Deep tonedThe Cushat plains; nor is her changeless plaintUnmusical, when with the general quireOf woodland harmony it softly blends.Grahame.Wordsworth celebrates it under a name generally given to the next species:I heard a Stock Dove sing or sayHis homely tale, this very day;His voice was buried among trees,Yet to be come at by the breeze.It did not cease; but cooed and cooed,And somewhat pensively he wooed;He sang of love with quiet blending.Slow to begin, and never ending;Of sorrows, faith, and inward glee;That was the song, the song for me.And again, still more happily:Over his own sweet voice the Stock Dove broods.The note may be imitated by attempting to whistle, in a very deep tone, the syllables 'cooe-coo-roo-o-o-o'; or still more closely by clasping the hands together, so as to form a hollow, open only between the second joints of the thumbs, and blowing the same words over the orifice. With a little practise so close an imitation may be produced, that a genuine cooer may be beguiled into giving an answer. I may add, too, that with the same natural instrument and with a greater expenditure of breath the hoot of the Owl may be imitated; with a gentler effort and a quiver of the tongue the coo of the Turtle Dove may be nearly approached.The Wood Dove has never been considered to be the origin of the domestic Pigeon, nor will it breed in captivity. There is no difficulty, however, in rearing birds taken young from the nest; and birds so brought up will alight with perfect confidence on the person of their foster nurse, and feed from his hand or mouth. The nest of the Wood Dove is an unsubstantial structure, composed of sticks so loosely put together that the eggs or young birds are sometimes visible from below. It is placed in a fork or among the branches of a tree; a thick fir is preferred; but nests are to be met with in ivy and thorn bushes either in a wood, coppice, or, more rarely, in a hedge-row. The number of eggs is always two. The male bird assists in the office of incubation.THE STOCK DOVECOLUMBA ŒNASHead, throat, wings, and lower parts, bluish grey; the lower parts of the neck with metallic reflections, no white spots; breast wine-red; a black spot on the two last secondaries and some of the wing-coverts; primaries grey at the base, passing into dusky; tail grey barred with black at the extremity, the outer feather with a white spot on the outer web near the base; irides reddish brown; bill yellow, red at the base; feet red; claws dusky. Length twelve and a half inches. Eggs white.The Stock Dove is by some persons supposed to be so called from its having been believed at one time to be the origin of the domestic Pigeon; but as it bore the name before the above question was mooted, it is more reasonable to suppose that it derived its name from its habit of nestling in thestocksof trees, and not on the branches like the Ring Dove, nor in caves like the Rock Dove. Ray and Willughby, who treat the domestic Dove as a distinct species, gave it the name of Œnas (from the Greekoinos, wine), and Vinago (from the Latinvinum), from the purpled or wine-red hue of its breast and wings. Temminck does not hesitate to identify the domestic Pigeon with the Rock Dove, without even hinting the possibility of its having derived its origin from the Stock Dove. Since, therefore, the two birds have no marked resemblance, it may be reasonably supposed that the relationship between them rests solely on the narrow foundation that there exists a wild Pigeon, popularly called a Stock Dove, and that the word 'stock' has among other meanings that of 'parentage' or 'origin'. Thus the name gave rise to a theory which, having a plausible show, was hastily assumed, and was then employed to prove a fact which will not bear the test of examination. The Stock Dove in its habits closely resembles the Ring Dove, from which it cannot easily be distinguished at a distance. When tolerably near, a sharp eye can detect the absence of the white patch on the wings and of the ring round the neck. Its flight is more rapid, and it rarely perches on a slender bough, preferring to alight on a main branch or stump. Its note is softer, and approaches that of the tame Pigeon. But the great mark of distinction is that on which I have supposed its name to be founded; that it does not build its nest among the branches of trees, but in the side of a stump, or other locality, where no one would even think of looking for a Ring Dove's nest. Yarrell states that 'in the open counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, this species frequently makes its nest in holes in the ground, generally selecting a rabbit's burrow'. It has greatly increased in the south of England of late, and it nests along the Moray and Dornock Firths. White, who had never seen its nest, says that it used to be abundant at Selborne 'from November to February'. Yarrell saw two oldbirds exposed for sale with Ring Doves, in London, on January 4. It resorts in spring to the neighbourhood in which it was bred, as a convenient place for rearing its own young, and at the end of summer repairs to woods and groves better adapted for supplying it with its favourite food, acorns and beech-mast. There it flocks together with Ring Doves, vast numbers of which assemble in winter in some districts, and when the fowler plies his occupation, shares their fate. It is, however, by no means so common a bird as the Ring Dove at any season, nor is it so generally distributed. In the North it is certainly only a summer visitor; and, on the other hand, it is most abundant in the south of Europe and in Africa during winter.THE ROCK DOVECOLUMBA LIVIAPlumage bluish ash, lighter on the wings; rump white; neck and breast lustrous with green and purple reflections, without a white spot; two transverse black bands on the wings; primaries and tail tipped with black; rump white; outer tail-feather white on the outer web; irides pale orange; bill black; feet red. Length twelve and a half inches. Eggs white.The Rock Dove, though a bird of extensive range, is less generally known in its natural condition than either of the other British species. As its name imports, its favourite place of resort is the rocky coast; but this it frequents, not because it has any predilection for the sea-shore and its productions, but that its instincts teach it to make lofty rocks its stronghold, just as the natural impulse of the Ring Dove is to find safety in the forests. If this species is the original of all the numerous varieties of tame Pigeon, it must inhabit most countries of the eastern hemisphere; for a pigeon-fancier's dove-cot, to be complete, must contain several sorts which were first brought from remote regions; and we know that in Egypt, Phœnicia, and Persia, Pigeons had a mythological importance at an early date. It is said that the Pigeons which have established themselves in various public buildings of continental cities, as Saint Mark at Venice, and Pont Neuf at Paris, are exclusively Rock Pigeons; and I have seen it stated that they frequent the towers of Canterbury Cathedral; but it is possible that these may be in all cases derived from tame birds escaped from domestication, and resuming, to a certain extent, their wild habits and original plumage. That they resort to ruinous edifices near the sea in retired districts is beyond question, as I have seen them flying about and alighting on the walls of an old castle in the island of Kerrera, near Oban, in the Western Highlands, indifferent, seemingly, whether they nestled in the lofty cliffs on the mainland, where they are numerous, or on the equally secure ruins of masonry in the opposite island. That they are truly wild here there can be no doubt. Indeed, the precipitous shores of Scotland, the Hebrides, and Orkneys, afford them exactly the kind of retreat that suits their habits; and here among inaccessible rocks they build their nests and on their return from their inland marauding expeditions, pass their nights. Their attitudes, mode of flight, progression when on the ground, note, and manner of feeding, are the same as those of the common tame Pigeon; and, as might be expected, both wild and tame birds agree in declining to perch on trees.Plate_41Plate_42Macgillivray, who had opportunities of watching them in their native haunts at all seasons, informs us that they leave their caves in the crags at early dawn, and, proceeding along the shore, unite with other parties on their way till they reach the cultivated grounds, where they settle in large flocks, diligently seeking for grains of barley and oats, seeds of wild mustard and other weeds, picking up also the small snails[38]which abound in sandy pastures near the sea. In summer they make frequent short visits of this kind, returning at intervals to feed their young. In winter they form much larger flocks, and, making the best use of their short day, feed more intently, thus holding out a temptation to the fowler, who, if sufficiently wary, can sometimes approach near enough to kill a large number at a shot. They are supposed to pair for life; and this, I believe, is generally the case with tame Pigeons. They lay two eggs, and sit for three weeks. The male and the female sit, alternately relieving each other. They breed twice a year, but the number of eggs never exceeds two. Hence the old Scottish saying, 'a doo's cleckin', for a family of only two children—a boy and a girl. They may be distinguished from the other common species while flying, by showing a large patch of white between the back and the tail.[38]Helix ericetorum, a flattish, striped shell; andBulimus acutus, an oblong, conical shell, mottled with grey and black.THE TURTLE DOVETURTUR COMMÚNISHead and nape ash, tinged with wine-red; a space on the sides of the neck composed of black feathers tipped with white; neck and breast pale wine-red; back ash-brown; primaries dusky; secondaries bluish ash; scapulars and wing-coverts rust-red with a black spot in the centre of each feather; abdomen and lower tail-coverts white; tail dusky, all but the two middle feathers tipped with white, the outer feather edged with white externally; irides yellowish red; feet red; bill brown. Eggs white.Nearly three thousand years ago the Turtle Dove had the distinction of being enumerated among the pleasant things of spring:'Lo, the winter Is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the Turtle is heard in our land.'