—six in one week in early January—
and several others seen; two at least were killed on the railway, and
one was found in a brook apparently drowned. The first I saw was in
September, and to-day (April 10th) I saw one with much white about
it. The permanently black tip to the tail, I need not say, was retained
by all, and I saw none that were perfectly white, the dark summer coat
being more or less visible along the back, and especially about the
crown of the head, as if the white gradually crept up the sides,
absorbing the darker colour, lastly reaching the head. One was curiously
marked, having a large patch of brown on both hips, and a collar-like
mark of the same colour about its neck, whilst the head and face were
very dappled, which gave it a peculiar appearance. I may remark that
all I saw were of comparatively small size, and, with one exception,
females. It seems strange that under (as we suppose) exactly the
Same conditions some individuals should change colour, whilst the
greater proportion do not alter from their summer pelage—and it has
been observed many times in these pages—that the lighter ones are
more frequently seen in a mild winter than when the weather is severe ;
and at the same time it has been pointed out that a protective colour
amidst the snow becomes conspicuous when the landscape is snowless,
188 THE ZOO0OLOGIST.
and thus in a mild season more parti-coloured Stoats are observed.—
G. B. Corin (Ringwood).
Harvest-Mouse (Mus minutus) in Surrey.—For several years I had
been on the look-out for this pretty little Mouse, but without success,
and doubted its occurrence in this county. Yesterday (April 9th),
however, I had a pair brought to me that had been caught in a corn-
rick. Ihave not seen this species recorded from Surrey before, and
think it must be very rare here.—Gorpon Dateuiess (Hashing, God-
alming, Surrey).
Hippopotami in Rhodesia. — It is reported from Rhodesia that two
Hippopotami have taken up their abode in the Matopo Dam, a few
miles from Bulawayo. How they got there is somewhat of a mystery,
for the lower regions of the Umzingwani River, from which it appears
they must have come, are over one hundred miles from the dam. This
is the first year in which the dam has been quite full of water, and if,
as is supposed, the animals began to move early in the season, when
the rains were backward and the river was in consequence low, the
instinct displayed by them is perhaps worth investigating by those
interested in such matters. The Hippopotamus is seldom found in
Rhodesia, except in the larger rivers, such as the Zambesi, where in the
lagoons above the Victoria Falls one may often see several at a time.—
Tur Secretary (The British South Africa Company).
AVES.
Fire-crest in Sussex. — Seeing in last month’s ‘ Zoologist’ (ante,
p. 149) that the Fire-crest (Regulus ignicapillus) has occurred in Dorset
and Kent, it is worthy of note that it has likewise occurred in Sussex.
I met with one of these little birds at Maresfield on Feb. 14th, the first
under my notice, though often looked for.— Ropertr Morris (‘‘ Fern-
hurst,”’ Uckfield).
Late Stay of Bramblings (Fringilla montifringilla) in Cheshire.—
Between the 11th and 18th April last I watched a small party of
Bramblings of both sexes in a plantation of young larches at Blacon,
near Chester. They were feeding on the so-called larch-aphis (Chermes
laricis). Mr. R. Newstead kindly identified the insect, and informed
me that, to the best of his knowledge, he had no previous record of
this particular insect-pest being taken by birds. Although the planta-
tion adjoined a high road, the birds evinced little alarm at passers-by»
so intent were they in picking off these insects. They occasionally
gave utterance to a guttural note, ‘‘tuk, tuk,” or ‘‘tchuk, tehuk,”
NOTES AND QUERIES. 189
somewhat similar to that of the Corn-Bunting; only once did I hear
the winter call oftenest heard, the long-drawn ‘‘qua-a-a-tch.” I
should like to know if this species has been noticed in April in other
localities this year, for it seems to be an established fact that the bird
leaves this country not later than the end of March, as a rule.—S. G.
Cummines (Chester).
The Breeding Range of the Twite.— Referring to Mr. Ellison’s
remarks (ante, p. 150) regarding the breeding range of the Twite, the
statement that it ‘‘ breeds in most parts of the British Islands where
moors, Mountains, and exposed heathy places are found,” to my mind,
hardly sufficiently represents the status of this species during the
breeding season. It is more local in its distribution than seems to be
implied in the above description of its range, and is apparently absent
from vast tracts of moorland ; especially is this the case in Wales and
the north-east part of Yorkshire. I quite agree with Mr. Ellison that
future researches and closer scrutiny may reveal this bird as occasionally
nesting even in parts of the country where it has been declared not to
breed ; but, on the other hand, a closer investigation may prove that
it is absent from districts which have been considered hitherto as suit-
able breeding haunts. Hn passant, may I ask is Mr. Ellison quite sure
that this species feeds its young so exclusively on seeds, as stated in
‘The Zoologist’ for 1905, p. 8391 ?—H. P. Burrerrieny (Bank House,
Wilsden).
Crossbill in Captivity—aIn November last I obtained, by the kind-
ness of a friend, a fine male Crossbill in the yellow-green dress, which
had been in captivity more than a year, and probably longer, as he was
in the same plumage when purchased from a dealer. ‘‘Gyp,’’ as we
call him, from his sharp note, soon became quite tame, and would
freely take larch-cones from my hand. It is very interesting to watch
him at work with the cone firmly gripped to the perch with one foot,
the scales being forced open by the powerful beak, and the seeds
extracted with the tongue. This process has been admirably described
by Prof. Newton in Yarrell’s ‘ Birds’ (4th ed., vol. il. pp. 205, 206).
About this time of the year the cones become practically useless for
food, as they expand and shoot their seeds, and, from the specimens of
‘‘Gyp’s’’ work enclosed, it would seem that the young buds of the
Scotch-fr form part of the Crossbill’s food in spring and sum-
mer, as a small branch inserted in the wires of his cage is always
bitten to pieces, and stripped of every bud by the next day. His move-
ments, as he climbs about the cage or hangs back downwards from his
190 THE ZOOLOGIST.
fir-branch, are very pretty, and it is curious to see how he can extract
the kernel of a hemp-seed without crushing the husk. His perches are
changed occasionally for a fresh branch of pine or larch, and, though
he bites the bark from these, he does not attempt to injure the wood or
wirework of hiscage. arly in the year he began to warble a pleasant
but not powerful song, rather like that of a Bullfinch. Having had in
the winter an offer of Crossbills of both sexes, I was rather inclined to
get a hen-bird as a mate for him, but we rather feared that after so
many months of bachelor life he might maltreat her; so he is still in
sole possession of his cage. Mr. Patterson, in his ‘ Nature in Hastern
Norfolk’ (p. 189), mentions a Crossbill which lived in a cage for more
than six years, so we hope that ‘“‘ Gyp”’ may, with care, be retained as
a member of the household for some time to come. — Junian G. Tuck
(Tostock Rectory, Bury St. Edmunds).
Varieties of Yellow Bunting and Chaffinch—Harly in January I
saw a variety of the Yellow Bunting in which the whole plumage was
very much lighter than usual, except two or three of the middle tail-
feathers, which appeared in consequence to be very dark. The usual
yellow markings were more or less white, the larger quill-feathers of the
wings being much bleached, the ‘“ secondaries”’ alternately white and
dusky, which must have made it very conspicuous when the bird was
flying. The other variety of which I made a note was that of a cock
Chaffinch, shot in December last, and very much mutilated. The head
and neck were pale primrose colour, shading to deeper yellow about
ear-coverts and lower neck ; but the brightness of the tints faded con-
siderably in a few days after death. Under parts paler vinous than
usual, dappled with yellow; bars across wings conspicuous, the larger
quills white; back shading from the yellow of neck to pale green
towards the tail, the feathers of which had much white about them.
One at least of these varieties, I understand, was used for the cruel and
foolish fashion of decorating a lady’s hat.—G. B. Corzin (Ringwood).
Notes from Ringwood.—Last winter was very unprolific in the
records of any rarity amongst the wildfowl frequenting the valley of
the Avon ; aconsiderable number of Wigeon and Teal were constantly
upon the river (on one “‘shooting”’ ninety-eight Wigeon and one hun-
dred and thirty Teal were accounted for in one day by, I believe, five
guns), and the usual number of Wild Duck, with a few Pochard and
Shoveler, and an occasional immature Pintail and Golden-eye, with
Coot and Moorhen, especially the former, scarcely up to the average
number; but I heard of few Woodcock, and no Bittern, Gadwall, or
Goosander. Wood-Pigeon and Bramblings were not so abundant here
NOTES AND QUERIES. 191
as they were both east and west, whilst a few Golden Plover were
reported. The most abundant species were Snipe and Lapwing, both
of which were unusually common. On one estate over five hundred
Snipe were killed, but comparatively few Jack-Snipe; and as to Lap-
wings, they were continually passing to and fro in very large flocks.
Two or more Green Sandpipers were seen throughout the winter
frequenting the meadows, and at times Hooded Crows were in evidence
far more than was desired by the wildfowl sportsmen. The Short-
eared Owl seems to have been seldom seen in this immediate neigh-
bourhood for several past winters, although it used to regularly visit
us. It is gratifying to be able to record that Goldfinches are certainly
increasing, and Kinefishers are no scarcer than they were some years
ago; but the enormous flocks of Sky-Larks which formerly were to be
seen in the upland fields are sadly diminished in numbers, the craze
for bricks and mortar no doubt contributing its quota to the decrease
of Larks and other species, as it is certain that the Yellowhammer, and
its larger relation, the so-called “Common” Bunting, are much less
frequently seen than they were formerly.—G. B. Corsin (Ringwood,
Hants).
Upupa epops in Norfolk.—It will doubtless be of interest to the
numerous ornithologists interested in the fauna of the above county to
learn that a Hoopoe, in good plumage, frequented a newly-dug kitchen
garden at ‘The Meal House,’ Holkham, during Haster; it was first
seen on the 13th and again on the 14th of April. The wind was
blowing from the south on the first day, as well as the latter part of
the preceding day; previous to which it had been from the N.N.E. or
N.E. for some little time. Referring to ‘ The Zoologist’ (ante, p. 123),
I see Mr. J. H. Gurney states that there are no records of this species
for 1905; so the above occurrence is the first since March, 1904,
when one was seen at North Walsham (Zool. 1905, p. 91). — L. B.
Movrirz).
The Hoopoe.—On May 5th I received, from G. Myford, Esq.,
Beaver Hall Gardens, Old Southgate, N., a fine specimen of the Hoopoe
(Upupa epops).—Jamres Garpver (Oxford Street, W.).
Strange Death of a Hen-Harrier (Circus cyaneus).—From time to
time during the autumn and winter months I heard of one or more
large brown Hawks, ‘‘with much white about the tail,” having been
seen in widely separated localities, and I naturally surmised they were
female Hen-Harriers. About the middle of February a gamekeeper
brought a bird for identification, with the statement it had been
192 THE ZOOLOGIST.
‘nicked up dead’’; but I suppose my apparent acquiescence in his
assertion appeared somewhat sceptical, as he assured me in very
emphatic language he was quite ignorant of how the bird came by its
death. It evidently had been dead some time, and exposure to the rain
that had recently fallen had not improved its appearance, but other-
wise both in body and plumage it was in very fair condition. I
skinned it, and found there were no bruises or marks of any kind—
either trap or shots—upon any part of the body, and in its stomach
were the remains of a small bird, the head and leg of a Meadow-Pipit
indicating what these remains were. From the throat of the Harrier
a white paste-like substance had exuded, and this had rather injured
the appearance of the characteristic Owl-like ruff around the face ;
but it seemed to me the best part of the plumage was the splendid tail,
with its conspicuous bars of brown and buffish white, most aptly
applied to the old name of ‘‘Ringtail.”’ Is it possible the death of the
bird was caused by natural poisoning, or are birds liable to any form
of apoplexy? Judging from what I once saw of a Peregrine Falcon
(which doubtless had been poisoned), the Harrier’s death was not from
the same cause, as its legs and bare spaces about the beak were
as bright as in life, whilst the corresponding parts of the Falcon were
changed to a pale livid green; but this might have arisen from a
different poisoning.—G. B. Corzin (Ringwood, Hants).
A Small Sparrow-Hawk (Accipiter nisus),—In March last a poultry-
keeper, having lost several of her early chickens, blamed Weasel or
Rat as the thief, though she had seen neither quadruped in the vicinity ;
but one day, when watching the brood, she saw a bird dash, like ‘‘a
bolt from the blue,” into the midst of them, with such impetus that,
striking its head against a log of wood lying near, its skull was frac-
tured, which caused its death. This proved to be a male Sparrow-
Hawk, and was the smallest and least in weight I had ever seen. The
length of wing from carpal joint to point of longest quill was not much
less than ordinary, but from head to tail it measured barely ten and a
quarter inches, and its weight was only three and a half ounces,
although in very fair condition. He was a handsome little fellow, the
breast and thighs having wider rufous bars, the back and tail more
tinged with brown than is usually the case, but destitute of the reddish
tint so often diffusing the under parts at this season—are these marks
of immaturity ?—the whole plumage was bright and clean, except the
much battered head. I recollect a somewhat similar incident. When
in the forest I once saw a Sparrow-Hawk chasing a Green Wood-
pecker, and dashing itself with such force against an oak-tree as to fall
NOTHS AND QUERIES. 193
to the ground, but only to be stunned for a short period.—G. B. Corzin
(Ringwood, Hants).
Whooper Swan at Carlisle. — In December, 1904, the keeper of
Carlisle Park noticed that a strange Swan had arrived on the Eden,
and joined the flock of Mutes under his care. The bird was in the
brown plumage of the cygnet, and the bill was of a blackish hue,
similar in colour to that of a Mute cygnet, but of a different shape.
Some time elapsed before this bird was brought to the notice of any
ornithologist. Mr. Losh Thorpe was the first to hear that a stranger
had arrived, and, together with Mr. L. EH. Hope, of Carlisle Museum,
he visited the river, and the bird was at once identified as an immature
Whooper (Cygnus musicus). The bird remained on the river in com-
pany with the other Swans until May 8th, 1905, and when last seen
was flighting down the Eden in company with two Mutes. At this
time the bird was almost entirely white, and the yellow on the bill was
also beginning to appear. No more was heard of the bird until
Nov. 16th, when it again put in its appearanee on the Hden, and
rejoined the Mutes, being, of course, in full mature plumage. The
bird appears to be the leader of the flock, and chases the Mutes away
from any scraps of food which may be thrown to them. This is con-
trary to the experience of the late Rev. H. A. Macpherson, who, in the
‘Victoria History’ of Cumberland, says of this species :—‘‘ They are
timid birds even with their own kind. I have seen them disperse in
haste before the threatened onset of a couple of tame Mute Swans. On
the other hand, they willingly tolerate lesser fowl to swim close to
them.” The bird under notice is very fearless, and will come within
three yards of anyone feeding the birds. The date of its return
(Nov. 16th) corresponds with the passage of Wild Swans in the Solway
district, shortly before a pack of twenty was observed flighting down
the Solway. At the present date (April 12th) it is still on the river,
and a magnificent bird it is, the yellow on the bill contrasting well
with its snowy white plumage. The upright carriage of the neck is
noticeable, and the head is carried at right angles to the neck, not, as
in the Mute, at an acute angle. If a pinioned Whooper could be
obtained, and introduced to the flock, it might induce the wild bird to
remain through the summer. Cases of this sort must be very rare,
and it would be interesting to know whether a similar one has come
within the experience of any of your readers. — Eric B. Dunuop
(Carlisle Museum).
Pelicans reported in Oxfordshire.—In the Rev. F.C. R. Jourdain’s
notes (ante, p. 142), 1 was interested to read of the occurrence of a
Zool. 4th ser. vol. X., May, 1906. . Q
194 THE ZOOLOGIST.
White Pelican (Pelecanus onocrotalus) in the Derwent Valley on Nov.
4th, 1905, and in a footnote on same page the statement that the species
has recently occurred in Bavaria in. a wild state, because Pelicans
(sp.), whether wild or escapes, seem to have passed over this neigh-
bourhood last summer. Mr. A. England, one of the partners in the
large Pheasant farm at Greenfield, between the border of the south-
west corner of Bucks, and Watlington (Oxon), told me, on Sept. 1st
last, that ‘‘four or five weeks” previously he had seen four Pelicans
flying over Greenfield in about a north-west direction. Mr. A. England
ig not an ornithologist, but a keen-eyed practical observer; and a
Pelican once seen in the “ Zoo” or a travelling menagerie, or even in
a picture, is a bird for which it is hardly conceivable that anything else
could be mistaken—at any rate, when, as in this case, they passed
close by Mr. England; and he particularly noted the enormous bills.
Greenfield is just in the line of flight for waterfowl passing up the
Thames, if they avoid the bend beginning at Spade Oak, Little Marlow,
and strike the river again a short distance below Oxford. — ALFRED
Heneace Cocxs (Poynetts, Skirmett, near Henley-on-Thames).
Crane near Great Yarmouth.—For about three weeks, until April
13th, a Crane (Grus communis) frequented some fields bordering two
parishes not far from this town. Its plumage was immature, the long
dark coloured inner secondaries only just showing. Why it remained
so long I do not understand, as it appeared unhurt. — J. H. Kyieuts
(87, Churchill Road, Great Yarmouth).
Leach’s Fork-tailed Petrel (Procellaria leucorrhoa) in the Isle of
Man.—On the afternoon of 5th December last a specimen of the above
species was picked up in Well Road Hill, a steep narrow street not far
from the sea-front of the town of Douglas. It was still alive at the
time of capture, but had one leg broken. It is now in possession of
Mr. George Corlett, of Douglas. —P. G. Raure (Castletown, Isle
of Man).
Colour of Birds’ Byes (cf. ante, pp. 75 and 112).—Is it not the case
that most, if not all, birds’ eyes differ with age, and how comparatively
few species come under observation sufficiently close that the eye can
be examined in life? I have never had the rare pleasure of seeing
old or young of Fuligula nyroca in the flesh (though it has once
occurred in this locality), nor Pochards in a living state, except upon
the river ; but I have frequently seen specimens of the latter species
soon after they have been shot, and I have often remarked that the
finest plumaged birds had the brightest crimson or scarlet eyes; and
NOTES AND QUERIES. 195
yet with some other species—as Golden Pheasant, &c.—I have often
thought the best plumaged birds had the palest straw-coloured eyes—
almost white. That anger or excitement in any degree alters the
colour and consequent expression of the eyes is well known. I recollect
a Parrot which had normally yellow eyes, but when angry or very
pleased a red zone appeared around the black pupil. Those who have
reared any of the Falconide must have noticed how the colour of the
eyes differ from infancy to maturity. It may be a rule that all birds
of the same species and sex, at any stated age, may have eyes of a
similar colour, but I have met with exceptions that prove the rule. It
is well known that in the adult Green Woodpecker the eyes are usually
white, or very pale bluish grey; but on one occasion I saw a bird in
which one eye was normal and the other a dark brown, and in another
instance both eyes were brown. It may have been only a coincidence,
but in each case it was a female thus marked, and it was quite
surprising how the dark eyes altered the general appearance of the
whole bird. When I say the eyes were brown, I am not alluding to
the discoloured appearance sometimes caused by rupture of blood-vessel
or otherwise, as is sometimes the case when certain parts of the head
have been injured. The quotation from the ‘Handbook of British
Birds’ of the change in colour from red to yellow is interesting, and,
although there may be no connection whatever between bird and
insect, yet all of us know the fact that in some species of Lepidoptera
—burnets, tigers, &¢.—the variation is usually from red to yellow, or
from scarlet to orange.—G. B. Corsin (Ringwood, Hants).
Spring Arrivals near Canterbury.—The following notes collected
near Canterbury during the Easter holidays show the advent of spring
in that district :—
April 13th. Swallow seen, and stated to be the first this year.
14th. Heard a Wryneck. 15th. While walking in a small wood with
two friends, I heard and saw a Nightingale, but, as I had only just
come from town, I cannot state if it was heard earlier. Found two
nests of young Thrushes. 16th. Saw a Swallow. Found a Wild
Duck sitting on her nest. The bird allowed me to stroke her, hissing
the while. Once when she moved slightly I counted seven eggs, but
there must have been quite a dozen. The nest was made entirely of
down, and the bird fitted into it most beautifully. Peewits were
nesting on the marshes, and two pairs of Redshanks kept circling
round us, whistling to each other at times. Moorhens were very
abundant. Found a Blackbird’s nest with one egg. 17th. Saw a
Swallow out at sea at Whitstable. Heard four Nightingales in
196 THE 4ZOOLOGIST.
Thornden Wood, at different parts. On one afternoon last week two
friends found seventeen Song-Thrushes’ nests, containing either eggs
or young. The Nightingale I heard on Haster Sunday was singing
beautifully—Dupizy F. Warner (40, Charleville Mansions, Charleville
Road, West Kensington, W.).
Migratory Notes from Aberdeen.—Ring-Ouzel (Turdus torquatus),
April 8th. Three Wheatears (Sawicola enanthe) seen April 8th; un-
usually early. Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus), April 26th; very early, and
I have no recollection of hearing one with so many remnants of snow-
wreaths in the. locality—about 9 a.m., with abundance of song. It
was stated one evening that the voice was hoarse, while the frosts were
very severe.—W. Witson (Alford, Aberdeen).
( 128 ))
NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.
A Treatise on Zoology. Hdited by H. Ray Lanxester, M.A.,
LED:, FOR.S., &c. Part V. Mollusca. By Pavun Pr-
SENEER, D.Sc. Adam and Charles Black.
THE present volume of this series, so indispensable to every
student of zoology, will probably attract more readers of this
Journal than did its predecessors, for we have now reached in
the Mollusca a phylum which has always interested, and often
been the study of, very many naturalists. A perusal of these
pages may prove to be a revelation to many collectors of shells,
and show that pure conchology is merely the husk of molluscan
zoology, or, in the words of Teufelsdréckh, a “‘ Philosophy
of Clothes.” When we read that descriptive zoologists have
enumerated more than 28,000 species of living molluscs, of
which more than half are Gastropods, and that fossil represen-
tatives of molluscs are found in all deposits from the Paleozoic
onwards, it is evident that here indeed is a field in which a
specialist should obtain no uncertain view in the unfolding or
evolutionary development of one great division of animal life.
Not only of the external characters, but in anatomy and embryo-
logy, the reader and student may rely that what is not told is
not worth telling; while what will probably interest the readers
of ‘ The Zoologist’ the more, is a section devoted to bionomics
and distribution, which, though small compared with the pre-
ceding subjects, is one, particularly as regards bionomics, which
the pages of this Journal are mainly intended to promote.. And
thus we come to the reason why this book should be on all our
shelves, not because as general naturalists, and not as more
fundamental zoologists—as would we all were—we shall follow
every page with the necessary animal dissection, but because we
can find a last and reliable statement on those matters which are
beyond our purview, and can procure a safe guide and a trusty
reference when we go beyond our own standpoint. We are not
198 THE ZOOLOGIST.
alluding to the purely zoological student, to whom, as we have ,
said, the series of volumes is indispensable as a course of study,
but feel that to very many readers of ‘The Zoologist’ this
‘Treatise’ will be of encyclopediacal value, where many bio-
logical difficulties may be solved, and it will in fact prove a
frequently consulted zoological lexicon.
The Natural History of Selborne. By the Rev. Ginpert WHITE,
M.A. Me-arranged, and Classified under Subjects, by
Cuarutes Mostry. Elliot Stock.
To have given the world a classic, and to have published it
in the seventieth vear of his life, has been the lot of few natura-
lists, and in the present demand by publishers for zoological mat-
ter, this will in the future be a still more unlikely circumstance.
Gilbert White has had many disciples and imitators ; a charm-
ing series of volumes are now found on the shelves of most
naturalists’ libraries—books written often by better equipped
observers, but still lacking the vitality of this literary gem, which
will probably survive them all. What is the secret of this ever
vernal composition? It certainly owes much to its dignified
simplicity in diction, and to its patient method of observation,
qualities pre-eminently found in the greater classic which ap-
peared seventy years afterwards—‘ The Origin of Species,’ by
Charles Darwin. Sermons are sometimes somewhat dull to hear
or read, but who would not like to have some familiarity with
the addresses given by this naturalist vicar to his rural congre-
gation? There must have been much natural theology.
Nearly one hundred editions of the ‘Natural History of
Selborne’ have been already published, some of which have been
little read, and the existence of others only known to librarians
and collectors; to edit White has always been the pious wish of
a sometimes weak disciple. This edition strikes new ground,
and serves a useful purpose; it gives a summary of White’s
observations arranged under subjects and species, so that we
may at once, by the aid of this condensation, know all the writer
had to say on each animal and plant he referred to in many
letters. It is thus a book for the student, but the original
arrangement will still be the delight of most naturalists and
literary readers. Mr. Mosley has perhaps done no inconsider-
NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 199
able service, and his volume will prove a very handy source of
reference to those who wish for an easy introduction to the
bionomical observations of Gilbert White. Of course this publi-
cation lacks some valuable notes contributed by certain other
editors.
The British Woodlice. By WiurreD Marx Wess, F'.L.S., and
Cuarues Sittem. Duckworth & Co.
THis small volume supplies one of the desiderata to all
naturalists, viz., a book of reference to a small and, in a general
significance, little-studied group of animals. These terrestrial
isopod Crustacea—represented in Britain, according to our
authors, by twenty-five species—are each beautifully illustrated
on separate plates, which renders their identification a matter of
little difficulty. Of these no fewer than seventeen have been
found in the county of Essex, where the authors’ investigations
have been principally made. This monograph originally appeared
in the ‘ Essex Naturalist,’ and is a further example of the great
stimulus given to all naturalistic studies—we will not say local,
but county studies, and we might well give a larger definition—
by the foundation of the Essex Field Club. This publication is
not intended to be the last word on the subject, but it certainly
is the best to work with, and should be largely used in other
counties than Essex. How many local societies can give offhand
the number of species of Woodlice which occur in the area of
their investigations ? 2
The Eggs of European Birds. Part I. By the Rev. Francis
C. R. Jourpatn, M.A., &c. RK. H. Porter.
WE quite recently (ante, p. 40) called attention to the appear-
ance of another book on this subject by Mr. Dresser, and we
have now before us the first part of Mr. Jourdain’s publication.
This is announced to be completed in about ten parts, containing
about one hundred and forty coloured plates. Geographical
races are fully recognized and described, and the nomenclature
recommended by the Fifth International Zoological Congress has
been adopted. This instalment contains fourteen beautifully
coloured plates, and the text is very full and informative. We
reserve further remarks to a notice of the work when completed.
( 200 )
HDITORITA lL 7G Hh ANEN Gs:
Voracity of the Pike-—My. F. Schroeder, writing recently to the
editor of ‘The Fishing Gazette,’ says :—
‘Perhaps you remember in 1898 we had a conversation about the
best way to mark fish, as I caught then such large numbers of Pike I
did not know what to do with, and intended to mark a number of
them so as to determine their growth and wanderings. The outcome
of our conversation was, I got some numbered labels to be attached by
a wire to the gill-covers. Looking over my diary, I find the following
interesting items :—
Pike No. 5.—Weight, 3lb.; 22in. long. Recaught by Mr. Moseley
the following week. Feb. 21st, 1899.
Pike No. 6.—Weight, 3lb.; 28 in. long. Recaught by Mr. Wood-
house six days later. Feb. 21st, 1899.
Pike No. ii.—Weight, 4lb.; 254in. long. Recaughtand killed by
Mr. Woodhouse in March. Feb. 21st, 1899.
Pike No. 15.—Weight, 24 1b.; 23 in. long. I caught him again
March 14th, 1899. Recaught by Mr. Woodhouse the following day
about a mile away.
Pike No. 61.—Weight, 34 1b.; 244 in. long. I recaught him an
hour later on the same spot without having moved my boat. March
14th, 1899.
Now, you must bear in mind that each fish—they were all caught
spinning—after having been landed, was put into a narrow open box,
with one side movable, which was screwed up to the fish placed in it
so as to hold it in position. A large hole was cut in the movable side
so as to enable me to get easily at the gill-cover. I then pierced the
gill-cover with a pair of specially made pliers, and inserted a ring with
label attached. Finally, I closed the ring with another pair of pliers.
The fish was then taken out of the box, weighed, measured, and care-
fully returned to the water.
In this way I registered some seventy fish, but, finding that I kept
on catching the same fish day after day, I gave it up. On many fish
I could clearly see that my.label had been torn out of the gill-cover.”
CONTENTS.
Extracts from Churchwardens’ Accounts of Bedfordshire, J. Steele-Hlliott, 161.
Field Notes on some of the Smaller British Mammalia, Gordon Dalgliesh, 168.
Notes on Marine Crustacea in Confinement, Albert H. Waters, B.A., 174.
The Birds of the District of Staines, Graham W. Kerr,-179.
Novis aND QuERIzES :—
Mammatia.— Bats in Berkshire, Alfred Heneage Cocks, 185. Pigmy Shrew
(Sorex minutus) in Surrey, Gordon Dalgliesh, 187. Stoats in Winter Dress
in South-western Hants, G. B. Corbin, 187. Harvest-Mouse (Mus minwtus)
in Surrey, Gordon Dalgliesh, 188. Hippopotami in Rhodesia, The Secre-
tary, British South Africa Company, 188.
AvEsS.—Fire-crest in Sussex, Robert Morris, 188. Late Stay of Bramblings
(Fringilla montifringilla) in Cheshire, S. G. Cummings, 188. The Breeding
Range of the Twite, H. P. Butterfield, 189. Crossbill in Captivity, Rev.
Julian G. Tuck, 189. Varieties of Yellow Bunting and Chaffinch; Notes
from Ringwood; G. B. Corbin, 190. Upupa epops in Norfolk, L. B.
Mouritz,191. The Hoopoe, James Gardner, 191. Strange Death of a Hen-
Harrier (Czrcus cyanews), 191; A Small Sparrow-Hawk (Accipiter nisws),
192; G. B. Corbin. Whooper Swan at Carlisle, Eric B. Dunlop, 193.
Pelicans reported in Oxfordshire, Alfred Heneage Cocks, 193. Crane near
Great Yarmouth, J. H. Knights, 194. Leach’s Fork-tailed Petrel (Procel-
laria leuwcorrhoa) in the Isle of Man, P. G. Ralfe, 194. Colour of Birds’
Eyes, G. B. Corbin, 194. Spring Arrivals near Canterbury, Dudley F.
Warde, 195. Migratory Notes from Aberdeen, W. Wilson, 196.
Notices oF New Books, 197-199.
EDITORIAL GLEANINGS, 200.
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maf ZOOLOGIST
No. 780.—June, 1906.
OBSERVATIONS TENDING to THROW LIGHT on rue
QUESTION or SEXUAL SELECTION in BIRDS, IN-
CLUDING a DAY-TO-DAY DIARY on toe BREEDING
HABITS or tHe RUFF (MACHETES PUGNAX).
By Epmunp Ssrnovs.
Tue following observations were made in a part of Holland
by no means difficult of access, and which can be approached by
any of the ordinary routes. My object in making them was to
get some first-hand evidence in regard to sexual selection, but,
though for the most part they come under the title which I have
given to this paper, I have not wished to hamper myself by a too
close limitation to the main subject of inquiry, or to exclude what
might have only an indirect bearing upon it. With respect to
the Ruff, in particular, I have described all I saw, and should
anyone think that I had better have left out certain things which
I saw, I can only say, frankly, that I am not of that opinion,
and thatit is not my habit to do so. With this short preamble,
I commence my record. |
April 9th, 1906.—I1 have now twice seen the pairing of
Mallards—each time a different couple. The commencement,
unfortunately, escaped me in both instances, but immediately
after its accomplishment the drake swept proudly through the
water, whilst the female dipped and ducked excitedly, then rose
in the water and flapped her wings, as did her husband also a
Zool. 4th ser. vol. X., June, 1906. R
202 THE ZOOLOGIST.
moment or two afterwards—at least, in one instance. Out of
materials such as this—pure physical excitation of a certain
kind—the most elaborate actions of sexual display may possibly
have grown. It is curious, at any rate, that in some birds, in
which this latter has not attained a high degree of development,
the two things are closely similar.
Why, after the pairing, does not the male fly away from the
female, or vice versé? Both birds have satisfied their sexual
instinct, so that, if this was the only impulse which kept them
together, they should now, for the time, be nothing to one
another. Yet, instead of separating, they continue to swim side
by side in the most affectionate manner, and whichever of the
two may take the initiative in going anywhere is closely followed
by the other. This continues hour after hour, right through the
morning, deep into the afternoon—for the whole day, there can
be no doubt, were one to sit it out, and so for day after day.
. Moreover, the intervals between the performance of the nuptial
rite are considerable—several hours, it would seem. Hnvisaging
these facts, and observing the whole manner of the two birds,
to me it seems evident that friendship and affection, irrespective
of sexual appetite, keep such pairs together. Their married
relations are, in fact, very like our own, at their best, and if it
be said that we cannot argue from ourselves to other animals,
it is certainly less scientific to assume a difference in kind, in
spite both of appearances and the known facts of evolution.
This, however—with some naive contradictions, usually—seems
to pass with many for the scientific attitude. Well, so be it.
Assume the difference, dispense with observation, talk evolution,
and think like a special-creationist !
Oystercatchers are birds that one may watch for hours, with-
out succeeding in tearing out the heart of their mystery. That
they pipe together in pairs, I have already mentioned—it is a
salient feature—and also that one pair will chase another pair,
both—i.e. all four—piping. That such pairs represent mated
birds is not to be doubted, for that the female as well as the male
pipes I have had conclusive evidence. But what is the feeling
which produces these quartettes ? Is it hostile or social? This
is not always easy to tell. Two pairs, for instance, on the open
fields, are behaving in this manner now. They race after one
SHXUAL SHLECTION IN BIRDS. 203
another, each couple going side by side, then turning, as
Partridges do, the two that were pursued now pursuing in their
turn. This may be enmity, but it has more the appearance of
social excitement—whichever of the two it is, it looks most
bizarre. As 1 say, as yet there has been no unmistakable sign
of hostility, but now two of the birds, belonging to opposite pairs,
fly twice or thrice at each other, in a way which should settle
the question. Yet this, too, may be social excitement, or the one
thing may pass into the other. Say, however, that it was
fighting —as, whatever its origin, it was—and it follows that
these birds fight in couples, which is surely an interesting
characteristic. True, the females may not actually come to
blows—the sexes unfortunately are indistinguishable—but, at
any rate, they help in the leading-up part. Iam sure that both
sexes were represented in the above episode. This, however, is
an important point, for if the female bird is able to drive off any
male she may not care about, or to help a successful rival to do
so, we can the better see how her choice—assuming her to have
one—might be made effective. 1 will therefore quote from my
notes of last year, in which the co-operation of the female with
the male—her own husband—in a case somewhat similar, is
demonstrated.
July 5th, 1905.—Whilst I watch I have a good illustration of
how a pair of married Oystercatchers may act, together, against
any third party. Twice has such a de trop individual, by associ-
ating itself with the male, got close to the nest, on which the
female, leaving it, walks up to them, and, placing herself beside
her mate, they both, as it were, pipe a warning, whilst advancing
upon the intruder. This, if he does not go, develops into an
attack. In the first case, here, it did, when he soon flew off. In
the second this happened before an actual attack was necessary.
Having watched this pair of birds for many days, I could feel
assured that the one then, and almost always, on the nest was
the female. If, then, it be asked, ‘‘ How, in bird life, can the
female get rid of a distasteful suitor, who is yet stronger than a
more attractive rival?” we can answer, ‘‘ By joining with this
rival against him,’ for the facts above noted make this, at least,
possible.
April 11th, 1906.—Two Redshanks, after pairing, run, in an
R
204 THE ZO0OLOGIST.
excited and curious-looking manner, over the sand, following one
another. This action was a good deal like that of Avocets under
similar circumstances. Compare both with the Peewit’s, in
which the run is followed by a performance in which each of the
two birds may join, which performance is constantly to be seen,
during the breeding-time, quite independently of the nuptial rite.
It is then assumed to be in the nature of a display by the male
before the female, though very often—indeed, I think, most
commonly—no second bird is to be seen near about. My own
view (held, however, with an open mind) is that it is in process
of passing into this, and still bears clear traces of its origin.
Have just had a very salient example of the pairing of Red-
shanks. The male, advancing to within some two feet of the
female, continually waved and fluttered his wings above his back,
holding them well aloft, whilst, all the while, uttering a little
tremulous note, and nervously moving his red shanks. He did
this for a considerable time—perhaps a minute—the effect, of
course, being very striking; and then, rising on the wing,
fluttered, for a little, just over, and about a foot above, her, before
dropping down for the actual performance of the rite. This did
not seem altogether successful, and the fact that it was gone
through again only a few minutes afterwards is perhaps evidence
that it was not, though it would not be with some birds—for in-
stance, the Sparrow. Birds, however, seem often to perform this
act with a good deal of difficulty. Nature has given the male
adornments and antics in connection with it, but not special
organs of prehension, which he often seems to be in want of.
This should make the co-operation of the female the more neces-
sary. Success, I think, in this instance would have been im-
possible without it. There was no special run, here, immediately
after the act of coition, but, in the interval between the first and
second time, both the birds walked, for a little, about and very
near each other, fanning out their tails, whilst bending them
inwards, so that, had their legs been short, they would have
swept the ground at intervals, as does that of the courting
Pigeon.
Have been watching, now, for a considerable time, the actions
of a pair of rival male Redshanks, as I suppose them to be.
Flying or running, these birds chase each other interminably—
SHXUAL SELECTION IN BIRDS. 205
but for short intervals—over a certain area of the strand and
water, beyond which they do not go. The pursuit, though often
vigorous, cannot be said to be sustained, since when one bird
settles, the other will often make a circle, or rather an ellipse or
two, round about, before alighting near him, which, however, he
always, before long, does, either to pursue or be pursued. Again,
whilst flying after one another, one will sweep away, or purposely
slacken his speed, should he be the pursuer, thereby increasing
the distance between them. The thing, therefore, has more the
appearance of sport than earnest; but all at once the birds
close, and there is a struggle—violent, prolonged, unmistakable
—after which all goes on as before.
The above account does not describe all such contentions.
Another pair, for instance, simply run after each other in the
ordinary way, going backwards and forwards, and fly only when
they fly at each other. Then, for a little, there is a close pursuit
on the wing, but they come down very quickly, and continue to
chase one another on foot, as before. Here, then, we have the
fighting part of the courtship of Redshanks ; but where is the
female, for whom it is all about? Hither she is not there, or,
feeding at some distance along the shore, she is, or appears to be,
entirely indifferent. All at once, however, a third bird flies upon
the scene, and this—for she does not stay long—occurs now and
again throughout this prolonged but tame campaign.* Is she
the female? The sexes being alike, itis impossible to say whether
she is one at all, for neither in her manner nor in that of the
two males, whilst she stays, is there anything that can be caught
hold of. Still, these successive appearances, suggesting that
each time it is the same bird, are significant.
When the males, in these affairs, actually fight—and this is
seldom, at present, compared to the time they spend in running
after, or often by the side of, one another, and, as it were, offering
to do so—then each springs into the air, and endeavours to strike
down with his feet upon the other, who of course tries to do like-
wise. ‘Thus there is a tendency for the two to mount one above
the other, alternately, as so many birds do. No doubt there is
scope for great things, but as yet there has been nothing very
redoubtable.
* JT watched it for more than an hour.
206 THE ZOOLOGIST.
April 12th.—Another pairing of Redshanks. This time it is
not followed by any distinctive actions on the part of either bird.
The curious set run, therefore, immediately after coition, which
I have noticed on several occasions, is not invariable.
April 18th.—For at least an hour, but I think longer, I have
now watched the courting arrangements of the little Kentish
Plover. In all to do with the two males it resembled extremely
a similar episode which I have described in the case of three
Wheatears, but there was nothing in the nature of an antic.
The birds continually followed one another about, and at intervals
flew, sometimes at, but more frequently over, one another. Often
they were within an inch or two of each other, sometimes side
by side, but generally in single file, without any violence
being offered on the part of either, and anyone watching them,
even for a considerable time, might have thought them quite
friendly, and taken them, without good use of the glasses, for
a mated pair. It was only through more lengthened observa-
tion that the true position of affairs became apparent, or at least
certain. It was the conduct of the female,* however, that made
this observation a much more interesting, and indeed important,
one than that of the Wheatears. She remained on the scene the
whole time, sometimes at a greater, sometimes at a lesser dis-
tance from it—this largely in accordance with the direction in
which the rivals ran. Sometimes she was apparently indifferent,
being turned away, or preening herself, or both; at other times
she might very well have been watching. Whether she really
was it would have been impossible, from these facts alone, to say ;
she might or she might not have been, but her real interest in
the matter was made known to me in a very striking and quite
convincing way. She was not satisfied with being a witness of
the scene ; she took, upon several occasions—perhaps a dozen—
an active part init. Running down to where the two were con-
tending, she made little flys to one or another of them, but
whether to both, or one only, or one more especially, I cannot
say. The effect of these approaches, on the two males, was
always to make them more bellicose. ‘They then flew at each
other, time after time, delivering, as it seemed to me, little pecks,
and sometimes grappling, or, at least, falling over one another.
* The sexes are distinguishable, and I distinguished them.
SHXUAL SHLECTION IN BIRDS. 207
After a little the female would retire, and, the conflict then
sinking, all would go on as before, till her next participatory
visit.
After this had continued for more than half an hour another
interesting thing happened. A third male was seen approach-
ing, and, after a while, he entered into the area of the conflict,
with a view, as it seemed, of joining init. But the female now
came running up, and flew, in what seemed a hostile manner, at
one of the birds. Which it was I could not say, as a certainty,
not being able to keep the three distinct; but, as a result of her
conduct, the intruder—for it must have been he, and as such he
was evidently considered by the female—was driven from the
lists. Now there could be no confusion, and the hen bird, after
a short interval, flew at him again, and continued to do so till
she had driven him quite away, when she returned to where the
other two were still contending, and continued to act in the way
I have described. At last the three birds flewaway together, one
separating itself from the other two when they had got to some
distance. Which was the one it was, of course, impossible then
to say. No interpretation, therefore, can be placed on the fact,
and, later on, I saw them all back, as before, the two males near
one another, and the female standing some little way off. The
rivalry, however, seemed to have burnt itself out—at least, till
4 p.m., when I was called elsewhere.
So far, therefore, from being an indifferent spectator, or non-
spectator—as it is so often asserted that the hen bird, in such
cases, is—this hen Kentish Plover not only took a keen interest
—at least, by fits and starts—in this long contest, but appa-
rently considered that two rivals was the proper number, driving
off another bird when it seemed to contemplate making a third.
This may have some bearing on the common sight, in spring-
time, of three birds, and no more, flying together—three Larks,
three Meadow-Pipits, three Fieldfares, three Peewits, &c., &c.
Also, if we think of the female bird as able and ready, on
occasion, to drive off any male, vi et armis, we shall the less
easily regard her as the mere passive submitter to the latter’s
superior force.
Have watched again, for a good half-hour, the continual
chasings—varied with one real combat—on foot and wing, of two
208 THE ZOOLOGIST.
Redshanks. ‘This was a closer and more pertinacious dogging,
and the fight a fiercer and more prolonged affair than I have yet
seen. It was in the shallow water, and the birds flew at and one
above the other, as I have described, grappling more than once,
and falling over together. As I say, I must have watched these
actions for quite half an hour, and they may have been going on
for much longer—possibly, as I believe, for hours. They ended,
however, at last—at least, for the time being—and that in an
interesting manner. All at once, as the two were chasing one
another with the greatest obstinacy, a third bird ran up, as it
were, between them (if not literally so, yet it had that effect),
and, on this, one of the two flew right away, retired from the
partie—intentionally, 1 mean, so it appeared to me—on which
the other, running to some way off, began to wave its wings,
much as before pairing,* at the same time uttering a continuous,
thin, piping note. This it went on doing for some minutes, and,
though to the human ear (which is nothing) the sound was
plaintive and querulous, yet 1 cannot help thinking it was really
a note of victory. I thought the whole thing was over, but all
at once the rival bird reappeared, and, flying at the soi-disant
victor again, it all went on as before. How long it lasted I
cannot say, for it soon became too dark for the glasses.
Who was the third bird? After the episode of the Kentish
Plovers, I cannot but suppose that she was the female, and cause
of strife. If so, then she was not indifferent to, but interested
in it, though anyone who, coming when I did, had stayed only
twenty-five minutes, would not have supposed so, or even, per-
haps, have noticed her. This brings some thoughts into my
head. Why is the assertion so frequent that the female bird
takes no interest in the contentions of the males on her account ?
It must rest, 1 suppose, on frequent observation, and twenty-five
minutes is a good long time. If the female not only takes
interest, but may put a male to flight, we see her with enlarged
powers. ‘The question even arises whether she may not have
more power in this way than another male would have.
* With this exception, I have never seen the Redshank wave its wings
continuously, and as of set purpose, except before and in obvious connection
with the performance of the nuptial rite. When chasing one another the
males often extend and give them a flap or two, but there is no sort of
resemblance here.
SHXUAL SHLECTION IN BIRDS. 209
April 15th. Looking up from my note-book some little while
ago, I saw a Redshanks hanging in the air on rapidly waving
wings, immediately above another one—the immediate prologue
to the performance of the nuptial rite. In another moment it
would have taken place, but just as the male bird descended the
female moved a few steps forward, entirely frustrating his design.
He looked quite disconcerted at this move on her part, and did
not make any fresh attempt. This is a good illustration of the
power of the hen bird in such matters, and how essential her
co-operation is.
Another case of rejected addresses. Here the male, if I give
the right interpretation of the matter, was only in the first stage
of solicitation—standing, that is, and waving his wings before
the female—when she flew at him, and then he walked away with
his tail fanned. This again goes to show the necessity of obtain-
ing the female’s consent, and for what other purpose can the
wings be waved in this striking and banner-like manner? Here,
then, we see an unsuccessful wooing of the female Redshanks by
the male. But, if she were indifferent, why should she fly at
him? and if she can be irritated, surely she can be won. And
what about the male? The unanswered—the seemingly un-
answerable—question of why else should he act in this way is
presented here, with peculiar force, to my mind. He always acts
so, so far as I have seen, as a preliminary to coition, and with
that end in view. That he is addressing himself to the female,
and to her only, and that she knows that he is, is obvious, quite
manifest, not to be doubted by anyone who has seen the thing.
lt makes no difference whether other males are about or not; nor
do males, when fighting or about to fight, act in this way. The
war-dance theory, therefore, is untenable here, though not per-
haps more so than in other cases where the male bird obviously
woos the female. That there are war-dances amongst birds,
and that this may have been the origin of some displays, is
possible, but, if so, then it is not for nothing that the one thing
has been turned into the other.
I cannot be sure, but I think it is these very same two Red-
shanks—where the attempt, on the part of the male, has twice
been frustrated by the female—who have now paired. Afterwards
* As I then thought it. But see on.
210 THE Z00LOGIST.
the male walked, a little, with his tail fanned, and then made
what looked like a little bellicose run at the female—coming, I
think, into contact with her. Another Redshanks now came up,
on which the female—I had kept them distinet—flew at it, and,
putting it to flight, chased it, on the wing, right away. Here,
again, we see the female not restricted to the passive part of
rejection, if we suppose this new comer, as seems likely, to have
been a male. We see, too—if it was, indeed, the same pair,
which I think it was—the female Redshanks thrice wooed by the
same male, unwilling at first, or even hostile, but yielding to the
third display. How like is this to the wooings of certain
spiders, as recorded in a most interesting and valuable paper by
George W. and Elizabeth G. Peckham. For instance: ‘‘ Once
we saw a female eagerly watching a prancing male, and, as he
slowly approached her, she raised her legs as if to strike him;
but he, nothing daunted by her unkindly reception of his atten-
tions, advanced even nearer, when she seized him, and seemed
to hold him by the head for a minute—he struggling. At last
he freed himself, and ran away. This same male, after a time,
courted her successfully.” In both these cases, as it seems to
me, the ultimate surrender of the female is stronger evidence of
the efficacy of the display than if it had been successful at once.
With the bird, as well as with the spider, there has been more
than mere indifference to conquer.
I have spoken of the male Redshanks as waving his wings, in
this manner, before the female, but by this I only mean before
her eyes and senses. It is behind her, not in front of her, that
he commonly stands, and this relative position of the two is
retained in the aerial part. This used to seem to me against the
theory of sexual selection, but what I have just witnessed shows
that the female knows well enough what is going on—in fact, as,
in the first case, she moved just at the psychical moment, she
must see accurately. It may be said that she moved so by
chance merely, but her whole attitude and deportment over a
not inconsiderable space of time is against this supposition. A
bird’s eyes, in fact, are situated very differently to our own. The
male bird, though behind the female, need not be directly behind
her, and his waved wings are, so to speak, all about him. With
an eye on each side of her small head, the slightest turn of this
SHXUAL SELECTION IN BIRDS. 211
—and it is always in motion —would enable her to see the whole
person of the male.
There has now been prolonged and savage fighting amongst
the Redshanks, especially between one pair* which I have
watched more particularly. There were several hard grapples
and holdings with the bill, and it seemed to me that they always
fought more fiercely when, as was often the case, they got near
to a certain other bird. (They certainly did, and I do not think
it was coincidence.) ‘They got near two birds, widely separated,
and the effect, with each, was noticeable, but especially so with
this one. Both these birds seemed to me to take some interest
in the matter, and one in particular—not, however, the one in
whose presence they fought hardest—made, several times, a
little run at them. But I do not think it was a very special
interest, or amounted to much more thana “ get out of my way
with this nonsense!” It would seem as though, whilst the female
Redshanks does concern herself with the wing-waving action
- specially addressed to her, she does not so much care about the
fighting of the males. Is it not possible, therefore,.that in the
matrimonial affairs of some birds there may be a double process
of natural and sexual selection, neither the handsomest nor the
most vigorous only being chosen, but the handsomest amongst
the most vigorous? It is these latter who, by conquering and
persecuting the others, would have the best opportunities for
sexual display ; and, insomuch as motion made a part of this,
we should look for the finest displays amongst them. On lines
like these we can understand the most vigorous males being
chosen, but how can vigour be judged of by the female unless it
strike her senses through some definite channel ? Otherwise it
is a mere abstraction. And if motion can appeal to her, why
should not colour and form? When, for instance, a strongly
marked preference in the females of a certain spider (Astia
vittata) for one of two types of males is attributed to the
liveliness of his dancing alone, and not, also, to his different
appearance and the different figures of his dance, this, as it
seems to me, is a quite unjustifiable assumption. The opponents
of sexual selection must not dower animals with just what is
wanted for their views, and no more.
* Wither these or two other males sometimes swam after each other.
212 THE ZOOLOGIST.
The following interested me. Two fighting couples of Red-
shanks got together, and I distinctly saw how one of the com-
batants of each pair exchanged places, the fighting continuing
without the change, as it were, being remarked. This is getting
towards the Ruffs, but I suppose, as far as it goes, it is much the
same with all birds. Still, I think, there can be special mascu-
line animosities.
The pairing of the Redshanks is now sometimes followed by
the set run I have spoken of, and sometimes not, and by nothing
particular. Hither we have, here, an individual variation, or
one dependent on the number of times the act has been per-
formed—I mean that it may produce less and less after-emotion.
Is it possible that out of such purely physical actions may have
grown others directed, consciously, towards a certain end? I
believe it is, and that an extended study of all the nuptial
activities of birds, throughout the world, would throw light on the
question. Almost anything, | think, may pass into an antic—
that is to say, an antic may grow out of almost anything.
I have now seen a more perfect example of the Redshank’s
courtship than any I have yet noticed. The male, approaching
the female, ran about her twice or thrice, in so many half-
circles, fanning his tail as he did so, and inclining his body
towards her. He acted, in fact, much as does the cock Pheasant
under similar circumstances, but displayed the tail only, instead
of the wing and shoulder. The same conscious look and some-
what hectoring deportment were observable. Having gone
through these actions, he next, standing just behind her, com-
menced waving his wings in the way I have described. Whilst
he did this the female turned sideways towards him, so that he
must have come into her fullest view, and she most certainly
looked not only pleased with, but quite wrapt in the performance
—in fact, fascinated by it. After some fifteen to twenty seconds,
perhaps, of this waving, the male rose into the air, and hung
there fluttering, the female stood to receive him, and the rite
was accomplished. Here then, at last, we have the complete
courting actions of the male Redshanks,* in which he first shows
his white tail to the best advantage, and then makes the most of
his wings, the silvery grey of whose under surface can only be
seen when they are extended—all this in the most purposeful
** But see p. 213.
SEXUAL SELECTION IN BIRDS. 213
and deliberate manner. That the female was, from the first,
interested, became absorbed in, and was at last won by, the per-
formance, seemed as obvious as such a thing can be. One can
only interpret, but her confession alone could add force to the
evidence. This can in no case be obtained, and in the citadel
which this want creates the opponents of sexual selection can for
ever ensconce themselves. Ido not think that the actions above
described are always gone through with, in their entirety. This
may depend on the particular male, but much more probably, I
think, the same bird first does all he can to please the female,
and then, as she becomes more and more willing, scamps the
preliminaries. This difference is very marked in the Pheasant,
and it is a point which ought to be taken into the fullest con-
sideration by those who set themselves seriously to observe.
Another courtship of precisely the same character, but here
the female seemed less inclined, from the first, and, though she
stood in exactly the same position during the bannering, yet she
was not won by it, but suddenly darted away, just as the male
was about to rise. The latter looked both disappointed and
resentful, but made no further attempt—the power seemed com-
pletely in the hands of the female, and, from the beginning, she
looked less attendrie. There’ was another point in the courtship,
to be remarked on. Whilst the wings were waved the bright red
legs were moved, also, in a very noticeable manner, each being
brought, somewhat slowly, in advance of the other. This I have
already noticed, and it was, I think, the case before—but I had
not taken it in so fully. To the white tail and light under-
surface of the wings, therefore, as points in the display of the
male, must be added the coral-like legs—all the effective things,
in fact, which he has to display. Why he should thus produce
and enhance them before the eyes of the female, if she cannot be
moved by them, why the female should thereupon act as though
she were moved by them, in a greater or less degree, if she really
is not, and how she can be moved by them, and, at the same time,
indifferent to them, are questions which I am quite unable to
answer. For these actual, tangible things, as motives to action,
we are asked to substitute a mere abstract idea, or something, in
comparison, very like it—vigour, namely. The bird is to be won
less through the eye than through the mind. ‘All this,” she is
214 : THE ZO0O0LOGIST.
made to reflect, ‘‘means vigour, but those red legs, that white
tail, and pretty, waving wings, they are beyond my capacities. I
am reflective merely, not «esthetic—that belongs to man alone.
The brain for me; to be caught through the eye is for my betters.”’
So might a savage, delighted with a scarlet uniform and gold-
laced cocked hat, be supposed to think, not of these, but of their
properties only. Or does the Jackdaw steal the ring, not because
it is a bright object, but as embodying the general conception of
brightness, and, through that, of something else ?
Besides what I have recorded in regard to the Redshanks, I
was witness of a prolonged contention on the part of two males
for the favour of a female. The latter, here, certainly seemed
quite indifferent during the greater part of the time, but in
regard to this, the duration of the thing must be taken into con-
sideration, for when I went, atthe end of two hours, it was still
going on, after a short interval. She was not altogether in-
different, for in the earlier part of it she herself took a part in the
matter—like the Kentish Plover—on at least five occasions; but
I think more. She ran up to the rivals, and I noticed a curious
little run which she made about one or other of them. Here,
too, I was reminded of the hen Kentish Plover, but I cannot,
any more than in her case, say if she singled out one bird for
this attention, or what, precisely, she meant by it. Moreover,
as the fighters got to some distance along the shore, she, on
more than one occasion, flew after them; nor am I counting such
followings with the more intimate visits which I have noticed.
Now, all this is not indifference, but, as the thing went on, she
certainly seemed to weary of and lose interest in it, nor is it very
remarkable if she did. Would not many a woman do so too,
even though she had, say, a slight preference? Anyone, how-
ever, who had come during the second hour of the affair, must
have noticed the apparent complete indifference of the female,
had he been able to identify her, and might have made a great
point of it. I, however, was there at the beginning, and saw
what I have recorded.
There would appear to be two essential or common features
in the more ordinary courtship of birds—first, the contention of
two males only for the female ; and, secondly, the very long period
over which such contention may extend. It may well last, as it
SHXUAL SHLECTION IN BIRDS. 215
appears to me, many hours during several days, or even for the
greater part of each day. Now, the facts go to show two things |
—(1) that the female, if indifferent during part of the time, is not
so all the time; and (2) that neither of the male birds is able to
force her to his will. From this it appears to me far from unlikely
that she may ultimately choose between them. But how is she
to make her choice valid? We have seen that, in the case of
the Kentish Plover, the female drove away a third male. Now,
if she were to pursue the same course in regard to one of two
males, and were the other to join with her, there would then be
two to one. It is even possible that the attack of the female
might sometimes be accepted by the discredited male as a verdict
against which there could be no appeal. In any case, however,
it seems probable that he could not long bear up against such dis-
couraging circumstances. The fact that a pair of Oystercatchers
will join together against another bird, or pair of birds—that it
is, in fact, their ordinary habit—is in support of this supposition.
With the Redshanks, however, as well as with other birds,
the fighting is one thing and the courtship another. What are
the relations, if any, which the two bear to one another, whether
there are many single combats, and if the victor in each, or in
several, makes his display before the female—what, in fact, is the
whole process of the thing, from first to last, I do not know, nor,
I suppose, does anybody. I have some idea, however, of the
difficulties which le in the way of following it, which, indeed,
are almost unsurmountable, being made up, for the most part, of
the following elements, viz. (1) (in this part of the world, at any
rate), cold, rain, and the general inclemencies of the weather ;
(2) the prolongation of the courtship, &c., from day to day, with
the consequent impossibility of being sure that you are watching
the same birds on any two days ; (8) its prolongation on any one
day, and the difficulty, greater or less, of keeping the birds con-
cerned, at any one time, distinct from others, and of knowing
whether they are the same at different times; (4) the frequent
difficulty or impossibility of distinguishing the sexes, and of
keeping the individuals of either sex for long distinct from one
another ; (5) the very different spirit shown by the same bird at
different periods of one drama or scene in the drama, or earlier
and later in its development—such differences pointing to opposite
216 THE ZOOLOGIST.
conclusions, and making a negative as against an affirmative one
_ of little or no value. Taken all together, these difficulties present
an appalling barrier. Here no arrangements are possible, no
markings, no comfortable study-work. All, or at least the greater
part—unless, perhaps, if one is rich, as an enthusiast ought to
be—is wretchedness, cold, and discomfort; such, upon close
-acquaintanceship, are the charms of early spring in north tem-
perate Hurope.
One must not hope, therefore, to see anything in the whole of
its proper sequence, or to get clear ideas as to all the elements,
disturbing or otherwise, which may enter into and complicate the
problem. One has to get at it piecemeal, and reason from the
main facts thus disclosed. A few of these, I think, are as
follows :—(1) conscious and elaborate display of the males of
some species before the females; (2) care taken to show and
impress upon the female all that is best worth seeing; (8)
interest—ereater or less at different times—taken by the female
in such display, and corresponding effect—sufficient or insufficient
—produced upon her by it; (4) repetition of the display when at
first insufficient, with results that justify such perseverance and
make it intelligible; (5) interest taken by the female—more or
less and at different times—in the fighting of males on her
account ; and (6) her participation, at times, in these encounters,
readiness to attack, and competence to drive away one or other
of the contending males, or to keep other males from joining in
such contention.
Another Redshanks courtship, at 7 p.m., and, the wing-waving
on the part of the male first attracting my attention, I am par-
ticularly struck by the length of time during which it continues,
even after my noticing it. All at once, however, the female
darts away—the wooing has not been successful. This suggests
that the male may be aware when he has made sufficient im-
pression on the female, in this way, and not rise on the wing till
then. Lest it be assumed that the female was indifferent, all
this time, and then moved by chance, I just state that this was
not the case, and that I have never seen it so. I attribute her
conduct either to disinclination at the time, or to not being
sufficiently impressed by the male, or to both causes combined.
T do not attribute it to coyness, and my own observations might
SHXUAL SELECTION IN BIRDS. 217
well lead me to doubt whether the female bird is really more coy
than the male—whether there be such a thing, in fact, in nature
as coyness, and whether a variety of commonplace real reasons
(amongst others, satiety) are not hidden under the mantle of this
imaginary poetic one.
April 28th.—Have just seen something which interests. me.
A duck and two drakes (the Common Mallard), flying together,
were joined by a third drake, but one of the three making the
original party made.a dig at him in the air—very noticeable—
on which he turned and flew right off, at a tangent. When the
three came down into the fields, this drake, which I had marked
down before, flew to rejoin them, but, as he settled, they went off
again, leaving him standing alone, and looking foolish. This
occurred twice again, and I noticed, now, that the duck and one
of the drakes were the real fugitives, keeping close together, and
soing off first, followed by the second drake, who was not, how-
ever, expelled as the third one had been. When the three went
down the last time, the drake that was evidently the “ third
person” would have kept close to the duck—as the other one was
—but she, turning and with her head down, made an angry
movement towards him, threatening him with her bill, on which
he at once went to some dozen paces off, at which distance he
remained, and the three settled down thus, the duck and her
chosen drake couching, side by side, on the grass. This and my
previous observation with the Kentish Plover convinces me that
it was the duck, and not one of the two drakes with her, that
turned off the third one, whilst flying, in so very effective a
manner. Probably such action on the part of either of the
latter would not have had the same effect, for the female not
endorsing it would have left him a pretendant on equal terms
with the others. We must recognize that amongst birds the
female can turn upon a male who is distasteful to her, and that
her doing so may be very effective—indeed, quite dramatically
so. Again, it is interesting that whilst the third drake was
driven right away, and afterwards shunned, the number two one
seemed to be tolerated as long as too great familiarities were
not attempted by him. The pair never flew away, together,
from him, but they always did so from the other one, who would
have made a fourth party. It would seem that, amongst many
Zool. 4th ser. vol. X., June, 1906. S
218 THE ZOOLOGIST.
birds, the female looks upon two suitors, but not more, as
correct, even though she may snub one of them; or do we
have something like the husband and the tame cat ?
May 2nd.—I have for some time been making interesting
observations on the courting habits of the Kentish Plover. Two
males have been fighting, on and off (mostly on) in the usual
way for an hour and more. A female (clearly discernible as
such) manifested interest in the partie by, from time to time,
running up, and apparently making a close survey of it. Now,
on the other side of the combatants, but further off than the
usual distance of the first-mentioned hen, appears a second one;
but on her manifesting a similar interest in the contest, and
coming closer to it, she is attacked by the other. In the course
of the drama’s long continuance this occurs two or three times,
and on a third male approaching, he too, just as in the former
case I have recorded, is attacked and driven away by this same
hen. Her own rival, however, is not so easily dealt with. She
keeps about, and at last, after perhaps an hour and a half,
comes into the immediate sphere of the conflict. Instantly a
second conflict, of a far more violent character, takes place.
The first hen rushes upon her, and the two, grappling, roll
over and over on the ground. At length they disengage, and
one is seen to be struggling to escape, but the other holds her
by a tail-feather, or some pinched skin near the tail, and she is
thus detained for some time before finally escaping. As it is
impossible to distinguish the two hens, I can only believe that
the first one has been the victress, since things afterwards pro-
ceed as before, and she was the agerieved and more angry party.
I was delighted with her conduct, but before this she had pleased
me still more by confirming one of my recent surmises, for,
advancing to the contending males, she singled out one, whom
she attacked, and succeeded, for the time being, in driving away.
A little while afterwards, however, he returned, and, running up
to his rival, “to ’t they went again.” And now an Oyster-
catcher, walking across the area of these proceedings, is so
threatened by the hen bird that he is intimidated, and turns
out of the way. What, therefore, that this hen Kentish Plover
could have done to show her interest in what has been going
forward has been left undone by her? She has approached the
e
SHXUAL SELECTION IN BIRDS. 219
scene of the conflict, and watched it, she has prevented another
male from taking part in it, she has driven away one of the two
fighting males, she has fought desperately with, and conquered,
another hen who showed the same interest in the matter as
herself, and she has even alarmed an uninterested Oystercatcher
who unwittingly came too near. Why, in particular, did she
attack that other hen? Notwithstanding those wise cautions,
already alluded to, not to read human psychology into the co-
descendants, with humanity, from a common, lowly stock, I
shall boldly assume that she was jealous of her.
(To be continued.)
s2
220 THE ZOOLOGIST.
NOTES ON THE HABITS OF SOME CAGED BIRDS.
By W. Wescut, F.R.M.S.
In the early nineties we had a number of birds which were
kept as pets, and their habits and ways were so interesting that
notes and records were made, of which this article is a com-
pilation. We began with a young Canary, which was given us
in. the spring of 1889. This bird became by degrees so tame
and intelligent that we took great pleasure in playing with and
petting it. We were astonished at its cleverness, and our
attention was more particularly drawn to its mental attitude,
and from that to the characters of the other birds that we
sradually added to our collection.
The individual characters of birds are as various as the
individual characters of men and women, or of other animals,
and can only be understood by careful observation; but the
forces that govern their actions being fairly simple, you may
always rely on consistency from your feathered friends. They
have certain characteristics peculiar to their species, and Siskins,
Goldfinches, or Redpolls are usually more intelligent and more
easily tamed than Larks, Linnets, or even Canaries, though the
cleverest bird we have met with was a Canary. Nevertheless,
the same level of intelligence is not to be expected from all the
individuals of a species; as I have said before, it varies as much
within its limits as does the intelligence of human beings. To
demonstrate this, I shall now relate our experience with different
pets, with our estimates of their characters, and then, under
the heads of habits, instinct, intelligence, affection, jealousy,
memory, mental process, and curiosity, record our observations
on these points.
As I said before, our first bird was a young Canary (Serinus
canarius), which, for the sake of distinction, I will call Canary A.
His arrival was not remarkable in any way; he fluttered and
seemed desperately unhappy if his cage was approached, but he
NOTES ON THE HABITS OF SOME CAGED BIRDS. 221
calmed down and seemed to get to know us in the ordinary
frightened bird fashion. Curiosity and intelligence are nearly
equivalent in birds, as in reality curiosity is, in certain forms,
a desire of knowledge; so the first sign of intelligence from this
bird was a great excitement at a teetotum (top) which was spun
near his cage. He ran from side to side; he stood up and
craned his neck to see. As an experiment, the door of the cage
was opened, and after a little hesitation the Canary came out
and went to the spinning top. He then touched it lightly with
his beak, but retired very nervously and quickly on feeling the
contact. We were struck by this unusual conduct on the part
of a bird, and opened the door of his cage and let him out
several times a day. His education progressed rapidly; we
soon tempted him to feed from our hands, then to fly on our
fingers and shoulders. Finally he would perch on our heads,
hands, or shoulders, and remain quiet while we walked from
room to room ; play with and pull out a handkerchief from the
breast pocket of a coat; fly on to a finger when he was called.
The greatest proof of tameness he gave was in his allowing
himself to be caught with the hand without the least difficulty ;
birds greatly dislike contact with the hand. In short, he was as
entertaining a companion as an intelligent dog.
Encouraged by our success with the Canary, we bought a
Red-breasted Linnet (Linota cannabina). We never succeeded
in teaching him to do anything, except to give a very pretty call
of satisfaction on receiving a hemp-seed, which we had to place
on his perch, and even then he would not eat it till we had
retired to a safe distance. After some time he struck up a_
friendship with the Canary; but he was a heavy unintelligent
bird, who liked: to sit still and think. It was amusing to watch
the two birds together; the Canary would wait till the Linnet
was quiet, and then gently sidle up to him and nibble his toes.
The Linnet would placidly retire to another perch, and again
the same process was gone through, till the Canary was tired.
Sometimes they were placed in separate cages, and then if one
was allowed out he would go and visit the other; if both were
out, they would hop about the floor picking up stray seed, but
always keeping close together.
To these we added a Redpoll (Lesser Redpoll, Linota
222 THE AOOLOGIST.
rufescens), introducing, as it turned out, a most discordant
element into the family. This bird, whom I will call Redpoll A,
had a remarkable character. Though a very small bird of his
species, he was exceedingly fierce, and yet sometimes an arrant
coward, full of tricks and exceedingly knowing; he neverthe-
less was so distrustful that it was over two years before we
succeeded in taming him. He would at once attack any
strange birds that had been introduced into the cage, though
the visitors were perhaps twice his size, and by sheer force of
impudence, and the terror produced by his raised plumage and
angry appearance, drive them away. He was also excessively
sly ; if he had lived in these post-Boer war days he might have
been described as exceedingly ‘‘slim.’”’ When in an aggressive
mood, it could be guessed by the twinkle of his small beady eye
that he was up to mischief; he looked up in the air, or over his
shoulder, or anywhere except in the direction of the bird he
meant to attack, gradually approaching him till within reach of
his tail. When he was satisfied that his victim was looking the
other way, he would pull his tail sharply, and retire in a quiet
unostentatious manner, looking the picture of innocence, while
some other and nearer bird came in for the resentment of the
injured one. We were convinced that Redpoll A had a sense
of humour,
Though Redpoll A was so small, it was curious that in the
winter the other Redpolls gave way to him; but the ‘‘ General,”
as we called him, had to succumb to superior force in the spring.
After one or two severe fights—real combats, in which the
superior size of the other birds told—he had to play second
fiddle. I have counted as many as fourteen feathers torn out
by one stroke of the beak.
He soon learnt to draw up a little bucket with his water, and
a box with his food, and seemed proud of the accomplishment.
Indeed, it is not very difficult to teach them this, the birds soon
understanding the apparatus. The bucket is at first kept full of
water at the top, then half, and later an inch away, so that it
has to be pulled up a little to enable the bird to conveniently
drink the water, and finally in the water-tank at the bottom.
On the other hand, it was more than two years before we could
overcome the repugnance of the ‘“‘ General’ for settling on and
NOTES ON THE HABITS OF SOME CAGED BIRDS. 223
feeding from our hands. He was determined he would not, but
we kept on trying, and the first time he flew on he as promptly
flew off, the contact with the flesh of the finger seemed to give
him a shock.
Another bird, Redpoll B, was greatly excited when he saw
the ‘‘General”’ pull up his bucket. He was in a different com-
partment of the cage, and he forced himself through the wires
and made his way to the bucket, which he examined with
curiosity, and even tried to pull up. Redpoll B was in other
respects a timid bird with us, though fierce and cruel at times
to his own species.
Redpoll C was a favourite, and took life very easily; he
seldom or never fought; he would dare a great deal for a
favourite seed, but it would be arrived at by artifice and not
force. He was delightfully and consistently tame, the tamest
bird we had had with the exception of Canary A. He was very
clever, much too clever to pull up a box for inger (thistle) seed
when he had only to fly on to the bars of his cage and attract
his master’s or his mistress’s notice. Or if he was out, he would
fly on the shoulder or the hand, knowing his reward. Sometimes
he would not return into the cage, and then it was a matter of
starving him ‘“‘in.’”’ He tried every trick he knew so as to obtain
food without going into the cage for it; he would fly on to the
head or the shoulder of his master or mistress, he would go to
the closed box in which the seed was kept, and then back to the
hand, and repeat these blandishments for many times, showing
remarkable perseverance, till at last, unable to endure further,
he walked into the cage with an air of discontent, and suffered
the door to be closed on him. Even then he was not always
conquered, as occasionally he would endeavour to snatch a
morsel, and directly a movement was made flew out again.
Redpoll C cherished an admiring affection for the ‘‘ General,”
which I am sorry to say was not reciprocated; he liked to sleep
near him, and though driven away many times, would still
return, waiting till Redpoll A was too sleepy to object, and
usually his efforts were crowned with success. The ‘“‘ General”
very seldom really hurt Redpoll C, as the latter was quick in
movement, and ready to take the hint of the other’s threatening
beak.
224 YTHE 4ZO0OLOGIST.
We had several other Redpolls—one, whom I will call D, was a —
powerful bird, who knew how to take care of himself; he was
not aggressive, but could peck very hard, and consequently was
usually made way for. He was not amusing, and passed most
of his time tapping his beak against the wires and polishing his
toes, which he kept in excellent order.
