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THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND 
 MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID 
 
A- 
 
THE 
 
 BIRDS OF WILTSHIRE. 
 
 COMPRISING 
 
 tlye ^eriofcical and ^ccasicwal 
 as well as ffjose wl)icl) are indigenous 
 to tl)c ounfp. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 KEY. ALFRED CHARLES SMITH, M.A., 
 
 Christ Church, Oxford ; Rector of Yatesbury ; Member of the British 
 
 Ornithologists Union ; Hon. Sec. of the Wiltshire Archaeological 
 
 and Natural History Society ; 
 
 AUTHOR OP 
 
 i ATTRACTIONS OF THE NILE,' 'SPRING TOUR IN PORTUGAL,' 'A PILGRIMAGE THROUGH PALESTINE,' 
 'BRITISH AND ROMAN ANTIQUITIES OF THE NORTH WILTSHIRE DOWNS,' ETC. 
 
 tot t!u ^ttthxrr bs 
 E. H. POETEE, 6, TENTEEDEN STEEET, LONDON, W. ; 
 
 AND 
 
 H. F. BULL, DEVIZES. 
 
 1887. 
 
MY OLD AND VALUED FRIEND, 
 
 ALFKED NEWTON, 
 
 PKOFESSOR OF ZOOLOGY AND COMPARATIVE ANATOMY, 
 
 M.A., F.R.S., ETC., ETC., 
 AND FELLOW OF MAGDALENE COLLEGE, IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE, 
 
 WITH WHOM I HAVE ENJOYED A CORRESPONDENCE 
 ON OUR FAVOURITE HOBBY FOR THE LAST THIRTY-SEVEN YEARS,. 
 
 I DEDICATE THIS VOLUME. 
 
 M3668? 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 AN enforced holiday of six months, owing to illness, and con- 
 sequent absence from my parish, and confinement to the house 
 during the winter months, have given me the leisure which has 
 hitherto been wanting, for reprinting some papers on the Orni- 
 thology of Wilts, which I published above thirty years ago in 
 the earliest volumes of the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural 
 History Society. To the reproduction of these papers in one 
 volume I have been repeatedly urged by many of my Wiltshire 
 neighbours, but by no one more persistently than by the old 
 friend to whose opinion, on all matters relating to birds, I have 
 long been accustomed to bow with implicit obedience (Professor 
 Alfred Newton), to whom I am proud to dedicate this volume, 
 but who be it thoroughly understood in the outset is in no 
 way responsible for any errors, heresies, blunders, or defects 
 which these pages may contain; for he has never seen them, 
 nor will see them until they are beyond the power of correction. 
 For when I speak of the reprinting the ornithological papers, 
 the first of which appeared in the first luimber of the Wiltshire 
 Magazine, I should explain that on the covers of those maga- 
 zines I have, from time to time, printed a notice, requesting to 
 be informed of the occurrence of any rare bird, or anything 
 interesting in regard to birds in all parts of the county ; and 
 thanks to the kindness of many friends, and some who had 
 previously been strangers to me, I have, in the course of the 
 thirty-four years which have elapsed since I first asked for such 
 information, received such a mass of valuable material that 
 
vi Preface. 
 
 much of the papers I formerly wrote required to be rewritten ; 
 and a great deal of additional matter had to be added, to bring 
 up to present date anything approaching to a full history of the 
 birds of Wiltshire : for my aim is whether I succeed in ac- 
 complishing it or no to make this volume a record of all the 
 species which belong to our county as inhabitants or periodical 
 migrants, as well as of all such as have been known occasionally 
 to visit it. 
 
 Moreover, having been obliged to spend many winters and 
 springs in warmer climates, I have had unusual opportunities of 
 making myself acquainted, in their own haunts, with many of the 
 rarer stragglers which occasionally visit our island. Previous to 
 the printing of my former papers on the Ornithology of Wilts, 
 I had only had opportunities of becoming personally acquainted 
 with the birds of Western and Northern Europe ; but since that 
 time I have rambled, gun in hand, and with binocular quite as 
 indispensable a companion to an ornithologist for several sea- 
 sons on the southern shores of France and Italy, in Spain and 
 Portugal, and, above all, in Egypt and Nubia ; and there I have 
 watched in its own home, and studied the habits and life history 
 of, many a bird which, though recognised in Great Britain as an 
 occasional visitor, very rarely comes in the flesh before the 
 British ornithologist. So that I have something to add from 
 personal observation elsewhere to my former account of some of 
 the feathered visitors to this county. 
 
 In reprinting and collecting into a volume the ornithological 
 papers which were scattered over many volumes of the Wilt- 
 shire Magazine* let me first say that in preparing those papers 
 I did not scruple occasionally to gather from various standard 
 books on birds whatever suited my purpose, though I fear I 
 cannot now distinguish such, still less can I refer them to their 
 several authors. Also I would premise that this book has no 
 
 Wiltshire Magazine, Vol. I, pp. 41-45, 105-115, 239-249 ; II., pp. 162-172, 
 290-301 ; III., pp. 337-357 ; IV., pp. 26-35,285-298 ; VI., pp. 167-182 ; VIL, 
 pp. 81-102 ; IX., pp. 45-57,211-222 ; XI., pp. 160-174 ; XII., pp. 44-72, 152- 
 185. See also for other ornithological papers Vol. III., pp. 129-145 ; VIII., 
 pp. 135-144 ; X., pp. 115-130. 
 
Preface. vii 
 
 pretensions of a scientific character, nor does it aspire to be other 
 than a plain account of the Birds of Wiltshire, written by a 
 Wiltshire man, and for Wiltshire people, and is meant to 
 supply in a popular manner some information to those who are 
 not very learned in the subject, but who desire to know some- 
 thing of the feathered tribes by which they are surrounded, as 
 well as those which periodically or occasionally visit us. There 
 are no scientific disquisitions in this volume. I have not even 
 touched on the writings of Charles Darwin, much as I admire 
 and heartily as I accept the groundwork of his beautiful theory. 
 I shall probably be accused of turning a deaf ear to modern 
 discoveries, and of putting forth a treatise which might have 
 been written fifty years ago. No doubt, to a certain extent, there 
 is some truth in such accusations ; but to dabble in science, and 
 to argue on scientific subjects without much scientific knowledge, 
 very soon leads the presumptuous writer into a very quicksand 
 of trouble. I can, then, discourse on birds only according to my 
 lights, and if I be somewhat old-fashioned and behind the age in 
 my old-world notions, I submit that modern opinions are not 
 always correct, and that our predecessors in ornithology were not 
 always so ignorant as modern presumption sometimes supposes. 
 Moreover, this professes to be in some sense a reprint of that 
 which was published before the theories of Darwin and Wallace 
 were put forth, and before the new nomenclature and classifica- 
 tion came into existence. 
 
 But whatever the nomenclature for a rose under any other 
 name would smell as sweet and whatever the classification (for 
 this is, at last, but a matter of opinion on which our best orni- 
 thologists still differ widely), the study of birds still remains, as 
 in the good old days of Gilbert White and Bewick, a most in- 
 teresting and fascinating study, carrying its votaries along the 
 most pleasant paths, and adding tenfold interest to every walk. 
 The unobservant passer-by may think that all birds are alike, 
 except in size and colour ; the casual observer may imagine that 
 in this pursuit there can be little to learn ; but the truth is, that 
 in all pursuits of this kind, and certainly not the least so in the 
 
viii Preface. 
 
 one before us, the farther he advances the more he sees to admire, 
 the more he discovers how little he knows. Let him examine 
 the plumage of a bird let him take a single feather, and see its 
 wonderful growth, its mysterious colouring, its perfect adapta- 
 tion to the end for which it was made. What an admirable 
 defence against cold and heat, how light and buoyant ! Let him 
 examine the different methods of nidification adopted by the 
 different species ; how every species adopts a method peculiar to 
 itself, yet one which is exactly followed by all the members com- 
 prising that species. What consummate skill and ingenuity are 
 displayed in the construction of their nests ; how beautiful and 
 curious and varied are their eggs ! 
 
 These and a thousand other such things, unnoticed by the 
 many, but discovered at every turn by the student in ornithology, 
 point out how perfect are the works of God, how varied and 
 beautiful, how exactly suited to their several positions are the 
 creatures of His hand. The contemplation of them not only 
 fills the heart with pleasure, but lifts it up in praise and adora- 
 tion to the great and bountiful Creator, whose least work so far 
 surpasses the greatest triumph of the most scientific men. 
 
 It would occupy too much space to append a full list of my 
 very numerous correspondents on this subject ; but I shall not, 
 I hope, be misunderstood, or thought to have made an invidious 
 selection, when I am so much indebted to many, if I especially 
 enumerate some who have most materially assisted me. First 
 and foremost of these I must mention my very intimate and 
 deeply lamented friend, the Eev. George Marsh, for many years 
 Vicar of Sutton Benger, in this county, who was a thorough 
 practical ornithologist, whose ear was so accurate as to detect 
 in an instant any unwonted note in the woods or hedgerows or 
 garden; and whose knowledge of birds, from long personal 
 observation, was so profound that he seldom failed to identify 
 the feathered songster who uttered it. With every specimen in 
 his admirable collection at Sutton Benger* I was in my younger 
 
 f This collection, at the death of its owner, passed into the possession 
 of his brother, the late Mr. Matthew Marsh, sometime M.P. for Salisbury, 
 
Preface. ix 
 
 days quite familiar, and I was never tired of listening to their 
 histories as their owner loved to describe them. Moreover, I 
 made copious extracts from the MS. notes which he lent for 
 the purpose ; and I am indebted to him in no slight degree for 
 much and varied bird knowledge which he imparted to me 
 through a friendship of many years, which only terminated with 
 his death. Still more early was my acquaintance with the fine 
 collection of birds made by Mr. Ernie Warriner* of Conock 
 House, in the parish of Cherrington, near Devizes, which I had 
 frequent opportunities of examining on the many happy Sundays 
 which I spent there when at my first school hard by. That 
 was declared by its owner to be a perfect collection of British 
 birds, as recognised up to that date (about A.D. 1833), and con- 
 tains many fine specimens of very rare stragglers to Great 
 Britain, a considerable number of which I know from its col- 
 lector's mouth to have been Wiltshire specimens ; but as most 
 unhappily all record of them is lost, it is impossible to say which 
 are Wiltshire killed, and which are imported from other countries. 
 It is, I think, to Mr. Warriner and his beautiful collection of 
 birds that I am indebted for my first introduction to this de- 
 lightful branch of natural history, which has been my cherished 
 hobby ever since. Another ornithologist of olden time, whom 
 it was my great privilege to know, by a correspondence extend- 
 ing over several years, and subsequently by a visit which I paid 
 him at his beautiful seat in Yorkshire, was the well-known 
 Charles Waterton, whose essays in natural history and remark- 
 able autobiography are familiar to all, as is also his thorough 
 practical acquaintance with birds and their habits ; but whose 
 extraordinary power of preserving in their natural, life-like 
 
 at whose death it was given by his widow, and a room to contain it added, 
 by her beneficence, to the South Wilts Museum, at Salisbury, where it may 
 now be seen, in admirable preservation. 
 
 * Subsequently in the possession of his son, Captain Ernie Warriner, 
 and for many years deposited in the house of the late Mr. William Tugwell, 
 and now, by the kindness of the owner, deposited in the Museum of the Wilts 
 Archaeological and Natural History Society, at Devizes, 
 
x Preface. 
 
 attitudes* the many animals and birds which he had collected 
 was known to but few : indeed, I may say that none but those 
 who have seen them can realize the incomparable specimens, 
 amounting to some thousands in number, which this prince of 
 naturalists had collected and prepared during the many years 
 of his wanderings in the wilds of Demerara and other foreign 
 countries. During a glorious week which I spent at Walton 
 Hall in 1857, Mr. Waterton took infinite pains to teach me the 
 process he invented and practised; but though I paid every 
 attention to the instructions of my master, and made many an 
 attempt in that direction on my return home, I was obliged to 
 own that it required not only the intimate anatomical know- 
 ledge and the unwearied patience, but also the delicacy of touch 
 and the deftness of finger of a Waterton, where my more clumsy 
 hands utterly and shamefully failed. 
 
 To descend to more modern times, I would first express my 
 acknowledgments to the Rev. A. P. Morres, Vicar of Britford, 
 near Salisbury, for the admirable papers 'On the Occurrence of 
 some of the Karer Species of Birds in the Neighbourhood of 
 Salisbury,' which with much earnest solicitation I prevailed on 
 him to write, and which I had the pleasure of printing in the 
 
 * My first acquaintance with a specimen of Mr. Waterton's skill in bird- 
 stuffing was as follows : For some reason which I now forget, he declined to 
 send specimens, as he had been invited to do, to the first Great Exhibition, 
 in 1851, and when I ventured to express the extreme regret with which I 
 and others learnt his decision, he said he would send a few samples to the 
 College of Surgeons to the care of Professor Owen, and bade me go there 
 and see them. I did not find Professor Owen at home, but Mrs. Owen, 
 kindly offering to show me the specimens, took me into the library, and bade 
 me beware of the beak of a fine Eagle Owl, which was sitting on a perch, 
 just inside the door ; and it was not till I had examined it on all sides for a 
 considerable time that I could convince myself that- the bird was not alive, 
 but merely a skin prepared by Mr. Waterton literally a skin and feathers 
 only ; for when Mrs. Owen lifted off the head, as one might lift off the top 
 of a cardboard box, there was neither wool nor tow nor stuffing of any kind, 
 neither bone nor cork nor wire, but simply a hollow skin, which had been 
 manipulated by so masterly a hand, and by so knowing an anatomist, that 
 the dried skin showed the exact hollows and swellings, here a depression, and 
 there an excrescence, which the muscles and the sinews of the bird when in 
 life would have caused. 
 
Preface. xi 
 
 magazine of the Wilts Archaeological and Natural History Society.* 
 To these papers, so far as they relate to this county, I shall 
 have occasion to make frequent reference in this volume, as well 
 as to many notes on -the occurrence of rare birds in South Wilts, 
 with which the same able ornithologist has from time to time 
 favoured me. To the Rev. George Powell, Hector of Sutton 
 Veny, and to Mr. Ernest Baker, of Mere, I am also much indebted 
 for many interesting communications of a like character, and 
 extended over many years, with reference to the visits of acci- 
 dental stragglers in South Wilts. Also to the Rev. T.A. Preston, 
 late of Marlborough College, and the founder, as I may say, of 
 the excellent museum there, for many valuable notices of birds 
 in his district. To the late Major Spicer, of Spye Park, himself 
 an excellent outdoor naturalist, with whom I have enjoyed much 
 ornithological communication, and whose fine collection of birds 
 and magnificent ornithological library were always open to my 
 inspection. To my old friend Colonel Michael Foster Ward, of 
 Bannerdown House, Bath, for frequent notices of occurrences in 
 his district; and last, but by no means least, to Mr. Grant, formerly 
 bird-preserver in Devizes, for the pains he has taken in preparing 
 for my use a full catalogue of the rarer birds which have passed 
 through the hands of himself and his sons. To one and all of 
 these, and to a host of others in all parts of the county, I here 
 beg to tender my heartiest thanks, not only for the information 
 given me, but for the kindness and cordiality with which they 
 have received and replied to my many minute, and sometimes, 
 I fear, troublesome inquiries. 
 
 In addition to the collections of Mr. Warriner and Rev. G. 
 Marsh, and other general collections in the Devizes and Salisbury 
 Museums, also the Marlborough College Museum, and those of 
 Rev. A. P. Morres, Rev. G. Powell, Mr. Ernest Baker, Major 
 Spicer, and Colonel Ward, mentioned above, I have also had the 
 advantage of an acquaintance many years ago with the admirable 
 
 * (1) Vol. XVII., pp. 94-127 ; (2) Yol. XVIII., pp. 183-213 ; (3) Vol. 
 XVIII., pp. 289-318 ; (4) Vol. XX., pp. 154-185 ; (5) Vol. XXI., pp. 211- 
 255; (6) Vol. XXII., pp. 83-106 ; (7) Vol. XXII, pp. 191-211. 
 
xii Preface. 
 
 collection of British birds which my old friend Mr. Wadham Locke 
 possessed when he lived at Ashton Gifford, near Warminster ; 
 and I have also examined and profited by the fine collections of 
 Mr. Rawlence, of Wilton ; of Mr. Elgar Sloper, at Devizes ; and of 
 Mr. Gwatkin, of the Manor House, Potterne. Moreover, I possess 
 a very fair collection of my own, both of birds and eggs, which 
 I began in my Eton days more than fifty years ago ; so that I 
 have had an ample supply of specimens at hand, without stray- 
 ing beyond the borders of our county ; and if I fail in setting 
 forth the birds of Wilts in this volume, it is certainly from no 
 lack of willing and able correspondents, nor from the want of 
 sufficient collections from which to draw my material. 
 
 With these words of preface I send forth my newly-fledged 
 Wiltshire bantling to try its wings in a flight through the 
 county, craving indulgence for its shortcomings ; but this I 
 know I shall meet with from ornithologists, for there is, I verily 
 believe, such a friendly feeling among birdmen, and such a free- 
 masonry among all lovers of the feathered race, that if they see 
 a poor victim mercilessly pecked at by cruel critics they will 
 fly to the rescue and drive off the attacking bird of prey ; nor 
 cease till they have delivered the timid quarry, before he is 
 overwhelmed by his fierce assailants. 
 
 There is a satisfaction to me in preparing these pages for the 
 press in the old home of my boyhood and youth, the hedge- 
 rows of which were the scenes of my first bird-nesting expedi- 
 tions, and the woods and coppices of which echoed to the report 
 of my gun more than fifty years ago. 
 
 OLD PARK, DEVIZES, 
 May, 1887. 
 
CLASSIFIED LIST OF 
 
 ORDER. 
 
 1 RAPTORES . 
 (Birds of Prey) 
 
 TRIBE. FAMILY. 
 
 1 Vulturid<K. Vultures 
 
 2 Falconidce. Falcons 
 
 3 Slrigida. Owls . 
 
 2 INSESSORES . . 1 DENTIROSTRES - 4 Laniadcc. Butcher Birds . 
 (Pei-chers) (Tooth-billed] 
 
 5 Muscicapidce. Fly-catchers 
 
 6 ATerulidce. Thrushes . 
 
THE BIRDS OF WILTSHIRE. 
 
 GENUS. SPECIES. ENGLISH NAME. PAGE 
 
 (not represented in Wiltshire) . . . . . 54 
 
 56 
 
 1 Haliceetus albicilla . . . White- tailed Eagle ... 59 
 
 2 Pandion haliceetus . . . Osprey 64 
 
 3 Falco gyrfalco .... G-yr Falcon 66 
 
 4 Falco peregrinus .... Peregrine Falcon ... 68 
 
 5 Falco subbuteo .... Hobby 72 
 
 6 Falco rufipes . . . . Red-footed Falcon ... 74 
 
 7 Falco cesalon .... Merlin 75 
 
 8 Falco Tinnunculus . . . Kestrel ..... 78 
 
 9 Astur palumbarius . . . Goshawk 80 
 
 10 Accipiternisus .... Sparrow Hawk .... 81 
 
 11 Falco milvus .... Kite 83 
 
 12 Buteo vulgaris .... Common Buzzard ... 85 
 
 13 Buteo lagopus .... Rough-legged Buzzard . . 86 
 
 14 Buteo desertorum . . . African Buzzard .... 88 
 
 15 Pernis apivorus .... Honey Buzzard .... 88 
 
 16 Circus mruginosus . . . Marsh Harrier .... 91 
 
 17 Circus cyaneus .... Hen Harrier .... 93 
 
 18 Circus Montagui .... Montagu's Harrier ... 95 
 
 . 98 
 
 19 Bubo maximus .... Eagle Owl . . . . .102 
 
 20 Scops giu Scops Owl 303 
 
 21 Otus vulgaris .... Long-eared Owl . . . . 105 
 
 22 Otus brachi/otos .... Short-eared Owl . . . .106 
 
 23 Strix flammea .... Barn Owl . . . . . 107 
 
 24 Syrnium stridula . . . . Tawny Owl . . . .'Ill 
 
 25 Stirnia funerea .... Hawk Owl 113 
 
 26 Noctua passer ina . . . . Little Owl . . . .114 
 116 
 
 27 Lanius excubitor .... Great Gray Shrike . . .119 
 
 28 Lanius collurio .... Red-backed Shrike . . . 122 
 . . . .124 
 
 29 Muscicapa grisola . . . Spotted Flycatcher . . .124 
 
 30 Muscicapa atricapilla . . . Pied Flycatcher .... 125 
 126 
 
 31 Cinclus aquaticus .... Dipper . . . . . .127 
 
 32 Turdus viscivorus . . . Missel Thrush . . .128 
 
 33 Turdus pilaris . . . Fieldfare 129 
 
 34 Turdus musicus . . . Song Thrush .... 131 
 
 35 Turdus iliacus . . . Redwing 132 
 
 36 Turdus merula . . . Blackbird 135 
 
 37 Turdus lorquatus . . . Ring Ouzel ..... 137 
 
 38 Oriolus galbula . . . Golden Oriole . . . .139 
 
XVI 
 
 ORDER. 
 
 2 INSESSORES . 
 (Perchers) 
 
 Classified List of 
 
 TRIBE. 
 
 1 DENTIROSTRES 
 (Tooth-billed) 
 
 FAMILY. 
 
 7 Silviadce. Warblers, 
 
 8 Paridce. Titmice . 
 
 9 Ampdida. Wax wings 
 
 10 Motaclllidce. Wagtails 
 
 11 Anthidce. Pipits 
 
 2 CONIROSTRES . 12 AlaudidcB. Larks . 
 (Cone-billed) 
 
 13 Emberizidce. Buntings 
 
 14 Fringillidce. Finches 
 
the Birds of Wiltshire. xvii 
 
 GENUS. SPECIES. ENGLISH NAME. PAGE 
 
 39 A ccentor modularis 
 40 Sylvia rubecula . 
 41 Phcenicura ruticilla 
 42 Phcenicura titys . 
 43 Saxicola rubicola . 
 44 Saxicola rubetra . 
 45 Saxicola cenanthe . 
 46 Salicaria locustella 
 47 Salicaria phragmitis 
 48 Salicaria arundinacea 
 49 Philomela luscinia 
 50 Curruca atricapilla 
 51 Curruca hortensis 
 52 Curruca cinerea 
 53 Curruca sylviella 
 54 Sylvia sylvicola 
 55 Sylvia trochilus 
 56 Sylvia hippolais 
 57 Melizophilus Dartfordi 
 58 Regulus cristatus 
 
 . Hedge Accentor . 
 . Redbreast .... 
 
 . 143 
 . 145 
 
 . Redstart .... 
 
 . 146 
 
 . Black Redstart . 
 . Stonechat .... 
 
 . 148 
 . 149 
 
 . Whinchat .... 
 
 . 150 
 
 . Wheatear .... 
 
 . 151 
 
 . Grasshopper Warbler . 
 . Sedge Warbler . 
 . Reed Warbler . . 
 . Nightingale 
 . Blackcap Warbler 
 . Garden Warbler . 
 . Common Whitethroat. 
 . Lesser Whitethroat . 
 . Wood Warbler . 
 . Willow Warbler . 
 . Chiff Chaff .... 
 
 . 153 
 . 154 
 . 155 
 . 156 
 . 158 
 . 159 
 160 
 . 161 
 . 162 
 . 163 
 . 164 
 
 ensis. . Dartford Warbler 
 . Golden-crested Regulus 
 
 . 166 
 . 167 
 168 
 
 59 
 60 
 61 
 62 
 63 
 
 Parus major 
 Parus cccruleus 
 Parus ater . 
 Parus palustris 
 Parus caudatus 
 
 . Great Titmouse . 
 . Blue Titmouse . 
 . Coal Titmouse . 
 . Marsh Titmouse . 
 . Long- tailed Titmouse. 
 
 . 169 
 . 171 
 . 171 
 . 172 
 . 172 
 173 
 
 64 
 
 Bomby cilia garrula 
 
 . Bohemian Waxwing . 
 
 . 173 
 
 . 176 
 
 65 
 66 
 67 
 68 
 
 Motadlla Yarrellii 
 Motadlla boarula 
 Motadlla neglecta 
 Mo tac il la Jlava 
 
 . Pied Wagtail 
 . Gray Wagtail 
 . Gray-headed Wagtail 
 . Ray's Wagtail . 
 
 . 176 
 . 177 
 . 178 
 . 178 
 . 179 
 
 69 
 70 
 
 Anthus arboreus . 
 Anlhus pratensis . 
 
 . Tree Pipit .... 
 . Meadow Pipit 
 
 . 179 
 
 . 180 
 
 . 182 
 
 71 
 72 
 
 Alauda arvensis 
 Alauda arborea . 
 
 . Skylark .... 
 
 . 183 
 
 Woodlark . 
 
 . 185 
 
 
 . 185 
 
 73 
 
 74 
 75 
 76 
 
 77 
 
 Plectrophanes nivalis . 
 Emberiza miliaria 
 Emberiza schceniclus . 
 Emberiza citrinella 
 Emberiza cirlus . 
 
 . Snow Bunting . 
 Common Bunting 
 . Black-headed Bunting 
 . Yellow Bunting . 
 Cirl Bunting 
 
 . 186 
 . 188 
 . 189 
 . 189 
 . 191 
 . 192 
 
 78 
 79 
 80 
 81 
 82 
 83 
 84 
 85 
 
 Fringilla ccelebs . 
 Eringilla montifringilla 
 Passer domesticus 
 Passer montanus 
 Coccotkraustes chloris . 
 Coccothraustes vulgaris 
 Carduelis elegans 
 Carduelis spinus 
 
 . Chaffinch .... 
 
 . 192 
 
 . Mountain Finch . 
 . House Sparrow . 
 . Tree Sparrow 
 Greenfinch .... 
 Hawfinch .... 
 
 . 193 
 . 195 
 . 197 
 198 
 . 199 
 
 Goldfinch .... 
 . Siskin ..... 
 
 . 201 
 . 204 
 
XV111 
 
 ORDER. 
 
 2 INSESSORES . 
 (Perchers) 
 
 Classified List of 
 
 TRIBE. FAMILY. 
 
 2 CONIROSTRES . 14 FringillidoB. Finches 
 (Cone-billed) 
 
 15 Sturnidce. Starlings 
 
 16 Corvidce. Crows 
 
 3 SCANSORES . 
 (Climbers) 
 
 . 17 Picidce. Woodpeckers 
 
 4 FlSSIROSTRES 
 
 (Wide-billed) 
 
 18 Certhiadce. Creepers 
 
 19 Cuculidce. Cuckoos . 
 
 20 Meropidce. Bee-eaters 
 
 21 Halcyonidce. Kingfishers 
 
 22 Hirundinidce. Swallows . 
 
 3 KASORES 
 
 (Ground Birds) 
 
 23 Caprimulgidce. Goatsuckers 
 
 24 Columbidce. Doves . 
 
 25 Phasianidce. Pheasants . 
 
 26 Tetraonidce. Grouse 
 
 
the Birds of Wiltshire. 
 
 xix 
 
 GENUS. SPECIES. ENGLISH NAME. PAGE 
 
 86 Linota cannabina . . . Common Linnet . . . 205 
 
 87 Linota montana .... Twite 205 
 
 88 Linota linaria .... Lesser Redpole .... 206 
 
 89 Pyrrhula vulgaris . . . Bullfinch 208 
 
 90 Loxia curvirostra . . . Common Crossbill . . . 209 
 210 
 
 91 Sturnus vulgaris . . . Common Starling . . .211 
 
 92 Pastor roseus * ... Rose-coloured Pastor . . . 213 
 215 
 
 93 Fregilus graculus . . . Chough 215 
 
 94 Corvuscorax .... Raven 218 
 
 95 Corvus corone .... Carrion Crow .... 232 
 
 96 Corvus comix .... Hooded Crow .... 234 
 
 97 Corvus frugilegus . . . Rook 237 
 
 98 Corvus monedula . . . Jackdaw 241 
 
 99 Pica caudata .... Magpie 242 
 
 100 Garrulus qlandarius . . Jay ... . 245 
 
 . 247 
 
 101 Picus Martins .... Great Black Woodpecker . . 248 
 
 102 Picus viridis .... Green Woodpecker . . . 250 
 
 103 Picus major .... Great Spotted Woodpecker . 253 
 
 104 Picus minor .... Lesser Spotted Woodpecker . 254 
 
 105 Picus auratus .... Gold-winged Woodpecker . . 255 
 
 106 Yunx torquilla .... Wryneck 256 
 
 . . . 258 
 
 107 Certhia familiaris . . . Common Creeper . . . 259 
 
 108 Troglodytes vulgaris . . . Wren 260 
 
 109 UpupaEpops .... Hoopoe 262 
 
 110 SUtaEuropcea . . . . Nuthatch . . . . .268 
 270 
 
 111 Cuculus canorus Common Cuckoo . . . 270 
 292 
 
 1 12 Coracias garrula . . . Roller 293 
 
 113 Merops apiaster .... Bee-eater . . * . . . 294 
 . . 295 
 
 114 Alcedo ispida . Kingfisher 296 
 
 299 
 
 115 Hirundo rustica . . . Swallow 301 
 
 116 Hirundo urbica .... Martin 304 
 
 117 Hirundo riparia . . . Sand Martin . . . . 306 
 
 118 Cypselus apus .... Common Swift .... 307 
 
 309 
 
 119 Caprimulgus Europceus . . Nightjar 311 
 
 ...... ......... (314 
 
 120 Columba palumbus . . . Ring Dove 317 
 
 121 Columba cenas .... Stock Dove 319 
 
 122 Columba lima .... Rock Dove 320 
 
 123 Columba turtur . . . Turtle Dove .... 322 
 323 
 
 124 Phasianus Colchicus . . . Pheasant 323 
 
 325 
 
 125 Tetrao urogallus . . . Capercaillie . . . . 325 
 
 126 Tetrao tetrix .... Black Grouse .... 32y 
 
 127 Lagopus Scoticus . . . Red Grouse .... 32g 
 
 128 Syrrhaptes paradoxus . . Pallas' Sand Grouse . . . 33o 
 
ORDER. 
 
 3 RASORES 
 
 (Ground Birds) 
 
 Classified List of 
 TRIBE. 
 
 FAMILY. 
 
 26 Tetraonidas. Grouse 
 
 27 Struthionidce. Bustards 
 
 4 GRALLATORES. 
 (Waders) 
 
 28 Charadriadce. Plovers 
 
 29 Gruidce. Cranes 
 
 30 Ardeidce. Herons . 
 
 31 Scolopacidce. Snipes 
 
 32 Rallidce. Rails 
 
 33 Lobipedidce. Lobe-feet 
 
 5 NATATORES . 
 (Swimmers) 
 
 34 Anatidce. Ducks 
 
the Birds of Wiltshire. 
 
 xxi 
 
 GENUS. SPECIES. 
 129 Perdix cinerea 
 
 ENGLISH NAME. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 . 332 
 
 130 Perdix rubra . 
 131 Perdix coturnix . 
 
 . Red-legged Partridge . 
 . Quail 
 
 . 334 
 . 1*35 
 . 338 
 
 132 Otis tarda .... 
 
 . Bustard 
 
 . 339 
 
 133 Otis tetrax. 
 
 . Little Bustard . . . 
 
 . 364 
 . 369 
 
 134 Glareola torquata 
 135 Cursorius isabellinus . 
 136 (Edicnemus crepitans . 
 137 Charadrius pluvialis . 
 138 Charadrius morinellus 
 
 . Pratincole 
 Cream-coloured Courser 
 . Great Plover 
 . Golden Plover 
 
 . 371 
 . 374 
 . 377 
 . 360 
 . 382 
 
 139 Charadrius hiaticula . 
 140 Vanellus cristatus 
 
 . Ringed Plover 
 . Lapwing .... 
 
 . 385 
 . 386 
 
 141 Hcematopus ostralegus 
 
 . Oyster-catcher 
 
 . 389 
 . 391 
 
 142 6rrus cinerea 
 
 . Common Crane . 
 
 . 391 
 . 392 
 
 143 Ardea cinerea . 
 144 Ardea comata . 
 145 Botaurus minutus 
 146 Botaurus stellaris 
 147 Nycticorax griseits 
 148 Ciconia alba 
 149 Ibis falcinellus . 
 
 . Common Heron . 
 Squacco Heron . 
 . Little Bittern 
 . Bittern .... 
 . Night Heron 
 . White Stork 
 
 . 394 
 
 403 
 . 404 
 405 
 . 407 
 408 
 . 410 
 
 
 
 . 412 
 
 150 Numenius arquata 
 
 
 412 
 
 151 Numeniu s phceopus 
 
 Whimbrel .... 
 
 . 415 
 
 152 Tot anus calidris 
 
 
 . 417 
 
 153 Totanus ochropus 
 154 Totanus glareola 
 155 Totanus nypoleucos 
 156 Totanus glottis . 
 157 Limosa rufa 
 158 Machetes pugnax 
 159 Scolopax rusticola 
 
 . Green Sandpiper. 
 . Wood Sandpiper. 
 Common Sandpiper . 
 . Greenshank 
 . Bar-tailed Godwit 
 . Ruff 
 
 . 418 
 419 
 . 420 
 . 421 
 
 . 42a 
 
 424 
 . 425 
 
 160 Scolopax major . 
 161 Scolopax gallinago 
 1 62 Scolopax gallinula . , 
 
 . Great Snipe 
 . Common Snipe . 
 
 . 428 
 429 
 . 431 
 
 163 Tringa subarquata 
 164 Tringa Canuta . 
 16o Tringa variabilis 
 
 . Curlew Sandpiper 
 . Knot 
 
 . 432 
 . 433 
 . 437 
 
 1 66 Tringa maritima 
 
 . Purple Sandpiper 
 
 . 438 
 439 
 
 167 Crcx pi*atensis 
 
 Land Rail 
 
 . 440 
 
 168 Crex porzana 
 169 Rallus aquaticus 
 
 Spotted Crake 
 Water Rail 
 
 . 442 
 . 443 
 
 1 70 Gallinula chloropus . . 
 
 
 . 444 
 
 171 Ar amides Cayannensis 
 
 . Cayenne Rail 
 
 . 445 
 . 447 
 
 172 Fulica atra 
 173 Phalaropus lobatus . 
 174 Phalaropus hyberboreus 
 
 . Common Coot . 
 . Gray Phalarope . . . 
 . Red-necked Phalarope 
 
 . 448 
 . 449 
 . 452 
 . 455 
 
 175 Anserferus 
 
 . Graylag Goose . . . 
 
 . 455 
 
XX11 
 
 ORDER. 
 
 5 NATATORES 
 (Swimmers) 
 
 Classified List of 
 TRIBE. 
 
 FAMILY. 
 34 Anatidce. Ducks 
 
 
 35 Colymlidce. Divers. 
 
 36 Alcadw. Auks 
 
 37 Pelicanidce. Pelicans 
 
 38 Laridce. Gulls. 
 
the Birds of Wiltshire. 
 
 xxm 
 
 GENUS. SPECIES. 
 
 ENGLISH NAME. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 176 Anser segetum . 
 
 . Bean Goose 
 
 . 457 
 
 177 Anser albifrons . 
 
 . White-fronted Goose . 
 
 . 459 
 
 178 Anser torquatus . 
 
 . Brent Goose 
 
 . 460 
 
 179 Anser leucops'is . 
 
 . Bernicle Goose . 
 
 . 464 
 
 180 Anser Egyptiacus 
 
 . Egyptian Goose . 
 
 . 465 
 
 181 Anser gambensis 
 
 . Spur-winged Goose . 
 
 . 467 
 
 182 Anser Canadensis 
 
 . Canada Goose . 
 
 . 468 
 
 183 Cygnus musicus . 
 
 . Whooper .... 
 
 469 
 
 184 Cygnus olor 
 
 . Mute Swan .... 
 
 . 471 
 
 185 Tadorna vulpanser . 
 
 . Common Shelldrake . 
 
 . 474 
 
 186 Anas clypeata 
 
 . Shoveller .... 
 
 475 
 
 187 Anas strepera . 
 
 . Gadwall .... 
 
 . 477 
 
 188 Anas acuta 
 
 . Pintail Duck 
 
 . 478 
 
 189 Anas boschas 
 
 . Wild Duck. 
 
 479 
 
 190 Anas querquedula 
 
 . Garganey .... 
 
 481 
 
 191 Anas crecca 
 
 . Teal 
 
 . 481 
 
 192 Anas penelope . 
 
 . Wigeon . 
 
 482 
 
 193 Somateria mollissima . 
 
 . Eider Duck. 
 
 483 
 
 194 Somateria spectabilis . 
 
 . King Duck .... 
 
 485 
 
 195 Oidemia nigra . 
 
 Common Scoter . . 
 
 . 486 
 
 196 Fuligula ferina . 
 
 . Pochard .... 
 
 487 
 
 197 Fuligula nyroca. 
 
 . Ferruginous Duck 
 
 . 488 
 
 198 Fuligula marila 
 
 . Scaup Duck 
 
 . 489 
 
 199 Fuligula cristata 
 
 . Tufted Duck 
 
 . 490 
 
 200 Fuligula glacialis . . 
 
 . Long- tailed Duck 
 
 . 491 
 
 201 Fuligula clangula 
 
 . Golden Eye 
 
 . 492 
 
 202 Mergus albellus . 
 
 Smew ..... 
 
 . 494 
 
 203 Mergus serrator . 
 
 . Red-breasted Merganser 
 
 . 495 
 
 204 Mergus merganser 
 
 . Goosander .... 
 
 . 496 
 
 
 
 499 
 
 205 Podiceps cristatus 
 
 . Great Crested Grebe . 
 
 . 500 
 
 206 Podiceps rubricollis . 
 
 . Red-necked Grebe . * 
 
 . 501 
 
 207 Podiceps cornutus 
 
 . Sclavonian Grebe 
 
 . 502 
 
 208 Podiceps auritus 
 
 . Eared Grebe 
 
 . 503 
 
 209 Podiceps minor . 
 
 . Little Grebe 
 
 . 504 
 
 210 Columbus glacialis . 
 
 . Great Northern Diver 
 
 . 505 
 
 211 Columbus arcticus 
 
 . Black-throated Diver . 
 
 . 508 
 
 212 Colyjnbus septentrionalis 
 
 . Red- throated Diver . 
 
 . 509 
 
 
 
 510 
 
 213 7na rc^7e 
 
 . Common Guillemot . 
 
 . 511 
 
 214 Mergulus alle 
 
 . Little Auk .... 
 
 . 512 
 
 215 Fratercula arctica 
 
 . Puffin ...... 
 
 . 514 
 
 216 -4/ca o?'efa 
 
 . Razor-bill . . . 
 
 516 
 
 
 
 517 
 
 217 Phalacrocorax carlo . 
 
 Common Cormorant . 
 
 . 518 
 
 218 Phalacrocorax graculus 
 
 . Shag 
 
 . 521 
 
 219 Sulaalba .... 
 
 . Gannet .... 
 
 . 522 
 
 
 
 524 
 
 220 Sterna hirundo . 
 
 . Common Tern . 
 
 . 525 
 
 221 Sterna Arctica . 
 
 . Arctic Tern 
 
 . 526 
 
 222 Sterna fissipes . 
 
 . Black Tern .... 
 
 528 
 
 223 Larus minutus . 
 
 . Little Gull .... 
 
 529 
 
 224 Larus ricHbundus 
 
 . Black-headed Gull 
 
 . 531 
 
 225 Larus tridactylus 
 
 . Kittiwake .... 
 
 532 
 
 226 Larus canus 
 
 . Common Gull . . . 
 
 . 533 
 
xxiv Classified List of 
 
 ORDER. TRIBE. FAMILY. 
 
 5NATATORES. . WLurultv. Gulls 
 
 (Sivimmers) 
 
the Birds of Wiltshire. 
 
 XXV 
 
 GENUS. SPECIES. 
 
 227 Larusfuscns 
 
 228 Larus argentatus 
 
 229 Larus marinus . 
 
 230 Lestris cataractes 
 
 231 Lestris crepidatus 
 
 232 Puffinus Anglorum . 
 
 233 Thalassidroma Oceanica 
 
 234 Thalassidroma Leachil 
 
 235 Thalassidroma pelagica 
 
 ENGLISH NAME. PAGE 
 
 Lesser Black -backed Gull . . 534 
 
 Herring Gull .... 535 
 
 Great Black-backed Gull . . 536 
 
 Common Skua .... 537 
 
 Richardson's Skua . . . 539 
 
 Manx Shearwater . . . 540 
 
 Wilson's Petrel .... 542 
 
 Forked -tailed Petrel . . . 543 
 
 Storm Petrel 544 
 
THE BIRDS OF WILTSHIRE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THE county of Wilts has been sometimes thoughtlessly said to be 
 poor in Ornithology ; indeed, I have heard it denounced by super- 
 ficial observers as exceptionally wanting in the various members 
 of the feathered race ; pre-eminent, doubtless, in the remains of 
 antiquity so these gentlemen are good enough to allow but in 
 birds a barren field indeed. Against any such verdict I enter a 
 decided protest, and I even maintain, on the contrary, that, 
 taking into consideration that Wiltshire is an inland district, and 
 therefore cannot be expected to abound in birds whose habitat is 
 the sea and the seashore, our county will scarcely yield to any 
 other, similarly situated, in the number and variety of the species 
 of birds to be found there ; and I now proceed to prove this by 
 statistics. 
 
 Let us first, however, examine the physical aspect of Wiltshire, 
 and we shall see that it is not composed of bleak open downs 
 alone, as its detractors superciliously affirm ; but that it can show 
 a great diversity of scenery, and much of it of surpassing beauty. 
 We have, it is true, our broad, open, expanding downs and what 
 native of Wiltshire does not glory in them and admire them ? 
 but we have at the same time our richly- timbered vales : if we 
 have hill, we have also dale ; if we have open plains, we have also 
 large woods and thick forests. Where shall we find more clear 
 and limpid streams, where more green and laughing meadows, 
 than in the valleys of Avon (the northern and the southern 
 
 1 
 
2 Introduction. 
 
 Avon), the vale of Kennet. or of Pewsey, or of Wily, or of War- 
 dour ? Where, again, in all England can we meet with a forest 
 to compare with that of Savernake ? And in woods and parks 
 and well- timbered estates, both in the north and south of the 
 county, we are exceptionally rich. 
 
 But it is an undisputed fact in Ornithology indeed, I may say 
 in Zoology, and even in Natural History generally that those 
 districts afford the greatest variety of species which comprise the 
 greatest variety of scenery ; for as some kinds of birds prefer an 
 open plain, others a sequestered valley ; as some delight in the 
 recesses of deep woods, others court the margins of streams, and 
 all these are usually to be found in their own peculiar locality, 
 the ornithologist in search of particular species will devote his 
 attention to the country suited to the habits of the bird of which 
 he is in search. Thus (to take an example which must be familiar 
 to everybody), who would think of beating a thick wood for 
 snipe, or of wading through a marsh for partridges ? It is the 
 same with every species of bird, as well as with all quadrupeds, 
 reptiles, insects, and other inferior tribes of the animal kingdom. 
 The Almighty Creator has peopled with the living creatures 
 which He has made, no less the wild dreary plain than the sunny, 
 smiling valley ; no less the bleak open down than the sheltered, 
 sequestered nook. I myself have found specimens of animal life 
 far above vegetation among the eternal snows of the Swiss Alps, 
 9,000 feet above the sea, and on the immense deserts of rock and 
 snow composing the Norwegian ' fjelds.' But far more than this, 
 that indefatigable naturalist, De Saussure, who first surmounted 
 the avalanches and glaciers which presented, till then, an impass- 
 able barrier to the ascent of Mont Blanc, discovered on the very 
 top of that noble mountain several minute insects, which seemed 
 to revel in the cold and rarified air of that exalted spot, upwards 
 of 15,000 feet above the sea ! And again, Lieutenant Greeley, in 
 the Arctic expedition which reached the highest latitude ever 
 attained by man, describes the existence in summer of many 
 butterflies, and quite a ' plague of flies,' amidst the icebergs and 
 snows of 83 N. lat. 
 
Variety of Scenery in Wiltshire. 3 
 
 But if there are living creatures to be found in every kind of 
 country, in remote, inhospitable, and almost inaccessible rocks 
 and snows, as well as in more genial and milder regions ; and 
 if each creature, of whatever class and however minute, is 
 still most wonderfully formed and fitted for the particular 
 locality assigned to it, we may assert again, without fear of con- 
 tradiction, that the district which comprises the greatest variety 
 of scenery may be expected to produce the greatest variety of 
 species. 
 
 From the great variety, then, of scenery which Wiltshire 
 possesses, we should expect to find a great variety of species of 
 birds ; and such, I boldly assert, is the result of our inquiries. 
 
 Of the five orders into which birds are commonly divided, 
 three compose that large class called the ' Land Birds,' and two 
 the ' Water Birds.' And if we examine the work which at the 
 present day is generally accepted by the bulk of ornithologists as 
 their manual and book of reference I mean Yarrell's ' British 
 Birds ' we shall find that in the last edition, completed in 1885, 
 of the Land Birds therein enumerated there are just 199 species. 
 But this list contains the names, not only of every bird which 
 inhabits this country throughout the year; or which, being 
 migratory, is a periodical sojourner here during the summer or 
 winter, or an occasional visitant, passing us on its way to northern 
 or southern latitudes, but also of every bird which has ever been 
 seen in this country. If a straggler from Asia or Africa, happen- 
 ing to fall in with a storm of wind, should be hurried out of its 
 course and carried to our shores, that one single occurrence 
 suffices at the present day to place its name on our British list. 
 I am not now about to enter into the question of the advantage 
 or disadvantage to science of such a method. I only state that 
 this is the method adopted by our British ornithologists, and by 
 this means the addition of some tempest- driven, or lost straggler, 
 is being continually made to our ever-increasing list. And yet, 
 notwithstanding this modern method of swelling the list of 
 British birds, and though with such additions to it from year 
 to year, the last edition of our standard ornithological work 
 
 12 
 
4 Introduction. 
 
 contains but 199 Land Birds, I have been enabled to claim no 
 less than 133 species of them as belonging to our county. 
 
 Of the two other orders comprising the other class, or ' Water 
 Birds,' it cannot be expected, as I before said, that this, as an 
 inland county, should possess a very large supply. Still, even of 
 these there are some families amongst the Waders as the Plovers, 
 Herons, Snipes, and Rails which affect our open downs or 
 marshy valleys to a great degree ; and there are others which are 
 more essentially Sea-Birds as the Ducks, Grebes, Terns, and 
 Gulls which are very frequent visitors, more especially in the 
 south of the county, the portion nearest to the sea-coast 
 Besides this, we have an occasional visit from many other varie- 
 ties of Water Birds continually occurring. So that of the 176 
 species of Water Birds enumerated in the new edition of Yarrell, 
 I may claim 102 for our Wiltshire list ; so that again the diligent 
 ornithologist, though he confine his observations to his own 
 county, will not unfrequently meet with specimens of birds 
 whose more peculiar domain is the sea and the shore. And this 
 brings up the total list of Wiltshire birds to 235.* 
 
 Another and a strong proof of the favourable retreat afforded 
 by this district of England to certain species of birds, and one 
 which by no means should be omitted in speaking of its Ornitho- 
 logy, is that for a great number of years our wide downs, and, 
 above all, Salisbury Plain, were the resort of that noble bird the 
 Great Bustard ; and though of late years it has most unhappily 
 become extinct in Great Britain, in consequence of the draining, 
 enclosing, and cultivating of our waste lands, yet the downs of 
 Wilts deserve honourable mention as one of its last strongholds. 
 With all these facts before us, I repeat that Wiltshire does offer a 
 
 * On comparing this with the published catalogues of birds of other 
 counties, I find that in 
 
 Cornwall (with coast on two sides) Mr. Rodd enumerates 290 species. 
 
 Number district (with open coast) Mr. Cordeaux 276 
 
 Lancashire (with sea-board) Mr. Mitchell ,, 256 
 
 Somersetshire (with some coast) Mr. Cecil Smith 216 
 
 Middlesex (no coast) Mr. Harting 225 
 
 Sussex (with much sea-coast) Mr. Knox 242 
 
Number of Species in Wiltshire. 5 
 
 very large field to the inquiring ornithologist. In. great measure, 
 too, it is an open and an untrodden field, singularly wanting in 
 writers on this particular branch of Natural History. Good old 
 Aubrey professed, indeed, to give some account of the Natural 
 History of Wilts ;* but as regards its Ornithology, and I should 
 not wrong him if I included all the other branches, he was 
 ludicrously ill-informed, even for that unscientific age. In 
 very little more than one page of quarto size he disposes of 
 the whole of the birds of Wilts, enumerating just fifteen genera, 
 and in the following unmethodical sequence : ' Larkes, Buntings, 
 Linnets, Woodpeckers, Wheateares, Bustards, Gray Crowes, 
 Rookes, Feasants, Bitterns, Herons, Sparrow-hawkes, Hobbies, 
 Ganders, Sea-mewes ;' and within these narrow limits he con- 
 trives to embody quite as many errors as facts ; the latter, too, 
 being of the very tritest and best known. Perhaps that was 
 excusable in one who wrote on Natural History two hundred 
 years ago, when ignorance of the very rudiments of that science, 
 and even of the existence of some of the commonest species all 
 around, was universal. But the only other writer on the birds of 
 Wilts has no such excuse ; for Dr. William George Maton, of 
 Redlynch House, Salisbury, of high repute as an eminent 
 physician, a Fellow of many learned societies, and undoubtedly 
 an accomplished botanist, conchologist, geologist, and antiquary, 
 and who flourished at the beginning of this century, wrote what 
 he was pleased to call ' The Natural History .of a Part of the 
 County of Wilts ;'t and certainly, as regards the chapter on 
 ' Aves,' anything more meagre and more absolutely misleading, 
 on account of its wholesale omissions, than the wretched account 
 he gives of Wiltshire birds, it is impossible to conceive. The 
 whole number of species mentioned by him amounts to just 
 twenty-three ; and these are not selected for their rarity, for the 
 Heron, the Sand-martin, the Lapwing, the common Water-hen, 
 
 The ' Natural History of Wiltshire,' by John Aubrey, F.R.S., A.D. 1685. 
 
 t The ' Natural History of a Part of the County of Wilts, comprehended 
 within the distance of ten miles round the City of Salisbury,' by George 
 Maton, M.D., F.U.S., Y.P.L.S., F.S.A. Published (after hh death) A.D. 
 1843. 
 
6 Introduction. 
 
 the Land-rail, the Barn Owl, the common Gull, and the Black- 
 bird are among the chosen few. Thus we cannot be said to have 
 gained any help from the only two writers on British birds who 
 have preceded us. 
 
 One giant, indeed, we have had among us, when the eminent 
 ornithologist, Colonel Montagu himself a native of Wiltshire 
 for a time resided at Lackham, in this county ; for he was 
 one of the most acute observers and one of the most reliable 
 authors of his day ; but he left behind him no list of Wiltshire 
 birds ; and those who are familiar with his admirable books are 
 aware that he alludes comparatively seldom to the species he met 
 with in this county, and that his references are chiefly confined 
 to the birds of Devonshire, where he resided on leaving Lackham.* 
 Neither must I omit the name of Gilbert White, the author of 
 the charming ' Natural History of Selborne/t still the most 
 delightful and the most fascinating of all books on that subject ; 
 but though while living in an adjoining shire, he pushed his 
 inquiries into Wiltshire, and doubtless gained part of his experi- 
 ence within the borders of our county, he can scarcely be cited 
 as a writer on our birds. Indeed, though I have searched in 
 every direction, I have failed to find any pioneer who should 
 guide me on my path, and I can refer to no writer who has pre- 
 viously treated of the birds of Wiltshire, or even bequeathed to 
 us a bare list of species, of any practical value. I must not 
 omit to add that since the publication of my papers on the 
 Ornithology of Wilts, thirty years ago, we have had the Rev. A. 
 P. Morres' very valuable papers, above mentioned, on the 
 ' Occurrence of some of the Rarer Species of Birds in the Neigh- 
 bourhood of Salisbury,' printed in the Magazine of the Wiltshire 
 Archaeological and Natural History Society, 1877-1885. Also 
 very many useful notices by the Ornithological Section of the 
 Marlborough College Natural History Society, printed in its 
 
 ' Ornithological Dictionary; or, Alphabetical Synopsis of British Birds/ 
 by George Montagu, F.L.S., 1802, and Supplement to the ' Ornithological 
 Dictionary,' by the same author, 1813. 
 
 f 'Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne,' by the Rev. Gilbert 
 White, M.A., 1789. 
 
Classification. 7 
 
 annual Reports from the formation of the society, in 1865, to 
 the present time. Also a handy little volume, in 1870, on the 
 ' Birds of Marlborough,' by E. F. im Thurn, at that time a student 
 there. 
 
 CLASSIFICATION. 
 
 I proceed now to enter into some preliminary details in order to 
 the better understanding of those who have devoted little atten- 
 tion to the subject, and also for the assistance of those who are 
 beginning to investigate it, and would know something more of 
 the various species of the feathered race around them. And I 
 propose to begin with the general subject of the classification, 
 and then go on to glance at the structure and the faculties, 
 enlarging more particularly on the beaks and feet of birds; 
 whereby I hope to unfold their several positions in the great 
 scale of nature ; and without which preliminary observations I 
 fear I should fail to convey anything more than a confused idea 
 of the admirable, and indeed perfect, organization of this most 
 interesting class of creatures. With this view, and to start from 
 the very beginning, or, as in speaking of birds, I may say a b 
 ovo, I proceed to the somewhat dry, but important, subject of 
 classification, giving a general outline of the rules by which birds 
 have been classed, and the divisions and subdivisions which, for 
 many long years, have been accepted. 
 
 But here I must confess my inability to follow the most 
 recently accepted classification of British Birds, as put forth by 
 the learned gentlemen to whom that task was committed by the 
 British Ornithologists' Union. Far be it from me to say a 
 single word against that new arrangement, subversive though it 
 is of all my long- cherished views of correct order. I simply say 
 that, as I do not understand the reasons which dictated so revo- 
 lutionary a system, it is impossible for me to follow it. At the 
 same time, entertaining as I do a most profound respect for 
 those advanced men of science who have determined the new 
 arrangement, I feel satisfied that they have ample reason for the 
 conclusions to which they have come ; and indeed, as a loyal 
 
8 Introduction. 
 
 member of the B.O.U., I honestly did try my very best to fall in 
 with, and adopt, the new scheme ; but I soon found myself so 
 hampered, so bewildered, so confused, so completely at sea as I 
 floundered on in this unaccustomed route, that I felt constrained 
 to get back to the old well-beaten path with which I had for so 
 many years been familiar ; and I suppose I am too old, or at all 
 events too old-fashioned, to accommodate myself to what is in 
 reality an uprooting of the principles which had for half a cen- 
 tury guided my ornithological studies. So I have returned to 
 the same classification which I followed in the Ornithology of 
 Wilts, and which was that pursued by the revered authors with 
 whom I was most familiar Bewick and Selby, Yarrell, Hewitson 
 and Gould. 
 
 Some system of classification is, at all events, absolutely neces- 
 sary to him who desires to attain to a comprehensive knowledge 
 of birds ; and, indeed, he must not expect to gain even a super- 
 ficial acquaintance with them, or to grasp in his mind any 
 definite and precise idea of the positions they severally occupy, 
 without a certain amount of labour. The schoolboy, in his 
 research after knowledge, must toil through many a weary and 
 irksome task ; the linguist, in acquiring a new language, must 
 pause over dry rules of grammar ; the eminent statesman, the 
 victorious general, the brilliant orator, never gained their proud 
 positions without industry and diligence ; and so, to compare 
 smaller things with great, before we proceed to investigate 
 the several properties, peculiarities, and habits of individual 
 birds, it will be necessary first to understand thoroughly the 
 relative positions they occupy ; and in order to do this, we must 
 devote a little attention, which will be amply repaid by the 
 result. In Ornithology, as in other sciences, we must not 
 attempt to run before we can walk ; we must not rush headlong 
 in medias res. Step by step we must be contented to advance ; 
 but our way will not be weary, if we give attention to surmount 
 the little obstacles which at first sight seem to oppose us ; our 
 journey will not be irksome if we pause to smooth away the little 
 inequalities of the path ; and the more we advance, the easier 
 
Classification. 9 
 
 becomes the way, the smoother the road, till at length we find 
 ourselves unencumbered by hindrances, and surrounded by all 
 the sweets and pleasures of this most fascinating study. 
 
 Now, one of the very first requirements in every branch ot 
 Natural History is method; one of the most indispensable is order: 
 without this, it will be impossible to progress ; and Ornithology, 
 like a skein of silk, which, if handled with due care is easily un- 
 wound, deprived of method soon becomes a tangled mass of 
 knots, which defy the skill of the extricator to unravel them. 
 The very first lesson, then, that we must learn, and one which 
 we must never forget if we would know anything of Ornithology, 
 is a little insight into the classification of birds, whereby what 
 before seemed hopeless confusion becomes, by the touch of this 
 magic wand, the very perfection of order. There seems, at first 
 sight, to be a wide difference between the majestic swan and the 
 diminutive tree-creeper, between the lordly eagle and the insig- 
 nificant sparrow, between the noble bustard and the tiny wren ; 
 but by methodical arrangement we see how link succeeding link, 
 and species connected by the strongest affinity with species, they 
 are all integral parts of the same great chain ; united by many 
 intermediate bands, but still component parts of the same great 
 whole. Nay, not only so, but, by the help of classification, we 
 can not only assign to each bird, quadruped, insect, fish, or 
 reptile its own appropriate place, but. beginning with the noblest 
 of God's creatures, with man, we can pass gradually through all 
 the animal kingdom, stopping to admire with what excellent 
 method, and by what almost insensible degrees, the race of 
 quadrupeds merges into that of birds ; how the race of birds is 
 intimately connected with fishes, fishes with reptiles, reptiles 
 with insects, insects with animals of inferior order, and these 
 again with the vegetable, and as some affirm even the 
 mineral kingdom. These are surely wondrous facts, and of 
 exceeding interest : to follow up and pursue this chain requires 
 time indeed, and skill and opportunities, such as few can com- 
 mand; but to gain an insight into this beautiful order and 
 arrangement is within the reach of all ; and the more we inves- 
 
10 Introduction. 
 
 tigate it, the more we shall learn how true it is of the Almighty 
 Creator, that ' God is not the Author of confusion, but of peace.' 
 
 Before I proceed to examine in detail the method of classifying 
 birds, as generally practised by our standard writers on the sub- 
 ject, it may be of interest briefly to trace the several stages by 
 which it has arrived at its present excellence. 
 
 Among ancient writers on Natural History, there are but two, 
 viz., Aristotle and Pliny, who have professed to give any general 
 description of birds ; and interesting, and in some cases instruc- 
 tive, as their treatises in many respects certainly are, they are 
 mixed up with such a mass of absurdity and fable as very much 
 to mar their intrinsic value. In that early stage of ornithological 
 knowledge, of course anything approximating to systematic 
 arrangement was not to be expected. But to come down to more 
 modern times, the first approach to order is traced to Belon and 
 the French naturalists, who in the middle of the sixteenth 
 century began to classify after a certain system. As the ground- 
 work of their scheme was, however, derived from the habitat and 
 food of birds, it was necessarily in many respects very incorrect. 
 In the next century Gesner, at Zurich, and Aldrovandus, at 
 Bologna, struck out a plan in the right direction, by dividing the 
 whole class into land and water birds ; but then, as if satisfied 
 with this good beginning, they deduced their subordinate divi- 
 sions from the nature of the aliment. It was reserved for our 
 own countryman, Willoughby, at the latter end of the seven- 
 teenth century, to lay the foundation of a more accurate arrange- 
 ment ; for, accepting the grand divisions already laid down, of 
 terrestrial and aquatic, he made his subdivisions from inquiries 
 into the general form and structure, and especially from the dis- 
 tinctive characters of the beak and feet ; still he seems to have 
 been unable to shake off completely the prejudices of his time, 
 for he allows varieties in size, the different kinds of food, and 
 such trivial things to bias him in his arrangement. Ray and 
 Pennant followed up the course so well begun by Willoughby, 
 and the close of the last century saw this systematic arrangement 
 from the anatomical structure of birds very generally established. 
 
Classification. 1 1 
 
 Since that time all the numerous systems of classification have 
 proceeded from the same principle of structure. Various, indeed, 
 have they been, adopted by ornithologists of this and other 
 countries ; some fanciful, as the ' Quinary System/ or ' series of 
 circles/ established by Vigors ; others complicated and puzzling 
 from their needless minuteness ; others positively erroneous, as 
 a farther acquaintance with birds has shown ; but the method 
 which I here set forth, adopted by modern ornithologists, and 
 more particularly by those of this country, has this great advan- 
 tage over all that have preceded it, in addition to its superior 
 accuracy, that it is simple and plain, as well as comprehensive ; 
 neither from over minuteness burdening the memory unneces- 
 sarily, nor from an opposite extreme of indefiniteness leaving any 
 deficiency or doubt. This, moreover, is the system adopted by 
 Yarrell, Hewitson, and the principal British ornithologists of the 
 present day.* 
 
 To proceed, then, with the classification of birds, I must repeat 
 what I touched on in a previous page, that birds are commonly 
 placed in two grand divisions, viz., ' Land Birds/ or those whose 
 habitat is the land ; and ' Water Birds/ or those which princi- 
 pally court the water, as their names respectively imply. These 
 are two great classes, separating our British birds into two nearly 
 equal parts ; the number of Land Birds amounting to 199, the 
 Water Birds to 176 species. 
 
 The first great division of these two classes is into the five 
 ' Orders,' the members of which are of somewhat similar habits 
 and formation, and partake of the same general characteristics. 
 
 Of these five, the first is the ' Kaptorial ' order, composed of 
 those birds usually known as ' birds of prey ;' and, as their 
 natural habit is, the destruction of the feebler tribes and the 
 smaller animals, they have been most mercilessly persecuted by 
 man in all countries. This continual persecution will easily 
 account for their rarity and their habitual shyness, seldom ven- 
 
 I should add that though I now confine my observations to birds of this 
 country, yet the same arrangement applies equally to birds generally 
 throughout the globe. 
 
12 Introduction. 
 
 turing near the habitation of inan, and always taking flight at 
 the distant approach of their great enemy. Still, sometimes in 
 our great woods or thick enclosures, and often on our open 
 downs, the most unobservant must have seen the Hawk hovering 
 with expanded wings high in the air, or dashing in pursuit after 
 fi luckless bird, or pouncing with unerring aim on some unfortu- 
 nate mouse. The most careless must have occasionally heard 
 the wild hooting or the unearthly shriekings of the Owl, as it has 
 hurried past in search of prey in the shades of evening. The 
 principal characteristics of this order are the long and curved 
 claws, the hooked and powerful bill, the muscular limbs, the 
 great strength, the predatory habits, the love of animal food ; 
 these are traits so marked and peculiar, that it will require but 
 little discrimination to distinguish birds belonging to this order 
 from all the others. 
 
 The second embraces those innumerable small birds which are 
 so familiar to all of us ; and contains a much larger number of 
 species than either of the other four orders. These are the 
 ' Insessores,' or 'perching birds,' which fill our woods and gardens, 
 abound in our fields, and may be met with at every turn in our 
 daily walks. They possess far more intelligence than birds of 
 any other class, are remarkable for the vocal powers with which 
 some of them are endowed ; but especially derive their name 
 from the perfect form of the foot, which is so admirably adapted 
 for perching or grasping, and in which the hind toe is always 
 present. When we come to examine the subdivisions" of this 
 order, we shall find that the ' Insessores ' comprise birds varying 
 greatly from one another in habits and general appearance ; yet 
 all belonging to this division partake of the grand distinguishing 
 features which I have shown to be characteristic of it. 
 
 The third order contains the 'Rasores,' or 'ground birds,' 
 comprehending all such as being land birds, and yet not being 
 birds of prey, and not having feet perfectly adapted to perching, 
 obtain the principal part of their food upon the ground ; their 
 wings in general are short, and they are not capable of such 
 extended flight as belongs to members of the two preceding 
 
Classification. 13 
 
 orders ; but in lieu of this they are provided with very strong 
 limbs and powerful muscles, and with short toes, enabling them 
 to run with great swiftness. This division does not contain any 
 great number of species, and yet as many of them are sought for 
 by the epicure, and others still more by the sportsman, there is, 
 perhaps, no class of birds the habits and general nature of which 
 are so generally known as this. When I mention that the 
 ' Kasores ' include not only all the gallinaceous birds, as our 
 Barn-door Fowls, but also Partridges, Pheasants, and Grouse, 
 the truth of this statement will be at once seen. As all the 
 members of this order are extremely good for food, a beneficent 
 Providence has caused them to be very productive, and the 
 number of eggs to a nest is usually very considerable. 
 
 The fourth order begins the other great division, viz., the 
 ' Water Birds/ and comprises those numerous aquatic birds 
 which, not having webbed feet, and so not being perfectly framed 
 for swimming and diving, nevertheless are formed for living 
 partly in the water, and generally procure their food from wet 
 and marshy places, if not from rivers, lakes, and the sea-shore. 
 These are the ' Grallatores,' or ' waders,' and are distinguished 
 from the land birds by their habits, as well as by the length of 
 leg and neck so fitted for their aquatic ways ; also by the forma- 
 tion of their feet, so admirably adapted for wading on soft mud, 
 for running lightly over water-plants, and enabling them to 
 move easily in their accustomed haunts. The Herons, Snipes, 
 and Plovers may serve as examples of this class. 
 
 The fifth and last order contains the true water birds, whose 
 domain is essentially the sea, or the inland lake and large river. 
 These are bond fide inhabitants of the water, passing nearly all 
 their time there, retiring far away from land as day approaches, 
 feeding in the sea, sleeping on the sea, and only occasionally 
 visiting the shore. These are the ' Natatores/ or ' swimmers,' 
 whose boat-shaped bodies and webbed feet attest their remark- 
 able powers of swimming and diving, and render it impossible to 
 mistake them as belonging to any other order. From the posi- 
 tion and extent of the British Islands, the birds which comprise 
 
14 Introduction. 
 
 this division are very numerous on our coasts, as anyone will at 
 once acknowledge who has seen the clouds of ducks, gulls, etc., 
 darkening the sea-shore in the autumn. 
 
 Such, then, being a sketch of the five great orders of birds, and 
 such the characteristics of each, the lines of demarcation between 
 them seems so broad and well defined that one might almost be 
 inclined to doubt the possibility of confusing them. Yet (as I 
 before remarked) in nature there seem to be no sudden transi- 
 tions ; no rapid jumps from one kind to another ; no gaps between 
 them ; all is done gradually and with becoming method ; we are 
 led almost insensibly from one order to another, so much does 
 the last species of one assimilate to the first species of the next. 
 Thus, for instance, when passing from the first to the second, 
 from the birds of prey to the perchers, see the connecting link 
 between the two, so ably sustained by the Shrikes or Butcher- 
 birds. Perchers, indeed, they are, with feet as perfect for grasp- 
 ing as any in the class ; at the same time, how like to the birds 
 of prey in their habits, in their cruel method of seizing, impaling 
 on a thorn, and devouring their victims. Again, in passing from 
 the perchers to the ground birds, mark the Pigeons. What a 
 connecting link between the two orders do they form; some 
 partaking of the character of true ' Insessores,' others approxi- 
 mating in every respect to the ' Rasores.' Or, again, in passing 
 from the third to the fourth, from the ground birds to the 
 waders, how slight is the boundary, how gentle the transition 
 from the Bustards to the Plovers ; compare the smaller Bustard, 
 the last of one order, and the great Plover, the first of the next, 
 and how much do they resemble each other, how little the differ- 
 ence to mark the two divisions, how similar in their appearance, 
 their shape, their habits, the locality they affect. And once 
 more, though the webbed feet of the last order may seem at first 
 sight so plain and distinguishing a characteristic as to leave little 
 room for gradual transition here, between the waders and 
 swimmers, yet it is not so : observe the well-known Coot and the 
 Phalaropes ; mark their peculiar feet, furnished with membranes, 
 though not wholly webbed, their decidedly aquatic habits, their 
 
Classification. 15 
 
 powers of swimming and diving, and by their intervention see 
 how easily we pass from the true waders to the true swimmers. 
 Thus we are led on from order to order, not suddenly or uncon- 
 nectedly, but gradually and almost insensibly, proving to us the 
 perfect harmony of all the works of nature, while at the same 
 time we can trace sufficient marks of distinction to prevent any 
 real confusion. 
 
 Having detailed somewhat at length the method pursued in 
 this first great subdivision of the Land and Water birds, I now 
 proceed to show more concisely in what the other subdivisions 
 consist. At present we may be able to define the order to 
 which any given bird may belong, but we are still very far from 
 placing it in that particular position which alone it is entitled to 
 hold. 
 
 The next great subdivision of birds is into ' Tribes,' which will 
 not occupy us long ; for, of the five orders, it is usual to pass by 
 four, as not needing this subdivision, and to apply it only to that 
 very large one, the ' Insessores,' or ' perchers.' These birds being 
 so numerous, and withal so similar in some of their habits, have 
 nevertheless certain marked characteristics, distinguishing at one 
 glance the ' tribe ' to which they belong, and thus very much 
 simplifying their classification. The perchers, then, are divided 
 into four tribes, the first of which is the 'Dentirostres,' or 
 ' tooth-billed' so called from the distinct tooth or notch near the 
 extremity of the bill, enabling the bird to hold securely whatever 
 it may seize ; it is chiefly composed of insect-eating birds, and of 
 these the Kedbreast is an example. The second is the 'Coni- 
 rostres,' or ' cone-billed' so called from the conical form, as well 
 as immense strength of the beak; these birds are principally 
 consumers of grain, as an instance of which we may name the 
 common House-sparrow. The third comprises the ' Scansores,' 
 or 'climbers? the members of which are remarkable for their 
 power of climbing, and to this end they are furnished with toes 
 arranged in pairs, with stiff bristling tail to serve as a support, 
 with tongues capable of great elongation and extension, whereby 
 they may transfix the insects they find in the trees they are 
 
16 Introduction. 
 
 ascending ; of this the Wood-peckers are examples. The fourth 
 and last tribe is composed of the ' Fissirostres,' or ' wide-billed' 
 so called from their enormous width of gape ; these have usually 
 very small feet, and take their food principally on the wing ; 
 everyone will readily perceive how well the Swallows answer to- 
 this description. 
 
 Having now reached the point at which the four tribes of 
 perchers are on an equality with the remaining four entire 
 orders, we come to subdivide these several classes into 'Families/ 
 The word 'families' describes itself at once : these, it will clearly 
 be perceived, are groups of birds belonging to the same order 
 and tribe, and having still nearer affinities one to another, not 
 shared by members of another family, though belonging to the 
 same order and tribe. Thus, for example, the tribe ' tooth- 
 billed' is composed of a number of families the thrushes, the 
 warblers, the titmice, etc. all resembling one another in the 
 formation of their beak, and other characteristics of the tribe ; 
 but each family containing distinctive marks, separating them 
 from the remaining families, and uniting them in a closer 
 alliance to one another. 
 
 When we have mastered the classification of birds up to this 
 point, we have attained no slight knowledge of their arrange- 
 ment ; but again we must pursue our inquiries a little further, 
 and subdivide these families into 'Genera.' Of these each family 
 contains a certain number, some more, some less, the members 
 of each genus having still further points of resemblance between 
 them than with those of other genera, though of the same family. 
 Thus to take, for example, the warblers, sylviadce : in this 
 family there is the genus curruca, containing the ' whitethroats ;' 
 the genus regulus, containing the 'golden-crested wrens;' the 
 genus saxicola,' containing the 'chats.' Thus, again, of the 
 family of grouse, there is the genus tetrao, containing the real 
 ' grouse ;' the genus lagopus, containing the ' ptarmigans ;' the 
 genus perdix, containing the ' partridges.' 
 
 And so again in like manner, to come to the last subdivision, 
 which concludes the arrangement of birds according to scientific 
 
Classification. 17 
 
 classification ; every genus contains certain ' Species,' differing 
 from one another in some respects, the points of difference being 
 sometimes marked and clear, at other times slight, and hardly 
 perceptible. Thus, as the family of grouse contains among others 
 the genus ' partridge/ so the genus partridge in its turn comprises 
 these several species, the ' common partridge,' the ' red-legged 
 partridge,' and the 'Barbary partridge.' Again, as the family 
 of warblers contains among others the genus 'chat,' so the 
 genus chat contains the ' whinchat,' the ' stonechat/ and the 
 ' wheatear.' 
 
 It will be needless to pursue this explanation any farther, but 
 I refer to the table, recapitulating the above method of classi- 
 fication, and enumerating the several species of birds known in 
 Wiltshire, each in its own appointed place. 
 
 Such, then, is a general outline of modern classification as 
 commonly adopted in this country. I am quite aware that the 
 above description of it is far from perfect, and some of the sub- 
 divisions may to the experienced seem defective : to enter into 
 further detail would have occupied too much time, and have 
 produced obscurity and confusion; and perhaps, for practical 
 purposes, what I have said will be amply sufficient. Volumes 
 and treatises without number have been written on the subject, 
 and our best Ornithologists have employed a vast deal of time 
 and learning to bring it to perfection : the above is but a short 
 epitome of the result of their labours. To those who care 
 nothing for the science of Ornithology, I fear the repetition of 
 so many hard names may seem irksome ; but to those who would 
 learn something of birds, I am certain it is no loss of time to 
 gain an insight into their classification ; for an acquaintance 
 with this will pave the way to their future studies, simplifying 
 what would otherwise be abstruse, laying bare what would 
 otherwise be hidden, and unravelling what must otherwise be 
 complicated : for (as I observed at the beginning, now I repeat 
 once more) order and method are the very foundation stones 
 of natural history : we can never arrive at any advanced know- 
 ledge of birds without them ; we may be able, indeed, to detect 
 
 2 
 
18 Introduction. 
 
 some species on the ground, on the wing, or by their notes ; we 
 may have some acquaintance with their respective habits and 
 peculiarities, but till we can place them in their own positions, 
 classify them with something of order, arrange them in reference 
 to their congeners with something of method, our knowledge 
 and observations will be of small avail in teaching us the secrets 
 of Ornithology; and we shall fall short in understanding the 
 beautiful balance held by nature; the general connection be- 
 tween birds of the same order and tribe; the more intimate 
 connection between those of the same family; the close union 
 between those of the same genus; and the almost insensible 
 degrees by which they pass from one to another, all of which 
 are subjects of exceeding interest to the careful observer ; and 
 our Ornithological knowledge, instead of being comprehensive, 
 will be desultory; instead of being valuable, will be defective; 
 instead of being useful, will be productive of neither instruction 
 nor pleasure. 
 
 NOMENCLATURE. 
 
 In regard to nomenclature. As with the arrangement and 
 order, so with the names of the birds, I have generally followed 
 that of Yarrell, with which I am most familiar ; but, indeed, the 
 strange names under which some of the most common birds are 
 now hidden, appear to my old-fashioned notions a positive 
 calamity. I confess to a very strong opinion on this point, and 
 I would vehemently protest, if that were of any avail in so 
 humble and unlearned an individual, against the prevalent 
 multiplication of genera and the consequent infliction of new 
 and unaccustomed names. In my judgment, the one essential 
 requisite in regard to the name of a bird is that it should be that 
 by which it may most readily be distinguished ; and to that end 
 the name of a species once generally adopted should never, unless 
 in some very exceptional case, be laid aside. Wherefore Mr. 
 Seebohm's plan, as adopted in his admirable work on the 
 ' History of British Birds,' commends itself to my mind very 
 strongly ; and if I were starting afresh, instead of in some sense 
 
Nomenclature. 19 
 
 reprinting, I should be very much disposed to adopt his simple 
 plan of accepting the specific name auctorum plurimorum, or 
 that which has been most used by previous writers. It has long 
 been a very sore subject of complaint against English ornitholo- 
 gists, on the part of foreigners amateurs as well as dealers that 
 whereas every bird is generally known all over Europe under one 
 acknowledged name, which is recognised everywhere, the English 
 alone substitute another at will, which completely destroys its 
 recognition. This complaint I have often listened to in France 
 and Germany in former years ; but what will now be said, when 
 so many even of the most familiar birds are re-named ? Having 
 thus relieved my mind by expressing a very decided opinion I 
 hope not too presumptuously I proceed to point out that I have 
 taken some pains to ascertain the meaning of the names given to 
 birds, where not at first sight apparent, not confining my atten- 
 tion to the generic and specific names only, but extending my 
 inquiries to those which are provincial, both in our own and 
 neighbouring foreign countries ; for the name, whether delibe- 
 rately bestowed on a species by the scientific author, or affixed to 
 it locally as a nickname, generally describes some peculiarity, or 
 alludes to some characteristic habit or appearance. 
 
 STRUCTURE. 
 
 I come now to the general structure of birds, upon which a few 
 words should be said ; but I would at the outset premise that I 
 am not going to enter into any learned disquisition on their 
 internal economy, or start any new theory regarding their shape 
 or their functions. I propose merely to give a plain statement of 
 their formation, whereby such persons as are either beginning 
 this delightful study, or are not very proficient in it, may gain 
 some insight into the subject. But before we examine their 
 general structure, let us for one moment consider the position 
 which birds were formed to hold in animated nature, and the 
 element they were fitted to people ; then, when we proceed to 
 consider their formation, we shall notice how admirably it is 
 adapted to that end, how exactly suited to that purpose. We 
 
 22 
 
20 Introduction. 
 
 are told in the history of their creation that they were formed 
 out of the water, and that they were made ' to fly above the earth 
 in the open firmament of heaven.' That, then, is their own 
 proper sphere, that the domain allotted to them to occupy. It 
 is true that we find some continually remaining in the element 
 from which they first derived their origin, passing almost all 
 their time in the water ; others again there are which seldom 
 leave the surface of the earth, and are neither formed for swim- 
 ming nor for flight ; but the great majority of species are essen- 
 tially denizens of the air, soaring high above our heads, skimming 
 here and there, floating with expanded wings, 'cleaving with 
 rapid pinions the vast aerial expanse.' Now it is clear that to 
 enable them to do this, the general formation of their bodies 
 must be extremely different from that of the Mammalia, though 
 to a certain extent there are strong resemblances and analogies 
 between them and their respective orders. As there are carnivo- 
 rous quadrupeds, so there are rapacious birds, and both are 
 equally fierce, sullen, unsociable, and solitary in their habits, 
 possessed of great strength, and often of considerable courage. 
 As there are herbivorous quadrupeds, so there are granivorous 
 birds, and both of these are gentle and gregarious in their habits, 
 a mild and tractable race, and easily domesticated. There are 
 also birds as well as beasts of an amphibious nature, having 
 organs suited to their habits, and these live chiefly in the water, 
 and feed on aquatic productions; and there are many similar 
 resemblances. Like the quadrupeds, too, they are warm-blooded 
 and vertebrate; but, unlike them, they are oviparous, and, 
 instead of fur, are usually clothed almost entirely with feathers ; 
 while instead of fore-feet they are furnished with wings ; and we 
 shall presently see that there are many other striking points of 
 difference in structure between them. Unlike the heavy bodies 
 of the Mammalia, which are formed to live on the surface of the 
 earth, the bodies of the birds are light and buoyant. They each 
 possess externally head, neck, body, tail, legs, and feet; but 
 instead of the large head, the heavy neck, the deep chest, the 
 wide shoulder, and the sinewy legs of the quadrupeds, the ob- 
 
Structure. 21 
 
 servant Bewick bids us note 'the pointed beak, the long and 
 pliant neck, the gently swelling shoulder, the expansive wings, 
 the tapering tail, the light and bony feet, of birds.' Every one of 
 these seem formed to combine, as far as possible, the least weight 
 with the greatest strength. There is no superfluous bulk in the 
 structure of a bird. Compared with its dimensions, and the 
 width of its expanded wings, how trifling and insignificant a 
 proportion does the body seem to occupy ; how every part seems 
 to conduce towards lightness and buoyancy. The plumage, too, 
 with which they are clothed is soft and delicate, and yet so close 
 and thick as to form an admirable protection against the intense 
 cold of the atmosphere through which they wing their way, and 
 to which their swift movements must necessarily expose them ; 
 the feathers which compose it are attached to the skin, somewhat 
 after the manner of hair, and are periodically moulted or changed, 
 and nothing can exceed the beauty, and often brilliancy, of their 
 colouring, as nothing can be conceived more adapted to combine 
 the two objects of extreme warmth and excessive lightness. 
 With such an airy framework, and clothed with a plumage in 
 specific gravity but little exceeding the air itself, we are at no 
 loss to understand the ease with which birds mount from the 
 earth and soar among the clouds ; but to enable them to pass 
 quickly through the air, to progress rapidly and without fatigue, 
 no instruments could be devised more excellent than the wings 
 with which they are provided ; so light and yet so vigorous, fur- 
 nished with such strong muscles, so spacious when extended in 
 flight, and yet so compact when closed in rest. By the help of 
 these oars or sails they can strike the air so forcibly, and with 
 such a succession of rapid and powerful strokes, as to impel for- 
 ward their bodies with wonderful velocity ; the greater the extent 
 of the wings in proportion to the size of the bird, the greater is 
 the facility with which it can sustain itself in the air, and the 
 greater the rapidity of its flight. As an example of this, compare 
 the stretch of wing and the proportionate speed of the common 
 Swift and the common Sparrow. Almost all species can fly with 
 exceeding swiftness ; but the progress of some is so very rapid, as 
 
22 Introduction. 
 
 rather to rival the velocity of the arrow from the bow than the 
 movements of any other creature. Yet, with such amazing 
 power, what can be lighter than the materials of which the 
 wings are formed? the bones hollow and filled with air, the 
 muscles strong and unencumbered by flesh, the feathers large, 
 like sails, and of exceeding buoyancy. Then again, in like 
 manner, what can be more perfect than their tails ? These, too, 
 are only composed of feathers, but they serve as rudders, enabling 
 them to steer their course through the air at pleasure, with the 
 greatest ease and with the greatest accuracy. 
 
 Thus, when we look at the external formation of a bird, we can 
 but admire its symmetry and elegance, the buoyancy and light- 
 ness of its frame, so admirably adapted for flight ; but not less 
 perfect nor less calculated to excite our admiration in its internal 
 structure. Is a bird furnished with bones and muscles so abso- 
 lutely necessary to its aerial evolutions ? But mark how thin 
 and light are the bones, how delicate the muscles, those only 
 excepted which are adapted for moving the wings. Then, again, 
 observe the lungs. Small, indeed, they are, but so placed, and 
 the air so introduced into them from the windpipe, that in 
 passing it is conveyed into certain cells or membranous sacs 
 disposed for this purpose over the body. These sacs are situated 
 in the chest and among the muscles, and between the muscles 
 and the skin ; and in some birds are continued down to the 
 wings, and extend even to the pinions, thigh bones, and other 
 parts of the body. For the same purpose the feathers, and 
 especially the wing feathers, also contain a large quantity of air. 
 Now all these cavities, and others not enumerated, such as the 
 hollows of the bones, can be filled and distended with air at the 
 will of the bird. By this means the strength and bulk of the 
 bird is increased, without adding to its weight ; and such a 
 general diffusion of air throughout the body must be of infinite 
 service in enabling it to fly, to poise itself in the air, and to skim 
 far above the surface of the earth. Nor is that the only use of 
 this wonderful provision of nature. I again quote Bewick, who 
 says : ' It is likewise eminently useful in preventing its respira- 
 
Structure. 23 
 
 tion from being stopped or interrupted by the rapidity of its 
 motion through a resisting medium. Were it possible for man 
 to move with the swiftness of the Swallow, the actual resistance 
 of the air, as he is not provided with internal reservoirs similar 
 to those of birds, would soon suffocate him.' Another very 
 remarkable peculiarity in the internal economy of birds is their 
 mode of digestion. The bill is scarcely, if ever, used for masti- 
 cation, but solely as an instrument of prehension ; it is the 
 gizzard, whose amazing strength and powers can scarcely be 
 overrated, that grinds down the grain and other food, and renders 
 it fit for digestion. Experiments have been made by which it 
 has been incontrovertibly proved that glass, nails, and the hardest 
 substances have in a few hours been filed down by the action of 
 the gizzard, without any injury accruing to it thereby. As a help 
 to this digestive power small stones are often swallowed by birds, 
 which are eminently useful in assisting this grinding process, 
 thus rendering the food more amenable to the gastric juices. 
 
 After this rapid glance at the general structure of birds, can 
 we conceive anything more adapted for buoyancy and for rapid 
 motion through the air than their external and internal forma- 
 tion ? We cannot but be struck with their wonderful adaptation 
 to the position which they were created to fill. Let us now push 
 our inquiries a little farther ; and still bearing in mind that they 
 are denizens of the air, and roam at vast distances above our 
 heads, and all around us, examine into the senses and faculties 
 with which they are endowed. 
 
 FACULTIES. 
 
 In the first place we shall find them furnished with unusual 
 powers of sight, hearing, and smell ; and to this end they are 
 supplied with three double organs of sense, viz., eyes, ears, and 
 nasal cavities. 
 
 The sight of some, and particularly of the rapacious birds, is 
 so acute and piercing as to enable them to see their prey from 
 an enormous height in the air, whence they dash down with 
 astonishing swiftness and unerring aim. The vulture sailing in 
 
24 Introduction. 
 
 circles at an immense altitude can distinguish his prey on the 
 ground, without the aid of any other faculty than his eyes, as 
 has been clearly proved by experiment ; the lordly eagle soaring 
 amid the clouds seems to prefer that elevated station, whence to 
 seek some victim on the earth, and his wonderful power of vision 
 seldom fails to discover the desired object far below; the kestrel- 
 hawk, with which all are familiar, balances himself in the air at a 
 considerable height, while his piercing eyes search the ground 
 below for the mice which constitute his food : these are all diurnal 
 birds of prey, and are especially noted for the keenness of their 
 vision ; but not less extraordinary is the eye of the owl, which 
 seeks its prey by twilight, and cannot endure the full glare of 
 day; should any accident expose him to the light of the sun, 
 he either closes his eyes entirely or defends them with a curtain 
 or blind, which is an internal eyelid, and which he can close in 
 an instant. At such times he presents but a grotesque and 
 foolish appearance ; but see him as he emerges from his hollow 
 tree, or the ivy-clad ruin in the deepening twilight ; watch him 
 as he regularly beats the field, and quarters it like a pointer; see 
 him suddenly drop upon the unfortunate mouse that was hurry- 
 ing through the grass, and judge what acuteness of vision must 
 be there. In the nocturnal species the eyes are usually directed 
 forwards, and are brighter, larger, and clearer than those of the 
 diurnal birds, and thus, from their size, position, and construc- 
 tion, are admirably calculated for concentrating the dim rays of 
 twilight. In the other Orders we do not expect to find such 
 wonderful powers of sight, for their habits do not require it ; yet 
 here, too, we shall often find considerable swiftness and extent of 
 vision. The fly-catcher will sit perched on a twig, and suddenly 
 dart upon an insect passing often at a considerable distance, 
 which we are wholly unable to perceive. The bold and sagacious 
 raven and the destructive carrion-crow have been famed for their 
 far-seeing propensities. The rook, too, has the same property; 
 for which cause we may constantly see the dull- eyed starlings 
 attaching themselves to their society and relying on these 
 excellent sentinels, feeding in greater security. The swift, 
 
Faculties Sight, Hearing. 25 
 
 careering through the air on rapid wing and dashing past like a 
 meteor, not only can see to steer its way clear of all obstacles, 
 but can discern the passing insect, which it catches in its mouth 
 as it rushes by. The pigeons, mounting high into the air, can 
 perceive the grain which they are seeking from an almost incre- 
 dible distance. The redstart will avoid the shot by rising on 
 seeing the flash from the cap ; and many of the ducks, and 
 especially the divers, disappear under water the moment the 
 trigger is pulled, seeing the flash and diving almost instan- 
 taneously, and so escaping the death intended for them. These 
 are a few instances of the extraordinary powers of vision 
 belonging to the feathered race. An eminent French naturalist 
 has calculated it to be about nine times more extensive than that 
 of man ; and anatomists, after dissecting the eye of the golden 
 eagle, or one of that family, whose sight is considered the keenest 
 of all, declare that nothing can be conceived more perfect than 
 the structure. The eye of the falcon, which feeds by day, will 
 differ from that of the owl, which feeds by night ; both will differ 
 from that of the swan, which has to procure its food under water; 
 but all are exactly adapted to their own peculiar spheres of 
 action, all are capable of very astonishing sight. 
 
 Again, the hearing of some is so subtle, that they can detect 
 their prey when hidden from view by this sense alone, and by 
 the same power are ever on the alert for the approach of an 
 enemy. As the eagle is the most renowned for powers of vision, 
 so we may without hesitation pronounce the owls to possess a 
 more acute sense of hearing than any other family; it seems 
 that this faculty is given them in common with other noc- 
 turnal and crepuscular animals ; as, for example, the bats, to 
 enable them to guide themselves in their flight on the darkest 
 nights, and to direct them to their prey. The organs with 
 which they are furnished to secure this end are of a very 
 remarkable construction, and developed to an extraordinary 
 extent ; the auditory opening, or ear-conch, is sometimes 
 extremely large, and is then furnished with an opercidum 
 or cover, which they can open and close at will ; but in those 
 
26 Introduction. 
 
 species where the aperture is smaller, such an addition is not 
 provided. Another peculiarity in the nocturnal birds of prey is 
 that the two ears are not alike ; the one being so formed as to 
 hear sounds from below, the other from above. This, though an 
 old discovery, is not very generally known, though it is doubtless 
 an admirable help to catch the faintest sound proceeding from 
 every direction; and with such organs the owls are enabled to 
 detect in an instant the slightest rustling of their prey. Next to 
 the owl, perhaps the night-jar (or goat-sucker, as it is commonly 
 though erroneously called) possesses the most acute sense of 
 hearing; this bird is also crepuscular, and seldom hunts for 
 moths till the shades of evening, and, as in the owl, its ears are 
 of a very large size. But there are many other birds gifted 
 with remarkably acute powers of hearing. See the song-thrush 
 descend on the lawn on a damp morning ; watch how he inclines 
 his ear on one side, then hops forward, and again listens, till at 
 length he draws forth the worm which his fine ear had told him 
 was there, and which, alarmed at his hops and peckings, had hur- 
 ried to the surface, supposing they were occasioned by his dreaded 
 enemy, the mole. Or, visit some fine old heronry, and try to 
 penetrate near their chosen nursery without your presence being 
 detected ; these nocturnal birds are not particularly keen of 
 sight during the day, but long ere you can approach them, how- 
 ever cautiously, their keen sense of hearing has told them you 
 are near. Another bird remarkable for possessing this faculty 
 in an eminent degree is the Curlew : of all the shore birds there 
 is not one so difficult of approach as this ; his organs of hearing 
 are so sensitive that it is almost impossible to come near him. 
 And again, the Swedish ornithologist, Professor Nilsson, speaks 
 of the Black-cock as being most acute both in hearing and in 
 sight. Such are some of the innumerable instances one might 
 collect of another sense being possessed by the feathered tribes 
 in extraordinary perfection : that some birds hear more quickly 
 than others is an undisputed fact ; but we shall always find, if 
 we examine into it, that to those the most subtle sense of 
 hearing is given whose habits cause them to require it most ; 
 
Faculties Smell. 27 
 
 while from those which would not be benefited by it, it is in a 
 measure withheld. 
 
 I have spoken of the powers of sight and hearing so con- 
 spicuous in birds ; I come now to the other sense with which 
 they are provided, that of smell. This, too, we shall find to be 
 peculiarly delicate in some families, though perhaps generally it 
 is but little required, and therefore but little developed ; and we 
 shall for the most part find that those birds whose nostrils are 
 the most conspicuous and open will possess this sense in the 
 highest degree, while those whose nostrils are concealed and 
 almost impervious will share in it but little. The bird which is 
 certainly most remarkable for this faculty, though of late years 
 it has been gainsaid by certain American naturalists, is the 
 Vulture. Blest, as I have already remarked, with a keen 
 sense of sight, the Vulture soaring through the air, and above 
 the dark forests, is also directed to his prey by the extraordinary 
 perfection of his organs of smell. His food is always putrid, 
 and the effluvium arising therefrom is necessarily most rank; 
 but yet when we watch their proceedings, as I have done, 
 in their own tropical countries, the wonderful manner in 
 which these birds will congregate at a putrid carcase, hidden 
 though it may be in a pit or a thick forest; and how, first 
 appearing as a speck in the distant heavens, then gradually 
 increasing in size as they come nearer, they arrive singly from 
 all quarters, whereas till then, not a single individual was to be 
 seen, we can form some idea of the great powers of smell which 
 these birds must possess. Mr. Waterton, who has seen them in 
 Guiana, Demerara, and other parts of Southern America ; and 
 Mr. Gosse, who more recently has seen them in the West Indian 
 islands, have published in their respective most interesting little 
 volumes such strong and conclusive evidence of the amazing 
 extent of this sense in the vulture, as to silence all dispute on 
 the subject. The family of the crows, also, claims our attention 
 as possessing very great powers of scent. It is this which so 
 often directs them to their food from great distances in such a 
 mysterious manner as to cause the wonder and incredulity of 
 
28 Introduction. 
 
 man. Some observers, who have seen troops of ravens hurrying 
 along to the banquet of some fallen animal, where not a bird till 
 then could be seen, have attributed their discovery of the feast, 
 not to the true cause, their keen sense of seeing and smelling, 
 but to some unknown faculty, thinking it impossible that scent 
 could be carried so far, and having little conception of the 
 superior acuteness of some of the senses of birds. Again, the 
 rook discovers the grubs hidden in the earth by the same 
 wonderful sense; the carrion-crow scents the tempting morsel 
 from a distance; the magpie is not behind-hand in the same 
 perception. Some of the water-birds, too, seem to have this 
 faculty very highly developed. The curlew will take wing when 
 you are at a great distance, if you approach them down the wind ; 
 the hungry woodcock will discover by the smell where it will be 
 profitable to probe the mud with his beak. Most of the ducks 
 are so sensitive, that the man who works a decoy knows full 
 well that he has no chance of success unless he keeps to leeward 
 of the flock ; and, as an additional precaution, burns a piece of 
 turf, and holds it smoking in his hand, to prevent their scenting 
 him. Thus we see the faculty of scent no less conspicuous in 
 birds than in other animals : the well-known properties of the 
 pointer and the foxhound will not surpass the exquisite sense of 
 smell of some of the birds, and even the notorious bloodhound 
 will scarcely outdo the vulture in the same faculty. 
 
 But besides these three powers of seeing, hearing, and smelling, 
 with which we have proved them to be remarkably endowed, we 
 find the feathered tribe gifted with the power of feeling or handling 
 (if I may apply such a term to the beak), not usually allotted to 
 the inferior races of the animal kingdom. Their beaks serve 
 them for hands, as well as for lips and teeth, and wonderfully are 
 they adapted to a variety of purposes ; but as, in addition to their 
 exceeding interest and variety of form and use, the beaks are 
 principal characteristics whereby to distinguish the position 
 birds are entitled to hold, and their habits, I propose to consider 
 this subject separately, so for the present pass it by. 
 
 Again, they are furnished with tongues, which are not only 
 
Facilities Smell. 29 
 
 organs of taste, but partly also of prehension. These, too, differ 
 exceedingly in form, according to their requirements, being some- 
 times short, round, and thick, sometimes long, thin, and pointed ; 
 and some tribes make considerable use of these members in 
 securing their prey, as we shall hereafter see. 
 
 Their organs of voice, too, are very various ; some most melo- 
 dious, charming man by their continual and often exquisite song ; 
 others harsh and unmusical ; notes they have of alarm, whereby 
 they signify to one another that danger is at hand ; notes of dis- 
 tress, whereby they proclaim the pain or terror they feel ; notes 
 of love, whereby they show their affection ; notes of communica- 
 tion, whereby they signify their intentions to each other and act 
 in concert, and so continue their migrations on the darkest nights 
 without danger of parting company. The notes of the different 
 species, too, are as various as are their forms. Some are able to 
 imitate those of others ; but seldom do they step beyond their 
 own limits, for each is content to communicate with his congeners, 
 in the language peculiar to its own species. 
 
 Such, then, is an outline of the faculties of birds. The subject 
 is one which might be pursued to an unlimited extent, until such 
 a knowledge of their anatomy was gained, that, like Buffon and 
 Cuvier, of late time, and Professor Owen, of the College of Sur- 
 geons, of our day, from seeing one single bone we might be able- 
 to describe accurately the whole bird to which it belonged, and 
 its habits, though of a species never hitherto seen. To such an 
 intimate acquaintance, however, with the structure of birds we 
 shall not probably aspire. Our present purpose has in view only 
 a general consideration of their formation and faculties ; but we 
 have seen enough to prove to us how admirably birds are formed 
 for the position they hold in the scale of Zoology. Their bodies 
 light and buoyant, furnished with wings enabling them to pass 
 rapidly through the air ; provided with air-cells, as an additional 
 assistance to them ; endowed with astonishing powers of sight, 
 hearing, and smell; possessed of organs of voice as varied as 
 they are remarkable ; and with many other faculties not inferior 
 to these, the feathered tribes claim a high position in the scale of 
 
SO Introduction. 
 
 created beings. We see in their formation the hand of a boun- 
 tiful Creator ; in their endowments the wisdom and goodness of 
 Providence displayed. A knowledge of their structure, and an 
 insight into the wonderful organs with which they are supplied, 
 cannot but raise them in our eyes, as worthy of deeper investi- 
 gation and closer attention than they usually receive ; and raise 
 us at the same time, as should be the case after all our re- 
 searches into the pages of nature, * from nature's works up to 
 
 nature's God.' 
 
 ' Thus the men 
 
 Whom nature's work can charm, with God himself 
 Hold converse : grow familiar day by day 
 With His conceptions ; act upon His plan, 
 And form to His the relish of their souls.' 
 
 ON THE BEAK. 
 
 I now desire to call special attention to the beaks of birds, 
 than which nothing in their whole structure appears to me to be 
 so perfect, so suitable to the end for which they were formed, so 
 interesting and worthy of close examination. I have cursorily 
 alluded to them in a former page, but I would now devote a 
 short space to a more close examination of these very useful 
 organs, which are generally the implements or tools wherewith 
 their owners supply themselves with their every-day food. 
 
 Every bird is furnished with a beak, composed of two parts, the 
 upper and lower mandible, formed of horny substances ensheath- 
 ing the jaws. It is analogous to the lips and teeth of quadru- 
 peds ; it is (as I before stated) seldom employed in mastication, 
 and its chief employment is in taking the food on which the bird 
 subsists ; but as the nature of that food varies so much, accord- 
 ing to the habits of the different species, so does this organ vary 
 extremely in form as well as in size, and so presents one of the 
 most distinguishing features for ascertaining the proper position 
 in classification which the bird is entitled to hold ; indeed, if we 
 examine the beak alone, this is quite sufficient to indicate at a 
 glance the order and tribe at least, if not the family and even 
 genus, to which the specimen belongs. But now, however varied 
 
Beaks of Birds. 31 
 
 in form, in size, in consistency, and in capabilities they may be ; 
 however diverse in appearance, however perfect or imperfect, 
 proportionate or disproportionate, graceful or ugly, they may 
 seem; if we examine with attention the uses for which they 
 were respectively formed, and to which they are daily applied, 
 we shall see that they all unite in partaking of this one common 
 attribute, that they are all (each in its separate capacity) the 
 very best instruments that could be devised for accomplishing 
 their several ends, and that nothing can be conceived more 
 appropriate for attaining their peculiar objects. Differ, indeed, 
 they do in appearance from one another ; various, indeed, are 
 their powers, but varied, too, is the work for which they were 
 formed. Should we provide ourselves with the same instrument 
 if we went forth to procure game, or to reap corn ? Should we 
 arm ourselves in the same manner if we wanted to catch fish and 
 to gather fruits ? The absurdity of such a thing is apparent. 
 And just so it is with the beaks of birds ; they are the tools or 
 instruments provided for them by the All-wise and bountiful 
 Creator, the very best tools for their respective wants, and which 
 have often guided the mechanic to the precise form of the imple- 
 ment best suited to his purpose. 
 
 We shall do well first to examine the beak as peculiar to the 
 several orders and tribes. 
 
 Now the Birds of Prey live entirely on animal food ; when 
 they have pounced on their victim on the ground, or struck 
 down some hapless bird on the wing (with the foot though, be it 
 remembered, and not at all with the beak, as is so often erro- 
 neously supposed), the beak is wanted for tearing apart and 
 seizing piecemeal the prey. To this end what can be more 
 adapted than the strong, short, hooked beak, which is one of the 
 characteristics of this whole order ? It is of nearly equal breadth 
 and height at the base, moderately compressed, or flattened side- 
 ways, towards the end ; and is furnished with a remarkable tooth- 
 like projection in the upper mandible, the tip being curved 
 downwards, three-cornered and very sharp. With this powerful 
 instrument the vulture can unrip the carcase of the fallen and 
 
32 Introduction. 
 
 putrid animal ; the eagle and falcon can tear in pieces the hare 
 or fawn ; the osprey, the fish ; the hawk, the small birds ; the 
 owl, the mouse ; and nothing can be conceived more applicable 
 for such work. 
 
 The Perching Birds come next ; and their habits being more 
 peaceful and quiet, and their food being of a different nature, wo 
 shall find here no need of the powerful hook which we have seen 
 to be so useful to the Raptorial order. And yet as the perchers 
 include an immense number of families whose habits are exceed- 
 ingly various, and whose food is very diverse, it is clear that the 
 beak which would be most suitable for one would be wholly in- 
 appropriate to the other; on that account we shall find the 
 beaks of this order varying from one another very much. 
 
 I have already observed in a former page that the first tribe 
 takes its name, Dentirostres, from the tooth or notch near the 
 extremity of the mandibles ; but the members of this tribe live 
 almost entirely, or at any rate chiefly, on insects, worms, and 
 such-like food ; we may see them hawking in the air, searching 
 in the grass, looking keenly under leaves and seizing them the 
 instant they appear ; for this purpose no strong beak is necessary, 
 but as the living prey which they seize struggles violently to 
 escape, what can be more suited for a firm hold than the soft 
 beak furnished with a tooth such as I have described above, and 
 which belongs to this tribe ? Moreover, the accurate Selby has 
 observed that 'the bill, too, is generally lengthened, so as to 
 defend the face from the struggles of their prey, which is always 
 taken by the aid of this member, or, where it is short and broad, 
 the base is furnished with stiff, projecting bristles, or having 
 feathers that answer the same purpose of defence.'* With this 
 notched beak the shrikes find no difficulty in seizing their prey ; 
 the fly-catchers can hold the insects they have caught; the 
 thrushes can retain the worm which they have drawn out of tbe 
 turf ; the warblers, the titmice, the wagtails, and the pipits can 
 take their insect food without chance of its escape. 
 
 The second tribe of this order also derives its name, Coni- 
 * Selby, 'Illustrations of Ornithology,' vol. i., p. 138. 
 
Beaks of Birds. 33 
 
 rostres (' conical-beaked '), from the formation of the beak of all 
 those families which compose it. Instead of the tooth which 
 characterized the last tribe, here we have no tooth, but a short, 
 straight, conical beak, about as broad as high at the base, com- 
 pressed towards the end, and acute. Birds of this division live 
 chiefly on grain and seeds of different kinds, the nature of which 
 food is generally hard, and requires a strong bill to take it ; the 
 soft beak of the former tribe could never endure the work that 
 has to be done by these powerful little fellows ; sometimes they 
 break down the hardest seeds, sometimes they even crack the 
 stones of different kinds of fruits, in order to procure the kernels 
 inside ; for such work, and for pulling seeds from pods and grain 
 from husks, can we conceive anything more appropriate than the 
 conical form of these strong yet short pointed beaks ? With 
 these the larks and buntings can thrive in the stubble; the 
 finches can gain a supply of the seeds of a thousand plants ; the 
 starlings and the whole family of crows can support themselves 
 with grain, when other food cannot be found for these insatiable 
 and omnivorous birds. 
 
 We come now to the third order of perchers, the Scansores, 
 'climbers.' These do not derive their title from the form of 
 their beak ; but we shall find it not the less remarkable, or less 
 peculiarly adapted to their habits. The nature of these birds is 
 to climb about trees, buildings, and other places, grasping firmly 
 with their peculiar feet, supporting themselves with their bristly 
 tails, thrusting their beaks under and into the bark, into the 
 fissures and rotten wood of decayed timber, and such places, in 
 search of their insect food. But to this end what can be more 
 adapted than the form of their beak long, conical, angular, and 
 wedge-shaped at the point ? And, in addition to this, some 
 families are furnished with very long tongues, capable of great 
 extension, armed with a horny point, and copiously supplied with 
 a tenacious mucus, wherewith they transfix and convey to their 
 mouths such insects and larvse as they have discovered. Some- 
 times in their ascent they tap the trees with their beaks to induce 
 the insects to come out, and to test the soundness or hollowness 
 
 3 
 
34 Introduction. 
 
 of the wood, their instinct always telling them where their food 
 is likely to be found. At other times we may hear them from a 
 considerable distance hammering and digging at the tough bark, 
 or see them scattering the chips on all sides by their repeated 
 strokes, as they are busy in dislodging their concealed prey ; 
 others again may be seen peering and prying into every cavity, 
 probing every fissure with their sharp, curved bill, leaving no 
 crevice or fissure untried. For all these purposes with how ad- 
 mirable an instrument are they provided ! how exactly suited to 
 their wants ! With this the woodpeckers can remove the bark 
 till they can reach their victims, the nuthatches can split open 
 the nuts which they have previously fixed in some crevice ; the 
 little creeper can pick out his insect prey from the bark. 
 
 The fourth and last tribe of perchers again derives its name, 
 Fissirostres ' wide-billed/ from the formation of the beak. The 
 members of this division, like the last, are almost wholly insecti- 
 vorous ; but, unlike them, they feed more or less on the wing. 
 Many of this tribe are remarkable for their wonderful power of 
 flight, soaring high in the air, skimming over the water, and 
 darting here and there the livelong day with the most rapid 
 evolutions imaginable. As they feed so much on the wing, we 
 find them provided with a very short beak, much depressed, as if 
 flattened downwards, and of a triangular form ; the tip sharp and 
 furnished with a slender notch ; but their width of gape is very 
 great, enabling them more readily to seize their prey, as they 
 shoot through the air, and the edges of the upper mandible are 
 armed with a row of bristles of immense assistance to them when 
 feeding on the wing, by increasing the means of capture with the 
 mouth. The swallows, the nightjars, and the bee- eaters are 
 examples of this peculiarity, and of the absence of much beak 
 where so little is required. 
 
 We have now reached the third order, Easores, ' Ground Birds,* 
 which live upon grain and various kinds of seeds and berries. 
 This forms their principal food, though occasionally they will 
 devour insects and sometimes buds and green leaves ; and there- 
 fore we shall be prepared to see, though not so strongly exempli- 
 
Beaks of Birds. 35 
 
 fied, the short, strong bill adapted to the hard nature of their 
 customary diet ; the upper mandible is often considerably arched, 
 the edges overhanging and the tip blunt. Birds of this order, 
 however, do not always possess a bill capable of very great exer- 
 tion. In some cases, as in the pigeons, it is rather slender and 
 weak ; in all the other families it is stronger. But yet, perhaps, 
 taken alone, it seems scarcely so well adapted as the preceding 
 ones to the grain-eating habits of the bird. But if we push our 
 inquiries farther, we shall find these ground-birds furnished with 
 a peculiar repository for their food, whither it is conveyed whole 
 by the beak. This repository is called the crop ; it is globular' 
 and is nothing more than an enlargement of the ' ossophagus/ or 
 gullet, lying, when distended, equally on both sides of the neck. 
 As, then, the ground-birds are furnished with this peculiar crop, 
 to which the food is conveyed, it is clear that the beak belonging 
 to this division is amply sufficient for the purpose to which it is 
 applied, and greater strength and solidity would be superfluous. 
 The next order, ' Grallatores,' the ' waders,' commencing with 
 the water-birds, procures its food chiefly from the water, and this 
 food is partly animal, but also in a great measure vegetable ; 
 the customary haunts of the members of this order are marshes 
 and swamps, the banks of rivers and lakes, or the seashore. 
 They are usually provided with long legs, enabling them to 
 wade into the mud and water in search of food ; they are at tho 
 same time furnished with long necks, by which they are enabled 
 to reach such food as they have found. Suited to this habit is 
 their bill, whose general characteristic is long and slender, but 
 as the different families of this order obtain their food by various 
 means, so their beaks differ to a certain degree; some are straight 
 and sharp-pointed, acting as a spear to transfix their prey, as 
 in the family of herons ; some are curiously arched, rounded 
 throughout the whole length, as in the curlews; others are 
 rounded at the point, and provided with most sensitive nerves, 
 enabling them to discover and seize their prey, when thrust into 
 the soft mud, as in the snipes all have the same admirable 
 facility and adaptation for searching and procuring food in wet 
 
 32 
 
36 Introduction. 
 
 and swampy spots, which are the especial habitat of the whole 
 order of waders. 
 
 We come now to the last order, ' Natatores,' the ' swimmers/ 
 whose name bespeaks them as denizens of the ocean and lake. 
 Kemarkable for their facilities of swimming and diving, and for 
 their powers of submergence often for a considerable time, many 
 families of this order procure their food entirely in the water. 
 For this purpose the beaks of some are armed with sharp hooks 
 or teeth, as in the mergansers ; some are straight, sharp, and 
 compressed, as in the divers, auks, and gulls; others again, 
 which rarely dive and in diet are graminivorous as well as 
 granivorous, are furnished with very broad and much de- 
 pressed mandibles : all are peculiarly formed for holding 
 securely their food, which is frequently of a slimy and slippery 
 nature. 
 
 We have now run rapidly through the several orders and 
 tribes, paying attention to the general formation of the beak in 
 each, and have seen how strong a resemblance usually pervades 
 all the families contained in them ; we cannot fail to have 
 observed at the same time how admirable in every case was the 
 construction for attaining the desired end. There are still some 
 particular species which exhibit so remarkable a peculiarity in 
 this organ that I am unwilling to pass them by. 
 
 One of the most curious is the Crossbill, a bird familiar to 
 most persons, as it occasionally, though not periodically, visits 
 us in considerable numbers. Its name at once points out what 
 some persons (and these naturalists of eminence, including the 
 zealous but often inaccurate Buffon) have been pleased to call 
 its natural defect, but which is now pretty generally considered 
 a most admirable provision of nature. These birds inhabit 
 extensive forests of pines and firs, the seeds of which form their 
 chief food ; but to arrive at these, a peculiar instrument is 
 necessary. To this end, the mandibles (which in young birds in 
 the nest are of the ordinary form) become elongated and cross 
 one another at the tip to a considerable degree ; in some speci- 
 mens the upper mandible is curved to the right, the lower to 
 
Beaks of Birds. 37 
 
 the left; in others this order is reversed. In either case, by 
 means of these beaks, and by the lateral motion of the mandibles 
 (which is peculiar to the crossbills alone of all birds), they are 
 enabled, by insinuating the points between the scales of the pine- 
 cones and by the powerful lever they possess in their singular 
 bill, to wrench open the scales without difficulty and so obtain 
 the fruit. With this strange instrument they are no less 
 adept at splitting apples and pears for the sake of the enclosed 
 pips. It may readily be conceived that to work so strong a bill, 
 the muscles attached to it must also be of proportionate power 
 and size, and these are the cause of the large, heavy, and some- 
 what awkward appearance which the head presents. 
 
 Another bird remarkable for its peculiar beak is the Avocet. 
 This is a water-bird, one of the waders and belonging to the 
 family of snipes. Its haunts are the sea-shore, and its food con- 
 sists of worms and aquatic insects, which it procures from the 
 soft mud and sand, for which it often wades to a considerable 
 depth. For obtaining these it is furnished with a beak 
 most appropriate, though very singular in form : it is very 
 long, very slender, thin, considerably curved upwards, and 
 especially towards the tip, very flexible and pointed, and looks 
 exactly like a thin piece of whalebone ; and its mode of feeding 
 is by scooping the soft oozy mud with the flat and upturned 
 beak. From this singular construction the Avocet, which was 
 once common on our shores, received the provincial names of 
 ' Scooper !' and ' Cobbler's Awl Duck !' though now, alas ! it is 
 very seldom met with at all. Bewick says that the places 
 where it has been feeding may be recognised by the semicircular 
 marks left in the mud or sand by their bills in scooping out the 
 food. 
 
 The Turnstone is another singular bird, of the same order as 
 the last, but very different in habits. Instead of the soft muddy 
 sands frequented by the Scolopacidte, these birds delight in the 
 rocky and gravelly shores of the ocean. Here they procure 
 their food, consisting of marine insects, molluscse and crustacese, 
 by turning over the stones with their beaks, to get at the food 
 
38 Introduction. 
 
 lurking beneath them ; from which practice they derive their 
 name. Perhaps it would be impossible to conceive an instru- 
 ment more beautifully adapted for this purpose, being strong, 
 very hard, quite straight, and drawn to a fine point, and forming 
 altogether a very powerful lever. 
 
 Again, the Spoonbill, as its name implies, presents a remark- 
 able formation of beak. This is also a wader, and a member of 
 the family of herons ; its haunts are chiefly pools of water on 
 the sea-shore, and its food consists of small fishes, aquatic insects, 
 sand-hoppers, etc. To obtain these, and when caught to hold 
 them fast, the adult spoonbill is armed with a beak, very long, 
 broad, and thick at the base ; thin, and very much flattened 
 towards the extremity, where it is rounded and shaped like a 
 spoon or spatula. As a further means of enabling it to hold its 
 slippery prey, the inside of this weapon is studded with small, 
 hard tubercles, and is rough like a file. Bewick adds that the 
 beak flaps together not unlike two pieces of leather. It is 
 curious that in the young birds (which do not come to maturity 
 and assume the adult plumage till the third year) the beak is 
 soft and flexible, not so large as, and without the roughness so 
 conspicuous in, that of the adults. 
 
 Another and very remarkable peculiarity in the same organ is 
 presented by the Shoveller, or as it is provincially styled, the 
 'Broad-bill.' This duck feeds chiefly in shallow water, or 
 marshes, lakes, rivers, and muddy shores : its food consists of 
 grasses and decayed vegetable matter, as well as worms and 
 insects, and to detect and separate these from the mud and the 
 water in which they are contained, the beak is singularly 
 adapted. In shape this instrument is long, broad, depressed, 
 the tip rounded like a spoon, and terminated by a small hooked 
 nail ; internally the mandibles are furnished with rows of thin, 
 comb-like bristles ; these seem to be very susceptible of feeling, 
 and enable the bird to select the nutritious and reject the 
 useless food, whilst this beautiful instrument, forming with the 
 tongue a perfect sieve or strainer, retains only what is fit for sus- 
 tenance. It was commonly supposed by naturalists that the beak 
 
Beaks of Birds. 39 
 
 of the young of this species when first hatched was dilated like 
 that of the adult bird, and was therefore as broad as the body, 
 and quite out of proportion to the size of the duckling. Further 
 investigation has, however, proved this to be erroneous ; and as 
 the young of the crossbill and the spoonbill described above, 
 so the young of the shoveller when first hatched presents no 
 peculiarity in the beak. 
 
 There are several other birds presenting very singular beaks, 
 and each exactly suited to the habits of its owner, but to describe 
 them at length would occupy too much space. That of the 
 woodcock and snipe, to which I have slightly alluded above, 
 deserves close attention, as being most delicate and beautiful. 
 It is extremely long, the point of it dimpled, soft, spongy, and 
 cellular, and exhibits great sensibility; it is repeatedly thrust 
 up to the base in the soft mud by the sides of springs or in 
 water-meadows, and, so susceptible is it of the finest feeling, that 
 this sensitive organ can detect the prey of which it is in search 
 the instant it comes in contact with it, though it is necessarily 
 out of sight. 
 
 The Hawfinch, on the other hand, which lives upon the seeds 
 of the hornbeam and the kernels of haws and stone-fruits, is 
 armed with a massive and homy beak, capable of cracking the 
 strongest shells, and of inflicting a severe bite, as I once expe- 
 rienced, by offering my boot to a specimen which I had 
 wounded ; and it was astonishing with what pertinacity the 
 powerful little fellow held on, and again and again returned to 
 the charge. 
 
 The handsome but rarely seen Hoopoe stalks about in moist 
 places, with his head erect and his long curved beak searching 
 for worms and insects just as Ovid described him so many 
 centuries ago : 
 
 ' Prominet immodicum pro longa cuspide rostrum.' 
 
 The Puffin, with his singular and gaudy-coloured, but power- 
 ful and sharp-edged bill, burrows out deep holes in which it 
 
 breeds. 
 
40 Introduction. 
 
 The Oyster- catcher, with his straight, long, wedge-shaped bill, 
 is enabled to wrench open the oysters, mussels, and shell-fish 
 which form his food, to detach them from the rocks to which 
 they adhere, and to scoop them out of their shells. 
 
 The Cormorant, with its long, straight, powerfully-hooked bill, 
 can kill its finny prey by the squeeze it is enabled to give. 
 
 The Petrels, with their compact and hooked bills, can break 
 the skin of the floating whale, and gorge themselves with blubber 
 to repletion. 
 
 Such are some of the many forms of beak displayed by the 
 British birds. From this we can judge (as Yarrell remarks) what 
 ' singular modifications of this organ nature sometimes exhibits, 
 as if to show the many diversities of form which can be rendered 
 applicable to one purpose.' Man, with all his boasted mechanical 
 skill, would fail to contrive implements so perfectly adapted to 
 the end for which they were devised ; some fitted to tear in pieces 
 the yet warm and quivering bodies of the recently killed prey ; 
 others to rip up and consume the putrid carcase ; some fitted for 
 devouring insects and worms, some for breaking up hard seeds 
 and grain ; these slender, light, and pliant, suited to the gentle 
 uses to which they are applied ; some adapted for securing and 
 holding a slippery prey, others supplied with organs for discover- 
 ing that prey when out of sight. There are many other in- 
 stances of this varied form and varied appliance, but we need 
 no more to prove their diversity, their excellence, their perfection. 
 
 Before I conclude this part of my subject I will just call atten- 
 tion to the extraordinary superstition entertained in this country, 
 and especially in Scotland, not many years since, in regard to 
 long beaks. One cannot very clearly see the connection between 
 a long beak and a goblin ; nor is it easy to say whence such an 
 idea could have arisen; yet such was the common belief, and 
 without attempting to give any reason, everybody knew well 
 enough that a long beak portended no good. Sir Walter Scott 
 alludes to this ; and Yarrell tells us that the Highlander will pray 
 to be preserved from 'witches, warlocks (or wizards), and aw 
 lang-nebbed things.' But this superstition is not peculiar to 
 
The Feet of Birds. 41 
 
 Great Britain, for to this day most of the birds exposed for sale 
 in the markets at St. Petersburg and elsewhere are first deprived 
 of their beaks, and thus some of the rarest specimens are irre- 
 mediably mutilated. 
 
 These and many other equally absurd fictions relating to birds 
 it is the part of the ornithologist to overthrow ; to do which we 
 have but to bid men look into the page of nature ; and the more 
 we read it, the more truly shall we learn to appreciate the 
 wonderful works of God. 
 
 ON THE FEET. 
 
 No less remarkable as suited to their several requirements, no 
 less various, and therefore no less characteristic of the family to 
 which they belong than the beaks, are the feet of birds. These 
 are so perfectly framed for the various uses to which their respec- 
 tive possessors must apply them, and differ so very widely in 
 construction one from another, that a glance at the foot will 
 generally point out to the observer what the habits and what the 
 nature of the bird must be. 
 
 All birds resemble one another in this particular up to a 
 certain point viz., in that all are bipeds, and the legs which 
 support their feet are invariably composed of three parts ; these 
 are, the thigh, which is very high up, very short, and quite out of 
 sight ; the leg, or ' tibia/ which inexperienced observers are apt 
 erroneously to call the thigh ; and the instep, or ' tarsus/ which 
 is as often falsely called the leg. It is this last part (the ' tarsus ') 
 which alone is much seen, the remaining parts being usually 
 concealed by the body and the feathers of the bird. Beyond this 
 point of general structure, in which the legs of all birds partici- 
 pate, and in which they also resemble the human leg (though the 
 extreme length of the instep and the shortness and concealment 
 of the thigh have caused very general errors on the subject), they 
 differ from one another in many ways ; thus, some are extremely 
 long, others are exceedingly short; some are quite bare of 
 feathers, others are entirely clothed with them ; some are plated, 
 as it were, with scales, others are smooth ; some are thick and 
 
42 Introduction. 
 
 strong, others are light and delicate ; but all harmonize exactly 
 with the feet with which they terminate, and these present still 
 greater points of variety than the legs. The foot of a bird, 
 unlike that of a quadruped, is never composed of more than four 
 toes ; this is the most general number, and of these the first is 
 usually directed backwards, though in some cases the fourth is 
 also associated with it. There are other families which have but 
 three toes, and in that case all of them are directed forwards, the 
 first or hind toe being the one deficient. Again, there are birds 
 which have but two toes ; but as none of these last occur in this 
 country, we need not stop to consider their peculiarity. And 
 again, the toe may be united by a membrane, and that either 
 entirely, or in part ; or they may be wholly unconnected ; but 
 they are always terminated with claws, which present the varieties 
 of long and short, straight and curved, sharp and blunt ; but 
 these, together with many other points of difference, and the 
 reasons of them, and the suitability of the exact form of foot 
 with which every bird is provided, we shall more clearly see as 
 we go on to consider the orders and families in rotation. 
 
 The ' Birds of Prey ' present a great general similarity in the 
 formation of the foot. It is always strong and muscular, fur- 
 nished with four powerful toes, and armed with claws more or 
 less hooked, and often of very formidable size, strength, and 
 sharpness. In the family of vultures the talons are not so much 
 displayed, as the habits of these ignoble birds require no weapon 
 for striking a blow to obtain their food, and no powers of grasping 
 for bearing it away in their feet to their young. Content with the 
 putrid carcase of some fallen animal, these unclean birds stuff 
 themselves with carrion, and carrying it in their craw to their 
 nests, there disgorge the unsavoury mess. But the falcons have 
 by their own prowess to secure their living prey, and so, in addi- 
 tion to very powerful limbs and great muscular strength, are 
 provided with sharp and generally much curved claws, enabling 
 them to strike down and hold securely the victims they have 
 seized. Like the carnivorous quadrupeds, these rapacious birds 
 can pounce so fiercely and with such exceeding violence with 
 
The Feet of Birds. 43 
 
 their formidable talons, as generally at one blow to disable their 
 prey. It is invariably the claw of the hind toe by which this 
 severe stroke is effected, and for this purpose the beak is never 
 used at all, though many people have erroneous impressions to 
 the contrary. Hushing down with the velocity of lightning, and 
 with closed pinions, the falcon makes its deadly swoop from 
 above on the selected prey, and striking with the hind toe in 
 darting past, inflicts the deadly wound in a most masterly 
 manner, seldom missing its aim or failing in the stroke. Some- 
 times, too, the back of the unfortunate victim is seen to be deeply 
 scored throughout its whole length, while not unfrequently the 
 skull is completely riven and the brains dashed out by the 
 amazing impetus of the blow. But should the aim be by some 
 mischance incorrect, then rising again and sailing round in 
 circles, and so getting higher and higher at every turn, the falcon 
 again prepares for a charge, while the unhappy bird whose life is 
 so endangered seems instinctively to know wherein its best 
 chance of escape lies, and perceiving that an attack can only be 
 made from above, soars as high as its strength enables it. 
 Seldom, however, does the manoeuvre succeed, and the second 
 swoop of the aggressor rarely fails to send the quarry headlong 
 and lifeless to the ground. For inflicting such a wound, no more 
 perfect instrument can be conceived than the falcon's foot, so 
 strong, hard, and muscular, with claws so sharp, powerful, and 
 curved. With these weapons they can not only provide them- 
 selves food, but with the same instruments can grasp and carry 
 it off to their eyries, though it be of considerable weight. The 
 nature of the prey, too, so obtained and borne away varies not a 
 little, according to the genera comprising this extensive family ; 
 for fish, flesh, and fowl are all attacked by these rapacious birds. 
 The eagles can master a full-sized hare or a lamb; the osprey 
 will plunge into the river, and emerge again with a quivering 
 salmon firmly clutched in its talons ; the true falcons, the hawks, 
 the buzzards, and the harriers, content themselves with the 
 smaller birds and quadrupeds, and some species vary their diet 
 with reptiles ; but they all seize and bear off their prey with 
 
44 Introduction. 
 
 their feet. The third and last family of the Raptores, viz., the 
 owls, hunting in the dusk of evening and the gray twilight of 
 morning, adopt a different course from their diurnal brethren of 
 prey ; stealing on noiseless wing round the enclosures and over 
 the meadows, they drop suddenly and without warning of their 
 approach on the mouse or other victim, which they bear away in 
 their feet. Their legs and toes are usually covered with downy 
 feathers up to the claws, assisting them in their silent move- 
 ments, and strong enough to carry off any victim which they 
 may seize. In all these carnivorous birds, can anything more 
 perfect be conceived than the feet with which they 'are provided, 
 more fitted to their respective requirements, more thoroughly 
 adapted to their wants ? 
 
 The second order of birds, the ' Perchers,' brings before us 
 quite a different form of foot, but one no less applicable to the 
 habits of the species which compose it ; nay, by many the form 
 of foot herein displayed is considered the most perfect, and 
 perhaps if any degrees of excellence can exist, where all are 
 exactly fitted to their respective uses, the mechanism of the 
 foot of the ' Insessores' may strike us with the greatest admira- 
 tion. The tarsus of all these birds is usually bare of feathers, 
 and the general character of the leg and foot is slight and 
 slender ; the number of toes is invariably four, the hind toe 
 being always present : in some species the claws are very long, 
 but in general they as well as the toes are short, and thus best 
 formed for perching. When, then, we look at these light and 
 delicate legs and feet, 'the skin reduced,' as Buffonwell describes 
 it, ' till it is nothing more than a bony needle/ and then observe 
 the size and weight of the body they have to support, is it not 
 astonishing with what ease and steadiness a bird can perch upon 
 a bough, and balance and uphold itself in that position, even in 
 a high wind ? is it not marvellous how, with the head reposing 
 under the wing and one leg drawn up under the body, it is 
 entirely supported on the other; and resting on so slight a 
 fulcrum, falls asleep, without the least danger of losing its 
 balance ? It is the admirable formation of these delicate 
 
The Feet of Birds. 45 
 
 members that enables the feathered race to rest with ease in a 
 position in which other animals could not support themselves 
 for a minute ; and of which formation the true perchers afford 
 so excellent an example. The natural position of a bird's toes is 
 not, as with men's fingers, stretched out and open, but the very 
 reverse ; it requires an effort in the bird to spread open its toes, 
 just as it does in a man to close his fingers. Hence, when it 
 rises on the wing and flies through the air, the foot is doubled 
 up under the body, and the toes immediately contract, and only 
 unbend again when about to seize the bough of a tree ; hence, 
 again, when it perches on a spray, the toes, previously opened 
 for the purpose, grasp it by their natural flexion, and firmly 
 clasp the support on which they have alighted. This is a very 
 excellent adaptation of peculiar structure to the required end, 
 but in addition to this there is a most admirable piece of internal 
 mechanism, which I cannot better describe than in the words of 
 Bishop Stanley : ' Connected with the thigh-bones and leg, a cefc 
 of muscles run down to the very extremity of the toes, so con- 
 trived and placed that, when by pressure downwards the limb 
 bends, these fine muscles are pulled in, and therefore contract 
 the toes, thus making them grasp more firmly whatever the bird 
 is resting upon ; just as if a set of fine strings ran over pulleys to 
 certain hooks, and were acted upon at the other end by a weight 
 or pressure, and thereby made to draw in the hooks.' Such, 
 then, is the wonderful power given to perching birds, whereby 
 they can hold themselves securely even in sleep on so slender a 
 support. This faculty is shared in by the whole order ; but as 
 the families and genera which compose this extensive division are 
 so numerous, and obtain their food in such a variety of ways, it 
 is clear that there must be considerable varieties in the develop- 
 ment of their feet. The tribes which dwell among the boughs 
 of trees, now hanging with their heads downwards, now hurry- 
 ing along the underside of the branch, will require a foot some- 
 what differently formed from those which run on the ground 
 and perch on the topmost spray. Still, in so vast a number, 
 it will be impossible in this place even to touch upon the 
 
46 Introduction. 
 
 points in which they vary ; but as throughout the entire order 
 there is so considerable a similarity of structure in this particular, 
 it will not be necessary for the due exposition of my subject to 
 enter into further details upon it. We have said enough to show 
 how worthy is the construction of their feet to give a name to 
 the whole order, as Insessores or ' Perchers.' 
 
 In the Rasores, or ' Ground-birds,' we shall see a formation of 
 foot widely differing from both the above orders. These are a 
 harmless and quiet race, never preying upon other creatures, but 
 eating berries and grain, and such food as they can find upon 
 the ground; and they are subject to frequent attacks from 
 carnivorous birds as well as quadrupeds. Their flesh, too, being 
 very palatable, man is not the least of their destroyers ; but with 
 so many enemies from which to escape, their flight is laboured 
 and heavy, and they are unable to protract it to any great dis- 
 tance. Providence, however, which leaves no creature without 
 some means of defence, has provided for the ground-birds a 
 suitable remedy in their remarkable powers of running; for 
 this end such feet as those which I have shown to belong to the 
 above-named divisions would be little adapted ; in lieu of which 
 they have frequently but three toes, the hind one being 
 altogether omitted, or, if present, it is always very small and 
 considerably elevated. All the toes are very short, and excel- 
 lently adapted for running, not only for swiftness (though that 
 is often very great), but also for long continuance and protracted 
 exertion ; moreover, they are provided with limbs of great 
 muscular development, as well as with short and blunt claws : 
 thus the members of this order, when alarmed, run from the 
 supposed danger at their utmost speed, and endeavour to conceal 
 themselves under the thickest cover at hand; and it is only 
 when hard pressed, and other means of escape fail, that they rise 
 on the wing with considerable exertion, and fly heavily away. 
 
 We come now to the two orders of Water-birds, and in each 
 of these we shall see the feet and legs adapted precisely to the 
 habits of their possessors. The Grallatores, or " Waders,' first 
 claim our notice. They seem to be a connecting link between 
 
The Feet of Birds. 47 
 
 the true land and water birds, partaking somewhat of the nature 
 of each. 'Generally incapable of swimming, and therefore unable 
 to go into deep water, they are formed for passing a great 
 portion of their time on land ; but yet, as all their food must be 
 procured from the water, or from wet and marshy spots, they 
 haunt the vicinity of lakes or streams, or the seashore ; and, as 
 a combination of both elements, delight in fens and swamps, 
 where they can wade about, or stand motionless, fishing for prey. 
 For such an amphibious nature, and such dabbling habits, how 
 well fitted are their legs and feet ; the tarsus of extreme length ; 
 the tibia frequently bare of feathers to a considerable distance 
 above the tarsal joint ; the toes always divided, but very long, 
 and usually slender, and of which the third and fourth are 
 frequently united by a membrane ; all present admirable facilities 
 to these birds for indulging their wading and fishing propen- 
 sities ; for as the great length of leg suffers them to walk in 
 water of some depth, without wetting their plumage, so the 
 wide- spreading form of their foot enables them to stand and run 
 on soft and doubtful ground, without sinking in. Thus, like the 
 stilts and flat boards on which the fenmen of Lincolnshire have 
 for ages been accustomed to traverse their swamps, so the long 
 legs and spreading feet of the waders are the instruments with 
 which nature has provided them for the same purpose. 
 
 Widely different from the last described, but no less perfect, 
 and no less adapted to their peculiar requirements, are the feet 
 of the Natatores, or ' Swimmers ;' these dwell in and on the 
 water ; at one time on the surface, floating over the waves, at 
 another far below, diving for food or for safety. Many species 
 belonging to this order are quite incapable of walking on land, 
 and are but scantily provided with wings of much avail for 
 prolonged flight ; their chief means then of moving about are 
 by swimming and diving, which they do to perfection. All the 
 divers and auks present a grotesque and clumsy appearance on 
 shore : even the ducks cut but a sorry figure as they waddle 
 over the grass ; but place them in their own element, let them 
 once reach the water, and their awkwardness becomes elegance, 
 
48 Introduction. 
 
 their clumsiness is transformed into the greatest activity. To 
 enable them to move about on the water with such ease and 
 such celerity, they are supplied with legs and feet very much 
 resembling the paddles used in Indian canoes : their thighs are 
 placed very far back, in some instances almost at their tails ; 
 their legs are very flat and extremely thin, like the blade of an 
 oar ; their feet are broad and large, and completely webbed, the 
 toes connected together with membranes up to the nails ; with 
 these they strike the water with considerable force, and thus 
 their bodies are impelled forwards with speed ; and as the boat- 
 man, in rowing, feathers his oar after each successive stroke, 
 and in order to offer as small a surface as possible to the resist- 
 ance of the air and water, presents the thin knife-like edge of 
 the blade, while he draws it back for the next stroke, but while 
 pulling it through the water presents the broad blade as a means 
 of obtaining a good purchase for his pull just so is it with the 
 feet and legs of the swimming birds ; at every stroke the broad flat 
 leg and the expanded webbed foot give a hearty thrust ; but in 
 withdrawing them again, preparatory to repeating the thrust, the 
 thin edge of the leg is presented to the water, and the toes are 
 drawn together, and closely folded up, presenting as little resist- 
 ance as possible, till they are spread out again for the next 
 stroke. With these admirable provisions for moving at will on 
 the waves all the swimmers are supplied, but as some families are 
 more expert in the water, and less able to leave it for the shore 
 or the air than others, there are considerable variations in the 
 exact formations of their feet : thus, some have only three toes ; 
 others have four, but frequently three only are webbed, the 
 fourth remaining free, and articulated high up on the tarsus; 
 others again, have a pendant lobe or membrane, depending from 
 the hind toe, while some have all four toes completely webbed 
 together. According to these different formations, so their 
 powers of swimming and diving are increased or lessened ; but 
 all enjoy those faculties to a considerable extent. 
 
 Such, then, are the general characters of the feet, as applicable 
 to the five orders. Though those of certain individual species 
 
The Feet of Birds. 49 
 
 will in some cases be seen to vary from this description, it will 
 on the whole be found to be typical of the division to which it 
 refers. Thus we see the birds of prey armed with feet and 
 claws which form the most powerful weapons for striking down 
 and carrying off their victims. The perchers provided with so 
 exquisite a piece of mechanism as to enable them to seize, 
 balance, and support themselves on a branch with ease. The 
 ground-birds furnished with limbs so strong, muscles so powerful, 
 and feet so adapted for the purpose, as to make them seek safety 
 in running when beset by foes. The waders, though often unable 
 to swim, raised high out of the water in which they seek their 
 food by the length of their legs, and enabled by their spreading 
 toes to run lightly over water-plants and the softest mud without 
 danger of sinking in. The swimmers supplied with feet and 
 legs serving them for oars and rudders, whereby to impel for- 
 wards their bodies on the waves, or to seek their food far below 
 the surface of the water. These are all instruments so exactly 
 and so perfectly adapted to their respective uses, that we can 
 conceive nothing more applicable ; and they are plain and easy 
 marks to us for ascertaining the general habits and classified 
 position of any bird we observe. Our examination of the subject 
 might well stop here ; but, before concluding this paper, I would 
 call attention to a few remarkable instances of structure in regard 
 to the feet, as displayed by some particular species. 
 
 The Osprey alone, of all the family Falconidce, lives entirely 
 upon fish, and the nature of its prey being therefore different 
 from that of its congeners, it requires and is furnished with feet 
 peculiarly fitted for seizing and holding securely the slippery 
 denizens of the deep. In the first place, in lieu of the long 
 feathers which commonly clothe the thighs of the falcon race, 
 short ones are substituted, which leave more freedom for action 
 in the water ; then the outer toe is reversible, and can at pleasure 
 be turned backwards, so that, as Yarrell tells us, it is the custom 
 of the bird to < seize the prey across the body, placing the inner 
 and outer toes at right angles with the middle and hind toes ; 
 and, digging in the claws, to hold the fish most firmly by four 
 
 4 
 
50 Introduction. 
 
 opposite points.' Moreover, the soles of its feet are remarkably 
 rough, and covered with protuberances, while the talons are very 
 much curved, sharp, and strong, that of the outer toe being the 
 largest, which is contrary to the usual custom ; and all these 
 peculiarities tend to the holding with greater security the slimy 
 victims on which it lives. 
 
 The Nightjar, which feeds at twilight, presents another very 
 peculiar formation of foot. This is small and weak in proportion 
 to the size of the bird, but is remarkable for the claw of the 
 middle toe, which is particularly long and serrated, or pectinated, 
 on its inner edge, and resembles a comb with seven or eight 
 teeth. Now the food of the nightjar consists of moths, but 
 especially of fern-chaffers, beetles, and such late flying insects, 
 the legs of which are often terminated with hooked claws, to 
 detach which from the wide gaping mouth, and from the bristles 
 with which the upper mandible of the beak is fringed, this comb- 
 like claw is probably appended to the foot ; I say probably, for 
 much difference of opinion has existed with reference to its use. 
 Gilbert White, and others after him, thought they could perceive 
 the bird put out its short leg while on the wing and deliver 
 something into its mouth, and thus accounted for its use, that it 
 enabled the bird to hold more securely in its foot the insect it 
 had caught ; but for such a purpose it certainly seems but very 
 ill calculated. 
 
 The Swift furnishes another instance of remarkable structure 
 of foot. As it passes the livelong day in unceasing and rapid 
 flight, it requires no great development of leg and foot ; thus the 
 tarsus is exceedingly short and thick, so short as to render the 
 bird incapable of rising from a flat surface, and therefore it never 
 alights on the ground. For rest and for incubation it retires to 
 the eaves of steeples and towers, to the perpendicular walls of 
 which, and to the face of cliffs, its foot is well adapted to cling ; 
 thus it consists of four toes, all of which are directed forwards, 
 and are armed with very hooked claws, and quite divided, and 
 which give it the appearance of belonging to a quadruped rather 
 than a bird. 
 
The Feet of Birds. 51 
 
 The Woodpeckers are also furnished with feet most suitable to 
 their climbing habits. Each foot is provided with four toes, 
 arranged in pairs, two directed forwards and two backwards ; 
 these afford an immense support, and as they are very strong and 
 terminate with hooked claws, it may be conceived what useful 
 instruments they must be to birds whose lives are passed in 
 climbing about the trunks and branches of trees ; indeed, very 
 similar in form are they to the iron crampions which the Swiss 
 chamois-hunter affixes to the soles of his feet when about to 
 scale the precipices of the Alps and climb among the dangerous 
 chasms of the glacier. 
 
 Again, the Avocet is provided with feet of singular construc- 
 tion. This bird is a wader in every sense, deriving its food from 
 the softest mud at the estuaries of rivers, to support it on which 
 no ordinary feet would suffice ; we see the toes, therefore, united 
 for a considerable part of their length by a concave membrane, 
 not wholly webbed, for the bird is incapable of swimming to any 
 distance, but semi-palmated, and connected far more than those 
 of any other species in the order ; the tarsus, too, is long and 
 slender: the tibia naked for two-thirds of its entire length, so 
 that it can wade into water of considerable depth, in search of 
 food. 
 
 No less singular in the appearance of its legs and feet is the 
 Black-winged Stilt, or Long-legged Plover; either name at 
 once points to the remarkable and apparently disproportionate 
 length of its legs, on which its body seems raised up above the 
 water, as if on stilts. It is almost needless to add that this bird, 
 too, obtains its food by wading in muddy creeks and shallows on 
 the shore. 
 
 The Coots and Phalaropes, which compose jthe small family 
 lobe-footed, claim our attention last. I have before alluded to 
 them as the connecting-link between the true waders and 
 swimmers, and their feet certainly present a peculiarity, par- 
 taking of the form which is characteristic of both those orders. 
 Thus, though the toes are not wholly united by a connecting 
 membrane, yet they are furnished laterally with it to such a 
 
 42 
 
52 Introduction. 
 
 degree as almost to answer the same purpose. This membrane, 
 so extended, forms what are technically called ' rounded lobes ;' 
 hence their family name ; and with such curious feet these birds 
 seem as active on land as they are in the water running, walk- 
 ing, even climbing trees, wading, swimming, and diving with the 
 
 greatest ease. 
 
 Thus the feet of birds, though with a certain general similarity 
 of structure, differ one from another in a variety of ways. As 
 their habits and manner of life vary exceedingly, and as they are 
 constituted to occupy no less than three elements earth, air, 
 and water we see every individual furnished with such' means 
 of locomotion as best suit its own particular sphere. Had the 
 lordly eagle, pouncing on its quarry, but the foot of a partridge 
 wherewith to inflict his wound, starvation must be his lot ; or 
 had the pheasant to run from danger with the feet of the diver, 
 slight, indeed, would be its chance of escape. The heron, if sup- 
 ported on the legs of a hawk, would certainly be drowned in 
 fishing for food. The rook would rest but insecurely on the 
 bough of the elm, if it clasped its support only with the feet of 
 the plover. But now, supplied with such instruments as their 
 respective pursuits require, all are enabled with ease to obey 
 their own peculiar instincts, and fill the place allotted to them in 
 nature. 
 
 I have now brought to a conclusion my preliminary remarks on 
 the general structure, and a few of the more prominent attributes 
 of the feathered race ; and perhaps I ought to apologise to my 
 readers for the length to which these remarks have run. I trust 
 that on the whole they have not been uninteresting, and to some, 
 perhaps, they may pave the way to a clearer understanding of 
 the life history of the several species which occur in our county, 
 which we are now about to consider ; while I feel sure that all of 
 us who examine these particulars with care and consideration 
 must be led thereby to admire the perfection of the works of the 
 Creator, and the wondrous means by which His ends are reached. 
 I cannot better close this part of my subject than in the words of 
 
The Feet of Birds. 53 
 
 the poet who was so accurate and so admiring an observer of the 
 various works of God : 
 
 ' Let no presuming impious railer tax 
 Creative Wisdom, as if aught was form'd 
 In vain, or not for admirable ends. 
 Shall little haughty ignorance pronounce 
 His works unwise, of which the smallest part 
 Exceeds the narrow vision of her mind ? 
 As if upon a full proportioned dome 
 Of swelling columns heav'd, the pride of art ! 
 A critic-fly, whose feeble ray scarce spreads 
 An inch around, with blind presumption bold, 
 Should dare to tax the structure of the whole. 
 And lives the man, whose universal eye 
 Has swept at once th' unbounded scheme of things, 
 Mark'd their dependance so, and firm accord, 
 As with unfaltering accent to conclude 
 That this availeth naught ? Has any seen 
 The mighty chain of beings, lessening down 
 From Infinite Perfection to the brink 
 Of dreary nothing, desolate abyss ! 
 From which astonished thought, recoiling, turns V 
 Till then alone let zealous praise ascend 
 And hymns of holy wonder, to that Power 
 Whose wisdom shines as lovely on our minds 
 As on our smiling eyes His servant sun/ 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 FALCONIM. THE FALCONS. 
 
 * So when a falcon skims the airy way, 
 Stoops from the clouds, and pounces on his prey ; 
 Dash'd on the earth the feather'd victim lies, 
 Expands its feeble wings, and flutt'ring dies/ 
 
 P. WHITEHEAD : The Gymnasiad, Book 3. 
 
 HAVING in the Introduction treated of the general structure and 
 the classification of birds, and the particular characteristics of 
 the various orders and tribes, with especial reference to the beaks 
 and feet, which generally point out with sufficient clearness their 
 habits and consequent position, I come now, without further 
 preface, to describe in order the families into which those orders 
 and tribes are subdivided, and to give some short account of 
 each individual species, which, as a resident, a periodical or an 
 occasional visitant in our county, has come under my observation. 
 I have already shown that the first Order, ' Birds of Prey,' con- 
 sists of three families, the Vultures, Falcons, and Owls. Of the 
 first of these (Vulturidce) no member has ever been recognised in 
 this county ; and, indeed, it is only from the very rare occurrence 
 of a straggler or two on our shores, probably driven out of their 
 course by strong and adverse winds, that the vultures have of late 
 obtained a place amongst British birds, for they are essentially 
 inhabitants of tropical countries, and to such neither Great 
 Britain in general, nor Wiltshire in particular, can by any means 
 claim to belong. And yet it seems strange that with such 
 immense powers of flight, and abounding, as they do, within a 
 few hours of Great Britain, they should not more frequently visit 
 us, more especially in summer. Even the short- winged warblers 
 
The Falcons. 55 
 
 and other diminutive migrants of comparatively feeble wing, 
 cross the seas and visit us annually ; and yet the two vultures 
 which have earned a place in the British list by their rare visits, 
 viz., the great ' Griffon Vulture' (Vultur fulvus), and the 
 ' Egyptian Vulture ' (Neophron percnopterus)* both of which I 
 have seen abounding in North Africa, and not uncommonly in 
 the South of Spain, very seldom diverge from their own districts 
 so far as to touch on these northern regions, though they love to 
 soar and sail in circles for hours at a great height above the 
 earth, and to float on motionless wing without effort. Better 
 perhaps, for them and for us that they keep their distance from 
 our shores ; for them, because, invaluable as they are from their 
 habits in tropical countries, where the whole system of drainage 
 is absolutely unknown, and where they delight to gorge them- 
 selves on putrid substances, they would soon starve in civilized 
 England; for in this highly favoured land, where Urban and 
 Rural Sanitary Authorities, Inspectors of Nuisances, and other 
 such high-sounding titles meet us at every turn, what business 
 would the vultures find to do ? and how much out of their 
 element they would be ! Better, too, for us, and we need not 
 regret their absence, for they are birds of such filthy habits that 
 their presence is certainly not agreeable to the olfactory senses, 
 and their near approach is by no means to be desired. Let none, 
 however, despise these most useful scavengers, which are de- 
 servedly held in high esteem in their native countries, and 
 protected as such by the inhabitants ; for as the storks in Holland 
 and Germany, and the dogs in Constantinople and the East, so in 
 Egypt and South America the vultures, arriving in vast numbers 
 from all parts of the heavens, may be seen clearing away the 
 offal and the garbage to which they are in some mysterious 
 manner attracted, and which would otherwise poison the atmo- 
 sphere. Indeed, but for their invaluable aid, I do not know how 
 * Neophron is derived by the Committee of the British Ornithologists' 
 Union (in the list wh'ich they compiled in 1883, and which I shall hereafter 
 refer to as the B. O. U. list) from vkoq <t>pi}v, ' childish in mind,' so called 
 from the bird's having ' the front of the head naked.' See Eyton's 'Rarer 
 British Birds,' p. 3. And percnopterus, 'dusky winged,' from 
 
56 Falcon' 
 
 the inhabitants of the undrained cities and villages of the east 
 and south could exist. 
 
 Neither should we condemn their cowardice, as we watch a 
 vulture of large size and imposing aspect, with bald head and 
 naked neck, and forbidding beak, driven away from a savoury 
 carcase by some impertinent hooded crow a very giant giving 
 place to a pigmy. It is not the nature of the vulture to attack 
 any animals, or to fight, or to resist. He is but fulfilling his 
 destiny in the sphere assigned to him, as, to his own mortification, 
 he withdraws from the coveted banquet which he had just begun 
 to enjoy, on the arrival of some bold but puny self-invited guest, 
 biding his time till other more fierce birds or beasts have satisfied 
 their appetites, when he in turn gorges himself to repletion, and 
 then, with drooping wings and widespread tail, basks in the 
 blazing sunshine. At such times they are not pleasing objects, 
 but, on the contrary, disagreeable and even disgusting ; but it is 
 otherwise as we watch them soaring on outstretched wing high in 
 the air, now advancing in wide circles, and ever scanning the 
 ground below with piercing eyes, constantly on the look-out for 
 some savoury morsel. In their own lands, too, their numbers 
 are astonishing ; and it is wonderful to see them collect from all 
 parts of the heavens when one of their fellows has detected some 
 choice carrion, and his descent upon it has been descried by 
 others from their exalted position, far beyond the reach of human 
 sight 
 
 The second family, ' FalconicUe/ embraces the Eagles, Falcons, 
 Buzzards, Harriers and Hawks, of all descriptions ; and each of 
 these genera is represented by one at least, and some by several 
 species, which from tune to time, with more or less frequency, 
 may be seen within the borders of Wiltshire. Most of them, 
 however, are becoming scarcer every year, driven away by inces- 
 sant persecution, and some of them seem to have altogether 
 abandoned the localities they frequented but a few years ago. 
 So much is this the case, that to see a hawk on the wing, though 
 he be of the commonest species, is not now the every-day sight 
 that it was only thirty years ago. To meet with this great family 
 
The Falcons. 57 
 
 in abundance, I must again conduct my readers to Lower Egypt, 
 where the vultures are so numerous, and there kites, hawks, 
 buzzards and harriers, swarm to such a degree that the air seems 
 alive with them ; and on one occasion, from a commanding 
 position on one of the minarets of Cairo (the lofty tower and the 
 clearness of the atmosphere enabling the eye to take in a very 
 wide area), I counted above a hundred individuals of this Order 
 in the air at the same time. The Falconidse, in common with all 
 other birds of prey (and in this again they resemble the carni- 
 vorous quadrupeds), are monogamous, or live in pairs; they 
 seldom drink, but during the heat of summer delight to wash 
 themselves : they usually swallow part of the fur and feathers of 
 their victims with their food, but this and all other indigestible 
 parts, as bones, etc., they afterwards disgorge in large pellets, or 
 castings, by the mouth, and they will often skin animals and 
 pluck birds with the greatest dexterity. In the whole family of 
 Falcons there is a very remarkable difference in size between the 
 male and female, the latter being (contrary to what we see in 
 other kinds) by far the largest and strongest ; and from the fact 
 of the male being usually a third less in size than its mate, it 
 generally received the name of Tiercelet or Tiercel, as a Tiercel 
 Peregrine, a Tiercelet Sparrow-hawk, meaning the males of those 
 species.* They are divided into the long- winged or ' noble,' and 
 the short-winged or ' ignoble/ as they were respectively denomi- 
 nated in the good old days of hawking : the long-winged, or true 
 falcons, were those most highly prized and most frequently 
 reclaimed ; and there are a few plain points of difference by 
 which they may be easily distinguished from their more ignoble 
 brethren. Thus, in the beak of the true falcon we shall find a 
 prominent tooth in the upper mandible, and a corresponding 
 notch in the lower one; while in the short-winged genera we 
 shall see instead of the notch a small festoon, or marginal lobe, 
 
 * Shakespeare uses the word, corrupted into Tassel, in the famous balcony 
 scene of Romeo and Juliet : 
 
 ' O, for a falconer's voice, 
 To lure this tassel-gentle back again !' Act ii., scene 2. 
 
58 Falconidce. 
 
 as it is styled. Again, in the true falcons, the iris, or coloured 
 circle surrounding the pupil of the eye, will be always seen to be 
 dark ; while in the ignoble birds the irides are universally bright 
 yellow. And again, in flight, the true falcon soars to a great 
 height, and descends with a swoop upon its prey, while the 
 short-winged pursue it in a direct line near the earth ; but both 
 display considerable strength, boldness, and activity, and of 
 both I am proud to enumerate a goodly list as belonging to this 
 county. Doubtless in olden time, when every gentleman and 
 lady also had a cast or two of hawks, our wide open Wiltshire 
 downs were much resorted to for the noble sport of falconry, 
 and called forth such commendations for remarkable suitability 
 for the sport as were bestowed on it some years since by one of 
 the few genuine falconers remaining in the kingdom, Mr. Pells, 
 when he exercised, on the downs above Lavington, the royal 
 falcons, six magnificent Peregrines, the property of the hereditary 
 Grand Falconer, the Duke of St. Albans. Hawking has long 
 since gone by, and the hound has usurped the place of the 
 falcon ; but it must have been a goodly sight to see a hawking- 
 party equipped for the field: prancing steeds bearing gallant 
 knights, and palfreys carrying ladies fair ; the falconer with his 
 stand of hawks, and each falcon bearing a silver bell on her foot, 
 and capped with a gay hood, surmounted by a plume. Then 
 when the open down was reached and the game was flushed ; 
 what excitement to watch the unhooded hawks start in pursuit, 
 the rapidity of their flight, their graceful soaring in circles above 
 their victim, the sudden pounce, the deadly swoop, the terrific 
 blow; what galloping (and that somewhat blindly and dan- 
 gerously, with eyes directed upwards) to come up with the 
 falcon, which has ' bound ' to its victim, and fluttered with it to 
 the earth ; what enticing with the lure, what caressing it when 
 recovered and safely hooded once more. But these days have 
 gone by, and though our downs remain inviting to the sport, 
 and the falcons and hawks range over them in considerable 
 numbers, they are looked upon no longer with favour, but are 
 persecuted, hunted, and destroyed by every gamekeeper and 
 
White-tailed Eagle. 59 
 
 sportsman no longer the honoured, the petted, and the prized, 
 but the special objects of vengeance, the marked victims of the 
 gun and the snare. And yet, though no longer trained for the 
 chase, but hunted down by the preserver of game as his most 
 deadly foes, who can forbear to admire the symmetry and 
 strength of body, the boldness, the courage, the sagacity, of this 
 whole family? Who can withhold admiration at their noble 
 bearing, their velocity of flight, the keenness of their sight, the 
 gracefulness of their evolutions in the air ? But as I am not 
 writing a panegyric on falcons, but only a plain history of them, 
 I will proceed at once to enumerate the species which have 
 occurred in this county. 
 
 1. THE WHITE-TAILED EAGLE (ffaliceet'us albicilla). 
 
 First and foremost in the ranks of the Falconidse stands the 
 lordly eagle, no less the king of birds than the lion is allowed to 
 rank monarch of quadrupeds. The strength and courage of this 
 genus so commended it to the heathen poets that they made it 
 the attendant of Jupiter, and declared that alone of the feathered 
 tribes it could brave the thunderbolt, or gaze with fixed eye at the 
 sun's dazzling orb ; for the same reasons the Romans, Assyrians 
 and Persians adopted it as their standard in ancient times, and 
 it forms the crest or emblem of monarchy in Russia, Prussia, 
 Austria, France, and other empires of modern days. Its 
 longevity, too (for it has been proved to live above a hundred 
 years), and its love of solitude, combine to give it dignity and 
 majesty ; so that in appearance and habits, as well as by general 
 consent, it is allowed to be a 'right royal bird.' In Great 
 Britain, the cliffs of Scotland and Ireland and the wildest parts 
 of our sea-coast are the abode of the eagles ; and there, on the 
 most inaccessible rocks, and on the edges of the most dizzy 
 precipices, they place their eyries, and from thence they sally 
 forth in quest of prey, and goodly and ample and of great variety 
 is the stock of game, in addition to an occasional lamb or fawn, 
 with which they supply their young, as the rocks adjoining theifc 
 
60 Falconidw. 
 
 nest have often testified, converted during the breeding season 
 by these insatiable marauders into a well-filled larder. 
 