[39]Less sweetly, but to the same effect, sings a poet of the last century:The cuckoo calls aloud his wand'ring love.The Turtle's moan is heard in ev'ry grove;The pastures change, the warbling linnets sing.Prepare to welcome in the gaudy spring!Philips.There is no melody in the song of the Turtle, as it consists of a single note, a soft, sweet, agitated murmur, continued without pause for a long time, called a 'moan'[2]both by Latin and English poets, not from its being suggestive of pain, but because there is no other word which describes it so nearly. I have already had occasion to remark how unsatisfactory are most of the attempts which have been made to represent the songs of birds by combinations of letters, but the Latin name of the Turtle-dove,Turtur, is a notable exception. Pronounced 'tur-r-r tur-r-r', it will instantly recall the note to any one who has once heard it. The French name also,Tourterelle, can belong to this bird alone.The Turtle Dove is found in all the southern countries of Europe, in Palestine, and many other parts of Asia, including the islands south of China. In England it is a visitor in the southern and midland counties only, arriving in spring and remaining with us until the end of September. Its favourite places of resort are groves, belts of trees, and tall hedgerows in cultivated districts. Here it builds its unsubstantial nest of a few sticks, and lays two eggs. Its food consists of seeds of various kinds, and it has the discredit of resorting to fields of green wheat for the sake of feeding on the milky grain. I am doubtful whether this charge can be sustained. Often enough when walking through a cornfield one may see two or three Turtle Doves rise suddenly from the thick corn with a rustle and low cry of alarm, rapidly dart away in the direction of the nearest grove, disappearing in the shade, all but a white segment of a circle, formed by the tips of their tail-feathers; but on examining the spot from which they rose, I have been unable to detect any ears of corn rifled of their contents, though the ground was thickly matted with weeds, which might have furnished them food. I am informed by a young friend that he has often shot them while in the act of rising from such situations and has invariably found their crops distended with the green seed-vessels of a weed common in corn-fields, the corn-spurrey (Spérgula arvensis). This being the case, the Turtle Dove is more a friend than an enemy to the farmer, even if it sometimes regales on ripegrain or interferes with the occupation of the gleaner. It is also very partial to vetches. I have met with an instance where a Turtle Dove paid daily visits to one particular spot, under a hedge in a field, and though fired at by the owner of the field many times, under the idea that it was a rare bird, it soon returned; and when at last shot, its crop was found to be full of vetch seeds which had been accidentally spilled from a bag.The Turtle Dove is smaller than any of the other British Doves. When flying, it seems scarcely larger than a Missel Thrush; but it is more slender in shape, and its wings are much longer. It beats its wings, too, more rapidly, and moves through the air with greater velocity. The tints of its plumage are more varied than in the other British species, but far inferior in brilliancy to many foreign ones.The Turtle Dove so frequently kept in a cage is the Collared Turtle Dove (Columba risoria), a native of India and China. This species is distinguished by a black crescent on the back of the neck, the horns of which nearly meet in front. Turtle Doves are much kept in Germany, owing to a strange popular superstition that they are more predisposed than the human species to nervous disorders and rheumatism, and that when any of these complaints visit a house, they fall on the birds rather than on their owners.[39]Cant. ii. 11, 12.[40]'Nec gemere aëria cessabit Turtur ab ulmo.'—Virgil.Nor shall from lofty elm the Turtle cease to moan.ORDER PTEROCLETESFAMILY PTEROCLIDÆTHE THREE-TOED SAND-GROUSELegs and toes feathered to the claws; no hind toe. Length sixteen to twenty inches.This species was not known with us till 1859. Great flights visited this country in 1863, in 1888, and in 1889 when a few pair bred here.ORDER GALLINÆFAMILY TETRAONIDÆTHE CAPERCAILLIETETRÁO UROGÁLLUSFeathers of the throat elongated, black; head and neck dusky; eyes with a bare red skin above and a white spot below; wings brown speckled with black; breast lustrous green; abdomen black with white spots; rump and flanks marked with undulating lines of black and ash colour; tail black with white spots; beak horn white; eyebrows naked, red, beneath the eye a white spot. Length thirty-six inches.Female—a third smaller, barred and spotted with tawny red, black, and white; throat tawny red, unspotted; breast deep red; tail dark red with black bars, white at the tip; bill dusky. Eggs dull yellowish white speckled with yellowish brown.The Capercaillie, Wood Grouse, or Cock of the Woods, was a rare bird in Scotland in Pennant's time (1769), and was found only in the Highlands north of Inverness. It became extinct in the eighteenth century, but was re-introduced in 1837 in Scotland, and it is now common in firwoods there, especially in Perthshire. In the pine forests of Sweden and Norway it is still indigenous, but, being a large and beautiful bird, is much sought after, and is annually receding from the haunts of men. It is also found in some of the central countries of Europe, as Poland and the Jura mountains, where it is said to be rather common. It is not only an inhabitant of woods, but passes its time for the most part in trees, and feeds in great measure on the young shoots of the Scotch fir. In summer it adds to its dietary berries, seeds, and insects, for which it searches among bushes or on the ground, returning to the woods to roost. The male bird has obtained great celebrity for his marvellous performances when serenading the hens during the morning and evening twilight in spring. "During his play, the neck of the Capercaillie is stretched out, his tail is raised and spread like a fan, his wings droop, his feathers are ruffled up, and, in short, he much resembles in appearance an angry Turkey Cock. He begins his play with a call something resembling the wordspeller,peller,peller; these sounds he repeats at first at some little intervals, but, as he proceeds, they increase in rapidity, until, at last, and after perhaps the lapse of a moment or so, he makes a sort of gulp in his throat, and finishes by drawing in his breath. During the continuance of this latter process, which only lasts a few seconds, the head of the Capercaillie is thrown up, his eyes are partially closed, and his whole appearance would denote that he is worked up into an agony of passion." This performance, however attractive it may De to those for whose benefit it is intended, exercises a fascinationover himself which is often dangerous; for the sportsman, well acquainted with the sound, is thus guided to his perch, and, shy though the bird is at other times, is able to get near him unperceived or unheeded, and summarily closes his performances. The Capercaillie hen makes her nest upon the ground, and lays from six to twelve eggs. She is said to sit for four weeks. The young keep with her until towards the approach of winter. The size of the full-grown bird varies considerably according to the latitude in which it is found. In Lapland the male weighs about nine or ten pounds, but in the southern provinces of Sweden as much as seventeen pounds. The hen usually weighs from five to six pounds.THE BLACK GROUSETETRÁO TÉTRIXThroat-feathers not elongated; plumage black with violet reflections; a broad white band on the wings; secondaries tipped with white; lower tail-coverts white; tail much forked, the outer feathers curved outwards. Eyebrows naked, vermilion; beneath the eye a white spot. Length twenty-three inches.Female—smaller; head and neck rust-red barred with black; rump and tail-feathers black barred with red; belly dusky brown with red and whitish bars; tail slightly forked. Eggs dull yellow spotted and speckled with reddish brown.The Black Grouse is a native of the northern countries of Europe and of the mountainous districts of the central part of the Continent. In the south it is unknown. Of a hardier nature than the Pheasant, and less fastidious in its dietary, it braves the most inclement seasons, and is never stinted in its supply of food. Moreover, as it rarely wanders far from its heath-clad home, it would probably, if it enjoyed the privilege of insignificance, be abundant in all the extensive waste lands of Britain. But its large size, the excellent flavour of its flesh, and the excitement of the sport which it affords all tend to keep down its numbers, so that a moor well stocked with Black Grouse is a possession not to be thought lightly of by the highest and wealthiest. The male bird is, in sporting phraseology, a Black Cock, the female a Grey Hen; and it is the etiquette of the field to shoot Cocks only, the Hens being left for breeding. The Black Cock resembles, in one of its most striking peculiarities, its near relative, the Capercaillie. 'During the spring', says Mr. St. John, 'and also in the autumn, about the time the first hoar frosts are felt, I have often watched the Black Cocks in the early morning when they collect on some rock or height, and strut and crow with their curious note, not unlike that of a Wood Pigeon. On these occasions they often have most desperate battles. I have seen five or six Black Cocks all fighting at once; and so violent and eager were they, that I approached within a few yards before they rose. Usually there seems to be a master-bird in these assemblages, whotakes up his position on the most elevated spot, crowing and strutting round and round with spread-out tail like a Turkey Cock, and his wings trailing on the ground. The hens remain quietly near him, whilst the smaller or younger male birds keep at a respectful distance, neither daring to crow, except in a subdued kind of voice, nor to approach. If they attempt the latter, the master-bird dashes at the intruder, and often a shortmeléeensues, several others joining in it, but they soon return to their former respectful distance. I have also seen an old Black Cock crowing on a birch-tree with a dozen hens below it, and the younger Cocks looking on with fear and admiration. It is at these times that numbers fall to the share of the poacher, who knows that the birds resort to the same spot every morning.'The food of these birds is abundant in quantity, and though simple, yet partakes of an extensive assortment of flavours. Twigs of the fine-leaved heath (Erica cinerea), and heather (Calluna); buds of the willow and birch; the tender shoots of cotton-grass, sedge, and grass; and whortleberries, cranberries, and crowberries, are the principal items of their bill of fare, varied according to the season. In the months of February, March and April, they do much mischief to plantations by destroying the tender shoots of Scotch and Silver Fir. 'In searching for food, the Black Grouse frequents the lower grounds of the less-cultivated districts, not generally removing far from the shelter of woods or thickets, to which it betakes itself as occasion requires. It sometimes makes an excursion into the stubble-fields in search of the seeds of cereal plants, and in summer and autumn includes those of the grasses and rushes. While thus employed, it walks and runs among the herbage with considerable agility, and, when apprehensive of danger, flies off to a sheltered place, or settles down and remains motionless until the intruder passes by. It perches adroitly, and walks securely on the branches; but its ordinary station is on the ground, where also it reposes at night. It may often, especially in spring, be seen on the turf-top of the low walls inclosing plantations. Its flight is heavy, direct, and of moderate velocity, and is capable of being protracted to a great distance.'