Redpoll EK was a clever, sharp, and amusing bird, whom we
had when quite young. Redpoll F was also a young bird,
but wild, fierce, and cunning. MRedpoll G was the contrary,
timid. F and G were often billing and cooing, therefore
we concluded that they were male and female, but we had
no further evidence of this, as they did not mate or build
a nest.
We had another Canary—Canary B—for a long time. She
was a silly stupid bird, who methodically and decidedly refused
to learn anything, and yet from her greediness and clumsiness
was occasionally amusing. She appeared to have a cold and be
ill, and was in consequence fed on sponge cake dipped in wine
(sherry). Redpoll E stole some of this in spite of her angry
remonstrances ; finally both birds were decidedly overcome with
alcohol, as they remained stationary on the perch, hissing at
each other, but totally unable to resort to movement or aggres-
sive action.
A young Goldfinch (Carduelis elegans) soon became very
tame, and had pretty ways and manners. He learnt to pull up
his water, and showed forethought in the way he stood the
bucket up in a corner till it was empty, thus saving himself the
trouble of drawing it up every time he wished to drink. He was
twice the size of the ‘‘ General,” but used, to fly on his approach,
though not afraid of the other Redpolls; his angry hiss would
always drive them away.
We had a pair of Siskins (Chrysonutris spinus). They were
very quick and intelligent, and practically learnt tameness from
seeing the tameness of the other birds. The female followed us
all over the cage to be fed, and drove away the birds whom we
might have been feeding. The male was more timid, though
when we first had them early in January, he so ill-treated the
female, pulling out half her feathers, that they had to be
separated; yet such is the inconsistency of the female mind
NOTES ON THE HABITS OF SOME CAGED BIRDS. 225
that, when later she thought I had ill-treated him (I only cut
his claws), she flew to his rescue, and would not have anything
to do with me for a whole week.
All these birds have slept their long sleep for many years,
and the loss of each was a pang. We have again tempted fate
as we now have a Canary, and we are again victims to the
fascination of the feathered folk.
Canary C has had a chequered career. He was the plaything
of a boy in a small school, and I have heard it rumoured that on
occasions he has been taken out of his cage, wetted to prevent
him flying, chased, and even caps thrown at him. Our experi-
ence of him is this: We have had him for seven months, yet
the sight of a boy still discomposes him, and the appearance of
a silk hat on the head is objected to. At first he declined to
come out of his cage on any consideration, uttering a distressful
call, but we have overcome this. He is quite tame with us, but
fears the hand exceedingly; it is only with the greatest hesitation
that he will take a hemp-seed off the finger while in the cage,
and will not take it at all if out, but takes it quite readily from
between the lips in or out of the cage. He is a creature of
habit, expects his cage to be cleaned, and his bath provided at
a certain hour, and utters a distinct protesting call if this has
not been done. We can differentiate these calls; in the evening
of these lengthening May days he is sleepy before it is dark, and
calls for his cover about 7 p.m., and early retires to rest. My
little daughter sometimes teases him, but he is not in the least
afraid of her, and ruffles his feathers and pecks her vigorously.
When she wants him to go into his cage, she makes him hop on
her arm, and then carries him to it, when he goes in in a docile
manner.
Habits.—As far as our observations have gone, we have come
to the conclusion that birds are essentially logical and practical,
they never do anything without good reason ; they also, in many
of their actions, show a strange conservatism and deference to
precedent.
Most birds have a favourite sleeping-place, and will try
perseveringly to get or keep possession of it. This is for several
reasons:—(1) They like to sleep as high as possible, the highest
place being probably the safest. (2) Or it may be a matter of
226 THE ZOOLOGIST.
situation, as shelter from draughts. (3) Or it may be that the
perch suits the feet.
Birds are always bad-tempered when sleepy. Canary A
would peck and fly at us fiercely if disturbed, though directly
fully awake was as amiable as ever. Redpoll C could even be
provoked into fighting if another bird invaded his sleeping-place.
This species very seldom sleep with the head under the wing as
almost all birds do; it was only in the coldest weather that I
have seen them do this.
Birds are very fond of a variety in their food, and it is by
keeping back some special seed—as hemp, or millet, or thistle—
and offering that as an inducement, that we have tamed
them. Redpoll F was fond of hemp, but was at first too
wild to take it from our hands; watching another bird being
fed, he would take it out of his mouth, or chase him and make
him drop it.
Redpoll A had a habit of taking two seeds off the finger, and
putting one down while he ate the other; both Redpolls F and C
knew this, and often stole the hoarded morsel.
Canary B, Redpolls A, C, HE, and the Goldfinch all had and
used little trays for seed, or to break hemp on. Canary B took
everything given her to her tray, as crumbs of cake or pieces of
apple or green food.
The birds were let out of the cage and given some thistle-
seed the first thing in the morning, and they all went to different
places and waited their turns to be fed, and were accustomed to
a particular rotation.
There was generally a fight for the bath, except on the part
of the ‘‘ General,” who almost invariably bathed last, and waited
for fresh water. Redpoll F turned round three times in the bath
before throwing the water over him. We never found out the
reason of the action.
The cage was a large one with several doors. Some of the
birds were very particular as to which door they came out of
and went in. Redpolls EH, F, Gall used the top one to fly out, and
entered at the lower. The cleverer birds were not so particular ;
but Redpoll C invariably flew on to my right shoulder and not
my left. It took some time before our pets got used to perching
on the finger; they seemed to experience some shock on both
NOTES ON THE HABITS OF SOME CAGED BIRDS. 227
claws clutching the flesh, and were seized with panic and flew
off, but patience and kindness conquered this.
Cleverness.—We-taught Canary A to tap the handle of his
cage-door when he wanted to come out. We could make him
go into the bath as many times as we wished by calling to him.
li he had not been attended to, if his bath or fresh food or sand
had not been provided, he would run along the bottom of a long
cage, beating his wings and uttering peculiar loud cries. One
day he was going through this performance without any apparent
reason. I looked at his cage and tried to find the cause, till the
bird put his head through the bars, and pointed with his beak
to his sugar, which had fallen on the floor. Carpentering or
needlework he took great interest in, and a favourite occupation
was to throw all the pins, needles, studs, &c., off a dressing-table
on to the floor.
All the Redpolls pulled up little buckets for their water, and
fed from our hands. MRedpoll C would fly across the room to
the finger if called; the others were not so dependable, but
would do so sometimes. Redpoll C would fly on to a paper or
an open book to attract attention if the reader was too pre-
occupied to notice him. None of the Redpolls were nervous at
strangers.
If the little well was empty, or the bucket caught, the birds
would shake the cord or pull the bucket up, letting it fall with
a noise to attract attention.
I mentioned a Goldfinch’s cleverness with regard to his
water. It is interesting that he worked this out himself, as at
first he invariably spilled all the water out of the bucket, and
drank from the little puddle thus made.
A hen Siskin justified the reputation of her species by at
once coming on my hand from only seeing the other birds do so.
Redpoll C was the first of his species to fly on to our hands.
After he had done this for the first time, the ‘‘ General,” who
had been watching carefully, flew at him, and chased him over
the cage; it had evidently offended his sense of propriety.
Affection and jealousy—Canary A was very fond of us, and
showed his affection in many ways; he would mope in a corner
when we were away, greet us when we came back, showing
pleasure by his animation and movements, and call after us as
228 THE ZOOLOGIST.
long as he could hear our retreating footsteps. He was jealous
if we took notice of another bird. A stuffed Canary was carried
into the room, and he at once attacked it with rage and
fierceness. On one occasion he was alarmed during the night
by a very severe thunderstorm, and we could hear him fluttering
in the dark. On calling to him he at once settled quietly down,
and answered with his usual note. When ill he preferred to
perch on our hands or shoulders, and sleep there.
Our impression is that there is not much affection in Red-
polls, though they are so clever; but Goldfinches and Linnets
certainly prefer one person to another.
Memory.—I used to have a little food-trolly fixed on the
cage; this was removed for about three months. On fitting it
on again, it was pulled up within five minutes by Redpoll A,
though he originally took several days to learn the trick. I may
explain that it was our practice to keep a different kind of seed
in the trolly from that in the ordinary boxes of the cage, which
were always kept full, so it was not the incentive of hunger that
quickened his memory. Redpoll D taught himself this trick
from seeing Redpolls A and B do it. We left the birds under
the care of a friend for three months, during our absence in the
country. When I went to fetch them home, I found the cage in
a large dimly lighted room. On hearing my voice, Redpolls A
and B were greatly excited, and uttered their peculiar “call”
many times, and later went through a similar demonstration on
seeing my wife.
When I bought Canary B, we had Redpolls A, B,C, D. On
putting her into the same cage, Redpolls B, C, D were greatly
alarmed, and continued to be frightened of her for several
days; but Redpoll A, who was familiar with the appearance of
Canary A, was not at all disturbed, and promptly attacked
Canary B. A whole year had elapsed since Redpoll A had seen
a Canary.
The mental process of birds is slow; if called they do not at
once respond unless stimulated by hunger, the idea seeming to
work for a few seconds before suggesting the action. It requires,
for this reason, patience in teaching them; all actions and
movements must be deliberate; a sudden turn of the head or
hand will frighten and destroy for a time the groundwork of all
training, confidence.
NOTES ON THE HABITS OF SOME CAGED BIRDS. 229
Curiosity.—I have already mentioned Canary A and the top,
and Redpoll B and the bucket. The most extraordinary instance
of curiosity that I have experienced is not in the limits of this
paper, as it does not refer to a caged bird, but I will ask the
indulgence of my readers in including it. In August, 1901, at
Wood Farm, Welland, at the base of the Malverns, as I was
returning from a collecting excursion and carrying a butterfly-
net, a bird, a Pied Wagtail (Motacilla lugubris) flew down to my
feet, uttering its call. I look around to see if a Hawk was
about, or if any other cause for this strange conduct was visible.
I then turned my attention to the bird to see if it was wounded
or ill, but it was unhurt, quite young, in beautiful plumage, and
apparently in excellent health; it flirted its tail, and looked up
into my face with curiosity and without the least fear. To my
extreme astonishment it even allowed me to take it in my hand.
I called to my wife (who is even more interested in birds than
myself) to come out of the farmhouse and see this strange
behaviour. The bird was as tame with her as with me, and she
also took it in her hand. We petted and played with it for a
considerable time, it not showing the least desire to leave us,
but, on the contrary, manifesting pleasure in being with us.
Finally, as we had to go indoors to lunch, I placed it on the
roof of the cowshed. About an hour later we were passing a
barn in a field about three hundred yards from the farm, I
still carrying my net, when we heard a call, and the same bird
again flew down, and remained a long time with us. I caught a
fly in the barn (Musca corvina, L., to the best of my recollection),
and this the bird took from my fingers, not with avidity, but
with an uncertainty, a kind of air of not refusing from politeness.
The only reasonable explanation that I can give is that the
unusual sight of a net, and my waving it to capture an insect, so
excited the curiosity of an abnormally clever young bird, that it
quite overcame its habitual fear of man. We looked for our
little friend again on many days, but were never quite certain
that we recognized him, and he never repeated his strange
behaviour. Since then I have always taken particular notice of
this species, but have found them rather shy, never permitting
me to approach at all close,
230 THE Z00LOGIST.
THE BIRDS OF THE DISTRICT OF STAINES.
By Granam W. Kerr.
(Continued from p. 184.)
Siskin (Chrysomitris spinus).—Distinctly rare. Its appear-
ances are few and far between, and have all been during hard
winter weather.
Hovusse-Sparrow (Passer domesticus). — Common. I have
been amused at watching the Sparrow driving the Thrushes
and Starlings away from the red berries of the mountain-ash.
As it does not eat the berries itself, this is done from sheer
mischief.
TreE-SparRow (P. montanus).—Numbers fluctuate in an ex-
traordinary manner. Some years it is quite common, and then
again the following year there will be hardly any. This spring
it was plentiful, and I came across several nests in the sides of a
haystack, a site that surprised me greatly. Asa rule the nest is
placed in holes in old willow-trees. It is remarkable that there
is invariably in every clutch one egg much more lightly marked
than the others. To argue that this is the last egg laid, and is
due to exhaustion of colour-matter, might meet the case of
individual birds, but does not seem sufficient to explain the
whole of a species having the same trait. Nor does the fact
that the light egg is as often fertile as any other in the clutch
point to any loss of power.
Cuarrince (Fringilla celebs)—Common.
Linnet (Linota cannabina). — The increase of the Linnet
has been the most remarkable feature of our bird-life. Ten
years ago in all the country-side there was only one spot (a fine
patch of gorse) where the bird could be found, while now we are
overrun with them, and every bush and hedge contains a nest.
Lesser Reppoutu (L. rufescens).—In 19038 the Lesser Red-
poll bred in the fork of a pyramid apple-tree in my garden. I
BIRDS OF THE DISTRICT OF STAINES. 231
considered this remarkable, as there are but few recorded instances
of the bird breeding in Middlesex. This year 1 again found the
nest in the fork of a tall osier, some fifteen feet from the ground,
on the Berkshire bank of the river above Boveny Lock. It would
seem from this that the bird is increasing its breeding range
along this part of the Thames, as it has undoubtedly done of
recent years over most of the south-eastern counties. The great
increase of the Linnet in our district also probably has bearings
on the Lesser Redpoll’s appearance.
Bunurincn (Pyrrhula europea).—Quite plentiful, though, as a
rule, one only obtains just a glimpse of the bird as it flies from
some high hedgerow.
Corn-Buntine (Emberiza miliaria).—Curiously local. In a
few fields near the reservoir there are a good many, the birds
being resident, but in no other part of our whole district does it
occur. It certainly breeds at this spot, but I have never been
able to discover the nest. It is of more sluggish habits than
any bird I know, and will remain for hours on the telegraph-wire,
or some other perch, uttering its monotonous notes.
YeLLow Buntine (LH. citrinella).—Common.
Ciru-Buntine (H. cirlus).—Only of rare occurrence.
Reep-Buntine (EZ. scheniclus).-— Resident in good numbers,
but subject to large migratory movements in spring and autumn.
This year enormous numbers arrived in the spring, and for fully
a month the movement went on, and then gradually waned
away, leaving our resident birds undisturbed. During winter
they roost in flocks, and it is interesting to see them coming in
by twos and threes, and dropping into some reed-bed for the
night. The Reed-Bunting more than any other bird will attempt.
to lure an intruder from the nest by trailing the wing as though
it were broken, and fluttering just out of reach. This trick is
invariably resorted to, and it is curious that it should be so
strongly developed in all birds of this species.
Srartine (Sturnus vulgaris)—Common. When the young of
the first broods leave the nest they go into the fields, and make
a most unpleasant noise with their screechings. The Starling
merely gobbles its food, and is a terribly greedy bird. I have
geen it in company with Thrushes, stripping off the ripe herries
of the mountain-ash. One evening in the autumn of 1904 I was
232 THE ZOOLOGIST.
walking in the fields, when I heard a vast whirring of wings and
a low indescribable twittering from thousands of throats. On
looking up I saw countless thousands of Starlings, wheeling in
regular order, before settling for the night. The following morn-
ing I could find no trace of the birds.
Jay (Garrulus glandarius). — Numerous in the well-wooded
parts. It undoubtedly destroys many Pheasant eggs, and for
this reason is much persecuted in Windsor Forest, falling a
ready victim to the pole-trap; but I was glad to hear from a
ranger that ‘‘for every bird killed a dozen come to the funeral.”
Maaepig (Pica rustica).—Sparsely distributed.
JACKDAW (Corvus monedula).—Common.
Raven (C. corax).—Once seen feeding in a field with Rooks.
Although it flew away strongly, I think it must have been a bird
escaped from confinement.
CaRRION-Crow (C. corone).—Rare.
Rook (C. frugilegus).—There are rookeries of various sizes all
over the district.
Sry-Larx (Alauda arvensis)—A common resident. During
winter its numbers are heavily reinforced by birds that only
winter here.
Woop-lark (A. arborea). —A summer migrant, and then only
found in a certain part of Windsor Forest, where it is fairly
common, and breeds.
Swirt (Cypselus apus)—Common.
ALPINE Swirt (C. melba).—One occurred on spring migration,
1895.
NiautTsar (Caprimulgus europeus).—Rare.
Wryneck (Lynx torquilla).—In early spring this bird may be
commonly seen perching on fences or tops of hedges. When
nesting commences the notes are still frequently heard, but the
bird is rarely seen.
GREEN WooDPECKER (Gecinus viridis). — Very numerous in
Windsor Forest. Sits closely, and one bird actually allowed me
to take her in my hand, and even then made no effort to fly away.
The wood chips thrown out in excavating the nesting-hole are
not removed from the ground below.
Great Sepottep Woopprecxer (Dendrocopus major). — Rarely
seen.
BIRDS OF THE DISTRICT OF STAINES. 233
Lesser Spotrep Wooprrcker (D. minor). — Kgham, 1881
(vide Zool. 1902, p. 228).
KineFisHer (Alcedo ispida).—The Kingfisher is by no means
as uncommon as is generally supposed—at least, not in any part
along the Thames. Between Penton Hook and Romney Locks
there are never in any year less than a dozen nests, and in
many of the higher reaches of the river the birds are quite as
numerous. Having lived all my life on the river, I have had
full opportunity to study the Kinefisher in all seasons, and the
most remarkable trait in the bird is its wonderful conservatism.
Floods drive the birds from the main stream, and they are then
often met with far inland fishing in the flooded ditches and
meadows, but as soon as the waters abate they return to their
old haunts. During hard weather they suffer severely, and are
seen on the cold frosty mornings flying low over the water, and
uttering their loud shrill cry. Probably at this time the fish
keep well on the bottom of the river, and the bird is almost
starved. The flight, as a rule, is low and arrow-like, but is
capable of being sustained at a good altitude, and for a consider-
able distance. Two broods are reared, and the nest may be
found from March to the middle of July. A clay bank in some
quiet reach is chosen, and the bird spends about ten days scoop-
ing out its nesting-hole. One rarely sees the bird at work, even
though the spot, as is often the case, is devoid of any cover.
The straight narrow passage, smaller than any Water-Vole’s
hole, slopes upward, and runs three feet or more into the bank,
leading into a circular chamber that always bears away slightly
to the left. Here, on a ground of powdered fish-bones, are
deposited the round white eggs, from five to ten in number.
When fresh the yolk gives the eggs a delicate pink tint, like
large pearls; when blown they lose this, and become pure
slistening white. After being in use for some time the passage
to the nest becomes very foul, being sodden with droppings and
disgorged fish-bones. The droppings frequently make the nest
conspicuous, and are of peculiar character, being always white
and liquid. The inner chamber, or nest itself, is, however, kept
scrupulously clean. It is essential that some root or snag grows
from the bank within a few feet of the nest, for the bird never
flies direct to its home, but perches for a few minutes outside,
Zool. 4th ser. vol. X., June, 1906. T
234 THE 400LOGIST.
and then flies in. The fishing-spot of the Kingfisher is never
near the nest, but generally in some quiet nook where the sun
slants through overhanging boughs on to the water. The depth
of water is usually eighteen inches or two feet, and the bird con-
tinually uses the same spot. It remains motionless on some
bough about two feet from the surface, and, as a fish passes
beneath, darts down with its wings held closely to the sides of
its body. In early spring, when the birds are pairing, they
become very noisy, flying to and fro after each other with shrill
cries. Once the nesting-site is chosen, nothing will induce the
birds to abandon the spot, which is used year after year, though
a new hole is made each spring. If the first nest is disturbed,
within a week the birds will commence a new tunnel within a
foot or two of the old one, and will do the same thing time after
time. When the young are full-grown they are slow to leave
the nest, but sit inside, uttering a low humming noise, like a
swarm of bees. If one taps the bank from outside they become
silent, and only recommence after some minutes have elapsed.
(To be continued.)
( 235)
NOTHS AND QUERIES.
AVES.
Blackbird Laying Twice in same Nest.—I would like to draw your
readers’ attention to a rather out-of-the-way performance of a Black-
bird (Turdus merula) in a friend’s garden. She laid some time back
the usual four eggs, sat well, and brought out the young birds; they
were all fledged, and had left the nest. A few days later my friend
looked into the old nest again, and found four fresh eggs, presumably
laid by the same hen; she is now sitting. Is this not arather unusual
occurrence ?—W. H. Workman (Windsor, Belfast).
Accident to Young Crow (Corvus corone).— On May 10th, in the
vicinity of Ashtead (Surrey), I found a Carrion-Crow’s nest, upon
which the old bird sat close. When she was disturbed a young bird
fell with a heavy thud at my feet. As this youngster was but a few
hours old, it is evident, I think, that in some unaccountable way the
parent bird’s feet must have become entangled with the young bird.
This seems a somewhat unusual occurrence to happen to a bird at such
an early age, and taking into consideration the fact that the nest is so
substantially built. —P. W. Harvey (66, Broughton Road, Thornton
Heath).
Hoopoe at Lundy Island.—About May 15th I watched a Hoopoe
(Upupa epops) for a considerable time on Lundy Island. It was finding
plenty to eat in the thick grass, but, although I had strong glasses, and
the bird allowed me to approach to within twenty yards of it, I was
unable to see the nature of its food.mNorman H. Joy (Bradfield, near
Reading).
Song of Cuculus canorus at Night.—Between eleven and twelve on
the night of May 10th, when it was pitch dark, a Cuckoo was singing
loudly in my garden. The bird was evidently on the wing, although it
remained close to the house. So far as my own recollection goes, I do not
remember ever previously having heard a Cuckoo singing in the dark.
Can any of your readers inform me whether this is an unusual occur-
rence ?—R. H. Ramssoruam (Elmhurst, Garstang).
236 THE ZOOLOGIST.
Wild Swans in Norfolk.—The statement that the year 1905 passed
without a single Wild Swan being seen in Norfolk (ante, p. 188) is in-
correct, for Mr. Pashley tells me that three Bewick’s Swans (Cygnus
bewicki) were seen on the coast on Oct. 18th, and that two of them were
shot—adults with very frayed plumage. A supposed Wild Swan, how-
ever, shot on Barton Broad, proved to be a Mute Swan, and was
omitted intentionally.—J. H. Gurney (Keswick, Norfolk).
Colour of Pochard’s Eyes.— Regarding Mr. C. B. Corbin’s note
(ante, p. 194) on the colour of birds’ eyes, he says he has never seen
old or young of Fuligula nyroca in the flesh. The following, therefore,
may prove of interest to him. JI have been more fortunate than
Mr. Corbin, and scores of living and dead F. nyroca have passed
through my hands, for this was one of the commonest of migratory
Duck in a certain part of Bengal where I resided for some years. It
was only the fully adult males that exhibited the white iris, those of
the immature birds and females being brown. Ina paper I contributed
to ‘The Zoologist ’ for 1902 (p. 452) on Indian birds, I touched briefly
on the phenomenon of Pochards’ eyes changing colour. This occurred
in one (a male) I shot, which was only slightly wounded, and whilst
giving it the cowp-de-grace I distinctly saw the blood-red iris change to
pale yellow. I thought this very remarkable at the time, but believe
the occurrence is not uncommon.—Gorpon Dauewiess (Brook, Witley,
Surrey).
Ornithological Notes from Plymouth. —I think that a few of the
rare birds I have seen around this neighbourhood are worth recording.
In some marshy ground less than a mile from this town an Egyptian
Goose has been staying for the last nine months. I have seen it on
many occasions, and when approached it takes wing at a little more
than gunshot range, always flying into the River Plym. As Egyptian
Geese are kept in Bicton Park, and also near Crediton, this may be an
escape, and has failed to find its way back again. The bird has failed
to find a mate all this time. In September, 1908, I saw a pair of
Glossy Ibises (Plegadis falcinellus) in Chelson Meadow (Plymouth race-
course), a flat swampy piece of ground. I could observe them well at
about a distance of one hundred yards. They had disappeared the
next day. Last year a pair of Hawfinches successfully reared a brood
in a garden at Mannamead. But the most interesting of all was a
Marsh-Harrier (Circus @ruginosus), which I saw on Caters Beam—a
boggy part of the southern half of Dartmoor. This bird was put up
by the Dartmoor foxhounds in November, 1905. The bird flew low
NOTES AND QUERIES. 237
over the ground across our line. I noticed it had spaces in its wings,
as though it had been shot at. This was remarked on by several
riders, but it might have been in moult. A pair of Peregrine Falcons
nested in some woods on the edge of the moor last year. The Buzzard
is not infrequently to be seen on Dartmoor. They are known to nest
in several places, and seem to hold their own pretty well. I have
recently paid three visits to Wembury Cliffs, one of the breeding
stations of the Gulls, about six miles from Plymouth. I was glad to
see a pair of Ravens still there. They have bred in these cliffs from
time immemorial. There are five young just fledged. So far as I
could see, the eggs were hatched towards the end of March. ‘The nest
is built in an inaccessible position, unlike last year’s, which could be
easily reached. I saw the remains of this nest. The birds appear to
use one nest one year, and the other the next. I also saw Rock-Pigeons
fly out on all three occasions, as well as a pair of Kestrels, and a local
man showed me where they nest. The positions seem pretty secure.
He also showed me a Fox’s earth in these clifis. He stated that they
swim across the River Yealm from the big woods on the opposite side,
and one year he secured three cubs, and transferred them to the moor,
where they could be better hunted. A pair of Ravens also nest at
Rame Head, on the Cornish side of the entrance to Plymouth Sound,
and another pair can always be seen about Trowlesworthy Tor, though
I failed to find their nest. — H. P. O. Cizave (18, Leigham Street,
Plymouth).
Winter Ornithological Notes from Barnstaple.—
Nov. 20th, 1905.— Frosty. Redwings very numerous near the
town; hundreds can be seen throughout the winter in Acland Woods,
and towards evening these numbers are increased by others coming in
to roost from all directions in parties of from three to thirty. They
make a pleasing chattering noise, and occasionally utter several flute-
like notes, as if half inclined to sing.
Nov, 22nd.—This winter I have seen the following birds with only
one leg apiece :—Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Peewit, Coot, Rook, Black-
headed Gull, and Curlew. The first three of these all lopped about by
themselves alone, but once or twice I noticed the Dunlin with a mate
trotting about with it.
Nov. 26th.—A flock of Siskins, with a few Lesser Redpolls, feeding
on the alders at Venn Quarry. They all disappeared in a few days.
The Siskin is not very common in North Devon.
Dec. 17th.— Snipe and Wigeon very numerous in the marshes.
Dec. 18th.—Observed a Cormorant on the topmost branch of a tall
238 THE ZOOLOGIST.
but withered oak-tree by the River Taw, near Tawstock Woods. This
has been a favourite resting-place with these birds for the past twenty
years, and often three or four can be seen perched up against the sky-
line with their wings held out to dry. Occasionally one will betake
itself inland to a Trout-stream, where it plays havoc with the fish if
not shot or driven away. A fine male Pochard on the river near
Bishopstawton. On being disturbed it flew away upstream in the
direction of Newbridge. Several Teal and Water-Rails in the marshes.
The Heron is one of the most nervous birds I know. If it does not
see you, it will hear you approaching. Immediately it shoots up its
long neck, and, with a frightened turn of the head, it spreads its wings
and swiftly sails out of sight. I have seen a Heron seek safety by
- flight once from an excited bullock, once from a little Red-deer calf,
once again from an inquisitive lamb, and even from an impertinent
Rook; but when really angry they fight savagely.
Dec. 21st.—A white-headed Blackbird seen near Barnstaple. Little
Grebes plentiful on the river.
Dec. 28th.—A Cormorant this morning was struggling with a large
Fluke (Pleuronectus flesus), which had stuck in its mouth. It was in
the middle of the river, and was swimming round in a small circle,
shaking its head, and stretching its neck. After some minutes it sud-
denly shot its head up, and I saw the fish disappear, and a big swell
roll down its gullet. It then wagged its tail like a Duck, cleansed its
beak, and flew off, apparently by no means impeded by its extra heavy
breakfast. Sometimes, when in a difficulty of this description, they
will go ashore, where I suppose they have a better opportunity of
dealing with the obstinate fish.
Dec. 29th.—Saw a stuffed specimen of an Arctic Skua, in immature
plumage, which was shot on our river in September, 1904. During
Christmas week a Great Northern Diver was shot here by a fisherman ;
also a Red-breasted Merganser, but I did not see it. A flock of about
twenty Siskins feeding on the alders by the River Yeo, near Ivy
Lodge.
Jan. 2nd, 1906.—Stormy. A flock of six Grey Phalaropes on the
Taw, near Pottington Point. Rough weather usually brings in one
or two.
Jan. Tth.—Observed a flock of four or five Sanderlings on the mud-
flats. Very wild. Jam told that there has been a flock of Wild Geese
‘‘in over” this week. ‘
Jan. 11th.—Numbers of Scaup Duck off Baggy Point and Down End,
Santon.
NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 239
Jan. 17th.—Cased a Pomatorhine Skua in immature plumage, shot
in November, 1901, by a fisherman at the mouth of the River Taw.
Jan, 19th.—A flock of Coal-Tits at Tawstock Woods. This is a
very uncommon Tit in North Devon, and is not often met with. How-
ever, West Buckland, nine miles from Barnstaple, is the exception
which proves the rule, for here it is numerous in the thick plantations,
and breeds. The Marsh-Tit is very common.
Jan. 24th.—The keeper of the Hospital Ship at the estuary of the
Taw has cared for a Herring-Gull (once shot in the wing) so long now,
that, though quite well and allowed its liberty, it refuses to leave the
neighbourhood. Every morning it comes aboard for a breakfast, which
is always given it, and during the day picks up its own food from the
river with one or two other Gulls, but it mostly prefers its own com-
pany. A whistle or a signal with the arm will bring him up almost
immediately, sailing round the ship, but he will not pitch if there is a
stranger about.
Feb, 24th.—Saw a solitary Wader on the river up by the South
Walk. I thought at first sight it was a Common Sandpiper, but I
believe it must have been the variety of Dunlin known as ‘ Shintz’s
Dunlin.” Its bill was short, but in size like a Dunlin with the same
plumage. It was very tame, so I was able to examine it well. I have
never seen a Dunlin so far up the river, and especially not where
townspeople are passing up and down continually on both banks.—
Bruce EF. Cummines.
NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.
The British Freshwater Rhizopoda and Heliozoa. By James Casu.
Assisted by Jonn Hopkinson, F'.L.S., &. Ray Society.
To many zoologists the subject-matter of this book must prove
the limitation of much of our knowledge. How little we know of
living creatures as a whole! and the more we specialize our
studies the less we know of animated nature in a comprehensive
view. It is this narrowness in purview that vitiates our theories,
aad causes many of the evolutionary systems, so frequently pro-
pounded, to rest on the advocacy of circumscribed observers and
to lack finality. With these minute and lowly organized crea-
tures, only to be studied by the aid of a microscope, has arisen
240. THE ZOOLOGIST.
a question of the most transcendental importance, the universality
of death (?). The well-known theory of Weismann and others,
supported by the weighty enunciation of Prof. Ray Lankester, as
to the ‘‘ deathlessness’”’ of the Protozoan cell, can only be referred
to, and not argued here; but at least it can be proposed that the
mystery of death is at least equal to that of life, of which we hear
so much more.
The main object in the preparation of this work, we are told,
‘‘ was to bring together, as concisely and accurately as possible,
in a single manual, all that has been so far discovered regarding
the British Freshwater Rhizopoda and their near allies, the
Heliozoa.”” It is thus a distinct addition to the means of study-
ing another branch of British zoology, and we are promised a
bibliography of these organisms by Mr. Hopkinson, which will
appear as a future volume. In classification, the term Conchu-
lina has been substituted for Testacea, which is preoccupied in
Mollusca. There are sixteen excellent plates, and in this, as in
previous volumes, the members of the Ray Society act as pioneers
in the still very far from exhausted field of British zoology.
A Pocket-Book of British Birds. By HW. F. M. Euns.
West, Newman & Co.
Tue contents of this little book have been so clearly and
tersely stated on the cover of our last issue as to leave little more
to be said on the subject. It is to a very great extent a compila-
tion, which is a necessity if any work of the kind is to be com-
prehensive, and compilation is a word which frequently bears a
wrong signification. Mr. Elms has endeavoured in a small
compass to give, in a condensed form, very much information
regarding our British birds, and he has succeeded in producing
an inexpensive volume which well deserves to be a “‘pocket-book”’
for those who wish to become field ornithologists. We are quite
certain that if this publication is rightly used and faithfully con-
sulted, any field naturalist may obtain a thorough introduction to
a knowledge of the birds he may meet on his rambles, and it
should be slipped in the pocket by those taking a summer holiday,
who are not in the strict sense of the word already ornithologists.
If its readers also endeavour to supplement its notes, and test
its information, it will not have been written in vain, and will
thoroughly achieve its object.
CONT ENG s.
Observations tending to throw Light on the Question of Sexual Selection in Birds,
including a Day-to-day Diary on the Breeding Habits of the Ruff (Machetes
pugnax), Hdmund Selous, 201.
Notes on the Habits of some Caged Birds, W. Wesché, F.R.M.S., 220.
The Birds of the District of Staines, Graham W. Kerr, 230.
NoTmES AND QUERIES :—
Aves.—Blackbird Laying Twice in same Nest, W. H. Workman, 235. Accident
to Young Crow (Corvus corone), P. W. Harvey, 235. Hoopoe at Lundy
Island, Norman H. Joy, 235. Song of Cuculus canorus at Night, R. H.
Ramsbotham, 235. Wild Swans in Norfolk, J. H. Gurney, 236. Colour of
Pochard’s Eyes, Gordon Dalgliesh, 236. Ornithological Notes from Ply-
mouth, H. P. O. Cleave, 236. Winter Ornithological Notes from Barnstaple
Bruce F. Cummings, 237.
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Youne Cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo) av ScILLy.
Meh LOOLOGLS TF
No. 781.—July, 1906.
THE BIRDS OF SCILLY.
By James Crank, M.A., D.Sc., and Francis R. Ropp, J.P.
(Pxuate III.)
Tuovuex the peculiar geographical position of the Isles of Scilly
makes them one of the most important ornithological centres of
the west, the literature of the bird-life there is remarkably scanty.
Accidental visitors have from time to time received due recog-
nition in the pages of ‘The Zoologist’ and elsewhere, but, with
the exception of a short appendix to Rodd’s ‘ Birds of Cornwall,’
and a compilation by the Rev. R. W. Smart in the ‘ Trans-
actions’ of the Penzance Natural History and Antiquarian
Society for 1885, no general account has yet been published of °
the birds of these islands.
The material for the following annotated list has been drawn
from various sources. Mr. Augustus Pechell visited the islands
every year during the autumn or winter from 1849 to 1870, and
the rare Scillonian birds obtained by him were sent direct to the
late Mr. E. H. Rodd, and, with few exceptions, are still in the
Rodd collection at Trebartha. Mr. F. Rh. Rodd paid five lengthy
visits to Scilly during the shooting season between 1859 and
1870, and not only sent birds and frequent ornithological notes
to his uncle Mr. H. H. Rodd, but during the last three months of
1870 kept a bird diary there, that was afterwards published in
The Zoologist.. In 1863 he drew up an annotated list of
Zool. 4th ser. vol. X., July, 1906. U
242 THE ZOOLOGIST.
Scillonian birds, in which he was helped by Pechell, but it was
never published ; and in 1871 he made a number of marginal
notes on the birds of Scilly in a copy of ‘ Yarrell.’ Both of these
records are fortunately still preserved. During the last sixty
years Mr. J. H. Jenkinson has paid many visits to the islands,
chiefly during the autumn and winter, and with his son, Mr. F.
Jenkinson, has very greatly increased our knowledge of the local
fauna. Some years ago he prepared a manuscript list of the
birds of Scilly for use at the Abbey, which has been added to
from time to time by Mr. T. A. Dorrien-Smith, the lord-proprietor
of the islands, who for the last twenty-five years has taken the
keenest interest in local ornithology. Since about 1880 almost
all the rarer birds secured at Scilly have gone into the Abbey
collection there, so that the Rodd and the Abbey collections be-
tween them contain examples of nearly all the accidental visitors
and rare casuals that have been shot at Scilly since about 1849
to the present time. Another valuable source of information is
the Tresco game-book, which goes back to 1856, and contains
many jottings of great value.
When preparing his ‘ Tentative List of Cornish Birds,’ pub-
lished in 1902, Dr. Clark was struck by the paucity of records
from Scilly for the spring months, and, to obtain material to fill
up the gap, took over a party of his biological students for the
Haster holidays of 1903. Since that date he has visited the
islands seven times, and, through the kindness of Mr. Dorrien-
Smith, has not only ransacked the treasures of the Abbey, but
has been able to study the bird-life of Scilly under most excep-
tional circumstances. Thanks also in great measure to the help
so kindly given by Mr. F. Jackson, Mr. C. J. King, and Mr. L.
R. George, of St. Mary’s, and by the veteran ex-gamekeeper,
David Smith, of Tresco, he has been able to obtain a fairly com-
plete record of the more important ornithological events at Scilly
for the last six years.
The Mistle-Thrush is a fairly regular winter visitor, usually
in small parties, but at long intervals in flocks. The first birds
generally come with the Redwings, and others may appear irre-
cularly up till the beginning of March. The Song-Thrush is a
common resident, breeding on all the inhabited islands, and (in
THE BIRDS OF SCILLY. 243
1903) on Annett, Samson, St. Helen’s, and Great Ganilly. Its
numbers do not appear to increase in the winter, but it has been
seen several times in the autumn coming in on the north end of
Tresco from a north-easterly direction, not in close flocks, but
following each other in ones and twos for hours at a time. The
Redwing is more abundant than the Fieldfare in most winters,
and arrives earlier, appearing, as a rule, about the second week
in October, when the Larks and Starlings make their great
movement to the islands. Large flocks of both occasionally pass
over without landing, particularly at night, in late autumn and
winter. Some of these are certainly going eastward out to sea,
but it is not uncommon to see from Bryher or the northern point
of Tresco scattered flights of Redwings flying overhead from the
north-west to the south-east, even in the teeth of a south-easterly
wird. A single specimen of White’s Thrush was shot by George
Britton in the Abbey Gardens on Dec. 2nd, 1886. Blackbirds
are commoner at Scilly than anywhere else in the county. They
breed almost exclusively in the furze-brakes, to which they always
fly for shelter. They are remarkably wild and wary, and outside ©
the Abbey Gardens are very rarely heard to sing. There does
not seem to be any notable increase in their number in severe
weather, though small parties arrive from the mainland with
other migrants in autumn. The Ring-Ouzel is a bird of passage,
frequently seen on the rocky eminences of St. Mary’s, Tresco,
and Bryher in autumn. On April 12th, 1903, a flock of over a
hundred came in on a south-easterly wind on the north side of
Old Town Bay, St. Mary’s, and several were seen on April 19th,
1904, so that it is probable they are regular spring migrants.
The Wheatear breeds sparingly, but is common during autumn
migration. On April 9th, 1903, several hundreds arrived in
three successive flocks above Old Town, and either remained
till the 17th, or else fresh arrivals maintained the numbers up
till that date. The Whinchat is an autumn migratory casual
that has been noted altogether about a dozen times between the
second week in August and the first week in October. It always
occurs singly, and is probably often overlooked. The Stone-
chat is common in all the furze-brakes and on most of the
waste land throughout the summer, but is not so conspicuous in
winter. In the first week in May, 1908, there must have been
U2
244 THE ZOOLOGIST.
about thirty pairs on St. Helen’s, all evidently breeding. The
Redstart is observed every year in autumn in pairs or in small
flocks, usually perched on the granite blocks by the seashore.
The Black Redstart, generally in immature plumage, occurs
regularly in pairs during autumn migration, and frequently
during the winter. Like the Redstart, it has a decided penchant
for sea-worn granite boulders. The Robin is in evidence all the
year round, and breeds on all the inhabited islands. It appears
to look on the Redstarts as intruders of a more than usually
objectionable nature, and in the autumn fierce combats on the
rocks are by no means uncommon.
The Whitethroat has been noted in the autumn. It occurs
irregularly, and is probably a frequent migratory casual. The
Lesser Whitethroat has only once been obtained, namely, in
October, 1857. Rodd believes he saw a pair on Castle Downs,
Tresco, in 1863. The Blackcap is an autumn and winter casual
in the Abbey Gardens. It was obtained by Pechell in September,
1850, and again in October, 1854. Since then it has been noted
altogether over a dozen times, including twice in December and
twice in January. The Garden-Warbler is evidently a rare
autumn casual. It was first obtained by Jenkinson in 1849.
The only other authenticated occurrences are a single bird in
October, 1874, which seemingly came over with a flight of Red-
Wings, and a pair on Sept. 29th, 1900, of which one was shot.
The Dartford Warbler has not been observed. The Goldcrest
does not breed on the islands, but arrives in large flocks in
autumn and winter, and is often common in the spring. On
Tresco great numbers at times spend a considerable portion of
the winter in the fir-plantation about the Abbey. In January,
1904, the trees were literally alive with them. These flocks
appear to be entirely composed of birds of the year. Adult
birds do occasionally occur, but singly, in pairs, or at most in
flights of eight to ten, and seem to be almost always associated
with Chiffchaffs, and often with Siskins and Redstarts as well.
The Firecrest was first obtained by Pechell in 1851, but in 1871
Rodd writes that it is sometimes as plentiful as the Golderest.
Though not observed in great numbers during recent years it is
certainly a regular autumn and winter visitor, coming, as a rule,
in the month of October, with Goldcrests, Chiffchaffs, and Red-
THE BIRDS OF SCILLY. 245
starts. In November, 1908, there were several pairs, with a
number of Goldcrests, at Tresco, among the pines between the
garden and the monument. ‘Two specimens of the Yellow-
browed Warbler were shot on St. Martin’s Common by Pechell
in October, 1867. One was too badly mutilated for preservation,
but the other was kept as an immature Firecrest, and was not
identified till 1890. On Oct. 1st, 1905, an adult male was
obtained at Tresco by David Smith, who knocked it down with a
stick as it flew out of a hedge. The Chiffchaff is a common
visitor to Tresco and St. Mary’s every autumn, and is occasion-
ally seen on St. Martin’s. It has been noticed several times at
Tresco in November and December, and frequently heard in
song in January and February; so that it is probable a few
remain most years during the winter. Rodd, in 1863, speaks of
a pair that frequented a corner of the Abbey Garden from the
middle of November till the end of December. In January,
1904, several were in song among the Goldcrests, and David
Smith says that Chiffchaffs had been there continuously from
the 4th of November. The Willow-Wren has been occasionally
noticed on autumn migration, for the most part singly, but in
the first week in October, 1903, it was fairly common among
some gorse near Holy Vale, St. Mary’s. On Nov. 22nd, 1904,
two were seen and heard in the Abbey Gardens, Tresco. The
Wood-Wren was occasionally observed by Pechell and Rodd in
the autumn, for the most part early in September, but once on
Nov. 8th. Since 1870 it has evidently been overlooked. It is
probably at least an occasional visitor in the spring, for in May,
1908, several were seen and heard among the trees near the
duck-pond at Tresco. The Reed-Warbler was obtained in
September, 1849, in the autumn of 1852, in October, 1864, in
September, 1868, and in the autumn of 1871. Then, probably
from lack of observers, there is no further autumn record till
Oct. 6th, 1903, when it was seen on St. Mary’s below Holy Vale.
On April 11th, 1904, there were several in song by the Long
Pool, Tresco; so that, like the Wood- and Willow-Wrens, it is
probably at least a casual spring as well as autumn bird of
passage. The Sedge-Warbler is a common summer migrant,
breeding freely on Tresco. The Grasshopper- Warbler was heard
by the Rev. H. D. Astley on Tresco on May 12th, 1901, and two
246 THE ZOOLOGIST.
were watched for over an hour on Samson on April 18th, 1903.
As it is not recorded by Pechell, Rodd, or Jenkinson, it is
evidently not an autumn migrant. Before leaving the Warblers
it should be mentioned that David Smith had a conspicuous
Warbler under observation for a fortnight during the latter part
of September and the beginning of October, 1888, in the reed-bed
below the Abbey Road, which he identified as the Rufous Warbler.
He was too ill at the time to handle a gun, and the bird was not
seen by any other observer. Smith also shot what was evidently
a Great Reed-Warbler in the reeds on the Long Pool, Tresco,
about the end of September, 1884. He had it in his hand, where
it lay quietly for a moment spreading out its tail like a fan; but
before he could kill it, it suddenly slipped over and went away
like a mouse. His description of the bird left no reasonable
doubt of its identity. The Dipper, as might have been expected,
has not occurred at Scilly. The Hedge-Sparrow is common in
every suitable locality all the year round. Its numbers do not
seem to be increased during the autumn or winter by immi-
gration.
In some manuscript notes drawn up in 1863, Rodd says that
the Bearded Tit has occurred once on St. Mary’s Moors. In
October, 1876, David Smith shot three Long-tailed Tits out of a
family of seven, and on Sept. 28th, 1903, he saw a family of five.
In the autumn of 1905 it was fairly common at Tresco. The
Great Tit has been occasionally observed in the autumn, and
twice in January, generally singly, but twice in small parties.
Single specimens sometimes linger in the autumn for two or
three weeks in the Abbey Garden. By a slip it is marked in
EK. H. Rodd’s ‘ Birds of Cornwall’ as breeding in Scilly. So far
it has not been observed in the islands in the spring at all. The
Blue Tit is seen occasionally, for the most part singly or in pairs,
during the autumn and winter, probably blown off the mainland
by storms, as may, indeed, be the case with all the Tits recorded
from Scilly. The Coal-Tit was obtained by Pechell in the autumn
of 1851, but has not been recorded since. The Marsh-Tit was
obtained about the same time, and was twice seen about 1863 by
Rodd. Augustus Smith, the late lord-proprietor of the islands,
told Rodd that at one time the Marsh-Tit was the commonest of
all the Tits at Scilly. The Wren is an abundant resident, much
THE BIRDS OF SCILLY. 247
in evidence on almost every island, including even Mincarlo and
Castle Bryher. The Nuthatch has not been seen, and there is
no certain record of the occurrence of the Tree-Creeper. The
Pied Wagtail is common all the year round, and nests on all the
larger islands. In the autumn large flocks arrive from the main-
land. The White Wagtail is a not uncommon casual autumn
visitor, coming over with the migrant flocks of Pied Wagtaiis.
In a large flock of the latter, which arrived on St. Mary’s early
in October, 1903, seven of the former were counted. David Smith
saw several on Tresco about the same time. The Grey Wagtail
is a regular autumn migratory visitor, sometimes in large flocks,
as in October, 1903. It has not hitherto been recorded as a bird
of passage in the spring, but in 1903 it was common about Hugh
Town, St. Mary’s, from April 10th to 18th. Two specimens of
the Blue-headed Wagtail were obtained by Pechell in September,
1871, but it has not been recorded since. The Yellow Wag-
tail is a somewhat uncertain bird of passage, but in the
autumn of some years—notably 1900, 1903, and 1904—has
been fairly plentiful.
The Tree-Pipit has been observed occasionally in the autumn
both on Tresco and on St. Mary’s, once on St. Martin’s, and
twice on Bryher. It is probably often overlooked, and may be a
regular autumn visitor. An adult male was found dead on St.
Agnes early in June, 1902. The Meadow-Pipit is an abundant
resident. Occasionally, as in the autumn of 1899 and 1904,
large flocks pay the islands a passing visit. A single specimen
of the Tawny Pipit was shot by Pechell near Old Grimsby,
Tresco, on Sept. 19th, 1868. Richards’s Pipit is an occasional
accidental visitor, one having been killed by Pechell in October,
1849, and three others at the same time as the Tawny Pipit just
mentioned. On May 16th, 1903, a pair were watched for a con-
siderable time flying backwards and forwards over the marshes
at Porthellick Bay, near Holy Vale, St. Mary’s. The only speci-
men of the Water-Pipit so far recorded for the county was
obtained by Clark at Porthellick Bay on May 17th, 1903, the
day after the appearance of Richards’s Pipit. The Rock-Pipit
is an abundant resident, very much in evidence during the
spring and summer months. It nests in considerable numbers
on nearly all the available islands, including Guthers and Round
248 THE ZOOLOGIST.
Island. The Scandinavian form (A. rupestris) was shot by J. G.
Millais on May 11th, 1908. |
The Golden Oriole appears to be an almost regular spring —
visitor to Tresco, and an occasional one to Holy Vale, St. Mary’s.
Some years ago the Rev. F. D. Astley heard five singing at one
time round Tresco Abbey, but as a rule they occur singly or in
pairs. The Broad Walk in the.Abbey Gardens is one of their
favourite haunts, and a pair were much in evidence there in
May, 1908. It has never been obtained in autumn, but Pechell
and Rodd pursued a bird for some time on St. Martin’s at that
season, which the former was convinced belonged to this species.
No specimen of the Great Grey Shrike from Scilly has been pre-
served, but in manuscript notes by F. R. Rodd in 1871 it is
stated that it had been observed and shot by Pechell—generally
as birds of the year. The vague printed references to its occur-
rence on the islands are probably based on a note by EH. H. Rodd
in ‘ The Zoologist’ for 1851 (p. 3300), to the effect that a female
was shot by Pechell early in November of that year. A detailed
examination of the specimen by H. H. Rodd and Jenkinson
caused them to doubt the identification, and in 1867 the bird
was sent to Gould, who figured it in his work on ‘ The Birds of
Great Britain’ as the Lesser Grey Shrike. This bird, the first
recorded for the British Isles, is the only example so far obtained
in the county. The Red-backed Shrike is a rare autumnal
visitor, shot occasionally by Pechell, and reported altogether
about half a dozen times by F. R. Rodd and others, probably
always in immature plumage. A specimen was shot near Holy
Vale, St. Mary’s, late in November, 1905. The Woodchat-
Shrike is a very rare accidental visitor. In September, 1840,
an adult male in an exhausted condition was caught in a boat,
and in the autumn of 1849 Pechell shot several in immature
plumage. Since that date it has not been recorded. A care-
fully executed water-colour of a Scilly-killed specimen of the
Waxwing in a book of bird-paintings at the Abbey, Tresco,
executed by Miss Frances Mary Isabella Smith prior to 1849, is
the only evidence of the occurrence of this bird on the islands.
The Spotted Flycatcher is probably a regular autumn visitor in
immature plumage, but on July 7th, 1903, a nest with four
young birds was found by Clark in an outhouse on the west side
THE BIRDS OF SCILLY. 249
of Bryher, and on May 28th, 1905, an adult female was caught
near Holy Vale. Young specimens of the Pied Flycatcher occur
not infrequently in twos and threes during autumn migration.
A single bird was seen on April 16th, 1908, near Hugh Town,
St. Mary’s. A Redbreasted Flycatcher was obtained by Pechell
in the Abbey Gardens on Nov. 2nd, 1868. F.R. Rodd and he
were watching some Chiffchafis, when some young Pied Fly-
catchers appeared, accompanied by a strange bird, whose white
tail-feathers, flycatcher habits, and general resemblance to the
Chiffchaffs puzzled them considerably. The bird was identified
by Vingoe as a male in immature plumage, and afterwards by
Gould (Zool. 1868, p. 8841). On Nov. 5th, 1865, Jenkinson
obtained another specimen in the same locality.
The Swallow is common throughout the summer, and has
been recorded for every month of the year. The sunny side of
the Abbey is a favourite resort during the winter, and so, too, is
the Broad Walk. On Dec. 10th, 1908, five birds were hawking
gnats beside the Abbey during the whole morning. The Martin
does not breed, but is not uncommon throughout the summer,
and, like the Swallow, is not infrequently seen during the winter
months at Tresco. In the Abbey game-book one is mentioned
as having been picked up on St. Mary’s, Jan. 20th, 1881, shot
through the beak. In the autumn of 1908 all Swallows and
Martins had left St. Mary’s by Oct. 20th, but on or about Nov.
29th they were back again in considerable numbers, and for
over a week the Martins were much commoner than they usually
are at any time during the summer. The Sand-Martin is for
the most part a casual bird of passage in spring and autumn,
but sometimes—as in 1848, 1863, 1867, 1894, and 1901—flocks
of several hundred birds may pause on their southward journey.
The Greenfinch is a winter visitor, usually in small parties,
and sometimes singly, but occasionally, as in 1849, 1894, and
1904, in large flocks. The St. Mary’s flock of October, 1904,
was over four hundred strong, and rested only two or three days,
though a few remained till after Christmas. In the third week
of April, 1903, there were about a dozen at Holy Vale, but none
of them remained to breed. The usual small flocks of autumn
and early winter generally frequent one particular spot in the
Tresco Gardens for some weeks at a time. The Hawfinch is an
250 THE ZOOLOGIST.
occasional autumn visitor at Tresco in immature plumage, and
has been several times recorded in April, and once, in 1868, on
June 11th. The Goldfinch appears in family parties in the
autumn, and not uncommonly at Tresco in March, in flocks of
twelve to twenty. The Siskin not infrequently appears at
Tresco in autumn and winter, sometimes singly, usually in
small parties of four to seven. In January, 1904, a tame but
restless party of five spent some days among the Pinus lambertt-
anus on the Abbey drive. In the beginning of November, 1905,
some half a dozen separate parties arrived at Tresco, evidently
at the same time as a flight of Goldcrests, accompanied by
several Chiffchaffs. The House-Sparrow is a common resident
on the inhabited islands. In July, 1903, it was abundant be-
tween the two hills of Samson. The Tree-Sparrow, in the list
of Scillonian birds at the end of Rodd’s ‘ Birds of Cornwall,’ is
said to be occasionally met with, but no authentic specimen or
definite record can be found. Small parties of Chaffinches often
visit the islands with flocks of Linnets in the autumn, and gene-
rally remain for the winter. Large flocks occasionally appear in
the autumn, but depart in the course of a dayor two. In March
flocks, usually of females, come not infrequently with a south
wind, and a little later mixed parties of Linnets and Chaffinches
are fairly common, but the latter have never been found nesting.
The Brambling is an occasional visitor in autumn and winter,
usually rare, but at long intervals fairly plentiful, as in the
autumn of 18638, and in the winter of 1890-91. The Linnet
occurs in large and frequent flocks, often mixed with Chaffinches, -
in autumn and spring, and irregularly throughout the winter.
It has not hitherto been recorded as nesting at Scilly, but in
1903 nests were found on Garrison Hill, St. Mary’s, and on
St. Martin’s, and in 1904 on Tresco. Bullfinches do not appear
to have been seen on the islands till the last four years. They
were first recorded by Clark in his ‘‘ Birds of Cornwall” (‘Journal’
of the Royal Institution of Cornwall, vol. xvi. 1902). In the
spring of 1903 they were plentiful on St. Mary’s, Samson, and
Bryher ; and in April, 1904, a flock of about twenty spent several
days in the churchyard at Old Town, St. Mary’s. No nest has
so far been discovered. A large flock of Crossbills, together with
Greenfinches and Hawfinches, appeared on Tresco in June and
THE BIRDS OF SCILLY. 251
July, 1868, and several were seen in 1901. The Corn-Bunting
nests at Scilly, but is very much commoner as a visitor late in
the autumn, when it occurs in flocks. The Yellowhammer is a
very rare autumn casual at Scilly. Pechell shot one in October,
1849, and saw another some years later. Only three specimens
of the Cirl-Bunting have been obtained—one in November, 1857,
one in December, 1859, and one at St. Mary’s, Nov. 16th, 1905.
A single specimen of the Ortolan Bunting was shot by Pechell
on the top of a wall at Tresco Abbey on Oct. 7th, 1851 (Zool.
1851, p. 83277). The Reed-Bunting is an occasional visitor from
October to January, sometimes singly, sometimes in small parties.
It was last seen on Jan. 8th, 1904, near Tresco Abbey. The
Snow-Bunting is a regular bird of passage in the early autumn,
sometimes in pairs, usually in small flocks of six to twelve, and
on three occasions in parties of twenty-five to thirty. Stray
birds and small parties are not infrequent during the winter
months, and are occasionally noticed in March, April, and the
first week in May. The birds, as a rule, settle on the barest and
most exposed headlands, and their arrival appears to be in-
dependent both of wind and weather. They are, as a rule,
remarkably tame, and show little restlessness or uneasiness on
being approached. About four-fifths of the birds are young,
and, with the exception of a splendid adult male in full breeding
attire, shot by Dorrien-Smith on April 29th, 1890, have all, so
far as observed, been in autumn plumage. In this condition the
term ‘‘ snowflake” is strikingly descriptive, for when a flock
pitches on an exposed headland on a dull grey day it looks
exactly like a scud of snow.
The Starling is one of the earliest of the winter birds to
appear in the autumn. It arrives in long straggling irregular
flights, at times composed of many flocks, with smaller parties
intervening. Occasionally, on Tresco, towards the close of a
winter’s afternoon, these birds for an hour or more make a
veritable cloud as they wheel over some reed-bed or low planta-
tion selected for their resting-place. Their numbers, however,
fluctuate considerably from year to year, and also during the
course of the winter. As a rule, only a few stragglers are to be
seen after the middle of April, but some years ago, in the month
of May, a flock of about four hundred came from the direction of
252 THE ZO00LOGIST.
St. Agnes to Tresco, together with a number of Lapwings. The
Starlings roosted for the night, the Lapwings scattered to feed,
but came together again next day, when the entire mixed com-
pany flew off. The Rose-coloured Pastor is a rare summer
visitor, but may be overlooked when in immature plumage. An
adult bird was obtained previous to 1848, one was killed and
another seen by Pechell in the fifties, and one killed by David
Smith in June, 1899. A Chough was seen by Dorrien-Smith on
St. Martin’s, in November, 1870, and one was shot by some
fishermen on St. Mary’s in Christmas week, 1899, and afterwards
secured by L. R. George, of Holy Vale. The Jay has not been
recorded for Scilly, but two Magpies were blown over from the
mainland at the same time as a flock of Rooks during a violent
gale in October, 1859. One was shot on St. Agnes, and the
other on St. Helen’s, by Pechell. The Jackdaw is occasionally
carried over to the islands by storms, now and then in the
company of Rooks, as in November, 1870, January, 1885, and
November, 1901. On Nov. 1st, 1905, a flock of about four
hundred Jackdaws came in on Tresco. On the 8th of the same
month four birds were seen on St. Martin’s, and on the 15th
seven were counted near Giant’s Castle, St. Mary’s. In 1889
Dorrien-Smith found a nest with two eggs on Annett Head,
which A. E. Newton thought belonged to the Jackdaw.
(To be continued.)
2538
HXTRACTS FROM CHURCHWARDENS’ ACCOUNTS OF
BEDFORDSHIRE.
By J. Sreeve-Ewuiort.
(Concluded from p. 167.)
EVERTON.
In the old register of the parish numbers of entries occur be-
tween the years 1810 and 1825. Hedgehogs were paid for at the
rate of 2d. each; as many as 108 were destroyed between April,
1810, and April, 1811, and 328 in all. Polecats at the rate of 4d.
each, eight were paid for in 1816, and eighteen altogether. Snakes
at 2d. each; the most were destroyed in the twelve months from
April, 1811 to 1812, when 49 were paid for, a total of 204 were
paid for altogether from 1810 to 1820. From 1819 Vipers are
entered, but we may conclude the before-mentioned payments
were for this species in every instance. Sparrows varied from
2d. to 3d. per dozen, and eggs at 1d. per dozen; 301 dozen birds
and 92 dozen eggs were destroyed.
FLITWICK.
1709. a5 OY Gh
O79 AOL TEROBGEIS) Gaec0c0000 daoconoocuabicGodbatiodondocongnoosdaudeBoqDHGKs 0 2 0
payd Richard powell ffor on ffoskes ........essecsceseceseeeecs 0; 1)10
1711.
pd. Joseph Tillcock 4 foxes heads ........ececssesessececeeees 0 4 0
pd. Amridg for killing one Hedghogg..........sscscsseseseeeeee 0 0 4
pd. Jo. Collman for killing one Polleat ....................00-. 00. 2
Paid Goody Ramerig 3 hedgehogs... .....-.cccccsseccecesceceooes 010
pd. the Widow Bayley 1 hedghog............scssecscsssvssecosees 0 0 4
1719
Bedi Evichs dee fot A pOlCats) a ceccnsscdesesesccsoceseseesscicesirenees 0 1 4
Rediheney bresher Dd Negole ..cesicc.udemencsaisevsesedseresceonsent 0°18
Ped JON) OCOLOOKMOrPUINOll Cat wecseceessscnoe tote oecnceccetens 0 3 8
1725.
paid to wido sebrok for mold cachin ............sssseeeeeeeeere 2 11
paid to william ffary for mold cachin ..........0.ssceecececeeees 4 0
1730.
pead will Seabrook for 2 bagougs heds ........ssssssesereeeees OB
254 THE ZOOLOGIST.
The entries relating to these payments commence in 1705,
and continue up to 1731. Hedgehogs are very plentiful, and at
an uniform rate of 4d. each. Polecats, very frequent payments
from 1710 onwards; for the first four years 2d. each, and after-
wards the reward seems to have been raised to 4d. Foxes, fairly
plentiful, paid at the rate of 1s. each. Badgers not so numerous,
but at the same price. ‘There are very few entries for Moles,
and they appear to have been paid for by the quarter, half-year,
or year. Sparrows appear altogether absent.
HARLINGTON.
Payments for vermin extend over two hundred years, com-
mencing 1678. Iam unfortunately unable to give any extracts
of same.
HARROLD.
From Steward’s history of this village we glean that the
churchwardens’ accounts date back to 1759 ; that a molecatcher
used to be employed at a salary of £2 a year. The reward for a
Fox or Fox’s head a shilling. Year after year there are entries
of considerable sums paid for Sparrows.
HENLow.
Payments for Sparrows only occur, the earliest entry appear-
ing in May, 1843.
Hoveuton REGIs.
1714. 25 Bo Gh
Paid for Sparrows and other charges ........ssscsecsessosvesees oS
1715.
Raid WallEfarris/£, Sixisparrowsimecssdeceeceseseceoscasaemeac ria. 1
Paid) Ralph Burges tor ay hed Gham i iresecncaceseencoeesansascenes 4
Richard Wine for a Pole arti ees. .ctcceeseeea +e cena seneiedesise 4
(ee
Polecats, Hedghogs, pd for sparrowS ......seccscscecsseseeesens ia
I OPVET INIA ee cena neccine cckessientcelancinectasste sets steiea i eeneresent= 5 0
1743.
Paid to Mr. Fossey his Disbursements for Vermin ......... ser, ss
1744.
Paid for Vermin—as appears per Dill .........sccccecececeeeeece Lei
1746.
Richard Gosbill my son for 3 hedgehogs..........ssseeseesseeee 1
1759.
Mr. Fossey’s bill for Sparrows and Vermin .............0.00- 1 8
1763.
Paid for Ninety Six doz. of Sparrows ..........cssseseesseeseee = HG
CHURCHWARDENS’ ACCOUNTS OF BEDFORDSHIRE. 255
1777. a5 GS GL
Ra SUNarLes fOr SPALTOWS) cocecdccucecccccsdeensecccccsedceeaseceade 6
ORM k a Reh caNcka doh doas caetinodad Mautalnestammettes othe 10 4
1780.
To Sundry persons for Sparrows ........sssecececsceesseseeseeeee 12 6
1786.
To Sundries for Sparrows and a Thanksgiving............... i 6
OT
To a Bill from Branson for Sparrows, and that should
have been brought by Eames into Jno. Anstie’s Year GY
1798.
To a bill brought by Branson the other Church Warden for
AMVISItatl OMsAN Ge SPALLOWSeactersis rise lececaciasecaencteececs 12 11
1807.
79 Doz. Sparrows at 3d. per doz. young ONES..............000e 19) 9
75 Doz. do. 6d. OGIO), canobcisagocsnecoscoce 117 6
1817.
Sparrows, young ones 4d. doz., old ones 6d. doz............. 5 8 382
1819.
Mr. Fossey for Sparrows.
MGM OT Sparrows, ode PCr CO Zee secomectedsecsucsnssesoece BIR” op
Old do. OTolies ise eaeaadeqacecanbdesonoscn ceases 2
1821
For year ending Easter.
126 doz. and 5, old Sparrow heads at 6d. per doz. ......... 3.3 23
61 doz. of young do. abyOr Per dozZeaccacce sk nace oetis 15 3
TY I@80 Cl@s conoacesogaconosapseagcbadedbadnanoodooodauKcbadKabad 23
1830.
ZAG DOZEN SPALLOWS) AbiOW.y loc soesnceceecsececeasdsesnececsesec: 314 0
1882.
14: TS lea Eyes gOre) aceaAbacobsocdodadsoade cad cbaduanBudboon obaRTaaoHGabaG 2
Payments date back to 1714, and continue, with certain blank
years, until 1836. Polecats and Hedgehogs appear commonly
in the earlier years, but, with the exception of the latter in 1832,
neither are particularized after 1768. The term ‘“‘ vermin”’ is
frequently used in the earlier years, and until 1774. After that
date Sparrows seemed to have received undivided attention
for destruction. Payments for the latter varied considerably—
from 2d. per dozen in 1715, to as much as 6d. per dozen in
1807 (young at 3d.); and, after several fluctuations, reappear in
the last year (1836) again at 2d. per dozen, the former price.
Kwnorrine.
Payments for the destruction of Sparrows only. These are
spread over the years 1838 to 1856, with the omission of four
256 THE ZOOLOGIST.
separate years; the greatest amount, £3 15s., being paid in 1850
—a total of £33 11s. in all. Price per dozen is not given.
LEIGHTON BuzzarRp.
1757. 25 dio Zhe
Septr. 12. Paid Chrisr. Samuels Wife 1 pole Cate ......... 0 0 4
Octr. ye 24.. Paid Jn. Case 1 pole Cate ...............00e00 0 0 4
These two payments are, I understand, the only ones to be
found in the accounts.
MAULDEN. ee GS. ah
, 1803.
GOdozSparrowsatrodsGOZeccasnscesecccsunnesesceateweseseeten 15 0
1810.
April 23. To 70 dozen sparrows at 3d. doz. .........sececeeee 17 6
» 14, Do. do. 7X6 ae RN ea inten 2 4
Se Ale i aS Dae Si Naas aausmncnoecee 10
1811
Hebi 28. 231007. SPArlOwserccssacearcaresscencaceaseesteeneeeen 103
Aprill 11. To Jas. Smith for 3} doz. Sparrows at 3d....... 10
1816.
Pd. for 11 doz. and 4 Sparrows at 3d. doz. ........., 00.000 259
Pd. Mr. B. Clarke for catching a mole- ........... 0.06, ss0ssces 6
; Between Kaster 1816 to 1817.
Bd. for Sparro wsyand CLOSse. ence vesectinecmsenons recast aeeeces 18 5s
Pde) Mow; Clarketoricatchineanolesis..cs--csseseseeeer sees 1
1824.
May.) 1S6.d07. Sparrows) abl OGemmesressaessenccss ers cceencouare 2 3 13
The accounts date 1803-1834. Many of the entries appear
to be incorrect. Various prices seem to have been paid for
Sparrows, and possibly, taking the entries for 1809, if these are
quarterly payments, the prices have varied according to the time
of the year. The first payment for eggs seems to be in 1816,
and after this date they become frequent. During the above
years over 33,000 Sparrows appear to have been destroyed.
.MILLBROOK.
1794. Be) (ele
JBrave TS} ORALO AS (harigdonancdoonacndoososconnoodaqnoaobenncadaboonnAosse6 6
1806.
Moy Bhd OZHSPAYLOWEY wcvlscocdecsciclece anteleaicticee caleceenetconamernete 3
1819
Paid for Sparrows amd (CoS) eis ncecesenstesececcdeciaoecceee seas 12
1829.
March 30th. Mr. Weeler for Sparrows ............-.-ssssseeee 1s
Do. for lastiyear. Matwasrsscpesibeceentee Lia
PParrvows topmasters SOO) seemsencceaecm espe cence sac eeeeneeeree ib Ae
Do, do. ISL Gooaagbboocosaooodasoesonndasoedoqno 500008 17 i143
CHURCHWARDENS’ ACCOUNTS OF BEDFORDSHIRE, 257
Churchwardens’ Accounts date from 1754, but entries relating
to Sparrows do not occur until 1794, and continue, with excep-
tions of a few years, until 1882. No other entries of vermin
appear. The first payment for eggs appears in 1819, and
frequently after that year. In almost every instance only a
single entry for the year occurs, and that generally at Haster.
A total of £17 11s. 4d. seems to have been paid in all, the rate
per dozen being omitted except in a few instances, and then at
the rate of 2d. per dozen.
Minton Bryan:
Ano. Dm. 1678. ES G5 Ch
Paid to Samuell Gray for a fox head......... Sondogeoosscéet 00 01 00
1679.
Paid for powder for shouting the Crows ........sssssssssseee BD) yiaky) @
169-.
PAIGE LOL CALE MING Ols DILAS! ocesce ec secceceoneesteceasaceccet ese 01 4
Paid to Nicholas Clark for shouting and catching3 mowlds 0 3 6
Pala for Catching a) POW CAbsrccsdsen-ccsesedereuceeortesseonsoces 0 4
1692.
Paid to two men for the catching of Birds ............c0ee0 On 0
1703.
POL a GOZENIOL SPALLOWS cceecessserecarcacccescnscseesrs 00 00 02
Bdeptor 2) ELCAoN OG: crseisnscoosilesieceeecaseicenesirooscacrssaccerase 00 00 04
BOTH EOUCA Gy Mecsas toads setae ucrs's seis ce an aisetsaaecedeese va teee tee 00 00 04
1705.
ar sOKC MM OUNORSIt. cotcssecac cdc ciiesccceeecasie tu rcdeldaccncuweceosane O01 4
EUG OL POLICALS i peessrcedess atcls dosasendataeecocumedsneceeeoenases OnArs
1709.
August ye 31. ped for a fox hed one..........sesesesecsssseeee 00 01 00
1721.
paid to Thomas Hall for a polt catt ..........0sessseseesesse 00 00 04
paid top illiamy Clark tor Spares cawcecsecstecseccosedatoos see, 00 00 14
paso, Cemson Gall for 'sparoskescsecasorocsesdcmsenscecccsssus 00 00 13
August ye 17. ped to George Monch for a polt cat ...... 00 00 4
ped to Colmans man for a Wisel..........cecosssescocsscssseoses 00 00 2
May ye 20. William Gans and Georg Nash, 4 pence for
SO AICS ALON actncattaeitnelsacieoselneccsccsaccesecsiorsiccesactorc ee 00 00 04
ped to Thomas Garner a peny for spar0oS..........sesecceeees 00 00 1
1752.
29 Novr. Paid to Eliz. Cooper 2 years Molecatching ... 1 4 O
(Undated.)
ae SONM Price 1Ob ap Wisle. gescves cdeceveresoaccsscensss os sececs O).) 0)
Pd. Thomas Johnson for two whizols ........cscescecseseeees 00 4
LOG UUZZEW OL SPLACS AMO AMAAlL os sca.secseccescccoseuecsosess 0 0 5
MOT DOICAL eadaadscadecteesi etre stercasesstees cideddovede sve ccveveces 00 4
Zool. 4th ser. vol. X., July, 1906. x
258 THE ZOOLOGIST.
(Undated)—continwed. Hast at
TOY a) bager WEG. 4 i ..jccenhegeeoccbouciteeondslenemeuaeaceneccen ce anerne 0) (0076
fOV!2 Weasels Madina ecansescmancabencaese ees bandteoongoeaocate ero ONO Mane
LOR) A SUOA LIS) Valse SALLE Ae. hebben cate Geena atte he nen ee a ane eeEee OO 2
July 17. paid to Thomas Nash for a hedghoge ............ 0 0 4
There appear to be no whole books of wardens” accounts.
extant, but many single leaves are now carefully mounted and
preserved. These entries for vermin appear to date from 1678
until about 1800. In them we can trace payments for 1 Badger,
3 Foxes, 18 Polecats, 1 Stoat, 9 Weasels, 11 Hedgehogs. In
addition the items for Moles are given. A large number of pay-
ments for Sparrows were madg, but only for small numbers at a
time, the largest payment being for four dozen only, and 10s. 12d.
paid out in all—prices at a rate of 2d. per dozen but varies in
one instance to 1d. per dozen only.
NoRTHILL.
1665.
Item. payed unto William Throughegoode and William €£ s. d.
