Plate_55Plate_56THE GREENSHANKTÓTANUS CANESCENSBill strong, compressed at the base, slightly curved upwards.Winter—forehead, all the lower parts, and lower back, white; head, cheeks, neck and sides of the breast, streaked with ash-brown and white; rest of the upper feathers mottled with dusky and yellowish white; tail white, middle feathers barred with brown, outer white with a narrow dusky streak on the outer web; bill ash-brown; legs yellowish green, long and slender.Summer—feathers of the back edged with white, breast and adjacent parts white, with oval black spots; middle tail-feathers ash, barred with brown. Length fourteen inches. Eggs olive-brown, spotted all over with dusky.An unusual colour and disproportionate length of leg are characters which sufficiently distinguish the Greenshank and account for its name. It is far less common than the Redshank, but seems to resemble it in many of its habits. It is sociably disposed towards birds of its own kind and allied species, but utterly averse to any familiarity with man, insomuch that fowlers rarely come within shot of it. It frequents low muddy or sandy shores and brackish pools, the oozy banks of lakes, ponds, and rivers, preferring such open situations as allow it a clear view of threatening danger while there is plenty of time to decamp. In the course of feeding it wades unconcernedlythrough pools of shallow water, and, if so minded, hesitates neither to swim nor to dive.Its visits to England are paid most commonly in spring and autumn, while it is on its way to and from the northern climates in which it breeds. 'In Scotland it is seen', says Macgillivray, 'in small flocks here and there along the sea-shore, by the margins of rivers, and in marshy places breeding there in the north, but it is nowhere common, and in most districts of very rare occurrence. By the beginning of summer it has disappeared from its winter haunts, and advanced northwards; individuals or pairs remaining here and there in the more northern parts of Scotland, while the rest extend their migration.' The same author describes a nest, which he found in the island of Harris, as very like those of the Golden and Lapwing Plovers, with four eggs, intermediate in size between the eggs of these two birds. Another nest was also found by Selby, in Sutherlandshire. There can be therefore no doubt that the north of Scotland is within the extreme southern limit of its breeding-ground. During the winter it is to be seen in the west of Ireland only.THE BAR-TAILED GODWITLIMÓSA LAPPONICABeak slightly curved upwards; middle claw short, without serratures.Winter-upper plumage variously mottled with grey, dusky, and reddish ash; lower part of the back white, with dusky spots; tail barred with reddish white and dusky; lower parts white.Summer—all the plumage deeply tinged with red.Young birdshave the throat and breast brownish white, streaked with dusky, and a few dusky lines on the flanks. Length sixteen inches. Eggs unknown.On the coast of Norfolk, where I made my first acquaintance with this bird in the fresh state, it is called a Half-Curlew. In like manner, a Wigeon is called a Half-Duck. In either case the reason for giving the name is, that the smaller bird possesses half the market value of the larger. It resembles the Curlew in its flight and the colour of its plumage; but differs in having its long beak slightly curved upwards, while that of the Curlew is strongly arched downwards; and it is far less wary, allowing itself to be approached so closely that it falls an easy prey to the fowler. It appears to be most frequently met with in spring and autumn, when it visits many parts of the coast in small flocks. In Norfolk it is met with from May, the twelfth of that month being called 'Godwit day,' by the gunners, although it is almost unknown up north at that season.The specimens which were brought to me were shot in the very severe weather which ushered in the year 1861. These birds have nowhere been observed in England later than the beginning ofsummer, from which fact the inference is fairly drawn that they do not breed in this country. Their habits differ in no material respects from the other sea-side Waders, with whom they frequently mingle while feeding, not, seemingly, for the sake of good fellowship, but attracted by a motive common to all, that of picking up food wherever an abundance is to be met with. Their note is a loud, shrill cry, often uttered while on the wing. The female is much larger than the male.This bird is sometimes called the Sea Woodcock. Its flesh is good eating, but is far inferior in flavour to that of the true Woodcock.THE BLACK-TAILED GODWITLIMÓSA BELGICABeak nearly straight; middle claw long and serrated; upper parts ash-brown, the shafts of the feathers somewhat deeper; breast and adjacent parts greyish white; tail black, the base, and the tips of the two middle feathers, white; beak orange at the base, black at the point; feet dusky.Summer—much of the plumage tinged with red. Length seventeen and a half inches. Eggs deep olive, spotted with light brown.This bird is, in outward appearance, mainly distinguished from the preceding by having two-thirds of the tail black, instead of being barred throughout with white and black. Like its congener, it is most frequently seen in autumn and spring, while on the way to and from its breeding-ground in the north; but it does not stay with us through winter, though occasionally a few pairs used to remain in the fen-countries to breed. It is by far the less common of the two, and seems to be getting annually more and more rare. Its habits, as far as they have been observed, approach those of the other Scolopacidæ. In its flight it resembles the Redshank. Its note is a wild screaming whistle, which it utters while on the wing. It builds its nest in swamps, among rushes and sedges, simply collecting a few grasses and roots into any convenient hole, and there it lays four eggs.THE COMMON CURLEWNUMENIUS ARQUATAGeneral plumage reddish ash, mottled with dusky spots; belly white, with longitudinal dusky spots; feathers of the back and scapulars black, bordered with rust-red; tail white, with dark brown transverse bars; upper mandible dusky; lower, flesh-colour; irides brown; feet bluish grey. Length varying from twenty-two to twenty-eight inches. Eggs olive-green, blotched and spotted with brown and dark green.Dwellers by the sea-side—especially where the tide retires to a great distance leaving a wide expanse of muddy sand, or on thebanks of a tidal river where the receding water lays bare extensive banks of soft ooze—are most probably quite familiar with the note of the Curlew, however ignorant they may be of the form or name of the bird from which it proceeds. A loud whistle of two syllables, which may be heard for more than a mile, bearing a not over-fanciful resemblance to the name of the bird, answered by a similar cry, mellowed by distance into a pleasant sound—wild, but in perfect harmony with the character of the scene—announces the fact that a party of Curlews have discovered that the ebb-tide is well advanced, and that their feeding-ground is uncovered. The stroller, if quietly disposed, may chance to get a sight of the birds themselves as they arrive in small flocks from the inland meadows; and though they will probably be too cautious to venture within an unsafe distance, they will most likely come quite close enough to be discriminated. Not the merest novice could mistake them for Gulls; for not only is their flight of a different character, but the bill, which is thick enough to be distinguished at a considerable distance, is disproportionately long, and is curved to a remarkable degree. Curlews are in the habit of selecting as their feeding-ground those portions of the shore which most abound in worms and small crustaceous animals; these they either pick up and, as it were, coax from the tip to the base of the beak, or, thrusting their long bills into the mud, draw out the worms, which they dispose of in like manner. When the sands or ooze are covered, they withdraw from the shore, and either retire to the adjoining marshes or pools, or pace about the meadows, picking up worms, snails, and insects. Hay-fields, before the grass is cut, are favourite resorts, especially in the North; and, in districts where there are meadows adjoining an estuary, they are in the habit of changing the one for the other at every ebb and flow of the tide. From the middle of autumn till the early spring Curlews are, for the most part, sea-side birds, frequenting, more or less, all the coast; but at the approach of the breeding season they repair inland, and resort to heaths, damp meadows, and barren hills. Here a shallow nest is made on the ground, composed of bents, rushes, and twigs of heath, loosely put together. The eggs, which are very large, are four in number. During the period of incubation the male keeps about the neighbourhood, but is scarcely less wary than at other seasons. The female, if disturbed, endeavours to lure away the intruder from her dwelling by the artifice, common in the tribe, of pretending to be disabled; and great anxiety is shown by both male and female if any one approaches the spot where the young lie concealed. The latter are able to run almost immediately after they are hatched, but some weeks elapse before they are fledged. It seems probable that an unusually long time elapses before they attain their full size, for the dimensions of different individuals vary toa remarkable degree. Eight or nine specimens were brought to me in Norfolk in the winter of 1861, and among them about half seemed full-grown; of the others some were so small that, at the first glance, I supposed them to be Whimbrels.The Curlew is found on the sea-coast over the whole of Europe and Asia, and along the northern coast of Africa.The flesh of this bird is said by some to be excellent eating. This, perhaps, may be the case with young birds shot early in autumn before they have been long subjected to a marine diet. My own experience of birds shot in winter does not confirm this opinion. I have found them eatable, but not palatable.THE WHIMBRELNUMENIUS PHÆOPUSGeneral plumage pale ash-colour, mottled with white and dusky spots; crown divided by a longitudinal streak of yellowish white; over each eye a broader brown streak; belly and abdomen white, with a few dusky spots on the flanks; feathers on the back, and scapulars deep brown, in the middle bordered by lighter brown; rump white; tail ash-brown, barred obliquely with dark brown; bill dusky, reddish at the base; irides brown; feet lead-colour. Length not exceeding seventeen inches. Eggs dark olive-brown, blotched with dusky.Though by no means a rare bird, the Whimbrel is of far less common occurrence than the Curlew, and is seen only at two periods of the year, in May and August, when performing its migrations. It resembles the Curlew both in figure and habits, though much smaller in size; its note, too, is like the whistle of that bird, but somewhat higher. It is gregarious, but unsociable with other birds. The extreme southern limit at which the Whimbrel breeds is considered to be the Orkney and Shetland Islands. It is known to visit most of the countries of Europe and Asia in spring and autumn, but is nowhere very abundant.ORDER GAVIÆFAMILY LARIDÆSub-FamilySTERNINÆTHE BLACK TERNHYDROCHELIDON NIGRABill black; feet purple-brown, the membrane short; head and neck black; upper parts lead-colour; under parts dark ash-grey; under tail-coverts white; tail not much forked, shorter than the wings; irides brown. Inwinter, the lore, throat and breast are white. Length ten and a quarter inches. Eggs dark olive-brown, blotched and spotted with black.The Black Tern is a common bird in most temperate countrieswhich abound in extensive marshes. In its habits it is scarcely less aquatic than the preceding species, but differs from them all in preferring fresh water to salt. It was formerly of frequent occurrence in England; but draining and reclaiming have, within the last few years, given over many of its haunts to the Partridge and Wood Pigeon; and it is now but rarely known to breed in this country.