 Of the different species of eagles, the ' Golden' one (Aquila, 
 chrysaetos) is generally considered the first, as it is the boldest 
 and most active, as well as the largest ; and I had hoped to 
 have enumerated it among the birds of Wilts, in consequence of 
 a notice which appeared in the Berkshire Chronicle and the 
 Zoologist, in January, 1847, to the effect that a fine specimen of 
 this species had been killed by the gamekeeper at Littlecote, 
 who discovered it feeding on a dead doe, and so gorged with 
 venison as to be unable to fly off. On inquiry, however, I learnt 
 from Mr. Popham that the species was mistaken, and that it was 
 the ' Cinereous ' or ' White- tailed' (not the Golden) eagle, which 
 was killed in his park. The confusion seems to have arisen from 
 the unwonted size of the specimen, its length being 37 inches, 
 and its breadth from tip to tip of the extended wings 8 feet, a 
 very unusual magnitude for this species. There is, however, 
 in addition to the fulvous or golden plumage of the one, and the 
 white tail of the other (whence their specific names), an un- 
 failing mark of distinction by which these two species of eagles 
 may be distinguished at all ages, which I will give in the words 
 of Mr. Yarrell : ' In the foot of the Golden Eagle each toe is 
 covered with small reticulations as far as the last phalanx, 
 then with three broad scales. In the foot of the White- tailed 
 Eagle the reticulations are confined to the tarsus, the whole 
 length of each toe being covered with broad scales.' But the 
 Golden Eagle is a very much rarer bird so far south, and indeed 
 is almost unknown in these latitudes ; and I am inclined with 
 the late Mr. Knox, the talented author of ' Ornithological 
 Rambles in Sussex/ to regard with considerable suspicion the 
 announcement in local papers, which of late have frequently 
 caught my eye, of the occurrence of the Golden Eagle in the 
 neighbouring counties of Somerset and Berks. But though I 
 have no authentic instance of the Golden Eagle as a voluntary 
 visitor to Wiltshire, I had oftentimes the pleasure of seeing a 
 magnificent specimen of this bird in confinement at Spye Park, 
 
White-tailed Eagle. 61 
 
 which my friend Major Spicer brought with him from Scotland ; 
 and very noble and very fierce he used to look in the large space 
 allotted him for a residence; nor was it safe for any stranger 
 to approach very near the iron bars of his abode. Sir 
 Kalph Payne-Gallwey,* than whom there can be no better 
 authority, says that, active and strong as he is, the Golden Eagle 
 cannot grasp with his foot so firmly as his white-tailed congener, 
 but seems rather more fitted to seize small animals on the 
 ground, and there hold them to eat on the spot ; and he adds 
 that in warm bright weather eagles are inactive, but when the 
 day is wild and boisterous they wheel continuously through the 
 sky, and appear to glory in the tempest. I have in my posses- 
 sion the foot, which I picked up from the road in Norway, in 
 1850, of what must have been in life a splendid specimen of the 
 Golden Eagle. Doubtless this foot had been cut off by the captor 
 of the bird, and accidentally dropped on its way to the authori- 
 ties, who, on its production, would pay the premium granted by 
 Government for the destruction of such birds of prey; in the 
 same spirit as, we are told by Montagu, that, in order to ex- 
 tirpate the Golden Eagle, there is a law in the Orkney Isles 
 which entitles any person who kills an eagle to a hen out of 
 every house in the parish in which it is killed. 
 
 It is interesting and refreshing to learn, as I do from the Rev. 
 A. P. Morres, who appears to have excellent authority for the 
 statement, that the Golden Eagle in Scotland is not by any means 
 the rare bird whose speedy extermination has been prophesied 
 by some ; for there are from sixty to eighty of this species now 
 breeding in that country ; whereas of the Sea Eagle, which has 
 been generally supposed to be greatly more abundant, there are 
 now but twenty nests. It may seem strange and even incre- 
 dible to some that such a bird census can be taken with any 
 accuracy ; but to those who are familiar with gamekeepers and 
 their habits, and are aware of the importance attached to an 
 eagle's nest, whether its owner desires to protect or destroy it, 
 
 ' The Fowler in Ireland,' pp. 291305. 
 
62 Falconidce. 
 
 such intimate knowledge of their numbers will be readily under- 
 stood. The English is a close translation of the scientific name : 
 haliceetus being derived from a\9 + aero?, ' sea eagle,' and albicilla 
 1 white-tailed/ 
 
 The White -tailed Eagle, or Erne, compared with the Golden 
 Eagle, is as Sir R. Payne-Gallwey points out as a vulture to a 
 hawk ; indeed, while the latter is so comely, and puts on such a 
 lordly air of nobility, the Erne is somewhat vulture-like in shape 
 and in aspect. As with that ' ignoble' bird, its plumage, too, is 
 often ragged and untidy ; the ends of the wing-feathers, and 
 above all the tail, are rarely perfect, generally bruised and dis- 
 coloured, and often much worn. This seems to show that it 
 frequently rests and feeds on level soft ground, such as borders 
 the sea. It will also, on occasion, feed on carrion, which the 
 nobler bird would disdain to touch. In France it is known as 
 Aigle Pygargue or VOrfraie; in Germany as Fisch-adler ; and in 
 Sweden as Hafs-'6i*n, 'Sea-Eagle.' 
 
 In addition to the example of the White-tailed Eagle, or Erne, 
 given above, I was informed by the late Rev. G. Marsh, (and 
 further details have been kindly given me by Lord Suffolk,) that 
 a splendid specimen of this species was caught in a trap, on 
 December llth, 1841, by his Lordship's gamekeeper in Stone- 
 hill Wood, part of the old forest of Braydon : it was a female, 
 and for ten days had previously been observed by the keeper 
 soaring very high in the air, and it committed very great devas- 
 tations amongst the game; consequently a gin was set for it, 
 and in this it was caught, and when first found by the keeper 
 was but little injured. Its fierceness, however, prevented its 
 being taken alive, for the man dare not remove it from the 
 trap till he had killed it. It is now preserved at Charlton ; 
 and a grand bird indeed it is, and well deserves to stand, as it 
 does, at the very head of the feathered tribes of Wiltshire. 
 There is, also, a brief notice in the 'Report of the Maryborough 
 College Natural History Society,' for the half-year ending 
 Christmas, 1867, to the effect that 'a White-tailed Eagle was 
 shot in Savernake Forest in 1859 ;' but no further details are 
 
White-tailed Eagle. 63 
 
 given.* In addition to these I have another record of the occur- 
 rence of the Eagle in Wiltshire, and that is an extract from the 
 Salisbury Journal, bearing date as long ago as the middle of 
 the last century, kindly sent me by Mr. Waylen. It is to the 
 effect that ' one summer evening an eagle was observed sailing 
 towards the summit of Salisbury Cathedral; he reposed there 
 all night, and early in the morning set sail northwards/ Nor 
 is that the only occasion on which the spire of Salisbury Cathedral 
 has been so honoured. In the year 1828 or 1829 a similar case 
 occurred, of which a highly respected Rector of a Wiltshire 
 parish was an eye-witness, and within the last few weeks has 
 furnished me with the particulars. My informant was, at that 
 time, a young boy at the celebrated school kept by Dr. RadclhTe 
 at Salisbury, and he describes the house and school buildings, 
 which have long since disappeared, as entered from Castle Street ; 
 and his bedroom as over the large and lofty school-room, and its 
 windows as giving a view of the upper part of the spire, uninter- 
 rupted by the neighbouring houses. It was on a summer evening, 
 at about five or six o'clock, that an eagle, said to have come from 
 a northerly direction, took its place on the grand perch it had 
 selected, on the vane above the spire. The night chanced to be 
 that of a full moon, and the sky was cloudless. Just before 
 bedtime my informant came into possession, for the first time in 
 his life, of ' Lord Byron's Tales/ which were printed in good bold 
 type, so that he was able to read them easily by the light of the 
 moon ; and now, after an interval of nearly sixty years, he recol- 
 lects reading for several hours, seated on the window-seat of his 
 bedroom, but frequently raising his eyes to look at the great bird 
 on the weather-cock of the spire. A plot, it appears, was made 
 by some to shoot the eagle with a rifle-ball, and a party went up 
 for that purpose to the ' eight-doors/ or in other words to the 
 place where the base of the spire rests on the tower ; but happily 
 their endeavours were baffled by the large ball which projects 
 itself below the cross ; and early in the morning the eagle floated 
 away southward, unharmed. * 
 
 * Page 39. 
 
64 Fakonidce. 
 
 2. THE OSPREY (Pandion haliwetus). 
 
 This fine species generally lives altogether on fish, and to seize 
 its slippery prey with its powerful talons it hesitates not to plunge 
 into rivers and lakes, on the borders of which it may therefore be 
 looked for. I have described its remarkable conformation of foot, so 
 exactly fitted to this purpose, on a previous page. So its plumage, 
 too, and especially on the under parts of the body, is not composed 
 of long feathers, such as we generally see in the other members 
 of this family, but is close and firm, like that of the waterfowl 
 Hovering over the waters, with an undulatory motion of wing, no 
 sooner has its eagle-glance discovered a fish near the surface, 
 than down it dashes with the velocity of an arrow, and bearing its 
 quivering and slippery but firmly-clutched victim away in its feet, 
 retires to some secluded rock, where, unmolested, it can devour it 
 at leisure. So deep are its talons embedded in the fish, that it 
 seldom cares to relax its hold till the fish is almost consumed, 
 picking out the flesh from between its toes with great dexterity. 
 Frequently, however, the poor Osprey is not suffered to enjoy its 
 hardly-earned prize in peace, for the last-named species, the 
 White- tailed Eagle, not fitted itself for plunging into the sea, but 
 liking to vary its diet of flesh and fowl with an occasional fish, 
 sits on some rock or bough, a patient but interested spectator of 
 the sport, watching the Osprey's manoeuvres, and eager for its 
 success; then, no sooner has it made a successful pounce, and 
 risen from the waters rejoicing in its prey, than down comes the 
 Eagle in pursuit, and gives instant chase. Its superior strength 
 and speed usually bring success, and though the poor ' fish-hawk ' 
 will not surrender its booty without an effort, but rises in circles 
 higher and higher, yet, encumbered with its burden, it is no match 
 for its assailant, and is at last compelled to drop the fish, which 
 the Erne, with astonishing quickness, manages to seize before it 
 falls into the water, and bears off with a scream of victory and 
 triumph. 'Possibly' says Montagu ' the Osprey was formerly 
 trained for hawking of fish, as we find by an Act passed in the 
 reign of William and Mary persons were prohibited at a certain 
 
The Osprey. 65 
 
 period of the year from taking any salmon, salmon-peal, or 
 salmon-kind, by hawkes. racks, gins, etc.' Of all birds none has a 
 wider range than the Osprey, for it is found in nearly all parts of 
 Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. From China, Japan, and 
 India in the east ; by Palestine, and the countries bordering on 
 the Mediterranean, to the West Indies and America, to the west ; 
 from Scandinavia, Kussia, and Siberia, in the north ; to Egypt, 
 North Africa, and even the Cape of Good Hope, in the south, 
 this cosmopolitan seems equally at home, but selects a suitable 
 season for its visit to each, and never winters in Great Britain, as 
 Professor Newton points out,* America, however, seems to be 
 its stronghold, and there it congregates for breeding in vast 
 numbers, just as rooks do in this country ; and of this the 
 American ornithologist, Wilson, gives many interesting particu- 
 lars. Its general colour is brown above and white below, with a 
 white crown to its head; legs, pale blue. In allusion to the 
 rapidity with which it darts upon fish, it is called by the Italians 
 Aquila piombino, or 'Leaden Eagle;' and in Hampshire and 
 Sussex it is known as the c mullet hawk/ from its partiality for 
 that fish. In Spain it is the Ayuila pescadora, or ' Fishing Eagle;' 
 in Portugal Aguia pesqueira; in Italy Aquila pescatrice; and 
 in Germany, Flusadler, ' River Eagle ;' in Sweden Fisk Ljuse ; 
 and in France Aigle Balbusard. Our term, 'osprey/ is as 
 if ' osfray,' from os and frangere, ' bone-breaker,' in allusion to 
 the bird's strength ; and for this derivation I have the high 
 authority of Skeat. Notwithstanding the scarcity of large sheets 
 of water in this county, this bird has been often killed in different 
 parts of it, and not unfrequently within the last few years. Mr. 
 Rowland shot a very fine specimen at Ramsbury, near the river 
 Kennet, about A.D. 1855, at a piece of water in the occupation of 
 Sir R. Burdett ; and at the adjoining fishery, belonging to Mr. 
 Popham, that gentleman informs me he has also met with and 
 killed it. The Rev. G. Marsh had one in his collection which the 
 keeper obtained in Draycot Park in 1830, and was, when seen, 
 preying on a rabbit (contrary to its usual habits), and was very 
 Fourth edition of Yarrell's ' British Birds/ vol. i., p. 80. 
 
 5 
 
66 Falconidce. 
 
 poor; and another, a very fine one, was killed at Brinkworth, 
 near Malmesbury, in August, 1852. I also learn from Mr. 
 Stratton that two were killed some years ago in the neighbour- 
 hood of Warminster ; and in the summer of 1856 a fine male 
 specimen, now in the collection of Mr. Rawlence, of Wilton, was 
 caught at Longleat by means of a spring trap set under water 
 and baited with a large trout. On October 16th, 1872, as I 
 learnt from the Field, since corroborated by the keeper, a fine 
 Osprey was shot at Fonthill, which measured four feet nine inches 
 across the wings. On October 19th, 1881, two Ospreys were 
 killed at Seend, one of which came into the possession of Mr. 
 Penruddocke, of that place, and was preserved by Mr. Grant, of 
 Devizes. It was a large specimen, and measured across the ex- 
 tended wings four feet eight inches ; length, one foot eight inches ; 
 weight, three and a half pounds. And on October 14th, 1882, two 
 others were killed at Wilton Park, as I was informed by Mr. 
 Swayne, of that town, who also called my attention to the re- 
 markable coincidence of two Ospreys having been killed in the 
 same park just one hundred years previously, as recorded in the 
 Salisbury Journal of October 14th, 1782. And the last whose 
 capture in this county I have to record, was a fine specimen, shot 
 by the keeper at ' The Broad/ Ramsbury, on September 26th, 1883, 
 as Sir F. Burdett kindly informed me, and is preserved at the 
 Manor House. 
 
 3. THE GYR-FALCON (Falco gyrfalco). 
 
 Such was the specific name by which all the magnificent white 
 falcons were known, which occasionally visited Great Britain, until 
 Mr. John Hancock, after comparing more than 150 specimens 
 some of which may be remembered as a splendid group in the 
 First Great Exhibition of 1851 came to the conviction, which has 
 since been adopted by most of the leading ornithologists of Europe, 
 that there are three distinct species bearing this title, two of which 
 are known to have occurred in Britain, viz., the ' Greenland falcon ' 
 (Falco candicans), and the ' Iceland falcon ' (Falco islandus). 
 The former is the whitest of the two, the ground-colour of each 
 
Gyr-Falcon. 67 
 
 feather being white with dark markings, while in the latter the 
 ground-colour is dark, with light markings thereon ; or, in other 
 words, in the Greenland bird, at all ages, the prevailing colour is 
 white, while in the Icelander it is dark, as has been admirably 
 set forth by Professor Newton.* Very nearly approaching to the 
 eagles in size, and by far the most rare, as well as the strongest 
 and most valuable of the falcons trained for the chase, are these 
 White Falcons, whether Greenland, Iceland, or Scandinavian, 
 which is the third species, in reality the true Gyr-Falcon, but 
 which is not known to have visited England. The prevailing 
 colour of all of them is white, more or less spotted with brown ; 
 but each year diminishes the dark spots, so that in very old 
 specimens the bird assumes a plumage of almost perfect white- 
 ness, from which constant variations in colour have arisen the 
 many conflicting opinions as to the identity of the several species. 
 They are natives of the most northern latitudes, and, though 
 nowhere numerous, have, from their excessive value, often 
 tempted falconers to their capture on the inhospitable shores of 
 Greenland, Iceland, Lapland, and Norway. Indeed, so highly 
 were they prized in bygone days, that the King of Denmark 
 reserved for his own use all that were found in his dominions, 
 and sent his falconer annually to Iceland to obtain a fresh supply ; 
 and so rigid was this game law, that the penalty of death was the 
 result of an infringement of it, by destroying one of the royal 
 birds. In this country, and in more modern times, no less than 
 1,000 have been given for a well-trained cast (or couple) of these 
 falcons, which were used for flying at the larger kinds of game 
 herons, cranes, wild geese, etc. Much doubt has existed as to 
 the origin of the specific appellation ' Gyr ;' it is by some said to 
 be derived from the German word geyer, a vulture, from a sup- 
 posed resemblance in this splendid falcon to that ignoble bird, or 
 from its being of a vulture size; but others, apparently with 
 more reason, attribute it to the wide gyrations which this species, 
 above all others, makes before its stoop, which on all hands is 
 allowed to be remarkably grand, rapid, and daring. It is very 
 Fourth edition of Yarrell's ' British Birds,' vol. i., p. 39. 
 
 52 
 
68 Falconidce. 
 
 seldom that the Gyr-Falcon makes its appearance in England, 
 though in Scotland it is not very infrequent ; but I place it 
 among the birds that have occurred in Wiltshire without the 
 least hesitation, on the authority of Mr. Benjamin Hay ward, of 
 Easterton, than whom no one in the county has devoted more 
 attention to, or has had greater experience of, the whole family 
 Falconidce, as an out- door observer and accurate naturalist. 
 From him I learnt that he saw this fine, and, when once known, 
 unmistakable species in the neighbourhood of Cliffe Hall, at a 
 place called Ramscliffe, on the 9th December, 1842 ; but at the 
 time, having never seen or heard of the Gyr-Falcon, he mistook it 
 for an albino variety of the Peregrine, and marvelled at its beauty 
 and size. Farther inquiry, however, proved to him beyond a 
 doubt that it was a genuine Icelander. In France it is Faucon 
 Gerfaut de Norwfye ; in Germany Islandische Falke; in Italy 
 Sparviere bianco di Moscovia; but in Norway Jagt-Falk, ' Hunt- 
 ing Falcon,' and often called Rip-Falk, ' Ripa (or Ptarmigan) 
 Falcon/ from its special pursuit of that bird. 
 
 4. PEREGRINE FALCON (Falco peregrinus). 
 
 Hitherto I have recorded the occurrence of species, all of which 
 have been only occasional and very rare stragglers in the county ; 
 now I come to one which is comparatively abundant, and may be 
 met with quite as much, if not more, in Wiltshire than in any 
 other part of England ; our wide open downs being, as I before 
 remarked, so admirably adapted to its habits. From its greater 
 abundance, as well as from its size and strength, the Peregrine has 
 been principally trained for falconry, and, among the few who still 
 pursue that noble sport, this is the species usually kept for the 
 purpose. It is, moreover, a docile, tractable bird, and repays the 
 trainer's care and attention by its remarkable courage, strength, 
 and activity in the chase, and no less peculiar teachableness and 
 obedience to his call. It received the specific name of ' Pere- 
 grine ' on account of its immense geographical range ; its won- 
 derful powers of flight, both as regards speed and endurance, 
 enabling it to traverse vast distances in an extremely short space 
 
Peregrine Falcon. 69 
 
 of time, and scarcely a country in the world exists in which the 
 Peregrine has not been noticed by naturalists. Colonel Montagu, 
 speaking of this bird, with which he must have become very 
 familiar when residing in Wiltshire, computes its flight to be not 
 less than one hundred, or perhaps one hundred and fifty, miles an 
 hour. He says that the female, when a yearling, was termed a 
 'Red Falcon,' and the male a 'Red Tiercel;' and, when thoroughly 
 trained and docile, they were called ' Gentil,' or ' Gentle hawks.'* 
 When I penned my account of its occurrence in Wiltshire, just 
 thirty years ago, I was enabled to say that in this county we 
 might almost call it abundant. Indeed, so frequently was it 
 seen, that I then deemed it scarcely necessary to particularize 
 localities of its capture or occurrence. At that time I used to 
 see it quite frequently on the Roundway Downs, on the All 
 Cannings Downs, and on the downs between Marlborough and 
 Devizes. Notices, too, were sent me of its occurrence in almost 
 all parts of the county, and Mr. Withers, the able bird-stuffer, of 
 Devizes, had usually one in his hands. Mr. Stratton, of Gore 
 Cross Farm, above Lavington (who is a great lover of falcons, and 
 watches them keenly), assured me that his farm was seldom 
 without one, and that no sooner was one shot or trapped, than 
 another made her appearance in its place ; and as a proof of 
 their abundance, I extract the following interesting notes of his 
 success with these birds from a register kept by Mr. B. Hayward : 
 
 Jan. 1, 1836. ! Peregrine (a Falcon) caught at Ramscliffe. 
 
 March 28, 1842. Another (a Falcon) caught at ditto. 
 
 Dec. 30, 1842. Another (a Falcon) at Ramscliffe. 
 
 Dec. 8, 1849. Another (a male), weight lib. 6ozs. 
 
 Nov. 9, 1850. Another (a male), weight Iflb. 
 
 Jan. 22, 1853. Another (a Falcon), weight 2lb. 
 
 The above extract proves two interesting facts the plentifulness 
 of the species in that locality, and the difference in size between 
 the female (called par excellence the Falcon), and the male (called 
 the Tiercel, as above described). But now they have become very 
 
 Supplement to Ornithological Dictionary. 
 
70 Falconidce. 
 
 much more scarce, at least in North Wilts, as I know by my own 
 experience, and it is now quite a rare thing with me to see a 
 Peregrine on our downs. The Rev. A. P. Moires is more fortu- 
 nate in the south of the county, for he says that for the last 
 fifteen years or so, not a year has passed without his having 
 noticed it once or twice in that immediate district, and he adds, 
 and doubtless with good reason, that the lofty spire of the 
 cathedral, round which he has seen four Peregrines soaring at one 
 time, offered an irresistible attraction as a secure resting-place, 
 whither it would carry its prey to devour it without fear of intru- 
 sion ; and where it is stoutly affirmed by some, though denied by 
 others, that it has been known to nest Lord Pembroke was so 
 good as to inform me that a year or two ago, when the Peregrine 
 Falcons were building on the spire of Salisbury Cathedral, one of 
 his keepers more than once saw them attack the herons; the 
 heron, at least on one of these occasions, dropped on to the 
 ground, and there stood at its full height, with its beak pointing 
 straight upwards, like a large spike, and the falcons, not daring to 
 touch him in that position, swooped down to the ground on one 
 side of him. Probably the heron was pretty close to the ground 
 when so attacked, and was able to get down to the earth before 
 the falcons could stoop; but on no occasion did the keeper 
 see the falcons succeed in killing a heron. His lordship adds 
 that he has been assured by an old servant on the estate, that 
 before his time Peregrine Falcons used to build in the park at 
 Wilton, until they were at length driven away by the ravens. 
 
 Though certainly become far more scarce than it was thirty 
 years ago, I should mislead if I were to imply that it is by any 
 means a rare bird in Wiltshire even now. Indeed, with such an 
 array of occurrences as I have now lying before me, and from 
 almost all parts of the county, I cannot call it rare, though it is 
 to be remembered that every appearance of this noble bird makes 
 an impression on the observer which he does not readily forget, 
 and is generally chronicled by somebody. Thus, to take a selec- 
 tion from various districts : The Rev. G. Powell informed me 
 that he had obtained a magnificent specimen on January 21st, 
 
Peregrine Falcon. 71 
 
 1862, which was killed at Kingston Deverell; Mr. Grant, in 
 January, 1872, reports that a pair had been observed at Avebury 
 and Beckhampton, attracted by large numbers of pigeons which 
 frequented the farms there, and that one was shot by Mr. Went- 
 worth, a fine old female, nineteen inches in length, and measuring 
 three feet six inches across the wings. In the same year, 1872, 
 early in March, one was killed at Collingbourne, as I was informed 
 by the Rev. T. A. Preston. Major Heneage possesses a specimen 
 shot at Compton Basset t, in 1866. Lord Nelson mentions one in 
 his possession killed at Trafalgar. Mr. Morrison's keeper reports 
 several killed at Fonthill. Lord Arundell writes me word that 
 they are not unfrequently seen and have been killed at Wardour. 
 'The Marlborough College Natural History' Reports speak of it as 
 taken in that district in 1870, 1876, and 1878. Mr. G. Watson 
 Taylor tells me it visits Erlestoke, and the last reference to it in 
 my note- book is of a pair seen by Mr. A. B. Fisher, of Potterne, 
 on the downs at Horton, in December, 1885. But to sum up all, 
 Mr. Grant has furnished me with a list of no less than thirty-five 
 specimens which have been sent to him within the last twenty- 
 four years for preservation, a small portion of which were killed 
 in parishes of North Wilts, at Seend, Poulshot, Avebury, Alton 
 Barnes, Stowell, etc., but by far the largest portion from Salisbury 
 Plain and the villages below it ; no less than nine having come 
 from Amesbury, five from Erlestoke, four from Lavington, and 
 others from Shrewton, Chitterne, Tilshead, Erchfont, Netheravon, 
 etc., proving, as I said above, that this species is far more 
 common in South than in North Wilts. 
 
 The boldness of the peregrine is so great, that it will wait upon 
 the sportsman, and no sooner has he sprung a covey of birds 
 than down comes the Falcon, despite the shooter and his dogs, 
 singles out a partridge for herself, fells it to the earth with one 
 deadly stroke of the foot, and bears it off in triumph ; a ma- 
 nceuvre which she will repeat day after day, and frequently more 
 than once in a day. Mr. Stratton tells me that he has himself 
 witnessed this, and Mr. Selby gives a pleasing account of it in his 
 ' Illustrations of British Ornithology,' as does Mr. Knox very fully 
 
72 Falconidce. 
 
 in his interesting work on 'Game Birds and Wild Fowl.' I 
 learned from the Rev. G. Marsh that in the south of the county the 
 keepers call the Peregrine by the provincial name of ' Trammel 
 Hawk/ In France it is Faucon Pdlerin ; in Germany Wander- 
 Falke; in Italy Sparviert pellegrino ; in Spain Halcon ; in 
 Portugal Falcdo ; and in Sweden Pelegrinis-Falk. 
 
 5. THE HOBBY (Falco subbuteo). 
 
 This beautiful little falcon is in every respect like a diminutive 
 Peregrine ; and in proportion to its size (which seldom exceeds a 
 foot in length) vies with its congener in strength, speed, activity, 
 and endurance. It is a periodical summer visitant to this country, 
 arriving in April, and departing again in October, and I believe is 
 rarely seen in the northern counties of England ; it loves thick 
 plantations and woods, and at the time of incubation usually takes 
 possession of the deserted nest of the Magpie or Crow ; its food 
 consists of insects as well as small birds, in taking which it dis- 
 plays great adroitness; it was formerly trained to fly at larks and 
 snipes, the former of which constitute its favourite game in 
 its wild state ; hence arose one of its old specific names, alau- 
 darius ; with less apparent reason, I am told that its provincial 
 name in Wiltshire is the ' Rook Hawk.' Our word ' hobby ' 
 appears to be derived from the old French word hobereau, from 
 hober, ' to move from place to place ' (Skeat) : not a very satis- 
 factory derivation; as neither is the specific name subbuteo, which 
 the B.O.U. Committee interprets to signify 'something like 
 a buzzard.' More appropriate is the German Baumfalke, or ' Tree 
 Falcon,' for it is essentially a bird of the forest. In Italy it is 
 Falco Barletta e ciamato ; in Spain Alcotan; in Portugal Falcdo 
 tayarote ; in Sweden Lark-Folk, ' Lark Falcon.' 
 
 Mr. Harting* says the Hobby may be distinguished from the 
 Merlin or Kestrel when flying, by its narrow pointed wings, and 
 slender form ; and adds that it chooses for its prey swallows and 
 martins, as well as larks. It is a late flying bird, and may 
 
 * Birds of Middlesex,' p. 5, quoting Meyer's ' Illustrations of British 
 Birds.' 
 
The Hobby. 73 
 
 be seen on the wing even after dusk on a summer evening. It 
 has been taken in many parts of the county, and I believe it to 
 be somewhat sparingly distributed annually throughout our 
 enclosed districts. I have also received many instances of its 
 nesting and rearing its young in various localities ; thus Mr. 
 Hayward has taken two young ones from a deserted crow's nest, 
 in August, 1839 ; and from the same tree in which the Hobbies 
 had reared their young the previous year ; this was in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Lavington, where he has subsequently seen them 
 almost annually. Mr. H. C. Forward, of Boreham Road, War- 
 minster, thought that the Hobby bred somewhere in his neigh- 
 bourhood in 1860, as a male, female, and three immature young 
 were shot between his house and Heytesbury. I learn from Lord 
 Nelson that it has been killed at Trafalgar ; from Sir H. Meux 
 that a pair were shot at Dauntsey about three years ago ; from 
 Mr. Herbert Smith that it has been observed lately at Bowood ; 
 from Mr. Gwatkin that it was killed at Tilshead in Feb., 1884, 
 and from Mr. G. Watson Tayler that it visits Erlestoke. Mr. Raw- 
 lence has a specimen taken on Lord Bath's property in Wiltshire, 
 while Mr. Stratton says they return regularly every summer to 
 the enclosures in the vale below him ; the Rev. G. Marsh used to 
 speak of them as not uncommon in the woods of Wilts, and has 
 repeatedlyhad the young brought to him both in the neighbour- 
 hood of Chippenham, and at Winterslow, near Salisbury, and they 
 have bred in the woods at Christian Malford ; moreover, I am 
 aware of two separate localities to which these birds now return 
 annually to breed, though, for obvious reasons, I think it better 
 not to describe them too minutely. Of later years the Rev. A. 
 P. Morres is able to say that in the immediate neighbourhood of 
 Salisbury it is not uncommon ; nay, he might well call it a fre- 
 quent visitor; he generally notices it in his own parish of Brit- 
 ford more than once during the summer ; while Mr. Tyndall 
 Powell, of Hurdcott House, a keen observer of birds, has 
 remarked on the regular appearance of several Hobbies in the 
 months of September and October, as they waited on some dense 
 flocks of sand martins, which congregate at that period from all 
 
74 Falconidce. 
 
 parts to roost in the withy-beds, prior to their autumnal mi- 
 gration. In North Wilts Mr. Grant records one shot at Bromham, 
 in 1871 ; and the Rev. E. H. M. Sladen another killed at 
 Alton Barnes, about 1870 ; while Mr. Grant's list comprises 
 seventeen specimens which have come into his hands in the flesh 
 within the last twenty-four years ; and it is instructive to find 
 that the localities in which they were taken are very much the 
 same as those where their larger congeners, the Peregrines, most 
 abounded. Thus five came from Amesbury, three from Everley, 
 and single specimens from Woodborough, Netheravon, Enford, 
 Pewsey, Erlestoke, Potterne, Roundway, Seend, and Poulshot, 
 whence a nest containing three well-fledged young birds was sent 
 to the Zoological Society, London, on June 25th, 1866. 
 
 6. RED-FOOTED FALCON (Falco wfipcs). 
 
 Very similar to the last species both in appearance and habits 
 is the Red-footed or Red-legged Falcon, or Orange-legged Hobby, 
 as it is variously called; the principal distinguishing characteristics 
 being the red colour of the legs and feet (as its specific name im- 
 plies), and this distinction exists in both sexes and at all ages, 
 though, in almost all other respects, the male and the female, the 
 young and the adult differ widely from one another ; like its con- 
 gener described above, it prefers wooded and enclosed districts, and 
 feeds on beetles and other insects as well as small birds, and has 
 the same length of wing, and consequent rapidity and endurance 
 of flight ; it is, however, extremely rare in this country, its native 
 haunts being the steppes of Russia, and the eastern portions of the 
 Austrian dominions. Like its congener the Hobby, it may be 
 seen on the wing until late in the evening, whence it is generally 
 known by Continental Ornithologists under the name of vesper- 
 tinus, and in Malta as spagnolett ekhad or * vespertine.' It will 
 frequently alight on the ground, and will run with great ease and 
 celerity ; and in Southern and Eastern Europe, where it abounds, 
 it may sometimes be seen in large flocks. Those who are familiar 
 with it in its own home describe it as emerging towards evening 
 froin the shady forest which it loves, skimming like a swallow 
 
The Merlin. 75 
 
 over the plain and over the waters, and catching locusts, dragon- 
 flies, and other insects, which it sometimes transfers to the mouth 
 with the foot, while on the wing. 
 
 Scarcely twenty instances are recorded of its appearance in 
 Britain, but of these, one is described in the Zoologist for 1843 
 as having occurred at Littlecote Park, near Hungerford, in 1825 ; 
 it was seen by a countryman to be pursued and struck down by a 
 raven, when he went up to it and caught it on the ground before 
 it recovered ; and, according to his account, it laid an egg after 
 its fall, which was broken. The peculiar markings of the hawk 
 struck the author of the communication, who bought the bird of 
 the countryman, and not being able to identify it with any of the 
 English hawks which he knew, he made a drawing of it, suffi- 
 ciently accurate to recognise it by : it was fortunate he did so, for 
 the bird, which was very wild and untameable, escaped after a few 
 days' captivity, and was probably killed, as it had one wing clipped ; 
 subsequently, his memory being aided by the drawing, he recog- 
 nised it as an Orange-legged Hobby, when he saw that bird at the 
 Zoological Gardens. More satisfactory because more undeniable 
 are the pair now in Mr. Kawlence's collection at Wilton, which 
 were shot in a plantation on the downs at Kingston Deverell, 
 near Warminster. These are the only instances which have 
 come to my knowledge of the occurrence of this very rare Falcon 
 in Wiltshire. In France it is Faucon a pieds rouges ou Kobez ; 
 in Germany Rothfussiger Falk; and in Italy Falco barletta 
 piombina. 
 
 7. THE MERLIN (Falco cesalori). 
 
 This beautiful little Falcon, not much bigger than a blackbird, is 
 so bold, so active, and so strong, that it has been known to strike 
 down a partridge at a blow, though twice its own size and weight. 
 It was formerly much esteemed for falconry, and was trained to fly 
 at woodcocks, snipes, and larks. In speaking of the Peregrine, I 
 have shown how that bird would accompany the sportsman to the 
 field and select a victim from the coveys when sprung, neither 
 terrified by man, dog, or gun, as described by Mr. Knox and others. 
 
76 Falconidce. 
 
 That same able writer gives a similar very interesting account of 
 a Merlin which regularly attended him when he was out snipe 
 shooting in Ireland, in order to get a share of the game. It 
 seemed to have no fear of his gun, but would follow him at a 
 little distance and watch the birds that he fired at ; if they were 
 killed by the shot the Merlin never meddled with them, but 
 seemed to consider them the lawful share of the sportsman ; if, 
 however, any bird was wounded and partially disabled, it 
 instantly pursued and caught it, and carried it off. At first there 
 was but one, but subsequently a second a female joined it, and 
 they regularly made their appearance as long as the sportsman 
 continued in the neighbourhood. Sometimes, at the very com- 
 mencement of the day's sport, the merlins might not be there, 
 but the first report of the gun was generally sufficient to summon 
 one or both of them to the scene of action, and a wounded snipe, 
 however slightly touched by the shot, had no chance of escape 
 from their united efforts. First, one would rise above it in a 
 succession of circular gyrations (for he was unable to ascend in 
 such a direct line as the snipe), then he would make a swoop, 
 and if he missed, his companion, who in the meantime had been 
 working upwards in a similar manner, would next try her luck, 
 and in this manner they would pursue the quarry, until the 
 persecuted bird, unable to ascend higher, or any longer avoid the 
 fatal stroke, was at last clutched by one of the little falcons, 
 when the other would hasten to ' bind to it,' and all three 
 descend together into the bog. After a performance of this sort 
 an hour would occasionally elapse before the return of either of 
 the merlins, sometimes more, sometimes less, but they never 
 seemed willing to give up the sport until at least three snipes 
 had fallen to their own share. The Merlin is often called the 
 ' Stone Falcon/ from its habit of perching on a large stone in the 
 open country, which it frequents ; for the same reason it is 
 called in France Le Rockier and Faucon de Roche, in Germany 
 Stein Falke, and in Sweden Sten-Falk. Its more correct name in 
 France is Faucon Emerillon. Bewick supposed it did not breed 
 here, but Selby, Yarrell, and others prove it does so, at any rate 
 
The Merlin. 77 
 
 in the northern and midland counties, where it places its nest on 
 the ground, not on trees or rocks as Temminck says.* Meyer 
 remarks that when on the wing it may be distinguished from the 
 Hobby by the greater length of its tail in proportion to the wings 
 and by its more robust form. 
 
 With us it is a winter visitant, arriving in October, and leaving 
 us in the spring. I have on several occasions myself seen it at 
 Yatesbury, where it frequented a splendid old yew tree in the 
 churchyard, and I have notices of its occurrence in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Salisbury, 1837 ; Chippenham, 1840 ; Devizes and 
 Warminster, 1850 ; while Mr. Stratton told me it was a constant 
 visitor on the Downs at Gore Cross, and that he caught no less 
 than three specimens from one stump on his farm ; he told me 
 also that he has been astonished at its amazing boldness and 
 dexterity in pursuit of starlings, chasing them, singling one out, 
 and as certainly bearing it off in triumph. Mr. Rawlence, too, 
 has Wiltshire specimens in his collection. Of more recent date 
 than the above notices, the Rev. A. P. Morres speaks of it as not 
 uncommon in the neighbourhood of Salisbury ; and Mr. Tyndall 
 Powell, of Hurdcott, mentioned no less than four specimens as 
 coming under his notice in the winter of 1877 ; and in a letter 
 recently received from him, he says, speaking of last autumn 
 (1886), that it was an extraordinary year for Merlins in the 
 Broad Chalk Hills, for that he had himself shot two hen birds 
 and one male, and had seen many more ; adding, that the hills 
 and ravines of that particular district appeared to him to be 
 a favourite retreat for all kinds of hawks. In North Wilts, Mr. 
 C. A. Sladen recorded one shot at Alton Barnes, December 27, 
 1871. The Marlborough College 'Reports ' notice one caught in 
 the college grounds in September, 1872 ; one shot near Ramsbury 
 in January, 1875 ; and another at Marlborough in April, 1881. 
 Mr. Gwatkin records two killed at Tilshead, one of which fell to 
 his own gun in Oct., 1881 ; the other was taken in Feb., 1884. 
 Mr. G. Watson Taylor says it visits Erlestoke ; and to sum up 
 all, Mr. Grant's list comprises one received from Mr. H. E. 
 * Selby, 'Illustrations of British Ornithology/ vol. i., p. 51. 
 
78 Falconidce. 
 
 Medlicott, of Potterne, and nine other specimens, all of which 
 were taken in the immediate neighbourhood of Devizes from 
 Poulshot, Rowde, Bromham, Potterne, Roundway, Seend, and 
 Erchfont so that we may claim this sprightly little hawk as 
 fairly common in Wiltshire. The word ' merlin ' is supposed by 
 Skeat to be derived from the French merle and the Latin 
 merula, ' a blackbird.' 
 
 8. THE KESTREL (Falco tinnunculus). 
 
 The most common, the most harmless, and the most persecuted 
 of all the Falconidae is the elegant Kestrel : it abounds in vast 
 numbers throughout the county, and one can scarcely cross the 
 Downs in any direction without seeing it hovering in the air, with 
 wings rapidly quivering and tail outstretched, and with head in- 
 variably turned to the wind from this habit it has derived the two 
 provincial names of ' Windhover' and ' Stonegall,' or ' Standgale.' 
 
 Professor Newton* says that in the southern counties of 
 England its numbers receive an increase in autumn, supplied, 
 doubtless, from the north ; and there are districts in which it is 
 wholly unknown, or but seldom seen, in winter so that in 
 Britain it partially migrates, while in many other countries it 
 does so unmistakably. But even the Kestrel, the only familiar 
 hawk remaining to us in any numbers, is very much diminished 
 within my recollection. Where I used to see half a dozen in a 
 morning's ride on the Downs forty years ago, I scarcely see one 
 now. But if I find these birds more scarce at home, I saw them 
 literally swarming in Egypt, where you meet them at every 
 turn, and where they were once honoured by the ancient 
 Egyptians with divine honours, as the emblem of Horns, Re, or 
 the Sun, and several other gods ; their bodies, with those of the 
 sacred Ibis, preserved as mummies, and their figures admirably 
 pourtrayed in the hieroglyphics and cartouches. I also found it 
 in great abundance in 'Portugal and in Spain, where Lord Lilford 
 our best authority for birds of that country declares he has 
 
 * Fourth edition of Yarrell's ' British Birds,' vol. i., p. 80. 
 
The Kestrel. 79 
 
 seen from 300 to 400 on the wing at the same moment.* In 
 Palestine, again, I have noticed it as extremely common; and 
 there Canon Tristram says it breeds in colonies, ten or twenty 
 pairs occupying the same ruins, and sometimes sharing the re- 
 cesses of the caves which are tenanted by the Griffon Vultures.t 
 In Sweden the Kestrel is known as Torn Folk, or ' Tower Falcon/ 
 so called because, alone of the hawk tribe which breeds in 
 Scandinavia, its habit there is to make its nest in old ruins and 
 towers.J For the same reason it is Twrmfalke in Germany, and 
 Falco acertello o di torre in Italy ; but in France Gresserelle ; in 
 Spain Cernicalo, and in Portugal Francelho, and sometimes 
 Peneireiro, ' Hoverer.' It may easily be distinguished from the 
 other members of the family by the prevailing rufous fawn colour, 
 which is common to the plumage of both sexes. It preys almost 
 exclusively on mice, of which it destroys an incredible quantity, 
 dropping upon them suddenly from above, but occasionally varies 
 this diet with coleopterous insects, reptiles, and small birds. Of 
 cockchafers it seems especially fond, and it will eat them while 
 on the wing ; seizing one in each foot, and then transferring it 
 to the mouth, in like manner as the Hobby above described, 
 and as the elegant ' Swallow-tailed Kite ' (Nauderus furcatus) is 
 reported to do in Guatemala, when it chances to fall in with a 
 swarm of bees ; but I think it has very rarely been known to 
 molest a young partridge or pheasant, or commit the smallest 
 trespass on game ; nevertheless, it is a hawk, and as such is the 
 enemy of the indiscriminating gamekeeper, who can see no 
 difference in the Kestrel and Sparrow-hawk, but looks upon both 
 as his mortal foes, and traps and destroys them accordingly. 
 There can, however, be no question that the Kestrel, far from 
 being injurious, confers the greatest benefit on man, ridding him 
 of thousands of field mice, which are destructive alike to the 
 farm, the garden, the orchard, and the plantation. 
 
 The specific name tinnunculus is defined by the B.O.U. 
 Committee to signify 'with a shrill sharp voice, or bell-like 
 
 Ibis for 1865, p. 175. t ^ 8 for 1865 > P- 259 - 
 
 Lloyd's ' Scandinavian Adventures,' vol. ii., p. 263. 
 Ibis for 1860, pp. 240243. 
 
80 Falconidce. 
 
 (i.e., monotonous) note.' And Harting says that the name 
 ' kestrel ' signifies the peasant's (or serving-man's) hawk; coistrel, 
 perhaps from the Latin coterellus. Shakespeare mentions 
 ' coystril ' in Twelfth Night [Act I., Scene 3], and ' coystrel ' in 
 Pericles [Act IV., Scene 6]. In olden time a hawk's nest was 
 protected by laws enacted in the reigns of King John, Edward III., 
 Henry VIII., and Elizabeth ; and indeed the kestrel and the 
 barn owl are the greatest destroyers of mice, both the ' long- 
 tail'd field mouse ' (Mus sylvaticus) and the common ' meadow 
 mouse ' (Arvicola agrestis)* The Kestrel in this country 
 generally makes use of a crow's nest for breeding purposes ; but 
 Mr. F. Stratton reported to me that on one occasion he dis- 
 covered that it had taken possession of a hen's nest, which was 
 placed in a trough only six feet from the ground, and had 
 deposited five ruddy eggs in this singular nursery. This was in 
 1877, at Gore Cross Farm, in the parish of Market Lavington. 
 
 Like many other species of the true falcons, it prefers adopting 
 the deserted nest of the magpie, or other large bird, to building 
 a nursery for itself. Though some may always be seen, Mr. 
 Waterton (who had a great liking for this hawk, and has defended 
 it most perseveringly in his charming ' Essays on Natural 
 History ') expresses his conviction that by far the greater part 
 migrate in autumn to more southern lands; and in this he is 
 fully supported by Mr. Knox, who has bestowed much attention 
 on the point, and, dwelling on the coast of Sussex, has had 
 admirable opportunities for observing the migration of birds.f 
 
 This closes the list of the true Falcons, which have always been 
 considered as more ' noble ' than the others. We now come to 
 other genera, and we shall see that their habits, as well as their 
 make, differ in many respects from the above. 
 
 9. GOSHAWK (Astur palumbarius). 
 
 I introduce the goshawk as a bird of Wilts on the authority of 
 the Rev. A. P. Morres. who gives good and substantial evidence 
 from the mouth of Captain Dugmore, a gentleman who seems 
 
 * ' Sketches of Bird Life,' p. 9. f Birds of Sussex/ pp. 5264. 
 
Goshawk. 
 
 specially qualified to pronounce an opinion, that while hawking in 
 the meadows near Salisbury, the tame goshawk on his wrist showed 
 by its manner and cry that a wild bird of the same species was at 
 hand; and having his attention thus aroused, he clearly saw a wild 
 Goshawk flying in a straight course high over his head, and he 
 added that he had no doubt as to the bird's identity, since he was 
 so very familiar with it from constantly hawking with the same 
 species. Moreover, I see no reason why the Goshawk should not 
 occasionally visit us, seeing how common it is in Germany, where 
 I have fallen in with it more than once ; and how capable it is of 
 prolonged flight. More satisfactory is my second instance, for my 
 neighbour Major Heneage informs me that a handsome specimen 
 of this species was shot by his eldest son at Compton Bassett in 
 September, 1885. It derives its generic name astur so the 
 B.O.U. Committee informs us from atrfa 'a star/ as if a 'starred 
 or spotted hawk ;' and doubtless the specific name palumbarius 
 is derived from its supposed penchant for doves, and so in Sweden 
 it is called Duf Hok, or ' Dove Hawk ;' and in Italy Sparviere da 
 Columbi ; but in France L'Autour. Professor Newton tells us 
 that ' gos hawk ' means ' goose hawk ;' and that, though equal in 
 size to the largest of them, it is inferior in powers to the falcons, 
 but is the best of the short-winged hawks. The generic name 
 Astur in Spanish and Portuguese became Azor or Agor ; and 
 when the Azores were first visited, this species of hawk was so 
 abundant there that the islands were named after them, and have 
 retained the name to this day. The Goshawk is a heavy bird and 
 flies low, taking its prey, in a great measure, from the ground. 
 It is of sluggish, indolent habits, unlike its near relative the 
 Sparrow Hawk, and will sit for hours on the branch of a tree 
 waiting for its victim. Nevertheless, it is, as Seebohm says, 
 nothing else than a giant Sparrow Hawk. 
 
 10. SPARROW HAWK (Accipiter nisus). 
 
 The short- winged Hawks (of which this is our commonest species) 
 take their prey in a different manner from the long- winged or true 
 Falcons. Instead of rising above it in circles, and then stooping 
 
 6 
 
82 Falconidcv. 
 
 with wonderful velocity and force, they pursue them on the wing, 
 as a greyhound would a hare, gliding after them at great speed 
 for a short distance, even dashing after them through woods and 
 thick plantations. But should they fail to come up with their 
 quarry, they are unable to prolong the chase, and so abandon it 
 and await another chance. Of all the short- winged Hawks, none 
 is more bold, active, and destructive, especially in the breeding 
 season, than the Sparrow Hawk. There are many interesting 
 accounts of its wholesale plunder and insatiability in destroying 
 young birds and game at that time, but the most extraordinary 
 that has come under my notice is that published by Mr. Knox, 
 who counted the following victims laid up in store in their nest 
 for the half-fledged young : ' Fifteen young pheasants, four 
 young partridges, five chickens, a bullfinch, two meadow pipits > 
 and two larks, all in a fresh state.' From such well-known 
 voracity and penchant for game, I can scarcely hope that the 
 Sparrow Hawk will be spared by the gamekeeper, though at the 
 same time he deserves our respect and admiration for his bravery 
 and skill : but at any rate let his sins be visited on his own head, 
 and not on the inoffensive insectivorous Kestrel, which is so often 
 made to suffer for the misdemeanours of another. The Sparrow 
 Hawk prefers birds to quadrupeds, and thus we see it furnished 
 with long and slender legs, and toes (especially the middle one) 
 remarkably elongated, and these are admirably adapted for 
 grasping and penetrating the dense plumage of its victim. The 
 female, flying low, and skimming over the ground with great 
 swiftness, often seizes the partridge and the pigeon, with no 
 gentle stroke, while her diminutive partner is content to pick off 
 the sparrow or the finch from the hedge, or even the rickyard, 
 whither his boldness will lead him undismayed. Sometimes the 
 Sparrow Hawk will condescend to devour insects, and Mitchell, in 
 his admirable account of the ' Birds of Lancashire,' recounts how 
 it has been seen to catch crane-flies with the foot, and transfer 
 them at once to the mouth, after the manner of the Hobby and 
 Kestrel mentioned above. 
 In none of the whole family is the difference in size between 
 
Sparrow Hawk Kite. 83 
 
 the male and female so conspicuous as in this species, and as the 
 difference in colour is also great, no wonder that they should 
 often be mistaken for distinct species. In this country it is 
 sparingly met with throughout, nowhere very numerous, and 
 nowhere entirely wanting, though the more wooded and enclosed 
 parts are its favourite haunts. But it is not by any means so 
 common with us now as it was thirty years ago. The scientific 
 name Accipiter is from wximnjg, ( swiftly flying ;' and Nisus was 
 the mythical king of Megara, said to have been changed into a 
 Sparrow Hawk. In France it is L'Epervier ; in Germany Die 
 Sperber ; in Italy Sparviere da Fringuelli; in Sweden Sparf- 
 Hok; in Spain Oavilan and Cernicalo; and in Portugal Gavido. 
 
 11. THE KITE (Falco milvus). 
 
 Though once the terror of the poultry yard, and the admiration 
 of the naturalist, this graceful bird is now, alas ! almost (I fear I 
 must say quite) extinct in this county, and I much doubt whether 
 many individuals, unless stragglers, are to be found south of the 
 Tweed or east of Wales ; and yet but a very few years since they 
 were not uncommon in our homesteads and woods. The Rev. G. 
 Marsh has seen them at Winterslow, and once possessed a tame 
 bird which was taken young in Clarendon Woods. Mr. Hay ward, 
 when a boy, saw a nest of them at Lavington. The Rev. G. Powell 
 informed me that on Feb. 3, 1864, a fine male bird was killed at 
 Longleat, and that he had seen it in the flesh ; and Rev. A. 
 P. Morres records another shot at Kingston Deverill, and now 
 in the collection of Mr. Rawlence, of Wilton. In the report for 
 1867 of the Marlborough College Natural History Society, it is 
 stated that a pair built for some years at a certain spot on the 
 farther side of Martinsell. Mr. Stratton tells me that two nests 
 have been taken, to his knowledge, by people now living in his 
 neighbourhood, one at Fiddington Down, the other at West 
 Lavington. At Lydiard Millicent, the seat of Lord Bolingbroke, 
 there was a tree, which very probably still exists, called the 
 'Kite-tree,' and here Kites bred from time immemorial, and 
 here they were always to be seen in the spring a few years ago. 
 
 62 
 
84 Falconidce. 
 
 There is also a wood lying between the villages of Erchfont 
 and Potterne still known as ' Kite- wood,' which doubtless was 
 originally so called because it contained a tree on which the 
 Kites annually made their nest, for the bird was common enough 
 sixty years ago, and most old people can recollect something of 
 the ' forky tailed ' Kite or Glead. Personally I have never been 
 so fortunate as to see one wild in England, though I have more 
 than once met with it in Germany ; and possess a magnificent 
 specimen which I brought from Hospenthal, on the St. Gothard 
 Pass, in Switzerland, as long ago as 1839. It was very easy to 
 be distinguished from all others of the Falconidse, by its long and 
 much-forked tail, and by its graceful gliding motion, whence its 
 provincial name ' Glead ' ; and it delighted to soar in circles, and 
 to sail on almost motionless wing. Though it would occasionally 
 seize a chicken or a duckling (as the henwife knew to her cost) 
 rats, mice, leverets and other small quadrupeds composed its 
 principal prey, and when it did take a bird it was generally one 
 of the gallinaceous order, for the mode of seizing its victim, by 
 pouncing upon it on the ground, differed from that of most of 
 the preceding species. But though so elegant and graceful, the 
 Kite was not remarkable for courage ; a hen has been often 
 known to beat off" the intruder from her chickens, and, indeed, it 
 was selected as the quarry at which to fly large falcons in olden 
 times, and from the sport it thus often afforded to royalty, are 
 derived the continental names it still bears, Milvus regalis, 
 Milan royal, in France ; Milano real in Spain. In Germany it 
 is Rother Milan; in Italy Falco con la coda bifurcata; in Portugal 
 Milhafre and Milhano ; and in Sweden Glada. Though small in 
 bulk and light in weight, the Kite is, in reality, a large bird, 
 exceeding two feet in length, and five from tip to tip of the ex- 
 tended wings. 
 
 Howard Saunders, who has had good experience of its breed- 
 ing habits in Southern Spain, says the nest is always fantasti- 
 cally decorated with dirty rags, bones, bits of old shoes, etc., and 
 though now out of date, unhappily, in England, Shakespeare's 
 warning is still of practical value in Spain, ' Where the kite 
 
Common Buzzard. 85 
 
 builds, look to lesser linen ' [' Winter's Tale,' Act iv., Scene 2]. I 
 have the excellent authority of Professor Skeat that ' kite ' signi- 
 fies ' the shooter,' from the Teutonic root skut, ' to shoot/ or ' go 
 quickly.' 
 
 12. COMMON BUZZARD (Buteo vulgaris). 
 
 Known in Sweden as Orm Vrdk, or l Snake Vrak,' I presume from 
 its partiality for reptiles; not uncommon in the wooded districts of 
 Germany, where I have seen it more than once, perched on the 
 lower branch of a tree, this large handsome species, like that last 
 described, is not now the common bird it once was, and which its 
 specific name implies. At one time it abounded in our woodland 
 districts, but now it is rarely to be met with. The Rev. G. Marsh 
 told of one which was brought to him from Dray cot Park, in 1840. 
 Mr. Stratton has occasionally seen the bird as it passed over or 
 rested in his locality, but states that it does not remain there. 
 Mr. Hayward had often observed it on Fiddington Common some 
 years since, but of late years seldom saw it. More recently I have 
 notices of its occurrence in this county from Rev. A. P. Morres, who 
 possesses one killed at Pomeroy, near Bradford, in 1865 ; another 
 from Mr. Rawlence, killed on the property of Lord Bath in Wilt- 
 shire ; another from Mr. Ernest Baker, of Mere, of an immature 
 specimen, supposed by him to be a bird of the year, shot at 
 Maiden Bradley, October 14th, 1876, by one of the Duke of 
 Somerset's keepers, who saw it kill a leveret, and set a trap and 
 caught it almost immediately. The Marlborough College Reports 
 speak of several specimens observed in 1865 of one shot at 
 Overton Dell by Mr. Price's keeper, October 22, 1875, and of 
 another seen at Everley in 1878. Lord Arundell informs me 
 that one was shot at Wardour when the tenants were out pigeon- 
 shooting some time since. Lord Nelson reports that he has a 
 specimen which was killed at Trafalgar. Major Heneage has 
 one shot at Compton Bassett in 1844; Mr. G. Watson Taylor 
 tells me that it visits Erlestoke ; Mr. W. Stancomb, jun., that 
 it is seen on the downs above Baynton ; and finally, Mr. Grant 
 reports specimens which have come to him from Roundway 
 
86 Falconidce. 
 
 Down in 1860 and 1861, from Seend in 1866, from Easterton in 
 1867, and from Hill worth, Devizes, in 1875. 
 
 Like all the other species of this genus, it has a slow flight, an 
 indolent, lazy, heavy aspect, and a timid disposition. It preys 
 upon small birds, quadrupeds, and reptiles, which it will strike 
 upon the ground, but which it does not care to pursue, and often 
 it will stand motionless for hours on the bare limb of some 
 decayed tree, watching the accidental arrival of a victim. Its 
 legs and feet are comparatively short and strong, as we generally 
 find to be the case with those genera or species which prey on 
 quadrupeds in preference to birds. In France it is much sought 
 for during winter for the sake of the flesh, which is esteemed 
 delicious in that country ; and I was much amused at Marseilles 
 on one occasion when, on passing through the market, I was im- 
 portuned by an old lady, who presided over a poultry stall, to 
 purchase a bird of this species, whose plumpness she pointed 
 out, and whose excellence for the table she vehemently asserted. 
 But I was not tempted, for the taste of an Englishman differs in 
 some respects from that of the Gaul. 
 
 The name buteo is interpreted by the B.O.U. Committee to 
 signify 'the crier-out'; and from this is derived the English 
 word ' Buzzard,' and the French buse, which has come to be 
 applied in anything but a complimentary sense to a dolt and 
 a fool I presume on account of the dull, heavy appearance of 
 the bird. Mause Folk (' Mouse Falcon ') is the very appropriate 
 German name, for the mouse forms the chief staple of food to this 
 most harmless, useful species. In Spain it is Pella ; and in 
 Portugal Tartaranhdo. 
 
 13. ROUGH-LEGGED BUZZARD (Buteo lagopus). 
 Though rarer as a species than the last, this has been occasion- 
 ally met with in various parts of the county. In 1854 two were seen 
 in the neighbourhood of Ogbourn, one of which was killed by Mr. 
 Godwin, of Brimslade. The Rev. G. Marsh possessed one which was 
 taken in the parish of Brinkworth, at Somerford Common, in 1839, 
 and reported it as very rare there; indeed, that was the only 
 
Rough-legged Buzzard. 87 
 
 specimen which had come under his notice ; but I have notes of 
 another killed near Wroughton ; one caught at Overton in 1866 ; 
 one, as I learn from Mr. Grant, killed at Erlestoke in January, 
 1882; which measured 4 feet 5 inches in breadth of extended 
 wings, 21 inches in length, and weighed 2| pounds; and several 
 of these ' feather-legged buzzards,' as the keepers aptly described 
 them, were shot at Fon thill some years since. The Rev. A. P. 
 Moires reports that in December, 1876, five of this species were 
 seen in a large wood at Fonthill, four of which were trapped ; 
 and he adds that Mr. Rawlence possesses a specimen in his 
 collection which was killed on the Longleat estate, near 
 Warminster. Mr. Ernest Baker, of Mere, in November, 1876, 
 fell in with it while shooting, and had good opportunities 
 of watching it. though it was too wary to come quite within 
 gunshot. Its heavy flight proclaimed it at once to his practised 
 eye as a Buzzard, and when it afterwards pitched on the downs 
 he was able to examine it at leisure, when its tail, apparently 
 white, and the very light under-parts, caught his attention. It 
 was subsequently seen near the same spot by several persons, 
 one of whom came close upon it while engaged in devouring 
 a rabbit. On January 1st, 1880, one was killed on the estate of 
 Sir T. Fraser Grove, at Feme, near Salisbury, as recorded in the 
 Zoologist for that year, page 143. On January 2nd, 1881, a very- 
 fine specimen was obtained on Gorton Down, close to Boyton, as 
 I was informed by the Rev. G. Powell ; and Mr. Rawlence tells 
 me that in 1882 a pair of these birds hatched out five young 
 ones near Tisbury, all of which he believes were killed, and some 
 of them stuffed and preserved in the neighbourhood; one of 
 which (an adult bird, and a very fine specimen) is in the posses- 
 sion of Mr. J. R. Read, of Berwick Farm. This evidence of the 
 breeding of this species in Wilts is the more valuable, because it 
 is stated by Professor Newton that nearly all the Rough-legged 
 Buzzards which occur in the British Islands are in immature 
 plumage, which in this species, as in so many of the true falcons, 
 differs from that of the adult by the transverse instead of longi- 
 tudinal markings of the lower parts.* 
 
 Fourth edition of Yarrell's ' British Birds/ vol. i., p. 118. 
 
88 Falconidce. 
 
 In habits, food, and mode of obtaining it, this species much 
 resembles the preceding, but may easily be distinguished from 
 its congeners by the feathering of its legs down to the toes, 
 whence its specific names, both English and scientific, lagopus 
 signifying ' footed like a hare.' The French, too, neatly style it 
 Buse ganUe and Buse pattue, and the Germans Rauhfussiger 
 Busard, In Sweden it is Fjosbent Vrdk. In the general soft and 
 downy texture of the feathers of this and the preceding species, 
 as compared with the plumage of the true Falcons, and also in 
 the habit common to both of them of seeking their food late in 
 the evening, may be noticed peculiarities indicating an approach 
 to the Owls. 
 
 14. AFRICAN BUZZARD (Buteo desertorum). 
 
 The announcement given in the Ibis of a specimen of this 
 splendid Buzzard, till then a stranger to Great Britain, having been 
 killed in this county, enables me to add this bird to our Wiltshire 
 list; and I do so with singular satisfaction, as I became very 
 familiar with it in Egypt, and brought home several fine specimens. 
 It is of much larger size and stronger build than either of our home 
 Buzzards, and bolder and more fearless of man, so that it was 
 easy to approach within gunshot, and any number might have 
 been secured. The unique occurrence of this bird in England 
 is recorded in Gould's ' Introduction to the Birds of Great 
 Britain/ and in the Ibis for 1876, page 366, and for 1878, 
 page 118 ; where it is stated that one of this species in immature 
 plumage was killed at Everley, in Wiltshire, in September, 
 1864 ; and this is the first instance recorded of the arrival in the 
 far west of this inhabitant of eastern and southern lands, Africa 
 and India being its true home. 
 
 15. HONEY BUZZARD (Pernis apivorus). 
 
 Very different from all other members of the Falconidae, both in 
 habits and the prey it seeks, is this elegant bird. Though univers- 
 ally styled the ' Honey ' Buzzard, honey forms no portion of its 
 food, and it is not for this that it searches out the nests of bees 
 
Honey Buzzard. 89 
 
 and wasps, scratches away the bank in which they are placed, and 
 tears out the comb. The larvae, or immature young, are the objects 
 of its diligent search, and these it devours with great greediness, 
 picking them out and demolishing them without any regard to the 
 -anger or the stings of their owners. The scientific name it bears 
 declares this habit clearly enough, and it would be well were the 
 English specific name exchanged for the ' Gentle ' Falcon (as has 
 been suggested), the word 'gentle' signifying the nymphse of 
 wasps, bees, etc., as the readers of honest old Isaac Walton well 
 know. The present name of ' Honey ' Buzzard is apt to mislead. 
 In Sweden it is more correctly called Bi Vrdk or ' Bee Vrak.' 
 Montagu observed that it used to frequent a lake daily for the 
 purpose of preying on the large dragon flies (Libellulai), which it 
 seized with its talons, and took them from thence with its beak. 
 But though so partial to young bees and wasps, these do not 
 form the entire food of this large bird ; indeed, it would be diffi- 
 cult to satisfy a voracious appetite with such delicacies. Rats, 
 mice, frogs, and small birds, all go to fill its capacious craw. 
 However, it makes its appearance in this country only in the 
 summer, when its favourite food is to be found, arriving from 
 warmer countries and migrating in large flocks, of which Lord 
 Lilford was once an eye-witness, when he saw several hundreds 
 of this species pressing the Straits of Gibraltar en route from 
 Spain to South Africa, on the return autumnal flight in Sep- 
 tember, 1856.* 
 
 In order to defend its head from the stings of the insects it 
 robs, all the vulnerable parts between the beak and eyes are 
 clothed with close-set, scale-like feathers, and these seem to act 
 as a helmet of mail, proof against the weapons of its innumer- 
 able assailants, whose vengeance its wholesale attacks are sure 
 to excite. In addition to this generic character, wherein it 
 differs from all others of the same family, the tarsi are reticu- 
 lated and the claws only partially curved. These are plain marks 
 of distinction, but in plumage it presents a most extraordinary 
 variety, scarcely two specimens being found to resemble each 
 Ibis for 1865, p. 177. 
 
90 Falconidce. 
 
 other. Mr. Fisher, of Yarmouth, has taken great pains to com- 
 pare different individuals, and to trace the remarkable change 
 of plumage to which this species is liable ; and he shows, with 
 considerable probability of correctness, which the subsequent 
 observations of others have amply corroborated, that the younger 
 the bird the darker its plumage, which every year increases in 
 whiteness from the almost uniform dark clove brown of the 
 immature bird, to the almost perfect whiteness of the adult. 
 When it has the ash gray plumage on the head, it has often 
 been called the ' capped ' Buzzard. It is of a gentle, kind, and 
 amiable disposition, and may easily be domesticated, and soon 
 becomes attached to its owner: Mr. Knox (who had a good 
 opportunity of observing it) says it resembles a gigantic Cuckoo, 
 and has a humble subdued look about it, quite sufficient to dis- 
 tinguish it from the more martial members of the family, and 
 that its gait was different also ; instead of the hop of the 
 Sparrow Hawk or the leap of the Falcon, and the erect attitude 
 of those birds, its mode of progression was a rapid run, after the 
 fashion of a Lapwing, the head being at the time partially de- 
 pressed.* This confirms the statement of Willoughby, which 
 has been copied by Buffon and Veillot, that the Honey Buzzard 
 ' runs very swiftly, like a hen,' as was shown by Mr. Gurney in 
 the Zoologist for 1844, page 492. I have several authentic in- 
 stances, on which I can rely, of the occurrence of this rare bird 
 in Wiltshire; one of these was seen at Roundway Park about 
 A.D. 1847, and was shot by the keeper in the act of destroying a 
 wasps' nest : Mr. Withers, who preserved it, told me that he took 
 about a dozen wasps and larvae from its stomach. Another, a 
 young one, at about the same date, was killed at West Laving- 
 ton, at Mr. Beckett's, and came into the possession of Mr. Hay- 
 ward, at Easterton. Mr. Rawlence has a specimen killed on 
 Lord Bath's property in this county. Another, as Sir T. F. 
 Grove informs me, was trapped by his keeper at Feme some ten 
 years since, and is now in the hall there. Lord Nelson has a 
 specimen which was killed at Trafalgar. Lord Arundell recol- 
 ' Birds of Sussex/ pp. 139-148. 
 
Marsh Harrier. 91 
 
 lects one being shot at Wardour many years ago. Sir H. Meux 
 reports one shot in the West Woods near Marlborough in 1855 ; 
 and Mr. Grant tells me of one shot at Lavington Sands in 
 October, 1882, whose weight was 2 lb., length 21 inches, and 
 breadth of wing 4 feet 1 inch. 
 
 The name Pernis is interpreted to be a corruption of Pternis, 
 from TT-ripva, ' the heel,' and to signify ' long-heeled.' In Germany 
 it is known as Wespen Buzard, ' Wasp-Buzzard/ and in France 
 Buse bondrte. 
 
 16. MARSH HARRIER (Circus ceruginosus). 
 
 The Harriers differ from the Buzzards in their more slender and 
 elegant form, their longer and more naked legs, and especially in 
 the distinct ruff of close -set feathers which surrounds their face ; 
 their flight, though not swift, is light and buoyant, and they are 
 able to continue it for a considerable time. From their habit of 
 sweeping over the surface of the ground, at no great elevation 
 above it, and in this manner hunting for game like dogs, they have 
 derived the generic name ' Harrier.' Professor Skeat, however, 
 says they are so named from ' harrying or destroying small birds ;' 
 and it is certainly true that though their prey consists chiefly of 
 small quadrupeds and reptiles, they will occasionally take birds 
 as well. Yarrell adds that a remarkable trait in the whole genus 
 is, that the males, when adult, are all more or less ash gray in 
 colour, while the females retain their original tints of red or 
 brown. The Marsh Harrier is the largest of our three British 
 species, being about 22 inches in length. Bewick, who places it 
 erroneously among the Buzzards, gives it the provincial name of 
 Harpy, as does Latham ; and Buffon and Temminck designate it 
 la Harpage and Busard Harpaye ; but the definition of Harpie 
 in Boyer's French Dictionary is une femme criarde, 'a noisy 
 clamorous brawler ;' and as the generic name Circus is derived 
 by the B.O.U. Committee from Kp%a>, ' to laugh,' I conclude this 
 species must have enjoyed the reputation, whether deserved or 
 not, of being somewhat vociferous ; and such, I gather from Mr. 
 Seebohm's account of it, it is. 
 
92 Falconidce. 
 
 Formerly it was not by any means uncommon in this county. 
 Indeed, Montagu mentions Wiltshire as one of its haunts in his 
 day ; but now I seldom hear of its appearance within our 
 borders. Nor has the Rev. A. P. Morres ever met with it near 
 Salisbury, but reports three specimens all from Wiltshire in 
 Mr. Rawlence's collection at Wilton, one having been obtained 
 near Salisbury and the other two from Kingston Deverill, near 
 Warminster. In North Wilts a fine example, measuring 3 feet 
 2 inches across the wings, was shot at Easton, October 25th, 
 1876, by Mr. Hunter, and was recorded by Mr. Grant, of Devizes ; 
 as was another, shot on the plain above Netheravon in August, 
 1869 ; one shot by Mr. Sargent, of Enford, in February, 1876 ; 
 and one killed by Mr. Turner, park-keeper at Erlestoke, in 
 August, 1878. 
 
 Its true home lies in the shores and islands of the Mediter- 
 ranean. In the Ionian Islands and in Greece it is most abun- 
 dant, as the snipe-shooter knows to his chagrin, for it constantly 
 spoils his sport by disturbing his game. In Spain it is very 
 common, as also in Malta, where it is known as Bu-ghadam, or 
 the ' Father of Bones/ in allusion to its great osseous develop- 
 ment, a title which it shares with all the other species of this 
 genus known to the Maltese.* But in Egypt it literally swarms ; 
 of all the Harriers which frequent that paradise of rapacious 
 birds, this is certainly the most common, and I shot a fine series, 
 and could have obtained any number of specimens with the 
 greatest ease. In Sweden it is called Rodbrun Kdrr-Hok, or 
 ' Red-brown Marsh Hawk ;' in France, ' Busard de Marais ;' and 
 in truth it loves marshy districts and moors, from which it de- 
 rives the English specific name ' Marsh ' Harrier, and the pro- 
 vincial one of ' Moor ' Buzzard, and here in a tuft of grass or 
 rushes it makes its nest. So in Germany it is Brandweihe and 
 Wasserweihe ; but in Italy Falco albanella con il collare ; and 
 in Spain Milano and Arpella. In the fenny districts of England 
 and Wales it was formerly very abundant, but now, even in its 
 favourite haunts, it is becoming scarcer every day, and will 
 Ibis for 1864, p. 46. 
 
Hen Harrier. 93 
 
 doubtless soon be exterminated, owing to the draining and 
 reclaiming of waste lands, which, however profitable to the 
 agriculturist, is annually destroying many of our most interest- 
 ing birds. 
 
 17. HEN HARRIER (Circus cyaneus). 
 
 Far more common than the last, at any rate in this part of 
 England, is the Hen Harrier or Ringtail ; for Montagu in this 
 country, and Temminck on the Continent, have both clearly 
 proved, what is now universally acknowledged by ornitho- 
 logists, that these two titles apply to the same bird, though 
 to the two sexes, which when adult differ very widely both in 
 size and colour. The male, to which alone the title of Hen 
 Harrier was originally given, was so named from its supposed 
 liking for fowls ; it was also called the ' Blue Hawk ' and ' Dove 
 Hawk/ from its pearl-gray colour; whence also the scientific 
 name cyaneus, from /cvavtos, 'blue.' The female bore the 
 title of Ringtail, from the bars of dark and light brown so 
 conspicuous in her tail. Nilsson, the Swedish naturalist, de- 
 clared that at a distance the old male might readily be taken for 
 the Common Gull, " for both its flight, size, and colour are pretty 
 similar.' It is known in that country by the somewhat clumsy 
 name of Kdrr Hok med Halskrage, or 'Marsh Hawk with a 
 Ruff;' in Italy as Falco con il collare, and in France as Faucon 
 a collier, all of which are descriptive enough of the circular disk 
 or collar which encircles the face of the female. But it is also, 
 and more commonly, known in France as L'oiseau Saint Martin, 
 though for what reason I cannot discover. Sometimes it has 
 been designated as La Soubuse, or ' lesser Buzzard,' and some- 
 times as Le Busard grenouillard and Falco ranivorus, from its 
 partiality^for frogs. Either this, or Falco montanus, as some 
 old authors called it, and the ' Mountain Harrier,' as Seebohm 
 suggests, would be appropriate names, for the title it now bears 
 (' Hen Harrier,') is generally quite misunderstood. In Germany 
 it is Halbweihe, or ' Half-Kite ; and in Malta Bu-ghadam abiad, 
 ' the White Father of Bones,' for the reason given above in speak- 
 
94 Falconidce. 
 
 ing of the Marsh Harrier. In habits and haunts this species 
 very much resembles the last, but it oftener leaves the marshes 
 and fens in which it delights for commons and moors, and 
 breeds in the thick furze covers on the open wastes. It is said 
 to be a great destroyer of game, and to beat its hunting-grounds 
 with regularity and at stated intervals, crossing them in various 
 directions, day after day, and at the same hour of the day. It 
 is still to be met with in Wilts, though, like its congener, yearly 
 becoming scarcer. The Rev. G. Marsh had a pair in his 
 collection which were killed in Clarendon Park in 1823, and 
 stated that though not uncommon near Salisbury, he never saw 
 them in the neighbourhood of Chippenham. Mr. Stratton often 
 saw them on the downs above Lavington, and thought it pro- 
 bable they bred every year- in the gorse near him, but as the 
 gorse was being taken up, the bird would probably soon be 
 driven away. On the same downs Mr. B. Hayward has in years 
 gone by shot three specimens in one day, at a clump of trees 
 called Ashington Pennings, and another was killed at Market 
 Lavington by Mr. Stagg. Mr. Rawlence has specimens in his 
 collection killed in this county on the property of Lord Bath. 
 Of later years the Rev. A. P. Morres has met with both male and 
 female in his own parish of Britford, and has often observed 
 them on the downs near him, as well as in the neighbourhood of 
 Stonehenge; and has heard of others as seen near Cranbourn 
 Chace. Also a fine specimen, which proved to have been shot, 
 was picked up dead on some fallows near Salisbury. In North 
 Wilts it has, though rarely, been noticed on Roundway Down ; 
 and one was shot at Beckhampton by Mr. Went worth about the 
 year 1871. The Marlborough College Natural History Society's 
 Reports mention one shot in Savernake Forest in 1862, and six 
 said to have been seen together at Clench Common in 1864, one 
 of which was procured. Lord Nelson has a specimen which was 
 killed at Trafalgar. Mr. W. Wyndham shot one at Langford in 
 October, 1857, and Mr. Grant's list comprises in 1862 one from 
 Bratton ; in 1865 specimens from Netheravon, Amesbury, and 
 Figheldean ; in 1872 one from Bullford ; and in 1882 one from 
 
Montagu's Harrier. 95 
 
 Everley which measured 19 inches in length and 3 feet 6 inches 
 in breadth across the extended wings. 
 
 18. MONTAGU'S HARRIER (Circus Montagui). 
 So called from the worthy ornithologist whose residence in this 
 county we are proud to boast; who did so much for natural history, 
 and who devoted so much attention to the genus we are now con- 
 sidering. In gratitude for his indefatigable researches, and in 
 compliment to his acute discrimination, which unravelled the con- 
 fusion prevailing among the Harriers, and ranged them under three 
 species, which the diligent investigation of half a century has since 
 proved to be correct, the Ash- coloured Harrier (as he himself 
 named this species, which he first discovered to be distinct from 
 the two others) has been named by all the continental authors 
 4 Circus Montagui ' and ' Le Busard de Montagu,' and by our 
 own 'Montagu's Harrier.' It may be distinguished from its 
 congener, the Hen Harrier, with which it had hitherto been 
 confused, and to which it bears a great resemblance, by its com- 
 parative lightness, though at the same time greater dimensions, 
 both in length and stretch of wing ; by its more distinct ruff of 
 feathers encircling the head, and by its greater elegance and 
 slimness of form. It is also known to the scientific world as 
 C. cineraceus, or ' Ash- coloured Falcon,' being in fact the name 
 which was given it by its discoverer, and in Spain is known as 
 cenigo, meaning ' of the colour of ashes.' In Sweden it is Mindre 
 Karr Hok, or 'Lesser Marsh Hawk.' In all other respects, as 
 regards its habits, haunts, food, etc., it is quite similar to the 
 last-named species; but of late years it has been proved by 
 several naturalists that it occasionally varies its diet with the 
 eggs of small birds, those of the thrush, skylark, and willow 
 wren having been discovered in its stomach. Several instances 
 have reached me of its recent capture in this county ; one (now 
 in the late Mr. Marsh's collection) was killed by Mr. Wightwick's 
 keeper in 1841, at Somerford Common, described as a very 
 wooded district ; another was caught in a gin at Wans, about 
 1855, and (in confirmation of what I have stated above respecting 
 
96 Falconidce. 
 
 its occasional food) I learn from Mr. C. Wyndham that it was. 
 attracted to the trap by an egg set there for a magpie. Another 
 is reported by the Kev. A. P. Morres as a fine female killed in 
 1873, close to Salisbury, by the head keeper of Clarendon ; and 
 the same gentleman calls attention to the greater prevalence of 
 this species, in comparison with its congeners, in the localities 
 which suit it best viz. the wide tracts of open, broken ground, 
 covered with heath and gorse, intermingled with marsh, which 
 may be met with in the New Forest. The Rev. G. Powell 
 announced one shot by Mr. G. Lopes' keeper at Greenhill in 
 1885. Mr. G. Watson Taylor tells me it has visited Erlestoke ; 
 and Mr. Tyndall Powell writes me word that a pair of old 
 and two young birds, now preserved at Hurdcott, and other 
 young birds preserved at Sutton Veny, were taken from his 
 rabbit warren above Fifield Bavant, and that they had their 
 nest in the gorse where they were shot and trapped. He 
 also adds that he occasionally sees hawks there which he 
 cannot absolutely recognise, but which he believes to be birds 
 of this species. In proof of its abundance in districts con- 
 genial to its habits, I will quote Professor Newton, who states, 
 on the authority of M. Barbier Montault, as given in the Revise 
 Zoologique for 1838, that in the department of the Vienne, near 
 Loudun, he has seen it, at the close of the breeding season, not 
 merely by hundreds, but by thousands, the birds collecting 
 towards evening to roost in company; and it may be observed 
 of this species as of the preceding, that it seldom, if ever, perches, 
 but passes the night on the ground among rough herbage or 
 heather. In Mr. Rawlence's excellent collection at Bullbridge 
 House is an interesting case of these birds, comprising a pair of 
 adults and three young, not a week old, two of which are white 
 and the third blue all procured within the county on property 
 belonging to Lord Bath. 
 
 I will now bring this long chapter on the Falcons to a close 
 with one more extract from the register of Mr. Hayward, who 
 has discovered the following interesting facts from personal 
 observation : ' Hawks do not moult their wing and tail feathers 
 
 
Montagu's Harrier. 97 
 
 as do other birds and this is a wise provision of Nature 
 otherwise, during the season of moulting, they must starve ; but 
 now they moult but one feather on each wing at a time, and 
 when a feather drops from one wing, the corresponding feather 
 on the other wing drops out within seven hours. This is, 
 without doubt, for the sake of equilibrium; then, as the new 
 feathers come up and are grown, another pair in like manner 
 falls out, and so with the tail/ Mr. Hayward also observes that 
 ' hawks, in fighting, would score one another's backs with their 
 talons at a swoop, to avoid which catastrophe the one attacked 
 invariably turns over and presents her feet to the assailant/ 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 STRIGID.E THE OWLS. 
 
 IF the Eagle enjoyed distinction as the favourite of Jove, and 
 its plume was sought for by the North American Indian, and 
 by the Highland chief in Scotland, as a mark of nobility ; or if 
 the Hawk was held sacred by the Turks and Egyptians, and 
 had respect shown to it alive or dead, and is still found em- 
 balmed in the mummy pits on the borders of the Nile ; not a 
 whit behindhand is the Owl in honour, consecrated by the most 
 learned nation of old to their tutelary Deity, the Goddess of 
 Wisdom. And, indeed, there is a great deal in the appearance, 
 character, and habits of this bird to warrant such a distinction : 
 there is such a remarkably wise expression in its face, it has 
 such a dignified look, its movements are so deliberate, grave and 
 solemn, that we are ready to agree with the Athenians, and to 
 set down the Owl as the very emblem and personification of 
 learning. And yet again, when we examine the bird, and observe 
 the large facial disk, or ruff of feathers encircling the face, 
 giving it the most grotesque appearance; while peeping forth 
 from this circular fringe and almost buried in it, projects the 
 short strong hooked beak: when we observe the large staring 
 eyes, glaring forth so solemnly from their ruff, and the head so 
 large and apparently so out of proportion, the figure before us 
 is at once so grave and so ludicrous, so dignified and so grotesque, 
 that we are in doubt whether to put it down as a very wise or 
 a very foolish bird. But apart from its appearance, very interest- 
 ing is the whole family of owls, and well worthy of observation: 
 plunderers though they are, and living by what they can murder, 
 
The Owls. 99 
 
 and that, too, not openly and by day, as the Falconidse, but 
 skulking along on noiseless wing in the silence and darkness 
 of night ; they are clever fellows, too : aye, and noble withal, and 
 much to be respected ; then how sagacious they are, and how 
 much they know : to be sure, if you look at one in broad day- 
 light, when the sun dazzles and confounds him, he cuts but a 
 sorry figure ; but so would a man, were his powers of vision so 
 keen and so sensitive. But observe him when the shades of 
 evening have fallen on the earth, how cunning, how thoughtful, 
 how active he seems now, yet not restless or hurried in his 
 movements, but deliberate and calm. All day long he will sit 
 in his snug dark retreat, dozing away the hours of dazzling sun- 
 shine, to him so insupportable, snoring and dreaming as owls 
 only can do ; but no sooner has the sun gone down and twilight 
 begun, than out comes the owl from its lurking-place ; gliding 
 along in silence ; hunting over the fields ; dropping on a mouse, 
 which any vision less keen would fail to discover ; bearing it off 
 to its nest ; and returning again to its hunting-ground ; and thus 
 ridding mankind of a vast number of this most destructive of 
 little four-footed vermin. Now, to enable the owls to effect this 
 in the twilight, and even the dusk of night, they are furnished 
 with several attributes peculiarly adapted to their requirements : 
 thus their powers of sight and hearing are remarkably acute, 
 as I have before observed ; and in addition to this, their plumage 
 is so soft and downy, and their wing feathers in particular so 
 pliant, that in striking the air they offer the least possible oppo- 
 sition, and move along noiselessly, with a slow, gentle and uniform 
 motion ; in which respect they differ widely from the flight of 
 other birds, the flapping of whose wings may be heard often at a 
 considerable distance. 
 
 But though of such signal service to mankind, and though 
 enjoying such a reputation for wisdom, the poor owl is not looked 
 upon with a friendly eye ; on the contrary, it is now, and always 
 has been, regarded with superstitious feelings by the inhabitants 
 of this as well as other countries : without doubt its habits of 
 seclusion by day, its spectre-like and noiseless movements by 
 
 72 
 
100 Strigidce. 
 
 night, and its solemn appearance are the principal cause of this 
 popular error: then its frequent lurking-place, the church-tower; 
 its haunts, the churchyard and the neighbouring meadows : its 
 ghostly and silent Sittings ; its wild, unearthly and dismal shriek, 
 coming suddenly on the belated peasant, combine to startle and 
 terrify him into the belief that something ominous has occurred, 
 and lead him to think that the owl bodes no good, and knows 
 more than he ought, and portends calamity: and this idea is 
 greatly strengthened by the strange pleasure which the bird 
 seems to evince in singling out and hooting at the window of the 
 sleepless and fever-racked invalid, a greeting ever dreaded as 
 the unfailing forerunner of death, but which was only a scream 
 of surprise, with which the bird testified its perception of the 
 light burning in the sick man's room, and to which it was 
 attracted from its hunting-fields. Thus the ignorance of man 
 has from time immemorial attributed evil to the owls, and caused 
 them to be regarded with suspicion and superstitious horror, and 
 consequently to be persecuted in every way ; and were it not for 
 their habit of keeping close to their hiding-places during the day, 
 and only emerging with the declining light, they would probably 
 soon be exterminated from our island, without any regard to their 
 real harmlessness and the immense benefit they confer on man. 
 
 It is very rarely indeed that an owl is seen abroad when the 
 sun is shining, but should one from any cause be driven or 
 tempted from its retreat during the day, it is attacked on all 
 sides, mobbed, persecuted, and pursued by a host of small birds, 
 screaming and chattering and scolding, who, knowing its help- 
 lessness at such a time, and seizing the opportunity, rejoice to 
 take the common enemy at a disadvantage, and worry him with 
 great gusto. 
 
 Like their diurnal brethren of prey, owls reproduce the in- 
 digestible parts of the animals they have swallowed, as fur, 
 feathers, bones, etc., in large pellets or castings, many bushels of 
 which may be seen at the foot of the hollow tree, or the bottom 
 of the ruined ivy-covered tower, which they have selected for 
 their abode. Like the hawks, too, they live in pairs ; but rarely 
 
The Owls. 101 
 
 drink ; carry off their prey in their feet, for which their sharp 
 claws are well fitted, and, like the buzzards and harriers, beat 
 their hunting-grounds in regular order, near the surface of the 
 earth. Indeed, if we look back to the family of falcons, we shall 
 see in many respects a gradual approach to the owls in the 
 genera last described, these marks of similarity becoming more 
 and more apparent as we advance. Thus the Buzzards, though 
 essentially belonging to the Falconidse, possess a heavy form, an 
 indolent appearance, plumage soft in texture, downy and loose, 
 flight easy and buoyant, but not swift, and (as the American 
 Naturalist Wilson says) , ' they are often seen coursing over the 
 surface of the meadows long after sunset, many times in pairs ;" 
 in all these points they betoken a decided approach to the owls, 
 which, however, becomes yet more marked in the intervening 
 family of Harriers, for in addition to all the above-named points 
 of resemblance in flight, plumage, and appearance, these birds 
 possess the form of beak, and the peculiar and distinct disk of 
 close-set feathers, surrounding the face, for which the owls are so 
 noted add to this, that the skeletons of the harriers and the 
 owls show a close affinity, as do their eggs ; and in both the large 
 aperture of the ear is conspicuous. Thus the two families of 
 diurnal and nocturnal birds of prey, the falcons and the owls, 
 approach one another by gradual and almost insensible steps, so 
 smoothly, evenly, and easily does nature pass from one link to 
 another in her great chain, so gentle are the transitions from one 
 genus to another. 
 
 The family of owls may be divided into two groups, those 
 which possess horns, and those which have smooth heads : these 
 horns or ears are simply two tufts of feathers on the head, vary- 
 ing in length according to the species, and which can be raised 
 or depressed at the pleasure of the bird, according as it is 
 actuated by sudden fear, rage, or excitement of any kind, or is 
 slumbering in repose. There are seven species which I am able 
 to enumerate as belonging to this county, the first two and the 
 last of which are very rare, and only occasional stragglers, the 
 remaining four being sufficiently common. Of the seven species 
 
102 Strigidce. 
 
 which we possess, four are with, the remaining three without, 
 the above mentioned horns or tufts. 
 
 19. EAGLE OWL (Bubo maximus). 
 
 Hibou Grand Due of the French; Grosse Ohreule huhu of 
 the Germans ; Bufo, and Corujdo of the Portuguese ; Buho 
 Grande of the Spaniards ; in Orkney known as the ' Stock 
 Owl/ or Katogle a name, doubtless, derived from the Nor- 
 wegian Kat-ugla; in Sweden Berg Uf, or 'Mountain Owl/ 
 I learn from the list of the British Ornithological Union Com- 
 mittee that Bubo is derived from ucu, ' to hoot/ and that from 
 the root oj$, 'a cry;' and that from thence came Byzantium, 
 ' the place of owls/ I also learn from Professor Skeat that owl, 
 ule y eule, ugle, ulula, and the equivalents to these in most 
 European languages come from ul, ' to hoot ' or ' screech ;' while 
 with a prefixed h added for emphasis we get ' to howl/ I admit 
 this fine species to our Wiltshire list on the authority of the Rev. 
 A. P. Morres, who instances an authentically recorded and un- 
 disputed capture of a fine specimen at Handley Common, on the 
 borders of the county. This bird was taken alive, and kept for 
 some seven or eight years by Mr. Thomas King, of Alvediston, in 
 this county, and about the year 1853 or 1854 passed into the 
 possession of Mr. Hayter, of Woodyates. Whether it had escaped 
 from confinement, or whether it was a genuinely wild visitor to 
 our county, there is no evidence to show ; but I am glad to 
 admit it among the birds of Wilts, because of the admiration 
 with which I regard this, the largest of the European owls, and 
 because of its grand and majestic demeanour. It is, indeed, the 
 king of owls, as all who have seen it alive in a wild state will 
 testify ; and as it steals along in buoyant and noiseless flight, so 
 big and yet so silent, it alarms the belated countryman as some- 
 thing uncanny and foreboding no good. The first specimen I 
 ever saw was in the hands of a peasant who had just shot it, and 
 from whom I purchased it some forty-five years ago, in the 
 wildest and most terrific of passes, at the entrance of the Via 
 Mala, in the Canton Orisons, in Switzerland. The bird was yet 
 
Scops Owl 103 
 
 warm when I received it, and I spent the whole night in pre- 
 paring the skin with fingers then unpractised, having, with no 
 little difficulty and at the expense of much time, prevailed on an 
 apothecary to sell me some poison for the purpose, but that not 
 without the written authority of some medical official, whose 
 scruples were not readily overcome. This bird had just swallowed 
 a large rat whole, the tail of which yet remained in its gullet ; 
 and, doubtless, so heavy a repast would increase its natural 
 sluggishness and indisposition to rise ignavus, ' or idle/ being 
 one of the specific names by which it is known to science and 
 made it an easier prey to the peasant who shot it. The last time 
 I was in its company, though personally I did not see it, was in 
 scenery of a very opposite kind, on the smiling and sunny 
 Riviera, at Bordighera, in North Italy. We had ascended to the 
 old ruined castle which is perched above the town, and the 
 foremost of our party, who were some few steps in advance, 
 flushed this monarch of owls from the ivy-covered wall, and 
 were not a little startled at the sudden outburst of such a 
 monster. 
 
 20. SCOPS OWL (Scops giu). 
 
 Very rarely indeed does this beautiful little bird make its 
 appearance in England, and then only in the summer is a 
 straggler occasionally seen, which has left the warmth of 
 Italy and the shores of the Mediterranean for our colder 
 climate. Its favourite haunts seem to be the hot countries 
 near the equator, but every summer it is extremely common 
 throughout Italy, and I found no difficulty in procuring a 
 specimen at Genoa. It is a late-flying species, seldom leaving 
 its retreat till after the sun has gone down below the horizon. 
 It derives its scientific name giu from the Italian in that form, 
 sometimes spelt chiu, and pronounced as the English letter Q, 
 which very accurately expresses its note; and it repeats this 
 plaintive melancholy cry, ' kew ! kew !' or ' keeyou !' ' keeyou !' as 
 Lord Lilford heard it in Spain, at intervals of about two seconds 
 throughout the entire night, which becomes very monotonous 
 
104 Strigidce. 
 
 and tiresome to the listener. The colour of its plumage is 
 difficult to describe, each feather being mottled, speckled, barred, 
 and spotted, and pencilled with every shade of dark and pale 
 brown and gray ; and a remarkably pretty bird it is, and very 
 diminutive, its total length being little more than seven inches. 
 The head is furnished with two little tufts or ears, each tuft 
 containing about seven feathers. Its principal food consists of 
 insects of various kinds, but it will also occasionally prey on 
 mice and other small animals. In Malta, where it abounds 
 during the seasons of its migrations in February and September, 
 it is sold in great numbers in the market, and is considered by 
 the natives as excellent for the table.* The British Ornitho- 
 logical Committee doubt whether to derive the name Scops 
 from <r?coTgw, ' I look carefully,' which refers well enough to its 
 habit of staring; or from <rxwffrw, 'I mock/ in allusion to its 
 perpetual cry repeated all night long, to the dismay of the weary 
 listener. Thirty years ago I had but one instance to record of 
 its occurrence in Wiltshire, and that alas ! is now destroyed, 
 having been pulled to pieces by the grandchildren of its owner 
 it was killed nearly fifty years since in the south of the county, as 
 I learnt from the Rev. G. Marsh. Now, however, I have two more 
 instances, as recorded by Mr. Rawlence : one in that gentleman's 
 own collection, which was killed near Kingston Deverell ; and 
 the other shot by Mr. E. Rawlence in the spring of 1873, in 
 Wilton Park, and presented by him to the Earl of Pembroke. 
 It had attracted attention some time previously by its peculiar 
 and reiterated cry. It seems to have been almost frequently 
 met with of late in the New Forest, but it is not at home in 
 this country, and must feel sadly home-sick when it chances to 
 encounter the cold and wet and fogs of 'merrie England.' I 
 may add, that several other instances of its occurrence in various 
 parts of the county have reached me, but on examination the 
 species proves in all these cases to have been mistaken. In 
 France it is known as Hibou Scops, or, Petit Due ; in Germany, 
 as Kleine Ohreule; in Italy, as Asiolo ; in Spain, as Corneta 
 Ibis for 1864, p. 49. 
 
Long-Eared Owl. 105 
 
 and Cu-cu ; in Portugal, as Mocho pequeno, ' the little horned 
 
 one. 
 
 21. LONG-EARED OWL (Otus vulgaris). 
 
 Conspicuous amongst its congeners from its long tufts or 
 horns, which measure nearly an inch and a half in length, and 
 from which it derives its genuine name otus, ' eared,' known in 
 Sweden as Skogs Uf, or ' Forest Owl,' and elsewhere in Scan- 
 dinavia where it is very common as Horn Uggla or ' Horned 
 Owl.' In France, Hibou Moyen Due ; in Germany, Mittler 
 Ohreule; in Italy, Gufo Minore ; in Spain, Carabo ; and 
 in Portugal, Mocho. This handsome species stands forth as 
 a very ,type of the family of owls, so complete is the ruff 
 of feathers surrounding the face, so large the orifice of the 
 ear, so buoyant its flight, so thoroughly nocturnal its habits. 
 As in the species last described, nothing can exceed the 
 beautiful pencilled markings of its plumage, the darker shades 
 of brown contrasting with the more delicate tints of the 
 same colour, and the whole blending together and harmonizing 
 with indescribable beauty. It frequents thick plantations during 
 the day, and breeds very early in the spring, in our large woods, 
 preferring the deserted nest of another bird to the trouble of 
 building for itself. The young, if disturbed, are said to throw 
 themselves on their backs, to hiss violently, to snap quickly with 
 their hooked beaks, strike furiously with their sharp claws, and 
 puff out their down like a turkey-cock. Mice and moles con- 
 stitute their favourite food, but in addition to this, Montagu says 
 that they will take small birds off their roost. The Long-eared 
 Owl is indigenous to Wilts, and though but sparingly distributed 
 throughout the county, breeds here annually. The Rev. G. Marsh 
 possessed one killed at Gritnam Wood, near him, in 1840, and 
 had seen it in the neighbourhood of Salisbury. Mr. Hayward 
 and Mr. Stratton have seen it at Lavington, and Mr. Elgar Sloper, 
 of Devizes, kept one alive, which was taken from the nest at 
 Aldbourne in 1853, where there had also been a nest of these 
 birds the previous year. Mr. T. Kemm, of the Manor House 
 
106 Strigidce. 
 
 Avebury, reports a nest with three young birds found by his son 
 on April 10th, in a plantation on Windmill Hill, very close to 
 the borders of my parish. Mr. Grant reports a nest taken at 
 Figheldean, May 2nd, 1862, and I understand that it breeds 
 annually near Marlborough. The Rev. A. P. Morres described it 
 as common near Salisbury, more especially at Longford Park, no 
 less than eleven having, on one occasion, been found congregated 
 in a copse of yew trees, on the property of the Earl of Radnor, 
 during some hard weather in winter. In like manner Mr. Powell, 
 of Hurdcott, informed me that on November 29th, 1879, while 
 shooting at Grovely, the sportsmen disturbed a flight of Long- 
 eared Owls estimated at no less than twenty birds which 
 seemed to fly out of every tree. The frost was very severe at the 
 time, the thermometer marking no less than 16 of cold. Lastly 
 I have a specimen in my collection, which I picked up dead 
 beneath a larch tree in my garden, which was in beautiful 
 plumage, and bore no external marks of injury, but was so 
 emaciated that it appeared to have been starved to death. I 
 have other instances of the occurrence of this owl at Erchfont, 
 Hilmarton, Erlestoke, Everley, S to well, Chitterne, Wilsford, and 
 other places. 
 
 22. SHORT-EARED OWL (Otus brachyotos). 
 
 So far as my experience goes, quite as numerous as the 
 ' Long-eared/ and well known to most sportsmen is this species, 
 which arrives here in October, and leaves us again in spring. 
 Unlike its congener, this owl never enters woods and planta- 
 tions, and is generally said never to perch on a tree; while 
 it is certain that it prefers the open common, the turnip 
 field, the marsh, and the moor, amongst the long coarse 
 grass of which it makes its nest. Mr. Harting, however, 
 doubts whether it always keeps to the ground, and thinks 
 it not improbable that it roosts in trees at night ; and I may 
 say, in corroboration of this view, that in Egypt I once 
 picked up beneath a palm tree, from which it had evidently 
 fallen, the dead body of a Short-eared Owl in perfect plumage, 
 
Short-eared Owl. 107 
 
 though but a bag of bones with no flesh on them, so emaciated 
 and starved it seemed. This is a remarkable parallel to a like 
 case of the Long-eared Owl mentioned above. It will hunt 
 readily by day, and this habit, together with the smallness of its 
 head, and its general appearance, have procured it the provincial 
 name of the ' Hawk ' Owl ; it is also called the ' Woodcock' Owl, 
 from its arrival and departure occurring simultaneously with that 
 bird. It preys chiefly on mice, and has been known to congregate 
 in considerable numbers, when an unusual abundance of that 
 destructive little quadruped has threatened to ravage a district. 
 In like manner it will collect in flocks and follow on the vast 
 armies of lemmings (which at times move in incredible numbers 
 in some districts of Norway, where I once fell in with them on 
 their migration), and prey upon those destructive little quad- 
 rupeds; though from their astonishing numbers, with which the 
 whole mountain side is alive the havoc the owls make in their 
 ranks must be almost inappreciable. It is a bold, pugnacious 
 bird, and, when wounded, will spring at its assailant with great 
 fierceness, leaving unmistakable evidence of the sharpness of 
 its bill and claws. Its horns consist of but four feathers in each, 
 so very little longer than the rest of the plumage on the head, 
 that after death they are difficult to discover. I believe that it 
 is when in repose, and while undisturbed, that this bird erects 
 its tufts, and when startled or in fear depresses them ; but there 
 are conflicting opinions on the point. This species occurs 
 frequently throughout the county, and is so often roused by 
 partridge shooters in turnips, and from the long grass by the 
 side of ditches, that it is needless to particularize localities of 
 its capture. In France it is Hibou brachyote, Chouette, and 
 Grand Cheveche ; in Germany, Kurzohrige Ohreule ; in Sweden, 
 Kort-orad Uf; and in Spain, Carabo. 
 
 23. BARN OWL (Strix flammea). 
 
 We now come to the smooth-headed or hornless owls, un- 
 adorned with the feathery tufts which we have noticed as 
 belonging to the foregoing species : first of these, and not 
 
108 Strigidw. 
 
 long since the most common of British owls, is the species 
 now under consideration, the ' Barn ' or ' White ' owl, which 
 rejoices in a great many provincial names, as the 'Church' 
 Owl, the 'Hissing' Owl, the 'Screech' Owl, etc. In Sweden, 
 where it is very rare, it is called Torn Uggla, or 'Tower 
 Owl;' and in Madagascar it is regarded as a bird of evil 
 omen and malign influence, and is known to the natives as 
 Vorondolo, or 'Ghost bird.'* At the Cape of Good Hope, where 
 it is common, it is called by the natives Doodvogel, ' the Bird of 
 Death,' and it is dreaded and hated by them accordingly. In 
 France, too, it is known as Chouette Effraye, or the * Alarming or 
 Terrifying Owl.' In Germany it is Kleinerkauz and Scfdeier- 
 kauz, 'Veil Owl;' in Spain, Lechuza,', in Portugal, Coruja das 
 Torres; in Italy, Alloco Comune 4 bianco. The generic name, 
 Strix is derived by the B.O.U. Committee from the word 
 ?', ' to cry out sharply or shrilly ;' the Latin, strideo, too, 
 meaning 'to make a harsh sound,' is similarly derived. The 
 specific name, flammea, alludes to the flame colour of the 
 upper plumage; for though called white, and having a 
 white appearance generally, as it is seen emerging from the 
 church tower or barn, in either of which it loves to dwell, and 
 hunting over the meadows on noiseless wing, yet when seen 
 nearer, its plumage will be found to be more beautifully marked 
 and more delicately pencilled than that of almost any other 
 bird : the under parts are pure white, here and there slightly 
 speckled with faint yellow ; but the upper plumage, which is of 
 a remarkable softness in texture, is of a dark buff or light yellow 
 colour, the tips of the feathers, speckled and spotted with black, 
 presenting a very pleasing appearance. The ruff in this species 
 is very distinct, the mouth and gullet very wide, the ears ex- 
 tremely large, the wings very long and broad, and the flight very 
 buoyant. It feeds principally on mice, of which it destroys an 
 extraordinary quantity, and which it seizes and swallows at once, 
 without any attempt to tear them in pieces with its claws ; and 
 
 * See Ibis for 1862, p. 269, for an admirable paper on ' Birds observed in 
 Madagascar/ by my friend, Mr. Edward Newton. 
 
Barn Owl. 109 
 
 it is quite guiltless of touching poultry or pigeons, notwithstand- 
 ing the prevailing opinion to the contrary, and the deeply rooted 
 prejudice to the much maligned bird in consequence. It is, 
 probably, still to be found in every village in the county, though 
 its nocturnal habits conduce to screen it from the vulgar gaze : 
 during the day it reposes with closed eyes in the retreat it has 
 selected, but as twilight comes on it issues forth in silence, 
 making no perceptible noise as it strikes the air with its woolly 
 wings, but ever and anon screeching out its note of joy and wild 
 and startling notes, as it has done since the days of Ovid : 
 
 ' Est illis strigibus nomen, sed nominis hujus 
 Causa quod horrendi stridere nocte solent.' 
 
 That they screech and scream horribly there can be no question. 
 Gilbert White thought that they did not hoot at all ; but further 
 observations have determined that occasionally, though rarely, 
 they do indulge in a howl which would not disgrace the Tawny 
 Owl.* The hard breathing or snoring generally attributed to 
 them seems to belong to the young birds alone, which give 
 audible tokens of their somnolency as you approach their 
 nursery. There is one remarkable habit in the nesting of this 
 species related by Yarrell, Hewitson, and others, and of which 
 the Rev. G. Marsh was on one occasion an eye-witness ; viz., that it 
 does not lay its full complement of eggs (usually four) in regular 
 daily succession, but that, after hatching two eggs, it will lay 
 two more, the latter being hatched in.due course by the warmth 
 of their elder brethren ; while a third laying often ensues, which 
 becomes hatched as the preceding, the same nest thus contain- 
 ing at one time young birds in three separate stages of advance 
 towards maturity ; an admirable provision of nature, as Hewitson 
 remarks, whereby the old birds are enabled the more readily to 
 supply the demands of their voracious progeny. 
 
 If Ulysses and ^Eneas are to be accounted especially fortunate 
 in having their wanderings described by such able pens as those 
 of Homer and Virgil, we may in like manner congratulate the 
 ' Barn ' Owl on having secured for itself the very able champion- 
 s' Harting's edition of White's * Selborne,' and his ' Birds of Middlesex.' 
 
110 Strigidcv. 
 
 ship of Mr. Waterton, who has laboured most assiduously, and 
 with the power which he could so well wield, to defend this 
 much injured, harmless benefactor of mankind from the per- 
 secutions to which it is exposed at the hands of the wanton, 
 the thoughtless, and the ignorant. Mr. Waterton likewise in- 
 duced this species to take up its abode in a place he had 
 especially provided for its accommodation in a ruined ivy-covered 
 retreat at Walton Hall, and here he delighted to watch its move- 
 ments ; and he declared that he was amply repaid for the pains 
 he had taken to protect and encourage it by the enormous 
 quantity of mice which it destroyed. From him we learn that, 
 when it has young, it will bring a mouse to the nest every twelve 
 or fifteen minutes, and that above a bushel of pellets or cast- 
 ings was cleared out of its retreat within sixteen months of its 
 occupation of it, each pellet containing the skeletons of from 
 four to seven mice ; he also discovered, by constant and close 
 attention to its habits, that it will occasionally catch fish by 
 plunging into the water and seizing its slippery victim in its 
 claws. As a boy I possessed one of these owls, which I kept in 
 an aviary for a considerable time, and wishing to see its method 
 of seizing a live bird, I one evening turned two sparrows into its 
 apartment ; of these it took no notice whatever, which apparent 
 apathy on the part of my pet I attributed to the brightness of 
 the evening ; but great was my astonishment on the following 
 morning to find one sparrow roosting quietly in a corner, and 
 the other bold as he was and resolved to the letter to take the 
 bull by the horns snugly domiciled on the top of the owl's head, 
 actually nestling in the soft long feathers there, while the owl, 
 good easy bird, sat on its perch quite unconcerned, though fast- 
 ing for thirty-six hours. Macgillivray affirms that it is only to 
 be seen in the enclosed and wooded parts of the country, but I 
 can speak from experience that it frequents no less the wilder 
 and bleaker districts, abounding indeed in all places ; and taking 
 up its abode indiscriminately in towers, barns, hay-lofts, ruined 
 buildings, ivy-covered and hollow trees. 
 
 It has, however, I regret to say, very much diminished in 
 
Tawny Owl. Ill 
 
 numbers within the last thirty years, and it is not now the very 
 common bird it used to be in this county. Gilbert White in- 
 stanced ' a large hollow pollard ash in Wilts, at the bottom of 
 which vast quantities of pellets cast up by the birds were found ;' 
 and in my younger days few barns were without it, and great 
 were the benefits it conferred on agriculturists in keeping down 
 the numbers of the destructive field-mouse ; but now the useful 
 Barn Owls are shot and trapped by short-sighted,' ignorant men, 
 and the mice multiply in consequence. Gilbert White noticed 
 that when owls fly they stretch out their legs behind them as a 
 balance to their large heavy heads. 
 
 24. TAWNY OWL (Syrnium stridula). 
 
 Most plentiful of all the Wiltshire Owls is this species; for 
 while the Barn Owl has greatly diminished in numbers, the 
 Tawny or Brown Owl has certainly increased with us of late 
 years. It is not, perhaps, so readily noticed as its white rela- 
 tion, for it possesses more retired habits, and loves the solitude 
 of thick woods, and seldom leaves its lurking-place till night- 
 fall. Neither is it quite so innocent as the ' Barn Owl/ for it 
 does not always content itself with mice, rats, and moles, but 
 sometimes preys on young rabbits and leverets as well. More- 
 over, I have known it make great havoc among the young un- 
 fledged rooks in my rookery, and great indeed is the commotion 
 when the Tawny Owls make a raid on the nests of their sable 
 neighbours breeding in the same plantation just over their heads. 
 In Sweden it is called Katt-Ugla, or 'Cat-Owl'; 'for its head/ 
 says quaint old Pontoppidan, ' is more like a cat's than a bird's/ 
 In France it is Chouette Hulotte and Le Chat-huant; in Germany, 
 Nachikaute ; in Italy, Strigge Maggiore ; in Portugal, Coruja do 
 Mato, ' Plantation Owl.' In England it is known as the ' Wood/ 
 the ' Ivy/ and the ' Brown/ as well as the c Tawny ' Owl. It is 
 very clamorous at night, making the woods and meadows re-echo 
 with its loud and melancholy hootings. Gilbert White declares 
 that at such times its throat will swell as big as a hen's egg ; and 
 Waterton says that neither in Europe nor America has he ever 
 
112 Strigidce. 
 
 heard an owl utter sounds so much resembling the human voice 
 as those which our Tawny Owl sends forth. That observant 
 naturalist adds, ' Were you to pronounce the letter in a loud 
 and very clear tone of voice, and then after a short pause repeat 
 the same letter in a drawling, tremulous accent, you would have 
 a tolerably just idea of the hooting of the Tawny Owl. It will 
 sometimes produce a sharp cry, which sounds not unlike the 
 word " quo-ah " ; both male and female utter this cry.' This species 
 occasionally adopts the deserted nest of another bird, but usually 
 lays its eggs in a hollow tree, on the soft bed of its pulverized cast- 
 ings. Hewitson says that, like the Barn Owl, it deposits its eggs 
 at irregular intervals, the first being sat upon as soon as laid : the 
 young of the same nest differ in consequence very much in size. 
 Professor Newton says that ' for a considerable time the young, 
 covered with a grayish- white down, are fed at home. They after- 
 wards perch among the branches of trees near the nests, where 
 the parents long continue to feed them, and until summer is far 
 advanced the call of the owlets, sounding like the word " keewick," 
 may be heard at intervals from the leafy shade.'* This I am in 
 the best position to corroborate; for having kept one of these 
 birds for some time in confinement, together with a Barn Owl 
 and other birds, in an owlery which I constructed in my garden, 
 I opened the door one summer's day and gave them their liberty, 
 some ten or twelve years ago. The Barn Owl soon disappeared, 
 but the Tawny Owl never left the plantation hard by, and, find- 
 ing a mate, has annually bred in some ivy-covered trees within 
 thirty yards of my house ; and every day throughout the spring 
 and summer, and oftentimes in autumn and winter too, I hear 
 and see my favourite owls, old and young, as evening comes on ; 
 and so bold and fearless are they when the young birds leave 
 the nest, that when on one occasion I was creeping quietly under 
 the trees for a nearer view, I was startled by one of the old birds 
 coming up noiselessly, and unexpectedly flying at my head and 
 knocking off my hat, to my intense satisfaction ; but a feat which 
 they repeated more than once, and even scratching the face of 
 Fourth edition of Yarrell's ' British Birds,' vol. i., p. 152. 
 
Hawk Owl. 113 
 
 the terrified and unsuspecting and certainly most unoffending 
 postman, whose daily visits to the house were at that time not 
 unattended with fear. 
 
 25. THE HAWK OWL (Sumia funerea). 
 
 In Swedish Hok Uggla; in France Chouette Caparacoch or 
 JEperviere, ' Sparrow - hawk Owl ' ; in Germany Sperbereule, 
 * Sparrow - hawk Owl/ and Habichtseule, 'Hawk Owl/ This 
 remarkable species, generally confined to the more northern 
 parts of Scandinavia and high northern latitudes in America, 
 has but very rarely come to the British Isles as a straggler. 
 Indeed, but half a dozen specimens only are known to have 
 visited us, and of these one was taken in Wiltshire, having 
 been killed during severe weather, some thirty or more 
 years since, by Mr. Long, then residing at Amesbury, and it was 
 given by him to Mr. Kawlence, of Wilton, in whose collection it 
 may now be seen. The Rev. A. P. Morres records that it was 
 exhibited at the Zoological Society of London on April 4th, 
 1876, as being the only authentic specimen of the European 
 Hawk Owl yet recorded as having been killed in England.; r As, 
 however, Professor Newton mentions other examples killed re- 
 spectively in Somersetshire, at Scaa in Unst, near Glasgow, and 
 near Greenock, and as the Scandinavian and American birds are 
 now, I believe, acknowledged to be precisely alike, I see no 
 grounds for supposing that our Wiltshire specimen hailed from 
 any other country than that which sent forth its fellows. Surely 
 the birds which occurred in Unst, at Glasgow, and at Greenock 
 have quite as much or more right to claim a European origin as 
 that which was killed on Salisbury Plain. But whatever its 
 native land, we esteem our Wiltshire bird as a visitor of no 
 slight interest. My old school-friend, the late Mr. John Wolley, 
 the very prince of modern ornithologists, and whose untimely 
 death naturalists have never ceased to lament during his resi- 
 dence in Northern Sweden and Lapland for the express purpose 
 of becoming acquainted with the birds of those countries, found 
 this species extremely abundant in Lapland; and he tells us 
 
114 Strigidce. 
 
 that in its habit of flying much in the daytime for it does not 
 seem at all inconvenienced by brilliant sunshine in its rapid 
 flight, and in general appearance, it might easily be mistaken for 
 a hawk at first sight, but on closer examination the large square 
 head, which is its chief characteristic, and its general demeanour, 
 pronounces it to be unmistakably an owl* It is of a bold, fear- 
 less nature, little alarmed at the presence of man, ready to protect 
 its nest against all intruders, and defending itself when wounded 
 with remarkable courage and fury. The specific name funerea 
 literally ' belonging to a funeral/ and so * ill-boding ' and 
 ' dismal ' marks the opinion generally entertained in regard to 
 this bird. 
 
 26. LITTLE OWL (Nodua passerina). 
 
 Rare in England, but very numerous on the Continent, especially 
 in the warmer parts of it, is this diminutive species, scarcely larger 
 than the blackbird. It is essentially nocturnal, being quite in- 
 capable of moving by daylight, hence its scientific name noctua, 
 the ' night-bird ' ; but as evening approaches it becomes extremely 
 active, and shows great dexterity in securing its prey, which consists 
 of mice, beetles, and small birds. Other names by which it has 
 been known to science are N. nudipes and N. psilodactyla, both 
 of which have reference to the absence of feathers on the feet, 
 which are covered with bristles only. It is but rarely seen in 
 Scandinavia, where it is only known as an occasional visitor under 
 the name of Sparf Uggla, or ' Sparrow Owl,' a mere translation 
 of passerina. In France it is Chouette Cheveche ; in Germany, 
 Kleinerkauz ; in Italy, Civetta gialla ; in Spain, Mochuelo ; and 
 in Portugal, Mocho. In those latitudes it is reported to hunt by 
 day, but it is obvious that even the most nocturnal of beings, 
 and however impatient of sunlight, must, if it wanders so far 
 to the north, find its prey by daylight or starve ; for where the 
 sun is above the horizon all night during the short but brilliant 
 
 * Fourth edition of Yarrell's 'British Birds/ vol. i., p. 185. See, too, 
 Zoologist for 1854, p. 4203 ; and Newman's edition of Montagu's ' Ornith. 
 Diet.' 
 
Little Owl 115 
 
 summer (and for nearly three months I saw no candle and barely 
 saw twilight in those charming countries) night and day are 
 practically very much alike, and neither birds nor men seem to 
 know when to work and when to sleep. Such, at all events, was 
 the case with travellers, though most of them preferred to turn 
 night into day in their long drives through the country, in order 
 to avoid the torment (which none but those who have expe- 
 rienced it can in the least appreciate) inflicted by the hateful 
 mosquito, more fierce, more venomous, more persevering, and of 
 a larger size, as I believe, in northern Europe, than I have ever 
 experienced it in Spain, or Portugal, or Italy, or other southern 
 lands. 
 
 Kennie, in his edition of ' White's Selborne,' says, ' I recollect 
 seeing in Wiltshire the remains of a specimen of the rare Sparrow 
 Owl, Strix passerina, nailed up to a barn-door ;' but more recently 
 another was killed in the neighbourhood of Chippenham in 1838, 
 and is now in Mr. Marsh's collection at Salisbury. Still more 
 recently (though I have not the exact date) one was killed at 
 Draycot, and came into the collection of Colonel Ward, then 
 living at Castle House, Calne, in whose possession it now is. And 
 quite lately Lord Arundel informs me that he has twice seen a 
 small owl but whether the 'Little' or 'Tengmalms Owl' he 
 could not determine in the shrubbery, and once in the thick 
 wood near the house at Wardour, where Mr. Tyndall Powell, 
 while pheasant shooting, also saw it in January of this year 
 (1887), when, disturbed by the beaters, it flew out of some laurel 
 bushes just before him. 
 
 This closes the list of the owls found in this county, and with 
 the owls is concluded the account of the first division or Order, 
 the Birds of Prey. 
 
 82 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 INSESSORES (Perchers). 
 DENTIROSTRES (Tooth-billed). 
 
 THE second great Order of birds, the ' Perchers,' contains so many 
 species that, in order to avoid confusion (as I have before pointed 
 out), it was found necessary to subdivide it generally into tribes, 
 before descending to investigate the families which compose it ; 
 and perhaps we shall be prepared to examine these several 
 families and their component species with the greater assiduity 
 when we consider that it embraces not only those vast flocks of 
 the finch and sparrow tribe which throng our yards in the 
 winter, and those great colonies of the rook and crow tribe which 
 surround our homesteads, but also all the warblers and small 
 birds which fill our gardens, woods, and fields in the summer, 
 whose active forms delight our eye, and whose varied notes 
 charm our ear so continually ; in short, so extensive numerically 
 as well as specifically is this order, that I suppose I shall be 
 within bounds when I say that almost all the birds (perhaps not 
 less than ninety-nine out of every hundred) that usually come 
 under our notice in this inland county belong to the Perchers. 
 The first tribe of this Order is that of the ' tooth-billed ' or ' notch- 
 billed' (Dentirostres), and includes the principal insect-eating 
 families of the Order, foremost of which stand 
 
 LANIAD.E (THE BUTCHER BIRDS). 
 
 I have before remarked what a connecting link the Butcher 
 birds, or Shrikes, form with the last-mentioned family, the Owls ; 
 and, indeed, these may well be termed diminutive birds of prey, 
 or falcons of the insect world, so fierce and savage is their dis- 
 
Butcher Birds. 117 
 
 position, so cruel and bloodthirsty are their habits, though, at the 
 same time, their slender limbs and feet prove them to be true 
 Perchers. They also merit the foremost place in the tribe 
 Dentirostres, from the very marked and distinct tooth near the 
 point of the upper mandible, rendering the beak a very powerful 
 instrument for the destruction of small creatures. But, in truth, 
 they partake both of the habits of the preceding raptorial 
 families, and also of the next family, the Flycatchers : for, on the 
 one hand, in addition to their savage sanguinary disposition, 
 they reproduce castings formed of the elytra and other hard 
 parts of coleoptera. On the other hand, like the Flycatchers, they 
 often sit watching on the bare branch of a tree, or on a post or 
 railing, whence their vision can extend over a considerable range, 
 and whence they can dart after any passing insect or small 
 quadruped or bird. They will often hover, too, in the air above 
 the branch on which they are about to alight ; and when sitting 
 watchfully on a bough they will frequently jerk the tail ; in both 
 which last-mentioned habits again they much resemble the Fly- 
 catchers, to which they are in some measure allied. They prey 
 on mice, small birds, grasshoppers, beetles, and other coleopterous 
 insects ;* and these they will impale (as soon as caught) on 
 some thorn or pointed stake, which they thus convert into a 
 temporary larder. For this strange and cruel custom no very 
 satisfactory reason has been given ; though some have attributed 
 it to the greater facility it presents for tearing in pieces their 
 prey, and this seems not improbable when we contrast their 
 
 * Sir John Bowring mentions among the curiosities of Spanish com- 
 mercial legislation, ' a decree of the Governor of the Philippines issued only 
 a few years ago, by which it was ordered that no vessel should be allowed to 
 introduce a cargo from China or the East Indies, unless an engagement was 
 entered into by the captain to bring to Manilla five hundred living Shrikes, a 
 species of bird reputed to be most useful in destroying certain insects, 
 which were at that time seriously damaging the crops. The difficulty of 
 catching, caging, and keeping these birds does not seem to have embarrassed 
 the Governor, however it may have puzzled the skippers. It may be un- 
 necessary to add, that not one bird was ever brought to the Philippines, 
 which is scarcely to be wondered at, since all were to be delivered gratis.' 
 Quarterly Review for April, 1862, p. 509, note to article on ' The Eastern 
 Archipelago.' 
 
118 Laniadce. 
 
 slight limbs and feeble feet with the strong legs and sharp 
 claws of the Hawk tribe, so conducive to this purpose. Others 
 again assert that the insects so placed on the point of a thorn 
 are intended as baits to attract other victims, and this is the 
 opinion entertained generally, perhaps not without reason, by 
 the American naturalists (who have better opportunities of 
 studying their habits) ; for it is notorious that the shrikes will 
 often kill and impale, apparently from sheer wantonness, destroy- 
 ing many more victims than they can consume, and leaving 
 them transfixed on some thorny bush. They are extremely bold 
 and strong, and will often attack birds as large as themselves. 
 They are also very fierce, and when wounded will bite almost as 
 severely as a hawk. They are the terror of all small birds, for 
 whose nestlings they are ever on the watch, and these will some- 
 times band together to mob and drive them away, as they do 
 the owl on occasions. The name they bear, ' Laniadae/ sufficiently 
 describes the habits of the family, lanius signifying ' a butcher/ 
 from lanio, ' to cut or tear in pieces.' But, notwithstanding 
 their fierce, cruel disposition towards all within compass of their 
 strength in the furred, feathered, and insect world, towards their 
 own young they show a strong affection, remaining with them 
 the whole summer, until they all take their departure together, 
 and becoming very clamorous and excited if any real or fancied 
 danger threatens them. Their voices are also capable of great 
 variation, and they are said to sing melodiously, qualities we 
 should scarcely expect in so fierce a race. Moreover, they have 
 a remarkable power of imitating the notes of smaller birds, by 
 which means it is sometimes conjectured they allure them within 
 reach, to their destruction. 
 
 I had the best opportunity of becoming familiar with the 
 Shrike family while creeping day by day in a boat up and down 
 the Nile in Nubia, when the sun shone his fiercest, and the sands 
 of the boundless desert came down on either hand to the very 
 banks of the river. Those banks were often fringed with the 
 thickest of shrubs, and especially the sont, or ' thorny acacia/ 
 and the ' camel thorns/ which were literally crowded with the 
 
Great Grey Shrike. 119 
 
 webs of caterpillars. Here the 'Masked Shrike' (Lanius 
 personatus) abounded in great profusion"; indeed, it was by far 
 the commonest bird in that part of Nubia, and as long as I 
 remained within the tropics, I must have seen twenty or thirty 
 specimens in every day's walk. But though so numerous, they 
 were most solitary, always alone, for I never saw two in 
 company, nor two upon the same bush.* 
 
 27. GREAT GREY SHRIKE (Lanius excubitor). 
 
 Not very frequently is this, the largest of the British shrikes, 
 seen in England, though I believe it has been noticed in this county 
 quite as often as in any other. Montagu writes of this bird under 
 the name of L. cinereus : ' It is rather a rare bird in England. 
 The only two specimens I killed were in Wilts, on Nov. 
 15th and 22nd.' Yarrell mentions Wiltshire as one of the 
 Western counties where it has been obtained. Stanley, too, 
 speaks of this as one of its favourite districts ; but, in addition to 
 these, I have notice of one killed near Devizes, about A.D. 1845, 
 and another at about the same time, shot by the keeper at 
 Erlestoke ; one in the Rev. G. Marsh's collection, taken on the road 
 between Cirencester and Malmesbury in 1837 ; another in Mr. E. 
 Sloper's collection, killed at Seend, Feb. 28th, 1840. Of later 
 years one was shot in the neighbourhood of Calne, on Dec. 22, 
 1860, fluttering in a thorn bush, and engaged in battle with two 
 wagtails, and came into the collection of Colonel Ward, then 
 living at Castle House, Calne, who communicated its capture. 
 Another, a female, was killed at Mere in 1847 ; and, within a few 
 fields of the same locality, a male was shot on November 16th, 
 1880, both of which were brought to Mr. Ernest Baker, in whose 
 possession they now are, and who kindly apprised me of their 
 occurrence. The Marlborough College Natural History Reports 
 mention one shot at Poulton, in that neighbourhood, on Nov. 20th, 
 1869. Lord Arundell tells me that it has been shot in the park 
 at Wardour Castle. Mr. Grant records specimens from Melksham 
 in 1861, from Marston, near Worton, in 1866, and from Seend 
 ' Attractions of the Nile,' vol. ii., p. 221. 
 
120 Laniadce. 
 
 in 1875. Mr. James Rawlence informs me that a fine specimen 
 was killed some years since by a friend of his in the parish of 
 Martin, near Salisbury. The Rev. A. P. Morres records another 
 killed at Mere in 1845, one seen at Upton Scudamore in 1875, and 
 one which he secured for his own collection, shot at Bishopstone, 
 near Salisbury, in the Easter week of 1876, on some willow trees 
 that fringe the bank of a little stream running through that 
 parish. Mr. Morres also records, and gives strong evidence in 
 support of the assertion, that on one occasion this species was 
 found breeding at Fisherton, near Salisbury, at the end of May or 
 beginning of June, 1839, and describes the nest as built in the 
 upright forks of a very strong thorn hedge, interwoven with 
 brambles, and as being large and compact, composed of dry 
 grass, moss, and small fibre roots on the outside, and lined with 
 soft downy feathers, intermixed with a little hair ; the eggs, four 
 in number, of a pale ash colour, thickly marked at the larger 
 end with spots and stripes, or blotches of a yellowish red colour ; 
 and the old birds as very fierce and noisy, flying round their 
 heads and threatening to attack the depredators who were 
 cutting out the nest, and all the while shrieking and screaming 
 in their fury.* If Mr. Morres's informant was not mistaken and 
 there seems no reason to doubt his circumstantial evidence we 
 have here a record of the highest interest, inasmuch as this is 
 almost the only instance known of the Great Grey Shrike breeding 
 in England.-)- It is true that Selby, who, of all our authors on 
 birds, seems to have most frequently studied this species alive in 
 its wild state, says that it always chooses the winter months for 
 its occasional visits to this country, and certainly within the last 
 few years all those whose captures have been recorded have 
 (with one exception to prove the rule) been seen between 
 November and March. Its regular habitat seems to be the 
 south-eastern portions of Europe, Russia, Turkey, etc. Its 
 plumage is ash coloured above, white beneath, and a large and 
 remarkable patch of black on the cheeks makes it unmistakable 
 
 Wiltshire Magazine,*}, xviii., pp. 186188. 
 
 t See Ibis for 1859. p. 331, for a British specimen of the nest of this bird. 
 
Great Grey Shrike. 121 
 
 to those who have seen it. It preys on mice and small birds, 
 which it treats in the same manner as its well-known congener 
 does its insect victims, fixing them on sharp thorns, and then 
 pulling them to pieces. Nay, so strongly is this habit implanted 
 in it by nature, that one of these birds kept in confinement 
 would force the heads of small birds, with which it was fed, 
 through the wires of its cage, and thus hang them up to be 
 pulled to pieces and devoured at leisure. This we learn from 
 Pennant, and the habit has been verified by Yarrell, Doubleday, 
 and several others. It always destroys its victims, whether 
 mouse, bird, reptile, or insect, by strangulation, previous to 
 affixing them to a thorn or stake, in the manner described above. 
 An ancient writer, in a treatise on ' Falconrie or Hawkinge,' 
 considering this bird to be an inferior species of hawk, accuses it 
 of alluring its victims to destruction in the following quaint 
 passage : ' Her feeding is upon rattes, squirrells, and lisards, and 
 sometime upon certain birds she doth use to prey, whom she 
 doth entrappe and deceive by flight, for this is her devise. She 
 will stand at pearch upon some tree or poste, and there make an 
 exceeding lamentable 'cry and exclamation, such as birds are 
 wonte to doe, being wronged or in hazarde of mischiefe, and all to 
 make other fowles believe and thinke she is very much distressed, 
 and stands needfulle of ayde; whereupon the credulous sellie 
 birds do flock together presently at her call and voice, at what 
 time if any happen to approach neare her, she out of hand 
 ceazeth on them, and devoureth them (ungrateful subtile fowle !) 
 in requital of their simplicity and pains. These hawks are of no 
 account with us, but poor simple fellows and peasants sometimes 
 doe make them to the fiste, and being reclaimed after their un- 
 skilful manners, doe have them hooded, as falconers doe their 
 other kinds of hawkes, whom they make to greater purposes.' 
 I need hardly add that the writer of the above, in mistaking the 
 shrike for a hawk, at the same time very much overrated its 
 powers and mistook its habits, for it is notorious that so for- 
 midable an enemy does it prove to the songsters of the grove 
 that no sooner is its voice heard than every other note is hushed, 
 
] 22 Laniadce. 
 
 and concealment is the only order of the day. In Spain it is 
 known as Alcaudon real 'the royal (or great) tailed one ' ; in 
 Portugal as Picanso ; and in France as Pie-Grieche grise ' Grey 
 speckled Magpie.' In Sweden it is styled Sto'rre Torn Skata, or 
 ' Greater Thorn Magpie.' In other districts of the same country 
 Var Fogel, or the ' Wary Bird ;' and in Germany Wdchter, or the 
 ' Watcher,' as, on the approach of danger, it warns other birds by 
 its sharp cry. Hence, too, it derives its scientific name ' Excu- 
 bitor ' (sentinel) from the use to which it is put in Holland and 
 Germany by the Falcon-catchers, who, taking advantage of its 
 quickness in perceiving a hawk at a distance, and its alarm and 
 loud screams thereon, make it a valuable assistant in their calling. 
 I have the authority of Professor Skeat for saying that the name 
 'shrike' or 'shrieker' is derived from the shrill cry of all the 
 members of this genus. The provincial name of ' murdering 
 magpie,' in vogue in some parts, not inaptly describes its habits. 
 
 28. RED-BACKED SHRIKE (Laniua collurio). 
 
 Yery well known to the inhabitants of Wiltshire is this bold and 
 handsome bird, which frequents our woods every summer: it seems 
 to favour only the Southern and Western Counties, and this is 
 one of its most choice localities. Montagu speaks of it as ' not un- 
 common in Wilts,' and Selby as 'well-known in Wilts;' but, indeed, 
 I have often noticed it at Yatesbury, as well as in many other 
 parts of the county ; and so has the Rev. G. Marsh, who says 
 that, on the downs near Winterslow, he has very often heard it 
 closely imitating the note of the Wheatear, which abounds there, 
 but (he adds) he has never seen it preying on anything but 
 beetles and other insects : this, indeed, seems to be its general 
 diet, and bumblebees, grasshoppers, and all kinds of flies are 
 impaled on the bush it selects for the purpose. I fear it is 
 become more scarce than it was : certainly I have not seen it 
 for several years past. So, though I have not kept any accurate 
 record of a species I used to consider common, I may quote 
 some few particulars of its recent occurrence in Wilts. Thus, 
 the Marlborough College Reports mention a nest with eggs 
 
Red-Backed Shrike. 123 
 
 taken in that neighbourhood on May 27, 1872. I learn from 
 Mr. Grant that one was killed at Coate, near Devizes, in 1870, 
 and one at Erchfont in 1877. The Right Hon. E. P. 
 Bouverie, of the Manor House, Market Lavington, writes me 
 word that he used to see it last year (1886) on the road to 
 Devizes. The Rev. E. Goddard generally sees it in summer on 
 the road between Clyffe and Hilmarton, though he never sees it 
 at Clyffe ; and Mr. W. Stancomb, jun., sees it at Bayntun. The 
 name Collurio is said by the B.O.U. Committee to signify 
 
 * hooded.' In Sweden it is known as the Allmtin Torn Skata, or 
 
 * Common Thorn Magpie.' In France it is termed VEcorcheur, the 
 4 Flayer' ; in Germany Der Wurger, the 'Strangler' or ' Garotter,' 
 and Der Fleischer, the ' Butcher/ whence no doubt comes the 
 provincial name in some parts of England, the ' flusher.' In Sussex 
 it is known as the ' cheater ' or ' cheeter.' It arrives in May, 
 breeds here, and departs in September for Africa, where Le 
 Vaillant has described it as common in winter. Once, however, 
 Mr. B. Hayward met with one so late as December 4th, which in 
 all probability had met with some accident, and been disabled 
 from migrating with its brethren. The male and female differ 
 greatly in colour ; the former is easily distinguished from the 
 Grey Shrike by its smaller size, and the chesnut red of its back 
 and wing coverts : the female and young birds are reddish brown 
 above, grayish white beneath, speckled and barred with brown : it 
 is a strong active bird, and delights in thick woods and hedgerows. 
 
 There is a third species of Shrike, ' the Woodchat (Lanius 
 rutilus), which very rarely has been taken in Britain, but I 
 believe never as yet in this county, though I possess one in my 
 collection which was killed in the adjoining county of Somerset, 
 within a short distance of Bristol. Though, like the other 
 Shrikes, watchful and wary at other times, it appears to lose all 
 timidity in the breeding- season, and shows remarkable courage 
 in the protection of its young, flying round the head of the 
 intruder and shrieking out its indignation with piercing cries. 
 In Malta, where it is the commonest of its genus, it is known as 
 Buyhiddiem, or ' the Father of Biters.'* This species is common 
 o Ibis for 1864, p. 59. 
 
124 Muscicapidce. 
 
 every summer in Holland, but, like its congener 'the red- 
 backed/ retreats to Africa for winter quarters. In habits, too, 
 it exactly resembles the preceding, but is easily distinguished 
 from it by the rich chesnut red on the crown of the head and 
 back of the neck. 
 
 ^>. 
 
 MUSCICAPIDCE (THE FLYCATCHERS). 
 
 These have also been termed ' Hawks among flies/ for on such 
 alone do they feed, and very interesting it is to watch one of these 
 active, quick-sighted little birds at its almost continual employ- 
 ment of providing itself food ; indeed, it would seem that it has 
 need of all its activity to satisfy the wants of itself and its nest- 
 lings, so diminutive is its prey, and so many victims are daily 
 needed. Taking its stand on the extreme end of some bough, 
 post, rail, or stone, the Flycatcher awaits the passing insect, which 
 its quick eye can discern at a considerable distance, and then to 
 sally forth after it, snap it up in its beak, and return to its former 
 station, is the work of an instant. The most prominent charac- 
 teristics of this family are the narrow compressed bill, with 
 sharp tip and strong bristles at the base, and the small size of the 
 feet. 
 
 29. SPOTTED FLYCATCHER (Muscicapa grisola). 
 
 Very common indeed, and most regular in its arrival in the middle 
 of May, is this little brown, sober-coloured, quiet bird. We may 
 see it every day during the summer in our orchards, gardens, and 
 fields ; it does not arrive till late, for it awaits the time when the 
 insects which compose its food, the whole race of flies and gnats, 
 are in full vigour, and of these it clears off an incredible number. 
 It has been accused of destroying fruit, especially cherries, but, I 
 believe, entirely without foundation, owing to its unfortunate 
 similarity to another little bird, the Greater Pettichaps, whose 
 taste certainly does lie that way. The generic name Muscicapa 
 signifies the ' flycatcher,' and the specific grisola 'gray bird.' In 
 almost all European languages the name is similarly derived as 
 with us thus, in France, Gobe-mouche ; in Germany, Fliegen- 
 
Pied Flycatcher. 125 
 
 f anger ; in Sweden, Flug-snappare ; in Spain and Portugal, 
 Papa-moscas, etc. 
 
 It is strange that, like the Spotted Eagle (Aquila ncevid), this 
 bird has derived its English specific name from the young bird 
 in immature plumage, when each feather is tipped with a buff- 
 coloured spot, for when it reaches the adult stage every trace of 
 the spotted plumage has disappeared. It is known in different 
 parts of the country as the ' Rafter ' or ' Beam Bird,' an appella- 
 tion it derives from the position so often chosen for its nest, the 
 end of a beam or rafter in an outhouse ; it is also called the 'Bee 
 Bird,' from its partiality for that insect, as I have often seen to 
 my vexation, when morning after morning the little marauder 
 would take his stand on a wire-fence near my bee-houses and fly 
 off to seize a luckless bee on its approach laden with honey, 
 immediately returning to his station and repeating the process 
 till his appetite was appeased. And that this is not one of the 
 popular fallacies so common about birds, but that it does occa- 
 sionally eat bees, which has been disputed by many, has been 
 verified by Mr. B. Hayward, of Easterton, who not only saw one 
 devouring several bees at the mouth of a hive, but afterwards 
 proved it beyond a doubt by dissection. It has no song, and 
 indeed no note whatever, but a feeble chirp very rarely heard at 
 the end of the season. White of Selborne calls it 'the most 
 mute and the most familiar of all our summer birds.' 
 
 30. PIED FLYCATCHER (Muscicapa atricapilla). 
 
 Very rare in this county, nowhere common, but not very in- 
 frequent in the Northern counties, is this handsome bird, often 
 styled, from its plumage, the 'miniature magpie/ which term, 
 indeed, sufficiently describes its black and white dress. In habits, 
 food, nesting, and absence of song it very much resembles its con- 
 gener. Mr. Hayward speaks of one killed at Lavington about the 
 year 1850. The Rev. G. Marsh possessed one killed at Ford, near 
 Chippenham, in 1837, but stated that he had never seen it alive. 
 Mr. Withers, of Devizes, killed one near that town about A.D. 1843. 
 Another was shot at Pert wood, near Mere, in May, 1872, and 
 
126 Muscicapidce. 
 
 came into the possession of Mr. Ernest Baker, as notified to me 
 at the time by his brother, Mr. Thomas Baker, of Mere Down 
 Farm. A fine cock bird was seen by the Rev. A. P. Morres, in his 
 garden at Britford Vicarage, on May 1, 1879, which he described 
 as so tame he could have knocked it down with a stone. On the 
 same authority I learn that one was killed at Wilton possibly the 
 same bird at or about the same date; that others have been 
 obtained near Warminster, one or two or more every year, as the 
 excellent bird preserver of that town, Mr. King, assured him ; a, 
 pair near Salisbury, in 1860, by Mr. Norwood, of Fisherton ; and 
 one was seen by Mr. J. A. T. Powell, of Hurdcott House, in the 
 spring of 1877. This species has also been trapped on several 
 occasions by a birdcatcher on the downs of Martin, near Salis- 
 bury ; and Colonel Ward has seen it on his lawn at Bannerdown, 
 July 3, 1879. Mr. Algernon Neeld tells me he has seen it at 
 Castle Combe ; and Mr. Grant that one was shot on the downs 
 above Erlestoke, on April 15, 1872. This is a goodly list of 
 occurrences in our county for so rare a species. Perhaps it is 
 becoming more common in these southern regions, passing on 
 from the Lake districts of Cumberland and Westmoreland, which 
 appear to be its summer stronghold in Great Britain ; or perhaps 
 its apparently greater prevalence here may be only the result of 
 more widespread observation. For myself, I have never seen it 
 wild in England. The literal meaning of Atricapilla is ' black- 
 haired ;' here, doubtless, it signifies * black-headed.' On the 
 Continent it is generally known as Albicollis (' white-necked ') ; 
 and from this are derived its general Continental names, as in 
 France, ' Gobe-mouche d Collier ;' and in Germany, ' Fliegen- 
 f anger mit dem Halsbande ;' but in Sweden it has the high- 
 sounding title, ' Svart och Hvit Flug-Snappare,' which in reality 
 is no other than our trivial name ' pied/ or ' black-and-white Fly- 
 catcher.' 
 
 MERULIM (THE THRUSHES). 
 
 So well-known are many members of this family to the most 
 unobservant, that I need say very little of their general charac- 
 
Dipper. 127 
 
 teristics. Bold, handsome, and active, they are ever presenting 
 themselves to our notice, while the voices of some species are 
 hardly to be surpassed in volume and in sweetness. Their food 
 consists of insects, snails, and worms, and also of fruits and 
 berries, and it is not to be denied that they commit great havoc 
 in the garden as the fruit ripens, though the mischief they then 
 do is more than counterbalanced by the benefit they confer in the 
 destruction of myriads of noxious insects and snails. Most of 
 the species are migratory, if not from the country, yet often from 
 one district to another, and in winter they assemble together in 
 large flocks. Notwithstanding their apparent strength and 
 activity, none of our winter residents seem to suffer more than 
 the thrushes from severe cold ; a very few days of snow suffice to 
 render the fieldfares tame, and in a hard winter, first the redwings,, 
 and then the song-thrushes, die off in great numbers. 
 
 31. DIPPER (Cinclua aquaticus). 
 
 I rejoice to be able to add this species to my list of Wiltshire 
 birds, and I do so with confidence, on the authority of Mr. Ernest 
 Baker, of Mere, who writes on November 10, 1876, that a good 
 specimen of the Dipper had that day been given to him, which was 
 shot the previous day in the Mere stream, and that it was the only 
 individual of its species which he had ever known as killed in this 
 county. Since then, however, I have had a second notice of its 
 appearance in Wiltshire, from Mr. Lowndes, of Castle Combe, whose 
 agent, Mr. Watkins, saw it on the stream in the valley on that 
 beautiful estate. It derives its name, Cinclus, ' tail-mover,' from 
 the Greek xeXXw, ' to wag the tail.' Here it is the ' Dipper,' or 
 'Water Ouzel,' or 'Water Colley;' in Portugal it is Melro Peixeiro, 
 'Fishmonger Thrush ;' and sometimes Melro do Rio, ' River Thrush ;' 
 in Spain, Tordo de Agua, 'Water Thrush;' in Sweden, Strom Stare, 
 'Stream Starling;' and, in France, Merle d'Eau. It is an especial 
 favourite of mine, frequenting, as it does, the torrent or other rocky 
 stream as it rushes over the stones in some mountainous district, 
 generally in the midst of magnificent scenery; and in such districts 
 I have become very familiar with it, in some of the upper valleys 
 
128 Meruiidce. 
 
 of Switzerland and Tyrol, and, above all, in Norway. It is a 
 compact, stout little bird, and as it stands on a boulder, in the 
 midst of a torrent, will flirt its tail up and down, at other times 
 carrying it erect, like that of the wren, which in some other 
 respects it resembles, notably in the large dome-shaped nest it 
 forms, and which is not infrequently placed in some crevice of a 
 rock behind a cascade, in such a position that the water shoots 
 over it, effectually protecting it from molestation. Its flight is 
 quick and straightforward, much resembling that of the King- 
 fisher. As to the vexed question whether or no it has the power, 
 denied to other birds, of deliberately walking off the stone on 
 which it is perched into the water, and there running about and 
 feeding as if on dry ground, searching for and picking out any 
 small insects it can dislodge, as St. John and several other excel- 
 lent naturalists assert, and others, with Montagu and Yarrell, as 
 strenuously deny, I will not enter upon it here. I can only say 
 that I never saw it practise any such feat, though I have watched 
 it for hours on many occasions. It has also been the subject of 
 much controversy as to whether it devours the eggs of the salmon 
 and other fish spawn ; and as it is not the habit of keepers and 
 others to give the feathered race the benefit of a doubt till the 
 accusation is proved, or to hold them innocent till they are 
 proved guilty, the poor Dipper has been unrelentingly persecuted 
 in consequence; but I believe the charge is wholly without 
 foundation. 
 
 32. MISSEL THRUSH (Turdus viscivorus). 
 
 This is the largest of the whole family, and very handsome 
 withal. It derives its name from its excessive partiality to the 
 berries of the mistletoe. In winter these birds will congregate in 
 large flocks of forty or more, when they are often mistaken for 
 fieldfares. It is one of the earliest breeders, placing its nest in the 
 fork of some tree, often in the most conspicuous position, and at 
 this season it is as distinguished for its courage as at other times 
 it is for its shy, retired habits. If any other bird approaches its 
 nest, it vociferates in the loudest and harshest screams. Its song, 
 
Fieldfare. 120 
 
 too, is very powerful, and it is the earliest as well as the largest of 
 our British songsters, its notes being often heard above the gale in 
 the month of February, amid the blasts of winter. It is common 
 everywhere. In the south of the county, as in many other parts of 
 England, it is called the ' Storm Cock,' from its habit of singing 
 during the prevalence of a gale of wind and rain. The Rev. G. 
 Marsh used to tell me that in his locality it was called the 
 ' Screech Thrush,' while in Devonshire and Cornwall it is known 
 as the 'Holm Screech,' or 'Holly Screech/ holm being the provin- 
 cial name in those counties for the holly tree, whose berries form 
 its favourite food; and each bird takes possession of his tree, 
 keeping constant to it as long as there is fruit on it, and driving 
 away all other birds with the utmost fury.* In Sweden it is 
 known as Dubbel Trast, or 'Double Thrush;' and in Malta as 
 Malvitzan, or ' Large Thrush ;' but the Welsh call it Pen y Ihvyn, 
 the ' Head ' (or ' Master ') ' of the Coppice.'t In France it is 
 Merle Draine ; in Germany, Mistel Drossel; in Italy it is simply 
 Tordo Maggiore ; in Spain, Charla, ' the Chatterer ;' in Portu- 
 guese, Tordeia and Tordoveia. The specific name, Viscivoru*, 
 from viscum, ' mistletoe,' and voro, * I devour,' is simply a trans- 
 lation of Aristotle's name bestowed on this species, /goCofo;. For 
 the greater part of the year it is a lonely bird, and may often be 
 seen amidst the clumps of trees in the open spaces of a park. 
 
 33. FIELDFARE (Turdus pilaris). 
 
 Very well known and very generally dispersed throughout the 
 country is this regular periodical migrant to our shores, arriving 
 from the north late in the autumn, and leaving us in the spring. 
 We may see them in flocks in our meadows or on the tops of the 
 leafless elms, and many a day's sport and much disappointment 
 too do these wary birds afford to the schoolboy gunner. They 
 retire to breed in Norway and Sweden, where I have found their 
 nests in small colonies of eight or nine. Mr. Hewitson mentions 
 a colony of two hundred nests, but I never saw any such number. 
 
 Montagu's ' Supplement ;' Rodd's ' Birds of Cornwall,' p. xxxvi. 
 f Harting's edition of White's ' Selborne,' p. 210. 
 
 9 
 
130 Merulidce. 
 
 Like the Missel Thrush, they are very bold and pugnacious in 
 breeding-time, screaming, chattering, and darting within a few 
 inches of my hat as I climbed to their nests ; at other times they 
 are remarkably shy. They are the last to arrive of all our winter 
 visitants, seldom making their appearance till near the end of 
 November, and they are the last to leave us in the spring. 
 They come next to the Missel Thrushes in size, and are very 
 distinguishable by the dove-coloured patch on the head and tail, 
 and the bright spotted yellow on the throat and breast. 
 
 In one respect they differ from all their congeners, in that on 
 winter evenings they assemble from great distances, arriving in 
 flocks just before dusk at some favourite spot, and there roost on 
 the ground, after the manner of larks, generally among heath 
 and coarse grass and tall rushes, or even on stubbles. This is 
 the more remarkable as they sit on trees during the day, and 
 procure the greater part of their food from the hedges and 
 bushes, and invariably build on trees, though generally not far 
 from the ground.* The meaning of the specific word pilarla I 
 cannot fathom, nor does the Committee of the B.O.U. help me. 
 There is, indeed, a Latin word pilaris, ' of or belonging to a ball,' 
 but I see no connection between that and this handsome thrush. 
 Of the meaning of ' fieldfare,' ' a traverser of the fields or fallows/ 
 there is no question. The word ' to fare,' meaning ' to travel/ is 
 obsolete now, but we see traces of it, not only in ' field/are,' but 
 in 'farewell' i.e., 'speed you well'; and the coach or railway 
 fare, i.e., ' the price of a ticket for travelling.' In Germany it is 
 known as Wachholder Drossel, 'Watchman Thrush,' from the 
 constant look-out it keeps against surprise; in France Merle 
 litorne, and in Sweden Bjork Trast, ' Birch Thrush,' but is more 
 popularly known as Sno Skata, ' Snow Magpie/ the former part 
 of the designation derived from the belief that when it appears 
 in large numbers, hard, snowy weather is pending ; the latter 
 from its unusual length of tail, and the magpie-like chattering it 
 constantly keeps up, particularly in the vicinity of its nest. For 
 
 'Birds of the Humber,' by Cordeaux, p. 21 ; Zoologist for 1885, p. 335 ; 
 Harticg's edition of White's ' Selborne,' p. {?!>. 
 
Song Thrush. 131 
 
 the same reason, doubtless, it is called in Italy Tordella Gazzina, 
 a magpie in Italy being known as Gazza. In Portugal it is 
 Tor do zornal. 
 
 34. SONG THRUSH (Turdus musicus). 
 
 Generally distributed and permanently resident in all parts of 
 the country, this favourite songster is well known to all. Few 
 birds have sweeter notes, or indulge us with them oftener, and 
 no nest is better known to the schoolboy than the clay-lined 
 dwelling and spotted blue eggs of the Song Thrush. We may see 
 these birds throughout the year on our lawns and in our gardens ; 
 but, if we take notice, we shall observe that periodically their 
 numbers are sensibly increased by the arrival of many which have 
 migrated either to other countries or to other districts ; and at 
 other times the thrushes seem to have almost deserted us. Indeed, 
 Professor Newton goes so far as to say that in some parts of the 
 island not a single bird can be seen from the end of November to 
 the end of January.* Perhaps none of our songsters continues 
 to pour forth its melodious notes so perse veringiy as this species. 
 From early spring to late autumn, with but little intervals of rest, 
 from very early morning, long before daylight, even in the short 
 summer night, and before any other warbler is awake, the melli- 
 fluous voice of the thrush may be heard in the coppice. So 
 much is its superiority of song recognised in every country which 
 it frequents and this cosmopolitan bird ranges throughout 
 northern as well as southern Europe that the name by which 
 it is generally known alludes to its vocal powers. Thus in 
 France it is La Grive ; in Portugal, Tordo, ' the Thrush ;' and in 
 Malta, Malvitzrf as if pre-eminently ' the Thrush.' In Germany 
 it is, as with us, Siny Drossel ; and in Scandinavia Sdng-Trast, 
 ' Song Thrush,' Tal-Trast, or ' Speaking Thrush,' Nordisk Ndkter- 
 <jal, or 'Northern Nightingale,' and also Natt Vaka, or 'Night 
 Watcher/ from its habit of singing all night in the lone and 
 
 * Fourth edition of Yarrell's ' British Birds/ vol. i., p. 266. See also an 
 article by the same able author on ' The Migratory Habits of the Song 
 Thrush/ in the Ibis for 1860, pp. 8385. 
 
 t Ibis for 1864, p. 63. 
 
 92 
 
132 Merulidce. 
 
 desolate forests during the calm and light nights of the for 
 north.* Notwithstanding this, our Song Thrushes are unmerci- 
 fully persecuted by the gardener, being insatiable devourers of 
 fruit, and they so provoke his malice that in his rage and thirst 
 for revenge he overlooks the benefit they have conferred upon 
 him all the rest of the year by the destruction of thousands of 
 worms and insects. Moreover, the songs with which they enliven 
 our shrubberies and gardens from early spring to the end of the 
 summer, and such songs too, ought to plead something in their 
 favour. They are great adepts at cracking snail-shells against a 
 stone, to enable them to get at the contents, which they appear 
 to relish above all things, and they return to the same stone 
 which they have found to answer their purpose, so that broken 
 shells scattered all around mark where they have been dining ; 
 and here, methinks, they unmistakably prove themselves the 
 gardener's friend in a way which cannot be disputed. But all 
 these benefits are forgotten when the fruit is ripe, and they crave 
 a share as their just portion. The old English name ' Throstle ' 
 is doubtless from the German Drossel, and perhaps Mavis, by 
 which it was also known of old, from the Spanish Malvis; c r 
 perhaps both derived from some older and forgotten word. 
 
 35. REDWING (Turdus iliacus). 
 
 Like its congener and companion the fieldfare, this bird 
 visits us in the autumn, when the snows of its native country 
 in the north render its home untenable and force it south- 
 wards. It arrives a few weeks before the fieldfares, but after- 
 wards associates with those birds in flocks, when its smaller 
 size and the conspicuous red of the under wing-coverts cause 
 it to be easily distinguished. Though seldom heard in this 
 country, it has a most melodious note, which is so highly prized 
 in the north as to have procured for this bird the title of 
 the ' Swedish Nightingale,' a title since usurped by the famous 
 Jenny Lind. This fact of the surpassing powers of song of the 
 redwing may probably be unknown to many, and seeing it only 
 Lloyd's 'Scandinavian Adventures/ vol. ii., p. 288. 
 
Redwing. 133 
 
 in the silent months of winter, and hearing then nothing but an 
 occasional and rather discordant chattering, few have any notion 
 of the loud and clear and exquisitely sweet note with which it 
 enlivens the thickets and copses of Norway in a summer night, 
 if, indeed, that can be called night where the sun merely ap- 
 proaches the horizon and ascends again, or at the most sets and 
 rises within the hour ; and where, during a three months' tour, I 
 never saw a candle, but could see to read and write in the darkest 
 of log-huts at any hour of the night. This, indeed, was the time 
 and place to appreciate the song of the redwing ; when we drove 
 through the sombre forests in the night, as we frequently did to 
 escape the excessive heat of the sun, which, scarcely ever being 
 out of sight during the summer, does not suffer the air to get 
 thoroughly cooled during the night, and strikes down almost as 
 hot as I have felt it in Rome in May, or Naples in June, to the 
 great advantage of the crops, but to the scorching of the mid- day 
 traveller. Passing on in single file, each in his carriole, through 
 the interminable forests, one of which we traversed for no less 
 than 100 miles, while on the Swedish side it stretched out 50 
 miles on our left, with but one road for wheels throughout its 
 length and breadth; scarcely meeting a human being in those 
 vast solitudes, save only at the few posthouses, at long interven- 
 ing distances ; imagine all this, and it may be understood how 
 full of enjoyment we found it to listen to the delicious notes of the 
 redwing, poured forth in the wildest yet most harmonious strains 
 from the tops of some of the highest trees around us. Indeed, 
 the absence of the redwing would be a serious blank in Norway, 
 and very sensibly felt by the inhabitants, who, being a remark- 
 ably primitive and simple people, unsophisticated and kind- 
 hearted, never wantonly illtreat their birds or animals, but 
 cherish and protect them, and are rewarded by the most un- 
 bounded confidence in return; birds which are wildest and 
 shyest with us building close to the houses of the Norwegians, 
 and not caring to move out of the way as you drive by. But if 
 this long digression on the home of the redwing appears irrelevant 
 to my subject on Wiltshire birds, I submit that the cause of its 
 
134 Merulidte. 
 
 introduction is the hope of inducing those who have thought- 
 lessly persecuted those poor birds, when they are driven by 
 inexorable -winter to seek shelter and food in our more genial 
 climate, to stay their hand from such ruthless slaughter, and 
 reflect that while it is thought here almost an act of sacrilege to 
 destroy the nightingale and robin, the one so endeared to us by 
 its song, the other by its confidence in man, the Swedish night- 
 ingale partakes of both these virtues, and, moreover, is quite 
 harmless and innocent, seeking nothing from man's stores for its 
 support, but frequenting the meadows during the open weather, 
 where it feeds on worms, snails, and larvse, and, when frost sets 
 in, repairing (not to the rickyard and cornstack, but only) to the 
 hedges, where the berries of the ivy, the hawthorn, and the holly 
 supply its wants ; and, if unusually severe weather occurs, migrat- 
 ing (as is reported by naturalists) still further southwards, even 
 to the shores of the Mediterranean. Montagu reports that 
 vast numbers of these birds resorted to this and the adjacent 
 counties in the hard winter of 1799, when, exhausted by long 
 journeys, they were unable to prolong their travels, and deprived 
 of food by a sudden fall of snow, they perished by thousands 
 from starvation: Gilbert White speaks of their delaying their 
 departure northwards till June, after the dreadful winter of 1739- 
 40, and the cold north-east winds which continued to blow 
 through April and May. Colonel Hawker, in his admirable 
 ' Instructions to Young Sportsmen/ printed in 1838, and there- 
 fore now out of date, when everything relating to shooting has 
 been changed, but yet for all that still a book of practical in- 
 formation and sound advice, says,* that when Redwings appear 
 on the East Coast they as commonly announce the approach of 
 the Woodcock, as does the arrival of the W T ryneck that of the 
 Cuckoo in the south. It is the smallest of the Scandinavian 
 Thrushes, and it does not breed in colonies like the Fieldfare, 
 nor is it so shy of the presence of man as that most wary bird. 
 Mr. Cecil Smith saysf it is known in Somersetshire as the ' Wind 
 Thrush/ and declares it is hardier than the Fieldfare, because, 
 Page 248. t ' Birds of Somerset/ p. G4. 
 