Ravensden of Warden ffor ffoure ffoxes heades. And
for one Badgers Head sett upp in the Churchyard upon
Wihitsundany et6Oo Nc ueeosnececticccssores sme sccrince eee 00 05 00
Item. payed more unto the sayd William Throughgood
ffor one other ffox heade sett upp in the Churchyard... 00 01 00
Item. payed unto James Day of Warden for ffoure
Hedgehogges Heades set upp in the Church Yard...... 00 00 08
Item. payed unto the Huntsman of William Spenser
Esquyer ffor one ffox Heade sett up in the Churchyard 00 01 00
ltem. payed unto Ellis Megoose of Hatch ffor ffoure
hedgehogges Heades sett upp in the Churchyard ...... 00 00 10
Item. payed unto the Widowe Burgess of Hatch ffor
seaven Hedge hogges Heades killed in the parishe of
Northill tessa ices conecesee nenoesons stk ceenscaccummenennene 00 01 00
Item. payed unto women of Sandey for one Otters
Heade killed in the parishe of Northill, and set up in
the Churchyard Sie cos eemen sr acteoe cheese aneete ee 00 00 02
Item. payed to John Spencer of Ickwell for six hedges
INGEN (F.n so oahnebaondon an cddosaadoabsoouo do IebuBad DDO DoDGSas0a0dana00¢ 00 01 00
Several other similar additional entries for Hedgehogs, at a
rate of 2d. each, occur in the above year. In a summary for
that year the following entry occurs :—
The Vermine: ffoxes: Badggers. Hedgehogges ......... 00 14 02
1681.
Item paid to Will Saffron for foure polecatts ............... 00 00 08
The Churchwardens’ Accounts date back to 1568, but no
vermin are mentioned until 1665, and then follow similar entries
CHURCHWARDENS’ ACCOUNTS OF BEDFORDSHIRE. 259
for many years, continuing until the nineteenth century, but the
payments then are chiefly for Sparrows, and cease in 1888.
PERTENHALL.
1727. aS Ch
HO ay DOCU OX ce. cteseneatssccos oceetemacnccams cede teceetecleccdes ODO
Hore Lol Cats Gy ELed GMO GSH. asst vicsoejttccssconeeecscaeexeuacens Uy val
OTA DILCHE MOK, wea cscensacesisioassaissloes oavecsasusiavesisaaclen see's 0 3 4
OTE ILC MV HOX: s .cocaties census scccgsespioces odes cunenseeucteeonsere 03 4
1728.
Boxes; Polcats, ete & Dravelers sc.cc.csesccscs oocteceeee ces coe 010 O
1729.
SpE OlCAbS Gy tl OU SNOGS eacaaclan soneocisdeccesebe icenies cinsetecseeties 05 4
17380.
OREOICAIS: GC ELOd CHOLES cescssecw semacesseisaseisscaiedsseaceetsiecs 0 6 6
Powder & Shot & Gun to Keep the feild 2 years ......... 0 6 10
1781.
INGESILCHY LOK. 15.54 seodececendecisesanehesne sskacebiwnesessagadeseestecs 03 4
PRESS ON 0 oes sc ec teicAscesusisiGscienadle deiac aiesihoseeoutac tasemeuscorsacecs OER 80)
Sp OCHS Wc HEL OC SMOOS soa .ocssatcemedceceaccdstisseseciianenencisie OF as
1782.
303) 1EOLCANIS (4 13 aCledaya4s) Caassocoosbsenoosoocoobbanboudude sbAddoDod 07 on 6
1737.
IPs! iieye (lanes CO) nna 73) © eapconcaN500000010000000C0 000 DODBIEAORGOS 00 0 3 0
Pardwune Wolo) Catchers .pesnsdescessansissasesorescnsasercesisce vec Oe ONO
Eaicetire: Mole: Catcher aes.vecsoceccesseasscectieesionseeciiaaseases 03.0
ALONE PUISE (OL ay ChUMY Aceseanucl-cectsacdsceset desstcucces cease Qt ©
1741.
AVG for tw0: OULOYS -ccessscccnussacedeeondecacesnevedelesseceeceses 0: +2) 0
The accounts for 1733-6, 1738-40 are missing, and in
1742-74 no details are given. 4
1775. 25 8 Ge
July 6th. Pd. hue Jorden 8 Doz. sparrows ..........+000 8
Taken out of the sparrow book ............+0+0+. 7 2
1776.
June 24th. Pd. Tom Jorden for sparrows 6 doz. ......... 6
Teel; (akon les Orne \eVeNy7 2 dodonposdboobuEcbioaosnoSbnocon 6
1778.
Four entries occur for 81 dozen Sparrows in all.
1779. & 3. d.
June 13. Pd. Jane Bodington 2 Hedghogs ..........se00 8
July 13. Pd. John Bodington 2 Hedghogs ..........00006 8
Dee. 20. Pd. Hd. Briers 2. hedghogs -..0...2..........cseses 6
Altogether 39 Hedgehogs (with exception of the last entry),
all at 4d. each, and 343 dozen of Sparrows at 1d. per dozen.
x 2
260 THE ZOOLOGIST.
1780. Cad
March 5. Pd John Bodington 3 hedghogs ........ss.000 6
March 25. Mr. Walker Bill for powder & shot...........« 14 0
May 8th. Pd. Mast Hollis son & Boy 2 hedghogs ...... 4
May 80. Pd. fulfor for 2 Doz sparowS............sssseeeseeee 2
In this year 25 Hedgehogs are paid for at a rate of 2d. each
and cease to occur in the accounts afterwards.
1781. EB 8 Gh
April 16. Pd. Mr. Walkir for powder and shot ......... 14 5
June 4th. Pd. Wm. fulfor 4 Doz Sparros ............2.006 4
Oct.12. Pd. for mending the oun’ \s.s 2c. cc csncecssaccses'ee 2 0
Other entries for 89 dozen Sparrows; no other vermin are
included.
1782-3.
For the two years items for 78 dozen of Sparrows are
given. After this year Sparrows are paid for at a rate of 2d.
per dozen.
The usual Easter entries of bill for powder and shot also
occur, slightly varying in the amount.
1788. 45 8 Gh
March 24. ped to Mr. Lucock his Bill for pouder shot 011 0
Dec. 80. paid to William Limar two pence for half a doz.
OVONGL (Fads! © Gaoccoadcsan adsndoadouDNbSesnbeSob6 0 2
1790.
Noy. 5. ped for Reparing two guns.........ssecsccnedesseceee 0 4 6
1792.
WAIAWOMISPALOS easteesmosenc esses escsdaes ash eeeeee eee OIG
1793.
Juley:3: sforthe youseobajouny ere. <e--ceresnceeceeseeeee ee 0° 2.0
1796.
Paid to Mr. Lynn for the yous of his gun...... O 2 0
Payments similar to above appear until this year; the various
entries of Sparrows continue until 1800, with an additional total
of about 270 dozen.
1803. Sena
PA1d PONAOX/s-..s-ctresdeed-ewersese neste ceeeaeeeree TNO
1809.
April 25. Gave Ekens for 4 Foxes .........sscsscsscssesveees iPeG
1817.
Apl. 26, Sanders for destroying foxes...........cssecseeerees 6
CHURCHWARDENS’ ACCOUNTS OF BEDFORDSHIRE. 261
1822 £3. d
Deere Fig | TRGHHCRNTGLVET? JanonoocabondodoxcnGonoobbdndondoddocdgG00ar i, (0)
1824.
Marshall hunting rats .......cscscsesesseesenescooes 6
Dee. 1. Te ON ir age tie uo fanaa netnaiate cieis(eeleste 6
1826.
Won BAS IREIKERITELMGYE GonnodocoonenddnogosHooOSoKondocE aobUsdADooOd 6
Payments for Sparrows continue after 1800, but only the
total paid is stated ; but if still at a rate of 2d. per dozen, about
1500 dozen were destroyed.
In the Parish Constable’s Accounts are given :—
1730. £ 3s. a
ANlOWEd: for POW er Gi SHOU ..<csoccecccc.sesceceecescsacdocceseace 19 3
1733.
To Mrs. Yarvil for Powder & Shot .....cccssscsssccseceeseees 16 53
1784.
Hevdikeepine & Mend! Guid s..,.0<cccs-a.caeeescecsco@asessesodes 0 4 6
1737.
Walina Hardinge mending Guns |e. ncecsdsscsevecsdccnsecls OF Zio
Fosephewitlemifor) GUM) .yccccsecscacsscccaceesdncctsstercasteuseceas 0) a @
1738.
MOL ERE acer reccasecssseas sone cise ee saaseecess stseaeedertecusecnaeess 0.5 8
MOTO O BUC OV id aaacce acess siasesneesaneseonaeneastenenees shosherce seen 0 5 0
1741.
hee Mole: Catehertseccicscecscoccecscesmssetasecaseccescwess scuceees 0 5 0
PRITORMOl oY Cate er. 1.225. 0c0e onacinacisasesesesestdnccieeacrpeses teewse' 0 5 0
Potton
1787.
sane! 4s Sparrows andybi eos osssnscsccccueccdnasddcncecssmceee 6 6
Sparrows Hggs and hedgehogs ......+....+sseeeseee 10 2
1789. ‘
Sparrows and eggs from 1 May to Nov. /89 .... 2 14 103
Polecats and Weasels, €6¢. ‘...2...sccccc-ssecenesne 10 4
Nove o- Bolecatiande tote as-b-ceansenccassdecndoecesss'es secs 5
Polecats, hedgehogs, and Weasels ............00 1 10
1793.
Molestiny Churchiyardieiaescccrsseescecesscsecescncceas Pa
1803.
AMELCASCHORS) Wesedacdereticseresedcstedd soracccecascees 8
PRNMEABE St vecsesesstncen cc ecstcnsccedadeseaceticssmeaacneer 2
2 Hedgehogs and Weasel ........cscscscsessceoscres 6
1804.
DEL OLCCHUspaoate diapeancdecasineeaen stdede censensuecscees 1 8
2Hedgehogs and 1’ Weasel ..........c.sssssecssoee 3
LHiedeehoo ses ccntesotseae ScidcOCOB Ac AOU RE GEonoadOD OU 1
Folecat: andi Fed seho gies. tevdvassn.assassesexse srs 6
MOGs? craasceetaesasten dsc Monee Ma ot ssccsuscconceccsees 2 2
262 THE ZO0OLOGIST.
1808. Bh By Gh,
Jany. 23. Paid for hedgehogs, moles, Polecats, Weasels,
and Stotes for the whole year .........s0006 Wit 8
1817.
Mar. 22. Hedgehogs, weasels, stotes for the whole year 8 9
Mry Bilis for Sparrows ssicscacdeicdecdeosetecccvecsts 118759
Entries in the Churchwardens’ Accounts appear first in 1787,
and continue to 1817. Many similar entries to those given
occur. As the various vermin are frequently entered under one
total, the number destroyed cannot be ascertained. Polecats are
included regularly until 18138, but for the remaining four years
are absent from the list. Weasels are of interest on account of
the unusual number of entries; they appear practically through-
out the accounts. Only the one entry occurs for Stoats previous
to 1808; after this year entries appear commonly. Another entry
for Moles occurs in 1816. The prices paid for the vermin
are rather puzzling, as will be seen in entries given 1803-4 ;
but the usual price seems to have been: Polecat 4d., Stoat 1d.,
Weasel 1d., Hedgehog 2d. The rate for Sparrows does not
appear, and the Sparrow account was evidently kept separate,
and total only entered in these accounts.
RIDGMOUNT.
1727. a8 8 he
paid Wm. Leighton for three duzzen of Sparrows......... 000 6
paid ‘Cho. Row! for. 2) Medgehoos i icnscccccctsecscess screenees 000 8
Gave George Baker for a Pollkcats Head ................5- 000 4
1731.
August ye 10. paid to Larence Crips fora Wheesel ... O 0 2
October ye 12. paid to Will. Whitbread for 3 hedghogs 1S
1782.
Jan ye 7. Paid to Jon. Parker for a polcatt ............0.. CO)!
April ye 30. paid to a man for a hedghog.
Only a few fragments of these old accounts now exist, and I
am only able to refer to the three years given, and but one com-
plete year altogether. Entries for 3 Polecats appear, 1 Weasel,
24 Hedgehogs. Between May, 1731-32, 39 dozen of Sparrows
are recorded. Rates of payment do not vary.
CHURCHWARDENS’ ACCOUNTS OF BEDFORDSHIRE. 268
RoxTon.
1740 Ge
GS} IRONORTHS cobaccigconoacasesapbaonocasGoRGocHCoDNEECERbS 6
1741.
TL TB I@E= LYS cconadogoadd seonoc actaAogdoonaded990664000 2
1742.
Mawel thin, twoVWOxes oniccccscacsatesectceter sae coseretenccetests 4 4
IE EWC MOE A ooddcodagcdscondsconbadsuoadecbubtopenén 2
1743.
JN TOBIN = coonnddotboocedooesannddoEdaongndcnodnodeoond 3 6
1747.
PNPTURetl.) 2 ACAUISe weccecenansarcdsn. sas csceeaseaceseracenectee 2 0
1748.
Oct. 5. ING SHO CHOON eases seeseenstiaescestsos sve tetueteereaets 3 4
1749.
ET CMO Gere rosescrcrccceneceteests sos tesececeotod delete 2
1754.
Nov. 5 A dusen and half of Sparrows .........sceceeees 3
1755.
D FLAS OWOGS! | cs duces cece dectetseccsecwsdoasecnectseests 4
LP ZASPALVOWS) MAGS hs. .csccdeesenseiesitsesceteess ste 1
ORS PALO WS .aAndVACOS! eecerens ener ecek merce ac ses 1k
PEV CUO S receccestnce sdeae ncn ceneatepetetsentcees 2
1756.
Mano le mee GUSEMIOLACCOS -heossseccetenseeseneennscsencsecss 1
IAG TOO Die tense dened te capice sy sobs sesiatg sae sesec eee are 3.4
1757.
DYMOCCHO SSL Wrsacsnrchnms veccm sometace dente adeensor as 6
1758.
DO LOK CSprdens aseceisatrttacs hes eee eo ceieuacesedenscese 3
1761
ite LORS ose oe sclas's tone dedacarccesepemateelO dace ss ad 4
CIOYS SIGS » Sao CdoonabasecesoeacaBdeseadcobaond sob someNoneG 1
1765
MTITAT UI CARs ster caistinddsennetons socscascs sees 2
1766.
(G) FUCERIS “son aaoaboagéosacesa0voadooDandAas oca000 CoB0Na000 if
1767.
UEC AOKI tM ascct once tantacs ose cnozenensocsanea cee Il
Me LORpees sodas sve decwesoee tacceenesceneeatis ocaces oriole 1
1768.
Ms WolCaititeccescneemtace Sceetesecetac inate eeteaiectesienisietsl 4
1770.
MVEA i SU TN apr Ay GAUL Lis eaves.» seseera etme apes eslsa sists) ee Ge 2
* Probably Otter.
264 THE ZOOLOGIST.
Marcel? Siistonsaishesad denreeenecreneeeeree eee eee ee eeeeeeaee 3 4
a liao keh a Alon (Cis iP anonaKPnceaocdaGaaincoddédaacKodcrboaEScc 2
The accounts date 1740-76. The 8 Marten-Cats herein
recorded are the only instances for the county that I have as yet
been able to obtain from the Churchwardens’ Accounts. Pole-
cats are very numerous; there are entries for 163, at prices
generally of 2d. each, but a few of those paid for from 1767 were
at 4d. Hedgehogs 336, at an uniform value of 2d. Sparrows are
included from 1755, at 2d. per dozen, and eggs 1d. per dozen.
SANDY.
Although the parish books date back to 1636, no payments
seem to have been made for destruction of any other vermin
than Sparrows—old, young, and eggs. The first entry appears
in 1804, and the payments were made with the greatest regu-
larity until 1860. During these years a sum of £111 12s. 11d.
had been paid over. The largest entry for any single period
being 6th May, 1859, to 20th March, 1860, £5 3s. 93d. Rate of
payment does not appear.
SILSOE.
Payments for Sparrows are given from 1821-1836, in 1821
the rate evidently being 2d. per dozen, and the following year
onwards increased to 3d. In all, 860 dozens appear to have
been destroyed.
STAGSDEN.
Only payments for Sparrows are included, and but four years
occur in all. In 1881 four entries show a total of £2 12s. 74d.;
1832, eight entries, £4 7s. 34d.; 18338, six entries, £6 138s. 6d. ;
1834, two entries only, £1 2s. 5d. There is no entry showing
rate of payment.
STEPPINGLEY.
Payments appear 1850-57, but only the total paid for the
previous year being entered up in the accounts at Haster.
No rate per dozen appears. The total amount paid being
£15 12s. 2d.
STUDHAM.
The accounts begin in 1750, but no enfry of payment for
vermin until 1819, when 3d. per dozen for Sparrows was given
that year; 425 dozen were paid for. In 1834 as many as
CHURCHWARDENS’ ACCOUNTS OF BEDFORDSHIRE. 265
68 dozen were killed, and the following year it fell to 40 dozen,
and after that date no further entries appear.
SUNDON.
There still exists a book in the vestry of ‘Payments for
Destruction of Vermin.’ Under the heading 31st March, 1767,
appear seven entries showing a total of 173 dozen Sparrows,
paid for at a rate of 2d. per dozen; and in 1770, 93 dozen.
Then a break in these records appears until 1811, and continues
with a few blank years until 1833; these latter annual payments
varying from 14s. to 1s., prices not being given.
WILLINGTON.
1804. £s a
Master Mole Catchers billivesccoscncccsecececeescicareccenene OH DA (0)
14 doz. Sparrows at 2d. doZ. .......csccccsesscsearee 2 4
pled oChOOstencssccseartncnoeseerersrceasccesestacesee sce 1 4
DUR OVECALS ase ccais's cea ctociers ca coat cletealei scale teamecanoasans 8
There are no other entries than these, except for killing
Sparrows, and these occur for many years in the church rates.
WosBuRn.
1757. 8. da.
Sept. 2. Paid John Ince for eight edge Hoggs ............ 2 8
1759.
HOTS VELOC PONELOOS ie sssccnssucsensecodddadctanscansnes 1
The accounts date back to 1758, but the above are the first
entries of vermin given. I am unable to add for the present
any additional payments.
Wooton.
There do not appear to be any payments made, but I under-
stand there was formerly in the parish an official, Hayward, who
took straying cattle to the pound, and was also mole-catcher.
He held, in virtue of his office, a small plot of land.
From the following parishes I have been unable to obtain
any information at present :—Aspley Guise, St. Peters, Bedford,
Chellington, Clapham, Clifton, Clophill, Cranfield, Dunstable,
Dunton, Eaton Socon, Edworth, Eversholt, Farndish, Fel-
mersham, Haynes, Hockliffe, Houghton Conquest, Kempston,
Melchbourne, Milton Ernest, Oakley, Odell, Pavenham, Ravens-
den, Renhold, Sharnbrook, Shefford, Shillington, Stanbridge,
Streatley, Thurleigh, Tilbrook, Tilsworth, Tingrith, Westoning,
Whipsnade, Wilden, and Wilshamstead.
266 THE ZOOLOGIST,
TWO DAYS WITH THE BIRDS OF THE SOMME.
By W. Warpe Fowner, M.A.
Asout half an hour after leaving Boulogne the fast trains to
Paris run into the valley of the Somme not far above its estuary,
which can be seen from the train window on the right, crossed
by a long viaduct. In a few minutes the town of Abbeville is
passed, standing on the left of the line, with the broad valley
between it and some chalky hills to the west, and with other
heights to the north and east, well cultivated, stretching away
to the forest of Crécy and the battlefield. After leaving Abbe-
ville Station the train almost at once passes into that region of
reedy marsh and swamp, broad marais fringed with willow and
poplar, which characterizes the Somme Valley most of the way
to Amiens, looking almost repulsive to the traveller as he rushes
through it, but in reality, on a fine day in June, so full of
beauties that artists as well as ornithologists might do well to
visit it.
Ornithologists, at any rate, will see from this brief description
that the country round Abbeville, which can be reached in less
than six hours from London, and is, in fact, hardly seventy
miles from Hastings, should be worth special attention. In
May, 1898, Mr. A. Holte Macpherson and myself spent a single
day here, and saw quite enough to suggest a second visit. In
particular, I may recall the fact that on the hill to the west we
found thé Meadow-Bunting (Hmberiza cia), and in the ‘ Trans-
actions’ of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ Society for that
year I ventured to suggest that it might before long be met with
on our own coast—a prophecy which has since been fulfilled.
We also, by a piece of good luck, discovered the right way to get
among the marshes in search of water-loving birds—by no
means an easy thing to do, for the river here flows in several
streams, which are liable to cut one off completely from the
region which looks most promising. This year, on June 1st, we
made our second descent upon Abbeville, with some acquaintance
with the lie of the land, and also with the knowledge (which I
TWO DAYS WITH THE BIRDS OF THE SOMME. 267
mention for the benefit of others) that a certain showy hotel
is to be carefully avoided, and that the ‘Téte de Beuf’ in the
town is the best to go to.
Arriving at four o’clock, we had a walk before dinner, but a
very strong and cold wind kept the birds very quiet. In a shel-
tered spot, however, we found the Marsh-Warbler (Acrocephalus
palustris). There were two, and they seemed to be courting.
Both were singing, as we thought; ‘‘one loudly and almost
continuously, the other only to a slight extent” (A. H.M.).
During thirteen years’ experience of this species in England, I
have never been able to satisfy myself that the hen utters any-
thing more than alarm-notes, though I find the question raised
in a diary. Those who wish to study this species without going
far will find it tolerably common in the Somme Valley, but it
must not be looked for among reeds or very wet places, but in
bushes or thickets on tolerably dry ground. What it really
loves best, I think, and what it rarely finds in England, is a
large space of flat alluvial ground, with convenient bits of cover,
such as bunches of tall plants or osiers, scattered here and there.
Another fact which became obvious during this walk, and
was fully confirmed during our stay, was the great abundance of
House-Martins, which might almost seem to prefer to remain in
France rather than cross the Channel to the land of Sparrows.
The Sparrows of Abbeville, I may remark, were both less nume-
rous and more cleanly-looking than with us; some of the cocks
looked quite handsome. The House-Martins were certainly the
most abundant here of the Hirundinide. Swifts also were very
plentiful, Swallows less so, and of Sand-Martins we only saw a
few. We noticed that the Crow tribe, with the exception.of the
Magpie and the Jackdaws which frequent the towers of the
Abbey, was conspicuous by its absence, and it was astonishing
to see hardly any Starlings. It may be worth while recording
here that, while looking up F'roissart’s account of the battle
of Crécy on my return, I find that ‘there came flying over
both armies a great number of Crows, for fear of a storm which
was coming.”’
Next day (June 2nd) we took the road across the valley to the
west, and got under the shelter of the hills, as the wind was still
strong. The road runs at the foot of these hills, with the gardens
268 THE ZOOLOGIST.
of red-tiled cottages on one side, and high hedges and timber on
the other. Here—and in the same place the following day—an
Ieterine Warbler (Hypolais icterina) sang to us without any shy-
ness. The song is most charmingly varied, and in this case
included obvious imitations of the Sedge- and Reed-Warblers,
the Blackcap, and the Greenfinch ; it is, however, rather weak,
and does not carry far. ‘‘A Nightingale on the other side of the
road was audible a hundred yards away, but the Icterine was
inaudible until we were within twenty yards or so” (A.H.M.).
Why Dresser, or Collett, whom he quotes, should compare the
song of this bird to that of the Nightingale, we cannot under-
stand. When the two are heard together there is really no com-
parison between them as regards volume and power. Neverthe-
less, the song of the Icterine is to me extremely sweet and
pleasing, and he is a pleasant bird to watch ; a little difficult to
catch in the foliage, owing to his dull greenish colouring, but he
sits there quite still and serene, only quivering his wings when
he moves. The orange-red gape is the only conspicuous point
of colour about him.
Along this road we also heard Tree-Pipits, Garden- Warblers,
Blackcaps (singing with a peculiar intonation which I have never
heard except once in the Alps), and here and there a Willow-
Wren ; but this last was far less common than in England, and
the same may be said of the Chiffchaff. My observations for
the Migration Committee of the British Ornithologists’ Club
this spring show clearly that the Willow-Wren is by far the most
abundant of our summer migrants at present, but nowhere on
the Continent have I found this to hold good. The reason is
perhaps not far to seek ; Kngland abounds in exactly the kind of
country that this species loves—the country of hedgerow-timber, ‘
grassy banks and nooks, woods surrounded by pasture-fields, and
soon. It cannot do without trees with plenty of thick foliage,
nor without tufty grass for nesting purposes; but in the great
cultivated plains of France these things are not to be had in the
same abundance. Whether this is also the reason why the
Thrushes are less plentiful than with us, I will not undertake
to say, but on both our visits we noted the paucity of Thrushes
of all kinds, the Blackbird being the commonest. There was at
least one comfort in this, viz. that while listening to interesting
TWO DAYS WITH THE BIRDS OF THE SOMME. 269
singers such as the Marsh-Warbler or the Icterine, we were not
irritated by the continual outpourings of the Song-Thrush.
A little further along this road we found a Cirl-Bunting sing-
ing with a much more rapid succession of notes than we had ever
heard in England—so rapid, indeed, as to become almost sibilant,
and to suggest the presence of a Wood-Wren ; but the bird flew
down on to the road, and left no doubt as to its identity. This
is only one instance among many of local variation in song. I
have already mentioned the Blackcap, and the Chaffinch, too,
was constantly attracting our attention by the new character of
his utterance. This bird, I may mention, by the way, was to be
seen picking up refuse in the streets of Abbeville, or perchance
in a cage over a shop-door.
Near this same spot we were lucky enough to find a Hoopoe
in search of food for its young, in a small field among the
gardens. This was a beautiful sight, which we shall not forget,
for the bird kept hovering just above the grass like a huge butter-
fly—a ‘‘Painted Lady,” as Macpherson aptly suggested—the
black and white of its drooping wings showing brilliantly in the
sunshine, and contrasting most strikingly with. the pale brown
of its other parts. After hovering about in this curious way for
a while it found a caterpillar (so far as we could see), and carried
it into an adjoining field, into which we could not well trespass;
it then returned, and, chancing to alight on a piece of freshly-dug
earth, folded its wings, and instantly became almost invisible.
After a wet afternoon and evening the morning of June 3rd
was luckily fine, and we spent it among the marshes. The only
good way to get there is to take the same road across the valley
to the west which we had followed the day before, until you have
passed both river and railway. Directly after crossing the latter
an insignificant-looking path turns to the left, separated from the
line by a broad ditch full of water. This path seems to lead for
miles along the edge of the swamps and lagoons into the heart
of the country of the Great Reed Warblers (A. arundinaceus).
Picturesque sheets of reedy water come right up to the path,
and here these amusing birds keep on their loud croaking song
within twenty yards of the trains. One of them flew up into a
poplar, and gave us a good look at him, though, as a rule, they
are well concealed in the reeds. Sitting there, he looked very
270 THE ZO0OLOGIST.
like a Thrush, and Macpherson tells me that his colloquial
French name is Grive d’eau, the Water-Thrush.* He abounds
in all this region of the Somme, and may, in fact, be heard
within ten minutes’ walk of the station at Amiens—a fact we
learnt from Mr. J. H. Gurney, to whom we are indebted for our
first introduction to this district. With these were Sedge-
Warblers, and a single Reed- Warbler (A. streperus). For Marsh-
Warblers, as I have said, you must look in drier ground, but
they were not far away. The Reed-Bunting was here, but not,
as we might have expected, in numbers.
On our return to the suburbs, Macpherson descried a Black
Redstart sitting on a chimney very placidly, and uttering occa-
sionally his plaintive strain, which is rather shorter and more
high-pitched than that of his cousin. The position was appro-
priate, for the bird’s head and shoulders, which alone were
visible, looked as black as the chimney-pot itself. Next day,
just before leaving, we found another, also on a chimney, which
presently flew on to the roof of St. Paul’s Church (an interesting
old building), and allowed us to examine him without bringing a
crowd round us. Both species of Redstarts here frequent houses,
and the Common one is more numerous than this year at home.
Why the Black Redstart should breed regularly within sixty-five
miles of our coast, and never cross the Channel for the purpose,
is indeed a mystery.
In the afternoon we walked a long way up the road to Amiens,
into the high chalky country to the south-east. The Crested
Lark was what we were in search of—another species that
rarely, if ever, crosses to our island to breed—and there were, of
course plenty to be seen, together with the Sky-Larks. Here we
found almost the only Wagtail we saw during our stay—a Yellow
Wastail, nesting apparently in the growing corn, which, so far as
we could see, was M. rati, not M. flava, as we might perhaps
have expected.
On leaving this delightful region with regret next morning,
we felt that a fortnight at least would be needed to do justice to
it ornithologically. In order to contrast its avifauna with that
of the opposite coast, leisure for exploration in various directions
is absolutely necessary.
** The specific name given to this species by Meyer was turdovdes.
NAMES OF BIRDS OF UNCERTAIN ORIGIN OR
MEANING.
By J. R. McCuymont.
Ruc is doubtless a French equivalent of rukh, which is a
Persian, and perhaps also an Arabic word having sundry mean-
ings; it is, for example, “‘the name of a bird of mighty wing.”
The word is employed by Marco Polo, who tells us that at some
seasons of the year the ruc visited certain islands or mountainous
places near that part of the coast of Southern Africa’ which is
under the influence of a strong sea current, owing to which it is
almost impossible for vessels to return thence to India. The
allusion is evidently to the Mozambique current. The ruc which
Marco Polo describes certainly possessed some characters which
are purely fabulous, unless, indeed, the text of the narrative be
srievously corrupted, or the narrative itself be mistranslated.
Other of the attributes of the ruc are credible enough. As, for
example, that it resembled an Hagle—we are not told which of
the Kagles—that it fed upon flesh, and that it possessed the
power of flight in a remarkable degree. Its wings were thirty
pas, its beam-feathers twelve pas in length. Pas may perhaps
be an error in transcription ; the word which was written by the
amanuensis may have been pous, a Provencal word which has
the same meaning as pouce and pouces. If this be the case,
thirty paces shrink to thirty thumbs, and twelve paces to twelve
thumbs—‘‘ I] prent un olifans & ses piés.”* For prent we ought
perhaps to have had apprent, meaning learns (understand, “the
existence of”), discerns—‘‘ Hit le porte moult haut, et puis le
laisse cheoir et ainsi le tue et descent sus lui.” If we read se
instead of le before porte and laisse, assume that the Elephant is
* ‘Le Livre de Marco Polo publié d’aprés trois manuscrits inédits par
Pauthier,’ p. 678.
272 THE 400LOGIST
dying or dead when it is detected by the ruc, and that the clause
et ainsi le tue is an interpolation by another hand than that of
the author, there results a fairly accurate description of the
movements of a Vulture when it detects carrion, and flies down
towards it. I submit to the impartial reader the conclusion at
which I have arrived, namely, that the oral narration of Marco ~
Polo was imperfectly translated into French, that it has suffered
detrimentally in subsequent transcriptions, and that the rue of
the traveller is an African Vulture, such as, for example, Gyps
kolbt or G. ruepellt.
Albatross is said to be derived from the Spanish word alcatroz,
which occurs in the journal of the first voyage of Columbus,
wherein it is employed for the Booby. But no truly intermediate
form is known, and it is, I think, more reasonable to hold that
if albatross has been adopted into English from a Romance
language, it has been so adopted from the Portuguese word
albatroz. EKtymologically, however, if not in meaning, alcatrozg
seems to be connected with alke and auk. Further than this,
the word, I believe, cannot be traced. A lost late Latin word
albatrus may have existed. Antennal is another Portuguese
name of the Albatross. This word is connected with antenna,
‘‘a ship’s yard”; the French word envergure, ‘‘breadth of
sail’?; and, in a secondary sense, ‘“‘expanse of wing” has also
been employed to denote a sea-bird, probably one of the Alba-
trosses.*
Pylstaart is the Dutch name which was bestowed by Abel
Tasman, in 1648, upon a small island situated to the south-west
of the Tongan Group, because of the large number of pijlstaarten
which were seen by him near the island. Buruey was of opinion
that the pijlstaart was the Tropic-bird, and Dr. Heeres holds the
same opinion. But lexicographers define the pijlstaart asa small
duck with a long and pointed tail, evidently desiring thereby to
indicate the Pintail or the Long-tailed Duck, or possibly both of
these ducks. Glauciwm is said to be the Latin, negrette the
French equivalent of pylstaart. The former word is evidently
the Latin form of the Greek yaavuiov, concerning which I can
only find that it was a water-bird with grey eyes; whilst of
* “Nouveau voyage a la mer du sud,’ p. 16.
BIRD NAMES OF UNCERTAIN ORIGIN. 273
negrette I find no explanation whatsoever. Negrette occurs in a
dictionary of the Dutch, French, and Latin languages, entitled
Kilianus ductus.’ I suspect that the correct reading is une
aigrette; if so, the pulstaart is an Egret, and may have been
employed by Tasman to denote the Reef Heron. Pylstaart is
also the name of the members of a family of fishes—the Sting-
Rays (Trygonide)—and is, I think, more likely to have been
employed by Tasman in this than in any other signification.
Hobart, Tasmania.
Zool, 4th ser. vol. X., July, 1906, Y
274 THE ZOOLOGIST. —
NOTES AND QUERIES.
MAMMALIA.
Notes on Surrey Mammals.—During last month (June) I caught
several young Moles about half-grown above ground, and found
several dead—this usually after a heavy shower of rain. They had
probably been washed out of their runs. Country people about
here seem to be able to distinguish three kinds of Weasels, viz. the
Stoat, which is known as the ‘ Brush-tailed Weasel’’; the Common
Weasel ; and the female of this, which is usually very small, the
‘‘Cane.” In White’s ‘Selborne,’ the author there speaks of the
‘Cane,’ and this, of course, is now known to be only an abnormally
small Weasel. I have lately examined several of these ‘‘ Canes,” and
was much struck by their small size. Gamekeepers tell me they make
use of Mole runs to get into the Pheasant coops. It is perhaps not
generally known that Hedgehogs visit patches of cow-dung in the
fields in the evening to eat the beetles found therein. Gilbert White
says that in his garden at Selborne the Hedgehogs eat the roots of
plantains growing on the lawn. This is nowadays denied by most
naturalists, who say it is the work of a nocturnal caterpillar. Last
year I found a number of plantains rooted up on a grass-plot by some
animal or other, and feel convinced this was the work of Hedgehogs,
as I could find no trace of an insect whatever. If the Hedgehog does
not eat the roots, might it not visit the plants for the sake of this said
nocturnal caterpillar, and to get at it thus uproots the plantain? The
Common Shrew, here, goes by the local name of ‘“ Pig-mouse.”—
Gorpon Dateuiess (Brook, Witley, Surrey).
AVES.
Blackbird Laying Twice in same Nest.—A similar event to that
recorded (ante, p. 285) occurred in our garden last year. The female
commenced to sit on four eggs March 26th, and the young left the
nest April 20th. During the first week in May five more eggs were
laid, and ultimately hatched out, but the young birds never lived to
leave the nest. I found all five of them dead May 21st, which may
NOTES AND QUERIES. 275
be attributed to the male bird having been killed, probably by a cat.
I have not the slightest doubt that these eggs were laid by the same
bird.—Roserr Morris (‘‘ Fernhurst,”’ Uckfield). —
White Wagtails in Co. Mayo.— The White Wasgtails (Motacilla
alba), on their northern migration this season, as usual, visited Bartragh
Island on several occasions. The long continuance of northerly gales
caused birds to drop down on the island to rest and feed, when tired
out from battling against adverse winds. Some remained for only a
few hours, others for a day or two, before resuming their northern
flight. Capt. Kirkwood informed me that two birds appeared on May
1st, but remained only a few hours; on the 5th six arrived, of which
he obtained a pair for me. This little flock disappeared next day, and
were replaced by four birds on the 9th; these were joined by a fifth
on the 10th, when I had the pleasure of seeing them, and watched
them for nearly an hour running about, feeding on the grassy flat
adjoining the rabbit-burrow, and taking an occasional flight to pitch on
the paddock-wall, and run along it picking up insects.. Four of these
birds were in very fine plumage, the light grey backs contrasting so
strongly with the black of the throat and the white cheeks. Captain
Kirkwood also observed a few birds on May 12th and 13th.—Roserr
Warren (Moyview, Ballina).
White Wagtail and Common Redstart in the Isle of Man.—The
White Wagtail (Motacilla alba) hag again appeared on the shore of
Castletown Bay. I saw the first this year on April 14th, and the last
on May 18th, the largest number of birds seen at any one time being
about twelve. These Wagtails invariably frequented the neighbour-
hood of high-water mark. On the night of May 12th-13th a female
Redstart (Ruticilla phenicurus) was killed, along with a number of
Sedge- Warblers, at Langness Light. The species has seldom been re-
corded in Man.—P. G. Ratrs (The Parade, Castletown, Isle of Man).
Some of King James’s* Laws against Rooks.—I send you an inter-
esting note—against Rooks. Itis from J. J. Jusserand’s ‘ Romance of
a King’s Life,’ appendix v. :—
“Ttem forthy that men consideris that rukis bigande (building) in
Kirkis yardis orchardis or treis doith great skaith apone cornis it is
ordaynt at thai that sik treis pertenys to lat thame to byge and suffer
on na wyse that thar birdis fle away, and quhar it be tayntyt that thai
bige and the birdis be flowin and the nestis be fundyn in the treis at
* King James is King James I. of Scotland.
276 THE ZOOLOGIST.
beltane the treis salbe forfaetit to the King” (Parliament of Perth,
1424-5).—Hirnest Buarr (4, Thorney Terrace, South Shields).
The Cuckoo and its Eggs.—One evening late in May I saw a dead
bird lying in the weeds in a meadow-dyke, which proved to be an
unlucky Cuckoo recently shot by some ignorant keeper or prowling
gunner. I brought it home and mounted it, and, as we happened to
have two unblown Cuckoo’s eggs in the house, an opportunity was
afforded for experimenting with the egg and the bird’s beak, which
opened widely enough to hold the egg easily with the smaller end
downwards, but not sufficiently to allow of its passage into the throat.
The effect was rather like that of an egg in an egg-cup. The Cuckoo
was a year-old cock, and of course I am unable to say whether the
hen-bird has a wider gape. So far as one can judge from the Cuckoo’s
eggs laid in Hast Anglia, their resemblance to the eggs of the foster-
parents seems to be a matter of pure accident. On more than one
occasion I have taken eggs of a pronounced Reed-Warbler type from
nests of the Sedge- Warbler, and the only egg I ever found in a Reed-
Warbler’s nest is a reddish-tinted one. Another egg in a Cuckoo-
Reed- Warbler clutch saved for me two seasons ago from a Norfolk fen
is of the Pied-Wagtail type. It would be easy from our collection
here to ‘‘make to order’? some very good examples of assimilation,
and perhaps there are few things to which the principle of caveat emptor
or caveat mutator could better apply than to the purchase or exchange
of Cuckoo clutches. — Jutian G. Tuck (Tostock Rectory, Bury St.
Edmunds).
Three Cuckoos’ Eggs in one Nest.—On June 28rd a nest of the
Meadow-Pipit was handed to me containing three Cuckoos’ eggs and
no others. I have not the least reason to doubt the statement of the
man who took it, and if further proof of the genuineness of this curious
clutch were needed, it seems to be supplied by the facts that all the
three eggs were quite fresh, and evidently laid by three different
Cuckoos. ‘Two of the eggs are the same as those in a clutch of two
Cuckoo’s eggs with four of the Meadow-Pipit, which I took myself in
the same locality about ten days previously. About the middle of
June a photograph was reproduced in ‘ Country Life,’ illustrating a
nest of the Hedge-Sparrow, which contained three Cuckoo’s eggs and
four of the owner’s. If the process of incubation had been successfully
gone through in either case, the question of ‘the survival of the
fittest’’ would have been an interesting one.—Juuian G. Tuck (Tostock
Rectory, Bury St. Edmunds).
NOTES AND QUERIES. 277
Common Scoter (Gdemia nigra) in Cheshire.—On April lst my
friend Mr. T. Hadfield saw six Scoters—five adult drakes and a brown-
plumaged bird—on Tatton Mere. On the next day, when I went with
him to the mere, one of the birds, an old drake, was diving for food
close to the bank. It did not associate with the Tufted Ducks and
Pochards which were swimming near it, and when we put the birds up
it still kept apart, and settled on the water again at some distance from
the other fowl. The other Scoters had apparently left the mere, but
the single drake remained—at any rate, until April 3rd, when it was
seen by Mr. T. A. Coward. This species is a rare visitor to the
Cheshire meres; indeed, I know of only one previous occurrence, and
that, oddly enough, was at Tatton. An adult drake is preserved in
the Grosvenor Museum, Chester, which was shot on the mere, after
heavy weather, in October, 1890.—Cuartes OLpuam (Knutsford).
A New Irish Breeding Haunt of Sandwich Terns.—Up to the 24th
May last the only known breeding haunt in Co. Mayo of this species
of Tern (Sterna cantiaca) was that on the small Lough-of Rathroneen,
between Kilalla and Ballina. However, my friend Mr. H. Scroope, of
Ballina, when Salmon-fishing on Lough Conn, occasionally saw an odd
bird flying about, that gave no clue to a breeding-haunt. In 1903,
Mr. Hugh §. Gladstone, being over here photographing nests and eggs,
found two or three nests, with eggs, of Sandwich Terns amongst a lot
of Black-headed Gulls’ nests on an island in Lough Conn, but these
were evidently only straggling birds from some larger haunt, for last
summer Mr. Scroope failed to find a breeding-haunt anywhere on the
lake. However, this season I decided on trying my luck in a quest,
and, arranging with young Mr. C. Scroope for the use of his boat and
men, on May 24th we drove to the lake, and began our search. The
first island we came to had a large colony of some five or six hundred
Black-headed Gulls, but no Terns. We then rowed to another island,
when we found a small colony of ten or twelve pairs of Common
Gulls, with nests and eggs; but no Terns either. Our next visit was
to a long low island holding a colony of perhaps one hundred and fifty
to two hundred Black-headed Gulls; but still no Terns. I then quite
despaired of finding the Terns, though Mr. C. Scroope said that we had
one more chance of seeing them on an island a mile or so away;
s0 we rowed on, and when the boat approached the island quite a
swarm of seven or eight hundred Black-headed Gulls rose from the
shores and points, among which I was delighted to recognize a few
Sandwich Terns. We landed, and walked among hundreds of nests
with eggs, but until we passed the stony shore and came to a flat
278 THE ZOOLOGIST.
grassy spot we saw no Terns’ nests; but there, on a little space of
about four yards square, we found thirty-five nests with eggs, and two
more a little apart from the group of nests. Most of the nests had
only two eggs, while several had only one, evidently showing that the
full clutches of three had not been laid yet, and also that probably
many more pairs had not begun to lay so early in the season; so I
expect that in the course of another week the nuraber of nests and eggs
would be largely increased.—Ropert Warren (Moyview, Ballina).
(i295)
NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.
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Tue chapters which compose this most readable and vivacious
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egos, our author considers this has been carried'much too far, and
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and we read that ‘“‘an ounce of good solid pugnacity is a more
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as conspicuous as possible, for a bird cannot count, and if the
hen is unable to see her eggs, she will not be able to tell when
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his opinion ‘‘ that natural selection has caused the eggs of birds
which nest in holes to become white.”’
As regards the intelligence of non-human animals, Mr. Dewar
appears to largely accept the Cartesian or ‘‘ mere automata
philosophy,” which he regards as proved by birds during the
nesting season. And the relations of instinct and intelligence
are considered in the account of the Solitary Wasp (Rhynchium
280 THE ZOOLOGIST.
brunneum), ‘‘an insect toiling all day long for her offspring which
she will never see,’ working by “that strange internal force
which we call instinct”; and the question is then asked as to
the higher animals: ‘‘ How much of their solicitude for their
offspring is due to affection, and how much to blind instinct ?”
However, do not all workers in science or social reform recognize
that the net result of their labours can only accrue long after
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A number of excellent illustrations are from photographs of
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Since the publication of Edward Newman’s ‘ Illustrated
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Norus AND QuERIES :—
Mammatia.—Notes on Surrey Mammals, Gordon Dalgliesh, 274.
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No. 782.—August, 1906.
OBSERVATIONAL NOTES ON THE WILD DUCK (ANAS
BOSCAS) AND THE LITTLE GREBE (PODICIPES
FLUVIATILIS).
By Gorpon DALGLIEsH.
Accorpine to my own observations, the Wild Duck begins to
pair off about January 25th, and, contrary to the general rule,
the ducks court the drakes, uttering their well-known cry of
‘kaka, kaka, kak, kak,” and sidling up to their consorts with
bobbing heads. The drakes, however, appear quite unconscious
of this display of affection, and indeed seem rather to try and
avoid it. The Mallard at this date is now in his full beauty.
His metallic green and purple head, deep claret-coloured breast,
srey back, blue-black rump, and purple speculum, all blend
together in exquisite harmony, and tend to make him the
loveliest of water-fowl. It is worth noting that in the true Wild
Duck when arising from or alighting on the water the female
invariably leads the way; in the domestic Duck this is just the
reverse, as it is the drake that leads his harem down to the pond
for their daily swim.
In Surrey I have frequently found Wild Duck’s nests a long
way from any water, built among the heather. I was for a long
time puzzled as to how the old duck would convey her numerous
brood to the water when hatched. This was explained to me
this year by a friend, a naturalist of keen observation. He told
Zool. 4th ser. vol. X., August, 1906. Z ;
282 THE ZOOLOGIST.
me that when the young birds are first hatched they do not
require much water, and that if they had it, to put it in his own
words, would ‘‘ swim themselves to death.” Scattered about the
heather-covered moors of Surrey are small pools of water, formed
by the rain and fringed with bog-moss or sphagnum. It is to
one of these pools the old duck will at first take her brood by
slow degrees, the young ducks in the meantime living on gnats
and flies—if anyone watches a young duck they will see how
eagerly they snap at these—until they reach this pool. Here
they will remain, perhaps for some days, always making for the
shelter of the heather at the slightest approach of danger. As
the young birds grow, the old duck will lead them to a larger
pool, which empties itself into a stream. Down this stream the
brood will wander until their haven is reached in the shape of a
large pond or mere, and by this time the ducklings are big
enough to swim at will, with no fear of overdoing it. The sitting
duck, as a rule, exhibits no fear during incubation, and I have
seen one bird lifted right off her nest, and not make the slightest
attempt to escape. Though not addicted to polygamy, I have
my strong suspicion this occurs sometimes. I have known three
sitting ducks all within a few yards of each other, while hard by
on a small pond swam a solitary drake, and I have frequently
seen one Mallard with five or six ducks. The Mallard commences
to moult about April 3rd, some of the feathers on the fore breast
beginning to go first. The sitting duck is carefully guarded by
her mate, and if a stray Mallard should approach too near the
nest is at once driven away.
The Little Grebe, or Dabchick, in some individuals assumes
its summer dress as early as February 17th, and starts building
about April 18th, but the eggs are seldom laid before the end of
that month. The earliest eggs I have seen were on the 30th.
Three, according to my experience, is the usual number, and I
have never seen a nest with more than four. On May Ist this
year (1906) I went round a piece of water on a large private
estate, and found several nests but no eggs, and it was not until
May 7th that I found one with three eggs, and another with one.
These eggs, strangely enough, were not covered up by the sitting
bird, as is the usual custom, but were fully exposed to view.
The Dabchick builds the most untidy nests I have ever seen.
NOTES ON THE WILD DUCK AND LITTLE GREBE. 2838
One was a large floating structure, not fastened to any reeds,
nor was any attempt made at binding the materials together in
any way; it was simply a rotting mass of weeds and leaves.
Another nest, on the other hand, was neatly put together, and
quite a nice cup-shaped affair. It is not always easy to see if
the nests contain eggs or not, and one | pulled about, thinking
there might be eggs hidden, and found one. What was my
surprise on visiting the same nest two days after to find the bird
had put it together again and laid another egg. It is a mystery
to me how some of the eggs are even incubated, lying as they do
in a nest soaked through and through with water.
In India, I feel sure, the eggs are mostly incubated by the
heat of the sun, as I never saw the old birds sitting during the
day. The eggs were always kept covered over with damp weeds,
and these, combined with the heat of the sun, no doubt set up
a sort of fermentation that aided incubation.
The piece of water mentioned above is strictly preserved for
Trout, and as the Dabchick is supposed to feed largely on the
young and ova of these, it is not encouraged, and sometimes
gets rather a bad time, but owing to its natural cunning and
marvellous powers of diving is not often shot. Constant perse-
cution makes these birds exceedingly shy and wary; but in
places where they are not molested they get comparatively tame.
A few days ago I was sitting by a large pond when I saw a Dab-
chick swimming straight towards me. I remained perfectly quiet,
and the bird then entered a clump of reeds within a few feet of
my position. I walked at once quietly and quickly to the spot and
found the nest, which contained one egg. Quick as I had been
the bird had been quicker, and when I arrived the egg was
covered up with an oak-leaf, and the bird gone. Quite small
ponds are chosen by this bird for its breeding quarters, especially
those thickly covered with rushes and water-buttercups (Ranun-
culus aquaticus). The nests I have never found placed far out on
the water, but quite close to the edge, and within easy reaching
distance. In England I have but few times seen the Dabchick
on the wing. On one occasion this was in the breeding season,
and it was flying quite rapidly and fairly high up round and
round a small pond. One I knew of used to fly every day up a
small stream and alight on a piece of mud, for what purpose I
Zz 2
284 THE ZOOLOGIST.
could never discover, unless it was to feed on something. I do
not think the Dabchick is capable of walking or resting on its
feet. The legs are not able to support the weight of the bird,
and are placed so very far back as to render walking an impossi-
bility. Anyone who has ever handled a living Dabchick, or one
just shot, will understand what I mean. A captive Dabchick I
had, which was pinioned and kept on a large tank, rested with
both tarsi on the ground, the legs being very wide apart. It
used its wings frequently when swimming under water, guiding
its way as easily as a bird in the air. The Dabchick always
appears larger on the water than it really is, owing to its habit
of raising its wings in exactly the same way that a Swan does.
My own experience goes that the females are slightly darker (in
summer plumage) than the males. Their bills, too, are shorter.
But of course this must not be accepted as a general rule. In
colour the iris varies very much, being brown, yellow, and, in
one specimen I saw, blood-red.
These birds are most pugnacious, and I have at times seen
them drive Coots right off the water. Their curious cry, uttered
chiefly in the nesting season, sounds like ‘‘chrr, rr, rr, wee, wee,”
but it is hard to put it into words, but once heard can never be
mistaken for that of any other bird.
( 285 )
OBSERVATIONS TENDING to THROW LIGHT on tue
QUESTION or SEXUAL SELECTION 1m BIRDS, IN-
CLUDING a DAY-TO-DAY DIARY on tos BREEDING
HABITS or toe RUFF (MACHETES PUGNAX).
By Epmunp Ssious.
(Continued from p. 219.)
April 7th, 1906.—The Ruffs are now here—so, at least, the
inhabitants tell me—and fighting should begin about the middle
of April. I have not yet seen any, and the place where they
meet is, as yet, quite tenantless. Now, therefore, is the time for
preparation. By the time it begins to be frequented, let me have
something like a good observatory. Fired with this idea, I come
down with a spade, and, giving myself up to unmitigated toil,
have converted already my little last-year’s rampart of turfs,
which was still standing, into a sort of round turf-hut, minus a
roof, in a hole inside which I can sit and look through a loop-
hole, commanding a splendid view of the lek-place, the distance
to the middle of which is only twenty-four of my paces—about
sixty feet. This, when roofed over in some way or other—I
hardly know how—will be perfectly dark inside, so that I must
be invisible to the birds, as I sit, comfortably, with my face at
the embrasure, on the edge of which the glasses of intellect (as
against that needless weapon, the gun) can rest ; just as | watched
them before, except that it will be comfort—luxury almost—
instead of a very great want of it, and an impossibility, so far as
I can see, of being observed myself, or even suspected. 1 doubt
if Ruffs will ever have been provided for like this, or even last
year, but then, in June and July, the fighting was on the wane,
the pairing, as I imagine, over ;* whereas now, in the latter half
* Though I watched the birds, on and off, during a month, from June
11th, I never once saw them pair, though the male seemed, at least, as excited
as now by the presence of the Reeve. This is evidence of the power exercised
by the latter, in addition to that which, in the course of this paper, I shall
bring forward.
286 THE ZOOLOGIST. sa
of April, both should be in their prime. ‘‘ Sweet bodements !
good!”—and, striking out the comfort, they were realized. All,
at any rate, that there was to see, I think I saw, but under such
conditions of cold, wind, water, and sand in my eyes, that I am
glad now to think it is over. The first and second of these draw-
backs (to which I now add cramp) were almost constant, the
third came in after rain, when the excavation in which I sat
had to be baled out, in the first place, and then again, at
intervals, as it slowly refilled, and the last asserted itself when-
ever the wind was from the east, and blew straight through the
opening. On such occasions I wished I had made the latter face
otherwise so as to get a milder quality, at least, of blasts that
were almost perpetual; but this could only have been done by
placing my observatory somewhere else, and was not now to be
thought of. For the cold, it was most severe precisely at the
times when most was to be seen—the early morning, namely,
and the latter part of the afternoon—nor could the sun ever
reach the cheerless vault in which I sat. True, I could only
manage to roof it about a quarter over, which I did by laying
turfs on a few sticks and spars that I was able to find, only one
of which would bridge the chasm—a feat I was proud of every
time that I looked at it. My other arrangements, however,
effectually excluded the light, and were as follows—the very soul
_of the business: over the loop-hole I fixed, by means of sharpened
sticks, driven into the turf, a piece of sacking, and in this cut a
square hole so as to leave a flap that might be raised or lowered
at pleasure. When I came to watch, I first fastened my plaid,
with safety-pins, to the upper part and sides of the sacking, and
then, putting it over my head, let it fall down all about me, so
that when I raised the flap—which I always left lowered—l
looked out from a veritable camera obscura. Not even an Eagle,
as I suppose, could have seen me under these conditions, but as
long as the light shone through the aperture, the Ruffs, as I had
found last year, were quick to detect any movement behind it.
This watch-house of mine came, in time, to be talked of in the
neighbourhood, and when I considered the many turfs of which
it was made—most of which'I had had to cut myself—and gazed
on the huge pit or tank from which they, and the sand also used
in its construction, had been taken, I sometimes almost wondered
SEXUAL SELECTION IN BIRDS. 287
whether I had really had anything at all to do with it, and if it
had not been there before I came.
And now, having described my own place, I will describe the
Ruffs’. In Lincolnshire their gathering-ground is, or was—for
the collectors with the guns have done their business—a “‘ hill,” or
at least it was called so. Could it be so termed here, I might call
it “the hill of Venus,’”’ for assuredly she reigns upon it—but of
that hereafter. But there are no hills in Holland, even if there
are in the fens of Lincolnshire, and this particular one—for I
have no doubt the word is equally applicable here or there—is,
if anything, a little lower than the dead level of the surrounding
country. It is on a narrow strip of land, where turfs, cut from
an adjoining trench—one of many that traverse these shore-
lands for the purpose of draining them—le strewn upon the
grass, amidst which they have again become rooted, that the
gathering-place is situated. The space principally occupied by
the birds is oblong in shape—some ten paces long by six broad—
and within it the grass, though shorter, generally, than round
about, grows thicker and, in parts, more tuftily. Within this
area, amidst the turfs and egrass-tufts, are as many as thirteen
circular depressions, about two feet across, where the grass is
worn away, and the bare earth appears, more especially in the
centre. Hleven of these are very distinctly marked, giving the
place its character and at once striking the eye. They are
stained with excrement, and feathers, as time goes on, accumu-
late in them, though the scantiness with which these are shed is,
under the circumstances, matter for wonder. It is evident, in
fact, that here, from season to season, the birds have stood and
fought ; one season—or perhaps several—would not suffice to
make such a series of depressions. ‘This is the most frequented
portion of the tourney-ground—the lists proper, so to speak—but
beyond it a further area has extended itself, which is not nearly
so plainly marked in any way. In the later spring and summer
the Rufis show a tendency to stand in this adjoining territory or
hinterland, rather than in the more trodden part. Sometimes,
indeed, they keep right outside the wider limit even, but gener-
ally get into it before long, and the inner shrine, too, as soon as
they begin to fight. Of this tendency, however, I saw little or
nothing during this earlier visit. All the birds, at any rate, who
288 THE ZOOLOGIST.
had inside places—and each has his own—represented by the
depressions aforesaid, kept to them. The Ruffs are never
molested by the Terns in this resort of theirs, though, from the
end of April, these are all about, and some have their nests
quite near. They would not be let alone, I think, under ordinary
circumstances, but they have their established place, and it is
recognized as theirs.
April 14th.—A very cold, stern day, with nara any sun, and
a continuous, strong north-east wind. At about 7a.m.a solitary
Ruff was at the lek-place, which, as I came up, of course flew
away; but though I waited behind my ensconcement till past
nine—three of the weariest and most comfortless hours I have
ever passed, cold, cramped, uncomfortable, and my eyes full of
sand—no other bird came. I hope to goodness the size of my
place has not alarmed them—fearful thought! but down!
April 15th.—Whilst still watching these Redshanks (this was
not from behind anything) a band of Ruffs—some eight or nine
in all, all males—came right down on the strand, and imme-
diately began to fight. Their tremendous activities had quite a
disturbing effect on other species. Oystercatchers were alarmed,
and ran out of the way, and the commonplace affairs of Red-
shanks were lost and confounded in these more heroical-bluster-
ing ones, sweeping like a tornado amongst them. I immediately
recognized all their actions of last year, their crazed racings over
the ground—not always at one another—their sudden illogical
full-stops, with heads bent forward, feathers out-ruffled, and a
look of almost comic surprise. It was not all fighting, however
—rather, indeed, rant than achievement—and then, all at once,
off flew some five across the water, and, pitching on the smooth
stretch of muddy sand beyond it, raced and ranted again. They
were followed by the rest, and, a few moments later, the entire
flock were off, and disappeared behind the straight line of an
embankment. There was not a female amongst them. Here,
then, are the Ruffs, and their nuptial plumage looked well grown ;
but when will they go—or will they ever again go—to their accus-
tomed tourney-ground ?
I do not think the lists are abandoned. Going there this
evening, I find three feathers, all of which look quite new, nor do
‘I think they were there before. Very probably the birds I saw
SHXUAL SELECTION IN BIRDS. 289
to-day had come from fighting in the lists. Though Ruffs fight
so, yet they do not seem to knock out many feathers, and the
opinion held here is that they do each other no harm.
Apru 16th.—Getting up early—though not early enough—l
was on the shore-lands, as I may call these parts in contra-
distinction to field and pasture, before seven, and soon saw,
through the glasses, that the Ruffs were foregathering; but
coming nearer, inconsiderately, than I had intended to do, a
party of them went up. Others, however, remained, but, though
I came up carefully, behind my fortifications, first on my hands
and knees, and then crawling flat, these, too, took alarm, so that
when I at last got into place no more remained. I had not
waited there long, however, before three came down into the
tourney-ground, where, after a very little fighting, they sat
quietly. This state of things continued, nor was the peace
interrupted except by a few short and several abortive campaigns.
In the first, two who sat near each other rose, as by a mutual
impulse, and made a spar or two, but, in a moment, sank down
again, and sat, dozing, side by side, in the most amicable man-
ner. Another two, before long, flew in, and afterwards one,
their arrival, in each case, making that stir and excitement
which I had noted last year; but not, I think, leading to real
fighting—or, at any rate, in but a slight degree. Of real fighting
there has been, up to the present—it is now eight o’clock—very
little. The birds—all three, or five, or six of them—have sat,
almost the whole time, basking in the sun—for it is a splendid
sunshine day, though the air is bracing, to say the least of it—
or else stood preening their feathers. At longish, rather than
short, intervals a sudden impulse would seem to seize a bird,
and rising, for no apparent cause, he would erect his feathers,
and turn to this or that side, but meeting with no response—no
other bird being close to him—would sink down, and bask again.
Or two, separated by but a foot or so, would rise in the same
way, and do the same things, yet not fight, but only threaten,
before again subsiding, or else there would be a very short,
though sufficiently violent, sparring-match. Otherwise—when
not fighting, that is to say, or threatening to fight—they were
most sociable ; and, indeed, the very contentions of these birds
may almost be said to be a part of their sociability. It is most
290 THE 4ZO00LOGIST.
curious to see two ruffle, crouch, even spring at each other, then
snoozle down, side by side, in the closest proximity, almost, or
even quite, touching. If there can be friendly fighting, here, I
think we have it, but sociable fighting—or fighting which is part
and parcel of a most sociable gathering—it is. On one of the
little outbreaks of the above-described nature, not coming, in
this case, to blows, I noticed, I think, both the birds—but, at any
rate, one—strike the ground two or three times with his bill,
turning his head from side to side as he did so, as though this
were a preliminary of battle. Yet this action, so striking in
itself, and which looked like a characteristic one, was not forced,
afterwards, upon my notice.
All at once an immensely tall, gaunt figure of a bird, with an
immensely long bill, stalked stiffly over the tourney-ground, going
at a foot’s pace. For a moment I thought another Ruff, whose
show-feathers had not yet appeared, was there, but it was a Bar-
tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica) that stood before me. One
might have thought that he challenged all present, but, if so, it
was not taken up by any of the six. Really, however, the Ruffs
were quite indifferent to the tall stranger, as was he to them.
Before this I had been interested by the excited actions, on
the same stage, of a Titlark or Meadow-Pipit (Anthus pratensis).
This little bird, either in love, as one would suppose, or defiance,
though I could see no other one near it, executed, at intervals, a
little dance or stampede on the ground, fanning the tail and
quivering the wings the whilst, and uttering at each little
paroxysm a full, trilling note. Were a Titlark as big as a
Ruff, such a display would be quite as effective, or even more so,
than anything the latter does.
I left not long after this, and it was 4.45 in the afternoon
when I got to my watch-place again. A number of Ruffs went
off as I came up, but when I put up the glasses one was standing
on the grounds, and he was shortly joined by five others, I forget
whether in one or two relays. There was nothing of mterest—
except the seeing them—the birds being more quiescent even
than this morning. Fighting certainly did not seem the object
of their meeting, and the few short spasms, in no case leading
to actual conflict, which shot through one or another of them,
had more the appearance of some nervous malady to which they
SHXUAL SHLECTION IN BIRDS. 291
were subject than acts of intention and meaning. If this be the
fighting-place, it might almost as well be called the sleeping-
place, the birds doze so persistently on it. Their silence is a
very noticeable feature—they utter no note whatever.* They
had not, I think, the faintest suspicion of my presence, but first
three, then two, and finally the last, went off in the course of an
hour. A man, perhaps, who was looking for Peewits’ eggs—
having bought the right of search during April—may possibly
have alarmed them, but this is more or less their natural way of
leaving, when not in a flock. All at once one or another of them
looks up with a surprised air, half erects himself, extends his
Wings, and in a moment darts away.
It was past 7.30 when I left the watch-house, but no Ruff had
returned. Before coming up, this last time, I had seen them
through the glasses from a distance, and noticed that they several
times all flew up together, and, after a short flight round in the
near proximity of the place, came down on it again.
April 17th.—Lying down in my harness, like old Bernal
Diaz, who could not sleep otherwise, I was up at three, and got
to the watch-place a little before four. No Ruffs went up as I
came, nor did any come till a little before five, when I saw the
first three standing there. Then they began to fly in rapidly,
one after the other, for the most part, and I counted, sometimes,
as many as fourteen. No two of these were alike, and, whilst
some were almost fully decorated, others were only just begin-
ning to be. These stood, mostly, aside, and were altogether less
demonstrative. I noticed more than once that when a com-
paratively full-maned one demonstrated at any of these, the
latter held up its beak to it in a deprecating way—it had, at
least, that appearance—and the other then ceased the assault,
and sank quietly down beside it. However, to make the mere
show of an assault, and then for both parties, though well-
plumed, to act in this way, was a quite general feature. At
other times, especially when any Reeve was on the scene, two
would rush and leap high into the air against each other, rushing
away, and not leaping again, as they came down ; whilst once, at
* On one occasion only I heard, as I thought, a very low note as this or
that bird, or small party of them, went off. This occurred twice or thrice,
but I am now very doubtful as to the Ruffs having uttered the sound.
292 THE ZOOLOGIST.
the last, there was a duel which lasted much longer, and may,
- for aught I know, have been considerably prolonged, as the
parties scrimmaged out of sight.
When a pair or two leap at each other, in this way, the
interest of the scene, as a whole, is generally enhanced by other
birds rushing wildly about in a state of the greatest excitement.
They rush for some yards, then stop suddenly in a crouching
attitude with the head extended forward on the ground, the legs
bent, the feathers ruffled. In this position they remain for
some time motionless, the body brought suddenly into a state of
rigidity, which, however, is of the bent bow order, threatening
each instant a renewal of energy. This may issue, shortly, in
another furious run in a reversed direction, but often there is
nothing further, and the bird, sinking more and more down till
it lies along the ground, becomes gradually quiescent. With
the appearance of the Reeves—some flew in after an hour or so,
but I was unable to jot down the details of their arrival—more
interest was imported into the scene. At first, indeed, the effect
was not very marked, but as more came it became evident that
they were the centre of attraction, and their movements, which
were but few and quiet, were the principal signal for the
bouncing and flurrying about of the males, accompanied with a
certain number of pitched battles, some of which were more
violent—that is to say, lasted longer than the present average
one, for all are violent whilst they last. During the latter part
of the time there were six Reeves present—outnumbering the
Ruffs at one time—and by the motions of the latter about them,
they were sometimes driven about in a little flock. But, though
the Reeves often hurried out of the way of their turbulent ad-
mirers, yet they were quite cool and collected, seeming accustomed
to the scenes they created, and to know what it all meant. This,
however, I confess, was more apparent to me after it had been
demonstrated, in an interesting manner, by the first, or one of
the first, of the Reeves to arrive—there was one other there, I
think, at the time, whose conduct was quite irreproachable. The
Reeve in question, after she had walked about a little, occasion-
ing the usual excitement on the part of the males, pressed close
to a certain one of them, in a way the friendliness of which was
not to be mistaken. In response to this advance the bird ruffled
SHXUAL SELECTION IN BIRDS. 293
about her, when she crouched, and it seemed now as though the
nuptial rite would be performed, for, pressing up, he was several
times on the point of assuming the position necessary to that
end. All at once, however, and in the very midst of these begin-
nings, he sank down at her side, in that prostrate attitude which
I have before alluded to, the characteristic point of which is not
that the bird merely sits or lies along the ground, as in incuba-
tion, but that he also bows his head upon it, and remains thus,
for a longer or shorter time, motionless. The hen now, rising,
began to offer towards this prostrate male in exactly the same
way as he had been doing towards her, the only difference being
that she was a little less emphatic. The intention or idea, how-
ever, was unmistakable. She even took hold of the back of his
neck with her bill, but all in a hesitating and, as it were, half-
hearted manner, which, if we call it coy, will not more obscure
the real truth of the matter than does the employment of that
word upon other occasions. True, upon the whole, it might be
better applied to the male, but the world itself is circular, or, at
least, elliptical.
The Ruff thus preferred—for preferred he certainly seemed
to be—was a handsome black-maned one in full, or almost full,
plumage. Throughout there was no interference on the part of
any of the other Ruffs, but after the incident was closed the hero
of it fought with one of them. I remained at my observatory
till past eight, by which time, in spite of a thick motor suit,
warm underclothing, woollen face-protector, sheepskin gloves,
two Scotch plaids, and a Shetland-shawl comforter, I was almost
frozen to death. What I had seen, however, was worth it, for
here, as it would seem, we have the Reeve actually selecting a
husband from amongst the ten or a dozen Ruffs present, whilst
those not selected do not interfere even whilst the nuptial rite is
on the point of taking place, though not actually accomplished.
Why it should not have been it is difficult to say, but perhaps
the failure may be attributed to the earliness of the season.
After breakfast I had to sleep a little, but was in hiding
again about 2.30. Some Ruffs were there on my arrival, and soon
things seemed to be in full swing. In about half an hour the
first Reeve came down, and shortly afterwards there was an
incident similar to the one I have just recorded. As this Reeve
294 THE 4ZOOLOGIST.
—a wretched-looking little creature, with the neck in great part
naked—moved forward amongst the crowd, there was a general
commotion, and then all either lay prostrate, or crouched, with
the head bowed down, in the way I have described. Going up,
now, to one, she showed evident signs of partiality, caressing it,
though slightly, on the neck with her bill, and then made a
motion as though to mount upon its back and perform the sexual
office. These actions she repeated once or twice, and then stood
quietly by this bird’s side, turning, after a time, her bill into the
feathers of her back, and dozing a little. The Ruff thus dis-
tinguished pressed himself more than once against the ground,
as though in an ecstasy, and, at the last, rose and ruffled towards
her, before sinking down again, when she moved a step or two
also, and again stood beside him. All the while—as this morn-
ing—the other males remained quiet, not one offering to inter-
fere. The chosen Ruff was a golden-brown one, with his nuptial
plumage well grown—a fine handsome bird.
From time to time, both this morning and also in the after-
noon, either the whole flock of birds, or some part of them,
would fly suddenly off, and, after a short flight, return again—
either some or all of them. On one occasion, this afternoon, the
Reeve—the only one, I think, at the time—suddenly darted off,
and was followed, on the instant, by all the Ruffs. About four
a Reeve came flying in, accompanied by a single male. Whether
it was the Reeve who had made the advances, and whether the
Ruff was the one she had favoured, | cannot say, not having at
the time paid the requisite attention. True, no other Ruff can
be confounded with this particular brown one, if one thinks of it ;
but if one doesn’t think of it, there are others who are brown
more or less. It is possible, therefore, that the actual pairing
amongst Ruffs may be accomplished in the open country, the
Reeve, with the male she has chosen, separating themselves from
the others, who may go off with them from the place of assembly.
From what I have seen, however, I should rather think that this
latter is the recognized place for the performance of the nuptial
me ** As will appear by the story, this is certainly the case.
(To be continued.)
( 295 )
THE BIRDS OF SCILLY.
By James Cuarx, M.A., D.Sc., and Francis Rh. Ropp, J.P.
(Continued from p. 252.)
Tur Raven is a scarce casual wanderer to Scilly but has been
recorded at all seasons. It appears to have bred on Gorregan
about 1840. In May and June of 1893 a couple of Ravens
frequented the western islands, but no nest was found. The
Carrion-Crow breeds regularly on all the outer uninhabited
islands, and in spite of repressive measures, and the apparent
absence of immigrant recruits, is sufficiently numerous to be a
serious menace to young poultry and broods of game. The
Hooded Crow is an occasional visitor from November to May.
A few at times spend the greater part of the winter at Tresco, as
in 1870-71, 1900-01, and 1903-04. In May, 1900, L. R. George
obtained one at Holy Vale, St. Mary’s. In the spring of 1901 a
party of five spent some days there, and on April 14th, 1903, a
solitary bird was seen on St. Martin’s, so that it may possibly
be a scarce spring bird of passage. A few Rooks are occasionally
blown over from the mainland in the autumn and winter, and
small parties appear at times from other directions. Such
arrivals generally remain till the spring. In squally weather in
1854, and again in October, 1905, several Rooks were driven in
on the west of Bryher, and on several occasions stragglers have
appeared on the north end of Tresco. In December, 1876, a
small flock came in from the north-west on the extreme northern
point of that island. The late Augustus Smith, lord-proprietor
of the islands, used to tell of a whole rookery that was driven
over to Tresco by a violent autumn gale in the early fifties, and
not only remained through the winter, but as spring approached
attempted to establish itself in the pinasters near the Abbey.
The birds, however, gradually disappeared before building opera-
tions had been completed. On at least three other occasions
they have begun nest-building on Tresco, but so far as known no
296 THE ZOOLOGIST.
egg has ever been laid. In 1865, Augustus Smith attempted to
introduce them, but the birds all flew off to the mainland, leaving
only some half-built nests behind. In the early nineties a com-
pact flock about eight hundred strong was seen by David Smith
coming in from the east. It flew round the island of Tresco,
then went out to sea in a north-westerly direction. On the same
date a homeward-bound vessel making for Bristol was literally
boarded by a similar flock.
