Order Steganopodes
Family Pelecanidæ
Feet entirely webbed, or all four toes connected by webs.
THE COMMON CORMORANT
PHALACRÓCORAX CARBO
Tail of fourteen feathers. Winter—head, neck, and all the under parts, black, with green reflections; close to the base of the bill a broad white gorget; on the neck a few faint whitish lines; feathers of the back and wings bronze-colour bordered with black; primaries and tail black; beak dusky; orbits greenish yellow; irides green; feet black. Summer—feathers of the head elongated, forming a crest; on the head and neck numerous long silky white feathers; on the thighs a patch of pure white. Young birds brown and grey, the gorget greyish white. Length three feet. Eggs greenish white, chalky.
Phalacrocorax, the modern systematic name of the genus Cormorant, is given by Willughby as a synonym of the Coot, and with much propriety, for translated into English it means ‘Bald Crow’. Applied to the Cormorant, it must be considered as descriptive of the semblance of baldness produced by the white feathers of the head during the breeding season. The Cormorant Willughby describes under the name of Corvus aquaticus, or Water Raven. The English name,’Corvorant’, is clearly Corvus vorans, a voracious Raven; and ‘Cormorant’ perhaps a corruption of Corvus marinus, Sea Raven.
sea-side visitors are pretty sure of seeing more than one specimen of this bird, if they care to look for them, for the Cormorant frequents all parts of the coast as well as lakes and rivers, and does not leave us at any period of the year. Often we may see two or three of these birds flying along together at a slight distance above the surface of the sea, distinguished by their black hue, long outstretched neck, and rapid waving of the wings. They fly swiftly in a straight line, and seem to be kept from dipping into the water by making ahead at full speed. There is no buoyancy in their flight, no floating in the air, or soaring; their sole motive for using their narrow but muscular wings is clearly that they may repair to or from some favourite spot with greater speed than they can attain by swimming or diving. Occasionally, while engaged in a boating expedition, we may encounter a party of three or four occupied in fishing. They are shy, and will not allow a near approach, but even at a distance they may be distinguished by their large size, sooty hue, long necks, and hooked beaks. They sit low in the water, often dipping their heads below the surface, and in this posture advancing, in order that their search for food may not be impeded by the ripple of the water. A sheltered bay in which shoals of small fish abound is a choice resort, and here they make no long continuous stay in the swimming attitude, but suddenly and frequently dive, remaining below a longer or shorter time, according to the depth which they have to descend in order to secure their prey, but when successful, occupying but a very brief space of time in swallowing it. Not unfrequently they may be discerned from the shore similarly occupied, floating or diving in the midst of the very breakers. Sometimes, but rarely, one settles on a rail or stump of a tree close to the water in a tidal river. The capture of fish is still its object, and it is quite as expert in securing its prey from such a station as when roving at large on the open sea.
All along our coast there is at various intervals a rock popularly distinguished in the neighbourhood by the name of ‘Shag rock’. Such a rock is generally low, isolated, and situated at a safe distance from land; or, if near the shore, is close to the base of a steep cliff. Hither the Cormorants, when their hunger is appeased, repair for the threefold purpose of resting, digesting their food, and drying their wings. The process of digestion is soon completed, but the time consumed in drying their thoroughly drenched wings depends on the amount of sunshine and air moving. Of these, whatever they may be, they know how to avail themselves to perfection. They station themselves on the highest ridge of the rock, wide apart, and in a row, so as not to screen one another, raise their bodies to their full height, and spread their wings to their utmost extent. No laundress is more cunning in the exercise of her vocation. Indeed, they can hardly fail to recall the idea of so many pairs of black trousers hung out to be aired.
Cormorants do not confine their fishing expeditions to the sea, but frequently ascend tidal rivers, and follow the course of streams which communicate with fish-ponds and lakes, where they commit great havoc; for the quantity of fish which they devour at a meal is very great. Pliny has observed that the Cormorant sometimes perches on trees; and the truth of this remark has been confirmed by many subsequent writers. They have been even known to build their nest in a tree, but this is a rare occurrence.29 They generally select exposed rocks, where they collect a large quantity of sticks and rubbish, and lay three or four eggs in a depression on the summit.
Most people are familiar with a representation of a fishery with the help of Cormorants conducted by the Chinese; but it is not so generally known that a similar method once was practised in England. Willughby quoting Faber’s Annotations on the Animals of Recchus, says: ‘It is the custom in England to train Cormorants to catch fish. While conveying the birds to the fishing-ground the fishermen keep the heads and eyes of the birds covered to prevent them from being alarmed. When they have reached the rivers, they take off the hoods, and having first tied a leather strap loosely round the lower part of the neck, that the birds may be unable to swallow down what fishes they catch, throw them into the water. They immediately set to work and pursue the fish beneath them with marvellous rapidity. When they have caught one they rise to the surface, and, having first pinched it with their beaks, swallow it as far as the strap permits, and renew the chase until they have caught from five to six each. On being called to return to their masters’ fist, they obey with alacrity, and bring up, one by one, the fish they have swallowed, injured no farther than that they are slightly crushed. The fishing being brought to an end, the birds are removed from the neighbourhood of the water, the strap is untied, and a few of the captured fish, thrown to them as their share of the booty, are dexterously caught before they touch the ground.’
THE SHAG
PHALACRÓCORAX GRÁCULUS
Tail graduated, of twelve feathers. In winter, general plumage deep greenish black; feathers of the back glossy with black borders; orbits and pouch greenish yellow; bill dusky; irides green; feet black. In summer, head crested. Young birds greenish brown above; light grey below. Length twenty-eight inches. Eggs greenish blue, chalky.
Except in the smaller size and differences of plumage mentioned above, there is little to distinguish the Shag from the Cormorant. Both, too, are of common occurrence, and frequent the same localities; except that the Shag is more disposed to be gregarious: it does not, however, commonly resort to tidal rivers, and is still more rarely found on inland lakes; its food and method of obtaining it are precisely similar, so that a description of one bird will suit the other almost equally well. The Shag is called sometimes the Green Cormorant, from the tint of its plumage; but this name is not in common use. Another of its names is the Crested Cormorant; but this is vague, inasmuch as both species are crested in spring. In Scotland a common name for it is Scart, applied also to the Great Cormorant.
THE GANNET
SULA BASSANA
Crown buff-yellow; general plumage milk-white; quills black; bill bluish grey at the base, white at the tip; orbits pale blue; membrane prolonged from the gape and that under the throat dusky blue; irides yellow; feet striped with green, the membranes dusky; claws white. Birds of the first year, general plumage dusky brown, beneath greyish. In the second year, greyish black above, marked with numerous triangular white spots, whitish below. Length three feet. Eggs dull greenish white.
It would not be difficult to compile, from various sources, a description of the Gannet and its habits which would fill more pages than my readers, perhaps, would care to peruse. To avoid this contingency, I will limit myself to a statement of my own personal acquaintance with the bird and its ways, and a transcript of notes kindly furnished me by a friend who visited the Bass Rock, one of its favourite haunts in the breeding season.
Extract from my own Journal.—‘August 27th. I lay for a long time to-day on the thick herbage which crowns the splendid cliffs, “the Gobbins”, near the entrance of Belfast Lough, watching through a telescope the proceedings of some Gannets, or Solan Geese. This bird, which is allied to the Pelicans rather than the Geese, is of a large size, much bigger than a Gull, from which, also, it may be distinguished at a distance by its greater length of neck, the intense whiteness of its plumage, and the black tip of its wide-spreading wings. But apart from all these distinguishing characters, its mode of fishing is, by itself, sufficient to mark it. In flight it is eminently wandering; it circles round and round, or describes a figure of eight, at a varying elevation above the water, in quest of herrings, pilchards, or other fish whose habit is to swim near the surface. When it has discovered a prey, it suddenly arrests its flight, partially closes its wings, and descends head foremost with a force sufficient to make a jet d’eau visible two or three miles off, and to carry itself many feet downwards. When successful, it brings its prize to the surface, and devours it without troubling itself about mastication. If unsuccessful, it rises immediately, and resumes its hunting. It is sometimes seen swimming, perhaps to rest itself, for I did not observe that it ever dived on these occasions. My companion told me that the fishermen on the coast of Ireland say that, if chased by a boat when seen swimming, it becomes so terrified as to be unable to rise. The real reason may be that it is gorged with food. He was once in a boat on the Lough, when, a Gannet being seen a long way ahead, it was determined to give chase, and ascertain whether the statement was correct. As the boat drew near, the Gannet endeavoured to escape by swimming; but made no attempt either to dive or to use its wings. After a pretty long chase, the bowman secured it in spite of a very severe bite which it inflicted on his hand, and carried it home in triumph. It did not appear to have received any injury, and when released, in the evening of the same day, swam out to sea with great composure. A fisherman in Islay told me that in some parts of Scotland a singular method of catching Gannets is adopted. A herring is fastened to a board and sunk a few feet deep in the sea. The sharp eye of the Gannet detects the fish, and the bird, first raising itself to an elevation which experience or instinct has taught it to be sufficient to carry it down to the requisite depth, pounces on the fish, and in the effort penetrates the board to which the fish is attached. Being thus held fast by the beak, and unable to extricate itself, it is drowned. Gannets are frequently caught in the herring-nets, at various depths below the surface. Diving after the fish, they become entangled in the nets, and are thus captured in a trap not intended for them. They perform good service to fishermen, by indicating at a great distance the exact position of the shoals of fish.’
Gannets breed in great numbers on several parts of our rocky coast; from the extreme north to Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel. The two most important stations are St. Kilda and the Bass Rock, in the Firth of Forth. On this rock stand the ruins of the once formidable stronghold of the Douglas family, the Castle of Tantallan. In circumference the island is about a mile; on the northern side it rises to an elevation of eight hundred feet, whilst towards the south it shelves almost down to the sea. The isolated position of this rock, and the difficulty of landing on it, have rendered it a fit retreat for sea-fowl of various kinds; and as the proprietor ‘preserves’ them, they flourish without sensible diminution. The discharge of a gun causes the whole of the colony to take wing; and as they rise into the air, the eye of the spectator is dazzled by the mazy intercrossings of white wings, the ear bewildered by the discord of confused screamings. A visit paid at sunrise, when flocks of various kinds are wheeling about in all directions, will more than reward the early riser for his activity, for Scotland scarcely offers a more interesting sight. Of all the numerous birds which frequent the rock, the Solan Goose is the most abundant and most profitable, as almost the only revenue of the island accrues from the sale of these birds to the country people of the mainland, and at the Edinburgh market, where they have fetched, for the last century and a half, the unvarying price of two shillings and fourpence a head. The size of the Gannet is somewhat larger than that of the domestic Goose.
‘The only parts of the island where they can be approached are on the south and west sides. They sit lazily and stupidly on and about their nests, which are composed of a mass of weeds and grass, and will suffer themselves to be stroked, patted, or knocked on the head, as the case may be, with a most philosophical gravity. They are frequently shot; but as they then generally fall into the sea, a boat has to be on the alert, or they are soon washed away. The plan of lowering a man by means of a rope held by the others, is also adopted; but this is most dangerous. The Frigate Pelican [The Skua?] often chases a successful Gannet till the terrified bird disgorges its prey, which the pursuer seizes before it reaches the water.’
‘A Solan Goose to most people would not afford a delicious meal, being a rank, coarse, fishy dish; but many of the poorer classes eat them with a relish—nay, as a delicacy—and during the winter would fare ill had they not these birds for food.’
The Gannet lays but one egg; and the young bird is nourished on semi-liquid food disgorged by the parent. On its first exclusion from the egg its skin is naked, and of a bluish black hue, but is soon covered with a white down. Through this the true feathers appear, which are black, the adult plumage being pure white.
For an interesting account of the capture of these birds at St. Kilda, the reader is referred to Professor James Wilson’s Voyage round the Coast of Scotland. From a calculation once made of the number of Gannets consumed by each family in a year, on this island, it appeared that the total secured, not taking into account a large number which could not be reached for various reasons, was 22,600: and this number was considered to be below the average, the season being a bad one.
FAMILY ARDEIDÆ
THE COMMON HERON
ÁRDEA CINÉREA
A crest of elongated bluish black feathers at the back of the head; similar feathers of a lustrous white hanging from the lower part of the neck; scapulars similar, silver grey; forehead, neck, middle of the belly, edge of the wings, and thighs, pure white; back of the head, sides of the breast, and flanks, deep black; front of the neck streaked with grey; upper plumage bluish grey; beak deep yellow; irides yellow; orbits naked, livid; feet brown, red above; middle toe, claw included, much shorter than the tarsus. In young birds the long feathers are absent; head and neck ash-coloured; upper plumage tinged with brown; lower, spotted with black. Length three feet two inches. Eggs uniform sea green.