Blackbird. 135 
 
 unlike that bird, it subsists in great measure on snails. Now 
 snails must certainly be a nutritious diet; so at least an old 
 parishioner of mine at Yatesbury, now deceased, used to declare, 
 and, acting on that opinion, at some special season of the year, 
 hunted in the banks near his cottage for the common garden 
 snail, and prepared them for his dinner by frying them in the 
 shovel ! Notwithstanding its snail diet, however, I am so far 
 from thinking that the Redwing is hardier than the Fieldfare 
 that I believe it to be the first of all its congeners to succumb 
 under prolonged frost : though it seems strange that both these 
 species, bred in the far north of Europe, should be more sensitive 
 to cold than those which are indigenous here. The Song 
 Thrush, however, is almost as delicate, and one of the first to 
 perish in very severe weather. It has often been reported as 
 breeding in England, but every alleged instance has so far as I 
 know on investigation proved to be a mistake, founded on con- 
 fusion of the species. 
 
 In Germany it is Rothdrossel, ( Red Thrush ;' in Portugal Tordo 
 ruivo, ' Reddish -brown Thrush/ in distinction to Tordo branco, 
 * White Thrush/ as the Thrush, Tordo, is sometimes called ; in 
 Scandinavia Hodvinge Trast, ' Red-wing Thrush / in Spain 
 Nalvis ; and in France le Mauvis. 
 
 36. BLACKBIRD (Turdus menda). 
 
 ' The ouzel cock, so black of hue with orange-tawny bill/ as 
 that great observer of nature, Shakespeare, has described it, is so 
 well known that I need say very little about it. In Sweden it is 
 known as Kol Trast, or ' Charcoal Thrush/ and in Somersetshire 
 as the ' Colly bird.' The gardeners know, to their cost, its pen- 
 chant for fruit in the summer, and no devices of theirs will avail to 
 scare it from the gooseberry and raspberry bushes, and the straw- 
 berry-beds, as long as any fruit remains ; but it changes its 
 residence with the season : as soon as wet weather sets in, the 
 blackbirds may be found in the turnip-fields, where they find 
 slugs and snails in abundance ; and in hard weather the hedge- 
 rows and thick bushes are its resort. It is of a shy and restless 
 
136 AlerulidcK. 
 
 disposition, and solitary withal, never seen to congregate with 
 many of its species, and hurries off with a loud scream of alarm, 
 and buries itself in the nearest bush the instant it is discovered : 
 it has a fine full rich voice, with which it often favours us ; and 
 it is a matter of great dispute among connoisseurs whether the 
 blackbird or thrush has the finest song, though I think most 
 votes would be in favour of the latter ; but yet the former has 
 many stout partisans, and not without reason, for its notes are 
 very melodious ; it is also one of the earliest songsters we have. 
 Blackbirds appear to be especially liable to exhibit variations in 
 plumage, specimens continually occurring in pied and mottled 
 garb, sometimes in pure white, though the name of the bird 
 causes such a statement to sound contradictory. And here, per- 
 haps, I may be allowed to make one or two observations on these 
 albino varieties in birds, having examined the subject with great 
 attention, and stated the result in a paper published by the 
 Zoologist in 1853. I will not inflict on my readers the arguments 
 by which I arrived at my conclusions, as they would be somewhat 
 out of place here ; suffice it to say, that I conceive that physical 
 weakness either in the individuals themselves, or in their parents, 
 one or both of them, is the radical origin of the varieties in colour 
 so often seen ; and that the natural and habitual functions of the 
 bird are through debility so disarranged, as to have the effect of 
 withdrawing the pigment or colouring matter from the growing 
 feather, as it springs from the follicle sheath or capsule in which 
 it is enveloped, and where it is nourished by juices in which the 
 pigment is supposed to reside. There may be many exciting causes, 
 such as peculiar food, sudden fear, extreme rage, etc., serving 
 to develop this peculiarity in colour, or it may have existed from 
 the nest, but in all cases I apprehend that constitutional weak- 
 ness is the real root of the matter ; and as bright well-marked 
 plumage undoubtedly betokens good health and strength, so and 
 on the same principles I conceive that an unwonted variety or 
 absence of colour marks physical debility : and therefore I am no 
 admirer of these anomalous specimens, but rather look upon 
 them as miserable deformities and wretched abortions, the 
 
Ring Ouzel. 137 
 
 w offspring of weak parents, unfitted to rank with their fellows. I 
 may add that I have collected authentic evidence of the exist- 
 ence of such varieties in no less than fifty-seven species of our 
 British birds, in their wild state, and have no doubt that if 
 further investigated it would be seen that such occasional 
 deformities resulting from weakness do sometimes occur in every 
 species of bird ; though in those wearing the darkest livery 
 (such as the Blackbird and the Book) and therefore requiring a 
 larger supply of pigment, such varieties will be found to be more 
 frequent. 
 
 I have the authority of the B.O.U". Committee for stating 
 that the specific name Merula is derived from ^e/\a?, ' black/ 
 Modified from the Latin, we have in French Merle noir, and 
 in Spanish, Mir to ; and in Portuguese the word itself, Merula, 
 but more commonly it is known all over the latter country as 
 Melro, by the same strange transposition of letters as that in use 
 \amongst our Wiltshire labourers, where they commonly miscall 
 pulpit, pilput bishop, buship, etc. 
 
 37. RING OUZEL (Turdus torquatus). 
 
 Here we have another migratory species of Thrush, but unlike 
 its congeners, the fieldfare and redwing, which come to us in 
 the autumn and retire northwards in the spring, the Bing Ouzel 
 comes to us in April, and retires again in October. It is, how- 
 ever, in this county but a bird of passage, passing on to more 
 northern districts in the summer, and returning to more southern 
 climes in the winter. It is easily distinguished from the black- 
 bird by the absence of the bright yellow bill, and by the white 
 collar or broad crescent-shaped ring round the chest, whence its 
 specific names, Latin and English; in other respects, such as 
 general appearance, shape, bulk, habits, food, etc., it resembles 
 that well-known songster : it differs from it, however, in occa- 
 sionally associating in flocks towards the beginning of autumn, 
 and so migrating in company, but sufficiently resembles it to be 
 called provincially the 'Mountain' and the ' Michaelmas' Black- 
 
138 -Mend 'nice. 
 
 bird, alluding to the haunts it loves and the season when it 
 appears on its way south. In Sweden it is known as the Ring 
 Trast, or 'Ring Thrush;' and in Malta, as Malvitz tas-sidra 
 balda, the ' White-chested Thrush. 1 In some parts of France it 
 is distinguished as Merle terrier, or Buissonier, from its lowly 
 placed nest, either on or very near the ground. In Portugal it is 
 Metro de papo branco, ' Thrush of white throat.' I have seen it 
 occasionally in Switzerland and the Tyrol, and very frequently 
 in Norway, where in one especial locality, at the foot of the 
 highest peak in that land of mountains, it would come every 
 morning, and perching on the turf roof of an adjacent chalet, sing 
 most melodiously, while its mate was sitting on the nest among 
 some rocks hard by ; but the spot it seems of all others to prefer 
 is the copse on the sloping foot of a mountain, shelving down to 
 some quiet tarn. I have never seen it alive in Wiltshire, nor 
 has Mr. Marsh been more fortunate : I have, however, numerous 
 records of its occurrence here. Mr. E. Sloper speaks of it as 
 often seen in flocks of five or six, and of two being killed near 
 Devizes in 1851 ; another (now in Mr. Marsh's collection) was 
 killed at Compton Bassett by the Rev. A. Austin : it has often 
 been taken in Clarendon Park. The Rev. A. P. Morres has met 
 with it in his own parish of Britford, and on the downs near 
 Salisbury, and also on those near Ebbesbourne; he also possesses 
 a specimen killed at Odstock Copse in the spring of 1866 or 
 1867, and records another as seen in the garden of The Cliff at 
 East Harnharn the previous year : while a bird-trapper in his 
 parish assured Mr. Morres that he not unfrequently trapped 
 them on the downs. Mr. Baker generally saw it on the downs, 
 near Mere, in its vernal and autumnal migrations. Mr. King 
 reports that specimens were brought to him for preservation, 
 nearly every year, from the neighbourhood of Warminster. Mr. 
 Grant has supplied me with a list of thirteen specimens which 
 have been taken in various parts of Wiltshire within the last 
 twenty-five years ; previous to which the late Mr. Withers 
 assured me that scarcely a spring or autumn occurred but he 
 saw and generally captured some on the downs near Devizes. 
 
Golden Oriole. 139 
 
 Besides the occurrences enumerated above, I have a very inter- 
 esting communication from Mr. Isaiah M. Jupe, of Mere, dated 
 May 19, 1858, in which that gentleman says: 'On the 12th of 
 April, 1858, a man of this town (Mere) seeing what he considered 
 a blackbird on its nest, shot it as it flew off, and on account of 
 its ring brought it to me as a curiosity, and I immediately 
 secured its nest and two eggs. The nest was in a thick thorn 
 hedge, close to our Castle Hill ; the eggs, in appearance, similar 
 to a blackbird's, but smaller, and not so pointed ; the nest also 
 resembles the blackbird's.' Both bird and eggs were preserved. 
 This is the only instance I have of the King Ouzel being known 
 to breed in this county, though, from its great resemblance to a 
 blackbird, it may easily be overlooked. Mr. Morres, too, heard 
 rumours of a nest having been found near Bath, but could not 
 obtain sufficient evidence to verify the statement. My friend-, 
 Colonel Ward, however, reported to me a Ring Ouzel, or ' black- 
 bird with a necklace,' as one of his family styled it, as frequent- 
 ing his lawn at Bannerdown, near Bath, July 3, 1879, when it 
 should have been, and perhaps was, engaged in rearing its young 
 brood. In the Marlborough College 'Nat. Hist. Soc. Reports/ 
 there are several notices of the nest being found in Savernake 
 Forest : in 1866, May 4 (p. 25) ; April 30 (pp. 62, 65, and 66) ; in 
 1868, May 4 (p. 94). It is, however, much more common in the 
 wild mountainous and stormy districts of the north than in this 
 county. 
 
 38. GOLDEN ORIOLE (Oriolus gcdbula). 
 
 This splendid bird, with its bright yellow and black plumage, 
 so conspicuous from the striking contrast of the two colours, is a 
 rare visitant in Britain, but once seen, it can never be mistaken : 
 it is a denizen of warm latitudes, Asia and Africa being its proper 
 habitat, and it is only occasionally that a straggler finds its way 
 to our coasts, and then so attractive is its bright plumage that it 
 cannot escape observation, and has no chance of avoiding capture 
 or death. My first record of its occurrence in this county is of 
 very many years ago, when two males were taken in the neigh- 
 
140 Mtrulidoe. 
 
 bourhood of Tidworth. One was observed and killed in a small 
 fir plantation, and carried to the Rev. F. Dyson, who, thinking it 
 probable that the bird was not without its mate, immediately 
 employed a man with a gun to search for and procure the 
 female ; the man, however, returned with another male bird, and 
 it was conjectured that the comparative dinginess of colour in 
 the female enabled her in the dark fir plantations to escape 
 detection. The Rev. G. Powell announced to me the capture of 
 a magnificent male in full golden plumage at Tisbury on May 1, 
 1862. Mr. Ernest Baker was so fortunate as to fall in with a fine 
 male in perfect plumage on the western borders of the county, 
 on May 9, 1870, as he was driving down a lane, and the bird flew 
 on in front, perching from time to time on the top of the hedge, 
 as if to display its brilliant plumage to an appreciative ornitholo- 
 gist : an unwonted piece of good-nature on the part of the bird, 
 as it is generally of a most shy and retiring nature ; to which I 
 am in a position to testify, from the many hours I have spent in 
 patiently watching for a view of the songster which I had heard 
 and of which I had caught a passing glimpse, as it buried itself 
 in the deep shelter of a lemon orchard at Mentone. The Rev. A. 
 P. Morres records that in the spring of 1877 a pair was seen on 
 some crab trees at Dinton, and that he was informed by Mr. 
 Wyndham that they had been reported to have bred on Teffont 
 Common, and had certainly been seen there more than once : 
 and that another fine male was shot in an orchard near Mere 
 in 1870, and is now in the possession of Mr. Osborne of Tisbury. 
 It is an inhabitant of the southern countries of Europe during 
 summer, migrating from Africa about the middle of April, 
 and establishing itself through all the northern coasts of the 
 Mediterranean, and in all these countries it generally derives its 
 name from the full, flute -like musical whistle for which it is 
 famous Turiol in Spanish, Lorlot in French, and Oriole in 
 English, being all supposed to represent the call-note of this 
 remarkably handsome and melodious bird; but everywhere it 
 exhibits the same timid, shy disposition, frequenting secluded 
 groves, and feeding on fruits, berries, and insects. 
 
Golden Oriole. 141 
 
 The scientific name Oriolus is from aureolus 'golden/ and 
 galbula signifies 'yellow.' In Spain it is often known as 
 Oropendola, a word which appears to refer in the first syllables 
 to its golden colour, and in the last to the pendulous nest which 
 it forms beneath the branch of a tree. 
 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 DENTIROSTRES (tooth-billed}, continued. 
 SILVIAM: (THE WARBLERS). 
 
 THE very name of this family speaks of warmth and spring and 
 harmony : and even in the depth of winter, conjures up before- 
 our imaginations lively pictures of the coppice and the hedgerovv-s 
 bursting into full leaf, radiant in the sunshine ; the air redolent 
 with the perfume of a thousand flowers, and filled with the song 
 of countless birds. It is pleasant to bask for awhile in such a 
 sunny spot, while we pass in review before us the sweet 
 songsters of the grove, which compose the family we are con- 
 sidering. 
 
 The warblers are the largest family amongst all the birds, I do 
 not mean numerically, but specifically; and with a few exceptions 
 they may all be found in Wiltshire, no less than nineteen species 
 being either indigenous to our county, or periodical or occasional 
 visitants ; but some of these species bear such a close resemblance 
 to one another, and are so extremely difficult to distinguish from 
 one another, that they will defy any but the most accurate and 
 painstaking observer to discover their personal identity. Their 
 principal characteristics are elegance and gracefulness of form, 
 a delicate structure and slenderness of bill, and a sweetness and 
 richness of note ; and though some may be disposed to cavil 
 at the statement, I am inclined to the opinion that in a greater or 
 lesser degree all the species composing this family partake of 
 these three characteristics. 
 
Hedge Accentor. 
 
 39. HEDGE ACCENTOR (Accentor modularis). 
 
 Well known to everyone as the Hedge Sparrow, though the 
 name is most unfortunate, causing it to be confused in the minds 
 of many with the House Sparrow, with which it has not the 
 smallest affinity, the latter being bold, hard-billed, and grain- 
 loving, while the Hedge Accentor or Hedge Warbler is meek, soft- 
 billed, and insect-eating. In Worcestershire it bears the pro- 
 vincial name of 'Blue Isaac/* which at first sight seems unintelli- 
 gible enough ; but * Isaac ' as was pointed out by a clever 
 reviewer in the Guardian^ is simply the modern pronunciation 
 of the Anglo-Saxon hege sugge (Chaucer's heisugge), meaning 
 'Hedge Sucker,' in obvious allusion to the habits of the bird. 
 ' Hedge Betty/ another provincial name in use in the same 
 county, is evidently later, and admirably expresses its dull and 
 somewhat lustreless plumage. In Somersetshire it is known as 
 ' Blind Dunnock/J The scientific names bestowed on this species 
 have sole reference to its singing powers, for the meaning of 
 Accentor is given by the B.O.U. Committee, 'one who sings with 
 another;' and Modalaris ' one that sings in a measured manner;' 
 from modulus, ' a measure/ or < melody.' On the Continent its 
 sombre hue and retiring habits are more recognised in the names 
 it bears, as in France, Le MoucJtet, ' the spotted one ;' Train e 
 b'Uisson, ' hedge-frequenter ;' Faiivette de bois, Fauvette d'hiver, 
 and Roussette, ( reddish one.' In Germany, Schiefer Brastiger 
 Sanger, ' warbler with slate- coloured breast. 1 In Portugal, 
 Negrinha, ' little negress/ and Pretinha, 'blackish.' The English 
 word ' Sparrow/ Swedish Sparf, German Sperling, and similar 
 words in other languages, are all (says Professor Skeat) from the 
 Teutonic Sparwa, ' a Sparrow/ literally a ' flutterer/ from Spar, 
 'to quiver/ hence to 'flutter/ Unlike most of this family, the 
 Hedge Warbler remains with us throughout the winter, and 
 
 * ' The Nation in the Parish,' by Rev. E, Lawson. See Glossary. 
 
 t Jan. 21st, 1885. 
 
 J ' Birds of Somerset/ by Mr. Cecil Smith, p. 77. 
 
144 Silviada. 
 
 loves to creep about the bottoms of hedges and among shrubs, and 
 if there is a pile of old wood lying about the yard, there you may 
 invariably see its dusky figure, as it seeks a scanty subsistence, 
 not disdaining to search for food at the bottom of drains and 
 gutters, for pride has no part in its composition, not one of all the 
 race being so modest and humble as this. Its song, though not 
 loud nor continuous, is sweet, but chiefly prized for the season 
 at which it may be heard ; it sings, indeed, all the year through, 
 but in winter, amid piercing winds and frost and snow, it is refresh- 
 ing to hear the warbling of this little bird, as it sits perched 
 on some shrub or bush ; while, as the spring advances and brings 
 in troops of other and louder warblers, nobody notices the poor 
 Hedge Accentor amidst the flood of music which then abounds. 
 There is one exception here, however, for at this season the 
 cuckoo singles out the Hedge Warbler and shows its appreciation 
 of its domestic qualities by the doubtful compliment of selecting 
 its nest oftener perhaps than that of any other bird wherein 
 to deposit her egg. 
 
 ['Alpine Accentor' (Accentor alpinus). I have no right, and 
 I have no intention, of including among the warblers of Wilt- 
 shire this rare visitant to our island, for I have no instance 
 before me of its appearance in this county ; still, from the 
 facts that one of the three instances of its occurrence given 
 by Yarrell was in the adjoining county of Somerset, from 
 the garden of the Deanery at Wells ; that the specimen in Mr. 
 Marsh's collection was said to have been killed near Bath ; and 
 that the opinion of that keen and accurate observer coincides 
 with my own, that these birds are probably much more common 
 than is generally supposed, their shy retiring habits and sombre 
 plumage never making them conspicuous from these premises I 
 venture to conclude that the 'Alpine Accentor' probably visits us 
 occasionally, and I therefore mention it in passing. In colour it 
 is reddish-brown, but the chief distinguishing features which 
 mark it at once from its congener, the common 'Hedge Ac- 
 centor,' are its greater size and the dull-white throat, thickly 
 spotted with black. It is not uncommon on the Continent, and 
 
Redbreast. 145 
 
 is fearless, courageous, and confiding, and frequents rocks and 
 stones in preference to bushes. 
 
 40. REDBREAST (Sylvia rubecula). 
 
 Not only in England, but throughout Northern Europe, in 
 Sweden and Norway, Russia, and Germany, the Redbreast is a 
 favourite, and has a name of endearment : with us he is Robin ; 
 in Sweden he is Tommy ; in Norway and Russia, Peter ; and in 
 Germany, Thomas ; but in Italy and France he shares the fate of 
 all other birds, little as well as big, and is mercilessly killed and 
 eaten. Mr. Waterton says he has counted more than fifty lying 
 dead on one stall at Rome, so that it is no wonder English 
 travellers complain of the silence of the woods and fields in 
 France and Italy, and lament the absence of the varied members 
 of the feathered race which cheer and enliven us at home. Now 
 I have often heard it asked why the Redbreast is so great a 
 favourite ? and its confidence in man has been regarded as the 
 result of its immunity from persecution, but I apprehend this is 
 mistaking the cause for the effect ; for this above all other birds 
 is by nature tame and familiar with man, fearlessly venturing 
 close to him, and by its very confidence begetting the protection 
 which its innocence and bravery seem to claim : for that indeed 
 must be a bad and cruel heart which could abuse such an 
 appeal, and long may our village children, and indeed all of 
 every age and rank, respect this one at least of our winter 
 songsters, so harmless, so pretty, and so confiding. 
 
 At the same time it cannot be denied that our friendly Robin 
 is of all birds the most quarrelsome. A very tyrant among his 
 fellows, he will brook no rival, but attack any intruder on his 
 haunts with the utmost fury. Throughout the year he sings ; 
 even in the cold bleak days of winter he will pour forth his feeble 
 song from some leafless spray ; but not always to the delight of 
 the listener ; for in some places where superstition still lingers 
 and where does it not ? the song of the Robin is thought to 
 bode death to the sick person who hears it, and much uneasiness 
 is consequently caused when its note, or 'weeping/ is heard 
 
 10 
 
146 Silviadce. 
 
 near a house where anyone happens to be ill. And so in the 
 north of Devon they have a saying that when a Robin perches 
 on the roof of a cottage, and utters its plaintive ' weet,' the baby 
 in the cottage will die. Another widely-spread belief is that if a 
 Robin should chance to die in your hand, from that day forth 
 your hand will always shake, as if with palsy ; hence the obvious 
 moral, be careful to have no hand in causing the death of a 
 Robin. Amongst many other superstitions current regarding this 
 bird, I will mention only the following pretty legend current in 
 Wales, that, ' far, far away is a land of woe, darkness, spirits of 
 evil, and fire. Day by day does this little bird bear in its bill a 
 drop of water to quench its flames. So near the burning stream 
 does he fly, that his dear little feathers are scorched, and hence 
 he is called Bron-rhuddyn, or " Breast-burnt." To serve little 
 children the Robin dares approach the infernal pit, so no child 
 of proper feeling will hurt this devoted benefactor of man. But 
 the Robin returns from the land of fire, and therefore feels the 
 cold of winter far more than his brother birds, and in consequence 
 deserves and claims man's especial protection and assistance.'* 
 Its name is almost universally derived in all countries, as with 
 us, from its highly-coloured breast ; thus rulccula is ' the little 
 red bird,' from nibeo, ' I am red/ Erithacus, again, the generic 
 name bestowed on it by some ornithologists, is from tpivOw, ' I 
 make red.' In France it is Bee-Jin Rouge gorge ; in Germany, 
 Rothbrustiger Sanger; in Sweden, Rodkake Sdngare, 'Red-throated 
 Warbler;' in Spain, Gargantirojo, 'Red-throat/ and Pechi-rulio, 
 4 Red-breast.' 
 
 41. REDSTART (Phcenicura ruticilla), 
 
 Or 'Redtail/ for start is but the old English word for 'tail,' 
 familiar to us in Start Point, the tail-end of England, or the 
 promontory jutting out into the sea last seen by the outward- 
 bound voyager. It is also called 'Firetail' and 'Brandtail/ from 
 its flaming colour; and ' Quickstart,' from the rapidity with which 
 it flirts that member. In Swedish, Rodstjert-Sdnyare or ' Red- 
 * Dyer's ' English Folk-lore,' p. GO. 
 
Redstart. 147 
 
 tail Warbler.' In France it is Bee-Jin de Murailles, ' Wall Warbler/ 
 in allusion to its hailnts and nesting-place; in Germany, Schwartz- 
 keliger Sanger,' Black-throated Warbler. The scientific name, 
 Ph(jenicura, signifies ' red-tail,' from <poli>i^ ' purple red,' and oipd 
 'tail;' ruticilla is a repetition of the same in another form, 
 meaning 'Red-tail/ from mtilus, 'red,' and cilia, 'tail,' the 
 termination we have seen in Albicilla, 'White-tailed Eagle,' and 
 shall see in Motacilla, the generic name of the Wagtails ; 
 Bomby cilia, ' Silk- tail,' etc. 
 
 Towards the end of April this handsome and interesting bird 
 arrives in England, and may be seen darting after insects on the 
 wing, and capturing them with unerring precision ; or running 
 after its prey on the grass with equal certainty of success. In 
 plumage it is the brightest and gayest of all the warblers ; the 
 female, in more sombre hue than her mate, is clad in a dress ot 
 pale reddish-brown ; but the male, with his jet-black head and 
 throat, bright chestnut breast and tail, white forehead, and gray 
 back, presents a handsome appearance from the contrast and 
 combination of colours : but the distinctive peculiarity of these 
 birds consists in their spreading out the feathers of the orange-red 
 tail, and jerking it from side to side, an action belonging to the 
 Redstarts alone, and by which they may be distinguished from all 
 other birds. Harting remarks that in this horizontal shaking of 
 the tail, they move them as dogs do when they fawn, whereas 
 the tail of a wagtail, when in motion, bobs up and down like 
 that of the jaded horse.* They delight in 'buildings, especially 
 old walls, in the crevices of which they make their nests ; they 
 are good songsters, and continue their %ong from morning till 
 night. From my own observation I should say it is now much 
 more scarce than it was a few years back ; certainly its numbers 
 in the localities where I have annually watched it are very much 
 decreased. , 
 
 * White's ' Selborne,' Harting's edition, p. 121; 'Our Summer Migrants,' 
 
 pp. 7578. 
 
 102 
 
148 Silviadce. 
 
 42. BLACK REDSTART (Phcenicura titys). 
 
 This little bird has been somewhat ill- treated by ornithologists 
 in regard to its name. Originally designated tltys by Linnaeus, 
 with the meaning of a ' small chirping bird' relics of which 
 we have in our Tilmouse and Tidark it became by mistake 
 converted into tithys, for which there is neither authority nor 
 reason. And this false title usurped the place of the rightful 
 owner, and reigned in the works of many of our chief authorities, 
 even in that of Yarrell himself, until detected and deposed, in 
 the fourth edition, by the vigilance of Professor Newton, whose 
 accurate eye no flaw of title could escape. It has also been most 
 erroneously termed the ' Blackstart,' a name utterly misleading, 
 as with a generally black or dusky plumage, its tail alone is of 
 a reddish-bay. I am glad to add it to our Wiltshire list, on the 
 authority of Mr. T. Humming, of Red House, Amesbury, who 
 very obligingly wrote to inform me that one had appeared near 
 that place, and that he had himself seen it killed, but 'he could 
 not give me the exact date; and again, I have one more instance 
 for which I am indebted to Mr. Grant : it is of a specimen shot 
 by Mr. H. Sargent, of Enford Farm, on April 16, 1881. It is a 
 bird with which I am very familiar, having met with it frequently 
 at Mentone, Bordighera, Cannes, and other parts of the Riviera, 
 as well as at various times and places in Switzerland. I also saw 
 it daily in Cairo, where one frequented a wall just outside my 
 window, in Shepheard's Hotel ; and again, in the very heart of 
 Lisbon, a pair occupied, and probably were nesting, in some 
 house-roofs below my windows in the Hotel Braganza, and I 
 found it common throughout Portugal. It is not, however, very 
 often noticed in England, though much more frequently of late 
 years ; but abundant as it is in Southern and Western Europe, 
 I cannot help thinking that its scarcity here is perhaps in some 
 degree due to its having been overlooked and mistaken for its 
 more brilliant congener, which in general habits it very much 
 resembles, though it frequents the mountain-sides and rocky 
 districts in preference to valleys and plains. In France it is 
 
Stonechat. 149 
 
 known as Bee-fin rouge queue; in Germany, Schwarze Roth- 
 sckwanz ; in Spain, Coliroyo; and in Portugal, Raboruivo all 
 with the meaning of ' red-tail ;' but in the latter country it has 
 many provincial names as well, as Negrone, ' the black ;' Noite 
 negra, 'the night black;' and ' Pisco ferreiro,' 'the blacksmith 
 iinch.' 
 
 43. STONECHAT (Saxicola rubicola). 
 
 This and the two following species comprise the genus ' Chat/ 
 and all of them are tolerably numerous in this county. They 
 run with great celerity, being enabled to do so by the great pro- 
 portional length of the tarsus, and are pretty, little, lively, 
 restless, noisy birds, and their absence would cause a sad blank 
 on our downs, which they chiefly frequent ; their habit is to flirt 
 the tail up and down continually, but not after the manner of 
 the redstart. I met with Chats of many species in Egypt and 
 Nubia, where in some localities, especially above the first Cata- 
 ract, they are the most abundant birds seen; and it is quite 
 marvellous how well their colours are adapted to the ground 
 they frequent. Some, as S. leucomela, S. leucopygia and S. leuco- 
 vephala, in their respective dresses of black and white, readily 
 escaping notice amid the dark granite rocks which run inland 
 from the banks of the Nile to the desert, which hems it in on 
 either shore ; others again, as S. isalellina, S. stapazina, and 
 S. deserti, in their russet clothing, scarcely to be seen on the 
 sands of the desert. But the Stonechat, with which we are now 
 concerned, I found most abundant in Portugal, where I met 
 with it throughout the country in considerable numbers ; for the 
 wide tracts of heathland, covered with aromatic shrubs and 
 other bushes, and which often extend over many square leagues, 
 exactly suit its requirements. 
 
 The Stonechat is the only one which partially remains with us 
 through the winter, and may generally be met with in stony 
 places or open pastures covered with small shrubs : it is of 
 bright plumage the head, neck, back, and throat nearly black ; 
 wing and tail coverts and sides of the neck white, and rich 
 
150 S'dviadce. 
 
 chestnut breast ; it utters a kind of clicking note, 'Chook, chook, 
 hence sometimes called ' Stoneclink ' and ' Stonechatter/ and is 
 for ever on the move from one stone to another, or from the 
 summit of one bush to the next. The Rev. G. Marsh used to 
 say it was called the ' Furze Robin ' in his neighbourhood. 
 Elsewhere in the county it is known as the ' Horse Matcher,'* 
 though the origin and meaning of the name are alike unknown 
 to me; but in Turkey it has the strange title how derived I 
 know not of ' One in ninety.' The specific name, rubicola, 
 means an ' inhabitant of bramble-bushes ;' and the generic, 
 Saxicola, ' one that dwells among rocks,' from saxum + colere ; 
 in France it is Traquet Pdtre, ' Shepherd's Mill- clapper ;' and in 
 Germany, Schwarskehliger Steinschmatzer, ' Black - throated 
 Stone-kisser;' in Portugal, it is Chas Chas, and Chasco. In that 
 country it is looked upon with disfavour, for the country people 
 have a superstition that it is an excommunicated bird, for it led 
 Judas to the place where our Blessed Lord was to be found. 
 They say that, as it led Judas on "the way, it cried 'Chas, Chas, 
 por aqui bem las, ' This is the way;' but the Chaffinch tried to 
 lead in a contrary direction, by crying, Pirn, Pirn, por aqui bem 
 mm, ' Come this way;' wherefore the Chaffinch is honoured and 
 the Stonechat detested.f 
 
 44. WH INCH AT (Saxicola rubetm). 
 
 The haunts, habits, and general character of this warbler are 
 very like those of the last described. It is to be met with in the 
 same localities, and, though not quite so common as the stone- 
 chat, may often be seen on our downs. Montagu, speaking of 
 it fifty years ago, says ' it is plentiful in Wiltshire ;' but being a 
 shy and solitary bird, only seen singly or in pairs, it is certainly 
 not now numerous. In plumage it is not so gay as its congener, 
 but prettily marked, and in colour mottled brown ; and in 
 song it is pronounced superior : it is also said, when reared from 
 the nest in a cage, to be a skilful imitator of other birds. It 
 
 ' Wild Life in a Southern County,' p. 196. 
 
 t Ibis for 1887, p. 88, Mr. W. C. Tait on the Birds of Portugal. 
 
Wheatear. 151 
 
 derives its name of ' Whinchat' and ' Furzcchat' from the whin 
 or furze which it loves to frequent ; and for the same reason is 
 known in Sweden as the Busk sqvatta. In Sussex it is known 
 as the ' Barley-ear,' probably from the date of its arrival coin- 
 ciding with barley earing, or ploughing for barley.* The 
 scientific name Rubetra would either refer to the ' ruddy' colour 
 of its plumage, or more probably to the bramble-thickets it 
 frequents, on the topmost twigs of which it will perch, and then 
 pass on with undulating flight to the highest spray of another 
 bush. In France it is Grand Traquet and Traquet Tarier ; in 
 Germany, BraunJcehliger Steinschmatzer, 'Brown- throated Stone- 
 kisser ;' in Portugal, its correct name is like that of the species 
 last described, Chasco ; but its provincial name, by which it is 
 more popularly known, is Tange-asno, literally ' Gee-up, donkey!' 
 because its note is supposed to resemble that used by the donkey- 
 boys to urge on their beasts.f With us it is migratory, arriving 
 in April, and departing for more southern latitudes in the 
 autumn. 
 
 45. WHEATEAR (Saxicola cenanthe). 
 
 This is essentially one of our down birds, and few inhabitants 
 of Wiltshire can be ignorant of its handsome active figure. It 
 loves the bare open down, especially a stony down, where it flits 
 from stone to stone in search of its insect food : it is the largest 
 of the genus, and very prettily marked ; the upper part of the 
 head and back pearl-gray, the wings and cheeks black, the under 
 parts pale buff, while the upper part of the tail is pure white, 
 and from the singular manner in which by a lateral expansion of 
 the feathers it spreads its tail like a fan, it may at once be 
 recognised : it is migratory, but one of the first to arrive, and the 
 last to leave us. For several years past I have noticed its first 
 appearance here on or within two days of the 26th March. And 
 Mr. CordeauxJ calls it the ' Sea-blue bird of March,' though he 
 
 c Gen. xlv. 6 ; Exod. xxxiv. 21 ; Deut. xxi. 4 ; 1 Sam. viii. 12. 
 t Ibis for 1887, p. 87, Mr. Tait on the Birds of Portugal. 
 J ' Birds of the Humber,' p. 30. 
 
152 Silviadoc. 
 
 says it seldom arrives in the marshes of his neighbourhood m 
 March, but very regularly during the first week in April ; but it 
 does not nest there, merely passing on and returning for a short 
 time in September. With us it breeds in a deserted rabbit- 
 burrow, or some deep hole under the turf, where I have occa- 
 sionally found its eggs. Though pretty generally dispersed over 
 the Wiltshire downs, I do not think it could ever have been so 
 numerous with us as it is, or was, on the Southdowns of Sussex, 
 where vast quantities were trapped by the shepherds for the 
 London markets, and found a ready sale, as the morsel of 
 meat they yielded was, unhappily for them, considered an 
 epicure's delicacy. Pennant speaks of 1,840 dozen being taken 
 in one year near Eastbourne, in Sussex ; and 84 dozen are 
 said to have been trapped by a single shepherd in one 
 day! Would not any species be thinned by such wholesale 
 destruction ? 
 
 As we have seen the Stonechat to be dubbed by Wiltshire 
 rustics the ' Horse Matcher/ so the late Rev. G. Marsh used to 
 say this species was called in Wiltshire the ' Horse Snatcher / but 
 he did not know the reason of the term, and the name was quite 
 new to me. ' Fallowchat' is another provincial name, the meaning 
 of which is apparent enough ; for, unlike its two congeners above 
 mentioned, this species avoids bushes and shrubs, and seeks the 
 open field or down. The scientific name, (Enantke, is attributed 
 by the Committee of the B.O.U. to the appearance of the bird in 
 its spring migration at the season when the vine shoots;* but 
 the meaning of the English ' Wheatear' has been much ques- 
 tioned. Mr. Harting says that perhaps it is a corruption of 
 whitear, from the ' white ear,' which is very conspicuous in the 
 spring-plumage of this bird ; or else it may be derived from the 
 season of its arrival. The latter is, I think, the true origin ; but 
 then I submit that it cannot allude to the wheat being in ear 
 when it reaches us in the middle of March, but must refer to 
 the old meaning of ear, ' to plough/ and unquestionably the 
 Wheatear does arrive when the ploughing and sowing of spring- 
 * Aristotle, ' Hist. An.,' ix. 49, B. 8. 
 
Grasshopper Warbler. 153 
 
 wheat is in operation. In France it is Vitrec and Traquet 
 moteux, which may be translated ' restless mill-clapper ;' in 
 Germany, Grauruckiger Steinschmatzer, l Gray-backed Stone- 
 kisser'; in Italy, Gulbianco, ' White throat ;' and in Portugal, 
 Caiada, ' Whitewashes' 
 
 46. GRASSHOPPER WARBLER (Salicaria locustella}. 
 
 This, the most shy and retiring of all the warblers, derives its 
 name from the rapid ticking noise which it will continue for a 
 long time without intermission ; and its curious note is so like 
 the chirp of the grasshopper, that it is often mistaken for it. As 
 soon as it arrives in the spring, it makes known the fact by the 
 cricket-like ticking which proceeds from the midst of the very 
 thickest bush or furze, where it hides itself from human sight, 
 and here it skulks arid creeps, and at the bottom of the furze 
 amid the thickest grass it conceals its nest ; indeed, so shy is it 
 that it is rarely seen, and but for its incessant chirp would 
 escape general notice. Selby calls it a ventriloquist, because it 
 not only imitates the notes of several other birds, but in uttering 
 its peculiar note can cause the sound at one moment to proceed 
 from the immediate neighbourhood of the listener, and at the 
 next, as if removed to some distance, and this without any actual 
 change of place in the operator a peculiarity which it shares 
 with the corn-crake, also a bird very difficult to raise on the 
 wing. It is of elegant shape, and its plumage consists of mottled 
 shades of brown. 
 
 The generic name Salicaria is simply ' Willow Warbler,' and 
 locustella, the diminutive of locusta, 'grasshopper/ from its 
 cricket-like cry; hence, too, our specific name, and with pre- 
 cisely the same signification we find Bee-fin Locustelle in France, 
 and Heuschrecken Sanger in Germany. 
 
 Montagu, speaking of the localities where he had seen this 
 bird, says, ' We have found it in Hampshire, South Wales, and 
 Ireland, but nowhere so plentiful as on Malmesbury Common in 
 Wiltshire, to which place the males come about the latter end 
 of April.' The late Canon John Wilkinson sent me the eggs 
 
154 Silviadce. 
 
 which he had taken from a nest at Broughton Gifford, in June, 
 1856, and described the nest as being completely hidden and 
 cleverly covered with rank grass in the clover-field where it was 
 found, after the manner of this species. Mr. Baker says that it 
 is common at Mere, where it is known as the ' mowing-machine 
 bird/ in allusion to its remarkable note. 
 
 The Marlborough College Natural History Society's Reports 
 speak of many nests taken in the neighbourhood in 186G ; 
 mention it occasionally in several subsequent years, and in 1881 
 record that an unusually large number of this species visited 
 Marlborough during the summer of that year. I have, also, 
 many notes of its occurrence in all parts of the county, but 
 sparingly, for it is not so common as either of its congeners, and 
 is much more retiring and timid. 
 
 47. SEDGE WARBLER (Salicaria phragmitis). 
 
 We must look for this elegant species by the banks of streams 
 or the margins of lakes, and there amongst the tall sedge and 
 reeds we shall be almost sure to find it, for it is by far the 
 commonest of the genus, and few patches of sedge or willow beds 
 are without it. It is an incessant songster, or rather chatterer, 
 for its notes, though very various and rapid, are not particularly 
 melodious, and yet from its habit of singing throughout the 
 summer's night, it has been sometimes mistaken for the nightin- 
 gale: when silent, it may be excited to renew its song by the 
 simple expedient of throwing a stone into the bush where it is 
 concealed. 
 
 Professor Newton observes that many of its notes are very 
 harsh, and the frequent repetition of one of these has gained for 
 the species in some parts of England, particularly in the valley 
 of the Thames, the name of 'Chat,' by which it is there mainly 
 known.* This I can corroborate, for such was the name by 
 which it was designated at Eton, where I used to find it breeding 
 in abundance, on the reedy banks of the Thames. 
 
 * Fourth edition of Yarrell's ' British Birds/ vol. i., p. 379. 
 
Heed Warbler. 155- 
 
 Its colour is on the upper parts oil-green and yellowish-brown 
 and below yellowish dusky white, but though it closely resembles 
 its congeners in other respects, it may on comparison be dis- 
 tinguished from them by the distinct white streak that passes 
 above the eyes. 
 
 It derives its scientific name phragmitis from tppdypa, ' a fence/ 
 from its habit of haunting fences or hedges. The French name, 
 Bee-fin phragmite, the Swedish, Sdf-sdngare, and the German, 
 Schilfsanger, as well as our English name, are taken from the 
 localities it affects. It is the first of the River Warblers to arrive 
 here. 
 
 48. REED WARBLER (Salicaria arundinacea). 
 
 Very difficult, but for the mark over the eye, just described 
 is this species to be distinguished from the last, which it 
 resembles in the time of its arrival and departure, in the 
 localities it frequents, in habits, general appearance, and colour : 
 it is, however, not nearly so common. Montagu says that 'in 
 Wiltshire and Somersetshire, where the Sedge Warbler abounds, 
 not a single Reed Warbler is to be found ;' here, however, our 
 worthy countryman is mistaken, for I have myself observed it by 
 the banks of more than one reedy stream ; the Rev. G. Marsh has 
 frequently seen it on the Avon ; Mr. Withers has taken it near 
 Devizes. The Rev. A. P. Morres pronounces it nearly if not quite 
 as abundant as the Sedge Warbler in his district near Salisbury, 
 and adds that it is one of the most favourite nests selected by the 
 cuckoos of that neighbourhood for their nursery. Mr. Harting 
 says it is a species much overlooked, and instances that a notice of 
 its occurrence at Marlborough was given ' for May 31st, at least 
 six weeks after its usual time for arriving.'* I used to find in 
 my bird-nesting days the deep cup-shaped nest of this species, 
 cleverly suspended between three or four reeds on the banks of 
 the Thames at Eton, in perhaps greater profusion than the nests 
 of the Sedge Warbler. t 
 
 * ' Our Summer Migrants,' p. 326. 
 
 t See Zoologist for 1853, p. 4095, on the nesting of the Reed Wren. 
 
156 Silvia dee. 
 
 Mr. Selby pronounces its song to be superior to that of the 
 Sedge Warbler, both in volume and in sweetness, but in truth it 
 requires a very accurate ear as well as eye to distinguish these 
 two graceful little warblers from one another. 
 
 One of the specific names by which it is oftentimes designated 
 is strepera or ' noisy/ in allusion to the perpetual babble in which 
 it indulges. In the more marshy parts of England, where the 
 chirping of grasshoppers and crickets is not a very common 
 sound, this bird has long been known as the ' Reeler,' from the 
 resemblance of its song to the noise of the reel used, even at the 
 beginning of the present century, by the handspinners of wool. 
 The power of so-called 'ventriloquism,' ascribed by some to this 
 bird, has been in a measure explained by writers to be the effect 
 of the bird turning its head while singing, so as to change the 
 direction in which the sound of its voice is thrown.* In France 
 it is Bee-fin des Roseaux; in Germany, Rokrsanger, in ac- 
 cordance with our ' Reed Wren ;' but in Portugal, where its song 
 is more appreciated than with us, it is llouxinol pequeno decs 
 Cani$as, ' Little Nightingale of the Reeds.' 
 
 49. NIGHTINGALE (Philomela luscinia). 
 
 I need not point out the localities which these birds frequent; 
 for who does not know whether a nightingale haunts the thicket 
 near him, and who does not remember the spots where he has 
 listened to this wondrous songster of the grove, or as good old 
 Izaak Walton styles it, this ' chiefest of the little nimble musicians 
 of the air that warble forth their curious ditties, with which 
 nature has furnished them, to the shame of art' ? But the 
 nightingale seems very fanciful in her selection of habitation, 
 and is guided by some choice which we cannot fathom. In the 
 most western and warmest parts of our island it is rarely heard ; 
 and in our own county, while one wood resounds night after 
 night and year after year with their wondrous melody, a neigh- 
 bouring copse, apparently in all respects equally suited to their 
 
 Professor Newton in fourth edition of Yarrell's ' British BirJs,' vol. i., 
 p. 385. See also paper by 0. Salvin in Ibis for 1859, p. 303. 
 
Nightingale. 157 
 
 tastes, is never honoured by their presence. Some say that 
 dampness of soil, a trickling stream, or a moist meadow, is needed 
 to tempt it ; and M. Viellet declares it is partial to the vicinity 
 of an echo! Montagu propounded I know not with what 
 reason that possibly it is not to be found but where cowslips 
 grow plentifully ; but I think we have hardly mastered a know- 
 ledge of its requirements. It arrives here towards the end of 
 April or beginning of May ; and being of a very shy, timid 
 nature, seeks the thickest hedges and most impenetrable copses, 
 where, though so often listened to, it is rarely seen, and few are 
 acquainted with the form of the humble but elegant little brown 
 bird which charms them so much with its unrivalled song. 
 
 It owes its generic name to the mythological writers, who 
 state that Philomela, the wife of Tereus, was turned into a 
 nightingale ; and the name was in use for that bird at all events 
 as long ago as the time of Catullus; and the specific name 
 hiscinia is conjectured by the B.O.U. Committee to be derived 
 from the root of A-aXo?, ' talkative/ and cano, c I sing.' In France 
 it is Eossignol ; in Portugal, Rouxinol ; in Spain, Ruisenor ; in 
 Germany, Naclitigall, which latter, as well as our ' Nightingale,' 
 is derived (as Pennant informs us) from Nacht, ' night,' and the 
 Saxon word yalan, ' to sing ;' not, however, that it is silent 
 during the day, but then the chorus of voices, loud and shrill 
 and numerous, drown it so that it cannot so readily be distin- 
 guished as in the witching hour of twilight, when other songsters 
 are hushed in repose. Not everywhere, however, is the Nightin- 
 gale known as a songster. In Egypt, to which it retires for the 
 winter, its voice, except its somewhat harsh alarm-note, is un- 
 known; just as the Redwing the 'Swedish Nightingale' though 
 notorious for its vocal powers in Norway and Sweden, is never 
 recognised while in its winter quarters here as capable of song.* 
 It is sad to think what vast numbers are caught in England by 
 the professional bird-catcher ; and that the modern inhabitants 
 of Malta, appreciating it more for the delicacy of its flesh than for 
 the quality of its song, persecute it unrelentingly ,f with about as 
 * Selby's ' Illustrations of British Ornithology,' vol. i., p. 207. 
 f Mr. C. A. Wright in Ibis for 1864, p. 66. 
 
158 Silviadce. 
 
 much sense as the unreasoning Roman epicure of old attempted 
 to gratify his palate with a dish of nightingales' tongues. But 
 strange to say, persecution does not seem to thin its numbers. 
 Mr. Morres speaks of them as quite abundant near Salisbury ; 
 .and though I have never known them in such profusion in north 
 Wilts, I have seen and heard them in many localities there ; and 
 in the oak copses of Sussex, and the leafy lanes of Surrey, I have 
 found them in great force. But in Portugal, and especially at 
 Cintra, and on the banks of the Lima in Minho, they positively 
 swarmed ; while in the Ionian Islands, Corfu, and many portions 
 of the Grecian coast, their numbers are astonishing. 
 
 50. BLACKCAP WARBLER (Curruca atricapilla). 
 
 This active little warbler is second only to the nightingale in 
 song, and being a regular summer visitant to our gardens and 
 orchards, as well as hedgerows, is known to most observers. Its 
 .general colour is ash-gray, but the jet-black head of the male and 
 the brown head of the female mark it at once from all others. 
 Insects and fruit are its favourite food, but few will quarrel with 
 it on the latter account, as it makes ample amends for any petty 
 thefts it may commit in the garden by the quantities of various 
 kinds of insects which infest fruit-trees, upon which it feeds its 
 young, as well as by the sweetness of its song, and its interesting 
 and engaging manners. Montagu designated it the ' Mock 
 Nightingale,' and Harting says it has been called the 'contralto 
 singer among birds,' and this title is certainly not undeserved.* 
 In Germany it is provincially called the ' Monk/ in allusion to 
 the hooded appearance of both male and female; and in the 
 Azores the female is known as c Red Hood ;' otherwise in all 
 Continental languages it derives its name, as with us, from its 
 black head. In France it is Bee-fin d tete noir; in Germany, 
 Schwarzkopfige Grasmucke ; in Italy, Capinera commune; in 
 Portugal, tutinegra for toutanegra, i.e., 'black poll;' in Sweden, 
 Svart hufvad Sdngare. It is a timid bird and very restless, 
 scarcely stationary an instant, except when it pours forth its 
 ' Birds of Middlesex,' p. 49. 
 
Garden Warbler. 159 
 
 rich and clear notes from the top of some tree or bush. The 
 Rev. G. Marsh thought, it not very common in Wiltshire, but 
 my own observation does not agree here, as I see it frequently in 
 many parts of the county ; and it arrives at Yatesbury, as well 
 .as in the neighbourhood of Devizes, regularly every spring in 
 some numbers. 
 
 51. GARDEN WARBLER (Curruca kortensis). 
 
 Though closely resembling in general colour and appearance 
 several others of this family, the Garden Warbler may on com- 
 parison be distinguished from its congeners by its superior size, 
 being nearly an inch longer than any other species answering to 
 the same description. Its plumage is grayish-green above, and 
 .greenish-yellow below; it is even more restless, more shy, and 
 more retiring than the last described, and is at least equally 
 common. It frequents the same localities, has the same pro- 
 pensity for fruit, and is an excellent songster ; hence it is called 
 by Bechstein Bastard Nachtigall, the ' Spurious Nightingale/ 
 In Sweden it is, as with us, Trddgdrds Sdngare, ' the Garden 
 Warbler; in France, Bee-fin Fauvette; in Germany, Graue Gras- 
 mucke, ' Gray Grassfly ; in Italy, Beccafico cenerino, l Ash- 
 coloured Fig-pecker.' 
 
 This and the two following species are indiscriminately called 
 * Nettle Creepers ' by our Wiltshire lads. It is the ' Greater 
 Fauvette or Pettychaps' of Willoughby, Pennant, Latham, 
 Montagu, Bewick, and our earlier ornithologists ; and it is the 
 famous ' Beccafico,' so highly prized as an epicure's morsel in 
 Italy and France. But though so much esteemed, and conse- 
 quently so much sought after, it is wonderful in what vast 
 numbers it appears every spring throughout Western Europe. 
 In Italy it may be seen exposed for sale in every market ; and 
 in Malta, as many as a hundred dozen are sometimes brought in 
 at a time.* Montagu says of it : 'In Wiltshire, where I have 
 found this species not uncommon, it resorts to gardens in the 
 
 Mr. C. A. Wright in Ibis for 1861, p. 67. 
 
160 Silviadcu. 
 
 latter end of summer, together with the Whitethroat and Black- 
 cap, for the sake of currants and other fruit.' 
 
 52. COMMON WHITETHROAT (Curruca cinerea). 
 
 This is the commonest of all our little summer warblers, and 
 may be seen in every shady lane or thick hedge, almost in every 
 bramble and bed of nettles. Its head and back are light brown, 
 under parts dusky white slightly tinged with rose-red ; in habits 
 it resembles its congeners previously described ; but it has one- 
 peculiarity, which consists in its often singing on the wing, as it 
 rises with a very peculiar flight, sailing round in little circles, till 
 it attains a considerable height in the air, and then descends, 
 slowly to the same spot whence it started ; at other times it will 
 erect its crest, puff out its throat, stretch its neck, and exhibit 
 every mark of excitement and defiance, while it seems to strain 
 every nerve to raise its voice above its rivals. 
 
 The generic name, Curt^uca, if derived from the Latin, and 
 signifying ' the runner,' may, I suppose, with sufficient accuracy,, 
 describe its rapid movements at the bottom of the thickest 
 hedges. In France it is Bee-fin grisette, and in Sweden Grd 
 Sdngare, which are mere translations of the specific name 
 cinerea. In Germany, too, it is Fahle Grasmucke, ' Ash-coloured 
 Grass-fly;' but in Portugal it is known as Pcqm-amoras, 
 literally ' Blackberry or Mulberry Eater.'* Mr. Tait adds that its. 
 disappearance in October coincides Avith that of the blackberries,, 
 of which it is gluttonously fond ; and it is probable that many 
 blackberry plants are dispersed by seeds dropped by this bird. 
 
 In Wiltshire it is popularly known as the ' Nettle Creeper/ 
 from its partiality to ditches and banks where nettles abound ; 
 and there it delights to make its semi-transparent nest, mooring 
 it to the stems of nettles, much as the Reed Warbler attaches 
 her nest to the reeds on the banks of streams. Though undoubt- 
 edly fond of fruit, it confers untold benefits on man by its. 
 wholesale destruction of caterpillars, aphides, and other destruc- 
 tive insects. 
 
 His for 1887, p. 90, Mr. W. C. Tait en the Birds o Portugal. 
 
Lesser Whitetkroat. 161 
 
 53. LESSER WHITETHROAT (Curruca sylviella). 
 
 Quite as common in Wiltshire, if not more so, than the last, 
 with which it is often confounded. Indeed, the eggs of this and 
 the preceding species form a large proportion of the whole on 
 every schoolboy's string a table, by the way, of no mean autho- 
 rity in calculating the abundance or rarity of any species in any 
 particular locality. It is even more retiring than its larger 
 namesake, and creeps away out of sight among the brambles the 
 instant it is discovered, threading its way with the rapidity and 
 adroitness of the mouse. From the peculiar character of its 
 note, a low soft warble, it is called the ' Babbling Warbler,' and 
 by Continental naturalists, ' C. garrula' and ' Bee-fin babillard ;' 
 and from the clicking sounds with which it repeats its call-note, 
 ' Klapp, klapp, klapp,' which much resembles the sound emitted 
 from the clapper attached to the little windmills one often sees 
 placed in gardens to scare away sparrows and other birds, it has 
 obtained in Germany the name of Klapper Grasmiicke, and 
 provincially of Weismuller, ( White Miller,' and Mullercken or 
 * Little Miller.' In Sweden it is known as Art Sdngare, or 'Pea 
 Warbler/ so called from its frequenting the pea-fields, for which 
 it has a great partiality.* The Wiltshire ploughboy, who is not 
 appreciative of the minute distinctions which mark the species, 
 knows this, too, by the name of ' Nettle Creeper/ to which per- 
 haps it is even more entitled than its larger congener, inasmuch 
 as it is more ready to escape observation by hiding in the bed of 
 nettles, which offers so convenient and so- effectual a shelter. 
 This appears to be the Pettychaps of (Gilbert White. -f- Pro- 
 fessor Newton observes that the repetition of notes which 
 have been syllabled as ' Sip, sip, sip/ is almost incessant, espe - 
 cially if the weather be sultry ; and that it continues its song 
 much later in the summer than any of its congeners,! while 
 Harting not only says its song is less powerful than that of the 
 Common White throat, but is merely a kind of convulsive 'laugh 
 
 * Lloyd's 'Scandinavian Adventures,' vol. ii., p. 299. 
 
 t Harting's ' Sketches of Bird Life,' p. 70. 
 
 Fourth edition of YarrelFs ' British Birds/ vol. i., p. 411. 
 
 11 
 
162 Silviadcv. 
 
 or call.* Montagu says that he observed the arrival of this bird 
 in Wiltshire for several years together, and that it ranged from 
 April 21st to May 10th. 
 
 54. WOOD WARBLER (Sylvia sylvicola'). 
 
 Extremely difficult is it to identify this pretty little bird from 
 its two congeners, more particularly from the one next to be 
 described : both are graceful and elegant, and frequent woods and 
 plantations ; both have a plumage of gray-green above, and prim- 
 rose yellow below ; both feed on insects, and sing sweetly from 
 the top of some tall tree. There are, however, several marks by 
 which we may distinguish them ; on close examination we shall 
 find that the Wood Warbler has a purer green on the upper 
 parts of its body, and more white on its under plumage, while 
 the Willow Warbler has more yellow : and again, the nest of the 
 Wood Warbler is always lined with fine grass and hair, while 
 that of the Willow Warbler contains feathers. 
 
 Perhaps nobody has more clearly pointed out in few words the 
 marks by which the three British Willow Wrens may best be 
 distinguished from each other than Mr. Harting, who says: (1) 
 The Wood Wren is the largest of the three ; it has comparatively 
 the longest wings, and the longest tail : in colour it is much 
 greener above and of a purer white beneath than either of its 
 congeners; legs flesh-coloured. (2) The Willov; Wren is the 
 yellowest of the three species ; legs also flesh-coloured. (3) The 
 Chiff Chaff is the smallest of the three ; wings remarkably short ; 
 colour greenish-brown above, white tinged with yellow benea-t/i ; 
 legs hair-brown.f Compare with this the Swedish names by 
 which these birds are designated: (1) Wood Warbler, Gr<"m 
 Sdngare or Green Warbler; (2) Willow Warbler, Lof Sdngare 
 or Leaf Warbler; and (3) Chiff Chaff, Gi'd brustad Sdngare , 
 Yellow-breasted Warbler; and we have their respective points 
 of distinction pretty accurately expressed. 
 
 To Gilbert White is due the credit of separating and calling 
 
 * 'Birds of Middlesex/ p. 51. 
 
 t Harting's edition of White's ' Selborne,' p. 57. 
 
Wood Warbler. 163 
 
 attention to the points of difference between these closely allied 
 species, and his 19th letter to Pennant is entirely occupied with 
 this subject. It is with him ' the Larger Willow Wren/ and he 
 describes it as a trifle larger than its congeners : he also calls atten- 
 tion to its remarkable tremulous note, in consequence of which he 
 calls it the ' Sibilous Pettychaps.' In France it is generally known 
 as Sec-fin Siffleur; and Sibilatrix, ' one that hisses or whistles/ is 
 the specific name by which it is generally known to Continental 
 naturalists. This is certainly to be preferred to the somewhat 
 unfortunate name it bears here ; for Sylvia, ' a wood bird/ and 
 Sylvicola, ' an inhabitant of woods/ is not a very happy or de- 
 scriptive title. This is the Regulus non cristatus major of 
 Willoughby ; but Montagu having in 1790 carefully observed this 
 species at Easton Grey in North Wilts, furnished an account 
 of it in 1796 to the Linnean Society, under the name of Sylvia 
 sylvicola. 
 
 In Malta it is styled Bti-fula, 'father of a bean/ from its 
 partiality to the olive and carob trees, where it finds both shelter 
 and the insect -food suited to its taste. It also frequents the fig 
 and almond trees when in leaf, the colour of whose foliage mostly 
 assimilates to its own plumage, and renders it not easy of 
 detection when at rest ;* hence its scientific name. It is not so 
 numerous as the other species, but it visits us annually, and I 
 have occasionally met with its nest near Devizes, as well as in my 
 own parish of Yatesbury. Mr. Morres says that it is not common 
 in his district near Salisbury ; but that it has been recognised at 
 Mere and Stourton, and near Warminster. 
 
 55. WILLOW WARBLER (Sylvia trochilus). 
 
 This is by far the most abundant of the genus, and may be 
 seen in every plantation and hedgerow, but chiefly in meadows 
 intersected with streams and watercourses which give birth to 
 osiers and willows, for amongst these it delights to revel. In 
 addition to the points of difference mentioned above, it far 
 
 * Mr. C. A. Wright's ' Birds of Malta/ in Ilia for 1864, p. 70. 
 
 112 
 
164 Silviadce. 
 
 surpasses its congeners in song ; indeed, so sweet and musical arc 
 its notes, as to give it the sobriquet of the ' Warbling Pettychaps,' 
 and 'Melodious Willow Wren/ Gilbert White says it has a 
 'joyous, easy, laughing note; it is constantly in motion, flitting 
 from branch to branch, in search of the smaller insects that con- 
 stitute its food: for this and its congeners are perpetually em- 
 ployed in the destruction of Aphides or insect blight, which are 
 so injurious to our fruit and other trees, and sometimes threaten 
 to overwhelm them with their numbers; but little account is 
 taken by short-sighted man of the incalculable benefits which 
 these insect-eating birds confer upon him. All the Willow 
 Warblers live entirely on insect-diet, and never eat fruit or 
 berries, though they often frequent the fruit trees in search of 
 their insect prey. The specific name trochilus is given in the 
 B.O.TJ. Catalogue, as if 'a runner;' but if this is the correct 
 derivation, the name does not appear to be very happily chosen. 
 It is derived from rpiy^u, ' I run,' and is the same name as that 
 given by Herodotus to the Crocodile bird, the 'Spur-winged 
 Plover' (Charadrius spinosus), which was supposed to pick the 
 leeches from the open mouth of that formidable reptile. In 
 France it is from its singing powers known as Le Chant-re as 
 well as Bee-fin PouiUot ; in Sweden it is Lof-Sdnyare, ' Leaf 
 Warbler.' Why it is called 'Willow' Warbler is not quite ap- 
 parent, though for this several sufficient reasons may be found. 
 Perhaps, says Mr. Harting, from its partiality to willows and 
 the aphides which abound on them ; perhaps from its prevailing 
 green colour ; perhaps from its arrival as the willow is budding.* 
 From its domed or hooded nest, with a large hole at the side, 
 both this species and its congeners are sometimes known as 
 ' Oven birds.' 
 
 56. CHIFF CHAFF (Silvia Itippolais). 
 
 This is one of our earliest spring arrivals, and may be readily 
 recognised on reaching us, for alone of its congeners it makes 
 its appearance early in April, sometimes even in the last week of 
 
 ' Our Summer Migrants,' p. 25. 
 
Chiff Chaff. 165 
 
 March ; indeed, next to the Wheatear, it is the earliest migrant 
 to tell us that spring is at hand. And, again, it may be distin- 
 guished by the peculiar monotonous song of two notes which it 
 begins to utter immediately on arrival, and which it continues 
 to repeat throughout the summer, and whence it derives its 
 name; ' Chiff Chaff/ 'Chip Chop,' 'Choice and Cheap/ 'Twit 
 Twit/ 'Fit Fit/ being some of the syllables which various 
 observers have applied to it, and which it continues to pour 
 forth incessantly, even in the bleakest and most boisterous 
 weather, from the top of some tall tree or leafless branch. It is 
 distinguished from its congeners in France by the title of Bee-fin 
 a poitrinejaune, and in Sweden as Gul-brostad Sdngare, 'Yellow 
 breasted Warbler/ Hippolais is derived by the B.O.U. Committee 
 from uro + Xaag, a name originally given by Aristotle to some 
 bird from its habit of creeping under stones. But Professor 
 Newton bestows* on it the specific name of Collubita, from 
 xoiJ.vGiffrfa, ' a money-changer/ a name given it by Vieillot, 
 because in some parts of Normandy it was called, from its note, 
 ' Compteur d' argent.' 
 
 It is the smallest of the three species, and differs very little 
 from the last, but may always be distinguished by the dark 
 colour of its legs and feet, those of the Willow Warbler being of 
 a pale brown : it is much more familiar than its congeners, and 
 as it reaches us before the trees and hedges are in leaf, is more 
 frequently seen and better known. It is the ' Lesser Pettychaps' 
 of Gilbert White and Montagu, and in truth it does resemble, 
 though on a much smaller scale, the ' Greater Pettychaps/ as 
 they called the ' Garden Warbler.' It is a very sprightly and 
 active as well as hardy bird, and does not leave us till October, 
 being one of the last to depart as it was one of the first to arrive 
 here. It winters in Algeria, and Egypt and North Africa gene- 
 rally, assembling in countless multitudes, and spreading over the 
 cornfields and gardens until its short winter is past. 
 
 * Professor Newton in fourth edition of Yarrell's ' British Birds/ vol. i., 
 p. 442. 
 
166 Silvia dee. 
 
 57. DARTFORD WARBLER (Melizophilus Dartfordiensis). 
 
 The name Melizophilus is explained by the compilers of the 
 B.O.U. list of British Birds to mean 'song-loving/ from ,*/./>>, 
 ' I warble,' and p/Xg*;, ' I love ' ; and undatus, one of its accepted 
 specific names, as ' marked with waves/ undce. As to the 
 quality of its song, there is a wide difference of opinion, some 
 calling it harsh and unmusical, and some describing it as sweet 
 and plaintive ; but there is no question that it is prolonged and 
 almost incessant, so the 'song-lover' may apply sufficiently well. 
 But as to the ' wave-markings/ they must have reference, I sup- 
 pose, to the plumage, and these can belong only to the 'chestnut 
 brown chin, which in autumn is mottled with white undulations, 
 which disappear in spring ;'* but this seems but a feeble cause 
 for so pronounced a name. This pretty little warbler frequents 
 the downs and commons abounding in furze, in the thickest 
 parts of which it will conceal itself, and over which it will hover 
 on outstretched wing while it utters its short hurried note. It 
 is a hardy bird, and remains here throughout the year : its body 
 is very small, scarcely exceeding that of the common wren, but 
 its great length of tail gives it the appearance of superior bulk ; 
 the general colour of its plumage is dark brown above and 
 chestnut brown beneath. Mr. Withers informed me that some 
 years since, several of these birds were shot annually by Mr. 
 Edwards at Amesbury ; they were decoyed from the midst of the 
 bush wherein they concealed themselves by a certain noise made 
 by Mr. Edwards, when they rose to the top spray and were easily 
 killed. The Rev. G. Marsh was also informed by the man who pro- 
 cured the specimen in his collection, that by imitating their note 
 he could bring these birds to the top of the furze, and that he had 
 so killed three in one morning in the neighbourhood of Chippen- 
 ham. Mr. Baker sees them on the downs near Mere, where they are 
 almost certain to be roused from the gorse when the hounds are 
 drawing the cover ; and I have other instances before me of its 
 
 Professor Newton in fourth edition of Yarrell's ' British Birds ' vol. i , 
 p. 404. 
 
Golden-Crested Regains. 167 
 
 occurrence in Wiltshire, which is one of the counties given by 
 Professor Newton as its abode.* But, in truth, wherever there 
 are open downs or heaths covered with furze, there I suspect this 
 shy solitude-loving species will be found by the patient watcher. 
 Montagu, who devoted much attention to this bird, says, that 
 'when roosting at night, like the Long-tailed Titmouse, they 
 assembled with a plaintive cry at a convenient spot chosen for 
 the night, and then each strove for an inner berth.' By day, he 
 pronounced them most active, almost in perpetual motion, 
 throwing themselves into various attitudes and gesticulations, 
 erecting the crest and tail at intervals, accompanied by a double 
 or triple cry, which seemed to express the words, ' Cha, cha, cha.' 
 Buffon called it ' Le Pitchou de Provence ; and it was there and 
 in other districts of Southern France, more especially on the 
 shores of the Kiviera near Cannes, that I first became acquainted 
 with it, though I afterwards became very familiar with it in 
 other southern lands. 
 
 58. GOLDEN CRESTED REGULUS (Regulus cr-wtatus). 
 
 Regulus, the diminutive of rex, as if ( a little king,' or 'kinglet ;' 
 in France, Roitelet ; and Kungs Vogel, or ' King's Bird,' in 
 Sweden, in whose vast forests it abounds as far north as the pine- 
 woods grow ; in Italy, regolo; but in Portugal, estrellinha, ' little 
 star.' Well known to everyone is this charming little favourite, 
 the smallest and most fairy-like of all our British birds ; three 
 inches and a half only in length, and 75 grains in weight, yet it 
 braves the cold of winter, and remains with us throughout the 
 year. Its numbers, however, are considerably increased in 
 autumn by the arrival of large flocks on the Eastern coast, which 
 reach our shores from Scandinavia early in October, and hence 
 the little bird is known in Yorkshire as the ' W T oodcock Pilot.'f 
 as it seems to lead the way to that species, so eagerly expected 
 by the sportsman and the epicure. It is almost inconceivable 
 
 * Professor Newton in fourth edition of Yarrell's ' British Birds,' vol. i., 
 p. 399. 
 
 t Cordeaux's ' Birds of the Humber District,' p. 37. 
 
168 ^ Siluiadcv. 
 
 how these delicate and fragile-looking creatures can accomplish 
 so long and weary a flight over so rough and stormy a sea as a 
 passage over the North Sea in autumn generally is, as I know 
 by experience ; but that they do manage it cannot be doubted, 
 as they have been repeatedly watched both on passage and on 
 arrival. It prefers fir plantations, but may be seen in hedgerows 
 and gardens ; it is incessant in motion, hopping from branch to 
 branch, now clinging to the under boughs of the firs with back 
 downwards, in search of its insect food wherein it closely resem- 
 bles the titmice, with which it often associates now hovering 
 over a twig or flower, suspended in the air, and fluttering its 
 wings, and all the while singing melodiously; wherein it re- 
 sembles the little warblers last described, and so forming a link 
 between the two families. Its colours are brownish-green and 
 greenish-yellow, while its head is ornamented with a stripe of 
 long silky feathers, yellow tipped with orange, forming a golden 
 crown. It abounds in this county, as I know by personal 
 observation, and it sometimes breeds in my garden, suspending 
 its nest below the bough of a yew-tree. There is another species, 
 of whose occurrence in Wilts I have no certain tidings, with 
 which it may easily be confounded, known as the ' Fire-crested 
 Regulus,' or 'Firecrest' (Regulus ignicapillus). It may, how- 
 ever, on examination be distinguished ; for, as Mr. Harting con- 
 cisely points out, ' The Firecrest invariably has a white line both 
 above and below the eye, and a black line running through tho 
 eye. Hence Temminck calls it Roitelet a triple bandeau. These 
 three lines are absent in the Goldcrest.'* 
 
 PARIM: (THE TITMICE). 
 
 Exceedingly interesting are all the members of this pert, active 
 family, ever restless, creeping and running and flitting from 
 bough to bough in quest of insect food, careless whether they 
 are hanging beneath or climbing along, or running up or down 
 the branch; hardy too, for they are all permanent residents 
 * ' Birds of Middlesex,' p. 5G. 
 
Great Titmouse. 
 
 here, chattering, and bold and familiar and pugnacious withaL 
 There are no better friends to the gardener than the bold 
 Titmice which we see around us, so constantly employed in 
 searching for spiders, earwigs, woodlice, and all manner of 
 destructive insects, which they hunt for among the leaves and 
 pick out from the crevices of the bark as they run over the 
 branches. The original sense of the word Tit (says Professor 
 Skeat) is merely something small, as titlark, 'little lark;' tit- 
 mouse, t little mouse,' etc. The genus Parus contains in all 
 seven species, of which five are to be found abundantly in Wilt- 
 shire, the remaining two the ' Crested Tit ' (Parus cristatus) 
 and the 'Bearded Tit' (Parus biarmicus) being of very rare 
 occurrence in England, and no instance having reached me of 
 the appearance of either of them in this county. 
 
 59. GREAT TITMOUSE (Parus major). 
 
 First in point of size, and therefore at the head of the family, 
 stands this well-known bird, whose peculiar markings and well- 
 contrasted colours render it unmistakable. The black head, 
 white cheeks, and yellow breast, parted down the middle by 
 a broad black stripe, distinguish it at once from all others. 
 The Great Tit is to be found in every wooded district, and 
 it clears the buds and leaves of trees from an incredible 
 number of insects ; but it loves fruit as well, and being some- 
 what bold, fierce, and bloodthirsty, will occasionally vary its 
 diet with the flesh of some bird which it has done to death 
 with its sharp beak, and whose bones it picks with wonderful 
 skill. In Sweden it is known as Kiod Meise, or the 'Meat 
 Titmouse,' from its penchant for scraps of meat where it can 
 iind them, a taste which it shares with other members of the 
 family. In that country, as in England, during summer it 
 frequents woods and coppices; but in the autumn it collects 
 about the houses, ' to live amongst people/ as the peasants 
 express it : and when it comes to their dwellings, and, as they 
 say, picltar Jcittet af ylassn, ' picks the putty from the windows/ 
 
170 Paridcc. 
 
 the near approach of winter may be confidently expected.* Its 
 note is a loud cheep, followed by a harsh chatter ; but in spring 
 and early summer this changes to a curious see-saw note, not 
 unlike the sound produced by sharpening a saw with a file 
 hence in some parts of England it is known as the ' Sawsharper.' 
 These notes are very loud for so small a bird, and may be heard 
 at a great distance.-)- This species is noted for the strange 
 places it will sometimes select for its nest. In my garden at 
 Yatesbury it has for several consecutive years selected a spot 
 within a bee-house, just outside one of the bee-boxes, containing 
 a hive of bees in full activity : and here it piles up an extra- 
 ordinary mass of moss and cowhair, and on the top it places its 
 soft nest of feathers, and has hitherto always been fortunate in 
 bringing off its brood in safety ; but whether or no the bees 
 always escape, and whether they approve as a neighbour so 
 determined a persecutor of the insect race, is not quite so 
 apparent. In France it is La Grosse Mesange, or Charbonuiere ; 
 in Spain and Portugal, Carbonero, all with the meaning of 
 ' Charcoal-burner.' In Italy it is Cinciallegra maggwre, and in 
 Germany Kohlmeise. In Portugal, however, where it is very 
 abundant, it is more correctly known as Cedovem. Mr. Tait 
 says that in that country it begins to sing its peculiar note in 
 February, and, according to the country people, seems to say, 
 Semeia linho, semeia linho * Sow flax, sow flax ' indicating that 
 the time has come for that seed. They believe that when the 
 bird sings much it is a sign of an abundant harvest, and that it 
 also says, Tudo bem, tudo bem ' All's well, all's well.' He remarks 
 also that it is the only species which he has observed eating the 
 procession caterpillar, the hairs of which are well known to be 
 highly irritant to the human skin, and Par us major must there- 
 fore have a strong throat, gizzard, and stomach. J 
 
 * Lloyd's ' Scandinavian Adventures,' vol. ii., p. 306. 
 
 t Harting's ' Sketches of Bird Life/ p. 89. 
 
 J Mr. W. C. Tait on the ' Birds of Portugal/ Ibis for 1887, p. 183. 
 
Blue Titmouse. 171 
 
 60. BLUE TITMOUSE (Parus cceruleus). 
 
 Commonly called the 'Tom Tit,' and as well known by its 
 blue cap and pert appearance as by its lively active habits. 
 Like the Great Tit, its efforts are directed not against the buds 
 and blossoms, with which it is so often charged, but against 
 the larvse and eggs of the insect tribe, which are therein 
 deposited in incredible quantities, and which these useful little 
 birds seek out and consume. It is, for its size, the most 
 bold and pugnacious of the feathered race, and will attack 
 and sometimes kill birds much larger and heavier than itself. 
 It is known to village boys as ' Billy Biter,' from the severe 
 bite or pinch with which it will punish the fingers of the 
 incautious lad who seeks to take its nest from the hole of some 
 tree. In Norfolk it is popularly called ' Pick-cheese.' The Blue 
 Tit is remarkable even among the Titmice for the singular and 
 even grotesque attitudes it assumes in seeking its insect prey, 
 now hanging head downwards, now scrambling underneath a decid 
 branch, as if it were walking on a ceiling, and with its tiny but 
 strong bill chipping off a fragment of the loose dead bark.* In 
 France it is Mesange bleue ; in Germany, Blaumeise ; in Sweden, 
 Bld-mes, equivalent to our ' Blue Titmouse ;' but in Italy it is 
 Cinciallegra piccola, and in Portugal Cedovem pequeno, as it 
 were Parus minor. It is so constantly before our eyes that I 
 need say no more of its appearance or habits, 
 
 61. COAL TITMOUSE (Parus ater). 
 
 Not so common as the two last species, but generally dis- 
 tributed, and of similar habits. It closely resembles in appear- 
 ance the Marsh Tit, next to be described, both having black 
 heads, white cheeks, and grayish olive- green backs ; but the 
 Coal Titmouse may at once be recognised by the irregular white 
 patch at the back of its neck, which is totally wanting in the 
 Marsh Tit. In France it is called Mesange petite Charbonniere, 
 the Great Tit bearing the title of Mesange Charbonniere; in 
 * ' Gamekeeper at Home,' p. 79. 
 
172 Paridw. 
 
 Sweden, where it braves the severe winter and does not seem 
 affected by the intense cold, it is known as Svart Mes. Professor 
 Newton has pointed out that in like manner (and as the specific 
 name ater indicates), ' Coal,' and not ' Cole/ Titmouse is the correct 
 English name. In Germany it is Tanne Meise, ' Fir-tree Tit- 
 mouse;' in Spain, Herrerillo, 'Little Blacksmith.' 
 
 62. MARSH TITMOUSE (Pams palustris). 
 
 The specific name points out the localities which this Tit 
 frequents. I should say it is not so common in this county as 
 the last at least, I have not met with it quite so often ; but 
 wherever there is moist ground, and alders and willows flourish, 
 there it may frequently be seen. Mr. Cecil Smith says that he 
 has seen it busily engaged in eating the berries of the honey- 
 suckle, occasionally picking one off and holding it in its claw like 
 the parrot, while it was getting out all the edible parts.* It 
 makes its nest in holes and sometimes in the scrubby heads of old 
 pollard willows. In Germany it is, as with us, Sumpfmefa, the 
 ' Marsh Titmouse ;' in France, from its sombre dress and black 
 hood, La Nonnette, ' the Little Nun ;' in Italy, CinoiaUegra 
 cinerea ; and in Spain it shares, with the species last described, 
 the name Herrerillo. 
 
 63. LONG-TAILED TITMOUSE (Parus caudatus). 
 This very ball of feathers with a long tail is common in all 
 woods, and may be found in hedgerows, but rarely visits our 
 gardens. Its body is scarcely bigger than that of the ' Golden- 
 Crested Eegulus,' but its very long tail and its habit of puffing 
 out its feathers give it an appearance of greater size than it 
 really possesses. Its beautiful oval nest, so cleverly formed of 
 moss and wool, coated with lichen and lined with feathers, is 
 the greatest marvel of the kind we possess in this country, and 
 in this snug cradle it will rear twelve or more young ; and in the 
 winter months you may see the whole family, including the 
 parents, flitting with undulating movements from tree to tree 
 'Birds of Somersetshire,' p. 128. 
 
Long -tailed Titmouse. 173 
 
 lience deriving the specific name vagans attributed to it by some 
 authors following in a long line, and keeping up a shrill and 
 incessant cry of Twit twit, and anon hanging in an inverted 
 position from the ends of the small twigs while in search of 
 insect food. Montagu relates that he once observed a brood of 
 twelve on a July evening as it became dusk, apparently very 
 restless, when, on the utterance of a single note by one, and as 
 instantaneously repeated by the whole, they assembled in a 
 moment and huddled on a branch so close together as to appear 
 like a ball of down.* The specific name seems in all languages 
 to refer to its long tail, as caudatus, and our own ' Long-tailed 
 Tit.' In France it is Mesange a longue queue; in Germany, 
 .Schwanzmeise ; in Italy, Codibugnolo ; in Holland, Staartmees ; 
 and in Sweden, Stjert Mes. It is sometimes called provincially 
 1 Bottle Tit ' and ' Bottle Tom ' from the shape of its nest, and in 
 this county is generally styled ' Huckmuck,' a truly Wiltshire 
 word, the derivation of which I cannot fathom. 
 
 AMPELID/E (WAXWINGS). 
 
 Of the family of Fruit-eaters we have but one single example 
 occurring in England ; their characteristics are short bill but 
 wide gape, enabling them to swallow whole the large berries 
 and fruits on which they feed ; and short legs and feet formed 
 for perching, as they are never seen on the ground. The mean- 
 ing of the family name Ampelidce is really 'fruit-eaters,' or, 
 literally, birds which frequent a//^/^, ' the vine.' The single 
 species visiting us is styled the 
 
 64. BOHEMIAN WAXWING (Bombycilla garrula). 
 
 Called also the ' Silktail,' and ' Chatterer ;' it is a winter 
 visitant, and though it occasionally conies in some numbers, it is 
 by no means regular or periodical in its arrival ; an interval of 
 several years often elapsing between its visits. It is recorded by 
 Ray to have appeared in this country in large flocks in the 
 winter of 1685 ; Gilbert White records its visit in 1767 ; Bewick 
 ' Ornithological Dictionary,' Supplement. 
 
174 Ampelidce. 
 
 in 1790, 1791 ; Selby in 1810, 1822, and 1823 ; Yarreli in 1830, 
 1831, 1834, and 1835 ; and Professor Newton that while scarcely 
 a year passes without the arrival of some individuals, the winters, 
 of 1830-31, 1834-35, 1849-50, and 1866-67 were remarkable for 
 the numerous occurrences of this species. Subsequently to this, 
 they have appeared in force in the winters of 1N72-73, and in 
 1882-83. Its true habitat is Northern Asia and the North- 
 eastern parts of Europe, where thirty years since Mr. Wolley 
 discovered its nest and eggs, which up to that time were un- 
 known to science. I happened to be in Paris when I heard that 
 this discovery of 1856 had been followed up in 1858 by the 
 taking by Mr. Wolley and his collectors of no less than 150- 
 nests, containing 666 eggs ; and soon after, chancing to call on 
 the well-known naturalist, M. Parzudaki, I communicated ta 
 him this interesting piece of bird news, and never shall I forget 
 the passion into which he worked himself, the mixture of envy, 
 vexation, and indignation, not unmixed with admiration, with 
 which this hot-tempered but enthusiastic ornithologist received 
 the intelligence, as he marched up and down the room, shrugging 
 his shoulders and throwing up his arms as he exclaimed over 
 and over again : ' Six cent soixant six, six cent soixant six,' the 
 real cause of his fury being that Mr. Wolley at this time declined 
 to sell any of these eggs, but sent them all to England, and none 
 were to be had by M. Parzudaki and his friends in Paris.* 
 
 It is a handsome, gay bird, of a cinnamon- brown colour, tinged 
 with red ; the feathers on the head are long and silky in texture, 
 forming a crest : but the peculiarity from which it takes its name 
 consists in its having on the tips of the wing quill-feathers, littlo 
 flat scarlet horny appendages, exactly resembling drops of red 
 sealing-wax ; the tail-feathers are tipped with pale yellow. The- 
 specific name, garrula, and one of its common sobriquets, 
 * Chatterer/ would seem to proclaim it at once as of noisy habits - 
 but this, Professor Newton points out, is by no means the case>. 
 
 * For a most interesting and detailed report of the breeding of the Wax wing 
 see Ibis for 1861, pp. 92-106 ; and Ibis for 1862, p. 295. Also Professor 
 Newton in fourth edition of Terrell's * British Birds,' vol. i., pp. 528-533. 
 
Bohemian Waxwing. 175 
 
 for, on the contrary, it is a remarkably silent bird ; but it was so 
 called from its likeness to that notorious chatterer, the Jay, 
 (Garrulus glandarius). For the same reason it is known in 
 France as Grand Jaseur, ' Great Chatterer.' But in Sweden and 
 Germany, where it is better known, it derives its name from the 
 red, horny, or parchment-like appendages the existence of 
 which, so says Lloyd, seems to have been somewhat overlooked 
 by English naturalists but which, as the bird advances in years, 
 make their appearance at the extremity of the yellow at the end 
 of the tail-feathers ; and these increase annually in size and 
 number. It is only, continues Lloyd, when these red excres- 
 cences are fully developed that the Waxwing can lay claim to 
 its present pretensions that of being the most beautiful of all 
 Scandinavian birds. Hence the generic name Bombycilla, 
 * silky tail,' and the Swedish Siden svans, and the German 
 Seidenschivanz. Its natural food appears to be the berries of 
 the hawthorn, juniper, and mountain-ash; and it usually asso- 
 ciates in flocks. I was told in Norway that this bird visits that 
 country also at irregular periods, many years sometimes elapsing 
 between its visits. It was as abundant throughout Scandinavia 
 in 1850 as it was here. I have many notices of its occurrence 
 in this county. The Rev. G. Marsh has seen it in the woods at 
 Winterslow, and stated that a pair were killed in Clarendon Park 
 in 1820. Mr. Withers told me that many were killed at Potterne 
 in 1850. The Rev. H. Hare, of Bradford, sent me notice of one 
 killed in his field December 7th, 1857, while engaged in picking 
 hawberries from a hedge. Colonel Ward saw one in his garden 
 at Castle House, Calne, in the month of February, about 1865. 
 The late Mr. Butler, of Kennett, a very careful observer of birds, 
 told me he had seen a party of five or six of this beautiful 
 species in some trees in his neighbourhood about I860. The. 
 Rev. A. P. Morres records one shot by Mr. Fussle at Corsley x 
 about two miles from Warminster, and brought to Mr. King, of 
 that town, for preservation about forty years ago ; and the Marl- 
 borough College Reports speak of one observed at Draycot in 
 1864. 
 
176 MotacillidoB. 
 
 MOTACILLIM) (THE WAGTAILS). 
 
 Graceful and elegant are the epithets best suited to this 
 family, as everybody will confess who has watched their engaging 
 manners, running along the grass-plots, darting by the streams, 
 xind ever flirting their long tails, which alone seem to preserve 
 their equilibrium, as they hurry this side and that, and seem in 
 danger of losing their balance ; and this perpetual fanning 
 motion of the tail, which is never still, and is so characteristic 
 of the members of this family, has been wisely applied to desig- 
 nate them ; the Latin Motacillidce, as well as the English 
 counterpart, signifying * tail-movers/ as indeed they \ are p-:ir 
 excellence. They are of slender form and very active, the lightest 
 and most buoyant of birds ; and as most of them remain with us 
 during the winter, they are doubly valued and doubly welcome. 
 
 65. PIED WAGTAIL (Motacilla Yarrellii). 
 
 No one can be ignorant of this very common bird, with its 
 parti- coloured dress of black and white ; its food consists of 
 insects which it finds in running over the grass or on the margins 
 of streams and lakes, in the shallow waters of which it will wade 
 in search of its tiny prey. Gilbert White also long ago called 
 attention to its habit, which we may constantly verify, of running 
 close up to feeding cows, in order to avail itself of the flies that 
 settle on their legs, and other insects roused by the trampling of 
 their feet. Though some are resident in Great Britain through- 
 out the year, there is no doubt that this is one of the birds 
 which partially migrate from the high, cold, bleak uplands to 
 the sheltered valley or the coast. Moreover, it is certain that 
 large numbers arrive in spring from beyond sea, and recruit our 
 home birds. Indeed, indigenous though it is, this is one of the 
 first spring arrivals which I anxiously look for on the downs, 
 nor is it till the severity of winter is past that I am able to 
 welcome this harbinger of a more genial season to my upland 
 home, for a pair of these pretty birds return every year to rear 
 their young in a rose-tree trained against my house. Thoj-c 
 
Pied Wagtail. 177 
 
 that remain in England through the winter generally join the 
 Pipits in resorting to turnip-fields, where they find shelter and 
 minute slugs, as well as insect food. In Scandinavia, where they 
 never pass the winter, their appearance in spring about the time 
 the ice is breaking up is anxiously looked for, and the bird is 
 known as Is-spjdrna, literally, the 'Kicker away of the Ice.' 
 Elsewhere in Sweden it is known as Kok Aria, or the ' Clod 
 Wagtail/ because it is so constantly seen among the clods in the 
 new-ploughed fields. There is, moreover, a saying in some parts 
 of the country that if the farmer commences ploughing either 
 before the coming or departure of the Wagtail, success will not 
 attend his endeavours.* In Egypt, where it is very common, it 
 is figured in the hieroglyphic legends as ' the type of an impure 
 or wicked person;' and is still called there Aboo Fussad, or the 
 ' Father of Corruption,' though why it should be a bird of bad 
 omen does not so readily appear.*f- The name by which it is 
 generally known in Wiltshire is ' Dishwasher/ and in France La 
 Lavandiere, and in Spain Lavandera, ' Washerwoman ;' but in 
 Germany Bachstelze, ' Brook- trotter/ 
 
 66. GREY WAGTAIL (Motacilla boarula). 
 
 By no means common, but yet generally, though sparingly, 
 dispersed, and to be found in most localities. It is even more 
 graceful and slender, and has a still longer tail than the last. 
 Its prevailing colours are slate-gray above and bright yellow 
 below, with black throat, wings, and tail. It is less sociable and 
 familiar than its pied relative, and is, in short, of solitary habits, 
 and seeks secluded spots where it may live undisturbed, haunt- 
 ing the margins of streams, which it seldom leaves. In allusion 
 to the localities it frequents, the Maltese call it Zadak ta del, 
 ' Wagtail of shady places/ Why it should be dubbed melanope, 
 or ' black-faced/ as it is by some of our best ornithologists, I am 
 at a loss to know, though doubtless they have some good reason 
 
 Lloyd's ' Scandinavian Adventures,' vol. ii., p. 302. 
 
 f Dr. A. L. Adams on the 'Birds of Egypt and Nubia,' mills for 186i, 
 p. 21. 
 
 12 
 
178 Motacillidce. 
 
 for such title. Is it possible that the black throat which it 
 exhibits in the breeding season should give rise to the name ? 
 In Scotland it is known as the ' Seed-bird,' because it arrives at 
 the season when in those more northern latitudes farmers are 
 sowing their land. In Wiltshire it remains, though sparingly, 
 throughout the year ; and this is one of the few South- Western 
 Counties enumerated where it has been known to breed. In 
 France it is Bergeronnette jaune, ' Yellow little Shepherdess' ; 
 Gul Aria, ' Yellow Wagtail/ in Sweden. 
 
 67. GRAY-HEADED WAGTAIL (Motacilla negkcta). 
 
 This species is rarely met with in England, perhaps I should 
 say is rarely recognised, for it bears so close a resemblance to 
 M. flava, next to be described, which is extremely common every- 
 where, that it is difficult to distinguish between them without 
 very close and minute examination ; and so, in all probability, it 
 is very often overlooked. A careful observer will, however, notice 
 that it has a white line over the eyes, and a white chin, both of 
 which in Ray's Wagtail are yellow ; and that it has a gray head, 
 which in M. flava is light olive. In habits and manners it differs 
 nothing from its congeners. 
 
 I place it with the utmost confidence in the Wiltshire list, on 
 the authority of the Rev. G. Marsh, who possessed a specimen 
 killed at Marshfield, near Chippenham, in October, 1841. The 
 Rev. A. P. Morres, though he cannot speak positively, thinks he 
 has seen it in the water meadows at Britford. Mr. Norwood 
 reports that he saw a pair near the South- Western station at 
 Salisbury, and Mr. Baker killed a bird at Mere, which he con- 
 sidered to belong to this species, but of which some doubts were 
 afterwards entertained. 
 
 68. RAY'S WAGTAIL (Motacilla flava}. 
 
 This is our common Yellow Wagtail, which flocks here every 
 summer, and leaves us in the autumn ; it frequents open planta- 
 tions and arable land, and fields of sprouting wheat, as well as 
 meadows, open downs, and sheep pastures, and does not seem so 
 
Ray's Wagtail. 179 
 
 dependent on the neighbourhood of water as its congeners. It 
 has a shorter tail, and is altogether less graceful in form than the 
 Gray Wagtail ; but in colour it is more brilliant, and of a more 
 pronounced yellow than that bird, the olive-green of its upper 
 plumage partaking of the yellow tinge which is so bright and 
 clear below. It was called Raii, in honour of John Ray, the 
 friend of Willughby, and one of the pioneers of British ornitho- 
 logy, who flourished about two hundred years ago. In some 
 places it is called the ' Barley Bird,' and in others the ' Oatseed 
 Bird,' from its arrival being coincident with the spring sowing of 
 those two species of grain. In Malta, on arriving on migration in 
 flocks, these birds are caught in nets, and kept in shops and 
 houses for the purpose of killing flies,* with which that island is 
 infested in summer, and none but those who have experienced it 
 can conceive what an intolerable nuisance the plague of flies is. 
 In France it is Bergeronnette printaniere or de printemps, 
 * Little Shepherdess of Spring.' In Germany, Gelbe Bachstelze ; 
 and in Sweden, Gul Aria, ' Yellow Wagtail.' 
 
 ANTHID.E (THE PIPITS). 
 
 This is the last family of the tooth-billed tribe, and it forms an 
 excellent connecting link between the soft-billed insect-eaters 
 and the hard-billed grain-consumers. In many respects allied 
 to the Wagtails last described, in others nearly resembling the 
 Larks, the first family of the Conirostral tribe, it is, however, a 
 true soft-billed race, and subsists entirely on insects. 
 
 The Anthidse derive their name from Anthus, known in 
 mythology as the son of Autonous and Hippodameia, who was 
 torn to pieces by his father's horses, and was metamorphosed into 
 a bird, which imitated the neighing, but always fled from the 
 sight of a horse.f 
 
 69. TREE PIPIT (Anthus arboreus). 
 
 This is a summer visitor, and though far from common, may 
 be seen in most woodland districts : it is by far the most beautiful 
 
 Mr. Wright's < Birds of Malta,' in Ibis for 1864, p. 62. 
 t B.O.U. ' List of BritLh Birds,' p. 32. 
 
 122 
 
180 Anthidce. 
 
 of the genus, and the sweetest songster ; and has a habit of rising 
 above the top of some tall tree, and singing with outstretched 
 wings on its descent. In colour it very much resembles the larks ; 
 is somewhat larger than its congener next to be described, from 
 which it differs in the stronger and broader bill, and in the short 
 and hooked hind claw ; also its gait on the ground is a slow walk, 
 while the 'Meadow Pipit' runs after the manner of the Wagtails. 
 It is notorious that the eggs of this species differ very much, 
 both in general colour and in markings ; but Mr. Seebohm says 
 that those in each cluster are alike ; and that it is more probable 
 that each bird lays a peculiar type, which it has inherited from 
 its parents, and transmitted to its offspring.* It is like its 
 more numerous and indigenous congener A. pratensis often 
 called the ' Titlark ;' and Mr. Knox reports that it is styled by 
 the Brighton birdcatchers the 'Real Titlark/ to distinguish it 
 from its fellow.f Oil the Continent it derives its name, as with 
 us, from the trees in which it dwells ; in France it is Pipit dcs 
 buissons ; in Germany, Baumpieper ; and in Sweden, Trad- 
 Pipldrka. 
 
 70. MEADOW PIPIT (Anthus pratensia). 
 
 Yery common, especially on our furze-clad downs, where it 
 remains the whole year, though it will occasionally assemble in 
 flocks, and haunts stubble and turnip-fields in winter. ^Ir. 
 Cordeaux says that in Yorkshire the resident birds receive large 
 additions to their number in early spring by the arrival of 
 migratory flocks ; and that they are the first of the little spring- 
 visitors whose cheery note is so welcome in the bleak marshes, 
 where they arrive early in March, usually preceding the less 
 hardy Pied Wagtail by a full fortnight.^ But in truth it will 
 brave very severe weather, for it has been met with in abundance 
 in Northern Lapland and even on the highest fjall moors of 
 Scandinavia, to which it resorts in summer to breed ; and when 
 autumn comes with its icy blasts, warning all strangers to retire, 
 
 ' British Birds,' vol. ii., p. 222. 
 
 t * Birds of Sussex,' p. 203. 
 
 J ' Birds of the Hcmber/ p. 44. 
 

 Meadow Pipit. 181 
 
 it is the last of the smaller migratory birds that takes its depar- 
 ture for the south.* In Ireland and Scotland it is known as the 
 
 * Titling' and 'Moss-cheeper,' the latter in allusion to the moss 
 and peat covered ground in which it delights, and also to its 
 call-note. In the northern counties of England it is called the 
 
 * Ling Bird,' again from its partiality for the moors ; but in most 
 places it is generally known as the Titlark. It sings in the air 
 as it descends to the earth, as its cousin the Tree Pipit does in 
 descending to some lofty tree-top ; it is a quiet, unobtrusive 
 bird, builds its nest on the ground, and is very frequently the 
 foster-parent of the young cuckoo : its hind toe is furnished with 
 an elongated and straightened claw ; its- bill is slender; it warbles 
 rather than sings ; and its flight consists in short jerks. The 
 Rev. G. Marsh said that its scent is so strong that pointers com- 
 monly mistake it for the partridge indeed, much more frequently 
 than they do the skylark. 
 
 In France, as in England, it is known under many names, as 
 Pipit Farlouse and le Cujelier, and I'Alouette des Pr<?s; in 
 Germany, it is Wiesenpieper ; and in Sweden, Ang-Pipldrka. In 
 Spain and Portugal, as is so often the case in those countries, 
 the several species are not recognised; but all the Pipits in 
 Spain are called Cinceta, and in Portugal Sombria and Cia. 
 
 This closes the list of the tooth-billed perchers resident in or 
 visiting Wiltshire. 
 
 * Lloyd's ' Scandinavian Adventures,' vol. ii., p. 304. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 INSESSORES (Perchers). 
 CONIROSTRES (Cone-lilled). 
 
 WE come now to the second great division of the Perching birds ; 
 and having examined all those whose soft notched bill proclaims 
 the insect nature of their food, we have arrived at those exhibit- 
 ing a harder and more conical-shaped beak, bespeaking at once 
 that grain forms the principal part of their diet. As we proceed 
 with the families of this tribe, we shall see this typical charac- 
 teristic develop itself more and more, till we come to some species 
 armed with such strong sharp-pointed beaks as to be enabled 
 to break the very stoutest seeds and even the stones of many 
 fruits, as well as to pierce the hard ground, in search of food ; 
 but, as I before pointed out, nature makes no rapid strides from 
 one distinct kind to another, but only gradually and step by 
 step leads us on ; thus, insensibly as it were, and through many 
 connecting links, joining together genera and species, the most 
 opposite to one another in appearance and habits. 
 
 ALAUDID.E (THE LARKS). 
 
 We cannot have a better proof of what I have just said than 
 in the family we now proceed to consider, standing at the head 
 of the Conirostral tribe, and bearing so great an affinity in many 
 respects to the last family of the Dentirostres, viz., the Pipits : 
 for the Larks, though to a certain extent grain-consumers, yet 
 feed on insects as well ; and though they have a short strong 
 bill, yet it is styled by Selby and Yarrell Subconic, rather than 
 conical, proving the exact position they hold. 
 
Skylark. 183 
 
 Alauda is said to be a Celtic word, meaning 'great songstress/ 
 from al, ' high' or ' great/ and and, ' a song.' Hence is derived 
 the French Alouette (B.O.U.). Our English word 'lark* is a 
 contraction of ' lavrock/ meaning ' a crafty worker/ ' a worker of 
 ill/ and the name points to some superstition, now forgotten, 
 which regarded the bird as of ill- omen [Skeat]. 
 
 71. SKYLARK (Alauda arvensis). 
 
 Intimately associated in the minds of all with blue sky, bright 
 sunshine, open down, and aerial music, is the very name of this 
 favourite songster. All its motions betoken such excessive 
 happiness in unconstrained liberty, such intense appreciation of 
 freedom, as it mounts upwards higher and higher, and soaring 
 into the clouds, pours forth such strains as ravish mortals below, 
 that it is positively painful to see it incarcerated in a cage, and 
 to reflect how its heart must throb, and how intensely it must 
 pine to burst its prison bars and soar away out of sight of its 
 persecutors, singing a hymn of gladness and gratitude at its 
 escape. It remains with us the whole year, and is essentially 
 one of our down birds, preferring open arable lands to more 
 inclosed districts ; towards autumn it associates in flocks and 
 frequents stubble and turnip fields. Its food consists of seeds of 
 all kinds, as well as insects of various sorts ; and the benefit it 
 confers on the agriculturist in this wholesale destruction of 
 noxious weeds and insects is incalculable. But notwithstanding 
 this, it is killed in astonishing numbers for the table in England 
 France, Italy, and especially Germany. In the London markets 
 alone, in 1854, 400,000 are said to have been sold, 20,000 or 
 30,000 having been often sent together. There can be little 
 doubt that over the western half of Europe the Skylark must be 
 the most numerous bird, as from a commercial point of view it is 
 one of the most valuable.* In France it is Alouette des champs, 
 and in Germany Feldlerche, which are simply translations of 
 arvensis ; but in Sweden it is Sang Larka, ' Song-Lark ;' and in 
 
 Professor Newton in fourth edition of Yarrell's ' British Birds/ vol. i., 
 p. 622. 
 
184 Alaudidce. 
 
 Italy A llodola, ' the one who gives praise.' In Spain, on the con- 
 trary, it is Zurriaga, ' the scourge which inflicts punishment/ 
 
 It never perches on trees, but walks or runs on the ground 
 very swiftly, which it is enabled to do by means of the very long 
 straight hind claw, which gives it a firm footing on the ground. 
 In the north of England the country people have a curious 
 notion that, if you are desirous of knowing what the lark says, 
 you must lie down on your back in the field and listen, and you 
 will then hear him say : 
 
 * Up in the lift go we, 
 Tehee, tehee, tehee, tehee ! 
 There's not a shoemaker on the earth 
 Can make a shoe to me, to me ! 
 Why so, why so, why so ? 
 Because my heel is as long as my toe.' 
 
 Elsewhere its song is described by a more ambitious poet : 
 
 * Ecce ! swim tirili, tirili, tirilirlirl tractim 
 Candida per vemum cantat alauda solum.' 
 
 It sings in descending as well as in ascending and while hover- 
 ing in the air; and anon, as some fright or sudden impulse 
 seizes it, down it will come like a stone to the earth and away 
 amongst the corn to its nest, but only to soar upwards again 
 presently, rising on quivering wing almost perpendicularly, and 
 singing more merrily than before ; and we may hear it carolling 
 away long after we have lost sight of the rapidly diminishing 
 speck retreating into the clouds, for ' Excelsior ' is ever the motto 
 of this aspiring bird. Montagu says ' the Field or Meadow Lark 
 is nowhere so plentiful as in the north of Wiltshire,' and I am 
 happy to report that the account he gave some fourscore years 
 ago still holds good. It is still one of our most abundant, as 
 well as one of our most charming, birds, scattered over the broad 
 tracts of corn-land, and as plentiful on Salisbury Plain as in 
 North Wilts. The same author remarks that they are seen in 
 Egypt about Cairo in autumn in incredible numbers, and are 
 supposed to come there from Barbary. In Egypt they are called 
 As/our Djebali, or ' Mountain Birds.' 
 
 c Dyer's ' English Folk-lore,' p. 75. 
 
Wood-Lark. 185 
 
 72. WOOD-LARK (Alauda arborea). 
 
 In France, Alouette lulu ; in Germany, Baumlerche ; in Sweden, 
 Trad Ldrka, ' Tree Lark ;' in Malta, CiuJdaita, or ' Rattle ;' in 
 Portugal, Cotovia pequena, 'the Lesser Lark.' Very like its 
 congener, but considerably smaller, with, a shorter tail, and a 
 white line over the eye and round the back of the head, this 
 species is sparingly scattered through the county, frequenting 
 woods, as its name implies, and singing sweetly while perched 
 on some tree as well as while sailing about on the wing : indeed, 
 it has generally the reputation of excelling the Skylark in song, 
 though I am scarcely willing to allow this. Montagu was the 
 first to call attention to the fact that, with the hedge warbler, 
 redbreast, missel thrush, and throstle, it will frequently sing in 
 frosty weather after Christmas if the weather is bright in midday, 
 and, he adds, all these birds are early breeders. It is a permanent 
 resident with us, and in food and nesting closely resembles the 
 preceding. I have before me many notes of its occurrence from 
 various localities both in North and South Wilts, proving that it 
 is generally distributed throughout the county. Mr. Morres 
 relates what, I think, is very unusual, that a flock of sixty was 
 seen in a wheat stubble near Lord Nelson's seat at Trafalgar, and 
 that nine of them were caught by a bird-catcher. 
 
 EMBERIZIM: (THE BUNTINGS). 
 
 Members of this family may at once be distinguished from all 
 others by a hard, bony, oblong knob in the upper mandible, 
 which is narrow and smaller than the lower one. They are 
 somewhat clumsy in form, with large heads and short necks, and 
 heavy in flight ; they eat grain and seeds in the winter, but in 
 the summer insects and their larvse form no small portion of 
 their food. Our English word 'Bunting' means, according to 
 Professor Skeat, ' one that pokes his head forward,' the old word 
 luntin signifying ' short,' ' thick,' ' plump,' which is sufficiently 
 descriptive of the short neck of members of this family. 
 
186 Emberizidce. 
 
 73. SNOW BUNTING (Plectrophanes nivalis). 
 
 This native of northern regions, known in Sweden as Sad- 
 Sparf t ' Snow Sparrow;' in France, Bi*uant de Neige; in Germany, 
 Schneeammer ; in Italy, Ortolano Nivola, seldom comes so far 
 south as Wiltshire, though it appears pretty regularly every 
 winter on our eastern and northern coasts, and I have met with 
 it in considerable numbers on the shores of the Wash, in Norfolk. 
 At that season, however, its plumage is reddish-brown above and 
 dull white beneath, and so much do individuals vary from one 
 another in hue as well as in the distribution of their colours, 
 that they have often been erroneously divided into several 
 species, receiving the sobriquet of ' Tawny ' and ' Mountain * 
 Bunting, according to their sex and age and garb ; but it is in 
 summer plumage and in the extreme north that this bird is to 
 be seen in perfection, arrayed in its attractive dress of deep black 
 and pure white, and haunting the highest and most desolate 
 fjelds of Scandinavia. And there I have been so fortunate as to 
 meet with it on several occasions, now flitting from one lichen- 
 covered rock to another, now running quickly ov.er the snow, 
 seeming to delight in those wild inhospitable regions, so con- 
 genial to its habits, but so little to the taste of most members of 
 the animal kingdom. Though it strays southwards in winter, it 
 returns regularly in spring within the Arctic Circle to breed in 
 very high latitudes ; and touching tales have been told of the 
 extravagant delight and wild excitement of the crews of ice-bound 
 vessels who had passed the long dreary months of winter, fast 
 frozen in during some Arctic expedition caused by the ap- 
 pearance of the first Snow Bunting, which was seen fluttering 
 about among the hummocks, uttering its sweet and plaintive 
 chirp, which to them was the most pleasing music they had 
 heard for many a long day. No wonder the sudden appearance 
 among them of this little visitor was so interesting, for it was the 
 first bird they had seen for nine long months. Even the in- 
 valids, as they lay on the sledges, requested that they might 
 have their faces uncovered, so as both to see and hear the little 
 
Snow Bunting 187' 
 
 friend that had flown off to them, as if it were a messenger to- 
 welcome the ship's crew back to life and friends.* Other 
 Arctic voyagers have also spoken with enthusiasm of the arrival 
 of this harbinger of spring, and recounted how the despondent, 
 homesick sailors were cheered by the pleasant twitter of this, 
 welcome visitor.-f- And Major Fielden found a nest in Grinnel 
 Land above lat. 82 J ; indeed, it is not known that any bird 
 breeds farther north than this thoroughly Arctic species. 
 
 I have never seen it in this county, but I learnt from Mr.. 
 Withers that it has been occasionally killed in various localities, 
 and brought to him for preservation ; and Mr. Elgar Sloper, of 
 Devizes, informs me that he has seen several which had been, 
 killed on Salisbury Plain. The Kev. A. P. Morres records its occur- 
 rence now and then in very hard winters near Salisbury ; two- 
 having been seen near Grately in 1868, associating with a large- 
 flock of Bramblings; one killed at BrixtonDeverill and one at Mere 
 some years since. I should therefore describe it as an occasional 
 and not very infrequent straggler, though by no means a regular 
 winter visitant here. 
 
 It is sometimes called the 'Snow-flake,' and Saxby writes, 
 ' Seen against a dark hillside or a lowering sky, a flock of these 
 birds presents an exceedingly beautiful appearance ; and it may 
 then be seen how aptly the term ' Snow-flake' has been applied 
 to the species. I am acquainted with no more pleasing combina- 
 tion of sight and sound than that afforded when a cloud of these 
 birds, backed by a dark gray sky, descends as it were in a shower 
 to the ground, to the music of their own sweet tinkling notes.! 
 The meaning of the generic name Plectrophanes is given in the- 
 B.O.U. list as ' Spur-showing,' from 7r\rJKTpov, ' a spur,' and $awto f 
 ' I show.' Temminck, too, classes it in a distinct section of the 
 Emberizidoe, which he calls Bruants eperroniers, ( Spurred 
 
 * ' The Great Frozen Sea,' a personal narrative of the voyage of the- 
 Alert during the Arctic expedition of 1875-6, by Captain Albert Hastings 
 Markham, R.N. 
 
 f Nordenskiold, ' Arctic Voyages in 1858-1879,' pp. 51, 218-265. 
 
 J Professor Newton's fourth edition of Yarrell's ' British Birds, 1 vol. ii.,. 
 p. 7. 
 
188 Emlerizidce. 
 
 Buntings/ though I cannot find that he assigns any reason for 
 the name. 
 
 74. COMMON BUNTING (Embcriza miliaria}. 
 
 Though extremely common, especially in the vast tracts of 
 arable land on our downs, this bird, from its great similarity of 
 plumage to the Skylark, is seldom recognised by ordinary ob- 
 . servers ; and yet its more bulky shape and heavier gait and more 
 awkward flight should at once distinguish it from its more 
 sprightly companion. It has little or no song, but may be seen 
 perched on the topmost spray of some low hedge, uttering its 
 somewhat harsh screaming note. It is the largest of the family, 
 and remains with us throughout the year; but though some are 
 undoubtedly resident, their ranks are augmented every year by 
 the arrival of large flocks of migrants. 'During the pairing 
 season,' says Professor Nilsson, 'it flies in a totally different 
 manner to what it does at other times. Its legs hang down, it 
 elevates its wings, and moves them rapidly, and thus gradually 
 drags itself, as it were, from one elevation to another. Again,' 
 he remarks, ' it never leaves the open line of country where it 
 once appears, and never flies over a forest.' This is in allusion to 
 its summer habits in Sweden ; for here, when frost and snow ap- 
 pear, it congregates in flocks with Finches and Sparrows, and 
 seeks the shelter and the food which the rickyard offers. The 
 specific name miliaria simply signifies * feeder on millet,' an un- 
 fortunate title, which might, with equal propriety, have been 
 given to any other of the genus. Nor is our ' Corn' or ' Common 
 Bunting,' or ' Bunting Lark,' nor the Scandinavian name Korn 
 8parf, ' Corn Sparrow/ more happy. In Leicestershire both this 
 and the Yellow Bunting are called ' Writing Larks/ from the 
 strange markings of the nature of scribbling, perhaps by the pen 
 of an Arab, on their peculiar eggs.* In Sussex it is known as 
 the ' Clod Bird/ from its habit of perching on a projecting clod of 
 turf or clay in a stubble or fallow field, while it utters its 
 monotonous note.f In France it is le Proyer or Bruant Prayer ; 
 
 Zoologist for 1885, p. 466. t Knox, ' Birds of Sussex/ pp. 132, 205. 
 
Blackheaded Bunting. 189' 
 
 in Germany, Grauammer ; in Spain (where it is pronounced by 
 Howard Saunders to be ' the most abundant bird in Andalusia,"" 
 and the ' number of it brought into the markets to equal that of 
 all the larks, sparrows, and thrushes put together'), it is known 
 as Ti'iguero, ' Corn-merchant.' 
 
 75. BLACK-HEADED BUNTING (Emberiza schcenidus). 
 
 Called also the Reed Bunting from the localities it frequents,, 
 and the Reed Sparrow from its general resemblance to our 
 common House Sparrow. In Sweden, Sdf Sparf or ' Sedge 
 Sparrow;' in France, Bruant de rosean ; in Germany, Rohr- 
 ammer ; and its scientific name schceniclas is also derived from 
 the Greek a^o/vo:, ' a rush or reed.' This bright handsome bird 
 may be met with sparingly wherever there is water ; indeed, I 
 have often seen it frequenting a dry ditch, and have found its- 
 nest at some distance from the nearest stream : it delights, 
 however, in moist wet places, abounding in sedge and reeds and 
 coarse grass, and here you may generally see its black head 
 standing out in contrast with its white collar. 
 
 Harting says that he has seen it, when in pursuit of food,, 
 walk into the water, like a true wader, until the water reached 
 above the tarsus.* It is resident with us throughout the year, 
 but (as with so many of our residents) its numbers are reinforced 
 in winter by arrivals from abroad. In winter the male loses its- 
 black head, and comes forth in March bright in nuptial array. 
 It is notorious for the clever manoeuvres it displays in alluring 
 the intruder from its nest, just as the Lapwing, and the 
 Partridge, and some others do, shuffling along on the ground, 
 trailing its wings, or dragging its leg as if broken, and all to 
 entice the unwelcome visitor from dangerous proximity to its 
 young. 
 
 76. YELLOW BUNTING (Emberiza citrinetta). 
 
 Well known to everybody as the Yellow Hammer, though here 
 we have an instance of a general error so universally propagated 
 ' Birds of Middlesex,' p. 76. 
 
190 Emberizidce. 
 
 that any effort to correct it would seem almost hopeless : yet in 
 truth Yellow Ammer is the correct word, ammer being the 
 German term for Bunting, which is undoubtedly meant by the 
 generic name we ordinarily employ, prefixing an unnecessary 
 and meaningless H, after the manner of certain of our provincial 
 countrymen.* The Yellow Bunting may be met with in every 
 hedge and wood during the summer, when it feeds its young 
 entirely, and itself subsists -mainly, on caterpillars and insects of 
 various sorts ; and in autumn consumes the seeds of weeds to a 
 very large extent, in all of which it proves itself the farmer's best 
 friend. In winter it may be seen in flocks on the bushes and in 
 the open fields, occasionally resorting to the stackyard in severe 
 weather ; and a very beautiful bird it is, with golden-yellow head 
 .and chestnut and yellow plumage, and highly would it be prized 
 were it not so common : but alas ! with birds as with human 
 beings, we are apt to overlook the brightest and best, if they are 
 ever before our eyes, whereas we highly prize and bestow 
 abundant attention on the inferior and less deserving, if only 
 occasionally seen by us. 
 
 The specific name Citrinella appears to me a somewhat far- 
 fetched adjective, and, moreover, one which fails to describe 
 what it would portray ; for under this diminutive, as if from ' a 
 little Citron,' or 'coloured like a little Citron/ who would 
 recognise the brilliant yellow of this handsome species, the 
 Bruant jaune of France ; the Gul Sparf, or ' Yellow Sparrow/ 
 of Sweden ; and the Goldammer of Germany ? 
 
 In the northern parts of England it has by some mischance 
 incurred the superstitious dislike of the peasantry, and is 
 commonly known as the 'Devil's Bird.' For it is currently 
 believed that it drinks a drop, some say three drops, of the 
 devil's blood, every May morning, or, as others affirm, every 
 Monday morning. It is therefore much persecuted, and its nest 
 
 * Professor Newton in his fourth edition of Tan-ell's ' British Birds ' has 
 a learned note on this subject, and adduces the high authority of Mr. Skeat 
 to prove that the prefix H was not added by inadvertence by our old English 
 ornithologists. I cannot, however, honestly say that I am convinced, but I 
 refer my readers to the passage, vol. ii., pp. 43, 44. 
 
Cirl Bunting. 191 
 
 receives less mercy than that of almost any other bird; while 
 the boys address it in the following rhyme of reproach : 
 
 ' Half a puddock, half a toad, 
 
 Half a yallow yorling ; 
 Drink a drap o' the deil's blood 
 Every May morning.'* 
 
 77. CIRL BUNTING (Emberiza cirlus). 
 
 The specific name Cirlus is, we are told, derived from the 
 Italian Zirlare, 'to chirp.' In Germany it is known as Zirl- 
 ammer ; in France, as Bruant Zizi ; and in Italy, as Zivolo or 
 Zigolo, all bearing the same signification. But in the north of 
 Portugal, where Mr. Tait says it is by far the commonest of the 
 Buntings, it is called Escrevedeira, 'the Scribbler/ from the 
 markings on the eggs, as I mentioned above. 
 
 Montagu first discovered this species in 1800, on the coast of 
 Devonshire, and after much patient watching and careful 
 examination of its habits, after the usual manner of that most 
 accurate and painstaking inquirer, recorded the result of his 
 observations in the ' Transactions of the Linnsean Society.' Selby 
 hazarded the assertion that it was only to be found on the coast 
 of Devon. Yarrell too, though he gives Wiltshire as one of the 
 counties it frequents, somewhat inconsistently says that it is 
 ' generally found on the coast, and does not often appear to go 
 far inland ;' but here for once our grand-master in Ornithology 
 is at fault, and, indeed, ' quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus ;' 
 for in addition to many notices of its occurrence in all parts of 
 the county, north and south, from various observers on whose 
 accuracy I can rely, I have repeatedly watched it in several 
 localities which it regularly haunts, and have not only killed it, 
 but have found its nest in the neighbourhood of Devizes. 
 
 Only last summer, Mrs. Story Maskelyne informed me that it 
 
 was nesting in the gardens at Basset Down ; and in South Wilts 
 
 the Rev. A. P. Morres described it as widely scattered, though 
 
 not numerous, in the neighbourhood of Salisbury. Mr. Baker, 
 
 * Dyer's ' English Folk-lore,' p. 71. 
 
1 92 Eniberizidce. 
 
 too, says it breeds annually at Mere, and that he has seen it for 
 the last twenty years in one particular spot, but has never met 
 with it in any other part of the parish. In habits it closely 
 follows the Yellow Bunting, which it also greatly resembles in 
 general appearance ; differing, however, sufficiently to be at once 
 distinguished from the commoner species, by the dark green top 
 of the head and throat, olive-green breast, and other marks. 
 
 FRINGILLIDJE (THE FINCHES). 
 
 By some authors these are styled Passerine birds or Sparrows : 
 with the exception of the bill (which is broad and concave, in- 
 stead of being narrow and furnished with a prominent knob) they 
 closely resemble the Buntings last described. The members of 
 this family are all of small size, and their characteristics are largo 
 head, short neck, and compact body; they are an active lively 
 race, gregarious in winter, for the most part granivorous, and 
 very abundant numerically as well as specifically: we have no- 
 less than eleven distinct species in this county, either as 
 residents or occasional visitants. 
 
 78. CHAFFINCH (FringUla ccekbs). 
 
 As common as the Sparrow, and as well known to everybody, is 
 this active handsome bird, flocking to our yards in winter, and 
 frequenting our meadows and woods in summer; but not so 
 generally known, perhaps, is the cause of its specific name 
 ccelebs, ' the Bachelor.' It arises from the separation of the sexes 
 into distinct flocks in the winter in northern countries, the 
 females migrating southward by themselves, and leaving the 
 males to club together, as bachelors best may, or to follow after 
 their truant wives at their leisure: on this account Linnaeus 
 named them codebes, and the name is not undeserved even in 
 these more southern latitudes; for the males and females 
 frequently divide into separate flocks in the winter, as good old 
 Gilbert White of Selborne long since pointed out, and as we may 
 verify for ourselves any winter. 
 
Mountain Finch. 193 
 
 Its nest is a perfect marvel of artistic skill, most dexterously 
 put together, and then adorned with bits of lichen, applied with 
 .admirable ingenuity on the exterior. In France it is called 
 Pinson; in Spain, Pinzon ; in Portugal, Pim-pim; in Germany, 
 Gemeine Fink ; in Italy, Pinsione ; and in Southern Scandinavia, 
 where it is very abundant, Bo Fink; and in England it is 
 provincially known as Pink, Spink, and Twink, all having re- 
 ference to the sound of its call-note. In olden times the plaintive 
 note of the Chaffinch was interpreted as a sign of rain ; when, 
 therefore, the boys heard it, they first imitated it, and then 
 i-hymingly referred to the expected consequences : 
 'Weet, weet ! dreep, dreep !' 
 
 This is another undoubted benefactor to the agriculturist, for 
 during the summer it subsists and feeds its young almost entirely 
 on insects, and at other seasons devours the minute seeds of in- 
 numerable noxious weeds. Our English word 'Chaffinch,' says 
 Professor Skeat, is 'the finch that delights in chaff;' given to 
 it because it frequents our barndoors and stackyards. 
 
 79. MOUNTAIN FINCH (Fringilla montif ring ilia). 
 This pretty bird, called also the 'Brambling,' though not a 
 regular winter visitant, occurs so frequently as to be by no 
 means uncommon; I have notices of it from several parts of 
 Salisbury Plain, and Mr. B. Hayward told me it occurs on the 
 Lavington Downs occasionally in some numbers ; Mr. Withers 
 said it had often been killed near Devizes, and many of them 
 have passed through his hands ; and during 1858 I received a 
 fine specimen in the flesh from the Rev. F. Goddard, which was 
 killed March 10th at Sopworth, Malmesbury, and is now in my 
 collection*; and was very kindly offered another by the Rev. H. 
 Hare, which was killed at Bradford. Since then I have myself 
 shot it in my garden at Yatesbury, out of a small flock which 
 was occupying some larch trees, and the Rev. A. P. Morres 
 relates that in 1868 it visited the neighbourhood of Salisbury in 
 Chamber's ' Popular Rhymes.' p. 190. 
 
 13 
 
94 Frinyillida'. 
 
 very large flocks, amounting to thousands; when forty were 
 killed at one shot, and six or seven dozen were trapped by a 
 birdcatcher in one day. Its visits here, however, are most 
 irregular, and several consecutive winters often elapse without 
 the arrival of a single individual. By the Maryborough College 
 Natural History Reports, I learn that flocks were seen in that 
 neighbourhood in January, 1871 ; that early in February, 1873, 
 vast numbers arrived, and were to be found all round the town, 
 when thirty-five were secured at a single shot ; that in December, 
 1875, they were again seen in large flocks on the farms bordering 
 on Marlborough Forest, and that in 1877 they were common on 
 the downs above Rockley. Lord Arundell mentions one that 
 had been brought to him which was killed at Wardour. Mr. 
 Grant has furnished me with a list of twenty-two which have 
 passed through his hands for preservation since 1863, which 
 were taken at Berwick Bassett, Netheravon, Keevil, Patney, 
 Roundway, Wedhampton, Collingbourne, Lavington, Allington, 
 All Cannings, and Bratton. Lord Radnor writes me word in 
 March of this year (1887) that he picked up one dead at Long- 
 ford ; while the Rev. A. P. Morres says they were common both 
 this year and last about Britford, and that seven were killed at 
 one shot in Longford Park. In the name Fringilla monti- 
 fringilla there is unnecessary repetition ; frlngilla is defined 
 to mean 'a bird that squeaks or twitters/ but 'the twitterer 
 mountain twitterer' is clumsy. In France it is Le Pinson 
 d' Ardennes; in Germany and Sweden, Bergfink ; in Italy, 
 Fringuello montanino ; in Spain, M octanes; and in Portugal, 
 Tentilhdo montez. 
 
 The Mountain Finch, when it appears here, is always found 
 associating with the Chaffinches, which it much resembles in 
 habits, but is conspicuous amongst them by its exceedingly 
 handsome plumage of black, white, and fawn-colour so mingled 
 as to form a pleasing contrast. Its true habitat is in the vast pine 
 forests of Northern Europe, where it breeds, not fearing to 
 penetrate to the far north, even to the woods which come down 
 to the borders of the Icy Sea ; and where it finds its favourite 
 
House Sparrow. 195 
 
 birch-tree, which it selects in preference to all others for its 
 nursery. But on its return to more southern latitudes on the 
 approach of winter, the migratory flocks of this species assume 
 dimensions which seem to our unaccustomed eyes almost in- 
 credible ; for we read of columns a quarter of a mile long, and 
 fifteen yards broad ; and again of some hundred thousand 
 frequenting the foot of the Thuringerwald ; and again of six 
 hundred dozen being killed every night in Lorraine, on the ap- 
 pearance of a tiock in 1765 ; and as a climax, a flight of about 
 sixty million in Luxemburg in 1865 !* In quoting these numbers 
 I have no thought of disputing or doubting their accuracy, but I 
 would point out that living in an island, and in an inland county 
 in that island, we little know the amazing numbers in which 
 flocks of birds occasionally move. 
 
 80. HOUSE SPARROW (Passer domesticus). 
 
 So well known to everybody that I need not say a word about 
 it, beyond calling attention to the extremely handsome plumage 
 of the cock-bird, which is often overlooked ; the colours, black, 
 gray, chestnut, and brown, blend with peculiar harmony; I 
 mean of course in our country specimens, for in favour of town 
 sparrows I have nothing to say, pert, ill-conditioned, dirty, and 
 grimed with soot as they are. Here, however, I would call at- 
 tention to the Sparrow Club, or the Sparrow Fund, which used to 
 exist in so many of our agricultural parishes in this county; and 
 in many of the Churchwardens' account-books may be seen, as 
 a considerable item of the Church-rate annually and for very 
 many years past, so many dozen Sparrows destroyed at so much 
 per dozen, the price varying according to the maturity or im- 
 maturity of the victims : Thus in an old Churchwarden's book, 
 belonging to my small parish, dating from above 100 years ago, I 
 see the items every year of from 20 to 90 dozen old Sparrows at 
 4 pence the dozen, and from 10 to 70 dozen young birds at 2 
 pence the dozen ; and these, with an occasional shilling for the 
 
 * Professor Newton in fourth edition of Yarrell's ' British Birds,' vol. ii., 
 p. 77. 
 
 1-32 
 
Fringillidce. 
 
 capture of a fox, a groat for a polecat, and an occasional sixpence 
 given to a sailor, seem to have formed the principal part of the 
 church expenses of the good parish of Yatesbury for above 100 
 years so lightly did the Church-rate sit upon our forefathers ! 
 and this continued to within forty years ago, when my pre- 
 decessor considered Sparrow-killing scarcely a legitimate Church 
 expense. Now I am not about to deny that Sparrows are mis- 
 chievous, or to inveigh against their destruction, which I suppose 
 to a certain extent is rendered necessary ; but I would observe, 
 first of all, that they are not wholly inimical to man, for (like 
 most, if not all, of their fellows) they feed their young altogether 
 on caterpillars and insects, as may readily be granted if we con- 
 sider how unfitted must be the callow young at that early stage 
 of their existence to digest seeds or corn. And again, I would 
 observe that the cause of their immoderate abundance is the 
 indiscriminate extermination of all our birds of prey, useful and 
 mischievous alike, at the hands of the gamekeepers and others ; 
 for I contend that, were Nature allowed to preserve her own 
 balance, we should not witness the extinction of one species and 
 the enormous increase of another, to the manifest injury of our 
 Fauna. And with reference to the foregoing remarks, before 
 taking leave of the above-named Churchwardens' accounts, I 
 would make two observations which strike me in perusing its 
 pages, viz., the great abundance of foxes, polecats, and such like 
 vermin, and the paucity of Sparrows 100 years ago, as compared 
 with later entries ; for whereas in the middle of the last century 
 4 foxes, 6 polecats, and 30 dozen Sparrows seem to have been the 
 annual tale of the slain, at the beginning of the present century 
 2 foxes, 1 polecat, and 60 dozen Sparrows form the average sum- 
 total. But the last entry recording such items, viz. A.D. LS40, 
 shows that whereas foxes and polecats are exterminated from 
 the parish, as far as their persecution by Church-rate is con- 
 cerned,, no less than 178 dozen Sparrows met with an untimely 
 end in that year ; proving that notwithstanding the persecution 
 raised against them, Sparrows still increase upon us, and have 
 enormously increased since the universal destruction of so many 
 
Tree Sparrow. 197 
 
 of our birds of prey, for whose behoof they seem in great part to 
 have been provided. 
 
 In France it is known as Le Moineau, doubtless on account of 
 its apparent cowl; in Germany, as Haus Sperling; and in 
 Sweden, as Grd-Spink ; in Italy, Passer o ; in Spain, Gorrion or 
 'little pig;' and in Portugal, Pardal, 'the gray bird/ as in 
 Sweden. 'Our word Sparrow' says Professor Skeat, 'means 
 " flutterer," from spar, " to quiver," or " flutter." ' 
 
 Before I take leave of the House Sparrow, I would relate an 
 anecdote of that bird communicated to me by Mr. James Waylen, 
 of Devizes. In 1785, in the days of lofty head-dresses, some 
 ladies and gentlemen were drinking tea in a garden in the Close 
 at Salisbury, when a Sparrow perched on the head of one of the 
 ladies, and then disappeared ; till after some time it was dis- 
 covered to have made the ladies' head its resting-place, un- 
 perceived and unfelt by the owner. The philosophical Editor of 
 the Salisbury Journal conjectured that it must be some love- 
 stricken spirit ! 
 
 81. TREE SPARROW (Passer montanus). 
 
 In my former papers on the Ornithology of Wilts, I omitted 
 this species ; for at that time I did not feel sure of its presence 
 in the county. Subsequent observation has, however, enabled 
 me to add it to our list ; for I have myself seen it on more than 
 one occasion ; and others, both in North and South Wilts, have 
 recorded it from time to time. Still, though doubtless often 
 overlooked, it appears to me to be very local, and somewhat 
 capricious in its choice of abode. Nowhere, however, in Wilts is 
 it by any means common. In short, I believe it to be very 
 sparingly distributed over the Western Counties of England, 
 but little known in the neighbouring county of Somerset, and 
 scarcely if at all recognised in Dorset, Devon, and Cornwall.* 
 It is to be distinguished from the House Sparrow by its smaller 
 size, chocolate-coloured head, and triangular patch of black on the 
 
 * Cecil Smith's ' Birds of Somerset,' p. 184. 
 
198 Fringillidce. 
 
 sides of the neck.* It is called ' Tree Sparrow' from its habit of 
 resorting for rest as well as for breeding purposes to trees apart 
 from the habitation of man, and montanus from its supposed 
 partiality for hilly districts. It does, however, on occasions 
 build in the thatch of a barn, in company with the House 
 Sparrow, but in such cases it has been observed, singularly 
 enough, to differ from its congener in its mode of entering the 
 nest, not from the inside of the building as does the species 
 with which we are most familiar, but by holes on the outside 
 of the thatch. In France it is distinguished as Le Friquet, 
 which I can only translate as ' the prig ;' in Germany, as Feld 
 Sperling; in Sweden, as Pit-Fink. 
 
 82. GREENFINCH (Coccothraustes chloris}. 
 
 Also extremely common throughout the county, and residing 
 with us the whole year, and easily distinguished from all others 
 by its olive-green dress tinged with yellow and gray. The 
 generic name Coccothraustes, from KOKKO^ + Qpavw, signifies 
 'berry-breaker,' which is no inappropriate designation of the 
 several species, armed as they all are with so powerful an 
 instrument for securing the kernels inclosed in hard envelopes. 
 Chloris aptly describes the yellowish-green, which is the pre- 
 vailing colour of the bird, from x\o>po9, ' green ;' and this has 
 been the origin of its name in all the Continental languages : in 
 France, Le Verdier; in Germany, Grunling; in Italy, Verdone; 
 in Sweden, Grdn-Flnk; in Spain, Verdon and Verderon ; in 
 Portugal, Verdilhdo. 
 
 It is a very pretty bird, and is sometimes styled the ' Green 
 Grosbeak,' from the large thick form of its bill ; this gives it 
 rather a clumsy appearance, and indeed in shape it is somewhat 
 heavy and compact, and has none of the elegance which dis- 
 tinguishes other members of its family. It can boast of no song, 
 and associates in winter with chaffinches and yellow buntings, 
 which congregate at that season in the stubble-field and rickyard. 
 
 * Harting's ' Birds of Middlesex,' p. 82. 
 
Hawfinch. 199 
 
 Greenfinches are in the habit of returning regularly to the same 
 evergreen shrubs in which they roost ; and Selby has pointed 
 out that, before they retire for the night, they quit the company 
 of their associates, and make many ringing flights round their 
 resting station. This, however, is not peculiar to this species 
 only, but is a habit common to several other kinds of birds.* 
 
 83. HAWFINCH (Coccothraustes vulgaris). 
 
 When once seen will not be confounded with any other species, 
 its large horny beak giving it a remarkable appearance ; and this 
 thickness of bill renders necessary a large size of head and a 
 stout neck, which give the bird a top-heavy clumsy look, making 
 the body and limbs seem disproportionately small. It occasion- 
 ally visits us in the winter, when it may be seen consuming 
 greedily the berries of the whitethorn ; the stones of which it 
 breaks with apparent ease by means of its strong and massive 
 bill ; and it is remarkable that while it feeds on the kernels of 
 plums, cherries, haws, etc., it rejects the pulpy fruit which sur- 
 rounds them. It is of most shy retiring habits, and hence 
 escapes general observation even where it is not uncommon : for 
 this is one of the very few species of our British birds which has 
 been of late years, by the testimony of those most qualified to 
 judge, decidedly on the increase. It has also of late been dis- 
 covered to remain and breed here in several localities, among 
 which favoured spots we have been enabled (through the diligence 
 of a member of Marlborough College) to include this county ;t 
 for Mr. Reginald Bosworth Smith informed us that 'it frequents 
 Savernake Forest, and nearly every spring three or four or even 
 five nests are met with ; they select the thickest hawthorn bushes, 
 -and build their nests close to the top, where they are quite con- 
 cealed.' In addition to this statement of its permanent residence 
 here, I have notices of its occurrence in 1845 near Devizes from 
 Mr. Elgar Sloper ; of its being frequently killed in North Wilts, 
 and brought to Mr. Withers for preservation ; of its appearance 
 
 * gee Zoologist, for 1857, p. 5681. 
 
 t Fourth edition of Yarrell's ' British Birds,' vol. ii., p. 107. 
 
200 Fringillidce. 
 
 near Salisbury in 1832 from Mr. Marsh ; and I have myself shot 
 it at Old Park, on the topmost spray of a copper beech in the 
 garden (as I before mentioned in this volume, p. 39). Of later 
 years Major Spicer wrote me word that a specimen in good 
 plumage was picked up dead in Spye Park in October, 1876 ; 
 Mr. Alexander informed me that one was killed by his gardener 
 at Westrop House in February, 1877. The Kev. G. Ottley re- 
 ported, and courteously sent for my inspection, one killed at 
 Luckington Rectory in December, 1878 ; and in the same month 
 the coachman at Old Park reported another specimen seen there 
 busily engaged with the berries in some hawthorn-bushes. Mr. 
 W. Stancomb, jun., has seen it at Bayntun ; Mr. G. Watson 
 Taylor reports that it frequently nests at Erlestoke ; Mr. Algernon 
 Neeld says that there are always a pair or two in the grounds at 
 Grittleton ; and Mr. Grant has furnished me with a list comprising 
 thirty specimens which have been killed in the neighbourhood 
 of Devizes, and have come into his hands for preservation. While 
 in the south of the county Lord Heytesbury reports one killed 
 in the water meadows on his estate, within the last four or five 
 years. Lord Arundell says a flight of male birds with reddish 
 heads and handsome plumage visited Wardour some time since. 
 Lord Nelson possesses a specimen killed at Trafalgar. Mr. W. 
 Wyndham says it is common at Dinton ; and in short, the Rev, 
 A. P. Morres says that though formerly looked upon as a rare 
 straggler in the neighbourhood of Salisbury, it has now become a 
 frequent visitor there, and gives evidence for belief that it occa- 
 sionally breeds in the district round Warminster. My friend the 
 Rev. G. S. Master, until lately Rector of West Dean, bore testi- 
 mony to their annual occurrence in his garden ; on one occasion, 
 in 1877, accompanied by a family of five young ones, where- 
 to the indignation of his gardener they attacked the peas with 
 much chattering and screeching, and committed no small havoc 
 in a very short time. So that when Mr. Seebohm says there is. 
 no authentic account of its breeding in the West of England,* I 
 think he is mistaken, for both North and South Wilts claim it as. 
 * British Birds/ vol. ii., p. 57. 
 
Goldfinch. 201 
 
 a native of the county. In France it is simply Le Gros-bec : 
 but in Germany, Kirsch Kernbeisser, ' Cherry-stone Biter / in 
 Sweden, Sten-Kndck, ' Stone-breaker ;' and in Spain, Casca-nueces,. 
 1 Nut-breaker.' 
 
 Its general colour is reddish-brown, with black throat, and black 
 and white wings and tail; the largest wing-feathers have a 
 peculiar formation, and present the appearance of having been 
 clipped square at the ends with a pair of scissors ; they are glossy 
 black, with a white oblong spot on the inner webs, singularly 
 truncated at their points, or (as Yarrell says) ' formed like an 
 antique battle or billhook.' The beak in the living bird is of a 
 delicate rose-tint, which, however, quickly fades after death to a 
 dull yellow. 
 
 84. GOLDFINCH (Carduelis elegans). 
 
 This is one of the few birds which everybody knows, and 
 everybody appreciates : its bright gay plumage of brilliant colours, 
 its sprightly form, active habits, and sweetness of song rendering 
 it a great favourite : its scientific name well describes it, Carduelis, 
 from carduus, ' a thistle/ signifying the ' Thistle Finch/ and 
 surely a more elegant handsome bird does not exist. But a bird 
 so brilliantly clad and so much sought after was sure to receive 
 many provincial names at the hands of the birdcatchers, some 
 of which have been bestowed upon it in admiration, as ' Red- 
 cap' and ' King Harry ;' but others in derision, as ' Proud Tailor' 
 and ' Fool's Coat ;' young birds are sometimes designated ' Gray- 
 pates ' and ' Branchers/* The names by which it is known to 
 Continental naturalists are derived partly from the generic Car- 
 duelis, as in France Le Chardonneret, and in Germany Distel- 
 zeisig, both meaning ' Thistle Finch ; ' partly from the specific 
 name elegans, as in Spain Color in (' Bright-coloured'), and in 
 Portugal Milheira Galante (' Beauteous Linnet'). In Sweden it 
 is Steglits, and in Italy Calderello. 
 
 In my early days it was quite common throughout the county, 
 though never so abundant as to beget too great familiarity, which, 
 Fourth edition of Yarrell's 'British Birds/ vol. ii., pp. 118-124. 
 
.202 Frinyillidcv. 
 
 we have seen with other species, is too apt to breed contempt 
 Towards winter it used to be seen in flocks ; and commons which 
 -abounded in thistles, or fields where those weeds ripened their 
 seed, were the haunts which it loved to frequent, and where it 
 made its choicest banquet. 
 
 I regret to say that, unlike the species last described, it is 
 rapidly diminishing in numbers with us, and within my own 
 memory is not nearly so abundant as when I was young ; but 
 this was inevitable, as every year has seen waste lands and 
 commons taken into cultivation, and thistle-beds done away. 
 Canon Goddard, who has always been a close observer of birds, 
 has called my special attention to this. He says : 'It is remark- 
 able how very rare the Goldfinch has become in North Wilts. It 
 cannot be that its food is deficient ; for it would naturally flourish 
 on agricultural distress, being a consumer of the seeds of weeds ! 
 But I have not seen a Goldfinch here (Hilmarton) for several 
 years, and yet it formerly abounded here above measure, and it 
 is the most prolific of birds. An invalid parishioner, living in a 
 solitary cottage in this parish, some years ago, very late in the 
 year (I think in October), showed me a Goldfinch's nest on an 
 open branch of a larch fir in his garden ; and he said there were 
 four young ones in it, and it was the fourth family the parents 
 had reared that season, each family consisting of four young 
 birds.' But if getting very scarce, as I am afraid it is, through- 
 out England generally, and as it certainly is in Wiltshire, on tlio 
 Continent it is still common enough. Thus on the shores of the 
 Mediterranean its numbers are very great, and in France and 
 Italy, and the East, I have met with it in large flocks, but no- 
 where so abundant as in Portugal. 
 
 Professor Steenstrup, in some very interesting observations on 
 this species, called attention to the preference it showed for the 
 pith of willow, lime, and thorn boughs, and the mode in which 
 the bird procures it. This he described as being effected by 
 picking off the bud, and then stripping the bark, an operation 
 in which the bird's longicone beak is a very apt tool.* 
 * See Ibis, for 1866, p. 212. 
 
Goldfinch. 203 
 
 I conclude my account of the Goldfinch with the following 
 observation from the pen of the Rev. G. Marsh, and which I 
 believe is perfectly sound, while the names of Mr. Marsh and Mr. 
 Dyson are sufficient proof that their observation is accurate and 
 not the result of any hastily formed opinion or conjecture. Mr. 
 Marsh writes thus : 'In the spring of 1851 Rev. F. Dyson first 
 told me that there was a bird which birdcatchers call the " Chevil " 
 Goldfinch, quite different from the common Goldfinch, and the 
 only bird that will breed with the common Canary. On the 1st 
 of June I went with him to see one of these birds paired with 
 a canary ; it was certainly different from the common bird, 
 the red feathers not continuing under the chin ; it was a very 
 fine bird, and the birdcatcher (one Fisher, of Cricklade) told 
 me they were always the leading birds of the flock/ This 
 opinion, which I printed in 1860, has been amply corroborated 
 by the Rev. A. P. Morres, who said there is no doubt at all 
 about there being two distinct species of these birds recognised 
 by the birdcatchers of his district, one of whom said, ' We 
 call the bigger sort " three-pound-tenners" amongst ourselves, 
 and they are quite different from the others. You can distin- 
 guish them readily by the largeness of the white spot on the end 
 of the quill-feathers of the wing, and also by their white throat, 
 and the bigger black crescent, which comes much further round 
 the side of the face, and they are of a more slender shape alto- 
 gether than the others. They are worth more because they will 
 breed more readily with the canary than the smaller kind, though 
 the latter will do so sometimes.' Another bird-fancier said that 
 he knew the two birds well, and that they called the bigger sort 
 'the Chevil' or ' Chevril.'* Professor Newton, however, main- 
 tains that it is not a distinct species, but only a variety,t and 
 Montagu referred to it in his day as a variety, under the name of 
 ' Cheverel,' but it is hard to say where a variety ends and a species 
 begins. 
 
 * Wiltshire Archceological and Natural History Magazine, vol. xviii., 
 pp. 291, 292. 
 
 f Fourth edition of Yarrell ; s 'British Birds,' vol. ii., p. 124. 
 
204 Fringillidce. 
 
 85. 'SISKIN' (Garduelis spinus). 
 
 Better known in this country as a cage-bird, mated with the 
 canary, than in its wild state. It is, however, by no means a rare, 
 or scarcely an occasional visitant, some appearing amongst us 
 almost every year, and sometimes in great numbers, consorting 
 with Linnets and Redpoles, as Mr. Withers, of Devizes, testified. 
 It is a native of northern latitudes, and generally visits us in the 
 winter, when it may be seen clinging to the alder trees, the seeds 
 of which it especially loves. Willoughby, indeed, said that in 
 his day it was known as the ' Barley Bird,' because it arrived at 
 the time of barley-sowing. But this is contrary to modern ex- 
 perience, for the flocks which occasionally visit us certainly 
 appear in the autumn or early winter. The Rev. A. P. Morres, 
 however, gives it as his opinion that at times some will remain 
 throughout the year, and that it occasionally breeds in his dis- 
 trict, a birdcatcher in his parish having trapped, in July, 1871, a 
 party of seven, two of which were old birds and five evidently 
 young, and he had reason to believe that they also bred in the 
 neighbouring parish of Nunton. Lord Arundell has known it 
 brought in to him at Wardour ; Mr. Grant has had specimens 
 taken at Rowde and the outskirts of Devizes ; and the Rev. A. P. 
 Morres informs me that in February of this year (1887) Dr. 
 Blackmore saw a flock of eight birds on the birch-trees in the 
 Museum gardens at Salisbury. 
 
 Though somewhat short and thick, it is by no means a clumsy 
 bird ; on the contrary, it is exceedingly graceful, and most rest- 
 less, resembling the Titmice in its almost incessant motions and 
 the variety of its attitudes. Its plumage is a mixture of green 
 and yellow, the former predominating ; it is also known as the 
 'Aberdevine.' In Sweden it is called Gron Siske, and in the 
 south of the country abounds in winter as well as in summer, 
 but resorts to the large pine forests for preference, where it 
 breeds. In France it is Le Tarin ; in Germany, Erlenzeisig, 
 * alder-finch ;' in Spain, Lubano ; and in Portugal, Vanario da 
 Franca. Spinus, says the B.O.U. Committee, is derived from 
 
Common Linnet. 205 
 
 , ' I chirp shrilly/ and was the name given to a small bird 
 commonly eaten at Athens, from its shrill piping cry. Siskin says 
 Professor Skeat, is a Swedish word meaning 'chirper' or ' piper/ 
 
 86. COMMON LINNET (Linota cannabina). 
 
 Extremely numerous throughout this county, more particularly 
 on our downs, where they congregate in autumn in large flocks. 
 In summer the old birds assume a red breast and red forehead, 
 but this is only a nuptial plumage, which they lose when the 
 breeding season is over, exchanging it for the more sober brown 
 in which they are commonly arrayed. This change of dress 
 caused much confusion among our earlier ornithologists, who 
 mistook the bird in summer and winter plumage for two distinct 
 species, and they named the former the Redpole, the latter the 
 Gray Linnet ; and this was another error which our countryman 
 Montagu was the first to discover and rectify. It is a joyous 
 gentle bird, quite harmless, and a sweet songster ; and (Yarrell 
 informs us) derives its name Linota, 'laLinotte/ 'Linnet,' from 
 its partiality to the seeds of the various species of flax (linum) ; 
 from whence also comes Cannabina, which has the same 
 signification, from Kawdftis, 'flax' or 'hemp;' and in Sweden, 
 Hdmpling. This is another species which, within my experience, 
 is sensibly and even rapidly diminishing in numbers, in con- 
 sequence of the waste places and commons, where thistles 
 and weeds luxuriated, and which were its favourite haunts, 
 having been now brought into cultivation. In France it is 
 La grande Linotte de vignes ; in Germany, Bluthaw fling ; in 
 Sweden, Hdmpling; in Italy, Montanello maggiore ; and in 
 Spain, Camacho. 
 
 87. TWITE (Linota montana). 
 
 1 did not include this species in my former papers on the 
 Ornithology of Wilts, for the sufficient reason that I was not 
 then convinced of its occurrence within the county. Now, how- 
 ever, I gladly admit it, on the evidence of the Rev. A. P. Morres, 
 of whose practical acquaintance with the birds of his locality L 
 
206 Fringillidce. 
 
 have already made so much use, and shall continue to do so 
 throughout this volume. He says that, though very little known 
 or noticed amongst us, it is occasionally seen, and visits us, as 
 he believes, at any rate in the winter, annually. The birdcatcher 
 in his parish, before mentioned, knows the bird well, and has 
 sometimes trapped them, taking three or four in a day, and has 
 caught them at Odstock Pond and at Wittsbury Down, during 
 the months of August and September. Mr. Baker said that 
 they are not unfrequently met with on Mere Downs, and thought 
 it probable that they occasionally bred there ; to which conclu- 
 sion he was led by receiving a pair from a neighbouring bird- 
 catcher early in the autumn of 1870. It is of more slender and 
 elegant appearance than the Common Linnet, and this is in 
 great measure due to the greater length of its tail ; it is also to- 
 be distinguished by its yellow beak, whence one of its common 
 scientific names, flavirostris, and that by which it is recognised 
 in Sweden, Gul-nabbad Fink, or ' Yellow-beaked Finch.' Gene- 
 rally it passes the summer months in the northern parts of 
 Scandinavia, where it frequents the lower regions, and especially 
 delights in the boulders and stones at the foot of the fjelds. At 
 no season does it put on the red breast and head for which its 
 congeners are so conspicuous in the breeding season ; but at all 
 times the male has the rump of a reddish hue. It derives the 
 name * Twite' from its note, and that of ' Mountain Linnet' from 
 the localities it prefers. In general appearance and habits, mode 
 of feeding, and flight, it resembles the Common Linnet ; indeed, 
 at a little distance it requires a very practised eye to distinguish 
 between them. In France it is La Linotte de monlagne, and in 
 Germany, Arktische Fink, from the high latitudes to which it 
 resorts for breeding, as well as Gelbschnabliche Fink, from the 
 yellow beak mentioned above. 
 
 88. LESSER REDPOLE (Linota linaria). 
 This is not a common bird in our southern county, though 
 abundant farther north. It inhabits the pine forests of Scandi- 
 navia, and is seldom seen here but in winter. For breeding 
 
Lesser Redpole. 20T 
 
 purposes, the main body of this species extends its migration 
 into the far north, even to the shores of the Icy Sea ; and is 
 chiefly seen in Sweden on passage to and from its nesting-places. 
 Some, however, remain in the pine forests of that country to- 
 breed, as indeed they do occasionally in Scotland and even in 
 the north of England. Mr. Withers, however, informed me that 
 he occasionally received one to preserve ; and Mr. Elgar Sloper 
 had a female in his collection that was killed at Rowde on its 
 nest in May, 1850. The Rev. A. P. Morres speaks of it as occa- 
 sionally visiting the neighbourhood of Salisbury ; and Mr. Baker 
 says it is to be found in small flocks on the downs near Mere, 
 both in summer and winter ; while Mr. King, bird-preserver at 
 Wai-minster, asserts that he has known instances of its breeding 
 in that locality ; but as none of these opinions as to its nesting 
 in Wilts have been corroborated by the production of the speci- 
 men, they must not be too readily accepted, more especially when 
 we consider that the species in question has congeners which 
 undoubtedly breed here, of such very close resemblance to it 
 in general appearance and colour and habits, that mistakes 
 might easily occur. I have also information that the eggs of 
 this species have been taken at Castle Combe by Mr. Watkins, 
 agent to Mr. Lowndes, and again near Maiiborough.* In France 
 it is Le Cabaret and Sizerin ; in Germany, Bergzeisig ; in Italy, 
 Montanello minore. The specific name, linaria, is simply 
 another form of linota, and with the same meaning, ' belonging 
 to flax or hemp.' It is a very small bird with bright plumage, 
 and closely resembles the Siskin in all its habits and motions ; 
 hence the name by which it is known in Scandinavia, Grd Siska, 
 while the true Siskin (C. spinus) is known as Grou Siska. Like 
 the true Siskin, it will also hang with its back downwards at the 
 extremity of the smaller branches of the birch and alder, and 
 assume a variety of constrained attitudes in its earnest endea- 
 vours to reach its favourite seeds ; in all which it also reminds 
 us of the family of Titmice. 
 
 * See ' Reports of Marlborough College Natural History Society ' for 
 18GG, p. Ill ; and for 1878, p. 94. 
 
:208 Fringillidce. 
 
 89. BULLFINCH (Fyrrhula vulgar is). 
 
 The scientific name, Pyrrhula, is said to signify ' a red or fine- 
 coloured bird/ which will describe its general hue sufficiently 
 well ; but it has also been interpreted as meaning ' fine- coloured 
 tail,' from irvppos, 'the colour of flame,' and ovpa, 'a tail' (B.O.U.); 
 anything remarkable, however, in the colour of the tail the bird 
 does not possess.* ' Bullfinch' doubtless means 'large Finch/ 
 just as a 'Bullfrog 'is a large frog, and a 'Bullrnsh'a large 
 species of rush. In Sweden it is known as Domherre, and in 
 Norway as Dompap; both Swedish and Norwegian designations 
 mean ' a Canon of the Church.' ' Perhaps so called/ says quaint 
 old Pontoppidan, ' for its melodious voice, resembling an organ, 
 though not loud enough to fill the choir of a cathedral where 
 the canons sing their Hone. 1 In France it is known as Le 
 Bouvreuil ; in Germany, Rothburstujer Gimpel ; in Italy, as 
 Ciufolotto ; and in Portugal, as Pisco chilreiro, ' Chirping-finch/ 
 and Cardeal, ' Cardinal/ from its red dress. Handsome as this 
 bird is, and sweet as is its song, I fear we must confess it to be 
 one of the most mischievous of the feathered race, for the buds 
 of fruit trees are unhappily its favourite food ; and so well can 
 it ply its strong parrot-shaped beak, that in an incredibly short 
 time it will strip a tree of all its fruit-bearing buds, and therefore 
 of all prospect of fruit. It is on this account most hateful to 
 gardeners in early spring, at which season alone it has the 
 courage to come so near human habitations, for it is essentially 
 a shy, timid, retiring bird, and loves the depths of dark woods, 
 and the thickest of hedges for its retreat. Indeed, excepting in 
 spring, it feeds on the seeds of weeds, and supports its young 
 with caterpillars and insects ; and it should not be forgotten 
 that during by far the larger portion of the year it is conferring 
 benefits on man. It is sparingly distributed throughout the 
 county, and its plumage is too well known to require comment. 
 
 ' List of British Birds/ by Committee of B.O.U., p. 56. 
 
Common Crossbill. 209 
 
 90. COMMON CROSSBILL (Loxid curvirostra). 
 
 Very eccentric in the periods of its visits here, no less than in 
 the formation of its beak, is this truly singular bird. It is a 
 denizen of northern latitudes, and though an interval of many 
 years frequently elapses between its visits, it will occasionally 
 arrive here in considerable numbers, when it frequents larch and 
 fir plantations. And it is in extracting the seeds from the fir-cones 
 that its remarkable beak (which at first sight appears a de- 
 formity) is so useful ; this is of great strength, as are also the 
 muscles of the head and neck, enabling it to work the mandibles 
 laterally with extraordinary power (this being the only British 
 bird which exhibits any lateral motion of the mandibles) : these 
 are both curved, and at the points overlap one another con- 
 siderably ; and when the bird holds a fir-cone in its foot, after 
 the manner of the parrots, and 'opening its bill so far as to 
 bring the points together, slips it in this position under the hard 
 scales of the cone, the crossing points force out the scale, and the 
 seed which lies below it is easily secured.'* An old writer of 
 Queen Elizabeth's time quoted by Yarrell says of it : ' It came 
 about harvest, a little bigger than a sparrow, which had bills 
 thwarted crosswise at the end, and with these it would cut an 
 apple in two at one snap, eating onely the kernel; and they 
 made a great spoil among the apples.' Hence it gained the 
 name of 'Shell-apple' in some localities. The scientific word 
 Loxia is from the Greek >.&go?, 'awry/ or 'crosswise,' which is 
 applicable enough. When first hatched, and even while the 
 young bird remains in the nest, there is no crossing of the beak 
 to be discerned ; both mandibles being perfectly straight, and 
 only assuming the crossed position when the bird ceases to be 
 immature. In Sweden it is called Mindre-Kors Ndbb, or 'Lesser 
 Crossbill,' to distinguish it from its supposed larger relative, the 
 ' Parrot Crossbill,' which is called in Scandinavia Storre-Kors 
 Ndbb, 'Greater Crossbill'; but modern ornithologists do not 
 generally allow that these so-called species are distinct. In 
 
 * Monthly Packet, ' Our Feathered Neighbours,' vol. xi., p. 274. 
 
 14 
 
210 Fringillidce. 
 
 France it is Le Bee croisd; in Germany, Fichten Kreuzschnabel, 
 'Pine Crossbill;' in Spain, Pico-tuerto, 'twisted beak,' and in 
 Portugal Cruzabico. 
 
 I have many notices of its occurrence in almost all parts of the 
 county ; suffice it to say that some years since they frequented the 
 larch plantations at Old Park in considerable numbers. Mr. 
 Marsh saw some trees in his garden at Sutton Benger covered 
 with them in 1838, and relates that the keeper at Brinkworth 
 killed fifteen at a shot. In South Wilts Mr. Baker records that 
 a large flock visited Mere in the winter of 1868; Mr. King of 
 Warminster had many brought to him from Stourton about 
 1873 ; Mr. T. Powell of Hurdcott reports that they frequented a 
 plantation of Scotch and spruce fir there, some time back ; and 
 the Kev. A. P. Morres has numerous notices of their appearance 
 from time to time in the neighbourhood of Salisbury. The 
 'Marlborough College Natural History Reports' mention a flock 
 at Martinsell in 1866, and some seen in 1870. Major Henea^c 
 has a specimen, considered from its large size to be a Parrot 
 Crossbill, which was shot at Compton Basse tt in 1868. Lord 
 Methuen informs me that it has been seen at Corsham Court . 
 Mrs. Story Maskelyne recollects its appearance at Basset Down 
 some winters back ; and Mr. Grant received half a dozen in the 
 winter of 1868, when it was generally abundant in England. 
 
 In plumage scarcely two specimens in a large flock are alike, 
 so variously are its colours distributed, for while some old males 
 are nearly crimson all over, others are of a lighter shade of red, 
 and others again in a mottled garb of green, red, orange, and 
 brown. Its legs, though short, are very strong, and it will climb 
 and swing from branch to branch, taking firm hold with its long 
 hooked claws ; it is very active too, and lively in its manners, and 
 remarkably fearless and confiding. 
 