The Sky-Lark breeds in small numbers. In the spring of
1903 nests were found on St. Mary’s, Great Ganilly, St. Martin’s,
St. Helen’s, Tresco, Bryher, and Samson. During the period of
autumn migration, and occasionally in winter during the preval-
ence of hard frosts on the mainland, it arrives in large flocks,
and sometimes in immense numbers. Not infrequently, in
October and early November, flocks pass over the islands in a
westerly or north-westerly direction without landing at all, and
on two occasions large scattered flights have been observed
coming in from the east, and, after some indecision, continuing
their journey in a north-westerly direction. The flocks that
land usually resume their passage in the course of a day, but a
large number continue on the islands throughout the winter. In
the second week in October, 1908, the arrival of an almost con-
tinuous stream of Larks and Starlings, in flocks of a dozen to
fifty or a hundred, was observed through the whole of two days
and part of a third. The Larks flew with a steady, easy flight,
and showed no sign of exhaustion, but hesitated every now and
then, as if uncertain whether they should settle or continue their
journey. ‘The flocks would come in rapid succession for several
hours at a stretch, frequently only a few hundred yards apart,
and rarely with an intervening interval of more than two or
three minutes. Then would come a lull, and for half an hour or
more they would arrive at irregular intervals of three to ten
minutes, after which the rush would be again resumed. From
twelve to three on the second day the flocks must have averaged
about a hundred, and followed each other so closely that in the
distance they looked like a dusky band rising out of the sea.
The birds apparently came in by night as well as day, and left
during the night or in the early morning. On the fourth day
several hundred Larks were still about, but were evidently
THE BIRDS OF SCILLY. 297
settling in for a prolonged stay. In October, 1863, F. R. Rodd
and Pechell witnessed a similar migration, and, along with
another gun, killed three hundred Larks in three days—nearly
all single flying shots.
The Wood-Lark is a rare casual winter visitor. Two were
shot by Pechell behind the Great Rock, Tresco, on Dec. 5th,
1859 ; two at the same spot by F. R. Rodd on Dec. 29th, 1870;
one by David Smith in 1891; and one by a fisherman near
Peninnis Head, St. Mary’s, on Dec. 28th, 1904. On Sept. 28th,
1854, Pechell saw two Short-toed Larks at Skirt Point, Tresco,
and secured one—the only record for the county.
The Swift is at least an occasional bird of passage in spring
and in the last week of July. Curiously enough, it does not
appear to have been seen in the month of August. The granite
rocks of the islands are identical in appearance with those on
which it breeds on the Cornish moors, but there is no record
of its having nested in Scilly. The Nightjar is by no means
uncommon in autumn, and, though seen on Samson on July
12th, 1903, has never been known to nest. Its favourite haunts
are Abbey Hill Downs, Castle and Middle Downs, Tresco, the
Higher Downs, St. Mary’s, and Bryher Hill, Samson. In August,
1901, Dorrien-Smith saw a large flock of these birds on Annett.
The Wryneck is a rare casual. Pechell shot one in October,
1849; one was picked up dead on the Middle Downs, Tresco, in
October, 1852; one shot in 1882; and one by Dorrien-Smith in
April, 1894. The Picine are represented by a single specimen of
the Green Woodpecker, killed on St. Mary’s in September, 1901.
Another is reported to have been killed on the north of Tresco in
1872, but the specimen cannot be traced, and the authority for
the statement is unknown. The Kingfisher is a casual autumn
and winter visitor, occurring, as a rule, singly, but not in-
frequently recorded. It usually appears near the fresh-water
ponds on Tresco, Bryher, St. Mary’s, and especially beside the
old well, or rather sloping hollow, on the island of Tean. It is
also occasionally seen at Newford Pool, St. Mary’s, and has been
twice noticed among the western islands. The Roller does not
seem to have visited Scilly, but two or else three Bee-eaters
appeared at Holy Vale, St. Mary’s, in October, 1901, and one of
them—an immature male—was shot. In June, 1878, one was
Zool. 4th ser. vol. X., August, 1906. 2A
298 THE ZOOLOGIST.
repeatedly seen by David Smith at Tresco. In a copy of Carew’s
‘Survey,’ in the possession of the late W. J. Clyma, of Truro,
among a number of notes in an unknown hand was one that ran
as follows :—‘‘ Three of the remarkable birds called Bee-eaters
were seen on St. Agnes, Scilly, by my boatman Hicks on the 9th
of May (1841) one of which was shot and fell into the sea, but
was recovered and brought to me. As far as I could ascertain,
it was a young female, but the skin was so much damaged that
I did not preserve it.”
The Hoopoe is a regular spring bird of passage, singly and in
small parties. In April, 1903, five were seen together on Castle
Down, Tresco. So far it has not been observed in the autumn.
The Cuckoo arrives in fairly large numbers at the time of spring
migration, at which time nine have been seen at one time from
a window in one of the houses at Holy Vale. The earliest
authenticated date for its appearance on the islands is March
29th, 1904, when it was seen by Dorrien-Smith on St. Mary’s.
On April 2nd of the same year it was seen by two other
naturalists. As a rule, it is not observed till the middle of that
month, or even later. During the breeding season it is much
commoner here than anywhere else in Cornwall.
The only example of the Barn-Owl known to have occurred in
Scilly was shot by Jenkinson on Nov. 18th, 1858. Both the
Long-eared and the Short-eared Owls are common in autumn
and winter, often in small parties in which the two species not
infrequently occur together. The former prefer Tresco, and
coveys of four or five may occasionally be flushed out of a single
tree, but the latter seem to occur on all the islands where the
bracken patches are large enough to supply convenient shelter.
The Tawny Owl has not been seen at Scilly. The Snowy Owl is
represented by a single specimen, shot on St. Martin’s in
September, 1905, and now in the Abbey collection. The only
specimen of Scops Owl known with certainty to have occurred
on the islands was captured in an exhausted condition by
Christian Holliday on Tresco on April 13th, 1847. It is figured
by Gould in his ‘ Birds of Great Britain,’ and is one of the
treasures in the collection at Trebartha Hall. All three Harriers
are casual visitors at Scilly. Of the Marsh-Harrier, one was
seen by Pechell in 1849 ; one (a female) shot by him towards the
THE BIRDS OF SCILLY. 299
end of October, 1863; one was killed on St. Mary’s in October,
1871, and one at Tresco by Joe White in April, 1886. A bird of
this species, in immature plumage, was watched for some time
at Tresco, beating likely spots for game along the reedy margin
of the Abbey Pool on the afternoon of the day on which the great
flight of Larks already described came to an end (Oct. 12th,
1903). Up till about 1875 female Hen-Harriers were to be met
with almost every year, though only one single male had been
shot. During the last twenty-five years the species has only
once been obtained, namely, in May, 1888, though it was
evidently seen by David Smith in June, 1902. Montagu’s
Harrier was first recorded from the islands in April, 1852, when
three were shot. It does not appear to have been obtained
again till 1868, but during the seventies it occurred almost every
year either in immature or in adult plumage. It is still an
occasional visitor, chiefly in spring, and one was seen on &t.
Martin’s on April 9th, 1903. The Common Buzzard is a fairly
regular passing migrant in the autumn, usually in pairs, but
sometimes singly. In the third week in October, 1903, two pairs
were on the islands at one time. I’. R. Rodd says this is not
uncommon, but he has never seen or heard of a greater number.
A pair was seen in December, 1876, but their occurrence during
winter is very unusual. No Eagles have so far been observed at
Scilly, but there is a tradition of a White-tailed Kagle having
been seen near the Seven Stones in 1835. In the copy of
Carew’s ‘ Survey,’ already referred to, the unidentified naturalist
writes :—‘‘My boatman and two other fishermen sawa few years
ago a very large bird of prey at the Seven Stones, which they
speak of as a Golden Hagle, but I feel satisfied myself that it
was a Sea-Hagle, and their description has left no doubt in my
mind that this was the bird they saw.” The Sparrow-Hawk
comes over singly or in pairs with the autumn flights of Larks
and Starlings, and more frequently in November than with the
first-comers in October. It may often be seen about the reed-
beds on Tresco, among which the Starlings roost. As in the
case of the Buzzard, its occurrence in winter is unusual. All
the specimens handled or seen from a short distance have been
birds of the year. A solitary specimen of the Kite was shot on
Tresco, Sept. 9th, 1890, and one of the Honey Buzzard by
2Aa2
300 THE ZOOLOGIST.
Jenkinson on Tresco on Oct. 18th, 1866. A superb adult male
of the Greenland Falcon was shot on March 27th, 19038, on
Tresco, and an adult male of the Iceland Falcon near St. Martin’s
Daymark on Jan. 15th, 1895, when three or else four others were
seen at the same time. One, and in some years two, pairs of
Peregrines have nested on the uninhabited islands probably
every year since the birds of Scilly first received systematic
attention. In 1841 a pair nested on Gorregan. A few years
later young Peregrines were taken from a nest on Hanjague.
Down to 1854 at least, a pair bred regularly on Round Island.
Then the selection of a breeding-site alternated between Round
Island and Menavawr. In 1863 a pair bred on Castle Bryher,
probably not for the first time. Tull about ten years ago Mena-
vawr continued to be their favourite haunt, but they have not
nested there since 1896. C.J. King notes that in 1901 a pair
bred on Irishman’s Cairn, Annett. Though a pair still nests at
Scilly in most years, their old haunts are entirely forsaken. As
till lately the eggs or young have generally fallen into the hands
of collectors, it is not desirable to indicate its recent nesting-
sites. As the Hobby is a spring and summer wanderer to the
islands, it has probably often escaped observation. One speci-
men was killed by Jenkinson on St. Mary’s Moors previous to
1868 ; one was found dead near the telegraph-wire on St. Mary’s
on April 29th, 1897; one was shot on the north of the same
island in May, 1899; and one seen by Clark and Jackson on
July 11th, 1903. The Merlin is apparently a regular autumn
and winter visitor, chiefly to St. Mary’s Moors, where it is very
active in the pursuit of Snipe. In all cases where details have
been visible, the birds have been in immature plumage. The
Kestrel is a resident, and is well in evidence all the year round.
Among the inhabitants it is often confused with the Peregrine.
An adult male of the Lesser Kestrel was shot at Scilly on March
8rd, 1891, and is in the Abbey collection. In September, 1849,
Pechell shot an Osprey that used to come to roost on the flag-
staff at the beacon on Castle Downs, Tresco. In 1852 Jenkinson
obtained another in immature plumage. In the second week of
September, 1902, an adult male was seen at St. Mary’s. It is
interesting to note that a week later an adult male was seen by
Clark, and also by T. H. Cornish, at Lelant.
THE BIRDS OF SCILLY. 301
Cormorants nest in considerable numbers on the outer rocky
islets, shifting their breeding stations more or less completely
from year to year. In 1901 there was a large colony, for ex-
ample, on Inner Innisvouls, another on Mincarlo, a third on
Meledgan, and a fourth on Rosevean. In 1902 only three nests
were found on Inner Innisvouls, but there was a big colony on
Outer Innisyouls, another on Menawethan, and several nests cn
Hanjague. Mincarlo was deserted, but there was a group on
Castle Bryher, a little cluster on Rosevean, and a new colony on
Meledgan. In 1908 there was not a single nest on Menawethan,
and none were noticed on Outer Innisvouls or Castle Bryher, and
only five on Rosevean. Inner Innisvouls, however, was again
thickly populated, and there was a large colony on Meledgan,
and one of twenty-nine nests on Roseveare. Shags are much
more abundant than Cormorants, and breed in great numbers on
all the outer rocks not washed by the sea, and also in small
numbers on Annett. The Gannet may be seen on the open sea
round Scilly at all times of the year, but rarely comes among
the islands, except in very stormy weather. One, however, was
captured asleep on St. Helen’s Pool on the afternoon of an un-
usually calm day in May, 1903. The Heron frequents the
islandsall the year round. The flat-topped Stack Rock between
Tresco and St. Martin’s, and the curious double-peaked islet of
Guthers between St. Martin’s and St. Mary’s can almost always
show a bird or two, especially in the afternoon. Twenty to
thirty Herons at a time on one of these favoured spots is by no
means unusual, and Jackson has counted as many as sixty.
They occasionally fish in the Tresco ponds at night, and their
loud call is not infrequently heard from the Abbey terrace on
still evenings. Most if not all the birds are immature, and none
have been found breeding, or attempting to do so. It was
reported four years ago that a pair was building on the cliffs on
Inner Innisvouls, but, though two birds may have been frequently
seen there together in the months of April and May, no trace of
a nest could be found. A Purple Heron in rufous immature
plumage was shot by Dorrien-Smith on St. Mary’s Moors on
Aug. 30th, 1878. Another, also an immature bird, was seen on
Tresco, and afterwards secured at St. Mary’s in April, 1898. On
Noy. 5th, 1858, a Mr. Fylton shot at a Heron on the shore at
302 THE ZOOLOGIST.
Norward, and knocked out a few feathers. One of these he took
back to the Abbey, and the unanimous opinion of Pechell and
other sportsmen was that it belonged to this species. The
Squacco Heron was first recorded in 1849, but has been obtained
several times since on Tresco, St. Mary’s, and St. Martin’s. A
solitary example of the Night Heron was knocked on the head
by David Smith in a clump of bushes at Tresco on May 15th,
1849. The Little Bittern is represented by an adult male in fine
condition, shot about June 8th, 1866. Six or seven examples of
the Common Bittern have been obtained on Tresco and St.
Mary’s—the first in December, 1864, the last on the marshes at
Porthellick Bay in 1900. On Oct. 10th, 1908, an American
Bittern was captured alive in a most exhausted and emaciated
condition on the west side of Bryher. Under careful treatment
it gradually recovered, and is still one of the attractions of the
aviary at the Abbey. Two Black Storks have been shot at
Tresco—one in September, 1887, and one by Dorrien-Smith on
May 8th, 1890. The first Glossy Ibis obtained at Scilly was shot
by Jenkinson on Tresco in September, 1854. It was evidently a
two-year-old bird. Another specimen—a bird of the year—was
obtained by Jenkinson at Tresco on Oct. 8th, 1866. In November,
1888, one was apparently seen on Tresco. On Oct. 11th, 1902,
two were observed coming in on Tresco from the west, and one of
these, a young bird, was shot at the Penzance Gate by Arthur
Dorrien-Smith. The other was last seen flying in an easterly
direction over Pentle Rock. The Spoonbill has been recorded
altogether about a dozen times at Scilly during the autumn and
winter, chiefly on Tresco. It was last seen on Oct. 16th, 1898.
In 1850 an adult male with well-developed occipital crest was
obtained on June 7th. Three were seen together in the early
sixties, consorting with the Ducks on the Abbey pond.
All the British Geese are occasional autumn or winter visitors
at Scilly, and gaggles are often reported at sea by local fisher-
men. Of the Grey Lag-Goose, one was shot in November, 1863;
one was seen and wounded by F. R. Rodd on the Abbey Green
in October, 1870; and two were killed in October, 1885. Two
gageles of the White-fronted Goose visited Tresco in October,
1854, three out of the first gagsle being shot by Pechell, who
had killed one at Tresco two or three years previously. Three
THE BIRDS OF SCILLY. 303
more were obtained in October, 1859. The species also visited
the islands in October, 1879, in October, 1880, in the winter of
1890-1, and in October, 1895. Down till the sixties the Bean-
Goose was not an uncommon winter visitor, but since that time
it has put in only an occasional appearance. One was shot in
1876, three on Dec. 9th, 1879, and two on Jan. 15th, 1882. In
1890-1 it was fairly common, several gaggles visiting the islands.
It was not recorded again till November, 190&. The Bernacle
Goose was not identified at Scilly till 1876. Twelve were shot
in September, 1880. In January, 1884, three birds spent some
days on the ponds at Tresco, and were allowed to depart un-
molested. In January, 1895, a gaggle of fifteen visited the
islands. The only record of the Brent-Goose at Scilly is one
killed by F. R. Rodd on Oct. 1st, 1860, but several of the
flocks of ‘‘ Sea-geese’’ reported by the Scillonian fishermen— |
particularly in 1890-91, in January, 1895, and in February,
1902—were probably composed of this species. Both the
Egyptian and the Canadian Goose were obtained at Scilly
prior to 1863, the former by F. R. Rodd.
Jenkinson saw seven Whooper Swans at Tresco on Nov. 20th,
1858; F’. R. Rodd saw five on Dec. 28th, 1870, and seven appeared
in 1871. In 1876 it was again seen at Tresco; in 1879 three
settled on the Abbey pond for a couple of days; on Dec. 5th,
1890, two adult birds appeared on the Long Pool at Tresco, and
on Jan. 20th, 1891, two were killed out of six. In January,
1895, it is again recorded, but does not appear to have occurred
since that time. At Christmas, 1890, twelve Bewick’s Swans
appeared on the pools at Tresco, of which four were shot, four
flew away, and four remained among the tame Swans and other
water-birds, and associated with the four survivors out of the six
Whoopers that arrived on Jan. 20th. The Whoopers went off
on March 21st, whereupon the Bewicks became exceedingly rest-
less, and went off on the 28rd, being last seen by Dorrien-Smith
flying over the eastern islands. Five years later four adult
Bewicks and five cygnets appeared on the ponds, and were
remarkably tame from the first. They stayed five weeks, and
were ultimately driven away by the other Swans. Several Mute
Swans were shot during the winter of 1870-71.
Hight Sheld-drakes were seen by F'. R. Rodd on Tresco Pool
304 THE ZOOLOGIST.
in 1864, one was shot at Tresco in 1876, and one in January,
1895. The Mallard breeds sparingly, but is common during the
winter. In 1903 nests were found on Tresco, at Porthellick, St.
Mary’s, and among the bracken on Samson, St. Helen’s, and
Tean. A Gadwall was shot on the pools at Tresco on Jan. Ist,
1900, apparently the only record. Shovelers are fairly frequent
winter visitors, and are usually most in evidence during hard
frost. Pintail appear only in severe weather, as in 1870, 1879,
1886-7, 1890-1, and 1895, and for the most part in small parties.
Teal appear every autumn and winter, and in some years are
very common. A Garganey was killed by David Smith on the
Long Pool, Tresco, March 29th, 1881; five were shot in March,
1883, and one at Porthellick, St. Mary’s, at Christmas, 1900.
Wigeon are common, and in severe weather appear at times in
large flocks. The Pochard is an irregular autumn and winter
visitor, occurring singly or in small parties. The Tufted Duck
and the Scaup appear occasionally, either singly or in pairs,
during winter, the latter being the more regular. The Golden-
eye is a frequent winter visitor. It was common during the
winter of 1890-1. The Long-tailed Duck was twice shot by
Pechell prior to 1852—once on Tresco, and once on St. Mary’s.
One was obtained in the Abbey Pool in October, 1854, and one
in November, 1864. All four birds were in immature plumage.
One male and one female Hider Duck were shot by David Smith
in the seventies ; a male in fine plumage was killed on April 5th,
1882; and three were shot in Tean Sound on Dec. 18th, 1891,
after they had been under observation for six weeks. An imma-
ture specimen of the Common Scoter was shot behind Bryher in
1854; F. R. Rodd saw one about 1860 between Tresco and St.
Mary’s; six were killed on Tresco Pools in March, 1881; and at
least two others have been obtained at unrecorded dates. An
adult male of the Surf-Scoter was picked up half-dead near Carn
Thomas, St. Mary’s, on Sept. 22nd, 1865, and a young male was
shot off Skirt Point, Tresco, by F. R. Rodd, in October, 1867.
The Goosander is a rare winter casual. One was killed on Dec.
22nd, 1851, one in December, 18538, and one in November, 1855.
On Noy. 28th, 1870, F. R. Rodd shot a female, and saw several
males, and on Jan. 5th, 1884, a female was obtained in perfect
plumage. The Red-breasted Merganser, in the fifties and sixties,
THE BIRDS OF SCILLY. 306
seems to have been a rare winter casual, but in most years is
now a fairly common winter visitor in immature plumage. The
Smew is of rare occurrence. One was shot at Newford Pool, St.
Mary’s, late in December, 1869, and two immature males out of
a party of three on the pool on Higher Moors, St. Mary’s, on
Jan. 28th, 1891. Several others seem to have been obtained at
unrecorded times by Pechell and others, but no adult male has
ever been identified.
In the sixties the Wood-Pigeon was a rare autumn and winter
casual. F. R. Rodd, writing in 1863, says he has very rarely
observed this bird at Scilly, and mentions one that had been
noticed for several days on Tresco in the autumn of that year,
and one, probably the same bird, that had been found dead—
killed by a hawk—in the well-covert. The first nest was found
on Tresco in 1873, and by that time it was a regular and fairly
common winter visitor. ‘Two or three years previous to 1879 it
had become established as a resident, and it has greatly increased
in numbers since. In April, 1888, a flock of four or five hundred
settled for several hours on the trees at Tresco, and did a good
deal of damage by eating the young leaves. The Stock-Dove
may be constantly seen during the autumn months on most of
the larger islands, including Tean and St. Helen’s, both singly
and in flocks. It seems to have been quite as common in 1863
as itis now. The Rock-Dove has been reported several times,
but, so far as can be discovered, no Scillonian specimen has ever
been seen by a competent ornithologist. The Turtle-Dove occurs
rarely in autumn, sometimes in winter, and frequently in spring.
In May, 1871, thirty-four birds were counted in one flock. In
May, 1903, nineteen were seen together. It has nested at least
once at Tresco.
A male specimen of Pallas’s Sand-Grouse was picked up dead
on St. Agnes in 1863, and F’. Rh. Rodd says there was a small
flock on the island at the time. On May 15th, 1888, eight or
ten were seen feeding, and evidently quite at home, in the west
side of St. Martin’s by C.R. Gawen. The Pheasant was success-
fully introduced into Tresco over half a century ago by Augustus
Smith, and has been preserved in the usual semi-domesticated
state ever since. It finds congenial shelter in the furze. Par-
tridges, both Red-legged and Grey, have been introduced several
306 THE ZOOLOGIST
times, but with little success. The first attempt was made by
Augustus Smith in the fifties on St. Martin’s, but most of the
birds flew out tosea. The few that remained bred, but the hordes
of cats on the island must have destroyed many of the young,
and, though never shot at, they died out in 1864. A more deter-
mined effort was made from 1866 onwards, but, though between
twenty and thirty Partridges appear for several years in the
Tresco game-book, there were only a few coveys left when the
present lord-proprietor succeeded his uncle, and these died about
1879. Since then various attempts have been made, and once
as many as a hundred and fifty birds were turned out. In the
month of February, however, when they broke the coveys and
paired, they set off on a genuine migration by way of St. Martin’s,
where they are always last seen. A bevy of Quails had been seen
and one bird shot by Jenkinson previous to 1863. It has
been recorded over a dozen times altogether. usually in bevies in
the autumn. It has bred, however, at least twice on Tesco,
and once on St. Mary’s. The Land-Rail apparently breeds on
the islands every year, but is most in evidence as a spring and
autumn bird of passage. On Sept. 19th, 1857, Pechell shot
eight couples on the Lower Moors, St. Mary’s, but this was most
exceptional, as it is seldom one sees more than a pair or so in
the course of a day’s shooting. Itis generally common during
spring migration than at any other time. In 1903 it bred on
St. Mary’s, andon Bryher. The Spotted Crake was first recorded
in the autumn of 1849. One was seen by F. R. Rodd in the
Abbey garden in 1860, and in his notes of 1863 he speaks of its —
having been ‘‘met with in a few instances.” He himself shot
one on Oct. 8th, 1870. About the end of May, 1908, this bird was
flushed on two successive days from a likely nesting spot on the
Higher Moors, St. Mary’s. The only record of the occurrence of
the Lesser Crake is in Rodd’s 1863 notes, where he mentions
that Pechell had killed one on the islands which had been seen
by him. As this bird is not referred to in the Abbey game-book,
which goes back to 1856, and is not mentioned in the list for the
year 1849, when Pechell first visited the islands, it was in all
probability killed in the early fifties.
(To be continued.)
(207)
THE BIRDS OF THE DISTRICT OF STAINES.
By Granam W. Kerr.
(Continued from p. 234.)
Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus).—During summer the Cuckoo is
numerous all along the Thames Valley, and I have already stated
that in the earlier part of summer the eggs are deposited with
the Sedge- Warbler (Acrocephalus phragmitis), and later on almost
invariably with the Reed-Warbler (A. streperus). In the latter
case I have often found it in nests supported only by tall grasses,
and it seems remarkable that the Cuckoo is able to balance her-
self on such slight support sufficiently to place the egg in deep
cup-shaped nests. I believe that each female Cuckoo, with her
several husbands, occupies a certain area of country (varying in
size according to the number of birds in the district), into which
no other hen bird intrudes, and that all eggs laid by one bird are
of similar type. The nest in which the egg is to be deposited is
selected beforehand, and the egg is then laid on the ground near
at hand, and carried by the Cuckoo in its gullet, and placed in
the nest. As some days elapse between the laying of each egg,
it may well be that the bird notes the coloration of her first egg,
and spends the few days’ interval before the laying of the next
one in searching for a foster-parent whose eggs are more or less
similar to her own. In support of this theory, I have found a
Cuckoo’s egg, and always on searching farther in the same neigh-
bourhood have found others of exactly similar type. The follow-
ing day, perhaps in quite a different part of the country, another
Cuckoo’s egg is found of quite a different variety to the previous
day’s, and, searching on, more of these new type of egg are sure
to be found. I once thought that the Cuckoo always deposited
her egg with the same species of bird as had been her own
foster-parent, but that this is not so, I have proved by finding a
very distinct type of egg (white, lightly clouded, and blotched with
red) in the nest of the Whitethroat (Sylvia cinerea), and within
308 THE ZOOLOGIST.
one hundred yards of this an exactly similar egg in the nest of a
Blackcap (S. atricapilla), the two eggs undoubtedly belonging to
the same bird. One egg of the rightful owner is removed by the
Cuckoo from the nest she has selected to receive her own, but
whether this is done before her own egg is laid or afterwards I
am not sure. The fact that only one egg is removed shows that
the Cuckoo is no egg-eater ; probably the egg is carried away to
some distance and then dropped, for I have never been able to
find any trace of the remains of the discarded egg anywhere
near the nest. I have found (though I think it unusual) a fresh
Cuckoo’s ege among a clutch that has already been incubated for
some days. Such cases point to the Cuckoo’s egg requiring a
very short period of incubation, for if the other eggs in the nest
were hatched some days before the Cuckoo, it seems reasonable
to argue that the young receiving warmth and food would gain
sufficient strength to resist the young Cuckoo when it appeared ;
yet we all know that the young Cuckoo invariably becomes the
sole occupant of the nest. Asa rule, the egg is deposited before
the foster-parent’s clutch is complete; generally about the time
there are two or three eggs in the nest. One nest of a Reed-
Warbler I found appeared completed, but contained no eggs. Six
days later there were three Reed-Warbler’s and a Cuckoo’s egg.
When blown all showed signs of embryo. The young Cuckoo is
by no means a lovable bird; it snaps and mouths around at
everything that goes near it, and it is often a most laughable
sight to see it when it has outgrown its foster-parent’s nest,
squatting on the remains, and mouthing in all directions, Yet
the foster-parents—no matter of what species—always show the
utmost affection for their alien child, whose hunger never seems
able to be satisfied. We know that the adult Cuckoo often starts
on the return migration while young birds and even eggs are still
to be found in various nests. With whom, then, do the young
Cuckoos migrate? Do the single nestlings seek out others of
their kind, and migrate together in small parties; or is the
hereditary instinct so strongly developed in each individual that
they undertake the journey alone? They cannot migrate in
company with their foster-parents, as these are often resident
species, as is the case of the Redbreast, Hedge-Sparrow, Pied
Wagtail, &c. These and many other points make the Cuckoo a
BIRDS OF THE DISTRICT OF STAINES. 309
unique and fascinating study to all ornithologists, and, although
much has been written of the bird, there are still many things
yet to be explained.
Barn-Owt (Strix flammea).—Of rare occurrence.
SHORT-EARED Own (Asio accipitrinus). — Exceedingly un-
common.
Tawny Own (Syrniwm aluco).—Has considerably increased of
late years. In early spring its calling may be heard every
evening quite close to the town.
WaHitz-TaILeD Hacie (Haliaétus albicilla).—At Virginia Water
in 1876 (cf. Zool. 1902, p. 230).
Sparrow-Hawk (Accipiter nisus).—Sparsely distributed, but if
only left alone I think it would soon become more numerous.
Kzstret (Falco tinnunculus).— A decreasing species. Has
not been known to breed for many years now.
Common Heron (Ardea cinerea).—There is a small heronry of
about fifteen nests at Virginia Water; the number of nests is
always about the same. Although this spot is within a stone’s
throw of the lake, the birds now fly daily several miles to the
Staines reservoirs, and spend the day standing on the sloping
concrete sides fishing. The reservoirs have been well stocked,
and teem with fish, so that the birds are probably well repaid
for the longer journey.
Mute Swan (Cygnus olor).—There are plenty of these birds
on the river. As a rule they do not fly far, or at any great
height, so it is curious that one discovered the reservoirs, which
are two or three miles away from, and at a much greater eleva-
tion than, the reach frequented by this bird. Hvery morning it
would fly right over the houses and railway-station, and settle
on the waters of the reservoir, pass the day there, and return to
the river at dusk; and in a very short time two companions
joined in these expeditions. The object of this behaviour is not
clear, for the bird’s chief food is the various weeds that grow in
the river, but owing to the depth of water such weeds are entirely
absent from the reservoir, and it would seem that these birds
must prefer an entirely fish diet. In the winter, when the river-
weeds have died down, the birds often come ashore, along the
banks and in the meadows, to eat fresh green grass. At breed-
ing-time the males fight fiercely if one intrudes on another's
310 THE ZOOLOGIST.
territory, and when the young are fully grown the parents turn
on them and drive them away. It is only old males that ever
show any hostility to man, and then only at breeding-time, and
in exceptional cases at that. Both birds share the duties of
incubation, and copulation is performed in the water as well as
on land. The largest brood I have seen on the Thames was one
family of ten cygnets. As a rule, four or five is the number of a
brood. The eggs are laid at intervals of several days, and when
both birds are absent from the nest are covered with down and
grasses from the finer lining of the nest. Some years ago a
houseboat sank at its moorings one spring, and a male Swan
swimming by caught sight of its own reflection in the partly
submerged windows. For the next fortnight the bird spent the
whole of each day swimming to and fro from window to window,
ceiving fierce pecks and thrusts at his imaginary rival. If the
houseboat had not then been refloated, I think that bird would
have become a raving maniac among Swans.
(To be continued.)
NOPE See AGN Dr @hUGR TR Dns:
MAMMALIA.
Anchylosed Spine of Bull-Dog.—The enclosed note and illustration
are perhaps sufficiently interesting to publish. The photos show two
views of part of the spine of a Bull-Dog (female), said to be eight
years old. Four of the lumbar vertebrz have become firmly anchylosed
together, the centra forming a single solid mass of bone; yet the
articulation of the pre- and post-zygapophyses is quite normal, the
dry bones being quite separate there, as shown in the dorsal view.—
P. K. Rumeezow (2, Napoleon Place, Great Yarmouth).
312 THE ZOOLOGIST.
Natterer’s Bat in Somersetshire.—On June 4th this year I dis-
covered, in a very small hole in an apple-tree at Queen Camel,
Somerset, a Bat whose appearance was not familiar to me. I there-
fore sent it on to the British Museum at Kensington, from whence I
learn that it is a specimen (male) of Natterer’s Bat (Myotis nattereri).
In ‘ The Zoologist’ for 1889 (pp. 245-7), Mr. Harting gives a list of
counties in which this species has been found, including Devon, Dorset,
and Hants, all bordering on Somerset, but states it had not yet been
met with in the last-named county. Mr. Millais, in hig recent work
on British Mammals, has added to this list of counties, but still does
not include Somerset; so that the above example is probably the
first recorded specimen from Somerset. — Rosert H. Reap (Bedford
Park, W.).
AVES.
Thrush Laying Twice in the same Nest.—Referring to the notes
on this subject (ante, pp. 235 and 274), it may be of interest to record
that, on returning home on the 19th June, I found a Song-Thrush
sitting on a nest built in a plum-tree trained to a wall in the kitchen-
garden, and well sheltered from rain by a wide thatch coping. The
young (which may have been hatched when I first saw the nest—I did
not examine the contents) were duly hatched, and departed. About
three weeks later there were three fresh eggs in-the nest, which was
then deserted for some reason or other.—O. V. Apuin.
Blackbird Laying Twice in same Nest.—During the present year
a very similar instance to those recorded (ante, pp. 235 and 274) came
under my personal observation. A Blackbird nested upon the ground on
the sloping bank overhanging a small quarry in my grounds. A clutch
of four eggs were laid, and the young successfully reared. The nest
was then partly relined, and a clutch of six eggs laid by May 20th, which
unfortunately, owing to my too close attention, were then deserted.—
J. Steeve-Exuriorr (Dowles Manor, Salop).
Does the Blackbird eat Snails P—I have often asked myself, and
have also put this question to men I know are keen on birds, and the
answer has always been the same: ‘‘ They may do, but I have never
seen them.” I know very well that, from its negative character, my
case is not very strong, and I am quite prepared to have it scornfully
said that “Blackbirds do not eat snails, because, forsooth! you and
your friends have not seen them do so.” Still, what I want to find is
the, man who has seen them so doing. The weight of affirmative
evidence is so strong that it seems hardly worth while arguing the
NOTES AND QUERIES. 313
question. Yarrell and Howard Saunders say specifically that they do
eat snails, while Hudson goes farther and says that the bird ‘‘ham-
mers the snails against a stone to break the shells,” which statement
is repeated by Stonham in his ‘ Birds of the British Islands,’ just now
issuing. But, I submit, is it not possible that these statements have
been made on the natural supposition that because the Song-Thrush
eats snails, therefore the Blackbird must? I should like, however, to
give one more piece of negative evidence. A certain lady I know of
has a garden where both Song-Thrushes and Blackbirds are common.
On the coping round a lawn she has been in the habit of placing all
the snails she can find for the benefit of any birds that like that sort
of food. The Song-Thrushes visit this coping daily throughout the
snail season, and, with repeated hammerings, soon achieve the ‘“ in-
nards’’ of the snails; but contrariwise the Blackbirds—not one of
them comes near the place. Surely, if it is true that snails form part
of the Blackbird’s usual food, it would make the most of this easy way
of obtaining it. I should be glad to hear what the experience of others
is on this question, for I may have been lacking in observation, or at
any rate unfortunate in my opportunities.—A. H. Meruesoxn (1, Col-
ville Houses, London, W.).
Pied Flycatcher (Muscicapa atricapilla) in Surrey.—A pair of
these birds appeared here this year on April 14th. They were very
tame, and allowed a quite near approach, frequently darting down
from the trees, and settling on the ground a few yards from where I
was watching. The male bird was seen most during the day, the hen
keeping more apart, and in the shelter of the bushes and trees sur-
rounding a small pond. The place is exactly suited to their nesting
habits, and I hoped very much that they would remain, but they moved
on during the evening, and were not seen again. The last occurrence
of this species in this district, of which I have a record, was one seen
at Enton Pond, near Witley, on April 29th, 1891. It is a very rare
visitor to this county.—G. H. Hastwoop (Whipley Manor, Bramley).
Bramblings in April—Mr. Cummings asks if Bramblings (Fringilla
montifringilla) were noticed this year in April. On the 11th I was in
South Oxon, walking down the Icknield Way from Watlington, in
order to see if there were any summer migrants on the banks of the
Thames. Just before I got to the corner of Ewelme Cow-Common, I
saw a score or more of Bramblings flying backwards and forwards be-
tween an empty cattle-yard and an arable field, along the top and back
of a tall hedge. There might have been more of them, for the hedge
made it difficult to see. Some of those I saw were in fine spring
Zool. 4th ser. vol. X., August, 1906. 2B
314 ' THE ZOOLOGIST.
dress; in others, though the orange-fulvous shone like flame in the
brilliant sun, light feather-edges still obscured the black of the upper
parts. The notes I heard were a loud ‘‘ clizip”’ or ‘‘chip” (their usual
winter call-note) ; and (uttered on the wing as well as when perched)
a ‘‘chutty, tutty-tut’’; also, once or twice, the wheezy ‘ weeech.”
The day was a very hot one, the blackthorn in full bloom just then,
and as I watched the birds several brimstone butterflies drifted past ;
tortoiseshells swarmed.during the day, and I saw one peacock butterfly.
The only summer birds I noticed all day were two Chiffchaffs, but
Fieldfares were about. Altogether, I wondered whether it was summer
or winter. When we consider that Fieldfares and Bramblings breed
side by side in the Norwegian fir-forests and the Arctic birch-woods,
there seems to be no particular reason why the latter should not remain
with us as late in the spring as the former. But this does not seem to
be the case, for, although in 1903 I saw a male Brambling as late as
April 29th, I have never seen them in May, when Fieldfares are occa-
sionally met with.—O. V. Apuin. |
Note on the Swift——LHarly in May last I found a Swift (Cypselus .
apus) on the upper floor of the dressing-plant at Tywarnhaile Mine,
about five miles north of Redruth. The bird was trying to lift itself
into the air to fly, but was unable to open its wings fully, as the tips
came into contact with the floor. When I saw it, it was only a few
feet from the top of a stairway, to which it was struggling as fast as
possible. It progressed with difficulty, in a kind of swimming manner,
using its wings as paddles; each attempted stroke seemed to lift it
forward a short distanee on the tips of its wings, and so it fairly
quickly reached the edge of the stair, from which it dived and flew out
of the open door. I was glad to come across this confirmation of what
I had always regarded as a superstition, for the bird was quite unable
to rise from the floor; had there been no edge to provide a take-off it
might have died of starvation. It probably found its way in through
a broken window, and perhaps was dazed by dashing itself against the
crowded machinery, which, however, was not in motion at the time.—
Matcotm Burr (Royal Societies Club, St. James’s Street, S.W.).
~ Bittern in Somerset.—On Jan. 10th last I purchased a Common
Bittern (Botaurus stellaris) in the High Street, Wells, from a turf-
cutter’s cart. The man was hawking the bird together with ‘his turf,
my attention being attracted to the feet, which were protruding from
the coloured handkerchief in the man’s hand. It was shot at Ashcott
Corner on Jan. 6th. I sent the bird to Mr. J. Clarke, of Scarborough,
for preservation, and his measurements of it are as follows :—Weight,
NOTES AND QUERIES. 315
2 1b. 84 oz.; 294 in. from tip of beak to end of tail; 184 in. from
carpal joint of wing to longest primary. — Srantuy Lewis (Wells,
Somerset).
Great Crested Grebe (Podicipes cristatus) breeding in Kssex.—
When Mr. Miller Christy published his interesting ‘ Birds of Essex’
in 1890, he was only able to give one record of the nesting of this fine
bird in the county, and it may be worth recording that a nest was
found, and unfortunately robbed of its three eggs, early in June this
year. The lamentable modern craze for ‘‘ British-taken’”’ eggs, which
was as little known thirty or forty years ago as appendicitis or influenza,
renders it desirable to give no more definite particulars than that the
locality is not a great distance from the Thames.—Juuian G. Tuck
(Tostock Rectory, Bury St. Edmunds).
Black-necked Grebe (Podicipes nigricollis) breeding in Great
Britain.—In ‘ The Zoologist’ of 1904 (p. 417), I recorded the fact that
several pairs of Black-necked or Hared Grebes reared their young in
Britain during the summer of 1904. From what passed at the time
my paper was published, I think it will be interesting to some orni-
thologists to know the name of one at least of the several observers
who have actually seen the birds. I have therefore great pleasure in
saying that I have been able to pay a secret visit (with the permission
of the discoverers) to the lake, and that I then and there saw (and
watched for some time through strong glasses) four or five adult Hared
Grebes in full breeding plumage. They had not then, I think, hatched
their young, being possibly, like the Crested Grebe, late breeders on
some waters, or in some seasons; and, judging from my knowledge of
the habits of that species, I formed the opinion that the mates of some
at least of the birds I saw were sitting on their nests. The Hared
Grebe in breeding dress is a most beautiful bird. Its back shines in
the sun with metallic colours, coppery in some lights. The straw-
coloured ear-tufts are conspicuous, and stand straight out towards the
back of the head ; the forehead looks very high. The note sounds like
‘«plidder,’’ many times rapidly repeated, and falling a little in tone at
the end of the run of ‘‘blidders.” ‘The note is often better toned and
more drawn out than that of the Little Grebe, whose corresponding cry
may be rendered ‘klitter.”” But much further details, given by the
discoverers of this addition to our list of breeding birds, will be found
in my paper quoted above.—O. V. Apuin.
Unusual Clutches of Eggs.—On May 20th last I found a nest of
the Ring-Ouzel at the Cedars, Wells, containing six eggs—a rarity, I
316 THE ZOOLOGIST.
believe, so far as numbers go. A Goldfinch’s nest in a chestnut-tree
contained seven eggs on May 25th, all marked with the black streaks
and dots—a rather uncommon phase of these eggs. A Lapwing’s nest
on Easter Monday contained five eggs, four of the ordinary type, but
the fifth was the size of a Thrush’s egg, with a thick ring of spots
round the small end. A Linnet’s nest at Tealham Heath, Wedmore,
contained seven eggs on May 5th; a Robin’s nest on this date also
contained seven eggs, very closely resembling eggs of the Red-backed
Shrike both in ground colour and markings. On May 27th I found a
nest of the Golden-crested Wren rather high up in a yew-tree at Dinder,
near Wells, containing six eggs; five of them are the ordinary size,
but very pale in ground colour, and sparsely speckled, resembling
Long-tailed Tits’. The sixth egg is as large as a Robin’s, but exactly
the same colour as the five small ones. Can this large one be a
Cuckoo's egg ? I shall be pleased to send the nest and eggs to any
ornithologist who would be likely to pass a sound opinion as to whether
the egg is the Cuckoo’s or the Golden-crested Wren’s.—Sranutey Lewis
(Wells, Somerset).
Notes on Nest-Boxes.—During the past season we have had as
tenants of our nest-boxes the Great Tit, Blue Tit, Nuthatch, Tree-
Sparrow, Starling, Tawny Owl, Kestrel, and Stock-Dove. The Tawny
Owl, which had taken possession of an old cask, deserted after the
second egg was laid, perhaps owing to the fact that one day when I
went to look at her she flew off, and as she went away one of our fox-
terriers chased her. Most keepers and watchers have a firm belief
that a sitting bird alarmed by a dog will never go back to her nest.
However, I believe that two or three pairs of Owls have hatched off in
the parish this year, and in one house there was considerable excite-
ment not long ago over an Owl which had found its way into an unused
attic, but was got out again without injury. We have never had
Kestrels in a box before, and their use of one seems to be unusual,
though Mr. Whitaker has recorded an instance at his place in Notting-
hamshire (Zool. 1904, p. 192). Four eggs of a very Merlin-like type
were laid, all of which were hatched, and, though one young bird died
in the nest, I believe the others went off safely. Two broods of Stock-
Doves were hatched in the same box, and one pair are there now (July
19th). Tree-Sparrows have abounded, but House-Sparrows seem to
have quite deserted the boxes, possibly because they are never allowed
to hatch out when the nest can be got at. My chief grievance against
this bird is the damage it does to thatched buildings, and most cheer-
fully would I pay ‘4 pence for soame sparos”’ (ante, p. 257) if the
NOTES AND QUERIES. 317
colony in the gables of the Rectory Farm could be cleared out. In the
early spring the Starlings will sometimes enlarge the entrance-hole of
a box so as to gain admission, and they have done this to three boxes
which were new only last year. We have had three Robins’ nests in
old kettles, but only one hatched off; the eggs of the second were
destroyed by mice or rats; and the third, which was deserted after the
third egg had been laid, is now, with the kettle, in the Ipswich
Museum. Some marauder also robbed a Pied Wagtail’s nest with
four eggs in an old saucepan. The Creeper has never built in our
boxes, but will nearly always use a place made for it by nailing a piece
of wood or bark to a tree. For this purpose the birch is very well
adapted by the hollows often seen in its stem, and I have known of two
Creepers’ nests containing eggs in one birch-tree at the same time.—
Juuian G. Tuck (Tostock Rectory, Bury St. Hdmunds).
INSECTA.
A re-discovered British Beetle (Lomechusa strumosa).—In Ste-
phens’s ‘ Mandibulata,’ vol. v. (1832), p. 108, the following record occurs
of the capture of this insect :—‘‘ Very rare: I have hitherto seen two
specimens (which are in the British Museum) only; one of which, I
was informed by Dr. Leach, was taken by Sir H. Sloane on Hampstead-
heath, in 1710 ; the other was captured by himself while travelling on
the mail-coach between Cheltenham and Gloucester, about twenty
years since.” These are the only two British specimens that have
been captured till this year, when the writer took a specimen with
Formica sanguinea.at Woking on May 25th, and six more on May 29th.
This just shows how an insect may be found again after a lapse of
many years, when it has been left out of our books and lists; and the
sceptical coleopterist is ready to assert that it never was British, and
never should have been included in our insect fauna. It calls to mind
Dibolia cynoglossi, taken by us at Pevensey a few years ago sparingly,
and in plenty last year; and many other cases could be mentioned.
However—revenons a nos moutons—the life-history of Lomechusa is of
extreme interest. It is a myrmecophilous insect, and only lives with
its host—the big red slave-making ant, Formica sanguinea. It ig
a true guest, and has aborted palpi, and a broad short tongue, which
enables the ants the better to feed it. It is licked by its hosts, as it
produces a sweet secretion, of which they are very fond, and is covered
with patches of golden hairs where the secretion exudes from. The
larva also, which is a fleshy white grub, is fed and carefully tended by
the ants; when full-grown it is very like an ant-grub, and, although
318 THE 4ZOOLOGIST.
it has six legs, it does not use them, but imitates the movements of the
ant-grubs. The ants prefer the beetle larve to their own, and even
place them on their egg-masses (as the Lomechusa larve devour the
ants’ brood), as well as feed them by mouth. ‘The too great care taken
by the ant prevents the over-increase of the Lomechusa, as, after its
larva has pupated, the ants dig it up to see how it is getting on, and
by this means many are destroyed, as the delicate pupa is killed, or
dries up. The most interesting problem, however, concerning Lome-
chusa is the production of pseudogynes, or false females, among the
worker-ants, in nests where the voracious beetle has been established
for some time, and these nests which possess pseudogynes are the
centres from which Lomechusa spreads to other colonies. Pseudogynes
are produced in nests where the ants have lost their natural instincts
as nurses to their own brood, and give all their attention to the Lome-
chusa. In nests where pseudogynes are found collectors may be sure
of finding Lomechusa; they are workers with a high mesonotum some-
what as in the queens. The following sketch shows the three forms :—
Ms.
Sct.
1=queen. 2=pseudogyne. 3 = worker.
Pr.=pronotum. Ms.=mesonotum. Sct.=scutellum. Pst.=post-scutellum.
Ep.=epinotum.
A similar case occurs with the American ant, Formica sanguinea
subsp. rubicunda, Em., and its guest, Xenodusa cava, Lec., a beetle
allied to Lomechusa. Psendogynes have also been observed with the
hill-ant, Formica rufa, caused by the continental Atemeles pubicollis,
Bris.—Horace DontstHoreze (58, Kensington Mansions, South Ken-
sington).
() Sig)
NOTICES OF NEW _ BOOKS.
The Analysis of Racial Descent in Animals. By Tuos. H. Mont-
GcomeRy, Jr., Prof. Zool. University, Texas. New York:
Henry Holt & Co.
THE argument throughout this book is largely a phylogenetic
one, as distinctly avowed by the author in his preface, and
requires careful study, many of the conclusions arrived at being
based on facts relating to lowly organized animals which are not
much noticed in these pages, and therefore somewhat outside the
special purview of our readers. Those, however, who do not give
the special attention necessary to appreciate its main thesis will
find very much to both interest and instruct in more familiar
biological subjects, and this remark particularly applies to the
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ence.” Zoological science marches on with giant strides ; most of
us in our own lifetimes have seen the rise and culmination of the
geographical side in the study of the distribution of animals; but
a new method based on another consideration has arisen, and, as
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—has proposed the terms geobios, limnobios, and halobios, while
Prof. Montgomery now adds—and with good reason—two more
to the list. For animals like a Mosquito or Toad, which live
during a particular period in one medium, and later in their
lives migrate into a different medium, he gives the differential
name diplobios; and for others which at some period of their
existence live as internal parasites he proposes the environ-
mental term entobios. For a philosophical conception of the
distribution of animals, it is as necessary to remember these as
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becomes every day more apparent, especially in zoology, that
every scientific worker is but a pioneer, and every theory but a
suggestion. The observational or bionomic method, on which the
320 THE ZOOLOGIST.
pages of ‘The Zoologist’ have always been conducted, apparently
receives warm approval in this book, for we read: ‘‘ It is time
that the good old-fashioned word naturalist were reinstated in
its full original significance, and that there were fewer biologists,
zoologists, botanists, histologists, entomologists, physiologists,
and other hermit members of the scientific family.”
As regards the controversy as to the inheritance of acquired
characters, our author has pronounced opinion, and he urges
that the ‘‘ very postulation of the question, ‘Are acquired charac-
ters inherited?’ is absurd. It should read rather, ‘ What kinds
of acquired characters become inherited ?’’’ And he subsequently
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tionist will probably agree: ‘‘ Fairness to Lamarck cannot in
any way depreciate our admiration for Darwin.” Lamarck
lived and wrote in the environment of thought focused in the
great Cuvier; Darwin happily created his great epoch when
men’s minds were nearing the conclusion that systems, so far
as philosophy was concerned, had had their day.
As remarked before, it is impossible, in the compass of our
available space, to either do full justice to or adequately describe
Dr. Montgomery’s thesis or analysis of racial descent in animals,
but we will conclude with one quotation, which may serve as
illustrative of very much: ‘‘ Because one animal group is on the
whole more advanced than another, as the Mammals than the
Birds, it by no means follows that all the members of the first
eroup are either more advanced or more specialized than all of
the other. And there is very good reason to consider the most
specialized Birds to be racially more advanced than the most
generalized Mammals.”
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BRaricen te PI i a
Observational one on ae Wild Duck ee boscas)
cupes fluviatilis), Gordon Dalgliesh, 281.
Observations tending to throw Light on the Question of Sexu al Selecti n in
including a Day-to-day Diary on the Breeding Habits of the Rut
pugnaz), Edmund Selous, 285. — rae ;
The Birds of Seilly, ‘James Clark, M.A., D.Sc., and Diane fi. ‘Rodd, ap, P., 295.
The Birds of. the District of Stained: Graham W. Kerr, 307.
Norms anD QuErtms :—
MamMania. —Anchylosed Spine of Bull- Dog (with illustration), P. EE. Rumbetor,
311. \Natterer’s Bat in Somersetshire, Robert H. Read, 312. ~ Be
AVES. —Thrush Laying Twice in the same Nest, O. V. Aplin, 312. Blackbird
Laying Twice in same Nest, J. Steele-Hlliott, 312. Does the Blackbird eat —
Snails? A. H. Mevklejohn, 312. Pied Flycatcher (Muscicapa atricapilla) im
Surrey, G. H. Eastwood, 313. Bramblings in April, O. V. Aplin, 313. Note
on the Swift, Malcolm Burr, 314. Bittern in Somerset, Stanley Lewzrs, 314.
Great Gtected Grebe (Podicupes cr “istatus) breeding in Essex, Rev. hala G.
Tuck, 315. Black-necked Grebe (Podicipes nigricollis) breeding in Great
Brian 0. V. Aplin, 3815. Unusual Clutches of liggs, Stanley Lewis, 315.
Notes on Nest-Boxes, Rev. Julian G. Uuck, 316. s
Insecta.—A re-discoverel British Beetle (Lomechwsa strwmosa) (with illusixa.
; tion), Horace Donisthorpe, 317.
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Plate IV.
1906,
Zool.
FLOT ‘ouysdowy ‘wppinoe wp fT ‘aay ayt fo worssassod oy7 wi Worthoods v UWoOLT
“INVSVAHQ GNV USNOUY) WOVIGE NUMMOEAL ALAA
OEE, ~400L0 GIST
No. 783.—September, 1906.
ON THE HYBRIDS WHICH HAVE OCCURRED IN
GREAT BRITAIN BETWEEN BLACK-GAME AND
PHEASANT. yaa
By tHe Rev. Francis C. R. JOURDAIN, M.A., M.B.O.U.
(Puate IV.)
As a good _deal of misconception seems to exist as to the
rarity or the reverse of this cross in Great Britain, and as it is
undoubtedly of exceedingly rare occurrence on the Continent, it
has been thought advisable to bring the list of recorded instances
up to date for the convenience of future reference. Hitherto only
two lists of such occurrences have been published, of which the
first is that in the first edition of Yarrell’s well-known work on
‘British Birds,’ vol. il. p. 8307, where eleven instances are definitely
recorded. This list is somewhat curtailed in the fourth edition
(rewritten by Mr. Howard Saunders), where only eight occur-
rences are mentioned. The subject is, however, more fully:
treated by M. André Suchetet in his work, ‘Des Hybrides a
VEtat Sauvage,’ published at Lille in 1896 (pp. 87-89). He
refers to twenty-six British specimens of this cross, but three of
these at any rate were never seen by any competent observer
nor preserved, although in all probability they were correctly
identified. Short articles on the subject have also appeared in
the pages of ‘The Zoologist’ and the ‘Field,’ but no serious
Zool. 4th ser vol. X., September, 1906. 2¢
322 THE ZOOLOGIST.
attempt has been made of late years to estimate the numbers of
these hybrids which have occurred in Great Britain. As will be
seen from the following list, there is no doubt that at least fifty
occurrences are satisfactorily authenticated, while there is some
evidence with regard to several others.
The remarkable fact, however, remains that, though both
Black-game and Pheasants are widely distributed on the Conti-
nent, no instance of the occurrence of this hybrid was known
there until November, 1884, when a hen was shot by a gardener
in the park of the Castle of Jeltech, in Silesia. This bird is in
the collection of Count Saurma. A second specimen was obtained
near Zelc, in Bohemia, by Count Harrach, and presented by him
to the Royal Museum. This bird (a male), presumed to be the
produce of a cock Pheasant and Greyhen, is figured by G. Mutzel
in Dr. A. B. Meyer's fine folio work, ‘ Unser Auer-, Rackel- und
Birkwild und seine Abarten,’ published in Vienna in 1887
(taf. xvii. p. 93). Since then two other occurrences in Bavaria
have been recorded by Dr. C. Parrot (‘ Verhandl. der Ornith.
Gesellsch. in Bayern,’ v. 1904, p. 14). One (a male) was ob-
tained on Oct. 4th in the forest of Kaufbeuern, and the other has
for many years been preserved in the Royal Zoological Museum
in Munich. With the exception of these four instances, this
hybrid is almost unknown on the Continent, although, as will be
seen from the following list, not uncommon in Great Britain.
It is, of course, unknown in Ireland, the statement to the contrary
effect by the late Rev. H. A. Macpherson (‘‘ The Pheasant,” ‘ Fur
and Feather Series,’ p. 57) being obviously due to a slip of the pen.
1.—The first recorded instance is that mentioned by Gilbert
White in the ‘‘ Observations on Birds,” appended to some
editions of the ‘ Natural History of Selborne.’ It was killed
towards the latter part of the eighteenth century at the Holt,
and was supposed by White to be a hybrid between the Pheasant
and Domestic Fowl. In some editions of the ‘Nat. Hist. of Sel-
borne’ a folding coloured plate is given of this bird, and Brown’s
edition (18385) contains a rude woodcut of it. In 1838 the Hon.
W. Herbert, who saw it in the Earl of Egremont’s collection at
Petworth, assigned it to the Black-game and Pheasant cross.
2.—The second was shot in January, 1829, at Whidey, near
Plymouth, by the Rev. — Morshead, and was recorded and de-
HYBRIDS BETWEEN BLACK-GAME AND. PHEASANT. 323
scribed by Dr. Edward Moore in the ‘Mag. of Nat. Hist.’ for
1837. It was the produce of a cock Pheasant and Greyhen, and
passed into the possession of Capt. Morshead. [J. C. Bellamy,
in his work on the ‘ Natural History of South Devon’ (1839),
says that two other instances of this hybrid have also occurred
in the same neighbourhood, one at Haldon, and the other on
Shaugh Moor. |
3.—One was exhibited by Mr. J. Sabine at a meeting of the
Zoological Society (P.Z.S. 1834, p. 52). It was killed in Corn-
wall in June, 1834, and passed into Sir William Call’s collection.
4.—One (probably from the same brood) is mentioned by
Mr. EK. H. Rodd (‘Birds of Cornwall,’ p. 77) as having been
killed at the same time as the preceding one. It was in Dr.
Rodd’s collection, and is now the property of Mr. F. R. Rodd, of
Trebartha Hall.
5, 6.—Two (out of a brood of five), which were reared near
Merrington, Shropshire, in 1834. Of these, Mr. T. C. Eyton
mentions one in the collection of Mr. J. A. Lloyd, of Leaton
Knolls, Salop (‘Rarer British Birds,’ p. iv), which was killed in
November, 1834. Another (a hen), somewhat smaller than the
first, which was shot in the following December, passed into Mr.
Eyton’s possession, and is figured on the title-page of the ‘ Rarer
British Birds,’ and also in the first edition of ‘ Yarrell,’ ii. p. 309
(cf. P.Z.S. 1835, p. 62). The three remaining birds of this brood
were killed by a farmer and eaten. ‘These birds are believed to
have been the produce of a cock Pheasant and Greyhen.
7.—One, also recorded by Mr. T. C. Eyton, was seen by him
in the collection of Sir Rowland Hill. It was killed near Corwen,
Merioneth, some time previously to 1836 (‘Rarer British Birds,’
p- 101). This bird is still in the Hawkestone collection near
Shrewsbury.
3.—One (a cock) was shot in the autumn of 1835 near Loch-
naw, Wigtonshire, and passed into the possession of Sir A.
Agnew. It was recorded and fully described by Mr. W. Thomp-
son in the ‘Mag. of Zool. and Bot.’ vol. i. (1837), afterwards
reprinted in the same writer’s ‘ Natural History of Ireland,
Birds,’ vol. ii. pp. 41-44. This bird was supposed by Thompson
to be the produce of a Blackcock and hen Pheasant.
9.—One, shot near Alnwick Castle, November, 1837, and now
2¢c2
324 THE ZOOLOGIST.
in the Newcastle Museum (J. Hancock, ‘ Catalogue of the Birds
of Northumberland and Durham,’ p. 91).
10.—One, exhibited by Mr. J. Leadbeater at a meeting of the
Zoological Society on Dee. 12th, 1837, also killed near Alnwick,
was afterwards presented to the British Museum by the Duke of
Northumberland (‘Cat. Birds in Coll. of the Brit. Mus.’ xxi.
p. 58; P.Z.S. 1887, p. 185). This specimen is figured in a
drawing by Mr. G. E. Lodge in the ‘ Illustrated London News’
of Aug. 18th, 1906.
11.—One (a cock bird) was purchased in the market at Devon-
port in 18389 by the Rev. W. 8. Hore, and is said to have been
killed in Cornwall (‘Zoologist,’ 1861, p. 7545; ‘Yarrell,’ first
edition, li. p. 811; ‘ Birds of Devon,’ p. 274). Mr. Hore’s.
specimens were bequeathed to Mrs. Connop, of Bradfield Hall.
12.—One, formerly in the collection of the Rev. T. Johnes, of
Bradstone Rectory, near Tavistock. Date unknown, but men-
tioned by Mr. Hore in ‘ The Zoologist’ for 1861, p. 7545. Pos-
sibly this bird may have been one of those referred to by Bellamy
(vide supra).
13.—One shot by Lord Howick near Felton, Northumberland,
at the beginning of December, 1839, was recorded by Mr. P. J.
Selby, and figured in ‘ Yarrell’ (first edit. il. p. 311).
14.—One, shot at Belsay, Northumberland, by Mr. C. H.
Cadogan, of Brinkburn, in 1842, is now in the Newcastle Museum
(J. Hancock, ‘ Catalogue of the Birds of Northumberland and
Durham,’ p. 91).
15.—One, purchased in the Devonport market about 1849-51
by Mr. Cornelius Tripe, afterwards passed into the hands of the
Rey. W. 8. Hore, who recorded it in ‘The Zoologist,’ 1861,
p. 7545. A full description is given by Suchetet of this bird.
16.—One (a cock) killed Oct. 26th, 1850, was exhibited by
Mr. J. Leadbeater to the Zoological Society (P.Z.S. 1851, p. 61).
It was shot by Mr. H. Halsey’s keeper not far from Frimley
Ridges, Henley Park, near Guildford, and was supposed to be the
produce of a Blackcock and hen Pheasant. Recorded in ‘The
Zoologist’ by Mr. J. W. G. Spicer (1851, p. 3091; 1854, p. 4294).
17.—One, recorded by Mr. J. J. Briggs (Zool. 1854, p. 4258),
was shot in February, 1854, by the keeper of Earl Ferrers at
Staunton Springs, near Melbourne, Derbyshire.
HYBRIDS BETWEEN BLACK-GAME AND PHEASANT. 325
18.—One (a hen) killed on Dec. 19th, 1855, in Lord Stamford’s
coverts at Enville, near Stourbridge (Suchetet, ¢.c. p.90). After-
wards became the property of Lady Lambert (now Lady Grey).
I have not been able to ascertain whether this specimen was
destroyed in the fire at Enville Hall in November, 1904.
19.—One (a young cock) shot by Mr. F. R. Rodd on Sept.
24th, 1867, from a brood on the Bodmin Moors. This was the
produce of a cock Pheasant and Greyhen (‘ Zoologist,’ 1867,
p- 991; ‘ Birds of Cornwall,’ p. 76). Mr. E. H. Rodd states
(/. c.) that on several ogcasions he heard of and received speci-
mens of this hybrid from the Bodmin Moors.
20, 21.—Two (a cock and hen), the property of Sir Ralph
Wilmot, of Chaddesden Hall, near Derby, were shot by the late
Sir Henry Sacheverel Wilmot in Chaddesden Wood,* probably
not later than about 1870. The cock has the head, neck, breast,
and under surface black, with a violet sheen; back, wings, and
tail buff with brown vermiculations, and black barring on the
fan-shaped tail. The hen has the crown brown, with black
barring ; cheeks and neck black; breast deep rufous brown,
with black bars and narrow buff edges; abdomen buff, boldly
spangled with dark brown. Spurs, as usual, absent in both birds.
22, 23.—Two in the Calke Abbey collection, the property of
Sir Vauncey H. Crewe, also from the same locality in Derby-
shire, where broods were reared in two consecutive years (Sir
R. Wilmot, in litt.).
24.—One, shot in Newstead Park, Notts, in 1874; now in the
collection at Newstead Abbey (Mr. J. Whitaker, in litt.). Cross
between Blackcock and hen Pheasant.
25.—One, shot at Papplewick, Notts, in December, 1874, by
Mr. Rutter, now in the collection of Mr. J. H. Brown, of Old
Moote Hall, Wheeler Gate, Nottingham (Mr. J. Whitaker, an litt.).
Same cross as preceding bird.
26.—One (a hen) shot in the autumn of 1874 by the late
Mr. A. G. Corbet in Shropshire, and now in the writer’s pos-
session. This bird, which was set up by Shaw, of Shrewsbury,
has not been previously recorded. -As the only satisfactory
figures of this hybrid represent male birds, it has been thought
** Not on Breadsall Moors, as recorded in the ‘ Victoria History of the
County of Derby,’ i. p. 143.
326 THE ZO0OLOGIST.
advisable to give an illustration of this bird (cf. Plate IV.), show-
ing the light colouring of the throat and sides of the neck, the
Pheasant-like contour of the head, and the characteristic fan-
shaped tail.
(Mr. W. EK. de Winton informs me that the Rev. Josiah Lea,
formerly Rector of Wyre Forest, also had a specimen, killed in
Wyre Forest, on the borders of Shropshire and Worcestershire,
many years ago, but up to the present he has not been able to
ascertain what has become of it.|
27.—One, shot near Hunstanton, Norfolk, and preserved in
Mr. Hamon L’Estrange’s collection. According to Mr. L’Estrange,
it was killed ‘‘ twenty yearsago”’ (in litt., fide Suchetet), 2. e. circa
1876.
28.—One, bought in the Plymouth market by Mr. J. Gat-
combe, and said to have been killed on the borders of Dartmoor,
Devonshire, in October, 1878 (Zool. 1879, p. 60). This bird
afterwards passed into the possession of Mr. J. Whitaker, and
was sold on May 22nd, 1890, at a sale of duplicate specimens
(Lot 111) to Mr. Lamb, of London.
[Mr. HE. Cambridge Phillips, writing in ‘The Zoologist’ for
1883, p. 301, states that some of these hybrids were killed in
Carmarthen ‘‘ some years ago,” but were not preserved.]
29.—One, a cross between a Blackcock and hen Pheasant, was
bought in Leadenhall Market in 1883, and exhibited by Mr.
Burton at a meeting of the Zoological Society (P.Z.S. 1883,
p. 578).
30.—One, bought in the Plymouth market in October, 1883,
by Mr. J. Gatcombe, which subsequently passed into Mr. F.
Bond’s collection (Zool. 1884, p. 54).
31.—One in Mr. Edward Hart’s collection at Christchurch,
dated Jan. 16th, 1884 (‘ Birds of Hampshire and the Isle of
Wight,’ p. 265).
[‘‘ Six at least,” according to Mr. H. E. Forrest, were obtained
in the south-west district of Shropshire, between Bishops Castle
and Craven Arms. Of these further particulars are to hand
respecting four. |
32-35.—Two were shot in the season of 1884-5, and are now
in the possession of Mr. W. F. Plowden, of Plowden Hall, North
Lydbury; a third was shot by Major Gregory Knight near Craven
HYBRIDS BETWEEN BLACK-GAME AND PHEASANT. 327
Arms on Nov. 18th, 1884, and is now in the Leicester Museum
(M. Brown, Zool. 1885, p. 26) ; while a fourth was shot on Mr.
Greene’s estate (adjoining Mr. Plowden’s property) about the
same time (Mr. W. F. Plowden, in litt.).
36.—One, shot at Glen App, Ayrshire, some time prior to
1886. This bird was formerly the property of Mrs. Hunter, but
is now in the possession of Mr. J. Charlesworth. A fine coloured
plate of it is given by Mr. J. G. Millais in the folio edition of
‘Game Birds and Shooting Sketches’ (facing p. 34).
37.—One (a cock with lyrate tail), killed by Mr. C. R. EH. Rad-
clyffe some time previous to 1888, at Encombe, in Dorset. This
bird is mentioned by Mr. J. C. Mansel Pleydel in the ‘ Birds of
Dorset,’ p. 68, as existing in Mr. Radclyffe’s collection at Hyde,
near Wareham. It was, however, destroyed in a fire which took
place at Hyde House in 1887. Mr. C. E. Radclyffe informs me
that other birds of the same brood were seen, and he believes
that one or more were shot at the same place.
38.—One, shot by Mr. J. Turner near Sutton Coldfield, Bir-
mingham, in 1888. This bird, supposed to be the produce of a
Blackcock and hen Pheasant, was exhibited by Mr. Turner at a
meeting of the Birmingham Natural History Society, and was
recorded and described by M. Suchetet (¢. c. p. 91).
39.—One in the collection of the Earl of Home at Douglas
Castle, Lanarkshire. Recorded by Lord Walsingham and Sir R.
Payne Gallwey in the ‘ Badminton Library’ volume on ‘‘ Shoot-
ing, Moor and Marsh,” p. 48, but no date is given.
40.—One shot, near Lyndhurst, Hants, in March, 1891, and
recorded by Mr. Bradburne in the ‘ Field’ (‘ Birds of Hampshire,
&c.’ p. 265).
41, 42.—Two, shot at Monreith, Wigtonshire, by Mr. J. Henry
Stock. The first was killed on Oct. 10th, 1893, when Partridge
shooting on a farm called Dowies; the second on Oct. 27th,
about a mile from where the first was shot. Both birds are now
in Mr. Stock’s collection at the White Hall, Tarporley, Cheshire
(Mr. J. H. Stock, in litt.). Not previously recorded.
43.—One, shot by Capt. M. Murphy at Bunessan, Mull, in
January, 1896, was exhibited by Mr. J. KH. Harting at a meeting
of the Linnean Society on Feb. 20th, 1896. It is apparently the
game bird which was subsequently exhibited by Mr. J. G. Millais
328 ieee THE ZOOLOGIST.
at the meeting of the Brit. Ornith. Club on Feb. 21st, 1906,
although described in the ‘ Bulletin’ as having been shot in
November, 1895. It is now the property of Miss Lees, and Mr.
Millais believes it to be the produce of a Blackcock and hen
Pheasant.
44,—QOne (a cock) shot on the moors about six miles from
Whitby, Yorkshire, in January, 1897. It was sent by Mr. W.
H. Pyman, of Whitby, to Mr. W. B. Tegetmeier for exhibition
at a meeting of the Brit. Ornith. Club on Jan. 20th, 1897 (Bull.
_ B.O.C. xli. p. xxviii). A description of this bird will be found in an
article by Mr. Tegetmeier in the ‘ Field’ of Jan. 26th, 1897, p. 101.
°45.—Mr. T. H. Nelson, of Redcar, also possesses another
specimen, which was shot in Cleveland. Full particulars of this
occurrence will be found in Mr. Nelson’s work on the ‘ Birds of
Yorkshire,’ now in course of publication.
[One, shot on the island of Bute in 1900, was forwarded to
Mr. Cooke, taxidermist, of Shrewsbury, for preservation, but
hitherto no further particulars have been ascertained (Mr. H. HE.
Forrest, in litt.).]
46.—One, shot near Woodbridge, Suffolk, in the autumn of
1901, and recorded by Lt.-Col. E. A. Butler in ‘ The Zoologist’
for 1901 (p. 477). This bird appears to have had more of the
character of the Blackcock than is usually the case.
47-49.—Three, recorded by Mr. G. Cooke in the ‘ Record of
Bare Facts for 1902,’ issued by the Caradoc and Severn Valley
Field Club (pp. 83 and 40). One of these was killed at Berwick,
Salop, on Dec. 24th, 1902, and two others were obtained subse-
quently from different localities in the same district. Mr. H. EH.
Forrest (in litt.) describes one of these birds, apparently a male,
as approaching more closely than usual to the Blackcock in type,
with semi-lyrate instead of the usual fan-shaped tail. These
three birds are now in the possession of Mr. A. E. Perkins, of
Sundorne Castle; Mr. W. A. Sparrow, of Albrighton Hall; and
Mr. W. G. Phillips, of Berwick Hall, Shropshire.
50.—One, shot by Mr. W. M. Neilson at Barcaple, Ringford,
Kirkcudbright, and exhibited by Mr. W. P. Pycraft at a meeting
of the Brit. Ornith. Club on Feb. 21st, 1906 (Bull. B.O.C. 1906,
p. 54). It was received for preservation by Mr. Rowland Ward
on Jan. 22nd, 1906, and had been shot a day or two previously.
HYBRIDS BETWEEN BLACK-GAME AND PHEASANT.
329
This is believed to be a cross between a Blackcock and hen
Pheasant, and is fully described, J. c. pp. 54-5.
(In addition to the above-mentioned specimens, the Hon.
Walter Rothschild possesses one which was purchased from a
dealer, but, as nothing is known as to its origin, it is possible
that it may be one of those referred to above. |
An analysis of this list shows that by far the greater number
of specimens have been obtained in England.
The following
table will give some idea of the distribution of the recorded
specimens :—
No. defi-
nitely
recorded.
10
50 Total
ENGLAND.
County.
Shropshire (Nos. 5, 6, 26, 32, 33,
34, 35, 47, 48, 49).
Devonshire (Nos. 2, 12, ? 15, 28,
230).
Derbyshire (Nos. 17, 20, 21, 22,
23).
Cornwall (Nos. 8, 4, 11, 19).
Northumberland (Nos. 9, 10, 13,
14).
Hampshire (Nos. 1,* 31, 40).
Nottinghamshire (Nos. 24, 25).
Yorkshire (Nos. 44, 45).
Surrey (No. 16).
Staffordshire (No. 18).