[41]The Grey Hen constructs a rude nest of withered grass and a few twigs in the shelter of some low bush, and lays from five to ten eggs. The male bird takes no part in the bringing up of the brood, but leaves the duties of incubation and attention to the wants of his family to the hen, who devotes herself wholly to the careful nurture of her little ones. While the poults are in their nonage, she assiduously leads them about where food is most abundant; and if surprised by an intruder, leaves them to hide among the heath and ferns, creeps rapidly herself to some distance, and then rises in a fluttering manner, so that a stranger to her habits would supposeher to be wounded. By August 20, the young are supposed to be fully fledged, and the sportsman is expected not only to show his skill as a marksman, but his quickness of eye in discriminating between males and females as the covey rises. The former are to be distinguished by their richer colouring, and by the more strongly marked white on the wings. At this season the old Black Cocks club together.The Black Cock is found in greater or less quantities in the moorland districts of many of the English counties, but is most abundant in the north of England and Wales, and in Scotland.[41]Macgillivray.THE RED GROUSELAGÓPUS SCÓTICUSPlumage chestnut brown, marked on the back with black spots and beneath with black lines; a fringe of small white feathers round the eyes, and a white spot at the base of the lower mandible; a crimson fringed band above the eyes; some of the feathers of the abdomen tipped with white; tail of sixteen feathers, the four middle ones chestnut with black bars, the rest dusky; feet and toes covered thickly with grey hair-like feathers.Female—the red eye-lid less conspicuous; colours not so dark and tinged with reddish yellow, the black spots and lines more numerous. Length sixteen inches. Eggs reddish ash colour, nearly covered with blotches and spots of deep red-brown.The diminution of the number of Pheasants in France, owing to a relaxation of the efforts formerly made to protect them, and the abundance of the same birds, in those parts of England where unceasing care is taken of them in severe or protracted winters, tend to prove the great difficulty of preserving a foreign bird in a country which is not in every respect adapted to its habits and constitution. On the other hand, the undiminished abundance of Red Grouse in Great Britain, in spite of the absence of all artificial protection, and notwithstanding the vast quantity which annually fall a prey to vermin, poachers, and sportsmen, proves as satisfactorily that where a bird has become abundant, in a country in all respects suited to its constitution and producing an inexhaustible supply of its natural food, it is impossible to extirpate it. If we ever had occasion to adopt a bird as a national emblem, the choice might for one reason fall on the Red Grouse. It is a native of the British Isles, and is found in no other country. On the moors of Scotland, the hilly parts of the north of England, the mountains of Wales, and the wastes of Ireland, it is as wild and free as the Gull on the sea-cliff. It frequents extensive heaths where man could not protect it if he would, and finds no stint of food where few living things can exist but insects and some of the larger rapacious animals which make it their special prey. Eagles, Falcons, Buzzards, Crows, Foxes, Martins, and Polecats, all wage against it incessant war; itis wholly without armour, offensive or defensive; yet its numbers are undiminished. And we may confidently say that, as long as there are large tracts of land in Great Britain unreclaimed, there will be Grouse.Red Grouse must, occasionally, fall in the way of the wanderer over the Scottish moors, whatever may be the object of his rambles; but a sportsman alone is privileged to make the bird his study at all seasons. My sketch, therefore, of the Grouse is to be considered as taken, not from the limited observation which I have been enabled to make, when I have chanced to start a bird on the hills of Westmoreland or the Highlands, but to be compiled from the notes of others who have had more ample means of observing its habits."The Brown Ptarmigan, generally known by the name of Red Grouse, as compared with the Black Grouse, is met with in Scotland on all kinds of surface, provided it be covered with heath, whetherCalluna vulgaris(Ling) orErica cinerea(Common Purple Heath), from the level of the sea to the height of about two thousand feet. The low sandy heaths of the eastern counties of the middle division appear to be less favourable to it than the more moist peaty tracts of the western and northern districts, where the shrubs on which it feeds attain a great size."Its food appears to be much the same as that of the Black Grouse, to which it is similar in many of its habits; but it never perches on trees. It has, moreover, a decided predilection for the national grain of Scotland. Hence the cultivation of small tracts of land with oats in the neighbourhood of moors where it abounds is an unprofitable labour.Its name,Lagópus(Hare-footed), is equally appropriate as descriptive of its thickly-clothed foot and its fleetness as a runner; by some French ornithologists it is enumerated amongVelocipedes, for the latter reason. On ordinary occasions it does not fly much, but keeps concealed among the heath, seldom choosing to rise unless its enemy comes very near. Red Grouse pair early in the season, and build their nests generally on the borders between heath and lea ground, with a view to providing their young with an open nursery-ground, on which to learn the use of their legs, as well as a safe retreat on the approach of danger. The nest is loosely constructed of straws and twigs which may chance to lie about near the selected spot. The number of eggs is usually eight to ten; the hen sits very closely, allowing the shepherd almost to trample on her before she springs. The period of hatching is a perilous one for the chicks, for, as they break the shell, they utter a small but shrill chirp—a certain signal to some watchful Hooded Crow that a prey is at hand; he traces up the sound, drives the mother from her nest, and destroys the whole brood.Once fairly hatched, the danger decreases; the young birds, while still quite small, show great readiness in concealing themselves.When disturbed they separate in all directions, crouch on the ground, squeeze between objects that seem to defy all passage, work their way through the cover, or, if they fancy that an eye is fixed on them, lie as motionless as stones. When so far grown as to be able to fly, they still prefer the shelter afforded by the cover; but if hard pressed the old cock usually rises first, with a cry which some compare to the quack of a Duck. The hen and young birds show no hurry in following his example, but take wing singly, and at unequal intervals—not like Partridges, which always rise in a covey. This is the period when they afford the easiest shot to the sportsman, who often puts them up almost beneath his feet, or under the very nose of his dogs. Later in the season a great change takes place, and this, it is said, whether the birds have been much harassed or not. Become cautious and wild, they no longer trust to concealment or swiftness of foot, but, discovering from a great distance the approach of danger, they rise most frequently out of shot, so that it requires skill and patience to get near them. A slight and early snow sometimes makes it more easy to approach them, at least for a few hours; but ordinarily, not even extreme cold, or a covering of snow a foot thick, appears to tame them at all. Under such circumstances, they collect in enormous 'packs', and betake themselves to some particular part of the moor from which the snow has been more or less drifted. These packs keep together during winter, and at the beginning of spring separate and pair, not, however, without some previous altercations; but these are soon over, and they lose much of their shyness, venturing close to the roads, and being little disturbed by the passage of the traveller.THE PTARMIGANLAGOPUS MÚTUSWinter plumage—pure white, a black line from the angle of the beak through the eye; outer tail-feathers black; above the eyes a scarlet fringed membrane; bill and claws black; tarsi and toes thickly clothed with woolly feathers.Female—without the black line through the eyes.Summer plumage—wings, under tail-coverts, two middle tail-feathers, and legs white; outer tail-feathers black, some of them tipped with white; rest of plumage ash-brown, marked with black lines and dusky spots. Length fifteen inches. Eggs reddish yellow, spotted and speckled with deep reddish brown.This beautiful bird is the Schneehuhn, 'Snow-chick', of the Germans, the White Partridge of the Alps and Pyrenees, and the GaelicTarmachan. Whilst most birds shrink from cold, the Ptarmigan, on the contrary, seems to revel in it, and to fear nothing so much as the beams of the sun. Not even when the valleys rejoice in the livery of spring does it desert the snowy regions altogether, and, when the mist-wreaths clear away, it avoids the rays of the sun byseeking the shady sides of the mountains. Only when the northern regions or lofty mountains are so thickly covered with snow as to threaten it with starvation does it repair to districts where the cold is somewhat mitigated, but never lower into the valleys than where it may quench its thirst with snow. 'The male bird', says a field naturalist, 'has been seen, during a snow-storm in Norway, to perch himself on a rock which overtopped the rest, and to sit there for some time as if enjoying the cold wind and sleet, which was drifting in his face; just as one might have done on a sultry summer's day on the top of the Wiltshire downs, when a cool air was stirring there.'