GREEN HERON.Photo by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt][Washington.GREEN HERON.This is a North American bird of skulking and nocturnal habits.
Photo by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt][Washington.GREEN HERON.This is a North American bird of skulking and nocturnal habits.
Photo by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt][Washington.
GREEN HERON.
This is a North American bird of skulking and nocturnal habits.
TheCattle-egret, better known as theBuff-backed Heron, breeds in the southern portion of the Spanish Peninsula, where from March to autumn it is very common in the marshes of Andalusia, thousands congregating there, herding with the cattle, from the backs of which they may be often seen picking off the ticks; hence the Spaniards give them a name meaning "cattle-cleaners."
TheNight-heronsare comparatively small birds, and derive their name from their habit of turning night into day, waking up only as the shades of evening fall to hunt for food; only during the breeding-season is this habit broken through, when they are obliged to huntfor food for their young during the daytime. They breed in colonies, in bushes or low trees in the neighbourhood of swamps. In some places they are protected—as, for instance, round the Great Honam Temple at Canton, where these birds are held sacred.
Colonel Swinhoe, says Mr. Howard Saunders, describes the nests "as placed thickly in some venerable banyans, the granite slabs that form the pavement beneath the trees being bedaubed with the droppings of old and young, while from the nests arose the chattering cry of the callow broods, for which the parent birds were catering the whole day long, becoming more active at sunset. As darkness set in, the noise and hubbub from the trees rose to a fearful pitch."
BUFF-BACKED HERON.Photo by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S.][Regent's Park.BUFF-BACKED HERON.This bird habitually picks insects from the backs of cattle.
Photo by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S.][Regent's Park.BUFF-BACKED HERON.This bird habitually picks insects from the backs of cattle.
Photo by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S.][Regent's Park.
BUFF-BACKED HERON.
This bird habitually picks insects from the backs of cattle.
In Hungary large numbers of herons and egrets breed together in the marshes, egrets and night-herons breeding together with the common and purple herons. Landbeck, an enthusiastic ornithologist, writes of such heronries: "The clamour in these breeding-places is so tremendous and singular in its character as almost to defy description; it must be heard before a person can form any idea of what it is like. At a distance these hideous noises blend with a confused roar, so as in some way to resemble the hubbub caused by a party of drunken Hungarian peasants; and it is only on a nearer approach the separate notes of the two species, the common and the night-heron, can be distinguished—namely, 'craik' and 'quack,' to which the notes of the young, 'zek-zek-zek,' ... in different keys, serve as an accompaniment. When close to, the noise is tremendous and the stench unbearable. This, together with the sight of dozens of young herons in every stage of putrefaction and teeming with maggots, is perfectly sickening, though the contemplation of life and movement in this immense heronry is a matter of interest to the true ornithologist.... The tops of the highest trees are usually occupied by the nests of the common heron; a little lower down is the habitation of the shy and beautifulGreat Egret, while in the forks of the lowest branches the night-heron takes up her abode. All these species build in one and the same tree, the nests numbering not infrequently as many as fifteen in a single tree, and yet peace invariably reigns amongst all these varieties. High over the trees appears the common heron, laden with booty, announcing his arrival with a hoarse 'craaich,' when, changing his note to a goose-like 'da-da-da-da,' he either jerks the provender down the throats of the ever-hungry youngsters or throws it up before them, when the fish are greedily swallowed, amid a desperate accompaniment of 'gohé-é-é-é, gohé-é-é-é',' a sound much resembling the frantic cry of a calf which is being lifted into a farmer's market-cart. The conduct of the more cautious egret is very different. Circling far above the nest, she first satisfies herself that no foe is hidden below before she alights among her family, which are much quieter and less hasty than their cousins. The night-herons, on the contrary, approach their nests from all sides, high and low, their crops filled with frogs, fish, and insects. A deep 'quâk' or 'gowek' announces the arrival of the old bird already from some distance, to which the young answer, while feeding, with a note resembling 'queht, queht,' or 'quehaoâheh, quehoehah'. As soon as the parents have taken their departure the youngsters recommence their concert, and from every nest uninterrupted cries of 'tzik, tzik, tzik, tzek-tzek, tzek,' and 'gétt, gétt-gétt,' arethe order of the day. This amusement is varied by the nestlings climbing out among the branches till they reach the top of the tree, whence they can have a good look-out, and can see the old birds returning home from a long distance, though they are in many cases often mistaken in their identity."