Norfolk (No. 27).
Dorset (No. 37).
Warwickshire (No. 388).
Suffolk (No. 46).
| Worcestershire (No. 26, note).]
WALES.
Merioneth (No. 7).
{Carmarthen. |
ScoTLaND.
Lanark ? (No. 39).
Ayrshire (No. 36).
Wigtonshire (Nos. 8, 41, 42).
Mull (No. 43).
Kirkcudbright (No. 50).
Origin unknown (No. 29).
Notes.
Some evidence of five other
occurrences.
Possibly two other occurrences.
Possibly other occurrences.
*No. 1 may have been killed on
the Sussex border.
Probably other occurrences in
same season.
Probably one from N.W. border.
Said to have occurred, but de-
tails not given.
Probably an occurrence also
from Bute.
Also Mr. Rothschild’s bird.
330 THE ZOOLOGIST,
A somewhat remarkable feature of the above list is the
paucity of records from Scotland, where this cross might be ex-
pected to occur with greater frequency. It is, however, worthy
of note that Charles St. John, writing in the ‘ Natural History
and Sport in Moray,’ p. 221 (original edition, 1863), remarks that
‘“‘mules between Black-game and Pheasants are not very rare.”
It is, of course, possible that he may have referred to English-
killed specimens, but at that time only one bird had been recorded
from the south of Scotland, as far as 1 am aware, and none from
the north. Probably other instances have been overlooked or
unrecorded. It is to be hoped that the publication of these
notes may stimulate interest in these interesting birds, and also
furnish material for the future study of hybridism.
SOME CRUSTACEAN GOSSIP FROM GREAT
YARMOUTH.
By Artur H. Pattrerson.
It was a dull, lowering August day; it might have been
November, but for the temperature. I went up Breydon to the
houseboat ‘ Moorhen’ on a big flood-tide, expecting all the way
to get a wet jacket, but reached the ancient ‘‘ tub” while the
elements were yet hesitating. The wind had been: making all
points of the compass, and there was a broken, piled-up jumble
of clouds right down to the horizon all round.
After dinner and siesta the tide had gone down to its lowest.
The Gulls were noisily prowling on the prostrate Zostera, picking
up here and there a stranded Goby, Shrimp, or Mudworm,
or skulking little Crab. Yarmouth, two miles eastward, was
enveloped in an obscuring smoky haze. There was a promise of
a thunderstorm, and a smart shower had commenced to fall.
I put overboard the remnants of our dinner for the Shore
Crabs, but although the grease spread in enlarging concentric
rings, the aroma of it did not reach those skulking among the
pendant wrack at the little landing-stage, for the tide carried it
away. I have tried Carcinus menas again and again, and find
it trusts but little to its eyes—for sight does not stand for
much in the muddy water—and it is keener to see above than
before it, and trusts almost entirely to its sense of smell and
taste, or both.
One Crab happened to be in luck’s way, and its eagerness
seemed almost diabolical; it ran into hiding with it, as an
Alligator hastens with its prey. To see this species working a
puddle, hungry for a meal, endeavouring to outwit and cap-
ture the Ditch Prawns (Palemon varians) is most interesting ;
disturb it, and it sinks into the ooze like magic. Immature
Starlings, reared in a marsh-mill on a most miscellaneous
dietary, were searching for small Shrimps, squirming Gammaride,
oo2 THE ZOOLOGIST.
and creeping Corophium: this species is fond of a catch of
crustaceans.
My first good ‘‘Shrimp”’ find of the year turned up on
February 26th. I happened to call on a shrimper friend with a
hope of persuading him to preserve for me any strange indivi-
duals he might meet with in his shrimp-nets.
‘“My husband’s got something funny here!” said Mrs.
Spanton, placing a small scent-bottle in my hand, inside which,
swimming in methylated spirits, was an unmistakable Sowerby’s
Hippolyte (Hippolyte spinus), with its stout rostrum and cock’s-
comb ridge of teeth above. It was the first Spanton had ever
seen, and is new to my list of Hast Norfolk species. This
shrimper, who is collecting “‘ curios”’ for his own amusement, is
an exceedingly helpful and intelligent man, and has rendered me
signal service.
Karly in March I haunted the offices of a number of friendly
solicitors and others who do business-with paste, and begged all
the empty ‘“‘Gloy” bottles they could let me have. I soon
mustered quite a respectable number of these handy receptacles.
These I washed and fitted with bungs, half filling them with
formalin, and distributed twenty-odd among my shrimper friends,
who placed them in their boats, promising to drop in any strange
Shrimp, or the like, they might meet with. I also employed, at
a small remuneration, a crippled shrimper, who, in his bicycle
chair, collected and distributed the bottles at stated intervals.
Results have justified the trouble taken. Two fish new to the
county, viz. Jago’s Goldsinny (Ctenolabrus rupestris) and the
Megrim (Arnoglossus laterna) have come to hand, besides several
Prawns and Shrimps hitherto unidentified in this locality, and
some other interesting marine invertebrates.
A Hermit Crab (Pagurus bernhardus) was brought to me in
April that had for its hut the well-polished shell of a Common
Snail. Amathilla homari has turned up most abundantly this
summer; shrimpers know it as the ‘‘ Sawback,” a very. appro-
priate nickname. Several Common Prawns (Palemon serratus)
were taken in April and May, one being netted on Breydon on
April 17th, a very unusual habitat for this ‘‘ rough-ground”’-
loving species. Palemon squilla, known here as the ‘“‘ Breydon
CRUSTACEAN GOSSIP FROM GREAT YARMOUTH. © 333
Shrimp,’”’ has been extremely abundant this summer. I sat
down with Jary, the Breydon watcher, in his Noah’s Ark, one
afternoon, to a dish of ‘‘shrimps,’”’ which were mostly P. squilla
and P. varians, and found them not bad eating, considering the
odd things they find to feed on in a tidal water, and having been
boiled in water that it would hardly do to analyse. It was
getting back to Nature! Of Porcellana longicornis 1: received
several examples, and found Stenorhynchus tenwirostris and S.
phalangiwm common enough ; and on asking a shrimper to get
me a few Pear Crabs (Hyas araneus), he supplied me with
one mornine’s take of nearly a bucketful! H. coarctatus has
been abundantly met with, individuals being remarkably weed-
adorned.
I rambled along Breydon banks on May 6th, and made a big
haul of Shore-hoppers (Orchestia littorea); they swarmed under
every bit of drift. 1 also secured some examples of Idctea
pelagica, a very lively little customer. On the 8th I walked six
miles in search of J. tricuspidata, and secured—one! Hippolyte
cranchiw turned up several times in May; and on asking one or
two of the shrimpers to examine their “ riddlings”’ (they usually
drop the small Shrimps through their sieves into the river), they
furnished me with dozens! And among the smaller species I
was pleased also to detect Hippolyte varians a number of times,
occasionally in berry. The Banded Shrimp (Crangon fasciatus)
came to hand sometimes as many as ten in one day. Having
urged my friends to watch the Crabs a bit, I had a hairy little
fellow, with disproportionately large pincer claws, brought me
on May 14th. His sturdy build and brown-barred legs and other
** distinctions”’ satisfied me that I was in the presence of Xantho
rivulosus, known to our shrimpers as the ‘‘ross’’-crab (“‘ross”’ is
local for rough ground, where big stones and sabella are abun-
dant). I secured from them a number of this species, both
males and females, which did not hitherto figure on my Kast
Norfolk list. Two or three Edible Crabs (Cancer pagurus), no
larger than horse-beans, have come to hand, with some young
Lobsters, no bigger than ordinary-sized “Brown” Shrimps.
Whilst discussing Shrimps at the tea-table on May 29th, I
discovered Hippolyte pandalaformis; length, 14 in. Pandalus
334 THE ZOOLOGIST.
annulicornis, a most abundant local Prawn, known as the ‘‘ Pink
Shrimp,” lives only two minutes after leaving the water in
summer; in winter it will live two days in a dark cool place.
“Yellow” Shrimps (Crangon trispinosus, the Three-spined
Shrimp) for some weeks evaded me, but “set-in” abundantly
in June.
‘‘We-don’t want ’em,” say the shrimpers, ‘‘ for when they
come the pink ’uns say ‘ good-bye’!’’ And although there is no
need why these should quarrel, there certainly is a falling-off at
the season of the “‘ yellow’s”’ advent ; this the shrimpers rather
absurdly imagine is more than a coincidence. Crangon spinosus
(the Spinous Shrimp) was added to my list earlyin June; I have
a couple of examples. For the first time, to my knowledge,
Portumnus variegatus visited Breydon; it shed every leg on
finding itself in methylated spirits, and died unrepentant. Nika
edulis was several times met with; and Leach’s Prawn (Palemon
leachi) was discovered on July 12th by Mr. Spanton, who knew
it for ‘something new.” Next day he kindly brought me two
freshly-captured individuals, and on placing one in formalin, it
immediately shed all its ova. Soon after I found another boiled
example on a shrimper’s board. An exquisitely marked and
highly-coloured Palemon came to hand, the like of which I had
never before seen, but the Natural History Museum people
damped my enthusiasm by pronouncing it but a gaudy example
of Pandalus annulicornis. Several pints of Crangon trispinosus,
taken on July 18th by Mr. Spanton. Norwegian Lobsters
(Nephrops norvegicus) have been abundantly on sale this summer.
They hail from the North Sea, and are brought in by trawlers ;
I have two or three curiously malformed pincer claws of this
pretty species.
b)
( 385 )
THE BIRDS OF SCILLY.
By James Cuark, M.A., D.Se., and Francis R. Ropp, J.P.
(Concluded from p. 306.)
Tar Water-Rail is a common bird in autumn and winter,
but does not breed. In some years—as in 1863, 1869, 1886—
it is extraordinarily abundant on the exposed moors of St.
Mary’s, St. Martin’s, and Tresco, in thick furze everywhere,
in the orchards at St. Mary’s, and on the trees in the Abbey
Gardens. Moorhens first became conspicuous in the early
fifties, when reeds were planted by the Abbey ponds. Previous
to that time they had been noticed on autumn migration,
and one specimen had been killed in April or May, 1841.
They soon became common, and before 1860 bred regularly
at Tresco, and occasionally at St. Mary’s. In 1903 they
were breeding freely round the Abbey pools, and in some
numbers at St. Mary’s, while two nests were found on Tean.
The Coot was formerly a somewhat scarce and irregular winter
visitor, but in the autumn of 1859 arrived in such numbers that
as many as a hundred could be counted onethe Abbey pools at
one time. The following spring two or three pairs remained to
nest, and from that time onwards a few seem to have bred every
year. They are usually common throughout the winter, especially
on Tresco, and are frequently noticed in the autumn coming in
on St. Mary’s.
A fine example of the Common Crane was shot on the north
side of the Long Pool, Tresco, on April 13th, 1881, by David
Smith, who had watched it coming in from the south-west. In
the winter of 1881 a bird was flushed several times on St. Mary’s
Moors, that was thought to be a Little Bustard. It was of the
right size, and rose like a Curlew. The first recorded example
of the Stone Curlew was shot on Bryher in December, 1878; a
second was obtained in 1879, and a third by Joe White on May
10th, 1890. The Ringed Plover is abundant on most of the
336 THE ZOOLOGIST.
beaches all the year round, and breeds in considerable numbers.
It is one of the most restless of birds, and seems to be in a state
of almost constant activity by night as well as by day. The only
example of the Little Ringed Plover recorded for the county was
shot by F. R. Rodd near the Abbey Pool in October, 1863. The
Kentish Plover has never been killed on the islands, but David
Smith saw one on the Abbey Pool in September, 1881, and was
particularly struck with its black legs, which corrected the first
impression that it might be a Little Ringed Plover, as the legs
of the latter are yellow. A Killdeer Plover frequented the west
end of the Long Pool, Tresco, for several days, and was shot by
F. Jenkinson on Jan. 14th, 1885. It was ‘‘a female, fat and
hearty.” ng
The Golden Plover is common every winter, and lingers
through the spring till the month of May, when the last depart.
It is generally seen in September, but is not well established till
the latter half of October. In ordinary seasons and in ordinary
weather from November to March the numbers are remarkably
uniform, but there is often a considerable influx when severe
weather prevails on the mainland. Throughout the winter of
1903-4 there were forty to fifty on Castle Down, Tresco, thirty to
forty on St. Martin’s, and about twenty on St. Mary’s. They
generally leave the seashore at high tide, and collect in flocks on
the downs. On May 8th, 1903, three were seen on St. Mary’s in
winter plumage. On Jan. 30th, 1872, I’. Jenkinson killed seven-
teen on the wing with one barrel (12 bore, No. 7 shot) on Apple-
tree shore. The Grey Plover is a not uncommon autumn and
winter casual, sometimes singly, sometimes in parties of three or
four. Itis rarely seen anywhere save on the beaches, and has a
decided preference for Samson. The Lapwing is common through-
out autumn and winter, but is rarely seen after the middle of
April, and has never been known tonest. Hxcept in very severe
or tempestuous weather, its numbers, like those of the Golden
Plover, are remarkably constant, On Feb. 13th, 1900, a great
flock of Lapwings, three miles long, passed over the islands,
coming in from the north-west. The rearguard with followers
and stragglers settled, and the next day the islands were alive
with an extraordinary assortment of Lapwings, Golden Plovers,
Starlings, Song-Thrushes, Mistle-Thrushes, Blackbirds, Red-
THE BIRDS OF SCILLY. 337
wings, and Fieldfares. They quietly passed on, but left many
dead behind. The Turnstone, in 1841, was evidently a rare bird
at Scilly in the month of May, as the unidentified ornithologist,
already referred to, whose notes were preserved in Carew’s ‘ Sur-
vey, says:—‘‘ A Turnstone in poor condition was brought to me
on May 20th—a very unusualdate. Iwas told they were usually
common in autumn, and that flocks were sometimes seen crouch-
ing together on boulders beside the sea-coast in winter.” In
1863 it was one of the commonest of shore birds in autumn and
winter, and a few were believed to stay all through the summer.
By 1871 flocks of birds in immature plumage were common
throughout the summer months, and adult birds had been seen
in the third week of May. It is now remarkably abundant all
the year round, and Clark believes it has bred there lately, as he
has obtained three eggs and part of a shell in local collections,
has handled the skins of two young birds shot there on July 28rd,
and, along with Jackson, has seen birds in adult plumage on St.
Mary’s during the first two weeks of July. Jackson and C. J.
King—the latter so well known for his charming photographs of
bird-life on the islands—both say they have seen the bird nesting
on the sands, and have taken its eggs. As Clark, however, has
not yet found a nest, he prefers to defer a full discussion of the
subject to a later date. The Oystercatcher is abundant round
the coast and on the rocky islets throughout the whole of the
year, and breeds in considerable numbers. Like the Curlew and
various sea-birds with which it associates, it delights to rest in
flocks on some low ridge of rock till compelled to leave by the
rising tide. Occasionally as many as two hundred of these
most beautiful of all shore birds have been counted in a single
flock.
The Grey Phalarope is for the most part a rare autumn and
winter casual. One was obtained on the 18th, and another on
the 23rd of October, 1857; one on Sept. 14th, 1870; one on
Jan. 7th, 1893; and one on Dec. 6th, 1902. In December,
1866, however, when Phalaropes were abundant along the south
coast of Cornwall, a flock of about seventy appeared on the north
end of Tresco. In November, 1905, a party of five came in near
Old Town, St. Mary’s. The Red-necked Phalarope is still more
seldom met with. The first example obtained at Scilly was
Zool. 4th ser. vol. X., September, 1906. 2D
338 THE ZOOLOGIST.
shot on the Abbey Pool by F. R. Rodd in or about 1860; a
second was killed in 1863, and a third by Jenkinson on Bryher
in October, 1866.
From the sportsman’s point of view the Woodcock is naturally ~
one of the most important birds of the islands. It begins to
arrive some years in the second week of October, but the first
sreat flight usually comes in about the close of the month. By
the middle of January in most years it has become somewhat
scarce, though during the severe winter of 1880-81 a considerable
number appeared in the last days of that month, and nearly fifty
couples were killed at a time when under ordinary circumstances
the shooting would have come to an end. The latest date on
which a stray specimen has been seen is March Ist. The biggest
bag for the season since 1856, when the Abbey game-book begins
its records, was four hundred and fifteen birds in 1878-79. In-
deed, on Nov. 5th that winter no less than forty were killed on
St. Martin’s. The largest previous record for the season was
two hundred and twenty-three in 1860. In one or two seasons
the number has been under fifty. Gilbert White’s story of his
friend killing twenty-six couples in one day within the walls of
the Garrison, St. Mary’s, is by no means improbable, as the
Garrison Hill, with its covering of old furze, is still a sure find
for them. ‘The Woodcocks at Scilly are mostly of the small dark
race. They are generally in good condition, but not very heavy.
Two examples of the Great Snipe have been obtained, and both
are still preserved. The first was shot by David Smith on Great
Ganilly in January, 1877, and the second between that date and
1879, but the record has been lost. The Common Snipe is not
known to have bred on the islands, though on several occasions
—as in 1856, 1865, and in 190i—family parties have been seen
on St. Mary’s in August. The wisps arrive almost invariably
during easterly winds; in fact, any point to the east will bring
Snipe in late autumn and winter, and, as a rule, the stormier
the weather the more numerous will the arrivals be. As the
prevailing winds are westerly, the birds are often scarce for
weeks at a stretch, and the number naturally varies greatly from
season to season. It is astonishing sometimes how a slant of
wind from the east will in a few hours bring a bountiful supply
of Snipe to favoured spots that may have been deserted for a
THE BIRDS OF SCILLY. 339
month or more. With favourable wind and weather far more
birds may be obtained in a single day than in an entire winter
when the winds are contrary. One day in January, 1879, for
instance, a record bag of ninety-three Full- and fourteen Jack-
Snipe was obtained on St. Mary’s, where two small bits of
marshy ground form the most favoured resting-place in Scilly ;
whereas in 1868-69 only fourteen Full-Snipe are recorded for
the year. It is true there was a considerable difference in the
-amount of shooting done during the two seasons, but the small
return of Snipe in 1868-69 seems to be due to the steady persist-
ence of westerly winds throughout the winter. In 1858—a really
fine Snipe year on the islands—three hundred and sixty-four
Full- and Jack-Snipe are recorded, and of these Jenkinson ob-
tained ninety-three to his own gun in two days. In 1857—
another exceptional Snipe year—the season’s total bag for Snipe
amounted to two hundred and ninety-nine, and of these Jenkin-
son and Pechell killed forty-nine in one day on St. Mary’s as the
birds came in, and at another time a hundred and one in two
days, thus accounting for one-half of the season’s birds in three
days’ shooting. On the former of these occasions the wind was
coming in from the east throughout the day; on the latter the
wind had had a bit of east in it for severaldays. Jack-Snipe, as
a rule, are fairly common during the winter, but are by no
means so plentiful as Full-Snipe. The biggest day’s bag was
fourteen in the winter of 1870-71. As a rule, where Jacks are
common, Full-Snipe are scarce.
That rare American vagrant, the Pectoral Sandpiper, was
first obtained on Annett, May 27th, 1905, by D. Mitchell, who
saw another the following day (Yarrell’s ‘ History of British
Birds,’ 4th edit. vol. iii. p. 869). In September, 1870, no less
than five were secured—one by Jenkinson on Tresco, and one by
F. Jenkinson, and three by Pechell on St. Mary’s. In October,
1880, one was shot by David Smith ; another was killed in
September, 1883, and the last recorded specimen by Dorrien-
Smith in September, 1891. Bonaparte’s Sandpiper has been
twice obtained—by Pechell on Oct. 11th, 1854, and by F. R.
Rodd on the Higher Moors, St. Mary’s, on Oct. 10th, 1870. The
Dunlin is common during winter in flocks with other small
shore birds. it has been noticed several times in May, but does
e 2D2
340 THE ZOOLOGIST.
not breed. Two examples of the Little Stint were killed on
Sept. 19th, 1857. They were at first identified as Temminck’s
Stint, and this has caused some confusion in the record. Tem-
minck’s Stint was evidently obtained several times by Pechell
previous to 1863. IF’. R. Rodd, in the notes drawn up by him
that year, not only says that it had been secured by Pecheil, but
comments on its remarkable tameness, and on its being gener-
ally seen by the side of the fresh-water ponds. The first speci-
men, however, that can be traced was shot in October, 1864.
Several have been shot since by Pechell and Jenkinson in the
autumn, and for the most part at Newford Pool, St. Mary’s. The
Curlew-Sandpiper is not infrequently seen in the early autumn,
with Dunlins and other shore birds, more especially on Samson
and Bryher. Several females with red breasts were shot by
Pechell in 1865. The Purple Sandpiper can generally be seen
during the winter, either singly or in small parties, about Ship-
man Head, Menavawr, and Round Island. It usually dis-
appears from the islands about the beginning of April, and
sometimes earlier, but a casual flock visited Annett in May,
1877. FF. R. Rodd, in the 1863 notes, regards the Knot as a
very rare bird at Scilly. At that time he had never seen it on
the islands, and Pechell and he knew of only one occasion on
which it had been killed, namely, in September, 1857. It is
now probably a regular visitor in small flocks in August and
September, but has not been recorded in the spring. The
Sanderling appears in the autumn in large flocks, and excep-
tionally, as in November, 1902, several hundred birds may be on
the islands at one time. On its first arrival it is remarkably
tame. Occasional flocks come in during the winter, and birds
are not infrequently seen in May. These May birds are gener-
ally immature, but on the 20th of that month, 1903, several
specimens were seen in summer plumage. Three examples of
the Ruff in immature plumage have been obtained at Scilly—
one by Jenkinson in the autumn of 1864, one by Dorrien-Smith
on Sept. 2nd, 1878, on the Abbey Pool, Tresco, and one by
Jenkinson in March, 1885. A solitary example of the Buff-
breasted Sandpiper was shot by Pechell beside the fresh-water
pool on the west of Bryher on Sept. 16th, 1870. In 1863 Pechell
and F. R. Rodd knew of only a single instance of the occurrence
THE BIRDS OF SCILLY. 341
of the Common’Sandpiper on the islands, namely, in 1857. It
is still apparently by no means common, but may sometimes be
mistaken for the Sanderling. Single specimens and small flocks
come in at least occasionally in August and early September.
The Wood-Sandpiper is a rare autumn casual in immature
plumage, and has occurred both on St. Mary’s and Tresco. An
adult male was shot on August 29th, 1878. The Green Sand-
piper was first obtained by Pechell in 1857. It is an occasional
visitor on migration in early autumn, but, like most of the early
autumn birds of passage, does not figure much in the Tresco
game-book. A single example of the Solitary Sandpiper was
shot on the Lower Moors, St. Mary’s, by Joe White on Sept. 19th,
1882. The Redshank may frequently be seen from early autumn
to mid-winter, in small parties up to a dozen or fifteen, on the
ponds at Tresco. It has been killed during Christmas week on
St. Mary’s. The Spotted Redshank was seen by Jenkinson on
Tresco on Oct. 12th, 1865, and one was killed by him on Bryher
on Aug. 26th,1870. The Greenshank may be seen every autumn
in parties of three up to a dozen or more flitting restlessly over
the surface of the Abbey Pools, or grouped on a granite block by
the water. On their first arrival they are very tame. The only
example of the Red-breasted Snipe seen at Scilly was killed
beside the fresh-water pool on the Higher Moors, St. Mary’s, by
Pechell, on Oct. 3rd, 1857. It was in immature plumage, and
arrived at a time when there was practically no immigration in
process, and, so far as known, no other Charadriide arrived that
year during the first week in October. The Bar-tailed Godwit
is a regular autumn and winter visitor, occasionally in flocks,
and has been several times recorded in May, and at least twice
in June, but never in full summer plumage. The Black-tailed
Godwit is a much rarer bird. One was shot by Pechell in 1849 ;
one by Jenkinson in September, 1864; one in summer plumage
by Joe Smith on St. Mary’s in April, 1871; one, also in summer
attire, on the Long Pool, Tresco, by David Smith in 1873; and
one was repeatedly seen on St. Mary’s between April 8th and
12th, 1903. The Curlew is in evidence at Scilly all the year
round. In the winter it appears in large flocks on the beaches,
on the rocks by the shore, and also on farm-land, where it seems
to be continually turning over sheep’s droppings in search of
342 THE ZO0O0OLOGIST.
beetles. In the summer it is by no means uncommon, especially
about Tean, but it does not breed. The Whimbrel in the forties
was fairly plentiful in the early autumn, and a separate column
used to be reserved for it in the Tresco game-book, but it gradu-
ally became very scarce. In 1848, for instance, fourteen were
- shot, whereas from 1856 to 1867 only four birds in all were
killed. Their number in the autumn is still small, though two
or three may frequently be seen, but in May, 1908, there must
have been several hundred on St. Mary’s, and towards the latter
part of April, 1904, several were seen on the beach at Tresco.
It is probably, therefore, a regular spring bird of passage. The
May birds were astonishingly tame, and permitted a close inspec-
tion. The Esquimaux Curlew is a very rare accidental vagrant.
The only Scillonian specimen was killed by Dorrien-Smith on
Tresco on Sept. 10th, 1887.
Terns seem to have been much more abundant fifty years ago
than they are now. [Even in 1854 Jenkinson writes: ‘‘ Terns
have all diminished in numbers during the last four years.” The
Black Tern is seen every now and then on the pools of Tresco in
immature plumage in the autumn, and sometimes in August.
An adult was obtained in April, 1877; on April 10th, 1903, a
party of seven was watched hawking insects at Porthellick, St.
Mary’s, and on April 26th, 1905, four were seen over the Long
Pool at Tresco. Until the last few years this bird had very
rarely been recorded as a spring bird of passage on the Cornish
mainland, but since 1900 it has been observed there every year
in the month of April. A White-winged Black Tern in full
plumage was shot by David Smith on the Long Pool, Tresco, on
May 14th, 1882, and, like most other rarities obtained on the
islands during the last twenty-five years, is in the Abbey collec-
tion. <A fine example of the Whiskered Tern in immature plu-
mage was shot on Tresco by Pechell on Aug. 2nd, 1851. A
Gull-billed Tern was killed on Tresco by Jenkinson in May,
1852. In 1841 there were more than a hundred pairs of Sand-
wich Terns breeding among these islands. ‘‘ On the south of
the north portion of Annett,”’ writes Dorrien-Smith, ‘‘is a large
patch of bracken, on the north side of which, in days gone by,
as many as forty nests could be found.”’ For more than twenty
years now that favoured spot has been deserted, and, though
THE BIRDS OF SCILLY. 343
single nests have been found at odd times, it is feared that this
bird is no longer a regular breeder at Scilly. In the spring of
1903 two pairs began to build on Guthers, but five weeks after
the nests were begun they were found empty. In that year,
however, at least one brood was successfully hatched in a less
frequented spot. The Roseate Tern was nesting in considerable
numbers when D. W. Mitchell visited the islands in May, 1840.
After that date it seems gradually to have forsaken Scilly, and
in 1854 Jenkinson says that only one or two pairs were nesting
there. In September, 1867, Rodd saw a few in their former
breeding haunts, but this is their last recorded appearance on
the islands. The Common Tern is not nearly so abundant as
formerly, though it is still well represented at the breeding
season. It occasionally builds on such low-lying rocks that the
nests are floated off by a spring tide. The Arctic Tern some
twenty or twenty-five years ago greatly outnumbered the Common
Tern, but, though still breeding every year, it is now sadly in
the minority. The Little Tern seems to be a casual visitor. One
in immature plumage was shot on Guthers, Sept. 14th, 1857.
Seven were seen by F'. R. Rodd between Tresco and Samson in
October, 1863, and three of these were shot. One spent several
weeks about the Long Pool, Tresco, in July, 1877, and one was
seen on Bryher in April, 1904. In 1883, David Smith saw a
strange Tern hawking flies over the ponds of Tresco. As he was
barely convalescent after a severe illness, he asked a friend to
shoot it, but the latter missed the bird, which flew off, and was
never seen again. On being shown the plates in Gould, Smith
promptly identified it as the Sooty Tern.
All the Gulls that occur round the Cornish coast have been
obtained at Scilly, with the exception of two accidental stragglers
from North America—to wit, Bonaparte’s Gull and the Ivory
Gull. An example of Sabine’s Gull was shot by Joe Smith in
the autumn of 1898. The Little Gull has apparently been over-
looked. It was thought to have been seen on St. Mary’s in
October, 1905, but it was not till Christmas week (1905) that a
specimen was obtained. The Black-headed Gull is usually com-
mon in winter, and occasionally appears in flocks in the late
spring. On May 25th, 1903, there was a group of fourteen birds
on the Abbey Green, none, however, in summer plumage. H. H.
344 THE ZOOLOGIST.
\
Rodd, in the ‘ Birds of Cornwall’ (p. 169), says it formerly bred
on the islands. The naturalist already referred to, who visited
Scilly in 1841, speaks of two nests of the Black-headed Gull he
saw on St. Mary’s; and in a copy of Montagu’s ‘ Dictionary of
Birds,’ belonging to E. H. Rodd, there is a marginal note, though
not in the owner’s handwriting, that this bird bred in Scilly in
1845. Though it has several times been seen in the summer
months, there is no record of its having nested for the last sixty
years. The Common Gull appeared in great numbers in the
autumn of 1863, and small winter parties seem to be not un-
common. The Herring-Gull and Lesser Black-backed Gull are
most abundant all the year round, and breed in great numbers
on most of the uninhabited islands. The Greater Black-backed
Gull is a resident, but in limited numbers. EHleven nests were
found in 19038, including eight on Menewethan, one on Great
Ganilly, one on Little Ganinnick, and one on Inner Innisvouls.
Several birds were frequenting the Western Islands, but no nests
were noticed there. A young female of the Glaucous Gull was
shot by David Smith in Pentle Bay, Tresco, in 1874, and another
specimen by Dorrien-Smith at Carn Nea, Tresco, in 1885. The
Iceland Gull is a somewhat rare casual, chiefly during winter.
One in immature plumage was shot by Jenkinson on Bryher in
May, 1852; one was shot by David Smith near Oliver’s Castle,
Tresco, in 1884; one was killed near the old infant school,
Tresco, Feb. 25th, 1885; and one, probably an adult, was seen
Dec. Ist, 1890. The Kittiwake used to breed in large numbers
on Menavawr, and Jenkinson mentions their doing so in a letter
written in 1852. Gradually they forsook Menavawr, and went
to Gorregan, where they continued to build for many years.
Jackson has seen as many as a hundred nests there closely
packed together on the south side of the steep cairn just above
the Smugglers’ Hole. Their numbers, however, have been steadily
diminishing since the seventies, and in 1900 Jackson found only
three nests. Since that year no nests have been known at
Scilly, and the birds have ceased to frequent Gorregan during
the breeding season. They are often seen during the winter,
and in small flocks throughout the summer, but at all times of
the year they seem to be commoner between Land’s End and the
islands than on the islands themselves.
THE BIRDS OF SCILLY. 345
The Skuas have to some extent been overlooked. One Sep-
tember day in 1895 Dorrien-Smith fed a Pomatorhine Skua and
four Great Shearwaters with bait within two or three feet of the
boat on the Powll bank. Jenkinson saw a Richardson’s Skua
close over his head on Guthers in June, 1852, and, one was shot
at St. Mary’s on Christmas Day, 1901. The Razorbill breeds in
extraordinary numbers, especially on the Western Islands, and
those to the north and west of Bryher. On the eastern half of
Scilly Rock forty-one eggs were found on May 20th, 1908, in less
than half an hour. The Common Guillemot was never so abun-
dant as the Razorbill, but formerly nested in great profusion. Of
late years its numbers have been sadly diminished. On Scilly
Rock, in 1903, only a single ege was found, and that broken.
On Gorregan, one of its recent strongholds, only three eggs were
discovered, while on Mincarlo, where King says there were nine
or ten nests in 1900, no trace of it could be found. It still
breeds in small numbers on Menavawr, and may do so on Han-
jague, but it is nowhere prominent. A Little Auk was found
dead on St. Agnes about mid-winter, 1900. As a species it has
probably been overlooked. The Puffin breeds in thousands on
Annett alongside the Manx Shearwater. A considerable portion
of the island is so riddled with the burrows of these two birds that
in walking across one sinks to the knee every two or three steps
through the caving in of the roofs. On Scilly and on Menavawr
the Puffin lays its egg on the bare rock. It also breeds on Rose-
vear, Meledgan, Mincarlo, Castle Bryher, Round Island, Innis-
vouls, Menewethan, and Great Ganinnick.
The Great Northern Diver may be seen in immature plumage,
both singly and in small flocks, during the autumn and winter, and
occasionally in the late spring. During the winter of 1901-2 it
was quite common in flocks of six to ten. On May 20th, 1903, a
solitary bird was seen at the south end of St. Helen’s Pool. The
Red-throated Diver is said, in Rodd’s ‘ Birds of Cornwall’ (p. 803),
to occur at Scilly in autumn and winter, but the only specimen
that can be traced is the one shot by David Smith in the spring
of 1894. It may, however, have been overlooked. The Black-
throated Diver has not yet been obtained, though it was probably
seen by C. J. King in January, 1904. The Sclavonian Grebe is
an autumn and winter casual chiefly on Tresco, and by no means
346 THE ZOOLOGIST.
rare. It was last recorded in November, 1902. The Hared
Grebe is mentioned as having occurred at Scilly in November,
1867. A second example was shot by Joe White beside the
Plump Rock, Tresco, on Feb. 14th, 1895. The Little Grebe is-
not infrequently found at Tresco during the autumn and winter,
and has been seen on the Long Pool for several weeks in succes-
sion. It has never been known to breed.
The Stormy Petrel still breeds, though in greatly diminished
numbers, in chinks and under boulders on the Western Islands.
Previous to 1863 it appears to have been fairly common, but only
a few pairs seem to nest there now. Its favourite locality is un-
fortunately only too well known, and one or two eggs are taken
almost every year. For the last three years it has bred on
Annett. A specimen of Leach’s Petrel in poor condition was
picked up on St. Agnes late in the autumn of 1869, but the
species has not been noticed since.
The Great Shearwater is a fairly regular visitor in flocks
during autumn and winter to the seas around the islands, and is
occasionally recorded from the Seven Stones. It has probably
never been seen among the islands. The Manx Shearwater
breeds in prodigious numbers on Annett, and it is not at all un-
common to find this bird and the Puffin sitting side by side in the
same burrow. There is also a small nesting colony near Piper’s
Hole, Tresco, and C. J. King has found dead birds on the south
of St. Agnes. During the breeding season the sea in the evening
for half a mile out from Annett towards Samson is thick with
them, and they are so tame that they will scarcely move out of
the way of the advancing launch. In August they go out to sea,
but for weeks before that a continuous stream of small parties of
six or eight may be seen almost every evening coming up Smith
Sound, and collecting into two or three immense flocks on the
water to the north of Annett, where they remain till nightfall.
( 347 )
NOTES AND QUERIES.
MAMMALIA.
Strange Disappearance of a Weasel.—The following little incident
illustrates so forcibly the astonishing power of hiding possessed by
wild animals, that it seems worth recording. On July 7th, when
carrying hay here, one of the men saw a Weasel run into a haycock.
As it is an unwritten law on this farm that anyone who sees a chance
of capturing any small beast acceptable to my menagerie at once gives
chase, he and I and another man promptly rushed to the spot. The
first haycock was drawn blank, but the Weasel was duly bolted from
the second, and I made a dab at it, with my handkerchief held in my
hands, with a view not only to in some measure take off the “ fiery
edge”’ of its bites, but also to assist in holding the slippery little
creature. It was too quick for me; but on again bolting it from the
next haycock, I put my hands and the handkerchief fairly down on it.
I waited for it to make the next move, which it was to be expected
would be a spring, or upward thrust, when the best opportunity would
be given me to close my fingers round it. No such movement came,
but, on the contrary, I realized within a very few seconds that I could
no longer feel the Weasel; so carefully contracting my fingers and the
handkerchief, proved to demonstration that no Weasel was there. It
was exactly like a conjuring trick, where a cloth is placed over some
article in full view of the audience, and on its removal it is found to
have been covering nothing. The natural explanation which will
probably occur to anyone who was not there is that the Weasel had
sunk into the run of a Mole, or of one or other of the various small
beasts usually lumped together as ‘‘ Mice’’; but there certainly was
no such run there. The grass stubble was quite short, resembling, if
not a scrubbing-brush, at least a well-worn bass-broom, and the actual
soil was everywhere visible between the stems. I was on my knees,
with my eyes therefore probably less than two feet from the ground ;
the other two men were as close by as they could stand, looking
eagerly and intently at my hands; and a fourth man had by this
time come up and was within some five yards, and yet not one of
the four was aware that the Weasel had slipped. A Weasel, probably
but by no means certainly the same individual, was presently seen
348 THE ZOOLOGIST.
to run under a haycock about twenty yards away, but there we
finally lost it.—Aurrep H. Cocks (Poynetts, Skirmett, near Henley-
on-Thames).
Notes on Bats.—A Whiskered Bat flew into one of the rooms
here just before 8.30 p.m. on August 38rd—a bright fine night after a
showery day, the moon being nearly full. It was very fierce when
handled, holding its mouth wide open in a threatening way, and it bit
savagely when I took it up once, but with little strength. By candle-
light it was impossible to see its eyes, as the fur was in some way
brought over or round them to shelter them; but in daylight next day
the small black eyes, like small bright beads stuck on the outside of
the face, were very remarkable. It seemed glad of drops of water.
When handled, it uttered a shrill squeak, rapidly repeated, like a
quick chatter or rattle; but it was a very small sound, with very little
volume. I let it go the next day. On the 11th another (it was not
the same individual) flew into another room on the same side of the
house about 8 p.m. ‘These are the third and fourth Whiskered Bats
which have flown in at our windows, three of them into the same
room. ‘The first two both occurred in the latter half of July, and
rather late at night, with a bright lamp burning in the room (ef.
‘ Zoologist,’ 1904, 811); but in the two latter cases there was no light
in the rooms and it was getting dusk. It would appear from these
occurrences that the Whiskered Bat is far from uncommon here.
Almost any evening Bats of some kind can be seen flying about the
trees and shrubs just outside the window. ‘Two days after the second
Whiskered Bat came in, a Pipistrelle flew into the first-named room.
I found it was a much harder biter than the former species. Its bites
might sometimes be described as painful, but those of the Whiskered
Bat could not. This Pipistrelle flew away instantly upon being
liberated during the next forenoon; whereas I could not get a
Whiskered Bat to fly away in the daytime. Refusing to leave the
window sill of its own accord, and merely retreating when touched, it
gladly accepted a place of refuge in the Virginia creeper, whence, after
dark, I found it had departed. One night at the end of July—moon-
light about 9 p.m.—two large Bats, which I think were Long-eared
Bats, seemed to be catching moths (many of which could be seen
against the light about the tops of the roses, shrubs, &c.) at the
back of the house. One or both several times uttered a loud and
remarkable cry—a single note sounding something like ‘ squick,” and
reminding one curiously, though perhaps to some extent fancifully, of
the short note of the Swift, but not so loud as that.—O. V. Apuin.
NOTES AND QUERIES. 349
British Distribution of the Whiskered Bat (Myotis mystacinus),—
The Whiskered Bat probably occurs in every county of England and
Wales, but I possess no records from the following, viz. Cornwall,
Hereford, Leicester, Rutland, Hertford, Bedford, Huntingdon, Not-
tingham, Montgomery, Radnor, Brecknock, Cardigan, Pembroke,
Carmarthen, Glamorgan, Monmouth, Anglesea, and Flint. I should
be extremely grateful to any naturalist who can fill up any of
the gaps.—G. EH. H. Barrerr-Hamiton (Kilmanock, Arthurstown,
Treland).
AVES.
Does the Blackbird Eat Snails?—I agree with Mr. Meiklejohn
(ante, p. 312) that the statement that the Blackbird eats snails has pro-
bably been made on the supposition that because the Song-Thrush eats
snails therefore the Blackbird must do so. And I must own that at one
time I believed and stated (being carried with the tide) that the Black-
bird eats snails. But I do not now believe that it does so habitually,
if at all. Whenever, having heard a snail being hammered, I have
been able to see the bird, it has proved to be a Thrush, and I do not
remember having seen a Blackbird hammer a snail. In my garden,
as far as 1 can see, Blackbirds live on fruit from the time the first
currants and raspberries ripen, and go on steadily with the plums,
pears, &c, The Thrushes take, comparatively speaking, little fruit,
and I think only bush fruit and cherries. Later in the summer a few
remain in the garden and hammer the snails—probably those with
very late young—but most of them go off to the turnip and bean fields.
At the end of August hardly a straggler is to be seen here. But the
Blackbirds are here in numbers all August, and plenty stay later if it
is a good fruit year, and do an enormous amount of damage to the
more valuable kinds of fruit. We must no longer mix up ‘“ Blackbirds
and Thrushes,’’ either in respect of the good or the harm they do.
Their characters, from the gardener’s point of view, are like their
colours—that of one is merely spotted, but the other is very black.—
O. V. Aptin.
Mr. Meruesoun (ante, p. 312) asks the above question, and appears
to doubt the authority of certain authors, whom he quotes, viz. Yarrell,
Howard Saunders, and others, who have stated that Blackbirds do eat
snails. We must of course admit that these authorities can scarcely
have made this statement without having had instances brought to
their notice to justify it, but I must say that after a great many years
of constant opportunities of observing the habits of both Thrushes and
350 THE ZOOLOGIST.
Blackbirds, I have never seen a Blackbird eat a snail. This negative
evidence is, I admit, only of value according to what my opportunities
may have been; on this point I may say that my room, in the window
of which I read and write, and have done so continuously almost for
the last thirty-five years, looks out upon a lawn, flower garden, and
shrubbery, where both Thrushes and Blackbirds abound. On the
gravel-walk every season has revealed the Thrushes’ sacrificial stones,
on which I have frequently seen and heard the usual process of pre-
paring the snail for food by the Thrush, but never by the Blackbird.
T will mention, in conclusion, one short episode, enacted before me
some little time ago, and in which both birds were concerned. A
Thrush had duly prepared its snail, when a Blackbird flew from the
adjoining bushes, bowled over the Thrush, and hopped away with the
snail in its bill; the Thrush meanwhile looking on quietly at a few
feet distance. After pecking about the snail for a few minutes, the
Blackbird dropped it and disappeared, on which the Thrush simply
hopped up, resumed, and devoured its snail. This is still only nega-
tive evidence, but certainly it seems to me that it is of a higher order
than any as yet given.—O. Pickarp-CampripGE (Bloxworth Rectory).
Distribution of the Corn-Bunting in Wales.—F rom the experience
gained in the last thirty years during many summer trips to various
parts of Wales, I think there is little doubt that the distribution of the
Corn- Bunting (Emberiza miliaria) as a summer resident in the Princi-
pality is very peculiar. It seems to be confined, at that season, almost
entirely to the belt of country adjoining the sea, where I have found
it common nearly everywhere, provided the land is cultivated, but
have been unable to identify it at a greater distance than a mile and a
half from the sea except in one locality, when I found, in- July, 1887,
two birds singing on Handley’s Farm, near Brecon. This Bunting is
an easy bird to identify, indulging as it does in a great deal of “ bird
music ’’ of an unmistakable kind, but I have been unable to make it
out again inland. It occurs abundantly in the nesting season in the
following localities:—About the corn-lands to the west of Langland
Bay (Glamorgan); in the seaside fields about Towyn ; along the coast
between Barmouth and Harlech; also round Criccieth and Pwllheli
(Carnarvon). It is fairly common in summer about Aberystwyth and
Clarach Valley; in Anglesea between Menai Bridge and Beaumaris,
and round Llandudno. Why it should prefer this strip of country
and neglect the fine stretches of inland cornfields, it is difficult to say.
Some other species, such as the Nightjar, Red-backed Shrike, and
Stonechat, are also commoner near the west coast than inland.—
HK. A. Swainson (Woodside, Brecon).
NOTES AND QUERIES. 351
Snowy Owl (Nyctea scandiaca) in Ireland.—A male bird in second
year’s plumage was shot at Belmullett, Co. Mayo, on July 21st. This
is a very unusual time for this species to visit Ireland. Several
specimens have been shot during the last ten years in Co. Mayo, but
usually in the months of October and December. This specimen was
in fat condition, but had nothing in stomach. — W. J. Wittiams
(2, Dame Street, Dublin).
Eggs of Razorbill (Alea torda).—I believe it is generally under-
stood among ornithologists and oologists that by holding a Razorbill’s
ege up to the light the membrane inside the shell appears of a greenish
colour. I have often heard this stated by oologists, and have seen the
same statement in various books relating to birds and their eggs—for
instance, in Mr. Howard Saunders’ ‘ Manual’; but on investigating
the matter the other day, I find the membrane or skin inside clearly-
blown Razorbills’ eggs is as white as that of Guillemots’ or domestic
hens’ eggs and most other kind of birds’ eggs. I quite agree that by
looking through the shell of a Razorbill’s egg held up to the light
(whether a white or brown specimen) one can distinctly see it has a
greenish colour, but I have come to the conclusion that the green
colour is in the composition of the shell. itself, and not in the
membrane. I think genuine eggs of the Razorbill always show green
when looking through the blow-hole towards the light, and .those
said to have a white or creamish-white colour are not Razorbills’ but
Guillemots’ eggs. Sometimes certain varieties of Guillemots’ and
Razorbills’ eggs resemble each other to a remarkable extent, so much
so that it is difficult to determine to which species they belong by a
superficial or cursory examination.—H. G. Porrer (Bootham Crescent,
York).
Notes on the Little Grebe (Podicipes fluviatilis)—Some of Mr.
Dalgliesh’s statements respecting this Grebe (ante, pp. 282-284) are
so opposed to one’s ideas of the bird’s habits as to suggest that his
experience has been altogether exceptional; whilst his opinion that
it is incapable of walking or resting on its feet is not warranted.
The eggs are generally said to vary in number from four to six
(vide Yarrell, Saunders, and Sharpe). My own experience is that
five or six are more usual than four; but surely three eggs seldom
constitute: a full clutch, as stated by Mr. Dalgliesh. It must be
borne in mind that with the Dabchick, as with the Great Crested
Grebe, a considerable interval elapses between the deposition of
each ege, and that the birds begin to sit before the full complement
00?
is laid. The eggs, in consequence, are incubated in varying degrees,
352 THE ZOOLOGIST.
and it does not follow that the full clutch has been laid because some
or all of three or four eggs are found to be slightly incubated. In
October, 1902, my friend Mr. F. 8. Graves showed me a Dabchick
which he had captured on the previous day. The bird’s gait was
perhaps not sufficiently dignified to be described as a walk, but it
travelled over the floor of the room with a quick pattering run, treading
only on the fore-part of its toes. Ihave never seen a Dabchick mount
its nest, but the Great Crested Grebe when doing so usually walks
about on the floating mass whilst it removes the weeds with which it
had covered the eggs on leaving, and it seems not improbable that the
Dabchick when similarly engaged will walk sedately. When stationary,
Mr. Graves’s bird stood erect, with the body inclined oniy slightly
forward, and the tail—if one may speak of a Grebe’s tail—perhaps a
couple of inches from the ground; the tarsi were clear of the ground,
and formed, with the toes, an angle of rather more than 90°. Alto-
gether the upright pose of the bird was very striking. A Dabchick
which I had in captivity for a few days in January, 1905, ran and
stood in a precisely similar way. Figures in many ornithological
works, and stuffed birds in most museums, represent Grebes with the
feet and tarsi resting on the ground; but in Dresser’s ‘ Birds of
Europe’ the Red-necked, Black-necked, and Sclavonian Grebes are
figured in the erect attitude which appears to be the normal standing
posture of the Dabchick. When resting on land, the Dabchick lies
prone, the head drawn back between the shoulders, and the feet spread
on either side of the body at angles of about 30° with it. My captive
bird, when asleep, had the scapulars raised so as to conceal the neck,
the head being pushed under those on the left side. It then looked
like a ball of brown feathers. The flexibly-jointed feet are then laid
close alongside the wings, and clear of the ground, the tarsus being
reflexed against the tibia.* The Dabchick is not uncommon on the
Cheshire meres, and when these are frozen the birds are driven to the
brooks, where they can still feed. Under such circumstances their
actions may be studied at close quarters, and I have often watched
them in a broad trench which drains one of the meres in this neigh-
bourhood. I have never seen the wings used under water in the way
Mr. Dalgliesh describes; on the contrary, they are, so far as my
experience goes, always held close to the bird’s sides. Mr. T. A.
Coward, who has often watched Dabchicks both with and independently
of me, tells me that he has never seen the wings used under water.
When a Dabchick is swimming on the surface, the tarsi project on
* Cf. R. Newstead in ‘ Research’ for Jan. 1st, 1889.
NOTES AND QUERIES. B53
either side at an angle of about 45° with the body; but when the bird
is under water, the angle, when the legs are at the forward part of
each stroke, is about 90°, while at the end of each stroke the tarsi and
feet are extended far behind the tail. The appearance of the bird as it
traverses the bottom of the trench in an erratic course—now thrusting
its head into the vegetable refuse which has collected in the hollows,
now disappearing bodily beneath it, with its flattened body, closely
folded wings, and apparently disproportioned feet—suggests some huge
frog rather than a bird. My observations in the open on the position
of the wings and feet under water are borne out by those made upon
my captive bird in a bath. It may be of interest to state that this
bird, in coming to the surface, often protruded only its head and neck,
its body remaining submerged until it dived again. The Dabchick
seems loth.to take wing, but now and then one may be seen flying low
along the surface of the water. In alighting, this species, like the
Great Crested Grebe, apparently never thrusts its feet forward to
check its course as Ducks and Swans do, but strikes the water with its
breast and belly, and glides along the surface for some distance with
feet projecting behind its body and above the water. There are several
recorded cases of Dabchicks having been choked in attempting to
swallow a Miller’s Thumb (Cottus gobio). On February 21st, 1902,
when Mr. Coward and I were walking on the bank of the trench I
have already spoken of, on the look-out for Dabchicks, we saw a dead
bird floating on its back. It had only been dead for a few hours at
most, for its eyes were not sunken, and there were living parasites on
its feathers. A Miller’s Thumb was firmly wedged, belly upwards, in
its mouth. It seems hardly likely that the bird had met its death
owing to its inability to swallow a fish seventy-two millimetres in
length, for, on dissecting it, we found that the gullet was capable of
enormous distention. What was probably the true explanation of the
tragedy was apparent on cutting away the bird’s lower mandible, for
we then saw that the recurved spines on the gill-covers of the fish
were firmly fixed in the bird’s flesh just below the angle of the gape
on either side. This made it impossible for the bird to disgorge, and
no doubt greatly increased the difficulty of swallowing its prey. The
stomach of this bird contained a few small pebbles, one full-grown
and unbroken Bythinia tentaculata, several fragments of that molluse,
and fragments of insects, apparently larve of beetles or dragonflies.—
Cuas. Otpuam (Knutsford).
Birdsnesting in August.—In some previous issues of the ‘ Zoolo-
gist’ (1896-7-8) I have given records of nests found in Cambridgeshire
Gool. 4th ser. vol, X., September, 1906. 25
304 THE ZOOLOGIST.
at the beginning of August. This year I was staying over the August
Bank-holiday in the same village, and the following was the result of
a few hours’ birdsnesting quite alone:—One Swallow, two eggs;
House-Martin, many with young; one Wren, young nearly fledged ;
one Spotted Flycatcher, young fully fledged; five Linnets, with three
to six eggs in each; one Linnet, with young; two Turtle-Doves, each
with two eggs; five Tree-Sparrows, with four to six eggs each; one
Tree-Sparrow, hatching; five Tree-Sparrows, fully fledged young; two
Corn-Buntings, each three eggs; one Greenfinch, five eges; two
Hedge-Sparrows, each three eggs; two Yellowhammers, three and four
eggs; one Common Whitethroat, three eggs. I also had the pleasure
of listening to a Quail for a considerable time on the evening of
August 5th. Its incessant call of ‘‘ Wet, my feet’ was very difficult
to localize, and although I tried to get close to it, I could not be sure
whether it was calling from amongst the standing corn or from the
adjoining field of clover.—Rosert H. Reap (Bedford Park, W.).
Curious Experience with a Savage Cock.—At a farm at Leiston,
Suffolk, a cock had been reared as a pet, and as sometimes happens
with other animals so treated, he not only became very tame and
fearless, but also savage and aggressive. He attacked a little boy of
about seven, and struck his spur into the child’s legs, breaking it off,
and leaving it sticking in the flesh. The boy himself pulled it out and
brought it to his father.—G. T. Ropz (Blaxhall, Suffolk).
[This occurrence is not altogether unusual. As a young man I
kept some very fine white pile, duckwing, game fowls of the Chichester
strain. The cock bird was extremely pugnacious, and if I attempted
to take eggs from the nests when he was at roost, would fly from his
perch to attack me. On one occasion I saw my mother beating a hasty
retreat from the fowl-run, with the chanticleer hanging on to her gown
with his bill, and actively applying his spurs to her dress.—Ep.]
Corrigenda.—P. 814, line 8, for clizip read chzip. P. 814, line 6,
for then read there. P.815, line 34, for often read softer.—O. V. Apuin.
PISCES.
Rare Fish at Yarmouth.—On July 10th I received from a local
fish merchant named Beazor a magnificent fish, some two feet in
length, and seven pounds in weight, which, after a careful survey, I
pronounced to be a Plain Bonito (Auris rochei), which it somewhat
resembled. It had been taken in a drift-net a few hours previous to
coming into my hands by the Yarmouth drifter ‘ Martha.’ Mr. T.
NOTES AND QUERIES. 350
Southwell, who saw it in Roberts, the stuffer’s hands, was not satisfied
with my finding, the lengthened first dorsal fin attracting his atten-
tion; and a photograph taken of the fish immediately it came into my
hands still further convinced him it was not Auais. The Bonito was
finally sent to Mr. Boulenger, of the British Museum, who wrote
Mr. Southwell to the effect that ‘‘ The fish ... is a most interesting
addition to the British fauna—Scomber thunnina, Cuv. (or Huthynnus
alleteratus, Raf.). Itis a pelagic fish of almost world-wide distribution,
which has been taken several times on the coast of Scandinavia, but
never on our coast so far as [am aware without making a search in
the bibliography.” Every credit is due to Mr. Southwell for the
pains he has taken with this wanderer, and but for whose keen per-
ception its identity might for long have been undetected.—Artuur H.
Patterson (Ibis House, Great Yarmouth).
Loch Broom Sea Monster.—On seeing an account in the daily
papers of a strange monster observed outside Loch Broom by the
excise officers, I wrote off to one of them whom I happen to know for
the particulars of the adventure, and, as will be seen by his letter
given below, I was rather fortunate, as my friend, who is a keen
naturalist, taking a special interest in the birds and beasts of his
district, was in the boat at the time they came on this strange creature,
which was at first thought to be a Basking Shark; but on looking up
the description of the Basking Shark, it would seem from the account
that the Loch Broom monster was much longer than the usual length
attained by this species. I would be glad to hear of further notes
on this creature, as it seems to have appeared further south. The
following is Mr. Henderson’s letter.— W. H. Worxman (Lismore,
Belfast).
In reply to yours of the 15th inst., I am in a position to state that
I saw the fish or monster in question. On August 24th, while cruising
between the Priest Island and Glostloch Beg, the fish rose to the
surface of the water about eight hundred yards from us. It was then
soing at right angles to us, but on my shooting at it, it came towards
our boat, and only went under when fired at within eighty yards off
our boat. I believe it was hit at least twice by Mr. Coffey and myself.
I am giving you a roughly drawn sketch of it by myself. It, however,
gives but a very poor idea as to the length of the fish as seen. It
would measure anything between fifty and sixty feet. Its dorsal fin
would be five feet high and four feet wide at base. Its caudal fin
was a good deal smaller, bending backward, and more pointed. Its
colour was black. Its head never appeared above the surface; and it
356 THE ZOOLOGIST.
remained on the surface continuously all the time—about ten or fifteen
minutes. At least twelve shots were fired at the monster. I would
have concluded that the fish was a Basking Shark but for its colour
and great length. I shall be pleased to have your opinion as to what
species you may think it represents. Since we saw the fish I under-
stand it has been seen off the Mallig coast. I shall be only too
pleased to give any further information 7e fish required. Iam ina
small way interesting myself in natural history.—Jos. T. HEnpERson
(Ivy Cottage, Ullapool).
(An eminent authority to whom I showed this drawing was of the
opinion that a Balenoptera was depicted, despite the shape of the
caudal fin, which he considered may have been bent or curved on the
occasion observed, as is sometimes the case. With this cetacean
pronouncement I entirely agreed, but 1 then submitted the drawing
to our contributor, Mr. Southwell, who has so long studied the
marine creatures which frequent our shores. He is of a different
opinion, and his interesting letter is here printed.—Eb.|
I return Mr. Workman’s sketch and enclosures. The sketch
would, at first sight, seem to indicate that the beast seen was a Killer
(Orca gladiator), in the rounded black back, high falcate dorsal fin,
and the relative position of this with the caudal fin. It would not
agree so well with any other cetacean. But you will notice (if the
drawing is correct) that the latter fin is in a vertical position; this
precludes its being a cetacean, as in all cases that appendage in the
cetaceans is attached horizontally. Were it a Whale of any description,
in a stay of fifteen minutes at the surface it would certainly have ex-
posed the crown of the head, and might have been expected to ‘‘ blow,”
and the Killer does not attain more than half the length assigned to
NOTES AND QUERIES. 307
Mr. Workman’s monster. Iam strongly inclined to the opinion that
the creature seen was a Basking Shark (Selache maxima), with which,
making a slight allowance for imperfect rendering of the fins in the
drawing, they would fairly agree. Day says this animal attains the
length of forty feet (we know how deceptive the dimensions of creatures
in the water appear, and your correspondent, not seeing the whole of
the animal, might easily have over-estimated its length), and that the
dorsal fin in a twenty-eight foot specimen was four feet high. The
fact of its lying motionless at the surface for so long a time, and the
dark colour of the back (especially where wet), also accord with the
habits and appearance of this Shark. I think, therefore, that its
description as a ‘‘ fish” is correct, and that it is most probable it was
a Basking Shark as suggested.—T. Souruwett (Norwich).
INSECTA.
Notes on the Mole Cricket (Gryllotalpa vulgaris). -— Though
generally regarded as a somewhat rare insect, the Mole Cricket is
more plentiful in some parts of England than I had supposed it was.
Some four years ago I was shown a pair by a well-known London
dealer taken in Surrey, who was asking ten shillings each for them.
This year the same dealer showed me two or three store-boxes literally
crammed full of Mole Crickets, asking this time one shilling per
specimen! I was told these were taken in Hampshire. It seems a
pity that such a fine and curious insect as this should be thus ruth-
‘ lessly exterminated. In the Island of Guernsey, Mole Crickets are
very common, so much so in some parts as to become a perfect pest
to the tomato growers, as they bite off the young plants at the stem
close to the ground. [I listened to the jarring of them one evening,
and their noise closely resembled the summer song of the Nightjar.
In a female specimen sent me this year (in July) from Guernsey, I
found a number of eggs, yellowish in colour and rather tough in
texture. Above ground I have always found them rather active in
their movements, running with some swiftness, and not at all sluggish.
In some of the river-banks in Bengal a Mole Cricket is common, and
is often used as bait by native fishermen. I have taken them at
5000 feet in the Himalayas. —Gorpon Dates (Brook, Witley,
Surrey):
Tue Mole Cricket is probably rather overlooked than rare; it
seems to be still fairly common in the New Forest, but its nocturnal
and subterranean habits protect it from discovery. It may be taken
308 THE ZOO0OLOGIST.
by pouring a little water and oil down its burrow, which quickly drives
the insect out. In parts of France they are often a nuisance in
gardens. They are sometimes destroyed by watering the ground well
and putting down straw or planks; the Crickets come up, attracted
by the freshness, and may be found underneath during the following
day. It is sometimes found under large stones, and prefers sandy
sround. An adult insect is found in spring and summer, but specimens
in all stages of growth are often found together.—Matcotm Burr.
NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.
Wild Life in Hast Anglia. By Wiuutam A. Durt. Methuen & Co.
Ir is at least doubtful whether Hast Anglia does not hold an
unique position in the annals of British natural history. Its
marsh and marine faunas have long found an enthusiastic and
competent body of local naturalists to study and describe them,
and we cannot realize the disappearance of the one without the
passing of the other. Mr. Dutt, in this volume, has written
beyond the personal experience, and has gathered together an
amount of information which renders his book of permanent
value, though we still hold to the opinion that the time has come
for the publication of a finely illustrated monograph of Kast
Anglian zoology, and that the men are still living who can write
the text. Will this always be the case? The description of an
exotic fauna can generally find a sumptuous publication, but this
delightful portion of our old English story should be adequately
described and figured now before drainage has done its worst to
the marshes, before the cockney tourist has called the region all
his own, and before some aspects of its fauna have become more
strikingly evanescent.
These pages contain several good character sketches, especi-
ally of those unknown humbler naturalists who can observe but
not write, and whose knowledge is in an inverse ratio to their
NOTICES OF, NEW BOOKS. 359
notoriety. Such an one appears as ‘‘ Old Mowl,” an upland
rover, whose remarks on the Viper are worth reproduction :—
‘* What he knew for a fact, however, was that one Viper would
sometimes devour another; for he had seen lying among the
furrows of a heath-bordered field a full-grown Viper with the tail
of a smaller one protruding from its mouth. He was inclined to
believe that occasional acts of cannibalism might be in part
responsible for the belief that Vipers swallowed their young when
danger threatened them.”” Another worthy, described as ‘‘ Old
Ben,’ a marshman, possessed much Cuckoo-lore based on
personal observation, and he stated that, as a rule, ‘“‘ one or
more of the foster-parent’s eggs were removed by the Cuckoo
when she placed her own egg in the nest. Once, indeed, he had
known one Cuckoo to remove another Cuckoo’s egg from a
Titlark’s nest, and drop it on the ‘wall’ on the border of the
fen.”
Mr. Dutt’s book will be read with pleasure by all naturalists
who are interested in Hast Anglian zoology.
Illustrations of British Blood-sucking Flies. With Notes by
Ernest Epwarp Austen. Published by order of the
Trustees of the British Museum.
THe number of blood-sucking flies found in the British
Islands, so far as present knowledge will allow a computation to
be made, is about seventy-four, comprised in a dipterous fauna
of some 2700 to 3000 species. Many of them have a distinct
relation to human disease, particularly species belonging to the
genus Anophiles with ague. The authorities of the British
Museum had commissioned Mr. A. J. Engel Terzi to provide
coloured drawings of these predaceous flies for exhibition in the
North Hall of our great institution, and it was felt that these
admirable figures migh be reproduced in book form, accompanied
by a descriptive text which Mr. Austen has ably contributed.
We thus possess a non-technical monograph of a number of
dipterous insects, and this will be alike welcomed by naturalists,
medical men, and rearers of stock in these islands, and probably
farther afield. The British distribution of these insects is given,
and much should be added by other collectors and observers. The
360 THE ZOOLOGIST.
coloured figures are produced by the three-colour process, which,
apart from some excellent effect, is subject to a most fatal dis-
advantage, the coated paper hitherto provided and necessary for
the production having been estimated as of a most perishable
nature, and devoid of permanent durability. This is said to
have been overcome by a new process adopted in the production
of these plates, and we hope that this result may have been
achieved.
British Flowering Plants. By W. F. Kirsy, F.L.S., F.H.S.
Sidney Appleton.
In this small but amply illustrated book, Mr. Kirby has
broken new ground, and left his favourite domain of entomology.
But it is not botanical to the exclusion of zoological matter, as,
in addition to making the recognition of many of our flowering
plants a quest of little difficulty, it refers to the larve of Lepi- ©
doptera which may be found feeding thereon, and thus enters —
the zoological purview. A lepidopterist without any botanical. fe
knowledge is but poorly equipped, and Mr. Kirby’s aim in pub-
lishing this book—if that was his intention—is a good one. The
angler might also slip this small volume in his creel, and when
the fish are not feeding might seek to know a little more about
some of the wild flowers that add so greatly to the pleasure of a
day by a river.
A
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Notes anb QUERIES :—
_ Mammatia.—Strange Disappearance of a Weasel, Alfred H. Cocks, 347. Note
on Bats, O. V. Aplin, 348. British Distribution of the Whiskered ‘Bata
(Myotis mystacinus), G. BE. H. Barrett-Hamulton, 349.
Aves.—Does the Blackbird eat Snails ? O. V. Aplin, O. Pickard- Cammbritne, 349, R
Distribution of the Corn-Bunting in Wales, EH. A. Swainson, 350. Snowy
Owl (Nyctea scandiaca) in Ireland, W. J. Williams, 351. Eggs of Razorbill
(Alca torda), EH. G. Potter, 851. Notes on the Little Grebe (Podzcupes
fluviatilis), Chas. Oldham, 351. Birdsnesting in August, Robert H. Read,
353. Curious Experience with a Savage Cock, G. T. Rope, B04. Corrigenda,
O. V. Aplin, 354.
Pisces. —Rare Fish at Yarmouth, Arthur H. Patterson, 354, Loch Broom Sex
Monster (with illustration), W. H. Workman, Jos. T. Henderson, T. South-
well, 355.
InsEecta.—Notes on the Mole Cricket (Gr alonalp’ vulgaris), Gordon Dalgliesh,
Maleolm Burr, 357. a
Notices oF New Books, 358-360.
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Plate V.
Zool. 1906.
‘VINVETY NI SOdSTdO SONVONTH
Poe LZOOLOGIST
No. 784.—October, 1906.
PELICANS AS OBSERVED IN EASTERN EUROPE.
By R. B. Lopes.
(Puate V.)
A pHoToGRaPHic and collecting expedition to Hastern Kurope
in search of Pelicans (Pelecanus crispus and P. onocrotalus) and
Great White Herons (Ardea alba), in the spring of 1906, proved
to be not the least interesting of the expeditions I have made
after the rarer birds of Kurope. It was successful so far as
P. crispus and A. alba, but P. onocrotalus has evaded my
search. It was memorable also for several other species met
with for the first time, and last but not least, for the great
kindness I experienced everywhere, not only from the orni-
thologists of Budapesth, Sarajevo, and Bucarest, but from many
others in various parts of Montenegro, Albania, Hungary, and
Roumania.
After short stays at Budapesth and Sarajevo, the train was
taken to Gravosa, on the Adriatic. From there the only means
of travel is by the comfortable steamers of the Austrian Lloyd
or the Hungaro-Croatia lines.
My first destination was to a small town on the Adriatic
coast, where, from information received, I expected to find
P. crispus. On first arrival at this very picturesque and inter-
esting little port, I was unable to speak or understand a single
Zool. 4th ser. vol. X., October, 1906. 2F
362 THE ZOOLOGIST.
word ; but after some somewhat weird experiences, and after I
had engaged a room at the only inn, I was fortunate enough to
make the acquaintance of a Montenegrin law student, who spoke
French, besides nearly all the other European languages, English
and Spanish being the only ones he did not understand. His
assistance was simply invaluable, and by its means I was able to
engage men and horses, and to explore the neighbourhood. A
small lake was the first place visited, but, though I had been
told they nested there a few years ago, I failed to see a single
bird. Purple Herons were just beginning to build, being seen
carrying sticks and building materials, and Marsh- Harriers were,
as usual, very abundant. One Pigmy Cormorant was noticed,
and great quantities of Coots and Ducks.
A Marsh-Harrier being seen sitting on what looked at a dis-
tance as if it might be a nest, I waded into the reeds to investi-
gate. There was no nest as it happened, but while searching a
something on the surface of the water attracted my attention.
It looked like a bird, but, being quite motionless, I thought it was
dead, and waded up to see. On getting near it proved to be a
Little Bittern (Ardetta minuta), and alive. The bird was crouch-
ing on the surface of the water in a most curious and unbird-like
attitude, and allowed me to come so close that I was impressed with
the idea to try and catch it alive. Walking slowly through water
up to my waist, I succeeded in grasping it round the neck, and
astonished my boatmen by taking it back alive. Then it sat on
my knee for more than an hour, making no attempt to escape,
but towards evening it became more lively. It was probably
trying to escape the notice of the Marsh-Harrier in the first
place, and then my arrival on the scene caused it to remain as
it was for the same reason.
A few days later another locality further south was visited,
and here, for the first time, I saw Pelecanus crispus in a wild
state. On nearing the mouth of a small river three huge birds
flying past proved to be Pelicans, and afterwards we saw more
of them fishing and resting on the sand. It was not possible to
approach nearer than five hundred yards, and, though I tried
one photograph at this range, the distance was too great for it to
be of any practical use. We found no nests, nor could we see
any sign of any nesting colony. It was, however, impossible to
PELICANS AS OBSERVED IN EASTERN EUROPE. 363
ascertain whether they were breeding, further search being for-
bidden by three men armed with loaded rifles.
After this stoppage I was particularly glad to receive a
pressing invitation from the consul of a place further down the
coast to pay him a visit. I heard that Pelicans could be seen
from the windows of his house. Such an opportunity was too
good a one to lose, and I packed up and departed by the first
steamer I could get. I found a hearty welcome on arrival, and,
in fact, experienced the advantage of my host’s influence and
position before I reached his house, for I had to send for him in a
hurry to come and rescue me and my belongings from the officials
of Turkish custom-house. They had opened all my luggage, and
every individual article was strewed about on the floor; my gun
and cartridges were seized, and, finally, they wanted to open all
my boxes of plates. This was too much to stand, and I managed
by energetic protest to stay proceedings until he arrived, and
carried us off in triumph to his house. The gun and cartridges,
however, had to remain where they were until the governor was
persuaded to return them a day or two afterwards. The ordeal
of passing a Turkish custom-house is something to be dreaded.
Elsewhere some insulated wire for my electric camera was con-
fiseated. I took this away again from the official, but when the
battery was found, that was pounced upon, and I had to give up
the rescued wires, which were, of course, of no use without the
battery. In vain [ asserted I had the governor’s permission, and
that he had received instructions to assist me, and that I should
demand from him their return. I got them back the next day,
after complaining to the governor and consul. The fact is, they
seize anything they do not understand, and, as most things are
beyond the Turkish comprehension, the result is annoying for
the unfortunate traveller. Books, for instance, are forbidden
articles, and will probably be confiscated, and sent to Constanti-
nople for examination.
I found that my host spoke excellent English, besides speak-
ing fluently seven or eight other languages, and was a thorough
good and keen sportsman, and also a naturalist ; while his
official position and knowledge of the people enabled him to show
me more of the country than would have been possible for any-
one less influential.
2F2
364 THE ZOOLOGIST.
It turned out to be quite true that Pelicans could be seen
from the windows of the consulate. There were constantly about
a dozen fishing or resting on the low islands in the lagoon ; but
I soon began to doubt whether any were nesting there, for the
_ great majority of the birds were immature. A fortnight’s hard
work, wading to all the islands, and searching the reed-beds,
failed to produce any signs of a nesting colony. ‘The fishermen,
too, confirmed this idea, for they told us that no nests had been
seen there for very many years.
In the meantime every effort was made to photograph a
Pelican by lying in wait for them near their favourite places,
and by trying to drive them within range of the camera. The
automatic electric-photo trap was also tried, sometimes being
left out all night, in the hope of an early morning success, when
the birds might be less suspicious of danger. But all these
efforts were of no avail ; while it was impossible to approach
them by stalking with the camera at nearer than five hundred
yards, at which distance even such huge birds as Pelicans are
not worth photographing even with the telephoto lens.
At this point the map of the surrounding country was con-
sulted, as we felt confident that there must exist some nesting
place at no very great distance. Eventually we determined to
ride for three or four days, and search two or three likely places,
taking with us in pack-saddles just bare necessaries, so that we
could travel lightly, and cover as much ground as possible. The
first night was spent at the house of an Albanian bey, who
entertained us hospitably with a lamb roasted whole, and the
many courses of a regular Turkish dinner. The next morning
we started early, with two of his followers armed with Martinis
as guards and guides. As guides, however, they were not an
unqualified success, for towards the afternoon they appeared to
have lost their way, and we found ourselves on the wrong side
of a big lake. Here we took direction ourselves after a look
at the map, and struck out a line across very swampy and
treacherous country. Hventually we found ourselves in the right
direction, after nearly getting bogged in the swamps, and experi-
encing some difficulty in crossing a narrow but deep river, and
several broad ditches. On the way we put up two Sea-Hagles
(Haliaétus albicilla), and two Egyptian Vultures (Neophron
PELICANS AS OBSERVED IN HASTERN EUROPE. 365
percnopterus) from a dead and putrid cow. A very large flock
of Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) was also seen, and on the
reedy shores of the lake many Squacco Herons (Ardea ralloides),
and Little Kerets (Herodias garzetia). The whole lake, which
was of large extent, appeared to be grown over with dense reeds,
except in one or two open places, which could be seen in the dis-
tance from the hills. But we could see no signs of nesting
Pelicans, and the natives assured us that none nested there.
