Conclusion
As the Swallows are amongst the first to arrive, so they are amongst the last to depart. Long before chill winds and falling leaves have ushered in the month of October, the Warblers, Pipits, and Flycatchers have left the woods and fields, and hurried down to the coast on their southward route. But the Swallows, loth to leave us, linger on far into the autumn, and only bid us adieu when they miss the genial influence of the sun’s rays, and can no longer find a sufficient supply of food. The sportsman who crosses the country with dog and gun in October cannot fail to remark the absence of the numerous small birds which were so conspicuous throughout the summer. The Wheatear has deserted the rabbit warren; the Stonechat and Whinchat have left the furzy common, to make way for the Linnet and the Brambling. In the turnip fields, Thrushes and Meadow Pipits have usurped the place of Whitethroats and Yellow Wagtails; while in the thick hedgerows and coverts noisy Tits now occupy the boughs which were so lately tenanted by the less attractive but more tuneful Willow Wrens.
To the reflecting naturalist, this curious change of bird life furnishes a subject for meditation in many a day’s walk, and is a source of much pleasant occupation. Whether we study the birds themselves in their proper haunts, ascertain the nature of their food and their consequent value to man as a cultivator of the soil; or inquire into the cause of their migration, and their distribution in other parts of the world, we have at all times an interesting theme to dwell upon.
From a perusal of the foregoing chapters it will be seen that “our summer migrants” may be classified into certain well-defined groups, according to their structure and habits, and the haunts which they frequent. Upon the wild open wastes and commons we find the Chats, to which family belong the Whinchat, the Stonechat, and the well-known Wheatear. In the hedgerows and copses are to be seen the three species of Willow Warblers—the Wood Wren, Willow Wren, and Chiff-chaff. Wooded gardens and fruit trees attract the Garden Warbler, Blackcap, and Whitethroats; and the thick sedge and waving flags by the waterside shelter the various species of River Warblers. In the open meadows and moist places by the river bank of sea coast we need not search long to find the Pipits and Wagtails; and while the Flycatchers perch familiarly on our garden walls, or pick the aphis off the fruit trees, the Swallows build under our very eaves, and claim our protection for their young. High above all, the noisy Swift holds his rapid, wondrous flight, wheeling and screaming to his heart’s content.
At all these birds we have now taken a peep. We have found them in their proper haunts, examined their skill as architects, and their powers as musicians. We have inquired into the nature of their food, the number and colour of their eggs, and their mode of rearing their young; any peculiar adaptation of structure to habits or curious mode of living has been duly noted; and, not content with studying them at home, we have followed these delicate visitors to foreign climes, and found them in their winter quarters.
It is hoped that the reader ere he closes this volume will have gleaned some little information that may be new to him concerning these most interesting families of small birds, whose fairy forms in summer time flit so continually before us, and whose presence or absence makes so great a difference to the naturalist in his enjoyment of a country walk.
Footnotes
1“Nat. Hist. Ireland;” Birds, i. pp. 176, 177.
2“Hist. Brit. Birds,” ii. p. 292.
3As to other changes in the fauna and flora which have taken place since Gilbert White’s day in the district of which he wrote, the reader may be referred to the Preface to my edition of the “Natural History of Selborne” recently published.
4Cf. More, “Ibis,” 1865, p. 22.
5Yarrell, “Hist. Brit. Birds,” 4th ed. vol. i. pp. 427, 442.
6Mr. Blake-Knox subsequently corrected his statement, remarking that he had by mistake written second instead of third primary quill. The first primary is so rudimentary as almost to escape observation.
7Dr. Bree states that he has occasionally observed the Willow Wren taking currants from his trees.
8See Professor Newton’s edition of Yarrell’s “History of British Birds,” vol. i. p. 360.
9See Professor Newton’s edition of Yarrell’s “History of British Birds,” vol. i. p. 360.
10This specimen was recorded at the time by Dr. Carte in the “Journal of the Royal Dublin Society,” vol. i. p. 440.
11Note to his edition of White’s “Selborne,” 1836, p. 141.
12See Ellis’s “Specimens of the Early English Poets,” vol. ii. p. 356.
13Sir Thos. Browne’s Works, Wilkin’s ed. vol. ii. p. 537.
14Cf. “Handbook of British Birds,” p. 106.
15“Syst. Uebers. d. Vögel Nord-Ost Afrika’s,” p. 57.
16See “List of British Birds, as a Guide to the Ornithology of Cornwall,” 2nd edition, 1869, p. 15.
17“The Birds of Shetland,” p. 73.
18“Ibis,” 1864, p. 67.
19“Ibis,” 1860, p. 231.
20Cf. “Ibis,” 1865, p. 25.