 STURNID^E (THE STARLINGS). 
 
 This is an interesting family, the members of it so pert and 
 lively, and with so many amusing habits ; they are very sociable, 
 and usually move in large flocks; omnivorous, for nothing seems 
 
Common Starling. 211 
 
 to come ainiss to their appetite ; and perfectly harmless, so much 
 so as to have excited but little enmity and little persecution from 
 man. 
 
 91. COMMON STARLING (Sturnus vuLgaritt). 
 
 This is one of our most constant companions, frequenting the 
 roofs of our houses for nesting purposes, marching about our 
 lawns and gardens all day in search of worms, wheeling about on 
 rapid wing in small companies around us, and otherwise de- 
 meaning itself as an innocent harmless bird should do, its mens 
 conscia rectl giving it confidence, and demanding its protection, 
 or at least comparative freedom from molestation, at the hands 
 of man. Moreover, it lends its gratuitous services to the shepherd, 
 .and may often be seen perched on the sheep's back, giving its 
 friendly aid to rid them of their troublesome parasites. In. 
 Sweden it is looked upon I know not why with a sort of 
 veneration, and, in common with the stork, is protected, and 
 rash indeed, and dead to all sense of shame, must he be who 
 would molest a Starling in that country. In the desert of North 
 Africa, on the other hand, where vast flocks resort in winter to 
 the date forests, and do incalculable damage to the ripe fruit, 
 they are destroyed by thousands. Moreover, they are highly 
 prized by the Arabs as excellent food ; but notwithstanding such 
 wholesale and continual destruction, there seems to be no appre- 
 ciable diminution of its numbers till the date crop is gathered 
 and spring commences, when not a straggler remains in Africa.* 
 In like manner in the Azores, when vines were more cultivated, 
 it was relentlessly destroyed, as it was accused of feeding on the 
 grapes.f Professor New'ton says that in England a very great 
 increase in numbers of this species has been going on for some 
 years past. J The English name Starling, which is the diminutive 
 of Stare, the German Staar, the French Etorneau, the Spanish 
 Estornino, and the Portuguese Estorninho, are all derived from 
 
 * Canon Tristram, in Ibis for 1859, p. 293. 
 f P. Grodman, in Ibis for 18G6, p. 98. 
 
 Fourth edition of Yarrell's ' British Birds,' vol. ii., p. 231. 
 
 142 
 
212 Sturnidcv. 
 
 the same root as Sturnus, which means the ' twittering bird/ 
 Though at a little distance of dull sombre dress, it will on 
 examination be found to possess a remarkably bright burnished 
 plumage, composed of long narrow silky black feathers, shining 
 with metallic tints of green, blue, and purple, and each garnished 
 with a triangular white spot at the tip. As autumn approaches 
 these birds congregate in vast multitudes in certain favoured 
 spots towards evening, arriving in flights of forty or fifty, till 
 many thousands and even millions are collected, and forming 
 quite a cloud they whirl through the air as if guided by one 
 impulse ; now ascending high, then wheeling round, descending 
 with a roar of rushing wings, till they almost brush the earth in 
 their rapid course, and finally down they glide into the planta- 
 tion or reed-bed which they have selected for their roosting- 
 place. And then such a hubbub of voices ensues, such chattering 
 and such scolding, each apparently anxious to secure the best 
 berth for the night ; but if a gun should chance to be fired, or 
 anything else occur to startle them, away goes the whole flock in 
 a dense cloud, with a roar which would astonish those who have 
 not previously seen and heard them. Such a roosting-place exists 
 on the Lavington Downs, at New Copse ; and here I am informed 
 by Mr. Stratton, of Gore Cross, that these birds flock in thousands 
 and tens of thousands, and he adds that it is curious to observe 
 their tactics when a hawk appears for as the hawk prepares for 
 the fatal pounce, they collect into balls or compact flocks, and so 
 baffle their enemy, which immediately ascends higher for another 
 swoop, meanwhile the Starlings hurry along towards some place 
 of shelter, but ball again as the hawk prepares to make a second 
 dash. Another favoured haunt of the Starlings is a wood in the 
 parish of Nettleton, near Chippenham, where, I am informed, 
 * one thousand were killed a few years since by thirty discharges 
 from a single-barrelled gun at one time ' a piece of wanton 
 cruelty only outdone by the massacre which Colonel Hawker 
 records, how he slew many hundreds of Starlings at a single shot 
 from his long gun in the reeds near Lymington, in Hampshire. 
 In the fens of Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire this habit of 
 
Rose-coloured Pastor. 213 
 
 roosting in masses is productive of considerable mischief to the 
 reed-beds, which are of great value, the vast numbers settling 
 on the same reed bearing it down and breaking it with the un- 
 wonted weight ; and even plantations and copses sometimes 
 suffer a certain amount of damage from a similar destruction of 
 the leading branches of the young trees. Canon Jackson informs 
 me that one of these enormous colonies of Starlings had been for 
 many years alloAved without disturbance to roost nightly in one 
 of the late Mr. Neeld's plantations alongside the public way (the 
 Foss Road) at Duriley, near ' The Elm and Ash,' about two miles 
 from Grittleton ; but in April, 1850, the keeper, whose cottage 
 was only a few yards off, having had occasion one night to take 
 a few of the birds prisoners for some shooting practice the next 
 day, the whole colony resented the breach of hospitality, and 
 suddenly left the place altogether. It was then found that they 
 had entirely spoiled the young trees and laurel shrubs on about 
 one acre of the plantation ; but, to make up for the damage, 
 had bequeathed a valuable deposit of guano, of which no less 
 than sixty loads were hauled away. The Rev. A. P. Morres 
 reports that there is another great Starling roost in Odstock 
 Copse in his neighbourhood, near Salisbury. 
 
 92. ROSE-COLOURED PASTOR (Pastor roseus}. 
 
 This very beautiful bird is extremely rare in England, a few 
 stragglers only having occasionally appeared ; it is a native of 
 the hottest parts of Asia and Africa, but migrates northward in 
 summer, and is sparingly scattered throughout the southern 
 countries of Europe every year, the outskirts of the army some- 
 times penetrating so far north as Britain. The first instance I 
 adduce of its undoubted occurrence in Wiltshire was in 1853 
 end of July or beginning of August when a specimen was killed 
 by a shepherd on Salisbury Plain, near Wilton, and is now in 
 the possession of the Rev. G. Powell, of Sutton Veny, who 
 informed me that it was quite alone when shot, feeding on the 
 ground. Another as I learnt from Canon Eddrup was shot 
 
214 Sturnidce. 
 
 in 1868 in the parish of Bremhill, at a small farm at the bottom 
 of Bencroft Hill. A third was observed in the gardens of 
 Bannerdown House with a companion, and remained for some 
 days near Box, and was shot under Kingsdown, and is now in the 
 collection of Colonel Ward. A fourth was shot on the western 
 borders of the county, on July 29th, 1869, about two miles from 
 Koad Hill, as I was informed by the Rev. E. Peacock, who was 
 then residing there. It is usually seen associating with the 
 Starlings, to which family indeed it belongs, and which it much 
 resembles in general habits, mode of feeding, etc. Its plumage 
 is exceedingly beautiful in the living bird, but the delicate rose 
 tint, whence it derives its specific name, loses much of its fresh- 
 ness after death, and in course of years fades to a dingy pink. 
 The head, wings, and tail are of a glossy velvet black, with violet 
 reflections, the whole of the under parts and back of a deep 
 rose-red ; the head is likewise adorned with a long pendent crest 
 of loose silky feathers of a glossy black. The legs are very 
 strong, and with the upper mandible of the bill reddish-orange. 
 It is called Pastor, the shepherd or herdsman, from its habit 
 (which it shares with the common Starling) of attending flocks 
 and cattle. Continental naturalists have generally looked upon 
 it as a thrush : thus in France it is Merle coideur de rose ; 
 in Germany, Rosenfarbige Drossel ; in Sweden, Rosen-fdrgad 
 Drossel; and in England it has been styled the 'Rose Ouzel/ 
 It is, however, a true Starling in habits and in feeding, and in 
 Italy is called Storno roseo. In the Ionian Islands, where it 
 frequents the mulberry orchards in large numbers, and does no 
 small damage, it is known to the peasantry as o-tcafjLvocfrdyos, the 
 ' mulberry-eater.' * It is, at the same time, a great consumer of 
 locusts, and for that service to man is highly appreciated. It 
 breeds in large colonies, arriving in enormous multitudes at its 
 nesting- places, amidst suitable rocks or ruins, or in deserted 
 stone-quarries. But for a very interesting and detailed account 
 of the breeding of this bird, which until then had been little 
 known, I must refer my readers to an admirable memoir by 
 Lord Lilford, in Ibis for 1860, p. 137. 
 
Chough. 215 
 
 Signer de Betta,* a translation of which I obtained from the pen 
 of my lamented friend Mr. William Long, of West Hay, which 
 I sent to the editor of the Zoologist in 1878, and which was 
 published the same year in that periodical.t 
 
 CORVID^E (THE CROWS). 
 
 This is a very large and important family, very numerous too, 
 and widely distributed, and most of its members, being of 
 considerable size, attract more general attention than the pre- 
 ceding smaller and more retiring birds, and are therefore familiar 
 to the least observant. Their general characteristics are stout, 
 compact body; large head; thick, short neck; beak large, straight, 
 and pointed ; legs strong and well adapted for walking with ease 
 as well as for perching. Their flight, too, is strong and even ; and 
 as regards their appetite, they seem to devour everything they 
 meet with, being truly omnivorous, and refusing nothing eatable 
 which comes in their way. From these several properties the 
 Crows have been styled the most perfect of the winged creation ; 
 and it has been remarked that they seem to have received some 
 peculiar property from each order of birds, by which they stand 
 in the centre of the feathered kingdom, reflecting the charac- 
 teristics of the whole, being so well fitted for walking, equally 
 powerful on the wing, inhabitants of all climates, and capable of 
 subsisting on all kinds of food. Notwithstanding their frequent 
 association with man, they are a vigilant, cautious race, ever on 
 the watch for an enemy, and scenting danger from afar. 
 
 93. CHOUGH (Fregilus graculus). 
 
 This is scarcely a true Crow, but rather a link between the 
 Starlings and Crows, partaking most, however, of the habits and 
 appearance of the latter. It is a very graceful, elegant bird, and 
 slender in form ; its plumage of a glossy bluish-black, strongly 
 contrasted with which are the beak, legs, and feet, which are of 
 a bright vermilion-red or deep orange colour. The beak is very 
 
 * Atti del R. Istifcuto Veneto, ser. v. ii. 
 t Zoologist for 1878, p. 16. 
 
216 Corvidoe. 
 
 long, slender, and considerably curved. It is said never to perch 
 on trees, but always on rocks ; and Montagu (who gives a full 
 account of one of these birds which had been tamed) says its 
 inquisitive habits are equal to those of any Crow. Its food 
 principally consists of insects, for reaching which in the crevices 
 of rocks its long sharp-pointed slender bill is admirably adapted. 
 Its true habitat is among the lofty precipices on the sea-coast, or 
 amid the rocks of inland counties ; and the only place where I 
 have seen it in its native haunts was in the rocky heights above 
 Cintra, looking down on the broad Atlantic, and the mouth of 
 the Tagus, and there, day after day, I met with several parties, 
 consisting of six or seven, of this elegant and very interesting 
 bird. The Chough which is found in the Swiss Alps and the 
 Tyrol is of another species (F. Alpinus), and lacks the red bealt 
 and legs so conspicuous in our bird, and may be seen among the 
 loftier and more desolate regions of those countries far up among 
 the glaciers. But it is our British species (F. graculus*) that is 
 found in the desert of Northern Africa, and is known to the 
 Arabs by the name of Oyreeb Hamraid, or the ' Red Crow,' 
 though it is strange that one of our northern coast birds should 
 be found in a scene so widely different, as Canon Tristram has 
 observed.* There is an old Cornish legend that King Arthur is 
 still alive in the form of a Chough, and certain superstitious 
 persons refuse to shoot these birds, from a fear that they might 
 inadvertently destroy the mystic warrior : 
 
 ' And mark yon bird of sable wing, 
 
 Talons and beak all red with blood, 
 The spirit of the long-lost king 
 
 Passed in that shape from Camhm's flood. 
 And still when loudliest howls the storm, 
 
 And darkliest lowers his native sky, 
 The king's fierce soul is in that form, 
 
 The warrior spirit threatens nigh.'f 
 
 In England it is sparingly found on some of our rocky coasts, 
 and is often styled the Cornish Chough, from an erroneous im- 
 pression that it was peculiar to that county, though Shakespeare, 
 * Jbis for 1859, p. 292. f Hawker's ' Echoes from Cornwall.' 
 
Chough. 217 
 
 with his usual wonderful knowledge of nature, shows that he did 
 not share in that mistake, for in describing the height of the 
 cliff at Dover he says : 
 
 'The Crows and Choughs that wing the midway air 
 Show scarce as gross as beetles.' 
 
 Wiltshire, too, is one of the few inland counties which has had its 
 stragglers of this species. Yarrell, quoting from the Field 
 Naturalist's Magazine for August, 1832, recounts how a Red- 
 legged Crow was killed on the Wiltshire Downs, near the Bath 
 Road between Marlborough and Calne, by a man employed in 
 keeping birds from corn : this must have been very near, if not 
 in, my own parish of Yatesbury. In addition to this, Blyth, the 
 editor of ' White's Selborne,' records the capture of another of 
 this species on Salisbury Plain. Mr. King, of Warminster, 
 recollects that many years ago one of this species was killed by 
 a shepherd lad at Battlesbury Camp, on the edge of Salisbury 
 Plain, about a mile and a half from Warminster, but that 
 specimen was, unfortunately, not preserved. The Rev. E. Duke 
 has one which was killed at Lake, and is in a small collection 
 there made by his father as illustrative of the Fauna of Lake, and 
 I have one more instance of its occurrence in the county, for the 
 Rev. F. Dyson killed one many years since on the downs at 
 Tidworth, where two had been seen hovering about for many 
 days previous. This I fear is likely to be the last specimen of 
 this truly graceful bird wandering to our county, for it is now 
 become very rare even in those localities on the sea-coast where 
 it was once most numerous, and will probably soon be classed in 
 that sad catalogue of species which, once abundant, are now ex- 
 terminated by the ruthless rage for slaughter so prevalent with 
 all classes, in which the noble Bustard already figures, and will 
 soon be joined by the Kite and the Bittern, and many another 
 interesting bird with which the last generation was familiar. 
 
 Of the meaning of Fregilus I know nothing, but by most 
 modern ornithologists Pyrrhocorax is the generic name in use : 
 this is defined by the B.O.U. Committee to be 'a Crow with 
 red beak,' from ffyg*oV, ' the colour of fire ' (*fy), and *o>ag, ' a 
 
218 Cowidce. 
 
 Crow/ In France it is Le Coracias Huppt ou sonneur ; in 
 Germany, Stein-Krahe ' Stone (or Rock) Crow ;' and in Italy, 
 Coracia di montagna. 
 
 94. RAVEN (Corvus corax). 
 
 If the Crows exhibit more intelligence than all other families, 
 as is often asserted, here we have the most sagacious of the 
 Crows. Unlike many of its congeners, the Raven lives for the 
 most part a solitary life, at least in this country, but it is not so- 
 everywhere. I have had many opportunities of seeing it in 
 small colonies in Norway, in Portugal, and in Egypt, and Canon 
 Tristram, writing of the birds of North Africa, says it is gregarious 
 both in the mountains and deserts there, returning home to- 
 roost at sunset in a long file after the manner of rooks ; more- 
 over, though not breeding in communities, the nests are 
 frequently within a few yards of each other.* Mr. Salvin, speaking 
 of the Eastern Atlas, says it was no uncommon sight to see 
 twenty or thirty of these birds at one time.f It is also most 
 ubiquitous, and impervious (as it would appear) to the effect of 
 extreme heat or cold. We have seen above how they frequent 
 the burning desert of Africa ; and Arctic voyagers relate that it 
 is one of the few birds capable of braving the severity of an Arctic 
 winter. Sir Edward Parry met with it in the highest northern 
 latitudes; it was found at Melville Island; and Nordenskiold, in 
 his famous voyage, says that in a journey over the inland ice in 
 exploring a northern portion of Greenland, during the whole of 
 his excursion on the ice he had seen no animal except a couple 
 of Ravens.J 
 
 It is by far the largest of all the pie tribe in Europe, of strong 
 robust shape, of grave and dignified bearing ; its plumage of the 
 deepest and glossiest black, with purple, blue, and green reflec- 
 tion. The term Raven has been derived from an old word 
 signifying to tear away, or snatch and devour, alluding to 
 
 Ills for 1859, p. 292. f Ibid., p. 312. 
 
 % * Arctic Voyages, 5 p. 165. 
 
Raven. 219 
 
 its voracious plundering habits, for it not only feeds on carrion, 
 but attacks weak and sickly animals and birds. Professor 
 Skeat, however, derives it from its cry, and says that krap, 
 ' to make a noise,' is the origin of ' raven,' ' crow/ ' croak/ etc. 
 As to the derivation of the scientific names of the several 
 species which compose this family, they seem to come generally 
 from the same root ; for the B.O.U. Committee, under the several 
 heads of Corvus, Cor ax, Cor one, Cor nix, refers the reader to 
 xptofy, ' I caw/ and xpafy, ' I cry/ as the real origin. From the 
 same root appear to be derived most, if not all, of the Continental 
 names for this bird, as in France, Le Corbeau ; in Germany, 
 Kolkrabe ; in Italy, Corvo imperiale, as if ' the king of Crows ;' in 
 Sweden, Korp ; in Spain, Cuervo ; and in Portugal, Corvo. 
 
 Ravens will sometimes, as they fly, turn over on their backs, 
 with a loud croak, and seem to be falling to the ground; but 
 Harding points out that when this odd gesture occurs, they are 
 merely scratching themselves with one foot, and thus lose the 
 centre of gravity.* 
 
 It is supposed to live to a very great age, but this does not 
 seem to have ever been satisfactorily proved ; it pairs for life, and 
 breeds very early in the year, returning, if undisturbed, annually 
 to the same spot for the purpose : but it always drives away the 
 young birds when they are fully fledged and able to provide for 
 themselves. Montagu observes that between this bird and its 
 egg there is a greater disproportion than in any other species, 
 for it takes nearly fifty eggs to make up the weight of the bird. 
 
 Extremely wary and impatient of molestation, it has been ex- 
 pelled from many of its old accustomed breeding-places by the 
 persecution of gamekeepers and others ; and this persecution is 
 not only of modern date, but was in force in the last century, for 
 when the Government auditors of parochial highway accounts 
 examined the books of a certain parish, they found amongst the 
 more common items of so much for the killing of a fox, and so 
 much for the killing of sparrows per dozens, old and young, the 
 following entry, ' Resolved at a vestry, that for a Raven, on the 
 * Edition of 'White's Selborne,' p. 254. 
 
220 Corvidcv. 
 
 production of the same, the person so producing it will receive 
 2s. 6d. from the guardian of the said parish.' Let me as guardian 
 of the parish of Yatesbury, in passing, assure all whom it may 
 concern, that to me at least the Corvicide will apply in vain for 
 blood-money on account of any such atrocious murder. Ravens, 
 however, were happily too wide-awake to be easily caught in the 
 days of inefficient weapons ; but now the breechloader, the trap, 
 and poison have all done their work so effectually, that these 
 grand birds are become scarce in England, though some few 
 chosen spots there are where they are guarded from molestation. 
 And, indeed, a Raven tree is no mean ornament to a park, and 
 speaks of a wide domain and large timber, and an ancient family, 
 for the Raven is an aristocratic bird, and cannot brook a confined 
 property, or trees of young growth : would that its predilections 
 were more humoured, and a secure retreat allowed it by the 
 larger proprietors in the land ! The time has, I trust, gone by in 
 England when the poor Raven was regarded as a bird of ill-omen, 
 and its croak dreaded as a sure sign portending some coming 
 evil; and yet not long ago such was the absurd superstition 
 regarding this much-maligned species, as we may see from 
 various passages of Shakespeare as well as other authors of that 
 and even a later date its remarkable power of smell and almost 
 inconceivable sensitiveness to the odour of sickness and death * 
 having procured it the reputation of a prognosticator of mis- 
 fortune, so that its harsh croak, listened to with fear when illness 
 of any kind was in the house, was regarded as a most inauspicious 
 sound, as we read in ' Othello ' : 
 
 1 Oh, it comes o'er my memory 
 
 As doth the raven o'er the infected house, 
 
 Boding to all. 1 
 
 And this supposed faculty of ' smelling death ' made its presence, 
 and even its voice, looked upon as accursed : 
 
 ' The hateful messenger of heavy things, 
 Of death and dolour telling.'f 
 
 For a remarkable proof of this sensitiveness see an account given by the 
 Rev. A. P. Morres, of what occurred in modern days at Mere, in the Wilt- 
 shire Magazine for 1879, vol. xviii., p. 290. 
 
 t Dyer's 'English Folk-Lore,' p. 78. 
 
Raven. 221 
 
 Bat this was not the only reason why the Raven was abhorred 
 in England. There was also a national cause for its abomination, 
 in that it was the symbol on their sacred standard of the hated 
 Danes. 
 
 In old time and in heathen countries, we all know how 
 anxiously its every note was listened to and its every action 
 studied by the soothsayer, and it was consecrated to Apollo as a 
 foreteller of things to come; but it may not be so generally 
 known that at this day not only do the North American Indians 
 honour it as unearthly, and invest it with extraordinary know- 
 ledge and power, and place its skin on the heads of their 
 officiating priests as a distinguishing mark of their office, but 
 even in Christian Scandinavia and especially in Iceland, all 
 which countries are at least a century behind the rest of Europe 
 in civilization, it is regarded with like fear, so much so as to 
 have gained for itself the sobriquet of the ' bird of Odin,' whose 
 satellite it is supposed to be, on whose shoulder it was wont 
 to perch, and in whose ear it was wont to whisper all the tidings 
 it had gained in its wanderings up and down through the world. 
 In former times it was supposed to have been white, and to have 
 been changed to black as a punishment for babbling. Amongst 
 other absurd notions regarding it, is the popular belief that in 
 its body is a so-called Korb-sten or 'raven- stone,' which is 
 possessed of the remarkable property, that the individual who 
 swallows it will be invisible to mortal eyes.* 
 
 I must not omit to mention one thing which the Ravens do not 
 do. They do not breed in the holes made by weather in the large 
 standing stones at Stonehenge, as has been asserted by an old 
 author of a history of this country, f a most erroneous and un- 
 fortunate assertion which has been copied by many writers ever 
 s.nce, even our excellent author of the latest treatise on Stone- 
 henge,]: Mr. William Long, having repeated it in his admirable 
 account. 
 
 Lloyd's ' Scandinavian Adventures,' vol. ii., p. 331. 
 t Speed's ' History of Great Britain,' A.D. 1G72, p. 2G7. 
 J Wiltshire Magazine, vol. xvi., p. 23. 
 
222 Corvidce. 
 
 And now I come to speak of the Ravens of Wiltshire, of 
 which I have made careful inquiry in every part of the county, 
 and about which I have derived a great deal of valuable informa- 
 tion, negative as well as positive, from no less than one hundred 
 and ten correspondents whom I have invaded with questions, and 
 whom I heartily thank for the courtesy and ready kindness with 
 which they have replied to me. It will be seen that the history 
 of the Ravens of Wiltshire is, alas ! rather a history of that which 
 is past and gone than of that which is flourishing to-day. So 
 persecuted, shot down, trapped, and despoiled of their young 
 have these noble birds been at the hands of ruthless gamekeepers 
 and others, who have gone upon the false issue that they are very 
 destructive to game, whereas, with the exception of an occasional 
 raid on a leveret or a rabbit, they do little harm in the preserves, 
 for the Raven cannot bear an enclosed district he must have 
 plenty of room to wander over, a wide extent of open ground on 
 which to disport himself ; and as to being ' cabin'd, cribb'd, con- 
 fin'd ' within narrow woods, he eschews them altogether, and only 
 during the breeding season will he consent to occupy some big 
 tree in the park, generally the highest and most inaccessible lie 
 can find, and there he and his mate return, year after } T ear, to 
 occupy their accustomed nursery. I proceed now to enumerate 
 the localities which, earlier or later, Ravens have been known to 
 occupy, and some few of which they occupy still. 
 
 Wilton Park. I am informed by Lord Pembroke that the 
 Ravens are building this year (1887), as they have done during 
 the last four years, in a tall fir-tree in the low ground in WilU n 
 Park : they moved to this tree from another group of firs about 
 three hundred yards away. It was about six years ago that 
 they came to the park ; but the old people say that they used 
 to build there regularly, and an old groom was accustomed to 
 relate how the peregrine falcons for some time nested in the 
 park as well, and how the Ravens drove them away. At the 
 present time it is interesting to watch the Ravens during 
 the nesting season as they harry the herons flying home in the 
 evening. In Wilton Park the Ravens are carefully preserved ; 
 
Raven. 223 
 
 but two years ago the cock bird was shot by mistake for a crow 
 while the eggs were being hatched, when the remaining bird 
 brought up the young ones successfully. 
 
 Compton Park. Mr. Penruddocke tells me that Ravens have 
 bred in his park from time immemorial, and when they have 
 .safely brought the young birds to that period in their lives when 
 they can shift for themselves, the old birds lead them away and 
 leave them, and permit no return to the family nest. He also 
 adds, ' The history of my Ravenry is rather a curious one. A 
 pair of Ravens have built in the fir-clump in the park beyond 
 the memory of the oldest inhabitant. At least, I can find 
 out nothing to the contrary. These birds, however, as properly 
 attested, left the place on my uncle's death in December, 1841, 
 and returned when I came to live at Compton in 1849, and 
 built in the same place and in the same Scotch fir-tree. This 
 tree fell down some twelve or fifteen years ago perhaps less 
 when the birds built in a Scotch fir-tree on the top of Compton 
 Down, in a clump of firs called " The Long Folly." Here they 
 were frequently disturbed by a certain gipsy, who with his sons 
 used to rob the nest annually.' This ungenerous treatment 
 seems to have daunted the spirit of the bold Ravens, for, to 
 Mr. Penruddocke's regret, they are not nesting at Compton this 
 year, though they have visited their old haunts. It is hoped, 
 however, that they will return to the park, where they will meet 
 a hearty welcome and efficient protection from the kind-hearted 
 owner. The Ravens' nest in the park was on a tree, which though 
 scarcely inaccessible, was not to be climbed without the help of 
 n ladder: that on Compton Downs was on a smaller and less 
 difficult tree. I must add that the experience of Mr. Penrud- 
 docke's keeper, George Barrett (who was born on the estate), and 
 that of his father before him (now deceased), is to the effect that 
 Ravens do not destroy the eggs of game : this is evidence of no 
 slight value from men who have seen Ravens breeding in their 
 midst every year. 
 
 Breamore. I learn from Mr. E. H. Hulse that Ravens used to 
 breed for about twenty years at the Shoulder of Mutton Clump, 
 
224 Comidce. 
 
 near Gallows Hill, on the Breamore property ; but for the last 
 ten or twelve years they have not bred on the estate. They have, 
 however, within the last few years been seen by the keeper, 
 flying over, presumably on a foraging excursion. And in a 
 second letter, written a few days after, Mr. Hulse adds, ' Curiously 
 enoup-h I only heard yesterday from one of the keepers that n 
 pair of Ravens had been seen on Breamore Downs the day 
 before yesterday. It is supposed that they came after the dead 
 lambs, a kind of food of which they are very fond. I believe 
 they breed now, as they have done of late, at Rockbourne, about 
 three miles from Breamore.' In this immediate neighbourhood, 
 the Rev. C. W. Hony, Vicar of Bishops Cannings, met with tho 
 last Ravens he remembers to have seen in the county, viz., a 
 pair which he saw some eight or nine years ago, when riding 
 over a farm at Damerham, at the extreme southern point of the 
 county of Wilts. 
 
 Fonthill. I learn through the courtesy of Mr. Lightfoot, and 
 on the authority of Mr. A. Morrison, that there used to be a 
 Raven's nest regularly every year just opposite his house at 
 Fonthill; but he does not know if it is still tenanted, and 
 neither have I been able to get reliable information on tins 
 point. 
 
 Longleat. I have the authority of Lord Bath for saying that 
 a pair of Ravens used to build in a particular tree by the pond 
 at Longleat, but the tree was blown down two years ago. And 
 I have the evidence of the head-keeper, to whom Lord Bath 
 most kindly wrote for information, that the last nest he re- 
 members was in Swancomb Bottom, about four years ago, and 
 the nest is still to be seen there. He adds, ' There have been 
 three Ravens in the upper woods all this winter' (1887). Pos- 
 sibly by this time there may be a nest. 
 
 CornbiM^y (Tilshead). The Rev. H. V. Thompson tells me, on 
 the authority of Major Fisher, who was then hawking rooks in 
 that neighbourhood, that about twenty-five years ago a pair of 
 Ravens frequented some very old trees at Cornbury ; but when 
 the trees were cut down by Mr. Kelsey's father, they disappeared. 
 
Haven. 225 
 
 They did not, however, enjoy a very peaceful life at the best, for 
 they were oftentimes molested, and on one occasion a sweep was 
 engaged to climb the tree and secure the eggs. 
 
 Erlestoke. Mr. George Watson Taylor says that Ravens for- 
 merly bred in a tree destroyed many years since at the lower 
 end of the lake in the park ; and though they never attempt to 
 breed there now, they return to their old haunts every 'spring. 
 
 South Tidworth. There is a Raven-tree at Assheton Coppice 
 in Sir J. Kelk's park, now occupied, and which has flourished,, as 
 I am told, for the last century, certainly for many years; past. 
 The tree is not inaccessible to a bold climber, but as the Rev. 
 H. E. Delme' Radcliffe informs me, is happily guarded by the 
 general understanding that whoso harries the Raven or its 
 brood is sure to meet with misfortune ; a very wholesome piece 
 of superstition, which is now more firmly fixed than ever in the 
 minds of the people, inasmuch as a rash keeper, who laughed the 
 tradition to scorn and destroyed one of the Ravens, soon after 
 fell sick of a fever in which all his family were involved, and 
 some of them had a hard struggle for their lives. South 
 Tidworth is not in Wiltshire, but in Hampshire ; but as it is only 
 just across the border, and the Raven is a bird of very wide 
 excursions, I think we may fairly claim a large share in these 
 Hampshire-bred birds. 
 
 Tangley Clump. I am informed by my friend the Rev. W. H. 
 Awdry, that there used to be a nest of Ravens every year in 
 Tangley Clump, which is also across the border in Hampshire, 
 not very far from Ludgershall ; but about ten years since some 
 mischievous fellow cut off the special branch of the tree which 
 the Ravens had made their nursery, and the birds have never been 
 seen there since. In reference to this Ravens' nest at Tangley, I 
 learn from Mr. W. H. Fowle, of Chute Forest, that on one 
 occasion, when one of the old birds was shot, at the time there 
 were young birds in the nest, the other parent bird disappeared 
 for about three hours, and then returned with another mate, 
 who helped to bring up the brood. This was told to Mr. Fowle 
 by a man who had himself witnessed it. The young birds were 
 
 15 
 
226 Corvidce. 
 
 frequently taken from this nest at Tangley Clump, but this 
 spoliation of their young never caused the old birds to forsake 
 their nesting-place, to which they invariably returned year after 
 year. 
 
 North Tichuorth. The Kev. Canon Hodgson informs me that 
 there used to be a Havens' nest also in North Tidworth, at ' The 
 Flemings,' but when this property passed from the Poores to Mr. 
 Assheton Smith, the Ravens disappeared, in due accordance with 
 the old popular saying, that ' there are never two Ravens' nests 
 on one estate '! 
 
 Amesbury. The Rev. A. Phelps tells me that he remembers a 
 pair of Ravens nesting year after year in Porton Firs, two miles 
 south of Amesbury ; and that he understood they always drove 
 away their young ones when fully grown ; but he has not seen 
 them there for some time. 
 
 Beacon Hill (Amesbury). Mr. T. Rumming, of Red House, 
 Amesbury, informs me that Ravens nested near Beacon Hill, 
 about two miles east of Amesbury, for several consecutive years, 
 and that he had himself seen them there. 
 
 Maddington. The Rev. Canon Bennett writes, that some 
 years ago Ravens were often seen on the downs near Yarn- 
 borough Castle, and they used to build in a plantation at 
 Maddington, called ' The High Trees ;' but they have some time 
 since deserted it, and those who frequent that neighbourhood 
 say that they do not see them about the downs now as they did. 
 
 Everley Downs. The Hon. Gerald Lascelles, speaking of 
 these downs, says, ' I have not unfrequently seen Ravens here, 
 and have known of three nests since 1876. (1) Near the 
 Bustard ; (2) on the wild downs not far from Silk Hill ; (3) in 
 Ted worth Park.' 
 
 Enforcl I learn from the Rev. C. F. Cooke that though they 
 have no breeding-place in the parish, Ravens are frequently seen 
 on the downs above Enford, and in the meadows on the banks 
 of the river Avon. They may often be observed following in 
 the wake of a flock of sheep, usually a pair, but sometimes three 
 together ; and they would seem to be in expectation of a dead 
 
Raven. 227 
 
 sheep. Indeed, the country people believe that if a Raven flies 
 over the fold, a sheep will be sure to die in the course of a short 
 time ; for the shepherds think they can scent approaching death 
 in the flock. 
 
 Savernake Forest. I have many records of the Ravens which 
 once dwelt here, but I can hear of no survivors. Mr. George 
 Butler, of Kennet, recollects a Raven-tree in Marlborough Forest 
 when he was a schoolboy fifty years ago. Mr. C. E. Ponting, of 
 Lockeridge, says that when he lived at Lye Hill, on the southern 
 edge of Savernake Forest, prior to 1870, Ravens built annually 
 in a clump of tall silver spruce known as Bittam Clump ; this 
 lies between Lye Hill and the Column Avenue, leading out of 
 the Salisbury road. Mr. C. Tanner, jun., informs me that the 
 keepers sometimes now see Ravens crossing the woods very high 
 up, but they no longer alight on the trees or on the ground at 
 Savernake. 
 
 Ramsbury. There was certainly a Raven's tree here, as indeed 
 there should be, considering that f Ramsbury ' is but a contracted 
 form of ' Ravensbury.' Moreover there was a Raven-tree here 
 within the memory of living man, for my friend, Mr. C. Tanner, 
 jun., has spoken with a man who had climbed the tree; but I 
 have failed to find out any particulars about it. Nor does the 
 squire, Sir F. Burdett, nor the vicar, the Rev. H. Baber, know 
 anything about it, save that there is a most venerable patriarch 
 of a tree, an elm of prodigious size, hollow as to its interior, 
 computed to be six hundred years old, now standing in the 
 village, in what is proudly called ' the square.' Perchance this 
 was the Raven-tree of Ramsbury ! 
 
 Cricklade. My old friend, the Rev. F. Dyson tells me that 
 though there are no nests or birds there now, there is a Raven- 
 hurst in Bray don, in his parish of Cricklade, which I make no 
 doubt was so called from having been, probably for a long period, 
 the quondam habitation of some Ravens. 
 
 Ravenshurst (near Charlton Park). Lord Suffolk informed 
 me that though he knew nothing of any Ravens at Charlton, 
 there was a wood about four miles east of that park, the property 
 
 152 
 
228 Corvidce. 
 
 of Sir John Neeld, called ' Ravenshurst 'pronounced Ravens- 
 roost where he had heard that these birds used to breed, and this 
 was corroborated by Mr. Algernon Neeld, who, however, added 
 that the Ravens have not existed there for at least thirty years 
 past. 
 
 Draycote Park. That there was a Raven-tree in the park here 
 I am very certain, because my excellent friend, the Rev. G. 
 Marsh, often told me that he obtained his celebrated Raven from 
 here more than forty years ago. It was a large elm tree, and 
 Canon Goddard tells me he remembers the high trees at the top 
 of the park where the Ravens used to breed. Now, however, 
 they are quite gone, and Lord Cowley knows nothing of them 
 there at the present day. 
 
 Charlton Park. I have already said, on the authority of Lord 
 Suffolk, that no Ravens' nests or even Ravens have been in 
 residence there in modern times : but hi the olden time, which 
 I suppose means fifty years ago, Ravens used to breed regularly 
 in the park here. 
 
 Badminton. By the kindness of Mr. Lowndes, of Castle 
 Combe, I have the following interesting account of the Ravens 
 at Badminton, from the pen of the Duke of Beaufort, and as his 
 Grace permits me to make use of his information, I do so with 
 singular satisfaction. ' Ravens used to breed frequently in the 
 top of the highest elm of the park, about three furlongs to the 
 north-east of the house, and one furlong from Allengrove. The 
 nest was of enormous size, and much used, and about three years 
 in five, young birds were hatched out there.' Some thirty years 
 ago a keeper destroyed the pair of old Ravens that had brought 
 out their brood, and caught the young birds: but the Duke, 
 indignant at the destruction of the Ravens, ordered the man to 
 bring up the young birds by hand, and turn them out into the 
 park : and as his farther employment as keeper depended on his 
 success, the man contrived to rear the young Ravens, and thus 
 replace the old birds which he had shot. 'About 1879 or 1880, 
 on a very still June day the Raven-tree fell without any apparent 
 cause. Then such a nest was laid open to view as I had never 
 
Raven. 229 
 
 seen before : there must have been in it ten or eleven hundred- 
 weight of wood. I was sadly vexed at the fall of the tree and at 
 losing the Ravens ; for now they only occasionally show them- 
 selves in the park, and I have not heard of a nest since the tree 
 fell. They used to sit on the tops of the high trees in Allengrove 
 Bottom, and bark like dogs, which caused the park-keepers' dogs 
 to bark in response.' This Raven -tree of which the Duke 
 speaks was within, but only just within, the county of 
 Gloucester; the park fence dividing the park from Allengrove 
 being the boundary between the two counties. I will only add 
 that I would that the admirable sentence which the Duke passed 
 on the ruthless keeper was printed in letters of gold on the 
 market cross at Devizes, as a hint to other landowners, and a 
 timely warning to other keepers similarly disposed. 
 
 Corslam Court. I learn from Lord Methuen that there are no 
 Ravens now on his estate here, or in the immediate neighbour- 
 hood ; but they did build regularly in the north avenue some 
 twenty years ago, but were destroyed by a keeper during Lord 
 Methuen's absence from home. 
 
 Spye Park. There was a Raven-tree, a Scotch fir, in the fine 
 old park here, with which in old times I was very familiar, and 
 which had been tenanted by the sable occupiers time out of 
 mind, until Mr. Starkey sold the property to Mr. Spicer, and 
 then, by a strange coincidence, and as if to verify the old super- 
 stition, the Ravens deserted Spye Park altogether. Still more 
 remarkable was the coincidence related to me more than once 
 by Mr. Charles Wyndham, that some years after the sale had 
 been completed, when the late owner, Mr. Baynton Starkey, 
 happened to be staying with my informant at Wans House, as 
 he and his host walked out in the garden after breakfast, a croak 
 was heard above their heads, and there, sure enough, were the 
 Ravens, come back as if to greet their old master, and seen then 
 for the first time since their departure by Mr. C. Wyndham, who 
 is too keen an observer to have overlooked their presence, if 
 they had visited him before. This is so pretty a tale, and 
 so thoroughly in keeping with the romances about birds of the 
 
230 Corvidce. 
 
 good old times, that it is almost too bad to affirm that it really 
 was nothing else but a very strange coincidence. 
 
 Roundway Park It is now a long time since the Ravens 
 used to breed annually in the large trees here, but I well 
 recollect hearing in my younger days that they had a nest here 
 every year, and even some time after they had deserted it they 
 returned, on one occasion at least, to their old haunts, but were 
 thought to be so destructive to game, that they were scared 
 away. Now, howeyer, they are never seen there, and I doubt 
 whether they even visit Roundway Downs and Oliver's Camp, 
 where they used to be found passing the day in solitary grandeur, 
 far removed from the hateful presence of man. 
 
 I believe I have now exhausted all the particulars with which 
 I have been furnished about Wiltshire Ravens, past and present, 
 and, thanks to my numerous obliging correspondents, the picture 
 is, I think, tolerably complete. There is yet, however, some 
 negative evidence to add, which will help to fill in the back- 
 ground or any gaps there may be in our landscape ; viz., the 
 testimony of those who have never seen or heard of a Raven in 
 their neighbourhood, and of others who speak of some rare and 
 exceptional appearance of that bird at long intervals of time. 
 Thus the Rev. E. Duke has no recollection of any seen or killed 
 in the neighbourhood of Lake. Mr. W. Wyndham's experience 
 of them is that they have become extremely scarce near Dinton 
 since the gipsies harried the nest on Compton Down, and drove 
 away the old birds some twelve years ago. Lord Heytesbnry 
 (who most kindly instituted inquiries for my benefit), reports 
 that none have been seen in the neighbourhood of Heytesbury, 
 at any rate for many years past. Mr. C. Phipps has never heard 
 of their appearance at Chalcot. Sir C. Hobhouse has never 
 seen one at Monkton Farleigh, nor is there any tradition of their 
 occurrence there. Colonel Wallington knows nothing of them at 
 Keevil, though he had tidings of a pair seen at Steeple Ashton 
 some sixteen years since. The Right Hon. E. P. Bouverie has 
 never seen them at Lavington, nor indeed anywhere in Wiltshire. 
 The Rev. C. Soames says that, so far as he knows, they have 
 
Raven. 231 
 
 quite disappeared from the district round Mildenhall. Major 
 Heneage has never seen or heard of one at Compton Bassett, nor 
 any place nearer than Spye Park. Mr. Gladstone has never 
 known any at Bowden Park. Finally, Sir R. H. Pollen says 
 there are none in the immediate neighbourhood of Rodbourne, 
 but adds that a few years back some were seen at Bell Farm, 
 Stanton Saint Quintin, the property of Lord Radnor, but they 
 were not known to breed in the place, and were only seen 
 occasionally. 
 
 Before I take leave of the Wiltshire Ravens, I must say a few 
 words about the tame specimen which, as I have already said, 
 the Rev. G. Marsh procured from Draycote Park, and which 
 lived for years at Sutton Benger, and was a source of infinite 
 amusement to Mr. Marsh and his friends. I could fill several 
 pages with anecdotes of his quaint manners and clever tricks and 
 cunning ways, and the distinct sentences which that bird uttered 
 seemed quite marvellous to those who were not familiar with the 
 species, but I must content myself with one anecdote. Whenever 
 his owner put his open hand down towards his back, as if about 
 to stroke or caress him, the bird would turn his head round, look 
 up at his master, and say as distinctly as any human being could 
 speak, ' Good-bye, old fellow, good-bye, old cock 1' and then hop 
 on a few steps. Now it chanced one day that the bird escaped 
 from the outhouse in which it was necessary to confine him, on 
 account of his mischievous tricks and his thievish propensities, 
 and had wandered off, as he had often done before, across a 
 meadow outside the village, and not far from the high road. 
 But a commercial traveller who was driving by, seeing what he 
 conjectured to be'a wounded rook, descended from his gig and ran 
 across the grass, thinking to secure the bird ; but his dismay as 
 well as astonishment may better be conceived than described, 
 when on putting out his open hand to seize his prize, the Raven, 
 looking round at him with a knowing leer, exclaimed in most 
 distinct terms, 'Good-bye, old fellow, good-bye, old cock!' and 
 then hopped on as was his wont. But the traveller took to his 
 heels, jumped into his gig as fast as possible, and drove back to 
 
232 Corvidce. 
 
 the village, where, frightened almost out of his wits, and trembling 
 with alarm, he declared to the highly amused villagers, who 
 knew the bird and his habits well, that he had met with the 
 arch-fiend in the shape of a big crow, and that he had spoken 
 to him. 
 
 95. CARRION CROW (Coitus Corone). 
 
 So much resembling the last described in form and manners, 
 but of smaller size, that it may well be termed ' the Miniature 
 Raven.' This species is likewise seldom seen in flocks, pairs for 
 life, and maybe found in wooded districts throughout the county. 
 In colour it is jet black, without the metallic lustre so con- 
 spicuous in the plumage of the Raven : it is very bold and a 
 great enemy to young game and eggs as well as to the poultry 
 yard. Its ordinary food, for lack of carrion, which it rarely finds 
 here, is any animal matter it can pick up, and failing this, it 
 contents itself with grain and vegetable diet. 
 
 In reference to the various kinds of food on which it feasts, it 
 
 bears many provincial names, as the ' Carrion Crow,' ' Flesh 
 
 Crow,' ' Gor (or Gore) Crow,' ' Mussel Crow,' etc., and certainly it 
 
 must be allowed to be a very destructive and mischievous bird. 
 
 This was so well-known of old, that an Act was passed in the 
 
 reign of Henry VIII. (1532), requiring every parish to provide a 
 
 Crow net for the thinning of the numbers of this marauder. But 
 
 the desired effect has certainly not yet been produced, for, 
 
 persecuted though it is by gamekeepers and others, few of the 
 
 larger birds contrive to baffle their enemies more than the Crows, 
 
 and I am afraid to say how many nests were found in one season, 
 
 three or four years ago, within the limits of my small parish of 
 
 Yatesbury. The Rev. W. Butt tells me it abounds in the parish 
 
 of Minety, where there are no keepers to molest them, and the 
 
 Rev. C. W. Hony that last year the Rooks at Bishop Cannings 
 
 were so persecuted by Crows, that he feared the lawful owners 
 
 of the rookery would have been driven away. This year (1887), 
 
 I am informed that the Crows have attacked the rookery on Mr. R. 
 
Carrion Crow. 233 
 
 Coward's premises, in the hamlet of Koundway, near Devizes, so 
 effectually, that the Rooks have deserted in a body, and betaken 
 themselves to some large trees at the barracks hard by. Neither 
 in Norway, or Sweden, or Palestine, or Egypt, did I ever see the 
 Black Crow, but I found it common enough in Portugal, where, 
 as with us, it is par excellence ' the Crow,' Corvo. In France it is 
 Corneille noire ou Corbine ; in Germany, Krahen robe ; in Italy, 
 corvo maggiore ; and in Spain, Grajillo. 
 
 It has the same evil reputation for causing as well as fore- 
 boding misfortune with its larger relative, but that is no other 
 than it had in the days of the poet Virgil : 
 
 * Saepe sinistra cav prsedixit ab ilice Cornix.' 
 
 And now the women of Wiltshire at work in the fields will 
 remark that the farmer then lying ill will not recover, for a 
 Crow had been seen to fly overjhis house just above the roof- 
 tree.* 
 
 In the County of Essex, the peasants repeat a rhyme respecting 
 the Crow, almost similar to that commonly connected with the 
 Magpie. For if Crows fly towards you, then 
 
 ' One's unlucky ; 
 Two's lucky ; 
 Three is health ; 
 Four is wealth ; 
 Five is sickness, 
 And six is death ;'f 
 
 and Butler in ' Hudibras ' says, 
 
 ' Is it not om'nous in all countries 
 When crows and ravens croak upon trees ?' 
 
 Though shy and with reason suspicious of too great familiarity 
 with man, it is one of the most pugnacious of birds and will 
 attack and drive away all intruders from its nest ; Mr. Waterton, 
 who has protected it and studied its habits closely at Walton 
 Hall, says, ' It is a very early riser, and long before the Rook is 
 on the wing, you hear this bird announcing the approach of 
 morn with his loud hollow croaking from the oak to which he had 
 
 * ' Gamekeeper at Home,' p. 130. f Dyer's < English Folk-Lore,' p. 80. 
 
234 Corvidce. 
 
 resorted the night before ; he retires to rest later than the rook 
 indeed, as far as I have been able to observe his motions, I con- 
 sider him the first bird on wing in the morning, and the last at 
 night, of all our non-migrating diurnal British Birds.' 
 
 Mr. Waterton also noticed that this bird is at times more 
 gregarious than is generally supposed. From his drawing-room 
 window, which was usually open, and from which a powerful 
 telescope always in position commanded a good view of the park 
 and lake, he observed this bird minutely, and he records in his 
 note-book that on January 11, 1830, he counted fifty Crows 
 going to roost ; on October 16, 1850, he saw fifty-five congregated 
 in the park ; on March 1, 1851, he observed sixty-four at the 
 water's edge; on May 11, 1853, seventy or eighty; and on 
 December 15, 1863, he counted more than a hundred congregated 
 in the park preparing to roost. 
 
 96. HOODED CROW (Corvus comix). 
 
 Loyal as I am to the instructions of my ornithological guide, 
 Professor Newton, I must crave his pardon if in this one instance 
 I repudiate with all my might the cruel act, whereby he has, by 
 one single dash of his pen, obliterated this handsome species 
 from the list of birds, and condemned it to share existence with 
 the Black Crow, of which he declares it to be but a variety.* 
 Doubtless he has good reasons for such annihilation of what 
 would appear to most observers to be a very distinct species 
 indeed, but yet I cannot honestly say I am convinced. That 
 they freely breed together is, I own, a very strong point in favour 
 of their specific identity, and Mr. Seebohm has established that 
 fact beyond the possibility of doubt ;f but surely the Grey Crow, 
 if not a larger bird, is of stouter build and of clumsier form than 
 its black relative. Speaking from my own experience (and 
 during a whole summer in Norway, and a whole winter in Egypt, 
 it has been one of the commonest birds around me every day), I 
 
 Fourth edition of Yarrell's ' British Birds,' vol. ii., p. 274. 
 t Seebohm's Siberia in Asia,' pp. 30, 81, 84, etc., also in His, for 1878, 
 pp. 328-331. 
 
Hooded Crow. 235 
 
 have such a partiality for its bold jaunty air, and its independent 
 impudent habits, that I cannot bear to think of my old friend 
 being thus suppressed altogether, or at best allowed but a half 
 existence, to be shared with a brother of sable hue. It reminds 
 me of the trite assertion that cannot be disputed, that the negro 
 is a fellow man and a brother with the free born- American or 
 Britisher ; but that does not prevent the general practice of an 
 absolute avoidance of the man of colour, and of the provision in 
 every railway train of a separate car for the negroes. So if the 
 two species of Crows were once identical, methinks C. comix has 
 raised himself above his congener, and has a right to the footing 
 he has so long secured. At all events I must be allowed to 
 regard it as all our older ornithologists have ever done, and deal 
 with it as a true species. Apart, however, from the interest in 
 so handsome a bird, I fear I have but little good to say of it. 
 
 With all the bad and none of the good qualities of the preced- 
 ing, this Crow is no favourite in those parts of England where it 
 abounds. It is a determined destroyer of the eggs and young 
 of game birds, more especially of the genus Grouse, and is 
 cowardly as well as cruel in the execution of its victims. Mr 
 St. John, in his ' Field Notes and Tour in Sutherland,' speaks of 
 it in no measured terms, and declares it is the ' only bird against 
 which he urges constant and unpi tying warfare,' and he excuses 
 himself for so doing on the plea that he has so often detected it 
 destroying his most favourite birds and eggs, that he has no pity 
 on it : and Mr. Knox, the intelligent author of ' Game Birds and 
 Wild Fowl ' has not a word to say in its favour : not even Mr. 
 Waterton, the general champion of the oppressed, has a good 
 word for the Hooded Crow ; so that we may congratulate our- 
 selves that it only appears in Wiltshire occasionally. Its visits, 
 however, are frequent enough to render it familiar to most 
 people. I have myself often seen it on the Marlborough Downs, 
 and I have many notices of it from various parts of the county, 
 more especially in the neighbourhood of Salisbury, where it 
 frequents the water meadows in the winter months, at which 
 season only it migrates so far south ; but its visits are, I fear, 
 
236 Corvidce. 
 
 yearly becoming more and more rare. I have not personally 
 seen it on our downs for several years past, but one record I had 
 of its appearance in my own neighbourhood from my lamented 
 friend, the late Rev. C. Bradford, Vicar of Clyffe Pypard, who 
 saw one at intervals during a month in January, 1877, in the 
 pond meadow, near the Manor House in that parish ; and for 
 the last four years, as I learn from the present vicar, the Rev. E. 
 Goddard, it has returned to Clyffe regularly every November, 
 spent the winter there, and departed in March. For the first 
 three winters it was alone, but last year it brought back three 
 companions ; this year (1887) it is again alone. It does not 
 fraternize much with the Carrion Crows, which are very numerous 
 at Clyffe, but associates rather with the rooks, which, however, 
 do not seem to desire its company, so that it is somewhat of an 
 outcast ; but as nobody molests it, and it likes its winter quarters, 
 it returns every year. Mr. Hussey Freke reports that his keeper 
 shot one at Crouch Wood, near Hannington Hall, and Mr. W. 
 Wyndham that his brother killed one at Sutton Mandeville. I 
 also learn that it is generally to be seen in winter at Everley. 
 The Rev. J. D. Hodgson tells me it used to frequent the neigh- 
 bourhood of CoUingbourne, and some are occasionally seen now 
 on a down near CoUingbourne Wood. The Rev. W. H. Awdry 
 sometimes sees them at Ludgershall ; and Mr. W. H. Fowle, 
 about two years ago, almost invariably used to see a small flock 
 of them at a pond on the Upavon Downs, when riding from 
 Chute Forest to a farm he had in hand at Charlton. Mr. Grant, 
 too, at Devizes, has from time to time received a specimen for 
 preservation. Its true habitat is Northern Europe, where it may 
 be seen in great abundance, for it is the representative of the 
 Corvidse there, and very tame and familiar it is there, searching 
 the newly mown meadows for worms and slugs, and marching 
 on the roads in front of our horses, just as its congener the rook 
 does here. In Egypt it may be noticed as bold and self-asserting 
 as in its northern home, bullying great Kites and Hawks, and 
 robbing them of their prey, and driving away the huge Griffon 
 and Cinereous Vulture, from the carrion they had appropriated. 
 
Hooded Grow. 237 
 
 On the eastern coast of England I have found it in some 
 numbers, as it resorts to the sea-shore for the never-failing 
 supply of food which it finds in shell-fish and other marine 
 productions thrown up by the tides ; and Bishop Stanley says it 
 may frequently be seen after vain attempts to break through the 
 hard shell of a cockle or mussel, to seize it in its bill, mount with 
 it to a great height, and then let it fall on a hard rock, by which 
 it is broken, and the bird has nothing more to do than to reap 
 the fruit of its forethought. In colour the head, throat, wings, 
 and tail are black, the rest of the plumage smoke gray. It is 
 called the Hooded Crow from its black head, and the Eoyston 
 Crow, as it was supposed to be peculiar to that district, where in 
 truth I have seen it in considerable numbers : 
 
 ' Like Royston Crows, where (as a man may say) 
 Are friars of both orders, black and gray.' 
 
 It is also provincially named the * Gray-backed ' and the ' Scaul 
 Crow ;' and on the eastern coast, the ' Danish Crow,' and in the 
 north of England, the 'Huddie,' which is merely an abbreviation of 
 Hooded Crow or Hoodie. But most remarkable of all is the name 
 of ' Russian Nightingale,' bestowed on it at Archangel,t where 
 it is so abundant as to be considered one of the most characteristic 
 birds of the district ; but why so unmelodious a species should be 
 so designated, I am at a loss to conjecture. In France, it is La 
 Corneille manteUe, ' Crow wearing a mantle ;' in Germany Nebel- 
 Rabe, literally ' Mist Crow,' or ' Clouded Crow ;' in Sweden, Grd* 
 Krdka, ' Gray Crow/ 
 
 97. ROOK (Corvus frugilegus). 
 
 In a subsequent page of this volume will be found a paper 
 entitled 'A Plea for the Rooks,' which I read before the Wiltshire 
 Archaeological and Natural History Society at Malmesbury, in 
 August, 1862, wherein I pointed out the habits of this most 
 familiar bird, and endeavoured to prove its value in destroying 
 
 J. Cleveland's Poems. 
 
 t Messrs. Alston and Harvie Brown's ' Notes from Archangel,' in Jbis for 
 1873, p. 65. 
 
238 Corvidce. 
 
 grubs, so far exceeding any injury it may commit in occasionally 
 consuming corn, so that I need add but little more about it : it 
 is somewhat larger than the Carrion Crow, and may easily be 
 distinguished from that bird by the bare space of rough white 
 skin surrounding the base of the beak and on the fore part of the 
 head. As in the young birds these parts are covered with bristly 
 feathers, it has been by some supposed that the constant 
 plunging of the bill into the ground in search of worms and 
 grubs causes the abrasion of these feathers, while others affirm 
 it to be an original peculiarity : and the question is hardly yet 
 satisfactorily settled ; ' adhuc sub judice Us eat,' though I am 
 very decidedly of the latter opinion. The fact, however, of the 
 existence of the rough skin which serves to distinguish it from 
 its more sable congener, the Carrion Crow, is undoubted. This 
 skin is also very elastic and pliable, and in the spring the Rook 
 may be seen flying home to its nest, with its throat distended 
 with a supply of food for its young, as if in a pouch below the 
 chin, though none such exists. 
 
 Professor Newton has well described a curious habit of this bird, 
 which must be familiar to many. 'Occasionally,' he says, 'mounted 
 to a very great height, the Rooks will suddenly let themselves 
 drop headlong, twisting as they fall, to within a few feet of the 
 trees or of the ground, when they recover themselves, and glide 
 onwards. One after another, as though they had all gone mad, 
 they precipitate themselves in this wonderful way, some of them 
 wheeling round and rising again to perform the feat a second 
 time.'* When first I went to reside at Yatesbury, now thirty-five 
 years ago, I was extremely anxious to see a rookery established 
 at the Rectory, and ardently wished that some of the birds from 
 a strong colony on a glebe near the old rectory and church, a 
 quarter of a mile away, might send a detachment to occupy my 
 home plantations. I had, however, but small expectation that 
 they would do so, on account of the inferiority both in size and 
 in age of the trees with which I was surrounded. It so chanced, 
 however, about this time, that the branches of a Scotch fir, 
 
 Fourth edition of Yarrell's 'British Birds,' vol. ii., p. 298. 
 
Rook. 239 
 
 planted too near the house, were blown by the March wind 
 (which is somewhat blustering on our downs) against the slates 
 of the roof of the rectory, and it was deemed advisable to cut 
 down the tree. But what was my vexation, when it fell under 
 the axe, to find a Eook's nest, containing three eggs, securely 
 fixed in the upper branches, though unseen from below, which 
 would have been the nucleus of the rookery I so much desired, 
 had I not, by my own act, unwittingly destroyed it. Now (said 
 I in despair) there can be no farther hope of a rookery here, 
 after so inauspicious a beginning : but the following season 
 either the same or another pair made their nest in a neigh- 
 bouring tree ; and so fast did they increase under my protection, 
 for I suffered no shooting of the young rooks for the first twenty- 
 five years, that I now count annually at least two hundred nests 
 all around my house. As long as the rooks confined themselves 
 to the trees on three sides of the house, the villagers merely 
 considered their advent as a proof of ordinary good fortune (just 
 as the German hails as the harbinger of prosperity the selection 
 of his house-roof for its nursery by the stork), but when they 
 occupied the trees on the fourth side, then the villagers con- 
 gratulated me warmly, and said ' it was a sign that money was 
 coming in on all sides,' for such was a very old and true saying 
 handed down from their fathers! which, however, I regret to 
 add, has not yet been verified in my case. That a rookery 
 thrives best when the young birds are annually shot is another 
 popular delusion: but as the late Mr. Sotheron Estcourt 
 remarked, nobody has yet shown such confidence in that 
 opinion as to advocate a similar experiment in a human colony ; 
 and certainly I am in a position to prove the contrary by my 
 own experience in regard to my Hooks, which are now unhappily 
 obliged to be thinned down nearly every year, as their numbers 
 are become too great for the locality. As with the raven and the 
 crow mentioned above, so there are superstitions and rhymes of 
 a like character relating to the Hook. In the north of England 
 the notion is very prevalent that when Rooks desert a rookery 
 which they have tenanted for a number of years, the coming 
 
240 Corvidce. 
 
 downfall of the family on whose property it stands is surely 
 predicted. They are also said to avoid building on trees which 
 are unsound, however fair their outward appearance ; cunningly, 
 if not too sagaciously, foreseeing their coming fall ; but this in all 
 likelihood is to be attributed to the decay which has already 
 begun in the uppermost twigs, and which they have found by 
 experiment to be unfit for their requirements. It is also com- 
 monly said in some places that when a rookery is near a house, 
 and a death occurs in that house, the Rooks will not leave the 
 neighbourhood until the funeral has taken place. The following 
 is an old rhyme common in the northern counties of England : 
 
 * On the first of March 
 The crows begin to search ; 
 By the first o' April 
 They are sitting still ; 
 By the first o' May 
 They're a' flown away : 
 Creeping greedy back again 
 Wi' October's wind and rain.' 
 
 Except during the nesting season February to May Rooks 
 do not roost on the trees where they breed, but wing their way 
 from the several rookeries in the neighbourhood to some large 
 wood, where they congregate from all the country round. But 
 they generally call at their nesting trees as they pass to their 
 feeding grounds in the early morning, and often halt there again 
 as they return at the close of day. The specific name frugilegus 
 signifies 'fruit collecting,' but let it be remembered that the 
 seeds of weeds, together with grubs, wireworms, and many other 
 destructive members of the animal and vegetable kingdoms are 
 all ' fruit ' to the Rook. In France it is known as Le Freux ; in 
 Germany, Saat-Eobe, 'Seed-Crow;' in Sweden, where, except 
 in the extreme south of the country, it is rarely seen, Rdka; 
 in Spain and Portugal, where it is only a winter visitor, Gralha. 
 
 c Dyer's 'English Folk-Lore,' p. 77. 
 
Jackdaw. 241 
 
 98. JACKDAW (Corvus monedula). 
 
 This lively bird is as well-known as the preceding, with which 
 it lives in the closest alliance, and its active bustling movements, 
 cunning saucy look, and sharp short voice make it a general 
 favourite. Wherever the rooks are feeding, there you may 
 invariably see the Jackdaw strutting about with careless jaunty 
 air, and hear its merry saucy chatter ; it will also perch, like the 
 starling, on the sheep's back, and for the same laudable friendly 
 purpose. Towers and cliffs are its general dwelling-places, but 
 its favourite haunts seem to be our grandest cathedrals and 
 largest colleges, amid the towers and pinnacles of which it loves 
 to nest. Often, however, where suitable buildings are not at 
 hand, it will breed, as it does here, in holes of trees ; and 
 occasionally, where neither building nor trees may be found, it 
 will occupy a rabbit burrow underground, as do also the stock- 
 dove and sheldrake at times.* For the marvellous pillars of 
 sticks which it sometimes builds as a support to its nest, I must 
 refer my readers to the pages of Yarrell, Dresser, Seebohm, and 
 others.f As a proof that the Daw has long been regarded with 
 favourable eyes by the inhabitants of this country, we may 
 remark that it has received the familiar prefix of Jack, just as 
 other feathered favourites are in like manner honoured, as Robin 
 Redbreast, Tom Tit, Jenny Wren, etc. The specific name, 
 inonedula, is derived by Ovid in his account of the nymph 
 Arne being mythically turned into a Daw for having betrayed 
 her country for gold (Metam. vii. 466), from moneta, 'money,' 
 and edo, 'I eat ' (B.O.U.). Professor Skeat says that ' Daw ' is 
 the same as c Caw/ and is derived from the note of the bird. In 
 France it is Choucas ; in Germany, Dohle Robe, ' Drain-crow ;' in 
 Sweden, Kaja ; and in Portugal, Choia, but it is very rare in 
 Portugal and in Spain ; in Italy, Cornacchia. Its plumage is 
 grayish black, glossed with blue, green, and purple, with the 
 exception of the hind part of the neck, which is light gray. 
 
 * Gilbert White's ' Selborne,' Letter xxi. 
 t See, too, Jesse's ' Scenes and Tales of Country Life,' p. 57. 
 
 16 
 
242 Corvidce. 
 
 99. MAGPIE (Pica caudata). 
 
 Exceedingly handsome, with bright burnished plumage, and 
 of very graceful form, the Magpie must claim our admiration, 
 however we may find fault with its mischievous, cunning, greedy 
 character. To see it flit from tree to tree at a distance (and it 
 is too shy to suffer a near approach), one might imagine its 
 colours to be simply black and white, and even then we must 
 admire its elegant figure; but to come upon it suddenly, and 
 have a clear view of it in the golden sunshine, one can but 
 marvel at the reflections of green and purple and blue which 
 shine with metallic brilliancy on its dark plumage, wondrously 
 contrasted with the purest white; its long graduating tail too, 
 which it will sometimes spread like a fan, at other times move 
 up and down, is another ornament, and adds much to its grace- 
 fulness. It seems always on the alert for an enemy, and by its 
 loud continuous chattering, gives general warning when danger 
 is near. 
 
 The Pie gained the name of J/a#pie from the French word 
 inagot, implying ' a caprice,' ' a whim,' a ' quaint little fellow or 
 figure, or fancy,' an appellation which the Pie appears to have 
 obtained from its drolleries.* At all events this bestowal of a 
 pet name on the Pie, as on the daw and others mentioned above, 
 is a proof of the warm feeling of regard which was once felt in 
 England towards the Magpie, though now it is generally detested 
 and ruthlessly destroyed. So it is refreshing to find in a letter 
 from the Rev. W. Butt that ' Minety is a most wonderful place 
 for Magpies. I should never have believed any country could 
 so abound in them. You might see in the winter six or eight 
 at a time, and the trees are full of their nests.' Though so 
 common in some few wooded districts, it is rarely to be met with 
 on our downs, and its poaching egg-stealing propensities make it 
 no favourite with the gamekeeper. I am happy, however, to say 
 that the plantations which surround my garden at Yatesbury, 
 being a quiet and safe asylum where no gun is fired, and where 
 Hindley's ' Tavern Anecdotes,' p. 235. 
 
Magpie. 243 
 
 the taking of all nests is strictly forbidden, have proved for 
 many years a successful nursery for the Magpies, which annually 
 return to breed there, and generally bring off their brood in 
 safety. But to see how confiding this bird can be under the 
 most favourable circumstances one must visit Norway. There 
 it is absolutely safe from persecution, being regarded with the 
 utmost superstitious fear rather than reverence, and so it is the 
 very tamest and commonest of birds, scarcely moving out of our 
 way as we passed by, and building its nest in some bush or tree 
 close to a cottage door. Something of the same superstitious 
 feeling appears to have been generally entertained for the 
 Magpie in this country, the remains of which still linger in the 
 following well-known lines, signifying the good or ill luck fore- 
 told by the number of these birds seen together : 
 
 ' One for sorrow, two for mirth, 
 Three for a wedding, four for a birth.' 
 
 Though I would explain, as I have done elsewhere, that this was 
 a fisherman's saying in the first place, and applied only to the 
 season of spring, when it was unlucky for the angler to see a 
 single Magpie, because that betokened cold and stormy weather, 
 when one Magpie would remain on the nest, sitting on the 
 young to keep them warm : whereas it was lucky to see two, for 
 when both parents went out together the weather must be 
 assuredly warm and settled. 
 
 But there is an old tradition which explains the origin of the 
 ill luck that is supposed to arise from meeting a Magpie in the 
 following way. It was the only bird that refused to enter the ark 
 with Noah and his folk, preferring to perch itself on the roof of 
 the ark, and to jabber over the drowning and perishing world. 
 Ever since it has been regarded as unlucky to meet this defiant 
 and rebellious bird.* Others looked upon the bird with super- 
 stitious terror, because the witches, who had sold themselves to 
 the Evil One, and worked all manner of hurt to mankind, were 
 supposed frequently to assume the form of the Magpie. The 
 
 * Dyer's < English Folk-Lore/ pp. 83-86. 
 
 162 
 
244 Corvidce. 
 
 after part of the rhyme above mentioned was doubtless added 
 in pleasantry, and probably without meaning ; just as the still 
 farther continuation, which is known in some places : 
 
 1 Five for rich, six for poor, 
 Seven for a witch, I can tell you no more.' 
 
 Or as another version, with equally meaningless intention : 
 
 ' Five for a fiddle, six for a dance, 
 Seven for England, eight for France.' 
 
 With reference to France, to which the larger number is assigned, 
 
 I may remind the traveller that as the railway train hurries him 
 
 through that country, the Magpie is the only bird he will see in 
 
 abundance, occupying the interminable lines of poplars, which 
 
 stretch away for many a league into the distance on all sides, and 
 
 seeming to be the sole representative of the feathered race there. 
 
 The nest of the Magpie is of large size and of oval shape, 
 
 generally surrounded with a protective fence of thorns which 
 
 partially cover over the top like a dome, and which give it an 
 
 untidy unfinished appearance. And this half nest is accounted 
 
 for by the following ornithological legend : ' Once upon a time, 
 
 when the world was very young, the Magpie, by some accident 
 
 or another, although she was quite as cunning as she is at 
 
 present, was the only bird that was unable to build a nest. In 
 
 this perplexity, she applied to the other members of the feathered 
 
 race, who kindly undertook to instruct her. So, on a day 
 
 appointed, they assembled for that purpose, and the materials 
 
 having been collected, the blackbird said, "Place that stick 
 
 there," suiting the action to the word, as she commenced the 
 
 work. "Ah!" (said the Magpie), "I knew that afore." The 
 
 other birds followed with their suggestions, but to every piece of 
 
 advice the Magpie kept saying, " Ah ! I knew that afore." At 
 
 length, when the bridal habitation was half finished, the patience 
 
 of the company was fairly exhausted by the pertinacious conceit 
 
 of the Pie, so they all left her with the united exclamation, 
 
 " Well, Mistress Mag, as you seem to know all about it, you may 
 
 Halliwell's ' Popular Rhymes.' 
 
Jay. 245 
 
 even finish the nest yourself." Their resolution was obdurate and 
 final, and to this day the Magpie exhibits the effects of partial 
 instruction by her miserably incomplete abode.' Whether there 
 are two species of Magpie resident among us, the one smaller in 
 bulk, and with a shorter tail, and breeding in hedges, while the 
 larger longer-tailed species breeds in trees, is one of those long- 
 disputed points which have never been satisfactorily decided. 
 The English name ' Pie ' is said by Professor Skeat to come from 
 pipere, ' to chirp ;' but the word ' pied ' is derived from the bird, 
 and means ' variegated like a Magpie/ In France it is La Pie ; 
 in Germany, Garten-Krahe, ' Garden-Crow ;' in Italy, Gazzera 
 commune ; in Portugal, Pega ; in Sweden, Skata ; in Spain, 
 Marica. 
 
 100. JAY (Garrulus glandarius). 
 
 This is another shy retiring bird, restless and noisy, of 
 exceeding handsome plumage, and much persecuted by game- 
 keepers for its mischievous propensities, though gardeners have 
 a better right to complain of its evil deeds, for fruit, rather than 
 young birds and eggs, form its favourite food. It is, however, 
 by no means particular whether it satisfies the cravings of 
 appetite with animal or vegetable diet : for its scientific name 
 glandarius is not distinctive, as all its congeners and several 
 other genera partake of the ' acorn ' with equal avidity with the 
 Jay. It is even a more confirmed chatterer than the magpie, 
 whence its specific name garrulus, and its note is harsh and 
 grating; but though one of the most noisy and chattering of 
 birds, as its name declares, the Jay becomes quite silent during 
 the breeding season, when its caution is extraordinary.* The 
 English name 'Jay,' the older spelling of which was 'Gay/ is 
 derived from its brightly-coloured plumage. The French name 
 Geai, and the Portuguese Gaio, are taken, as with us, from its 
 gay dress, but in Germany it is Eichel-Krahe, ( Acorn-Crow ;' in 
 Italy, Ghiandaja Comune, ' Common Acorn-Eater ;' in Sweden, 
 Not-skrika ; and in Spain, Arrandajo, and provincially Cdbezon, 
 
 * Fourth edition of Yarrell's ' British Birds/ vol. ii., p. 324. 
 
246 Corvidce. 
 
 ' large-headed.' In general colour it is pale chocolate ; but the 
 black and white crest which it can elevate and depress at 
 pleasure; the bright blue, barred with black and white, of its 
 wing coverts ; and the contrast of the white patch over the black 
 tail, are its most striking points. It may be found in almost all 
 woods and plantations throughout the county. 
 
 Here we may take leave of the Conirostral Tribe, and we may 
 remark in conclusion how gradually we have been conducted 
 through the Larks and Buntings up to the Finches, some of 
 which display such exceeding power of beak, and live wholly on 
 grain ; and so on through the Starlings and Crows down to the 
 Jay, omnivorous feeders as these last are, so that the transition 
 to the next tribe, distinct though it is, will not be so rapid, and 
 we can pass on without much hiatus and almost imperceptibly 
 to the famity standing first of the climbers, viz., the Wood- 
 peckers, which we shall find in many points have affinities with 
 those last described. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 INSESSORES (Perchers). 
 SCANSORES (Climbers}. 
 
 THIS is a small tribe, compared to the two previously described, 
 containing but three families, the Woodpeckers, Creepers, and 
 Cuckoos ; but it yields to none in point of interest, all its 
 members partaking of habits peculiar to the tribe, and being 
 sufficiently scarce in point of numbers to attract attention when- 
 ever they appear. They are essentially inhabitants of the trees, 
 procuring all their food from the insects which they find in the 
 branches and trunks, or from the berries and fruits thereon. 
 Some of the families in this tribe seldom touch the ground, 
 and they are rarely to be found elsewhere than in wooded 
 districts ; they are all more or less eminent for their climbing 
 and grasping powers, which are developed in different degrees 
 in the various genera. 
 
 PICID.E (THE WOODPECKERS). 
 
 This family may well stand at the head of the climbers, for 
 nothing can exceed the admirable structure of their bodies, and 
 the formation of their legs, feet, tail, beak and tongue, all so 
 eminently adapted to their requirements ; the legs extremely 
 short and strong, giving the bird a good purchase on the trunk 
 or branch of the tree into which it is about to dig with its 
 powerful beak ; the toes long, two being directed backwards and 
 two forwards (an arrangement peculiar to the climbers, but 
 which adds immensely to its powers of grasping and climbing), 
 
248 Picidce. 
 
 and furnished with strong curved claws, with which it can cling 
 to the bark : the tail composed of twelve stiff bristly feathers, 
 with very strong shafts, serving the bird as a fulcrum or 
 rest on which to support itself, while bending back the head 
 preparatory to a sharp hammering with the beak; the beak 
 straight, long, tapering, wedge-shaped and immensely strong, in 
 short, an instrument perfectly formed for hammering into the 
 wood of a decayed tree : while the tongue is very long and 
 slender, armed with a horny barbed tip and sharp bristles 
 thereon, and extends to that degree that it is capable of being 
 thrust out to a great length, and withdrawn again through the 
 mandibles when the sharp point has perforated and so secured 
 the insect prey, dislodged from the trunk or laid bare beneath 
 the bark of the tree by the action of the beak : it is also 
 furnished with a glutinous substance exjuding from its surface, to 
 which the smaller insects adhere, and so have no need to be 
 transfixed. Add to these characteristics that the head is large 
 and the body compact and small, and we have before us a 
 structure perfectly fitted for the habits of the Woodpecker race. 
 Members of this family are generally of solitary disposition, 
 seldom associating in flocks; and they are perfectly harmless, 
 never guilty of even the slightest damage to sound or healthy 
 trees (which is a charge frequently, though quite erroneously, 
 brought against them), but always selecting those which are 
 hollow and worthless, and have betrayed to their keen sense 
 unmistakable signs of decay, 
 
 101. GREAT BLACK WOODPECKER (Picus Martius). 
 
 I think myself singularly happy in claiming a specimen of 
 this fine species for Wiltshire, for I have never been able to 
 assent to the verdict of those who have pronounced all the 
 recorded specimens in Great Britain as mistakes or impositions. 
 I cannot, and I do not believe that all our older Ornithologists 
 were so mistaken or deceived ; and on looking over long lists of 
 instances given on what seems to be excellent authority, I feel 
 
Great Black Woodpecker. 249 
 
 persuaded that P. Martins has occasionally appeared in England, 
 perhaps more frequently in former years than of late. At all 
 events, the single specimen I adduce is now in Mr. James 
 Rawlence's collection at Bulbridge, in the parish of Wilton, and 
 that gentleman received it from Mr. Samuel Pope, then of 
 Kingston Deverill Farm, who assured Mr. Rawlence it was killed 
 when they were shooting rooks in Longleat Park. I regret that 
 I cannot give the exact date, but it was some years ago, and it 
 was sent to be stuffed by Mr. King, the well-known bird-stuffer 
 at Warminster, now unhappily deceased, or he might have 
 supplied this and other desired particulars. The Great Black 
 Woodpecker is much larger than all the other European species, 
 and is entirely black in colour, the top of the head only ex- 
 cepted, which is of a rich blood-red. It is a strong powerful 
 bird, and is common in northern Europe, arid found sparingly in 
 the fir forests of Germany and Switzerland. When I was in 
 Norway in the year 1850, I was so fortunate as to fall in with it 
 in the great forest of the Glommen, and shot it as it was ascend- 
 ing the trunk of a fir tree. There were two in company, and I 
 followed them as they flew screaming through the forest, but 
 I never saw birds fly more heavily, or with such apparent 
 exertion and such clumsy motion as these. It was surprising, 
 too, with what loud-sounding taps they hammered with their 
 powerful beaks on the bark of the trees they were ascending ; 
 and I could well understand how they gained the Norwegian 
 name of Spill-Kraka, ' Splinter Crow/ or * Chip Crow/ from the 
 mass of splinters always to be found at the foot of the tree where 
 they carry on their labours. In France, it is Le Pic Noir ; in 
 Germany, Schwarzspecht ; in Italy, Picchio Corvo. 
 
 I conclude my account of this fine species with the following 
 Norse legend. 'When our Blessed Lord was wandering upon 
 earth, He and St. Peter came to an old wife's home, who sat 
 baking ; her name was Gertrude, and she had a red mutch upon 
 her head. They had walked a long way and were hungry, and 
 our Lord begged for a bannock to stay their hunger. "Yes, 
 they should have it." So she took a tiny little piece of dough 
 
250 Picidw. 
 
 and rolled it out ; but as she rolled it, it grew until it covered 
 the whole griddle. " Nay, that was too big, they could not have 
 that." So she took a tinier bit still ; but when that was rolled 
 out, it covered the whole griddle just the same, and " that 
 bannock was too big," she said, " they couldn't have that either." 
 The third time she took a still tinier bit, so tiny that you could 
 scarce see it ; but it was the same story over again. The bannock 
 was too big. " Well," said Gertrude, " I can't give you anything ; 
 you must just go without, for all these bannocks are too big." 
 Then our Lord waxed wrath and said, " Since you loved Me so 
 little as to grudge Me a morsel of food, you shall have this 
 punishment: you shall become a bird, and seek your food 
 between bark and bole, and never get a drop to drink save when 
 it rains." He had scarcely said the last word before she was 
 turned into a Great Black Woodpecker, or " Gertrude's bird," 
 and flew from her kneading-trough right up the chimney. And 
 till this very day you may see her flying about, with her red 
 mutch on her head, and her body all black, because of the soot 
 in the chimney ; and so she hacks and taps away at the trees for 
 her food, and whistles when rain is coming for she is ever 
 athirst and then she looks for a drop to cool her tongue.'* 
 
 102. GREEN WOODPECKER (Picus viridis). 
 
 This is the most common species among the Woodpeckers, 
 and a handsome bird withal. Its general plumage is yellowish 
 green above, and greenish yellow beneath, with a crimson head, 
 the crimson prolonged to the back of the neck ; it is more often 
 seen on the ground than its congeners, probably from its extreme 
 partiality to ant-hills and their contents. Its flight is heavy and 
 undulating; Gilbert White says ' volatu undoso, opening and 
 closing its wings at every stroke, and so always rising or falling 
 in curves ;' but it never need to travel far, for having ascended a 
 tree from the bottom, in an upright or spiral direction (for it is 
 incapable of descending unless backwards), and having concluded 
 * Dasent's ' Popular Tales from the Norse.' 
 
 
Green Woodpecker. 251 
 
 its examination there, and cleared off all the insects in its way, 
 it merely flies off to the next tree, on the trunk of which it will 
 fix itself near the ground, and begin its spiral ascent as before. 
 
 If suddenly disturbed it utters a screeching laugh, and flies off 
 with a series of long undulations to some distant tree on which 
 it fixes itself near the roots, and immediately dodges round to 
 the other side, clambering up all the while with a short jerking 
 motion of the body. Its remarkable colour and appearance, its 
 harsh cries, and its habits, have all combined to give rise to a 
 variety of names by which it is known in this and other countries. 
 In China, where it is very common, it is known as (but I will not 
 attempt the long Chinese name, suffice that it signifies) the ' Tree- 
 injurer.'* In Turkey it is called Cham-agri, because its note is as 
 ' of a fir-tree in distress '; in Germany Holzauer ; and in Sweden, 
 Hackspett ; and with us it is variously called in different districts 
 * Pick a tree ;' * Woodspite ' (or more correctly ' Woodspeight ') ; 
 ' Hewhole,' ' Whetile ' (a corrupt form of ' Whittle/ or cutter and 
 chipper of wood) ; and the Rev. A. P. Morres says that in his part 
 of the county, near Salisbury, it is known as the 'English 
 Parrot;' more commonly it is styled the Yaffle or Yappingall, 
 from its loud hearty laugh-like note, and when it is more than 
 commonly vociferous, stormy weather may be confidently ex- 
 pected ; hence another name frequently given it of Rain-bird, as 
 Bewick tells us the Romans called it Pluvice avis. Lloyd in his 
 ' Scandinavian Adventures ' says of it : ' In Norway this bird is con- 
 sidered better than a barometer. It is supposed not only to 
 predict the coming weather, but that three days beforehand : if 
 its notes are loud and monotonous, fine weather may be expected, 
 but if low, on the contrary, rain and storm are at hand ; and 
 should it approach the house and cry, something like a regular 
 tempest is to be looked for.' Thus we see that both English and 
 Norsemen considered this bird as highly weather-wise, though 
 they totally differ in the deductions they draw from the loudness 
 or softness of its scream; possibly we, none of us yet quite 
 understand what sensations are produced on many members of 
 Swinhoe in His for 1861, p. 338. 
 
252 Picidce. 
 
 the animal kingdom by changes in the atmosphere, nor how 
 they indicate such feelings, though that many species are ex- 
 tremely susceptible of such impressions, and that too considerably 
 before man can discern any prospect of change in the weather, 
 admits of no doubt or dispute. Though not abundant anywhere, 
 it is very generally distributed throughout the country, the more 
 wooded parts being of course the most attractive to it, and the 
 most frequented by it. Here, at Old Park, it is not uncommon, 
 and sometimes, but not often, it will pay me a flying visit and 
 examine my plantations and trees at Yatesbury. I once very 
 nearly involved myself in some trouble in Norway, by shooting 
 one of these birds, which I did not then know were objects of 
 superstitious veneration to the simple-minded peasants. But no 
 such indignation was shown when I shot a specimen of the 
 ' Great Black Woodpecker,' for the larger bird had not contrived 
 to attract to itself the love or fear, and consequent protection, 
 which its green-hued cousin, doubtless from belief in some 
 legend, had excited in the Norwegian mind. But to return to 
 Wiltshire, the localities given me of its more frequent occurrence 
 are : Ninety, where the Rev. W. Butt says it is very common, far 
 more than in any other district he ever lived in ; Erlestoke, 
 where Mr. G. Watson Taylor tells me it is common; Corsham 
 Court, where, Lord Methuen writes, it has had a nest on the lawn 
 as long as he can remember ; Heytesbury, where it comes every 
 spring, as I learn through Lord Heytesbury ; Market Lavington, 
 where Mr. Bouverie tells me its laughing cry was heard near the 
 house all last autumn ; Wardour, as I learn from Lord Arundell ; 
 Baynton, as I am told by Mr. W. Stancomb, jun. ; and Monkton 
 Farley, as Sir C. Hobhouse informs me. The continental names 
 for this bird are generally, as with us, mere translations of Picus 
 viridis; thus in France it is Pic vert; in Germany, Grunspecht ; 
 in Italy, Picchio verde ; in Portugal, Pica-pan verde ; in Sweden, 
 Gron Hackspett. But in Spain it is Pito real, ' Royal (or great) 
 Woodpecker ;' and provincially, Caiyintero, ' the Carpenter/ 
 from the chips it throws about in making its nest. 
 
Great Spotted Woodpecker. 253 
 
 103. GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER (Picus major). 
 
 All the Woodpeckers are so extremely alike in habits, that the 
 same general description applies to every species ; this is not so 
 common as the last, but is seen occasionally in all wooded 
 districts ; but it so seldom leaves the upper branches of trees, 
 and so seldom makes its presence known by any sound it utters 
 (for it is one of the most silent of birds), that it must very often 
 escape notice. The Rev. A. P. Morres, whose experience agrees 
 with mine, that it is the rarest of the Woodpeckers in this county, 
 says it used to breed regularly in the village of Bodenham, near 
 Salisbury, though it has not been noticed there of late ; but at 
 Hurdcott he reports that their nests were often to be found in 
 the woods. I also hear of it at Wilton, at Wardour, and at 
 Heytesbury. In North Wilts, I have many notices of its 
 occurrence in Draycot Park, at Erchfont, at Erlestoke, at 
 Lacock, at Melksham, at Keevil, in Marlborough Forest on 
 many occasions ; at Potterne, at Roundway Park, at Spj^e Park, 
 where the late Major Spicer picked up one of the remarkable 
 wing feathers and sent it to me for identification. I may per- 
 haps say generally that though certainly rare, it does occasionally 
 come to the notice of most observers. I have found it common 
 enough in Germany. Its general colour is black and white, with 
 a jet black top of the head and red occiput, but young birds 
 have the crown of the head red, and the female has no red on 
 the head. It may at once be distinguished from its congener 
 next to be described by its superior size, measuring from the 
 point of the beak to the tip of the tail over nine inches. In 
 Sussex its provincial name is the ' French Woodpecker ;' else- 
 where it is known as the ' Woodpie,' the ' Great Pied,' and the 
 ' Great Black and White Woodpecker ;' and in Wiltshire as the 
 ' Gray ' and sometimes as the ' Black Woodpecker,' which latter 
 is confusing. In France it is known as Pic Epeiche (ou varit) ; 
 in Germany, Bunt Specht ; in Italy, Picchio vario maggiore ; in 
 Portugal, Pica-pan malhado ; all with the signification of 
 ' Spotted ' or ' Speckled Woodpecker.' In Sweden, however, it is 
 Storre Hackspett, ' Great Woodpecker.' 
 
254 Picidce. 
 
 104. LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER (Picus minor). 
 
 More common, at all events of late years, but exactly re- 
 sembling the last, except in point of size, being not quite six 
 inches in length, this species occasionally visits us. It is of a 
 very retiring disposition, and prefers the upper branches of trees 
 to the trunk and more exposed limbs, and creeps out of sight 
 behind some friendly bough the instant it perceives an intruder. 
 From the observations of various authors one would say that 
 Wiltshire was the favourite locality of this bird. Selby says ' it 
 is well known in the counties of Gloucester and Wilts.' Montagu 
 mentions how he observed it in Wiltshire, and found its nest and 
 took its eggs there. Yarrell speaks of Wiltshire as one of its 
 habitations, in addition to which I have notices of its having 
 been killed within the last few years at Potterne, Round way, 
 Devizes, Clarendon Park and Dray cot Woods ; and Mr. Elgar 
 Sloper says, ' I have obtained three specimens of this beautiful 
 little bird: one caught near Devizes in June, 1840, lived for 
 some time in confinement, fed on insects and bread and milk.' 
 More recently, I have heard of it as shot at Collingbourne. Mr. 
 Grant mentions several from Devizes, Wedhampton, Wilsford, 
 Potterne, and Keevil; and Mr. A. B. Fisher writes that he 
 watched it in his garden at Potterne, in December, 1885 ; and 
 Mr. Gwatkin, that it breeds regularly at the Manor House in the 
 same parish. The Rev. E. Goddard saw it in the garden at 
 Hilmarton Vicarage, in 1873, and reports others seen in that 
 parish. Mr. G. Watson Taylor says it is common at Erlestoke, 
 and the Marlborough College Natural History Reports repeatedly 
 mention the appearance of young as well as old birds in 
 Savernake Forest, where they regularly breed, and which should 
 be a very paradise for the whole Woodpecker family. In south 
 Wilts, Mr. W. Wyndham says it is common at Dinton ; Lord 
 Arundell, that it is found at Wardour ; and Lord Heytesbury, 
 that it occurs at Heytesbury ; while the Rev. A. P. Morres pro- 
 nounces it not at all uncommon in his neighbourhood, and gives 
 instances to show that sometimes it is quite abundant there. 
 
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. 255 
 
 Finally, Dr. Blackmore, not long since, picked one up dead in the 
 Museum garden at Salisbury. 
 
 Mr. Cecil Smith says that it is known in Somerset as the 
 ' Barred Woodpecker/ and Mr. Knox that it is called in Sussex 
 the ' Little French Woodpecker ;' but Professor Newton says 
 that it is sometimes called the 'Crank Bird,' and the 'Pump- 
 borer/ and used to be called the ' Wood-cracker/ from a remark- 
 able note which it utters in the spring, the sound being supposed 
 to resemble that of an auger when used on the hardest wood. 
 He also adds, it is especially common in the counties of Berks, 
 Wilts, and Somerset. In France it is known as Pic Epeichette, 
 diminutive of P. Epeiche; in Germany, Grasspecht ; in Italy, 
 Picchio sarto minore ; in Sweden, Mindre Hackspett. It 
 appears to be scarcely known in Spain and Portugal. 
 
 Bewick used to assert that a third Spotted Woodpecker (Picus 
 medius), which is not uncommon on the Continent, occasionally 
 appeared in England ; more modern naturalists, however, deny 
 this, and affirm that the young of the Great Spotted Wood- 
 pecker was mistaken for that bird. The late Mr. Marsh thought 
 that Bewick was right, and that we have three distinct species. 
 He says : * I have three very different from each other ; they are 
 sometimes found in Draycote Woods, where one of my specimens 
 was shot: the largest was killed there; the next in size was 
 killed in Clarendon Park, the smallest in Amesbury Park." 
 
 Mr. Morres also felt convinced that the ' Middle Spotted 
 Woodpecker ' occasionally visited us, but Professor Newton will 
 not allow that an authentic instance of its appearance in England 
 has yet occurred, and declares that Pennant and Bewick, and all 
 who followed them, mistook the red-headed young of the Great 
 Spotted Woodpecker for this purely continental bird.* 
 
 105. GOLD-WINGED WOODPECKER (Picus auratus). 
 
 There is but one instance recorded of the appearance of this 
 beautiful bird in England, and that was in the autumn of 1836 
 at Amesbury Park in this county : it was brought to M. H. Marsh, 
 * Fourth edition of Yarrell's ' British Birds,' vol. ii., p. 484. 
 
256 Picidce. 
 
 Esq., the late Member for Salisbury, in the flesh, immediately 
 after it was shot ; it was preserved by Mr. Edwards, of Amesbury, 
 and came into the collection of the late Rev. G. Marsh, of Sutton 
 Benger. It is a native of America, and in general appearance 
 and size bears some resemblance to the common Green Wood- 
 pecker, but differs from it in having bright yellow bars on the 
 wings, and black spots on the breast ; moreover, the throat and 
 chest are cinnamon colour, and a broad crescentic patch of black 
 crosses the chest. 
 
 It is known in America as the ' Flicker,' and Professor Newton 
 describes it as one of the most characteristic birds of the Eastern 
 United States and Canada, and says that a specimen of this far- 
 migrating bird is said to have been sent from Greenland. The 
 Professor, however, in accordance with a principle he had laid 
 down, refused it admission to the British list, on account of its 
 transatlantic origin ; while the compilers of the B.O.U. Catalogue 
 insert it in their list under the name of Colaptes auratus 
 colaptes signifying ' a chisel/ xoXd^T^s, from xoXacrrw, ' I peck 
 with the bill/ used almost always of birds ; and auratus t 'gilded/ 
 from the golden-yellow colour showing under the wings and tail. 
 
 106. WRYNECK (Yunx torquUla). 
 
 From the variety of provincial names with which this prettily 
 marked bird is designated, one would imagine it to be extremely 
 common; but this is not the case, though it visits us in the 
 spring every year, and is sparingly distributed over all wooded 
 districts. The explanation of its many names will be a tolerably 
 complete account of its habits. That by which it is more 
 usually known to us, 'Wryneck/ as also its scientific name 
 torquilla, the French Tor col, the German Wendehals and 
 Natterhals, and the Italian Torcicollo, are derived from its 
 singular habit of stretching its neck, twisting its head round so 
 that it lies on its back, and turning up the whites of its eyes, 
 when it wriggles like a serpent [in China it is called Shay- 
 ling, or ' Snake's-neck '], and also from its habit of turning the 
 head rapidly from side to side while feeding, the body remaining 
 
Wryneck. 257 
 
 motionless all the while, and this is especially seen when the 
 bird is engaged at an ant-heap, extracting those insects and 
 their larvae which form its favourite food ; hence another of its 
 names, ' Emmet-hunter.' The manner in which it seizes its prey 
 is by darting out its very long extensile tongue, which is even 
 longer in proportion than that of the woodpeckers, and trans- 
 fixing or securing it by means of a glutinous secretion with 
 which it is furnished, and this it does with wonderful rapidity 
 and never-failing accuracy: from this habit it is often called 
 'Long- tongue.' Again, it is known as the ' Snake-bird,' from the 
 hissing noise made by the parent and young birds when the 
 hole in which it has made its nest is disturbed ; on such 
 occasions they will puff out their feathers, snap with their bills, 
 hiss like snakes, and assume the most bold and defiant aspect. 
 It is also known as the ' Cuckoo's mate,' and ' Cuckoo's fool, 1 and 
 1 Cuckoo's leader,' because it arrives a few days before the 
 cuckoo ; and in Sweden as Gohyta, and in Norway as Sd Gouk, 
 that is ' Seed Cuckoo,' because its note is heard during seedtime. 
 In Malta it enjoys two names, Sultan issummiem, or ' King of 
 the Quails,' arriving on migration just before its subjects ; and 
 Abu lebbiet, 'Father of Crouchers,' I know not for what reason. 
 The late Mr. Knox said that in Sussex it is known as the 
 ' Rinding Bird,' so called from its appearance in the spring 
 being supposed to indicate the proper time for felling the oak- 
 trees, and removing the bark or rind from the trunks and 
 branches. Now the operation of ' rinding ' cannot be attempted 
 until the sap has begun to flow ; then myriads of minute insects 
 are roused from their winter sleep in the deepest recesses of the 
 bark, and seek the surface, where the long elastic tongue of the 
 Wryneck extracts them rapidly from the crevices. Mr. Marsh 
 used to say that in Wiltshire this bird is sometimes known as 
 the 'Valiant Sparrow.' It received the name Yunx (in classical 
 Greek tuyg) from its cry sounding like the exclamation /u, whence 
 ''uw, ' I shout ;' but, according to mythologists, the nymph Yunx, 
 the daughter of Echo, was transformed into a Wryneck through 
 the jealousy of Juno. In Spain and Portugal it derives its 
 
 17 
 
258 Certhiada. 
 
 name from the food it loves ; in the former it is known as 
 Hormiguero, in the latter as Papa-formigas, both signifying 
 ' ant-eater.' In Spain, however, it has a second name, Torcecuello 
 'Wryneck.' It is of shy retiring habits, in shape very like a 
 woodpecker, with the same arrangement of feet, two toes before 
 and two behind, but without the stiff bristly tail. Its plumage 
 is beautifully pencilled, all the feathers most delicately mottled 
 and marbled with bars and spots of dark and light brown, gray 
 and buff. 
 
 Mr. Harting describes its loud oft-repeated note as like a 
 repetition of the syllables, ' Oh, dear, dear, dear, dear, dear, dear,' 
 and says it more nearly resembles the cry of the kestrel than that 
 of any other bird, though it is less harsh* It is a solitary un- 
 sociable bird, seldom seen, except in the breeding season, in 
 company with another. The only time I ever found it in any 
 number, was in a marshy coppice near Bordighera, in North 
 Italy, from which I brought home some specimens; but the 
 locality it selected was not a pleasant one, a hot, steaming, 
 pestilential swamp which, whenever I visited it, was always 
 swarming with adders. My personal acquaintance with it in 
 Wiltshire has been very slight ; twice only have I seen it in my 
 orchard at Yatesbury ; but I have records of it as an occasional 
 visitor in various parts of the county, and Mr. Grant has 
 received it from Devizes, Everley, Pewsey, Netheravon, Poulshot, 
 etc. The Rev. A. P. Morres had one brought in alive to the 
 Vicarage at Britford, by his cat last summer (1886), and Mr. 
 Gwatkin tells me it was heard several times at Worton in 1880. 
 
 (THE CREEPERS). 
 
 This family is very nearly allied to the last, and the members 
 of it are quite as great adepts in climbing, though with a 
 different formation of feet, the toes being disposed in the more 
 usual manner, viz., three before and one behind ; the structure 
 of the hind-toe, however, is such as to give the bird peculiar 
 
 * Birds of Middlesex,' p. 113. < Our Summer Migrants,' p. 246. 
 
Common Creeper. 259 
 
 facilities for climbing perpendicular surfaces, and even the 
 additional power of moving in either an upward or downward 
 direction. Members of this family are of small size, with slender 
 bodies, moderate necks, short wings, slender arched bills, and 
 plumage peculiarly soft and free from bristles ; like the last, 
 they live entirely among the trees, feeding on the seeds, fruits, 
 and insects which they find there. 
 
 107. COMMON CREEPER (Certhia familiaris). 
 
 This is the most elegant and delicate little bird we have, and 
 it is very common, living with us all the year round, but coming 
 to our notice most frequently in the winter, when the trees are 
 bare of foliage, and most of the smaller birds have left us : then 
 it may be seen creeping like a mouse up and down the bole of a 
 tree, hence it is known in the south of the county as the ' Tree- 
 mouse;' or else effecting a spiral ascent by a series of jerks or 
 runs, and constantly shifting its position, now round to the back 
 of the tree-stem, and now again to the front ; or perhaps search- 
 ing for its insect food among the rough logs in a wood-yard. 
 Hence its name familiaris, ' friendly,' or ' belonging to the 
 household;' and, indeed, nothing can exceed the confidence 
 shown by this fearless but unpretending little favourite. 
 
 Next to the Golden-crested Wren it is the smallest British 
 bird, and the most graceful in form, with a long slender curved 
 beak, a very diminutive elegant body, plumage brown above and 
 white below, and a stiff sharp-pointed tail bending downwards, 
 and supporting it in its climbings, after the manner of that of the 
 Woodpecker. Its note is a gentle monotonous chirp, which it 
 continues to repeat during its incessant rambles on the stems and 
 branches of the trees ; otherwise it is the most silent of birds, 
 seldom heard at all in winter, and in summer little above the 
 faintest whisper. Perhaps it has no time for singing, for it is one 
 of the most restless of birds, never still for an instant ; and a most 
 expert and indefatigable climber, its long claws, well curved and 
 strong, enabling it to cling to the rough bark, at whatever angle 
 the branch may be, whether vertical, horizontal, or oblique. 
 
 172 
 
2 GO . Certhiadce. 
 
 The names it bears on the Continent of Europe have general 
 reference to its climbing capabilities. In France it is Le Grim- 
 pereau, ' the Climber ;' in Germany, Genuine Baumlaufer, ' Com- 
 mon Tree-Runner ;' in Sweden, Trad- Kry par e t ' Tree-creeper ;' 
 in Spain, Trepatroncos, ' a Creeper of Trunks ;' in Portugal, Tre- 
 padeira, ' Climber ;' but in Italy, Picchio passerino, ' Sparrow 
 Woodpecker.' 
 
 108. WREN (Troglodytes vulcjaris). 
 
 This is a general favourite ; its diminutive size, but pert aspect, 
 its boldness and familiarity in winter (for it never leaves us), its 
 full rich song and engaging manners, all bespeaking our protec- 
 tion : in colour it is reddish-brown, well mottled and speckled 
 with various shades, but its most striking peculiarity is the erect 
 position of its tail, Vhich gives it a very jaunty appearance. 
 Some authors have placed it among the warblers, but its long 
 tapering arched beak, long curved claws, short rounded wings 
 and soft plumage seem to point it out as a true creeper ; more- 
 over, though not essentially a climber, it clings with apparent 
 ease to perpendicular surfaces sideways, and is often seen on the 
 trunks as well as branches of trees ; it also frequents walls and 
 rocks, as well as banks and ditches, and its food consists of 
 insects, seeds, and soft fruits. Many people are not aware of the 
 volume and richness of its song, more particularly in the early 
 spring, and this is the more remarkable when the diminutive size 
 of the bird is taken into account. Shakspeare was evidently 
 ignorant of this, for he says 
 
 ' The nightingale, if she should sing by day 
 When every goose is cackling, would be thought 
 No better a musician than the wren.' 
 
 In addition to its ordinary song it has a curious note of fear, 
 
 which it utters at intervals when alarmed, and which (as Mr. 
 
 Harting aptly says) somewhat resembles the winding up of a 
 
 clock* With us it bears the endearing name of ' Jenny Wren,' 
 
 ' Birds of Middlesex,' p. 114. 
 
Wren. 261 
 
 and in Sweden it is in the same spirit called Tumme liden, or 
 * Little Thumb ;' indeed, generally its diminutive size, pert aspect, 
 and familiarity have bespoken its immunity from harm at the 
 hands of man ; but this has not always been the case. It was a 
 very old pastime with the Irish to hunt the Wren on New Year's 
 Day, following it with sticks and stones from hedge to hedge 
 until it was run down and destroyed ; and this sport (!), under 
 the name of ' toodling,' was very often practised at Eton in my 
 time, and in which, I am ashamed to say, I sometimes took part. 
 It originated from the legend of a wicked fairy having, when hard 
 pressed and on the point of destruction, escaped by taking the 
 form of a Wren, and being condemned to reanimate the same 
 form once a year, with the definite sentence that she must ulti- 
 mately perish by human hands * In consequence of this legend 
 the barbarous practice of hunting the Wren was year by year 
 vigorously kept up in Ireland, and doubtless introduced at Eton 
 in times long forgotten by some enthusiastic sons of the Emerald 
 Isle. 
 
 One naturally is inclined to wonder how such small and ap- 
 parently delicate birds as this and the preceding brave the 
 seventy of our winters in this country, and yet, notwithstanding 
 the insect nature of their food and the slender form of their 
 beaks, they somehow manage to subsist, and the Wren at least 
 to warble in apparent gladness of heart during the roughest 
 winds and the bleakest weather. This is also essentially a rest- 
 less bird, always on the move and never stationary for a minute ; 
 it derives its scientific name Troglodytes from the cave-like ap- 
 pearance of the large domed nest which it inhabits (from r^y\^ 
 'a hole,' and M, 'I go into,' B.O.U.), and of which it is in the 
 habit of constructing several and leaving them half finished in 
 the neighbourhood of its real occupied nest. With what inten- 
 tion it follows this curious habit has never been satisfactorily 
 explained. Professor Newton says the general belief is that they 
 are built by the male bird for his own lodging at night, and are 
 called ' cocks' nests ' in consequence. Some suggest that they 
 * Dyer's ' English Folk-lore,' p. 68. 
 
262 Certhiadce. 
 
 are built as houses of refuge in winter. Some that they are 
 simply unfinished nests from disturbance before completion, and 
 some that they are the production of inexperienced young birds.* 
 Professor Skeat says that 'Wren' means the * Chirper,' or 
 ' Twitterer,' lit. the ' neigher like a horse.' In France it is Le 
 Troglodyte ; in Germany, Zaun Sanyer, ' Hedge Warbler ;' in 
 Italian, Stricciolo ; in Sweden, Gard-smyg ; in Spain, Ratilla, 
 ' Little Mouse.' 
 
 109. HOOPOE (Upupa Epops). 
 
 Once seen, this bird can never be mistaken by the most unob- 
 servant, its long and beautiful crest being peculiar and dis- 
 tinctive : this is composed of soft silky feathers of a pale buff 
 colour, each ending in a black and white spot or eye ; and this 
 crest it can erect and depress at pleasure. When the bird is in a 
 quiescent state and undisturbed, the crest flows gracefully back 
 in a recumbent position, but upon the least alarm, or when ex- 
 cited in any way, the feathers are immediately erected. More 
 remarkable, however, is its attitude when really frightened by a 
 hawk, and singular indeed is the expedient to which it resorts to 
 protect itself. Squatting down upon the ground, it spreads out 
 its tail and wings to their fullest extent, bringing the primaries 
 round so as almost to meet in front, and throws back its head 
 and bill, which it holds up perpendicularly. So long as danger 
 threatens, it remains in this odd position, probably to deceive the 
 enemy.-)- The general colour of the plumage is pale buff, amply 
 relieved by the black and white bars of the wings and tail ; the 
 beak is very slender and slightly bent. The Hoopoe prefers 
 moist and low situations, especially where woods abound : it may 
 generally be seen on the ground searching for worms and grubs, 
 though it so far shows its climbing habits as to fly to trees when 
 disturbed, and to be often observed hanging from the branches 
 of trees, in search of the insects which dwell on the under side 
 of the foliage. When it rises on the wing it never flies high, 
 
 Fourth edition of YarrelPs * British Birds,' vol. i., p. 463. 
 t Harting's ' Our Summer Migrants,' p. 253. 
 
Hoopoe. 263 
 
 and its flight is weak and faltering ; but it will gently steal from 
 tree to tree, when at ease, with the wavy flapping of the owl, or, 
 when alarmed, with the more suddenly jerking flight of a wood- 
 pecker.* Often, too, it skims over the ground with long un- 
 dulating flight ; and sometimes two or more will toy and gambol 
 with one another in the air, occasionally tumbling several feet 
 downwards before they can recover themselves. When it alights 
 on the ground, it has a habit of bending down the head till it 
 appears to rest the point of the beak on the earth, after the 
 curious manner of the Apteryx or Kiwi-kiwi, as seen in the 
 Zoological Gardens. As regards its diet, it is essentially a foul 
 feeder, searching for its food in the dirt and filth of an Oriental 
 village ; and when in the act of swallowing it always raises its 
 bill aloft. Mr. Seebohm points out that the young Hoopoes have 
 short straight bills, which afterwards develop gradually into 
 the long curved beak of the adult bird. 
 
 The only occasion on which I have had the good fortune to see 
 it alive in a wild state in Europe, was from a railway carriage in 
 Hanover. The bird was marching about with great dignity on 
 the embankment, strutting with conscious pride of its good 
 looks; and before it flew away, erected its crest, and showed 
 itself off to great advantage. But subsequently I became very 
 familiar with it in Egypt, watching it every day as it marched 
 about among the village outhouses, or beneath the groves of 
 palm-trees with which most of the towns and villages are 
 sheltered on the banks of the Ni]e ; just as it has done for four 
 thousand years or more ; for its peculiar form is unmistakably 
 represented, and may be immediately recognised in the famous 
 rock-cut tombs of Beni Hassan, and elsewhere. There it is most 
 tame and confiding, marching about with no more alarm at man 
 than is shown by our barndoor fowls, though elsewhere it is 
 of a shy timid disposition ; but the Arabs have a superstitious 
 reverence for it, for they attribute to it marvellous medicinal 
 qualities, and hence call it ' the Doctor.'f Its head, too, is an 
 
 Canon Tristram in Ibis for 1866, p. 80. 
 f Ibid., for 1859, p. 27, and for 1866, p. 80. 
 
264 Certhiadce. 
 
 indispensable ingredient in all charms and in the practice of 
 witchcraft. Moreover the Hudhud, as they call it, is univer- 
 sally believed by the Bedouins to be inhabited by the spirits 
 of the departed. 
 
 It derives its scientific name ' Upupa,' as well as the English 
 ' Hoopoe/ German Ein Houp, and French La Huppe, from its 
 note, resembling 'hoop, hoop,' cooed out very softly after the 
 manner of the dove. Professor Newton says its simple love-song 
 is hoo, hoo, hoo ; or hoop, hoop, hoop ; or hoo, poo, poo ; and that 
 it will puff out its breast and strike its bill against its perch at 
 each note ; at other times, however, I have heard it emit a kind 
 of hissing sound. Then it will parade the ground with a stately 
 walk and a jaunty step, bowing its head as it marches on, and 
 alternately raising and lowering its crest in a slow and graceful 
 manner. In reference to its uncleanly habits, and to the fact 
 that it is nowhere more at home than on the foulest dunghill, it 
 was known even so long ago as the time of Montagu as the 
 4 dung- bird;' and in France 'sale comme une Huppe' is a 
 proverb, proclaiming a recognition of its filthy ways ; while in 
 China it goes by the name of the ' Coffin-bird ' from its habit of 
 breeding in the holes of exposed coffins, and is execrated by the 
 Chinese in consequence.* But though so foul a feeder, and of 
 such evil habits, it is highly esteemed by the epicure of all lands, 
 and many was the dish of Hoopoes with which our dragoman 
 supplied our table in the Nile boat. It may well be called a bird 
 of the Mediterranean, for it may be found in every country on 
 its shores, as it retires to~ winter in Northern Africa in September 
 and returns to Europe in March ; hence it is called by several 
 nations ' the March fowl,' and being the earliest of the feathered 
 visitors to arrive at Mentone, is locally termed there Le Coq de 
 Mars. In Scandinavia, where it is only found in summer as an 
 occasional straggler, its oft-repeated cry heard in the wilds of 
 the forest is looked upon with alarm, for it is supposed to 
 torbode scarcity and war, and hence the name given to it in 
 
 Fourth edition of ' Yarrell's British Birds,' vol. ii., p. 424. 
 
Hoopoe. 265 
 
 those countries of Hdr-vogel, or 'Army-bird.' In Italy it is 
 Upupa rubbola ; in Portugal, Poupa ; in Spain, Put-put ; but 
 in Moorish or Arabic, Abubilla, 'Father of Beaks/ which is highly 
 descriptive. I should add that as Upupa is a 'Hoopoe' in 
 classical Latin, so evo^ is ' a Hoopoe ' in classical Greek. 
 
 It is not so rare in England as some imagine, for though never 
 permanently resident here, scarcely a year passes when some 
 do not make their appearance. I have many records of its 
 occurrence in Wiltshire ; Bishop Stanley recounts how one was 
 caught on Salisbury Plain in a weak and exhausted state, which 
 must evidently have come from a distance, for its beak was filled 
 with red clay of a quality not found in that neighbourhood. 
 Yarrell says it has been obtained in Wiltshire. Mr. Withers 
 informed me that it was killed by Mr. Warriner's keeper many 
 years since near Kedholn turnpike gate. The Rev. G. Marsh 
 recorded its capture at Winterslow in 1829 ; and more recently 
 the Rev. George Powell (with the ready kindness with which he 
 continually gratifies my ornithological taste) communicated to 
 me the capture, on September 3, 1862, of a very fine male 
 specimen, by some labourers in the farm-yard of Mr. Marsh of 
 Heytesbury. The bird was weather-beaten and exhausted, and 
 appeared to have come in for its share of a great storm which 
 on the day preceding its capture had devastated the fields at 
 Lavington. When secured, it was carefully placed in a large 
 cage, and though at first very shy, it gradually became more 
 reconciled to confinement ; but at the end of seven days, without 
 any ostensible reason, it died suddenly. These are undoubtedly 
 authentic instances of the occurrence of the Hoopoe in our 
 county, but in 1851 the Rev. F. Goddard, Vicar of Hilmarton, who 
 has often seen this bird in Egypt, and is well acquainted with 
 its habits, was so fortunate as to meet with it alive in Wiltshire 
 on several distinct occasions. His description is so graphic and 
 interesting from the rare occurrence of the bird, that I take leave 
 to insert it in his own words : ' Some time in the summer, I 
 believe in the month of August, riding from Alderton to Norton 
 near Malmesbury, to do duty on a Sunday, about one mile and 
 
266 Certhiadce. 
 
 a quarter from Alderton, at the point where Alderton, Sherston, 
 and Hullavington parishes meet, I passed an old crumbling 
 dungheap on the Foss way, and to my astonishment on that 
 dungheap (by-the-bye very like his native ones) sat a splendid 
 male Hoopoe, as calm and composed as possible, exactly as I 
 have seen them in Egypt, on every dungheap. I approached 
 close to him to admire him, and satisfy myself that this stranger 
 at Alderton (but to me familiar friend) was a real Hoopoe ; he 
 then gave one or two of his peculiar jerks, and rising with a 
 short undulating flight like a jay, rested on a hay-rick twenty 
 yards distant. As I approached the rick, he jerked himself 
 impatiently once or twice as before, and took flight for his dung- 
 heap, and again from that to the rick, but no further (like the 
 Vicar of Wakefield, who confined his migrations from the " Blue 
 bed to the Brown ") ; precisely as the bird appears everywhere 
 from November to March in "lower Egypt on the banks of the 
 Nile, only that, having in that "basest of kingdoms " an infinite 
 choice of dunghills, he merely removes himself and his wife (who 
 is always with him) from the brown to the black, and vice versd. 
 In the case of the bird in question, on my return from church 
 there he was as before. During the week I forgot his existence ; 
 and on the following Sunday, as I passed that way for the same 
 purpose, up jumped my friend from the back of the dunghill, 
 and settled on his hay -rick, and so I found him very becomingly 
 at rest on my return from service. The next day I sought him, 
 and found him at ivork upon his mixen, as busy as possible and 
 quite at home ; he seemed to imagine that he had gained a 
 parochial settlement under my ministration, not being aware 
 that the Foss, which divided the dunghill and the rick, is 
 invariably the division of parishes ; thus he lost the advantage 
 of being either in my care or that of the Yicar of Hullavington, 
 but I considered him entitled to my protection. I could not 
 hear, however, of his having been seen after that day, though I 
 inquired much after him.' 
 
 Again in 1854, the Rev. F. Goddard reported to me the appear- 
 ance of another strange bird, supposed to be a Hoopoe, near the 
 
Hoopoe. 267 
 
 same place, in the following words : ' I heard from a person resid- 
 ing here ' (at Alderton) ' that a bird answering the description of 
 a Hoopoe with a high crest (a stranger, unknown to anyone about 
 the place that saw it) was shot on the top of a chimney at 
 Hibden Farm in Luckington Parish, distant half-a-mile from 
 Alderton, and about three miles from the spot where I saw the 
 Hoopoe in 1851. It was during the severe frost and snow of 
 January, 1854, that this bird, supposed to be a Hoopoe, was 
 killed ; but as he fell into an old chimney, from which he has 
 never been recovered, I cannot be sure of his identity.' So far 
 from the pen of Canon Goddard ; but even yet more interesting 
 is the last account of these birds breeding in Wiltshire, which I 
 have received through the same gentleman from his brother 
 Mr. Septimus Goddard, who writes as follows in answer to my 
 inquiries on the point : ' I perfectly well recollect the circum- 
 stance of the young Hoopoes being found in a bush near the 
 brook on the farm now occupied by Mr. Ackers (of Morden), in 
 Rodbourn Cheney Parish ; they were four in number, nearly full 
 grown; colour that of woodcocks, with very large topknots. 
 I am not quite certain what became of them, but I rather think 
 that they were taken back to the brook again. The old birds 
 laid again and sat nearly in the same place the following season ; 
 but the eggs, four in number, were destroyed by boys. I have 
 frequently seen Hoopoes in Sussex near Eastbourne, where 
 several have been shot on the estate of the Duke of Devonshire/ 
 The last paragraph shows that Mr. S. Goddard is not un- 
 acquainted with the bird, and cannot therefore have mistaken 
 any other for it. This is perhaps as full an account of English 
 Hoopoes as has fallen to the lot of any ornithologist of this 
 country to meet with, and it is the more satisfactory that the 
 narrator, Canon Goddard, is not only an acute and accurate 
 observer of birds generally, but has become personally acquainted, 
 and that very intimately, with the bird in question during his 
 travels in Egypt. 
 
 More recently a fine male was shot at Savernake by Mr. 
 Ponting in May, 1877, and Mr. Grant, of Devizes, records another 
 
268 Certhiadce. 
 
 which had previously passed through his hands ; while, in a 
 letter lately received from Canada, the Marquis of Lansdowne 
 obligingly informs me that one was shot at Bowood in the 
 autumn of 1886. In South Wilts Mr. Morres records it as having 
 been killed at West Knoyle in May, 1865 ; at Breamore in May, 
 1869; at Dean; at Upton Scudamore; at Mere, April, 1872; and 
 one picked up on Mr. Rawlence's farm at Wilton, in 1874 ; and 
 gives evidence to lead to the belief that a brood of young 
 Hoopoes had been successfully reared in the neighbourhood of 
 Stratford sub Castle in June, 1877. Mr. Thomas Baker, of Mere, 
 also informs me that another example of this bird was shot in 
 his neighbourhood very nearly at the same spot as that recorded 
 above, about 1868, and the Marquis of Bath writes that one was 
 killed at Longleat some time since. 
 
 110. NUTHATCH (Sitta Europwa). 
 
 This active little bird is to be found in our woods all the year 
 round ; in colour it is dark gray above, and orange-buff beneath ; 
 the beak is strong, straight, conical, and pointed, and with this 
 instrument it will hammer with repeated and most sonorous 
 blows the nut which it has previously fixed in some chink of 
 bark or crevice in the tree, and which it rarely finds impervious 
 to its sharp beak, which it brings down upon it with all the 
 weight of its body ; seldom baffled even by the toughest shell, 
 which it will turn round till it has tried every point of attack, 
 and generally succeeds at last in extricating the kernel. Should 
 the nut accidentally fall from the chink in which it is fixed, or 
 fly asunder, and the kernel drop out, the Nuthatch will dart 
 upon it with the rapidity of lightning, catch it in its claws before 
 it reaches the ground, and return with it to its former position. 
 It runs both up and down the stems of trees, and will descend 
 head foremost (in which respect it differs from all other birds), 
 and varies its nut diet with insects and their larva?, which it 
 extracts from the bark and leaves. When running up or down 
 a tree, it rests upon the back part of the whole tarsus, and 
 makes great use as a support of what may be called the real 
 
Nuthatch. 269 
 
 heel, and never uses the tail. When roosting it will sleep with 
 the head and back downwards, after the manner of some of the 
 Titmice.* The nest of the Nuthatch differs from that of any 
 other bird with which I am acquainted ; and it shows very con- 
 siderable ingenuity and masonic skill in constructing it. Often 
 it will make choice of a hole in a tree, but I have found it year 
 after year in a brick wall, where one of the bricks had been left 
 out by the scaffold-maker ; and this large hole it will plaster up 
 with clay and small stones, leaving an orifice only just large 
 enough to admit its entrance and egress ; and this plastering of 
 mud or clay is no mere sham for the purpose of concealment ; 
 but a strong and substantial defence, leaving the cavity within 
 perfectly secure. Then, on removing this wall of plaster, I have 
 found the nest entirely composed of a large quantity of the inner 
 bark of the Scotch fir, and it is astonishing what a very soft and 
 elastic bed this fir-bark makes. I supplied some of this material 
 to the late Mr. Hewitson, when he was engaged in the last 
 edition of his famous book on the ' Eggs of British Birds,' as 
 may therein be seen, and he expressed himself as much pleased 
 with it, as none such had previously come under his notice. 
 Though on more than one occasion I cut away the plaster when 
 the young birds were flown, and took away the nest, the 
 Nuthatches, nothing daunted by such spoliation, returned 
 annually to the same hole, where they generally reared their 
 young brood in safety. In reference to this plastering propensity, 
 one of the names by "which this bird is known in France is Pic- 
 magon (its proper name, however, is Sitelle Torchepot). In 
 Germany its regular name is Kleiber, ' Plasterer,' or ' Mason.' In 
 Italy it is Picchio grigio, ' Gray Woodpecker.' The generic name 
 Sitta is derived from */, 'I hiss/ or 'whistle' (B.O.U.). The 
 name Nuthatch seems to be a corruption of ' Nuthack,' which 
 the habits of the bird sufficiently explain. It is to be found in 
 this country generally wherever woods abound, but seems to 
 prefer large oaks and beeches. Lord Arundel says it is generally 
 
 * Yarrell's ' British Birds,' third edition, vol. ii., p. 186. 
 
270 Cuculidce. 
 
 numerous at Ward our; and I should say it occurs sparingly 
 throughout the county. 
 
 CUCULIDJE (THE CUCKOOS). 
 
 This family is but scantily represented in this county, for we 
 have but one species, though that one so well known, and its 
 periodical appearance so generally hailed with delight as a 
 harbinger of summer, that it has attracted as much attention 
 as many families comprising several genera and many species. 
 They all feed on insects and soft fruit, and are therefore unable 
 to reside during winter in cold countries; their flight is singularly 
 smooth and gliding and very rapid, and they move quickly from 
 bough to bough, rather leaping from branch to branch than 
 climbing like those families of this tribe previously described; 
 on the ground they are awkward and constrained, their feet 
 being very short and weak. The tails of birds of this family are 
 peculiarly ample, very broad as well as long. 
 
 111. COMMON CUCKOO (Cuculua canorus). 
 
 In all languages this bird derives its name from the note it 
 utters, which the several nations have syllabled to their own 
 fancy. Thus in classical Latin it is Cuculus ; in Greek, xfaxv* ; 
 in French, Coucou ; in German, Kukuk ; in Italian, Cucule ; in 
 Spain, Cucu ; in Portuguese, Cuco ; in English, Cuckoo. There 
 is no need to assert that this bird occurs throughout the county, 
 for who does not hear its well-known cry every April in his own 
 parish and garden; and yet everybody does not know the 
 appearance of the bird, so much resembling the Kestrel or 
 Sparrow-hawk at first sight; the dark lead-coloured plumage 
 above, the light under parts barred with brown, and the full 
 dark yellow eye, all contributing to the general resemblance; 
 but when we come to look nearer, we are soon undeceived, for 
 the beak is small, soft, slender, and nearly straight, like those of 
 other insectivorous birds, and the feet are small and weak, with 
 two toes before and two behind, after the manner of other 
 climbing birds, and not at all like the strong hooked beak and 
 
Common Cuckoo. 271 
 
 powerful talons of the birds of prey. Cuckoos twenty years 
 since were unusually abundant at Yatesbury, and remarkably 
 tame, and one or more might frequently have been seen every 
 spring sitting on the iron railings in my garden, while their oft- 
 repeated cry, as they answered one another in different keys 
 from opposite plantations, was almost continually to be heard, 
 more especially towards evening, when (like many other birds) 
 they became more clamorous than during the day; but their 
 numbers are now very sensibly diminished, and they are certainly 
 becoming more and more scarce every year. Moreover, I have 
 noticed that they have lost the confidence they once evinced, 
 and are much more shy and retiring than they were. In the 
 neighbourhood of Salisbury, however, the Rev. A. P. Morres 
 describes them as very numerous, and frequenting the water 
 meadows and osier beds in that district, and speaks of six being 
 in sight at one time. But in truth they are of a capricious and 
 fanciful disposition, and, vagrants as they are, they abound for a 
 time in one locality, and then desert it for another. When they 
 have been here some time, their call becomes changed to a wild 
 stammering repetition of the first syllable, though an individual 
 which returned to my garden every spring invariably uttered 
 this peculiar call from its first arrival, and with a pertinacity 
 and in so loud a key as to attract the notice of every stranger. 
 
 The favourite old country rhyme which is well known to 
 everybody, marks with sufficient accuracy the arrival, song, 
 change of note, and departure of the bird : 
 
 ' In April 
 Come he will ; 
 In May 
 
 He sings all day ; 
 In June 
 
 He alters his tune ; 
 In July 
 
 He prepares to fly ; 
 In August 
 Go he must.' 
 
 The singular habit of the Cuckoo of never building its own 
 
272 Cuculidw. 
 
 nest, but depositing its eggs singly in those of other birds, insec- 
 tivorous species being almost always selected for the foster-parents, 
 is well known. Why the Cuckoos adopt this peculiar and almost 
 unnatural habit ; how they deposit their eggs in the nests of 
 little birds, when the situation and size of the nests preclude, as 
 they often do, the possibility of the egg being laid there, after 
 the usual manner, by a bird so disproportionate in size to the 
 nest it selects as the cradle for its young; how the young 
 Cuckoo becomes the sole tenant of the nest, its foster-brethren 
 being summarily expelled to make way for its rapidly increasing 
 size, and to enable its foster-parents to supply its voracious 
 appetite ; how the young Cuckoo, when come to maturity, follows 
 instinctively in the track of its parents, not being arrived at the 
 requisite point of strength when its parents leave their summer 
 haunts to accompany them on their annual migration south- 
 wards ; and more especially how Cuckoo's eggs, varying from one 
 another in colour, frequently resemble very closely the eggs of 
 the birds in whose nests they are respectively laid these and 
 other similar questions connected with its strange history, I 
 have examined in a paper which I read before the Wiltshire 
 Archaeological and Natural History Society at Salisbury in 1865, 
 and printed in the Wiltshire Magazine;* and from this I purpose 
 now to extract the more important portions, and to enter some- 
 what minutely into the economy and life-history of this singular 
 bird. For perhaps of all the commoner species with which we 
 are surrounded in the summer, there is not one of whose habits 
 so much misconception is abroad ; certainly there is not one in 
 which everybody evinces such extraordinary interest. Let me 
 begin, then, by refuting and clearing out of the way some of the 
 popular errors about it. 
 
 It is even now a very common belief, handed down from 
 the time of Aristotle, that the Cuckoo changes in the 
 course of the summer into a hawk ; while Pliny,t who wrote 
 on Natural History, gravely asserted (and that assertion is 
 still upheld by many in these days) that the young Cuckoo 
 Vol. x., pp. 115-130. t Nat. Hist. (lib. x., cap. 9). 
 

 Common Cuckoo. 273 
 
 devours its young foster-brethren, and finally its most atten- 
 tive foster-parents; hence the Swedish proverb, c en otack- 
 sam gok/ implying 'an ungrateful fellow.'* Even Linnaeus 
 gave credence to this absurd slander, and in our own country 
 Shakespeare utters the same calumny. In the play of ' Henry IV/ 
 he makes that monarch exclaim : 
 
 ' And being fed by us, you used us so 
 As that ungentle gull, the Cuckoo's bird, 
 Useth the sparrow : did oppress our nest : 
 Grew by our feeding to so great a bulk 
 That even our love durst not come near your sight 
 For fear of swallowing : but with nimble wing, 
 We were constrained for safety's sake to fly.' 
 
 And again in ' King Lear/ the fool is made to say : 
 
 ' The hedge sparrow fed the Cuckoo so long 
 That it had its head bit off by its young.' 
 
 Then, again, we are told that the fate of an individual for the cur- 
 rent year depends on the direction in which he first hears the cry 
 of the Cuckoo in the spring : if it proceeds from the north, for 
 instance, it is a lucky omen ; but if from the south, it portends 
 death.-f- And, again, it is universally considered unlucky to be 
 without money in your pocket on first hearing the welcome notes 
 of this bird.J 
 
 As the story of hedging in the Cuckoo, and so securing the 
 permanence of spring, has been attempted to be affiliated on the 
 moonrakers of Wilts, I must in common honesty quote from the 
 veracious chronicle entitled ' The Merry Tales of the Wise Men of 
 Gotham/ in which the following anecdote occurs : ' On a time the 
 men of Gotham would have pinned in the Cuckoo, whereby she 
 should sing all the year ; and in the midst of the town they had 
 a hedge made, round in compass, and they had got a Cuckow, and 
 put her into it, and said, " Sing here, and you shall lack neither 
 meat nor drink all the year." The Cuckow when she perceived 
 
 Golf, is no other than the old Saxon geac, and the Cuckoo is still often 
 called ' Gowk ' in some parts of England. [Seo Bosworth's 'Anglo-Saxon 
 Dictionary/] 
 
 f Lloyd's ' Scandinavian Adventures/ vol. ii., p. 347. 
 
 | Naturalist for 1852, p. 84. 
 
 18 
 
274 Cuculidce. 
 
 herself encompassed within the hedge, flew away. " A vengeance 
 on her!" said the wise men; "we made not our hedge high enough.'"* 
 
 Among other errors abroad with regard to this ill-used bird, 
 the English translators of the Bible included it in the list of un- 
 clean birds which the children of Israel were forbidden to eat 
 (Levit. xi. 16 ; Deut. xiv. 15). But Bochart, Gesenius and others 
 have long since proved that not the Cuckoo, but the sea-gull 
 was the species intended.t 
 
 These are but samples of the many superstitions current in our 
 day, and in our own county, with regard to the Cuckoo ; J and it 
 is with the hope of substituting in their stead the very interest- 
 ing and peculiar economy of its real life-history, that I propose 
 to enlarge upon it here at far greater length than I have bestowed 
 on other species. 
 
 With the exception of the Honey-buzzard (Buteo apivorus) it 
 is the largest of British insectivorous birds ; for its food consists of 
 insects of many sorts, but more particularly of the several species of 
 hairy caterpillars which abound in the early summer, and which 
 long-haired caterpillars are rejected by almost all birds, with the 
 exception of the Cuckoo : so that it has been thought by some 
 that the reason why that bird leaves this country so early, is the 
 failure by the middle of July of its favourite food. I may observe, 
 too, that it is the male bird alone which gives utterance of the 
 peculiar note which we hail so gladly as an announcement of 
 spring, though, among other popular errors, the following old 
 couplet attributes the song to the female: \\ 
 
 1 The Cuckoo is a pretty bird, and sings as she flies ; 
 She brings us good tidings, and tells us no lies.' 
 
 Possibly, however, this may be only the indiscriminate use of the 
 masculine and feminine pronoun so common in Wiltshire : I am 
 bound, too, in honesty to add, that the well-known cry of the 
 Cuckoo has been declared by some naturalists (though I think 
 
 * Sharpens Magazine, vol. x., p. 6. 
 f Smith's ' Dictionary of the Bible.' 
 J Jesse's ' Gleanings of Natural History,' p. 125. 
 Wood's ' Illustrated Natural History,' vol. ii., p. 574. 
 . || Naturalist for 1852, p. 84. 
 
Common Cuckoo. 275 
 
 erroneously) to be common to both sexes.* Lastly, I will repeat 
 that the female has that strange peculiarity of depositing her 
 eggs singly in the nests of other species, which she selects as suit- 
 able foster-parents to her own young : a peculiarity not shared in 
 by any others of our British birds, though by no means unknown 
 among the feathered tribes of other countries the Cowbird, for 
 example, of America, j- which belongs to the Starling tribe, several 
 species of the African Cuckoos, and others. It is from this last 
 eccentricity of conduct that so many strange and unlooked-for 
 habits of the Cuckoo take their rise. Let us examine them one by 
 one ; but first let me earnestly protest against the unmeaning out- 
 cry and charge of unnatural, unfeeling conduct often preferred 
 against the Cuckoo,! as if she did not follow out the instincts of 
 her nature as truly as every other bird ; and as if there was not 
 some good and sufficient reason (though we may be unable to 
 fathom it) why some species delegate the care of their young to 
 other birds : rather, I think, should we admire the wonderful 
 instinct which leads them to select, as foster-parents, those species 
 only whose feeding is similar to their own, and so would provide 
 their young with suitable nourishment; and that dexterity which 
 enables them to insert their eggs amongst others, just at the right 
 moment when the foster-parent is preparing to sit. 
 
 And here I beg to state without hesitation that never by any 
 possibility does our British Cuckoo either build a nest of her own 
 or incubate her eggs on the ground. We hear constant tales of 
 such occurrences : every year our periodicals and newspapers con- 
 tain statements of such marvellous incidents, which would be 
 marvellous indeed if true ; but I venture to assert most positively, 
 without fear of contradiction, that all such stones have originated 
 from some error : and either the common Night-jar,|| of nearly the 
 
 * Magazine of Natural History, vol. viii., pp. 329-382. Naturalist for 
 1851, pp. 11, 172. 
 
 t Wilson's 'American Ornithology,' vol. ii., p. 162. 
 
 Bishop Stanley's ' Familiar History of Birds,'' vol. ii., p. 80. 
 
 Gilbert White's Natural History of Selborne,' Letter iv. 
 
 || Montagu's Supplement to ' Ornithological Dictionary/ vol. ii. Rennie's- 
 ' Architecture of Birds,' p. 380. G. White's ' Selborne,' Letter vii. 
 
 182 
 
276 Cuculidce. 
 
 same size, fluttering away from her marbled eggs at the root of 
 an old oak, or some other bird, has been mistaken for the Cuckoo, 
 which never, in any single instance, has been known to sit on her 
 own eggs. 
 
 The Cuckoo then, houseless and vagabond though she is, and the 
 veritable 'gipsy of the feathered tribes,' as she has been styled, 
 soon after her arrival here in the spring, begins to busy herself no 
 less than other birds in making preparations for her future 
 progeny ; but instead of preparing a nest, as other birds do, her 
 occupation is to scour the hedgerows and plantations, and watch 
 the busy nestmakers with more eager eye than any schoolboy ;* 
 observing day by day the progress made, and anxiously selecting 
 those which may be most convenient for her purpose. Into these 
 nests it is not her habit to intrude herself for the purpose of lay- 
 ing her egg, as all other birds do ; indeed, from her superior size 
 in proportion to the nest, such a course would be generally im- 
 possible : but she lays her egg on the ground, and then she takes 
 it in her beak,f and gently deposits it in the nest she has chosen. 
 And that the Cuckoo does thus avail herself of her beak to place 
 her eggs in nests which otherwise would have been inaccessible to 
 her, is not only d priori established from those cases where no 
 other means were possible, as in certain domed nests with entrance 
 holes at the side only, or those which are laid in the holes of trees, 
 as for instance those of the wren, the redstart and others ; but we 
 have a very interesting account from a charcoal-burner, in the 
 forest of Thuringer, who happened to be in his rude woodman's 
 hut in the forest, when a Cuckoo (which he had long observed fly- 
 ing about in the neighbourhood) flew into the hut, not perceiving 
 the owner, perched upon a bench near the entrance, laid an egg, 
 then seized it in her beak, and placed it in a wren's nest which 
 was built against the inner side of the hut, while the man looked 
 on in amazement, and soon after related the ' wonder' to the 
 
 Rennie's Architecture of Birds,' p. 374. 
 
 f Zoologist, 3145, 7757, 7935, 8165. Hewitson's ' Eggs of British Birds,' 
 vol. i., p. 205. Temminck's ' Manual d'Ornithologie,' vol. i., p. 384. Rennie's 
 ' Architecture of Birds,' p. 378. 
 
Common Cuckoo. 277 
 
 German naturalist who recorded the event. But I believe this to 
 be her invariable method, whether the small nest of the foster- 
 parent be accessible to her or no : and then again, this habit of - 
 taking the egg in her beak, and so depositing it in the chosen nest, 
 considered in conjunction with the similarity of her egg to that of 
 several species of small birds as detailed farther on, will readily 
 account for the frequent assertion on the part of eye-witnesses of 
 the Cuckoo eating the eggs of small birds, which they trium- 
 phantly declare they have themselves seen between the mandibles 
 of that bird's beak.* 
 
 It is not until after an interval of several days that the Cuckoo 
 lays another egg in the same manner and then deposits it in another 
 nest which she has previously selected ; and so on till her whole 
 complement of four or five or six eggs is laid.-|- But never on any 
 occasion does she lay two eggs in the same nest ; so that 
 although it is true that two Cuckoo's eggs have been sometimes 
 found in the same nest, these were without doubt from different 
 parent birds, and by no means the eggs of the same individual^ 
 
 But now if the egg of the Cuckoo was at all proportioned to the 
 size of the bird, it would not only at once attract the attention 
 and alarm of the foster-parent, but it would be impossible for so 
 diminutive a nurse to brood over and hatch it ; and therefore 
 Nature, who never does anything by halves, but provides for every 
 emergency, has given a strange disproportion in the egg of the 
 bird to the size of the parent Cuckoo (the egg of the Cuckoo 
 being no larger than that of the Lark, though the relative size 
 of the two birds is as four to one) a disproportion, however, the 
 necessity for which is most apparent, if the little foster-parent is 
 to be duped into believing the egg of the intruder to be her own. 
 
 The Cuckoo then, having laid her eggs of comparatively dimi- 
 
 Naturalist for 1851, p. 162 ; for 1852, p. 33. 
 
 f Colonel Montagu dissected a Cuckoo which had in her four or five eggs 
 ( { Ornith. Diet.'). Mr. Rennie thinks it lays a second time. Blumenbach says 
 she lays six eggs in the spring from time to time. [Jesse's ' Gleanings in 
 Natural History,' p. 125.] Naturalist for 1851, p. 162. 
 
 + Zoologist, 8823, 9325. YarreU's ' British Birds,' vol. ii., p. 192. Mon- 
 tagu's ' Ornith. Diet.,' Introduction, p. ix. 
 
 Yarrell in loco, vol. ii., p. 191. Bewick, vol. i., p. 108 
 
278 Cuculidce. 
 
 nutive size, and entrusted each to the charge of carefully selected 
 foster-parents, is by many supposed to leave them to their fate, 
 and to take no further interest in the matter.* But this does not 
 seem to be the case.f On the contrary (and for this I have the 
 high authority of Dr. Gray, of the British Museum), the Cuckoo 
 has been observed to frequent the neighbourhood, and watch near 
 the nest during the whole period of incubation ; and then when 
 the eggs are hatched, whether it is the parent Cuckoo,} as 
 Mr. Waterton stoutly maintained, or whether it is the young one, 
 as Dr. Jenner || and others as positively declared, which removes 
 from the nest the young Cuckoo's foster-brethren and any un- 
 hatched eggs there may be, is a question still warmly disputed. 
 
 Whether or no there are any other offices which the parent 
 Cuckoo undertakes for its young, I will not venture to affirm ; 
 though it is the opinion of some experienced naturalists that she 
 really feels an anxiety for them not less than that shown by 
 other birds :1T while others maintain that she has occasionally, 
 though very exceptionally, been known to feed her own young, of 
 which several convincing proofs have been adduced ;** and others 
 again declare that she sometimes even takes the young under her 
 protection, when they are sufficiently fledged to leave the nest.-f~f- 
 But be that as it may, towards the end of July the old birds are 
 preparing to migrate, and the male has already changed his note 
 to that stammering repetition of the first syllable which (as all 
 observers know) heralds the cessation of his so-called song; and 
 which an old writer, John Hay ward, who flourished about A.D. 
 1580, has described in the following quaint but very graphic 
 rhymes : 
 
 c Zoologist, p. 1638. 
 
 t Ibis, vol. iv., p. 384. Wood's ' Illustrated Natural History,' vol. ii., p. 572. 
 
 j Zoologist, 2589, 2603, 4895, 6676, 8166, 8195, 8235, 8681. Jesse's ' Glean- 
 ings in Natural History,' p. 123. 
 
 ' Essays on Natural History,' first series, p. 228. 
 
 || * Philosophical Transactions,' vol. Ixxviii. 
 
 If Wood's ' Illustrated Natural History, 1 vol. ii., p. 572. Naturalist for 
 1851, pp. 67, 162. 
 
 ** Naturalist for 1851, p. 11. 
 
 tt Yarrell's ' British Birds,' vol. ii., p. 197. Naturalist for 1851, p. 233. 
 
Common Cuckoo. 279 
 
 ' In April the Cuckoo can sing her song by rote. 
 In June of ttimes she cannot sing a note. 
 At first, koo ; koo ; koo ; sings till can she do 
 At last, kooke, kooke, kooke, kooke ; six kookes to pne koo. 3 
 
 By the beginning of August, then, the parent Cuckoos are gone 
 southwards ; but the young Cuckoo is notoriously a tedious nurse- 
 ling, and indeed, having to grow from the inmate of a very small 
 eggshell to a bird of considerable dimensions, requires time for 
 such development, and taxes to a very large extent the powers as 
 well as the assiduity of its foster-parents : by degrees this over- 
 grown infant not only fills the little nest which was never meant 
 for such a monster, but is forced to vacate it, and sits perched 
 on the edge, while the foster-parents, unable to reach up to it from 
 below, alight on its back in order to feed it.* It is at this period 
 of its existence that the young Cuckoo is said to possess, or to 
 acquire for a time, the note of its foster-parents,t whatever it may 
 happen to be ; but this point in its history requires corroboration, 
 as, though asserted by many, it has never yet been satisfactorily 
 settled. And then again, when they have at length attained their 
 full size, the young Cuckoos, though left to their own devices, 
 and without their elders for their guides, as all other migratory 
 birds have, follow towards the end of September in the track 
 of their parents which have gone long before, and migrate to a 
 warmer clime ; though what instinct teaches them when to go, 
 and whither to bend their course, who shall say ? Indeed, to my 
 mind this is one of the most astonishing points in their life- 
 history which we have yet touched upon. 
 
 And now I come to the most remarkable peculiarity of all ; and 
 indeed, amongst these so many anomalies which we have seen to 
 belong to this extraordinary bird (and the more one studies its 
 habits, the more numerous and the more apparent do they 
 become), there is nothing so strange or indeed so startling as the 
 opinion put forth, in Germany by Dr. Baldamus, and afterwards 
 
 * Gardener's Chronicle, 1851, p. 469. Magazine of Natural History, vol. ix., 
 p. 638. Naturalist, 1851, p. 233 ; 1852, p. 33. 
 
 t Thompson's ' Natural History of Ireland,' vol. i., p. 361. 
 
280 Cuculidw. 
 
 followed up and demonstrated by proofs of apparently the most 
 satisfactory character, on the part of himself and his friends, 
 that the eggs of the Cuckoo, which she lays one by one singly in 
 the nests of other birds, are somewhat similar in colour to the 
 eggs of those birds whose nests she selects* And thus it is by no 
 means an uncommon occurrence to see the egg of the Cuckoo 
 taken from a hedge-sparrow's nest, partaking of a greenish-blue 
 tinge ; another from the nest of a robin, of a reddish hue ; another 
 from a pipit's nest, of a brownish colour; and so on through 
 the twenty or thirty species in whose nests the egg of the 
 Cuckoo has been found. This was without doubt a very startling, 
 bold statement, and it evoked, as might be expected, no small 
 amount of opposition and ridicule when first it was propounded. 
 To my mind, however, it seemed a very beautiful idea, well 
 worthy of the most careful examination, so I spared no pains in 
 investigating it. And to this end I translated the lengthy article 
 of Dr. Baldamus,f and printed it in the Zoologist ; and I now 
 proceed to give a short re'sumd of that article. 
 
 Dr. Baldamus begins his treatise by calling attention to the 
 great variety in colouring as well as in marking in a collection 
 of Cuckoos' eggs, and the astonishing resemblance these eggs 
 severally bear to the eggs of a variety of small birds usually 
 chosen as the foster-parents of Cuckoos : a fact which he says was 
 well known to the great ornithologists and oologists of Germany, 
 including Naurnann, Thienemann, Brehm, Gloger, von Homeyer 
 and others ; and I may add that this point was equally well known 
 to our British ornithologists as well.J But Dr. Baldamus seems to 
 have been the first to suspect that at the root of this striking 
 phenomenon there was a fixed law, perhaps a law which might be 
 discoverable; and his suspicions in this direction having been 
 aroused, he proceeded to pay diligent attention to the subject. 
 To this end he not only made most careful personal observations, 
 
 Zoologist for 1853, p. 3988. 
 
 t ' Neue Beitrage zur Fortpflanzungsgeschichte des Europaischen Kukkuks 
 (Cuculus canorus), von E. Baldamus/ Naumannia, 1853, pp. 307-326. 
 J "Wood's * Illustrated Natural History,' vol. ii., p. 572. 
 
Common Cuckoo. 281 
 
 but by means of oological correspondents in various parts of 
 Germany collected a large series of facts bearing upon the matter 
 which were convincing to his own mind : convictions which seem 
 to have been shared in by many of the leading ornithologists of 
 Germany. I will not weary the patience of my readers by taking 
 them through the several instances which Dr. Baldamus details > 
 but pass on at once to the results he arrived at, merely remark- 
 ing, by the way, that he followed up his investigations with such 
 earnest zeal, that when he wrote his paper he had before him no 
 less than one hundred Cuckoos' eggs, special care being taken to 
 ascertain accurately from the nest of what particular species 
 every one of these eggs was taken. 
 
 The first thing which Dr. Baldamus established to his own 
 satisfaction, by means of these repeated observations, was, that 
 the Cuckoo lays its eggs in the nests of no less than thirty-seven 
 species, including not only every species of Chat, Warbler, 
 Wagtail, Pipit, and Lark, but even exceptionally certain of the 
 grain-eating Finches and Buntings : these exceptions being 
 doubtless in cases only where the Cuckoo was deprived, by some 
 accident, of the nest she had selected for her egg, and which, 
 when ready to be laid, she was obliged to consign to the care of 
 the best nurse she could find at short notice. To this seeming 
 inconsistency on the part of the parent bird I may however add, 
 that grain- eating species have been known to bring up young 
 Cuckoos ; and the explanation is, that even the hard-billed 
 birds are accustomed to feed their young, at any rate at first, 
 with insects. 
 
 From the thirty-seven species alluded to above, which have been 
 ascertained to act as foster parents of the young Cuckoo, Dr. 
 Baldamus enumerates no less than twenty-eight, to whose several 
 eggs he affirms the egg of the Cuckoo will bear some similarity in 
 colouring ; and this he then proceeds to prove from the specimens 
 lying before him, and which (as I before remarked) are all care- 
 fully authenticated, in regard to the nests from which they were 
 taken. All these specimens he examines singly, and describes 
 their colouring, as nearly all partaking, in a greater or less degree, 
 
282 Cuculidce. 
 
 of the character, ground colour, and markings of the eggs of the 
 species in whose nests they were severally laid : while some are 
 so extremely similar that but for the grain* or texture of the 
 shell and certain characteristic specks, it would be difficult to 
 distinguish them apart. The exceptions to this general rule 
 are those laid in the nests of corn-eating species, and our author 
 adds that it would be extraordinary indeed if the Cuckoo's 
 eggs should resemble the eggs of these exceptional and never 
 intended foster-parents. 
 
 ' The fact then' (says Dr. Baldamus) ' is quite established and 
 beyond all doubt, that there are Cuckoos' eggs which both in 
 colour and in marking are very like the eggs of those species in 
 whose nests they are generally laid :' and then he proceeds to 
 argue that Nature, who never trifles, nor acts without purpose, 
 has plainly given the parent Cuckoo this faculty in order to 
 facilitate the continuance of the species under peculiar conditions, 
 for (he well remarks) had this not been so, we are driven to the 
 alternative that the Warblers and others, which generally recog- 
 nise so easily all strange eggs, casting them out of the nest,t or 
 else deserting it, in regard to the Cuckoo's eggs are quite blind, 
 and cannot recognise the red eggs among their green clutches,:}: 
 and vice versa. Therefore (continues our author) I do not 
 hesitate to set forth, as a law of nature, that the eggs of the 
 Cuckoo are in a very considerable degree coloured and marked 
 like the eggs of those birds in whose nests they are about to be laid, 
 in order that they might the less easily be recognised by the 
 foster-parents as substituted. 
 
 * ' Das Kornj the German word exactly answering to our English idiom 
 'grain.' The grain or texture of the shell is too often overlooked by 
 oologists, but amongst the very similar eggs of some species, as more par- 
 ticularly among the Duck tribe, this is one very important means of identifi- 
 cation, more especially when the egg is placed under a low magnifying 
 power. 
 
 t Montagu's ' Ornith. Diet.,' Introduction, p. iv. 
 
 J Or ' loiters ' as our Wiltshire rustics say : ' gelege ' in German. 
 
 It is worthy of remark, that whereas it has been often asserted that the 
 egg of the Cuckoo is by no means found in any proportion to the number of 
 old birds (for it is not a rare species, and every female would seem to lay 
 
Common Cuckoo. 283 
 
 The next question examined is c whether the same hen Cuckoo 
 lays eggs of the same colour and markings only, and is so 
 limited to the nests of but one species ? or else, does the same 
 individual lay eggs of different colour and markings, according to 
 the character of the eggs amongst which her own will be 
 intruded ?' Both these theories have their advocates ; those in 
 favour of the last view advancing the hypothesis that the sight of 
 the eggs lying in the nest has such an influence on the hen which 
 is just about to lay, that the egg which is ready to be laid assumes 
 the colour and markings of those before her ; and for this, phy- 
 siological reasons are adduced, and analogies, not forgetting the 
 well-known and successful experiments of the patriarch Jacob.* 
 But Dr. Baldamus rejects this opinion, and contends for the 
 other view (viz. that the same Cuckoo lays eggs of one colour 
 and markings only, and so is limited to the nests of but one 
 species) ; and this he proves by personal experience and observa- 
 tion ; by the fact that he has found two differently marked 
 Cuckoos' eggs in one nest ; that he has also found similarly 
 marked eggs, laid by one and the same Cuckoo, in the nests of 
 different species ; and that he has found Cuckoos' eggs (though 
 rarely) in such nests as have not yet received any eggs of the 
 owner ;t in which case the Cuckoo is without any pattern of a 
 fixed form of colour for its egg. All these points in the argument 
 are very carefully worked out at considerable length, and a large 
 array of proofs and instances brought forward to support his 
 views ; and then our author deduces the conclusion, that all 
 experience hitherto known declares in favour of his assertion ' that 
 every Cuckoo lays eggs of one colouring only, and consequently 
 (as a general rule) lays only in the nest of one species :' and he 
 sums up his argument as follows : ' every pair, or rather each 
 individual Cuckoo, is endowed with the instinct to lay its eggs in 
 
 annually from four to six eggs), the difficulty is at once disposed of, if Dr. 
 Baldamus' theory is correct, inasmuch as the great similarity of the egg of 
 the Cuckoo to those of the nest in which it is placed, may deceive human 
 eyes no less than those of the foster parents. 
 
 Genesis xxx. 37 et seq. 
 
 t This is corroborated in the Naturalist for 1852, p. 33. 
 
284 Cuculidcv. 
 
 the nests of some one species of birds, which are fit to act the part 
 of foster-parents: so, in order that these latter may the less readily 
 observe the strange egg, it is found to be of similar colouring to 
 their own ; and for the same reasons it is also so disproportionably 
 small. Then every pair of Cuckoos seeks its old district, or that 
 spot where it breeds, just as all other birds do.* Here it generally 
 finds those species of insectivorous birds which it requires for its 
 peculiar circumstances : but assuredly they are not always in the 
 necessary number, or perhaps they may for some cause be breed- 
 ing earlier or later than its six to eight weeks' time for layingt 
 lasts : it will therefore be unable to find for each of its eggs a fitting 
 nest of that species to which it was prepared to entrust it, and to 
 which it was accustomed ; and so it finds itself obliged to intro- 
 duce one and another egg into the nests of some other species, if 
 haply by good chance it can do so.J Thus then it comes to pass 
 that there are, and from the nature of the circumstances there 
 must be, proportionably many exceptions to the rule. Thus too 
 it comes to pass that by far the greater number of Cuckoos' eggs 
 bear the type of the eggs of the ' White-throat' (Sylvia cinerea), and 
 of the ' Pied Wagtail' (Motacilla Yarrelli) t thQ most common foster- 
 parents of the young Cuckoo ; and perhaps, in some localities, of 
 the 'Meadow Pipit' (Anthus pratensis), the 'Hedge Accentor' 
 (Accentor modularis), and of the ' Reed Wren ' (Sylvia arundi- 
 
 Blyth's edition of White's * Selborne,' p. 78. 
 
 f * Legezeit ' is the concise German word, for which we have no English 
 equivalent. 
 
 The Cuckoo, however, alone of British birds, is generally supposed to 
 have the faculty of retaining her egg in the ovarium, after it is arrived at 
 maturity, for a limited period of time. (Montagu's ' Ornith. Diet.,' Intro- 
 duction to vol. i., p. 8. Jesse's ' Gleanings in Nat. Hist.,' p. 125.) If this 
 be correct, it will account for the egg laid by the Cuckoo as it fell to the 
 ground after it was shot, recorded by Mr. S. S. Allen (Ibis, vol. iv., p. 358), 
 and by my friend Mr. Chambers (Ib is, vol. v., p. 475). See also M. Yail- 
 lant's account of the African Cuckoo shot by himself and his faithful 
 attendant, the Hottentot Klaas, and the frequent occurrence of the egg laid 
 by the Cuckoo as she fell wounded from the tree. (Rennie's 4 Architecture 
 of Birds/ p. 378.) 
 
 The Pied Wagtail, the Meadow Pipit, and the Hedge Warbler, are 
 perhaps most frequently chosen as the foster-parents in this country. 
 
Common Cuckoo. 285 
 
 nacea) : and that on that account eggs of such colouring form the 
 most frequent exceptions; that is to say, are most frequently 
 found in the nests of other species. Thus too, lastty, it comes to 
 pass that these two above-named prevailing colours of the 
 Cuckoo's eggs are spread over most localities, whilst at the same 
 time they also appear, almost everywhere, as exceptions in other 
 nests. For the diffusion of 'these two species (the common 
 White-throat and the Pied Wagtail) is very extensive, and their 
 haunts usually offer to the Cuckoo also the requirements of its 
 existence: it is therefore not without signification that one 
 seldom finds in their nests Cuckoos' eggs of other colours, but one 
 does very frequently find in the nests of other birds Cuckoos' eggs 
 of their type.' 
 
 [I will just quote, before I take leave of Dr. Baldamus, the 
 three following deductions, which he draws from his observations, 
 and with which he concludes his treatise. 
 
 I. * Nature must have some special motive in the circum- 
 stances above detailed, so many, so connected together, but so 
 peculiar. 
 
 II. ' That motive is plainly to be seen : viz., that by means of 
 certain laws originally made she may ensure and facilitate the 
 preservation of a species otherwise much exposed to danger. 
 
 III. ' She attains this end by a very simple method : in that she 
 invests every hen Cuckoo with the faculty of laying eggs 
 coloured like the eggs of the bird of whose nest she prefers to 
 make use, according to the locality; or, in other words, every 
 hen Cuckoo lays eggs only of a fixed colour, corresponding with 
 the eggs of that Warbler in whose nest she lays them (as a 
 general rule) : and she only lays in other nests when, at the time 
 for her laying, one of the species of her own peculiar type, as we 
 may say, which is fitted for her in every particular, is not 
 ready.'] 
 
 Such is the very interesting and well sustained argument of Dr. 
 Baldamus ; and however new and startling his hypothesis, how- 
 ever unprecedented his conclusions, yet he supports his argument 
 with such a battery of facts that his position seems almost im- 
 
286 Cuculidce. 
 
 pregnable. Facts are proverbially stubborn things, and not to bo 
 overthrown by opinions held only from the force of habit and not 
 from conviction of their truth. 
 
 The question before us is not to be set on one side as the dream 
 of an enthusiast, or the fancy of a superficial naturalist. It is 
 deliberately proposed by a leading ornithologist, of mature judg- 
 ment and deep scientific attainments ; it is the result, moreover, 
 of patient research, and a long course of inquiry among men 
 well calculated to form a right conclusion. At all events let 
 the theory be well understood: for some have ignorantly or 
 maliciously declared that Dr. Baldamus had given out that the 
 Cuckoo had the power of laying her egg of what colour she 
 pleased, which is exactly the contrary of what the Doctor had 
 stated. A great deal of controversy and some rather warm con- 
 tention arose between those who accepted and those who 
 rejected the theory ; but, as I introduced the subject to the pages 
 of the Zoologist, I was permitted to sum up the evidence at the 
 close of the discussion ; and I now proceed to state what con- 
 clusions I arrived at after a careful examination of the several 
 opinions expressed. 
 
 (1) I felt no hesitation in submitting that the balance of 
 opinion favours tho theory that the eggs of the Cuckoo do vary 
 in colour to a considerable extent, but I hastened to add that 
 there are some, and good ornithologists too, who deny this, and 
 who even declare that the eggs of the Cuckoo are of peculiarly un- 
 varying colour; but it will not be disputed that those who so 
 think, or at all events who have so declared their opinion, are in 
 a very small minority. 
 