We turned our backs then on this lake, after a rest and
something to eat under the shade of a big fig-tree, and rode for
some hours over the hills through a thick scrubby forest, follow-
ing a narrow track which wound in and out of the trees, until we
arrived in the evening at a small village. At the house of the chief
inhabitant, a well-to-do peasant, we found an hospitable welcome.
My friend, myself, and our host were waited upon, as we sat at
dinner on the floor around a low table about four inches high, by
six gigantic Albanians, each with a double row of shining cart-
ridges round his waist; their rifles hung ready for instant use
on the walls, which were loopholed for musketry fire. It turned
out that the master of the house had a blood feud or “‘ vendetta”
hanging over him, and had to maintain a bodyguard of ten
men as a protection. Nevertheless, in the morning he rode
out on his mare to accompany us a part of our way, and to
engage for us two fishermen as guides to a neighbouring
lagoon, where he thought the Pelicans might possibly be found.
These two fishermen were wild-looking fellows, with faces like
HKagles, and were clad in loose brown garments. They assured
us that the Pelicans were nesting, and that they could take us
to the place. As on cross-examination they really seemed to
know what they were talking about, and knew, for example, the
right colour of a Pelican’s egg, and how many were laid, our
hopes began to revive. One of them could speak Italian, like
most of the fishermen and sailors on’ this coast, and seemed
more intelligent than one might expect from his appearance. We
lost no time, and were soon afloat in two rude dug-out canoes,
which the men managed skilfully with single paddles. In the
far distance we soon saw a mass of white objects. These, they
told us, were Pelicans on their nests, and we scrutinized them
eagerly through our glasses as we advanced. At first sitting, as
366 THE ZOOLOGIST.
we were low down, level, or a little below the surface of the water,
they appeared to be on the further shore of the lagoon in front
of a fringe of tamarisk-bushes, which we hoped would serve us
as a screen to enable us to approach them unobserved. As we
drew near, however, we saw that, instead of being, as we had
supposed, on the mainland, the nests were placed on two low
sandy islets devoid of any vegetation more than a foot high.
The men had told us that they could bring us to within thirty
yards of the birds without unduly alarming them, and this was
found to be correct. Getting out of my canoe into the shallow
water with the camera, I made a few exposures, but my stock of
plates was very limited, as one box had had its contents com-
pletely smashed and pulverized by some accidental knock in the
pack-saddles during our cross-country journey. We therefore.
hurried back, determined to bring a tent and supplies for a few
days, with a full stock of photographic necessaries. The con-
sulate was reached the following day, and we began our prepara-
tions at once, so that early the next morning we were able to
dispatch two pack-horses early, thus giving them a good start,
while we ourselves followed a couple of hours later. By riding
hard all day over the hills, only stopping to give our horses and
ourselves a rest and a feed at midday, we reached the forest
on the shores of the lagoon in time to pitch the tent before
dark.
Though we were quite a strong party, including, besides our-
selves, four men armed with Martinis and magazine rifles, it was
considered by the natives a very rash thing to sleep in this forest.
There was, as a matter of fact, some chance of an attack, as it
was a notorious resort for robbers; but the night, or two nights,
passed quite quietly and peaceably. We were certainly much
more comfortable in our well-appointed tent than we should
have been in the village; and we slept much better—my friend
in a camp-bed, and myself in a sleeping-bag on a bed of leaves,
covered with a mackintosh-sheet—than on doubtful sheepskin
rugs. After dark the effect was very fine. as the light of the
camp-fire flickered on the picturesque costumes and equipment
of our attendants, bringing their forms into strong relief against
the gloomy and mysterious background of the forest.
Karly in the morning we were afloat again, and I was soon
PELICANS AS OBSERVED IN HASTERN EUROPE. 367
landed at the back of the island, and left alone with the Pelicans.
There was no particular difficulty in approaching them slowly
and gradually, taking care not to cause them undue alarm at
first. JIadvanced nearer and nearer, taking photographs at each
step, until, after some time, they allowed me to come within
twelve or fifteen yards. If sometimes they left their nests it was
only for a short distance, and they soon returned as they became
more confident that I was not dangerous. And a great satis-
faction it was to be at last at such close quarters with these
birds, which had evaded my pursuit for a good month, and to be
able to watch the habits of such a wary and comparatively little-
known species.
The nests were generally in groups of six or eight together,
some of them quite small and flat on the ground—mere flat
trodden rings of sticks; but in each group there were generally
one or two considerably higher than the rest. These were well
and completely made of sticks, and about two feet high—very
similar to a Cormorant’s nest. Two eggs seemed to be the full
clutch ; these were long and white, rough and chalky, but by
this date (May 4th) the young had nearly all hatched. How-
ever, | obtained nine clutches altogether, and might have taken
some more. Some of the young were still in the nests; a few
only a day or two old, others as large as a goose, and many
more, nearly as large as their parents, were sitting on the sand,
or swimming in the shallow water of the lagoon. The younger
ones progressed by crawling, helping themselves along with
their wings. Those in down presented a curious appearance.
Their colour was a dull dirty white, with leaden-coloured beaks
and feet, and small pouches of the same colour. From the
young ones proceeded a constant moaning sound, like the lowing
of cows or Buffaloes.
The stomach of a young bird in down which I skinned was
enormously distended, and contained a large double-handful of
what appeared to be vegetable matter. It was difficult to imagine
that it proceeded from a fish diet, but rather resembled the con-
tents of the stomach of a goose after grazing in a field.
I had several opportunities of watching the young Pelicans
being fed by their parents. Naumann says that P. onocrotalus
feeds its young from the pouch. In the case of P. crispus, at
368 THE ZOOLOGIST.
any rate, the young bird inserts its whole head down the parent’s
throat, much lower than the opening of the pouch. In fact, the
point of the young bird’s beak could be most distinctly seen
pressing from inside at the base of the old bird’s neck. In this
observation I was corroborated by my friend the consul, who
from an adjacent islet was watching the birds through his glass,
while lying prone on the sand. His description of what he saw
exactly corresponded with what I have described.
The old birds frequently yawned, stretching their necks and
beaks upright, at the same time arching their lower mandibles,
which are exceedingly flexible, into the shape of a hoop. It may
be, perhaps, that this is an attempt to dislodge the numbers of
parasites, apparently intestinal worms, which were adhering in
large numbers to the inner skin of the pouch of an adult female
which was shot and skinned.
The peculiar character of the skin was very noticeable. It
was porous and cellular to an extraordinary degree, resembling a
series of innumerable air-bubbles. Even the body had large air-
cavities, and the bones were very hollow. This porosity, no
doubt, helps to support their huge bodies in the air, and must
serve a most useful purpose during flight. They can fly well and
strongly, with the head drawn back and the beak resting on the
doubled-back neck.
This colony had its parasites. Hooded Crows (Corvus corm)
and Gulls (Larus cachinnans) walked about in a most impudent
and familiar manner among the Pelicans. They no doubt act
as scavengers, and devour any fish dropped, and probably they
also eat the eggs and any dead young birds. The fishermen de-
scribed how the Eagles spent whole days devouring young Peli-
cans, and we found a nearly full-grown young one almost entirely
eaten, while near by lay the feather of an Imperial Hagle.
The fishermen, by the way, appeared to regard the Pelicans
in a very friendly way, and did not look upon them, as I had
been told, as rivals in business. On the contrary, they seemed
to have a sort of superstitious liking for them, and were very un-
willing for any of them to be shot. They denied altogether their
feeding on fish, and were quite surprised when a mass of eels
which they had disgorged was pointed out to them. On the
other hand, they gladly went in pursuit of a wounded Larus
PELICANS AS OBSERVED IN EASTERN EUROPE. 369
cachinnans, which had been winged, and described these birds as
being very mischievous, and doing much damage to the fishing.
The soil of the islands was entirely composed of shells—
broken-up cockle-shells. The only vegetation was a species of
samphire, growing like heather, but this only flourished where
there were no nests. In this samphire were countless hosts of
mosquitoes and poisonous-looking horse-flies, and I fully expected
to be fearfully tormented. However, much to my relief, I was
not stung once during my five hours’ stay on the islet. I met
the same flies later in the Dobrudscha, when I was not so lucky.
They can fetch blood every time!
This expedition of ours, being quite unauthorized, caused
sreat excitement in the minds of the Turkish authorities. It
was reported that an Englishman was travelling about the
country, and inquiries and official reports were flashing along
the telegraph-wires between Scutari and Constantinople. As
they could not get hold of me they put into prison the poor
Albanian, whose only offence was that he had given us food and
shelter for a night. He was accused of “ conspiring with
foreigners,” and some difficulty was experienced in effecting his
release. As it happened, I had official permission from Con-
stantinople, but had not known I was within the jurisdiction of
the Governor-General of Scutari, to whom I had been recom-
mended. I called on him later, and found him very courteous
and obliging. It will not, however, be very easy in future for
anybody to penetrate as far as the locality we visited, for the
natives will not unnaturally oppose any visit for fear of getting
into trouble again. This is no doubt exactly the effect desired
by the Turks, and, after all, perhaps it may serve a good pur-
pose, for the Pelicans seem to be receding further and further from
civilization. I can only hope that this particular colony may
remain undisturbed for many years.
370 THE ZOOLOGIST.
IDENTIFICATION OF WILD DUCKS’ DOWNS.
By J. A. Harviz-Brown, F.R.S.E., F.Z.S8.
I wise to refer back to old papers on this subject which
appeared in ‘The Zoologist’ and ‘Ibis,’ and as they seem to
have been forgotten, or are unknown to many of our younger
ornithologists, to ask if their reproduction in 1906 might not be
advisable ?
For convenience, I place the two papers referred to in parallel
columns, with cross-references. |
Let me also recommend that all examinations and com-
parisons of ‘‘downs”’ be conducted as follows :—
The downs should be cleared of all extraneous matter, such.
as moss, blades of grasses, leaves, &¢., which may have got mixed
with the downs.
Any flank-feathers found in the nest should be carefully pre-
served and placed in a small envelope, and bear careful authen-
tication, same as the eggs and down of each ‘‘ clutch.”
(a). The downs only of first nests should be collected, or, if of
jirst aud second layings of the same species, must be kept in
separate boxes, &c.
(b). Downs in bulk, after cleaning, should be placed with the
egos of same ‘“‘clutch” in square glass-topped boxes, and the
downs should be so disposed as to rise up close to the glass tops,
and present a uniform and smooth appearance.
(c). The measurements of the eggs, carefully taken by oometer*
in millimetres, should be entered on a card or slip, and enclosed,
with full authentication, in the above-mentioned small square
envelopes, along with the flank-feathers (if any). The feathers
may be fixed in some convenient manner also to the card
or slip.
(d). Separate sprays of down may in like manner be affixed,
* The odmeter I have always used is one made by J. Buck, Newgate
Street, and Waterloo Road, Lambeth.
IDENTIFICATION OF WILD DUCKS’ DOWNS. ov1
neatly, to cards or slips, or folded pieces of paper, for comparing
under Sommerfeldt’s system, and the microscope.
(e). But first and foremost, and most important of all, each
*‘elutch”’ or nest of eggs, and accompanying down and feathers,
must be carefully collected and thoroughly identified; and it is
impossible to expend too great trouble in this authentication, as a
first and necessary step, if the collection is to be of any value or use-
fulness afterwards.
(7). Then—and supposing a collection of thoroughly identified
clutches (I don’t admire the word ‘‘clutch”’: it reminds me of
rather wholesale lifting ; but l use it as at least descriptive) have
been procured and carefully treated—then these should be exa-
mined and compared always in a northern light, and in absence
of direct sun-rays—an artist’s light, in fact—?zf in bulk. Single
sprays may (ought to) be examined in both lights, and results
carefully noted in note-book or on cards enclosed in the boxes.
(g). An ordinary Salvin cabinet drawer of requisite depth will
hold eight of these boxes, and the drawer may have a lid, or be
only a tray with arum, slightly higher than the boxes.
(h). If an extensive collection for more thorough comparisons
be made, each drawer may be used to hold, say, as many as eight
‘‘ clutches” of the same species from different localities ; or, if
this be considered too wholesale a method, one or two eggs with
the downs may suffice. Or, if the items be reduced to, say, four
of each species, or two of each species, still there will be good
material for comparisons, either inter se, or subsequently with
others which require authentication.
Needless to say, the collector’s note-books ought to contain
the very fullest and most careful accounts of each “ setting of
egos,” and it would be well if photography can be called in to
identify the birds upon the nests.
I now proceed to revise the articles.
Ducks’ Down.
1st.—Dresser, H. E. (Zool. 1867, June, p. 776), quotes Som-
merfeldt in his ‘‘ List of the Birds noticed in Hast Finmark,”’
Zool. §. 8. 700, and ditto, 761, &c.).
Sommerfeldt described the downs of the following ducks taken
from nests by Lapps, from sINGLE SPRAYS.
372 THE 4ZOO0LOGIST.
2nd.—Seebohm and myself made careful examinations and
comparisons of ten species of Ducks’ downs, collected by our-
selves in Russia; but we described ours from the down IN BULK.
These ten species are here given in the second column, and we
endeavoured to classify these ten downs in our paper in the
‘Ibis’ for 1876, p. 62—classed A. B. C. D.—i. e.:— _
A. White downs. B. White-tipped downs. C. Large dark
downs, without white tips. D. Small dark downs, without white
tips.
Besides the above ten species, I have also taken (collected
myself) eggs and downs of the following species :—Red-breasted
Merganser and Goosander, Mallard, Pochard, Tufted Duck.
And of the ten species we obtained in Russia, I have also
collected eg¢s and down of Wigeon, Scoter, Teal, and Shoveler
elsewhere.
Of other Ducks, I possessed eggs and downs of several other
Kuropean species, including Marbled Duck, Iceland Golden-eye ;
and down of Greylag- and Bean-Geese (the latter taken in Russia,
the Greylags taken in Britain by myself).
But all the above were lost by fire in 1897.
Since then I have formed another series, numbering some
fifteen species, including species taken by, or collected by,
the late John Young, who left me his collection, and others
obtained through Mr. Marsden, of Bristol, by purchase; but I
do not use these latter at all in the table above given, as this
latter series may be correctly identified and authenticated, or
may not; and I have no means available for getting to bed-rock
truth about them, though I must say I believe them to be correct
—though without possessing the absolute proof which appears
still to be necessary to have Ducks’ nests identified to the com-
plete satisfaction of naturalists generally, viz. shooting the birds
off the nests, or photographing them on the nests, or watching them
go off or on to the nests, by experienced ornithologists and able
collectors (2). But it does seem to me that something more
might be done than has yet been done, on these now somewhat ~
old-fashioned lines, by young ornithologists who have good
opportunities and sufficient patience and sound judgment of
circumstances—scientific practice or scientific logical training,
in fact.
IDENTIFICATION OF WILD DUCKS’ DOWNS.
373
SOMMERFELDT’s DESCRIPTIONS FROM
SINGLE SPRAYS.
SEEBOHM AND HARVIE-BRowNn’s
DESCRIPTIONS FROM BULK.
A. CLANGULA.—The very thin light
down is white; the centrum pwre
white; rami rather long, white,
with a slight grey tinge towards
the points. The radii are not long,
and lay rather close. (See A. of
class, opposite column.)
A. GLACIALIS.—The rather thick and
close down is blackish grey, like
soot, with a light centrwm, and
consists of larger andsmaller down.
The smaller down has the centrum
light grey, and the rami light
blackish grey right owt to the point.
The larger down has the centrum
light blackish grey; the rami dark
blackish grey out to the point ;
the radii long, standing owt almost
at right angles. (See D. of class,
opposite column.)
A. acuta.—The rather large, thick,
and close down is light greyish
brown, with white centrum, mak-
ing the white point of the rami
appear indistinct ; the centrum is
quite pale brownish white; the
rami grey towards the light cen-
trum, shaded outwards with light
greyish brown, the outer point
being white; the radii rather long,
and standing owt. (SeeB. of class,
opposite column.)
A. PENELOPE. — The large and not
close down is dark greyish brown,
with light centrum, but the white
points are clearly visible; the cen-
trum is greyish white; ramirather
long, dark greyish brown, with a
white pornt of rather more than
one line in length; the radii long,
and sticking out, and not lying
close. The down has therefore
some resemblance to that of A.
acuta, but is darker, and the long
white points clearly seen. (See B.
of class, opposite column.)
A. WHITE Down: (1) Smew, down
large, greyish white; (2) Golden-
eye, down scarcely to be distin-
tinguished from Smew’s, but has a
slight bluish tinge. (See opposite
under A. clangula.)
B. WHITE-TIPPED: (1) Pintail; (2)
Wigeon.
(1) Pintail.— Down smaller than (2) ;
brown, with pale centres, indis-
tinctly tipped with white. (Som-
merfeldt calls this ‘rather large,
thick, and close.’’ Our comparison
is smaller than (2) of same class.)
(2) Wigeon.—Down larger than (1), of
same class of white-tipped downs;
darker brown than (1), pale centres,
long and conspicuous white tips.
C. LarGE DARK, WITHOUT WHITE
Tips.
(1) Black Scoter.— Down medium
size, darker brown than Pintail’s,
lighter than Wigeon’s; centres
pale but conspicuous.
(2) Velvet Scoter.—Down larger than
Black Scoter’s; darker than Pin-
tail’s or Wigeon’s; centres less
conspicuous than Black Scoter’s.
(3) Scawp.—Down about the same
size as Velvet Scoter’s, but darker;
centres inconspicuous.
D. SMALL DARK, WITHOUT WHITE
Tips.
(1) Long-tailed Duck.—Downsmall,
darkish brown ; with pale centres.
(2) Shoveler.— Down small, darker
than Long-tailed Duck’s; pale
centres.
(3) Teal.—Down small, darker brown
_ than either Long-tailed Duck’s or
Shoveler’s; pale centres.
374 THK ZOOLOGIST.
SOMMERFELDT’S System. SEPARATE | SEEBOHM AND Harvie-Brown’s
SPRAYS. TasLes. In Bux.
A. crEccA.—The short but close down
looks greyish brown, with whiter
spots on the grownd of the white
centrum, and small white down;
the lesser down has the centrum
white; rami greyish brown; the
white radii at the centrum rather
close, whereas the brown radii are
over one line long, and placed
rather apart fron one another.
(See D. of class, opposite colnmn.)
A. niagRraA.—The fine but thin down . :
(taken off a bird in June) is very | It might be a help to working
light, with a reddish grey tinge; | naturalists if collectors who
the centrum is white; the rami ;
rather long, white, with a reddish Possess THOROUGHLY AUTHEN-
grey tinge, and light grey point ; TIC collections of Duck’s egos
the radii are very short, and stand and downs would assist.
out at almost right angles. (See | here are—LET IT BE REMEM-
C. of class in opposite column.) BERED—many circumstances
A. FuscA..—The down (taken off a which militate against deal-
bird in June) is dark, with light ers’ eges being admitted in”
grey spots; the centrum light scientific comparisons.
brownish grey; rami rather long,
dark greyish brown, with - light
grey points. (See C. of class in
opposite column.)
MERGUS SERRATOR.— The short but
rather thick and close hanging
down is light blue-grey ; the cen-
trum light grey, almost white; the
short rami light blue-grey, with
quite short light grey points ; the
radii light blue, with grey points,
giving the whole down the ap-
pearance of being strewn with
meal-dust.
N.B. this—The above were examined 1N BULK in a clear but
not too bright light, and in the absence of direct rays of sunshine.
It should also be borne in remembrance what heads the
columns, v?z. examined IN BULK and not IN sprays only; so we did
not go into the comparative descriptions of the rami and radi
as Sommerfeldt did. I think that may require a more micro-
scopical examination.
(375 -)
NEWFOUNDLAND SEALING, 1906.
By Tuomas SourHWwELL, F'.Z.S.
NotwitHsTaNpDING the unfavourable result of the sealing voyage
of 1905, this precarious industry has been pursued with increased
vigour in the past season, three additional steamers having been
added to the fleet, bringing the number up to twenty-five. One
of these is the ‘Adventure,’ of 829 tons, the largest and most
powerful vessel ever engaged in this business; the others are the
‘ Havana,’ of 190 tons, and the ‘ Terra Nova,’ of 450 tons. Only
six of these sailed from St. Johns, four from Channel (Port-aux-
Basques) for the Gulf sealing, the rest from the more northerly
ports of Pool’s Island and Wesleyville. The eastern sealing has
been very successful, and the catch much more evenly distributed
than last year, no fewer than eleven vessels having more than
15,000, five others having between 10,000 and 15,000, and of the
remaining nine 6786 was the lowest. The average of the twenty-
five vessels was 13,673, and the total number of Seals captured
341,836, valued at £121,509. ‘To these must be added some
45,000 taken by the Magdalene Islands. At the eastern sealing,
the ‘ Adventure’ headed the list with 30,193 pelts, the ‘ Neptune’
coming in second with 24,020. The Gulf steamers did badly,
owing to stress of weather and the unfavourable condition of
the ice.
The main patch of the breeding Seals was struck some ninety
or hundred miles N.N.E. of the Funks, twenty-one of the vessels
speedily being amongst them, and 280,000 are said to have
been slaughtered between the 16th and 20th of March—24,000
of these in one day. The close proximity of the vessels, it is
alleged, led to several instances of the misappropriation of each
other’s ‘‘ pans,” and caused much ill-feeling. The ‘ Adventure’
was the first to get into the patch (on the 11th), closely followed
by the ‘ Neptune,’ where for a time they had it all to themselves
(the others having gone too far north), hence their superior
376 THE ZOOLOGIST.
success; and the former vessel then proceeded in a north-
easterly direction in search of what is known as “Capt. Charlie’s
patch of Hammer Heads” (see last year’s Notes, p. 862), but
without success, and thus missed the Hoods, of which she cap-
tured only seventy-three young and fifty-four old ones. The
‘Bloodhound ’ was the first steamer to return, reaching Harbour
Grace on March 27th.
Mr. Chafe’s circular gives the following analysis of the results
of the voyage :—The number of Harps was 301,486 young, 3122
old, and 8534 Bedlamers (i.e. over-year Seals) ; 17,810 young
and 10,937 old Hoods. The young Harps were in excellent con-
dition, but the Hoods very poor.
The spring was very rough and cold, and much sickness pre-
vailed amongst the men in the shape of colds, frost-bites, and
pneumonia, resulting in no less than four deaths.
I cannot close these notes without expressing my sincere
regret for the rather sudden death, at the age of seventy years,
of my valued correspondent, Sir Robert Thorburn, K.C.M.G.,
which took place on the 13th March last. Since the year 1852,
when he left his Scotch home to take up his residence in St.
John’s, Sir Robert took an active part in the legislature of the
Colony, and for several years held the office of Premier. His
death has removed one of the most highly respected and in-
fluential inhabitants of the Colony, and I have been greatly
indebted to his courtesy for information relating to the fisheries
of Newfoundland, of which Board he was a member.
My thanks are due to Mr. Furneaux, editor of the St. Johns
‘Kvening Herald,’ for his kind assistance.
NOTES ON THE KITE (MILVUS ICTINUS) IN
SOMERSET.
By F. L. Buatuwayr.
In older days fivé royal forests existed in Somerset, namely,
Exmoor, Neroche, North Petherton, Selwood, and Mendip, and
it is onty reasonable to suppose that a forest-haunting bird like
the Kite must at one time have been very numerous in the
county. A glorious land it must have been in those old days for
the lovers of rural sport. Fine stretches of breezy moorland,
hundreds of acres of waving woods, lonely expanses of stagnant |
mere and swampy marsh harboured in plenty the various birds
and beasts of the chase. What merry hunting-parties from
Saxon to Tudor days these forests must have witnessed! Here,
indeed, King Alfred may have taught his haggard to stoop to the
lure, and here King John, ever keen for the chase and a frequent
visitor to Somerset, doubtless flew his well-trained Falcons at
Wild Duck, Heron, and Crane. Much of the wild glory of these
royal game-preserves has now departed, though some of them
still preserve many traces of their ancient features. In one of
them the wild Red-deer is still a beast of the chase, and the
clang of horn and deep notes of hound are heard there as in
days of yore. But the Kite is now a bird of the past. In the
times of the Stuart Kings it may here have formed a quarry for
the trained Gyr-falcons of the wealthy, but the birds were pro-
bably left much to themselves until the improvement in firearms
enabled man to wage an all too-successful war against these
ravagers of the poultry-yard. It is probable that a stricter form
of game-preserving, coupled with handier guns, tended to
diminish the numbers of this species, while the bird’s own fond-
ness of making raids on goslings and poultry no doubt hastened
its extinction. If we remember this habit, it is far more likely
that the money paid for the destruction of ‘‘Kites,’’ as recorded
in many old parish accounts, was really paid for the fork-tailed
Zool. 4th ser. vol. X., October. 1906. 26
378 THE Z4OOLOGIST.
bird, and not, as some suppose, for the Buzzard, a species which
shuns the haunts of man, and feeds chiefly upon Moles and other
small mammals. Hence it is that the mewing cry of the Buz- —
zard may still often be heard in our county, but the Kite has
gone for ever.
The task of trying to trace the former abundance of the Kite
in Somerset is a somewhat melancholy one. We have interesting
evidence that the species inhabited these regions some nineteen
hundred years ago, as its bones have been identified among
those of other birds unearthed from the lake-dwelling near
Glastonbury, which was discovered in 1892. To come to more
recent times, it is probable that this species haunted the fringes
of the meres on the central level of Somerset until they were
drained about acentury ago. Their nests would be placed among
the tall trees of the neighbouring forests, while the goslings and
poultry of the farmers, or the young of the numerous water-
fowl, would supply them with many a meal.
It is impossible to fix exactly the date when the Kite became
a rare bird in Somerset, though it is probable that the process of
extinction when once begun was rapid. As the trees disappeared
from some of the ancient forests, such as Mendip, the birds
would have to shift their quarters; but it appears that at the
close of the seventeenth century the species was quite numerous
in West Somerset, on the skirts of Exmoor.
From the churchwardens’ accounts for the parish of Luc-
combe, we learn that payment was made for the destruction of
five Kites in 1692, and again for sixteen Kites in 1701, at the
rate of twopence apiece. When we read in the same accounts
that threepence apiece was paid for Hedgehogs, it is evident that
the Kite could have been by no means a rare bird in those days.
Again, in the churchwardens’ accounts for Porlock, it is stated
that in the year 1738 nine Kites were paid for at the rate of
twopence apiece, while in 1754, 10s. 4d. was paid for sixty-two
Hedgehogs ; Foxes, Martens, and Badgers being paid for at the
rate of 1s. each. It is probable that many other interesting
scraps of information about the Kites might be gleaned from
similar parish accounts in other parts of the county.
If we look at the history of the bird in neighbouring counties,
we find that about 1825 it was not uncommon in the woodland
NOTES ON THE. KITE IN’ SOMERSET. 379
districts of central Devon, while its nest has been found in that
county at a much later date. In Gloucestershire it was not
uncommon in some districts about the middle of last century,
frequenting the sheep-pastures of the higher Cotswolds, and it
lingered on as a nesting species in the Forest of Dean until
about 1870. Itis probable that the Kite vanished from Somerset
as a resident species about the middle of the nineteenth century.
I can find scarcely any definite records of the finding of nests
and eggs, though old countrymen will sometimes say that the
birds were frequently to be seen in their early days, or in the
days of their fathers, and some testify to having seen the eggs.
A pair, however, were known to nest in the woods overhanging
the River Barle, above Tarr Steps, about the year 1850, the late
Joseph Jekyll, a former rector of Hawkridge, having often men-
tioned the fact to his family. This is the only definite record I
have come across of the nesting of the Kite in the county of
Somerset.
During the last forty years the Kite has only been a casual
visitor to Somerset, the examples seen having strayed perhaps
from the few remaining haunts in Wales. From time to time a
stray specimen has been trapped or shot, and has found its way
into some private collection or localmuseum. ‘The late rector of
Brushford, near Dulverton, has informed me in writing that the
last Kite he saw in those parts was soaring over his house about
the year 1883. In 1888 two Kites were obtained in the county—
one caught by a keeper in a trap set for young Kestrels, at
Chewton Mendip, and the other shot at Cleeve Wood, near Yatton.
These were both set up, and represent, so far as I know, the last
Kites obtained in the county.
And so in Somerset, as in the greater part of the British
Isles, the Kite is now a bird of the past, though at one time it
must have been quite numerous. We know that in the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries the bird was so abundant about London
Bridge, that foreigners visiting the city were struck by the fact,
and made mention of it in their writings.
380 THE ZOOLOGIST.
GOLDSMITH AS A NATURALIST.
By Bruce F. Cummines.
OniveR GoLpsmiITtH might have been a naturalist had the
opportunity presented itself. But he would undoubtedly have
first been poet and novelist, and Fate allowed him to go thus far
but little further. For it was his lot to earn his daily bread by
scribbling catchpenny compilations for the booksellers, and in
the spare moments to fight for fame by modelling his works of
genius. If he had only been granted a few more spare moments,
he could have spent them in the woods and fields, and we should
find his ‘ Animated Nature’ full of original observation, and in
every respect quite a different book.
However, of his few opportunities for studying nature he
made the very best; and there is pathos in the fact that, through
watching the ways of the spider in the dusty little garret in
Green Arbor Court, he was afterwards able to contribute an
article on its habits to ‘The Bee.’ Then one reads of his
observing the antics of the Rooks from the Inner Temple; walk-
ing in the lanes around the farmhouse on the Edgware Road—
another of his lodgings; and, in his happy Irish days, following
the gentle art of Izaak Walton, whose pretty writing he since
lived to honour with praise. During these short periods of
leisure, he saw more, thought more, and admired more than do
many in a lifetime. The high position he now holds in the
world of letters he owes primarily to his great love of the country
and the rural life—depicted in ‘ The Deserted Village’ and ‘The
Vicar of Wakefield’ with the originality and freshness which is
Nature’s own.
The chief fault in ‘Animated Nature’ is that it is a com-
pilation. Goldsmith borrows from a large number of authors,
including Buffon, Aristotle, Pliny, Linneus, Pennant, and
Swammerdam; however, he would probably have done better
GOLDSMITH AS A NATURALIST. 381
if he had quoted fewer authorities, and those more judiciously.
The whole eight volumes are interspersed with many very absurd
stories about beasts and birds, which his innate simplicity led
him half to believe. I will mention a few. Quoting, I believe,
Linneus, he says that a Squirrel, when it wants to cross a river,
finds a piece of bark, sets it afloat, and goes aboard; it reaches
the other side by using its tail like a fan or windmill! Imagine
this timid, unobtrusive creature, with the cunning of a Monkey,
watching its anchored ‘“‘bark”’ as it waits for a flood-tide or a
favourable wind.
We are informed, too, that the Albatross, on flying to an im-
mense height, tucks its head under one wing, and keeps afloat by
flapping the other; thus it roosts. ‘‘ What truth there may be
in this statement I will not take upon me to determine” is his
comment.
Goldsmith was quite aware of his ignorance of the natural
sciences, and he makes no attempt to hide it (for, in spite
of his vanity, he was unwilling apparently to assume an affec-
tation of great learning); but, nevertheless, the fear he shows
of passing decisive opinions, even on such fables as these, is
ridiculous.
A certain few Nightingales are related as being so clever that
they could talk like Parrots, and tell each other tales. ‘‘ Such
is the sagacity ascribed to the Nightingale.” Would that they
had lent a little of this superfluous quality to the credulous
author !
These wondrous stories are at all events amusing, and Dr.
Johnson prophetically remarked, ‘‘ He is now writing a Natural
History, and he will make it as interesting as a Persian tale.”
But the extravagant imageries of a Persian tale would not go to
form an ideal history of animated nature. The book might have
been even more fanciful, for in the preface Goldsmith writes that,
before he had read the works of the great French scientist Buffon,
it was his intention to treat what he then conceived to be an
idle subject ‘‘in an idle manner ’”’; for let us ‘‘ dignify Natural
History,” he says, “‘with the grave appellation of an useful
science, yet still we must confess that it is the occupation
of the idle and speculative rather than of the busy and
ambitious.”
382 THE ZOOLOGIST.
All is written in Goldsmith’s vivacious style, and the first
two volumes are to a certain extent excellent in subject matter,
for he was able to make use of Buffon as far as the end of the
history of quadrupeds. But in justice to Goldsmith, it must be
said that he had this help where he least wanted it, as, in
dealing with the earth, with man, and with the well-known wild
beasts, he had his own engaging descriptive powers, his own
knowledge of human nature and anatomy, and a multitude of
books, other than Buffon, fairly correct in their accounts of the
larger mammals.
Consequently, Goldsmith can, ‘“‘ with some share of con-
fidence,”’ recommend this part to the public, and also I would
suggest that his chapters on “‘ Sleep and Hunger,” and ‘‘ Smell-
ing, Feeling, Tasting,’ are as entertaining as any in the book.
In his history of birds and insects he is very meagre and con-
fused, like Pliny. His account of the reptiles is, as one would
expect, full of those curious mythical tales, in which Goldsmith
revelled more than in scientific facts. In many places through-
out this unique Natural History one relishes the numerous per-
sonal references which he introduced into most of his writings,
and here and there some really fine prose, as fine as any he
ever penned.
The naturalist will find amusement in assigning descriptions
to their right owners, and in discovering the names of species
but vaguely characterized. Then there is humour, which,
although unconscious, should not on that account be omitted
from among the merits of a book that are deserving of a wider
recognition. Of his personal references, 1 must not pass over
his touching remarks on ‘‘ Hunger,’ which he wrote perhaps at
a time when he felt his own wants becoming more serious day
by day:—‘‘In the beginning the desire for food is dreadful
indeed, as we know by experience. . . . Those poor wretches,
whose every day may be said to be an happy release from
famine, are known at last to die in reality of a disorder caused
by hunger, but which in common language is often called a
broken heart.” That death was his own, said Forster in his
‘Life.’ He (Goldsmith) pities Aldrovandus, the naturalist, whose
undeserving end was poverty and death in a public hospital, but
how much the more should we lament his untimely decease.
GOLDSMITH AS A NATURALIST. 383
Goldsmith might have lived on his own earnings, but un-
doubtedly he was extravagant. Yet could not the friendly
Reynolds, or the kind-hearted Johnson, have helped him through
the mire, or attempted to strengthen those weaknesses, which,
in so great and unfortunate a man, we should all be more or less
willing to overlook ?
Turning again to ‘ Animated Nature,’ let us see what Gold-
smith has to say of the pugnacity of the Puffin. As soon as a
Raven approaches to carry off its young, the Puffin, making a
curious noise like a dumb person trying to speak, catches him
under the throat with its beak, and sticks its claws into its
breast, which ‘‘makes the Raven try to get away.” At length
both fall into the sea, the Raven of course drowning, to leave the
Puffin to return unharmed to its nest.
The Woodpecker feeds sometimes in the following way. It
lays its tongue on an ant-hill, and waits until there are a
sufficient number of ants collected on it (for they mistake the
long tongue for a worm), when the clever bird suddenly with-
draws ‘‘the worm” and the ants with it, thus reaping a rich
harvest !
One can conceive how this curious habit (?) originated, but
what the Butcher Bird may be, which is little bigger than a
Titmouse and lives in the marshes near London, I cannot
determine.
Herons, he tells us, occasionally take their fish on the wing
by hovering as the Kingfisher does, but they do this only in the
shallows, because in the deeper parts the fish, as soon as they
see the Heron’s shadow, could sink immediately and swim out
of harm’s reach. The reader will notice many more such extra-
ordinary pieces of natural history to interest him, and not a few
to amuse him.
The Turtle is lachrymose and forlorn, for it sighs and sheds
tears when turned over on its back.
The Toad has only to sit at the bottom of a bush and to look
a little attractive, when the giddy butterflies ‘“‘fly down”’ its
throat. A fascinating Toad!
Goldsmith found some difficulty in deciding into what class
he should put the Lizards. ‘‘They are excluded from the
insects,” he argues, ‘‘ by their size, for, though the Newt may be
384 THE ZOOLOGIST.
looked upon in this contemptible light, a Crocodile would be a
terrible insect indeed.” To think they are excluded only by
their size!
It is astonishing that a man like Goldsmith should make
such an illogical statement as the above. The best that can be
said for it is that perhaps it is a sacrifice of sense to effect;
this is very unlikely, for he never wrote for effect. Genius,
however, is erratic, and Goldsmith, though he ‘‘ wrote like an
angel, talked like poor Poll”; though he was a brilliant poet,
he was a bad reasoner.
Johnson, though in general he thoroughly understood Gold-
smith’s character, and correctly valued his abilities, was hardly
right in describing him on the memorial in Westminster Abbey
as physicus. However, Johnson was quite unable to arrive at an
exact estimate in this matter, for natural history was a subject
which he understood even less than did Goldsmith, notwith-
standing that he knew Woodcocks must migrate; and thought
he knew that Swallows ‘‘ conglobulated together ’’ at the bottoms
of ponds and rivers in winter time. In the sense that he wrote
a Natural History, Goldsmith would perhaps consider himself
entitled to be termed a naturalist, though some of us would be
glad to earn such a distinction in so easy a manner.
He loved Nature and all God’s creatures, but he possessed
an “invincible aversion” to caterpillars—which a naturalist
would ascribe to his uneducated taste; he abhorred cruelty ;
and, with an Englishman’s prejudice, hated Germany, ‘‘ which
is noted,” he writes, ‘“‘if not for truth, at least for want
of invention.” It is from this fact, among others, that he
considers a German book to show some good marks of
veracity !
‘Animated Nature’ should be more generally read. Super-
ficial and out of date it is, perhaps, to the scientist, yet to
the field naturalist it is highly entertaining, and to the
student of Goldsmith’s character most helpful. All nature
lovers must ever remain indebted to Goldsmith for presenting
to the people that which had hitherto been hidden in the
repulsive garb of consummate learning and scientific names,
and thus exciting in the subject interest which is now very
widespread.
GOLDSMITH AS A NATURALIST. 385
There are very few who can spare time to study Nature
deeply (miserabile dictu), and the majority must content them-
selves ‘‘to view her as she offers, without searching into the
recesses in which she ultimately hides”; they must ‘take
her as she presents herself, and, storing their minds with effects
rather than causes, instead of the embarrassment of systems
about which few agree,’ they must be satisfied ‘with the
history of appearances concerning which all mankind have but
one opinion.” It is for this class of people that ‘ Animated
Nature’ was written.
386 THE ZOOLOGIST.
THE BIRDS OF THE DISTRICT OF STAINES.
By Granam W. Kerr.
(Concluded from p. 310.)
Mauuarp (Anas boscas).—Formerly the only appearances of
this bird were confined to small flocks visiting the river in the
most severe weather ; now, however, large flocks of several hun-
dreds winter on the reservoir, and this spring (1905) several
pairs remained to breed on some small ponds near by.
Common Tau (Querquedula crecca).—Small parties winter on
the reservoir.
WiacEon (Mareca penelope). —Some numbers visit the reser-
voir.
Pocuarp (Fuligula ferina).— During winter I have several
times seen a few on the lake at Virginia Water.
Turtep Duck (fF. cristata). — Occurs only at the reservoir,
where they are not so shy as the other Ducks, and do not asso-
ciate very much with them, preferring the company of the Coots,
with whom they swim about; they are often seen feeding and
diving quite close to the banks, though I have never seen them
leave the water as the Coot does.
Common Scoter (Gidemia nigra).—Two birds were shot on the
river some years ago just above Bell Weir Lock.
Rine-Dove (Columba palumbus).—Very numerous.
Stock-Dove (C. enas).—A few may be met with in Windsor
Forest.
TurtiLEe-Dove (Turtur communis).—Very common along the
Thames Valley.
PHEASANT (Phasianus colchicus).—Plentiful enough where they
are preserved. Around Virginia Water and in Windsor Forest
the eggs are taken up and hatched out under fowls, so that there
are enormous numbers of the birds. During a walk in this part
it is no uncommon thing to see three or four albino varieties in
BIRDS OF THE DISTRICT OF STAINES. 387
a very short space. It is noteworthy that these are always
females.
Common PartrinGs (Perdiz cinerea).— Well distributed through-
out the district.
RED-LEGGED ParTRIDGE (Caccabis rufa).—Of the rarest occur-
rence only.
Lanp-Ratn (Crex pratensis).—The numbers of this bird vary
considerably from year to year. The great June flood of 1903
Swept over acres and acres of meadow-land, and destroyed the
nests of all ground-breeding birds, besides working havoc among
the ditch- and low-bush-breeding Warblers. The Land-Rail was
one of the greatest sufferers from this visitation, yet, curiously
enough, the following year seemed to bring more than the usual
number of the birds.
SpotteD Crake (Porzana maruetta). — Laleham, 1857 (vide
Harting’s ‘ Birds of Middlesex,’ p. 205). I have not met with
the bird myself, but there is still much country well suited
for it.
Water- Ratu (Rallus aquaticus).—Rarely seen, but there must
be a good many along the river-banks, as men employed in
cleaning out the bottoms of osier-beds have frequently brought
me the eggs. ‘The latter, besides being larger and of a lighter
sround than the Land-Rail’s, also seem to be of thinner shell.
MoorHEeN (Gallinula chloropus). — Very common along the
river-banks. An excellent climber, and I have often seen it
moving about in high hedges with great ease. It is adverse to
taking to the wing, but can run at great speed. The Moorhen
has a great variety of calls, and is frequently heard late in the
night. The nest is sometimes placed fifteen or twenty feet from
the ground in the crown of some willow-tree, but is more usually
among reeds, or on a low branch of some bush just over the
water. The eggs are not covered over when the bird is absent
from the nest. A large number of weed collections are made
quite distinct from the nest, and what object they serve I have
not satisfactorily discovered. I call these collections ‘‘ stands,”
for I think the bird must use them to rest on, and probably sleep
on. Up to the present the Moorhen has not been observed on
the reservoir !
Coot (Fulica atra).—Very rarely seen on our part of the river,
388 THE ZOOLOGIST.
and never known to have bred there; yet during winter many
hundreds of them frequent the reservoir, and this spring several
pairs remained to breed on a piece of private water near by. I
could see the nest from the roadway, and, as I had never taken
a Coot’s eg, I particularly wanted one for my collection. I set
out one night after dark, and soon found the nest. As I waded
out the bird left the nest, and swam away, uttering loud cries,
vigorously splashing up the water, and continuing to do so
for some time. Later in the year a pair nested on Virginia
Waiter lake, which I do not think they have done before. At the
reservoir the birds readily leave the water, and wander far over
the grassy outer slopes of the embankment.
GotpEN Puover (Charadrius pluvialis). — Some twenty-five
years ago the Golden Plover was common on Staines Moor,
which was then a favourite winter resort for many birds. All
this is now changed, and the Golden Plover is only a straggler to
the district.
Lapwine (Vanellus vulgaris).— A common and increasing
species.
Common Snree (Gallinago colestis).— In hard weather a fair
number appear throughout the district.
JACK-SNIPE (G. gallinula). — Mr. Howard Saunders, in his
‘Manual of British Birds,’ p. 560, refers to a melanism of this
bird shot near Staines, and recorded by Mr. F. Bond.
Common SanpprpuR (Totanus hypoleucus).— Large numbers
occur on spring and autumn migration. In spring the bird
arrives from the middle of April onwards to the end of May, and
often not more than a month will elapse before the first of the
returning migrants appears.
Common CurLEW (Numenius arquata).—Passes overhead on
migration.
Buack-HEADED Guu (Larus ridibundus).—The most numerous
Gull on the reservoir ; they may often be seen in the fields around
following the plough.
Common Guiu (L. canus).—A few pass the winter on the
reservoir.
Great NortHEeRN Diver (Colymbus glacialis).—In ‘ The Zoolo-
gist’ (1902, p. 311) there is an interesting account of one of
these birds being caught with a rod and line at Virginia Water
BIRDS OF THE DISTRICT OF STAINES. 389
in the year 1881. In 1889 another example was shot by Mr. HE.
Hawes in a flooded field at Egham. It is remarkable that two
specimens should have been obtained so far inland within the
space of nine years, the more so as the reservoir was then un-
built.
Great CresteD GreBe (Podicipes cristatus)—As many as a
dozen nests are to be found on Virginia Water lake every year,
and one or two more are built on the small Obelisk Pond near at
hand. On the reservoir the bird is unusually plentiful, and it is
only for about three months (June, July, and August) of the year
that it is entirely absent from these waters. I have counted as
many as eighty birds in sight at the same time, and that | fancy
must be going on for an English record. In spring the male
utters a loud trumpeting cry, and when paired the birds often
swim up opposite to each other, and remain motionless for some
time with their beaks almost touching, as though they were
whispering some deep secret to one another. The nest is usually
a very substantial structure. The eggs are much pointed at both
ends, and usually number three or four, though a clutch of five
is not uncommon. When the birds are absent the eggs are
covered over with weed. The female alone appears to sit, the
male swimming about not far from the nest.
Lirtie Grese (P. fluviatilis). — Not particularly common on
our part of the river. More are to be found on various quiet
ponds, and these pond-birds breed at a considerably earlier date
than those on the main stream. ‘Three broods are reared, and I
once found a clutch of five eggs, though, as arule, I do not think
more than four are laid.
390 THE ZOOLOGIST.
NODES: 3 AND OU aS:
MAMMALIA.
Occurrence of Tursiops tursio, Fabr., on the Sussex Coast.—An
apparently adult female of this Dolphin was cast ashore dead between
Bognor and Littlehampton, Sussex, about the middle of last month
(September). In length from tip of snout to fork of flukes it measured
ten feet ten inches. Owing to the advanced stage of decomposition no
observations as to the external coloration were possible. The teeth
appeared to number twenty-two to twenty-three pairs; they were
much worn at apex, and in many cases decayed and even holed
through.—H. L. F. Guermonprez (Dalkeith, Bognor).
AVES.
Blackbird Laying Twice in the same Nest.—Referring to previous
communications (ante, pp. 235, 274, 312), two broods of Blackbirds
were some years ago hatched successively in the same nest in an
escallonia hedge in my garden here. They doubtless belonged to the
same parents, a pair which for a number of seasons utilized the hedge.
P. G. Ratre (Castletown, Isle of Man).
Does the Blackbird Eat Snails ?—To this query, so simple at first
sight, I should immediately reply in the affirmative ; but after carefully
reading Mr. A. H. Meiklejohn’s note (ante, p. 312) I determined to in-
vestigate the matter for myself, and not be led, rightly or wrongly, by
the many works consulted. That the Thrush does consume great
numbers of these tasty morsels I have had ample opportunities of
witnessing, but I cannot recall one single instance in which I had seen
the Blackbird doing the same; and it was not until the beginning of
last month (September) that I succeeded in seeing a Blackbird in the
very act of devouring a snail, which was of the striped species (Helix
nemoralis). It was early morning, and while dressing, I chanced to
look out of the window overlooking the small garden at the farmhouse
where we were staying; I saw a fine adult male Blackbird on the
gravelled path very busy with something on the ground, which looked
NOTES AND QUERIES. 391
to me very much like a snail. In order to be quite certain I immedi-
ately went downstairs, and, on opening the front door, the bird flew
away, leaving on the ground the broken and partly consumed snail.
Was this bird driven to depart from its usual fare during this excep-
tionally hot and dry summer ? wasa question that immediately occurred
to me, for Biackbirds were already attacking the apples which had fallen
to the ground (a fruit they rarely touch), and had commenced an attack
on the fruit still hanging to such an extent that they had become a
pest, and a little powder and shot had to be resorted to in order to thin
out their numbers. Determined to continue my investigations, I con-
sulted a few of my many gardening friends—one of them an ardent
and most careful observer—but, alas! not one of them could give me a
definite reply in regard to the Blackbird, though they were all quite
certain that the Thrush ate snails. Summing up the somewhat
meagre evidence before me, and taking into consideration the isolated
case just submitted, my answer to Mr. Meiklejohn’s question must be
adjourned sine die; but I would like to make the following observa-
tions :—(1) that in my humble opinion there is no hard and fast rule
in regard to the diet of the Blackbird; (2) that they do eat snails is,
and must be generally admitted, though only to a small extent com-
pared to the Thrush ; (3) probably they confine themselves more to the
smaller species, such as Helix nemoralis and H. hortensis. I quote the
following from Smith’s ‘ Birds of Somersetshire,’ p. 68, on the feeding
of the Blackbird :—January : seeds, spiders, and chrysalids. February:
the same. March: worms, buds of trees, and grubs. April: insects,
worms, and grubs. May: cockchafers and worms. June: worms,
grubs, and fruit. July: all sorts of insects, worms, and fruit. August:
the same. September: the same. October: worms, chrysalids, and
grubs of butterflies. November: seeds, corn, and chrysalids. Decem-
ber: the same. (The author quotes the above from a paper which
appeared in ‘The Zoologist’ for the year 1863 (p. 8760) on the “* Food
of Small Birds.”) It will be seen that this formidable menu does not
contain the snail, though Mr. Cecil Smith goes on to say that during
the dry summer of 1868 both Blackbirds and Thrushes have been
most busily employed in devouring snails, which bears out my con-
tention, but the inclusion of buds of trees in the above list I think
is an error.— P. F. Bunyarp (57, Kidderminster Road, Croydon,
Surrey).
Variety of Common Wren (Troglodytes parvulus).—On June 13th
of this year, when wandering along a green lane near Hlstree, in Hert-
fordshire, I met with a cream-coloured variety of the Common Wren.
392 THE ZOOLOGIST.
It was sitting with its brothers and sisters, all of the normal colour, on
an old Thrush’s nest in a large overgrown hedge. Wishing to examine
it more closely, and thinking that it had only recently left the nest, I
pursued it, but unfortunately it escaped owing to the thickness of the
hedge. Although I never met with it again, I saw it then sufficiently
clearly to observe that it was of a uniform cream-colour all over. This
I believe to be an uncommon occurrence in the Wren, and should be
glad to know if any other instances have been recorded. In the same
hedge, on May 12th, I saw a nest of the Golderest (Regulus cristatus)
in some ivy about eight feet above the ground, which I believe is an
uncommon nesting-site for this species. Last year I came across an
unusual instance of perseverance exhibited by the Common Wren. A
nest of that species was found in a gorse-bush in Battle, which on
April 27th contained two eggs; these were removed. The nest was
next examined on the 29th, when it again contained two eggs; these
were also taken, but in spite of this there were another couple of eggs
in the nest on May Ist. This rather does away with the theory that
a Wren always resents the slightest interference with its nest.—H.
Wuistier (Battle, Sussex).
Late Stay of Swift.—When sitting on the lawn close to the sea at
Chapel St. Leonards, I saw a Swift on Sept. 15th. The bird was hawk-
ing about, and came within ten yards of me several times. After a
lot of wind on the 21st the scrub on the back of sea-bank was full of
migrants. On the 22nd I was sitting on the top of the bank, and
heard a new bird note. I saw a smallish dark bird sitting on a dead
twig about six yards away, and got my glasses on it at once; it was a
female Rustic Bunting. I could see every feather, and had it under
observation for quite half a minute, when it flew southward over the
sand-hills. I also saw a female Pied Flycatcher, and hundreds of
commoner migrants, evidently a big lot working south. — J. Wutraxer
(Rainworth Lodge, Notts).
Iynx torquilla in Cheshire—A Wryneck was caught in a street-
lamp on the borders of Winsford at 7 a.m. on Sept. 9th. This is an
interesting observation, as from a reference to Coward and Oldham’s
‘Cheshire Birds,’ this is the sixth recorded instance in this county.—
Jorn Soursworts (92, Wharton Road, Winsford, Cheshire).
Hoopoe in Cheshire.— A male specimen of the Hoopoe (Upupa
epops) was taken near Chester on August 29th last. According to
Dr. Dobie’s list of the Birds of Cheshire and North Wales, this is the
third specimen recorded for this district. The first specimen was taken
NOTES AND QUERIES. 393
at Chester on Sept. 11th, 1792; the second specimen at Coed Coch,
North Wales. Circa twenty-six years. — A. Newstrap (Grosvenor
Museum, Chester). eon
The Hobby in Cheshire.—A fine adult male Hobby-Hawk (Malco
subbuteo) was taken at Tarvin, near Chester, early in August of this
year, and has recently been presented to the Chester Museum.—A New-
sTEAD (Grosvenor Museum, Chester).
_ Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus)—A young male was shot on
Twin Island, Belfast Lough, on Sept. 9th, and is now in the hands of
Messrs. Sheals, the well-known taxidermists here, where I had the
pleasure of examining it. The bird had been seen haunting the place
before it met with the usual welcome that is generally accorded a rare
visitor to our shores. This constitutes the second record for Belfast,
as, according to Thompson, one was shot in the bog-meadows on
Sept. 30th, 1819. It is interesting to note that both these birds
occurred in September, as, on referring to Ussher, whose ‘ Birds of
Treland’ now supersedes the former work, he states out of twenty-two
or more records of the capture of this bird in Ireland, and where dates
have been given, one occurred in September, ten in October and
November, and one in January.—W. C. Wriceut (Belfast).
Supposed Flamingo near Aldeburgh, Suffolka—While lately on a
cruise in the steamship ‘ Oithona’ (from Marine Biol. Laboratory, Lowes-
toft) fish-marking, &., besides other grounds, that of Hollesley Bay
was trawled northwards to beyond Orfordness, and anchor was cast for
the night abreast of Aldeburgh. Going ashore, through the kindness
of a local resident, Mr. Ganz, I had an interesting conversation with
Mr. Charles Clarke, naturalist and birdstuffer, 1, Brudnell Terrace.
Among other things, he informed me of a Flamingo frequenting the
neighbourhood. I there and then wrote at his dictation the subjoined
statement of the case :—‘‘ Mr. and Mrs. Perry, visitors at the Brudnell
Hotel, were coming up the River Alde to-day (Wednesday, Aug. 22nd),
in company with William Brinkley, wildfowler and fisherman of Orford,
when they saw standing on the mud a strange bird, taller than a
Heron, and apparently quite white, but which on nearer approach
seemed to have salmon-pink wing-coverts and dark or blackish pri-
maries. The bird rose from the mud, and flew close over their boat.
Then on its flight it showed a long and slim body, and outstretched
neck and legs. In fact, it resembied a great white cross from under-
neath. It flew off towards Orfordness.”’ Mr. Clarke is decidedly of
opinion that it was a Flamingo. His and Brinkley’s practical know-
Zool. 4th ser. vol. X., October, 1906. 28
394 SS (THE ZOOLOGIST.
ledge of: the shore birds of the district guarantees their recognizing a
stranger. Their description of its coloration, &c., supports the idea of
its being an immature Flamingo (Phenicopterus roseus, Pallas). On
Aug. 28rd the ‘ Oithona’ returned to Orford Haven, entered the Alde,
and worked up and down the river to as far as Aldeburgh, leaving on
the 25th, but without seeing or hearing more of the bird in question.
In Yarrell’s ‘ British Birds,’ vol. iv, (1885), edited by Howard Saunders,
and in the latter’s ‘Manual’ (1899), reference is made to four instances
of Flamingoes, viz. Sheppey, August, 1873 (a doubtful escape); Staf-
fordshire, September, 1881 ;; Hampshire, November, 1883; and South
Kent, August, 1884. I am unaware whether others have since been
recorded. Although this presumed Suffolk example has not been un-
mistakably identified, it may still be deemed worthy of notice, to be
taken for what it is worth, the possibility being that more may be
heard of the straggler.—J. Muniz (Leigh-on-Sea, Essex).
P.S.—A report (‘Aldeburgh, Leiston, and Saxmundham Times’)
_ states that the Flamingo seen on the Alde river was ESD noted later
on ‘the Woodbridge river. —
Red-crested Pochard at Yarmouth. — On September 4th thirteen
Ducks were observed to come in from seaward, and alight on the north-
west side of Breydon. An amateur puntsman named Youngs, who
was lurking under the “ walls’’ hard by, immediately sculled after
them, and got a charge of B.B.’s into their midst with telling effect.
Nine were killed or maimed, and, although the birds had on arrival
appeared tired and remarkably tame, the wounded ones, by diving and
the use of their wings, gave him an arduous half-hour in retrieving
them by doubling after them, and the use of his shoulder-gun. One
bird, spoiled: by decapitation for a “specimen,” was eaten by Mr.
Youngs; the other eight he sold to Mr. Saunders, the taxidermist, of
this town. A tenth wounded bird managed to reach the marshes, and
was lost, but was soon after picked out of a ditch by a marshman, who
ended its career in the oven. I called on Mr. Saunders on the Sth,
and saw four birds still in the flesh, four having already been made
into skins. They were unmistakably Red-crested Pochards (Fuligula
ferina). They were, of course, by no means so distinguished in appear-
ance as birds shot in nuptial dress; the plumage, to my mind, greatly
resembled that of an adult female Smew; and, indeed, the general
contour of the birds was slim and rakish, like that dainty little
creature. The white shoulder-patches, and that of the lesser wing-
coverts, secondaries, and primaries, were very conspicuous. The toes
of six of the birds were Naples:yellow, with a suggestion of redness, the
NOTES AND QUERIES. 395
webs being blackish ; these were males. The other two had greenish
yellow-tinted toes. I suggested these were females, and this proved to
be so on dissection. The cap was reddish brown, and the beak scarlet-
lake. We had a look at the windpipe, and were much struck with its
peculiarities of conformation. I made a rough water-colour sketch of
the best bird, and obtained three large parasites, which, under the
microscope, look hairy and. forbidding, with the suggestion of much
tenacity of purpose. Had I. been earlier, Mr. Saunders remarked, I
could have had more, and been welcome to them, for they made things
lively for him for a time. According to the ‘Field’ of Sept. 15th, two
birds of this species were shot on the 8th on Hickling Broad by Alfred
Nudd, keeper to Mr. 8. H. Smith, a duck being secured, but the drake
was not recovered until two days later, and was consequently spoiled.
In all probability these belonged to the same flock. Mr. J. H. Gurney,
in suggesting the likelihood of the heat-wave having brought them
hither, remarked that at any rate ‘‘the poor things met with a warm
reception when they came.” ‘The prevailing winds had for some time
previous been southerly.—Arruur H. Patterson (Ibis Hause: Cue
Yarmouth).
Hybrid Black:game.-—Referring to Rev. F. C. Jourdain’s list of
Black-game-Pheasant hybrids (No. 27), will you allow me to say that
the bird in Mr. Le Strange’s collection was shot at Snettisham about
the year 1850, as stated in the ‘ Birds of Norfolk,’ vol. i. p. 375, and
not in 1876? It was given to Mr. Le Strange bythe widow of Capt.
Campbell, who had the Snettisham shooting about the year 1850,
and is the only known Norfolk hybrid between these two species. I
mention this as the great disparity of dates (1850 and 1876) might
lead to the impression that two distinct individuals were referred to.
It is difficult to say when the indigenous race of Black-game became
extinct in this country, but probably one of the last was a Greyhen,
seen by the writer, which was killed in 1852 near Lynn. Mr.
Le Strange tells me that the last he saw in Norfolk was about the
year 1872 or 1878, when shooting with the late Mr. Anthony Hamond
at Leziate, or Bawsey, near Lynn; but many unsuccessful attempts
to reintroduce this fine bird into Norfolk have been made of late
years._-Tuos. Souruweut (Norwich).
Baillon’s Crake (Porzana bailloni) near Stockport. — An adult
male Baillon’s Crake was captured alive in the neighbourhood of
Stockport, Cheshire, in May, 1905. The bird subsequently came into
the possession of Dr. Charles Cairnie, of Manchester, who showed it
to Mr. Charles Oldham and me. The actual locality where it was
396 THE ZOOLOGIST.
obtained is uncertain ; it was captured in a drain by a workman, and
passed through two other hands before Dr. Cairnie obtained it. Stock-
port, though a Cheshire town, is on the Lancashire-Cheshire border,
and it may have been caught in either county. The outer web of the
first primary is white, and in all particulars its plumage agrees with
the description of the species in Dresser’s ‘ Birds of Europe,’ and with
specimens in the Dresser Collection in the Victoria University Museum,
Manchester. Dresser, however, says (op. cit. vol. vil. p. 276) that the
legs are ‘‘ dirty greyish flesh,” though Seebohm and Sharpe describe
them as olive. Dr. Cairnie, who saw the bird in the flesh, is certain
that they were green, and gave his taxidermist instructions to be care-
ful in this particular. Probably some descriptions and plates, for
Dresser is not the only one who describes them as other than greenish,
are taken from dried skins in which the colour has faded.—T. A.
Cowarp (Bowdon, Cheshire).
Notes on the Dabchick (Podicipes fluviatilis) — Mr. Oldham’s
notes on the Little Grebe (ante, pp. 8351-353) appear to throw some
doubt on several of my observations regarding this bird. I do not think
that three eggs is an unusual clutch. I have frequently found nests with
three highly incubated eggs; and on Sept. 8th this year I saw three
young birds just hatched on the nest, and this must surely be suffi-
cient proof that three eggs do sometimes constitute a clutch. I have
had several Dabchicks alive, and have never seen them walk on their
feet in the way Mr. Oldham describes, but, on the contrary, shuffled
along on the belly, and rested with the whole tarsi on the ground.
The captive Dabchick I mentioned in my paper was one which was
confined on a tank of clear water, and its every movement could be
closely observed when submerged, and, as before stated, I frequently
saw it use its wings.—Gorpon Daueuiesu (Brook, Witley, Surrey).
PISCES.
Loch Broom Sea Monster. — Regarding the Loch Broom sea
monster and correspondence thereon (ante, pp. 855-857), I may say
by the way that it is refreshing in absence of the sea serpent and
mermaid tone. The evidence given is simply hasty impressions of the
observer, and, ceteris paribus, comparable with my note on Flamingo—
& passing record and not indisputable data. I strongly support Mr.
Southwell’s conclusion of the likelihood of the Loch Broom animal
being a Basking Shark (Selache maxima). His reasoning is sound,
and very rightly he attaches importance to the habits shown; 7.e., its
demeanour under the circumstances, as less likely to be deceptive than
NOTES AND QUERIES. 397
supposed shade of colour, length of body, or height and shape of fins.
Moreover, it should be borne in mind that some twenty years ago, or
over, there was a profitable Basking Shark fishery off the north-west
coast of Ireland, which, however, dwindled away as the price of liver
oil declined. It is said the Sharks approached the Irish coast from
the Atlantic in spring, by midsummer and in autumn sheering off by
way of the North of Ireland, passing round Scotland to the Norwegian
area. This would tally with an occasional odd and big one appearing
in the neighbourhood of the Minch, ergo the Loch Broom specimen.
I may refer you to the latest account of the facts of the case in Green
and Holt’s ‘‘ Cruise of the ‘ Harlequin’ ”’ in ‘ Report to Council, Royal
Dublin Society,’ 1892, pp. 89 and 801.—J. Muri (Leigh-on-Sea,
Essex).
Quite a number of communications have reached me, to which I
have replied privately, including sketches of the back fins, &c., of the
animals, and including two accounts of the Loch Broom appearance.
I have not, however, seen the account sent to the daily papers, as Mr.
Workman had (he does not quote the reference). The first communica-
tion about the animal seen at Loch Broom, between the Priest Island
and Glasleag Beg (not Glostloch Beg as printed), was from Mr. Mackenzie
Catton, with a drawing, done from memory. The next in reply to
inquiry was from Mr. Henderson, Ullapool,—Mr. Workman’s corre-
spondent—with a drawing, in all respects similar to that supplied by
you to Mr. Southwell (ante, p. 356), and labelled ‘‘ Basking Shark ”
by Mr. Henderson. I replied to that, that I was inclined to agree
with Mr. Henderson in his identification; but I did not quite appre-
ciate the pointed appearance given to the larger fin. I then had a
letter and a drawing of a ‘“‘sea monster’’ from Her Grace the Duchess
of Bedford, which was much truer to the outline of the truncated back
fin of the Basking Shark, as viewed by her from the deck of her yacht
(in litt. Sept. 9th, 1906); and she distinctly says, ‘the stick-like
upper part and sudden widening, and that it was not the usual pointed
fin.” IJ recognized this as belonging to the Basking Shark, and wrote
to Her Grace to that effect. Then followed a journal of Mr. J. Pedder’s
sojourn in the West in July, August, and September, 1906, with report
of similar appearance, and a sketch taken on the spot; z.¢. from the
deck of the yacht he was on board of. Mr. Pedder is an artist (and,
you may be aware, illustrated the ninth volume of our Faunal Series
(‘A Vert-Fauna of North-west Highlands and Skye,’ 1904). Shortly
afterwards Mr. Pedder paid me a visit (Sept. 14th-15th, 1906), and I
told him his sketch and description clearly authenticated the fact that
398 '. THE ZOOLOGIST -
it was the dorsal fin and tail-fin of Basking Shark which he had seen;
and we satisfied ourselves by comparing it with the illustration in
Liydekker’s ‘Royal Natural History’ of that fish. In his journal,
Mr. Pedder says:-—‘‘ On July 28th we weighed anchor, touched at
Kyleahin again for letters and some supplies, and then -set sail for
Torridon ; wind light and variable. In the Sound of Raasay, two or
three Whales were blowing about half a mile away from us towards the
entrance of Loch Broom. One of them must have been a huge crea-
ture, for, after watching a great length of his back rise and disappear,
and upon which was a very big fin, we came to the conclusion that
the fin stood up from the back at least six feet. Someone aboard a
steamer making for the Kyle, possibly much nearer to the beast, fired
a shot from a gun at it; but the great fin kept coming up at intervals
as before until we were out of sight—about 2.380 p.m., between Crowlin
Islands, Longay, and Scalpay.” I consider Lydekker’s illustration
settles the question of identity as belonging to a Basking Shark.—
J. A. Harviz-Brown.
Thresher Shark (Alopecias vulpes).—A specimen of this singular
fish, now being preserved for the Norwich Castle Museum, was taken in
the nets off Hasborough, on the Norfolk coast, on the 26th September
last, and brought into Cromer. It measured 10 ft. 8 in. total length.
This Shark has been met with on the Norfolk and Suffolk coast several
times, generally about the commencement of the Herring season. The
earliest mention of the species is, I believe, by Dr. Cains, who described
a specimen stranded near Lowestoft in February, 1570. A second is
recorded by Mr. Gunn as having been captured on July 4th, 1867;
this measured 14 ft. 5 in. in all, 7 ft. 4 in. of which consisted of the
whip-like upper lobe of the caudal fin. Others were taken off Lowestoft
on Sept. 28th, 1879, and on Oct. 22nd, 1881, in the same locality ; the
latter measured 12 ft. 10 in., 6 ft. 4 in. of which consisted of the tail.
In the Hasborough specimen the curious notch at the base of the caudal
fin, which is not shown in Mr. Day’s figure, was very conspicuous.—
Tuomas Souruwett (Norwich). ;
(899-2) -
NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.
The Journal of the South African Ornithologists’ Union. Pretoria.
Annals of the Natal Government Museum. PartI. Adlard & Son,
London.
Tue South African region, as now understood by zoologists,
was, in the days of our adolescence, principally described in the
narratives of geographical and natural history explorers, among
whom we may mention the names of Burchell, Livingstone, and
Holub. Then came a period of gold-hunting, and the records
of the Stock Exchange constituted the most popular gazetteer.
For a time it was the world-watched scene of military operations.
Even so recently as a decade since we left South African shores,
there was, apart from Cape Town, little scientific enterprize,
and the South African Philosophical Society may be said to
have held the field. Since then the advance has been pheno-
menal, especially in a country where the race for wealth has
almost become an ideal aim. Recently both the South African
and Grahamstown Museums have published their Annals, and
the Natal Museum has now followed their example.
An active and growing Natural History Club exists in the once
‘golden city’? of Johannesburg, and, what is still more note-
worthy, there is now a “‘ South African Ornithologists’ Union,”
well established, ably directed, and enthusiastically supported.
Of the latter, we now possess vol. i., and part 1 of vol. 11.; of
the Durban publication, the first part has recently reached our
hands. Both these publications have come to stay, and are well
worth the attention of all naturalists. Not only do they foster
and promote the study of zoology in our South African colonies,
but they afford a means of publication of very much valuable
information which our central societies would clearly be unable
to supply.
The presidency of the South African Ornithologists’ Union
was originally held by Mr. W.'L. Sclater, who has now left South
400 © THE ZOOLOGIST.
Africa, and his place has been taken by a whilom contributor to
‘The Zoologist —Mr. J. A. 8. Bucknill, author of the ‘ Birds of
Surrey.’ The ‘ Annals of the Natal Government Museum ’ are
edited by its Director, Mr. Ernest Warren.
The South African ornithologists are giving much attention
to the nests and eggs of South African birds, and the ‘ Journal’
of the Union contains some excellent photographs of the first,
and some chromo-plates of the latter, the eggs being in the first
instance drawn by Mr. Gronvold. There is a wide field for work
in this direction, and the results will supplement Stark and
Sclater’s ‘ Birds of South Africa,’ volumes which have also only
appeared during the last ten years.
The Durban publication opens with descriptions of new ashes
from the coast of Natal, by Mr. C. Tate Regan, and Pisces‘alone
would almost occupy naturalists at this port. Marine Mollusea,
a kindred subject, occupies the pen of Mr. Edgar A. Smith, whilst
the Director writes on Rotifers, Hydroids, &c.
May some other outlying posts of the British Empey soon
follow this excellent example.
VOLUME |.
EDITED BY §. F.
JUST PUBLISHED.
| THE CAMBRIDGE NATURAL HISTORY.
HARMER, Se.D, F.RS.,
AND
A. Hee SHEP ERY. MA. E.R.S.
To BE GOMPLETED IN TEN VOLUMES.
PROTOZOA.
Svo. Pricr 17S. NET BACH.
VOLUME I.
By Professor MARCUS HARTOG, M.A. (D.Sc. Lond.).
PORIFERA (SPONGES).
By IGERNA B. J. SOLLAS (B.Sc. Lond.).
CCELENTERATA & CTENOPHORA
By Professor S. J. HICKMAN, M.A., F.R.S.
ECHINODERMATA.
By Professor EH. W. MACBRIDH, M.A.,
ER.S.
PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED.
WORMS, LEECHES, &c.
VOLUME II,
By F. W. Gamsuz, M.Sc.
By Miss L. Suepon.
By A. H. Suiprey,
Flatworms.
Nemertines.
Threadworms, &c.
M.A.,F.R.S. Rotifers. By Marcus Har-_
voc, M.A. Polychaet Worms. By W.
Buaxuanp BenuHaAm, D.Sc.
and Leeches. By F. E. Bepparp, M.A.,
F.R.S. Gephyrea, &c. By A. HE. Surp-
tey, M.A.,F.R.S. Polyzoa. By S. F.
Harmer, Se.D., F.R.S.
SHELLS.
VOLUME III.
Molluses and Brachiopods.
Earthworms |
By the Rev. |
A. H. Cooxs, A. K.Supury, M.A., F.R.S., |
and F. R, C. Resp, M.A.
INSECTS & CENTIPEDES.
VOLUME V.
Peripatus. By Apam Sxpewicr, M.A.,
F.R.S. Myriapods. By F. G. Sincrarr,
M.A. Insects. Part I.
SHarp, M.A., F.R.S.
INSECTS. PART II.
VOLUME VI.
Hymenoptera continued (Tubulifera and
Aculeata), Coleoptera, Strepsiptera,
By Davin
Lepidoptera, Diptera, Aphaniptera.
Thysanoptera, Hemiptera, Anoplura, ~
By Davip SuHanrp, M.A., F.R.S.
FISHES, &c.
VOLUME VII.
Fishes (exclusive of the Systematic Ac-
count of Teleostei), By T. W. Bripas,
S¢e.D., F.R.S. Fishes (Systematic Ac-
count of Teleostei). By G. A. Bounmn-
cpR. .R.S. Hemichordata. By S. F.