21This was in Haddingtonshire, by Mr. Hepburn. See “Ibis,” 1865, p. 24.
22“Ibis,” 1865, p. 23.
23Cf. Newton, P. Z. S., 1866, p. 210.
24“Ibis,” 1867, p. 468.
25Cf. J. H. Gurney, jun., “Zoologist,” 1871, p. 2521.
26“Ibis,” 1860, p. 232.
27“Ibis,” 1867, p. 426.
28The specific name arundinacea, which is commonly applied to this species, belongs properly to the Great Reed Warbler, the Turdus arundinaceus of Linnæus.
29“The Birds of Middlesex,” p. 47.
30“Zoologist,” 1865, p. 9729.
31Not always, as shown above.
32Cf. Yarrell, “Hist. Brit. Birds,” vol. i. pp. 300, 301.
33Cf. “Ibis,” 1865, p. 24.
34“Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist.,” 1847, p. 135.
35Cf. Bellamy’s “Nat. Hist. South Devon,” p. 205.
36For this abstract of Mr. Knox’s observations, taken from his “Ornithological Rambles in Sussex,” I am indebted to Professor Newton, who has thus ably condensed them in his new edition of Yarrell’s “History of British Birds.”
37For some further points of distinction the reader may be referred to “The Birds of Middlesex,” pp. 64, 65.
38See Professor Newton’s remarks on “The Ornithology of Iceland,” appended to Baring Gould’s “Iceland; its Scenes and Sagas,” p. 409.
39“Ibis,” 1861, p. 6.
40“Ibis,” 1860, p. 229.
41“Ibis,” 1862, pp. 343, 348; and “Journ. f. Orn.,” 1862, pp. 357, 360.
42Cf. “Naumannia,” 1858, p. 425, and “Ibis,” 1862, p. 71.
43Cf. A. G. More, in the “Ibis,” 1865, p. 123.
44Cf. “Journ. für Orn.,” 1868, pp. 21-37.
45“Syst. Nat.,” i. p. 288.
46“Consp. Av.,” i. p. 247.
47Cf. “Naumannia,” 1858, p. 425.
48Capt. Beavan recorded it from Simla (“Ibis,” 1868, p. 79), but Mr. Hume showed this to be an error, the species mistaken for it being A. sordida (“Ibis,” 1869, p. 120).
49Cf. Dawson Rowley, “Ibis,” 1863, p. 37, and 1865, p. 113; Bond, “Zoologist,” 1870, pp. 1984 and 2383; and Rodd, “Zoologist,” 1868, p. 1458.
50See Bree’s “Birds of Europe,” vol. ii. p. 155.
51“Syst. Uebers. d. Vögel N.-O. Afrika’s,” p. 61.
52“Birds of South Africa,” p. 148.
53“Notes on the Birds of Damara Land,” by the late C. J. Andersson; arranged and edited by J. H. Gurney, 1872, p. 129.
54See “The Field” for May 27th, June 8th, and June 24th, 1871.
55“Zoologist,” 1863, p. 8444.
56“Zoologist,” 1863, p. 8841.
57Rodd, “List of the Birds of Cornwall,” 2nd ed. p. 11.
58Cf. Hume, “Journ. Asiatic Soc. Bengal,” 1870, p. 116, and Blanford, “Ibis,” 1870, p. 534.
59See his “Ornithology of the Straits of Gibraltar,” p. 224.
60“Mag. Nat. Hist.,” vol. iv. p. 413.
61“Nat. Hist. Ireland” (Birds), i. p. 377.
62“American Ornithology.”
63Professor Newton’s Appendix to Baring Gould’s “Iceland,” p. 408.
64Gillet, “Ibis,” 1870, p. 306.
65Von Schrenck, “Reise in Amurland.”
66“A Spring and Summer in Lapland,” p. 281.
67Tudbury, “Mag. Nat. Hist.,” vol. v. p. 449.
68“Geology and Zoology of Abyssinia,” p. 347.
69“The Land of Israel,” p. 105.
70“History of British Birds,” vol. ii. p. 251 (3rd ed.)
71Journ. As. Soc. Beng. xxiv. p. 277.
72“Birds of North America,” p. 313.
73Jones’s “Naturalist in Bermudas,” p. 34.
74“Wanderings of a Naturalist in India,” p. 49.
75See “The Birds of Middlesex,” p. 126.
76Thompson, “Nat. Hist. Ireland” (Birds), i. p. 377.
77Irving, “Tales of the Alhambra.”
78“Mag. Nat. Hist.,” 1834, vol. vii. p. 462.
79“Contributions to Ornithology,” 1850, p. 109. It is not included by Herr Müller in his “Bird Fauna of the Faroes.”