The Heron, though a large bird, measuring three feet in length from the point of the beak to the extremity of the tail, and four feet and a half in breadth from the tip of one wing to the other, weighs but three pounds and a half. Consequently, though not formed for rapid flight, or endued with great activity of wing, its body presents so large a surface to the air, that it can support itself aloft with but a slight exertion. It is thus enabled, without fatigue, to soar almost into the regions assigned to the Eagle and Vulture; and when pursued by its natural enemies, the Falcons, to whom it would fall an easy prey on account of the largeness of the mark which its body would present to their downward swoop if it could only skim the plains, it is enabled to vie with them in rising into the air, and thus often eludes them.
The Heron, though it neither swims nor dives, is, nevertheless, a fisher, and a successful one, but a fisher in rivers and shallow waters only, to human anglers a very pattern of patience and resignation. Up to its knees in water, motionless as a stone, with the neck slightly stretched out, and the eye steadily fixed, but wide awake to the motion of anything that has life, the Heron may be seen in the ford of a river, the margin of a lake, in a sea-side pool, or on the bank of an estuary, a faultless subject for the photographer. Suddenly the head is shot forward with unerring aim; a small fish is captured, crushed to death, and swallowed head foremost; an eel of some size requires different treatment, and is worth the trouble of bringing to land, that it may be beaten to death on the shingle; a large fish is impaled with its dagger-like beak, and, if worth the labour, is carried off to a safe retreat, to be devoured at leisure. If observers are to be credited, and there is no reason why they should not, a full-grown Heron can thus dispose of a fish that exceeds its own weight. A frog is swallowed whole; a water rat has its skull split before it discovers its enemy, and speedily is undergoing the process of digestion. Shrimps, small crabs, newts, water beetles, all is fish that comes to its comprehensive net; but if, with all its watchfulness, the look-out be unsuccessful, it rises a few feet into the air, and slowly flaps itself away to some little distance, where perhaps, slightly altering its attitude, it stands on one leg, and, with its head thrown back, awaits better fortune. While thus stationed it is mute; but as it flies off it frequently utters its note, a harsh, grating scream, especially when other birds of the same species are in the neighbourhood. On these occasions it is keenly on the alert, descrying danger at a great distance, and is always the first to give notice of an approaching enemy, not only to all birds feeding near it on the shore, but to any Ducks which may chance to be paddling in the water. 30
During a great portion of the year the Heron is a wanderer. I have frequently seen it at least fifty miles distant from the nearest heronry; but when it has discovered a spot abounding in food, it repairs thither day after day for a long period.
In the month of January, if mild, but as a rule in February, Herons show a disposition to congregate, and soon after repair to their old-established breeding-places, called Heronries. These are generally lofty trees, firs or deciduous trees in parks, or even in groves close by old family mansions. One at Kilmorey, by Loch Gilphead, has long been frequented, though within a hundred yards of the house. The nests, huge masses of sticks, a yard across, lined with a little grass, and other soft materials, are placed near each other, as many, sometimes, as a hundred in a colony, 31 or, more rarely, they are placed among ivy-clad rocks, ruins, or even on the ground. Each nest contains three to four eggs, on which the female sits about three weeks, constantly fed by her partner during the whole period of incubation. Two weeks later a second clutch of eggs is sometimes laid and hatched off whilst the first young are in the nest. The power of running would be of little use to a young bird hatched at an elevation of fifty feet from the ground; the young Herons are consequently helpless till they are sufficiently fledged to perch on the branches of the trees, where they are fed by their parents, who themselves perch with the facility of the Rook. Indeed, the favourite position of these birds, both old and young, is, during a considerable portion of the day, on the upper branches of a lofty tree, whither, also, they often repair with a booty too large to be swallowed at once.
By a statute of Henry VIII the taking of Herons in any other way than by hawking, or the long bow, was prohibited on a penalty of half a mark; and the theft of a young bird from the nest was visited with a penalty of ten shillings.
Not to be acquainted with the noble art of Falconry was deemed degrading: so that the saying, ‘He does not know a Hawk from a Heronshaw’, was a common expression of contempt, now corrupted into the proverb, ‘He does not know a Hawk from a handsaw’.
THE NIGHT HERON
NYCTÍCORAX GRISEUS.
Head, back, and scapulars, black, with blue and green reflections; on the back of the head three very long narrow white feathers; lower part of the back, wings, and tail, pearl-grey; forehead, streak over the eyes, and all the lower parts, white; beak black, yellow at the base; irides red; feet yellowish green. Young birds have no crest; the upper plumage is dull brown streaked with yellow; wing-coverts and primaries marked with fish-shaped streaks, which are yellowish; under parts dull white, mottled with brown and ash; bill greenish; irides and feet brown. Length twenty-one inches. Eggs pale blue.
The Night Heron is a bird of wide geographical range; but, on account of its nocturnal habits and the rarity of its occurrence in this country, it has been little observed. It is, however, not uncommon on migration. A specimen was brought to me at Helston, Cornwall, about the year 1836, which had been shot in the dusk of the evening, on Goonhilly Downs. Its long and delicate crest had been stupidly tied into a knot, and by the bruised condition of these feathers the specimen, if it still exists in any museum, may yet be identified.
The Night Heron is said to be not uncommon on the shores of the Baltic, in the wide marshes of Bretagne and Lorraine, and on the banks of the Rhone. It passes the day concealed among the thick foliage of trees and shrubs, and feeds only by night. It builds its nest in trees, and lays four or five eggs.
THE COMMON BITTERN
BOTAURUS STELLÁRIS
Moustaches and crown black; upper plumage yellowish rust-red, spotted with dusky; the feathers of the neck elongated, marked with brown zigzag lines; primaries barred with rust-red and dusky grey; plumage beneath paler, marked with oblong dusky streaks; upper mandible brown, edged with yellow; lower, orbits, and feet, greenish yellow; irides bright yellow. Length two feet four inches. Eggs dingy green.
Macgillivray, who was as well acquainted as most ornithologists with birds haunting moors and swamps, admits that he never heard one, and thinks that a brother naturalist, who describes what, no doubt, he heard, mistook for the booming of the Bittern the drumming of a Snipe. Lord Lilford tells us that a lady of his acquaintance told him that as a young wife, living near marshes, she often was kept awake by the booming of Bitterns.
In Sir Thomas Browne’s time, It was common In Norfolk, and was esteemed a better dish than the Heron.
Willughby, who wrote about the same time, 1676, says: ‘The Bittern, or Mire-drum, it is said, makes either three or five boomings at a time—always an uneven number. It begins to bellow early in February, and continues during the breeding season. The common people believe that it thrusts its beak into a reed, and by the help of this makes its booming. Others maintain that it imitates the lowing of an ox by thrusting its beak into water, mud, or earth. They conceal themselves among rushes and reeds, and not unfrequently in hedges, with the head and neck erect. In autumn, after sunset, they are in the habit of rising into the air with a spiral ascent, so high that they are lost sight of. Meanwhile they utter a singular note, but not at all resembling the characteristic ‘booming’.
It is called Botaurus, because it imitates boatum tauri, the bellowing of a bull. Of ‘Botaurus’, the names ‘Bitour’ and Bittern are evident corruptions; and the following names, in different languages, are all descriptive of the same peculiar note: Butor, Rordump, Myredromble, Trombone, Rohrtrummel, Rohrdommel, and Rordrum.
Of late years, so unusual has the occurrence become of Bitterns breeding in this country, owing to collectors, that the discovery of an egg in Norfolk has been thought worthy of being recorded in the transactions of the Linnean Society; and even the appearance of a bird at any season finds its way into the provincial newspapers or the magazines devoted to natural history: Stuffed specimens are, however, to be seen in most collections, where its form and plumage may be studied, though its habits can only be learnt, at least in England, from the accounts furnished by naturalists of a past generation. It comes now only to be shot.
The Bittern is a bird of wide geographical range, as it resorts, more or less, to all countries of Europe and Asia. Specimens are said to differ much in size, some being as large as the Heron, others considerably less; but there is no reason to suppose that they are of different species, a similar variation having been observed in other birds, as in the Curlew, for example, of which I have had in my possession at once four or five specimens all of different dimensions.
The Bittern builds its nest on the ground, and lays four brown eggs, which are tinged with ash or green. The old bird, if wounded, defends itself in the same way as the Heron.
FAMILY CICONIIDÆ
THE WHITE STORK
CICÓNIA ALBA
General plumage white; scapulars and wings black; bill and feet red; orbits naked, black; irides brown. Young birds have the wings tinged with brown and the beak reddish black. Length three feet six inches. Eggs white tinged with ochre.
Sir Thomas Browne says, in his Account of Birds found in Norfolk: ‘The Ciconia, or Stork, I have seen in the fens; and some have been shot in the marshes between this [Norwich] and Yarmouth.’ His contemporary, Willughby, says:—‘The Stork is rarely seen in England; never, in fact, but when driven hither by the wind or some accident. I have received from Dr. Thomas Browne, the eminent naturalist, a figure drawn to the life, and a short description of one which was captured in Norfolk.’ Yarrell records instances of a few others which have been killed, at distant intervals, in various parts of England; but the Stork is so rare a visitor with us, that I have no scruple in referring my readers, for a full account of the habits of so interesting a bird, to some more comprehensive work on the subject. The White Stork was, over 350 years ago, only an irregular visitor to Great Britain.
THE BLACK STORK
CICÓNIA NIGRA
Upper plumage black, with green and purple reflections; under white; bill and orbits red; irides brown; feet deep red. In young birds the bill, orbits, and feet, are olive green; and the upper plumage is tinged with rust-brown. Length nearly three feet. Eggs dull white, tinged with green, and sometimes sparingly spotted with brown.
A still rarer visitor in Great Britain than the White Stork, from which it differs quite as much in habit as it does in colour; for whereas the one is eminently sociable with birds of its own kind, and devoted in its attachment to human dwellings, the other is a solitary bird, shy and wary, avoiding at all times the sight of men and their habitations. It is a rare bird in most countries of Europe, but is common in several parts of Asia and the whole of the known regions of Africa. It builds a large nest in a lofty tree, and lays from two to five eggs.
FAMILY PLATALEIDÆ
THE SPOONBILL
PLATALÉA LEUCORODIA
General plumage white; a large patch of reddish yellow on the breast; a crest of long narrow white feathers pendent over the neck; lore, orbits, and naked space on the neck, pale yellow; bill black, tipped with yellow; irides red; feet black. Young birds want the yellow patch on the breast and the occipital crest; portions of the wing black. Length thirty-one inches. Eggs white, spotted with light red.
Spoonbills do not appear to have been common at any time; for though Sir Thomas Browne enumerates them among the birds of Norfolk and Suffolk, where they build in heronries, his contemporary, Willughby, knew them only as natives of Holland. This bird is not unfrequent in East Anglia, and it is met with now and again along the south coast, and has wandered up the Thames valley.
The Spoonbill is a migratory bird, building its nest and rearing its young in the north of Europe and Asia, and retiring in autumn to the shores of the Mediterranean or to Africa. It is remarkable not only for the singular conformation of its bill, but for ‘being one of the very few which have been found to possess no true muscles of the organ of voice; and no modulation of a single tone appears to be possessed by the bird.’32
It builds its nest in high trees, or, when these are wanting, among reeds and rushes; and lays four eggs.
FAMILY ANATIDÆ
THE GREY LAG GOOSE
ANSER CINEREUS
Folded wings not reaching to the extremity of the tail; bill strong, orange-yellow, the nail whitish; upper plumage ash-brown, many of the feathers bordered with greyish white; under plumage, in front, light ash-grey, barred on the flanks and belly with brown, behind pure white; irides deep brown; legs dull flesh-colour. Eggs ivory white. Length two feet ten inches.
The Geese characterized by having a large, ovate body, a long neck, a short and stout beak, high at the base and bent down at the tip, adapted for cropping vegetable food; the wings are large and powerful; the legs, placed under the centre of the body, afford some facility in walking, and the webbed feet are eminently fitted for paddling, but rarely employed in diving. They spend the greater portion of the year in high latitudes, where their arrival is celebrated with great rejoicings, as an indication of returning summer. They are eminently gregarious, flying generally in the form of a half-opened pair of compasses, with the angle in front, or in an irregular wavy line, and uttering a loud harsh cry, which may often be heard some time before the birds themselves are in sight.