[50]A few, however, are not unfrequently seen in spring and autumn, when on their way from and to their winter quarters, which are the warmer regions of the globe. In Norfolk its name still lingers as the 'Blue Darr', a corruption, probably, of Dorr-Hawk (another name of the Nightjar), a bird which it closely resembles in its mode of flight. Like the Dorr-Hawk, the Black Tern feeds on beetles and other insects, which it catches on the wing, but adds to its dietary small fresh-water fish, which it catches by dipping for them. While in pursuit of its winged prey, it does not confine itself to the water, but skims over the marsh and adjoining meadows, sometimes even alighting for an instant to pick up a worm. Black Terns are sociable birds among themselves, but do not consort with other species. They lay their eggs in the most inaccessible swamps, on masses of decayed reeds and flags, but little elevated above the level of the water. The nests are merely depressions in the lumps of vegetable substance, and usually contain three or sometimes four eggs. They are placed near enough to each other to form colonies; and the birds continue to flock together during their absence in warmer climates. Large flocks have been seen in the Atlantic, midway between Europe and America. In Holland and Hungary they are said by Temminck to be numerous. This author states that the Black Tern commonly lays its eggs on the leaves of the water-lily.[50]The Rev. R. Lubbock states in hisFauna of Norfolk, 1845, that it has ceased to breed regularly in Norfolk, but that eggs had been recently obtained at Crowland Wash in Lincolnshire.THE SANDWICH TERNSTERNA CANTIACABill long, black, the tip yellowish; tarsus short (one inch); tail long; head and crest as in the last; nape, upper part of the back, and all the lower parts brilliant white, tinged on the breast with rose; back and wings pale ash-grey; quills deeper grey; tail white; feet black, yellowish beneath.Young birds—head mottled with black and white; back, wing-coverts, and tail-feathers varied with irregular lines of black; bill and feet dark brown. Length eighteen inches. Eggs greyish green, blotched with brown and black.The Sandwich Tern, which takes its name from the place where it was first seen in England, is not uncommon on many parts of the coast during the summer months. In some places it seems to beabundant. A large colony inhabits the Farne Islands. They breed as far north as the Findhorn. Upon this coast it is calledpar excellence'The Tern', all the other species passing under the general name of 'Sea Swallows'. Its habits are so like those of the Common Tern, to be described hereafter, that, to avoid repetition, I purposely omit all account of its mode of fishing, and content myself with quoting, on the authority of Audubon and Meyer, incidents in its biography which I have not noticed in the Common Tern. The former author says: 'Its cries are sharp, grating, and loud enough to be heard at the distance of half a mile. They are repeated at intervals while it is travelling, and kept up incessantly when one intrudes upon it in its breeding-ground, on which occasion it sails and dashes over your head, chiding you with angry notes, more disagreeable than pleasant to your ear.' Meyer, writing of the same bird, says: 'The Sandwich Tern is observed to be particularly fond of settling on sunken rocks where the waves run high, and the surf is heavy: this being a peculiar fancy belonging to this species, it is sometimes called by the name of Surf Tern.'THE ROSEATE TERNSTERNA DOUGALLIBill black, red at the base; feet orange, claws small, black; tarsus three-quarters of an inch long; tail much forked, much longer than the wings; upper part of the head and nape black; rest of the upper plumage pale ash-grey; tail white, the outer feathers very long and pointed; cheeks and under plumage white, tinged on the breast and belly with rose. Length fifteen to seventeen inches. Eggs yellowish stone-colour, spotted and speckled with ash-grey and brown.Of this Tern Dr. M'Dougall, its discoverer, says, 'It is of light and very elegant figure, differing from the Common Tern in the size, length, colour, and curvature of the bill; in the comparative shortness of the wing in proportion to the tail, in the purity of the whiteness of the tail, and the peculiar conformation and extraordinary length of the lateral feathers. It also differs from that bird in the hazel-colour and size of the legs and feet.'Roseate Terns have been discovered on several parts of the coast, principally in the north, as in the mouth of the Clyde, Lancashire and the Farne Islands. They associate with the Common Terns, but are far less numerous. Selby says, 'the old birds are easily recognized amidst hundreds of the other species by their peculiar and buoyant flight, long tail, and note, which may be expressed by the wordcrake, uttered in a hoarse grating key.' They rarely nest in Great Britain.THE ARCTIC TERNSTERNA MACRURABill slender, red throughout; under plumage ash-grey; tail much forked, longer than the wings; legs orange-red, in other respects very like the last. Length fifteen inches. Eggs as in the last.This bird, as its name indicates, frequents high northern latitudes, to which, however, it is not confined; since in the Orkneys and Hebrides it is the common species. It breeds also on the coast of some of the northern English counties, but not farther south than the Humber, though several instances are recorded of large flocks making their appearance in different places at the season when they were probably on their way from their winter quarters—far away to the south—to their breeding-ground. In the rocky islands, which they frequent from May to September, they form colonies and lay their eggs, generally apart from the allied species. The eggs closely resemble those of the Common Tern, but are somewhat smaller. In its habits and general appearance the Arctic Tern comes so close to the last-named species, that the birds, even when flying together, can only be distinguished by the most practised eye.Plate_57Plate_58THE COMMON TERNSTERNA FLUVIÁTILISBill moderate, red with a black tip; head and long feathers on the back of the head black; upper parts bluish ash; quills ash-grey, brown at the tips; tail much forked, not longer than the wings, white, the two outer feathers on each side dusky on the outer webs; under parts white, tinged with grey on the breast; irides reddish brown; feet coral-red.Young birdshave a good deal of white about the head, and the feathers on the back are tipped with white; tail ash-grey, whitish at the tip. Length fourteen inches. Eggs olive-brown, blotched and spotted with ash and dusky.On those parts of the coast where the Common Tern is abundant, no sea-bird is more likely to attract the notice of the visitor than the Common Tern. It is less in size than any of the common species of Gull, with which, however, it is often confounded by the unobservant. It is more lively and active in its motions, not ordinarily flying in circles, but, if I may use the expression, 'rambling' through the air, frequently diverging to the right or left, and raising or depressing itself at frequent intervals. These characters alone are sufficient to distinguish the Tern from any of the Gulls; but it presents yet more striking features. Its tail is elongated and forked like that of the Swallow, and from this character rather than from its flight it is commonly known as the Sea Swallow. Its mode of taking its prey is totally different from that of the Gulls. Very frequently a single Tern may be observed pursuing its course in a line with the breakers on a sandy shore at the distance perhaps of from fifty to a hundred yards from the beach. Its beak is pointed downwards, and the bird is evidently on the look-out for prey. Suddenly it descends perpendicularly into the water, making a perceptible splash, but scarcely disappearing. In an instant it has recovered the use of its wings and ascends again, swallowing some small fish meanwhile if it has been successful, but in any case continuing its course as before. I do not recollect ever to have seen a Tern sit on the water to devour its prey when fishing among the breakers. Often, too, as one is walking along the shore, or sailing in a boat, when the sea is calm, a cruising party of Terns comes in sight. Their flight now is less direct than in the instance just mentioned, as they 'beat' the fishing-ground after the fashion of spaniels, still, however, making way ahead. Suddenly one of the party arrests its flight, hovers for a few seconds like a Hawk, and descends as if shot, making a splash as before. If unsuccessful it rises at once, but if it has captured the object on which it swooped, it remains floating on the water until it has relieved itself of its incumbrance by the summary process of swallowing it. I do not know a prettier sight than a party of Terns thus occupied. They are by no means shy, frequently flying quite over the boat, and uttering from time to time a short scream, which, though not melodious, is more in keeping with the scene than a mellow song would be.In rough weather they repair to sheltered bays, ascend estuaries, or follow the course of a river until they have advanced far inland. They are harbingers of summer quite as much as the Swallow itself, coming to us in May and leaving in September for some warmer coast. They usually breed on flat shores, laying two or three eggs on the ground, in marshes, or on sandy shingle. The eggs in my collection were procured on the coast of Norfolk, but I have seen the birds themselves in the greatest numbers in Belfast Lough and in Loch Crinan. They have bred as far north as Sutherland.THE LITTLE (OR LESSER) TERNSTERNA MINUTABill orange, with a black tip; feet orange; forehead, and a streak above the eye, white; crown black; upper parts pearl-grey; under, white; tail much forked, shorter than the wings.Young birdshave the head brownish, with darker streaks; upper plumage yellowish white and dusky; bill pale yellow, with a dark tip; legs dull yellow. Length eight and a half inches. Eggs stone-colour, spotted and speckled with grey and brown.On the sandy and marshy shores of Norfolk, the Lesser Tern is a bird of common occurrence in summer, either single, or in smallparties of three or four. Not unfrequently, as the sea-side visitor is sauntering about on the sands, one of these birds seems to take offence at its dominion being invaded. With repeated harsh cries it flies round and round the intruder, coming quite close enough to allow its black head and yellow beak to be distinguished. Its flight is swift, something like that of a Swallow, but more laboured, and not so rapid. If fired at, it takes little notice of the noise; and, knowing nothing of the danger, continues its screams[51]and circling till its pertinacity becomes annoying. When feeding it presents a far pleasanter appearance. Then, altogether heedless of intrusion, it skims along the surface of the drains in the marshes, profiting by its length of wing and facility of wheeling, to capture flying insects. At least, if this be not its object, I can in no other way account for the peculiar character of its flight. At other times, either alone or in company with a few other individuals of the same species, it is seen flying slowly along, some fifteen or twenty feet above the surface of a shallow tidal pool, or pond, in a salt marsh. Suddenly it arrests its onward progress, soars like a Kestrel for a second or two, with its beak pointed downwards. It has descried a shrimp, or small fish, and this is its way of taking aim. Employing the mechanism with which its Creator has provided it, it throws out of gear its apparatus of feathers and air-tubes, and falls like a plummet into the water, with a splash which sends circle after circle to the shore; and, in an instant, having captured and swallowed its petty booty, returns to its aërial watch-post. A social little party of three or four birds, who have thus taken possession of a pond, will remain fishing as long as the tide is high enough to keep it full. They take little notice of passengers; and if startled by the report of a gun, remove to a short distance only, and there resume their occupation. Sometimes they may be seen floating about in the open sea, resting their wings, perhaps, after a long flight, or simply idling, certainly not fishing; for although they plunge from a height, with great ease and elegance, diving proper is not one of their accomplishments.To the stranger who visits the coast of Norfolk, the Lesser Tern will, perhaps, be pointed out under the name of 'Sea Swallow', or, more probably, as a 'Shrimp Catcher'. Either of these names is appropriate. Its mode of progress through the air is morelike a Swallow's than that of the Common Tern, and in size it does not so very much exceed the Swift as to make the comparison outrageous. A shrimp it can undoubtedly catch; and it exercises its vocation in shallow water, such as shrimps alone inhabit or small fish no larger than shrimps.Like the other Terns it is migratory, repairing year after year to low flat shores on various parts of the coast, arriving in May, and departing in September for some climate subject to no cold severe enough to banish small marine animals to deep water. The Lesser Tern makes no nest, but lays its eggs, generally two, among the shingle.[51]I have been beset in this manner by a Lesser Tern, so far on in the summer that I could not attribute its actions to any anxiety about either eggs or young. I am inclined to think it is, on such occasions, taught by its instinct to accompany a traveller for the sake of the insects disturbed by his movements. During the summer months, the shingle, on a sunny beach, is haunted by myriads of sluggish flies, which rarely take wing unless thus disturbed. That the Chimney Swallow often accompanies the traveller for this object, I have no doubt; as I have seen them fly to and fro before me, darting in among the swarming flies, and so intent in their chase, as to pass within a few yards of my feet every time they crossed my path.Sub-FamilyLARINÆTHE LITTLE GULLLARUS MINUTUSSummer—head and neck black; lower part of the neck, tail, all the under plumage, white; upper plumage pale ash-grey; primaries white at the end; bill reddish brown; irides dark; legs vermilion.Winter—forehead, front and sides of the neck white; nape and cheeks white, streaked with greyish black. Length eleven inches.This, the smallest of the Gulls, comes sometimes in numbers to the British coast. It is said to be remarkably active and graceful in its movements through the air, and to associate with Terns. Its food consists of marine insects and small fish. Its breeding-place and eggs are unknown. As a rule it leaves us in September or early in October.THE BROWN-HEADED GULLLARUS RIDIBUNDUSSummer—head and upper part of the neck deep brown; lower part of the neck and all the under plumage white, slightly tinged with rose; upper plumage bluish ash; primaries white, edged with ash, and broadly tipped with black; irides brown; bill and feet red, with a purple tinge. Inwinterthe head and neck are white; bill and feet bright vermilion. Inyoung birdsthe hood is pale brown; the upper plumage dark brown, mottled at the edges of the feathers with yellowish; bill livid at the base, the tip black; feet yellowish. Length seventeen inches. Eggs olive, spotted with brown and dusky.Black-headed, Blackcap, Brown-headed, Red-legged, and Pewit, are all common distinctive names of this Gull, to which may be added that of Laughing Gull. The latter name is, indeed, often given to the next species, a rare bird, and might with equal propriety be applied to several other species, whose harsh cryresembles a laugh. The systematic name,ridibundus, which has the same meaning, is by general consent confined to this. The reader, therefore, must bear in mind that though the termridibunduswill bear no translation but 'laughing', the name of the Laughing Gull isLarus atricapilla, which can mean only 'Black-headed Gull'; a paradoxical statement, perhaps, but one which it is necessary to make, or the young student will probably fall into error.Brown-headed Gull is the most appropriate of all the above names, at least in summer, for at this period both male and female are best distinguished by the deep brown colour of the head and upper part of the neck.This is one of the most frequent of the Gulls, to be sought for in the breeding season not on the rocky shore among cliffs, but on low flat salt marshes on the coast and in fresh-water marshes far inland. Early in spring large numbers of Brown-headed Gulls repair to their traditional breeding-grounds and wander over the adjoining country in search of food, which consists of worms and grubs. From the assiduity with which they resort to arable land and follow the plough, they have been called Sea Crows. In April and May they make their simple preparations for laying their eggs by trampling down the broken tops of reeds and sedges, and so forming a slight concavity. The number of eggs in each nest is generally three, and as a large number of birds often resort to the same spot, the collecting of these eggs becomes an occupation of importance. By some persons they are considered a delicacy, and, with the eggs of the Redshank, are substituted for Plovers' eggs; but to a fastidious palate they are not acceptable, and far inferior to an egg from the poultry yard. Willughby describes a colony of Blackcaps on a small island in a marsh or fish pond, in the county of Stafford, distant at least thirty miles from the sea. He says that when the young birds had attained their full size, it was the custom to drive them from the island into nets disposed along the shore of the lake. The captured birds were fattened on meat and garbage, and sold for about fourpence or fivepence each (a goodly price in those days, 1676). The average number captured every year was 1200, returning to the proprietor an income of about £15. InThe Catalogue of Norfolk and Suffolk Birds, it is stated that precisely the same sum is paid for the privilege of collecting the eggs from Scoulton Mere, in Norfolk. Towards the end of July, when the young are fully fledged, all the birds, old and young, repair to the sea, and scatter themselves in small flocks to all parts of the coast, preferring a low sandy shore, or the mouth of a tidal river, as the Thames and the Clyde, where they are of common occurrence. They also accompany shoals of herrings and other small fish, often congregating with other species in countless numbers.Before winter the distinctive character afforded by the brown plumage of the head and neck has entirely disappeared. These parts are now of a pure white, and the red legs afford the best distinguishing feature. Persons residing on the coast, who are familiarly acquainted with the habits of the bird, but are unaware of the periodical change in its colour, consider the two forms of the bird as distinct species. Thus I have received from a marsh on the coast of Norfolk the eggs of the 'Black-Headed Gull', and have had the same bird pointed out to me in winter as the 'Red-legged Pigeon-Mow' (Mew). One flock of about thirty thus pointed out to me presented a very pretty sight. They had detected either a shoal of small fishes, or a collection of dead animal matter floating among the breakers, and were feeding with singular activity.THE COMMON GULLLARUS CÁNUSInspringthe head and neck of this species are white and the mantle is a pale grey, a little darker insummer, the head, tail and under parts white; primaries comparatively long, and the three outer pairs dull black on the lower portions, with large white 'mirrors' near the tips in mature birds—in the rest the predominant tone is a pale grey, the black only forming a bar, and all but the first primary broadly tipped with white; bill a rich yellow towards the point; legs and feet greenish yellow insummer, darker inwinter. Inwinterthe head and neck are streaked and spotted with ash-brown. Length eighteen inches.This is a species resident in Great Britain, but it is not known to breed south of the Solway. It nests, however, in the west of Ireland; grassy sides and islands of lochs or slopes that face the sea, not far often above high-water, are its favourite resorts, where it breeds in colonies, the nest of sea-weeds, heather and dry grass being fairly large. In it will be, as a rule, three eggs, an olive-brown, spotted and streaked with a blackish tone; but pale blue, light green and straw-coloured varieties are found often. This Gull is the first to seek the shore on the approach of 'coarse' weather; and it may often be studied in the fields as it picks up grubs among the furrows in the company of Rooks, or by the town-tied Cockney, from his own standpoint of Westminster Bridge.The 'Blue Maa', as this species is called in the north, breeds in abundance on the Scottish coasts as well as the moors of the fresh-water lochs, including the Hebrides, Orkneys and Shetlands. The Black-Headed Gull is generally the Common Gull of the peasantry in Ireland, but the underside of the wing in the young of the CommonGull is mottled with brown, whereas it is greyish-white in the Black-Headed species.Gulls are, moreover, of material service, for they perform for the surface of the sea the same office which crustaceous animals do for its depths. Most of their time is spent in either flying or swimming about (they are no divers) in quest of food, which is of that nature that, if suffered to accumulate, more than one of our senses would be offended. All animal matter which, when life is extinct, rises to the surface, it is their especial province to clear away. To perform this necessary work, they have need of a quick eye and a voracious appetite. That they have the former in an eminent degree, any one may convince himself who, when taking a sea voyage, sees the vessel followed, as he often will, by a flock of Gulls. Let him fling overboard, into the foaming track of the ship, where his own eye can distinguish nothing, ever so small a portion of bread or other kind of food. That some one individual at least among the flock will have seen it fall and be able to descry it is certain; now, probably, a general scramble will ensue, and the prize will be secured by the swiftest. Having tried this several times with the same result, let him throw over, instead of meat or bread, a bit of wood. Not a bird will come near even to examine it. I have often tried this experiment, and have met with but one result. To prove that the Gull is capable of consuming a large quantity of food, as well as quick-sighted, a single anecdote will suffice:—"A man who was shooting on the banks of the river Yare, seeing something, which had the appearance of an eel half-swallowed, hanging from the mouth of a Gull which was flying overhead, fired at the bird, and on taking it up, found, not an eel, but—five tallow candles attached to a piece of thread, to the other end of which was fastened a sixth, the latter having beenalmost entirely swallowed. The candles were about twelve inches in length, with cotton wicks, such as are used on board the fishing boats, from the deck of which he had probably taken them". The Gull, then, is not choice in its diet; it is, in fact, omnivorous. It skims the deep for dead animal matter, follows the ship for offal thrown overboard, paces the shore in quest of molluscs and marine insects, flies inland in stormy weather (a specimen was once brought me which had been shot in Hertfordshire, twenty miles from the nearest navigable river) in winter and spring, and follows the plough along with Rooks and Jackdaws, alights on fields which have been manured with decomposed fish, resorts to marshes for frogs and worms, and after an inundation repairs to the lately submersed ground, and picks up the small quadrupeds which have been drowned. It usually flies at no great elevation above the water, but when repairing inland and returning it frequently rises to a very great height.THE HERRING GULLLARUS ARGENTÁTUSHead and neck white, streaked in summer with light brown; tail and lower parts white; back and wings bluish ash; primaries dusky, passing into black, the shafts black and extremities white; secondaries edged and tipped with white; bill, orbits, and irides, yellow; feet flesh-colour. Inyoung birdsthe white is mostly replaced by dark grey, mottled with brown; wings and tail brown, the latter reddish yellow towards the end; bill dusky; irides, orbits, and feet, brown. Length twenty-three inches. Eggs olive-brown, spotted with dark brown and dusky.If, among a flock of Common Gulls, seen either following a vessel at sea or attending on the movements of a shoal of fish, one be observed which greatly surpasses the rest in size, it will probably be this species, provided that it have a grey and not a black back. In the latter case it may either be the Great or Lesser Black-Backed Gull.The Herring Gull is a large and powerful bird, thoroughly competent to dispose of a herring or even a more bulky fish. It is common on most parts of the British coast, and remains with us all the year, building its nest on steep cliffs, or rocky islands. In the south of England it is very abundant, and is more frequently seen inland, in newly-ploughed fields, than any other species. Like the other Gulls, it may easily be tamed if taken young; and, when kept in a garden, earns its maintenance by keeping down slugs and other vermin.THE LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLLARUS FUSCUSWings reaching two inches beyond the tail; head and neck white, streaked (inwinter) with brown; lower parts pure white; rest of the upper plumage blackish grey; primaries black, the first two with an oval white spot near the tip; secondaries and scapulars tipped with white; bill, irides, and feet, yellow; tarsus two and a quarter inches long; orbits red. Inyoung birdsthe white plumage is mostly replaced by grey mottled with brown, and the black by dusky edged with yellowish; the primaries have no white spots, and the bill is dusky. Length twenty-three inches. Eggs brownish grey, spotted with brown and black.This is a generally diffused species, occurring in considerable numbers, not only on various parts of our coast, but in the Baltic, the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, the Red Sea, and the northern parts of America. It repairs in spring either to rocky islands, steep cliffs, or sometimes to inland lakes, where it builds a rather large nest of tufts of grass, and lays two or three eggs. When the young arehatched it is very impatient of having its stronghold invaded, and resents molestation by darting at the head of the intruder. The Lesser Black-Backed Gull breeds habitually on many parts of the coast, especially such as are frequented by the Herring Gull. Its food and habits are much the same as those of the Common Gull. In the South of England, the nesting-places are confined to Devon and Cornwall, but there are colonies on the Farne Islands, the Isle of Man and Wales.THE GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULLLARUS MARÍNUSWings extending but little beyond the tail; legs pale flesh-colour. Length thirty inches; breadth about five feet nine inches. In most other respects resembling the Lesser Black-Backed Gull. Eggs stone-buff, blotched and spotted with dusky brown.Of the two Black-Backed Gulls, the Greater, or 'Cobb', is by far the less frequent on our coasts, and when seen generally occurs in pairs. It remains with us all the year, but is most frequent in the south during winter. In spring, Great Black-Backed Gulls for the most part withdraw to cliffs and rocky islands far north, as, for instance, the Orkneys and Hebrides, where they are numerous, a few only nesting southwards. Unlike most other Gulls, birds of this species are unsociable even in the breeding season. They build their nests on the most inaccessible parts of the rocks, and reserve the situation entirely to themselves, not even permitting birds of their own species or any other intruders to settle there. They are exceedingly wary, and give notice of the approach of danger to other animals. Consequently, they are held in dislike by the gunner, whether in pursuit of sea-birds or seals. Like the rest of the Gulls, they are omnivorous, but are, more than any others, addicted to carrion, in quest of which they often wander inland; hence, they are sometimes called Carrion Gulls. 'If a floating prize presents itself', says Mr. St. John, 'such as the remains of a large fish or dead bird, it is soon discovered by one of the large Gulls, who is not, however, allowed to enjoy his prize alone, for every one of his fellows within sight joins in tearing it to pieces. When I have winged a Duck, and it has escaped and gone out to sea, I have frequently seen it attacked, and devoured almost alive, by these birds.'Stations occur here and there on the coast of England in which the Great Black-Backed Gull builds. It sometimes resorts to a marsh at the breeding season, but retains its habit of driving away all intruders. Its eggs are prized as dainties, being thought to resemble Plovers' eggs.GLAUCOUS GULL, OR BURGOMASTERLARUS GLAUCUSGeneral plumage white; back and wings bluish grey; tail and terminal portion of the quills white; bill strong, yellow; legs livid flesh-colour.Youngmottled with white, grey, and light brown; shafts of the quills white; in other respects like the last, but the bill is longer and stouter. Length about twenty-nine inches; breadth five feet two inches. Eggs as in the last, but of a greener hue.The Glaucous Gull, a large, handsome, and powerful bird, resembles in many of its habits the species last described, but it has not been known to breed in even the most northerly of the British Isles. It pays occasional visits to our shores in winter. A few specimens only have been shot in the southern portion of the island, and no large number in Scotland; but in the neighbourhood of the whale fishery it is common enough. It is very voracious, and not only eats fish, whether dead or alive, and shares with the whale-fisher in his booty, but pursues other sea-fowl, compels them to disgorge their prey, robs them of their eggs, and, if they resist, kills and devours them.[52]In short, it is the very tyrant of the Arctic Ocean. Its predatory habits were noticed by the early navigators in these waters, who gave it the name of Burgomaster; but as no accurate description of the bird was brought home, and as some of our other large Gulls are open to a charge of similar rapacity, the name was naturally transferred by Willughby to another species, which he calls the Wagel (probably the Great Black-Backed Gull in immature plumage). This was in 1676. A hundred years later Brunnich gave it the name of Glaucous Gull; but it is still called Burgomaster by the Dutch, and by Arctic voyagers generally.Mr. St. John gives the name of Wagel to the Great Grey Gull.
Plate_55
Plate_56
THE GREENSHANKTÓTANUS CANESCENS
Bill strong, compressed at the base, slightly curved upwards.Winter—forehead, all the lower parts, and lower back, white; head, cheeks, neck and sides of the breast, streaked with ash-brown and white; rest of the upper feathers mottled with dusky and yellowish white; tail white, middle feathers barred with brown, outer white with a narrow dusky streak on the outer web; bill ash-brown; legs yellowish green, long and slender.Summer—feathers of the back edged with white, breast and adjacent parts white, with oval black spots; middle tail-feathers ash, barred with brown. Length fourteen inches. Eggs olive-brown, spotted all over with dusky.
An unusual colour and disproportionate length of leg are characters which sufficiently distinguish the Greenshank and account for its name. It is far less common than the Redshank, but seems to resemble it in many of its habits. It is sociably disposed towards birds of its own kind and allied species, but utterly averse to any familiarity with man, insomuch that fowlers rarely come within shot of it. It frequents low muddy or sandy shores and brackish pools, the oozy banks of lakes, ponds, and rivers, preferring such open situations as allow it a clear view of threatening danger while there is plenty of time to decamp. In the course of feeding it wades unconcernedlythrough pools of shallow water, and, if so minded, hesitates neither to swim nor to dive.
Its visits to England are paid most commonly in spring and autumn, while it is on its way to and from the northern climates in which it breeds. 'In Scotland it is seen', says Macgillivray, 'in small flocks here and there along the sea-shore, by the margins of rivers, and in marshy places breeding there in the north, but it is nowhere common, and in most districts of very rare occurrence. By the beginning of summer it has disappeared from its winter haunts, and advanced northwards; individuals or pairs remaining here and there in the more northern parts of Scotland, while the rest extend their migration.' The same author describes a nest, which he found in the island of Harris, as very like those of the Golden and Lapwing Plovers, with four eggs, intermediate in size between the eggs of these two birds. Another nest was also found by Selby, in Sutherlandshire. There can be therefore no doubt that the north of Scotland is within the extreme southern limit of its breeding-ground. During the winter it is to be seen in the west of Ireland only.
THE BAR-TAILED GODWITLIMÓSA LAPPONICA
Beak slightly curved upwards; middle claw short, without serratures.Winter-upper plumage variously mottled with grey, dusky, and reddish ash; lower part of the back white, with dusky spots; tail barred with reddish white and dusky; lower parts white.Summer—all the plumage deeply tinged with red.Young birdshave the throat and breast brownish white, streaked with dusky, and a few dusky lines on the flanks. Length sixteen inches. Eggs unknown.
On the coast of Norfolk, where I made my first acquaintance with this bird in the fresh state, it is called a Half-Curlew. In like manner, a Wigeon is called a Half-Duck. In either case the reason for giving the name is, that the smaller bird possesses half the market value of the larger. It resembles the Curlew in its flight and the colour of its plumage; but differs in having its long beak slightly curved upwards, while that of the Curlew is strongly arched downwards; and it is far less wary, allowing itself to be approached so closely that it falls an easy prey to the fowler. It appears to be most frequently met with in spring and autumn, when it visits many parts of the coast in small flocks. In Norfolk it is met with from May, the twelfth of that month being called 'Godwit day,' by the gunners, although it is almost unknown up north at that season.
The specimens which were brought to me were shot in the very severe weather which ushered in the year 1861. These birds have nowhere been observed in England later than the beginning ofsummer, from which fact the inference is fairly drawn that they do not breed in this country. Their habits differ in no material respects from the other sea-side Waders, with whom they frequently mingle while feeding, not, seemingly, for the sake of good fellowship, but attracted by a motive common to all, that of picking up food wherever an abundance is to be met with. Their note is a loud, shrill cry, often uttered while on the wing. The female is much larger than the male.
This bird is sometimes called the Sea Woodcock. Its flesh is good eating, but is far inferior in flavour to that of the true Woodcock.
THE BLACK-TAILED GODWITLIMÓSA BELGICA
Beak nearly straight; middle claw long and serrated; upper parts ash-brown, the shafts of the feathers somewhat deeper; breast and adjacent parts greyish white; tail black, the base, and the tips of the two middle feathers, white; beak orange at the base, black at the point; feet dusky.Summer—much of the plumage tinged with red. Length seventeen and a half inches. Eggs deep olive, spotted with light brown.
This bird is, in outward appearance, mainly distinguished from the preceding by having two-thirds of the tail black, instead of being barred throughout with white and black. Like its congener, it is most frequently seen in autumn and spring, while on the way to and from its breeding-ground in the north; but it does not stay with us through winter, though occasionally a few pairs used to remain in the fen-countries to breed. It is by far the less common of the two, and seems to be getting annually more and more rare. Its habits, as far as they have been observed, approach those of the other Scolopacidæ. In its flight it resembles the Redshank. Its note is a wild screaming whistle, which it utters while on the wing. It builds its nest in swamps, among rushes and sedges, simply collecting a few grasses and roots into any convenient hole, and there it lays four eggs.
THE COMMON CURLEWNUMENIUS ARQUATA
General plumage reddish ash, mottled with dusky spots; belly white, with longitudinal dusky spots; feathers of the back and scapulars black, bordered with rust-red; tail white, with dark brown transverse bars; upper mandible dusky; lower, flesh-colour; irides brown; feet bluish grey. Length varying from twenty-two to twenty-eight inches. Eggs olive-green, blotched and spotted with brown and dark green.
Dwellers by the sea-side—especially where the tide retires to a great distance leaving a wide expanse of muddy sand, or on thebanks of a tidal river where the receding water lays bare extensive banks of soft ooze—are most probably quite familiar with the note of the Curlew, however ignorant they may be of the form or name of the bird from which it proceeds. A loud whistle of two syllables, which may be heard for more than a mile, bearing a not over-fanciful resemblance to the name of the bird, answered by a similar cry, mellowed by distance into a pleasant sound—wild, but in perfect harmony with the character of the scene—announces the fact that a party of Curlews have discovered that the ebb-tide is well advanced, and that their feeding-ground is uncovered. The stroller, if quietly disposed, may chance to get a sight of the birds themselves as they arrive in small flocks from the inland meadows; and though they will probably be too cautious to venture within an unsafe distance, they will most likely come quite close enough to be discriminated. Not the merest novice could mistake them for Gulls; for not only is their flight of a different character, but the bill, which is thick enough to be distinguished at a considerable distance, is disproportionately long, and is curved to a remarkable degree. Curlews are in the habit of selecting as their feeding-ground those portions of the shore which most abound in worms and small crustaceous animals; these they either pick up and, as it were, coax from the tip to the base of the beak, or, thrusting their long bills into the mud, draw out the worms, which they dispose of in like manner. When the sands or ooze are covered, they withdraw from the shore, and either retire to the adjoining marshes or pools, or pace about the meadows, picking up worms, snails, and insects. Hay-fields, before the grass is cut, are favourite resorts, especially in the North; and, in districts where there are meadows adjoining an estuary, they are in the habit of changing the one for the other at every ebb and flow of the tide. From the middle of autumn till the early spring Curlews are, for the most part, sea-side birds, frequenting, more or less, all the coast; but at the approach of the breeding season they repair inland, and resort to heaths, damp meadows, and barren hills. Here a shallow nest is made on the ground, composed of bents, rushes, and twigs of heath, loosely put together. The eggs, which are very large, are four in number. During the period of incubation the male keeps about the neighbourhood, but is scarcely less wary than at other seasons. The female, if disturbed, endeavours to lure away the intruder from her dwelling by the artifice, common in the tribe, of pretending to be disabled; and great anxiety is shown by both male and female if any one approaches the spot where the young lie concealed. The latter are able to run almost immediately after they are hatched, but some weeks elapse before they are fledged. It seems probable that an unusually long time elapses before they attain their full size, for the dimensions of different individuals vary toa remarkable degree. Eight or nine specimens were brought to me in Norfolk in the winter of 1861, and among them about half seemed full-grown; of the others some were so small that, at the first glance, I supposed them to be Whimbrels.
The Curlew is found on the sea-coast over the whole of Europe and Asia, and along the northern coast of Africa.
The flesh of this bird is said by some to be excellent eating. This, perhaps, may be the case with young birds shot early in autumn before they have been long subjected to a marine diet. My own experience of birds shot in winter does not confirm this opinion. I have found them eatable, but not palatable.
THE WHIMBRELNUMENIUS PHÆOPUS
General plumage pale ash-colour, mottled with white and dusky spots; crown divided by a longitudinal streak of yellowish white; over each eye a broader brown streak; belly and abdomen white, with a few dusky spots on the flanks; feathers on the back, and scapulars deep brown, in the middle bordered by lighter brown; rump white; tail ash-brown, barred obliquely with dark brown; bill dusky, reddish at the base; irides brown; feet lead-colour. Length not exceeding seventeen inches. Eggs dark olive-brown, blotched with dusky.
Though by no means a rare bird, the Whimbrel is of far less common occurrence than the Curlew, and is seen only at two periods of the year, in May and August, when performing its migrations. It resembles the Curlew both in figure and habits, though much smaller in size; its note, too, is like the whistle of that bird, but somewhat higher. It is gregarious, but unsociable with other birds. The extreme southern limit at which the Whimbrel breeds is considered to be the Orkney and Shetland Islands. It is known to visit most of the countries of Europe and Asia in spring and autumn, but is nowhere very abundant.
ORDER GAVIÆ
FAMILY LARIDÆ
Sub-FamilySTERNINÆ
THE BLACK TERNHYDROCHELIDON NIGRA
Bill black; feet purple-brown, the membrane short; head and neck black; upper parts lead-colour; under parts dark ash-grey; under tail-coverts white; tail not much forked, shorter than the wings; irides brown. Inwinter, the lore, throat and breast are white. Length ten and a quarter inches. Eggs dark olive-brown, blotched and spotted with black.
The Black Tern is a common bird in most temperate countrieswhich abound in extensive marshes. In its habits it is scarcely less aquatic than the preceding species, but differs from them all in preferring fresh water to salt. It was formerly of frequent occurrence in England; but draining and reclaiming have, within the last few years, given over many of its haunts to the Partridge and Wood Pigeon; and it is now but rarely known to breed in this country.[50]A few, however, are not unfrequently seen in spring and autumn, when on their way from and to their winter quarters, which are the warmer regions of the globe. In Norfolk its name still lingers as the 'Blue Darr', a corruption, probably, of Dorr-Hawk (another name of the Nightjar), a bird which it closely resembles in its mode of flight. Like the Dorr-Hawk, the Black Tern feeds on beetles and other insects, which it catches on the wing, but adds to its dietary small fresh-water fish, which it catches by dipping for them. While in pursuit of its winged prey, it does not confine itself to the water, but skims over the marsh and adjoining meadows, sometimes even alighting for an instant to pick up a worm. Black Terns are sociable birds among themselves, but do not consort with other species. They lay their eggs in the most inaccessible swamps, on masses of decayed reeds and flags, but little elevated above the level of the water. The nests are merely depressions in the lumps of vegetable substance, and usually contain three or sometimes four eggs. They are placed near enough to each other to form colonies; and the birds continue to flock together during their absence in warmer climates. Large flocks have been seen in the Atlantic, midway between Europe and America. In Holland and Hungary they are said by Temminck to be numerous. This author states that the Black Tern commonly lays its eggs on the leaves of the water-lily.
[50]The Rev. R. Lubbock states in hisFauna of Norfolk, 1845, that it has ceased to breed regularly in Norfolk, but that eggs had been recently obtained at Crowland Wash in Lincolnshire.
THE SANDWICH TERNSTERNA CANTIACA
Bill long, black, the tip yellowish; tarsus short (one inch); tail long; head and crest as in the last; nape, upper part of the back, and all the lower parts brilliant white, tinged on the breast with rose; back and wings pale ash-grey; quills deeper grey; tail white; feet black, yellowish beneath.Young birds—head mottled with black and white; back, wing-coverts, and tail-feathers varied with irregular lines of black; bill and feet dark brown. Length eighteen inches. Eggs greyish green, blotched with brown and black.
The Sandwich Tern, which takes its name from the place where it was first seen in England, is not uncommon on many parts of the coast during the summer months. In some places it seems to beabundant. A large colony inhabits the Farne Islands. They breed as far north as the Findhorn. Upon this coast it is calledpar excellence'The Tern', all the other species passing under the general name of 'Sea Swallows'. Its habits are so like those of the Common Tern, to be described hereafter, that, to avoid repetition, I purposely omit all account of its mode of fishing, and content myself with quoting, on the authority of Audubon and Meyer, incidents in its biography which I have not noticed in the Common Tern. The former author says: 'Its cries are sharp, grating, and loud enough to be heard at the distance of half a mile. They are repeated at intervals while it is travelling, and kept up incessantly when one intrudes upon it in its breeding-ground, on which occasion it sails and dashes over your head, chiding you with angry notes, more disagreeable than pleasant to your ear.' Meyer, writing of the same bird, says: 'The Sandwich Tern is observed to be particularly fond of settling on sunken rocks where the waves run high, and the surf is heavy: this being a peculiar fancy belonging to this species, it is sometimes called by the name of Surf Tern.'
THE ROSEATE TERNSTERNA DOUGALLI
Bill black, red at the base; feet orange, claws small, black; tarsus three-quarters of an inch long; tail much forked, much longer than the wings; upper part of the head and nape black; rest of the upper plumage pale ash-grey; tail white, the outer feathers very long and pointed; cheeks and under plumage white, tinged on the breast and belly with rose. Length fifteen to seventeen inches. Eggs yellowish stone-colour, spotted and speckled with ash-grey and brown.
Of this Tern Dr. M'Dougall, its discoverer, says, 'It is of light and very elegant figure, differing from the Common Tern in the size, length, colour, and curvature of the bill; in the comparative shortness of the wing in proportion to the tail, in the purity of the whiteness of the tail, and the peculiar conformation and extraordinary length of the lateral feathers. It also differs from that bird in the hazel-colour and size of the legs and feet.'
Roseate Terns have been discovered on several parts of the coast, principally in the north, as in the mouth of the Clyde, Lancashire and the Farne Islands. They associate with the Common Terns, but are far less numerous. Selby says, 'the old birds are easily recognized amidst hundreds of the other species by their peculiar and buoyant flight, long tail, and note, which may be expressed by the wordcrake, uttered in a hoarse grating key.' They rarely nest in Great Britain.
THE ARCTIC TERNSTERNA MACRURA
Bill slender, red throughout; under plumage ash-grey; tail much forked, longer than the wings; legs orange-red, in other respects very like the last. Length fifteen inches. Eggs as in the last.
This bird, as its name indicates, frequents high northern latitudes, to which, however, it is not confined; since in the Orkneys and Hebrides it is the common species. It breeds also on the coast of some of the northern English counties, but not farther south than the Humber, though several instances are recorded of large flocks making their appearance in different places at the season when they were probably on their way from their winter quarters—far away to the south—to their breeding-ground. In the rocky islands, which they frequent from May to September, they form colonies and lay their eggs, generally apart from the allied species. The eggs closely resemble those of the Common Tern, but are somewhat smaller. In its habits and general appearance the Arctic Tern comes so close to the last-named species, that the birds, even when flying together, can only be distinguished by the most practised eye.
Plate_57
Plate_58
THE COMMON TERNSTERNA FLUVIÁTILIS
Bill moderate, red with a black tip; head and long feathers on the back of the head black; upper parts bluish ash; quills ash-grey, brown at the tips; tail much forked, not longer than the wings, white, the two outer feathers on each side dusky on the outer webs; under parts white, tinged with grey on the breast; irides reddish brown; feet coral-red.Young birdshave a good deal of white about the head, and the feathers on the back are tipped with white; tail ash-grey, whitish at the tip. Length fourteen inches. Eggs olive-brown, blotched and spotted with ash and dusky.
On those parts of the coast where the Common Tern is abundant, no sea-bird is more likely to attract the notice of the visitor than the Common Tern. It is less in size than any of the common species of Gull, with which, however, it is often confounded by the unobservant. It is more lively and active in its motions, not ordinarily flying in circles, but, if I may use the expression, 'rambling' through the air, frequently diverging to the right or left, and raising or depressing itself at frequent intervals. These characters alone are sufficient to distinguish the Tern from any of the Gulls; but it presents yet more striking features. Its tail is elongated and forked like that of the Swallow, and from this character rather than from its flight it is commonly known as the Sea Swallow. Its mode of taking its prey is totally different from that of the Gulls. Very frequently a single Tern may be observed pursuing its course in a line with the breakers on a sandy shore at the distance perhaps of from fifty to a hundred yards from the beach. Its beak is pointed downwards, and the bird is evidently on the look-out for prey. Suddenly it descends perpendicularly into the water, making a perceptible splash, but scarcely disappearing. In an instant it has recovered the use of its wings and ascends again, swallowing some small fish meanwhile if it has been successful, but in any case continuing its course as before. I do not recollect ever to have seen a Tern sit on the water to devour its prey when fishing among the breakers. Often, too, as one is walking along the shore, or sailing in a boat, when the sea is calm, a cruising party of Terns comes in sight. Their flight now is less direct than in the instance just mentioned, as they 'beat' the fishing-ground after the fashion of spaniels, still, however, making way ahead. Suddenly one of the party arrests its flight, hovers for a few seconds like a Hawk, and descends as if shot, making a splash as before. If unsuccessful it rises at once, but if it has captured the object on which it swooped, it remains floating on the water until it has relieved itself of its incumbrance by the summary process of swallowing it. I do not know a prettier sight than a party of Terns thus occupied. They are by no means shy, frequently flying quite over the boat, and uttering from time to time a short scream, which, though not melodious, is more in keeping with the scene than a mellow song would be.
In rough weather they repair to sheltered bays, ascend estuaries, or follow the course of a river until they have advanced far inland. They are harbingers of summer quite as much as the Swallow itself, coming to us in May and leaving in September for some warmer coast. They usually breed on flat shores, laying two or three eggs on the ground, in marshes, or on sandy shingle. The eggs in my collection were procured on the coast of Norfolk, but I have seen the birds themselves in the greatest numbers in Belfast Lough and in Loch Crinan. They have bred as far north as Sutherland.
THE LITTLE (OR LESSER) TERNSTERNA MINUTA
Bill orange, with a black tip; feet orange; forehead, and a streak above the eye, white; crown black; upper parts pearl-grey; under, white; tail much forked, shorter than the wings.Young birdshave the head brownish, with darker streaks; upper plumage yellowish white and dusky; bill pale yellow, with a dark tip; legs dull yellow. Length eight and a half inches. Eggs stone-colour, spotted and speckled with grey and brown.
On the sandy and marshy shores of Norfolk, the Lesser Tern is a bird of common occurrence in summer, either single, or in smallparties of three or four. Not unfrequently, as the sea-side visitor is sauntering about on the sands, one of these birds seems to take offence at its dominion being invaded. With repeated harsh cries it flies round and round the intruder, coming quite close enough to allow its black head and yellow beak to be distinguished. Its flight is swift, something like that of a Swallow, but more laboured, and not so rapid. If fired at, it takes little notice of the noise; and, knowing nothing of the danger, continues its screams[51]and circling till its pertinacity becomes annoying. When feeding it presents a far pleasanter appearance. Then, altogether heedless of intrusion, it skims along the surface of the drains in the marshes, profiting by its length of wing and facility of wheeling, to capture flying insects. At least, if this be not its object, I can in no other way account for the peculiar character of its flight. At other times, either alone or in company with a few other individuals of the same species, it is seen flying slowly along, some fifteen or twenty feet above the surface of a shallow tidal pool, or pond, in a salt marsh. Suddenly it arrests its onward progress, soars like a Kestrel for a second or two, with its beak pointed downwards. It has descried a shrimp, or small fish, and this is its way of taking aim. Employing the mechanism with which its Creator has provided it, it throws out of gear its apparatus of feathers and air-tubes, and falls like a plummet into the water, with a splash which sends circle after circle to the shore; and, in an instant, having captured and swallowed its petty booty, returns to its aërial watch-post. A social little party of three or four birds, who have thus taken possession of a pond, will remain fishing as long as the tide is high enough to keep it full. They take little notice of passengers; and if startled by the report of a gun, remove to a short distance only, and there resume their occupation. Sometimes they may be seen floating about in the open sea, resting their wings, perhaps, after a long flight, or simply idling, certainly not fishing; for although they plunge from a height, with great ease and elegance, diving proper is not one of their accomplishments.
To the stranger who visits the coast of Norfolk, the Lesser Tern will, perhaps, be pointed out under the name of 'Sea Swallow', or, more probably, as a 'Shrimp Catcher'. Either of these names is appropriate. Its mode of progress through the air is morelike a Swallow's than that of the Common Tern, and in size it does not so very much exceed the Swift as to make the comparison outrageous. A shrimp it can undoubtedly catch; and it exercises its vocation in shallow water, such as shrimps alone inhabit or small fish no larger than shrimps.
Like the other Terns it is migratory, repairing year after year to low flat shores on various parts of the coast, arriving in May, and departing in September for some climate subject to no cold severe enough to banish small marine animals to deep water. The Lesser Tern makes no nest, but lays its eggs, generally two, among the shingle.
[51]I have been beset in this manner by a Lesser Tern, so far on in the summer that I could not attribute its actions to any anxiety about either eggs or young. I am inclined to think it is, on such occasions, taught by its instinct to accompany a traveller for the sake of the insects disturbed by his movements. During the summer months, the shingle, on a sunny beach, is haunted by myriads of sluggish flies, which rarely take wing unless thus disturbed. That the Chimney Swallow often accompanies the traveller for this object, I have no doubt; as I have seen them fly to and fro before me, darting in among the swarming flies, and so intent in their chase, as to pass within a few yards of my feet every time they crossed my path.
Sub-FamilyLARINÆ
THE LITTLE GULLLARUS MINUTUS
Summer—head and neck black; lower part of the neck, tail, all the under plumage, white; upper plumage pale ash-grey; primaries white at the end; bill reddish brown; irides dark; legs vermilion.Winter—forehead, front and sides of the neck white; nape and cheeks white, streaked with greyish black. Length eleven inches.
This, the smallest of the Gulls, comes sometimes in numbers to the British coast. It is said to be remarkably active and graceful in its movements through the air, and to associate with Terns. Its food consists of marine insects and small fish. Its breeding-place and eggs are unknown. As a rule it leaves us in September or early in October.
THE BROWN-HEADED GULLLARUS RIDIBUNDUS
Summer—head and upper part of the neck deep brown; lower part of the neck and all the under plumage white, slightly tinged with rose; upper plumage bluish ash; primaries white, edged with ash, and broadly tipped with black; irides brown; bill and feet red, with a purple tinge. Inwinterthe head and neck are white; bill and feet bright vermilion. Inyoung birdsthe hood is pale brown; the upper plumage dark brown, mottled at the edges of the feathers with yellowish; bill livid at the base, the tip black; feet yellowish. Length seventeen inches. Eggs olive, spotted with brown and dusky.
Black-headed, Blackcap, Brown-headed, Red-legged, and Pewit, are all common distinctive names of this Gull, to which may be added that of Laughing Gull. The latter name is, indeed, often given to the next species, a rare bird, and might with equal propriety be applied to several other species, whose harsh cryresembles a laugh. The systematic name,ridibundus, which has the same meaning, is by general consent confined to this. The reader, therefore, must bear in mind that though the termridibunduswill bear no translation but 'laughing', the name of the Laughing Gull isLarus atricapilla, which can mean only 'Black-headed Gull'; a paradoxical statement, perhaps, but one which it is necessary to make, or the young student will probably fall into error.
Brown-headed Gull is the most appropriate of all the above names, at least in summer, for at this period both male and female are best distinguished by the deep brown colour of the head and upper part of the neck.
This is one of the most frequent of the Gulls, to be sought for in the breeding season not on the rocky shore among cliffs, but on low flat salt marshes on the coast and in fresh-water marshes far inland. Early in spring large numbers of Brown-headed Gulls repair to their traditional breeding-grounds and wander over the adjoining country in search of food, which consists of worms and grubs. From the assiduity with which they resort to arable land and follow the plough, they have been called Sea Crows. In April and May they make their simple preparations for laying their eggs by trampling down the broken tops of reeds and sedges, and so forming a slight concavity. The number of eggs in each nest is generally three, and as a large number of birds often resort to the same spot, the collecting of these eggs becomes an occupation of importance. By some persons they are considered a delicacy, and, with the eggs of the Redshank, are substituted for Plovers' eggs; but to a fastidious palate they are not acceptable, and far inferior to an egg from the poultry yard. Willughby describes a colony of Blackcaps on a small island in a marsh or fish pond, in the county of Stafford, distant at least thirty miles from the sea. He says that when the young birds had attained their full size, it was the custom to drive them from the island into nets disposed along the shore of the lake. The captured birds were fattened on meat and garbage, and sold for about fourpence or fivepence each (a goodly price in those days, 1676). The average number captured every year was 1200, returning to the proprietor an income of about £15. InThe Catalogue of Norfolk and Suffolk Birds, it is stated that precisely the same sum is paid for the privilege of collecting the eggs from Scoulton Mere, in Norfolk. Towards the end of July, when the young are fully fledged, all the birds, old and young, repair to the sea, and scatter themselves in small flocks to all parts of the coast, preferring a low sandy shore, or the mouth of a tidal river, as the Thames and the Clyde, where they are of common occurrence. They also accompany shoals of herrings and other small fish, often congregating with other species in countless numbers.
Before winter the distinctive character afforded by the brown plumage of the head and neck has entirely disappeared. These parts are now of a pure white, and the red legs afford the best distinguishing feature. Persons residing on the coast, who are familiarly acquainted with the habits of the bird, but are unaware of the periodical change in its colour, consider the two forms of the bird as distinct species. Thus I have received from a marsh on the coast of Norfolk the eggs of the 'Black-Headed Gull', and have had the same bird pointed out to me in winter as the 'Red-legged Pigeon-Mow' (Mew). One flock of about thirty thus pointed out to me presented a very pretty sight. They had detected either a shoal of small fishes, or a collection of dead animal matter floating among the breakers, and were feeding with singular activity.
THE COMMON GULLLARUS CÁNUS
Inspringthe head and neck of this species are white and the mantle is a pale grey, a little darker insummer, the head, tail and under parts white; primaries comparatively long, and the three outer pairs dull black on the lower portions, with large white 'mirrors' near the tips in mature birds—in the rest the predominant tone is a pale grey, the black only forming a bar, and all but the first primary broadly tipped with white; bill a rich yellow towards the point; legs and feet greenish yellow insummer, darker inwinter. Inwinterthe head and neck are streaked and spotted with ash-brown. Length eighteen inches.
This is a species resident in Great Britain, but it is not known to breed south of the Solway. It nests, however, in the west of Ireland; grassy sides and islands of lochs or slopes that face the sea, not far often above high-water, are its favourite resorts, where it breeds in colonies, the nest of sea-weeds, heather and dry grass being fairly large. In it will be, as a rule, three eggs, an olive-brown, spotted and streaked with a blackish tone; but pale blue, light green and straw-coloured varieties are found often. This Gull is the first to seek the shore on the approach of 'coarse' weather; and it may often be studied in the fields as it picks up grubs among the furrows in the company of Rooks, or by the town-tied Cockney, from his own standpoint of Westminster Bridge.
The 'Blue Maa', as this species is called in the north, breeds in abundance on the Scottish coasts as well as the moors of the fresh-water lochs, including the Hebrides, Orkneys and Shetlands. The Black-Headed Gull is generally the Common Gull of the peasantry in Ireland, but the underside of the wing in the young of the CommonGull is mottled with brown, whereas it is greyish-white in the Black-Headed species.
Gulls are, moreover, of material service, for they perform for the surface of the sea the same office which crustaceous animals do for its depths. Most of their time is spent in either flying or swimming about (they are no divers) in quest of food, which is of that nature that, if suffered to accumulate, more than one of our senses would be offended. All animal matter which, when life is extinct, rises to the surface, it is their especial province to clear away. To perform this necessary work, they have need of a quick eye and a voracious appetite. That they have the former in an eminent degree, any one may convince himself who, when taking a sea voyage, sees the vessel followed, as he often will, by a flock of Gulls. Let him fling overboard, into the foaming track of the ship, where his own eye can distinguish nothing, ever so small a portion of bread or other kind of food. That some one individual at least among the flock will have seen it fall and be able to descry it is certain; now, probably, a general scramble will ensue, and the prize will be secured by the swiftest. Having tried this several times with the same result, let him throw over, instead of meat or bread, a bit of wood. Not a bird will come near even to examine it. I have often tried this experiment, and have met with but one result. To prove that the Gull is capable of consuming a large quantity of food, as well as quick-sighted, a single anecdote will suffice:—"A man who was shooting on the banks of the river Yare, seeing something, which had the appearance of an eel half-swallowed, hanging from the mouth of a Gull which was flying overhead, fired at the bird, and on taking it up, found, not an eel, but—five tallow candles attached to a piece of thread, to the other end of which was fastened a sixth, the latter having beenalmost entirely swallowed. The candles were about twelve inches in length, with cotton wicks, such as are used on board the fishing boats, from the deck of which he had probably taken them". The Gull, then, is not choice in its diet; it is, in fact, omnivorous. It skims the deep for dead animal matter, follows the ship for offal thrown overboard, paces the shore in quest of molluscs and marine insects, flies inland in stormy weather (a specimen was once brought me which had been shot in Hertfordshire, twenty miles from the nearest navigable river) in winter and spring, and follows the plough along with Rooks and Jackdaws, alights on fields which have been manured with decomposed fish, resorts to marshes for frogs and worms, and after an inundation repairs to the lately submersed ground, and picks up the small quadrupeds which have been drowned. It usually flies at no great elevation above the water, but when repairing inland and returning it frequently rises to a very great height.
THE HERRING GULLLARUS ARGENTÁTUS
Head and neck white, streaked in summer with light brown; tail and lower parts white; back and wings bluish ash; primaries dusky, passing into black, the shafts black and extremities white; secondaries edged and tipped with white; bill, orbits, and irides, yellow; feet flesh-colour. Inyoung birdsthe white is mostly replaced by dark grey, mottled with brown; wings and tail brown, the latter reddish yellow towards the end; bill dusky; irides, orbits, and feet, brown. Length twenty-three inches. Eggs olive-brown, spotted with dark brown and dusky.
If, among a flock of Common Gulls, seen either following a vessel at sea or attending on the movements of a shoal of fish, one be observed which greatly surpasses the rest in size, it will probably be this species, provided that it have a grey and not a black back. In the latter case it may either be the Great or Lesser Black-Backed Gull.
The Herring Gull is a large and powerful bird, thoroughly competent to dispose of a herring or even a more bulky fish. It is common on most parts of the British coast, and remains with us all the year, building its nest on steep cliffs, or rocky islands. In the south of England it is very abundant, and is more frequently seen inland, in newly-ploughed fields, than any other species. Like the other Gulls, it may easily be tamed if taken young; and, when kept in a garden, earns its maintenance by keeping down slugs and other vermin.
THE LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLLARUS FUSCUS
Wings reaching two inches beyond the tail; head and neck white, streaked (inwinter) with brown; lower parts pure white; rest of the upper plumage blackish grey; primaries black, the first two with an oval white spot near the tip; secondaries and scapulars tipped with white; bill, irides, and feet, yellow; tarsus two and a quarter inches long; orbits red. Inyoung birdsthe white plumage is mostly replaced by grey mottled with brown, and the black by dusky edged with yellowish; the primaries have no white spots, and the bill is dusky. Length twenty-three inches. Eggs brownish grey, spotted with brown and black.
This is a generally diffused species, occurring in considerable numbers, not only on various parts of our coast, but in the Baltic, the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, the Red Sea, and the northern parts of America. It repairs in spring either to rocky islands, steep cliffs, or sometimes to inland lakes, where it builds a rather large nest of tufts of grass, and lays two or three eggs. When the young arehatched it is very impatient of having its stronghold invaded, and resents molestation by darting at the head of the intruder. The Lesser Black-Backed Gull breeds habitually on many parts of the coast, especially such as are frequented by the Herring Gull. Its food and habits are much the same as those of the Common Gull. In the South of England, the nesting-places are confined to Devon and Cornwall, but there are colonies on the Farne Islands, the Isle of Man and Wales.
THE GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULLLARUS MARÍNUS
Wings extending but little beyond the tail; legs pale flesh-colour. Length thirty inches; breadth about five feet nine inches. In most other respects resembling the Lesser Black-Backed Gull. Eggs stone-buff, blotched and spotted with dusky brown.
Of the two Black-Backed Gulls, the Greater, or 'Cobb', is by far the less frequent on our coasts, and when seen generally occurs in pairs. It remains with us all the year, but is most frequent in the south during winter. In spring, Great Black-Backed Gulls for the most part withdraw to cliffs and rocky islands far north, as, for instance, the Orkneys and Hebrides, where they are numerous, a few only nesting southwards. Unlike most other Gulls, birds of this species are unsociable even in the breeding season. They build their nests on the most inaccessible parts of the rocks, and reserve the situation entirely to themselves, not even permitting birds of their own species or any other intruders to settle there. They are exceedingly wary, and give notice of the approach of danger to other animals. Consequently, they are held in dislike by the gunner, whether in pursuit of sea-birds or seals. Like the rest of the Gulls, they are omnivorous, but are, more than any others, addicted to carrion, in quest of which they often wander inland; hence, they are sometimes called Carrion Gulls. 'If a floating prize presents itself', says Mr. St. John, 'such as the remains of a large fish or dead bird, it is soon discovered by one of the large Gulls, who is not, however, allowed to enjoy his prize alone, for every one of his fellows within sight joins in tearing it to pieces. When I have winged a Duck, and it has escaped and gone out to sea, I have frequently seen it attacked, and devoured almost alive, by these birds.'
Stations occur here and there on the coast of England in which the Great Black-Backed Gull builds. It sometimes resorts to a marsh at the breeding season, but retains its habit of driving away all intruders. Its eggs are prized as dainties, being thought to resemble Plovers' eggs.
GLAUCOUS GULL, OR BURGOMASTERLARUS GLAUCUS
General plumage white; back and wings bluish grey; tail and terminal portion of the quills white; bill strong, yellow; legs livid flesh-colour.Youngmottled with white, grey, and light brown; shafts of the quills white; in other respects like the last, but the bill is longer and stouter. Length about twenty-nine inches; breadth five feet two inches. Eggs as in the last, but of a greener hue.
The Glaucous Gull, a large, handsome, and powerful bird, resembles in many of its habits the species last described, but it has not been known to breed in even the most northerly of the British Isles. It pays occasional visits to our shores in winter. A few specimens only have been shot in the southern portion of the island, and no large number in Scotland; but in the neighbourhood of the whale fishery it is common enough. It is very voracious, and not only eats fish, whether dead or alive, and shares with the whale-fisher in his booty, but pursues other sea-fowl, compels them to disgorge their prey, robs them of their eggs, and, if they resist, kills and devours them.[52]In short, it is the very tyrant of the Arctic Ocean. Its predatory habits were noticed by the early navigators in these waters, who gave it the name of Burgomaster; but as no accurate description of the bird was brought home, and as some of our other large Gulls are open to a charge of similar rapacity, the name was naturally transferred by Willughby to another species, which he calls the Wagel (probably the Great Black-Backed Gull in immature plumage). This was in 1676. A hundred years later Brunnich gave it the name of Glaucous Gull; but it is still called Burgomaster by the Dutch, and by Arctic voyagers generally.
Mr. St. John gives the name of Wagel to the Great Grey Gull.