[42]The same writer observes: 'I have generally found the Ptarmigan concealed among the grey, lichen-coloured rocks on the summits of the fjelds, and so closely do they resemble these rocks in colour that I could scarcely ever see them on the ground; and sometimes when the practised eye of my guide found them, and he would point out the exact spot, it was not until after a long scrutiny that I could distinguish the bird within a dozen yards of me. Frequently we would find them on the snow itself, and many a time has a large circular depression in the snow been pointed out to me, where the Ptarmigan has been lying and pluming himself in his chilly bed. He is a noble bird, free as air, and for the most part uninterrupted in his wide domain; he can range over the enormous tracts of fjeld, seldom roused by a human step, and still more seldom hunted by man. When the winter clothes his dwelling in a garb of snow, he arrays himself in the purest and most beautiful white; when the summer sun melts away the snow, and the grey rocks appear, he, too, puts on his coloured dress, and assimilates himself once more to his beloved rocks. But the young Ptarmigans are my especial favourites: I have caught them of all ages; some apparently just emerged from the egg, others some weeks older; they are remarkably pretty little birds, with their short black beaks and their feathered toes; and so quickly do they run, and so nimble and active are they in escaping from you, that they are soon beneath some projecting stone, far beyond the reach of your arm, where you hear them chirping and calling out in defiance and derision. The call of the old Ptarmigan is singularly loud and hoarse; it is a prolonged grating, harsh note, and may be heard at a great distance.' This has been compared to the scream of the Missel Thrush; but Macgillivray says it seems to him more like the croak of a frog.Ptarmigans pair early in spring, and build their nest of grass, bents and twigs in a slight hollow behind a stone or bush, and lay from seven to twelve eggs. The young are able to run about as soon as they are hatched, and, as we have seen, are most expert and nimble in concealing themselves. The hen bird when surprised with her young brood counterfeits lameness, and runs about ingreat anxiety, as if wishing to draw attention from her chicks to herself. Their food consists of the fresh green twigs of heath and other mountain plants, seeds, and berries. While feeding they run about, and are shy in taking flight even when they have acquired the use of their wings, but crouch on the approach of danger, and remain motionless and silent. When at length they do rise, they fly off in a loose party, and mostly in a direct line, for a distant part of the mountain, the movement of their wings resembling that of the Grouse, but being lighter in character. Early in the season, a long time before Grouse, the coveys of Ptarmigans unite and form large packs, and it is while thus congregated that they perform their partial migrations from the high grounds to what they consider a milder climate, the Norwegian valleys. There, while the ground is covered thickly with snow, they, to a certain extent, modify their habits, and perch on trees, sometimes in such numbers that the branches seem to be altogether clothed in white. It does not appear that any of these flocks make long journeys or cross the sea. In Scotland they are no more numerous in winter than in summer, nor have they been observed to take refuge in the woods. In the comparatively mild temperature of Scotland there occurs no lengthened period during which they cannot find their simple food somewhere in the open country; they consequently do not leave the moors, but only descend lower.The Ptarmigan is neither so abundant nor so generally diffused in Scotland as the Grouse. It is resident on high mountains. It is said to have existed at one time in the north of England and in Wales; if so, it has totally disappeared, nor is it known in Ireland.[42]Rev. A. C. Smith, in theZoologist, vol. viii. p. 2977.FAMILY PHASIANIDÆTHE PHEASANTPHASIÁNUS COLCHICUSHead and neck glossy, with metallic reflections of green, blue, and purple; sides of the head bare, scarlet, minutely speckled with black; general plumage spotted and banded with orange-red, purple, brown, yellow, green, and black, either positive or reflected; tail very long, of eighteen feathers, the middle ones longest.Female—light brown, marked with dusky; sides of the head feathered; tail much shorter. Length three feet. Eggs olive-brown.This climate suits the Pheasant pretty well, and at most seasons of the year it finds abundance of food; but in hard winters the supply diminishes, or fails altogether; and were not food specially scattered about for it in its haunts, it would either die off from beingunable to withstand cold and hunger together, or become so weak that it would fall a prey to the smaller rapacious animals, who are not a match for it when it is strong and active. A healthy cock Pheasant has been known to beat off a cat; a sickly one would be unable to compete with a Magpie or Jay. It is, in fact, an exotic running wild, and enabled to do so only by the care of those who help it to surmount the inconveniences of a life spent in a foreign land.The Pheasant is said to have been brought originally from Colchis, a country on the shores of the Black Sea, and to have derived its name from the river Phasis, the famous scene of the expedition of the Argonauts, bearing date about 1200 years before Christ. From this epoch it is said to have been known to the Athenians, who endeavoured to acclimatize it for the sake of its beauty as well as the delicacy of its flesh. The Romans received it from the Greeks; but it was little known, except by name, in Germany, France, and England, until the Crusades. The custom was then introduced from Constantinople of sending it to table decorated with its tail feathers and head, as a dish for kings and emperors—a special honour until that time confined to the Peacock. Willughby, in the seventeenth century, says of it that, from its rarity, delicacy of flavour, and great tenderness, it seems to have been created for the tables of the wealthy. He tells us, too, that the flesh of Pheasants caught by hawking is of a higher flavour, and yet more delicate than when they are taken by snares or any other method.The kings of France greatly encouraged the naturalization of the Pheasants in the royal forests, both as an object of sport and as an acquisition to the festive board, and were imitated by the nobles and superior clergy. In the fourteenth century, all the royal forests, the parks of Berry and the Loire, all the woods and vineyards of the rich abbeys, were peopled with Pheasants. The male bird was protected by the title of 'Royal game of the first class', and the killing of a hen was forbidden under the severest penalties. During the period between the reigns of Henry IV and Louis XVI its estimation increased. During the revolution royal edicts were little heeded. Pheasants, no less than their owners, forfeited their dignity, which, however, rose again somewhat under the empire. Waterloo, and succeeding events, brought desolation to the Pheasantries as well as to the deer-parks of France; and now the royal bird, French authors tell us, is likely to disappear from the country. Already, the space which it occupies is reduced to a thirtieth part of the national territory. The centre of this privileged province is Paris; its radius is not more than five-and-twenty leagues, and is decreasing every year. Pheasants have disappeared from the districts of the Garonne and Rhone, while in Touraine and Berry a few only are to be found in walled parks.Plate_43Plate_44If the Pheasant should ever, in this country, lose the protection of the Game Laws, it will probably dwindle away in like manner. Under existing circumstances, it offers an inducement to poaching too tempting to be resisted. Gamekeepers engage in more affrays with poachers of Pheasants than of all the other game birds taken collectively; and if the offence of destroying them were made less penal than it is at present, they would doubtless diminish rapidly. Next to Wood Pigeons, they are said to be the most destructive of all British birds; so that farmers would gladly do their utmost to exterminate them; their large size and steady onward flight combine to make them an 'easy shot' for the veriest tyro in gunnery, while the estimation in which they are held for the table would always secure for them a value in the market.The places best adapted for Pheasants are thick woods in the neighbourhood of water, where there is abundance of shelter on the ground, in the shape of furze-bushes, brambles, tall weeds, rushes, or tussock grass; for they pass their lives almost exclusively on the ground, even roosting there, except in winter, when they fly up in the evening, and perch on the lower boughs of middling-sized trees. In April or May, the female bird scratches for herself a shallow hole in the ground under the shelter of some bushes or long grass, and lays from ten to fourteen eggs; but not unfrequently she allows might to prevail over right, and appropriates both the nest and eggs belonging to some evicted Partridge. The situation of the nests is generally known to the keepers, and all that are considered safe are left to be attended to by the owner. Such, however, as are exposed to the depredations of vermin or poachers are more frequently taken, and the eggs are placed under a domestic hen.Pheasant chicks are able to run about and pick up their own food soon after they have escaped from the egg. This consists of grain, seeds, an enormous quantity of wireworms, small insects, especially ants and their eggs, and green herbage. When full grown, they add to this diet beans, peas, acorns, beech-mast, and the tuberous roots of several wild plants. A strip of buck-wheat, of which they are very fond, is sometimes sown for their special benefit along the skirt of a plantation. In seasons of scarcity they will enter the farmyard, and either quietly feed with the poultry, or, less frequently, do battle with the cocks for the sovereignty. A story is told, in theZoologist, of a male Pheasant, which drove from their perch, and killed in succession, three fine cocks. The proprietor, with a view to prevent further loss, furnished a fourth cock with a pair of steel spurs. Armed with these, the lawful occupant was more than a match for the aggressor, who, next morning, was found lying dead on the ground beneath the perch. Another has been known to beat off a cat; and a third was in the habit of attacking a labouring man. The female is a timid, unoffending bird, as peaceful in her demeanour as quiet in her garb. The tints of her plumage, far less gaudy than in the male, are a protection to her in the nesting season,as being less likely to attract the notice either of poachers or vermin. Indeed, were she always to lie close, her nest would not be easily discovered, for the colour of her feathers so closely resembles that of withered leaves, that she is, when sitting, less conspicuous than her uncovered eggs would be.Common Pheasants are occasionally found having a large portion, or even the whole, of their plumage white. These, though highly ornamental when mixed with the common sort, are not prized, owing to their being a more conspicuous mark for poachers. The 'Ringed Pheasant' occasionally shot in English preserves is not, as some maintain, a distinct species; it differs from the typical form of the bird only in that the neck is partially surrounded by a narrow white collar passing from the back of the neck to the sides, but not meeting in front.
Deep toned
The Cushat plains; nor is her changeless plaint
Unmusical, when with the general quire
Of woodland harmony it softly blends.