The present species, which is supposed by some to be the origin of the domestic Goose, was formerly of common occurrence in Great Britain, but is now much less frequent. It breeds in northern Scotland, coming south from autumn to spring. On their arrival in autumn, they resort to marshes and swamps, meadows, corn-fields, and turnip-fields, especially such as are remote from human dwellings. There they feed by day on such vegetable substances as fall in their way, but they are said to prefer the young shoots of corn to any other kind of food. So wary are they and difficult of approach, that a ‘Wild Goose chase’ is a proverbial expression for an unsuccessful enterprise. At night they retire to the broad flats near the sea, or to the mouths of rivers, where they roost on the ground. Yarrell is of opinion ‘that the term “lag”, as applied to this Goose, is either a modification of the English word “lake”, the Latin lacus, or perhaps an abbreviation of the Italian “lago”, from which latter country it is even probable that we may originally have obtained this our domesticated race.’
THE WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE
ANSER ALBIFRONS
Folded wings reaching a little beyond the tail; bill orange-yellow, the nail white; a large space on the forehead pure white, surrounded by a dusky band; upper plumage ash-brown, varied with grey, dull white, and bluish black; under plumage in front brownish white, with patches and bars of black; behind white; irides dark brown; feet orange. Length two feet three inches. Eggs white, tinged with buff.
A regular visitor to the British Isles, coming late in the autumn to stay till spring, usually seen in small flocks of from eight to twenty birds; it is entirely graminivorous, and, when undisturbed, usually rests at night in any grass-field where it may have been feeding in the afternoon.
Its habits, during its stay in these latitudes, are similar to those of the other species, but it is said by Mr. Selby to ‘vary from the Bean Goose in preferring low and marshy districts to the upland and drier haunts of that bird, and in these localities subsists on the aquatic grasses, being very seldom seen to frequent corn or stubble fields’. In Norfolk it has frequently been seen associated with the Bean Goose. It has never been observed to remain with us after April, when it betakes itself to the regions bordering on the Arctic circle. In Lapland it is very abundant, and in the fur countries of North America it was seen in spring by Dr. Richardson in large flocks travelling northwards. It breeds in the woody districts skirting Mackenzie’s River, and in the islands of the Arctic Sea.
The white forehead of this bird tends to confirm the opinion maintained by some authors that the common Domestic Goose owes its origin to this species.
THE BEAN GOOSE
ANSER SÉGETUM
Folded wings exceeding the tail in length; bill long, orange, the base and nail black; upper plumage ash-brown; the wings darker, edged with greyish white; under plumage in front dirty white, behind pure white; irides dark brown; legs orange; beak yellowish white. Length thirty-four inches. Eggs white.
The several species constituting the group to which the Bean Goose belongs resemble each other very nearly in all respects. All are gregarious, fly high in the form of a V, or in an undulating line, uttering repeated cries, which no one who has heard a domesticated Goose can fail to recognize; they pass the night for the most part on broad flats near the sea, and at early dawn repair inland to their feeding-grounds. The Bean Goose is, on the authority of Yarrell, next to the Brent Goose, the commonest and most numerous as a species among our Wild Geese. In Scotland it is far more abundant than in England, being seen in large flocks from October to April, especially at the periods of migration to and from its summer quarters. But it does not altogether desert the British Isles during the intervening months. A few are said annually to remain, and breed in the lakes of Westmoreland, and in the Hebrides. In Sutherlandshire, also, many remain all the year—a fact thoroughly ascertained by Mr. Selby, who gives an interesting account of several young broods which he saw on the lochs, some of which he captured. They construct their nests among the tussocks of sedge or grass hillocks on the islands, and lay from three to four eggs, smaller than those of the Common Goose, but of a similar shape and colour.
Folded wings not reaching to the extremity of the tail; bill shorter than the head, narrow and much contracted towards the tip, pink, with the nail and base black; head and neck reddish brown; rest of the upper plumage ash-grey, edged with greyish white; under plumage in front fawn-colour, behind white; irides dark brown; feet pink, tinged with vermilion. Length two feet four inches. Eggs dull yellowish white.
It is said that most, if not all the various species of wild Geese have strong local attachments; that flocks composed of one particular kind are in the habit of visiting, year after year, the same spot, to the exclusion of other species, which may, nevertheless, be found frequenting places of like character at no great distance. Of the truth of the statement I met with signal confirmation in the severe winter of 1860-1. I then spent several days on the coast of Norfolk, for the purpose of watching the habits of Waders and sea-fowl. Without indulging in the chase of wild Geese, I heard and saw a great many flocks, of which some were unmistakably Brent Geese; others, of a larger size and a different colour, I was obliged to include under the comprehensive name of Grey Geese. The Brents, I found, regularly repaired to the salt marshes adjoining Thornham Harbour, which, I was told, was their usual place of resort. The others were known to alight only in the meadows near Holkham. Having heard that several had been shot at the latter place, I procured one, and on examination it proved to be the present species, up to that time entirely unknown to me. On consulting Yarrell, I found the following passage:—‘In January of the present year, 1841, I was favoured with a letter from the Hon. and Rev. Thomas Keppel, of Warham Rectory, near Holkam, informing me that a Pink-footed Goose had been killed by his nephew, Lord Coke, at Holkam. This bird was shot out of a flock of about twenty, but nothing particular was observed in their flight or habits.’ The bird brought to me had been shot, along with many others, out of similar flocks, in exactly the same place, at an interval of twenty years; and I have no doubt that the many other specimens which have been shot there between the above two dates, belonged to the same species, the characters which distinguish it from the common Bean Goose being not sufficiently striking to attract the notice of sea-side gunners. The habits of the species appear not to differ from those of its congener; it arrives and departs about the same time, and it frequents the marshes and uplands of Norfolk, and in winter the east coast of Scotland.
THE BRENT GOOSE
BERNICLA BRENTA
Head, beak, neck, breast, feet, quills, and tail, black; on each side of the neck a patch of white with a few black feathers intermixed; upper plumage dingy; all the tail-coverts white; belly brownish grey, barred on the flanks with greyish white. Length twenty-two to twenty-three inches. Eggs greyish white.
The Wild Geese which we have hitherto been considering feed on grass, clover, and grain, in quest of which they resort to inland marshes, meadows, and arable land; but the Brent is a decidedly marine bird. During its annual visits to our shores it stays out at sea by night, cradled by the billows, and at early dawn repairs to the muddy flats and sand-banks, where it feeds exclusively on marine plants, especially laver and zostéra. As soon as these are left bare by the ebbing tide, the Brents are taught by their instinct that they have no time to lose, and hasten in ‘skeins’ or ‘gaggles’ making in their flight a trumpet-like noise which, heard at a distance, resembles that of a pack of harriers or fox-hounds in full cry. They prefer to take their stand on those parts of the ooze which are least intersected by creeks, and there, if left undisturbed, they continue to feed without intermission till the rising tide lifts them off their feet. Then, away to sea again! or, if the weather be boisterous, they seek for shelter in the rivers and estuaries. They are local in their attachments, returning annually to the same feeding-grounds. They do not associate from choice with other species, for though they may be frequently seen feeding in the vicinity of various Waders, they form no society with them, and are, indeed, in quest of different food. sea-side fowlers are well acquainted with the peculiarity of their habits, and not only know where to look for them when they are settled, but at what points they can most easily be intercepted, going and returning. It is the custom of the fowler to conceal himself behind some lurking-place, natural or artificial; or, if this be wanting, to stretch himself on the ground. Then, as a skein, unconscious of danger, approaches, he suddenly shows himself; the birds, panic-struck, huddle together before they alter their line of flight, and the sportsman fires into the midst of them.
They are the most abundant of all the Geese which frequent our shores, and are killed in great numbers and sent to market. They come to us in November and remain till late in February, when they begin to migrate in successive flights, the youngest bird staying until April. It is not believed that they ever remain to breed, but that they repair to the Arctic regions, and make their nests of withered herbage in marshy ground.
THE BERNICLE GOOSE
BERNICLA LEUCOPSIS
Forehead, sides of the head, and throat, pure white; a dark streak between the eyes and bill; head/neck, quills, and tail, black; rest of the upper plumage undulated transversely with ash-grey, black, and dull white; lower plumage white, tinged on the flanks with grey; irides dusky-brown; bill and feet black. Length two feet one inch. Eggs greenish white.
This beautiful bird occurs chiefly on the west side of Great Britain in winter. ‘It then more frequently retires to the sea than to the lakes during its periods of repose, or when driven from its feeding-grounds. A large flock then presents a beautiful spectacle, as the birds sit lightly on the water, and when advancing elevate their necks. Not less beautiful do they seem when on wing; now arranged in long lines, ever undulating; at one time extending in the direction of their flight; at another obliquely, or at right angles to it, sometimes in an angular figure, and again mingling together. Their voice is clear, and rather shrill, and comes agreeably on the ear when the cries of a large flock come from a considerable distance’. In England it is far less common, but occasionally resorts to marshes both on the eastern and western coast. The mythical fragment of ancient natural history, that the Bernicle is the product of a tree, is too trite to require repetition here.
THE WHOOPER SWAN
CYGNUS MÚSICUS
Whole plumage pure white, the head and nape sometimes slightly tinged with yellow; lower half of the bill quadrangular, yellow, upper black; lore and a great portion of the edge of the upper mandible yellow; irides brown; legs black; tail of twenty feathers. Young birds have the plumage grey; lore flesh-colour. Length five feet; breadth seven feet ten inches. Eggs dull white, tinged with greenish.
The ancient fable that Swans sing most sweetly before their death did not survive the age which invented it. Pliny disbelieved it, and, though the assertion may have been resuscitated from time to time as a poetic fiction, it has found no place in works on natural history.
The Swan is not musical; it rests its claims to our admiration on other grounds, unchallenged and indisputable; the unsullied white of its plumage is an apt emblem of purity, and the elegance of its movements in the water has become proverbial. The present species, which owes its name to its powerful voice, is said to be not quite so graceful as the tame Swan, but on land it is far more active. A bird which has been winged by a sportsman, and has fallen on the land, can only be overtaken by smart running. In Iceland, the summer resort of these birds, they are much sought after for the sake of their down. In the month of August, when the old birds, having cast their quill-feathers, are unable to fly, the natives assemble in bodies in the places where the Swans collect, and mounted on small but active horses chase them through the marshes, and ride many of them down; but the greater number are caught by the dogs, which always seize the birds by the neck, and so encumber them that they are then easily overtaken. But it is not the habit of Swans to remain much on land; the perfect ease with which they float and swim indicates that the water is their element, and a glance at their long necks tells at once that their nature is to feed in shallow water or on the margin of deep lakes, where with their strong bills they either tear up the stems and roots of aquatics from the bottom, or crop at their pleasure from the banks. To this kind of food they add such insects, molluscs and worms as come within their reach; and (when sailing in salt water) sea-weeds, and especially the long, ribbon-like leaves of zostéra. During summer they frequent the most secluded swamps and lakes in the wooded districts of the north, and build a very large nest in a spot unapproachable by human feet. A few go no farther north than the Orkneys and Shetlands, but their headquarters are Siberia, Iceland, Lapland, and Hudson’s Bay.
After they have recovered from their summer moult, they migrate southwards, and arrive in Scotland, sometimes in large flocks, early in October. Mr. St. John, in his Wild Sports of the Highlands, gives an interesting account of their habits while in this country. He went in pursuit of a flock which had selected for their winter feeding-place some fresh-water lochs about half a mile from the sea. They passed the day mostly on the salt water, and in the evening came inland to feed. He found them on one of the smaller lochs, some standing high and dry on the grassy islands trimming their feathers after their long voyage, and others feeding on the grass and weeds at the bottom of the loch, which in some parts was shallow enough to allow of their pulling up the plants which they fed on as they swam about, while numbers of wild Ducks of different kinds, particularly Wigeons, swarmed round them, and often snatched the pieces of grass from the Swans as soon as they had brought them to the surface, to the great annoyance of the noble birds, who endeavoured in vain to drive away these most active little depredators, who seemed determined to profit by their labours. ‘I observed’, he says, ‘that frequently all their heads were under the water at once, excepting one—but invariably one had kept his head and neck perfectly erect, and carefully watched on every side to prevent their being taken by surprise; when he wanted to feed, he touched any passer-by, who immediately relieved him in his guard, and he in his turn called on some other Swan to take his place as sentinel.’
Swans, like wild Geese, are in the habit of returning every year to the same district of country, and in passing to and from their feeding-ground keep closely to the same line of flight, a peculiarity of which fowlers take advantage by lying in ambuscade somewhere beneath their aërial road.
When disturbed on the water they generally huddle together and utter a low cry of alarm before they take flight. Owing to their great weight they have not the power of rising suddenly into the air, but flap along the water, beating the surface with their great wings, some twenty or thirty yards. The flapping noise made while this process is going on, may be heard at a great distance.