Harmer, Se.D., F.R.S. Ascidians
and Amphioxus. By W. A. Herpman, ~
D.Sce., F.R.S.
AMPHIBIA & REPTILES.
VOLUME VIII.
By Hans Gavow, M.A., F.R.S.
BIRDS.
VOLUME IX.
By A. H. Evans, M.A. With numerous
Illustrations by G. H. Lopen,
MAMMALIA.
VOLUME X.
By Frank Evers Brpparp, M.A. Oxon,
F.R.S., Vice-Secretary and Prosector of
the Zoological Society of London.
Volume IV., dealing with SPIDERS, SCORPIONS, and CRUSTACEA, is in the Press.
MACMILLAN
AND CO.,
Lrp., LONDON.
nyewtoundland Soin fee ieee Savane. F. ba Ss 375. x
Notes on the Kite (Milwus ictinus) in Somerset, F. L. Blarien e
Goldsmith as a Naturalist, Bruce F. Cummings, 381.
The Birds of the District ae Staines, Graham W. Kerr, 386.
- Norms AND QUERIES :—
- Mammaria.—Occurrence of Twrsiops tursio, Fab., on the Sussex Coast Gi. DS i
Guermonprez, 390.
Avrs.—Blackbird Laying Twice in the same Nest, P. G. Ralfe, 390. Does ane
Blackbird eat Snails? P. Ff. Bunyard, 390. Variety of the Common Wren —
(Troglodytes parvulus), H. Whistler, 391. Late Stay of Swift, J. Whitaker,
392. Iynx torquilla in Cheshire, J oel Southworth, 392. Hoopoe in Cheshire, ©
392; The Hobby in Cheshire, 393; A. Newstead. Glossy Ibis (Plegadis —
falcinellus), W. C. Wright, 398. Supposed Flamingo near Aldeburgh,
Suffolk, J. Murie, 393. Red-crested Pochard at Yarmouth, Arthur H. Pat-
terson, 894.. Hybrid Black-game, Thomas Southwell, 395. Baillon’s Crake
(Porzana bailloni) near Stockport, T. A. Coward, 395. Notes on the Dab-
chick (Podicipes fluviatilis), Gordon Dalgliesh, 396.
Pisces. — Loch Broom Sea Monster, J. Murve, J. A. Harvie- Brown, 396. Thresher
Shark (Alopecias vulpes), T homas Southwell, 398.
Notices oF New Ue ie 399-400.
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ME J. C. STEVENS will offer at his Rooms, 38, Hae
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SHELLS and other NATURAL HISTORY Specimens.
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tol LOOLOG lik
No. 785.—November, 1906.
ACROCEPHALUS PALUSTRIS: A BREEDING
RECORD OF FOURTEEN YEARS.
By W. Warpe Fowuer, M.A.
Tue following notes form a succinct record of my long expe-
rience of this species inan Oxfordshire parish. This year (1906),
for the first time since 1892, I have been unable to find it, and
it now seems advisable to put together the leading facts I have
learnt about its habits. Iam also led to believe that my record
will serve to illustrate the conditions under which an unusual
and delicate species may fix itself in a breeding-place, flourish
there for some years, yet eventually find itself in adverse circum-
stances, and die out or abandon the position. I propose to give
the bare facts to begin with, and then to add a few notes on
salient points of interest.
1892, June 5th.—I heard the song of the Marsh-Warbler,
already known to me on the Continent, in an osier-bed near
Chipping Norton Junction. This osier-bed had been planted
within my recollection, and, as I had never noticed the song
before, 1am disposed to think that the birds were now visiting
it for the first time. It had not been cut in the winter, but was
overgrown, and full of dense vegetation. The bird was heard
and seen several times by my friends and myself, but we were
unable to find a nest (cf. ‘ Zoologist,’ 1892, pp. 303-9).
Zool. 4th ser. vol. X.. November, 1906. 21
402 THE ZOOLOGIST.
1893.—The osiers had been cut in the winter, and the place
was entirely altered. It was not till June 20th that I again
heard the song in another small osier-bed about half a mile
along the line towards Worcester, which was as wild and over-
grown as the other had been the year before. It was about half
an acre in size, comparatively dry, and with small open spaces
here and there. By watching from the railway embankment I
found the position of a nest which was being built, on June 21st.
On the 22nd. an egg was laid, and on the 23rd we took this nest
with two eggs for the Oxford Museum. It was suspended by
two quasi-handles from the slender shoots of the osiers, where
they were least overgrown, and within ten yards of cultivated
eround. The material was dry grass, with a few hairs in the
lining. I then went abroad, and saw no more of the birds this
year.
1894, June 16th.—The bird was singing in the same place as
last year, the osiers being still wild and uncut. Absence from
home prevented further observation.
1895, June 11th.—Bird in the same place. Oxford duties
had prevented me from searching for it earlier. A nest had been
begun by the 28rd, and on the 26th it contained two eggs. This
year I had unusually good opportunities of watching the birds
about the nest, which was in willow-herb near a thick hedge, in
which I cut a hole. The hen, when seen on the nest at a yard’s
distance, showed a distinct buffish eye-stripe. Two eggs were
hatched on July 10th, after which date I was obliged to leave
home.
1896, June 5th.—Bird singing in the same place, which seems
to have become the permanent breeding place of the species.
The osiers are still neglected and wild. The singing continued
till the 13th, when it almost entirely ceased; this meant, as I
had already discovered, that the nest had been begun. On June
27th I found a nest with four eggs in osier-shoots two feet from
the ground. On July 12th I found (after an absence) four nest-
lings, and followed their growth closely till the 16th, when they
flew. They remained among the osiers till July 22nd (éf. ‘ Zoolo-
gist,’ 1896, pp. 286-8).
1897, June 4th.—Bird singing in the usual place. On the
7th there seemed to be two singers. Song almost ceased on the
ACROCHPHALUS PALUSTRIS. 403
13th. I was away till July 21st, when the birds, old and young,
were still in the osiers.
1898, June 4th.—Birds paired, and male singing, in the usual
place. The osiers were still neglected and overgrown, but there
were open places here and there. On 20th I found a nest with
five eggs; on 21st a second with one egg, and a third with four.
Two of these were in meadow-sweet, the other in the osiers.
From one of these nests the eggs gradually disappeared between
June 25th and 28th, when I cut it out of the meadow-sweet, and
found the egg of a Cuckoo buried under a fresh lining. This
nest is now in the Oxford Museum, and I believe this is the only
case on record in this country of a Cuckoo laying in a Marsh-
Warbler’s nest. The explanation probably is that the Cuckoo
was very late with her egg, and the Marsh-Warbler’s nest was
the only one handy which contained freshly laid eggs. As it was
clear that the removal of the Marsh-Warbler’s eggs was not due
to any human being, it may probably be put down to the Cuckoo
herself; but I confine myself to the facts asl sawthem. Another
nest was destroyed in my absence. The young in the remaining
one had flown by July 8th, and I heard singing again on the
9th (cf. ‘ Zoologist,’ 1898, pp. 356-8).
1899, May 31st.—Birds singing in usual place, but faintly, as
if just arrived. A nest had been begun on June 18th. The young
had flown by July 6th, when I returned after absence from home.
There were probably one or two more nests.
1900, May 380th.—Bird singing well in the usual place. The
osier-bed was in a very wild and overgrown condition, and hardly
so well suited to the birds as it had been the last year or two.
They seem always to prefer to build near the edge, and in spots
where the growth is not too dense and heavy. Still, on June
14th two nests were being built, one in osiers, the other in
meadow-sweet. On the 24th the one in osiers contained five
eggs; the other had two eggs, which resembled those of a Reed-
Warbler. The latter is a very rare bird in this district, common
as it is in the upper Thames Valley not far away; and, as the
eggs of the two species do occasionally approximate in colouring,
it is just possible that this was really a Marsh-Warbler’s nest, as
I had judged by its structure. But it was forsaken shortly after
this, and I was unable to determine the point. Ina third nest an
212
404 THE ZOOLOGIST.
eg was hatched on July 3rd, and I think there was yet another
pair of birds in the osier-bed, but, owing to the tangle of under-
erowth, I was no longer able to search effectively. Inthe autumn
of this year the osier-bed was sold, with the land around it. I at
once tried to interest the new owner in the birds, and he very
kindly consented to leave them some cover for next year’s nest-.
ing. But, as will be seen, from this time onwards the colony
began to find difficulties.
1901.—The osiers had been cut in the winter, except at one
end, where sufficient cover had been left. This year I first heard
the song on June Ist, not in the usual place, but in the larger
osier-bed, where I had first heard it in 1892. Next day, however,
I heard it in the usual haunt. I was away at Lyme Regis for
some time, engaged in a fruitless search for the Melodious
Warbler, but my friend Mr. Aplin, with the Earl of Gains-
borough, found a nest nearly finished on June 17th, which on
the 22nd contained four eggs, of a type which was new to me,
the dark spots and blotches being much less distinct than usual.
This nest, the only one found this year, was unluckily forsaken
by the birds.
1902, May 31st.—The bird singing in the usual place. The
osiers had been cut in the winter, all but a small patch, and on
June 22nd I found a nest with four eggs in an isolated patch of
withies. When I returned from fishing in Wales, in mid-July,
the young were still in the osiers, and continued there till the
25th.
1903.—This year there was only a small patch of osiers left
standing, and the meadow-sweet, willow-herb, &c., were late in
erowth ; so that the general appearance of the osier-bed must
have been decidedly discouraging. On June Ist, however, I
found and heard the bird as usual, and on the 21st I found a
nest with four eggs, in nettles for the first time. This nest was
well photographed in situ by my friend Mr. H. G. Maurice. The
young were hatched on the 25th. On July 2nd I heard a bird
singing vigorously on a hedge about one hundred and fifty yards
away. This seemed to indicate the presence of another pair
that had not found suitable accommodation in the osier-bed, and
careful watching confirmed this suspicion. The singing went on
in the hedge for some days, during which a pair of birds were
ACROCHPHALUS PALUSTRIS. 405
evidently trying to find a nesting place. On the further side of
the hedge was a field of beans, and what I saw induced me to
examine a particular spot in this close to the hedge. Here, on
July 5th, I found an unmistakable and pathetic attempt to use
the bean-stalks as supports for a nest; several pieces of dry
grass had been threaded round them. This attempt was given
up, but I have some reason to think that a nest was built not
far away. The young in the other nest had flown by July 6th.
1904.—This year the owner had forgotten his promise, or
fancied we had seen enough of the Marsh-Warbler. The osiers
were now entirely cut down, and in early June there was no
cover suitable for the birds. On June 4th, however, a bird was
singing as usual, and on the 12th there was singing going on
both in the osiers and in the hedge to which the birds had taken
a fancy last year. On the 16th I found a nest with four eggs in
willow-herb in a new position in the osier-bed, where a spring
kept the ground wet, and favoured the early growth of the plants.
This spring and the wet ground had up till now been steadily
avoided by our birds, which (as is well known) rarely or never
build over water ; but this year they seized on the only chance
open to them, and by doing so produced a comparatively early
brood. On the 18th another nest was exposed and ruined by
mowing near the hedge and field already mentioned, at the
bottom of the railway embankment, in meadow-sweet. On the
28th there was again brilliant singing in the hedge. On the
30th I found a nest just completed in cow-parsnip under the
hedge, at 5 a.m., but, on taking Mr. Aplin to see it later in the
day, we found it also exposed and spoilt. So long as the birds
could remain in the osiers they were almost sure to escape harm,
but in their attempts to establish themselves in more public
places near at hand they made a mistake. Singing continued
till July 7th, but I found no other nest.
1905.—The osiers seemed quite hopeless this year, but on
June 4th I heard the bird singing in the other and larger osier-
_ bed, which was well-grown and suitable for their operations.
Here they continued to sing for some time, but no nest was
found. A new bit of railway was being made close by, and the
men at work were apt to come into the osier-bed. It looked
to me as if such conditions as we could offer them would no’
406 THE ZOOLOGIST.
longer prove attractive to the birds, and this year (1906) I have
not been able to find them either in the old haunts or anywhere
in the neighbourhood.
OBSERVATIONS ON THE FOREGOING REcorD.
1. Time of Arrival.—lt seems clear that this is the latest of
all our summer migrants to arrive in its breeding quarters—a
fact of some importance in estimating the difficulties it meets
with in this country. My earliest date is May 30th, and, as I have
always looked for it before the end of May, we may confidently
conclude that it does not reach Oxfordshire, as a rule, till the
beginning of June. In Switzerland it is, of course, somewhat
earlier, but in 1895 it was not in its usual breeding places at
Stanzstadt at the end of April, where I have several times found
its nest with eggs in mid-June. This year (1906) it was pairing
in the valley of the Somme, near Abbeville, on June 1st; in 1898
it was there at the end of May. Whether it has arrived in our
osier-bed paired or not is a question which I cannot answer with
certainty, owing to the nature of the cover; but on the evidence
before me I should guess that the male arrives a few days before
the female. If this be so, it is remarkable that a female of the
same uncommon species should always find her way to the right
spot—unless, indeed, both are members of the same family, born
in the same place. As bearing on this question, 1 may mention
here that all my endeavours to find or even to hear of this species
anywhere in this neighbourhood have been failures.
2. Choice of Nesting Place.—When the birds first arrive, if
the season is at all late, the plants in which they like best to
hang their basket-like nest are not ready for them, and this is
perhaps the reason why in this country (and also, I believe, in
Northern Germany) they particularly affect neglected withy-beds.
Unless the withies have been cut close in winter, they will in
June be able to supply the necessary support. But here I may
remark that it is not every kind of osier-willow that suits our
bird; I have never found the nest in any but Salix triandra,
which sends up pliant perpendicular shoots quite close to each
other. The other osier to be found in all withy-beds (S. viminalis)
is In every way less suitable. If the osiers in the favourite
breeding place have been cut, and the season is late, the birds
ACROCEPHALUS PALUSTRIS. 407
will be in serious difficulties, and will search for suitable sites in
hedges and ditches, and have recourse to nettles, wild parsnip,
or even beans, as we have seen. Here, of course, they run far
greater risks than in the dense vegetation of the osier-bed,
where I have hardly ever known a nest destroyed or even dis-
covered by the ploughboys who are constantly about the spot.
The difficulties met with by my birds during the last few years
lead me strongly to believe, apart from other evidence, that the
Marsh- Warbler is not, and cannot be, a more abundant bird than
we commonly think. What it really loves best, and rarely finds
in England except in some parts of Somersetshire and Cambridge-
shire, where it first attracted notice, is a large space of flat
alluvial ground, with convenient bits. of cover, such as thick
bunches of tall plants, scattered here and there.
3. The Nest and Eqgs.—The nest is always two or three feet
from the ground, rising somewhat if the plants are growing, made
almost entirely of dry grass, sometimes with a very slight ad-
mixture of wool or moss, and lined with fine rootlets and a few
hairs. (In the nest in which a fresh lining was laid over the
Cuckoo’s egg there was a conspicuous lump of white wool, which
was so unusual as to attract my attention, leading to the dis-
covery of the intruder’s egg.) The nest seems a very slight
structure, but is in reality strongly put together ; for several
years I amused myself on Christmas Day by looking in the osier-
bed for one built there the previous summer, and in each case —
found it entire. It is attached to two fairly strong stems of the
supporting plant by what I can only describe as basket-handles,
1. é. the dry grass is at those two points stretched considerably
above the proper rim of the nest; usually two or three slenderer
stems of the same or another plant are taken into the material
of the nest, and pass through itsrim. In this point it resembles
many nests of the Reed- Warbler, but it is not so deep or so solid
as the usual Reed-Warbler’s nest, and may always be distinguished
by the obvious ‘‘ basket-handles.” A long and close acquaint-
ance with these nests has made it clear to me that the peculiar
art of this bird cannot readily adapt itself to many kinds of
plants. In this respect the Reed-Warbler has the advantage; I
have known it build in two or three different kinds of bushes
where it could not get reeds.
408 THE ZOOLOGIST.
There is no need for me to describe the beautiful eggs of this
species, which are now well known. The best figure I have seen
is of one from our osier-bed in Messrs. Collett and Parker’s
recently published volume on British inland birds. In all un-
doubted Marsh-Warbler nests which I have seen myself both in~
England and abroad, the eggs have been recognizable at once by
their clear bluish-white ground colour and dull violet or brownish
markings; one clutch, however, may differ considerably from
another, chiefly in the strength of the colour of these markings.
Whether they ever approach to the type of the Reed-Warbler’s
eggs I cannot certainly say; it is more likely, I think, that
Reed-Warbler’s eggs occasionally approach the type of the Marsh-
Warbler. Such an egg was found by Mr. A. Holte Macpherson
and myself near Abbeville in 1898.
4. The Young Birds.—Incubation has within my experience
lasted fourteen or fifteen days. In 1897, when I had unusual
opportunities of observation, 1 made the following note (ef.
‘ Zoologist ’ for that year, p. 288) :—‘‘ The first contour feathers
were almost black; on the tongue were two barb-shaped spots,
or rather processes, with the narrow end towards the bill fixed,
while the broad one towards the throat was loose, and was raised
when the nestlings opened their bills wide. Two days later
brown feathers on the back began to appear, the brown being
decidedly darker and more rufous than that of the parents. The
iris was very dark brown; the legs and feet light flesh-colour.
The throat was buffish white, and the breast dull buff.” When
the young birds had left the nest it was easy to distinguish them
from the parents by their darker brown backs, their yellow bills,
and the duller white of throat and breast. I found them using
as a call-note the same sibilant cry which their parents used as an
alarm-note, but it was shorter and fainter, and almost more like
a hiss than a croak.
5. Song and Alarm-notes.—The delightful song of this species
has often been described by myself as well as others, and all I
need say about it here is that it is more silvery, high-pitched,
sweet, and varied than that of any other species of Warbler with
which I am acquainted, and is carried on with extraordinary
vivacity when the bird is in full song—so much so as to attract
the attention of men working on the railway adjoining the osier-
ACROCHPHALUS PALUSTRIS. 409
bed I have been speaking of. Others making hay soon after
sunrise have also expressed to me their admiration. It begins
very early in the morning, and is at its best till ten or eleven a.m.»
when it usually ceases for a time. The power the bird possesses
of mimicking other songs has been less obvious to me of late
years, perhaps because I have grown to be so familiar with the
song ; but there is no question about it. The alarm-note, not to
be heard till the eggs are laid, is much like that of the Sedge-
Warbler, but higher in pitch and less grating—a kind of musical
crake ; I learnt to distinguish the two without much difficulty.
When much excited the birds, or possibly the male only, would
utter a musical and pleasing chirrup in the middle of the usual
crake, and once or twice I have known the bird almost break into
song, as the Sedge- Warbler sometimes does when angry.
6. Coloration of the Adult Bird.—Skins are not safe guides in
this matter, and, as 1 have frequently had the Marsh-Warbler —
under observation at distances of from two to ten feet, I may say,
in conclusion, that the general colour is a pale earth-brown in the
breeding season, uniform all over the back. The head is slightly
darker ; the legs are pale or dull flesh-colour; the eye-stripe is,
as a rule, only visible when the bird is quite close to you—never
nearly so clear as in the Sedge-Warbler. Those unacquainted
with this species may easily distinguish it from the Sedge- Warbler
by the faintness of this eye-stripe, and from the Reed-Warbler by
the absence of any rufous tint in the plumage.
410 THE ZO0OOLOGIST.
NOTES ON THE ORNITHOLOGY OF OXFORDSHIRE,
1904.
By O07 Vi Artin, FS. AE BOLU.
January 1st. — Wood-Pigeons here in vast flocks on the
stubbles. Hard frost.
6th.—Milder weather. Three Snipe and a Teal in the Swere
valley near Wigginton.
7th.—Handled two Crossbills—one red, the other green—
shot at Tussmore on the 5th.
8th.—Mistle-Thrush singing well, and Song-Thrush in the
afternoon; very little song lately.
12th.—Mild. Nuthatch with the run of long whistles. Coal-
Tit with spring note.
17th.—Galanthus elwesii in flower a week ago.
20th.—Fieldfares continue very scarce, and Redwings con-
spicuous by their absence; a few at one spot on the 6th are all I
have seen this month. There are no “‘haws.”’
22nd.—Sharp frost. A big flock of Linnets on high ground,
on clover, near Tadmarton Camp; unusual at this time of year.
In the valley below the only good flock of Fieldfares I have seen
as yet.
23rd.—Bullfinches very abundant this winter. In the ‘Field’
to-day is reported a Bittern seen at the gravel-pits near Aynho
Station a few days ago.
24th —A Hawfinch feeding on holly-berries within a few feet
of my study window.
25th.—Sky-Larks very numerous; in large flocks.
28th.—Many Song-Thrushes, and much song.
31st.—Rain and snow. Thrush sang while it snowed.
Rainfall 3°17 inches, on sixteen days.
February 2nd.—A deluge of rain in the afternoon. At least
two Blackbirds opened song, singing before and after the rain.
The open winter, with plenty of food, has made them early.
ORNITHOLOGY OF OXFORDSHIRE. 411
3rd.—Torrents of rain. Our little valley full of water, and
the flood said to be the highest for twenty-two years. ‘‘ February
fill-dyke”’ found the ditches already full.
d5th.—Uplands and valleys alike are simply swampy.
8th.—Floods out again. Two Chaffinches singing in the
garden, the song rough and unfinished. Hawfinches have lately
been visiting a garden open to the village street, in which there
are some big Portugal laurel bushes—perhaps to eat the seeds.
10th.—The floods in the Sorbrook and Cherwell valleys are
probably the biggest since the ‘‘ seventies,” and the country
generally certainly wetter than in any part of 1879.
17th.—Some Redwings; more than I have seen all the winter.
Two small flocks of Wood-Pigeons and one of Peewits.
19th.—Twice lately I have seen a small flock of Corn-Bunt-
ings round ricks; they call ‘‘trit” as they fly off. This bird
began to sing about the 15th.
20th.—Very mild, after six days of snow and frost on and off.
Robin began building in some high rockwork close to the house,
where it has nested for several years.
25th.—Saw two more Crossbills, which were shot at Tussmore
just after the first two.
26th.-—Snow.
Rainfall 4°54 inches, fell on seventeen days.
I have had news from Mr. Fowler of an adult Red-throated
Diver, caught at the end of this winter, and probably this month,
near Chipping Norton Junction Station, by a boy who said he
blundered against it in the dusk. Mins bird nearly poked his eye
out when he got hold of it.
March 1st.—Mr. Darbey, of Oxford, told me he had received
many Hawfinches to stuff this winter. Also that in the summer,
four years ago, he had a ‘‘basketful”’ from Blenheim, where they
were breeding in the gardens, but did too much damage to the
peas. On the pool by the railway near Wolvercot I saw eight
Coots, and a Great Crested Grebe, still looking very grey.
5th.—Cold and snowy the last few days. Nota bud swelled,
except a few of the flowering currant, low down and sheltered.
6th.—Rooks busy at nests.
8th.—After a pouring wet night, with nearly half an inch of
rain, the weather changed to-day, and the long spell of wet
412 THE ZOOLOGIST.
weather, which has lasted about fifteen months, came to an end
quite suddenly. Nearly all the 1°56 inches of rain (on twelve
days) fell in the first eight days of the month. A beautiful day.
Crocus expanded for the first time. Peewits on the young wheat
paired, and lavish with their sweet spring call-notes, doubly wel-
come after the long wet winter and retarded spring.
10th.—Dr. Routh told me he had seen a pair of Hawfinches
at Sibford, and Mr. Warriner that he had had one on his lawn
at the Grove lately. There has evidently been an immigration
of these birds.
11th.—A pair of Stonechats on Tadmarton Heath, where 1
have not seen one for a long time. A Hawfinch in the holly-tree
by my window.
12th.—Pied Wagtails noisy on the ploughings.
14th.—Song-Thrush (cf. Zool. 1904, p. 863; 1905, p. 414)
has for the third year built in the same spot on the top of a wall
plum-tree, using horseradish-leaf remains, and leaving streamers
of this from twelve to eighteen inches long—most untidy and
conspicuous. ‘There were two eggs in the nest on the 20th, and
the clutch was completed ; but a day or two after I found them
all on the ground a yard or two from the foot of the tree, one
quite whole, and the others in fragments. Iam ata loss to know
what vermin could have accomplished this feat, but suspect Jack-
daws. I hope the old bird escaped.
15th.—A female Grey Wagtail at Barford Mill, where this
species bred once.
16th.—Lesser celandine in flower.
17th.—The Crows which destroyed the rookery at Wickham
two years ago seem to be still in possession, and this evening I
saw them drive off a party of Jackdaws.
21st.—One apricot blossom expanded. Last year the same
tree had several expanded on Feb. 20th, showing a great differ-
ence in the two seasons.
23rd.—In sheltered places you can here and there find a
hawthorn-bud burst and green.
24th. —Saw a Peregrine Falcon flying over some arable fields,
and going to a grove of trees on Hob Hill. Mr. Bartlett said he
had preserved some Hawfinches this winter, and I had news of
some seen at Adderbury lately. A large Chub of from two to
ORNITHOLOGY OF OXFORDSHIRE. 413
three pounds was found on the banks of the Sorbrook yesterday,
and close to it the marks of an Otter, which marks I frequently
saw afterwards. I bought to-day a female Stoat, killed this
month near Huskott Mill, which, notwithstanding the mild
winter, was nearly white.
28th.—Two Hawfinches visited the holly-tree by my window
several times. I watched one (a male) for nearly half an hour
at a distance of perhaps six feet from me. It was biting open
the berries to extract the seeds, sometimes leaving the berries
hanging on the tree, and sometimes pulling them off, and
mumbling them in its great beak until the seed was detached
from the skin and pulp. The bird was so close that I could hear
the little snapping noise made by its already bluish beak. It is
a quiet stolid bird when feeding, and very much resembles a
Greenfinch in that respect. The alarm-note when a bird flies
out of the tree is a thin shrill ‘‘ cheek.’’ Possibly the reason of
Hawfinches visiting gardens so much this winter Is the failure of
the crop of haws in the open country.
29th.—Blackbird’s nest with three eggs.
31st.—Kestrels pairing, and uttering a soft chatter, while
their aerial evolutions as they toyed round a group of trees
were most graceful. Received the first Peewit’s eggs (four) from
West Oxon, taken in a field which was being ploughed on the
29th. One was broken, the other three weighed just three
ounces. |
There is a grassy hillside in Milcomb parish which, from im-
perfect drainage and the cold clayey nature of the soil, is at this
season usually very bare of pasture, that little being of a poor
quality and mossy. Gorse is inclined to spring up in places,
however much suppressed. The ridges and furrows run straight
down hill, relics of the fat days of farming when this land was
arable. Because of this barrenness, and its open aspect, the field
is the favourite breeding place of a few pairs of Peewits (others
nesting in the fields around, which are high-lying and poor bad
land), and I find it an interesting place on which to watch the
early breeding habits of these birds. 1 went up for the first time
this year onthe 20th inst. The short grass was “‘ whitey-brown,”
with a shade of green; the furrows were wet. There was a nice
lot of birds about, and one pair mobbed me, screaming and
414 THE ZOOLOGIST.
making the humming noise with their wings; I found only one
nest-hole, unlined.
27th.—Three pairs of birds in the field, and found three holes,
not lined.
April 8rd. — The nest-holes were unchanged, and there
were no birds near them, as was the case last week. But
four birds got up from the other side of the field, which I
~ had not previously searched. I found three nests, containing
four, three, and one eggs respectively. The first was a
depression in the moss and grass, lined with dead round stems
of hard grass. The second (twenty-four yards higher up the
field) was in such a deep tuft of grass (and protected, too, by the
single trailing stem of a seedling thorn) that the eggs were well
sheltered, but this also was lined with similar material. The
third nest (one egg) was higher up still, and in a very bare
place, so that the nest had no shelter at all from the surround-
ing herbage ; it was very substantial, having quite a bed of stuff
half an inch thick—hard round grass-stems, coarse grass-blades,
hard dry stems of some other plant, and a few bits of moss—and
was nine inches across. On the 6th I found that this egg had
been deserted, and I took it and found it quite fresh. Higher
up in the same furrow I found another single egg in a nest
formed of a good bed of grass, and probably laid by the
same bird.
From these observations I think it is clear that early-breed-
ing Peewits at all events build regular nests before laying, and do
not merely add a little lining to the bare hole as incubation pro-
ceeds. I have in other years seen well-lined nests with fresh
egos, stubble, squitch-roots, and potato-haulm being used, and
last year one of four eggs, and another empty not far off, built of
stubble. These were in barley-stubble with clover—short and
late in mowing. The nest with four eggs had a distinct rim
raised above the level of the ground; this was probably because
the ground was too hard for the birds to be able to scratch out a
deep enough hole, and a raised nest would not show in the clover.
I remember a well-raised, built-up nest, in a foul and late wheat
crop early in April one year. To return to the nests of this
season—on April 7th, at Langley, two nests of four eggs each in
an old saintfoin field, which had been wheat the year before,
ORNITHOLOGY OF OXFORDSHIRE. 415
were substantially built of old stubble with some bits of saintfoin-
stems in one of them. The eggs looked fresh, and one egg which
I took was quite so. A nest on a ploughing, from which four
fresh eggs had been taken on the 5th, was hollowed out of a
lump of old weathered strawy manure.
April 1st.—Hawfinch in holly-tree twice to-day. Hedges and
vegetation generally very backward.
5th.—The first warm spring day, 55° in the shade. A Song-
Thrush’s nest, which contained one egg on the S8lst ult., to-day
held broken eggs and tail and other feathers of the bird. It is
wonderful what a number of these early nests are destroyed.
This one was well hidden in a young spruce several feet from the
sround. A Long-tailed Tit’s nest, built in a thick fork in a
naked hedge, and very much exposed; being covered with flat
silvery lichen, it looked just like a lump of this. It was not yet
lined.
7th.—At Langley, a Mistle-Thrush’s nest contained four eggs
already very ‘‘ hard sat.’ These birds, as well as Song-Thrushes
and Blackbirds, when nesting in the little old covers of mixed
deciduous trees (the remains of the ancient forest of Wychwood),
make use of a great deal of bright green moss on the outside of
the nests; some nests, indeed, are formed externally chiefly of
this material. The local name of the Mistle-Thrush in the
*‘Forest”’ district is ‘‘ Seecher.”
8th.—Visited the ruins of Minster Lovell, on the banks of the
Windrush, and once included within the limits of the forest
(Skelton’s ‘Antiquities of Oxfordshire’). Part of the walls of
this grand ruin are still of great height, and others are clothed
with a heavy growth of ivy. It forms a most interesting
breeding station. Crowds of Jackdaws and Starlings breed
there, and the Stock-Doves, which I could hear ‘* grunting” all
about, probably also nest there. The Barn-Owl has bred several
times (and this year again, as I heard later) in a hole high up in
one of the walls, and on one occasion the eggs of the Kestrel
were found. Close to the ruins there is a rookery, frequented
by the Tawny Owl. This year the latter bird, Mr. Calvert tells
me, bred on Potter’s Hill Farm, not far away, in a hole in a tree
so low down that you looked down on the young birds when
standing on the ground.
416 THE Z00LOGIST.
10th.—Heard the Chiffchaff as I was dressing, and several
more about Milcomb gorse later in day.
11th.—Five Kestrel’s eggs, considerably incubated at this
early date, were found in Fifield Heath Wood to-day, and shown
to me later in the season.
12th.—Several Willow-Wrens in song, and one Swallow. Put
a Crow off her nest high up in the small branches of an elm.
Greenfinch feeding on larch-cones.
13th.—To Watlington for a few days to look at the bird-life of
the Chilterns.
The way in which the chalk downs jut out into the plain-
like valley of the Thame, like headlands on the sea-coast, is very
curious. They rise in some cases five hundred feet above the
plain. Standing on Beacon Hill, and looking north, the hills,
thickly wooded at the top, are seen to describe a concave curve to
where the bare chalk down of Crowell Hill stretches out into the
plain right up to the ancient Icknield (or ‘‘ Hackney”) Way.
Inside this curve lies a characteristic bit of the plain ; bare arable
fields (whitey-brown this dry weather) with hardly anything in
the way of hedges, and those in long straight lines separating
farms rather than fields, and no trees save some shelter-trees
round the farmhouses. Further from the foot of the hills the
country is more wooded. Peewits are fairly numerous on this
sround, and the Corn-Bunting is common, as also on the arable
land on the hill-tops. Larks are very abundant, and to a less
extent on the downs also; the amount of song in spring is
wonderful.
When any attempt has been made to cultivate the downs it
seems to have been generally a failure, and a miserable barren
appearance has been produced; the natural turf having been
destroyed, not even a decent growth of weeds can be got. How-
ever, it suits Larks, Peewits, and a few Stone Curlews. The
tongue of Beacon Hill, mossy and thyme-grown under foot,
and thickly dotted with juniper-bushes up to six or seven feet
high, is liked by Red-legged Partridges; and I have seen
a Bullfinch’s nest in quite a low juniper-bush on the hills at
Chinnor.
Stonechats are not so common as they were years ago; I
saw four pairs this year. Linnets are very abundant, and
ORNITHOLOGY OF OXFORDSHIRE. 417
Yellow Buntings numerous. I heard a Cirl-Bunting in a planta-
tion on the hills above Shirburn, which I could not go into. On
Watlington Down are some old wind-swept yew-trees, and there
are many along the Icknield Way which must make fine winter
shelter for the birds. I could see or hear nothing at Stoken-
church of the Wood-Lark, which used to be found there. The
immediate vicinity of that place is bare and wind-swept, gorsy,
and resembles one of the commons once one of the features of
these hill-villages, but now threatened by the land-grabber.
The enclosing of the woodlands has been going on for a long
time, and the advent of the motor has put the finishing touch to
the spoiling of what was not long ago a beautiful bit of wild
Oxfordshire.
Perhaps the principal natural feature of the country is the
great beech-woods, and nowhere else in the county have I seen
so many Marsh-Tits; their song, ‘ tit-chit-chit-chit-chit-chit,”
rather quickly delivered, was very noticeable. Beech is still
the predominating tree, though conifers have been introduced,
and many others are indigenous, the hornbeam and cherry being
perhaps not without influence on the avifauna, and the spurge-
laurel is common in places. The Mistle-Thrush is very nume-
rous, its loud song resounding in the wooded hillsides. Young
were hatched by the 14th, and I found two more nests the
same day. .
The number of old and new Blackbirds’ and Thrushes’
nests one sees along the Icknield Way in small thin trees and
the ancient hedges, both ivy-grown, is extraordinary. The
Carrion-Crow and Magpie are being wiped out by the Pheasant-
rearers, but I saw one of the former and a few of the latter.
Jackdaws, on the other hand, abound, and probably may breed
in rabbit-holes, as also possibly the rather numerous Stock-
Doves.. The Red-legged Partridge is common on the hills, &e.
Of the Stone Curlew I saw only ‘one bird, at the foot of Bald
Hill; but about sundown I heard them calling on Swyncombe
Down. When they begin the call is almost a hissing sound, but
gets fuller at each repetition. It is very shrill. and the “ lee-
ewk” very peculiar, with almost a Celtic J/ sound in it. The
call is sometimes almost ‘‘kurrr-lee-ewk.”’ The birds were eall-
ing just as the sun set, like a red ball. On the evening of the
Zool, 4th ser. vol. X., November, 1906. 2k
418 THE ZOOLOGIST.
14th, about 7.30, and getting dusk, only a few Song-Thrushes
still smging, as I was coming along the Icknield Way, a good-
sized flock of Fieldfares, followed by another, flew overhead,
coming from the down, and calling loudly. They flew north-
west, and, as it seemed too late in the evening for them to be
leaving feeding-grounds (even if they were likely to be going to
roost in the low arable land), I thought they were starting on
migration.
The Long-eared Owl, a resident in some numbers in the west
of the county, bred, as it has often done previously, again this
year in two fir spinneys on the high land between Shipton and
Burford.
16th.—Cuckoo, Wheatear, Tree-Pipit, Redstart, Blackcap, and
Nightingale.
?8th.—Carrion-Crows sitting on three eggs since the 16th.
20th.—A clutch of four Crow’s eggs brought in.
21st.—Sand-Martins near the Tadmarton breeding-place.
22nd.—Clutch of six Magpie’s eggs brought in.
23rd.—The Crow whose eggs were taken on the 18th was on .
the nest this evening. The nest is so difficult to get at that I
dare not send up again. Ray’s Wagtail and Wryneck here.
24th.—Lesser Whitethroat, Whitethroat, Grasshopper-War-
bler, and Sedge- Warbler. ‘ Saw a pair of Wrynecks near Milcomb,
quite scarce birds here. The first day for a week we have seen
any migrants about.
(To be continued.)
(410) )
OBSERVATIONS TENDING to THROW LIGHT on tHe
QUESTION or SEXUAL SELECTION in BIRDS, IN-
CLUDING a DAY-TO-DAY DIARY on tos BREEDING
HABITS or tas RUFF (MACHETES PUGNAX).
By Epmunp SEtovs.
(Continued from p. 294.)
April 18th.—Up at five, and at the place a little after six.
One bird only flies off as Icome up. A little afterwards three or
four come down, but almost immediately fly off again. They
certainly could not have seen me, nor was there anything else,
as far as I know, to alarm them. About 6.30 a single one flies
in, but leaves very shortly. A little afterwards, on looking, I
see two. Then there are three, but two go off, leaving a single
one, who, after staying some time, follows them; and, it being
now 8.30, I go back. No Reeve appeared all the time.
This morning, therefore, was very different to yesterday. It
is a dull, cloudy, blustering day; cold, too, though not so cold
to my sensations—and I should be a judge—as yesterday. Then,
however, it was fine and sunny, though the sun can never reach
me. It may mean, therefore, that the weather has thrown the
birds back, and this I hope, as I am, then, the likelier to see
things. Still, at one time, things had an interesting appearance.
The three birds, for instance, made longer and more business-
like runs about the place than did any yesterday. Of actual
fichting, however, there was nothing, and just as it seemed as
though something were on the point of happening, away they
flew. There were, too, some good examples of the deportment
of Ruffs on the assembly-ground, when others of them are about
to fly down upon it. They (these same three birds) strained up-
wards, flapped their wings, and would often run about, and
threaten at each other. I always knew, from this behaviour,
when a bird (or birds) had flown near, even though, from my
view being circumscribed, I could not see it, and it did not then
2K 2
420 THE ZOOLOGIST.
come down. Generally it did so very shortly afterwards—after
another circle, no doubt—and, as it did, these actions were
repeated. In the few cases, however, where nothing followed, I
could have no doubt as to what had caused the excitement—the
stretching up especially being quite distinctive.
Returning again at 2 p.m. I find the place as bare as when I
left it. Only one or two Ruffs came in between then and four or
five, and no Reeves did; so that it seems evident that this wintry
weather has given a check to the nuptial activities.
April 19th.—This was a dreadful day, and I have nothing to
record.
April 20th.—Better weather, especially in the morning, which,
though cold, was sunshiny on and off. Iwas then, however, else-
where, and it was about two before I got to my place of espial. I
watched till six, during all which time there were birds, on and
off, but (except once, when nothing took place worth recording)
only males, and never more than six together—more usually two
or three. Close attention to these Ruffs—or rather ordinary
attention at close quarters—shows a state of things less simple
than mere intuition might lead one to suppose. They are con-
stantly, so to say, mistaking one another for the female. One
of a pair, for instance, that have been inseparable since their
arrival, keeps, at intervals, trying conclusions, after this fashion,
with the other, who, for its part, almost permits of this, then
makes a flounce about, on the ground, in the curious crouched
attitude, ruffling its feathers, and holds up its bill, in a curious
way, to its solicitor. Then it sinks down, quietly, by the side of
and, sometimes pressed against, the latter, but soon all this
is repeated. From a distance this might be mistaken for fight-
ing, but perverted sexuality is the real keynote, though the more
ordinary fighting instinct may mingle with this. In fact, the
birds seem sometimes hardly to understand themselves, or to
know where their feelings are leading them. One of these two
would sometimes run at another, some way off, and then imme-
diately return to his companion, against whom he would press
himself and sink down beside him. Later the same pair made,
twice or thrice, an absurd sort of demonstration against each
other, never springing or coming into contact, and desisting
almost at once,
SHXUAL SHLECTION IN BIRDS. 421
April 21st.—A very unfortunate morning. Getting up about
five, I got to the place not much after six. As I came up I saw
a number of Ruffs and Reeves, and my experience having
hitherto been that, upon walking quickly up and getting into
position the birds that flew off soon returned, I did so now. I
was, however, very disappointed. They did, indeed, return very
shortly, but only to fly off again, without even settling, and this
they continued to do—the Ruffs, that is to say, for I never saw
the Reeves again—time after time, just hovering over the place,
and going on, except one bird, which for a long time stood there,
and, when it flew off, continued to come back. Latterly he was
joined by one or two others out of the flock, but they stayed
only a few moments, and then followed the rest, taking, as a
rule, the staunch one with them. This continued till past eight,
when, seeing no prospect of more interesting developments, I
returned to my village and breakfast. Getting down again
between 10 and 11, I crept gradually up to the place, putting
up a few birds that were there. It is now 1, but, though a
sunny day, and much warmer than it has been latterly, there is
as yet no sign of their foregathering.
From about 3 the birds began to come in, for some time
all Ruffs, but by 4.30 or so there had been first a single Reeve,
and then three, with as many Ruffs. It is curious, however,
that nothing like the same effect seemed to be produced in the
latter by their presence, as on other occasions, or, later, on this.
For at about 5, when a single Reeve flew in—I think with a
Ruff—making then, or soon afterwards, ten Ruffs to one Reeve,
there appeared to be more excitement on her account. ‘There
was, however, no fighting—a spring or two, once or twice—
nothing that could be called such. The one marked feature was
the couchant or prostrate posture which all the birds assumed,
seeming to be pressed into the ground, though some had the
hinder part of the body a little raised from it. When I could get
a good view of these it seemed to me as if the anal parts were
moving in the way I have before indicated—but again I had to
distinguish such movements from that given to the feathers by
the ceaseless wind. It certainly seemed now that every bird
had assumed the prostrate attitude on account of the Reeve.
As for her, she seemed very indifferent. Having alighted and
422, THE ZO0O0LOGIST.
made a few first steps, she moved very little, but when she did
there would be a commotion amongst the Ruffs nearest to her.
These turned round, raised themselves a little, pressed, again, to
the ground, whilst one or another, and, at one time, at least
three or four, ran up nearer to her, in this curious sort of way,
and then lay prone, about her. The golden-brown bird did this
more noticeably than any other, and she moved a step or two
- up to, and stood close beside him, as though approving him
more than the rest. On the whole each bird seemed content, as
it were, to wait, thus glued to the ground. Certainly the Reeve
looked indifferent, but were an actress transformed into a bird,
and required to be languishing, | know not how she would con-
vey that impression to us through facial expression only.
The difficulty of forming a judgment as to all this is that it
takes place, though in a less degree, when there is no Reeve
present, and again the excited prostrate or semi-prostrate attitude
passes into mere quiescence. It is most marked, on these occa-
sions, after a little pugnacious excitement amongst the Rufis
generally, as when some have come down amongst those already
assembled, which always produces running about and general
enlivenment. ‘Then, all at once, every bird may hug the ground
in this way. Still, both now and at other times when the Reeves
were present, such special attitudes, with the excitement which
produced them—the whole thing, in fact—was by many degrees,
I think I may say, more marked than when there has been no
such stimulus. As yet—speaking only of this year—this has
not been the case with the actual fighting. Now, for instance,
there has at last been a really sustained, as well as very violent,
duel between two of the Ruffs. The birds fought most furiously,
kicking one another, hitting out with their wings, and seizing
one another with their bills. They separated several times,
one, when this happened, being generally worsted for the
moment, and pursued by the other, till, outdistancing him, he
turned, and, crouching, rushed furiously on him again. This
lasted, perhaps, some three or four minutes, and then ended by
mutual consent, perhaps through mutual exhaustion, for the
birds fought like demons—yet not harder, I think, than Coots,
and nothing like so long as I have seen these fight ; indeed, they
go on without pause or break, and with no diminution of energy,
SHXUAL SELECTION IN BIRDS. 423
for half an hour, or perhaps even more, at a time; so that, if
they were not dull-coloured birds, they might be cited as evidence
of that superior vigour which it is our duty to find, throughout
nature, in association with bright colouring. This, I think, is a
little hard on them—the Coots—but Swifts, Swallows, Pere-
srines, &c., are in the same predicament. However, here is the
Ruff, and the height and the elastic vigour of the springs which
these two made was quite wonderful to see. Who could doubt
that they owed it all to their colour, or help wondering that they
were not iridescent? We see, here, the force of the principle—
a little goes a very long way. For converse examples we may
turn to Trogons and many other birds. There was no Reeve
present during this duel. My principal observation during the
earlier part of the time I watched was a repetition of what I
have before noted in regard to the sexual perversion, as one calls
it—a term which serves to save one the trouble of thinking—of
these Rufis, or of certain of them. I need not note again what
I have before described, as it was exactly the same thing, and
also—which strikes me as interesting—between the same pair of
birds. Again, when one pursued another (this is a second ex-
ample), and caught hold of him, he seemed to me to be actuated
more by concupiscence than pugnacity, if the one, as is probable,
did not pass into the other. Of such passages I saw a stronger
instance last year.
April 22nd.—Was down at 4.30 a.m., and put up a flock of
birds. As it was nearly dark, however, this did not matter, and
they were there again almost directly. This at least applies to
the Ruffs. It was two hours or thereabouts before the first
Reeve flew in—the first, that is, that I could distinguish. The
chief points of interest at this séance, which lasted some four
hours, were as follows:—(1) The greater number of the Ruffs,
amounting, at one time, to twenty-two. (2) The fewness of the
Reeves, who did not, I think, number more than three, or possibly
four, at any one time. (3) The earlier seeming-indifference of
the Ruffs to the presence of the Reeves, leading one almost to
doubt if their being there made any difference. (4) The later
effect produced by the presence of either these same, or other,
Reeves—I think the same—the excitement due to it becoming
more and more marked, till it took its place as the feature of the
Aod THE ZOOLOGIST.
performance. (5) The apparent indifference of the Reeves, as
illustrated, more particularly, by one of them. (6) The proba-
bility, if not certainty, that this indifference was only apparent,
as shown by the particular Reeve in question caressing, or
touching significantly, at least six times, one particular Rufi —
and no other. This she did by pecking and nibbling with her
bill amongst the feathers of his head, he sinking prostrate to
receive such caress, and remaining so whilst it was administered.
His action as he approached her, and then sank down—as he did
many times, in common with many other birds—was most
significant. So was that of the others. He, however, was the
one bird thus honoured, his plumage, light yellow and white—the
crown with snowy plumes—distinguishing him easily from any
other. Yet this marked bestowal of favour went hand in hand
with an apparent indifference in the general look and behaviour
of the bestower of it, the act itself alone suggesting the contrary.
(7) The fact that, in spite of the great commotion going on
about the Reeve—the great, swollen, rushing, excited birds
looked as though they would sweep her away—there was yet
never any interference to prevent her acting as she did, or to
punish the bird she favoured. (8) The very pretty and effective
picture presented by the assembled Ruffs, as others of them flew
in. They not only looked up, with necks stretched, flapped their
wings, and stood a-tip-toe, but also made—many of them—little
anticipatory jumps. As all looked at the flying birds, this made
that they all stood turned one way, and the effect was very
striking. (9) The sudden away-flying, from time to time, of all
the birds together, when they would make but a short circle or
two round about—sometimes, I think, but one—not far above
the ground, and then come down again. It was often the Reeve
that started these flights, and she did not always return with the
others.
It would appear, then, that this is really the courting-place,
not the lists, of the Ruff—the fighting being merely incidental—
but how lengthy, how almost interminable, does this courtship
appear to be, and how gradually, it would seem, do the Reeves’
sexual feelings become sufficiently developed to urge them to
their final expression. And even when they do, as seemed the
case a few days previously, when the weather was warmer and
SHXUAL SELECTION IN BIRDS. 425
less wintry, the male may not be ready to avail himself of
the opportunity. He certainly did not do so on the occasion in
question, though apparently on the point of it. Here, too, as it
appears to me, we have matter which should give us pause ere
we accept, in its entirety, the old view as to the coyness of the
female, and the eagerness of the male. The Reeve, though it is
early in the season—and she apparently has yet, or rather
again, to be won—is not exhibited in a very coy light, and the
Ruff, in spite of his rufflings, cannot meet her half-way, in
essentials. He has been, at least, as coy as she. What is this
coyness then that we exalt into a real active quality, and apply
to one sex only? Is it not a mere negative, the want of that
motive which, to lead to adequate action, must first be felt
sufficiently ? Are we coy when we have not much appetite and
- toy with our food; or, again, when filled to repletion, we avoid
for some time another banquet—which we would even fly from if
it actively wooed us? Perhaps we are, but, if so, then we have
given, in natural history, a false value to the word, and an
unreal limitation to one sex, of the thing. In this sense, how-
ever, which makes it nothing, coyness, I own, is a real force in
nature, and under its tiresome influence it seems as though I
should never see what I have principally come to see—the actual
consummation of the rite, that is—‘‘the attempt and not the
deed confounds us.”’
The Reeve, as far as I can see, has great power in the
assembly. She is quite at her ease there, and, though occa-
sionally embarrassed by the commotion of male birds about her,
so that she may have to run a little, yet she seems to have power
over the feelings she awakes. It has also sometimes seemed to
me that, in some unknown way, she can either excite the males
in a high degree, or hardly at all.
April 28rd.—Got to my watch-house at 12.30 p.m. only,
instead of in the early morning, as I had intended ; but, feeling
myself obliged to make a certain visit, and having chosen yester-
day, which was Sunday, to get it behind me, I was up late
writing, and so overslept myself in consequence—thus does any-
thing social interfere with anything worth doing. Two birds
flew off as I came up, one of them being a brown one, which I
know quite well—the loved of a certain Reeve. Now, on the
426 THE ZOOLOGIST.
morning when I startled the birds, and they would not settle for
a long time, or stay long when they did (if, indeed, it was really
owing to that), this bird was a marked exception to the rest, and
was on the place most of the time. Almost always, when, on
coming, I have found a single bird here, it has.been he, or if
there have been a few he has generally been of the number. Thus
he exhibits more attachment to the meeting-ground than do any
of the others, and of these others some few show more than the
rest—for, as hardly any two birds are quite alike in their plu-
mage, I can recognize the more frequent club-haunters. Thus,
then, we have variations in the individual strength of the im-
pulse to seek the gathering-ground, which mark, as I suppose,
the different stages through which the habit of thus associating
together, in one special place, has arisen. What has been its
origin, or through what early stages has it passed? As a
possible answer to this, I will here interpolate some observations
which I made not on the Ruff, but on the Redshanks, a bird be-
longing to the same family.
April 9th.—For the last quarter of an hour or so I have watched
the following sport or play of Redshanks :—A little company of
them, numbering, at first, eight, and then varying from eleven,
as a maximum, to now only four, have stood together in a certain
sandy spot, from which, at intervals, they all rise up, and make
a little Rundreise round about, not going very far from the place,
to which, before long, they return, and settle there as before.
There is an interval, then, of standing or walking about, then
another little flight and return, and this continues indefinitely—
I do not know how long, as a rule, but in the present instance
half an hour has gone by, and there have been perhaps a dozen
of these little excursions. An inopportune passing by of some
one, who spoke to me, would seem to have put an end to them.
The number, as I say, of the birds does not continue constant,
for either some of the original ones separate from their com-
panions and fly off, the residue only coming back, or these, or
the whole body, are joined by some others, or else some fly up,
after the party have settled. Thus there have been, at different
times, eight, eleven, seven, six, four, nine, and so on; but the
sport, if we may call it so, has continued, and probably a certain
number of the first eight have returned each time. I must
SHXUAL SHLECTION IN BIRDS. 427
remember, however, thatI was not here from the beginning. Now,
atter a longer interval, consequent on the breaking up aforesaid,
three birds have come back—but again a peasant intervenes,
and for a time all seems over. This was from about nine in the
morning.
Apri 11th.—Shortly after this there is another little exhibi-
tion—though the word is too pronounced a one—on the part of
the Redshanks. I notice a little collection of them, about a
dozen strong, not on the same bare sandy space as yesterday,
but in the grass, some way beyond it. Amongst these there are
the same little ascents, the hanging, for a little, on quivering
wings, above the assembly-place, the sweeping away and little
flights round and about, with the ultimate return. The features,
however, are not quite so marked and special, nor are there so
many flights and returns. There is, too, one other point of
interest. Amongst the Redshanks there is a bird of the same
general shape, but noticeably larger, much darker—indeed,
almost black—about the head and neck, and with the feathers
of the neck thicker. This bird must, I think, be a male
Ruff, whose nuptial adornments are only just beginning to
grow. He, however, flies up and about with the Redshanks,
stands amongst them, and acts, generally, as though he were
one of them.
It was only on the above two occasions that I noticed this
tendency on the part of Redshanks thus to form social gather-
ings, by which, of course, I mean something quite separate from
mere flocking later in the year. It is easy to see how, from such
beginnings, habits exactly like those of the Ruff, in this respect,
might arise, for with the return, many times in succession, to
any one spot, for any particular purpose, the localization of
special activities may almost be said to have begun, and the
more any place, during the breeding season, were frequented, the
more usual would it become for the sexes to court and pair there.
Yet this, probably, would not come about till the place-instinct
had gained considerable strength. For the black-headed bird
which I have noticed, I still think it must have been a Ruff,
though I cannot well account for the disparity in size not striking
me as greater than it did. A Reeve is not coloured like this, nor
does she seem to me to be at all larger than a Redshanks. I
428 THE ZOOLOGIST.
have noticed, however, amongst the Ruffs here, one or two
nondescript-looking birds, larger than the ordinary female, yet
not so large as the male, and with the head and neck coloured
much in this way. I cannot, in fact, even now, quite make up
my mind whether these birds—if, indeed, there be more than one
—are Ruffs or Reeves.
Here then we see a possible line along which the Ruff’s habit
of assembling in a certain place, where, by preference, the court-
ship is carried on, may have been developed; for we can
hardly suppose that a number of birds would, in the first in-
stance, deliberately choose a spot either for this or for any other
purpose. If, however, they became gradually accustomed to
standing on one spot rather than on another, all the rest might
follow—nor do I believe myself that any individual Ruff has ever
selected its ground. But nowit is not all the Redshanks that
come down, after each little flight, in the one place—the band
that do, that is to say, is not always represented by its maximum
number. Some flew up from and went down in other places,
nor was quite the same place chosen on the two consecutive
days. Moreover, the birds did not continue to behave in this
way for any long time. Probably, therefore, there are any num-
ber of such little embryo gathering-grounds in temporary use
every day, and varying from day to day. Do we, amongst the
Ruffs, see any relic of this less specialized state of things—as
shown, for instance, by the same band of birds having more
than one assembly-ground? ‘This question may be answered
farther on.
(To be continued.)
( 429 )
NO WR Si AUN De @aU) Easy Ss:
MAMMALIA.
Pigmy Shrew at Great Yarmouth.—lI have several times met with
the Pigmy Shrew (Svrea minutus) at St. Olaves, on the Waveney. The
first one I saw had been caught by a cat. It was badly mauled, and,
as some doubt was expressed, I sent it to the British Museum, where
its identity was confirmed. Since then 1 have tried, with absolute
failure, to trap a good living specimen for photographing, but several
have been taken alive from the cats, who will not eat them. The
Pigmy Shrew is not entirely nocturnal, as they are caught during the
day by the cats. The youngsters of the neighbourhood know the
animal pretty well as the ‘‘ Ranny,” a name generally given to the
Common Shrew, which in this district appears to be much rarer. I
have only once met with a specimen of S. vulgaris. This specimen I
have shown to some who were likely to meet with them, but in the
district round St. Olaves a ‘‘Ranny”’ as large as that appeared to be
almost unknown. The Pigmy Shrew—or, as they called it, the
«Ranny’’—was recognized by most, and appears to be spread over a
large district, including Fritton and Haddiscoe. Mr. Patterson tells
me S. minutus has been recorded before—on two occasions at least—
for Norfolk, but is new to the Yarmouth district. —P. HK. RumpreLow
(Napoieon Place, Great Yarmouth).
Notes on Surrey Mammals.—On July 8th I saw here, flying over a
large sheet of water, a number of Daubenton’s Bat (Myotis daubentoni).
I have never seen this species recorded from Surrey before, though
it is common in some parts of the Thames Valley. On the 8th of
September a Noctule (Pterygistes noctula) was on the wing at 7 p.m.
This is the latest date as yet that I have of its appearance. Another
Pigmy Shrew (Sorea minutus) was taken at Hlstead, in this neigh-
bourhood, by Mr. L. B. Mouritz, who kindly sent me particulars.
He writes :—‘‘I noticed how prominent the snout is in this little
species, as you recently remarked upon in ‘The Zoologist.’’’ During
the past summer I have noted numbers of dead Moles lying about the
roads and fields, and put this strange mortality down to the long
drought.—Gorpon Daueuimsa (Brook, Witley, Surrey).
430 THE ZOOLOGIST.
AVES.
Distribution of the Corn-Bunting (Emberiza miliaria) in Wales.—
I quite agree with Mr. Swainson (ante, p. 350) that the distribution of
the Corn-Bunting in Wales is very peculiar; but there are parts of
Wales where it can be identified at a greater distance than a mile and
a half from the sea. In Western Carnarvonshire I think I have seen
it nearly twice that distance from the coast, and probably localities for
it in Anglesea could be pointed out which are still more distant.—
O. V. ApLIN. :
Shore-Lark near Herne Bay.—I have much pleasure in recording a
male Shore-Lark (Otocorys alpestris), which came into my possession
on Oct. 5th last, that being the very day on which it was shot at
Swailcliffe, half-way between Herne Bay and Whitstable, by Mr. R. M.
Presland, of 59, Harbour Street, Whitstable. According to the Rev.
F, O. Morris, the occurrences of the Shore-Lark in this country are
but very few. ‘One (a male) was shot on the beach at Sherringham,
in Norfolk, in March, 1880; a second has been recorded by Thomas
Eyton, Esq., as having been killed in Lincolnshire; and Mr. Yarrell
mentions two which were obtained on a down in Kent.’’—J. A. Cuark
(57, Weston Park, Crouch End, N.).
[This bird is not so uncommon of recent years. Cf. Howard
Saunders, ‘ Manual,’ p. 8359.—Ep.]
A remarkable Cuckoo Clutch.—I have heard of and seen a good
many nests containing more than their usual complement of Cuckoo's
eges, but it was not until June 24th of this year that I had the good
fortune to witness this in situ. The nest in which two eggs were
deposited was that of the Hedge-Accentor (Accentor modularis), was
placed in the top of a roundish bush of the wild rose, about three
feet high, and was situated in the corner of a field, a few yards only
from the hedge; but the most remarkable thing about this nest was
that it contained jive eggs of the foster-parent, making a total of seven
eggs inall. The eggs were all in the same advanced stage of incuba-
tion (which I proved on blowing), and were quite warm, the bird
having only just left the nest on my approach, which had become quite
flattened out on account of its unusual burden. I am quite certain that
the nest had not been tampered with, as I took particular notice of the
surroundings; not a blade of grass or a twig of the bush had been in
any way disturbed. The Cuckoo’s eggs were of two distinct types,
evidently the produce of two separate birds. One has the ground colour
white, with well-defined markings of pale brown; the other is of a
NOTES AND QUERIES. 431
common type, with fine mottlings of brown almost obliterating the
ground colour. Several interesting points in regard to the above have
occurred to me, and I trust some of my readers may be equally inter-
ested, and perhaps be able to solve some of them. Granted, as is
generally accepted, that the Cuckoo removes one of the eggs of the
fosterers on depositing its own, there must have been seven eggs of the
Hedge-Accentor’s in the original clutch, which would be a very remark-
able number for this species ; for, as far as my own experience goes, five
is a large clutch, threes and fours predominating. Again, if these two
Cuckoos’ eggs are the produce of two separate birds, as I have every
reason to believe, is it not remarkable that two females should have
found the same nest, which was beautifully concealed, and could only
be seen by kneeling on the ground, and looking up through the bush ?
Finally, would the foster-parents have been equal to the occasion in
regard to the feeding of the two Cuckoos, or would one of them,
following their inherited instinct, have ejected its companion? There
appears to have been quite an epidemic of two Cuckoo’s eggs being de-
posited in one nest, this season no fewer than four well-authenticated
cases having been brought before me. One of them had the two eggs
placed in the nest of the Redbreast (Hrithacus rubecula) ; the three eggs
of the foster-parents were pure white, and almost round. — P. F. Bun-
yarp (57, Kidderminster Road, Croydon).
Pelecanus onocrotalus at Whitstable-——In the early part of July
last a solitary White Pelican was observed on the shore near Whit-
stable, and it has remained in the neighbourhood up to the present
time (October), having been seen as recently as the 20th ult. The bird
has its night-quarters in the open marshes near the shore, some dis-
tance from the town, and when not engaged in sea-fishing roams over
the pastures, and is often seen resting on the ground among the sheep
at a distance of over a mile inland. The pastures are intersected with
ditches and stream-dykes, which afford the Pelican food, but its
almost daily habit has been to go to the shore on a fishing excursion
when the tide is well out. Lately its visits to the sea have been less
frequent, owing probably to the many attempts which have been made
to shoot or capture it. The bird is strong on the wing, and happily
has, so far, eluded its pursuers, and been uninjured by their guns.
Information was sent to the Zoological Gardens, Regent’s Park, of the
presence of the Pelican in this locality, and it was ascertained that no
such bird had escaped from that collection. The idea now is that it
escaped from a vessel, and made its way to the Kentish shore, which at
this spot affords it a suitable temporary home; but with the approach
432 THE ZOOLOGIST.
of winter it is expected that the interesting visitor will take flight to
warmer quarters.—Sipert Saunpers (Whitstable).
Flamingo in Suffolk.x—The Flamingo which Dr. Murie describes
(ante, p. 398) as being seen on the River Alde on August 22nd was not
allowed to live long, for no doubt it is the same which was shot by
Mr. George Musters at Morston, on the north coast of Norfolk, the
following day. It is a very fine bird, in beautiful plumage, and has
been preserved by Mr. Pashley, and neither he nor I can see the
slightest trace of confinement about it, its feet, wings, and plumage
generally being in perfect condition, without swellings on the former,
or any abrasions.—J. H. Gurney (Keswick Hall, Norwich).
Yorkshire Notes on the Tufted Duck (Fuligula cristata).—This
sprightly little Duck has several local names, and, as it is an expert
diver—really a diving Duck—it is in many places known as the
Black and White Diver, Little Black Diver, and White-sided Diver.
The golden yellow irides of the adult bird’s eye often secure it the
name of Golden-eye—wrongly, of course, as it is easily distinguished
from the true Golden-eye Duck (which, by the way, does not breed in
this country). Full-grown birds scale an average weight of twenty-
six ounces, and measure a trifle over sixteen inches in length. Tufted
Duck are nowhere common ; still, 1am aware of several places in York-
shire where a few pairs rear their young in safety every year. That
it is not an early breeder is proved by the fact that I did not find a
nest this year till the last week in June, when I discovered four in
one afternoon. My photograph (on following page) shows one of them
at home. When commencing the nest the duck will take advantage of
some slight depression in the ground, the nest invariably being made
on land; this hollow is sparsely lined with grass and leaves, and the
greenish buff eggs laid day by day till they number eight to ten. When
the duck commences to sit she almost strips her breast and body of
the down so admirably adapted to making a marvellously comfortable
nest. Iam not aware whether the Tufted drake will strip his down as
is done by the Hider when the nest has been despoiled several times ;
also, I had no means to test the matter, as the slightest disturbance
would cause my feathered friends to desert the nest, with little proba-
bility of my locating it again with any certainty. It appears the duck
takes the brunt of the burden of rearing the young, while the drake
spends his time with some friends diving, swimming, flying, and
amusing themselves in the approved manner of Ducks out in the
middle of the lake. So far, I am unable to settle whether he takes a
share in incubation or not—at any rate, he is exceptionally dutiful
NOTES AND QUERIES. 433
when the young are hatched, and taking their first lessons in food-
finding, swimming, and diving ; certainly at the two latter accomplish-
ments they are born expert. During the winter Tufted Duck congre-
gate in bunches of seven or eight—probably family parties—on any
open fresh waters, and in very hard weather will frequent the coast,
rarely leaving fresh water for long, and seldom being seen out in the
open sea.—Sypney Smirx (20, Park Crescent, York).
Hybrid Black-game and Pheasant.—Since the publication of my
previous paper on this subject (ante, pp. 321-830), I have received
TurteD Duck at Home (cf. p. 482).
some additional information from various sources on the subject. Five
other occurrences are now Clearly established, bringing the total num-
ber of recorded specimens up to fifty-five.
[Shropshire.—The late Mr. W. EH. Beckwith, in his work on the
‘ Birds of Shropshire,’ p. 17, says :—‘‘ Since then [?. e. the occurrence
of the Merrington hybrids in 1834, Nos. 5, 6 in my list] two similar
broods have been found near Bridgnorth and Ludlow.” Unfortunately,
however, no further details are given.]
Nottinghamshire (51, 52). — Two (cock and hen) were shot on the
Zool. £th ser. vol. X.. November, 1906. 21
434 THE ZOOLOGIST
same day in Kirton Wood, near Ollerton, in October, 1865 (Mr. J.
Whitaker, in ditt.).
Breconshire (53, 54).—T wo, killed in the neighbourhood of Builth
by the late Mr. T. Price, of Builth, and now in the possession of his
daughter at Brecon. A reproduction of a small photograph of these
two birds forms the frontispiece to Mr. . Cambridge Phillips’s ‘ Birds
of Breconshire’ (1899). Cf. ‘ Zoologist,’ 1882, p. 213; ‘ Birds of
Breconshire,’ p. 83, where, however, these examples are not recorded
under the heading of Pheasant or Black Grouse, but at the end of the
article on the Quail! No date is mentioned, but they must have been
killed some time previous to 1882.
55.—One, killed Dec. 2nd, 1898, by Mr. A. Crawshay at Llansaint-
fraed. This bird is described as being much larger than a Blackcock,
and all three Brecon specimens appear to have belonged to the type
illustrated by me (Plate IV.), with light coloured wings, tail-coverts,
and tail, bronze-black neck, breast, and belly, and parti-coloured head
(Mr. E. Cambridge Phillips, tom. cit. p. 83).
[With regard to No. 7 in my list, Mr. J. R. B. Masefield informs me
that the Hawkestone collection has been purchased by Mr. Beville
Stanier, and is now at Peploe Hall, near Market Drayton. Other
examples killed on Cannock Chase are said to be found in Lord Lich-
field’s collection at Shugborough Park, but up to the present I have
not had an opportunity of examining them, and cannot say whether
they are correctly assigned to this cross.]—- Francis C, R. Jourpain
(Clifton Vicarage, Ashburne, Derbyshire).
Richmond Park Notes (September-December, 1905). — On Sept.
10th a Ring-Ouzel on an oak-tree permitted me to watch it for a con-
siderable time ; they are very rare visitors to Surrey. Lesser Redpolls
were in evidence throughout the autumn and winter, and during the
latter season a few were constantly to be seen associated with the flocks
of Siskins, which appeared on Dec. 17th, and which were towards the
latter part of that month quite numerous. The first Ducks noted were
a party of eleven Tufted Duck on Nov. 5th, followed by parties of
Pochard, &c. On Sept. 2nd I identified two White Wagtails, and
again, on the 16th, four, the last in company with some Pied. Noy.
12th saw a flock of forty Lapwings and some Grey Wagtails, the latter
being also seen on the 19th; whilst sixty Lapwings flew across from
the direction of Wimbledon on Dec. 24th. A Kingfisher frequented the
Penn Ponds. between Oct. 6th and 29th, and on the latter date Redwings
and a Dabchick were observed. I flushed a Snipe out of a ditch on
Nov, 19th, and a keeper informs me that several were noted early in
NOTES AND QUERIES. 435
the morning about that date; and on the 26th two Hooded Crows
flew up from the lower pond, and settled in the Pond Plantation.—
L. B. Mourirz.
PISCKES.
Anchovy at Yarmouth.—On Oct. 24th I obtained, through the kind
offices of Mr. R. Beazor, one of our local fish merchants, a very fine and
plump example of the Anchovy (Hngraulis encrasicholus), that had been
taken in the drift-net of a Scotch boat fishing out of this port. It
measured 6% in. in length, and could hardly fail to attract the notice of
the fishermen, when shaking out the nets, by its short length as com-
pared with the Herrings, in whose company it had perished. But for
its plumpness it would certainly never have been held in the meshes.
Placed in formalin, it exuded so much grease as to discolour the water,
and top it with such a layer of oil, that in four days it could hardly be
distinguished in the bottle. The skin of this fish is remarkably tender,
and peels off most easily, and the scales are soon removed. — A. H.
Parrrerson (Great Yarmouth).
Large Chub (Leuciscus cephalus) in the Hampshire Avon.— A
very fine specimen of this fish has recently been caught a few miles
from Ringwood. Its weight was nearly seven and a half pounds—or,
to be correct, 7 lb. 63 oz.—after it had bled considerably from a ‘‘ gaff”
wound. It is said to bea ‘‘ record’ weight for this river, if not for
others, and it is somewhat remarkable that it is not a native species in
this river. The older anglers in this neighbourhood were entirely
unacquainted with it, not from lack of observation, or its close
resemblance to allied species, for I understand even the young fry are
easily recognized in the water amongst other fish—as Roach and Dace
—by their darker fins. The late Mr. Mills, of Bisterne Manor (to
whom several miles of the river belonged), once told me of the manner
in which the species was introduced some thirty or more years ago. A
Pike-fisher, having obtained permission to try his fortune, brought a
number of small Chub for bait, but, being unsuccessful, one very cold
day he grew disgusted with his ill-luck, and threw the whole contents
of his bait-kettle over a bridge into the stream, and from that time the
fish grew and multiplied, much to the annoyance of many anglers, for,
although it sometimes gives fair sport, and will take almost any kind
of bait (either for surface or bottom fishing), it is a ‘“‘coarse”’ fish in
the truest sense of the word, and has been described as having many
bones in its woolly flesh; it’ also has the reputation of preying upon
the small fry of other fish. I cannot speak with certainty of its having
436 THE ZOOLOGIST.
taken possession of the upper reaches of the river, but it has become a
common species here, whilst others have decreased, and I have known
many instances of late years where fish of four or five pounds have been
‘brought to bank.’’—G. B. Corsin (Ringwood).
[This is unfortunately not the first record of Chub having been care-
lessly introduced, and this fish in a Trout stream is an unwelcome in-
habitant. For the Chub is a predaceous fish, being frequently caught
by anglers when spinning, and I have personal knowledge of several
having been taken when fishing with a Gudgeon. Still the Chub is
one of the most interesting fishes if its habits are studied in the way
ornithologists conduct their field-work. ‘‘ Once a Chub-hole always a
Chub-hole’’ is an axiom with anglers, and it is in some ways one of
the most crafty of fishes. When a Chub has been played and landed
it is not worth while fishing the same spot for some time afterwards,
and those who use the natural fly best for this fish are the quietest and
most unobtrusive of anglers. Of course, winter fishing in swollen and
coloured water does not sufficiently give this impression. The Chub
is good to catch and very indifferent to eat, but its bionomical narra-
tive has not yet been written.—Ep. |
CRUSTACEA.
Rare Species at Yarmouth.—I have to thank Messrs. Boulenger
and Calman, of the British (Natural History) Museum, for confirming
my suspicions as to the identity of two stalk-eyed crustaceans, which, I
am pleased to say, are interesting additions to my Kast Norfolk list,
viz. Portunus holsatus, the Livid Swimming Crab, and Pandalina brevi-
rostris, recorded by Bell as Thompson’s Hippolyte. Of the former, I
met with a very small example in the summer, and, being struck with
the delicacy of its markings, and its general appearance, placed it aside
in formalin, so as to be able to compare it with any others that might
turn up. One, considerably larger, was subsequently taken by a
shrimper friend, and placed by him in spirits. He said that he very
rarely indeed had met with anything like it. Pandalina I picked out
of a handful of siftings that had been riddled, and preserved for me by
another shrimper. On Oct. 27th, when rambling by the tide-mark
from Gorleston, I was surprised at the numbers of Shore-Crabs (Caret-
nus menas) washed up dead and dying, and could assign no reason for
the phenomenon. I picked up a couple of freshly dead Edible Crabs
(Cancer pagurus) among them, derelicts from the North Norfolk grounds.