Grahame.
Wordsworth celebrates it under a name generally given to the next species:
I heard a Stock Dove sing or say
His homely tale, this very day;
His voice was buried among trees,
Yet to be come at by the breeze.
It did not cease; but cooed and cooed,
And somewhat pensively he wooed;
He sang of love with quiet blending.
Slow to begin, and never ending;
Of sorrows, faith, and inward glee;
That was the song, the song for me.
And again, still more happily:
Over his own sweet voice the Stock Dove broods.
The note may be imitated by attempting to whistle, in a very deep tone, the syllables 'cooe-coo-roo-o-o-o'; or still more closely by clasping the hands together, so as to form a hollow, open only between the second joints of the thumbs, and blowing the same words over the orifice. With a little practise so close an imitation may be produced, that a genuine cooer may be beguiled into giving an answer. I may add, too, that with the same natural instrument and with a greater expenditure of breath the hoot of the Owl may be imitated; with a gentler effort and a quiver of the tongue the coo of the Turtle Dove may be nearly approached.
The Wood Dove has never been considered to be the origin of the domestic Pigeon, nor will it breed in captivity. There is no difficulty, however, in rearing birds taken young from the nest; and birds so brought up will alight with perfect confidence on the person of their foster nurse, and feed from his hand or mouth. The nest of the Wood Dove is an unsubstantial structure, composed of sticks so loosely put together that the eggs or young birds are sometimes visible from below. It is placed in a fork or among the branches of a tree; a thick fir is preferred; but nests are to be met with in ivy and thorn bushes either in a wood, coppice, or, more rarely, in a hedge-row. The number of eggs is always two. The male bird assists in the office of incubation.
THE STOCK DOVECOLUMBA ŒNAS
Head, throat, wings, and lower parts, bluish grey; the lower parts of the neck with metallic reflections, no white spots; breast wine-red; a black spot on the two last secondaries and some of the wing-coverts; primaries grey at the base, passing into dusky; tail grey barred with black at the extremity, the outer feather with a white spot on the outer web near the base; irides reddish brown; bill yellow, red at the base; feet red; claws dusky. Length twelve and a half inches. Eggs white.
The Stock Dove is by some persons supposed to be so called from its having been believed at one time to be the origin of the domestic Pigeon; but as it bore the name before the above question was mooted, it is more reasonable to suppose that it derived its name from its habit of nestling in thestocksof trees, and not on the branches like the Ring Dove, nor in caves like the Rock Dove. Ray and Willughby, who treat the domestic Dove as a distinct species, gave it the name of Œnas (from the Greekoinos, wine), and Vinago (from the Latinvinum), from the purpled or wine-red hue of its breast and wings. Temminck does not hesitate to identify the domestic Pigeon with the Rock Dove, without even hinting the possibility of its having derived its origin from the Stock Dove. Since, therefore, the two birds have no marked resemblance, it may be reasonably supposed that the relationship between them rests solely on the narrow foundation that there exists a wild Pigeon, popularly called a Stock Dove, and that the word 'stock' has among other meanings that of 'parentage' or 'origin'. Thus the name gave rise to a theory which, having a plausible show, was hastily assumed, and was then employed to prove a fact which will not bear the test of examination. The Stock Dove in its habits closely resembles the Ring Dove, from which it cannot easily be distinguished at a distance. When tolerably near, a sharp eye can detect the absence of the white patch on the wings and of the ring round the neck. Its flight is more rapid, and it rarely perches on a slender bough, preferring to alight on a main branch or stump. Its note is softer, and approaches that of the tame Pigeon. But the great mark of distinction is that on which I have supposed its name to be founded; that it does not build its nest among the branches of trees, but in the side of a stump, or other locality, where no one would even think of looking for a Ring Dove's nest. Yarrell states that 'in the open counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, this species frequently makes its nest in holes in the ground, generally selecting a rabbit's burrow'. It has greatly increased in the south of England of late, and it nests along the Moray and Dornock Firths. White, who had never seen its nest, says that it used to be abundant at Selborne 'from November to February'. Yarrell saw two oldbirds exposed for sale with Ring Doves, in London, on January 4. It resorts in spring to the neighbourhood in which it was bred, as a convenient place for rearing its own young, and at the end of summer repairs to woods and groves better adapted for supplying it with its favourite food, acorns and beech-mast. There it flocks together with Ring Doves, vast numbers of which assemble in winter in some districts, and when the fowler plies his occupation, shares their fate. It is, however, by no means so common a bird as the Ring Dove at any season, nor is it so generally distributed. In the North it is certainly only a summer visitor; and, on the other hand, it is most abundant in the south of Europe and in Africa during winter.
THE ROCK DOVECOLUMBA LIVIA
Plumage bluish ash, lighter on the wings; rump white; neck and breast lustrous with green and purple reflections, without a white spot; two transverse black bands on the wings; primaries and tail tipped with black; rump white; outer tail-feather white on the outer web; irides pale orange; bill black; feet red. Length twelve and a half inches. Eggs white.
The Rock Dove, though a bird of extensive range, is less generally known in its natural condition than either of the other British species. As its name imports, its favourite place of resort is the rocky coast; but this it frequents, not because it has any predilection for the sea-shore and its productions, but that its instincts teach it to make lofty rocks its stronghold, just as the natural impulse of the Ring Dove is to find safety in the forests. If this species is the original of all the numerous varieties of tame Pigeon, it must inhabit most countries of the eastern hemisphere; for a pigeon-fancier's dove-cot, to be complete, must contain several sorts which were first brought from remote regions; and we know that in Egypt, Phœnicia, and Persia, Pigeons had a mythological importance at an early date. It is said that the Pigeons which have established themselves in various public buildings of continental cities, as Saint Mark at Venice, and Pont Neuf at Paris, are exclusively Rock Pigeons; and I have seen it stated that they frequent the towers of Canterbury Cathedral; but it is possible that these may be in all cases derived from tame birds escaped from domestication, and resuming, to a certain extent, their wild habits and original plumage. That they resort to ruinous edifices near the sea in retired districts is beyond question, as I have seen them flying about and alighting on the walls of an old castle in the island of Kerrera, near Oban, in the Western Highlands, indifferent, seemingly, whether they nestled in the lofty cliffs on the mainland, where they are numerous, or on the equally secure ruins of masonry in the opposite island. That they are truly wild here there can be no doubt. Indeed, the precipitous shores of Scotland, the Hebrides, and Orkneys, afford them exactly the kind of retreat that suits their habits; and here among inaccessible rocks they build their nests and on their return from their inland marauding expeditions, pass their nights. Their attitudes, mode of flight, progression when on the ground, note, and manner of feeding, are the same as those of the common tame Pigeon; and, as might be expected, both wild and tame birds agree in declining to perch on trees.
Plate_41
Plate_42
Macgillivray, who had opportunities of watching them in their native haunts at all seasons, informs us that they leave their caves in the crags at early dawn, and, proceeding along the shore, unite with other parties on their way till they reach the cultivated grounds, where they settle in large flocks, diligently seeking for grains of barley and oats, seeds of wild mustard and other weeds, picking up also the small snails[38]which abound in sandy pastures near the sea. In summer they make frequent short visits of this kind, returning at intervals to feed their young. In winter they form much larger flocks, and, making the best use of their short day, feed more intently, thus holding out a temptation to the fowler, who, if sufficiently wary, can sometimes approach near enough to kill a large number at a shot. They are supposed to pair for life; and this, I believe, is generally the case with tame Pigeons. They lay two eggs, and sit for three weeks. The male and the female sit, alternately relieving each other. They breed twice a year, but the number of eggs never exceeds two. Hence the old Scottish saying, 'a doo's cleckin', for a family of only two children—a boy and a girl. They may be distinguished from the other common species while flying, by showing a large patch of white between the back and the tail.
[38]Helix ericetorum, a flattish, striped shell; andBulimus acutus, an oblong, conical shell, mottled with grey and black.
THE TURTLE DOVETURTUR COMMÚNIS
Head and nape ash, tinged with wine-red; a space on the sides of the neck composed of black feathers tipped with white; neck and breast pale wine-red; back ash-brown; primaries dusky; secondaries bluish ash; scapulars and wing-coverts rust-red with a black spot in the centre of each feather; abdomen and lower tail-coverts white; tail dusky, all but the two middle feathers tipped with white, the outer feather edged with white externally; irides yellowish red; feet red; bill brown. Eggs white.
Nearly three thousand years ago the Turtle Dove had the distinction of being enumerated among the pleasant things of spring:
'Lo, the winter Is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the Turtle is heard in our land.'[39]Less sweetly, but to the same effect, sings a poet of the last century:
The cuckoo calls aloud his wand'ring love.
The Turtle's moan is heard in ev'ry grove;
The pastures change, the warbling linnets sing.
Prepare to welcome in the gaudy spring!
Philips.