In severe winters, flocks of Whoopers, Whistling Swans, or Elks, as they are variously called, come farther south, and may be observed from time to time on different parts of the coast.
BEWICK’S SWAN
CYGNUS BEWICKI
Whole plumage pure white; bill black, orange-yellow at the base; irides dark; feet black; tail of eighteen feathers. Young birds greyish brown; immature specimens tinged on the head and belly with rust-red. Length three feet nine inches; breadth forty-six to fifty. Eggs dull white, tinged with brown.
Bewick’s Swan is distinguished from the Whooper, not only by the characters given above, but by strongly marked anatomical features, which were first pointed out by Mr. Yarrell, who, with the modesty and generosity for which he was noted, gave it its present name; ‘Thus devoting it to the memory of one whose beautiful and animated delineations of subjects in natural history entitle him to this tribute.’
In severe winters it is fairly frequent on the coasts of England, and even abundant in Scotland. In the case of distant flocks the only criterion is size; and as this species is one-third less than the Whooper, there is little probability of an experienced observer being mistaken in the identity.
In their habits they closely resemble their congeners, but are less graceful in their movements on the water, and spend a larger portion of their time on land.
THE COMMON SHELDRAKE
TADORNA CORNUTA
Head, throat, and upper back black, with green reflections; lower parts of the neck and back, flanks, rump and tail (except the black tip) white; from the shoulders a broad band of bright chestnut, which meets on the breast, passing into a broad, blotched, black band, which passes down the abdomen nearly to the tail; under tail-coverts pale reddish yellow; scapulars black; wing-coverts white; secondaries chestnut; primaries black; speculum bronzed green and purple; bill, and protuberance at the base, red; irides brown; feet crimson-red. The female wants the red protuberance on the bill, and the colours generally are somewhat less bright. Length twenty to twenty-two inches. Eggs white, tinged with green.
The Sheldrake is the largest and among the handsomest of the British Ducks, and if easy of domestication would be no doubt a common ornament of our lakes and rivers. It is, however, in Great Britain at least, a marine bird; though from one of its French names, Canard des Alpes, it would seem also to frequent the large continental lakes. Numerous attempts have been made to familiarize it with inland fresh-water haunts to which some other species readily take, but they have rarely succeeded, while to induce it to breed at a distance from its sea-side home has proved yet more difficult.
It differs from the majority of the Duck tribe in remaining on the coast of Britain throughout the year. In South Wales, for example, it is seen in winter and early spring, but about the breeding season it disappears for a few weeks. During this interval it is employed in incubation, but when its brood is hatched it is seen again, accompanied by a troop of ducklings, feeding in the creeks and marshy places. When thus discovered, the young broods are commonly hunted down by sea-side idlers for the sake of being sold to any one who cares to try the experiment of rearing them.
On the coast of Norfolk it is more usual to search for the nests, in order to secure the eggs and place them under a tame Duck or domestic Hen. The male and female keep together, not only during incubation, but until the young are able to provide for themselves. It derives the name ‘Burrow Duck’, by which it is also known, from its custom of making its nest either in the burrow of a rabbit or in a hole hollowed out by itself. The nest is constructed of such herbage as abounds in the neighbourhood; it is lined with down plucked from the breast of the parent bird, and contains from ten to twelve eggs.
Pennant (vol. ii, p. 257) says of these birds: “They inhabit the sea-coasts and breed in rabbit-holes. When a person attempts to take their young, the old birds show great address in diverting his attention from the brood; they will fly along the ground as if wounded, till the former can get into a place of security, and then return and collect them together.”
From this instinctive cunning, Turner, with good reason, imagines them to be the chenalōpex, or Tox-Goose, of the ancients; the natives of the Orkneys to this day call them the Sly-Goose, from an attribute of that quadruped.
Sheldrake are more numerous during the summer in North Britain than in the South, but in winter they are driven by the freezing of their feeding-grounds to more temperate climates. Here numbers of them meet the fate of wild fowl generally, and specimens are often to be seen exposed in the English markets, though their flesh is held in little estimation as food.
Sheld means parti-coloured. ‘Shelled’ is still current in the eastern counties of England. Shelled duck is the more proper appellation. Howard Saunders calls it Sheld-duck always.
THE WILD DUCK
ANAS BOSCAS
Head and neck dark green; at the base of the neck a white collar; upper parts marked with fine zigzag lines of ash-brown and grey; breast chestnut; lower parts greyish white, marked with fine zigzag ash-brown lines; speculum dark blue with purple and green reflections, bordered above and below with black and white; four middle feathers of the tail curled upwards; bill greenish yellow; irides red-brown; feet orange. Length twenty-four inches. Female smaller; plumage mottled with various shades of brown and grey; throat whitish; speculum as in the male; all the tail-feathers straight. Eggs greenish white.
Its size, abundance, and value as an article of food, have given to the Wild Duck an importance which belongs to few other British birds; and the modes of capturing it are so varied and interesting that they are often to be met with described in works not exclusively devoted to natural history. For this reason I shall in great measure confine my notice of this bird to such particulars in its history as the reader may probably have an opportunity of verifying by his own observation in the course of his rambles among places which it habitually frequents.
The term Wild Duck’, properly applicable to the female bird only (‘Mallard’ being the distinctive name of the male), is generally employed to include both sexes. The difference in the plumage of the two is very great, as, indeed, is the case with all those varieties of the same bird which, under the name of ‘Tame Ducks,’ have altered the least from their natural wild type. Yet in the summer months, when both sexes moult,33 the Mallard puts off the whole of his characteristic gay plumage, and appears in the sober brown garb of the Duck. It is only, in fact, from October to May that the Mallard can be distinguished from his partner by his markings. At this season, too, young birds, so far as they are fledged, are of the same tone of colouring. Domesticated birds are subject to the same change; but a reason for this singular metamorphosis no naturalist, as far as I am aware, has ventured to assign.
Wild Ducks hold a prominent place among birds of the most extensive distribution, being ‘indigenous to the greater part of the northern hemisphere’.34 In consequence of this wide range they must of necessity frequent many districts highly favourable to their preservation; they are therefore numerous. Equally well adapted for travelling by sea and through the air, and capable of enduring great variations of heat and cold, their presence may be expected wherever a tract of country occurs calculated to supply them with food and opportunities for nidification. As long as England abounded in marshes, and her rivers ran through wastes rarely frequented by man, Wild Ducks were numerous in many counties where they are now but rarely seen. Many have retired before draining and civilization, yet they never totally desert us. In most districts where there are rivers lined with reeds, even not so very far removed from the sound of the steam-engine, one may, by cautiously and quietly guiding one’s steps, fall in with a brood of active ducklings sifting the ooze, with the instinct of their kind, for minute insects; flapping along the water in chase of a fly, or paddling among the reeds on the look-out for anything good to eat. The matron of the party, with a proud consciousness of her dignity as sentinel and protector, preserves a more stately demeanour, but, with this slight difference, is similarly occupied. As you approach she is the first to descry you; with a homely ‘quack’, differing in no respect from the note of the domesticated bird, she sounds an alarm, and the whole family, mother and children, are quickly concealed among the reeds. It is possible, by long-continued persecution, to induce her to rise, but she does so reluctantly, and even then, unless you are such a barbarian as to shoot her, all is yet safe. The young will hide themselves securely until danger is past, and she, not far off, though unseen, is circling round her helpless brood. In an islet, probably, of the river; in a tuft of reeds surrounded by quagmire; among thick bushes near the bank; under the stump of an alder, or even high up among the branches, she formerly had her nest, composed of grass, and lined with down from her own breast; and at no great distance from this her offspring are yet lingering. The latter could swim immediately that they left the egg, but their bodies are large and heavy in proportion to the size of their wings, so that they will be unable to fly until nine or ten weeks old, when they will be thoroughly fledged, and only distinguishable from their parent by their smaller size.
From the rapidity with which young Ducks ‘scutter’ along the surface of the water, using both feet and wings, they are called by sportsmen, ‘flappers’; and from the same habit, no doubt, the children’s game of ‘Ducks-and-drakes’ was named. The word is one with which I have been familiar, like most other people, from my earliest years, yet I never thought of its etymology until I was passing, a few weeks since, in a steamer down Loch Tarbet. The boat disturbed a party of ‘flappers’ which were feeding near the shore, and as they half flew, half paddled away at a rapid rate, the sport and the name suggested themselves to my mind together. It is mostly absent from the northern districts of Scotland in winter.
In marshy districts, both in England and Scotland, these birds remain all the year round; but their numbers are greatly augmented in winter by the arrival of large flocks from the north. These fly mostly by night, in long lines, and proceed to the fens and salt marshes, where they feed until daylight. They then put out to sea, and rest, floating on the water, until dusk; and it is while they are on their way to and from these feeding-grounds that the sea-side gunners do the greatest execution among them. They fly mostly in small parties, and utter no note; but if after dusk a shot be fired in the vicinity of a marsh or of a piece of reclaimed land intersected by ditches, it is followed by a concert of ‘quacks’ from all sides, which proves that however small the parties may have been, the number of Ducks collectively must be very great.
In the neighbourhood of the salt marshes in the eastern counties, one may meet, in severe winter weather, just before dusk, little knots of men setting out on ducking expeditions. Each is furnished with a spade, a bag of straw, and a gun. Experience has taught these men that the line of flight usually taken by the birds is along a narrow creek or arm of the sea, which has on either side a high muddy bank. For such a point the gunners are making. The use of the spade is to dig a hole for concealment in the mud, and the straw is intended to furnish a dry seat. It must be a wearisome occupation to sit here hour after hour, with nothing to do but to hope that birds are coming; and when they come matters are not much mended; for if the shot be successful it will never do to leave the hiding-place in order to pick up the booty, or another chance may be missed. Three or four hours are thus spent, and on moonlight nights a longer time. The slain birds are then collected, a few hours are given to rest, and in the morning twilight the same scene is re-enacted.
When it is desired to construct a decoy,35 a quiet, shallow pond is selected, edged with reeds, and having an extent of from two to fifty acres or more. From the edge of this are dug, at various points, curved creeks, called ‘pipes’, broad at the mouth, and contracting till the banks meet. Over each of these pipes is thrown a net, supported on arches made of hoops; the first about ten feet high, the others diminishing in size, and the whole ending in a bag-net, or ‘purse’. On each bank of the pipes are erected screens made of reeds, high enough to conceal a man. Previously to commencing operations the decoy-man has let loose on the pond a few tame Ducks, closely resembling wild birds in plumage, who are familiar with his person and have been trained to come at his call. Accompanied by a little dog, ‘a piper’, he stations himself behind a screen, near the mouth of a pipe which faces the wind, choosing this position because Ducks prefer to swim against the wind and to feed on a lee shore. When the pond is well stocked with birds he throws some corn on the water near the mouth of a pipe, and makes a low whistle. At the familiar sound the ‘coy-ducks’ hasten to the spot, and, if all be well, are followed by a portion of the wild birds. The piper is then let loose, and immediately runs to the water’s edge. The Wild Ducks, either from curiosity, or some unknown motive, paddle towards him. The ruse succeeding so far, the piper is made to appear for a moment beyond the next screen, and so on until a party of Ducks have been lured so far up the pipe as to be out of sight of those remaining in the pond. The decoy-man, who has all the while been lying hid near the first screen, then shows himself to his intended victims, who, in their flight, hurry on to the ‘purse’, and are caught and dispatched at leisure. All this time the coy-ducks, if well trained, have remained at the mouth of the pipe, feeding, and unconsciously enticing new-comers into the snare.
That this method of capturing wild-fowl is effective, may be inferred from the fact that decoys of a precisely similar kind have been worked ever since the time of Willughby (1676), who describes them at length. A Son of the Marshes gives a fuller account of Duck decoys in Wild-Fowl and Sea-Fowl.
THE GADWALL
ANAS STRÉPERA
Head and neck light grey, speckled with brown; back and breast dark grey, the feathers ending in crescent-shaped whitish lines; belly white, speckled with brown; small wing-coverts and tip of the wing chestnut; greater coverts, rump, and tail-coverts black; speculum white; bill black; irides brown; feet orange. Female less distinctly marked. Length twenty inches. Eggs buffy white, tinged with green.
This species of Duck now breeds in Norfolk and Suffolk. Its food and habits closely resemble those of the other Ducks; it is active, and both swims and flies rapidly, preferring fresh-water lakes to the sea, and resorting principally to such pieces of water as afford it ready concealment. Meyer states that when flocks of Gadwalls ‘fly about, they keep close together in a ball, but not in a line, and may therefore be very soon distinguished from the common wild Duck’. By day they mostly swim about in the open water, and come near the shore to feed in the evening. They breed in the great northern marshes of both hemispheres. The Gadwall is a surface feeder and not a diving duck.