 (2) I submitted that it was very generally allowed that the eggs 
 of the Cuckoo strangely resemble the eggs of other birds, 
 especially those among which the egg of the Cuckoo is frequently 
 found. In the view of the German ornithologists, this is thought 
 to be the rule, though that view is qualified by the addition that 
 * to this rule there are very many exceptions' In the opinion of 
 most of our English ornithologists, however, it seems to be con- 
 sidered that the rule is in favour of the colour generally (perhaps 
 
Common Cuckoo. 287 
 
 conventionally) assigned by common consent to the Cuckoo's egg, 
 and the exceptions (also allowed to be numerous) when the egg 
 of that bird resembles those of the species in whose nest it is laid. 
 
 On these two points most of those who have examined the 
 question are, I think, agreed; but beyond this opinions differ 
 widely ; and when we come to discuss the probable reasons for 
 such variation in colour, and assimilation of colour to the eggs 
 of the selected foster parents, there are almost as many theories 
 as disputants, but none of these appear to my judgment so con- 
 vincing, or indeed so plausible, as the original motive assigned 
 by Dr. Baldamus and his followers. 
 
 And then I ventured to put forth a notion which had occurred 
 to my mind, and which has since become with me a fixed opinion, 
 that the young Cuckoo derives from its foster-parent so much of 
 that nurse's nature (whether by the diet on which it has been 
 brought up, on which exclusively the young of the foster-parent 
 would, had it survived, have been fed, or otherwise) as, when its 
 own turn for breeding arrived, to affect (though unconsciously to 
 itself) the colouring of the eggs it laid. In support of that 
 opinion, I would submit the following considerations. 
 
 First I would mention as worthy of observation that the young 
 Cuckoo has been oftentimes declared to have acquired the exact 
 'note of its foster-parents. Of this Mr. Thompson gives decisive 
 evidence in the case of a young Cuckoo which was taken out of 
 a Titlark's nest, and of which he says/ for several weeks after the 
 Cuckoo was placed in confinement it uttered, when in want of 
 food, a note so closely resembling that of the Titlark that it would 
 have been almost impossible to distinguish between them.'* It is 
 true this may be mere mimicry, or the result of imitation ; 
 but it must be remembered that, in calling for food, the young 
 Cuckoo can only imitate the note of its foster-parents, its foster- 
 brethren having perished on its account in their infancy. 
 Here then we have the young Cuckoo in one important respect 
 partaking of the nature of its foster-parents. I do not, however, 
 wish to push this point too far, or to lay greater stress upon it 
 * ' Natural History of Ireland,' vol. i., p. 360. 
 
288 Cuculidce. 
 
 than it deserves. Let it be taken for what it is worth, though I 
 think it deserves consideration in connection with the subject 
 before us. 
 
 And now, in support of my opinion, I unhesitatingly assert that 
 the Cuckoo about to lay her egg has no more notion of its 
 colour than any other bird has. The will of the parent has 
 nothing whatever to do with it. I am too ignorant of the process 
 by which the pigment or colouring matter is diffused over the 
 egg, or of the exact moment when it receives that pigment before 
 leaving the oviduct, to be able to show by conclusive reasoning that 
 birds, of whatever species, are wholly passive and unconscious while 
 the colouring of their eggs is going on ; but I venture to assert, 
 without much fear of opposition, that such is the case with 
 all birds, and with the Cuckoo not less than with other species. 
 
 What it is that influences the colouring matter, and produces 
 a blue egg for one species, a brown egg for another, and a reddish 
 egg for a third, I can no more describe than I can account for 
 the varying colours in plumage in the respective species of birds. 
 Whether the colouring process in regard to the egg is influenced 
 in any degree by the kinds of food the bird eats, I do not know ; 
 though that food has an effect on the colour of the plumage of 
 birds I do know; of this the familiar case of the Bullfinch 
 becoming black if fed on hemp-seed is a well-known and sufficient 
 example. 
 
 Next, I submit that in all probability the young of the several 
 species of even our insect-eating Warblers are not fed on precisely 
 the same diet. This in many cases is obvious ; because whereas 
 one species procures its insect-food near the banks of streams or 
 ponds, another in our meadows and gardens, and another in the 
 hedgerows and ditches, these must undoubtedly feed their young 
 on the insects which abound in the districts they severally 
 frequent. Then I think it is not improbable that the same rule 
 holds good in regard to all species of birds. I mean that the 
 Hedge Accentor will feed its young with one kind of food;* the 
 Robin with another, and the Wagtail with a third, and so on 
 throughout the list of foster-parents to which the Cuckoo entrusts 
 
Cuckoo. 289 
 
 her progeny. If this be conceded, and if it be considered 
 possible that diet may affect the colouring matter of the eggs, we 
 are advanced some way on the road towards allowing the plausi- 
 bility of my opinion. 
 
 But I would now observe that if any hen bird of any species 
 arrived at maturity be dissected and examined, it will be found 
 that her ovary will contain the germs of all the eggs she will 
 ever lay during her life-time. It is not impossible, then, that 
 if influenced at all by the nutriment on which she was brought 
 up, she may be permanently influenced, in regard to the colour- 
 ing of all the eggs she will lay ; not to mention that it is far from 
 unlikely that a Cuckoo, hatched by a hedge sparrow or wagtail, 
 might ever after affect the diet to which it was first 
 accustomed, just as an Eton Colleger returns in after-life with 
 extreme relish to the roast mutton which formed his daily dinner 
 at school. 
 
 It is true that in this theory I have no precedent or even 
 analogy in the feathered race to guide me, for how can one 
 expect a precedent in aught that pertains to so exceptional a 
 species as the Cuckoo ? but still I have some sort of corrobora- 
 tive evidence to adduce from the insect world. I allude to the 
 case of bees ; and it is now an acknowledged fact that in the event 
 of any accidental destruction or unexpected loss of the queen bee 
 (when provision had not been made for her successor, after the 
 usual custom, by rearing princesses in the cell specially prepared 
 for the royal brood) the nurses will adopt the grub of an ordinary 
 worker, and by feeding it with a special diet, reserved on other 
 occasions for the royal cells alone, will from that worker grub 
 develop a queen, differing in size and colour as well as vocation 
 from the individual it would under ordinary circumstances have 
 become.* Such a permanent effect in this case has a particular 
 diet on the unconscious and passive infant. 
 
 I repeat that the theory I have been discussing is but a fancy, 
 but possibly it may be worth examination. When first it 
 occurred to me I made an effort to get it corroborated, or over- 
 
 * See Bevan on the Honey Bee, p. 21. 
 
 19 
 
290 Cuculidce. 
 
 thrown, by laying it before one whose authority in such matters is 
 of European reputation, and who would have carried conviction 
 in its favour, or the contrary, by any decided opinion upon it he 
 expressed. But when, in answer to my inquiries, the late Mr. 
 Charles Darwin most kindly replied ' that he had no sufficient 
 information on the point, such as would warrant him to pronounce 
 any dogmatic judgment on it,' I thought it not altogether worth- 
 less. I should, however, in candour own that Mr. Darwin added, 
 * My impression is that differences of food would not produce the 
 effects which you suppose possible ; and that impression is derived 
 chiefly from there being hardly any evidence of variations being 
 due to slight differences in the nature of the food.' Mr. Darwin 
 then proceeded to give me several interesting examples of change 
 of colour in plumage, and especially called my attention to the 
 paper (in Proc. Zool. Soc.) on the Australian Cuckoos by Mr. 
 Kamsay, where that gentleman 'states that two of the species, 
 when they lay their eggs in an open nest, manifest a decided 
 preference for nests containing eggs similar to their own in 
 colour.' 
 
 Many years have elapsed since the controversy was carried on 
 with reference to the colouring of the Cuckoo's egg. Several 
 leading ornithologists, Professor Newton amongst them, declared 
 that a well-authenticated blue Cuckoo's egg, somewhat similar to 
 that of the hedge sparrow, was wanting to complete the case as 
 enunciated by Dr. Baldamus ; and now in addition to those put 
 forth by Dr. Baldamus, and Dr. Hey, and some instances which I 
 and others adduced, Mr. Seebohm has published in his excellent 
 work on British Birds a whole plate of Cuckoos' eggs, amongst 
 which are two coloured blue, like those of the hedge accentor or 
 redstart. But I doubt if the ornithological world of England is 
 yet convinced. Perhaps we have not yet arrived at a full under- 
 standing of this, and of some other interesting details on the life 
 and economy of the Cuckoo, which still maintains in some 
 respects its character as a mysterious creature. I should not, 
 however, close this account without observing that the only other 
 species of Cuckoo with which I am familiar is the ' Great Spotted 
 
Cuckoo. 
 
 291 
 
 Cuckoo' (Guculus glandarius), which. I met with in some numbers 
 in Egypt, and which lays its eggs singly in the nests of other 
 birds, generally of the hooded crow or the blue magpie, to whose 
 eggs they bear a close resemblance, both in ground colour and in 
 markings. Thus there is precedent and analogy to support our 
 Common Cuckoo in pursuing a like habit. 
 
 19-2 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 INSESSORES (Perchers). Continued. 
 FISSIROSTRES (Wide-billed). 
 
 THIS last tribe of the great order of Perchers is by far the smallest 
 of the four, for though it contains more families than the Climbers, 
 viz., the Bee-eaters, Kingfishers, Swallows and Goatsuckers, yet 
 two of these are represented in this country by one single species 
 only, and the whole tribe numbers but eight individuals known in 
 Wiltshire. The word ' Fissirostres ' (wide-billed or cloven-beaked) 
 describes at once their chief characteristic, and indeed if we 
 closely examine those species in which this peculiarity is most 
 developed, viz., the common swift and the night-jar, we shall be 
 surprised to see to what an immense width the gape extends, and 
 how apparently disproportionate to the size of the head is the 
 enormous extent of the capacious mouth and throat, though 
 these are admirably adapted to their habits of feeding on the 
 wing and capturing flies and moths, as in a net, in their rapid 
 career through the air. Their feet, being little required for use, 
 are generally small and weak, and their flight is peculiarly smooth 
 and easy, gliding as they do with outstretched pinions, with 
 apparently little or no effort, and with surprising speed, and pro- 
 tracting their aerial rambles, as if they were incapable of 
 fatigue. 
 
 MEROPID.E (THE BEE-EATERS). 
 
 In my former papers on the Ornithology of Wilts, written above 
 twenty years ago, I was obliged to omit this family, as no reliable 
 
The Roller. 293 
 
 instance of the occurrence of any member of it in Wiltshire 
 had then reached me. There are indeed but two species belong- 
 ing to it which have ever been known to appear in Great Britain, 
 and these are only occasional and uncertain, if not rare visitors. 
 But both partake of a great brilliancy of plumage, and of interest- 
 ing habits; and both are hailed by me as welcome additions 
 to our Wiltshire list ; for they are old friends with whom I have 
 become well acquainted in other countries. 
 
 112. THE ROLLER (Coradas garrula). 
 
 The evidence which I have of this bird's visit to Wiltshire is not 
 quite satisfactory, as the specimen observed was not captured, and 
 so cannot be brought forward as proof positive of its identity. It 
 was, however, well seen and thoroughly examined by one of the 
 masters of Marlborough College, as he was walking in 
 Savernake Forest in 1883, and my friend, Rev. T. A. Preston, 
 satisfied himself by careful inquiry that there was no mistake 
 in the species alleged to have been seen. But, indeed, there is 
 no other bird with which an intelligent observer could confuse 
 it. I am ready therefore to accept Mr. Preston's assurance 
 that ' we may be certain a bird of this species was seen at the 
 place and time named.' The Roller is a common bird all round 
 the shores of the Mediterranean, more especially in the east and 
 south of that inland sea ; and for myself, I saw it more frequently 
 than elsewhere in the Holy Land. It is generally a shy, timid 
 bird, of unsociable habits, retiring to the recesses of woods, 
 whence its harsh, loud cries may be heard from time to time, for it 
 is a most noisy chatterer, as its specific name garrula points out. 
 In Northern Africa the Arabs call it Tschugrug or Shrugwrug, 
 derived from one of its cries, which it well expresses. By the 
 French colonists it is known as the Geai d'Afrique ; in Malta 
 as the ' Blue Jay ;' in Sweden as the Bid Krdka, or ' Blue Crow ;' 
 by the Italians as Corvo marino; and by us, as the ' Roller,' because 
 it rolls along in its flight. But it has also a very remarkable 
 habit of tumbling in the air, which is well described by Canon 
 Tristram, as he witnessed it when encamped at Ain Sultan, in the 
 
294 Meropidce. 
 
 hot valley of Jordan, not far from the Dead Sea. ' For several 
 successive evenings ' (he says) ' great flocks of Rollers mustered 
 shortly before sunset, on some dom trees near the fountain, with 
 all the noise, but without the decorum, of rooks. After a volley 
 of discordant screams, a few of the birds would start from their 
 perch and commence a series of somersaults overhead, somewhat 
 after the fashion of tumbler pigeons. In a moment or two they 
 would be followed by the whole flock, and these gambols would be 
 repeated for a dozen times or more. In about a week they dis- 
 persed to excavate the bank for their nests, and after this 
 dispersal not a Roller came back to the ddm trees where they 
 had roosted at first. The sand-beetles were their favourite food, 
 and they were scattered over all the wooded districts.'* In France 
 it is, as with us, Le Rollier, and in Portugal Rollieiro ; but in 
 Germany it is Blaue Racke, ' Blue Roller,' and in Spain Carranco. 
 Coracias is simply Kopaxtas, ' a kind of chough/ in Aristotle ; 
 ' like a crow/ from /copal;. 
 
 113. BEE-EATER (Merops apiaster). 
 
 I have but one instance of a visit of this beautiful bird to Wilt- 
 shire, and that was reported to me by the Rev. G. Powell. It appears 
 that on May 4th, 1866, a mason named Turner, engaged in the exer- 
 cise of his calling on the estate of Mr. Temple, of Bishopstrow, near 
 Warminster, observed a bird of strange appearance and brilliant 
 plumage, amusing itself in a neighbouring orchard in catching 
 insects, and retiring with them again and again to the same 
 branch, against which it each time knocked its bill before 
 swallowing its prey. For some time the mason contented himself 
 with watching the bird from the roof of the cottage, where he was 
 repairing the tiles, till at length, attracted by the strange beauty 
 of the bird, he sent for a gun and shot it from the spot where he 
 was at work. Mr. Powell adds that the specimen thus secured 
 was a very fine male bird, in most brilliant plumage, and was 
 quite alone when shot. The Bee-eater is a native of Southern 
 
 * Canon Tristram on the ' Ornithology of Palestine/ in Ibis for 1866, 
 p. 81. 
 
Bee-Eater. 295 
 
 Europe, Northern Africa, and Western Asia, in all of which it 
 breeds, retiring to winter in Central and Southern Africa, and I 
 well recollect the day when we were moored to the banks of the 
 Nile, during the prevalence of a gale of wind, which easily 
 daunted our sailors ; the first flock of Bee-eaters arrived in the 
 middle of March, and immediately made their presence known by 
 their loud, shrill, and somewhat harsh cries, and by their rapid 
 flight, not unlike that of the swallow, as they darted backwards and 
 forwards above the river bank. It is essentially a sociable bird, 
 breeding often in large colonies, in holes which it excavates on 
 the banks of rivers, and also retiring to roost in flocks, when as 
 many as possible perch on the same branch, as close to one 
 another as they can nestle. Montagu reported that in Egypt, 
 where it is sought for the table, it was called Mdinoorghi, or 
 * Bees' enemy,' as assuredly it is. At the Cape of Good Hope it is 
 named ' Gnat Snapper/ and highly esteemed there accordingly, as all 
 will believe who have really suffered under the attacks of the hate- 
 ful mosquito ; and then again it is honoured, because it is a guide to 
 the Hottentots by directing them to the honey which the bees 
 store in the clefts of the rocks. Merops is simply pepo^, the Bee- 
 eater of Aristotle, probably akin to /jLapTrra), ( I seize ;' or possibly 
 from nepifa, ' I divide/ and cty, < the face/ as if ' open-mouthed/ 
 Apiaster, in use in the fifth century, is the Latin translation of 
 Merop8,from apis, ' a bee.' In France it is Le Guepier, ' Wasp-eater,' 
 in Germany, #ktt/resse?VBee-devourer ;' in Sweden, Bi-dtare, 'Bee- 
 eater / in Spain, Abejaruco, and in Portugal Abelharuco and 
 Melharuco ; but the latter, meaning ' Honey-eater/ is as 
 inappropriate as our English name ' Honey Buzzard' is to Buteo 
 apivorus. 
 
 HALCYONIM: (THE KINGFISHERS). 
 
 Members of this family are generally remarkable for the extreme 
 brilliancy of their plumage; they are chiefly natives of more 
 tropical climates, as the brilliant colours of their plumage 
 demonstrate, one species only, and that of marvellous splendour, 
 inhabiting this country or, indeed, Europe generally. They prey 
 
296 Haley onidce. 
 
 upon small fishes and insects, the former of which they procure 
 by darting down upon them from some elevated place as they 
 rise to the surface of the water, and the latter by pouncing upon 
 them in their flight ; their feet, like others of this tribe, are small 
 and feeble, their beak is straight and pointed, and their flight 
 is rapid. 
 
 114. KINGFISHER (Alcedo ispida) . 
 
 The gorgeous colours of this, the most beautiful of all our 
 British birds, defy description ; there is on the upper parts such a 
 mixture of the brightest blue with the most vivid green, and 
 these colours blend with one another and are reflected with such 
 marvellous brilliancy and with such metallic lustre, that they must 
 be seen to be duly appreciated ; all the under-plumage is of a reddish 
 orange. The Kingfisher is not uncommon wherever there is a 
 stream ; indeed, for lack of a river, or brook, I have known it 
 haunt the foul sluggish watercourse of a long line of water 
 meadows, and even a stagnant pond in a cow yard at Old Park,* at 
 least a quarter of a mile away from any running water, but where, 
 year after year, it frequented the same hole for breeding purposes, 
 though the pond was constantly resorted to by a large herd of 
 cows, and hard by was the dairy farm, and its many buildings, and 
 far more dangerous its many boys and men in attendance on 
 the cattle ; yet, strange to say, this bird of such attractive plumage 
 somehow escaped general observation, and for several years, to 
 my certain knowledge, contrived to lead out its young in safety. 
 There has been much discussion amongst ornithologists as to 
 whether the Kingfisher makes any nest, and if so, of what 
 material, previous to depositing her eggs in the hole which she 
 has prepared for her nursery ; but it is now generally admitted that 
 the indigestible portion of the food which she casts up in pellets, 
 composed of the bones of small fishes, is the sole material of the 
 nest. The name hispida is said by the compilers of the B.O.U. 
 
 I once pointed out this strange locality for a Kingfisher's nest to Pro- 
 fessor Newton, who has thought it worthy of mention in his edition of 
 Yarrell. See fourth edition, vol. ii., p. 445. 
 
Kingfisher. 297 
 
 ' List of British Birds' to be derived from hispidus, ' rough, 
 prickly/ in allusion to these fish bones in the nesting- hole. On 
 the downs of North Wiltshire we should scarcely expect to meet- 
 with this bird, yet I have more than once disturbed it in one of the 
 winterbournes, or watercourses, within three miles of its source, 
 which is never more than an insignificant stream, and oftentimes is- 
 perfectly dry in summer ; so that the slightest thread of running 
 water seems to satisfy its requirements. Except in the breeding 
 season, it is a shy bird, and generally avoids the habitations of man ;. 
 it is also essentially solitary in its habits, and, except during the 
 breeding season, is always found alone ; its mode of seizing the 
 smaller fish on which it preys is singular ; it will sit for a con- 
 siderable time on a rail or bush overhanging the water, and watch 
 in patience the arrival of some victim, when with the most rapid 
 flight it will dart like lightning beneath the surface, and seizing 
 its unsuspected prey in its bill, bring it back to the station it 
 before occupied, there to be devoured at leisure ; at other times it 
 may be seen shooting like a meteor over the brook, always, 
 however, following the course of the stream, and if its quick eye 
 catches sight of food, you may see it suddenly stop, hover with 
 expanded wings for a moment, and then drop like a stone into the 
 water, from which it will as quickly emerge with its quivering 
 victim firmly held between the mandibles of its beak ; and this it 
 will either at once devour, or else beat to death against a stone and 
 then swallow whole. And yet with this plunging propensity, and 
 this fearlessness in precipitating itself into deep water from which 
 it always emerges unscathed, it is essentially a land bird, and has 
 no affinity with the water fowl, with which Bewick and some of 
 the older naturalists classed it. Neither can it seek the water on a 
 rough stormy day ; for the fishing manoeuvres above recorded to- 
 be successful, calm quiet weather is necessary, when the water is 
 neither thickened by rain nor ruffled by wind, but as the elements 
 are not always so propitious to its piscatory expeditions, the 
 Kingfisher (like the true birds of prey) will gorge itself 
 voraciously at one time, and then retire to digest its heavy meal at 
 leisure. Another habit too it possesses in common with the 
 
298 Haley onidce. 
 
 rapacious birds, viz., that it reproduces in castings, or small pellets, 
 the fish bones and other indigestible parts of the living creatures 
 it has swallowed, and these pellets in time cover the floor of the 
 hole in the bank in which it dwells, and form the nest on which 
 it deposits its beautiful transparent white eggs. On no bird have 
 the old heathen poets and naturalists exercised their fancy more 
 than on the Kingfisher, and among other strange tales they used to 
 fable that this bird would sit on its floating nest for the seven days 
 of incubation, and that it had such power over the winds and 
 waves that, though in the depth of winter, a perfect calm always 
 reigned during that period, when mariners might cross the sea in 
 perfect safety ; and hence came a well-known saying, ' Halcyon 
 days/ which has passed into a proverb for any short season of 
 tranquillity. As Dryden says : 
 
 * Amidst our arms as quiet you shall be 
 As halcyons brooding on a winter's sea ;' 
 
 and in Wild's ' Iter Boreale ' we read : 
 
 ' The peaceful Kingfishers are met together 
 About the decks, and prophesy calm weather.' 
 
 In Sweden it rejoices in the lengthy name of Bld-ryggig 
 Is-vogel, or 'Blue-backed Ice-bird/ and Professor Newton says that 
 the Anglo-Saxon name for it was Isern or Isen, for in hard frosts 
 it often collects in some numbers around any open water, and being 
 conspicuous as it sits on the ice, a name signifying ' Ice-bird ' has 
 been applied to it in all the Teutonic languages.* In 1613 
 it was one of the victims denounced as a ' ravenous bird/ and 
 persecuted accordingly by law ; and under one pretext and 
 another it has been hunted down ever since ; so that were not 
 its numbers recruited every year by the arrival of emigrants from 
 Holland, this, the most brilliantly coloured of all our indigenous 
 birds, would bid fair to become exterminated in England.f As 
 it is, however, I do not think its numbers are much diminished 
 in the county generally. If I am told by Rev. E. Goddard that 
 
 * Fourth edition of Yarrell's ' British Birds,' vol. ii., p. 451. 
 t Cordeaux's ' Birds of the Humber District, 5 p. 71. 
 
Kingfisher. 299 
 
 they are becoming very scarce at Clyffe Pypard and Hilmarton, I 
 learn from the Right Honourable E. P. Bouverie that they are still 
 fairly common at Market-Lavington; and if I hear from Lord 
 Arimdell that they are become more scarce at Wardour, I am told 
 by the Rev. C. F. Cooke that they are frequently seen darting over 
 the Avon at Enford. It is surprising that it should be so, for, 
 perhaps, no British bird has suffered more than the Kingfisher 
 from that most cruel and barbarous fashion which cannot be too 
 loudly condemned, and which I am sure without thought of the 
 consequences was adopted some years since by English ladies, 
 of wearing gay-coloured birds, or wings of birds, in their hats, and 
 which bids fair to exterminate altogether some of the species of 
 most brilliant plumage. We in England, doubtless, give a royal 
 title to this bird on account of the splendour of its plumage, just as 
 we name the magnificent species of Eider, 'The King Eider,' and the 
 brilliant Goldcrest is dubbed Regulus. In Germany it is Gemeine 
 Eisvogel, Common Ice-bird ; in Portugal, Pica-peixe, ' Seizer of 
 Fish ;' and Guardarios, ' River Watchman ;' but in France it is 
 Martin Pecheur, and in Spain Martin Pescador, ' Fisherman of S. 
 Martin.' This is in reality a nick-name, like Robin Redbreast, 
 Jenny Wren, Jack Daw, etc., but the Oiseau de S. Martin is 
 really the ringtail, or the hen-harrier. Alcedo is classical Latin 
 for a ' Kingfisher,' taken from the Greek d 
 
 HIRUNDINIM: (THE SWALLOWS). 
 
 This family certainly contains the most conspicuous of our 
 summer birds, and with their first appearance we are accustomed 
 to associate the departure of winter and the approach of summer, 
 and therefore we are naturally predisposed in their favour : but 
 not only do we welcome them as heralds of spring and harbingers 
 of sunshine; in addition to this, all their movements are so 
 graceful, they are so essentially birds of the air, seldom touching 
 the earth, but careering all day long under the bright blue sky 
 and through the lofty pathways of the air, that they engage our 
 particular admiration and interest : if we stand still to watch one 
 of these birds in its course, see with what arrowy speed it darts 
 
300 Hirundinidce. 
 
 over our gardens, sweeps round our houses or skims over the 
 pool : now it will wheel and sport high up in the air, hurrying 
 here and there on the lightest wing in the gladness of its heart - t 
 anon it will float without effort in the vast expanse, as much 
 at home and at ease as other birds when perched on a tree 
 or motionless on the ground; and for this aerial life how admir- 
 ably their structure is adapted : observe the shape of the body, 
 how full the forepart, how gradually tapering towards the tail, 
 which is exactly the principle on which the fastest sailing ships are 
 constructed : then see the plumage, how firmly compacted, how 
 little liable to be ruffled by the breezes in a long and rapid flight; 
 mark the wings stretching out like oars of vast length, and moved 
 by muscles of extraordinary power : note the long forked tail> 
 supplying a never-failing rudder to guide the bird through those 
 numerous windings in which it delights. Other characteristics 
 of this family, in addition to those belonging to the whole tribe, 
 are very short beak, very broad at the base and slightly bent ; 
 head quite flat, and neck scarcely visible : their note is rather 
 a continued twitter than a song, though some of the species will 
 scream in a high and wild key, and others have a not unpleasing 
 though monotonous and very gentle melodious warble. All the 
 four species of this family with which we are acquainted are 
 summer visitants, leaving us in the autumn. It used to be 
 asserted by older naturalists, before the habits of birds had been 
 so closely observed as of later years, that the Hirundines did 
 not leave this country in the winter, but retired to caves or holes, 
 and there remained dormant, like the bats and dormice. Others 
 maintained the wilder theory that they plunged into the beds 
 of rivers and lakes, and there amidst the sedge and mud and 
 reeds at the bottom, slumbered away the dreary months of ice 
 and snow, till the genial breezes and warmth of April roused 
 them from their torpor to renewed life and activity. These idle 
 tales have long since been exploded, and we all know that the 
 bulk of these birds collect in enormous numbers in the autumn, 
 migrate in vast flocks, and steer their course due south, though 
 doubtless a few stragglers are often left behind, perhaps physi- 
 
Swallow. 301 
 
 cally incapable of accompanying their brethren, and these would 
 naturally seek the warmest recesses they could find, and there 
 become torpid from cold : while the not unusual habit of these 
 birds to seek the vicinity of water, where their winged insect 
 prey chiefly abounds, and to roost amid the reeds on the margins 
 of lakes and ponds, has probably given rise to the wondrous 
 account of their voluntary immersion during winter. As an 
 unanswerable proof that they do not hibernate, I will add that 
 it has been satisfactorily ascertained that they annually moult in 
 February, than which nothing more clear or decisive on the 
 subject can be adduced: moreover, they have been frequently 
 observed on their passage, and there is now no question that they 
 leave us as soon as their young are strong enough on the wing for 
 a prolonged journey, and when the supply of insect food begins 
 to fail : and it is astonishing what an immense number of flies of 
 various kinds a single individual of this family will consume 
 in one day, all of which are caught with great dexterity in the 
 air in the midst of their rapid and buoyant flight ; and thus they 
 rid us of what but for their good offices would be an intolerable 
 plague of flies and gnats. I may well conclude my general 
 account of this family in the words of good old Gilbert White of 
 Selborne: 'The Hirundines are a most inoffensive, harmless, 
 entertaining, social and useful tribe of birds ; they touch no fruit 
 hi our gardens ; delight (all but one species) in attaching them- 
 selves to our houses ; amuse us with their migrations, songs, and 
 marvellous agility ; and clear our outlets from the annoyance of 
 gnats and other troublesome insects.' 
 
 115. SWALLOW (Hirundo rustica). 
 
 There are two marks by which this species may be readily dis- 
 tinguished from its congeners, viz.: the long deeply- forked tail, 
 and rufous forehead and throat ; the plumage of the bird is a 
 glossy steel blue or purple black : it is often called the ' Chimney 
 Swallow,' and by French naturalists ' Hirondelle de cheminfe, 9 
 because it frequently selects a chimney for its nesting place, 
 though sometimes the shaft of an old mine or the rafter of 
 
302 Hirundinidce. 
 
 an outhouse are deemed good substitutes : for the same reason 
 the Germans style it ' Die Ranch Schwalbe,' or ' Smoke Swallow/ 
 and the Swedes Ladu-Svala, or ' Barn Swallow.' In Spain it is 
 Golondrina, and in Portugal Andoinnha. Professor Skeat says 
 that our word ' Swallow/ as well as the German and Danish 
 names for this bird, signifies * tosser about/ ' mover to and fro/ 
 and is allied to the Greek <ra\eveu>, ' to toss up and down like a 
 ship at sea/ 
 
 Its great power of wing enables it to visit very distant countries. 
 Passing the colder months of winter in the interior of Africa, as 
 spring advances it migrates northwards and penetrates almost to 
 the frozen seas and shores lying near the North Pole. In this 
 country we may generally observe one or two pioneers arriving in 
 advance of the main body ; and so regularly does this occur that 
 there is scarcely a European language which does not contain 
 the old Spanish proverb, ' One Swallow does not make summer/ 
 Flies and gnats of many species form its constant food, and often- 
 times it has been seen to take a hive bee on the wing, to the 
 natural indignation of the bee-master : but Mr. Harting tells us 
 of a Swallow shot in the act of that delinquency, that was found 
 on dissection to have its stomach literally crammed with drones, 
 but not a vestige of a working bee was to be found there.* 
 Perhaps the sagacious bird had discovered that the former were 
 unprotected with stings. 
 
 In fine weather it flies so high as to be barely detected from 
 below, and this is a well-known signal that no storms arc at 
 hand ; for at such times it is in pursuit of high- soaring insects 
 which are wonderfully susceptible of atmospheric changes, and 
 descend to the earth when clouds begin to gather: when therefore 
 the Swallow flies low, we know that it has followed its victims 
 downwards, and that rain is not far off. But it is only in the 
 bright sunshine, and under cloudless skies, that this joyous bird 
 seems to exult ; then you may see it wheel through the air, 
 or skim over the water, and drink and bathe while on the wing, 
 and scatter the bright drops over its shining plumage ; and it is 
 * ' Birds of Middlesex,' p. 124 ; ' Our Summer Migrants,' p. 172. 
 
Swallow. 303 
 
 really sad to think how many of these happy, innocent birds fall 
 victims to the thoughtless persecution of youthful gunners, who 
 fire at them for no other object than for practice, or from wanton 
 thoughtlessness, regardless alike of their sufferings, their harm- 
 lessness, and the benefits they confer ; and one would rejoice to 
 see them invested here with some of the love and reverence shown 
 towards them by the inhabitants of Scandinavia, among whom 
 the following pretty legend is a familiar household tale : ' When 
 our Blessed Lord was crucified a little bird came and perched 
 upon the Cross, peered sorrowfully down upon the Sufferer, and 
 twittered ' Hugsvala, svala svala Honom' ' Console, console, 
 console Him:' and hence it obtained the name of Svala (Swal- 
 low). In consequence of the commiseration thus evinced by the 
 Swallow towards the Kedeemer, Heaven ordained that blessings 
 and prosperity should ever afterwards attend on those who 
 protected it and its nest;'* and from this tradition the honest 
 Norsemen considered it sinful in any way to injure or molest this 
 favoured bird of Heaven. In Italy, too, there is a strong feeling of 
 reverence for these ' Chickens of the Madonna/ as they are styled, 
 and nobody dreams of harming them. As the autumn draws on 
 and the Swallows begin to prepare for their departure, they may 
 be seen congregated on the roofs of houses in thousands, giving 
 utterance to their soft twittering note, and apparently loth to 
 leave the house where they have reared their young; but at 
 length, when the fitting moment arrives, away goes the vast flock, 
 steering due south, after which scarcely a straggler is to be seen. 
 To the question, Where do they pass the winter ? it may now be 
 confidently replied that the great body retreat far into the 
 interior of Africa ; a considerable portion prolonging their journey 
 to the south of the Equator, and penetrating as far as Natal, 
 where they arrive in November, and whence they depart in March 
 or April, congregating in vast numbers just before they leave the 
 country, alighting in crowds on trees and bushes, as if collecting 
 their forces before they set out on their return journey north- 
 
 Lloyd's ' Scandinavian Adventures,' vol. ii., p. 355. 
 
304 Hirundinidce. 
 
 wards, just as they do here when they leave us for the South.* 
 Some few stragglers, however, remain in Northern Africa, 
 possibly weakly birds which are incapable of a prolonged flight. 
 
 11G. MARTIN (Hirundo urbiccC). 
 
 This species is even more familiar to us than the last, for 
 whereas that is comparatively a denizen of the country (rustica) . 
 this is an inhabitant of the town (urbica), and it selects the eaves 
 of our houses and the corners of our windows as fitting situations 
 for its clay-built nest ; hence the names by which it is so often 
 designated of ' Window Swallow/ ' Hirondelle de fen&re,' ' Haus- 
 schwalbe.' It may be at once distinguished from the last by 
 the pure white of all its under parts, and the shorter forked tail, 
 as well as by its smaller size and more compact shape ; it has also 
 a conspicuous patch of white on the back, just above the tail, 
 which stands out in marked contrast with the dark purple hue of 
 all its upper plumage : its legs and feet, too, are feathered to the 
 toes, in which respect it differs from its congeners ; it hunts on the 
 wing, wheels through the air, flocks before migration, and otherwise 
 comports itself like the preceding, but it does not arrive in this 
 country till a week or two later, probably owing to its lesser 
 powers of wing, and consequently inferior speed. The Martin 
 has generally two broods in the summer, but so strong is its 
 instinct to join in the general migration when the fitting period 
 arrives, that it often leaves its young, if hatched late in the year, 
 to perish in the nest, rather than endanger its own safety by delay- 
 ing its departure after the great body of its species has gone ; and 
 this apparently unnatural proceeding is not confined to one or two 
 isolated cases, but is found to be more or less practised every year, 
 and in some seasons to a very great extent. Lloyd in his 
 " Scandinavian Adventures' (vol. ii., p. 353) says that in Lapland 
 half the Martins' nests of the preceding year which he examined, 
 contained the remains of half-grown and abandoned young. The 
 .same author also observes, ' Though in England we set little value 
 
 * J. H. Gurney in Ibis for 18G3, p. 321. 
 
Martin. 305 
 
 on this bird, such is not the case in the more northern parts of 
 Scandinavia, where those pests, the mosquitoes, literally swarrn ; 
 for knowing the destruction the Martin causes amongst them, the 
 inhabitants not only protect it in every way, but very commonly 
 fasten great numbers of scroll- shaped pieces of bark of the birch 
 tree, somewhat resembling the sparrow- pots in use with us, to the 
 sides of their habitations, for the bird to breed in.' Here, too, in 
 this county we have an honourable pre-eminence for rearing these 
 birds ; for Kennie, the editor of Montagu's Dictionary, says the 
 greatest number of House Martins' nests he ever saw together was 
 under the north eave of Mr. Heneage's stables, at Compton 
 Basset House, in Wiltshire. There were about fifty nests in one 
 continuous line. The construction of the Martin's nest is well 
 worthy of observation; the outer shell is composed of mud, or clay, 
 collected from the puddles in the road, apparently kneaded and 
 worked into a paste, which also derives adhesive qualities from 
 the saliva of the bird. Of this material, a single layer only is 
 placed each day on the rising structure, and is left to harden and 
 dry until, on the following day, it is sufficiently firm to support 
 another layer. When the hemispherical shell is completed, and 
 is well lined with hay, straw and soft feathers, an admirable 
 nursery for the young is provided, and one which often serves 
 the parent birds for many successive seasons. The saliva 
 mentioned above is described as a viscous fluid provided from a 
 glandular apparatus peculiar to this family,* and, however 
 repugnant to English taste and English prejudice, is the principal 
 ingredient of the famous edible birds' nests, so highly valued, 
 when transformed into a soup, by the Chinese epicure. In Italy 
 it is known as Rondine ; in Spain, as Vencejo ; in Portugal it 
 shares with the swallow the name common to both species, 
 Andorinha ; in Sweden it is Hus-Svala. Our word ' Martin,' in 
 reality a nickname, has been applied to various animals and 
 birds, by ourselves and Continental naturalists, as we have seen 
 above in the case of the Kingfisher. 
 
 * Selby's ' Illustrations of British Ornithology,' vol. i., p. 119. 
 
 20 
 
306 Hirundinidce. 
 
 117. SAND MARTIN (Hirundo riparia). 
 
 This little sober-coloured bird, dusky brown above, and dull 
 white beneath, receives its names of * Sand Martin,' and ' Bank 
 Swallow,' and ' Quar Martin,' from its tendency to make its nest 
 in holes in the banks of rivers, on the abrupt sandbank of a deep 
 road-cutting, or the perpendicular side of a quarry ; in short, the 
 steep face of any cliff will answer the purpose, provided only the 
 soil be soft and sandy enough to allow of excavation to the 
 depth of two or three feet ; and in some favoured spots, several of 
 which exist in Wiltshire, the sandbanks which these birds 
 frequent are completely riddled with their holes for a considerable 
 space. So well known for ages has this habit been, that Pliny 
 the elder, in his great work on Natural History, applied the term 
 'riparia' to the Sand-Martin 1800 years ago, and it has enjoyed 
 the appellation ever since. In Spain, where it is sold in the 
 market for the table, it is called, by the country people, probably 
 from its desultory jerking manner of flight, Papilion di 
 Montayna, 'Mountain butterfly.' Many Ornithologists of modern 
 date divide this species from the Swallows and Martins, and give 
 it the generic name of Cot He, derived from the Greek *omXa?, a 
 ' twitterer' or 'prattler,' and having reference to the continued 
 babbling or chattering in which these little birds indulge, when 
 they assemble in the autumn in countless numbers to roost in 
 the reed-beds, after the manrer of starlings. In France it is 
 Hirondelle de rivage ; in Germany, Ufer-schu-albe ; in Italy, 
 Eondine riparia ; and in Sweden, Strand-svala all of which are 
 mere translations of the specific riparia. It arrives a few days 
 earlier than any of its congeners, and may be met with in its 
 favourite haunts about the second week in April, sometimes even 
 so early as the last week in March ; but as it is one of the first to 
 arrive, so it is the earliest to depart, for by the end of August or 
 very early in September the great body of these birds is gone, and 
 before the end of the latter month not" a straggler remains behind. 
 It differs from the Martin in its inferior size, and browner upper 
 plumage; the beak, though small and short, is very hard and 
 
Common Swift. 307 
 
 sharp, and admirably adapted for digging, and indeed is the only 
 instrument employed in excavating the hole for the nest, the 
 sharp claws being required for clinging to the face of the bank, or 
 hanging to the roof of the half-made tunnel, while the beak per- 
 forates and loosens and excavates the sand. The gallery formed is 
 always more or less winding, sloping slightly upwards, and con- 
 tains a soft nest at the extremity. It skims over meadows, and 
 more commonly over lakes and rivers, where it finds an abundant 
 supply of insect food ; it also drinks and bathes as it flies, after 
 the manner of its congeners previously described, and is by far 
 the smallest of the Hirundines. 
 
 118. COMMON SWIFT (Cypsdus apus). 
 
 The scientific name of this bird (signifying ' the hole- frequenter 
 without feet, ') is intended to characterize its habits and appear- 
 ance cypselus rather obscurely denoting its habit of building in 
 holes of walls (/cvtylXai) ; apus referring to the shortness of its feet. 
 It has indeed, feet so short that they may almost be said to be want- 
 ing, and are quite unfit for moving on the ground, on which it never 
 alights, for in truth the shortness of the tarsi and the length of 
 wing render it unable to rise from an even surface. The toes, four in 
 number, are all directed forwards, giving the foot the appearance 
 of that of a quadruped rather than of a bird ; the claws are much 
 curved, enabling it to cling to the perpendicular face of a wall, 
 rock or tower which form its principal resting-places thus the feet, 
 useless for locomotion, where they are not needed, are perfect for 
 grasping, for which they are required. The wings are extremely 
 long and powerful, giving the bird astonishing swiftness and 
 endurance of flight, so that for sixteen consecutive hours, from the 
 early dawn to twilight of a long summer's day, these indefatigable 
 birds will career at an immense height above the earth ; and there 
 at such vast elevations they not only find innumerable insects 
 which soar so high above our heads, but what is more astonishing, 
 an abundance of a species of minute spider with which those 
 lofty regions appear to be tenanted, and of whose numbers we 
 
 202 
 
308 Hirundinidcc. 
 
 occasionally form some conception when in an autumnal morning 
 we see the ground carpeted with the thinnest webs glistening with 
 moisture : these are the webs of the gossamer spider, which, 
 rendered heavier by the dew settling on their slender threads, 
 fall to the ground and cover whole acres. Sometimes, says 
 Professor Newton, half a dozen birds will race, within a few feet of 
 the ground, through the narrow lanes, or up and down the 
 confined courts of a small country town or village, uttering the 
 while their singular squeaking note, which writers have tried to 
 syllable swee ree. Thence it is sometimes called 'Screech Owl/ 
 and ' Deviling.' But notwithstanding the vast powers of flight of 
 the Swift, prolonged through the entire day, surpassing that of 
 all our other birds, and with which the speed of the express train 
 is not to be compared for a moment, it is one of the latest of our 
 summer visitants to arrive, and one of the earliest to depart ; its 
 movements being doubtless regulated by the supply of the high- 
 flying insect food which it finds in the upper regions of the air. 
 It seems to delight most in heavy, close, thundery weather, when 
 it darts to and fro, screeching forth its unearthly note, and is 
 thought an uncanny bird by many a housewife even in this 
 county and in these days. Here it loves to frequent our downs in 
 fine weather, where it may be met with in considerable numbers ; 
 and in the evenings, uttering its loud and harsh scream, it wheels 
 round and round the tops of old towers and steeples, before 
 retiring to roost in their crevices and holes. Where suitable 
 nesting-places in church- towers or elsewhere are wanting, the 
 Swifts content themselves with holes in the thatch of cottages, 
 and both at Yatesbury and at Potterne I have seen them in full 
 possession of such humble nurseries. But where holes in a 
 tower may be had, they are occupied by choice. Nowhere have 
 I seen the Common Swift in such abundance as in the city of 
 Turin, for in the very heart of the town, not far from the Royal 
 Palace, and immediately opposite the Hotel d'Europe of world- 
 wide renown, stands a tall isolated tower, the walls of which, 
 unoccupied by windows, contain literally many hundreds of holes, 
 apparently left by the masons for scaffold purposes. All of these 
 
Common Swift. 309 
 
 holes are in the breeding season occupied by the Swifts, and to 
 watch them on a summer's evening careering round the tower, 
 several hundreds in the air at once, as they dash by on 
 unwearied wing, and to listen to the wild screechings from 
 so many throats, is a treat which the ornithologist will look in vain 
 for elsewhere, and which on two separate occasions I happen to 
 have witnessed at Turin. Its colour, with the exception of a 
 dusky- white chin, is smoke-black ; its head is peculiarly flat as 
 well as broad, and the neck very short. It is singular that in 
 rough and windy weather it will not sally forth on its aerial 
 rambles, but contents itself in the dark in its retreat in some 
 tower or wall ; thus (as Bewick remarks) ' the life of the Swift 
 seems to be divided into two extremes the one of the most 
 violent exertion, the other of perfect inaction ; they must either 
 shoot through the air, or remain close in their holes.' Their 
 provincial name in Wiltshire is ' the Screech.' - In France it is 
 Martinet cle Muraille ; in Germany, Thurm Schwalbe ; in Italy, 
 Rondine maggiore volgarm, 'Common greater Swallow;' in Spain, 
 Avion; and in 'Portugal, Andorinhao. In Sweden it is known as the 
 Ring Svala from its habit of careering in circles round its nesting- 
 place, and the Torn Svala, or ' Tower Swallow,' from the localities 
 it frequents ; also the Sval Hok, or ' Swallow Hawk,' because it is 
 popularly believed to seize and eat up its relatives, the Swallows. 
 [I much regret that I cannot include in the Wiltshire list the 
 larger species, the 'Alpine' or 'White-bellied Swift (Cypselus 
 alpinus), with which I have become very familiar on the shores 
 of the Mediterranean and in several parts of Switzerland, for 
 indeed it is a bird to be admired. With longer wings and even 
 more powerful flight than its congener, it is, in my opinion, the 
 most perfect specimen of a bird formed for living in the air, and 
 darting on its way with the utmost velocity.] 
 
 CAPRIMULGID^E (THE GOATSUCKERS). 
 
 There is no family of birds so illused by nomenclature as this ; 
 not only have they received a false character, and an imputation 
 
310 CaprimulgidcB. 
 
 of crimes of which they were never guilty, but now that their 
 innocence has been long since clearly proved and universally 
 allowed, still they continue to be designated by the same oppro- 
 brious title ; and what an absurd idea it was, even for our marvel- 
 loving old naturalists, to accuse these harmless insect-eating birds 
 of feeding on goats' milk, to obtain which, however, they are sin- 
 gularly ill-adapted. Their general characteristics are : very large 
 head with enormous width of gape ; large, clear and full eyes, as 
 befit those who hunt entirely in the dark ; short neck, and very 
 small body ; plumage extremely soft and full ; wings and tail very 
 long ; the base of the bill fringed with large bristles, which they 
 can move at pleasure, and which are of great assistance in securing 
 their prey ; their feet are very small and weak, and as they are 
 not formed for grasping, when these birds rest on a branch, they 
 seldom perch transversely, but lengthwise. But their most remark- 
 able peculiarity is the serrated or pectinated claw of the middle 
 toe, the comb consisting of about seven or eight teeth, supposed 
 by some to be useful in removing the legs of beetles and moths 
 from the bristles which surround the beak, as I have more fully 
 detailed in my paper on the feet of birds ;* by others conjectured 
 to be employed in preventing the bird from slipping side ways when 
 sitting length-wise on a branch. The hind toe is reversible, and 
 can be brought round to the front, so as to make all four toes turn 
 the same way. The food of the Caprimulgidre consists entirely of 
 insects, chiefly those which fly by night, and which they then 
 seize in their capacious mouth as they hurry along ; indeed, as 
 this family has the closest affinity with the Hirundinida, they 
 may well be termed ' Night Swallows/ for like them they visit us 
 periodically from Africa in the summer, are insects-eaters, have 
 great powers of flight, feed on the wing, and resemble them in 
 many particulars of their formation and habits. It is to this 
 family that the American ' Whip-poor- Will/ so dreaded by the 
 superstitious Indians as the ghost of one of their ancestors, 
 belongs. 
 
 ' Surra,' p. 50. 
 
Niyhtjar. 311 
 
 119. NIGHTJAR (Gaprimulg-us Europceus). 
 This is by far the most appropriate of the many names which 
 this much-belied bird has yet received, and it expresses one 
 of its most remarkable habits, for when perched on a tree with 
 its face towards the trunk, and its tail towards the outer branches, 
 and closely concealed by the thick foliage, which is the position 
 it most loves by day, or else squatted on the ground amid the 
 tall fern and heather, it will utter a most singular jarring or 
 whirring noiso, somewhat resembling the hum of a spinning- 
 wheel, while its head is bent down lower than the tail, and every 
 feather quivers as it utters its purring note. ' Night-churr/ 
 ' Wheel-bird,' and ' Spinner ' are other provincial names given in 
 allusion to this peculiar habit and the strange sounds it emits. It 
 is also known as the ' Fern-owl,' a most incorrect term and one 
 likely to mislead, for beyond the fact that it is crepuscular, and 
 therefore has soft downy plumage, and is seldom seen abroad 
 before ' the witching hour of twilight,' it has no affinity with the 
 owl family. In Norway it is called Natt Skarra, and more 
 popularly Jord-geed or * Ground Goat,' because (says quaint old 
 Bishop Pontoppidan), 'its note resembles the bleating of a goat'; 
 which, however far-fetched, is at all events a more harmless 
 sobriquet than that of 'Goatsucker,' a misleading word which 
 implies an accusation for which there is no sort of foundation. 
 In France it is L'Engoulevent, and in Germany Tagscklafer. Its 
 body is small for its size, that is to say, much smaller than its 
 general appearance would lead one to imagine, for it is clothed 
 with such a quantity of soft light downy plumage, that it passes 
 for a larger bird than it really is. The marking of its feathers is 
 peculiarly fine and delicate ; the prevailing colours are shades of 
 brown, buff and gray, barred and spotted with every variety of 
 hue ; its immense width of gape at once distinguishes it from all 
 other birds, and its full dark eye and pectinated claw are very 
 striking features. The latter, however, belongs to the adult only ? 
 and is wholly wanting in the immature bird; nor is it peculiar 
 to this family, for the herons and the gannets share it; and 
 probably there are other families which are provided with a 
 
312 Caprimulgidce. 
 
 similar instrument. It is essentially a solitary bird, seldom to bo 
 seen even in the company of its mate, which, however, may occasion- 
 ally be found perched on another tree at a short distance. Deep 
 woods and shaded valleys, as well as fern-clad heaths and com- 
 mons are its favourite haunts, wherein it can retire from the 
 glare of daylight, and emerge at twilight on noiseless and rapid 
 wing when the moths and beetles and other night-flying insects 
 on which it preys are abroad ; its flight is generally low, for its 
 victims are to be found near the ground, and it sweeps with 
 great ease and power round the bushes and in and out among the 
 trees. With a whirling phantom-like flight, wheeling round and 
 round, and with a power of wing (says Gilbert White), exceeding 
 if possible the various evolutions and quick turns of the Swallow 
 genus. The same accurate observer adds : ' As it was playing 
 round a large oak which swarmed with fern-chafers, I saw it 
 distinctly, more than once, put out its short leg while on the 
 wing, and by a bend of the head, deliver somewhat into its 
 mouth ; hence I do not wonder at the use of the middle toe, 
 which is curiously furnished with a serrated claw.'* 
 
 Amongst all our summer visitants (and their name is legion) 
 the Nightjar stands alone as the only nocturnal bird of the whole 
 assembly, and as it checks the increase of night-flying insects, as 
 the swallows diminish the number of those which appear by day, 
 it is not only harmless, but actively useful to man. It lays two 
 eggs on the bare ground, and to it may be attributed all the 
 plausible but erroneous tales of the Cuckoo (for which bird it has 
 often been mistaken) rearing her own young. It is to be met 
 with sparingly throughout the county, wherever deep woods 
 furnish it with shade and retirement, and even on our downs ; 
 it has more than once paid a visit to my plantations at Yatesbury. 
 
 This concludes the tribe of ' wide-billed ' (fissirostres), and with 
 it the order of 'Perchers' (Insessores) containing twenty families 
 and no less than ninety-three species ; all occurring more or less 
 frequently in Wiltshire, and each of which we have now ex- 
 amined. In taking leave of this large Order, we may remark how 
 'White's Felbjrce,' Letter xxxvii. 
 
Night-jar. 31S 
 
 gradually we have been conducted from the strong stout limbs of 
 the more typical Perchers, through the Creepers, Wrens, and 
 Cuckoos, whose habits require no great powers of perching and 
 grasping, down to the Swallows, the almost footless Swift, and the 
 Nightjar with very diminutive and disproportionate feet and legs; 
 exemplifying once more what I have several times called atten- 
 tion to, the easy gentle transition from one Order and Family to 
 another, after the manner in which Nature loves to harmonize 
 her works ; so that now we are prepared to pass from the 
 Perchers to the Ground-birds (Easores) whose life is passed more 
 on the ground than amongst the branches, and who therefore 
 need a very different formation of feet from those we have lately 
 been considering. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 RASORES (Ground-link). 
 
 THERE is no class of birds so well known, or so highly appre- 
 ciated generally, as the third Order of systematic naturalists, the 
 Rasores, or Ground- birds ; ' Scrapers/ or ' Scratchers,' as the 
 scientific title may be more correctly translated. It is by far the 
 smallest of the five orders, for the British list contains only four 
 families the Pigeons, the Pheasants, the Grouse and the Bustards; 
 and one of these families is represented by one species only in this 
 county, while the whole Order as known in these isles embraces 
 only seventeen species; fourteen of which have appeared in 
 Wiltshire, either as permanent residents, as regular periodical 
 migrants, or as occasional stragglers. So far, then, our county can 
 boast an unusually large catalogue of this highly prized order ; 
 but it will be seen in the sequel that a great proportion of this 
 number (I may indeed say half the species) can only be con- 
 sidered in the light of accidental visitors, which from one cause 
 or another have wandered out of their way to our inhospitable 
 borders, and have generally paid the penalty of their too vagrant 
 habits by forfeiting their lives, and yielding their skins as trophies 
 to some exultant ornithologist. 
 
 I have said that of all classes of the feathered race, the Ground- 
 birds are most generally known and valued ; and when we reflect 
 that they embrace the whole family of Pigeons, and the principal 
 part of the game birds so carefully reared and so highly prized by 
 the sportsman the Pheasants, the Grouse and the Partridges it 
 will be at once apparent that, as well for the excellent eating which 
 
Rasores. 315 
 
 their flesh offers as for the sport which the pursuit of them entails, 
 they are very highly esteemed amongst us ; and consequently they 
 come more frequently under our notice, and their habits are more 
 observed and better known than is the case with any other 
 Order. 
 
 On this account, it will manifestly be superfluous for me 
 to enlarge on their general habits, which are known to all ; I 
 propose, therefore; to confine my remarks in this chapter to facts 
 and occurrences not so universally acknowledged, touching 
 very lightly on the ordinary economy of the Order. 
 
 Briefly, then, the characteristics of the Ground-birds are these : 
 they are all granivorous, though they vary this hard diet with 
 softer or more succulent food, as the seasons and opportunities 
 offer. Their beaks, adapted to the food on which they principally 
 subsist, are hard and horny, the upper mandible arched and the 
 tip blunt ; their heads are generally small, and their bodies large 
 and full ; their wings short and weak in proportion to their heavy 
 bodies ; and their legs large and strong. But the real distinguish- 
 ing characteristic of the Order, which indeed is, I believe, the 
 only general mark of distinction peculiar to this group, is an 
 anatomical one, and is derived from the digestive organs. It may 
 be described in plain terms as a very large widening of the 
 oesophagus or gullet, which thus forms a crop, and lies, when dis- 
 tended, equally on both sides of the neck. 
 
 In regard to their habits, they live principally on the ground, 
 where they seek their food, where most of them nest and rear 
 their young ; from which they are often unwilling to rise, impeded 
 by the shortness of wing in proportion to the bulkiness of body, 
 but over which they can run with considerable swiftness and ease. 
 They will, however, on occasion take wing, and then their flight is 
 strong, rapid, and continued, though heavy and somewhat 
 laborious. In short, unless when startled, they for the most part 
 prefer to seek safety in running rather than in flying. To this 
 end we shall find in the more typical members of this Order a 
 development of limb and a strength of muscle well calculated for 
 speed and endurance ; while the feet are constructed upon a 
 
31 G Columbidce. 
 
 plan widely different from what we see in other birds, ' the toes 
 being short, and strengthened by a membrane connecting them 
 at the base, with the hind toe either entirely wanting or but im- 
 perfectly developed. Where this latter does exist, it is not 
 articulated upon the same plane as the other toes (as is the case 
 with the preceding Orders), but upon the tarsus, at a height 
 greater or less according to the running powers of the species.'* 
 It is true that this peculiar formation of the foot impedes tho 
 members of this Order from grasping a perch with the same 
 firmness and security as the regular perchers, and for this reason 
 most of them roost upon the ground. 
 
 Such are the more prominent characteristics of the Ground- 
 birds; I pass on now to describe the four families and their 
 respective species of which this Order is composed. 
 
 COLUMBID.E (THE DOVES). 
 
 It will at once be seen that the Doves occupy an intermediate 
 place between the Perchers and the Ground-birds ; and are the 
 connecting link, partaking of the peculiarities of both : thus, 
 though they feed on the ground, they perch readily on trees; and 
 though they walk with ease and even celerity, yet they have a 
 strong, rapid and protracted flight. Thus we pass gradually and 
 almost insensibly from the true Perchers to the typical Ground- 
 birds, for Nature abhors an abrupt wrench as much as a vacuum, 
 and all is orderly, gentle, and harmonious in her arrangement, and 
 we slide on from order to order, and from family to family, 
 and genus and species in successive steps, with no break to 
 disconnect the regular links in our continuous chain. This is 
 sufficiently perceptible in the Doves, even in the limited number 
 of species which belong to this country, and almost all of which 
 (or four out of five) are known in Wiltshire. But if we were 
 to extend our observations through the multitudinous species 
 and even genera which inhabit other countries, we should see this 
 rule very much more applicable, for the Pigeons form a vast 
 
 c Selby's ( Illustrations of British Ornithology,' vol. i., p. 403. 
 
Ring- Dove. 317 
 
 staircase of species leading from the trees to the ground, some 
 being thoroughly arboreal, living and nesting on the trees, and 
 enjoying a rapidity of flight almost unsurpassed ; whilst others 
 at the opposite end of the list are as completely terrestrial ; with 
 wings as short and bodies as heavy and as incapable of pro- 
 tracted flight as our domestic poultry, and indeed distinguished 
 from the rest of their tribe by the appellation of Pigeon fowls. 
 
 To return, however, to our Wiltshire species, all of which belong 
 to one genus, and partake of the same nature. We shall find 
 them gentle, timid, shy, of powerful wing, of slender bill, and 
 of short leg. They feed on the ground, and both sexes alter- 
 nately take part in incubating the two eggs which is the normal 
 complement of the nest. Their notes are singularly sad and 
 melancholy, and though they vary much in the different species, 
 all partake of this mournful plaintive character, which, however, 
 is by no means unpleasing, but, on the contrary, rather attractive, 
 soothing and pleasant. Their conjugal fidelity is proverbial, and 
 from the days of Noah they have been honoured as the har- 
 bingers of peace and love, both by Pagans of Home and Greece 
 as sacred to Yenus, and by Christians as emblematic of the Holy 
 Spirit. I am bound to add that at certain seasons they are 
 a destructive race of birds, making great havoc in the pea- 
 fields, and consuming an astonishing amount of grain ; but 
 while I concede thus much in regard to the injury they do to the 
 farmer, it must not be forgotten on the other hand the essential 
 service they render him, in the millions of seeds of a noxious 
 character which they consume. This family is remarkable for the 
 habit, in which all the members which compose it share, of being 
 among the first to retire to roost, and the last to leave their night- 
 quarters in the morning. 
 
 120. RING DOVE (Columba palwmbus). 
 
 First and foremost of its congeners, as the largest of the 
 European species, and commonly dispersed amongst us, wherever 
 trees afford it a shelter, the Wood-Pigeon claims our notice. In 
 some parts of England it is known as the Quest or Cushat Dove ; 
 
318 Columbidce. 
 
 but the Wiltshire labourers invariably call it, in our fine provincial 
 dialect, the ' Quisty.' It may readily be distinguished from its 
 congeners by the white feathers which partially encircle its neck, 
 and are very conspicuous, hence the specific name in English and 
 other languages ; in Germany, Ringel Taube ; in Spain, Paloma- 
 torcaz ; in Portugal, Pombo-trocaz ; in Sweden, Ring-Dufva ; 
 but in France it is Colombe-ramier, and in Italy Columbaccio. 
 Professor Skeat says that the real meaning of ' Dove ' is ' a diver/ 
 During the autumn beech-mast and acorns form the principal 
 part of its diet, when its flesh is highly esteemed for the table ; 
 but no sooner does severe weather compel it to subsist on 
 the tops of turnips, than it becomes strong and rank and uneat- 
 able. Mr. Cordeaux says that it is remarkably partial to salt, 
 and that in his neighbourhood on the East Coast of England, 
 it frequents the drams in the salt-marsh for the purpose of drink- 
 ing the brackish water left by the tide.* It is abundant through- 
 out the county, and, except when breeding, is proverbially wild 
 and shy. It lives with us throughout the year, and congregates 
 in winter in large flocks, which frequent the open stubble-fields of 
 our downs, as well as the pasture-lands of the vales. Moreover, it 
 has increased very much in numbers of late, for the hawks which 
 used to persecute it are well-nigh exterminated by the game- 
 keepers, and large additions are made to its ranks every autumn 
 by the migration of vast flocks from the Continent. When it 
 retires to the plantations to breed in early spring, its soft musical 
 cooing note coo-coo-roo-o-o-o, is a complacent sound to which all 
 listen with delight. The nest is of the flimsiest character, and looks 
 a most insecure receptacle for eggs or young, for it is composed of 
 such scanty material that its contents may often be seen through 
 it from below. Our fellow-countryman, Montagu, gives the 
 following curious legend regarding it : ' The Magpie once under- 
 took to teach the Pigeon how to build a more substantial 
 and commodious dwelling ; but, instead of being a docile pupil, 
 the Pigeon kept on repeating her old cry of " Take two, Taffy, 
 take two !" The Magpie insisted that this was a very unwork- 
 ' Birds of the Humber District,' p. 77. 
 
Stock-Dove. 
 
 manlike manner of proceeding, one stick at a time being as much 
 as could be managed to advantage ; but the Pigeon reiterated her 
 " Two, take two !" till Mag, in a violent passion, gave up the task, 
 exclaiming, " I say that one at a time is enough ; and if you think 
 otherwise, you may set about the work yourself, for I will have no 
 more to do with it." Since that time the Wood-Pigeon has built 
 her slight platform of sticks, which certainly suffers much in com- 
 parison with the strong substantial structure of the magpie. There 
 is another legend with regard to this bird in the North Riding of 
 Yorkshire, where it is said that * once upon a time, the Ring-Dove 
 laid its eggs upon the ground, and that the Peewit made its nest 
 on high ; but that one day they agreed to make an exchange of 
 their localities for building. Hence the Peewit may now be heard 
 expressing its disappointment at the new arrangement with the 
 mournful cry 
 
 'Peewit, peewit. 
 I coup'd ray nest, and I rue it.' 
 
 The Wood-Pigeon, however, rejoices that she is safe out of the 
 reach of mischievous boys, and repeats 
 
 ' Coo, coo, come now, 
 Little lad, 
 With thy gad 
 Come not thou.'* 
 
 121. STOCK-DOVE (Columba cenas). 
 
 Though by no means a rare bird, this species has been much 
 overlooked by ordinary observers, and confounded with its con- 
 gener last described. It is, however, to be met with in most of 
 our large woods in this county, and may be readily distinguished 
 from the Wood-Pigeon by its smaller size, and by the absence of 
 the distinctive white ring on the neck which has given its name 
 to the Ring-Dove. It derives its specific name cenas from the 
 vinous hue of the plumage of the neck, and Stock-Dove from its 
 habit of building on the pollard head or stock of a tree, hence 
 its German name Holztaube, or 'Wood-Dove;' but where such 
 trees are not to be found, it will content itself with some rabbit- 
 * Dyer's ' English Folk-lore,' p. 93. 
 
320 Columbidcv. 
 
 burrow or the shelter of a thick furze-bush. In Scandinavia it 
 goes by the name of Skogs Dufva, or ' Wood-Dove,' whereas our 
 * Wood-Pigeon ' is Ring-Dufva. It returns every year to build 
 its nest amongst the thick ivy which covers one side of the 
 Rectory at Yatesbury, and I have satisfied myself that it has very 
 much increased in numbers with us within the last quarter of a 
 century. It does not coo like its congener, but has a distinct 
 note of its own a prolonged drawling note, which has been not 
 inaptly compared to a grunt. In general habits and in food the 
 two species are alike. In France it is Colombe colombin, and in 
 Italy Columlella; in Spain and Portugal it appears to have 
 no distinguishing name, but shares in that of its congener, C. 
 palumbus. 
 
 122. ROCK-DOVE (Columba lima). 
 
 This is the true wild Pigeon, the origin of all the numerous 
 varieties which inhabit our dovecots, and have been domesticated 
 amongst us for ages. Its natural dwelling is amongst the caves 
 and crevices of rocks, more particularly on the sea coast ; but it 
 occasionally comes inland, and used to breed in the rocks near 
 Roundway, whence the late Mr. Withers, the skilful taxidermist 
 of Devizes, frequently received a specimen for preservation. It 
 is of very rapid flight, and feeds, like its congeners, in the stubble 
 and corn-fields as well as in the meadows. It derives its specific 
 name livia from the lighter ' lead ' colour which distinguishes it 
 from other species, and it may also be easily recognised by the 
 two distinct black bars which traverse its wings and the pure 
 white on the lower part of the back. In Spain it is Paloma 
 brava, ' Wild Pigeon ;' in Portugal, Pombo, ' the Pigeon ;' in 
 Sweden, Klipp Dufva, 'Rock-Dove;' in Germany, Haustaube, 
 ' House Pigeon ;' and in France, Colombe biset. In the localities 
 which it most affects in the cliffs which border so many of our 
 coasts it may be found in large flocks ; but in North Africa and 
 Egypt, the prodigious numbers which literally swarm in certain 
 districts are perfectly astonishing in proof of which I may add, 
 that in a couple of hours' shooting it was easy to bag forty head ; 
 
Rock-Dove. 321 
 
 and that on one occasion, when I was requested by the dragoman 
 to procure pigeons for the commissariat, a lucky shot with a 
 green cartridge into a flock feeding on the ground resulted in 
 picking up twenty birds, which at once filled the basket, to the 
 inexpressible disgust of the Arab attendant, whose duty it was to 
 carry the load through a long day's march and under a tropical 
 sun to the Nile boat. That it is a very old inhabitant of Egypt 
 is clear from the hieroglyphics, in which it may be unmistakably 
 recognised notably at the temple of Medinet Haboo, at Thebes, 
 whereof the date is given as early as B.C. 1297.* 
 
 The late Mr. Waterton pointed out that the Rock-Dove, 
 though it would freely perch by day, was never known to roost 
 on trees during the night, nor to pass the night in the open air, 
 except in cases of the greatest emergency, showing its natural 
 propensity to retire to holes and caves in the rocks ; hence its 
 great attachment to the dovecot in which it is bred, which it 
 seldom deserts without great provocation. There are instances 
 of the lower stage of church-towers, immediately below the bells, 
 having been originally built for a ' Columbarium/ of which we have 
 one example at Collingbourn Ducis, in this county ; and as there 
 is scarcely another example in England, I am glad to add a few 
 details, for which I am indebted to the rector, the Rev. Canon 
 Hodgson. ' The dovecote in our church-tower/ he says, ' is 
 evidently part of the original structure. In Mr. A. Blomfield's 
 " Report on the Church prior to its restoration in 1877," he 
 describes it thus : " The western tower is a substantial structure 
 of late Perpendicular date, and has some interesting features. 
 The walls of the clock stage are constructed with internal niches, 
 so as to form a dovecote or pigeon-house, an entrance (now 
 closed) being left on the south side." This entrance is an 
 aperture through the south wall of the tower, two feet wide by 
 one and a half feet high, with dripstone above and alighting- 
 ledge below. It is boarded up on the inside to prevent birds 
 from getting in and damaging the clock-works. The niches go 
 all round the inside walls, except where the doorway is at the 
 Adams in Ibis for 1864, p. 26. 
 
 21 
 
322 Columbidce. 
 
 top of the well staircase. Each niche is about six inches square.' 
 I am told that another instance occurs at the tower adjoining 
 the ruined chapel of Charter House Hinton, near Bath, the 
 lower part of which was originally intended for the priest's 
 residence, and the birds dwelt above him. In this case also the 
 east, north, and west sides are fitted up with pigeon-holes, and a 
 small square opening in the south wall admitted the birds. 
 
 123. TURTLE-DOVE (Columba turtur). 
 
 This beautiful little species is the only migrant of the family 
 
 with which we in this county are acquainted. It does not come 
 
 to us till the beginning of May, and leaves us early in September ; 
 
 but during that short period it abounds in those spots which 
 
 please its tastes, though it is fastidious in its choice, and is by 
 
 no means universally distributed. In my own plantations on 
 
 the downs it is extremely abundant, and its annual appearance 
 
 in the spring is to me a welcome reminder of approaching 
 
 summer. It is very much smaller than its congeners, has a 
 
 delicate appearance, and its note is peculiarly plaintive. Like 
 
 all others of the Dove tribe, it flocks in autumn, though seldom 
 
 in considerable numbers. I have, however, seen above a hundred 
 
 feeding together in a stubble-field. There is a beautiful legend 
 
 in Scandinavia respecting the Turtle-dove, not unlike that of the 
 
 swallow, quoted in a former page from Lloyd's admirable work. 
 
 * When our blessed Saviour was crucified, the Turtle-dove for a 
 
 while hovered around the fatal tree and at length perched there. 
 
 When looking mournfully down on the Sufferer it sighed deeply, 
 
 and gave utterance to its plaintive kurrie, kurrie, kurrie that 
 
 is, " Lord, Lord, Lord." Since that time it has never more been 
 
 joyful, but has constantly winged its flight around the world 
 
 repeating its sorrowful cry.'* Hence the sportsman's term a 
 
 dule of Turtles, as he would say a covey of partridges, or a wisp 
 
 of snipe, the word ' dule ' being derived from the Latin dolco, l to 
 
 grieve.' Professor Skeat says that turtur is of imitative origin, 
 
 * Lloyd's 'Scandinavian Adventures,' vol. ii., p. 3G1. 
 
The Pheasants. 323 
 
 due to a repetition of tur, imitative of the coo of a pigeon. 
 From this cornes the French TowrtereUe, the German Tuvtel- 
 taiibe, the Italian Tortora, the Spanish Tortola, the Swedish 
 Turtur D-ufva; but whence comes the Portuguese Rola I do not 
 know. 
 
 PHASIANID.E (THE PHEASANTS). 
 
 This family will not occupy us long, inasmuch as it contains 
 but one species known in England, and that one almost in a, 
 state of semi-domestication ; and consequently its habits and 
 economy thoroughly well known : for I pass over the Turkey of 
 American origin, and the domestic fowl and Peacock of Indian 
 birth, as having no claim to a place in the fauna of Wiltshire. 
 I will but call attention, in passing, to the difference in plumage 
 which the sexes of this family exhibit; to their polygamous 
 habits ; to the precocious nature of the young birds, which are 
 no sooner hatched from the shell than they can follow their 
 parents and feed themselves ; to their custom of dusting their 
 feathers in any dry heap they can find; and to the horny, 
 conical, and sharp spur with which the tarsus of male birds of 
 th$is family is furnished. They derive their name, like other 
 descendants of ancient and honourable lineage, from their an- 
 cestral seat on the banks of the Phasis, in Colchis, which flows 
 from the Caucasus into the Black Sea at its extreme eastern 
 point, and from Asia Minor, whence Jason is said to have im- 
 ported them into Europe. It is not improbable that the Komans 
 introduced the Pheasant into England. It is certain that it 
 was protected by the laws of the country at a very early period, 
 from the following extract from Dugdale's ' Monasticon Angli- 
 canum': 'That in the first year of Henry I. (A.D. 1100) the 
 Abbot of Amesbury obtained a license to kill pheasants.'* 
 
 124. PHEASANT (Phasianus Colchicus). 
 
 Alone of this family is entitled to demand admission into tho 
 ranks of British birds ; for though originally of foreign extrac- 
 ' Science Gossip' for 1884, p. 243. 
 
 212 
 
324 Phasianidce. 
 
 tion, as I have shown, this handsome species has not only 
 become in course of time thoroughly acclimatized, and capable 
 of enduring our most severe winters, but completely naturalized, 
 and able, when left to itself, to thrive and multiply in a wild 
 state in our woods. Though grain and seeds form its food in 
 winter, it feeds largely on insects and roots during the remainder 
 of the year ; but it is seldom considered in how great a degree 
 it compensates for the partial injury it causes by the undoubted 
 benefit it confers in thus ridding the land of noxious pests. I 
 do not of course allude to those cases where the species is en- 
 couraged to multiply to excess; when the balance of nature 
 being destroyed, confusion ensues as a necessity, as would be the 
 result in the unnatural multiplication of almost any species in 
 the whole animal kingdom. As a proof of its wholesale con- 
 sumption of injurious insects, I may mention that in the crop 
 of a cock Pheasant were found 852 larva? of tipulw, or ' crane 
 flies,' and from that of a hen Pheasant were taken no less than 
 1,225 of these destructive lame.* 
 
 During winter the males congregate, but separate to their 
 several domains as spring draws on. Many sportsmen have 
 endeavoured to assign to a distinct species the Ring-necked, the 
 Bohemian, and the Pied varieties of this bird, but as these 
 variations are by no means permanent or hereditary, ornitho- 
 logists have wisely declined to admit them to any separate rank. 
 The Pheasant has an innate shyness or timidity, which nothing 
 seems able to overcome; though reared under a domestic hen, 
 and though fed from the hand from its earliest days, it never 
 attains confidence, but hurries to the shelter of thick cover at 
 the first symptom of alarm. Though it retires to roost on the 
 branches of trees, when once disturbed from the position it has 
 taken up it does not attempt to perch again during the re- 
 mainder of the night ; but on such occasions will crouch in the 
 longest grass and under the densest bramble it can find. It 
 crows, or ' chuckles,' on the least provocation, not only on retir- 
 ing to roost and at early dawn, but during the night as well as 
 c ' ' Science Gossip ' for 1884, p. 2G6. 
 
Capercaillie. 325 
 
 during the day when any unusual noise disturbs it ; and a sudden 
 clap of thunder will cause every pheasant in the wood to sound 
 his call-note of inquiry. 
 
 In France it is Faisan, in Germany Fasan, in Italy Fagiano ; 
 all of which are mere adaptations of Phasianus to the languages 
 of the respective countries. 
 
 TETKAONID^E (THE GROUSE). 
 
 Very closely allied to the Pheasants comes the family of 
 Grouse, a race highly prized in this country, and containing 
 more than half the species of Ground-birds known to have 
 occurred in Wiltshire. In habits, in their mode of nesting on 
 the ground, and in the food they seek, they very much resemble 
 those last described. In like manner their head is small, beak 
 strong and convex, wings short, feet stout, and tarsus feathered, 
 but the distinguishing characteristic consists in the elevation 
 and diminution of the hind toe, which in this family becomes 
 exceedingly short, and in the succeeding family disappears 
 altogether. Their flight, though rapid and direct, is heavy, but 
 they walk and run with great agility, and they seek their food, 
 which consists of grain and vegetable substances, entirely on the 
 ground. 
 
 125. CAPERCAILLIE (Tetrao Urogallm). 
 
 The occurrence of a single specimen of this magnificent bird 
 within the limits of this county, as recorded by the late Rev. 
 George Marsh, entitles me to include it within our Wiltshire list. 
 That straggler made its appearance at W T interslow in 1841, and 
 was supposed to have escaped from Mr. Baring's park, where 
 several had been introduced. Indeed, it had entirely ceased to 
 exist south of the Tweed, and was almost extinct in Scotland a 
 few years back, till the Marquis of Breadalbane and other 
 noblemen reinforced its fast-diminishing ranks by importing 
 fresh colonists from Sweden, and preserved and protected it in 
 their extensive forests, till it has now re-peopled its former 
 haunts ; so that it is not probable that our Wiltshire visitor 
 had wandered from its home under natural causes ; nor is it 
 
326 Tetraonidce. 
 
 likely that a bird of so heavy a body and such short wings 
 would have voluntarily strayed so far south. The male Caper- 
 caillie is as large as an ordinary Turkey, and well deserves the 
 honourable title of * Cock of the Wood.' 
 
 Its name in all languages seems to allude to its size. The 
 scientific term Urogallus (from urus, ' a wild bull,' and gallus, 
 ' a cock ') would imply a larger or coarser species of Black Cock, 
 just as bullfrog, bullrush, and bullfinch signify a large species of 
 their respective families. So the German Auerhahn has a like 
 signification, the word auer having reference to the bovine 
 Aurochs ; and our ' Capercaillie/* of Gaelic origin, is interpreted 
 to mean either ' the horse of the woods,' or ' the goat of the 
 woods/ or ' the old man of the woods.' In France it is Coq de 
 Bruyere, ' Heath-cock.' 
 
 Its general plumage is very dark green, or almost black ; and 
 it is a native of the extensive pine forests of Scotland, Scandi- 
 navia, and Russia. It feeds on the leaves and young shoots of 
 the Scotch fir, which impart a certain resinous taste to the 
 flesh ; but it also devours greedily the numerous ground-berries, 
 blue-berries, whortle-berries, cran-berries, etc., with which northern 
 forests abound ; and these I have found, in incredible quantities, in 
 the crops of several specimens whose skins I preserved in Norway. 
 
 A full account of the peculiar 'play,' or love-song, of this 
 bird I had from the lips of a Norwegian officer with whom I 
 spent some time in a shooting expedition on the fjeld in the 
 summer of 1850, and who had been on more than one occasion 
 an eye-witness of the scene he so graphically described. In the 
 early morning, he said, the old male Capercaillie (or tiur) may 
 be seen perched on the top of a pine-tree, and soon he begins to 
 utter a harsh, grating sound, which the Norwegians call ' singing/ 
 and which may be heard at a considerable distance. This music 
 is repeated for some time at intervals, until the hen birds (TO I) 
 assemble at the lek, or playing place ; and during the utterance 
 
 :: The Capercaillie, the Ptarmigan, and the Fulmar are the only three cases 
 in which our common English name is taken from the Gaelic. See Ibis for 
 1869, p. 35. 
 
Black Grouse. 327 
 
 of his song the Capercaillie is so taken up with his own melli- 
 fluous voice, and all his faculties are so absorbed with his vocal 
 performance, that he has no eyes nor ears for anything else ; and 
 it is then that the Norwegian sportsman, in somewhat unsports- 
 manlike fashion, as we think, taking advantage of his preoccu- 
 pation, hurries to the spot and shoots the unconscious singer.* 
 Young birds do not attain maturity until their third or fourth 
 year, nor are they then suffered to intrude on the playing-place 
 of the old birds, but are either driven away or, if they venture 
 to resist the attack of the old bird, a fierce battle^, not unfre- 
 quently attended with fatal results, ensues. 
 
 126. BLACK GROUSE (Tetrao tetrix). 
 
 This, too, is but a straggler to our county, though its visits 
 have been more frequent ; and from the undoubted fact that it 
 inhabits, though sparingly, the New Forest and other suitable 
 haunts in the neighbouring counties of Somerset and Hants, its 
 appearance here as a veritable wild bird may be more readily 
 acknowledged. The Rev. G. Marsh assured me that they were 
 occasionally met with in the Winterslow woods ; and I have a 
 notice of one killed near Redholn turnpike, on the edge of the 
 plain overlooking the vale of Pewsey, which came into the pos- 
 session of Mr. Lewis, of Wedhampton ; and Major Heneage has 
 a specimen which was killed near the Upper Lodge at Compton 
 Bassett in 1866. In South Wilts the Rev. A. P. Morres says 
 that they used to be met with on the downs around Ellesbourne 
 and Sutton and on Teffont Common ; and Mr. W. Wyndham, of 
 Dinton, writes that he has a pair of local specimens in his col- 
 lection, both killed by his grandfather, of which the male bird 
 was shot on the borders of the parishes of Ellesbourne and 
 Sutton Mandeville on December 1st, 1818, and the female at 
 Langford Down just one year later, viz., on December 1st, 1819. 
 These were supposed to be the last native birds of this species 
 in the county ; but still occasionally one strays over from the 
 New Forest, and Mr. Wyndham's keeper shot a hen bird at 
 See my account of this in the Zoologist for 1850, pp. 2944 5. 
 
328 Tetraonidce. 
 
 Dinton so lately as November 12th, 1880. Finally, Mr. Howard 
 Saunders says in 1884 : 'They are found sparingly in Wiltshire.'* 
 I am afraid, however, that we can only lay claim to the visit of 
 a very rare and accidental straggler, seen from time to time after 
 an interval of many years. 
 
 Like the species last described, it loves to frequent forests and 
 wild uncultivated districts, where rank herbage and undrained 
 morasses proclaim the non-intervention of man; and a truly 
 grand sight it is to see the old male, or ' Black Cock,' as it is 
 generally called, in all the pride of his dark glossy plumage, now 
 appearing of jet black hue, and anon with splendid purple 
 reflections, take flight with a startling rush of wings, when dis- 
 turbed in his retreats. It is conspicuous for the outward curve 
 of the four or five outer feathers of the tail on either side, and 
 also for the bright red naked skin above the eyes. The female, 
 which goes by the name of the ' Gray Hen,' is of far less pre- 
 tentious appearance, being contented with a sombre dress of 
 brown, spotted and barred with darker shades. In general 
 habits, food, and nesting it does not vary from its congener last 
 described. Like that species, too, it also has its ' play ing- places,' 
 or stations ; and indulges in like loud singing or calling ; and 
 practises the same antics in the lek ; and wages desperate battle, 
 and otherwise comports itself as polygamous birds frequently do. 
 The word ' Grouse/ which was formerly announced by Yarrell 
 to be derived from a Persian word groos, is now shown by Pro- 
 fessor Newton, who has very carefully gone into the question,-f 
 to be in all probability derived from the old French word 
 griesche, greoche, or griais, meaning ' speckled,' and cognate with 
 griseus, ' grisly,' or ' gray.' Other names by which these birds 
 are sometimes designated are ' Black Game ' and l Heath Poults.' 
 In France it has the prolonged name of Coq de Bruyere cb queue 
 fourchue, ' Fork-tailed Heath Cock ;' and in Germany, Gabel 
 schwanziges Waldhuhn, ' Fork-tailed Wood Fowl ; but in Sweden 
 it is simply Orre. 
 
 * Fourth edition of Tan-ell's ' British Birds/ vol. iii., p. 62. 
 t ' Encyclopaedia Britannica,' ed. 9, xi., p. 221. 
 

 Red Grouse. 329 
 
 127. RED GROUSE. (Lagopus Scoticus). 
 
 This species, so peculiarly British (for it is unknown elsewhere), 
 and in certain districts so extremely abundant, for where it has 
 been most carefully protected and encouraged it literally swarms 
 to an astonishing extent, is only of accidental occurrence in Wilt- 
 shire. Colonel Montagu speaks of a female taken alive near Wed- 
 hampton in this county, in the winter of the year 1794, as pointed 
 out to that distinguished naturalist by Mr. Poore; and I have infor- 
 mation of another killed by the late Mr. Colston's keeper at 
 Roundway Park, near Devizes ; while a third is in the possession 
 of Major Heneage, which was killed at Compton Basse tt ; and the 
 Rev. A. P. Morres, on the authority of Mr. E. Baker, of Mere, 
 mentions a fourth which was shot by some sportsman when 
 partridge-shooting at West Knoyle in 1848 ; while Mr. Grant, 
 of Devizes, mentions a fifth killed in August, 1866, at Wedhamp- 
 ton, the same locality which saw the capture of the bird recorded 
 by Colonel Montagu. These must have been stragglers from 
 Wales, and were probably driven out of their course by the pre- 
 valence of high winds. Unlike the species previously described, 
 the Red Grouse is not polygamous, and never perches on trees ; it 
 also differs from them in having the toes completely feathered ; 
 hence its generic name lagopus, ' rough-footed like a hare/ 
 Though standing alone among birds as really confined to these 
 islands, and so par excellence THE British bird, the Red Grouse 
 is our representative here of the ' Willow Grouse ' of Norway, 
 Dal Rype (Lagopus sub-alpinus), which frequents the lower parts 
 of the fjeld, and the mountain-side clothed with birch and alder, 
 unlike its more hardy relative Fydll Rype (Lagopus alpinus), 
 identical with our Ptarmigan, which prefers the high mountain 
 ranges, and the rocky snow-clad heights. Both of these species 
 I have shot in some numbers in Norway, and I never could suffi- 
 ciently admire the extraordinary resemblance of their plumage to 
 the localities they severally represented, so that it was quite diffi- 
 cult to distinguish them on the ground, though within a few 
 paces, so well did their colour assimilate to the herbage or lichen- 
 
330 Tetraonidce. 
 
 covered rocks or snow-patches around.* It is precisely the same 
 with the Red Grouse of England, for the dark red-brown heather 
 in which it loves to dwell is very much of the same hue with that 
 of its plumage. It is little known outside the British Isles, but is- 
 called in France Tetras rouge, and sometimes Tetras des saules, 
 1 Willow Grouse j' and sometimes Poule de niarais, ' Marsh or 
 Moor Fowl/ 
 
 128. PALLAS' SAND GROUSE (Syrrhapies paradoxus). 
 
 Up to the year 1863 this handsome species was almost unknown 
 not only in these islands but on the continent of Europe ; when 
 suddenly in the early summer of that year a vast irruption of 
 them occurred, more especially on our Eastern coasts; and it 
 subsequently appeared that this strange invasion extended over 
 the whole of Central Europe. Driven from its home in the 
 steppes of Tartary, if not in the more Eastern countries of China 
 and Siberia, where it also abounds, this horde of wanderers 
 started Westwards, and spreading themselves over some twenty 
 degrees of latitude, the more advanced portion penetrated as far 
 as our island. What numbers migrated in this extraordinary 
 manner; what vast flocks in all probability started on this 
 lengthened journey ; how many halted on the way it is impos- 
 sible even to guess ; but in a most masterly paper on the subject 
 drawn up by Professor Newton, at that time editor of the Ibis, 
 and published by him in that journal,f he has satisfactorily 
 proved that several hundreds are known to have reached our 
 shores, after a flight of, at the least computation, some four 
 thousand geographical miles. What could have caused this 
 eccentric movement of the Asiatic species of Grouse we are con- 
 sidering, this ' Tartar invasion/ or ' Scythian exodus/ as Mr. 
 Newton styles it, it is beyond my power to explain ; whether the 
 
 * For a further account of the two species of Alpine Grouse or Ptarmigan, 
 and how I met with them in Norway, see Zoologist for 1851, pp. 2977-9 ; see 
 also in the same useful periodical for 1858, p. 6265. 
 
 t IUs for 1864, vol. vi., pp. 185-222. 
 
Pallas' Sand-Grouse. 331 
 
 prevalence of unusual easterly winds, or other atmospheric com- 
 motions, impelled them on their westerly course, as some have- 
 suggested ; or whether the colonization by Russia of large tracts- 
 of Eastern Siberia, and the reclaiming of waste lands, once their 
 haunts, as others have surmised ; or whether the remarkable 
 drought that prevailed over Central Asia that summer had dried 
 the fresh-water lakes, and scorched up all vegetation, as others 
 have concluded ; or whether, as Professor Newton inclines to 
 think, the natural overflow of an increasing species, prolific as 
 are all of its genus, and exempt in a great measure from the 
 enemies and risks which are apt to beset ground-breeding birds, 
 forced it to drive forth as colonists its superabundant numbers, I 
 will not now stop to argue. Enough for us that, as in early times, 
 the tide of human migrations set in steadily from the east, and 
 starting from the shores of the Caspian and the valleys of the 
 Caucasus, wave after wave of those prolific adventurers poured 
 over Europe, until the Celts had penetrated her most western 
 boundaries, and occupied our island ; so a vast horde of winged 
 strangers has suddenly swept down upon astonished Europe, and 
 a new nomadic race has penetrated to our shores from its distant 
 Eastern home. 
 
 I have already said that several hundreds of this Sand-Grouse 
 reached the limits of Great Britain, and that by far the larger 
 part of them appeared, as was to be expected with Asiatic 
 migrants, in the Eastern counties ; some, however, detached from 
 the main body, under the general persecution which, I regret to 
 say, followed their appearance amongst us, were dispersed all over 
 England, and penetrated almost every county; and one at all 
 events reached Wiltshire, and was killed on Salisbury Plain at 
 Imber on the 29th of June, for the knowledge of which, as well as 
 the occurrence of so many other rare birds in Wiltshire, I am 
 again indebted to the Rev. George Powell, Rector of Sutton Yeney, 
 who most kindly and considerately sent me from time to time an 
 account of any rarity which came under his notice. Our Wilt- 
 shire specimen of the Sand-Grouse was a female, and was alone, 
 and in rapid flight from north to south, when it was shot by Mr. 
 
332 Tetraonidce. 
 
 Joseph Dean of Imber, as I described in the Zoologist at the 
 time.* 
 
 Like other species of Sand-Grouse, S. paradoxus is remarkable 
 for its great length of wing, slender beak, shortness of foot, and 
 conical tail, the two middle feathers being elongated in a thread- 
 like manner ; also for the feathering of the legs and feet to the 
 extremity of the toes with short dense feathers ; the hind toe is 
 completely wanting. That it is not polygamous ; that both sexes 
 share in the duties of incubation ; and that three eggs are the full 
 complement of a nest, I gather from Professor Newton's paper. 
 And I may add from my acquaintance with an allied species in 
 Africa (S. exustus), that so much do its colours resemble the sands 
 of the desert it frequents, that it is extremely difficult to see it on 
 the ground ; while its sharp-pointed long wings give it a rapidity 
 of flight almost unequalled. In many respects it reminds one of 
 the Plover tribe. t Its scientific name is perhaps a little far- 
 fetched ; at all events its meaning is not self-evident and requires 
 explanation. Syrrhaptes is derived from <rvppd7rTiv t 'to sew or 
 stitch together/ because the last phalanges of the toes alone are 
 free; and paradoxus, 'strange,' 'contrary to expectation/ from 
 the curious structure of the feet.J 
 
 129. PARTRIDGE (Perdix cinerea). 
 
 Unlike the preceding members of this family, the well 
 known bird now under consideration thrives better in culti- 
 vated than in barren land, and nowhere multiplies more 
 rapidly than in the most highly farmed districts. Its appearance 
 and habits are so well known that it is unnecessary to enlarge 
 upon them. I will then merely append a few notes with which I 
 have been furnished by the late Kev. George Marsh : ' Since the 
 introduction of the new Game Laws, the numbers of this common 
 but beautiful and useful bird have very much declined. Their 
 
 Zoologist for 1864, p. 8888. 
 
 t See an admirable figure of this bird, as well as a good general descrip- 
 tion, by Mr. T. J. Moore, in the Ibis for 1860, vol. ii., pp. 105-110. 
 $ 'B.O.U. List of British Birds,' p. 140. 
 

 Partridge. 333 
 
 enemies are numerous, the gun, the net, the trap of man, the 
 stoat and weasel, the magpie, crow and jay, and the mower are 
 among the most conspicuous. The hedgehog is also no doubt 
 one of its enemies, as the keepers at Winterslow used to tell me 
 that an egg was the best bait for the trap intended to catch the 
 hedgepig. In the summer of 1841, a farmer of the neighbouring 
 parish of Langley heard two Partridges in a hedge in a grass field 
 making a great noise ; so he approached the spot, and found two 
 old birds manfully defending their nest against a hedgehog : he 
 killed the animal, and the eggs, eighteen in number, were soon 
 afterwards hatched. I have witnessed myself the destruction of 
 a nest by a magpie. In this county the poacher fixes a flue net 
 in the corner of a field where he has roosted birds, and then under 
 cover of a horse he gradually walks the birds into the net. These 
 birds do better when some of them are shot every year; if 
 all are spared, the old birds drive away the young ones.' I may 
 add that Partridges feed shortly after sunrise, and a little before 
 sunset, retiring to bask in the sun or dust themselves on dry 
 banks at midday. They roost on the ground in the open field 
 shortly after sunset, and the whole covey sits closely crowded 
 together in a circle, tails towards the centre, heads outwards 
 (like a watchful round-robin), for the sake of security, and in order 
 to avoid a surprise. They are said to ' jug' when they so arrange 
 themselves for the night. There is no question that dry weather 
 is especially valuable for the Partridge, and very true was the 
 saying of that excellent observer, the late Mr. Knox,' The drier the 
 summer, the better for the game/* Indeed, a continuance of wet 
 stormy weather, such as we often experience in this country at 
 hatching-time towards the latter end of June, is most destructive 
 to the young brood. On one occasion I was taken to see a curious 
 instance of a Partridge sitting on her nest, on a stubble- rick, on 
 the shelving side near the top, and about six feet from the ground. 
 This was in June, 1853, on the farm of Mr. Hillier of Winter- 
 bourne Monkton, in the midst of open downs, and surrounded 
 by hundreds of acres of wheat, barley, oats, clover and turnips, so 
 'Birds of Sussex/ p. 174. 
 
334 Tetraonidce. 
 
 that there was no lack of choice of such position as Partridges 
 are wont to select for their nurseries. Neither could it have been 
 from any motive of protection from inclement weather and rude 
 winds (which not unfrequently prevail on these downs) that the 
 Partridge was led to this strange choice, for the nest was placed 
 on the north-east side of the stack. Colonel Hawker gives an 
 account of a Partridge's nest on a pollard tree, and Yarrell quotes 
 another instance from Daniel's ' Rural Sports/ of a nest in an oak 
 pollard ; but with these exceptions I have'never heard of this bird 
 varying so much from the usual habits of its species in its choice 
 of a place for nidification. In France it is Perdrix grise ; in 
 Germany, Graues Feldhuhn ; in Italy, Starna; in Sweden, Rapp- 
 Hona. 'Partridge,' says Professor Skeat is from the Latin 
 perdix, perhaps so named from its cry. 
 
 130. RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE (Perdix rubra). 
 
 It is our good fortune in Wiltshire to know but little of this 
 bird, which has been encouraged in some districts of England, 
 and has ended in driving away its more valuable congener, with 
 which in flavour of flesh it is not to be compared. It is a hand- 
 some species, and is common in France and the south of Europe 
 generally. I found it very abundant in Spain and Portugal, the 
 markets, which I used to frequent daily in search of rare birds, 
 being always well-stocked with them. In habits it resembles 
 P. cinerea. A few stragglers from time to time have made their 
 way into Wiltshire. The Rev. G. Marsh recorded their capture 
 at Winterslow, and the specimen in his collection, now at Salis- 
 bury, was killed at Draycot Park. Another was killed at Winter- 
 bourne Monkton by my neighbour, the late Mr. John Brown, in 
 whose possession I have frequently seen the specimen. More- 
 over, a curious instance was brought to my notice by Mr. Bull, 
 of Devizes, of this species and the Common Partridge laying 
 their eggs in the same nest, from which he extracted one of each 
 sort that I might identity them. In like manner in South 
 Wilts a straggler appears from time to time. The Rsv. A. P. 
 
Quail. 335 
 
 Morres says it occurs occasionally, but rarely in the neighbour- 
 hood of Salisbury, and also near War minster. A single bird was 
 caught at Mere, in the yard of the Ship Inn, by Mr. J. Coward, 
 on April 11, 1874, having apparently taken refuge there from a 
 hawk. Two others were caught alive by some keepers, who were 
 driving the game in Clarendon Woods ; and again a brace were 
 killed at Holt, near Bradford-on-Avon, in the same field, though 
 with an interval of six years between their respective appear- 
 ances before the same sportsman. Mr. Grant also mentions a 
 specimen killed at Erlestoke in November, 1861, and thirteen 
 others from various districts in North Wilts. I have also several 
 instances from the neighbourhood of Marlborough, and other 
 instances will doubtless occur to many sportsmen, for, thanks to 
 the mistaken zeal with which their introduction to this country 
 has been conducted, they are by no means rare now. In France, 
 and indeed on the Continent generally, it is the Common 
 Partridge : Perdrix rouge in France, Rothe Feldhuhn in 
 Germany, Pernice commune in Italy, Perdiz in Spain and 
 Portugal. 
 
 131. QUAIL (Perdix coturnix). 
 
 Not many years since this diminutive but plump little 
 partridge was generally, though somewhat sparingly, scattered 
 over the down parishes in this neighbourhood in the summer, 
 but now it has become comparatively rare throughout the 
 county. One nest, however, was discovered at Yatesbury since 
 my incumbency in 1852 ; and I have notices of the bird's 
 occurrence of late years at Christian Malford in 1841 and 1845; 
 in the neighbourhood of Sutton Benger in 1847; at Langley in 
 1851; and at Erchfont in 1856; at Hilmarton and at Trafalgar; 
 at Chirton in 1860; Etchilhampton, 1863; Bishops Cannings, 
 1867; Potterne, Cheverel, Erlestoke, and Seend, 1868; Kowde, 
 All Cannings, Marden, 1871. The Rev. A. P. Morres reports 
 their appearance at Britford, Stratford Tony, and West Harnham, 
 near Salisbury ; at Holt, near Bradford, and at Mere ; and several 
 of these took place as late as the middle of December, which 
 
336 Tetraonidw. 
 
 would seem to corroborate Yarrell's opinion that when the 
 autumnal migration in October takes place some remain behind 
 and winter here. Colonel Waddington says he shoots a few 
 brace every season at Figheldean. Nests with twelve and 
 thirteen eggs have been taken near Marlborough in June, 1871, 
 and in 1883 ; and Mr. Gwatkin records two nests of thirteen 
 eggs each sent him from Tilshead in 1886. Thus it is still to be 
 found throughout the county, and in all probability it might be 
 found in some part of Wiltshire every year, did not its unobtru- 
 sive and even skulking habits hinder its recognition. That 
 Quails are in marvellous abundance in their favourite haunts, 
 and that during their periodical migrations their flights are 
 prodigious, is not only recorded in old time in the books of 
 Exodus and Numbers,* but Colonel Montagu informs us that 
 one hundred thousand have been taken in one day on the west 
 coast of the kingdom of Naples ; and Mr. Wright speaks of their 
 numbers found at Malta when alighting to rest on that island 
 during the periods of migration as something almost incon- 
 ceivable. But Mr. Adams says their abundance or scarcity there 
 depends entirely on the prevalence or otherwise of favourable 
 winds, for if wafted on by suitable breezes they will pass over 
 the island in vast flocks without stopping to rest. Mr. Cordeaux 
 adds that the Maltese entertain the strange belief that the Quail 
 on migration keeps one wing motionless and raised like a sail, 
 and thus crosses the sea like a ship on her voyage.-f- That the 
 long flight, however, does sometimes completely exhaust the 
 little migrant I once had personal proof, for early one morning a 
 Quail arrived in the garden of the ' Villa des Pins/ at Mentone, 
 but a short distance from the shores of the Mediterranean (which 
 I occupied in the spring of 1878), so tired and exhausted as to 
 allow itself to be taken by hand, though after a time it recovered, 
 when we let it go, and it flew merrily away. That, moreover, 
 this handsome little bird is a cosmopolite, and inhabits the 
 three continents of the Old World, I can vouch, having met with 
 
 Exodus xvi. 13 ; Numbers xi. 31, 32 ; Psalm Ixxviii. 27, 28. 
 t ' Birds of the Humber,' p. 124. 
 

 Quail. 337 
 
 it in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Indeed, of the three specimens 
 now in my collection, the first I procured in the flesh at the 
 market of the Pantheon, at Rome, and it was admirably stuffed 
 by an Otaheite girl, the only taxidermist then in the Eternal 
 City ; and the others I shot on the banks of the Nile, within the 
 tropics, in Nubia. I also found it very abundant in Portugal, 
 where Montagu long since remarked that they remain through- 
 out the year, and even says, on the authority of Captain Latham, 
 though I am inclined to think erroneously, that they are more 
 plentiful in that country in winter than in summer. In Egypt, 
 too, it is often found in great numbers, and though not con- 
 sidered sacred and never embalmed, it may be distinctly recog- 
 nised in the bird-catching scenes on the walls of the tombs at 
 Beni Hassan and at Thebes, so that it can prove its title to a 
 settlement in Egypt of over three thousand years. 
 
 It is of so pugnacious a disposition that it was kept by the 
 Greeks and Romans, as it is at this day by the Chinese, for the 
 express purpose of fighting, after the manner of our game-cocks. 
 Of plump form and of self-asserting manners, the Quail may 
 well be designated a diminutive Partridge. Its flesh, too, is 
 equally good for the table ; and it is a benefactor to man by 
 consuming the seeds of many weeds. Its eggs are perhaps more 
 richly coloured than those of any other bird which breeds in this 
 country, the ground colour yellowish-orange, freely blotched and 
 speckled with rich dark brown. Whether the males are poly- 
 gamous, as Yarrell asserted, or whether they pair, as Howard 
 Saunders, Gould, and other eminent ornithologists think, is at 
 present uncertain ; but that both parent birds are undaunted in 
 defence of their young brood is generally admitted. Among 
 Continental ornithologists the Quail is often designated by the 
 specific name of dactylisonans, and we are told that it is so 
 called from the shrill triple note of the male, which soon makes 
 itself heard in the evenings on the bird's arrival. That cry to 
 the German peasant seems to say Buck' den Ruck, ( Bend your 
 back ;' to the inhabitant of the south of France, J'ai du He, j'ai 
 pas de sd (sac), or in Provence by Tres (trois) per un, tres per 
 
 22 
 
338 Struthionidce. 
 
 un ; to the Spaniard, Clic-clic-lic, which perhaps led to the 
 invention of the castanets ; while in England it says, ' Wet my 
 lips, wet my lips.'* Professor Skeat says that the English 
 1 Quail ' and in like manner the French Caille and the Italian 
 Quaglia signifies ' a quacker,' from the root quachan, ' to 
 croak.' On the other hand, the Spanish Codorniz and the 
 Portuguese Codornis are from the classical Latin Coturnix, the 
 etymology of which is unknown (B.O.U.). Its period of arrival 
 in Western Europe is May, and of departure October. 
 
 STRUTHIONID.E (THE BUSTARDS). 
 
 This is a family which used to thrive in Wiltshire more than 
 any other county in England, inasmuch as our wide, open downs 
 in the north, and Salisbury Plain in the south, offered such an 
 extensive range and such an undisturbed stronghold as could 
 not be found elsewhere in the British Isles. That was in the 
 days when the great stretches of hill and dale were covered 
 with the original turf, and gave the best and sweetest of pasture 
 to the large flocks of sheep which wandered over them; but 
 when the plough invaded these solitudes, and the down was 
 broken up, and barley and wheat, which required hoeing in the 
 spring, succeeded to the sheepwalks, the Bustards were gradually 
 driven away or destroyed, and though here and there an in- 
 digenous straggler seems to have lingered on through the early 
 part of this century, they must have been getting very scarce a 
 hundred years ago ; and though now and again of late years a 
 specimen of either species comes over from the South of France 
 or Spain, it is but an accidental visitor, which meets with any- 
 thing but a kindly welcome when it arrives at the haunts of its 
 relatives of bygone years. The Bustards are essentially Ground- 
 birds, for they never perch, and unless disturbed or frightened 
 are seldom inclined to take wing. They can, however, fly with 
 considerable speed, and do on occasion prolong their flight to 
 great distances ; hence the arrival, though rarely, of visitors of 
 
 * Howard Saunders in fourth edition of Yarrell's ' British Birds ' vol. iii., 
 p. 129. 
 
Great Bustard. 339 
 
 both species to our shores. As both in flight and running their 
 speed is remarkable, naturalists have been much puzzled to 
 account for the name so commonly assigned to them, as our word 
 'Bustard,' the French ' Outarde,' and the Spanish ' Abutarda,' 
 as also the universal scientific name for the Great Bustard, tarda; 
 but in an admirable paper on that bird in Eraser's Magazine for 
 September, 1854, supposed to be by Mr. Broderip, Albertus is 
 quoted as accounting for these specific names in the following 
 manner : ' Bistarda avis est bis vel ter saltum dans, priusquam 
 de humo elevetur, unde et eis nomen factum ;'* and this alleged 
 habit of the bird, giving two or three leaps before it rises from 
 the ground, and thus recalling the action of ascending a stair- 
 case, is mentioned as being likewise the origin of its German 
 name, Trapp-gans, or ' Stair Goose ;' whence also the quaint 
 distich : 
 
 ' The big-boaned Bustard then, whose body beares that size, 
 That he against the wind must runne, ere he can rise.' 
 
 Pliny, too, says of these birds : ' Quas Hispania aves tardas ap- 
 pellat, Graecia otidas.' 
 
 Birds of this family are accustomed to pack in the autumn, 
 and are generally supposed to be polygamous, though (as in the 
 species last described) this is now disputed. The generic name 
 Otis is said to be derived from the Greek, meaning 'eared/ or 
 ' with long ear feathers ;' but I fail to see how this applies to the 
 Bustards. 
 
 132. GREAT BUSTARD (Otis tarda). 
 
 Once the pride of our Wiltshire Downs, and which held this 
 county as its stronghold in Great Britain, now, alas ! driven out 
 from among us by the march of cultivation, and only seen at 
 long intervals as a rare visitor. It was my good fortune more 
 than thirty years ago to be instrumental in recording the capture 
 
 It is only fair to add that, according to Mr. Howard Saunders, some 
 recent authorities object to this derivation, and in the list published by 
 the B.O.U. Committee tarda is said to be a Celtic or Basque word, having 
 no relation to tardus, ' slow,' though what it does mean is not stated. 
 
 222 
 
340 Struthionidce. 
 
 of what was then the last Bustard seen in Wiltshire, and of 
 subsequently purchasing the bird for the collection of my friend 
 the Rev. G. Marsh, which specimen is now in the museum at 
 Salisbury. My attention was thus very much directed to this 
 splendid species at a period when there were many living in 
 Wiltshire who could recollect having seen it from time to time 
 on Salisbury Plain; and I sought far and wide for tidings of the 
 last stragglers noticed in Wiltshire, and, indeed, of all the history 
 and traditions that appertained to this bird, wherein, as I grate- 
 fully and proudly record, I was very much assisted by an 
 interesting correspondence upon it, with which I was favoured 
 by the late Mr. Yarrell, the talented author of our standard work 
 on ' British Birds,' who also largely aided my inquiries by furnish- 
 ing me with a quantity of printed papers and extracts upon it. 
 Thus, armed with all the information I could gain, and en- 
 couraged by so high an authority, I prepared a paper on the 
 Great Bustard, which I read before the Wiltshire Archaeological 
 and Natural History Society during its annual meeting of 1855, 
 at Warminster; and as everything connected with the Great 
 Bustard is still, and always must be, of special interest to Wilt- 
 shiremen, I propose to reproduce here the substance of that 
 paper, supplemented by an account of such further instances of 
 its occurrence in Wilts as have taken place since, thus bringing 
 its Wiltshire history down to present date. 
 
 First, however, let me briefly describe its general aspect and 
 habits. The Great Bustard is the largest of the British land 
 birds : its bill is nearly straight, but with the point of the upper 
 mandible curved ; its legs are long and naked above the knee, 
 very muscular and strong ; its toes, three only in number, and 
 these very short, united at the base, and all directed forwards ; 
 its wings of moderate length, but also very muscular. A full- 
 grown male, if in good condition, will attain to a weight of over 
 30 lb., and will measure three feet nine inches in length. Its 
 general plumage is as follows : head and neck bluish-gray ; back 
 and tail coverts buff-orange, barred and spotted with black; 
 upper part of the breast reddish-orange, all the under parts 
 
Great Bustard. 341 
 
 white. The adult male is also furnished with long wiry feathers, 
 depending laterally from the chin, and moustaches of the same ; 
 the female, which is only about one- third in size as compared 
 with the other sex, has no lateral chin feathers or moustaches, 
 and her head and neck are of a deeper gray, but in other 
 respects her plumage is similar to that of the male. Of large 
 and bulky form, but with powerful wings as well as legs, the 
 Bustard likes to wander over a wide extent of country. More- 
 over, it is of a roving disposition, and loves vast open plains, 
 where amidst the long coarse grass and the fields of corn and 
 thick gorse it delights to dwell, and it will also frequent marshy 
 ground when such tracts are to be found near its favourite 
 haunts. Its food consists chiefly of herbage and grain, such as 
 rye and barley, stalks as well as ears, and insects, such as beetles ; 
 but reptiles and the smaller mammalia are also greedily devoured 
 by this omnivorous bird. The nest is a mere depression on the 
 bare ground, and there the hen bird lays her two eggs. As 
 autumn approaches they unite in flocks, and during deep and 
 continued snows are sometimes driven from their open plains to 
 more sheltered and enclosed districts. They are exceedingly 
 bold and pugnacious, having on rare occasions been known to 
 attack those who come near them with most determined ferocity. 
 They are at the same time generally very wild and difficult to 
 approach, so that sportsmen were accustomed to mask their 
 advance, as they do at this day in Spain, by means of a stalking- 
 horse. When in repose Bustards usually rest with one leg drawn 
 up, and with head reclining backwards on the neck. When seen 
 at a distance Gilbert White said they resembled ' fallow deer ' a 
 fact corroborated by Mr. Wolley, who saw them in Spain, appar- 
 ently walking in file, some with their heads down, as he was 
 ascending the Guadalquivir in a steamboat. When they take 
 wing they generally rise to a considerable height above the 
 ground, and will fly, often at an elevation of a hundred yards, 
 with a regular, but by no means slow flap of the wings, for 
 several miles before they alight again. Older writers on birds, 
 one after another, assured us that the Great Bustard was hunted 
 
342 Struthionidce. 
 
 down by greyhounds, but that such was ever the case has been 
 disputed by many modern ornithologists. For my own part, I 
 do not see how we -can disbelieve the very decided assertions of 
 many trustworthy naturalists when relating the account of a 
 matter with which they must have been familiar ; but it is 
 too much the fashion now to presume that our ancestors were 
 mistaken, and in our conceit we attribute to them as errors what 
 in reality were truths at the time they wrote them, though they 
 may not fall in with our modern experience. Now there are 
 three distinct opinions on this knotty point, each of which has 
 its strenuous supporters: (1) That old and young birds in- 
 discriminately were so hunted by greyhounds ; (2) that the 
 young only were so coursed ; (3) that neither old nor young 
 could ever have been so taken. With regard to the first, that 
 both old and young were hunted down with dogs, Brooks in 
 his 'Ornithology/ in 1771, says of the Bustard in France, 
 near Chalons, 'Sometimes fowlers shoot them as they lie 
 concealed behind some eminence or on a load of straw ; others 
 take them with greyhounds, which often catch them before they 
 are able to rise.' Yarrell, in his article on the Bustard in his 
 ' British Birds/ quotes the Rev. Richard Lubbock for the follow- 
 ing : ' A very fine bird, an old male, is still in preservation as a 
 stuffed specimen at the house of a friend in my neighbourhood, 
 which was taken by greyhounds forty years ago, within three 
 miles of Norwich/ Again, Mark Antony Lower, in his 'Con- 
 tributions to Literature ' (1854), says, ' The South Downs afford 
 a fine field for the naturalist as well as the sportsman. One 
 cannot but regret, however, the extinction of some of the 
 animals which they formerly nourished, particularly that fine 
 indigenous bird the Bustard. The grandfather of the present 
 writer was among the last who joined in the sport, about the 
 middle of the last century, of hunting down the last remains of 
 the species with dogs and bludgeons ;' and in a note which I 
 received from that gentleman in answer to my inquiries, he 
 added, ' My grandfather, John Lower, of Alfriston, was born in 
 1735. He was a boy at the time he went a-hunting Bustards, 
 
Great Bustard. 343 
 
 and we may assume the year 1750 as about the period. My 
 friend, the late Mr. John Dudeny, of this town (Lewes), a 
 shepherd in his youth, and the son of a shepherd, told me that 
 his father, who must have been contemporary with iny grand- 
 father, had also taken part in Bustard-hunting in his youthful 
 days ;' and he adds, ' I have no hesitation in saying that fully- 
 grown birds were hunted down with dogs, though I have never 
 heard it mentioned what kind of dogs were employed/ The 
 next witness I adduce for the hunting of Bustards generally on 
 the ground is the Honourable Eobert Curzon, in his work on 
 'Armenia and Erzeroum.' At p. 145 he says, ' Later in the year 
 I risked my neck by riding as hard as I could tear over the 
 rocky, or rather stony, plains at the foot of the mountains after 
 the Great Bustard. I have more than once knocked some of 
 the feathers out of these glorious huge birds as they ran at 
 a terrible pace, half flying and scrambling before my straining 
 horse, but I never succeeded in killing one, though I have 
 constantly partaken of those which have fallen before more 
 patient gunners, who stalk them as you would a deer, and knock 
 them over with a rifle-ball or swan-shot from behind a stone or 
 bank.' Lastly, Bishop Stanley, in his ' Familiar History of Birds/ 
 tells us, ' The Bustard can fly, but its usual motion is on foot, 
 running with such speed as often to rival a greyhound.' 
 
 For the second opinion, that the young alone were thus 
 coursed with dogs, I first adduce Bewick, who lived when these 
 birds were not yet extinct, and who (one would suppose) could 
 not well have been mistaken as to the method of obtaining them 
 generally adopted by sportsmen ; in his lifelike woodcut of the 
 Great Bustard in his first edition, published in 1800, we see in 
 the background of the picture one of these birds running, pur- 
 sued by greyhounds, and followed by a man on horseback ; and 
 in his subsequent editions, with the descriptions added to the 
 figures, he says, ' They are slow in taking wing, but run with 
 great rapidity, and when young are sometimes taken with grey- 
 hounds, which pursue them with great avidity ; the chase is said 
 to afford excellent diversion.' Mr. Howard Satmders supports 
 
344 Struthlonidce. 
 
 this view, showing that 'in Spain, during the great heat of 
 August and September, young birds are sometimes run down by 
 horsemen and dogs, as, after two or three low flights, they 
 become exhausted, being at that season extremely fat.' That 
 they have been captured under similar circumstances in England 
 is probable, and indeed one case is recorded by Mr. Lubbock 
 where the greyhounds came suddenly through a gate, and 
 ' chopped ' a Bustard ; but that anything like real and successful 
 Bustard coursing was ever habitually pursued is open to doubt.' 
 Mr. Saunders, however, notwithstanding this opinion, proceeds to 
 quote from the Naturalist's Pocket Magazine (1799-1800) as 
 follows : ' But though they cannot be reached by a fowling-piece, 
 they are sometimes run down by greyhounds. Being voracious 
 and greedy, they often sacrifice their safety to their appetites ; 
 and as they are generally very fat, they are unable to fly without 
 much preparation ; when therefore the greyhounds come within 
 a certain distance, the Bustards rim off, clap their wings, and 
 endeavour to gather under them enough air to rise; in the 
 meantime, the dogs are continually gaining ground, till at last it 
 is too late for flight. However, notwithstanding the sluggishness 
 of their usual pace, they can, when in danger, run very fast, and 
 once fairly on the wing, are able to fly several miles without 
 resting.' My last authority for this opinion is Mr. Hooper, of 
 Littleton, in the parish of Lavington, who has always lived on or 
 near the Plain, and states that he has often heard from old men 
 that in the days of Bustards the shepherds were in the habit of 
 hunting the young birds with their sheep-dogs ; he says, ' There 
 can be no doubt of the matter, as far as the practice of this neigh- 
 bourhood is concerned ;' but, he adds, ' the older birds were too 
 swift, under the combined help of wings and feet, thus to be 
 taken, and they were understood not to be so followed ; they 
 hunted the young ones before they were fully fledged.' With 
 such authority for the hunting of Bustards with dogs as I have 
 adduced, and I might mention much more to the same effect, I 
 do not see how we can deny the fact altogether, whether we 
 believe that the old birds were so coursed, as well as the young, 
 
Great Bastard. 345 
 
 or no ; for my own part, I incline to the belief that the old birds 
 were occasionally so taken, though perhaps this was generally in 
 drizzling or wet weather, which was certainly the time usually 
 chosen for the sport, when the birds' feathers were soaked with rain. 
 
 As to those who hold to the opinion that neither old nor 
 young birds were ever hunted with dogs at all, they found their 
 disbelief on the supposed impossibility of the thing, and ignore 
 altogether, or treat as idle tales, the repeated accounts given by 
 the older naturalists. At the head of these sceptics stands 
 Selby, the talented author of the 'Illustrations of British 
 Ornithology,' who says the Bustard ' upon being disturbed, so far 
 from running, in preference to flight (as has been often described), 
 rises upon wing with great facility, and flies with much strength 
 and swiftness, usually to another haunt, which will sometimes be 
 at the distance of even six or seven miles. It has also been said 
 that in former days, when the species was of common occurrence, 
 it was a practice to run down the young birds (before they were 
 able to fly) with greyhounds, as affording excellent diversion ; so 
 far from this possibility existing, with respect to the present 
 remnant of the breed, the young birds, upon being alarmed, con- 
 stantly squat close to the ground, in the same manner as the 
 young of the lapwing, golden plover, etc., and in that position are 
 frequently taken by the hand.' The same opinion, though with 
 somewhat less confidence, is given by Mr. Nicholson (quoted by 
 Yarrell in his paper on the Bustard, read before the Linnsean 
 Society), who had enjoyed great opportunities of observing these 
 birds in the neighbourhood of Seville, where they abound. He 
 says, * They never try to run, one that I had winged making the 
 most absurd attempts possible to get away from me, and though 
 a young bird, showing much more disposition to fight than to 
 get away by running. I cannot imagine greyhounds being able 
 to catch Bustards, though there seems to be good authority for 
 believing they did.' 
 
 Another method of taking, or attempting to take, the Bustard 
 in ' ye olden tyme' was by means of falcons, and I am indebted to 
 Mr. James Waylen for the information that when Colonel 
 
346 Struthionidce. 
 
 Thornton, who once rented Spye Park, sported in Wiltshire, he 
 occasionally flew his hawks at Bustards, the apparent slowness of 
 that bird when seen at a distance tempting him to the trial ; but 
 the hawks had no chance. 
 
 There is another point which has been no less warmly disputed 
 by modern ornithologists, in regard to the existence of a so-called 
 gular pouch. From the days of Daines Barrington and Edwards, 
 such a pouch or bag between the under side of the tongue and 
 the lower mandible of the bill was supposed to exist, and to 
 supply the bird with drink in dry places when distant from 
 water. This statement was accepted and confidently repeated 
 by Bewick, Montagu, Selby, and Yarrell. Subsequent research, 
 however, and careful anatomical observations, afterwards shook 
 Mr. Yarrell's belief in this gular pouch, and in this he was sup- 
 ported by the old French naturalists, with Cuvier at their head, 
 as well as by our own Professor Owen of the Royal College of 
 Surgeons. The question, however, is still an open one, with, 
 warm advocates on both sides: 'et adhuc sub judice lis est.' 
 When I was in Portugal, in the spring of 1868, 1 was so fortunate 
 as to procure a magnificent male bird in the flesh, which was most 
 liberally given me by an English friend, and whose body, after 1 had 
 taken off the skin, for several days formed a large item in the bill 
 of fare of the Hotel Braganza at Lisbon; the guests of every degree 
 at the table-d'hote and in private apartments partaking of the 
 dish, from the British Minister and his family on the first-floor 
 to the cook-boys in the area. This bird weighed 30 Ib. 
 English,* and is the finest example of 0. tarda I have ever seen. 
 After being brought down with shot, the coup de grace had been 
 given it by cutting its throat with a knife, as is the approved 
 method of Portuguese sportsmen ; it had also been a good deal 
 torn by dogs; but though thus ill-used, blood-stained and 
 damaged in the outset, and though it arrived in England covered 
 with mildew for I sent it home direct by sea it has been 
 admirably cleaned and mounted by Mr. Baker, the well-known 
 
 * Lord Lilford pajs that a fine specimen brought to him in Spain 
 weighed 32 Ib. Ib's for 188G, p. 382. 
 
Great Bustard. 347 
 
 taxidermist of Cambridge, and, thanks to his diligence and care, 
 now stands in my collection as noble a specimen as may be seen 
 of the Portuguese ORNIS. With the assistance of Dr. Suche r 
 who had been a fellow-labourer with Vigors, and who was an 
 experienced collector and preserver of some of the larger mam- 
 mals and reptiles in South America, and whose anatomical skill 
 was of the greatest service to me, I spent several hours in 
 examining the soft, wattle-like protuberance which hung below 
 the chin and throat, and gave the whole neck a thick, puffy 
 appearance. The result was that I entertain no doubt whatever, 
 and (what is of far more value) Dr. Suche was equally positive, 
 that this male Bustard possessed a pouch of considerable capacity, 
 or rather (as it seemed to me) a number of membrane-divided 
 sacs, which appeared capable of extending to any dimensions, 
 and the larger of which would apparently contain several quarts. 
 I am quite aware that my own attempts at dissection were very 
 feeble, and I should not venture to speak thus positively on so- 
 disputed a point but for the able assistance in the work, and the 
 certain conclusions deduced therefrom, by Dr. Suche. To this I 
 may add, that on mentioning our work and our unanimous 
 conclusions to Professor Barbosa du Bocage, the well-known 
 ornithologist and indefatigable director of the museum at Lisbon, 
 to whose courtesy I was indebted for much information and assist- 
 ance, he not only entirely concurred with us, but declared that it 
 was impossible for anyone to examine the throat and neck of an 
 adult male Otis tar da without being convinced by his own 
 senses that such a pouch did exist. Even previously to removing 
 the skin of my bird, the position and size of the large goitre-like 
 excrescence standing out from the neck, though in great measure 
 concealed by feathers, could be plainly discerned ; and, when 
 handled, at once betrayed the soft, yielding nature of its sub- 
 stance.* Perhaps it may account for the apparently contradic- 
 tory opinions expressed above, if I state that the male Bustard 
 
 For an exhaustive treatise ' On the supposed Gular Pouch of the Male 
 Bustard,' by Professor Newton, see Ills, for 1862, pp. 107-127. See also 
 Ibis for 18G5, pp. 143-116. 
 
348 Struthionidce. 
 
 does not arrive at maturity till the fourth year, previous to which 
 no sign of the pouch is to be seen ; also that it is the opinion of 
 some well qualified by experience to judge, that it is only to be 
 found in the breeding season, after which it gradually diminishes 
 in size, till it is hardly perceptible in the winter. If this is (as I 
 believe) correct, and the presence of the gular pouch is confined 
 only to old male birds, and to them in the breeding season alone, 
 then its absence on examination of younger birds, and at other 
 periods of the year, is at once accounted for. 
 
 And now I come to the history, so far as I can ascertain it, 
 of the Great Bustard in Wiltshire ; observing by the way that in 
 other countries we can trace it back to very remote times, for its 
 form appears among the Egyptian hieroglyphics, and many well- 
 known ancient writers have thought it not unworthy of mention. 
 Athenseus, Plutarch, ^Elian,0ppian, Xenophon, Aristotle and Pliny, 
 are some of those who have described it, and though much fable 
 is mixed up with their accounts, the description is sufficiently 
 clear to enable us to identify the bird. But to pass from these 
 Bustards of ancient Greece and Asia, to those of ancient Britain, 
 when the Celtic tribes roamed over the downs, and Abury and 
 Stonehenge were in their glory, then this bird flourished on the 
 unbroken Plain, and doubtless revelled in the broadty-spreading 
 unreclaimed wastes throughout this county. Its name is pre- 
 served as ' Yr araf ehedydd ;' but to what extent it abounded, or 
 how far it was looked upon as game, or how much it was the 
 object of pursuit in those days of flint arrowheads, does not so 
 clearly appear. To come down, however, to a much later period, 
 from the earliest records we have of it in comparatively modern 
 days viz., three hundred years since the price it fetched proved 
 it to be no very common fowl. Indeed, I do not think it could 
 ever have been very plentiful in England : its large size and 
 the excellent meat it furnished must always have caused it to 
 be greatly sought after on account of its commercial value ; and 
 though it is puzzling to imagine how the sportsman of old 
 contrived to bring about its capture, that they did obtain it 
 somehow is certain, from the lists of game, and the bills of 
 
Great Bustard. 349 
 
 fare, and the prices of wild fowl which have come down to us, and 
 several of which are reproduced by Mr. Howard Saunders in the. 
 new edition of Yarrell. No species of game, however, in the. 
 sixteenth century seems to have been so highly esteemed and to, 
 have fetched a larger price than the Bustard, for the sum of ten 
 shillings at which it was valued represents a very high figure, if 
 we take into account the comparative value of money at that 
 period ; but, indeed, at the present day, the price of a Batarda, in 
 the market of Lisbon is generally equivalent to about two, 
 pounds, which will not be thought excessive, even in a country 
 where the bird is common, when we consider that it weighs. 
 SO lb., and that the meat, as I know by experience, is 
 excellent. So early as in 1534 (25 Henry VIII.) it was found 
 necessary to protect its eggs by law, ' upon paine of imprisonment, 
 for one yeare, and to lose and forfeit for every egge of any 
 Bustarde so taken or distroid xx pence, the one moitie thereof 
 to be to the King our Soveraigne lorde, and the other halfe to. 
 him that will sue for the same in forme aforesaide.'* Now to find 
 and take the egg of so large and conspicuous a bird was easy 
 enough for any idle fellow, but it must have required both skill 
 and patience to capture, even with the crossbow, so wild and sa 
 wary a bird, frequenting such open spots, where it was difficult ta 
 stalk them, and always on the alert for any surprise. Again, in 
 1712, an advertisement appeared in the Spectator announcing in 
 the market the seat of a deceased baronet, containing, in addition, 
 to fish-ponds, canals, etc., ' woods of large timber, wherein is gama 
 in great plenty, even to the Bustard and Pheasant.' And again, I 
 have now before me an autograph letter of the Duke of North^ 
 umberland, bearing date May 10th, 1753, addressed to Michael 
 Ewen, Esq., of Milton Lislebon, on the verge of Salisbury Plain, 
 thanking him very heartily for a fine Bustard he had sent him, 
 proving the bird at that date to be sufficiently rare to be sent as a 
 present to a nobleman. 
 
 But Wiltshire was always allowed to be the stronghold of the. 
 Great Bustard, and our wide downs/and especially Salisbury Plain, 
 
 Zoologist for 1886, p. 84. 
 
350 Struthionidoe. 
 
 were known to be its favourite haunts, and they are described as 
 such by most of our older ornithologists. In 1667, Merrett 
 notices that it was ' taken on Newmarket Heath and about 
 Salisbury.' In 1713, Ray thus describes its localities : ' In campis 
 spatiosis circa Novum Mercatum et Royston, oppida in agro 
 Cantabrigiensi, inque planitie, ut audio, Salisburiensi, et alibi in 
 vastis et apertis locis invenitur.' In 1771, "Dr. Brooks says of it, 
 1 This bird is bred in several parts of Europe, and particularly in 
 England, especially on Salisbury Plain, etc., for it delights in 
 large open places ; the flesh is in high esteem, and perhaps the 
 more so because it is not very easy to come at.' In 1775, Gilbert 
 White was told by a carter at a farm on the downs near Andover, 
 that twelve years previously he had seen a flock of eighteen of 
 these birds, but that since that time he had only seen two ; though 
 Gilbert White's correspondent, Pennant, would lead one to 
 suppose them far more common, for he says, 'in autumn these are 
 {in Wiltshire) generally found in large turnip-fields near the 
 downs, and in flocks of fifty or more/ 
 
 Up to this point, then, we may regard the Great Bustard, if not 
 very numerous (which from its size and its value it was not very 
 likely to be), as at any rate by no means a rare bird ; and doubtless 
 highly prized by our sporting forefathers was this pride of Wilt- 
 shire, this stately denizen of our plains. 
 
 Thus in the latter quarter of the eighteenth century, when 
 Montagu lived in Wiltshire, the Bustard was to be found in some 
 numbers on our downs, as that accurate naturalist says he has often 
 contemplated it there with much pleasure. It was, however, begin- 
 ning to get scarce, and was deemed worthy of protection by law, 
 .and yet must have been plentiful enough to be thought worth 
 the effort to preserve it. Accordingly we find that a statute was 
 enacted in 15 George III., c. 65 (A.D. 1775), whereby a close time 
 for breeding was set apart, and it was forbidden, under a penalty 
 of one pound, to takeBustards between March 1st and September 
 1st. However, the native Bustards of Wiltshire gradually but 
 .surely decreased in number, the said Act notwithstanding. 
 
 How long the native Bustards of Wiltshire lingered on, doubt- 
 
Great Bustard. 351 
 
 less sheltering themselves in the most retired spots they could 
 find, and gradually diminishing in number, is not very easy to 
 .ascertain; but from all the evidence I could gather, I have 
 reason to think they were not entirely exterminated quite so 
 early as has been surmised. Before, however, I proceed to record 
 the testimony of eye and ear witnesses of the occurrence of rare 
 specimens in Wiltshire in the early part of this century, I would 
 quote a very interesting paragraph, headed ' The Bustard of 
 Salisbury Plain/ which appeared in the Wiltshire Independent 
 in 1854, and was afterwards copied into the Times: 'There are 
 people now living in Wiltshire who recollect the time when it 
 was the custom of the Mayor of Salisbury to have a bustard as a 
 prominent dish at the annual inauguration feast ; and these 
 birds, once numerous on the wild and then uncultivated expanse 
 of Salisbury Plain, could at length only be shot by means of a 
 vehicle so covered by bushes and placed in their haunts as to 
 enable men therein concealed to bring them down at a long 
 range. For more than fifty years the Wiltshire Bustard has 
 been extinct, and the Mayor of Salisbury has been obliged to 
 forego his yearly delicacy.' I do not know who was the writer 
 of this curious and interesting passage, but he is certainly incor- 
 rect in stating that the Bustard had then been extinct in this 
 county ' for more than fifty years/ as I shall presently proceed 
 to show. Maton, in his ' Natural History of Wiltshire/ says : 
 * A very observant and credible person, of the name of Dew, 
 whom I knew as a sportsman in my younger days, informed me, 
 in the year 1796, that he once saw as many as seven or eight of 
 these birds together on the downs near Winterbourne Stoke; but 
 I have not met with anyone since who has actually seen the 
 Bustard in Wiltshire subsequently to that year/ Others, how- 
 ever, were more fortunate; and we have many published accounts 
 of it since that date, as we shall see further on. Bewick, writing 
 in 1797, says: 'Bustards were formerly more frequent in this 
 island than at present; they are now found only in the open 
 -countries of the south and east, in the plains of Wiltshire and 
 Dorsetshire, and in some parts of Yorkshire/ Daniel, in his 
 
352 Struthionidce. 
 
 'Kural Sports,' in the year 1800, recounts how Mr. Crouch, of 
 Burford, shot a hen Bustard on Salisbury Plain, with a common 
 fowling-piece and partridge-shot, at forty yards' distance ; and 
 adds that there were two other Bustards in company with the 
 one shot, neither of which appeared to be hurt. From this time, 
 however, the breed began to decline apace, and as cultivation 
 increased, and the Inclosure Acts came into force, and the downs 
 began to be broken up, and the waste lands to be reclaimed and 
 drained and, perhaps more than all, as the system of wheat- 
 hoeing in the spring became general the Bustards found it 
 more and more difficult to escape, and we hear only of stragglers 
 rarely encountered on the Wiltshire Downs. ' In 1801 ' (as 
 reported by Mr. Britton),* ' a man, about four o'clock of a fine 
 morning in June, was coming on horseback from Tinhead to 
 Tilshead, while at or near an inclosure called Asking's Penning, 
 one mile from, the village of Tilshead, he saw over his head, 
 about sixty yards high as near as he could estimate, a large bird, 
 which afterwards proved to be a Bustard. The bird alighted on 
 the ground immediately before the horse, which it indicated a 
 disposition to attack, and in fact very soon began the onset. 
 The man alighted, and getting hold of the bird, endeavoured to 
 secure it, and, after struggling with it nearly an hour, he suc- 
 ceeded, and brought it to Mr. J. Bartley, of Tilshead, to whose 
 house he was going. Not knowing the value of such a bird, he 
 offered it to Mr. Bartley as a present ; but Mr. Bartley declined 
 to accept it as such, though he much wished to have it ; and 
 after repeated solicitations, prevailed on the man to receive for 
 it a small sum, with which he was perfectly satisfied. During 
 the first week that Mr. Bartley had this bird in his possession, 
 it was not known to eat anything ; however, at length it became 
 very tame, and would at last receive its food from its patron's 
 hands, but still continued shy in the presence of strangers. Its 
 
 * I make no scruple of reproducing in txtenso this most interesting account 
 of a Wiltshire Bustard, which was communicated by our own Mr. Britton to 
 Mr. Yarrell, and which that accomplished ornithologist read before the 
 Linnasan Society, in January, 1853, in a paper ' On the Habits and Structure 
 of the Great Bustard/ 
 
Great Bustard. 353 
 
 principal food was birds, chiefly sparrows, which it swallowed 
 whole in the feathers with a great deal of avidity ; the flowers of 
 charlock and the leaves of rape formed also other parts of its 
 food mice it would likewise eat, and in short almost any other 
 animal substance. The food in passing into the stomach was 
 observed to go round the back part of the neck. Mr. Bartley is 
 of opinion that the idea of the Bustard's drinking is erroneous; 
 in support of which he says that, during the time this bird was 
 in his possession, which was from June till the August following, 
 it had not a drop of water given it, after two or three weeks at 
 first. This fact he considers as a proof that the generally 
 received opinion of the Bustard's drinking is untrue. This bird 
 was judged to weigh upwards of twenty pounds, and to measure 
 between the extremities of its wings when extended about five 
 feet, and its height was about three and a half feet. Its plumage 
 was beautiful, and from its gait, which was extremely majestic, 
 a spectator would be led to infer that it was sensible of its own 
 superiority over others of the feathered tribe. In August, Mr. 
 Bartley sold this noble bird to Lord Temple for the sum of thirty 
 guineas. The Bustard inhabits the extensive downs of Salisbury 
 Plain, but its race is now almost extirpated. It is thought that 
 not more than three or four are now remaining. Some time in 
 the last summer (viz., 1801), while Mr. Bartley had this bird in 
 his possession, a nest supposed to belong to this bird, or at least 
 to its mate, for Mr. Bartley 's bird was judged to be a male was 
 found in a wheat-field on Market Lavington Down. It contained 
 two eggs ; they sometimes lay three, though very seldom : they 
 are about the size of those of a goose, of a pale olive-brown, with 
 small spots of a darker hue. The nest was made upon the 
 ground by scratching a hole in the earth, and lined with a little 
 grass. The eggs Avere rotten, and had probably undergone a 
 period of incubation. 
 
 ' An instance of a Bustard attacking a human being, or even a 
 brute animal of any considerable size, was, I believe, never before 
 heard of, and that two instances of this kind should occur so 
 nearly together may be considered very remarkable. About a 
 
 23 
 
Strutkiohidce. 
 
 fortnight subsequent to the taking of this bird, Mr. Grant, a 
 respectable farmer of Tilshead, was returning from Warminster 
 Market, and near Tilshead Lodge (which is something more than 
 half a mile from the village) was attacked in a similar manner, 
 by, as it is thought, the mate of the same bird. Mr. Grant's 
 horse being rather high-mettled, took fright, became un- 
 manageable, and ran off, and consequently Mr. Grant was com- 
 pelled to abandon his design of endeavouring to capture the 
 bird.' Such is the account communicated by Mr. Britton, and, 
 with reference to the bird kept by Mr. Bartley, I have further 
 learnt, through the kindness of the late Rev. E. Wilton, that it 
 was kept in a kind of staked cage, made for it in a little close 
 belonging to the house, and that several Bustards used to come 
 and congregate round their confined companion at that date, and 
 that people often used to hear them at night. The confined bird 
 is described to have been a kind of spotted turkey. At that date 
 the good people of Tilshead affirm there were many Bustards 
 haunting the flat between that village and Shrewton ; they were 
 also in some abundance near what was long known as the 
 Bustard Inn. Mr. Coleman, of Tilshead, said he perfectly recol- 
 lected how horses travelling over the plain were known to shy 
 at the noise of the Bustards. The late Mr. Robert Pinckney, of 
 Berwick St. James, bore witness that during his occupation of 
 Mr. Duke's farm at Lake the Bustard used to make its nest 
 every year in the water-meadows belonging to the estate, and was 
 disturbed annually by the mowers. Again, Mr. Compton, of East- 
 cott, described as a great sportsman and bird-studier, was known 
 to have shot two of these birds: while an old whip of Squire 
 Tinker's, carried nolens volens down a steep 'linchet' in the 
 ardour of the chase, almost rode over two Bustards, and could 
 have struck them with his whip, had he been prepared to en- 
 counter such tenants of the linchet's base : he said ' they were 
 spotted all's one as a pheasant.' Mr. William Wyndham, of 
 Dinton, informs me that his grandfather saw a hen Bustard on 
 the wing at Uphaven on November 27th, 1801. Mr. B. Hay ward, 
 of Easterton, near Devizes, more than once recounted to me that 
 
Great Bustard. 355 
 
 the keeper at West Lavington often told him that when a boy, 
 as he was on the downs with his father and the dogs, they came 
 upon a young Bustard which he caught ; but as it was only partly 
 grown, his father made him put it down again, saying it would 
 be better worth taking in a fortnight, at the end of which time 
 they came up again, found, and took it. This shows the wildness 
 of the downs at that time, but little of them being cultivated. 
 Again, the father of the late Rev. R Ashe, of Langley Burrell 
 was riding in 1806 from Broad Hinton to Chisledon, when he 
 rode down what he then conjectured, and afterwards ascertained, 
 to be a young Bustard : having farther to go, he got off his 
 horse, and tied its feet with a pocket-handkerchief, and left it in 
 a hole in a ploughed field; but on his return, to his chagrin, 
 both the bird and handkerchief were missing. Another Bustard 
 was killed in the early part of the present century at Langley, 
 and came into the fine collection of Mr. Warriner of Conock. 
 This Wiltshire specimen, and a very fine one it is, may be seen 
 with the rest of the collection, deposited in the Museum at 
 Devizes. In 1802 Colonel Montagu, in his 'Dictionary of British 
 Birds,' observed that the Bustard is only found upon the large 
 extensive plains, and that the species is almost extinct, except 
 upon those of Wiltshire, where they had become very scarce 
 within these few years/ In 1812, the editor of the last edition 
 of Pennant says, ' The breed is now nearly extirpated, except on 
 the Downs of Wiltshire, where it is also very scarce.' In the 
 same year, 1812, in the month of June or July, a flock of seven 
 was seen when he was a boy of nine or ten years of age, and on 
 his way from Salisbury to Great Bedwyn, by the Rev. W. 
 Quekett, Rector of Warrington, and whose graphic account I 
 printed in the seventeenth volume of the Wiltshire Magazine, 
 p. 127. After this I have no record with positive date on which 
 I can rely of any native Wiltshire Bustard ; but I have had many 
 statements to which I listened attentively, from thirty to forty 
 years ago, from old shepherds, farmers, and labourers, several of 
 whom could well recollect seeing these birds on the downs in 
 their early days, but from whom I could obtain no reliable in- 
 
 232 
 
356 Struthionidce. 
 
 formation as to date ; for the Wiltshire countryman, good honest 
 soul, is not observant of detail, and as to dates he ignores them 
 altogether; 'a long whiles ago' conveniently covering half a 
 century. However, by putting together the information I gained 
 from many sources, and by comparing the several statistics which 
 I thought reliable, I arrived at the opinion (perhaps somewhat 
 indistinct and hesitating) that our Wiltshire Bustard lingered on 
 till about the year 1820. I should add, however, that this is 
 somewhat later than the date of its extinction as given by 
 Montagu, who, in the Supplement to his Dictionary, published in 
 1813, says, ' We were informed by the shepherds that they had 
 not been seen for the last two or three years in their favourite 
 haunts on the Wiltshire Downs, where we had often con- 
 templated this bird with pleasure.' And Selby, in his ' Illustra- 
 tions of Ornithology/ published in 1825, 'unable on repeated 
 inquiry to hear of the reappearance of a single Bustard, since 
 the days of Montagu, even in its most favourite haunts/ pro- 
 nounces ' the breed to be extinct upon our extensive downs, of 
 which it once formed the appropriate ornament.' But Graves 
 (whose figure of the Great Bustard was drawn from a male bird 
 taken alive on Salisbury Plain in 1797, and kept for three years 
 in confinement, when it died) says in the third volume of his 
 'British Ornithology/ in 1821, 'The enclosing and cultivating 
 those extensive downs and heaths in various parts of Great 
 Britain, on which formerly this noble species was seen in large 
 flocks, threatens within a few years to extirpate the Bustard 
 from this country ; instead of being met with in flocks of forty or 
 fifty birds, it is a circumstance of rare occurrence that a single 
 individual is now seen/ 
 
 Thus has this noble species, once so common in our county, 
 dwindled and died away, and now, alas ! is no more to be ac- 
 counted a resident throughout the kingdom. Like the American 
 Indian, the poor Bustard has had no chance against the march of 
 civilization, but has rapidly retired before the advancing plough- 
 share, till the race (once so free to rove over its vast and retired 
 solitudes as it listed) dwindled one by one, and the last survivor 
 
Great Bustard. 357 
 
 was no more. Probably there are few, if any, now living in the 
 county who can recollect having seen the native Bustard on 
 Salisbury Plain, though many must have listened over and over 
 again to the tidings which their fathers and grandfathers gave of 
 their experiences with this noble species, even as I have heard 
 my father-in-law, the late Rev. T. T. Upwood, recount how some- 
 where about the year 1820, and on his own estate in Norfolk, he 
 came unexpectedly upon a pack of seven or eight of these huge 
 birds, and was probably one of the last in the kingdom to fire 
 upon so large a flock. He must not, however, be branded as an 
 oticide, perhaps in the eyes of some as odious an appellation as 
 that of regicide, or even vulpecide ! for however anxious his 
 desire to secure a specimen for his collection, and though 
 generally an unerring shot, he was so unnerved by the sudden 
 uprising of so many great birds, and the noise of so many wings, 
 that he clean missed with both barrels, and the flock was gone, 
 and never found again. 
 
 It was at about this date that a story, which I believe is 
 authentic, was told of a well-known sportsman not a hundred 
 miles from Codford, in the south of this county, who had invited 
 a party of neighbours to shoot partridges on his well-stocked 
 estate on the 1st of September. But, as it chanced, he had two 
 nephews staying with him at the time, who he thought would be 
 a hindrance to the day's sport if they accompanied him : so, to 
 employ them in another direction, he bade them take their guns 
 and go out on the Plain ' Bustard-shooting ;' with which they in 
 their simplicity at once acquiesced, to the no small amusement 
 of the uncle and his friends. But when the partridge-shooters 
 returned at the end of the day's sport to the house of the host* 
 they found the two lads had already arrived ; and to the ironical 
 inquiry of the uncle, 'Well, boys, what sport have you had 
 Bustard-shooting?' they replied, ' Oh, pretty fair ; we followed a 
 good many, and succeeded in killing two.' At this there was a 
 general laugh, as the sportsmen speculated what birds the lads 
 could have found ; and to satisfy their curiosity, though without 
 a suspicion of the truth, both uncle and friends followed the 
 
358 Struthionidce. 
 
 youths to the back of the house, where their game was deposited : 
 and there, sure enough (to the utter surprise, and admiration, 
 and envy of all), the bodies of two fine Great Bustards met their 
 eyes. Then the laugh was indeed on the side of the boys, for to 
 have killed one of those grand birds, now very nearly extinct in 
 the county, both uncle and his friends would have sacrificed 
 almost anything within their power. 
 
 For more than a quarter of a century after the extinction of the 
 native Bustard in Wiltshire, I have no trace of the visit of a 
 straggler to this county ; but within the last forty years our 
 downs have been visited by it on three occasions, viz., in 1849, 
 1856, and in 1871, which I now proceed to describe seriatim. 
 On August 31st, 1849, Mr. Waterhouse, of the British Museum, 
 a well-known naturalist, was returning with a party of friends 
 from Stonehenge, at about seven in the evening, when a Great 
 Bustard rose and flew with a heavy but tolerably rapid flight, 
 at about twenty feet above the ground. It was very wild, and 
 would not sufler itself to be approached ; though when it rose on 
 the wing it pitched again two or three times before it flew over 
 the brow of a hill and was seen no more. Mr. Waterhouse never 
 entertained any doubt of the species, and had a clear view of the 
 bird for about ten minutes. Judging from its size he conjectured 
 it to be a female* 
 
 The next visit of this species to Wiltshire occurred on January 
 3rd, 1856, when one of Lord Ailesbury's keepers named King, 
 seeing a large bird which he could not recognise, but supposed 
 to be an eagle, flying over a part of Marlborough Forest called 
 Henswood, fired a cartridge at it, though on account of the 
 distance had little expectation of reaching it. He was not, there- 
 fore, disappointed to see the bird continue its flight, apparently 
 unharmed, and went his way thinking no more of the matter. 
 Subsequently, and apparently only a day or two after, a little boy 
 of not more than seven years old saw a large bird, crippled with a 
 broken leg, and succeeded in capturing it; and the following is his 
 own description of the occurrence, taken at the time from his own 
 * See Zcologut for 1849. p. 2590. 
 
Great Bustard. 359 
 
 lips, and obligingly communicated to me by Mr. W. H. Rowland, 
 of Hungerford, who afterwards purchased the bird : ' I was going 
 to Starve-all Farm with my brother's dinner about twelve o'clock, 
 and passing along the edge of a field of turnips I saw a great red 
 bird laid down and fluttering away ; he was close to the side 
 of the turnips, and as I went up to him he tried to flutter away. 
 Then he came at me and bit my fingers, but did not hurt me 
 much ; and as he put out his great wings, I caught hold of one 
 and dragged him along, pretty near a quarter of a mile, up to 
 "Starve-all," where a man broke his neck. The bird was not 
 dirty when I first saw him, but I made him so pulling him 
 along the field ; he made a terrible row with his wings on the 
 barn floor, after his neck was broken. One of the men put the 
 bird on my back, and I held his head in my hand, and carried 
 him home to mother ; he was main heavy, and I couldn't scarce 
 get along with him.' So far we have the account of the brave 
 little captor of this Great Bustard, but it appears farther that 
 there was a council of war held over the bird (when the boy first 
 took it into the barn alive) by all the labourers, who were just at 
 that time assembled at dinner, and it was very nearly decided to 
 pick it and dress it then and there, but the boy's brother claimed 
 it for him, so one of the men killed it, that the boy might carry it 
 home better. Later in the day, as two young men out shooting 
 passed her cottage, the mother of the young Bustard-catcher 
 invited them to come in and see what a bird she had got, when 
 one of them offered her sixpence for it, then eightpence, and 
 ultimately bought it for one shilling, with the promise that the 
 woman should have the carcase after the bird was skinned; 
 but its purchase by Mr. Rowland prevented the fulfilment of 
 that part of the bargain. The dragging across the field by the 
 boy, and the rough handling of the man at the barn seriously 
 injured its feathers, but owing to the care and skill of Mr. Lead- 
 beater, its deficiencies were cleverly repaired, and it was pro- 
 nounced by Mr. Yarrell, who examined it, a good specimen. The 
 latter gentleman was extremely anxious to procure the neck for 
 dissection, that he might satisfy himself in regard to the gular 
 
30 Struthionidce. 
 
 pouch, and was much disappointed to find that all the soft parts 
 required had been irrecoverably destroyed. Mr. Leadbeater, 
 however, ascertained that it was a young male, in the second 
 year only, and it was without the whiskers so conspicuous in the 
 adult male. In all probability, therefore, it would have had 
 no gular pouch. Though in a poor emaciated condition when 
 captured, it weighed 13J lb., and measured from tip to tip 
 of the wings 6 feet 3 inches. How so large, powerful, 
 and pugnacious a bird should suffer itself to be mastered by 
 a boy of tender age, seems strange at first sight ; but if we take 
 into account the broken leg (the wound in which seemed to be a 
 stale one of some days' standing), and its consequent exhaustion 
 from loss of blood, and if we suppose the boy to have caught 
 hold of the left wing, on the same side as the broken leg, we can 
 easily conceive how the bird was rendered powerless, and could 
 not recover itself to offer resistance. How it came by the broken 
 leg has been also much disputed, the limb not being shattered as 
 if by shot, but the bone broken off as if by ball, and the fracture 
 being too high up to have been caused by a trap. Mr. Yarrell 
 suggested the probability of the accident occurring by the bird 
 getting its leg entangled among the bars of a sheep-hurdle, and 
 making efforts to get loose ; but ever since I gained intelligence 
 of the keeper's shot with a cartridge, I have come to the conclu- 
 sion that that shot took effect, and that the bird so fired at, and 
 that caught subsequently by the little boy, were one and the 
 same ; and therefore Henswood (the scene of the keeper's shot) 
 being in Wiltshire, I claim this bird as a bond fide Wiltshire 
 specimen, though I own it was so misguided as to cross the border 
 to die just within the county of Berks. I am happy to add that, 
 by Mr. Marsh's desire, I purchased this specimen for his collection, 
 though at the high price of 20, and it may now be seen with the 
 rest of his birds in the museum at Salisbury.* And now we pass 
 by an interval of fifteen years during which no trace exists of the 
 
 * See Mr. Yarrell's account of the capture of this specimen in the Zoolo- 
 gist for 1856, p. 4995 ; and further particulars communicated by me in th e 
 sa me A olume, p. 5061. 
 
Great Bustard. 361 
 
 visit of a Great Bastard to Wiltshire ; and in all that time but 
 two stragglers are reported to have been seen in the British Isles, 
 viz., one in Yorkshire in 1864, and one in Norfolk in 1867; but 
 in 1871 there was quite an immigration to England of Great 
 Bustards, which were said by some to have been driven across the 
 Channel through alarm at the heavy firing in France during the 
 Franco-German War ; but whatever the motive which impelled 
 them, it is certain that quite a numerous body came over to this 
 country, and specimens were obtained in Middlesex, in Northum- 
 berland, in Devonshire, in Somersetshire, and in Wiltshire. 
 
 As regards those which visited this county, I have to thank 
 many kind correspondents for early information on the subject, 
 and I now proceed to put together the story as I have gathered 
 it from the several accounts with which I have been furnished. 
 The Rev. Canon F. Bennett, Rector of Maddington and Shrewton, 
 wrote under date January 27th, 1871, ' You will be interested in 
 hearing that the Bustards have returned to the Plain. A flock 
 of seven large birds, thought to be wild geese, had been observed 
 on the downs, and no particular notice was taken of them. On 
 Monday last, however (23rd inst.), Stephen Smith, who was bird- 
 keeping near the Tile Barn, on the Manor Farm, in this parish, 
 saw four of these large strange birds flying low, and he killed 
 one of them at the distance of 132 yards with the marble with 
 which his gun was loaded. The three other birds are, I 
 believe, still about. The bird which was killed is a hen 
 Bustard, and it has been presented by Mr. Lywood, the tenant 
 of the Manor Farm, to the Salisbury and South Wilts Mu- 
 seum.' The Rev. Canon Goddard, Vicar of Hilmarton, also 
 kindly wrote to me under date January 28th : ' My son Edward 
 reports that on the railway en route to Winchester there was on 
 Wednesday last a man with the body of a Great Bustard killed at 
 Maddington, one of the three seen there.' That of course would 
 be the bird whose capture Canon Bennett reported. And a third 
 notice I had from the late Mr. E. T. Stevens of Salisbury, for 
 some time my colleague as Hon. Sec. to the Wiltshire Archaeo- 
 logical and Natural History Society, who wrote on January 25th, 
 
362 Struthionidce. 
 
 1 You will be pleased to hear of the appearance of the Bustard 
 in Wiltshire. Three were seen on Sunday last by Mr. Lywood, 
 near Shrewton, and on Monday his bird- keeper, Stephen Smith, 
 shot one of them. The bird is a female, small, but in good 
 plumage ; weight not quite 71 lb. ; length from point of beak to 
 end of tail, 31 inches ; and from tip to tip of wings, 62 inches. It 
 was shot on the Yarnborough side of the Maddington Valley, and 
 was on the wing with its companions flying about twenty yards 
 above the ground. After it fell, one of the survivors wheeled 
 round the spot, not more than fifteen yards from the man's head. 
 The crop was quite empty. The skin is now being preserved for 
 the Salisbury Museum/ A second letter from Mr. Stevens, 
 dated February 2nd, informed me that he and nine others had 
 met ' to partake of the body of this bird from curiosity, and that 
 it was pronounced extremely tender and good, the breast like 
 plover, the thigh not unlike good pheasant.' My next witness is 
 Mr. Frederick Stratton, of Gore Cross Farm, on the Lavington 
 Downs, a keen observer of birds, with whom I have from time to 
 time had ornithological correspondence. He writes under date 
 January 26th : ' Having been confined to the house for several 
 weeks in consequence of an attack of bronchitis, I ventured out 
 on horseback on Monday last, the weather having become a little 
 milder, and I saw near New Copse a bird of which I cannot refrain 
 from giving you some account, and which I have no hesitation in 
 pronouncing to be a Great Bustard. I disturbed it on the edge of 
 a piece of swedes, and it seemed to use its wings with great 
 facility, flying somewhat after the manner of the Great Plover, 
 which hereabouts is generally though erroneously called the 
 " Curlew." The wings also seemed barred with white, somewhat in 
 the same way as those of that bird, only it was ten or twelve 
 times larger. I watched it alight on the ground, after a flight of 
 seven or eight hundred yards, and while I remained in sight, 
 it seemed intent on watching my movements. I was compelled to 
 ride home quickly, as the snow had begun to fall ; but I sent 
 directly to a neighbour, and asked him to shoot it if possible ; 
 but though he was fortunate enough to see it twice, he could not 
 
Great Bustard. 363 
 
 get within 80 or 100 yards, and failed to secure it. He describes 
 it as running with considerable swiftness, and agrees with me 
 in thinking that its wings would stretch at least 6 feet. It 
 appeared to be feeding in a strip of the thousand-headed cabbage, 
 the stalks of which were very long, thus affording, at the same 
 time, both food and shelter.' 
 
 Two days after the capture of the Maddington Bustard 
 viz., on Wednesday, January 25th, as I learnt from a second 
 letter from Mr. Stevens, as well as from several other kind 
 friends another Great Bustard was shot in the parish of Berwick 
 St. James, very near Maddington. Two birds were seen to- 
 gether on the estate of Mr. William Pinckney, and were watched 
 through a glass as they were feeding in a turnip-field. As they 
 seemed remarkably shy and suspicious,, precautions were taken 
 to circumvent them ; and by a little manoeuvring, and by placing 
 men so as to drive them in the required direction, one of them 
 a fine male was shot in the wing, and so crippled as to be easily 
 taken. It weighed nearly 10 lb., stood upwards of 3 feet in 
 height, and measured from the point of the beak to the end of 
 tail 44 inches, and across the wings 6 feet 8 inches. The female 
 might also have been captured, but in the excitement of the 
 moment was allowed to escape, and she went off in the direction 
 of Chitterne. 
 
 It cannot be doubted that the female shot at Maddington on 
 January 23rd and its three companions, and the solitary bird 
 seen at Gore Cross on the same day by Mr. Stratton, and the fine 
 male killed at Berwick on January 25th, and its companion 
 which escaped, would all belong to the original flock of seven 
 which had been observed, but no particular notice taken of 
 them, on the Maddington Downs, and which had become 
 scattered into several small parties, and dispersed over the 
 neighbouring downs. 
 