There is no melody in the song of the Turtle, as it consists of a single note, a soft, sweet, agitated murmur, continued without pause for a long time, called a 'moan'[2]both by Latin and English poets, not from its being suggestive of pain, but because there is no other word which describes it so nearly. I have already had occasion to remark how unsatisfactory are most of the attempts which have been made to represent the songs of birds by combinations of letters, but the Latin name of the Turtle-dove,Turtur, is a notable exception. Pronounced 'tur-r-r tur-r-r', it will instantly recall the note to any one who has once heard it. The French name also,Tourterelle, can belong to this bird alone.
The Turtle Dove is found in all the southern countries of Europe, in Palestine, and many other parts of Asia, including the islands south of China. In England it is a visitor in the southern and midland counties only, arriving in spring and remaining with us until the end of September. Its favourite places of resort are groves, belts of trees, and tall hedgerows in cultivated districts. Here it builds its unsubstantial nest of a few sticks, and lays two eggs. Its food consists of seeds of various kinds, and it has the discredit of resorting to fields of green wheat for the sake of feeding on the milky grain. I am doubtful whether this charge can be sustained. Often enough when walking through a cornfield one may see two or three Turtle Doves rise suddenly from the thick corn with a rustle and low cry of alarm, rapidly dart away in the direction of the nearest grove, disappearing in the shade, all but a white segment of a circle, formed by the tips of their tail-feathers; but on examining the spot from which they rose, I have been unable to detect any ears of corn rifled of their contents, though the ground was thickly matted with weeds, which might have furnished them food. I am informed by a young friend that he has often shot them while in the act of rising from such situations and has invariably found their crops distended with the green seed-vessels of a weed common in corn-fields, the corn-spurrey (Spérgula arvensis). This being the case, the Turtle Dove is more a friend than an enemy to the farmer, even if it sometimes regales on ripegrain or interferes with the occupation of the gleaner. It is also very partial to vetches. I have met with an instance where a Turtle Dove paid daily visits to one particular spot, under a hedge in a field, and though fired at by the owner of the field many times, under the idea that it was a rare bird, it soon returned; and when at last shot, its crop was found to be full of vetch seeds which had been accidentally spilled from a bag.
The Turtle Dove is smaller than any of the other British Doves. When flying, it seems scarcely larger than a Missel Thrush; but it is more slender in shape, and its wings are much longer. It beats its wings, too, more rapidly, and moves through the air with greater velocity. The tints of its plumage are more varied than in the other British species, but far inferior in brilliancy to many foreign ones.
The Turtle Dove so frequently kept in a cage is the Collared Turtle Dove (Columba risoria), a native of India and China. This species is distinguished by a black crescent on the back of the neck, the horns of which nearly meet in front. Turtle Doves are much kept in Germany, owing to a strange popular superstition that they are more predisposed than the human species to nervous disorders and rheumatism, and that when any of these complaints visit a house, they fall on the birds rather than on their owners.
[39]Cant. ii. 11, 12.
[40]'Nec gemere aëria cessabit Turtur ab ulmo.'—Virgil.Nor shall from lofty elm the Turtle cease to moan.
ORDER PTEROCLETES
FAMILY PTEROCLIDÆ
THE THREE-TOED SAND-GROUSE
Legs and toes feathered to the claws; no hind toe. Length sixteen to twenty inches.
This species was not known with us till 1859. Great flights visited this country in 1863, in 1888, and in 1889 when a few pair bred here.
ORDER GALLINÆ
FAMILY TETRAONIDÆ
THE CAPERCAILLIETETRÁO UROGÁLLUS
Feathers of the throat elongated, black; head and neck dusky; eyes with a bare red skin above and a white spot below; wings brown speckled with black; breast lustrous green; abdomen black with white spots; rump and flanks marked with undulating lines of black and ash colour; tail black with white spots; beak horn white; eyebrows naked, red, beneath the eye a white spot. Length thirty-six inches.Female—a third smaller, barred and spotted with tawny red, black, and white; throat tawny red, unspotted; breast deep red; tail dark red with black bars, white at the tip; bill dusky. Eggs dull yellowish white speckled with yellowish brown.
The Capercaillie, Wood Grouse, or Cock of the Woods, was a rare bird in Scotland in Pennant's time (1769), and was found only in the Highlands north of Inverness. It became extinct in the eighteenth century, but was re-introduced in 1837 in Scotland, and it is now common in firwoods there, especially in Perthshire. In the pine forests of Sweden and Norway it is still indigenous, but, being a large and beautiful bird, is much sought after, and is annually receding from the haunts of men. It is also found in some of the central countries of Europe, as Poland and the Jura mountains, where it is said to be rather common. It is not only an inhabitant of woods, but passes its time for the most part in trees, and feeds in great measure on the young shoots of the Scotch fir. In summer it adds to its dietary berries, seeds, and insects, for which it searches among bushes or on the ground, returning to the woods to roost. The male bird has obtained great celebrity for his marvellous performances when serenading the hens during the morning and evening twilight in spring. "During his play, the neck of the Capercaillie is stretched out, his tail is raised and spread like a fan, his wings droop, his feathers are ruffled up, and, in short, he much resembles in appearance an angry Turkey Cock. He begins his play with a call something resembling the wordspeller,peller,peller; these sounds he repeats at first at some little intervals, but, as he proceeds, they increase in rapidity, until, at last, and after perhaps the lapse of a moment or so, he makes a sort of gulp in his throat, and finishes by drawing in his breath. During the continuance of this latter process, which only lasts a few seconds, the head of the Capercaillie is thrown up, his eyes are partially closed, and his whole appearance would denote that he is worked up into an agony of passion." This performance, however attractive it may De to those for whose benefit it is intended, exercises a fascinationover himself which is often dangerous; for the sportsman, well acquainted with the sound, is thus guided to his perch, and, shy though the bird is at other times, is able to get near him unperceived or unheeded, and summarily closes his performances. The Capercaillie hen makes her nest upon the ground, and lays from six to twelve eggs. She is said to sit for four weeks. The young keep with her until towards the approach of winter. The size of the full-grown bird varies considerably according to the latitude in which it is found. In Lapland the male weighs about nine or ten pounds, but in the southern provinces of Sweden as much as seventeen pounds. The hen usually weighs from five to six pounds.
THE BLACK GROUSETETRÁO TÉTRIX
Throat-feathers not elongated; plumage black with violet reflections; a broad white band on the wings; secondaries tipped with white; lower tail-coverts white; tail much forked, the outer feathers curved outwards. Eyebrows naked, vermilion; beneath the eye a white spot. Length twenty-three inches.Female—smaller; head and neck rust-red barred with black; rump and tail-feathers black barred with red; belly dusky brown with red and whitish bars; tail slightly forked. Eggs dull yellow spotted and speckled with reddish brown.
The Black Grouse is a native of the northern countries of Europe and of the mountainous districts of the central part of the Continent. In the south it is unknown. Of a hardier nature than the Pheasant, and less fastidious in its dietary, it braves the most inclement seasons, and is never stinted in its supply of food. Moreover, as it rarely wanders far from its heath-clad home, it would probably, if it enjoyed the privilege of insignificance, be abundant in all the extensive waste lands of Britain. But its large size, the excellent flavour of its flesh, and the excitement of the sport which it affords all tend to keep down its numbers, so that a moor well stocked with Black Grouse is a possession not to be thought lightly of by the highest and wealthiest. The male bird is, in sporting phraseology, a Black Cock, the female a Grey Hen; and it is the etiquette of the field to shoot Cocks only, the Hens being left for breeding. The Black Cock resembles, in one of its most striking peculiarities, its near relative, the Capercaillie. 'During the spring', says Mr. St. John, 'and also in the autumn, about the time the first hoar frosts are felt, I have often watched the Black Cocks in the early morning when they collect on some rock or height, and strut and crow with their curious note, not unlike that of a Wood Pigeon. On these occasions they often have most desperate battles. I have seen five or six Black Cocks all fighting at once; and so violent and eager were they, that I approached within a few yards before they rose. Usually there seems to be a master-bird in these assemblages, whotakes up his position on the most elevated spot, crowing and strutting round and round with spread-out tail like a Turkey Cock, and his wings trailing on the ground. The hens remain quietly near him, whilst the smaller or younger male birds keep at a respectful distance, neither daring to crow, except in a subdued kind of voice, nor to approach. If they attempt the latter, the master-bird dashes at the intruder, and often a shortmeléeensues, several others joining in it, but they soon return to their former respectful distance. I have also seen an old Black Cock crowing on a birch-tree with a dozen hens below it, and the younger Cocks looking on with fear and admiration. It is at these times that numbers fall to the share of the poacher, who knows that the birds resort to the same spot every morning.'