THE SHOVELER
SPATULA CLYPEATA
Head and neck glossy green; breast pure white; belly and flanks chestnut; back brown; lesser wing-coverts pale blue; scapulars white, speckled and spotted with black; speculum brilliant green; bill lead colour; irides yellow; feet reddish orange. Female—head pale reddish brown, streaked with dusky; upper plumage dusky brown, edged with reddish white; under plumage reddish with large brown spots; the blue and green of the wings less bright. Length twenty inches. Eggs greenish buff.
The Shoveler is well distinguished among all the British Ducks by the form and structure of its bill, which in old birds is dilated near the extremity into a form approaching that of a spoon, and is furnished with a fringe of slender lamellæ, resembling a comb. Towards the end of the bill these are not conspicuous as long as the mouth of the bird is closed, but along the narrower part they are prominent under all circumstances. So singular an apparatus obviously indicates that the habit of the Shoveler is to sift water and mud for the sake of securing the insects and worms which they contain. It resorts, therefore, to the margins of fresh-water lakes, ponds, and ditches, and is rarely seen at sea, nor does it ever dive after its food in deep water, but frequently comes to land in quest of slugs, snails, and worms. It is met with from time to time in many parts of England; a tolerable number remain to breed with us, especially in the eastern counties. Its distaste for the sea disqualifies it for inhabiting the Arctic Regions; consequently it breeds in temperate countries, and flies farther to the south in winter, having been observed on both shores of the Mediterranean, and in some of the warm parts of India. The extensive drainage of our fens and marshes has made it less frequent in England than it formerly was; but in Holland and other continental countries it is abundant. The nest, usually placed in a tuft of grass, is made of dry grass mixed with down which the female plucks from her own body, and contains eight or nine eggs.
The Shoveler is not sufficiently common in this country to claim any importance as an article of food, but its flesh is said to be superior in flavour even to that of the famous Canvas-backed Duck of America.
The male annually undergoes a moult, or change of feathers, similar to that described as taking place in the Mallard.
THE PINTAIL DUCK
DAFILA ACÚTA
Two central tail-feathers much elongated, black; head and neck rich dark brown; back and flanks marked with zigzag black and grey lines; front of the neck, and a line on each side, white; speculum lustrous with green and purple, bounded above by reddish brown, below by white; bill lead colour and black. Female—central tail-feathers scarcely elongated; head and neck reddish brown speckled with dusky; upper feathers dusky edged with reddish white; lower plumage reddish yellow spotted with brown; speculum dull yellowish brown; no white line on the side of the neck. Length twenty-six inches. Eggs dull greenish white.
The Pintail Duck is a northern bird which visits our shores in small parties, during severe winters, and it nests sometimes in Ireland. In form it is the most elegant of all the Ducks, and its movements are described as being active and graceful. I have never myself had the good fortune to see one alive, the only specimen I ever possessed having been sent to me from Newcastle-on-Tyne, near which it was shot at sea. It is not, however, considered a very rare species, as the fishermen on the Norfolk coast, and perhaps elsewhere, are well acquainted with it. Yarrell states, that on the coast of Dorsetshire and Hampshire it is so well known as to have acquired a local name, ‘Sea Pheasant’.36 For this it is indebted to the length of its tail, in which respect it differs from all the common Ducks. It arrives early in autumn, and remains either on the coast or in the inland marshes, until the return of spring; differing, indeed, little in its habits from the common wild Duck. It is occasionally taken in decoys in Norfolk, and has often been observed to associate with Wigeons. Its note is described by Montagu as being ‘extremely soft and inward’.
The Pintail Duck has a wide geographical range, as it either breeds in or pays winter visits to the greater part of the northern hemisphere. The male annually assumes in summer the plumage of the female, resembling in this respect the Mallard, to be described hereafter. The flesh is considered excellent, on which account it is much sought after by wild-fowl shooters, both on the coast and in the fens.
THE TEAL
QUERQUÉDULA CRÉCCA
Head and neck bright chestnut; on each side of the head a broad green band edged with buff, inclosing the eye and extending to the nape; lower part of the neck, back, and flanks, marked with numerous black and white zigzag lines; breast reddish white, with roundish black spots; speculum black, green and purple, edged with white; bill dusky; irides brown; feet ash. Female—upper plumage dusky brown mottled with reddish grey; throat, cheeks and a band behind the eyes yellowish white spotted with black; speculum black and green. Length fourteen inches and a half. Eggs yellowish white.
The Teal is the smallest, and by no means the least beautiful, among the British Ducks. It is decidedly an indigenous species, as it breeds in many parts both of Great Britain and Ireland, especially in the eastern counties, in Welsh bogs, and northern mosses. It is domesticated, too, without difficulty, and is generally to be found on artificial and other pieces of water where the breed of water fowl is encouraged. Its favourite summer resorts in England are lakes which are lined with rushes, boggy places on the moors, and sedgy rivers. It is an active bird, rising from the water with great facility, and having a rapid flight. The few Teal which remain all the year with us pair early in spring. I have observed them in couples on the Kennet, in Berkshire, before winter had well departed. They appear to have a strong attachment to any place on which they have once fixed to build their nest, and return to the same locality year after year; and the young brood remain in the neighbourhood of their birth-place until pairing time in the following year. The nest is usually placed among coarse herbage by the bank of a lake or river, and is constructed of decayed vegetable matter, lined with down and feathers, and contains from ten to fifteen eggs. The number, however, of these birds to be found with us in summer is as nothing compared with the immense flocks which visit our inland lakes and swamps in winter. They are then much sought after for the table, being considered more delicate eating than any others of the tribe. In some parts they repair to salt marshes and the sea-shore, where they share the fate of the Wild Duck.
Willughby tells us that in his time the Teal and Wigeon, considered as marketable goods, were classed together as ‘half-fowl’, their value being only half that of the Wild Duck. In the fen counties they are still ranked together as ‘Half Ducks’, and for the same reason.
The Teal has two notes, one a kind of quack, the other, uttered by the male only during winter, which has been compared to the whistle of the Plover. Its food consists of water insects, molluscs, worms, and the seeds of grass and sedge. It is widely distributed in Scotland.
THE GARGANEY
QUERQUÉDULA CIRCIA
Crown dusky; over the eye a white band extending down the neck; throat black; neck chestnut-brown streaked with white; breast pale yellowish brown, with crescent-shaped black bars; back mottled with dusky grey and brown; speculum greyish green bordered above and below with white; bill dark brown; irides brown; feet grey. Length sixteen inches. Eggs buff.
This elegant little bird visits us in March and April, being at that time, it is supposed, on its way to the south. Though not among the rarest of the tribe, it is now of unusual occurrence, but was formerly so regular a visitor in the eastern counties, that it acquired the provincial name of ‘Summer Teal’. Young birds are commonly seen on the Broads of Norfolk in July and August, distinguishable from young Teal by the lighter colour of their plumage, more slender habit, and greater length of neck. The nests are built among the thickest reed beds, and owing now to protection their numbers are increasing. In Ireland it is the rarest of the well-known ducks.
THE WIGEON
MARÉCA PENÉLOPE
Male—head and upper part of the neck chestnut, the cheeks and crown speckled with black; a broad cream-coloured band extending from the bill to the crown; throat nearly black; a narrow collar of white and black wavy lines extending over the back and flanks; lower part of the neck and sides of the breast chocolate colour; scapulars velvet-black edged with white; wing-coverts white; quills ash-brown; speculum glossy green, with a black band above and below; tail wedge-shaped, two middle feathers pointed, and the longest, dusky ash; under tail-coverts black; bill bluish grey, the tip black; irides hazel; feet dusky grey. Female—head and neck reddish brown, speckled with dusky; back and scapulars dusky brown, the feathers edged with rusty red; wing-coverts brown, edged with whitish; speculum without the green gloss; flanks reddish brown. Length twenty inches. Eggs brownish white.
The name Whew Duck, or Whewer, by which, this bird is known in some parts of England, was given to it on account of its emitting a shrill whistle while flying. The name is an old one, for Ray and Willughby describe it under the name of ‘Whewer’. Its French name Siffleur, ‘Whistler’, has reference to the same peculiarity, and by this note the bird may often be distinguished from others of the same tribe, when so far off that the eye fails to identify it. The Wigeon ranks next to the Teal and Wild Duck as an article of food, and, being more plentiful than either of these birds, it is among the best known of all the Ducks which frequent our shores. It breeds over most of Sutherland, and sparingly elsewhere in the north; a few pairs are said to nest also in various parts of Ireland.
Flocks of Wigeons repair to our shores in autumn, and either betake themselves to inland lakes and morasses, or keep to the coast, especially where there are extensive salt marshes. In winter their numbers are greatly increased, especially in the south; and as they feed by day as well as by night, they offer themselves a ready prey to the fowler. Their food consists of marine and fresh-water insects, small shellfish, sea-weed, and grass. Their nidification differs little from that of the Teal.
THE COMMON POCHARD
FULÍGULA FERÍNA
Head and neck bright chestnut; breast, upper part of the back, and rump black; back, scapulars, flanks, and abdomen greyish white, marked with numerous fine wavy lines; no speculum; bill black, with a broad lead-coloured transverse band; irides bright orange; feet lead colour, the membranes black. Female—smaller; head, neck, and breast, reddish brown; throat white, mottled with reddish; large brown spots on the flanks; wavy lines on the back less distinct. Length nineteen inches. Eggs greenish white.
A hardy northern bird of wide geographical range, with considerable power of flight, a skilful diver, and not particular as to diet, the Pochard is an abundant species. It breeds in some districts: But it is principally as a winter visitant that it is known in the south of Europe. In Norfolk ‘Red-Headed’ Pochards are perhaps more numerous than any other kind of Duck which falls to the gun of the sea-side fowler. Small parties of these birds may frequently be seen by day flying over the sea, or swimming securely in the offing; and in the evening great numbers resort to the fens and salt marshes, where they feed on various kinds of animal matter, and the roots and leaves of grasses and aquatic plants. As they are considered good eating, and command a ready sale, they contribute to the support of the sea-side population, who, when thrown out of work by the severe weather, wander about the shore by day and lie in wait by night, armed with guns of various calibre, for the chance of securing in one or two Ducks the substitute for a day’s wages.
They are variously known in different places by the name of Pochards, Pokers, Dunbirds, and Red-eyed Pochards. On some parts of the coast of Norfolk I found that they are included with the Wigeon under the common name of ‘Smee-Duck’.
The Pochard builds its nest among reeds, in Russia, Denmark, and the north of Germany, and lays twelve or thirteen eggs.
The Red-crested is a different species from the ‘Red-headed.’
THE TUFTED DUCK
FULÍGULA CRISTÁTA
Feathers on the back of the head elongated; head, neck, breast, and upper plumage black, with purple, green, and bronze reflections; speculum and under plumage white, except the abdomen, which is dusky; bill blue, nail black; irides bright yellow; feet bluish, with black membranes. Female—smaller, the crest shorter; upper plumage dull black, clouded with brown; under plumage reddish white, spotted on the breast and flanks with reddish brown. Length seventeen inches. Eggs greenish white spotted with light brown.
The points of difference in habit between this and the preceding species are so few that it is scarcely necessary to say more than that it is a regular winter visitor to the British Isles, and is distributed, generally in small flocks, never alone, over our lakes and marshes, arriving in October and taking its departure in March or April. Its food is less exclusively of a fishy nature than that of the Scaup Duck, consequently its flesh is more palatable, being, in the estimation of French gastronomists, un rôti parfait. The Tufted Duck now breeds in a good many districts here.
THE SCAUP DUCK
FULÍGULA MARÍLA
Head and upper part of the neck black, with green reflections; breast and rump black; back and scapulars whitish, marked with numerous fine wavy black lines; belly, flanks, and speculum, white; bill blue, the nail and edges black; irides bright yellow; feet ash-grey, with dusky membranes. Female—a broad whitish band round the base of the bill; head and neck dusky brown; breast and rump dark brown; back marked with fine wavy lines of black and white; flanks spotted and pencilled with brown, irides dull yellow. Length twenty inches. Eggs clay-buff.
The Scaup is so called from its feeding on ‘scaup’, a northern word for a bed of shellfish.37 It is a northern bird, arriving on our coasts in October and November, and remaining with us till the following spring. During this time it frequents those parts of the coast which abound in shellfish, mostly diving for its food after the manner of the Scoters. On the coast of Norfolk, where Scaups often appear during winter in large flocks, they are called ‘Mussel Ducks’, a name no less appropriate than Scaup; for mussels, and indeed many other kinds of shellfish, as well as insects and marine plants, seem equally acceptable to them. Selby records a single instance of the Scaup having bred so far south as Sutherlandshire, a female having been seen in the month of June, accompanied by a young one. They have paired on Loch Leven. It is generally distributed along the shores of Great Britain, excepting on the south coast [of Ireland]. In August, 1861, I observed two birds swimming sociably on a small fresh-water loch in the island of Islay, which, upon examination through a telescope, appeared to me to be, one, a kind of Goose, the other decidedly a Duck of some kind. On inquiry I found that the former was a Bernacle Goose, which had been caught in a neighbouring island in the previous winter, and had been given to the laird’s keeper, who pinioned it and turned it out on the loch to shift for itself. Of the Duck nothing was known, nor had it been observed before. It eventually proved to be an adult male Scaup Duck, but what had induced it to remain there all the summer in the society of a bird of a different tribe, is a question which I did not attempt to solve.
The Scaup Duck is very abundant in Holland during winter, covering the inland seas with immense flocks. It is found more sparingly in other continental countries. It breeds in the extreme north, both in the eastern and western hemispheres.
THE GOLDEN EYE
CLANGÚLA GLAUCION
A white patch under the eye; head and neck black, lustrous with violet and green; back black; scapulars, great wing-coverts, speculum, and under parts, white; bill black; irides golden yellow; feet orange, with black membranes. Female—all the head and neck dark brown; feathers of the back dusky bordered with dark ash; greater wing-coverts white tipped with black; speculum and under parts white; tip of the bill yellowish, irides and feet pale yellow. Length eighteen and a half inches. Eggs buffy white.
This pretty, active little Duck is a regular winter visitant to the British shores, from autumn to spring, resorting to most of the localities frequented by other species, and frequently falling to the sportsman’s gun, though little prized for the table. Females and young birds, called Mormons, are most numerous in England. They are very strong of flight, and are remarkable for making with their wings as they cleave the air a whistling sound, thought to resemble the tinkling of bells, whence the German name die Schelle Ente, Bell Duck, the Norfolk provincial name Rattle-Wing, and the systematic name Clangula. The young male does not make this noise, and having also dissimilar plumage from the adult, has been described by some authors as a distinct species under the name of Morillon.
The food of the Golden Eye varies with its haunts. In estuaries it feeds on crustaceous and molluscous animals and small fish, which it obtains by diving. In rivers and lakes it feeds principally on the larvæ and pupæ of insects, for which also it dives in clear deep water. The call-note is an unmelodious quack or croak.
The Golden Eye breeds only in high latitudes, and builds its nest in holes of trees, often at the height of twelve or fifteen feet from the water, into which it has been seen to convey its young one by one, holding them under the bill, and supported on its neck. The Lapps, in order to supply themselves with eggs, are in the habit of placing in the trees, on the banks of the rivers and lakes frequented by these birds, boxes with an entrance hole, which, though invariably robbed, are visited again and again.
The Golden Eye is found in many countries of Europe, in Northern Asia, and in North America.
THE LONG-TAILED DUCK, OR ‘CALLOO’
HARELDA GLACIÁLIS
Winter plumage—head, neck, elongated scapulars, under parts, and lateral tail-feathers white; a large patch of chestnut-brown on each cheek; flanks ash-grey; rest of the plumage brownish black; two central tail-feathers very long; bill black, with a transverse orange band; irides orange; feet yellow with dark membranes. Length, including the tail, twenty-two inches. The female wants the white scapulars and elongated tail; head and neck dark brown and greyish white; below the ear-coverts a patch of brown; neck in front light brown, clouded with darker brown; upper plumage generally dark brown, under white. Length sixteen inches. Eggs greenish white, tinged with buff.
Though a few specimens of this beautiful bird are obtained from time to time in various parts of England, especially on the coast of the eastern counties, it cannot be considered other than a rarity. ‘Among the northern islands of Scotland, and along the coasts of the mainland’, Macgillivray tells us,’these birds make their appearance in October, in small flocks, which gradually enlarge by the accession of new families. In the Bay of Cromarty, where they are very common, it is pleasant to see them in small flocks scattered over the water. They are most expert swimmers, and live on bivalve shellfish and crustacea, which they obtain by diving in shallow or moderately deep water. The male in swimming raises his tail obliquely, in rough water almost erects it, and is remarkable for the grace and vivacity of his movements. Their flight is rapid, direct, and generally performed at the height of a few feet. They rise easily from the water, especially when facing a breeze, and alight rather abruptly. Sometimes during the day, but more frequently at night, they emit various loud and rather plaintive cries, as well as cacklings of shorter guttural notes.’ Mr. Hewitson, who met with many of them in Norway, considers their note to be strikingly wild and most interesting. Farther north the Long-Tailed Duck is yet more abundant. Mr. Dunn says, ‘This species (Calloo) is very abundant in both Orkney and Shetland, arriving about the middle of October, and departing again in the month of March. It is to be met with in all the inlets or voes, generally in large flocks, never far from the land, feeding upon small shellfish and star-fish. When on the wing it utters a musical cry, something like “Calloo”, which may be heard at a great distance. From this cry it derives its provincial name.’ In the Arctic regions of both continents these birds are so numerous as to be known by the name of ‘Arctic Ducks’. They build their nests among rushes near the shore of fresh-water lakes, and line them with down from their breasts, like the Eider Duck. Iceland appears to be the extreme southern limit of their breeding-ground.
The Long-Tailed Duck is described by Willughby under the name of Anas caudacuta Islandica. by the natives called Havelda. Selby and modern ornithologists have preserved the Iceland name in Harolda.
THE EIDER DUCK
SOMATERIA MOLLISSIMA
Prolongations of the bill flat; upper part of the head velvet-black, with a central whitish band, lower greenish white; neck and back white; breast ringed with red; lower plumage black; bill and feet greenish grey; irides brown. Female—general plumage reddish brown, with transverse black bars; wing-coverts black, bordered with dark reddish brown; two whitish bars across the wing; belly brown barred with black. Length twenty-five inches. Eggs shining greenish grey.
The Eider Duck differs from all the birds of the same tribe hitherto described, in being essentially and absolutely a sea-bird. Rarely found on inland waters, it does not even visit the fresh-water lochs which, in many places in the north, are only separated from the sea by a bar of sand and shingle. It spends the greater part of its time on the water, and feeds on fish, molluscs, and other animal matter which it can obtain by diving. In the latter art it is very expert, and when pursued by the fowler generally manages to escape, as it can remain a long time under water, and on rising to the surface is ready to descend again almost instantly. Though a northern bird, it is subjected to no privations by the freezing of lakes and marshes, since it finds its rest and food on the open sea. Consequently it is not migratory, and stray specimens only visit the southern shores of England. Where it was bred, there, probably, or not far off, it remains all the year round. The Farn Islands, off the coast of Northumberland, are considered to be the extreme southern limit of its breeding-ground. In the Hebrides, the Orkneys and Shetland Islands, it is quite at home, but in none of these places is it found in sufficient numbers to give it importance. It is rare on the Irish coast.
In the Arctic regions, in Iceland, and on the rocky coasts of Norway and Sweden, Eider Ducks are very numerous. In Labrador, Audubon informs us, they begin to form their nests about the end of May or the beginning of June. ‘For this purpose some resort to islands scantily furnished with grass; others choose a site beneath the spreading boughs of stunted firs, and, in such places, five, six, or even eight are sometimes found beneath a single bush; many are placed on the sheltered shelvings of rocks a few feet above high-water mark. The nest, which is sunk as much as possible into the ground, is formed of sea-weeds, mosses, and dried twigs, so matted and interlaced as to give an appearance of neatness to the central cavity, which rarely exceeds seven inches in diameter. In the beginning of June the eggs are deposited, the male attending upon the female the whole time. The eggs, which are regularly placed on the moss and weeds of the nest without any down, are generally from five to seven. When the full complement of eggs has been laid the female begins to pluck some down from the lower part of the body; this operation is daily continued for some time, until the roots of the feathers, as far forward as she can reach, are quite bare. This down she disposes beneath and around the eggs. When she leaves the nest to go in search of food, she places it over her eggs to keep up their warmth.’
Sir W. J. Hooker, in his interesting Journal of a Tour in Iceland, describes the nests as he saw them in the little island of Akaroe, where, as on other uninhabited islands, the Eider Ducks breed in great numbers. “On our landing on the rocky island, we found the Eider fowls sitting upon their nests, which were rudely formed of their own down, generally among the old and half-decayed sea-weed, that the storms had cast high up on the beach, but sometimes only among the bare rocks. It was difficult to make these birds leave their nests, and so little inclined were many of them to do it, that they even permitted us to handle them, whilst they were sitting, without their appearing to be at all alarmed. Under each of them were two or four eggs; the latter is the number they lay, but from many of them two had been taken for food by the natives, who prefer those which have young ones in them. June 24th.” A few days later (June 27,) he visited the island of Vidöe, the residence of the ex-governor, where, he says, ‘we were shown the immense number of Eider Ducks which lived on Vidöe, and which were now sitting on eggs or young ones, exhibiting a most interesting scene. The ex-governor made us go and coax some of the old birds, who did not on that account disturb themselves. Almost every little hollow place between the rocks is occupied with the nests of these birds, which are so numerous that we were obliged to walk with the greatest caution, to avoid trampling upon them; but, besides this, the ex-governor has a number of holes cut in the smooth and sloping side of a hill in two rows, and in every one of these, also, there is a nest. No Norfolk housewife is half so solicitous after her poultry as the ex-governor after his Eider Ducks, which by their down and eggs afford him a considerable revenue; since the former sells for three rix-dollars (twelve shillings) a pound. Cats and dogs are, at this season of the year, all banished from the island, so that nothing may disturb these birds.’ I need scarcely add that the Eider down of commerce is taken from these nests, not in a pure state but mixed with fragments of plants. Pennant says that if the nest and eggs be taken ‘the Duck lays again, and repeats the plucking of her breast, if she is robbed after that, she will still lay, but the drakes must supply the down, as her stock is now exhausted; if her eggs are taken a third time, she wholly deserts the place. The quantity of down found in one nest weighs about three-quarters of an ounce, and may be compressed into a ball two inches in diameter, but on being shaken out will fill a large hat.
The young brood take to the water immediately on being hatched. To effect this they are often obliged to travel a considerable distance, and if difficulties present themselves, insurmountable in any other way, the parent bird carries the young in her bill. Once clear of the rocks, they are liable to no further molestation from land robbers. But the sea is not without its dangers, for the rapacious Black-backed Gull frequently attacks them, and, but for the self-devotion and bravery of the mother bird, would commit great havoc among them. At his appearance the young dive in all directions, while the mother counterfeits lameness to distract his attention from them to herself, or springs from the water and attacks the Gull until he is compelled to retire from the contest.
THE BLACK (OR COMMON) SCOTER
ŒDEMIA NIGRA
General plumage deep black; quills dusky brown on the inner web, glossy grey beneath; disk of the upper mandible orange-yellow; protuberance at the base black; no speculum on the wings. Female—general plumage brown of several shades; bill without the protuberance; nostrils, and a spot towards the tip, yellowish. Length eighteen inches. Eggs pale buff.
This bird is well known along the eastern coast of England under the name of Black Duck. Although a few scattered specimens have been observed from time to time during summer, in most parts it must be considered as a winter visitant only. Being the only entirely black Duck which frequents our shores, it is distinguished among other species by its colour alone. Small parties of these birds may occasionally be seen on different parts of the coast, swimming and diving at a short distance outside the surf, or flying, three or four together, at an elevation of a few feet above the surface of the sea. Large flocks visit the sea between us and Holland at times. They fly rapidly in a straight line, and when diving remain a long time under water. Their food consists of mussels and other shellfish, in quest of which they often ascend the creeks and arms of the sea, but they are rarely seen in fresh water.
The flesh of the Black Duck is said to be oily and fishy; on this account it is in some Roman Catholic countries classed with fish, and allowed to be eaten during Lent. In some parts of the Continent, where it is consequently in demand, fishermen take advantage of its diving propensities, and spread their nets over the mussel banks to which they have observed that these birds resort, and capture them in large numbers. The nest of the Scoter is described as being like that of the Eider Duck, and similarly located. The female also covers her eggs with down from her own breast, but in smaller quantities. A few of this species remain to breed in the north of Scotland.
THE VELVET SCOTER
ŒDEMIA FÚSCA
General plumage velvet black; below the eyes a white crescent; speculum white; bill orange, protuberance at the base, nostrils and edge of mandibles, black; irides and feet red, the membranes of the latter black. Female smaller; upper plumage sooty brown; under parts light grey, streaked and spotted with dusky brown; between the bill and eye a whitish spot, and another over the ear; bill dusky ash; irides brown; feet dull red. Length twenty-three inches. Eggs buff.
The Velvet Scoter, an inhabitant of the extreme northern regions of Asia and Europe, appears in the British Isles as a winter visitor only, being sometimes seen on the eastern coast of Scotland, in large flocks, but not generally extending its migration to our southern shores except in the severest weather. It may be distinguished from the Common Scoter by its larger size, and yet more strikingly by the conspicuous white bar across the wing.
The habits and food of the Velvet Duck differ in no material respect from those of the Common Scoter, or Black Duck.
THE SURF SCOTER
ŒDEMIA PERSPICILLATA
A bony protuberance on each side of the bill near the base; no speculum; general plumage black; on the forehead and nape a patch of white; bill yellow, with a square black spot on each side near the base; irides white; feet red, the membranes black. In the female the black is replaced by dark ash-brown, and the white by light grey; bill dark olive; feet brown, with black membranes. Length twenty inches. Eggs white.
Only a few specimens of this bird have been obtained in Europe, and these probably had been driven eastward by storms from North America, where alone they are found in any numbers. In habits and food the Surf Scoter resembles the common species, deriving its name from the pertinacity with which it selects, as its feeding-ground, a sandy beach over which surf rolls. It rarely or never visits the salt marshes.
THE GOOSANDER
MERGUS MERGANSER
Head and crest greenish black; back black; speculum (not barred with black), under parts, wing-coverts, outer scapulars, and some of the quills, buff; bill red, the ridge and nail black; feet vermilion. Length twenty-four to twenty-eight inches. Female and young—head and crest reddish brown; breast and flanks pale buff; upper plumage dark ash; bill and feet dull red. Eggs dull white.
The Goosander is a regular winter visitor to the shores of Great Britain and Ireland, frequenting bays and estuaries, but preferring fresh-water rivers and lakes, where it makes great havoc among trout and other fish. It is far more abundant in the north than in the south, and, according to Macgillivray, is sometimes seen even in summer in the Scotch lochs. It has been known to breed in the outer Hebrides, and of late years in several parts of the Highlands, but the general summer residence of this species is much farther to the north, both in the eastern and western hemispheres. The habits of the Goosander and Merganser are so much alike that further detail is unnecessary.
The females and young birds of the Goosander and Merganser are popularly called Dun-divers.
THE RED-BREASTED MERGANSER
MERGUS SERRATOR
Head, crest, and neck black, with greenish reflections; a white collar round the neck; breast reddish brown, spotted with black; near the insertion of the wing several white spots, edged with black; speculum white, divided by two transverse black bars; back black; belly white, barred on the flanks and rump with wavy grey lines; bill and irides red; feet orange. Length twenty-two inches. Female smaller; head and crest reddish brown; breast mottled with ash and white; upper plumage and flanks deep ash-colour; speculum with one black bar; bill and feet dull orange; irides brown. Eggs whitish ash.
This large and handsome bird is not uncommon in the estuaries and rivers of Great Britain, but is most frequent in the north. It is resident in Scotland and Ireland. The adult male is less frequently seen than females and young males, which closely resemble one another in size and plumage, both being inferior to the first in brilliancy of colouring. Their food consists of fish, especially sand-eels, and, when they find their way into fresh-water lakes and rivers, of eels and trout, which they capture by diving, and retain with ease by the help of their strong bills notched throughout like a saw.
In birds of the first year the tuft of feathers on the head is barely perceptible, and there is but a slight tinge of red on the lower part of the neck. Most of the Mergansers which resort to our shores during winter visit us from high latitudes; but a few remain to breed in the Scotch and Irish lakes, making their nests of dry herbage and moss mixed with down from their own breasts.
The name Merganser, that is, ‘Diving Goose’, has reference to the size of the bird and its habit of diving for its food. Its flight is strong and rapid, but differs somewhat from that of the Ducks, the neck being not stretched out to its full length, but slightly folded back. After the young are hatched the male deserts the female and leaves her to bring off her brood without assistance.
THE SMEW
MERGUS ALBELLUS
Crest, neck, scapulars, smaller wing-coverts, and all the under parts white; cheeks and back of the head greenish black; two crescent-shaped marks advancing from the shoulders on each side to the breast black; tail ash coloured; bill and feet bluish grey, the membranes black; irides brown. Length seventeen inches. Female smaller; head and cheeks reddish brown; under parts white, clouded on the breast, flanks, and rump, with ash-grey; upper plumage and tail greyish black; wings variegated with black, white, and grey. Eggs whitish.
The birds of this genus, though placed among the Anatidæ, or Duck tribe, are so strongly marked by the conformation of the bill that a simple examination of the head alone will enable the student to distinguish either of the species from the true Ducks already described. On the coast of Norfolk the popular name ‘Smee Duck’ includes several kinds of Ducks, and I presume the present species; but the bill, in the form of an elongated and almost cylindrical cone, with the edges of both mandibles furnished with saw-like teeth pointed backwards, cannot fail to distinguish the genus Mergus.
The Smew, or Smee, properly so called, is a winter visitor with us, more impatient of cold than the Duck-tribe generally, and consequently frequenting the southern more than the northern parts of the island. In open weather it resorts to our rivers and fresh-water lakes, where it feeds on small fish and other aquatic animals, which it obtains by diving. In severe frosts it either flies farther south or repairs to tidal rivers and harbours. Though not a rare bird, it is sparingly distributed. It is found on many of the continental rivers, even those which are far distant from the sea, but is not often killed, as it is shy of being approached, readily takes wing, flies swiftly, and as a diver is most rapid and expert. It is, however, little sought after, for, in spite of its relationship, its strong fishy flavour prevents it from passing muster as a Duck. Of its nesting little or nothing is known. In the north of Devon it is called, according to Montagu, ‘Vare Wigeon’, from the supposed resemblance of its head to that of a ‘vare’ or weasel. I have also heard it called the ‘Weasel Duck’ in Norfolk, and on the south coast the ‘Weasel-headed’.
FAMILY COLUMBIDÆ
THE WOOD PIGEON OR RING DOVE
COLUMBA PALUMBUS
Head, cheeks, neck, and upper part of the tail, bluish grey; back and wing-coverts darker; a white crescent-shaped spot on each side of the neck surrounded by scale-like feathers with green and purple reflections; primaries grey towards the base, white in the middle, and dusky towards the extremity, with the outer web white; tail barred with black at the end; abdomen whitish; bill orange, powdered with white at the base; iris light yellow; feet blood-red; claws brown. Length sixteen and a half inches. Eggs pure white.
Two hundred and fifty years ago the taste for keeping different sorts of Pigeons was as strong as it is in the present day, and the popular names of Runts, Croppers, Shakers, Carriers, Jacobins, Turbits, Barbaries, Tumblers, Horsemen, Spots, etc., modern though they may sound, were then applied to the very same varieties which are described under these names in recent Guides to the Poultry-yard. Many of these were of foreign origin, and were known at a remote period in various eastern countries, so that there can be no doubt that the custom of keeping tame Pigeons is of very ancient date.
The Pigeons in some of their habits approach the gallinaceous birds, with which accordingly they are classed. They are furnished with long and powerful wings, by help of which they can sustain a rapid and continuous flight. They seek their food mostly on the ground, but do not scratch with their feet, and are more given to bathe in water than to flutter in a bath of dust, though in this habit also they not unfrequently indulge. They are furnished, moreover, with a large crop, in which the food supplied to their young is partially macerated and reduced to a kind of pulp before the latter are fed. This process is carried on more by the agency of the receiver than of the giver, as the young birds, instead of opening their mouths and allowing the food to be dropped in, help themselves by inserting their bills into the sides of the old bird’s mouth. Their mode of drinking differs from that of the true gallinaceous birds; they do not take short sips, lifting the head after every draught, but satisfy their thirst by one continuous immersion of the whole bill. They build their nests of a few sticks, and lay two white eggs.
Some of the foreign species are distinguished by their brilliant plumage. Those inhabiting Britain are unmarked by gaudy tints, but redeemed from plainness by the metallic glossy lustre of their neck feathers.
The Wood Dove, called also Wood Pigeon and Ring Dove, is the largest British species, exceeding in dimensions most varieties of the domestic Pigeon. The summer wanderer through a wood in almost any part of the country can scarcely fail to have been disturbed in his meditations by the sudden flapping of wings of some large bird, which, without uttering any note, dashes through the foliage of a neighbouring tree, and makes off with hurried flight for some distant part of the wood. Seen through the openings of the trees, its predominant tint is blue-grey, but a large patch of white is distinctly perceptible on each wing. It might be mistaken for a hawk, so rapidly does it cleave its way through the air; but birds of prey are too wary to betray their movements by the sound of their wings; they, too, rather launch into the air, than start with a violent clapping of their pinions. A Jay might make a similar noise; but when alarmed it always utters its harsh scream, and, if it comes in sight, may at once be distinguished by the striking contrast of its white and black feathers. The bird just disturbed can scarcely, then, be anything but a Wood Dove, perhaps frightened from its nest, perhaps attending on its mate, or it may have been simply digesting its last meal, or waiting until sent forth by the cravings of hunger in quest of a new one; for the bird, though exemplary as a spouse and parent, has a large crop which is never allowed to remain long empty. The food and habits of Wood Pigeons vary with the season. In spring and summer they are most frequently seen alone or in pairs. They then feed principally on the tender leaves of growing plants, and often commit great ravage in fields of beans and peas. Spring-sown corn is attacked by them both in the grain and the blade, and as soon as young turnips have put forth their second pair of leaves, they, too, come in for their share of devastation. As the season advances, they visit the corn-fields, especially those in the vicinity of their native woods, preferring, above all, those parts where the corn has been laid, and where a neighbouring grove or thicket will afford them a ready retreat if disturbed. They are very partial also to oily seeds of all kinds, and it is said that since colza has been extensively grown in the south of France, Wood Pigeons have become a scourge of agriculture, and that consequently war is waged on them unsparingly. It has been remarked also, that they have become much more abundant in Scotland in consequence of ‘the great increase in the cultivation of turnips and clover, which afford them a constant supply of food during winter, and the great increase of fir woods, which are their delight both for roosting and rearing their young’. At the approach of autumn they assemble in small flocks, and resort to oak and beech woods, especially the last, where acorns and beech-mast, swallowed whole, afford them an abundant and generous diet. They are now in great demand for the table, but, being very cautious and shy, are difficult of approach. A good many, however, are shot by men and boys, who discover beforehand in what particular trees they roost, and, lying in ambush to await their arrival, fire at them as they drop in in small parties. In winter, the small flocks unite and form large ones. So large, indeed, are these sometimes in severe seasons, that it is fair to suppose that their numbers are considerably augmented by subsidies from colder climates, driven southwards perhaps by scarcity of food. In districts abounding in oak and beech woods, they find abundance of food during the greater part of the winter; but when this supply is exhausted, or the ground is covered with snow, they repair once more to the turnip-fields, and feed on the green leaves. Hunger, however, does not rob them of their shyness, nor make them confiding; for let a human figure appear in ever so large a field where a flock is feeding, the alarm is at once caught and communicated to the whole party, who lose no time in displaying the white bar on the wing, and are soon beyond the reach of fowler and gun.
Among the first woodland sounds of spring and the last of autumn is the note of the Ring Dove, often continued for a long time together, always monotonous, but never wearisome. It is generally considered to be tinged with melancholy, and on this account the bird itself is supposed to have been named the Queest or Cushat
Deep toned
The Cushat plains; nor is her changeless plaint
Unmusical, when with the general quire
Of woodland harmony it softly blends.
Grahame.
Wordsworth celebrates it under a name generally given to the next species:
I heard a Stock Dove sing or say
His homely tale, this very day;
His voice was buried among trees,
Yet to be come at by the breeze.
It did not cease; but cooed and cooed,
And somewhat pensively he wooed;
He sang of love with quiet blending.
Slow to begin, and never ending;
Of sorrows, faith, and inward glee;
That was the song, the song for me.
And again, still more happily:
Over his own sweet voice the Stock Dove broods.
The note may be imitated by attempting to whistle, in a very deep tone, the syllables ‘cooe-coo-roo-o-o-o’; or still more closely by clasping the hands together, so as to form a hollow, open only between the second joints of the thumbs, and blowing the same words over the orifice. With a little practise so close an imitation may be produced, that a genuine cooer may be beguiled into giving an answer. I may add, too, that with the same natural instrument and with a greater expenditure of breath the hoot of the Owl may be imitated; with a gentler effort and a quiver of the tongue the coo of the Turtle Dove may be nearly approached.
The Wood Dove has never been considered to be the origin of the domestic Pigeon, nor will it breed in captivity. There is no difficulty, however, in rearing birds taken young from the nest; and birds so brought up will alight with perfect confidence on the person of their foster nurse, and feed from his hand or mouth. The nest of the Wood Dove is an unsubstantial structure, composed of sticks so loosely put together that the eggs or young birds are sometimes visible from below. It is placed in a fork or among the branches of a tree; a thick fir is preferred; but nests are to be met with in ivy and thorn bushes either in a wood, coppice, or, more rarely, in a hedge-row. The number of eggs is always two. The male bird assists in the office of incubation.
THE STOCK DOVE
COLUMBA ŒNAS
Head, throat, wings, and lower parts, bluish grey; the lower parts of the neck with metallic reflections, no white spots; breast wine-red; a black spot on the two last secondaries and some of the wing-coverts; primaries grey at the base, passing into dusky; tail grey barred with black at the extremity, the outer feather with a white spot on the outer web near the base; irides reddish brown; bill yellow, red at the base; feet red; claws dusky. Length twelve and a half inches. Eggs white.
The Stock Dove is by some persons supposed to be so called from its having been believed at one time to be the origin of the domestic Pigeon; but as it bore the name before the above question was mooted, it is more reasonable to suppose that it derived its name from its habit of nestling in the stocks of trees, and not on the branches like the Ring Dove, nor in caves like the Rock Dove. Ray and Willughby, who treat the domestic Dove as a distinct species, gave it the name of Œnas (from the Greek oinos, wine), and Vinago (from the Latin vinum), from the purpled or wine-red hue of its breast and wings. Temminck does not hesitate to identify the domestic Pigeon with the Rock Dove, without even hinting the possibility of its having derived its origin from the Stock Dove. Since, therefore, the two birds have no marked resemblance, it may be reasonably supposed that the relationship between them rests solely on the narrow foundation that there exists a wild Pigeon, popularly called a Stock Dove, and that the word ‘stock’ has among other meanings that of ‘parentage’ or ‘origin’. Thus the name gave rise to a theory which, having a plausible show, was hastily assumed, and was then employed to prove a fact which will not bear the test of examination. The Stock Dove in its habits closely resembles the Ring Dove, from which it cannot easily be distinguished at a distance. When tolerably near, a sharp eye can detect the absence of the white patch on the wings and of the ring round the neck. Its flight is more rapid, and it rarely perches on a slender bough, preferring to alight on a main branch or stump. Its note is softer, and approaches that of the tame Pigeon. But the great mark of distinction is that on which I have supposed its name to be founded; that it does not build its nest among the branches of trees, but in the side of a stump, or other locality, where no one would even think of looking for a Ring Dove’s nest. Yarrell states that ‘in the open counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, this species frequently makes its nest in holes in the ground, generally selecting a rabbit’s burrow’. It has greatly increased in the south of England of late, and it nests along the Moray and Dornock Firths. White, who had never seen its nest, says that it used to be abundant at Selborne ‘from November to February’. Yarrell saw two old birds exposed for sale with Ring Doves, in London, on January 4. It resorts in spring to the neighbourhood in which it was bred, as a convenient place for rearing its own young, and at the end of summer repairs to woods and groves better adapted for supplying it with its favourite food, acorns and beech-mast. There it flocks together with Ring Doves, vast numbers of which assemble in winter in some districts, and when the fowler plies his occupation, shares their fate. It is, however, by no means so common a bird as the Ring Dove at any season, nor is it so generally distributed. In the North it is certainly only a summer visitor; and, on the other hand, it is most abundant in the south of Europe and in Africa during winter.
THE ROCK DOVE
COLUMBA LIVIA
Plumage bluish ash, lighter on the wings; rump white; neck and breast lustrous with green and purple reflections, without a white spot; two transverse black bands on the wings; primaries and tail tipped with black; rump white; outer tail-feather white on the outer web; irides pale orange; bill black; feet red. Length twelve and a half inches. Eggs white.
The Rock Dove, though a bird of extensive range, is less generally known in its natural condition than either of the other British species. As its name imports, its favourite place of resort is the rocky coast; but this it frequents, not because it has any predilection for the sea-shore and its productions, but that its instincts teach it to make lofty rocks its stronghold, just as the natural impulse of the Ring Dove is to find safety in the forests. If this species is the original of all the numerous varieties of tame Pigeon, it must inhabit most countries of the eastern hemisphere; for a pigeon-fancier’s dove-cot, to be complete, must contain several sorts which were first brought from remote regions; and we know that in Egypt, Phœnicia, and Persia, Pigeons had a mythological importance at an early date. It is said that the Pigeons which have established themselves in various public buildings of continental cities, as Saint Mark at Venice, and Pont Neuf at Paris, are exclusively Rock Pigeons; and I have seen it stated that they frequent the towers of Canterbury Cathedral; but it is possible that these may be in all cases derived from tame birds escaped from domestication, and resuming, to a certain extent, their wild habits and original plumage. That they resort to ruinous edifices near the sea in retired districts is beyond question, as I have seen them flying about and alighting on the walls of an old castle in the island of Kerrera, near Oban, in the Western Highlands, indifferent, seemingly, whether they nestled in the lofty cliffs on the mainland, where they are numerous, or on the equally secure ruins of masonry in the opposite island. That they are truly wild here there can be no doubt. Indeed, the precipitous shores of Scotland, the Hebrides, and Orkneys, afford them exactly the kind of retreat that suits their habits; and here among inaccessible rocks they build their nests and on their return from their inland marauding expeditions, pass their nights. Their attitudes, mode of flight, progression when on the ground, note, and manner of feeding, are the same as those of the common tame Pigeon; and, as might be expected, both wild and tame birds agree in declining to perch on trees.
Macgillivray, who had opportunities of watching them in their native haunts at all seasons, informs us that they leave their caves in the crags at early dawn, and, proceeding along the shore, unite with other parties on their way till they reach the cultivated grounds, where they settle in large flocks, diligently seeking for grains of barley and oats, seeds of wild mustard and other weeds, picking up also the small snails38 which abound in sandy pastures near the sea. In summer they make frequent short visits of this kind, returning at intervals to feed their young. In winter they form much larger flocks, and, making the best use of their short day, feed more intently, thus holding out a temptation to the fowler, who, if sufficiently wary, can sometimes approach near enough to kill a large number at a shot. They are supposed to pair for life; and this, I believe, is generally the case with tame Pigeons. They lay two eggs, and sit for three weeks. The male and the female sit, alternately relieving each other. They breed twice a year, but the number of eggs never exceeds two. Hence the old Scottish saying, ‘a doo’s cleckin’, for a family of only two children—a boy and a girl. They may be distinguished from the other common species while flying, by showing a large patch of white between the back and the tail.
THE TURTLE DOVE
TURTUR COMMÚNIS
Head and nape ash, tinged with wine-red; a space on the sides of the neck composed of black feathers tipped with white; neck and breast pale wine-red; back ash-brown; primaries dusky; secondaries bluish ash; scapulars and wing-coverts rust-red with a black spot in the centre of each feather; abdomen and lower tail-coverts white; tail dusky, all but the two middle feathers tipped with white, the outer feather edged with white externally; irides yellowish red; feet red; bill brown. Eggs white.
Nearly three thousand years ago the Turtle Dove had the distinction of being enumerated among the pleasant things of spring:
‘Lo, the winter Is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the Turtle is heard in our land.’39 Less sweetly, but to the same effect, sings a poet of the last century:
The cuckoo calls aloud his wand’ring love.
The Turtle’s moan is heard in ev’ry grove;
The pastures change, the warbling linnets sing.
Prepare to welcome in the gaudy spring!
Philips.
There is no melody in the song of the Turtle, as it consists of a single note, a soft, sweet, agitated murmur, continued without pause for a long time, called a ‘moan’ 2 both by Latin and English poets, not from its being suggestive of pain, but because there is no other word which describes it so nearly. I have already had occasion to remark how unsatisfactory are most of the attempts which have been made to represent the songs of birds by combinations of letters, but the Latin name of the Turtle-dove, Turtur, is a notable exception. Pronounced ‘tur-r-r tur-r-r’, it will instantly recall the note to any one who has once heard it. The French name also, Tourterelle, can belong to this bird alone.
The Turtle Dove is found in all the southern countries of Europe, in Palestine, and many other parts of Asia, including the islands south of China. In England it is a visitor in the southern and midland counties only, arriving in spring and remaining with us until the end of September. Its favourite places of resort are groves, belts of trees, and tall hedgerows in cultivated districts. Here it builds its unsubstantial nest of a few sticks, and lays two eggs. Its food consists of seeds of various kinds, and it has the discredit of resorting to fields of green wheat for the sake of feeding on the milky grain. I am doubtful whether this charge can be sustained. Often enough when walking through a cornfield one may see two or three Turtle Doves rise suddenly from the thick corn with a rustle and low cry of alarm, rapidly dart away in the direction of the nearest grove, disappearing in the shade, all but a white segment of a circle, formed by the tips of their tail-feathers; but on examining the spot from which they rose, I have been unable to detect any ears of corn rifled of their contents, though the ground was thickly matted with weeds, which might have furnished them food. I am informed by a young friend that he has often shot them while in the act of rising from such situations and has invariably found their crops distended with the green seed-vessels of a weed common in corn-fields, the corn-spurrey (Spérgula arvensis). This being the case, the Turtle Dove is more a friend than an enemy to the farmer, even if it sometimes regales on ripe grain or interferes with the occupation of the gleaner. It is also very partial to vetches. I have met with an instance where a Turtle Dove paid daily visits to one particular spot, under a hedge in a field, and though fired at by the owner of the field many times, under the idea that it was a rare bird, it soon returned; and when at last shot, its crop was found to be full of vetch seeds which had been accidentally spilled from a bag.
The Turtle Dove is smaller than any of the other British Doves. When flying, it seems scarcely larger than a Missel Thrush; but it is more slender in shape, and its wings are much longer. It beats its wings, too, more rapidly, and moves through the air with greater velocity. The tints of its plumage are more varied than in the other British species, but far inferior in brilliancy to many foreign ones.
The Turtle Dove so frequently kept in a cage is the Collared Turtle Dove (Columba risoria), a native of India and China. This species is distinguished by a black crescent on the back of the neck, the horns of which nearly meet in front. Turtle Doves are much kept in Germany, owing to a strange popular superstition that they are more predisposed than the human species to nervous disorders and rheumatism, and that when any of these complaints visit a house, they fall on the birds rather than on their owners.
FAMILY PTEROCLIDÆ
THE THREE-TOED SAND-GROUSE
Legs and toes feathered to the claws; no hind toe. Length sixteen to twenty inches.
This species was not known with us till 1859. Great flights visited this country in 1863, in 1888, and in 1889 when a few pair bred here.
Notes
29 A pair hatched two young in the Zoological Gardens in Regent’s Park in 1882.
30 A Heron in captivity has been known to perch on an old carriage-wheel, in the corner of a courtyard, and to lie in wait for Sparrows and Martins. One of the latter it was seen to pierce while flying, and immediately descending with outspread wings to run to its trough, and, having several times plunged in its prey, to swallow it at a gulp.
31 Pennant counted eighty in one tree.
32 Yarrell’s British Birds.
33 Formerly spelt ‘mute’, from the Latin muto, to change.
34 Yarrell, vol. iii. p. 273.
35 Decoy, a corruption of Duck-coy, from the Dutch kooi, a cage or pen. See Ray and Willughby’s Ornithology, p. 286, where, mention being made of a method of capturing wild-fowl which had been introduced into England from Holland, the following passage occurs: ‘Piscinas hasce cum allectatricibus et reliquo suo apparatu Decoys seu Duck-coys vocant, allectatrices Coy-ducks.’
36 Willughby calls it the ‘Sea Pheasant’, or ‘Cracker’.
37 ‘Avis hæc the Scaup Duck dicta est quoniam scalpam, i.e. pisces testaceos fractos seu contritos, esitat.’—Willughby, p. 279.
38 Helix ericetorum, a flattish, striped shell; and Bulimus acutus, an oblong, conical shell, mottled with grey and black.
39 Cant. ii. 11, 12.
40 ‘Nec gemere aëria cessabit Turtur ab ulmo.’—Virgil.
Nor shall from lofty elm the Turtle cease to moan.