Artuur H. Parrerson (Ibis House, Great Yarmouth).
.
NOTES AND QUERIES. 437
INSECTA.
The Poor Mayfly—Few creatures, I imagine, have more enemies
than the insect named. I know little of its comparatively long aquatic
life, but if an inference may be drawn from what is well known of the
ravages committed by larve of dragonflies, the great water-beetle and
its kin, and other smaller but no less insinuating fry upon inmates
of the water generally, the earlier stages of Hphemera vulgata are
exposed to not a few perils during its two or threefold metamorphoses.
Years ago the insects were very abundant on the Avon and its tributary
brooks, but for a considerable time they seemed to be entirely want-
ing, until comparatively recently their reappearance—but not in their
former abundance—has been hailed with satisfaction by the angling
community. One bright day at the end of May or beginning of June
I sat in a quiet nook by the river, and watched with very great interest
some of the insects as they winged their brief aerial existence over the
stream from which they had emerged, and I could not but notice what
a perilous life was theirs. In the hollow branch of a tree on one side
of the stream a Sparrow had built its nest, and in a thorn-bush on the
opposite bank a Chaffinch had its home—with probably a family to be
provided for in each case—and both birds were alert in watching the
opportunity to catch and carry to their respective retreats the dancing,
fat-bodied Mayflies as they appeared, and in this work one or the other
was generally successful ; but on more than one occasion the most
strenuous efforts of both finches were unavailing, as a Swift dashed
between them and carried off the prize; or, should the poor fly have
the misfortune to fall upon the water, it was soon discovered, and
swallowed up by some hungry watchful fish. Thus one of the many
tragedies in nature is presented to us, and we are inclined to ask why
the Mayfly is so sought after and persecuted. — G. B. Corin (Ring-
wood, Hants).
Notes on the Mole-Cricket (Gryllotalpa vulgaris)—I have only
just seen the notes on this insect (ante, p. 857). Illustrations of this
striking insect in old books on natural history, and Gilbert White’s
account of the singular noises it produces, are well known to all
entomologists ; but its range in Great Britain seems to be very in-
definitely understood, and further information as to its occurrence
in the different counties would be of great interest. An article on
this insect, by Mr. J. E. Harting, appeared in the ‘ Field’ news-
paper on April 15th, 1905, when numbers of Mole-Crickets were
causing damage to pasture and clover lands on Lord Ellesmere’s estate.
Mr. Harting, beyond saying that the insect is found chiefly in peaty
438 THE ZOOLOGIST.
soil mixed with sand or clay, and therefore that its presence may be
regarded as somewhat local, does not define its range in this country,
nor give any localities where it is indigenous, or generally to be found.
As far as this county of Stafford is concerned, the Mole-Cricket, being
apparently a southern insect, is only very casually referred to by
Garner in his ‘ Natural History of the County of Stafford’ (1844), as
‘taken in gardens about Birmingham,” but he gives no actual data.
Edwin Brown (‘Fauna of Burton-on-Trent,’ 1863) does not refer to
this insect at all in his list of the Orthoptera of the district. I have
only myself during the last thirty years been able to obtain particulars
of two records of the occurrence of the Mole-Cricket in Staffordshire—
once in 1898, when one was found in a stove-house in the gardens of
Meaford Hall, near Stone (Rep. North Staff. Field Club, vol. xxxii.
p- 64), and again on Sept. 14th last, when a specimen was found by a
workman at the Longton Corporation Gasworks. Mr. B. Bryan, of
Normacot, who showed me this insect, stated that it was discovered
during the unloading of a truck of ‘‘oxide,’’ a substance used in puri-
fying gas, and brought from Ireland. Both these specimens would
appear to have been introduced into this country, the Meaford speci-
men no doubt coming with roots of plants or garden material from the
south, and the Longton specimen no doubt flew into the oxide whilst
in transit on the railway, and probably when passing through some
part of Wales, where the Mole-Cricket frequently occurs. As far as I
have been able to ascertain, this insect is not indigenous to this
county, which is further north than its normal range, as to which I
shall be glad to receive further information from any readers of ‘ The
Zoologist..—Joun R. B. Maserieup (Rosehill, Cheadle, Staffordshire).
[Mr. M. Burr, in his ‘ British Orthoptera,’ writes of this species :—
‘Tn this country the Mole-Cricket is local, being found chiefly in the
south. Stephens gives Devon, Cornwall, and Ripley. It is to be found
in the New Forest, near the Chichester Canal, and at Besselsleigh, in
Berkshire.” —Ep.]
LOCAL NOMENCLATURE.
Some Local Names in Surrey. —‘‘ Son of the Marshes,” in his
‘Surrey Hills,’ mentions the name “ Deaf Adder,’”’ as applied to the
Slowworm. I have often heard the term used by country people round
Reigate and Newdigate. The epithet ‘‘ deaf’’ is more curious than
“blind,” applied to the Slowworm with its comparatively incon-
spicuous eyes, and I can only suggest the explanation of its use by
the rustics as a term vaguely reminiscent of Sunday School. In the
same volume the author speals of the Short-tailed Field-Vole as being
NOTES AND QUERIES. 439
known in Surrey as the ‘‘Grass-Mouse.” I have not yet come across
this term, particularly applicable to this mouse, which is always much
in evidence during the cutting of the hay.* A correspondent in
‘Science Gossip,’ writing in 1882, says:—‘‘ The Common Shrew is
called the ‘ Grass-Mouse’ in Co. Fermanagh.’ This must refer to the
Lesser Shrew (the only Irish Shrew), if it really applies to the Shrew
at all, which is rather doubtful, as the Lesser Shrew—in England, at
all events—seems to be almost restricted to the cover of woods and
spinneys, or hedges neighbouring such cover; though in some of the
treeless districts of Ireland necessity may have induced other habits.
In Ireland I have only met with this species in the north, where its
nests are placed in the bottoms of loose stone walls, always, as far as
my observations went, in the neighbourhood of trees. In Surrey,
Shrews are known as ‘‘ Sheer Mice,’ which is doubtless a meta-
thesized form of the word ‘‘ Shrew.” The Lesser Shrew, which is
exceedingly rare here, is quite unknown to keepers, farmers, and taxi-
dermists alike; and the Waier-Shrew is only known to a very few.
Here the Dormouse always goes by the appropriate name ‘“ Sleep
Mouse.” It is becoming very scarce, and within the last ten years has
quite disappeared in districts where it was formerly common. The
Harvest-Mouse, though now almost extinct in Surrey, is well known
to most of the country-folk. One farmer knew it well round Epsom
some years ago, and speaks of it as the ‘‘ Red Mouse.” Iam not sure
if this is his own particular descriptive name, or a local term. I have
an impression that there is a continental fable concerning the ‘‘ Red
Mouse,”’ but I cannot recollect any particulars, or if it refers to Mus
minutus. A reaper whom I lately interviewed told me that the
Harvest-Mouse was known as the ‘‘ Squeaker’”’ in Oxfordshire when
he was a boy. The Long-tailed Field-Mouse is universally known in
Surrey as the ‘Bean Mouse,” or the ‘“ Beaner,” on account of its
partiality for beans and peas.—Lionet EK. Apams (Reigate).
Goldsmith as a Naturalist.—Burcuer Brrp.—Mr. Bruce Cummings
(ante, p. 883) says that he cannot determine what Goldsmith meant by
the Butcher-Bird, ‘‘ which is a little bigger than a Titmouse, and
lives in the marshes near London.’ Was it not the svlerella of
Sir Thomas Browne (1674), the Least Butcher-Bird of Edwards
(1745), and the Bearded Titmouse (Panurus biarmicus) of the B.O. U.
List 2—Maurice C. H. Brep (Brunstead Rectory, Stalham).
* Since writing the above I have heard the term used by our gardener,
who gave me a very accurate description of the mouse in question,
440 THE ZOOLOGIST.
NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.
The Cambridge Natural History. Vol. 1. Protozoa, by Marcus
Hartoa, M.A.; Porifera, by I. B. J. Sonuas, B.Sc. ; Coelen-
terata and Ctenophora, by 8. J. Hickson, F.R.S. ; Echino-
dermata, by E. W. MacBrinz, F.R.S. Macmillan & Co.,
Limited.
Vou. I. of this excellent series of volumes has now appeared,
and if out of sequence is still in due season, for the authors have
brought their subjects well up to date. In reading this volume
we are firstly impressed with the wide field of our study which is
practically absent from the pages of ‘The Zoologist,’ for few of
our contributors apparently study these frequently minute, and
what we generally regard as primitive, forms of animal life.
And yet with the Protozoa an evolutionist may study his first
lesson in the endeavour to find a primary division between
“animals” and ‘‘ plants.’’ An ox standing under a tree affords
a sufficient distinction for an ordinary man, but to the zoologist
engaged in the study of some Protozoa the problem is virtually
unsolved, at least so far as the result can be expressed in words ;
and, as Mr. Hartog remarks, ‘‘ the study of the Flagellates has
been largely in the hands of botanists.” Haeckel, with his
genius for simple but profound division, therefore divides the
living world into the Metazoa, or Higher Animals; the Meta-
phyta, or Higher Plants; and the Protista, which occupy the
debatable plane. .
If this problem is not sufficiently profound to the student of
the Protozoa there is still another—the question of Spontaneous
Generation—and Mr. Hartog, in discussing this matter of heated
contest, gives a very judicial opinion, and one we gladly repro-
duce: ‘‘ Of the ultimate origin of organic life from inorganic life
we have not the faintest inkling. If it took place in the remote
past, it has not been accomplished to the knowledge of man in
the history of scientific experience, and does not seem likely to
be fulfilled in the immediate or even in the proximate future.”
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it is, without the contemplation of ‘‘origins.” In this beauti-
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likely to promote, in the minds of many naturalists who have
confined their studies to higher animals, an attention to the
minute creatures that form the foundation of biology, and are
primary factors in the evolutionary conception.
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Notices or New Ee 440. eS
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Zool. 1906.
Plate VI.
ARDEA ALBA WITH YOUNG (ALBANTA).
Pree Z2ZOO0LOGTSt
No. 786.—December, 1906.
/
THE GREAT WHITE HERON (ARDEA ALBA).
By R. B. Lopes.
(Puate VI.)
Arter finding the Pelicans’ nesting colony in Albania (cf. ante,
p- 365), my next task was to find Ardea alba. And here there was
some little difficulty to start with, for the month’s search for Pele-
canus crispus had brought me well into May, and it was doubtful
if I should be in time for eggs. But the authorities differed so
much that I really knew very little about the proper time for the
nesting season. Seebohm says that they nest from mid-May to
June, while Howard Saunders mentions a nest (found in 1863) in
an old fir-tree which contained young birds recently hatched on
June 28th ; while others say that they nest earlier in the year
in the reeds.
The first place to be searched was a large Albanian lake,
where the birds certainly were to be seen plentifully, but all my
efforts to discover a nesting colony were fruitless. In vain we
struggled through submerged forests, and made distant expedi-
tions to the further end of the lake of some days’ duration.
The information received in answer to inquiries was, as usual,
utterly untrustworthy, and many days were wasted in going to
see nests of the White Stork, Grey Heron, and even the Hooded
Crow. The people in these countries appear to be quite in-
capable of distinguishing one bird from another, and the know-
Zool. 4th ser. vol. X., December, 1906. 2M
442 THE ZOOLOGIST.
ledge of the local names, even when combined with showing them
coloured drawings, is of very little use. After nearly a fornight’s
hard work, with no results, I turned my back on this place, in-
tending to try another locality which seemed to promise some
chance of success. Before I left, however, I had succeeded in
photographing A. alba while feeding near to the town very early
in the morning, and in securing some characteristic positions
of this most beautiful and stately member of the Heron family.
It is true that sometimes A. alba assumes an ungraceful and
stiff attitude, especially when the long neck is held upright and
inclined rather forward ; but at other times, and especially when
the neck assumes an §-like curve, the bird is extremely graceful in
its snowy white plumage. The back-plumes project over the tail,
giving it somewhat the appearance of a Crane. Its method of
fishing is quite different from that of cinerea; while the latter
stands motionless and expectant waiting for its prey to approach
within reach of its dagger-like beak, alba stalks rapidly through
the water, snapping here and there as it goes at any small fry it
may see. The stomach of one I shot was very much distended,
but contained nothing larger than a stickleback. Once J had
the opportunity of watching Little Hgrets (A. garzetta), alba, and
cinerea, together, and could compare the habits of the three
species at the same time; garzetta was even more active than
alba, running through the water, and sometimes using its wings
to help itself along when it saw anything good two or three
yards away.
The fresh locality for more than a fortnight only provided the
usual disappointments. The promise of a good ‘“‘ baksheesh ”’
for any news of a nest only resulted in making short expeditions
which led to nothing. At last, one day (May 27th), after wading
through some large reed-beds, I was making my way back to the
boat, utterly exhausted with hunger and fatigue, when I heard
the unmistakable croaking and grunting of nesting Herons. On
firimg my pistol several Common Herons got up, but with them
were some White ones, and I knew that I had at last hit on a
nesting-place. The sight gave me fresh strength, and for another
hour I fought and struggled through the reeds. The water was
over waist-deep, though the bottom was firm and fairly level. But
the reeds were immense. Hach step was only accomplished by
THE GREAT WHITE HERON. 443
the exercise of my whole strength and weight, while it was im-
possible to see more than a yard on each side of me.
At last I found a nest like a Purple Heron’s perched up in the
reeds, containing four eggs, but, as the Common Herons were
evidently nesting there too, it was absolutely necessary to make
perfectly sure without the possibility of any mistake as to which
species they belonged. Retiring, therefore, to a little distance,
I waited, motionless and hidden, as well as I could manage, until
a pair of veritable Ardea alba hovered over the nest, preparing
to alight on it. Only those who have experienced the difficulties
and disappointments of such a prolonged search can appreciate
the delight with which I watched them, and realized that at last
I had succeeded in my quest.
After some much-needed refreshments I hurried back to the
spot with the camera, and it will serve to give some idea of the
denseness of the reeds when I relate that two of us searched in
vain for that nest for more than two hours, though I thought I
had left a track to it plainly visible. However, after completely
losing ourselves, we had to give it up until the next day. And
then we spent two more hours before we found it again. In the
interval one of the four eggs had hatched, and the other three
were on the point of doing the same. It was with great difficulty
that these three eggs were saved as eggs.
During our search several other nests were found, but no
more eggs. All the rest held young; some only a few days
old, others nearly half-grown, the young cinerea being nearly
fledged. On being approached the young birds leave the nests,
and crawl through the reeds to some distance, returning when
the danger has passed. On these wanderings they use the beak
bent at an angle like a hook, and by hitching their chins over
the reeds pull themselves along, and also by taking hold of the
reeds between the mandibles. :
Both nests and eggs seem to be somewhat smaller than those
of A. cinerea. The nests were sometimes raised about three feet
above the water, at others almost flush. The adult birds are
quieter than cinerea or purpurea, and I only heard low croakings
while waiting at their nests. They are exceedingly timid, and I
spent six days in this reed-bed before I could succeed in obtain-
ing a photograph. Every plan I could think of was tried in
2M 2
444 THE ZOOLOGIST.
vain. First of all I began with a long string attached to the
shutter of a well-hidden camera, while I waited at a distance
with reeds tied all round my waist. Then the electric camera
was tried, and, though this went off several times, I was afraid
to trust to it alone. My misgivings proved to be too well
founded. They were only nearly successful, but something or
other always happened to spoil them. Then an empty nest was
found rather high up in the reeds about fifteen yards from a
likely nest containing two young ones. Crouching behind this
empty nest, I spent two days of nine and ten hours each, hardly
daring to move, in water up to my coat-pockets. And when they
did at last visit the nest they were very suspicious, sometimes
only showing up through the reeds behind the nest, and several
times left without feeding their young at all, and sometimes
hovered over the nest without alighting. On these occasions the
young became very excited and clamorous, constantly uttering a
cry which sounded exactly like ‘‘ be quick, be quick,” repeated
many times. In this cry of ‘‘be quick” I thoroughly sympa-
thised ; 1 knew the poor little beasts were hungry, and so was I,
and tired of waiting in such an uncomfortable position. Besides,
the leeches had got into my boots, and through the holes in my
breeches made by the reeds, while I was losing blood all the time ;
for my wading-trousers had been cut literally to ribbons days
before at the beginning of the search, and I had received several
nasty stabs in the face, uncomfortably near my eyes, from the
broken ends of reeds while forcing my way through them. But
eventually four or five photographs were obtained of these timid
birds at close quarters, just in time for me to rush off and catch
the steamer for Fiume on the following day, on my way to the
Dobrudscha after Pelecanus onocrotalus.
Note.—It is hardly correct to describe the beak of alba as
black during breeding season, and feet blackish. The base of
the beak is yellow, which runs to a point on each side of upper
mandible and to the bottom of lower mandible, leaving top edge
of upper and sides of lower mandible black. The tibia is yellow;
foot black in front and back, with yellowish stripe along the
sides as far as the toes, which are greenish black. Iris chrome-
yellow; bare skin round eyes green.
( 445 )
NOTES ON THE ORNITHOLOGY OF OXFORDSHIRE,
1904.
By O. VY. Apuin, F.L.S., M.B.O.U.
(Concluded from p. 418.)
May ist.—A very nice May-day, and so far a really genial
and favourable spring. Pear and plum blossom well out.
2nd.—A male Dotterel was shot from a small flock on a
ploughed field about a couple of miles to the north of Banbury.
Thad an opportunity of examining it in the flesh. Legs and feet
flesh-brown ; iris dark brown; bill blackish horn; weight, 4 oz.
less a worn sixpence; total length, 9°2 in. ; alar expanse, 18°6 in. ;
wing, from the carpal joint, 6°05 in. This is the only local
spring Dotterel I ever handled. I was afterwards told by a good
observer, who knew the Golden Plover well, that at the end of
April he saw a flock of about a dozen Plovers, which were no
doubt Dotterel, on the open high-lying arable land about the
‘“‘ Merrymouth,” above Fifield. They were described as wheel-
ing about low down near the ground, smaller than Golden
Plover, and greyer or bluer at a distance.
10th.— News from Mr. W. Newton, of Crowmarsh Battle,
that he saw a Serin near there on the 5th, and had a good
chance of examining it while it was perched on the bare stem of
a young chestnut-tree. This bird is new to the county list.
21st.—Mr. Newton saw a pair of White Wagtails on the banks
of the Thames near Crowmarsh.
31st.—Returned home after a month’s absence. Heard the
Corn-Crake from study window.
June 8rd.—Some young Rooks still in the nests. Two fresh
Sparrow-Hawk’s eggs taken in the Wayhouse meadows brought
in to-day ; a rare occurrence in this woodless parish.
4th.—News from Mr. Calvert that he saw a Wheatear between
Langley and Fordwells on the Ist inst. This bird is rarely seen
in Oxon (except perhaps on the Chilterns) in summer.
446 THE ZO0O0OLOGIST.
6th.—Hxamined adult female Hobby, shot at Tusmore on
May 16th.
7th.—In Fifield village House-Martins breeding in some
numbers, and so low down that the nests can almost be touched
by anyone standing on the ground. In the woods noticed
Nightjar, and saw in the bracken the spot where eggs were
taken two days before; also two Sparrow-Hawk’s nests used
this year, and heard a Nightingale. Had news of a Buzzard
shot in the neighbourhood two months ago.
8th.—On the open arable land of the Crown Farms about
Langley (formerly the forest) stone walls largely take the place
of hedges, and nesting accommodation is scarce and crowded.
In the small ‘“‘ Dovehouse” close at Langley, which had a big
hedge on two sides of it, we found the following nests to-day :—
House-Sparrow, three nests with eggs; big deep domed nests
at the top of the hedge. Chaftinch, one nest with eggs. Linnet,
three nests with eggs, three nests ready for eggs, and two nests
with young. Greenfinch, two nests with eggs and one with
young. Song-Thrush, one nest with eggs. Turtle-Dove, one
nest with eggs; this nest was formed entirely of the dry creeping
root-stems of ‘“‘squitch.” I also saw a Pied Wagtail’s nest in
the side of a straw-rick, which was then empty, but at 7.15 a.m.
the next day contained one Wagtail’s and a Cuckoo’s egg.
To Bampton, and on this and the next day I noticed many
Peewits on such of the big open meadows along the Isis which
had been pastured ; some had already gathered into small flocks.
Moorhens are very numerous about the rush-beds, Dabchicks
common, and there are a few breeding Wild Ducks. I noticed
the Reed-Warbler in willow-beds near Tadpole and Radcot
bridges, but the Reed-Bunting is the characteristic small bird
of the belt of rushes, reeds, and other water-plants lying between
the river and the rarely-used towing-path. I heard four Corn-
Crakes, two of them in one large meadow. In the arable land
between the marshy village of Clanfield and Bampton, which is
nearly as flat as the fens, I was surprised to meet with a pair of
Stonechats, the male sitting ona gate. The local Corn-Bunting
is fairly common on this land, but I had found it far more so on
the high ground as I came from Burford, where this year the
‘“‘eurlock”’ is rampant, and the fields shine out—a light golden
ORNITHOLOGY OF OXFORDSHIRE. 447
colour—miles away. Some old pollard willows at the side of
the raised marsh-road leading down to the river are the haunt of
Tree-Sparrows. On my way home I heard a Corn-Crake in the
Cherwell valley at Somerton.
11th.—Mr. P. T. Duffield reported in the ‘ Field’ to-day a
bird he had seen over the river at Oxford, which was evidently a
Black Tern. :
19th.—Lesser Whitethroat continues to sing in shrubs in
front of the house, and I think must be breeding. I have seen
some about the village all the season ; itis a garden bird to some
extent.
23rd.—The Red-backed Shrikes have had their eggs taken
once this year, and now are quartered on the west side of the
railway-station ; they are always somewhere close to the railway.
Listened to a Quail in a barley-field on Tadmarton Heath, and
was told of another near there. It did not call much until after
7.30 p.m., and repeated the call from three to eight times each
time it called; there was a slight emphasis on the second
syllable.
24th.—News from Mr. Fowler, at Kingham, that the Marsh-
Warbler had just hatched its young.
25th.—While waiting for the Badgers to come out, I heard
the other Quail. ‘This seems to be a Quail year. Mr. EH. Cole-
grove heard one near South Newington, and Mr. W. Newton
wrote from Crowmarsh that he heard more Quail calling in the
spring than for many years; the first on May 26th. A nest
containing seven hard-sat eggs (two of which I have) was found
in a barley-field (when it was cut) on Waterloo Farm, Burford,
on August 26th. In other years the Quail has nested late in
the season. I have an egg from another August nest (1900),
and one found in September, and have seen a record of a third
August nest.
There is an uncertain ebb and flow in the numbers of our
migratory birds each summer. ‘The Redstart was scarcer than
usual last year, and still more so this season. Ray’s Wagtail
has been quite rare for two or three years. House-Martins are
increasing again.
26th.—The habit of singing while perched on buildings is
now common with the Song-Thrush. A favourite perch is the
448 THE ZO00OLOGIST.
roof-ridge of this house, which is rather high; and Tennyson
might well have exclaimed of them, ‘‘ And loudly sings the
mounted Thrush.”
30th.—To see Marsh-Warblers in the nest at Kingham (very
early this year) ; only one young one remained, and that on the
point of leaving. We caught it and let it go; it was of a dull
pale brown—not nearly such a bright brown as the young of the
Reed-Warbler. The nest was in willow-herb. ‘Saw a pair of
Shrikes there, and Mr. Fowler reported meeting with several
around there.
July Tth.—Great Tit feeding young in hole in garden-wall.
Do Tits usually rear two broods in a season? One often meets
with late eggs. Lesser Whitethroat very merry this hot after-
noon.
9th.—Country drying up. 80° in shade to-day.
12th.—A female Badger sent down from Tadmarton Heath
weighed only nineteen pounds.
14th.—Hot dry weather. Rooks destructive to potatoes.
Those shot are said to be very thin. A Spotted Flycatcher has
laid three eggs in a Goldfinch’s nest in a pear-tree, from which
the young flew in June. A small feather or two appear to have
been added and a little hair.
18th.—The sharp and destructive summer drought (having
begun so early in the season) continues. Apricots already ripe.
19th.—Peewits have had a good season, and have benefited
by the decline in cultivation. Goldfinches are common.
21st.—Barn-Owl now noisy.
24th.—Young Hedge-Sparrows still in nest.
25th.—A deluge of rain after two or three days with showers.
30th.—Two hayricks put up at Langley on a Thursday and
Saturday had each a Yellow Bunting’s nest with three eggs in
them by the following Thursday.
31st.—Grasshopper- Warbler singing well.
August 6th.—News from Mr. Calvert he saw two Curlews rise
from a seed-field, where manure had. been carted, on the 8rd inst.
Sth.—A Flycatcher feeding at 8 p.m., when it was getting
dusk ; its bill snapped quite loudly.
12th.—Many Swallows and Martins on the roof; nearly a
fortnight ago they congregated there.
ORNITHOLOGY OF OXFORDSHIRE. 449
13th.—Saw a Pied Woodpecker in the avenue at Bloxham
Grove, and the owner told me afterwards that in the summer he
had seen one come out of a hole in a big ash-tree close to the
avenue.
14th.—A big gathering of Swifts in the forenoon, high up in
the cloudy wet sky, wheeling about and noisy.
16th.—Still plenty of Swifts. Robins made their song remark-
able this evening.
18th.—Several Swifts this evening, but the bulk must have
gone after the 16th.
20th.—F lock of about thirty Mistle-Thrushes in oat-stubble.
Blackbirds in the garden seem to live on plums now.
21st.—Two Swifts.
24th.—One Swift. Mr. R. W. Calvert at dusk flushed two
or three Ring-Ouzels from some seeding kale at Langley.
27th.—Willow-Wren singing.
September 1st.—Many Song-Thrushes in root-fields. Mistle-
Thrushes very abundant on stubbles and grass-fields, but not in
roots.
3rd.—Good many Meadow-Pipits in roots; this is early. A
poor Partridge year, and some birds can hardly fly yet. Flock
of two or three hundred Linnets. Many Ray’s Wagtails on grass
and in root-fields; clearly on migration.
7th.—A great congregation of Martins and a few Swallows on
the roof this morning.
9th.—Two Land-Rails formed part of the bag to-day ; one of
them weighed eight ounces, and its hard muscular stomach con-
tained one large whole earwig, and the remains of several others,
besides a lot of hard grit. Saw a Wheatear.
12th.—In early evening little noisy flocks of Swallows and
Martins, all flying in the same direction.
13th.—No congregation of them on the roof this morning, as
has been the case every morning lately. Willow-Wren sang.
Chifichaff in (autumn) song.
17th.—A gathering of Martins and a few Swallows on roof.
19th.—Starlings eating apples lately.
20th.—Great congregation of House-Martins (only) on roof.
Swallows were sitting singing in apple-trees yesterday. Weather
glorious.
450 THE ZOOLOGIST.
22nd.—A lot of Martins on roof. Examined a young Hobby
with wings hardly full-grown, which was shot at Tusmore early
this month. Also a Whimbrel shot at Barford in May.
24th.—Many restless Meadow-Pipits in roots; a flock of one
to two hundred all got up and went away. Red-legged Partridges
are very scarce this season, not having recovered from the effects
of the wet summer of 1903, and the following wet winter.
27th.—The bulk of the Swallows and Martins have gone.
October 6th.—A few Martins.
8th.—Half a score of Swallows on the roof, some quite young.
Hardly any seen this month.
11th.—A few Swallows and Martins in front of the house
early.
13th.—Five Swallows on the roof.
14th.—Starlings have been most destructive to fruit this
year. ‘To-day I saw one eating Burgundy pears on a wall-tree ;
these were then gathered, and one bird went to a tree of John
Dowy crabs, when I shot it.
17th.—A Pied Wagtail has sung a good deal lately ; this bird
really seems to sing almost as much in autumn as in spring, but
this is not saying much.
18th.—A Woodcock shot yesterday. Grey Wagtail in Sor-
brook.
19th.—Wren sings well.
21st.—When going to see the hounds draw the gorse, at
7.30 a.m., and very foggy, I heard a Yellow Bunting and two
Thrushes singing at 7.15, and the wheeze of a Brambling from
some beech-trees.
26th.—Redwings. Linnets still sing. Song-Thrushes sing
well.
30th.—The Grey Wagtail is common here this autumn, and
Mr. Fowler has noticed unusual numbers at Oxford and King-
ham. Several have flown over this garden.
November 4th. — Very nice dry weather now, warm and
pleasant, and the autumn tints most beautiful. Plenty of roses
in bloom.
10th.—Fieldfares. 1 watched a Barred Woodpecker feeding
on something he had hammered out of a dead and broken elm-
branchlet for about ten minutes.
ORNITHOLOGY OF OXFORDSHIRE. 451
16th.—While some of the many Song-Thrushes about are sing-
ing, others are silent and look foreign. A Mistle-Thrush sang.
18th.—Nuthatch at Broughton. We see and hear none here
now.
21st.—Season turned cold suddenly in the middle of the day,
and a great deal of snow fell at night.
22nd.—Sharp frost.
24th.—Very severe frost; down to 15°, and only 20° at
10 a.m. Starlings here all day feeding on the poor watery
asparagus-berries. A flock of Bramblings, with Chaffinches,
under the beech-trees in and near the avenue at Bloxham
Grove, where the ground was comparatively free from snow,
feeding on the fallen mast, of which there is a good crop with
well-developed nuts this year. Bramblings are quick, active
foragers. Their usual call-note is a rather harsh, hard ‘ chip,”
“chzip,’ or “‘gep” (that of the Chaffinch sounds to me like
“‘yip”’). One only occasionally hears the curious croaking
‘‘weeeech,” which, heard from the beech-trees, usually first an-
nounces that the Brambling has arrived. It is a difficult sound
to describe, as it seems to vary, and sometimes sounds like
“ sweeeek ”’ or ‘‘ sweee-erk.”
26th.—Very severe frost. Thousands of small birds on the
snowy stubbles—Bramblings, Chaffinches, Tree-Sparrows, Lin-
nets, Yellowhammers, Greenfinches, and great flocks of Larks.
Some Corn-Buntings about, and a few Meadow-Pipits in the
sheep-folds. A ‘‘ big hawk” (probably a female Peregrine)
upset a Partridge drive.
. 27th. — So severe is the frost that the Sorbrook between
Bodicote and Lower Grove Mills bears crowds of skaters and
walkers.
28th.—A slow thaw began, and the Hedge-Sparrow sang. A
single Golden Plover shot flying over Tadmarton Heath.
December 5th.—Many Bramblings about, and Fieldfares have
been fairly numerous.
th.—Had news of a Hawfinch’s nest found last summer in
the side brush of an elm on the lawn at the Grove.
8th.—Fall of snow, but melted. The Song-Thrushes left
with the late frost, and the Grey Wagtails so conspicuously
numerous earlier in the autumn have disappeared.
452 THE 4OOLOGIST.
12th.—Little flock of Redpolls and Goldfinches in the alders
near South Newington. A single Golden Plover flew over,
calling.
17th.—Up to 52° in the shade. During the sharp snap birds
ate all the pyracanthus-berries on one tree, and thinned the
holly-berries very much. Gyeenfinches continue to rifle the fruit
of the sweet-briars.
20th.—Small flock of travelling Peewits. In the ‘Field’ of
the 8rd inst. the Rev. F. P. Long records seeing a Black Redstart
in the city of Oxford on the 22nd November.
22nd.—Hard frost again.
23rd.—Not over 24° all day.
25th.—A Song-Thrush sang a little despite the frost.
28th.—Mild again.
29th.—50° in the shade!
30th.—The winter aconite, which had its petals free of the
earth, but not turned up on the 18th, is now fully out.
31st.—A few Meadow-Pipits about a sheep-fold.
( 458 )
SOME FISH-NOTES FROM GREAT YARMOUTH
FOR 1906.
By Artuur H. Parrerson, A.M.B.A.
My fish-entries in the ‘‘ Note-book”’ for 1906 are, to me, of
no small interest, from the fact that three new species have been
added to the fauna of the county of Norfolk, one of which has
been pronounced, on competent authority, to be new to the
fauna of Great Britain, viz. Scomber thunnina, a species of
Bonito by no means unknown in the seas adjoining the west
of Hurope. The other two are the Megrim and the Jago’s
Goldsinny.
In March I obtained a number of wide-mouthed bottles, in
which I placed formalin, and fitted them with corks. These
were distributed among our local shrimpers for them to drop in
any strange small fishes they might perchance find among the
Shrimps. The success I met with among the Crustacea I have
already made known (ante, p. 331). The first fish brought in
was a ‘“‘bull-dog” Whiting, about a span long, on April 2nd;
after which date fishes good, bad, and indifferent almost daily
arrived.
A very pretty little Bubalis (Cottus bubalis) turned up on
April 26th; on the sides were well-defined bands of a darkish
hue on a pinkish ground. Length, 23 in. Another, May 12th.
On April 30th two Montagu’s Suckers (Liparis montaqut),
both females, came to hand, with an example of the Mecrim, or
** Scald-fish’’ (Arnoglossus laterna), 44 in. long. The delicate
skin had been somewhat abraded; it seems difficult to procure
and preserve one intact. Two more Montagu’s Suckers, full of
ova, were received on May Ist, and subsequently some others.
May 11th.—Obtained a four-inch Rock Goby (Gobius niger)
from a shrimper.
Smelt-catching has been most industriously pursued on Brey-
don this year, and in some instances with profitable results.
454 THE ZOOLOGIST.
When plentiful returns are small, and when Smelts are some-
what scarcer prices go up. The highest price ever realized for
Smelts, to my knowledge, was in May, 1905, when five shillings
and ninepence was sent per score by London salesmen, after all
expenses had been deducted. ‘Two shillings a score appears to
be the minimum price.
Quite a large number of Sail Flukes (Rhombus megastoma),
varying from 11 in. to 18 in., brought over from Lowestoft,
were exposed for sale in the town during the first week in
May.
On May 17th a large Skate (probably the Long-nosed Ray),
part of which I saw, was on view in the town, having been sent,
I believe, from the South of England. It weighed 120 Ib.
The Three-spined Stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) is singu-
larly indifferent to the water in which it finds itself, and is found
quite as lively and protestingly in a beachman’s seine as in a
boy’s net at the ditches. My boys brought some home in May.
One fish I allowed to remain two days in fresh water, and then
transferred it to a tank in which lived some Whelks, a Sea-
Anemone, and a Risso’s Crab (Xantho rivulosa). It seemed
perfectly at ease, and showed no irritation or surprise when,
after five days in their society, it again found itself in fresh
water, in company with several small Carp.
Jago’s Goldsinny (Ctenolabrus rupestris), new to Norfolk, came
to hand on June Sth.
A “double”? Turbot was also brought to me on June 5th,
which I ate.
A great number of Little Gobies (Gobius minutus), taken on
Breydon, full of spawn; and a White Goby (Latrunculus pellu-
cidus), the first I have ever known taken there, came up in a
small trawl-net.
On June 19th I met with a Turbot almost wholly white, of.
three pounds weight; the only traces of the normal colour on
the upper surface were a small ring of brown around each eye,
and a fine splashing of the same hue on the surrounding fins.
There were no tubercles on the upper side, which was as smooth
and polished as a china-plate.
**Myriads untold”’ of tiny Herrings—so-called ‘‘ whitebait,”
and more correctly ‘‘ herring-syle.”” In June, boys with small
SOME FISH-NOTES FROM GREAT YARMOUTH. 455
landing-nets were to be seen catching them, on the edge of Brey-
don, in sufficient quantities to fry. Flounders and Eels fed on
them gluttonously, the latter paying scant attention to the
worms of the “‘babbers,’’ who complain of a most disastrous
Hel-fishing. Terns and Gulls fed bountifully on them.
I have a strong suspicion that their presence in such vast
swarms on our coast accounts greatly for the very apparent
migration of Mackerel that set in, too. This year’s Mackerel
fishery was so revived in consequence that something akin to the
old-time fishery obtained. No less than fifty luggers went out
aiter them, and great catches were made. The total catch
amounted to over 145 lasts, 12,000 fish going to a “last.”
SCOMBER THUNNINA.
The largest haul of any one boat landed at one time was a
last. Prices varied from 12s. to £1 per hundred, of 120 fish.
One boat earned £150 for the two months’ trips (in May and
June).
Among the breeze-loving Mackerel came a few Scribbled
Mackerel (Scomber scriptus), Surmullet (Mullus surmuletus), and
some Garfish (Belone vulgaris).
I obtained a Mackerel wholly devoid of stripings on June 27th.
Length, 15 in.
Soles came into the roadstead so numerously this summer
that at least a dozen shrimpers substituted small trawls for the
456 THE ZOOLOGIST.
shrimp-dredges while the ‘‘ rush” of fish was on. On July 5th
I saw fifty-six pairs of good Soles in one Shrimp-shop, the com-
bined catches of two boats the previous night. The Soles
appeared to inshore in search of lugworms, and also took Nereis
diversicolor freely. I did not dissect any, but I have a strong
suspicion that the herring-syle were no small inducement. On
July 4th one man, who spasmodically trawls on Breydon, and
who is known to the fraternity as ‘‘ Lucky Bob,” informed me
he had taken thirty-two pairs of Soles thereon; his largest
measured, he assured me, 22 in.
I need hardly refer again to the capture of the Scomber
thunnina (ante, p. 354). This is, I take it, my best ‘‘ find” as
yet for the Hast Norfolk list of fishes (cf. fig. p. 455).
A great inset of Sea-Trout (Salmo trutta) occurred in the
middle of July. With asingle draw-net fifty pounds weight was
taken one night. Mr. R. Beazor informed me he received fully
one thousand pounds of Salmon-Trout during the ‘“‘ invasion.”
One fish weighed 16+ lb., and several scaled 12 lb.
A Salmon with a most peculiarly shaped head arrived here
in July from Scotland. The upper part of the head was round
as a ball, the ‘‘ nose”’ turning into the mouth, and lying quite
flat and close to the palate. The lower jaw was of the normal
shape, and stood out beyond the ‘‘forehead”’; the tongue lying
in the hollow of the useless under jaw, while the distorted mouth
very obligingly shut up close and compactly. It is certainly the
most grotesque ‘‘ bull-head” fish I have yet seen.
A second Meerim came to hand July 30th, and a ten-inch
Lemon Sole (Solea lascaris) was saved for me by Mr. Robert
Beazor on August 8th.
A very pretty little Ballan Wrasse (Labrus maculatus), of a
chocolate colour, sent me from Sheringham, a spot that deserves
to be carefully worked; and, judging from what I have had
occasionally sent to me from that neighbourhood, I imagine it
to be a fine field for an ichthyologist’s attentions. Aug. 30th.
Aug. 80th, saw a codling, 20 in. long, of a rich red colour,
lying on a fishmonger’s slab, answering very greatly to Couch’s
description of the so-called ‘‘ Dorse.” |
I received a young Picked Dogfish (Acanthias vulgaris),
which was ‘‘cast’’ in a boat soon after the parent had been
SOME FISH-NOTEHS FROM GREAT YARMOUTH. 457
taken off the hook. The yolk-sac was still attached to the fish.
This was on Sept. 30th.
A Flounder, 4 in. long, white on both sides, was caught on
Breydon, Oct. 14th.
Drawn in by the under-current, on a westerly wind, thousands
of dead Herrings bestrewed the high-water line, and below it, on
the beach, in October. Examining a number of them, I found
they had been in many instances bitten by the Dogs; pieces
the size and shape of Brazil nuts were taken out of the back, a
fish seldom showing two bites. I take it that many had been
bitten when swimming free, and ‘others when helplessly en-
meshed in the nets, in which case they would be thrown over-
board again.
The Anchovy (Engraulis encrasicholus) is very oily and
tender-skinned, and among the rare examples I have seen taken
in the Herring-nets I have not yet found one perfect. An
example, 62 in., taken on Oct. 23rd, had the skin much abraded.
I have put it into formalin, and placed it in the Tolhouse
Museum, where a number of other specimens, besides some of
those mentioned in these notes, have been deposited. Visitors
to Yarmouth should make a point of seeing this pretty little
museum, located in one of the quaintest of the few ancient
buildings still preserved to us.
A number of Seads, or ‘‘ Horse-Mackerel”’ (T'rachurus tra-
churus), were washed up on the beach, Oct. 27th.
Beyond a few small Porpoises, I have seen nothing extra-
ordinary brought ashore from the Herring-grounds. Two or
three, in all probability thrown overboard from the boats on
entering the harbour, have floated to Breydon, where a number
of Hooded Crows and thousands (from five thousand to seven
thousand at a time!) of Gulls are glad to dissect these or
any other queer things the tide may see fit to fling upon the
raud-flats. 7
The Little Squid (Sepiolia rondeletti) is hardly a fish, but it
merits notice by its abundance on this coast in the summer
months. The Shrimp-boats net thousands, and some numbers
find their way on Breydon. I was interested in seeing some
boiled ones at a shrimper’s one afternoon, when the shrimp-wife
informed me that she frequently saved those caught with the
Zool. 4th ser. vol X., December, 1906, 2N
458 | THE ZOOLOGIST.
Shrimps for an Italian neighbour, who was exceedingly fond
of them, having acquired the taste when in Naples. I was
curious to sample them, and ate one or two. ‘They were cer-
tainly not bad eating, and very much like a Crab in flavour.
One only wanted good teeth to really appreciate them. In July
I met with another cephalopod that greatly interested me. I
saw it entangled in the meshes of a small Breydon trawl, hung
up to dry, as 1 was rowing past. Curiosity prompted me to
‘‘rescue’”’ it, when its pointed “ tail’’ and comparatively long
fin-like appendages struck me as differing from those of Loligo
vulgaris. On comparing it later with an example in the Bio-
logical Station at Lowestoft, I was pleased to find it L. media,
and as such new to my list.
In the summer of 1906 the Aldeburgh Smelt-fishing appears
to have been a failure. This the ignorant fishermen laid to the
blame of the few pairs of Terns still nesting annually at Orford
Ness, and forthwith petitioned ‘‘ the powers that be”’ to withdraw
protection, and let them be slaughtered off. This had not yet
been decided upon when the Sprat fishery also turned out a
failure; no Sprats visited Southwold Bay, nor did they put
in an appearance until the last week in November. ‘This was
attributed to the Herrings working a little further south than
usual! As the Terns were gone they could not lay it to their
charge. ‘The first indictment was an entirely erroneous one,
for the Common and Little Tern feed chiefly on the herring-syle
(‘‘ whitebait ’’) that teems in local waters during their stay. A
Lowestoft gentleman, who has daily records of the sea’s tempera-
ture, informed me that this has been unusually high, and did
not fall to 49° in Lowestoft Harbour until November 25th. Big
Herring shoals are not met with until a much lower temperature
ensues. I have no hesitation in saying that the influences of
tidal currents and the temperature of the water largely ruled the
movements of both Smelts and Sprats.
( 459 )
DISAPPEARANCE OF MANY OF OUR HOME-BRED
BIRDS IN AUTUMN.
By Ropert WARREN.
THE disappearance from their usual haunts of many of our
home-bred birds in September and October is so remarkable that
I think it worth noting, as it may prove of some interest to those
who study the movements of our small birds, notably Chaf-
finches, Greenfinches, and Yellowhammers. I have from time to
time noticed their scarcity in their usual haunts, but, thinking
that they had only moved for better feeding to the stubble-fields,
took no further notice; while being engaged with, and my entire
attention taken up with our late and frequently wet harvest in
September and October (often delayed up to the end of the latter
month), I did not look after them. After the corn, &c., was
secured in the stack-yards, I devoted any leisure I had to wild-
fowl-shooting, and the observation of the waders and swimming
birds of the estuary and bay.
This total absence of the three above-named species first
attracted my attention in the middle of October, 1892, when on a
visit to the Co. Cork; for, on revisiting the familiar scenes of
my boyhood, wherever I walked, I was surprised at seeing no
small birds, where I formerly saw plenty, and in districts famed
for their numbers and variety. On a three miles’ walk from
Monkstown by Shanbally, and Coolmore to Carrigaline Church,
and, after service, returning by another line of road—by Rafeen
to Monkstown—not a Chaffinch, Greenfinch, or Yellowhammer
appeared in sight. Some days after, when returning from
Queenstown to Cork, I left the train at the “ Little Island”
Station, and walked about the district for a couple of hours,
along some fine demesnes, and roads with hedgerows especially
suited for the haunts of small birds; but not one appeared, the
district being as bare of bird-life as that near Carrigaline.
This state of things appeared to me so very remarkable that I
2n2
460 THE Z00LOGIST.
determined, on my return home on Oct. 21st, to see whether the
small birds had entirely disappeared from this locality also. I
searched everywhere—fields, plantations, roadsides, &¢.—but the
only birds visible were Robins, Tits, Wrens, and Hedge and
Common Sparrows.
In 1903, 1904, and 1905 the disappearance also took place.
This season of 1906, by Sept. 28th, neither Chaffinches, Green-
finches, nor Yellowhammers were to be seen anywhere about here.
On inquiring of my friend Mr. J. A. Knox, of Belgariff House,
Foxford, he stated that he had not seen a Chaffinch for weeks
past (where they were unusually numerous all the summer). Then
Mr. H. Scroope, of Ballina, who was keeping a sharp look-out,
also had the same tale to tell—no Chaffinches, Greenfinches, or
Yellowhammers; and, having a good knowledge of birds, he
would have recognized even a single specimen if it was visible
in the course of his daily walks into the country.
On Sept. 29th I paid another visit to Cork, and was deter-
mined to investigate as fully as possible the question of the
absence of the small birds from their breeding haunts; but, as
in 1902, my experience was the same. On the 30th I went from
Cork to Carrigaline by train, and saw no small birds along the
line. I then walked half a mile to the church, and, after service,
walked a mile to Coolmore, the fine demesne of Major Newhen-
ham, beautifully situated on the estuary of the Carrigaline River.
After spending some time in the house, I walked through the
demesne out on the road, through Shanbally to the railway
station at Rafeen, at least two miles; but during my walks
neither Chaffinch, Greenfinch, nor Yellowhammer appeared.
Two days after I searched another line of country, leaving
Monkstown by steamer for Ringaskiddy, and walked for nearly
three miles by the fields along the shore and Leamount Marsh to
Prospect Villa and Castle Warren to Currabinny ; but no birds
appeared in the course of my walk except half a dozen Sky-
Larks and Meadow-Pipits, and a solitary male Stonechat on
Simon’s Point.
On Oct. 5th I looked up another line of country along the
Cork and Macroom Railway ¢o visit Warrenscourt, near the
Doonisky Station, twenty miles from the city. On getting out at
the station I walked for two miles along the Macroom Road, and
DISAPPEARANCE OF HOME-BRED BIRDS. 461
a mile on the Cork side of the station ; but, although the hedges and
trees were all that could be desired, and there were many scrubby
patches of coverts in some fields, no birds except a solitary Great
Tit appeared in sight. I then called at the house, but unfortu-
nately both Mrs. and Mr. A. R. Warren being away, I missed
the pleasure of meeting them. However, as I had to wait for
some hours for the return train to Cork, I whiled away the time
by wandering about the demesne, and admiring the magnificent
old forest-trees, and the acres of rhododendron and laurel coverts,
tenanted by numbers of Pheasants which were running about the
walks and drives; and, when wishing for a rest, I sat down for an
hour on the shore of one of their beautiful lakes at the foot of
the lawn, where I saw a few Teal and some Black-headed Gulls ;
but during the time I was wandering about the place and sitting
by the lake a few Great Tits and Robins were the only other
birds seen.
Thus, by inquiry and personal observation, | think I have
proved that both here in Shgo and Mayo, as well as in Cork,
Chaffinches, Greenfinches, and Yellowhammers leave their sum-
mer breeding haunts and migrate to some milder climate. My
friend Mr. R. M. Barrington, author of ‘The Migration of Birds
at Irish Light Stations,’ writes to me that he thinks “that most
of our home-bred Chaffinches depart in early autumn—perhaps
to the south of Kurope—and that we have a more northern race
amongst us now.”
About Oct. 16th an occasional straggler began to appear in
this district. On that day I drove to Carra, about three miles
inland from this place, and situated at the edge of the bog-
country, and on my way I saw one Yellowhammer on the side of
the road. On the 19th I observed six or seven Yellowhammers
near Castleconnor. On the 25th I saw about a dozen small
birds feeding in a weedy patch in the corner of one of my fields.
I think some were Linnets and the others Chaffinches, but they
were so wild that I could not be certain, for when approached they
would all rise and perch in the trees, where they were concealed
by the leaves.
From Nov. 1st to 5th I observed many flocks of small birds
flying about the fields, which were very restless, and so wild that
it was impossible to get near enough to identify them. On the
462 THE ZO0OLOGIST.
6th and 8th I was for the first time able to identify some Chaffinches
feeding in the corner of my potato-field. On the 9th I walked to
Enniscrone (three miles), and at some houses along the roadside
I recognized a few Chaffinches, Yellowhammers, and a couple
of Common Buntings, but no Greenfinches. The first of the
large migratory flocks to this district appears to have been
observed on the 3rd by Mr. Scroope at Rahins, two miles outside
the town—at least one hundred and fifty Chaffinches resting on
trees by the roadside, but very wild—and next day he saw a
flock of eighty to one hundred birds on the trees at Downhill,
near Bunree, and a few Yellowhammers among them. On the
1ith he met another large flock on the trees near Newtowngore
Fair Green, and at the same place about forty Greenfinches, but
all so wild that it was with difficulty he got close enough for
identification.
This great wildness shows evidently that the birds were
strangers, and not reared in this neighbourhood. Up to the
present date none of the regular haunts about this place—the
stackyard, garden, kitchen- and stable-yards—have been occu-
pied by either of the three species, nor will be, I suppose, until
later on, when these large flocks of strangers disperse and
scatter over the country. I should add that the above remarks
apply only to the three species first mentioned.
Moy View.
( 463
THE WATER-PIPIT (ANTHUS SPIPOLETTA) AS A
VISITOR TO ENGLAND.
By Micuarut J. Nicouu, F.Z.8., M.B.0O.U.
In ‘The Zoologist’ for 1904 I wrote a short paper, pointing
out that the Tawny Pipit (Anthus campestris) is probably a
regular visitor to the British Islands during the autumn migra-
tion ;* and now, from materials collected during the past few
years, I will endeavour to show that the Water-Pipit (A. spipo-
letta) may also be looked for with tolerable certainty during both
the spring and autumn migrations, t.e. January to April and
October to December. Until quite recently this species has been
looked upon as a ‘‘ straggler ”’ to this country.
My own observations extend over comparatively a very small
part of England, viz. the Sussex coast-line and marshes, and of
these only that part which lies between Pevensey on the west,
and Rye Harbour on the east, a portion of coast-line not more
than twenty miles in length; but if, as [intend to show, this
species is apparently a regular migrant to this small area, how
much more so may it not be found on other parts of the British
coast as well. I should like to take this opportunity of calling
attention to a most mistaken notion which I have frequently
heard expressed, that the district between Pevensey and Rye is
a “unique” place for rare birds. I feel quite sure that the east
coast is quite as good, if not better, judging by the number of
rare ‘‘stragglers”’ obtained or recorded on that coast by Mr.
Caton Haigh, Mr. J. H. Gurney, Mr. Patterson, Mr. Arnold, and
others. There is a far greater tract of country to be ‘‘ worked”
on the east coast than on the coast of Sussex.
In the course of this paper I intend to give full references to
all published records of occurrences of the Water-Pipit in this
country. It must be remembered that for every one rare bird
* J have since found that it also occurs here in spring.—M.J. N.
464 THE ZO00LOGIST.
recorded numbers—I might safely say hundreds—pass without
being noticed. This is most undoubtedly the case. The late
Heinrich Gatke frequently remarks, in his wonderful work (‘ Die
Vogelwarte Helgoland’):—‘‘I would willingly exchange the
whole of my collection, wonderful as it is, for all the birds which
have occurred here without having been seen or killed, if that
were possible.”
The Water-Pipit is one of those species which, like the Aquatic
Warbler (Acrocephalus aquaticus), 1s easily overlooked owing to
its resemblance to an allied species.
I have found that the best way of distinguishing the Water-
Pipit from the Rock-Pipit (Anthus obscurus), even when flying and
at some distance, is that the under parts of A. spipoletta appear
quite white, and this is especially noticeable when the bird is on
the wing. The white pattern of the outer tail-feathers is also a
good character, but this is not so noticeable unless the bird is
seen when about to settle.
These facts I pointed out at a meeting of the British Orni-
thologists’ Club in November, 1904 (Bull. B.O.C. ex. pp. 20, 21).
At the same time I remarked on the call-note of this species,
which is less loud, somewhat harsher, and is uttered several
times in quick succession. The Rock-Pipit only utters a single
note, unless alarmed. These remarks have been written rather
fully, as I hope some of my fellow-ornithologists will take up this
subject. Itis, I consider, of the utmost importance to find out
whether this and other species of birds formerly believed to be
very rare and accidental visitors are not more often, if not regu-
larly, met with on migration in the British Islands.
It is somewhat unfortunate that of late years it has become
a “fashion” for certain people to raise an outcry in the press ©
and elsewhere against the so-called ‘‘slaughter” of rare birds!
All praise is due to those who are doing their utmost to protect
rare breeding species, or birds that once bred here, and still occur
on migration ; but when, as often happens now, after the record-
ing of a rare Warbler, Pipit, or some such bird—birds which never
have bred, and never are likely to breed, in this country—a letter
appears referring to the sickening list of slaughter, &c., one feels
obliged to make a reply, and hence these remarks of mine. At
the same time one feels inclined to wonder whether these persons
THE WATER-PIPIT AS A VISITOR TO ENGLAND. 465
would know, or even notice, the birds in question if they came
across them.
The Water-Pipit (A. spwpoletta) was first noticed as occurring
in Britain in 1864, when one was obtained at Brighton and one
at Worthing (Borrer, ‘ Birds of Sussex,’ p. 102), and these two
specimens were recorded by Mr. John Pratt, of Brighton, and
sent to Gould for determination. The Brighton specimen passed
into the collection of the late Bishop Wilberforce, while Mr.
Boynton, of Ulsome Grange, in Yorkshire, purchased the other
(Borrer).
In 1868 one, shot at Shoreham, passed into the collection of
the late Mr. Borrer, as did another obtained at the same place
the following year. Subsequently—i. e. between 1869 and 1895
—two were obtained, one at Lancing and one at Shoreham. One
of these, I fancy, is the bird now in the British Gallery of the
Natural History Museum at South Kensington, labelled, ‘“‘ad 3,
Sussex, April, 1873.” This bird is in full winter plumage.
There is also a skin in the British Museum from the Seebohm
collection, labelled ‘‘ Anthus obscurus, England,” but bearing no
date. This example, however, was obviously obtained in the
spring, as the fresh pink colour is just appearing on the neck.
On April 5th, 1895, Mr. Caton Haigh shot a Water-Pipit at
Tetney, Lincolnshire, and on April 5th, 1897, he shot another at
the mouth of Glaslyn, Carnarvonshire; while he obtained yet
another in Carnarvonshire on Dec. 8rd of the same year, 1897
(Howard Saunders, ‘ Manual of British Birds,’ 2nd ed. pp. 141
and 755).
In 1900, Feb. 19th, a male (in winter plumage) was shot on
the marsh between Hollington and Bexhill by a boy, who took
it, in company with some Bramblings, to Mr. Bristow, of St.
Leonards. It was subsequently recorded by my friend Dr. N. F.
Ticehurst (Zool. 1900, p. 278). I saw the bird after it had been
stuffed.
On Oct. 29th, 1902, I shot an adult female (one of two) at Rye
Harbour (Howard Saunders, Bull. B. O. C. xcii., November, 1902).
On Oct. 26th, 1904, I obtained a young male at Rye. On this
date, as on the day (Oct. 29th, 1902) when I obtained my first speci-
men, there had been a great arrival of Rock-Pipits (A. obscwrus).
On Noy. 14th I obtained one of two seen near Pevensey, and on
466 THE ZOOLOGIST.
Nov. 17th of the same year (1904) Mr. EK. C. Arnold shot one
near Kastbourne. On Nov. 28rd, 1904, another was obtained by
myself at Pevensey, while two days later Mr. Arnold shot another
near Hastbourne (Zool. 1905, p. 142). Several other examples
were seen by myself and clearly identified during that year. On
Jan. 13th, 1905, one which I afterwards examined was shot near
Littlestone, in Kent. The next month I saw four at Rye
(Feb. 25th), and it is interesting to note that on this day
numbers of Rock-Pipits (A. obscurus) and A. rupestris (the
Scandinavian form) were arriving in little flocks on the coast.
On April 2nd, 1905, I noticed a fine example, apparently in
summer plumage, 2. e. with pink breast, at St. Leonards. This
bird remained by the same muddy creek for four days before it
continued its migration. Lastly, on Oct. 6th, 1905, I watched a
Water-Pipit for some time at Rye Harbour.
For convenience of my readers I give below a tabulated form
of the occurrence of this species in the British Islands.
1864.—One, Brighton ; one, Worthing, Sussex.
1868.—One, Shoreham, Sussex.
1869.—One, Shoreham, Sussex.
? .—One, Lancing ; one, Shoreham, Sussex.
1895, April 5th.—One, Tetney, Lincolnshire.
1897, April 5th.—One, Glaslyn, Carnarvon.
1897, December 3rd.—One, Carnarvon.
1900, February 19th.—One, Hollington, Sussex.
1902, October 29th.—One, Rye, Sussex.
1904, October 12th.— [Three seen at Pevensey.]
1904, October 26th.—One, Rye, Sussex.
1904, November 12th.— [Two seen, Pevensey.]
1904, November 14th.—Two seen, one shot, Pevensey.
1904, November 17th.—One, near Kastbourne.
1904, November 21st.— [One seen, Pevensey. |
1904, November 23rd.—One, Pevensey.
1904, November 25th.—One, near Eastbourne.
1904, December 19th.— [One seen, Pevensey.]
1905, January 13th.—One, Littlestone, Kent.
1905, February 25th.—[Four seen, Rye, Sussex. |
1905, April 2nd.— [One seen, St. Leonards. |
1905, October 6th.— [One seen, Rye, Sussex.]
?.—One, no date; Seebohm collection, British Museum.
THE WATER-PIPIT AS A VISITOR TO ENGLAND. 467
As will be seen by the above list, I have mentioned no records
since October, 1905. I have, however, since heard that this
species has again been noticed in the spring in Sussex.
These, then, are the facts I wish to lay before my readers.
That the Water-Pipit is a much more frequent visitor to England
than has hitherto been thought is obvious from the above notes,
and that it is a regular visitor to this country on migration is
probable.
The numbers seen during the autumn of 1904 and spring of
1905 might be put down to an ‘‘ eruption,” or unusual visitation,
but this is unlikely. This Pipit is a small, unobtrusive bird, and
is very like the common Rock-Pipit in general appearance and
habits ; also it appeared again once, probably frequently, during
the autumn of 1905, though whether it was as abundant as in
1904 I am unable to say, being abroad after the end of October
in that year.
In conclusion, I can only urge those anunee who have
the leisure and the inclination to obtain further notes during
the next few years, and thus to obtain proofs on this subject,
which is, to my mind, one of the most interesting studies in
ornithology.
468 THE ZOOLOGIST.
NOTES AND QUERIES.
MAMMALIA.
Stoat and Ferret Hybrids.—The following advertisement appeared
in the ‘ Exchange and Mart’ of November 16th, and in previous issues
there have often been others precisely similar, with, I believe, the same
address :—‘‘ My noted little Stoat-bred ratting strain (of Ferrets),
some promising workers, 4/- each. . . . G. Davie, 4, Cowper
Road, Kast Dereham.” In the same issue of the above paper, and on
the same page, there is another advertisement, in which ‘two pairs
of half-bred Stoats, quiet as kittens, little shy, for working or crossing,”
are offered for sale by Mepham, Orlestone, Ham Street, Kent. No
satisfactorily authenticated instance of the interbreeding of these two
animals has, so far as I am aware, ever been recorded, and such a
union seems improbable; moreover, the wording of advertisements is
apt to be rather ‘‘broad”’ and “elastic,” and not remarkable for
scientific accuracy. At the same time, naturalists living near to either
of these addresses, the second in particular, might at least find it
interesting to examine and make enquiries respecting these reputed
hybrids.—G. T. Rors (Blaxhall, Suffolk).
AVES.
Grasshopper-Warbler in Midlothian.— A pair of Grasshopper-
Warblers (Locustella ne@via) settled in June in a hayfield near the city,
and gave us the opportunity of watching them at close quarters, but
did not let us into the secret of their nesting-haunt. Repeatedly
we saw the birds singing on the grass-stems, and flitting along the top
of the field to the shelter of the adjoining hedge. We have sufficient
proof of the birds having been in the same locality before the present
season, but we think the species is still sufficiently rare with us to claim
special attention from ornithologists.—A. Urquuart and R. B. Wuyre
(7, Charlotte Square, Edinburgh).
Lesser Redpoll Nesting in Ross-shire.—On the last.day of August,
while waiting with Mr. Robert Godfrey for the appearance of Golden
NOTES AND QUERIES. 469
Eagles near an eyrie in Strathearron, West Ross, we were attracted by
the nestling cry of a small bird in a thick-set fir-wood. After some
careful stalking, we discovered that the sound came from a nest
situated about fifty feet from the ground in a slender Scotch fir, and
we could see the young bird flapping its wings as it continuously
uttered its cry. It was impossible to reach the nest by climbing, and
we shook the tree violently till the nest was dislodged. The young
bird—a Lesser Redpoll (Linota rufescens)—was found to be a prisoner,
having one foot tightly bound by several strands of wool to the lining
of the nest. A dead conpanion was in the nest beside it. This record
of the Redpoll’s nesting in West Ross may be worth mentioning in
view of the meagreness of the references in Harvie-Brown’s lately
issued ‘ Fauna of the North-west Highlands and Skye.’—G. A. and
R. B. Wuyte (7, Charlotte Square, Edinburgh).
The Rough-legged Buzzard in Somerset.— On November 13th
last I had a brief but clear view, through my glasses, of a Rough-
legged Buzzard (Buteo lagopus) flying low, and with very slow beats of
the wing, along a bare hill-side which is much frequented by rabbits
near here. From its white tail, with a broad dark subterminal bar
and white tip, it was presumably an adult bird.—H. Meyrick (Cleve-
don, Somerset).
Totanus calidris in Bedfordshire.—As the Redshank is not a
common bird in Bedfordshire, it is perhaps worthy of record that I
saw one to-day (December 2nd) in the bed of a new lake which is
being made in the park.— Mary Ducuess or Brprorp (Woburn
Abbey, Woburn).
A Remarkable Cuckoo Clutch.— Referring to the note of your
correspondent, P. F. Bunyard (ante, p. 480), under the above heading,
in which he invites readers to solve some of the points to which he
calls attention, I think, in all probability, that neither of the Cuckoos
removed an egg from the Hedge-Accentor’s nest at the time of deposit-
ing its own, and that the nest contained only five eggs of the foster-
parent originally, which is not an unusual number for the bird to have
laid. As regards the nest being ‘“‘ beautifuily concealed’ and therefore
difficult to find, I would suggest that the Cuckoos discovered it by
watching the old birds go to it, which I believe to be often the case, as
I have frequently found Cuckoos’ eggs in nests so completely hidden
in thick ivy that it would have been almost impossible for a Cuckoo to
have found them in any other way. What the fate of the two young
Cuckoos would have been it is impossible to say, but probably the
470 THE ZOOLOGIST.
stronger one of the two would have ejected the other one from the nest
with the young of the foster-parents.—H. A. Burter (Plumton House,
Bury St. Edmunds).
The Birds of Scilly.—As recorded in the ‘ Bulletin of the British
Ornithologists’ Club’ (xix. No. exxvii. p. 7 (1906) ), an example of the
Greater Yellowshank (Yotanus melanoleucus) was shot by Capt. Arthur
Dorrien-Smith at Tresco Abbey, Isles of Scilly, on Sept. 16th, 1906.
This was believed to be the first known instance of the occurrence of
this species in Great Britain or any part of Europe. Capt. Arthur
Dorrien-Smith, a few days later, obtained an immature specimen of
the Common Bee-eater (Merops apiaster), which I had the pleasure of
examining.—W. R. Oainvie-Grant.
PISCES.
File Fish on the Coast of Somerset.—On November 21st, while
riding along the sands near Berrow, Somerset, I noticed an unusual-
looking fish lying among the débris at high-water mark. My sister,
who was with me, suggested it was a John Dory, but I could see by
the peculiar shape of the tail, which I especially noticed, that it did
not belong to that species. ‘The fish appeared to have been dead a
long time, and was hard and mummified, so much so, that when my
horse by chance put his foot on it, it was not crushed. Possibly it
had been cast away from some passing ship. I particularly noticed
the shape of the fish, and found on reaching home that it agreed with
a photo of the Trigger Fish, on page 687 of ‘ The Living Animals of
the World,’ and also with the figure in the ‘ Zoologist’ for 1901,
page 225. I have little hesitation therefore in identifying the speci-
men as a File or Trigger Fish (Balistes capriscus). The fish, I should
say, was rather over a foot in length, and was of a dirty yellow colour.
EF. L. Brarawayr (Lincoln).
INSECTA.
Notes on the Mole-Cricket (Gryllotalpa vulgaris).—I observe that
records of the occurrence of the Mole-Cricket in England are asked for
(ante, p. 487). I have four examples in my coilection, all taken in
Dorsetshire, though the exact dates I cannot specify now; three of
these specimens occurred in my own kitchen garden, and one at
Warmwell, near Dorchester. I was not at home when one of those
taken here (at Bloxworth) occurred, but I was told afterwards by the
gardener and others that there were other examples both seen and
NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 471
destroyed on that occasion. It is now some years since this insect has
been seen here.—O. Pickarp-CamBripex (Bloxworth Rectory).
Goldsmith as a Naturalist.—Burcuer Birp. — That Goldsmith,
when speaking of ‘the Butcher Bird, little bigger than a Titmouse,
living in the marshes near London,” was referring to the Bearded Tit,
I should think, almost certain, after reading the suggestion of the Rev.
Maurice Bird (ante, p. 489), and looking up the authors he mentions,
I am afraid I was ignorant of the fact that the Bearded Tit had ever
been termed the ‘‘ Least Grey Shrike.” In HEdwards’s book, under
this species, I see that it had been shot on several occasions ‘“‘ in
marshes near London.” As this book was published in 1745, Goldsmith,
in writing his ‘ Animated Nature’ some thirty years later, no doubt
made use of it, and inserted his vague remark about this species,
almost quoting word for word.—Bruce F'. Cummines (14, Cross Street,
Barnstaple).
NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.
A Vertebrate Fauna of Scotland. Tay Basin and Strathmore.
By J. A. Harvie-Brown, F.R.S.E, &e. Edinburgh: David
Deuglas.
Tis forms the tenth in a series of volumes devoted to a record
of the vertebrate fauna of Scotland, as important a contribution
to Scottish history as that almost universally devoted to the
doings of noble, laird, or kirk. We often hear the remark of
*‘back to the land,’ but how little we know about it and its
inhabitants other than ourselves! We can find an account of
the doings of early freebooters, but the fauna of a few hundred
years ago can on general inference be only visualized, for
there is no faunistic record, no local enumeration—in fact, out-
side so recent a period as mentioned, we are in the region of
animal folk-lore; while stray passages in old songs, or a few
references in old books and chronicles, are all we have to compare
with faunistic knowledge as understood to-day. Like national
zoological paupers, we have slowly garnered these faunistic
riches, which we hand on to our descendants, who should by
their aid be able to solve many of those problems relating to
migration and environment, which we without such an inherit-
472 THE ZOOLOGIST.
ance have vainly attempted. These ten volumes are the legacy
to-day to the Scottish natural history of the future.
The area to which these annals refer is an extensive one.
‘‘The Great Basin of the River Tay” and its tributary streams
alone cover a vast area, greater in capacity than that of any
other river system in Scotland. It contains no fewer than some
2600 square miles. It includes the moor of Rannoch, the Mecca
of many entomologists; but insects are barred—this is a
vertebrate fauna. The descriptive chapters renew our acquaint-
ance with some scenes long since familiar, and we read again of
several acquaintances long since gone on. Among the portraits is
a good one of Buchanan White, and many days have passed since,
kilted, he first visited us near London. This portion of the book
is all the better for being written by a Scotchman—it is remini-
scential—and we can understand that if the mercantile Scot loves
to come south, the Scottish naturalist must yearn to get back.
There is a wealth of record in the narrative of the birds,
which, of course, cannot be reproduced here, and to which full
reference is beyond our space. We may, however, refer to the
Tufted Duck (Fuligula cristata), which a contributor recently
stated in these pages was nowhere common in Yorkshire (ante,
p. 482). But in this Scottish area we read ‘‘ that it is one of our
commonest Ducks on all suitable lochs throughout the central
and east portions, and just outside the south-west boundary of
the area in Forth.” Of this Duck, Mr. Harvie-Brown gives a
very full account, and a map illustrating its nesting dispersal in
Scotland. An enormous increase in the number of Starlings is
recorded, and the author states: ‘‘ The Starling in its millions
is becoming a poisonous pest, literally an insanitary and ever-
increasing evil.” The account of the dispersal of the Twite
(Linota flavirostris) in this area will interest some contributors
to ‘The Zoologist ’ who recently discussed the question.
Mammalia, Reptilia, and Amphibia are also enumerated, but
Pisces are ignored. The volume is well illustrated, and we may
say, with Carlyle, ‘‘ On all sides, are we not driven to the con-
clusion that, of the things which man can do or make here
below, by far the most momentous, wonderful, and worthy are
the things we call Books?”
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+ WEST, NEWMAN & CO., 54, HATTON GARDEN, LONDON.
Siupxin, Marsuatt & Co., Lrp.
s Some Fish- notes! a om nent Yarmouth for 1906 (
Patterson, A.M.B.A., 453. a
Disappearance of many of our Home-bred hide in Autom “Rober
The Water-Pipit (Anthus spipoletta) as a Visitor to England, Michae
oe F.Z.8., M.B.O.U., 468.
Nores AND Qumrins: — ’
Manmarta —“Stont and Ferret Hybrids, G. T. Rope, 468. *
Avus.—Grasshopper- Warbler in Midlothian, A. Urquhart ¢ R. B. Whyte, 4 468.
Lesser Redpoll nesting in Ross-shire, G. A. d R. B. Whyte, 468. The
Rough-legged Buzzard in Somerset, Liewt.-Col. H. Meyrick, 469. Totanus
calidris in Bedfordshire, Mary Duchess of Bedford, 469. A Remarkable
Cuckoo Clutch, Liewt. eObi. H. A. Butler, 469. The Birds of Scilly, W. R.
Ogilvie-Grant, 470. as
~ Piscrs.— File Fish on the Coast of Somerset, F. L. Bliathwayt, 470.
Iysecta.—Notes on the Mole-Cricket (Gryllotalpa vulgaris), Rev. O. Pickard-
: Cambridge, 470. Goldsmith as a Naturalist, Brace F. Cummings, 471.
- Notices or New Booxs, 471-472.
All Articles and Communications intended for publication, and Books
and Pamphlets for review, should be addressed ‘‘The Editor of ‘The
Zoologist,’ c/o West, Newman & Co., 54, Hatton Garden, London ;” or direct
to the Editor, W. L. Distant, Steine House, Selhurst Road, South Nc “wood
Subscription for 1907, 12s. post free, is now due, and may be sent tc
the Publishers, Wusr, Newman & Co., 54, Hatton Garden, London, H.C.
A NHW NATURE BOOK.
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With Illustrations. Square demy 8vo. 6s. net.
“The taste for ornithology is, with most of us, a deliberately acquired one
There can be no better way to acquire it than to read such a delightful book as tha
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which enhance and voice the pageant of the changing year.” —Glasgow Herald.
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