 It was not, I am afraid, a very hospitable reception which 
 these Great Bustards met with, on coming to visit the original 
 haunts of their relatives ; and if any of them survived and 
 returned across the Channel to their own quarters they would 
 
364 Struthionidce. 
 
 give but a sorry account of the welcome they met with here. 
 Far different was the hospitality offered by my friend Mr. 
 Upcher, when a fine male bird made its appearance on his 
 property at Feltwell, in Norfolk, in 1876 ; for he not only took 
 the utmost pains to secure it from molestation and intrusion, 
 but procured from Lord Lilford a female companion, which he 
 turned down on the spot, in hopes he might induce it to remain 
 and perhaps breed on his property : but all his efforts were most 
 unfortunately frustrated by exceptionally severe weather and 
 most violent storms, which resulted in the death of the hen 
 bird and the departure of the male.* All honour, however, to 
 him who did his best to protect and provide for the stranger, 
 instead of attacking it the moment it appeared and hunting it 
 to death, as was done in Wiltshire and other counties whenever 
 it made its appearance. At all events, during the sixteen years 
 which have elapsed since the last memorable visit to Wiltshire 
 we have seen no more of this bird, at once the largest, the noblest, 
 and the most highly prized of all our British birds ; and for 
 which our county was so notorious, as the principal stronghold 
 of what once stood at the head of the game list. 
 
 133. LITTLE BUSTARD (Otis tetrax). 
 
 I have no hesitation in admitting this interesting species into 
 our Wiltshire list, on the authority of the Right Hon. E. P. 
 Bouverie, of the Manor House, Market Lavington, who is a keen 
 observer of birds, and who fell in with two of this species on 
 August 6th, 1877, and on returning home was so good as to 
 favour me with the following account of what he had seen : c I 
 was riding with some friends on Monday, August 6th, on the 
 Plain above Netheravon, and my attention was attracted by a 
 large strange bird, which rose off a fallow about 100 yards from 
 me ; a second rose immediately afterwards and flew in a different 
 direction, 150 yards on to the down adjoining, and then ran, 
 
 See account in Zoologist for 1876, p. 4882, also a more full account, with 
 illustrations, in the Field during February, 1876. 
 
Little Bastard. 365 
 
 very fast, a short distance. I pursued : it rose again and took 
 another short flight, and alighted again, ran a short way, and 
 then crouched. I pursued it again : it ran on, and then took flight 
 and swung round us at about 200 or 250 yards distance, so as to be 
 quite observable, with head outstretched. I have no doubt they 
 were a pair of Lesser Bustards. I have looked at the plates in 
 Bewick and Yarrell, and they correspond most closely especially 
 the latter with the appearance of the one we followed. Its size 
 and flight, as described by McGillivray, correspond exactly with 
 our observation: the size that of a large pheasant, or say a 
 blackcock ; the flight peculiar, with neck stretched out. The 
 head when the bird squatted, and the markings as it flew by, 
 were exactly like the plates. In short, apart from the evidence 
 afforded by handling them, there is the strongest proof that the 
 Lesser Bustard was on the Plain.' Mr. Bouverie is well ac- 
 quainted with the ' Great Plover ' or ' Stone Curlew/ the only 
 species with which they could be confused, and was satisfied 
 that the birds he saw were not of that species ; so that I have 
 no doubt he was correct in deciding that they were veritable 
 Little Bustards. 
 
 Not nearly so conclusive is another notice of its occurrence 
 with which the Kev. A. P. Morres furnished me ; for as its 
 authenticity rests on an anonymous contribution to a local 
 newspaper, it can only be received with extreme caution. The 
 writer, however, certainly seems to speak with some apparent 
 acquaintance with the bird, and it is much to be regretted that 
 he so seriously impaired the value of his information by with- 
 holding the authority of his name. He says : ' Hiding on the 
 old driftway which leads from Salisbury to Everleigh, when near 
 the latter place, at the back of Sidbury Hill, on the open down, 
 I came suddenly on a pair of Bustards. I know the birds per- 
 fectly, having seen them on the plains near Casa Yischeu, half- 
 way between Cadiz and Gibraltar, in the South of Spain. There 
 are two sorts : the greater and lesser. It was a pair of the 
 Lesser Bustards I saw this day. Meeting an old man shortly 
 after, I inquired if he had ever seen such a thing. His answer 
 
366 Struthionidce. 
 
 was, " I am seventy- two, and never have ; but I have heard my 
 father speak of them as having been quite common in his 
 youth." I hope no sportsman or naturalist will think it neces- 
 sary to shoot them, as they may breed. Viator, April 4, 1867.' 
 Mr. Morres is not disposed to put much credence in this account, 
 because of the late date assigned to their appearance, whereas 
 the visits of this bird to the British Isles are generally in late 
 autumn or winter ; but, for my part, I do not think the Little 
 Bustard is so rare in this country as some imagine, though, as a 
 shy, timid bird, and a lover of solitary places, it keeps as far as 
 possible from the haunts of man. Mr. Howard Saunders says 
 that altogether between sixty and seventy have been recorded 
 as visitors to the British Islands.* These are all specimens which 
 have been duly reported and chronicled at headquarters; but 
 nobody can tell how many others may have escaped notice, or, 
 at all events, have lacked an historian or biographer to report 
 their capture. Certainly it does not include three specimens 
 which were shot on different occasions in the north of Norfolk, 
 near Lynn, by my father-in-law, the Rev. T. T. Upwood, two of 
 which are still in the collection which he left at his seat, Lovell's 
 Hall, in the parish of Terrington, and the third is in my own 
 collection in Wiltshire. These occurrences, however, took place 
 between forty and fifty years ago, when the neighbourhood of 
 the Wash presented a much wilder aspect than it does now, and 
 when ornithological prizes were continually met with, the very 
 mention of which makes the collectors' mouth water in these 
 degenerate days. 
 
 I found this species extremely common in Portugal ; indeed, 
 it is constantly served at table under the title of ' Pheasant/ 
 So plentiful is it that the markets were daily supplied with it in 
 some numbers, and its abundance is manifest from the price I 
 paid for the finest adult male I could select, amounting to no 
 more than 200 reis, which, however large the figure may seem to 
 the uninitiated in Portuguese coinage, represents only tenpence 
 halfpenny of our money. In skinning this and other specimens 
 Fourth edition of YarrelPs 'British Birds,' vol. iii., p. 218. 
 
Little Bustard. 367 
 
 I found a considerable cellular fatty deposit very thickly cover- 
 ing the interior of the skin of the neck, more especially at the 
 back of it. This I had to remove very carefully and patiently, 
 bit by bit, with the scalpel. It gave the neck a very thick ap- 
 pearance, and when felt from the outside was soft, somewhat as 
 in the pouch of 0. tarda ; but in this case there was no trace of 
 pouch or sac.* 
 
 In habits, localities it frequents, and food, it very much re- 
 sembles its larger congener. In Algeria it is known as ' Poule 
 de Carthage.' At the breeding season it pours forth its cry of 
 prut, prut, jumping up at the conclusion of each strain or call, 
 and striking the ground in a peculiar manner on its descent.-)- 
 For an interesting account of the manner in which sportsmen 
 hunt the Little Bustard on the steppes or prairies of the Do- 
 brudscha, and how they circumvent these wily birds by approach- 
 ing them under cover of an araba, I would refer my readers to 
 an able article by Mr. W. H. Simpson.j In France it is Outarde 
 canepetiere ; in Germany, Kleine Trappe ; in Sweden, Liten- 
 Trapp ; in Italy, Gallina pratarola, ' meadow-hen ;' in Spain, 
 Sison, and in Portugal, Cizdo, both meaning ' pilferer.' Tetrax 
 may possibly mean ' a cackler/ or perhaps it is a Persian word 
 (B.O.U.). 
 
 ' Spring Tour in Portugal,' p. 208. 
 
 f Fourth edition of YarrelFs ' British Birds,' vol. iii., p. 218. 
 
 t Ibis for 1861, p. 370. 
 
THE BIRDS OF WILTSHIRE. 
 
 WATER BIRDS. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 GRALLATORES (WADERS). 
 
 IT might be supposed at first sight that, in a county so deficient 
 in large sheets of water as ours confessedly is, the fourth great 
 Order of birds, comprising the Waders, would be but scantily 
 represented. When, however, it is considered that a large pro- 
 portion of this numerous class is apt at certain periods of the 
 year not only to retire inland, but to frequent large open plains, 
 however distant from lakes and rivers, as well as secluded 
 valleys, watered by diminutive streams, it is evident that our 
 wide-spreading downs, and the rich valleys which intersect and 
 border them, offer attractions sufficiently tempting to many of 
 this Order, and the consequence is that the list of Wiltshire 
 Waders is by no means a scanty or a meagre one. 
 
 This class of birds may be said to occupy a middle space 
 between the Ground birds last described, which are truly terres- 
 trial, and the next Order, which contains the Swimmers, or true 
 Waterfowl. The Waders known in the British Isles are com- 
 prised within six families, the Plovers, the Cranes, the Herons, the 
 Snipes, the Rails, and the little family of Lobe-footed birds ; and 
 in this list we shall again remark the gradual advancement 
 towards the true water-birds : those which stand at the head of 
 the list being in many respects nearly related to the game-birds 
 
 24 
 
370 Charadriadce. 
 
 which they succeed, while those at the farther end approach 
 both in conformation and in habits very closely to the great 
 Order of Swimmers which follows them. The general name 
 assigned to them of ' Grallatores ' signifies ' walkers on stilts,' 
 and describes at once the characteristic for which they are con- 
 spicuous the great length of leg, which enables them to wado 
 in the shallows and marshes, whether on the sea-coast or on the 
 banks of fresh-water lakes and rivers. Combined with this 
 peculiar length of leg, we shall see a proportionate length of 
 neck or beak, or both together, by means of which they can 
 secure the food which they find in the shallow-water or mud- 
 banks in which they delight ; and in the more typical members 
 of the Order we shall find the toes of great length, and partially 
 connected with a membrane, by which they are the better 
 enabled to traverse the soft oozy ground where their prey is 
 most abundant, and to seek their food on the slimy mud into 
 which their bodies would otherwise sink. They are generally 
 provided with powerful wings, and their flight is rapid as well as 
 strong. Their food consists almost, if not quite, entirely of 
 animal substances, of which the lower classes of reptiles, fishes, 
 molluscs, worms, and other invertebrate creatures form the 
 principal portion. They are generally of shy and timid nature, 
 ever on the alert for danger, and avoid the too near approach of 
 man. 
 
 CHARADRIAD.E (THE PLOVERS). 
 
 Closely allied to the Bustards last described, and with the 
 same peculiar formation of foot, from which the hind toe is 
 absent, the large family of Plovers stands at the head of the 
 Waders. Their legs are of moderate length, and their beaks of 
 comparative shortness, as become those which connect the land 
 and water birds ; thus, too, they can, on the one hand, run with 
 considerable swiftness, and, on the other hand, they can fly with 
 great rapidity, and prolong their flight almost indefinitely. 
 Being generally late, if not nocturnal feeders, they are furnished 
 with large full eyes, which, with a corresponding expansion of 
 
Pratincole. 371 
 
 socket, give the head a bulky appearance, which is quite charac- 
 teristic of the family. When in repose (and I have often seen 
 them standing asleep) the neck is shortened, and the head drawn 
 down between the shoulders, reminding one of a hunchback. 
 The large majority of them lay four eggs on the ground; and 
 when an intruder appears in the neighbourhood, the male whirls 
 about and feigns lameness, and practises sundry manoauvres to 
 draw away attention, until the female has stolen away from the 
 nest unperceived. They compose a very large family, and some 
 of the species may be found in every part of the world. During 
 the greater portion of the year they congregate in large flocks, 
 and most of them migrate, or partially migrate, retiring to the 
 sea-coast when frost sets in, as is the case with many other birds. 
 The word Charadrius is the Latinised form of %apa$pi6<;, in 
 classical Greek signifying 'a bird dwelling in clefts or river 
 valleys/ xapdSpai. (B.O.U.), though how far this description of 
 locality suits the family of Plovers I must leave the Greek 
 authors to explain. Our English word ' Plover ' is derived from 
 the French Pluvier, ' the Bain-bird.' Wedgewood remarks that 
 the German name, too, is Regenpfeifer, ' the Rain-piper ' (Skeat). 
 
 134. PRATINCOLE (Glareola torquata). 
 
 It is highly satisfactory to me that I am able to head my list 
 of Wiltshire Waders with this extremely rare visitor to Great 
 Britain, and that satisfaction is much enhanced by the circum- 
 stance that the individual in question has found its way into my 
 collection through the kindness of the gentleman who killed it. 
 As the bird is so very little known in this country, it may be of 
 interest if I extract from the pages of the Zoologist the whole 
 story of its capture, as I recorded it in that publication at the 
 time.* ' In the middle of November, 1852, when Mr. Hussey, of 
 Tilshead, was walking over his "land, the day being very rough 
 and cold, the wind blowing from the east, he saw a strange bird 
 descend near him with the velocity of lightning, and settle inside 
 a sheep-fold among the sheep. As Mr. Hussey chanced very 
 * Zoologist for 1853, p. 3843, et seq. 
 
 242 
 
372 Charadriadce. 
 
 fortunately to be an observer of birds, he immediately remarked 
 that this was one he had never seen before, and pointed it out to 
 his shepherd who was with him, desiring him to watch the bird 
 well while he returned to his home, at the distance of a mile, for 
 his gun. Before he went, however, he saw the bird suddenly 
 rise from the ground, and after a short flight of the most marvel- 
 lous velocity, return again to the fold, where it seemed to enjoy 
 the shelter from the bleak east wind, and to care nothing for the 
 presence of the sheep, the men and the dogs. This short 
 excursionary flight was renewed several times, which made Mr. 
 Hussey hesitate whether he should take the trouble to return 
 home on so remote a chance of still finding on his return so 
 singularly restless and swift a bird ; however, as the bird always 
 came back to the same spot after each successive excursion, Mr. 
 Hussey hesitated no longer, but hurried home for his gun, 'giving 
 strict charge to the shepherd to keep quiet, and on no account 
 to lose sight of the bird. Now the shepherds of Salisbury Plain 
 (in the midst of the bleakest part of which the parish of Tilshead 
 lies) are not remarkable for their sharpness ; indeed, I fear we 
 must own them to be the perfection of all that is dull, heavy, 
 and ignorant ; no wonder, then, that a bird so very rapid in its 
 movements as the Collared Pratincole should soon elude the slow 
 gaze of the heavy-eyed Argus, and that on Mr. Hussey's return, 
 in answer to his inquiries as to the whereabouts of the strange 
 bird, he should be met with the provoking reply " Doant knaw, 
 zur ; he flee'd away so terrible sudden that I could'n zee 'en 
 nowhere, I could'n : I never zee sech a bird to flee." Upon this, 
 it may be supposed that Mr. Hussey walked on somewhat dis- 
 appointed, when, in a moment, at the distance of about thirty 
 yards, up sprang the bird, and was darting off at a prodigious 
 rate, but a well-aimed shot laid it dead on the ground. On 
 picking it up, the long wings and forked tail caused Mr. Hussey 
 and others to suppose it to belong to the Swallow tribe ; and the 
 dull- eyed shepherd, seeing no brilliant hues in the dead bird, as 
 if to excuse his slowness, exclaimed with a sneer of contempt, 
 "Well, zur, 'taint much of a bird, arter all, I'm zure." ' In 
 
Pratincole. 373 
 
 addition to the above narrative, Mr. Hussey tells me that ' the 
 land on which I found the bird was a stiff clay soil. I shot it 
 close to the sheep-fold, where there were sheep feeding off 
 turnips ; the bird appeared to be rather tame, but whether from 
 exhaustion or nature, I cannot tell.' 
 
 I have also a notice but an unsatisfactory one which I have 
 not been able to verify, and without detail of time or place or 
 circumstances, that a second specimen was killed at Avebury 
 about 1860. Possibly this notice may enable some traces of it 
 to be discovered. 
 
 The home of the Pratincole seems to be the steppes of Tartary 
 and the central parts of Asia ; but when we look at its marvellous 
 length of wing and deeply-forked tail, we are prepared to find 
 that it is of frequent occurrence in Southern Europe, as well as 
 Northern Africa, vast distances being soon traversed by a bird of 
 such enormous powers of flight. It can also run rapidly on the 
 ground, and it catches coleopterous and other insect prey on foot 
 as well as on the wing. It roosts on the ground, and flies late at 
 night, its large eyes being well adapted for seeing in the dark ; 
 in all these respects it shows its affinity to the Plovers. Its 
 prevailing colour is dove-brown above, and buff and white below ; 
 and its distinguishing mark, whence it derives its specific name, 
 is a collar or crescent of black, which in a narrow line encircles 
 its throat to the eyes. 
 
 Its scientific name, glareola, is derived, according to the B.O.U. 
 Committee, from the localities it loves, from glarea, 'gravel/ 
 because it inhabits ' gravelly places ' ; and ' Pratincole,' from 
 pratum, 'a meadow'; and incola, 'an inhabitant,' because it 
 frequents open meadows. Our earlier British ornithologists 
 called it the 'Austrian Pratincole.' In Italy it is known as 
 Pernice di mare, ' Sea Partridge ' ; and in Malta as Perniciotta, 
 'Little Partridge' ; in France it is Glareole d collier; in Germany, 
 Deis rothfussige Sandhuhn, 'Red-footed Sand-fowl ; in Spain, 
 Canastera; and in Portugal, as in Italy, Perdiz do mar. It 
 frequents the margins of lakes and rivers, as well as marshes in 
 the interior of the country. Those who are acquainted with it 
 
374 Charadriadce. 
 
 in its own haunts speak of its fearless manner and familiar 
 habits. Others find it not so easy to approach by walking 
 straight up to it, but say that it will squat if one makes a circuit 
 round it, gradually lessening the distance, and will then allow 
 itself to be trodden upon before taking wing* Mr. O. Salvin 
 found it on the tablelands of the interior of the Eastern Atlas, 
 frequenting the salt-lakes and freshwater marshes, and gives the 
 following graphic description of its behaviour : ' When in 
 proximity to their nests, the whole flock come wheeling and 
 screaming round, while some dart passionately down to within a 
 few feet of the intruder's head, retiring again to make another 
 descent. When the first transports of excitement are over, they 
 all alight, one by one, on the ground. Some stand quite still, 
 watching with inquiring gaze; while others stretch themselves 
 out, first expanding one wing, then the other, and sitting down 
 extend both legs. In this position they remain some seconds, as 
 if dead, when suddenly springing up, they make another circuit 
 overhead, and the v/hole flock passes quietly away. The bird 
 makes no nest, but deposits its three eggs in a slight depression 
 of the bare sand. The eggs are usually placed with their axes 
 parallel.! 
 
 135. CREAM-COLOURED COURSER (Cursorius 
 isabellinus). 
 
 It is somewhat strange that the second species of this family 
 should also have occurred in Wiltshire, inasmuch as it is one of 
 the very rarest of the accidental visitors to this country, the 
 straggler whose appearance I will now relate being only the fifth 
 individual whose occurrence in Great Britain had then been 
 recorded. It was met with by Mr. Walter Langton, of Wands- 
 worth, Surrey, when out shooting on the estate of Mr. Stephen 
 Mills, at Elston, near Tilshead, on Salisbury Plain, on October 2nd, 
 1855 (very near the same spot where the Pratincole, last described.- 
 was found). It was first seen on an open piece of down land 
 
 Lord Lilford in Ibis for 1860, p. 239. 
 f O. Salvin in Ibis for 1859, p. 355. 
 
C 'ream-Coloured Courser. 375 
 
 called Eastdown, which was particularly bare of vegetation, as is 
 generally the case at that season of the year with all down lands. 
 The day was somewhat stormy, the wind south-west, and Mr. 
 Langton and his companion were following a wild covey with a 
 brace of young pointers, when one of them stood on the open, 
 down, and suddenly a Cream-coloured Courser took wing, almost 
 immediately under the dog's nose, and apparently flew at the 
 dog's face, who snapped at the bird. Indeed, in a second letter 
 with which Mr. Langton most obligingly favoured me at the 
 time, he calls particular attention to this strange fearlessness on 
 the part of the bird ; which, however, is quite in accordance with 
 its general character. It then flew with a lazy kind of flight 
 about two hundred yards, and again settled on the open down, 
 and began to run at a moderate pace, reminding Mr. Langton of 
 the gait of the Landrail. That gentleman immediately followed 
 it, and, when within forty yards, shot it as it ran upon the ground. 
 It was not heard to utter any cry, and the keepers who were 
 present conjectured it to have been wounded; but as they seem 
 to have arrived at that conclusion solely from the unwillingness 
 of the bird to take flight, and its apparent disregard of danger, 
 for which its natural disposition fully accounts, no regard need 
 be paid to that surmise. When first found by the dog, it was 
 lying so close that, until it rose, though from the bare down, 
 nothing was seen of it. It was sent to Mr. Gardner, the well- 
 known taxidermist in Oxford Street, who stuffed it, and who 
 kindly communicated with me on the subject. 
 
 The Cream-coloured Courser, Swift-foot, or Plover, is a native 
 of the sandy deserts of Africa, to which its pale bluff plumage 
 closely assimilates in colour : hence the name isabeUinus, ' sand- 
 coloured,' which is most appropriate, for the colour of its plumage 
 is so well matched with the sand of the desert which it inhabits, 
 that it is as difficult to distinguish it when squatted on the 
 ground, as it is to see the Ptarmigan amidst the rocks and snow 
 patches of Norway. This remarkable assimilation in colour to 
 the warm-tinted sand it shares with many other species of birds 
 which frequent the same localities, and struck me as very ob- 
 
37 tf Ckaradriadce. 
 
 servable, when I wandered into the desert on the banks of the 
 Nile. Several species of Chats, more especially Saxicola desertl 
 and S. isabellina, partook of this hue, but above all the ' Bush 
 Babbler ' (Crateropus acacice), of which I once shot two specimens 
 perched in an isolated ' sont ' bush, and though they both fell 
 quite dead on the sand beneath the tree, it will hardly be believed 
 that I searched for twenty minutes, and very nearly gave up the 
 search in despair, though they were both lying on the sand just 
 before me, so marvellously did their colours match with that of 
 the sand. Though I kept a constant look-out for the Cream- 
 coloured Courser when in its native land, and though it was occa- 
 sionally seen by some of my companions, I was never so fortu- 
 nate as to fall in with it. It is notorious for its surprising fleetness 
 of foot, as its name would lead us to infer ; and shows a strange 
 confidence, or rather carelessness, of man, so unusual in other 
 members of the family, to which I have already called attention. 
 Its cry of alarm is said to resemble that of the Plover ; it rests 
 and sleeps in a sitting posture, with its legs doubled up under it. 
 When disturbed, it will run off with astonishing swiftness, 
 rnano3uvring to get out of sight behind stones or clods of earth ; 
 then, kneeling down and stretching the body and head flat on 
 the ground, it endeavours to make itself invisible, though all the 
 time its eyes are fixed on the object which disturbs it, and it 
 keeps on the alert ready to rush off again if one continues to 
 approach it.* The name Cursorius, or ' runner/ is, as we have 
 seen, applicable enough, but Gallwus, as it used to be styled, was 
 most unfortunate, for it was bestowed upon it by Gmelin under 
 the erroneous impression that it only occurred in France. Still 
 more misleading is the name in use among the Maltese, who call 
 it the 'English Plover' (Pluviera ta I'Inghilterra), than which a 
 more inappropriate term could scarcely be devised. In North 
 Africa, where it is well known to the Arabs, they call it the 
 ' Camel Pricker/ Song el Ibel^ but on what ground I know not. 
 In France it is Court-vite isabelle, 'Sand-coloured Courser'; and 
 
 M. Favier, of Tangier, quoted in ' Yarrell/ 4th edition, vol. iii., p. 244. 
 t Canon Tristam in Ibis for I860, p. 79. 
 
Great Plover. 377 
 
 in Italy Corrione biondo, ' Flaxen Runner ' ; but in other countries 
 of Western Europe it appears to be almost unknown; at all events, 
 I can find no name for it in the bird lists. 
 
 ,136. GREAT PLOVER (CEdicnemus crepitans). 
 
 This is the largest bird of the family with which we are 
 acquainted in this country : and is elsewhere known as the 
 Thick-kneed Bustard, the Stone Curlew, and the Norfolk Plover. 
 It may still be seen on our open downs during the summer 
 months, for it leaves this country for warmer latitudes in the 
 autumn, and I have met with it within the tropics in Nubia in 
 winter. Colonel Montagu imagined that it never penetrated to 
 the western parts of England, but was confined to the eastern 
 counties, where undoubtedly it is most abundant: but I have 
 information from many quarters that it was once very generally 
 known in Wiltshire, whose wide-spreading downs indeed offered 
 it the retirement as well as the space in which it delights. The 
 late Rev. G. Marsh told me that up to 1840 it was still common 
 on the downs near Salisbury. Mr. Benjamin Hay ward, of 
 Lavington, spoke of it as becoming more scarce, but still occa- 
 sionally to be seen on Ellbarrow and the higher hills. The late 
 Mr. Withers, of Devizes, mentioned that it had on several 
 occasions been shot on Roundway Down, and brought to him for 
 preservation; and Mr. W r adham Locke, of the Cleeve House, 
 Seend (to whose intimate acquaintance with birds I owe many a 
 lesson), wrote me word that he had seen a very large flock of 
 these birds in the air, migrating from north to south at the fall 
 of the year, when they made a most melodious whistling noise. 
 In addition to this satisfactory evidence, I will now add that for 
 several years past I have seen these birds on the downs of North 
 Wiltshire in a particular locality, which for obvious reasons I do 
 not desire to specify more minutely, and that during the summer 
 I can generally find them in or near their favourite haunts. Still 
 more interesting is the fact of their rearing their young in our 
 county, an instance of which was given me by the Rev. Alexander 
 
378 Charadriadce. 
 
 Grant, Rector of Manningford, from whose letter, dated Sept. 2nd, 
 1864, 1 quote the following particulars : ' I think you will be glad 
 to hear that the Norfolk Plovers I mentioned are alive and doing 
 well : my son picked them up on our downs between Manningford 
 and Everleigh. F. O. Morris says that " the young when fledged 
 will squat, and allow themselves to be picked up. If disturbed 
 from the nest, the parent runs oft' very swiftly, with the head 
 stooped.' This, my son states, is exactly what occurred when he 
 found the birds. About ten days after he had taken them, a 
 person called at my house with another young Norfolk Plover, 
 picked up on the Rushall or Charlton downs : and about the 
 same time I saw at least two pairs flying and hovering about the 
 downs near Sidbury Hill, not far from the old track from Marl- 
 borough to Salisbury. 
 
 The Marlborough College Natural History Reports also state 
 that the egg was taken in June, 1866, in that neighbourhood, and 
 again on Overton Down in 1868, and again in May, 1874. Mr. 
 George Butler says that it still breeds on the downs near 
 Kennett ; Mr. G. Watson Taylor that it sometimes nests on the 
 downs above Erlestoke, where the keepers have caught the 
 young birds ; and Lord Heytesbury, on his keepers' authority, 
 that they come annually early in March to breed on the downs 
 above Heytesbury. 
 
 The Rev. A. P. Morres has also had the young birds as well 
 as the eggs brought to him from the immediate neighbourhood 
 of Salisbury, and used to consider it by no means uncommon on 
 the downs near him ; but he laments, what I fear is also the case 
 in North Wilts, that it is rapidly decreasing in numbers. I 
 have, however, many notices of its recent appearance in Wilts. 
 In letters sent me this year (1887), Mr. F. Stratton says that 
 whereas it was getting scarce at Gore Cross Farm on the 
 Lavington downs some ten years since, it is now somewhat 
 more numerous there. The Right Hon. E. P. Bouverie informs 
 me that his son shot one last autumn on the downs above 
 Cheverell. Mr. W. Stancomb, jun., writes that they are often 
 seen on the downs above Colston, and Lord Arundel that he has 
 
Great Plover. 
 
 seen it on the downs near Wardour, while Mr. Grant's list 
 mentions specimens from Netheravon, Manningford, Everley, 
 Lavington, Erlestoke, Tilshead and Chitterne. Thus it is clearly 
 established that the Great Plover is no stranger to Wiltshire r 
 albeit of not very frequent occurrence in the present day : and 
 I have entered fully into the evidences of its appearance on our 
 downs, because it has been doubted by some whether the species- 
 has not been mistaken. That such, however, is not the case, I 
 am perfectly convinced, and indeed there is no other bird with 
 which it can be readily confused. It is of fine stately form, of 
 considerable size and of erect carriage, and its large prominent 
 yellow eye is the principal feature which attracts attention. It 
 is a nocturnal feeder, as the size and prominence of its eye 
 indicates, and rests by day on the wide hilly downs, which are 
 its chosen haunts ; but it is of a wild and shy disposition, and if 
 disturbed in its retreat, flies off with its legs stretched out behind 
 after the manner of the heron ; and after a short flight alights 
 again, and then runs off with great rapidity. It is a migratory 
 bird, arriving here in the spring, and retiring in autumn to pass 
 the winter in Africa. Like the Bustards, it lays but two eggs, 
 and in its insect and animal diet, as well as general habits, it 
 follows the custom of its congeners. 
 
 Its generic name (Edicnemus, from ofoog, ' a swelling,' and 
 XI^AMJ, ' the leg,' is very descriptive of the remarkable swelling of 
 the tarsal joint of the leg in the young bird, which reminds one 
 of a gouty man, and which is a very characteristic feature in this 
 species. I was informed by Mr. Parsons, of Hunts Mill, Wootton 
 Bassett, when looking over my collection of birds in 1870, that 
 there is an old saying in Wiltshire, having reference to the value 
 of the Stone Curlew in olden time : 
 
 ' Let the curlew be white or black, 
 He carries ninepence on his back.' 
 
 A somewhat high price when the value of money, if only a 
 hundred years ago, is taken into account ; but there is no 
 question that it is of excellent quality for the table. In France 
 it is (Edicneme criard, ' Clamorous (or noisy) Thick-knee ;' in 
 
380 Charadriadce. 
 
 Germany, Lerchengraue Regenpfeifer, and Grosser Brachvogel, 
 4 Great Fallow-bird ;' in Italy, II gran Piviere ; but in Spain, 
 Alcaravan ; and in Portugal, Alcaravdo, which carry with them 
 a strong Moorish flavour. 
 
 137. GOLDEN PLOVER (Charadrius pluvialis). 
 
 The Wiltshire sportsman on the downs will not need to be 
 told that here we have a winter migrant which favours our 
 county when frosts and snows drive it from more northern 
 latitudes, but which retires again as spring draws on, to breed 
 in the mountain districts it loves so well. It is a handsome 
 bird even in winter, when the golden hue which overspreads its 
 plumage gives it a bright appearance ; but when met with in full 
 breeding dress in summer, as I have seen it in Norway, on the 
 high fjelds of that wild country, it assumes such altered colours 
 that we can scarcely recognise it: for in place of the grayish 
 white which prevails on all the under-plumage, a glossy black 
 now appears, while bright golden yellow tips the edges of the 
 upper feathers, and the contrast of dark below and light above 
 is extremely pleasing. Its flesh is very highly esteemed by 
 epicures, and therefore it is diligently sought for by the fowler, 
 but thanks to its innate shyness, it is not very easily approached, 
 except during a fog. 
 
 I found these birds very plentiful on the upper fjelds in 
 Norway ; and instead of the timidity they exhibit here, they 
 seemed perfectly fearless. On one occasion we were overtaken 
 by a snowstorm on a wild and desolate fjeld, more than twenty 
 miles from any human habitation, and took refuge during the 
 night in a goat-shed, where we vainly tried to keep out the cold 
 by heaping up a fire of heather and brushwood, round which 
 our shivering horses as well as ourselves were glad to crouch, 
 notwithstanding the suffocating smoke which filled their noses 
 and throats, and the bright flames which the crackling heather 
 gave out. Here the Golden Plovers abounded, and neither snow- 
 storm nor bitter wind, nor clouds of smoke, nor crackling flames, 
 dismayed them. All round the hut and during the entire night 
 
Golden Plover. 381 
 
 they were constantly uttering their plaintive melancholy cry, 
 most congenial with the circumstances, but most trying to the 
 listener. As we rode away next morning, these beautiful birds 
 in full breeding plumage were so tame that they would run 
 along the stony ground within a few yards of my horse, then fly 
 a few paces, and then stand and stare and run along as before. 
 It is very seldom that these pathless fjelds are trodden by the 
 human foot ; and this accounts for the absence of timidity 
 displayed by these birds. Our route was marked out (as it always 
 is in such fjelds) by small stones being placed upright on some 
 large conspicuous pieces of rock : these little pyramids of stone 
 are excellent landmarks to show the way; the snow does not 
 obliterate or conceal them ; and being readily formed, they are 
 numerous enough to guide the traveller from one to another. 
 It was while passing between two of these landmarks that I 
 discovered a nest of the Golden Plover, placed right in our path : 
 the nest was a mere depression of the scanty grass, unprotected 
 by bush, heather or rock : the eggs, four in number, and with 
 the small ends towards the middle (as is usual with all the Plover 
 tribe), had been sat upon for some time, but I succeeded in 
 bringing them away without damage, and they are now in my 
 cabinet.* In Scandinavia this Plover goes by the name of 
 Ljung-Pipare, or ' Heath Piper.' There are several reasons 
 adduced for the specific name pluvialis ; because it comes in 
 the rainy season, say some ; or because it frequents places damp 
 from rain, and marshes, say others; but without doubt, as it 
 seems to me, because it shows an extraordinary restlessness 
 before bad weather, and so announces the approach of rain- 
 storms. Sir K Payne- Gall wey, than whom there can be no 
 better authority as a field observer, says : ' Peewits and Plovers 
 are excellent weather prophets ; when they are heard and seen 
 screaming and wheeling in the evening, it is a sure sign of a 
 dirty night, as this is their usual hour to settle on the ooze or 
 meadows to rest or feed.'f But Yarrell says that the French 
 term Pluvier has been applied to the Plover, 'pour ce qiCon le 
 
 Zoologist for 1851, p. 2979. t ' Fowler in Ireland/ p. 14. 
 
382 Charadriadce. 
 
 prend mieux en temps pluvieux qu'un nulle autre saison. Our 
 word 'Plover' is derived from the French Pluvier* This is also 
 a nocturnal feeder, and can run very fast : during the day it 
 will squat or stand asleep, with its head drawn down between its 
 shoulders : it flies in large flocks, and if disturbed, the whole 
 flock will perform many aerial evolutions and rapid wheelings 
 before they again settle on the ground.f Sir R. Payne-Gallwey 
 remarks that it has a pretty habit of trotting nimbly along a 
 few steps, and then stopping motionless for some seconds, ere 
 resuming its run, and he adds that Curlews at a distance, not- 
 withstanding their much greater bulk and long peculiar bills, 
 bear such a wonderful resemblance to the Golden Plover, from 
 the way they sit, especially when herded together, that it is 
 very difficult to identify them.J I need not specify localities, 
 for it may be said to be distributed in flocks, though sparingly 
 and uncertainly, all over the county. In France it is Pluvier 
 dori ; in Germany, Goldregenpfeifer ; in Italy, Piviere dorato ; 
 in Spain, Chorlito ; and in Portugal, Tarambola. 
 
 138. DOTTEREL (Charadrius mormellus). 
 
 This, too, is, or perhaps I ought to say was, a thoroughly 
 Wiltshire bird, our county being one of the few enumerated by 
 Yarrell as its regular haunts. At the beginning of this century, 
 Colonel Montagu described it as a bird which annually visits us 
 in spring and autumn in its migratory flights to and from its 
 breeding-places in northern Europe ; and he adds, ' On the 
 Wiltshire downs it resorts to the new-sown corn or fallow 
 ground for the sake of worms, its principal food : in the autumn 
 they fly in families of five or six, which we have observed to be 
 the two old birds and their young ; but sometimes a dozen or 
 more flock together.' They generally rested but a few days 
 amongst us, but during that period they were often so numerous 
 that sportsmen now alive have killed from forty to fifty. Now 
 
 Yarrell's ' British Birds,' 3rd edition, vol. ii., p. 449. 
 t Selby's ' Illustrations of British Birds,' vol. ii., p. 234. 
 J Sir R. Payne-Gallwey's ' Fowler in Ireland,' pp. 174-182. 
 
Dotterel 383 
 
 they are rarely to be met with, and though scarcely a year 
 passes without a notice of the capture of one or more on some 
 portion of our downs, it is but an accidental straggler, which has 
 wandered out of its way. My good friend, Rev. W. C. Lukis, 
 chanced to see such an one, as he was driving with the Rector 
 of Manningford Bruce, between Upavon and Enford in May, 
 1857 ; it was close to the roadside, standing on a clod of earth, 
 all alone in its glory, and did not care to move out of the. way. 
 My own specimen, now in my collection, was shot on the 
 Lavington downs. It came to me in the flesh in 1841, and 
 is one of the few Wiltshire birds of my own preparation and 
 mounting, handled in those early days, which has survived to 
 the present time. Lord Nelson possesses a specimen killed at 
 Trafalgar. Lord Heytesbury, on the authority of Lis keeper, 
 reports that they are often on the downs in that neighbourhood ; 
 but Mr. G. Watson Taylor says that though often seen in former 
 years on the downs above Erlestoke, none have been observed 
 there of late. The late Mr. Withers had many pass through 
 his hands for preservation ; and indeed everybody conversant 
 with our Wiltshire birds will know something of its occurrence. 
 
 Mr. Morres speaks of them as not uncommon on the downs 
 near Salisbury some years since, though now seldom seen, and 
 mentions a trip* of three as observed in the spring at Stockton 
 in 1873. Mr. Baker writes me word that an immature specimen 
 was killed at Fonthill on October 1st, 1876, and that others were 
 seen by him on two or three occasions on Mere Down, the last 
 on March 7th, 1881. However, of quite recent date, the Rev. 
 T. N. Hart Smith, President of the Marlborough College Natural 
 History Society, tells me that in their museum are two specimens 
 which were shot on the Kennet two years ago. Mr. Gwatkin 
 records a Dotterel taken at Tilshead in the spring of last year 
 {1886). The Rev. W. H. Awdry saw a trip of Dotterel near 
 
 * A small flock of dotterel is known as a trip; and it is worthy of obser- 
 vation how various are the terms applied to the several species when in com- 
 pany : Thus we have a, cast of hawks, a flock of sparrows, a flight of starlings 
 or pigeons, a dule of doves, a nid of pheasants, a covey of partridges, a bevy 
 of quail, a brood of grouse, & flight of woodcocks, a wisp of snipe, a wing of 
 
384 Charadriadce. 
 
 the Druid's Head on Saturday, March 12th of this year (1887), 
 and the Hon. Gerald Lascelles reports a good-sized flock near 
 Everley, also in March last (1887). These recent occurrences 
 prove that it is not yet extinct, but I fear it is every year 
 becoming more scarce in this county, and will soon be as 
 completely wanting on our downs as the Great Bustard itself. 
 
 Its flesh it considered a great dainty, and in the days of its 
 abundance on our downs it was eagerly sought for by fowlers. 
 It may be readily known by the dark orange brown of the breast, 
 which deepens into black lower down ; and by the streak of 
 black and another of white which cross the breast. It is a 
 nocturnal feeder, and rests by day, and has a habit of stretching 
 out its legs, wings and head, as many other birds do, when roused 
 from a state of repose ; but from this habit, wherein it has been 
 credited with aping the actions of the fowler who was in pursuit 
 of it, it derives its specific name morinelius, ' little fool,' or 
 ' simpleton/ as if the actions above described were in imitation 
 of those of human beings, and were peculiar to this species alone. 
 The Arabic name for it is El Molir, * The Rich/ but I know not 
 the origin of that appellation : I should rather incline to think 
 that /Ao?po9, ' a fool/ was the root of that word too. Our English 
 word ' dotterel ' is interpreted by Professor Skeat to signify ' a 
 foolish bird/ from the old word dote, ' to be foolish/ remains of 
 which we may see in dotage, dotard, etc. In France it is 
 Pluvier guignard, ' Gaping (or Leering) Plover ;' in Germany, 
 Der dumme Regenpfeifer, ' The Stupid Plover ;' in Italy, Piviere 
 de corrione, ' Simpleton Plover / but in Spain, Chorlito marismeiio, 
 t Plover of the Salt-water Lake ;' and in Sweden, Fjall-Piparc, 
 ' Fj all-Piper.' It is a smart dapper little species, and its 
 dwindled numbers and rapid extinction from among our down 
 birds is much to be lamented. 
 
 The tenth of May, says Mr. Howard Saunders, quoting from 
 Hone's ' Every-Day Book/ used to be known on the borders of 
 
 plover, a sege of herons, a covert of coots, a herd of swans, a skein of geese 
 (when flying), a gaggle of geese (when at rest), a team of wild duck, a 
 sprig of teal, a dropping of sheldrake. 
 
Ringed Plover. 385 
 
 Hertford and Cambridgeshire as ' Dotterel day ;' but in Wiltshire 
 it certainly used to arrive at least a fortnight earlier. Its 
 appearance in the autumn was regarded by the shepherds as a 
 sign of coming winter, hence the following rhymes : 
 
 1 When dotterel do first appear, 
 It shows that frost is very near ; 
 But when the dotterel do go, 
 Then you may look for heavy snow.'* 
 
 139. RINGED PLOVER (Charadrius hiaticula). 
 Common enough on the seashore all round our coasts, this 
 species is such a lover of salt-water that it very rarely is seen far 
 inland. I have a notice by the late Rev. G. Marsh of a specimen 
 which was killed near Malmesbury, in 1838, and which I have 
 seen in his collection ; and that was the only individual which 
 had come to my notice as having appeared in Wilts, until, on 
 August 13th, 1881, a small flock of seven were seen in my parish 
 of Yatesbury by Mr. C. A. Tanner's shepherd, near the sheep- 
 fold. As the man happened to have a gun, he shot at them 
 and knocked down three, two of which he secured, and by the 
 courtesy of Mr. Tanner they were at once sent to me in the flesh, and 
 are now in my collection. Mr. Grant, of Devizes, tells me that one 
 was killed at Lavington at the same date. The Rev. A. P. Morres 
 once, and once only, saw a single bird in some water-meadows 
 immediately behind the Vicarage at Britford ; and I now learn 
 that Mr. Grant had received specimens from Netheravon in 1869, 
 and from Ufcot in 1873 ; and the Marlborough College Natural 
 History Society's Report speaks of one shot at Kennet on August 
 12th, 1881, probably one of the flock which came to Yatesbury. It 
 is a prettily marked little bird, light brown above and white below, 
 and is conspicuous for the distinct collar of white and then of black 
 which encircles its neck. It is indigenous in our island, and I 
 have met with it at all seasons on the Norfolk coast in consider- 
 able abundance ; like other shore-feeding birds, it follows the 
 tide, and runs rapidly at the edge of the advancing or retreating 
 waves, with neck outstretched and head thrown well back between 
 
 * Dyer's ' English Folk-Lore,' p. 96. 
 
 25 
 
386 Charadriadce. 
 
 the shoulders : it also flies very swiftly, but seldom to any great 
 distance. Its cry is, like that of so many other members of this 
 family, wild, mournful, and plaintive. The specific name 
 hiaticula is given by the B.O.U. list as derived from its habit of 
 haunting the mouths of rivers, hiatus; and the generic name 
 jEgialitis (which it has received from some modern ornitho- 
 logists, in lieu of Charadrius), has the meaning of 'belonging 
 to the shore :' but neither of these names seems to me very happy, 
 as they may, with equal propriety, be applied to a large pro- 
 portion of the Order of Waders. In Sussex it bears the pro- 
 vincial name of 'Stone-runner.' Sometimes the cavity in the 
 sand in which it deposits its eggs is lined or covered with a 
 number of small stones about the size of peas, upon which the 
 eggs are laid, and this habit has gained for it in some counties 
 the provincial name of ' Stone-hatch/ * In Norway and Sweden, 
 where it is very common, both on the coast and on the sandy 
 shores of the lakes of the interior, it is known as the Storre 
 Strand-Pipare, or ' Greater Strand-Piper.' It also ascends to 
 very high latitudes, having been found in Lapland and Iceland, 
 and even occasionally in Spitzbergen,t and in Greenland, where 
 it has been known to breed. J 
 
 It is often known in England as the ' Ring Dotterel ' and the 
 ' Sand-lark.' In France it is Grand Pluvier d Collier ; in Italy, 
 Piviere col Collare; and in Germany, Halsband Regenpfeifer ; 
 but by some authors Buntschnabliger Regenpfeifer, ' Plover with 
 Parti-coloured Beak ' : in allusion to the orange-yellow base and 
 black point of the beak of the male in summer dress. In Spain 
 it is known as Anda-rio, 'Stream Rover,' and sometimes as 
 Correplaya, 'Shore-runner'; in Portugal it is Lavadeira, 'Washer.' 
 
 140. LAPWING (Vanellus cristatus). 
 
 Here we have the true Plover of the downs of modern days ; 
 and what Wiltshireman does not know the peculiar call-note of 
 
 Howard Saunders' 4th edition of Yarrell's * British Birds,' vol. iii., p. 258. 
 t Professor Newton in Ibis for 1 865, p. 504. 
 $ Reinhardt in Ibis for 1861, p. 9. 
 
Lapwing. 387 
 
 the Peewit, or the remarkable flight of the Lapwing (for both 
 names belong to one and the same bird), as he traverses any 
 portion of the downs ? Kesplendent with a metallic gloss on its 
 dark green upper plumage, capped with a crest or tuft of long 
 narrow curling feathers ; elegant as it runs forward at a rapid 
 pace, and as suddenly stops, and then runs forward again in 
 spasmodic jerks, the Lapwing arrests the attention of the most 
 unobservant. It is indigenous in England, and breeds on our 
 downs ; but assembling in large flocks as autumn approaches, it 
 retires to the sea- coast in November, and returns again at the 
 end of February or beginning of March : and I have long been 
 accustomed to watch for its arrival as the first harbinger of spring 
 in my upland home. Mr. Cordeaux informs us that immense 
 flocks of this species arrive in autumn on the eastern coast from 
 the North, and in Wiltshire Mr. F. Stratton gave me the gratify- 
 ing intelligence on June 29th, 1875, that he had noticed a most 
 extraordinary increase of this bird on his land at Gore Cross, on 
 Salisbury Plain : for whereas he used to see five or six pairs 
 breeding there annually, that year there were hundreds. The 
 previous week he was scarifying a piece of rough land, when the 
 men destroyed forty nests in that place only. The following day 
 he found a Peewit on that same piece of ploughed land sitting 
 on four eggs, whence he concluded that four hen birds must have 
 laid their eggs in that one nest since the previous day. The 
 fact, however, probably was that the bird had been disturbed 
 from its original nest, and had removed its eggs one by one, and 
 was sitting on them. Its eggs are very highly esteemed in the 
 London market, and though doubtless the majority of veritable 
 Plovers' eggs, as the dealers declare, are the produce of the 
 Black-headed Gull, the Peewit's nest is still the object of diligent 
 search : fortunately, however, it is so difficult to find in the 
 extensive corn-fields or wide-spreading expanse of turf, and the 
 parent birds are so cunning in their artifices to entice away the 
 intruder, that it is not very often found in this county at least, 
 where the search for its eggs has happily not become a regular- 
 trade. The bird and its habit of pretending lameness, and the 
 
 252 
 
388 Charadriadce. 
 
 various devices it performs to attract the attention of the intruder 
 on its nest, and entice him and his dog away from its young, are 
 so well known that I need not further describe them. As regards 
 feeding, it is altogether a nocturnal bird. In Ancient Egypt it 
 is the head of a Lapwing that is so often represented in the 
 hieroglyphic figures, and on the walls of the tombs and temples, 
 upon the 'augural staff' of the gods ; but though thus honoured 
 by the divinities, I am not aware that any mummied specimens 
 have been found, or that its body was ever embalmed. It derives 
 its generic name, Vanellus, and the French Vanneau, from 
 vannus, ' a fan,' in allusion to the peculiar slow flapping motion 
 of its long wings. The French also call it Dixhuit, as we call it 
 'Peewit,' in imitation of its note. In Sweden it is known as 
 Vvp<*>> and is one of the first of the migratory birds that appears 
 in the spring, and as it often happens that a sharp frost sets in 
 after their arrival, the peasants call such a frost Vip-winter, or 
 * Lap wing- winter,' when the birds suffer severely. It has been 
 observed there that, if they fly away altogether, the frost will be 
 of long continuance, but if they remain it will soon be over.* 
 In England, in old times, it bore the name of ' Egret,' which has 
 occasioned no little confusion to modern ornithologists ; for when 
 we read of a thousand Egrets being served up at a single enter- 
 tainment (temp. Henry IV.), we marvel at the abundance of a 
 bird now so rare in this country ; but when we remember the 
 long tuft on the head of the Lapwing, we see how that bird also 
 became thus designated. Its flesh was highly esteemed for the 
 table, both in this country and in France ; in the latter they have 
 a proverb : 
 
 ' Qui n'a mange grive ni vanneau 
 N'a jamais mange bon morceau.' 
 
 In Lancashire they are called the 'Seven Whistlers' and 'the 
 ' Wandering Jews/ and are looked upon with horror, and their 
 cry listened to with dismay as the omen of ill-luck ; for there is 
 a tradition that they contain the souls of those Jews who assisted 
 at the Crucifixion, and in consequence were doomed to float in 
 * Lloyd's ' Scandinavian Adventures,' vol. ii., p. 370. 
 
Lapwing. 389 
 
 the air for ever.* Montagu tells us that in his time it was 
 sometimes called ' Peeseweep.' This is one of those birds which 
 wears a spur or horny tubercle on the carpal joint or elbow of 
 the wing, but which is more especially noticeable in the fine 
 species, Hoplopterus spinosus or ' Zic-zac,' of which I shot many 
 specimens in Egypt. In Germany it is Gehaubte Kiebitz ; in 
 France, Vanneau huppe, ( Crested Lapwing ;' in Italy, Pavoncella 
 Comune, sharing the name with the Peacock; in Spain, Ave 
 fria, ' Bird of Tribute,' and also Judia, ' Jewess,' probably from 
 the same tradition as that of Lancashire mentioned above ; but 
 in Portugal it is Bibes, from the Moorish word Beebet, at Casa 
 Blanca on the coast of Morocco ; but in the North of Portugal it 
 is known as Gallispo, from gallus, ( a cock,' in allusion to the 
 crest-plume.*f* 
 
 141. OYSTER-CATCHER (Hcematopus ostralegus). 
 
 This robust powerful species is a true salt-water bird, and 
 seems to have no place in our inland county : but an account of 
 its capture at Bradford on Avon in September, 1859, as recorded 
 in a newspaper at the time, permitted me to include it in the 
 Wiltshire catalogue in my former papers on the birds of the 
 county. More recently Mr. Grant has recorded a second instance 
 of a Wiltshire-killed specimen which came into his hands for 
 preservation. It was taken in August, 1877, at Enford, a spot 
 even farther from the sea than Bradford ; but doubtless in each 
 case the birds wandered up the rivers on which they were re- 
 spectively found until they lost themselves, and knew not how 
 to return : but how they came to follow the rivers so far from 
 their haunts on the seashore, and what they found to subsist on 
 during the journey, I am at a loss to conjecture. Its plumage is 
 striking, from the pleasing contrast of black and white which it 
 displays : and its bright orange-red bill, of a peculiar wedge- 
 shaped form, to enable it to wrench open the shell-fish which 
 constitutes its food, and its vermilion legs, give it a handsome 
 
 Dyer's Folk-Lore,' p. 96. 
 
 f W. C. Tait on Birds of Portugal in His for 1887, p. 83. 
 
390 Charadriadce. 
 
 Appearance. It is a very common bird in those localities on the 
 coast which abound in the molluscs on which it feeds, and its 
 loud ringing whistle, as it hurries shrieking away, must be 
 familiar to all who are acquainted with the seashore. From its 
 parti-coloured plumage it is sometimes (says Montagu) known as 
 the ' Skeldrake/ or ' Skelderdrake ' : sometimes, too, it is called 
 the 'Sea Pie,' and 'more correctly* (says Mr. Cecil Smith), 'for 
 it does not catch oysters ;'* and Mr. Harting is of opinion that 
 its long bill, powerful though it is in detaching limpets from the 
 rock and breaking open mussels and small crabs, is altogether 
 baffled in attempting to open an oyster.f Selby, however, main- 
 tains that it will insert the wedge-shaped point of its bill within 
 the valves, as the oysters lie partially open in shallow water, and 
 thus wrench them apart and extract the shell-fish : and that 
 they sometimes attempt this and are caught in so doing is 
 notorious, for instances have been known of the unfortunate bird 
 being made prisoner by the oyster closing upon its beak. In 
 Scandinavia it is known as Strand-Skata, or ' Strand- Magpie/ 
 and in some parts of England as the ' Mussel Picker/ which it 
 certainly is. The scientific name, Hcematopus, signifies ' with feet 
 the colour of blood ' which is sufficiently, though not very accu- 
 rately, descriptive from a^ia+Trou?; and ostralegus is derived 
 from ostrea, ' an oyster/ and lego, ' I collect ' (B.O.U.), and from 
 this are derived most of the names by which it is generally 
 known ; as in France L'Huiterier Pie ; in Germany, Geschackte 
 Austern-Fischer, 'Pied Oyster-fisher/ and in Portugal Ostraceiro. 
 When alighting at the edge of the water (says Harting), the 
 flocks always pitch with their heads to the wind, and no doubt 
 the reason for this is, that were they to alight with the wind at 
 their backs they might be carried over the edge into the water. 
 When wounded they will swim with great buoyancy, and even 
 dive when occasion requires. 
 
 * ' Birds of Somerset,' p. 343. f ' Birds of Middlesex,' p. 161. 
 
Crane. 391 
 
 GRUID.E (THE CRANES). 
 
 The magnificent birds which comprise this family may be said 
 to occupy the position among the Waders which the Bustards 
 enjoy among the Ground-birds. Of great size, tall and erect, 
 they are a stately race, and stalk among their fellows with elegant 
 and lordly mien : the few species known in Europe are all migra- 
 tory; and their chief peculiarity consists in the long, flowing, 
 flexible, and arched feathers (reminding one of the plumes of 
 the Ostrich) ; which, curled at the end, and springing from the 
 wing, overhang the tail, and which the bird can erect or depress 
 at pleasure. 
 
 142. CRANE (Grus cinerea). 
 
 Though once known in England as the Common Crane, this 
 specific title is a sad misnomer, for this handsome bird is now 
 become exceedingly scarce ; indeed, an occasional straggler alone 
 visits us at rare intervals. But a hundred years ago it formed 
 an important item at all state banquets, and was the noble 
 quarry at which falconers were wont to fly their largest hawks. 
 As with the Bustard, so with the Crane, by an Act passed 
 (25 Henry VIII., cap. xi.) A.D. 1534, to 'avoid the destruction of 
 wilde fowle,' it was prohibited to ' take the egges upon peine of 
 imprisonment for one yere, and to lose and forfeit for every egge 
 of any Crane so taken or distroid xx pence.'* But even as late 
 as 1780 it must have continued to breed in England, for it was 
 decreed by the Fen Laws of that year 'that no person shall 
 bring up or take any Swan's egg, or Crane's egg, or young birds 
 of that kind, on pain of forfeiting for every offence three shillings 
 and four pence.'f It was pretty generally distributed over all 
 unenclosed districts, whenever uncultivated tracts enabled it to 
 roam undisturbed ; and doubtless our wide-spreading downs 
 afforded it a welcome retreat : but now the ornithologist must go 
 to foreign lands to see this noble bird in a wild state. In Egypt 
 
 * J. E. Harting in Zoologist for 1886, p. 84. 
 
 f Cordeaux's Birds of the Humber District, 'p. 100. 
 
392 Ardeidce. 
 
 I have watched it for hours on the mud-flats and sandbanks of 
 the Nile, as it walked with majestic step a very king amidst the 
 smaller Waders, striding about with commanding air, strutting 
 as if in self-conscious superiority, arching its long neck and 
 demeaning itself as the very queen of the shallows ; but the most 
 complete monograph on any bird with which I am acquainted is 
 the story of the Crane in its breeding-place in Lapland, as detailed 
 by my lamented friend, the late Mr. John Wolley, in the Ibis,* a 
 most perfect description of this now uncommon bird. When 
 migrating, as all known species of Cranes do, it collects in large 
 flocks, and is said to fly at a great height, and to keep up a 
 perpetual hoarse scream, or trumpet-like shrill cry, which, owing 
 to the very remarkable structure of the windpipe, is louder than 
 the note of any other bird, and which may be heard when the 
 birds are far out of sight. Mr. James Waylen has most obligingly 
 furnished me with the following interesting anecdote of a Wilt- 
 shire Crane: 'In 1783 it was recorded in the Salisbury paper 
 that a gentleman shot a Crane, on whose leg was found a piece 
 of copper which he himself had attached in the year 1767, after 
 having caught the same bird by means of a hawk : the copper 
 plate bore his initials, and the date 1767.' I am afraid that I 
 have no more modern instance of the occurrence of the Crane in 
 Wiltshire. 
 
 The English word ' Crane ' is derived from the Latin grus, and 
 that, as it seems, from the Greek yepavos, which in all probability 
 arose from the cry of the bird. So in France it is Grue cendree; 
 and in Germany Aschgrauer Kranich, 'Ash-coloured Crane;' in 
 Italy, Grue; in Spain, Grulla; in Portugal, Grou; but in Sweden 
 Trana. 
 
 ARDEID.E (THE HERONS). 
 
 Though wholly incapable of swimming, the various species 
 which compose this large family may certainly be ranked as 
 Water-birds, so entirely are their haunts and habits aquatic. Con- 
 spicuous for the excessive length of their legs, and for their long 
 Ibis, vol. i., pp. 191-198. 
 
The Herons. 393 
 
 and sharp-pointed beaks, with which they can transfix their prey, 
 or seize it in shallow water, the various members of this truly 
 elegant family roam wherever marsh, lake, river or brook offers- 
 a suitable fishing ground : and there they may be seen standing 
 motionless in shallow water, the very emblems of patience, 
 carefully watching till the prey they seek comes within reach of 
 their powerful beak, which they dart with unerring precision on 
 the hapless victim. Many of the true Herons are adorned with 
 elongated flowing plumes, which spring from the back of the 
 head, the neck, and the back ; the occipital crest is composed 
 of soft loose pendant silky feathers ; and the dorsal plumes have 
 long hair-like webs or barbs, all of which give an air of 
 elegance and finish to these gracefully formed birds. Notwith- 
 standing the immense length of their wings, their flight is heavy ; 
 and as they flap slowly overhead to and from their hunting 
 grounds, their progress seems slow, and the exertion laborious. 
 And yet on occasion, or when prompted by fear, they can show 
 great speed ; but the race seems somewhat indolent and disin- 
 clined for unnecessary exertion. During their progress on the 
 wing, their neck is bent back, so that the head rests upon the 
 shoulders ; and the long legs are extended behind as a 
 counterpoise to preserve the balance of the body ; thus the 
 Herons present a peculiar appearance in their flight, and may 
 readily be distinguished at a great distance. There is a popular 
 delusion still prevalent amongst the ignorant (however ridiculous 
 it may seem), that the Herons when sitting on their nests project 
 their legs through holes formed for that purpose at the bottom : 
 now, not to mention the very awkward and uncomfortable, not to 
 say impossible position which the poor bird would thus be 
 condemned to assume, I will merely point out that the thighs 
 of the Heron being of a length exactly proportioned to that of the 
 legs, the bending of the knee causes the leg to recede sufficiently 
 towards the tail to allow the feet to come to the centre of 
 the body (as has been most ably demonstrated by Mr. Water- 
 ton in his essay on the Heron) ; and therefore it is not one whit 
 more irksome to the Heron to perform its task of incubation after 
 
394 Ardeidce. 
 
 the accustomed manner of other birds, than it is for the sparrow, 
 the finch, or the domestic fowl. Their habits are generally soli- 
 tary, except at the period of breeding, when they usually con- 
 gregate in large companies. 
 
 143. COMMON HERON (Ardea cinerea). 
 
 This is the only species of the whole family which we can 
 really designate an inhabitant of Wiltshire ; those others which I 
 have to mention being now mere stragglers of very rare oc- 
 currence. But the Common Heron is known to everybody, and 
 we have all seen this majestic bird on the wing to and from 
 its roosting-places, or surprised it standing motionless in shallow 
 water watching for its prey. It bears a bad character with those 
 who preserve fish, but Mr. Waterton has pointed out that this is 
 quite undeserved, as the benefits it confers by destroying rats, 
 reptiles and insects more than compensate for the few fish which 
 it will devour when it can find them in the shallows. At 
 one time it was in high favour, and indeed protected by law 
 as the most noble game at which hawks could be flown ; royal 
 game it was then, and a severe penal statute was enacted for its 
 preservation'; the taking of its egg subjecting the offender to 
 no less a penalty than twenty shillings, which was an enormous 
 fine in those days. Even now it is designated in Spain and 
 Portugal as Gar$a real. From a list of the game served at 
 a wedding-dinner in 1530 we learn that the price of a heron 
 was at that time 12d., of a swan 6s., of a crane 3s. 4d., of a 
 bittern 14d. ; and these prices will appear much higher when we 
 read that at the same feast an ox cost 30s., a calf 3s., a sheep 
 2s. 4d., and a lamb Is. 6d., while chicken were Is. 6d. per dozen.* 
 In those days its flesh was greatly esteemed as a most dainty 
 morsel ; but those palmy days when it stood high in the estima- 
 tion of English gentlemen are gone by, and now it is despised 
 alike by the epicure and the sportsman, and persecuted by the 
 gamekeeper and the fisherman. At that happy period it was 
 much more numerous than at present ; but even now one may 
 Cordeaux's ' Birds of the Humber District,' p. 102. 
 
Common Heron. 395 
 
 sometimes steal unawares on this wary, suspicious bird, though 
 always on the alert against surprise. In Wiltshire it is known 
 by the provincial name of ' Jack/ and unfortunately is generally 
 known to the country people as the ' crane/ which it is difficult to 
 persuade them is a misnomer, and which creates no little confusion 
 of species. The middle claw of each foot of this bird is serrated 
 on the sides, like the foot of the nightjar. In France it is known 
 as Heron huppe, ' Crested Heron/ and Heron cendrt; and in 
 Germany as Aschgrauer Reiher, ' Ash-grey Heron ;' in Italy as 
 Aghirone and Airone; and in Sweden as Hdger. Professor Skeat 
 says that all these, as well as our English word ' Heron/ are prob- 
 ably derived from the harsh voice of the bird. That the Common 
 Heron breeds in colonies is well known to everybody ; but it will, 
 I think, be a surprise to many, as I own it was to myself, until 
 I investigated the matter carefully, to find that we have no less 
 than seven Heronries in Wiltshire, in addition to some outlying 
 nests or small colonies which have been noticed in various locali- 
 ties. As I made the existence of Heronries and their details 
 a special object of inquiry, and as I have received the informa- 
 tion I sought from a large number of obliging correspondents 
 in all parts of the county, I believe I am now able to offer 
 a pretty accurate account of all the existing Heronries in 
 Wiltshire, and I proceed to enumerate them in order, beginning 
 with the most northern district. 
 
 1. Grouch Wood, Highworth. The largest Heronry which 
 flourishes at this day in the county is of very recent origin, and 
 is situated at Crouch Wood, in the parish of Highworth, but on 
 the Hannington Hall property, and belonging to Mr. Hussey- 
 Freke. The covert at Crouch was planted with gorse as a fox- 
 cover some fifty-four years since, and amongst the gorse were 
 scattered a certain number of trees, chiefly larch. It was only 
 about eight or nine years ago that the Herons began to occupy 
 these trees, just before Mr. Hussey-Freke bought the wood and 
 the farm adjoining. The Herons are very carefully protected 
 here, and last year the nests were computed to amount to 
 between sixty and seventy ; but as elsewhere in the county 
 
396 Ardeidce. 
 
 when the birds leave home for the banks of streams, more 
 especially where there are trout fisheries (as in this case, where 
 the river Colne enters the Thames, or rather Isis, not far from 
 Crouch), they are special objects of persecution at the hands of 
 keepers, and many are destroyed. The consequence is there is 
 this year a great falling off in the number of inhabited nests at 
 Crouch. For all the above particulars I have the authority of 
 the owner. I have since been informed that the number of in- 
 habited nests this year (1887) is probably only between twenty 
 and thirty. 
 
 2. Bowood. Next in order as we proceed from north to south 
 is the well-known old-established Heronry at Bowood, situated on 
 an island in the lake, within sight of the house. This was for 
 many years the only recognised Heronry in North Wilts, and 
 used to contain from forty to sixty nests, but from the same 
 cause as that just mentioned in regard to Crouch Wood, the 
 Herons have been so persecuted and destroyed that but fifteen 
 nests, as I learn from Mr. Herbert Smith, are occupied this year : 
 a sad and rapid falling off indeed, which is very much to be 
 deplored. 
 
 3. Savernake. There is in North Wilts a third small Heronry 
 or little colony, the offshoot or nucleus of a Heronry at Saver- 
 nake. This at present consists of only six nests, as I am 
 informed by my friend Mr. C. Tanner, jun., who kindly took the 
 trouble to count them on my behalf. Until about four years 
 ago, when the high trees thereof were cut down, the Herons 
 occupied a wood called ' Bedwyn Brails,' but when the trees were 
 felled they removed to the pleasure-grounds at Savernake House, 
 and at one time mustered as many as ten or even more nests. 
 
 4. Longleat. We have mentioned a Heronry at the seat of the 
 Marquis of Lansdowne, and another at that of the Marquis of 
 Ailesbury ; it is remarkable that my next instance is at the seat 
 of the Marquis of Bath : so that each of our three noblemen of 
 highest rank in the county has a Heronry attached to his estate. 
 That at Longleat is on an island on the lake at the back of the 
 house, and I have the authority of Lord Bath for saying that it 
 
Common Heron. 397 
 
 is unquestionably in Wiltshire, though very near the borders of 
 Somerset. From ' time immemorial,' up to about 1852, there 
 had always been from one to two nests, the Herons being kept 
 down by a reward of five shillings paid for every Heron killed. 
 But about 1852 the present Marquis discontinued the reward for 
 killing them, and encouraged the Herons ; in consequence they 
 very soon began to multiply, and there have been as many as 
 from twenty to thirty nests. But of late years they have again 
 decreased in number, in consequence of the birds being waylaid 
 and killed down the river Wylye, and the number of nests now 
 varies from ten to fifteen. 
 
 5. Fonthill There is a small Heronry situated near the lower 
 end of the lake at Fonthill, the seat of Mr. Alfred Morrison, 
 which generally numbered from ten to twelve nests yearly, as I 
 learn from the head-keeper, or from eight to ten^ as Mr. Ernest 
 Baker estimates them. As in all the other Heronries previously 
 described, the numbers here too are diminishing, and last year 
 eight nests only were occupied. 
 
 6. Compton Park. Mr. C. Penruddocke has most obligingly 
 communicated to me full particulars of this interesting Heronry, 
 which has been established in some part of Compton Park as far 
 back as the memory of living men can penetrate, and which its 
 owner recollects for more than fifty years, during which time 
 it has, on the whole, neither increased nor diminished. The 
 number of nests varies from fifteen, which appears to be the 
 maximum, to eleven, which seems to be the minimum. This 
 year (1887) there are twelve nests. The name of the covert in 
 which the Heronry is situated is ' Sellwood,' commonly called 
 ' Sillars,' or ' Sellars,' and it is distant about 250 yards from the 
 river Nadder. The nests have been built for the most part in 
 oak trees, but of late years many are found on larch fir-trees, of 
 the age of thirty to thirty-five years, while occasionally they 
 have been built on plane trees and elms in the park itself. Mr. 
 Penruddocke's experience is that five or even six young may 
 generally be reckoned as the produce of each nest ; and he has 
 known seventy-five young birds, in favourable seasons, hatched 
 
398 Ardeidce. 
 
 out in this Heronry. Mr. Penruddocke also adds his valuable 
 testimony, founded on experience, that the Heron, though un- 
 doubtedly an occasional consumer of fish, is also a destroyer of 
 some of the worst enemies of the fish; and at a meeting at 
 Salisbury of Conservators of Fisheries in that neighbourhood, he 
 has heard Mr. Marryat a great fisherman and authority on the 
 subject defend the Herons from the accusations generally made 
 against them, and declare the compensating benefits they confer. 
 
 7. Longford Castle. This is but a small colony, which Lord 
 Kadnor does not dignify with the title of Heronry. Still, as a 
 certain number of nests has now been established there for many 
 years, and as there is no large Heronry in the immediate neigh- 
 bourhood of which it can be considered an offshoot, I submit 
 that it has a right to rank as a Heronry, and I claim it as such. 
 The spot selected for the nests is a clump of the highest trees in 
 the park viz., some lofty beeches about equi-distant from the 
 Avon and the stream which runs through the Chalk valley, the 
 Ebbe as it is called, perhaps half a mile or so from the water, and 
 in the very middle of the park. I do not know how long this 
 Heronry has existed, but when the Rev. A. P. Morres visited it 
 twelve years ago there were at least ten or a dozen nests. Since 
 that time the keeper says there were always five, or four at 
 the very least, but oftentimes, and of late years, seven or eight 
 nests. But here, too, as we have seen in other Wiltshire 
 colonies, the old birds, wandering off in search of food, are ruth- 
 lessly shot, and their numbers are everywhere decreasing. 
 
 I have now enumerated all the Heronries which exist in Wilt- 
 shire at this present date. But I have several instances to record 
 of their having bred in small parties, ' offshoots,' as I may 
 call them, from the established breeding-places, or 'outlying 
 nurseries,' colonized by a few birds only ; and also of their fre- 
 quenting certain districts more determinedly than as passing 
 visitors. 
 
 a. Easton Piers, or Percy. I have the authority of Aubrey 
 ('Natural History of Wilts/ p. 65) for saying that ' Herons bred 
 heretofore (sc., about 1580) at Easton Piers, before the great 
 
Common Heron. 399 
 
 oaks were felled down near the Mannour House, and they do 
 still (about 1690) breed in Farleighe Park.' I have made 
 diligent inquiry in both these localities, but in neither can I 
 trace a vestige of a Heron's nest within the memory of living 
 man. 
 
 b. Heytesbury. A small outlying colony, in all probability an 
 offshoot from the Heronry at Longleat, established itself four or 
 five years ago at Heytesbury. This little colony consisted of 
 only two nests, which were carefully protected by the tenant, 
 who also did all in his power to keep their existence a secret, for 
 fear they should be disturbed. The two nests were not close 
 together, but one was on some trees in the water-meadows, and 
 the other in a plantation near the house, believed to have been 
 built in a fir tree. These particulars were most kindly collected 
 for me by Lord Heytesbury. 
 
 c. Amesbury. Two nests were established last year (1886) 
 near the water on the property of Sir Edmund Antrobus, and 
 both hatched out their broods in safety. This year, however, 
 from some unaccountable reason, they are not breeding there, 
 though the keeper has seen the old birds flying out of the wood. 
 One of these nests was on an ash, the other on a beech-tree. 
 For the above interesting information I am indebted to the Rev. 
 A. W. Phelps, Vicar of Amesbury. 
 
 d. Herons' Corner, Mildenhall. The Rev. C. Soames tells me 
 that there is a spot in his parish called ' Herons' Corner/ within 
 the borders of Savernake Forest, but he never heard of any 
 Herons nesting there. It is almost certain, however, that they 
 must have done so at one time, when they gave their name to 
 the locality. 
 
 e. Noke Wood, Savernake Forest. Mr. C. Tanner, jun., informs 
 me that there was a very small offshoot of a Heronry established 
 for four consecutive years in an outlying part of Savernake 
 Forest called ' Noke Wood.' It consisted of two nests only, and 
 it has been deserted some three or four years. 
 
 /. The Lawn, Swindon. I am indebted to Mrs. Ambrose 
 Goddard for the information that Herons very often visit the 
 
400 Ardeidce. 
 
 ponds on the estate here ; and that on one occasion a pair tried 
 to build on some high trees near the water, but they disappeared 
 before the nests were completed, and in all probability one or 
 both of them were shot. 
 
 g. Badminton? To the kindness of Mr. Lowndes, of Castle 
 Combe, and to the courtesy of the Duke of Beaufort, I am in- 
 debted for the knowledge of a Heronry which formerly existed at 
 Badminton, in a wood called ' Allengrove,' which, though it 
 adjoins the park, is itself in Wiltshire, for the park fence which 
 divides the park from Allengrove is the boundary between the 
 two counties. Here, in the extreme north-western corner of the 
 county, the Herons used to breed year after year, but the Duke 
 has not known a Heron's nest there now for some years. 
 
 h. Erkstoke. I learn from Mr. G. Watson Taylor that, though 
 Herons have never been known to breed there, some remain all 
 the year round, and roost in Hemming's Wood, in the park, and 
 in the pleasure-grounds, close to the wellhead or pond ; and in 
 the summer nine or ten Herons may often be seen circling above 
 Hemming's Wood. This looks extremely like the produce of 
 two nests which have escaped the notice of the keepers, and I 
 should not be surprised to hear that such a colony was 
 established ; more especially as Erlestoke is too far from Bowood 
 and Longleat to be so constantly visited by birds belonging to 
 either of these distant Heronries. 
 
 i. Estcourt. A few Herons may generally be seen in this park 
 and the adjoining meadows ; and on one occasion, as I am told 
 by Mr. G. Sotheron Estcourt, seven Herons were observed to be 
 staying about the lake for some months. This has a strangely 
 suspicious appearance of a pair of old birds and their five young. 
 Mr. Estcourt also says that Herons are to be found all down the 
 banks of the Avon, in the neighbourhood of Malmsbury and 
 Christian Malford. 
 
 k. Christian Malford. Sir Henry Meux informs me that he 
 often sees Herons at Dauntsey, and that they sometimes roost in 
 the winter in Christian Malford Wood, but that he has never 
 heard of their building there. This is corroborated by the Rev. 
 
Common Heron. 401 
 
 A. Law and by the keeper, who says that two Herons only 
 roosted in the wood during the winter before last, and that he 
 has not seen any since, and that they certainly never bred 
 there. 
 
 1. Grittleton. Mr. Algernon Neeld says, '-Herons are often 
 seen about here and on the stream at Castle Combe, and the 
 upper Avon above Malmesbury, and sometimes they roost in the 
 woods all the winter, but they never breed here.' 
 
 m. Charlton. Lord Suffolk informs me that the Herons 
 infest his trout- water, and that it is only within the last dozen 
 years, since he succeeded in getting up a good stock of trout, 
 that they have taken to visiting him with any regularity. He 
 does not know where they come from, nor where they breed; 
 certainly not at Charlton. 
 
 n. Corsham. Lord Methuen writes me word that, though 
 Herons are often seen at Corsham Court, they all come from 
 Bo wood, the distance being not much more than five miles as 
 the crow flies. He has never heard of any Herons' nests nearer 
 Corsham than Bowood. 
 
 o. Burderop. I learn from Mr. Calley that though Burderop 
 is frequently visited by stray Herons, and he is not sure whence 
 they come, there are no nests in the immediate neighbourhood. 
 He has no doubt, however, that if unmolested they would nest at 
 Coate Reservoir, at the end of Burderop Wood. 
 
 p. Rodbourne. Sir R. H. Pollen is sure there is no colony of 
 Herons at or near Rodbourne, though one or two may be occa- 
 sionally seen near the river there. 
 
 q. Ramsbury. Sir F. Burdett says his Kennet water is occa- 
 sionally visited by Herons, but not many are seen there. He 
 does not know where they come from, and has never heard of 
 any colony near Ramsbury. 
 
 r. Ninety. The Rev. W. Butt writes me word that it is the 
 rarest thing with him to see a Heron in that district, though ho 
 is frequently wandering along the banks of the Swill. They are, 
 however, common three or four miles off, visiting the so-called 
 Thames. 
 
 26 
 
402 Ardeidce. 
 
 s. Holt. I am told by Mr. Medlicott that Herons are in the 
 habit of congregating near Holt, and that a farmer of that 
 neighbourhood informed him that sometimes fifty might be seen 
 there together. This is very remarkable, for Holt is at a distance 
 from any Heronry. Mr. A. Mackay, of Holt Manor, observes that 
 they may constantly be seen in the valley between Bradford and 
 Bath. 
 
 t. Baynton. Mr. W. Stancomb, junr., reports that though 
 Herons frequently come to the pond in front of the house at 
 Baynton, he thinks they come from Bowood, as their flight is 
 always in that direction. At all events, he knows of no colony 
 nearer than Bowood. 
 
 u. Bulkington. I am informed by Colonel Wellington that 
 Herons occasionally come to the mill in this place, and are often 
 shot by the miller, who almost every year sends one to a friend 
 who appreciates the old-fashioned dish. 
 
 v. Wilcot. The Rev. C. Soames remarks on the fact that 
 Herons appear in great force between Townsend, at Wilcot, and 
 the canal ; and wonders whence they come and where they roost 
 and nest ! 
 
 w. Breamore. Mr. E. H. Hulse tells me that occasionally he 
 sees a Heron in the water-meadows at Breamore : but these are 
 Dorsetshire and Hampshire birds, which come over the border 
 into Wilts from the Heronries at Mottisfort, the seat of Lady 
 Barker-Mill ; and Somerley, the seat of Lord Normanton. 
 
 I conclude my account of the Herons of Wiltshire with an 
 anecdote communicated to me by the Rev. A. P. Morres. ' Dr. 
 Humphrey Blackmore, some time since, found a Heron with its 
 beak firmly fixed through a large eel : the eel had twined itself 
 round the Heron's neck so firmly as to strangle it, and the Heron 
 had been unable to extricate its bill. They were both quite dead, 
 and frozen hard.' This is an exact counterpart of a similar case 
 mentioned by Yarrell, to which I refer my readers for a clever 
 vignette illustrating the catastrophe. 
 
Squacco Heron. 403 
 
 144. SQUACCO HERON (Ardea comata). 
 
 I have the unexceptionable authority of Yarrell for the fact 
 that this beautiful species has been taken in Wiltshire, but no 
 particulars of the capture, the locality, or the date are recorded 
 by him : I presume, however, that he derived his information 
 from Colonel Montagu, who relates that a bird of this species 
 was shot at Boyton, in Wiltshire, by Mr. Lambert, in 1775, and 
 that mention is made in the Minutes of the Linnsean Transac- 
 tions, vol. iii., that Mr. Lambert presented a drawing of the bird, 
 April 4th, 1797.* It is an Asiatic and African bird : the delicate 
 buff-colour streaked with dark lines of the upper plumage ; the 
 pure white of the under parts ; the hair-like feathers of the back, 
 whence the specific name comata ; and the general shape and 
 bearing of the bird, combine to give it an elegance unrivalled 
 even in this graceful family : but it is a very rare bird in the 
 British isles, and its appearance is annually becoming more and 
 more infrequent. 
 
 The only locality in which I have met with it in its own 
 haunts was on the causeway which crosses the upper end of the 
 Lake Bourget, at Aix-les-Bains, in the South of France, when 
 driving in company with Mr. H. M. Upcher, a brother member of 
 the ELO.U., an able ornithologist, and notorious for the laudable 
 efforts he made to retain the Great Bustard which visited his 
 estate at Feltwell, in Norfolk, in 1876. We were both equally 
 delighted to watch this rare species, as it sat unconcernedly 
 perched on a pole in the lake, within a short distance of the 
 carriage as we drove by ; and when it did take wing it flapped 
 gracefully away with slow easy movements, a true Heron in all 
 its ways and appearance. Canon Tristram found it breeding in 
 large colonies in a dense bed of reeds at Lake Halloula, in North 
 Africa, each nest piled up to a height of three or four feet above 
 the mud, supported on tufts of reeds, and composed of great 
 heaps of weeds and rushes. -f- Mr. Seebohm, too, fell in with a 
 
 Montagu's Supplement to ' Ornith Diet.' in loco. 
 t Ibis for I860, p. 163. 
 
 262 
 
404 Ardeidce. 
 
 colony breeding on pollard trees and bushes in the immediate 
 neighbourhood of a swamp on the Lower Danube. By Continen- 
 tal naturalists it is generally known as A. ralloides, ' like a rail ' 
 from rallus, ' a rail/ and o25o?, appearance (B.O.U.). So in Ger- 
 many it is Eallen Reiher, ' Rail Heron ;' but in France Heron 
 Crabier, ' Crab-eating Heron ;' and in Italy Scarza ciufetto, 
 ' Tufted Heron/ 
 
 145. LITTLE BITTERN (Botaurus minutus). 
 
 This is a very rare bird in England, though common enough 
 in France and Germany, and I have met with it on the Simplon 
 Pass in Switzerland: it is a diminutive member of the great 
 Heron family, and a very prettily marked species. I have a 
 record of one mentioned by Montagu as killed in the neighbour- 
 hood of Bath in 1789, but whether in Wilts or Somerset there 
 is no evidence to show ; but I have information of several un- 
 doubted specimens being taken in this county : one killed about 
 1850 in the parish of Seend, and in the possession of Mr. Taylor, 
 of Baldham Mill, as I was informed by the late Mr. Withers : 
 another shot by Mr. Jervoise's keeper at Britford, near Salisbury, 
 about 1851, in the month of June ; for the knowledge of which I 
 am again indebted to my good friend, the Rev. George Powell, 
 rector of Sutton Yeny. One, an adult male, killed at Stourton, 
 in 1820, by Jacob Riddick, gamekeeper to Sir R. C. Hoare, as I 
 am informed by Mr. Baker; and one procured at Wilton, by 
 Mr. C. Parham, on September 8th, 1869, as I learn from the 
 Rev. A. P. Morres. 
 
 The chief characteristic of the Bitterns, wherein they differ 
 from the true Herons, consists in the plumage of the neck, 
 which, in the hinder part is bare, or scantily clothed with down, 
 but the front and side feathers being long and extending back- 
 wards completely cover the naked space ; these feathers can also be 
 expanded laterally at will, when the bird assumes a strange appear- 
 ance, reminding one of the voluminous folds of cravat in fashion 
 in the palmy days of Beau Brummel ; the neck is also considerably 
 shorter, and the beak stouter than in the preceding species. The 
 
Bittern. 405 
 
 Little Bittern is common in the south-east of Europe, as well as 
 in Asia and North Africa ; is a migratory bird, of solitary habits, 
 and its usual position when at rest amidst the reeds or aquatic 
 herbage of a marsh is that of sitting upon the whole length of 
 the tarsus, with the neck bent and contracted, the head thrown 
 back, and the beak pointing almost perpendicularly upwards.* 
 
 In Sweden it is called Dverg Hdger, or ' Dwarf Heron.' Its 
 note is remarkable, unlike that of any other bird, and both 
 loud and harsh, resembling the barking of a large dog, when 
 heard at a distance, says M. Vieillot ; or like the grunt a pavior 
 gives when dropping his, rammer, says the Kev. T. Frere.f In 
 France it is Heron Blongios and Blongios de Suisse ; in Ger- 
 many, Kleiner Reiher ; and in Portugal Garg a pequena, ' Little 
 Heron ;' but in Italy, Sgarza guacco. 
 
 146. BITTERN (Botaurus stellaris). 
 
 Fifty years ago this species was not uncommon in this country, 
 wherever marsh or swamp or fen invited its approach. My 
 father killed it in Gloucestershire in his sporting days, and 
 my father-in law, the Rev. T. T. Upwood, shot several in Norfolk, 
 of which one is in my collection. Even then, about 1820, it 
 was beginning to be regarded as a rare bird ; now, however, it is 
 gradually disappearing before the march of agricultural improve- 
 ments and the reclaiming of waste lands, and bids fair to be very 
 soon exterminated from amongst us. I have notes of its oc- 
 currence in many parts of the county, north and south ; and the 
 late Rev. John Ward, Rector of Great Bedwyn, informed me that 
 a specimen taken in that parish exceeded in beauty of plumage 
 any he had ever beheld. One of the finest specimens which 
 I have ever seen was killed at Enford, and was in the hands 
 of Mr. Withers, at Devizes, who was preserving it for Mr. 
 Stratton. On January 23rd, 1875, a notice appeared in the Field 
 newspaper that Mr. J. J. Estridge, of Bradford-on-Avon, had 
 killed a fine specimen half a mile from that town, and one 
 hundred yards only from the railway. On January 12th, 1883, 
 Selby in loco. Zoologist for 1849, p. 2498. 
 
406 Ardeidce. 
 
 the Rev. E. Peacock informed me that three weeks previously one 
 was caught while hiding in some brambles by a small stream 
 in one of his fields at Rockfield House, near Frome. This will 
 have been on the extreme borders of the county. And again this 
 year a fine specimen, in good plumage, was sent me for identifica- 
 tion by Mr. William Mackay, of Trowbridge, who described it 
 as shot on January loth, 1887, at Hilperton Marsh, within a mile 
 and a half of Trowbridge. The Rev. A. P. Morres says that in the 
 winter of 1875-76, three were killed on the river Avon in his 
 immediate neighbourhood; and in the same season five more 
 were procured from the neighbouring river, the Test. This is in 
 accordance with Yarrell's statement, that in one year it may be 
 tolerably common, and then for several successive seasons scarcely 
 to be found at all. I have also notices from Lord Nelson of two 
 killed at Trafalgar, the first about 1836, and the last about 1876 ; 
 of two killed on Fonthill, recorded by Mr. Morrison's keeper ; of 
 one, if not two, killed at Longleat, as I am informed by Lord 
 Bath ; of one shot in a wood called West Park, near Corston, last 
 winter (1886), by Mr. Chubb, while pheasant - shooting, as I 
 am informed by Mr. Algernon Neeld, and Sir R. H. Pollen ; 
 of one shot at Lyneham in 1850, and now in the collection 
 of Major Heneage, at Compton Basset t ; and of one shot and pre- 
 served at Corsham Court, as I learn from Lord Methuen. It is a 
 very handsome bird, and the mixture of various shades of buff 
 and brown, spotted, speckled and barred in every direction is par- 
 ticularly pleasing. The cry of the Bittern, which is a hoarse, 
 booming sound or bellowing, when heard on a dark night in the 
 lonely retreats which the bird loves, has a startling effect on the 
 hearer, and is strangely weird and unearthly. The Welsh 
 for Bittern is like most other Welsh names wonderfully de- 
 scriptive, viz., Aderyn-yJywn, 'the Bird with the Hollow Sound ;' 
 from bwmp, ' a hollow sound ;' hence probably the English word 
 ' boom/ so generally applied to the noise made by this bird. Our 
 word ' Bittern,' and the French butor, are evidently taken from 
 the generic botaurua, and thus has been generally thought to be 
 derived (as Professor Skeat observes) from bos taurus, from the 
 
Night Heron. 407 
 
 note of the bird, which bellows like an ox. The B.O.U. Committee, 
 however, denies that it is so derived. The specific, steUaria, 
 ' marked with stars (stellce),' not inaptly describes its plumage ; so 
 in Italy it is Sgarza stellare. In some countries it takes its name 
 from the reed beds it frequents, as in Germany Grosse Eohrdrom- 
 mel, and in Sweden tidrdrum ; but in Spain it is Garza 
 mochuelo, literally 'Red Owl Heron/ and in Portugal Gallinhola 
 real, literally ' Royal ' or ' Great Woodcock.' Like many other 
 members of this family, it is a solitary bird, and lies concealed in 
 the rank herbage of a swamp during the day, emerging at twilight 
 to hunt for food in the marshes. Its flesh was very highly 
 esteemed when the bird was better known than it is now. 
 
 147. NIGHT HERON (Nycticorax griseus). 
 
 I am indebted to the Rev. E. Duke, of Lake, for information of 
 the occurrence of a single specimen of this bird, which was killed 
 on his property many years ago, and added to the small collection 
 illustrative of the Fauna of the district formed by Mr. Duke's 
 father, and still preserved at Lake House. The Night Heron 
 is but a rare straggler to the British Isles, its home being in the 
 Southern and Eastern parts of Europe ; but its range is very ex- 
 tensive, for it has been found in all the quarters of the globe. It 
 is, as its name imparts, a night-feeding species, remaining quietly 
 at rest in the reeds on the margins of streams, or on the tops 
 of high trees, during the day, and as evening comes on seeks its 
 food in the marsh, the meadow, and the river. In Egypt I 
 frequently found it in the palm groves, and have shot it as it 
 flew from some lofty palm when disturbed in its day-dreams 
 on the banks of the Nile. This is a bird which has been and is 
 the subject of much superstitious reverence and fear. In Ancient 
 Egypt it was considered the emblem of Osiris, and as such was 
 venerated, if not worshipped with divine honours. We may see 
 its portrait now, depicted on the walls of the tombs at Thebes, 
 with two long plumes depending from its head. In China it is 4o 
 this day looked upon with superstitious dread, and is thought to 
 have some connection with evil spirits ; and under the name of 
 
408 Ardeidce. 
 
 Am kong cheow, or ' Bird of Darkness,' is both propitiated and 
 protected. Our great authority on Chinese ornithology, Mr. 
 Swinhoe, has given an admirable account of the breeding of this 
 sacred bird in the fine old banyan trees in the courtyard in front 
 of the great Honam temple at Canton, where it is encouraged 
 and protected, and to his graphic description I would refer my 
 readers.* Nycticorax is strictly 'the night raven/ from w'f-f 
 Kopa% ; and griseus, 'gray' or 'grizzled.' Some of our older orni- 
 thologists used to call it the ' Night Raven/ and Bechstein 
 describes it under the name of Nacht Reiher ; not that it was 
 ever supposed to have any affinity with Corvus corax, but 
 simply by way of literal translation of the scientific name. The 
 young bird was for a long time considered a distinct species, and 
 was called A. Gardeni, and 'Gardenian Heron/ and 'Spotted 
 Heron/ the plumage of the immature bird being brown, covered 
 with light coloured spots, and resembling in no slight degree the 
 plumage of the immature Spotted Eagle, and of the immature 
 Gannet. In France it is Bihoreau d manteau noir ; in Italy, 
 Sgarza nitticora ; in Spain, Martinete. 
 
 148. WHITE STORK (Ciconia alba). 
 
 It is very sad that this bird, so ready to be familiar with 
 man, and which may be seen in Holland and Germany building 
 its nest on the roofs of houses, and meeting that encouragement 
 and protection which its confidence deserves, should be scared 
 away from England by the persecution it has met with here. 
 And yet the White Stork is not only harmless, but positively 
 useful, and acts the scavenger to perfection. In Scandinuvia, 
 we are informed by Mr. Lloydf that it is looked upon with 
 a kind of veneration similar to that entertained towards the 
 Swallow and Turtle-dove, because (so the legend runs) it flew 
 over the Redeemer at the Crucifixion, crying in a sympathising 
 tone, ' StyrJc, Styrk, Styrk Honom,' ' Strengthen, strengthen, 
 strengthen Him. 1 Hence it derived the name of Stork, and 
 
 Ibis for 1861, pp. 53-56, and for 1863, pp. 423-425. 
 t ' Scandinavian Adventures/ vol. ii., p. 390. 
 
White Stork. 409 
 
 it was in remembrance of the affectionate solicitude it evinced 
 on this occasion that the gift was bestowed upon it of bringing 
 peace and happiness to the roof where it was allowed undis- 
 turbed to rear its young. 
 
 This attribute is also equally assigned to it by the inhabitants 
 of Germany, but whether resulting from a similar legend to that 
 accepted in Sweden, or from some other conceit, I am unable to 
 determine. 
 
 It has also been fortunate enough to secure the good- will of 
 the Crescent as well as of the Cross, for in the East it is protected 
 by the Mahommedans ; in the first place probably from a recog- 
 nition of its value in consuming the refuse and garbage of the 
 streets, and since then as a bird of good omen, which it would be 
 not only impious but dangerous to molest ; and so its nest may 
 be seen on the mosque towers and other buildings, and its 
 selection of them hailed by the owners with delight, just as in 
 Europe. In some German villages, especially in Bavaria, I have 
 seen an old cart-wheel firmly fixed on the top of a house, and a 
 very tempting site it appeared to be in the eye of the Storks, to 
 uphold the mass of sticks which forms the foundation of the nest. 
 
 It is so frequently seen on the Continent by every tourist, and 
 its fearlessness permits such close observation, that it will be 
 needless to describe its appearance. It is migratory, arriving in 
 Europe in the spring, and retiring to Africa, where I have met 
 with it in large flocks, in winter, fishing on the shallows and 
 sand-banks of the Nile. When at rest, it stands upon one leg, 
 with the neck bent backwards, the head resting on the back, and 
 the beak resting on the breast : and when alarmed, it is apt to 
 snap the mandibles of its beak together with a loud clattering 
 noise. I have the authority of Yarrell for stating that an indi- 
 vidual of this species has been killed near Salisbury. I have 
 also a newspaper notice of an immature bird, supposed to have 
 flown over from Holland, shot in August, ] 789, by Mr. Selfe, as 
 it was seen feeding in a meadow, near Downton; so that a 
 hundred years ago it was considered of sufficient rarity to deserve 
 special notice in print. But the Rev. A. P. Morres is able to 
 
410 Ardeidce. 
 
 record quite a recent occurrence, as one was shot at Codford by 
 Mr. Cole, of that parish, on a chimney-stack on his premises, on 
 September 5th, 1882, and is now in that gentleman's possession. 
 Our English word ' Stork/ and the German Storch and Swedish 
 Stork, may perhaps signify stark, ' the strong one,' from o-repeo?, 
 ' firm ' ; or perhaps ' the tall one/ from the Anglo-Saxon steale, 
 1 high ' ; for f stork ' and ' stalk ' appear to have the same deriva- 
 tioa (See Skeat's Dictionary in loco.) In France, Cicogne 
 blanche; in Italy, Cicogna bianca ; in Spain, Ciguena ; in 
 Portugal, Cegonha ; but the origin of the specific word ciconia, 
 (which is classical Latin for Stork) is unknown. 
 
 149. GLOSSY IBIS (Ibis fakinellus). 
 
 The long arched beak of this bird, with a blunt rounded tip, 
 at once commands recognition, and its dark brown plumage, 
 glossed with a metallic lustre of green and purple reflections, 
 equally arrests attention. Sir R. Payne-Gallwey says that the 
 plumage of a recently-killed specimen is a beautiful shade of 
 shadowy black -green, and that it soon fades, but for some time 
 resembles in its metallic sheen the body of a large fly or beetle.* 
 Moreover, the portion of the head from the beak to the eyes is 
 quite bare of feathers, and the naked skin is of a green colour. 
 It is the only species really known in Europe, for though the 
 celebrated Sacred Ibis (/. religlosa) has obtained a place in Mr. 
 Bree's excellent work,-)- yet the author candidly owns that its 
 right to figure there is extremely doubtful; moreover, it is so 
 rare even in Egypt, that only an occasional straggler, at long 
 intervals, appears in that classic land : and the black and white 
 Ibis (' the Father of the Bills/ as the Arabs expressively term it) 
 must be sought for in Abyssinia, or still nearer the equator. 
 The Glossy Ibis, though certainly an uncommon bird, is not 
 amongst our rarest visitors, as scarcely a year passes without the 
 notice of the occurrence of one or more in different parts of 
 England, the fenny districts of Cambridgeshire, Lincoln and 
 
 * ' The Fowler in Ireland,' p. 238. 
 
 t ' The Birds of Europe not observed in the British Isles,' vol. iv., p. 45. 
 
Glossy Ibis. 411 
 
 Norfolk being generally favoured ; and I have the authority of 
 the late Rev. George Marsh for stating that a specimen was 
 killed at Whetham near Calne, the residence of the then Rector 
 of Yatesbury, Rev. W. Money, in the year 1825. The hook- 
 shaped beak, which is so striking a feature, and whence it has 
 derived the title of 'Sickle-bill,' enables this bird, which is a 
 true Wader, the better to probe and search in the soft mud 
 where it seeks its prey. It was venerated in Egypt no less than 
 its more distinguished relative, and I brought home the em- 
 balmed bodies of these birds both from Memphis and Thebes, 
 some of which are enclosed in red earthenware pots, with their 
 covers still cemented to the top, and having externally a very 
 modern appearance ; but if one is opened and examined there is 
 no mistaking the bird within, swathed and bandaged though it 
 has been for 3000 years or more. By some modern ornithologists 
 the r good old generic name of Ibis is discarded, and Plegadis 
 substituted in its place ; and though the meaning of that word, 
 ' of a sickle/ is appropriate enough, it is but a repetition of the 
 specific name, falcinellus, which also means ' a little sickle.' It 
 is the ' Black Curlew ' of European sportsmen, and the Svart 
 Ibis of Sweden. In North Africa, Canon Tristram found a 
 Glossy Ibis here and there among clouds of Buff-backed and 
 Night Herons, like a black sheep in a flock; and the Arabs, 
 seeing this dark-plumaged stranger among so many white birds, 
 have named it Mdazet et Md, ' the Devil's Crow.'* Hence it is 
 known in Spain as Garza diablo ; in France it is simply Ibis 
 falcinelle ; but in Germany Sichelschnabliger Nimmersat, 
 ' Sickle-billed never satisfied ;' and in Italy, Chiurlo, ' Dolt.' 
 ' Ibis ' is said to be a word of Coptic or Egyptian origin (Skeat). 
 
 It was our countryman, Colonel Montagu, who made careful 
 investigation into the subject, and unravelled the mystery which 
 then prevailed in regard to the several so-called species of Ibis, 
 and proved that the Bay, the Green, and the Glossy were all 
 one and the same species, but differing in plumage according to 
 sex, season and age.-f- 
 
 Ibis for 1860, p. 78. f See supplement to Ornith. Diet, in loco. 
 
412 Scolopacidce. 
 
 SCOLOPACID.E (THE SNIPES). 
 
 Many of the species which compose this large family are well 
 known to the sportsman as well as to the epicure. The most 
 observable characteristic of the race is the long and slender 
 round-tipped beak, with which they are enabled to probe the 
 soft earth or mud and extract their prey, which consists of 
 worms and various insects and grubs ; for the Snipe family does 
 not live on air, or on nourishment derived by suction from 
 muddy water, as is very often popularly supposed. And yet 
 these birds are in one sense truly designated ' birds of suction/ 
 for their beaks are marvellously formed for the purpose required, 
 by means of an unusual development of highly sensitive nerves 
 to the extreme tip, thus endowing them with an exquisite 
 sense of feeling ; while at the same time that member is further 
 provided with a peculiar muscle, which, by the closing or con- 
 tracting of the upper part of the mandibles, operates so as to 
 expand them at the point, and enables the bird, with the beak 
 still buried in the ground, to seize its prey the moment it is 
 aware of being in contact with it. Thus the delicate sense of 
 touch down to the very point of the beak, and its capability of 
 seizing as in a forceps the worm which it cannot see, renders 
 that admirable organ complete for its purposes, and enables it 
 to serve the place of eyes, nose, tongue, and hand. Hence the 
 name Scolopacidce from o-tcoXoyfr, ' anything pointed,' or ' a stake '; 
 which well applies to the beaks of alt the members of this family. 
 Birds of the Snipe family have also for the most part long and 
 slender legs, large and prominent eyes, and well-developed wings. 
 They are all migrants, and also move from one chosen locality to 
 another, as the frost compels them ; for soft damp ground in 
 which they can bore with their sensitive beaks without difficulty 
 is absolutely essential to them. 
 
 150. CURLEW (Numenius arquata). 
 
 This was a common bird on the downs within the memory of 
 many living sportsmen. The late Mr. Butler, of Kennett (from 
 
Curlew. 413 
 
 whom I derived much practical information on the Ornithology 
 of Wilts), told me that he could recollect the time when they 
 were frequently killed here : and others assure me they used to 
 breed regularly in certain districts on the downs. Possibly they 
 may still occasionally do so, as Mr. Im Thurn pointed out in 
 his ' Birds of Marlborough,' showing that they had been reported 
 to breed on the Aldbourne downs, and for which the Rev. A. P. 
 Morres gave corroborative evidence, saying that they had lately 
 nested on the downs within seven miles of Salisbury. Indeed, 
 though I have no positive proof to bring forward, I do not know 
 why this assertion should be questioned, seeing that the 
 habit of the bird is to retire in the breeding season from the 
 coast, and to resort to heathy and mountainous districts ; seeing, 
 too, that N. arquata is still occasionally seen on our downs ; 
 and that it did, though not so regularly as (Edicnemus crepitans, 
 breed in the more retired districts of our Wiltshire downs.* 
 Mr. Howard Saunders says : ' A few pairs in the breeding season 
 may be scattered through Wilts and Hants/ and he adds, ' It is 
 the most wary of all birds, with the keenest sense of smell and 
 sight, and its shrill scream soon spreads the alarm among other 
 fowl.'-f- The Marlborough College Natural History Reports 
 mention eggs taken on Aldbourne Down in 1876, and a 
 specimen taken from the grasp of a hawk, by a keeper, in West 
 Woods in the same year, and one killed on Monkton Down in 
 April, 1877. Major Heneage has a specimen which was killed 
 at Compton Bassett in 1881. Lord Nelson possesses one killed 
 at Trafalgar. Lord Heytesbury's keeper has seen it occasionally 
 on the downs in his district ; and Mr. Grant reports one from 
 Coate, near Devizes, in January, 1862 ; another in December 
 of the same year from Bulkington, and one from Upavon 
 in January, 1864. These are all the records I have now 
 before me of the occurrence of single birds in various parts 
 of the county; but they are only stragglers and by no 
 means regular visitors now. Everybody knows the wild, mourn- 
 
 * Compare Zoologist for 1877, pp. 38 and 106. 
 
 f Fourth edition of Yarrell's ' British Birds,' vol. iii., pp. 501-504. 
 
414 Scolopacidce. 
 
 ful whistling cry of the Curlew, as it rises from the marsh or 
 mud-bank on the sea-shore; and equally well known is the 
 peculiar long curved beak with which it is provided. As is the 
 case with so many other birds with beaks of unusual length or 
 shape (e.g. the Crossbill, Spoonbill, Avocet, Hoopoe, Shoveller, 
 etc.), the young when hatched have the ordinary short beak of 
 other species, and it is not till they advance towards maturity 
 that their beaks develop, until they attain the shape and 
 dimensions of that of the adult. It is of a shy timid nature, and 
 avoids the proximity of man, and is so wary, vigilant, and 
 withal so quick-sighted, as to be the first to discover and give 
 notice of the presence of an intruder, as every shore-shooter 
 knows to his vexation and cost. And as it seeks out for its 
 retreat the most retired and lonely spots, I conclude that the 
 breaking up and cultivation of our wild downs has been the 
 cause of banishing it from amongst us. 
 
 The English word 'Curlew,' and the French Courtis are 
 supposed to represent the strangely wild note of this bird. In 
 the B.O.U. list we find that Numenius is derived from * the new 
 moon,' veos + fjujwr), and has reference to the crescent-shaped beak. 
 Arquata, too, has much the same signification, meaning ' bent 
 like a bow,' arcus. It was in old time highly esteemed for 
 the table, but my experience of one which I obtained on the 
 Norfolk coast is decidedly the other way. Mr. Cordeaux, who is 
 intimately acquainted with it on the Yorkshire coast, says : ' To 
 modern taste its flesh is bitter and unpalatable ; but it is curious, 
 showing the estimation in which it was held by our forefathers, 
 that the price of the ' Kerlew,' as set forth in the Northumber- 
 land Household Book (begun in 1512) was twelvepence, an 
 extraordinary sum for that day : Pheasants, Bitterns and Herons 
 being valued at the same price, while such modern delicacies 
 as the Woodcock and Teal were fixed at Id. and ljd., and 
 Mallards and Partridges at 2d. each.* I conclude this account of 
 the Curlew with some remarks on it by Sir R. Payne-Gallwey, 
 whose keen observation is only equalled by his graphic descrip- 
 ' Birds of the Humber District,' p. 109. 
 
 
Curlew. 415 
 
 tion of the birds of which he writes : * The bill of a Curlew is a 
 mere bundle of delicate nerves of the most sensitive order 
 enclosed in a thin skin : by reason of this tender soft bill it feels 
 the effect of frost sooner than any other bird. Their bill being 
 adapted for feeding on soft ground only accounts for their 
 preference for the mud of estuaries and harbours, and for their 
 seeking the oozy flats just uncovered by the tide. But how 
 Curlews can tell from inland fields, farYrom and out of sight of 
 the tide, the exact moment to make for the shore, is more than 
 I can guess at. But they are more regular in repairing to their 
 haunts than any other birds. To the minute they will desert 
 the moors and meadows to leave for the coast : and they fall 
 arrive just as the ooze is sufficiently uncovered to enable them 
 to get their food whilst wading. I have watched them, several 
 miles from the tide, cease feeding, call to one another, collect, 
 and then point for the sea, and this, too, at the very moment I 
 knew the shallows must be nearly exposed. Spring tides they 
 will hit off exactly, never late, always on the spot just as the 
 banks begin to show. They may at these times be seen travelling 
 in long strings to their favourite haunts.'* In Continental 
 languages it bears the title of ' Great,' in reference to its congener 
 the ' Whimbrel,' next to be mentioned. Thus in France it is 
 Grand Courlis cendre; in Germany, Grosse Brachvogel, 'Great 
 Fallow-Bird ;' in Italy, Chiurlo maggiore ; in Spain, Chorlito real; 
 in Portugal, Magarwo real ; in Sweden, Stor-Spof. 
 
 151. WHIMBREL (Numenius phceopus.) 
 
 Doubtless this bird is often confounded with the preceding, to 
 which it bears a very close resemblance in all points, and from 
 which it differs in little else than in size. It is about one-third 
 less than its congener, and hence has derived the names of Half- 
 Curlew and Jack-Curlew. The first instance I adduce of its 
 occurrence in Wilts is the specimen in the Kev. George Marsh's 
 collection, which was obtained in his own parish in 1838, killed 
 in Sutton Mead, where it had been observed alone for some time. 
 * ' The Fowler in Ireland,' pp. 232-237. 
 
416 Scolopacldce. 
 
 Lord Nelson possesses a specimen killed at Trafalgar. Mr. Grant 
 records a pair shot at Swindon in April, 1865, one at Overton 
 in May, 1873, and one at Enford by Mr. Sargent in May, 1882. 
 Then in 1876 a flock of six was seen at Berwick Bassett on May 13th, 
 and one of these was shot by a labourer who was scaring birds. 
 It was an adult male, in very fair plumage, and extremely fat : 
 its gizzard contained the remains of earthworms with a blade or 
 two of grass, and a few small stones ; all of which particulars 
 were recorded in the Zoologist* Since that date Mr. Swayne, of 
 Wilton, in a letter dated November 14th, 1883, informed me 
 that about the middle of October Lord Pembroke shot a 
 Whimbrel on the hill above Butteridge, and said that he had 
 seen four or five fly over his head the previous year in the 
 meadows just out of shot, but, except that they looked too small, 
 he thought they were Stone Curlews, of which there are generally 
 some about the hill, and several of which Mr. Swayne has seen 
 killed. The specific name, phceopus, means ' dusky-foot/ from 
 <ato?, ' dusky,' and TTOU?, ' a foot,' and marks one point in which 
 it differs from its larger congener, whose feet are light blue. 
 Mr. Cecil Smith says that they are called by the fishermen on 
 the Somerset coast ' Young Curlews '; and Mr. Knox that in 
 Sussex they are locally designated ' Titterels,' from the trilling 
 note which they utter while on the wing. Elsewhere they are 
 known as the ' May Bird/ because they arrive on migration so 
 regularly in that month. These, too, are the genuine ' Seven 
 Whistlers/ a term which is now applied to several other species, 
 but belongs by right to the Whimbrel alone, whose whistle is 
 supposed to be repeated just seven times. Mr. Cordeaux gives 
 the ' Knot Curlew ' as one of its many names in Yorkshire, and 
 adds : They are very partial to washing and bathing ; coming 
 down to the tide edge each day and wading out breast deep, they 
 scatter the water with their wings in sparkling showers over 
 their backs and bodies. After the bath they stand on the fore- 
 shore, gently fanning their wings to and fro, or preening and 
 arranging their plumage. When migrating they advance at an 
 
 For 1876, 2nd series, p. 5166. 
 
Redshank. 417 
 
 immense height, generally in line, one leading, the rest following, 
 not directly, but en tchelon, and are constantly repeating their 
 call- note.* In France it is Le petit Courlis or Courlis Courlieu ; 
 in Germany, Regen Brachvogel; in Italy, Chiurlo minore; in 
 Spain, Zarapito ; in Portugal, Ma$arico ; and in Sweden, Sma- 
 Spof. 
 
 152. REDSHANK (Totanus calidris). 
 
 This species is thoroughly well known on the coast, and little 
 beloved by the shore- shooter, for its wary eye is the first to 
 detect the intruder, and its shrill note of alarm, as it hurries off 
 on rapid wing, puts every bird in the marsh on the alert. So 
 well known is this its regular habit in every country it frequents, 
 that in Greece it is nicknamed pdprvpos, or the ' Tell-tale,' and 
 in Sweden Tolk, or the * Interpreter.' Sir E. Payne-Gallwey, 
 indeed, says that this is ' not from timidity, for it will continue 
 its search for food within a few yards of your punt, but from 
 pure restlessness of disposition, which never allows it to remain 
 long in one spot ; and on the wing it always calls loudly, whether 
 near or far, and whether frightened or unsuspicious.'f I must, 
 however, own that this is contrary to my experience, for I always 
 found it to be the most timid and the first to take alarm of all 
 the birds on the shore ; and, indeed, that such is its general 
 character the nicknames mentioned above sufficiently prove. 
 One writer has observed that he was much struck with the 
 curious manner in which Kedshanks dart their bill into the 
 sand nearly its whole length, by jumping up and thus giving 
 it a sort of impetus, by the weight of their bodies pressing it 
 downwards. It is a bird of erect, somewhat martial bearing, and 
 used to be known in England, according to Bewick and others, 
 as the ( Red-legged Horseman,' and in France, according to 
 Temminck, as Chevalier gambette, and, according to Cuvier, as Le 
 grand Chevalier au pieds rouges. By Italian authors it is 
 described as Gambetta, which signifies a 'small thin leg/ and 
 
 ' Birds of the Humber District,' p. 111. 
 t ' The Fowler in Ireland/ p. 239. 
 
 27 
 
418 Scolopacidce. 
 
 by old British writers, Latham and others, it was known as 
 Tringa gambetta. The meaning of calidris is unknown, but it 
 is as old as the time of Aristotle, who designated some speckled 
 water-bird under this name, and it was applied by Linnaeus to 
 the Redshank, which it is to be hoped will retain it to the end 
 of time. This species seldom comes far inland except in the 
 breeding season, and I have but two instances of its occurrence 
 in "Wiltshire, both communicated to me by Mr. Grant, who 
 received the two specimens in the flesh, the one on May 26th, 
 1865, the other in September, 1868, both, strangely enough, from 
 the same locality, Whitley, near Melksham. In addition to the 
 names mentioned above, it is known in Germany as Rothfussiger 
 Wasserlaiifer, * Red-Footed Water- Runner ;' in Sweden as Rod- 
 bent Sndppa ; and in Portugal as Chalrtta. 
 
 153. GREEN SANDPIPER (Totanus ochropus). 
 
 This and the following species seem interlopers in the midst 
 of the Snipe family, and scarcely deserve to be classed with 
 them, for their beaks are neither so long nor so sensitive, and 
 they seek their food on the surface as much as below the 
 mud. In other respects they are closely allied to the other 
 members of the family. This is a far more common bird in 
 'Wiltshire than many suppose. It has been shot by the late Rev. 
 G. Marsh in the water-meadows at Salisbury in 1833 : and the 
 Rev. A. P. Morres, who lives in a locality far more suited to its 
 requirements than that which I inhabit, says they are almost 
 always to be found in the water-meadows near Salisbury ; indeed, 
 he has seen them there in every month of the year, with the 
 exception of June. Mr. W. Wyndham writes that it is common 
 at Dinton ; and Lord Heytesbury that a specimen was killed by 
 one of his grandsons in 1884. In North Wilts I learn that^one 
 was seen at Littlecote in May, 1876, and Mr. Grant furnishes me 
 with a goodly list of sixteen which have passed through his 
 hands for preservation, having been taken within a radius of ten 
 or twelve miles of Devizes. It does not remain on the sea-coast 
 
Green Sandpiper. 419 
 
 when it reaches our island in its migrations, but proceeds at 
 once to the rivers and streams of the interior. I have met with 
 it in great abundance in Egypt in winter, and I have seen it in 
 summer in its breeding haunts in Norway, and have occasionally 
 met with it in the creeks of the Wash on the coast of Norfolk. 
 When disturbed, it will hurry away with a shrill whistle, flying 
 low, and skimming over the surface of the water, and generally 
 following accurately all the bends and angles of the stream. We 
 have the excellent authority of Dr. Kruper in Pomerania, and 
 that of Herr Badeker and Mr. Wainwright in Norway, that this 
 bird, contrary to expectation, will occasionally, if not generally, lay 
 its eggs in the old nests of fieldfares or other tree-building birds.* 
 This, as well as the Common Sandpiper, and some other members 
 of the same family, is frequently dubbed the ' Summer Snipe.' 
 Its scientific name, ochropus, signifies ' with pale yellow feet/ 
 from to^/009, ' pale yellow/ and TTOU?, ' a foot '; but this is singularly 
 in opposition to the fact, for the feet are very dark gray or 
 nearly black, with a green tinge. Some modern ornithologists 
 remove it from the genus Totanus and call it Helodromas, which 
 signifies ' Marsh Runner/ and is appropriate enough. It is also 
 called the ' Whistling Sandpiper/ from its shrill note, said by the 
 Rev. R. Lubbock, in his 'Fauna of Norfolk/ to be probably the 
 loudest note for its size of any of our fen birds. In France it is 
 Chevalier cul-blanc, 'White-tailed Horseman;' in Germany, 
 PunJctierte Strandldufer ; in Italy, Culbianco ; in Sweden, 
 Grd-bent Sndppa. 
 
 154. WOOD SANDPIPER (Totanus glareola). 
 
 This is but an occasional straggler to the British Isles, so that 
 its occurrence in Wiltshire was hardly to be expected; and, 
 indeed, I have but one instance of its being taken within the 
 borders of our county, and that was at the hands of Mr. W. 
 Macey, of Lavington, on January 13th, 1879, as I am informed by 
 Mr. Grant. It is somewhat smaller than the Green Sandpiper, 
 
 * See Canon Tristram in Ibis for 1860, p. 169, and Mr. Simpson in same 
 vol., p. 390. 
 
 272 
 
420 Scolopacidce. 
 
 with which it is often confounded, and with which it was always 
 supposed to be identical, until our countryman Montagu pointed 
 out wherein it differed; but though similar to that bird in 
 plumage, in general habits, and especially when breeding, it 
 more closely resembles the Redshank. Its true home is in 
 Central Asia and Central Europe, where it frequents thickets of 
 alder and willow in marshy ground, and is common in winter 
 throughout the Mediterranean, including the northern shores of 
 Africa. The specific name glareola, which is a diminutive from 
 glarea, ' gravel/ would imply that it haunts gravelly places, but 
 such appears to be by no means characteristic of this species. 
 It is the Tringa grallatoris and 'Long-legged Sandpiper' of 
 Montagu, and, indeed, its length of leg seems disproportionate to 
 the size of its body. The English specific name, * Wood Sand- 
 piper/ as well as the French Chevalier Sylvain and the German 
 Wald Strandlaufer, all point to the peculiar haunts it loves, 
 wherein it differs from all its congeners. In Sweden it is known 
 as Gron-bent Sndppa. 
 
 155. COMMON SANDPIPER (Totanus hypolewos). 
 
 This is a far more common species than T. ochropus, as its 
 trivial name implies, and may be frequently met with in summer, 
 not only on the banks of our streams, but even occasionally on 
 our downs. The Rev. G. Marsh told me that it is especially 
 abundant in the neighbourhood of Salisbury ; and that is tho- 
 roughly confirmed by the Rev. A. P. Morres, who sees them every 
 summer there. Sometimes, but only very seldom, I have met 
 with them in the water-meadows in the parish of Yatesbury. It 
 is an elegant little bird, and all its movements are graceful and 
 pleasing : whether on the wing, as it skims over the surface of 
 the water with a shrill piping whistle, or on foot, as, perched on 
 a stone, it continually moves its tail up and down, or runs with 
 great rapidity by the margin of the stream. It is also said to be 
 able to dive as well as swim on emergency, and, in short, is a 
 bird of most active habits and most lively motions. Its note, 
 too, is remarkably loud for its size. To most people it is known 
 
Common Sandpiper. 421 
 
 under the name of f Summer Snipe.' The specific name, hypo- 
 leucos, 'white underneath,' though not distinctive, tells accurately 
 of the pure unspotted white of the plumage on the under surface 
 of the body. I found this species most abundant in Egypt during 
 the winter, and met with it at every turn of the river ; and not 
 less common in Norway during the summer, where it established 
 itself in its breeding quarters on every river and stream, and 
 where I have taken the young just out of the shell, and marvelled 
 at its size in comparison with its parents. But the Drill Sndppa, 
 as it is there called, is very abundant all over Scandinavia. By 
 the Lapps it is called Skillili, and they have a saying as to the 
 disproportionate size of the egg to the bird which may be thus 
 
 rendered : 
 
 ' Skillili, Skillili ! I carry, I carry 
 An egg large as that of a Ripa, 
 So that my tail cocks in the air.' 
 
 In like manner as the Dunlin is commonly said in Iceland to 
 guard and tend the Golden Plover, so on the islands of the Baltic 
 Sea the Common Sandpiper is reported to act the part of a 
 servant or guardian towards the Redshank. Now, the Redshank 
 (T. calidris) is known to the fishermen as Tolk, or ' Interpreter,' 
 because of its shrill cry, whereby it warns other birds of the 
 coming of the fowler, for which reason the Common Sandpiper 
 is there often designated TolJca-piga, or ' Handmaid to the 
 Interpreter.' In France it is Chevalier guignette ; in Germany, 
 Trillender Strandlaufer ; and in Italy, Piovanello. 
 
 156. GREENSHANK (Totanus glottis). 
 
 This is a rare bird in Wiltshire. The Rev. A. P. Morres had 
 the good fortune in 1865 to see three together on two con- 
 secutive days in some water-meadows near Salisbury, where 
 they had been noticed to have taken up their quarters, and to 
 have occupied the same spot for some four or five days pre- 
 viously. They were very wild, and would not admit of too near 
 approach. It is not usual to see three in company, for when 
 found in this country it is almost always a single bird that is 
 
422 Scolopacidce. 
 
 found alone. Another instance of its occurrence in Wiltshire 
 was communicated to me by the Rev. A. W. Phelps, who informed 
 me that a specimen had been killed from the ' Diamond/ opposite 
 the Abbey at Amesbury, by Sir E. Antrobus' keeper, on the 
 August Bank Holiday of last year (1886). A third passed 
 through the hands of Mr. Grant, which was shot at Foxhanger 
 in August, 1870. A fourth, as I am told by Lord Methuen, was 
 shot near the waters at Corsham Court, and is preserved there. 
 Mr. Rawlence possesses a specimen killed at Gombledon, near 
 Salisbury ; and Lord Heytesbury called my attention to an 
 instance of which the Rev. G. Powell had previously informed 
 me, which had been observed on the 27th of August, 1868, by 
 Mr. William Swayne, in the Knook meadows in the parish of 
 Heytesbury, and after flushing it several times, that gentleman 
 contrived to get a shot at it as it rose from some rushes and 
 killed it. It appeared to have been wearied by previous long 
 flight; and my informant, who examined the bird carefully, 
 believes it to have been a young bird and a hen. The Green- 
 shank, though a scarce bird in England, does make its appear- 
 ance almost every year as a straggler, and is generally observed 
 during the spring or autumn migrations, either on its way to or 
 its return from its breeding-places in the far north. Hence the 
 specimen last mentioned was undoubtedly on its journey south- 
 wards when it halted to rest in the parish of Heytesbury. Like 
 many others of its congeners, it will on occasions perch on the 
 top of a tall tree, to the no small astonishment of the observer* 
 who is ignorant of this unlooked-for habit in a true wader. Its 
 beak is, though very slightly, yet perceptibly curved upwards. 
 In connection with this upturned beak, Mr. Harting remarked a 
 peculiarity in its manner of feeding, for he noticed that it placed 
 the bill upon the surface, the under mandible almost parallel 
 with the mud, and as it advanced scooped from side to side after 
 the fashion of the Avocet, leaving a curious zigzag line im- 
 pressed upon the ooze.* Its food consists of small molluscs, 
 worms, beetles, and insects of various kinds. Our English word 
 'Birds of Middlesex,' p. 181. 
 
Bar-tailed Godwit. 423 
 
 ' Greenshank ' indicates at once the grayish-green-colour of the 
 legs, which distinguishes it from the Kedshank. Its scientific 
 name glottis, and in Swedish Glutt Sndppa, signify the bird 
 ' with a tongue ;' so the French call it Aboyeur, ' the Barker/ for 
 it is most vociferous, and its loud shrill note, with which it rises 
 when disturbed, alarms all other birds in the fen. In Germany 
 it is Grunfussiger Wasserlaufer, and in Italy Pantana 
 verderello. 
 
 157. BAR-TAILED GODWIT (Limosa rufa). 
 Common though it is on the coast, I have only one instance of 
 the occurrence of this bird in Wilts, and that was a specimen 
 shot in the neighbourhood of Marlborough ; and as it puzzled its 
 captors, it was sent tome to name on November 6th, 1881, when 
 it was of course in winter plumage. In Sweden it rejoices in 
 a name almost as long as its beak, being known as Rost-rod Lang 
 Ndbba, or ' Rust-red Long-Bill,' but provincially Augusti Snappa, 
 because it appears in August. Its scientific name, Limosa, 
 meaning * muddy,' marks the localities it prefers, and here it will, 
 with its long semi-flexible bill, probe the muddy deposit on the 
 banks and mouths of rivers, wading deep in the water, immersing 
 the head at intervals, and searching the ooze beneath.* When 
 disturbed and raised on the wing, the Red Godwit will send forth 
 a cry not unlike the bleat of a goat, whence, I suppose, the name 
 cegocephala bestowed on it by old writers, for in no other respect 
 assuredly does it bear any resemblance to the head of a goat. In 
 consequence of their great length of beak, they are often called 
 ' Sea Woodcocks/ and as they arrive on the east coast pretty 
 regularly on or about May 12th, that day is known to the fen 
 men as * Godwit-day/ a plain proof, if any were wanting, how 
 numerous they once were in the fen districts of England. Hart- 
 ing says Godwits come with an east wind, and are more plentiful 
 in mild than in severe winters ; he also adds, in their winter dress 
 they greatly resemble Whimbrel, from which, however, they may 
 be distinguished at a distance by their note, which sounds like 
 Selby's ' Illustrations of British Birds/ vol. ii., p. 94. 
 
424 Scolopacidce. 
 
 lou-ey, lou-ey* Professor Skeat derives our English word 
 ' Godwit ' from the Anglo-Saxon god, ' good,' and w-iht ' creature,' 
 the goodness of the creature having reference, I conclude, to its 
 edible qualities. In France it is Barge rousse ; in Germany, Rost- 
 brauner Wasserlailfer ; in Portugal, Macarico gallego. 
 
 158. RUFF (Machetes pugnax) . 
 
 This is truly a fen bird, and belongs of right to the eastern 
 counties, from which, however, the draining of the fens and the 
 rage for reclaiming waste land have nearly succeeded in banishing 
 it. But I am glad to hail it as a straggler to our county, for it is 
 extremely handsome, and withal a very interesting species. Two 
 instances have come to my knowledge of its occurrence in Wilt- 
 shire, one killed by a farmer in the neighbourhood of Wootton 
 Bassett, about 1850 ; the other taken in the immediate neigh- 
 bourhood of Salisbury in 1828. The striking feature of the bird 
 is the strange frill or ruff of feathers which, together with con- 
 spicuous auricular plumes, surrounds the neck of the male bird 
 in his breeding plumage, and which when raised form a shield 
 round the head, reminding one of the costume of the worthies, 
 with whose portraits we are familiar, of the time of Elizabeth. At 
 that season, so much do they vary in colour of plumage that it is 
 scarcely possible to find two alike; the ruffs which these birds 
 assume being of all shades, from white, yellow, chestnut, brown, 
 or a mixture of any or all of these colours, to pure black. At all 
 other seasons of the year, they are of comparatively sober hue, and 
 more nearly resemble the females, which are called Reeves. 
 
 These birds are polygamous, unlike all the rest of the Snipe 
 family ; and, like the Capercaillie and Blackcock, select a dry 
 hillock in the breeding season on which to ' hill,' as it is termed, 
 or take their stand in defiance of all rivals. And here these 
 magnificently bedizened Lotharios strut about in their pride of 
 dress, and proclaim aloud their readiness to combat all opponents, 
 and challenge such to fight for possession of the somewhat dowdy- 
 looking females assembled around. Indeed, they are most ex- 
 ' Birds of Middlesex,' p. 184. 
 
Woodcock. 425 
 
 ceedingly pugnacious ; no gamecock could be more combative, 
 and hence they derive both their generic and specific names, 
 Machetes, signifying 'warrior/ from /m^-nf?, andpugnax, ' fond of 
 fighting/ from pugna. So in France it is Becasseau combattant ; 
 in Germany Streitstrandlaufer ; in Italy, Gambetta scherzosa, or 
 'Playing Horseman/ in reference to the lek, or' hill ' ; and Com- 
 battente, in reference to its pugnacity ; in Spain it is Com- 
 batiente, and in Sweden Brus-hane. The Rev. R. Lubbock says 
 that when the ' hill ' is over the males seem to be much inconve- 
 nienced by the collar of long feathers which obstructs their flight, 
 rendering it slow and laboured; but, relieved of this by the autumn 
 moult, their flight becomes powerful and glancing, like that of 
 the female. No birds were in old time more highly esteemed by 
 epicures than the Ruffs ; consequently the price they fetched was 
 very remunerative, and they were caught in nets in great numbers 
 and fatted on bread and milk, hempseed, boiled wheat, and sugar. 
 But the method of killing them when fat enough for the table, 
 though as quick and certain as by the guillotine, seems to us 
 barbarous enough, for it was the custom to cut off their heads 
 with a pair of scissors, in order that the blood might more readily 
 be discharged, and then they were dressed like woodcock.* 
 
 159. WOODCOCK (Scolopax rusticola). 
 
 I need scarcely assert that this is a winter migrant to our 
 county, though I fear it is becoming less abundant every year. 
 A few pairs undoubtedly remain in England to breed in summer, 
 and a nest was found at Winterslow in 1830, but the larger part 
 retire to more northern and more secluded localities. It loves 
 open glades, and moist ground in woods, and is not therefore 
 often seen in the down districts. Occasionally, as I learnt from 
 Mr. Stratton, of Gore Cross, as well as from the late Mr. William 
 Tanner, of Rockley, it is to be met with in our more exposed 
 covers on the hills. But the moister climate of Ireland seems to 
 have attractions for the Woodcocks which this country does not 
 hold out, for we learn from Mr. Knox's admirable book that 
 Cordeaux's ' Birds of the Humber,' p. 121. 
 
426 Scolopacidce. 
 
 1 forty couple is frequently the result of one day's sport in the 
 Emerald Isle/* and Sir R Payne-Gall wey speaks of even a larger 
 bag ; while in 1881 an exceptional year for abundance of Wood- 
 cock a thousand head a week for three weeks were forwarded to 
 London by one dealer only ; and over five thousand were brought 
 into a small town in County Clare during the three weeks' frost 
 of January of that year. And yet this is as nothing compared to 
 the immense quantities which are obtained in the evergreen woods 
 and swamps of the Greek coast and Ionian Islands, as we may 
 gather from Lord Lilford's graphic account in the Ibis.^ The 
 Woodcock is a nocturnal feeder, as might be inferred from its 
 immense, full, dark, bright, and very prominent eyes, which are 
 also placed very far back in, and nearly on a level with the crown 
 of, the head, and give the bird a singular staring appearance. 
 That the eyes are so placed is doubtless to avoid their contact 
 with mud and wet, as well as to see while they plunge their bills, 
 nearly forehead deep, while in the act of feeding. Unlike its 
 congeners, it seeks the retirement of woods during the day, only 
 emerging at twilight or dusk to its feeding-places in swampy 
 ground. Its flight is perfectly noiseless, and very rapid, and it is 
 marvellous how quickly and accurately it will thread its way 
 through the thick branches of the trees, and very soon it will close 
 its wings, and suddenly drop into any tempting cover, and then 
 run to shelter into any rank grass or thick underwood it can 
 find. St. John observes that its flight in the evening is rapid and 
 steady, instead of being uncertain and owl-like, as it is often in 
 bright sunshine;* an( * Sir R. Payne-Gallwey, ' that if flushed when 
 a hurricane is blowing, its immense powers of wing (unrivalled 
 almost) will carry it along in any direction as if it was merely a 
 summer zephyr. It is a solitary bird, and seldom associates with 
 its fellows. Its plumage is peculiarly rich, of a deep brown 
 
 * ' Game Birds and Wild Fowl,' p. 50. 
 
 t Ibis for 1860, vol. ii., pp. 340-342. See also Thompson's ' Natural History 
 of Ireland/ vol. ii., p. 242. 
 t * Highland Sports,' p. 220. 
 ' The Fowler in Ireland/ pp. 16, 218-225. 
 
Woodcock. 427 
 
 colour, barred and spotted, and crossed with, black or very dark 
 brown. Woodcocks frequently arrive on the east coast in the 
 autumn migration, very much exhausted, and will drop immedi- 
 ately on reaching land in the nearest available cover, or even at 
 the base of the rocks on the shore. It is curious how they always 
 seem to arrive two or three days after the Golden Crested Wren, 
 hence dubbed the 'Woodcock Pilot.'* Gilbert White has been 
 censured for refusing to credit what he called the improbable 
 story of the naturalist Scopoli as to the Woodcock, when 
 alarmed for the safety of its young, carrying them off in its beak, 
 'pullos rostro portat fugiens ab hoste;' for he considered the long 
 and unwieldy beak of that bird very ill adapted for such a 
 purpose. But in truth our good old English naturalist was quite 
 right in his opinion, for though the Woodcock does, beyond 
 question, remove its young when in danger, it is not with the beak, 
 but either with the feet, grasping the young bird in its claws, as 
 an owl will carry off a mouse, or else supporting it with both 
 feet and bill, which that bird could well do, as it always flies with 
 bill pointed downwards to the earth, or else pressed between the 
 thighs. This has been witnessed over and over again of late 
 years, and for instances and further particulars on this very 
 interesting subject I refer to the pages of Bewick, Yarrell, 
 Lloyd, St. John, Stevenson, Harting, Howard Saunders, and, above 
 all, Sir Kalph Payne-Gallwey. In Sweden it is called Mor-kulla. 
 or ' Moor-maid/ and it is commonly supposed there that there 
 are two species, the Common and the ' Stone Woodcock,' the 
 latter known in Germany as the Stein- Schneppe, and described as 
 of darker colour, and as nearly one-third less in size than the 
 other. But it would appear that this divergence is only attribu- 
 table to the difference of sex, the male bird, as Mr. Cecil Smith 
 has pointed out, being much smaller than the female. Indeed, 
 Yarrell says a young male shot in October will sometimes 
 weigh only 7 oz., while an old female will probably weigh 
 as much as 14 or 15 oz. It is only of late years that it has 
 been known to breed in England, but now that attention has 
 
 c " Cordeaux's ' Birds of the Humber District,' p. 136. 
 
428 Scolopacidce. 
 
 been called to it, there are few counties in England which 
 cannot boast of a Woodcock's nest. In Wiltshire I learn from 
 Mr. C. Penruddocke that its nest is occasionally found in the 
 woods at Compton ; from the Kev. S. L. Sainsbury, Rector of 
 Beckington, that it breeds in some of the covers at Longleat; 
 and I hear that it is strongly suspected to breed within tho 
 precincts of Savernake Forest, though I have no positive infor- 
 mation on this point. The specific name rusticola is a diminutive, 
 meaning ' belonging to the country ' (B.O.U.). In France it is 
 La B&asse; in Germany, Wold Schneppe, ' Wood Snipe;' in Italy, 
 Beccaccia; in Spain, Gallineta, and in some districts Chocha; 
 in Portugal, Gallinhola. 
 
 160. GREAT SNIPE (Scolopax major). 
 
 I have little doubt that this species is often confused with its 
 commoner relative, and mistaken for a large specimen of S. 
 gallinago ; while fine individuals of that bird have undoubtedly 
 in their turn equally been hailed as S. major. Since, however, 
 the attention of naturalists has been directed to the points in 
 which these species differ, the Great Snipe is found to be 
 sparingly scattered over the country every autumn ; and Wilt- 
 shire is one of the counties named by Montagu in which it had 
 then been observed. The late Rev. G. Marsh reported that one was 
 killed in Winterslow Wood in 1831, and he had himself seen a 
 specimen in Christian Malford, though he was not able to obtain 
 it. The Rev. George Powell tells me of one killed in South 
 Wilts in 1854, and of another killed by his brother at Hurd- 
 cott, on the 25th September, 1868 ; and the Rev. A. P. Morres 
 mentions one killed at Pewsey on September 23rd of the same 
 year, which Mr. Grant, who preserved it, tells me weighed 7J oz. 
 Another killed near Hungerford in October, 1874, is recorded by 
 Mr. Grant. 
 
 In 1868, from some unexplained cause, these birds were 
 extraordinarily numerous in many parts of England : and I have 
 notices of one killed on Salisbury Plain, another at Milton, 
 near Pewsey, and of several others on the borders of the county. 
 
Great Snipe. 429 
 
 It is often called the ' Solitary ' Snipe, as it was supposed, though 
 it seems erroneously, to shun the society of its fellows. It is also 
 called the 'Double' Snipe, from its size ; the ' Silent' Snipe, from 
 its uttering no cry as it rises on the wing ; and the ' Meadow ' 
 Snipe, from its habit of frequenting fields of long coarse grass, 
 whence it is also designated by the Germans Wiesen Schnepfe. 
 It is rarely seen in England but in the autumn : in summer I 
 have met with it in Norway, where it retires to breed on the 
 vast wild fjelds of that thinly populated country. The principal 
 points wherein it differs from the Common Snipe are its greater 
 size and heavier form ; its smaller and shorter beak ; its stouter 
 and shorter legs ; and the under-plumage invariably barred with 
 brown and white, which in the commoner species is pure white. 
 The eye, too, is placed very high in the head, and it flies more 
 like a Woodcock than a Snipe, more heavily and sluggishly, and 
 without those turns and twists for which the latter is notorious. 
 It also prefers drier situations than its congeners, the heather- 
 covered hillside or the rough grass of a sheltered bank being 
 favourite haunts. When on the wing, it spreads its tail like a 
 fan. In France it is Grande ou Double Bdcassine ; in Germany, 
 Mittelschneppe ; in Italy, Beccacino maggiore ; in Portugal, 
 Narseja grande; and in Sweden, Dubbel Beckasin. 
 
 Like the Huffs and some other species described above, Great 
 Snipes have their leks, or playing grounds, wherein the males 
 strut and posture, droop their wings, spread their tails, swell out 
 their feathers, and do battle for the admiration and approbation 
 of the other sex. The English word ' Snipe ' is undoubtedly 
 derived from neb, the Anglo-Saxon for a 'bird's beak,' and 
 certainly that is the most noticeable feature in all the members 
 of this family. 
 
 161. COMMON SNIPE (Scolopax gallinago). 
 
 It is unquestionable that these birds, once so numerous here 
 
 in winter, are gradually becoming perceptibly scarcer every year. 
 
 This may be attributed to the general increase of draining, and 
 
 the reclaiming of fens and marshes ; so that, like the Red Indian 
 
430 Scolopacidce. 
 
 in America, the Snipe will soon be improved off the face of this 
 country by the rapid advance of high farming. In Wiltshire 
 and the more southern parts of England it is a true migrant, 
 arriving in the autumn and departing in the spring ; but in more 
 northern counties many pairs remain annually to breed in the 
 moors or fens. The shrill alarm cry of this bird, and its peculiar 
 zigzag flight, are too well known to require comment. I may 
 mention, however, that in addition to the sharp scream with 
 which we are all familiar in the winter, it makes a drumming or 
 bleating noise in the breeding season, and hence is called by the 
 French Chdvre volant, and in several other languages words 
 equivalent to the ' Air-goat,' or the ' Kid of the Air.' More 
 poetically it is called in Germany Himmel ziege, or ' Goat of the 
 Heavens ' ; and by many modern authors Capella ccelestis ; and 
 in some parts of England ' Heather Bleater ' and ' Moor Lamb,' 
 the bleating sound being described in Norfolk as 'lambing,' 
 because of its similarity to the bleating of lambs.* But in 
 Norway, where this peculiar note is supposed to resemble the 
 neighing of a horse, it has obtained the appellation of Skodde-Foll, 
 or ' Horse of the Mist ' ; and in some parts of Hors-Gok, or ' Horse 
 Cuckoo,' for, in that land of legends, this bird is indeed believed 
 to have at one period been a veritable steed.-)- It has been much 
 disputed whether this bleating or humming proceeds from the 
 mouth or from the motion of the wings. It seems, however, 
 unquestionable that it only occurs when the bird is descending 
 rapidly with wings shivering or violently agitated. It is also to 
 be noted that rooks, peewits, ring-doves, and black-headed gulls 
 all occasionally produce a loud humming sound with the wings.J 
 Mr. Mitchell, in his admirable little book on the 'Birds of 
 Lancashire,' says Snipes are amongst the earliest risers in the 
 morning, and may often be heard drumming before daylight. 
 
 Christopher Davies' ' Norfolk Broads and Rivers,' p. 13. 
 
 t For the legend referred to, see Lloyd's ' Scandinavian Adventures,' 
 vol. ii., p. 406. 
 
 See Harting on this subject in ' Birds of Middlesex,' p. 190 ; his edition 
 of ' White's Selborne,'' p. 119 ; and in Zoologist for 1881, pp. 198-200. 
 
 'Birds of Lancashire,' p. 186. 
 
Jack Snipe. 431 . 
 
 In France it is Btcassine ordinaire ; in Germany, Heerschneppe ; 
 in Italy, Beccacino reale; in Sweden, Enkel Beckasin, 'Single 
 Snipe ' ; in Spain, Agachadiza ; in Portugal, Narseja ordinaria. 
 To distinguish it from the succeeding species, it is in England 
 sometimes called the ' Whole ' Snipe. 
 
 162. JACK SNIPE (Scolopax gallinula). 
 
 This diminutive species might, with much more reason, be 
 denominated ' Solitary ' than its largest relative, inasmuch as it is 
 almost always found alone. ' He is rarely seen ' (says Sir R Payne- 
 Gall vvey) ' careering in a storm ; not he : he sticks like a limpet 
 to the lee of a " tuft," his little body crouched warm and low in 
 the herbage. If disturbed, he will make for another shelter at a 
 short distance, and even return to the same.'* But it utters no 
 cry when it rises from the ground ; hence known in Sweden as 
 Stum Beckasin, or ' Mute Snipe ' ; and it lies so close that you 
 may almost tread upon it before it will move, and, as Harting 
 says, really appears to be so deaf that the French name for it, 
 Btcassine sourde, is not an inappropriate one. When at rest, 
 the head reclines upon the back, between the shoulders, giving 
 the bird the appearance of having no neck : the bill rests on the 
 ground in front, the breast touches the ground, and the tarsus 
 and tibia touch, and are parallel. When, however, it is roused^ 
 the bird rises so suddenly as to cause an involuntary start on 
 the part of the observer,f but it does not fly with such twists as 
 does the preceding; and it invariably departs to northern 
 countries for breeding purposes. In general habits, feeding and 
 nesting, the Snipes are all alike. It is often called the ' Half ' 
 Snipe, in allusion to its size; and is said to have derived the 
 name of Jack Snipe from an old erroneous supposition that it 
 was the male of the ' Common Snipe. The provincial names of 
 these three species accurately describe their relative size; the 
 Jack or Half Snipe weighing about two ounces ; the Common, 
 Whole, or Full Snipe four ounces ; and the Great or Double Snipe 
 eight ounces. 
 
 ' The Fowler in Ireland/ p. 17. f ' Birds of Middlesex,' p. 194. 
 
432 Scolopacidce. 
 
 In Germany it is Moorschneppe, ' Fen Snipe ' ; in Sweden, 
 Half-enkel BecJcasin, ' Half-single Snipe ' ; in Italy, Beccacino 
 minore; in Spain, Agachadera; and in Portugal, Narseja 
 gallega ; and here I may observe that gallega, as a diminutive, 
 is given to several other species, as the smallest woodpecker, the 
 short-toed lark, the little bittern, etc.; probably because the 
 servants and porters of Portugal, coming from Galicia (one of 
 the northern provinces of Spain), as hewers of wood and drawers 
 of water, have come to be looked on as inferiors, and hence 
 gallego is a term of inferiority; just as real, ' royal/ is on the 
 contrary applied to species of a large size. 
 
 It is called gallinula, or ' the chicken/ I suppose, as if it must, 
 from its diminutive size, be the young of a larger species ! But 
 if the bird is small, its eggs are large : perhaps of greater bulk, 
 relatively to the size of the bird, than any others in the British 
 list ; for whereas the Jack Snipe weighs two ounces, its four eggs 
 weigh more than an ounce and a half. 
 
 163. CURLEW SANDPIPER (Tringa mbarquata). 
 
 This is sometimes known as the ' Pigmy Curlew/ the specific 
 name, subarquata, having also the meaning of ' a little like a 
 Curlew ; '* and the beak of this pretty little bird, gently curved 
 downwards, reminds one immediately of Numenius arquata, of 
 which it looks like a miniature edition. It has often been con- 
 fused with the Dunlin, which in general appearance it much 
 resembles ; moreover, it is not nearly so rare a visitor to our 
 shores as was once supposed, a considerable number being noticed 
 every year. This is especially the case in the south-western ex- 
 tremity of England, and the late Mr. Rodd, of Penzance, pointed 
 out to Professor Newton and myself, when we were on an excur- 
 sion through Cornwall, several specimens in his most interesting 
 collection. The only instance I have of its occurrence in Wilt- 
 shire I give on the authority of my friend, Colonel Ward, who 
 informed me that it was picked up alive by a labourer on Chip- 
 
 B.O.U. ' List of British Birds,' p. 170. 
 
Knot. 433 
 
 penham Bridge, and was taken to Mr. Dangerfield, bird-preserver 
 of that town, who at once wrote to Colonel Ward to come and 
 see it, which that gentleman did, and secured it for his own col- 
 lection. This was in July, 3869, when it should have been breed- 
 ing in more northern latitudes; but, strange to say, several of the 
 occurrences recorded in England bear the date of July. Hitherto 
 this species has contrived to elude the sharp eyes of ornithologists 
 when searching for its nest, and its eggs have never been dis- 
 covered, and are quite unknown to science. Mr. Seebohm, indeed, 
 confidently hoped to add this to the other laurels he gained in his 
 famous journey to Siberia, but the Curlew Sandpiper baffled him, 
 and he came home without accomplishing that portion of the 
 task he set himself to fulfill.* In Sweden it is known as Bdg- 
 ndbbad Strand-Vipa. 
 
 164. KNOT (Tringa canuta). 
 
 This is in my judgment one of the most excellent birds for the 
 table : nor am I singular in that opinion ; for however little 
 known to modern epicures, it derives its name, Latin as well as 
 English, from the famous Danish King Knut or Canute, who had 
 an especial liking for the flesh of this, the most delicate perhaps 
 of all the well-flavoured family to which it belongs. It has, how- 
 ever, been suggested that the name may be derived from its 
 littoral habits, in allusion to the story of Canute's celebrated 
 reproof to his courtiers ; but I prefer the other derivation. It is 
 strange how the eggs of this bird are still absolutely unknown to 
 science, and how curiously they have eluded discovery. Swedish 
 and Norwegian naturalists considered that they bred on the 
 higher fjelds in the more northern parts of Scandinavia, within 
 the Arctic Circle, but even Wolley failed to discover their nests 
 there. When the famous Arctic Expedition of 1875-76, under 
 Captain Nares, attained the high latitudes to which the Alert and 
 Discovery penetrated, Captain Markham wrotef that in August, 
 
 See his ' Siberia in Europe,' p. 233 ; also his ' British Birds,' vol. iii., 
 p. 181. 
 
 f 'The Great Frozen Sea,' p. 127. 
 
 28 
 
434 Scolopacidce. 
 
 1875, some Knots were obtained, but no amount of search was 
 successful in discovering the egg of that bird ; and even Captain 
 Feilden, enthusiastic ornithologist as he was, and determined as he 
 was to unravel the mystery, was baffled in his efforts, though 
 every man on both ships was on the look-out for the nest, and the 
 parent birds in full nuptial plumage, and evidently breeding, were 
 almost daily seen. Again, when Mr. H. Seebohm made his famous 
 expedition to the valley of the Petchora in European Siberia, 
 the Knot was one of the half-dozen birds whose breeding grounds 
 were wrapped in mystery, and whose eggs he especially desired to 
 find; but it was the only bird of the six which he never met with 
 at all in the valley of the Petchora,* and we may be sure it would 
 never have escaped the notice of that keen ornithologist if it had 
 been in that district. Neither was he more successful in regard 
 to this bird in his subsequent adventurous journey to the banks 
 of the Yenesei.f In Norway it is called Isliindsk Strand-Vipa, 
 as if Iceland was its home ; but its nest is quite unknown there. 
 In this country it is a winter migrant, and the mud-flats and 
 sand-banks of the eastern coast literally swarm with the vast 
 flocks of this species ; at one moment they will rise simulta- 
 neously in a compact body, and, after a short flight, settle again 
 in close array on the shore ; then they will run at the extreme 
 odge of the receding tide, and seek their food in the ooze laid bare 
 by the retreating waves. The numbers which compose these 
 great flocks must be immense; they cannot contain less than 
 many thousands, so widespread and at the same time so dense is 
 the cloud, which, with one impulse, takes wing, wheels about with 
 simultaneous movement, and as rapidly settles again at the edge 
 of the waves. This general account of their immense numbers 
 may in some degree prepare the way for a marvellous shot, which 
 I am about to relate ; and which will doubtless seem incredible to 
 those whose experience is confined to inland shooting only, and 
 who are unaccustomed to see the vast flights of birds which occa- 
 sionally collect on our coasts ; but of the truth of which I have 
 satisfied myself, and therefore do not hesitate to publish the 
 * ' Sibeiia in Europe/ p. 2. f ' Siberia in Asia.' 
 
Knot. 435 
 
 story. It is the custom of the wild-fowl shooters or 'gunners/ as 
 they are called on the Norfolk coast, to paddle noiselessly down 
 the creeks of the Wash in a low narrow gun-boat or canoe, with 
 a large duck gun moving on a swivel lashed like a cannon in the 
 bow ; and a single lucky shot into a flock of geese, or ducks, or 
 knots, or other birds, frequently produces a great harvest of spoil. 
 With one of these gunners I was very well acquainted, and have 
 been accustomed to overhaul the produce of his day's or rather 
 night's excursion, in search of rare ^specimens; and from him I 
 have gathered a great deal of information on the shore-feeding 
 birds of the eastern coast. He has often astonished me by the 
 quantities of ducks of various species with which his boat was 
 loaded on his return, and I have seen half a sackful of Knots, 
 amounting to above 200 in number, turned out on the floor of his 
 cottage as the result of one fortunate shot with the long gun ; but 
 when he assured me that on one occasion he had picked up and 
 brought home after a single discharge no less than 36 dozen and 
 11 Knots, or 443 birds, I acknowledged that I was incredulous, 
 till conversation with sportsmen of the neighbourhood convinced 
 me that the story was true ; and then I felt ashamed that ignor- 
 ance of shore-shooting in the fens led me to doubt the word of an 
 honest man. Since then I have often watched the Knots by the 
 hour together on the Norfolk coast, on the shores of the Wash; 
 and with a double field-glassXthe ornithologist's best companion) 
 have followed the every movement of these busy birds ; and 
 seeing the dense array of the countless hosts which compose 
 a flock, I can well understand the havoc which a well-aimed dis- 
 charge of the big gun must cause. 
 
 In my former papers on the ' Ornithology of Wilts ' I quoted 
 Thompson as having more practical knowledge of shore-shooting 
 with the swivel gun than any other author of birds with whose 
 work I was then acquainted, and as one who will be found in 
 great measure to corroborate this assertion ;* but since then we 
 have had the advantage of the books written by Sir K. Payne - 
 
 See Thompson's 'Natural History of Ireland,' vol. ii., p. 292, under the 
 head of ' Dunlin,' and p. 309, under the head of * Knot.' 
 
 282 
 
436 Scolopacidce. 
 
 Gallwey, who is the highest living authority on shore-shooting, 
 and he speaks of the vast numbers of Knots which frequent the 
 coast and the tidal harbours and estuaries, and relates how he 
 once killed 160 at a shot with his big gun, having mistaken 
 them on a dark evening for Plover.* Still more emphatic is the 
 testimony of Mr. Cordeaux as to the extraordinary gathering of 
 Knots on the Humber flats, and the noise made by their occa- 
 sional short flights along the coast ; the roar, or rather rush, 
 made by their wings in flight reminding him, more than any- 
 thing else, of the noise made by a mighty host of Starlings when 
 settling down for the night. Thousands and thousands of Knots 
 were massed together on the foreshore as the tide was coming in : 
 here crowded as closely as they could sit, there again straggling 
 out into a more open line, and there again massed together by 
 thousands. Some hundreds of yards in length and about thirty 
 in breadth, along the edge of the water, were fairly crowded with 
 them.-)- Colonel Hawker in his time, and provided only with the 
 clumsy punt-gun of old, says, ' Knots sit on the edge of the mud 
 so thick that you may sometimes kill the whole company at a 
 shot ;'J and Selby speaks of the vast numbers which frequent the 
 ooze on the coast. 
 
 I have three instances of the occurrence of this bird in 
 Wiltshire. The first, a male, killed at the side of the rail- 
 way cutting at Langley, in 1850, by Mr. Bethell, of Kellaways 
 Mill, and, I believe, still in his possession ; the second, killed 
 at Seend in February, 1870, as recorded by Mr. Grant ; and the 
 third, reported to me by Mr. W. Wyndham, as shot by his keeper 
 at Langford on December 10th, 1879. As it is generally seen in 
 England in winter garb, the Knot is of very sober plumage, 
 composed of ash-gray above and white beneath ; but in summer 
 dress it is far more attractive. Keddish-brown above and rich 
 reddish-chestnut below render it very gay, and enable it to vie 
 with the Gray and Golden Plover in their respective nuptial 
 
 < The Fowler in Ireland,' p. 24. 
 
 t 'Birds of the Humber District,' p. 134, and Zoologist for 1866, p. 75. 
 
 $ ' Instructions to Young Sportsmen,' p. 230. 
 
Dunlin. 437 
 
 dresses. In England it is often called the 'Plover Knot/ on 
 account of its general resemblance to Plovers ; in France it is 
 B&asseau Canut or Maubbche ; in Germany, Aschgraue Strand- 
 iailfer ; and in Italy Chiurlo. Considering the high favour in 
 which all birds of the Snipe family are deservedly held for the 
 table, and the method of dressing these birds as practised ( in 
 England, though repudiated abroad ; considering also the positive 
 assertion which I have made that they do not live by suction, 
 but devour worms and various grubs and insects, it is but fair 
 that I should add that the digestion of all these birds is extra- 
 ordinarily rapid. 
 
 165. DUNLIN (Tringa variabilis). 
 
 This is one of the most abundant birds on suitable coasts, and 
 immense flocks may generally be seen where sand-banks and 
 mud-banks are left bare by the receding tide ; but it is seldom 
 found far from the seashore, and it is quite by accident when an 
 occasional straggler is driven so far inland as Wiltshire. It 
 seldom comes so far south except in winter, for the breeding 
 places of the great bulk of the species are in the distant north ; 
 hence its modern specific name, alpina. And out of the seven 
 specimens of which I have records in this county, six were killed 
 in the month of February viz., in 1870 two were killed on 
 February 10th at Chitterne, on February 16th, one at Market 
 Lavington, on February 18th, one at Compton Bassett, now in 
 the possession of Major Heneage. In 1873, one was shot on 
 February 13th at Avebury, one on February 22nd at Wed- 
 hampton ; and in 1875, on December 9th, one was shot by Mr. 
 T. Jenner, of Netheravon. So much does its breeding plumage 
 differ from its winter garb that it was long known under two 
 names, the ' Dunlin ' and the ' Purre ' ; and the identity of these, 
 till then recognised as distinct, was discovered by our country- 
 man, Colonel Montagu, who unravelled so many similar cases of 
 confusion, and pointed out the truth. When a flock of Dunlins 
 is on wing above the mud-banks, it is marvellous to see by what 
 simultaneous impulso every bird twists and turns, now exposing 
 
438 Scolopacidce. 
 
 the upper, now the under, surface of the body a feat which we 
 who live far from the seashore may see faintly imitated by the 
 somewhat similar, though more clumsy, evolutions of a flock of 
 Starlings. All its movements, too, on the sand are graceful and 
 elegant, and it runs with great swiftness, for it is as active on 
 foot as on the wing. It derives its name variabilis from the 
 difference of plumage exhibited by a flock in transition from 
 winter to perfect summer dress. So abundant a bird is certain 
 to be honoured with many provincial names on the coast, and 
 accordingly we find it recognised by the fishermen of various 
 districts as the ' Ox-eye ' and the ' Oxbird,' the ' Sea Snipe ' and 
 the ' Least Snipe/ and the ' Sea Wagtail/ from a habit it has of 
 jerking the tail up and down. In Iceland it is known as Low 
 Prodi' the Servant of the Golden Plover ;' for it is there said 
 that a solitary Dunlin will attach itself to a solitary Golden 
 Plover : and this strange notion has extended to the Hebrides, 
 where, from its habit of associating with those birds, it is called 
 the ' Plover's Page.' I found it very abundant in summer on the 
 high fjelds of Norway, and no less numerous in spring on the 
 coast of Portugal ; indeed, it was the only member of the genus 
 which I met with in that country. But it is one of the most 
 cosmopolitan of birds, swarming in the island of Formosa and in 
 Japan ; very common in winter on the northern coast of Africa 
 and in the Red Sea, and breeding in Greenland, British North 
 America, and Hudson's Bay.* The Continental names are 
 generally mere translations of variabilis ; as in France, Bdcasseau 
 variable ou brunette; in Germany, Veranderliche oder Alpui 
 Strandlaiifer ; in Sweden, Fordnderlig Strand-Vipa. 
 
 166. PURPLE SAND-PIPER (Tringa maritima). 
 
 This is another winter visitant to our shores, and generally 
 comes in large flocks where it finds a rocky coast suitable to its 
 taste : for it abhors the sand-banks and mud-flats so dear to the 
 greater number of its congeners. Hence it was once known as 
 the ' Rock Tringa/ I conclude it was called Maritima because 
 
 * Ilia, 1859, p. 347 ; 1860, p. 80 ; 1861, p. 11 ; 1863, pp. 97, 132, 412. 
 
Purple Sandpiper. 439 
 
 it was supposed never to come inland. Wherefore the arrival of 
 a specimen in the heart of Wiltshire, at Everleigh Rectory, on 
 February 3rd, 1881 (as I learn from Mr. Grant, who received it 
 in the flesh and preserved it), must be looked upon as the single 
 exception which proves the rule. By the B.O.U. Committee the 
 name maritima is now abandoned in favour of striata the 
 ' striped ' which was undoubtedly the name under which it was 
 described by Latham and Gmelin. It is readily to be distinguished 
 from all its congeners by its dark purple or bluish lead colour. 
 Hence provincially it is the 'Black Sandpiper'; in France^ 
 B&asseau violet, and in Sweden, Svart-grd Strand-Vipa. 
 When the spring arrives it departs for the highest latitudes, 
 having been found to breed in the most northern districts of 
 Europe and America in Greenland, Spitzbergen (where it was 
 said to be the only species of the Grallatores seen), and in Nova 
 Zembla, as well as in Davis Straits, Baffin's Bay, Melville Island, 
 and the shores of Hudson's Bay. Sir R. Payne-Gallwey, who 
 reports that they are numerous in some districts in Ireland, says 
 ' they are so tame you may pelt them with stones, and they will 
 not rise, but merely trot farther off. It is common to see them 
 running about or sitting huddled upon the rocks at the verge of 
 a lashing sea. Each wave looks as if it must overwhelm them ; 
 but no ! they judge their distance to a nicety, or stick like 
 limpets to the rock, amid the spray and foam.'* 
 
 RALLIM; (THE RAILS). 
 