The food of these birds is abundant in quantity, and though simple, yet partakes of an extensive assortment of flavours. Twigs of the fine-leaved heath (Erica cinerea), and heather (Calluna); buds of the willow and birch; the tender shoots of cotton-grass, sedge, and grass; and whortleberries, cranberries, and crowberries, are the principal items of their bill of fare, varied according to the season. In the months of February, March and April, they do much mischief to plantations by destroying the tender shoots of Scotch and Silver Fir. 'In searching for food, the Black Grouse frequents the lower grounds of the less-cultivated districts, not generally removing far from the shelter of woods or thickets, to which it betakes itself as occasion requires. It sometimes makes an excursion into the stubble-fields in search of the seeds of cereal plants, and in summer and autumn includes those of the grasses and rushes. While thus employed, it walks and runs among the herbage with considerable agility, and, when apprehensive of danger, flies off to a sheltered place, or settles down and remains motionless until the intruder passes by. It perches adroitly, and walks securely on the branches; but its ordinary station is on the ground, where also it reposes at night. It may often, especially in spring, be seen on the turf-top of the low walls inclosing plantations. Its flight is heavy, direct, and of moderate velocity, and is capable of being protracted to a great distance.'[41]
The Grey Hen constructs a rude nest of withered grass and a few twigs in the shelter of some low bush, and lays from five to ten eggs. The male bird takes no part in the bringing up of the brood, but leaves the duties of incubation and attention to the wants of his family to the hen, who devotes herself wholly to the careful nurture of her little ones. While the poults are in their nonage, she assiduously leads them about where food is most abundant; and if surprised by an intruder, leaves them to hide among the heath and ferns, creeps rapidly herself to some distance, and then rises in a fluttering manner, so that a stranger to her habits would supposeher to be wounded. By August 20, the young are supposed to be fully fledged, and the sportsman is expected not only to show his skill as a marksman, but his quickness of eye in discriminating between males and females as the covey rises. The former are to be distinguished by their richer colouring, and by the more strongly marked white on the wings. At this season the old Black Cocks club together.
The Black Cock is found in greater or less quantities in the moorland districts of many of the English counties, but is most abundant in the north of England and Wales, and in Scotland.
[41]Macgillivray.
THE RED GROUSELAGÓPUS SCÓTICUS
Plumage chestnut brown, marked on the back with black spots and beneath with black lines; a fringe of small white feathers round the eyes, and a white spot at the base of the lower mandible; a crimson fringed band above the eyes; some of the feathers of the abdomen tipped with white; tail of sixteen feathers, the four middle ones chestnut with black bars, the rest dusky; feet and toes covered thickly with grey hair-like feathers.Female—the red eye-lid less conspicuous; colours not so dark and tinged with reddish yellow, the black spots and lines more numerous. Length sixteen inches. Eggs reddish ash colour, nearly covered with blotches and spots of deep red-brown.
The diminution of the number of Pheasants in France, owing to a relaxation of the efforts formerly made to protect them, and the abundance of the same birds, in those parts of England where unceasing care is taken of them in severe or protracted winters, tend to prove the great difficulty of preserving a foreign bird in a country which is not in every respect adapted to its habits and constitution. On the other hand, the undiminished abundance of Red Grouse in Great Britain, in spite of the absence of all artificial protection, and notwithstanding the vast quantity which annually fall a prey to vermin, poachers, and sportsmen, proves as satisfactorily that where a bird has become abundant, in a country in all respects suited to its constitution and producing an inexhaustible supply of its natural food, it is impossible to extirpate it. If we ever had occasion to adopt a bird as a national emblem, the choice might for one reason fall on the Red Grouse. It is a native of the British Isles, and is found in no other country. On the moors of Scotland, the hilly parts of the north of England, the mountains of Wales, and the wastes of Ireland, it is as wild and free as the Gull on the sea-cliff. It frequents extensive heaths where man could not protect it if he would, and finds no stint of food where few living things can exist but insects and some of the larger rapacious animals which make it their special prey. Eagles, Falcons, Buzzards, Crows, Foxes, Martins, and Polecats, all wage against it incessant war; itis wholly without armour, offensive or defensive; yet its numbers are undiminished. And we may confidently say that, as long as there are large tracts of land in Great Britain unreclaimed, there will be Grouse.
Red Grouse must, occasionally, fall in the way of the wanderer over the Scottish moors, whatever may be the object of his rambles; but a sportsman alone is privileged to make the bird his study at all seasons. My sketch, therefore, of the Grouse is to be considered as taken, not from the limited observation which I have been enabled to make, when I have chanced to start a bird on the hills of Westmoreland or the Highlands, but to be compiled from the notes of others who have had more ample means of observing its habits.
"The Brown Ptarmigan, generally known by the name of Red Grouse, as compared with the Black Grouse, is met with in Scotland on all kinds of surface, provided it be covered with heath, whetherCalluna vulgaris(Ling) orErica cinerea(Common Purple Heath), from the level of the sea to the height of about two thousand feet. The low sandy heaths of the eastern counties of the middle division appear to be less favourable to it than the more moist peaty tracts of the western and northern districts, where the shrubs on which it feeds attain a great size."
Its food appears to be much the same as that of the Black Grouse, to which it is similar in many of its habits; but it never perches on trees. It has, moreover, a decided predilection for the national grain of Scotland. Hence the cultivation of small tracts of land with oats in the neighbourhood of moors where it abounds is an unprofitable labour.
Its name,Lagópus(Hare-footed), is equally appropriate as descriptive of its thickly-clothed foot and its fleetness as a runner; by some French ornithologists it is enumerated amongVelocipedes, for the latter reason. On ordinary occasions it does not fly much, but keeps concealed among the heath, seldom choosing to rise unless its enemy comes very near. Red Grouse pair early in the season, and build their nests generally on the borders between heath and lea ground, with a view to providing their young with an open nursery-ground, on which to learn the use of their legs, as well as a safe retreat on the approach of danger. The nest is loosely constructed of straws and twigs which may chance to lie about near the selected spot. The number of eggs is usually eight to ten; the hen sits very closely, allowing the shepherd almost to trample on her before she springs. The period of hatching is a perilous one for the chicks, for, as they break the shell, they utter a small but shrill chirp—a certain signal to some watchful Hooded Crow that a prey is at hand; he traces up the sound, drives the mother from her nest, and destroys the whole brood.
Once fairly hatched, the danger decreases; the young birds, while still quite small, show great readiness in concealing themselves.When disturbed they separate in all directions, crouch on the ground, squeeze between objects that seem to defy all passage, work their way through the cover, or, if they fancy that an eye is fixed on them, lie as motionless as stones. When so far grown as to be able to fly, they still prefer the shelter afforded by the cover; but if hard pressed the old cock usually rises first, with a cry which some compare to the quack of a Duck. The hen and young birds show no hurry in following his example, but take wing singly, and at unequal intervals—not like Partridges, which always rise in a covey. This is the period when they afford the easiest shot to the sportsman, who often puts them up almost beneath his feet, or under the very nose of his dogs. Later in the season a great change takes place, and this, it is said, whether the birds have been much harassed or not. Become cautious and wild, they no longer trust to concealment or swiftness of foot, but, discovering from a great distance the approach of danger, they rise most frequently out of shot, so that it requires skill and patience to get near them. A slight and early snow sometimes makes it more easy to approach them, at least for a few hours; but ordinarily, not even extreme cold, or a covering of snow a foot thick, appears to tame them at all. Under such circumstances, they collect in enormous 'packs', and betake themselves to some particular part of the moor from which the snow has been more or less drifted. These packs keep together during winter, and at the beginning of spring separate and pair, not, however, without some previous altercations; but these are soon over, and they lose much of their shyness, venturing close to the roads, and being little disturbed by the passage of the traveller.
THE PTARMIGANLAGOPUS MÚTUS
Winter plumage—pure white, a black line from the angle of the beak through the eye; outer tail-feathers black; above the eyes a scarlet fringed membrane; bill and claws black; tarsi and toes thickly clothed with woolly feathers.Female—without the black line through the eyes.Summer plumage—wings, under tail-coverts, two middle tail-feathers, and legs white; outer tail-feathers black, some of them tipped with white; rest of plumage ash-brown, marked with black lines and dusky spots. Length fifteen inches. Eggs reddish yellow, spotted and speckled with deep reddish brown.
This beautiful bird is the Schneehuhn, 'Snow-chick', of the Germans, the White Partridge of the Alps and Pyrenees, and the GaelicTarmachan. Whilst most birds shrink from cold, the Ptarmigan, on the contrary, seems to revel in it, and to fear nothing so much as the beams of the sun. Not even when the valleys rejoice in the livery of spring does it desert the snowy regions altogether, and, when the mist-wreaths clear away, it avoids the rays of the sun byseeking the shady sides of the mountains. Only when the northern regions or lofty mountains are so thickly covered with snow as to threaten it with starvation does it repair to districts where the cold is somewhat mitigated, but never lower into the valleys than where it may quench its thirst with snow. 'The male bird', says a field naturalist, 'has been seen, during a snow-storm in Norway, to perch himself on a rock which overtopped the rest, and to sit there for some time as if enjoying the cold wind and sleet, which was drifting in his face; just as one might have done on a sultry summer's day on the top of the Wiltshire downs, when a cool air was stirring there.'[42]The same writer observes: 'I have generally found the Ptarmigan concealed among the grey, lichen-coloured rocks on the summits of the fjelds, and so closely do they resemble these rocks in colour that I could scarcely ever see them on the ground; and sometimes when the practised eye of my guide found them, and he would point out the exact spot, it was not until after a long scrutiny that I could distinguish the bird within a dozen yards of me. Frequently we would find them on the snow itself, and many a time has a large circular depression in the snow been pointed out to me, where the Ptarmigan has been lying and pluming himself in his chilly bed. He is a noble bird, free as air, and for the most part uninterrupted in his wide domain; he can range over the enormous tracts of fjeld, seldom roused by a human step, and still more seldom hunted by man. When the winter clothes his dwelling in a garb of snow, he arrays himself in the purest and most beautiful white; when the summer sun melts away the snow, and the grey rocks appear, he, too, puts on his coloured dress, and assimilates himself once more to his beloved rocks. But the young Ptarmigans are my especial favourites: I have caught them of all ages; some apparently just emerged from the egg, others some weeks older; they are remarkably pretty little birds, with their short black beaks and their feathered toes; and so quickly do they run, and so nimble and active are they in escaping from you, that they are soon beneath some projecting stone, far beyond the reach of your arm, where you hear them chirping and calling out in defiance and derision. The call of the old Ptarmigan is singularly loud and hoarse; it is a prolonged grating, harsh note, and may be heard at a great distance.' This has been compared to the scream of the Missel Thrush; but Macgillivray says it seems to him more like the croak of a frog.