80“A Spring and Summer in Lapland,” p. 281.
81Ayres, “Ibis,” 1863, p. 321.
82E. C. Taylor, “Ibis,” 1867, p. 56.
83Lord Lilford, “Ibis,” 1860, p. 234.
84Tristram, “Ibis,” 1865, p. 77.
85In the Grey Phalarope we have a notable instance of a contrary habit. This bird passes through England on its way southward in autumn, but invariably selects some other route on its return northward in spring.
86Blyth, “Ibis,” 1866, p. 339.
87Blyth, “Ibis,” 1865, p. 45.
88See Thompson’s “Nat. Hist. Ireland” (Birds), vol. i. p. 423.
89“Birds of Egypt,” p. 174.
90“Observations on the Geology and Zoology of Abyssinia,” p. 336.
91“The Land of Israel,” p. 250.
92Thompson, op. cit.
93Mr. Robert Gray of Glasgow has seen it in grass fields, cleverly picking ghost-moths (Hepialus humuli) off the stems, from the points of which these sluggish insects were temptingly hanging. But as a rule, he adds, the Nightjar captures its prey while in flight.
94See Atkinson’s “Compendium of Ornithology,” p. 108, and Stanley’s “Familiar History of Birds,” p. 260.
95“The Birds of Sherwood Forest,” p. 172.
96“The Birds of the West of Scotland,” p. 212.
97The late Mr. Blyth thought that the Cuckoo found in Java by Dr. Horsfield was not the Common Cuckoo of Europe, but an allied race (C. canoroides, Müller, optatus, Gould), whose range extends eastward at least to China, and southward to Australia. If so, doubtless the same remark applies to Japan. Cf. “The Ibis,” 1865, p. 31.
98“Naumannia,” 1853, p. 307.
99On certain facts in the economy of the Cuckoo, “Ibis,” 1865, pp. 178-186.
100This species, however, is included in Dr. Thienemann’s list above given.
101“The Birds of Middlesex,” 1866, p. 120.
102See “Nature,” 18th Nov. and 23rd Dec., 1869, 6th Jan., 7th July, and 18th Aug., 1870.
103“Ibis,” 1865, p. 183.
104“Hist. Brit. Birds,” vol. iii. p. 128.
105It would seem that this account was first published by Mrs. Blackburn, in what she terms “a little versified tale of mine,” entitled “The Pipits,” which appeared in Glasgow in 1872.
106Cf. Garland, “Naturalist,” 1852, p. 82.
107“Gleanings in Natural History.”
108For a notice of this singular habit I am indebted to my friend Mr. H. E. Dresser, who has translated Naumann’s observations on the subject in his beautiful work on the “Birds of Europe.”
109Cf. “Zoologist,” 1858, and “Proc. Zool. Soc.,” 1863, p. 264.
110Mr. Benzon of Copenhagen informed my friend Mr. Dresser that a short time ago the Hoopoe was by no means rare in Norway, but now that the forests have been cleared of all the old and hollow trees it has entirely vanished from the fauna of his district.
111“The Birds of the West of Scotland,” p. 198.
112“Nat. Hist. Ireland” (Birds), vol. i. p. 353.
113On this point the late Mr. Blyth, writing in the Natural History columns of “The Field,” 17th August, 1872, under the signature “Z.,” remarked that Orioles are amongst the few birds which breed before attaining the mature plumage, and the females acquire this later than the males, being always, however, of a greener shade. He had observed this in O. melanocephalus, O. chinensis, O. tenuirostris, and O. acrorhynchus, but thought that “the old females of O. galbula, and O. kundoo, less frequently attain the male colouring than those of the other species mentioned.”
114“The Birds of Damara Land,” p. 136.
115“The Birds of Norfolk,” vol. i. p. 360.
116“The Birds of the West of Scotland,” p. 223.
117“The Birds of Shetland,” p. 152.
118Baikie and Heddle, “Fauna Orcadensis,” p. 55, and Gray, op. cit. p. 223.
119“Birds of Egypt,” p. 214. See ante, p. 281.
120Irby, “Ornithology of the Straits of Gibraltar,” p. 134.
121A Landrail caught on Canvey Island, at the mouth of the Thames, lived in confinement on corn and water for a week, when it made its escape.
122Jones’s “Naturalist in the Bermudas,” p. 45.
123“Storia Naturale degli Uccelli che nidificano in Lombardia,” pt. xxxii. t. 91.
124“Bengal Sporting Magazine,” 1842, p. 870.
125Out of twenty-four correspondents, thirteen call this bird the Landrail and eleven the Corncrake, and this in various parts of the country, so that neither name can be regarded by any means as local.