 We are now approaching the more essentially aquatic birds, 
 and there are several characteristics in the family of Rails which 
 lead on to the true Water-fowl. Thus their bodies are more 
 compressed and boat-shape, and most of them can swim with 
 ease. Their legs are shorter and their feet larger, and with the 
 hind toe more developed than in the preceding family. Their 
 beaks, too, are much harder and stronger, and some of them are 
 furnished with a narrow membrane on the sides of the toes, 
 which is the first approach towards a web- foot. They are, for 
 ' The Fowler in Ireland,' p. 243. 
 
440 RalUdce. 
 
 the most part, a shy race, and as they generally prefer inland 
 ponds and lakes to the sea-coast, they secrete themselves in the 
 flags and reeds and rushes which border their haunts, and are 
 often found in wet ditches. They creep through the thick cover 
 with amazing quickness, winding their way amidst the dense 
 grass, and are very unwilling to rise on the wing; but when 
 compelled to do so, their flight is heavy and awkward, as might 
 be expected from the shortness of their wings. 
 
 1G7. LAND-RAIL (Crex pratensis). 
 
 This species, known also as the Corn- Crake, is familiar to the 
 partridge shooter, and well known also to him is its disinclination 
 to rise, and the rapidity with which it skulks with depressed 
 head through the stubble ; and if forced to take wing where it 
 can drop into cover again, it will fly with legs hanging down and 
 prepared to run the instant it alights. Harting says that, besides 
 running with great swiftness, it has a curious method of avoiding 
 the dogs by leaping with closed wings and compressed feathers 
 over the long grass some three or four yards ; and, then running 
 a short distance and leaping again ; and that the scent being 
 thus broken, it eludes the most quick-scented dogs.* 
 
 It is common enough in our cornfields in summer, and yet it 
 is a genuine Rail, and resorts to damp meadows and marshy soil 
 to seek its food, for St. John declares it to be wholly insectivorous, 
 and never to eat corn or seeds ;( but other authors assign to it a 
 vegetable as well as an insect diet. The name crex is a Latinized 
 form of A-ptf, ' a Rail/ and this has the same derivation as Kptica>, 
 'I strike so as to sound ' (B.O.U.). Hence our English ' Crake.' 
 ' Rail/ too, comes from its cry, from roller, ' to rattle in the 
 throat ' (Skeat). In France it is Poule d'eau or Rale de Genet; 
 in Germany, Wiesenknarrer, ' Meadow-Crake ;' in Sweden, Kom- 
 Knarr and Ang-Knarr ; in Portugal, Codornizdo. It is a true 
 migrant, and never winters with us ; but in May its harsh 
 croaking cry of crek, crek, may be frequently heard ; and the 
 
 * ' Our Summer Migrants/ p. 297. t ' Highland Sports/ p. 145. 
 
Land-Rail. 441 
 
 bird which produces it has the remarkable power of the 
 ventriloquist in causing the note to sound now on this side, now 
 -on that, now under your feet, now at the farther end of the 
 field ; and many a hopeless chase, and many a bewildered and 
 baffled pursuer, has been the result of this peculiarity. When 
 uttering its cry the neck of the bird is stretched perpendicularly 
 upwards. Gilbert White speaks of it as having been abundant 
 in the low wet bean-fields of Christian Malford in North Wilts. 
 But, indeed, we may say it is very common at this day in all 
 parts of the county. In the South of France the peasants call 
 it Eoi des cailles, and in Spain it is known by the name of Guion 
 de las codornices, owing to an idea that it places itself at the 
 head of the Quails, and precedes them on their migrations.* 
 Harting believes that Corn-Crakes hibernate ; while Gilbert 
 White says it is poorly qualified for migration. 
 
 Undoubtedly it is a difficult problem to solve how a bird which 
 flies so heavily and awkwardly across even one field can prolong 
 its flight from the other side of the Channel ; but it is certain 
 that other species of feeble r powers of flight do annually perform 
 the passage. Sir K. Payne-Gallwey, however, brings forward 
 proof which cannot be gainsaid, that Corn-Crakes do occasionally 
 winter in Ireland. He has himself twice found them, to all 
 appearance asleep, in the month of February, ensconced in the 
 centre of loose stone walls close to the ground, and has met with 
 several other instances of the kind. He has also evidence of 
 others, taken in a semi-comatose state out of a rabbit-hole.t 
 
 The Rev. H. E. Delme Radcliffe writes me word that he 
 observed one in his garden at Tedworth on the remarkably early 
 date of April 1st, and that he saw it again and again in the very 
 short grass in his field ; and as it always ran back to the hedge 
 and ditch full of dead leaves, in which it crouched, he was able 
 to examine it minutely. On the other hand, Mr. W. W^yndham 
 gives me instances of its late appearance at Dinton : in 1881 
 
 * Howard Saunders, fourth edition of ' YarrelPs British Birds,' vol. iii., 
 p. 139. 
 
 f ' The Fowler in Ireland, 1 p. 251. 
 
442 Rallidce. 
 
 he himself shot one on November 12th; and in 1883, on 
 November 23rd, his retriever caught an old bird, and in very 
 good condition, one of whose wings had been previously slightly 
 injured. 
 
 168. SPOTTED CRAKE (Crex porzana). 
 
 Though not in reality uncommon, this sombre-clad little 
 species is so retiring and timid in its nature, and seeks such 
 little-frequented, quiet ponds for its haunts, that it escapes 
 observation, and is supposed by many to be a rarer bird than it 
 really is. I have heard of several in Wiltshire : the late Rev. G. 
 Marsh killed one in some marshy ground at Christian Malford in 
 October, 1849 ; Mr. MacNiven, junior, shot another at Patney 
 about 1871 ; and the Rev. A. P. Morres records the capture of 
 several in South Wilts. ' In the autumn of 18G9 a pair were killed 
 at Hinks Mill pond, in the parish of Mere, by Mr. Forward ; and 
 in the very same field another specimen was killed on October 
 12th, 1878. In 1873 one was picked up dead at Gillingham, 
 having been killed by flying against the telegraph-wires; and 
 another met its fate in the same year and in the same way near 
 Westbury. In 1879 a friend brought me a wing of this bird, for 
 identification, which had also been picked up under the wires 
 near Salisbury, and which had been apparently quite severed 
 from the body by the force of the concussion ; and these three 
 occurrences happening so near together would certainly prove 
 the bird to be more numerous than is generally supposed, for 
 none of these three specimens would, in all probability, have been 
 heard of had it not been for their singular misfortune. In addi- 
 tion to all these instances, Mr. Baker reports that a nest containing 
 twelve eggs was put out in a clover-field adjoining a marsh beside 
 the stream at Mere, and that he sent up one of the eggs to 
 the Field office, where it was pronounced a genuine egg of 
 C. porzana* Lord Heytesbury wrote me word that one was 
 killed by one of his grandsons on his estate last year (1886) ; Mr. 
 W. Wyndham that he shot one at Dinton on October 25th, 1875. 
 See Field of June 18th, 1881, ' Natural History Notes.' 
 
Spotted Crake. 443 
 
 One was picked up at Marlborough, and secured for the College 
 Museum, September 12th, 1872, by Mr. Coleman ; and Mr. Grant 
 reports one from Wedhampton, near Devizes, November, 1863, 
 and from Melksham, December, 1879. It is, like its congener, a 
 migrant ; but, unlike that species, it is one of the earliest to 
 arrive, and one of the latest to depart. Its general plumage is 
 dark green and brown, speckled with white. 
 
 In Sweden it is distinguished by the lengthy name of Smd- 
 flacldg Sump-Hona, or ' Small-spotted Fen-Hen ' ; and with us is 
 provincially called, according to locality, ' Spotted Kail/ ' Spotted 
 Water-Kail/ and ' Spotted Water-Hen.' From the difficulty ex- 
 perienced by sportsmen in forcing it to move, and the hard work, in 
 consequence, which it gives to the dogs employed for this purpose, 
 it has obtained in the South of Europe the sobriquet of ' Kill- dog/ 
 Tue-chien, Mata-perros, Cansa-perros, etc.* Its great length of 
 foot enables it to run lightly over floating leaves, and its narrow 
 and compressed body to penetrate through the dense herbage 
 which forms its retreat. Porzana seems to be a corruption of 
 the Italian sforzana. In France it is Poule d'eau marouette ; 
 in Germany, PunUiertes Rohrhuhn ; and in Italy, Gallinellcv 
 aquatica sutro. 
 
 169. WATER-RAIL (Rallus aquations). 
 
 This is a very common bird in wet and marshy districts, and, 
 I am told, is especially numerous in the lowlands near Salisbury. 
 I have shot it in the water-meadows at Old Park, and I have in- 
 stances of its occurrence in all parts of the county. Like all 
 other members of the family, it seeks safety in running amidst 
 coarse herbage, and in hiding itself in the thickest cover it can 
 find ; and I have seen it, when driven by a dog from its place of 
 refuge, fly up and settle in the branches of a thick bush, in pre- 
 ference to seeking safety by flight. It will on occasion run on 
 the water, making use of the flags and floating water-plants as 
 stepping-stones in its course; and hence, I suppose, from the 
 
 * H. Saunders in fourth edition of 'Yarrell's British Birds/ vol. iii., 
 p. 146. 
 
444 Rallidce. 
 
 softness of its tread on the floating herbage, which it traverses so 
 nimbly, it is provincially known as the ' Velvet-runner,' the 
 4 Brook-runner,' and the ' Runner/ Montagu calls it the ' Oar- 
 Cock ;' and Mr. Cecil Smith says it is known in Somersetshire as 
 the ' Skitty,' and calls attention to the extreme narrowness of its 
 breast-bone, whereby it is enabled to creep through very small 
 holes and very tangled grasses.* This bird (in common with the 
 Moorhen and Coot) has a small rudimentary claw or spur on 
 the wing ; but this in a kindred species a specimen of which 
 was kindly brought me from New Zealand by Miss Awdry is 
 developed into quite a formidable weapon.f In France it is Rale 
 d'eau ; in Germany, Wasser Ralle ; in Italy, Gallinella palvistre ; 
 in Sweden, Vatten-RalL; in Spain, Rascon, 'Scratched; and in 
 Portugal, Frango d'ayua. It can both swim and dive with great 
 ease. It remains with us throughout the year. 
 
 170. MOORHEN (GaUinula chloropus). 
 
 This is the most common species of the whole family, for it 
 may be seen on almost every retired pond or lake, either 
 swimming amidst the rushes with its peculiar jerking motion, 
 or alarmed at the presence of an intruder, seeking the shelter of 
 the most distant bank and the thickest sedge ; and there it will 
 sink in the water, submerging the whole body with the exception 
 of the beak, which alone protrudes above the surface to enable it 
 to breathe, and holding on to that position by means of some 
 rush, or reed, or water-plant, which it grasps with its feet. As 
 evening draws on, it will wander over the newly-mown grass of a 
 hay-field, searching diligently for food. Though a shy bird, it is 
 more familiar and shows more confidence in man than the 
 preceding species, and has been known when undisturbed to 
 become quite tame. In the classic grounds at Walton Hall, the 
 seat of the late well-known naturalist, Mr. Waterton, where all 
 
 ' Birds of Somerset,' p. 443. 
 
 t See article by Mr. P. L. Sclater ' Ou the Claws and Spurs of Birds' 
 Wings,' in Ills for 1U6, pp. 147-U1. 
 
 
Moorhen. 445 
 
 birds were encouraged and protected, I have seen the Moorhens 
 feeding just beneath the drawing-room windows, and not caring 
 to move nearer the water, even when a stranger approached. At 
 Bowood they show great boldness, and at Draycot pond, where 
 they are not molested, they evince none of that timidity for 
 which the race of Kails is renowned. Where, however, they are 
 not so protected, and are surprised in an open space, they will 
 skim along the surface of the water, dipping with their toes as 
 they hurry along ; partly flying, partly running, legs as well as 
 wings being actively employed, till they have retreated into 
 thick cover. But though their flight for a short distance, with 
 legs hanging down, seems heavy and awkward, they can, and do 
 on occasion, indulge in a prolonged flight with apparent ease : 
 they can also perch in a bush or on a low- tree. They are 
 conspicuous for the bright scarlet frontal plate or horny shield 
 which extends above the beak, and as they swim over the pond, 
 with a nodding motion of the head, examining every weed on 
 either side, or as they hurry through the meadows, in both 
 cases perpetually jerking up their tails, they always seem in a 
 bustle, and as if they had no time to waste. 
 
 The specific name, chloropus, ' green- footed/ is most applicable : 
 so in Sweden it is Gron-fotad Sump-Hona, or ' Green- footed 
 Fen-Hen'; but with us the 'Common Gallinule,' ' Water-Hen/ 
 and ' Marsh-Hen,' and used in old time to be 'Mot-hen,' meaning 
 'Moat-hen/ for (says Pennant) in the days of moated houses 
 they were very frequent about the moats. In France it is Poule 
 d'eau ordinaire; in Spain, Polla de agua; in Portugal, Gallinha 
 de agua; in Germany, Grunfussiges Eohrhuhn; and in Italy, 
 Pullo sultano cimandorlo. 
 
 171. CAYENNE RAIL (Aramides Cayannensis). 
 
 Though denied a place in the British list by those in authority, 
 and ignominiously denounced as an escaped convict from some 
 zoological garden or other place of detention, to which it had been 
 transported from its native land, I cannot pass over in silence 
 this interesting stranger, which was killed in October, 1876, on 
 
446 Rallidce. 
 
 the river between Trowbridge and Bradford-on-Avon, and which 
 the Rev. A. P. Morres, who saw it in the flesh the day after its 
 capture, described as ' evidently a Gallinule, but somewhat larger 
 than, and quite different in colour to, our Moorhen ; the legs and 
 iris of eye of a rich crimson lake ; beak light green, inclining to 
 yellow at the base; head, neck, and thighs, pure gray; back, 
 bright olive-green ; tail, tail coverts, and vent, black ; breast, rich 
 rufous brown, and wings bright brown, with a touch of crimson 
 on the quills. On the underside of the wing the axillaries were 
 beautifully barred with rufous and black* Mr. Morres most 
 obligingly took out one of these feathers, and sent it to me, 
 together with a description of the bird and details of its capture. 
 But I, being wholly ignorant of the species, and so unable to 
 supply the information required, forwarded the feather to 
 Professor Newton, at Cambridge, and there Mr. 0. Salvin, guided 
 by that single feather alone, recognised the bird and declared its 
 species, a declaration which a comparison with some skins in the 
 museum at Cambridge amply confirmed. This was certainly a 
 great triumph of ornithological acumen, and Professor Newton, 
 in proof of the correctness of the determination thus happily 
 arrived at, enclosed to me another feather which almost exactly 
 matched the feather I had forwarded to him. Professor Newton 
 added : ' I purposely chose one that is not exactly the same, that 
 there may be no confusion, the larger feather being the one I 
 had from you, the smaller one from a specimen in the Swainson 
 Collection. As its name implies, it is an inhabitant of Cayenne 
 and adjoining parts, occurring in Trinidad, but I should think 
 nowhere nearer to this country : it has been brought over several 
 times to the Zoological Gardens, and probably you might see it 
 there now. I cannot imagine that it should find its way to us 
 unassisted, but if it should make good its escape, I dare say it 
 might continue to exist for some weeks or months in this country, 
 except in winter. Aramides is a rather aberrant genus of Rails, 
 found only in the New World.' On making inquiries at the 
 Zoological Gardens at Clifton, Mr. Morres could not learn that 
 any such bird had ever been confined there, nor could he discover 
 
Cayenne Rail. 447 
 
 elsewhere any tidings of the escape of any such captive. It 
 seems, therefore, but for the decisive verdict given above by 
 authority, as if it were permissible to imagine this specimen a 
 possible straggler from America. Most remarkable, however, is 
 the sequel to this tale : for now, after such close examination of 
 this stranger, Mr. Morres bethought him of a stuffed bird, of just 
 the same size and appearance, though not of such bright colour- 
 ing, with which he had been familiar for years, and which stood 
 in the hall of a friend, Mr. Edward Everett, now deceased. For 
 this bird Mr. Morres at once made diligent inquiry, and was so 
 fortunate as to recover it ; and on inspection it proved to be a 
 second specimen of Aramides Cayannensis, with the same 
 remarkable rufous and black feathers under the wing. As to 
 the history of this specimen, it was impossible to gain any 
 positive information, beyond that it had been shot many years 
 ago by some friend, and that Mr. Everett had had it set up. 
 But whether this was an escaped convict, or whether both birds 
 were mere roving Americans, voluntarily visiting the old country, 
 as so many Americans birds as well as men do every year, it 
 is impossible to say, though in a question so uncertain I would 
 claim, by common English law, that the prisoner should have 
 the benefit of the doubt. 
 
 LOBIPEDUXE (LOBE-FEET). 
 
 There is no more perfect example of the gradual transition 
 from one class of birds to another than is to be seen in the little 
 family of Lobe-feet. Occupying a position as they do at the end 
 of the Order of Waders, and immediately before that of the 
 Swimmers, we find them partaking of the anatomical structure 
 as well as the habits of both. They kave neither the stilted legs 
 and lengthened beaks of the one, nor have they the webbed feet 
 of the other, but yet they approach both these characteristics. 
 With slender naked legs of moderate length they possess feet of 
 a very remarkable structure, inasmuch as these are furnished 
 with a lateral development of membrane, which, though it does 
 
448 Lobipedidce. 
 
 not connect them as in the true Swimmers, projects in rounded 
 lobes on either side of the toes. With these they can swim and 
 dive with perfect ease indeed, they pass the greater portion of 
 their lives in the water, though frequently seen on land too. 
 There are but three species of this family known in England, 
 and I have instances of the occurrence of all of them in 
 Wiltshire. 
 
 172. COMMON COOT (Fulica atra). 
 
 This is a common bird, generally to be found in the haunts of 
 the Moorhen, and, like that species, has a horny frontal plate, 
 which runs from the base of the beak to the forehead, and which, 
 being of a pure white colour, is very conspicuous on the nearly 
 black plumage of the bird ; hence it is often called the ' Bald 
 Coot.' It is the only species of the family which frequents inland 
 lakes ; and in its general habits, innate shyness, retirement 
 amongst sedge and reeds on the least alarm, and method when 
 flushed of scuttling over the surface of the pond, striking the 
 water with its feet to aid its progress, it bears a very close 
 resemblance to the Moorhen last described. Like that bird, too, 
 though so heavy and even clumsy in flight as it hurries over the 
 water to some place of concealment when disturbed, it does 
 occasionally indulge in a long flight at a very high elevation, 
 proving its powers of wing when the time of migration arrives. 
 For though to a certain extent, and in suitable localities, a 
 permanent resident in the South of England, its numbers are 
 very much increased in winter by the arrival of vast flocks from 
 the North. When on one of these aerial excursions the Coot 
 may be easily recognised from its legs stretched out behind and 
 acting like a tail, after the manner of Herons. William of 
 Malmesbury, A.D. 1200, tells us that in his day the fens of England 
 were so covered with Coots and Ducks that in moulting time, 
 when they cannot fly, the natives took from two to three thousand 
 at a draft with their nets.* But even now Sir R Payne-Gallwey 
 says that on inland fresh-water lakes he has seen from two to 
 ' Birds of the Humber District/ p. 146. 
 
Gray Phalarope. 449 
 
 three thousand together, and many thousands may be met with 
 on some of the Norfolk broads. As regards the flesh of this 
 bird, my own taste obliges me to say that it is most unpalatable 
 and fishy in the extreme indeed, the fact that it is allowed by 
 the Komish Church to be eaten on jours maigres, as are some 
 other birds which partake of the same fish-like flavour, condemns 
 it at once in my judgment as affording the reverse of delicate 
 meat. Its generic name, fulica, is from the Greek $a\aicpo<s, 
 meaning ' bald-headed,' whence also the French Foulque; but in 
 Germany it is the Schwarzes Wasserhuhn ; and in Sweden the 
 Sot Hona, or ' Soot Hen/ Harting observes that it may always 
 be known from a Moorhen on the water by its attitude. The 
 Coot swims with head and tail very low and the head poked 
 forward, but the Moorhen with head erect and tail jerked up 
 almost at right angles to the back. The Moorhen's white tail, 
 or rather under-tail coverts, also serve to distinguish it, the 
 same parts in the Coot being black.* In Spain it is Mancon 
 and Focha ; in Portugal, Galeirdo. The English word ' Coot ' is 
 probably of Celtic origin, from civta, 'short,' 'docked,' 'bob- 
 tailed.' 
 
 173. GRAY PHALAROPE (Phalaropus hiatus). 
 
 This pretty little bird belongs rather to the ocean than the 
 land, and its home is in Northern Asia, Siberia, and Northern 
 America, where it breeds in the most desolate regions within the 
 Arctic Circle, amidst the ice and snow and piercing cold of the 
 extreme North. On Parry's Arctic voyages it was found in very 
 high northern latitudes, in summer swimming unconcernedly 
 amongst the icebergs ; and Major Feilden observed it in July 
 breeding in latitude 82 30' N., so that when it visits us in 
 Wiltshire it is as an accidental straggler indeed, and yet I have 
 many records of its occurrence here. The specimen from which 
 Colonel Montagu took his description, and which was in his own 
 museum, was taken at a pond at Alderton.f Yarrell reports 
 
 * { Birds of Middlesex, 3 p. 212. 
 
 f ' Ornithological Dictionary ' in loco. 
 
 29 
 
450 Lobipedidcc. 
 
 that ' Mr. Lambert presented to the Zoological Society a beauti- 
 fully marked adult bird, which was killed in Wiltshire in the 
 month of August, and retained at that time a great portion of 
 the true red colours of the breeding season or summer plumage/ * 
 The late Kev. G. Marsh recorded that one was brought to him 
 which was killed by some boys with a stone on Dunspool pond, 
 on the downs at Winterslow. Another was shot at Dauntsey by 
 the Kev. A. Biedermann ; and another at Kellaways Mill by the 
 Kev. K. Ashe. Lord Nelson showed me a fine specimen in his 
 possession, which was taken on the borders of the county on the 
 Hampshire side. The late Rev. John Ward announced the 
 capture of another at Great Bedwyn ; and Mr. Elgar Sloper, of 
 Devizes, speaks of several as having been killed in that neigh- 
 bourhood, one which came into his collection having been taken 
 on the banks of the Kennet and Avon Canal in November, 1840. 
 The Rev. T. A. Preston wrote me word that one had been killed 
 near Marlborough in 1869, and the Rev. G. Powell that another 
 was killed at Deverill by Mr. George in September, 1870. The 
 Kev. A. P. Morres mentions two killed at Woodlands, in the 
 parish of Mere, as well as several others, in the winter of 1870 ; 
 one at Pertwood, November 17th; and another at Codford, 
 November 19th, 1875 ; and one knocked down with his oar by 
 Mr. Edwards while rowing on the river near Salisbury in or 
 about 1875. The Kev. E. Duke possesses a specimen shot on 
 the river at Lake fifteen or twenty years ago. Mr. Kawlence has 
 one in his collection killed at Wishford. The Marlborough 
 College Natural History Reports mention one now in their museum 
 shot by Mr. Coleman at East Kennett in 1866, and two others 
 killed on the edge of a pond at Pewsey in 1876. The Rev. E. 
 Goddard saw one on the Bowood water on October 2, 1877 ; and 
 Mr. Grant's list contains twelve specimens, eleven of which were 
 taken in the month of October, and the other in November : viz., 
 one in 1869, from Wedhampton ; but in 1870 (when there seems 
 to have been an immigration of these birds to North Wilts) from 
 Upavon, Conock, Lacock, Beckhampton, Devizes, Allington, 
 ' British Birds,' vol. iii., p. 132. 
 
Gray Phalarope. 451 
 
 Lavington, and Potterne; in 1876 from Easton, and in 1877 from 
 Marston. 
 
 If we exchange the scene from the retired inland pond to the 
 open ocean, we shall find the habits of the Phalarope very like 
 those of the more familiar Coot ; they are, however, perhaps still 
 more aquatic, and they differ in having great power and swiftness 
 of wing. In summer their plumage is of a reddish-chestnut or 
 rich brown hue, but in winter of a light gray colour ; which great 
 variation has given rise to much confusion in identifying these 
 birds as belonging to but one species only. It is most buoyant 
 on the water, and swims with the lightness of a cork, after the 
 fashion of a Gull, as Mr. Cecil Smith well describes it, and keeps 
 on incessantly nodding its head. It is of a bold, fearless, unsus- 
 picious nature, probably resulting from its inexperience of man 
 and his persecutions in the uninhabited regions it frequents. 
 
 Seebohm says that from their habit of following the whales and 
 approaching them when they blow, in order to catch the small 
 marine animals that are then disturbed, they are called by the 
 sailors ' Whale-birds ' and ' Bow- head birds.' The word ' Phala- 
 rope ' has exercised the ingenuity of many to discover its origin ; 
 as when dissected into (frdXaKpos, '" bald-headed,' or ' with a patch 
 of white on the head,' and TTOU?, ' a foot/ the meaning is not very 
 transparent. There can, however, be very little doubt that its 
 true intention is ' Coot-footed,' or ' possessing feet like those of 
 a Coot.' Platyrynchos, 'broad-billed,' was the specific name 
 assigned to it by Temminck, Sabine, and others, and its beak will 
 on examination be found in some degree to answer the descrip- 
 tion. So in Norway, where it is seen on migration to and from 
 its breeding-places in the Arctic regions, it is known as Bred- 
 ndbbad Simm-Sndppa, or 'Broad-billed Swimming Snappa'; 
 and in France, Phalarope platyrhinque ; but in Germany, Roth- 
 bauchiger Wassertreter. 
 
 29-2 
 
452 Lobipedidcv. 
 
 174. RED-NECKED PHALAROPE (PUalaropus 
 hypcrboreus). 
 
 This elegant but diminutive species is far more rare in England 
 than its larger congener. The specific name, hyperboreus, fully 
 declares its habitat, for it ranges over all the Arctic regions of 
 the Old and New Worlds, and descends as low as the Orkneys 
 and the northern coast of Scotland, where it is not uncommon. 
 The plumage may be generally described as lead-coloured above ; 
 chest and neck reddish bay, otherwise white below. I have a 
 notice from Mr. Elgar Sloper that a male bird in the breeding 
 plumage was shot by him in the brickfield at Old Park in May, 
 184], and that, as the pinion of one wing was the only part in- 
 jured, it lived for several weeks, feeding in the water on animal 
 food with which Mr. Sloper supplied it, and swimming with great 
 facility : and the Rev. T. A. Preston, in the autumn of 1869, re- 
 corded a specimen killed in a garden at Marlborough, with 
 plumage in a transition state between the summer and winter 
 dress. These are the only notices I have of the occurrence in 
 our county of this stranger from the extreme North. The distin- 
 guishing mark by which it may be recognised, without fear of 
 confusion with its congener, is its more slender beak : hence in 
 Sweden it is known as Smal-ndbbad Simm-Sndppa, 'Small- 
 billed Swimming Snappa ' ; and in Lapland it is called by the 
 Finnish squatters Wesitiainen, or ' Water- Sparrow,' which shows 
 a paucity of idea in regard to the several species of birds on the 
 part of those gentlemen. Reinhardt reports that it breeds in 
 Greenland, and in Spitzbergen it is common enough to have 
 earned two names, being known there as the ' North-East Bird/ 
 doubtless from its indifference to the coldest blasts of air, and 
 also as ' Mahogany Bird,' from the colour of its neck. In Orkney 
 it is known as ' Half- Web,' and Selby attributes to it the pro- 
 vincial name of * Water Snipe.' In frequenting the icy regions 
 of the extreme North, in its fearlessness of man, and in its general 
 appearance and habits, it closely resembles its congener last 
 described. Our countryman Montagu, in the Supplement to his 
 
Red-necked Plialarope. 453 
 
 Dictionary, quotes a correspondent who says : ' It swims with 
 the greatest ease, and when on the water looks like a beautiful 
 miniature of a Duck, carrying its head close to the back in the 
 manner of a Teal.' 
 
 In France it is Phalarope hyperbore, and in Germany Eothhal- 
 siger Wassertreter. 
 
 We have now reached the end of the fourth great Order of 
 Birds viz., the Waders and but one more Order remains to be 
 considered, the true Water-Fowl, or Swimmers. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 NATATORES (Sivimmers). 
 
 As the fifth and last great Order of Birds contains those only 
 which are thoroughly aquatic, and as by far the larger portion of 
 these belong to the ocean as their peculiar habitat, it is manifest 
 that Wiltshire as an inland county can scarcely lay claim to an 
 extensive acquaintance with this Order. And yet with such ease 
 and celerity do they pass over the intervening land which 
 separates us from the coast, that the Ducks, Geese, and Gulls, 
 which enjoy a great power of wing, very frequently visit us, often 
 in considerable numbers; while even the heavy-flying, short- 
 winged Divers, Grebes, Auks, and Cormorants appear at rare 
 intervals as occasional visitants, and thus all the families which 
 compose the Order of Swimmers are more or less represented in 
 our county, and have been met with from to time in various 
 localities. 
 
 The characteristics of this Order are to be seen in the long 
 boat-shaped body, so admirably adapted for swimming, or rather 
 sailing, on the water ; in the structure and position of the legs 
 and feet, placed so far behind as to cause an awkward gait on 
 land, but so well fitted to act as oars and paddles and rudders in 
 propelling the body over the surface of the water, and in the 
 close oily plumage, which is altogether impervious to wet. They 
 are therefore, for the most part, neither active nor graceful on 
 land, and their attempts at walking result in a waddle or a 
 shuffle, and some of them are little less agile on the wing ; but 
 in their own proper element the most clumsy on shore will be 
 nimble enough, diving, swimming, sailing, even in rough water, 
 
Gray Lag Goose. 455 
 
 with the utmost buoyancy and ease, and thoroughly at home, 
 and even sleeping on the waves. 
 
 ANATID^E (THE DUCKS). 
 
 This very large family comprises not only the almost innu- 
 merable species of Ducks proper, but also the Geese, the Swans, 
 and the Mergansers. They are all of one general uniform 
 character, and their structure, as well as habits, are too well 
 known to require comment. The distinguishing mark of this 
 family, wherein its several members partake in a greater or less 
 degree, and wherein they differ from the remaining families of 
 the Order, centres in the beak, which is of a broad, flattened 
 form, of a softer consistence than is seen in others, and covered 
 with an epidermis or skin, excepting at the tip, which is fur- 
 nished with a horny nail. There are other peculiarities regard- 
 ing the beaks of these birds, suited to the special requirements 
 of the individual species ; but in all the family the edges of the 
 mandibles are provided with plates, rugosities, or even hooks, 
 more or less developed, which are serviceable either in seizing 
 and holding the slippery prey on which they feed, or in sepa- 
 rating and removing the mud which unavoidably accompanies its 
 capture. For the same purpose their tongues are usually very 
 large, thick, fleshy, and extremely rough. 
 
 175. GRAY LAG GOOSE (Anser ferus). 
 
 This is the true original Wild Goose, as its specific name ferus 
 implies, the Wild Goose par excellence, and above all its con- 
 geners, though in point of numbers some of them may now 
 exceed it. Moreover, it is generally allowed to be the origin of 
 our domestic species, and was at one time common enough in 
 this county, but has now become extremely rare, since the 
 draining of our fens and marshes : for in the good old times 
 before so much waste land was reclaimed, it used to be a per- 
 manent resident in England, breeding regularly in Lincolnshire 
 and other fen districts, and from thence wandering in winter 
 over the southern and western counties. Colonel Montagu 
 
456 Anatidce. 
 
 described it in his day (at the beginning of the present century) 
 as ' frequently killed upon the Downs in the south of England, 
 feeding on green wheat,' and he adds, ' We remember one, being 
 shot in the wing by a farmer, in the neighbourhood of the Wilt- 
 shire Downs, was kept alive many years, but would never 
 associate with the tame ones/ In more recent days the late 
 Rev. George Marsh informed me that two or three fine specimens 
 of this bird were killed on the river Avon by Mr. Ferris, of Sutton 
 Benger, in the very severe winter of 1838, and doubtless it is 
 still occasionally met with in hard weather. It is to be dis- 
 tinguished from its congeners by the pink flesh-colour of its 
 beak, legs, and feet, the nail of the beak being white. Mr. 
 Harting says it has also invariably some black feathers on the 
 belly, which the other species lack, and the gray colour in the 
 wings of the Gray Lag runs through the wing like a double bar, 
 which is very conspicuous when the pinions are stretched.* The 
 meaning and derivation of the word lag was for a long time a 
 puzzle to many. Yarrell conjectured it to come from the 
 English lake or Italian lago, both derived from the Latin lacus ; 
 but in 1870 Professor Newton, the then editor of the Ibis, with 
 the able assistance of Professor Skeat, unravelled the mystery, 
 and set the question at rest for ever. ' The adjective " lag," ' he 
 says, ' means originally " late," " last," or " slow," whence we have 
 " laggard " and " laglast," a " loiterer," etc. Accordingly the 
 Gray Lag Goose is the Gray Goose which in former days lagged 
 behind the others to breed in our fens, as it now does on the 
 Sutherland lochs, when its congeners had betaken themselves to 
 their more northern summer quarters.'-)- Most certainly it did 
 not imply any inferiority to either of its congeners in rapidity of 
 flight, for, like them, it is very strong and powerful on the wing, 
 and fifty or sixty miles an hour is the rate at which they are 
 said to fly. We who live in this inland western county have 
 little conception of the large flocks of domesticated geese derived 
 from this species which are still brought up in the fen districts 
 
 'Birds of Middlesex,' p. 216. 
 t Ilia for 1870, p. 301. 
 
Bean Goose. 457 
 
 of the eastern counties, and which, until very lately, if not still, 
 underwent the cruel process of plucking, and were driven out to 
 pasture in the morning and brought home at night by the goose- 
 herd or ' gozzard ;' very] much as Sir Francis Head described 
 in his famous 'Bubbles from the Brunnens of Nassau,' only 
 there the flock consisted of contributions from many owners, one 
 or two from each house in some German village ; but here the 
 whole flock, often some hundreds in number, was the property 
 of one owner. In France it is Oie cendrtfe ; in Germany, Wilde 
 gemeine Gans ; in Italy, Oca paglietane ; in Spain and Portugal, 
 Ganso bravo ; and in Sweden Grd-Gds. 
 
 176. BEAN GOOSE (Anser segetuni). 
 
 This is so much more common amongst us in these days, that 
 it has now generally usurped the title of its larger relative last 
 described, and is known as ' the Wild Goose.' Specimens occur 
 in various parts of the county almost every winter, and during 
 the hard weather in January of this year (1887) the Kev. H. 
 Algar, occupying my house at Yatesbury, wrote me word that he 
 saw six presumably of this species, pitched in Yatesbury Field, 
 though at his approach they of course took wing. The general 
 colour of the beak is black, the middle of it flesh-red, and the 
 nail at the extremity black ; the form of the beak is also shorter 
 and stouter than is the case with A. ferus. These birds fly 
 in flocks varying in form according to their. size, a little band 
 always flying in a long line in Indian file, and in close order, 
 looking as if linked together by a string ; hence they are spoken 
 of as a ' skein ' of geese : but a large flock, called a ' gaggle,' 
 probably from the cackling noise it perpetually keeps up, assumes 
 a > like form, the sharp angle being always forward, and one 
 bird acting as leader and taking the head of the party, while the 
 rest form themselves into two lines converging towards their 
 guide ; the same bird, however, does not always keep its place 
 at the van, but after a time falls into the line, and another takes 
 its post. This interesting manoeuvre was first pointed out to me 
 in Norfolk many years ago by the famous Arctic voyager, Captain 
 
458 Anatidce. 
 
 Edward Parry, who in his prolonged voyages in the Polar seas 
 had unlimited opportunities of marking the habits of the race 
 of Anseres. The Bean Goose is essentially an inland feeder, 
 frequenting marshes and meadows as well as cornfields by day, 
 and returning at dusk to mud-banks or sands where it can pass 
 the night in security. Sir R. Payne- Gall wey says, ' It is provided 
 with a most suitable bill for grazing, and can cut off wet soft 
 grass or young shoots as with a sharp pair of scissors/* It was 
 very generally supposed that the English specific name of this 
 goose was derived from the black nail at the extremity of the 
 beak, of about the size and appearance of a bean ; but Selby 
 pointed out that it was because of its partiality to bean or pea 
 fields, rather than from the shape of the nail of the upper 
 mandible that the bird was so named, and this is now generally 
 admitted. Cordeaux adds that beans being cut late in 
 autumn, more especially in wet and backward seasons, there is 
 always a considerable loss by the opening of the pods and shed- 
 ding of their contents : it is then that the geese arrive in 
 large flocks to feed on the scattered beans.-)- In corroboration of 
 this view the Swedish name for our Bean Goose is Sad Gas, 
 or ' Grain Goose ;' in Germany, Saat Gans ; and provincially in 
 some parts of France Qie des Moissons, or ' Harvest Goose ;' and 
 the recognised scientific name is A. segetum. In Continental 
 Europe generally it is by far the commonest of all the geese, and 
 is called in France Oie vulgaire, and in Italy Oca salvatica. 
 I conclude my notice of our commonest wild goose by a very 
 valuable extract from the writings of Sir R. Payne-Gallwey, who 
 from his personal experience is more entitled than any other to be 
 listened to on this subject. ' Geese (he says), like swans, are slow 
 in taking wing, either from land or water, and give more or less 
 notice of their intentions previous to flying. They stretch out 
 the neck, cackle loudly, run along the ground ere they can rise, 
 and beat the surface with their wings if on the water. They 
 always appear to have a sentry on duty, an outside bird, who, 
 
 'The Fowler in Ireland,' pp. 145, 148. 
 t 'Birds of the Humber District,' p. 149. 
 
White-fronted Goose. 459 
 
 whilst his companions are greedily feeding, stands erect, looking 
 suspiciously round on all sides. I have remarked, when near 
 enough to hear, that the watching goose continually utters a low, 
 guttural chuckle, which seems to imply " All's well, all's well !" 
 On suspecting danger he is instantly silent. This cessation of 
 sound on his part is at once followed by the startled attention of 
 all the rest. This sentinel is from time to time relieved of his 
 duties by a companion.'* 
 
 177. WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE (Anser albifrons). 
 
 This is really as common in England, if not more common, 
 than the species last described ; but it so happens that, with the 
 exception of the very reliable testimony of the Rev. G. Powell, who 
 tells me he has seen it in South Wilts, I do not chance to have 
 any other notice of its occurrence in the county, and yet it is 
 most probable that so regular a winter visitor to our island 
 frequently favours Wiltshire with its presence. Selby, indeed, 
 says that it is more abundant in the South and Midland parts of 
 England than the Bean Goose ; but it is the first to disappear at 
 the approach of spring, and by the middle of March all have de- 
 parted for their northern breeding-places ; and yet it has, time 
 out of mind, resorted to Egypt for winter quarters, like a wise 
 bird that it is, and was the most abundant of all the geese which 
 I saw in vast flocks on the Nile. Moreover, that it was domesti- 
 cated in Egypt of old is certain, for its portrait, as represented 
 on the walls of the temples and tombs, may be readily identified. 
 It is an inland feeding bird, and seeks low, marshy districts, and 
 not cornfields, for, as St. John observes, it is entirely and 
 absolutely graminivorous. The specific name, both in Latin and 
 English, describes its mark of distinction in the white patch above 
 the beak, extending to the forehead. It is also sometimes called 
 the ' Laughing Goose,' and is L'Oie rieuse of Buffon and Tem- 
 minck, from the peculiar note, supposed to resemble a man's 
 laugh ; and provincially known as the ' Bar Goose,' from the dark 
 bars upon the breast. This, and not the Bernicle, is the true 
 ' The Fowler in Ireland,' pp. 145, 148. 
 
460 Anatidcv. 
 
 Fyall Gas, or ' Mountain Goose ' of the Swedes, as Professor New- 
 ton has shown in an article on Anas erythropus* the latter 
 being the specific name given by Fleming and others of the older 
 ornithologists, and which calls attention to its orange-coloured 
 legs. It is Blassen Gans, ' the Pale Goose,' in German ; and in 
 Italy, Oca Lombardella. Mr. Harting, to whom we have already 
 been much indebted for accurately pointing out the distinguish- 
 ing marks by which closely allied species may be identified, has 
 drawn up" the following useful table in regard to the commoner 
 species of gray geeset : 
 
 Gray Lag Goose : till, flesh-colour ; nail, white ; legs, flesh colour. 
 Bean Goose : orange ; black ; orange. 
 
 White-fronted Goose : pink ; white ; orange. 
 
 Pink-footed Goose : pink ; black ; pink tinged with 
 
 vermilion. 
 
 [Of the species just mentioned, the ' Pink- footed Goose' (Anser 
 brachyrhyncus), I regret that I have no example to record, and 
 so no proof of its occurrence in Wiltshire ; but that it must very 
 often visit us is almost certain, for not only does it so much 
 resemble the Bean Goose (the most abundant now of all our wild 
 geese) as to be frequently mistaken for it, though somewhat 
 smaller in size, but in some districts of England it is declared to 
 be even more common than that species. It is to be hoped, 
 therefore, that Wiltshire sportsmen will keep a sharp look-out on 
 the specimens which fall to their gun, and announce the dis- 
 covery of a Wiltshire killed A. brachyrhyncus, or the 'Short- 
 beaked Goose/ whose bill, scarcely more than an inch and 
 a half in length, offers a good mark of distinction.] 
 
 178. BRENT GOOSE (Anser torquatus). 
 
 This little black species is the most numerous of all the Geese 
 on our coasts, but is so essentially marine in its habits the most 
 oceanic (says Mr. Cordeaux) of all the Geese that it is by no 
 means common in the interior of the country. Occasionally, 
 
 Ibis for 18GO, pp. 404-406. f < Birds of Middlesex,' p. 216. 
 
Brent Goose. 461 
 
 however, a straggler wanders out of its course, and I have several 
 instances of its occurrence near Salisbury, near Corsham, and 
 near Calne ; and of later date Mr. W. F. Parsons, of Hunt's Mill, 
 Wootton Bassett, wrote me word that a specimen was killed 
 about the middle of February, 1870, during the very severe frost, 
 by Mr. Isaac Tuck, of Greenhill. He found it in the brook on 
 his farm known as the Upper Avon, when the weather was un- 
 usually cold. The Rev. A. P. Morres also records one now in his 
 collection, which was killed in his own parish of Britford, in 
 April, 1884 ; and I am informed by the Rev. J. Hodgson that 
 two handsome specimens have been shot in the meadows of 
 Collingbourne : one in the winter of 1881-82. by Mr. Pike, of 
 Hougoumont Farm ; the other in the spring of this year (1887), 
 by Mr. Russ' bailiff. Mr. Grant also records a specimen killed 
 at West Lavington in October, 1881. 
 
 Its beak is very short, and, like the general colour of its 
 plumage, quite black. Indeed, with the exception of a small 
 patch of white on either side of the neck, and the tail coverts, 
 which are also white, its plumage is either slate-gray or smoke- 
 black. It is said to have derived its English name ' Brent ' from 
 its 'burnt' or generally charred appearance; and its scientific 
 name torquatus from the ' collar ' of white feathers on the neck. 
 Montagu calls it the ' Clatter Goose,' from the constant chattering 
 it keeps up while feeding ; wherein it differs from the Gray Geese, 
 which feed in silence. Selby calls it the ' Ware Goose/ from the 
 marine vegetabfes which constitute its food ; and for the same 
 reason it is known as Rotgans, ' Rot/ and ' Road Goose,' with 
 the meaning of ' Root Goose.' It is strange that whereas the 
 Brent Geese, sometimes called ' Sea Bernicles/ frequent the 
 muddy shores of the south and especially the east coasts of 
 England, where they occur at times in enormous numbers, the 
 true Bernicle Geese, known as ' Land Bernicles/ are seldom seen 
 there, but inhabit the west coast, where Brent Geese are almost 
 unknown ; so rigidly do these closely allied Black Geese keep to 
 their several localities. They are both winter migrants, arriving 
 here in the autumn from the North ; and are both of shy, 
 
462 Anatidce. 
 
 suspicious nature, ready to take wing at the slightest alarm of 
 danger. Both, too, retire to breed in the Polar regions, Green- 
 land, Spitzbergen, and still farther towards the North Pole. 
 Captain Markham, in his narrative of the voyage of the Alert 
 during the Arctic Expedition of 1875-76, says the Brent Goose 
 was one of the very few birds met with in the high North, and 
 that in considerable numbers. As regards its edible qualities, I 
 was astonished to see the late Mr. Knox write, ' This is the best 
 bird I ever tasted/ and to find that verdict corroborated by Sir 
 R Payne-Gallwey, who places it first among the Geese, though 
 he somewhat qualifies that proud distinction by adding, ' But no 
 goose except a Brent, unless a very young bird, is fit to serve up 
 whole.' My own experience, and judging from the single 
 specimen of which I made trial in Norfolk thirty years ago, is 
 that it has a most villainous, rank, and fishy flavour. 
 
 In France it is Ole Cravant ; in Germany, Eingel Gans ; in 
 Italy, Anatra Columbaccio ; in Sweden, Prut-Gas, from its con- 
 tinued murmuring cry when on the wing. 
 
 I cannot forbear to call attention here to the monstrous popular 
 error which very generally prevailed regarding the origin of this 
 goose, sometimes called the ' Brent Bernicle,' as well as that of 
 the other Bernicle (A. leucopsis) ; and to this end I will quote 
 the story as related by an old writer of the time of Queen 
 Elizabeth :* ' There are found in the north parts of Scotland, 
 and the islands adiacent, called Orchades, certaine trees, 
 whereon do growe certaine shells of a white colour tending to 
 russet, wherein are contained little liuing creatures, which shells, 
 in time of maturity doe open, and out of them grow those little 
 liuing things, which falling into the water, do become fowlcs, 
 which we call barnacles ; in the north of England, brant geese ; 
 and in Lancashire tree geese : but the other that do fall vpon the 
 land, perish, and come to nothing. Thus much, by the writings 
 of others, and also from the mouthes of people of those parts, 
 which may very well accord with truth. 
 
 ' But what our eies haue seen, and hands haue touched, we 
 * Gerard's 'Herbal ; or, History of Plants,' p. 1588, edition 1636. ; 
 
Brent Goose. 4C3 
 
 shall declare. There is a small island in Lancashire, called the 
 Pile of Foulders, wherein are found the broken pieces of old and 
 bruised ships, some whereof haue beene cast thither by ship- 
 wracke, and also the trunks and bodies, with the branches of old 
 and rotten trees, cast vp there likewise ; whereon is found a 
 certain spume or froth that in time breedeth vnto certaine shells, 
 in shape like those of the muskle, but sharper-pointed, and of a 
 whitish colour ; the other end is made fast, wherein is contained 
 a thing in forme like a lace of silke, finely wouen, as it were, 
 together, of a whitish colour, one end wherof is fastned vnto the 
 inside of the shell, even as the fish of oisters and muskles are ; 
 the other end is made fast unto the belly of a rude masse or 
 lumpe, which, in time, commeth to the shape and forme of a bird 
 When it is perfectly formed, the shell gapeth open, and the 
 first thing that appeareth is the foresaid lace or string : next 
 come the legs of the bird hanging out, and as it groweth 
 greater, it openeth the shell by degrees, til at length it is all 
 come forth, and hangeth onely by the bill. In short space after, 
 it commeth to full maturitie, and falleth into the sea, where it 
 gathereth feathers, and groweth to a fowle bigger than a mallard, 
 and lesser than a goose, hauing blacke legs and bill or beake, 
 and feathers blacke and white, spotted in such manner as is our 
 magpie, called in some places a Pie-Annet, which the people of 
 Lancashire call by no other name than a tree Goose, which place 
 aforesaid, and all those parts adjoyning, do so much abound 
 therewith, that one of the best is bought for threepence. For 
 the truth hereof, if any doubt, may it please them to repair vnto 
 me, and I shall satisfy them by the testimonie of good witnesses. 
 Moreover it should seem that there is another sort hereof, the 
 history of which is true, and of mine own knowledge : for 
 trauelling upon the shore of our English coast, between Douer 
 and Rumney, I found the trunke of an old rotten tree, which 
 (with some help that I procured by fishermen's wiues, that were 
 there attending their husbands' returne from the sea) we drew 
 out of the water upon dry land. Vpon this rotten tree, I found 
 growing many thousands of long crimson bladders, in shape like 
 
464 Anatidcv. 
 
 vnto puddings newly filled, before they be sodden, which weere 
 very cleere and shining, at the nether end whereof did grow a 
 shell-fish, fashioned somewhat like a small muskle, but much 
 whiter, resembling a shell-fish that groweth vpon the rockes 
 about Garnsey and Garsey, called a Lympit. Many of these 
 shells I brought with me to London, which, after I had opened, 
 I found in them liuing things without form or shape : in others, 
 which were neerer come to ripenesse, I found liuing things that 
 were very naked, in shape like a bird : in others, the birds 
 covered with soft downe, the shell halfe open, and the bird 
 ready to fall out, which no doubt were the fowles called barnacles. 
 I dare not absolutely auouch euery circumstance of the first part 
 of this history, concerning the tree that beareth those buds afore- 
 said, but will leave it to a further consideration ; howbeit, that 
 which I have seen with mine eies, and handled with mine hands, 
 I dare confidently auouch, and boldly put down for verity. Now 
 if any will object that this tree which I saw, might be one of 
 those before mentioned, which either by the waues of the sea, or 
 some violent wind, had been ouerturned, as many other trees are ; 
 or that any trees falling into those seas about the Orchades, will 
 of themselves beare the like fowles, by reason of those seas and 
 waters, these being so probable conjectures, and likely to be true, 
 I may not without prejudice gainsay, or indeauour to confute.' 
 
 The little shell-fish which these wise people supposed to have 
 brought forth the geese still go by the name of ' barnacles,' and 
 the Latin name, Lapas anatifera, ' the goose-bearing bernicle,' 
 recalls the belief respecting them; yet surely the extravagant 
 and ridiculous theory detailed above must have severely taxed 
 the credulity even of the ignorant and unscientific age in which 
 it was propounded. 
 
 179. BERNICLE GOOSE (Anser leucopsis). 
 
 As the Brent Goose abounds on the eastern, so the Bernicle 
 Goose frequents the western coasts of Great Britain, but not in 
 such numbers as its darker relative. It is called leucopsis, or 
 ' white-faced,' or ' white-fronted/ to distinguish it from its darker- 
 
Bernicle Goose. 465 
 
 headed and darker-breasted congener the Brent, with which it is 
 often confused. Saunders says that, unlike the Gray Geese, 
 which feed in silence, these ' Black Geese,' as they are called, 
 both when feeding and when on the wing keep up a constant 
 cackling. I have already said that this is sometimes known as 
 the ' Land Bernicle/ and the Brent as the ' Sea Bernicle,' but 
 indeed both species are essentially dwellers on the sea, and rarely 
 come to dry land ; and it must have been an unusually severe 
 gale which could have driven so far inland the only three 
 specimens whose visit to Wiltshire I am able to chronicle, two 
 of which, I learn from Mr. Grant, were killed at Enford on 
 February 25, 1865, and the third, as Mr. Rawlence informs me, was 
 killed at Britford. In Sweden it is sometimes called the Hafre 
 Gos, or ' Oat Goose,' from its partiality for oat stubbles. It is 
 more generally known in that country as the Fjdll Gos, and 
 some few breed in the fjalls of Northern Scandinavia, but the 
 great bulk in the breeding season penetrate to the most northern 
 latitudes ; and Nordenskiold relates that, from the most northerly 
 point of Spitzbergen hitherto reached, vast flocks of this species 
 have been seen steering their course in rapid flight yet farther 
 towards the north a conclusive proof (so the walrus-hunters 
 affirm) of the existence of some land more northerly than 
 Spitzbergen.* In France it is Oie Bernache ; and in Germany, 
 Weisswangige Gans, ' White-cheeked Goose.' 
 
 180. EGYPTIAN GOOSE (Anser Egyptiacus). 
 
 I am indebted to my friend Colonel Ward, of Bannerdown 
 House, Bath, for an account of the occurrence of this very 
 handsome species in our county, two of which were killed at 
 Corsham Court some few years back, and were preserved by Mr. 
 Dangerfield, of Chippenham. They were in perfect plumage, 
 and had every appearance of being genuine wild birds, and 
 not (as has sometimes been the case with such stragglers) mere 
 semi-domesticated specimens which had escaped from some 
 ornamental water. The Rev. A. P. Morres says it is occasionally 
 ' Arctic Voyages,' 1858-1879, p. 53. 
 
 30 
 
466 Anatidce. 
 
 met with near Salisbury, and specifies one that for two or three 
 days was seen feeding with the ducks near the river in his own 
 neighbourhood. 
 
 The Egyptian Goose is a splendid bird, and the rich colours of 
 its plumage make it an exceedingly attractive species ; and when 
 seen in a large flock, as I have met with it on the sandbanks 
 and shallows of the Nile, presents as gorgeous an appearance as 
 the most enthusiastic ornithologist could desire. It is a very 
 wary bird, and will not readily admit of near approach, and it 
 was only when sailing with a brisk breeze, and suddenly and 
 noiselessly rounding some corner of the river, that we were 
 enabled to come upon it at close quarters ; but at such times, 
 or occasionally when quiet at anchor in the dusk, we have been 
 in the midst of a flock, and could thoroughly admire the well- 
 contrasted and brilliant colours of their plumage before they 
 took alarm and decamped at their best speed. 
 
 Chenalopex is the modern generic name with which this bird 
 is now often favoured. It is the same as Vulpanser of Herodotus * 
 in a Greek dress, or, as we should say, the ' Fox-Goose,' so called 
 from its living, or rather breeding, in holes. It appears fre- 
 quently on the monuments of Egypt, and is often delineated 
 with great artistic skill. The richness of the plumage and 
 remarkable appearance of this species, compared with the other 
 Nile Geese, would have naturally attracted the early artists. 
 Wherever the colouring has been preserved, we find usually the 
 head and neck painted red, the breast and belly blue, the back 
 yellow, with the tips of the wings red, the tail with narrow 
 lengthened feathers, like the Pintail Duck, which many of the 
 Karnak intaglios more closely resemble. The Goose was the 
 emblem of Sib, the father of Osiris, but was not sacred ; it 
 signified 'a son,' and consequently occurs very often in the 
 Pharaonic ovals, signifying ' Son of the sun.' Horapollo says it 
 was adopted in consequence of its affection for its young.f It 
 has been found frequenting the lakes south of the equator in 
 Book ii., c. 72. 
 t Dr. A. L. Adams in Ibis for 1864, p. 34. 
 
Spur-winged Goose. 467 
 
 East Africa and in Somali-land, where it is known to the in- 
 habitants as Etal Jaz, or 'who lives at the wells.'* It is 
 generally allowed to be the most unpalatable of all the tribe, and 
 by most people considered quite uneatable. 
 
 181. SPUR-WINGED GOOSE (Anser gambensis). 
 
 I have an account of the capture near Netheravon, on the edge 
 of Salisbury Plain, on September 4, 1869, of this very rare 
 African Goose, of which but three other specimens are known to 
 have occurred in the British Isles.f It had been seen for some 
 days previously associating with some tame geese in the fields, 
 and was killed by Mr. Rowden, of Upavon, as I was informed 
 by my friend the late Rev. C. Raikes. I had also notice 
 of another which was shot near Ramsbury in November, 1881, 
 but on inquiry this turned out to be an escaped prisoner from a 
 pond in the neighbourhood, where two, which were sent over 
 from Africa, had been for some time in captivity. It is not im- 
 probable that the Netheravon bird may also have escaped from 
 confinement, but of this there is no evidence to show. This- 
 species is not only extremely handsome, with well-marked glossy 
 and bronzed plumage, but it is remarkable for the strong white 
 horny spur, above half an inch in length, and turning upwards, 
 situated on the carpal joint of each wing, as in the Spur- winged 
 Plover (Ckaradrius spinosus), at whose formidable weapons in 
 every variety of bluntness I had often marvelled in the many 
 specimens which I shot on the Nile* It is a native of tropical 
 Africa, and though called a goose, and with the general appear- 
 ance of a goose, it is thought to be more nearly allied to the 
 ducks, which it resembles in manner of feeding and some other 
 respects. It derives its specific name, gambensis, from Sene- 
 gambia, in West Africa ; and plectropterus, ' Spur- winged/ the 
 generic name bestowed upon it by some, from the peculiarity 
 mentioned above. 
 
 Capt. J. H. Speke in Ibis for 1860, p. 248. 
 
 f Recorded in the Fourth Edition of ' Yarrell/ vol. iv., p. 305 ; and in 
 Science Gossip for 1870, p. 51. 
 
 302 
 
468 Anatidce. 
 
 182. CANADA GOOSE (Anser Canadensis). 
 The last-mentioned species was a straggler from Africa. This 
 is no less rare as an occasional and very unfrequent visitor to the 
 British Isles from America, in the north of which continent, and 
 in Hudson's Bay, Greenland, and the regions still farther north, 
 it is found in very great numbers, where it has proved a welcome 
 source of provision to Arctic explorers, as well as to the fur- 
 traders and voyageurs of the territories of the Hudson's Bay 
 Company, to whom it is universally known as the 'Common 
 Gray Goose.' 
 
 For its occurrence in Wiltshire I am indebted to the pen of 
 Mr. Henry Blackmore, of Salisbury, who thus records its app< ar 
 ance in that very useful periodical, the Zoologist: 'On Monday, 
 the 21st of January, 1867, a fine specimen of the Canada or 
 Cravat Goose (Anser Canadensis) was shot in a meadow at 
 Coombe Bissett, Wiltshire, by Mr. Crosse, of the same place. 1 1 
 came into my possession the following day, and on dissection 
 proved to be a male bird, weight twelve pounds. Another u as 
 shot in the same locality on Saturday, the 26th of January, and 
 was purchased by Mr. Marsh, of Ramridge House, for his 
 collection. This specimen appeared to me to be the saw in 
 every respect as the one I have (a male bird in equally rood 
 plumage and condition). Mr. Whatman, of this city, told me 
 that he had seen a flock of these birds on the 19th instant in a 
 meadow at Homington, which is the adjoining village to Coon i he 
 Bissett, where the two birds were killed. From inquiries 1 IIMVC 
 since made, I cannot learn that these birds were kept on ny 
 ornamental water or lake in the neighbourhood; it may then -fun- 
 be deduced that they are bond fide specimens of the bird in its 
 natural state.'* The Rev. A. P. Morres wrote me word that h<- 
 had himself seen the flock of seven from which the aU>\<> 
 specimens were shot, and that they remained for some tinx- in 
 ithe Britford water-meadows. But this again is a spec'u 
 attractive appearance, which is frequently kept on ornamental 
 
 Zoologist Second Series, April, 1867, p. 709. 
 
Whooper. 469 
 
 waters, so that it is difficult to say whether the Wiltshire killed 
 specimens were mere tourists on their travels come to visit , this 
 inhospitable country of their own free will, or whether they were 
 escaped convicts, involuntarily transported to these shores. In 
 either case their reception was a warm one. Mr. Grant records 
 another specimen killed at Enford Manor Farm in September, 
 1870. This bird has obtained the trivial name of ' Cravat ' 
 Goose, from the conspicuous patch of white feathers on the chin 
 and throat, almost encircling the black neck, which bears a 
 certain resemblance to a neckcloth. These birds are the 
 ' bustards,' les outardes, of the Canadians. 
 
 183. WHOOPER (Cygnus musicus). 
 
 More commonly known as the Wild Swan, and is an annual 
 visitor to our coasts in winter. Indeed, I have seen nine brought 
 in to the Lynn poulterers by a single gunner in a morning in 
 severe weather. It is a bird of very powerful flight, which 
 travels at a great height above the earth and in a straight line, 
 and its speed is said sometimes to exceed a hundred miles in an 
 hour ; so no wonder it is wont to appear at times on most of our 
 larger inland lakes and rivers. The late Rev. George Marsh 
 reported that a dozen of them settled on the Draycot Pond in 
 1838, which was one of the hardest winters within the memory 
 of living man. He also recorded that one was brought to Lord 
 Radnor at Salisbury, who offered a guinea if the man would get 
 him another. The worthy fowler soon returned with one of his 
 lordship's tame Swans, and received the guinea, and neither he 
 nor the noble earl was aware of any difference between the two 
 birds. The Rev. A. P. Morres records the sudden appearance of 
 a small party of four Whoopers as Mr. Attwater, a farmer of 
 Britford, and the keeper Butler were resting under a tree after a 
 successful day's duck-shooting. These fine birds, after circling 
 round for a while, pitched in the Britford meadows on the brink 
 of the river at no great distance, when two of their number were 
 then and there shot. On February 9th, 1877, Mr. Nelson 
 Goddard, of the Manor House, Clyffe Pypard, my much-valued 
 
470 Anatidce. 
 
 friend and neighbour and a keen observer, wrote me word that 
 as he was riding in a field below his house he saw a Wild Swan 
 pass over his head, making for the westward that is, towards 
 Bowood; and that he had never seen one on the wing before, 
 and much marvelled at the speed at which it travelled. It was 
 soon, he said, out of sight. This occurrence of the Wild Swan 
 so far inland was the more remarkable, because the winter of 
 1877, so far from being severe, was one of the mildest and wettest 
 ever known in this country. Lord Nelson tells me of a Whistling 
 Swan which was killed at Trafalgar, and Mr. Herbert Smith of 
 one shot at Bowood in the year 1885 by one of Lord Lansdowno's 
 keepers. It derives its specific name, muxicus, not from its 
 fabled song just before its death, but from the peculiar grand 
 clanging trumpeting or whooping note which it repeats several 
 times at intervals ' hoop, hoop/ ' hoop, hoop ' whence its name 
 * Whooper ' and ' Whistling Swan.' Lloyd, who was well accus- 
 tomed to see it in Sweden during the spring and autumn 
 migrations on the way to and from the breeding-stations in the 
 far North, says : ' Its voice, though it consists but of two notes, is 
 beautifully melodious, more especially as frequently happens 
 when birds of different ages, whose notes differ, take part in the 
 concert. Some think that in the distance their song resembles 
 the finer notes of the bugle. KjaBrbolling likens it to the sound 
 of distant church bells; and adds that in cairn weather it may 
 be heard at more than a Danish (4J English) mile's distance.'* 
 Oordeaux says : ' The cry of the Wild Swan is extremely wild and 
 musical. I once, during the prevalence of a severe "blast," saw 
 forty- two of these noble birds pass over our marshes, flying in 
 the same familiar arrow-head formation as Wild Geese use a 
 sight not to be forgotten, not alone for their large size and snowy 
 whiteness, but for their grand trumpet notes ; now single, clear, 
 distinct, clarion-like, as a solitary bugle sounds the " advance " ; 
 then, as if in emulation of their leader's note, the entire flock 
 would burst into a chorus of cries, which resemble a pack of 
 hounds in full cry.'f Cordeaux also calls attention to the 
 
 * Scandinavian Adventures,' vol. ii., p. 429. 
 t 'Birds of the Humber District,' p. 157. 
 
Whooper. 471 
 
 singular formation of the upper mandible of this bird, which 
 possesses a hinge-like joint, allowing a greater extension and 
 distension of the mouth. St. John remarks that c when Wild 
 Swans are feeding one always keeps his head above water as 
 sentinel;' and Montagu that it 'carries its head straight and 
 erect, either upon the water or when stationary on land ; but in 
 walking the head is lowered, and the neck reclines over the back.' 
 In Ireland there is a deeply-rooted superstition that something 
 dreadful will happen to him who has the misfortune to kill a 
 Swan, for the Irish entertain the strange belief that a departed 
 spirit, perhaps of one of their own kin, is imprisoned in the 
 outward form of each bird of this genus.* There is yet another 
 fable connected with this bird, very commonly believed in 
 England viz., that it is able to break a man's arm or leg by the 
 stroke of its wing. But for this there is no sort of foundation ; 
 indeed, as uncompromising Montagu remarked, the tale is quite 
 ridiculous. If I may judge from the only specimen which I ever 
 obtained in the flesh, through a gunner on the coast of the Wash, 
 and which, after I had taken off its skin, we roasted and ate, I 
 should pronounce the flesh tough, and the flavour coarse and un- 
 palatable. There were some, however, of the large party which 
 partook of it who declared it to be good, especially when cold. 
 In France it is Cygne d bee jaune ou sauvage ; in Germany, Der 
 Singschwan ; in Italy, Gygno salvatico ; and in Sweden, Vild 
 Svan.-f* 
 
 184. MUTE SWAN (Gygnus olor). 
 
 I am somewhat at a loss to know why this species should be 
 reckoned as a British bird, seeing that it certainly cannot be 
 called fera naturce in these islands. However, as it is included 
 in all the British lists, and as we have our share of this hand- 
 some bird in all parts of the county, I, of course, follow suit, and 
 add it to my Wiltshire catalogue. Though, for the most part, 
 
 Sir R. Payne- G all wey's 'Fowler in Ireland,' pp. 164-171. - 
 
 f For an account of the Whooper in its natural haunts, see Scebohm 
 
 and Harvie Brown on the ' Birds of the Lower Petchora,' in Ibis for 1876, 
 
 p. 437. 
 
472 Anatidce. 
 
 of gentle, peaceful manners, it becomes very pugnacious during 
 the breeding season ; and I well recollect when a boy at Eton, 
 while sculling in a light skiff near the rushy banks of an eyot on 
 the Thames, I unconsciously found myself in close proximity to 
 a Swan's nest, and the old bird came at me with such furious 
 aspect of beak and wings that I made my escape as fast as 
 possible, fairly driven off' by the victorious bird, which even 
 followed me for some distance, triumphing over my defeat. There 
 is one simple mark of difference whereby the W hooper may be 
 distinguished from the Mute Swan, viz., the colours of their 
 respective beaks. In C. musiciw the beak is black at the point 
 and reddish yellow at the base ; in C. olor these colours are re- 
 versed, the point of the beak being of a reddish orange colour, 
 the base black. In other respects the two birds seem externally 
 alike, though on dissection they show several anatomical differ- 
 ences of structure. The Mute Swan has been from early times 
 reckoned a royal bird in England, said to have been brought 
 from Cyprus and introduced into this country by Richard I. ;* 
 and I learn from Yarrell that 'anciently the Crown had an 
 extensive swannery annexed to the Royal Palace or Manor of 
 Clarendon, in Wiltshire.' The privilege of having a swan-mark 
 or ' game ' of swans was considered a high honour in old time, 
 and was seldom granted except to those of high rank in Church 
 or State, or to corporate bodies of some pretensions to dignity. 
 All such owners of Swans were registered in the book of the 
 royal Swan-herd ; and swan-marks, cut on the upper surface of 
 the upper mandible of the beak, were most jealously guarded. 
 So long ago as in the eleventh year of Henry VII. (A.D. 1496) a 
 law was passed that ' no manner of person, of what condition or 
 degree he be, take or cause to be taken, be it upon his own 
 ground or any other man's, the egg of any Swan out of the nest r 
 upon pain of imprisonment for a year and a day and a fine at 
 the King's will.'f The conceit that this species was accustomed 
 
 'Birds of Somerset,' by Mr. Cecil Smith, p. 472. 
 
 t 'Journal of Archaeological Institute,' vol. xli., p. 295. See whole 
 passage on ' Swan Marks,' treated archaeologically. 
 
Mute Swan. 473 
 
 to sing before its death is as old as Pliny, who refuted it ; but it 
 is strange that the bird into which Orpheus the musician was 
 changed, and which was called the bird of Apollo, the god of 
 music, with a reputation for sweet singing which has descended 
 with it from such ancient times, should now come to be dis- 
 tinguished in England by the specific name of ' Mute ' Swan r 
 That, however, seems in reality to be its characteristic. Yarrell, 
 indeed, assures us that it has a soft low voice, rather plaintive, 
 and with little variety, but not disagreeable ; and that he ha& 
 heard it often in the spring, and sometimes later in the season, 
 when moving slowly about with its young. On the other hand, 
 Waterton altogether denies that it has any such melodious- 
 warblings. Coleridge, speaking of the superstition alluded to- 
 above, says : 
 
 4 Swans sing before they die, 'twere no bad thing 
 Should certain persons die before they sing.' 
 
 Before taking leave of this graceful species, let me recommend 
 all who have the opportunity to pay a visit to the Dorsetshire 
 Swannery at Abbotsbury, near Weymouth, where they will see 
 the splendid sight of from 700 to 1,500 of this magnificent bird in 
 their own breeding haunts : the particulars of which I communi- 
 cated in the Zoologist of 1877, pp. 505-511, to which I would 
 refer my readers, and will not repeat myself here. Lord Arundell 
 remarks that, ' though not rare birds, Swans may be mentioned as- 
 a feature of the country near Wardour ; as from the circum- 
 stance of there being several large pieces of water within a few 
 miles, at the Fonthills, Pythouse, etc., the Swans, four or five at a 
 time, are frequently seen on the wing, flying from one pond to 
 another; and I know of few things more impressive than the 
 metallic sound of the Swan's wing when in flight.' The specific 
 name, olor, is classical Latin for a 'Swan.' In France it is- 
 Cygne tubercule ou domesiique ; in Germany, Hocker Schwan r 
 1 Swan with a bump,' in allusion to its beak ; in Italy, Cigno 
 reale; in Sweden, Tarn Svan, ' Tame Swan ;' and in Spain, Cisne* 
 
474 Anatidce. 
 
 185. COMMON SHELLDRAKE (Tadorna vulpanser). 
 
 As this fine species may be said to stand at the head of the 
 Ducks, it will be well to observe that there are two distinct 
 groups of these birds which entirely differ from each other in 
 habits. These are the surface feeding, or ' true Ducks,' and 
 the diving, or ' Oceanic ' Ducks. Of the surface feeders, with 
 the exception of sundry very rare and accidental visitors, all the 
 British species, eight in number, have been found in Wiltshire. 
 They generally frequent fresh- water lakes, rivers, marshes, and quiet 
 pools ; have great powers of flight ; never dive for their food, and, 
 in short, are almost as much at home out of the water as in it ; in 
 all which respects they differ entirely from the Oceanic ducks. 
 First of them comes the Common Shelldrake, so conspicuous for its 
 bright coloured plumage, and so attractive for its general appear- 
 ance. It is by no means uncommon on the coast, and occasionally 
 a straggler has appeared in our county. The Rev. F. Goddard, 
 at that time Vicar of Alderton, informed me that a specimen was 
 killed in that neighbourhood about the year 1856 or 1857 ; and 
 the Rev. A. P. Morres records the capture of another, on the 
 river near Britford, by the keeper, some years since. Lord Lans- 
 downe has seen it on the lake at Bowood, and Mr. Grant had 
 a specimen brought him for preservation in September, 1868, 
 which had been taken at Overton. Some say it is called the 
 * Shelldrake-' from the partiality it evinces for the smaller shell- 
 fish which constitute the principal part of its food ; others say, 
 from its tortoiseshell colour; or because it has a lump at the 
 base of the bill like a shell ; but others, with more probability, 
 from sheld, signifying ' pied,' flecked,' or ' parti-coloured,' and 
 certainly a plumage which exhibits such marked contrasts of 
 colour as green, chestnut, white, and black, deserves to attract 
 special notice. The generic name, tadorna, is pronounced to be of 
 Italian origin, but derivation and meaning unknown ; the 
 specific, vulpanser, ' fox duck,' either from its dark-red, fox colour 
 or from its habit of breeding in a hole. The specific name now 
 often bestowed on it of cornuta, 'horned,' from cornu, has 
 
Common Shelldrake. 475 
 
 reference, 1 suppose, to the bright red knob at the base of the 
 upper mandible, which is developed in the breeding season.. Pro- 
 vincially it is known as the 'Burrow Duck/ and in Sweden as the 
 Graf- And, ' Grave ' or ' Hole ' Duck, from its habit of selecting 
 for its nest a cavity in the rock, or a deserted burrow of a rabbit. 
 For a similar reason it is called in Scotland the ' Stock Annet/ 
 because it sometimes breeds in the hollows of decayed trees, and 
 in Orkney the ' Sly Goose/ from the manoeuvres it employs to 
 entice the intruder from its nest. Its flight is slow and heavy, 
 like that of a goose ; but Sir R. Payne-Gall wey says, ' I have 
 noticed them fly into their burrow with a dash, the wings folded 
 at that instant, rather than alight at the entrance and leave 
 a trace behind for plunderers/ The same experienced observer 
 also says, 'I have seen from ten to twelve of the young ducklings 
 climb up on the mother's back, each little one holding a feather 
 in its tiny bill, and thus carried by the parent to the safety of the 
 sea. 5 * Like the Egyptian Goose, with which it has many affini- 
 ties, though so gay in plumage, it is coarse and bitter to the taste, 
 and indeed quite uneatable. In France it is Tadorne ; in 
 Germany, Brandente, ( Burnt or Flame-coloured Goose ;' in Italy, 
 Volpoca tadorna, ' volpoca ' being the exact equivalent of ' vul- 
 panser' ; in Spain, Patotorro, ' the Pan Duck/ but why this title 
 I know not. Like the Geese, but unlike the Ducks, between 
 which it stands, the female wears very much the same coloured 
 plumage as the male. 
 
 186. SHOVELLER. (Anas clypeata). 
 
 The beak of this species at once distinguishes it from all other 
 Ducks, as here we see in its most perfect form the laminated 
 structure (as it is called) to which I have already alluded : the 
 laminae taking the shape of fine long bristles ; those of the upper 
 mandible projecting beyond the margin, and concealing the front 
 part of the lower mandible, and these fit beautifully into each 
 other, forming a kind of sieve, by which the bill is capable of 
 separating what is fit for food, and rejecting' through their inter - 
 * The Fowler in Ireland/ pp. 63-66. 
 
476 Anatidce. 
 
 stices the mud and other superfluous matter. Moreover, the beak 
 is peculiarly broad, .flat, and depressed, the tip more particularly 
 spoon-shaped, and terminated by a hooked nail. But it is to be 
 observed that the bill of the young bird possesses none of this 
 peculiar shape, and is no longer than that of an ordinary duck- 
 ling. From the remarkable appearance of the adult bird, in con- 
 sequence of this wide bill, which gives it rather a top-heavy look, 
 come the numerous names by which naturalists of various 
 countries have designated it : Spathulea, ' with a bill broad like a 
 spoon ' ; Platyrhyncos, in some parts of England, ' Broadbill ' ; in 
 Germany, Loffel Ente; and in Sweden, Lejfel-And, or 'Spoon Duck' 
 but it derives its specific name, clypeata, ' armed with a shield/ 
 from its white shield-like gorget. It is the most cosmopolitan of 
 birds, having been found not only in abundance in Europe, Asia, 
 Africa, and America, but even rarely in Australia ; and I believe 
 that can be said of scarcely any other bird. It is of shy, timorous 
 disposition, and the localities it loves best are the marshes and 
 muddy shallows at the mouths of rivers. Cordeaux says, ' Shovel- 
 lers have a curious habit of swimming round and round each 
 other in circles for hours together, with the neck and head 
 depressed to the surface of the water.* The Rev. A. P. Morres 
 records a pair killed in the meadows at Britlbrd, by the keeper, 
 some time back, but says they are the only instances he has heard 
 of their occurrence near Salisbury, and he believes them to be 
 quite uncommon in that district. It has, however, been met with 
 from time to time in various parts of Wiltshire, and Mr. Herbert 
 Smith has observed it on the lake at Bowood. In France it 
 is Canard Souchet ; in Italy, Anatra Mestolone, ' Ladle Duck'; 
 in Spain, Pato Cuchareta, 'Small-spoon Duck'; in Portugal, Pato 
 trombeteiro, ' Trumpeter Duck.' Though by no means a common 
 species in England, I may say it is sparingly distributed every 
 year over the country. 
 
 'Birds of the Humber District/ p. 161. 
 
Gadwall. 477 
 
 187. GADWALL (Anas strepera). 
 
 Since my former papers on the Ornithology of Wilts were 
 published, I have a notice of the occurrence of this species in our 
 county, for a specimen was shot at Amesbury at the latter part 
 of 1871 by Mr. S. Hayes, as I learn from Mr. Grant, of Devizes. 
 It is not a common bird in England, though met with sparingly 
 every year. The specimen in my collection I considered myself 
 very fortunate in obtaining in 1855 from a 'gunner' on the 
 shores of the Wash, with whom I had frequent dealings ; for it 
 was the only specimen of the species he had ever shot, though 
 he had then pursued the calling of fowler on those mud-banks 
 for twenty-five years. It is common in Holland, but its home is 
 in the far north of America, as well as of Europe and Asia. It is 
 a very shy bird, and seeks the most lonely spots it can find in 
 which to > shelter itself. It excels in the art of diving, is more 
 rapid in flight than most of the ducks, and has been pronounced 
 by Lord Lilford ' by far the best for the table of the European 
 Anatidaa/ Sir R Payne-Gallwey says it may easily be mistaken 
 at first sight for a female Wild Duck, but the patch of white 
 near the centre of the closed wing affords a good mark of distinc- 
 tion. It is a fine, plump-looking bird, with a very broad chest ; 
 and the markings on the breast, which are peculiar to it, are very 
 beautiful, and have a dappled appearance, which is formed by 
 small white half-moon shaped pencillings on each feather, almost 
 an eighth of an inch from the top.* It is remarkable for the 
 length and delicacy of the laminae of the upper mandible, which 
 project upwards the tenth of an inch beyond the margin ; and 
 from that peculiarity the Gadwall has obtained from modern 
 ornithologists the generic name of chaulelasmus, which literally 
 means 'with outstanding teeth/ but here applies to the projecting 
 laminae. Its specific name, strepera, ' noisy/ in German Schwatter 
 Ente, in French Le Chipeau, and in Swedish Snatter And, all 
 meaning ' Chattering Duck/ take their origin from the loud, 
 harsh, shrill notes which it repeats over and over again. It is 
 The Fowler in Ireland/ p. 56. 
 
478 Anatidce. 
 
 sometimes known as the ' Gray Duck,' which Yarrell says the 
 term Gadwall is intended to imply; but he omits to explain 
 how. 
 
 188. PINTAIL DUCK (Anas acuta). 
 
 There is no more elegant and graceful duck than this. Of 
 slender form, with thin neck, elongated tail-feathers, and hand- 
 some plumage, it rivals our brightest and gayest birds, whether 
 of land or water. It is common on the southern coast of Eng- 
 land, and in Dorsetshire is known by the provincial name of 
 'Sea-Pheasant,' a sobriquet derived from its prolonged tail 
 It is almost needless to say that the specific name, acuta, also 
 refers to the sharp-pointed tail, which is its chief characteristic. 
 In Germany it is Spiesa-ente 'Spear-duck'; in Swedish, Stjert- 
 And, 'Tail-duck'; and provincially in this country the 'Spear 
 Widgeon,' all having reference to the elongated tail-feathers of the 
 drake. It may be identified at a long distance, and discerned 
 among other fowl, by the snow-white neck and breast.* As 
 regards its excellence for the table, it is placed by Sir R Payne- 
 Gallvvey at the head of the wild fowl, and is said by him to excel 
 all the other ducks and geese in delicacy of flavour. Mr. Cecil 
 Smith,f who keeps it in confinement on his pond, says it obtains 
 its food by tipping its head downwards into the water, after the 
 manner of tame ducks, and that it feeds on the pond-weed and 
 the insects and small mollusca which it picks up with it ; but 
 that he never sees it feed on grass, like the Widgeon, as Meyer 
 asserts. 
 
 I may mention here that in the good old times of yore our 
 ancestors saw the wisdom of protecting this and other valuable 
 birds from wanton destruction at improper seasons ; and by the 
 Code of Fen Laws, or orders for regulating the fens, passed in 
 the reign of Edward YI. (A.D. 1548), it was decreed that ' no 
 person should use any sort of net, or other engine, to take or kill 
 
 * ' The Fowler in Ireland,' pp. 20-22, 50. 
 f ' Birds of Somersetshire,' p. 483. 
 
Wild Duck 479 
 
 any fowl commonly called moulted ducks in any of the fens 
 before Midsummer-day yearly.'* 
 
 The Rev. A. P. Morres mentions one killed on the water at 
 Clarendon Park, and now preserved at the house. Mr. Ponting 
 tells me that Sir H. Meux's keeper shot a good specimen on the 
 Kennett near Lockeridge, in February, 1886. The Marlborough 
 College Natural History Reports show that one was killed at 
 Mildenhall in February, 1870, and another at Axford in January, 
 1871 ; but wherever sportsmen are accustomed to shoot wild 
 fowl they meet with it from time to time, associated with the 
 Common Wild Duck, Teal, and Widgeon. 
 
 In France it is Canard a lomgue queue ; and in Italy, Anatra 
 di coda lunga. 
 
 189. WILD DUCK (Anas boschas). 
 
 Though rapidly becoming more scarce under the present 
 system of draining, this is still too common a bird to require 
 comment on its appearance and habits. It breeds on a pollard- 
 tree or ruined wall, as well as on the ground, and (as Selby 
 pointed out) is careful to cover the eggs with down when it quits 
 the nest for food. This may be partly to keep them warm during 
 her absence, but still more to hide them from the sharp eyes of 
 the marauding Carrion Crow or other evil-minded thief who may 
 be prowling about. It is the Gemeine-ente, ' Common Duck,' of 
 Germany ; ' Le Canard sauvage ' of France ; the Grds-And, or 
 ' Grass-Duck,' of Norway ; the ' Stock-Duck ' of British North 
 . America ; and whether in India and China, in the Ionian Islands 
 and Malta, in Northern Africa and Egypt, or in Greenland and 
 America, it is always the Common Duck of the country ; so that 
 the numbers of this universal and familiar friend must be, could 
 a census be taken of it, something prodigious. But when we 
 reflect that in the active days of the Lincolnshire decoys over 
 thirty thousand birds were sent to London in one season from 
 one district only, and of these productive returns the Wild Duck 
 formed the main staple, we can only marvel that the species is 
 Cordeaux's 'Birds of the Humber District/ p. 163. 
 
480 Anatidw. 
 
 so abundant now. Harting observes that Ducks, when bent on 
 a long flight, do not all move through the air at the same 
 altitude, but some much higher than others; and large flights 
 generally seem to have a break in the centre, and present a 
 figure very much resembling the outline of North and South 
 America as it appears on the map. When flying near the surface 
 of land or water, they are often in a confused mass.* Wilson, in 
 his ' North American Ornithology/ has described an amusing 
 and ingenious method of taking Wild Ducks adopted by the in- 
 habitants of India and China, where the sportsman, covering his 
 head with a calabash or wooden vessel, wades into the water, 
 and keeping only his head thus masked above it, advances 
 towards and mixes with the flock, who feel no alarm at what 
 they look upon as a mere floating calabash. He is thus 
 enabled to select his victims, whom he seizes by the legs, and, 
 pulling them under water, fastens them to a girdle with which 
 he is equipped, thus carrying off as many as he can stow aw;iy. 
 without exciting distrust and alarm amongst the survivors. -f- 
 The Rev. A. P. Morres says the Wild Duck is very common near 
 Salisbury, and breeds there in considerable numbers. In the 
 winter he has seen more than a hundred rise from a part of the 
 river called the 'Broad,' close to Longford Castle. The Marl- 
 borough College Natural History Reports speak of a flock of 
 seventy seen at Ramsbury, November ]0th, 1876. Mr. Herbert 
 Smith, writing to me this spring (1887), says : ' We have had a 
 very fair amount of Wild Ducks on the Bo wood Lake this year. 
 One morning I saw, I should say, about five hundred at one 
 time; and among them I noticed the Common Mallard, Teal 
 Pochard, and Tufted Duck.' Mr. Hussey-Freke, writing from 
 Hanningford Hall, in the extreme north of the county, says : 
 'We get a few wild fowl at the Thames.' And of single speci 
 mens I hear in all quarters. 
 
 In Italy it is Anatra salvatica reale; in Spain and in Portugal. 
 Pato real. 
 
 ' Birds of Middlesex,' p. 228. 
 
 f Selby's ' Illustrations of British Ornithology,' vol. ii., p. 307. 
 
Garganey. 481 
 
 190. GARGANEY (Anas querquedula). 
 
 This is often called the < Summer Teal/ and though larger than 
 A. crecca, it bears considerable resemblance to that pretty little 
 species, with which we are so familiar. It is really half-way in 
 size between a Widgeon and a Teal, and is distinguished from its 
 congeners by a white streak down the sides of the neck. Pro- 
 fessor Skeat derives the name querquedula from querq or kark, 
 significative of any loud noise, in allusion to its note, which is 
 said to be a harsh knack, and very loud in proportion to the size 
 of the bird. In Germany this species is known as Knack-ente. 
 Besides this, its ordinary note, in spring the drake makes a 
 peculiar jarring noise like that of a child's rattle, whence the 
 name of ' Crick ' or ' Cricket Teal ' in the eastern counties, where 
 it is best known.* It arrives in the spring, and the late Rev. G. 
 Marsh used to describe it as by no means uncommon in his 
 neighbourhood, twenty years ago. Mr. Grant received one in 
 May, 1874, from West Lavington. The Rev. A. P. Morres 
 mentions a little party of four birds marked down in a bend of 
 the river at Britford, all of which the keeper shot ; and I hear 
 from Mr. Hussey Freke that his keeper killed one at Hannington 
 last year. It may be said to occur in this county, but sparingly. 
 The only country in which I ever met with it was Portugal, from 
 which I brought back specimens. In France it is Sarcelle d'tte ; 
 in Portugal, Marreco and Marrequinho ; in Sweden, Arta. 
 
 191. TEAL (Anas crecca). 
 
 This beautiful little duck, the smallest of the Anatidse, is well 
 known throughout the county. It is a night-feeding species: 
 for all day it reposes on the water, or sits motionless on the very 
 brink, with the head crouched between the shoulders; but 
 immediately after sunset it will fly to its feeding-grounds. Sir 
 R. Payne-Gallwey saysf the habit of this, the prettiest and 
 smallest of all wild-fowl, is to swim near the surface, with only 
 
 * Fourth edition of Yarrell's ' British Birds,' vol. iv., p. 395. 
 f ' The Fowler in Ireland/ pp. 59-61. 
 
 31 
 
482 Anatidce. 
 
 head and bill showing above water. They prefer inland lakes so 
 long as they are unfrozen. For beauty of feather, no bird can 
 excel the adult male Teal: the dappled breast, the exquisite 
 contrast of velvet black, metallic green, and rich cream yellow, 
 with the graceful sprightly aspect, are unrivalled. A number of 
 Teal, collecting at night, or in a happy humour by day, chatter 
 and whistle loudly ; they sometimes then sound like a stand of 
 Golden Plover. The whistle of the male is low and shrill, the 
 call of the female is a subdued imitation of the Wild Duck. Its 
 flight is very rapid, and Harting says * that, on being disturbed 
 at a brook which has plenty of cover along the banks, it will, 
 after flying a short distance, drop down suddenly again, like 
 Snipe and Woodcock. The specific name, crecca, is undoubtedly 
 derived from its note, as is Crick-ente of Germany, and Krick- 
 And of Norway, where it breeds in the upper fjall morasses, as 
 well as in the lower marshes. In France it is Sarcelle d'hiver ; 
 in Portugal it shares the same name as the Garganey ; but in 
 Spain it is Patito and Cerceta. 
 
 192. WIDGEON (Anas penelope). 
 
 As common as the last. The enormous numbers of this species 
 obtained by the fenmen and gunners on the east coast of England 
 by means of a duck boat and swivel gun surpass conception, and 
 the heap of slain must be seen to be believed. I have many 
 times turned over half a sackful which my friend the Norfolk 
 fowler obtained by a successful shot from the big gun ; and a 
 large proportion of the ducks taken in decoys were of this species. 
 Colonel Hawker said that for coast night shooting the Widgeon is 
 like the fox for hunting : it shows the finest sport of anything in 
 Great Britain. As it only fetches half the price of a Mallard or 
 Brent Goose, it is known to the fenners as ' a half-bird/ It is 
 pre-eminently a river duck, resting and sleeping on the water, 
 but, when the tide permits, resorting in large bodies to the 
 Zostera beds on the mud flats.f Harting says : ' I have observed 
 
 c ' Birds of Middlesex,' p. 230. 
 
 t ' Birds of the Humber District,' p. 167. 
 
Widgeon. 483 
 
 Widgeon call a good deal at night ; their soft whistling note like 
 whee-ou, whee-ou, maybe heard on still nights at a great distance.'* 
 From this peculiar whistling call-note they are known as ' Whew 
 Ducks ' ; in France, Canards siffleurs ; and in Germany, Pfeif- 
 ente; but in Sweden it is Bids And, or 'White-fronted Duck/ 
 When they are feeding they are remarkably silent, and the 
 larger the flock, the quieter they are, for numbers give confidence 
 and a feeling of security. In Spain it is Pato-silbador ; and in 
 Portugal, Assobiadeira, both with the meaning of 'Whistling 
 Ducks.' Mr. Waterton has proved that, unlike its congeners, 
 the Widgeon is not a night-feeding bird, but devours hy day the 
 short grass which the Goose is known to pluck; hence it is 
 called in Lapland the 'Grass Duck.' 
 
 To see a large flock of Widgeon reposing on the lake at Walton 
 Hall, perfectly wild birds, and yet quickly gaining confidence by 
 finding themselves unmolested in that happy spot; to observe 
 them dressing their feathers, sporting with one another, chasing 
 each other, splashing up the water, in a state of security, where 
 they could lay aside the anxious alarm which they must so 
 frequently feel ; and to watch their playful antics through the 
 big telescope which Mr. Waterton always kept adjusted at the 
 drawing-room window, and directed towards the lake, was one of 
 the many treats of a visit to Walton Hall, and a sight which 
 alone would repay a journey to Yorkshire. 
 
 193. EIDER DUCK (Somateria mollissima). 
 
 We now begin the second division, the Diving, or ' Oceanic ' 
 Ducks, as they are called. Above we noticed that the surface- 
 feeders comprehended those species only which frequent fresh- 
 water lakes, marshes, and dry land ; have great powers of flight, 
 and seldom dive. But the Oceanic species, on the contrary, have 
 no partiality for fresh- water or for dry land, but frequent the 
 harbours, the estuaries, and the open sea, and obtain their food, 
 which lies at the bottom of the water, by diving. They may be 
 recognised by the well- developed and broadly- webbed hind- toe, 
 * ' Birds of Middlesex,' p. 234, 
 
 312 
 
484 Anatidce. 
 
 which materially assists their progress under water. At their 
 head in the British list stands the Eider Duck, which well 
 deserves to occupy that post of honour. This large and hand- 
 some species abounds in Northern Europe and America, where 
 its well-known down forms a most valuable article of traffic to 
 the inhabitants : so compressible and elastic, so soft and light is 
 this famous down, that a large quantity which I brought from 
 Norway, and which when unpacked was enough to fill four 
 quilts, was easily squeezed into a hat-box for the convenience of 
 transport. On the northern shores of England, and in Scotland, 
 it is commonly met with, but is rarely seen on our more southern 
 coasts ; so that I the more marvel what fortunate accident has 
 enabled me to add it to our Wiltshire list. But an undoubted 
 specimen of this bird was killed a few years back on the water at 
 Lyneham, the property of Major Heneage, and is still to be seen 
 in the Hall at Compton Basset House; and Mr. Grant reports 
 another killed at Bottlesford, near Woodborough, in March, 1866. 
 It is, however, notorious for very powerful flight, and the speed 
 at which it flies is marvellous Montagu says at the rate of ninety 
 miles an hour but on land it is very inactive and sluggish. The 
 beak has a thick swollen appearance, is elevated at the base, and 
 is terminated with a strong rounded hooked nail. The generic 
 name, somateria, literally means ' body- wool,' from aw^a-ro^, ' of 
 the body/ and epiov, ' wool/ in allusion to the down which the 
 bird plucks from its breast for the lining of the nest ; and that it 
 is mollissima, 'most soft/ will be readily admitted. It is still 
 known on the coast of Durham and Northumberland as 'St. 
 Cuthbert's duck.' The true home of the Ejder Gas, or ' Eider 
 Goose,' as ifc is there called, is on the islands off the north- 
 western coast of Norway, called Fugle veer, or ' Bird preserves/ 
 where they are strictly protected. Like the Swan, the Eider 
 does not seem to be in any manner affected by the cold ; and, 
 unless the sea is frozen over, it remains on the coast during the 
 whole winter. Indeed, it has been observed in the highest 
 latitudes. Professor Newton says it ' breeds abundantly in Spitz- 
 bergen, 1 and Reinhardt that 'it breeds in Greenland.' Captain 
 
King Duck. 485 
 
 Markham, in his narrative of the voyage of the Alert, during the 
 expedition of 1875-76, says it is one of the few birds which, they 
 met with in some numbers in those high latitudes ; and more 
 recently Lieutenant Greely, in his disastrous expedition of 1881-84, 
 found it breeding in hundreds on Littleton Island, in the month 
 of August, in latitude 78. There is an opinion entertained by 
 Ekstrom and some other Norwegian naturalists that there are 
 two kinds of Eider in Scandinavia, the Common and the Smal- 
 ndbbad, or ' Narrow-billed,' but this opinion has not been gene- 
 rally endorsed. Professor Skeat says that ' Eider ' is entirely a 
 Scandinavian name, and this has been adopted in most European 
 languages ; in France it is Canard Eider; in Germany, Eiterente; 
 but in Italy, Oca settentrionale. 
 
 194. KING DUCK (Somateria spectabilis). 
 
 This is another species of Eider Duck, more rare in England 
 than the last, but frequenting the same or even still more 
 northern latitudes than its better-known congener. It is also a 
 very handsome bird, and the well-contrasted colours of its 
 plumage attract notice. The only information I have of its 
 occurrence in this county is a short note by my friend the late 
 Rev. G. Marsh, who wrote, ' The King Duck in my collection was 
 killed in Wilts/ but I have no farther particulars of date or 
 place of capture. The down of the King Eider and its mode of 
 nesting, as well as general habits, are identical with those of 
 S. moilissima. The specific name, spectabilis, means ' worth 
 seeing,' as applied to the splendour of its plumage. In Sweden 
 it is called Prakt Ejder, or ' Beautiful Eider ' : and, indeed, it 
 does wear right royal robes, and comports itself as every inch a 
 king. But not on that account do we assign it the rank of 
 royalty, but because of the remarkable orange-coloured comb or 
 knob resembling a crown which it wears on its head : and so the 
 Icelanders dubbed it Aeder Kongr, or 'Eider King'; and we, 
 taking the hint from those who are more familiar with it, call it 
 the ' King Duck.' During the breeding season it resorts to very 
 high northern latitudes; and as it is found there in immense 
 
486 Anatidce. 
 
 numbers and is pronounced palatable, it has proved a welcome 
 addition to the food of Arctic voyagers from the days of Parry, 
 Sabine, and Ross to those of Markham, Nordenskiold, and Greely. 
 In France it is Canard a Tete grise ; and in Germany, Brand- 
 ente. 
 
 195. COMMON SCOTER (Oidemia nigra). 
 
 The specific name, nigra, sufficiently describes the appearance 
 of this bird, whose plumage may be shortly defined as deep-black 
 in the male and brownish- black in the female : hence it is 
 generally known to the fishermen as the ' Black Duck/ and in 
 Sweden as the ' Sea Blackcock ' Sjo Orre. It may easily be 
 distinguished, even at a distance, by its rich, velvety black 
 plumage and orange knob at the base of the bill, and from its 
 congeners by its small size and the absence of white on the wing 
 and neck. Its regular breeding-places are in the far North, 
 though some remain even on our southern coasts throughout 
 the year ; but in winter it is a very common bird all round our 
 shores, and especially off the eastern counties of England, where 
 the waters are said to be quite black with them. It derives its 
 name oidemia from oiBrjpa, a ' swelling/ from its tumid bill. Its 
 flesh is so rank and fishy that in Roman Catholic countries it is 
 considered in the light of a fish, and allowed to be eaten on fast 
 days. In France it is Canard macreuse ; and in Germany, Die 
 Trauer-ente, as if ' the duck in mourning dress.' It is a very 
 common bird on the coast, and doubtless visits us in this county 
 occasionally, but the only positive instances I have of its recent 
 occurrence in Wilts are, first, from my kind correspondent, the 
 Rev. George Powell, Rector of Sutton Veney, who met with a 
 specimen on Salisbury Plain in 1849 ; secondly, from Mr. Grant, 
 of Devizes, who reported that one had been shot on the canal 
 near that town by Mr. Greenhill, of Rowde, at the end of 1871 ; 
 thirdly, from the Marlborough College Natural History Reports, 
 which state that one was caught in the town of Marlborough, 
 and a second seen at the same time in February, 1873. More- 
 over, Yarrell mentions that though seldom found on fresh water 
 
Pochard. 487 
 
 inland during winter, yet the late Sir Richard Colt Hoare, Bart., 
 sent him word that his keeper had shot a Scoter on the orna- 
 mental water in the park at Stourhead, Wiltshire, which is more 
 than twenty miles from the sea in a straight line, and no such 
 bird had been seen there before. In truth, it is a thoroughly 
 oceanic bird a true Jack tar which seldom comes ashore, and 
 there cuts but a sorry figure, but which is quite at home in the 
 heaviest surf, and swims and dives with equal facility. 
 
 196. POCHARD (Fuligula ferina). 
 
 This species, known also as the Dun Bird, visits our shores in 
 winter in immense numbers, and penetrates inland wherever 
 retired lakes and quiet rivers offer it a suitable asylum : for it is 
 a very shy bird, and generally avoids the proximity of man. In 
 contrast to its usual habits of timidity, and in proof of the con- 
 fidence which even the wilder birds soon learn to entertain when 
 unmolested, I have seen the Pochards arrive on the lake at 
 Walton Hall (where I was on a visit to my revered friend, Mr. 
 Waterton) and fearlessly swim in flocks before the windows, where 
 we could watch their motions at leisure, while they seemed wholly 
 unconcerned at our presence. The Pochard bears a close re- 
 semblance in colour and general appearance to the famous Canvas- 
 backed Duck of America, and is said to be little inferior to that 
 bird in delicacy; consequently it is much sought after by the fowler 
 and taken in vast numbers. The specific name, ferina, ( belong- 
 ing toferce, wild animals/ is said to have reference to its 'game* 
 flavour ; for the same reason it is known in Germany as Tafel- 
 ente, the ' Table Duck.' In France it is Canard Milouin ; in 
 Sweden, Rod-halsad Dyk-And, 'Red-necked Diving Duck'; in 
 Spain, Cabezon, ' Large-head ' ; in Portugal, Tarrantana. The 
 generic name, fuligula, seems to be a diminutive of fulica, though 
 what the Red-headed Pochard has to do with the Bald Coot I am 
 at a loss to conjecture. A bird so common as it is on all our coasts 
 and on the eastern coast it is especially abundant is sure to 
 have many provincial names, and amongst them the ' Red-headed 
 Widgeon' and the ' Red-headed Poker ' are, in addition to those given 
 
488 Anatidce. 
 
 above, perhaps the most common. It is also sometimes called the 
 ' Ked-eyed Poker/ from the peculiar colour of the eye, a peculiarity 
 not shared in by any other British bird. Pochards, from the 
 backward position of their legs, are awkward and clumsy on land. 
 They swim, however, very rapidly, but deeply immersed in the 
 water, and are especially gifted with diving powers. They are 
 also, though somewhat heavy, very quick and powerful on the 
 wing, but fly in a closely packed body, and not in line or in the 
 triangular shape that we see in wild ducks. Sir R. Payne-Gallwey 
 says that Pochards, in common with most of the diving ducks, 
 when alighting on the water, curve the tail downward, and the 
 feet forward, like a Swan, against the water, to check the impetus 
 of flight as they tear along the surface.* It is a well-known 
 species in Wiltshire. Mr. Herbert Smith pronounces it common 
 on the Bo wood water. The Rev. A. P. Morres regards it as quite 
 common in the neighbourhood of Salisbury, where it is found in 
 flocks every winter: and as an annual visitor to the lake at 
 Stourton. The Rev. C. Soames reported it as shot at Stoney 
 Bridge, near Marlborough, on January 20, 1881 ; but I need not 
 enumerate further instances, when it occurs so frequently in all 
 parts of the county. 
 
 197. FERRUGINOUS DUCK (Fuligula nyroca). 
 
 This is not a very common visitor to England, for North- 
 eastern Europe and Northern Asia appear to be its home ; it 
 wanders however, in winter, westward and southward, being 
 abundant throughout the Mediterranean and in Northern Africa, 
 and is reported to be the commonest species in Malta, as it 
 undoubtedly is in Egypt, whence the name given it by Buffon, 
 la Sarcelle d'Egypte. But the most persevering flights penetrate 
 in some numbers as far west as the British Isles, and as it 
 prefers the fresh-water lakes and ponds of the interior to salt 
 water, it is as likely to occur in Wiltshire as in any other county. 
 I have, however, but three instances of its appearance within our 
 * The Fowler in Ireland,' p. 100. 
 
Scaup Duck. 489 
 
 borders : two of which were shot by Mr. W. H. Stagg, of Nether- 
 avon, on December 9, 1875, and for information as to the third r 
 I am indebted to the Rev. E. Duke, of Lake House, who kindly 
 wrote me word that a specimen had been captured on the river 
 there. The specific name, nyroca, is Latinized from the Russian, 
 which I can neither spell nor pronounce ; but the English specific 
 name, 'ferruginous,' is obviously derived from its dark-brown 
 back. It is also called the ' White-eyed Duck/ and the ' White 
 Eye,' by our older writers ; as in France, Canard a iris blanc ; 
 and in Germany, Die iveissaugige Ente ; and by our Fleming, 
 Nyroca leucopthalmos, from the conspicuous white eye which is 
 its distinguishing characteristic. It may however, as Sir R. 
 Payne- Gall wey points out, be easily mistaken for the female 
 Golden-Eye, not only from the colour of the irides, but from the 
 white wing-patch, and the general colour of the plumage. In 
 Spain it is Pardote ; and in Portugal Negrinha, ' Negress.' 
 
 198. SCAUP DUCK (Fuligula marila). 
 
 This, too, is a very common bird on the British coasts, and as it 
 frequents the southern shores in vast numbers, it is not surprising 
 that a straggler occurs in Wiltshire occasionally. Mr. Grant 
 records the capture of one at Erlestoke Park, on February 13, 
 1862, and another at Bulkington in January, 1864. The Marl- 
 borough College Natural History Reports state that one was shot 
 at Mildenhall in 1870, by the Rev. C. Soames, and Mr. S. B. 
 Dixon mentions that one was shot in the Pewsey water-meadows 
 in February, 1873, by Mr. C. Goode. But it is a thorough sea- 
 bird, preferring the muddy estuaries and tide-washed sand-banks- 
 to any inland lakes or rivers, in which it differs materially from 
 the Pochard, to which it is otherwise closely allied. It is a 
 winter visitor here, arriving early in November, and retiring in 
 spring to high northern latitudes, where it breeds. It is of stout 
 compact shape, and the black head and neck glossed with green 
 reflections, and the gray and white spotted plumage of the back, 
 contrast to great advantage. Sir R. Payne-Gallwey, however, 
 pronounces it 'an ungainly-looking fowl, especially about the 
 
490 Anatidce. 
 
 head.' Willoughby explained that ' Scaup ' means ' broken shells,' 
 in allusion to the smaller univalve and bivalve shell-fish on 
 which it feeds ; marila (fiapiKrj) means literally ' the embers of 
 charcoal/ in reference to the pitch-black colour of the plumage 
 on the front parts. So on the Somersetshire coast it is known 
 as the ' Black Duck,' * which is not a very distinctive title, seeing 
 how many other species, clothed with similar dark-coloured 
 plumage, partake of the same name. More appropriately it is 
 known in some localities as the ' Blue-bill.' In British North 
 America it is ' the Big Black-head,' but in Sweden Hvit Buk, or 
 ' White Belly.' In France it is Canard Alilouinan ; in Germany 
 Berg-ente. 
 
 199. TUFTED DUCK (Fuligula cristata). 
 
 This is a regular winter visitant to our shores, and is not un- 
 frequently found inland, for it follows up the rivers from their 
 mouths, and is in no hurry, where it can find an undisturbed 
 retreat, to return to salt water. It is of plump shape, short and 
 compact figure, and partakes of the general appearance of the 
 Scaup, to which it is closely allied. The specimen in my 
 collection was kindly given me by Mr. Swayne, who killed it 
 in 1856,' when shooting with the late Lord Herbert at Grovely, 
 and I have notices of its occurrence in several parts of the 
 county. Major Heneage possesses one which was shot at 
 Lyneham in 1881. Mr. Herbert Smith reports it as common on 
 the Bowood water, and Mr. G. Watson Taylor that it comes to 
 Erlestoke in hard weather. The Rev. A. P. Morres says it is the 
 commonest of the rarer ducks in the neighbourhood of Salisbury, 
 where he sees it in the meadows every hard winter. It is locally 
 known there as the ' Pie-curr.' Mr. Grant reports a pair shot at 
 Netheravon by Mr. F. W. Hussey at the end of January, 1871 ; 
 and I learn from the Field newspaper, under date January 23, 
 1875, that a fine specimen had been killed by Mr. J. J. Estridge, 
 of Bradford-on-Avon, near that town. It derives its name from 
 a long pendant crest of narrow silky feathers, three inches in 
 * Mr. Cecil Smith's ' Birds of Somersetshire,' p. 500. 
 
Long -tailed Duck. 491 
 
 length, and curving from the top of the head down the neck 
 From Mr. Cordeaux we learn that it is known in Yorkshire as 
 the ' Brass-eyed Poker Duck/ in reference to the brilliant golden- 
 yellow of the eye, which is its most attractive feature ; and from 
 Mr. Cecil Smith that in Somersetshire it is the ' Curr Widgeon ' 
 and is the commonest there of all the Diving ducks, except 
 perhaps the Pochard, which is also dubbed ' Curr Widgeon ', but 
 elsewhere the ' Black Widgeon,' and is almost as much esteemed 
 for the table as that bird. In other places it is called the ' Small 
 Black Diver.' In Sweden it is the Vigg, or ' Wedge/ so called 
 because, when on the surface of the water, it almost always lies 
 with its neck stretched forwards, as if ready to dive ; whereby 
 the body assumes a somewhat wedge-like shape. In France it 
 is Canard Morillon ; in Germany Reiher-ente, 'Heron-duck.' 
 In Portugal this species is also called Negririha, from its dark 
 plumage. 
 
 200. LONG-TAILED DUCK (Fuligula glacialis). 
 
 I include this species in the Wiltshire list without hesitation, 
 as I do so on the authority of that excellent ornithologist, the 
 late Rev. George Marsh : otherwise I have no farther notice of 
 its appearance amongst us : indeed, as its specific name, glacialis, 
 'icy,' implies, it is a thoroughly Arctic bird, inhabiting and 
 breeding in, not only Lapland, Spitzbergen and Greenland, but 
 even the very highest latitudes to which our Polar expeditions 
 have penetrated. Moreover, as it is a true denizen of the ocean, 
 seldom coming inland, it is necessarily much more scarce in 
 England than either of its congeners previously described : and 
 yet hardly to be accounted a rare bird in Britain : as it is (though 
 in small numbers) a regular winter visitor to our northern coasts. 
 It is remarkable for the elongated tail-feathers, whence it derives 
 its name, and which are quite pheasant- like in appearance. It 
 is also called * Hareld ' in some places, and by some consigned to 
 a separate genus, Harelda, which appears to be an Icelandic 
 name. Montagu says it is provincially known as ' Coal and Candle 
 Light,' from a fancied resemblance of its long and plaintive winter 
 
492 Anatidce. 
 
 call to these words. In the Orkney and Shetland Islands it is 
 known as ' Calloo/ which is there supposed to represent its song. 
 Cordeaux so much admires this strange note that he says r 
 ' Amongst all the varied cries and calls of our numerous sea-fowl, 
 that of the Hareld is the sweetest, most melancholy and harp- 
 like. Heard from a distance at sea, in the spring, on a still day, 
 it is inexpressibly wild and musical.' But in America it is 
 derisively termed ' South Southerly/ and ' Old Squaw/ from its 
 ' gabbling notes/ so diverse are opinions and tastes as to excel- 
 lence of voice, whether in the feathered or the human race. In 
 Norway it is called Angle mager, ' Hook-maker/ doubtless from 
 its cry, connected with the time of its appearance when the sea- 
 fishing begins:* and in that country its arrival is hailed with 
 delight, for its down is held next in estimation to that of the 
 Eider. For an admirable account of this species see Messrs. 
 Seebohm and Harvie Brown on the Birds of the Lower Petchora 
 in the Ibis for 1876, p. 445. In France it is Canard de Midon ; 
 in Germany, Eisente Winter Ente; in Sweden, Al-Fogel. 
 
 201. GOLDEN-EYE (Fidigula clangula). 
 
 This very active, sprightly, and withal beautiful bird, with a 
 remarkable brilliancy of eye (which is of a golden yellow colour, 
 whence its name), is tolerably common on the coast, though 
 rarely seen in the interior of the country. I have often met 
 with it on the shores of the Wash, but have never seen it far 
 from the sea. I have, however, an instance of its occurrence in 
 Wiltshire from the pen of the Rev. G. Marsh, who wrote that a 
 specimen of this bird had been killed on the river at Salisbury 
 in 1830 ; and had been preserved at the house of Mrs. Bath. 
 The Rev. A. P. Morres reports its appearance, though rarely, in 
 the water-meadows at Britford, and instances a fine male shot by 
 the keeper some years back, and now preserved at the ' Moat ' in 
 that parish. Another was killed at Stourton in 1874 : and an 
 immature bird was shot at Mere by Mr. J. Coward, in the winter 
 of 1880. Another was killed at Mildenhall in 1867 : and Major 
 * J. Wolley in Ibis for 1859, p. 70. 
 
 
Golden-Eye. 493 
 
 Heneage possesses two specimens which were shot at Lyneham 
 in 1870 and 1883, and it is most probable that other instances 
 which have not come to my notice have occurred. This species 
 breeds in Lapland in holes in the trees, or in tyllas, or nest boxes, 
 generally portions of hollow wood which the natives affix to the 
 trees, often at a considerable height above ground, and I have 
 eggs in my collection taken from such a situation by my lamented 
 friend Mr. John Wolley, who was so keen and accurate an ob- 
 server, and did so much for Ornithology, and had already earned 
 for himself a European reputation, as a master in natural science, 
 and would undoubtedly (had his life been spared) have proved 
 one of the first naturalists of the day. This duck is also known 
 as the ' Morillon,' which at the beginning of this century was the 
 name bestowed on the female and immature bird, from the 
 supposition that they belonged to another species : and St. John 
 to the last maintained that the Golden-Eye and Morillon are 
 distinct : * but the contrary has been authoritatively determined, 
 and the question is no longer to be entertained. So active are 
 they in the water, and so rapid in their movements, and so easily 
 do they dive at the flash of the gun, and so avoid the shot, that 
 in America they are called ' Conjuring/ or ' Spirit Ducks :' but 
 they are awkward enough on land, and their gait shuffling and 
 ungainly, owing to the large size of their feet. Their old name 
 was Garrot, as it is still in France ; in Germany, Schelle Ente ; 
 and in some parts of England ' Curre,' in regard to which 
 Colonel Hawker says, ' If you see a single Curre by day, when he 
 dives, you must run ; and the moment he comes up, squat down ; 
 so you may go on till within ten yards of him.' t The specific 
 name, clangula, 'noisy,' may possibly refer to the rapid beating 
 of the wings and the distinct whistling sound so caused; and 
 hence perhaps they may be called ' Rattlewings/ 'Whistle-wing,' 
 and 'Whistler'; some, however, think the latter term has reference 
 to the voice, which is very loud. It is also known as the ' Magpie 
 Diver/ a very descriptive name, by reason of the black and white 
 
 * 'Highland Sports/ p. 132. 
 
 f 'Instructions to Young Sportsmen.' 
 
494 Anatidce. 
 
 plumage of the adult male ; and they seem to have the power 
 (says Sir K Payne- Gallwey) when rising from the bottom of the 
 water, to spring on wing into the air with the same upward 
 shoot ; nor do they appear to hesitate a couple of seconds on the 
 surface to recover breath ere flying, as is the case with Scaup 
 and Pochard.* In Sweden it is known as Knipa. 
 
 202. SMEW (Mergus albellus). 
 
 I am again indebted to the Rev. G. Marsh for the first informa- 
 tion that the Smew Merganser has been killed in Wiltshire. 
 Two other instances have since been recorded by Mr. Grant, 
 which came into his hands for preservation, one from Fy field, 
 Enford, in January, 1876, and the other in December, 1879, but 
 where it was killed I am not able to say. Though admitted at 
 the end of the great family of Ducks, and partaking of their 
 general habits and appearance, the Mergansers (of which this is 
 one), differs from them, in being provided with a beak, both 
 mandibles of which are toothed or serrated, the saw-like teeth 
 inclining backwards, the better to prevent the escape of the 
 slippery prey. The form of the beak is also long and extremely 
 narrow, and it is terminated with a very strong hooked nail. 
 Armed with this admirable implement, the Mergansers have no 
 difficulty in supplying themselves with fish, which constitutes 
 the bulk of their food : moreover, they can swim and dive and 
 fly with great quickness, but, from the backward position of their 
 legs, are awkward on shore. In swimming they appear deeply 
 immersed in the water, the weight and flattened form of the 
 body giving them that appearance, the head, neck and back only 
 being visible. In diving, they seem to fly beneath the surface 
 with great rapidity, and they remain for a long time below, and 
 on rising for breath they merely raise the bill above water, and 
 then dive again, without causing any perceptible disturbance of 
 the surface. Montagu says it is called in Devonshire the ' White 
 Widgeon,' and sometimes the ' Vare ' (or Weasel) ' Widgeon,' from 
 the supposed similitude about the head to a Weasel or Vare, as 
 * * The Fowler in Ireland,' p. 110. 
 

 Red-breasted Merganser. 495 
 
 it is called in Devonshire ; and indeed the head of the female^ 
 which is very small, does in colour resemble in some degree 
 that of the Weasel. Mr. Cecil Smith says it is also known in 
 Somersetshire as the ' Weasel Coot/ as well as the c Ked-breasted 
 Smew '; and elsewhere it is known as the ' White Nun/ and the 
 ' White Widgeon.' The generic name, mergus, meaning ' Diver/ 
 is appropriate enough, and the specific term, albellus, ' the Little 
 White Bird/ is equally applicable. In Germany it is the Weisser 
 Sager, or ' the White Sawyer/ The terms ' Red-breasted Smew/ 
 and 'Lough Diver/ refer only to the young bird in immature 
 plumage. Like most of its congeners, it is a very shy bird, and 
 cannot tolerate the presence of man. Its true home seems to be 
 the northern countries of Europe and Asia, more especially 
 Northern Russia and Northern Siberia. It would be but 
 blemishing the tale if I were to attempt to condense the admir- 
 able account by the late J. Wolley of the nesting of the Smew, 
 which, until its discovery by that ardent, painstaking ornitho- 
 logist, was wholly unknown. I must therefore refer my readers- 
 to the story as told by him in the Ibis for 1859, pp. 69-76 ; and 
 also for an excellent account of the same bird in its native 
 haunts to Messrs. Seebohm and Harvie Brown's paper on the 
 Birds of the Lower Petchora, in the Ibis for 1876, p. 448. In 
 France it is Le petit Harle Jiuppe, ou la Piette ; in Italy, Mergo 
 oca minore ; and in Sweden, Sal-Skrake. 
 
 203. RED BREASTED MERGANSER (Mergus serrator}. 
 
 The form of beak at once proclaims that the habits of all the 
 species of Mergansers are identical. This is a more common 
 bird than that last described, but is seldom found inland. I 
 have, however, positive evidence of the occurrence of one fine 
 specimen which Lord Nelson pointed out to me in his collection,, 
 which was killed in his water on the Avon, by the Rev. J. N. 
 Neate, in December, 1864 ; of another killed by Mr. Heath at 
 Quemerford, near Calne, about 1860 ; of another taken at Trow- 
 bridge, in March, 1873; and of another fine specimen shot at 
 Great Bedwyn, and presented to the Wiltshire Archaeological 
 
496 Anatidce. 
 
 and Natural History Society by the Rev. W. C. Lukis, in the 
 year of its inauguration, 1853. Lastly, the late Major Spicer 
 wrote to me on February 5, 1881, that his keeper had that 
 morning brought him in a good specimen of a female Merganser, 
 killed on the pond at Spye Park, where he had disturbed it the 
 previous evening, but to which it returned during the night. 
 The Merganser, or ' Diving Goose/ as that name signifies, may 
 well be called serrator, or ' one who wears a saw,' so effective an 
 instrument for holding its slippery prey must be its long serrated 
 crimson beak. In Ireland it is known to the fishermen and 
 fowlers as the ' Skeld Duck/ and sometimes as ' Spear Widgeon/ 
 on account of its sharp-toothed bill. In England it is provincially 
 known as the ' Harle/ and the ' Jack-Saw/ and in Sweden it is 
 the Smd-SkraJct, ' Small Saw-bill/ One cannot but admire the 
 remarkable position of the legs of this and all the other Mergi, 
 and Colymbi as well, which, though it renders them clumsy on 
 land, to which they seldom resort, so marvellously supplies them 
 with oars and rudders in the water, where they spend their lives. 
 Both these families were called by Linna3us Compedes, because 
 they move on the ground as if ' shackled ' or ' fettered.' * Of all 
 fowl ' (says Sir R. Payne-Gallwey,) ' except perhaps the Golden- 
 Eyes, they are the most restless and wary : never quiet, always 
 swimming, diving, or flying, and to no apparent end.' I never 
 yet saw one at rest with head down and bill tucked under wing. 
 They build in cracks and crevices in the rocks and shore, but do 
 not choose rabbit holes. Ekstrom, the Norwegian naturalist, 
 says, ' The Saw- bill is the best of barometers ; if, during a partial 
 thaw in the winter, it reappears, one may be very sure there will 
 be no more severe frost that year.' In France it is Harle huppt ; 
 in Germany, Langschnabliger Sager ; in Italy, Mergo oca di 
 luwgo becco ; in Portugal, Merganso. 
 
 204. GOOSANDER (Mergus merganser). 
 
 This is the largest species of the genus, and perhaps the most 
 common, though none of this little group of birds are very 
 plentiful on our coasts : and very seldom does a straggler from 
 
Goosander. 497 
 
 such truly oceanic ducks penetrate so far as our inland county. 
 The Rev. George Marsh, however, had a pair in his collection 
 which were killed in Wiltshire on the river Avon, in February, 
 1838. Mr. Grant, of Devizes, reports one killed at Wedhampton, 
 in the parish of Erchfont, in January, 1861 ; another on the 
 canal at Devizes in 1862; one at S to well in 1875; and one at 
 Spye Park in 1881. Major Heneage has a pair shot at Lyneham, 
 one in 1856, the other in 1857. The Marlborough College 
 Natural History Reports state that one was shot at Stitchcombe 
 by Mr. R. Butler in December, 1879. Lord Arundell mentions 
 one killed at Wardour about twenty years ago. Lord Nelson 
 has a specimen killed at Trafalgar ; and the Rev. E. Duke, one 
 killed at Great Durnford, on the estate adjoining Lake. The 
 Rev. W. H. Awdry tells me of one killed near Ludgershall this 
 spring (1887), and Mr. G. Sotheron Estcourt records how one 
 has visited the lake at Estcourt this winter, swimming about for 
 several weeks with the domesticated wild ducks, but especially 
 with the Coots. Again, I have a notice, which I extract from 
 the Zoologist* of its occurrence at Clarendon Park, Salisbury, 
 where the bailiff picked up a fine male specimen quite dead on 
 the banks of the lake in February, 1867, its mouth full of fresh- 
 water weeds. The Rev. A. P. Morres has twice fallen in with 
 them in the meadows at Britford, where on the first occasion two 
 adult birds in fine plumage, and on the second occasion, in 1870, 
 a small band of three attracted his attention ; and as a proof that 
 he was not mistaken in the species, which he only saw on the 
 wing, one was killed by the keeper in the evening of the same 
 day. Lastly, Mr. Hussey Freke, of Hannington Hall, reported 
 that a female specimen was shot on the river Thames, in the 
 parish of Highworth, on January 6, 1871. It is called 'Goosander' 
 by us, and Merganser, or ' Diving Goose/ as its scientific name, 
 on account of its size, as it is the largest of the genus. So in 
 Sweden it is Stor Skrake, or ' Great Saw-Bill.' From its manner 
 of fishing in flocks, and driving the fish before it, it has acquired 
 in Sweden the name of Kor-fogel, or ' Driving Bird.' Then, when 
 Second Series, volume for 1867, p. 709. 
 
 32 
 
498 Anatidce. 
 
 gorged, it retires to open water to rest and digest its food, and 
 allows itself to be rocked by the waves. Whence its designation 
 in some districts of Vrak-fogcl, or ' Wreck Bird/ implying that at 
 such times it lies like a wreck on the billows.* Most of the 
 provincial names given to its congeners, as related above, are also 
 indiscriminately applied to this species, for in the eyes of fisher- 
 men and labourers small distinctions are overlooked ; so this, 
 too, is the 'Harle,' the 'Saw-bill,' and the 'Jack Saw;' but I 
 believe alone it enjoys the names of 'Dundiver' and 'Sparling 
 Fowl,' as given it by Bewick, Montagu, and others. Before I 
 take leave of this genus, I would quote the following instructive 
 passage from the masterly hand of Sir R. Payne-Gallwey : 
 1 Mergansers have longer wings and lighter bodies for their size 
 than the diving ducks, and are therefore more powerful on the 
 wing than the latter. Their actions, like those of other divers, 
 when alighting, are governed by their power of rising. Feet and 
 legs being near the tail, they cannot fly from, or pitch on, the 
 water with the facility exhibited by the true ducks. In structure 
 they are admirably formed for fishing; and their prey once 
 caught has as much chance of escaping from the serrated beak 
 as has a roach from the mouth of a pike. As in the case of the 
 pike, the saw-like teeth on the edges of the mandibles curve 
 inwards/ ( In France it is Grand Harle ; in Germany, Oansen- 
 Sager oder Taucher Gans, ' Diving Goose ' ; and in Italy, Mergo 
 oca marina e Mergo dominicano. When alive, this species 
 shows a most delicate rose colour on its neck and breast, which 
 (as in the case of Pastor roseus and several other species) fades 
 very quickly after death. A magnificent specimen which I once 
 procured from a Norfolk fenman as he was returning with his 
 spoil, and which quite glowed with a rich rosy hue, soon after 
 faded (to my intense disgust) to a dingy smoke colour, and has 
 now no trace of its former beauty. 
 
 * Lloyd's ' Scandinavian Adventures,' vol. ii., p. 480. 
 f ' The Fowler in Ireland,' p. 117. 
 
The Divers. 499 
 
 COLYMBID^E (THE DIVERS). 
 
 This very remarkable family of Diving birds shows a most 
 complete structure, and a general formation thoroughly adapted 
 to their submerged habits, for all the species which comprise it 
 pass a considerable portion of their lives, not only on the surface 
 of the water, but beneath it. The form of body is remarkably 
 long and oval ; the neck long and tapering, the head small, and 
 the beak straight, hard, and sharp-pointed ; the legs are placed 
 at the extreme end of the body, and the feet are large, thus 
 acting as paddles propelling from the stern ; the tarsus is re- 
 markably thin or laterally compressed, and the feet, though 
 furnished with membranes, have the toes so articulated as to 
 fold into a very small compass when drawn towards the body, 
 after making the necessary stroke, thus offering the least possible 
 resistance in the water. By this arrangement they are enabled 
 to pass rapidly through the water beneath the surface, and can 
 remain a long time submerged ; but on land they are awkward 
 and ungainly enough, standing quite upright, and resting upon 
 the whole length of the leg from the foot to the first joint, re- 
 minding one of the kangaroo, and when surprised or alarmed 
 they shuffle into the water on their breasts, somewhat after the 
 manner of the seals. But they rarely come on shore except at 
 the breeding season, and then they place their nests at the 
 water's edge. Though their wings are short and their bodies 
 heavy, they can fly with astonishing strength and swiftness, yet 
 the flight is necessarily laboured ; but, once in the water, none 
 are more active and rapid, and even graceful, in their movements 
 than the Divers. Many of them are quite tail-less, and others 
 have but rudimentary apologies for tails ; but perhaps the most 
 admirable provision for their subaqueous habits centres in their 
 plumage, which is not only thick, downy, and soft, but has a 
 glossy, silky lustre, which renders it so completely waterproof 
 that prolonged immersion has no effect in penetrating beneath it. 
 There are but two genera belonging to this family, the Grebes 
 and the Divers, and we have instances of both as having occurred 
 in this county. 
 
 322 
 
500 Colymbidce. 
 
 205. GREAT CRESTED GREBE (Podiceps cristatus). 
 
 This fine species well deserves to take rank at the head of the 
 family, and an adult bird furnished with its ruff or fringe round 
 the neck, and long occipital tufts or horns, presents a dignified 
 appearance. It spends a part of its life amidst inland lakes and 
 part in the shallow waters of the coast, whence it procures its 
 food. So rapidly does it dive, and such progress can it make by 
 exerting wings and feet beneath the surface, that it requires a 
 well-manned boat and sturdy rowers to keep pace with it. The 
 generic name, podiceps, from poditis + pes, signifying ' with feet 
 at the stern/ calls attention to one of the most marked features 
 which the whole genus shares. It was known in old time in 
 Lincolnshire, where it was abundant, as a ' Gaunt/ which, Mr. 
 Harting says, signifies ' one who yawns/ from the Anglo-Saxon 
 geanian, and is applicable to these birds, as he has frequently 
 observed in the Grebes and Divers a spasmodic action analogous 
 to gaping or yawning.* But I would with deference venture to 
 submit whether, taking into consideration the shape of the bird 
 ' an elongated cone/ as Yarrell describes it the word ' gaunt ' 
 may not bear the more obvious meaning of ' slim/ ' slender/ for I 
 find the word in Skeat's Etymological Dictionary signifies a 
 ' thin pointed stick/ or a ' tall thin man/ and is there said to be 
 an East Anglian word, presumably Scandinavian, and corre- 
 sponds to the Norwegian gaud. Mr. Harting further adds that 
 in the r^ign of Edward I. land was held in the county of Bucks 
 by the tenure of providing, among other things, ' two Grebes 
 when the King came to Ailesbury ' ; nor does he doubt that duas 
 gantes signified 'two gaunts,' whose soft, satiny plumage was 
 esteemed of great value for the trimming of robes and mantles. 
 On the broads of Norfolk it is known as a ' Loon/ with the 
 meaning of 'clown/ 'slow/ 'ungainly/ with reference to its 
 awkward gait on land, and in Ireland as ' Molrooken/ Some- 
 times it is called the 'Satin Grebe/ from the delicate silvery 
 whiteness and shining silky appearance of the under surface of 
 Zoologist for 1884, p. 350. 
 
Great-Crested Grebe. 501 
 
 the body. The English word ' Grebe ' is from an old Breton word 
 signifying 'crested ' or 'tufted with feathers ' (Skeat). In France 
 it is Grebe huppt ; in Germany, Gehaubter Steissfuss ; in Italy, 
 Colimbo crestato ; in Sweden, Hvit strupig Dopping, ' White- 
 throated Dipper ' ; in Portugal, this and all the other species 
 known there are called in common Mergulldo, ' Diver.' Its nest 
 consists of a mass of wet sedge or half-rotten decayed water- 
 plants floating on the surface of the water, and how the eggs are 
 hatched in such moisture seems extraordinary. This nest is so 
 fastened to the reeds amongst which it is placed that it cannot 
 be driven away by the wind ; and (strange to say) near each nest 
 is a second platform, or pad of sedge, upon which the male bird 
 rests while his mate is sitting. When the Grebes are alarmed 
 they immediately sink, without splash, in the water, and dive away 
 for security ; and when the young are hatched the parent birds 
 will on emergency take them down under their wings for safety 
 when they dive, the young birds being placed with their heads 
 towards the tail, and their bills resting on the back of the 
 parent. Though necessarily only an occasional straggler in Wilt- 
 shire, where we have no large lakes suited to its habits, I have 
 several instances of its occurrence. Mr. Elgar Sloper informs 
 me that a young male in his collection was shot on the Kennet 
 and Avon Canal near Devizes in February, 1839. Mr. Withers 
 had an immature specimen sent to him for preservation which 
 was killed at Enford ; Mr. Marsh possessed a female shot on the 
 Avon in February, 1838 ; and Lord Methuen has one killed on 
 the water at Corsham Court. 
 
 206. RED-NECKED GREBE (Podiceps rabricollis). 
 
 This is a smaller species than the last, and if not a more rare 
 visitor to our coasts, is more rarely noticed, as it prefers salt 
 water to fresh, and being an inhabitant of more northern 
 latitudes, only comes to us in winter. It is said, when diving, 
 ' to dart through thick entangled masses of weeds and grass with 
 the ease and rapidity of the fish/ but not to use its wings under 
 water, as from the very weedy nature of the lakes or streams 
 
502 Colymbidce. 
 
 it invariably frequents, that would only impede its progress. 
 Like others of their congeners, they swallow a mass of their own 
 feathers to aid the digestive process, somewhat after the habit of 
 hawks and owls. I am fortunate in having several instances of 
 the occurrence in our county of so rare an inland straggler ; and 
 I am again indebted to Mr. Elgar Sloper for the information that 
 one was killed near Devizes in 1840 ; to Mr. Baker that another, 
 an adult bird, was killed at Westbury in 1874 ; and to the Rev. 
 T. A. Preston that two specimens, which he saw, had been sent 
 to the Marlborough bird-preserver to be converted into plumes 
 for hats ! this was in April, 1870. I have also notices from the 
 Marlborough College Natural History Reports of one killed at 
 Preshute many years since ; and from Mr. Grant of specimens 
 shot at Eastcott in 1868, at Stanton in 1870, and at Lyneham 
 in 1870 ; the latter is now in the possession of Major Heneage at 
 Compton Bassett. Amongst the most advanced ornithologists 
 in England, P. rubricollis is now known as P. grisegena, or 
 ' Gray-cheeked,' as already it had been generally known on the 
 Continent ; in France, Gr&be jou-gris ; in Germany, Graukehliger 
 Steissfuss ; and in Sweden, Grd-strupig Dapping, or 'Gray- 
 throated Dipper/ 
 
 207. SCLAVONIAN GREBE (Podiceps comutus). 
 
 In my former papers on the Ornithology of Wilts, I was 
 obliged to omit this species from the Wiltshire list, as I had no 
 instance before me of its occurrence within the county, though I 
 remarked it did in all probability occasionally appear amongst 
 us, as it is, in comparison with some of its congeners whose 
 visits I am able to record, common in England. In 1864, Mr. 
 Henry Blackmore reported one shot in the immediate neighbour- 
 hood of Salisbury, which was brought to him in. the flesh on 
 January 19.* The Rev. A. P. Morres has himself shot it in his 
 own parish of Britford. Major Heneage possesses a specimen 
 which was killed at Lyneham in 1870. Mr. Baker, of Mere, 
 possesses one which was shot on a sheep pond at Knoyle in 1874 ; 
 * Zoologist for 1864, p. 9048. 
 
Eared Grebe. 503 
 
 and in the winter of 1877 a policeman, walking down the street 
 in Warminster on a cold, dark night, when it was snowing 
 heavily, heard a flight of birds passing overhead, and shortly 
 after was startled by hearing a heavy thud behind him, which 
 turned out to be a Sclavonian Grebe, its plumage and wings 
 being so encrusted with frozen snow that it could no longer use 
 them. Like the last-named species, it is a winter visitor here, 
 retiring in spring to breed in the far north. In breeding-plumage 
 it may well be called cornutus, for it not only has a fine chestnut 
 tuft about the head, but below the chin, and round the sides of 
 the neck, a rich dark-brown ruff, giving it a very distinguished 
 appearance. It is also known as the * Dusky ' and the ' Horned ' 
 Grebe ; the former referring to its immature or winter dress, the 
 latter to its summer plumage. Our countryman, Colonel Montagu, 
 was the first to make it known as British. Like others of the 
 family, it has been known to dive with its young under its wings 
 on occasion of alarm, and has also been seen to fly with the 
 young birds on its back, when it was necessary to transport them 
 to a place of safety otherwise than beneath the water ; for Sir R. 
 Payne-Gallwey* points out that the idea common in Ireland, 
 that the bird flies with its young under its wings, is manifestly 
 an error, since no bird could sustain its flight, and at the same 
 time grip an object under the wings. In France it is Grebe cornu 
 and le Grebe d'Esclavonie ; in Germany, Gehornter Steissfuss. 
 
 208. EARED GREBE (Podiceps auritus). 
 
 This is the rarest British Grebe, and I am glad to be able to 
 include it in our Wiltshire list : indeed, I have several records of 
 its capture ; the first on the authority of the late Rev. G. Marsh, 
 who informed me that a specimen was killed at Christian Malford ; 
 the second and third from the no less reliable testimony of the 
 Rev. G. Powell, who on March 24, 1875, wrote me word that he 
 had that afternoon seen a specimen of this rare visitor to Wilts. 
 It was killed near Knoyle, and (strange to say) another specimen 
 was killed, or picked up dead, in the same locality, not many 
 ' The Fowler in Ireland,' p. 142. 
 
504 Colymbidce. 
 
 years previously. The Marlborough College Natural History 
 Reports mention one caught near the ' Burnt House,' Savernake 
 Forest, on January 27, 1878; and Mr. Grant records three 
 specimens which have come to him in the flesh : viz., in 1864 
 from Stanton, in 1865 from Chitterne, and in 1877 from Keevil. 
 The most modern school of ornithologists call it nigricollis, and 
 certainly the ' black neck ' does offer a point of distinction ; but 
 auritus, ' eared,' was the name used by all our older authorities : 
 Pennant, Montagu, Bewick, Fleming, Selby, Yarrell, Temminck, 
 etc. It may also be at once distinguished from the species last 
 described, and which it much resembles, by the beak, which is 
 bent slightly upwards and depressed at the base. Canon Tristram 
 gives an admirable account of a colony of Eared Grebes, the most 
 gregarious of the genus, which he found breeding in societies 
 more densely crowded than any rookery, on Lake Halloula, in 
 Algeria : the nests, formed like those of other Grebes, were raised 
 on artificial islets, frequently almost touching each other, and 
 sometimes piled on stout foundations rising from more than a 
 yard under water.* Mr. Cecil Smith, who has kept this bird in 
 confinement, says, ' Grebes do not sit erect, but with face to the 
 ground; but when walking or running, the posture is nearly 
 erect, and they proceed along with a waddling gait. When 
 resting, they do not place their feet upon the ground, but turn 
 them up so as to place them under their wings, which they 
 cover with their side feathers, and thus entirely hide them from 
 view. They will also rest in the same manner upon the water.f 
 In France it is Grebe oreillard ; in Germany, Gehorter oder Ohren 
 Steissfuss ; in Italy, Colimbo Suasso turco. 
 
 209. LITTLE GREBE (Podiceps minor). 
 
 We come now to the commonest and best known of all the 
 genus, the familiar ' Dabchick/ which may be generally seen on 
 every retired river or large pond ; a shy retiring species, disap- 
 pearing beneath the surface at the first alarm, and only re- 
 
 * Ibis for 1860, p. 159. 
 
 t ' Birds of Somerset,' p. 532. 
 
Little Grebe. 505 
 
 appearing at a considerable distance; and then perhaps, after 
 the manner of its race, only thrusting its head above water, 
 while the body is still submerged. Like most, if not all of its 
 congeners, it covers its eggs during temporary absence from the 
 nest, but this does not appear to be for any purpose of retaining 
 the warmth of incubation, but for concealment and consequent 
 protection from marauders. It is strange that with this species, 
 too, the nest is wet below, and the eggs are covered with wet 
 weeds. As it flutters along the surface of the pond when dis- 
 turbed, its feet (which are longer in proportion to its size than 
 those of any other Diver) appear to weigh it down, and it drags 
 them dip, dip, dipping along the water behind it.* Indeed, it is 
 most reluctant to take flight, and trusts to its wonderful diving 
 powers to elude an enemy ; but, when once on the wing, its flight 
 is both rapid and well sustained. When it stands upright, it 
 has a very awkward, knock-kneed appearance. Provincially in 
 many parts of England it is known as the ' Didapper,' or ' Little 
 Diver.' In Sussex it is called the ' Mole Diver.' By many authors 
 it is now no longer known under the old familiar name of 
 Podiceps minor, but transferred to a separate genus of its own, 
 and called Tachybaptes fluviatilis, or the ' River Quick Diver.' 
 In France it is Grebe castagneux, or ' Chestnut-coloured Grebe,' 
 in allusion to the colour of its neck in the breeding season ; and 
 in Sweden Smd Dopping, or ' Little Dipper ' ; in Germany, Kleiner 
 Steissfuss; in Spain, Zambullidor, ' Dipper,' or ' Plunger.' Before 
 taking leave of this genus, I would again call attention to the 
 feet of the Grebes, which are very peculiar, and are furnished 
 with a broad membrane down the sides of the toes, not unlike 
 those of the Lobipedidse. 
 
 210. GREAT NORTHERN DIVER (Colymbus gtacialis). 
 
 This magnificent species is an inhabitant of northern seas, as 
 
 its name implies, and one of the most glorious sights to me as an 
 
 ornithologist when in Norway was the almost daily view of a 
 
 pair of these fine Divers, or its congeners, the ' Black- throated ' 
 
 4 The Fowler in Ireland/ p. 142. 
 
506 Colymbidce. 
 
 (C. arcticus), or the 'Red-throated' (C. septentrionalis), swim- 
 ming in the midst of some salt-water fjord or fresh-water inland 
 lake, monarchs of all they surveyed, for I never recollect meeting 
 with two pairs on the same water. They are all wild, shy birds, 
 and extremely difficult to shoot, from the facility with which 
 they would dive, the distance they would traverse before they 
 rose again to the surface, and their instantaneous disappearance 
 again beneath the water when alarmed ; and I have spent hours 
 in chasing them in a boat before I could secure the specimens I 
 wanted. 
 
 In diving, indeed, it is most expert, and its progress at the 
 bottom is said to be at the rate of more than seven miles an 
 hour, while it continues its submarine hunting with apparently 
 little exertion. In swimming, its flattened body is often immersed 
 deep in the water, the head and neck only appearing above the 
 surface ; at other times it will swim as high as a duck, and float 
 as buoyant as a cork. But on land it presents a very sorry 
 figure, with little more means of walking than a seal has : for 
 the construction and position of its legs combine to render it 
 incapable of moving on its feet like other birds. Accordingly, 
 venire d terre, it shoves itself forward on its breast by jerks and 
 by striking the ground with its feet. So averse is it to leave the 
 water, and so reluctant to fly, that it will swim and dive for hours 
 when hotly pursued ; but when once it does take wing its flight 
 is swift and, for so heavy a bird, wonderfully powerful Its cries, 
 as you listen to it on a still night in Norway, uttered with loud 
 voice from the midst of some fjord, are most plaintive and 
 melancholy ; and many in consequence are the idle superstitions 
 and fearful tales connected with this bird, thoroughly believed 
 in by the credulous Norsemen, and gravely detailed by the 
 marvel-loving, quaint old Bishop, Pontoppidan.* Its plumage is 
 so thick and close and impervious to wet, and, moreover, its skin 
 is so tough and strong, that it is much prized by the natives of 
 Northern Europe for making into warm articles of clothing. 
 Among the Laplanders more especially I have seen it so em- 
 * Lloyd's ' Scandinavian Adventures,' vol. ii., 487. 
 
Great Northern Diver. 507 
 
 ployed. The generic name, colymbus, is simply the Latinized 
 form of Ko\u/z/3o9, 'a diver.' The specific, glacialis, 'living 
 amongst the ice/ marks it at once as an inhabitant of Arctic 
 regions ; and the Swedish Is Lorn and the German Eis Taucher, 
 ' Ice Diver/ are a close translation of Colymbus glacialis. Pro- 
 vincially, on some parts of our coast it is called the ' Great 
 Doucker/ which is clearly the same as the German Taucher. It 
 is also known to fishermen as the ' Immer/ or ' Ember Goose/ 
 and also as the ' Herdsman of the Sea/ from its habit of driving 
 before it the fishes which it pursues, even to a very great depth. 
 In France it is Plongeon Imbrim ; in Germany, Schwarzhalsiger 
 Seetaucher, ' Black-necked Sea-Diver ' ; in Italy, Mergo Maggiore. 
 Though all the three species of Divers occur sparingly on our 
 coasts, and from each we have had one or more visits in Wilt- 
 shire, the Great Northern Diver is that most frequently found 
 inland ; and of its occurrence in this county I have no less than 
 ten instances. Lord Arundell informed me that one was killed 
 at Wardour about ten years ago ; Lord Methuen possesses a 
 specimen which was killed on the water at Corsham Court; 
 Lord Bath tells me that one, if not two, have been taken at 
 Longleat ; Lord Nelson has one killed at Trafalgar ; Mr. Grant 
 reports one killed at Whitley in December, 1869, by falling on 
 the ice on a Sunday in the midst of a number of people. The 
 late Rev. G. Marsh had an immature specimen in his collection, 
 shot by his brother in the river at Salisbury in 1831 ; and also an 
 adult specimen, killed on the borders of the county near Bath, 
 in February, 1838. Holliday, a bird-stuffer at Calne, informed 
 me that he had preserved one which was shot at Bowood in 
 1855. A very fine specimen was taken in a brook leading from 
 Spye Park to Chittoe in November, 1853, and came into the pos- 
 session of Captain Meredith, the particulars of whose capture I 
 recorded in the Zoologist at that time ;* and another was killed 
 on Major Heneage's water at Lyneham, and is now preserved in 
 the hall at Compton Bassett House. 
 
 Zoologist for 1854, p. 4166. 
 
508 Colymbidce. 
 
 211. BLACK-THROATED DIVER (Colymbus arcticus). 
 
 I think this is one of the handsomest birds when in full- 
 breeding plumage which I have ever seen in a wild state, and I 
 met with it frequently in Norway. The arrangement of black 
 and white feathers, the square and lozenge- shaped spots of pure 
 white on a black ground, the velvet black of the neck, set off by 
 a collar of black and white lines and the pure white of the under 
 surface of the body, combine to give it a most attractive dress 
 though it has no bright colours in its plumage. In all their 
 habits and powers of diving, swimming, and flight, the Divers 
 resemble one another, and all are equally ungainly on dry land, 
 so that ' the peasants of Norway have the somewhat irreverent 
 saying that when first created their legs were forgotten, but sub- 
 sequently thrown after them. This in their eyes accounts for 
 their pedestals being placed so singularly far behind.' It is also 
 believed, in consequence of its difficulty in coming ashore, to 
 carry about its two eggs, each in a hollow which exists for the 
 purpose under either wing, and there, without the necessity of 
 leaving her favourite element, or of climbing on to the hated 
 land, the parent bird hatches out her young in comfort and in 
 security. Another strange fiction in regard to this bird, 
 commonly believed by the Scandinavian peasant, is that when 
 its two eggs are hatched, finding a difficulty in providing for two 
 young ones, it immediately destroys one, and devotes itself to 
 the maintenance of the other. To pass from fable to fact, I 
 found this species many times in Norway on the lakes in the 
 interior, and sometimes in the more retired fjords, but more 
 especially on the lakes of the upper mountain plateaux, the 
 coldness and dreariness of which nothing can exceed, for they 
 never seemed at any time in the summer to be secure from snow 
 and frost and ice and cold biting winds. I suppose it was the 
 solitude and wildness of these lakes which made them so attrac- 
 tive to the Black-throated Divers ; certainly they preferred them 
 to other lakes lower down the mountains, and most certainly 
 they were seldom disturbed there, and very seldom intruded on 
 
Black-throated Diver. 509 
 
 by man. The Lapps are very fond of ornamenting their dresses 
 and tobacco-pouches with the feathers of these handsome birds, 
 as well as using their skins for articles of clothing ; and I bought 
 of them a small bag of reindeer's skin, which they had tanned 
 for themselves and ornamented with tufts of feathers from these 
 birds. Its skin is also said to be highly prized by the Esquimaux 
 for its warmth and beauty, for which purpose they are much 
 sought after and dressed and made into garments, such as that 
 much-to-be-pitied people wear. This species is somewhat larger 
 than its red-throated congener ; hence known in Norway as Stor 
 Lorn, or ' Great Lorn.' Of all three species of Divers this is the 
 most rare on the English coast ; and I am happy in being able 
 to add it to our Wiltshire list, on the authority of Mr. E. Baker, 
 of Mere, who himself saw the bird, and described it in transition 
 plumage, though killed in the month of December, 1872, in the 
 neighbourhood of Salisbury. I have since learned from Lord 
 Methuen that he possesses a specimen which was killed on the 
 water at Corsham Court. In France it is Plongeon lumme ou d 
 gorge noire ; in Germany, Der polar Taucher oder Schwarz- 
 kehliger Seetaucher, ( Black-throated Sea-Diver.' 
 
 212. RED-THROATED DIVER (Colymbus septentrionalis}. 
 
 Of this species I have three occurrences in Wiltshire to record. 
 The first was captured after a severe storm on Knoyle Down, 
 when it was so exhausted and unable to rise that Mr. R Godwin 
 struck it down with a riding-whip and so secured it, when it 
 came into the collection of Mr. Baker, of Mere. The second was 
 shot at Lyneham in 1866, and is now in the possession of Major 
 Heneage ; and the third, as Mr. Grant informs me, was killed 
 at Erlestoke in November, 1876. I found it very common in 
 Norway, both on the inland freshwater lakes and on the salt- 
 water fjords. In the latter, however, they generally get up 
 towards the extreme end, where the narrow arm of the sea pene- 
 trates far into the interior of the country, often as much as eighty 
 or a hundred miles from the sea-coast. Here the fjord becomes 
 much like an inland lake ; and as large streams and torrents are 
 
510 Colymbidce. 
 
 perpetually pouring their waters into it on every side, and 
 especially at the extreme end of every arm, these fresh waters have 
 in some parts so great power over the sea water that the fjords at 
 their heads, though true branches of the sea, have but little taste 
 of salt in their waves : and here the Red-throated Diver retires 
 to breed ; and whether sailing about on the waters they have 
 appropriated to themselves, or flying high in the air with long 
 necks outstretched, and with a wailing scream, they never failed 
 to impart additional interest to the scene. In Norway it is Smd 
 Lorn, or ' Little Lorn,' being somewhat smaller than the Black- 
 Throated. Mr. Cecil Smith says that in Devonshire it is known 
 as the 'Loon,' which is evidently the same as the Norsk Lorn 
 and the Lapland Lumme, which is said to mean ' lame,' in 
 reference to its hobbling mode of progression on land. Some- 
 times it is called the ' Speckled Diver ' and sometimes the ' Rain 
 Goose/ as it is apt to utter hoarse cries before rough weather. 
 Elsewhere it is known to the fishermen as the ' Sprat Loon,' from 
 the partiality it shows for that fish ; but in Finmark, in con- 
 sequence of its harsh and disagreeable cry, it is called in derision 
 ' Lofodden's Nightingale.' Of its amazing powers, both of diving 
 and swimming, and, I may add, of flying, I can speak by ex- 
 perience, having spent many hours in chasing it in a boat manned 
 by sturdy Norwegian boatmen before I could secure the speci- 
 mens I desired to add to my collection. It comes to the British 
 coast oftener than either of its congeners, and may at any season 
 and age be readily distinguished from them by the slightly up- 
 turned bill. In France it is Plongeon Cat-marm oil d gorge 
 rouge; and in Germany, Rotkkehliger Tawher. 
 
 ALCAD.E (THE AUKS). 
 
 This family comprises the Guillemots, the true Auks, and the 
 Puffins, and it is strange that I am able to record any member 
 of the family as a visitor, however rare, to Wiltshire, so seldom 
 do they straggle so far from the coast, and so thoroughly 
 maritime a race all the members of Alcadse are. Indeed, so 
 entirely marine are their habits, that they pass almost all their 
 
Common Guillemot. . 511 
 
 lives in and on the sea, and accordingly their legs are placed so 
 far behind that they are wholly incapable of walking on land ; 
 not, however, at so great an angle with the body as in the Divers, 
 so that they are able to sit in an upright attitude, resting equally 
 on the feet and the whole length of the tarsus. Then their 
 wings are little more than rudimentary, and are advanced so 
 far forwards that, though admirable as oars or fins in propelling 
 them through the water, they are of comparatively little service 
 in enabling them to fly through the air. But they do literally 
 fly through the water, the wings having exactly the same action, 
 though not quite so much extended nor so rapidly moved, as 
 when they are flying in the air. On this account the presence 
 of any member of this family in our inland county is indeed 
 marvellous. 
 
 213. COMMON GUILLEMOT (Uria troile). 
 
 This is more abundant, perhaps, than any other of the sea-birds 
 which swarm in some portions of our coasts, and is common 
 enough all round our island. But its powers of locomotion on 
 land are very limited, owing to the backward position of the legs, 
 and the shortness of the wings ; so that it is wonderful how any 
 individual of this species ever reached Wiltshire. I am indebted 
 to Mr. Grant, of Devizes, for the information that it has been 
 found in our county, one having come into his hands for 
 preservation, which had been killed at Salisbury in December, 
 1871. It breeds in vast colonies on the precipitous cliffs on the 
 coast, laying its one large egg on the narrow ledge, in close 
 proximity to scores of others, but the variety of colour, shape, 
 and size of these eggs is astonishing. There is no nest, but the 
 Guillemot sits in an upright position on her single egg, which is 
 conical in shape, and very broad at one end, and very narrow at 
 the other ; and this form protects it from rolling off the shelving 
 rock on which it is deposited, since if accidentally disturbed it 
 merely describes a circle within its own length. I have four eggs 
 in my possession which, common as they are, and only worth a 
 few pence, I value more than any others in the whole collection, 
 
512 Alcadce. 
 
 for they were given me by Mr. Waterton when I was on a 
 visit to him at Walton Hall, and he described to me how he took 
 them with his own hands at Flamborough Head, on the coast of 
 Yorkshire, when he made the perilous descent of that lofty cliff, 
 and was let down by a rope from the top, after the custom of the 
 adventurous fishermen who have pursued that dangerous practice 
 for generations. The young bird, when about three weeks old, is 
 carried down to the sea on the back of the mother, who soon in- 
 structs it in the arts of swimming and diving, and carries it out 
 to sea far from the shore. This is another species which 
 penetrates to Polar regions. Nordenskiold* observed it in great 
 numbers hovering about the tops of the rocks, and settling on the 
 ledges in Northern Spitzbergen, as early as the 4th of March ; 
 and Sir Edward Parry met with it in latitude 81. As regards 
 the name, we have adopted the French term, ' Guillemot/ derived 
 from the cry of the adult; but on the south coast it is called 
 ' Willock' or ' Willy/ which is supposed to represent the cry of 
 the young bird. Elsewhere it is known as 'Murre,' from the 
 murmuring noise of the assembled multitudes at their breeding 
 haunts: and by the fishermen on the east coast as 'Scout/ 
 perhaps from its short or 'cutty' tail; also as 'Marrock' or 
 'Marrot.' In Sweden it is Sill Grissla, or 'Herring Grissler'; 
 and in Germany, Dumme Lumme; and by us the 'Foolish 
 Guillemot/ because it is so unsuspicious of harm, and so con- 
 fiding as oftentimes to endanger its life. In Portugal it is Airo. 
 The B.O.U. Committee says that the specific name, troile, was in- 
 tended as a compliment to Troil the Icelander. 
 
 214. LITTLE AUK (Mergulus alle). 
 
 This is another thoroughly oceanic bird, and chiefly at 
 home in the more northern part of the Polar seas, where it 
 has accompanied the most intrepid of the Arctic explorers to 
 the farthest point attained by them. It is commonly known 
 to English sailors and to Arctic voyagers generally as the 
 'Rotche/ and the numbers congregated in some spots of the 
 Nordenskiold's ' Arctic Voyages,' p. 217. 
 
Little Auk 513 
 
 far North appear almost incredible; but there it finds an un- 
 limited supply of the crustaceans and other small marine animals 
 on which it subsists. Colonel Sabine related that off the coast 
 of Greenland, in latitude 76, in the channels of water separating 
 fields of ice, ' hundreds were killed daily for food/ and the ship's 
 company supplied with this acceptable change of diet. Norden- 
 skiold speaks of an ' Auk- fell in Spitzbergen inhabited by millions 
 of Auks, which sit closely packed together in all the clefts and 
 crevices of the rocks, and the air was literally darkened by the 
 multitude of fowl on the wing at one time. Other vast flocks 
 were sitting upon and between the ice-floes, seeking their food.' 
 In another part he came to a mountain fifteen hundred feet in 
 height which, ' from the hundreds of thousands of Auks which 
 frequent it, was called Alk hornet, " the Auk horn," and here land, 
 sea, ice, and sky seemed darkened with the dense flocks :' while 
 in the same dreary country Admiral Beechey ' frequently saw a 
 column of Rotches which by means of a rough calculation he 
 estimated as consisting of nearly four millions of birds on the 
 wing at one time.'* The Little Auk is only a winter visitor to 
 our coasts, and then seldom comes to land, except when driven 
 in by stress of severe storms, so that I esteemed myself fortunate 
 in obtaining two specimens for my collection, which had been so 
 carried inland on the coast of Norfolk. It is a quaint-looking, 
 heavy bird for its size, with short wings, but great powers of 
 diving. Mergulus indeed signifies 'Little Diver,' but alle is a 
 Lapp name, presumably taken from the bird's note. In addition 
 to the familiar names given above, it is also known provincially 
 as the 'Sea Dove,' and the 'Little Black and White Diver/ but 
 in Sweden it is promoted to the rank of royalty, being known 
 there as Sjo Rung, or 'Sea King.' In France it is Guillemot 
 nain, 'Dwarf Guillemot' ; in Germany, Der Kleine Alk; in Italy 
 Uria minore. I am again indebted to Mr. Grant for the in- 
 formation of its occurrence in Wiltshire, two specimens having 
 
 Professor Newton in Ibis for 1865, p. 204 ; Captain Beechey's ' Yoyage 
 of Discovery towards the North Pole,' 1818, p. 46 ; Nordenskiold's Arctic 
 Voyages,' 1858 1879, pp. 53, 68; Lieutenant Greeley's 'Three Years of 
 Arctic Service,' vol. ii., p. 373. 
 
 33 
 
514 Alcadcc. 
 
 come into his hands, one on October 26, 1869, from Gore Cross 
 Farm, on the Market Lavington Down, and the second on 
 October 17, 1870, which was taken on Wilsford Down. 
 