A common North American bird is the so-calledGreen Heron, known by many local aliases, such as "Fly-up-the-Creek," "Chalk-line," and "Chuckle-head." Seen at short range, its plumage is lustrous and beautiful, but this disappears as soon as the bird takes wing. The nest is of very loose construction; and a story is told of one which was such a shaky concern that every time the old birds jarred it a stick fell off, and the structure grew smaller and smaller, until the day when the young were ready to fly there were but three sticks left; finally these parted, and the little herons found themselves perching on the branch that once held the nest!
The Bitterns.
These are birds of a remarkable type of coloration, adapted to aid their skulking habits. The coloration partakes so completely of the nature of the undergrowth among which they dwell, that, aided by certain peculiar habits described below, they succeed in harmonising so perfectly with their surroundings as to render themselves invisible to their enemies.
INDIAN CATTLE-EGRET.Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co.][Parson's Green.INDIAN CATTLE-EGRET.This is a species of buff-backed heron, and earns its name from its habit of hovering round cattle for the sake of picking off the ticks by which they are infested.
Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co.][Parson's Green.INDIAN CATTLE-EGRET.This is a species of buff-backed heron, and earns its name from its habit of hovering round cattle for the sake of picking off the ticks by which they are infested.
Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co.][Parson's Green.
INDIAN CATTLE-EGRET.
This is a species of buff-backed heron, and earns its name from its habit of hovering round cattle for the sake of picking off the ticks by which they are infested.
The best-known species is theCommon Bittern, though this epithet is no longer applicable, for at the present time it is but an occasional visitant to Britain. Once it was plentiful enough, as the frequent references both in prose and poetry bear witness. These references have been inspired mainly by its very peculiar note, made apparently only during the breeding-season. This sound is variously described as "booming," "bellowing," and "bumping," and many are the theories which have been invented to account for its origin. Thomson, in "The Seasons," says that it is made whilst the beak is thrust into the mud:—
The bittern knows his time, with bill ingulf'dTo shake the sounding marsh.
The bittern knows his time, with bill ingulf'd
To shake the sounding marsh.
Chaucer, that it is caused whilst it is immersed under water; and Dryden represents it asmade by thrusting the bill into a reed. Mr. J. E. Harting is one of the few who have actually watched the bird during the production of the sound, and from him we gather that it is made by expelling the air from the throat whilst the head is held vertically upwards.
The protective coloration and the peculiar habits associated therewith have only recently been recognised. These birds, when threatened, do not take flight, but immediately bring the body and the long neck and pointed head into one vertical line, and remain absolutely motionless so long as the cause of alarm persists. The peculiar coloration of the body harmonises so perfectly with the surrounding undergrowth, that, as just remarked, detection is well-nigh impossible. Although the pattern and tone of the coloration vary in the various species of bittern—which occur all over the world—this principle of protection obtains in all.
The drainage of the fens is answerable for the extinction of the bittern in England.
We would draw special attention to the great length of the feathers on the neck, which, when the bird is excited, are extended on either side to form an enormous feather shield. This is admirably shown in the photograph below, which represents a bittern preparing to strike. It is a curious fact that, when extended, the hind part of the neck is protected only by a thin coat of down. When the excitement has passed, the elongated feathers fall again, and, curling round the unprotected area, give the bird the appearance of having a perfectly normally clothed neck.
A wounded bittern will strike at either man or dog, and is extremely dangerous, owing to the sharpness of its dagger-like bill. If a dog advances on one not entirely disabled, the bird immediately turns itself upon its back, and fights with beak and claws, after the fashion of a wounded hawk or owl. Owing to the way in which the neck can be tucked up, by throwing it into a series of curves, and then suddenly extended, great danger attends the approach of the unwary.
The bittern is by no means particular in its choice of food, small mammals, birds, lizards, frogs, fishes, and beetles being alike palatable. The writer remembers taking from the gullet and stomach of one of these birds no less than four water-voles, three of which had apparently been killed only just before it was shot, for the process of digestion had hardly begun.
On migration these birds appear to travel in flocks of considerable size, since Captain Kelham reports having seen as many as fifty together high up in the air, when between Alexandria and Cairo. Curiously enough, they flew like "a gaggle" of geese—in the form of a V; but every now and then he noticed they, for some reason or other, got into great confusion.
At one time the flesh of the bittern was much esteemed as food for the table, being likened in taste and colour to the leveret, with some of the flavour of wild-fowl. Sir Thomas Browne, who flourished during the middle of the seventeenth century, says that young bitterns were considered better eating than young herons.
COMMON BITTERN.Photo by J. L. Bonhote, Esq.COMMON BITTERN.Preparing to attack (side view).
Photo by J. L. Bonhote, Esq.COMMON BITTERN.Preparing to attack (side view).
Photo by J. L. Bonhote, Esq.
COMMON BITTERN.
Preparing to attack (side view).
In the fourteenth century it bred in considerable numbers in the fens of Cambridgeshire, and was so highly esteemed as a bird for the table that the taking of its eggs was forbidden. At a court-baron of the Bishop of Ely, according to Mr. J. E. Harting, held at Littleport in the eleventh year of the reign of Edward II., several people were fined for taking the eggs of the bittern and carrying them out of the fen, to the great destruction of the birds. Decreasing steadily in numbers, the bittern continued to breed in Britain till the middle of the nineteenth century, one of the last nests being taken in Norfolk in 1868.
AUSTRALIAN COCKATOO.Photo by Henry King, Sydney.AUSTRALIAN COCKATOO.The sulphur-coloured crest of this bird is arranged in the form of a horse-shoe.
Photo by Henry King, Sydney.AUSTRALIAN COCKATOO.The sulphur-coloured crest of this bird is arranged in the form of a horse-shoe.
Photo by Henry King, Sydney.
AUSTRALIAN COCKATOO.
The sulphur-coloured crest of this bird is arranged in the form of a horse-shoe.
MACAW.Photo by Ottomar Anschütz, Berlin.MACAW.Next to the brilliancy of its colouration, the most striking feature about this bird is its huge beak.
Photo by Ottomar Anschütz, Berlin.MACAW.Next to the brilliancy of its colouration, the most striking feature about this bird is its huge beak.
Photo by Ottomar Anschütz, Berlin.
MACAW.
Next to the brilliancy of its colouration, the most striking feature about this bird is its huge beak.
MALE RUFF IN FULL BREEDING PLUMAGE.Photo by W. Saville Kent, F.Z.S.MALE RUFF IN FULL BREEDING PLUMAGE.This wonderful plumage is worn only for a few weeks in the year.
Photo by W. Saville Kent, F.Z.S.MALE RUFF IN FULL BREEDING PLUMAGE.This wonderful plumage is worn only for a few weeks in the year.
Photo by W. Saville Kent, F.Z.S.
MALE RUFF IN FULL BREEDING PLUMAGE.
This wonderful plumage is worn only for a few weeks in the year.
LAUGHING JACKASS.Photo by Henry King, Sydney.LAUGHING JACKASS.This bird is a species of Kingfisher, and has acquired its name on account of its most extraordinary cry.
Photo by Henry King, Sydney.LAUGHING JACKASS.This bird is a species of Kingfisher, and has acquired its name on account of its most extraordinary cry.
Photo by Henry King, Sydney.
LAUGHING JACKASS.
This bird is a species of Kingfisher, and has acquired its name on account of its most extraordinary cry.
Printed at Lyons, France.
EGYPTIAN PELICAN.Photo by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S.][Regent's Park.EGYPTIAN PELICAN.In the Pelicans the two sexes are coloured alike.
Photo by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S.][Regent's Park.EGYPTIAN PELICAN.In the Pelicans the two sexes are coloured alike.
Photo by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S.][Regent's Park.
EGYPTIAN PELICAN.
In the Pelicans the two sexes are coloured alike.
The Pelican Tribe.
CRESTED PELICAN.Photo by the Duchess of Bedford][Woburn Abbey.CRESTED PELICAN.This bird derives its name from the curiously curled feathers on the top of the head and nape of the neck.
Photo by the Duchess of Bedford][Woburn Abbey.CRESTED PELICAN.This bird derives its name from the curiously curled feathers on the top of the head and nape of the neck.
Photo by the Duchess of Bedford][Woburn Abbey.
CRESTED PELICAN.
This bird derives its name from the curiously curled feathers on the top of the head and nape of the neck.
The members of the Pelican Tribe may be readily distinguished from other living birds by the fact that all their toes are united in a common fold of skin or web. In the Ducks and other web-footed birds only the front toes are so united.
The Pelican Tribe embraces several apparently dissimilar forms, whose only claim to be grouped together, judged from a superficial point of view, lies in the fact that they possess the peculiar type of foot above mentioned. With the general appearance of the Pelican itself probably every one is familiar, but we had better mention here that the other representatives of the group with which we have now to deal are the Cormorants and Gannets, common on the British coasts, and the less-known Darters, Frigate-birds, and Tropic-birds; these, as we know from their anatomy, are all closely allied forms, and with the Pelicans make up a somewhat isolated group whose nearest allies appear to be the members of the Stork Tribe.
ThePelicanfigures largely in ecclesiastical heraldry as the type of maternal tenderness. Tradition has it that the bird, in admonishing its young, occasionally did so with such violence as to slay them. Remorse immediately following, the distracted parent drew blood from its own breast, and therewith sprinkled the victims of its wrath, which thereupon became restored to life again. The exhaustion following on this loss of blood was so great that the young had perforce to leave the nest to procure food for themselves and the sinking parent. If any, through lack of filial affection, refused to aid in this good work, the mother, on recovering strength, drove them from her presence, but the faithful children she permitted to follow her wherever she went.
One of the most remarkable features of the pelican is the pouch which hangs suspended from the under side of the beak. This is capable of great distension, and is used, when fishing, as a sort of bag-net, of which the upper jaw serves as the lid. The young are fed by the female, which, pressing her well-filled pouch against her breast, opens her mouth and allows them to take their fill therefrom.
Pelicans display great sagacity when fishing, a flock often combining to form a horseshoe, and, driving the fish into a mass, take their fill. This method, of course, is only possible when fishing in the estuaries of rivers or lakes, where the fish can be "rounded up," so to speak. Clumsy as the pelican looks, it is yet capable of wonderful powers of flight; indeed, it shares the honour with the vultures, storks, and adjutants as an expert in the peculiar form of flight known as "soaring."
A North American species of pelican is remarkable in that during the breeding-season the beak is ornamented with a peculiar horny excrescence, which is shed as soon as that period is over.
YOUNG AUSTRALIAN PELICAN.Photo by D. Le Souef][Melbourne.YOUNG AUSTRALIAN PELICAN.Pelicans, like gannets and cormorants, are hatched perfectly naked and quite blind.
Photo by D. Le Souef][Melbourne.YOUNG AUSTRALIAN PELICAN.Pelicans, like gannets and cormorants, are hatched perfectly naked and quite blind.
Photo by D. Le Souef][Melbourne.
YOUNG AUSTRALIAN PELICAN.
Pelicans, like gannets and cormorants, are hatched perfectly naked and quite blind.
Pelicans are natives of the tropical and temperate regions of the Old and New Worlds, and live in flocks often numbering many thousands. The nest is placed on the ground, and therein are deposited two white eggs. The young are helpless for some time after hatching.
In all some six-and-thirty species ofCormorantsare known to science, of which two are commonly to be met with round the British coasts, one of which also travels inland to establish itself on such lakes and rivers as may afford it support.
In various parts of the world cormorants are taken when young and trained to catch fish: sometimes for sport, or—as in China—to furnish a livelihood for their owners. At one time the Master of the Cormorants was one of the officers in the Royal Household of England, the post having been created in 1611 by James I. The method of hunting is as follows:—After fastening a ring around the neck, the bird is cast off into the water, and, diving immediately, makes its way beneath the surface with incredible speed, and, seizing one fish after another, rises in a short space of time with its mouth full and throat distended by the fish, which it has been unable to swallow by reason of the restraining ring. With these captures it dutifully returns to its keeper, who deftly removes the fish, and either returns the bird to the water, or, giving it a share of the spoil, restores it to its perch.
Cormorants nest either in trees or on the ground; they lay from four to six eggs, and the young feed themselves by thrusting their heads far down the parents' throats and helping themselves to the half-digested fish which they find there.
The cormorant has a certain sinister appearance equalled by no other bird, so that its introduction in Milton's "Paradise Lost" (Book IV., 194) seems particularly appropriate. Satan, it will be remembered, is likened to a cormorant:—
So clomb this first grand Thief into God's fold. . . . . . .Thence up he flew, and in the Tree of Life,The middle tree and highest there that grew,Sat like a cormorant.
So clomb this first grand Thief into God's fold
. . . . . . .
Thence up he flew, and in the Tree of Life,
The middle tree and highest there that grew,
Sat like a cormorant.
YOUNG PELICANS.Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.][Milford-on-Sea.YOUNG PELICANS.Young pelicans never develop long down-feathers, like gannets and frigate-birds.
Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.][Milford-on-Sea.YOUNG PELICANS.Young pelicans never develop long down-feathers, like gannets and frigate-birds.
Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.][Milford-on-Sea.
YOUNG PELICANS.
Young pelicans never develop long down-feathers, like gannets and frigate-birds.
The curious bottle-green plumage, green eyes, long hooked beak, and head surmounted by a crest of the smaller sea-loving representative of the two British species were doubtless familiar enough to Milton before blindness overtook him.
Some of our readers may have made the acquaintance of the cormorant's nearest ally, theDarter, orSnake-neck, in the Fish-house at theZoological Gardens of London. For the sake of those who have not, we may say that the darter may be described as a long-necked cormorant, with somewhat lighter plumage. The head is small and flat, and armed with a pointed, dagger-like bill, whose edges are finely toothed, with needle-like points projecting backwards. The neck is very long and slender; hence its name of Snake-neck. Furthermore, it is remarkable for a very strange "kink," formed by a peculiar arrangement of the neck-bones—an arrangement intimately associated with its peculiar method of capturing its prey, which, as with the cormorant, is pursued under water. How dexterously this is done may be seen any day in the Fish-house at the Zoological Gardens, where, as we have already mentioned, these birds are kept. At feeding-time they are turned loose into a large tank into which a number of small fish have been placed. The birds dive as soon as they reach the water, and with surprising speed chase their prey till within short range. Then, by a sudden bayonet-like lunge, made possible by the peculiar "kink" in the neck, a victim is transfixed, brought to the surface, released from the bill by a series of sudden jerks, tossed into the air, and dexterously caught and swallowed.
CORMORANT.Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co.][Parson's Green.CORMORANT.In the spring a slight crest is developed, and a white patch appears on the thigh.
Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co.][Parson's Green.CORMORANT.In the spring a slight crest is developed, and a white patch appears on the thigh.
Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co.][Parson's Green.
CORMORANT.
In the spring a slight crest is developed, and a white patch appears on the thigh.
The darter is found in Africa, India, the Malay region, Australia, and South America, frequenting the banks of rivers, lakes, and swamps, sometimes singly, sometimes in pairs or in immense flocks.
Very different from either of the foregoing species, both in build and coloration, is theGannet. In its habits it is also different. The adult bird is about the size of a goose, white in colour, and armed with a powerful pointed bill. The young have a quite distinct plumage, being deep brown, speckled with white, this livery being worn for nearly three years.
The greater part of a gannet's lifetime seems to be spent upon the wing, a fact which implies a very different method of feeding from that followed by the cormorant and darter; and this is actually the case. Preying upon shoals of herring, mackerel, sprats, or pilchards, the birds, flying singly or in flocks, as soon as the fish are discovered, rise, soar in circles to such a height as experience shows best calculated to carry them by a downward motion to the required depth, and then, partially closing the wings, plunge upon their prey, and rarely without success, the time which elapses between the plunge and the immersion being about fifteen seconds. A flock of gannets feeding is a really wonderful sight, and can be witnessed in many places around the British coasts, for the gannet is one of the very common British birds. The pilchard-fishermen off the Cornish coast learn when the shoals are at hand, and the direction in which they are travelling, by the actions of these birds. A very cruel experiment is sometimes practised upon the gannet, based upon its well-known method of fishing. A herring is tied to a beam and set adrift, and the bird, not noticing the trap, plunges with its usual velocity upon the fish, with the result that it is killed instantly by the shock of the contact.
FRIGATE-BIRDS AT HOME.By permission of the Hon. Walter Rothschild][Tring.FRIGATE-BIRDS AT HOME.The feathers of frigate-birds are used for head-dresses in the Pacific Islands.
By permission of the Hon. Walter Rothschild][Tring.FRIGATE-BIRDS AT HOME.The feathers of frigate-birds are used for head-dresses in the Pacific Islands.
By permission of the Hon. Walter Rothschild][Tring.
FRIGATE-BIRDS AT HOME.
The feathers of frigate-birds are used for head-dresses in the Pacific Islands.
YOUNG GANNETS, FIRST YEAR.Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co.][Parson's Green.YOUNG GANNETS, FIRST YEAR.The plumage at this stage is very dark brown, each feather being tipped with white.
Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co.][Parson's Green.YOUNG GANNETS, FIRST YEAR.The plumage at this stage is very dark brown, each feather being tipped with white.
Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co.][Parson's Green.
YOUNG GANNETS, FIRST YEAR.
The plumage at this stage is very dark brown, each feather being tipped with white.
Gannets breed in colonies of thousands on the islands off the east and west coasts of Scotland. They lay but a single egg, in a nest composed of seaweed deposited in inaccessible crags of precipitous cliffs. The young are at first naked; later they become clothed with long white down. "At one time," says Mr. Howard Saunders, "young gannets were much esteemed as food, from 1,500 to 2,000 being taken in a season during the month of August. They are hooked up, killed, and flung into the sea, where a boat is waiting to pick up the bodies. These are plucked, cleaned, and half roasted, after which they are sold at from eightpence to a shilling each.... The fat is boiled down into oil, and the feathers, after being well baked, are used for stuffing beds, about a hundred birds producing a stone of feathers."
GANNET, SECOND YEAR.Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co.][Parson's Green.GANNET, SECOND YEAR.The white plumage of the neck is just beginning to appear.
Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co.][Parson's Green.GANNET, SECOND YEAR.The white plumage of the neck is just beginning to appear.
Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co.][Parson's Green.
GANNET, SECOND YEAR.
The white plumage of the neck is just beginning to appear.
Gannets present one or two structural peculiarities of sufficient interest to mention here. In most birds, it will be remembered, the nostrils open on each side of the beak; but in the gannet no trace of true nostrils remains; and the same may almost be said of the cormorant and darter. In gannets, however, a slight indication of their sometime existence remains, though the nostril itself no longer serves as an air-passage; and these birds are compelled to breathe through the mouth. Again, the tongue, like the nostrils, has also been reduced to a mere vestige. Stranger still is the fact that immediately under the skin there lies an extensive system of air-cells of large size, which can be inflated or emptied at will. Many of these cells dip down between the muscles of the body, so that the whole organism is pervaded with air-cells, all of which are in connection with the lungs.
GANNET, FULL PLUMAGE.Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co.][Parson's Green.GANNET, FULL PLUMAGE.The fully adult plumage is not attained till the bird is three years old.
Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co.][Parson's Green.GANNET, FULL PLUMAGE.The fully adult plumage is not attained till the bird is three years old.
Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co.][Parson's Green.
GANNET, FULL PLUMAGE.
The fully adult plumage is not attained till the bird is three years old.
TheFrigate-andTropic-birds, which now remain to be described, are probably much less familiar to our readers than the foregoing species.
GANNETS ON THE BASS ROCK.Photo by Valentine & Sons, Ltd.][Dundee.GANNETS ON THE BASS ROCK.The Bass Rock is the only breeding-station of the gannet on the eastern coast of the British Islands.
Photo by Valentine & Sons, Ltd.][Dundee.GANNETS ON THE BASS ROCK.The Bass Rock is the only breeding-station of the gannet on the eastern coast of the British Islands.
Photo by Valentine & Sons, Ltd.][Dundee.
GANNETS ON THE BASS ROCK.
The Bass Rock is the only breeding-station of the gannet on the eastern coast of the British Islands.
Frigate-birdsare remarkable in more ways than one. To begin with, their general appearance may be described as that of a small, long-winged, fork-tailed albatross, mounted upon particularly diminutive legs, so short as to do little more than raise the body off the ground. Their flight is wonderfully graceful, and capable of being sustained for considerable periods; for, like the gannets, they pass most of their time on the wing. They feed upon surface-fish, which they capture from the surface of the water without alighting, or upon fish which they take from the gannets of the neighbourhood.
Frigate-birds build their nests in trees, on low bushes, or on the ground, and sometimes upon ledges of precipitous cliffs. The nest is a loose structure composed of sticks, and its construction is accompanied by much pilfering from one another. Only a single egg is laid.
About the beginning of January the male acquires a very remarkable pouch of brilliant scarlet skin, which hangs beneath the beak. Frigate-birds are found all over the world within the tropics.
TheTropic-birds, orBoatswain-birds, as they are sometimes called, are more like gulls or the heavier species of terns in general appearance, and in no way resemble superficially the forms with which they are associated, save in the fact that all the toes are enclosed in the same web. A study of their anatomy, however, leaves little doubt that these birds are really members of the Pelican Tribe.
Either pure white, relieved with black, or of a beautiful apricot-yellow, with similar black markings, with a powerful bill and long tapering tail, the tropic-bird is one of the most beautiful of sea-birds. There are altogether about six species of tropic-birds, distributed over the Pacific and Indian Oceans. They nest in hollows of cliffs or holes in trees, and lay a single egg, which bears some resemblance to that of a kestrel.
SCREAMERS, DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS.
Familiar as are most of our readers with all save the first mentioned of these birds, yet few probably suspect how great a wealth of forms this group displays. All are more or less aquatic in their habits, of heavy build, with long necks and small heads, short legs, and short wings and tails. The young are hatched covered with a peculiar kind of down, which more nearly resembles that of the Ostrich Tribe than the down of other birds, and they run about or accompany their parents to the water either immediately or a few hours after hatching. Several species have become domesticated, and in some cases have given rise to peculiar breeds, whilst many are much in demand for the purpose of enlivening ornamental waters.
CRESTED SCREAMER, OR CHAKA.Photo by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S.][Regent's Park.CRESTED SCREAMER, OR CHAKA.The Crested and Horned Screamers are the only members of the family without webbed feet.
Photo by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S.][Regent's Park.CRESTED SCREAMER, OR CHAKA.The Crested and Horned Screamers are the only members of the family without webbed feet.
Photo by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S.][Regent's Park.
CRESTED SCREAMER, OR CHAKA.
The Crested and Horned Screamers are the only members of the family without webbed feet.
The least-known members of the group are the very remarkable and extremely interestingScreamersof South America, of which there are three species. These are large birds, presenting some resemblances to the Game-birds on the one hand and the Geese on theother. Not only the beak, but the skull, in certain characters, recalls that of the Game-birds. The body may be described as goose-like, but in the longer legs and enormous toes, which are not connected by a web, these birds recall the Megapodes, or Mound-builders (page411).
AYLESBURY DUCK.Photo by J. T. Newman][Berkhamsted.AYLESBURY DUCK.This is one of the most esteemed of all domesticated breeds.
Photo by J. T. Newman][Berkhamsted.AYLESBURY DUCK.This is one of the most esteemed of all domesticated breeds.
Photo by J. T. Newman][Berkhamsted.
AYLESBURY DUCK.
This is one of the most esteemed of all domesticated breeds.
The screamers are generally regarded as primitive members of the group with which they are now associated; but in many respects they are quite peculiar. Not the least interesting of their habits is the great predilection they observe for soaring in the air at immense altitudes, uttering the while the curious cry to which they owe their name. Several birds often do this at once. Yet stranger is the fact that they not seldom gather together in vast flocks to sing in concert. Mr. Hudson, for instance, states that the species known as theCrested Screameron one occasion surprised him by "an awful and overpowering burst of 'melody,'" which saluted him from half a million of voices at an out-of-the-way spot in the pampas one evening at nine o'clock; and, again, once at noon he heard flock after flock take up their song round the entire circuit of a certain lake, each flock waiting its turn to sing, and only stopping when the duty had been performed.
Like the gannet, these birds are richly supplied with air-cells between the body and the skin, and between many of the muscles; so highly are these cells developed, that it is said a crackling sound is emitted when pressure is applied to the skin.
POCHARD.Photo by J. W. McLellan][Highbury.POCHARD.This is one of the diving-ducks.
Photo by J. W. McLellan][Highbury.POCHARD.This is one of the diving-ducks.
Photo by J. W. McLellan][Highbury.
POCHARD.
This is one of the diving-ducks.
The wings of these birds are armed each with a pair of powerful and sharp spurs, recalling those of certain of the Plover Tribe (page421), though in the latter only one spur is present on each wing.
The division of the remainder of this group into Ducks, Geese, and Swans is generally recognised, but no hard-and-fast line can yet be drawn between the several sections. We must regard them as representing adaptations to peculiar modes of life, which appear to be most marked in the duck-like forms. These may be divided intoFresh-water Ducks,Salt-water Ducks,Spiny-tailed Ducks, andMergansers.
Of theFresh-water Ducks, the most familiar is theWild-duck, orMallard. This is a resident British bird, and also the parent of the domesticated stock, which frequently closely resembles the wild form. In this species, as with the majority of the fresh-water ducks,the males wear a distinctive livery; but the males for a few weeks during the summer assume more or less completely the livery of the female, a process aptly described as going into "eclipse." The assumption of the female dress at this season is necessary, since it harmonises completely with the surrounding foliage, and so effectually conceals the bird at a time when it is peculiarly helpless; for, as with all birds, the quills or flight-feathers are cast off by the process known as moulting once a year, but instead of being replaced in pairs, and the flight remaining unaffected, they are shed all at once, so that escape from enemies must be sought by concealment.
EIDER-DUCK.Photo by W. F. Piggott][Leighton Buzzard.EIDER-DUCK.It is the down of this bird which is so much in demand for quilts.
Photo by W. F. Piggott][Leighton Buzzard.EIDER-DUCK.It is the down of this bird which is so much in demand for quilts.
Photo by W. F. Piggott][Leighton Buzzard.
EIDER-DUCK.
It is the down of this bird which is so much in demand for quilts.
Usually among birds the male has the more powerful voice, but with the mallard and its allies the reverse is the case, the female giving forth the loud familiar "quack, quack," whilst the note of the male sounds like a feeble attempt to answer its mate, but smothered by a cold in the head. This peculiar and characteristic subdued voice is associated with a remarkable bulb-shaped bony enlargement at the bottom of the windpipe, just where it branches off to the right and left lungs, the female being without this swelling.
SHELDRAKE.Photo by W. F. Piggott][Leighton Buzzard.SHELDRAKE.The female bird is just entering her nest at the bottom of a long burrow.
Photo by W. F. Piggott][Leighton Buzzard.SHELDRAKE.The female bird is just entering her nest at the bottom of a long burrow.
Photo by W. F. Piggott][Leighton Buzzard.
SHELDRAKE.
The female bird is just entering her nest at the bottom of a long burrow.
The nest is composed of grass, and lined with down plucked by the female from her own breast, with the sole object, it is generally believed, of keeping the eggs warm; but it is possible that the down is removed as much for the sake of bringing the warm surface of the body in closer contact with the eggs. The site chosen for the nest is exceedingly varied; usually the nest is placed on the ground and near the water, but sometimes in a hedgerow or in a wood, and occasionally in trees, and instances are on record where the deserted nests of hawks and crows have been appropriated. At such times the young seem to be brought to the ground by the parent, which carries them down in her bill. It is some time before the wings of the young birds are big enough to carry them; indeed, they are quite full grown in so far as the body is concerned. At this stage they are known as "flappers." Advantage was at one time taken of their helplessness in the "sport" known as "flapper-shooting." On other occasions numbers of people assembled and "beat" a vast tract of country, driving these young flappers before them to a given spot where nets were placed, in which as many as 150 dozen have been taken at one time. Fortunately this practice has been abolished by Act of Parliament.
Several very distinctdomesticated breeds of ducks have been derived from the mallard. The commonest breed differs but little, save in its great size, from the wild parent form, but the most esteemed are those known as theRouenandAylesbury. ThePenguin-Duckis the most aberrant and the ugliest of these breeds, having a peculiarly upright, awkward carriage, and very small wings.
TheSalt-water Ducks, orDiving-ducks, are for the most part of a heavier build than the foregoing species, and many are of a sombre coloration. All the species are expert divers, and in consequence have the legs, which are short, placed far backwards, and this causes them to assume a more upright carriage when on land. The curious bony bulb at the base of the windpipe found in the fresh-water species becomes in the salt-water forms greatly enlarged, and its walls incompletely ossified, leaving large spaces to be filled by peculiarly delicate sheets of membrane. The majority of the species in this section frequent the open sea, but some occur inland.
PARADISE-DUCKS.Photo by W. Reid][Wishaw, N.B.PARADISE-DUCKS.This species is a native of New Zealand, where the photograph was taken. The bird on the right with the white head is the female.
Photo by W. Reid][Wishaw, N.B.PARADISE-DUCKS.This species is a native of New Zealand, where the photograph was taken. The bird on the right with the white head is the female.
Photo by W. Reid][Wishaw, N.B.
PARADISE-DUCKS.
This species is a native of New Zealand, where the photograph was taken. The bird on the right with the white head is the female.
One of the most useful, and at the same time most ornamental, of this section is theEider-duck, the male in full plumage being a truly magnificent bird: the female, as in the majority of ducks, is clad in sober colours. In Iceland and Norway the eider-duck is strictly protected, a fine being imposed for killing it during the breeding-season, or even for firing a gun near its haunts. This most unusual care is, however, by no means of a disinterested kind, but is extended solely that certain privileged persons may rob the birds of their eggs and the down on which they rest, the latter being the valuable eiderdown so much in demand for bed-coverlets and other purposes. "The eggs and down," says Professor Newton, "are taken at intervals of a few days by the owners of the 'eider-fold,' and the birds are thus kept depositing both during the whole season.... Every duck is ultimately allowed to hatch an egg or two to keep up the stock." Mr. W. C. Sheppard gives an interesting account of a visit to an eider-colony on an island off the coast of Iceland. "On landing," he says, "the ducks and their nests were everywhere. Great brown ducks sat upon their nests in masses, and at every step started from under our feet. It was with difficulty we avoided treading on some of the nests. On the coast of the opposite shore was a wall built of large stones ... about 3 feet high and of considerable thickness. At the bottom, on both sides of it, alternate stones had been left out, so as to form a series of square apartments for the ducks to nest in. Almost every apartment was occupied.... The house itself was a marvel. The earthen walls that surrounded it, and the window embrasures, were occupied by ducks. On the ground the house was fringed with ducks. On the turf slopes of its roof we could see ducks, and a duck sat on the door-scraper. The grassy banks had been cut into square patches, about 18 inches having been removed, and each hollow had been filled with ducks. A windmill was infested, and so were all the outhouses, mounds, rocks, and crevices. The ducks were everywhere. Many were so tame that we could stroke them on their nests, and the good lady told us that there was scarcely a duck on the island that would not allow her to take its eggs without flight or fear."