Ptarmigans pair early in spring, and build their nest of grass, bents and twigs in a slight hollow behind a stone or bush, and lay from seven to twelve eggs. The young are able to run about as soon as they are hatched, and, as we have seen, are most expert and nimble in concealing themselves. The hen bird when surprised with her young brood counterfeits lameness, and runs about ingreat anxiety, as if wishing to draw attention from her chicks to herself. Their food consists of the fresh green twigs of heath and other mountain plants, seeds, and berries. While feeding they run about, and are shy in taking flight even when they have acquired the use of their wings, but crouch on the approach of danger, and remain motionless and silent. When at length they do rise, they fly off in a loose party, and mostly in a direct line, for a distant part of the mountain, the movement of their wings resembling that of the Grouse, but being lighter in character. Early in the season, a long time before Grouse, the coveys of Ptarmigans unite and form large packs, and it is while thus congregated that they perform their partial migrations from the high grounds to what they consider a milder climate, the Norwegian valleys. There, while the ground is covered thickly with snow, they, to a certain extent, modify their habits, and perch on trees, sometimes in such numbers that the branches seem to be altogether clothed in white. It does not appear that any of these flocks make long journeys or cross the sea. In Scotland they are no more numerous in winter than in summer, nor have they been observed to take refuge in the woods. In the comparatively mild temperature of Scotland there occurs no lengthened period during which they cannot find their simple food somewhere in the open country; they consequently do not leave the moors, but only descend lower.
The Ptarmigan is neither so abundant nor so generally diffused in Scotland as the Grouse. It is resident on high mountains. It is said to have existed at one time in the north of England and in Wales; if so, it has totally disappeared, nor is it known in Ireland.
[42]Rev. A. C. Smith, in theZoologist, vol. viii. p. 2977.
FAMILY PHASIANIDÆ
THE PHEASANTPHASIÁNUS COLCHICUS
Head and neck glossy, with metallic reflections of green, blue, and purple; sides of the head bare, scarlet, minutely speckled with black; general plumage spotted and banded with orange-red, purple, brown, yellow, green, and black, either positive or reflected; tail very long, of eighteen feathers, the middle ones longest.Female—light brown, marked with dusky; sides of the head feathered; tail much shorter. Length three feet. Eggs olive-brown.
This climate suits the Pheasant pretty well, and at most seasons of the year it finds abundance of food; but in hard winters the supply diminishes, or fails altogether; and were not food specially scattered about for it in its haunts, it would either die off from beingunable to withstand cold and hunger together, or become so weak that it would fall a prey to the smaller rapacious animals, who are not a match for it when it is strong and active. A healthy cock Pheasant has been known to beat off a cat; a sickly one would be unable to compete with a Magpie or Jay. It is, in fact, an exotic running wild, and enabled to do so only by the care of those who help it to surmount the inconveniences of a life spent in a foreign land.
The Pheasant is said to have been brought originally from Colchis, a country on the shores of the Black Sea, and to have derived its name from the river Phasis, the famous scene of the expedition of the Argonauts, bearing date about 1200 years before Christ. From this epoch it is said to have been known to the Athenians, who endeavoured to acclimatize it for the sake of its beauty as well as the delicacy of its flesh. The Romans received it from the Greeks; but it was little known, except by name, in Germany, France, and England, until the Crusades. The custom was then introduced from Constantinople of sending it to table decorated with its tail feathers and head, as a dish for kings and emperors—a special honour until that time confined to the Peacock. Willughby, in the seventeenth century, says of it that, from its rarity, delicacy of flavour, and great tenderness, it seems to have been created for the tables of the wealthy. He tells us, too, that the flesh of Pheasants caught by hawking is of a higher flavour, and yet more delicate than when they are taken by snares or any other method.
The kings of France greatly encouraged the naturalization of the Pheasants in the royal forests, both as an object of sport and as an acquisition to the festive board, and were imitated by the nobles and superior clergy. In the fourteenth century, all the royal forests, the parks of Berry and the Loire, all the woods and vineyards of the rich abbeys, were peopled with Pheasants. The male bird was protected by the title of 'Royal game of the first class', and the killing of a hen was forbidden under the severest penalties. During the period between the reigns of Henry IV and Louis XVI its estimation increased. During the revolution royal edicts were little heeded. Pheasants, no less than their owners, forfeited their dignity, which, however, rose again somewhat under the empire. Waterloo, and succeeding events, brought desolation to the Pheasantries as well as to the deer-parks of France; and now the royal bird, French authors tell us, is likely to disappear from the country. Already, the space which it occupies is reduced to a thirtieth part of the national territory. The centre of this privileged province is Paris; its radius is not more than five-and-twenty leagues, and is decreasing every year. Pheasants have disappeared from the districts of the Garonne and Rhone, while in Touraine and Berry a few only are to be found in walled parks.
Plate_43
Plate_44
If the Pheasant should ever, in this country, lose the protection of the Game Laws, it will probably dwindle away in like manner. Under existing circumstances, it offers an inducement to poaching too tempting to be resisted. Gamekeepers engage in more affrays with poachers of Pheasants than of all the other game birds taken collectively; and if the offence of destroying them were made less penal than it is at present, they would doubtless diminish rapidly. Next to Wood Pigeons, they are said to be the most destructive of all British birds; so that farmers would gladly do their utmost to exterminate them; their large size and steady onward flight combine to make them an 'easy shot' for the veriest tyro in gunnery, while the estimation in which they are held for the table would always secure for them a value in the market.
The places best adapted for Pheasants are thick woods in the neighbourhood of water, where there is abundance of shelter on the ground, in the shape of furze-bushes, brambles, tall weeds, rushes, or tussock grass; for they pass their lives almost exclusively on the ground, even roosting there, except in winter, when they fly up in the evening, and perch on the lower boughs of middling-sized trees. In April or May, the female bird scratches for herself a shallow hole in the ground under the shelter of some bushes or long grass, and lays from ten to fourteen eggs; but not unfrequently she allows might to prevail over right, and appropriates both the nest and eggs belonging to some evicted Partridge. The situation of the nests is generally known to the keepers, and all that are considered safe are left to be attended to by the owner. Such, however, as are exposed to the depredations of vermin or poachers are more frequently taken, and the eggs are placed under a domestic hen.
Pheasant chicks are able to run about and pick up their own food soon after they have escaped from the egg. This consists of grain, seeds, an enormous quantity of wireworms, small insects, especially ants and their eggs, and green herbage. When full grown, they add to this diet beans, peas, acorns, beech-mast, and the tuberous roots of several wild plants. A strip of buck-wheat, of which they are very fond, is sometimes sown for their special benefit along the skirt of a plantation. In seasons of scarcity they will enter the farmyard, and either quietly feed with the poultry, or, less frequently, do battle with the cocks for the sovereignty. A story is told, in theZoologist, of a male Pheasant, which drove from their perch, and killed in succession, three fine cocks. The proprietor, with a view to prevent further loss, furnished a fourth cock with a pair of steel spurs. Armed with these, the lawful occupant was more than a match for the aggressor, who, next morning, was found lying dead on the ground beneath the perch. Another has been known to beat off a cat; and a third was in the habit of attacking a labouring man. The female is a timid, unoffending bird, as peaceful in her demeanour as quiet in her garb. The tints of her plumage, far less gaudy than in the male, are a protection to her in the nesting season,as being less likely to attract the notice either of poachers or vermin. Indeed, were she always to lie close, her nest would not be easily discovered, for the colour of her feathers so closely resembles that of withered leaves, that she is, when sitting, less conspicuous than her uncovered eggs would be.
Common Pheasants are occasionally found having a large portion, or even the whole, of their plumage white. These, though highly ornamental when mixed with the common sort, are not prized, owing to their being a more conspicuous mark for poachers. The 'Ringed Pheasant' occasionally shot in English preserves is not, as some maintain, a distinct species; it differs from the typical form of the bird only in that the neck is partially surrounded by a narrow white collar passing from the back of the neck to the sides, but not meeting in front.