 215. PUFFIN (Fratercula arctica). 
 
 Most marvellous, indeed, is the appearance of this bird, and 
 even ludicrous its aspect, on account of the singular form and 
 colour of the bill, which is higher than long, very much com- 
 pressed at the sides, both mandibles arched and grooved and 
 notched towards the point, and very highly coloured with the 
 brightest orange and yellow and bluish -gray. Singular, however, 
 as it is to look at, this beak is extremely powerful, and can bite 
 the intruding hand thrust into a hole in search of its egg in a 
 way not readily forgotten. And now it has been discovered 
 that the Puffin sheds portions of its bill in autumn, the horny 
 frontal sheath scaling off in pieces like plates of armour.* This 
 species is truly oceanic in its habits, and never resorts to fresh 
 water. It breeds in a rabbit burrow or other hole in the ground, 
 and lays but one egg. Unlike the young of the Guillemot, 
 which its parents convey at a tender age from the giddy heights 
 on which it is hatched to the sea below, the young Puffin 
 remains at the end of the rabbit-burrow or hole in the rock in 
 which it is bred until it is able to fly down to the sea, unaided 
 by its parents. Once on the sea, it finds itself thoroughly at 
 home, for it dives with the utmost facility. Its flight, too, for a 
 short distance is rapid, but cannot be continued far, for its short 
 narrow wings seem scarcely able to support its heavy bod}^. It 
 is strange that this bird, which penetrates as far as Greenland 
 and other high latitudes in the breeding season, should be so 
 little known in Sweden that it is called by the fisherman 
 UtldndsTc Alk, or ' Foreign Razor Bill.' Off the northern coast 
 of Norway, however, it is exceedingly abundant, and in one 
 island named Fugle-0, or 'Bird Island/ its numbers are in" 
 calculable. The same may be said of the slopes of Lundy, or 
 * Puffin ' Island, deriving its name from the Scandinavian word 
 Fourth edition of c Yarrell's British Birds,' vol. iv., p. 95. 
 
Puffin. 515 
 
 Lunde, ' Puffin/ and ey, island, a name given it by the northern 
 rovers who once made it their residence, and here the Puffins 
 still burrow in myriads. We can imagine how warmly their 
 arrival was welcomed by the Arctic voyagers, when, after a long 
 dreary winter in the ice, they first caught sight of these summer 
 migrants, not so much on account of the fresh meat which they 
 afforded, but from their lively manners and the return of summer 
 which their presence proclaimed. As early as the reign of 
 Edward I. the Crown rent was paid in Puffins, not for the sake 
 of their flesh, but for their feathers : as for the same reason the 
 rent of some of the western islands of Scotland continues to be 
 paid in birds to this day. So the Scilly Islands once owned by 
 a Wiltshireman were held under the Crown at the rent of fifty 
 Puffins, or 6s. 8d., per annum. In 1484 the islands were returned 
 as worth, in peaceable times, forty shillings ; in war times, 
 nothing.* This bird is said to have derived its name Fratercula, 
 1 Little Brother,' from its sociable gregarious habits and its habit 
 of dwelling in communities, and arctica, as it is to be met with 
 in the far North; but its provincial names are too many to 
 enumerate, ' Sea Parrot,' ' Bottle Nose/ and ' Coulter-Neb,' all 
 alluding to its extraordinary beak, being among the most 
 common. The word ' Puffin ' is, on the authority of Skeat, 
 either from its puffed-out, rounded stomach, or, more probably, 
 from its peculiar swelling beak, like that of a parrot. The Kev. 
 T. A. Preston sent me for identification a specimen which had 
 been found near Marlborough in the autumn of 1869. It was 
 in immature plumage, and was, in fact, a bird of the year, having 
 neither arrived at the size nor the distinctive characteristics of 
 the parents ; indeed, except for a faint indication of transverse 
 grooves along both mandibles, neither the shape, colour, nor 
 markings of the beak betokened the remarkable formation 
 peculiar to this bird when in adult dress. There were two 
 individuals which made their appearance near Marlborough, and 
 both of which were seen by Mr. Preston in the flesh. They were 
 not found together, but one was caught on the banks of the 
 
 Wiltshire Magazine^ vol. i., p. 156. 
 
 332 
 
516 Alcadce. 
 
 Rennet on the 25th of October ; the other was subsequently 
 picked up dead, and was in so emaciated a condition as to imply 
 that it had died of starvation. Another instance is given by the 
 Kev. A. P. Morres, who says that a bird of the year, but of full 
 size, was brought to him in the winter of 1863, which a carter 
 had caught on a high-lying fallow in the parish of Britford, and 
 which had bitten his fingers so severely that in exasperation he 
 killed it. Mr. Grant records another specimen killed at Salis- 
 bury, December 28th, 1871, which came into his hands for 
 preservation; while the Maryborough College Natural History 
 Keports mention two seen at a pond near the Warren at St. 
 Catharine's, Savernake Forest, one of which was captured on 
 November 21, 1879. In France it is Macareux moine ; in 
 Germany, Arktische oder Graukehliger Alk ; in Norway, Lunne 
 Fogel ; in Spain, Cagafet ; in Portugal, Papagaio do mar. 
 
 216. RAZOR-BILL (Alca torda). 
 
 Here we have another species which abounds on our coasts, 
 though perhaps not in quite such overpowering numbers as 
 either of those mentioned above. It partakes of the same habits 
 on sea and land as its congeners, breeding with the Guillemots 
 on the ledges of cliffs, and showing itself equally expert in diving 
 and swimming. For this constant immersion in the sea they 
 need waterproof clothing, and the plumage with which they are 
 provided is very thick and close-set, and quite impervious to the 
 action of water. The adult birds are furnished with a bill par- 
 taking, in some degree, of the character of that of the Puffin 
 that is to say, it is much compressed and curved and grooved 
 towards the point. Like other birds with largely developed 
 beaks as the Hoopoe, Crossbill, Spoonbill, etc. that feature in 
 the Razor- Bills and Puffins when first hatched is quite narrow, 
 and for some time shows no sign of the transverse furrow which 
 it afterwards assumes. When it takes wing, which it does with 
 evident reluctance, it invariably flies low, just above the surface 
 of the water: and, like the Guillemots, it carries its young on its 
 back from the cliffs to the sea. Bishop Pontoppidan's account 
 
Razor-Bill 517 
 
 of this species is somewhat quaint and amusing : ' They can fish 
 and swim beyond many others, but are very weak at flying or 
 walking, because the legs are placed so very far behind that it is 
 troublesome to move them on land; the bird therefore totters 
 like a drunken man.' On this account is the saying, ' Drunk as 
 an Alk.' I should add that Alca is the Icelandic, and torda the 
 name by which it is known in Gothland. Provincially it is 
 called 'Parrot-billed Willock,' or 'Willy/ In France it is 
 Pingouin macroptere ; in Germany, TordAlk; and in Sweden, 
 Tordmule. The young bird of the year of A. torda was for a 
 long time considered a distinct species, and honest old Bewick 
 describes it (though evidently with some hesitation) under the 
 title of the ' Black-billed Auk ' Alca pica ; but Colonel Montagu 
 has no such scruples, and boldly contends that Dr. Latham in 
 his Synopsis is mistaken in supposing it to be no other than the 
 immature Razor-bilL More careful observation, however, has 
 proved that the doctor was in the right. Mr. Grant, of Devizes, 
 mentions a specimen killed at Melksham early in February, 
 1862 ; and a second, shot by Mr. E. Gibbs at Chitterne at the 
 end of January, 1871 ; also a third killed at Netheravon, January 
 18th, 1866, and a fourth at Salisbury at the close of 1871, all of 
 which came into his hands for preparation. Besides these the 
 Rev. A. P. Morres records that one was picked up by a dairy- 
 man on the downs near Wittsbury, close to Britford, on 
 February 19th, 1883, which was preserved by Mr. White, of 
 Salisbury. 
 
 PELICANID.E (THE PELICANS). 
 
 We pass on to the Pelicans, which is. a high-sounding title ; 
 but the British members of that aristocratic race are but humble 
 and degenerate offshoots of a noble family, and can only claim 
 to rank as remote relations of a lordly house. For the true 
 Pelicans are magnificent birds ; and seen (as I have many a 
 time watched them within the tropics of Upper Egypt and 
 Nubia) proudly sailing on the broad Nile ; or swimming at their 
 best pace down the stream, while my Arab boatmen gave chase - 
 
518 PelicanidcB. 
 
 in our small boat ; or rising in the air and flapping with enormous 
 wing overhead, with the sun shining on their cream-coloured 
 plumage tinged with pink, are a sight not readily forgotten. 
 
 The principal characteristics of this family are to be observed 
 in the foot, which consists of four toes, all directed forwards, and 
 all connected with a membrane ; in the beak, which is strong, 
 large, and terminating with a powerful hook ; in the legs, which 
 are remarkably short, sturdy, and strong; and in the wings, 
 which are moderately long and equal to very vigorous flight. 
 There are two genera belonging to this family in the British list, 
 the Cormorants and the Gannets, and I have instances of the 
 appearance of both of them in Wiltshire. 
 
 217. COMMON CORMORANT (Phalacrocorax carlo). 
 
 In many respects this bird partakes of the general habits of 
 the Divers and Auks : thus on land it sits erect, and is awkward 
 enough, although it can walk with somewhat more ease than the 
 Colymbidse or AlcacLe : it swims with the body deeply immersed; 
 and it dives with great readiness and celerity : but unlike that 
 family it can perch on trees, and grasp the branches with its toes ; 
 while its flight is strong and rapid. It lives on fish, and (perhaps 
 to enable it to retain the slippery body of its victim) the claw of 
 the middle toe is serrated or indented with comb-like teeth. 
 The quantity of fish it consumes is enormous, and it is not 
 without reason that it has become the type of gluttony. More- 
 over, it is an ill-favoured, slouchiDg, unclean bird, and seen sitting 
 on the rocks gorged with food, and staring with haggard, 
 scowling eyes, and spreading out its wings to dry, coupled with 
 its foul odour, it always reminds me of that most unsavoury bird, 
 in my eyes, the Egyptian Neophron, and accordingly is no 
 favourite with me. Montagu, however, has a good word to say 
 for it, for he describes it as docile, and by no means of a savage 
 spirit, and easily domesticated, while its diving powers are 
 incredible. He adds that it has a habit of violently beating the 
 water with its wings, without moving from the spot, each beating 
 being succeeded by a shake of the whole body, and ruffling of all 
 
Common Cormorant. 519 
 
 the feathers, at the same time covering itself with the water. It 
 may often be seen perched on rails or posts at the water's edge, 
 more especially on the buoys which mark the channels through 
 the shallow waters of the Wash on the coast of Norfolk and 
 other similar mud-banks at the mouths of rivers; and very 
 unpleasant and uncanny do they look as they so perch them- 
 selves, in my opinion. It will not be forgotten that Milton, with 
 great j udgment, as I think, represented the arch-fiend as taking 
 the form of a Cormorant. They breed in colonies, occasionally 
 in trees, like the Herons, but more commonly on lofty cliffs and 
 precipitous rocks. It kills its prey previous to swallowing it, 
 by squeezing it in its powerful and hooked beak. The colour of 
 its plumage is bluish-black, with metallic green reflections ; and 
 it has patches of pure white on its thighs, and a white throat. 
 The tail is composed of stiff hard feathers, and is frequently used 
 on land as a prop to support the body. It is tamed by th e 
 Chinese, and trained to take fish, being cast into the water after 
 its finny quarry, much as a falconer will, in hawking, cast off his 
 bird at a heron, or the courser slip his greyhound after a hare ; 
 only in the case of the voracious Cormorant it is found 
 necessary to fasten an iron ring round the bird's neck, or the 
 prey would be instantly swallowed. This sport, which is still 
 practised in China, was at one time an English pastime, and was 
 in great repute in the sixteenth century ; and as there are still 
 the high offices attached to the court of ' Master of the Buck- 
 hounds,' and ' Hereditary Grand Falconer,' so in former days it 
 was no slight honour to be c Master of the Cormorants ' to our 
 sovereign lord King Charles I. Previous to his reign, fishing 
 with Cormorants had become a fashionable amusement in the 
 reign of James I., who had a regular establishment for these 
 birds at Westminster; and the royal Cormorants trained for 
 fishing wore leather collars, often ornamented with silver.* 
 
 It is a very common bird on all our rocky coasts ; and I have 
 met with colonies of it far up the Nile, at least 450 miles from 
 the sea ; so that fresh water must be as palatable to it as salt, 
 
 Harting in his edition of ' White's Selborne,' p. 164. 
 
520 Pelicanidce. 
 
 provided only the supply of fish is sufficient. In this county I 
 have an instance of one killed in 1856, on Mr. Heneage's water 
 at Lyneham, whence the Great Northern Diver was obtained ; 
 and another (as I learned from a paragraph in the newspaper) 
 was killed at Bradford-on-Avon, in September, 1859. Lord 
 Arundell reports one killed at Wardour Castle about twenty years 
 ago : and Mr. W. Wyndham that one was shot at Lower Teffont ; 
 Lord Nelson possesses one killed at Trafalgar ; and Lord Methuen 
 says that one has been killed on the water at Corsham Court 
 and preserved. Lastly, the Rev. E. Goddard has just reported one 
 seen perched on the spire of Salisbury Cathedral this summer. 
 
 The Rev. A. P. Morres reports that on one occasion three 
 Cormorants appeared in the water-meadows of the parish of 
 Britford, perched on some of the hatches ; and that the keeper 
 shot one of them, which proved to be a young bird in immature 
 plumage, but full grown. They were all busily employed in 
 fishing when he came upon them. Some years after Mr. Morres 
 saw a single bird in the same locality. Again on August 13th, 
 1885, an immature specimen was shot on the stream at Mere, 
 and about a week after two others were killed at Stourton, all 
 three proving to be young birds. The ponderous name plmli- 
 crocorax signifies the ' bald-headed raven,' from ^aXa/^/jo?, ' bald- 
 headed/ and /ropaf, ' a raven,' and carlo, ' a coal,' has reference 
 to the soot-black plumage of the bird. Amongst many provincial 
 names, ' Skart ' is that by which it is most generally known, 
 and ' Great ' or ' Black ' Cormorant to distinguish it from its only 
 congener. The word ' Cormorant ' is altogether a misnomer, for 
 it is literally corvus martntt*, a ' sea crow/ but very far indeed 
 is it removed from the Corvidse. In France it is Cormoran, and 
 Professor Skeat says that, though of Latin origin, it has probably 
 been modified in spelling by the Breton word Morfran, derived 
 from mor, 'the sea,' and bran, 'a crow.' So in Spain it is 
 Cuervo marino ; in Portugal, Corvo marinho ; in Italy, Corvo 
 aquatico, and also Mar anyone, ' the Carpenter,' I know not 
 why. But in Germany it is Der Schivarze Pellkan, and in 
 Sweden Stor Skarf, ' Great Skarf.' 
 
Shag. 521 
 
 218. SHAG (Phalacrocorax graculus). 
 
 This is a smaller species than the last, from which it may also 
 be distinguished by its plumage of a deep glossy, black- green, 
 with no intermixture of white feathers, and no white patch upon 
 the thighs. It never nests in trees, but always on the rocks, and 
 very frequently within caves or deep fissures. Both species have 
 the claw of the middle toe serrated or pectinated on the inner 
 edge, the use of which has never been satisfactorily determined ; 
 for it is now stoutly denied by some that it was ever used, as was 
 formerly supposed, for the purpose of assisting to hold their 
 slippery prey. In its habits the Shag resembles the Cormorant, 
 excepting that it is more maritime in the localities it frequents, 
 for it seldom leaves the sea coast, as it is not accustomed to 
 ascend rivers as its larger relative so often does. Therefore 
 Montagu expressed surprise on learning that one was shot so far 
 inland as Newbury, but he concluded the bird had been ' enticed 
 so far by that noble river the Thames, into which the Rennet 
 flows.' I am able, however, to give an instance of its occurrence 
 in Wiltshire, on the same river Kennet, but, in this case, very 
 near the source of that stream ; for my excellent neighbour. Mr. 
 Thomas Kemm, of Avebury, himself a lover of birds, wrote me 
 word on October 26th, 1876. that in the previous week Mr. 
 Gwatkin, of Lincoln's Inn, when shooting there, had killed a fine 
 specimen, though a young bird, of this species. Lord Methuen 
 also mentions one killed on the water at Corsham Court ; and the 
 Marlborough College Natural History Reports record one shot at 
 Durnford Mill, in the parish of Mildenhall, by Mr. Sidney Willis, 
 September 8th, 1871. 
 
 The fishermen on our coast give to this species also the name 
 of ' Skart ;' others call it the ' Green Cormorant,' and the ' Crested 
 Shag.' In Sweden its true name is Topp Skarf, or 'Crested 
 Skarf,' but these are not distinctive names, inasmuch as both 
 species assume a crest in their breeding plumage. More commonly 
 it is known in Sweden and Norway as Hafs Tjdder, or 'Sea 
 Capercaillie,' and sometimes as Al Kraka, or ' Eel Crow/ because 
 
522 Pelicanidw. 
 
 it feeds greatly on eels; but I believe they apply these terms 
 indiscriminately to both species. The Norwegian naturalist of 
 olden time, Bishop Pontoppidan, has many marvellous tales in 
 regard to this bird. In France it is Cormoran nigaud, ' Foolish 
 Cormorant'; in Germany, Krahen Pelikan, 'Crow Pelican.' In 
 Spain and Portugal it shares the same name as its larger 
 congener. The English word Shag, meaning 'rough,' or 
 ' shaggy,' is supposed to refer to its rugged crest. 
 
 219. GANNET (Sula alba). 
 
 Known also as the Solan Goose, and is common enough on our 
 coasts. In general form and in regard to the peculiar structure 
 of foot, it closely resembles the Cormorant, but in habits it 
 widely differs from that bird : for it never dives, though it some- 
 times floats on the water, and Knox says that in mid-Channel off 
 the Sussex coast, where it is abundant during the herring season, 
 it sleeps on the waves so profoundly as sometimes to allow the 
 boats to pass over it. But it is almost continually on the wing, 
 and in seeking its prey soars to a great height, and then, partially 
 closing its wings, suddenly darts down upon it with amazing 
 impetus ; but, indeed, its power of flight seems inexhaustible, 
 and being of a light and buoyant nature, and provided with an 
 internal supply of air-cells, it can float on unwearied wing with- 
 out exertion. Montagu says that intermediate air is dispersed 
 between the skin and the body, which is not only a great security 
 against cold in the upper regions of the atmosphere, where it 
 passes so much of its life, but also lessens the concussion in its 
 rapid descent upon the water when it precipitates itself on its 
 prey. Though so light and buoyant, it is a large bird, with an 
 immense expanse of wing. It has a strong sharp-pointed beak, 
 not hooked as in the Cormorant. It has also the claw of the 
 middle toe serrated on its inner edge. It lays its single egg on 
 the lofty crags which overhang the sea, and which are often 
 quite inaccessible. Stack Island, the Skerries, and St. Kilda are 
 some of the chief breeding-places of the Gannets. Every year a 
 boat makes an expedition to them to collect the young Gannets 
 
Gannet. 523 
 
 for their down, feathers and flesh, when several thousands are 
 ruthlessly slain.* 
 
 The adult is of a yellowish- white colour with black tips to the 
 wings ; but the immature, known also as the ' Spotted Booby,' and 
 in France as Le Fou tackete, is of a clove brown, spotted with pure 
 white, as if a snow shower had fallen upon it ; and as it takes 
 four years in arriving at maturity, it was for a long time con- 
 sidered a distinct species. Why this bird is called by us ' Booby' 
 and by the French Fou, and by the Germans Tolpel, is simply 
 because, being of a confiding nature, and unsuspicious of harm, it 
 suffers itself to be approached by its enemies without taking 
 alarm, and to be attacked without resistance. The authors of 
 the B.O.U. list of British Birds derive sula from the Norse sule, 
 1 an awkward fellow/ or ' a dolt ;' but it is to be observed that 
 sule is an old Norwegian word also signifying 'Swallow'; and 
 Hafs-Sula or Hav-Sule, by which it is commonly known in 
 Scandinavia, means ' Sea-Swallow,' a term which may well be 
 applied to it from its rapid and continuous flight. Sometimes it 
 is known in those waters as Sill-Bos t ' Herring Persecutor/ since 
 it persistently follows the shoals of that fish. The specific name, 
 bassana, is derived from the Bass Hock in the Firth of Forth, 
 because at one time it was supposed to breed nowhere else, and 
 it has pretty well monopolized that isolated rock, and converted 
 it into an extensive nursery. In Germany it is Der Bassanische 
 Pelikan ; in Portugal it is Patola, ' Fool.' Yery commonly in 
 the South of England it is called the 'Solan/ 'Solent/f or 
 'Channel Goose;' but, indeed, the word 'Gannet' is no other 
 than ' Little Goose/ the first syllable occurring in our word 
 Gander, and in the German Gans, to which is added the 
 diminutive suffix et. Young birds are sometimes called ' Black 
 Gannets.' Four times within my knowledge has this species 
 occurred in Wiltshire of late years ; once (as I learned from Mr. 
 Marsh) a specimen was taken on the borders of the county 
 
 * Ibis for 1869, pp. 23, 24, 30. 
 
 t In a very able monograph on this species by Dr. Cunningham in the Ibis 
 for 1866, pp. 1-23, it is suggested that the ' Solent' more probably takes its 
 name from this bird, and not the bird from the channel. 
 
524 Pellcanidce. 
 
 towards Bath, which came into his collection; for the second 
 instance I am indebted to the daughter of Captain Meredith, 
 who informed me of one killed at Heddington about 1856. The 
 Rev. G. Powell told me that early in September, 1870, during 
 the prevalence of violent gales, a Gannet, doubtless blown inland 
 by the tempest, was knocked down by a labourer on Mr. Wood- 
 cock's farm at Bemerton, and came into the collection of 
 Mr. James Rawlence, of Bulbridge. Mr. Powell saw the bird 
 when it arrived at the bird-stuffer's at Warminster, and described 
 it as emaciated and starved. Subsequently, in July, 1874, I 
 received a letter from the Rev. Gray Lawson, informing me that 
 one was shot by Mr. Nippress at Littleton Drew, at the extreme 
 north-west of the county, in a pasture adjoining the churchyard, 
 in the previous month. Canon Jackson also wrote to me to the 
 same effect, at the same date, alluding without doubt to the 
 same specimen, but mentioning the adjoining parish of Luckington 
 as the scene of its capture. The Right Hon. E. P. Bouverie tells 
 me he has a specimen which was shot on Cheverell Down, in 
 November, 1881, and Mr. Grant mentions another shot at 
 Netheravon by Mr. Newman. For the marvellous account of 
 this bird, as imagined in olden time by an advanced naturalist 
 in Norway, I must again refer my readers to the pages of Bishop 
 Pontoppidan. 
 
 LARIDJE (THE GULLS). 
 
 We have now reached the last family of birds, and it is a very 
 large one, comprising the great tribe of Terns, the still larger list 
 of Gulls, and the Petrels. They are all long- winged, and enjoy 
 a prodigious power of flight, which is not only extremely rapid, 
 but can be indefinitely prolonged and apparently without 
 exertion, at all events without causing fatigue. They are all 
 web-footed, and seek their food on the surface of the sea or on 
 the shore where it has been washed up by the waves ; but 
 though they float with buoyancy on the ocean, they are unable 
 to dive. They are consequently rather birds of the air than of 
 the water, and their evolutions on the wing are extremely 
 
Common Tern. 525 
 
 graceful and pleasing ; and as the distances they traverse are 
 very great, they are frequently seen far inland, so that we are well 
 acquainted with many of them in this county, to which an excur- 
 sion from the southern coast is a mere morning's amusement. 
 
 220. COMMON TERN (Sterna hirundo). 
 
 The ' Sea Swallows/ as all the species which compose this 
 genus are commonly called, represent the fissirostral tribe of the 
 Insessores, and are of light and elegant shape, with small slim 
 bodies, but with wings of prodigious length and deeply forked 
 tails, the latter being a characteristic feature shared in common 
 by all birds of extraordinary powers of flight ; and when they 
 dash down with unerring aim on some luckless fish swimming 
 near the surface, it is with very great velocity and amazing 
 power. As they shoot over the waves or skim through the air, 
 and occasionally dip into the water, they bear a close resemblance 
 in general appearance to the real Swallows, whose arrival we 
 hail with such joy every spring. But in reality they have no 
 connection whatever with the Hirundinidce, for in anatomical 
 structure and habits they are true water-birds, and all their food 
 is derived from the sea or from freshwater rivers and lakes, from 
 which they are never long absent, and on whose shores they 
 make their nests. They are said to be very bold in driving away 
 any who trespass within the vicinity of their breeding haunts, 
 even attacking the intruder, and having been known to strike 
 his hat in their indignation and alarm. St. John remarks 
 farther, that though they hover about the place where the nests 
 are placed to drive away strangers, they do not care to sit upon 
 their eggs during fine weather in the daytime. Their beaks are 
 long and straight and sharp- pointed, and their legs are short 
 and their feet small. By many modern authors this species is 
 called fluviatilis, from its habit of ascending rivers to a con- 
 siderable distance, and sometimes visiting inland lakes far 
 removed from the sea ; but when its powers of flight are con- 
 sidered this will not seem surprising. In Sweden and Norway, 
 where it is the most common of all the Terns, it is distinguished 
 
526 Laridce. 
 
 as Fitik Tdrna, or ' Fish Tern ' ; but by the fishermen it is more 
 generally known as Mack-rill Tdrna, or ' Mackerel Tern,' from its 
 habit of following the mackerel shoals in order that it may pick 
 up marine insects, Crustacea, and small fish which these in their 
 progress frighten up to the surface of the water. Its provincial 
 names on the British coast are so numerous that I will not 
 attempt to recount them. The Common Tern is in France 
 Hirondelle de mer pien*e garin; in Germany, Gemeine Meer- 
 schwalbe; in Portugal, Andorinha do mar; and in Spain, 
 Golondrina de mar, all bearing the same meaning of ' Sea 
 Swallow.' The Common Tern is not, however, so generally dis- 
 tributed on our shores as its name would seem to imply. It is, 
 however, abundant in some favoured localities : more common 
 on the western than on the eastern coasts of Great Britain. 
 Montagu expresses surprise that it has been found so far from 
 the sea as Bath, but many such instances must now be familiar 
 to all observers. Lord Methuen tells me it has been killed at 
 Corsham Court ; I hear of another killed at Kennet in 1881, and 
 one at Poulshot in 1861. But, indeed, I have had so many 
 notices of its occurrence from time to time, both in North and 
 South Wilts, that it would only be tedious to enumerate them. 
 I may mention, however, that Mr. Grant alone has had the 
 following specimens pass through his hands : In 1866, Sep- 
 tember 20, one from Collingbourne ; in 1868, August 21, one 
 from the Canal, Kowde ; and October 3 one from Devizes Locks, 
 and another from Potterne ; in 1869, September 23, two from 
 Berwick Bassett ; in 1871, September 29, one from Erchfont ; in 
 1874, May 29, one from Great Bedwyn. Its general plumage is 
 pearl-gray above and white below ; but the velvet-black crown 
 of the head and the bright red beak, legs, and feet conduce 
 much to the really handsome appearance of this slender, 
 graceful bird. 
 
 221. ARCTIC TERN (Sterna arctica). 
 
 This species is perhaps numerically more abundant than the 
 preceding, to which, indeed, it bears a very close resemblance, 
 
Arctic Tern. 527 
 
 and with which it is doubtless often confounded. It is only to 
 be distinguished from 8. hirundo by its shorter and deeper- 
 coloured beak and by the darker under plumage, which is of a 
 light gray colour. It is most probable, therefore, that several of 
 the instances recorded above really belonged to this species. 
 Without doubt it must be a frequent visitor in Wiltshire, and 
 Yarrell mentions Devizes as one of the places visited by con- 
 siderable numbers in the strange irruption of these birds in 1842, 
 as recorded by Mr. Strickland in the ' Annals and Magazine of 
 Natural History ' for that year. Beyond this notice I have other 
 evidence of its occurrence in our county : first, in a note from 
 Mr. Elgar Sloper, who informs me that three were brought to 
 him which had been killed on the Kennet and Avon Canal, near 
 Devizes, after a gale from the west in October, 1844; and 
 secondly, from the Rev. G. Powell, who wrote me word on 
 September 28, 1870, that an Arctic Tern was killed by Mr. 
 Charles Phipps at Charlcote a few days previously. The Marl- 
 borough College Natural History Reports speak of one found on 
 the Canal at Savernake in 1867, and another in 1881 on the 
 Canal at Wootton Rivers ; and Mr. Grant received one from Mr. 
 T. Kemm, of Avebury, in October, 1875. As its name implies, 
 it frequents high northern latitudes. Reinhardt found it breed- 
 ing in Greenland ; and Professor Newton records that it breeds 
 in numbers in Spitzbergen, where it feeds principally on surface- 
 swimming animals, crustaceans, mollusca, and the like,* and it 
 has been noticed in still more northern regions by Arctic 
 voyagers. But S. arctica, which certainly, more than either of 
 its congeners, is found in polar regions, has been of late deprived 
 of its title by some modern ornithologists, and designated 
 macrura, with the meaning of ' long-tailed,' from pa/epos and 
 ovpd ; while in Norway it is Rod-ndbbad-Tdrna, or ' Red-billed 
 Tern,' neither of which appear to me to distinguish it sufficiently 
 from its fellows. In France it is Hirondelle-de-mer arctique. 
 The flight of this and all the other Terns is exceedingly graceful, 
 and Harting calls attention to the very interesting sight of a 
 Ibis for 1865, p. 215. 
 
528 Laridcv. 
 
 flock of these birds fishipg in undisturbed enjoyment ; and Sir 
 William Jardine observes that all the Terns are very light, and 
 the body being comparatively small, the expanse of wings and 
 tail so buoys them up, that when shot in the air they are 
 sustained, their wings fold above them, and they whirl gently 
 down like a shuttlecock.* 
 
 222. BLACK TERN (Sterna fissipca). 
 
 The dark sooty colour of its plumage at once distinguishes 
 this species from its congeners. Although in every respect a 
 true Tern, it differs in habits from those previously described, 
 inasmuch as it seeks freshwater lakes and rivers in the interior, 
 where it lives upon such flies and other insects as suit its palate. 
 Hence it has more frequently been met with in Wiltshire than 
 any other of its congeners. Thus I was informed by Mr. Withers 
 that three specimens had been brought to him for preservation 
 in the spring of 1853, one of which was killed at Compton 
 Bassett by Mr. Heneage's keeper, and two at Berwick Bassett. 
 The Rev. G. Marsh showed me two in his collection which were 
 killed near Bath in 1845. .The Rev. Henry Methuen not only 
 recorded the capture of one at All Cannings on May 2nd, 1849, 
 but generously presented it to our Museum at Devizes (a very 
 considerate and liberal act, which I cannot too highly commend 
 to the imitation of any who may obtain specimens of our rarer 
 birds killed in Wiltshire), and Mr. Elgar Sloper informed me 
 that one was killed near Salisbury in 1840, and added to his 
 note in reference to this species, 'I may here remark that I 
 have scarcely known an April or October without hearing of the 
 occurrence of some of the Sternidce.' Mr. Baker possesses two 
 specimens in his collection, one killed 'at Mere in summer 
 plumage, and another shot at Norton Ferris in 1860 in winter 
 dress, and also records the capture of a third, which hovered 
 .over the water quite close to him when he was fishing at Steeple 
 Langford on April 29th, 1884, and which proved to be an adult 
 bird in full breeding plumage. The Rev. A. P. Morres, too, had 
 ' Birds of Middlesex,' p. 247. 
 
Black Tern. 529 
 
 a personal interview with one, for while he was rowing on the 
 river at Downton one of these birds, in adult plumage, flew 
 round and round the boat, coming so close to him that he had a 
 perfect view of it. The Marlborough College Natural History 
 Eeports mention, on the authority of Mr. Dixon, of Pewsey, that 
 a specimen was shot at that place on May 18, 1876, and two 
 others in the middle of May, 1880, the one at Hungerford, the 
 other at Ramsbury. Mr. Grant reports one killed at Fyfield by 
 Mr. Lavington in May, 1876, and Mr. Rawlence one killed at 
 Wishford. In France it is known as Hirondelle de mer 
 epouvantail, ' Scarecrow,' or ' Bugbear Sea Swallow,' probably 
 from some superstitious terror on account of its sombre dress ; 
 but in prosaic Germany it is Schviarzgraue Meerschwalbe ; in 
 Sweden, Svart Tdrna; in Italy, Sterna Cenerina o di testa nera; 
 and in Spain, Fumarel. Modern systematists have removed this 
 species from the true Terns, and relegated it to a small group 
 of 'Marsh Terns,' and inflicted on it the tremendous name of 
 Hydrochelidon, or ' Water Swallow.' The specific name, fissipes, 
 arises from the fact that the membranes which connect the 
 three toes in. front are short and deeply scalloped a distinctive 
 mark recognised by the fishermen, who in some parts call it 
 provincially ' Cloven-foot Gull.' Formerly, before the fens and 
 marshes of the eastern counties were drained, it used to breed 
 in great numbers in Norfolk and Lincolnshire ; in the former it 
 was known as the ' Blue Darr/and in the latter as ' Car Swallow/ 
 Selby compares its flight, which is peculiarly buoyant, to that 
 of the Nightjar ; and Montagu described how it escaped from the 
 repeated pounces of a Peregrine Falcon by means of the rapidity 
 of its flight and the dexterity and singular quickness of its 
 manoauvres. 
 
 223. LITTLE GULL (Larus minutus). 
 
 The Gulls differ from the Terns in their more sturdy and less 
 elegant shape, in their stronger, shorter beak with curved tip, in 
 their longer and stouter legs, and in the partial or total absence 
 of fork in the tail. They seem equally at rest, whether floating 
 
 34 
 
530 Laridoo. 
 
 buoyantly on the surface of the sea, gently flapping on powerful 
 wing through the air, or standing quietly, often on one leg, on 
 the beach. Though they float like corks on the waves, they 
 seldom swim and never dive. They may be almost called 
 omnivorous, so welcome to their insatiable appetite is every kind 
 of animal food they can secure. The Little Gull, the smallest 
 of its genus which figures in the British list, and, I believe, of the 
 whole genus, is distinguished in most languages by a name 
 which calls attention to its diminutive figure. In France it is 
 Mouette pygmde ; in Germany, Die kleine Meve ; in Sweden, 
 Dverg-Mdse, or 'Dwarf Gull'; but in Russia, where it is best 
 known, it is honoured with the distinguished title of Scheik. 
 It is by no means a common bird, even on our coasts : but .1 
 have three undoubted instances of its appearance in Wiltshire, 
 as the Rev. G. Marsh had a specimen in his collection which was 
 killed on a pond at Rodbourne in 1848, and sent to him by Mrs. 
 Pollen. The Rev. George Powell informed me that a very good 
 specimen, in winter plumage, was killed in January, 1869, at 
 Upton Scudamore, near Warminster. It was quite alone when 
 discovered, and had doubtless been driven inland by one of the 
 south-westerly gales which prevailed at that period. And a 
 third was picked up dead on March 28, 1870, on Rockley Down, 
 near Marlborough, as I was informed by the Rev. T. A. Preston, 
 who secured the specimen for the admirable museum which was 
 established by his efforts at Marlborough College. The home of 
 this elegant little bird is in Central and Northern Russia and 
 Siberia, where it is said to congregate in immense colonies and 
 to literally swarm in the air a few feet above the surface of the 
 lakes, like Swallows over a river on a summer's evening, or like 
 mosquitoes, which (as some of my readers may know to their 
 cost, or if not, let them take the word of one who has often and 
 in many lands been driven in by their attacks) hover over their 
 favourite pools in countless myriads.* 
 
 * W. H. Simpson in Ibis for 1861, p. 362. 
 
Black-headed Gull. 531 
 
 224. BLACK-HEADED GULL (Larus ridibundus). 
 
 I consider this to be the most common species of Gull on our 
 British coasts ; and the immense numbers which congregate 
 together for breeding purposes at their well-known haunt, 
 Scoulton Mere, in Norfolk, must be seen to be understood. This 
 is a true cosmopolite, and I have met with it both near the 
 Arctic circle and within the tropics. One specimen I brought 
 home from Nubia, which I shot on the Nile no less than seven 
 hundred miles up the river : and it has been repeatedly found 
 as far from the sea as the lakes of Central Asia. Occasionally it 
 is found in North Wilts, and Mr. Grant has received specimens 
 from Biddestone, near Chippenham, in August, 1873, and a few 
 days later from Cheverell ; and in October, 1878, from Broadleas, 
 near Devizes. It is often seen on Salisbury Plain and on the 
 downs of South Wiltshire, following the ploughman after the 
 manner of Rooks, and greedily devouring the grubs which are 
 thus exposed. For it differs from all its congeners in the 
 localities it frequents, turning its back on the sea and the sea- 
 shore, and preferring freshwater lakes and rivers, and meadows 
 and plains ; and when the breeding season comes, resorting to 
 some chosen inland morass or marsh, and not to the precipitous 
 rocks overhanging the sea, which is the usual nesting-place of 
 the Gulls. The eggs laid by this species vary in colour and in 
 markings more perhaps than those of any other species; and, 
 though they differ from them much in colour and still more in 
 shape, are often sold to the indiscriminating public in London 
 and elsewhere as Plovers' eggs. Perhaps as a salve to the 
 conscience of such fraudulent dealers, this species is provincially 
 called the ' Peewit Gull.' The specific name, ridibundus, ' full 
 of laughter,' in German, Lachmeve ; in French, Mouette rieuse ; 
 in Norsk, Skratt Mdse, are all derived from the hoarse cackling 
 note which is generally supposed to resemble a human laugh. 
 It is also called the ' Sea Crow,' ' Mire Crow,' and ' Blackcap/ 
 Cordeaux says it is an unfailing weather prophet, and that when 
 
 342 
 
532 Laridce. 
 
 it soars high and flies round in circles it is a certain sign of wind 
 and rain within twenty-four hours.* 
 
 225. KITTIWAKE (Larus tridactylus). 
 
 This, too, is a common species on our coasts, though seldom 
 seen in winter; but considering its abundance, it is, though 
 occasionally met with on our downs in summer, by no means a 
 frequent inland visitor. Indeed, its legs are so short that it is 
 unable to run or walk with much freedom. In consequence it 
 is more thoroughly marine in its habits than others of its con- 
 geners, and derives almost all its food from the surface of the 
 sea or the seashore. Also, unlike the species last described, it 
 never breeds on the open ground, but always on the cliffs and 
 precipices which it finds overhanging the sea. However, I have 
 many instances of its occurrence in Wilts. The first was re- 
 corded by Mr. Elgar Sloper as having been picked up dead on 
 the snow in the neighbourhood of Devizes in November, 1847 ; 
 the Marlborough College Natural History Reports mention one 
 killed at Brimslade in 1881 ; Sir H. Meux tells me of another 
 shot at Fylield, near Marlborough ; Lord Heytesbury informs me 
 of a beautiful specimen picked up on his property about ten 
 years ago, and now in the possession of Mr. Henry Swayne, of 
 Heytesbury ; and Mr. Grant's list enumerates no less than sixteen 
 of this species which have come into his hands from the follow- 
 ing places : in 1863, from Lavington ; 1864, from Swindon ; 1865, 
 from Netheravon and Lavington ; 1866, from Tinhead ; 1868, 
 from Stanton ; 1869, from Charlton, Bromham, Chitterne, Wilcot, 
 Edington, Bratton, Bulkington ; 1872, from the Crammer Pond, 
 Devizes ; 1879, from Clatford, killed by Mr. Hussey ; and in 1881, 
 from Enford, killed by Mr. Sargent. It is called tridactylus, 
 and in most Continental languages the equivalent to ' three-toed/ 
 from the imperfect development, almost, I may say, the absence, 
 of a hind toe, which peculiarity at once distinguishes it from the 
 Common and other Gulls of about the same size and colour. 
 Our English word, ' Kittiwake/ is supposed to syllable the note 
 
 ' Birds of the Humber District,' p. 202. 
 
Kittiwake, 533 
 
 it utters, ' Kitti-aa, Kitti-aa,' which, Mr. Seebohm says, imagi- 
 nation likens to ' Get away, get away/ especially when the 
 intruder is near the nest.* Sir R. Payne-Gallwey gives a very 
 graphic account of the preparation of the nest in the breeding 
 season. He says : ' About the beginning of February they may 
 be seen to come and view their old nests to see whether the 
 storms have swept them away. Then they wheel round the 
 caves a few times and depart. Then they squabble over any 
 nests which may happen to have remained intact since the 
 previous spring, great chattering and disputing going on all the 
 while. Nodding and chattering ends in biting and fighting, in 
 violent struggles, often in clinging together, and falling and 
 rolling sometimes a hundred feet into the sea below. Laying 
 the foundation of a nest is an important and anxious piece of 
 architecture. Wet clay is brought and placed on the small 
 projecting piece of rock, often not more than six inches square. 
 Each time a fresh supply is fetched and laid down it undergoes 
 a process of hardening and consolidating by the little black feet 
 of the builder. Round and round he tramps, here a little and 
 there a little. If, as is sometimes the case, he has not room to 
 make a complete circuit, by reason of his tail striking the wall 
 of cliff, up and down he pats it smooth, now more clay, now 
 grass, then sea-weed, more tramping, and the nest is ready.'f in 
 France it is Mouette tridactyle ; in Italy, Gabbiano terragnala e 
 galetra ; in Sweden, Tre-tdig Mdse, ' Three-toed Gull ' ; but in 
 Portugal, in common with several other species of Gull, Gaivota. 
 
 226. COMMON GULL (Laws canus). 
 
 I doubt whether this species, numerous though it is, deserves 
 its trivial English name so much &&L.ridibundu8; but, perhaps, 
 in Wiltshire it may fairly be entitled our ' Common Gull.' In 
 the southern parts of the county it is very frequently met with, 
 and I have often seen it in North Wilts passing overhead, or 
 perched on the downs. It is also an indefatigable attendant on 
 
 ' British Birds,' vol. iii., p. 342. 
 
 f ' The Fowler in Ireland,' pp. 169, 270. 
 
534 Laridce. 
 
 the ploughshare, frequenting the interior of the country the 
 greater part of the year in search of worms. The Rev. A. P. 
 Morres says it is very frequently seen flying up and down the 
 river near him, and picking up any refuse matter it can find on 
 the banks. The late Rev. G. Marsh used to say that in South 
 Wilts it obtained the sobriquet of ' Barley Sower.' The Rev. 
 W. C. Lukis kept one alive for some time that was captured at 
 Great Bedwyn in 1854, and was present when another was 
 secured in the parish of Burbage, in March, 1857, during a snow- 
 storm, by which, and the furious gusts of wind which prevailed 
 on that day, it seemed quite overcome and exhausted. Perhaps, 
 too, the same violent gales had driven it from the coast, and it 
 may have been faint from hunger. It is called canus, ' hoary,' 
 from its light-coloured plumage of pure white and pearl gray, 
 than which no Quaker's dress could be more subdued in colour, 
 or more pure and spotless. In France it is Mouttte d pieds 
 bleus; in Italy, Gabbiano mezza mosca, 'Half-gray Gull.' In 
 Sweden it is the Fisk Mdse, or ' Fishing Gull ' ; and in Germany 
 the Sturm Meve, or ' Storm Gull/ though why such a title should 
 be applied to a species which is the first to seek shelter from the 
 coming tempest I know not ; for this species only comes to land at 
 the approach of rough weather at sea, hence the popular rhyme : 
 ' Sea-gull, Sea-gull, sit on the sand, 
 Tis never good weather when you're on the land.' 
 
 Throughout Norway and up to the North Cape, in the interioi 
 as well as on the sea coast, it is found in immense numbei 
 Whatever it may be in Great Britain, it is certainly th< 
 ' Common ' Gull of Northern Europe. 
 
 227. LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL (Larus fuscus). 
 Though common enough on the coast and within a few mile 
 of the sea, this species is generally supposed not to venture ven 
 far from salt water, but yet it certainly does come boldly inlan< 
 both for the food it finds on meadows and pasture lands, and 
 also for breeding purposes; in proof of which I have several 
 instances of its appearance in various parts of our county. The 
 
Lesser Black-backed Gull. 535 
 
 first of which. I have any record was shot many years since in 
 the middle of Salisbury Plain near Tilshead, as I was informed 
 by Mr. George Elgar Sloper. Again the Kev. G. Powell wrote 
 me word in December, 1875, that he had seen a specimen about 
 three months previously, which was said to have been killed in 
 Wilts; and Mr. Grant tells me of nine specimens which have 
 come into his hands for preservation; one killed at Bromham, 
 August 29th, 1865 ; one taken at Wexcombe, near Marlborough, 
 August 30th, 1872; one from Biddestone, near Chippenham, 
 August 12th, 1874; another from Brimslade, and another from 
 Cheverell at about the same date ; in 1876, one from Tilshead 
 and one from Eowde; in 1877, one from Nonsuch ; and in 1879, 
 one from Avebury. It is well called fuscus, as the dark colour 
 of the upper plumage distinguishes it at once from its congeners 
 of the same size : its bright yellow legs also are no less charac- 
 teristic of the species. In France it is known as Ooeland a pieds 
 jaunes ; and in Germany as Gelbfussige Meve ; but in Sweden 
 this species is Sill-Mdse, or the ' Herring Gull.' As Harting well 
 observes : ' Gulls appear to be longer in arriving at maturity of 
 plumage than perhaps any other class of birds. Many species 
 of birds attain the adult plumage after the first moult; but most, 
 if not all of the Gulls, pass three years in a state of gradual 
 transition before they display the colours of their parents.'* 
 
 228. HERRING GULL (Larus argentatus). 
 This is the commonest of all the species of Gulls on the 
 southern and western shores of England, and with the Black- 
 backed and some other species frequents the newly- ploughed 
 land for grubs: and Montagu says it will trample the ground 
 upon the same spot, turning about in all directions to make the 
 worms emerge ; and Selby attributes to it a like movement on 
 the sand, in order to bring to the surface the shrimps and worms 
 from beneath. It is a sad pilferer of its neighbour's goods, and 
 is sometimes called the ' Egg-Gull,' from its habit of devouring 
 the eggs of other sea birds. Its note is a wild cry or hoarse 
 ' Birds of Middlesex,' p. 261. 
 
536 Laridcc. 
 
 laugh, and when its ringing shriek is heard, it is the signal of 
 alarm to other birds, and puts them on the alert. Sir R Payne- 
 Gallwey says this species takes five years to obtain maturity 
 of plumage. The specific name argentatus, 'silvery white/ 
 sufficiently describes its light-coloured dress, as do the French 
 Goeland cendre, the German Weissgraue Meve, and the 
 Swedish Grd Trut ; but, as with ourselves, the Italians mark 
 its fishing propensities, and call it Pescatore. The Rev. A. P. 
 Morres has often seen these birds passing overhead in the 
 neighbourhood of Salisbury. Air. Baker has often found them 
 near Mere. I am informed by Mr. Stratton, of Gore Cross Farm, 
 in the parish of Market Lavington, that he has killed this bird 
 on his own land on the downs ; and that he has often seen them 
 passing over his fields, and wondered whither they were going, 
 for they always flew in the same direction, viz., to the north, so. 
 he conjectured they were making for Gloucester and the Severn. 
 On January 23rd, 1885, an immature specimen, in the plumage 
 of Bewick's ' Wagel,' was sent me for identification by the Rev. 
 T. A. Preston. It was shot close to Marl borough; and. Lord 
 Methuen tells me there is a stuffed specimen at Corsham Court, 
 which was shot on the waters there. 
 
 229. GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL (Larus marinus). 
 
 This, the largest of all the British Gulls, is sparingly scattered 
 round the coast of Britain, but on the mud-flats on the shores of 
 the Wash in Norfolk I have seen it in some numbers, and a 
 giant indeed it looks amongst its congeners, as big and master- 
 ful, and conspicuous among the smaller Gulls, as the Crane when 
 stalking amidst the smaller waders on the sand-banks of the 
 Nile. Moreover, it is a bully and a robber, overpowering any 
 weaker animal, fish, flesh, or fowl, within its reach, and purloining 
 eggs whenever it can find them : for it is of voracious appetite, 
 to which nothing comes amiss, and has well been designated 
 ' the Scavenger of the Shore.' Its flight, though easy and 
 buoyant, and even majestic, is decidedly slow, as are all the 
 movements of this overgrown species. Its note is very loud and 
 
Great Black-backed Gull. 537 
 
 harsh, a sort of rough barking noise or a hoarse laugh. It is 
 also most wary and suspicious of danger, and is not easy of 
 approach. Sir R. Payne-Gallwey says : ' Black-blacked Gulls 
 are as " Vultures of the Sea," and scent plunder from afar. They 
 will attack a disabled Wigeon or Teal, and tear it in pieces in a 
 few seconds, ripping open the breast as with a knife. They may 
 be often seen to lift their prey with the bill, a few yards into the 
 air, only to let it fall. They would like to carry it to the land to 
 feast at leisure, but their feet not being formed for grasping, they 
 cannot retain a hold of their capture.'* In Kent and Essex it is 
 called c Cob,' from its large size, after the same rule by which we 
 call a large species of nut a Cob-nut, and a big pony a Cob, etc. 
 In Sussex it is called the ' Parson Gull,' from a supposed resemb- 
 lance in its black and white plumage to the hood and surplice of 
 a clergyman. In Sweden, too, it is generally known as the Prost, 
 or 'Deacon,' as its dress is said to resemble the attire of a 
 Lutheran priest in full canonicals, or as some wickedly declare 
 from its lugubrious voice ! The Rev. A. P. Morres has several 
 times seen them flying overhead at some elevation, both in his 
 own parish and quite recently at Clarendon, when they were at 
 no very great height above him. Mr. Grant has received at 
 various times three specimens of this fine Gull for preservation ; 
 one from Wootton Bassett, on July 24th, 1873 ; another from 
 Bromham, July 30th of the same year ; and the third on August 
 27th, 1874, from Cheverell. In France it is Gdeland a manteau 
 noir ; in Germany, Mantel Meve, ' Cloak Gull ' ; in Sweden, Hajs 
 Trut, ' Sea Trut.' 
 
 230. COMMON SKUA (Lestris cataractes). 
 
 The robber Gulls, of which this is the more common species, 
 may be distinguished from their more honest peaceful brethren, 
 described above, by the formidable hooked beak and strong- 
 crooked talons with which they are armed, and with which they 
 are able to hold fast the prey they have seized, and to tear it in 
 pieces while so holding it. In these respects they resemble the 
 ' The Fowler in Ireland,' p. 88. 
 
538 Laridce. 
 
 raptorial birds which stand at the head of our list. In habits, 
 too, they are persecuting and exacting, for no sooner do they 
 behold their quieter congeners returning from their fishing 
 excursions, than they give instant chase, and do not desist from 
 harassing their unoffending fellows till they have compelled 
 them to disgorge the fish they have swallowed, and which they 
 seize before it reaches the water, and carry off in triumph. They 
 are known as ' Parasitic Gulls,' because they are supported on 
 the food procured by other Gulls; and 'Brown Gulls,' from 
 their prevailing colour ; while the generic name, lestris, ' robber,' 
 aptly describes them. They are called ' Skua Gulls ' because the 
 cries they utter are supposed to resemble the syllables ' Skui.' 
 They are natives of the Arctic regions, and are often found in 
 very high latitudes. Their flight is performed by a succession of 
 jerks, and is strong and rapid, as indeed is indispensable for 
 such marauders. They are so fierce and bold that they will 
 attack any animal bird or beast and even man, if he should 
 intrude upon their nests ; and they will kill and prey upon 
 other Gulls, splitting open their heads with a single blow of their 
 powerful beak, and rending them in pieces with their crooked 
 talons. Mr. Morres well observes that they ought to be called 
 the 'Bullies of the Sea.' In some respects they show much 
 affinity with the Petrels. 
 
 I have several instances of the occurrence of this bird in 
 Wiltshire : one which I saw in the hands of Mr. Withers, taxider- 
 mist at Devizes, in December, 1857, and which had just been 
 killed by Mr. Hooper, of Lavington, and which Mr. Withers de- 
 scribed to me as the ' Black Gull ' ; another of which the Rev. 
 George Powell wrote me an account, shot at Heytesbury in 
 September, 1863, by Mr. O'Brien, son-in-law of Lord Heytesbury, 
 while partridge-shooting, and which proved to be a young 
 female. Since which Lord Heytesbury tells me a second 
 specimen has been killed in his water-meadows within the last 
 four or five years. Another was also seen in a field of Mr. 
 Norman Wentworth's at Avebury, with a broken wing, and 
 attacked by a number of rooks, in January, 1872, and was 
 
Richardson's Skua. 539 
 
 brought to Mr. Grant for preservation. It measured four feet 
 six inches across the wings, and 23 inches in length, and weighed 
 3 Ib. And a fifth specimen was caught in my own parish of 
 Yatesbury, by Mrs. Tanner's shepherd, at the latter end of 
 August, 1882. It appeared to have been wounded, and was 
 unable to rise from the ground. It was preserved at Calne, and is 
 now in the possession of Mr. Munday, late bailiff to Mrs. Tanner. 
 The Marlborough College Natural History Reports mention 
 one seen in that neighbourhood in 1882 ; and Mr. Grant tells me 
 of one killed at Wedhampton in 1861, and of another taken at 
 Swindon in May, 1864. The Rev. A. P. Morres was informed by 
 Mr. White, the taxidermist of Salisbury, that one of these birds 
 was picked up on the downs at Orcheston St. Mary, by Mr. Mills, 
 on October 31st, 1882. The same species is found in the Southern 
 Ocean, where it is known as the ' Cape Hen ' of the sealers, and 
 the ' Port Egmont Hen ' of Captain Cook, and displays the same 
 fierce daring disposition as with us.* By Yorkshire fishermen 
 it is called the ' Morrel Hen/ and by others the ' Sea Eagle,' on 
 account of its boldness in attack and its violence. It is called 
 cataractes from its habit of rushing down on its prey like a 
 cataract, Latinized from the Greek /carappd/cTr)?. In France it 
 is Stercoraire cataracte or Le Gdeland brun ; and in Sweden, 
 Stor Labbe, ' Great Labbe.' 
 
 231. RICHARDSON'S SKUA (Lestris crepidatiui). 
 
 Sometimes called L. Richardsonii, sometimes L. parasiticus, 
 and sometimes L. arcticus; but inasmuch as all the Skua Gulls 
 are visitors to Arctic regions, and parasitic in their habits, such 
 specific names are only confusing. It is called crepidatus, 
 'wearing sandals,' from its parti- coloured feet, but this pecu- 
 liarity of yellow legs and black toes belongs to the immature 
 bird only. With equally little reason it is sometimes called the 
 'Black-toed Gull.' More characteristic and more appropriate, 
 because they refer to the long and slender tail feathers which 
 belong to the adult bird, are the Continental names for this 
 Button in Ibis for 1865, p. 277, and for 1867, p. 185. 
 
540 Laridw. 
 
 species, as in France, Le Stercoraire d tongue queue; in Germany, 
 Struntmeve, ' Tail-Gull ' ; in Italy, titercorario di coda longa ; in 
 Sweden, Spets Stjertad Labbe, or ! Pointed-Tailed Labbe.' Bishop 
 Pontoppidan, when speaking of this bird, calls it Jo-tyv, or ' Jo- 
 thief,' and says it is an enemy to all other birds. The fishermen 
 and sailors on our coasts call it the ' Boatswain,' or ' Bo'sun,' as, 
 indeed, they call almost all birds with pointed tails, because 
 they carry their ' marline-spike,' the boatswain's emblem of office 
 in the merchant service, as is the whistle in the navy.* Else- 
 where it is called the 'Teazer,' which is very appropriate. In 
 its mode of flight, persecution of birds of inferior power, and 
 thievish propensities, it resembles its congener described above. 
 It is not by any means uncommon on our coasts all round the 
 island, though, of course, more abundant as we advance towards 
 the north, for its home is in the Arctic regions, and Sir E. Parry 
 found it as high as 82 north latitude. I have the pleasure of 
 adding this species to the Wiltshire list on the authority of Mr. 
 Baker, for he reports a specimen killed at Heytesbury in October, 
 1879, which he had an opportunity of examining at the bird- 
 stuffer's at Warminster, and pronounced it an immature bird, 
 the two central tail-feathers not having been developed. And 
 I have since learned from the Marlborough College Natural 
 History Reports that a specimen was shot near Martinsell in 
 1881. 
 
 232. MANX SHEARWATER (Puffinus anglorum). 
 
 The Petrels are at once recognisable by their peculiar beaks, 
 which are very much curved, arched, and hooked towards the 
 point, and also furrowed and indented and furnished with 
 tubular nostrils, through which they can eject at will a quantity 
 of oil, and for which latter valuable article they are highly 
 prized by the hardy natives of the Western Isles of Scotland. 
 Their legs are placed far backwards, which facilitates their 
 singular practice of running along the surface of the waves in 
 
 * Fourth edition of Yarrell's ' British Birds,' vol. iii., p. 683. 
 
Manx Shearwater. 541 
 
 search of food * but on land they can neither stand nor walk 
 upright, but shuffle along on the breast. They are true birds of 
 the ocean, and, I may say, birds of the storm : for during the 
 darkest nights and the most tempestuous weather they may be 
 descried following in the wake of the ship in ease and comfort, 
 skimming along the surface of the water, and even resting in 
 the greatest composure in the most tremendous seas. Their 
 principal food is fat or whatever floating animal substance they 
 can find which is reducible to oil. The Manx Shearwater, 
 though rarely seen on the eastern, is abundant on the western 
 coasts of England ; but from its habit of passing the day in the 
 holes or burrows where it breeds, and only sallying forth by 
 night, it is not very generally met with. When on land they 
 sit very nearly in an upright position. This bird is not in 
 reality a Puffin, nor does it even belong to the same family as 
 , the well-known grotesque species which we know so well under 
 that name ; but it has come to be generally recognised as 
 Puffinus from Willoughby having called it ' the Puffin of the 
 Isle of Man ' : nor, indeed, has it special claims of Manx citizen- 
 ship beyond the fact that the western coasts of Great Britain are 
 the localities it chiefly affects. But it retires to the Mediter- 
 ranean for the winter. This is the species so numerous on the 
 Bosphorus, where long files of them are ever flying through the 
 channel, an up and down train several hundred yards in length 
 being often in sight at the same time. These are commonly 
 believed to be the dmes damne'es of Sultanas who got the sack 
 under the old regime.^ I am aware of but two specimens 
 having made their appearance in Wiltshire, one that was taken 
 by a boy at Market Lavington from a hole in a hayfield and 
 carried to Mr. Elgar Sloper at Devizes ; and the second, as Mr. 
 Thomas Kemm informed me, taken by his son at Avebury alive, 
 but apparently wounded, early in September, 1879. In France 
 it is Petrel Manx and Le Puffin cendre" ; in Norway, Skrapa ; 
 and in Spain, Baltridja, and in some parts Virot; but, from 
 
 Selby's ' Illustrations of British Ornithology/ vol. ii., p. 527. 
 f W. H. Simpson in Ibis for 1861, p. 366. 
 
542 Laridce. 
 
 their habit of dashing hither and thither in the gloom of night, 
 they are known to the Malaga fishermen as 'Animas' and 
 < Diablos.'* 
 
 233. WILSON'S PETREL (Thalassidroma oceanica). 
 
 The Petrels are at once to be distinguished by their remark- 
 able beak, which differs from that of all other birds ; and they 
 possess the power of squirting from their tubular nostrils a 
 clear liquid oil. They are of very rapid flight, and, though far 
 separated in all respects from that family, bear a general re- 
 semblance in appearance and colour to the Swallows, whence 
 Temminck called them Petrels Hirondelles. They are of nocturnal 
 habits, remaining underground in the holes t where they breed 
 during the day, for bright daylight seems to overpower them, 
 and they abhor the brilliant sunshine : and they come forth in 
 the evening to fly with astonishing speed over the waves. 
 Stormy weather, however, attended as it generally is with a 
 darkened sky, tempts them forth in the daytime : and hence 
 they are looked upon by superstitious sailors as the harbingers, 
 if not the promoters, of a tempest, and are hated by them 
 accordingly.-f- The scientific name, thalassidroma, sufficiently 
 describes the habit of the species which compose this genus of 
 running on the surface of the waves ; whence, too, their English 
 and French name of ' Petrel ' is derived, in allusion to the in- 
 cident narrated in the Gospels, of the Apostle St. Peter walking 
 on the water. Wilson's Petrel is one of our rarest British birds, 
 but three or four specimens alone having been obtained in this 
 country. It is therefore with especial gratification that I am 
 able to record, on the unimpeachable testimony of the late 
 Rev. G. Marsh, that a fine specimen of this bird was picked up 
 dead from exhaustion in Sutton Benger Mead in November, 
 1849. The labourer who found it took it home to his cottage, 
 with the intention of taking it to the Vicarage ; but on his wife 
 persuading him that it was only a Swift, he threw it out into 
 
 * Howard Saunders in Ibis for 1871, p. 401. 
 f Zoologist for 1859, p. 6192. 
 
Forked-tailed Petrel 543 
 
 the road. But happily another labourer passed by, who had a 
 better knowledge of ornithology ; and satisfied in his own mind 
 that a Swift did not possess webbed feet, he picked it up and 
 brought it to Mr. Marsh, doubtless to the ultimate satisfaction 
 of both of them. So nearly, however, was this most rare and 
 most valuable specimen being lost. There were no remarkable 
 gales blowing at that time, but it was observed that it was just 
 previous to a long-continued frost. It may be distinguished 
 from its congeners by the superior length of leg and by the 
 absence of a hind toe ; and Mr. F. Godman, who fell in with this 
 species at the Azores, observed that in flying they carry their 
 legs stretched straight out behind them, and their feet protruded 
 about an inch beyond the tail, producing the effect of two long 
 feathers.* The name of oceanica, ' belonging to the open sea/ 
 is very applicable, for when ships have advanced into the broad 
 Atlantic, hundreds of miles from shore, this little bird has often 
 been seen careering in headlong flight among the great waves, 
 or sheltering itself from the violence of the wind under the lee 
 of the vessel. 
 
 234. FORKED-TAILED PETREL (Thalassidroma Leachii). 
 
 This species is considerably larger than the Common Storm 
 Petrel, which otherwise in general appearance and habits it very 
 much resembles. The forked tail, too, from which it derives its 
 name, at once distinguishes it, and its shorter legs separate it 
 from the species last described. Like the other Petrels, this 
 bird is seldom seen at sea but in tempestuous weather, in which 
 it appears to rejoice; and yet, after severe gales, it is often 
 picked up dead far inland, as if unable to withstand the violence 
 of the wind, and, driven far from its native haunts, perishes 
 miserably of starvation. In the Zoologist for 1866, p. 101, Mr. 
 Henry Blackmore records the occurrence of two specimens of 
 this somewhat rare species near Salisbury, one of which was 
 picked up on the 27th of October, 1859, by a railway porter on 
 the Great Western Railway, two miles from the city, having 
 * Ibis for 1866, p. 104. 
 
544 Laridce. 
 
 apparently met its death by flying against the wires of the 
 electric telegraph ; the other was supposed to have been killed in 
 the same manner, as it was also found near the railway embank- 
 ment with its wing broken on the 25th of November, 1866, at 
 East Grimstead, near Salisbury. I learn from Mr. Grant that on 
 January 10th, 1867, a specimen was brought to him which had 
 been taken at Pewsey. On March 21st, 1876, a note from 
 Major Spicer, of Spye Park, informed me that about six weeks 
 previously his keeper had picked up between the house and the 
 stable a specimen quite dead, which he conjectured must have 
 been blown off the sea by a gale of wind and starved to death, 
 for it was in an emaciated condition. In December, 3884, I 
 received the fifth Wiltshire specimen, sent me for identification 
 by Rev. T. A. Preston, which had been picked up dead in 
 Savernake Forest by one of the keepers on November 28th of 
 that year. In France it is, as in the old scientific name, Pttrel 
 de Leach; but by modern ornithologists it is now commonly 
 called leucorrhoa, from Xiyxo'f, ' white,' and S^o?, ' the rump,' 
 from its white hinder parts. 
 
 235. STORM PETREL (Thalassidroma pelagica). 
 
 The last bird on the British list is also the smallest of the 
 Order of Swimmers, and this is the Common Petrel, which is 
 known to all, and which sailors have designated as 'Mother 
 Carey's Chicken,' ' Little Witch,' and a variety of other appella- 
 tions indicative of the superstitious awe they feel towards these 
 innocent little birds, which, as I said above, they consider not 
 only the forerunners of stormy weather, but the actual cause and 
 origin of the tempest. It is true that all the Petrels are more 
 often seen during the prevalence of gales than in calms ; and 
 they seem thoroughly to enjoy the most boisterous weather, 
 when they will skim over the crested waves, patting them with 
 their feet as they run over the surface, or fly down into the 
 hollows of the great waves and then up and over some gigantic 
 billow, in evident delight at the storm of elements raging around. 
 Sometimes they will stand for a moment on the summit of a 
 
Storm Petrel. 545 
 
 billow, with wings expanded, while they pick up some dainty 
 morsel at top of the wave, for they procure all their food from 
 the surface of the sea ; but they seldom alight on the water for 
 swimming, and they are quite incapable of diving. Considering 
 their thorough appreciation of angry weather, it is strange how 
 many specimens are annually picked up either dead or in a 
 dying, exhausted condition, during stormy weather in inland 
 districts, as if buffeted to death by the violence of the gale. 
 Possibly it may be that, driven from their proper element, they 
 are faint from starvation, and so unable to contend against the 
 fury of the wind ; at all events, not an autumn passes without 
 many such casualties to the Storm Petrel occurring in our 
 inland counties. In Wiltshire I had a notice from my friend 
 the Rev. W. C. Lukis of a specimen picked up dead by a labour- 
 ing man, in the parish of Ludgershall, in November, 1859. Mr. 
 Grant reports a specimen found at Cherrington, November 9, 
 1863. The Rev. Townley Dowding, then Vicar of Marlborough, 
 told me that in April, 1865, he distinctly saw a bird of this 
 species fly to a portion of the Kennet at the foot of his garden, 
 where it remained some five minutes dabbling in the water, then 
 flew off, and alighted again a short distance farther down the 
 stream ; and lastly, as a fitting conclusion to this long catalogue 
 of Wiltshire birds, wherein I have derived so much assistance 
 from the records furnished me by my late lamented friend, the 
 Rev. George Marsh, I mention a specimen of which he informed 
 me, which was picked up dead at Somerford Parva in the year 
 1830, which had evidently died from exhaustion, and which was 
 preserved by Mr. Wightwick, of Brinkworth, but subsequently 
 became moth-eaten, and no longer exists. 
 
 If Wilson's Petrel deserved the name of oceanica, certainly 
 this species is no less entitled to pelagica, 'belonging to the 
 open sea ;' for what can be more truly oceanic than this little 
 bird, which, as Montagu says, alone of the feathered creation 
 dares venture so far from shore as the middle of the Atlantic 
 Ocean, where it appears to find subsistence, and only retires 
 during the breeding season? From its enjoyment of rough 
 
 35 
 
546 Laridce. 
 
 weather it has derived its name in most countries. With us it 
 is the 'Storm Petrel ;' in France, Pttrel tempete ; in Germany, 
 Kleinster Sturm vogel ; in Sweden, Liten Storm Svala, l Little 
 Storm Swallow ; in Portugal it is Alma de mestre, ' Soul of the 
 Master.' Among Norwegian fishermen it is known as Lever-Lars, 
 or ' Liver-Laurentius/ because, being of a fearless nature, it 
 approaches cl6se to the fishing boats in the North Sea, and 
 greedily devours the offal, and especially the fish-liver, which is 
 thrown overboard. Bishop Pontoppidan calls it Hav Hest, or 
 ' the Sea-horse/ and gives a most singular portrait as well as a 
 marvellous account of it. In 1756, in County Kerry, this bird, 
 of all others, was esteemed a delicacy for the table, and was 
 named the 'Irish Ortolan.' There is certainly no accounting 
 for taste ; but it must have been a very strong and a very oily 
 morsel. 
 
 With this pretty little species I close the list of birds which 
 have appeared within the County of Wilts. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 ON MIGRATION. 
 
 I HAVE already remarked that there is almost always migration 
 going on amongst our feathered tribes, sometimes on a large, but 
 generally on a small scale ; sometimes across the sea and for long 
 distances, but more often from one inland district to another, or 
 from the interior of our island to the sea coast. And the principal 
 motive which impels this so frequent movement, and urges the 
 restless flocks to pass on to pastures new, is not altogether, as 
 many suppose, the inclemency of weather, or the extremes of heat 
 and cold, but the profusion or the scarcity of the food upon 
 which their very being depends. See the countless troops of 
 little warblers which as soon as the warm days of spring waken 
 vegetation, and quicken into life the insect hordes arrive on 
 our shores, and soon spread themselves over this island, revisit- 
 ing each its own old haunt of former years, the. native place 
 where it was reared, maybe ; or mark the vast flocks of birds 
 which, taking leave of us in the spring, penetrate to distant 
 northern lands, there to spend the short but brilliant summer 
 within the Arctic Circle ; and in either case their arrival coincides 
 with the development of countless myriads of insects which are 
 absolutely essential to the very existence of their young. None 
 but those who have visited those northern lands can have any 
 notion of the immense quantities of gnats and mosquitoes which 
 literally cloud the atmosphere ; and, revelling in perpetual sun- 
 shine, with no chills of night to check their increase, they make 
 the most of the few months of continuous daylight, and abound 
 in the greatest profusion. To the unhappy traveller, indeed, 
 
 352 
 
 
548 On Migration. 
 
 they are a source of perpetual irritation and annoyance, to a 
 degree scarcely to be conceived by those who have not ex- 
 perienced it ; but to the birds which resort in such numbers to 
 those sequestered breeding-places, what an inexhaustible store of 
 the food best suited to their tender brood ! In a very much less 
 degree indeed numerically, but perhaps, in proportion to the 
 birds which breed in this inland district, not so far behind, are 
 the insects which spring forth into life with the warm days of 
 early summer, and which afford an ample supply of the food 
 they need, not only to the soft-billed Warblers which fill our 
 coppices and gardens in spring, but to the hard-billed Finches 
 and others, whose tender young equally require an insect diet 
 during the days of their dependence on their parents, while they 
 are yet confined to the nest. The profusion or scarcity of food, 
 then, is, I believe, the chief motive which regulates the migration 
 of birds, which also leads them to abound at one time in, and to 
 absent themselves altogether at another from, their favourite 
 haunts. But I do not say it is the only motive. The Warblers, 
 which come to us in the spring, would doubtless be led to seek 
 their breeding quarters in a temperate climate, more suitable to 
 their nature than the hotter latitudes wherein they passed the 
 winter. Those species, too, which leave us in the spring for the 
 far North, are doubtless attracted in some measure by the solitude 
 of the districts they frequent, where they can breed undisturbed 
 by the presence of man. But when the short Arctic summer is 
 ended, and the frosts of early winter paralyse the insect hordes, 
 then the parent birds lead their now full-fledged young to a more 
 genial climate in the South ; while our less hardy Warblers in 
 like manner move off with their broods to warmer latitudes. It 
 is very wonderful, indeed, if we reflect upon it, how such diminu- 
 tive creatures, so short- winged, so light, and so feeble, as some 
 are (the Golden-crested Regulus for instance), can prolong their 
 flight, as we know they do, over the Northern Sea ; or how others, 
 equally unfitted, as we should suppose, for so long a journey (the 
 Willow Warblers for example), pass on every autumn to the 
 interior of Africa, to return again to Wiltshire the following 
 
On Migration. 549 
 
 spring ! Whether they rise to a great height and are carried 
 along by currents in the upper atmosphere, how they find their 
 way, and how they steer their course, for the most part so un- 
 erringly, are some of the many problems connected with migra- 
 tion upon which we are as yet but little informed. So im- 
 possible, indeed, did migration to distant lands seem to our older 
 writers on ornithology, including even the accurate Gilbert 
 White of Selborne, that they had recourse to the utterly unten- 
 able hypothesis that the Swallows and their compagnons de voyage 
 resorted to the reed-beds as autumn drew on, and hibernated at 
 the bottom of rivers ! not to revive and seek the upper air until 
 the entire winter had passed away and spring had returned ! A 
 wider experience and the observations of naturalists in other 
 countries have taught us whither our summer visitors betake 
 themselves, so that we can trace them on leaving our coasts to 
 the warm districts of North Africa, and see many of them pro- 
 longing their journey to the equator and even beyond it. More 
 and more marvellous, indeed, does this seem, when we recollect 
 the feeble flight of some diminutive Warbler, as it flits across one 
 of our meadows in Wiltshire from one hedge to another ; or the 
 laboured flapping of wings when some short-winged species 
 hurries off at its greatest speed, when suddenly alarmed. And 
 yet, by some means or other, when the season for migration 
 comes round, the diminutive and the feeble, the short-winged 
 and the heavy-bodied, generally collect into flocks or parties and 
 move off in a body, and in due course reach their destination. 
 Much of their journey ings necessarily takes place at night ; 
 but neither darkness, nor fogs, nor storms unless of unusual 
 violence nor wind, nor rain, nor anything else seems to baffle 
 them. On they go with unerring instinct, straight for the 
 point they desire to reach ; and generally, and within a very 
 few days of their usual appearance, they may be found in tlieir 
 old familiar haunts, as much at home as if they had never been 
 absent. How they know the direction, by what intuitive percep- 
 tion they steer their course so accurately, is another problem in 
 reference to migration which we cannot explain ; and this incom^ 
 
550 On Migration. 
 
 prehensible act reaches its climax when we consider that some 
 (the young Cuckoos for example) have to make the long journey 
 alone and for the first time, with no parents to show them the 
 way, for they have long ago departed; and yet the young 
 Cuckoos, too, somehow make out the route to be taken, and these, 
 too, arrive at their destination in due course. 
 
 To return again to the vicissitudes of weather which they must 
 encounter, on which I have briefly touched. Think of tho 
 furious gales, the torrents of rain, the pelting hail, the scorching 
 suns, they must at various periods of their travel meet with : how 
 can such frail bodies, supported by such tiny wings, endure such 
 tremendous assaults of the elements, and survive amid such 
 difficulties and dangers ? I make but small account of the 
 excessive cold to which in their passage they must often be ex- 
 posed, because I conceive that most birds are capable of enduring 
 a very low temperature without inconvenience. And I am not 
 disposed to make too much of rain-storms, because I have a 
 notion that most birds on migration ascend to a great altitude, 
 above the clouds, where they probably meet with currents of air 
 which waft them in the required direction. But even if we allow 
 them these advantages, they have difficulties enough to contend 
 against. That many species keep together in the flock in which 
 they started, and do not lose one another on the darkest of nights, 
 by means of the perpetual clamour they keep up, is certain, for 
 the cry of a migrating host may be often heard as it passes over- 
 head ; and it is not improbable that the smaller species in like 
 manner communicate to one another their mutual positions by 
 twitterings and call-notes peculiar to themselves. 
 
 But, however successful their passage, that they are generally 
 exhausted when they reach the land, and drop down to rest in 
 the nearest available cover, is well known to all who are favourably 
 situated for observing them, on our eastern and southern coasts 
 more especially. The Quail which I mentioned above* as having 
 dropped down in my garden at Mentone, after a passage over the 
 Mediterranean from Africa, and suffered itself to be taken up in 
 
 * Supra, p. 336. 
 
Oil Migration. 551 
 
 the hand, having apparently no further strength left for self-pre- 
 servation, is the greatest proof I ever saw of such utter prostra- 
 tion after a prolonged journey : but similar accounts are con- 
 stantly given by those who have witnessed on our eastern coasts 
 the arrivals from Northern Europe. Vast numbers, too, un- 
 doubtedly perish in the sea, unable to prolong their flight when 
 adverse winds have buffeted them beyond their powers of endur- 
 ance ; so that though they must depart when the restless spirit 
 of migration seizes on them in spring and autumn, it is a perilous 
 path which they are pursuing, beset with many difficulties and 
 dangers, and oftentimes a fatal path which only leads to a watery 
 grave. The great bulk, however, of our migratory birds does, I 
 suppose, succeed in the enterprise, and arriving here from the 
 South, or departing hence for the North, all are busy during the 
 six months of spring and summer with their nurseries, and then 
 the return journeys are entered upon, when in most cases their 
 numbers are much increased by the vast flocks of young which 
 accompany their parents. 
 
 These few preliminary remarks on the great subject of migra- 
 tion are only intended to introduce a table of our Wiltshire 
 migrants, which may be looked for at their respective dates every 
 year. In preparing this table, and in assigning specified days for 
 the arrival of each species, I have taken considerable pains to 
 arrive at as correct a date as possible, first by careful examination 
 of the notes which I have kept as accurately as I could during 
 the last thirty-five years, both at Yatesbury and at Old Park ; 
 and then by comparing them with similar tables, put forth by 
 other observers in other localities, both within this county and 
 outside it. When I add that in the case of many of the more 
 favourite migrants, I have no less than fifty such tables lying 
 before me, it will be seen that the dates which I assign are not 
 mere guess work, but are corrected by the experience of many 
 other observers similarly employed with myself. It is obvious 
 that these dates of arrival vary with forward and backward 
 seasons, as was to be expected ; but by adding the earliest and 
 latest days on which their first appearance has been recorded in 
 
552 
 
 On Migration. 
 
 the tables before me, I mark the range within which the species 
 under examination^has been first noticed. This, however, is only 
 supplementary to the true date on which each migrant is declared 
 to be due in Wiltshire. 
 
 To proceed, then, with the list of migratory birds in the order 
 of date in which they visit us, omitting occasional and rare 
 visitants, and confining myself to the common regular birds of 
 passage : 
 
 Name of species. 
 
 General date of 
 first arrival. 
 
 Range of first arrival. 
 
 1. Lapwing 
 
 March 2 
 
 Feb. 15 to March 23. 
 
 2. Pied Wagtail 
 
 18 
 
 .. 11 n >, 25. 
 
 3. Wheatear ... 
 
 26 
 
 March 13 April 23. 
 
 4. Chiff chaff 
 
 30 
 
 ii I 1 ii 12- 
 
 5. Wryneck 
 
 April 11 
 
 > 2J ,, ., *5. 
 
 6. Sand Martin 
 
 H 
 
 April 5 May 1. 
 
 7. Nightingale 
 
 15 
 
 5 April 30. 
 
 8. Blackcap Warbler ... 
 
 15 
 
 ii 5 ii ii 28. 
 
 9. Willow Warbler .... 
 
 ,; 16 
 
 >i 2 ,, 28. 
 
 10. Meadow Pipit 
 
 17 
 
 8 May 5. 
 
 11. Redstart 
 
 ti 17 
 
 7 12 
 n *** 
 
 12. Tree Pipit 
 
 ;; is 
 
 n 1 ii 3. 
 
 13. Swallow 
 
 18 
 
 March 28 April 30. 
 
 14. Kay's Wagtail 
 
 , 19 
 
 April 3 May 8. 
 
 15. Martin 
 
 20 
 
 1 3. 
 
 16. Common Cuckoo ... 
 
 22 
 
 )) 1 11 ,) o. 
 
 17. Common Whitethroat 
 
 22 
 
 4 5. 
 
 18. Whinchat 
 
 it 23 
 
 16 9- 
 
 19. Reed Warbler 
 
 23 
 
 n 12 6. 
 
 20. Lesser Whitethroat 
 
 24 
 
 n 12 ,i 11. 
 
 21. Sedge Warbler 
 
 26 
 
 .. 1 ., ,, i . 
 
 22. Garden Warbler ... 
 
 26 
 
 12 15. 
 
 23. Wood Warbler 
 
 , 28 
 
 fi 12 
 
 99 '* 19 l . 
 
 24. Grasshopper Warbler 
 
 May 2 
 
 ii is ii n n- 
 
 25. Turtle Dove 
 
 >. 4 
 
 May 1 June 1. 
 
 26. Night-jar = 
 27. Common Swift 
 
 6 
 ii 6 
 
 April 15 May 25. 
 n 21 31. 
 
 28. Red-backed Shrike 
 
 , 8 
 
 ,, 27 30. 
 
 29. Laud Rail v 
 
 ii 10 
 
 25 28. 
 
 30. Spotted Flycatcher 
 
 11 
 
 9) IJ /* 
 
 ,, 13 31. 
 
 31. Common Snipe 
 32. Jack Snipe ... 
 33. Woodcock ... 
 
 Sept. 15 
 i, 24 
 Oct. 10 
 
 Aug. 12 Oct. 30. 
 Sept. 6 30. 
 14 , 31. 
 
 34. Short-eared Owl ... 
 
 10 
 
 30 21. 
 
 35. Fieldfare ... 
 
 ? J 
 
 ,, 20 
 
 >> ^^ 9> 9J ** 
 
 27 Dec. 13. 
 
 36. Redwing ... 
 
 ., 22 
 
 Oct. 1 Nov. 23. 
 
 37. Merlin 
 38. Golden Plover 
 
 30 
 30 
 
 Sept. 11 21. 
 24 26. 
 
 39. Teal 
 
 )? w 
 
 30 
 
 . 0rv A| . p^m 
 
 7 12 
 
 40. Mountain Finch 
 
 . M vV 
 
 Dec. 8 
 
 n > n " 
 Nov. 19 Dec. 20. 
 
On Migration. 553 
 
 The dates assigned above, upon which the arrival of our 
 commoner migrants may be expected in Wiltshire, will perhaps 
 appear to some to be generally full late ; but whether it is that 
 Wiltshire is colder than most counties, and our migrants in con- 
 sequence defer their arrival here later than elsewhere, which I 
 do not apprehend to be the case ; or whether, as I suspect, 
 exceptionally early dates of first appearance are oftentimes alone 
 remembered by superficial observers, and the ordinary times of 
 arrival are passed by without notice, is a fair subject for inquiry ; 
 but I venture to insist that the only way to insure a correct 
 estimate on this point is by registering dates of arrival with as 
 great accuracy as possible, and comparing such registers after a 
 long series of years. Figures and dates and statistics may be 
 dull, tedious, and prosaic, but in this case they alone will give a 
 true verdict, and enable us to arrive at a right conclusion. 
 The whole question of migration is indeed an exceedingly diffi- 
 cult one ; but great light has been thrown upon it within the 
 last few years through the exertions of a select band of ornitho- 
 logists, deputed by the British Association for the Advancement 
 of Science, to institute inquiries ; and this has now, for several 
 years past, been systematically pursued, not only by the personal 
 observations of men of science specially qualified for the task, 
 but also by enlisting the assistance of those in charge of the 
 lighthouses and lightships, who enjoy extraordinary opportunities 
 of witnessing the migrations of birds. It is, indeed, quite 
 surprising what vast numbers of birds on migration commit 
 involuntary suicide, by dashing themselves against the light- 
 houses, round which vast flocks will occasionally flutter, like 
 moths round a candle, apparently lost in the darkness and 
 unable to tear themselves from the fatal light. To those who 
 are interested in the subject I commend these British Associa- 
 tion Reports on Migration, eight of which have now been 
 published since the Committee began its work; and I would 
 also call attention to a work on ' Bird Migration/ by Mr. William 
 Brewster, President of the Nuttall Ornithological Club, and pub- 
 lished in the Memoirs of that Club in the United States of America. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 ON THE NESTING OF BIRDS IN WILTSHIRE. 
 
 OF all the interesting questions connected with bird life, there 
 is not one which, in my opinion, excites our admiration and 
 astonishment so much as the building of the nest. All the 
 details connected with the preparation of that receptacle for 
 the eggs, and which shall afterwards serve as the nursery for the 
 young brood, show such marvellous skill that we stand amazed 
 as we consider them. Let us take the familiar case of the nest 
 of the common Rook ; awkward enough, and inappropriate as 
 we should suppose, and unwieldy are some of the sticks which 
 we see carried off in the bird's bill to the top of some_lofty elm; 
 but the foundation of the nest must be firmly fixed indeed, 
 buffeted as it will assuredly be, and swayed to and fro, by the 
 equinoctial gales of spring ; and yet these awkward sticks are 
 somehow placed so securely as to defy the fury of the tempest, 
 and enable the nest to ride out in safety the persistent assaults 
 of the high winds of March. If man were to try his hand at 
 building a Rook's nest, and if he were provided only with the 
 materials and the implements which those birds use, I think he 
 would utterly fail in completing a structure which should answer 
 the required purpose and withstand the blasts of wind to which 
 it would be exposed. But the birds, inheriting the instincts of 
 their ancestors, know how to arrange the sticks so securely that 
 they build a firm foundation, and upon it, little by little, prepare 
 the nest which shall conveniently and safely shelter their eggs 
 and afterwards their young. Or take the case of the common 
 
On the Nesting of Birds in Wiltshire. 555 
 
 Wood-pigeon, whose nest we may find in every plantation. As 
 we walk beneath the branch on which it is laid, so flimsy does it 
 seem, so fragile and so slight, that we can positively see the two 
 white eggs through the interstices of the few sticks on which 
 they are laid ; and if we climb up and examine the nest more 
 closely, we marvel to see how flat it is, with no protection at the 
 sides for retaining upon it the eggs, and afterwards the young ; 
 only a slight platform or wicker ledge, from which one would 
 expect the eggs to roll at the slightest stirring of the breeze. 
 But no ; the narrow stage has been found sufficient by hundreds 
 of generations of Wood-pigeons, and precisely the same nest as 
 their ancestors built is prepared by the Wood-pigeons now. 
 
 Next mark the variety of positions for their nests selected by 
 the several species. The Song Thrush chooses a thick bush ; 
 the Blackbird, the bank of a ditch ; the Misseltoe Thrush, the 
 exposed branch of an apple-tree ; the Wheatear seeks a deserted 
 rabbif-burrow, or some other hole in the ground; the White- 
 throat chooses a nettle-bed ; the Spotted Fly-catcher, the 
 support of a beam or rafter ; the Titmouse, a hole in a stump ; 
 the Skylark, the open cornfield ; the House-sparrow, the thatch 
 of a cottage or barn ; the Starling, any hole it can find in the 
 roofs of our houses ; the Rook, the top of an elm-tree ; the Wood- 
 pecker, a hole in the tree-stem; the Nuthatch, a hole in a 
 brick wall ; the Kingfisher, a hole in the river-bank ; the Sand- 
 martin, a hole in a dry sand-quarry ; the Swift, a hole in the 
 church-tower ; the Nightjar, a mere depression of the ground at 
 the foot of a tree ; the Partridge, the meadow where growing 
 crops afford concealment and protection ; the Lapwing, the open 
 cornfield or down ; the Waterhen, a floating bed of rushes ; the 
 Little Grebe, a wet mass of sedge at the margin of the stream. 
 These are but samples of the principal localities which the several 
 species choose, and the list might be very much prolonged ; but 
 enough is given to show how various are the situations adopted 
 by the breeding birds. 
 
 Next let me draw attention to the variety of materials which 
 are sought for by the nest-builders, and these comprise almost 
 
556 On the Nesting of Birds in Wiltshire. 
 
 everything which can be made available which comes within 
 their reach. First we see some species acting as plasterers, 
 preparing their mortar, kneading it, and working it, till it attains 
 the proper consistency, and then daubing it on, not in lumps, but 
 in thin layers ; and like wise builders as they are, suffering one 
 layer to dry and harden before the next is added. As examples 
 of those which in one form or other adopt this material, I 
 instance the Thrushes, the Nuthatches, the Swallows and the 
 Martins. Next come the Weavers, and under this head indeed 
 we may range the great majority of species which have any 
 pretensions to nest-making ; for most birds, whether as regards 
 the fabric of the nest itself, or whether only with reference to its 
 lining, weave the moss and hair and feathers together so cleverly 
 that the result is a smooth and even surface to the walls of the 
 cup-shaped cradle they have so skilfully prepared. Sticks, as 
 we have already seen, and fibrous roots, are often used for founda- 
 tions, and (besides the substances mentioned above) wool and 
 lichens and leaves and grass, stems and cobwebs and the down of 
 various seeds, are brought into requisition, either as lining, or as 
 an outer covering for protection or concealment. 
 
 Then, what opposite views are entertained by the different 
 species of what their nest should be ! The Guillemot and the 
 Razor-bill on the ledge of some sea-cliff, and the Lapwing and 
 the Partridge on the open cornfield, are contented with the bare 
 ground on which to deposit their eggs. The Sand-martin and 
 the Bee-eater have little beyond the smooth surface at the end 
 of the holes they have severally excavated in the sand or the 
 river-bank. The Kingfisher has a nest, if it may be so called, 
 peculiar and indeed unique, composed of the fishbones and 
 indigestible remains of the fishes which it casts up. The Wood- 
 peckers and the Owls want no more than the hole in the tree or 
 the hollow stump where they can deposit their eggs. But the 
 great majority of species are not so easily satisfied. The 
 Thrushes, the Warblers, the Titmice, the Buntings, the Finches, 
 the Crows and the Herons are examples of those which require, 
 each to its own taste, more substantial nurseries, and some of these 
 
On the Nesting of Birds in Wiltshire. 557 
 
 prepare a very elaborate structure, which exhibits no little 
 architectural skill on the part of the artificer. I would instance 
 first the doomed nests of the Common Wren and the Willow 
 Warblers: what warm, snug habitations for their young ; how well 
 protected, how cleverly constructed for shelter and concealment, 
 how softly lined ! Or see the neat, trim nest of the Chaffinch ; how 
 admirably finished off' with its lichen adornments, which serve to 
 impart a resemblance to the branch on which it is placed ! What 
 consummate skill does this compact, pretty nest evince! Mark 
 again the well-constructed nest of the Golden-crested Regulus, sus- 
 pended beneath the branch of some yew-tree or spruce-fir: what a 
 charming receptacle for the smallest eggs we know in the British 
 Isles ! And as a climax of perfection of architectural ingenuity, let 
 me point to the oval nest of the long-tailed Titmouse, with which 
 nothing else can compete for efficient shelter and warmth, as well as 
 for the less substantial virtues of beauty, symmetry, and finish. 
 These are but samples of the various nests which we find around us, 
 and, as we examine them carefully, we cannot fail to be astonished at 
 the excellence of their workmanship, and at the perfect adaptability 
 of each to the object for which it was intended. How the several 
 species succeed so well in producing nests exactly resembling 
 those of their respective ancestors is an interesting question on 
 which I will not here enter. Whether it be by reason, or by instinct, 
 or by hereditary habit, or by imitation, has been discussed at 
 length by advocates of each theory, and to their arguments I would 
 refer my readers.* 
 
 And now I come to the interesting question of the colouring 
 of the eggs. As a rule, those which are not exposed to sight, 
 but are placed in holes in trees, or house roofs, or in banks or in 
 the ground, are either white or so faintly tinted as to be ap- 
 proaching to white, as, for example, those of Owls, Wheatears, 
 Starlings, Woodpeckers, Wrynecks, Kingfishers, Martins, Swifts. 
 With others, again, the colouring of the eggs assimilates in some 
 
 * See especially Wallace's 'Natural Selection,' pp. 211-231; Darwin's 
 ' Descent of Man,' vol. ii., pp. 166-182 ; an admirable chapter by Mr. Charles 
 Dixon, ' On the Protective Colour of Eggs,' in Introduction to vol. ii. of Mr. 
 H. Seebohm's ' British Birds ;' and Canon Tristram in Ibis for 1867, p. 74. 
 
558 On the Nesting of Birds in Wiltshire. 
 
 sort to the general hue of their surroundings. This is curiously 
 the case with the highly coloured eggs of the Ptarmigan, Grouse, 
 and Quail ; with the sombre tints of those of the Sedge-warblers, 
 the Wagtails, Buntings, and Larks ; and especially the mottled 
 marbled eggs of the Nightjar. But with the great majority of 
 the eggs of birds, I should say that the colouring is so conspicu- 
 ous as rather to attract notice, and that not only from man, who 
 is in comparison but dull of sight at the best, but from the 
 pilfering Magpie, Jay, or Carrion Crow, marauders who are ever 
 on the look-out for a meal, such as an unguarded nest of eggs 
 would supply. See the Hedge Accentor, one of the earliest 
 breeders among our commoner birds, whose nest can readily be 
 discerned in early spring in the quickset hedge, as yet destitute 
 of leaves ; can anything be more conspicuous than the bright- 
 blue eggs of that familiar warbler ? See, again, the ruddy eggs 
 of the Redbreast, the speckled eggs of the Willow Wrens, the 
 blue eggs of the Thrush, the brick-red eggs of most of the Falcons, 
 the green eggs of the Crows, the mottled eggs of the Pipits, the 
 Garden Warbler and the Blackcap, the spotted eggs of the 
 Finches, and the blotched eggs of the Crakes ; and it must be 
 admitted that these variously-coloured eggs, however pleasing to 
 the eye of the naturalist, are undoubtedly too conspicuous for 
 safety, unless they are in some way concealed. But in order to 
 protect their eggs from observation, it is the habit with some 
 species on leaving the nest to cover their eggs with leaves, moss, 
 or flags, according to their several surroundings. Familiar in- 
 stances of this we have in the Pheasant, the Partridge, and the 
 Little Grebe. With others, again, the female bird which broods 
 over the nest is of dull and sombre colour, which harmonizes 
 with the tints of the nesting site ; and as long as the eggs are 
 covered by the sitting bird, they are, of course, completely shielded 
 from view. For securing this object, we may notice how many 
 of the hens are of sober, subdued colour when compared with 
 the brilliant plumage of their respective mates : for example, the 
 Blackbird, Chaffinch, Bullfinch, Pheasant, and the whole family 
 of Ducks. 
 
On the Nesting of Birds in Wiltshire. 559 
 
 I proceed now to enumerate the species which have been 
 known to breed in this county ; and the table which I here offer 
 is for the most part that with which I supplied Mr. A. G. More 
 when, in 1864, he was preparing his valuable treatise, 'On the Dis- 
 tribution of Birds in Great Britain during the Nesting Season,'* 
 when he applied to me to furnish him with a list from Wiltshire ; 
 and in compliance with his request, I went carefully into the 
 subject, with a view of contributing as accurate a list as I could 
 draw up. It is a copy of that list, with such additions and 
 modifications as the further experience of the last twenty-three 
 years has given, that I now lay before my readers. Those printed 
 in italics have either altogether ceased to breed in Wiltshire, 
 or have only vary rarely been known to breed within the county. 
 To each of these species I propose to call attention in due course. 
 Let me, however, here remark that, for every nest discovered, there 
 are probably two or three which escape detection ; so that even 
 those species which have only been recognised once or twice as 
 nesting within our borders may possibly'do so somewhat more 
 frequently than is generally supposed. 
 
 1. Peregrine Falcon. That this noble bird used to breed in 
 Wiltshire even so late as the beginning of this century 
 we have seen above; for they had a nest in Wilton Park 
 annually, until driven away by the overbearing Ravens. 
 And that they bred, or attempted to breed, on the spire of 
 Salisbury Cathedral in quite recent years we are also posi- 
 tively assured (see above, p. 70). 
 
 2. Hobby (see p. 73). 
 
 3. Kestrel (see p. 80). 
 
 4. Sparrow Hawk. 
 
 5. Kite. Fifty or sixty years ago the nest of this species was 
 
 well known in Wiltshire (see p. 83, 84), but now, not only is 
 the nest never found amongst us, but the bird, too, is no 
 longer to be seen within the county. 
 
 * Printed in the Ibis for 1865, pp. 1-26, 119-143, 425-458. 
 
560 On the Nesting of Birds in Wiltshire. 
 
 6. Common Buzzard. This bird, once so common, as its trivial 
 name shows, has long ceased to breed in Wilts ; and I 
 have heard of no recent nest within the limits of the county. 
 
 7. Rough-legged Buzzard. I am more fortunate in regard to 
 
 this species ; for in 1882 a pair succeeded in hatching out 
 five young ones near Tisbury (see p. 87). 
 
 8. Hen Harrier. Not many years since, this species used to 
 breed regularly on Salisbury Plain ; and it is not improbable 
 that a nest still may be found in suitable localities; but that 
 it is surely, if gradually, being exterminated from Wilts is 
 only too certain (see p. 94). 
 
 9. Montagu's Harrier. This species, which I believe to have 
 
 bred pretty regularly in Wiltshire in days gone by, still 
 occasionally is found nesting in the county. (See p. 96 for 
 a very interesting account of a nest of this species in the 
 gorse at Fifield Bavant, communicated by Mr. Tyndall 
 Powell.) 
 
 10. Long-eared Owl (see p. 105). 
 
 11. Barn Owl (see p. 109). 
 
 12. Tawny Owl (see p. 112). 
 
 13. Red-backed Shrike (see p. 122). 
 
 14. Spotted Flycatcher (see p. 125). 
 
 15. Missel Thrush (see p. 128). 
 
 16. Song Thrush. 
 
 17. Blackbird. 
 
 18. Ring Ouzel (see p. 139 for the evidence of a nest of this 
 
 species being found near Mere). 
 
 19. Hedge Accentor. 
 
 20. Redbreast. 
 
 21. Redstart (see p. 147). 
 
 22. Stonechat. 
 
 23. Whinchat. 
 
 24. Wheatear (see p. 152). 
 
 25. Grasshopper Warbler (see p. 153). 
 
 26. Sedge Warbler (see p. 154). 
 
 27. Reed Warbler (see p. 155). 
 
On the Nesting of Birds in Wiltshire. 561 
 
 28. Nightingale. 
 
 29. Blackcap Warbler. 
 
 30. Garden Warbler. 
 
 31. Common White throat (see p. 160). 
 
 32. Lesser Whitethroat. 
 
 33. Wood Warbler (see p. 162). 
 
 34. Willow Warbler. 
 
 35. Chiff-chaff. 
 
 36. Dartford Warbler. From the nature of the localities which 
 
 this bird frequents, viz., the thick gorse on the unfrequented 
 downs ; from its retiring, shelter-loving habit of dropping 
 down into concealment in its impervious retreat on the 
 approach of an intruder ; and from the position of its nest 
 in the very thickest part of the densest gorse, there is per- 
 haps no bird which breeds annually in the county whose 
 nest is so seldom found. The patient watcher, however, 
 who will devote time to the task, may by dint of careful 
 and prolonged examination be rewarded by the discovery of 
 the well-concealed nest ; or he may quite as probably, not- 
 withstanding all his labour and patience, go away baffled 
 and disappointed. 
 
 37. Golden-crested Regulus (see p. 168). 
 
 38. Great Titmouse (see p. 170). 
 
 39. Blue Titmouse. 
 
 40. Coal Titmouse. 
 
 41. Marsh Titmouse. 
 
 42. Long-tailed Titmouse (p. 172). 
 
 43. Pied Wagtail (see p. 176). 
 
 44. Gray Wagtail (see p. 178). 
 
 45. Ray's Wagtail. 
 
 46. Tree Pipit (see p. 180). 
 
 47. Meadow Pipit. 
 
 48. Skylark. 
 
 49. Woodlark. 
 
 50. Common Bunting. 
 
 51. Black-headed Bunting. 
 
 36 
 
562 On the Nesting of Birds in Wiltshire. 
 
 52. Yellow Bunting. 
 
 53. Cirl Bunting (see p. 191). 
 
 54. Chaffinch (see p. 193). 
 
 55. House Sparrow. 
 
 56. Tree Sparrow. I am assured that the nest of this species 
 has been found in Wilts ; but I have no personal knowledge 
 of it ; and I confess that I admit it amongst Wiltshire nest- 
 builders with considerable hesitation (see p. 198). 
 
 57. Greenfinch. 
 
 58. Hawfinch (see p. 199). 
 
 59. Goldfinch. 
 
 60. Common Linnet. 
 
 61. Lesser Redpole. This is another species which breeds freely 
 
 in the northern counties of England, but has only on rare 
 occasions been known to nest in this county (see p. 207). 
 
 62. Bullfinch. 
 
 63. Common Starling. 
 
 64. Haven (see pp. 222-232). 
 
 65. Carrion Crow. 
 
 66. Rook (see pp. 238-240). 
 
 67. Jackdaw (see p. 241). 
 
 68. Magpie (see p. 244). 
 
 69. Jay. 
 
 70. Green Woodpecker. 
 
 71. Great Spotted Woodpecker. 
 
 72. Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. 
 
 73. Wryneck (see p. 256). This bird, so common in many parts 
 of England, but very rarely breeds in Wiltshire ; indeed, in 
 the West of England generally, it may almost be considered 
 an accidental straggler. 
 
 74. Common Creeper. 
 
 75. Wren (see p. 261). 
 
 76. Hoopoe. For the very remarkable occurrence of the nest of 
 
 this bird in Wiltshire, I refer to the account given above, 
 - p. 267. 
 
 77. Nuthatch (see" p. 269). 
 
On the Nesting of Birds in Wiltshire. 563 
 
 78. Common Cuckoo (see pp. 272-291). 
 
 79. Kingfisher (see p. 296). 
 
 80. Swallow. 
 
 81. Martin (see p. 305). 
 
 82. Sand Martin (see p. 306). 
 
 83. Common Swift (see p. 308). 
 
 84. Nightjar (see p. 312). 
 
 85. Ring Dove (see p. 318). 
 
 86. Stock Dove (see p. 320). 
 
 87. Turtle Dove. 
 
 88. Pheasant. 
 
 89. Partridge. 
 
 90. Red-legged Partridge. 
 
 91. Quail. 
 
 92. Bustard. Now, alas! extinct; but within less than a hun- 
 dred years a regular breeder on the Wiltshire Downs (see 
 p. 353). 
 
 93. Great Plover (see p. 378). 
 
 94. Lapwing (see p. 387). 
 
 95. Common Heron (see pp. 395-402). 
 
 96. Curlew. Mr. More expresses a doubt whether this bird 
 really breeds in Wiltshire and Dorsetshire, and conjectures 
 that where this has been stated the Stone Curlew (CEdicne- 
 mus crepitans) was mistaken for Numenius arquata ; but, 
 though it is unquestionable that there is often much con- 
 fusion between these two species, I am satisfied, by the 
 assurance of those on whose authority I can rely, that the 
 true Curlew (N. arquata) does occasionally breed on the 
 fallows of the open downs (see p. 413). 
 
 97. Woodcock (see p. 428). 
 
 98. Common Snipe. Occasionally, but rarely, found breeding 
 in Wiltshire. 
 
 99. Land-rail. 
 
 100. Water-rail. 
 
 101. Moor-hen. 
 
 102. Common Coot. 
 
564 On the Nesting of Birds in Wiltshire. 
 
 103. Mute Swan (see p. 472). 
 
 104. Wild Duck. 
 
 105. Teal Occasionally, though rarely, a nest has been found in 
 Wiltshire ; but more frequently in the neighbouring counties 
 of Hants and Dorset. 
 
 106. Little Grebe. 
 
 In addition to those enumerated above, there is a strong pro- 
 bability of the correctness of the information in regard to the breed- 
 ing of two other species in Wiltshire ; but the evidence seemed 
 scarcely strong enough to warrant their insertion in the list of those 
 which have undoubtedly bred within the county. These are : 
 
 Great Grey Shrike (see p. 120). 
 
 Golden Oriole (see p. 140). 
 
 Before I conclude this chapter, I would say a few words on the 
 subject of bird-nesting, for I maintain that if a man should be 
 defined as a ' reasoning animal,' in order to distinguish him from 
 all the rest of the living creatures around him, then with equal 
 aptitude should a boy be designated as a 'bird -nesting animal,' 
 so universal, so innate, so all absorbing is the passion in the mind 
 of a boy for seeking after and finding the nests and eggs of birds. 
 Now, to attempt to prevent boys from bird-nesting altogether would 
 be about as hopeless a task as to try to dissuade the birds them- 
 selves from nesting, migrating, or following out any other instinct 
 of their nature. It would be like trying to turn back the rushing 
 stream towards its source. I, at all events, am not about to 
 attempt any such impossible work ; but still I hope that this 
 chapter may not be without profit, as well as interest, to the 
 youthful part of the inhabitants of Wiltshire, if I try to point out 
 to my younger friends how their hobby may be most advanta- 
 geously as well as pleasantly ridden, not indiscriminately, nol 
 cruelly, not recklessly, but how it may be carried on with the 
 greatest delight to themselves and the least injury to the birds 
 they love so well. For it is not, be it remarked, the more intelli- 
 gent collector of eggs who does the mischief, for he requires no 
 more than four or five of a species for his collection, which are all 
 
On the Nesting of Birds in Wiltshire. 565 
 
 the better specimens if they are selected separately, one from a 
 nest. But it is the indiscriminate glutton, who with senseless 
 recklessness destroys wholesale, his only object being to amass 
 great numbers of eggs on a string, amongst which he knows 
 no difference, pretends to no order or arrangement, and who 
 rejoices in quantity, without reference to variety. He it is who L c 
 such an enemy to the whole feathered race, and his plunderings 
 of eggs can only be characterized as heartless and selfish, and 
 denounced for their cruelty. But for him who desires to make a 
 collection of real value and interest, I offer a few remarks, and I 
 venture to lay down certain broad rules which should be rigidly 
 adhered to. 
 
 1. First, let it be thoroughly understood and determined that 
 any egg, however handsome in appearance, rich in colour, and 
 strange to our experience, is perfectly useless as a specimen, and 
 to be ruthlessly ejected from the cabinet, unless it is certainly 
 identified and absolutely known to be that which it professes 
 to be. 
 
 2. Let every egg admitted to the cabinet be prepared, first by 
 drilling a single hole on one side with an egg-drill ; then by 
 means of a small glass or metal tube, manufactured for the 
 purpose, blowing out the contents ; afterwards injecting a little 
 water, and rinsing out the interior, taking care to remove every 
 particle of the inner skin; and then injecting a very small 
 quantity of solution of corrosive sublimate. The egg wilt then be 
 safe from the ravages of mites. Mem. For very small and deli- 
 cate eggs the latter part of the treatment above described is 
 neither necessary nor advisable. 
 
 3. Every egg prepared for the cabinet as above described 
 should at once be marked with ink on the shell near the drill- 
 hole, either with the name of the species, the date, and the locality 
 where taken, or else with a letter and number, referring to a 
 catalogue in which these details are given. 
 
 4. Eggs so prepared and inscribed should on no account be 
 affixed to a card, but laid on a bed of cotton-wool in the cabinet, 
 each species in its own compartment, and all in systematic order ; 
 
566 On the Nesting of Birds in Wiltshire. 
 
 and every such compartment should be marked with a label 
 printed for the purpose. 
 
 But for all these principal rules, as well as for full and detailed 
 instruction in all that appertains to the subject of egg-collecting, 
 I would refer my readers to the short but exhaustive pamphlet by 
 the pen of Professor Alfred Newton, entitled ' Suggestions for 
 forming Collections of Birds' Eggs.' * 
 
 I will also add that egg-drills, blow-pipes, labels, and every ap- 
 paratus required by the field oologist may be procured of any 
 good naturalist, such as Messrs. Cook, Museum Street, Blooms- 
 bury, or Messrs. Doncaster, 36, Strand. 
 
 It is, perhaps, almost unnecessary to add that, of course, the 
 eggs must not be varnished (though I have more than once seen 
 even that enormity committed), for such a process manifestly 
 destroys at once the natural appearance of the egg, and renders 
 it worthless as a specimen. 
 
 Originally printed in 1860, in America, in a circular of the * Smithsonian 
 Institution.' Reprinted in England in the Zoologist for the fame year 
 (pp. 7189-7201). Translated by Dr. Baldamus into German, Journal fur 
 Ornithologie, 1860 (pp. 447-459) ; and by M. Jules Verreaux into French, 
 Revue et Magazin de Zoologie, 1862 (pp. 285-292, 319-331). 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 A PLEA FOR THE ROOKS.* 
 
 IT is hard to fight against the prejudices of mankind, but inas- 
 much as in some districts of Wiltshire, not content with the 
 annual ruthless slaughter of the newly fledged brood, some have 
 thought fit to begin a war of extermination, by wholesale poison- 
 ing and otherwise, against the whole family of Rooks, it is time 
 for the friends of those ill-starred birds to expostulate, and 
 point out the suicidal policy of those short-sighted men who, 
 under a mistaken notion of their true character, are destroying 
 some of the best friends the farmer has. 
 
 It would be fair, in the first place, to bespeak in behalf of this 
 persecuted tribe the goodwill of all who love country life, by calling 
 to mind the cheery note, so eloquent of lengthening days and 
 advancing spring, which charms the ear of those who live near 
 a rookery ; or by pointing out the animation which all Nature 
 derives from their presence, and the sad blank which would exist 
 in our meadows and fields, in the event of their destruction : but 
 as we may fairly conjecture that such pleas border too much on 
 the romantic to weigh with such matter-of-fact minds as those of 
 their would-be-destroyers, I will waive all such considerations, 
 and rest my cause on their substantial merits alone. 
 
 I begin by stating at the outset that it is not at all my inten- 
 tion to endeavour to prove my prote'ge's perfectly harmless and 
 immaculate, because I am well aware that a certain amount of 
 
 * The substance of this chapter was read before the Wiltshire Archaeo- 
 logical and Natural History Society during the annual meeting at Malmes- 
 bury in August, 1862. 
 
568 A Plea for the Rooks. 
 
 mischief is occasioned by them, and I have no wish to slur over 
 their bad qualities, and magnify their virtues ; convinced as I am 
 that such a proceeding would be fatal to my favourites, and that no 
 good purpose is ever answered by too violent partisanship. More- 
 over, I am so confident of the strength of my case, that I desire 
 nothing more than the plain unvarnished truth to be stated on 
 both sides, and have no fear for the verdict; being perfectly certain 
 that, on investigation, it will be acknowledged by every fair and 
 candid mind, that the benefits conferred on man by those members 
 of the animal kingdom whose cause I am advocating far outweigh, 
 indeed utterly obliterate, any harm they may at certain seasons 
 commit. 
 
 To plunge at once^ then, in mediae res, and to take the bull by the 
 horns. The charge so often brought against Rooks by the agricul- 
 turist is, that they will occasionally pilfer and devour corn and 
 other crops, and undoubtedly, unless watched and scared away by 
 the bird-boy (or crow-tender as he is termed in some districts), they 
 will at certain seasons make considerable havoc, and do no small 
 mischief. This is the one single misdemeanor alleged against 
 them, and of this, too, it is never pretended that they are guilty 
 but for a very trifling portion of the year, and even here, too, 
 though I allow that it is a true bill in the main, they are sometimes 
 accused when innocent, and when they are intent upon very dif- 
 ferent food, the wireworm and the grub ; and are busily engaged in 
 the farmer's service in exterminating those most destructive pests; 
 but granted that they will for a very short period, if not prevented, 
 commit depredation on the corn, let us examine how they are 
 employed, and where they feed, and on what they subsist, during 
 the remaining nineteen-twentieths of the year, and we shall see 
 that it is on the larvae of a variety of noxious insects, wireworms of 
 various sorts, and grubs of cockchafers, and a thousand other 
 kindred ravagers of crops, which swarm throughout our fields, and 
 which, but for the assistance of Rooks (and other members of the 
 animal kingdom which come to our aid, and, making them their 
 prey, rid us of the evil), would breed a famine in the land, by their 
 enormous number and voracity. 
 
A Plea for the Rooks. 569 
 
 Now, the Rook is an omnivorous bird, and nothing seems to come 
 amiss to its appetite. We have seen that it will occasionally eat 
 corn, but its food principally consists of worms and insects, an 
 astonishing number of which a single Rook will devour in a single 
 day ; and when we consider the vast flocks of these birds which 
 abound in every parish, I may almost say on every farm, we'shall 
 be lost in -wonder and admiration, for the mind falters at the 
 amount, and fails, to take in the enormous quantity of injurious 
 insects which these useful birds destroy every year. 
 
 And now that I have shortly stated my case, I proceed to prove 
 it by the testimony of all our best and soundest ornithologists, and 
 most accurate out-door observers ; and here I can bring such an 
 array of witnesses, and names of so great and so deserved notoriety 
 on the point, that he must be a bold and hardened sceptic, who 
 still holds out and refuses credence to their united assertions. 
 
 There can be no question that in former dajs public opinion in 
 this country was entirely against Rooks, as we may infer from the 
 following entry among certain presentments concerning the parish 
 of Alderley in Cheshire, in 1598, being the fortieth year of Queen 
 Elizabeth's reign: 'We find that there in no Crow-nett in the parish, 
 a payne that one be bought by the charge of the parish.'* A 
 pretty clear proof that the destruction of these birds was at that 
 day regular and systematic ; and I need not stop to point out that 
 from that day to this, though I hope not regularly and systematic- 
 ally, Rooks have met with persecution, under the impression of 
 their mischievous habits. To prove, then, that this was a gross libel 
 on their character at that day, and that it is not through education 
 or strict discipline that they have mended their manners in these 
 days, I will adduce as my first witness in their favour our own 
 countryman, Aubrey, who flourished about the year 1670. In his 
 13th chapter, he says, ' In the peacefull raigne of King James I. 
 the Parliament made an Act for provision of Rooke-netts and 
 catching Crows to be given in charge of court barons, which is by 
 the stewards observed, but I never knew the execution of it. I have 
 heard knowinge countrymen affirme that Rook wormes, which the 
 
 * ' Stanley on Birds,' i. 248. 
 
570 , A Plea for the Rooks. 
 
 Crows and Rooks doe devour at sowing time, doe turne to chafers, 
 which I think are our English locusts ; and some yeares wee have 
 such fearfull armies of them that they devour all manner of green 
 things ; and if the Crowes did not destroy these wormes, it would 
 oftentimes happen. Parliaments are not infallible, and some think 
 they were out in this bill.' Such was Aubrey's opinion, and good 
 old Bewick* follows in the same strain, 'They are useful in pre- 
 venting a too great increase of that destructive insect the chafer or 
 dor-beetle, and thereby make large recompense for the depredations 
 they may occasionally make on the cornfields/ The accurate 
 Selby says,*f ' The Rook has erroneously been viewed in the light of 
 an enemy by most husbandmen, and in several districts attempts 
 have been made either to banish it, or to extirpate the breed. But 
 wherever this measure has been carried into effect, the most 
 serious injury to the corn and other crops has invariably followed, 
 from the unchecked devastations of the grub and caterpillar. 
 As experience is the sure test of utility, a change of conduct has in 
 consequence been partially adopted ; and some farmers now find 
 the encouragement of the breed of Rooks to be greatly to their 
 interest, in freeing their land from the grubs of the cockchafer 
 (melolontha vulgaris), an insect very abundant in many of the 
 southern counties. In Northumberland I have witnessed their 
 usefulness in feeding on the larvae of the insect commonly known 
 by the name of " Harry Longlegs" (Tipula oloracea), which is par- 
 ticularly destructive to the roots of grain and young clovers.' So 
 far Selby. Yarrell (who is a host in himself), writes thus :| ' Early 
 in the morning Rooks visit meadow-land while the grass is yet wet 
 with dew, to break their fast on worms and slugs, which the 
 moisture of that period induces to crawl forth. Later in the day, 
 they may be seen either searching newly-ploughed ground for the 
 various insects there exposed, or again visiting pastures for other 
 purposes. There they are accused of destroying the grass by 
 pulling it up by the roots ; but it has been stated, and I believe 
 
 * ' Bewick's Birds,' i., p. 72. 
 
 t Selby's 'Illustrations of British Ornithology,' vol. i., p. 353. 
 
 J Yarrell's ' British Birds,' vol. ii., p. 94. 
 
A Plea for the Rooks. 571 
 
 truly, that this is an error arising out of the following circumstance. 
 In searching for grubs which are concealed in the earth, and 
 supported by eating the roots of the grass, the Rook pulls at the 
 blade of grass with its bill, and when the grass comes up readily, 
 the bird knows that there are under it insects which have destroyed 
 its roots, and in this way detects them ; but if the blade of grass 
 is firm, the Rook goes to another part of the ground. In a field 
 where grubs are very abundant, the Rooks scatter the grass every- 
 where, so as to give the appearance of having rooted it up, while 
 they have only exposed the depredations of the insects by which 
 the roots have been destroyed/ The author of the c Journal of a 
 Naturalist,' speaking of the readiness with which Rooks detect the 
 places where grubs are sure to be found, says : ' I have often 
 observed them alight on a pasture of uniform verdure, and ex- 
 hibiting no sensible appearance of feathering or decay, and imme- 
 diately commence stocking up the ground. Upon investigating 
 the object of their operations, I have found many heads of plain- 
 tains, the little autumnal dandelions, and other plants, drawn out 
 of the ground, and scattered about, their roots having been eaten 
 off by a grub, leaving only a crown of leaves upon the surface/ 
 It may readily be supposed that extensive injury at the root of a 
 plant cannot exist long without some alteration in the appearance 
 of the leaves, or other parts, above ground, and the Rooks seem to 
 have learned by experience hew to select those plants which are 
 the most likely to afford them some recompense for the trouble 
 they take in grubbing them up. Jesse,* in his instructive 'Glean- 
 ings,' says : ' A gentleman once showed me a field which had all 
 the appearance of having been scorched, as if by a burning sun in 
 dry hot weather : the turf peeled from the ground as if it had 
 been cut with a turfing spade, and we then discovered that the 
 roots of the grass had been eaten away by the larvae of the cock- 
 chafer, which were found in countless numbers at various depths 
 in the soil. This field was visited by a great quantity of Rooks 
 (though there was no rookery within many miles of the neighbour- 
 hood), who turned up, and appeared to devour the grubs with 
 Jesse's * Gleanings in Natural History,' p. 30. 
 
572 A Plea for the Rooks. 
 
 great satisfaction.' To prove their utility on other occasions, two 
 or three quotations from the Magazine of Natural History, among 
 many others, will suffice : ' A flight of locusts visited Craven, and 
 they were so numerous as to create considerable alarm among 
 the farmers of the district. They were, however, soon relieved 
 from their anxiety, for the Rooks flocked in from all quarters by 
 thousands and tens of thousands, and devoured them so greedily 
 that they were all destroyed in a short time.' Again, ' It was stated 
 a few years ago, that there was such an enormous quantity of 
 caterpillars upon Skiddaw, that they devoured all the vegetation 
 on the mountain; and people were apprehensive they would 
 attack the crops in the enclosed lands ; but the Rooks, which are 
 fond of high ground in summer, having discovered them, in a very 
 short time put a stop to their ravages.' I have not yet done with 
 my authorities. Jesse, in the second volume of his ' Gleanings 
 in Natural History,' makes the following remark on this subject : 
 ' In order to be convinced that these birds are beneficial to the 
 farmer, let him observe the same field in which his ploughman and 
 his sower are at work ; he will see the former followed by a train 
 of Rooks, while the sower will be unattended, and his grain remain 
 untouched.' Bishop Stanley, in his charming ' Familiar History 
 of Birds,'* writes : ' We feel quite certain, that notwithstanding the 
 depredations which may fairly be laid to their account, on striking 
 a fair balance, the advantage will be in favour of preserving the 
 Rooks, and that, if every nest were pulled to pieces, the farmers 
 would soon do all in their power to induce the old birds to rebuild 
 them, finding out, when too late, of what immense service they 
 are, in destroying those large white grubs of beetles which, living 
 underground no less than from three to four years, devour incess- 
 antly the tender roots of grasses and every description of grain ;' 
 and again the Bishop says, ' It is scarcely necessary to name the 
 wireworm as one of the greatest scourges to which the farmers 
 are exposed, and yet it is to the Rook chiefly, if not entirely, 
 that they can look for a remedy. Cased in its hard shelly coat, it 
 eats its way into the heart of the roots of corn, and is beyond the 
 * Stanley on Birds, i. 249. 
 
A Plea for the Rooks. 573 
 
 reach of weather or the attacks of other insects, or small birds, 
 whose shorter and softer bills cannot penetrate the recesses of its 
 secure retreat, buried some inches below the soil : the Rook alone 
 can do so ; if watched when seen feeding in a field of sprouting 
 wheat, the heedless observer will abuse him when he sees him 
 jerking up root after root of the rising crop ; but the careful 
 observer will, if- he examines minutely, detect in rnany of these 
 roots the cell of a wireworm, in its silent and underground 
 progress, inflicting death on stems of many future grains. Their 
 sagacity, too, in discovering that a field of wheat or a meadow 
 is suffering from the superabundance of some devouring insect 
 is deserving of notice. Whether they find it out by sight, smell, 
 or some additional unknown sense, is a mystery, but that they 
 do so is a fact beyond all contradiction.' And now as a climax I 
 come at last to the evidence of him whom I consider the first of 
 modern naturalists, Mr. Waterton,* and he says in his first book 
 of Essays, wherein he has devoted a whole chapter to the Rooks : 
 ' Now, if we bring, as a charge against them, their feeding upon 
 the industry of man, as, for example, during the time of a hard 
 frost, or at seed time, or at harvest, at which periods they will 
 commit depredations, if not narrowly watched, we ought, in 
 justice, to put down in their favour the rest of the year, when 
 they feed entirely upon insects,' and then he refers us, ' if we wish 
 to know the amount of noxious insects destroyed by Rooks,' to an 
 admirable paper on the services of the Rook, in the Magazine of 
 Natural History, -f- and concludes by saying, 'I wish every farmer 
 in England would read it ; they would then be convinced how 
 much the Rook befriends them.' But in the second series of 
 Essays J the same excellent writer is again provoked to defend his 
 sable friends by a threatened extermination of them in Scotland, 
 and he says, ' We have innumerable quantities of these birds in 
 this part of Yorkshire, and we consider them our friends ; they 
 appear in thousands upon our grass lands, and destroy myriads of 
 
 Waterton's ' Essays in Natural History,' first series, p. 134. 
 
 t Yol. vi., p. 142, paper by T. G. Clitheroe, Lancashire. 
 
 J Waterton's 'Essays in Natural History/ second series, p. 169. 
 
574 A Plea for the Rooks. 
 
 insects. After they have done their work in these enclosures, you 
 may pick up baskets full of grass plants all injured at the root by 
 the gnawing insects. We prize the bird much for this, and we 
 pronounce them most useful guardians of our meadows and our 
 pastures. Whenever we see the Rooks in our turnip fields, we 
 know then, to our sorrow, what is going on there : we are aware 
 that grubs are destroying the turnips, and we hail with pleasure 
 the arrival of the Rooks, which alone can arrest their dreaded 
 progress. The services of the Rooks to our oak trees are 
 positively beyond estimation : I do believe, if it were not for this 
 bird, all the young leaves in our oaks would be consumed by the 
 cockchafers. Whilst the ring-dove is devouring the heart shoot 
 of the rising clover, you may see the Rook devouring insects in 
 the same field.' 
 
 I trust that such a host of witnesses as I have adduced, and 
 witnesses of the first order in intelligence and intimate acquaint- 
 ance with the subject, will not have failed to carry conviction to 
 my readers ; but as facts are stubborn things, and preconceived 
 opinions are hard to eradicate, and the world is apt to accuse orni- 
 thologists of riding their hobby too hard, and concealing every- 
 thing that tells against their favourites, before I conclude, I will 
 state the experience of practical men, who, thinking to interfere 
 with the balance of powers as arranged and sustained by nature, 
 have thus recorded their failure.* ' The inhabitants of Virginia 
 contrived to extirpate the little crow from their country at 
 an enormous expense, and having done so, they would gladly 
 have given twice as much to buy back the tribe.'f ' A reward 
 of threepence a dozen was offered in New England for the 
 purple grackle, which commits great havoc among the crops, but 
 protects so much more herbage than he destroys, that the insects 
 when he was gone caused the total loss of the grass in 1749, 
 and obliged the_colonists to get hay from Pennsylvania, and even 
 to import it from Great Britain. A few years since an Act was 
 
 Quarterly Revieiv, January,' 1858, Article on ' Sense of Pain in Men and 
 Animals,' p. 203. 
 
 f Stanley on Birds, i. 252 ; King'sJNarrative, ii. 217. 
 
A Plea for the Books. 575 
 
 passed by the Chamber of Deputies to prohibit the destruction 
 of birds in a particular district of France ; they had been 
 recklessly killed off, and the harvest being swept away in its 
 first green stage by millions of hungry reapers, the earth had 
 ceased to yield its increase.'* In our own country, on some very 
 large farms in Devonshire, the proprietors determined a few 
 summers ago to try the experiment of offering a great reward 
 for the heads of Rooks ; but the issue proved destructive to 
 the farms, for nearly the whole of the crops failed for three suc- 
 cessive years, and they have since been forced to import Rooks 
 and other birds to restock their farms with.' A similar experi- 
 ment was made a few years ago in a northern county, particularly 
 in reference to Rooks, but with no better success ; the farmers 
 were obliged to reinstate the Rooks to save the crops. I have 
 been also credibly informed by an intelligent farmer in Norfolk 
 that ' the trees in a neighbouring rookery having been cut down 
 for the repair of farm-buildings, and the Rooks thereby banished, 
 he has lost hundreds and hundreds of pounds by wireworm and 
 a peculiar beetle which abounds in cornfields, which Rooks alone 
 destroy :' by which I conjecture he means the grub of the cock- 
 chafer described above. While another occupier in the same 
 county told me c that one boy after another, placed by him to 
 keep off the Rooks from a piece of wheat, having ' played him 
 false' (as he called it), he determined to leave it alone ; when the 
 Rooks actually swarmed on it, and he expected no crop, but to 
 his great surprise, when harvest came, he had the best crop he 
 ever saw.' But perhaps the best proof of the advantage supposed 
 to be derived from these birds is, that in some districts enlight- 
 ened farmers are going to considerable expense and taking some 
 pains to introduce them on their property. 
 
 With such facts before us and such unanswerable evidence of 
 the value of Rooks, and of the grievous want of them where they 
 have from any cause been expelled, I feel the greatest confidence 
 in pleading for their preservation ; and to sum up all that has 
 been said in the words of an excellent article in an old volume of 
 
 Yarrell, ii., p. 96. 
 
576 A Plea for the Rooks. 
 
 the Quarterly Review :* ' While the grub of the cockchafer com- 
 mits great ravages both upon grass and corn by gnawing the 
 roots of the plants so that entire meadows are sometimes denuded 
 by it, the Hook eats those destroyers by thousands, and by one 
 act gets food for himself and protects the wheat which is the 
 staff of life to man ; they are the grubs which chiefly attract him 
 to follow the plough, and when he plucks up a blade of grass or 
 corn it is almost invariably for the sake of some description of 
 worm which is preying upon its root. The plant which he eradi- 
 cates will be found upon examination to be dead or dying, and 
 by devouring the cause of the mischief he saves the rest of the 
 field from blight. Unobservant persons, who never look below 
 the surface, often mistake the policeman for the thief: luckily, 
 their power to injure their benefactor is not equal to their will, 
 or they would exterminate him altogether, and leave the depre- 
 dators unmolested to consume the whole of the crops. When 
 an unhappy success has attended efforts of this kind, we have 
 seen that the evil consequences have been signal and immediate.' 
 
 A flight of Rooks, then, renders services which could not be 
 performed by all the cultivators of the soil put together ; and if 
 the poor birds are occasionally mischievous, they are richly 
 worthy of their hire. Make the largest possible allowance for 
 their consumption of a portion of that crop, the whole of which 
 they preserve, and they are still immeasurably the cheapest 
 labourers employed upon a farm. Volumes would be required 
 to tell all the mistakes which are committed in the blind 
 for destruction, and in the readiness of man to believe that 
 everything which tastes what he tastes is a rival and a loss. 
 
 But I do trust that that day of short-sighted ignorance is not 
 to return to Wiltshire, and that we no longer jumble in one 
 miserable confusion our friends with our foes. I trust that we 
 have learnt to know our benefactors ; and if the Rooks do take a 
 little of our newly sown grain, or, when pinched by hard weather, 
 
 Quarterly Review, January, 1858, p. 204, on 'Sense of Pain in Men and 
 Animals.' 
 
A Plea for the Rooks. 
 
 577 
 
 if they are driven by starvation to peck holes in our turnips and 
 potatoes, let us not grudge them the petty theft, but call to mind 
 the vast benefits they confer on us at other seasons, and protect 
 them as our best allies, and encourage them by every means in 
 our power. 
 
 87 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 A PLEA FOR SMALL BIRDS. 
 
 THROUGHOUT the whole range of Natural History there is per- 
 haps no more popular delusion than that which respects blight, 
 and yet I need hardly observe that there are delusions enough 
 and errors enough abroad in every department of Natural 
 History. Let the air be thick and hazy during the prevalence of 
 an east wind, and nineteen out of twenty people of the educated 
 classes, I mean will tell you that it is a ' blight/ having said 
 which they are perfectly satisfied that they have sufficiently ex- 
 plained the whole matter, and no more need be said ; while by the 
 uneducated classes in Wiltshire I have more than once heard 
 that state of atmosphere denounced as a 'blightning,' through the 
 manifest jumbling of this peculiar dark haziness with the vivid 
 concomitant of the thunder-storm. But if you are unreasonably 
 inquisitive, and, being scarcely satisfied with the explanation 
 given, persistently push your inquiries as to how the blight came, 
 and whence it arose, the chances are ninety-nine in a hundred that 
 you will be informed it came with the east wind, borne along on 
 the breeze ; and your informant will triumphantly point to the 
 haziness of the atmosphere, and tell you that it is the Might or 
 blightning, as if the air was really thick through myriads of the 
 tiny insects literally darkening the sun. 
 
 Now, I am the last to say that the air may not be momen- 
 tarily darkened positively and sensibly by the passage of an 
 insect cloud, for I have seen this very thing in the case of a vast 
 flight of locusts in Syria ; but that is a very different matter from 
 
A Plea for Small Birds. 579 
 
 the haziness which often attends the east wind in this country, 
 and which sometimes continues during several days.' And when 
 I mention that the blight on the rose-tree, on the gooseberry, the 
 apple, the larch, the beech, the oak, the lime, the hop, the bean, 
 and other plants or trees, does not consist of the same species of 
 insect which infests them all, but that the several trees and 
 plants have each their own particular blight, peculiar to them- 
 selves, it is manifest to every thinking mind that it is beyond 
 the bounds of possibility that the east wind should, with discrim- 
 inating exactness, bear each species of blight to its own individual 
 tree or plant. The blight, then, I make bold to assert, does not 
 come on the wings of the east wind. Let us get rid of that error 
 first. 
 
 In one sense, however, ' blight ' may be said to come with the 
 east wind ; in the same way that grass may be said to come with 
 the genial south-west wind in the spring. Just then as nobody 
 of course supposes that grass is actually borne along to us by 
 the balmy breezes of May, but everybody understands that the 
 especial state of the atmosphere which fosters the growth of the 
 young herbage prevails, and has its effect on the plants : so pre- 
 cisely in the same manner the east wind harsh and disagreeable 
 though it is to many animals according to the old proverb, 
 
 ' When the wind is in the east 
 "Tis neither good for man nor beast ' 
 
 exactly suits the requirements' of the ' blight ' of various 
 species : and on the principle that ' 'tis an ill wind that blows 
 nobody good,' the east wind, so detested by many, presents just 
 that state of atmosphere best suited to the development of all 
 kinds of blights, so that those pests of our gardens and fields 
 flourish when all else is drooping under the pernicious blasts 
 of the much-dreaded east wind. 
 
 It is time now to inquire What is blight 1 and I reply that it is 
 in every case an insect, especially adapted for the particular tree 
 or shrub or plant on which it is found, and whose proper name, by 
 which it is known to entomologists, is Apkis. It belongs to the 
 large order of Hemiptera, and the suborder Homoptera, which 
 
 372 
 
580 A Plea for Small Birds. 
 
 contains many genera, and a vast number of species differing 
 from one another in many essential particulars, though united in 
 general form and habits, and having many affinities in common. 
 These several Aphides, more vulgarly known as ' plant lice/ have 
 many very remarkable peculiarities in their mode of life, wherein 
 they differ from all other insects ; some of them being at one 
 period of their existence viviparous, and at another oviparous ; 
 some of those of the same species being winged, and others wing- 
 less : but they all follow the same occupation of preying on the 
 juices of the several plants they infest, to the carrying out of 
 their own economy, but to the manifest injury of the plant. By 
 way of example, let us take the case of the gooseberry blight or 
 fly, with which everybody is familiar, and let us very shortly 
 follow its career. The fly, a handsome, gay, innocent-looking 
 insect enough, as it darts about in the sunshine on its gauxy 
 wings, repairs to the gooseberry-tree, where she lays her eggs. 
 This species is one of the Saw Flies, and by means of her saw 
 or ovipositor she contrives to lay her eggs on the under side of the 
 leaf she has selected, all along the midrib, and then along the 
 side ribs, till all the principal ribs are garnished with eggs in 
 regular rows, and about seventy eggs are laid on that particular 
 leaf. Within a single day, these eggs begin to grow rapidly, and 
 within a week or ten days the grub makes its appearance, and im- 
 mediately begins to eat. After a short time the grubs descend the 
 footstalks, and, wandering in different directions, each finds a leaf 
 for itself, and the work of devastation progresses in real earnest. 
 
 This is but a sample of the career of the gooseberry blight, and 
 the mischief it effects. But there are many other blights even 
 more pernicious than this the ' hop blight,' for example, upon 
 whose absence or presence in the hop gardens every year depends 
 the success or failure of the crop. There are ' turnip blights/ 
 again, which, as every farmer knows to his cost, in dry seasons in 
 early summer, destroy successive sowings of that valuable root, 
 and very materially injure the farmer's provision of food for his 
 sheep. There are ' apple blights ' and ' pear blights ' (more 
 particularly watched for in cider-making counties), which deposit 
 
A Plea for Small Birds. 581 
 
 their eggs singly in the very centre of the bud or calyx of the 
 opening blossom of the apple-tree ; and from every such egg 
 a grub is hatched, which eats into the blossom and destroys the 
 fruit. There are blights, again, familiar to every observer in the 
 oak, the larch, the rose, the lime, and many another tree or plant. 
 Indeed, I believe I may say without exaggeration that there is no 
 plant without its plant-louse, or aphis, or blight, just as there is 
 no species of animal or bird or insect without its parasite. These 
 blights vary in colour : sometimes they are black, sometimes 
 black and white, sometimes gray; but (far more often than 
 <all other colours put together) green of various shades and 
 hues. The true blight or aphis has a long trunk or sucker which 
 is used as a pump or siphon, through which the sap of the plant 
 is drawn up ; and as all blights infest the young and juicy shoots 
 and leaves of plants for the purpose of sap-sucking, they cause no 
 small injury to such plants as they honour by their visits. 
 
 There is one advantage which some of the aphides confer in 
 the honey-dew, as it is called, so well known to bee-keepers, and 
 so highly esteemed by bees. Honey-dew is, without doubt, a 
 secretion from the aphides, and is appreciated by ants no less than 
 by bees : nay, there is nothing in the whole range of entomology 
 more curious and interesting than the affection which ants show 
 for the aphides, which some naturalists have described as their 
 domestic ' cattle,' and which it is certain they diligently wait 
 upon, which they regularly milk, and in whose produce they 
 delight. Patient observation has determined that they do this 
 with the utmost care, licking them with their tongues, and pro- 
 tecting them from the parasites which infest them; for the 
 aphides, too, are troubled with parasites, after the famous saying, 
 
 ' Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em, 
 The little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum : 
 And the great fleas themselves have got some greater fleas to go on, 
 And greater fleas have greater fleas, and greater fleas, and so on.' 
 
 But as I am not writing a history of the aphides, I forbear 
 to dilate on this very interesting race, but for further par- 
 ticulars refer to the splendid monograph on them, by the pen of 
 
582 A Pica for Small Birds. 
 
 G. B. Buckton, published in four volumes by the Ray Society, and 
 fully illustrated with coloured figures. My object now in view is 
 gained if I have pointed out what myriads of these minute insects 
 infest our plants, shrubs, and trees, and how injurious, nay, haw 
 destructive, they would be to vegetation generally, were their 
 numbers unchecked. But simultaneously with the hatching of 
 the aphides in the spring come the troops of Warblers which 
 soon overrun our gardens and hedgerows in every direction, and 
 make their presence known by their joyous songs. At once they 
 begin to feast on the new-born aphides, but by the time they 
 have built their nests and hatched out their young, the aphides 
 are swarming on all sides, and now begins their wholesale destruc- 
 tion, when the parent birds have to supply their ravenous young 
 with an insect diet ; and it is almost incredible how large a num- 
 ber of these injurious insects are destroyed in a single day by 
 each pair of diminutive Warblers catering for their brood. 
 
 Nor are the Warblers alone in their raid on these insect 
 hordes. The Titmice and the Finches are not far behind-hand, 
 for they, too, must provide the same soft diet for their callow 
 young. Even the much-abused House-sparrow lends his aid in 
 their destruction, and carries home supplies of insects for his 
 young brood in the thatch. 
 
 Then turn to the Swallows, Martins, and Swifts, careering 
 through the air on rapid wing what hosts of gnats does not 
 every one of them consume, catching them on the wing, and 
 clearing the air as they go of the superabundance of these pests 
 to man ! Or think of the Thrushes and Blackbirds what hosts 
 of noxious grubs do they not destroy, what vast quantities of 
 slugs and snails, so destructive of many valuable plants, do they 
 not devour ! 
 
 But as one ounce of fact is worth more than ten pounds of argu- 
 ment, let me call attention to the action of the United States, which, 
 at considerable expense of time and money, found it advisable, 
 for economic purposes, to introduce a number of European small 
 birds into their country ; and amongst these was particularly 
 specified the Titmouse, which the English gardeners more espe- 
 
A Plea for Small Birds. 583 
 
 cially persecute for its supposed delinquencies amongst their 
 fruit-trees, but which the far-seeing American more correctly 
 pronounces ' one of the most successful foes of insects injurious 
 to vegetation/* 
 
 See, again, a similar course of action which the authorities of 
 New Zealand deemed it advisable to pursue, when, in order to 
 rid themselves of the insect hordes which threatened to over- 
 whelm them and destroy their crops, they imported large 
 numbers of small birds from England, though the cost of such im- 
 portation from so great a distance, and of so perishable an article, 
 was necessarily attended with great expense. Accordingly we read 
 that one vessel alone carried out from England 1,130 living birds ; 
 viz., Blackbirds, Thrushes, Starlings, Goldfinches, Redpolls of 
 each, 100; Hedge-sparrows, 150; Linnets, 140; Goldfinches, 160; 
 Yellowhammers, 170 ; and, lastly, Partridges, 110. Arrived in 
 New Zealand, they were let fly under proper authority ; and a 
 heavy penalty was enforced against shooting at or in any way 
 injuring any of these birds. For, however little appreciated 
 their gratuitous services are here, the New Zealand farmers 
 declared that they could not get on without them, for they alone 
 would keep down the insects that ravage the crops. It was also 
 estimated that one little bird single-handed would, from his size 
 and build, be able to get at and destroy in a few hours more 
 insects than ten men would in a week.-f 
 
 Supported thus by such undeniable evidence, I do not hesitate 
 to say that the small birds, which the gardener so often condemns, 
 are in reality the very best friends he has. He sees them busy 
 at the fruit-trees and I do not deny that many species will have 
 u share of the fruit if they can get it and then he condemns 
 them and persecutes them to the death, as if they were his 
 bitterest foes. Whereas, during all the rest of their sojourn in 
 this country, they are employed in his service, ridding him of a 
 real evil, which he is powerless otherwise to overcome, and 
 which, without their aid, would overwhelm his fruit-trees alto- 
 gether, to the utter destruction of blossom and leaf, and all hope 
 * Zoologist for 1873, p. 3696. f Ibid i 1875 P- 4336 - 
 
584 A Plea for Small Birds. 
 
 of a crop. Let him, then, net his fruit-trees, or otherwise pro- 
 tect his crop, but let him cherish and protect the small birds as 
 his most invaluable allies ; for they are the policemen who alone 
 can catch the real thieves, and they are the volunteers who alone 
 can defend his goods from the destructive raids of a powerful 
 enemy. I conclude this short chapter with a paragraph from 
 the Farmer, dated July 21, 1879, under the head of ' Winged 
 Guardians': 'The Swallow, Swift, and Nighthawk are the guar- 
 dians of the atmosphere. They check the increase of insects 
 that otherwise would overload it. Woodpeckers and Creepers 
 are the guardians of the trunks of trees. Warblers and Fly- 
 catchers protect the foliage. Blackbirds, Thrushes, Crows, and 
 Larks protect the surface of the soil. Snipe and Woodcock 
 protect the soil under the surface. Each tribe has its respective 
 duties to perform in the economy of nature; and it is an un- 
 doubted fact that if the birds were all swept away from oft' the 
 earth, man could not live upon it ; vegetation would wither and 
 die, and insects would become so numerous that no living thing 
 could withstand their attacks.' 
 
INDEX. 
 
 
 ALPINE ACCENTOR, 145 
 Aphides, 579-582 
 Auk, Little, 512 
 Auks, 36, 47, 510 
 Avocet, 37, 51 
 
 BAR-TAILED GODWIT, 423 
 Beaks of Birds, 28, 30-41 
 Bean Goose, 457 
 Bee-eater, 294 
 Bee-eaters, 34, 292 
 Bernicle Goose, 464 
 Birds of Prey, 11, 31, 42, 49 
 Bittern, 405 
 
 Little, 404 
 
 Blackbird, 135, 560, 583 
 Blackcap Warbler, 158, 552, 561 
 Blackcock, 26 
 Black Grouse, 327 
 Black Tern, 528 
 Black-throated Diver, 508 
 Bohemian Waxwing, 173 
 Brent Goose, 460 
 Bullfinch, 208 
 Buntings, 33, 185 
 Bunting, Black-headed, 189, 561 
 
 Cirl, 191, 562 
 
 Common, 188, 561 
 
 Snow, 186 
 
 Yellow, 189, 562 
 Bustards, 338 
 Bustard, Great, 4, 339-364, 563 
 
 Little, 364 
 
 Butcher-birds, 116-119 
 Buzzards, 43, 56 
 Buzzard, African, 88 
 
 Common, 85, 560 
 
 Honey, 88 
 Buzzard, Rough-legged, 86, 560 
 
 CANADA GOOSE, 468 
 Capercaillie, 325 
 Carrion Crow, 232, 562 
 Chaffinch, 192, 562 
 Chiff-chaff, 164, 552, 561 
 Chough, 215 
 
 Classification of Birds, 7-18 
 Climbers, 16, 33, 247 
 
 Common Guillemot, 511 
 
 Sandpiper, 420 
 
 Scoter, 486 
 
 Snipe, 429, 563 
 
 Coot, 51, 488, 563 
 Cone-billed Birds, 15, 33, 182 
 Coot, Common, 51, 488, 563 
 Cormorant, 40, 518 
 Crane, 391 
 
 Cream-coloured Courser, 374 
 Creepers, 34, 258 
 Creeper, Common, 259, 262 
 Crake, Spotted, 442 
 Crop of Birds, 35 
 Crossbill, Common, 36, 209 
 Crows, 27, 33, 215 
 Crow, Carrion, 232, 562 
 Cuckoo, Common, 270-291, 552, 563 
 Curlew, 26, 28, 35, 412, 563 
 Curlew Sandpiper, 432 
 
 DARTFORD WARBLER, 166, 561 
 Dipper, 127 
 Divers, 25, 36, 47, 499 
 Diver, Black-throated, 508 
 
 Great Northern, 505 
 
 Red- throated, 509 
 Dotterel, 382 
 Doves, 316 
 Dove, Ring, 317, 563 
 
 Rock, 320, 563 
 
 Stock, 319, 563 
 
 Turtle, 322, 563 
 Ducks, 25, 28, 47, 455' 
 Duck, Eider, 483 
 
 Ferruginous, 488 
 
 King, 485 
 
 Long-tailed, 491 
 
 Pintail, 478 
 
 Scaup, 489 
 
 Tufted, 490 
 
 Wild, 479, 564 
 Dunlin, 437 
 
 EAGLES, 24, 32, 43, 56 
 Eagle, Golden, 60 
 
 White-tailed, 59, 62 
 Eared Grebe, 503 
 
586 
 
 Index. 
 
 Ears of Birds, 25 
 Egyptian Goose, 4C5 
 
 Vulture, 55 
 Eider Duck, 483 
 Eyes of Birds, 25 
 
 ' FACULTIES ' of Birds, 23-30 
 Falcons, 32, 42, 54 
 Families of Birds, 16, 54 
 Feeling, sense of, in Birds, 28 
 Feet of Birds, 41-53 
 Ferruginous Duck, 488 
 Fieldfare, 129-131,552 
 Finches, 33, 192-582 
 Finch, Bull-, 208, 562 
 
 Chaff-, 192, 562 
 
 Gold-, 201,562 
 
 Green-, 198, 562 
 
 Haw-, 39, 199, 562 
 
 Mountain. 193 
 Flycatchers, 24, 32, 124 
 Flycatcher, Pied, 125 
 
 Spotted, 124, 552, 560 
 Forked-tailed Petrel, 543 
 
 GADWALL, 477 
 
 Gannet, 522 
 
 Garden Warbler, 159, 552, 561 
 
 Garganey, 481 
 
 Genera of Birds, 16 
 
 Glossy Ibis, 410 
 
 Goatsuckers, 309 
 
 Godwit, Bar-tailed, 423 
 
 Golden-Eye Duck, 492 
 
 Crested Regulus, 167, 548, 561 
 
 Oriole, 139, 564 
 Golden Plover, 380, 552 
 Goldfinch, 201, 562, 583 
 Gold-winged Woodpecker, 255 
 Goosander, 496 
 Goose, Bean, 457 
 
 Bernicle, 464 
 
 Brent, 460 
 
 Canada, 468 
 
 Egyptian, 465 
 
 Gray Lag, 455 
 
 Spur-winged, 467 
 
 White-fronted, 459 
 Goshawk, 80 
 
 Grasshopper Warbler, 153, 552, 560 
 Gray Lag Goose, 455 
 Gray Phalarope, 449 
 Great Black Woodpecker, 248 
 
 Bastard, 338-364 
 
 Crested Grebe, 500 
 
 Northern Diver, 505 
 
 Plover, 377, 563 
 
 Great Snipe, 428 
 
 Spotted Woodpecker, 253, 562 
 
 Titmouse, 169, 561 
 Grebe, Crested, 500 
 
 Eared, 503 
 
 Little, 504, 564 
 
 Red-necked, 501 
 
 Sclavonian, 502 
 Greenfinch, 198, 562 
 Green Sandpiper, 418 
 Greenshank, 421 
 Green Woodpecker, 250, 562 
 Griffin Vulture, 55 
 Ground Birds, 12, 34, 46, 49 
 Grouse, 325 
 
 Black, 327 
 
 Pallas' Sand, 330 
 
 Red, 329 
 Gulls, 36, 524 
 Gull, Black-headed, 531 
 
 Common, 533 
 
 Great Black- backed, 536 
 
 Herring, 535 
 
 Kittiwake, 532 
 
 Lesser Black-backed, 534 
 
 Little, 529 
 Guillemot, Common, 511 
 Gyr Falcon, 66 
 
 HARRIERS, 43, 56 
 Harrier, Hen, 93, 560 
 
 Marsh, 91 
 
 Montagu's, 95, 560 
 Hawks, 32, 43, 56 
 Hawk, Sparrow, 81 
 
 Hawfinch, 39, 199, 562 
 Hearing of Birds, 25-27 
 Hedge Accentor, 143, 560, 583 
 Herons, 26, 35, 52, 392 
 Heron, Common, 394-402, 563 
 
 Squacco, 403 
 Hobby, 72, 559 
 Hooded Crow, 234 
 Hoopoe, 39, 262 
 
 IBIS, Glossy, 410 
 
 JACKDAW, 241, 562 
 Jack Snipe, 431 
 Jay, 245, 562 
 
 KESTREL, 24, 78, 559 
 King Duck, 485 
 Kingfisher, 296, 563 
 Kite, 83, 559 
 Kittiwake, 532 
 Knot, 433 
 
Index. 
 
 587 
 
 'LAND BIRDS,' 3, 11 
 Land-rail, 440, 552, 563 
 JLapwing, 386, 552, 563 
 Larks, 33, 182 
 Lark, Sky, 183, 561 
 
 Wood, 185, 561 
 Lesser Redpole, 205, 562 
 
 Spotted Woodpecker, 254, 562 
 Linnet, Common, 205, 562, 583 
 Little Auk, 512 
 
 Bustard, 364 
 
 Grebe, 504 
 
 Lobe-footed Birds, 51, 447 
 Long-tailed Duck, 491 
 
 MAGPIE, 242, 562 
 
 Martin, 304, 552, 563, 582 
 
 Manx Shearwater, 540 
 
 Mergansers, 36 
 
 Merganser, Red-breasted, 495 
 
 Merlin, 75, 552 
 
 Migration of Birds, 16, 547-553 
 
 Moorhen, 444, 563 
 
 Mountain Finch, 193, 552 
 
 Mute Swan, 471, 564 
 
 1 NESTING ' OF BIRDS, 554-566 
 Night Heron, 407 
 Nightingale, 156, 552, 561 
 Nightjar, 26, 34, 50, 311, 552, 563 
 Nomenclature of Birds, 18 
 Notes of Birds, 29 
 Nuthatch, 34, 268, 562 
 
 ' ORDERS' OF BIRDS, 11 
 Osprey, 32, 43, 49, 64 
 Owls, 24, 25, 32, 44, 98-102 
 Owl, Barn, 107-111, 560 
 
 Eagle, 102 
 
 Hawk, 113 
 
 Little, 114 
 
 Long-eared, 105, 560 
 
 Scops, 103 
 
 Short-eared, 106, 552 
 
 Tawny, 111-113, 560 
 Oyster Catcher, 40, 389 
 
 PALLAS' SAND GROUSE, 330 
 Partridge, 332, 563, 583 
 
 Red-legged, 334, 563 
 Perching Birds, 12, 32, 44, 49, 116 
 Peregrine Falcon, 68, 559 
 Petrels, 40, 542 
 Petrel, Forked-tailed, 543 
 
 Storm, 544 
 
 Wilson's, 542 
 Phalaropes, 51 
 
 Phalarope, Gray, 449 
 
 Red-necked, 452 
 Pheasant, 323, 563 
 Pigeons, 25, 35 
 Pintail Duck, 478 
 Pipits, 32, 179 
 Pipit, Meadow, 180, 552, 561 
 
 Tree, 179/552, 561 
 Plea for Small Birds, 578-584 
 Plea for the Rooks, 567-577 
 Plovers, 370 
 Plover, Great, 377, 563 
 
 Golden, 380 
 
 Ringed, 385 
 Pochard, 487 
 Pratincole, 371 
 Puffin, 39, 514 
 Purple Sandpiper, 438 
 
 QUAIL, 335, 563 
 
 RAILS, 439 
 
 Rail, Cayenne, 445 
 
 Land, 440, 552, 563 
 
 Water, 443, 563 
 Raven, 24-28, 218-232, 562 
 Razor Bill, 516 
 Redbreast, 145, 560 
 Red-footed Falcon, 74 
 Red Grouse, 329 
 Red-legged Partridge, 334, 563 
 Red-necked Grebe, 501 
 Red-necked Phalarope, 452 
 Redshank, 417 
 Redstart, 25, 146, 552, 560 
 Redstart, Black, 148 
 Red-throated Diver, 509 
 Redwing, 132, 552 
 Richardson's Skua, 539 
 Ring Dove, 317, 563 
 Ring Ouzel, 137, 560 
 Ringed Plover, 385 
 Rock Dove, 320, 563 
 Roller, 293 
 
 Rook, 24, 28, 52, 237, 562, 567-577 
 Rose-coloured Pastor, 213 
 Ruff, 424 
 
 SAND GROUSE, PALLAS', 330 
 Sand Martin, 306, 552, 563 
 Sandpiper, Common, 420 
 
 Curlew, 432, 
 
 Green, 418 
 
 Purple, 438 
 
 Wood, 419 
 Scaup Duck, 489 
 Sclavonian Grebe, 502 
 
588 
 
 Index. 
 
 Shag, 521 
 
 Shearwater, Manx, 540 
 
 Shelldrake, Common, 474 
 
 Shoveller, 38, 475 
 
 Shrikes, 32, 116-119 
 
 Shrike, Great Gray, 119-122, 564 
 
 Red-backed, 122, 552, 560 
 
 Woodchat, 123 
 Siyht of Birds, 23-25 
 Siskin, 204 
 Skua, Common, 537 
 
 Richardson's, 539 
 Smell. Sense of, in Birds, 27-29 
 Smew, 27, 28 
 Snipes, 35-39, 412 
 Snipe, Common, 429, 552, 563 
 
 Great, 428 
 
 Jack, 431, 552 
 Songs of Birds, 29 
 Song-thrush, 26 
 Sparrow-hawk, 81-83, :.:.! 
 Sparrow, House, 195, 562, 582 
 
 Tree, 197, 562 
 Species of Birds, 17 
 Spoonbill, 38 
 Spotted Crake, 442 
 
 Flycatcher, 124, 552 
 Spur- winged Goose, 467 
 Squacco Heron, 403 
 Starling, 24, 33, 211, 562, 583 
 Stilt Plover, 51 
 Stock Dove, 319, 563 
 Stonechat, 149, 560 
 Stork, White, 408 
 Storm Petrel, 544 
 Swallows, 34, 299, 563, 582 
 Swallow, House, 301, 552 
 Swan, Wild, 469 
 
 Mute, 471, 564 
 
 Swift, 24, 50, 307, 552, 563, 582 
 Swimmers, 13, 36, 47, 49, 454 
 
 TEAL, 481, 552, 564 
 Tern, Arctic, 536 
 
 Black, 528 
 
 Common, 525 
 Thrushes, 32, 126, 583 
 Thrush, Missel, 128, 560 
 
 Song, 131, 560 
 Titmice, 32, 168, 582 
 Titmouse, Blue, 171, 561 
 
 Coal, 171, 561 
 
 Great, 169, 561 
 
 Long-tailed, 172, 561 
 
 Marsh, 172, 561 
 Toes of Birds, 41, 46, 48 
 
 Tongues of Birds, 28, 33 
 
 Tooth-billed Birds, 15, 32, 116, 142 
 
 Tree Sparrow, 197 
 
 Tribes of Birds, 15 
 
 Tufted Duck, 4! m 
 
 Turnstone, 37 
 
 Turtle Dove, 322, 552, 563 
 
 Twite, 205 
 
 'VOICES 'of Birds, 29 
 Vultures, 23, 27, 31, 42, 54 -".6 
 
 'WADERS,' 13, 35, 46-49, 369 
 Wagtails, 32, 176 
 Wagtail, Gray, 177,561 
 
 Gray-headed, 178 
 
 Pied, 176, ;.:,-_>, :,r,i 
 
 Ray's, 178,552, 561 
 Warblers, 32, 142, .M>. 
 Warbler, Blackcap, 158, 5.VJ, :,;i 
 
 Dartford, 166, .M',1 
 
 Garden, 159, 5.VJ. f.r.l 
 
 Grasshopper, 153, 552, 560 
 
 Reed, I.V., .V.2, 560 
 
 Sedge, 154, 552, 560 
 
 Willow, 163, 552, 561 
 
 Wood, 162, 552, 561 
 Water Birds, 4, 11, 4iJ 
 Water Rail, 443, 563 
 Waxwings, 173 
 Wheatear, 151, 552, 560 
 Whimbrel, 415 
 Whinchat, 150, 552, 560 
 White-fronted Goose, 459 
 White Stork, 408 
 
 Whitethroat, Common, 160. 552, ~r,l 
 Whitethroat, Lesser, 161, 5.VJ, .".''.1 
 Whooper, 469 
 
 Wide-billed Birds, 16, 34, 292 
 Wigeon, 482 
 Wild Duck, 479, 564 
 Willow Warbler, 163, f,.Vj 
 Wilson's Petrel, 542 
 Wiltshire Birds, Number of, 4 
 Woodcock, 28, 39, 425, 552, 563 
 Woodpeckers, 34, 51, 247 
 Woodpecker, Great Black, 248 
 
 Great Spotted, 253, 562 
 
 Green, 250, 562 
 
 Gold-winged, 255 
 
 Lesser Spotted, 254, 562 
 Wood Sandpiper, 419 
 Wren, 200, ;V,2 
 Wryneck, 256, 552-562 
 
 YELLOWIIAMMER, 189, 5G2, 583 
 
 BILLING 4 SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORU